Prepare To Drool

Be sure to check out the new “Road Food” page today.  Photos are up for your viewing pleasure. Click “Road Food”, and then visit the sub-categories.  Prepare to drool…

Happy-Clappy

When I left the chiropractor today he smiled and said, “I’ll always think of you as the bee lady”.  “Okey dokey!  I’m good with that”, I replied, pleased that he tacked lady on the end. Thinking okey dokey made me think of those kinds of sayings.  Like zig-zag, heebie-jeebie, nitty-gritty, bee-knees, (couldn’t leave out that one) and eency-weency.  What exactly are these phrases and where do they come from?  I hit google.

Turns out when we coin these phrases it’s all because we get enjoyment from word play. These phrases are referred to as “reduplication” and apparently have been in existence since at least the 1600’s. The words that make up these reduplicated idioms often have little meaning in themselves and only appear as part of a pair. In other cases, one word will allude to some existing meaning and the other half of the pair is added for effect or emphasis.  The use of such terms originated with the Old English and are still being used today.  The phrase “willy-nilly” is said to be over a thousand years old.  A few of the newer reduplications are “bling-bling”, “hip-hop”, and “boob-toob”.  I’m guilty of throwing these sayings out occasionally – are you?  Word play can be fun and today I had such a good time reading about it I ran out of time for breakfast, so I whipped up a smoothie.

I have peaches in the freezer from last summer and I’ll be refilling my freezer in the coming months with this years crop, so I need to use them up.  Of course I’m constantly looking for uses for honey and it was a  perfect addition to the peaches, yogurt and milk I used for my smoothie.  It made a delicious and filling breakfast drink.

Next week should be the last time I see the chiropractor – hopefully forever.  He snapped me back into shape rather quickly after my sacroiliac joint decided to freeze up.  It was without a doubt the most painful experience I can recall.  I’m remarkably better thanks to the doc and if he always remembers me as the “bee lady” well I’m just happy-clappy about that.

Enjoy!

Peach-Honey Smoothie

1/2 cup of plain yogurt
1/2 cup low-fat milk
2 tsp. honey
1 cup fresh frozen sliced peaches

Add all ingredients to blender and purée until smooth.  Makes one large serving or two small servings.

Info on phrases found @www.phrases.org

Problem Solving

Today I had a few extra minutes.  Well, I never truly have a few extra minutes.  Today I decided to make free time and bake some chocolate chip cookies.  I have been lazy about baking sweets to enjoy.  No, I’ve really been too busy to bake.  Yes, that’s it – I’ve not made time to savor the smell of fresh-baked cookies right out of the oven in far too long.  Well, I solved that problem today.  Mr. Floyd says, “bee keeping is nothin’ but problem solving”. I’ve done so much bee keeping as of late that I’m feeling pretty good at this problem solving thing.

A problem I’ve tried to solve for some time is exactly how my mother-in-law was able to make her chocolate chips cookies come out the way they did.  I know she liked to use Crisco, which I’ve always deemed a non-food.  What exactly is that stuff made of?  Yeah, don’t answer that.  Her cookies were puffy, crunchy outside and melted in your mouth.  They tasted best on the first day or two after baking, while the inside stayed soft and the outside stayed crisp.  They always looked like little mounds  – not round flat cookies.  They held up well dunked in a cold glass of milk too.  Just how much Crisco did she use?

Until I get my hands on her recipe, which I think resides in Colorado, I’ve tried on occasion to duplicate them.  I’ve tried one recipe which uses a combo of butter and Crisco which is very tasty and similar to hers but not identical.  I’ve used all butter which is not at all like her cookies, which my girls and hubby absolutely loved.  Today there was not enough time to wait for the butter to soften so I used all Crisco.  Ackkkkk…I can’t believe I just told you that!  It’s almost embarrassing except for the small fact that they taste pretty good. I used the butter flavor and for the life of me I can’t even remember why that stuff was hanging out in my cabinet.

These cookies are soft and flavorful, even buttery tasting .  They look inviting, not too flat, and smelled great in the oven.  They taste just fine with a cold glass of milk, trust me I know!  The dilemma of turning out a cookie just like my mother-in-laws is still looming as these did not quite reach the bar she set.

