Brunch Fruit Tart---I just made this and it tastes great!

I heated the oven to 350 degrees.

I put the following ingredients in a large bowl and mixed them up:

* 4 cups of granola mix. I used two cups of granola with blueberries and two cups of granola with honey and oats.
* One-half-of-a-cup of butter that I let get soft on top of the stove
* A little less than 5 tablespoons of honey

then I greased a baking dish with some butter, put a piece of parchment paper over that, put the mix from the bowl on top of the paper, and put that in the oven. I probably should have put a baking pan under that but I forgot.

I let that set in the oven for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, I mixed about two-and-one-half-cups of Chobani Greek vanilla yogurt with an 8-ounce container of softened cream cheese, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and a package of gelatin in the same bowl that I used for the granola mix. I like Chobani because it tastes great and the company has a pretty good operating philosophy.

I took the mix out of the oven and let it cool down completely. When it was cool I mixed the toasted granola mix into the yogurt, stirred it around, and topped it off with some blueberries and cherries. It didn't look all that attractive but it tasted great.

Garlic!

This post came to my attention by way of Ms. Abigail Bradshaw, now thankfully of West Virginia. I believe that the post originates with Gateway Garlic Farms. There is some great advice below.

EAT WILD

Disappearing during the heat of the summer time, Allium vineale comes back every fall and virtually grows through mild winters into the subsequent spring. It is a very interesting species with an incredible taste . Found throughout the US, it is often labeled a noxious pest by Ag departments and farmers alike. Sadly it doesn't grow wild on my farm anymore and I have to go to other places to harvest it. I literally consumed it out of existence on my farm.

Many people in Missouri and Illinois erroneously call this wild onion. That's probably because of the heavy onion smell they get when they run their lawnmowers over it. In actuality this is a spicy wild garlic that I love to eat.

Eat your yard

Ground chicken, spinach, and egg whites for the dogs!

We have not posted any recipes for animals here on the blog that I can remember. My friend Sam Swan posted the following recipe that he makes for his dogs the other day so I thought that I would send it on to you all. Sam says that this is especially good for diabetic dogs.

You're going to need:

1 lb ground chicken
1/3 cup egg white
1 cup spinach
1 TBS pumpkin

Make into meatballs using a round tablespoon, bake 350 for 25 to 30 minutes, and store in a refrigerator or freezer.

Caring for your cast iron pans and pots

I know so many folks who just won't give up talking about caring for their cast iron pans and pots. I hope that this community service announcement helps lower the stress and noise levels.

Basic Vegetable Soup!

 

This recipe was sent in by a reader of this blog. This recipe works and will keep you warm and full. We do appreciate it when folks send in their recipes.

Basic Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:

3 tablespoon oil (olive oil is good)
1 yellow onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 carrots, chopped
1 cup cabbage, chopped
1 medium red or yellow potato, chopped into ½ inch pieces
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
4-5 cups vegetable broth
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon herbs of choice (basil, thyme, oregano or a mix)

Directions:

Heat oil in large, heavy pot. Add onion and saute until beginning to be translucent (about 5 minutes), stirring. Add garlic, cook for a couple of minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients. Simmer until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally.

Optional additions (one or some of the following):

* Add chopped mushrooms, or ½ cup broccoli or cauliflower florets, or ½ cup green beans or corn kernels.
* Add ½ cup uncooked quinoa (add as uncooked with rest of ingredients) – cooks quickly.
* Add ½ cup cooked rice or other grain – near the end of cooking the other soup ingredients.

About those chicken prices and raising chickens and singing about chickens

I stepped into a local supermarket today and there was a woman there buying two flats of eggs and clearly trying to avoid or ignore the stares of people around her. She may have been buying the eggs for an organization or---I hope---for an effort to help our houseless sisters and brothers. Either way, I'm not going to try to guilt trip someone buying eggs. There is a really good explanation of why egg prices are so high and chicken (meat) prices are relatively low here. It turns out that monopolization and agribusiness have much to do with the pricing and supply issues and one of the best things we can do right now is to find other sources of protein and change our diets.

This post is making the rounds and I think that it tells some good truths.

As baby chick season approaches and the price of eggs keep rising, I’m sure a lot of people are tempted to raise chickens themselves. Before people flock (no pun intended) to their local farm store and start buying all the baby chicks please consider the following 10 fun facts….

