We have all been in a friend’s home where everything seemed so warm and inviting.These tend to be homes that are full of things made with love, grandma’s afghan over the back of the chair, flowers picked from one’s own garden, a hand embroidered table runner, and cookies that melt in your mouth.It has long been my desire to make my home inviting to all who come, and especially to my dear hubby when he steps in each evening after a hard day’s work. I have mourned over women who just don't understand why her husband barely gets home from work and is off again for a "guys night." Now, every guy needs the chance to go out with the guys and, well, be guys - shoot rabbits, ride mountain bikes, go on midnight snow hikes, and such.
But for the most part, a man should enjoy being in his home. It should be his place of rest, his sanctuary. It is said that “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”And it’s funny how we associate old fashioned hospitality with food!Every time I visited my great-grandmother’s home as a child she was quick to whip up a tray of fresh veggies from her garden, or left over pie with homemade ice cream, or even just a small plate of cookies (which I admit were not homemade, but oh how we looked forward to those strawberry wafer cookies!)The smells and tastes of the food she put out for us were unique to her home.It endeared us all the more to visiting Nana.Another home, one of a good friend, was almost always full of the aromas of “blondies” as she called the cocoa-less brownies, toasting honey granola, or, if you were fortunate enough to show up the week before Valentine’s Day, the most incredibleraspberry preserve topped, vanilla iced cookies one could ever imagine!Even now, I cannot help but find a time to stop by in mid-February.
What about your home?When you invite friends over so the children can have a play date or when a friend just “pops in” unexpectedly, what can they look forward to to tantalize their taste buds?I will admit that I am not much of a baker. Oh, I can bake when I need to, but I don’t have fresh chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven every other day, and a busy day cake to me is something that I ask hubby to pick up on the way home when I’ve had too much to do!But I have a recipe for Old Fashioned Tea Cake Cookies that is so quick and simple to whip up, that it is almost a crime not to stick a tray of them in the oven when I know someone is coming over, or even if I don’t know for that matter!I can mix it up while talking to my unexpected company and we can visit while the aroma of baking cookiespermeates our senses.And everyone who comes to my home for dinner knows they will be treated to homemade bread served with hand-picked, homemade, wild chokecherry jelly and honey from my own bees.
Make your home a place your husband loves to come home to. A place where he is eager to walk through the front door, waiting to see what aromas tantalize him. Make it a place where anyone who walks through your door can expect your good hospitality! I don't mean that one is not hospitable if she does not have some delicious morsal waiting to be gobbled up every second of the day. But looking back, it really is food that makes my memories relate them to hospitality, even it was just that we got to collect the eggs at a friend's farm (she'd always let us take one home!) or pick fresh raspberries. Somehow for me it does always tie back to food. It's a wonder I'm not twice my size!
Happy Trails!
Oh, and P.S.
Old Fashioned Tea Cake Cookies
1 egg
1/3 c. sugar
1/3 c. oil
1 tsp. vanilla flavoring
1 c. flour
1 Tbs. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
Beat the egg a little with a fork in a small bowl.Mix in the sugar, oil, and vanilla.In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt.Stir the wet ingredients into the dry and drop by the spoonful onto a buttered cookie sheet.Bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until the bottom edges of the cookies are just golden.
Ahhh. It feels like the days of harvest have begun. For the month of July, we broke the record (set in 1926) for the least amount of rain in a month at only 3/10ths of an inch! To make up for it, we have started off August with a bang!!! For the last two days it has poured all afternoon and late into the night. The first day, some areas around town reported as much as 3". I think we got even more yesterday, and it looks like the storms around about to start in again!!! Thank you Lord, for the much needed moisture! I am hoping that this will boost the second half of the summer garden production. Despite the lack of rain (until recently) the chokecherry bushes are surprisingly full. There are four places we like to pick wild chokecherries. Last night, in the rain, we picked about half the berries from one spot and this is what we got:
I wash them and then spread them all out on cookie sheets and freeze them. Later I will juice them and can the juice. Then I have juice ready to make jelly throughout the year. Jelly is really the only thing I know of that you can make out of chokecherries. I have heard of making chokecherry wine, but I have never tried it.
On another harvest note. I went to collect the honey from one of the hives I help take care of, but there was almost no honey. I think the drought has really taken its toll on the bees. We will get a little though, and there are more hives to check.
Well, I got it all done, with hubby's help! I couldn't have done it without him.
Four loaves of bread, three quarts of green beans and twenty-seven bottles of wine. We only drink about a bottle a week, so this will last us just about FOREVER!!!
Well, I got six pints of glazed carrots put up yesterday, but one of my jars cracked in the canner. I don't think I had the jars hot enough when I put them in. Oh well, it's a lesson learned. The glaze was very simple - just one cup of orange juice, two cups of water, and two cups of packed brown sugar. Even hubby really liked it!
