3 SIDES OF CRAZY

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Hi everyone,

I hope you had a great mother's day! I'm still on vacation and have been checking in periodically. I will diligently answer all comments when I return and follow-up on all memes. It will be fun to see it all at once! Have a great week.

Slow Cooking Thursday

Slow Cooking Thursday is hosted by Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.

I'm on vacation and will be back next week!

I do the memes: Menu Plan Monday hosted by aura at I'm an Organizing Junkie, Favorite Ingredient Friday hosted by Kathryn at Overwhelmed with Joy, Freezer Food Friday hosted by MJ at mjpuzzlemom, Scrumptious Sunday hosted by Meredith at Mercedes Rocks and Slow Cooking Thursday hosted by Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom. Doing them all make great additions to help keeping me on track and finding so new recipes!

Wordless Tuesday

Tuesday's Romance of Cookery and Housekeeping

I'm on vacation and will be back next week!

Recipe (page) adapted from 'A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband' by Louise Bennett Weaver and Helen Cowles LeCron

Monday, May 12, 2008

Monday's Musings ~ Kindness

There's a new meme in town.
My good friend Barbara would love to see you and have you join in.
She made my header and this great button to match.
She's made more buttons to choose from.
So head on Over to Candy Hearts and Paper Flowers to join the fun.

Remember the nicest thing you can do for yourself is to do something nice for someone else.
~George Burns*

*(pg 15) Highlighted in Yellow A short course in living wisely and choosing well by H. Jackson Brown Jr., author of Life's Little Instruction Book and Rochelle Pennington

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Menu Plan Monday

Monday ~ sis-in-law's choice
Tuesday ~ Train dining car
Wednesday ~ Train dining car
Thursday ~ Out ~ need to do the shopping to restock the fridge
Friday ~ Grilled BBQ chicken & Potato Salad
Saturday ~ Hamburgers & Baked Beans
Sunday ~ Chicken Marsala & Salad

Camera Critters

My Friend Misty has started a new meme.

It's taken off really well.
Who can resist critters? Come join us and have some fun.
You can get more information at Camera Critters.

I'm still on vacation so this is sis-in-law's dog, Buffy. She got her after her SWEET Daisy passed on at a very old age. Buffy started out to be a holy terror. So much so that I used to call her CUJO. Yes, that sweet looking little thing we called CUJO, PSYCHO and numerous other expletives. And no, she's not a a miniature husky, she's a shaved pomeranian. She has mellowed into a sweet little lover girl though.

Scrumptious Sunday ~ Sauerbraten & Potato Pancakes

If you'd like to play along, see other entries and share recipes please visit
Meredith at Mercedes Rocks who hosts Scrumptious Sunday

SAUERBRATEN

3 pound chuck roast
2 cups vinegar
2 cups water
2 teaspoons Wyler's beef granules or 2 tablespoons beef bouillon paste
1 medium onion, thinly sliced into rings, separated
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoons ground cloves
6-10 gingersnaps

In a medium saucepan blend all the ingredients together except the ginger snaps. Heat, but do not boil.
Pour over the roast in a tight sealed Tupperware marinader. Marinate 48-72 hours, turning twice daily.
On the 3rd day remove the roast from the marinade, drain well saving all marinade and brown* on both sides and all edges.
Put roast in roasting pan and pour marinade over top. Bake for 3 hours covered and undisturbed.
During the last 30 minutes add the gingersnaps to the liquid and allow them to soften. If you are going to want more gravy than there is liquid, add a can of beef consomme at this time.
Remove bay leaves. If you prefer you can use whole cloves (8-10) and tie those and the bay leaves into a cheesecloth bag that can be more easily removed.
Remove roast from pan and whisk in roux until desired gravy consistency is reached.

*Browning will take longer because of the vinegar in the marinade.

POTATO PANCAKES

2 cups peeled, grated & squeezed* potatoes
1 bunch green onions, minced
3/4 cups Bisquick
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg, beaten
3 tablespoons butter, melted

Sift together the Bisquick, salt, buttermilk, egg and butter until smooth. Fold in the potatoes and onions. Drop onto hot griddle and make your pancakes. Serve with applesauce and sour cream or with the Sauerbraten gravy.

*I use a flour cloth towel as my base. I grate the potatoes on top of it and then bring all the corners together like a knapsack wrapping the potatoes inside. I continue to tighten the turns until I squeezed all the moisture from the potatoes.

