A Good Year for Cucumbers and Other Rural Trivia

an explosion of cucumbers 

Of course, we'll be canning pickles over the next few weeks.  Since I don't have my canning jars yet, I decided to make some refrigerator dill pickles today, utilizing some saved spaghetti sauce jars.  I'll let you know how they taste after they "cure" for the required 10 days, but in the meantime, here's the standard recipe from Allrecipes.com with my variations noted.

Spicy Refrigerator Dill Pickles

(12) 3-4" long pickling cucumbers

2 cups water

1-3/4 cups white vinegar

1-1/2 cups chopped fresh dill weed

1/2 cup white sugar

8 cloves garlic, chopped

1-1/2 tbls. coarse salt

1 tbls pickling spice

1-1/2 tsp dill seed

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, or to taste

4 sprigs fresh dill weed

My variations:

I used (6) 6" long tendergreen burpless variety cucumbers.  Since my dill plants were decimated by the swallowtail butterfly caterpillars (see pics here), I no longer have any fresh dill; yes, I allowed them to stay and I was rewarded the other day when I saw a black swallowtail butterfly!  I used the 5 tsp of dill weed I had in the pantry, plus I salvaged dill seeds (1 tbls.) from my dried up dill plants.  I reduced the 1/2 cup sugar to 1 tablespoon, as I personally do not care for sweet pickles. I used sea salt and I made my own pickling spice (recipe below).  We had two small jalapeno peppers in the garden, so I chopped those up in lieu of dried red pepper flakes.

If you decide to visit Allrecipes.com and read the reviews, you'll find you can alter this recipe according to your tastes, and it will turn out just fine.  I'm excited for the 10 days to fly by so we can taste these.

1. In a large bowl, combine the cucumbers (I did a combination of spears and slices), water, vinegar, chopped dill, sugar, garlic, salt, pickling spice, dill seed and red pepper flakes.  Stir, and let stand at room temperature for 2 hours, until the sugar and salt dissolve.

2.  Remove the cucumbers to three 1-1/2 pint wide mouth jars, placing 4 cucumbers into each jar.  Ladle in the liquid from the bowl to cover.  Place a sprig of fresh dill into each jar, and seal with lids.  Refrigerate for 10 days before eating.  Use within 1 month.

My yield: Two quarts of spears, and one quart of slices.

Pickling Spice

1 crumbled bay leaf

1 tsp coarse black pepper

1/4 tsp mustard powder

1 tsp coriander seeds

dash turmeric (I didn't have any)

dash cinnamon

Makes approximately 1 tablespoon of spice.

Or to save money, buy your pickling spice in bulk from Monterey Bay Spice Co.  I get quite a few of my spices from them, since spices are so durned expensive in those little tiny bottles at the grocery store!!  Here's a link to their pickling spice, which is made without salt, and while you're there, browse around the other spices and teas. I think I'm going to get some of their pickling spice and their dill weed too.

So, what else are we going to do with all our cucumbers, you ask?  Wellllll, hubby wants to make the Christmas Red Pickles that his mom used to make, so he'll be starting that process on Sunday (it's rather time-consuming).  I found his mom's recipe at Allrecipes.com also... the exact same recipe!

Also this weekend, I'll be making one of my favorite summertime treats, Dilled Cucumbers.  Chilled with sliced cucumbers, sour cream and green onions, it's absolutely divine for a cookout.  I'll post pics and the recipe after I make it on Sunday, along with pics of hubby's red pickles.

Of course, we'll both be taking some cucumbers to work for our fellow employees to enjoy.  :-)

Garden Bounty: the last of the radishes, one tomato, 

a jalapeno pepper, and some cukes!

Here's some additional photos of note

around the ole ranch in the last week or so...

 A gathering storm...

the resulting rainbow...

a black-eyed susan (my namesake)...

our neighboring longhorn...

and another gathering storm at sunset while I'm at work.

And click here to see how adorable my little
granddaughter Leah is at 1 month old!!

An Early Kansas Spring and Black Bean Soup

After a week of temps hovering in the 50s and 60s, we had our first spring storms last night. The line that came through our neck of the woods was the same system that had produced the first spring tornado near Hammon, Oklahoma earlier in the day. At one point, I was awakened by extremely high, (possibly straight-line winds?), with the rain blowing sideways and making much noise on the sides of our house. This morning, I noticed the winds knocked a huge branch out of one of the trees surrounding the house. Luckily, it was far enough away there was no damage to the house!

