Schmidts Farm in April

Apple Blossom Time...  the tree that produced the hundreds of
small, delicious apples last year is now loaded with white flowers.  Love looking out the dining room glass doors when we're eating, planning what I'll do with all the apples this year.

Of course I had to snip some branches for the table.   They don't last long inside, but they're beautiful while they do. 

In the herb garden, Oregano weathers over winter, something I hadn't known. At least here in middle Tennessee it does.  In my garden it does.  

And the Parsley weathered over too.

Seedling flats in the yard.  Tomatoes, peppers, more broccoli, Brussels sprouts.

Spinach coming along nicely.  Almost ready for that first tender salad.

Peas and Lettuce in rows, while the mint begins its trail around the sides of the bed.  Mint will take over a garden completely if allowed.  And it fights you when you go to pull it up.  Last year, Gary took some I pulled and planted it down by the spring in the woods.  And it all started a few years ago with one tiny mint plant.  It's Spearmint (Mentha spicata)

Close view of the lettuce and English peas.  Kind of got these out late, but I think they'll do okay.  I know the lettuce will.  We will trellis the peas soon.  Getting ready for salad time on the farm.

I Want to Wear White Socks

I want a clean kitchen floor.  I want it really bad.  I want it to stay clean always...in middle of the night, when I get up in the morning, when I go to cook dinner, when I come in from outside.

I have rugs and mats on the floor.  I guess they help a little.  But my kitchen floor still gets dirty.

I tried swiffering every day, even twice a day.  It stays clean for a few hours.

The true test of a clean floor:  Try Wearing White Socks!

I want my white socks to stay clean on the bottoms.

I walk across my kitchen floor, and my white socks are already dirty.  I take them off and drop them in the laundry basket.  Worn for about five minutes, and they're laundry fodder.

I don't like to wear shoes in the house.  I like socks.  I like white socks.  White socks that stay clean on the bottoms make me feel good and happy.  Clean white socks in the house.  My dream.

Isn't there a Dr. Seuss verse for white socks in the house?

February's Garden

 Gardening in Middle Tennessee means starting seeds indoors, or in a greenhouse or cold frame, for planting in spring, after last frost.

Last week we started broccoli and several varieties of tomatoes:  Early Girl, Bradley, Brandywine, and Celebrity.

This week we pick up grow-lights and buy more seed.

We're expanding the operation this year.  We did okay last spring, but always feel we could do better.  Always hoping for a bigger harvest to last over the winter.

Last week I used my last frozen Marconi Sweet Peppers for cooking.  Still have tomato sauce in the freezer and some peaches and squash. Oh, and a giant freezer bag of Last Spring's Strawberries, pretty and red.   Our homemade fruit jam got wiped out as Christmas presents, even the Winter Orange Marmalade I made in November.  Do I use those strawberries and make a batch of preserves, or save for a cold, dark day and make a glorious "fresh" strawberry dessert?

I have two cold bins of apples from our trees still in the back refrigerator that I need to do something with, while they're still good.  If making gluten-free pie crusts weren't so much work (for me anyway), every one of those apples would turn into apple pies in the freezer.  There's absolutely nothing like pulling a good, homemade apple pie out of the freezer to thaw and heat up in the oven on a busy day.

Last spring's broccoli was so plentiful and good, as were the Brussels sprouts, we're convinced these two veggies are worth increasing this year.  I'd love to have them in the freezer throughout the winter, using the last bags when the new ones are coming in.

First Broccoli Seeds Sown

Bradley Tomatoes in the Soil and Sun

Still got lots of seed to go, but I'm grateful we've at least got started...which is always the hardest part.

Pinterest Meal Management

Writing takes a lot of my time.  Add to that trying to keep the house together, clean and organized, doctor and dentist appointments, and I needed a streamlined plan for grocery shopping and cooking.

There's an app for that.

I'm a meal planner from way back, when I had four kids and and a job outside the home.  I got this from my then mother-in-law who planned her week's meals every Sunday.  She was also a penny-pincher, and that suited me because there was very little cash for groceries in my house.

