Flower Girl

Kira is making preparations for her Flower Girl responsibility at a recent wedding. Her mother's friend, Monica, may not have realized what she was starting when she asked for a 2 1/2 year old to act as flower girl in her recent wedding ceremony.

How do you keep a 2 1/2 year old flower girl busy during the wedding ceremony?

Smile!

You're On Candid Camera.

This is a recent picture of our granddaughter, Kira, showing off one of her birthday presents. Look closely at the jewelry set she is wearing. This set includes the tiara on her head, the necklace around her neck, and the dangle clip on earrings on her ears. This beautiful heart shaped set includes all three heart shaped, pink plastic 'stone'. The set does include a ring with the pink plastic heart, but is not visible in this picture. This beautiful jewelry set was given to Kira by her cousins from Corpus Christi, Texas. They were in town visiting for the party. This was the social event of the day with a 2 year birthday party hosted by the grandparents, Lance and Pam, at a local eating establishment. Numerous friends and relatives enjoyed hamburgers, chicken nuggets, fries, and drinks accompanied by ice cream and cake. Happy Birthday Kira!

Recipe Wednesday #18

Do you ever brew a pot of coffee and have a bit of coffee left in the pot when all have had enough coffee to drink? It always seemed so wasteful to pour all that coffee down the drain. I recently decided I would start pouring that coffee up into a pitcher after cooling. I stored this excess coffee in the refrigerator and continued to add the excess coffee when I didn't finish the pot. After a few days I had enough cold coffee to start combining and experimenting with a few ingredients to concoct an iced coffee drink like you might get at one of those popular coffee shops. Here follows my resulting

Iced Cocoa Frappucinno

2/3 cup brewed coffee, cold
1/3 cup ice cubes (5 or 6 cubes)
1/3 cup non fat dry milk
1 tsp. instant hot cocoa mix
1 pkg. artificial sweetener 1 tsp. sugar

Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend for 30 - 40 seconds or until the ice is completely crushed. Pour into a couple of tall glasses and enjoy with a friend some summer evening. You may try a variety of additions and/or substitutions to make this your own favorite iced coffee drink to enjoy with a friend. Try a shot (1 oz.) of hazelnut or caramel syrup in addition to/or in place of the cocoa mix. Try your own flavors to suit your own tastes. Enjoy!

Incidentally, there is also a story behind the use of the 'non fat dry milk' instead of cream or milk in this recipe. That is another item I found which was a 'leftover' item for which I was trying to find a use instead of throwing it away. Suffice it to say for now that it was another item I had in excess and I needed to find a use for it instead of throwing it out. I'll tell that story on another day in another blog post.

Recipe Wednesday #16

I found this recipe in one of those coupon inserts for the Sunday newspaper, you know, one of those things with all the coupons printed up. This recipe was printed with a popular, name brand steak sauce. As usual I do take some liberties with most of my recipes. In this one I don't necessarily use the name brand steak sauce. So here follows the recipe for this week . . .

Sauce Glazed Steak & Chicken

1 bottle(10 oz.) of your favorite steak sauce
1/4 cup honey
4 boneless beef strip steaks approximately 1 inch thickness
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

In a medium sized bowl mix thoroughly the sauce and honey

Grill steaks and chicken over medium heat for 4 - 6 minutes. Brush steaks and chicken on both sides with the sauce. be sure to be liberal with the sauce! Turn over and grill for 4 - 6 more minutes or until cooked to the doneness you require.

6 - 8 servings / 3 minutes preparation time / 8 - 12 minutes cooking time

This recipe is great for a family and friends get together or for a summertime grill fest. Enjoy!

Recipe ......day # 13

Oops! I missed the normal Wednesday Recipe again. Maybe there is something about that #13 thing. Well I'm not normally superstitious about these things, so I will proceed with the Recipe after this brief disclaimer. We were very busy on Wednesday with a trip to the airport. Kari will be participating in the wedding of one of her best friends who lives in Sweden. I'm sure she will take the opportunity for some vacation activities with her friends and family as well. Here we are at the airport just before boarding the flight to Sweden.