This morning began with beautiful blue skies and white fluffy clouds.  But there is more rain and storms in our forecast, and it appears that the sky is beginning to darken this afternoon again!  I was hoping the ground might have a longer respite, in order to dry up some of the large puddles and mud from last night's storm, but this is not to be.

Far be it from me to complain, however, as I am thrilled that spring is finally here.  How well I realize that Mother Nature could still throw a curve ball... last year we had a humongous ice storm on March 31!  I am thankful for our warm temperatures and beautiful skies.  And of course, I'm ever hopeful that I might get even more spectacular stormy sky photos this spring, who knows, maybe even a funnel cloud.  Off in the distance, of course. Passing by our house. Um-hm, yep.

If you enlarge this pic, you can see green winter wheat in the distance!
 

With the warm weather comes the urge to clean house.  Just a wee bit, nothing over the top of course.  I was going through some of my books this past weekend, trying to weed out a few more yet again.  (I got rid of a TON of books when I moved from Ohio to Kansas in '08.)  I discovered a book that my father had given to me back in '03 I think...  Spontaneous Healing, one of the many books written by Andrew Weil M.D.

I decided to read the first few chapters to see if it had any merit... and I've been reading it ever since Saturday night!  I'm fascinated and want to research more of Dr. Weil's philosophies and start applying them in my life.  Sadly, I have always struggled with eating the right foods, but his book is reminding me and reinforcing how important our diet is in maintaining our bodies.

Dr. Weil not only explains how our body's healing system is capable of spontaneous healing, but how we as individuals can optimize our healing systems - foods, environmental factors, exercise, stress reduction, vitamins, supplements and herbs all aid the body in maintaining its well-being.  There are also plenty of case histories which present irrefutable and inspiring evidence of spontaneous healing.  I personally like his approach as it embraces natural and noninvasive modalities; I've always been a rebel when it comes to taking very many drugs.  {The latest controversy surrounding Fosomax just serves to reinforce my convictions when it comes to avoiding drugs as much as is feasibly possible.}

I'm currently reading Chapter 13, Mind and Spirit - the book has 19 chapters, so I'm 3/4 of the way through it.  It's revelationary for me, and if you're interested in health and wellness, you will most likely find this book as fascinating a read as I am.  I highly recommend it.

One of his newest books is Why Our Health Matters: A Vision of Medicine That Can Transform Our Future.  It concerns the great healthcare debate and sounds like another great read so it's next on my list!  Click on the Amazon link to the right to find out more of this book's content.

I went to Dr. Weil's website the other day, and found his simple recipe for black bean soup ... I'm making up a batch this afternoon, and it smells delicious!  I researched different black bean soup recipes, so I've modified Dr. Weil's recipe just a tad by adding a few spices. I have always said "I don't like black bean soup", but you know what?  I honestly don't think I have ever tried it.  Since beans are so good for you, I've decided that I need to try more bean dishes, and today is my first effort to start eating a little better.

I'll give y'all a black bean soup update/recipe tomorrow,

with some photos.  

I'm hoping that I will find out how delicious it is, and realize what I've been missing out on all this time!

Oz Girl's Favorite Chocolate Martini

I think it's hard to classify this deelish drink... I mean,

does it fall under alcoholic beverages, or desserts?!

In either case, here's the recipe to make

just enough for one person to savor:

One jigger* Godiva dark chocolate liqueur

One jigger vanilla vodka

One jigger half and half

Rim your martini glass with vanilla flavored cocktail sugar.  {I found mine at a Williams & Sonoma store quite a few years ago.  It's pricey, but it lasts a long time!} If you don't have any decadent vanilla sugar, you can use regular ole sugar.  Drizzle some chocolate syrup around the inside of your martini glass.

Mix the above liquid ingredients in a shaker with ice, shaking hard so some of the ice breaks up into lil teeny bits.  Strain the drink into your martini glass, letting some of the teeny ice shreds through to keep your drink chilled. Alternately, you could just drink it fast and not worry about your martini losing its chill.... I mean, dessert is meant to be inhaled, right?

