Category Archives: In the Kitchen

This Week…

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Haven’t had much time to write, but have been keeping my hands busy lately!

So, just a few photos from this week…

FramesIt began with frames and yellow paint…

GrainingAnd then some brown paint…

MoreFramesAnd then some more frame parts took over the dining room…

(And laundry too…
…a basket of folded clothes decided to make an online appearance!)

Details

And there were LOTS of little details!

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We even got to spend a few hours holding little hands!

:-)

And there was sustenance in the form of Raisin Bran Muffins…

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I am always amazed when making this recipe
that was a staple of Hubby’s Mom’s kitchen…

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The bowl is filled to the brim with the initial ingredients…

Muffins

…and then you’re supposed to stir in a box of of Raisin Bran cereal!

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And somehow it fits!

DSC_0018And there are plenty to share… The batter can keep in the fridge for up to 6 weeks!

(Great to have on hand for Instant Hospitality!)

It’s amazing what can be accomplished with a pot of coffee on the back burner
and a stash of fresh, yummy Raisin Bran Muffins!

Grammy’s Raisin Bran Muffin Recipe…
(Originally from Kellogg’s, I think!)

Mix together 1 cup oil, 4 eggs, & 3 cups sugar in your largest bowl.
In a medium bowl, sift together 5 cups of flour & 2 tsp. baking soda.
Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients, alternating with 1 quart buttermilk.
(You will need the entire quart!)
Once the buttermilk, oil mixture, and dry ingredients are well mixed,
Stir in 15 oz. Raisin Bran cereal.

Bake muffins @400° for around 15-20 minutes.
(They should be golden brown, and not smooshy on top.)

Keep extra batter in fridge for up to 6 weeks…
…but I’ll bet it won’t last that long, they’re so yummy!

:-)

You can play around with this recipe…

Mix up your flours… white, whole wheat, spelt, oat?

Use brown sugar?

Add in some nuts or seeds?

Also… I never seem to have the correct size Raisin Bran box, so I look at the serving
size on the side and do a bit of math to figure out how many cups are needed.
This store-brand cereal ended up being 7 ½ cups for 15 oz.

I usually use between 7 & 8 cups.

Use It Up…

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One of the earlier Pie from Scratch posts was about making things from scratch… A value that Annie is being taught by her grandparents. As Thanksgiving is approaching, I keep thinking of a little sing-song-y bit of wisdom that Nana always quoted…

Use it up, Wear it out,
Make it do, or Do without.

Another treasure from the Depression Era! The reason I’ve been thinking about it, is because of a phone call from my Uncle the other day. Now, he’s not usually a chat-on-the-phone sort of guy, but he had heard a statistic about Thanksgiving that completely blew his mind. So he called us to see if we could guess the correct number to the following question…

How many pounds of turkey is thrown away after
Thanksgiving Dinner in America each year?

We’re not talking about in restaurants, or leftover turkeys in grocery stores… Just the turkey that’s left after we all sit down to eat. Thrown away.  Any ideas? My answer didn’t even come close.

280,000,000 Pounds.

Somehow that struck me as important when illustrating
a children’s book that focused on old-fashioned values.

I never “picked” a turkey until my first Thanksgiving away from home as a new bride. I’m sure it had been done in my home, but I guess I was oblivious to the clean-up process. (My poor Mother.) For our first Thanksgiving, we invited another Navy couple over for dinner (which was MUCH later than expected, because I also didn’t know it took DAYS to thaw a turkey! That morning included me and Hubby desperately trying to thaw the biggest bird we ever handled in a warm bath tub!) They brought along the wife’s mother and elderly grandmother. After dinner was over, cleaning up was the last thing on my mind, but that Grandma took me in the kitchen and showed me how to pick a turkey! (She even showed me a secret hunk of yummy turkey meat under the bird, with the admonition that “We don’t tell the men about this.”) Before I knew it, I had POUNDS of turkey meat in the fridge waiting for post-Thanksgiving meals. Like Hot Turkey Sandwiches, Turkey Soup, Turkey Stuffing Casserole… You get the idea. AND, she told me to save the carcass, and boil it the next day with some celery, onions, and carrots to make Turkey Stock to freeze!

