Project Yellow Box

I got all excited the other day because one of the blogs I follow posted Project Yellow Box. I was wanting to try some new recipes,as fixing dinner is always a challenge http://meetmeatmikes.blogspot.com/2010/08/project-yellow-box-by-pip.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MeetMeAtMikes+%28meet+me+at+Mikes%29 (I don't know if I did that right. You should be able to click on it and go right to the post. Plan B-look in my side bar, click on Meet Me at Mike's, then go back a few posts to Project Yellow Box.)

I knew I had one of these yellow boxes in my basement somewhere.....so I looked and looked. I remember ordering it back in the 70's??? Maybe 80's??? You would get a set of cards every couple of weeks or so. Hmmm, did I sell the yellow box in a garage sale at some point? NO! I did not. I found it!!! It was in the basement! And you will only understand my excitement of finding something in my basement if I were to allow you in it, which I will not do! Now, my yellow box is Betty Crockers, not the Australian Women's, but how different could they be, right?

And look what I found!!!! FONDUE RECIPES!

WOOHOO! Jackpot! Why was I now double excited? Because a few weeks ago, I got this for three bills at a garage sale!

I was going to give it away as a little gift to someone, as it was brand spankin' new still in the box not even opened yet.....but when I found the fondue recipes, I had to open it.

I went back to the basement to hunt for this groovy 70's material to take pictures of my fondue set and yellow box! No I have not kept this material since the 70's. (someone else did and I bought it at their garage sale!)

See the plastic still on the little forklets? What people sell that they never use!

So I start thumbing through the recipes and I'm getting bummed.

Salmon Noodles Romanoff

Creamy Fruit Salad (using a can of fruit cocktail? - seriously - not fresh fruit)

Oyster Stew (I do not like Oysters)

Vichyssoise under men's favorites?

And the fondue recipes....

Swiss Fondue (Swiss cheese aged 6 months-in Indiana?)

British Brunch fondue (cheddar Cheese)

Campfire Fondue (heat 1 can of condensed cheddar cheese soup)

you get the idea....

What happened to Y & Z?

{Sigh} So then I got out a few cookbooks and started thumbing through them. I think this winter I'm going to have a huge cookbook 'look-see' and make a garage sale pile of the ones I will probably never use. Might even see Yellow Box in that pile.

If anyone is putting one of those Australian Yellow Boxes in their garage sale pile, let me know and I'll trade ya for my Betty Crocker.

So, what are you fixing for dinner tonight?

Cindy

Putting up corn

This week my cousin, Vickie, came over and we froze some fresh corn for the winter. I thought I'd show you how we do it. A friend of mine showed me this method years ago, and everyone loves it. We bought ten dozen ears of corn. The first thing you have to do is "peel the skin." No that is not the correct terminology, but that's what Vinh called it! The boys (Vinh and Teng) were great helpers with cleaning the corn. See the fog in the picture? It was a scorcher out that day. So hot and muggy my camera lens kept fogging up.

We shucked the corn and cleaned it the best we could, but do not put it in water.

Melt a stick of butter in a skillet.

I cut about a dozen ears off the cob at a time.

Put the corn in the skillet with the butter and stir.

Turn your knife over to the dull side. Run it along the cob to get all of the cream out of what is left in the kernels. You stir it up until it turns a bright yellow color, then put it in bags and let it cool. Once it has cooled, put it in the freezer for the winter months. When you want fresh corn, all you have to do is thaw it and pop it in a pan to warm it up. It's all ready to go.

YUM!

It takes about an afternoon to do ten dozen ears with two people. It's a lot of work, but worth it.

Cindy

Free Food

A couple of weeks ago, when I dropped off an order of honey, the people who ordered the honey were picking peaches. They asked me if I wanted any and I said sure, not realizing they meant this whole box! I got an e-mail a day later and they had another box for me. They 'put up' all they could use and they knew from talking to me that I canned, froze, dehydrated summer bounty. Two free boxes of peaches!

The same day I got the peaches, my husband came home from our land with some food that a neighbor gave him from his garden. Two dozen, or more, ears of corn and a huge head of cabbage.

When I went to the Community Garden the next day to work, one of the volunteers brought in some squash from his own garden, free for the taking.

(bottom right corner of this picture is a patty pan squash. Weird looking but very good)
I did not pay any money for the food in any of the pictures above. Now, I have to ask, why are people going hungry, in the summer months, when there is such a bounty? And why do Americans spend money on chemicals to have neat lawns, when you can buy a pack of seeds for next to nothing and grow food? I have a new campaign I'm thinking about.

Plow to Plate,
Farm to Fork,
YARD TO YOU!

I keep hearing that there won't be enough farm ground to feed Americans in a few years. I can't believe it. If everyone would grow a couple of edible items in their back yard, we'd have more than enough food. When did green manicured lawns become more important to us than healthy food?

OK - Now let me show you what I did with all of that free food.

First of all, I made Bok Choy salad with part of the cabbage. It's yummy and I'll post the recipe later.

I fried the patty pan squash, the yellow squash, the banana peppers, and a few green beans in a skillet with a little bit of olive oil and a little bit of garlic salt until they all browned. Easy Peasy and Yum.

The dinner menu that night was
watermelon (on sale for 1.50)
leftover hamburger (fixed on the grill the night before)
corn on the cob
fresh peaches
bok choy salad and
the squash
It was a lot of food, but all fruits and veggies except the hamburger.
The next day I put the rest of the cabbage in a crock pot, along with the green beans and some of the corn, cut off of the cob, and some smoked sausage. I let it cook in the crock pot and we had it for dinner, plus I gave some to Mom & Dad for their dinner. (Hey "not a sparrow falls" you could easily make this for your Dad!)

I made peach freezer jam, froze some of the peaches and froze 18 ears of corn.

I love cooking in the summer months. What about you, do you grow any food, or can, freeze or dehydrate? Got any recipes to share?

Cindy