JEWELRY CLEANER FROM MILLIE THE JEWELER.

My dear friend, Millie, makes jewelry using natural stones and minerals wrapped with silver.  Anyone who works with or loves silver knows you need a good cleaner because it tarnishes very easily. 

 

 



Two pieces of Millie's beautiful work and stones.

 

This jewelry cleaner is the fastest and easiest cleaner that Millie has found.  It also has the advantage of being homemade, inexpensive, and there are no harsh chemicals in it. 

MILLIE’S JEWELRY CLEANER

¼ c water softener, Calgon laundry boost

2 T salt

2 c water 

Glass dish, Pyrex works well

Sheet of aluminum foil
 

Supplies needed:  Water softener, salt, water, and aluminum foil.

 



Place a piece of aluminum foil in the bottom of a glass dish.  Millie says it doesn't matter if it is shiny side or dull side up.  Measure into the aluminum foil lined dish the water softener and the salt.  Add water and mix well.  Drop in jewelry, must touch aluminum foil.  Swish and pull out.  Rinse and blow dry.  Use no heat on turquoise.

Put a piece of aluminum foil in the bottom of a glass pan.

 

 



Measure water softener and salt.  Put onto the foil.

 

 



 Pour in water and stir to mix.  Drop jewelry into solution.  It must touch aluminum foil.  Swish it around in solution.  Take jewelry out of solution and rinse well.  Dry.

 

 

 

My tarnished earrings.

 

 

My shiny earrings.

ENJOY ENJOY, ENJOY

 

HAPPY FAT TUESDAY---POLISH PACZKI FROM HOLLAND, MI.

There were no Polish Bands playing at de Boer's Bakkerij in Holland, Mi. today, but there were delicious Polish Paczki for Fat Tuesday.

 Besides Paczki, there were beautiful King Cakes from the Mardi Gras traditions.

 

 

 

 There were lemon, chocolate Bavarian cream, and black plum Paczkis.

 

 

 

 There were also custard Bavarian cream and, of course, Michigan blueberry.

 

 

 

 Lemon, blueberry, and chocolate are my favorites.

 

 

 Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!!!

 

 

 

Et Smakelijk, you have the forty days of Lent to do penance for eating Paczkis.

GOD'S FAVORITE DOG

This is my beloved Izzy.  As you can see her ears don't match.  My daughter-in-law says I should get a license plate that says, "One ear up and one ear down."  We love her ears.  All the toys on the floor are always there.  If I put them away, she just gathers them up and spread them out into all the rooms.  Last year the visiting nurse was so afraid I would fall over them, but I told her I am so use to them being everywhere I would probably trip if they weren't all over the floors.

 

 

This weekend I was reading a book by Jennifer Weiner titled THE NEXT BEST THING.  I found this paragraph in the book: 

 

"ONE OF ITS EARS STUCK STRAIGHT UP, THE OTHER FLOPPED AS IT RAN, AND I REMEMBERED SOMETHING I'D READ SOMEWHERE---THAT WHEN GOD SEES A DOG HE LIKES, HE FOLDS ONE OF ITS EARS DOWN TO REMEMBER IT."

 

 

So now I know why Izzy's ears are mismatched.  She has been touch by the hand of God and is one of HIS favorites.

PACZKI TUESDAY--FAT TUESDAY IS COMING.

POLISH PACZKI

 

 

The forty days before Easter, not counting Sundays, is know as Lent and it is a time of penance.  Fasting was one way to do penance and in medieval times Christians did not eat meat, eggs, butter and milk during Lent.  Lent begins with Ash Wednesday.  The day before Ash Wednesday is called  Fat Tuesday or in French, Mardi Gras.  It is the time to rid the house of all the foods not eaten during Lent.  Pancakes and pastries are the usual traditions foods eaten on Fat Tuesday or in some cultures, Pancake Tuesday.   In Poland, Paczkis, are one of the traditional foods eaten.  They are very rich donuts filled with wonderful fillings.  The traditional filling is prune, but now all kinds of fruit, chocolate, and cream fillings are used.  Here are two of my favorite places to get a Paczki in Grand Rapids.  Click on the links for more information.

