Blueberry Cheese Delights

Blueberry Cheese Delights

Dorcas Annette Walker

Fatherhood has different meanings unique to each family. A father is a god in the eyes of a young child with his size and strength, someone who is quite outdated and old fashioned to a teenager, and then one of the first persons to ask advice from in adulthood. What an awesome responsibility for a dad to live up to! So this Father’s Day start the man of your house off with my Blueberry Cheese Delights along with his favorite cup of coffee.

For my husband fatherhood was a juggling act of being in the ministry, which often times involved traveling away from home, pastoring a church, working with a local construction crew, and being the father of a boy with severe hemophilia along with a daughter who had mild hemophilia. To this family dad was:
- the young father who was present for each birth and proudly carried his infant daughter and son to the nursery
- the dad who, when a lot of other fathers deserted the family upon hearing that their son had severe hemophilia, became a leader within the hemophilia community for his active this is my son approach, and made history learning to factor our son intravenously before he was two years old
- our daughter’s hero who could fix any toy that got broke (causing my husband to sometimes have to seek help from one of his buddies at work)
- the best story teller, who added all kinds of adventures into regular stories pushing our kids to learn to read early as they tried to figure out what those words really said- often scaring them half to death with gory details yet always begging for another story
- letting our four-year-old son help change the oil in the car and truck
- the dad whose wake-up call involved tickling until they screamed for mercy or dumping kids and the mattress out onto the floor
- the guy who let our kids help build our home teaching them how to lay a block foundation to proudly nailing shingles on the roof
- someone they could count on to bring home a surprise just for them every time he went away on a trip
- a dad whose idea of a water fight on a hot summer day was drenching our kids with a water hose
- the guy who built a sandbox and then later a tree-house out in the woods
- the dad who kept our daughter from drowning at a local creek during an out-of-state revival meeting, which unknown to us adults had carved an limitless bottom with a whirlpool; my husband had to swim underwater hunting the two young teens (who thankfully hung onto each other) then kept pushing them up out of the water so they could get air until his buddy could swim across and help him get the girls to safety
- the guy who needed a teenage daughter’s supervision to help him match his socks and ties yet let her drive on the interstate to revival and camp meetings
- the father who drove sixteen hours without a break in order to get his teenage son back in state to our doctor because of internal bleeding after a knee operation
- the strong fellow who broke down and cried at his daughter’s wedding after the bride cried on his shoulder
- the one who my daughter still calls for advice every time something needs done at her house
- and now the grandpa who is the best playmate and best story reader of all

My Blueberry Cheese Delights are quick and easy-to-make breakfast rolls that take only three ingredients. These Blueberry Cheese Delights are a perfect way to start out the day or eaten as a snack with a smooth creamy cheese filling topped with fruit- delicious hot or cold. You can substitute blackberry or cherry pie filling instead of blueberry. Preparation time is fifteen minutes and this recipe makes eight delicious Blueberry Cheese Delights.

Blueberry Cheese Delights

1 can of refrigerated jumbo buttermilk biscuits
½ pkg (8 oz) cream cheese
½ (21 oz) can of blueberry pie filling
Stretch out each biscuit into a square with your fingers. Spread on a thin layer of cream cheese and then place a tablespoon of blueberry filling in the middle. Bring up each corner and firmly press to seal. Place each blueberry biscuit on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350º for fifteen minutes. Garnish with a sprinkle of cinnamon over a thin glaze of powdered sugar!

Weekly tip: Center the rack in the middle of the oven and preheat. Keep the pan or cookie tray centered on the rack (at least two inches away from the sides of the oven) for the most even baking!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, syndicated columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net For more information check out: www.dorcasannettewalker.com

Taco Potatoes

Taco Potatoes

Dorcas Annette Walker

My Taco Potato recipe is for the fellows like my husband who are meat and potato guys. No matter what else may be served unless there is meat and some kind of potato a main meal isn’t complete. My father was the same way. He’d sniff suspiciously at any fancy dish, but pass him meat and potatoes and he’d always smile with satisfaction. Today the microwave cuts time drastically when it comes to fixing potatoes. Now that’s enough to make a cook smile too.

