Sunday, July 3, 2011

Food, Glorious Food

We've shared some yummy food with each other over the years. It's always fun to see what's going to show up at our semi-annual potluck dinners. Remember the time when everyone brought dessert?
But we've never spent a whole evening on food before--until last week.
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Hermana brought:
SHRIMP NEWBURG
1 Tbps. butter
2 Tbps. green onions brown in butter
1 can small shrimp, drained
1 can shrimp Campbell’s soup
Warm together.  Just before serving,  add 1 cup sour cream and 1-2 cups peas.  Dilute with milk, if needed.
Pour over patty shells or over rice.
(You can substitute medium to large shrimp, if desired.)

She brought two old cookbooks . . . .


and some family cookbooks.
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Jade brought:
7th Day Adventist Cookbook
Old Alaska cookbook
2nd great grandma Gunderson (1894)


From My Grandma Gunderson who just celebrated her 92nd birthday last week. This recipe was from her Grandma who made the potato starch from soaking potatoes and straining the starch water, then drying it and collecting the starch. Way easier to go to The Good Earth.

STARCH CAKE

*Preheat oven to 400 (but follow temperature guide below during baking)

8 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup potato starch (I bought mine at the good earth)
3/4 tsp cream of tarter

Separate eggs, beat whites until stiff, then mix in the cream of tarter. In a large bowl, beat yolks with sugar until creamy. Fold the potato starch into the yolk/sugar mixture. Finally, fold egg whites into the batter. Grease a tube pan generously (but leave the tube ungreased).

Bake at 400 for 10 minutes
then turn the oven to 375 for 15 minutes
then to 350 for another 15 minutes,
then down to 300 for the final 25 minutes

Total time in oven 65 minutes. When done, run a sharp knife around outsidge edge of pan. Turn onto brown paper bag and let cool.

Serve with fruit and whipped cream.
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Queenie likes these cooking magazines:



MICROWAVE APPLE CRISP


6-8 Medium tart apples, peeled and sliced (8 cups)
3/4 cup packed brown sugar, divided
1/2 cup flour, divided
3/4 cup quick-cooking oats (I use regular)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup cold butter or margarine


Toss apples with 1/4 cup brown sugar and 2 T flour; place in a greased 8" microwave-safe deep-dish pie plate (I use 9-10").  In a bowl, combine oats, cinnamon, and remaining brown sugar and flour.  Cut in butter until crumble; springkle over apple mixture.  Cover with waced paper.  Microwave on high for 10-12 minutes or until the apples are tender. Yield: 8 servings.
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Juicy brought:


+ Ward and Family Cookbooks
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Jeeves brought:

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Moab brought:


She likes 101 Things To Do With . . . . cookbooks. I don't know if she likes these particular ones, however.

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Apple likes the Lion House cookbooks.
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Shulamit, one of our original members, returned after many years and brought:



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Legacy brought:

BUTTERSCOTCH BUNDT ROLLS
Also known as Sticky buns!

18 frozen dinner rolls
1 (3-ounce) package butterscotch pudding (not instant)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup melted butter

Arrange frozen rolls in a greased bundt pan. Sprinkle pudding, brown sugar, and pecans over rolls.  Drizzle butter over all. Cover bundt pan with a dishtowel, plastic wrap, or waxed paper and let rise at room temperature overnight, or about 12 hours.  Remove distowel. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.  Cool 5 to 10 minutes before inverting to a serving plate. Serve warm. Makes 18 rolls

P.S.  Don't be tempted to add more than 18 rolls or they will run over the pan like Legacy's did!


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Two of my favorite cookbooks:

The authors of Our Best Bites also have a popular blog by the same name. Check it out {here}. One of the authors served a mission to Brazil and she has some Brazilian recipes that I love. Check out the easy cheese rolls (also known as pao de queijo) {here}. It's great for people who have gluten intolerance because there is no wheat flour. It's made with tapioca flour instead.


I watch The Food Nanny on byutv and she inspires me to put love into my cooking.
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Bountiful Baskets is a food co-op that was recommended. You can order a basket of fresh produce and pick it up on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m. Check it out {here}.


If you are interested in starting your own co-op, learn about it {here}.


Bon Appetit, Interrupters!

