Posted on 03/23/2008 11:36:40 PM PDT by nw_arizona_granny
Americans finding soaring food prices hard to stomach can battle back by growing their own food. [Click image for a larger version] Dean Fosdick Dean Fosdick
Home vegetable gardens appear to be booming as a result of the twin movements to eat local and pinch pennies.
At the Southeastern Flower Show in Atlanta this winter, D. Landreth Seed Co. of New Freedom, Pa., sold three to four times more seed packets than last year, says Barb Melera, president. "This is the first time I've ever heard people say, 'I can grow this more cheaply than I can buy it in the supermarket.' That's a 180-degree turn from the norm."
Roger Doiron, a gardener and fresh-food advocate from Scarborough, Maine, said he turned $85 worth of seeds into more than six months of vegetables for his family of five.
A year later, he says, the family still had "several quarts of tomato sauce, bags of mixed vegetables and ice-cube trays of pesto in the freezer; 20 heads of garlic, a five-gallon crock of sauerkraut, more homegrown hot-pepper sauce than one family could comfortably eat in a year and three sorts of squash, which we make into soups, stews and bread."
[snipped]
She compares the current period of market uncertainty with that of the early- to mid-20th century when the concept of victory gardens became popular.
"A lot of companies during the world wars and the Great Depression era encouraged vegetable gardening as a way of addressing layoffs, reduced wages and such," she says. "Some companies, like U.S. Steel, made gardens available at the workplace. Railroads provided easements they'd rent to employees and others for gardening."
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
http://chilechews.blogspot.com/search/label/food%20from%20scratch
The Art of Hot Cocoa
One of the pleasures of cold winter nights, especially when you are freezin’ yer buns, is sipping a cup of hot cocoa. It’s sweet and comforting, providing warmth to the belly as well as warmth to the hands wrapped around the cup. Although the ingredients are simple and few, there is an art to making a good cup of cocoa. Anyone that can stir milk into a store-bought hot chocolate mix can put together the four to six ingredients needed to make a wonderful homemade cup of hot cocoa.
Basic hot cocoa is for those nights when the kids have driven you nuts all day, you just convinced them the closet is cleared of monsters so they can safely go to sleep, and you want something hot, sweet, and chocolate NOW. It may be tempting to reach for the expensive organic hot chocolate mix you bought last month, but try this instead. If you decide you must have a mix, we’ll talk about that later.
Basic cocoa consists of just a few ingredients and has no standard recipe quantities. You see, cocoa is very personal so a single recipe will never suit all people. You will find your own perfect combination, which you can jot down somewhere if you’d like or you can just wing it each time, making minor adjustments to fit your mood. The required ingredients are cocoa powder, sugar, water, and milk. Optional ingredients are salt and vanilla.
Ingredients - let’s talk about those for a minute. Not all cocoa powder is created equally. Some are smooth and milky while others are strong, bitter, and intense. You may have already figured out what kind you like best, or maybe you’ve just always grabbed the same brand from the shelf without putting much thought into it. If the second one describes you, read the labels on some different kinds and pick up a few to try. Decide if you want to go organic and fair trade, the best options from the social, environmental, and health standpoint.
Do you have a problem with caffeine? Not to worry. You can still enjoy hot cocoa. Check your natural food stores for Wonder Cocoa, made by the same company that makes the baking fat replacer WonderSlim. This is the only cocoa powder I’ve seen that is virtually caffeine-free. Those who are super-sensitive to caffeine should note that no process can remove all of the naturally-occurring caffeine in cocoa (or coffee beans). Wonder Cocoa claims it is 99.7% caffeine free.
If your store doesn’t carry it and can’t order it, you can order it online. A Different Daisy has it, but cautions that the new packaging is prone to coming open during shipping.
