Okra Pickles

A friend gave me a sack of okra. I'm glad because my garden didn't produce anything much this year. I decided to use part of the okra to make some pickles.
Okra Pickles (I made 6 pints)
3 C. vinegar
3 C. water
1/4 C. pickling salt
3 cloves of garlic, halved

Prick each okra pod with a fork. Pack tightly into 6 pint jars. Put a half clove of garlic into each jar. Bring the vinegar, water, and salt to a boil. Fill each jar, put on the lids and process in a water bath for 10 minutes.

Crawfish Cornbread Casserole

I have been on a roll lately with Cajun Style food. Last night, I made a shrimp boil with shrimp, corn on the cob, potatoes, and sausage. I used a prepacked spice packet by Zaterains and it was delicious. For the 4th of July I made this:

Crawfish Cornbread Casserole
1 lb. frozen crawfish (crayfish) tails, cleaned and thawed
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green onion
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1 chopped jalapeno
3 eggs
1 can of creamed corn
1 stick melted butter
2 cups grated cheese
1 box of Jiffy cornbread muffin mix
2 tsp. of creole seasoning
1 tsp. salt


mix all ingredients and pour into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 45=50 minutes until golden brown on top and set in the middle.

Pat's One Hour Rolls

My aunt is a great cook and she gave me this recipe a long time ago. I decided to make these rolls the other day and a friend said that this was the best bread he had ever eaten.



Pat's One Hour Rolls:
1/4 C. warm water
2 pkgs. yeast
1 Tbl. sugar (measure 1/4 C. sugar and take the 1 tbl. out of that)
put the above ingredients in a large bowl and let the yeast bloom.


Heat 1 1/2 C. milk
1 stick butter
1 tsp salt
the rest of the 1/4 C. sugar

Add 4 1/2 C. flour to the yeast and milk mixture. Stir to make a soft dough. Let rest 10 minutes.
Melt 1/4 C. butter in a 9x13 pan. Shape the rolls (makes about 20) and place in the pan, turn once. Let rise 30 minutes. Bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes.





My dough was very soft, and actually, I should have added a little more flour than the recipe called for this time.

I also melted a lot of butter in my pan, I didn't measure it but I'm sure it was more than the 1/4 C. that the recipe called for. See the butter oozing up around the dough...

These were so soft and buttery when they were done. My friend and his son ate them with shaved ham. We had ours plain with our meal. Really delicious either way!

Country Girl celebrates the 4th

It's the morning after the 4th. Everything is quiet again. What does a real country girl do after she sits on the porch, in her pajamas, drinking coffee with her mom? She goes fishing, of course. After all, she and her mom are the only ones awake. It is relatively cool, and there's a nice breeze. She doesn't bother to change, who is going to see her? She takes the fishing pole, some cold pork from the fridge and heads over to the nearest tank.



She catches 3 pretty big fish (about 4 lbs each) and one smaller one. Now she has to skin them.

Now I (I mean she) poses proudly behind those 4 cleaned catfish and has her daughter take a picture. Still in her now very blood stained pajamas. Guess what's for supper.

That is a proper way to end this country 4th of July weekend.

A-Frame building challenge

One of the drawbacks of living in an A-Frame house is the slant of the walls when arranging furniture. Nothing fits well because of the degree of slant. There aren't any straight, up and down, plumb walls. So...most of the time you have to customize your furniture and built-in items. Read: Mike designs and builds a project.



Our custom built-in computer station.




Mike designs a small workstation in our hallway. This wall space is about 2 1/2 feet wide where the little table top is and about 3 1/2 feet wide at floor level. And, at the top of the computer screen, the space is about 2 feet wide.

He did a great job. He handmade the brackets that support each side of the table. He drilled holes for the cords to fit through, left just enough space underneath for the office chair, and made sure there was enough room for his knees.

This workspace freed up an entire wall in our sunroom. I had an office area set up there on a large table and all the equipment, paper and files were the first thing you saw when you walked in the front door. Now, I have a breakfast area there and room for a large birdcage. Yes, I want some birds next. And an aquarium. I wonder if those will have to be custom built as well....

Baby Charli

Remember my son's new Daschund mix puppy, Andre? He has really grown and is almost as big as my dog, Amos. This is Andre during their visit last night, and he had a surprise for us...








Another puppy! My son thought that Andre needed a playmate because he is so super active that nobody can wear him out. He just keeps going and going. This new puppy is Charli. She is also a daschund mix. She is so tiny, and so meek-for now.

Charli got very comfortable lying on Mike's chest.

Amos was very fascinated by Charli. In between chasing Andre and then hiding from him, Amos would jump up on the couch, sniff Charli all over, and wag his tail. I think he likes this little friend.

Book reviews, Author review

*the following review may contain some "spoilers" for those who want to read these books*

I recently got on a roll and read three books by the author Jodi Picoult. I tried "Nineteen Minutes" first. Her writing style really caught my attention and the story did too. It was about a school shooting and 5 or 6 characters got to tell the story in their own words, even the shooter himself. Very sad though...

Next, I read "My Sister's Keeper". This was the saddest of the three books that I sampled. It told the story of a terminally ill child whose younger sister was conceived for the sole purpose of saving her sick sister with her platelets and bone marrow etc. The younger sister finally sued her parents for the right to have a say in all medical decisions concerning her own body. By the second book, the author's style of having all the characters tell the story in 1st person (by chapters) got a little frustrating to me. I just wanted to hear from the main character the most.

Extremely sad ending...

The last book I tried was "Change of Heart". This novel told the story of a convicted murderer who may not be exactly guilty. He apparently had a special "spirituality" that he presented at times, and wanted to donate his heart to the little sister of his victim-after he was executed. The concept was so reminiscent of the book " The Green Mile" that I wondered if Stephen King thought about suing. I admit to skipping some of the chapters because they were told by some of the minor characters. I guess I just wanted to get to the heart of the story. This book had a bit more of a happy ending than the others I read.

If you don't mind really sad endings, or the fact that the stories are told piecemeal by many characters, then you probably will enjoy these books. I did enjoy them but was left feeling very sad, and a little hopeless. I'm not sure if I'm ready to read any more of Jodi Picoult's books for a while, but will probably check one out in the future.