 She would plan a roast for Sunday, beef stew for Monday, and so on and so on.  The "rubber chicken" type of planning.  If you're not familiar with it, it goes...A roasted whole chicken on Sunday, maybe a chicken and rice type thing the next day, chicken enchiladas might be next, all the way to chicken soup usually being the last thing.  Boiling the chicken in your crockpot is another way, separating the bones and skins from the meat and dividing it up for separate meals.

I still basically use this method, but I'm a lot more high-tech, having discovered how to streamline my process even better, and Pinterest is part of that, as well as some other great apps.

End of December, I put together a menu for the 31 days of January.  I've got a lot of writing I need to be doing, plus some doctors' appointments, yearly exams and the like, for myself as well as husband and son.  A lot going on.

I've been adding recipes to Pinterest ever since its inception.  That was the first amazing thing I jumped onto. I immediately saw this tool as my online filing cabinet.  A place for every recipe I gleaned from the web.

Rounding Up Your Recipes for Menus

As I have pinned any recipe I want to keep, I just go to Pinterest and find them.  Seeing a full-color picture of the dishes gives you ideas, and the process goes pretty fast.  I rounded up 31 menus in an hour or so.  I allow for leftovers on some days.  I pick my menus with my calendar beside me, noting the days we will be eating out or at church, or elsewhere.  Basketball season, we eat out most game nights.  If I see I'll be gone most of a certain day, I can plan a crockpot meal or soup and sandwiches.  I also have freezer meals for those occasions.

I've noticed that at the end of the month, I always have leftover menus--and the groceries to go with them--because you end up, for whatever reason, not using every single day's menu.  This is a good thing.  You've already saved having to buy as many groceries the next month.  


Printing Pinterest Boards:  I recently discovered the old fashioned "Control P" for print on Pinterest.  Open your board and simply pres Ctrl and P at the same time.  A menu opens up for you to print however you want.  I print to PDF, and then decide whether I want to physically print for my binder.  While the recipe itself isn't available, the web link below the picture appears.  This is a good backup, and a nice physical cookbook to have.


Organizing the Menus:

A lot of menu planners exist on the web, and I've used many, both paper and digital.  I still like to keep a calendar of menus in my notebook planner.  I'm one of those people who say, "What if the grid goes down?"  I need my lists.  One really cool thing about the monthly lists of menus is that you can use them all over again.  Talk about handy!

In my opinion, one of the best websites I've ever come across is Donna Young's Homeschool site.  Back when I homeschooled, about 10 years ago, I used this site over and over.  You can print out nearly any form you need for scheduling not only your students' studies and reports, but household  schedules as well.  Now she has even better, updated household forms you can download, including some great menu planners and even a members' submitted cookbook.  This helped me enormously when filling in my 31 menus.

Anyway, techie lover that I am, I like digital at my fingertips, on my phone and/or pc desktop.  I'm a Google Syncer.  My main calendar is in Google, which syncs to my phone. The home page on my phone contains a short list of my calendar, so I can see immediately what is happening for the net few days.  It's pretty easy to type in each day's menu on my calendar as a "Google task," and specify that I want Google to list my tasks in the calendar.

The Grocery List

Now that I know what I'm cooking every day, I can be at total peace about "What's for dinner?"   This is peace!    I never scramble around, moaning, "What do I do about today's dinner?"  I've been planning my meals this way for so long, I can't remember being stressed out about this facet of life.  I've got plenty of other things to stress about.

Having the ingredients for my menus is another de-stresser.  Sure, I might still have to pick up some items after my big shopping trip, but basically I have what I need.

This part is simple.  You just list all the ingredients from each menu.  On a piece of paper, or using one of those downloadable, printable lists where you put a checkmark in the little box beside any item you need, or you can type it in on your computer and print it out.

My favorite way is to have the list on my phone.  However, I do have a paper backup just in case.  You never know about that grid might be going down.

Recently I found what seems to be invented just for someone like me.  A Google app, ShopGlider.com.  It can be used on your computer desktop and/or digitally on your phone or tablet.  It has starter recipes you can use, and you add your own using categories. . Say you're having a party, you can have the menu items in just that category, and know when you go shopping what grocery items you need.  Check it out.  It might be for you.

