PRAYING FOR THE UKRAINE

 

LADIES FOR LUNCH AND PRAYING FOR THE UKRAINE

 On a snowy day today I had some

ladies for lunch.  I told them we

were doing knock off food today 

because we had 2 things  which are knock

offs from Applebee's and a knock off Chocolate Pie from what used to be

 called Bishops Cafeteria back in the day.

The first thing we did was pray for the

Ukraine today and I ask you to do that

too as this is such a perilous time.

So here was my menu that I am sharing:

Oriental Chicken Salads with Honey Dressing

Spinach Artichoke Dip

Chocolate Cream Pie

I just got finished cutting the rest of the

pie and my husband and I agreed we

best send the 2 large leftover pieces 

over to the neighbors as we will be

tempted beyond belief.

left to right at top: Judy, Rosemary, Bernideen and Jenni

So here are some recipes for you if you

like yummy things like this:

Spinach Artichoke Dip which serves 6

1 10 Oz pkg frozen chopped spinach

cooked and drained, 1 pkg 8 oz cream cheese, 1 can 14 oz artichoke hearts, drained and chopped,, 1/2 cup mayo, 1 cup shredded parmesan cheese/1/2 tsp garlic salt

Combine all and bake 350 degrees till hot

Serve with warmed tortilla chips

So here is the Oriental Chicken 

Salad Recipe which I would say

 is my version since I have

changed it so many times:

Slice very thin:  2 cups Napa Cabbage,

 1 cup regular cabbage, Chop: 4 cups romaine, 3 cups leaf lettuce, 2/3 cup shredded carrots, 1 cup of sliced almonds 

and 1 cup of Chinese noodles 

Grill 2 large chicken breasts grilled first

and sliced into strips

Combine above but sprinkle almonds

 and noodles on last on top and add 

sliced grilled chicken

Here is the dressing which serves 8: 

 3/4 cup honey, 1/4 +2 Tb Rice Wine Vinegar, 1 cup mayo, 4 tsp dried mustard, 1/2 tsp sesame oil

Now for the Knock Off

Bishops Cafeteria Pie

Crust: 1 1/2 cups crushed cinnamon graham crackers mixed with 1/2 cup melted butter pressed on the bottom of a deep dish pie pan

bake about 5 minutes at 375 degrees

 & now cool

Pie Filling

1 quart quality vanilla ice cream soft,

2 cups heavy whipping cream, 2 pkg small chocolate instant pudding, 2 squares unsweetened chocolate melted

combine all above in a heavy duty mixer (such as kitchenaid) Add the melted chocolate last.

mix well and pour into pie shell.

Decorate the edge as desired by whipping 

up 1 cup heavy whipping cream mixed on high with 1/3 cup of powdered sugar - mix until stiff  I usually shave some chocolate

curls off and sprinkle but forgot this time

This is best refrigerated overnight.

A special thanks to Christian friends Rosemary, Judy and Jenni for letting

 me take photos!

INSPIRING GARDENS OF ENGLAND

In recent years,  I began to watch YouTube

videos about gardening and found so

many interesting ones. It has inspired

me again this winter as I enjoy watching

so many of these.

I thought I would share some today.  One of the many beautiful homes dating to the 17th century is Barnsley House in Gloucestershire,  England (now a luxury hotel) and in the 1950's Rosemary Verey and her family moved there.  After she raised her children, she began creating the gardens that became so famous. Rosemary

lived from 1918 to 2001

Click here to watch the video 

about Haddon Hall

(This home is now a luxury hotel)

The next one to share is

Haddon Hall in Bakewell, Derbyshire

which is a English Manor House from the

11th century with additions in the 13th and 17th century (English Tudor) and after fires

in the past,  parts are still there from the 15th

century.

The gardens were created in the

early 1900's

Click here to watch the video

called A Walk Through Time

 This home has been in the 

same family for over 900 years!

also click: this video shows the gardens well

As you go to these sites you quickly see

that other vidoes are numerous and

I hope you have time to watch some.

