Showing posts with label family recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family recipes. Show all posts

Saturday, February 18, 2023

Friday friend recipes 328 329 and 330 Linda’s Spaghetti Sauce, Shrimp and Chicken in Wine Sauce and Spinach Terrific




I must get this done!  At least to prove something to myself if not the Handyman...
 because...

...about 22 years ago, 50 of my closest friends and family, who had been on an
  e-mail forum with me, sent in recipes in different categories and we compiled a cookbook.
I decided to count those down!
Why?
because one night I was looking thru the cookbook and I said, "I should make every recipe in here for my blog."
The Handyman/Mayor, who thinks he knows me better than I know myself, said "you'll never EVER do that."
Well, maybe I will!  Maybe I'll show him!

Which brings us to my cousin Linda's Shrimp and Chicken in Wine Sauce, Spinach Terrific and Spaghetti 


Yum to the shrimp and chicken. It was good.
In fact, maybe I'll make it tonight!



The spinach was a fun twist on creamed spinach--which I like. 
Do you?








Before I go any further, I must explain how weird the Handyman is.
For example, he has no free will in choosing his clothes.  When I wash and fold, I leave his T-shirts lying on the bed, he puts them away by putting them under the T-shirts which are already on the shelf. When he gets dressed, he grabs the first T-shirt.  He calls it the rotation--so they all get equal billing/wearing.   I said to him, what if you don't want to wear that shirt?  He said it doesn't matter--it's first up in the rotation.
He does his coats/jackets like that too.
I had no idea.  45 years in and I am still learning new things. We keep it happening--keep the love alive with new discoveries. (sigh)
Anyway...  we had some salad with our spaghetti, and he lined up the salad dressings by expiration date, telling me (and pointing) which one we could eat first.
It was the first blue cheese, of course.  
I went out on a limb and grabbed the French (which I really didn't want, but I was being stubborn) and watched him cringe. 






This is a really good spaghetti sauce--and as Rich said, we've eaten a lot of spaghetti sauces during this countdown.  I believe this is spaghetti sauce recipe #23.
The only thing is--I feel the 1 tablespoon of crushed red pepper was a typo.  I'm sure it meant 1 teaspoon. But I can't prove it.  Rich said I had to follow the recipe --exactly, because that's what I do.  BUT I only put in 1/2 tablespoon.
It was very spicey, but very good.
I would make it again---just for the good smell in my house all night long.
Seriously in the middle of the night, I woke up and it smelled like heaven.
Or spaghetti sauce--which is kind of like heaven. 

I used ground beef and turkey.








This will be the last post about my cousin Linda.  It's always sad to go say goodbye (even if she's not really gone)
Linda was one of the most prolific contributors to the Friday Friend Cookbook--
you can check out all of her recipes here (just click).


This is a photo of my mom and me and Linda and her daughter, Jennifer, taken at a wedding.  (it was her son's wedding--and it was about 17 or 18 years ago, I think)


Anyway, it was a wedding!  Weddings are always happy affairs, and I have a little memory of my own wedding, 45 years ago.
And LOOK!  Here is little Jenn 45 years ago, at (and in) my wedding to the Handyman.


Forty-Five years ago, there were no cell phones and pictures weren't as plentiful--anyway, I cannot find a picture of Linda and I at my wedding.  I don't know what was up with that!
But in my wedding book, I have poems that she wrote for Rich and me. In her own handwriting.  



A snapshot of me before the wedding.




A snapshot of Rich outside the church, before the wedding.



One thing I'll say--
We haven't changed a bit!!


My friends!  These are recipes #328, 329, and 330 out of 361 (I'm 99% sure I have all the math down pat now)
2023 will be the year!!
(although I'm slow going)

Then what will I do?


Saturday, October 29, 2022

Friday Friend Recipes #317 and 318--Melissa's Italian Cheesecake and Yummy Braciolee

 


My Friday Friend Cookbook Countdown #317 and #318


My wonderful niece's Yummy Braciolee and Italian cheesecake

and you know all the whys and wherefores of this countdown, right? Homemade cookbook, friends contributed, Handyman said I couldn't/wouldn't do it, I'll show him, yadda yadda yadda....

...and the rest is cookbook history!

Just remember, the countdown is not all about pretty food and food design---it's about the people and the stories.
And (the most important thing) proving my husband wrong--and that I can and WILL make every recipe in this cookbook


And this time it's not about the photography AT ALL!
It looks like raw meat, but it's just tomato sauce that didn't spread.  It tasted good, just didn't look so great--for me.  I'm sure when Melissa makes it, it is stunning to look at.


See?  Here it is all ready to go into the oven---perhaps I should have drenched it in tomato sauce?


....drenched in the sauce,
So that it didn't come out looking like raw meat. 
But it tasted great and that's the most important thing, right?
(sigh--I do know that they say, you taste with your eyes first)







This?  This is the best!
And the photos turned out great.
It really was yummy!!








As I get closer and closer to the end, it makes me kind of sad---because now we will say good-bye to Melissa (in the Friday Friend Cookbook Countdown only)
But you can check out all her recipes here.  Just click here.  Do it.  Do it now.
I am surprised by how good her dishes are.  (only an aunt can say that, right?  Being surprised I mean.  LOL)
(well, it's because I still think of her as a little girl, that's all)

Now I need a Melissa story--
She's a Vet-tech by profession, a single mom doing her best every day, and apparently a great cook. 😘

But let me go back 3 spaces to the vet tech.
Most vets and vet techs love animals and usually have a few more than the average person.  Dogs, cats, perhaps a Guinea pig or two.  A rabbit, maybe?

Not my unique niece!
Oh, she has the pets alright --just not the kind you would think.
She has.... wait for it....

Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches
and
Hairless Egyptian Cats (Yes, plural)
Oh and some chickens.




Come on, don't get so creeped out. 
Someone's gotta love them, right?
And that someone is my niece, Melissa.
She's a lover of all things!




And see? Wikipedia says they actually make good pets.
See, even I am holding one. 
Or letting it be upon my hand.  
Do I look scared? Freaked out?  NO.  (well kind of)
It's just a harmless little hissing cockroach.
Who, by the way, live in rotting logs in Madagascar and don't roam your house at night. (just to be clear--they are clean and friendly)


The cats?  Poor little hairless things--they still need loving-- LOL
Actually, they're just like any cat, only they might have a bit more superiority complex. 


And the chickens, are well, just chickens.




She looks so normal!

Okay, we tease her, but we love her.  And she loves us.
And apparently a plethora of unique creatures.
They're all God's creations, right?


Again, I want you to check out all her other recipes--her complete series in the Friday Friend Cookbook Countdown, as we say so long


My friends I bring to you recipes #317 and 318.

Only 49 or 38 left to go! 
(I'm so confused now! 😂)

(Because if you remember, I counted wrong---but I'm 99% sure I only have 38 more recipes to post.)





Friday Friend recipe #354 Crock Pot Stew

  ...about 24 years ago, 50 of my closest friends and family, who had been on an   e-mail forum with me, sent in recipes in different catego...