Hello Again World!

Hello again world! Perhaps good news in our search for a new home and property. We put in an offer on a nice one, with an 1.6 acres of pretty, fenced land to go with it and feeling very good about it. After months of searching, going, being defeated at every turn, there is some light at the end of our tunnel.

I am not even going to begin to talk much about the political climate here in the USA at this time, other than I shudder at our choices, and leave it at that.

As head cook for my Meals on Wheels group this week, I chose and we prepared that Beef Stroganoff and it was a huge hit. The other night I was doing that home search and at 1 am ( Yes, I do not sleep well, and after 20 years of working in the health field on 12 hour night shifts, I am up half the night. My mind does not shut off.) and I felt a tap on my shoulder.

No one is in the room with me,but, I suddenly realize I am supposed to be cooking for the homeless breakfast our church does every few months. I go into freak out mode, as normally I have been prepared and make some breakfast strata casseroles the night before and not only did I not do that, I had not shopped for all I would need. Breakfast is served at 9 am. Oh boy!

I quickly searched for my salvation, and found the hash brown patties in the freezer I keep on hand for these breakfasts, and I did have a lot of eggs. So, in the morning, after my 4 hour "nap", I awoke and got busy.

I made scrambled eggs and the hash browns.  Another church member brought 2 egg, cheese, and sausage casseroles, and as expected, there were muffins fruit, and all the beverages we normally have. There is always peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for them to take with them, bottled water, and cans of food they can eat at a later time. Whew!

NORMALLY, I would do a breakfast strata such as these:

Ingredients Sausage and Gravy Casserole serves 8

Serves: Makes 8 servings.

• 1 roll (12 ounces) breakfast sausage
• 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
• 6 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 package McCormick® Original Country Gravy Mix
• 6 slices bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
• Paprika

Directions

15 mins Prep time 40 mins Cook time

• Preheat oven to 325°F. Cook crumbled sausage in large skillet on medium heat until brown, stirring occasionally. Drain sausage. Spread in lightly greased 11x7-inch baking dish. Sprinkle cheese over sausage.
• Beat eggs, water, milk and Gravy Mix in medium bowl with wire whisk until well blended. Pour over cheese. Arrange bread cubes evenly over mixture. Drizzle butter over bread, if desired. Sprinkle with paprika.
• Bake, uncovered, 40 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Cooking tip

Make Ahead Tip: Cover and refrigerate unbaked casserole overnight. Bake, uncovered, in preheated 325°F oven 50 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. 

Substitute baked biscuits for bread, break up into small chunks.

French Toast Casserole with Apples

INGREDIENTS

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 3 large apples, peeled and sliced thinly ( I use Cortland or Empire)
• 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 8 slices Italian bread, 1 inch thick
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

1. Melt the butter in a large skillet and add apples.
2. Cook and stir for 5 minutes.
3. Add brown sugar, water, and cinnamon and continue to cook and stir for 10 minutes until apples are tender.
4. Spoon mixture into 13x9 baking dish.
5. Cover apples with bread slices, making sure to cover the entire surface.
6. Trim the bread to fit if you must.
7. Beat eggs until foamy, then beat in milk and vanilla.
8. Pour egg mixture over the bread slices.
9. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
10. In the morning, remove the dish from the refrigerator and let it stand while oven is preheated to 375 F.
11. Bake uncovered for 35 minutes, or until bread is golden and firm.
12. Let sit 10 minutes before serving     
13.  Flip casserole serving onto plate, with apple side up.     
    
                                                                                                               

Breakfast Strata

Ingredients

• 9 slices bread, torn into bite size pieces
• 1/2 cup diced fresh mushrooms
• 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 16 ounces Cheddar cheese, shredded

• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2 cups cubed cooked ham
• 8 eggs
• 2 cups milk

Directions

1. Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish. Layer half of the torn bread in the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle the mushrooms and green bell pepper evenly over the bread layer. Sprinkle with half of the cheese. Top with remaining bread pieces, then layer with the onion and ham. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Whisk together eggs and milk; pour over the entire pan. Cover with aluminum foil, and refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
3. Bake covered for 35 minutes, then remove foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes, or until top is evenly brown.

