An Apple Orchard and Apple Fritter Bread

The month of October is off to a beautiful start, wouldn't you agree?  In my previous post, I wrote about our little getaway to Hendersonville, in the North Carolina mountains.  On the day we headed home, we got an early start after breakfast and made our way to Grandad's Apples.  This was the first time we had ever visited an apple orchard; we've always just stopped at produce stands along the Blue Ridge Parkway in the fall to get our fresh apples.     

Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream

Hi everyone!  Are you ready for the weekend?  Week before last, I made some homemade chocolate ice cream.  We purchased a Cuisinart ice cream maker about six years ago, but we haven't used it a lot.  We used it the first summer we had it, but after that we kind of forgot about it.  We probably wouldn't have bought one at all, except that my mom got one, and she really liked it.  She used it a lot before my dad passed away, but she hasn't used it much since.  He really loved homemade ice cream, and he was the official ice cream churner (before the electric ones came along).  However, he got too weak to use the ice cream maker before he died, so my mom got the Cuisinart.        

   

Hello Spring and a Recipe

Our first few days of spring have been cold ones -- 26° F yesterday morning and only in the 40's throughout the day.  Brrrr!  Things are looking green and flowers are blooming, but it's still cold.  However, if our weather forecast is to be believed, the temps. will reach 80° on Friday.  Seriously?!  Yesterday, while talking with my mom, I reminded her it was the first day of spring, and "Friday is the first day of summer," I said.  😁  Welcome to North Carolina.   
Did you have a fun St. Patrick's Day?  We ate at Hal's parents' house on Friday evening; we had corned beef and cabbage with potatoes and carrots, rye bread, and an Irish apple cake I made for dessert.  Have you seen this recipe?  It's all over the internet, and I finally decided to try it.  I'm sharing the recipe with you, and if you like apples, it would be good any time of the year, not just for St. Patrick's Day.   

Creamy Potato Soup

Hello Friends!!  Happy first day of February!  I appreciate your kind comments on my last post; they are always a joy to read.  I feel bad that I'm not getting to visit with you more outside the blog.  I really hate that Blogger no longer delivers e-mails with comments; it was so easy to reply to those if I wanted to have more of a conversation with people.     

      

Summer Berry Trifle

Hi all!  How was your weekend?  We are well and truly into summer now, yes?  Hal and I walked Duncan yesterday evening around 8:00, and the air was still very hot and heavy.  It's more difficult to breathe in that kind of weather, and I tire more easily.  I'm always thankful for central air conditioning this time of the year.     I hope you had a good Fourth of July; ours was very relaxing.  Last night, we had a no-fuss meal of grilled hot dogs with sides and some leftover dessert from my mom's cookout on Saturday.  My mom made a chocolate sheet cake, and I made a trifle.  The trifle is what I'm writing about today.          

      

Strawberry Cream Pie

Hello again all!  How has your week been?  Ours has been busy, but overall good.  Work continues on the house; we've selected a front door, and now we're looking at front porch light fixtures.  We've also had two tree people by here this week to talk about taking down several big trees.   

      

June and Strawberry Shortcake

Hi everyone -- I'm glad you're here!  Can you believe it's June?  We're almost halfway through another year.  My Grandma once told me that the older you get, the faster time flies -- she was so right.  Did you have a nice weekend?  We did; I wanted to write a post for Memorial Day but just didn't get around to it.  We've been awfully busy for the past week now.  The work has begun on our house, and I hope to have some pictures for you soon.       My mom kindly got me some fresh strawberries on Saturday.  She lives a couple of miles from a strawberry patch, and most years she pays them a visit (or two).  :)  These were very pretty berries, and I appreciate her getting them for me.  My mom buys the already picked strawberries, although you can pick your own there if you prefer.          

      

Melt-In-Your-Mouth Chicken Pie

Hello My Dears!  How are you?  I'm sharing a recipe with you today; it's been awhile since I've done a recipe post.  Do you like chicken pie?  If you're a vegetarian, I realize that question is moot, but if you eat meat, you might like this dish.  First of all let me say that I ate my share of Swanson frozen pot pies (always chicken, never beef) when I was in college, and I certainly don't miss those.  But there is something about that combination of chicken pieces, vegetables, gravy, and pastry crust that has always appealed to me.  Just basic comfort food, I suppose.     After I married, we moved away (not far though) for about eight years, but we saw our families often, especially after our son was born.  Hal's paternal grandmother kept us supplied for years with her homemade chicken pies; sometimes we had four or five in the freezer at a time.  They were so convenient to pull out and pop in the oven for an easy and tasty home-cooked meal.  Fix some vegetables on the side, and sometimes bread, and you have a good meal, winter or summer.  Granny and her sister made many a chicken pie with the United Methodist Women's group at their church over the years.  Granny used to make extras for her family and she put lots of chicken in those.  These ladies made their own pie crust from scratch, and it was awesome.  So flaky and tender; I will always remember those pies.     

      

Recipes For Thanksgiving

Hello friends.  Have you done your food shopping for next Thursday yet?  I realize that there will be smaller groups at all of our tables this year, but I assume that a lot of folks (in the U.S.) will still be cooking some sort of Thanksgiving meal.  Here are some recipes that we like to have at our Thanksgiving table, and I bet you have some very similar ones at your house.   

