It's a Major Award!!!

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The Dad on "A Christmas Story" Ain't the Only Major Award Winner!

No Ugly One Yet.

Isn't that a great name: No Ugly One Yet? As in, "All my kids are beautiful: haven't had an ugly one yet"?

Well, my friend Leslie, from the Sonlight Forums, who goes by the user name of No Ugly One Yet, is the winner of my big blog giveaway.

So, a copy of The Big Bison's Christmas CD will be winging its way to her house. Let's hope she still has the old fashioned CD technology so that she can enjoy it!

I am wishing Leslie and all of her Beautiful Children, and her handsome husband who also COOKS and BAKES, the Merriest of Christmases. Now they'll have some beautiful music to sit around and listen to, as they bask in their mutual beauty and good fortune.

Merry Christmas, y'all!

And for all you non-winners of THIS particular giveaway: despair not. I'll do another one, soon.

In the meantime, maybe very soon I'll give you the World's Best Chili recipe, so you can be a winner of another sort in your own home.

Stay tuned! I think I'll put this recipe in my next blog post. And honestly, this is the best chili I have ever eaten!!!

Snowbound!!!

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Pictures courtesy Boonie Baby.

 It snowed in the Boonies yesterday. It snowed with a ferocity and intensity that we, heretofore, had not yet experienced in these somewhat remote parts. Of course, it snowed across much of the continent yesterday. (Although, ironically enough, I talked to a friend who lives in what is traditionally one of the snowiest spots across these 48 contiguous states, and they got nuttin'.) And the snow didn't exactly take down our Metrodome roof. (It's a minor point that the Boonies HAS no Metrodome, because it has no NEED for a Metrodome. Also if we had a Metrodome, the snow just ain't that deep.)

So no CNN headline for the Boonies in regard to the snow. But we do have a local paper where this may snow may well rate headline status. One of my favorite local headlines since we moved out here was: "Mapco Mart Gets a New Cappacino Machine!!!" It doesn't take much to get the local residents excited, especially since so little happens out here. Then, there was the time the local headline screamed, "Town Council Meeting in One Hour!" And even though I have never attended a town council meeting, nor have I ever seen a need to attend a town council meeting, I began to wonder if I should get a move on and start scurrying around to get ready: after all, I only had one hour! Turns out, the author was commenting on the brevity of the last meeting. Huh. Whodathunk?

But today's headline, if they printed a headline on a Monday, (which they don't, because our paper only goes out one day a week) could well read, "Snowbound!". For that's what we are: well and truly stuck. My guess is that at the deepest place, there's only about 6" of snow, but for Middle Tennessseans, that is a righteous amount of snow. A goodly plenty, as they say. And the steep hills and deep gulches that lead to my home in the woods are going to keep us snowbound for at least a couple of days, I'd wager.

Snow Snoot.

Happily, I bought a couple of gallons of milk on Saturday when I was out, the closet is stocked with toilet paper, I baked bread yesterday, and the only thing we're a bit short on are fresh veggies. But we have frozen veggies. So, we're good in that department. The Big Bison has chopped and stacked wood on the front porch. The Christmas tree is up and decorated, and all in all, it's a pretty great day to be snowed in! Maybe I can even talk the Bison into setting up the table in the living room so I can work a jigsaw puzzle in front of the fire, while the TV's on. The natives are requesting chili for supper, which is another thing I have the ingredients for. So I grabbed some venison out of the freezer to thaw this morning, and hopefully by this afternoon, we'll be in bidness. Chili makin' bidness.

Pot sporting ermine stole of snow.

I have tasked my daughter and my husband with procuring me some snow shots of the Boonies, so that we can share the wonder of our snow day with my blog-readin' buddies, so, to you, from my dear Boonie Baby and me, with love, enjoy a glimpse of being Snowbound in the Boonies.

P.S. Since no one else is entering, I guess I'll go ahead and do the drawing on my Blog Giveaway Contest soon. It's not like I can get to the post office, though, to mail off the prize, anytime soon.
So if you haven't already entered, you've still probably got a couple of days to enter. Be watching for the winner, to be announced as soon as I can get to the post office!!!!!!!!!

Snowy view from porch.

