Inspirational Day of Cooking!

There are cook books, and then there are books that talk about cooking, health, home making, and well,... they are inspirational books.

A long time ago Debbie in CA from Wisteria and Roses gave me a copy of "Hearth and Home" by Karey Swan. Recently I found Karey's blog called Karey's Overflow. http://kareyswan.com
It intrigued me and I pulled the book off the shelf and read it again. I had a recipe for biscuits in my reach and just forgot where to look. Debbie just posted her best biscuit recipe, "Sky High Biscuits," right out of this book. The book she gave me! We are both short on memory.

Quite a few people I know are putting up food in pantry's and storing up because they are worried about the economy. Karey presents a balanced view. Having a stocked pantry for the freedom from endless shopping as well as having good healthy ingredients to make the best foods for our bodies with the least expense. Good deal. We can be frugal, be smart, but not be worried.

For a long time I have used a Kitchen Mill and a Bosch bread mixer. I had a K Tec bread mixer that I actually like better because it had a slower speed. These mixers take the work out of making whole grain breads. the freshly ground warm flour mixes well and the smell is heavenly. My family, like Karey's family, prefers Prairie Gold wheat in their breads. I found it interesting that she discovered that grinding popcorn makes the tastiest cornmeal. I discovered that one time when I had run low on cornmeal, but had a large amount of popcorn. Necessity being the mother of invention, out came the mill, and we had the BEST cornbread ever. It's kind of like the difference between canned corn and freshly picked very sweet, corn on the cob. Your right, there is no comparison!









The mixer is easy to use. I "proof" my dry active rapid rising yeast right in the mixer. The warm water, honey and yeast go in first. While it is proofing or actually berserking, I go outside and grind the flour. That too, is easy, pour in the grain and out comes warm fresh flour. Give your mill little breaks to keep it from getting to hot. Mine is about 15 years old.







Picture of yeast going berserk. I'm surprised no one ever made a horror movie of yeast. I keep mine in a mayonnaise jar which needs a label on it. I just realized this because my husband thought it was cereal and said he almost cooked it. Wouldn't that have been an interesting kitchen moment? Like a rerun on an "I Love Lucy," show.

(My blogger has mixed up these pictures and I have cut and pasted till I'm sick of it. I think you can see that some of these are not in the right order.)It is operator error I am sure.

When the flour is finished the yeast has poofed, and the oil and salt are added.
I add all the liquids in the beginning and then turn the mixer on to the lowest setting and add one cup of flour at a time until the dough pulls cleanly from the sides. It's like magic. One second it is sticky, the next it is cleaning the bowl. That is when it ready to knead. Leave it on low for 6 to 10 minutes depending on your flour. Prairie Gold tastes more like a lighter wheat it really is delicious, and it makes a nice soft bread. I could really go for a fresh tomato sandwich, with cracked black pepper, but that is farther down the road in summer.



2 of these loaves on the left have a filling of oranges, dates, pecans a bit of brown sugar and a tad of cinnamon, more inspiration from Karey.

These are loaves ready for the oven. I actually let this dough sit in a well oiled bowl and rise a couple of times just because. It is not necessary with a Bosch. You can mix, shape, and bake which gives you a nice big batch of bread in about an hour.

I come from a long line of bakers. My Danish grandparents and father were bakers by trade. I just have to let dough mature a bit by sitting, it's just me.


So while we are in the mood to cook, how about a meatloaf and some baked potatoes? The oven is on. My family likes everything plain so after I saute these lovely veggies they will go into the food processor to make a puree. The meatloaf will have all these good flavors and no one will be the wiser. I decided to go ahead and just cook the meatloaf in the skillet and save a dish. There was no ketchup so I mixed up tomato paste, brown sugar, brown mustard, a bit of vinegar, and a splash of Worcestershire sauce, mixed it with a fork and spread it on the top.



That is one huge portabella mushroom.















Like that wasn't enough work for one day, a big batch of granola to boot. Bread is done, lets eat!








Whole wheat bread for mixers.
5c of warm water
1/2 c honey
1/2 c oil
2 tbsp salt
2 TBSP YEAST - rapid rise dry active.
12 to 14 cups of freshly milled flour.

The Old Days or The New Days- What do you think?

I have read in other peoples comments that they never know what they will get over here. Today won't be any exception to that.

