Nothing Like a Tall, Cold Glass of Iced Tea

  I am from the south and we like our iced tea. I make a gallon of iced tea for my husband daily. He likes his sweet but not southern sweet. I use artificial sweeteners since he has to watch his sugar. He also likes flavored tea, like peach tea. I am more of a green tea fan and I drink mine straight, no sweetener at all. However you like your tea, the art of making a good glass of tea is one that not all have mastered. Many times the tea you get out in restaurants is very weak. My husband calls it brown water rather than tea. Some places have mastered the art of a good glass of tea and we all have our favorite places to purchase a tall, cold iced tea.
     With the pandemic people have had to resort to making their own tea at home or wait in a long drive thru to get an iced tea. How do you make the best glass of iced tea? The key is in the steeping. I typically brew my tea in the microwave. Many people swear that on the stove in a pan is the best way to make tea. My all time favorite way to make tea is in the sun. Yes, sun tea is a real thing. It works best if you have a glass gallon jar. Fill it with filtered cold water and put your tea bags in. If you use small, one cup tea bags as I call them, put 5 or 6 bags of tea into your gallon container. I have started buying the gallon tea bags from Amazon and I just have to put one bag in the gallon jar with water. Any day that has lots of sunshine is a perfect day to make sun tea. Set the gallon jar in the sunshine and wait. You will see the tea start to develop to a beautiful golden brown. If it is a warm sunny day, you can typically brew a gallon of sun tea in half a day. If the clouds fade in and out, I just let it set all day. If you put it out in the morning, you can bring it in by 5:00 in the evening to make your tea.

Scales of Unjustice

      I just finished week 5 of intermittent fasting, IF, and I have not lost a lot more weight according to the scales. In fact, I am up one pound from last week. The scales have always been my enemy in life. I can workout, cut calories, walk, cut out sweets, etc. and the scales just glare at me and I get so defeated. When I started this IF I wasn't really expecting quick results. Gin Stephens says in her book that slow and steady is the way of IF.  I was ready to be patient and wait for the fruit of my labors.  I could feel in my clothes that things were fitting better. I caught myself looking down at my lap while sitting on the couch. My belly was so much smaller. How could that be since I had failed, according to the scales. However, with IF, I also do my body measurements about every two weeks. So, I thought I would check my measurements just to see if there was a difference in the numbers, or if I was just imagining it. 

When I started this journey on August 1, 2020 I took my basic measurements as Gin recommended: chest, waist, hips, right and left thigh and right and left bicep ( I have the old lady bat wings.) I wondered why it was important to measure each side for my thighs and arms, but now I understand. The body is naturally a little bigger on one side than it is the other. I believe your dominant side is bigger, not sure. Anyway, I decided to do my measurements this morning. I know I measured on 8/28 and found I had lost 3 total inches in my measurements. I wasn't expecting a big difference, but today, I had a total of 7 1/4 inches less on my body. That is huge! I am so motivated to stick with this IF. 

I truly feel like I have found what my body has needed all of these years. I tend to store fat real easily, apparently. I just needed to give my body the opportunity to burn up that fat on its own without any insulin triggers. Since I had my lap band surgery in 2009, I have not been able to eat very much at a time. So, portions have not been my problem. I usually do well with food choice, although we all have times where we choose pizza or a McDonald's cheeseburger over a salad. I still wasn't having the success with the lap band like I am having with IF. I do drink a lot of water. I also like Crystal light or sugar free lemonade, fruit or cucumber in my water, and I LOVE my coffee with Truvia and creamer. I think I have found that these items I was drinking, even though all of them were low calorie, except for the creamer, were my enemy. If you read Fast.Feast. Repeat. by Gin Stephens, you will learn why sugar free drinks are not helpful. They still trick your body into thinking you are eating or drinking something that it needs to produce insulin to combat. When it can't find anything the insulin keeps you from using your fat reserves to burn. This article, along with Gin's book explains this process better than I can. 

There are many kinds of IF programs out there, but make sure you are doing the clean fast if you want good results. Clean fast =unsweetened and unflavored tea or coffee and water. No fruit allowed in the water and no zero calorie mixes. I do not even take my chewable calcium tablets during my fast times. No sugar free gum or mints. It is a sacrifice, but one that has been worth it for me. 

