Author Archives: kzmclain

Lord Help the Mister That Comes Between Me and My Sister

Posted in Whimsies by

Sisters can drive you crazy. I should know. I have two of them.

Your parents dress you alike. And even when they don’t, the younger sisters end up wearing the older sisters’ hand-me-downs. I remember having to wear my sister’s hand-me-down First Communion dress and thinking I just wanted to die of embarrassment. That was 50 years ago and I still cringe when I think of it.

I also remember, however, that my mom made my sister take me along with her on her dates when she was in high school. That must have been a riot for her and definitely evened out the embarrassment levels a bit. I’m surprised she speaks to me at all.

Of course, we would have gone to the mat for each other, even when we were children. And now we are the best of friends.

I keep this in mind when I watch the sisters among my grandchildren. And I particularly noticed it recently when I watched two of my grandchildren, sisters, ages 3 and 5. They have very different personalities and interests. While the 5-year-old wants to help me make cookies, the younger one uses the plastic hand mitts as shark puppets.

What kind of cookies should we make, I asked them. “M&M cookies.” “Chocolate Chip Cookies.” They speak simultaneously. What do you want for lunch, I ask. “Macaroni and cheese.” “Rice with soy sauce.” Once again simultaneously.

So we divide the dough in half and put chocolate chips in one half and M&Ms in the other. And thank goodness for those little individual containers of rice and mac and cheese because I can please them both.

Before long, the two of them are in the playroom having a tea party. I can hear them talking to each other and I know that they, too, would go to the mat for each other. Well, maybe not today, but sometime soon.

By the way, the title comes from a song from the movie White Christmas that is sung by Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen. It’s become the theme song for my sisters and me!

Apple Cakes Like My Mommy Makes

Posted in Desserts, Recipes by

In 2008, Bill and I took the trip of a lifetime. We traveled for 3-1/2 months in Europe. We took a 2-1/2 week cruise across the Atlantic, and then traveled around much of western Europe, concentrating on France and Italy. In fact, we spent an entire month living in a small town in Tuscany.

A couple of years later, we again cruised across the Atlantic to Rome, and then cruised around the Mediterranean to such places as southern Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Egypt. Very nice travels. Remind me to tell you about it sometime.

My mom and dad didn’t travel nearly as much as Bill and I. Still, they went to Hawaii a couple of times, and saw a fair bit of the United States thanks mostly to my sister who married a career army man who was stationed in several locations throughout his career.

But mostly I think my parents – and particularly my mom – liked to stay home. She loved her family and loved spending time with them. So her travels consisted almost entirely of visits to my sister and her family and my brother and his family (who live in Phoenix). And, of course, she enjoyed traveling to any places where she could travel with her kids and her grandkids.

One such trip was to Lancaster, Pennsylvania – Amish country, in 1989, probably as an addendum to a visit to my sister’s home in northern Virginia outside Washington, DC. I only know the year because as I was going through my mother’s recipe box, I came across an envelope from Historic Paul Sours Plantation House in Bendersville, PA, and it was addressed to my mother. That seemed like an odd thing to find in a recipe box. It was date-stamped October 1989. I opened it, and a note card fell out. It was a recipe for Apple Cake.

That was when I recalled that trip, and how much my mother loved that apple cake. What I didn’t remember is that she must have loved it so much that she talked the bed-and-breakfast proprietor into giving her the recipe. That is probably not something most chefs are wont to do, preferring to keep the recipe their own little secret. My mother, however, could be charming and persuasive.

Enjoy this apple cake. By the way, I looked it up and can find no sign that the Historic Paul Sours Plantation House still exists. But thanks to my mom, their apple cake does!

Historic Paul Sours Plantation House Apple Cake

Ingredients
2 c. flour
2 c. sugar
2 t. cinnamon
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1 c. shopped walnuts
1 c. vegetable oil
2 t. vanilla
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 c. brandy
4 c. chopped apples (peeled)

Process
Mix all ingredients and press into a greased 9 x 11 baking dish. Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until center bounces back when touched. Don’t know how the B&B served it, but I plan on serving mine with a dollop of fresh whipped cream.

Third Born

Posted in Meat Dishes, Recipes by

I’m a middle child. There are four of us in our family –three sisters and, finally, to our dad’s great relief, a son. I am second born.

There are numerous studies that indicate that birth order impacts each child uniquely. First-born children, for example, are ambitious and feel responsible for solving all of the problems in the family (maybe even the world?). Second-borns want to please everyone. Third-borns, well, they just fight for what they get, and mostly they get what’s left.

