Oh Christmas Tree...

 How lovely are your branches. We got our tree  last week. It was an adventure as always.

 It wasn't the least bit cold, well maybe a tad chilly. I took my sweater off as soon as we got back to the truck. I had my tank top on underneath.
There were plenty of really nice ones.

 And plenty of not so nice ones. I'm rather picky so my tree getter's and turners were kept busy. Of course we got "THE BEST TREE WE'VE EVER HAD". (neither of the above passed the very intense scrutiny)

 Jennifer came over

The girls did the preliminary decorating,

 I lit a log and put up my feet. Watching is good.

 Later when all was calm and all was bright, I finished up at a more leisurely pace. My angel on top

 Me and Daddies first ornament.

 Hung the stockings... The nativities are up, but I'll show you those pictures later.

 Allison brought home the most beautiful live arrangement. She is getting really good at this.

 It has red and white carnations. Noble Pine, Princess Pine, Cedar and Juniper, along with pine cones and golden ornaments. The red candle will be lit for our celebration dinner. I love, love, love it!!! Thanks for stopping by. More Christmasy pictures later.

Blessings, Sue

Depression Cake

A few years ago my mother gave me an amazing gift. It seems that when my Grama passed away, one of her sisters or one of my Aunts wrote down and gave to my mom all of the recipes she had in her kitchen. My mom then hand wrote and compiled them all into a book. One for each of my daughters and one for myself.  The other day I received a call from Carlye with the idea of her and I, deciding upon a few of the recipes and cooking, baking them "together". She said " Mom, you could blog about them". So the first recipe I will share is called Depression Cake. 

 

 Depression Cake is a type of cake that was made during The Great Depression Era, 1929 to the late 1930's early 1940's. There are quite a few recipes but for the most part, it contains no sugar, no milk, no eggs, no butter. These items being hard to get or way to expensive at the time. I'm sure that each cook made due with the items she had on hand . My Grama lived on a farm.

 It is called many other names as well. War Cakes and Boiled Raisin Cake. The Boiled Raisin cake dates back to the American Civil War, but I can imagine it going back even further.

Raisins are boiled to make a syrup base, then added to the dry ingredients.

 Which I sifted all together.

 I then made a well in the middle and added the raisins, liquid and melted butter.

 I mixed it by hand like any other quick bread.

 I was really amazed at how it puffed right up and turned out so beautifully brown. It made the entire house smell good.

 And its moist and delicious. It reminded me of a gingerbread and so I added a bit of whipped cream to my piece last night. Which I know.... isn't authentic...... since it calls for a powder sugar and water glaze or to be sprinkled with powdered sugar. But... darn it, it's Christmas and I had a bit of whipped cream left in the can and......... neither is the paper plate I'm sure but who's judging....seriously hahahah

So here it is.... My Grama's Depression Cake Recipe

1 cup raisins
2 cups water
2 Tablespoons shortening or lard....yeck I use butter (melted)
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon each cinnamon and nutmeg.

Cook raisins in water in a small saucepan, simmer  until 1 cup liquid remains. Set aside to cool. Sift all dry ingredients together into a bowl. Make a small well in the middle and add plumped up raisins. Add liquid and melted butter. Stir until smooth. Bake in a 9 inch square pan for 35 to 40 minutes. Or toothpick comes out clean. At 325.

I used a round cake pan and I melted the butter and added it to the dry instead of creaming the butter and the sugar together like the original recipe called for. After boiling the raisins I scooped them out and had only about 1/2 cup of liquid so I added water to make one cup. I'm not sure if this is because I boiled them to long or that I left them to "cool" for a long time while I went to Michaels and they soaked it all up. heehee either way it worked perfectly.

Try it!!! I reallly like it and will make it again. I bet it would be good for people who have allergies as well, and with a big fat layer of cream cheese frosting!!!!

I'll let you know what and when we decide to make the next recipe in our adventure. Until then
BE BLESSED AND BE A BLESSING, Sue

Fannie Farmer

My very first cookbook was a scholastic Fannie Farmer Cookbook. It was bought for me by my mom from a catalog I brought home from elementary school. My mom really was an enabler even way back then. She was a nurturer to all my creative outlets. I think I still have it somewhere but for now I want to share with you the copy I was given by my mother in law. It is copyrighted 1965, Eleventh edition. And it is a  treasure.

notice all the copyright dates

Fannie Merrit Farmer

Fannie Merrit Farmer was born in 1857. She is responsible for a very important event in cooking history.

