Labor Day is here already!

September 6 is Labor Day! Can you believe we’re already eight months into the year 2021? I keep hearing how many weeks until Thanksgiving and how many weeks until Christmas I just try to ignore it. However many stores already have decor for both holidays well displayed.
Labor Day and Veteran’s Day are the only national holidays that haven’t fallen to the changes that have been made to our calendars of holidays to give folks longer weekends. It has always been on the first Monday of September.
The Knights of Labor in New York City first celebrated Labor Day in 1882 and 1884, and it is now a legal holiday in the United States and Canada. Labor Day is about half way between July 4th and Thanksgiving, which is why the first Monday of September was chosen as this holiday. It has always signaled the end of summer fun. In the past, school always commenced the Tuesday after Labor Day. This no longer holds, especially this year with evil old Covid still rearing it’s hateful head. (Never, that I can remember in my lifetime, have so many semi-truths and completely untruths been told about one subject).
Many families plan their last get-together or family reunion, camp out, trips to the lake or coast for this weekend. In South, however, we will have many more weekends with warm (hot!) weather. This is not true in other places, as the weather is already cooler, tree leaves are beginning to turn color and the nights are cooler. I have noticed on my indoor/outdoor thermometer that our night time temperatures have been hovering around 74º an d 75º which is a lot cooler than they were a month or so ago. According to the calendars, September 22 is officially the first day of fall; do you really think our weather will cool off that quickly? We will still be having “shorts and flip-flops” days well into November and December. Think about it, how many times have we had either holiday that we didn’t even need a long-sleeved shirt or light sweater?
Now, I know I’ve said this countless times, if you go on any type of outing and take food along, “keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold”. Did you know you can use your ice chest to keep foods hot? Pour a gallon or so of hot (from the faucet) water into the ice chest, close the lid and let it set for a few minutes, drain out the water, line the bottom with several thicknesses of newspapers to protect the plastic from the hot pots or casseroles you’re putting in and you’re ready to go! And when you have an outing and take food, you need dessert, so, here are some that are simple and easy.
Dump Cake
1 can cherry pie filling (or any other fruit pie filling)
1 can (20-oz) crushed pineapple with juice
1 box yellow cake mix
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 350º.
Spread pie filling in bottom of a 9×13 pan, pour and spread undrained pineapple over the pie filling. Spread the dry cake mix over evenly over the pineapple; sprinkle with the pecans. *Cut butter into small pieces and dot top of cake with butter, bake 35 to 45 minutes in preheated oven. *A friend of mine served this cake and the texture was totally different than I was used to. I asked her what she did and instead of dotting the cake mix with the butter, she emptied the cake mix into a bowl and then cut the softened stick of butter into it as if she was making a pie crust. The butter was totally distributed and then she added the pecans to the top of the cake mix rather than to the top of the pineapple. Believe me, it was really delicious.
Easy Bar Cookies
1/2 cup butter or margarine 1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/2 cups baking mix, (i.e. Bisquick or Pioneer)
1 cup butterscotch baking chips
1 cup chocolate chips (I prefer the mini chips)
1 cup chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 350º and lightly spray or grease a 9×13 baking pan.
In medium microwave safe bowl, melt butter on high for 40 to 60 seconds, (If you slice the butter, into smaller pieces, it will melt quicker more quickly). Stir in brown sugar, eggs and vanilla until smooth; add baking mix and stir until well combined. Pour and spread into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven until bars are light golden brown and center is almost set. Cool completely and cut into bars to serve.