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.          

      

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.     

      

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.  😊   

Charleston Favorites in 2019

Celebrating Thanksgiving

Hi everyone!  I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving day.  I just love Thanksgiving -- everyone in our family does.  This was our first Thanksgiving without my father, and there was definitely an empty spot there for us.  In fact, we have two family members gone from us this holiday season, my father and Hal's paternal grandmother.  His granny died back in January of this year, which is so far back that it almost feels like last year.  She died just about six weeks short of her 101st birthday.  I will be forever grateful that I had these two very special people in my life for so many years.    

Frogmore Stew

Hi friends!  This year's weather has been one for the record books.  I say this because yesterday it was mostly sunny and very pleasant all day.  Our bedroom felt stuffy last night, so I opened the window a small amount to get the fresh air, and may I say I'm loving these replacement windows, as they're so easy to open and close whenever I want to.  Anyway, we were rather rudely awakened about 5:45 this morning by hail pounding on the outside of the windows.  Such a racket, and this was followed by heavy rain and intense winds for a half hour or more.  I'm just thankful that no tall trees came down on our house.   I mentioned in my previous post that we spent Easter weekend at the coast, and it was much colder there than usual for early April.  We still had fun, though.    

 

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.  

Good Food For a Good Cause

Hello friends!!  Have you had a good week?  Ours has been shorter, thanks to Monday's holiday.  The weather here has been beautiful for the past two days; I fear it is the calm before the storm.  I've been so preoccupied with my family situation that I haven't started preparing (just in case).

In spite of everything going on here, I have had the folks in Texas in my thoughts and prayers.  On this beautiful day here in North Carolina, it's heartbreaking to think of all the people whose homes have been destroyed and those who have lost loved ones because of Hurricane Harvey.  However, I'm so proud of all the Americans who've stepped up to help in so many ways -- one of the things I love best about our country!

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

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.

Apple Pudding Cake

I'm so glad to see October -- how about you?  Unfortunately, it looks like we have a hurricane headed towards the coast, but I'm loving these cooler temperatures.  I've got to get my fall wardrobe ready and change out my pocketbook.  ;)

I'm sharing a recipe with you tonight.  It was my first time to make this, and I think it turned out well.  We bought apples in the mountains this past weekend at my favorite produce stand on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  We got a bag of Rome Beauties and a bag of Golden Delicious.  I have to tell you that I've made apple pies for years with my mom's recipe, and it's a killer apple pie, if I do say so.  Everyone we serve it to loves it, and I'll be making one of those soon, too.  However, I've challenged myself to try some new apple desserts this year, so this was the first.  I would definitely make this again.

Easy Cherry Cobbler

If you read my post from yesterday, you saw that we were having chili for dinner last night.  I was extra hungry, and it tasted good to me.  However, the plans changed a little bit late in the afternoon.  I had planned to have cornbread with our chili, since that's what we usually do.  But I talked to Mr. Forest Manor on the phone before he left work, and we both decided we wanted fruit cobbler for dessert.  I felt that would be too much with cornbread, so we just had tortilla chips with our chili in order to save room for dessert.  Priorities, priorities.  ;)

Comfort Food For a Cold Night

I'm making a double batch of chili in the crock pot today.  I love to smell it cooking throughout the day.  :)