While she was in high school, Fannie suffered from a stroke with paralysis and could no longer continue her education. She then worked as a mothers helper and discovered her love of, and skill at cooking. With her parents support she began to study under M.J. Lincoln at the Boston Cooking School. From the book that Mrs Lincoln used to teach her classes, which was written for businesses and professional cooks, Fannie wrote The Boston Cooking-School Cookbook, revising the original and adding her improvements. She made it workable for middle class women and family cooks by including specific accurate measurements and ingredients. Before this cookbook ingredients were estimated and the results would vary greatly. It was published in 1896.

In 1902 she opened a school called Miss Farmers School of Cooking aimed at training housewives. She also lectured on domestic topics and wrote several more cooking related books. Her school continued on until 1944, she herself passing in 1915. 

I found inside my copy several added delights. One was a bay leaf left there by Anne, my mother-in-law.

The illustrations are really cool

This is definitely a good thing to have. If and when I make 5 holiday pies at once.

She apparently thought this was too sweet. I think Ill give it a go and see for myself. I have started to like rice pudding of late. More illustrations, simple and to the point.

One of the things Fannie writes in the preface of her original first edition is that she wants to keep her recipes simple, tried and true. She wished that her book would encourage people to give deeper thought and study to what they were eating. In later issues it has been revised by, Wilma Lord Perkins, to include Chocolate Chip Cookies. They were invented  in 1924 by Ruth Wakefield for Toll House. Before that they simply broke a bar of chocolate into bits. This didn't work to well since it melted.  I would love to find an earlier edition that doesn't have these more "modern" recipes. The search is on.

I also found my wedding gown while nosing around in the shed. This is Jennifer wearing it and holding my wedding picture. Cool huh?

Blessings, Sue

It a Colorful World

While looking for the Christmas boxes in the shed today,I came upon a box labeled "stitch kits". Of course I had to bring it in. I spent the good part of an hour going through all the treasures I had tucked inside. I became reacquainted with quite a few old friends.During my first pregnancy I found myself with a lot of extra time on my hands and took up my old love of all things needlework. 

This is the Jacobean Sampler I started way back when. I have thought about it off and on throughout the years, finding comfort in it. I have a few projects that, honestly, never got finished but were finished as much as they needed to be. I believe that everything is for a reason and sometimes its the process I need at the time more than the finished object.

Anyway........I remember when I had to tuck this away. My life had gotten extremely busy. Big projects were not an option for me at the time. I began sewing clothes for my girls and they were the center of my life. When I pulled this out it felt like an old friend had moved back home. I am going to finish it. I worked on the house tonight. All the above was done 27 years ago. It feels right.

I'm now to the point of stitching in all my ends on my latest project..... I can't really show you.... It is a gift for my granddaughter. I'll show you details later.

Jennifer and Allison were bored, there was paint involved, I think it's rather cute!!

My Americana's have started laying!!!!! This makes me so happy. I love the color of these eggs.

This is actually what we brought in today. I have never had hens that layed in the winter months. My 5 older ladies are taking a break. I'm still waiting for Ophelia (my silkie) to lay. She is my first silkie too. I have had chickens for over 20 years and still am just excited everyday when I get to collect my eggs.

Maybe you thought you were going to get through at least one day here without seeing food. Sorry! heehee I had to show you the chex party mix i made for Seth for Thanksgiving. I was trying to think of the traditions we have had here. And thinking of the new ones we will be starting when we settle in Georgia. One of them is definitely his party mix. I've been making it every single year we have been together.

It was a really good batch. I need to make more.

I have quite the list of projects going on now. I'll take pictures. Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings, Sue

Bread Pudding

When I was a little girl my Grama ( Dads mom ) used to feed me milk toast. BLECK, GAG, YUCK. I hated it. She would toast a piece of white bread and put oleo (old lady margarine, ha ha) on it. Put it in a bowl and pour hot milk over it. GROSS. It was awful.  She did graduate us (me and my siblings and probably my cousins) to cocoa and toast, which was better. You got to dip your toast into the cocoa for however long you wanted, making it less less soggy in my case. The chocolate was even better and the melted oleo gave it a sort of kid like richness.
I have often thought about making Bread Pudding but was afraid that it would remind me of milk toast, until now. Actually it did remind me of milk toast or I wouldn't be mentioning it now, hee hee