Our middle son has four kids, ages 10, 8, 7, and 5 – girl, boy, girl, girl. Because of the sheer number of kids, and because our son and daughter-in-law are determined that their children appreciate all that they have, there are lots of hand-me-downs. It’s just inevitable, especially with all those girls. This photo, by the way, is missing the youngest who was likely in the warming hut with Mom.

Recently the kids tried on their ski clothing and equipment to see what fit, what didn’t, and what needed to be bought. As it turns out, the littlest one hadn’t grown a bit (she’s a wee bit of a thing), but the others were all in need of at least some sort of new clothing and/or equipment. But, unfortunately for the third-born, her brother’s old clothes and equipment fit her perfectly. Her mom told me that little Miss Third-Born wept real tears when she learned that she was going to have to wear her brother’s old clothes and equipment on the slopes this winter. Boy’s clothes. With her brother and older sister sporting shiny new duds. Argh. The unfairness of being a third-born.

Of course, when Mom told Nana, I wanted to weep real tears as well. Instead, I headed to the sporting goods store to buy Dagny some bright pink ski mittens. A girl has to have some pride.

Now I know absolutely nothing about ski duds, not being a skier myself. I was studying my choices when a nice young man came over and asked if I needed help. I proceeded to begin to tell him the story of these four grandkids and their ski clothes and how my poor little 7-year-old was getting the short end of the stick because she was going to have to wear her brother’s clothes and yada, yada, yada. I suspect I went into a bit too much detail because, though I have heard the phrase used before, this time I literally saw this young man’s eyes glaze over. He couldn’t possibly have cared less that my granddaughter had to wear her brother’s clothes, except for the fact that it might mean he could sell me a new pair of ski mittens. It made me laugh at myself.

Dagny got her pink mittens, and some socks to boot.

Today’s fall dinner offering:

Coq Au Vin

Ingredients
4 slices of bacon
1 whole chicken, cut into pieces
Salt and pepper to taste
1 medium onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 T. butter
1 lb. mushrooms, sliced
2 c. red wine

Process
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Fry the bacon in a large skillet until crisp. Remove from the pan, crumble it, and let it drain.

Season the chicken with salt and pepper, then place the chicken pieces fat side down into the skillet and cook in the bacon grease until brown. Turn over and cook the other side. Remove from pan and set aside in a baking dish, skin side up.

Sauté the onion, carrots and garlic in the skillet with the bacon grease until onions are translucent and garlic is fragrant, about 3 minutes. Remove from pan and add to the baking dish with the chicken. Add 2 T. butter to the skillet and cook the mushrooms until golden. Add to the baking dish with the chicken and the onion/carrot/garlic mix.

Drain grease from the skillet, then place over medium heat. Pour in 2 c. of red wine, using a wire whisk to loosen all the goodies from the bottom of the pan. Salt the liquid and cook for three minutes to allow wine to decrease. Pour the wine over the chicken and vegetables in the baking pan. Cover and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Serve over buttered noodles or mashed potatoes.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Posted in Main Course, Meat Dishes, Recipes by

So that you know that braising roasts until the meat falls off the bone isn’t the only thing I like about the fall months, I want you to know that I also look forward to autumn because of the World Series.

I am not a baseball fan. Baseball, like gardening, is one of those things that I want to like, but simply don’t. My sister loves baseball. She enjoys spending a day at the ballpark. She understands why the catcher is making funny hand signals and what they might mean. She knows what the bullpen is. I, on the other hand, have trouble sitting for three hours watching a sporting event that isn’t football.

My dad, who is now deceased, also loved baseball. Well, to be honest, he loved any sporting event that involved a ball. But especially in his later life, he loved his Colorado Rockies. And he loved to talk baseball with anyone who would listen. He would try with me, but I just didn’t know or care what a ground rule double was. So he would talk baseball with my sister, who does know what a ground rule double is. He always did like her best.

But even not being a baseball fan, I recognize that there is something special about the World Series. It’s the culmination of an entire summer of seemingly endless baseball. It has all that history and legend and controversy. I remember even in Catholic grade school in Nebraska in the 60s that the nuns let the boys listen to the World Series on their transistor radios during class because, well, it was the World Series.

One of the best things my sibs and I ever did was pool our money and buy Dad tickets to a World Series game back in 2007 when the Rockies played the Boston Red Sox. Dad was already unable to get around much without a wheel chair, but my stepmother accompanied him to the game. One of my sisters and I dropped them off at the ballpark. We parked the car illegally, and hustled them to the gate. We watched as my stepmother gamely pushed my dad through the purple throng, and we both agreed we felt much the same as we had when we watched our kids go off to kindergarten. Gulp. Later, my stepmother said that despite the crowd of excited fans, as they made their way towards the elevator, the “crowds parted like the Red Sea.” The fans were so kind, as only baseball fans can be.