Following is the recipe which I found on Cooks.com and altered slightly. I’ll keep trying to match her greatness at turning out what my family deems the perfect chocolate chip cookie. If the worst part of solving this problem is being forced to taste test multiple cookies to find the perfect one – well, I’m not going to complain. My family will back me on that one.  The best part of this recipe is I don’t have Crisco hanging out in my cabinet anymore – how did that ever get there?

While you’re noshing on cookies check out my newest page, “Road Food”, at the top of the blog.  This is a page you’ll want to check often as you never know what visual amusements await you.

Enjoy!

Crisco Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter flavor Crisco
1 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tbsp. milk
1 tbsp. vanilla ( I use Mexican)
1 egg
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350*  Cream butter flavor Crisco, brown sugar, milk and vanilla in a large bowl.  Blend until creamy.  Beat in egg.

Combine flour, salt and baking soda.  Add to creamed mixture, gradually mixing well after each addition.  Stir in chocolate chips.

Bake for 10 minutes – place on racks to cool.

Just For Fun

Check out the Photos page at the top of the blog and click on “An Amusing Visitor”.  It’s something a little different.

Enjoy!

Tornado Time In Texas

Night before last a rapid and dangerous storm blew through Texas in the middle of the night.  I am eternally grateful that there was no damage to my home or yard.  It was verified that a tornado did blow through my community and the path of evidence was clear-cut.  Trees down, metal mangled, fences laid flat, vehicles smashed by fallen trees, awnings crumpled.  The destruction could have been much worse and I know all in this town are thankful it was minimal in the big scheme of what is known as a tornado.

The worst for us was loosing power for eight hours.  When we lost electricity at 2:20 a.m.,  one thing going through my mind, once I knew the danger of a tornado at my home had passed, was how I was going to pull off catering a meal for 34 people in my kitchen.  I silently prayed that the power would be restored by 8 a.m. and all would go without a hitch.  However, when my battery operated alarm went off at 7 and we still had no electricity it became clear I had a bump in the catering road.  To make matters worse since we had no power, I had no coffee.  Not a good start to the day.  I generally don’t say a word until I’ve had about three or four sips of coffee then a word or two leaks out of my mouth, not before.  Realizing that I could not wait to speak until I’d tasted some fresh, hot, rich, wake me up coffee, I discussed  my dilemma with adoring hubby .

As luck would have it I was catering lunch for the studio where he works as a commercial photographer.  (No, he does not shoot all of my fabulous photos for this blog, only on occasion do I hand the job over to him, thank you.)  The decision was made that we would load all the ingredients, my knives, a cooler, large bowls and pans, etc. into my vehicle and transport it all to the studio for me to prepare there.  As is standard for most big studios there is a very large and well equipped kitchen.  And, most importantly they would have a pot of hot fresh coffee waiting for me.  This seemed like the best thing happening – so the story goes.

The chosen menu for my catered meal was King Ranch Chicken.  King Ranch Chicken is a casserole.  I am not a big fan of casseroles and I don’t usually make the them. KRC is a staple on the dinner table in Texas however, and I figured it was about time I figure out how to throw one together.  A side note about casseroles.  A few years back while staying with a friend, Miss T asked the mom what was for dinner.  The mom told her “tuna casserole”.  Miss T’s reply, “I don’t think I like tuna casserole”.  The mom, “You like tuna, potato chips, noodles, cheese, right?”  “Yes, mam”, answered Miss T.  “Oh, then you’ll like tuna casserole, it’ll be ready in a while.  I’ll call ya’ll when it’s done”, the mom responded as she dismissed Miss T.  My daughter, however continued to stand in the kitchen with a disgruntled look on her face. Mom, “Need something else?”.  Miss T, “yes, I don’t think I’m gonna like it because I don’t think I like casserole!”.  The mom rolled in the floor with laughter and couldn’t wait to share the story with me. Each time the topic of casseroles comes up, and it is noted that I don’t make them, we retell this story and laugh at the mystery of “casserole”.