We have a sick chick... I think. I've never had chickens before, so I'm not exactly sure how to tell if a chick is sick. But I have had other sick animals, and they just seem to be not themselves when they're sick. Poor Fur Ball doesn't run all around and scratch and fly and fight over bugs like the others. Today she just sleeps. She will occasionally preen her feathers (which I take as a good sign) and get up and peck around for bugs a little. Her overall appearance is very good. Her eyes are bright and she is still perky looking, even if she doesn't act perky. She likes to be somewhat near the other chicks, but seperates herself somewhat. I was going to seperate her from the others so that they don't get whatever she's got, but she just hollered and hollered when I seperated her, and I didn't want her to give up on life just because she was alone. All in all she doesn't seem too sickly, so I'm taking a chance and leaving her with the rest of them. Any advice anyone?
I've learned that one shouldn't use used frames in your bee hive, that is, unless you've cleaned them up. Otherwise you risk the spread of possible disease to your hives. SO.... We have been spending an hour here and there scraping all the wax off the old frames and pushing out the foudation (the sheet that the bees build their comb on). Then you have to bake the frames at 250 degrees to kill off any bacteria or disease. Each super (box that you stack to make a hive) has 9 or 10 frames and each hive has at least four supers and I have four hives. That 160 frames, ten at a time, one hour per ten frames. We'll be busy for a while!
Here is what the frames look like in my oven. Too bad you can't smell it too! All that bees wax, mmmm!!
First of all, let me say that I have never made my own vinegar. But I found these directions for it in a book by Sue Robishaw called Homesteading Adventures A Guide for Doers and Dreamers.
Take your apple cores and peels from whatever apple product you may be making (applesauce, apple jelly, dried apples, or what have you) and put them into a good clean plastic bucket. If you have any other fruit remains such as the pulp from wine making, jelly making, or what-not, put them into the bucket as well. Cover the fruit "generously" with warm water and drape a cloth over the top. Vinegar yeast is naturally occuring in the air, so just set your vinegar bucket in a warmish spot and wait two to six weeks. It will be pretty obvious when it's vinegar. After it has turned to vinegar a "pinkish soft slime will form over the surface. This is the mother. You can usually gently lift/skim this off (it holds together) into a jar and save it in a cool, dark place for future use." You need to store the vinegar in a container with a plastic lid because it is an acid and will corrode metal. This is true of the mother also. And store both in a cool, dark place.
She pretty much stops there, but it is my understanding that your mother is basically your yeast for your next batch of vinegar. So you would start the process over again and add the mother to the top of the water. It would just help ensure that the vinegar yeasts are there.
Sue says that vinegar that is just from apples can vary greatly in strength. She uses the best (strongest) for pickles and salads and the worst (weakest) for cleaning.
I wanted to try a new kind of jam, and I found a recipe for Pear Jam. It has a really high sugar to fruit ratio, but I decided to try it out anyways. It turned out beautifully! Here's the recipe (from the Ball Blue Book of preserving)
Peach or Pear Jam
1 quart finely chopped, pitted/cored, peeled peaches or pears
7 1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. lemon juice
1 pouch liquid pectin
Combine fruit, sugar and lemon juice in a large saucepot. Bring slowly to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Stir in liquid pectin. Return to a rolling boil. Boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary. Ladle hot jam into hot hars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner.
Recipe Variation: Add 1 teaspoon whole cloves, 1/2 teaspoon whole allspice and 1 cinnamon stick tied in a spice bag to jam during cooking. Remove spice bag before filling jars.
I don't use a boiling-water canner. I keep my jars hot in the oven and the lids hot in a not quite simmering pot of water on the stove. I've never had a problem with them not sealing properly. I didn't use the recipe variation either.
I had also made some chokecherry jelly abd applesauce the other day. I tag everthing because, even things seem obvious, after time I tend to forget exactly what each thing is.
There are so many benefits of making homemade yogurt. One obvious one is that it is less expensive than buying really high quality yogurt. Another is that you can guarantee that it is full of live, active cultures. I have tried culturing store bought "high quality" yogurts and found that there were no active cultures in it, even though it was listed on the container! You can buy your cultures from www.dairyconnection.com/yogurt.htm or possiblly a local health store. The more kinds of the right live bacteria the better. Follow the directions for making your first batch. From there I follow this recipe:
2 T. plain non-fat yogut (this is the yogurt you made from your cultures.)
1 1/4 c. non-fat powdered milk
2 c. hot water (120 degrees, I just run my tap as hot as it will get)
Mix together in a sterile pint jar. Screw on sterile lid. Keep at 100-120 degrees for 16 - 24 hours. Refrigerate.