1. Most hens do not start laying eggs until 18-22 weeks of age (that’s about 5 months give or take)
2. For the first few weeks of their lives baby chickens need to be kept at a temperature of around 95 degrees Fahrenheit
3. Chicks need to eat…SURPRISE! And like the price of everything else chicken feed has went up. A 50lb bag of layer is over $20.
4. Chickens molt…what does that mean? Your chicken will become ugly and stop laying eggs for a period of time.
5. Chickens don’t lay as many eggs in the winter months.
6. The average lifespan of a chicken is 5-10 years.
7. Predators such as foxes, coyotes, neighbor’s dogs and even raccoons will hunt your chickens.
8. Chickens will poop EVERYWHERE and I mean everywhere so be prepared to clean their pen often or if they are free range be sure to check your step or look before you sit.
9. Chickens love to dig holes and destroy bedding around flowers in the yard, good luck keeping them from doing so.
10. Chickens can get medical issues just like any other animal.

I’m not trying to discourage anyone from raising their own food in fact I think it’s great. However chickens are animals, animals that require attention and proper care.
So while I get that you don’t want to spend $7 on a dozen eggs double think your decision before you go gung ho on being a chicken farmer. Just do your research, it’s not like getting a fish 

Sincerely,

A fellow chicken owner

Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens---B.B. King

Sugar Cookies!

You are going to need:

* A baking sheet and two large bowls and a glass
* 2 eggs
* Two-thirds-of-one-cup of vegetable oil
* 2 tsp. of vanilla
* 1 tsp. of grated lemon rind
* Three-quarters-of-one-cup of sugar
* 2 cups of flour
* 2 tsp. of baking powder
* One-half tsp. of salt

Heat your oven to 400.

Beat your eggs until they're well blended and stir in your oil, vanilla, and lemon rind. Blend in your sugar until your mixture starts to get thick. Measure your flour off by a dip-level-pour method in a separate bowl. Mix your flour, baking powder and salt and blend it into your oil mixture. Now, drop this by teaspoonfuls about two inches apart onto an ungreased baking sheet. You can press each cookie down with the bottom of a glass or some such thing. Moisten the bottom of your glass and dip it in sugar as you do this. Flatten out those cookies so that they look nice and sweet. Bake for 8-10 minutes so that they're brown. Remove from the baking sheet right away.

Applesauce bars!

You're going to need:

* One-half-cup of shortening
* 1 cup of sugar
* 1 cup of applesauce
* 2 cups of flour
* 1 teaspoon of soda
* One-half-teaspoon of salt
* One-half-tbsp of cloves
* 1 tbsp cinnamon
* 1 tbsp of nutmeg
* 1 cup of chocolate chips
* 1 cup of buts

Don't be put off by that long list of ingredients. This is easy to make.

Preheat your oven to 350. Mix your shortening, sugar and applesauce together. Add in your flour, soda, salt, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, chocolate chips and nuts. Mix it all together really well. Put that in a 13X9 pan and bake for about 35-45 minutes. If you want icing, mix up some confectioners' sugar and water.

Ginger Snaps!

This recipe was typed on a file card and a friend found it at the Goodwill Bins store and gave it to me. The recipe was typed out by a Martha Brown, and she added the note "(Have baked these since 1964)."

I'm posting the recipe just as she typed it.

Whoever Ms. Brown is, and wherever she is, I hope that she's happy. God bless her.

GINGER SNAPS

1 EGG
3/4 C MARGERINE
1 C sugar
1/3 C. sorghum
21/2 C Flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp Soda
1 tsp Ginger
1 tps. cinnamon
Mix, dhill overnight. Make in small balls, roll in sugar. Bake 15 min. at 350 degrees on a greased cookie sheet.

Sweet-Sour Red Cabbage!

You're going to need:

* 1 head of red cabbage
* 4 slices of bacon cut into small pieces, but have some more on the side
* 2 tbsp. brown sugar
* 2 tbsp. of flour
* 3 cups of water
* One-third-of-a-cup of vinegar
* Salt
* Pepper to taste
* One small onion sliced up

Cook your cabbage in a covered pan with two cups of salted water, using about 1 tsp. of salt for at least 5 minutes, maybe closer to 8 minutes. Keep an eye on it. You want your cabbage crisp but tender. Drain that off. Fry up your bacon bits. Remove the bacon and about half of the fat. Add your sugar and flour to pan with the fat and stir everything together. Add about one-half-of-a-cup of water, and keep some water handy on the side. Add your vinegar, seasonings to your taste, and the onion slices and cook for about 5 minutes. Everything should be thick. Cook a little longer if it isn't. Add your bacon and cabbage in. Heat so that everything is warm. You may need a bit of water here. You can add more bacon bits as a garnish if needed.

