Saturday with Sisters & Nieces

My home is RIGHT between the homes of two of my sisters. I am 30 minutes to the south of Lynda and 30 minutes to the north of Sherry.

They met here yesterday to visit and for one sister to drop off her daughter and let the other sister take her for the weekend. Isn’t that nice and confusing?

Anyway, I made hot coffee and these sandwiches from the:

Farm Journal’s Country Cookbook

These sound weird but they were wonderful and we’ll be making them again! I’m typing the recipe directly --- with the original notes from the cookbook. The only changes: the tblsp for tablespoon was changed into a capital T and I didn’t have green pepper so didn’t add it. Also, I ended up using 7 buns because there was so much filling!

Cheese/Tuna Surprise

It’s fun to unwrap and eat this tasty fix-ahead family sandwich.

1 c. cubed sharp cheese (1/4 lb.)
1 (7oz.) can tuna, flaked
2 T. chopped onion
2 T. chopped sweet pickles
3 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
2 T. diced green pepper
2 T. chopped pimento-stuffed olives
½ c. mayonnaise
6 hot dog buns

• Combine cheese, tuna, onion, pickles, eggs, green pepper, olives and mayonnaise. Spread on buns, cut in halves lengthwise.
• Place sandwiches on baking sheet. Heat in very slow oven (250 degrees F.) 30 minutes. Or wrap in foil and refrigerate a few hours if you wish to make them ahead. Heat and serve in foil. Makes 6 servings.
I am assuming they had to slice the hot bungs themselves back then because cutting them lengthwise again would make a mess. I just opened up the buns, filled them, pressed the two sides together and slid the cookie sheet into the oven.

Sherry, my youngest sister and Savannah’s mom left with her other kids (Sierrah, Kyle and Konnor ) and Lynda stayed here with Savannah. To add a tiny bit more of confusion but to eliminate hurt feelings for lack of mention: the rest of Sherry’s little ones were at our parents. Kinsey, Summer, and Seth.

Anyway, we decided to make a day of our visit and after talking and the teen girls hanging out on the computer, we came up with ideas for FEEDING us. We wanted something fun for eating before watching a DVD and Savannah asked about making our own McDonald’s Chicken Snack Wraps. All agreed.

For something sweet,
I pulled out a recipe Savannah had hand written when she was younger and was still in my kitchen notebook of recipes.

We had our dinner plans!

Snack Wraps
Yummie Bars
Iced Sweet Tea
Caramel Apple Cider with Whipped Cream

I cannot believe none of us thought to get PICTURES!

We made a grocery trip and worked together upon our return. Aunt Lynda got the cutting board out and filled bowls with chopped tomatoes, shredded lettuce, shredded cheese, and chopped Rotisserie chicken.

She set out Ranch and I pulled a small tub of sour cream out. Lauren grabbed a bottle of hot sauce and a. Lynda heated the tortillas in the microwave. Lauren got out plates and made a gallon of her famous sweet tea, Savannah made the crust for the magic cookie bars and I made the cream cheese layer and washed dishes.

Everyone loved everything!

Here are the recipes:

Yummie Bars
• ½ box powdered sugar
• 2-sticks melted butter (separated)
• 2 eggs
• 1 block of cream cheese
• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1 bag caramel
• 1 bag of chocolate chips
• 1 bag of toffee bits

1. Mix both bags of chips together in bowl.
2. Mix 1 stick of melted butter, 1 egg, and box of cake mix in a bowl. Dough will be firm.
3. Mix dough with ½ chip mix, and stir. Mash dough into 11 X 13 in. pan (ungreased)
4. Mix cream cheese, 1 egg, and 1 stick of butter together until it is a cream. Gradually add powdered sugar. Mix again and pour evenly over cake mix.
5. Sprinkle the other half of chip mix over the mixtures.
6. Cook for about 50 minutes. Check every 20 minutes.
7. Melt caramels and drizzle over the top.
8. Cool and cut into bars.

Notes:
This was way, way, way too rich for me. I would use a few melted caramels instead of a bag and I would soften instead of melt the butter for the cream cheese mixture.

Apple Caramel Beverage

Heat apple cider and swirl in a couple of tablespoons of caramel ice cream topping from the jar. Top with loads of whipped cream and drizzle a small amount of the caramel over that.