Custom Cookbook and Green Bean Casserole

After Jill and I married in 1987, my mom made us a custom cookbook of my favorite recipes. She typed most if not all of them. Those pages are yellowing now. Over the years, Jill has added some in her own handwriting.

I've been trying to cook more lately and realized that I've forgotten about this cookbook, locating recipes online and saving them in my private storage. Preparing to cook Easter dinner tomorrow, I located this recipe for green bean casserole. It's one of Jill's all-time favorites. So I'm going to give it a go.

And I had the idea of saving these recipes here on the blog so anyone or everyone could enjoy them, especially those who would appreciate seeing my mom's handiwork.

Green Bean Casserole

Ingredients:

2 cans green beans

1 stick margarine

2 onions, chopped

1/3 lb. sharp cheddar cheese, grated

1 tube Ritz crackers

1 can cream of mushroom soup

Instructions:

Saute onion in margarine until tender. Drain. Save margarin. Cook beans until water is almost gone. Crumble crackers and mix in reserved margarine. (Save a few to sprinkle on top of casserole.) Mix onions, beans, soup, crackers and part of the cheese. Put in a casserole dish and top with remainder of cheese and crackers. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes.

Credit:

"What's Cooking at Cook" Cookbook, Ruston, La.

My aunt Joanne Taylor must have shared the recipe with my mom. She was a member of Cook Baptist Church. 

UPDATE:

We prepared this for Easter 2018 and it was delicious. We probably cooked the onions just a little too long and they didn't give off much margarine when we drained them. It left the dish oily. But it tasted oh so good.

How we do Easter

We've been making Easter eggs. They'll decorate them all, then boil more eggs. Lather, rinse, repeat.

The Easter Bunny Tracker has been the focal point for this bunch. They are so excited.

We did pause for a talk about the real meaning of Easter, which is the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

What does the Easter Bunny and Easter Eggs have to do with the Resurrection? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

I am fully aware that some Christians don't celebrate Easter. And I am fully aware that kids get way more excited about candy, gifts and hunting for eggs than they do about the resurrection or about Christ himself. The same is true of adults sometimes.

You can google the origination of the bunny, the eggs and all that. It matters more to me what we do with the holiday today in our own lives than how it began or what it meant or means to others. We do the bunny and the eggs. We also do Jesus and the Cross, the Burial and the Resurrection.

That's just how we do it.

Not looking for anyone's approval, agreement or anything like that. You're free to celebrate in your own way. You're free to not celebrate at all.

Not celebrating at all. What does that look like?

Unless your kids live in a closed culture, they may resent being forced to abstain from the fun they see others enjoying. But that's hard to define, isn't it? What's harmless and healthy fun versus what's harmful and unhealthy. We could even use the S word here - sin. We don't justify sin by the fact that others are doing it.

Just be careful where you draw the line.

Happy Easter.

He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Matthew 28:6 NIV

Rocket slide reunion

Labor Day + Family Reunion + Cookout + Rocket Slide = Great Memories

Labor Day 2016 we met at the famous Rocket Slide at Burns Park, North Little Rock, Arkansas. The Rocket Slide was a childhood favorite attraction of mine. I had at least a couple birthday parties there.

It's not the same now. My Rocket Slide was all metal - no plastic for us first generations. I read an article where the second generation space ship burned. Someone told me they remember it contained both wood and plastic.

Today's space shuttle is third generation I suppose. It's a fun design with a couple fast slides. I'm glad they didn't slow it down.

Enjoy these photos from our day. Maybe later I will add some details about the people in them.

Woo Pig Sooie!

KK and me with the 3rd Generation Rocket Slide in the background.

Drake and me.

Levi

KK

James, my great-nephew.

Colten

Camp Robinson is nearby. I reckon that's why the tank.

"Look like soldiers!"

Levi in front. Jojo in the wagon. Tiffany holding Amaya, in green. Mindy with Abigail in pink. Jackson in white toddling toward Amber. Pilar and Ashley in the background.

My mom.

O'Neal

My cousin, Barry and me.

My brother, Mark.

My nephew, Robert.

My nephew, Jack.

Asher

"How do you get inside this thing?"

Levi chose the safe zone.

To despise money

For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.  1 Timothy 6:10

Maybe I misunderstood this verse for some time. I thought pursuing more business was a sign that I was greedy. Perhaps I should be satisfied with the success already attained. The fact is complacency with current success leads to laziness. Laziness is very destructive.

Motive?
Am I driven by the love of money? No. I don't think so. My opinion on money has changed drastically over time. Nowadays I'm more motivated by the thoughts that I have so many people depending on me. My family. My employees. My business partner. My referral partners. My vendors. My community. Think of servers in restaurants. I want to be generous with my tips to them. It's not the love of money that drives me to seek more business. Rather, it's the love for all these people in my life that drives me.

What if we take this verse and spin it around to say the same thing with a positive finish?


Let's try this: "To despise money is good, or holy. Some people, who despise money, have increased their faith and found peace."

Or: "Everybody needs money to live. It's okay to desire to provide for your family and to work to become more charitable. This will open you up to more opportunities to grow in faith and love."

Is that too much of a stretch? Is that twisting scripture?

Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones.
Learn from their ways and become wise!
Though they have no prince
or governor or ruler to make them work,
they labor hard all summer,
gathering food for the winter.
But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep?
When will you wake up?
A little extra sleep, a little more slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest—
then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit;
scarcity will attack you like an armed robber. - Proverbs 6:6-11 NLT

I signed the petition to Deny Parole to Vanessa Coleman.