I shouldn't say I actually follow this recipe, but it's really more of my starting point. I find that I use a little less that 2 c. of hot water because it just won't all fit in my jar. Everything needs to be sterile because whatever bacteria (from the jar or the stirring fork - a fork works better than a spoon to make sure it is very, very well mixed - or anything else) will culture along with the desired bacteria. I then put a wam rice buddy in a small lunch cooler, put my warm yogurt filled jar on top of it, fill the rest of the cooler with crumpled news paper, close the cooler, and let it sit all day. Then it should be ready. Homemade yogurt will seperate and become runny sometimes because it does not have all the additives and gelatin. I take out 2 T. right away and put it into a sterile jar and put that in the fridge. That will be my starter for next time. The rest of the yogurt I like to flavor with my favorite jam or sweeten with a little bit of fructose or sugar and add some vanilla extract. It will keep for at least a week in the fridge. If you know some one who makes their own yogurt, ask for 2 T. of their plain yogurt and it will spare you the cost of the cultures. Or if you know someone who wants to start, share yours and spare them.
My hubby took me out to our favorite restraunt (is there a spell check somewhere?) a while back and I had the most delicious Broccoli Cheddar Soup. After a few tries I came up with a very comparable soup myself. Here goes....
Nikki's Broccoli Cheddar Soup
2 c. Chicken broth
1 onion chopped
2 heads fresh broccoli florrets (with a little stem) chopped small
Simmer until broccoli and onion are soft. Meanwhile...
1/4 c. Butter
1/4 c. Flour
2 c. Milk
2 c. Chicken broth
2 c. Sharp Cheddar, grated (has to be sharp)
Melt butter in pan. Stir in flour. Stir in milk and broth. Simmer until thick and bubbly. Stir in cheese until melted. Stir in soft broccoli mixture. Viola!!!
I am looking for a few different kinds of recipes. I want some casserole style crockpot recipes. I say casserole style because I just cannot buy meat other than cheep ground beef and chicken quarters, and can only use 1/2 to 1 lb of either one in any given recipe. Most crockpot recipes I have call for steaks or roasts or whole chickens or chicken breasts. SO, I need crockpot recipes that don't call for more than 1/2 to 1 lb of shredded chicken or ground beef.
Next I am looking for meatless dinner recipes that use whole grains other than wheat, and vegetarian dinner main dish recipes.
When I was a little girl, my grandmother used to buy giant, and I mean GIANT, poppy seed muffins. I could only every eat half of one, but it was one of the things I looked forward to most when we went to visit. The first time I found a poppy seed muffin recipe, I was so excited! I think I tried it out the next day, only to be terribly dissapointed. It was bland and dry compared to the kind my grandma used to buy. When I got married, my former employer happened to give me a recipe for poppy seed bread. To be honest, I didn't make that recipe for quite a few years, thinking it would be like the other recipes I had come accross in the past. Finally, I gave it a try. I was astonished. It was exactly the same as the poppy seed muffins I had as a little girl! You can imagine my delight, and now it is my childrens' favorite bread as well. So, here it is...
Dede Beemer's POPPY SEED BREAD
3 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 Tbs. poppy seed muffins
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/2 c. sugar
Mix together in a large bowl. In another large bowl, mix:
3 eggs
1c. plus 2 Tbs. oil
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 tsp. almond flavoring
1 1/2 c. milk
Mix both bowls together. Beat for 3 minutes. Pour into two greased 4x8 in. pans at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Glaze: (I have never made the glaze, but it sounds good)
3/4 c. powdered sugar
2 Tbs. melted butter
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. orange juice
Mix. While bread is still hot, poke holes in it with a fork. Pour glaze over the top!
I have heard of women who, when they make a pie, they take the pie crust scraps and bake them as little additional treats. I had never done that... until two days ago! I made a delcious chicken pot pie from scratch, and I decided to take the crust scraps and sprinkle them with a little bit of cinnamon and sugar. I put them in the oven to bake while we were eating supper and oh! it was such a delicious and little effort dessert! Now I want to make a pie crust just for sprinkling cinnamon and sugar on! I have to admit, it tastes an aweful lot like the shortbread cookies I made last week! Kinda funny, I thought.
1 1/4c. all purpose flour
3 T. sugar
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. ground nutmeg
1/2 c. butter, softened
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Cut in butter until it looks like fine crumbs. Turn out onto wax paper and kneed until smooth. Shape into a ball and roll into an 8" circle directly on an ungreased cookie sheet. Cut it into 16 wedges (pizza style). Bake 25 - 30 minutes, or until edges are golden and center is set. Take out of oven, and recut wedges. Let cool 5 minutes on cookie sheet. (We eat them at this point, or you can...) Transfer cookies to cooling rack. Mmmm, delicious!
