Family Veterans

A big thank you to all veterans and their families for their service and sacrifice for peace and humanity not just here in the U.S. but in the world.

My brother entered basic training in the early 80's.  He saw the world and is now retired from the Air Force.

And other family members, mostly great uncles and distant cousins.

Almost Bunyan's Slaw

It's not difficult to find a good BBQ restaurant around here.  There's a BBQ restaurant, a church and now a bank on just about every intersection!   

But the slaw is a different story.   Sometimes the slaw just makes the sandwich better!   We love the hot slaw but not every BBQ joint makes it.   So I like to have it available in my frig.  

One of those BBQ places, Bunyan's in Florence, AL has good hot slaw.  And I ran across someone's attempt to recreate it.

 The slaw at Bunyan's is not quite as yellow as this version, but this is good! 

It also goes well with hot dogs and pinto beans.

Almost Bunyan's Hot Slaw Recipe
Reprinted from Almost Bunyans Hot Slaw

Ingredients

Veggie Ingredients
2 cups   - Grated green cabbage
2 Tbs    - Grated carrot
1 Tbs    - Grated onion
1 Tbs    - Grated green pepper (no seeds or membrane)

Sauce Ingredients
1/4 tsp  - Paprika
1/2 tsp  - Red cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp  - Salt (non-iodized)
1/4 cup  - Sugar
1 Tbs    - Goya/Crystal hot sauce (or similar)
2 Tbs    - Ketchup
4 Tbs    - Prepared yellow mustard (like French's)
1/4 cup  - White vinegar (add last, stir-in)
1/4 cup  - Apple cider vinegar (add last, stir-in)

Directions

• Add dry sauce ingredients to a medium sized pot and mix well.
  Stir in the ketchup and mustard until well blended and paste-like.
  Stir in the vinegar a little at a time to avoid clumping.NOTE: The cayenne and hot sauce can be adjusted to whatever
  level of heat that you prefer.
  
• Heat up to just short of boiling while stirring occasionally.
  This will blend and bring out the flavor of the spices.
  
• Remove from heat and let cool a little while you grate the veggies.
• Grate the veggie ingredients. Put the grated veggie ingredients
  into a pint-size container with a lid that can seal.
• Pour sauce over the veggies and stir well. It may seem like there's not enough
  sauce for all the veggies, but once stirred well it should cover everything.
• Cover and refrigerate a minimum of 24 hours, allowing time for
  the flavors to blend, soften and pickle the veggies, and generally thicken up.
  Even better to let it go for a week (seriously, it takes time).
• Best served over plain pulled pork wrapped in a hamburger bun.
  Note that at Bunyan's BBQ, they only use about a Tbs of hot slaw
  to top a pork sandwich, and there's plenty of spice and flavor
  from that little bit to add the perfect complement.

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Button Bracelet

Bracelets are my favorite type of jewelry.  

One day I saw the I Spy DIY girl on TV and she mentioned her button bracelets.  So I headed over to her site to check them out and I knew I could do this!

The instructions are pretty straightforward.  It helps to pin the button to cardboard or corkboard while you're braiding the cord.  I gives it something to hold on to.

These 2 have already been confiscated by my daughters.   So I'll be making more for myself!

This charm came from the Bella Rustica vintage mall.  I'm not sure I like the black cord with it so I may redo it.

While I was on a roll with the cord, I made an arrowhead necklace.    My daughter has been wanting an arrowhead necklace and my father gave this arrowhead to her.

Gotta go make more button bracelets!

Smoked Salmon Spread

The Bassman and I recently loaded up the smoker with a pork butt, sausage and salmon.  If you're going to light the grill or smoker, you might as well fill it up with meat or veges!

I love salmon and often order it when we're eating out but I don't fix it much at home.  Maybe salmon crouquettes every now and then.  Hmm, that reminds me we haven't had those in a while.  

We were unsure how long to leave the pork and salmon on the smoker, but we knew the pork would be left overnight and the salmon doesn't take long to cook.  

We left one fillet plain and put lemon pepper on the other.  The salmon really absorbs the smoky flavor.  A portion of the leftovers went into this smoked salmon spread.    

I added extra green onion ;).    Not everyone cares for the taste of this, but I enjoyed it.  Of course.

Fried Dill Pickles

This past weekend I celebrated a birthday.  

A vase of these greeted me when I walked into the kitchen.  They're pretty!

It was also a big game day weekend for all the football fans at my house.  We decided on these fried dill pickles for the tailgate, aka couch. 

We only order them at restaurants when there's a table full of people to eat them.  I like them, but you never know what you're getting so I don't get real excited about eating them in restaurants. 

I had never made them at home and was concerned they would be too soggy.  So I let them drain on paper towels for a few hours.  I chose the chips over the spears and the chips are definitely more time consuming by having to dip each one multiple times!

They were crispy and tasty!  Dip 'em in ranch dressing and pop 'em in your mouth.

 

DIY Word Photo

I like letter art, typography and subway art and have done a couple of projects myself here and here.  

I've snapped lots of photos over the past couple of years of objects that look like letters.  If someone were to look at the picture directory on my computer, they would probably ask "why did you take that picture!"  Because I saw a letter.  Ha ha!

On our trip to the Ozark foothills, we stayed in a very nice cabin here.   It would be a nice honeymoon cabin and although we weren't honeymooning, it was a nice cabin for a couple to just get away.  And there were lots of letters around the cabin just waiting to be photographed.

Like this cabinet used as a TV stand.

And this wrought iron side table on the back deck.

The deck framing itself was "spelling" to me!  Hee hee!

Lots of letters in the fishing lure towel hanger too.

So I chose a few letters and here's my letter photo collage. 

Do you know what it spells?  

The only photo editing needed is cropping and maybe some rotating depending on the angle the photo was taken (ie not necessary to stand on my head to get pictures of letters!! Haha!) and a color change if desired.  

I like it much better than any "made in china" souvenir reminder of a trip!  

Maybe next time, I'll try a word with more than 4 letters.  Has anyone seen a "K" or "Q" or how about an "a" or "h"? 

It becomes a different way to look at the places I go and things I see!

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Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Homemade Granola

Sometimes we grab a granola bar in the mornings for a quick breakfast.  Making granola at home has been on my want-to-do list for a while now.  I'd like to find one that my daughters can put a bag in their backpack as a snack between classes.  That would be much healthier than hitting the vending machine!

My friend posted her Nuts and Twigs over at Rose Street Reflections.  Go visit and check out her wonderful photos while you're there.   The granola didn't sound too sweet and was very quick to put together.  So I was excited to try it!

For once, I had a good variety of nuts on hand.  I used almonds, sunflower seeds and walnuts.  Then added dried cranberries to my snack bowl. 

Oh, and I also added chocolate morsels.    Chocolate's good for you too, right?

This is much better than grabbing a candy bar or bag of chips for a quick snack.

Thanks Amy!