Molasses in January, No...June!

 As a child I was raised on a big dairy farm on a hillside in a small town in central Vermont. It was truly an idyllic time as I look back.  Even at the time it seemed really good to me.  We had lots of land to roam over, fresh air, lots of farm kid responsibilities/work such as feeding calves and cleaning out the barn.  As we got older we moved into more  heavy work like haying and stacking bales.

Our father was a rather innovative man.  He had been raised on a dairy farm and went to the Vermont School of Agriculture to get a modern education.  He had only finished one year when his own father died.  He came home to run the family farm.  Eventually he married our mother and began to acquire more land and more cows.  Mostly the cows were Jersey cows but later on he had some Holsteins which increase the quantity of milk we shipped every other day.

In about 1954 he built two new 100-foot barns.  One was a free-stall barn which had a manger down the center and stanchions on both sides  with corridors behind the cows for cleaning/scraping out with a Farmall Cub tractor.  There was a concrete floor in the feeding shed just described and across a barn yard was a second 100-foot barn which was a loafing shed and had a dirt floor where the cows would go after eating in the winter.  They were under cover and happy there.  In summer they were turned out into the fields where they were a pretty picture.

The first driving any of us kids did was on the Farmall Cub!  The boys got to clean out the feeding shed with scraper attached.  I only drove the tractor around in the barnyard for fun. I did not get much time on it, as I recall.

Above the mangers in the feeding shed was a row of square openings about 3 feet square, big enough to throw a bale down.  Under the opening was a slot where flat doors were placed so they could slide open and shut.  There was a little more than 3 feet between the holes so when the doors were slid into place there was a ceiling above the manger.  In the summer time the doors were left open for air-y-ness.  In the winter the doors were closed all the time except when the hay that was stored in the haymow above the manger was thrown down the holes to feed the cows.

Always concerned about the cow's health, our father, for a period of time, obtained blackstrap molasses in 55-gallon drums and poured it over the hay in the manger.  The cows loved it! The drums were stored upright in a section of the barn but when it was time to draw off the molasses into a pail to pour over the hay, the barrel was placed on a scaffold-sort of thing...more or less of a triangular cradle. There were two holes in the tops of the barrel that you slid open with your fingers.  When the barrel was lying horizontally in the cradle the small "hole" was at the bottom and was turned open so the molasses would drip out into the pail placed beneath the opening.  The larger hole was to allow some air into the barrel so the molasses was able to flow more smoothly.  

You will all have heard the expression: "slower than molasses in January".  Well, when molasses is cold, as it would be in January in Vermont, is is very viscous and does not flow well.

In June it is another story altogether!

One day in the summer when I was probably around 10 or 11 years old I was in the milking parlor where my mother was helping my father with the milking.  My father sent the hired man  out to the feeding shed to get the buckets of molasses ready to spread onto the hay.  I wanted to go watch so my mother and I went out to the feeding shed to watch the process.  

LW got the pail and placed it under the small hole and turned the "knob".  Nothing happened.  I remember clearly  him turning to look at me with a big smile on his face. I must have asked him what the problem was.  I was leaning down more or less over his shoulder watching.  Well, that son of a gun probably knew what was about to happen.  He opened the "bung hole" on the top then opened the air vent. Out flew a huge flood of molasses!  Straight at me!  I was drenched with that black gook.  My mother immediately took me into the milking parlor and sprayed me off with the sprayers my father had created for each stanchion so he could easily wash off the udders of the cows before milking them.

The milking parlor hose only did a little job so Mother took me outside, stripped me down, and used a garden hose at the end of the barn to get more of the molasses off then sent me to the house to take a bath and completely remove the molasses from my body and hair.

To this day I cannot abide stickiness.  Of any kind, not just molasses!

Also, I recall not being impressed by having to run naked or at least nearly naked from the barn to the house, a not insignificant distance when you are a modest child.  Maybe that killed some of my modesty, now that I think of it...

The Iron Pot

 The Story of the Big Iron Pot

The Royalton (Vermont) Raid took place on 18 October 1780.  The previous link gives an overview of the Raid.  Zadock Steele, a young man living in Randolph, became one of the prisoners.  He, in his later years, wrote the story of the Burning of Royalton which he entitled "The Indian Captive".  As a child in the sixth grade where we studied local history with Mrs. Bird, we read the story that Zadock Steele wrote. This was such an exciting story, one we kids always loved to hear.

Several times during my growing up years, there was a pageant on the high school ball field where the Burning of Royalton was dramatized.  To this day I can hear the screams of the women and see the painted faces of the Indians.  Very memorable... 

