Posted on 02/09/2009 12:36:11 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny
Yahoo ran an interesting article this morning indicating a rise in the number of survivalist communities cropping up around the country. I have been wondering myself how much of the recent energy crisis is causing people to do things like stockpile food and water, grow their own vegetables, etc. Could it be that there are many people out there stockpiling and their increased buying has caused food prices to increase? It’s an interesting theory, but I believe increased food prices have more to do with rising fuel prices as cost-to-market costs have increased and grocers are simply passing those increases along to the consumer. A recent stroll through the camping section of Wal-Mart did give me pause - what kinds of things are prudent to have on hand in the event of a worldwide shortage of food and/or fuel? Survivalist in Training
I’ve been interested in survival stories since I was a kid, which is funny considering I grew up in a city. Maybe that’s why the idea of living off the land appealed to me. My grandfather and I frequently took camping trips along the Blue Ridge Parkway and around the Smoky Mountains. Looking back, some of the best times we had were when we stayed at campgrounds without electricity hookups, because it forced us to use what we had to get by. My grandfather was well-prepared with a camp stove and lanterns (which ran off propane), and when the sun went to bed we usually did along with it. We played cards for entertainment, and in the absence of televisions, games, etc. we shared many great conversations. Survivalist in the Neighborhood
>>>That is a nice greenhouse and it needs to be about 3 of them, joined so they are one long one.<<<
Yep, mine is 8 times that one... but it would make a nice starter... It would grow all your plants for a big garden, and even give you salad fixins for the whole family all winter...
If you have trouble reading this email, please go to http://www.cbs8.com/Global/category.asp?C=158428
2 Killed, K9 Stabbed In San Diego Police Officer-Involved Shooting
A man who apparently had just stabbed his wife to death in their Paradise Hills home was fatally shot by police today when he charged them with a knife and slashed a service dog, authorities reported.
Obama Announces Plans For $500 Million Hospital At Pendleton
President Barack Obama has announced construction of a new $500 million hospital to treat wounded troops and military retirees at Camp Pendleton.
Family, Friends Gather For Natasha Richardson
Liam Neeson looked distraught as he greeted grieving family members and friends who attended a private viewing for his wife, Natasha Richardson, on Friday.
San Diego-Based Navy Ship Collides With Submarine In Middle East
County Workers Approve Contract Extension, Two Percent Pay Raise
[San Diego Police use their K-9 dogs as they are trained to do and they are the best that I have heard on any scanner.
I was listening to San Diego last year when a dog got stabbed, by a nut walking down the street, stabbing all he could reach.
The K-9 found him, laid him out and got stabbed in the gut for his efforts.
LOL, the paper reported that the K-9 had held on to the man’s arm, so firmly that the man had a broken wrist...
[Sounded good to me.]
granny]
>>>We’e all gonna have to learn how to make our own energy too.<<<
Hmmm, let’s see... Take that flywheel off the old baler down the back lane, convert that 150 gal tank into a wood gasifier, now to put together that Stirling engine to run the PTO generator... Yep... I think I could do it... Now, maybe I better get started assembling things this summer...
Let’s see, maybe I should put some Tesla coils in so I could greet intruders with a shocking experience...
Thank you for coming to read this thread, you are welcome to join in the thread.
3 Banks Failed Today
details on the fdic site
http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/banklist.html <<<
Interesting and scary, for that is how a depression starts.
If I had any money in the bank, I would want it out and under my control.
This is all about the same as going to 10 Fortune Tellers in one day, and then setting out to follow ALL the instructions and directions they gave you, for LOL, they would be different.
White House Admits Obama Energy Tax Will Increase Ave Electric Bill By $1800/Yr http://tinyurl.com/d96a3t
We’e all gonna have to learn how to make our own energy too. I’m so sick of this jerk already!!<<<
Not nearly as sick as so many of us are going to be.
I can’t afford to pay any more electric than I do already.
He sure must have a lot of money, for he does not mind setting the taxes on the rest of us.
Yep, mine is 8 times that one... but it would make a nice starter... It would grow all your plants for a big garden, and even give you salad fixins for the whole family all winter...<<<
And I think you planned on enlarging it....LOL
If one had one larger than they could plant, then take a corner for rabbits and chickens and a corner to lay on a lounge and watch it all happen.
When we were enlarging this place, we took over the end of a 55 foot greenhouse, as a family room and it was perfect living in a green house....and then I came home from work one day and Bill had decided it should have a metal roof to match the mobile and I still hate it, dark and dreary and nothing will grow in that room.
So yes, I could live in a green house.
Me neither granny, I’m sitting here in the dark with the computer screen and TV on and that’s it. Summer will be tough when it’s time to turn on the A/C.
0 has all those rich folks who have been supporting him all the way through college and on to the presidency. All those suspicious campaign contributions........
