Chop Suey in Progress

Chop Suey

1 1/2 pounds Chop Suey meat (chunks of pork)
1 can chop suey vegetables, undrained
1 can sliced water chestnuts, undrained, if desired
1 4-oz can mushrooms, undrained
1 medium onion, chopped
1 small green pepper, chopped
3 stalks of celery, chopped.
3 tablespoons corn starch
1 tsp salt, if desired
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons brown gravy sauce OR 1 tablespoon regular molasses

Brown the meat. Add chop suey vegetables, water chestnuts, mushrooms, chopped onions and chopped green peppers. Simmer for 20 minutes, uncovered. (celery added later)

While that simmers, mix the corn starch, salt, if wanted, soy sauce, water and brown gravy sauce or molasses thoroughly. Add chopped celery. Pour gradually into meat and vegetable mixture. Cover and cook on low for 15 minutes. Serve with rice.

Serves 6

Someone on twitter asked us about childhood memories of food.  Chop Suey was the first thing that popped into my head.  So, then I wanted to make it and even thought I thought I had a recipe, I couldn’t find it.  So, I called my mom.  She hadn’t made it in a long time, either and didn’t think she had a recipe.  Lo, and behold, I got an email from her today, that she’d found the recipe.  Yay.  So, supper plans were set in stone yet, so I made Chop Suey.  It was good and brought back a lot of memories of making it as a teenager and eating it as a kid.

Also, that 81 degree day in March was a fluke.  It got cold again the next day and has been cold since.  Days in the 40′s and 50′s happening pretty regularly.

Here’s an updated picture of the lilac bush.

Buds getting bigger 4-18-12

Lilac leaf buds getting ready to open

It’s so nice outside. You’d think we went on a spring break trip, without leaving the house. So odd, though, to have it so warm, for so many days in a row. It’s only March. I have on capris and I’m looking forward to wearing sandals, when I go out again!

You’d have thought it would be nice out, for my lunch job, but those warm, no-jacket, temps didn’t happen until after 1pm. I still wore my fleece, at work. Just when I might have worn capris to work, I’m reminded I should still wear long pants!

Daffodil sprouts

Emily and I cleaned out leaves from the main flower garden today. It was time to uncover the daffodil and tulip sprouts that were already growing under the leaves. At 1pm today, it was 65 degrees. It felt so nice! The flower garden looks better, too. I can’t wait until the flowers bloom!

Cardinal in the tree

When I went out in the yard, I heard a cardinal. He was in the tree at the end of the yard. Since the trees don’t have leaves yet, he was easy to find and didn’t seem to be disturbed as I crept closer and closer!

We did have a wussy winter. It never got very cold and we hardly got any snow, but I’m still happy that spring is coming, anyway. I was getting very tired of my winter jacket and it was nice to be outside without it, today.

Tonight it’s supposed to rain. That doesn’t bode well for the dog messes I didn’t bother to pick up today! Shoot! Should have just done it!

Tomorrow the snow is supposed to come.  We’ve also made it to January 11, 2012, without a major snowfall yet.  The most we’ve had so far, is about 2 inches and that was long gone already.  The weathermen tell us to expect 5-7 inches of white fluffy snow, that will be blown around like crazy, because of the wind.

So, no knit-night for us tomorrow!  We will be staying home!  Darn it all.  We went grocery shopping yesterday, so we don’t have to go shopping tomorrow.  I will probably have to work both my jobs tomorrow, because the snow isn’t going to be fast and furious. I’ll have to dig out the boots.

Back in November of 2010 (based on the comment I left on a blog post), Emily and I made Stuffed Acorn Squash and White Bean Chicken Chili.  I’ll be darned if I remember what recipe we used for the white chili.  I just remember it being good.  Then I remembered the yummy soup I made once for a Lenten soup and sandwich supper, that everyone liked and tried to remember where that was from.  Sheesh.  I googled chicken soup with spinach and rosemary and found this link:  Italian White Bean and Spinach Soup  Phew!

It will be fun to take pictures of snow, once we get it!  I took pictures of the yard, the other day, so I could document our snowlessness.  They are still on the camera, though!

Our Christmas tree from this year. It was a combination of a balsam and a fraser fir!  I’d never heard of that before.  My coolest gifts were a Mac Mini and a small 4-cup Cuisinart Food Processor!  The kids are having fun learning how to use the food processor.  Some day I won’t have to work so much and I can have a little more time to play with it.  I’m still working hard on getting my computer set up with my old files and trying to navigate a Mac.

Tomorrow the temps and dewpoints will go up again. Just in time for us to have to mow the lawn again! Ugh! Still it won’t be as hot as last week’s heat advisories. We might have to dodge some raindrops, though.

The flowers are blooming nicely. I should take some pics tomorrow. I have off tomorrow, so I will have time!

Sauce:
3/4 C chopped onion
3 T. oil
2 1-lb cans tomatoes (4 cups)
2 6-oz cans (1-1/3 cups) tomato paste
1 T. sugar
1-1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1 bay leaf
1-1/2 t. oregano
1 cup water

Cooked chopped onion in hot oil until tender. Add next 7 ingredients, along with 1 cup water. Simmer 30 minutes. Remove bay leaf. After mixing and baking meatballs, add them to sauce and simmer another 30 minutes.

Meatballs:
1/2 c. bread crumbs
1 lb. ground beef
2 eggs
2 T. chopped parsley (or 2 t. dried parsley)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 t. crushed oregano
1 t. salt
1/2 cup grated Romano cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix ingredients together thoroughly. Form into 1-inch balls. Bake in broiler pan for 20 minutes. Add to sauce.

We haven’t had this in a while, but I was reading this post, about saving money at the grocery store, and it made me think of this recipe.  This home-made marinara sauce is so much better than store-bought sauce!

http://morethymethandough.com/shop-smart

Here’s some other things that I made in 2010!

Matching Hat
Basketweave dishcloth designed by Andi Worthy
Mason-Dixon Ballband – knit with ecru Sugar’n Cream and Premium Peaches & Cream in Spice (scroll down to pattern link)
Ho Ho Ho Snowman by Alli Barrett
Linoleum Dishcloth – another Mason-Dixon design

2010 Dishcloths

Mid-July – Ribbons and Lace – Janet Nogle
August – Starfish –  Elaine
Mid-August – Ice Cream Cone – Andi Worthy
September – Mouse (Do I Smell Cheese?) - Elaine
Mid-September – Lacy Leaves – Andi Worthy
October – Spider – Andi Worthy
Mid-October – Witch – Alli Barrett
November – Peanut the Elephant – Elaine
Mid-November – Snowy Drops – Andi Worthy
December – Christmas Tree – Frugalhaus
Mid-December – Fire and Ice – Janet Nogle

Geez, I’ve been a slacker.  I didn’t post all winter!  These dishcloths were all fun to make.  I just got lazy about posting them on here!