Wild Buffalo of South Dakota

This is my first attempt to add a video ~ taken to bring a little of our trip to you. Click on the play symbol to begin....You will hear our differences of opinions. The driver always gets his way.

The road trip from Northern Virginia over to Wyoming was semi-planned. We just let each day open like a flower. Allen Carmicheal met up with us and we just had a ball. Each day brought totally unexpected adventures.

The wide open spaces are home to million prairie dogs and buffalo. It is a trip we actually would like to do again.

Sweet Potato Casserole

We are going to substitute Ruth's Chris sweet potato Casserole as is the BEST I HAVE EVER HAD~Your Family and Friends will be impressed.

Ruth's Chris special sweet potato casserole

Makes 12 servings

Crust
1 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup flour 1 cup chopped nuts (pecans preferred)

1/3 stick butter, melted

Combine brown sugar, flour, nuts and butter in mixing bowl. Set aside.

Sweet Potato Mixture
3 cups mashed sweet potatoes

1 cup sugar

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs, well beaten

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Coat a medium-size casserole dish with nonstick spray.
Combine sweet potatoes, sugar, salt, vanilla, eggs and butter in a large mixing bowl in the order listed. Beat thoroughly with a hand mixer to increase the fluffiness of the sweet potato mixture.
Pour mixture into the baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes.

(At this point, dish can be covered and refrigerated.)

Sprinkle the surface of the sweet potato mixture evenly with the crust mixture and return to oven for 10 minutes. Allow to set at least 30 minutes before serving.
The brown sugar and pecan crust should be slightly browned and crunchy.

Green Beans Almondine

Green Beans Almondine

4 cups fresh green beans

1 cup blanched almonds, toasted or 1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted

1/4 cup butter

1/2 teaspoon dried whole oregano

Wash beans and bring to boil in 4 quarts water. Lower heat and simmer covered for 20 -30 minutes. Drain. Saute almonds in butter until lightly browned. Add almonds and oregano to cooked green beans and toss well. Serves 8

Easter Menu

Virginia's heritable is rich in history, hospitality and home cooking.

The following menu conveys Old Dominion hospitality to your guests.

Baked Ham with Wine Sauce

Green beans Almondine

Carrot-Sweet Potato Puff

Potato Rolls

Plantation Spoon Bread

Cidered Up Pound Cake

Select the ham of your choice. 12-15 pounds
Whole Cloves
2 cups orange juice, divided
1/4 c. brown sugar (or more)
Fresh parsley springs (optional)
(I add a little brown mustard to the sugar and orange juice mix.)

Push whole cloves into the ham to make a pretty pattern and coat with orange juice, sugar/mustard mix and bake according to directions. Baste again and again with sugar mix.

WINE SAUCE

1 (18 ounce) jar apple jelly

1/2 c. port wine

1/4 tsp onion juice

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Pinch pepper

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan. Cook until boiling. Remove from heat. Skim off foam with a metal spoon. Serve with sliced ham. Yield approximately 1 1/4 cups.

Indian Sandwish

Sandwiches are just sandwiches~ that is, until you run into something quite extraordinary.


We were sitting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on a 4th of July, enjoying people watching.
An Indian family caught my attention. They were seated about 10 steps down from us.
The mother of the family was dressed in traditional India dress. She open a picnic basket and spread out their lunch and immediately started making sandwiches.

The white bread was so soft, I could see it move in her hand as she put butter on one side.
Sliced tomato and a cucumber to top the butter. She then had a golden sauce which she spread on the sandwich before closing with the top slice of bread and passing to her husband.
She continued to make a sandwich for each. They looked so interesting and delicious.
My friend from India told me the sauce was Chutney~ WOW! I LOVE CHUTNEY.

Fresh White Bread
Sliced tomato
Sliced cucumber
Chutney

YUM. I lived on this sandwich the rest of the summer. It was the fresh white bread that made it so, so delicious.

Curried Cole Slaw

In my Lost and Found files, is the following recipe. As a rule, I know where all my recipes are from, however, this one has a name I don't remember, and phone number on the back. At times people want to give credit to the person who gave a recipe to them...could be true here. I checked to find the number is a Pennsylvania number. We enjoy Pennsylvania Amish country and their shops, but a recipe from someone there? Haven't a clue, however, I do remember this recipe being very easy and very good. Enjoy!