The Long Road to Me

      I have dieted all of my life. I really don't remember a time in my life when I wasn't dieting or watching what I ate. From 3rd grade on I have been on the pudgy side and was picked on and called names. As I got older, it just got worse. Food was a comfort to me. I was a little bit of a picky eater when I was a kid, then I got into high school and really tried to lose weight. I also got into weight lifting and began my lifetime career of starting and stopping bits of exercising. My sophomore year in high school I had the greatest weight loss in my life, at the time. I lost weight, felt good about myself, and actually worked out some, I hit the tennis ball around with a friend and I rode my bike. Then I went to  college and discovered college life. I ate out a lot, partied, and got pregnant. My pregnancy brought on some depression and I used pregnancy as an excuse to eat whatever I wanted to. I also quit exercising since I was depressed. I withdrew from college and had my awesome son, Brad then gradually started taking classes at ECTC and Fort Knox. Once I decided to go back to college, a new chapter was unfurling in my life. I was a single mom with a purpose, to get a college degree so that I could take care of my son, without help from anyone else. 

     I then went back to college, but to one closer to home. I left my 8 month old son with my parents and went to WKU, but I came home EVERY weekend so that I could see Brad. Back in college, I had a wonderful room mate that I became life long friends with. She was older and had changed her major a couple of times and transferred from U of L to WKU. We became instant friends. She introduced me to eating out. When I was growing up, eating out was either fast food or Shoney's  if you wanted something fancy. She introduced me to O'Charley's and Rafferty's. She also worked at an upscale restaurant on Bardstown Road on the weekends, so we explored the awesome places up and down Bardstown Road and I discovered all kinds of new foods. One of our favorites, Chi Chi's, allowed me to discover Mexican food. I soon learned that I was a closeted foodie. I loved food!! All kinds of food. I also got a job on campus working with the catering on campus for the university president. It was a great experience and I was exposed to even more different kinds of foods, and how to make them. Then through my university connections, I got a summer job working at Stone Hearth restaurant in Elizabethtown. I was a prep cook, I worked their lent buffet where I learned to cook frog legs and Alfredo from scratch. I also made oysters Rockefeller and learned how to cook various seafood.  My food pallet just kept growing. I did try to exercise more while I was in college. I taught myself how to swim, not very well, but I can dog paddle and float and I loved water aerobics classes on campus. Also, walking WKU's campus is good exercise in and of itself. Then, I graduate and it is time to find a teaching job. 

     I graduate in December of 1990 and that is not the best time to graduate with a teaching degree. I substituted for a couple of districts until summer. I worked all that time on resumes, interviews, and I still didn't find a teaching job when the school year started. So, I substituted for another whole school year. Needless to say, I started to get down and was concerned that I was not going to find a teaching job. Finally after subbing a year and a half, I got a job at a middle school in Jefferson County. I was hired about a month after school started because the numbers were up. It was not a great situation, especially for a new teacher. I struggled through KTIP and even had a second year of KTIP. By year 3 I was debating on if I had picked the right career for me. I was living in the country and driving to Louisville every day to teach. I found myself crying all the way home, the majority of the time. I was frustrated, I felt defeated and lost. I quit teaching and got a job working at K-mart putting up stock at night. I worked 3rd shift, 10:00 pm - 6:00 am. I did a lot of soul searching and started looking for teaching jobs that were closer to home, in the country. Needless to say, I was not exercising right now, I was very down, and I turned to food as my comfort.  I finally got a teaching job at Nelson County and I loved it. I was successful, my administrators were happy with my performance, and things were looking up. I got my very first apartment, on my own and Brad and I moved to Bardstown. I was a single Mom working and he was in 4th grade. I found a place to use a treadmill. Brad would take his homework and read while I walked on the treadmill. I walked in the neighborhood and I was feeling good about myself. I still wasn't eating real great because being a single mom on a teacher's salary didn't allow for me to purchase healthy food. Plus, my son was a very picky eater, so I usually just ate what I fixed for him instead of fixing two mini meals for us. Then, with budget cuts, I lost my job in Neslon County because I was the new kid in town and didn't have tenure yet.  Did I mention that while I was teaching, I was also taking graduate classes to complete my Masters and Rank I? Remember, I was a single Mom and had a son to provide for and I was going to get as much education as I could to help me with my teacher pay. My Mom would leave her job early one day a week so that she could drive to Bardstown to watch Brad while I drove to WKU to take grad classes at night. There wasn't online classes back then. I drove to every one of my classes. I drove to WKU, Owensboro, Elizabethtown, and Fort Knox, wherever I could find classes offered during the summer or evenings so that I could finish my Masters and my Rank I. Well, I did a lot of fast food, eating on the run and I didn't have time to exercise, so my weight continued to sky rocket. 

