The week is nearly over, and I felt it was necessary to get this one out of the way.  Prior to making this recipe, I couldn't help but think that this main dish is why Schwann's is in business.  Who is their right mind would a) come up with this recipe, and b) think it's good enough to write down to make again?  Curiosity is winning here and I'm going to give this a try, and in the end I'll be glad I did and have a few tweaks to share with you to make the process a little smoother and much shorter.  Wish me luck... it's a days' (the apostrophe IS in the correct place) long recipe. Day 1: To begin I opened a box of frozen Stouffer's Creamed Chipped Beef, following the stove top cooking instructions to ready this ingredient. Lala loved Chipped Beef served on buttered toast.  I loved Chipped Beef served on buttered toast.  And then in college, a friend called it Shit On A Shingle, "educated" me on why this was something not to be ...

I couldn't help myself.  I just had to do it.  This recipe called for Oleo Margarine and there's no way I'll bring it into my house.  The closest thing I have on hand is Earth Balance Soy Free Buttery Spread.  And since I was using "my butter" I decided to use "my flour", Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 All Purpose GF Flour Blend.  Finally, something I can taste test, but with a name like Potato Chips Delight, do I really want to? Thanks go out to Dorothy, a woman who I did not know.  I was familiar with Lala's friends Belle and Henrietta.  My Aunt Peg, Lala's youngest sister was another prominent figure, along with Aunt Peg's friend Irma.  My Aunt Do joined us every Thanksgiving, and although Aunt Addie, Lala's oldest sister, was still alive when I was young, I'm sad to admit that I don't remember her. I doubt my siblings would remember Henrietta.  I only remember her visiting us at our first home.  My best guess is that she passed...

Growing up we ate a lot of casseroles and more Jello than should be humanly possible.  In a family of four kids, it's not very often that everyone is happy with the entire meal.  Even a casserole isn't always perfect, but the beauty of it is that you can eat the mix-ins you like, and leave the ones you don't on the side of your plate.  Pizza casserole was no exception too this rule.  As a kid, I liked the smell of green peppers (any pepper, really) but didn't prefer the taste as it always seemed too bitter.  As an adult, I can't get enough of them and am well versed on how to bring out the natural sugars of this nightshade, and numerous other vegetables.  My Dad was always pushing the peppers to the side as well, but his reasons were dietary, not about the taste or texture.   I've parented for well over a decade and I can count the number of casseroles I've made on one hand.  It's just not my thing.  I use so many dishes, pots and pans, ...

We're in the thick of rainy season in Central Wisconsin.  The temperature is 70 degrees on a Monday, and by Wednesday it has plummeted to a high of 35.  As if this isn't hard enough on a person's body, a week and a half ago we travelled out of state.  Whenever we're exposed to new people and places, our immune system kicks in to ward off any intruders.  Well, most immune systems to that.  Mine leaves the door unlocked and the key on top of the doormat in plain sight.  Once I am sick my body can fight off the infection, but that it allows me to be so ill in the first place... So I think I had the flu last week.  If it wasn't the flu, then it was without a doubt the worst cold of my life.  I'm not exaggerating.  I had a low grade temp all week, my throat felt like it had daggers in it, congestion was in my chest early in the week and then filled my sinuses by the end.  Not only was this respiratory, but the virus seemed to burrow itse...

I'm not much of an alcohol expert, so I have no idea what this drink should really be called. I tried to look up other Whiskey recipes in the hopes of finding something similar with no luck.  I'll go through the steps of making this with you, but I want to warn you ahead of time that I'm convinced there's a reason this isn't a known recipe: unless you have a glass of whiskey and add a splash of the juice mix, it's really not that great.  But I want you to still make this because it makes for the most amazing Adult-Only popsicles!  You can always make these youth friendly by omitting the booze. Sensing that this recipe would be overwhelming for just my husband and I, and especially since alcohol and I don't get along, I decided to halve the recipe when I prepped it.  Imagine the photo above with twice as many lemons if making the full recipe. To start, I placed the orange juice concentrate in a bowl of warm water to speed along the thawing process....

I just finished organizing Lala's recipes into categories: drinks salads dinners desserts There's more to it than that but for the sake of simplicity, this is where I've left it.  There are more than 300 hand-written recipes, and at least as many newspaper and magazine clippings featuring timeless classics, food that only a nuclear family post WWII would prepare and serve, and everything in between.   Today I felt like making something using simple ingredients, and did not want to run to the grocery store to pick up something random and not already in the pantry or fridge.  This three ingredient recipe for Shortbread couldn't have been more perfect for the day. Given that I'm down to my last two sticks of butter, I decided to halve this recipe.  If we had company on the horizon, or were attending a function where I was asked to bring a dessert, I would be certain to make a full recipe, or even double it. In the video above, the bu...