Where our family comes into the picture is that in the early 1800's members of our family came into possession of the property which was the second place the Indians entered that early morning in October 1780, the home of Robert Havens across the river from the Hutchinsons.  Quite a few years ago I was researching the deeds of property of that parcel in the Town Clerk's office.  I traced it back to 1830 before I had to leave for the day and never got back to go all the way to Robert Havens.  Sad.  There were several different families, all connected to us, though not our surname, who owned the property.

So finally we get to the pot.  There was a forty-acre field behind the house on Route 110 where my father was born and raised, and which, in fact, he also died in after many year on Jigger Hill where he had a large dairy farm.  One year when he was plowing that field in preparation for planting corn for silage for the cows he uncovered an iron pot right at the spot where the Havens house had been.  At some point a new house was built on the small plateau above the field which was subject to flooding in tempestuous springs.  Even so, it was "known" where the Robert Havens house was.  

Having told that rendition of our family history, it strikes me that it was not plowing the field which unearthed the pot (actually there were two pots our father found, this one and a black one without legs) but when he was digging in the field for a small gravel pit.  I will need to clarify with my sister.  Either story is okay with me.  This just goes to show that we need to write down family stories when there is still an older generation to clear up any misconceptions...!  (To do this, I suggest everyone starts a family tree on FamilySearch.org which it totally free and which has the option of sharing Memories which can be photos, documents, even audio recordings. I LOVE that site! Plus you can research your own family as you build your tree. And yes, I have added memories of a variety of types to our family tree.  You can put my father's name in, if you know it, and see some things.)

The story that has come to be known about that pot, at least which we choose to believe was the actual pot, was that when the Indians were crossing the First Branch, Mrs. Havens saw them crossing the field and put her two very young children under the pot, thereby saving them from the Indians who soon entered their home.

The pot was near the wood stove in our home growing up.  Somehow I managed to become the caretaker of that pot many years ago.  We had it beside our wood stove and put firewood in it during the winter.  It was a great place for wood chunks because often in the winter the wood came into the house covered with ice and snow.  To avoid the snow melting all over the pine plank floor we put the wood into the pot.

This is a closer-up picture that shows the heavy handle.  This would have been the laundry pot that hung over the fire filled with water to heat the water or perhaps even for soap-making/rendering fat to make soap.  It is VERY heavy and has three legs on the bottom.

When we moved to South Carolina about the only treasure from my side of the family that made the cut to come south was that pot.  It now sits in our garage where it is the repository of several garden tools, a ham radio antenna which is waiting for permission to be installed (HOA's have rules, don't you know...), and two folded-up chairs that we take when we go to meetings in the neighborhood where there is no seating.  I love this pot and will one day give it to our daughter.

The First Country Wife Cookbook Story

When our children began to get out of little childhood, we began giving them even more responsibility.  When J was 12 years old his father hurt is back on a wood project so J took over Dad's part of the cow chores, learning to milk with the milking machine. I did the morning milking and he did the evening milking.  I had always done the morning milking since I could go to work a little later than Dad.

When the children began to get into their teens, it was obvious that they were old enough to use the stove, the oven, and the pantry to support their eating habits.  SO I decided to write up a simple cookbook of the easiest foods we ate.  I formatted it and printed out a copy for the kitchen which became tomato sauce spattered almost  immediately and tattered and torn.  Because it was not fancy at all, and because it was on the computer, I was able to print out a new copy at will.

Later on as new recipes came to be popular, I added those recipes and eventually had quite a few recipes.

The first recipes in the cookbook was:

APPLE CRISP

In a large mixer bowl combine:

1 cup flour

1 cup oatmeal, uncooked

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup oleo or butter. (at some point we stopped using oleomargarine altogether and when we needed fat in a recipe, just used butter)

1 Tablespoon cinnamon

Combine well until all crumbs are about the same size and uniform in color. In 9 x 13 pan place sliced apples-about 10-15 apples cored and peeled. The apples should come up almost to the top of the pan. Now put the apple slices in a very large bowl and sprinkle over the apples 2/3 cup white sugar and 1 Tablespoon cinnamon. Mix all together with your hands until all the apples are well coated with the cinnamon/ sugar mixture. Feel free to lick your fingers after putting the apples in the 9 by 13 pan.  

Once the apples are coated and in the pan,  sprinkle the "crisp" on top of the apples as uniformly as possible.  Bake in 350 degree F. oven for 35-45 minutes.

Roasted Carrots

Carrots have always been one of my favorite foods.  I think the real reason is that the first time I was really aware of carrots as a young child was when Uncle Lewie was in the service and needed to improve his night vision so he was instructed to eat lots of carrots.  Ever since then I have had a love affair with carrots.

Most recently I have loved roasted carrots.