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When the rest of us left the airport we went back into Houston for a visit to the Farmer's Market on Airline Drive, to eat lunch at The Spaghetti Warehouse in downtown Houston, and to take a brief shopping trip before our return home. Some of the produce items we bought at the farmer's market included fresh green beans, new potatoes, and onions. I cooked the green beans, thus we get the following recipe:

Farmer's Market Green Beans

2 -3 "handfuls" of fresh green beans, snip ends and peel strings if any

8 - 10 new red potatoes, whole or cut in half

1/2 onion, sliced or coarsely chopped

4 slices bacon, cut into 1/2 to 1 inch pieces

1 clove garlic, thinly sliced or minced

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

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Prepare first 3 ingredients as described or as you prefer and set aside. Combine the remaining ingredients with the onions in a large pot and heat on medium high on your cook top. Cook these ingredients until the bacon is done and the onions are translucent (5 - 10 minutes). Add the remaining ingredients to the pot with enough water to completely cover the ingredients in the pot. Raise the heat as needed to bring the water to a boil and continue to boil until the beans are done and the potatoes are soft (20 - 40 minutes).

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This recipe is original and was not copied from any particular cook book. I did refer to several different cook books for suggested recipes and cooking ideas for fresh green beans. These are the books which I have previously cited for some of the recipes I have already shared with you in this blog. Feel free to follow this recipe or change it as you desire according to your own tastes or preferences. You may copy, edit, and share this recipe with you family and friends as you desire. Please enjoy your Farmer's Market Green Beans and reply or comment with any changes or additions you might suggest to the recipe.

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Recipe Wednesday #12

This week I found a recipe in one of those advertising inserts from the Sunday newspaper. It was one of those inserts with all the grocery and other coupons and other advertising for most national name brand products. This recipe looked like a quick and easy recipe and something which might be good to prepare and cook out on the grill for great weekend or family event. It was found in the insert with an ad and a Manufacturer's Coupon for Owens Fresh Roll Sausage. You may follow the link for more information about the Owens company, their products, and more of their recipes. Here follows a recipe for:

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Owens Backyard Burgers

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1 lb. Owens Original Roll Sausage

1 lb. ground beef

2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp. ground pepper

8 hamburger buns

Lettuce, sliced tomato, sliced onion (suggested toppings)

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In a large bowl, combine first five ingredients. Form into 8 patties. Over medium heat on grill, cook burgers on each side until done (no longer pink), about 10-15 minutes. Serve with buns and favorite toppings.

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Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10-15 minutes

Yields: 8 burgers

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I hope you have an opportinity to try this or any of my other recipes and have a pleasant eating experience with your family and friends. Enjoy!

Recipe Wednesday #8

This is Wednesday and it's on schedule for this recipe. This is a recipe which I found in a small, brown ring binder with 4x6 inch pages. Some recipes are handwritten and some are newspaper or magazine cut-outs of recipes which have been pasted onto the pages. This notebook of recipes is another one of those items found when we cleaned up the house after my mother-in-law passed away. The recipe this week is obviously a yellowed newspaper clipping. I have no idea where or when it was originally printed. Please try the recipe. I'm sure your family will enjoy:

Lemon Chess Pie

6 eggs

2 cups sugar

4 tablespoons butter

juice of 2 lemons

pinch of salt

Put eggs in blender and let whirl for a few rounds. Add 1 cup of sugar and turn blender on and off. Add 2 cup sugar and to the same. Add melted butter, salt and juice and whizz it a bit more. Pour into an unbaked 8 inch pie shell and bake in a 350 oven for 35 minutes.

Please note! The word choice and all spelling is exactly as printed on the original clipping. I'm not sure about the technical or official cooking definitions for "whirl" and "whizz". I'm not real sure but, I think you should "do" something with the sugar not "to" the sugar. I guess this newspaper article was probably done without a spelling or grammar checker. Maybe the Food Editor was having a bad day. At any rate, I hope you will enjoy the Lemon Chess Pie!

