February 14- White Valentine’s Day

First an update on the bananas 

I ate the ripest one at breakfast and it was perfect.  The bananas from the greenest bunch still have a little green to them but they are ripening too. 

Kim,  you are funny! But I couldn’t go buy bananas right now even if our roads were driveable.  

I didn’t need to buy much of anything though- just milk, eggs and onions.  

We’re getting the snow that was predicted.  It’s very fine and blowing so it’s drifting in places and bare in others.  

And it’s just getting started!  We won’t be done with snowfall until Wednesday I think. 

All holidays have been different since the pandemic started.  

We had a mini Thanksgiving meal for our Valentines lunch.  

  

It was delicious and there are leftovers for maybe 2 more meals. 

I had wanted to make some homemade pimento cheese to put in celery sticks but my husband was napping and I couldn’t get that tiny pimento jar open so I’ll make it  later this week.  

One of our grandsons made this Valentine for his mom.  

Sweet as can be, right? 

Happy Valentine’s Day

❤️ Rhonda 

February 13 - just bananas

Day 3 of the bananas in the Rubbermaid keeper

The bananas are ripening.  I ate the ripest one today and it was delicious 

But about the experiment.  I am not doing it right.  

I should have 2 equal banana bunches with one in the keeper and one on the counter to really tell how the box affects the ripening speed.  

Maybe after this snowstorm is over,  I’ll try it that way for a more scientific result.  

In case your wondering,  this box is different from an ordinary plastic food storage box.  

The lid is thick and kind of like a honeycomb 

❤️ Rhonda 

February 12 - just waiting on Snowmegaden

Hello everyone 

Our weather forecasts are just frightening-and it doesn’t matter which network I look at, they all say about the same. 

Maybe 15 inches of snow and very cold for a long time - this seems like a forecast for northern Alaska, not Oklahoma. 

Lejmom asked if I still keep a stocked pantry and yes I do. 

About the Great Value green beans,  the ones I’ve bought seem fine.  I’m sorry you had bad ones.  

 My husband had an early dr appointment today and I didn’t go with him.  He’s been scheduled for a knee replacement in March so will need to do a few things to get ready for that.  

Breakfast was some of the nut bread baked yesterday, toasted.  It was so good with my hot tea! 

Lunch was leftover soups and jalapeño cornbread.

For the cornbread,  I used our very favorite recipe and added a drained can of Mexican corn,  about 1/3 cup of diced canned jalapeños and some sliced jalapeños on top.

The jalapeños grew in our backyard yard and I canned them.  For jalapeños,  they are NOT hot,  they just have a really nice pepper flavor.  

Day 2 of bananas in the Rubbermaid keeper 

They’ve ripened a bit but even the yellowest ones are not yet ready to eat.  

🤷🏻‍♀️ I don’t know how they will do- we will see! 

❤️ Rhonda 

February 11 - food stuff and that new banana box

Hello 

It’s crazy cold so I’ve been home all day with plenty of time to cook 

Breakfast was one of our favorites 

Hash browns with an egg on top 

 

I sauté diced onions and bell peppers in a little olive oil spray and then add frozen hash browns (or leftover grated baked potatoes when I have them)

When they’re done,  push them to the side and cook your egg.  

Lunch was meatloaf (that was not photo worthy but did taste good) okra and nut bread 

  

This is the recipe for the nut bread.  It’s low sugar and has no added fat (besides the fat in the eggs and nuts) 

If you make this,  grease the loaf pan well so it will release after baking.  

Nut Bread 

I used pecans instead of walnuts and put in a good sprinkle of cinnamon sugar between 1/2 of the batter 

It’s very good,  just a little sweet and very nice toasted and with a mug of hot beverage of your choice - I like black tea ☕️ 

Lana asked about the Rubbermaid banana keeper.  It’s new so I’m not sure how well it works.  

My husband went to the grocery store and I asked him to get a few yellow and green bananas 

None of these bananas are ripe enough to eat and the ones on the right are much greener than the bananas on the left

I plan to check them and take photos daily and we will see how well it works.  

I understand it is “supposed” to keep fruit fresh longer  - we will see! 

I heard about these a couple years ago but it was about $32 on Amazon.  I did put it on my Amazon wish list. 

I checked my list last week and the banana box was $13 then so I thought I’d give it a shot.  

And putting things in your cart or wish list (but not purchasing them immediately) at many online sellers can be a money saver.  The sellers want to sell and if you check the price after a few days,  it’s quite possible the price may drop.  

❤️Rhonda 

February 10- the past few days

Hello everyone,  I’m afraid I didn’t make my goal to blog everyday,  I’m sorry.  

First about waffles,  Jenny asked about the mini waffle iron.  If you’re only making one or two,  I think it’s fine as  it seems to heat up hot for the first cooks but then doesn’t hold the hot temp to cook more than 2 at a good speed.  

We did enjoy the waffles.  I liked Aunt Evelyn’s recipe but if I make it again,  I will use melted butter instead of oil for taste.  This recipe has a high fat ratio and it makes a crisp, crunchy waffle.  

Sluggy  sent me a link explaining the history of the New Settlement cookbook.  I never would of guessed the actual story of it.  If you like to read about history of American Immigrants,  you may like this article - I sure did! 

very interesting history of the New Settlement Cookbook

thank you Sluggy 😀 

And speaking of Sluggy,  she has giveaways on her blog often and she has another one that  she just started.  I won one of her giveaways several years and it was so nice.  

So go enter.  There are much better odds of winning at 

Sluggy’s Giveaway

than a lottery or Publishers Clearing house 

3 of the grands were here last week and some of the things we did were .........

