Done

We made it! As of last Thursday, Harvest 2010 is in the books.  Let the field work begin to start the process over again. 

Nine Decades

Today Mike's grandmother, Bernice Mason, is celebrating her 90th Birthday.  While I feel a little guilty revealing her age, I want to recognize this milestone because few people will reach it. 

Mennonite Monday - Tapioca Salad

Mennonite Monday started because I wanted to make recipes from the Bethesda Mennonite Church Cookbooks (both the yellow and the white cookbook for those of you who own them). I also wanted to take pictures of each recipe that I made, so I would know for future reference what the recipe should look like. I am by no means a great cook, but I think it will be fun to try new and different recipes each week. Not all of these recipes are for ethnic Mennonite food, but the women from Henderson know how to cook, so I can safely say that these recipes will be good. Check back each Monday for a new recipe and feel free to leave a comment if you have a favorite recipe from these cookbooks, or if you have some tips on what I should make and how I should make it.

~

This week for Mennonite Monday I am featuring a recipe that I made during harvest. To be honest, the guys I fed did not get excited about the salad. Okay, they barely even touched it.  I however did like the salad and if I ever make it again I will have a better handle on how to work with tapioca better.  Hopefully your Tapioca Salad (pg 195W) is received a little better than mine was. 

Tapioca Salad 

3 1/2 cups boiling water

1/2 cup baby pearl tapioca

8 oz. crushed pineapple with juice

3 oz. pkg strawberry gelatin 

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup sugar

Add the tapioca to the boiling water, cover and let stand until cool.  Bring to boil again and add the gelatin and stir until dissolved.  Let stand again until cool.  Add salt, sugar and pineapple.  Refrigerate until set.  Serve with whipped topping.  (Any flavor gelatin may be used). 

I was able to find small pearl tapioca just fine, but it wasn't very friendly to me.  

I added it to the boiling water.

Then I let it set.

I think I should have stirred the tapioca while it set because I had big chunks of goo stuck to the bottom of my pot.  I'm guessing this was because of something I did, but I was not exactly sure how to fix it.  I basically fished out all of the clumps and there was still some tapioca balls left, so I figured it wasn't too big of a deal. 

Adding sugar

Salt

Pineapple

Transferring to the serving bowl.

  I did not serve this with whipped topping on top because I thought it would get watery and gross. However if I had put whipped topping on it, I think it would have been more popular.

This guy

Turned 27 today

Since I am so organized lucked out big time, I bought Mikes Birthday gift in May.  I realized that Carrie Underwood would be performing in Omaha the week of his birthday, so I asked him if he wanted that as his birthday gift.  Surprisingly, he wasn't completely on board with the concert right away, but I think the idea sunk in and he got really excited as the concert got closer.  Since I ordered our tickets the day they became available we had seats on the floor in row 21, which ended up being pretty good seats. 

 The first opening act was Sons of Siliva and they looked more like a Twighlight rock band than a band that belonged at a country concert. 

 Billy Currington was the second opening act and we knew almost every song he played.

 Then Carrie took the stage and she rocked it.  In a country way. 

 She sang the entire show live and changed at least 7 times.

 At one point, she was in a truck that was suspended in air above the crowd.  We had great seats for this part because the truck stopped not to far behind us. 

 Carrie also played the piano and guitar as she sang during the show. 

 Most people took pictures with their phones.  At this point I don't know if anyone was looking at her directly.  They all seemed to be taking a picture or video on their phone. 

 While it looks like our seats were pretty far away, the stage was much closer than this picture seems.  

 At the end of the show there was confetti and 

 streamers.  If I had a concert I would definitely have confetti and streamers. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKE!

Mennonite Monday - Peach Crisp from Cake Mix

Mennonite Monday started because I wanted to make recipes from the Bethesda Mennonite Church Cookbooks (both the yellow and the white cookbook for those of you who own them). I also wanted to take pictures of each recipe that I made, so I would know for future reference what the recipe should look like. I am by no means a great cook, but I think it will be fun to try new and different recipes each week. Not all of these recipes are for ethnic Mennonite food, but the women from Henderson know how to cook, so I can safely say that these recipes will be good. Check back each Monday for a new recipe and feel free to leave a comment if you have a favorite recipe from these cookbooks, or if you have some tips on what I should make and how I should make it.

~

I know this Mennonite Monday post is actually happening on Tuesday, but I have a good reason for not being able to post this earlier, which I will tell you about on Thursday.  Last week I made Peach Crisp from Cake Mix (pg 51Y) and it was a huge hit.  Mike even ate it for breakfast the next two days.  

 

Peach Crisp from Cake Mix

1 can (29 oz.) slices peaches with syrup

1 package butter pecan cake mix (dry) 

1/2 cup buetter or margarine, melted

1 cup flaked coconut

1 cup chpped pecans

Layer ingredients, in order listed, in ungreased oblong pan, 13x9x2".  Bake 55-60 minutes at 325 degrees.  Let stand at least 15 minutes before serving.  Serve warm or cool and if desired with sweetened whipped cream or ice cream.  

 I chopped the nuts in my food chopper from pampered chef, which works really well. 

  This is such an easy recipe and they really enjoyed it, which means the recipe gets a star in my book. 

  

Mennonite Monday - Easy French Bread

Mennonite Monday started because I wanted to make recipes from the Bethesda Mennonite Church Cookbooks (both the yellow and the white cookbook for those of you who own them). I also wanted to take pictures of each recipe that I made, so I would know for future reference what the recipe should look like. I am by no means a great cook, but I think it will be fun to try new and different recipes each week. Not all of these recipes are for ethnic Mennonite food, but the women from Henderson know how to cook, so I can safely say that these recipes will be good. Check back each Monday for a new recipe and feel free to leave a comment if you have a favorite recipe from these cookbooks, or if you have some tips on what I should make and how I should make it.

~

Last week the poll winner was Easy French Bread (pg 15W).  This was a pretty simple recipe even though there are a few things that I would do differently the next time around. I guess the main difference I would make is the amount of flour I mixed in.  For some reason the mixture was very dense and it was very hard to get the last cup of flour mixed in.  I'm not sure if it was suppose to be that way or if I lost track of the amount of flour I poured into the mixer.   Next time I will pay more attention to my dough consistency and less attention to the number of cups of flour I use.  

Easy French Bread 

2 pkg yeast

1/2 cup warm water

1/2 tsp sugar

2 Tbl sugar

2 Tbl oil 

2 tsp salt

2 cups warm water

8-8.5 cups flour

1 beaten egg

2 Tbl milk

poppy or sesame seeds

Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water and 1/2 tsp sugar.  Combine 2 Tbl sugar, salt and 2 cups warm water.  Add yeast and flour.  Knead.  Let rise till double, punch down and let rest 15 minutes.  Divide dough in half, shape into long loaves and place on cookie sheets, slash tops and brush with beaten egg mixed with milk.  Sprinkle with seeds.  let rise.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.