We are heading into the time of when there are county fairs scheduled all around us. One of the great things about county fairs is the number of commercial booths that are present. These guys are doing everything they can to get you to sign up for their business. Some will give away measuring spoons, measuring cups, pens, yard sticks, funeral fans, and all sorts of promotional products so that their name is seen by you every time you use the items.

For me, it’s a great time to stock up on items like this plus pencils, crayons, and coloring books that I can give to my grandkids. Sometimes, I sign up for the free raffles in the hopes of winning something nicer. One year I won ant treatment for my house from one of the local bug guys. Yeah, that’s not “nice” but it did come in handy, as I had a huge ant problem anyway!

Naturally, I also enjoy looking at all the wonderful, home canned foods and dried herbs and fruits. Women around here invest a lot of time into getting their produce canned just so, and they love winning prizes at the county fair. I used to do a lot of that myself, so I know!

Technorati Tags: county fair, commercial booths, raffles

Tortillas just aren’t that hard to make and you can have fresh, tender ones for your meal in fairly short order. I use a little tortilla press to flatten them, but you can use your hands or a rolling pin.

Home Made Tortillas

Ingredients

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 3 to 4 tablespoons oil, shortening, or lard
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Warm water

Method

Stir salt into flour. Cut fat into flour, as you would for biscuits. Add warm water, a little at a time, until you have a very stiff dough. Knead four or five turns, then let rest, covered. Divide dough into 12 portions. Roll or press each portion very thin on a well-floured surface. Dust off excess flour before you cook them.

Cook in a flat iron skillet or electric skillet until first side is golden. Flip, and cook the other side. Don’t use oil or any other fat in the pan. The tortillas won’t stick and they’ll come out soft and pliable.

Use them as you would any commercial tortillas. Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: Tortillas, tortilla press, iron skillet, electric skillet

I am in no way a body builder, but there are some proteins and naturally occurring legal steroids in the foods we eat which help our bodies to gain and maintain strength. After all, steroids are, simply put, hormones and can be ingested even when eating plant products. In fact, steroids are quite common in plant based foods.

Various types of steroids benefit the body in various ways, from assisting the liver function to building muscle tissue.

For our supper tonight, we’ll be having refried beans, rice, homemade tortillas, and mushrooms. I’ll serve it all separately and we can combine it any way we want. I’ll also make a small batch of homemade nacho cheese dip. Altogether, we’ll get lots of nutrients and since I’m doing the cooking, fats will be limited.

Yes, I’ll share recipes in future posts.

Technorati Tags: proteins, steroids, nutrients

I have been trying to use up what’s in my freezer to make meals, and some of them have turned out..um..odd. However, they have been tasty and hearty, nonetheless.

For instance, a couple of days ago Son used a large can of pork and beans (always Showboat brand because they are always tender and tasty), added some smoked sausage from the freezer that he had cut into chunks, and simmered that about 30 minutes. He made homemade macaroni and cheese to go with it. I fixed a batch of homemade biscuits and we sliced a fresh, ripe, locally grown tomato as a side.

Last night, we got spaghetti sauce out of the freezer to which we had already added cubed, cooked chicken for a previous meal. We cooked up some spaghetti and fried the remainder of a package of frozen corn that was in the freezer. We toasted hamburger buns that were in the freezer and used those for our bread for the spaghetti supper.

I would like to get the freezer pretty well empty of meat and veggies so that I can start fresh on shopping and know that I’ve used up what I had instead of letting it get old and freezer burned. This is good for the grocery budget.

Technorati Tags: freezer, pork and beans, Showboat, grocery budget

Yesterday, on the way home from work, I stopped at the side of the road where a man was selling Arkansas produce. He had tomatoes, cantaloupes, watermelons, and peaches. My mood was for the tomatoes, which is why I stopped, but when I got out of my car the heavenly aroma of those cantaloupes was filling the air.

They were all huge, though. I mean, the size of basketballs! Son doesn’t care for cantaloupe and I didn’t want one that would go to waste if I couldn’t eat it all. So, I asked if he had a small one. He looked through what he had and found one that probably still weighed around 8 or 9 pounds, but it was the smallest one he had. He said, “Here’s a ‘baby’ one compared to the others.” I chuckled, and I bought it.

When I got it home, I cut into it. It was so ripe and juicy that the knife nearly just fell through it. I scraped the seeds out of one half, and sliced that into wedges, some of which I ate right away. Yum!

I had the other part of the wedges for breakfast this morning. Again, Yum! Cantaloupe is so delicious when it’s locally grown and fully ripe like this one is. Nothing you get at the supermarket can compare. Mostly, those are picked only partially ripened, but they never achieve this level of juiciness and soft flesh. They are like eating green ones that simply turned an orange color, and they tend to be tough - almost crunchy.

