If Ever ...

Photo by Mrs. Mac

my stove stops working completely, I'd search high and low for something like this .. then do a little remodel in the kitchen area to make a free standing wood cook stove fit in.  Of course, then I'd need a summer kitchen on a closed in porch for cooking when it's warm outside ... canning day would not require an apology for such a mess in the kitchen should company drop by :) ... you've read the story, "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" .. or .. " ...a Duck a Doughnut .. or ... Moose a Muffin" ... one thing leads to another.

The Homemakers Movement

I have been so pleased in recent months to see the number of women making their way .. or deciding from the get-go to be keepers at home.  With that said, there are still areas in my own home that need work. 

Organic Fruit Snack (barely touched while I was away)!

Earlier this month I was gone for nearly four days.  While I was pleased to have the family step up and take care of our youngest (disabled) child, it came at a cost meal wise.  Without my influence let's just say that highly processed foods were consumed.  It would have been best to have had some home made freezer meals available (that was not the case) .. and my family saw this as an 'opportunity' to eat junk.  I must continually teach my family about the importance of good quality food.  When 'mom' is gone, no one seems to care or make the effort to prepare nutritious meals.  More work and training needs to take place about the benefits of good nutrition, and ... yes, while junk food may not harm you if eaten every so often, I need to bridge the 'GAP' (or gape) in my family's food choices when I'm away. 

Tonight there is a sporting event on TV (don't ask ... because I don't remember;) ... pizza seems to be the food of choice.  With plenty of fresh tomatoes available, it will be homemade and healthier than from a pizzeria or the frozen food isle.  

A homemakers job is vital to the well being and health of her/his family. 

Replacing Dinner Plates

Beware of Cabella's dinnerware

I'm on a roll with rants about junk products.  You have to walk through a mine field when purchasing anything these days.  Three years ago my folks gave us a nice service of stoneware dishes, purchased no less at the high end outfitter store Cabellas. While the dishes themselves seem to perform well enough in the oven/microwave/dishwasher, the moose images have just about been scraped off from occasional use.  These were never used every day.  As you can see, the picture is from a salad plate.  Needless to say, I have stopped using them for fear we have been ingesting lead paint.  The plates were made in China.  Several wildlife themed coffee mugs purchased from Cabellas should have been marked 'for decoration purposes only' ... and who would buy them knowing that?  Seems the mugs were coated with a shellac type finish so the image wouldn't rub off.  These were marked 'not dishwasher safe' ... now I know why .. tell that to kids that don't read the fine print.

 

Of late I've been picking up vintage odds and end pieces of Homer Laughlin, Shenango, Syracuse and various other dish brands made in the USA that once graced diners and private homes.

Homer Laughlin & Shenango

I rather like the look of mix and match .. and at 25 & 50 cents to $1 a plate on days the thrift stores give a 50% discount, you can't beat the price.

Homer Laughlin

My favorite plates are the oval diner plates made of vitreous china (the same durable product sinks and toilets are made from;).  

Jackson China, hotel supply, Portland, Oregon

They are great to heat up before use to keep the food nice and warm.

I think it's time to pay Cabella's a visit to see about getting a refund.  Buyer beware! 

Junk Products

Since building our home in 2007, I have been very disappointed in some of the kitchen appliances.  We did not buy cheap .. but middle of the road quality/price.  To date, my microwave, dishwasher, and fridge have all needed some repairs.  Even the range, which had an electronic starter go on the fritz has been worked on.  Our high efficiency washing machine purchased in 2004 was replaced in 2006 with a less high tech model that uses more water and has no electronic brain.  I'm not sure the dishwasher will get replaced anytime soon should it completely go kaput; I can envision a nice calico curtain on a rod with storage shelves for my cast iron pans in this space.  Product quality seems to have been replaced with customer no-service ..  or at the least ... expensive repair bills (or extra insurance policies) that are about half the original cost of the product.  We need to re-invent quality USA made products instead of importing junk.  How did our country come so far as to send a man to the moon ... and yet have such poorly made foreign products for sale .. and a HUGE percent of the population out of work?  Government manipulation, big unions, and a less than united front in the workforce have contributed to this demise.  My pocketbook has been emptied .. but no more.  This same trend has not been just for large ticket items.  I have had countless small appliances (shall I mention coffee makers) that have stopped working just as the warranty expired.  Next up will be my rant about dinner plates!

Elegant and Frugal!

An organized kitchen workspace.

"  Give me half-a-dozen eggs, a few spoonfuls of gravy and as much cream, with a spoonful of butter and a handful of bread crumbs, and I can get up a good breakfast or luncheon,"   said a housekeeper to me once, in a modest boastfulness that became her well, in my eyes.

For I had sat often at her elegant, but frugal board, and I knew she spoke the truth.

Elegant and frugal dining room

"  Elegant and frugal!"   I shall have more hope of American housewives when they learn to have faith in this combination of adjectives.   

As quoted from:  Breakfast, Luncheon and Tea, by Marion Harland, 1875 .. part of  the "Common Sense In The Household" series.

For gaining much wisdom about domestic life, visit the 'Feeding America' website to read complete one and two century old books published in the United States of America.

To salt or not to salt .. butter that is.

