Maple-Bacon Oven Pancake

This Maple-Bacon Oven Pancake recipe makes a special breakfast treat for family or friends.

1-1/2 c Bisquick
1 Tbsp sugar
2 eggs
3/4 c milk
1/4 c maple syrup
1-1/2 c shredded Cheddar cheese
12 slices (about 1/2 lb) bacon, fried crisp and crumbled

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Grease and flour 9×13 inch baking dish. Beat Bisquick, sugar, eggs, milk syrup and 1/4 cup cheese until smooth. Pour into pan. Bake uncovered for 10 to 12 minutes (until toothpick comes out clean). Sprinkle pancake with remaining 1 cup cheese and bacon, baking until cheese is melted, 3 to 5 minutes longer. Serve with additional syrup.

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Wedding Anniversary Gifts

There are the traditional gifts for various years of wedded bliss and there are modern wedding anniversary gifts. It used to be paper, cotton, leather and so on through diamond for the seventy-fifth. Here are the modern landmark years and gift type suggested.

First – Clock
Second – China
Third – Crystal glass
Fourth – Electrical appliances
Fifth – Silverware
Sixth – Wood
Seventh – Desk sets, Pen and Pencil Sets
Eighth – Linens, Laces
Ninth – Leather
Tenth – Diamond Jewelry
Eleventh – Fashion Jewelry and accessories
Twelfth – Pearls or Colored Gems
Thirteenth – Textiles, Furs
Fourteenth – Gold Jewelry
Fifteenth – Watches
Sixteenth – Silver Hollow Wear
Seventeenth – Furniture
Eighteenth – Porcelain
Nineteenth – Bronze
Twentieth – Platinum
Twenty-Fifth – Sterling Silver
Thirtieth – Diamond
Thirty-Fifth – Jade
Fortieth – Ruby
Forty-Fifth – Sapphire
Fiftieth – Golden Jubilee
Fifty-Fifth – Emerald
Sixtieth – Diamond Jubilee

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In Charge of Supplies

With all the ‘Really Good’ things a certain candidate promised the coal miners around the country, a man was prompted to buy a small coal mine that had come up for sale. Not knowing much about mining, he decided to hire some people to run it for him. The first man to interview was a big, burly man. “I’ll hire you to dig out the coal chunks and put them in the cart,” the new mine owner told this man. The second man to interview was also a big man. The owner said, “You’re also a big, strong man. I’ll hire you to push the loaded cart from the back of the mine to the entrance.” The third person he interviewed was a small, oriental man, so the owner said, “Since you’re not as big and strong as the other two men, I’ll put you in charge of supplies.”

A month later the mine owner came back to the mine to see how things were progressing. He found the first man digging out the coal and putting the chunks into the cart. The second man was pushing the cart from the back of the mine to the entrance as he was supposed to. He thought everything was going great until he noticed the oriental man was nowhere to be seen. He asked the other men, “Where is the oriental guy?” “He’s way back in the mine,” they both replied. As the owner was nearing the back of the mine, the little oriental man jumped from behind a pillar of coal shouting, “Supplies! Supplies!”

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Salmon Patties

Walking by the canned salmon in the grocery store recently reminded me of my mother’s go to meal if time or money was short. For some reason, I still can’t stomach canned salmon. If you can, here’s a recipe for salmon patties.

1 1-lb can of salmon
1/4 onion, dices
1 egg
Cracker crumbs, about 1 cup

Put salmon and juice in bowl, removing all bones. Break up fish and mix into juice. Add egg and onion and mix again. Add enough cracker crumbs to absorb juice. Form into patties and brown in greased skillet. Serve with tartar sauce if you feel really flush!

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Egg Equivalents

We are getting our eggs from a home flock where the hens and pullets are producing various colors and sizes of eggs. The exterior color of the eggs are no big problem to me when baking, but the size of the eggs make a difference. Here’s a comparison chart I’ve run across that helps me determine how many to use.

