Monthly Archives: July 2014

West Virginia regional food favorite “Oliverio Italian Style Peppers”.

Posted on July 23, 2014 by jolynnpowers

I love eating fresh home cooked food and I love even more being able to cook with things that are products of West Virginia. I am sure that all of you have the same feeling about food items from your home towns or places that you have traveled to over the years. Some times you just can not find a good replacement for a locally grown and packaged regional food and that is how most north Central West Virginia feels about these peppers. The peppers are one of my families favorite cooking staples. They are a wonderful mixture of traditional green and red bell peppers cooked in a wonderful tomato and olive oil sauce. The peppers come in several verities from the Sweet Peppers to Red Hot.

Oliverio Peppers

Oliverio peppers are manufactured only few minutes from my town in Clarksburg, West Virginia. They can be bought at major chain grocery stores all around the mid-Atlantic area including Washington DC and areas like Cincinnati Ohio. They were the creation of Antoinette Oliverio in 1930 and the family did not release these fine peppers to the public until 1972. Then only on a small-scale to local shops. When the pepper took off the family expanded their business to include pizza and pasta sauces, and peppers in vinegar sauces. You can take a look at the their website here at Oliverio Italian Peppers

So with summer heat beating down on us( today is 92 and 80%) it is my favorite time of year to cook with the peppers. Almost any one you talk to in my home town has a favorite way to use the peppers. Today I am going to share just a couple of ideas with all of you and them let your taste buds do the rest.

First is my personal favorite and my oldest sons also… Venison Steak with Oliverio Peppers.

I wish I had thought to photograph the last time I made this very easy and rather inexpensive way to make deer steak that falls off the fork tender. Really I am not sure this even counts for cooking but it is so good.

Place 4 med thick deer steaks into a slow cooker with one jar of sweet or med hot Oliverio Peppers with 1/3 cup water. Cook sauce and steaks on med setting of slow cooker for 6 hours. Then steaks are moist tender from all the tomato sauce that is bubbling up around them. I serve the steak with a side of pasta or rice and end up eating it all mixed together on my plate. We make this often when I know I will be getting home late in the evening.

The other a Giovanni sandwich. A staple sandwich at almost any Mom and Pop restaurant in my area. This sandwich is really simple to make and we have made it may times at home. You need a loaf of Texas toast, a hamburger or sausage patty, a slice of american cheese and a jar of Oliverio’s peppers. The resulting sandwich is a little like a pizza burger but with a little more spicy bite if you use the hotter of the peppers.

The

Giovanni sandwich with out peppers, bread, hamburger patty, american cheese.

Then what a great sandwich looks like with the red and green peppers.. A little on the hot side but so wonderful.

The uses are endless and I just wanted to share an idea with you. If you are not from my area but like the ideas above and you do home canning why not try to make a something like this from your home garden. If you are looking for a way to use up extra tomatoes or peppers this is one that is worth trying for.

Categories: cooking, gardening, Oliverio Peppers, regional food, steak with peppers, Uncategorized, Venison, venison, West Virginia | Tags: Canning, Clarksburg West Virginia, Deer steak with peppers, Giovanni Sandwich, Hot peppers, Oliverio Italian peppers, sweet peppers | 6 Comments

Lewis County Fair Brings Families Together Again 2014

Posted on July 16, 2014 by jolynnpowers

Powers family on the bumper cars at the LC fair 2014, Cody and Paige in the back car, Me in the middle and Tom and Christopher in the front

Hot, humid, summer evenings in West Virginia are often spent at fairs and festivals. It seems that country families really enjoy standing around visiting with old friends and passing around a new round of gossip at the county fairs. Our small county actually has two large fair events every summer. The first is the Lewis County fair where you take the little ones for their first experience on carnival rides, like the bumper cars and the carousel horses. The other, that I will be writing about more in a following post, is the animal and project centered fair called the 4-H Jamboree. It is on these hot evenings that families get their kids together to share in traditional country fun and young lovers find time to hold hands and kiss while sharing a night of carnival games and prizes.

This was the first year that Christopher my son and my Granddaughter Paige were really old enough to enjoy the rides and have fun trying to win a prized gold-fish. Then something happened when the old folks also got in those aged cars, we transformed into youngsters too. For just one moment we were young again and smiles flowed freely and laughter was heard. The world faded away and the noise and lights took the place of work and bills. All we could think about was getting our wife or husbands to buy rounds a funnel cakes and fresh squeezed Lemonade. So at 45 and 50 years of age, Tom and I spent the evening enjoying making memories with our kids and grand kids. Feeding them red and blue snow cones that turned their lips and tongues vivid colors and watching them laugh and scream for MORE !

Christopher and Paige on the boat ride.

This year our family chose to see the annual Demolishen Derby. It was a great time watching family friends stuff sweaty heads into helmets to crash old cars unfit for the road. They have several classes for everyone who wants to compete. There is a youth class for kids 12 to 18, a 4 cylinder and a 6 to 8 cylinder class for the older and heavy framed cars.

Demolishen Derby car smoking from raditator

Demolishen Derby car smoking from radiator

The noise alone is a draw for me. From a distance you hear engines whining and throttles growling as the racers try to disable all the other cars in the race by smashing them until they will not run or get stuck.

smoke pouring out of a Demolishen Derby car

We all cheered as the last cars fought it out and the smoke rolled from the losing cars. The winners receive huge trophies and a gas card as prizes. Then the bulldozer moves in a pulls the wreckage out of the ring and the next round begins.