Onion-Cucumber Salad!

You're going to need:

* A fork
* 1 cucumber
* One-half of a tasty onion
* One-half-of-a-cup of vinegar
* One-half-of-a-cup of water
* Two tsp. of sugar
* One-quarter-of-a-tsp. of salt
* Pepper to taste
* A  prepared fresh vegetable or salad dish

Pull the tines of your fork firmly down the length of your cucumber a couple of times, going all around your cucumber, a couple of times. Slice the cucumber into thin slices. Thinly slice your onion and separate the rings. Put these in a bowl and add everything else in and mix it up. Pour this over your vegetable or salad dish and let that marinate or set for at least one hour. You're going to want to drain this before serving.

Raspberry-Applesauce Salad!

Heat one cup of applesauce to a gentle boil. Add one 3 oz. package of raspberry-flavored gelatin and mix that in. Stir in a 10 oz. package of thawed frozen raspberries. Pour that into individual molds or an 8 or 9" ring mold. Chill. Serve with sour cream or whipped cream-mayonnaise dressing.

Kilt Greens/Wilted Greens!

Cut up 4 good sized slices of fried crisp bacon. Add about one-quarter-of-a-cup of vinegar and 2 tbsp. of water. Heart that up in a skillet. In a bowl mix up about 1 quart of lettuce or spinach, 2 chopped green onions, 1 tsp. of salt, and maybe some red pepper. Pour your hot mixture over the greens and toss all of that 'til the greens wilt. Add one or two chopped up hard-boiled eggs.

Hot Pickled Bologna

This is one of those easy-to-make recipes from home that you will either say "I'm going to try that some day!" or "Yuck!" And I know that a few of you can make this in your sleep, and probably do.

You're going to need:

* 3 lbs. ring bologna cut in small chunks or cooked hotdogs cut in pieces
* Quite a few bay leaves
* At least 2 tsps. salt
* 1 small can chopped pickled jalapenos
* At least 1/4 cup of sugar
* At least 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper. (Some people will stir-fry the pepper and the jalapenos and the red pepper flakes for just a bit.)
* At least 1 cup of water water
* 4 cups of white vinegar
* 2 tsps. of pickling spices
* At least 2 tsps. of red pepper flakes
* At least 1 tbsp of hot sauce
* 1 large gallon jar that has been sterilized clean

Some people add peppercorns and slices of roasted red peppers.

Make this when you're home alone.

Cut your bologna in pieces so that it fits in the jar. Add 3 or 4 bay leaves in. Heat up everything else in a pot, but keep stirring it and get your sugar and salt dissolved and get everything to a boil. Adjust your seasonings and water as you cook. Pour what you have when its at a boil into the jar. Seal TIGHTLY. Let that set in your refrigerator for 4 or 5 days before eating, but shake it up every day. It can set there for two weeks and be just fine.

Roasted butternut squash seeds

I met Margi Willowmoon many years ago. She's one of those shining lights to be grateful for in life. Here is her recipe for roasted butternut squash seeds in her words.

Who knew one could experience so much flavorful pleasure from simply tasting lightly crunchy roasted butternut squash seeds?

They were rinsed and seasoned with sea salt, garlic granules, onion powder, white pepper, a tiny touch of chipotle powder, and a couple drops of hot sauce.

Baked at 300 degrees F for about 6 minutes, then stirred, then baked for another 6 minutes. Sublime!

Photo from Abra's Kitchen

Rice Pudding and Glorified Rice!

We most often think of rice pudding as a dessert, but when I was a kid some people ate a kind of hot and soupy rice pudding for breakfast that was delicious. Now, there are many ways to cook rice pudding, and here are a few of them.

One

Cook up about three-quarters of one cup of common house rice by stirring the rice into about one-and-one-half cups of boiling water. This can take about 20 minutes.

