Rocket & Recipes

The debut of the Falcon 9, Block 5 - May 11,2018

My apologies for nothing better than a scan of a newspaper photo, but I was too busy urging, "Go, go, go! to take a photo when I watched the launch on television, and the enlargement of my "live" photo taken outside moments later refused to transmit as anything but the original vague squiggle, so I was reduced to this. The moment, however, was significant, as the Block 5 can be reused 10 times without maintenance and up to 300 times overall. (And yes, it landed on a barge in the Atlantic and is already back at Cape Canaveral.) Even more important, it will be capable of manned spaceflight, something that hasn't happened here since the shuttles were retired. So this launch was a big thing here on the Space Coast and bodes well for the future. Elon Musk is a true hero to the Space Industry.

A MOSAIC MOMENT - RECIPES

As my regular readers know, I am a recipe freak, constantly gathering new recipes from newspapers, online, and those fancy recipe magazines they sell at the grocery store. But lately, alas, the recipes I've tried have not been ones I wanted to pass along. (A few were truly "Ugh!") So this week I went back to a book on my shelf hand-lettered, "THE Cookbook." I put it together at least 20 years ago for the girls in the family at that time: my daughter, daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law's sister, and my elder son's significant other of the moment.

Here are three old-time favorites from that book:

EVERYBODY'S FAVORITE APPETIZER 

Grace note:  Susie has taught her girls to make these & still serves the chestnut version at almost every party.

1 lb. bacon

Water chestnuts (canned)

Green olives (large, pitted)

Cut bacon strips in half crosswise. Wrap chestnuts and olives in half strip bacon each. Fasten each with a wooden cocktail toothpick (not plastic). Place wrapped chestnuts & olives on broiler pan and broil until bacon is cooked. Turn when top is done, broil the other side.

Alternate cooking instructions:  Use 1/3 slice of bacon. Place on cookie sheet & bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes.

Note:  Broiler pan allows bacon fat to fall into bottom of pan.

AUNT GERTIE'S CHERRY CHEESE CAKE

20-25 Lorna Doone cookies*
4 tablespoons butter
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 lb. cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 can cherry pie filling

* a square vanilla cookie

Break cookies into fine pieces (I use a rolling pin). Melt butter & pour into crumbs; mix. Spread mixture in bottom of 8" square cake pan; press evenly. Mix eggs, sugar, cream cheese & vanilla. Beat with electric mixer about ten minutes. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Top with cherry pie filling (or whatever fruit topping desired). 

Cheesecake keeps well as long as it is refrigerated, so it is a good "make ahead" for a company dessert. 

IMPOSSIBLE CHEESEBURGER PIE

1 lb ground beef

1½ cups chopped onion

1½ cups milk

3/4 cup Bisquick baking mix

3 eggs

½ teaspoon salt 

¼ teaspoon pepper

2 tomatoes, sliced

1 cup shredded Cheddar

Heat oven to 400°. Grease 10" x 1½" pie plate or 8" square pan. Cook & stir beef and onion over medium heat until beef is brown; drain. Spread in plate. Beat milk, baking mix, eggs, salt & pepper until smooth, 15 seconds in blender or 1 minute with hand beater.  Pour into plate. Bake 25 minutes (longer for 8" square pan). Top with tomatoes; sprinkle with cheese. Bake until knife inserted in center comes out clean - 5 to 8 minutes. Cool 5 minutes. Serves 6-8.

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Grace note:  more "comfort food" recipes from THE Cookbook later this year.

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ROYAL REBELLION, the final book of my Blue Moon Rising series, is now on Pre-order at Amazon.Click here. Books 2 & 3, SORCERER'S BRIDE & THE BASTARD PRINCE will go on Kindle Countdown sale May 25. (Sorry, but Book 1, REBEL PRINCESS, is published by Kindle Scout and I have no control over when they put it on sale.)

For a link to the Amazon Pre-order page, click here.

For background info on ROYAL REBELLION, please see my Facebook Author Page. Click here.

And here's a peek at the social media ad just created for ROYAL REBELLION, which goes live on June 14:

 Thanks for stopping by,

Grace