Recipe Wednesday #6

This week I’m going to give a recipe for another one of my all time favorites, a Grilled Cheese Sandwich. Rather than give the simple and quick version of this all time favorite, I decided to look at some of my recipe books and see what kind of recipes might be suggested for the plain and simple Grilled Cheese Sandwich. This recipe is taken from the following source: The Modern Family Cook Book, by Meta Given. The copyright date is 1953 and it was previously published in 1942. The recipe is for ‘Cheese Toasties’ on page 175. I believe we got this book from my wife’s mother after she passed away. As you can see by the date it is no longer so “modern” but I’m sure it was for my mother-in-law when she first got the cook book. I found the recipe to be an interesting variation on one of my own personal favorites, the grilled cheese. Here follows the recipe for “Cheese Toasties” which you may share with your family and friends for a delightful summer snack.

Cheese Toasties

½ pound American cheese, grated
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
2 to 4 tablespoons milk
Dash salt
6 hamburger buns
Butter

Mix grated cheese with mustard, milk and salt. Split buns in half, toast or not as desired, and spread cut surfaces with butter and cheese mixture. Place under the broiler and toast until cheese is puffy and golden brown. Serve hot. 5 or 6 servings.

Recipe Wednesday #5

This week I would like to share one of my favorite recipes with you. This recipe is found in one of my recipe books. The recipe book is America's Best Recipes: A 1994 Hometown Collection, published by Oxmoor House, Inc. Book Division of Southern Progress Corporation.

These recipes are submitted by different clubs, groups, and organization from across the country. This recipe is found in a section of the book entitled 'Quick and Easy Recipes' on page 13. I hope you and your family enjoy this recipe as much as I do. Here is one of my favorite recipes for:

Breakfast

1 pound mild bulk pork sausage

1 (8-ounce) can refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded mozzarella or Monterey Jack cheese
4 large eggs, beaten

3/4 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper


Brown sausage in a skillet, stirring until it crumbles; drain. Place crescent roll dough in bottom of a greased 13- x 9- x 2-inch baking dish; press perforations and pinch seams to seal. Sprinkle reserved sausage and cheese over dough. Combine eggs and remaining ingredients; pour over mixture in dish. Bake, uncovered, at 425 degrees for 15 minutes or until set. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Yield: 8 servings.

Roaring Springs Recipes & Memories

Roaring Springs Volunteer Organization

Roaring Springs, Texas

Generations

This weekend I was listening to Coast to Coast AM with Ian Punnett, the weekend host, interviewing Neil Howe. While most of the interview concerned the book, The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy by William Strauss and Neil Howe, one topic of discussion which arose was the topic of 'Generations'. At first I listened only in passing, as I had never really paid much attention to the topic of 'Generations'. Sure I had heard of the 'Boomers', 'Gen-X'ers, and more recently 'The Millennials'. I had never really paid much attention to the whole topic and it had never really caught my interest. I knew that it generally dealt with the history of the culture and events which were popularly associated with the groups of people who were born, raised, and came of age during an extended period of time in history. As a former History teacher this sounded fascinating and it aroused my interest. As I listened to some of the explanation about the different 'Generations' and the contrasts and comparisons between the different groups of people the whole topic began to become more intriguing. I determined I should do a little research, see if I could get more information, and try to ascertain if there was indeed anything to this 'Generations' thing. I found the topic to be very broad and there is a vast amount of information available. I also determined that there was more information than I could cover in one writing. I will try to break it down into a few interesting topics and give some explanation and insight into what I have learned about the topic of 'Generations'.

I will first focus on identifying three 'Generations' or distinct groups of people during the last century of U. S. History:

1. The Silent Generation: Members of this group were born between World War I and World War II and they were too young to have served during WW II, although many of them may have had fathers who served in WW I.
2. The Baby Boomers: This group is constituted of members who were born shortly after World War II. This period of time in U. S. History is distinguished by a general increase in the overall birthrate. This population explosion was also taking place in many countries around the world and there was generally a world wide "Baby Boom".
3. Generation X: This group consists of those who were born between about 1964 and 1981. Most members of this generation are the children of either the 'Baby Boomers' or the 'Silent Generation' and they came of age with such things as MTV, Cable TV, and Video Games.

