Anybody Know My Grandma's Hash Recipe?

A pretty silly question, I know, but I sure would like any and all help on this from you, my talented, creative readers.

Here's what I'm talking about. Every time my grandma made a beef pot roast, she would use the leftover meat to make a hash that was to die for. It had potatoes and I think a few onions in it along with the meat. I don't think she ground any of it, but rather just chopped the ingredients as I remember the potatoes as being in tiny cubes.

She put it in a casserole dish and baked it in the oven. Did she use any liquid or broth? Again, I don't know but the serving of hash on the plate was not wet or mooshy at all. And it had a crispy crust on top. Not a pastry crust but just the browned potatoes and beef.

Am I making any sense here at all? Not just my grandma but my mom and all of her siblings that might possibly remember how Grandma made her hash have all passed on now so I can't ask them. (Unless one of them sees fit to send down some divine knowledge. Hello? Hellooo? Anybody listening??) I know for sure Grandma didn't have a written recipe; heck, she never used a recipe for ANYTHING!

I remember one of my aunts telling the story of trying to get measurements for the wonderful Scotch Shortbread Grandma always made at Christmas time. She asked Grandma to tell her when she was going to make a batch so that she could stand by her side and write down measurements. It proved to be a true challenge as Grandma just (literally) threw in sugar, flour, etc. until her mixture looked and felt right. We did end up with a recipe of sorts of which I have a copy but as my aunt always said, "It doesn't taste nearly as good as Grandma's, does it?"

So back to my original question. Do any of you make a hash from left over roast beef that you would be willing to share with me? I'll experiment with whatever you have to offer and maybe with a little help from Grandma's spirit standing at my elbow in the kitchen, I can come up with a passable dish of hash.

Of Onions

Gosh, I use a lot of onions. Good thing we grow them in our garden; otherwise, I don't think we could afford to buy as many as I use!

I refilled the bowl I keep on my kitchen counter this afternoon when I was preparing to make some spaghetti sauce for the freezer. Our supply of yellow onions is still hale and hearty, but darn and drat, these red ones pictured here are the very last of this summer's crop. Shoulda planted more. Obviously. And I only use the red ones in salads or as a topping for tacos or somewhere that the color will be appreciated to its fullest extent. My harvest of red onions this year was only a smidge over eight pounds so I shouldn't be surprised they aren't lasting far enough into the winter. At least I got some. There have been many years that they just haven't done well at all for me.

I know there are some people who simply can't tolerate onions in any shape, form or portion but we love them. And I'm glad because they are chock full of healthy benefits.

They contain a surprising amount of fiber which is good for all of us plus antimicrobial properties which are very good for the colon. They're effective against many bacteria including Salmonella and E. coli. Doesn't seem quite right that they often produce diarrhea in people who can't tolerate them.

Onions have many cardiovascular benefits reducing blood pressure and cholesterol levels and diminishing the risk of blot clots.

They are also know to decrease bronchial spasms which means they would be good for you if you're suffering from a cough, cold or asthma. (Now I have a picture of someone with a terrible cold sitting with a Kleenex box in one hand and a gnawed onion in the other.)

There is some evidence that onions give protection against tumor growth and stomach cancers.

The stronger the onion, the more health producing properties. If that's true, all I can say is we must be heaped in good health because our onions this year are so strong when I peel and cut them that my sinuses frequently get a complete clean-out!

All in all, yay for the lowly onion.

Busy Saturday

Chicken Mama's dad and I went in to check out her gallery open house and sale today . . . and I forgot my camera. What a dunce! Dang, I was so mad at myself.

We stayed long enough to visit with some people there and partake of some luscious carrot cake.

Then we traveled on to do some other errands in and around town before returning home. I made us a little (accent on little) lunch, GOT MY CAMERA, and went back into town so I could get some pictures. I just had to do it.

The first Saturday in December is traditionally a day that several different groups in the community hold Christmas sales. It was a very nice day for being out and about. We had huge, light snowflakes all morning and a temperature in the high 20s so it was pleasant being out. Well, except for the slipperiness of the side streets. We're still dealing with the fallout from the rain we got that then froze, and the new fluffy snow on top of that didn't do much to provide traction. We saw a couple of vehicles coming down slight inclines a little bit sideways.

Chicken Mama is having a sign professionally done to set out days when she has the gallery open for business. But I thought this temporary "homemade" one looked very festive and inviting.

This shot was taken from the central lobby of the building. There are five small offices with Chicken Mama's straight ahead. Yep, the one with the FINISHED wall hanging on it! (Chicken Mama and I both agree it needs to be hung a little lower on the door. It's on the To Do list.) You enter directly into her gallery space with the second door you see being her office work area.