Recently I went to a baby shower and noticed a lot of new inventions that modern women require to care for infants. We now have Babies R Us stores. Huge stores devoted to all things needed to raise a baby. At this shower the MIL mentioned that the registry list was 17 pages long.

Deep breath, slowly relax, exhale, can you feel it coming? 17 pages!!

What the heck for? For one year? By the way we made our gifts.

Do we even know how to live simply anymore and just enjoy life? Where is the home and hearth? I would really like to know from young mom's why this is essential? Is it just cute? Does it make you feel like a better mother? Do you feel like your baby will fare better? Do you work at a job or at home with the baby? How much does all this cost? Where do you put it? Does it resell well second hand?

Here is the point. Some where along the way of our consumerism mentality we bought off a big chunk of what might be nonsense from somewhere, and some one; probably marketers. Marketers that have a vested interest in keeping young mothers busily working in the job force with their babies in day care. It keeps the wheels of progress turning. It keeps the coffers in the economy full. But what of home making? What of the heart?

I was poor when I had my baby so there was no choice. I had no skills to market so I took care of her myself. I did most everything the way I had learned from my own mother and as inexpensively as possible. Just for comparison let me tell what I actually had and used for my baby.

I had a baby back pack. That was my biggest splurge, on something really not necessary because it was a cool way to travel. It just didn't take a lot of effort to put "the little", in there and take off. I had a front carrier when she was teeny and put her in that to do house work, and be busy and just let her sleep. It was a kind of long extended pregnancy, but you know little newborns never let you sit down anyway! They always want to be walked so why not?

I had an umbroller stroller again for convenience it was small, portable and easy for me to tote along and use. A crib and a high chair.

My grandmother, my mother, and I all used the kitchen sink to bathe a baby. You put down a towel alongside the sink. Wash and soap the little fella and then using the football hold and firm grip around the arm pit you wash their hair and then sit em in the water, they love it. Easy peasy. No mess, no fuss, no bulky plastic tub with a humongous frog face on it. No tub to put in the tub, oh my aching back. I may be crazy but a lot of babies that I meet smell like they need a bath, maybe it's because of all the rigmarole to wash them.

A high chair is pretty nice, one of those little clip on chairs that can hook on the side of your table are really cool. I'd actually like to get one of those again for little visitors. Baby food was people food ground up or just soft foods like mashed potatoes, bananas, and cooked cereals. A burp rag was a clean diaper or cloth. We didn't have wipes. We used a warm wash cloth.

Recently I saw a picture of "cloth" diapers on a post. I almost fell out. These are really fancy pants shaped like a butt onezies with velcro and a whole host of other gadgets. Plastic wraps.
I busted out laughing, cloth diapers? Anyone out there besides me remember a real cloth diaper?
They are soft white rectangles of cotton cloth. They are FOLDED by you after you wash them. They are pinned on with diaper pins, that may have little ducks on the tips in pink, yellow, or blue. Then you put plastic pants over that. Let me tell you about poop duty with cloth diapers. First you shake out what isn't squished, you hope it isn't squished. Then you stick your hand into the toilet with the poopie diaper and vigorously swish that diaper around enough to get the bulk of the evidence to rinse off. You then put that diaper into a diaper pail that has some detergent and water in it to soak until you have a whole load of wash. Pleasant experience isn't it? You then wash your hands up to your elbows with pine sol and hope you don't have any hangnails. It is very nice to hang them on a clothes line to dry, they "air out". The sun bleaches them and babies skin faired better with less rashes when the diapers were dried outside. We had to go to a laundry mat. I put my baby daughter in a red wagon along with her diaper pail and we walked to the laundrymat.

So why then if we have disposable diapers, do we need, disposable diaper baggies, and disposable diaper pails? Tying it up in a Walmart shopping bag those ones we have hundreds of and putting it outside in the garbage can. would save money.

I am not even going to get started on all the baby hygiene products, toys, computer things, training things, baby genius devices, DVD's, CD's and actual entire TV stations of programming for the little baby to become an Einstein. This scares me. What kind of people will these infants be? What happened to holding and rocking? To patta cake and mud pies? To scooting around under foot with pots, pans, and spoons clattering away and making a racket? Was that really so deprived?