As the weather hasn't climbed above freezing in, I honestly don't know how long, we've been enjoying more good, hot soup. I thought I'd share a couple of my very own creation soup recipes.
AMESUVA SOUP
6-8 c. chicken broth (or water and bullion)
6 oz. of spaghetti noodles, broken into 2" lengths
1/2 c. cooked ground sausage
1c. frozen broccoli florets, chopped small
4 eggs, well beaten
Bring broth to a boil. Add noodles and sausage. Cook until noodles are soft. Add frozen broccoli. Drizzle eggs into barely simmering soup. Keep at a very low simmer until broccoli is heated through.
IMPROV SOUP
1 can (pop can size) of tomato juice
2 c. beef broth (or water and bullion)
2 cans green beans with juice
2 cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can corn, drained
5 hot dogs, penny sliced
2 c. dry egg noodles
dried onion, garlic powder, and pepper to taste
Mix everything but noodles. Bring to a boil. Add noodles (add more boiling water if needed). Boil 8-10 minutes or until noodles are soft.
Well, I've been experimenting with out flour since I found out I cannot have whole wheat flour. Since out flour has no gluten to speak of, it's been a challenge to find a bread recipe with a good mix between whole oat flour and unbleached white flour (It's impossible to make a light fluffy loaf of 100% whole oat flour). The most oat flour I had found in any other recipe was ony 25%. I've managed to get mine to a nearly 50 - 50% blend! And the best part is that my family loves it. Here's the recipe for anyone who can't have wheat germ or who just wants another grain in their bread. I'm gonna skimp at the directions and assume you already know the basic principles of bread making.
Nikki's Oat Flour Bread
3 T. butter
1/3 c. of honey or sucanat
1 t. salt
2 1/2 T. yeast
1 3/4 c. very warm water
2 1/4 c. oat flour
1/4 c. gluten
2 1/2 c. unbleached white flour
Mix the flours and gluten together. Set aside. Mix first five ingredients. Add half of flour blend. Beat for a while. Stir in rest of flour. THIS DOUGH WILL BE VERY STICKY, but the oat flour will absorb the moisture as you knead. (If you add too much flour you will end up with a rock!). I knead the dough out on a lightly floured surface (I use no more than 3 T. of flour total to knead with). Knead until quite firm! Let rest for 5 minutes. Divide into two loaves. Put in greased 8.5 x 4.5 inch bread pans. Cover. Let rise until it's a good loaf size. Bake at 375 for 17 min. Cover with foil. Bake 10 min more. Remove from oven. I let my bread sit in the pans covered with a towel for 1 hour then place them in a ziplock bag over night. They are moist and easy to slice the next morning. Of course, bread is always delicious fresh out of the oven!
God sent me this article in a time of great need. I hope it blesses your families. It was so long I put into into the next three posts. Copy and paste it somewhere where you can print it out to have available when you have time to read it in it's entirety. If you decide to try it, be sure to have every detail of every meal planned out a day ahead of time or you may easily miss something. I know!
I am writing this for Moms who sometimes have to feed several children on very little money. We all get to this place at one time or another.
These are the basic things that I use when really low on money. If you usually cook from scratch you may already have some of these things. Go down the list and check off what you have.
Oatmeal
Dry beans
Rice
Cornmeal
Frozen chubs of ground turkey from Save a lot .69/lb
Milk
Eggs
Chicken leg quarters
Tomato paste
Pasta
Flour
Salt
Sugar
Cinnamon
Baking powder
Shortening
Salt pork or bacon
Margarine
Onions
A few packages of frozen veggies
Flour
Ramen noodles
Cans of tuna
Peanut butter
I don't know where you live, but I live in Oklahoma. Here, Save-a- Lot foods is one of the best places to pick up deals. However on the West coast, I used to shop at Grocery Warehouse. If you have one of these nearby you are certainly blessed. Their logo has a rainbow on the building usually.
Now, I am going to assume that all your husband can give you is $30. Maybe he can only give $20, and I'll show you where to adjust. Here, Chicken quarters are sometimes on special for .29/lb.. So for two weeks I would probably buy 2-3 of those. If they are more expensive I would buy two, but at .29/lb I would buy 3. Shop for sales with your news paper before going out. Plan your route in advance to save money on gas. Assuming that you bought 3 chicken quarters we've already spent $9.
The next thing on the list is bacon, salt pork or very cheap ham. Now I am going to assume that you have dry beans in the house. If you don't they must be purchased. The bacon can be bought in ends and pieces the cheapest, and this is perfect for using the ways I will suggest. If you spend $3 on the bacon, and $3 on the beans, we have spent $15.
