Joyful Simplicities

Stuffing or Dressing, Let the Battle Begin

Whether you are ready for the holidays or not, they are quickly closing in on us. One of the perennial battles of the season involves a special contribution to the feasting: stuffing or dressing in your turkey? On which side of the table do you find yourself?

The type of delicious concoction you prefer and what you call it was planted early in life, in childhood. It was always called stuffing in our home and made with cornbread from my mother’s Kentucky roots. I don’t remember the Irish side of the family calling it anything different, but there are plenty of opinions around. The history of the bread-based delight claims that the Victorian upper class declared that stuffing would be called dressing in their world sometime around 1880. It apparently was important to separate the classes in even this simple distinction.

Discussions around the table make the conversation a little more rational. If it is in the bird it is stuffing. If it is baked outside the bird it is called dressing.

Some people think that Southerners call it stuffing and use cornbread as a basic ingredients. Folks in the Northeastern United States may add apples or sausage. Oyster dressing is a favorite at this time of year.

Whatever your pleasure, be it stuffing or dressing, we hope it conjures up memories of happy times around the table with your family and friends. Happy Thanksgiving, from our family to yours.

And the winner is .......

Congratulations to Morgan May Dickerson, winner of our pumpkin carving contest for herSimple Abundance pumpkin!! Thanks for Playing.

A Pumpkin Carving Party Contest

        How shall we celebrate All Hallow’s Eve this year – and celebrate children of all ages certainly should, (this includes you Babe) because this year as luck would find us, Hallowe’en is on a Saturday night.

    So we’re kicking off the celebration with our First Annual Pumpkin Carving contest! Oh my Gosh, yes! Of course, there are prizes, 1st place gets a one year membership or renewal, 2nd place is a 6 month subscription or renewal and 3rd place is a 3 month subscription or renewal. There is a catch—you have to send us a picture of your Jack d’Art to be posted Online by Tuesday, October 27th 2009.  The winners will be chosen by a panel of our amazing and wonderful Simple Abundance Close To Home Certified Leaders and the winners will be congratulated on line on the Big Day itself, just in time for your own All Hallow’s Eve Home Frolic!

    So head out to the pumpkin patch for a creative excursion as soon as you’re able and let your imagination run wild.

Ps There is no cost to enter this contest, just email your picture to comments at simpleabundance dot com Winner’s will be announced on October 31st. Get carving.

The Allure and Adventure of Accomplishment

She listens to her own tales, laughs
At her own jokes, and follows her own advice.
--Ama Ata Aidoo

What an amazing description of woman of accomplishment.  A decade ago I met such a woman in Italy, and it was thrilling to be in her company.  Chief among her many talents was the ability to change a flat tire by herself on a pitch-black country road dressed in a long, flowing skirt.  Uno, due, tre!  E molto facile!  Afterwards, over a glass of grappa, I confided that when I grew up I wanted to be exactly like her, which made her roar with laughter because we’re both the same age.  

    “Life seems to throw many more adventures your way when you’re prepared,” she said.  “It’s very sexy knowing how to take care of yourself.”  Since Sylvania never seemed to lack for charming admirers, I did not dismiss lightly her cosmic word in my ear concerning some of Life’s overlooked adventures.

   

Now that I find myself unexpectedly on my own again I realize how many times I abdicated learning how to do something, simply because it was “a chap’s thing to do” and there was a chap nearby. Balderdash.  So I’ve made a To-Do list with a difference, namely, that I’ll feel much different and better about myself when I can confidently:

Change a tire; check the oil
Replace a fuse
Use a fire extinguisher

Pitch a tent
Build a campfire
Bait a hook, catch a fish, fry it up in a pan, and fillet it on the plate.
Mark a trail.

