Playing Catch Up

Today's post is a hodge-podge of information because it's been so long since my last post.

My nephew got married in St. Louis on November 7th. The day was unseasonably warm so the trip and the day was a pleasure. My Aunt Bettye wanted to make the trip with my sister, my niece and me so we drove from Lexington to Owensboro to pick her up, first, and then we drove from there to St. Louis. It was a fun trip because anytime you get my sister and Aunt Bettye in the same room, it becomes a segment of "The Queens of Comedy." We even entertained at the rehearsal dinner and reception. We were the talk of the wedding. Here are a few pictures from the event.


My sister-in-law(mother of my nephew) and friend of the family.


From left, my niece Becky (sister of the groom), me, the bride's mother and Aunt Bettye. It's pictures like this that reveal to me how badly I need to lose a few.



My sister and the bride.

Another niece with her back to my camera, taking pictures.

The groom and his nephew.

Lena, aunt of the groom along with the bride and groom.

Proud mother and groom.


The wedding site. I think the hall was a tribute to American Indians. It resembled the structure of domed meeting lodge and there were artifacts in few places within the hall.


Then there was Thanksgiving Day. I cooked homestyle green beans, roasted brussel sprouts, cranberry mold and caramel apple layer cake. The cake is a Rachel Ray recipe and it is to die for. There is applesauce in the cake but the middle layer is sauteed sliced apples, brown sugar and cream. Yum, yum.


Our office decided to have grazing on Thursday, December 17th, to celebrate Christmas. I made cheese and salami loaf. This stuff is just plain ol' lip-smacking, finger-licking good. Guys particularly love it and it's pretty easy to make. Here are pictures and the recipe.




Cheese and Salami Loaf

1/2 lb. Swiss cheese
1/2 lb. Genoa salami
1 pkg. yeast (not fast-acting)
1 cup warm water
1 t. sugar
1 t. salt
3 cups flour

Dissolve yeast in water. Add sugar, salt and flour ( 1 cup at a time) using an egg beater. Knead dough until it is no longer sticky. Let rise 1 hour.
Divide in 2. Knead again. Roll out with a rolling pin. Brush with beaten egg. Spread salami and cheese. Roll up and tuck ends. Let rise 15 minutes.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes on a cookie sheet.

Note: I rarely make the bread anymore. Just buy frozen loaf dough, let it thaw and proceed from there. What could be easier?

Strawberry Torte

My daughter called me a couple of weeks ago to get a recipe that I could not find - Strawberry Torte. I haven't made this dessert in over five years. Why not? I have no idea. It would have helped if she had requested it sooner. Maybe it's because I had moved and lost the paper copy of the recipe. Anyway, I searched and searched through all my printed recipes to no avail. And I was disappointed; this was a knock-out dessert. So she punted and made a reasonable facsimile of it.
I'm on vacation this week. Out of nowhere, a thought came to me directing me to search for a disk that may have the recipe on it. Voila!! Here it is! As I told my friend today, this is what retirement must be like. My brain is free to think of things like this. You must try it.

But first, I must tell you I've had this recipe for a few years. I would modify it somewhat according to my current dietary "laws." I would make whipped cream from scratch - sue me!! The original recipe called for margarine - an absolute no-no in my house. Secondly,some amounts of ingredients are not specified. I'm guessing at the amount of strawberries needed and I don't know the amount of glaze. Get a small container. And I'm guessing the total amount of Cool Whip needed must be a small container, because some gets mixed into the cream cheese layer and some goes on top of the strawberries. And finally, I don't recall ever using coconut. It still is delish!!

I know. I know. For you precise cooks, this is somewhat unsettling. One of my friends says that she expects one day my kitchen is going to explode. I am not afraid of experimenting.

Strawberry Torte

1 cup flour
1 cup pecans, chopped
2 T. sugar
1 stick butter, melted

Mix together and spread in 9x9 pan. Bake 15-20 minutes at 350 F. Let cool.

1 8 oz. package of cream cheese (room temperature)
1 cup Cool Whip
1 cup powdered sugar

Mix and spread on cool crust.

Mix fresh strawberries (about 1 1/2 - 2 cups) and strawberry glaze. Spread over cream cheese layer. Spread remainder of Cool Whip on top of strawberies. Sprinkle with coconut. Let chill several hours.