Roasted Carrots

Wash and cut into sticks a couple of pounds of carrots.  Dry them well and place in a large bowl.  Drizzle with olive oil...perhaps 2 to 3 Tablespoons but no more than 3 Tablespoons.  With your clean hands, lift and turn and mix well until every carrot stick is coated with the oil.  If there is oil in the bottom of the bowl you have used too much oil.  Use less next time.

Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of coarse Kosher salt and about the same amount of crushed black pepper.  Stir with a spoon this time unless you want to lick the salt and oil off your fingers!

Place in a large rimmed pan such as a half-sheet pan and spread out one layer thick.  It is somewhat important that each carrot touch the surface of the pan.  Tightly cover pan with aluminum foil. Let roast in a 400 degree F. oven for about 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and remove the foil from pan.  Turn carrots over and return pan to oven to cook an additional 10-15 minutes.  Watch them closely after the 10 minutes.  You want them to brown but not burn.

These are delicious right out of the oven.  They are also great at room temperature.

Uncle E's Cannon

Long ago when I was a teenager, my brother E was also a teenager.  He was also very very creative!  In shop class in our high school he made a cannon.  Don't ask me how he did it or why the shop teacher allowed such a project, but he did do it.

One glorious summer day soon after he had made the cannon, the rest of us kids were lying on our backs on the lawn under the big maple tree up near the large rhubarb patch watching the gorgeous puffy white clouds floating by in the bright blue sky trying to identify their shapes...a camel there, that one was definitely the neighbor's nose.   From our spot on the cushy grass we could look out over the valley past the end of our  big white farm house.

E decided this would be the day to use the cannon for the first time.  I was totally oblivious to what he was doing (oblivion being one of my less attractive character traits developed from an early age....).  By the time he was set up and ready to go,  I had become aware. 

There he was, small cannon set up on that lush green grass and pointed toward the valley, and BOOM!!  Off went whatever he had used to prime the cannon.  What a fabulous success it seemed.  For a moment.  Almost immediately we realized that he had hit the telephone pole just past the house!  Yikes!  Being kids, it didn't seem like much of a problem until we went into the house to find we had no telephone service...

Kids will do the darnedest things.  Sometimes they are successful, but with unpleasant results. 

To my knowledge, the cannon was never fired again.

Bedtime Story: Accident in the Jeep Station Wagon

When I was in the neighborhood of ten or eleven years old one day Great-Aunt Lottie and Great-Uncle Leonard came to visit.  I loved them dearly.  Aunt Lottie had the most wonderful tinkly laugh and glorious sparkling eyes.  Uncle Leonard was such a kind pleasant man.

It was a ravishingly lovely summer day so my brothers, sister, and I hopped into our Jeep station wagon with Mother, Aunt Lottie and Uncle Leonard.  There was not room for everyone inside so E, J, and I sat on the tailgate, with the lift gate in lifted position and off we left for a trip to Raspberry Hill, a little less than a mile from our home.

The road was narrow but pleasant with a wonderful canopy of hardwood trees overhead and a little brook running beside the road, though it was almost reduced to just a wet swath beside the road because it was summer.  As we were riding along, swinging our legs back and forth a few inches above the dirt road, all of a sudden Mother went over a bump.  With that bump, the accident happened!

The lift gate decided it had had enough in that up position and it smashed down on our heads.  Being the oldest, and tallest, but only barely, I felt it first but my brother and sister also were injured.  If you don't know head injuries, I can tell you that head wounds bleed a LOT! 

Mother stopped the Jeep to check on us.  For some reason she thought it would be a good idea for us to get off the tailgate and walk back home to the house, at this point, only about a quarter mile away.  Being obedient children, we headed up the pike for home.  There was nowhere that she could turn the Jeep around so she and Aunt Lottie, Uncle Leonard, L, and B, the baby, continued on to Raspberry Hill where she was able make the turn and head back home.

As the three of us kids walked toward home, we found that Daddy was in the barnyard,  scraping out the barn with the little Farmall Cub tractor.  I often wondered what his first thoughts were when he saw his three middle children walking towards the barnyard with blood streaming down our faces and onto our clothes.  I do know that he immediately got of the tractor and ran toward us. 

It turned out that when we were washed off and put into clean clothing that we really were fine.  My scalp lost a little bit of hair and there is a tiny bald spot there to this day.  My sister has a little bump to this day.  I do not remember what happened to E's head.

Moral of the story: be careful always.

Other morals:  you could choose many that would work!

Good Vegetarian Chili

Recently I received an email from America's Test Kitchen.  They had two vegetarian recipes that they insisted were really good.  Because we like chili in our house, I decided to try the recipe.