• 8 to 10 egg whites = 1 cup
• 10 to 14 egg yolks = 1 cup
• 4 to 6 whole eggs = 1 cup
• 10 average eggs (without shells) = 1 pound
• 7 to 8 large eggs (with shells) = 1 pound
• 9 to 10 medium eggs (with shells) = 1 pound
• 11 to 12 small eggs (with shells) = 1 pound

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Can You Relate?

Frenchy said he hadn’t been feeling up to par lately, so he decide to see his doctor.

After the doctor finished checking over the ‘not so young’ Frenchy he said, “I can’t seem to find anything wrong with you, but I do recommend that you give up half of your sex life.”

After a long pause and very deep thought Frenchy asked the doctor, ” Doc, which half do you suggest I give up? Thinking about it or talking about it?”

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Corn-Stuffed Onions

I have good news for those of you who love stuffed peppers and wonder if there is such a thing as stuffed onions. There is and here is a recipe for corn-stuffed onions.

6 medium onions
1 12-oz can corn with green peppers and pinmentos
2 Tbsp margarine
1 10-1/4 oz can cream of celery soup
1 c shredded American cheese

Hollow out onions; chop contents to make 1 cup. Fill onions with corn and place in an 8x8x2 inch baking dish. Cook, covered in microwave on high for 16 minutes, turning dish once. In a 4-cup glass measure, combine margarine and chopped onion; cook, uncovered on high for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring once. Stir in soup, any remaining corn and cheese. Cook on high for 1 minute, stirring once. Spoon sauce over onions; cook uncovered on high for 6 minutes.

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Spring Time on the Massanutten

For those of my readers in the ‘Snow Zone’, here is what a freshly tilled garden and mowed lawn looks like.

 

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Skinning a Catfish

Ask any old-timer how to skin a catfish and he/she will probably tell you to nail the sucker to a tree and tear its skin off with a pliers. Am I right? Been there, done that myself. But with the current generations being more genteel, here is the ‘modern’ rendition of the above.

Grab a 3 foot length of 2×6 from the shop and place it on a flat surface. Using a sharp knife, score the skin all the way around the head, just in front of the catfish’s gill plates. Make a second slit all the way down the fish’s back.

Make a second trip to the shop and grab a hammer and a 16-penny nail. Drive the nail through the cat’s head into the 2×6 and cut off the dorsal fin. Make a third trip to the shop and grab a pair of pliers. Brace the board holding the fish (with its tail toward you) against your waist, or somehow holding the board steady, grasp the skin with the pliers and pull it down to the tail and off the fish.

Remove the fish from the board. Grasping the head in one hand and the body in the other, bend the head sharply downward toward the ground (floor) to break the fish’s spine. Bending the body upward, twist to separate the head from the body. After opening the body with your knife, remove any remaining viscera (guts and organs) and rinse well with plenty of clean water.

Any fish over a 4 pounder and you’ll need a cleaver to remove the head instead of the ‘bend and twist’ method. Oh, by the way, if you’re well-organized and grab every thing you’ll need from the shop the first time, you’ll save some steps and time.

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Good Luck or Bad Luck?

I had spent a couple of hours yesterday morning splitting wood and went into the house for a cup of coffee. Pickle Queen was all in a dither as the guest speaker she had lined up for the afternoon’s Lady’s Group meeting canceled at the last minute. As we sat by the table racking our brains for a substitution an old beat up pickup drove into the yard. Two men jumped out, came to the door and offered to do work around the place in return for a meal. Before PQ could say anything I said to the men, “We’ll give you dinner if you finish splitting the pile of wood by the wood shed.”

Fifteen minutes later, PQ glanced out the window to see one of the men whirl across the driveway, performing a succession of double flips and one-handed cartwheels before disappearing into some bushes. Rushing out, she grabbed the second man and excitedly said, “That was amazing! Do you think your friend would be willing to do that again at the Lady’s Group this afternoon? I’ll pay him twenty dollars!”

“Hey Butch!” the man yelled out. “The lady here wants to know if you would chop off another finger for twenty bucks!”

Needless to say, they didn’t have a quest speaker at the meeting.

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