   

Quick and Easy Chocolate Pudding

Raise your hand if you like chocolate pudding.  😁  Maybe I should just ask who doesn't like chocolate pudding.  We love it at our house.  Oh, and just to clarify for folks across the pond, I'm referring to pudding as it is used in North America -- a custard served for dessert.  A few years ago, I came across a recipe for microwave pudding, and it caught my interest.  I ended up combining parts of two recipes I found online, and I've used this one with good results.               

            

French Toast For Dinner

When I was growing up, my mom used to make breakfast for dinner now and then.  As an adult, I've always liked breakfast for dinner, and since the shelter-in-place order, we've had eggs more often than usual.  For the first week, fresh meat was hard to find at our store, and we happened to have plenty of eggs on hand, so there you go.  😉  We do try not to overdo though, because we both have to be careful of our cholesterol.  We just got a package of 24 eggs from Costco, so last night Mr. Forest Manor made us Egg McMuffins.  He makes good Egg McMuffins because he worked at McDonald's one summer when he was in college.  😊   

Grilled Pork Tenderloin For Summer

Hello all!  I hope you had a happy and festive Fourth of July celebrating the birth of our country.  Ours was very quiet, and that suited us fine.  Hal was on vacation from Saturday through Wednesday, and we stayed on the go.  Last night after dinner, we watched the Fourth of July celebration at the White House and then watched Captain America.  😎  I'm not much of a Marvel Comics person, but I'd never seen this, and it was fun to watch.    Today, I'm sharing a recipe that comes from my mother-in-law; it's a summertime favorite at their house.    

Simple Banana Bread

Hi everyone!!  I can't believe I haven't posted in over three weeks!  Life just seems to get busier and busier, and you probably all know that the longer we go without blogging, the harder it is to get back in the groove.  I've missed you all, though, and I've missed my humble little blog.     Today I'm sharing a recipe for banana bread.  This recipe is oh, so simple and really quite good.  My hubby came home from work while it was still baking and remarked, "That banana bread smells really good!"  It did smell incredible, folks.  I used to make banana bread a lot when our son was growing up, but I don't remember it ever smelling this good.  Most cooks seem to have a recipe for banana bread in their files, but I still recommend you give this one a try.  It doesn't call for anything fancy like chocolate chips, cream cheese, or sour cream, no streusel, or glaze for the top -- just the basics. I found the recipe here at Simply Recipes, a website with some very good-looking recipes.    

Beef and Guinness Stew

Hi folks!  Winter just refuses to leave this year.  We've had snow today here in North Carolina -- how about you?  It looked like Spring yesterday when I walked Duncan at lunchtime.  There were daffodils blooming and Bradford Pears and Japanese Cherry trees in our neighbors' yards, but it didn't feel like Spring.  Hal and I were out yesterday evening, and one of the coldest winds I've ever encountered was blowing straight through our clothing.  Brrrr!   It's supposed to be cold here the rest of the week, with more chances of snow, so I thought I'd share this recipe with you for some good comfort food. I made Beef and Guinness stew this weekend for St. Paddy's Day, and I think it was a hit.  It was my first time to make this, although I have eaten it before.  We used to have an Irish restaurant in the next town over, and the owner had immigrated here from Ireland.  We found her food to be more authentically Irish than a lot of the Irish pubs around here.  

My Great-Aunt Mattie's Chocolate Pie

  I recently shared a recipe here for Minny's Chocolate Pie, from the movie, "The Help."  I've made that pie three times, and we really like it.  It's easy and it's very tasty.  Today I'm sharing a family recipe that we enjoy every year at my parent's house on Thanksgiving.  It's my great-aunt Mattie's chocolate pie, and our family just loves it.      

A Chocolate Pie Recipe

Hi folks!  Boy have we had some snow!  It sure has been pretty.  We just had a power blink, though, and I hope we don't have any more of those.

A few weeks ago, I shared a picture of the pie and the deviled eggs I made to take to Thanksgiving lunch at my in-laws' house.

Thanksgiving 2017

Hello there.  Are you watching football and/or dozing on the sofa?  I'm as full as a tick, and I'd love to be snoozing on the sofa right now while the hubs watches football.  😴 

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with lots of good food and family time.  We had a very enjoyable day, and I ate way too much.  I do love all the foods of Thanksgiving.  My mother-in-law had turkey, dressing, gravy, cranberry salad, green beans, corn, sweet potatoes, yeast rolls, and pumpkin pie.  I made deviled eggs and a chocolate pie to contribute to the feast, and I think my husband's brother and his wife made brownies.  I don't think anyone left the table hungry.  😉

Fruit Dip and Punch -- Two Easy Recipes

Hi everyone!  If you read my post yesterday about the bridal shower, I promised to share some recipes with you throughout this week.  Today, I'll share two very easy recipes that are good for summer gatherings.

Fruit Dip

Simple Pork Chops

Guess what we had for dinner tonight?  If you guessed pork chops, you're right!  ;)  This is not a pretty, nor fancy, recipe so I'm just calling it simple pork chops.  There may not be a soul out there who hasn't already seen this recipe, but anyway, here you go.

A Snow Day and Hungry Jack Casserole

I just love a good, old-fashioned snow.  I especially love it when it falls on or near the weekend and I've had time to stock up on food and something to read.  :)  There's just nothing more cozy than being inside where it's warm and watching the snowflakes falling outside the window.  I totally understand that in some areas, people get so much snow every winter that they're quickly sick of it; I would be too.  But we don't get a lot here in North Carolina; I don't think we even had a big snow at all last year.