How did I not know to do that?

I’m guessing, according to that 280,000,000 pounds statistic,
that there must be quiet a few young wives out there that also
do not know how to “use up” every bit of their Thanksgiving Bird.

Sooo…. in the spirit of Annie’s farm grandparents,
who would have “used it up” and not thrown it out…

What do you do with your Thanksgiving leftovers?

You can post a link in the comments if you have a great recipe!

Here’s one of our favorites…

Leftover Turkey Stuffing Bake

Mix in a large bowl:
2 cups diced, cooked Turkey
2 stalks Celery, chopped
1 small Onion, chopped
1/2 cup Mayonnaise
1 cup Milk
Seasoning to taste… Salt, Pepper & Mrs. Dash is our choice!

Place mixture in deep casserole dish, and top with 2 cups leftover veggies.
(Peas are our favorite!)

Cover the veggies with Leftover Stuffing and bake at 400° for 25 minutes.

Top with grated Cheese, and bake for another 5 minutes.

This recipe was adapted over the years from a Campbell’s Soup Recipe, as we tried to really use up our leftovers, and also adapt it for our dairy-intolerant family members. The original recipe is yummy too!

Pie Filling…

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After making the pie crusts, the next step is to
decide on the perfect pumpkin pie filling recipe!

I’m playing with several recipes we’ve used over the years,
trying out all the changes we’ve made to them…

…Like replacing brown sugar for white, for that extra “yum” factor…

And just the right blend of spices…

Hopefully we’ll eventually mix up the perfect pumpkin pie!

Does anyone have a killer pumpkin pie recipe?

I’m experimenting with recipes that use fresh pumpkin
and heavy cream or milk instead of evaporated  or condensed milk.

And I need a recipe that a kid can follow…
…with a little help from her Nana.

Who knows?

Maybe YOUR recipe could be in

Pie from Scratch!

See all the blog posts about making
Pie from Scratch!
by clicking below!

Pie Crust…

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Finally got a chance to play with some pie crust!

I’m going with an old-fashioned pie crust recipe…
…the kind our grannies used…
…with “real” ingredients…

I used a cup each of fresh ground wheat flour and white flour.
And 1/2 teaspoon salt.
And 2/3 cup “shortening.”

For the shortening, I used a butter/lard combo…
Living on a farm, I figured that is most likely what
Annie’s Nana would have used for her pie crust.

First you have to “cut in” the cold butter and lard
until you have crumbs the size of peas…

And then you add just enough ice water to form a dough.
Really… ICE water. See the ice cubes in the bowl?

Then form the dough into two balls…

Roll them out…

Transfer the dough to your pan…

Trim the edges…

Make them pretty…

And bake!

Single crust pies usually need to have the crust baked first…
I’m just going to “half bake” it so the edges aren’t too well done.
I found these fun “Baking Beans” at Hobby Lobby…
They’ll keep the crust from puffling up while baking!

Special Nana Anne Tip for Baking with Kids:

Let the kids have the pie crust trimmings for their own baking project! She would give my girls the trimmings to roll out, enhance with spices, and bake. Pop Vin used to tease the girls that they would play with the dough until it was too dirty to play with, and then eat it! Actually, they used to feed the finished products to him, and he was quite a good sport about it! Even when not making pie crust, the girls would beg Nana to make them “dough” so they could create fantastic baked goods. Their favorite “recipe” was butter topped with cinnamon sugar…

Ah, Kitchen Memories…

See all the blog posts about making
Pie from Scratch!
by clicking below!

A Little Red Hen Sort of Day…

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One of my favorite childhood stories was The Little Red Hen.

(Snagged this copy for a quarter at a yard sale this Summer!)

The early folk tale teaches children hard work pays off…
…And so does pitching in and helping!

I’m pretty sure that I pulled that story
out of my hat a few times as a Mom.

However, as a kid, the story intrigued me,
because it talked about how wheat became bread!

