The Provision Room

I know this blog has been silent for some time, but just in case someone still comes by or has it in their blog reader, I'm putting a shout out for a great new blog!  Go read about it here or here!

The mission for their blog in their words:

To prepare our homes—kitchens, pantries, and gardens—to be ready in case of emergencies or unexpected life changes. To do so we will not increase our food budgets nor cause our family to subsist on bread and water. We will strive for the following ideals:

~Real Food
We will not recommend you go out and buy food-like substances, just because they have a shelf life. We will learn to make Real Food last.

~Organic, local and sustainable whenever possible
This is not always possible, but is a lot more possible than people think. We’ll try to show you how we feed our families while being true to our values.

~Frugality
We will search out things that are genuinely good deals and not just short term solutions. We will strive to be good stewards of the family finances.

~Environmentally friendly
We will try to find ways to store our food and stock our pantries without resorting to a bunch of disposables that overfill already overfull landfills.

~Transparency
We will not act like we have all the answers and will show you our mistakes and learn to laugh at them! 

TJ's Yummy Pie

I really ran across the recipe by accident one day. I was looking for a pecan pie with cream cheese and found this. We LOVED it! I did cut back a little on the sugar, because it was too sweet. We really did enjoy the pie though.

National Wear Your Apron Day is May 12

"With her pretty hair tucked into a little cap, arms bared to the elbow, and a checked apron which had a coquettish look in spite of the bib, the young housewife fell to work, feeling no doubts about her success, for hadn't she seen Hannah do it hundreds of times?" (Little Women)

Bombshell Mama

"...that poor man came to the door, red as a beet, with perspiration streaming down his face, he had on one of his wife's big gingham aprons. `I can't get this durned thing off,' he said, `for the strings are tied in a hard knot and I can't bust 'em, so you'll have to excuse me, ladies.' We begged him not to mention it and went in and sat down. Mr. Blair sat down too; he twisted the apron around to his back and rolled it up, but he did look so ashamed and worried that I felt sorry for him, and Diana said she feared we had called at an inconvenient time. " (Anne of Avonlea)

The most comfortable place in the world--Nana's lap

"Joseph and Rusty were both curled up in her lap. A warm plummy odor filled the whole house, for Priscilla was cooking in the kitchen. Presently she came in, enshrouded in a huge work-apron, with a smudge of flour on her nose, to show Aunt Jamesina the chocolate cake she had just iced." (Anne of the Island)

"She looks well to the ways of her household..." Proverbs 31:27

"Don't you wish, Polly," said little Phronsie, bustling around with a very important air, nearly smothered in the depths of a big brown apron that Polly had carefully tied under her chin, "that you didn't ever-an'-ever have so many dishes to do?" (Five Little Peppers and How They Grew)

Superheroes

"Were you asked to tea?" she demanded, tying an apron over her neat black frock, and standing with a spoonful of the leaf poised over the pot. " (Wuthering Heights)

Voted #1 Multi-tasker on the Central Coast!

(To all who participated in this special project by submitting a photo, you will be getting a special apron for your dishsoap, courtesy of Grandma Jones. THANK YOU and may God bless you with domestic felicity!)

St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I hope you all found a way to celebrate, even if it was in a small way. The kids and I all dressed in green, and we had chicken for our main dish. BUT that wasn't the fun part.....we had green Irish Mashed Potatoes, Broccoli, Green Chicken Gravy, and Green Grape Juice. MMM! I even had some GREEN napkins. This was a FUN day with making everything green. Oh, and I made root beer with sparkling water, and we had root beer floats for dessert.

~Serena

IRISH CHAMP

8 medium potatoes

1/2 cup milk

5 tablespoon butter

one bunch scallions or green onions, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

Peel and cube potatoes and boil in salted water until tender. Drain and mash slightly. In a small pan, heat milk and butter until butter is melted. Add chopped scallions. Fold mixture into the potatoes until well blended. Potatoes will be still be somewhat lumpy. Season with salt and pepper.

Entertaining

I hosted a Taste of Home Entertaining Party last night. (Anyone want to order something while my party is still "open"?) Because it was "Taste of Home," I decided to serve all Taste of Home recipes. I took pictures because it all turned out so pretty! (and tasty!)

--Lady Daja

Beautiful Baked Ziti

1 package (19.76 oz.) Sweet Italian sausage cooked according to package and sliced
1 package (8 oz.) penne or rigatoni pasta, cooked and drained
1 jar (26 oz.) pasta sauce
3/4 cup water
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh garlic
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 package (10 oz.) frozen garlic bread, thawed and cut into 12 slices
3 cups (12 oz.) shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup olive oil
2 Roma tomatoes, cut into 12 slices
12 fresh whole basil leaves

In a large bowl, mix sausage, pasta, pasta sauce, water, basil, garlic, Parmesan cheese, and pepper. Toss to coat. Place mixture in a greased 13-in x 9-in x 2-in baking pan.

