Splitting Logs...Saving September.

The best invention ever...Hydraulic Log Splitter.  I'm too old to split logs with an ax.  I leave that up to the Husband.  But this was sort of fun to do together.
We had another old tree fall this summer after a big micro burst windstorm so there is plenty of stacked logs at the back of our pasture.

We won't be able to use our woodpile up in a life time but now we have a large supply of split wood to throw on the fire.

The amazing thing is that pile is two rows deep.  You can only see the outer row of wood.  That's what comes of having trees that are 150 years old on the property. Lots of firewood.

Saving September, splitting logs...it's a "good thing", as Martha would say.

Fresh From The Garden

Just picked.  Look at the little Pinstripe eggplants.  Aren't they pretty?  This would make a terrific container plant.  It's prolific and compact.  I'm adding them to the lone Ichiban eggplant and the scallions, basil, and Sungold cherry tomatoes.  Our stir fry dinner tomorrow is going to be great.

Woo Hoo.....

We're having a wedding!  

Congratulations Brooke and Nate.

One of my favorite things.

Oprah has her favorite things and I have mine.  Now... I know there would be no comparison if you were invited to Oprah's Favorite Things show or to my house for breakfast.  I'd take Oprah over me too.  But you might have a higher chance getting invited to my house.  And if you did come to breakfast, I'd serve you a bowl of beautiful  citrus fruit supremes.  I don't just make these for just anyone; only for my favorite people because they do take a bit of work.

Years ago, a good friend gave us a jar of  hand cut grapefruit and a small bottle of raspberry sauce for Christmas.  One of the best neighbor gifts ever!  Since then, I often serve these at brunch and keep a jar in the fridge for breakfasts in a hurry.

If you'd like to know how to supreme citrus you can go here.

Be sure to squeeze out all the juice from the leftover peels and membranes.  I pour it over the fruit so it stays moist and you can always drink in in a juice glass if there are leftovers.

The sun came out and I cleaned the pantry

It snowed again last night....2 feet more.  All I can say is thank goodness we will have water this spring.  We are getting tired of shoveling.  There is no place to put it anymore and there hasn't been much melt.  The snow on our patio table is the same height it was last week.    The driveway has melted now.  And we got to meet the new neighbors while we were shoveling.  I took this photo of their house across the street early this morning.  Notice the height of the snow piles?

And today I cleaned my pull out pantry in the kitchen.  I like things neat and tidy and clean but I DO NOT PARTICULARLY LIKE TO CLEAN THEM.  But since that's the only way to get things neat and tidy I do it occasionally.  Clearly not often enough, judging by a few expired pantry items.

I also found that I have been loading them up a bit too much.  Oops.  That meant a trip to the hardware store for screws.

And the last thing I have to say today.....Jeanne, you are a genius!
Jeanne is my sweet, kind, smart sister-in-law.  She told me a tip on getting those dingy whites clean  (think of your "unmentionables").  Good taste dictates that I not actually show ours to you but believe me they are white.  Never looked better.

Jeanne's fabulous tip:

throw a dish washing soap pod into the load with your usual laundry soap and add a second rinse to your wash cycle.  Glowing whites, I promise.

 

I love to make infused vinegars. They make great hostess gifts this time of year.  Or give them to your  neighbors and teachers for the holidays.  One of my favorite flavors of vinegar is Tarragon.  I make the most yummy chicken salad with it.  It's also an ingredient in Bearnaise sauce.  It has so many uses.

Tarragon is a perennial herb, with woody stems  (think rosemary or lavender) and long, soft leaves that taste a bit like licorice.  You consume the leaves only.  At the end of the season, I cut my plant back and dry the leaves and stems. Just lay them out in a single layer on a paper towel-lined tray and cover with another layer of paper towels. You could use a dehydrator but I find that air drying works well in this case.  When the tarragon is dry, I discard the stems after stripping the leaves. Store them in a jar in a dark cabinet.  And the price?  So much less expensive than the market.

