Let the Fight Begin

Let the fight begin. George the brainless kitten is hiding beside Panthea on the couch and jumping up to attack Elisha the adult cat who makes like five of him, and the little dogs are watching like it’s the cartoon channel. Earlier in the evening, our 10 month old grandson, Devin stopped by for dinner. I mean he ate 2 hotdogs, elbow macaroni, stuffing and 2 cookies, not to mention the banana he had before dinner. I have no idea where he put it. By now, most of you are saying, “What’s he babbling about?” The answer: the joys of working from home. You know, those things you miss when you work at one of those nine to five, 40 hours a week things.

Here the nay-sayers go again, “Oh it’s one of those scams!” The problem with the ones screaming “scam” is, they want to get paid for not working. Now if the Better Business Bureau has accredited a business with a very good rating, are you going to believe them? I hope so. After three decades of being a police officer and an investigator for a county attorney’s office, I know the legal definition of a scam. However, the average person doesn’t have the resources available to them that a police officer does. So let the Better Business Bureau do the work for you. Yes, they investigate work from home opportunities as well as traditional businesses. If a business opportunity is legit, the Better Business Bureau will tell you. If it’s a scam, or risky, they’ll tell you that also.

I’ve worked a nine to five type job, also shift work, and I’ve had to work on holidays, and my children’s birthdays. While I could support a family and put food on the table, I missed out on a lot of things. And no, just because it’s always been done that way, doesn’t mean we have to continue that way. We’re supposed to learn from our mistakes, right? Charles F. Ketering, an American Engineer and Inventor (1876-1958) said it this way; “Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement.” I mean, I hope I learn as I get older, don’t you?

So now I earn an income from home and still have time to try new recipes on the family. Sooner or later I have to find the right one to drive the kids out of the house. The trouble I have, is the recipes are too good, and the kids won’t leave. See what you think about this one.

Seejay’s Meatloaf

Over time, I’ve taken some different recipes for meatloaf and combined the parts I like, and found that my family likes also. Now this isn’t that high school meatloaf that tastes like card board and gives meatloaf a bad name, but on the other hand, maybe it’s too good. My family is yelling for more.

Ingredients

• Meatloaf:
• 1 cup Whole Milk
• 1 Vidalia Sweet Onion finely chopped or diced
• 1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• ½ Green Bell Pepper finely chopped or diced
• ½ Red Bell Pepper finely chopped or diced
• ½ Yellow Bell Pepper finely chopped or diced
• ½ range Bell Pepper finely chopped or diced
• 3 or 4 Sticks of Celery finely chopped or diced
• 3 or 4 Cloves of Fresh Garlic, minced or finely chopped
• 2 tbsp Dijon Mustard
• 5 or 6 slices of Bread of your choice (Saltine Crackers may be used also)
• 2 pounds Ground Beef
• 1 cup (heaping) Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
• ¼ teaspoons Seasoned Salt
• ¾ teaspoons Kosher Salt
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• ⅓ cups chopped Fresh Flat-leaf Parsley
• 3 whole Eggs Beaten
• 10 slices Thin/regular Bacon

• Sauce:
• 1-½ cup Ketchup
• ⅓ cups Brown Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Dry Mustard

Preparation Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Put the bread in a bowl and pour the milk over the bread and let it soak for a few minutes.

Place the ground beef in a large bowl

Add the chopped onion, chopped bell peppers, chopped celery, Dijon mustard, Parmesan Cheese, Seasoned Salt, Kosher salt, Ground Black Pepper, Fresh Parsley, minced garlic, eggs and bread. You can vary the amount of onion, bell peppers and celery to taste.

Now hopefully your hands are clean. Using your hands, combine all of the ingredients until mixed well. Using a Roasting pan or broiler pan, form the mixture into a loaf shape. Aluminum foil under the loaf helps keep the mess under control, just be careful not to overcook the loaf or it will stick to the foil. Aluminum foil doesn’t taste very good. I found that the traditional loaf pans are not big enough for my family.

Once you have the loaf shaped, make your sauce. Add ketchup, brown sugar and dried mustard into a mixing bowl and give it a good mix.

