Church Food

I'm sure Lutherans are not the only denomination that eats!

We eat after church

(coffee and treats brought by different members)

We have potlucks

(Where the kind of jello salad is based on the liturgical salad -- red during Pentecost)

We have sweet treats for Women's Bible Study

And if we get together at night . . . 

We eat!

We're working on a Field Test version of Martin Luther's Small Catechism

We meet at 6 p.m.

So that we can all have dinner --

Each family is responsible for a meal

Last week was my turn --

For "Germans" in a Lutheran Church

what do you fix . . . 

Mexican Food

Of course!

Chicken Enchiladas

Sue's Layered Mexican Salad

(a favorite that works so well to make Mexican food a meal)

Margarita Pie

A creamy cool lime pie

A perfect dessert for Mexican food!

Sue's salad is easy and works so well with enchiladas, that King Ranch chicken casserole, "Mexican" lasagna.    It's easy, too, just opening cans and jars!

SUE'S MEXICAN LAYERED SALAD

1 bag of lettuce (your choice but I like a romaine)

1 can corn, drained

1 can black beans, drained

grated Cheddar

1 tomato, chopped

Tortilla chips, crushed

1/2 cup Ranch dressing

1/2 cup Picante sauce

Layer lettuce, corn, beans in a bowl.    Top with grated cheddar and chunks of tomato.   Top with tortilla chips, crushed.     Mix picante and ranch dressing.     When ready to serve pour dressing mixture over the top.     Serve with tongs.

*Note -- It's not a keeper -- you need to eat it after you dress it.    It's not good leftover!

Cookbook Book Club, August Edition

It's August

There are vacations and Little Balkans Days to plan and house remodeling to do . . . 

In other words, this month, our Cookbook Book Club was little

"but mighty"

And then, I lost the book that recorded who signed up for what and when

And I sent an email and no one came forward with in August, it's "me,me"

I decided to host but since I had already hosted, I felt that we should do something simple

It's summer

It's hot

A salad supper seemed like a good idea

The only rule was that it had to be a salad you had never made before

You could have eaten it, but never made it.

My selection:

A creamy sweet potato salad

From a St. Paul Lutheran Church Salad Luncheon

The only change I made was to use raw sweet potatoes that I roasted

And a red pepper instead of a green one

Rita brought a vegetable salad

It was light and refreshing and one that keeps "forever"

from a church cookbook

(of course, they always have the best recipes)

Donna brought an Edamame Salad

She'd eaten it from Dillon's deli and liked it so much that she asked for the

recipe.     "Not a recipe" she was told, because it came as a mix.    They were kind enough to get the box with the list of ingredients and give them to her so she could create her own salad.

And she did!    And it was delicious!

Mexican Layered Salad

Leftover from last night

Layers of lettuce (I used romaine), canned corn, black beans, cheese, tomatoes and crushed corn chips.   All topped with a dressing which was half picante sauce and half ranch dressing.

And there was dessert

And dessert was not a salad!

It was CAKE!

A cherry chocolate cake that was delicious!

We're on for next month.

Rhonda is hosting and the theme will be Cajun

She came bearing New Orleans cookbooks and Cajun spices!

It should be a grand evening in September . . . 

Laissez les bon temps roulez!

Wishbones and Me

Who has heard of Wishbone?

Not the one on the chicken or turkey

But the famous Kansas City restaurant

In an old house

And it has a great story:

After serving in the military during World War II, Phillip Sollomi returned home to Kansas City in 1945 and opened a family-style chicken and prime rib restaurant called The Wish-Bone at 45th and Main streets. It soon became a favorite of locals.

Located at 4455 Main Street

It was close to The Country Club Plaza

But it wasn't the chicken or prime rib that made the restaurant famous

It was the salad dressing!

In 1948, Sollomi asked his mother Lena for a spicy salad dressing recipe she brought from Sicily, a family favorite he thought the restaurant patrons would like. The dressing was an immediate hit, and customers were asking for bottles to take home. 

Demand was so high that Sollomi eventually began mixing the dressing in 50-gallon wooden barrels, bottling it and labeling it "The Kansas City Wish-Bone Famous Italian-Style Dressing."

The popularity of the dressing spread throughout the Midwest. It was getting too big for Sollomi to handle, so he sold the business to TJ Lipton in 1958.

A plant was built in Independence in 1961 to produce Wish-Bone salad dressing. By 1970, it became the number one Italian salad dressing in the United States, a position it hasn't relinquished since.

I would assume that this is an early ad of the Lipton Company

And for a long time, it was the only salad dressing that Wishbone made,

the Italian one!

Now, however, there are many different varieties of Wishbone dressing

It comes in many flavors!

I will still, occasionally, buy the Italian one

A taste of youth -- Wishbone on your salad!

Alas, the restaurant is long gone

In it's place is this

The "Plaza" Marriott

(They serve food too -- like the Wishbone restaurant)

But one thing is constant:

There still is a Wishbone Italian dressing

Still using the same recipe of Phillip Solum's mother

Today it generates $190 million in annual sales and is produced at a plant that employs 190 people working three shifts.

I am a purist, however, and the only Wishbone that I buy is the Italian one.

