A Pinch Of This, and A Pinch Of That…

July 25, 2013 ~ JodiLea

Weekly Writing Challenge: A Pinch of You. This week, we want a window into the complexity that is you. We want your best recipes. We want the recipe for all the bits and pieces and quirks and foibles and loves that make you you…

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Recipe for Jodi Lea

Beat together until fluffy:

1 cup humor

1/4 cup stubbornness, coarsely chopped

1 cup tolerance

1/2 cup trusting

3/4 cup enthusiasm

1/2 cup imagination

1 cup addiction

1 cup faith

1/4 cup anxiety/depression mix

1/4 cup impatience

2 Tablespoons anger

1/2 Tablespoon resentment

1 cup Splenda®

Large bag of Movie Popcorn

Seasonings- beat well in small bowl before adding to above mixture:

2 squirts Holy water

2 teaspoons Princess

1 teaspoon Bitch

Two heaping Tablespoons of naughty

Instructions:

Spread into a non-stick baking pan that has a tightly sealed lid.

Take to FedEx and ship to a beach in the Caribbean.

This is much better when baked the solar way, which could take a few weeks 😉

Happy Groundhog Day!

February 2, 2012 ~ JodiLea ~ 2 Comments

That’s right. Today, February 2nd, is the big day. Punxsutawney Phil, the official predictor of Spring, will make his annual appearance and declare 6 more weeks of winter. Or not.

I’m not going to go into the history of Groundhog Day, but if you’re curious you can visit the little rodent’s Club. Instead I will tell you a little family memory….

One year when our kids were middle school age, I decided to invent “Groundhog Pie”. Like Sheppard’s Pie, but using “groundhog meat”. It looked a lot worse than it tasted. When I cut into the crust and served the first piece, I was reminded of a childhood song that had “greasy gopher guts” in the lyrics.

They must have suspected it really wasn’t groundhog, yet everyone played along. Even my pickiest of eaters scarfed it up. These kids, who diligently removed each and every piece of onion or mushroom from their spaghetti, blindly ate groundhog pie. Go figure.

This was many years ago. I want to add the recipe to my cookbook, but I didn’t write it down in my cookbook notes. Maybe I hadn’t started the book yet. Regardless, I will let you in on what I do remember.

Groundhog Pie

1 pkg. of Pillsbury rolled pie crusts (has 2 in it)
1 pound ground meat (beef, pork, or chicken will work)
1 bunch of fresh spinach (rinse well)
3 cloves garlic, minced fine
1 small can of chopped tomatoes, drained.

Remove pie crusts from the fridge and allow them to warm to room temperature while preparing pie filling. Brown the meat in a large skillet until done. Drain and return to skillet, adding spinach, garlic and tomatoes. Stir together for 1 minute at low heat.

Line a pie pan with 1 crust, making it fit tightly to sides and bottom. Poke bottom a couple of times with a fork. Leave 1/4 to 1/2 inch of crust edge above the rim of pan. Add filling. Cover with top crust and pinch the bottom and top edges together to seal. Poke top crust a couple of times with fork.

Bake at 350° for about an hour.

You can also sprinkle cheese on the filling before covering with top crust if desired.

The Cookbook

February 19, 2011 ~ JodiLea

Future Cookbook

It all started when my kids complained when I created a new meal (that they liked), and they requested it for dinner again, I couldn’t remember exactly what I had done the first time. It was rare when all 3 of them wanted the same meal, so I began to write things down.

“I’ll write a cookbook!” I announce to my family.

My mission was to combine the recipes I had saved from newspapers, magazines, post-it’s, and stolen from friends and relatives. My recipe file box was so crammed, that I got rid of the box and transferred the mess into file folders.

Now I can’t find a damned thing.

That was 19 years ago. My kids are in their 30’s and live elsewhere. One of them will call me from time to time, asking how to make such and such, and I think about the cobwebs and dust on my cookbook. Do I give up and buy a bigger recipe box? Or do I get off my butt and get ‘er done?

Opportunity to work on various writing projects came about when I moved into my mom’s house last summer. I moved in my recipe files and draft cookbook. I now have access to mom’s recipe box – stuffed with recipes from her childhood. Old favorites both she and I forgotten about. Excited and motivated, I resurrected the project and began to experiment on my new victims. I would finally finish my cookbook and pass it down to my kids and grand-kids.

How naïve of me. My time is not my own here – mom needs a lot of attention, as does my telecommute agreement with work. And then I discovered the joys of blogging. I need more spare time!

This 3-day weekend I will attempt to make progress on my little cookbook. I’ll keep you posted (pun intended). I may even pass along a recipe or two…