Friday November 21, 2008

Dave and I are still recovering from the flu so eating or cooking has not been a high priority for me this week.  You know I'm sick when Cynda brings Western Chicken Breadeaux pisa out to the radio station and I can't even eat a bit.  I did discover the Coffee Shack serves really good soup.  I'm not much of a latte or sno cone person, but discovered they now serve soup and sandwiches plus various teas..  They had chicken and noodle soup on the menu yesterday and it was exactly what I needed.  Plus I had a fruited chicken salad croissant sandwich.  Can you say delicious!!! Plus a hot cup of oliang tea (probably didn't spell that correctly but it is a loose leaf tea that is wonderful) I feel we are so lucky in our small community to have the eating establishments that we have. There is something for everyone, even when you are recovering from the flu.

Today on our show we took a walk down memory lane talking about red velvet cake recipes.  Did you know the original one did not take red food coloring.  Who knew? Plus thanks to our ladies who sent in their goody recipes and letters.  Jeanne and I greatly appreciate each and every letter we get.  We gave a candy recipe called Ting a Lings made of crushed up peanut brittle, almond bark and chocolate chips melted together plus my favorite coconut.  Now that sounds like a very yummy treat during the holidays and very easy to make.  We also gave a red velvet cake recipe using strawberry juice for the red coloring.  But I'm going to use our original velvet cake recipe taken from an very old Watkin's cookbook.  This sounds like what our listener was looking for. She lost her recipe and we all know how that goes especially when it is an older recipe like this one was. So our recipe for today is:

RED VELVET CAKE (original)

6 - 8 Tbs. cocoa powder

3/4 cup hot water

3/4 tsp. soda

Dissolve and set aside

1 1/2 cup flour

3/4 tsp. salt

1 1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup shortening

2 eggs - unbeaten

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix dry ingredients, add shortening, eggs, and vanilla.  Add 1/2 of the cocoa mixture mix for 2 minutes. Add remaining cocoa mixture and mix for 2 more minutes. Pour into 9x9 pan.  Bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes.

Kathy

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Wednesday November 19, 2008

Today is my son-in-law Travis Anderson's birthday.  Happy birthday Travis.  But I'm afraid we are going to have to put his birthday celebration on hold because the flu is running through the Rieck family.  Carson and Chad had it over the weekend, Carson's babysitter Tammy was sick on Monday so I watched the kids and early Tuesday morning I came down with the flu and Dave got it after supper last night. I thought I was doing all the things you are supposed to do to avoid the flu like making sure you wash your hands, get plenty of rest, exercise etc.  But I guess when the bug hits there isn't a lot of defense against it.  But I'm much better today, and hopefully that will be the end of our stint with the flu bug. The ironic part is Chad and Carson got there flu shots last night.  Maybe that will help with the next round that is going around.  Ben also has been sick, but his was a respiratory infection and was headed into bronchitis.  Not good when you use your voice for a living.

Today on our show we talked about of course things to make for the holidays.  Which includes Thanksgiving which is one week away.  Yikes! We gave an easy microwave Cauliflower and Broccoli Au Gratin, Bacon Topped Vegetable Bake, and some neat ideas for making different flavors of coleslaw using different salad dressings like Italian, Ranch, or an Asian dressing. Plus a mashed sweet potatoes recipe using canned sweet potatoes.  This would be good for a side dish throughout the year.  Today's recipe is a one that diabetics can enjoy some of their favorite treats by making your own sweetened condensed milk.  Lots of possibilities with this one.

SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK

1 cup plus 2 Tbs. dry powdered milk

3/4 cup sugar or Splenda

1/2 cup warm milk

Mix together and store in refrigerator.  Use as you would for any recipe that calls for sweetened condensed milk. This is the equivalent of a 14 oz. can of the boughten sweetened condensed milk.  This could really open up the world of candy for those of you cutting back on your sugar.  And if you want to make it with less fat use skim milk instead of whole or 2%.  I think I  am going to give this one a try.  Sounds too simple doesn't it?

Kathy

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Friday November 14, 2008

What a dreary, gloomy day to end the week, but it was goody Friday in the recipe department so all is well when you are talking about making Christmas candy.  I think Jeanne out did herself finding quick and easy candy recipes to make for the holidays.

My heart is also swelling with pride in my community.  We have a church in our area that is holding a free Thanksgiving Dinner for those who wouldn't otherwise be able to put a meal on the table, or even for those who don't have family near and would just like to have someone to have dinner with.  This is a non-denominational dinner the church is just hosting it so anyone in our community is welcome to attend.  But Pastor Jane does need your help because she basically has taken this on herself.  She feels it is her way of giving back to the community she lives in.  So if you can spare a few cans of green beans, or a bag of potatoes, or are a pie baker and would like to make an extra one for this dinner it would be greatly appreciated.  Or if you want to be a part of this dinner and want to help make or serve or both just contact Pastor Jane Willan for the details.  It will be served on Thanksgiving day from 1 to 3 PM.  Give her a call at 782-7314.  My sorority is donating money to help Open Table with their expenses.  We usually adopt a family for Thanksgiving but decided this would help more than one family.  We also are giving money to Matura because they also are in need of funds for their food bank.  More on that event later in this blog.  And Tom and Lisa Frey also believe in their community and on behalf of Creston Livestock Auction company have donated $200.00 to Pastor Jane's dinner.  Tom and Lisa don't know

how much this is appreciated.  Jane runs this organization on a shoe string budget so any funds are greatly appreciated.She thought a $100.00 was a lot of money wait until I tell her about Tom and Lisa's donation. There are a lot of people struggling right now.  We don't bat an eye to send money to someone in need outside of our community so that is why I am thrilled with pride that our community looks out for families right here in Union County.

