DOOR PRIZE FOR AI SUPPORT GROUP

The Alzheimer's Idaho support group meeting is this Friday and the hostess and I take turns providing the door prize and this month is my turn.  I thought it would be nice to donate something that is Valentine's Day themed.

While out and about doing my after Christmas shopping I spied this ugly duckling candle holder marked down.  I liked that it was metal, loved the shape and it seemed well made. The price was right but not so much the color. I bought it not having a clue what I would do with it but decided it was more than worth the $4.42. I remembered this item when I was trying to decide on the door prize.

I looked at it for awhile and decided on a color scheme and using some acrylic paint starting painting - this is upside down to show that I colored the entire piece - it has nice black felt on the bottom, the rest is repainted.

I let it dry overnight.

Once dry, I decorated.  On the white I used a permanent Sharpie and on the rest I used the tip of a paint brush to dip in the acrylic paint and randomly add the dots.  In this photo it looks like there is a break in one of the swirls but there is not - that is glare. No right or wrong with the decoration - if you cannot think of anything find inspiration in other art, fabric or Google a theme and click on images - so many choices and this was fun. Once completely dry I sprayed with a flat clear coat to protect.

Here it is with a little, fat, unscented (I don't know who will be having this in their home so I chose an unscented candle in case of allergies, etc.).  The gingham bow is attached with a tiny pin that has a red end - for safety sake it should be removed as the candle burns down.

I found this cute heart with a chalk paint front at the $1 store and just did some more dots, etc. with a chalk pen. You can use regular chalk but it does not look as sharp - this washes off just like regular chalk would wash off - a wet soft cloth.

Here it is, ready for delivery on Friday - I just used a little dotted cellophane and tied with some Valentine ribbon and attached a cute curly bow.  I hope the winner will be happy.

Resource

Acrylic paint, craft and hobby stores and online
Chalk board heart, Dollar Tree
Dotted cellophane, craft store
Ribbon, Hobby Lobby
Chalk Pen, David Tutera chalk pen, craft & specialty stores,David Tutera Fine Tip Chalk Pens



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ESTRADA'S CHICKEN

First let me talk a little about Estrada's restaurant.  This restaurant when it closed in Visalia, California, was at the time the longest running restaurant in California. It was written in wills that the recipes would NEVER be written down, only passed from one family member to the next by word of mouth.  There was a family member who would make items for special friends for special occasions after the restaurant closed, but sadly he passed away more than a year ago.

I think that we all like the food we grew up eating whether this be Mexican, Chinese, etc. this is the taste we hunger for when we find a new place. Estrada's was not your typical Mexican restaurant - on the menu it stated "Early California food." My friend Nancy and I decided that we would each work on the recipes and to try and recreate the taste of our childhood as we both remember going to this restaurant in the old white house in Visalia, California before they moved to their last location on Mooney Boulevard.  I remember going in to town (was raised on a ranch in between Visalia and Tulare, California) we would call and order tamales and beans and go to the back door to get the goods and pay.  Nancy has a cute story about the sizzling tostadas - she not only always had two but wanted her mother to call and order ahead of time so they would be ready upon their arrival! They were and still are very unique. I will post the recipe for them later as well as Nancy's cooks notes.

Where did we get the recipes?  Mostly online - I have been part of a message string for a few years - like minded people looking for the recipes.  The postings that have been the most beneficial have come from people who worked at the restaurant over the years.  A big breakthrough was finding the recipe for their red sauce because that meant that it was then pretty easy to recreate the enchiladas and the macaroni. Macaroni, yes - remember their food was early California food.

The one thing that seems to be universal about the recipes we have recreated is simplicity.  Here is the recipe for the chicken:

Chicken
Salt
Pepper
Flour
Lard

That's it - here are the instructions:

Salt & pepper the chicken on both sides, season the flour with salt and pepper. Cover the chicken with the seasoned flour mixture and fry in lard in a cast iron frying pan till done.

I do not normally fry chicken, except for a picnic and I will usually brine the chicken overnight, but I did exactly as the recipe called for - salt and pepper both front and back, coat with the flour and fry.  I put the flour into a plastic bag and shook each piece individually.

Instead of a cast iron frying pan I chose to use my cast iron enamel pot with the higher sides so as to not make such a mess frying, high sides cut down on the splatter - and safety - not getting burned by splatter.

Here it is - and it tastes exactly like their chicken.  I knew it would be when I was cooking because I could smell that familiar scent of their chicken.

Lard??? Everyone has to make up their own mind about using this particular ingredient.  Both medically (lard does have less saturated fat than butter) and just as a product that has been so maligned over the years.  This ingredient has made a come back with foodies in recent years and they recommend leaf lard as the best (very expensive and hard to find). I did read an article that stated the start of the downfall of this ingredient was advertisements for items like Crisco saying that lard was unhealthy and that their product was healthier.  I say all things in moderation and if I make this chicken a couple of times a year to take on a picnic, I think that is OK.

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TASTY TUESDAY - ICE CREAM

I am not big on new year's resolutions but I made an exception this year.  My only resolution was to do my very best to come up with new recipes that were easy, good (tasty) and healthy.  There are a zillion recipes out there that proclaim to be these three things but sadly I have tried many (hmmm...why did I ever think blueberries and buttermilk would be good???) that do not hit the mark.  So.....my goal is to try and find and post some good ones on Tuesdays.

This particular recipe has been floating around for a long time - one of those "I need to try this" recipes.  I finally did just that and my "OK meter, hubby's thumbs," received two thumbs up!

 Never throw out an old banana again.  All you need for this recipe are these five ingredients, 2 frozen (cut into hunks) bananas, 1/2 cup sliced, frozen bananas, 2T heavy cream (or to reduce the calories even more almond milk) 2 pkgs Stevia, and finally 1/2 tsp vanilla.

 Working quickly, put all ingredients into your food processor and whirl away until it becomes creamy.....

 I spread into an 8x8 pan and froze for one hour.  If you are using a taller more narrow pan you will need to freeze longer.  We were ready for our dessert in an hour, did not want to wait for three long hours.

Scooped it out and served in a footed glass and put a little dollop of the low fat cream in a can.  Good stuff!




Ingredients:

2 bananas, sliced and frozen
1/2 cup strawberries, sliced and frozen (if you use frozen strawberries in the bag, leave them whole, I used fresh)
2T heavy cream (or almond milk)
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 pkgs Stevia 



Calorie count, etc.:

Per Serving: 2 servings of 1 cup each

Calories: 166*

Fat calories, 53

Fat, 6g*

Saturated fat, 3g* 

Cholesterol, 19mg*

Sodium, 7mg

Carbs, 30g*

Fiber, 4g

Sugar, 16g 

 

*These numbers are based on using heavy cream so if you use the almond milk, all these numbers will be reduced considerably. This does NOT include the "dollop" of canned whipped cream.

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