Once Upon A Treehouse

Many years ago my husband and his father custom built play equipment for families as supplemental income. My brother-in-law joined the crew and for many years, treehouses, swings, ladder climbers, and picnic tables dotted the lawns of Nashville and Brentwood and beyond. You can imagine my excitement when I learned that Cheekwood's summer exhibit will be Treehouses! Immediately memories of Pooh and his friends who lived in the Hundred Acre Woods come to mind. Houses in trees... what fun. Cheekwood's exhibit opens Memorial Day weekend and runs through Labor Day weekend. So parents, grandparents, all people young at heart... dust off your picnic gear and start thinking about ham rolls, raw veggies and Ranch dip, cantaloupe slices, chips, cookies, and juice boxes. Get your Cheekwood membership and go often. Here is the link for more information.
www.cheekwood.org

A Southern Biscuit

Is there anything better... gotta have a good biscuit every now and then. It just makes the world a brighter place sometimes. My mother-in-law used to make biscuits for us when we lived out of state, making plenty for the freezer for another date, and I would watch. She never measured ingredients, but she was sure to use my tools so that I could copy her procedure. I have made an effort to put amounts with the ingredients for you, but you really have to learn to feel the dough. Just three ingredients, but I am particular about two of them. Self-rising flour should be White Lily or Martha White - they are different from other brands. The shortening must be Crisco. The buttermilk is good from Purity, but when I can catch storebrand buttermilk on sale, I use it. 
A few other notes: 1) my MIL did not like my rolling pin "sock" nor my pastry cloth, but I like both. They are inexpensive and are sold at Williams-Sonoma. I believe less flour is needed when using these. 
2) If you are putting some in the freezer, "parbake" (that means partially) the biscuits... or until a couple of them just begin to brown. Remove from oven, cool a bit, place in freezer on cookie sheet for 15-20 min., then place biscuits into freezer bags. Thaw completely before reheating in preheated 450 oven for 6-8 minutes.
3) One recipe is never enough for me to justify the clean up, so I usually double or triple. Just makes sense for my crew.
4) NEVER throw away the last one. They are great microwaved or split, buttered, & toasted.

Nanny's Biscuits
3 cups self-rising flour
1/3 cup Crisco
1 1/3 to 1 1/2 cups buttermilk


Sift flour into large bowl. Using pastry cutter, cut in shortening until blended into flour. Add buttermilk to make soft dough. If dough is too wet to handle, sift in additional flour. Place dough onto floured board & roll to desired thickness. In preheated 450 oven, bake biscuits for 15 minutes to parbake (see above) or 17-18 minutes to serve immediately. Brush lightly with melted butter when removing from oven (optional). This recipe doubled will yield about 30 - 2.5" biscuits. 

One Pan Chocolate Sheet Cake

That's right... the entire cake can be prepared in one 3-quart saucepan... icing, too. This oh-so-easy cake was a staple in my mother's kitchen, and my sister-in-law reminded me of it last week. I had shared it with her 35 years ago when she married. This is one of those recipes that calls for the simplest of ingredients... ingredients we all have in our pantries. Hope you enjoy it. We just polished one off for my mother-in-law's birthday. Delish.

Chocolate Sheet Cake

4 Tbsp. cocoa                       1/2 cup buttermilk                icing: 1 stick butter

1 cup water                           2 eggs                                          4 Tbsp. cocoa

1/2 cup butter                     1 tsp. soda                                    6 Tbsp. milk

2 cups flour                         1 tsp. vanilla                                 3 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar

2 cups sugar                                                                            1 tsp. vanilla, pecans(opt)

1. In large saucepan combine: cocoa, water, butter. Heat until melted. Remove from heat. Add flour & sugar. Mix well. Add buttermilk, eggs, soda & vanilla. Bake in 9x12 dish 350° for 20-25 min. or until done.

2. While cake is baking, in washed out saucepan bring to boil butter, cocoa, & milk. Beat in conf. sugar & vanilla. Pour on cake when it comes out of oven. Sprinkle with pecans, optional.            

