Ground Beef and Macaroni Dinner. I call this make-ahead dish Chili Mac; however, it’s light on the chili powder. Add as much or as little as you like; also, check for the amount of salt you like. If you don’t have the seasonings called for, improvise! This recipe is done in five easy steps:

1. Macaroni. Boil 4 cups of salted water, then add ½ lb. of elbow macaroni, stir, cook for 20 minutes, then drain.
2. Crumb Topping. While the macaroni is cooking, sauté 1 cup of bread crumbs in 2 tblsp. butter, then remove from pan and reserve to top the casserole. (Or, crumble a small package of corn chips, like Frito’s, for a topping.)
3. Beef. In the same frying pan, sauté 1 ½ lb. hamburger in 1 tblsp. olive oil with ½ medium onion and 1 garlic clove chopped (1/2 green pepper chopped, too, if you like). Season this mixture with 1 tblsp. of chili powder; 1 tsp. each paprika, marjoram, basil, savory, and salt; and ¼ tsp. pepper. When the meat is browned, add 1 large can (28 oz.) of chopped tomatoes.
4. Cheese Sauce. Make a roux in a sauce pan by melting 2 tblsp. butter, stirring in and cooking 2 rounded tblsp. flour, then 1 cup half and half or milk. Stir the sauce, as it thickens. Shred 2 cups of cheddar cheese. Stir 1 cup of the cheese into the sauce. Reserve the rest of the cheese to top the casserole.
5. Assembly. Oil or butter 1 large casserole or 6 ramekins. Mix the macaroni and cheese sauce into the beef mixture. Evenly divide mixture into the casserole dishes. Top with bread crumbs and grated cheese. Serve at once or refrigerate and reheat in 350ºoven for 20 to 30 minutes.

Side Dish. A salad of baby spinach in a light vinaigrette would complement the richness of this dish. Or, sauté the spinach in butter for just a minute before serving with a sprinkle of salt to one side in the same bowl.

Cost-Saving Options. This dish is delicious without the crumb topping and cheese sauce. To save money, time, and calories, leave them out, or just sprinkle on a little grated cheese.

Company Casserole is a post from: Home and Garden Blog

Clean Slate. First, remove all items from the window or ledge. Find other homes for the objects removed. Give the area a good cleaning, so windows sparkle, and tiles shine. If you have a shelf that divides the window in half, remove it (for a dramatic change). Make a note of where you store that shelf, in case you want to retrieve it for another, later change. Perhaps the shelf could be used elsewhere, e.g., in a closet, as a second layer of storage for purses, shoes, or folded sweaters.

Focal Choices. Go for something large and showy as your main attraction. A paned or stained glass window that can be hung above a sink ledge or propped in the window is a dramatic choice. Another possibility is a garden urn, pedestal, statue, or large potted plant. Or, group 2 or 3 large, leafy potted plants with plastic saucers in a big basket, painted a shiny black. Go for a dramatic effect in terms of size, texture, and color.

Flank Choices. I love to vary my dinner service with different colored and patterned plates. However, finding room to store them is a challenge. That’s where three-tiered plate stands come in handy, each of which I got for $2 at garage sales. I can enjoy my plates’ beauty, and they’re readily accessible. The vertical effect complements my centerpiece, without competing. Also, raising the plates, rather than just stacking them, adds spatial relief and interest. It’s easier to clean under them, too.

Stair Step Display. Experiment with your display. Move objects to arrive at a pleasing silhouette. That is, if you drew a line from left to right across the top of your objects, would that line be pleasing? All objects at the same height is not interesting. Very short objects on either side of a very tall object are not as pleasing as medium height objects on either side of a very tall object. Also, you can go for a symmetrical line or an asymmetrical line. It can be stunning to put two tall items at an angle in each corner and build a medium high display in the center. Have fun being a plastic surgeon, re-contouring the three-dimensional shapes of your window and ledge displays.

Above and Below. While leaving the borders around the window or ledge unadorned is perfectly acceptable and neat, I go for more decoration. I mount favorite copper molds on the overhang above my kitchen window. Their color blends with the wall color, so they don’t distract from the window display, yet still add shine and interest. I really enjoy the little chandelier we installed to replace the pot light that came with the house.

