The many leaves decorating the Hickory Hill Hood have turned the Amazing Barking Dog into more of a gatherer than a hunter. Happy Halloween, Blog Readers! I confess that I was not home last night to greet and treat the neighborhood goblins because we went to the Purdue/Illinois game in Champaign. (which is quite a drive)


We met Brent and Lindsey at the game, and we had a good time, despite the Purdue loss because the weather was great, and well, we like Illinois too, of course.





On the drive home we stopped at one of the Stevenson family's favorite restaurants.......




At the Beef----House
Yummy, yummy, just lettin' it all hang out
At the Beef---House
Yeast rolls stacked, and that's a fact
Ain't holdin' nothin' back

Shake it down, shake it down, shake it down now


When Brent's Dad, Larry worked for Fed-Ex, he would stop here for lunch every day. The food was delicious. I think he and Brent's mom went on their first date here, but don't quote me on that.


Book Babes:
Here is the 2010-2011 reading schedule for the Book Babes of Kendallville, if you have any interest at all.

October Jasmine by Bharti Mukherjee

December The Glass Castle Jeanette Walls

January Blink Malcolm Gladwell

February Snow Flower & the Secret Fan by Lisa See

March Lunch in Paris Elizabeth Bard

April The Sisters from Hardscrabble Bay Beverly Jensen

May Olive Kitteridge Elizabeth Stout

June Pending

July Pending

Recipe of the Week:
I made these pecan pie bars and took them to our Beatles concert on the prairie a couple of months ago. I think they're a good pick-up-and-eat summer alternative to the real, heavy-duty pie we like to put on our Thanksgiving dessert table. Here's the recipe:



Pecan Pie Bars

2 cups flour

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter

4 eggs

1 & 1/2 cups white syrup

1 & 1/2 cups white sugar

3 tablespoons melted butter

1 & 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

2 & 1/2 cups chopped pecans.


Stir together the flour, 1/2 cup sugar, and salt. Cut in the cup of butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the bottom of a light-greased 10 X 15 inch jellryoll pan and press in firmly. Bake for 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

While the crust is baking, prepare the filling. Mix together eggs, syrup, 1 & 1/2 cup sugar, melted butter, and vanilla until smooth. Stir in the pecans. Spread over the filling as soon as it comes out of the oven. Bake for 25 minutes or until set.

"I saw three ships in my backyard
On Saturday,
On Saturday.
I saw three ships in my backyard,
On Saturday in the morning."















Okay, clearly, one of these ships is in the front yard, but that would ruin the song.



Rob, my little ginger snap,







SELL...A...SHIP!









Ah, oak leaves and acorns.








My Disturbing Breakfast Story: Last Friday morning, at 8:15 AM, I watched a high school student pull from her book bag, a spoon and a can of Betty Crocker frosting. And she commenced to eating it right there. Was that breakfast, you think? I looked on slack-jawed (kind of like when I saw those little bitty girls eating the broccoli in Wal-mart) Fortunately, I was behind her and she didn't see my shocked expression. Oh, it's not that I'm some kind of food-pyramid fanatic. I've been known to spoon a little of the frosting myself. Only, I would do in my pantry - with the light out- and the door closed. What was she thinking? Later I thought, well, maybe she needed that sugar boost, you know a low blood count. And if that was the case, I humbly apologize. But, I'm really thinking that wasn't it at all. It was breakfast.




My mother-in-law, Darlene sent me this cookie recipe via Facebook. I made them today and they're very interesting, crunchy and tender, a lot going on here. I liked them. You might want to give them a try:

Grammy's Cookies

3/4 cup Crisco
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups oats
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup salted sunflower seeds

Combine ingredients. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.

Another Disturbing Scissors Story - But not sharp scissors this time, big, BIG scissors - giant ones - the kind you use to cut ribbons at dedication ceremonies, which is what we did on Sunday, when we dedicated the new Common Grace/Friendship Food Pantry Facility. I was in charge of getting the ribbon and the giant scissors, but for some unexplainable reason I FORGOT TO PICK THEM UP AT THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ON FRIDAY!!!!! I didn't even think of it until late Saturday afternoon when I was printing out the program for the dedication. I left a message on the chamber director's home phone, but sprung into action on a "plan B" which was to decorate these hedge trimmers shown above. Pretty spiffy, right? The happy ending to this story is that the chamber director called me back on Sunday morning, and she was a real peach about the whole thing. She met me up at the office at noon, where I secured the giant ribbon-cutting scissors. And here they are in the back of the Jeep. My, they were heavy. It was a wonderful afternoon. The Apple Chords barbershop quartet sang, and everybody spoke for just the right amount of time. It was a wonderful afternoon. On the front page of Monday morning's News Sun was a picture of four laughing people trying to cut the ribbon with those heavy scissors. Whew.

Seems that all the young, busy, working women are big into preparing freezer meals these days. I decided to try this with my chicken casserole recipe to see how it would work. This is the old Tri Kappa Salad Bar casserole recipe. The salad bar was abandoned in favor of Basket Bingo several years ago, so I don't think they'll mind if I share this recipe with you. It will make enough to fill three 9 by 13 pans, so, we're talking about major casserole. I'm experimenting. I baked two of the casseroles and then divided it up into containers. I did not bake one pan, but put it directly into the freezer. We'll see how that works.

