Leap Day

What a way to start the day! I woke to thunder, rain, hail and tornado sirens. Fortunately, no damage here. Sadly there were two reported deaths in Buffalo and lots of damage there as well as in Branson. We dodged the storm this time.  The old rhyme says of March "in like a lion out like a lamb" and/or is it in like a lamb and out like a lion? So since this is Leap Day is it the first of March in disguise? It's windy enough to fly a kite - if I could hold on to it! At least we have sun shine and the grass is green. Nothing but laundry is cooking in Peg's Pantry today. I could offer my services to you if you are ever in need - for a fee of course!

Chili Cook Off Tip Off

We worked hard for several weeks to make the Chili Cook Off Tip Off fundraiser for Care to Learn and the Keeling Foundation turn out so successfully! What a great team we had under the leadership of Mary Gregory! So nice working with and for her again. JoPapaBear participated in the contest - with 25 other hopeful prize winning chili chefs. Our chili was very tasty even though we didn't win any awards.  The decorations he made for PCHIS were just adorable and of course reusable just in case he sets up at another event where he can publicize his inspection services.  We handed out lots of chili but not so many business cards.  Maybe at the Home and Garden Expo he'll hand out more cards and stir up business instead of chili.  The chili we made had my salsa for the secret ingredient. Now it's not so secret anymore, is it?! Starting with 7 (seven) pounds of hamburger and 8 (eight) chopped onions a whole jar of chili powder and one of cumin, I don't think this is a recipe we'll be repeating any time soon.  But if you'd like some, I can be transported to cook at your house much easier than three gallons of chili and the giant crock pot could be shipped to you. Let me know if you're interested!

Surprise Muffins

I had fun making Surprise Muffins for Fellowship Time at church. I've never tried this variation before, but I've followed this Betty Crocker recipe for years but I usually add blueberries and 1/2 tsp. of nutmeg. This week, I followed the recipe and when I filled the muffin cups 1/2 full, dropped a teaspoon of home made jelly in the center, then added batter to fill the cups 2/3 full.  The secret I discovered, is to make sure the batter covers the jelly around all the edges.  I had a couple of muffins where the jelly oozed out because I didn't carefully cover the jelly with batter.  But they were tasty!!  As always, I would be more than happy to ship these to you - for a price! :-)
POPULAR MUFFINS
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/4 cup salad oil
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Line muffin tin with paper baking cups. Beat egg; stir in milk and oil. Mix in remaining ingredients just until flour is moistened. Batter should be lumpy. Fill muffin cups and bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately remove from pan. Makes 12 - 2 3/4 inch muffins.