The Rockies lost that game, and lost that series, but my dad never forgot that he got to attend a World Series game.

And in memory of my beef-loving dad, here is my fall recipe of the day:

Ree Drummond’s Perfect Pot Roast

Ingredients
Salt and pepper
One 3- to 5-lb. chuck roast
3 T olive oil
2 whole onions, peeled and halved
6 to 8 carrots, cut into 2-in pieces
1 c. red wine (optional)
3 c. beef broth
2 or 3 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 or 3 sprigs fresh thyme

Process
Preheat the oven to 275 degrees.
Generously salt and pepper the chuck roast.

Heat the olive oil in large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onions to the pot, browning them on both sides. Remove the onions to a plate. Throw the carrots into the same very hot pot and toss them around a bit until slightly browned, about a minute or so. Reserve the carrots with the onions.

If needed, add a bit more olive oil to the very hot pot. Place the meat in the pot and sear it for about a minute on all sides until it is nice and brown all over. Remove the roast to a plate.

With the burner still on high, use either red wine or beef broth (about 1 c) to deglaze the pot, scraping the bottom with a whisk. Place the roast back into the pot and add enough beef stock to cover the meat halfway. Add in the onions and the carrots, along with the fresh herbs.

Put the lid on, then roast for 3 hours for a 3-lb. roast. For a 4- to 5-lb roast, plan on 4 hours. The roast is ready when it’s fall-apart tender.

Falling for the Weather

Posted in Desserts, Recipes by

The past few days of weird, rainy Colorado weather have been devastating to some. As I mentioned, my family has been spared, and for that I’m grateful.

One thing the rainy weather brought with it was a cool down, something I think many of us anticipated with eagerness. We have had a very hot and dry summer. And it seems like late August and early September were particularly hot.

I am not a fan of cold weather. I am sad every year when I have to turn on the lights a bit earlier and my pretty summer flowers start to dry up and the tomato plants begin to crumble. Even when our kids were younger, I really didn’t look forward to school starting as did many of my friends.

I suppose if I had made it a point to participate in some winter sports I might feel different. I really did give skiing a try, but it just never worked for me. Despite taking a lesson, I never got good at it. I was always just thiiiiis shy of being a danger on the slopes and careening madly down the hill. And this was on the bunny slope. It’s not a good idea to careen on the bunny slope. There are all those 3-year-olds happily skiing down the hill, their skis in a perfect pizza shape. I have always meant to try cross country skiing, but since I’m nearing 60, I’m not sure it’s necessarily going to happen. And I just don’t like being out in the cold weather.

My dislike for cold, wintry weather (a dislike that is shared by my husband) is the reason we bought a house in Arizona a couple of years ago. Somewhere just after Christmas, we head south and spend the remainder of the winter into May in the desert. That makes me very happy.

Having said all this, however, I am ready for the weather to cool down a bit and the rain to stop. While I don’t like winter weather, I do like winter cooking. Nothing tastes better to me than a tough piece of meat cooked slowly to tenderness in a Dutch oven with a lovely gravy to put over noodles or potatoes. And don’t even get me started on chili. Yum.

I laughed the other day when my sister, who lives in Arizona, texted me to tell me that they were eating chili because the weather had turned cool. It was 86 degrees.

This week I’m going to feature some fall recipes, starting with Apple Crisp.

Apple Crisp

Ingredients
10 c. apples (I used 4 Granny Smith and 4 Honeycrisp)
1 c. sugar
1 T. flour
1 t. cinnamon
½ c. water
1 c. quick-cooking oats (I only had regular oatmeal, and it worked fine)
1 c. flour
1 c. packed brown sugar
¼ t. baking powder
¼ t. baking soda
½ c. butter, melted

Process
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place the sliced apple in a 9X13 inch pan. Mix the white sugar, 1 T. flour and cinnamon together, and sprinkle over apples. Pour water over all.

Combine the oats, 1 c. flour, brown sugar baking powder, baking soda, and melted butter together. Crumble evenly over the apple mixture. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes.

By the way, if you use a lot of peeled apples in your cooking, I recommend you purchase an apple peeler from your local hardware store. Old school, but so effective.

Flooded With Blessings

Posted in Whimsies by

In the biblical story of Noah, God promises his obedient servant that he will never again destroy the world with a flood. He didn’t, however, say a word about northern Colorado.