First thing this morning, before I was even dressed, I went to the cellar for some dry pinto beans to put soaking.  After picking them over and rinsing them well, I put them in a heavy 6-quart pot.  Maybe it is 8 quarts, good sized anyway.  From then on, the recipe changed due to what I had in the kitchen.  This post is what I actually did.

Put  one and one half pounds picked over, rinsed and drained pinto beans in a large pot.  Add 3 Tablespoons Kosher salt and 4 quarts water and bring to a boil.  When boiling, turn off heat, cover, and let sit for one hour.  After one hour of sitting, place pot in oven at 300 degrees F. and let cook for 45 minutes.  Remove from oven and  drain through a large colander.  Wash and dry pot.

In food processor finely chop onions, to make at least 3 cups chopped onions.  I only had small onions so I removed skins from about 12 onions then chopped them in processor on pulse for 30-45 seconds.  Add one-quarter cup vegetable oil to the large pot and bring to a shimmer over medium heat.  Add the onions and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt.  Cook, stirring frequently, until the onions begin to brown.

In the meantime, in a small food processor or spice grinder place 1 cup of home-dried mushrooms (or 3-4 dried shiitake mushrooms if you have access to them) and 3-4 Tablespoons of italian seasoning (or just oregano if you want to be a little more "normal"), and process until very fine.  Add 3 Tablespoons ancho chili powder and 3 Tablespoons regular chili powder and pulse to combine again.  Add 1 Tablespoon cumin and pulseonce again.  Set aside.

When onions are lightly browned, add the seasoning mixture to the pot and stir for 1-2 minutes, until the seasonings smell nice, OR stop before that because you are nervous about burning them.  This is over medium heat...but still, there are always burning concerns...

In food processor pour in one 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes, 6-8 garlic cloves, 3 Tablespoons soy sauce (yes, soy sauce) and 2 Tablespoons pickled jalapenos.  Process for about 1 minute, until everything makes a lovely mush.

By this time the onions spice mixture is ready to be removed from the heat.  Add the tomato mixture and stir well.  Add in the well-drained cooked beans, and 7 cups water.  Stir very well until everything is combined.  Stirring pretty often, bring to a boil.  When boiling add 3/4 cups bulgar wheat and stir again.  Cover and put in oven at 300 degrees F. for two hours.

Remove from oven.  Remove lid and stir well.  Let sit 20-30 minutes.

Garnish with fun stuff like chopped avocados, sour cream, shredded cheese, lime wedges, diced fresh tomatoes, or whatever else appeals to you.   Or just dish it up and eat!  Plain is fine. 


Yummy!  Makes PLENTY so invite your family and friends to join you for a nice winter's supper.

Spicy Vegetable Bulgur

The original recipe from which I started is in The Book of Children's Food by Lorna Rhodes.

2-3 Tablespoons coconut oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 cup bulgur wheat
1 tablespoon mild curry powder
2 carrots, grated
2-3 celery stalks, thinly sliced
2 cups (relatively finely depending on the broccoli tolerance of the other projected consumers of the dish) chopped broccoli, including stems
2 cans (14.5-15 ounce) vegetable broth
1/2 cup dark raisins
2 Tablespoons chutney (but I used corn relish since I had that and DIDN'T have chutney of any kind)

In a large pan, heat half the coconut oil.  Add onions and cook until translucent, stirring off and on.  Add remaining coconut oil to melt, then stir in the bulgur and curry powder and cook over low heat, stirring, for one minute.  (Low heat is key here.  You do not want to burn ANY of this good stuff.)

Add the chopped vegetables and the broth and stir well.  Bring to a boil, then stir one last time, cover, and let cook for 20 minutes at a simmer on low heat.  Remove cover and taste to see if the bulgur has reached a pleasing texture of doneness.  If not, re-cover and let cook another 2-5 minutes.  Stir in the raisins and chutney or relish.  Serve immediately if you like hot food.  It is equally good as a room temperature dish.

This recipe is said to feed four people.  Those would be good-sized servings.  I ate some for breakfast (three 1 1/2 Tablespoon-scoops worth) and found it was not necessary to have a huge serving.

Spicy Vegetable Bulgar

By the way, the "spicy" is a bit of a misnomer.  At least it is not spicy as you might judge a pot of chili...

Mashed Potato Salad...sort of like Masako's, but only sort of!

At a recent ladies' get-together vegetarian night, Masako brought some wonderful Japanese potato salad.  I loved it and wanted to make it some time.  Finally I did it!

Mashed Potato Salad the way I made it:

Start by scrubbing three or four Russet potatoes then microwave them in their skins for 6-10 minutes on high until they are mostly tender.  If there are a few little chunks that are more "tooth-resistant", that is ok, unless you have really picky eaters.