She had lovely refreshments in the way of good coffee and a wonderful three-layer (or was it four?) carrot cake. There was also wine offered in the afternoon.

I managed to get only this one decent picture of one display area. When people saw me taking pictures, they quickly dropped what they were looking at and scooted out of the way . . . which I really didn't want them to do. So I stopped being disruptive and put my camera away.

Word around town seemed to be that none of the Christmas sales did a fantastic business. People were looking and oohing and aahing, but there wasn't a lot of extra $$ being tossed around. Ouch. More signs of our increasingly difficult economic times. All in all though it was a very pleasant day and Chicken Mama was very touched and pleased with all the people who made time to stop in to see her.

It's Done!

Whew. I finished the wall hanging at 5:30 this afternoon for Chicken Mama's open house and sale tomorrow. Whew again.

Here are some pictures so you can see the process.

First I laid out all the 2" squares on my design wall, stood back and took a good look. Some squares needed to be changed and rearranged, but I quickly realized that I could stand there and make changes for two or three days if I didn't say "Good enough!" and get on with it. Next step was to start sewing the squares together. The size of the thing sure does shrink right down when you start putting the squares together with quarter inch seams.

All squares sewn together and ready for the applique on top of the background. The plain blocks in the center are just muslin squares I used as "plugs" because the applique will completely cover that area.

A big, green evergreen tree went on first. That was easy.

Then started the painstakingly s-l-o-w process of fussy cutting out all the decorations for the tree, putting them on bonding material, cutting them out again and then bonding them to the tree. Doesn't look like that much now that it's done, but believe you me, it took days.

Chicken Mama asked that I put a "Welcome" block on the bottom of the piece so I constructed that to fit as part of the wall hanging.

After the tree was fully decorated, there were wrapped gifts to make and arrange under the tree.

Here's a detail of the applique on the tree. Darn good thing all the individual pieces were just bonded on with heat; I would never have lived through traditional applique and sewing them on by hand. And you can see they were too detailed to do by machine.

And here is the finished piece. I'll get a picture of it on the door to Chicken Mama's office tomorrow at the open house.

See you there!

A Quickie

I just finished dinner dishes and am procrastinating for a couple more minutes before going back to my quilting. I've been encouraged by the progress I've made on Chicken Mama's wall (door) hanging today but plan on getting in a few more hours on it tonight.

This morning in her blog post Chicken Mama mentioned my advent calendar that I hang each year on December 1st. Yikes, it's December 2nd and I hadn't even thought of it. 'Course, that could have something to do with the fact that I still have my Thanksgiving decorations up and haven't even pulled any of the Christmas stuff out yet. But because my dear daughter reminded me of the advent calendar, I just had to go retrieve it and put it up.

Please pay no attention to the turkey gobbler on top of the refrig. I've asked him to leave a couple of times but he just keeps hangin' around.

Isn't it funny (Funny? No, more like woefully discouraging.) that when you concentrate all your efforts on one particular project, all the rest of the things you do every day to keep life running smoothly fall apart with the speed of light?

My desk top is a good three inches deep now. I know there are things on there that should have been taken care of earlier this week. I just hope none of them are overdue bills. And you should (or NOT) see the ankle-deep debris kicking around on my floors. Well, pshaw. I'll get to it all. It ain't goin' anywhere until I do.

Okay, I'm going to grab something to drink and . . . back to my quilting.

In Near Panic Mode

Chicken Mama's sale and open house in her "new" office space in town is this Saturday. Because of one thing and another that has kept her from getting everything done earlier, she's currently working her little buns off trying to get ready . . . without losing all of her marbles in the process.

So what's my problem? Well, I promised her a new quilted wall hanging for her door by Saturday to replace the fallish/Thanksgivingish one presently hanging there.

Little did I know this project would throw me into panic mode, too.

The pattern is a watercolor quilt background with appliqued decorated Christmas tree and boxed gifts. (Mama Pea has never cared for watercolor quilts. That's okay. It's good for her to work outside her comfort zone every now and then. Gnash, gnash.)

I do enjoy doing hand applique. Fortunately, this applique is done using a different method. So then why do I say "fortunately?" Well, these pieces are merely pressed on with a bonding material. An easier, quicker process. Right? Right. And a darn good thing, too, or I would have needed about two years to complete this particular wall hanging doing hand applique. Unfortunately, the appliques are extremely detailed and have required hours and hours (and a few more hours) of fussy cutting and intricate arrangement.

I feel so unsure if I will have time to get it finished for Saturday that I don't even have time to post pictures of the hateful --- whoops, I mean complicated --- project right now.

Will I get it done for Saturday's big day? I. don't. know. But, wait, that's not an option. I will get it done. I think. I hope. Stay tuned.