If you live in Colorado, or have been watching the news, you know that we have been having torrential, historical rainfall. Like many weather phenomenon in this crazy state (probably because of the mountains, though I am not, of course, a meteorologist), the rain is hit and miss. So, I can leave my house where it is lightly raining, drive through a crazy downpour about a mile-and-a-half south of here, and arrive at my son’s house (about four miles away) to light rain. Because of this, it is hard to know who has been impacted by what the news people are calling the 100-Year Flood, and who hasn’t.

Well, once again, God has blessed us. Though a sister, a nephew, and my stepmother live in northern Colorado, none has (at least to date) had any problems with floodwaters. In fact, all of our family members who live in Colorado have remained high and dry. That’s pretty remarkable considering all the people who live literally 15 minutes north of here who are pumping out their basements or are confined to their homes because their streets are impassable.

I never understand why some people are burdened and some people are spared when there is a crisis. We certainly don’t deserve this blessing more than many others. Still, I will never look a gift horse in the mouth and am not forgetting to give thanks, as St. Paul suggested to the Philippians.

Kids’ Whimsical Cooking

Posted in Kids' Cooking, Main Course, Recipes by

My mother didn’t teach me to cook.

Don’t get me wrong. My mom was a very good cook. She just didn’t teach me to cook, or my siblings either. She probably thought it was simply easier to do it herself. She prepared the meals; we did other things. As a result, I was a terrible cook when I first got married. Rice that could have doubled for wallpaper paste. A pie crust that was so hard to roll out that I ended up throwing it on the floor. You get the picture.

As the years went by, I must have learned through simply watching Mom how to do some cooking. I got better as time went on. Now I hardly ever throw a pie crust on the floor.

My 10-year-old granddaughter Addie likes to cook. She has liked to cook since she was a really small girl. She has a patient mommy who has allowed her to cook, and who has taught her a thing or two about cooking!

As I continue with this blog, I thought it would be fun to give Addie the chance to blog on occasion as well. She can talk about cooking from a 10-year-old’s perspective. As part of the process, Addie cooked dinner last night, and man! it was delicious.

Here is her first post:

Hi my name is Adelaide Grace McLain (I go by Addie for short). I am 10 years old and I will be doing blog posts about kids cooking on this blog. I have a passion for cooking and that is why my nana (the one who owns this blog) asked me to share my recipes. I have 3 siblings and so my family is a total of six. My favorite color is yellow and my favorite food is mango. I would have to say that my best dish is fettuccini alfredo which is coincidentally my first blog recipe.

I started cooking when I was about 6 years old. My mom was cooking fettuccini alfredo and I said, “Can you teach me how to cook?” After that, I started making breakfast for my siblings many mornings and coffee for my parents that I would bring up to them in bed.

I hope you like my blog posts.

Fettuccini Alfredo

Ingredients
1 stick of butter
¾ of a pint of cream
Enough Parmesan cheese to make the sauce thick.

Process
Melt the butter in a sauce pan. Add the cream to the butter, stirring the whole time. Add the Parmesan cheese until the sauce is thick (probably around ¾ – 1 c. of cheese). This is what it should look like:

Cook your pasta, and pour the sauce on top.

Smooth Sailing

Posted in Whimsies by

Today it is like the heavens broke loose and the rain just keeps on coming. I love rainy days; just wouldn’t want them every day. But a steady rainfall following weeks of dry, hot weather feels just right.

So this morning as I thought about what to make for breakfast on this chilly morning, what do you think came to my mind? A steamy hot bowl of oatmeal with brown sugar, blueberries and cream? Bacon and eggs, with home fried potatoes? A pan of freshly-baked cinnamon rolls?

Nope. This morning I made smoothies.

Smoothies don’t exactly equate with chilly, rainy days. Still, I had all of this fruit that was going to go to waste if I didn’t use it soon. And yogurt that was coming alarmingly close to its pull date (buying Greek yogurt by the case from Costco seems like such a good idea at the time).

Smoothies are easy, healthy, and taste like a treat. So smoothies it was.

I simply fill my blender with frozen berries, a couple of nectarines, a banana, some peach-mango juice, and two containers of Greek yogurt. Some people add spinach. My husband would not in a million years, ever, ever drink a green smoothie. So there. No spinach.

(I did, however, add a few tablespoons of Benefiber, something 20- or 30-somethings would not have to do. That’s all I’ll say about that.)

Pour my decidedly PINK fruit smoothie into a pretty glass and call it breakfast. Should I have chilled soup for lunch?