The Cookies That Didn't Get Swapped

Pin It My friend Sharon was asking a group of folks for a good cookie swap recipe the other day, so I credit the inception of this post to her. :-D

I've made these cookies several times. My daughter is totally in love with raspberry jam in a cookie, so she wanted to try these this year. We made a batch together earlier this week, and they were so good that I decided to make them again for my Fabulous Friday Friends, who held their cookie swap yesterday. Only yesterday, sadly, I really wasn't feeling well enough to go. So the cookie dough that I started Thursday for the cookie swap on Friday is still chilling in the fridge on Saturday. And I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today. (This will make no sense if you're not a Popeye/Wimpie fan, but don't worry about it. It's an older person's cultural reference.)

So, all that to say, these are the Cookies That Didn't Get Swapped. But they are totally Swapworthy. Slightly crisp as you bite into them, and then, they melt away into buttery crumbly sweet goodness in your mouth. Once you taste them, in fact, you may find yourself reluctant to give these beauties away. Because some people will not have put the loving goodness into their cookies that you will have put into these. Unless you're totally full of the true spirit of Christmas, which is all about giving a sacrificial gift. And giving these babies up WILL be sacrificial.

I think you might want to be a bit more careful than I was in how you store them. I put them in a ziplock bag, and the following day, the crisp factor was missing. But, they still taste wonderful. So, if you want to keep the crisp factor going, I recommend you try keeping them in a cookie tin, with layers of wax paper in between.  Maybe that will work better.

So, today, I'm going to get my daughter the sous-chef in training to roll these out and cut them with a little heart shaped cookie cutter and spread them with raspberry jam while they're still warm from the oven, and then roll them in the powdered sugar in order to gild the lily, just a touch. Last time we used a heart that was too big, I think, so we'll try it with one of our smaller heart cookie cutters.

The recipe I got from the Silver Palate Cookbook, which was one of the cookbooks that drew me into believing that cooking scrumptious food was within my reach,  way back in the '80's. It's still a great cookbook, and I understand they have re-worked a lot of the recipes that were just overloaded with fat and butter to make them a little more approachable to today's cook.

The recipe is called Linzer Hearts, and in my falling apart, butter stained paperback copy of The Silver Palate Cookbook, my handwritten note, in purple ink, says, "Wonderful!". Because, they are!

Linzer Hearts

3/4 lbs sweet butter, softened (3 sticks)
1 3/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 egg
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, sifted
1 cup cornstarch
2 cups shelled walnuts, finely pulsed in a food processor
1/2 cup red raspberry preserves


I start by prepping my ingredients. First, I get out the butter to soften it. Then, I pulse the nuts in my food processor till they are finely ground, but not walnut butter.  About like this:

Finely Ground Walnuts, pulsed in the food processor.

Then, I sift together the cornstarch and the flour, so they're delicately fluffed, and lump free.

Flour and cornstarch, sifted together.

Cream butter and 1 cup of the sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and mix well. Sift together flour and cornstarch and add to butter mixture. Add walnuts and mix thoroughly. Gather dough in ball and wrap in plastic wrap or wax paper. Chill for 4-6 hours (dough can be frozen at this point and used later, but make sure to wrap well). The idea here, once you add the flour, is to not overwork the dough. Once the flour gets wet, the more you work it, the more gluten will form, and gluten is the elasticky protein string that gives bread its "chew". And you want these cookies to be tender. So, try not to mix the dough too much, once you see the flour is incorporated, or your cookies will be tough, and not tender. Here's what my dough looked like:

Lump o' dough, needing to be chilled.

Roll dough out to 1/4-inch thickness (I like to do this between two sheets of waxed paper). Using a small heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut out cookies and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Chill for 45 minutes.

You might want to use a smaller heart cutter. I will next time.

Preheat oven to 325°F. Bake cookies for 10-15 minutes, or until they are only slightly browned. Remove and cool on rack.

While they are still slightly warm, spread half of the cookies with raspberry preserves, 1/4 teaspoon of jam on each cookie. Top each with one of the remaining cookies. Press together carefully, making sure not to break off the lobes of the heart.

My daughter did most of the work on these cookies, and I'm so proud!

Once fully cooled, sift the remaining powdered sugar over the cookies. Turn cookies over and sift onto the other side (if the cookies are too warm the sugar will melt into the heat). Yields 4 dozen cookies.


P. S. There's still time to enter my blog giveaway for the Best. Christmas. Music. Ever. But time's running out, so don't delay. As of the writing of this post, there are only about 35 comments over there, so if you've already entered, your odds are looking good!

Pictures from my Uncle's Funeral.