There are several Godiva chocolate liqueurs on the market ~ milk chocolate, white chocolate and a dark chocolate (the original), plus mocha and their newest concoction, a caramel milk chocolate liqueur.  I haven't tried this last one yet, but it sure sounds yummy. Or if you don't want to spend all your hard earned dough on a Godiva liqueur, try using some creme de cacao, either the dark or light. For variety, you could add some Bailey's, or Kahlua for an espresso flavored martini. 

This is the perfect drink if you want to feel like you've just left that big snow pile you call home and pretend you're sitting at the cutest lil island bar somewhere on St. Thomas!  {wink}

Click on the above beach badge to head on over

to Dave's Beachwarming Party!

• A jigger is larger than a shot, 1.5 oz to be precise.  What the hay, throw in 2 oz of each ingredient and make yourself a bigger martini.

Why I Love Rural Life and a Snickerdoodle Failure

How in the world can I have a blog post with both an uplifting subject matter and a pessimistic one? Well, carry on and read through, and ye shall find out!

Let's start with a beautiful photo that says quite clearly, without any words, why I love the country.  Well, at least ONE reason.  Can you just "hear" the quiet in this early morning sunrise scene?

Daily scenes such as this, right outside my back door, often get me motivated for the day ahead.  And so, today I decided to try a variation on my Snickerdoodle cookie recipe.

My March/April issue of Grit magazine had arrived last week, and lo and behold, they had an article on "Old-Fashioned Cookies for the 21st Century".  They had created healthier versions of traditional cookie recipes, and along with chocolate chip, gingersnaps, peanut butter and oatmeal raisin, they had included the good ole snickerdoodle.  

The differences between their snickerdoodle cookie recipe and the traditional recipe I posted a few weeks back were...  no shortening just butter, wholewheat flour in place of white flour, no cream of tartar, brown sugar in place of white sugar, and they also added flaxseed.  So obviously, it's a healthier cookie for you, right?

Here's how mine turned out...  try not to laugh out loud, or blow whatever you're drinking out your nose...

Hmm... flatter than a cow patty!

Sooooo, my mistake lies in omitting the flaxseed, since I didn't have any in the pantry.  (Seriously, does anyone keep flaxseed in the pantry?!)  BUT in its absence, I should have bumped up my wholewheat flour.  Which.I.Did.Not.Do.  Can I say "duh"??!

Guess what though?  They are actually GOOD, very chewy and delicious.  Just. Flat.

The next time I make them, I will be sure to substitute more wholewheat flour for the missing flaxseed.

If you'd like to try Grit magazine's recipe, I've included it below.

Healthy{ier} Snickerdoodles

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 egg

1 cup wholewheat flour

1/4 cup flaxseed (or substitute with wholewheat flour)

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Heat oven to 375.  Mix together brown sugar, softened butter and egg.  Add wholewheat flour, flaxseed, baking powder and baking soda, and salt (I sifted these ingredients together prior to adding to butter mixture).

Shape into 1-inch balls; mix in plastic bag with sugar/cinnamon mixture.  Place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet.  Bake 8-10 minutes or until set.

Makes about 2 dozen (recipe can be doubled).

The Sweet Snickerdoodle Story

Don't forget to enter my spring giveaway!

You still have until Sunday, February 14th,

at 10:00 p.m. Central time to enter.

The snickerdoodle cookie has been around a long time and the basic recipe varies little. However, there are some definite tips and tricks to making the perfect snickerdoodle with crispy edges and a soft middle.

I've varied my snickerdoodle cookie recipe many times in an attempt to bake the perfect cookie. But in many ways, the basic recipe IS the best cookie, with some minor variations that involve tricks more than ingredients.

“The Joy of Cooking claims that snickerdoodles are probably German in origin, and that the name is a corruption of the German word Schneckennudeln, which means “snail dumpling.” A different author suggests that the word “snicker” comes from the Dutch word snekrad, or the German word Schnecke, which both describe a snail-like shape. Yet another theory suggests that the name comes from a New England tradition of fanciful, whimsical cookie names. There is also a series of tall tales about a hero named “Snickerdoodle” from the early 1900s which may be related to the name of the cookie.” ~ Source Wikipedia

Tip No. 1: The texture of your cookies will benefit greatly from hand mixing the dough, as opposed to beating with a mixer. I don't know the technicalities behind this, but I know I've seen this advice several times and I've tried it myself, and it DOES seem to make a difference. Try your snickerdoodles both ways, and see what you think. 

