Crock Pot Kielbasa

Yes, it's here — my first (but not the last) crock pot recipe for 2015 and it's a new one (at least for us). Usually our crock pot has ingredients that include chicken or beef cooking for dinner. We needed to try something new. A friend recommended this recipe for slow cooker kielbasa and sauerkraut — a welcome change.

First, (sorry couldn't resist) this is one of the easiest recipes I've done in the crock pot from prep time to finish. Who doesn't like easy meals any time of year. This low-cost meal was ready in under 6 hours and there were leftovers (another plus). 

Rinsing the sauerkraut and adding brown sugar and caraway seeds gave this meal more of a "sweet" vs. "sour" kraut taste. For variations, add bite-size pieces of peeled and diced Yukon potatoes and/or cut up pieces of peeled apple.

Prep time: 15-20 minutes. Cooking time: 4-6 hours

Crock Pot Kielbasa & Sauerkraut

2 lbs sauerkraut (refrigerated in a bag)
1/2 C brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp caraway seeds
1 links Kielbasa or Polish sausage
1/2 C apple juice or apple cider

1. Pour sauerkraut into a colander and rinse well with water. Allow to drain and press down with a large spoon to remove excess water.
2. Place rinsed and drained sauerkraut into slow cooker. Add brown sugar, salt and caraway seeds and mix well.
3. Place kielbasa on top and pour juice or cider on top.
4. Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours. If adding potatoes, cooking time may be longer. Check that potatoes are done after 6 hours and raise temp to High for last hour if not.

Serve with your choice of mustard and some rye bread and a beverage of your choice: glass of beer or apple cider.

What's New This New Year?

Happy New Year Folks !

It's that traditional time of year— a new beginning — and many folks often make one or more of resolutions similar to these: 

• Lose weight
• Exercise more
• Volunteer
• Quit smoking
• Save money
• Eat healthier
• Manage stress
• Travel to new places
• Manage debt
• Drink less
• Look for another/better job
• Reduce waste/recycle more
• Get organized/reduce clutter
• Spend time with family/friends
• Attend church/religious services more often

Have you made any of these today or in previous years? Since I asked, here's my resolution list (so far) for this New Year:

• Smile more
• Compliment people (everyone needs to hear something nice)
• Call/write friends regularly (not via social media)
• Say I love you to family/friends as often as possible
• Go to the fitness center 3X weekly (no excuse as it's in the mill-apt complex)
• Argue less and accept more 
• Be more honest with myself and others
• Lose weight (something my late mother urged nagged me to do, so it's in her memory and, more importantly, my better health)

HOW did you spend the 1st day of 2015? Here's what we did:

• Paid bills
• Caught up on laundry
• Opened holiday cards (received while we were away)
• Took a walk
• Cooked a crock pot dinner (no surprise)
• Wrote this first post of 2015

FYI, modern Westerners were not the first to make New Year’s resolutions, studies have shown that Babylonians, Romans, and Medieval knights made vows as well. It's not known how many they kept, but if they were anything like folks today, it can be assumed there was a fair amount of the “I’ll start tomorrow” philosophy. Today less than 50 percent of Americans make resolutions and less than 10 percent achieve them.

So, how do you think you will do?

In Her Memory

In a pre-holiday post, I wrote that due to a family health issue and out of state travel, we would be taking a temporary blog break. Comments were off then (as now). Pat and I knew that your collective good wishes would be with us. 

The family crisis was my mother's unexpected hospitalization in our home state of NJ. Sadly, she passed away a few days before Christmas. She collapsed in her home, and thankfully my brother was with her. She was transported to the hospital, which is listed as the "official" place of death. Although my mother had been in failing health the past few years, she refused to reside anyplace else. Her desire was to die "at home" and we know that is exactly what happened.

The passing of a loved one, family or friend, is a sad event, even more so at the holidays. I know that my mother is now free from pain, suffering and most of all, I know that she is reunited with my father, whom she's missed since his passing over 30 years ago. Despite that loss, she maintained a strong and independent spirit. While not "tech-savy" in terms of computers and the like, she could tell "what was what." She kept current on world-wide events, watched the nightly news, and read the paper daily.