A fun site I found to enjoy the most famous Fat Tuesday celebration, Mardi Gras in New Orleans is:  http://www.nola.com/live/

http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2011/03/fat-tuesday-with-polish-paczki.html

http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2012/02/sandys-donuts-on-polish-side-of-grand.html

SAUERKRAUT SUPPER AT ST. LUKE LUTHERAN CHURCH

For the last 10 years, the St. Luke Lutheran Church in Nunica, Michigan has put on a Sauerkraut Supper.  The first part of November the church uses 2,000 pounds, that is one ton, of cabbage and processes it into their wonderful sauerkraut.  In February, the church serves a sauerkraut supper.  The supper was last night so you have to put it on your next year's calendar.  The supper was one of Tom's favorite places to go. 


The menu is:  Sauerkraut with Polish sausage, sauerkraut with roast pork, German noodles called Spaetzles, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, roll and butter, and cake.    The potatoes were peeled and cooked at the church, the Spaetzles were homemade as were the sauerkraut dishes.  What a delightful meal in the middle of the winter.

 The place mat menu for the church.

 

 

 

 Front door of the church.

 

 

 

 The apron says St. Luke's Serving God's People Since 1902.

 

 

 

 The happy servers for the meal.

 

 

 

 The green beans and the gravy.

 

 

 

 The homemade mashed potatoes.

 

 

 

The homemade German Spaetzle.

 

 

 Sauerkraut with roast pork or Polish sausage.

 

 

 A little sweet for the end of the meal.

 

 

 

 Even the roll and butter were special.

 

 

 My high school classmate, Sue, enjoying the meal and the evening.

 

 

 

 Pam and I went from kindergarten through 12th grade together.  We will definitely be going to the dinner next year.

 

 

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!!!

BACON, BACON, BACON FOR THE SUPER BOWL------HOW TO CATCH A MAN SPREAD---OR---NEIMAN MARCUS SPREAD

So simple.  Chop some green onions, open some packages and you have a party spread fit for a king.  When I first read this recipe, it was called a dip and I couldn't imagine dipping a cracker into mayonnaise.  I thought it was mayonnaise with little pieces of bacon, onions, and other stuff floating in it.  It really is a spread and the mayonnaise only acts as a binder to hold the good stuff together.

With the crunch of nuts, the salty smokey bacon, the creaminess of cheese and the fresh bite of green onion, this spread is perfect for a Superbowl party.  According to one of its name, How To Catch A Man Spread, it is great to take to a friendly get together too.


Hormel and Oscar Mayer make real bacon bits.  They use to be packaged in bottles, but now are packaged in plastic bags.  They are usually found in the salad dressing aisle in the supermarkets.



HOW TO CATCH A MAN SPREAD--OR--NEIMAN MARCUS SPREAD

1 1/2 c mayonnaise
5-7 green onions, chopped including the green
8 oz. sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
1 (2.5oz) pkg. or jar Real Bacon Bits
1 (3 oz) pkg. sliced almonds

Ingredients:  Mayonnaise, sharp Cheddar cheese, sliced almonds, green onions, and real bacon bits.

 

Shred the Cheddar cheese.  Wash and chop the green onions.  Measure the mayonnaise into a large bowl.  Add the cheese, green onions, bacon bits, and sliced almonds.  Mix well.  Refrigerate for a few hours to chill and let the flavors meld.  Serve with crackers.  We like Club Crackers and Triscuits. 

 

 

 



Shred the cheese.

 



Wash and chop the green onions.  Include some of the green part.

 

 

 



Mix together the cheese, bacon bits, green onions, and sliced almonds.

 

 

 



Add the mayonnaise.

 

 

 

 



 Mix well and refrigerate for a few hours to chill and give the flavors a chance to meld.

 

 

Serve with crackers.

 

 

 



Enjoy!

 



Enjoy!

 

 

 

 



Enjoy!!! 

THREE SISTERS SOUP WITH CHORIZO, SQUASH, BEANS AND CORN.PLUS HOW TO ROAST PEPPERS

One of the restaurants in Grand Rapids that I "like" on Facebook posted that they were serving Squash Soup with Chorizo.  I never was able to get to the restaurant to try it, but I found the two ingredients intriguing.  I wanted to try to make a soup using the sausage and the squash, but then I had to come up with other ingredients.  I like soups that are chunky not smooth so I didn't want to make a typical squash bisque.  I also like soups that have colorful ingredients so I decided to go with the Native Americans Three Sisters ingredients.