Place 12 slices of garlic bread on top of mixture and cover with mozzarella. Dip tomatoes slices in oil and place on each bread slice. Bake, uncovered, at 400F for 30 minutes or until heated through. Place one basil leaf on each tomato. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Yield: 9 servings.

Cranberry Bruschetta

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries

1/4 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar

1/2 red onion, thinly sliced into rings

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 Tablespoons minced fresh basil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 unsliced loaf of French bread

Vegetable oil (I used olive)

Combine cranberries, sugar and vinegar in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Add onion and garlic; return to a boil and reduce heat. Simmer on low for 10 minutes or until cranberries pop. Pour into a glass bowl. Stir in basil and oregano. Cool at room temperature.

Cut bread diagonally into sixteen 3/4-in slices; brush both sides with oil. Broil each side for 1-2 minutes or until golden brown. Top each slice with cranberry mixture. Yield 16 servings.

Italian Stuffed Appetizer Bread

1 package (16 oz.) ground mild Italian sausage

1 loaf (1 pound) frozen white bread dough, thawed
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jar (7 oz.) roasted red peppers, well-drained and sliced
1/3 cup Kalamata olives, pitted and sliced
2 cups (8 oz.) shredded Swiss Cheese (but I used Monterrey Jack, because I don't like Swiss Cheese)
1 Tablespoon water
1 teaspoon poppy seeds

In a skillet, brown sausage until no longer pink; drain. On lightly floured surface, roll bread dough to a 16-in x 12-in rectangle. Combine cream cheese and garlic; spread lengthwise over center third of dough. Top with sausage, peppers, olives and cheese.

Fold dough over filling, pinching seam to seal. Make slits across top of dough every 2 inches. Brush lightly with water and sprinkle with poppy seeds. Bake at 400F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing. Yield: 16 appetizer sized servings. (Or less and make it a main course! YUMMY!)

Fruit and cheese platter

Chocolate Peanut Butter No-Bake Cake

1 cup cold milk

1/4 cup peanut butter

1 package (3.9 oz) instant chocolate pudding mix

1 1/2 cups thawed whipped topping

55 Nilla Wafers, divided (Don't start snackin' out of the box until you've counted out 55! Trust me on this one!)

Chocolate curls, optional (But this is really what made it so beautiful!)

2 cups whole strawberries

Gradually add milk to peanut butter in a medium bowl, beating with wire whisk until well blended. Add dry pudding mix. Beat 2 minutes or until well blended. Stir in the whipped topping.

Reserve 5 wafers. Spread about 1 teaspoon pudding mixture onto the bottom of each of the remaining 50 wafers. Stack wafers together, standing them on the edge to form a ring around the out edge of a round serving platter.

Frost ring with the remaining pudding mixture. Refrigerate 6 hours or overnight. (Do NOT skip the step of refrigeration. This chilling turns the cookies into cake! It's magic!)

Crush remaining 5 wafers; sprinkle over dessert. Top with the chocolate curls. Fill center of ring with strawberries. Yield: 12 servings.

Biscotti to eat with our tea

Picnic

To me, the ideal dining experience involves a picnic basket and the great outdoors. Although, in a pinch an indoor picnic will do.



I love to eat. Seriously, I do. So, it's a mighty good thing that I also love to cook. I'd almost rather eat no food than fake food or bad food. So, even picnics are to be tasty and beautiful.



Today my husband left for a men's retreat. The retreat fee covered meals Saturday and Sunday, but not Friday night. So, I packed a picnic for him and the pastor who was driving him. I didn't take a picture of the packed picnic. I should have. But, here are some of the individual foods.

Menu

Buttermilk Twiced-Dipped Fried Chicken Tenders

Antipasto Sticks

Mini Cheesecakes

Apples

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Quick Beef Pizza

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com. It was a surpise hit. And so easy! Click on the title and it will take you to the recipe.

I didn't even think of taking a picture until we were done eating. :-) So, here's a partially eaten pizza.

The recipe is for one pizza. I used 1 1/2 pounds of ground beef and divided it between two pizzas. It was plenty.

I used Daja's pizza crust recipe and pre-baked it. (I also used all all-purpose flour. Didn't have any whole wheat ground and didn't feel like grinding any!)

Bread Machine Pizza Crust

1 c. water
3/4 t. salt
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
2 t. yeast

Set on dough cycle. After forming into crust, let it rest 10 - 30 minutes.

Some tips from Daja:

Use only 1 t. yeast to make the crust more like pizzaria pizza. Also, though this recipe is for 1 pizza, stretching it for 2 pizzas makes it a better thin crust pizza.

Both of these tips worked for me.