Now if you can, pick up some ground turkey at Save-a-Lot. Try to get 4 chubs @ .69/chub. So you have spent $2.80 more or $17.80. Now here is where things get sticky. First of all you need two things more to get through - milk and eggs. Now milk and eggs is something I always have, due to my goats and chickens. In fact it has been awhile since I have been in a really desperate situation, because of homesteading. However I started homesteading to help prevent us getting into a bad spot (within the Lord's will of course). So at this point, on $30 you should purchase: 1 gallon of milk and 3 dozen eggs. The milk is NOT for drinking. Use the milk for cooking. On $20 you should drop 10Lb of chicken to get your milk and buy 2 dozen eggs.
Now on $20 you are done. On thirty dollars the balance should be made up with Ramen noodles, a can or 2 of tomato paste, a bag of potatoes, cornmeal, peanut butter and frozen vegetables. Now, you probably noticed that I said not to drink the milk. This is because that milk can be used more wisely for making meals. If your family are big milk drinkers, they will have to get used to not drinking so much right now. This is not a permanent thing, but rather temporary to get through. Also, as much as you are capable, try to balance your meals. However hard times call for hard ways of eating. Our grandmothers and grandfathers often simply ate meals like cornbread and milk. Extra money should be used for missed things on the list or luxury items such as cheese.
Now for the cooking. For all the cooking I am assuming you are feeding 6, like I would be. When you come home from the store divide the chicken into smaller portions, say four to a gallon ziplock bag. Put them in the freezer.
Day One
The first thing you do is put beans on to soak. Soak them overnight and rinse in the morning adding fresh water. Put those on to cook either in a crockpot or in a pan on the stove. Add a couple of pieces of bacon. At the same time you put the beans to soak, take a cup of milk, a cup of flour, and a teaspoon of sugar, and blend together. Leave in a warm spot covered by a paper towel. [Ed. note - this is for the sourdough starter. There is some confusion regarding this recipe for starter and bread, so please read through the entire article before starting this. If it is unclear, try this recipe instead.] The next day, get up early and make eggs and bacon. In our house fried eggs stretch longer than scrambled. Partly because I usually make too many scrambled. So fry each person in the house an egg and make a little bacon. Also make some quick muffins.
Quick muffins
2 C. flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder (omit if using self rising flour)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 to1 C. milk with a dash of vinegar added, or omit if you don't have vinegar
1/4 C oil
Mix all together and pour into muffin tin filling cups by half, or pour into a loaf pan, and have bread. Bake at 400 degrees until golden brown.
After breakfast, make sure and put your beans on to cook. Then check the starter I had you set out last night. Does it smell sour? It should be beginning to smell sour. Set it aside until tomorrow. Now for lunch you can either choose tuna or egg salad sandwiches. Either way, make a batch of biscuits and stuff them with the mixture. Now take your tomato paste out, open all the cans. Drop large spoonfuls of tomato paste onto a cookie sheet and pop them in the freezer. Allow to freeze. When frozen take them out and put them into a ziplock bag. Now they can be used whenever you want a little tomato flavor.
Take two of these little tomato nuggets and drop them into your beans. Add a chopped onion and a little chili powder. Serve this for dinner along with cornbread. More than likely you have some left over beans, and they should be served the next day for lunch.
Tomorrow morning you will be making bread, so we will start it tonight. Take out your starter. Take 1 egg out and put it into a glass of hot tap water (do not crack it). Warm some milk, perhaps 1 quart, not hot just warm. Now get out a large bowl. Take three quarters of your starter and pour it into the bowl. To the rest of the starter add a cup of flour and a cup of milk. Put this back in the refrigerator. To your starter in the bowl, add your egg, 1/4 C oil, the warm milk, 8-12 cups of flour (start with 5-6 cups and add a little at a time until the dough is the right consistency), and mix and knead well. (Another word for beating the heck out of the dough: excellent stress reliever! No wonder our foremothers rarely got anxiety attacks!) Allow to rise in a warm place overnight.
Now, everyone has had a full stomach for today. Tomorrow has enough trouble of it's own. Simply enjoy today's contentment, and give thanks to God for his provision.
Day Two
Breakfast- Oatmeal and bacon
Right now apples and pears are getting ripe across the country. Perhaps you know of someone with apple trees or pear trees. Many times people don't do anything with them. Ask around and you are likely to find someone who would love to have someone glean their apples. It would be a good outing for the kids, and would help remind you of the wonderful joy that God has for us through his creation. Bring them home and cut them up and make applesauce, and apple pie, and apple muffins, and apple juice.
Punch down your risen bread dough and form into loaves. Let rise again for the morning, then bake at 350 degrees until golden brown. Now for lunch you have left over beans and fresh sourdough bread. After lunch take a ziplock of chicken out of the freezer.
