"A" Is for Add a Little Spice

My life, at age 73, could use a little spice. I admit, I'm no cook. Although, for the first half of our marriage, until our children married their great spouses, we had EVERY family holiday party at our house. My recipe for success during those years was to spike the punch. Everyone had fun, and no one cared what they ate.

And during this last year with my hip replacement - first in a wheel chair, then a walker, then a cane - Don, bless his heart, has filled in - in the kitchen. He couldn't stand all the messes I made when I dropped things.

But last night I read in my Real Simple magazine that McCormicks had come out with these interesting little recipe cards called "Recipe Inspirations". On one side of the card is the recipe, and on the back are these little plastic bubbles filled with the pre-measured herbs and spices needed in the recipe. Ohhh, what fun. No measuring, and no spices left on the shelf to grow old.
Now, I do try to weed out the old, stale spices. But I strongly suspect that there might be some spice left there that was part of a gift given to us at a kitchen bridal shower 53 years ago!

I chose to make Quesadilla Cassarole since I was interested in first time experiences, and I had
never made quesadillas. I sent Don off with a list to the grocery store. After only one cell phone call, and several harassed store clerks later, he was home with the ingredients. Hmmm - it just occurred to me that I should have saved this for my "Q" entry. After all, how many "Q" experiences can you have in your life? But, let me tell you, the supper was good and I think you
should check out McCormicks Recipe Inspirations for yourself. Or go to www.McCormicks.com and check them out.

With the quesadillas we had chips and salsa, and I made a fruit salad. Just a fruit salad, not my famous frozen fruit salad slush. But I must tell you about my famous frozen fruit salad slush before my daughter-in- law beats me to the punch, or the slush as it may be. You see, she also has a blog - a food blog - called Smith bites where she loves to share family food stories, and to
tell about her in-laws bad food choices. Of course, done with love, and in a fun way. You really should check out www.smithbites.com . It is a beautiful site, and fun to read.

Anyway, back to the fruit slush story. We were having a mini family reunion. We had distant relatives staying with us. Life was a bit frantic, I was a bit harried, I was making the frozen fruit slush at midnight. The next day at the reunion picnic, I am rushing to set things up and notice that the fruit is still a bit too frozen - not its correct slushy consistency. I ask my daughter in law if she would chop and stir it a bit. She is chopping away, when she says, "What is this!" Well,
frozen at the bottom of the bowl are three plastic lids that I hadn't noticed there the night before. Now, in our published family cook book is a recipe for Mother's Famous Three Lid Salad." Oh, how our children love our mistakes.

Well, our quesadilla supper was delicious, and I was thrilled to be back in the kitchen. I thoroughly enjoyed my first time "A" experience, and did indeed add a little spice to my life.