>>>County Workers Approve Contract Extension, Two Percent Pay Raise<<<
LOL Increase? Today our Governor proposed an 8% across the board pay cut for all State employees... PLUS another 2% average cut in their insurance - they will have to now pay part. Facing a 10% total pay cut, they are livid! Demonstrations, calling for Governor to resign, like they were the only thing the State was there for... And he is a Democrat....
I remember a few years back, when there was a budget shortfall and they decided to cut 10% of the State Parks revenue... So the parks cut the toll takers jobs and then closed the parks because they were required to charge but had nobody to collect the fees... Of course all the other deadwood continued to collect their full salaries - but nothing really to do all day except answer the phones and tell people the park was closed...
Not one of them was smart enough to do as the Salisbury, Md. Zoo does... they put a donation box at each entrance and nobody there to collect the fees. Most people put in more than would normally be charged and they have no labor costs for collection. Their revenues went up considerably.
>>>All those suspicious campaign contributions..<<<
You are so right... But they are only suspicious to us...
To them, it was planned to a tee.
>>>If one had one larger than they could plant, then take a corner for rabbits and chickens and a corner to lay on a lounge and watch it all happen.<<<
Sounds like your own private bio-dome.
In the winter, when I was growing tomatoes in the greenhouse, and the sun was out, I used to wear sweat suit over shorts to go out to the greenhouse - then shed the sweats and enjoy working in just a teeshirt and shorts when it was freezing outside.
Almost heaven...
http://www.josayoung.co.uk/page14.htm
Cooking Organic Food
No-one knows when human beings began to cook their food. There is a theory that early man found animals killed and cooked by bush fires, appealing, as well as easier to pin down, and decided to replicate the effect for himself. Cooking food makes it safer to eat by killing off harmful bacteria and neutralising poisonous elements.
For instance it is vital to boil beans, particularly kidney beans, hard for at least ten minutes to neutralise poisons. But it is a swings and roundabouts situation, because cooking food makes it softer and more digestible, and less likely to pass through the gut without being processed. When you cook grains with water, you burst the tough cellulose wall and allow the soft starch inside to expand and soften. But boiling vegetables and then discarding the cooking water removes much of the nutrient value. Steaming vegetables is a preferable method, as it retains nutrients. The water underneath can be used in soups.
Cooking vegetables in the minimum of water, and then pureeing them without discarding it maximises nutrition. And finely grating vegetables makes them easier to digest, has all the benefits of juicing without the effort, and retains the fibre. Roasting vegetables with olive oil until softened, or stir frying rapidly in a little cold-pressed sunflower oil, are both healthy choices.
Eat plenty of crunchy raw green leaves as salad, dressed with lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, and garlic if you like it. As well as vitamins C and B-complex, plus iron and potassium, tomatoes contain carotene which converts in the body to Vitamin A and the star of the show, lycopene, a plant (phyto) chemical that makes them red . Lycopene is easier to absorb from cooked tomatoes, as cell walls are broken down releasing it. There is five times more lycopene in tomato sauce than tomato salad. It is a potent antioxidant thought to neutralize harmful substances in the body called free radicals. These molecules, the result of normal cell metabolism as well as other causes, have been implicated in cancer and cardiovascular disease. Recent research involving thousands of men suggested that those gorging on tomatoes and getting the most lycopene had about half the risk of heart attack as men who eschewed the tomato. Ten helpings of tomato a week ward off prostate cancer too. Lycopene seems to be effective in reducing the risk of other cancers, such as colon, rectal and breast.
Other pink produce such as watermelon and pink grapefruit contain some lycopene, but nothing like as much. Like all fresh food, the range of nutrients tomatoes contain is complex and interacts in unknown ways. It is no good just isolating lycopene and taking it as a supplement, the best place to get your goodness is by going back to basics and consuming the source, in combination with plenty of different kinds of fruits and vegetables.
Key Organic Vegetable Recipes
A key component of good nutrition, which cannot be emphasised enough, is the need to enjoy what you eat before you can benefit from it. Below is a selection of recipes that combine nutrient preserving cooking techniques, with high fibre ingredients, plenty of vitamins, essential fatty acids, minerals etc.
It is up to you how much fat you use in each recipe. They are all delicious, and should give you the idea that devoting 60% of your diet to vegetables, fruit, pulses and grains is no kind of hardship at all. It was carrots that revealed to me the true difference between organic and conventional produce, it is not always so obvious with other fruit and vegetables. Organic carrots are an almost fluorescent orange, they smell strong and sweet and the juice stains your hands. Conventional carrots, grown in vast chemically-fertilised monocultures, sprayed with pesticides to deter the carrot fly, which then persist in the vegetable, are pale and flavourless in comparison.
Along with an explosion of art and culture in the West, the Renaissance also brought us delicious carrots suitable for the table. Before that, carrots were coarse yellow roots with woody middles usually fed to animals. Try not to peel organic carrots, the vitamins (particularly A) being concentrated just under the skin; you can scrub or scrape them lightly if you must.