Garden Window Ideas is a post from: Home and Garden Blog

Pumpkin Patch in a Pot

Grow Your Own Pumpkins. Don’t buy pumpkins, grow your own! Pumpkins are easy to grow. You just have to plan ahead a bit or get lucky! In August, my internal circadian clock started to register the advent of fall. Thoughts of colored leaves, corn stalks, and pumpkins started vying for my attention vs. pulling out the red, white, and blue décor for Labor Day. So, at the Do IT Center, my eyes latched onto an American Seed packet of pumpkin seeds. The directions said 90 days to harvest. Would I have pumpkins by Halloween, or would I just miss it? Would they be ready for Thanksgiving decorating? Here it is mid-October, and there are no baby pumpkins yet, though there are lots of gorgeous flowers!

When to Plant Pumpkin Seeds? Good question. One magazine article I read said to plant pumpkin seeds 5 months ahead of Halloween. Let’s see, that would be the first of June. My seed packet advises planting them in Spring, after all frost has past. Hmm, I always thought that frost on a pumpkin was okay. Now I am concerned that pumpkins should be harvested before frost hits. Suppose you plant your seeds right after carving your jack-o-lantern, what then?

Treat and Trick. My sister-in-law tells the story of carving her pumpkin, just before Halloween, in the far reaches of her backyard, as a child. Apparently, no great effort was made to clean up all the innards scraped from her pumpkin. To the family’s surprise and continuing wonder, a fabulous pumpkin patch took over the backend of the yard, some months later. No effort had been made to plant those seeds or water them or protect them from rabbits and squirrels and the 5 ½ months of rain and snow, characteristic of Northern Indiana! They let them grow and grow, until they were ready to harvest.

Cinderella’s Coach. Of course, Cinderella’s fairy godmother would choose a pumpkin from which to craft a coach. It’s the most wondrous vegetable in the garden, from start to finish! Pumpkin seeds germinate in 10 to 14 days, though mine seemed to pop up within a week. Kids have fun watching them grow, almost before their very eyes. The blooms are gorgeous, the stem kind of scratchy and hairy, and the fine tendrils curl like little springs. Although I planted my small sugar pumpkin seeds in a pot, the seed packet advices planting 1 seed every 18” in rows spaced 8’ apart. I may not have enough dirt for the number of seeds which germinated and may not have any pumpkins grow. We’ll see. Try growing your own alongside your house or up a slope, somewhere they have room to roam. There are seed companies that supply seeds for giant pumpkins to schools for children to plant and nurture. I’m sure it must have been one of those that caught the eye of Cinderella’s fairy godmother! Throw some of your jack-o-lantern seeds out into the yard at midnight on Halloween and see what happens!

Pumpkin Magic is a post from: Home and Garden Blog

Halloween Centerpiece.

Gourds Galore.  Grow your own gourds or find them at markets.  I bought a large, hard dried gourd at a garage sale for $1 (most owners find it hard to part with these)!  Shaking it, I could hear the dried seeds inside.  The outside was slightly pitted and mottled, so I washed and dried it, then painted two coats of orange acrylic on it.  Then I painted a stylized black cat on it with bats flying over his head.  A jack-o-lantern face could just as easily have been painted on.  I think my gourdy-cat will last for many years.

Frame Your Ghoul.  Another decorating idea is take out the picture in a large frame, but still mount the frame on your wall.  Then, mount your favorite ghoul or black silhouette on the wall within the frame to give it prominence.  Cut out your silhouette from black construction paper, then glue it to a stiff piece of cardboard cut in the same shape.  Silhouetee ideas include:  a large bat, black cat, crow, owl, ghost, leafless gnarly tree, witch on broomstick, or black jack-o-lantern with yellow or orange eyes.  If you don’t have a large picture frame, mount your ghoul on top of a large mirror.

Blood Red Roses.  I know it sounds creepy to associate red roses with Halloween, but that’s the “point.”  Include silk red roses in your Halloween décor.  The thorns and blood red color look particularly spooky allowed to “drip” over the edge of a shelf next to a skeleton or witch or better, yet, Dracula.  They would seem to be the choice of a vampire for wooing an unsuspecting young lady!  Enjoy the season.  Let the little kid in you lead the way to family fun.