I've been using Evernote about as long as it's been out.  It's an old friend.  It does everything.  I can't think of anything I can't make it do.  Before Pinterest, I saved all those pages from the web and gave them "tags."  Don't you just love tags?  I can put my grocery list in Evernote.  And, yes, Evernote syncs with my phone.  I use Evernote for a lot of my writing research.  It's the best thing I've discovered for any kind of research.  And, wow, EVERNOTE FOOD  has just come on the scene.

You have to see Evernote Food yourself to really understand how sophisticated this program is.  Hats off to some of the best programmers in the world, the Facebook techs.

Lastly, another very popular app is Cozi online, which provides your family with a...well, cozy calendar.  I've used it a lot and like it.  It just has limitations for me, but it is simple and easy to use and very well put together.  Cozi now has an iPad / iPhone app you can get to on Cozi.com's main site.

If you've made one of your New Year's goals to get a handle on the kitchen part of your life, you might like some of these ideas.

Part of my journey has been to cook wonderful food and have a great plan to help me.

Where the Journey Takes You

My journey has been to find many, many things:  answers, solutions, an abiding faith, peace, security, my strengths, self worth, and my great big family.  In finding family and stories, everything else I'm looking for falls into place.  Funny how that works.

Over on Rhine Girl, I've been lazy about posting the book's stories and, more importantly, the new finds that have turned up recently and unexpectedly...and where those discoveries lead now.

The holidays kind of kill me.  I get centered on the festivities and tune out  the rest of the world.  The older I get, the more it wears me out too.

But while I was living in the present, my Journey was unfolding behind the scenes.

My energy is revived.

Know that your journey goes on even while you're not actively pursuing it.

Once you set the wheels in motion

With Family History and Memoir writing, you invest a lot of time at the start.  You immerse yourself in research.  You stumble down paths only to hit brick walls.  You lose ancestors you thought were yours.  You give up sometimes.  You pick back up a lot.

You've started the journey in motion.  There's no turning back.

What is your journey?  What are you looking for?    

 You can read more on Rhine Girl about my new discoveries.

Best Homemade Gifts: Food, Fiber, Photo and More, Pt. 1

Part 1 Food

The Holiday Season is coming up fast.  It used to sneak up on me like a thief in the night.  There I was, out in the crowds frantically trying to snag last-minute gifts, when I wanted to be home baking cookies, or just enjoying sweet Christmas music while admiring my decorated tree and candles glowing in the windows.. 

I still have to do some shopping.  Let’s get real.  I can’t make everything. 

But I can make a lot.  And I do.  Right now I’ve got four knitted gifts on the shelf for gift-giving. 

I get into the full swing starting this month, November, and continue right on up to the big day.  I keep finding things to make…thank you, Pinterest!

Knitting and crocheting pretty much finished, I'm looking at food gifts now.  Here are some of my favorite.

I’ve had more raves on food gifts than anything else.  People like to eat!  We make jams and jellies in the summer months,  and some of these turn into Christmas gifts.  Just tie a ribbon or rafia around the top of the jar, and that’s it. 

I like to make winter jam, though, expressly for Christmas giving.  And one of the best I’ve made is “Christmas Jam” from my Southern Heritage Gift Receipts Cookbook. 

                                                                                                                      

Christmas Jam                                                                                                                              

1 (8-oz.) jar maraschino cherries, undrained

1 (20-oz). can pineapple chunks, drained

2 (6-oz.) packages dried apricots

3 ½ cups water

6 cups sugar

Drain cherries, reserving juice;  cut cherries into quarters and set aside.

Combine reserved cherry juice, pineapple, apricots, and water in a flat-bottomed kettle; stir well.  Let stand 1 hour.

Cook fruit mixture over medium heat 20 minutes or until apricots are tender.  Reduce heat; add sugar, stirring occasionally until sugar dissolves.  Bring to a boil; boil stirring frequently, until mixture registers 216 degrees on a candy thermometer.  Add reserved cherries, stirring constantly, until mixture registers 220 degrees, or until mixture sheets from a cold metal spoon.  Remove from heat.