Chicken Casserole:

8 cups chicken

2 lbs noodles- medium, cooked

5 cans cream of chicken soup

2 - 13 ounce cans of evaporated milk

3 teaspoons salt *

1 & 1/4 lbs Velveeta cheese

5 cups chopped celery

1 cup chopped green pepper

2 cups crushed corn flakes

Combine all ingredients. Top with corn flakes and bake at 370 degrees for one hour.

* The recipe actually calls for 5 teaspoons of salt but, seriously that's too much. I usually only put in two teaspoons, so just put in a couple and then taste.

I must confess that I've been withholding some bad news from you, gentle blog-readers. You see this hole in the ground here? Well, this is where our beloved squirrel on a giant acorn stood. The poor squirrel has been decaying for some time, now. I've tried to hide it from you - photographing him from only certain angles, tying wire around his tail to hold it on there. But a couple of weeks ago, Bob just walked over and gave him a kick and that was all she wrote. We'll miss the squirrel, for sure, and hopefully, we'll get another someday. Let's take a walk down memory lane and revisit the squirrel in happier days:




Squirrel as patriot







Halloween Hi jinks!



Celebrating Rhubarb!






Spreading Christmas Cheer.




It was a gorgeous weekend in Kendallville. Have I mentioned how much I love it here in the Hickory Hill Hood? Well, I do. Hickory nuts, beechnuts, walnuts, and my personal favorite....the acorn. Sing along with me:



Acorns in my driveway
Big wind knocked them down.
Make the squirrels step lively,
They put them in the ground.
They stick them in my flowerpots
And in my flower beds.
We've got a bumper crop this year
So, watch out fur yur heads.









Recipe of the Week:

Recently I came across a cookbook entitled Perfect Pressure Cooking - nothing but pressure cooker recipes. I tried this one this weekend. Once again, I underestimated the power of the pressure cooker and overcooked the dish a tad. Still, it was pretty good. My next attempt will be Chicken Marsala.


Chicken Piccata (in the pressure cooker)

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1 shallot, minced
1 lemon, juice and zest
1 cup white wine
1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
1 tablespoon green olives, chopped
1 envelope chicken gravy

Place all ingredients in pressure cooker; secure lid. Set pressure cooker to MEAT (I don't have this - could be part of the problem) Set timer to 10 minutes (don't have a timer either) When cooking is complete, transfer chicken to a platter, pour sauce over chicken and serve.

From the Old Farmer's Almanac: "Every man must climb out of his own hole." (ain't it the truth, ain't it the truth).

I'm a little slow to report, but the 25th Annual Apple Festival of Kendallville went off without a hitch last weekend! (oh, except for that attempt to pass counterfeit hundred dollar bills). I found three lost children - which wasn't really too tough considering they were all three wearing pink. I just knew where to look. Bob and I did our usual shift at the information booth, and I worked the front gate on Sunday, but for the first time, I took a turn loading buses at the shuttle stop. Now, I think I've done about every job at the festival. Above is a picture taken at the Friday night anniversary reception and special showing of Raise-a-Ruckus. It just so happened that the five of us who walked over to help serve apple crisp and cider were all past presidents of the festival. Not planned at all. Darlene, on the left end, and Barb, on the right, were given silver apple necklaces because they have both been on the committee for twenty-five years! I've been on for fifteen.









At left is a picture of most of the 2010 committee taken Saturday evening. None of us are looking too fetching, but then, most of us were standing out in the cold, off-and-on drizzle all day. I was so proud of the festival this year, listening to all the praise from out-of-towners. It has evolved into a huge family reunion, with fantastic food.











My Disturbing sharp scissors story: You know how every summer there are those college kids who, because, I guess they couldn't find any other work, are reduced to selling knives? Well, I let one into the house this summer. She was the sister of my friend's neighbor, and I thought, oh, it wouldn't kill me to listen to her presentation, so I said, "okay."


She was very sweet. I sat her up the kitchen counter, and got her a beverage, and then she proceeded to unfold some black material and produced a pair of pretty nice looking scissors. She took out a penny, an honest-to-goodness copper penny and she cut in right in half with those scissors. She asked me if I would like to have a pair like that and I told her I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I had a pair of scissors that sharp in my house. She thought I was kidding, but I wasn't.


Then she made me show her my paring knife and a steak knife. She gave me a one-inch thick piece of twisted rope and told me to cut it with my steak knife - the idea being to make fun of how long it took me to saw away at this rope compared to the way she could cut through it like butter with her super-duper knife. I tried to explain to her that we rarely served a cut of meat that was as tough as that rope, but she wouldn't listen. I purchased my paring knife in 1978 from Delbert Morgan's Sunday School class, so I don't think I have to tell you how it fared in the competition.



End of the story is that I bought a three-knife set. Yes, YES, I DID. I was suckered in by the French chef knife because of its awesome slicing/dicing capacity. They came to the house and they looked beautiful, but the first time I used one, I cut myself three times. I kid you, not. I thought about sending them back, but then it got too late. So now, they're mine and I'm trying to be really careful when I use them, and when I put them away, I hide them, so I can sleep at night. I guess some things are just way better than they need to be.