My mother was 92 years old. Two years ago, she told us wanted to celebrate her 90th year with a blowout birthday party surrounded by family and friends. It was a memorable occasion for everyone especially her. 

I believe that my mother celebrated a wonderful Christmas even though she was not with us. My fondest wish is that she know how much her family loved her and admired her strength, wisdom and generous spirit.

Mom, we love you and are already missing you. You will always be with us in memory and spirit till we meet again one day.

(Thanks to fellow bloggers who sent private emails of concern which were much appreciated by myself and my family.)

Dorothy

Christmas Eve 2014

It's Christmas Eve again. Another year has past and we again are getting ready to celebrate that very special birthday that is the center of Christendom. The birthday of a simple man with a simple message. A simple message that came from God. Love one another. Jesus put it a little differently when he said "what ever you do for the least of mine, you do for me."
Many of us make donations to national and international organizations at this time of year, and this is fine. But how many of you helped a stranger on the street lately? That troubled soul you pass every day? Made up with that neighbor you quarreled with? Or just hugged someone that was having a really bad day.

In 1947 a movie staring David Niven, Loretta Young, and Cary Grant came out. The simple name, "The Bishops Wife", understated the message. It has gone on to become a Christmas classic. I won't give away the plot, but will share with you the sermon that closes the movie. Like Jesus's message, it is short and to the point.

With that, we wish all of you a Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy Kwanza, Good Solstice, and hope you take this simple message to heart. Love one another, and make peace on earth a reality.

Tonight I want to tell you the story of an empty stocking. Once upon a midnight clear, there was a child's cry. A blazing star hung over a stable and wise men came with birthday gifts. We haven't forgotten that night down the centuries; we celebrate it with stars on Christmas trees, the sound of bells and with gifts. But especially with gifts. You give me a book; I give you a tie. Aunt Martha has always wanted an orange squeezer, and Uncle Henry could do with a new pipe. We forget nobody, adult or child. All the stockings are filled -- all that is, except one. And we have even forgotten to hang it up. The stocking for the child born in a manger. It's His birthday we are celebrating. Don't ever let us forget that. Let us ask ourselves what He would wish for most, and then let each put in His share. Loving kindness, warm hearts and the stretched out hand of tolerance. All the shining gifts that make peace on earth.

Blog Break

Because of a family health issue and the need to travel out of state, we are taking an extended blog break. Comments are off as we know that your well wishes go with us and we appreciate all of them. 

In return, we wish everyone a wonderful holiday season filled with joy, love, family and friends, however and wherever you will celebrate.

Dorothy & Pat (aka Beatrice & Grenville)

Holiday Films

We watch holiday films this time of year . . . 

Our collection includes about 50 holiday films and/or classic TV shows on DVD (we upgraded from VHS). We view them from Thanksgiving to New Year's and try to average one per night, but sometimes miss a night so double up other nights.

With some classics, we watch the original and the remake. For example, 1947 The Bishop's Wife (Cary Grant, David Niven, Loretta Young) was re-made and re-titled in 1996 as The Preacher's Wife (Denzel Washington, Whitney Houston, Courtney B. Vance). Another example is the 1947 and then 1994 versions of Miracle on 34th Street. Our preference is for the vintage B&W film. 

Then, there are the weekend movie marathons when we watch several films in sequence, notably the series of Santa comedies with Tim Allen: Santa Clause (1994), Santa Clause 2: The Mrs Clause (2002), Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006). A second marathon is 1990 Home Alone and the 1992 sequel Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. 

Of course, there's numerous versions of the Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol of which we have several: 1984 version with George C. Scott, 1998 comedy Scrooged with Bill Murray, 2009 animated film with Jim Carrey, and the 1992 Muppets animation.

Then, there are the "unusual" holiday films, like the 1994 Mixed Nuts, with Steve Martin (named one of the worst films ever made). 
The 1950 The Great Rupert (re-titled A Christmas Wish) with Jimmy Durante featured a dancing squirrel. A 1940 film, Beyond Tomorrow (re-titled Beyond Christmas) is a sentimental tear-jerker.

There's also the classic films, we watch every year: White Christmas, Holiday Inn, It's a Wonderful Life. Our favorites also include these more recent seasonal romantic-comedies:  Love Actually (2003) and The Holiday (2006).