Casseroles often are mysterious, as ingredients are disguised under sauces and cheeses. I’m rather dubious about the success of casseroles if it weren’t for Campbell’s “cream of” soups.  They appear on many casserole recipes.  I have never understood how the cream of mushroom with its pathetic, rubbery little flecks of mushroom, or the cream of chicken a weird color of yellow, containing miniscule bits of chicken, can either one pass for real soup. But I suppose if it weren’t for them King Ranch Chicken wouldn’t exist.

On this day it would exist much to the pleasure of all the photographers, stylists, art directors, managers, assistants and pressers ready for the echo across the PA system of “lunch is ready!”.  It was noted to be the best KRC casserole served at the studio, nice spice, and generous amounts of chicken in every bite.  Success in the face of diversity.

Enjoy!  Please don’t leave without saying a little something in the comments section below.

King Ranch Chicken

Ingredients:
9 pounds chicken, cooked and cubed
2 10 oz. cans Rotel tomatoes
2 1/2 dozen corn tortillas
4 10 oz. cans cream of chicken soup
2 10 oz. cans cream of mushroom soup
2 10 oz. cans chicken broth
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1 bell pepper, seeded and chopped
3 pounds grated cheddar & Monterrey jack cheese
2 tsp. garlic powder
2 tsp. black pepper
2-4 tsp ground chili powder

Coat the inside of a steam table size aluminum pan with cooking spray.  Saute onion and bell pepper in a little olive oil in a pan until fragrant.  Add all soups, broth and Rotel into a large saucepan.  Heat and when beginning to boil add onion and pepper mixture, spices, and black pepper; lower heat and simmer for a few minutes.  Meantime layer corn tortillas in bottom of pan.  Spoon the hot soup mixture over the tortillas, sprinkle some chicken and cheese over the soup mixture.  Add another layer of tortillas and repeat process until you have 3 layers, being sure to finish with a generous layer of cheese.

Bake in a 350* oven for about an hour or until center is bubbly and cheese begins to brown.  Allow to sit for about 10 minutes before serving.

This recipe serves 24.

The One That Got Away

Do you ever have days when all you wish to do is stay at home?  I have oodles of days when that is my wish.  This entire weekend I wished for that – but it didn’t work out so well.  I don’t mean to complain, but I will be looking forward to the next day that looks like it might be one when I do not have any reason to get in the car and drive anywhere. So it goes. Something rather comical happened to adoring hubby and me today.  I’m going to share it with you.

Mr. F had received three calls about bee swarms this morning, all with requests to have them removed.  He called and asked if I felt confident enough to remove one by myself, or better yet with adoring hubby’s help.  He told me he’d loan us an extra bee suit and gloves so he would be safe from stings.  I was thrilled to experience capturing a swarm on my own.  After all this is the business of bee keepers.  We gathered all the necessary equipment, a sheet, a bucket, the bee brush, a fruit jar with holes poked in the lid, a hive box, lid and a net to wrap it all up in, and a ladder.  This swarm was about 8 feet up in a tree.  I had a plan of how we would capture the swarm and we were set.

We arrived at the residence and nobody was home so we began setting up our equipment. Hubby was having a little difficulty adjusting his bee hat to fit his head.  As he was making the final adjustment I noticed a few bees buzzing near me but when I lifted my head and looked up there were thousands of bees circling above us.  My first thought was several of the bees had gotten stirred up by the ferocious wind we were experiencing at the time, but when I looked at the tree and the spot where the bees were gathered, there was not even one bee there.  Our mouths fell open in disbelief as those thousands of bees circled up and out of sight!  Neither of us knew what to say or think for a few seconds and then we both just started to laugh.  It’s swell when a husband and wife can dissolve into laughter together.  It’s the best part of marriage.  We look forward to our next opportunity to go on a bee keepers adventure together and I know my next shopping spree will be to buy my adoring hubby his very own bee suit and hat – one that easily fits his head!

A side note to my story is that Mr. Floyd was to pick up the other two swarms today and they also both took off before they could be captured.  He received a call from another bee keeper who experienced the same incident today.  Adoring hubby attributes it to the change in weather predicted to take place later this evening.  I’m not sure the reason but find it interesting that it happened four times in the same day in four different locations with three different bee keepers attempting to capture swarms.  What I do know is that bees have been around for millions of years and I’m reasonably sure they have one up on us bee keepers when it comes to what is best for them.  Welcome to bee keeping!