I actually think that why I am a good cook is because I grew up in the kitchen. I grew up under mama's feet. Playing in her cabinets. Handling scraps of biscuit dough or pie dough. Banging around with the pots and pretending to fix something. Which progressed to standing on a chair to watch. Standing on a chair to help. Bringing something to mother. Becoming tall enough to stir, tall enough to pour, all those things that made me feel so special and important. It was a big deal to pour milk. Now we poke a straw into a disposable sac or box.

I'm not saying these things are bad. They may be fun to use. I am just raising questions in our faltering economy about what we are doing and why do we do it? Why do we buy all this stuff and then have to go to a job to pay for it? Does it make us happier? My days of being a young mother are way in the past. My big splurge was a backpack. My indispensable item a play pen. I never had a baby swing, a baby tub, or any computer toys. So what do you think? Were we deprived? Is it all that it's cracked up to be? Speak up or forever hold your peace!

Today Is THE DAY! THE WINNER IS.....ta da da

Did you think I'd forget? I like all these people. Oh dear, I want them all to WIN! Therefore, I cannot be trusted, not to cheat!





Help DADDY BB! Will you do it? Will you pick the WINNER?




There were 32 entries all in all. I have come a long way baby! My first contest had about 6 people in it! Not that I care about being a super blogger with hundreds of readers. I couldn't keep up with all those people. I like knowing who YOU are and reading your blogs. I really really could not pick, the winner. I could however PICK the PRIZES!




A little teapot that looks like a purse.
A cotton crocheted washrag made by me.
A decadent chocolate bar of extra dark extra rich chocolat.
A very good old movie. Fiddler on the Roof.
A little Amish cookbook.



AND THE WINNER IS!!!!!!





The MILKMAN"S WIFE.

Pray for Angie http://aboneill.blogspot.com/

Angie at "Keep Believing," said goodbye to her dear husband Brian today. He had brain cancer. They have had a difficult time to say the least and it has been an exhausting and intense trial by fire. Please pray for them all, their young sons, their deep fatigue and total exhaustion, all the details to accomplish next and for comfort. she really does appreciate comments on her blog, if you are so inclined go by and leave one. If you are at a loss for words, "I'm so sorry," goes a long way.

The First Thoughts of Spring

( I'm cheating, this is a re-run but it's pretty good.)

Early spring is here. Where else can one have a soft snow fall on one day and a spring sunshiny day the next? I have been trying to weed and clean up to let all my perennial beds do their thing. I am not the gardener I once was. I used to work in any weather, not any more. I am a fair weather spring and fall gardener now. The plants have to thrive on there own.
One of my favorite areas is the side yard. I have developed a kitchen garden. It’s a mixture of course it’s not strictly edible. I discovered that fresh herbs grow like weeds once they get started. Several varieties of basil spring up each year they reseed themselves. Tomatos are a must have and sometimes a few peppers. The important plants are the necessary ingredients for Italian sauces and fresh tomato sandwiches. Italian food and spring go together for me. Lovely days make my heart sing and it’s easy to feel grateful. Gratitude is not natural for me I have to work at it. My husband the easy going one in this partnership, he has discovered that thanksgiving is the secret to contentment. He’s shared the secret with me, but unfortunately I always seem to have a want list. It may be as short as a chocolate bar, but it’s a list.
If you are like me then one of the things on your long list of wants is to have a shorter list. I desire contentment. To live a simple and frugal life and be fulfilled. Why then is it so elusive? How do we cultivate a thankful heart? Could contentment be as simple as enjoying a fresh simmered sauce over pasta? Sometimes it is. I love to play my “Romance in Venice” CD while I’m cooking it sets a lovely mood. My husband will come into the kitchen and we dance. The spring day, the pretty sounds, the fresh herbs, all fill my heart with joy. As we dance to the sounds of a far away land I forget the list. When my family gathers around the table to enjoy our garden feast and warm bread we are smiling at each other. We laugh, we eat, we enjoy dinner and each other, and I will think to myself, “life doesn’t get any better than this”.
Spring is that time of year for new beginnings, new babies, new flowers, new life. We can also decide to make it a time of new attitudes. We can cultivate simple pleasures and thankful spirits. We can dance in the kitchen and experience romance. Life at its best is simple and full.
“This is what the Lord says: Stand at the crossroads and look;ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” Jeremiah 6:16

Great Cooks Speak Now!