Let the potatoes cool enough to handle, then chop them up into the size you want and place in a large bowl.  Leave the skins on unless they annoy you...remembering that you DID scrub them really well first, right?!  As you chop them, they may more or less disintegrate...which is why I call this mashed potato salad.  Masako's salad was more or less mashed potatoes.

Finely dice 1/2 to 1 whole red onion and toss on top of potatoes, depending on your love of onions.

Harvest a big handful of chives from your herb bed.  Wash them, discarding any stems with blossoms on them, then snip them into the bowl with kitchen shears.

Finely dice one or two scrubbed celery stalks into the bowl.

If you want to add color, grate one large carrot into the bowl.

If you are really really lucky and have hardneck garlic growing in your garden, if it is the right season, harvest one or two garlic scapes.  Wash them and chop them finely and put in bowl.  Don't use the blossom part.

Dress with mayonnaise.  If you want to be fancy, you can add a little vinegar and sugar to the mayonnaise before putting it on the salad. Use the equal amounts of vinegar and sugar, i.e. 1 Tablespoon vinegar and 1 Tablespoon of sugar.  Be sure to stir the vinegar and sugar well to dissolve the sugar.

 Toss all the vegetables with the mayonnaise.  Taste.  Add salt and pepper as needed.  Depending on how spicy the garlic scapes are, you may not need much salt OR pepper!

Chex Mix

Chex Mix is a treat we reserve for holidays, and not all holidays, at that!  This recipe is filled with salt and other taste delights.

Chex Mix

3 cups corn chex
3 cups wheat chex
3 cups rice chex
1 cup peanuts OR mixed nuts
1 cup tiny cheese crackers
1 cup small pretzels or thin pretzel stitcks
6 Tablespoons butter, melted
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon onion powder

In a very large bowl combine chex, nuts, and pretzels.  In a small bowl combine melted butter, salt, garlic, and onion. Be sure to stir VERY WELL.  Pour butter mixture over the chex mixture then stir and stir and stir, but gently as you don't want to break up the cereal.

Now it is time to cook it.  Traditionally you place in a large baking pan and bake at 275 degrees F. for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes.  Remove from oven.  Pour into a large bowl that has been lined with paper towels and let cool.  If you can,

The newer way to cook the chex mix is to put the prepared mixture into a large microwave-safe bowl and cook for 5-6 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes.  This does seem to work pretty well.

Things I did:  for the mixture, I ran out of wheat chex so I put in some plain original cheerios.  When I ran out of other chex I added more cheese crackers.  For the microwave-safe bowl, I used our Crock Pot insert.

This makes a nice treat.  Sometime I am going to make this again but will sift on some dried ranch dressing mix over the top after cooking the chex mix.

Vegan Broccoli Soup/Dutch Potato Stew with additions

Dutch Potato Stew (vegan)

2 cloves garlic, smashed and finely chopped
1 cup finely diced onion
3 Tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
4 cups water, divided
4 cups diced potatoes
3/4 cup raw cashews, soaked and rinsed well
1 good-sized broccoli "tree", chopped finely and lightly steamed.  Can steam first and then chop.

Place raw cashews in a 2-cup measure and fill with cool water.  Let sit for 30 minutes, or as long as you can wait.

In frying pan heat olive oil over medium heat then add onions and smashed garlic and salt.  Stir with wooden spoon until onions are clear.  Remove from heat and let sit.

Place 3 cups water in  heavy-bottomed three- or four-quart saucepan and bring to boil.  Add diced potatoes and bring back to boil then simmer about 10-15 minutes until potatoes are soft.

Drain raw cashews and rinse well.  Place 1 cup water in a blender along with the 3/4 cup of raw cashews.  Let blend until the cashew "cream" is completely smooth.  If you have a Vitamix or Blendtec, it will be fairly quickly.  If you have a less robust blender, it will take as much as  five minutes.  (Some ear muffs are kind of handy at this time!)

When cashew cream is ready, put steam broccoli in pot with potatoes.  Using a rubber spatula, scrape onions, garlic, salt, and oil into the potato pot.  Add cashew cream and stir well.  If necessary, reheat on low heat, stirring constantly.  Add some ground black pepper if you like it.

This is really delicious...a real challenge to only eat one serving per meal.

Broccoli Quiche with No-Roll Pie Crust

The other day I was given a good batch of beautiful broccoli.  Immediately I steamed up a big pot of it and started eating it.  I ate it as a snack all day.  And the next day.  And the next!  The broccoli smell sort of permeated my pores so there was one downside.  The upsides included NORMAL blood sugar, no hunger at all, and slightly reduced weight.  All in all a good thing.