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My dear husband took these shots, of the Disabled American Veterans Honor Guard performing the Flag Folding and Presentation ceremony at my Uncle's funeral. My uncle served during World War II, at the Panama Canal. The Flag Folding and Presentation Ceremony, as well as the 21 Gun Salute, was beautiful, and deeply moving. I cannot express how moved I was by it.

The Honor Guard salutes a fallen comrade.

The presentation of the flag to my cousin's daughter.

I wish I could make these a little larger, but the right margin gets cut off. You can, however, click on them if you'd like to see further detail.

Thanks for stopping by. If you feel moved to do so, you can send up a prayer for my cousin Jennifer, who is, of course, grieving the loss of both parents in less than a week.

As a matter of business: There's still time to enter my last post's giveaway. You'll need to leave your comment to enter the contest on that post. Here's a link so that you can do that. A special shout out to those of you who have mentioned this contest or my blog on your own blog. That is really kind, and I do appreciate it! I hope to return the favor!

Blog Giveaway: Your chance to win!!!

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The Best Christmas Music Ever

Free? Free??? Did you say a contest, AND a giveaway???

Yup.

It's the holidays, after all, and with or without the mistletoe, I'm in a holiday mood.

If you remember, a few weeks ago I did a post about the Best Christmas Music Ever. (Yeah, OK, it's my husband's music, but honest to goodness, it's lovely stuff. I cannot tell a lie.You can click on that link to read all about it.)

Well, I feel like somebody needs to get this little holiday treasure for their very own home.

So, here's how you can enter:

1) You can leave me a comment: "I want to win the Best Christmas Music Ever." Be sure your comment has a name or a way I can contact you in case YOU WIN!!!!!!!!!!

2) To get your name entered a second time you can become a follower of mine on Blogger. (This will only work if you're not following me that way already, though.) Just click on the right, where it says "Follow with Google Friend Connect" and let me know you did that by leaving me a comment to that effect. Like this: "I just signed up to follow Susan in the Boonies on Google Friend Connect." Be sure your comment has a way I can contact you!

3) You can become a follower of mine on Networked Blogs. (Again, this will only work for you if you're not following me that way already.) Just leave me a comment to that effect: "I signed up to follow Susan in the Boonies on Networked Blogs." The Networked Blogs box is on the right, below my profile description of Susan in the Boonies. You will need to click on the blue box that says, "Follow this blog".

4) You can mention my blog and this giveaway on YOUR blog. Just leave me a link to your blog in your comment, and say, "I mentioned you on my blog!". If you have a favorite post of mine or recipe that you want to link to, that would be nice.
 

I'm working on increasing my readership, so I'm tickled to death to be able to give you a little something in return: the opportunity to win the Best Christmas Music Ever. I've also been following quite a few of my reader's blogs as well, so if you have a blog, and I'm not already one of your followers, look for me soon!

Merry Christmas, and lets start those comments/entries rolling in!

Pie Aren't Square

Pin It But if you get a post two times in a row about pie, can we call that pie squared?

You be the judge.

OK, I'm gonna give you a picture of multiplied pie, here.

Yes, you can click on this one, too. Pumpkin Pie is in the foreground.

I use the same crust on this one that I do on the pecan one, so if you can make that one, you can surely make this one, too.

On Thanksgiving, or, if in your case, you're contemplating pie for our upcoming holiday, Christmas, here's what I do. I make the pie crust the night before, and then bake the pies first thing in the morning. That way they are fresh for the evening meal, but the oven real estate is open for business for the stuffing, or in the case of Christmas, the roasted potatoes and the standing rib roast, that have to go in the oven near meal time.

Anyway, here's the pumpkin pie recipe, and, again, I'll give it pastry first, since that is what I make first. This recipe comes from the Southern Living Cookbook, and is their recipe for Sweet Potato Pie, and I just substitute canned pumpkin instead of sweet potatoes. I have tried other recipes, but keep coming back to this one because of how light the texture is due to beating the egg whites. You can see the surface of the pie in my husband's picture. It is the lightest pumpkin pie I have ever had.

One more tip: always use freshly grated nutmeg. You can buy whole nutmeg cloves if you look for them at most health food/whole food stores these days, and it wouldn't surprise me if most major grocery chains carry them now. When I was growing up, nutmeg made me gag. My mom used to sprinkle it on eggnog, and I thought it was putrid. As an adult, I have learned that this was probably due to the fact that she was using stale already ground nutmeg from a can. I grate my nutmeg with a Microplane grater, which is a glorified wood rasp, and it works beautifully. No need for a special tool only for nutmeg.