Power In The Written Word

Have you ever received a written note that has touched your heart deeply? In a day and age of emailing, texting, facetiming, Facebooking, and skyping, the hand-written note is at risk of becoming extinct. There is hardly a greater gift you can give someone than a note written  in your own handwriting. Maybe you are unable to get a meal to someone in need. The note is always appropriate. Perhaps someone has had a victory in weight loss - a note of congratulations is such encouragement. Maybe it is a memory of a friend that reminds you of how long your friendship has endured. I just received one of these and it motivated me to get this blog written. This brief article is from a Reader's Digest written in 1999 which greatly impacted me. It may be a little hard to read, but you will be glad you made the effort. I think you will be moved as you ponder the significance a written note can have on someone.

"Chicken In A Pot" Part 2

Back in January I posted a crockpot series, the third of which was Chicken In A Pot. I cooked one last week, and it served us 2 dinners with lunch leftovers PLUS a near-quart of chicken salad. That $3.50 chicken really worked hard. The dinners were creamed chicken served on cornbread to which I added sauteed baby portobello mushrooms. The chicken salad - yes, I think mine is really good. That is an upcoming blog. In the meantime, get a couple of whole chickens, wash them, rebag in clean gallon bags, freeze. Watch for sales, too, but they are so inexpensive you don't have to wait for a sale. Costco has organic whole chickens - 2 to a package (not so inexpensive). You will be ready next time you need to cook dinner and don't know what to fix. 

Honey Mini-Camp

All of my grands are coming for the weekend. I am a happy Honey. Since they have an expectation of cookies when they come, I decided to do a different treat this time... one that is as old as I am... Rice Krispie Treats. My mother-in-law made them often for her grandchildren, and none were ever left in the pan. I haven't made them in decades, but what I remember is as easy as they were to put together, the pan cleanup was wicked. Fast forward to today: nonstick soup pot (Pampered Chef, of course). Problem solved. Also, I added Valentine sprinkles on the top. The recipe is on Kelloggs.com, but since I always have to make MORE than any original recipe I am giving you my version. I also did not want to leave 1/3 of a box of Rice Krispies in my pantry to go stale, so I tailored the recipe to include the entire 12 oz. box. One less box in my freshly painted and reorganized pantry.
Rice Krispie Treats
In large nonstick pot, melt 1 stick of butter. Add 100 lg. marshmallows (1-16 oz. bag + around 3/4 of another 10 oz. bag). Melt on medium heat until well combined. Add a 12 oz. box of Rice Krispies (15 cups). Top with festive sprinkles. This amount makes a 15x10 pan of treats.

Be My Valentine

     Thirty-four Valentine's Days ago, this dashing Naval officer asked me to marry him. Without hesitation I responded affirmatively, and what a wonderful life we are still sharing together. I wanted to do something original for this wonderful man for Valentine's Day and I decided to clean out his chest of drawers, straighten up his t-shirts and such, culling anything that might not be working (leaving that to your imagination... i.e. red satin). Then I began to search for scented drawer liners, thinking he might enjoy a fresh fragrance when opening his drawers. I allowed the Crabtree and Evelyn lady to talk me into a scent which I personally have enjoyed (Nantucket) but was somewhat hesitant to use for my masculine man. Sure enough, after 2 days he smelled a rat... or should I say, a flower. Not cool. So I emptied all of his drawers and ran the ceiling fan for a whole day to air things out while I embarked on a journey to try and find MEN's drawer liners. There are none. I am hoping that Crabtree and Evelyn will take my advice and manufacture some since they are carrying men's toiletries now. In the meantime, a couple of suggestions were given to me that I thought I would pass along for your Valentine...
1) Dryer fabric sheets - strong recommendation was given to me on a new Downey product in a black box - Orchid Allure - though I am having difficulty finding it.
2) Unscented dryer fabric sheets sprayed with nice men's cologne. The generous people at Nordstrom gave me several samples to try out for my project.
3) Yankee Candle Warming Disks - Midsummer's Night or Fluffy Towels scent. Available at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Leave in the plastic wrap except for a slit cut across the top. The employee had done this in drawers for her Valentine and the scent lasted nearly a year. 
     Even if he ultimately tells me that he is satisfied with the dull way his drawers smell, it has not been time wasted to try to do something nice for him. He is worth it!