Long ago, every kid knew that wheat had to be planted,
and then reaped and threshed to get fresh wheat berries…

…And then it was taken to the mill…

…To be ground into flour, made into dough,
and baked into yummy fresh bread…

We live about 4 miles from the coast in Delaware, and this weekend was spent wondering where Hurricane Sandy was going to make landfall… The track kept fluctuating between Fenwick Island and Atlantic City… and we’re pretty much right in between those two places. Yesterday, my plans for a rainy, blustery day included doing a trial run of Annie’s pie crust, but in the morning there was a sudden concern that our bread supply would run out… FAST… if we were indeed stuck here with no power for days. So, the pie crust trial run turned into a “grind lots of wheat to make lots of flour to make lots of bread” sort of day! I felt just as satisfied with the finished loaves of bread as the Little Red Hen did!

Thankfully, we only got a little wet yesterday… just a few drippy leaks and a lot of water standing in low spots. However, our prayers are with those facing flooded homes and businesses, and dealing with power outages, downed trees, and heavy snow.

“And now,” said the Little Red Hen,
Who will help me eat the bread?” 

:-)

See all the blog posts about making
Pie from Scratch!
by clicking below!

Cooking Pumpkins…

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Today, I attacked the pumpkins!

Or at least it felt like I did, considering
the big knife I needed to cut the things open!

It’s been a while since we’ve cut open a pumpkin around here. And usually we leave the hacking-in-half process to the men. However, it was just me and the chickens here, so I got to do it. These Fairytale pumpkins had a sweet scent inside… sort of like a cantaloupe… and they had bright orange flesh. It was a slightly messy adventure, so I’m glad I did at least part of the hacking and scooping outside.

I decided to roast the largest pumpkin in the oven. After scooping out the stringy middle flesh and seeds, the pumpkin halves went open-side-down on a baking pan, and into a 350°oven for about an hour and a half. (It was a big pumpkin to roast… a smaller pumpkin might only need an hour of roasting.)

The other pumpkin went into a pot on top of the stove. I cut it up into smaller pieces,
peeled the rind off the outer edges, and boiled it for about 20-30 minutes.

After both pumpkins were sufficiently cooked, (fork tender) I set about pureeing them. I needed to mash the boiled pumpkin before processing it further, but the roasted pumpkin didn’t need mashing. I first gave the “old fashioned” method a try, and ran some of the pumpkin through my hand-cranked food mill…

…And then decided that for blogging purposes,
my food processor would be faster.

I did want to post about this TODAY, after all.

:-D

And, after giving my 20 year-old tiny food processor a good workout…

Lots of pumpkin puree for pie-making!

The Results

The boiled pumpkin took longer to prep for cooking,
but cooked much faster and was easier to process.

The roasted pumpkin had no prep time, but took
longer to cook and to scoop out of the shell.

The finished products had the same consistency,  which
surprised me because the boiled pumpkin seemed more watery.

HOWEVER… The roasted pumpkin had more flavor!

AND… Neither pumpkin had the same thick
consistency as store-bought canned pumpkin.

I wonder how that will effect the finished pies?

See all the blog posts about making
Pie from Scratch!
by clicking below!

A Sunday Post…

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Short post today… Enjoying a quiet Sunday afternoon!

After church today, Hubby and I stopped for lunch, and then headed to our local farm produce market in search of a good “pie” pumpkin! As soon as I asked which pumpkin was the best for baking or cooking, the gal there pointed to a wagon filled with these… Fairytale Pumpkins.

I thought that was rather appropriate,
since they’re going to be part of a storybook!

What is your favorite pumpkin to use for pies?
Do you roast them in the oven or cook them on the stovetop?

I bought two, so I could see which cooking process I liked the best.

Just a few more hours left for the
Pumpkin Drawing Contest!

See all the blog posts about making
Pie from Scratch!
by clicking below!

From Scratch…

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What does “from scratch” mean?