Administer CPR for both adults and children
Perform the Heimlich maneuver on others and yourself
Stop profuse bleeding
Dress a wound
Treat a severe burn
Make a splint
Remove a tick; soothe a bee sting, extract a splinter

Pop a champagne cork
Order wine in a restaurant
Mix a perfect martini
Throw a cocktail party you enjoy attending

Use a drill, choose the right screwdriver, hammer a nail and
    not your thumb
Hang a picture alone
Put something together that arrives flat in a box
Tie three different kinds of knots
Thread a needle; sew on a button that stays put
Knit a scarf; hook a rug; finish a tapestry
Swim a lap; stay afloat
Get my driver’s license (again); drive in snow and
  Off the road
Play chess, learn bridge and poker
Know three other after dinner party games other than charades
Place a bet, roll dice
Behave well at a gaming table
Shoot pool
Throw a dart, land a punch
Serve an ace, swing a bat, bowl a strike, dribble a ball,
   make a basket, sink a putt
Saddle, mount and ride a horse properly
Shoot a gun
Understand the etiquette of watching ball games
Feel confident in self-defense

    Phew.  Makes me want to take a nap.  Guess I’m going to be busy.  What would make you feel accomplished?  Let’s add to our Master List. And then choose one task, make a space on that calendar and commit.  “She was learning to love moments.To love moments for themselves,” is how the poet Gwendolyn Brooks described a woman who sounds like the girl I want to be when I grow up.  How about you?  As we begin to exult in our adventures in self-possession, we’ll know just how she felt.

Seasons of Memory…

Since ancient times, September has marked the beginning of the real new year, a time for reflection, reconnection, and resolution.  When the trees start to don a rustic palette of russets and gold, it’s time to turn over a personal new leaf and begin again.

“What we need in autumn is…an emotional or spiritual shot in the arm,” Katharine Elizabeth Fite wrote in Good Housekeeping in 1949, urging our mothers and grandmothers to dream up positive resolutions.  “Why don’t we make the effort that would provide something new in our lives?”

    Good advice.

    There’s been a lot that’s new in all of our lives lately, and it hasn’t been easy, fair, positive or renewing.  I’m developing mental compartmentalizing into an art form but every so often there comes an afternoon when I just drop like a stone for an hour, too restless to sleep, too exhausted to move.  More often than not, I’m churning about situations I cannot change, instead of remembering to ask for serenity during my morning prayers. 

In keeping with this month’s Simple Abundance Online features, “Embracing Our Eve” and “An Education in Ourselves” the theme of these last few weeks seems to be on reflecting so you can rediscover what it is you love and then encouraging your self, or letting your authentic self encourage you to make a little room in your life for passionate pursuits, whether it’s botanical illustration, Thai cooking, raising orchids, throwing pots or speaking Italian in anticipation of that dream vacation next summer in Tuscany. 

    For years—and I mean years—I’ve kept a folder called SOME DAY.  It’s filled with ads, brochures, notes and newspaper clippings, most of them yellowed with age. Reminders of books I want to read, plays I want to see, concerts I want to attend.  A script writing course.  A tour to see the pyramids.  Great train trips around the world.  I was perusing this file this afternoon and became astonished, then dumbfounded that there is nothing in there, that I still don’t want to do, preferably before the bucket decade.

   

How about you?  This week, sort through your SOME DAY file and see what desires still prompt a sigh of regret and/or longing.  As women, we don’t put our own needs on our own to do lists. Ever. We feel guilty when we divert our attention, time and presence from those we love. Perhaps this is the year, we can make an autumnal resolution to push past our determination to keep ourselves miserable.  And remember the beauty of autumnal resolutions is that no knows you’re making them except you.  And no one else knows if you’re keeping them either.  But Babe, I do.

And as for me, so do you.

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P.S. Don't you just love the Autumn poster? I know I do. You can download your copy, our gift of the season to you at www.simpleabundance.com

It's Apple Picking Time!

Although we are given the impression that apples never go out of season, it was not so long ago that apple season actually began in the early fall. Luckily, some great things never go out of style, and there are still orchards that open their gates in autumn, inviting city or country dwellers alike to enjoy the crisp outdoors while picking their own juicy apples.

