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Scalloped Asparagus

Spring has sprung in the form of LOTS of asparagus here at Camp Kathy.  Roasted some the other night and tonight took 3 pounds and made a new recipe with it.  Not bad.  Give it a whirl!

3 pounds asparagus
6 TBS butter
3/4 cup French Fried Onions
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 cups milk
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
3/4 cup finely grated mild cheddar cheese
4 ounces pimiento

Wash asparagus, remove wood part of stalks and cut into 2-1/2 inch pieces. Cook in boiling salted water until tender (4 minutes).  Drain well and place in shallow 2 quart baking dish.  Melt butter in sauce pan.  Blend flour, salt and pepper in butter in saucepan.  Continue cooking and stirring  over low heat.  Gradually add milk, stirring until thickened.  Add Worcestershire sauce, pimiento and cheese; stir until cheese is melted.  Pour sauce over asparagus in casserole; top with french fried onions.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Here it is before I put it in the oven:



Got asparagus?

Cheddar Bread & Soup!

Weather is getting cooler and so this Sunday found me making homemade chicken noodle soup and a family favorite, Cheddar Casserole Bread.  So good! See recipe below!



2 cups warm milk (105 to 115)
2 packages active dry yeast
3 TBS sugar
1 TBS butter
1/2 tsp. salt
4-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
6 ounces Sharp Cheddar cheese, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
Optional; King Arthur Flour Everything Bread & Bagel Topping

In large bowl, combine milk and yeast; stir to dissolve yeast.  Add sugar, butter and salt; stir until butter is melted.  Stir in 3 cups of the flour; beat until smooth.  Stir in remaining flour and cheese; mix well.  Pour batter into well-buttered 1-1/2 quart round casserole.  Cover with waxed paper; let rise in warm place (85 degrees) until doubled, about 1 hour.  Remove waxed paper and sprinkle on topping. Bake in preheated 350 oven 50 to 55 minutes or until wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean.  Let cool in dish on wire rack 10 minutes.  Loosen edge; remove from dish.  Cool slightly on wire rack; serve warm with butter.

"It's called cooking!"

It's Sunday.  Sunday is the only day that I don't HAVE to go anywhere, be anywhere, for the most part.  I thought I had chicken breasts downstairs.  Guess not.  Then it is what will I make for dinner.

Seeing as I don't have to be anywhere, I think no one else needs to go anywhere.  Just because my first thought for dinner isn't here, means that I have to find something that is.  Oooooo, homemade potato soup.....nope, not enough milk.  Super quick vegetable soup, oooooo no Lipton onion soup mix like I usually use......goulash?  Hmmmm...but it is always better with Lipton onion soup mix.

No Lipton Onion Soup Mix? But there is the internet.

Homemade Lipton Onion Soup Mix

3/4 cup instant mixed onion
1/3 cup beef bouillon powder
4 tsps. onion powder
1/4 tsp. crushed celery seeds
1/4 tsp. sugar

Combine all ingredients and store in an airtight container.

About 5 TBS. of mix are equal to 1 1-1/4 ounce package

So what did I put together for dinner tonight, keeping in mind late Monday night tumbling night that it would be good to have leftovers for?

3 Quarts of my canned tomatoes from my garden
2 lbs of venison (hunted by hubby)
1 lb of wild boar (hunted by hubby)
2 cans V8
1 bunch of celery
1 LARGE onion
1-1/2 cups of frozen chopped green pepper from my garden
1 16 oz box of whole wheat pasta elbows.
7 TBS of the homemade onion soup mix per above.

Done.

As always, boy child put himself on standby to run to Pec for whatever ingredient I need.  When I said I was making my own Lipton Onion Soup mix, boy child was skeptical; "Can you do that?" he asked.  In which the hubby states, "It's called cooking."

Well yes.  Yes it is. 

Got Apples? Want your cake & eat it too?

I was asked today if I had gone to one of the local apple orchards and that is why I brought apple cake to work today.  Now all you friends know the Camp Kathy orchard is on the south side of the driveway! (And the fresh eggs are on the north side!)

Anyways......Haven't post this recipe for a while and it is definitely worth a re-post!