Organic carrots are particularly rewarding when eaten raw. Grate them, and season with lemon juice, a little onion, salt and pepper. You can add a handful of raisins, grated onion, or in the Gujerati manner, a spoonful of black mustard seeds which you have fried briefly until fragrant in sunflower oil.
Raw cauliflower also makes a refreshing change. Break it into small florets, and then dress with vinaigrette and dust with chopped parsley.
Beetroot too is very rewarding peeled, grated, and dressed with a mustardy vinaigrette to which you have added some grated onion.
To create an organic hors d’oeuvre on a large platter, arrange the above, add celery heart finely sliced, some steamed leeks (they can be a bit overwhelming raw) dressed while hot with vinaigrette, some sliced mushrooms marinated in lemon vinaigrette flavoured with a little tomato paste and finely chopped onion and some hard boiled eggs. Serve with good organic wholemeal or sour dough bread.
Roasted Carrots (or other roots)
If it is mid-winter, and your roots are stored in their protective coating of earth, they might need peeling as thinly as possible, and are very good roasted. Scrape and trim carrots, and cut into sticks. Put the carrots or other roots such as parsnips, potatoes, celeriac, beetroot into a roasting tin all cut into the same size pieces. Sprinkle with olive oil, and toss to cover. Sprinkle with salt and a little vegetable or other stock and a good squeeze of lemon (orange is good with carrots too). Roast at 200C/Gas 6 until the veg has begun to colour, stirring them around from time to time. The liquid should cook off.
Whole hulled millet with carrots and onion
Sometimes you can get very bored with the conventional grains of the West. So here is an easy introduction to millet, an African staple, and a very ancient food. This recipe makes an excellent hot dish to serve with salad and cheese. Millet must be roasted before cooking, and this is how you do it. Measure your millet in a glass measuring jug to the 12 fl oz level (about 9 oz or 255 g). Heat a cast iron frying pan over a medium flame. Put in the millet and stir to toast. It is done when it smells roasted and some of the seeds turn light brown. Some might even burst open like popcorn. Take off the heat. In a heavy casserole pot melt 3 tbspns butter or oil. Add a couple of large carrots peeled if necessary and julienne (into matchsticks), plus a finely chopped onion, a stick of cinnamon and 5 cloves. Cook for 5 mins, until the onion has browned at the edges. Add your pre-roasted millet, pinch of salt and 22 fl oz or 6 dl water or stock. Bring to the boil. Put the lid on and turn heat low for 30 mins. Then, take the lid off and pour in 2 fl oz (1/2dl) boiling water stirring quickly with a fork. Cover again and cook for another 10 mins. Turn the heat off and let the pot sit, covered and undisturbed for another 15 mins. Remove spices before serving.
Communist Coleslaw
Finely slice red cabbage. Grate a couple of carrots (no need to peel), grate onion to taste. Chop a sprig or two of parsley finely. Add a handful of sultanas if liked. Mix together and dress with half mayonnaise and half low fat plain yoghurt, seasoned to taste with a pinch of cayenne.
Carrot and Cumin Soup
Roughly chop your scrubbed but not peeled carrots. Peel and chop two onions. Cook both gently in butter with garlic, saffron, cumin and salt to taste, until soft and aromatic. Add a glass of white wine and stock to cover, and bring to the boil, cook until all is soft and liquidise. This can be made in advance and reheated. You can serve bits of roasted tomato floating on top, or garlic sippets (the old English word for croutons). Rub some slices of bread with garlic, cut bread into cubes, spread on a baking sheet and sprinkle with a few drops of olive oil and bake. To my taste, doing it like this is more delicious because you don’t get the sensation of the inside of a crouton delivering a great deal of oil when you bite it.
Organic Vegetable Stock
There is nothing like making a good batch of this useful stock, reducing it, and freezing it in old ice cream tubs to make you feel virtuous. In a large pot, put any vegetable trimmings, slightly squashy tomatoes from the bottom of the fridge, a couple of sliced carrots, a couple onions, 3 or 4 cloves, an organic orange cut in half and roughly squeezed (peel and all), mushroom stalks and peels (or a couple of mushrooms if you can spare them), outer celery stalks, parsley stalks, thyme sprig and bay leaf. Cover with water. Bring all to the boil and skim off any scum. Simmer for one hour (not a precise art). Strain, taste for flavour. Reduce by boiling if you like. Cool. Freeze. Or use immediately in risotto, soups or sauces.
Vegetable Stew with Coconut
This can be made with any combination of root vegetables and winter squashes: ie pumpkins, sweet potato, turnip, carrots, swede, parsnip, potato etc. In a large saucepan, heat a little oil, add a chopped onion, and cook gently until soft. Add cubed vegetables and coat them in the oil and onion. Add herbs (marjoram, a touch of rosemary, thyme, coriander etc), plus a pinch of ginger and one of cinnamon, plus seasoning to taste. Cover with vegetable stock, and simmer until tender. Add creamed coconut to taste, and check the seasoning. It can be good to sharpen it with a drop of lemon juice, and a dusting of cayenne. Serve chopped fresh coriander or parsley, and with brown rice.