Celebrate Halloween is a post from: Home and Garden Blog

Homemade Minestrone Soup

One-Dish for Company.  Company fare can be as simple as a hearty bowl of soup and a hunk of bread.  Add a glass of wine, if the budget allows.  During the infamous Great Depression and this current Great Recession, hostesses need a nutritious, fast, and inexpensive way to feed hungry people.  The answer is a warming, satisfying bowl of soup.  At first, it may seem that buying all the ingredients really adds up.  However, that cost needs to be spread over how many bowls of soup you are able serve, over how many meals.

Great Favorites.  Minestrone soup is fancy enough for family and guests.  Chili with cornbread is also a crowd pleaser.  Good old-fashioned vegetable beef soup with barley is very healthy and filling.  People with colds really do seem to get better with matzo ball soup with rich chicken broth, carrots, and thin noodles.  Thick, savory navy bean soup with celery, onions, carrots, and smoked ham hocks is hard to beat for flavor.

Soup Basics.  There are many wonderful recipes for soup in cookbooks and online.  However, you can create your own recipes, based on what you have on hand.  Broth is made from vegetables and meat.  Meat really gives broth flavor, especially meat with some bones and fat that are all browned first in hot oil, then simmered for a couple of hours in two quarts of water with sautéed onions, celery, and carrots (a Mirepoix, known as the holy trinity of French cooking).  (That’s pronounced:  mere pwaw.) This broth can be flavored further with garlic, salt, pepper, and parsley and/or with bouillon, as a base for many soups.  Or, you can buy a couple of quarts of chicken stock on sale to have in your pantry for when the weather turns chilly.  Chop the meat off the bone (beef, veal, ham, or chicken) to add back into the broth.   Keep the vegetables, as is, in the soup or puree them in a blender to thicken the broth

Minestrone Soup.  Find an affordable cut of beef (steak on the clearance shelf is a good buy).  Chop the beef in small pieces and sauté it in hot oil or with 3 slices of chopped bacon.  Sauté more chopped onions, celery, and carrot, until the onion is translucent.  Then add whatever other vegetables you have:  potatoes, zucchini, corn, peas, and green beans.  At this point, you have vegetable soup, when you add the broth.  What makes it minestrone is the addition of Italian seasonings (garlic, basil, oregano, marjoram, rosemary, and thyme) and a can of garbanzo and or kidney/beans.  Also, after all is tender, small cooked pasta should be added.  Canned chopped tomatoes are optional.  Soup flavors need to blend on the stove for a couple of hours and in the refrigerator overnight.  That’s why people say it tastes even better the second day.  By then, though, the macaroni will have absorbed much of the broth.  For this reason, you can hold off adding the pasta, until reheating the soup for service.  Mangia bene!  Eat well!

Thrifty Soup Pot is a post from: Home and Garden Blog

Mix Dried and Faux Fruit

Artful Arrangements. Be like the old Dutch Masters, set up a beautiful display, as if you were going to paint it! Your home can take on a decorator look without spending any or very little money. Instead, exert your imagination. Have fun playing with different objects, trying different combinations of things, until you can step back and view the whole with satisfaction. When friends and family notice the result with kudos, you know your art has won critical acclaim.

Where to Start. Choose a table, counter, window ledge, shelf, or bookcase with good lighting. First clear the space to start with a clean palette. Think of a theme or color combination that you’d like to feature. Then, gather objects which carry out that theme or color combo. Put them close by, then one at a time, place them pleasingly in your chosen space. It’s more interesting if there are height variations and textural differences. The space you leave between objects is just as important as the objects, themselves. Arrange and re-arrange, add and subtract, raise and lower, try something unexpected. This is the creative process. Enjoy. How many three-dimensional works of art will you create, one a day? There’s no limit!

Seasonal Inspiration. Take a cue from nature. With the advent of fall, my mind turns toward harvest themes. I begin pulling out dried fruits, my pomegranates, mandarin oranges, and limes. Piled in a punch bowl, they look abundant. With faux or real grape clusters added, the effect is opulent. For a rococo look, the bowl is placed on an equally busy, colorful fruit-patterned cloth next to gilded candlesticks. This autumn theme is enlivened with reds, blues, yellows, and greens. Pumpkins, artichokes, and cranberries also offer amazing decorating possibilities!

