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Italian Delight Casserole

Back in the day we had this macaroni and hamburger casserole a LOT. My one and only family edict was to never have this again...ever. That was about 20 years ago after we tried it with spinach and flat noodles that had the consistency of snot.

Never say never. The current issue of Cook's Country they featured a dish called American Chop Suey. Basically it was the sme thing as our old dish. I thought it would be interesting to see how it measured up. I think you might be able to get it on the Cookscountry.com web site. If not try here.


It's a pretty simple and plain recipe; just one pot gets dirty.

Round up the ingredients

Prep the ingredients and line them up in order of processing

Macaroni takes a 3 minute cook then cools down for later

Cook the burger 

Then sauté the vegetables

Everything but mac back in the pot for 15 minutes

Add the mac; turn off the heat, and cover for 10 minutes

Dinner is served.

Certainly not the tastiest thing I've done from Cook's Country; but it is serviceable as long as you add some hot sauce and more cheese at serving.

And if you are just starting out cooking and want to try something fairly easy, go for this.

When Carla and I compared this recipe with her old family recipe they were pretty similar. Her old recipe had corn, mushrooms, and chili powder and some sherry. I think the chili powder and sherry might be nice adds to this.

Hints of Spring - March 17 & 18 2012

It's been cold, wet, and windy the past couple of weeks, But we had a couple of breaks over the weekend so Carla and I ambled round the neighborhood in search of spring. I had seen a couple of blossoming trees so thought I'd take my Canon Powershot S100 along. It's perfect for this type of adventure. Small enough not to be a nuisance but still with plenty of quality.

We went out walking on both Saturday afternoon and then Sunday morning after church. It's interesting to see what a big difference the light makes. Here a shot from Saturday afternoon with the sun over my left shoulder.

Saturday afternoon; the fence is in the shade

 Can you tell what I edited out of this picture?

Sunday morning; a bit more direct sunlight

Another view of the blossoming trees on Saturday. Can you see what I edited out of this picture?

Saturday afternoon. Ugly street sign removed

We went through Hiteon Park which collects a bit of water when the big rains come.

Not much new growth but I like the reflections

Another shot of some reflections in the impromptu pond.

And an attempt at a close-up. The background is in too much focus.

Sunday morning

It was a brisk, sunny walk. Just as we got home it started hailing and raining. Glad we got to enjoy some hints of spring before the gray came back.


We had

Cathlamet, WA and Cannon Beach, OR

We had a nice little travel weekend with some friends: the Watsons, Lees, and Gunnings. Our first stop was Cathlamet, WA where the Chamber of Commerce put on an annual Crab and Oyster feed at the Sons of Norway Norse Hall.

The Watsons rode with us and were a bit ahead of the Lees who had to drop their dog off at the dog sitters on the way out of town. The Gunnings would meet us at the venue. First we headed into downtown Cathlamet for a quick stop at Howie's cafe. They boasted the world's best maple bars, but they only made 8 on Saturday and they were all gone. We consoled ourselves with some mini-cinnamon rolls.

Jay, Mary Ann and Carla showing off our mini-cinnamon rolls

Soon after John and Karen Lee hit town.

The paparazzi captures a couple of celebrities

We walked around town and I saw an interesting feature on a gate.

We had a 3:45 seating for the feed so headed over to the Hall to see what was up. We took a bridge from Cathlamet to Puget Island.

The bridge leading from Cathlamet to Puget Island

We saw a few of these Sons of Norway buidlings in small towns we drove through. This picture actually has a women in the doorway who said "you don't have my permission to post my picture".  So, I used Aperture to take her out.

The hall

We saw the guys cooking; there were quite a few steam pots going for the oysters

Manning the oyster steamers

 Jay and Mary Ann have an oyster bed at their place on Hood Canal.  They sell them to the local eateries who harvest them. Jay told me that each of these mesh bags contain 6 dozen oysters.

A small mountain of oysters

We met up with the Gunnings and found our assigned seats. There were big sheets of plastic on the tables with our names written where we were supposed to sit.

Carla, Karen, John, Mary Ann and Paula Gunning. Jay and Norm Gunning are heading over with IPAs

First step is to get in line and pick up your 1/2 crab and side dishes. Later high school girls come by with 5 gallon buckets of oysters for the tables.

First course is 1/2 a crab. 

 We were  definitely crab/oyster feed virgins. People brought burners to melt butter with. We brought crab crackers (things to crack crabs with, not eating crackers).

Digging in. The buckets are filled with oysters

 We really needed oyster knives. We bought one and split it.

Empty shells start to fill the table

 The high school girls came back and picked up the shells as we finished. They were great - lots of smiles and not attitude or rolling eyes.

Paula enjoying her crab

Boys will be boys. I think Jay will be in trouble when Mary Ann sees this picture

There are two ways to get from Puget Island to Astoria and Cannon Beach. The long way is back over the bridge then head west on the north side of the Columbia to the Astoria bridge. The short way is a ferry that carries about 15 cars. We all headed over and were almost the last 3 cars on the ferry.