Since Dear One likes quiche, I decided to make a quick one to include this steamed broccoli.  Since I did not want to make a "real" pie crust...more work than I had time...I just made a no-roll crust.  It is not the ideal pie crust, but it works quite well and was delicious for this.  I think next time I will add some herbs to the crust...

No-Roll Pie Crust

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used canola)
1/4 cup water

Mix the water and oil together then pour into a bowl where you have previously whisked the flour and salt together. When all the flour has been absorbed into the liquid measure, press into the bottom and up the sides of a deep-dish pie plate. I  have a Pyrex glass pie dish that I particularly like.

Broccoli Quiche

4 slices swiss cheese
1 cup steamed chopped broccoli
1/3 cup chopped onions
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (or multi-cheese mixture)
1 cup whipping cream
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon granulated garlic

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Place the four slices of Swiss cheese in the bottom of the pastry crust, more or less covering the bottom evenly.  (This is not an exact science so don't worry if there are some empty spots.)

Spread the finely chopped broccoli over the Swiss cheese then sprinkle the chopped onions over the top.  (These should also be very finely chopped.) 

Sprinkle the cheddar cheese over the top of the vegetables.

In a bowl gently whisk together the cream, eggs, salt, pepper, and garlic granules.  Carefully pour over the mixture in the pie plate.  With a fork, gently mix things together so there is cream/egg mixture throughout.

Bake at 400 degrees F for 30-40 minutes or until beautifully golden brown on top and there is not jiggle.  If there is a TINY bit of jiggle, you can still bring it out of the oven as it will continue to cook a bit as it cools but if there is a LOT of jiggle, give it another 2-5 minutes in the oven.

Serve warm or completely cooled.  Or hot if you cannot wait...

Homemade Croutons/Munchies

When you have some bread that has dried out, make bread crumbs OR you can also make delicious croutons which are a popular munching treat at our house.


1 to 2 loaves French or whole grain bread
1/4 cup Greek (or other) olive oil --another type of vegetable oil can be substituted
1 teaspoon each kosher salt, dill weed, granulated garlic, onion powder
1/8 teaspoon finely ground black pepper

Seasonings used for croutons, plus Greek olive oil

Cut the bread into crouton-sized cubes.  Put into a large bowl or covered container.  Drizzle with the olive oil then stir well, or cover and shake until all sides of the bread cubes are coated with oil.

Bread cubes in bucket having been "oiled" and shaken.

Place all the spices and herbs in a bowl and stir well to combine.  Sift over the bread cubes then stir well or cover and shake until all side are seasoned.

Seasonings sifted over the bread cubes that were previously spread with oil.

In the meantime, heat the oven to 350 degrees F.  When croutons-to-be are well coated, place them in a half-sheet pan or very large baking pan with high sides (to avoid spillage when stirring) and spread out to make as close to one layer deep as possible.

Bake for 20 minutes then remove from oven and stir well.  Return to oven and bake an additional 10 minutes.  After the 30 minutes total baking time, remove from oven and let cool to room temperature.  Store in a covered container....if you can keep hands from the container!

At our house these disappear rather quickly.  They are tastier, cheaper (you already have the bread!), and healthier than potato and other chips.  Of course, to make this last true, you cannot eat the whole container at one sitting....

Quick Strawberry Ice Cream--in a heavy-duty blender

Quick Strawberry Ice Cream

1 cup heavy cream (what I used, not having the  half and half called for in the original recipe)
1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
16 ounces or 3 cups frozen strawberries
1 Tablespoon lemon juice

Using a heavy duty blender like a Blendtec blender, a VitaMix blender, or a Bosch mixer Blender, place the cream, sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice, and frozen berries into the blender jar in that order.

Start blending on low, then go through the gears to high.  Within about a minute you will hear a grinding sound in the Bosch, which is what I used, not having one of the other higher priced machines, so stop the blender.  (If you have a Blendtec or Vitamix, there is most likely an ice cream button...)

After removing the cover, use a spoon to check all the way to the bottom of the blender jar to see that all the berries are blended.  Spoon into serving bowls and enjoy.  Serves 4 or 5 people a nice bowl of wonderful ice cream.

Leftover strawberry ice cream.

If you do NOT have a heavy duty blender, better not try it.  It will probably destroy your blender with the strain of grinding the frozen berries.


Next time I will try blueberries.

Sixty Minute Cinnamon Buns

On Monday and Wednesday mornings we provide a breakfast-y snack for the Seminary students.  This morning I awoke at 4:29 and decided cinnamon buns were the order of the day.

Sixty Minute Cinnamon Buns, ready to eat, though still a little hot!