The unthinkable has happened. I need advice. I am one of those kinds of people who follows the beat of my own drum; a good thing since I alone can hear it. In my self contained oblivion of knowing all that I need to know, (yikes is this a confession?)or actually, maybe, pretend to know! There, that is better. Anyway the bottom line is I have lost my edge.

I used to have the knack for pie crust. I made them often and they were perfect. Thinking this might be like bike riding one of those things you never forget, I have tried a couple of times, and the whole lousy mess went into the trash. I knew it was over worked, I knew it was tough, and there was no use in even putting it in the oven. Here is the problem, listen closely!

#1. I used to use a pastry blender and after cutting my nearly frozen pieces of tiny butter and a small dollop of shortening I worked by hand to make my crumbles. After refrigerating it and using ice water I forked the water in gently, barely touching it and then rolled it with flour until the whole thing magically turned into a nice soft crust, a thing of beauty.

#2. I have however become LAZY! That pie crust however good, is a TON of time consuming work! I saw Julia Childs use her food processor and whip up pie crust in less than 5 minutes. THIS appeals to me! Every time I use the processor out comes bricks.

#3. For years now I have been cheating and adding a bit of flour to the pre made rolls of pie crust that you buy in those red boxes. No one ever guesses that they aren't home made. But the prices have gone up, and up, and up. Have you noticed how stingy I have been getting? I don't want to buy 2 pie crusts for $3.00. I also don't want to spend an hour or more with my hand pastry blender and my bowl. I used to make about 6 crusts at a time. I also HATE CRISCO. I hate shortening in any form. That stuff is artery clogger. It is vile and disgusting. If you don't believe me then go take a nice big spoonful and eat it straight. Right. Anything that requires that many other ingredients to make it edible was never intended by God to be eaten. It's toxic refuse. Sorry to all the shortening lovers.

#4 The big question. Does anyone have a recipe or method for wonderful pie crust that can be made very quickly and does not contain shortening? Or at the very least just a little bit of shortening and real butter? Does anyone make pie crust?
Really, how about biscuits?

I Miss You

I miss you. I miss all the little comments and visiting my favorite blogs. I am just too tired these days to have any ideas. My mind is full of lab values, and ventilators. I am entering the big league world of medicine and it's really difficult. I have tunnel vision.

I did take a break and get my hair done, do you like it? It's really short now but when you get up at 4:30 am that can be a good thing.


We did have a nice treat today. My friend brought over her big baby Rasmus, actually he's a black standard poodle puppy. He's not related to my boy but he sure does feel like he is. Even the girls think so. He is adorable. I helped her trim his face. It was the first time he had his face clipped and he was a wiggly wiggler; it was a challenge! He's so cute it was fine.


We also had a baby shower to attend. I had crocheted a baby blanket and Kayla had painted a baby dish at the ceramics store. We have been painting at that shop and it is so relaxing! I have found a new form of therapy. I really enjoy it, what a forgiving medium to express some artistic feeling in. I think anyone can paint ceramics and enjoy the results. I'm painting bugs. Hee hee. Actually I painted a dragonfly, and made a travel mug. I think maybe I like bold color because I seem to chose it almost every time we paint something. This shop offers such reasonable prices that I'd like to go every week!




Our ride to the party was absolutely lovely. Kayla snapped dozens of photos of dogwoods in full bloom. Usually this time of year is sunny. We are having pouring down rains and clouds mixed with all these blooming things. The wisteria are in full bloom, I love their fragrance.


My husband took me out to dinner on wednesday first time in ages. We have been on the economy plan. It was so wonderful to just sit and look at him and enjoy food that I hadn't cooked and eat on dishes that I wasn't going to wash. Awhhh, the pause that refreshes. I think when we don't have those experiences as often they are more special and savored a bit more for the preciousness of a lovely experience. There was a bit of humour in our evening. The manager stopped by our table to ask if everything was good. My husband had fairly devoured a shared portion of Tiramasu. He looked up and started in,"That was the worst tiramasu I have ever eaten and I don't know how you could serve something like that." The manager looked at him and said, "For a man who prays over his food you sure are a good liar." They both busted out laughing. If they were watching him eat that desert they knew he was loving it, and next to desert the only thing he enjoys more is a prank.

This evening the sheets are calling for an early turn in and to slumber and dream. The rain is still coming down, the house is warm and my eyelids are heavy. Goodnight friends.