Chayote Squash

Diva’s Memories of Recipes Chayote Squash
Inspiration: On a shopping trip to a new local store in Florida, my daughter and I found these squash and decided to try them.  I searched for recipes online and found one and modified it to our liking.  It's an instant hit in our house.
Ingredients: 2 Chayote squash, sliced lengthwise in 1 in strips 2 TB olive oil 1 tsp chopped Garlic dash of salt dash of black pepper 1 TB white sugar 2 TB vinegar	Instructions: In medium sauce pan, heat olive oil and add garlic and Chayote squash.  Salt and pepper and cook approx 10 min til tender but crunchy.  Sprinkle sugar and vinegar over squash and cook an additional 2-3 mins.
Variation: some recipes use lime juice instead of vinegar.

Diva's Cucumber ~ Onion Salad

Diva’s Memories of Recipes Cucumber ~ Onion Salad
Inspiration: My Grandma Margaret made this on the farm in Bayard, NE.  Simple and yummy.  My daughter still begs me to make it even though she digs out the cucumbers and leaves the onions... love you bekz
Ingredients: 2 large cucumbers, sliced 1 small onion, sliced 3 TB vinegar 1 cup miracle whip dressing 1/2 cup milk 1 TB white sugar	Instructions: mix miracle whip, milk, vinegar and sugar in a quart mason jar by shaking.  Pour over cucumbers and onions and refrigerate overnight.
Variation: fell free to add free herbs or mrs dash to taste.

Diva's Vegetable Salad with Hominy

Diva’s Memories of Recipes Vegetable Salad with Hominy
Inspiration:  This was given to me by a lady I use to work with at Delphi.  I have it written on an inter-shirt report paper in my recipe book.  We did that when we had carry in dinner's and loved someone else's cooking.
Ingredients: 3/4 cup balsamic vinegar 1/2 tsp salt 1 TB water 3/4 cup sugar 1/2 tsp pepper 1/2 cup olive oil 1/8 tsp pepper 1 TB parsley 1 14oz can hominy 1 14oz can green beans 1 14oz can kidney beans 1 cup frozen peas, thawed 1/2 cup chopped celery 1/2 cup chopped onion 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper	Instructions: Add first 6 ingredients to a large saucepan and bring to a boil.  Remove and cool. Combine drained veggies in a large bowl and stir in cooled dressing.   Refrigerate over night.
Variation:  since I am diabetic, i substitute splenda for the sugar.  I also add tomato's when my kids are not eating this.

Diva's Sweet and Sour Meat Loaf

Diva’s Memories of Recipes Sweet & Sour Meat Loaf
Inspiration:  My Grandma Z gave me a cookbook in 1979 that I have been using all these years.  This is one of those recipes that is stained and tattered from wear and tear:) It's delish!!!
Ingredients: 1~1/2 lb ground beef 1 cup bread crumbs 1 tsp salt 1/4 tsp pepper 2 TB vinegar 1 15oz can tomato sauce 1 small onion, chopped 2 TB brown sugar 1/2 cup white sugar 2 tsp prepared mustard 1 tsp parsley	Instructions: Mix ground beef, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, parsley, onion and 1/2 of the tomato sauce.  Form into loaf, wrap in foil and put into loaf pan.   Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 50 minutes. Mix remaining ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil and all is dissolved. Pour over meatloaf after the 50 mins and bake another 30 minutes.
Variation:  I always drain the surplus grease before adding the sauce if any is present.  I also cook this with cut up potatoes, onion and carrots.  The sauce gives the veggies a wonderful flavor.

Take Time in your LIFE for 10 Things...

Diva's Sentiments

Take Time in your LIFE for 10 Things...

Take Time to WORK - it is the price of success.

Take Time to THINK - it is the source of power.

Take Time to PLAY - it is the secret of youth.

Take Time to READ - it is the foundation of knowledge.

Take Time to WORSHIP - it is the highway of reverence and washes the dust of earth from our eyes.

Take Time to HELP & ENJOY FRIENDS - it is the source of happiness.

Take Time to LOVE - it is the one sacrament of Life.

Take Time to DREAM - it hitches the soul to the stars.

Take Time to LAUGH - it is the singing that helps with life's loads.

Take Time to PLAN - it is the secret of being able to have time to take time for the first nine things...