Minestrone
This is the perfect spring soup. Simply bring a pan of well flavoured vegetable stock to the boil. Use a wide variety of vegetables, clean and prepare them, cubing any that this will suit. ie, carrots, celery, courgettes, cauliflower, potatoes, broad beans, beetroot, garlic, leeks, spinach. Add these to the boiling stock, with a drained can of organic borlotti beans (or beans you have soaked overnight and cooked until soft). Add a couple of skinned and sliced tomatoes. Cook until everything is tender for about ½ hour. Taste before seasoning. A squeeze of lemon juice is good, plus torn basil leaves. Serve with freshly grated Parmesan.
Omi Houriya
Eat this carrot salad with hot bread. Steam scraped and trimmed carrots until soft. Whizz them up in a food processor or mash with a fork. Stir in olive oil, red wine vinegar, 2 crushed garlic cloves, big pinch paprika and another of chilli, 2 tsps ground cumin, salt and pepper. Leave to mellow for an hour or two. Serve with a little more olive oil on top, and scattered with black olives. Fasulya Pilakisi In Turkey everyone eats this delicious staple bean dish all the time. Soak cannelini or other white beans overnight. Bring to the boil in fresh water, and boil hard for at least 10 minutes. Then simmer until soft (about 1 hr). When really tender but not falling apart, drain and set aside. Cook an onion in a little olive oil with garlic and brown slightly. Add chopped celery, carrots, tomatoes, plus 2 tsp sugar and salt to taste. Stir in the drained beans and cook covered for about 1 hour. Check seasoning. Serve lukewarm with a dribble of raw olive oil and plenty of chopped parsley or coriander.
Casserole of Hot Bulgar Wheat or Barley or even Brown Rice
Peel and chop shallots. Wash and slice leeks and mushrooms. Scrub and slice carrots, swede, celeriac or other rooty things you have by you into smallish bits all the same size (this is a pretty adaptable dish). Saute the whole lot in a cast iron casserole dish with lots of garlic in olive oil until everything has turned golden. Add seasonings to taste (which could include a spice or two, such as whole cinnamon sticks, paprika and/or cayenne), then add about 1 lb (450 g) bulgur wheat or pearl barley and stir it with the veg for a few seconds to coat. Then add a combination of stock (vegetable or chicken), wine, and water up to about 1 pints (900ml), plus a handful of sultanas. Put the lid on and cook in the oven Gas 4/180C for 40 minutes. Toast some slivered almonds or pinenuts in the same oven until golden (watch them like a hawk). Check all liquid has been absorbed and the grains are soft (if not return to the oven for a bit) and fluff up with a fork. Sprinkle with nuts and chopped parsley
Black Bean Soup
Soak black beans overnight in cold water. Rinse and boil for 10 minutes, then drain. Heat olive oil in a heavy pan and fry chopped onion, carrots, garlic and a red de seeded chilli for about 10 mins. Extract seeds from 8 green cardamom pods, and crush them in a pestle and mortar. Add with 2 tsps ground cumin, bay leaves, 2 tsps cayenne and fry for a couple more minutes. Add beans, and cover with water or vegetable stock. Bring to the boil. Skim off scum. Add a glass or so of white wine or cider. Simmer for an hour or so, until the beans are soft. Meanwhile, peel (pour over boiling water to the count of 12) and dice tomatoes, and cucumber, and avocado if you have it plus a little finely chopped onion and coriander or chopped parsley. Dress with lemon juice and olive oil salt and pepper. Remove bay leaves. Reserve a cupful of cooked, drained beans and mix with the small salad above. Puree the rest until smooth. Thin with more vegetable stock if necessary. Taste and season. Serve with lemon wedges, tsps of sour cream or Greek yoghurt and the small salad for people to help themselves.
Tarator
This is a nut sauce used to dress vegetables much as aioli or garlic mayonnaise is in France. Steam a selection of vegetables (fennel, cauliflower, beans, potatoes, carrots etc). Place all the vegetables on a platter and pour over the sauce just before serving. To make the sauce: in a food processor blend 4oz (125g) hazelnuts, 2 garlic cloves, 4 tblspns olive oil, 3 tblspns red wine vinegar or lemon juice, ¼ pt (150ml) natural yoghurt and a pinch of chilli powder.
