Fall recipes

I have had a lot of requests for recipes lately, so I thought I would just post them on here. We did a seafood dinner to celebrate Elke's birthday. It was so fun. Angie requested the scallop recipe:

From "The Barbecue Bible":

Scallop Kebabs with Pancetta, Lemon, and Basil

1 1/2 pounds bay or sea scallops

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

4 strips lemon zest (each 2 x 1/2 inches)

Plenty of freshly ground black pepper

1 bunch fresh basil, stemmed

8 thin slices pancetta (Italian bacon)

1. Using your fingers, pull off and discard the small, half moon-shaped muscle from the side of any scallop that has one. If using sea scallops, cut any large ones in quarters, mediums in half, so that all the pieces are the same size. Rinse the scallops under cold running water, then drain and blot dry with paper towels. Set aside while you prepare the marinade.

2. Combine the oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, and pepper in a medium-size bowl and whisk to mix. Add the scallops and toss to coat. Cover and let marinate, at room temperature, for 30 minutes.

3. Prepare the grill to high.

4. Remove the scallops from the marinade, reserving the marinade. Thread the scallops on the skewers, inserting a basil leaf and a piece of pancetta between each.

5. When ready to cook, oil the grill grate. Arrange the kebabs on the hot grate and grill until the scallops are just firm and white, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Brush the scallops once or twice with the reserved marinade as they cook.

6. Using a fork, push the scallops off the skewers onto serving plates or a platter and serve immediately.

Serves 4

Sunday night was our small group. We have not been able to participate in an adult small group because of our involvement with the youth for about 13 years. Needless to say we are very excited. I was supposed to bring treats on Sunday. I screwed up and brought sweet treats instead of salty, but everyone seemed to like them. These recipes are from the Pampered Chef "more Stoneware Sensations" cookbook.

Old-Fashioned Apple Pie Squares

Crust & Filling

1 package (15 ounces) refrigerated pie crusts (2 crusts)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 medium Granny Smith apples (about 2 1/2 pounds)

1 egg, lightly beaten

Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

5-6 teaspoons milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. For crust and filling, let pie crusts stand at room temperature 15 minutes. Combine sugar, cinnamon and salt in a shaker; set aside. Lightly flour your counter or a cutting board; roll one crust to a 16 x 11-inch rectangle. Fold crust in half, then in quarters. Place crust in the bottom of a bar pan; unfold and fit loosely into bottom of pan. Peel, core and slice apples to make about 8 cups slices. Layer apples in even rows over the crust in pan. Sprinkle sugar mixture over apples. Repeat crust procedure. Gently unfold crust over apples. Do not seal the edges. Cut several slits in the top crust; brush with egg. Bake 30-35 minutes or until apples are tender and crust is deep golden brown. For glaze, mix powdered sugar and milk until smooth; drizzle over warm pastry. Cut into squares. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Yield: 18 squares

First time I made these, and they were killer. I ate just a few too many!!

Cranberry Macadamia Oat Cookies

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter or margarine, softened

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 squares (1 ounce each) white chocolate for baking, coarsely chopped.

1 jar (3.25 ounces) macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped (3/4 cup)

2 1/2 cups old-fashioned or quick oats

1 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; mix well. Beat butter and sugars until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add flour mixture; mix well. Add chopped chocolate and nuts. Stir in oats and cranberries; mix well. Scoop onto pan, 2" apart. Flatten balls slightly. Bake 14-16 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Cool 5 minutes on the pan, remove to cooling rack.

Yield: About 3 dozen cookies

This is a traditional recipe my mom serves many times during the fall. This one is for Christy.

Fall Apple Cake

Beat: 2 cups chopped raw apples

1 egg

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup oil

Add: 1 cup flour

1/2 t. salt

1 t. cinnamon

1 tsp. soda

Fold in 1/2 cup nuts

Pour into a greased and floured 9 x 9 pan (My mom always doubles this!)

Bake 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees.

Here is the best part, the sauce:

2/3 cup sugar

1 small can Pet milk

1/2 cup butter

Cook over low heat, it burns easily. It thickens up a bit and then you add 1 tsp. vanilla.

Serve warm over warm cake! Yummy!

Enjoy the new recipes.

Fun photos

This photo is a little blurry, but check out that hip action! We started swim lessons last week. She likes to play much more than she likes to participate in the lesson! Thanks for the cute suit Heasslers.

Look at the cute bow in back!

Checking that puppy out in our new dress!

Pretty cool for us! I did box braids and then linked them together.

Words

I like words. I love scrabble, crossword puzzles and most other word games (hello, pogo). But words can slice through you. I still find it hard to believe that something that a complete stranger took about 10 seconds to say is still churning around inside me. I am such a nerd that I even looked up some words this morning. Like race. Is that really based on color? Not necessarily. "A group of persons related by common descent, blood or heredity." Does that mean that it bothers these ignorant people when people marry people of any other heritage? Just processing here. I thought that I had processed my feeling on this as we considered adopting. It is just not the same as when you are faced with this discrimination, prejudice, ignorance..... I also looked up the n word. Prior to the definition it says, "offensive and disparaging". Yah think!!! Mostly I looked it up to see if by definition it referred to African-Americans or all dark skinned peoples. It is the latter.

That's another question I have about words. Is my daughter an African-American? I know she will be perceived as such. I know by birth she is Ethiopian. She is being raised in America, by Americans. Ethiopia is in Africa. So doesn't that make her African-American?

One more weird thing. When I told my 17 year old what happened, he was like "so?". I think as in "duh, mom, she is". Apparently he didn't feel this was a "offensive and disparaging" comment. Apparently he hears it often at his high school. Is this his ignorance about the feelings attached to the word? Or has it generationally become less offensive? Sometime I would like to have a more in depth conversation with him. Not sure if that will ever happen:)

Never ready

I had my first incident with racial ignorance tonight. I am still in shock. It happened as we were leaving Barnes and Noble. Noelle, her friend, Sabrina and I. A man walked by us and made quick rude remarks and called my daughter the n word. By the time I processed what was said, I only saw the back of his shirt. I convinced myself that anyone that ignorant was not worth chasing down to explain the situation (adoption). As I sit with the incident I realize that I would have felt better if I had defended my daughter, even if he was still an idiot. I also realize that explaining that our situation was adoption might make it sound like I believe that there is something wrong with biracial relationships (I hope that is the right terminology). What makes a person who they are is not their skin color. As Noelle and I talked about the incident, it was interesting process it with her. I hope that I always form my opinions about people on things that are important: their relationship with God, their character, the way they treat other, etc.

My stomach still hurts. Any advice on how to handle this when it happens again? I know that it will. Our little town, at one point, was a hotbed of racial disturbances.

Ouch!

My recommendation is not to try to cut frozen vegetables! Should you choose to do so you may end up spending a couple of hours in urgent care. Be sure to bring a book and count this as relaxation time. Do not look as many people look at your wound and decide how best to proceed. When they tell you they can't stitch it because the thin skin will tear try not to throw up imagining this. Rejoice that you are not supposed to do dishes for the next week while the streri-stips do their thing!! Be extra glad that you did not attempt to go into the medical field!!