COOKIES, TEA AND BOOKS

 Winter is such a perfect time to go back and

take a fresh look at some of those great

books you purchased in your past.

I have been enjoying reading many

of mine and had forgotten how

much they were capable of taking

me on a journey.

I baked us some Oatmeal Cookies

earlier today and they are big ones.

This first book above left is "The Heart of England" and is one of the older Victoria books from 1999 which is wonderful.  I started reading the first pages and was smitten with interest.  The book on the right

(Tea Time Journey's) is old too and has wonderful recipes.

I have shared this book. before.  It was

written by Kathy Thiessen and is in my

opinion, one of the loveliest books around.

This book (above) is full of recipes, seasonal

and everyday decorating ideas,

history and love of family.

I am sure you have

some books on your shelf that you have long forgotten about - we just do that it seems.

"The Heart of England" has so many

interesting chapters including this one

about the Bronte sisters. (below)

My friend, Lou Ann gave me this

recipe back in the 80's and today I

made large cookies so the recipe

made 17 cookies:

Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes for small or 11 minutes for large cookies

Mix: 1 C brown sugar, 1 C white sugar,

3 C oatmeal, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 2 C flour

Mix: 1 C melted butter with 1 tsp vanilla

and 2 eggs

Add: 1 Cup raisins (I used mostly

dark and the rest yellow)

Mix dry and moist ingredients and

raisins,  Shape into balls and press down on

parchment paper lined cookie sheets.  Don't over bake.

We got some fresh snow yesterday:

OLD HOUSES OF LIBERTY, MISSOURI

 Today after a Dental appointment

for my husband in Kansas City,

we drove around Liberty, Missouri.

We wanted to check out a few of the

 very old homes in the area.

I Loved this blue one below right 

with the Gothic type

windows.  I could imagine

a white picket fence around

it with lots of flowers.

 

others:

This home was under

renovations:

So the downtown was your familiar

4 block square of old buildings with 

what we assumed was a courthouse

 in the middle.

This building below is now used for the

historical society and is dated 1877:

As we came around the square and turned

the corner we saw this old bank. 

The sign said that this was where the

 Jesse James gang did their first daytime

 bank robbery

in 1866.

It is now a museum:

SCONES, SNOW AND FRIENDSHIP TEAPOT

 I love this sweet little teapot that I

am sharing with you today.

And it was not made in China so

that's saying something because it

was made in the good old USA.

I first saw a picture of this teapot

in a book years ago.  A darling book

came out by a Christian writer, Patsy Clairmont. 

  I had ordered some of 

these books to sell at my shop (back 

in the day) and one of the  chapters 

was a sweet story and sentiment regarding

 these teapots.  Having written over 35

books, Patsy is still a popular

speaker now at age 76.

  So years ago, I gave a friend the book for her birthday. When my birthday rolled around, she gave me the teapot pictured

in the book which is the one I am

sharing about today.

I later found one of these teapots for my friend.  In fact, over the years I have bought several others and some that were very inexpensive because they were chipped or

not perfect so they have found a place

out in the garden.

So today since it was snowing, I decided to bake some scones that I have featured

before numerous times over the years:

Lemon Cream Cheese Scones:

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour,  1/4 cup sugar,

 2 Tb grated lemon peel, 2 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/3 cup cold butter diced, 4 oz of cold cream cheese diced, 1 egg, 1/3 cup buttermilk, and I add 1/4 cup lemon extract to make for an ULTRA lemony taste.

 lemon juice to brush on scones and

sugar to sprinkle on top - before baking

400 degree oven using a 2 1/2" scone cutter

with the dough rolled out at least 5/8" thick

Bake for 12 minutes convection or

16+ regular oven

You have probably baked scones and

it is your usual procedure here:  dry ingredients mixed first, then wet items added and then cut in butter and cream cheese

So this is also a bit of a tribute to my friend who made sure life was full of adventure and fun and always lived her gift of giving.

Kathilee Champlin               

 November 1, 1952 -

June 9,  2012