Tips:

Take the casserole out of the refrigerator for about 30 minutes before cooking, it will heat up better.

Put whatever you LIKE in this recipe, substitute any meat, cheese, or vegetable you prefer. Remember, play with your food!!

This is called strata, as strata is layers, like the layers of the earth.

This will make about 8 servings.

Heart Strings

Hello again. It has been  a while since my last post, as I am recovering from our loss of Nick B., my grandson.

Since that time, we have had signs that his spirit is still amongst us. One example of this was my being directed to the page for St. Therese of Liseux, for the quotes I used at Nick's celebration of life. I found this one today: “Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.” 
― Thérèse de Lisieux This is #WWND.

My son Brian, who held it all together for his brother, wife, and niece during the time of immediate grieving, was having a tough time in the subsequent week. He visited the cemetery, to " learn more from Nick". The following day, there was a big thunderstorm, with a lot of lightning. He went outside to photograph some of this action. 

Upon looking at the photos, over 300 of them he took, only one showed up and it was this: 

Clear as day, in the darkness of the storm, the only photo was our sign, a heart on a string. This photo struck me to my core, and also reminded me of this:

This is an EKG symbol, or a Heart on a String, showing the rhythm of the beating heart. Wow!

Another week goes by, and I hear Nick in his #WWND way, not in words, but suddenly I was compelled to write this:

‪#‎What  Would Nick Do~~~Heart Strings

The calls came in, they said you were gone.
No! No! No! This cannot be, not my grandson!
We screamed, we raged, broken as we cried
We don’t believe, we question why, and how could you have died?
We still see you, we still hear you, and we still feel you at our side.

What would Nick do? What would Nick do?
Friends and family were notified, all of them were called.
One by one, two by two, three by four, hundreds came, none of them had stalled.
They held up your family with memories they shared.
Our hearts were lifted with love, prayer, and laughter, and they showed how much they cared.

What would Nick do? What would Nick do?
You showed us your heartstrings shining in the darkness light!
We saw your heart strings, in the storm, shining above oh so bright!
Through your life you showed us the way
To live our lives with love each and every day.
Flash that smile, make a friend, help someone, and make a funny face!

What would Nick do? What would Nick do?
He would love the human race!
Your heartstrings will bring us all together, and brighten up our day
Through your life you have shown us the way.
We shall strive
To keep you alive...
We will do
What Nick would do!

Love Grandma~~~ #WWND

I wrote this in just a few minutes after hearing Nick. I never "heard" him, but, I know I did. In fact, I think he wanted me to put it to music, his passion, or have me do a rap version! That is #WWND!

Our lives go on, but Nick is always here with us, and I am so grateful for that!

Today I continued with me Meals on Wheels group at my church. I was head cook and chose Beef Stroganoff to prepare for our 61 local residents who cannot get out of the house, or prepare a hot meal.

I used a product called Steakeze for the beef as beef is very expensive, and this was more affordable. They are " breakaway" style, made from sirloin, so they are very quick to prepare, and perfect for this dish. They are also perfect for making Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches. We made mixed vegetables, and noodles. They also got a fruit cocktail, dinner roll and pastries.  I got the recipe from Campbell's Soup:

What You'll Need

1 tablespoon vegetable oil 
1 pound boneless beef sirloin steak or beef top round steak, 3/4-inch thick (about 1 steak), cut into thin strips  ( we used the steakeze)
1 each medium onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup) 
1 can (10 1/2 ounces) Campbell’s® Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup or (10 1/2 ounces) Campbell’s® Condensed 98% Fat Free Cream of Mushroom Soup or Campbells® Healthy Request® Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup 
3/4 cup reduced fat (2%) milk 
1/2 teaspoon paprika 
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper 
1/3 cup sour cream or plain yogurt 
4 cups whole wheat or regular egg noodles, cooked,drained 
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley 

How to Make It

• 1
  Heat the oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the beef and cook until well browned, stirring often. Remove the beef from the skillet.  Pour off any fat.
• 2
  Reduce the heat to medium. Add the onion to the skillet and cook until it's tender.
• 3
  Stir the soup, milk, paprika and black pepper in the skillet and heat to a boil.  Stir in the sour cream.  Return the beef to the skillet and cook until the beef is cooked through.  Serve the beef mixture over the noodles.  Sprinkle with the parsley.