Tip No. 2: Make sure your butter and eggs are at room temperature. The obvious? Not only is it easier to mix the butter by hand when it's soft, but having these ingredients at room temperature also benefits the final cookie texture.

Tip No. 3: Be sure your baking soda and cream of tartar are fresh. Outdated ingredients will compromise the final cookie.

The Recipe

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup shortening

1-1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs (use large, not extra-large)

2 tsp vanilla

2-3/4 cups flour

2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 tbls sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

Heat oven to 400. Mix the butter and shortening thoroughly (by hand!)… yes, it is a strange feeling to cream by hand. But hey, the pioneers must have done it, right? I doubt they had any electric hand mixers in the 1800s. 

After you've mixed the shortening and butter, add the sugar and cream further.  Add eggs and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt.  Add to creamed mixture.

Mix the sugar and cinnamon in a small plastic bag.  Shape dough into rounded teaspoons - I make mine a little bit larger because we like big cookies - and shake balls gently in plastic bag with sugar/cinnamon mixture.

Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.  I use parchment paper and airbake cookie sheets for the most even baking.

Bake 6-10 minutes, depending on your preference.  If you prefer a crispier cookie, then bake for 8 mins or more.  I baked mine 6-1/2 minutes for a soft middle; be sure this timeframe suits your oven temperature.  When the cookies look like they are beginning to crack on the top and they look moist between the cracks, it's time to take them out.  Let sit on the cookie sheets for a minute or two while they finish baking, then remove from sheets.  Makes about 6 dozen.

Be adventurous and experiment with your sugar coating.  I've added nutmeg, allspice, ginger, etc.  It all depends on your taste preference!

Snickerdoodles store well in airtight containers at room temperature.  I don't know if they freeze well, because they don't last more than 3-4 days around here.

Happy Snickerdoodling!

Crispy Frosty Sunday Deserves a Deelish Coffee Cake

What a gorgeous sunrise over the pond this morning! Of course, I ran outside in my slippers as I saw the sunrise through a window... and the ground is crispy and frost covered! Well worth the wet feet, such a beautiful quiet.

The girls woke me up early, around 6:15, so after feeding them I decided to watch a lil Food Network. Paula Deen is my new "old" favorite. I've never been a Martha Stewart fan, and sometimes Rachael Ray is fun to watch, but in two Sundays I've become infatuated with Paula. So down to earth, and her recipes are NORMAL recipes that most of us would love to eat, plus I adore her kitchen! Ya gotta love that refrigerator that looks like an old country icebox! She made a marinated pork tenderloin with root vegetables today that looks like it is to die for, so you know I will be trying that in the next few weeks. In the meantime, watching Paula and her yummy concoctions motivated me to make my simple yet very yummy coffee cake for breakfast today.


If you haven't tried it yet, click the link above and give it a whirl... I've tried many other coffee cakes, some easy and some more complicated, and I always come back to this tried and true recipe. And believe it or not, it's from my home economics class in junior high school! I added a lil nutmeg to the topping today, and I greased and floured the cake pan, which my memory seems to think I've never done before??! Who knows, my memory sure is getting blotchy these days... yikes, I just read the recipe I posted here last May, and I guess I do grease the pan...

Oh, I just have to laugh at myself sometimes...

I'm heading into the kitchen to have a piece of coffee cake now.

Cookie Emergency

Oh, what to do when one runs out of cookies for the hubster's lunch!!

I hunted through the cupboards, trying to determine what ingredients were on hand... what kind of cookies could I possibly bake??

AND it had to be a quick and easy recipe too. I don't have much time in the evenings once I get home from work.

And so I found it... the easiest and yummiest coconut cookie recipe ever! Very chewy and very coconutty. Try it. If you like coconut, you're going to love these.

Since I modified the recipe I found, I think I can give it any name I choose.
pffffft! *tongue sticking out*

Oz Girl's "Coco for Coconut" Cookies
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened
1-1/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp coconut extract
1 cup to 1-1/2 cup coconut

Mix dry ingredients together in separate bowl. Cream the butter and sugar together in large bowl; add eggs and extracts and mix well. Stir in dry ingredients and then add coconut. Drop from teaspoon on greased baking sheet, or baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned around edges.