Some of the stems go into big glass jars and get covered with white wine vinegar.
After pouring vinegar into the jar on the left, I had to leave to attend to some laundry. Ten minutes later, I came back to pour the vinegar over the jar on the right and the tarragon in the left jar had already lost it's bright green color.  It tastes lovely in vinaigrettes even with the softer color.

After a few weeks, I decant it into smaller bottles, and add a few soft pickled stems .  I cork them and seal the corks to the bottle with paraffin wax.  When I get time, I'll make little labels to tie around the neck and gift these to friends for the holidays.  It is nice to include a recipe or two so that they know how to use the vinegar. 

The very best part of this whole process?  THE PRICE!  The little herb plant cost me $2.00 three years ago, and it produces every year, so I consider my herbs FREE !  The vinegar is white wine vinegar from Costco and cost about $2.50 per gallon.  One gallon of vinegar at $2.50 cents compared with $7.00 for 16 oz. of tarragon vinegar at the market; well worth the small amount of time invested in making it.

Tarragon Vinegar

2 cups of packed tarragon stems, with leaves

1 gallon of white wine vinegar

A sterile, non-reactive container large enough to hold the vinegar and tarragon

     (I use glass refrigerator bottles)

Pack the tarragon stems into the container.

Heat the vinegar and pour it over the stems. Cool.

Seal the container and let the tarragon steep for 1-2 weeks.

Decant the vinegar into smaller containers. Include a few stems of the herb in the bottle if you like.

Cork and dip the cork and part of the bottle neck in hot paraffin wax for longer storage life.

Tie a label to the bottle and include a recipe that incorporates the vinegar.

Homemade Marshmallows

There are so many things you can do with home-made marshmallows.

To make your own, all you need is sugar, water, corn syrup, unflavored gelatin and some flavoring.  I used vanilla in this batch, but mint, orange, cinnamon, almond...the possibilities are endless.  Add some food coloring or colored sugar for seasonal variety.

 

 

Homemade marshmallows are easy to make.  The only specialized equipment you need is a candy thermometer.  A stand mixer comes in handy but not absolutely necessary.

Pack some up as holiday gifts or as favors for a party.  Dip apples as a change from the usual caramel dipped variety.  Put them in gift sacks...I did up a sack to make S'Mores and one with sticks included for roasting.  Include a cute seasonal mug and some Winter Warm Up mix along with fresh Mallows for your favorite teacher.  Dip them in chocolate for your candy try.  After they are cooled, involve your children in rolling them in colored sugars or cutting them into fun shapes with cookie cutters.  You can even pipe this mixture into shapes like bunnies and chickens (think Peeps).

Try them and see just how easy and fun they are to make and eat.

Marshmallows

Parchment paper

Quick Release Spray (Pam)

3 cups granulated sugar

1 ¼ C. light corn syrup

4 envelopes (1/4 oz. each) unflavored gelatin

1½ C. water (divide into 2- ¾ C. portions)

¼ tsp. pure peppermint extract or vanillaPinch of salt

Chocolate for dipping (if desired)

Powdered sugar for coating pieces

Spray a half sheet pan (can use a 9 x 13 inch, but your candy will be larger) with quick – release spray. Line with parchment paper and spray it as well.

Stir the gelatin in ¾ C. of cold water. Set aside to bloom (soften) while cooking the sugar mixture.

In a heavy saucepan, place the sugar, corn syrup, remaining ¾ C. water, and salt. Bring to a boil and cook over medium-high heat until a candy thermometer reaches *240° F (or softball stage). Put gelatin in a mixing bowl. Pour the sugar mixture over the gelatin and beat on high for 15 minutes, until the volume has increased significantly. Add the flavoring during the last minute of beating.

Pour the candy into the prepared pan and let the candy set for at least 12 hours to dry. Turn onto a powdered sugar covered surface. Cut into squares with a clean hot knife, a pizza cutter, or dental floss. Roll in powdered sugar to keep from sticking. Marshmallows can be dipped into melted chocolate or rolled in sparkling colored sugar. Aggressively tap off excess powdered sugar before dipping.