Quickly ladle jam into hot sterilized jars, leaving 1/4 –inch headspace.  Cover at once with metal lids, and screw bands tight.  Process in boiling-water bath 4 minutes.  Yield: 3 ½ pints or 7 half pints.

The above jam is beautiful in the cute little Ball jars, colorful with the cherries.  It just looks like Christmas.  And it tastes scruptious.  I tied red satin ribbons around the jar necks, and that was that.

About three years ago, and again last year, I made Orange Marmalade.  Seems like schools in this area have the students sell oranges, and I always buy a box.  That’s why I decided to make the marmalade.  And citrus is just good in the winter months.  I’ve had more raves over the Orange Marmalade than anything.  It’s hard to make enough for us to keep because it is that good. 

 I used Sure-Jel from the grocery shelves for this one last year.  The recipe that comes inside the box uses lemons as well as oranges.

One warning:  Orange marmalade is not so quickly made compared to other jams and jellies.  The trickiest part is cutting the rind off the fruit and then scraping the white pith off with a sharp knife.  I hate that part, and Gary (my husband) did it for me last year.  Then you slice the rind into thin strips and boil them with baking soda before adding them to the rest of the fruit with the sugar. 

It always turns out perfect  for me when I add about a half-minute more to the suggested final boiling time.  I got that from my mother-in-law years ago.  She said she always extended the called-for boiling time for her jams and jellies about an extra 30 seconds.  Then she turned the heat off and let the mixture stand on the burner, while she got the jars out of the hot water and lined them up on a towel.  I do the exact same thing.

My Southern Heritage Cookbook, mentioned above, has a recipe for Orange-Lemon Marmalade, and it’s a good one, just a little longer to make.  I might make it this year again.

                                

                                                                                                                                               

Here in my community, neighbors take food gifts around to the houses to give.  One neighbor down the road makes homemade sausage.  We really look forward to that.  Another makes a tin of fudge, or cookies some years.  Cookies are the most popular.  My mother-in-law gave gifts of her homemade jams and jellies on Christmas day to the neighbors. 

We are a gluten-free household because of my youngest son having celiac disease, so all of our baked goods are minus gluten.  The best  cookie we’ve made, gluten-free, are the pressed spritz sugar cookies.  Last two years my son and granddaughter have made them.  They’re practically melt-in-your-mouth.

If you aren't gluten-free, you will still think they are one of the best, lightest cookies ever.

I can’t remember where I first got the recipe, but here it is:

  

  

Gluten-Free Spritz Cookies                                                        

2/3 cup sugar

1 cup butter

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

½ tsp almond extract

1 ½ cups white rice flour, ½ cup potato starch, ½ cup tapioca flour (or 2 ½ cups white flour blend like Bob’s Red Mill)

½ tsp xanthan gum (unless it is included in the flour blend)

½ tsp. salt

Cream butter and sugar.  Add egg and extracts.  Beat few minutes.  Combine dry ingredients and add to mixer.  Mix about 30 seconds.

Bake at 375 degrees for 6-8 minutes, until edges are lightly browned.  Watch carefully, depending on your oven, because these bake fast.

We decorate them by brushing tops with beaten egg white and then sprinkling with colored sugar.  Or making tinted confectioner’s sugar icing and using sprinkles. 

                                                                                                                               

One year I gave my nieces a basket of oranges with one of the Pampered Chef citrus peelers.   Another year I baked pies for them in glass pie plates they could keep.  They were newly married, so this was a good addition to their bakeware. 

Then I’ve made the hot chocolate mixes, which everyone loves.  The mocha mix was a big hit.  You can’t beat homemade fudge.  We like the Hershey’s Cocoa recipe, which I’ve made since I was a child.  We also can devour platters of peanut butter fudge, made following the recipe on the jar of marshmallow cream for chocolate fudge, switching the amount of chocolate for peanut butter.  This is one truly addictive treat.

I made a trail mix for my mother-in-law one year, after she’d eaten some of what I made to take on a long driving trip.  So I made her a bag of her own. 