Walnut and Garlic Sauce for Crudites
Cut up a selection of chilled, raw vegetables such as carrots, celery, sweet pepper, fennel and chicory, and serve with this sauce from Toulouse as quick supper when it’s to hot to think about cooking. Cover 3 oz (85g) fresh shelled walnuts with boiling water, drain, rinse with cold water and dry on kitchen paper. You can peel them, but it might drive you mad, and if they are not old, they shouldn’t be bitter anyway. Chop nuts with 2 or 3 cloves of garlic in the food processor with 3 - 5 fl oz (85 -150ml) good olive oil and 2 - 4 tblspns hot water. Don’t let the puree get too smooth - I find using the pulse button gives me more control. Season to taste with salt and a dash of sherry vinegar or lemon juice. Stir in a little walnut oil if you like. Let it sit for an hour or so to allow flavours to blend. Overnight in the fridge would be good - but let it come up to room temperature before serving. This is also good served sparingly with pasta, and dusted with plenty of chopped parsley.
Green Lentils with Vegetables
Soak green lentils over night in cold water, and then drain. Place in a pan with a bay leaf, cover with fresh water and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer until soft. Remove the bay leaf. Heat olive oil in another saucepan and cook in it chopped garlic, sliced onion, leek and celery, or any other vegetables you have about you, like fennel, carrots, mushrooms etc until soft. Add drained lentils with a pinch of ground cloves and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 15 minutes to blend the flavours. If you like, puree the whole lot. For a less monastic dish, stir in a little butter and/or cream at the last minute for flavour. Serve at once.
Please Don’t Despise Lentil Soup
Even though I have made this for years, I am still astonished by how such simple ingredients make such a delicious and beautifully textured soup. When we have this at home, we always repeat the line from an ancient etiquette book, which makes us all laugh feebly: ‘Do not crumble your bread or roll in the soup’. This soup is served with buttered brown bread triangles, which the children are encouraged to dip. In a pan soften an onion in a little olive oil until slightly browned around the edges. Scrub and cut up a couple of carrots and add them, plus some chopped celery heart and leaves, a chopped, washed leek; even a parsnip for a slightly sweeter taste. Pour in a few handfuls of ordinary orange lentils and stir around. Then pour over boiling water or stock. Reduce to simmer and put on the lid. Cook over a low heat or in the oven (AGA bottom oven is good) until the lentils have formed a voluptuous puree. Whizz up in a blender or food processor. Season to taste and thin if necessary with more water or stock. Serve with dollops of yoghurt to cool it slightly for young mouths, and snipped chives to make it pretty for grown-ups.
Grilled Summer Vegetables
Make a marinade with olive oil, two crushed garlic cloves, thyme leaves and basil chopped. Slice courgettes lengthways, an aubergine into rounds, red or green pepper in half lengthways with the white bits and seeds removed, tomatoes deseeded and cut in half lengthways. Put the prepared veg in the marinade and stir so they are coated in olive oil. Cover with cling film and marinade overnight. Heat the grill and group the vegetables on the grill tray which you have lined with foil. Cook on both sides, turning once until soft and fragrant. Lift out of the grill pan, and arrange on a dish. Sprinkle with balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Serve at room temperature.
Sandwich fillings: Roast vegetables with green garlic sauce Cube aubergine, courgette, pepper and onion. Peel a head of garlic. Pour a little olive oil over the bottom of a roasting pan, and heat in the oven at Gas 4/180C. Add vegetables above, plus cut up or cherry tomatoes, and toss in oil to coat. Season, and roast until soft, fragrant and slightly charred. Break a couple of eggs into a food processor. Add two or three cloves of garlic, fresh deseeded chilli to taste, salt, pepper, mustard and a tsp of runny honey. Whizz up until light yellow. Begin to pour in slowly olive oil and/or sunflower oil until you have a rich, thick and glossy sauce (very Ascot Royal Enclosure!). Taste for seasoning and leave to blend flavours in the fridge overnight.
When you come to make the sandwiches, choose a vigorous bread with substance such as rye bread or wholewheat sourdough, or pain de campagne. Spread each side with a thin layer of the sauce, and add a mound of the vegetables. Press together firmly and wrap in silver paper.
Orange and Olive Salad
Peel oranges, making sure all the pith is removed. Slice them across into rounds and divide between small plates. Slice an onion very thinly and scatter on top. Season with salt, freshly ground black pepper and a little finely chopped fresh chilli if you like. Cut best black olives in oil off their stones, and scatter the pieces over the salad. Dress with a little good olive oil, and lemon juice to taste.
Organic Fruit Salad
It is always worth making a big bowl of fruit salad and keeping it in the fridge for a day or two. It gives everyone a lift. Grate off the zest of a lemon and put it in a bowl with the juice. Stir in a tblspn of honey, and a little grated fresh ginger if you like it. Then cut up as much fruit as you like that is in season. It is an excellent way to stretch a luxurious and expensive fruit like organic strawberries. Judge for yourself which fruits need peeling, and remember kiwi fruit contains more Vitamin C than almost any other fruit.
Apples, pears, oranges, strawberries, raspberries, bananas, peaches, nectarines, and on and on. It really doesn’t need cream!