*Adjust your temperature for altitudes above sea level ( I cook until the temperature reaches 230°F as water boils at 202°F instead of 212° F here ).  Do a water boil test to tell what your boiling point is before you start.

• I like to cut my marshmallows with a pizza cutter sprayed with Pam. 
•  Package up your mallows with some clean sticks for roasting. I use pruned shoots from my apple tree (make sure they are not sprayed with any chemicals). 
•  Include a chocolate bar and some graham crackers with your mallows and sticks for S'mores.
• Add flavored oils and spices for holidays. Apple Pie or Pumpkin pie spices are good. Ground Cinnamon or any flavored oils, such as peppermint.
• Food coloring can be added with the vanilla for colored mallows.
• Spray cookie cutters with Pam and cut out shapes. Your children will have fun with this.
• Put some hot chocolate mix into a cute container. Include a scoop tied around the neck of the jar to measure out a single portion, as well as the recipe for the chocolate mix.
• Make up a gift basket that includes hot chocolate mix, marshmallows and mugs.

Home Made Laundry Soap

I like Pinterest.  Mostly I Pin things that look interesting to me.  I've been wanting to try a home made laundry soap for awhile; so today I opened up a pin and gave the recipe a try.

I found most of the ingredients at my local super market but I could not find Zote laundry bar soap.  One blogger said that she bought hers at K Mart, so I checked all the Kmart's close by (and some not so close).  Nope...  couldn't find it.  I googled Zote and found out that it was made in Mexico.  Aha....a Latin market or maybe the local Walmart (they have a large selection or Latin products)? 

Woohoo..... lots of Zote in White and Pink colors at Walmart and it was cheap.

After reading many, many comments I decided to take the advice of others and purchased Oxi-Clean to add to the original recipe as recommended.  A few commenters said that they needed Oxi-clean to get the clothes white.  As I was mixing, I read the labels on the products and found that Oxi-Clean was very, very similar to Super Washing Soda.   I only added half the amount of Oxi-Clean.

And here it is.  It made a ton.  I hope it works as I won't be using it up any time in the remotely near future.  It filled a large 2-lb. tin that came filled with Garret Popcorn.  I put some soap in a small jar to take to the Stone House.  It sure is pretty and economical too.

I'll let you know how it works.

Homemade Laundry Soap

1-4 lb. 12 oz box of Borax

1- 4 lb. box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda

1 box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda 55 oz.

2 pink Zote bars, grated

1 small container of OxiClean or ½ of a 4-lb. box

1 bottle of Downy Unstoppables

Mix all in the food processor.  Store in an airtight container.

2 Tablespoons per load usually does the job.

*Update:  I love this soap.  It smells wonderful (the Downy Untstoppables are responsible as well as the Zote).  The Zote is clean smelling, unlike Fels-Naptha.
The Zote seems to clean the whites well, and the baking soda helps with the hard water.  This is a winner at our house.

Halloween fun.  Are we ever to old to carve pumpkins?  I think not!  Seems that they don't have real pumpkins in Puerto Rico; only Funkins.

It took some time to convince Nicole that the white pumpkin and the tall one on the front porch were real.  They are big...50 pounds or so.  Too bad we can't tuck one in her suitcase to take home.

The Old Iron Lady

22 years ago Rochelle called.  She had been asked to "round up" some friends who sewed alot to test a new iron.  We had to agree to use the iron everyday for 6 weeks and after to go to a focus group and critique the iron and say what we liked and didn't like about it.  Would I do it?

I will, I said.  "But I won't buy it!  I don't need an iron".  Surely this was just a sales gimick.  "I WILL NOT BE PRESSURED INTO BUYING THE IRON", I said.

Two days later... How had I functioned before she came into my life?
Six weeks later..."I NEED IT.  I MUST HAVE IT.  PLEASE CAN I BUY IT?????
PLEASE... PLEASE....PLEASE.   DON'T TAKE HER AWAY FROM ME, I'M BEGGING YOU".