Meantime it is a beautiful, warm, sunny, if terribly windy day in Texas.  We will be grilling baby back ribs for our last weekend meal and my juicy tomato salad will be a wonderful side, along with corn on the cob and fresh-cut, sweet pineapple spears.  I’m sharing the tomato salad recipe with you because with summer around the corner this becomes a staple in my home.  I fancy tomato salad  with just about anything.  Be sure to have a warm loaf of Italian bread on the table for dunking in the dressing.  That alone could be a meal in itself.

Enjoy!

Linda’s Tomato Salad

4 Roma tomatoes
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
dash of kosher salt
Shy 1/2 tsp. fresh ground pepper
1 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. oregano

Slice tomatoes.  Mix dressing ingredients together and pour over tomatoes.  Set aside and toss gently several times before serving.  I like my tomatoes at room temperature. Depending on how long you will be marinating the tomatoes you may need to refrigerate and bring to room temperature before serving.

Spontaneous Cuisine

I quote Pearl Bailey…”The fact is that it takes more than ingredients and technique to cook a good meal.  A good cook puts something of himself into the preparation – he cooks with enjoyment, anticipation, spontaneity, and he is willing to experiment”.  This statement pretty much sums me up.  I begin with anticipation of enjoying the preparation as well as the meal itself.  Experimentation has turned out some of the best meals in my kitchen and spontaneity is what keeps stress out of my kitchen.

If you’ve read my blog you know by now that often times I look to see what is on hand and prepare my meals from those ingredients.  Most of the time this works out beautifully.  The other night was a perfect example of this method of food preparation.

I had purchased some pork tenderloin – on sale buy one, get one for a penny.  Great place to begin my journey – a nice pork tenderloin.  I knew rosemary and garlic would take part in this concoction and after snooping around in the frig I pulled out the nearly empty jar of orange marmalade.  I wanted something more so I snipped some Italian parsley leaves and got out the pepper grinder.  The rest is history.

I whipped up some potatoes and some fresh peas and produced the perfect spring dinner. The pork was flavorful, juicy, and tender with just a touch of sweet from the marmalade and a touch of savory from the rosemary and garlic.  Perfect combination and so simple. My favorite meal – simple, delicious, flavorful and pretty on the plate.

Orange Pork Tenderloin

1  pork tenderloin
2  tbsp. orange marmalade
1 1/2  tsp. fresh rosemary – chopped
1/2  tsp. fresh ground pepper
1  tsp. chopped garlic
1 tsp fresh Italian parsley 

Preheat the oven to 350*.  Spray inside of a 9×13 Pyrex dish with cooking spray.  Place pork into dish and drizzle marmalade over tenderloin.  Next sprinkle garlic, parsley and rosemary over top and sides of pork.  Finish with fresh grated black pepper over all.

Bake about 40 minutes or until cooked through but still juicy.  Remove from oven, cover with foil and let sit for a few minutes before slicing and serving.

Enjoy!

Going Green

One of the perks of capturing swarms or removing bees from people’s yards is they might toss you a bone in the way of a few bucks or in this case a lovely bunch of fresh-cut asparagus.  When I helped my bee man remove the bees from the water meter box a few days ago the gentleman who’d called for help was grateful the bees were successfully removed.  Mr. F. would’ve dug a couple of bucks to help with gas since it’s gone sky-high but the guy said,”My garden hasn’t really taken off yet but I do have some fresh-cut asparagus, can I offer you any?”  Using a thumb to gesture toward me, Mr. Floyd responded with, “She’d probably like it, I don’t like it”.  I smiled and said that I’d love to have a bunch of fresh asparagus.  The home owner disappeared and returned shortly with a bag full of asparagus, bright green, purple and cream in color, smelling like it had been cut early that morning.  We thanked him and he thanked us and off we went.