Tip #1: You can sprinkle a wee bit of colored sugar on the cookies before you bake them, for a more festive look. I left half of mine plain, the other half decorated.

Tip #2: I'll bet if you added white chocolate chips, they would be heavenly!

Warning: I couldn't keep my hands out of the cookie dough. This is THEE BEST cookie dough.

Smokin' Country Kitchen

That title would describe my kitchen this weekend.

Yesterday, I made potato and ham soup, along with two batches of organic dog biscuits. The potato soup is a big hit with the hubby, and I'm going to point you to the recipe, because aside from peeling and cutting up the potatoes, this has got to be the EASIEST potato soup recipe I've ever found, and it is astoundingly delicious, considering how few ingredients there are. Read the reviews for this recipe too, and you'll see many people raving over it, and also admitting that they didn't change the recipe much. Sorry I don't have a photo of my soup, but go here and give this recipe a try. You will not regret it!

Below is a partial result of my organic dog biscuit baking marathon this weekend - I've made small sample bags to take to work on Monday. I now have four varieties of organic biscuits - Trixie Lou's Cheesers, Tori's Pumkin Luv, Ringo's P'nut Butter Spots, and Barnyard Pals. I hope to add the new flavors (full-size bags) to my Paypal button on my right sidebar sometime later this week. The Cheesers and the P'nut Butter Spots will be packaged in 8 oz bags, while the smaller sized Pumkin Luv and Barnyard Pals will be packaged in 6 oz bags. Since these treats are preservative-free, you'll need to freeze them if you want to use them beyond 10 days.


Want your own sample pack? For only $3.50 plus the cost of first class postage ($3.26), I can send you a small bag of each variety. Here is the ingredient listing for each flavor:

Trixie Lou's Cheesers: Brown rice flour, oat flour, shredded cheddar and parmesan cheeses, chicken broth and egg. Large bone shaped cutouts.

Tori's Pumkin Luv: Brown rice flour, oat flour or barley flour, pumpkin, egg, molasses and cinnamon. Small heart shaped cutouts.

Ringo's P'Nut Butter Spots: Brown rice flour, rolled oats, peanut butter, egg, honey, apple cider vinegar and water. Large flat cookie type biscuits.

Barnyard Pals: Brown rice flour, rye flour, oat bran, chicken broth, shredded parmesan cheese, egg and garlic powder. Very small barnyard animal cutouts (cow, pig, turkey).

Hope your weekend was as fruitful as mine,
and here's to another great week!

Life is Always an Adventure!

... even when you do something as simple
as make strawberry jam for the first time!

What fun! I only had two quarts of strawberries and decided on the spur of the moment to make jam, going the whole route and canning it too. I can't begin to describe the self-satisfaction when I heard the first jar pop and seal as it sat on the kitchen counter.

I stopped and stared at the jars, marvelling that I,
a canning newbie, had succeeded!

As a side note, I researched pectin quite extensively before I began canning my strawberries. Here's a web page that has tons of info on pectin. I found it to be quite interesting and even reassuring - pectin is a natural occurring substance found in many fruits. The prepared pectin that we buy comes from apples and just helps our jam to thicken quickly, so we don't cook all the vitamins right out of them. This page also helps you troubleshoot if your jam turns out too stiff, lumpy or runny. AND it tells you how to make your own pectin, if you so desire. Check it out, it's quite interesting.

I think next year when we get that garden put in I will just HAVE to buy a proper canning pot. I made do with something I found in our kitchen that was just barely deep enough to allow the water to cover the jar tops - the water splashed out as it boiled and I went through 10 tea towels, mopping up the top of the stove as they processed. But it worked, and I have 6 finished jars of strawberry jam.

Y'all stay tuned now...

I'm hoping to have a country giveaway very soon. It's been way too long since I've hosted a fun giveaway and I miss it!

Wishing everyone a well and happy week!

The Best Cut-Out Cookies Ever

Look good? Well, they are, trust me. These are the best buttercream frosted cut-out cookies, hands down, except for my home-made version. And I'm going to give you the recipe right now!

Oz Girl's
Wake-Up-In-the-Middle-of-the-Night-I-Gotta-Have-One
Cut-Out Cookies

In large bowl, sift together 3 cups flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda and 1 cup sugar.