Invite Budding Artistry. Children learn by doing, by copying others. Why not invite your kids to take turns in creating visual vignettes? Let them watch how you do it, then clear the space. Ask them to think about a theme and colors, then search for objects around the house to include. Enjoy watching their creativity. Encourage them to arrange and re-arrange, until they decide their masterpiece is done. Be sure to appreciate all the creative choices they made and the resulting beauty their (not your) artistic eye rested upon.

Paint or Photograph? If you like to paint, then, by all means, take out a canvas or watercolor paper to capture the essence of your still-life or your child’s. Your child might also try painting your setting or his/her own. Otherwise, take a photo of your work and your child’s. You can start a portfolio/album of your artistic endeavors. Go a step further and create an artistic album cover together. Who knows where your inspirations will take you? One of my favorite decorating haunts is a local antique and collectibles store, which features large artistic seasonal displays in their giant windows. I asked if they photograph their work. They do and were so sad when, too busy, they forgot to photograph some of their finest displays!

Create a Still Life is a post from: Home and Garden Blog

Meat Loaf Challenge

Science of Meatloaf. For decades newly-weds and veteran homemakers have known how to please their men and save a buck! Serve homemade meatloaf and mashed potatoes! What could go wrong? Let me tell you, plenty! Meatloaf is a lady’s way of making 1 ½ lb. of ground beef seem like 2 lbs. of manna! The secret ingredient to making it seem like “more” is the addition of a tasty “filler.” Every cook makes her own version. Why not develop your own favorite recipe and share it with our readers?

Lowest Price Ground Beef. Lean beef is better for you but pricier than ground chuck, which has a higher fat content. But fat equals flavor! For a low-cost, tasty meatloaf dinner for company, go with the ground chuck. When you mix the beef with your other ingredients, fluff it up, packed lightly rather than densely. The harder the loaf, the less succulent it will be. Cook 1 ½ hours at 350° in a loaf pan. Some cooks add another 1 ½ pounds of ground pork to the mixture, too, with salt, pepper, paprika, and 1 ½ tsp. of Italian seasonings (mixture of basil, marjoram, oregano, thyme, savory, and parsley).

Find Your Filler. Meatloaf was invented to make meat go further, feed the whole family, and use up leftovers. Japanese Panko bread crumbs seem to be all the rage on the Food Network, but they’re expensive. Most of our grandmothers used stale white bread crumbs, crushed saltine crackers, or matzo meal. I’ve used crumbs taken from the centers of ciabatta rolls (the shell of which I’ve stuffed with grilled veggies), thinking this would be a gourmet treat. But, I have to say that my favorite filler is crushed saltines. To me, it seems like bread, especially if you use too much, makes the loaf too hard and dry,. Crackers stay rather fluffy. Dry fillers can be soaked first in 1/3 c. milk, cream, ketchup or tomato sauce, then added to the meat. Other fillers? How about cooked rice or mashed potato? I think it best to limit filler to less than 1 cup per 1 ½ lb. of meat.

Veggies? My all-time favorite meatloaf for flavor is one made with Lipton’s dried onion soup mix (then, the only seasoning). However, you could use your own freeze-dried onions, rehydrated in with and a bouillon cube in warm water. Raw onion will cook in the meatloaf, but it’s better minced than in chunks, to keep the loaf together. Some people add sautéed minced onion and/or minced, cooked, drained mushrooms and/or green pepper, too.

Eggs or Not? An egg can be beat into the filler/liquid mixture (1 for 1 ½ lbs. of meat). The egg adds further protein and binds the whole lot together. My mother-in-law left the egg out, claiming that it made her loaf too dense and hard.

Topper Choices. Slices of bacon across the loaf add more fat, hence flavor. Either put them directly on the loaf and smother them in ketchup, barbecue or tomato sauce; or place the bacon on top of the sauce. On top, however, the bacon may blacken by the end of the cooking time.

Perfect Your Recipe. Write down the amounts and kinds of ingredients you used and record your yours, family, and guests’ comments in order to refine your next version.