I do the memes: Menu Plan Monday hosted by Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie, Favorite Ingredient Friday hosted by Kathryn at Overwhelmed with Joy, Freezer Food Friday hosted by MJ at mjpuzzlemom, Scrumptious Sunday hosted by Meredith at Mercedes Rocks and Slow Cooking Thursday hosted by Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom. Doing them all make great additions to help keeping me on track and finding so new recipes!

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Photo Hunt ~ Share ANY photo~Tahquamenon Falls

This is one of my favorite photos of Tahquamenon Falls.
If you look close you can see the ice has JUST broken off
from the falls over on the left hand side.

About the PhotoHunt: A theme is given for each Saturday. Post a photo that best represents the theme. New and old photos welcome but must be from your personal collection and not photos obtained from the web. Play along once a week by posting your photo on your site.

Friday, May 09, 2008

Freezer Food Friday~Macaroni & Cheese Spicy Style

hosted by mjpuzzlemom

1 package cheese and garlic croutons, coarsely ground (2 cups ground)
2 tablespoons butter, melted
3 cups dry elbow macaroni
3 cups whole milk, room temperature
1/2 cup butter
1 small onion, minced
1/2 cup flour
2 tablespoons Frank's Hot sauce
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
4 cups extra, extra, extra sharp cheddar cheese (16 oz. block), grated

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Toss crouton crumbs with melted butter and set aside.
Prepare macaroni and drain.
In large skillet melt 1/2 cup butter.
Add onions and saute' until tender and slightly browned.
Whisk in flour until smooth.
Gradually add milk, stirring constantly until thick.
Stir in hot sauce, salt and peppers.
Stir in cheese until blended.
Toss together the macaroni and 3/4 of the bread crumbs.
Stir in cheese mixture until smooth.
Pour into lightly sprayed 9x9 stoneware.
Top with remaining crumbs.
Bake 30 minutes.

We have it for dinner that night and then I put the leftovers in 1 quart freezer containers for future meals.

Favorite Ingredient Friday ~ Devil's Food Orange Cake & Orange Butter frosting

CAKE

4 medium navel oranges, room temperature
3 squares unsweetened chocolate
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
2 Jumbo eggs
1 cup whole milk
2 cups flour

Heat oven to 325 degrees.
Generously grease a Bundt pan (I like a decorative Nordicware or Wilton pan)
Squeeze oranges, saving pulp
Melt the chocolate in the microwave. Then add 1/2 cup of the sugar, the cinnamon and 1/2 cup of the orange juice, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Cool.
Mix the baking soda into 2 teaspoons of orange juice.
In a large mixing bowl cream the shortening with 1 cup sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each.
Alternate the milk and flour, sifting the flour into the cream mixture and blend until smooth.
Add the baking soda mixture and blend well.
Add the cooled chocolate mixture and blend well.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
Level pan by dropping on counter top to remove air bubbles.
Bake until springy 55-60 minutes.
Cool 10 minutes and then invert onto platter.
Cool before frosting.

FROSTING

1/2 cup butter, softened
5 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice, pulp and all
2 teaspoon orange zest

Beat butter until fluffy.
Beat in 1/2 of the powdered sugar until smooth.
Add orange juice, vanilla and orange peel. Blend until smooth.
Slowly add the remaining sugar and blend until silky.
Adjust sugar and orange juice until desired consistency and flavor is reached.

If you don't have this mess in the end,
you did it wrong!

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Slow Cooking Thursday~Tequila Chicken

Slow Cooking Thursday is hosted by Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.
TEQUILA CHICKEN

1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 tablespoon honey
3/4cup margarita mix
1/4 cup tequila
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons minced garlic
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
PURE
1+ tablespoon flour*
1+ tablespoon water*

In a small bowl whisk together the oil, honey, margarita mix, tequila and seasonings until well blended.
Poke each chicken breast several times with a fork.
Lightly spray slow cooker with PURE.
Put chicken in bottom of slow cooker.
Pour the tequila mixture over chicken breasts.
Cover and cook 5-6 hours on low.
When chicken is tender, remove it from the slow cooker and keep warm
Whisk together the flour and water until well blended.
Turn heat to high on slow cooker.
Whisk in the flour mixture and cook uncovered 10 minutes until thickens.
Serve chicken with tortillas.
Pour sauce over top and garnish with limes.

