lovemesomejoolery

I like french onion dip and have been buying a lowfat version at the grocery store. I remember my mom used to make one from scratch, I just don't have the recipe! I can't wait to try yours! Thank you, again. I have gotten some great recipe ideas here - thank you all! I'm still trying to work out my angst and comfort food sounds like a good idea at this point. I spent 4 hours in the kitchen this morning, making a blueberry tart (which I will post here shortly), meatloaf, macaroni and cheese, spaghetti sauce and stuffed shells. It's 100 degrees outside, and we ordinarily wouldn't eat this way this time of year, but I feel like I need it.

Your post made me smile. I'm Episcopalian - my dad was Greek Orthodox and as soon as his father passed away , dad converted and became an Episcopalian. My mom was a Southern Baptist, who also converted when my dad did. Anyhow, Episcopalians have nuns, just like Catholics do. There was a large convent in Catonsville, MD, where my mother started going when she and my dad were going through their divorce. It's a beautiful place, far removed from the city sounds, rolling hills, just gorgeous. My mom developed a really close relationship with one of the nuns named Sr. Ruth Angela who, at that time, was in her late 70's. She became a nun in her 40's (!!) after working in New York as a fashion designer. She was very artistic, did wood carvings, and because she had lived a life outside of the convent was easy to talk to. She was far more outspoken than I think others at the convent would have liked - she had her own little cottage at the bottom of a hill, where you'd find her all the time, carving away. I think she was also the oldest nun there, so she got away with more! Anyhow, the convent had an ancient printing press, and they made all these little cards, all different sizes, with different sayings on them, mostly religious. I have three of them, two of which are tacked on my memo board in my home office - I've had them since I was 18 or 19 years old. One says "A diamond is a chunk of coal that stood up under pressure" (my mom gave me this one, as I was beside myself when my parents separated), another says "stand for something or you'll fall for anything" with a cross on it. The third one, my mother had in an ornate sterling frame, that I found in her nightstand after she passed away. It says "God don't make no junk". That was the long way around the barn, wasn't it? LOL! Thank you for prompting me to remember that "Jesus don't need no cowards!!"

Oh my! This sounds like a better version onion dip.....I am definitely trying this! My mouth is watering just reading it! Thank you!

Hi all - I've been laying low, in a funk. Doesn't happen often, but until I grapple with it, being the true only child that I am, I sort of retreat. I'm (mostly) over it now.....mostly. Not to dwell, but I feel a little overwhelmed by the news and the fact that this virus is back as virulently as it was when it started. What was the shutdown for? My state, Maryland, is looking good, but in states all around us, there are spikes. And the outlook does not look good. Over the weekend, I saw several talking heads who have served in both Democratic and Republican administrations say that we are at the end of the line, almost to a point of no return, in containing this virus. Yet, as I look around, other countries with far less than the US are open! Anyhow, enough of that.....lest I be removed from these forums due to a political outburst! Mr. Lovesmesome won't even watch the news with me anymore, I scream at the t.v. like a crazy person. @Cupid Stunt, I am so happy to hear that your MIL was well enough to go out for a walk in the garden! I am sure that lifted everyone's spirits. Hope you enjoy the week with your family. Also loved your recipe for Panzanella Salad.....similar to one I use, except the recipe I use also has some cucumber and a tiny amount of red onion. I might try yours, as I like the addition of the anchovies! @peacheslatour, were you able to get your settlement on the house done? And what is this "dip" you speak of? There have been several mentions of it! @boes, yes! Fireworks are a thing here where I live, in Columbia, MD. Even bigger in Baltimore City, where it's been going on a couple of weeks prior to the July 4th weekend. Our local news has even shown video of fights that have broken out where instead of guns, two rivals aim the fireworks at each other! The whole fireworks things is featured every night on our news....it would appear that it's a boredom thing? Thankfully, it's not as bad in my town - in the city, people are shooting these things off at midnight all the way until 4 or 5 a.m. And the kicker? Residents in these neighborhoods call 911 and there is simply no response. Weeks of no response, even after one firework went into an open window and onto the bed of a child. Oh well, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.....back to your regular programming, Groundhog Day!

My husband and I watched this the weekend after it came out. We're huge Dave Chappelle fans, anyway, but didn't want to miss this. It's worth the 1/2 hour, if you're so inclined.......it's always interesting for me to see someone who is generally funny be deadly serious (although it was, at times, in a humorous way). I was moved by the symbolism in his own life, that he pointed out (like what George Floyd's 8:46 murder means to him in his own life, as well as some other things that he talks about that come at the end). Well worth the watch, I think.

