Allow Me to Wallow...................

Sometimes I just like to feel sorry for myself. Is that normal?
I'm not sure. 
(But since I HATE the word 'normal' (#5) it doesn't matter anyway.)

                                                          (front door)
Why am I feeling sorry for myself?
Simple.
I miss my old house.

                                   (part of the front porch)
"Old" in this case would be under the definition of "former" and "age".  

                              (The back of the house. One of three-largest-they-have-U-Hauls we used)
It has been two years ago this week that we left the house big, huge old Victorian in Kansas and moved back 'home' to Oklahoma.

The house was 115 years old when we moved into it.  We lived there 17 years (almost to the day). We have been gone 2 years. Now that's old!

I miss my big front porch. I miss the Widow's Walk on the second floor that we loved to decorate for the seasons.
I miss the front door that was so big the doors had to be custom made.

                        (another view, another U-Haul!!)
I miss the old leaded-glass windows.

 I miss the old stain-glass windows.

 
I miss my 35+ windows that were between 52 through 72 inches across and ALL were 72 inches long. 
Until we added air-conditioning about 8 years before we moved, the house had never had any kind of air-conditioning whatsoever. 
You can just imagine the breezes that would blow through those monstrous windows. 
I miss the Southern breezes that cooled down our home on summer nights.

                              (sorry for the dust and dirt, but it was moving day)

 

I miss my hardwood floors. I miss my ORIGINAL TO THE HOUSE, inlaid oak floors that had a different pattern in every single room! (Some rooms had a big diamond, some a small, some the squares, some double squares, some squares turned like diamonds. It was all done by hand 130+ years ago. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!
 I refinished them myself while we lived there. Twice.

I am missing arched doorways and formal dining rooms.
I am missing big mantels to decorate each season.

I am missing transom windows above every.  single.  interior.  door.

I am missing gigantic old woodwork and bullseyes in every corner. I am missing nooks and crannies fitted with shelves and benches.

I miss hallways that run the length of the house and are over 4 feet wide!

I miss weird passage-ways and funny closets.

I miss having a front stairway and a backstair way to decorate.........and use. 

I miss having a board where we charted the children's growth every few months. That board had SO many marks on it. The boys could not wait to see if they had outgrown each other.

I miss bright sunny rooms.

I miss hugely thick walls.
I miss my red walls.

I miss my (custom-ordered-by-me-so-don't-say-anything-rude) kitchen sink.

I miss my white cabinets.

 I miss my super-cool-again-picked-out-by-me-so-don't-you-dare-be-rude-kitchen-cabinet-handles.

I miss my gas oven. I miss my gas oven. I miss my gas oven. I miss my gas oven. I miss my gas oven. I miss my gas oven.

I miss having a huge eat-in bar in my kitchen.
I miss having the biggest-kitchen-known-to-man (24 x 15) where the entire family...and a few friends...could gather and cook, and eat, and laugh.

I miss having my very. own. dressing room. All mine. Just for me. Girly. Mine. Wonderful.

I miss having a third floor attic (with yet another staircase) that was as big as an entire floor of the house. It was an attic where five children could play make-believe, pretend and use their wild imaginations. It was an attic that held literally held memories, and figuratively held memories.

 I miss tree-houses and tire sand-boxes from a great-grandfather, and the biggest yard in town.

 That entire yard you see is only part of our yard. My children and pets and neighborhood kids spent hours and hours and hours in this backyard.

I miss planting random garden spots throughout the yard with my end-of-the-year-bargains and anxiously awaiting to see how they did the next spring.

 I miss a giant-stone foundation that held up the entire house. That heavy stone foundation mirrored the strong foundation we gave our children by raising them in the little Kansas town.

I miss everything about our old house. But mainly, I miss how the house was filled with friends. With five children growing up in that old house, it was constantly filled with people, fun, food, laughter, stories, sneaking-outs, jokes, animals, and more friends than a person deserves to have.

So it is not just the old house that I miss, but what filled the old house.  Not only will we never be able to replace the big huge house, but we will never be able to replace what filled it. Now, two years later, I know more than ever that for 17 years I was lucky enough to live in an old house and fill it with some of the finest friends God ever put on earth.

Easy As Pie.......

One of my family's favorite meals is Fried Pies...(Well let's face it. They like just about all food...but Fried Pies is right there at the top. (The pic above are of the pies waiting to go into the deep fryer.)

I have a basic pie recipe that I use each time for the meat pies.  It is a Natchez Meat Pie recipe.

And yes, I even make the dough as well.  Look at all those different sizes just waiting to become little pies!

 I've been making these so long that I have collected an entire drawer full of pie molds.  You can get these anywhere. I have bought them at Williams-Sonoma and paid a lot (but they were cute...they are the pie and apple looking one in the pic), and bought them three sizes to a Ross and paid under $5.

