Karen's Muse and Musings

Making Art with Food

I admit it — I love to eat. Fortunately, I also love to cook. When I can cook something delicious and make something artistic at the same time, then I'm a very happy camper.

This is a Vegetable Tian, made from thin slices of red potato, zucchini and carrots, flavored with olive oil, onion, garlic and fresh oregano. Can you say yum? It was delicious. I recently discovered the recipe in an old Martha Stewart magazine that I had saved for the beautifully decorated Easter eggs on the cover. Click here for the recipe. My only comment on the recipe is that Martha Stewart claims that the prep time is 10 minutes. Ten minutes, my {omitting the more colorful words}! I wonder what robot could do it that fast! I used a mandoline to cut the veggies, but even so, I was cutting and arranging for at least twice that time. Still, it was worth the effort. Good enough for Warren and even the Queen, should she decide to pay us a visit!

Happy New Year!

Here's to 2010! I pray that this year will be filled with peace and joy for us all.

As I look back on 2009, it has been a little rough for many of us, at least financially. Of course, Warren and I had a new grandchild this past year, and we're definitely thankful for our little Kathleen plus all the wonderful times spent with Bobby during 2009. Watching them both grow and develop has been the highlight of our year.

For me, another happy, exciting part of my 2009 experience was losing 45 pounds. For the first time in years, I can ignore all the weight loss ads on television, not wondering about their products and if they would work for me. (I have wanted to share this with you, but it is hard to write about. I don't want to come across as preaching.) I have tried to lose weight and keep it off for several years now, but I believe I finally found the secret — walking! Yes, I did watch what I ate, especially at first, but I found that by walking at least 4 miles a day, I could lose weight and get plenty to eat. I know — you may have exclaimed "4 miles a day!" unless you are a true athlete which I am definitely not. When I first started walking, I hated every step. Even walking a mile was a challenge, but I kept it up, and now I often walk 6 miles a day. Yes, it takes time, but it's time well spent. It's been not only good for my physical health but my emotional health. When I walk out my front door into the fresh air, I feel free and unencumbered. I escape for an hour or two with my music or with audiobooks — books that I would never have found the time to read otherwise. So, if you are making a resolution to lose weight this year, you can do it. Just take that first step and keep on walking.

Holiday Happenings

Note to self: Never design square Christmas cards again. It now costs 64 cents apiece to mail square envelopes. Yikes!

I finally mailed my Christmas cards. My presents are wrapped. Hurray!

It's been really busy here at the Owen house, but I know it's probably been busy at your house too. Having a spouse who has a birthday just before Christmas adds to all the busy-ness. In addition, our little granddaughter, Kathleen, is having her first birthday party tomorrow. She actually won't turn 1 until January 11, but since she and her family are here in town for Christmas and close to friends and relatives, this is a good time to celebrate her birthday. I have to share this photo of her and grandson, Bobby. It was taken this week.

Aren't they cute? I wish Bobby didn't have half his face covered with his pacifier, but it's still an awfully adorable photo. Isn't he sweet to let the woman drive?

I want to share a delicious recipe with you. It's called Southwestern Cheesecake, and it's great for a party — especially if you need to feed a crowd because it goes a long way. I made one last weekend for a party, and I just made another one for Kathleen's party. Here's the recipe.

SOUTHWESTERN CHEESECAKE

2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups (16 ounces) sour cream
1-1/2 envelopes taco seasoning
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chiles, drained

DIRECTIONS

In a large mixing bowl, beat cheeses until fluffy. Stir in 1 cup sour cream and 1 pkg. of taco seasoning. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined. Fold in chilies. Pour into a greased 9-in. springform pan. Place on a baking sheet.
    Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until center is almost set. Remove from oven; let stand for 10 minutes (leave oven on). Spoon remaining sour cream mixed with 1/2 pkg. of taco seasoning over top of filling. Bake 5 minutes longer. Cool completely on wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around the edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight.
    Remove sides of pan. Place on serving plate. Top with salsa or guacamole or you can get fancy and arrange different colored bell peppers, olives, onions, etc. on top. Serve with tortilla chips. Yield: 20-24 appetizer servings. 

Enjoy!

I Love Michigan!

Last weekend I visited my friend, Joanne Thieme Huffman, in Portage, Michigan. She is such a gracious hostess and treated me royally. Another dear friend, Catherine Warner (sadly blogless), lives close by in Kalamazoo, so she joined us for most of the weekend's activities which consisted of the best life has to offer — friends, food and ART!

Here's Joanne standing in front of her beautiful artwork which features her daughter, Becky.

On my first night there, we ate at Martini's. That's Catherine and me.

On Friday Joanne and Catherine took me on a scenic tour of Lake Michigan. We visited several quaint and lovely towns. Here we are all happy after a terrific lunch at Clementine's in South Haven.

Isn't this a cool chair? The back is made of golf clubs, and it was surprisingly comfortable. They also had chairs made of old skis.

