Silver Turtles

We finally got the chance to try our silver turtles over the coals instead of in the oven this weekend! I did not get any pics though :( I will share that it works very well. We prepared them the same as for the oven. We built the fire up and let it die down to make good white coals. We then placed the packets on the coals. We let them cook for 20 minutes, then flipped them over and let them cook 20 minutes more. That was just about perfect. One was a little overdone. I'm guessing because it was smaller than the others. One that had a huge burger was not quite done in that amount of time. If you are very careful, you can check them when you are ready to flip them and gauge how much longer they may need. I took the foil out in case we ripped any of them, but we didn't this time. We had company and they were all amazed at how easy it was to cook outside and how yummy it turned out. Good luck!

Not Chicken Alfredo

I have entirely too many irons in the fire!! I started to make chicken alfredo for dinner and realized we didn't have any alfredo sauce. A quick look in the fridge told me we didn't have what was necessary for homemade alfredo sauce either. Well crud!!
The chicken was already thawed and on the griddle. The water was already boiling. What to do, what to do.....
Hubby is looking at me like my head is gonna fall off :) "You started this and didn't make sure we had alfredo sauce???" he asked in complete disbelief. He is the true chef in our house. I just cook food to make us not be hungry. He makes it really yummy. What we did have plenty of was spaghetti sauce. So, I put the linguine noodles away and got out the thin spaghetti noodles. It turned out quite well for an oops.

The chicken was thawed and dipped in olive oil with italian seasoning and garlic then placed on the griddle over a low/medium heat. It was very succulent and flavorful. We just plated the noodles, added some warmed spaghetti sauce and placed the chicken on top. We garnished the plate with cheesy garlic bread. Our 8 year old said the chicken was her favorite. I have a feeling we will be repeating this dinner!

Hobo Dinner 2nd Attempt

Sooo...... I wasn't completely satisfied with my first at home attempt at the hobo dinner. We tried it again last night. These are so fun to make because there is no set recipe. I expect someone out there could mess this up, but they are super easy and flexible. I also took more pics of the process. Preheat oven to 350-400 degrees. Lay out your foil and butter the center.

Then place your hamburger in the middle and season it.

This time I used Lawry's, sea salt and pepper.

I like onion flavoring, so they went on next.

Then pile on your veggies. This time I added some butter too. This variety is not nearly as health conscience as the 1st variety was. I seasoned the veggies with the sea salt and pepper (next time I think I will season a bit more heavily).

Now you pull your long edges up and start rolling them down together. Do this until it is touching, but not pulled tight (it will tear). Then fold your sides in to make a nice little bundle.

It is now ready to go in the oven for about 40 minutes. I am going to suggest putting a cookie sheet or something under them as they do drip sometimes. When the time is up, pull one out and CAREFULLY open it up. The steam is crazy hot!! Check your meat to be sure it is cooked thoroughly. Then enjoy!

The added butter did wonderful things to the potatoes!

Grandma's Love

My darling Grandmother passed away in December 2011. She was the glue of our extended family. She didn't have much in the way of money by then, so there was no will saying who got what. My cousins and I spent a very emotional afternoon taking turns picking an item from her home. We were fortunate enough to have such different interests that there was no bickering or sadness over someone else getting something we really wanted. My first pick was an old yellow bowl. It has virtually no monetary value, but holds many dear memories. As the picking continued, my pile got increasingly odd. I wanted the silverware (not real silver just the ones she used), her recipe box with hand scrawled recipes, aprons etc.
I didn't examine why I wanted what my heart kept telling me to pick at the time. It wasn't until the pain had subsided some that I was able to make any sense of it. She showed her love the most when she was cooking or baking. She was always kind and sweet natured, but while cooking for loved ones she glowed.
I have so many wonderful memories of her helping me roll out a pie crust or whipping up something delicious. Her patience never ran out. We spent many hours in the kitchen. It was so much easier to talk about your problems when your hands had something to do and your eyes had something to focus on. Many a loads were removed from my shoulders in her kitchen.
Of course, I became older and we didn't spend quite so much time together. I would still call her up and ask about a cobbler though, or how best to cook a pork roast. It gave us something to talk about when the silences would stretch. Everynow and then. I'd ask for her help in the kitchen. Her tremor made knives a no no, but she could mix and be in the thick of it.
I had my daughter in 2004. That made her a Great Grandmother (I had always knew she was GREAT, but this made it official)! As soon as Lynsay could walk, Grandma had her stirring things up! She'd let her sit on her lap and spoon feed her yummies. As Lynsay got bigger and stayed with her some while I ran errands, they made creations in the kitchen. I'd come back to find "milkshakes" of questionable ingredients and who knows what in the oven! She let her explore in ways I would not have ever allowed. At the time I thought the dementia was really getting to her, but now I see her wisdom.

My daughter loves to cook! We make lots of stuff together. We always use Grandma's big spoon to mix with. The yellow bowl has a prominent place on my counter along with the ugly green recipe box. Every time I pull out one of her aprons or see Lynsay rooting through the spoons looking for "THE ONE", I smile. I know we are still feeding our family with Grandma's love.

Hobo Dinner, Silver Turtle or Foil Packs

I love to camp and just recently learned the joys of Silver Turtles (as the Girl Scouts call them). They are very versatile and can be done in the oven or over hot coals. You can play with the recipe and put many different thing in your packet. I used hamburger, red potatoes, carrots, onion, salt, pepper, garlic and rosemary. Since it had rained and fire outside was unlikely, I tried it in the oven. The results were delicious! Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Lay out about a foot and a half of foil and butter the middle of the foil in a large circle. Lay your meat in the middle of the circle and pile on your veggies. Sprinkle your seasoning all over and wrap it up. The thicker aluminum foil works best. The light weight can tear. If that happens, just use another piece and wrap around it again. Place them in the oven (or over hot coals) for about 35-40 minutes.

 Carefully open (steam is very hot) and check that your meat is cook thoroughly.

Yummy!! My eight year old even gobbled it up! The corn muffins went great with it.

Thin Mint Cake

Very simple recipe to turn regular chocolate cake into something extraordinary!Take 1/2 roll of Thin Mints and beat them into little pieces. Add them to cake mix once it is mixed. Stir them in and bake as per box directions. YUMMY!!

You can sprinkle the remaining 1/2 roll on the top (or just gobble them up:)

As a Girl Scout leader, we have Girl Scout cookies coming out our ears! I have made these into cakes and cupcakes. The flavor is there, but not overwhelming. Also, the outer chocolate kinda gets stuck to the bag (as you can see in the picture). I may never make a plain chocolate cake again!

Carmelized Pumpkin Seeds

We always do a few pumpkins each fall. Last year I decided we needed to do something with the seeds other that watch them grow. I looked up a few recipes and altered them to suit our preferences. These turned out DELICIOUS!!

Pull the seeds and gunk out of the pumpkins. Place seeds in a strainer and wash them off with cool water. Towel dry. Place them in large non-stick skillet (we used our wok). Turn heat on low to medium and mix continuously. When they are crunchy, turn down to low heat and sprinkle with olive oil. Put about 3 tablespoons of brown sugan in skillet and stir until dark golden brown. Add salt to taste. I loved them best while still slightly warm! Started a new tradion here :)