There is a subtle difference in taste between brands of cocoa powder. I did a taste test comparison between Ah!Laska’s organic cocoa powder and Wonder Cocoa by mixing a bit of each one with sugar and hot water, keeping the quantities equal between samples. The difference was akin to a milk chocolate candy bar versus a dark chocolate one. Smooth and light best describes the flavor of the Ah!Laska cocoa while the Wonder Cocoa was darker with a slightly bitter taste. The most fascinating difference, though, was what happened next after swallowing. The Wonder Cocoa had a long lingering tail to be savored like a dry wine while the regular cocoa’s flavor dissipated quickly leaving a clean palate. If you prefer milk chocolate to dark, Wonder Cocoa may not be for you. If you like the intensity of dark chocolate, check it out. These differences will also come through in baked goods, so you may want to keep both regular cocoa powder and Wonder Cocoa in your pantry.
Whew. Are we ever going to actually get around to making a cup of hot cocoa or is she just going to spout theory?
Patience, my pretties, patience. You still need to select your other ingredients. White granulated sugar produces the cleanest taste but it is the most highly processed of your sugar choices. All the flavor has been stripped from the original plant, leaving only pure sweetness. I don’t have as much problem with that as I do with the processing that white sugar goes through and prefer not to take a chance that I’m eating something that’s been filtered through charred animal bones. Using unbleached granulated sugar with a little color left in it adds subtle flavor to my hot cocoa but not enough to be distracting. Raw sugar, or turbinado, is an option but I’ve found it’s difficult to get it to dissolve completely, the same problem you might have with sucanat or date sugar. Don’t ask me about Splenda, stevia, or other fake sweeteners. I want sugar. If you want to experiment with the alternatives, go right ahead.
Now can we have our cocoa? Pleeeeaaassse?
No. And don’t ask again or I’ll quit writing this. Do you want the best or not?
Your choice of milk also has much to do with flavor and texture of the final product. As a vegan, I prefer plant-based milk alternatives. Soymilk is, in my experience, the best for making a smooth and satisfying cup of hot cocoa although rice milk, oat milk, or any of the nut milks will work. Some of those just seem too watery for my tastes. Other factors to consider are the sweeteners and flavorings added to the nondairy milk. I prefer sweetened vanilla soymilk while others swear by plain almond milk. Dairy drinkers can select skim, low fat, or whole milk.
Are we there yet? I thought you said this part was about making a quick cup of cocoa.
Hey! I can stop this car post right now and walk away. Stop your whining. Sit back and enjoy the ride. Yeesh.
Now that you’ve assembled your ingredients, you’re ready to make the cocoa. First, mix the cocoa powder and sugar in your mug. How much? I told you ... cocoa is a personal thing and I’m not going to dictate the amounts. For your first try though, may I recommend a spoonful of cocoa powder and twice as much sugar. You can adjust the amounts later to your taste. Mix the cocoa and sugar thoroughly.
The next step is the secret to having smooth hot cocoa with no lumps and no dark specks floating on top. Add water. That’s right. Water, not milk. Add just enough to wet your dry ingredients thoroughly but not so little that it’s a sludge. Using hot water is easiest as it will dissolve the sugar and allow the cocoa to blend, but you can use cold water instead. For cold water, stir until the powder is coated with water. It will not be smooth. Don’t worry. Just pop your cup in the microwave for 15 seconds and then stir again. If you don’t have a microwave, I recommend you do this in a small saucepan on the stove top.
Now slowly add your milk, stirring constantly. Heat the brew all the way through in the microwave or on the stovetop. Stir one last time and enjoy. This is your most basic and simple hot chocolate. It will taste good but it won’t really be anything special. You can bring the quality up by adding a pinch of salt and a splash of vanilla extract before drinking it. It can’t get much easier than this and once you know your favorite proportion of cocoa powder to sugar, you can refill your old hot chocolate canister with your very own personalized mixture.
I, however, prefer hot cocoa with a little more personality. Plus, if anyone can make something simple more complicated than it needs to be, that person would be me. Let’s talk about how to trick out your hot cocoa.