About 2 hours before dinner, put the chicken in a large pot to boil. Simmer one hour, and then take the chicken out of the pot and take it off the bone. While you are deboning the chicken add a little water, and one chopped onion, and salt and pepper to your broth. Simmer while deboning. Now put your chicken back in the broth and make up a batch of biscuit dough. Drop the dough into the water about ten minutes before you serve your chicken and dumplings. Put a lid on the pot and leave it until serving time. Turn off the burner and serve your family a meal. Save the leftovers Now notice I don't mention vegetables. If you have some use them, but keep in mind that there may be other recipes later in this incredibly long e-mail that call for them.
Now take a walk outside. Sit by yourself somewhere, and just breathe. Hopefully hubby is home, and all is well. Make a list of how God has blessed you today. Remember those adorable things the kids did. Now get a good night's sleep. I always read my bible at night. After the labor of the day is finished I can take all my cares to the Lord.
You more than likely had leftover chicken and dumplings. Breakfast is toast (made with homemade bread) with peanut butter, and a little bacon.
Lunch, take some frozen veggies(broccoli would be excellent). Take a deep casserole pan, fish out all the leftover chicken out of the chicken and dumplings. Put one cup of rice, and one cup of broth (conserving the rest), and one cup of water in the casserole with the chicken and half a bag of broccoli. Season to taste, and bake covered for 1/2 hour. Uncover and sprinkle a little of any kind of cheese (if you have it, if not omit) Serve this for lunch.
Get out your starter and put half of it in a bowl. Replace with 1/2 C milk, 1/2 C. flour. Adding some milk, mix with flour, a little sugar and salt to make a stiff dough. Let rise until after dinner. Punch down, and put into the refrigerator. For dinner, take out a chub of turkey and 5 packages of ramen noodles. Brown the turkey, add ramen noodles and the contents of one of the seasoning packets, and leftover veggies from lunch. Simmer and serve.
Also take some of your bread and cut into chunks. Add a few raisins if you have them. Mix 1 egg, 1cup of milk, 3/4 C sugar (brown would be nice, but not necessary.), and 1 tsp. cinnamon. Pour mixture over bread, and bake. This bread pudding is wonderful if you pour just a little milk over it.
Get out your starter, and use half of it in a bowl. Replace with 1/2 C milk, 1/2 C. flour. Adding some milk mix with flour a little sugar and salt to make a stiff dough. Let rise until after dinner. Punch down, and put into the refrigerator.
Day 4
First thing when you wake up take dough out of fridge. Roll out on a board to about half inch thickness. Dot with margarine, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar, and roll up in a roll. slice across the roll, and place your cinnamon rolls on their sides in an oiled pan. Turn on your oven for few minutes just to warm it, and then turn it off and put your rolls into it to rise. When they have risen some, turn on your oven to 400 degrees and bake until golden brown. Serve this with an egg each. For lunch take out whatever ramen you have left over, add the remaining broth from the dumplings, another fresh package of ramen, and serve for lunch. Also take another package of chicken out of the freezer. For dinner boil the chicken and take off the bone. Set aside the broth. Now take 1 1/2 cups rice and brown it gently in a little oil. Add three cups of the broth into the hot pan, putting the leftovers in the freezer. From the freezer take out two of the tomato nuggets, and add them and the chicken to the rice. Cover and simmer on medium until all water is absorbed. Add salt and spices to taste.
Now another day is done, and all is right with the world. Everyone is probably full, and God is watching over you. This is four meals.
Day five
Take out a package of chicken. For breakfast-pancakes. Now I often make my own syrup by heating sugar and water on the stove and flavoring with either maple flavoring or vanilla. I also just love the recipe Laura Ingalls Wilder describes in Farmer Boy.
Stacked pancakes- Make small pancakes, and on each one add a sliver of margarine and a little brown sugar(she said maple sugar, but most people would not have that in their cupboard). Do this as you make them. These are excellent although very fattening!
This can be served with either bacon or you can take some thawed ground turkey, add sage, salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder and make your own sausage. Now this is a little better if you take a little of your salt pork and put it in your blender and add to it. 1 chub can give you enough for a couple of breakfasts. Apple sauce if you gleaned apples.
Lunch
Today have ramen soup with any leftover meats and chop a few veggies small. Cook the veggies with the seasoning packet and water, then add your noodles at the end. Also make your own crackers.
Crackers
Any recipe for pie crust
garlic powder
Italian seasoning or fresh rosemary chopped
a little grated cheese if you have it
Mix all the ingredients together well. Roll out on a cutting board a little thinner than for pie. Now cut into squares and poke each cracker several times with a fork. Bake until crispy and golden brown in a 400 degree oven.
Dinner
Boil your chicken till it is falling off the bone. Take the meat off the bones. Cool the broth. Take a cup of broth and set aside. Make a double crust pie recipe. If you are smart, which I know you all are, you will do this at lunch when you make your crackers and pop the crust into the fridge. Line the a pie plate with half the crust. Now chop some veggies, or use some frozen veggies. It would be nice to use a potato or two, and some celery. Simmer the veggies until half done in just a little water. Mix with the chicken. Fill the crust. Place the other crust on top and bake. Serve this with whatever drink you prefer. See next page for drinks on a budget.