Fresh Apple Cake

3 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. allspice
2 cups sugar
1-1/4 cup corn oil
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 large apples, finely chopped

Mix flour, salt, soda and spices together in a bowl. Beat sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla in bowl.  Add flour mixture; mix well.  Batter will be stiff.  Stir in apples.  Pour into greased 9x13 cake pan.  Bake at 340 degrees for 45 minutes.

I sift some powdered sugar across the top when it is cool. Just cuz.

So good as a snack cake!  Enjoy!

Venison Cranberry Meat Loaves

Camp Kathy is back with a vengeance now that the kitchen is 95% done!

Tonight, I made Venison Cranberry Meat Loaves. I DEFY you to serve this to your friends that say they can tell if they are eating wild game.  This is a good recipe for both venison and wild boar for you hunters out there.  I based this on a recipe from a cookbook from the Junior Auxiliary of Russellville, Arkansas submitted by Jane Barnes.  So Good!  And go ahead, use ground beef if you MUST!

1 pound ground venison, wild boar or beef
1 cup cooked brown rice
1/2 cup tomato juice
1 slightly beaten egg
1/4 cup minced onions
1-1/2 TBS salt (I used 4 tsp.)
1 TBS bottled brown bouquet sauce
2 cups whole berry cranberry sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 TBS lemon juice

Combine first seven ingredients.  Shape into 5 individual loaves.  Leave a depression in the top of each one.  Place in a baking dish.  Combine remaining ingredients and pour over loaves.  Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until done.

I served these with some green beans I canned from my garden.  Please note that I had doubled the above recipe because I have a teenage boy.  Just sayin'.

Enjoy!


P.S. Don't you just LOVE the granite in the new Camp Kathy kitchen!!!!!

Crazy Kacie the Lab, Retrieving Machine!

Crazy Kacie the Lab earning her keep!



Birds for the dinner table..


Beers for guests on the deck....





Camp Kathy New Towing & Hauling Machine

My much beloved Durango graduated from nickel diming us to $1,000 dollaring us to death.  It was time for a change like it or not.  The era of the Durango is now the era of the Ford Expedition EL.





This is the first non Dodge/Chrysler vehicle we have owned in 22 years.  We have owned 7 Dodge/Chryslers during that time and began to experience more & more reliability issues.  When Dodge/Chrysler decided not to honor our warranty on our Durango, (one of their senior customer reps admitted that we had a legitimate claim and stated we weren't the only ones having our warranty claims denied) while they were getting a taxpayer bailout, it was the final straw.

We are now giving Ford a try and hoping they appreciate us as a loyal customer more than Dodge/Chrysler did.  So far........She is a SWEET ride! 

Camp Kathy Kitchen Project

Yes, it is hard to be Camp Kathy without the Camp Kathy kitchen.  There hasn't been a Camp Kathy kitchen since February.  I am sure you have noticed the hit or miss blogging as of late.  Hard to be Kathy let alone Camp Kathy without a kitchen.

Here are a couple pics



What was the laundry room which will be expanded as laundry room/butler pantry.




Foundation issues found when ripping out the kitchen floor to the studs.

This isn't a kitchen remodel, this is renovation of the entire one end of this 150+ year old house.  This is a slow process but will be stunning and solid.......someday.




2012 Camp Kathy Garden

It's gardening season baby!!!!!!!

243 plants have been started in the cellar.  As you have come to expect from Camp Kathy, they are all heirloom/organic.  Here is the break down:

144 Tomato Plants (5 different kinds)

42 Halladay's Mortgage Lifter
21 John Baer
21 Earliana
36 Sudduth's Brandywine
24 Large Cherry

56 Peppers (2 different kinds)

31 Purple Beauty Peppers
25 Quadrato Green Peppers

16 Listada De Gardia Eggplants

27 Copenhagen Market Cabbage

I have 200 onion sets ready and waiting and rounding out the garden with rows of green beans, beets (2 different kinds), cucumbers (4 different kinds), zuchinni, summer squash and my favorite Seed Savers Lettuce mix.

I showed you mine, now you show me yours......what's in your garden this year??

Wild Boar Tenderloin Medallions w/Caramelized Onions

Two nights in a row!  Dinner hunted and cooked by the hubby.  Paired it up with some corn that hubby & girl child cut & froze from a local farmer.  Yet another meal out of our self-sustaining playbook!  OH!!!! And must love the cast iron pan!


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