I put just about everything in my trail mix…remembering we are gluten-free.

Nuts, both dark and white raisins, chopped dried apricots and cherries and/or cranberries, chopped dates, chocolate chips or M & Ms, as many kinds of nuts as I can (sunflower, pistachio, and walnuts or pecans make for a good texture).   Sealed in gallon zipper bags, these are good for a long time.

Homemade bread is a great gift, and even better if you wrap it in a pretty kitchen towel.  That’s a double treat gift. 

Since we can and preserve so many foods from our garden, we never run out of gift-giving ideas.  When our bees were doing well—I think our queen flew away—Gary always had jars of honey for gifts.  People loved them and continue to ask for more.  One year he sent off and bought those plastic honey bear containers.  We tied ribbons around the bears’ necks.  What a great gift that was.

In this economy, making your own gifts is a great way to save, and I’ve found over the years that everybody loves homemade.  Teachers, pastors, mailmen, school bus drivers, co-workers, bosses, friends and family. 

The teachers in our family have said repeatedly they prefer gifts of food rather than anything.  When I taught adult court reporting, one of my favorite gifts was Godiva coffee!  

Now is the time to get going, seeing what you can make, finding innovative containers and decorations, and stocking those edible gifts away for the big day. 

Part 2, Fiber, I’ll have my favorite knitting, crochet, and sewing gifts from past years and this year.  It’s more than just pot holders!

Part 3, Photo, features the gifts I've made centered around photos, including scrapbooks of course, but many, many others using pictures.


For anyone interested in the Southern Heritage Cookbooks collection, I found them on Amazon.  Mine were a Christmas gift many years ago.  I might order these for a gift for someone else.  There are so many recipes on the web now, it hardly seems practical to have hardbacks, but I kept the best on my shelves when I downsized.  All the rest, boxes full, went to our library.

Simply Special: Don't We All Have Special Needs?

Jeff is getting stronger every day.  He does man's work now.  He loaded these monster sized logs into the truck this morning.  Most importantly, because it needed to be done.  For no other reason.

He can't stand to see work left undone.

When Dad is tired and ready to rest, Jeff pushes on.    When Dad wants to move on to a new job on the farm, like this morning, Jeff goes ahead and finishes up the job left from yesterday.

Some people think people with special needs can't do as much as "regular" people, but they don't know our Jeff.

And they don't know that everybody has special needs.  You, me, everybody.  Think about it a bit.

Jeff has baseball tonight, Buddy Ball in Clarksville.  He's not as good as some of the other players.  But he can sure load a truckload of heavy wood.  And he will go out to the shed this winter with his wagon, when the inside firewood stack gets low, and stock us up for a few more days.

Just thought people might want to know this.

Apples & Prayers

Apples are weighing the trees to the ground this year.  So many to work with.  While I try to decide how many I'll can, how many for cold storage, I mull over the debate I did not watch last night.  Do I even want to watch a video or read the enormous mountain of comments?  I avoid Facebook for now.

Why is this election getting under my skin so badly?  

I feel like I want to scream out loud, "Leave me alone.  Leave me to my quiet, simple existence."  

Lies.  And so much hate.  So easy to see.    

Today I have apples.  I will store a lot in the two big drawers in the extra refrigerator.  I will can some to later use for apple pies and freeze pre-made apple pie filling.  

If I could buy refrigerated pie crusts for pies, I could fill my freezer with pies for the long winter.  Not so lucky.  Gluten-free pie crusts don't make up fast.  I have to do it though.  I have a boy who loves apple pies.  Don't we all?

I thank God today for my Apple-Peeler/Corer.  I've got the Pampered Chef one.  I celebrate the day I bought it at one of those fun parties.  

You probably think those apples on my counter in the above photo don't look like the beautiful, shiny ones you buy in the store. Ours are real apples.  No chemicals or wax shine on them.  Just plain, organic, crisp and sweet, real apples. Not even sure what kind they are.  My father-in-law planted the trees many, many years ago.  