Meat Loaf Challenge is a post from: Home and Garden Blog

Side Table Order. What is on your side-table, between chairs and couches? This is a typical dumping ground for everything. Pare down to what is essential. Try using a pretty basket (mine was 50¢ at a garage sale) to corral T.V. controllers. Include 1 or 2 coasters (not a stack). Include a lamp, bright enough to read by. Arrange items at varying heights to create interest. A mirror behind the grouping gives the room interest and depth. Another basket could hold reading glasses, tissues, and crossword puzzles, with a small book on top. Try covering a cheap particle board table with a table cloth to the floor for visual appeal, in keeping with your décor, and to hide larger items, like toys. Commit to never leaving anything else on that table, when you leave the room.

Low-Cost Lamp. Two different garage sales, months apart, produced my “Tiffany” dragon lamp. The base came without a lampshade; and the glass lampshade, without a base. The happy union worked, wouldn’t you agree? Sometimes, you just have to have faith that you will make it work, when you buy an incomplete item you really like. The base was $2. The glass shade was $20.

DIY Pot Pouri. Anything else on a side table I treat as a design element to delight the senses. For some, a fragrant candle, live plant, music box, game, or candy jar is a seasonal choice. I love to fill my cut-glass bowl with a delicious mix of pot pouri that subtly perfumes the air for all those sitting nearby. Don’t splurge on an autumn pot pouri already made up, collect bits and pieces yourself to make your own. Collect on walks, if you can, and combine dried flower blossoms, privet berries (not if babies are around), little pine cones, pods, small dried whole fruit (citrus and pomegranates), dried sliced oranges, cinnamon sticks, and ground cinnamon and cloves. If you don’t have orris root powder, scented oils, or crushed mulling spices to add, sprinkle a few drops of olive oil or baby oil onto the cinnamon sticks to bring out their fragrance. Stir and refresh it periodically with more scent–mmm, nice. Family members will notice.

Family Room Finesse is a post from: Home and Garden Blog

35 Year Old Cacti

Free Cactus. Don’t be shy to ask for a cutting of cactus from friends, family, and neighbors, especially if they have lots of a specimen. I’ve found that gardeners are only too willing to share, if they know you have an interest. Sometimes, free or inexpensive cactus is offered in local papers or from garden clubs. Otherwise, you’ll have to pay for a baby plant. You might be put off by the size of cactus for sale in some nurseries and discount store garden sections. I was. I thought it would never grow.

Patience Required. The two nondescript little cactus plants I bought 35 years ago have multiplied slowly over the years. They first surprised me when they bloomed. I hadn’t expected any colors. The finger sized cactus blooms with bright orangey red flowers the size of a silver dollar. The fatter, taller cactus has a crown of tiny bright pink flowers. What you see in the photo ultimately came from 2 tiny potted starts. The picture shows them just before I transplanted them a fifth time into three round 2’ diameter low pots. These cacti have moved with me three times!

Children Like Cactus. The first time I ever saw my baby daughter stand, she was sitting on the sidewalk looking up at my jade plant. Up she went to pinch a chubby leaf with her chubby little thumb and forefinger. She stood fascinated for a couple of long minutes before she plopped down. Some eight years later, it was she who “found” my little cacti, which I’d rather lost track of amongst my other plants. She adopted it. She told me it needed to be transplanted and cared for. How she managed to do that I’m not certain. I was delighted! Is there a child you know you could buy a cactus for to nurture?

Beware of Prickles. Cactus seems to grow to the size pot allotted to it. Want more cactus? Put it in a bigger pot. I made the mistake of trying to transplant my cacti with garden gloves coated with plastic on the palm side. The top side of my gloves brushed against plants embedding fine, hair-like bristles in the cloth. Oh, my goodness! My hands were covered with red, itchy dots as a result. There was no way to remove the tiny culprits from the gloves. I tried brushing them and washing them. I finally tossed them away. I should have consulted my daughter to learn of her technique.

Cactus Handling Techniques. Oxalis, that insidious clover-like weed, had managed to lodge itself in my cacti. I used kitchen tongs and tweezers to try to get it out. That worked fairly well. But the density of the plants made me realize it was time to transplant. This time I used a long-handled spoon and thick rubber gloves. That worked. I was so surprised to see that the finger-shaped cactus was actually a rope, buried in the center, with the green ends sticking out. That’s what happens, I guess, when the plant gets to be 35 years old!

If anyone knows the names of my cacti, please share them with me. I don’t think they were identified when I first bought them. They do well in sun or partial shade. Thanks!

Cactus Fun is a post from: Home and Garden Blog