As the derby ends we return to the rides and games. The kids know that with the darkening sky we are about to head home and they cry for one last ride on their favorite rides. Christopher heads to the giant slide and hollers on his way down.

giant slide ride at the LC fair

Paige on the other hand heads for the water ball ride. This is the new ride for our family and it is something I wish I could take home with me. A large inflated tube floating on a pool of water. Much like a bouncy castle but better!

Paige Powers in Water ball ride at the fair 2014

Water tube ride with Christopher and Paige.

The night slips in on us and the kids have arm loads of toys, bags full of gold-fish and blue stained lips. The parents are hot and sticky from the humid air at the fair. We hold sleepy hands as we all walk back to the cars and trucks. Everyone is happy, we spent an evening together laughing and eating and being kids again. This is the magic of a fair, that no matter what the events are, no matter the amount of friends you see, no matter the amount of money spent, for a few hours you have fun. The same fun that your parents had at a fairs years ago. It is as if time stands still if only for a few hours and you have fun!

Fair lights at dusk heading home 2014

Categories: Demolishen Derby, family fun, family memories, Lewis County Fair, old age | Tags: Demolishen Derby, Fair foods, fair rides, family fun, Lewis County fair | 2 Comments

Ooooo That Hurts, a Bee Sting!

Posted on July 10, 2014 by jolynnpowers

Just about everyone has had a bee sting or two. I have had plenty and with a yard full of clover we are very cautious about wearing shoes out side. I guess today was a the day to get a honey bee sting while wearing my Crocs . It was a total surprise and very painful while balancing a 50 pound bag of sand on my shoulder. So here is a reminder of what works and what doesn’t when some one in the family is needing some TLC from a bee sting.

honey bee

The first thing to know is if any of your friends or family is allergic to bee stings. If there is any chance of an allergy call 911. This simple step could save a life. Beyond a life threatening allergy there are a few things that can be used to calm a very painful and usually puffy bee sting.

my foot with a fresh honey bee sting

As soon as I realized that I was stung I put down that 50 pound bag of play sand and pulled off the clog I was wearing. I looked down and looked for the classic black spot of a honey bee stinger still attached to the skin. I pulled it out with my fingers. Yes, you read that right I pinched the darn thing and pulled it out as fast as I could.I was not waiting to walk into the house to find a credit card to slowly pull the darn thing out. I can’t even imagine waiting to get the stinger out for myself but what about a toddler? Really, who is going to make them wait until you get in the house and find your pocketbook and dig out a card, the whole time they are screaming at the top of their lungs to make it stop and tears are flowing. I am not that MaMa, I am a get that thing out of their as fast as you can and let’s get it washed ASAP, kinda grandma. Some research supports me in my thinking and others say do not take the chance to inject any more poison. I just know that the faster I get my personal stingers out of the skin the less they swell. So I remove them as fast as I can and head for a bathroom. I find that cool water is a God send. It cools the stink and washes away any dirt or grass that maybe in the sting area. If the cooling would only last a little longer. If possible I take an aspirin or an antihistamine … Yea, I know common sense would tell you to do this. Many people forget that aspirin is perfect for reducing swelling and pain suppression and Antihistamines stops the terrible itching that always fallows a good sting. If you can’t get to Aspirin or a Allegra and you are treating a child try this. Mix up your own batch of Baking Soda and water and apply as a past to the sting.

baking soda and water mix together to get a paste

baking soda paste on sting

Let this concoction dry and it will sooth the sting. It took about 5 minutes for the majority of the pain to pass away. Then to combat the swelling I washed my foot again with a cool wash cloth and used it as a compress. I have also used ice packs for wasp stings. I am more sensitive to them and swell a lot more. Although, today all I really needed was to reach in my fridge and find a Blue Ice cooler pack and use it, wrapped in a paper towel.

blue ice pack and paper towel

After about three hours, I found that with a dose of Allegra, the ice and soda, I was totally fine. No pain, No swelling, and no itching, this was a great first day. Things went very well for a couple of days and on the 3 day after spending a large amount of time on my feet I did notice a little swelling in my pinky toe and across the bridge of my foot and some general itching. I guess even after 48 hours there was enough poison in my system to have a slight reaction when I was walking all day.

3 hrs after bee sting

Some of the other things that my family has tried over the years that do not help us who swell up like balloons are…. deodorant, Calamine lotion, Toothpaste, and most of the bee sting kits. Most of the kits only mask the pain with a skin numbing agent and a small amount of rubbing alcohol. They do nothing to reduce swelling and the itching. These two symptoms are actually the worst for my family. I can usually get the stinging to stop with the above treatments,but they do nothing for the later effects. I have taken my son to the ER due to swelling of his foot so big that he was unable to wear shoes or see his three smallest toes for several days. So I always keep on had any form of generic children’s allergy medication and my Adult version just in case something happens. I even take them on vacations with us in our medical kits.

three days after a bee sting

I hope that your summer is sting free. I am hoping that I am the only one in my family to have this experience this year. I know my heart would be broken if it was little Christopher who got in a fight with a bee and lost. Kids have such little bodies to deal with this and they suffer so much more than we do. So keep in mind these tips and maybe your summer will be a little more comfortable for everyone.