As you can see, I have lots of different sizes.  One size of the pie mold cuts the circle out....

Then you just place your filling on half of the circle....

This one was Peach Pie....

 This one was the Natchez meat pie......

After you have the filling on the dough, you just close the pie mold in half..........

It couldn't be easier.....

I always like to wet the edges of the dough circle before I close it up though.......

That's a little insider's secret!!  I use a combination of water and a beaten egg to spread around the dough circle.

Once I have a pie made I stack them up on a big cookie sheet while I finish the others up.

If your dough tears or the seal comes apart, it is no big deal.  Just pinch it back together.


I use a counter-top deep fryer to fry mine.  I have tried everything: skillet, turkey fryer, commercial fryer and even baking them.  They all work just fine.

Just make sure you don't over fill your basket if you are using the counter top fryer. 

I usually turn them once while they are frying.  Don't they look delicious?  And they smell equally as well.

Because we're friends, I"ll tell you another insider's secret: It takes half the time for them to disappear as it did to make them.

They really are not hard to make.  They do take a little time just because of the steps involved. (Fried Peach Pie above.)


One more insider's secret:  When I am making the fried fruit pies (in this case peach)..............

I always add a little Cinnamon to the dough while it is stirring up.  I don't measure.  I just sprinkle into the dough and mix.

Deal with it.  (Next time it might have half that amount of Cinnamon.  The time after that I might forget all together!)

That's just the kind of cook I am.  And you might note in this picture you can see the swirls of Cinnamon that run through it.

I also like to sprinkle the fruit pies with a little (ok, a LOT) of powdered sugar.

Eat now. Thank me later.

Just remember. Same exact dough for the crust.  Just add a little cinnamon if you remember.  If you don't, I promise they will still disappear.


When making the meat pies, you can spice the meat up as much or as little as you like.  I always add Red Pepper flakes to the meat.  

If you look closely you can see those spicy little devils!

My kids dip these in Ranch dressing, cheese dip, BBQ sauce or just (gasp!!) eat them plain.

IF you happen to have some left over....they are extremely good warmed up.  They make great lunch box meals as well.

And yes, I have baked the "FRIED" pies before too.  They don't get the beautiful golden color.  They sometimes pop open as they are baking. They don't have quite the same taste, but they are devoured as well as the real fried ones.
Just remember there is always a healthy eater in every crowd!!!
We like to make these as a family, so the assembly line moves right along.  Hope you enjoy them too.

Ingredients:--I always AT LEAST double the recipe.  Remember to spice it up. This is just the basic recipe.

• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1/2 lb ground pork (or you can just do all beef)
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon flour 
• For the pastry (I always at least double this too) 
• 3 cups flour 
• (There is nothing missing on the next dot. I just cannot get it fixed and deleted no matter what I try. RRRRRRRRRRRRR. Sorry!!

• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 6 tablespoons shortening
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 to taste egg wash (1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoons water)
• 1 to taste vegetable oil (for frying) 

In a large skillet heat 1 teaspoon oil and cook beef and pork, stirring occasionally, until browned, about 5 to 6 minutes.

Add onions, bell pepper,  salt, cayenne and black pepper. Cook, stirring often, until the vegetables are wilted, about 10 to 12 minutres. Add the garlic and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.

Dissolve the flour in the water and add to the meat mixture. Stir until the mixture thickens slightly, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and add green onions. Mix well and let cool.

In a mixing bowl, sift together flour, salt and baking powder. Cut in the shortening until mixture resembles coarse meal. In a small bowl, beat the egg with the milk. Gradually add the egg mixture to the flour mixture, working it to make a thick dough.

Pinch off a medium size ball of dough. Roll out ball of dough on lightly floured surface until you get approximately 5 inch cirlce. Place about 1/4 cup of meat filling in the center of each round and brush edges lightly with egg wash. Fold edges together and crimp closed with a fork.OR if you have found the dough molds roll out your dough, use one side to cut the dough, put the circle in the dough mold. Add your meat, wet the edges of the dough and press together.

Heat oil in a deep pot or electric deep-fryer to 360 degrees. Fry the pies, in batches, until golden. Drain on paper towels.

 SOUTHERN FRIED PEACH PIES-

 -3 cups fresh peaches. (May use frozen)

1/2 cup sugar

2 tbsp. butter

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil.  Boil gently for an hour, or until the ingredients resemble a jam.  Cool.  

Use the same method to make the pies as you did for the meat pies. Remember you may add cinnamon to your dough if you choose.

Serve with ice cream, whip cream or powdered sugar.

I have linked these two delicious recipes to Gollum's Foodie Friday. Please go by and visit. Your stomach will be glad you did!