     Then, I got my job back home, in Meade County at James R. Allen Elementary. It was my first library job. I loved my new profession. I had finally found my niche and realized that the library world was for me. Shortly after I started working in Meade County, I got married for the first time. I was over 30 and worried I would never get married. I met a nice guy, but really wasn't "in love." I got married, but for all of the wrong reasons. I wasn't happy. His family loved food and they were good cooks so I buried my unhappiness in food. This was when I was at my heaviest, well over 300 pounds. Once we divorced, I decided that if I wanted to be happy with someone, I had to be happy with myself. I joined Curves, I did Jazzercise and Zumba and even tried yoga. I tried to start eating healthier and I lost some weight, but still had a ways to go. Then, I met and married my current husband. I had finally met the love of my life and I not only gained a husband, but a best friend. He loves food like I do, but he is more athletic and has always been active so it encouraged me to get more active and to watch what I eat. Then in 2009, I had lap band surgery. For health insurance purposes I had to jump through lots of hoops, so starting the fall of 2008 I started the process and finally had the procedure in January of 2009. It was not an easy process. Some people think if you have weight loss surgery it is cheating and makes it easier for you to lose weight. WRONG! It is still a daily struggle. After the lap band surgery, I lost between 80-90 pounds. I was exercising, I joined a local gym and did cardio, as well as weight resistance exercise. I even went and walked after school. One whole school year I even got up at 5:00 am, went to the gym to workout, came home and showered and then went to school. I was feeling great. Then, one 4th of July weekend the shopping area where my gym was located caught fire and it was closed for quite some time. It was located less than a mile from my house, so it was very convenient. After the fire, I got out of the habit of working out. I had good days and bad days with my lap band. Trying to find the right fill for it is difficult at times. I am not sure if it was menopause or just life, but I gradually gained 40 pounds back, yes while I still have the lap band. I think part of the problem was that I feel like the band is too tight, so I find ways to cheat it and eat "slider" foods so that I can eat more. When I tried to address this with my gastro doctor that put the lap band in, he just said I need to deal with it. That a few bites of food is enough for a meal. We tend to disagree on this issue, but that is another story. I just love food! I love trying new food. I love trying new restaurants. Plus, I am an emotional eater. Just because the band was keeping me from feeling hungry did not mean I wasn't craving food. I kind of just gave in and I would try to eat healthy food, but I wasn't counting calories or fat grams or carbs or any of that. I was just tired of always counting my food when I ate. 

     Then, I got on a clean eating kick. I decided that it made lots of sense that you got back whatever you put into your body. If you put junk in, your body will react accordingly. So, I try to eat clean, wholesome food. I do not do a lot of prepackaged, processed foods. I cook a lot! Even before the pandemic I was into cooking at home. Next, life threw me another curve ball. I was diagnosed with Graves disease. My thyroid was out of whack. It was causing my heart to speed up, and I did lose a little weight during this time, about 15 pounds or so. I wasn't trying real hard to lose weight and I was losing so I knew something was wrong. Once I got my thyroid situation figured out, I now have to be on medication the rest of my life. My thyroid was zapped with radioactive capsules and it is now shriveled and inactive on its own, so I take medication. This process set me back yet again. I gained about 20 pounds and became very inactive because I had no energy and at one point it took all of my energy and effort to just get up off of the couch. Again, I felt like a failure when it came to taking care of my body and my weight. Add menopause to the mix and losing weight is almost an act of congress for me right now. However, 28 days ago I decided to try one more method to help me gain control of my body and to feel better about my weight. I discovered intermittent fasting. 