Cut in 1 cup butter til mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Use real butter, not margarine. *blech*

Blend in 2 eggs, 4 tablespoons milk and 2 tsp vanilla.

I do the above by hand. I don't have a KitchenAid mixer. If you do, I hate you.

Chill dough. This step is important, or you will have sticky dough. So, do like Oz Girl tells ya, and chill the dough.

Roll on floured counter, and cut shapes. Get creative. Hobby Lobby has a kazillion different cookie cutter shapes. Be careful not to roll your dough too thin or you will have crispy cookies. *blech*

Bake at 400 for 6-8 mins. I use airbake cookie sheets, and they turn out perfect every time!

Perfect Buttercream Frosting
Slightly beat 1 egg white. Add 1 tsp vanilla, dash salt, and 1/2 stick melted butter. Add 1 box powdered sugar, then add up to 3 tablespoons milk til right consistency. You can separate into bowls, and add different food colorings for variety. If frosting gets dry before you are finished frosting cookies, add just a tad of milk.

I usually decorate each cookie immediately after frosting with colored sugars and other decorations. The quicker you decorate the better - the frosting will set up within 30 minutes!

If you're really lazy and not up to all this effort crazy busy, then just buy them from Cheryl and Co. You'll pay through the nose, but OMG are they yummy. The above pic are the cookies that I bought for hubby. Never mind that he is in Washington state for the whole month....

Whether I make them myself, or have Cheryl and Co. in-house, when I wake up in the middle of the night, it is an absolute trip to the kitchen for a cookie and milk!

On Making Your Own Butter

I think all of us bloggers, at one time or another, re-assess our blogs - what was the original intention, and where am I going with my blog? My original intention was to keep family and friends "in the know" after I moved from Ohio to Kansas.

Now that it has been over a year since my move to OzLand, OzVille, or Kansas, whatever you want to call it, I need a new purpose for my blog. Since I have always had oodles of admiration for those who choose to homestead, and since my husband and I live on 26 acres, this is the direction I will take with my blog. No, no, not full-blown homesteading advice (I am sadly uninformed when it comes to homesteading and how to fend for myself!), BUT I will try to give everyone more country advice, more country content, and more country snapshots. And I will endeavor to be more self-sufficient, if that's even possible for this bumbling midlife gal.

So without further ado, I'll show you how to make your own butter. There are various methods - do you want sweet cream butter, or cultured butter? Personally, I am trying the sweet cream method first, because it is easy-peasy! Anyone can do this. And I have the guarantees from other bloggers, MaryJane's Farm, and Mother Earth News magazine!

Once you start using homemade butter,
you won't look back.
~Mother Earth News

The easiest way to make your own butter can be found here at the Cold Antler Farm blog (scroll down to her August 9 post), or here at Proud to Be the Keeper of Our Home. Both blogs have instructions that vary slightly.

On a side note, check out the rest of the Cold Antler Farm blog -
she's a very inspiring 20-something, homesteading, writing gal
who lives in Vermont, with her very own book too!

Tammy at Flat Creek Farm made her own butter - she inspired me to do all this research. (The link to her blog will take you straight to her adventures in butter-making.) In her butter-making post, Tammy also has a link to Farmgirl Susan's Almost Too Easy Whole Wheat Beer Bread - I'm going to be trying that recipe once the hubby is home from Washington ~ if I make it before he gets home, yours truly will eat it ALL ~ and we all know that a whole loaf of bread is not good for our midlife bulge. Let me know if any of you beat me to it and try it.

If you want even more detail on butter making, please go to the article that was in the June/July issue of Mother Earth News, Homemade Butter - The Best You'll Ever Have. I just re-read this article in my back issue, and it's chock-full of fantastic information. It will explain the difference between sweet cream butter (what we're making here) and cultured butter, which you also have the ability to make. I'd like to try making a cultured butter someday.

And here's your country photo today.... my heavy cream just waiting to be shaken up into a delectable, home-made, sweet cream butter. I will update y'all once I have shaken this jar until my arm falls off - I am sure it will be worth the yummy butter I will have.

Update

Here's my first batch of butter, 10: p.m. Thursday, October 7th.
I added the barest amount of salt to the butter, just grains really.
And it made between 1/2 and 3/4 cup of buttermilk,
which I will use to make buttermilk pancakes.

