A Surprise in My Mailbox

When I get time to browse on the computer, I enjoy reading blogs. I love quilt blogs and ranch blogs and cooking blogs and inadvertantly, one blog will mention another and I'm off on a rabbit trail. One blog I've been reading is: http://www.notquitejunecleaver.com/ . I've been reading Susan's blog for a while and honestly, I can't recall how I stumbled upon her, but the name of her blog takes me right back to watching Leave it to Beaver with the kids. We are big Leave it to Beaver Fans. Honestly, the choices on television today leave a lot to be desired. Beaver and Opie will pretty much get my vote everytime. Now, I'm no June Cleaver either. I don't even own pair of heels or a string of pearls. Oh wait. I do own a set of heels, but they are on a pair of boots. Not quite the same thing. Don't recall June sitting on a steer's head in any episodes either.

A few weeks ago Susan had a giveaway for a Gooseberry Patch cookbook. I have a couple of their cookbooks and I have quite a few recipes in my 'favorites' cookbook that hail from their pages. Just good, down home cooking. My kind of cooking. Well lo and behold, I WON!

And see, I've already marked a bunch of new things to try. I never win anything, but them again, I don't enter a lot of things either, but I was SO excited! This is a big cookbook, done in typical 'come set a spell and visit a bit' Gooseberry Patch style. I KNEW this was going to be a cookbook that I would use...a lot!

I made this the very day I received the cookbook:


Yum, but oh, that's a terrible photo I took! It's Festive Cajun Pepper Steak. I love that their recipes use ingredients that are readily available from my pantry. Since I don't live close to town, I try to keep my pantry stocked.

So thank you Susan! You made my day and I'm certain that all the cowboys I'm cooking for right now will thank you too!