Curried Cole Slaw

1/2 head cabbage, sliced (I use 1 lb bag cole slaw mix)

1 tsp curry

2 tbsp white vinegar

1 tsp sugar

1 cup mayo or salad dressing

1 cup raisins

1 cup peanuts

Mix all ingredients except peanuts. Put peanuts on top and refrigerate.

Mix before serving.

Note: I omit the peanuts as they seem to overpower the other delicate flavors.

I made this to serve with Salmon and baked potatoes and put in the refrigerator. A few of my daughters came over and a sampling was served to them on a cracker. They raved and wanted more. All decided it could be served on crackers as a starter as well as a side dish. I agree.

Fig Jam ~ Confiture de Figues

Today I looked through more of my Lost and Found Files~
There, a recipe for something that I apparently found in a magazine and put back years and years ago. I save that recipe as my granny made fig jam and I had never seen it in grocery stores. I LOVE FIG JAM.

Will share the recipe and also my story how and where we found this old fashion item actually on the grocery store shelf....but, unfortunately, not in the United States. When I saw the name of this recipe...I couldn't believe it. The name is even in French.

OK..here's the story....

We discovered St. Maartin from a cruise and the day we had there, we took a tour of the island which is divided into to two countries, Dutch (St. Maarten) and French (St. Martin ).

I remember clearly that the tour bus stopped on the French side of the island at a little cabanna so that everyone could try an island drink. "FIFTEEN MINUTES" came the insturctions from the driver.
Rum punch filled with fruit and a tempting sand path to the beach...our little group took a stroll to check it out~
There we discovered the most beautiful white beach lined with mangroves and palm...and a couple of benches.
~ we plopped down in paradise sipping our rum punch and enjoyed the Caribbean Sun.
Fifteen minutes meant nothing to us at this moment in time.

Suddenly out of the mangroves ran a native guy waving his arms and yelling..."THE BUS IS LEAVING, THE BUS!"
We jumped to our feet and beat a path to the waiting bus. The bus wasn't air-conditioned and all the other people had apparently been waiting for some time, as they were sweaty and not happy. As we scrambled onto the bus, we apologised profusely, but no one would even look at us. To make it worse, we were so happy we couldn't resist laughing into our hands...and laughed later and even years later when talking about it. We simple stole a few minutes of paradise.
We made a memory ~ of St. Maarten.

Our travels have taken us back to enjoy this wonderful island a couple of times ~ We are not ones to return to any one place, (as the world has too many temping places to see...) however, we enjoy the friends who invite us to come and stay with them...we just HAVE A BALL TOGETHER.

Each trip has been filled with all the things we all enjoy... sailing, restaurants, and local people, casinos, shopping, beaches, sailing, horseback riding on the beaches, playing cards and exploring~ just a lot of paradise.

Confiture de Figues is something we rush to buy for there, as well as take a stash home~as it is found only there. A product of France and made by the Bonne Maman line of jams, for some reason this one jam isn't carried by the stores who have other Bonne Maman.

I have asked Wegmans to see if they could order a case, however, no answer at this time.

Searching for it, Peach Preserves are another of my favorites...and the Bonne Manan is AWESOME. Expensive as it goes really fast. European style is to have with cheese, fruit and bread or crackers. That's our favorite to the point of serving as a dessert with a nice dessert wine.

Confiture de Figues

(Fig Jam)

Makes 2 pints

1 1/2 lbs. fresh figs

1 1/2 pounds sugar

1 small lemon, washed, halved lengthwise, seeded and thinly sliced crosswise

Put figs, sugar and lemons into a heavy medium pot, stir well, cover and let macerate at room temperature for 2 hours.

Boil fig mixture over medium-high heat, stirring often, until jam is dark and syrupy and temperature registers 215 degrees on a candy thermometer, 12 -14 minutes. Meanwhile submerge two pint canning jars, their lids and ring bands and a widemouthed funnel in a large pot of boiling water over medium high heat and sterilize for 10 minutes. Remove from hot water and transfer to a clean dish towel.

Using the funnel, fill each jar with hot jam to no more than 1/4" from rim. Wipe rims with a clean dish towel. place lids on jars, then screw on ring bands. Transfer filled jars to a canning rack, submerge in a pot of gently boiling water. (Jars should be covered by at least 1" of water)

and process for 10 minutes. Lift jars from water with jar tongs and place on dish towel; let cool undisturbed for 24 hours. To test that jars have properly sealed, press on center of lids. Remove your finger; if lid stay down, it is sealed. Refrigerate any jam that hasn't sealed and use within 4 weeks.