Fry Party

About 4 months ago, we thought we needed a deep fryer so we bought a small one at Walmart. It works great though we don't use it much.
Our children all thought a deep fryer was a great idea and it became quite a conversation piece while it sat on the kitchen counter.
So, they decided we should have a fry party and make home versions of some of the crazy popular fried foods served at fairs.
We finally had that fry party this weekend to celebrate Jeff's July birthday and John's brand new Masters degree.

Sorry no pictures, fried food just looks brown and I was pretty busy with the 9 adults and 2 toddlers here.

The new recipes we tried are very worth recommending.

First we started out with

fried mushrooms
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/deep-fried-mushrooms/detail.aspx

fried green beans
http://www.mommyskitchen.net/2011/07/crispy-fried-green-beans-wzesty-dipping.html

and corn dogs made with little smokies sausages
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/corn-dogs/detail.aspx

all 3 of these recipes were delicous and were gobbled up fast. I did not make any special dipping sauces, though they would of been good, we like mustard, ketchup and barbecue sauce just fine.

Then my mother in law cooked chicken tenders.

Next, were my favorite of the day
Onion Strings - the recipe calls for red onions but I used sweet yellow onions and they could not of been better.
http://www.macheesmo.com/2011/07/red-onion-strings/

Then we tried some fried cheese
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/fried-mozzarella-cheese-sticks/detail.aspx
We used string cheese and Cowboy cheese. Both were very good.
This breading recipe makes enough for many sticks of cheese though, we fried about 15 sticks and had more than half of the coating left.

Not that we needed any, but we had fried dessert next.
First John fried Oreos dipped in leftover waffle batter. I was not expecting to like them, I mean how can you improve Oreos? Much to my surprise, deep fried Oreos are great.
He also fried some frozen mini Snickers - they fell apart - and frozen mini Milky Ways. I hear they were yummy but I did not try them.

The frying took almost 2 hours from start to finish and several of us took turns breading and watching the fryer. It was a fun and informal way to have an unusual meal.

We had also talked about having fried pickles, jalapeno poppers, french fries, doughnuts, corn fritters and chimichangas but we would of been cooking and eating till nightfall if we had cooked them too.
I expect we will do a fry party again, maybe in a year. It was delicious and fun, but not a meal any of us want or need to eat too often.

If you just want to try one of these recipes - and they are all good - the onion strings were the hands down favorite.

Jane Snead Samplers are available again!

This sampler is still timeless, especially with today's financial uncertainties!

All of these pretty samplers were made by mom. She has always done lots of handwork from crocheting to sewing to quilting. These embroidered samplers are some of my favorite things that she has made.

I blogged about them on my old blog http://ahomewithasmile.blogspot.com/2009/10/jane-snead-samplers.html

Since then, I have received several comments from other Jane Snead fans and stitchers that are looking for Jane Snead.

Well, this week, I got an email that made me smile!

here is the email I got from Joan

Hello -
I enjoyed the photos of the completed Jane Snead Samplers on your blog site, At Home With a Smile, which I came upon while searching the internet for some of these samplers.
I am happy to share the news that Jane Snead Samplers are back. The woman who now owns the company is a member of the original family and she has an inventory of the kits that she is now selling on eBay. Just go to eBay and enter "Jane Snead" in the search box and the items will come up. If you do not see a particular design you are looking for, you can contact the seller and she will let you know if it is available in which case she will list it on eBay. The seller is very nice to deal with. Her eBay i.d. is: planb2239
I have bought a number of the kits myself and am delighted with them.
Good luck shopping to you and the others who posted interest in the samplers on your blog(s).

So I went right over to Ebay and looked up seller planB2239

http://myworld.ebay.com/planb2239/?_trksid=p4340.l2559

Just click on the Items for Sale button to see her listings.

She is selling lots of Jane Snead samplers. They are buy it now which is my favorite way to purchase things on Ebay. She has free shipping and very reasonable prices.

So if you are would like to browse some retro samplers or want to do some stamped embroidery, you might want to take a look at Jane Snead.

I am trying to decide which one I want to order first.

Crock pot tip and more bragging about my grandbabies

I've been cooking with the crockpot this summer, it heats up the kitchen a lot less than baking things in the oven.
One of our favorite things is to cook pork loin on high until it is tender enough to shred.
At the very end, I add barbecue sauce (we like Head Country because it tastes good and is made in Oklahoma
http://www.headcountry.com/)

anyway, can you see how the inside of the crockpot, even after I cooked that roast and took out the leftovers, looks pretty clean?
My trick for easy clean up is to spray the inside with cooking spray, like Pam, before you cook.
I've been doing this for a few months and no matter what I cook, clean up is a breeze. Washing the inside is as easy as washing a dinner plate.

Little Elizabeth and her momma came for a visit today to see how Grandpa Jeff is recuperating.

They read a few books and had some fun visiting. Elizabeth is 13 months old and she loves to sit and read books. She like it when a grown-up does the reading and she also likes to sit alone and look at books by herself.

Gavin and his momma came yesterday for a short visit. Gavin had been to the doctor and was not feeling his best so I did not take any pictures. Gavin was so concerned about his Grandpa and gave Grandpa the sticker that he had just got from his doctor. Isn't that sweet?

Gavin had a dry cough and was not feeling just right, the doctor did not seem to know exactly what was wrong with him. His momma thinks he might just be too tired and that the cough could be from swimming and getting a little water in his lungs.

3 Blogs I really like

My friend Susan has 2 young sons that are getting ready to go to camp. She has such a funny story about them, I promise it will give you a happy laugh.

http://mypeacefulvalley.blogspot.com/

Terri, who some of you know as Penny Ann Poundwise, has started a new blog. She explains why she made the change in her first post.

http://inthebluehouseonthehill.blogspot.com/

Melanie has a sweet blog too. Today, she has some wonderful pictures from her yard. It is amazing how many pretty and different plants she has in a small space.

http://comfyhouse.blogspot.com/

I've known these 3 women for 10 years or more. We all became friends on a yahoogroups list about homemaking, long before blogs were so popular.

It's Hot, Jeff's Make do and Mend and an anniversary

Hello everyone from Hot Oklahoma. I just called our local time and temp message and it said it is 109 right now.

So needless to say, any outdoor housework is getting done first thing in the morning and I am staying in the house with the AC and ceiling fans on. No break in the weather is predicted until at least 12 days out either.

Oklahoma tends to have extreme weather so we are used to it and expect it.

We are praying for rain though as the lack of rain and high heat has devastated crops and livestock.

My husband had knee surgery yesterday - sort of a make do and mend -as his procedure was a scope surgery to clean out his left knee. The doctor said the damage inside Jeff's knee was not as bad as he expected so he just cleaned out the parts that were causing grinding and sewed him back up.

Jeff's surgery was at the Oklahoma City VA hospital and I cannot say enough good things about the care he got there. The news has many sad stories about Veterans who are treated badly and I think it is a shame that all VA centers are not staffed as well as the Oklahoma City VA hospital.

4 years ago this week, Nina and John got married.

This is John and Nina, about 15 months ago

Nina, their baby Elizabeth and John

just last week at Top Sail, North Carolina

Aren't they a cute family?

Happy anniversary

to my favorite daughter and favorite son in law.

John rolls his eyes when I call them that

because they are my only daughter and son in law.