Whole Lemon Lemonade
Lemons arrived here in the Middle Ages, oranges a little later in the 15th century. The entranced people used them first as ornamentals or a spice fruit. There is more Vitamin C in the pith and peel than in the flesh, so take advantage of the lack of pesticides and silicone wax by making fresh lemonade. Roughly chop and remove the pips from your lemons. Put them, flesh, pith, peel and all into a blender or Magimix, add a little water and whizz to a pulp. Drain this through a fine, non-metal sieve or cloth. Sweeten with organic sugar, honey or maple syrup and dilute to taste with still or fizzy water.
Summer will be tough when it’s time to turn on the A/C.<<<
Go get an evaporative cooler, you remember them from the deserts of Calif.
They will cost about 20. a month to run, a lot cheaper than the air conditioner and just as nice, most of the time, better in fact, for I can handle the moisture better than I can the cold.
All those suspicious campaign contributions......<<<
They scare me, for we don’t know until it is too late, who bought them.
We need a law that says they can visit each state one time and must do it on their own money. NO DONATIONS!!!
We need to fix a bunch of little things that is ruining the country.
But this last decade was pure greed, and based on a slippery foundation of credit. Not related to work or earnings or even smart decisions. I really hope this economic crisis we’re in brings people back to the old work ethic and satisfaction in earning one’s living that made America great.<<<
We didn’t get a college education, but we all were working, if there was a nickel to be earned and if there were no jobs available, we gathered up the coke bottles and took them to the store for a penny each, the deposit on them.
And the money went home to mama, it was not spent on candy.
By the time I was 10, I worked in a ladies yard, for a few pennies, at 11 I was cleaning house for her....LOL dust mop a 6 ‘ square and take the dust mop out side and shake it.
I had never seen a dust mop before she put the first in my hand.
At 12 I could drive a tractor in the field all day, right alongside my father, no questions asked, you did what you were told.
I don’t think he ever knew that I grew up to be a woman and not a workhorse for the field.
At 16, I learned to waitress, and in between helped raise the 4 kids that were all younger than me....mom went to work in a cannery.
Talk about feel good land, there is a parcel here in the valley, it is 40 acres and when I am on it, I feel good, the only thing that I could figure is it is adjoining an old volcano and there may still be a electric wave or two there.
I sold it 2 or 3 times over the years, but Bill would not buy it, he swore to never haul water again and was careful to not buy the dry land to live on.
Not one of them was smart enough to do as the Salisbury, Md. Zoo does... they put a donation box at each entrance and nobody there to collect the fees. Most people put in more than would normally be charged and they have no labor costs for collection. Their revenues went up considerably.<<<
Good idea if the thieves will leave it alone.
All these shortages of money, strange, no shortage of money, until some one pulled the switch and all of a sudden it was a disaster.
then shed the sweats and enjoy working in just a teeshirt and shorts when it was freezing outside.
Almost heaven...<<<
Agree, I always watered mine in very little, one of the nice things about having it attached to the house, then came a day, when the door opened and I was facing real estate customers, who had come from California to write a couple contracts and as they knew where I lived and could hear the water, and see my shadow, came on in....
I hate clothes, but will wear them when dealing with clients.
LOL
A wise snippet from a writers blog.
Teach children not only to read, but the habit of reading, and they will always have a way of occupying themselves. Deprive them of this, and a huge proportion will end up in prison. Seems to me a simply equation. So why do children still leave primary school unable to read when there are now proven methods of managing this? Beyond me, Gov. Small son can read well, and wants to. Sees his siblings reading, and wants to be like his big brother. The fact that big brother reads the wrong books under his desk in class is I suppose a side effect we hadn’t anticipated....
Posted @ 10:07:43 on 02 February 2008
http://www.josayoung.co.uk/page3.htm
[Does not teaching them to read, fall under the communist manifesto?
That is what I thought, when I read the above paragraph.
granny
http://www.inmamaskitchen.com/RECIPES/RECIPES/fruits_and_veggies.html/zucchini_slice.html
Zucchini & Vegetable Slice
“In Australia, ‘slice’ describes any food such as a cake or biscuit that is cut into squares in the tin or dish, and lifted out with a knife to serve. The best comparison is to call it a cake or a loaf, but it is definitively a savoury dish to be served with either hot vegetables or salad, or on its own as a snack, perhaps with your favorite sauce.
* 1 large zucchini, grated
* 2 carrots, washed, peeled and grated
* 1 onion, peeled and chopped
* 1 sweet potato, peeled and grated
* 1 bunch of parsley, chopped
* 1 cup Self-Raising flour
* 1 cup grated low fat cheese
* 5 eggs
* 1/2 cup olive oil
* Salt and pepper to taste
* 1/4 cup grated cheese
METHOD
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Place grated and chopped vegetables into a large basin together with flour and 2/3 cup grated cheese. (Reserve 1/3 cup for top.) Beat eggs until frothy with olive oil and add to bowl. Mix well and season with salt and pepper.