     It all started with me reading, Fast .Feast .Repeat .by Gin Stephens. I learned what a clean fast was, how it worked and what it did for my body. For some reason this seemed doable to me. I read her book and was inspired to try this new lifestyle, which is what intermittent fasting is, it is a lifestyle, not a diet. I am on day 28 of the 28 day FAST start. This will not be a quick fix and I will not see big results right away. It is a gradual thing but it is healthy and after reading Gin's book it all makes sense to me. The first of August I started with 17 hours of fasting with a 7 hour window to eat, 17-7. I can choose when to open this feast window, whatever would work with my schedule or lifestyle. For week two, I did an 18-6 schedule. For week three I did a 19-5 schedule and this week I am finishing up a 20-4 schedule. This week has been the toughest. I am proud to say, as of this moment, with just four hours to go to open my eating window, I have not cheated, slipped up or messed up the fasting windows. I am so proud of this accomplishment. I sacrificed my daily morning coffee with Truvia and creamer. I gave up my flavored unsweetened green tea for just plain unsweet tea. I even gave up my fruit in my water during my fasting time. It wasn't always easy, but I have such a sense of accomplishment, one I haven't felt in a while. At the end of this 28 days I lost a total of 3 inches in my body measurements and 7.4 pounds. I feel so good. I didn't change what I ate, just when I eat it. I did try to walk a little more, but my main goal was to get used to the fasting/feasting windows.  My next goal is to eat cleaner and healthier during my feasting widows. If I have this kind of success without changing what I eat, imagine what I can accomplish with healthier eating. I have also learned to not always go to the scales for a measure of success. In fact, on my last day today, I had gained two of those supposedly 7.4 pounds I lost. But, I lost 3 inches on my body. That is more of a true measure than just the scales. 

     My emphasis in September is going to be making healthier food choices and aiming for at least 10,000 steps a day. I plan on setting a new goal each month. I have joined a couple of IF groups on Facebook and they have been very encouraging. I am excited to see where this journey takes me as I begin a new chapter in my life, retirement from the field of education. I do not say I am totally retired, but I have retired from education. I do work three days a week at the local public library. I love the job and it allows me to keep in touch with new books coming out. I occasionally see students from school, some former students with their own children, and retired teachers that I enjoyed working with over the years. Life is good and much more than I deserve. I am blessed way beyond what I deserve. Thanks for taking time to read about the long road to me...so far.  

Comfort of Childhood Food During Difficult Times

     Comfort Food - according to Google, comfort food is food that provides consolation or a feeling of well-being, typically any with a high sugar or other carbohydrate content and associated with childhood or home cooking. I am sure many of us have enjoyed a favorite "comfort food" in the last few weeks during isolation. What is it about these home cooked foods that bring us comfort? Most of the time, it is the memories that we associate with these foods. There are very strong memories tied to smells and odors. Being a country girl, I can remember when fresh hay was cut in the fields, the smell of the kitchen when Mom was doing baking for an upcoming holiday, or the wonderful smell of rain in the air. These are all aromas of comfort and a simpler time from when I was a child. One of my comfort foods is mashed potatoes. Warm and full of butter, milk, salt, and pepper, mashed potatoes go with just about any meal. Very rarely do I make homemade mashed potatoes. Now that I am an adult, I consider them a luxury that I can't always afford time to prepare, especially when I work. 
     Our time in quarantine during the Corona virus has caused me to dust off many of my cooking skills and recipes that I haven't used in a while. I have always enjoyed working in the kitchen and I enjoy cooking, it just isn't something I always did during a busy work schedule. Well, I have had plenty of time lately to pick up the skill again. One of my favorite things to make with leftover mashed potatoes are potato cakes. In the Jewish culture they are called potato latke, but they are essentially a pancake made from mashed potatoes. This is a very simple recipe and is easily found on the internet, but I wanted to include them in my blog. Since I very rarely make mashed potatoes, I rarely make potato cakes but it is a great way to use up those leftover mashed potatoes. 