If you can’t get away to pluck your apples personally from their branches, you can still ‘pick’ them seeing how man regional varieties you can sample, from your greengrocers. Gone, too, are those days when stores carried only several old standbys—say, Granny Smith or Macintosh. Now we can find such eating varieties as the Fuji (which is a crossbreed of Red Delicious and a strain called the Rolls Janet), Gala, both Red and Yellow Delicious apples (which, incidentally, are not related), Cortland, Baldwin, Northern Spy, Winesap; and cooking apples like the Rome Beauty, Bramley, and York Imperial.

All apples—and there are virtually thousands of varieties-belong to the rose family. The fruit appears to go all the way back to the Stone Age…or to Eden, depending upon which version of history you follow! In any case, as early as 4 AD, more than three dozen varieties were documented in writing, which is pretty amazing!

Of course, one of the best ways to enjoy an apple is unadorned, as Eve did. (Come to think of it, you may indeed evoke Eden in the privacy of your own home, by letting your hair down and luxuriating in the last of the summer’s heat while nibbling the fruit ‘in the flesh’—fig leaf optional. Or, put on your leopard prints, and pay Stone Age!)

Seriously, my dear, whichever flavor, peel color, and shape takes your fancy, eating that proverbial ‘apple a day’ is very healthy for you: low calories, crossed with Vitamin A and C, potassium, and fiber. Whenever possible, eat the skin, as much of the nutrition is there rather than in the flesh. Apples have an unfortunate tendency to brown when cut, so if you are using the fruit raw in salads, sprinkle the pieces with a little lemon juice…or buy Cortland or Yellow Delicious apples, which brown less than the other species.

If you love the baked taste of Mom’s traditional apple pie, but making a whole pie would give you far more portions of dessert than you honestly crave, don’t despair. Here are two recipes that are in perfect scale for the modest appetites of solo dining:

Apple Crumb Pie
Crumb mixture
1 cup flour
½ cup light brown sugar
¼ regular or quick oats (not instant)
¼ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons melted butter

Filling
2/3 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
1 ½ tablespoon cornstarch
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup apples, peeled and cut in ½ inch cubes.

Directions: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Mix the crumb ingredients together, and pat onto the bottom and sides of an ungreased 5-6” ovenproof ceramic or glass pan, reserving ½ cup of the mixture for the topping. In a small saucepan, bring the water and sugar to a boil. Slowly stir in the cornstarch, salt, and vanilla. Cook without boiling for one minute, until thickened and then remove from the heat. Stir in apples. Fill crust with the apple mixture and lightly sprinkle with reserved crumbs. Bake at 325 degrees for about 45 minutes or until the top is browned.

Classic Baked Apple

1 large cooking apple, washed and cored
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons raisins
1 tablespoon butter
Water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Cut a 1 ½ “ circle of skin off the top of the apple, and also slit the skin around the fruit’s ‘equator’, to allow for expansion while baking. Mix the brown sugar and raisins. Place apple in a small ovenproof dish. Fill cored opening with the sugar and raisin mixture, then top with butter. Pour enough water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the apple. Bake the apple for around 45 minutes, or until soft.

And if you’d rather drink your apples, here is a way to give ordinary cider some extra snap: the adult version of apple juice! The surprising addition of butter gives this hot beverage a silkiness unlike anything else:

    Buttery Mulled Cider   

     1 cup fresh apple cider
    2 teaspoons sugar
    1 cinnamon stick
    1 whole clove

Let everything simmer and add a teaspoon of butter.

The Moveable feast

In preparation for our Labor Day picnics and Moveable feasts, I thought it might be fun to share our recipes with each other. Please post your favorites in the comments for all to see. I’ve taken a little trip back in time through my mother’s recipe box. She had such beautiful handwriting and they bring me back in time just seeing them. This might be a wonderful gift to our own children, handwritten recipe cards with their favorite dishes.

Today we focus on the picnic, a social event of food and drink, eaten outdoors in a beautiful location. Your picnic can be created to be elegant with crystal and tablecloths or fun, with plastic utensils and paper plates, but it is the care you put into the food that makes a picnic memorable. This year let’s strive for more homemade than store bought,using the bounty of the season, where ever you live. If your weather is inclement, plan an indoor picnic, which is often much more fun.