  

One boy wanted to do a jigsaw puzzle and one boy wanted a bath bomb (and I just happened to have 1 bath bomb from a gift set.  I prefer showers anyway) 

We ate grilled burgers that my husband and granddaughter cooked.  She was very pleased she got to flip the burgers.  

They also did schoolwork, played Legos, played with Ducky, watched TV and played some games on devices.

And the 2 boys wrestled 😐

This week,  like most of North America,  we are dealing with ridiculously cold weather 

  

We’ve already had ice and now we have snow coming.  And it “may” warm up to above freezing temperatures next week on Friday 

Yesterday I did some cold weather cooking 

I made Chicken and Noodles/Dumplings - the recipe is called dumplings but I roll the dough out thin and cut it like noodles.  I also like to make them in the morning and let them dry all day. 

I got this recipe around 1988 or so from another Marine wife.  And I think she got it from her grandmother.  

  

I cooked the chicken in a crockpot with carrot, onion, celery, thyme and sage 

When it was done,  I wanted to cool the broth and remove the chicken fat so I just strained the broth and  set it outside in the 19 degree weather.  

In a couple hours,  the chicken fat was on the top of the broth and  easy to remove 

See the frozen grass? It almost looks like our light brown carpet.  

I also made vegetable beef soup with these veggies and leftover roast beef 

Both dishes tasted so good and we will eat them over several days and there was plenty to share too 

Today, I finally tackled my baking cabinet.  It’s been on my list for weeks! 

The new shelf paper I put in at the beginning of the pandemic did not hold up and those curled up edges were really bugging me 

So I pulled it all out and put down new plain white puffy shelf paper that I think will stay in place better 

Then I organized everything with a little decluttering and then put most everything back in. 

I should of taken a before photo too but trust me,  it looks much better now than it did before. 

We will just be staying home during this long, long cold spell. 

We have things stocked up and are  as prepared as we know how to. 

And I guess I’ll have time at home to do a few things I can’t do when we are out or have company.mm

Hope you all will stay safe too 

❤️ Rhonda 

February 5- waffles and a little history

Hello - no daily things to post- grandchildren have been here today and we did things but I never took a photo 

My Uncle Rex passed this cookbook to me. His wife got it from her boss when she was working in a little cafe in Enid, Oklahoma in 1946.  

I believe Aunt Cleta and Uncle Rex both used this book lots!

I don’t imagine any recipe books will ever be made with similar titles- it very un-politically correct, right?  

Inside is also a recipe from my Aunt Evelyn for waffles.  

I don’t know if the waffles Uncle Rex are holding were made from Aunt Evelyn’s recipe.  I do expect Uncle Rex ate and enjoyed them though.  

Isn’t that a funny photo?  

Grands are here and one of them asked for waffles for breakfast tomorrow so I’ll be making Aunt Evelyn’s recipe and thinking about my very special aunts and uncle while I cook.  

Our waffles will be a little smaller than Uncle Rex’s though.  

I’ll let y’all know how they turn out 

❤️Rhonda 

Below are some of the waffle recipes printed in the cookbook 

February 4

Hello everyone 

I baked a coffee cake for our breakfast from an old Betty ii9Crocker recipe. 

I think the extra handwritten measurements are when I used to make this in a bigger 13x9 pan when our children were home.  

It’s not fancy but it tastes really good and is made with very basic ingredients.  

I got all the laundry done today.  Husband worked on his seedlings and thinks he planted some too soon-  who knows?  Plants seem to do what they want to do. 

Later in the afternoon,  we picked up one grandchild.

Today was the 100th day of school (even though it’s been almost all virtual school) 

His teacher delivered a cookie to him and I’m guessing she visited all her students today too.  

And yes,  his teacher made these cookies.  

He had school lunch and breakfast today.  He didn’t remember what he ate for breakfast but he said lunch was "fish cornbread." 🤷🏻‍♀️  He didn’t like it but his brother did.  

We stopped at the new-ish salvage store near us., mostly just to browse.

My husband got a big pack of zip ties.

I got this lone pack of bias tape- I’d of bought more at this price but it was the only one 

Jackson picked out a dinosaur egg full of slime and dinosaur parts 

  

It is some very slimey slime too 

Supper was what Jackson requested 

And my husband requested 2 so he could have leftover pizza for lunches.  

That’s our day- 

❤️ Rhonda 

February 3 - out and about day

Hello everyone 

It was a busy morning as I picked up our Walmart grocery order, then I had a quick medical appointment and then I picked up my parents Walmart order and delivered it to them.  

At home, I did a quick organizing job on the freezer part of our refrigerator 

Before on the left and after on the right 

   

It only took 10 minutes and I now know exactly what is in there and if I pull something out,  there won’t be an avalanche 

We had smothered cube steak over baked potatoes for lunch 

In the afternoon, I made a big salad and a sandwich toppings box - both normal things around here 

I rarely answer phone calls from numbers I don't recognize but years ago,  I got a call from the University of Oklahoma and I answered it because my brother works there.  (He never calls me on a work phone but I still answered it.). It wasn’t him but it was a student asking me to do surveys for one of the science departments at the university.  

I said Yes and I’ve been doing a 10 minute survey about the weather for them,  every 3 months and then they mail me a $10 Walmart gift card.  

This has been going on a long time, it seems like that 12 year old grandson was here and just a toddler when I took that first phone call.  

I’ve only talked on the phone with them 1 time and all the surveys come by email.  

Not sure, but I’m guessing I’ve earned about $400 total doing very short surveys for 10 years or so.  

In general,  I’m not a fan of telephone calls that want something or of surveys but I’m glad I answered that call and said yes all those years ago.  

My husband had a late afternoon medical appointment and should be home any minute.  

So I’m watching Aurora Teagarden on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries while I wait.  

Supper will be salad and leftovers of choice. 

And that’s all the excitement from our home today.  

❤️  Rhonda