Add a layer of sauce onto the loaf, and then lay the strips of bacon over the loaf, tucking the ends under the loaf. Now pour another layer of the sauce over the bacon strips. Spread with a knife or spoon.

It takes about an hour to cook, remember oven temperatures vary. After about 45 minutes, you can add another layer of the sauce on the loaf it you like, and then cook for another 15 minutes. Then serve and get out of the way. I made three of these for a family get together, and they ate every bite.

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It’s Not a Scam

Graduation done? Check. Out of state family finally made it home? Check. Nervous breakdown? Check. And now we're starting a new week.

Well, I’m officially in the dog house, if we had one that is. Those Apple Spice cookies I mentioned the other day, are absolutely yummy! I changed it up just a bit by using a can of Luck’s fried apples with cinnamon. These fried apples also work great for strudel. Anyway, Panthea told me I’m in trouble as she likes these cookies tooooo much. A great test for a cookie recipe is, how fast they disappear when you’re done.

We won’t even talk about the painting and cleaning that's been going on before and after the baby of the family graduated high school. And poor George, (the little feline monster) he thinks we all went nuts, but he’s the one climbing the drapes. Yet with all this going on, we can make our schedule work around everything by working from home. Now many people out there will say, “Yah right! All of those work from home deals are scams.” I hate to disappoint the nay sayer’s, but there are legit work from home opportunities. After more than three decades as a police officer, I know what scams are, and I know what the real deal is. Now one major clue is, are they accredited by the Better Business Bureau? Have you ever heard of a scam being accredited by the Better Business Bureau.

With the right work from home business, you can even do it while you’re on the go. Today’s technology with smart phones, net books and lap top computers make it simple to network with your business partners and friends. Not to mention going to your son’s graduation.  The drawback to working from home in Oklahoma, in the spring time, is the wife has more time to find things for me to do. My salvation, I tell her it’s time to bake some more goodies. Now I’ve found some different recipes for apple strudel, and after tweaking them, I created my own. Now don’t all moan and go yuk! The strudel may not be pretty, but it disappears faster than the cookies. Try it and decide.

Apple Strudel

Ingredients:

1 pound sweet apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced, (or 1 or 2 cans of Luck’s Fried Apples with Cinnamon)

¼ Cup raisins, regular or golden

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup white sugar

2 slices of bread, crumbled

½ of 16 ounce package of Phyllo Dough, (or 7 or 8 sheets)

¼ cup butter, melted (Cooking spray may be substituted)

½ cup of nuts, either crushed walnut or pecan work well

For the glaze:

1 ½ cup confectioner’s sugar

1 tablespoon apple cider

1 tablespoon butter, melted

Directions:

1.    Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

2.    In a bowl, combine apples, raisins, cinnamon, sugar, bread crumbs, and nuts, and stir well. (If using the glaze, save some of the nuts for the topping).

3.    Spread Phyllo dough sheets generously with melted butter or spray with cooking spray and lay them one on top of the other on a baking sheet. (Use of parchment paper on the baking sheet makes it much easier. Otherwise spray the baking sheet with cooking spray). Spread the mixture from the bowl evenly over the top sheet, then roll up all of the sheets to form a log shape. (Neatness in your log shape really doesn’t effect the taste). Brush the whole thing with melted butter again.

4.    Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until pastry is golden brown and fruit is tender. (A little less time if you are using Luck’s Fried Apples with Cinnamon as these apples are already tender). Remember ovens vary on temperature.

Glaze:

If making the glaze, combine the confectioner’s sugar, apple cider and butter in a small mixing bowl using a whisk. (Apple juice may be substituted).

Using a fork or the whisk, dip it into the glaze, then hold it over the finished strudel and let the glaze drip off the fork or whisk. Drip liberal amount of glaze on the strudel and sprinkle with nuts. Let it cool for 10 to 15 minutes, then serve.

You can use pastry icing if you don’t want to make the glaze.

You may also want to use nuts only for the topping.