 Sixty Minute Cinnamon Buns

4-5 cups flour
2 packages dry yeast (a scant 2 Tablespoons if using loose yeast)
4 Tablespoons sugar
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup butter

Topping
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 cup melted butter

Combine 3 cups flour, sugar, salt, and dissolved yeast in the bowl of a heavy-duty stand mixer.  Attach bowl and dough hook, mix for one minute.  Combine milk, water and butter in a small saucepan.  Heat over low heat until quite warm--110-115 degrees F.  Butter does not need to melt all the way.  Turn mixer on to medium speed and slowly drip the milk/water/butter into the flour mixture then continue mixing for one more minute to be sure all the flour is absorbed into the wet ingredients.  Slowly add in the remaining flour until the dough leaves the side of the bowl, then knead for an additional 5-7 minutes and the dough is smooth and elastic, though still soft.  Not all the flour may need to be used, depending on the humidity of the house and the flour....

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Place dough in  a greased bowl, turn over so all sides are greased, then cover the bowl and set into a sink half-filled with warm water for 15 minutes.  The dough should have nearly doubled in bulk by now.  Put dough onto a lightly floured board and roll out into a large rectangle.  Brush melted topping butter over entire top surface of dough rectangle.  Mix white sugar with cinnamon and sprinkle over top of dough, covering the whole surface.  Sprinkle the brown sugar over top then roll up rather tightly from the long side.  Cut into 1 1/2 inch rolls and place on parchment lined half-sheet pan.  Cover with a clean towel and let sit for 15-20 minutes, until at least a little bit puffy, though not doubled in bulk.

Bake for 12-15 minutes.  Check at 12 minutes to see if they are cooked.  If not done, let cook another 2-3 minutes.

Place on a rack to cool completely before eating.  Eating when hot will burn your lips, a most unpleasant situation.

Yield: 14-or 15 buns

Sixty Minute Cinnamon Buns still on pan, not burned.

These are very popular with the Seminary students.  What is not to love about yeasted dough, butter, sugar, and cinnamon?!

Kale Chips are a Delight!

Last year A shared some kale chips with me that she had made at a place where she was volunteering.  I loved them.  I tried to make them and turned out solid black ash with some salt, garlic and onion on them.

This year I found some kale chips at Morning Glory in Brunswick, Maine.  They were $6.99 for a small box!  I am sure they were delicious but I did not have the money for them.

SO....I made more and this time they worked.

What you need:

Fresh kale ( I used curly kale)
Granulated garlic
Granulated onion
Kosher salt
Coarsely ground black pepper
Olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Oil a baking sheet, or put a piece of parchment paper on the baking sheet.  Wash kale and pat dry.  Pull pieces off the stem (about 2 to 4 inches square-ish) and place in a large plastic bag. 

Drizzle about 1 Tablespoon of olive oil over kale pieces.  Close bag and shake until all sides of kale are coated with oil.  Mix together garlic, onion, pepper, and some salt...no more than one-half teaspoon of salt or it will be way too salty.  Open bag and sprinkle mixed flavoring over the top them close bag and shake again until kale is well coated. 

Kale Chips...going fast!

By now the oven will be ready.  Spread kale pieces onto baking sheet in a single layer and bake for 10 minutes...NO MORE.  When your oven timer goes off, pull out the baking sheet.  You can let the kale sit a moment but it is really ready to eat immediately.  Enjoy these chips!  Way better than potato chips....

It seems to me that the Morning Glory kale chips had a peanut butter coating.  That might be interesting to try.  It did look rather sludgy but if you like peanut butter, or maybe almond or cashew butter...it might be worth trying it.

Cream Puff Shells

In Julia Child's book, The French Chef Cookbook,  from her long-running TV series, there are two recipes for cream puff shells: one the regular recipe and one for a slightly larger batch.  I made the larger batch, which made 48 puffs.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.  Butter two cookie sheets/half sheet pans and set aside.  Be sure your oven racks are in the upper and lower third of the oven.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups water
9 Tablespoons butter (1 stick plus 1 Tablespoon)
5-6 eggs

If you are making sweet cream puffs, you can add 2 teaspoons of sugar to this batter.

Put the water, salt, and butter in a 3-quart saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring.  When the butter has melted, remove the pan from the heat, drop in the flour all at once and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon.

When all the flour is absorbed into the water (or vice versa!), return the pan to the stove over medium heat and stir until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan.  REMOVE PAN FROM HEAT AGAIN.

Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and drop in one egg at a time and stir vigorously again until each egg is absorbed, then drop in the rest, one at a time, until they are all absorbed into the flour mixture.  I used all 6 eggs since I could not tell if the batter was the right consistency or not...

While still warm, use a teaspoon to drop 1-inch across and 1-inch high globs of batter, set 1 1/2 to 2 inches apart on the BUTTERED pan.