One way to add more flavor to hot cocoa is through the addition of spices. Make a delicious Mexican Hot Cocoa simply by adding a pinch of cinnamon and a dash of chile powder or cayenne pepper. The pepper will really warm you up! If you’re a vanilla fan, make your own vanilla sugar. Simply tuck a vanilla bean in a jar with some sugar and leave it for a couple of weeks, shaking it occasionally to distribute the flavor evenly throughout the sugar.
I know vanilla beans are expensive and you may not want to invest that kind of dough in your hot cocoa. Here’s a cheap tip for you. During the summer, when you want an extra special treat, carefully split a vanilla bean lengthwise. Scrape the tiny seeds into your ice cream mix before freezing for intense flavor. Then use the pods in your jar of sugar. They will still have plenty of flavor; in fact, you can refill the jars for months with new sugar before needing to replace the beans. Use the vanilla sugar to make your hot cocoa. You can also make cinnamon sugar by placing cinnamon sticks in with sugar for a few weeks. Like the vanilla bean, the cinnamon stick will continue to infuse sugar with flavor for months.
Extracts are another way to boost basic hot cocoa into the realm of the sublime. For years, I’d dutifully add a little vanilla extract after heating my cocoa, but I never really noticed the taste. A few winters ago, I wanted to make my own hot cocoa mix to use at a moment’s notice. I didn’t want to have to add the extract at the end so I tried mixing it in with the dry ingredients. What a breakthrough! It seems that mixing the extract into the sugar first somehow allows it to release more flavor into the drink. Be sure to mix it with the sugar before adding the dry cocoa powder or you will create lumps. Only a teeny tiny amount of extract is needed. Mix the sugar thoroughly with a whisk until it looks uniformly damp. Then add your cocoa powder and proceed with the recipe. Peppermint extract tastes divine. Try using almond extract instead of vanilla in your Mexican hot cocoa.
One concern with developing a nightly cocoa habit in the winter can be all the fat contained in the milk, whether it is nondairy or not. Using the fat reduced soymilk for hot cocoa, though, produces a watery drink that there is little point in drinking. In thinking about this problem, I remembered that fat brings out the flavor in the kitchen by coating the tongue, as well as making food or drink thicker. The first reason is why so many recipes call for sautéing spices or fragrant ingredients in the oil. With my extract trick, flavor was not a problem, but watery cocoa due to lowfat milk remained a problem.
My solution may be a bit unorthodox but it works like a charm: arrowroot powder. Those of you familiar with natural food stores probably know exactly what this is, but others may not. Arrowroot powder is simply a fine white powder used in exactly the same way as cornstarch. I prefer to avoid the ubiquitous corn products so I substitute arrowroot in the same proportion. You can find it in the natural food stores with the flours and baking supplies; sometimes it is also available in the bulk bins. I use the arrowroot to thicken the hot cocoa, giving it the mouth-feel of a drink higher in fat. To keep it from creating lumps, or significantly more work, I stir it in with the dry ingredients initially. If mixing extract into the sugar, the arrowroot is added afterwards along with the cocoa powder. Add a bit of cold water and mix thoroughly. Microwave for a short time to dissolve the sugar and cocoa, and thicken the mixture. Stir thoroughly.
Instead of just pouring in all the milk, which will result in lumps, pour in a small amount only. Stir until the mixture is smooth. Add a little more milk and repeat. Think of this as making a sauce from roux. You have to blend in the liquid gradually to achieve a smooth result. Slowly add the milk continuously now while stirring. Heat through and serve. If you opt for adding hot water at the beginning, be sure to stir while adding it. You will need to cook it briefly to thicken, either in the microwave or on the stove top, before adding the milk.
Wow, this is way too much work just for a cup of cocoa.
I agree! The answer is mixing up your favorite personalized combination in advance to use at a moment’s craving. To do this, though, will require some measuring and some math. First, you have to know how to make a cup of cocoa that you like. How much sugar, exactly, do you use per cup? How much cocoa powder? Do you add salt? Extract? Arrowroot? Write down your measurements for each ingredient. Mix all of the dry ingredients into a cup and then use measuring spoons to determine the quantity of dry mix.