One fact became immediately evident about the whole topic of 'Generations'. There is a variety of sub-groups within many of the groups and there is a bit of variation about the topics most influential and considered most important in determining the characteristics of each group. Sometimes popular culture and social trends seem most important while at other times politics and economic trends become more important in determining the specific period in history and the predominate characteristics of a particular 'Generation'. I will continue with this topic in a series of future Blog Posts and I will try to make some observations about some of our current affairs as affected by these 'Generations'.

Recipe Wednesday #4

Sometimes I find simple, easy recipes on the package or box for some food item I have bought at the local grocery store. The following recipe sounds like it would be very good and seems to be a simple as could be. This recipe was found on the side panel of a box of 'Kroger' brand 'Boil-in-Bag Rice'. With a little variation in ingredients and amounts the recipe could be easily changed to fit your own personal or family tastes or needs. I have not tried this recipe but I plan to soon make a:

"Quick Chicken Dinner"

1 bag Boil-in-Bag Rice

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/2 teaspoon thyme

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 can (14 1/2 oz) stewed tomatoes

1 medium green pepper, cut into strips

1 cup chopped celery

1 teaspoon garlic powder

Prepare rice while chicken is cooking. Sprinkle chicken with thyme, salt, and pepper.
In a large skillet, brown chicken in oil. Stir in all ingredients except rice. Simmer, covered, for about 10 minutes, until chicken is done. Serve chicken mixture over hot cooked rice. Serves 4. Refrigerate any leftovers.

See below:

Recipe Wednesday #3

We need to get a main course meal for the weekly recipe.

The recipe this week came from a cook book we got from my wife's parents house after her mother passed away. The copyright date for this cook book is 1953. The recipe itself was not one of the recipes from the book. Instead, it was a recipe clipping from a newspaper or magazine which I found in the book with some other handwritten recipes and other papers. The date on one of these papers was May 11, 1965. I believe the following recipe was a clipping from the late fifties or early sixties which may have been found and cut out to be kept in the cook book for later use. I don't know if this recipe has ever been used by my wife or her mother. Pam did not remember the recipe either. Please try this recipe and see if it is right for you and your family. Enjoy!

Swiss Steak – Hunt Style

1 ½ lbs. round, chuck, or rump; Flour
1 medium sized onion, sliced; 3 tbsp. chopped green pepper
3 tbsp. fat; 1 can Hunt’s Tomato Sauce
1 cup water; 1 ½ tsp. salt; ¼ tsp. pepper
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

Pour flour into steak and pound it in with edge of plate. Cook onion and green pepper in fat until tender. Brown meat on both sides in fat. Add delicious, spicy hunt’s Tomato Sauce, water, salt, Worcestershire sauce, and pepper. Cover and simmer about 1 ½ hours or until meat is tender. Your family will rave . . . and you will save!

The following is a scan of that original newspaper or magazine clipping:

Recipe Wednesday

As I mentioned last Wednesday, I will endeavor to bring you a new recipe every Wednesday on the HORST ONLINE Blog. This week I will again take the recipe from the 'Creative Cooking' cookbook published by the West University Baptist Young Women in 1978. This week I will use one of the recipes submitted by my sister, Michal Cook. She was a member of West University Baptist Church and part of the W. U. B. Young Women group. My sister passed away in March of 1977 after a brief battle with cancer and this cook book was dedicated to her. The dedication began with:


"This book is dedicated to Michal Cook, whose Christian spirit and faith under severe trial deeply affected our lives for our eternal good."


Please try, and enjoy the following recipe from Michal. This sounds like another good recipe for some summertime enjoyment.






CREAM OF CUCUMBER SOUP


Michal Cook


In the container of a blender combine:


2 c. peeled cucumbers, coarsely chopped
1 c. chicken broth
1 c. light cream
¼ c. chopped chives
¼ c. chopped celery leaves
3 sprigs of parsley
3 Tbsp. soft butter
2 Tbsp. flour



Cover the container and blend the mixture until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Serve either hot or cold. If served hot garnish with a very small amount of dill weed. If served cold, garnish with finely chopped cucumbers and a bit of grated lemon rind.

