Chef Meg's Roasted Vegetables

Ingredients
1 T olive oil
1 red onion, sliced
4 cloves garlic, peeled and cut in half
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 turnip, peeled and diced
1 yam or sweet potato, peeled and diced
2 parsnips, peeled and diced
1 t dried rosemary
1 t dried thyme
1 pinch salt
1/2 t black pepper
1 T balsamic vinegar, optional



Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a baking sheet pan with nonstick cooking spray. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl; toss to combine. Place mixture on a sheet pan. Bake 30-40 minutes, turning vegetables every 10 minutes until vegetables are tender and slightly browned. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar before serving.
Makes 8 servings (1/2 cup).


Calories=82 Carbs=15

Christmas Gumdrop Cake

Christmas Gumdrop Cake from mother 1950

1 lb golden raisins
3 pkg. gumdrops, cut into quarters
1 lb mixed fruit - optional
1/2 lb candied pineapple - I don't use the candied ones, I use the canned ones, 1 can drained
2 lbs almonds
1/4 lb cherries
4 cups flour, separated
6 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups sugar
4 tbsp soft butter
2 eggs
2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond extract

Combine raisins, gumdrops, mixed fruit, candied pineapple, almonds and cherries. Coat with 2 cups flour, (to prevent sinking to bottom). Blend remaining 2 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in one bowl. In another bowl, beat together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs. Stir in milk and flavourings. Stir in flour mixture. Pour batter over fruit-nut mixture and stir until combined. Pour into prepared loaf pans. Bake at 300 at least 2 hours or more.

Old Fashioned Rhubarb Custard Pie

Old Fashioned Rhubarb Custard Pie ~ my mother's recipe from the 1950's.

1 c sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp flour
3 egg yolks
3 tbsp orange juice from the orange
2 tbsp butter
3 c fresh rhubarb
3 egg whites
1/3 c sugar
unbaked bottom pie pastry
1/3 c chopped pecans-Optional
meringue or whipped cream

Combine 1 cup sugar, flour and 1/4 tsp salt. Add egg yolks, juice and butter; beat until smooth. Stir in rhubarb. In another bowl beat egg whites to soft peaks. Gradually add 1/3 cup sugar, beating to stiff peaks. Gently fold whites into rhubarb. Pour into pastry and sprinkle with nuts. Bake at 325 F for 55 minutes.

Top with meringue or whipped cream

Old fashioned baked Pork Chops

We're having the old fashioned baked pork chops that we cooked way back in the 60's.

4 1-1/2 inch thick pork chops
lemon-pepper spice
2 onions, sauteed
1 container mushrooms sauteed
1 can mushroom soup
1 can milk
1 tsp curry

Season pork chops with lemon-pepper spice, both sides, pound in. Brown pork chops thoroughly. Transfer to baking dish. Clean up drippings in pan with sliced onions and mushrooms, sauteed. Arrange onions and mushrooms over pork chops. In another bowl, mix can of mushroom soup, milk and curry and some more pepper spice together. Pour over pork chops. Bake for 1 hour at 350 or until pork chops fall apart with fork.

Kitchen Geeks

I found a great site, through a friend, Sherry at http://cheapeasylowcarb.blogspot.com. It has a list of all sorts of neat kitchen tools from different places with geeks in mind. I saw a multitude of items I would love but since I have a terrible time with tacos I was wondering if this might be useful.



or
how about the ABC cookie cutter, Already Bitten Cookies




The site is Restyle your kitchen

Marinated Tomato Salad

I really love this salad for company and turkey dinners. It's light and easy and do-ahead


1 can mushrooms or fresh
3 tbsp green onions
5 large tomatoes, sliced

Marinade:
1 tsp curry
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup salad oil
1/4 cup vinegar
1 crushed garlic clove
1 tbsp parsley
salt and pepper

Combine all marinade ingredients in jar and shake well. Marinate vegetables for several hours before serving. Arrange on bed of lettuce in large or individual bowls.