Now take your measurements for each ingredient and multiply them by 10. Measure out your sugar into a large bowl. Add the extract and whisk until it is distributed thoroughly. Add the salt, cocoa powder, and arrowroot. Whisk until thoroughly mixed. Transfer into an empty cocoa tin. On the outside, label the flavor and make a note of how much to use per cup of cocoa. You can now have tasty hot cocoa with very little work.
To get you started, I will share my recipe for Mexican Hot Cocoa with you. Remember, you may need to adjust ingredients to your own taste, but this will give you a starting point.
Chile’s Mexican Hot Cocoa Mix
Makes 1 ¼ cups, enough for 10 servings
3/4 c sugar
1/8 tsp almond extract
1/8 tsp vanilla
1 tsp arrowroot
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/16 tsp cayenne (Add a dash more for a real kick!)
½ c + 2 tbs cocoa powder
Whisk together sugar and flavorings until distributed evenly. The mixture will look moist.
Whisk in arrowroot, spices, and salt until the mixture looks dry.
Add cocoa and mix thoroughly.
Store in a tightly closed container.
Chile’s Mexican Hot Cocoa
2 tbs Chile’s Mexican Hot Cocoa Mix
2 tbs boiling water
1 c hot soymilk
Place cocoa mix in mug.
Add water and stir until thoroughly mixed.
Optional: microwave briefly to thicken before stirring in soymilk.
Add hot soymilk and and enjoy.
Posted by Chile at 7:45 AM
http://chilechews.blogspot.com/2008/08/quick-and-easy-meals.html
Chile’s Fat-Free Whole Wheat Flour Tortillas
3 c whole ‘white wheat’ flour (can substitute whole wheat pastry flour)
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 c warm water
Mix dry ingredients.
Stir in water.
Knead for a couple of minutes on a floured surface until dough is smooth.
Place in a greased bowl and cover. Let rest at least half an hour.
Cut dough into a dozen pieces and roll into balls.
Start heating a large cast iron skillet or griddle over high heat.
Roll one ball at a time out on a floured surface into a thin round tortilla.
When the skillet is very hot, carefully lay the first tortilla on it. Cook until the edges start to dry.
Flip it over and cook on the other side briefly. There should be brown flecks on both sides, but it should not be brown all over.
Remove, place on a plate, and cover with a clean dish towel.
Repeat with remaining tortillas.
Note: I have found that if you leave too much flour on the tortilla, it ends up burning in the skillet and smoking up the kitchen pretty bad. I use a mushroom brush (very soft bristles) to gently brush all the flour off the surfaces of the raw tortilla before placing in the skillet. It takes an extra bit of time but it’s worth it.
Please Note: Because these are fat free, they won’t be as flexible as traditional tortillas. Warming them up will help increase their flexibility. If you really dislike the fatfree version, you can add a small amount of oil to the recipe.
Legumes
* Canned beans - any variety, such as garbanzo, kidney, navy, small white, black, or pinto
* Frozen cooked beans - cook a large batch and freeze in small portions
* Dehydrated beans - “instant” pinto and black beans can be found in natural food stores. Other dehydrated beans can be ordered.
* Lentils - fastest cooking of the legumes. Red lentils cook the most quickly.
* Pressure-cooked beans - lima and pinto beans cook in the least amount of time. Use the speed-soaking technique to do this faster. I have often skipped the 1 hour soak time recommended after the brief initial cooking.
Vegetables
* Fresh - raw carrots, sugar snap pea pods, red bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, cauliflower, celery, jicama, etc.
* Cooked - baked or boiled small potatoes, and steamed green beans are tasty cold
* Frozen - handy for fast meals
* Canned tomatoes - fresh diced, fire-roasted, or flavored
* Canned - anything you like, such as peas, green beans, carrots
* Pickled - pickling is an easy way to preserve vegetables and usually keep well
* Fermented - low-energy flavorful way to preserve your veggies
* Dehydrated - convenient for emergencies as well as quick meals
Fruits
* Fresh - anything. Some are easier and less messy to eat when travelling: grapes, bananas, apples, plums, cherries, oranges
* Canned - preserve your excess harvest
* Frozen - handy for breakfasts
* Pickled
* Dehydrated - tasty snacks
Prepared Foods
* Fresh - leftovers!