I'll edit a chapter in my book and work on apples.  Keep my mind on what's good in life.  I think I'll make the "Frosted Big Apple Pie," from my Farm Journal's Complete Pie Cookbook," copyright 1965, that my husband's cousin Mary gave me as a gift a long time ago.  After we all flipped out over that Frosted Big Apple Pie she made.

Frosted Big Apple Pie

4 tsp. lemon juice

5 lbs. peeled, thinly sliced, tart apples (about 12 to 15 c.)

3/4 c. granulated sugar

3/4 c. brown sugar, firmly packed

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Confectioners sugar frosting

Egg Yolk Pastry:  

5 c. sifted flour 

4 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 c. lard

2 egg yolks

Cold water

Roll out half the pastry into rectangle and use to line 15-1/2" x 10-1/2" jelly-roll pan.  Sprinkle lemon juice on apples.  Place half the apples in bottom of pastry-lined sheet.

Combine remaining ingredients, except apples and frosting.  Sprinkle half the mixture over apples in pan.  Spread remaining apple slices on top and sprinkle with remaining sugar-spice mixture.

Top with remaining pastry, rolled out; seal and crimp edges.  Brush with milk and sprinkle with a little sugar.  (Cut vents or prick with fork as for all 2-crust fruit pies.)  

Bake in hot oven (400 degrees F.) 50 minutes.  When cool, drizzle with confectioners sugar mixed with milk to make a thin icing.  Cut in squares to serve.  Makes 24 servings.

Another good pie in the Pie Cookbook is the Orange-Frosted Apple-Raisin Pie.  Mary made that one too, and she made it like the "Big" Pie.  

I found it on Amazon.  Let me know, if you make the Frosted Big Apple Pie, how it turned out.  

Try to keep your life simple.  Think about apples.

Family Recipe Friday...Skyline Chili

Having been at Skyline last weekend in Cincy, learned they have a gluen-free menu!  Of course the chili bowl is usually what we get for Jeff, but the GF menu had things I'd never thought of.  

The Five-Way Potato!  Yes, a baked potato with all the fixins.  Or how about the coney dog five-way.

I always double (or triple) the recipe because it freezes really well.  

I love making it from scratch at home...the spicy aroma all through the house.  

Homemade Skyline Chili

• 1 quart cold water
• 2 lbs ground beef (I've also made with ground turkey)
• 2 cups crushed tomato
• 2 yellow onions, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa (allergic people can leave it out-mostly for color)
• 1/4 cup chili powder
• 1 tsp cayenne
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tbsp cider vinegar
• 1 whole bay leaf
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• cooked spaghetti to serve chili over, optional

Preparation:

1. Add beef and water to a 4-quart pot. Bring to a simmer while stirring until the ground beef is in very small pieces. Simmer for 30 minutes and add all the rest of the ingredients.
2. Simmer on low, uncovered, for 3 hours. Add water as needed if the chili becomes to thick.
3. Refrigerated the chili overnight, and the next day remove the layer of fat from top before reheating and serving.

The Cincinnati "Skyline" Chili Ordering Code

1-way: just the chili

2-way: chili served over spaghetti

3-way: chili, spaghetti, and grated Cheddar cheese

4-way: chili, spaghetti, cheese, and onions

5-way: chili, spaghetti, cheese, onions, and beans

All "ways" are served with oyster crackers.

Photos as Story Starters...Almost Wordless Wednesday

Sorting through old photos day.

Circa 1948, Grandpa's Morrow, Ohio Farm...Step-Grandmother Elva
Looking around corner holding baby.  On Steps, me holding sister
Phyllis, and is that cousin Ronnie?  Toby?  

Grandma Dean with arm around her mother?  Seems likely...
Great Grandmother Maria Weber Wehrle.  From my
Aunt Dorothy's collection.  Circa 1920

Very old photo of Hughes High School, my Alma Mater, when it was
much more modern looking, in 1961.  Photo from cincinnatimemory.org

.

Vine Street, two block away from our home at 2606 Sander Street,
in Corryville, where Phyllis and I used to walk to almost every
day just to window shop and browse through the "Dime Store."
Where I bought my paper dolls when someone gave me a dime to spend.
Location of the public library, where I hung out for hours upon hours.