Seasons of Plenty, A Holiday Cookbook by Doreen Bleich

Doreen's New Cookbook is here:



There are more than 340 recipes to make every holiday a special event and those everyday meals a treat as well. Many recipes are accompanied by an anecdote that makes it a fun cookbook to read.



This beautiful book makes a great gift for someone else or treat yourself!

Order today! Only $20.00 plus postage.

Contact:

Doreen M. Bleich

Phone: 306-862-5886
Email: bleich@sasktel.net

Christmas Miracles Book Tour Contest

There's a new book tour contest over at my book blog so come on over and leave a comment. You never know, it might be YOU that wins the basket.

Wyns Reading Books







Leave a comment for a chance to win the Christmas Miracles gift basket.
Wouldn’t you love to take home this amazing basket filled with Christmas goodies galore? This amazing gift basket contains everything you’ll need to make your Christmas holiday a success. Inside you’ll find a stocking stuffed with hard candies, kitchen towels and oven mitts, seasonal potpourri, holiday-colored candles, stuffed animals that talk, snowman candle, nutcrackers, Christmas ornaments, gift bags, gift tags, gift bows, ornament hangers, Christmas cookie cutters, a Merry Christmas doorstopper, a picture frame, Christmas cards, Santa ear muffs, and not just one, but two copies of Cecil Murphey and Marley Gibson’s Christmas Miracles – one to keep and one to give away to someone special.

Go to the tour page: Christmas Miracles Tour Contest

Taste failure

I followed a recipe for left over turkey that looked good but .......oh my goodness it was totally tasteless. The leftovers went into the turkey soup. It was turkey, onions, broccoli, and a white sauce with cheese. It had pepper, salt, garlic, and poultry seasoning for spices but I guess not enough. I even used some TexMex cheese that I had in the fridge but that didn't seem to add any taste either. Oh my, not impressed at all. ROFLOL.

Sherry's new low-carb blog

My friend Sherry has moved her recipes over to a new low-carb blog called Cheap and Easy Low-carb. She is one of the most inventive low-carbers I have ever met. I love her recipes and wish that I could buy some of the specialty ingredients up here in the wilderness. I like low-carb eating and I love her philosophy~low carb doesn't have to be expensive nor totally low carb, just 90% of the time. I am a bread eater. I eat bread for comfort, to quell the tummy rumbles, the nervous butterflies, and the anger stuffing. She uses the low carb flours and ingredients with great finesse. I am totally jealous of her ability and wish she could be my personal chef. In my exploration of diabetes I have discovered that it is definitely a disease that benefits from low carb eating. My biggest carb indulgences are bread, I now limit myself to morning toast, potatoes~ how can you have a supper without potatoes?, turnips ~ the yellow ones, they are staple here in the winter, and carrots. But I have learned that the Canadian Diabetic Association has declared carrots to be ok, their benefits outweigh their carb count. YAY! LOL. I have never been a big fan of pastas but have been following a diabetic menu plan just to get myself into the theme. It has an abundance of pasta and wraps. Do not like all that pasta, I guess everybody has a certain amount of cultural familiarity and preferences and pasta just isn't part of mine. I'm ok with pasta about once every 3 months. Nope, my choice of carb is definitely bread and potatoes. The other thing that I really missed when I was officially on the Atkins low-carb version in the 70's was fruits. I love fruits, I think I eat fruits instead of drinking water. I know that low-carb has changed over the years but I was introduced to it by the first Atkins book in the 70's and the programming is still there in my brain. It's another thing that I need to update. One thing that I am surprised that I don't miss as much as I thought I would on a diabetic plan is the dessert indulgences, not that I ate a lot of dessert type things except at certain times of the year, but I did enjoy cookies and squares. See, "bread" type carbs. I've noticed that I now only get a craving for them when I'm really angry or totally bored. That's a good thing, right?