The next day being a Saturday all I could think of was throwing something on the grill and I wanted that asparagus to be part of it.  I rubbed some boneless pork ribs down with a few spices and garlic and left them to sit for a while.  In the meantime I cleaned and broke the ends off of the asparagus.  I decided it would stand on its own in flavor so all I did was place it in a baggie with some olive oil, a little smidge of kosher salt and a dash of pepper.  When the ribs were almost ready I laid the asparagus over medium hot coals and allowed them to roast until they were tender.  If the photograph above doesn’t make your mouth water for some fresh asparagus, perhaps you don’t like it.

All I can encourage you to do is find the freshest asparagus you are able and do exactly what I did.  It was the absolute best serving of asparagus I’ve ever tasted.  It was crisp, tender, sweet and simply put “absolutely delicious”!

I must give adoring hubby a big thank you for taking a photo that truly captures the beauty of that vegetable in its raw state.  Most of the photos on my blog are taken by me but occasionally I have to turn it over to the pro in the family and let him work his magic. Thanks honey!

I’m making a little diversion in my method for writing about all of my bee adventures as I seem to have a lack of time lately but so much bee business I want to share with you. Today I’m going to share a bee story right here on the front page as opposed to having you go up to the Bees & Honey page.  Yesterday was another exciting day in my bee world.  I went to help capture a swarm of bees hanging from a short tree.  I sure was thankful that it was a short tree and they were low in it.  The capture was extremely successful as I located and caught the queen as well as coaxing almost every single bee into the hive!  Now that is satisfaction at not only becoming skilled at this removal thing but pride at saving just one more colony of bees looking for a new home.  They are safely living in my bee yard in Hive Miracle – so named because it’s a miracle that hive has any queen at all – it now has 2 queens in residence and 3 queen cells, where new queens are growing.  Mr. Floyd says its queen storage.  The queens are in their respective cages and being tended to by the girls.  For more on this story stay tuned later in the week when I’ll write about releasing one of the queens and all that will take place in Hive Miracle when I take on that task.  Meantime, below check out a couple of photos of yesterday’s removal – you’ll notice the bees making a beeline for the hive box they would be transported to my yard in.  It’s quite a site!

Enjoy!

For The Love of Lemon

Welcome my friends!  My apologies for having been gone so many days.  This past week did not allow time for me to join you here, at The Orange Bee.  My absence has been at the forefront of my thoughts everyday. I am happy to return and share with you an ideal recipe for this warm, lively time of year, Lemon Cake-Bread.

This recipe goes together quick and easy.  In all probability you have the ingredients on hand, which makes for a last-minute decision to whip up a loaf or two.  I’ve always made this and referred to it as “Lemon Bread”, however when I made it yesterday Miss T was asking what went into the bread.  As I listed ingredients; sugar, eggs, butter, lemon, flour, etc., she asked, “what about yeast?”.  “There isn’t any yeast in this bread”, I responded.  In her ever so canny way she stated, “sounds more like cake than bread”.  That was all it took for me to rename it.  It will now and forever go by the name “Lemon Cake-Bread”.

If you do not enjoy lemon you’ll not need to bake a loaf as the lemon flavor is predominate.  Lemon is one of the flavors I especially relish and quite often will choose lemon over chocolate.  Gasp! Yes, it’s true time and again lemon will win out when I am choosing a dessert.

Writing about my love of lemon triggers my thoughts to days past when living in southern California lemons, limes, grapefruits and tangerines grew abundantly in my back yard.  What a wonderful way to spend a morning, choosing the perfect grapefruit for breakfast or the juiciest lemons for pie, or the ultimate tangerines for fresh squeezed juice.  Ahhh….those were the days.  I have a desire to add citrus trees to my yard but alas they will not be healthy and productive in the black soil given to work with.  I can only imagine how happy my girls (bees) would be to produce orange blossom honey – how happy I would be to share it with friends and family.

This week was an incredible week with my bees.  The majority of my one free day this past week was engulfed in bee adventures.  What a day it was!  To sum it up, I’ve acquired the “Rita Hive’, which is also referred to as hive #3.  I now have more queens than when I last wrote and I assisted in capturing a swarm as well as boxing an entire colony of bees living in a water meter box!  Oh, yes – it was an utterly thrilling day in the life of a bee keeper.  For more of this story check out the Bees & Honey page at the top of my blog – The Bees Have Arrived – Lovely Rita.