Spread mixture over bottom of an oven proof dish, sprinkle reserved cheese on top, and bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 45 to 50 minutes. This slice is delicious served hot and accompanied by salad, or cold with hot vegetables for a snack meal.
Serves: 4 - 6
This recipe from www.inmamaskitchen.com
Contributor: Margaret Walker
“This is great food for vegetarians, but for meat lovers, a little chopped ham can be added for extra flavor. It’s one of those adaptable dishes where a tin of corn kernels can be substituted for one of the other vegetables, or one can add chopped chives for color, or capiscum. One can go on and on.” Margaret Walker
http://www.inmamaskitchen.com/RECIPES/RECIPES/Desserts/simnelcake.html
Simnel Cake
Simnel cakes take their name from the Latin word ‘simila’ which refers to the fine flour used in their preparation. Both the English and the French baked simnel cakes on Sundays in Lent. The French cakes were the size of muffins with sugar crosses on top and may be compared to the English Hot Cross Buns.
Almond Paste
*
4 ounces (125 grams) sugar
*
4 ounces (125 grams) almonds, ground
*
1 egg, beaten
*
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Cake
* 4 ounces (125 grams) butter, softened
* 4 ounces (125 grams) soft brown sugar
* 3 eggs, beaten
* 5 ounces (150 grams) all-purpose flour
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
* 12 ounces (350 grams) mixed dried fruit
* 2 ounces (50 grams) mixed citrus peel
* Grated zest of 1/2 lemon,
* 1 teaspoon apricot jam warmed
* Beaten egg for glazing
METHOD
Almond Paste: Mix together sugar and ground almonds, and add enough beaten egg to give a soft consistency. Add almond extract and knead for one minute or until the paste is smooth and pliable. Set aside, covered.
Preheat oven to 140°C (275° F)
Cake: Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, a bit at a time. Sift flour, salt and spice, and add to mixture alternately with dried fruit, mixed peel and zest of lemon. Mix well together.
Place half the mixture into a well lined 7 inxh (18 cm) tin and smooth top with a wooden spoon. Roll out 1/2 the almond paste into a circle and place on top of the cake mixture. Pour in remainder of cake batter and smooth top, hollowing the top slightly. Bake in a preheated oven 140°C (275° F), for one and a half to two hours. Remove and set on rack to cool. When cake is quite cold, brush top with slightly warmed apricot jam.
Roll out remainder of almond paste to fit top of cake. (Save scraps.) Lay it on top of the apricot jam. With the scraps of paste, form eleven small egg shapes, and place eggs around the edge. Brush entire top including eggs with a little beaten egg. Return cake to the oven for about 10 minutes at 180° C (350° F) for almond paste to brown.
The eleven eggs symbolise the eleven faithfully Disciples of Christ.
This recipe from www.inmamaskitchen.com
Contributor: Margaret E. Walker
back to Easter recipes
Almond paste is also called marzipan, a favorite among bakers for its pliability.
http://www.inmamaskitchen.com/RECIPES/RECIPES/Cookies/soldbiscuit.html
Soldier’s Biscuits
A biscuit is the same as a cookie, depending on where you live. These soldier’s biscuits are from Margaret’s grandmother’s handwritten recipe book.
* 2 cups flaked oats
* 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1/2 cup butter
* 1 good tablespoon golden syrup or honey
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 tablespoon of boiling water
METHOD
Preheat oven to 180° C (350° F).
Combine oats, flour and sugar in a bowl.
Melt butter and Golden Syrup (or honey) in a saucepan over a low heat. Mix baking soda with water and add to the butter mixture.
Combine liquids with dry ingredients and mix well. Spoon dollops of mixture, about the size of a walnut shell, onto a greased tin, leaving as much space again between dollops to allow for spreading.
Bake in a preheated, 180° C (350° F) oven for 15-20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack and seal in airtight containers.
Tips: The American tablespoon is a little smaller than the British tablespoon, so be generous with your Golden Syrup (or Honey) and Water.
recipe from www.inmamaskitchen.com
Contributor: Margaret E. Walker
read more about australian food more cookie recipes
From our friend, Brian Wilson come this information about Soldier’s cookies: “Soldiers Biscuit was one of the original names for these biscuits and was only changed to ANZAC sometime after the Gallipol landing. Therefore, you can date the Soldier’s Biscuit recipe to somewhere most likely between 1914 and 1920 or so. The anzac recipe however, would be dated after 1927 as they didn’t begin to include coconut until after this year.”
http://www.inmamaskitchen.com/RECIPES/RECIPES/DESSERT2/CAKES/frt_veg_MW.html
Fruity-Veggie Cake
From our down-under friend Margaret in Australia.