Cook in the oven for 20 minutes, checking at the end to be sure they are not over-cooking.  Remove from oven and put on a cooling rack.  With a sharp knife, puncture each shell near the bottom where you might want to cut for a hole for filling them. 

You can go OCD and check the interior of the puff to see if there is any "wet stuff" in the middle.  If there is, just pull it out with the handle of a teaspoon, but...not necessary in my book.  Particularly since it was just the family eating them.

Once the puffs are cool, you can fill them with pastry cream of many varieties, sweetened whipped cream, or any number of savory filling.  You can also make them much larger and use them for creamed savory fillings like Turkey a la King, etc.  If you do make them larger, cook them for 20 minutes at 425 degrees F then lower the heat to 325 degrees F. and bake another 15 minutes or so then check one to see if the inside is cooked.  If not, push back in and cook some more.

My Own White Bean Hummus/Dip recipe

My Own White Bean Hummus or Dip

6 cups cooked white beans
1 teaspoon chopped chives
2 Tablespoons chopped garlic
1/3 cup chopped basil
1/2 cup tahini
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup water
1/2 teaspoon prepared horseradish

Soak 2 cups white bean (Great Northern is the kind I used) overnight in a large pot of water to which you have added 1 teaspoon baking soda.  Drain  and rinse beans then cover with water about an inch over the top of the beans until bean are soft.  Allow to come to room temperature.

Put all ingredients into a large Cuisinart and process until smooth.  Serve with vegetable sticks or chips or crackers or....

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

Ice cream is a lovely treat any time.  It is even a greater treat on a hot day in the summer.  Several years ago we were given a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker like this one.  I LOVE Freecycle!  People are so generous with their stuff...well, it is always stuff they don't want anymore but they could just put it in the trash.  This lady got the ice cream maker as a wedding gift, used it twice and decided she preferred to buy ice cream.

So yesterday was the day after our anniversary (a day I had planned to make the nice ice cream but was too tired at the end of the day) so I made it.

Vanilla Ice Cream

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk (I used skim but anything will work.  I almost threw in some yogurt I had but didn't at the last minute)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon nice vanilla

In medium bowl stir together all the ingredients until the sugar is completely dissolved.  Take the cold part of the ice cream maker out of the freezer where it has been chilling  for 24 hours.  (If you are like me, you will just store the clean ice cream maker bucket in the freezer at all times so you can just pull it out when the grandkids come by and need a sugar fix...)  Carefully pour the cream mixture into the ice cream maker and assemble the other parts.  Turn on and eat your meal.  By the time you finish eating and visiting over a nice supper, your ice cream will be ready to eat.

Fresh vanilla ice cream.  Doesn't it look delicious?!

If you are not making this at the beginning of a meal to let the time go by without noticing it,  set your timer for 30 minutes.  Unless you failed to freeze the container for a full 24 hours, the ice cream will be ready in 30 minutes

If there are only two of you eating, there will be leftovers after having a serving apiece.  

Leftover ice cream in a one-quart container.

Homemade Salsa Verde

We came into a few tomatillas, jalapenos, and onions and harvested some cilantro from the garden...so what could I do by make salsa verde?!  It is nowhere nearly as good as the Herdez salsa verde we got hooked on in Mexico, but it is pretty good for a first try....especially since I watched a YouTube video and adapted the recipe to what I had on hand.

5 tomatillas, roasted in a cast iron skillet
1 onion thickly sliced and roasted along with the tomatillas
1 yellow bell pepper, cored, seeded, sliced and roasted along with the onions and tomatillas
1 jalapeno--should have used more
7 sprigs cilantro fresh from the garden
3 large cloves garlic, smashed then finely chopped
Juice of two limes
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

Wash all produce the put the tomatillas, onion slices, and yellow bell pepper in large cast iron skillet over medium heat and roast until the outsides of the skins are blackened somewhat.  Turn everything over every so often.  Mine took about ten minutes until  I was comfortable with the coloring.

Put into a Cuisinart (or blender) with all the other ingredients, then put in about 1/4 -1/2 cup water and blend until completely blended.  Taste it to see if it needs more salt and pepper

First ever fresh salsa verde

This is what it looked like before I put it in the refrigerator to chill. I dipped a saltine cracker into for a taste--since we did not have any tortilla chips at the moment--and liked it. I then ate three teaspoonfuls out of the container just plain.  So yummy.  Needed more salt and more jalapenos.

This is the kitchen ready to clean after the salsa verde and applesauce projects.  And the breakfast and lunch projects...Instead I am writing this blog post.  Perhaps I will go clean now before I get too tired and bag it for the day.  If you look closely you can see the soap suds in the hot water.....