The other thing I was going to mention was the food drive Creston Radio is hosting next Saturday November 22 from 9 AM to 12 Noon.  We will be collecting nonperishable items to give to the Food Pantry who are in desperate need of our help.  I know it is harder and harder to feed your own family with what we have been paying for rising costs in our grocery stores and at our gas pumps.  But hopefully we can all dig just a little deeper to help those that are really struggling.  I've even have families that have used the food pantry have brought food to our  food drive because they know how much it meant to them, they just wanted to give back.  We have so many bad things happening in our world that we hear about on a daily basis, but this is something that is good and would help someone else out that is having a tough time of making ends meet . We will be at Creston Hy-Vee, Fareway, and Wal Mart Super Center.  Stop by and say hi and for your donation we will be giving back to you for your donation.  You will receive the red Creston of Chamber Commerce tickets for the cash give away right before Christmas.  You could actually win Creston bucks for your donation.

Sorry I didn't mean to go on and on, but this is something I feel very strongly about and that is helping others in need. We never know when we might be walking in their shoes and need the help ourselves.

We gave some real simple and easy to put together candy recipes.  There was a mint candy using almond bark and peppermint candy crushed and mixed together.  Plantation Crunch also used almond bark, peanut butter, peanuts and Rice Krispies. You melt and spread out on wax paper and break in to pieces.  Doesn't get any easier than that. Also a Golden Fudge recipe for those who don't care for chocolate fudge. And a oreo truffle recipe made with oreos of course and cream cheese dipped in chocolate. Yummmmmm!

And our recipe for today is a lower fat, low sugar cookie recipe.  I hope you enjoy.  And if you want to get on our mailing list just send a check for $24.00 and make sure you put the name of the person these go to plus an address (some buy these for gifts) and  what month you want to start with.  Send it to:     Recipes

                        P O Box 426

                        Creston, Iowa 50801

You can also just get one months worth for $2.00.  Just tell Melinda what month you

want.

Strawberry Angel Cookies

1 ( 16 oz) Pillsbury Angel Food Cake mix

3/4 cup Smucker's Sugar Free Strawberry

      Preserves

3 Tbs. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

no-stick cooking spray

Heat oven to 325 degrees.  Coat baking sheet with no-stick cooking spray.  Beat together cake mix and preserves at low speed of electric mixer until evenly moistened.  Continue to beat 1 minute.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Drop by rounded tablespoons on prepared baking sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until tops are just lightly browned.  Cool 1 minute on baking sheet. Place on cooling rack to cool completely. 

Tip: Store between sheets of wax paper to keep from sticking together.

Yield: 2 1/2 dozen cookies

Kathy

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Wednesday November 12, 2008

I first of all want to salute our area veteran's for their part in what they did for our country and keeping our freedom.  And to those military men and women currently serving thank you from the bottom of my heart.  We have so many people complain about what goes on here in the United States, but these men and women put their lives on the line so that you have the right to complain.

I had to go get Callie at noon yesterday to get her car and was surprised with Tyler receiving the top award from the entire Creston Middle School as top seller in their fund raiser during his lunch hour.  We always thought he would be a weather man because he has done ad lib forecasts since he was old enough to talk, but who knew he could sell.  And his Mom said he did it all himself.  He is a bit competitive so if you really want him to do something a reward gets him to moving.

Congratulations Tyler!

Carson and Hollynn plus Chad and Amy have been fighting colds this week.  I guess it's that time of year.  Remember if you start coming down with the symptoms to up your vitamin C intake and get plenty of rest. And I've even heard of some people getting the flu followed up with a cold. This could be a long winter if the flu symptoms are starting already.

Today on the program we gave a chili recipe sent in by one of our listeners using pork and beans and chopped up green chiles.  One of these cold evenings I will deficiently have to give this one a try.  Plus we gave a sugar free glaze for ham. But you could also use this on a pork loin or a pork roast. .  Our recipe for today is a different kind of dressing using sausage and corn bread.  Again you could use this one for Thanksgiving but would also be good with pork.  I guess sausage dressing is very popular in the south.  And since we live in SW Iowa why not give this one a try:)

Sausage Dressing

1/2 cup butter

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 onion, chopped

5 cup cornbread, crumbled

3 cups day-old white bread, cubed

1/2 T. poultry seasoning

1/2 T. dried sage

1 t. salt

1 t. pepper

1 lb. ground pork sausage, browned and drained

2 - 14 1/2 oz. cans chicken broth

10 - 3/4 oz. can cream of chicken soup

4 to 5 eggs, beaten

Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat.  Add celery and onion; heat until tender and set aside.  Mix together breads and seasonings in a large bowl.  Add celery mixture, sausage, broth, soup, eggs and enough water to make mixture soupy; mix well.  Spoon into a greased 13 x 9 baking pan.  Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden and heated through.  Serves 8 to 10.

Kathy

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