That was we all said.  One woman absolutely refused to give hers back until they threatened to send out the police.  We were forced to return the prototypes to the store.  It seemed they were really NOT FOR SALE....REALLY. 
Two months later, the store called.  They would be producing the irons and if we wanted the prototypes they would sell them to us.  (The one woman had called every day for six weeks to beg and I guess she wore them down).  EACH AND EVERY TESTER bought her iron before the store changed their minds.

The iron was made by Passap for quite a while and then they sold out to another company and then it was eventually discontinued.  Several of the woman said their irons stopped steaming after many years and they let them go, but my Passap just labored on.  My drapery installer once forgot his commercial steamer to steam my new drapes and I offered him Passap.  He tried to buy her from me.....twice!!!!

Passap got "sick" last year.  She sputtered and spit and refused to steam.  Then one day she up and recuperated all on her own. 

Until last week.  I thought she was a "gonner".  There was no remission this time. After a quick checkup I diagnosed her problem.  She had a blockage; right below her reservoir.  I guess that happens as we age.   I felt a glimmer of hope.  B. and I did a little surgery.  We carefully opened her up and probed and stuck her.  Nothing.  I mentioned that if we only had an air compressor we could clean her out.  And B. said,  "I have a bike pump!"
It worked.  We put her back together and she is good as new.  And that's something for such an old workhorse.

It's not everyday you get to save a life.

Back Home

Pardon the long abscence.  I've been away with my family having a little R and R.

You might assume (judging by these photos) that we had a great time.
You would be absolutely right.

I'll be back to tell you more about our trip....just as soon as I get a large amount of laundry washed and folded.

Wood Butter

Do you PIN?  I decided it was time to start making some of the items I've pinned to my boards.  This wood conditioner went on a board some time ago and I decided it was time to get busy.  You can see my result in the jars above.  It takes only two ingredients; mineral oil and beeswax. 

I use mineral oil to seal my soapstone counters and it's inexpensive and easy to find.  Look for it in the pharmacy section of your market/drugstore. I found beeswax locally at Jones Bees (a bee keepers supply store in my city) and they will ship to you, but if you can find a beekeeping store or a soap/candle making supplier nearby you'll save shipping costs.  One pound of beeswax cost $5.00 and I used 1/4 lb. (4 oz.) for the amount I made.  For $6.00, my batch produced 3-8 oz. jars of the butter; half the cost of the jar I purchased from Williams-Sonoma a while back.

Creative Culinary said she dedicated utensils to be used in making this wood conditioner, but I found that it was easy to clean out my glass measuring cups.  I simply wiped them clean with several paper towels while they were still warm and then washed them in soapy water and wiped them again.  Beeswax and mineral oil are both safe to ingest unlike soap/candle making ingredients so I felt good about re-using my containers.  I did use a disposable cake tin and plastic knife to mix the oil and wax together so there was hardly any mess to clean up.  I put paper towels under the jars (yes, I spilled a bit) but I used the paper towels to rub the spilled mixture on my spoon handles so I didn't waste any.  You could use a funnel to pour the conditioner into the jars, but I didn't bother.

 I conditioned this whole pile (every wooden utensil from three kitchen drawers) of wood using just the stuff that was on the outside of the jars and on the paper toweling.  Why waste it?  My utensils sucked the conditioner right up and they look great now.  When the spilled mixture was gone I used a clean cotton cloth to wipe the cake tin out and spread that on the handles.  Let the utensils dry for a few hours and then polish them again.  My hands are nice and soft, and as the butter smells faintly of honey, I got to enjoy the honey without the calories.  

This wood butter took very little time and I'll be making more jars to package up for gift giving (maybe Christmas?).  Be sure to label them as Wood Conditioner.  They smell like honey and though it wouldn't hurt anyone to eat it, You don't want a Kitchen Incident.

Wood Butter

(this mixture is food safe)

1-16 0z. jar of mineral oil

4 oz. of beeswax

Heat the oil and melt the beeswax in two separate containers set into a pot (or two small pots) of simmering water.  Do not let the water get into the oil and wax.