There is evidence that the Incas cultivated potatoes for centuries dating back to the second century A.D. Three centuries later the Spaniards introduced potatoes to Europe. From 1845 to 1846 blight destroyed much of the Irish potato crop triggering off a widespread famine where around 2.5 million people died from starvation and disease. Ireland was the most likely source of potatoes being introduced to the United States when approximately one million Irish immigrated during this time. Today the United States ranks fourth in worldwide potato production.

Sprouts from portions cut from whole potatoes are planted in the spring. Then potatoes are harvested from the roots of the potato plant in the fall; Russet being the main potato variety grown here in the United States. Only ten percent of the potato crop is harvested in the winter, spring, and summer months. Potatoes are well suited for long-term storage in climate-controlled rooms allowing potatoes to be sold throughout the year, which also allows greater flexibility to sell U.S. potatoes on the open market. Idaho and Washington account for half of the entire U.S. potato production, although the highest yield of potatoes per acre are in Oregon, Washington, and California. Today the net import value of potatoes amounts to between $8 and $9 for each American while the potato farmer grosses close to $2,000 per acre in potato sales.

Russet Burbank’s are used commercially for French fries. The processing potatoes are contracted, negotiated, and signed to commercial fryers before planting. The volume of frozen potatoes consumed is now larger than the volume of fresh potatoes (less than one third of production sold) with French fries dominating. The rest of the potato production is processed into potato chips or other dehydrated products.

Potatoes are quite versatile to fix, in fact the possibilities are endless, yet no matter how they are prepared potatoes remain a filling staple. Instead of using a taco topping you can substitute:
- barbeque pork/chicken with shredded mozzarella cheese
- cooked mixed vegetables with cheese sauce
- leftover chili topped with shredded cheddar
- cooked broccoli and cheese sauce
- salsa, pepperoni’s and shredded mozzarella cheese
- sour cream with bacon bits and diced chives

Taco Potatoes

Brown 2 lbs of hamburger in an iron skillet.
Add 1 pkg taco seasoning with a small amount of water and simmer for five minutes.
While the hamburger is browning:
Poke holes in 4 medium-sized potatoes with a fork, wrap in a paper towel, and microwave for two minutes. Let sit for a couple of minutes and microwave again for two minutes until the center is soft.
Slice the potatoes in two.
Spoon taco mixture onto the top of each half potato.
Sprinkle shredded cheese over meat.
Cover and microwave for one minute until the shredded cheese is melted.
Garnish with sour cream and chives!
Preparation time is approximately fifteen minutes and this recipe serves eight one-half potatoes.

Weekly tip: After microwaving and cutting a potato in half, pinch each end of the halved potato and then take a fork to fluff up the inside pulp. This will help to keep your topping from sliding off of the potato and also let the topping seep all the way through to make your potato more flavorful!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, syndicated columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net For more information check out: www.dorcasannettewalker.com

Carrot Cake

Carrot Cake

Dorcas Annette Walker

The stove is an extension of the cook. In fact a stove will take on a personality of its own the more you use it and become familiar with its quirks. Up to the time I got married I took stoves for granted. I hit reality when I encountered my first stove of an unknown origin in our cabin on the school campus. Not only did I have to learn the difference in cooking with gas instead of electric, but the oven temperature knob was missing. “No problem,” my new husband assured me. “A set of pliers will turn the oven on and set it at whatever temperature you want.” To allay my fears even further he bought a temperature gauge to hang on the oven rack. Unfortunately it wasn’t quite that simple. I twisted the pliers a couple of times trying to judge where 350º would be the first time I went to bake a cake. When the cake batter was ready I checked the oven temperature and it was over 400º. I gave a twist in the other direction and when the oven cooled down to 350º I slid my cake batter in. Ten minutes later a check revealed that the oven temperature was now down to 225º. So I slowly re-twisted it back. By the time my cake was baked I was worn out from using the pliers to try and control the oven temperature. Despite my valiant attempts my cake flopped.

The first months were stressful trying to learn how to control the oven temperature, with the oven winning leaving a trail of wrecked cakes. Anyone else would have gone back to making pies as cakes are particular to being baked in an even temperature. Not me. I was determined to master the ancient stove or die in the attempt. My husband and his buddies ate every cake disaster (usually in one setting) making regular rounds to our cabin every couple days. A few of his friends had the nerve to tell me that they hoped I’d never figure out the oven temperature as they were enjoying all the cakes, which only served to fuel my resolution even more. Within six months I had mastered the technique of how far to twist the pliers for a correct oven temperature.

