Special guests for lunch - 'E'

The past two days we worked at raking the stones out of the grass. It was heavy work. Good labor, but I was dizzy from raking stones. Lord, heal me and give me strength. My body lacks iron. But I know God is at work. He has given me much strength.

We were kind of slow with getting started this morning. A dreary day can soon put you in that kind of mood. But we were expecting some very special company for lunch and supper and I had to prepare some food.

First, I made 3 pies - snitz, blackberry, and cherry. It was easy because all the filling was already made, thanks to homemade pie filling.

With the leftover pie crust, I formed 2 letter 'E's. Then I put it in a pie pan, basted it with milk, sprinkled it with cinnamon and sugar, and finally baked it with the other pies. It's a great way to keep from wasting the crust and makes for a tasty little treat. The boys were thrilled with the treat!

 It complimented the letter they had done yesterday. We had cut out some Elephants and Eggs from an old catalog, and used an Eagle sticker. 

I continued to work in the kitchen with Amber's help. We took the day off from school and cleaned the house, cooked, and did some laundry instead.

We made Cheesy Sausage Stromboli for lunch. This dish brings back many memories. I've made it lots of times and it became a traditional thing to prepare when my husband and his brother did concrete work.

Cheesy Sausage from Taste of Home
16 Servings - Preperation 30 min. + rising

Ingredients:
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 packages (1/4 ounce each) active dry yeast
1-1/2 cups warm water (120° to 130°)
1/2 cup warm milk (120° to 130°)
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 pounds bulk pork sausage
4 cups (16 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
3 eggs
1 teaspoon minced fresh basil or 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt and yeast. Add water,
milk and butter; beat on low until well combined.

Turn onto a well-floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic,
about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease
top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Meanwhile, in a skillet, cook sausage until no longer pink; drain and
cool. Stir in mozzarella, 2 eggs and basil; set aside.

Punch dough down; divide in half. Roll one portion into a 15-in. x
10-in. rectangle on a greased baking sheet. Spoon half of the
sausage mixture lengthwise down one side of rectangle to within 1
in. of edges.

Fold dough over filling; pinch edges to seal. Cut four diagonal slits
on top of stromboli. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. Beat
remaining egg; brush over loaves. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.

Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Slice;
serve warm. Yield: 2 loaves (16 slices each).

Nutrition Facts: 1 serving (1 slice) equals 370 calories, 18 g fat (8 g saturated fat), 82 mg cholesterol, 702 mg sodium, 34 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 17 g protein.

Around noon, my dear Dad showed up at the back door. They parked at the neighbors, because our drive was extremely muddy and they didn't want to get their van dirty. Since ours was dirty, why not pick them up at the neighbors. It worked out great.

It started to rain, then sleet. They were getty antsy. Instead of staying till midnight like they had first planned, they only stayed for two hours. But it was absolutely wonderful hosting them.

We had stromboli for lunch. I didn't think it was that great. You know when you're the cook, you're kind of keyed up and aren't hungry. That was my case. I wasn't keyed up, yet it seemed my taste buds weren't in full swing either. But we did receive a nice compliment from Ben via my sister stating, "It was the best stromboli he ever ate." Nice green salad prepared by the girls was a nice side.

I fried bread cubes in the iron skillet. It makes for some good smokey flavored homemade croutons. Sprinkle with your favorite seasoning. I like doing it better that way than in the oven.

Pie and vanilla ice cream were served for dessert. Coffee topped it off.

It was awesome seeing my parents. Short, but sweet!

It was nice having Ben and Kate here, too. I'm sure they had a ton of fun traveling together!

One main reason for stopping here on their way to FL was to deliver the keyboard I had bought over Ebay several weeks ago. We've waited for what seems like a long time. Seven years ago, this Roland Digital Intelligent Piano KF-90 cost $3,000. I bought it for $500. Waiting paid off to find this nice deal.

The girls were right on it as soon as Dad screwed it together. It's got over 140 onboard music styles, 608 preset sounds, 16 drum kits, 64 voice polyphony. It's a bit old fashioned as it uses the floppy disks to record your own music. This thing is loaded! The microphone makes different sounds: duck, bear, duet, and more. It's neat that you can sing and yet it transforms into 4 part harmony! That is, if the mic works - it is a cheapy.

Ya'll can guess what we did the rest of the day after Dads and Bens left. It's good they left when they did, because it was beginning to get icy.