When the beeswax has melted, pour both the wax and the oil into the same bowl and mix them together.  Immediately pour the mixture into jars and let them cool.  (You can see that the butter starts to harden immediately.  Seal them with a lid.

Use on wooden utensil handles, spoons, and salad bowls. 

*This mixture is safe for use on food related items.

I love fresh eggs.  I love everything about them; the bright orange of their yolks, the fresh taste, and especially the pretty shell colors.  I like the green and blue ones the most.

My family teases me because I tend to leave them in the fridge and look at the pretty color of the shells for a long time, which really defeats the point of fresh eggs, I know. My friend Parker gifted me these from his backyard coop. I think I'll look at them for a while longer.

Mail Call

Remember when you were a child and you were waiting for the decoder ring that you ordered from the back of the cereal box?  Remember the anticipation and thrill when the package finally came?

Well, this is what I get excited about as an adult and it was thrilling when I found it on my back porch.
This is a sneak preview.  Hopefully, there will be some finished projects in a few days.
Then another package arrived.  Two in one day; I felt like I got the decoder ring and a Crackerjack prize all at once.


Daughter Alert: Blog friends are real.

My daughters tease me sometimes about my "blog friends".  Well, they are real.  This is proof.
My sweet friend Eileen, who blogs at Little House Quilting, sent me this gift in the mail today.  I couldn't believe it.  She is a very talented lady and I love reading her blog.  These are hand knit and for those of you who craft, you will appreciate just how much time went into making these.  She also sent me an applique pattern that I had admired from her blog.    Thank you, Thank you Eileen.  She's been recovering from a surgical ordeal so be sure to send her Good Wishes when you visit. 

I have met such great people through this blog.  Thank you for your comments.  I do feel like I know you.  Maybe someday we'll get to meet in person.  I think blogging is not so much different from Pen Pals from days past (I had those too) and I love hearing from each and every one of you.

Crunchy Croutons

I made dinner last week for about 50 of my closest friends, who were assembling hygiene kits that were headed to the Philippines.  You might have heard of a potato bar; I did a "potato soup bar" with crumbled bacon, homemade croutons, chives, and cheddar cheese.  The soup was creamy and hearty but the hit on the buffet table seemed to be the garnishes that went on top, specifically the homemade croutons.  Judging by the recipe requests, many women had never had homemade croutons.

Recipe???  I didn't follow one but here's how I made them.

1 loaf of firm bread (1-2 days old) preferably a dense Italian or peasant loaf
2 tablespoons of salted butter
2 tablespoon of good quality extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons of freshly grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

*If your bread is fresh, slice it into 1/2-inch slices, and lay them on a sheet tray in a 200 F. degree oven for about 15 minutes to dry out the fresh bread.

Melt the butter and oil in a large skillet. Remove the crusts of your bread if you want the croutons fancy (sometimes I leave some of the crust on).  Slice the bread into 1/2-inch slices and then into 1/2-inch cubes. Put the cubes in the skillet and toss them until the oil and butter are absorbed.  Sprinkle them with some salt and pepper and toast the cubes, stirring them frequently, until they are golden brown and crispy.

When all the croutons are toasted and crisp, sprinkle them with grated cheese and lay them out on a sheet pan to cool.  The cheese will melt and stick to the croutons.  Toss them into a soup or a salad. 

*You can substitute other hard cheese for the Parmesan or leave it out completely.  Also, vary your salt variety salt or add different herbs and spices depending on how you plan to use your croutons.

These will keep at room temperature for a day or two, but they're best eaten the day you make them.

Retreating...My Week in Photos

First I went to beautiful Bear Lake to take in the clouds and the sunrise.  There was rumored to have been some major quilting, rug braiding, and knitting accomplished too.  And did I mention that those quilters can really cook?

View of the Lake from the deck

Then it was on to the Homestead where we watched the wildlife, stalked migratory Bald and Golden eagles, and marveled at the scenery. 

Deer in the neighbor's yard





 Bald Eagle taking flight;

Another one at rest



Saturday's sunset over our neighbor's house

Looking toward Mount Nebo from the West Fields



Looking past the church to The Homestead in the trees