Picnics have been with us for centuries and the history is rich, according to www.picnic-basket.com . In Europe during the 14th century, the earliest picnics were medieval hunting feasts in England. These feasts before the hunt began were of special importance and the main foods that could be found at these feasts would be hams, baked meats and pastries.”

http://www.picnic-basket.com/History-of-Picnicking_ep_28.html

Create your own history today with some favorite foods from my Mother’s recipe box. I can’t wait to see yours!

Dru’s favorite Recipes for the Simple Abundance Moveable Labor Day feast

Roquefort Dressing

1 small can evaporated milk – Chill and Beat
1 tsp. garlic salt
½ tsp dry mustard
1 cup Hellman’s Mayonnaise (Best foods west of the Rocky Mountains)
5 oz Roquefort Cheese (grate part)

Beat chilled evaporated milk until thick, add dry ingredients. With spoon, beat mayonnaise until smooth, fold in whipped evaporated milk. Add grated Roquefort cheese and fold in remainder of cheese broken into small pieces.

Serving Suggestions:  Iceberg Wedge, Cut Iceberg Lettuce into ¼ wedges, spoon Roquefort dressing on middle of wedge. Serve with buffalo wings or vegetables as a dip.

Clam Dip

8 oz sour cream
8 oz cream cheese (room temperature)
1 can minced clams (6.5 oz)
1 small shallot, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
½ cucumber, finely chopped
1-2 tsp parsley, finely chopped
Hot sauce to taste

Beat cream cheese until smooth, add sour cream. Once smooth add other ingredients. Chill and serve with chips, pita chips, rye toast or veggies

 Basil Pesto

 ½ cup pine nuts
1 cup fresh basil leaves
1 ½ cup olive oil
2 tbl or to taste minced garlic
1 tsp salt
Pepper to taste
8 oz grated Parmesan cheese
Rotini pasta (the curly one)

In a food processor, puree pine nuts, add oil, basil and all ingredients except cheese.

Cook Rotini as directed, add sauce and grated parmesan cheese, Serve immediately.

Above all, enjoy the fruits of the season with family and friends.

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What is a Shocking Book? Vintage Bliss...

If I asked you today what you found shocking in a book, television show or movie, you probably wouldn’t take too long to come up with a list. Would Gone with The Wind be anywhere near this hemisphere? I don’t think so. But in the July, 1936 issue of the Ladies Home Journal , Dorothy Canfield Fisher, put Scarlett O’Hara on the Bad Girls list with her feature, What is a Shocking Book?

By all standards, Margaret Mitchell, the author of Scarlett’s trials and tribulations, was a very good girl. Perhaps the (celebration) or creation of a fictional vixen is just the ticket to give our own inner Bad Girl a voice. Just think of Scarlett, who tries repeatedly to seduce the husband of her cousin Melanie, who stood by her through thick and thin, (think of Olivia de Havilland walking the scorned Scarlett to the dance).  Scarlett not only, turns down the advances of her own husband, Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) but also, marries her sister’s intended husband all in the name of survival.  Still, there’s something very stirring in her vow to Heaven, never to be hungry again.

It doesn’t have to take a Civil War to give us a little bit of freedom to be just ever so, bad. Just think of Mammy with her red crinoline slip. For a great read on these hot, steamy nights, give yourself permission to try badness on with a great book.

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Grace Kelly Cool

Hot Subject … To kick off our Bad Girls series, I thought we could take a summer beauty tip from our Lady of Loveliness, Grace Kelly, who was born in Philadelphia in 1929 and gifted by Divine Beauty to be Her Serene Highness, long before she married into the royal house of Monaco.  For ever if there was a woman who lived up to a fairytale film icon and royal image, it was Grace Kelly. 