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Hectic Week

I apologize that I didn't post yesterday, but our youngest turned 18 and he graduates from high school in two days. Now the advantage of working from home is that I've been able to run all kinds of errands as we get ready for Chas' graduation and for the family coming from out of state. Of course its been raining all day, and rain is in the forecast for the next ten days, and I still have to mow the lawn.

Between running to the store and buying the kid dress pants, I think I'll run out of energy before the week is over. And I can't let that happen because I've got to pick out the recipes I'm going to experiment with on the family. Even the wife is making suggestions. Maybe I should let her cook? Naw, I'd rather not go hungry.

The Little Kitten George Who Could

Here I am watching George the kitten do things that no self respecting cat would ever attempt, but a kitten…. I mean he climbs up on the chair trying to get to the hutch where Elisha is hiding from him, and keeps falling to the floor. But George just gets back up and tries it again. Or watch him sneak up on the cat or one of the dogs, not realizing that he is about the size of a kibble treat. George must have been listening to Bill Cosby, who once said: “In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.”

Now a good friend of mine should pay attention to George. Anna, I’m talking about you girlfriend. Of course, Anna is not the only person afflicted with the ‘scaredy pants’ syndrome. And Anna, I love ya girl! Just don’t tell your husband or my wife, I might get in trouble. For real, Anna is a great friend of ours as well as a business partner.

People with the ‘scaredy pants’ syndrome should pay attention to little George. Their desire to achieve something should be greater than the fear of failure. Especially when you become your own boss by working at home, no matter which state you live in. Another good way to look at things is, would you retain or fire an employee who is acting like you? Granted, it’s easier to bake a cake or some other treat, but if you want to succeed as your own boss, step out of your comfort zone.

Easier said than done you say! Probably! Yet how bad do you want to succeed? Set smaller goals when you do a project, or try something new. Divide it up into those small parts so that you can succeed more often. George would never set himself up for failure. Now a final thought is also from Bill Cosby: “I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.”

Again, a ‘Plan B’ Mom recipe that is really tasty.

Lemon Squares

Makes approximately 16-20 squares

These lemon squares are classic – light, not too sweet and delicious. I have made them many times for bake sales and baby or wedding showers and served them on a platter with homemade brownies. The recipe came from my mom's old Children's Hospital cookbook, which she has had for years. They're perfect with a cup of tea after lunch.

• 1/4 pound softened butter
• 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar, plus more for dusting
• 1 cup flour, plus 2 1/2 tablespoons, divided
• 1/2 teaspooon salt
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest

Preparation

Pre-heat the oven to 350ºF.

Butter an 8-inch square pan. Combine the butter, confectioners' sugar, flour and salt and press into the bottom of the prepared pan, making a crust. Combine the eggs, granulated sugar, the remaining 2 1/2 tablespoons flour, lemon juice and lemon zest and beat until light in color. Pour over the crust and bake for 25-30 minutes. Let cool until cool to the touch, then dust the top with confectioners sugar. Cut into uniform squares.

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What’s On Your Floor?

Well, tonight I was watching George the kitten chase whatever he could find on the floor, batting it all over the place. It reminded me of Devin, my ten month old grandson. Now one of the great things about working from home in northeast Oklahoma is that I get to experience things like, Devin crawling around the house when he visits, except that he usually finds something left over from his last meal. No matter how much you sweep, vacuum or mop, there always seems to be something you miss that a baby will find. Which leads to the question, is it safe for babies and children to eat off the floor?

For years we’ve heard of the five second rule, if it is on the floor for less than five seconds it’s okay to eat it, not me! Between the dogs, cats, and children, who knows what lurks on that floor. Yet small children and babies have been doing just that for centuries, without paying attention to the five seconds. That’s when all my police training starts to surface and I think of all the ways one can be poisoned, like Chronic poisoning, Contact or absorption poisoning and Inhaled or ingested poisons. Yet the little ones seem to be immune with all the things they put in their mouths. We still worry, it’s in our nature. The wife and I use green cleaning products throughout the house, which helps.