On the ferry

The sun was going down as we headed across the river but we got some good light.

Looking east up the river

Paula stayed toasty warm in their car but I got some pics of the others.

I stopped Norm from taking his own pictures

John and Jay enjoying the view

Karen and Carla

Mary Ann, Karen, and Carla

It was a very stormy night when we pulled into Karen's aunt's place in Cannon Beach. I took the opportunity to relax.

Doing what I do best

After a fantastic Sunday morning frittata and brats we took a little walk around town. Cold and wet!

View of Karen's aunt's place from the beach.

These trees are blown inland even more than the trees in my hometown Palmdale, CA

Does the wind ever blow in Cannon Beach?

Along the way I tooks some pictures of the local wildlife trying to recapture the magic of my wood duck picture a week ago.

A gull in Cathlamet

The ducks were just to port of our ferry when we were docked before leaving

Looks like he got something for dinner

Duck Eggs!

Jon down the street has 4 duck nest boxes; with eggs in one of them!

His comment:

With all the avian activity in our backyards this week, curiosity finally got the better of me. So I brought out the ladder after work tonight, and took a look inside four of the nest boxes in my trees. Two were still empty. One had a single egg.  But look what I found in the fourth-----..and it is a good thing I checked. Note the torn and missing screen marking the exit from the box. I'll have to fix that tomorrow afternoon when there is more time and daylight.

Nesting Ducks!

My good friend and neighbor Jay is a naturalist (or something; he likes fish and wildlife). He partakes in the Audubon Christmas bird count every year. His  neighbor  (wait, isn't that me? no the other neighbor - Jon) is another bird guy.  Anyway, Jon gave Jay a duck box to attract a pair of ducks who might want to raise a family. Last weekend (March 3, 2012) Jay put the duck box up in a tree in the green space behind his house in a place where Carla and I can enjoy it.

Here's a view of the duck box from our deck

Duck box in the green space behind our hose

And a close up showing how small the  hole is for the entrance. Apparently the ducks aren't very graceful in their approach; they pretty much just blow in head first.

A duck house

Within a day he had a guy duck hanging around checking out the neighborhood. It blew my mind. First, I didn't realize ducks lay eggs in boxes on trees, and second I didn't realize that ducks hang out in trees. Carla and I were having breakfast Sunday when she saw something hanging out in the trees. I grabbed the camera and took a few shots without being to see the subject very well.

A duck checking out the neighborhood

A cropped and enhanced close up of the duck

I posted the pics on Facebook and told Jay, who told Jon. I got this great information back:

Congratulation!  You are the proud surrogate parent-in-waiting of a handsome wood duck!  And in less than 24 hours?  That is remarkable,

Watch the box closely from 7:00-7:30 for tha hen to be entering and exiting the box while she lays the eggs---one each morning for 8-10 days until she has her clutch and sets to incubate them. It only takes 5-10 minutes for her to lay each egg, after which she will fly off with the drake for another 23 hours.

Once she sets on the eggs, the timetable will reverse for 28 days while she incubate for 23 hours each day, and flies off in the late afternoon to feed and exercise during the warmest time of the day.  During the incubation period, you may see the hen return at sundown, escorted by the drake, until she is safely back on the nest.  Then he will return to the pond behind Dale's house, to pass out cigars and hang out with the boys until she returns again the following afternoon.

The hatch will come 28 days after the hen sets on her eggs, and the ducklings will bail out of the box in the mid-morning.  So we will have plenty of time before that happens to clear the brush from the base of the nesting tree, and define a path through the greenway to lead the hen and ducklings to the stream.

If you are able to get pictures even half the one you forwarded today, you will have captured a magical moemnt.  Please keep us updated!

Today Jay saw a couple of female wood ducks checking out the box but being a little upset by a squirrel who was squatting. Jay reported his findings to Jon and he gave us this update

Glad to know there is plenty of interest in your new duck condo.

Nancy Cox [another neighbor] has also reported ducks going in and out of her nest box, which is mounted in the SW corner of her backyard, about 20 feet up in a douglas fir tree, and visible from the sidewalk by our mailbox.  She sent a picture to Chelsea took on Monday, showing the interested tenants striking a deal with their realtor and banker .

But don't worry too much about the squirrel---it is too late in the season for them to be nesting. It was probably just enjoying a warm bunk for the night, and was awakened by your new tenants wanting to move in.

I had (at least) 55 wood ducks and four mallards at one point this morning in our backyard.  It cost me three pounds of corn to get that count---which is a record number of woodies at one time---and confirms my fears about the critical shortage of available housing units in our neighborhood.

With the weather forecast warming to 60* this week, the hens will start laying their eggs any day now.  So keep watching, and your cameras fully charged!

Jon also sent along this picture of the ducks in his back yard.

I'll post additional updates and pics if we get them. I may try to put up my own box in the next week or two if it isn't too late.