New Sofa

It served us well -- this sofa

Bought in 2005

It lasted for 11 years . . . 

far longer than any other sofa we've had

And it's "coat" (the upholstery) held up really well

since it was leather

But it was saggy

And the right side was held up by three books

But the upholstery was so good

We were hesitant to get rid of it

We liked the color and the style

The color went perfectly with our other furniture

But alas, saggy bones was getting to me

And on a stop to Moore's Furniture in Frontenac,

we found

The "New Guy"

Leather

Chesterfield

A bit darker than the old one -- more brown than rust

It's narrower, too

But I think it looks good in the living room

LOTS of changes over the last year in the living room

One . . . at . . . a . . . time!

First the rug

Then the coffee table

Then the "comfortable" chair

And now the sofa

I really can't think of another thing that we need to change!

I like it -- 

The new sofa as well as the new look of the living room

Different but not all that different

Which suits me fine!

Piper Turns One!

It's hard to imagine

But it has been a year

since our youngest Grand,

Piper,

was born

And we celebrated!

But the best part of the celebration . . .

It was at Linderhof!

We decided to do a garden party

(Daughter Sarah lives in Minnesota where August temperatures are in the 70s to low 80s --

we forgot that the party would be in KANSAS where August temperatures are often 100 plus heat index!)

But the gods smiled . . . 

It was almost Minnesota weather

(or perhaps an Minnesota August heat wave weather)

Temps in the low 80s

and with relative low humidity

And a breeze!

 So everyone would know what we were celebrating!

All of the invited guests came . . .

which meant that we had both a full house and a full garden!

And for birthday parties, we offer typical Linderhof hospitality

first dinner . . . 

Sarah and I have figured out if you feed outside,

it's still better to serve food inside

Our traditional celebratory meal

(summer or winter)

Linderhof brisket, Smokestack baked beans and my grandmother's coleslaw

This year we added fresh vegetables and dip and a bowl of mixed fruit

(we had several dieting guests and wanted to make sure everyone had something to eat)

After dinner, it was time for cake . . . 

Piper's personal cake

A wee little "smash" cake

tradition now for first birthdays

Piper did not smash quite as much as her sister

(or her mother for that matter, although Sarah's was a piece not a whole cake --

smash cakes being a new tradition)

And, of course, everyone came to the garden

for pictures, 

to sing Happy Birthday

(including Doogie who raised his voice in song)

And watch Piper as she

"smashed" her cake!

A big cake for the adults

Served, of course, with vanilla ice cream

And cookies, for those who didn't want cake

or for those who wanted cake and cookies

Big Sister Lucy helped decorate Piper's cookies

(she put the yellow centers on the flower cookies and the sprinkles on the Number Ones)

Children are fascinated by ponds and fish

(we're trying to find out if they're counting or trying to catch)

And the garden was a perfect place

. . . for the children to play

And for adults to visit

Tradition from all those years ago

When Jim and I gifted Daughter Sarah

with her toy trunk

An old trunk that I painted and antiqued, wall papered on the inside

And then painted Holly Hobbie girls on the front

Piper's

At Daughter Sarah's request

was painted with Sandpipers

(Front and sides)

and a map of the part of Lake Minnetonka where they live on the top.

Tradition is also a picture of the birthday girl

In her trunk!

It was a grand party

It was fun to celebrate such a special occasion with family and friends

And it will be a day I always remember . . . 

An August Lunch

Every year, I donate a luncheon to the "other" PEO chapter in town

for their fundraiser auction.

"You and two friends are invited to join me for lunch"

Today, was the day that Marcy and her two friends joined me

Such a grand occasion called for the lace tablecloth

Real flowers

(but really, when did you ever see me using faux?)

 And the "good"china

Grandmother's

Noritake Marcsite

I think everyone needs at least one set of white/cream china with a gold band

So classy!

Of course, I always do a  menu

The first course was my favorite blue and bleu salad

blueberries, bleu cheese and pecans

over romaine dressed with a balsamic vinaigrette

(homemade, of course!)

The entree was called "Apricot Chicken"

I've seen it forever and never made it --

it's always in church cookbooks from the late 70s and 80s

usually right before or right after the chicken dish we call "Sarah's Chicken"

It's an old recipe you can tell because it calls for a whole chicken

That was back in the day when your choice of chicken was whole or cut up

Rarely, did you find packages of special pieces!

You mix a cup of apricot jam, 1/2 package of onion soup mix, 1/4 bottle of Russian dressing (again, showing the age of the recipe -- I subbed Ott's) and 2 T. mayonnaise.    Mix together, pour over chicken and bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Yummy!

Especially when served with white and wild rice with more of the sauce drizzled over!

Dessert was classic and simple

A cherry pie

Made from local cherries from the freezer

And my own pie crust

A lattice crust because Mom always made cherry pie with a lattice crust.

A simple pie just cherries, sugar, butter, flour and a bit of almond flavoring.

So you can taste the cherries

But what pie doesn't taste better with a little ice cream?

(Not homemade)

And friend Marcy who bought the lunch as a fundraiser brought me a hostess gift

A wonderful heart with a great message

Which goes perfectly in my breakfast room

What a great way to start the day!