The Three Sisters, corn, beans, and squash, were an important and big part of the Native Americans diet all across the country.  The beans add two amino acids missing in the corn.  When eaten together, all the amino acids are there to form a complete protein.  All the "Sisters" can be stored for the winter or for when food isn't readily available.

THREE SISTERS SOUP WITH CHORIZO, SQUASH, BEANS, AND CORN OR MAIZE


When my children were young we lived in Missouri and I was "Earth Mother".  I made almost everything from "scratch".  Sugar was the evil ingredient for the 1970's so I had a bee hive in the backyard to harvest honey.  I used the honey in place of sugar whenever I could.  I even made jams and jellies with honey instead of sugar.

I had a big organic garden powered by the manure from my donkeys.  I grew ingredients I couldn't buy in our small town like pea pods and tomatillos plus the normal vegetables found in a garden.  I had read that the Native American planted the Three Sisters together.  The corn stalks became the "poles" for the beans to grow on.  The bean plants added nitrogen to the soil which is a fertilizer.  The big squash leaves covered the ground under the beans keeping the ground shaded so it stayed moist plus the big leaves helped choke out weed growth. 

I always love to try new things so one year I planted the corn, beans, and squash all together like the Native Americans.  Unlike the Native Americans, I left my garden to go to Michigan to escape the hot, humid days of August in Missouri.  I came back to Missouri when school started.  I went out to my garden and there was this big tall cubed-shaped area of solid green.  It would have taken a machete to get into the greenery to harvest anything.  I was afraid if I went in, I be lost forever or at least until it snowed.


I used hominy in the soup because I liked the texture it gives the soup.  Hominy is corn kernels which are dried and then soaked in  lime, calcium hydroxide.  This process goes back to the Aztec Indians who used wood ashes to process the their corn into Nixtamal or hominy.  When Nixtamal is ground it becomes masa which is used to make corn tortillas.





 

 

JULIE'S THREE SISTERS SOUP WITH CHORIZO, SQUASH, BEANS, AND CORN OR MAIZE

If you don't like hominy, use regular corn canned or frozen.

 

12 oz. mild Chorizo

1 medium onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 (32oz) box of chicken broth

1 (12oz) box frozen cooked winter squash

1 (15oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 (15.5oz) can white hominy (posole)

1 red bell pepper, roasted, peeled and chopped

2 Poblano peppers, roasted, peeled and chopped

4 Anaheim green chiles or (7oz) canned chopped green chiles

Salt and pepper, if desired

Cumin, if desired

Red pepper, if desired

Ingredients:  Squash, black beans, hominy or corn, chorizo sausage, garlic, onion, chicken stock, red bell pepper, Poblano pepper, green chiles, cumin, salt, black pepper, and red pepper.

Take the casing off the Chorizo and put the meat in a hot skillet. 

 

Break meat up and saute until cooked.  Drain well.

 

 

 



Chop the onion and mince the garlic.

 

 

 



Draining sausage.

 

 

 



Saute onion and garlic until they soften.

 

 

 

 



In a large pot, put the chicken broth and squash.

 

 

 



When onions and garlic are done, put them in the pot with the squash.

 

 

 



Drain and rinse the black beans.

 

 

 



Chop the roasted and peeled chiles.

 

 

 

 

 



Put the peppers in the soup pot.

 

 

 



Put rinsed and drained black beans in pot.

 

 

 

 



Put drained hominy in the pot.  Season with cumin, red pepper, salt and pepper, if desire.  I found the Chorizo sausage gave the soup plenty of seasoning and I didn't add anymore.  Cover the pot and simmer the soup to give the flavors a chance to meld.

 

 

 

 



Grease from the sausage.

 

 



Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!!!

 

 

 

SERVE THE SOUP WITH CHEESE.

 

I use Mexican white melting cheese.

 

 Add slices of cheese to hot soup.

 

Let the cheese melt and enjoy!!!

 

 

HOW TO ROAST PEPPERS

Cut peppers in half and remove seeds.

 

 

 



Place peppers on a broiler pan covered with aluminum foil.

 

 

 



Place pan under the broiler and broil peppers until the skin is charred.



Place charred peppers in a paper bag to steam.

 

 

 



Peel the skin from the peppers.

 

 

 

 



Peeled pepper with charred skin on the side.

 

 

 

 



Peeled peppers and charred skin on the side.