More of the strange trivia that lurks in my brain is that during the Renaissance the popularity of poison as a method of disposing of people who were in the way surged throughout Europe. You could almost say that poisoning had become fashionable. So what about the floor? Not to mention the children crawling past your feet, who explore the world by tasting everything they find. Yet after having six children and seeing them remain perfectly healthy after doing things like sucking pickle juice out of the carpet, I don’t worry too much anymore.

Of course green cleaning products and disinfectants help ease the worry, I mean it’s not like were serving some exotic poison from the ground level serving tray.

Now as I’ve mentioned before, working from home in northeast Oklahoma has allowed me more time to experiment in the kitchen. No wise cracks, at least I don’t serve off the ground level serving tray that the kids like to use. My computer crashed recently and I lost a couple of the recipes I use a lot, so I went and re-visited Rachel Ray’s website for the recipes. And I found a new one that sounds really good. I went shopping earlier today and picked up some of the ingredients I didn’t have on hand. So, now that Devin and George have semi-cleaned the floor, I’m going to try out some apple spice cookies.

Courtesy of Rachel Ray’s website, and her sister Maria;

Apple Spice Cookies

Makes 4 dozen cookies

INGREDIENTS

2 ¼ cups of all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

¾ cup unsalted butter, softened

1 1/3 cups brown sugar, packed

1 large egg

¼ cup apple cider

5 medium McIntosh apples, peeled and finely diced

½ cup walnuts, minced

½ cup raisins, minced

For the glaze

1 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar

1 tablespoon apple cider

1 tablespoon butter, melted

PREPARATION

Pre-heat the oven to 250 degrees

In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, cloves and nutmeg and set aside. In a large bowl cream together the butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy. Add the egg and beat on low speed until incorporated. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat on low speed after each addition until combined.

With a spoon, stir in the apple cider, apples, walnuts and raisins – the cookie dough will be quite chunky. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto a parchment lined baking sheet 2 inches apart.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown and no longer doughy to the touch – ovens vary with temperature, so pay attention to the first batch and you’ll have your time down for future batches. Cool on a wire rack; glaze when cool (optional).

If making glaze, combine the confectioner’s sugar, apple cider and butter in a small mixing bowl using a whisk.

Take a fork and dip it into the glaze. Hold the fork over each cookie, waving it back and forth and letting the glaze drip off the tines onto the cookies, making a zig-zag effect. Let the glaze completely dry before moving the cookies to a storage container (about 20 minutes).

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Frustrated? Have a Chocolate Chip Cookie

It’s spring and pouring down rain in Northeast Oklahoma, and I’m sitting here laughing as my ten month old grandson gets mad and frustrated, kind of like the rest of us over gas prices. By far the largest rip-off of the decade. The only thing that keeps me from totally loosing it over the gas price fiasco is having legitimate work from home. Now most people get as skeptical about legitimate work from home as they do over politician’s promises. I know I ranked among the skeptics, of course that was a given after being a police officer for thirty-one years. Yet now, I get to enjoy a humorous moment with a grandchild.

I also spend more time in the kitchen than the wife does, and I should be using our green cleaning products to get ready for my next baking project. All joking aside, I get to bake chocolate chip cookies and other goodies because I do work from home, and it beats mowing the grass. Of course the kids eat the cookies as fast as I can make them. After all the years of telling people they have the right to remain silent, and now I let my secret out of the closet. He can cook? Bake? It tastes good?

Come on guys, most of us are not helpless in the kitchen. It’s not that big of a deal. How many men are doing the Mr. Mom thing? Laid off and the wife is the one working. My advantage is that my youngest child graduates from high school in less than two weeks. Yet I still have time to work in between baking some cookies and cooking some barbeque chicken for dinner. Real work from home that is legitimate does require some work, but you can set your own hours, deal with the kids and still play in the kitchen.

Courtesy of Rachel Ray’s website and Plan B Mom for this recipe I found. It’s easy and the cookies are great. Now if the NFL will get their lockout and strike straightened out. So I’m impatient……cookies anyone?

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 4 Dozen Cookies

Ingredients

        2 Cups all purpose flour

        1 teaspoon baking soda

        1 teaspoon kosher salt

        1 cup softened butter (2 sticks)

        1 cup brown sugar

        ½ cup sugar

        1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

        2 large eggs

        2 cups chocolate chip

       

        Preparation

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or spray with baker’s spray, such as Baker’s Joy brand.

Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Beat the butter, sugars and vanilla in a mixing bowl until creamy and light in color. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the bowl as needed. Beat in the flour mixture and stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop by rounded spoonfuls (12 per pan, evenly spaced) and bake for 12 minutes, switching and turning the pans around halfway through the cooking time. DO NOT OVERBAKE – the cookies continue to cook after they come out of the oven. Cool on the sheets for 1-2 minutes, then remove the cookies (carefully – these are thin) to a rack to finish cooling. Store tightly sealed with a slice of bread to keep them soft, (if they last that long).

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Turkey and Gravy or a Cup of Thio Something

Sitting here watching fearless George, my daughter’s kitten run amok as he attacks the mini blinds, and my son’s cat Elisha hiding from him on the antique hutch, I figure there are some interesting moments when working at home in Oklahoma, such as I get to fix the blinds if George breaks them. Having six children also means having pets in the house. How many out there have gone through child proofing or pet proofing your house? It can keep you busy, right?

Looking back over the years, and realizing how many of my children’s school, church and sport activities I missed out on because I had to work. Life as a police officer is a 24-7 type of job doing shift work. How many other professions out there also involve 24-7 shift work? Lots! Four of the kids are grown and out of the house, and three of them have kids of their own, (a total of seven grandkids). Now I just have to survive the last two kids still at home.

Of late, I’m the one doing most of the cooking. It’s a good thing I know how. I use green cleaners to keep the kitchen clean, something the children are still not real good at. Now I do like to cook with onions and garlic, but be careful, they both contain thiosulphate which in high doses is toxic to dogs, cats and some other livestock. Although there are medical uses for humans, including as an antidote for cyanide poisoning and is used during chemotherapy, really!

Now a recipe I found that the family goes nuts over, I got from a Chef Gordon Ramsey Christmas special. Holiday or any day turkey and gravy….Yum! And besides tasting good, it’s not hard to make.

Gordon Ramsey Holiday Turkey and Gravy

Basting Mix:

2 Sticks of butter

Salt

Pepper

Touch of olive oil – keeps the butter from burning

Zest from 2 lemons & their juice

3 cloves of garlic – pureed

Generous handful of chopped parsley

Give it a good mix

Place turkey in large roasting pan

Salt & pepper the cavity of the turkey

Halve 2 onions and put in the cavity

1 whole lemon in the cavity

Add a few bay leaves in the cavity

Loosen skin on top of bird – both ends

Stuff basting mix between skin and meat

Baste outside of turkey

Touch of olive oil on the basting mix – keeps it from burning

Heat oven to 420 degrees

Put turkey in the oven for 10 min uncovered to brown the bird

After 10 min remove turkey and baste it again

Cover top of turkey with 6 or 7 strips of bacon

Baste again over the bacon

(Bacon will be used for the gravy & keeps turkey from drying out)

Turn oven down to about 350 degrees

Cook turkey for 2 to 2 ½ hours or ½ hour per pound

Baste frequently with pan juice

(Stick a knife in the bottom of the thigh. If juice runs clear, its done)

When done, remove turkey from oven and pan

Let the turkey rest on a platter as long as it cooked

(The turkey will re-absorb the juice and give 10 times the flavor)

Turkey doesn’t have to be hot if served with hot gravy

Gravy

Remove juice from pan and place in a bowl

Place pan on stove on medium or high

Chop up onion, lemon and bacon from turkey & add to pan

Add a couple sprigs of rosemary

3 chopped tomatoes – thickens the gravy

Take wings and other bits off the turkey and add for flavor

Add 1 quart of dry cider

Add juice from resting turkey

When the liquid is reduced by half from cooking use a masher to mash all bits and pieces

Add chicken stock and cook until liquid is boiling

Pour liquid through a sieve

Use back of ladel to push all juice out for maximum flavor

Stir a sprig of rosemary in the gravy like a stir stick and serve

You can also add crushed walnuts to the gravy – add last

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