Diva's Photography:  taken in one of my thinking spots in Indiana

Double Chocolate Coca Cola Cake

Diva’s Memories of Recipes Title: Double Chocolate Coca Cola Cake
Inspiration: a co-worker of mine use to bring this to work, the pan always went home empty with her:)
Ingredients: 1 cup Coca Cola (the real thing, can't do diet...) 1/2 cup oil  1 stick butter 3 Tablespoon cocoa 2 cups sugar 2 cups flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 eggs 1/2 cup buttermilk 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon vanilla Frosting: 1 stick butter 3 Tablespoon cocoa 6 Tablespoon of cream or milk 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 3 3/4 cups confectioner's sugar	Instructions: In a saucepan, mix Cola, oil, butter and cocoa and bring to a boil. In another bowl, combine the sugar, flour and salt. Pour the boiling Cola mixture over the flour mixture and beat well. Stir in the eggs, buttermilk, soda and vanilla & beat well. Pour mixture into a greased and floured 13 x 9 inch baking pan and bake at 350 degrees or 20 to 25 minutes. Remove pan. Cool for about 10 minutes before frosting. Frosting:  In a medium saucepan, combine the butter, cocoa, and milk. Heat until the butter melts. Beat in the remaining ingredients and spread on the cake while it's still warm. Enjoy!

Diva's Home made Dorothy Lynch Salad Dressing

Diva’s Memories of Recipes

 Dorothy Lynch Salad Dressing  

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Inspiration from:  I have moved around a lot and this was one of my favorite salad dressings growing up in Nebraska and found its not sold in several areas of the country.  This is a mock recipe of it.  I love it! 


History:  A one-of-a-kind salad dressing, Dorothy Lynch, often referred to as a "french style", is a dressing the entire family will love. The special blend of spices gives Dorothy Lynch that home made flavor that keeps people coming back for more. The best part is, Dorothy Lynch is so much more than a salad dressing. You can use it in baking, as a barbecue sauce, in stir fry, as a dip, or in any creative way your family will enjoy!

Ingredients
1 Cup Mazola oil 1 Cup sugar 1 can tomato soup 1/2 Cup vinegar 2 tsp dry mustard	1 tsp salt 1 tsp pepper 1 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp celery seed

Directions

Mix all ingredients together in a medium bowl, cover and let stand in refrigerator overnight.

Variations

Store in quart jar in fridge. Make sure you pass it on since some states don't sell it.

Diva's Rhubarb Crisp

Diva’s Memories of Recipes

⬗⬗   Rhubarb Crisp  ⬖⬖

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Inspiration from: Rhubarb was always plentiful at every family member I had including myself.  It grew like wildfire in our yards.  Excellent topped with Grandad's home made ice cream.

Ingredients
2 eggs 1 1/2 Cup sugar 4 TB flour 6 cups diced rhubarb	Topping: 8 TB butter 2/3 Cups brown sugar 1 1/3 Cup Flour

Directions

Beat eggs well in a large bowl.  Stir in sugar and flour and mix.  Add rhubarb and pour into a 9x13 baking pan.
In a medium size bowl, combine topping until crumbly and sprinkle over rhubarb mixture

Variations

Bake 40 mins at 350 degrees F

Will Serve 10 people

Diva's Pour man Potato Water Gravy

Diva’s Memories of Recipes Potato Water Gravy
Inspiration: Pour man's gravy, but awesome.  We never let anything go to waste and what better way to use the water from your boiled potatoes.  This is also great for people that can't tolerate milk.
Ingredients: 2 cups water from boiled potatoes 2 TB flour 4 TB grease drippings from what ever meat you cooked. (if you didn't get much from the drippings, you can add butter) salt and pepper to taste.	Instructions: Add flour to drippings and make a paste.  Add potato water and stir til smooth.  Keep cooking until thickened to the consistency you want. Salt and pepper to taste.
Variation:  I have also added this gravy to soups and stews for the base.

Life after Colostomy!

my trendy tops made pretty:)

My favorite lace pouch cover:)

It has been awhile since I have posted on my blog... bad diva!
Been a long and crazy year....

Not like I needed anymore surgeries or illnesses with my lung disease nodules and diabetes.

February 2012  I began to have flu like symptoms and because I am disabled from lung disease nodules I became dehydrated and was hospitalized for a couple days.  2 weeks later the vomiting and nausea continued with horrific pain in my left abdomen and was hospitalized yet again through the ER.

March came and went and it was decided to send me to a GI for scopes
since the X-rays were not telling the story of why this nightmare continued.
I attempted the prep for both a colonoscopy and an endoscopy and vomited
all night long instead of the normal poop fest in mid-April.  The GI
everyone uses in this area only had appointments 4 weeks out and only knew you
as ticket number so and so. We came to call him the Silver Gold Digger of
Disney since most of his patients were retired to Florida.  He never has
put my face to a name and relied souly on his laptop.  When I came out of
the anesthesia I was told by the nurses they could perform the endo and but not
the colon since the prep did not do its job. (of course not, I told them it was
projected all of my bathroom and bedroom walls)  I was sent home and told
to make a follow up appointment.  Yet again, the not so kind receptionist
said we can see you in 4 weeks...  

