Chicken Thighs-Dark Meat Goodness x 2

Five years ago, a Japanese girl phoned home to get her mothers recipe to share with her Exchange family.
Here is our version with the orange colored glaze sauce consisting of: 1 small chili pepper (Jalapeño) with seeds removed, 1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed slightly, 2 1/2 TBSP sugar, 1/3 cup soy sauce, and 1/2 c balsamic vinegar. Combine the pepper (green jalapeño thing in the pan) with garlic, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar and 1 cup water in large frypan. Add 8 chicken thighs with skin on (for added flavor) and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and continue cooking for 20 minutes. Again increase heat and turn thighs frequently until sauce reduces and forms a sticky glaze. Serve and enjoy. This is a sweet/sour/hot soy glaze that was easy to make with beautiful results.

For the next recipe we did another dutch oven dinner, this time with unpeeled garlic cloves. For about 8 thighs we used about 20 cloves (remember, cloves are the individual pieces of garlic from the bulb or head fo garlic). Along with some lemon juice and oil and other spices comes this dutch oven delight of dark meat. Oh, by the way, the cloves of garlic just slip right out of the skin after they are cooked-I love the beauty of this recipe that one does not have to peel all those cloves.

Shades of Orange

And here is a dinner of "creamsicle" colors. From top going clockwise: Sweet potatoes with browned marshmallows, cottage cheese, fresh cantaloupe, and one of our many versions of homemade macaroni and cheese. Here's just one recipe for the macaroni and cheese:







Macaroni & Velveeta

1 lb. pkg. macaroni
6 TBSP butter
1/2 c. flour
3 1/2 c. milk
1 lb. Velveeta cheese
pepper and salt to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook macaroni as directed on package and drain. Melt butter in large saucepan. Add flour and mix well to a smooth paste. Gradually add in milk, cooking over medium heat until mixture starts to bubble and thickens, being sure to stir constantly. Sauce should be smooth and thickened. Slice off about 6 slices of Velveeta. Cut remaining Velveeta into chunks and add to sauce, allowing to melt and mixing in as it melts. Add pepper and salt to taste. Place drained macaroni in a 13x9 oblong baking dish and pour cheese sauce over macaroni. Bake for 20 minutes, then place slices of Velveeta on top of sauce and bake for an additional 5 minutes until cheese melts. This is a basic white sauce and most kinds of cheese could be added to change the flavor of the macaroni and cheese. Try Monterey Jack cheese or a sharp cheddar or parmesan for a different taste and a more natural product. The Velveeta does melt smoothly. My reasoning for using Velveeta is that I had the Velveeta on hand for storage and realized that I'd better use it before it went bad.

Food Co-op for August

Harvest Share $14
1 eggplant
10 plums
1 2-lb bag carrots
1 bunch broccoli
1 bunch asparagus
3 avocados
4 cucumbers
1 lb red grapes
1 cantaloupe
1 bag pinto beans
1 loaf Stone Ground Whole Wheat Bread

Nutty Guys Sampler $11.50 for August includes 1 lb pkg of each of the following:
-Roasted, salted Spanish peanuts
-Sesame sticks
-raw Macadamia pieces
-Starving Students Mix

Nutty guys for September will include roasted, salted pistachios, raw almonds, roasted, salted peanuts and Deglet Noor Pitted Dates.

For more information see www.foodco-op.org.
Order for September is due by September 12th with pick-up on September 27th.

Reading and Listening

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand with only 45 compact discs with a complete running time of 55 hours and 37 minutes. I'm currently on cd number 39.....the light is visible at the end of the tunnel for this particular endeavor [yes, reading (or listening to) this book qualifies as an endeavor, a feat, a goal.] It would have only been a little over a 1000 pages if I had just read it.

More Campfire Cake (Part 3)

(Please be sure to see the beautiful upside down cake featured in part 1 of today's three posts.)

Here is just one example of the great individual orange cakes we made. I was lucky to finally get a picture since we started eating them and almost forgot the picture for historical and reference use. They over-flowed the oranges somewhat but smelled and tasted delicious.

Because I didn't want to waste the leftover cake batter, I decided to experiment using wax paper cups, a pan with water and a tent of aluminum foil. Amazingly enough, my experiment worked. The hypothesis was that the water bath would protect the cups from scorching during the baking process and the tent would help trap moisture and keep out campfire fumes. The cakes baked up in the cups and tasted average even if their appearance leaves something to be desired.

Again, if you want to see something edible-looking than be sure to see the picture of the pineapple upside down cake further down on the post of delicious dutch oven dinners #5 before the campfire cooking.

Campfire Cooking (Part 2)

We're reading Inkheart by Cornelia Funke as we wait for our foil dinners to cook in the hot coals next to the fire.First you place chopped veggies on the foil sheet, topped by a hamburger patty, then sprinkle on beef stew seasoning and finally top with more veggies. I actually think the taste is a bit better when you are willing to mix the seasoning into the meat but sprinkling it on top is easier when camping. Fold over the foil and roll to seal. Cook in the coals for about 15-20 minutes or until the meat is not longer pink and tests done.

Delicious Dutch Oven Dishes (Dish #5) (Part 1)

Pineapple Upside Down CakeThis is the beautiful cake that I made in Dutch oven while we were camping this summer. The recipe is basically the same as for the traditional cake except it works out better for clean-up if you line the Dutch oven with aluminum foil before melting the butter and adding the brown sugar and pineapple and cherries.

For the main dish on a different night I made chicken and rice casserole in the Dutch oven.

Color or Colour?

Asiatic Lilies.






with strawberries in an old plastic swimming pool.


See more of the battle between words such as grey and gray by clicking on this sentence link.

Sunny Southern (Utah) Summer

Dinosaur Museum in Blanding, UT
The original model used as the Brontosaurus in the 1933 movie of King Kong.
In the center of the picture is a large flat rock balancing atop the formation.
Hollyhocks. A flower that's been around a long time in America, Europe and Asia.
Our meal at the restaurant. I had the Navajo taco. The water pitchers were lovely.
The beautiful red sandstone cliffs outside the restaurant.
The girls and I visited the famous home at: (I went here with my parents when I was young.)

From Italy with love

It's Kinder Surprise! A unique childrens' treat featuring chocolate and a toy prize from a company started in Italy but now made around the world.

The foil wrapped egg...












is opened to reveal the combination of milk and white chocolate forming the shell of the egg with a plastic capsule like container inside.









And what is in the container?




A unique toy!












Jessica brought home a 3-pack of these treats and these are the three distinct prizes they contained. A green creature with wings, a compass and a Puss in Boots from the Shrek movies. Oh yes, companies in other countries have movie toy tie-ins just like American companies.

Busy.....

canning....









apricots.