Mix your cooked rice with about one-and-one-half cups of milk, about one-third-of-a-cup of sugar, and just a pinch of salt. Keep stirring it. You want it real creamy.

Stir in another half-cup of milk, one well-beaten egg, at least one tablespoon of butter, and one-half-of-a-teaspoon of vanilla. People do arguer over how much butter to use. I think that one tablespoon is a little cheap, but try that. But be sure to take the mixture off of the heat before you add your butter and vanilla.

Some people will add cardamom or cinnamon and raisins. Some folks bake their pudding.

Two

Bring about one cup of water to a boil and add in one cup of rice and a pinch of salt. Cover that and set it aside for about five minutes. Add two tablespoons of butter, one cup of milk, and a handful or two of raisins. Put this back on your stove and stir it 'til the milk is absorbed. Take if off of the heat and add two slightly beaten eggs, about one-third-of-a-cup of sugar, and one teaspoon of vanilla. Put this in a baking dish and stir it with a fork and sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake that at 350 for about thirty minutes.

Three

This is called "Glorified Rice" and was a favorite in the Southern Colorado coalfields.

Add one-quarter-of-a-cup of rice to one quart of boiling water that has one teaspoon of salt in it. Stir this and keep stirring it 'til the rice is tender.

Pour the rice into a sieve, wash it off with cold running water, and transfer the rice into a large mixing bowl. Add one-half-of-a-cup of whipping cream, one-quarter-of-a-cup of sour cream, three-quarters-of-a-cup of sugar, one-half-of-a-cup of chopped almonds, one-half-of-a-cup of crushed pineapple, and one-half-of-a-cup of miniature marshmallows. Put this in a refrigerator and eat it when you hear it calling your name. That usually happens for me at about 2:00 AM.

A note on sources

I wasn't certain about these recipes so I checked in with Cooking the Coalwood Way (Welch, W. VA., 2002) and the County Cookbook (Walsenburg, Colorado, 1984). Janet Jones gets credit for the second recipe and Marlene Menghini gets credit for the third recipe. I don't know where I got the first recipe from. I do have fond memories of the Menghini family.

Simple Alabama biscuits!

We can argue over whether these are rolls or biscuits, or we can just make these and share a great meal.

You're going to need:

* 1 cup warm water
* 1 (0.25-ounce) package active dry yeast
* 2 1/2 to 3 cups self-rising flour
* 1 egg
* 1 tablespoon sugar
* 3 tablespoons of soft butter
* 1/4 cup butter, softened

Dissolve your yeast in warm water in a medium size bowl. Add your sugar, egg, and 3 tablespoons of butter. Stir in 2 1/2 cups or more of self-rising flour. Mix this together and turn it out on floured rolling board.

Knead and roll this medium thickness, and then spread your 1/4 cup of  that soft butter on half of the dough. Turn the other half over the buttered dough. Cut with a biscuit cutter or cut in squares with a knife and put it in greased pan. Butter the top and let it rise in a warm place for 1 hour.

Heat your oven to 450 and bake 'til golden brown, or about 20 to 30 minutes.

Portzelky---New Year's fried dough balls

I heard more about making portzelky this year then I have in the past. Maybe its becoming more popular, or perhaps people are looking to try something traditional. I thought of portzelky as a Slovak or Hungarian dish common to certain industrial regions of Appalachia, but I was wrong. It's a dish that is more correctly associated with Mennonites. Portzelky are made and eaten on New Year's Day. They remind me of the Italian zeppole that are commonly eaten on St. Joseph's Day on March 19 or May 1, May 3, May 11 or early September.

I have a few recipes for portzelky but none really work well. What you see below is a recipe adapted from the more authoritative menno neechie kitchen website. Really, that website is a great source for many recipes. The picture below comes from that website. I have added a few of my own notes along the way as cautions or possible additions.

This is complicated, and it can be messy, but it isn't impossible and it is certainly worth the effort. Read the directions first and go to the website for clarity.

You're going to need 4 beaten eggs, 2 cups of milk, 2 tablespoons and 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, 3/4 teaspoon of salt, 4 tablespoons of melted butter, 3 or 4 cups of black raisins, 4 1/4 cups of flour, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1/2 cup of warm water, and 1 package of quick rise yeast. I add a bit of vanilla as well, you're going to want icing sugar or powdered sugar at the end.

You want your raisins clean and mostly dry but moist.