He had a wonderful practitioner who took on my case, but she was
booked solid as well.  She attempted several different nausea and pain
meds to keep me comfortable but I never received answers.  Prior to the
flu like symptoms I had gained 40 pounds in 2 months’ time and they blamed it
on the steroids I was taking for my lungs.  So low and behold with month
after month “the flu” I dropped pound after pound.  No appetite, vomiting
all the time, and constant nausea seemed to last forever and I was so weak with
no will to live.  

April and May came and went... Test after test, hospital stays after
ER visits came and went.  Frustrated to no end yet another failed prep for
a colonoscopy and doctors who didn’t seem to care.  Who wants the flu for
a couple days, let alone months?  The weight continued to drop and at this
point I was down 60 pounds.  The smell of food or a scent would hit me and
I would just drop to my knees and vomit.  My poor daughter would totally
freak when we were in public.  It terrified her to watch her mother suffer
so.   I could only let it run its course and I always carried a vomit
bag..  By this time I was running low grade fevers all the time.

Mid June, 4 months into my tormented house of horror... late night calls from the
Nurse practitioner, (thank God she would call and check on me) it was decided
to perform a barium enema and yet another CT scan. Gastroparesis was suspected
at this point since I am diabetic and my blood sugars were on a roller coaster
ride.  I had a stomach emptying test done which I retained 70% of the food
I ingested.  There were talks of feeding tubes or a Gastric Stimulator
implanted in my stomach.  At this point it was a flip of the coin that
would decide my fate.

The next morning the GI called and said “Go to the hospital NOW,
please” No explanation, just go NOW!  Totally scared out of my mind I
called my daughter at work and she came and took me in through the ER where I
was admitted.  The ER doctor came in and said the surgeon will be here
soon.  All I could say was what the bleep bleep bleep???  I had no
idea what was going on.  The word diverticulitis was said a few times and
I had no idea what it was.  All the ER staff would say was the surgeon
would explain it when he got there.  Oh my God, scared half out of her
mind, she called my son who is a SGT in the Army and stationed in Wyoming.
He was granted furlough and within a couple hours, he, his wife, and my
mom were in the car and drove all the way to Florida none stop.  Once I
was taken upstairs to my room, I met Dr J the surgeon for the first time.
He is a kind and intelligent man who calmly explained I was admitted
because they had found air in my intestines and I had a perforated intestine.
Later which I found out was the diverticulitis.  He said the tear
was not bad enough to warrant surgery, but I was admitted to be put on IV’s and
medications so I could be monitored for a few days.  After 5 days I was
sent home on all the meds I was taking before.  Dr J wanted me to schedule
another colonoscopy so he had a road map as he put it. He said with the
infection, he would not even consider a Gastric Stimulator.  Yep,
and yet again the receptionist at the GI said 4 weeks we can get you in.
Really? I said you try having the flu for months and let me tell you “4
weeks”.  I probably have red hash marks in my chart at their office.

So end of July I saw the GI, he asked me why I was there, looked at
his laptop... and said I guess we need a colonoscopy.  Really??? Who is
paying this man?  And yep, you guessed it another 4 weeks of vomiting my
guts out, nausea and pain waiting for the scope.  The horror continued...
the porcelain queen so wanted to be dethroned.  In the meantime, I had
seen Dr J a few times and he examined my belly and left lower side and looked
at me and said, Do you feel that?  He felt a mass with his hands that none
of the elaborate tests I had done had detected.  He sent me directly up to
a GYOB to make sure it was not attached to my female organs.  They
scheduled me for an ultrasound the next day.  I had seen my Nurse practitioner
in the hallway while I was waiting for my test and explained to her what was
going on.  She was shocked at what Dr J  had found.  My female
organs were safe.

August came and went and September 4th I was scheduled for my 3rd
colonoscopy.  I was given a different prep in hopes I would keep it down.
At 3 am I was vomiting yet again... They did attempt the scope but were
not able to complete since the prep had failed again.  He did manage to
make it past my Sigmoid colon before stopping the procedure.  I returned
home around noon and laid down to rest.  About 2 pm I woke with excruciating
pain, rectal bleeding and a high fever.  I was rushed to the hospital and
admitted immediately, hooked up to IV’s and the surgeon was called.  They
took me in for emergency exploratory laparoscopic surgery.  When I woke,
Dr J’s new partner was there with pictures.  Evidently the scope had
caused the bleeding.

But... They had found the culprit and I had this weird feeling they
HI’5d in the OR that they had found it!

It being a tumor the size of my hand on the back side of my colon and
fused to my spine.  He also immediately said it was benign... thank God!