Through the years I’ve had to switch back and forth from gas to electric in different parsonage kitchens. One oven I had to prop shut with a chair as the door had a tendency to fall open without warning- a rather nerve rattling experience. I’ve cleaned all kinds of filthy ovens and scoured stove tops using all kinds of covers. To me trying to cook on a grimy stove is the same thing as wearing dirty clothes. I reached the heights of ecstasy the day I was able to buy my first new stove with a self-cleaning oven. I felt I was liberated forever. Then I splurged and bought a new electric solid-top stove that was a breeze to keep clean. Six months later I was back in another parsonage out-of-state on my knees cleaning a dirty encrusted oven and re-learning how to cook with gas while another lady (renters) enjoyed my new stove. I am once again back in my own house and cooking on my own stove. To those of you who don’t cook I may seem overly semimetal about my stove, but this is one girl who never takes her stove for granted.

When the Carrot Cake first came out I made it from scratch. Some recipes called for raisins or nuts to be added along with grated carrots. Today it is quicker to buy a Carrot Cake mix. For a healthier cake you can add grated carrots, raisins, or nuts. I even bought a cream cheese frosting, which saves time and garnished my icing with grated carrots.

Carrot Cake

1 carrot cake mix
Prepare like the directions say on the back of the box.

1 (12 oz) prepared cream cheese frosting
When the cake is cool ice the carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Garnish with grated carrots!

Weekly tip: To bake a level cake once you’ve poured the batter into the cake pan tilt the pan sideways so the batter reaches up along each side leaving the middle slightly lower. As the cake bakes the middle will rise and meet the edges making an even cake on top!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, syndicated columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net For more information check out: www.dorcasannettewalker.com

Garden Salad

Garden Salad

Dorcas Annette Walker

I think a tossed salad is one of the most diversified foods that an individual can prepare to eat. If you don’t believe me the next time you are at a buffet-style restaurant study the different ways people prepare their salad at a salad bar. It can be quite educational. Take my husband for example. He is the kind of person that uses the entire salad bar to make his salad. I shudder every time I see his stacked overflowing salad bowl. To me Dana’s salads are an entire meal. I’m a more picky kind of person when it comes to food. I prefer bite-sized pieces of lettuce with a few food combinations instead of taking a spoonful of everything set out on the salad bar. I can’t deny that my husband’s salads aren’t healthy. I just have a preference of using either a mixture of vegetables or fruit with my lettuce instead of mixing them all together in one big glob. Even though my husband frequently reminds me that everything you eat all goes to one place, I still can’t handle the thought of eating red beets, peaches, pickles, egg salad, tuna, pineapple, onions, tomatoes, pepperoni, cucumbers, grated carrots, black olives, bacon bits, croutons, and shredded cheese on lettuce topped with a generous amount of thousand island dressing all together- even if it is stacked in layers. In my defense I have seen other people do a double take at my husband’s towering salad creations. The way he puts together a baloney sandwich is also mind boggling, but that is another story.

Salad is a mixture of vegetables or fruit topped by a dressing and is often served as an appetizer before a larger meal. The garden salad or green salad is mostly composed of vegetables built on a base of one or more lettuce varieties either with a predetermined arrangement or tossed with a dressing. Salt is such an important ingredient in salad dressings that the word salad is based on the Latin word for salt. Salad was first recorded in a recipe book composed before 1399. The concept of salad dressing varies with different cultures. North America has a mixture of salad dressings while in southern Europe vinaigrettes are used. Mayonnaise is predominant in the Eastern Europe countries, China, and Russia. Denmark’s salads are based on crème dressings. On September 29, 2007 Spain tossed the world’s largest salad with 14,740 pounds of lettuce, tomato, onion, pepper, and olives prepared in a container 59 feet long and 15.7 feet wide with twenty cooks supervising the salad preparations that took over three hours.

Salad tips:
- For a subtle garlic flavor, rub the salad bowl with a cut clove of garlic; for a more pronounced flavor mince the garlic, mix with salt, and add to the salad.
- In addition to using Iceberg lettuce, try Boston lettuce, leaf lettuce, young spinach leaves, dandelion greens, escarole, and romaine.
- To keep a head of lettuce fresh in your refrigerator for a couple of weeks, cut out the core, then wrap the head in paper towels, and close completely in a plastic bag.
- Accent your greens with boiled eggs, crumbled bacon, and a sprinkling of fresh leafy herbs such as basil, marjoram, thyme, tarragon, and parsley.
- Garnish with croutons and colorful red or green pepper rings, sliced olives, cheese cubes or with a fruit salad use pineapple cubes and mandarin orange slices with a maraschino cherry in the center.
- To make a quick meal add shredded cooked chicken, fish, beef, canned salmon, or tuna.

