First week of May- cooking, fun with grandchildren, yard sale haul and my decluttering and organizing project

lets try this post again.  I just noticed that even though I thought it was published right,  most of the words were missing and the photos were posted twice.  

One Sunday we wanted something sweet for breakfast so I baked a batch of Streusel Puffs.
I've been baking this recipe close 50 years.  My mom found the recipe in a women's magazine and I baked them for a 4H food show, and won a purple ribbon for them.
And I've been baking them ever since.  

they are a very basic recipe- and only use standard pantry ingredients but they taste so good.

Six of our grands were here last week.
They really had fun with the old kitchen tools from the rummage sale.

they are great sand box toys!  and Ducky can't chew them up.



2 of the grandsons saw a youtube video about using a bottle to make a Jello duplicate of it.
this is what it was supposed to look like----

and this is what ours looked like.  I do not recommend doing this but the boys had fun.



3 of the grands had a joint birthday party so I made a tray full of fresh fruit skewers.

I don't know how many I made.  I just kept making them until I used up all the fruit.  The tray was heavy but there were no leftovers after the party.  Its just fun to eat fruit on a stick and no silverware is required.



My son and I went to his neighborhood's yard sales.
My dad wanted an electric skillet and we found this small, like new one for $3.  He was happy and I am sure he be making lots hamburgers and fried pies in it.

 an organizelr and some scented wax


I think this rainbow spoon is a work of art, it was .25. 

My biggest purchase were these Longaberger baskets.

They were such bargains.
The women selling them said they belonged to her aunt who passed last year.  The seller said she had no emotional attachment to the baskets.  She was just happy I bought them all.

This one is not Longaberger but is just about a duplicate and I love the shape



My big project is organizing this crazy craft and sewing room.  Yes I know it is a lot of stuff but I took these pictures almost 2 weeks ago and it doesn't look this at all now.   Ill have the after photos soon.  There is still a little more to do.

Yikes!  I know........







I'm sorry about the previous wacky posts- technology just does what it wants sometimes,  right?

Cooking in Texas

We just got back from a weekend trip to see our parents. I did some cooking while I was there.

First I made Struesel Puffs, a muffin recipe my mom saved from Family Circle magazine approximately 1970. She made them often and we all liked them. I baked and entered them in a 4-H food show and got a blue ribbon. 

I baked Struesel Puffs so many times when our children were all at home. This was a normal Sunday before church recipe and I always doubled the recipe back then. 

Fresh baked Struesel Puffs on my parents dining table

Streusel Puffs

2 1/2 C. All purpose flour
1/2 C. butter
1/2 C. granulated sugar
1 tsp. salt
3/4 C. milk
1/4 C. packed brown sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 beaten egg

Grease a standard 12 muffin tin. Combine 1/2 C. flour and the brown sugar in a small bowl. Cut in 2 Tbsp. butter until mixture is crumbly. Set aside. 

Mix remaining 2 C. flour, sugar, baking powder and salt; cut in remaining 6 Tbsp. butter until crumbly. Combine egg and milk in a small bowl; add all at once to the flour mixture. Stir lightly, just until liquid is absorbed. Batter will be lumpy. 

Divide batter between 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle with topping. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.

Serve warm after baking. They are still good the second day if reheated. 

Pecan Pie Bars

Mom found this recipe on Pinterest and asked me to bake them,  I made them just like recipe except baked them in a 10 by 15 airbake pan instead of the 13 by 9 pan the recipe called for. We liked them a lot and think that thinner is better.  It was an easy recipe and makes a big batch. 

Pepperoni Lasagne that my brother requested. I just used a recipe from AllRecipes.com but substituted 1/2 pound diced pepperoni for the ground beef

A meat loaf

Boomer, my brother's dog, wagging his tail as he was hoping to get a few bites of meatloaf. 

I also made pimento cheese to eat on celery and crackers and cooked roast beef, mashed potatoes and 2 pounds of baked carrots. 

They will be able to heat and eat all week.  I wish we lived closer so I could cook for them more often. 

On our last trip to Texas, I took photos of beautiful bluebonnets along the highway.  

This trip was not as pretty as we drove through about 100 miles of highway lined with  ice storm damaged trees. Some trees were broken down to the ground, others had hanging or fallen broken limbs and some trees were split down the middle. It is going to be a big long job to clean them up.