Mix together 1/2 cup of warm water, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar and 1 package of yeast (or 2 1/4 teaspoons). This needs to sit and get foamy on top. I think that two of my mistakes have been having my water too warm and the kitchen too hot, or perhaps I have measured my yeast wrong.

Mix together 4 cups of your flour with 2 rounded teaspoons of baking powder. Add 2 tablespoons of your sugar, 3/4 teaspoons of salt, 4 tablespoons of melted butter, the eggs, and 2 cups of warm milk. Again, I may have had my milk too warm. The suggestion on the website is to warm your milk in a microwave for one minute. Mix everything up. You want a thin batter at this point.

Put the raisins in a bowl and add your remaining 1/4 cup of flour for 3 cups of raisins or some more flour if you're working with more raisins. Again, this advice comes from the website. My other recipes use less raisins, but I like more. Whatever you're doing, make sure that your raisins are covered by the flour. This is why you don't want your raisins too wet or too dry, and you sure don't want the raisins sinking to the bottom and burning. I have heard of people using chopped dates instead of raisins for these reasons but I have never tried that. Anyway, you want to add the raisins to the batter and mix them in.

Here's another place where I mess things up. The website says to cover your batter and let it rise for one hour, or until it has doubled. Either I'm not waiting long enough or the batter hasn't risen enough for me at this point. Be more patient and careful than I am here.

I use a pot of oil for portzelky, as I do for zeppole, but the smart person doing the website prefers a deep fryer. Her deep fryer hits 340 degrees before she starts frying. I imagine that a pot of oil should be just as hot, but I go by sight and smell and I drop a bit of dough into the oil to test.

Like zeppole, I use a teaspoon to drop the dough in. And also like zeppole, shape and appearance don't really matter. The person doing the website uses one spoon to scoop with and another spoon to scape it off with. That sounds like a great idea, but I have never needed that, and if no one is around I use my fingers if needed. I'm more worried about getting burned than anything else.

Everyone agrees that you want to fry these for 5 minutes on each side, flipping them over. I use a slotted spoon for that. You will want to transfer these to a plate with paper towels on, but I like mine a little greasy and hot. You can sprinkle icing sugar or powdered sugar on or put them in a bowl with the sugar and move them around. It doesn't hurt to sprinkle on a little cinnamon.

Quaker Oats Cookies

I have heard a good bit of talk recently about the cookie recipe that used to appear on the Quaker Oats box and no longer does. If you're of a certain age you likely grew up with these cookies. Someone found the recipe and posted it and its making the rounds on social media. Here it is.

   

Italian Tomato And Bread Soup

You're going to need:

* 4 T. of extra-virgin olive oil
* 3 T of Italian basil, chopped up (keep extra basil on hand as well)
* 1 large can of San Marzano tomatoes with juice
* 8 Roma tomatoes
* 2 cloves of garlic, finely diced
* One-half of a yellow or white onion diced
* 4 cups of water
* 1 tsp. of sea salt
* 1 tsp. of fine ground black pepper
* At least one-half of a loaf of day-old crusty Italian bread cut into medium-sized pieces

The measurements above are approximate. I end up using a little less bread and more basil and onion, more of thee Roma tomatoes and a bit more water and pepper. It's not hard to find cans of San Marzano tomatoes. The bread needs to be at least one day old; I like mine stale for this recipe, and I like using garlic bread. Don't be afraid to add other ingredients. Some people fry cubes of seasoned eggplant and add them. Some people sprinkle with cheese before serving.

Preheat your oven to 400. Get a large pot out and heat your olive oil and add in your basil as the olive oil starts to get hot. Let that simmer 'til you can start to smell it doing its thing. Add the San Marzano tomatoes, garlic, onion, water, salt and pepper. "Simmer" is the word here; don't let the food cook to the point that the onions and garlic and basil are fighting with each other or burning. Cut your Romas in halves, clean out the seed and place the meaty parts on a cookie sheet, coat with oil and salt and pepper, and place in your oven and bake 'til the edges of the tomatoes start to brown. Keep an eye on this. Remove the sheet and add it to your pot. Don't let it cool. It really helps to let the Romas brown just a little. Stir everything together. Taste using a cube of bread and adjust your seasonings. Add your bread to the pot and stir. When you serve this you should add just a bit of extra-virgin olive oil and basil on top in each plate.