   
Grace Kelly, the movie star, was practiced in the arts of feminine wiles and beneath that cool exterior breathed a vixen, one who, of course, never let anyone see her sweat, no matter what inappropriate circumstances she found herself embroiled after the cameras stopped rolling.  Grace’s secret was falling in lust with her leading men, whether they were married to not and we all know how natural blushing becomes one.  But I adore because she never has a hair out of place, or a bead of sweat trickle down her blow or soak her blouse.  

     Feminine “daintiness” was a recurring theme in woman’s magazines from the 30s, 40s, and 50s and the horrors of bad breath and body order were exorcised with regularity especially during the summer months. From Good Housekeeping July 1943 here are some suggestions for avoiding a public meltdown.

     "On broiling days, when heat blazes down from the sky and flows up from baking pavements, it takes more ways than one way to cope with perspiration.  You redouble your underarm defenses, of course, using your favorite deodorant and check twice as often as you normally do.  If you use the type of deodorant that does not stop perspiration, you pin in fresh dress shields, so that no horrid stains mar your pretty dresses….

    But the underarms are not the only areas that ooze. 

 To quell that allover stickiness, there’s nothing like a film of bath power.  A batiste (light cotton) back shield will separate you from the black of your blouse.  Your feet can be kept dry, cool, and comfortable if they are dusted with special powder and if stockings are changed twice a day.  A mild perspiration check prevents sweating palms.  To keep your hair sweet-smelling, wash it often and between shampoos, wipe it, strand by strand with cotton moistened with cologne.  Change your make-up often, and keep tissues handy to mop up dew from upper lip and forehead.  Then it may be hot, but you won’t look it…”

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What Would You Like To Drink?

This weekend's recipes for Vintage Bliss…

   

“What would you like?” a soft voice at my elbow asked, and I turned quickly.  There was a tray laden with glasses, ice and tempting looking bottles.

    “Spice tea lemonade, pineappleade or something more more substantial like a cool Mocha Nog?” continued the voice of my hostess.

    “Spiced tea,” I said, and into a tall glass when ice, a spoon of syrup from one of the bottles, a squeeze of lemon juice, the glass filled to the brim with cold tea.

    “How did you manage it, you left us only five minutes ago?” one of the guests asked while the remaining glasses were being filled. 

    “It started last winter with the chocolate drinks.  I had to mix them every evening for Bill’s crowd.  I found it easier to make the syrups, have milk on hand; they did their own mixing.  This spring I decided to try the same thing with summer drinks.  Now I always keep at least three syrups in the refrigerator, and the fruit juices to mix with them.”
                             
    Is this a fabulous Depression era idea, scrumptious and ready to be recycled at home?  You bet it is!  When it’s 100° in the shade, as it’s been in California these past few days, I’m constantly reaching for something to drink and I’m getting very tired of water, although God’s own favorite drink is always on my Gratitude List.  So will these marvelous drink syrup recipes. 

    Iced summer drinks are almost always sweet ones and the recipes are 75 years old. None of them are diet drinks, but you might experiment with Splenda®.

    Lemon Syrup

    2 cups sugar
    1 cup water
    2 tablespoons corn syrup
    3 tablespoons grated lemon rind.

Combine sugar, water, corn syrup and rind in a saucepan.
Stir over heat until the sugar is dissolved; simmer for 15 minutes. 
Strain; pour into a bottle or jar; cover, and store in the refrigerator. 
This makes 2 cups of syrup. 

These proportions fill one tall glass for Lemonade:
2 or 3 tablespoons Lemon Sirup, 2 tablespoons lemon juice,
2/3 cup ice water, ice.

    Spice Syrup

2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup water
2 tablespoons corn sirup
2 tablespoons whole cloves
3 pieces of 3-inch stick cinnamon
1 piece whole or 2 teaspoons cracked ginger

Combine sugar, water, corn syrup and spices in a saucepan.
Stir over heat until the sugar is dissolved; simmer for 15 minutes. 
Strain; pour into a bottle or jar; cover, and store in refrigerator.
This makes 2 cups syrup.
   
These proportions fill one tall glass for Spiced Tea: 2 tablespoons Spice Syrup, 1 tablespoon Lemon Syrup, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, ¾ cup freshly brewed tea, ice.