* 1 cup of self-rising flour
* 1 cup of plain flour (can be whole-meal)
* 1 teaspoon bi-carbonate soda
* 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg or mixed spice
* 3 cups of dried fruit (diced apricots, sultanas or mixed fruit, cranberries, currants, dates etc. combinations are endless)
* 1 large peeled, grated beetroot or 2 carrots or 1 med. Sweet potato or 2 grated apples
* ½ cup walnuts
* Zest and juice of one lemon
* 1 tablespoon of marmalade or fig jam
* 4 eggs
* 7.5 fluid oz. Sunflower or canola oil
* 1 cup sugar
Method
In a large bowl, mix together the first nine ingredients (flours through jam).
In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs, oil and sugar.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients, mixing well.
Fill a well lined square cake tin or two log tins.
Bake in a preheated moderate oven 165° C (350° F) for 1 hr 45 minutes or until cooked right through - test with skewer.
If the top begins to brown too quickly place a sheet of foil over the cake and remove 15 minutes before the end of the cooking time.
Remove from the oven and place on a rack for 5 minutes then turn out and leave until cold before storing in an air-tight container. This cake keeps extremely well.
Contributor: Margaret Walker
http://www.inmamaskitchen.com/RECIPES/RECIPES/breakfast/bac_egg_pie.html
Bacon and Egg Pie
If, as the saying goes, ‘Real men don’t eat quiche’ there is a manly-man alternative in this down-under favorite, egg and bacon pie...Sliced and served, either hot or cold, along with a side of warm vegetables or a cool salad, this is a hearty dish fit for a big appetite.” 1001 Foods to Die For
* 8 ounces shortcrust pastry
* 6 eggs
* 1 cup milk
* 4 strips bacon, chopped
* 1/3 cup grated Cheddar cheese
* 2 tablespoons chopped chives
* 1 tablespoon chopped dill
* 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
* Cracked black pepper
* 6 thin strips bacon, rind removed
Method
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface until 1/8 inch thick. Place the pastry in a 10-inch pie dish and trim the edges. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Prick the base of the pastry and line with nonstick parchment paper. Fill the shell with baking beans and bake for 5 minutes. Remove the weights and paper, and cook for a further 5 minutes. (This process keeps the pastry crisp when adding wet ingredients to the pastry shell.)
Place the eggs and milk in a bowl and whisk to combine. Add the bacon, Cheddar, chives, dill, mustard, and pepper and mix to combine. Pour the mixture into the pastry shell, top with thin bacon, and bake at 315°F for 35 to 45 minutes or until the pie is set. Serve hot or cold with a peppery arugula salad.
Serves: 6
Reprinted with permission from ©The Madison Press Limited, 1001 Foods to Die For, published by Andrews McMeel. Adapted from Donna Hay’s The New Cook. click for book review and more recipes
http://www.inmamaskitchen.com/RECIPES/RECIPES/Breads/Cornbreadsweepotato.html
Cornbread with Sweet Potato
Sweet potato is often mixed with all-purpose flour to make biscuits. We loved it as a cornbread, mixed with the same meal used for polenta, instead of plain flour.
* 2 cups sweet potato, boiled and mashed
* 125 grams (4 ounces) unsalted butter
* 4 eggs, lightly beaten
* 1/2 cup brown sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1 cup plain yoghurt
* 2 cups coarse ground corn meal
METHOD
Preheat oven to 180° C (350° F).
Butter a 20cm (9 inch) cake tin.
Blend sweet potato, butter, eggs, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a food processor until smooth. Stir in yoghurt and cornmeal and pour into greased, lined tin.
Bake for 45 minutes in preheated oven, or until a fine skewer comes out clean. Cool a little before turning out. Cut into squares to serve with meat and salad.
Cold cornbread can be fried quickly on both sides and served as a base for grilled meat.
It is possible to substitute pumpkin for sweet potato, but it must be a dry pumpkin.
Yield: 12 - 15 pieces
recipe from www.inmamaskitchen.com
Contributor: Margaret E. Walker
http://www.inmamaskitchen.com/RECIPES/RECIPES/Desserts/CocoJamtart.html
Coconut Jam Tart
We wish we had some of Margaret’s home made jam for this lovely tart.
* 1 cup butter, softened
* 1 cup sugar
* 2 eggs - beaten
* 2 cups Self Raising Flour, sifted
* 1/2 cup jam - any flavor
Topping
* 1/4 cup butter, softened
* 1/2 cup sugar
*
1 egg
* 1 1/2 cups dessicated coconut
METHOD
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Cream butter and sugar, add beaten eggs. Mix in sifted flour with a fork. When dough holds together and ingredients are well combined, shape into a ball and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Roll out to fit a 8 inch pie dish. Fill with jam.
Topping
Cream butter and sugar, and beat in egg. When combined, mix in coconut.
Spread this topping over the jam.
Bake for 40 - 45 minutes in preheated 350°F (175° C) oven.
This recipe from www.inmamaskitchen.com
Contributor: Margaret Walker
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