Simple cookies
1 cup butter, margarine, or shortening
1 cup sugar
4 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp. Baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon, or 1/2 cup peanut butter(take off half a cup shortening), or 2 tsp vanilla
Handful of any nuts, dried fruit, or oatmeal in the house.
Cream shortening and sugar. To this can be added an egg if desired. Blend flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl with a fork. Add remaining ingredients blending quite well. Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheet. Serve these hot cookies for dessert.
Before going to bed take out two chubs of ground turkey. Place in the refrigerator.
I just love the end of the day. All the kids are in bed. Hubby is out like a light and it is just me and God. Read a good book. Read God's word and then off to sleep.
Day Six
Omelet
A good omelet is an art. However, with a little effort a couple of eggs can make a real meal. An omelet does not have to have cheese. However it does make it nice. With an omelet a little dab will do you. Fry a slice or two of bacon, and crumble it up. Dig in your fridge for any fresh veggies you can find. A little onion, a little pepper, even a few frozen veggies will do. Also just a little grated cheese is wonderful. The path to an excellent omelet is in the pan. Many people use a nonstick skillet. I am not fond of silverstone pans flaking into my food, so my favorite pan is a good, well seasoned iron skillet. You want just a small amount of oil well covering the pan. You also want the pan quite hot. When making an omelet, you want the eggs well beaten and you want to pour the egg into the hot skillet immediately after beating. Have a spatula close at hand. As soon as the eggs have begun to set at the edges just a little, you want to begin pushing the edges toward the middle and lifting them to allow the uncooked egg to seep under and cook as you tilt the pan to and fro. As soon as all of the egg is set(I scrape all the uncooked egg I can from the middle out to the edge), add your meat and vegetables, and salt and pepper, to half and fold the egg over. Add a cover and turn the burner off. As the egg rests, prepare your plates. Cut the omelet into portions(my 10 inch skillet feeds five or six), and serve nice and warm.
Lunch
Peanut butter sandwiches
Dinner
Tuna Casserole
A package of egg noodles
3 TBS margarine
1 1/2 cups milk
Seasoning packet from a package of chicken flavored ramen noodles
1/2 cup flour
dash onion powder
dash garlic powder
dash pepper
1/8 tsp salt
1 can of tuna or even two if you have lots
Cook noodles in water until al dente (I test mine by throwing a noodle against the refrigerator. If it sticks, it's done.) While noodles are cooking blend in a small bowl flour and seasonings. Heat 1/2 cup milk in a small sauce pan. Add remaining milk to bowl and blend well. Add the mixture in the bowl to hot milk and blend with a whisk stirring constantly until thick. Add tuna and blend well. When noodles are done, drain and add butter. Add tuna sauce and stir well.
I am going to share my biscuit recipe here handed down to me from my grandmother and probably from her mother to her. Now traditionally there is no written recipe to this. These biscuits are more about technique. However I will try to share a workable recipe here.
2 cups of flour
4 tsp. of baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup shortening or lard
1 1/2 cups milk to which has been added 1 tsp of vinegar or 1 1/2 Cups buttermilk if you have it
Blend with fork or sift flour baking powder and salt. Cut shortening into flour until very small. I use my fingers for this. Make a well in center of flour mixture and pour a little bit of the milk in the biscuits, stirring between additions, until flour is just taken up by the milk. What you should be left with is a ball of dough which looks neither too wet or too dry to handle. Pinch off small balls of dough rolling very gently between the hands into balls. Touch the dough as little as possible to do this(don't knead). Bake in a 400 degree oven.
There are many ways to make gravy. This is mine:
Bacon gravy
Fry some bacon. Take out bacon and add two cups of milk to fat. Crumble bacon and add it to milk. Take 1/2 cup flour 3/4 tsp salt and a little pepper and blend well in a small bowl. With a whisk, blend 1 cup milk into flour and pour into milk mixture in pan. Stir constantly adjusting spices.
Lunch
Egg salad sandwiches
Make a loaf of sourdough bread according to previous directions. Mold French bread style, and bake after rising.
Dinner
Spaghetti
Prepare spaghetti as you did last night's noodles. Take out chubs of turkey from fridge. Brown turkey with a little chopped onion. Absolutely great pasta sauce comes from two things: Tomato paste(not sauce), and sweet to acid balance. My basic pasta sauce is built around those two things. After browning meat(when you are not so poor use beef and Italian sausage), add either 1 can of tomato paste, and 2 cans of stewed tomatoes( I like the ones that come with the seasonings already in them) or 2 cans of tomato paste. Also add garlic powder, onion powder, and Italian seasoning. And the secret ingredient is, about two tablespoons of sugar. Simmer and serve with pasta. It is great to have some parmesan around for this.