Weekly tip: To make canned peas taste like fresh garden peas: drain the liquid from one can of peas into a sauce pan, sprinkle with salt and pepper, add 1 tsp flour, and bring to a boil. Turn off heat, add 2 tb margarine, and fold the peas into the thickened liquid. Serve hot when the butter is melted!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, syndicated columnist, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net For more information check out: www.dorcasannettewalker.com

Eclair Cake

Éclair Cake

Dorcas Annette Walker

This week’s recipe is one I discovered at a camp one summer where my husband was the evangelist. I will never forget the first camp meeting my husband preached. Being a preacher’s wife and hosting numerous families during revivals I was always conscious of the workload involved in hosting and usually ended up helping in the kitchen. Between day time duties and handling the music for the evening services by the time a revival would end I was always exhausted. Boosted by my mother’s encouraging words that camp meetings were entirely different than revivals, I traveled to my husband’s first camp meeting with anticipation. The fact that the caretaker and his wife had just moved in and had never been caretakers of a camp before should have clued me in to the fact that I’d be doing more than walking in and out of services on the arm of my husband, even if I didn’t have to worry about the music. As I was starting to unpack my husband informed me that he had offered our help as the caretakers hadn’t had time to get the grounds cleaned for camp. So instead of taking a short nap to revive me after traveling all day, I found myself cleaning ancient cement bathrooms, quickly eating supper, and then unpacking enough to get my family ready for church that evening. The next morning the dining hall was in chaos. The caretaker’s wife was trying to prepare meals (she had never cooked for a crowd before) and take care of a set of twins with no help. My husband volunteered my help so with my twelve-year-old daughter babysitting the set of twins I found myself in the camp kitchen hunting cooking utensils, taking stock of the food supply for the week, and planning menus. Not only did we cook and serve the food, but we had to wash up. Just as I was getting into the sync of revival life on a larger scale I was informed that the lady’s bathroom had run out of toilet paper. The caretaker had all camp supplies under lock and key. The second time I approached the caretaker for more bathroom supplies he handed me the key and gave me the task of stocking both restrooms for the duration of the camp. Midway through camp it was discovered that the other evangelist and his wife had an anniversary. My husband and the camp board thought it would be a nice gesture to honor them with a surprise party. So while the caretaker’s wife hunted up supplies that we could turn into party decorations I baked a large cake and tried to decorate it- my cake decorating kit was back home in another state. Did I mention that at this point the only service I was attending was the evening service? I rounded up a crew of willing helpers (young and old) to help out in the kitchen and was starting to breathe a sigh of relief when I was informed that on the Sunday a band was coming. Nobody knew how large the band was. As I was trying not to panic one by one the ancient toilets in the bathrooms quit working. I am not mechanically minded- I even have trouble sometimes finding the right key to unlock my own household door. I tried jiggling around inside the back of the toilets with no success. I finally ran down the caretaker who looked at me and said, “Well can’t you fix the toilets?” Exasperated I threw up my hands and replied, “I’m sorry, but I’m not a plumber!” I slept the entire trip home. Despite numerous camp meetings since (where I was able to enjoy all the services) I’ve never forgotten my first experience as a camp evangelist wife.

This Éclair Cake dessert has a light creamy filling topped by a rich chocolate icing that will go well with any meal. My Éclair Cake takes about fifteen minutes to prepare and is made a day ahead. For a different twist you can use cinnamon graham crackers instead of honey grahams or mix peanut butter into your pudding. My Éclair Cake recipe serves sixteen.

Éclair Cake

1 box honey grahams
2 boxes of instant vanilla pudding
3½ c cold milk
1 (8 oz) cool whip
Line the bottom of a 9 x 12 baking dish with a layer of graham crackers breaking the cracker as necessary to fit. Mix the pudding mix and milk together and add the cool whip. Layer half of the pudding mixture on top of the graham crackers. Repeat and finish with a layer of grahams.