Recipe Wednesday

New Feature!

Recipe Wednesday: I was looking through an old recipe book and I got the idea for a regular feature for my HORST ONLINE Blog. Every Wednesday I will endeavor to share a recipe from one of my numerous recipe sources with my Blog readers. The first recipe I share with you comes from 'Creative Cooking' a recipe booklet published by the West University Baptist Young Women. This was a social group at the Church my sister, Michal, attended when she first moved to Houston and after she was married. I will share several recipes by family and friends from this book and I will have more information about the recipe book in later blog posts. Let's get started with the recipe for now. The following recipe was submitted to the book by my mother, Bobbie Horst. I don't really ever remember her making this recipe, but I did find it in the recipe book. It sounds like it might be a good recipe for summer. Here we go with:

PICKLE SCRAMBLE
Bobbie Horst

1 (16 oz. ) bottle whole dill pickles
1 (16 oz. ) bottle whole sweet pickles
1 (16 oz. ) bottle whole sour pickles
1 cup brown sugar

Reserving juice from each jar, slice all pickles into strips. combine juice from each jar and add sugar. Stir well. Mix pickles together and add pickle liquid and sugar. Let stand in a large jar (or return mixed pickles to indivudual jars) for 12 hours or more. The longer their their flavors mix together, the better and crisper they are. For those who like pickles, this is a super recipe.



Please note: I have not personally tried this recipe as I just recently found it in the book. I do hope to try it soon. As already mentioned I don't remember my mother making Pickle Scramble for our family. If any of you Horst family members remember this recipe please leave me a comment to let me know. You are all invited to try it out and enjoy! Please come back for more recipes in future posts.

Blog Tag!

I was recently tagged (Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2008) by my brother on his Blog! (See Waco in the column of Favorite Places to the right).

Blog Tag? What is this all about? I give you 5 -7 unknown or little known but interesting facts about myself? Who wants to see that stuff? Why does anyone want to know somthing like that about me? If it is unknown or little known how could it be interesting? Where am I going with this? I don't know.

I guess I should get into the spirit of this thing. Apparently it goes something like this: I give you some of those unknowns about myself and then I tag another blogger to continue with the game. Well this should be relatively interesting and maybe even fun.

1. I like to listen to a popular late night radio talk show Coast-to-Coast AM.



2. My favorite music band/group is Chicago.



3. I like to read Science Fiction and Fantasy, non-fiction (history, political science, and science), and biographies and autobiographies.



4. My wife and I like to visit natural areas to picnic, hike, ride bikes, and view birds and other wildlife. See the Favorite Places links on my blog.



5. I like to watch a variety of movies. I like all sorts of action and adventure, science fiction and fantasy, popular and current drama, but my favorite movies are old soap opera classics from the 1950's and 60's. These movies were about those taboos and social mores of the times. One of my favorites is A Summer Place (1959) starring Richard Egan and Dorothy McGuire. Speaking of movies . . . . .



6. I had a secret crush on Hayley Mills when I was a kid. Remember Pollyanna (1960)? Note: Richard Egan was in that movie also.



7. I once shook hands with Roy Rogers! He was the headliner at the Rodeo at the Heart of Texas Fair and Rodeo once when I was a kid. As he rode by on his horse Trigger, he shook hands with many of the kids who came down to the rail and leaned out. I was one of those kids! I'm not sure, but that may be my hand sticking out at the left edge of the picture. Sorry, but it looks like the photographer was more interested in Roy Rogers than me. But thats O.K. So was I back then when I was a kid. Wasn't life grand as a kid?
   
   
   
   
   
   Now for the fun part of this. I now take delight in tagging 2 of my favorite people

Janna and Kari .

Tag You are it! Now tell us a few unknown or little known but interesting things about yourself in your Blog and then Tag someone else.