When you’re shopping for cantaloupe, though, you should be looking for a few things. One is that you can smell it through the rind. Another is that if you press your thumb into the stem end, you feel a give - like a sponginess - to that spot. If you don’t get the aroma and the stem end is hard, the melon is not ripe and will likely never ripen before it rots on your counter.

Some things just need to be eaten while they are “in season”, instead of eaten year ’round. Since there are always some kind of seasonal fruits and vegetables to be had, there is no reason why you can’t have a balanced diet with plenty of variety at any time of the year. You just won’t have the same things all year long.

Technorati Tags: produce, cantaloupes

Once I get my digital camera back from Younger Daughter, I’m going to see if I can set up a sort of photography studio in the kitchen. Not for taking pictures of people. For taking pictures of food. Food on plates. Food in pans. Raw food. I really want to learn to take beautiful food pictures and have them on my blog a lot more often. I think pictures whet the appetite when recipes are being discussed, don’t you?

I’ve looked around at small, portable “studios” and they seem like a pretty simple set up. A roomy box with a black or deep, navy blue lining. A nice compact flash that concentrates the light on the subject, or bounces it for a different effect.

Something like this would also work for other pictures I want to take, such as when I’m selling items on eBay. But mainly, I want to have beautiful dishes on my blog.

Technorati Tags: digital camera, photography, food

This morning at work, I decided to get some hotcakes and sausage. I told a crew member that I just wanted something I could eat with a fork. He chuckled, but I do grow tired of having meals that have to be unwrapped or unboxed before I can eat them.

When I got home, I still had that “eat it with a fork” feeling. So, even though I was really tired, son and I cooked up a nice meal for our supper. He had already gotten chuck steaks out of the freezer, and I’d stopped and picked up a few items at the grocery store. We wound up having the chuck steaks, fried corn, green beans, biscuits, home made macaroni and cheese, and sliced locally grown tomatoes. It was delicious and certainly satisfied that “eat it with a fork” feeling!

Though I tried to make just enough for supper, we still wound up with some leftovers. Those will be great for lunch tomorrow and I won’t mind revisiting the meal one bit.

Have you ever had that “eat it with a fork” urge?

Technorati Tags: hotcakes and sausage, eat it with a fork, supper, leftovers

I’m really looking forward to my two days off, Monday and Tuesday. The schedule I’ve worked since becoming the general manager of our store has kept me so busy that I’ve barely had any time at home to prepare meals. It’s better than diet pills for weight loss, too, since I now find myself working even harder than before.

I think I work harder, though, not because the job demands it but because I demand it of myself. I am even more interested in our store doing well because it’s a direct reflection on me if it doesn’t. I am ever more vigilant to make sure things the customer sees are kept really clean and that their orders are perfectly done. I am also more watchful about food waste. That is, the amount of food that winds up being thrown away because it’s been held. That food has an expiration time after it’s prepared, and preparing less means less waste after the alloted time, if it’s not all sold.

I am more watchful about correct procedures, too. These are in place so the customer experience is the same at our store as it is at any store of ours across the nation. As I told one of the crew members, “You don’t have to be original or creative here. All procedures are in place and designed to give the customers exactly what they expect.”

Technorati Tags: schedule, general manager, food

What’s the first thing you do when you get home, whether from work or from an outing? The first thing I do is get a tall glass of ice water. It’s the one thing I really crave after work and after the long drive home. I probably should take bottled water with me all the time in a small cooler, but so far I haven’t.

These hot days require us all to drink more water. Since my car doesn’t have air conditioning, I am especially hot and drained when I arrive home. When you sweat, you get rid of some toxins, but you also lose some electrolytes. You also lose water, which is a vital nutrient for the human body. Drinking water will replace the moisture that has drained from your body and will give you more ability to think straight.

I usually drink plain water, but I’m thinking I should at least buy some bottled water that’s enhanced with vitamins and minerals. The Mayo Clinic offers some excellent guidelines about how much water to drink every day or during strenuous exercise. As you probably already know, the amount of intake each day depends on your gender, your health, and the level of your activity.

Technorati Tags: water, bottled water

I guess I better head to bed soon. The party kind of got me wired, even though there was nothing at the party to cause such an effect. I think I was just excited that I could have such a thing in the home I’ve moved into.

Even though this kind of a party mainly presents things like sun screen and acne treatment, to keep your skin in top condition, I enjoyed it so much that I’m sure I’m going to do it again. I love being able to invite people into my home, regardless of the reason, and I hope to become a better hostess as I go along - the kind of hostess I used to be.

I already know that parties don’t have to be lavishly appointed for everyone to have fun. And I know that the hostess doesn’t have to spend the whole party, stuck in the kitchen while her guests enjoy themselves in another room. I would, however, love to know what kind of things you serve at parties.

Technorati Tags: party, hostess