*Adjust as necessary for desired thickness.

I do the memes: Menu Plan Monday hosted by aura at I'm an Organizing Junkie, Favorite Ingredient Friday hosted by Kathryn at Overwhelmed with Joy, Freezer Food Friday hosted by MJ at mjpuzzlemom, Scrumptious Sunday hosted by Meredith at Mercedes Rocks and Slow Cooking Thursday hosted by Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom. Doing them all make great additions to help keeping me on track and finding so new recipes!

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Wordless Tuesday

WILD TURKEY

Tuesday's Romance of Cookery and Housekeeping ~ Crab Cocktail

Crab Cocktail

1 cup crab meat
1 cup celery, finely chopped
1 hard boiled egg, diced
3 large sweet pickles, chopped
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
2-3 sprinkles Frank's red hot sauce
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1-3 to 1/2 cup mayonnaise

Flake the crab into small pieces.
Toss crab, celery, egg, pickles in a large bowl.
Sprinkle seasonings over crab mixture.
Fold in mayonnaise to desired consistency and mix well.
Chill overnight.
Serve on a lettuce leaf and garnish with a sprinkle of paprika and a lemon slice.

Adapted from the recipe on page 459 as adapted from 'A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband' by Louise Bennett Weaver and Helen Cowles LeCron

Monday, May 05, 2008

Monday's Musings ~ Kindness

There's a new meme in town.
My good friend Barbara would love to see you and have you join in.
She's made buttons to choose from.
So head on Over to Candy Hearts and Paper Flowers to join the fun.

Never underestimate the power of a kind word or deed. It takes so little to make people happy - just a touch, if we know how to give it, just a word fitly spoken, or a slight readjustment of some bolt or pin or bearing in the delicate machinery of a human soul.
~Frank Crane*

*(pg 8) Highlighted in Yellow A short course in living wisely and choosing well by H. Jackson Brown Jr., author of Life's Little Instruction Book and Rochelle Pennington

Sunday, May 04, 2008

I LOVE YOU THIS MUCH...

Joy @ JOY of DESSERTS gave me this great award with the task of passing it on to 10 other bloggers. That makes it quite difficult to choose since there are so many great ladies out there that I try to keep up with.

So, with no further ADO and in no particular order, here's 1/2 my list to start with:

Barbara over at Candy Hearts and Paper Flowers has become a close friend via our blogs and has helped through many a 'techinical' issue of late. We have many similar likes, beliefs and values and I love chatting with her ~ sometimes into the wee hours of the morning. She also maintains the blog Kitchen Comforts with lots of great recipes! She also hosts a new meme, Monday's Musings that is full of fun quotes.
Kathryn over at Overwhelmed with Joy hosts one of my favorite memes, Favorite Ingredient Friday where we share a multitude of recipes. She has an awesome look on life and is a great caring foster mom with a full plate, but always time for everyone. She also host Pay It Forward, a book exchange.
Misty Dawn at Misty's Words is becoming an awesome photographer and is also hosting a new Meme, Camera Critters. It has taken off with a bang and we have many, many players. Check out some of their awesome animal pictures!
Meredith over at Mercedes Rocks is hosting 2 memes that I love. The first is Scrumtious Sunday, a themed recipe exchange and the other is Hump Day Humor, also themed. She is a lot of fun and some great ideas for teachers.
Penelope Anne, better known as Sassy Mama Bear over at the Cafe at the End of the Universe just because she makes me laugh. She has a wonderful sense of humor and does some in depth looks at local events.

Stop by and congratulate them on a job well done!

Your job ladies is to pass this award on to 10 more people and keep spreading the love!

Look for the next 1/2 of my list to come soon, but for now, I'm going back on vacation!

Saturday, May 03, 2008

Camera Critters

My Friend Misty has started a new meme. Who can resist critters?

Come join us and have some fun.
You can get more information at Camera Critters.

These pictures are from my sis-in-law's pond. She raises hundreds of frogs in the wild every year on her property. I took these on a visit last November and I'm there now hoping to get some pictures of her other wildlife. As I sit here writing this, I have to laugh because there is a chorus of RIVETS going on behind me in approval of this post. Sis-in-law even has this picture as a screen saver!

Sweet Sweet Surprise!