     Anyone can make mashed potatoes. All you have to do is peel your potatoes, Yucon Gold make the best mashed potatoes, cover them in water and boil until you can mash them with a fork. I usually put salt in my water and I have also used chicken broth to boil my potatoes. It gives them a great flavor. Drain the potatoes after they are soft and either mash with a hand mixer or I like to mash them by hand with a hand masher. Add butter, salt, pepper and milk. I have also added sour cream or buttermilk. Just depends on what you have in the fridge. I have even heard of people using plain Greek yogurt, garlic powder, onion powder or bacon bits in their mashed potatoes. I would call those loaded mashed potatoes. 

Old Fashioned Potato Cakes

1 cup of leftover mashed potatoes

2 Tablespoons flour

1/2 tsp onion powder (you can use real onion but I have found that children eat them better with onion powder)

1/4 tsp garlic powder (optional, I just love garlic)

1 egg

salt & pepper to taste

chives (optional)

Mix all of the ingredients together to make a batter. It should be thick. If too thin, add more flour as needed. 

Make sure your oiled skillet is hot. Dip the potato mixture into spoonfuls on the hot griddle or skillet. Let them cook for 2-3 minutes, until they start turning brown on the edges, before turning them over. Once you turn them over, smash the patty so it is flat like a pancake. 

Once the second side is brown, take it out of the skillet and set on a paper towel on a plate. This helps to absorb the oil. I use very little oil with the griddle I use, so oil isn't an issue. Some nonstick skillets may not require oil at all. This usually makes between 5 and 6 patties about tablespoon sized dollops before you flatten them out. You can make them as small or as big as you please. 

     Just like comfort food, the right book can be a comfort in difficult times. My favorite genre is historical fiction. I just finished reading The Orphan Sisters by Shirley Dickson. This is the story of two sisters, Dorothy and Etty that are left at an orphanage by their mother. It is 1929, right before the start of WWII and the two orphaned sisters vow to stay together and to take care of one another. The story of why their Mom left them at the orphanage when they were 8 and 4 is unclear. The characters are well developed and the story is easy to follow and you just get roped into their lives quickly in this book. I read a variety of books, but sometimes you just want one that is easy to read, easy to follow and easy to get lost in. The Orphan Sisters will have you  cheering on Etty as she encourages her husband to have a backbone and stand up to his meddling mother and weeping as the girls go through losses. 

The Perfect Cup of....

     I haven't always been a coffee drinker. As a kid I didn't even really like soda. I was more of a Kool-aid kid. I liked the tropical punch flavored Kool-aid or Country Time lemonade. I have never been able to tolerate a lot of caffeine. Even today as a grown woman, I do not drink anything with caffeine in it except the occasional Diet Dr. Pepper and my daily cup, or two or three, of coffee. I only drink coffee in the mornings. It helps me to get awake and moving. If I drink it past midday, I am up all night. My room mate in college got me to try cappuccino. This was back in the 80's before all of the fancy flavors.  I liked it, but being on a college student budget couldn't always afford it. Then, I discovered the Frappuccino at Dairy Queen. Lots of sugar, but I enjoyed the coffee flavor and caffeine buzz. Once I moved from an elementary library position to the library media specialist at my current high school, I was introduced to flavored coffee by a colleague and I have been hooked ever since. I have a small coffee station in my library in a back office. If anyone runs out of coffee they know they can rely on me to have a K-cup, ground coffee or creamer. I very rarely run out. I guess I consider it "essential" as part of my work. I gradually got on the Starbucks bandwagon and enjoyed a "fancy" coffee whenever I was near one of the establishments.  Caramel macchiato is one of my favorites. I enjoy trying the seasonal flavors, but the caramel macchiato is probably my go-to coffee flavor at Starbucks.

     Whenever I go to meetings, professional developments, or gatherings I am finding that fewer and fewer young people know how to make a pot of coffee. I blame this on the K-cup people. Don't get me wrong, I love K-cups. They are quick, easy, and you always get a decent cup of coffee in a matter of 2 minutes or so. However, it doesn't involve knowing the coffee to water ratio. Just pop in a cup, fill the reservoir with water and push the button. How do you translate this into making a pot of coffee in a coffee maker? You don't. There is much that is lost in the conversion. In this time of quarantining many have had to either do without coffee, use k-cups if you have them at your house, or just stare at a coffee maker wondering how to make that perfect cup of coffee. Going through a drive through is another alternative, and I do support local businesses. I love small, independent coffee shops. However, it is more economical to make your own coffee at home and save the coffee shops for special occasions.
     Since my husband and I have been married, almost 13 years now, we have gone through about 3 coffee makers. We love coffee and enjoy sharing a pot on the weekends. Each coffee system is a little different, but I finally found a system to making the perfect cup of coffee.