* Frozen - freeze leftovers or cook specifically to freeze for later
* Dried - soups, food cups, convenience foods
* Dips such as hummus, salsa, bean dip, or low fat salad dressing.
Pinto Bean Dip
Cooked pinto beans
Chile powder, garlic powder, and salt to taste
Mash beans and stir in seasonings.
White Bean Dip
Cooked white beans
Roasted red pepper
Nutritional yeast
Lemon juice
Mustard
Onion powder
Garlic powder
In a food processor, process ingredients (to taste) until smooth.
Salsa-Bean Dip
Cooked pinto beans
Salsa
Mash beans.
Stir in salsa to desired consistency for dipping.
Great with toasted corn tortillas.
*******
FAST & EASY MEALS TO MAKE WITH BASIC INGREDIENTS
Here are some meal ideas and recipes. Keep in mind that many of these are great for travelling. You can eat many while driving and prepare most of them in a campsite or hotel room.
Quick Breakfasts
* Quick oats with sugar, chopped fruit, and rice or soy milk. Apples and pears make a nice change from the traditional bananas, strawberries, peaches, or blueberries.
* Overnight Oats: per large serving, soak 1/3 cup steel cut oats and 1/3 cup regular rolled oats in 2 cups of water overnight. In the morning, bring to a boil on the stove and cook 5 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and let sit 10 minutes (good time to shower and dress). Serve with brown sugar, fruit, and rice or soy milk.
* Mixture of cold leftover brown rice, regular rolled oats, and Grape-nuts type cereal with sugar, and rice or soy milk
* Cold cereal with chopped fruit, and rice or soy milk
* Toast with applesauce or homemade jam, jelly, or preserves
http://www.zetatalk.com/thub00.htm
The Troubled Times site.
I didn’t check it all, but even tho it is a wee bit wacky, the what’s new page appeared to have several ideas that might be worth checking and I am sure other pages will have survival information.
http://www.zetatalk.com/food/tfood01.htm
This page, appears to have several survival, garden, hunt, food pages, looks interesting.
granny
Excellent set of link, LOL, to more links:
http://growingtaste.com/veglinks.shtml
For your garden needs.
http://growingtaste.com/oxalicacid.shtml
What Oxalic Acid Is
Oxalic acid is, of course, a chemical substance. At high concentrations, it is a dangerous poison, but such immediately toxic levels are not found in foodstuffs but rather in manufactures, such as some bleaches, some anti-rust products, and some metal cleaners (among other things). It is also a naturally occurring component of plants, and is found in relatively high levels in dark-green leafy foods (relatively high, though, is just that).
In the human body, ingested oxalic acid is not (so far as is known today) a useful nutrient; so, like all such unneeded components of diet, it is processed by the body to a convenient form and that byproduct is then excreted—in this case, in the urine. In the course of being processed by the body, oxalic acid combines with other substances to form various salts, called oxalates; usually, those salts are in solution (like salt in salt water or sugar in coffee), but if their concentration is high enough some may precipitate out in crystalline form. Such tiny crystals of these salts can be irritating to human tissue, especially to the stomach, the kidneys, and the bladder. It is commonly believed that oxalates contribute to the formation of kidney and bladder stones; one common nutrient with which oxalic acid combines is calcium, making the salt calcium oxalate, and calcium oxalate is found in kidney stones.
Continues, page is full of information.
Read what you had to say about Bill's horrible health problems and what you two encountered from the Water agency... Good God Granny, I would have ended up in prison if they had treated me or mine in that fashion!
Thank Goodness HE intervened and sent you Catherine and Logan!