We walked out the pier to the lighthouse. This was my first visit to one of the great lakes. Lake Michigan was impressive as was the beauty of everything I saw around there. The weather treated us well. It was cloudy that day, but no rain, and the other days I was there were sunny and beautiful. Much better than here in Atlanta where we've had rain, rain and more rain.

The lighthouse up close and personal.

Saturday morning Catherine took me to the fabulous farmer's market in Kalamazoo. Then Joanne hosted an art play day with several of my online friends who live in the area. Jeanie Croope drove down from Lansing to join us. That's her on the right in the above photo. Doesn't the table look lovely? Joanne made a scrumptious curried rice salad, and that long tray of gorgeous veggies was prepared by Catherine.

Brittney Young was there making envelopes. She must have made 50 from different beautiful papers.

Garage sale and flea market guru, Beth Bricker, came in AFTER hitting 3 sales. (That's Beth with the blonde hair in the center of the photo.) Of course, we all had to go out to her car to see what treasures she found, and we weren't disppointed.

I was delighted to meet Nellie Wortman in person. She looks pretty happy here, don't you think? She said that was water in that cup, but I wonder?!

That brings us sadly to my last day there. Catherine graciously prepared a brunch for Joanne, Jeanie and me. Catherine asked me to make mint juleps. I guess she figured since I was from the South, I should know how, and fortunately I did. First, you have to muddle fresh mint leaves with sugar.

Then you add ice and, of course, bourbon, preferably a really good one.

Good friends and yummy mint juleps!

Catherine prepared her scrumptious Orgasmic Eggs — fresh spinach, poached eggs, and diced tomatoes. Really, really delectable!

And that's beautiful Catherine standing by her delicious brunch. Sadly, the time came when I had to leave. Joanne had to drive from Portage to Detroit on Thursday to pick me up, and it took her 3-1/2 hours due to road construction, so it was very nice of Jeanie to offer to drive me back to the airport on Sunday.

I snapped this photo of the always smiling Jeanie as we drove along. No delays that day, so I arrived at the airport in plenty of time to catch my plane back to Atlanta, where it was raining, of course.

Four Baby Showers and Two Funerals

It's been a crazy month, taking its toll on my usual creative schedule. Every weekend has been taken up by baby showers for my new grandson. Believe me, this child will want for nothing! I'm excited beyond words about his arrival, but I am really glad the showers are now a thing of the past. In the midst of these, two Sundays were spent at the funerals of dear friends.

So, in the absence of any art to share, I thought I would share another kind of art — culinary art. I love to cook and to make what I cook look not only appetizing but beautiful. Here are some photos from the shower my sister and I gave my stepdaughter on Sunday. My sister offered her beautiful home and created the lovely decorations, and I prepared the food. This is the beautiful table that she set.

For the centerpiece, she made roses out of tiny baby clothes — sock, onesies, washcloths.

Now for the food. There were chicken salad croissants, chilled asparagus, bruschetta goat cheese cups, brochettes of melon, prosciutto and mozzarella, and key lime mini-cupcakes.

 

 

Anyone hungry?

Lastly, I had seen some jordan almonds that had been decorated like tiny babies on a website. They were very expensive, so I thought I'd give it a try and make my own. Well, here are my "monkey" babies, as I call them.

Almost as Good as Grandmama's

I remember waking up in my grandmother's house with the aroma of fresh-baked biscuits wafting into the bedroom. Oh, did they smell good! There was the extra smell of kerosene which heated the small house, probably not a pleasant smell for some, but for me it evokes happy, comfortable, loving memories.

Grandmama, as we called her, would get up every morning at some ungodly hour and make 6 or 7 dozen biscuits. When I was young, she still had 6 children at home — only my mother and her next sister had left. Four of those remaining  were boys, so she had to fill them up. Then there were leftover biscuits as well to eat throughout the day, and the ones that were finally left at night were put outside for the cats. (You know, I don't think my cat would even touch a biscuit, but these kitties weren't spoiled housecats.)

When she made the biscuits, there was no measuring cup because it was all done from touch and sight. She knew how much flour she needed, how much shortening to add, and she added the buttermilk until the mixture was just right. I used to be able to pretty much do the same thing, but I quit making biscuits on a regular basis years ago, mainly from lack of time and my expanding hips.

This morning I made biscuits. It's time change day, so I felt like I had an extra hour to kill. A couple of weeks ago as I read the new November issue of Southern Living, I spotted a new biscuit recipe. The authors said they were the best, flakiest biscuits ever. There was nothing unusual about the ingredients — self-rising flour, butter (not shortening or lard) and buttermilk. The difference was in folding the dough similarly to making a croissant. So, I thought I'd give them a try. An hour later I had the best biscuits I've ever had that weren't my grandmother's. An HOUR? I thought about that. If it had taken Grandmama an hour to make biscuits, she'd have had my grandfather and a whole passel of clamoring children glaring at her.

Still they were delicious, and I froze the leftovers for a quicker treat another morning. Sorry, kitty, none for you!