Now split your fresh loaf of sourdough, butter both sides and sprinkle with Italian seasoning. place under the broiler until golden brown.
Well that is 1 weeks worth of meals. Part 3 is beverages.
This recipe is called Creamy Tacos, though I think it is more like glorfied nachos. Either way, it's awesome! It makes a HUGE batch, so I divide it in half once it's done and stick the half we don't use into the freezer. It freezes beautifully. (My daughters are chopping up the cheese right now, and practicing their Bible verses with no prompting from me! Ah, the diamonds in the rough of motherhood!)
2lbs. lean ground beef, cooked and drained
2 (12oz) cans of evaporated milk (though I use 1 and a half cups of milk)
1 can of pinto beans, drained and rinsed
2 (10oz) cans of Rotel diced tomatoes with green chilis, drained
1 (2lb) box of Velveeta cheese, cut into small cubes
1 large bag of Fritos
Mix all ingredients except for Fritos and toppings in a large pot. Cook over medium, stirring contantly so you dont' burn the cheese. Once it's all melted and hot, serve over the Fritos and top with the toppings. I'm told you can do this in the crockpot as well. I've never done it that way, but it seems like it would be easy.
Ok, I'll try to make this make sense. I am getting my information from the book Back to the Basics. This is the method we used.
The skin comes easily off a rabbit. Slit up the tummy and down the legs. Gut it. Rinse it out. Peel the hide off the rabbit with your hands. Use a sharp knife if needed. Cut rings around the feet and head to free the skin entirely. Rinse.
Soak the hide over night in a solution of 1 lb. of salt dissolved in 2 gal. of water OR 1 oz. of Borax dissolved in 1 gal of water. Adjust amounts according to how many hides you are tanning. Water can be cold or warm but not hot. In the morning, rinse the hide and let it drain. Then rub salt in the flesh side. When it's all soaked up, put on a second coat of salt. Fold it in half length wise (flesh to flesh) and roll it up and set it on edge to drain. Let sit for a day.
The next day, carefully scrape off bits of flesh and fat from hide with very sharp knife. Be careful not to put a nick in the hide! Rinse in a soapy solution, then rinse quickly and thoroughly.
Next, dissolve 9 Tbs. of salt in 1/2 gal of warm water. In a small bowl, dissolve 1.5 oz of Alum in hot water. Mix alum solution into salt solution. NEVER touch tanning solution with bare skin. With a wooden spoon, stir hide into tanning solution. Make sure every last millimeter of flesh is touch by solution - no air bubbles. stir hide in solution twice a day. A rabbit skin will take about two days. Make sure that the solution has soaked completely through the center most part of hide before removing.
Rinse with clean water with many changes of water. Hang the hide to dry fur side up out of direct sunlight and such that air can circulate to the underside of the hide. After several days, but while hide is still damp, roll the hide as when it was salted. Leave it over night.
Open hide and stretch and pull it until it's pliable. Rub in neat's-foot, cottonseed, corn, or leather lubrication oil.
To clean the matted fur, fill a plastic bag with dry oatmeal. Place hide in bag and shake until fur is clean. Brush and comb fur until fluffy.
NOTE: if you want fur-less leather, scrape the fur off the same time you scrape the extra fat and flesh off the hide, before you soak in on the alum solution.
Well, that's what the book says for tanning the hide. The same process can be used for any animal hide, but the amounts and time for soaking will increase according to the size of the hide.
Now for the meat. You pretty much just cut off the meat just as you would a chicken. The recipe I used to cook the "bloody bunny," as Big Girl called it, is as follows:
RABBIT (OR PHEASANT) STEW
1 or 2 rabbits or pheasants
salt, pepper, paprika to taste
1 c. sour cream
1 c. cream of mushroom soup (or white sauce with some chicken bullion)
1/4 tsp. worchestershire sauce
2 Tbs. dried onion flakes
Season the cut up meat. Mix sour cream, soup, worchestershire sauce, and onion. Stir in the seasoned meat. Cook in crock pot on low for 6-8 hours.
This really ends up being more like rabbit in a unique gravy. We stirred in our roasted potatos. I wonder if you could add diced potatos or brown rice in with the raw meat and let it cook all together.
Ladies, let me know if and how you modify this recipe. I would love to know how it turns out! Also let me know of other rabbit recipes if you have them. We hope to be eating a lot of rabbit this winter.
Welcome to our farmette-ette-ette-ette (9000 sq foot city lot). Come on in! I may not stop what I'm doing while you're visiting, but feel free to join in. Mi casa es su casa!