Evidently, the original meaning has something to do with sporting events… being at the starting line, or having to start over. Later, after boxed baking mixes became available, “from scratch” took on the new meaning of using separate ingredients rather than a mix. However, “from scratch” had an even deeper meaning for my Nana Anne.

Nana was born in 1929, the year of “The Crash”… the official beginning of the Great Depression. She was one of the “older girls” in a farm family of 12 children, and after she finished her schooling at the age of 14, she helped raise her younger brothers and sisters. Life was defined by hard work as a teen, and even as a young wartime bride. “Making do” was a necessity for all of her life, but Nana turned it into a game of sorts. She LOVED to see what she could make out of nothing… from scratch. And she passed the game on to her grandkids. I can remember digging through baskets of scrap material, ribbons, and buttons with her to make something out of nothing. Or telling her I was hungry, and the two of us peeking in the cupboards to see what we could make “from scratch.” She was an expert at whipping up a feast from leftovers in the fridge or making bread or muffins from a little cornmeal or flour.

Annie’s Pumpkin Pie Adventure has grown out of that love of doing things “from scratch.” She wants to know where the ingredients in her pie come from, and how they work together to make a finished product. I think a lot of kids are curious about such things. So much that we eat today comes from the freezer section, a box mix, or a fast-food drive-in window. I’m glad I had a Nana that insisted on making things from scratch, and that passed on her “who-needs-the-store-let’s-see-what-we-have-already” attitude!

What sort of things do YOU like to make ”from scratch?”

Don’t forget your Pumpkins!!!

Like to bake things “from scratch?”
A young friend of mine is doing 31 Days of Decadent Desserts!
Pay her a visit and find some great recipes!

See all the blog posts about making
Pie from Scratch!
by clicking below!

Bread Pudding!

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Since we were talking about recycling Christmas cards the other day, I thought maybe recycling stale bread might be a good follow-up post! I hadn’t made bread pudding in quite a while, but we had oodles of leftover rolls from Christmas, and rather than feed them to the chickens, I thought I’d make it into something Hubby and I could eat!

This is actually a non-recipe. I go by “feel” with this one, and I really don’t think you can mess it up. Start with stale bread. We had about 18 dinner rolls left, so I broke them into bits in my large mixing bowl. Then I added about 1/2 cup of sugar, about a teaspoon of vanilla, about a teaspoon of cinnamon, two eggs, and enough milk to make a sloppy mixture. I mix it with my hands so I know for sure that it has the right feel. In ages past, I would have tasted it to make sure it was good and sweet, but I can’t recommend that due to the raw eggs. Pour the whole gloppy mess into a casserole dish, and bake it somewhere between 350 and 400 for somewhere between a half an hour and an hour. Our family always baked ours until it was hard enough to cut into squares, but it’s also good baked soft and served with whipped cream like they do in diners.

I’ve never met a “pretty” bread pudding, but it sure is yummy!

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Unexpected Harvest…

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We’ve had a couple of unexpected gifts from nature lately, and they’re being put to good use! Last week, my Dad was out cutting grass, and saw the peach tree out by the main road was LOADED with very ripe peaches. So he grabbed a bucket  and started picking like crazy! (I think the poor little tree was giving us a parting gift… DelDot has claimed her and the other little fruit trees as part of a road expansion project.) We ate peaches for dessert that night, and decided to make the rest into a spiced peach jam… a wedding project that we hadn’t expected to start right away! But who can turn down a bushel or so of peaches?! So the result was Midnight Peach Preserves, so dubbed by Kate’s fiancé, Alex, since that is the hour that we began ladling the hot sticky yummy stuff into jars!

And today, our dear friend Donna Lea whisked into the back room of the store with a huge bag full of homegrown figs for more jam making! They were frozen, so we could put off the processing until a more reasonable hour. And then as soon as I got home, my brother called and said Mom & Dad’s fig tree was ready to be picked! So we picked a basketful while dodging wasps and hornets, and there’s plenty more to come! We’re going to have to be vigilant about picking them the next few days so we don’t miss any of these yummies! What a blessing!

Aren’t they pretty in the sunlight?
They would make a B-E-A-UUU-tiful painting!