Monday, May 16, 2011

Byrd Baylor

Byrd Baylor is 87 years old. She has written 30 or so books, four of which have received Caldecott Honor Awards. Her books are her love letter to the desert she loves. She is currently working on a book of personal essays about her unusual life.


Her name, Byrd, is her mother's maiden name. The family descended from General Byrd. She also descends from the founder of Baylor University.


She lives in a solar-powered adobe house 50 miles south of Tucson, Arizon. She has a generator for the little electricity she uses and she types on a manual typewriter. She gets her news from a portable radio and her friends drop off newspapers at a cafe six miles away.
Read articles about her in the Arizona Daily Star [ here ] and the Arizona Public Media [ here ].

Listen to an interview with Byrd Baylor [ here ]. She reads an essay, "Good Women Who Love Bad Trucks."

Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site has some ideas on how to use her books [ here ]. 

Jeeves, Girl Wonder and her son have done a fabulous job making recordings of some of her books.
Check it out!


I'm In Charge of Celebrations by Byrd Baylor
Listen to the recording by Jeeves [ here ].

Before You Came This Way by Byrd Baylor
Listen to the recording by Jeeves [ here ].

If You Are a Hunter of Fossils by Byrd Baylor
Listen to the recording by Girl Wonder's son [ here ].

The Desert is Theirs by Byrd Baylor
Listen to the recording by Girl Wonder [ here ].

The Way to Start a Day by Byrd Baylor
Listen to the recording by Girl Wonder [ here ].

Your Own Best Secret Place by Byrd Baylor
Listen to the recording by Girl Wonder and her son [ here ].

The Other Way to Listen by Byrd Baylor
Listen to the recording by Jeeves [ here ].

Monday, May 9, 2011

Our Visit to Rwanda

For our discussion on The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba, Girl Wonder welcomed us with African bookmarks that she had made . . .

and treated us to luscious fruit and cream . . . 
Girl Wonder says:
The whipped cream is shelf stable whipping cream purchase at Gossner's Cheese Factory in Logan, UT. They also have shelf stable milk. One problem about shelf stable milk and cream is that has only has a 7 or 8 month shelf life... It tastes wonderful, but doesn't store for long periodsl. It is really great for camping and when you run out of milk and it's Saturday night."

and sweet potato cookies.
Cake Mix Recipe
1 yellow cake mix
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
Optional: 1/2 cup of sweet potato, or oatmeal, coconut, etc.
Mix everything together. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes exactly. Allow cookies to set up as they need to finish cooking on the cookie sheet.

Here are the links that were shared:

Moab's link to article about baptism for dead controversy [here].
Sereia's link to the Washington Post article about The Book of Mormon musical [here].

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

The Help Movie

Watch the first trailer for The Help, which arrives in theaters in August 2011, { here }.


And if you're interested in some behind-the-scenes info . . . .


Watch this:

Monday, April 18, 2011

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

Amazing what a boy, a library book, and some ingenuity can achieve.




At nineteen, William's English was limited.


Four years later, William's English is good enough to jest with Jon.

William with Bryan Mealer

In 1996, the fighting in Rwanda spilled over the Congolese border, sparking a conflict that would eventually claim more lives than any other since the Second World War. Based on Mealer’s three years in Congo, All Things Must Fight to Live is an unforgettable tour through the aftermath of war and colonialism, in a country that is still the site of the greatest humanitarian catastrophe on earth. It is nonfiction at its finest: harrowing, gorgeous, and in the end redemptive.

Monday, April 4, 2011

When Crickets Cry is a book with heart

about hearts.

We all enjoyed it.

For some of us, it was in spite of the contrived plot and excessive metaphors.

Thanks, Legacy, for a great discussion and for the yummy cheesecake.


Who knew that so many of us had heart problems?
Hermana is one of those, and she confessed that she lied on her mission application. She also made sure we all knew what to do in case we found her passed out on the street. Nothing! And she shared a dishwashing secret she received from her repairman.

One half teaspoon of Spa Down will make the dishes sparkle.

It's available here:
Clear Springs Pool and Spa
235 South State St.
Orem, UT 84058
(801) 226-3950


Several shared movies they enjoyed on heart transplants:



Tower recommended a restaurant in Salt Lake City, especially the stroganoff.


Copper Onion
111 E. Broadway, Ste. 170
801-355-3282

Beau Cheveaux recommended some French movies:



These two need to be watched together:


They are available at Orem Library and Netflix.