The Record Newspapers - Hometown News For Orange County, Texas

NANCY’S KITCHEN

At Christmas, we exchange gifts with our neighbors and friends, the Ewings. Nancy Ewing is the shopper and she always puts much thought into their giving. Nancy collects snowmen figurines at Christmas so it is a tradition for us to include a snowman figurine as part of our gift to them. Nancy knows one of my collections is milk glass dishes so it has become a tradition that she includes an unusual milk glass dish in our package. I don’t know where she always seems to find those unusual and beautiful pieces of milk glass. I treasure each because it is a symbol of their caring ways and our friendship.

Besides the milk glass, she thinks of the most unique items for Mac and me. This year they gave Mac a Gathier DVD. The Gathiers are his favorite Gospel singers and although he has many of their CDs this was his first Gathier DVD.

Nancy knows I am one of those rare people that enjoy getting gadgets and things for our kitchen. This year she included in our package, a red pie plate and inside the plate was a red dish towel, a red handled whisk, a red spatula and a bottle of Watkins Vanilla. How many of you ol’ folks recall the door to door Watkins salesman? I do!!! That Watkins vanilla brought a rush of childhood memories to my mind. As a child, I can recall the Watkins man calling at our home and selling Watkins spice products to my mother. That was where most people purchased their spices in those days.

Inside the pie plate was a note Nancy wrote. Part of it read, “When we see a lovely red rose, we know it symbolizes LOVE, so to those of us who know the kitchen is the heart of the home, there should be some red in all kitchens.” It seems that any time we have friends and family visit; they do end up around our kitchen table. I agree…the kitchen is the HEART of a home and everyone needs that red to remind us of the LOVE radiating from that center of the home.

Glued to the bottom of the red pie plate was a paper with the following recipe. I prepared it (in the new red pie plate) for Mac and my dinner one evening and had enough left to share with ailing friends. I received several compliments and some wanted the recipe. I do like one dish meals and use crescent rolls in several of my recipes. This one is a KEEPER!

1 can of crescent rolls

½ bag crushed tortilla chips (I used flour tortilla chips

because they contained less sodium - purchased

at Wal-Mart), divided

1 lb. lean ground beef

1 pkg. Taco Seasoning (dry)

½ pkg. water (use taco seasoning package)

1 (8 oz.) container of sour cream

1 (8 oz.) pkg. of finely shredded mild Cheddar

cheese (I used sharp Cheddar because that’s

what I prefer & I grate my own)

Spray a pie plate with cooking spray. Line the pie plate with the Crescent Rolls, making sure to overlap. Fill any gaps and bring up to edge. Sprinkle with half the tortilla chips. Brown and drain beef. Add Taco Seasoning and water. Simmer for 10 minutes. Top crescent rolls and chips with meat mixture. Top with sour cream and shredded cheese and the remaining tortilla chips. Bake in a 350o oven for 20-25 minutes.

PREPARE AND SERVE WITH LOVE, NANCY

THANK YOU, NANCY AND W.R. FOR YOUR CHRISTMAS GIVING BUT MOST ESPECIALLY FOR THE KINDNESS YOU ALWAYS SHOW TO OTHERS. YOU ARE A LIVING EXAMPLE OF MATTHEW 5:16. YOUR LIGHT SHINES! MAC AND I WISH YOU GOD’S BLESSINGS IN 2008.