Pie Crust Recipe

for a 9" crust

1 1/4 c. all purpose flour
1/2 t. salt
1/3 c. plus 2 T. shortening
3 to 4 T. ice water

Combine flour and salt; cut in shortening with pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle ice water, 1 T. at a time, evenly over surface. Stir with a fork until dry ingredients are moistened. Shape into a ball, and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill in fridge for at least 1 hour.

Roll dough to 1/8" thickness on a lightly floured surface. Place in pie plate, and flute edges.


(Before you begin making the pie, you should bring your eggs and butter to room temperature.)

Pumpkin Pie

1 15 oz can pumpkin
1 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1 stick butter, softened
2 eggs, separated
1/2 t. ginger
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 t. salt
1/2 c. evaporated milk

1/4 c. sugar

Combine pumpkin, brown sugar, butter, egg yolks, spices, and salt in a large mixing bowl; beat until light and fluffy. Add evaporated milk; beat just until blended.

Beat egg whites (at room temperature) until foamy; gradually add the 1/4 c. sugar, 1 T. at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Fold into pumpkin mixture. Pour filling into pastry shell. Bake at 400º for 10 minutes; reduce heat to 350º, and bake an additional 45 to 50 minutes, or until set. Cool. Top with dollops of whipped cream.

Pie

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Pardon me while I drool.

I love pie.

Have you SEEN how many pie recipes I have on this blog??? It should be OBVIOUS how much I love pie.

I make this pecan pie every year at Thanksgiving. My mother did that, too, but she made it even more often even than that. I was thin when I was young, so that worked out just fine for me. When I was young, this was my second favorite pie, right after cherry pie. Well, maybe third favorite. Don't forget apple pie.

Anyway, here's the recipe that I use for pecan pie every Thanksgiving. It's from Southern Living, but I have changed it slightly, and make it the way my Momma did. Instead of just light corn syrup, I use half light, and half dark Karo syrup. That's the only change, though.

Enjoy!!!

Pie Crust Recipe

for a 9" crust

1 1/4 c. all purpose flour
1/2 t. salt
1/3 c. plus 2 T. shortening
3 to 4 T. ice water

Combine flour and salt; cut in shortening with pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle ice water, 1 T. at a time, evenly over surface. Stir with a fork until dry ingredients are moistened. Shape into a ball, and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill in fridge for at least 1 hour.

Roll dough to 1/8" thickness on a lightly floured surface. Place in pie plate, and flute edges.

Pecan Pie

1/2 c. butter, melted
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. dark corn syrup
1/2 c. light corn syrup
4 eggs, beaten
1 t. vanilla
1/4 t. salt
1 unbaked 9" pie shell
1 to 1 1/4  c. pecans

Combine butter, sugar, and corn syrups; cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until sugar dissolves. Let cool slightly. Add eggs, vanilla, and salt to mixture; mix well.

Pour filling into unbaked pastry shell, and top with pecan halves. Bake at 325º for 50 to 55 minutes. Serve warm or cold.

Keeping Your Aim Straight

Pin It Aunt Juanita's funeral was yesterday.

There is, of course, absolutely no way for any description I could write to do this fine woman justice.

But I would like to share with you an anecdotal snapshot or two from my aunt's life. If you read my last blog post, then you know that my uncle A.J. died the day before Thanksgiving, at the age of 89. He was married for 66 years to his best friend and sweetheart, my aunt Juanita. During the last years of their life together, Alzheimer's disease began to wrap its tentacles around my dear Aunt's mind, robbing the two of them in many ways. Yet they remained, to the end, each other's constant companion and staunchest ally. Uncle A.J.'s funeral was the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and in the middle of the night immediately following it, Aunt Juanita departed this life, so she could bustle off to heaven to be with her husband, A. J. ,again. There just was NO separating those two.

This photo was taken by my cousin Jennifer, on the occasion of A.J. and Juanita's 66th wedding anniversary, which they celebrated in Juanita's hospital room.