That's a great idea for the cilantro swap! I used to do that, too. It's funny, you either love or hate cilantro....... We used to never like cilantro, mostly because I made some horrendous pasta dish early in my marriage with ingredients that NEVER should have been mashed up together. It was the late 80's, a recipe out of Gourmet Magazine, when cilantro was probably considered "exotic" ...... some sort of cream sauce made with cilantro and blue cheese that had chicken and fettuccine. It called for copious amounts of cilantro......I swear, it is the only time in 33 years that my poor husband has looked up at me sorrowfully and said "I am so sorry, but I can't eat this". I use cilantro all the time, always have it in my fridge. But it took awhile for me to ever try it again!

OK....I'm making THIS tomorrow night. I have all the ingredients except for the fresno pepper (may have to sub a serrano, but I think I saw fresnos at my grocery store) and the peanuts, which are easy to get tomorrow morning. I got four or five mangos on Friday to make mango daquiris, but I'll get some more of those tomorrow, too! Thank you for the great recipe!

I'm glad it made you smile! I always remember those summers, feeling so carefree. I am an only child, like my dad, so going there was great because I was able to spend time with my cousins and I still remain fairly close to several of them. My mom was the only person in that huge family to ever move away from Lexington, except for maybe one of her cousins, who was some sort of exec with Toyota in Georgetown and traveled alot. But when he retired, he settled right back in Lexington. Those summers really taught me things at an early age, like where food comes from, because back then most of my family of my grandparent's age were farming - tobacco, dairy farmers - and even if their kids had more white-collar type jobs, they still had their own side hustle going on with a tobacco field! Life was simpler there, probably because of the time period. I hadn't been back as an adult until my grandfather died in the mid 90's, and then a year after that, right around Derby Day, my husband, mom and I took a road trip there for all the big parties held during then. I didn't go back again until my own mom passed away in 2009, where we had her buried in a family plot. That carefree feeling, even with all that grief, came roaring back. It reminded me that family is truly everything!

I am going to try this this weekend! Thank you for a great idea to make fish. Now, if I could only find some catfish! I have some flounder in my freezer, so may use that. When I was a young girl, I went through a very definite period of massive pickiness when eating. For a time, my parents couldn't get me to drink milk, eat meat.....it went on for at least a summer or two. Anyhow, all of my relatives are in Kentucky, where my parents were born. A lot of relatives there.....my great grandma (on my mom's side) had 17 children and my grandma was the oldest. You can just imagine the sheer numbers of folks at family reunions! My dad, from Louisville, was an only child of Greek immigrants, so no family here in the states. Every summer, I was shipped off to my grandparents in Lexington for a month, which I loved. My parents would come at the end of a month and we'd spend a week more in Lexington and then on to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, where my dad had an annual conference. There used to be a place in Lexington called Parkette, a drive in restaurant with hamburgers, shrimp baskets, etc. The big deal was one of the nights when my parents were in town, tons of family would go to Parkette. Since I was meat-averse, I'd get a grilled cheese. They made their grilled cheese sandwiches by putting mayo, lettuce and tomato on them! To this day, I make my grilled cheese sandwich the same way - I spread a tiny amount of Miracle Whip on both pieces of bread, put on exactly three pieces of cheese on top of the Miracle Whip so every surface of the bread is covered - the third piece of cheese is torn in half and put on the sides to get total coverage - grill it up slowly so that all the cheese melts, then, when it's golden brown, I open up the sandwich and put on the lettuce and tomato and cut it in half, diagonally! Ahhhhh........it transports me. And it tastes good!

Amen

Same here! I swear, I was so tired of cooking or thinking about cooking tonight, we had grilled cheese sandwiches. That's about as creative as I could get....and it's been like that all week. I'm cooked out, I tell ya!

Consider it done!

Enjoy the weekend with your family!

I'm sorry that your MIL is in this sort of stasis,no better, no worse. I think, though, at least she's not where she was or isn't getting worse. It has to be so frustrating for her and everyone who loves her. Keep your chin up.....at least you get to go to your parents this weekend for sweet relief/escape! All of you are in my prayers.

This is great news about your mother-in-law! Yes, thank you, God! You be careful, too!