A Successful Fishing Trip

On Saturday afternoon Randy went fishing on the Black Lake. He wasn't in a boat but fishing off a dock that is down the hill on his uncle's farm. Randy had lots of luck catching a few sunfish but didnt' catch a big fish like he would have liked. Well this morning, Randy went to the same fishing spot and had luck with this nice bass that he caught. As you can see he was rather proud of the fish he caught because he wanted me to take a few pictures.

The fish was well over 4 pounds and 16 inches long. A very good catch.

I would say this was a very successful trip and Randy is planning on doing some more fishing this weekend.

Nothing Beats Homemade

As many of you can see it has been sometime since I have posted. I have had so much going on since last Friday with the Relay for Life event, getting together with family, meetings and inservice trainings for work and just with work itself plus trying to get things done around the house. So far the week ahead looks rather calm which I am hoping stays that way because there are a few recipes that I have found and really want to make. Now on to this post, when I went grocery shopping on Thursday, I picked a quart of strawberries with the intent of making some kind of dessert. Well I wanted to have some strawberries and biscuits but Randy does not like biscuits at all and said he likes to have strawberries with angel food cake. I knew in my Good Housekeeping Cookbook I had a recipe for angel food cake and I knew I would also have plenty of egg whites since one of Randy's coworkers has been giving us eggs from her chickens. That was a definite help because I would not have had enough eggs. I was alittle hesistant at first about making the cake but it wasn't so bad and when the cake was all done and cooling I was rather proud of myself and am looking forward to the next time to make another one.


Angel-Food Cake
The New Good Housekeeping Cookbook

1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup flour
1 2/3 cups egg whites (12 to 14 egg whites), at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract ( I used strawberry extract instead)
1 1/4 cups sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In small bowl, stir confectioners' sugar and flour; set aside. In a large bowl, with mixer at high speed, beat egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt until soft peaks form; beat in extracts. Beating at high speed sprinkle in sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating until sugar is completely dissolved and whites stand in stiff peaks. Fold in flour mixture just until flour disappears.

Pour batter into ungreased 10-inch tube pan. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, until cake springs back when lightly touched. Invert cake in pan on funnel or bottle; cool completely in pan. With metal spatula or I used a butter knife to carefully loosen cake from the pan; place on cake plate.


Some strawberries and a dollop of cool whip make this dessert complete.

For The Love of Chocolate

Do you ever get the craving for a certain food and you will not be satified until you have it. That is how I felt the other day when I was craving something made with chocolate. I knew just the thing to make that would satisfy the craving I was having. These brownies are chocked full of chocolatey goodness and are so easy to whip up when you need to satisfy that chocolate craving.


Chocoholics Brownies

1/2 cup flour
6 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Grease an 8x8 baking pan and set aside. In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, sugar and salt. Add oil, vanilla and eggs; stir until well combined. Spread the batter evenly into the bottom of the prepared baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes or until top is shiny and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cut into 24 squares.

Casserole for Dinner

I wanted to make a whole sum hearty meal for Randy's dinner tonight. Using ingredients that I had in the pantry I came up with Chicken Noodle Casserole. Of course I had to try some after it was made and it certainly hit the spot.


Chicken Noodle Casserole

1 can fat free cream of celery soup
1/2 cup milk
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup chicken breast, cut into cubes
2 cups hot cooked medium egg noodles
8 whole wheat Ritz crackers, crushed fine


Stir soup, milk, peas, chicken and noodles in a 2 quart casserole dish. Bake at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes or until hot. Stir. Sprinkle crackers on top and bake for 5 minutes more.

Spaghetti A New Way and A Thank You

I found this recipe in the June/July issue of Taste of Home. I made changes to the recipe to the ingredients that I had on hand. I served Randy the bowl above and he ate every last bit of it. I know he really must have liked it because as he was leaving for work this morning he thanked me for making such a delicious dinner. That really means so very much to me to be able to make a meal for someone I love very much.


Summertime Spaghetti Sauce
I am going to share the recipe I came up with but if you would like the orginial recipe be sure and check out the Taste of Home June/July 2009 issue


1/2 pound lean ground beef
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 medium yellow pepper, chopped
8 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon italian seasoning
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
hot cooked pasta
parmesan cheese


In a large skillet, cook ground beef until it browned and no longer pink. Drain and set aside. Heat oil in the same skillet; add onions and yellow pepper. Cook and stir until tender.

Add the tomatoes, brown sugar, italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Return ground beef to the pan. Cook stirring occasionally.

Serve with angel hair pasta; top with cheese

Tropical Treat

I really love granola bars. I am always looking for something different to add to them when I make them and this time I went with some Tropical Trail Mix that we had bought at Walmart a few weeks ago. The recipe that I like to use I found on the box of wheat bran.

Tropical Granola Bars

1 cup brown sugar

2/3 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup corn syrup

1/3 cup butter, melted

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 1/4 cup oatmeal

1 1/4 wheat bran

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups tropical trail mix

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch pan. In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, peanut butter, corn syrup, butter and vanilla; blend well. Stir in oatmeal, wheat bran, salt and trail mix. Press mixture evenly in prepared pan. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until light brown. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

Very Berry Good

I wanted to make some muffins and knew that I had a package of mixed berries in the freezer that I have been wanting to use in a recipe and here was the perfect opportunity to do just that.

Old Fashioned Berry Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1 cup milk

12 ounce package mixed berries (strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and raspberries)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a twelve cup muffin pan.

In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl, beat egg, milk until blended; stir into flour mixture just until moistened (batter will be lumpy). Fold in mixed berries.

Spoon batter into muffin cups. Bake 20 to 25 minutes until golden and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Immediately remove muffins from pan; serve warm or cool on wire rack to serve later, reheat if desired.