Oh! BTW, I know ALL about them 15 minute projects! LOL! Judy has a list a mile long of those waiting for me to make the Big move here this Spring!
My back already hurts just reading that list... OMG!
Granny, check your FR mail.
cow had a larger bag and 4 teats and figured there was more profit in the cow’s milk and more pounds of beef for dinner.........**
That was what I figured, too. Never mind that a cow eats ten times as much and poops a hundred times as much! LOL
The baby site was interesting. Thinking about making one of those grandma’s flower garden balls for a friend’s baby. Hmmm
The book says
mint is a good companion to cabbage and tomatoes, improving their health and
flavor. Both are strengthened near stinging nettle. Mint deters the white
cabbage worm by repelling the worms butterflies. Spearmint may help keep of
aphids of nearby plants because the ants don’t like mint. Mint is a
repellant against clothes moths when used indoors and usefull against black flea
beetles. The leaves strewn under rabbit cages will keep flies at a minimun,
while dried leaves [or mint oils] will repel rats & mice.
I know this doesnt really help you but it is good info to know. This book is
fantastic. Huggs, Judith in Bama God is not mad at you, no matter what!
May our roots always run deep and may our branches keep stretching to the sun
To visit group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AnHerbGarden/
Posted by: “Vergie”
Texas Style Meatloaf
1 pound ground turkey, thawed
15 tortilla chips, crushed
2 tablespoons chopped green pepper
1 (16 ounce) can tomato sauce
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 package taco seasoning mix
Reserve 1 cup of tomato sauce. Combine all other ingredients. Form into
loaf pan (9X5 inch.) Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes. Heat
reserved tomato sauce and serve with meatloaf.
Makes 6 servings.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
2. Beef Gravy Mix
Posted by: “violet4622002”
beef Gravy Mix
1-1/3 cups dry nonfat milk powder
3/4 cup instant blend flour (Wondra)
1/4 cup beef bouillon granules
1/4 tsp. dried thyme leaves
1/4 tsp. onion powder
1/8 tsp. ground sage
1/8 tsp. white pepper
1/2 cup butter
1 Tbsp. brown sauce for gravy (Kitchen Bouquet)
In medium bowl, combine milk powder, flour, bouillon granules, thyme,
onion powder, and sage, and stir with a wire whisk to blend
thoroughly. Use a pastry blender or two knives to cut in butter or
margarine until butter is evenly distributed and particles are fine.
Drizzle brown sauce for gravy over mixture and stir with a wire whisk
until blended. Spoon into a 3 cup container with a tight fitting lid
and store in the refrigerator. Label with date and contents. Use
gravy mix within 4 to 6 weeks.
To make beef gravy:
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
3. Applesauce Cookie Mix
Posted by: “Vergie”
Applesauce Cookie Mix
Post by Carnation started on: Sept 30, 2002, 3:55pm »
2 1/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 c. raisins
1 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. chopped nuts
Use a one quart wide mouth canning jar. Pack each layer.
Stir together the flour, salt, cinnamon and baking soda
and place into the jar.
Pour in the raisins, spreading evenly in the jar.
Next, add the brown sugar.
Pour in the chopped nuts.
If have some empty space, can place some plastic baggies to fill the
space.
Decorate your jar. Tie on a ribbon and attach the recipe tag to the
jar.
Attach recipe tag to the jar:
Applesauce Cookies
You will need:
3/4 c. butter or shortening
1 egg
1/2 c. applesauce
Mix the butter by whipping it until light or fluffy.
Next, add the egg and applesauce, beating it until mixed.
Pour in the contents of the jar and stir until combined.
Drop by teaspoonfuls on a well greased cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees F. for 7 - 12 minutes.
My other groups: favoritefamilyrecipes@yahoogroups.com and moderator of BisquickRecipes@yahoogroups.com.
To visit group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cookingandbakingmixes/
Thank you, dear one.
LOL, One might think that I am attempting to keep you busy.
and out of trouble.
Smile, glad you found something that temps you.