Bread Pudding

2 eggs, well beaten
2 1/4 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups bread  cubed, about 5 or 6 slices
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup raisins

Butter Sauce

1/2 cup sugar ( brown or white)
21/2 Tablespoons flour
2 Tablespoons butter
1 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla

Break up bread into pieces and place in a bowl. Add brown sugar, cinnamon and raisins and toss. In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, milk and vanilla. Pour wet mixture over dry mixture and put into a greased 9 inch cake pan. Place that pan into another pan of water and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

For the butter sauce:  Melt butter in an iron skillet or other pan, and add flour. Stir constantly for a few minutes ( YES GIRLS, this is a "Basic Roux" hahahahahhaha) Add sugar and stir, slowly add water while stirring and continue to cook on low heat until it thickens. Just before you pour it over the already baked bread pudding, add the vanilla.  Serve warm. ( at first I just put butter sauce on individual portions, then gave up a dumped it all on. This was better)
 

 I was surprised. If you have never had bread pudding there is a kinda texture thing to overcome, at least for me. But I can honestly say I liked it. I used in my batch, cinnamon raisin bread and so did not add the extra raisins called for. I used in the butter sauce REAL BUTTER and brown sugar.

 My first thoughts were that I can't wait to feed this to my grand daughter. Must be a grama thing. hahahaha
I know the babies in my life will enjoy this. Try it  and if you do let me know if you like it. If you make it another way let me know so I can try it your way. I can see why this was a popular breakfast food in the past. I bake alot of bread and with no preservatives the last few slices can seem a bit stale. This is a great way to use that up and get your kids out the door with a full and warm tummy. Most of the recipes I found called for stale or dry bread. Seth said his mom made it with white bread and as a kid he hated it. Must be the texture, like I said it does take some getting used to if your not familiar with it.

Quick picture of my shamrocks, blooming away. I'm telling you these little plants brighten my day many, many  times. I am enamoured with them.
Blessings, Sue

Third times a charm!

The liquid is the whey. The white curd is pulling away from the crock and clumping together.

 I hope everyone had a Blessed Thanksgiving Holiday. I know quite a while has gone by and I apologize for you having to stare at the same post for that long but, time gets away from me sometimes. I have been very busy with my Christmas gifts and crossing things off the long list of "things to do". It feels good.

I tried again at my yogurt making. I did research on yogurt makers and thought about asking for one for Christmas but then I decided NO. Not when it seems this easy to make with a crock pot and I'm reading about so many people having success doing it. 

My second attempt didn't work as well and I figured out that my thermometer was off. Its all about the temperatures. It wasn't a loss however since I learned that by adding an acid ( I used 1 Tablespoon lemon juice) and cooking again for about 20 minutes the whey will separate from the curd and you will have Ricotta. You can add salt at this point and have a soft spread cheese as well.


Ricotta.

  I poured the contents of the crock into a strainer lined with a flour sack dish towel and let the whey drain off for awhile.


Make do lasagne, which tastes just as good, using spaghetti noodles.

  I didn't have lasagna noodles so I used thin spaghetti instead and made a yummy dinner.

 It was delicious. I doubt I will do this again unless there is a yogurt miss hap. It is time consuming and easier for me to buy it.


Yougurt making in process with new digital thermometer.

  I did however, FINALLY Succeed at my yogurt.  I found out that by using a digital thermometer it takes all the guess work out of it and makes it easier to succeed. Seth found this one a Target for about $15. I used 1/2 gallon of whole milk and brought the temperature up to 180 degrees. Turned off the crock and cooled it back down to 111 degrees. I then add 1 1/2 Tablespoons of plain yogurt for the live active cultures and wrapped the entire crock in a fleece blanket and popped it into the oven until this morning. The oven was not on, it just keeps the temperature more even while it cools.

 And this morning..... YOGURT!!!  I love Greek yogurt and think it is way to expensive to buy. To get this yogurt even thicker and more creamy I again lined a strainer with a flour sack dish towel and drained of a bit more of the whey.

 I got an entire quart of thick, rich, creamy, Greek style yogurt. I know exactly what it contains. AND it was made for less than 1/2 the cost of store bought. I added some of my homemade blueberry jam. OH MY GOSH !!!!! DELICIOUS.

I am so happy and excited about this new skill I have learned. Some things have seemed out of the question to make myself. I have either thought it to difficult or just never thought of "doing it myself". I'm also glad I stuck to it.  I think I may try making some cream cheese next.
Blessings, Sue