Earth Day - April 22

          One day I told my kids that I believe in saving the world after expecting them to recycle something, rather than throw it away.  They rolled their eyes and gave me the ‘You’re weird, Mom’ look.  But making one small change at a time can make a big difference.  So let’s Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.  For me this translates to...

• Thrift store clothes shopping - Thank you Mom for teaching me to see the treasures.
• Checking out books from the library - we usually end up filling a rolling suitcase.
• Grandma Neibarger’s garden compost smoothies - a blended concoction of all fruit and veggie kitchen scraps with water, bury it in a hole and you’ll get beautiful dirt in no time so you can grow your own food!
• Making the effort to recycle as much as possible - always room for improvement on this one - don’t have recycling where you live? Call your trash pickup and request it till you get it!
• Regular de-cluttering - more therapeutic than shopping, plus you can donate to a good cause and feel even better!
• Use less stuff - do we really need so much?  Check out a short video, The Story of Stuff - http://www.storyofstuff.com/  and I also highly recommend seeing the documentary I AM - http://iamthedoc.com/ - Love it!

And last but not least...

• Deja Food for dinner - never call them leftovers! (This is a way to reuse and recycle but you're on your own for reducing:)

My favorite re-purposed meals...

Day 1 - Grilled Salmon, mango salsa, couscous, green beans, green salad

Day 3 - Salmon Tetrazzini, green salad, peas, dessert

Day 2 - Roast chicken, fried rice, broccoli, green salad, fruit salad

Day 5 - Chicken noodle soup, green salad, fruit salad

Day 7 - Chicken PotPie, green salad, fruit salad

Day 4 - Crock-Pot Beef or Pork Roast, cooked potatoes and carrots, green beans, green salad

Day 6 - Corn tortilla tacos, deja meat, grilled onions, fresh guacamole, fresh salsa, beans & rice

...or the famous (at least in our family) ‘Daddy Dinner’ or ‘Grandpa Dinner’ as we now call it - line up your plates and divide deja foods evenly between them with no more than a large spoonful for each customer. Consider adding tuna salad w/ crackers, popcorn, cottage cheese w/ peaches, a cookie, nuts, pickles, half of a hard boiled egg and whatever else you can find - adventures in dining, Thanks Dad!

Paul Revere’s Ride - April 18, 1775

It should be your care, therefore, and mine, to elevate the minds of our children and exalt their courage; to accelerate and animate their industry and activity; to excite in them an habitual contempt of meanness, abhorrence of injustice and inhumanity, and an ambition to excel in every capacity, faculty, and virtue. If we suffer their minds to grovel and creep in infancy, they will grovel all their lives.
John Adams, 1756

          “Listen my children and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere...” begins a famous poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (for the complete poem see:  http://www.nationalcenter.org/PaulRevere'sRide.html ) the mission? To get word from Boston to Concord, temporary home of the Provincial Congress, that the British were on the move to arrest Patriot leaders and seize guns and ammunition.  

          In addition to Paul Revere there were actually 2 other men helping to spread the news, William Dawes and Dr. Samuel Prescott, a Concord resident.  They met up in Lexington, but before they could complete the five mile ride from Lexington to Concord they were stopped by a roadblock.  Although they tried to break through, only Dr. Prescott was able to escape capture and deliver the message to Concord.  Paul Revere was taken prisoner and greatly exaggerated his report of the troops awaiting the Redcoats in Concord.  When the Redcoats escorting Paul Revere back to Lexington heard shots being fired and church bells ringing they feared for their safety and released Paul Revere with a tired, slow horse for his return to Lexington as the struggle for independence began.  

          My mom grew up on the east coast and we occasionally had Boston Baked Beans and Brown Bread for dinner.  I’ve included a recipe for Brown Bread, but you might be able to find it pre-made in a store in the canned food aisle.  Yes it comes in a can, ready to be warmed and eaten.  Don’t skip the warming, you just vent one end of the can and warm it in a pot of water on the stove, we always sliced it and spread with butter.  For an easy Boston Cream Pie, bake a yellow cake in round pans, put vanilla pudding between the two layers and top with Chocolate Ganache frosting and have one slice if you live by land and two if by sea. 

Menu - 

Hot Dogs

Aunt Jayneanne’s Baked Beans

Boston Brown Bread

Green Salad

Cottage Cheese

Boston Creme Pie

Aunt Jaynann’s Beans

2 Large cans or 1 #10 size can Pork & Beans

1 20 oz. can crushed pineapple 

Drain juice out from pineapple

1 1/2 cup tomato catsup

1/2 medium green pepper

1 medium onion

Chop green pepper and onion

3 Tbsp. Brown Sugar

3 Tbsp. Molasses

Combine all ingredients in a CrockPot and cook on low for 4 hours.

Boston Brown Bread  - Makes 4 loaves
Modified from The Ford Treasury of Favorite Recipes from Famous Eating Places, published in 1946. This recipe comes from The Williams Inn in Williamstown, Massachusetts. 

A #5 tin is a 56-ounce can (7-1/3 cups) - recipe can be halved - baked loaves can be frozen.

3 cups bread flour
3 cups yellow cornmeal
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 Tbsp baking soda
Mix dry ingredients together

2 cups raisins
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp ginger
3 eggs, beaten slightly
3 cups molasses
3 cups sour milk
Combine remaining items in a separate bowl.  Add dry mix to this liquid and stir well. Spoon equal parts into 4 well-greased, tall #5 tins. Cover with lids or waxed paper tied on firmly, and steam for 3 hours.

April Fool’s Day - April 1

           Did you know that the new year used to be celebrated on April 1st? If you think about spring and new growth this makes sense. When the Christian world changed to the Gregorian calendar however, the new year began on January 1 and then the fun began. Because the world lacked internet and global news distribution some people weren’t aware of the change or refused to believe in the new calendar and continued to celebrate the New Year in April, thus earning the label of ‘April Fool‘ and setting off a worldwide phenomenon of practical joking. 
           One of the best practical jokes I ever played on my sister was entirely unplanned. I had found a long thin candle that I absent-mindedly broke into small sections leaving the wick intact. As we were lying in bed, ready to fall asleep I suddenly lobbed it across the room towards her bed and yelled “Snake!” When it landed on her bed she screamed and jumped up. What possessed me to do such a thing? Who knows. We’ve had some good laughs remembering that night, but I’ve tried to be a little more kind with my practical jokes since then. Here are a couple of ideas for some fun food pranks and one foolish dessert... 

Jello ‘Juice’

1 pkg. lemon flavored gelatin

1 drop red food coloring

          Mix up gelatin according to pkg. directions.

Pour into clear glasses, insert straw and allow to set up in refrigerator.  

Frog eggs on ice cream

Basil seeds soaked in water form a gel sack around the dark seed

Ice Cream

Soak basil seeds in water and then serve over ice cream for a little extra ‘crunch’ w/o any noticeable taste difference

Strawberry Fool  Serves 8

2 pints strawberries

Puree

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp. lemon juice

Stir into strawberries

2 cups heavy whipping cream

Whip cream

Fold cream w/ strawberries until ‘marbleized’ pour into bowl & chill well.