Thanks a lot! LOL
I get in enough trouble all by my lonesome!
Thank Goodness HE intervened and sent you Catherine and Logan!<<<
They were married 60 years and had 10 kids, he was a math teacher for many years and a good rancher, and served as the Mormon Bishop, and I had heard how exacting he could be, but had not met him, when he stepped in..........and fixed things.
That weekend, he asked Catherine how much hay we had on hand, I had told her we were fine on the hay, but he did not take a woman’s ‘fine’, when I got back from the hospital that Sunday, all the animals had been fed and watered and there was an additional 8 bales of the finest Alfalfa hay, Logan had come to check it out for himself.
When we moved up here, they came and checked that we were ok..........and Catherine called for years, just to check on us.
There are some fine people in this world.
It took all I had to not shoot off my mouth, well, I did once, and it convinced a crooked motor vehicle man that maybe we were not so stupid that he would be able to push us around.
LOL, in those days, I wore big aprons, they were handy to hide weapons under, as I met strangers cars, white haired granny and well armed.
LOL, I learned that trick from my friend Mary, when I met her, she was about 73, and a rabbit was eating her small garden, so she handed me a pump rifle and asked me to shoot it. LOL, I hit 14 out of 17 shots and it disappeared, to be found later and the wounds counted.
I wanted that rifle, an antique, and about 3/4 size, it had been bought for their son, when he was 10, maybe in 1930 or 40. Didn’t get it, she was saving it for his kids.
I offered to have Bill teach her how to shoot, she told me, thanks, she just didn’t enjoy it any more, but in her day, she could hit a broom handle.........so much for the real Ladies of the early times.
Why do you think men were invented?
Can you imagine two women working on the honey do list?
One would make the list and the other one would have a better idea and nothing would be built.
I am sure your wife, knows that you can handle anything that she has on the list...she looks at you as a fine man.
Maybe you can do what Bill did a couple of times, put off the real hard jobs and hope that i would forget [never] or come up with a better plan.
Some things he didn’t put off, he was a little part German and from them got the habit of building things that did not fall down.
From my dad, I learned how to do it quick, as we always have so many plans, that there is not time to do them in the forever style.
He built me a huge chicken house, covered yard for them.
I then wanted small pens for selective breeding of them...No, he had other plans and as we [I] kept bringing home things before the pens were ready, he never caught up, that is why the 2 goats lived in the patio with us the first year.
Mary said she would show me how to build a pen, as neither of us was good with a hammer, we built 3 pens about 8x10 foot size, walk in pens.......LOL, almost no nails, but lots of baling wire.......and Bill hated them and made sure that people knew he did not build them.
Once you manage the uprights, it is easy, we had logs at the bottom and tied the wire to them, they worked, if not pretty.
You will look back on this move as the time of your life.
My years in Wellton, fighting to survive, are worth far more than the California life that I left, with its new homes, new furniture and ‘keeping up with the jones’, I learned more with fighting for survival, hauling water and having a goat at the side of the bed in the morning, a Roadrunner on the tin roof of the patio, pecking out a get up call, and then there was the male Peacock, who roosted on one corner of the patio roof, where we were short a 2 foot piece of metal, so he could hang on and watch us sleep.
LOL, no, we didn’t leave the piece off, just didn’t have one to put on and later got the peacock.
I hated it, when we got a larger mobile with a bedroom, but Bill said he bought a bedroom and he would sleep in it.
Take lots of before and after photos, so you will be able to see how the progress goes.
Smile and know how thankful your wife is that she found you.
I get in enough trouble all by my lonesome!<<<
LOL, and I have so much fun helping you, there is always the chance that you need a little help.
And no we do not talk about unfinished projects.
Posted by: “Donna”
Hi Chare,
I have one I like because you can use either fresh or frozen berries.