Mix together:
1 (8 oz) prepared chocolate frosting
½ c peanut butter (your choice)
Spread on top of the grahams, cover, and chill in the refrigerator overnight. Cut and serve the next day!

Weekly tip: If you beat prepared frosting with a mixer on high for a couple of minutes you will get a fluffier icing with more volume!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, syndicated columnist, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net For more information check out: www.dorcasannettewalker.com

French Fry Casserole

French Fry Casserole

Dorcas Annette Walker

A major portion of motherhood is spent in the kitchen planning and preparing nutritious meals. This month I’m giving recipes that are time-saving and easy for any family member to make. So invite your family into the kitchen and let them prepare a meal while you sit on the sidelines and boss. On second thought this might be a good time to disappear- after listing all emergency phone numbers in large print - and go shopping or take a leisure bath. Either way have a great Mother’s Day!

Even though my father had severe hemophilia, I wasn’t prepared for the challenges I would face when my own son was born with the same condition. Raising a boy who averaged two to three internal bleeds a week has made me a stronger person, stretched my patience, taxed my strength, taken me to the brink of despair, and lifted me to great heights of joy. Motherhood with a severe bleeder is:
- the awe of holding a perfectly normal-looking newborn close and wondering if maybe the doctors are wrong
- walking a hospital floor for two hours crying as they try to find a vein in your tiny son then, kissing all the ugly bruises on his body from needle sticks
- gripping your hands behind your back to let your son fall as he learns to walk
- hearing the doctors say that there isn’t anything more they can do as your nine- month-old son keeps hemorrhaging
- feeling chubby arms around your neck and slobbery kisses of a toddler who says, Luv ou mommy, after an exhausting day
- spending hours at the hemophilia clinic or in a tiny emergency room week after week
- learning to give your son factor infusions in his veins at home in an effort to have a more normal lifestyle
- trying to keep a hyper-active four-year-old still in bed for days at a time to get a joint bleed under control
- wrapping your son’s right arm to a pillow to render it useless after talks of shooting basketball flares up his elbow falls on deaf ears, only to find him down in the gym laughing with glee as he shouts, “See Mom, I can still shoot baskets with my left arm!”
- trying to answer hard questions like: Why do I have to hurt all the time? Why can’t I be like other boys? Does God hate me?
- asking a ten-year-old with two ankle bleeds, why, after jumping out of his tree house in a race with his older sister back to the house, seeing him grin, and say, “It’s worth it mom. I beat her!”
- endless hours of tutoring for missed days at school and constantly filling out stacks of paperwork
- blinking back tears as you watch your thirteen-year-old limp painfully behind his team on the basketball court after two knee surgeries
- sitting with a sixteen-year-old on the sidelines watching him wrap numerous joints as his team warms up just so he can play in the game and trying to talk him out of it, only to see him shoot basket after basket for his team
- seeing him stagger in the door barely able to walk and trying to stay calm when finding out that he didn’t factor before playing basketball, he was knocked off balance and slammed into a wall during the game, and instead of coming home he stayed to finish the game even thought it meant he could only use one foot and one hand to drive
- reaching up to hug a young adult towering over me, hearing him laugh and say, “Mom you worry too much. See I’m alright!” after coming home from traveling out-of-state in his restored pick-up the very week a sniper decides to shoot at pick-up’s on the interstate my son was traveling

My French Fry Casserole is sure to be a hit with the entire family and is something that can be popped into the oven on short notice if you have leftover hamburger in the freezer. For a zestier taste you can add salsa instead of soup to the hamburger. My French Fry Casserole takes about fifteen minutes to prepare and this recipe serves eight.

French Fry Casserole

Brown two pounds of hamburger. Add garlic salt and a tb of dried chopped onions.
Mix in:
1 can of mushroom soup diluted with ½ can of milk and ½ can of water
¼ block of a 32 oz process cheese spread cut into chunks
Simmer until the cheese is melted. Pour into a 9 x 13 baking dish.

Top with:
2½ pounds of French fries (I split a large bag)
Bake at 350º for thirty to thirty-five minutes until the French fries are brown and cooked. Serve hot!

Weekly tip: The trick to crispier homemade French fries is to coat the sliced potatoes with two tablespoons of cornstarch before frying them in hot oil!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, syndicated columnist, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net For more information check out: www.dorcasannettewalker.com