I avoided broadcasts and news when they told the details, especially the live broadcasts from the courtroom. I just can't handle the gruesomeness of the violent rapes and murders of Christopher Newsom and his girlfriend Channon Christian.

During the course of Coleman's trial for her part in the rapes and murders of Channon and Chris, evidence was presented from her diary entry dated 3 days after the murder. It read in part, “I’ve had one HELL OF AN ADVENTURE since I’ve been in the big TN. It’s a crazy world these days! But I love the fun adventures and lessons that I’ve learned. Its going to be a long interesting year! Ha! Ha!”

Here's the comment I added to the petition:

"I have eight living children. I cannot imagine how the victims' parents feel, but paroling this criminal would violate them all over again. Furthermore, rapists and murderers are the worst threats to all children and adults. If you must release someone to make room for this one, release a non-violent offender, please."

 I encourage you to sign the petition too:  Click here.

God bless,
Dadofmykids

Ankles, grands, printers, business, mowers and "blankie".

Saturday August 24, 2013

We got in bed late last night - around 2 a.m.  Jill fell on the stairs and hurt her ankle. She was in severe pain, so we went to the emergency room for some entertainment. You know, hurry up and wait, endless questions, x-rays, shots and a TV remote that barely changed channels. Poor thing sprained her ankle. I love her.

Drake spent the night with us so morning came with the typical Saturday scene of Levi waking Drake and demonstrating his inability to use his inside voice. No sleeping in.

Our school room printer was down, waiting for new print heads which I had ordered. I brought a spare printer from work but some how broke it in transport. Drake kept pushing buttons and spinning motors saying he was fixing the printer. I was tearing it down to see if the problem was simply mechanical last night when Jill fell.  It remained in pieces this morning. I reassembled it with no improvement. We headed off to work to get the print heads and return the broke printer.

The kids like going to my business, especially on the weekends when no one is working. They can make all the noise they want without interrupting anything. But more importantly, I open the drink machine and let them each get one. They also got a snack. Levi pointed out his drawing hanging on my office door. Tucker played with the TVBA (Tennessee Veterans Business Association) coin on my desk. It's a cool souvenir that I toss or spin when I'm on the phone.

When we got home I installed the print head which fixed the printer. Then I scanned the nearby computer for malware. That's when the lack of sleep set in. I went to my room and took a nap beside Jill who was resting her foot (and maybe her eye lids too). Mickey and Tilley took charge of the littles.

The lawn mower tire was flat again. I've been threatening for years to replace the tires on our John Deere and today was the day, for one of them. The hardware store sells lawn mower tires but they only had one in the size I needed. Good thing too. Tucker and Riley helped me get the old tire off the rim but we could not get the new one on. I took it to Discount Tire where they finished the job even though they were closed and didn't even charge me. Nice guys.

Riley lost the retaining clip that holds the wheel on the mower. We took the clip off the other wheel so we would know what to get and went back to the hardware store. They were closed already. We had to go to Home Depot. They had the replacement clip for only 61 cents. We had the new tire secured on the mower in no time.

Riley got right on the mower and got started. I was looking out the window to see how the new tire looked when I noticed the mower was scalping the lawn.  The mowing deck was set on 1 - the lowest setting.

At bedtime we couldn't find Drake's blankie. He was upset but settled down quickly enough.  The next morning, we found it in the laundry.

It was another good day in The Brasfield Nation.

God bless,
Dadofmykids

The Day the Brasfield Nation was Born.

"Wake up, Jill.  We're getting married today."

She didn't have a house phone, and it was the days before cell phones, so I headed to her house.

We were planning to get married by the Justice of the Peace on December 23, 1987.  I was scheduled off work at both of my jobs.  But, the 22nd was to be a busy pre-wedding day, with a job interview followed by three jobs.  I had applied for a management position with Eckerd Drugs, which would be more appropriate for a family man.  After the interview, I would go to my job as Santa in the mall, then to my next job as a shoe salesman, and finally don the suit again at 10:00pm for a paid gig at a company Christmas party.

One phone call on the morning of December 22 changed our plans.  The big job interview was postponed to the 23rd, at the same time we were planning to go before the JP.  The only option, if we were to keep our decision to be wed over the Christmas school break, was to rush to the courthouse right then.

Since she didn't have a phone, I drove to little house which she shared with her cousin.  It was the same house we affectionately called "The Love Shack",  so you know what I think of every time I hear that song by the B52's.

We quickly rounded up some of our closest friends, including Jennifer Morton (Perkins) and the Bounds family, and caravanned to the Knox County Courthouse where the Justice of the Peace performed a most excellent little ceremony for us, Mr. and Mrs. Brasfield.  The Brasfield Nation was born. 

I was late for work that day.  My boss thought I was telling one when I said I had just gotten married.  The ring on my hand helped convince her.

I can't believe that was 25 years ago today.  I hope the next 25 years are as great as these.

Jill, I love you.  You were made just for me. 

Andy

Warning: Grandparent posts never-before-seen photos of Grandkids.

Meet Colten, the newest Brasfield.  

Father (Daniel) and son.

Mumzie and Colten.

Grandpa, Uncle Levi, Aunt Kk and Colten.

Aunt Tilley and Colten.

Grandpa and Colten, age 3 weeks.

As you can see, Colten is a precious gift from The Lord.  We are thankful that he is healthy and his mom and dad are well, too.

Here are a few photos of big brother, Drake.

Giving Drake a ride at the circus.

Daniel and Drake at the fall festival at church.

Drake uses The Chair as at the dinner table.


Here are some bonus photos for you.

Mumzie and Colten are content.

I took this from outside the window.



Colten, welcome to The Brasfield Nation.  
We love you very much.

Grandpa
(aka Dadofmykids)