Honey Bacon Dressing

½ pound raw bacon, chopped

2 tablespoons to ¼ cup Dijon mustard

¼ cup salad vinegar

1 to 2 tablespoons honey

salt and pepper

In a sauté pan, over medium heat, cook the bacon until crispy, about 6 to 8 minutes.

Remove the bacon and drain on paper towels.  Save for the salad.

Whisk the mustard, vinegar, and honey, all to taste, into the bacon fat.

Season with salt and pepper.   Set aside.

 Reheat to room temperature if it cools before salad is made.  Refrigerate any left over.

Turkey Chopped Salad      4 Servings

1 pound roasted turkey meat, diced

4 ounces blue cheese (or other cheese of your preference), crumbled or grated

4 large hard boiled eggs, thinly sliced

Bacon crisped from making dressing above

4 Roma tomatoes, cored, seeded and diced

1 medium avocado, peeled and diced

1 head iceberg lettuce, cleaned, cored and chopped

½ cup chopped green onions

salt and pepper

*1-cup flour

*1 large red onion cut into thin rings

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley leaves

In a large bowl, combine the turkey, cheese, eggs, crispy bacon, tomatoes, avocados, lettuce, and green onions.  Season with salt and pepper.  Mix well.

Season the flour with salt and pepper.  Dredge the red onion rings in the seasoned flour, coating completely and shaking off the excess.  Fry the onion rings until golden brown, about 2 minutes.  Remove and drain on paper towels.  Season with salt. 

*To save time, you may substitute a can of fried crisp onions for the fried onions.

Toss the lettuce mixture with the dressing.  Season with salt and pepper. 

To serve, mound a quarter of the salad in the center of each serving plate. 

Pile the onions on top of each salad.  Garnish with parsley.

My wonderful webmaster reminded me that I promised recipes when she set up my blog. So, I have added a new category: Food! Recently, carpel tunnel syndrome has caused me to take a brief vacation from painting, so I have been filling the time with cooking experiments. I subscribed to Cooks Country, a magazine I highly recommend to those of us who are not sure what fond or the Holy Trinity means in relation to cooking.  It is a treasure trove of information for the average cook who would like to do more than simple meat and potatoes, but not go hog wild. In other words, you still won’t get truffles or fois gras at my house. However, I have now learned the secret to prevent frozen french fries from getting soggy on the bottom. (Put a rack like the one you use for cooling cookies on your cookie sheet so the hot air can circulate around the fries.)

Just before Christmas, I burnt out the motor of my hand held mixer making a triple batch of fruitcake. I decided, after thirty years of longing for a stand mixer, that it was time to make the splurge.  Since I knew I would be stuck with whatever I bought for the rest of my life, I went for the big one…and bought a 6-quart Kitchen Aid. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000P9GWFS/ref=oss_product

By the way, they are cheaper if you buy them on Amazon. com. I did a lot of research to verify this. I used to enjoy kneading bread, it was therapeutic, but I have to say the Kitchen Aid makes short work of it and does a fantastic job. Side benefit- no wrist pain! If you don’t make big batches, don’t buy the 6-quart model, buy a smaller version.

By the way, in cooking the Holy Trinity does not refer to God, but to the three main ingredients used in most recipes.  As in religion, there is a lot of controversy about what it consists of. If you are a Cajun cook, it would be celery, bell peppers, and onions.  French cooks might substitute carrots for the bell peppers and so on.

Fond refers to the browned and caramelized bits of meat and vegetables stuck to the bottom of a pan after cooking a piece of meat. It is used to make wonderful sauces.

Stay tuned for the recipes I have tried in recent months.

Members of the Society of Decorative Painters were invited to paint ornaments for a holiday tree to be displayed at the Smithsonian’s Renwick Art Gallery. The ornament had to be inspired by one of the paintings currently in their exhibit. My daughter Heidi and I participated. I’m posting the paintings that inspired and the ornaments that resulted. Look in the Page called Smithsonian Ornaments.  We would not have had this opportunity if we were not members of the Society of Decorative Painters.

When Winsor-Newton announced they would no longer manufacture their 710 series, I went into mourning. How could I live without them? Of course I stocked up and I confess that I still have a secret stash of them for personal painting.  The problem was that I could’nt teach with them. How can you tell students they have to paint with something that does not work as well, but you are using your special brushes? I have tried so many brushes I’ve lost count and never found one that worked as well as the WN 710, until now….

At the convention in Columbia I visited the Silver Brush company’s booth and told them about my quest. I tried a sample of their Silver Falcon 3155 Pure Sable line made in Germany. It’s the Holy Grail of brushes! I have finally found a brush I can recommend for oil painting. No kidding, I am so relieved and happy to find a brush I can recommend to students without hesitation. Yes, I believe that a great brush makes all the difference.

Silver Falcon will have a booth at the SDP’s Peoria conference, so please check it out. I don’t work for them, but I now am a big fan!

Happy Painting!

Attention Oil Painters!

Krylon changed changed the formula of it’s 1311 spray a few years ago. It no longer worked to seal acrylic backgrounds or “quick dry” oil paintings to allow glazing. Some prominent decorative painters have been working with Krylon to reinvent the formula so it would work as it used to. The decorative artists doing the testing are now satisfied and Krylon is now shipping the new formula.

To make sure you get the NEW formula, read the back of the can. Buy only the Krylon 1311 that has a statement reading: “Seals finished painting projects and acrylic backgrounds for decorative painters.”

Happy Painting!

That is Columbia in South America, not North Carolina! I had the honor of teaching painting in this beautiful city of ten million people. Suffice it to say, it was a lovely experience. Click on Bogata, Columbia at the top left of this page for photos.

Recently the world seems engulfed in a spirit of contention. People are just plain in a bad mood. Is it because they have anger and fear because of a lack of control about so many things (for example the economy) and they are taking out their anger and fear on others?  If you are feeling argumentive or critical, perhaps you can think about this. Don’t let life rage take you over. Your temper is one thing you can control.

And remember: Decorative Painting is cheaper than therapy!

Note to self- See how many people you can smile at and give someone a compliment.

L.

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Linda

We need your help to grow the Society of Decorative Painters. Our membership numbers have dropped significantly since 2001. As our membership drops so does our revenue. In order to maintain our programs at their current levels, we need a resurgence of growth in our membership.

Be part of our solution by empowering yourselves to seek out new membership opportunities from your chapter members, friends, family, neighbors, church, workplace and other organizations.  If each current member brought in one new membership to SDP, just imagine what a difference that would make.

Come join us. Find new members and welcome past members. Help revitalize the passion of decorative painting.

If you are not now an SDP member, but are someone who paints or would love to learn to paint, find out more by going to www.decorativepainters.org.  Scroll down to the bottom left of the home page to locate a free sample of our award-winning magazine (a member benefit).

Linda

I’m going to tell you one of the scariest words that exists. Interested? It’s change. There I said it. Are you scared? If not, you are in the minority. Change makes people anxious, but without change there can be no growth, no new ideas, no increase in knowledge. Without change life is just plain dull.

The Society of Decorative Painters needs new members. The “old” members need to accept this and start welcoming new members and new ideas. If you keep doing the same thing year after year, you and your groups will grow stale. Open your minds, open your hearts. As the Girl Scouts say, “Make new friends, but keep the old.”

Above all, find a reason to smile today!

L.