I signed on for a quick email check while we are preparing for our family reunion and look what I found. Joy @ Joy of Desserts left me a super sweet surprise. This is her quote that made me smile big and feel some serious heartstring tugs:

"3 Sides Of Crazy. Tamy and I seem to have a lot of little things and interests in common. She blogs about all sorts of things like cooking, her home and barn, faith and more. You won't get bored. If you enjoyed my post about the first American cookbook and antique recipes, you'll like her series on an old 1917 cookbook she found. She calls the series Tuesday's Romance of Cookery and Housekeeping. "

These are the other 9 recipients. Stop by and congratualate them. You can read what Joy had to say about them on her post.

Canela's Kitchen...Mil Postres...Culinarty...4urpets...yay pie!...

Texas Tanya...Grace Today...Erin Craig...Tad Cronn...

Now it's my turn be thoughtful & present 10 more awards.

SO, know that while I am on R&R I will have my thinking cap on!

Menu Plan Monday

We wait for this week every year! It's our annual family camp out with hubby's family. Every year it gets a little bigger and we always have at least 85-90 people show up for the week. We have to travel cross country now so some of the meals are eaten out, but after we get there all the cooking is done at the camp ground. We love cooking on the open grill.
Monday
B, L & D ~ sis-in-law's choice
Tuesday
BR ~McDonald's drive-thru (hey, it's tradition)
D ~ Steak & Salad with home made Bleu Cheese dressing
Wednesday
B ~ Streusel Coffee Cake
L ~ Salami, Cheese, Crackers and fruit
D ~ Carne Asada & Salad
Thursday
B ~ Breakfast Casserole
L ~ Cold Carne Asada, fruit and veg sticks with Bleu Cheese Dressing
D ~ Burrito Night (small pot luck where we each bring a part of the whole)
Friday
B ~ Oven Omeletes
L ~ BLT Salad
D ~ Burger Night (little bigger pot luck where we all bring a part of the whole)
Saturday
B ~ French Toast
L ~ Chicken Salad & Deviled Eggs
D ~ BIG POTLUCK (where we all bring a WHOLE something)~ Broccoli Slaw Salad
Sunday
B ~ Danish
L ~ on the road back to sis-in-law's house
D ~ OUT!

Scrumptious Sunday ~ Pies ~ Pineapple cream pie

hosted by Meredith at Mercedes Rocks

Pineapple Cream Pie

2 cups ground ginger snaps*
3 tablespoons butter, melted
40 ounces crushed pineapple, drained WELL, but save the juice
2 cups pineapple juice (juice from the pineapple plus enough water to make the 2 cups)
2 eggs beaten
4 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 + cups mini marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Finely ground the ginger snaps and mix with the melted butter.
Firmly press the ginger snap mix into a DEEP dish pie plate.
Fill the pie plate with the pineapple.
In a large saucepan whisk together the pineapple juice, beaten eggs and sugar until sugar is dissolved.
Whisk in the cornstarch until smooth.
Cook until thick, stirring constantly.
Pour over pineapple in shell.
Bake 20 minutes.
Top with marshmallows and return to oven to bake until marshmallows are golden and crispy.
Chill.

*I sometimes use a combination of ginger snaps and vanilla wafers for a less spicy effect.

Friday, May 02, 2008

Favorite Ingredient Friday & Freezer Food Friday collide with Meatloaf

hosted by Overwhelmed with Joy & mjpuzzlemom respectively

INDIVIDUAL MEAT LOAVES

2 pounds hamburger
2 bunches green onions, chopped
1 sleeve saltines, crushed
2 eggs
1/2 cup A1
1/2 cup ketchup
8 oz. shredded cheddar cheese
2 cloves garlic or 2 teaspoons minced jar garlic
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon liquid smoke

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Blend all together.
I use the mini loaf pans and fill each one 2/3.
Bake for 45 minutes or until top is crispy.
Pour off excess fat before serving.
Bake how ever many you need today and freeze the others for future meals. Thaw in refrigerator before baking.

These are truly greatest hits at our house and welcome leftovers for weekend picnic sandwiches.

Photo Hunt ~ In No Time At All

I don't know the story and am trying to locate an actual written accounting of it, but as it was told to me this county seat that sits in my town was 'stolen' during a card game between our town and a neighboring town of Iron River. Iron river claims it was to be built there before Crystal Falls stole the plans during the infamous poker card game. The bells chime on the hour and half hour still. I just love being able to hear them from my house.

Now I'm new here and as I said this is the story as it was told to me. It has not yet been verified.

