Gourmet Meals For Less

Memorial Day...less about food and more about remembering

I was so honored by JodiMo at Eatin' Cheap when she asked me to guest blog for her on her great site.  Head on over there to see a great side dish that is perfect for your Memorial Day parties. 

This left me with a blank slate for my Memorial Day entry...which got me thinking about what Memorial Day really meant to me.  Don't get me wrong, I love a good Memorial Day get together as much as the next person.  And if we weren't heading out on vacation I would be hosting a large gathering at our home.  But, since we will be spending Memorial Day somewhere down south in a great home on the river just the four of us, I thought I would dedicate my blog today to....remembering. 

Remembering and Honoring our family's legacy of service.

We can trace the legacy of service in my husband's family back to the Civil War but alas I have no photographic evidence of this, so  I will start with the man who was/is so near and dear to my heart...

My husband's Papaw Ray...isn't he dashing?!  He served valiantly on the USS Mills for three years during WWII.  And he loved to remind us regularly how often he traveled across the ocean on this Coast Guard destroyer.  I will now list it for posterity...once across the Pacific and 14 times across the Atlantic!

 
USS Mills

As most women across the world can attest to, I have often wondered what it would be like to watch my husband or son leave our family to serve his country.  These days there is at least cell phones, internet connections, webcams.  But when Papaw left, there were very few ways to communicate that everyone was ok.  You would have to wait, and pray, and wait, and pray and hope for a letter.  I want to honor Mamaw Bessie for her strength.  I would love to think I could be that strong living in the unknown...but I wonder could I?

Papaw Ray never lost an ounce of love for his country.  He was the most patriotic man I knew.  He had more flags, military and coast guard mementos than his room could hold.  His pride swelled with the knowledge that his son-in-law (my father-in-law) would also be serving his country.

No wonder my mom-in-law fell in love with him...isn't he handsome?!

This man dedicated his whole life to military service as a Marine and then as a Army chopper pilot.  This man served two tours in Vietnam.  And my mother-in-law Arlene waited for him not knowing..as all military wives had in the past but with the added curse of daily news coverage.  Where one heard about helicopter crashes but had to wait to find out... was it him?

 

And those two wonderful people gave birth to this man....

My God...he is good lookin'  Sigh..I love a man in a uniform, especially my man!

who left college when his country asked him to serve during Desert Shield/Desert Storm. Who has served his country in one form or another his entire adult life....he belongs to me.  And I am so thankful that I can always know where he is and how to reach him...thank you God for modern technology!

  

So here stands three of the most patriotic men I know.  They all have/are serving their country.  However one may feel about the current state of America, it's still a country worth sacrificing for.

 And when we laid Papaw to rest, I wondered would the little boy on the left serve his country the same way someday...

Because that little boy is mine...and it changes everything when they are your child.  Are all bets off when they belong to you?  When you held them in your arms and they looked at you with newborn eyes?  I don't know if he will decide this path for his life or not....and the time is counting down fast to manhood.  I will be proud of him whatever he chooses to do; as long as he keeps that servants heart that was passed down to him from the great men who have influenced his life.  But if he does choose to serve this way...will I let him?  Can I let him?  Of course the answer is yes.  And I will be proud...and I will call him everyday...because I'm a mom.

 

Thank you Papaw, thank you Bob, thank you my love, thank you to the men and women everywhere serving their country right now, this very minute and thank you to the families of those who sacrificed more than we can imagine.  In memory and with honor...I say thank you. 

 

A great side dish....Calico Beans

I want to invite my readers to head on over to Eatin' on the Cheap where I have a guest spot today.  JodieMo has a wonderful blog with great inexpensive recipes...she's on a bread roll (pun intended..grin) right now and I start drooling everytime I read her blog these days.

JodieMo asked me to share a great inexpensive Memorial Day recipe and I knew my Calico Beans would fit the bill.  If you had on over to her blog you can get the recipe.  And while you are there check out her other entries.  I bet you'll be as hooked as I am.

 

Enjoy!

 

Lemons, Herbs and Cornmeal a great combination!...Part 2

 

 

As promised in my last entry at Gourmet Meals for Less, I want to share this great recipe that I adapted from a few different ones I have been dying to try.  I first saw a cornmeal cake on Giada's show on The Food Network Channel and was intrigued by the idea.  I then saw this great post at The Pioneer Woman where she made these, which looks so delish.  I found out later my sister, also a obsessive foodie like yours truly, had made the Pioneer Woman's mini cakes and said they were as good as they looked.  I wanted to make a true cake though and I wanted to use cornmeal, so I started searching for some great lemon cornmeal cakes and stumbled upon a Woman's Day recipe that fit the bill perfectly. 

Wanting to try the lemon, thyme, combination like the Pioneer Woman's recipe I decided to incorporate chopped thyme.  This added just the flavor I was looking for.

My very daring guinea pigs willing family (who by the way scoffed at my recipe when I mentioned lemon, cornmeal and cake all in the same breath) agreed to try it...guess what, yep they loved it!  It was moist, and not too sweet and the glaze was so yummy good!  I served it with a simple raspberry sauce (crush raspberries with fork, add in sugar until you have a nice syrup) which really added to the complexity of flavors, but you could leave this off and it would be just as delicious.

 

I wish I could tell you this cake lasted several days but as is usually the case in my house, cakes get eaten for breakfast, snack, lunch...until it's gone.  This cake was no exception.  I heard on good authority it was great with a cup of coffee around 8 am the next day... but I'm not giving out names...

I hope you will give this unusual cake a try, it will not disappoint!

Lemons, Herbs and Pesto...a great combination! Part 1

 

 

 
  

So what do you do when your mother in law gives you a bag of lemons…no you don’t make lemonade (how cliché!)…you make Lemon Sautéed Shrimp and Pesto over Penne Pasta and Lemon Thyme Cornmeal Cake with Lemon Glaze and Raspberries.

Growing Your Own Herbs…the ultimate in frugal gourmet

 

 

Well we survived the whirlwind of birthdays, graduations and anniversary parties that made up the last few weeks.

 

Hubby’s graduation day was a success but I am still recovering from all of the planning, preparation and activities surrounding the day.  It was wonderful having so many friends and family here to celebrate with us.   A BIG thank you to all who helped make the day such a special one!

 

In the midst of all of our preparations for the party we did some work on our yard, including prepping our garden area and planting our annuals and a few more perennials.  This is also the time of year I plant my herb garden.

 

There is nothing more frugal for the gourmet cook than planting your own herbs.  For the price of a small bunch of cut herbs from the grocery store, you can buy a whole plant that will give you more than enough herbs to last you through the summer and with proper preservation into the fall and winter.

 

I have my tried and true herbs that I plant annually, as well as perennials that keep on giving year after year.