You all take care of each other. This is why we are here.

Tuesday Mornings Meals on Wheels

Tuesday mornings I volunteer as one of the cooks for  Meals On Wheels, at my church. We are an awesome group. A few months ago, the main chapter for Tampa Bay, wanted us to give up our " clients", so they could take over more clients.

Now, mind you. they have a professional chef, an entire building with kitchen, and volunteers to prepare a LOT of meals 5 days a week. The organization gets funded for this process, at this facility, and the only paid staff is the chef.

Our group does not assembly line cook, and our drivers are all volunteers, as well. The  MOW of Tampa, wanted our drivers to go pick up meals daily in the main facility, a lengthy drive, and of course more expense to them. Much of our food, is donated by church members in our community, and some is purchased by the head cook of the day, and reimbursed by MOW national. Our group can receive up to 2.50 a meal in funding, which is supposed to be paid by our clients when they can. 30% can, the other 70% do not or cannot. We do not spend $2.50 a meal, so, we do not ask for more than we spend. Our group usually can prepare 50 meals for $50-$70.00.  The Tampa facility collects from MOW org, $4.50 per meal, whether the clients pay or not.  It's a business. We are a ministry. Yeah, we rock.

There are 19 churches in my area that participate in our group, serving about 200 plus meals a day, to those who have applied for the service, and cannot get out to purchase food, or possibly cannot prepare a hot meal. 4 churches per day, make the food, so, we only have 1 day a week of service per church, serving about 40-60 meals per day, 5 days a week, with 6 or so volunteers in the kitchen, and 5 drivers. The Tampa group prepares about 700 meals per day.

We LOVE what we do, we feel it is our ministry, and our group has a fellowship to gather each week, choosing a meal , purchasing the foods, and serving it hot.  Our food not only looks awesome, it TASTES awesome, and our clients LOVE us. We LOVE them.

We did not want to become part of the mass production lines, and in fact, this move would have left our cooks, without a mission. They would not need us. No way. Fortunately, there was a vote.. you guessed it, we voted NO! So, we go on, and are grateful for that.

Today, we prepared Ham and Spaghetti Pie... they had mixed vegetables, and dinner roll on the side. We prepared a fresh fruit salad, and they also got a dessert bag full of goodies.  (Recipe in this blog.)

Make NO mistake, they do an great job, and provide a much needed, and appreciated service, at the Tampa facility. Still... Them>>>

2 of " Their" meals

 

Not us, but, LIKE us, lol church MOW cooks

Sample of 1 of our church meals. We also give them either green or fruit salad

The 2 pics of typical local church meals we deliver. I know which one I prefer.. So, we are delighted to be able to continue with our mission, with passion and commitment. Our clients are happy as well.

I use a tool called My Kitchen Calculator to convert my recipes to our larger volumes:
http://www.mykitchencalculator.com/recipeconverter.html


This recipe for Spaghetti-Ham Pie, by Janna Hammond, is from Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School Cookbook, one of the cookbooks created at FamilyCookbookProject.com. We help families or individuals create heirloom cookbook treasures.

Contributor:	Janna Hammond Added: Sunday, June 16, 2013
Category:	Main Dishes
Ingredients:	6 oz spaghetti, uncooked  ( we break the spaghetti into thirds before we cook it.) 4 cloves garlic minced 2½ tablespoon olive oil ¼ cup flour ¼ teaspoon salt ⅛ teaspoon pepper ¾ cup half-and-half 1½ cup milk ¼ to ½ cup chopped cooked ham ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, grated, divided ( we used Pecorino, fresh grated)
Directions:	Cook spaghetti according to package directions; drain. Set aside. Cook garlic in olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat, stirring constantly, 5 minutes. Stir in flour, salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute. Gradually add half-and-half and milk; cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and bubbly. Stir in spaghetti. Spoon half of spaghetti mixture into a lightly grease 9-inch pie plate; sprinkle with ham and 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese. Top with remaining spaghetti mixture, and sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese. Bake at 425° for 15 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Serves 6

To learn more about Meals on Wheels, click here:   http://www.mealsonwheelsamerica.org/national