When I think of the love they shared, the adjectives "tender" and "fierce" come to mind. Despite the Alzheimer's that affected Juanita's mind,  A.J. and Juanita took care of each other. Yesterday, after the funeral, when I was speaking to one of the very kind caregivers whose presence allowed Uncle A.J. and Aunt Juanita to enjoy their last days in their own home, the caregiver mentioned to me her habit of calling her patients, "Honey" or "Sweetie". But she was warned by other caregivers, "You better not call Mr. A.J., "Honey". Miss Juanita gets AWFUL jealous." Eighty three years old, but still ready to do battle with any comers for her man. She knew a good thing when she saw it, and she would hold on to him  to the death. Pretty much literally.

As the preacher shared at the funeral yesterday, Aunt Juanita was an awesome cook, and nothing gave her more joy than to feed folks. When my sisters went to visit our aunt and uncle a couple of weeks ago, my cousin Jennifer put them to work. My sister Lynn was put to work clearing out the garden, and my sister Debbie was sent to set the kitchen to rights. Even though Aunt Juanita had been bed ridden for weeks  she rallied for her company. My sister Lynn told me that it was almost like a miracle, seeing Aunt Juanita get up out of bed, and respond to questions. My sister Debbie took a more pragmatic view of the situation: "She just wanted to keep an eye on who the heck was messing around in her kitchen". THAT made me laugh: Aunt Juanita was feisty, in the very best of ways. She loved to tell stories on herself, too.

Here are two of my very favorite Aunt Juanita stories, that she told me herself. Now, she told me these stories about 9 years ago, so Jennifer will have to forgive me if I get a detail or two wrong, but it has always been my philosophy that you should never let the truth stand in the way of a good story, so, here are the stories as I remember them. Aunt Juanita had a gun. Oh, yes. And she kind of enjoyed that fact. A lot. But I'm not sure she would have exactly made a good poster child for gun safety, if you know what I mean. Since her death, I have counted 5 separate stories I have heard regarding her and that gun. (The fact that she used to tote a gun around in her purse came out at the funeral, and seemed to surprise the preacher a bit. His surprise made me smirk. Even though  he loved and  knew her well, I guess there are some things you just don't advertise around the preacher.)

So, the first gun story involving my pistol packin' Auntie revolves around a duck, that belonged to her Mom, who lived down the hill. And Aunt Juanita's mom treasured that duck. But that duck was getting into Aunt Juanita's garden. And you know, a lot of hard work had gone into the that garden. So, Aunt Juanita fired a warning shot off the starboard bow, as it were, just to encourage Goosie Goosie Gander to take his wanderings elsewhere. And where did the warning shot land? Right. Between. The. Eyes. Yup. Old Dead Eye Juanita, as it were, had to lie to her Momma about whatever happened to that duck. No doubt clucking her tongue all the while over his sad demise.

The second gun story again involves my aunt firing a gun off that same porch. A.J. and Juanita had a rattlesnake problem. They lived in the cave country of Kentucky, after all, and snakes enjoyed the same land that they did, but Juanita and A.J. didn't enjoy those snakes so very much. One day, Aunt Juanita walked out on her front porch, and there on her own PORCH was one of those dang rattlers. Now, as you may have figured out by now, Aunt Juanita was a strong woman, and she knew she had the available arsenal to handle SnakyBoy, so she went back in the house, got her pistol, and at close range she aimed, fired, missed the snake, but blew a nice sized hole in her own porch. Apparently, Old Dead Eye could have used a bit more target practice.

I heard three more gun stories about Aunt Juanita, but I'll just leave those lie, since she didn't tell them to me herself, and say that there were three areas where her aim never faltered: her love for her husband, and her love for her daughter, and her love for her friends and neighbors. In her beautifully written eulogy, my cousin Jennifer compared her Mom  to the widow Tabitha, whose story is recounted in the 9th chapter of  the book of Acts. Tabitha's whole community gathered around the apostle Peter to recount to him the kindness and goodness of this lovely lady who had died. And that's what happened for my Aunt, yesterday. Her people gathered around to tell of her kindness, her generosity, her hard work, and her love.

Jennifer recounted how following Uncle A.J.'s hospitalization in Nashville, he was released to go back home to his sweetheart, who was hospitalized herself, back home in Kentucky. Jennifer told how he toddled down the hospital corridor to see her, and how she reached out her arm to him from her hospital bed, and how that night, he climbed into that hospital bed and held her. Sixty-six years of marriage, and sweethearts to the end. Would that we all were gifted with such a love to sustain us to the end of our days. May that kind of love be our highest aim.