     We have a Ninja coffee pot that gives you the option to brew one cup, a travel mug, 1/2 pot or a full pot of coffee. It has a 43 oz. water reservoir. I like that it just gives you ounces, instead of cups. The cup of coffee has changed over the years. According to coffeechemistry.com, in the 1950's a cup of coffee was about 4-6 ounces. Today, most people consider a cup of coffee to be between 8-14 ounces. For die hard "venti" lovers it is 20-24 ounces of the creamy java.

Most mainstream grocery coffee says to use 1 tablespoon of ground coffee to 6 oz. of water. That makes a pretty stout cup of coffee. I like strong coffee, but this makes it too bitter for me.
I have found that if I use 4 tablespoons of ground coffee to the 43 ounces of water, I get the perfect cup of coffee. I know that is all a matter of taste. But, if you have no clue where to start to make a pot of coffee, then it is a good starting point. I found my perfect measures by trial and error.
     What is great to snuggle up with a warm cup of coffee? A feel good book about friendship and sharing a cup of coffee. The Supremes at Earl's All-Up-Can-Eat by Edward Kelsey Moore is one of those books where you will catch yourself laughing out loud as you read. I listened to the audiobook version of this book and I often caught myself chuckling and shaking my head agreeing with the narrator. Three girls in the 1960's, each of whom is very different from the other, become friends and meet regularly at Earl's. They even have their own table. They continue their friendship on into adulthood and they meet at Earl's on Sundays after church, with their spouses or significant others for the all-you-can eat. Their stories will make you laugh and cry. They have ups and downs but manage to remain friends. It is a feel good book that goes great with the perfect cup of coffee.

The Perfect Cup of Coffee

Always make sure your coffee maker is clean. I clean my machine with vinegar about once every two weeks. Run a pot of white vinegar through your machine then run two more pots of just clean water through to make sure all of the vinegar is gone. 

Use cold water. Some people keep a pitcher of cold water in their refrigerators to use for their coffee. I just get my water from our filtered water tap at our sink. Cold water makes the best coffee. 

Use 4 tablespoons to 40-45 ounces of water. This will depend on how strong you like your coffee. If you do the math, it is about one tablespoon to one 10 ounce cup of water. 

How you then doctor up your coffee is up to you. I will talk about some economical ways to have flavored coffees at home at another time. 

 

I would love for you to share your favorite coffee with me. Thanks for reading. 

In Search of Homemade Nanner Puddin'

     It all started when I was planning for Thanksgiving of 2019. I was assigned to bring banana pudding, or nanner puddin' as it is affectionately called in my home, to our Thanksgiving meal at my Mom & Dad's house. I could do the instant kind of pudding or the boxed pudding mix, but I did not grow up with that kind of pudding when I was young. Yes, my mom maybe fixed instant pudding cups when we were little as a snack or treat. She put it in those little Tupperware cups that were multicolored with clear plastic lids that would stack on top of each other. But if she made a pudding for dessert it was always cooked, homemade pudding.
     So, I went where I always go to look for copycat recipes, new creations, what to do with leftovers, or a recipe that someone talked about at lunch one day at work...Pinterest. All of the Pinterest recipes for banana pudding were the no cook, Eagle brand milk, yummy banana pudding, but not homemade pudding recipes. I then went to Google and searched. I really couldn't find anything similar to what I grew up with. Then I got to thinking, what is going to happen when all of the old recipes that I grew up on are gone?! My Mamaw Carman rarely wrote any recipes down. I do have a few that she wrote down in an old yellow spiral notebook. They are treasures to me. I also have many of my Mom's recipes in a recipe album she made me when I graduated from college. I still text her and email her from time to time asking about things she cooked when I was growing up.
     I collect recipe books as well. I have all kinds of church recipe books, which by the way have the best recipes! I have senior citizens center cookbooks, family cookbooks, and homemakers clubs' cookbooks. They are my favorite to collect, because of the family history that usually goes into each recipe.  They have the old time recipes in them that are becoming extinct as we speak. So, I start looking through some of my grandmother's handwritten recipes and I find one for Butterscotch Pie. Well, that was one of my Mamaw's specialties. I knew if I substituted the brown sugar for white sugar, it would be vanilla pudding. So, that is what I did. I ended up having to double the recipe to make a whole banana pudding since this recipe is for a pie.