I was put on a course of 2 different antibiotics, a liquid diet and
scheduled for laparoscopic surgery on September 13, 2012.  Dr J said there
was a possibility that he may have to open me up if they had complications.  

I was scheduled for 9am surgery and was to report to the hospital at
8am.  I was prepped for surgery with my daughter holding my hand the whole
way.  I could see the fear in her eyes... They gave me the first relaxant,
she gave me a kiss, I told her I loved her and I went to sleep.

She must have paced the waiting room floor off.  They checked on
her periodically and finally at 5pm, the surgeon team came out to tell her they
had moved to ICU.  The report was they had attempted to remove the tumor laparoscopic
but had to open me wide open.  With the tumor removed, my descending colon
and part of my sigmoid colon they tried to reconnect me.  At that point Dr
J said everything had exploded.  Over the 8 hours of surgery, staff had
come and gone to watch his skilled hands.  He then knew he had to perform
the colostomy.  He knew that was my greatest fear... but I was alive and I
did not have cancer.

My recovery in the hospital was 7 days total.  I was in ICU for
1 ½ days.  Most of it was a total blur.  Pain, 28 staples, a
colostomy and my world had spun.  I remember the teaching of how to care for myself
but the meds kept me pretty groggy and I had vivid nightmares.  It was
decided to send me home and have a home health nurse and PT visit.  They
taught me how to care for myself, roll out of bed, ordered me a walker and gave
me great moral support.  After 6 weeks they had decided I could carry on.

It was a wild and crazy year, but I lived through it and they are in
hopes that possibly after a year I can have it reversed.  I have had a few
setbacks, but I continue to heal and have faith in my surgeon team.  Thank
God for the J team!  

Stay tune... we go back in on Monday, Jan 21st.

Oh Grandma, I think I stunk...

I don't remember how old I was, but my beautiful Mom and Grandma Sarah took me on a road trip to Iowa.  They had the biggest baddest Corn EVER.  We went to visit which I remember his name being Uncle Crumb and Aunt Vera.  She was my Grandpa Alvin's sister.

Grandma and Mom took turns driving across Nebraska into Iowa over what seemed to be years for just a little young girl.  The car appeared HUGE because I got the backseat to myself and kept peeking over the seats to my Awesome traveling companions.

From what I remember, at 1 time we broke down close to a small town near Hastings, NE.  We were on our way to visit Aunt Vera and Uncle Crumbs daughter Lottie in Juniata. Why I remember such things as a child and not my growing years is beyond me...

We were driving along and I smelled this horrific smell and I think my Mom was sleeping and I whispered to Grandma.... OMG Grandma, I think I stunk!!!  Being a young babe... it was suppose to be I smelled a Skunk!!! LOL It has been a joke for year's to say I think I stunk!!!

I remember Crumb taking me for a car ride so we could walk through the humongous corn fields.  I remember a front porch where I sat in the humid air with my Mom.  We also visited a flower field as to what I thought at that age, It had to be where the flowers were born. Gorgeous flowers after flowers... amazing what children think of when they see things like that.

Shenandoah, Iowa, the city with energy…..a beautiful garden city with renewable fuels production and plenty to energize the spirit….recreation, shopping, dinning and more. Shenandoah… it’s not only a progressive place to work & live, it’s the wonderful feelings you’ll experience when you visit friendly Shenandoah, Iowa!

Shenandoah is a progressive bustling community full of entrepreneurs, industry, opportunity, gardens, art, and friendly people. Its unique shops and restaurants have made it the retail hub of southwest Iowa. It's a safe place to raise a family with a top notch school system and is filled with recreation, attractions, and activities for all ages. Its low cost of living, extensive healthcare including a new VA Clinic, and relaxed lifestyle also make it a great place to retire. Shenandoah's growing population of over 5,500 is small enough to escape the hassles of the big cities, yet close enough to metropolitan areas and airports for convenience. In the past it's been the home of the famous singing Everly Brothers and Blackwood Brothers, and nursery giants like Earl May, Henry Field and many more.

I remember going to the hospital with Mom and Grandma to visit Crumbs wife, Aunt Vera... God rest her soul.  but I can remember what the flowers represented... Something I have carried into my adult life as Wonderful! My love for gardening, my love for flowers and my love for my Grandma Sarah and Mommy Marge.  A smell, a field, and one of the most wonderful trips of my life with MY MOMMY AND MY GRANDMA... thank you ladies but...

Oh Grandma, I think I stunk!!!

My Mom,  always the goof!  picture taken in the 60's

My Grandma, Gorgeous all her years

Mom in the Iowa corn fields

Aunt Inez and Aunt Vera