It absolutely tastes better than store-bought butter. Fresh!

Weekend Recipe: Golden Oatmeal Breakfast Slices

My blog is not a cooking or baking blog, but every now and then I post a recipe that I feel has some merit. This is one of them. I rediscovered this breakfast treat in my ole recipe box. My mom used to fix this for us kids, I have no doubt because it was economical! But it was good too, and so I made some oatmeal "loaf" last night and fried it up this morning. Hubby is not a fan of oatmeal, so although he tasted this, he still is not fond of oatmeal....

Golden Oatmeal Slices
3 c. quick cooking oats
2-1/2 tsp salt (you can cut back on the salt if you want)
4-1/2 c. water
margarine or butter
maple syrup

Stir oats and salt into boiling water. Cook 1 minute, stirring occasionally. Cover pan and remove from heat. Let stand 5 minutes. Turn into greased loaf pan; I used a stick of butter to grease the pan (not the whole stick, c'mon, you know what I mean!) Cool, and then chill overnite. Turn out and cut into 1/2" thick slices. Brown in butter over medium heat. Serve with syrup.

Here's your oatmeal loaf after you turn it out of the pan.
I realize it has the appearance of brain matter gone missing
from the coroner's lab, but TRUST ME,
this stuff is delicious once you fry it up!

Easy-peasy, huh? I mean, if you can make oatmeal, you can make this! A quick and delicious weekend treat. And even if you use real butter to fry it up, you're still getting the benefits of the oatmeal, RIGHT????!!!! C'mon agree with me here.... YES! :)

As Jim Carrey said in Bruce Almighty.... "Its good! It's guuud!!"

Your golden oatmeal breakfast, frying up in my cast iron skillet.

WASTE NOTes ... Simple Coffee Cake Recipe

Want something homemade for the family that's quick and easy, and delicious too? Try this coffee cake recipe next weekend and see if your family doesn't give you the rest of the day off! Well, ok, THAT probably won't happen. But, it IS good, and it IS quick.

This recipe is from my 8th grade Home Economics class.... yep, I'm THAT old. My guess -- it's been a long time since schools have taught Home Economics.

I consider this a WASTE NOTes recipe because the ingredients are simple enough that everyone should have them in the pantry. I doubt you will need to make any special grocery purchases for this recipe.

Simple Coffee Cake

Makes one 9" pan
Set oven to 375
Grease cake pan lightly with shortening

In medium bowl, mix together 1/4 cup salad oil, 1 egg (beaten), and 1/2 cup milk. Set aside. In separate bowl, mix together 3/4 cup sugar, 1-1/2 cups flour, 2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt. Add dry ingredients to milk mixture.

Topping: Mix together 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 tbls flour, 1 tsp cinnamon and 1 tbls melted butter. Put on batter in cake pan.

Bake in 375 oven for 25 minutes.

There! Now can a weekend breakfast recipe get any easier than this??! If you decide to give it a try, let me know what you think - if you make any alterations to the recipe, I'd love to know. Right off the bat, I would say you could add chopped walnuts to the topping mix... if you like nuts.

Me, I prefer my coffee cake nutless. :-)

Don't forget to check out Smart Mouth Broad's"Money in the Bank", a collection of
money saving ideas from bloggers near and far. I'm linking
my WASTE NOTes to her MIB posts. Check out HER blog
for even more links to money saving ideas to help you
save $$ in our crappy economy!

WASTE NOTes

Get it? WASTE NOT, but these are my waste NOTES. Ok, whatever, so it's not that creative word-wise... keep your snide comments to yourself. :)

During the past few weeks, I have renewed my efforts to be more thrifty and less wasteful, most notably in the food arena. Although I am also guilty of saving extra napkins handed out at drive-thrus, along with ketchup, bbq, and sugar packets...

I have rescued several food items from ending up in the trash pail this week.

1. A cup of over-ripe strawberries was converted to strawberry jam. A quick and easy recipe with no sure-jell or preservatives, to be used up within the week.

2. Thumbprint Jam Cookies, and I used the strawberry jam (above) for the centers. I haven't made these cookies since my 20s, and I LOVE these, so now guess who's eating them all? Thank goodness the recipe only made 2 dozen.