     So, I got to thinking...what if I start a blog sharing all of the old time recipes from when I was a kid. Not sure if anyone is interested and I really haven't searched out the internet for bloggers that may already do this. I figure in different parts of the country the recipes would all vary a little bit anyway so here I am, starting a blog about old time cooking. I am also hoping if this blog gets popular, others will share their old recipes as well. What better way to bring the old time recipes and cooking to the new way of searching for recipes. Also, what better time to start this blog than during the quarantine of the Corona-19 virus of 2020. After all, I am hoping for a captive audience and what better audience than one who is on lock-down at home, surfing the web, looking for something to occupy their minds.  

   Since I am a librarian, I have to talk a little bit about books. When it comes to comfort food, like a fresh warm nanner puddin', what is more comforting than a cozy mystery. You know the ones I am talking about. They have fun characters, usually a really mean bad guy that everyone loves to hate and the main character is a curious character that either solves crimes by profession or on the side as a hobby. The book I am currently reading is The Secret, Book, and Scone Society by Ellery Adams. The main character is a former librarian who suffered an accident that left her with severe burn scars and she left for the country to open a small book store, for a new beginning. She befriends some other women in the town, one being the local baker at The Gingerbread house, and together they try to solve a murder that takes place in the sleepy little town. I read a variety of books, but nothing is like a cozy mystery that involves a character that knows her books and another that is good at baking. 

*book cover from Amazon.com

     Thank you for taking time to read my first blog entry. I hope you have discovered a new(old) recipe to add to your repertoire of desserts.  And hey, why not make a homemade banana pudding while you are at it. Banana pudding is my Dad's very favorite. Mom usually makes one for him on his birthday in April. Enjoy!

Homemade Banana Pudding

2 cups sugar

1 cup white all purpose flour

1/4 tsp. salt

5 cups milk(whole milk makes the best pudding)

4 egg yolks

3 Tbsp. butter

1 Tbsp. vanilla

3-4 medium sized bananas-lemon juice to preserve the bananas 

graham crackers or vanilla wafers- whichever you choose or a combination of both

Mix your sugar, flour and salt with a whisk until well blended. Add the milk and cook over low heat. Use a whisk to blend the dry ingredients with the milk. I do not use a double boiler, but if you are easily distracted from the stove, you should use one to keep from scalding the milk. Cook until it starts to thicken a little. If it starts to bubble, then turn the heat to low. Then you need to temper your egg yolks. So, take a ladle and put one scoop of the pudding mixture into a bowl. Mix your four egg yolks and then add the yolks to the bowl. Mix well then add this back to your mixture on the stove. If you just drop your egg yolks into the pudding mixture on the stove, you will cook the yolk whole. Mix well and keep stirring until the pudding begins to thicken. You want it fairly thick. It will thicken more when it cools, so don't cook it too long. Depending on your stove, usually about 15-20 minutes total cooking time. Remove it from the heat and add your butter and vanilla and mix well. Now you are ready to layer your bananas, cookies/crackers and pudding. Just start with cookies in the bottom of your dish, add sliced bananas (i drizzle just a little bit of lemon juice on the sliced bananas before adding them to the pudding. Helps with keeping them from turning brown so quickly), then pour about 1/3 to 1/2 of your pudding. How many layers is up to you. If you like lots of bananas Try a deeper smaller around dish to layer your pudding in. It also looks great in a trifle bowl. Always finish off the layers with pudding on top. You can decorate the bowl with vanilla wafers around the edges if you like or graham crackers. I also like a little sprinkle of cinnamon on top. When you serve it, you can serve it with cool whip.

*I used Archway Chessmen cookies  for my pudding. Any kind of shortbread or butter cookie will do.