Thursday, May 01, 2008

T13 #12 13 of my favorite IDIOMS

Most of these definitions were courtesy of Idiomsite.com

Mind your P's & Q's ~ It actually means, Mind your Pints and Quarts. In Pubs when people would start arguing, the bartenders would tell them to mind their own drinks... being pints n quarts!
Back To Square One ~ Meaning back to the beginning. This idiom was first heard on football radio commentaries during games. Football isn't easy to commentate on on the radio so they had the idea of splitting up the field into notational numbered squares so that listeners could be told where the ball was. Whenever the game restarted after a break it was 'back to square one'.
Jaywalk ~ Dates back to 1884 meaning an annoying or stupid person. Later evolved to mean crossing in the middle of the street because anyone who walked into traffic was not considered too smart.
Kilroy was here ~ Kilroy was actually a goods inspector for the army and that was his signature way of marking something as "inspected."
Knock Someone Down A Peg ~ This originates from the days of prohibition in the US. A peg was a measurement of alcohol and the saying has something to do with drinking games. Presumeably it was respectable to down more pegs and someone who was very proud or boasted would need knocking down a peg or two.
Loose Cannon ~ This idiom originated when ships were damaged due to unsecured cannons rolling around on deck. Today, the term can mean anything unpredictable.
Raining Cats & Dogs ~ in old England, they had hay roofs on their houses and the cats and dogs would sleep on the roof. When it rained, the roofs got slippery and the cats and dogs would slide off of the roofs. There for it was "Raining Cats and Dogs" or possibly it stems from the Norse Mythology. Cats were believed to represent the wind and dogs represented rain. Different animals represented different weather and natural phenomenon.
Devil's Advocate
The word "Devil's Advocate" actually comes from Canon Law. In the Vatican, when arguments are being presented to have a person declared a saint, the Church appoints an official to find flaws in this evidence. This official is called the "Devil's Advocate" and has come to mean a person who espouses a cause just for the sake of argument.
COCK & BULL STORY In England there were many, many pubs, the most popular names of pubs being The Cock and The Bull. By the time a story had travelled along the roads, from pub to pub, Chinese Whispers had taken effect. I am not sure it doesn't even date back to Chaucer and the Inns used by travelers, where news only traveled by means of word of mouth from Inn to Inn, and unsavoury and elaborate stories abounded. The difference being, it was not just a couple of pubs in a village, but many pubs, all over the country, from town to town. I don't think merely being heard in two pubs is "enough" for a Chinese whisper to be fully "Cock and Bull" in nature. I also heard a similar story but the pubs were all along a certain road in London, not sure which. Another slant is that is means the kind of story someone gives to cover up the truth, "an elaborate Cock and Bull story".
Cup Of Joe
According to the June 2004 issue of Sea magazine (volume 96, no. 6, page 22): When Josephus Daniels became secretary of the Navy in 1913, he prohibited alcohol aboard all U.S. Navy vessels - making coffee the strongest drink that could be served on board. For that reason, sailors started referring to a mug of strong coffee as "a cup of Joe".
Three Sheets to the Wind
Refers to when someone has had too much to drink and is therefore unsteady. When I visited Nantucket Island - which has several windmills, that the operators would adjust the number of sails dependent upon how strong the winds were. One rule that they had to follow was to always keep an even number of sails (either 2 or 4), opposite each other so that the windmill remained balanced. If they ever had 3 sheets, the windmill became unbalanced and extremely wobbly and unsteady.
Who Let The Cat Out Of The Bag
The origins of this phrase come from when farmers would sell chickens at market. Most of the time they would just throw the chickens in a bag and sell them as however many were supposidly in there. But cats were cheaper than chickens so many times farmers would put a cat into the bag with the chickens and if someone suspected something they would open the bag. At that point the cat would jump out of the bag, thus giving away the secret. Eventually the duped customers would open their burlap bags revealing the cats and thus "letting the cat out of the bag". This expression is often used when the real truth has been revealed.
Scapegoat
A scapegoat is someone who gets the blame for a scandal/mistake; typically, the scapegoat is either completely innocent, or at least is only one of many guilty people. This originates from the Old Testament of the Bible, in which a goat was sent into the wilderness for the sins of its owner. Lev 16:10: "But the goat on which the lot for the scapegoat fell shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make atonement upon it, to send it into the wilderness as a scapegoat."