How about YOU . . .

If you enjoy holiday films, which ones and do you watch them every holiday season?

Happy Holiday viewing !

Fairies in the Yard

Have fairies danced in your yard? — they have in ours and in neighborhood yards too.

According to legend, fairies or pixies often gather at night. Dancing in a circle, wearing down the grass and leaving a trampled ring of brown or dead grass. A day later, mushrooms spring up encircling the dance ring. It's been said that since toads sat on the mushrooms, they became referred to as “toadstools.”

Many believed fairies caused this phenomena and called the circles fairy rings, fairy circles, or pixie rings.

A mushroom ring provides the most obvious evidence of these rings. When "fairy" ring mushrooms first appear, there are numerous fruiting bodies (mushrooms) that look like small bulbs on top of long stalks. 

When mature, mushrooms are large and the bulb expands. The circles are the result of a pattern of mycelium growth. 

Mycelium is the vegetative part of a fungus and is the underground organism that produces the reproductive fruit bodies known as mushrooms. The circular growth pattern is a factor of soil type,condition, soil nutrients, obstructions underground, and dirt composition. The ground needs to be even and well composed, which is why the rings appear on lawns.

The organic matter that fairy rings break down is often tree stumps, roots, logs, and pieces of organic material in soil below the lawn. As these depletes, the fairy ring(s) disappear.

Several fairy rings may look together on lawns that were wooded. Yet, they don’t cross each other; fungal activity stops when fungi from different rings contact each other. (It seems mushrooms are not as social as they look.)

You can only notice these rings once mushrooms crop up on grassy lawn areas. However, the circular mycelium underground is always present and growing.

Yes, I believe that fairies dance in the rings on our lawn.

And, just wondering . . .

Do you believe it too? ('tis the season for believing)

Modified Chicken Florentine

IF you were wondering about the post title it's because this recipe from the Kraft Foods website underwent some minor major modifications.

WHY?

Because I didn't fully read the recipe and check that we had all the listed ingredients before actually starting dinner preparations.

SO, there were some substitutions made, but the recipe listed below IS the original one from the website should you ever want to try it -- BUT substitutions are always good (especially when you've already started dinner and there's no time to get to the store). The asterisk (*) denotes substituted ingredients, which are noted below. 

Chicken Florentine Casserole

• 1 tub (8 oz.) Philadelphia cream cheese spread *
• ¾ C plus 2 tbsp. milk, divided *
• ½ tsp Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp oil
• 1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut in bite-size pieces
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 C farfalle (bow-tie pasta), cooked
• 1 pkg (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed & drained
• 1 C shredded, part-skim Mozzarella cheese *
• 4 slices bacon, cooked, crumbled *

1. Heat oven to 375ºF.
2. Mix cream cheese spread, 2 tbsp. milk and seasoning until blended.
3. Heat oil in large nonstick skillet on medium heat. Add chicken and garlic; cook and stir 6 to 7 min. or until chicken is done. Stir in cream cheese mixture and all remaining ingredients except bacon. Spoon into 1-1/2-qt. casserole sprayed with cooking spray. Cover and bake 10 minutes.
4. Uncover, top with bacon, bake uncovered for 15 minutes.

Modifications

* Used 1/2 Philadelphia cream cheese "brick" placed in microwave 30 sec. to soften
* Combined 2% milk and half &amp half
* Substituted 3-cheese Mexican blend 
* Used diced pepperoni (will have to buy more for homemade pizza)

Except for the ingredient substitutions, all the preparation and cooking steps were followed. Here's the resulting meal. Serve with a tossed salad (if you have any salad fixings available, which we did not) OR instead substitute a glass of wine, which I did.

Eight is Great !

Grandson celebrated his 8th birthday this week. It doesn't seems so long ago that we boarded a plane in Norfolk, VA and headed to CA to await his early morning arrival. 
We will miss this weekend's party, but sent gifts early — and watched them opened by way of a video chat this week.

Friday Funnies

Maybe I missed something, but when did a dachshund AND a pig become associated with Christmas decorations?

These yard decorations were on display in a local store. Have you seen any holiday oddities this year and what were they?