Enjoy!

Lemon Cake-Bread

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1/3 cup milk
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
2 eggs
grated rind of two medium – large lemons

Lemon Glaze
juice of one large lemon
1/2 cup sugar

Cream butter, sugar and eggs.  Add milk and stir in dry ingredients and lemon rind.  Bake in loaf pan at 350* for 45 minutes.  You can also use two small loaf pans and bake for about 30-35 minutes.

Stir ingredients for lemon glaze and pour over bread while still warm.

Lucky #5

If you’ve been following my blog you might remember I mentioned I would be competing in the Central Market Chili & Cornbread Cook-Off yesterday afternoon.  My competition was not something to be sneezed at.  Oh no-o-o they were not.  It was clear that much thought and preparation went into each pot of chili and pan of cornbread.  Every contestant there was a pleasure to meet and chat with.  Each brought their own unique blend of chili and or cornbread, as well as personality.

The judges were given four categories on which to base their decisions.  Those were creativity, presentation, flavor and passion.  Some of us paid more attention to the presentation category than others.  I brought some “props”, dried chiles, spurs, a snazzy cloth for my display space, LuLu’s paper mache chili pepper from 6th grade art class, a rusty metal “Lone Star”,an empty bottle of Lone Star beer, which had been added to the chili, and of course a tray with a bright, red chili pepper that I used to hold my blog cards!

After everyone was set up and had ample time to meet and greet the competition began.  The judges were local firefighters and a fire chief.  Now, if anyone could choose the “Winning” bowl of chili I suppose those guys are sufficiently qualified. All the CM employees present were introduced, the judges were introduced and next it was the participants’ opportunity to not only introduce ourselves but tell a story about our chili.  Random numbers had been assigned and I was #5.

When it was my turn I told this story. “My Dad always prided himself on making a great bowl of chili and his chili is known as Lew’s Lone Star Chili. I now have a daughter who prides herself on being quite a good cook and she too has a recipe for what she considers to be the best bowl of chili.  I agree each bowl is very good but for this cook-off I decided to meld the two recipes and make what would be the winning recipe.  The two things that make my chili special is a bottle of Lone Star beer (which received hoots and hollers from the crowd) and I used ground elk, which came from Carter Mountain near Kremmling, Colorado.  I’ve renamed the chili Lone Star Chili and I hope you’ll like it!”  End of my story.

After the judges made their way around the room tasting and pondering each pot of hearty, red chili and delicious squares of cornbread they were escorted out of the cooking school to make their final decisions.

All of the contestants took this opportunity to score a bowl of chili or a piece of cornbread from each other and do our own taste comparisons.  Everyone brought unique and delicious pots of chili.  One lady used anchovies and chipotle, one sugar and vinegar, another used lots of garlic and ladled beans in the bottom of the bowls, one clever contestant put her chili right into her cornbread, calling in Cornbread con Carne.

After a while the judges returned with the CM folks in charge.  It was announced that a winner had been selected.  We all stood a little straighter, breathed a bit deeper and smiled bigger!  Third place – drumroll please…. went to the clever lady with the Cornbread con Carne.  Second place – drumroll please…went to “Grand Prize Chili”, the guy who dished beans into the bottom of the bowls.  And our first place winner is……drumroll please….bada- bada- bada -bada -bada (drum rolls)….”LONE STAR CHILI”.

I know for a fact my mouth fell wide open before I smiled and clapped for myself!  I felt a little goofy, happy, surprised and pleased to have been chosen the winner of the inaugural CM chili cook-off.  For a split second my mind got all jumbled up and I thought to myself is that what I named my chili?

I was delighted that my cheering squad consisted of adoring hubby, Miss T, and my wonderful Mom.  It’s nice to look up and see familiar faces grinning from ear to ear, looking at you with that “you did it” and I knew you would look.  Thanks guys!

Oh, besides feeling totally pleased to have been the first place winner the CM folks added a little CM gift card for my future visits to the store.  I’m reasonably sure I smiled the rest of the evening until my head hit the pillow and I closed my eyes.  Well, truth be known I imagine I was still smiling even after the lights were out and I had drifted into la la land.