3. Chicken paprikash leftovers (slow cooker recipe) that I felt lacked flavor converted to chicken soup. I was without noodles in the pantry, so for the first time in my life, I made my own homemade noodles. (I added 2 tbls. milk to the noodle recipe.) This chicken soup recipe was by far, hands down, the best chicken soup I've made in my life. (I didn't put celery in mine.) The noodles were very, very yummy, and the soup was so deelish and flavorful. Since it had the flavorings from the paprikash, I am sure the next time I make this soup it will taste slightly different, but hopefully just as good!


4. Corn tortillas past the expiration date recycled into tortilla chips. A lil melted butter with chili powder brushed on them, a lil salt, cut into triangles and cook at 400 for 8-10 minutes. Next time, I'm going to add a bit of cayenne pepper for more spice.


5. A few slices of leftover meatloaf used for sandwiches, and also as a side with some spaghetti today. Take several slices and pour spaghetti sauce over, add some shredded cheese and parmesan cheese, and cook at 350 for approx. 30 minutes.

Non-food item waste not
Instead of using a dryer sheet which is loaded with synthetic chemicals, I put a few drops of lavender essential oil on a cloth and threw it in the dryer with my bed sheets and blankets yesterday. I bought some lavender essential oil last year and never used it, so I think this qualifies as "waste not". Ummmmm, did my sheets ever smell good!

So this is my new mission and creed for 2009, wherever possible, WASTE NOT! I will admit that my dedication to this philosophy has been fueled by my lack of a job, but I want to continue my newfound passion even when I have a job. Just think of the money I can save! :)

Smart Mouth Broad hosts "Money in the Bank", a collection of
money saving ideas from bloggers far and near. I'm going to link
my WASTE NOTes to her MIB posts. Check out HER blog
for even more links to money saving ideas to help you
save $$ in our crappy economy!

Jazz Up Your Ordinary Grilled Cheese Sandwich... With Garlic!

A few weeks ago I was browsing the internet for an innovative grilled cheese sandwich recipe. I never really found that ONE unique grilled cheese recipe, but I did find some bits and pieces that I hodge-podged together for a grilled cheese sandwich that was sooooooooooooo good (yes, THAT good), I couldn't wait to make another the next day. Give this recipe a try, and tell me if you don't agree, it's THAT good.

Oh, and .... you really must like garlic. :-) Hey, garlic's GOOD for you!

Garlic Grilled Cheese Sandwich
First, mince a few cloves of garlic and mix with 2-3 tablespoons of softened butter. How many cloves you use depends on how much you like garlic. I lovvvvve garlic, so I think I used 3 cloves to 2 tablespoons of butter.

Next, spread your garlicky butter over two slices of sourdough bread. You can use any kind of bread you like, but I think the sourdough imparts a special taste all its own.

Sprinkle a small amount of parmesan cheese over the garlic butter, on each slice of bread.

You can use whatever kind of sliced cheese you want in the sandwich, but here's what I used:

a half-slice each of Colby-Jack, Mozzarella, Sharp Cheddar and Baby Swiss.

There's multitudes of other cheeses you could use, e.g. provolone, pepper jack. I plan on sampling different cheese combos in the future.

Grill over medium heat using a cast iron pan, approx. 5-10 minutes first side, and only 5 minutes the second side, as your pan will have heated up thoroughly by the time you turn the sandwich.

On a side note, I love my cast iron cookware and don't know how I'd cook without them. They disperse heat evenly, and once they are heated through, your food cooks in the most lovely manner.

Just a precaution: sometimes the parmesan cheese crumbs will pop as they heat up. Nothing too serious, but just in case it startles you...

Oh, remember what I said earlier about the need to love garlic? Your house is going to smell like garlic, which I consider such a good smell, but some of you may think not so good.

If you make up the garlic butter ahead of time, this sandwich makes a quick great lunch on the weekends. Now that the weather is warming up, and we're all busy with outside work around the house, this sandwich will satisfy that worker bee hunger and keep you going the rest of the day!

If you try it, let me know what you think, good or bad. :-)

Enjoy!

P.S. This sandwich may resemble something served by Mimi's Cafe (CA restaurant). I personally have never been to Mimi's, but I did see online where they may serve something similar. If you try my recipe, and you've eaten at Mimi's and had THEIR grilled cheese, let me know if this tastes similar (or not!) Either way, I absolutely loved this!