Donna in Monticello, MN
Strawberry Bread
4 eggs
1-1/4 cup oil
1-1/4 lb. fresh strawberries, hulled and cleaned
(or two 10 oz. packages frozen berries, thawed and drained well)
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
3 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour two 9x5 inch loaf pans; set
aside. In food processor, blend berries into a puree, add to medium
bowl. In same bowl, add eggs and oil; mix well by hand. In separate
large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, salt (and
walnuts, if desired). Add strawberry mixture to dry ingredients, and
stir just until blended. Pour into prepared loaf pans. Bake at 350F
approximately one hour or until toothpick inserted into the center
comes out clean.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bread-machine/
Barbecued Beef Short Ribs
Posted by: “Dorie”
Barbecued Beef Short Ribs
4 lb. bone in beef short ribs trimmed
2 T. vegetable oil
1 large sweet onion halved and sliced
1 (12 oz) chili sauce
3/4 C. plum preserves or preserves of your choice
2 T. brown sugar
2 T. red wine vinegar
2 T. Worcestershire sauce
2 T. Dijon mustard
1/4 t. ground cloves
In a large skillet brown ribs in oil in batches. Place onion in a 5 qt. slow cooker; add ribs. Cover and cook on low for 4 1/2 to 5 hours or until the meat is tender.
In a small saucepan combine the remaining ingredients. Cook and stir over medium heat for 4-6 minutes or until heated through. Remove ribs from slow cooker. Skim fat from cooking juices. Return ribs to slow cooker; pour sauce over ribs. Cover and cook on high 25-30 minutes or until sauce is thickened.
Dorie
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Momsmenuplan/
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2a. Pineapple Fudge
Posted by: “Dorie”
Pineapple Fudge
1 cup evaporated milk
3 cups white sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Butter a 9-inch square pan. Set aside.
Combine milk, sugar, and butter. Heat slowly to boiling point.
Stir in drained crushed pineapple and cook over medium heat to soft ball stage, 236 degrees (113 degrees C), stirring constantly to prevent burning, about 25 minutes. Cool. Stir in lemon juice. Beat until mixture is smooth and has lost its sheen.
Turn into buttered pan. Let cool, then cut into squares.
Dorie
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Momsmenuplan/
To visit group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ARecipe4ALL/
Plum Pudding Recipe
We converted our favorite plum pudding recipe to mini-loaves and it worked beautifully. We used an eight-loaf linking loaf pan.
Ingredients
2 cups dried plums (prunes), 1/4 to 1/2-inch diced
1/2 cup very hot water
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg or allspice
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons milk or as needed for the right consistency batter
Caramel Plum Sauce
1/2 cup butter
1 3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon rum or vanilla flavor
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare an 8 x 8-inch pan by greasing and dusting with flour or lining with parchment paper.
1. Place the diced plums in a small bowl. Heat the water to boiling in the microwave. Pour the water over the plums and set aside to rehydrate.
2. Mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg together in another bowl. Set aside.
3. Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs and beat until light and fluffy.
4. Add the plums and water and the nuts and combine. Add the dry ingredients and combine. Add enough milk—about two tablespoons—to make a soft batter.
5. Remove the batter to the prepared pan. Bake for 25 minutes or until the pudding tests done when a toothpick is inserted in the middle. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for five minutes then invert the pudding to remove the pan. Continue cooling on a wire rack.
For the plum sauce
1. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in the sugar, cornstarch and milk.
2. Heat until bubbling and thickened. Remove from the heat and add the flavoring.
Serve the plum pudding topped with sauce.
There are many recipes in this newsletter, from scratch and also of course for the mixes they sell:
Make Pretty Little Loaves for the Holidays
Save 50% on stocking stuffers, 20% on mixes—plus tons of gift ideas!
To see the online version, go to:
http://www.preparedpantry.com/newsletters/vol6iss12-2-RFF.htm
Dear Ruth,
Homemade gifts from the kitchen are always thoughtful. Make pretty little loaves, wrap them in cellophane, tie them with a ribbon, and give them to friends for a thoughtful gift that tells them that you care. It’s easy. We’ll show you how and give you the recipes that you need.
Dennis & Merri Ann Weaver
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