For better butter .. try unsalted sweet cream butter; the taste is much fresher.  Salt is often added to butter to mask off tastes and used as a preservative.  There are many types of butter sold in the market.  In the U.S., most butter is of the salted variety.  You can buy some European butters that are made from grass fed cows/goats that are very dense and naturally yellow ... while I do buy these as a treat, they are often very expensive.  Lately, I've been buying unsalted sweet cream butter.  The taste is so much fresher and delicious compared with the salted variety.

What type of butter is in your fridge?  I'd rather use butter than the man-made 'plastic' version called margarine ... which is extremely bad for your health.  Another example of a marketing ploy to push cheap laboratory chemicals on to the public and touting them as 'good for you' ...

Betty Botter bought some butter,

"But," she said, "the butter's bitter;

If I put it in my batter,

It will make my batter bitter;

But a bit of better butter,

That would make my batter better."

So she bought a bit of butter,

Better than her bitter butter,

And she put it in her batter,

And the batter was not bitter;

So 'twas better Betty Botter

Bought a bit of better butter.   Betty Botter Poem of unknown origins

Painting by Carl Larsson, The Cowshed, 1905

Just Dessert

Last night we had dinner with neighbors and friends.  I was asked to bring the dessert.  OK .. I've given up sugar .. but caved in and made a lemon meringue pie ;)  The point here is that by keeping a well stocked pantry/fridge/freezer with whole food items, I was able to throw together a 'peach' of a pie in no time.  With the ingredients on hand, I could have made a chocolate, rhubarb, apple, cherry, or peach pie as well.  Who needs Betty Crocker or Sara Lee .. or Mrs. Smith?  It is far more economical to learn to make your own pie .. or cake .. or whatever, than relying on a boxed/frozen store bought product.  Take the time to learn to bake.  Teach your children how to as well; you will save money in the long run, expose yourself to far fewer artificial ingredients, and pass on a much desired skill to the next generation.  Bye-bye Betty!

A New Spice

... has been added to my cabinet;  ground chipolte peppers.  If you like chili powder, try to find some made from smoked chipolte peppers.  It adds another dimension to food without all of the added chemicals typically found in the canned peppers.  Our local health food store carries it in their organic bulk spice section.  It makes taco night more festive by adding it to the cooked meat and the refried beans.  It would be a good addition to homemade chili.  Give it a try if you enjoy spice.

Free Advice

... given to my 20 year old daughter (over the past five years;)

Don't be in a big hurry to move out until:

• College classes finished and no student debt
• A paid-in-full used car
• An emergency fund of $1,000
• Know how to balance a checkbook
• Only use a credit card if you have the money in the bank already ... and it can be paid off immediately ... better yet, don't have one.
• Learn to cook using whole foods

Advice I gave my daughter before she should ever decide to get married:

• Make sure you and your future spouse are equally yoked; both spiritually and philosophically.

• While you are a DINK (double income no kids), live on one paycheck and bank the second, even if that means living in a mobile home or tiny apartment.
• Stay home with your children while they are small.  Daycare is so expensive, and granny daycare (well, let's just say ... granny will be too old and worn out by then;).  They are only small once and the window of opportunity to shape their future is very slim.  If you have followed the DINK suggestion, then this one will be much easier.  You don't have to keep up with the Jones ... just a rambunctious toddler or two.

In The Dump Diet

If our western society would dump cheaply processed foods, supersized portions, excess sugar and white flour, and anything remotely modified ... get out and work in the garden, mowing the lawn, walking the dog ... moving ... and last but not least .. let common sense be the rule of the day instead of the governments stupid food pyramid, the population would be headed down a healthier path.

Things to chuck out of your pantry:

Any snack that comes in a box.  Replace with a piece of fruit or veggies and a good dip ... or just skip the snack.

Cake mixes and frosting in a can.  Cake should be a once in a while treat .. not something every day of the week.  Making a cake from scratch is not that difficult.  Take time to bake your own.

Anything that says 'Helper' ... such as in hamburger.  It's much healthier to just keep good food items stocked in the pantry and fridge or freezer to make your own quick meal.

Learn to cook.  It's not that difficult.  Practice on your family.  Don't give in to whiny kids pleading that there's nothing to eat.  Teach them how to make healthy snacks.  You will save lots of money and soon they will stop whining (I promise;).

Lastly, just dump shopping with coupons that are for junk food.  Since when does cheap food equate with healthy living?  You are what you eat.   Government subsidized foods are addicting for a reason.  

The Dump Diet is solely my philosophy, however ... continue eating the government recommendations at your own risk.

It's time to wake up from our comatose state and start feeding our families REAL FOOD.

Don't even get me started on school lunches ;(

What have you dumped from your pantry lately?

Small Batch Freezing

 We're still harvesting some green beans, broccoli, and sugar peas ... so every other day I'm blanching small batches of veggies, cooling and drying them off, and freezing single layer on trays .. then storing in freezer bags for use this coming winter.  It's amazing how fast the stockpile is growing from small batch freezing. 

Pine Nut Warning

This past week I made basil pesto.  A staple in our freezer during the winter months to mix with hot pasta dishes.  Nothing says summer sunshine on a cold blustery day better than pesto.  Now my four half pints have been dumped in the trash.  Why?  Because of pine mouth!  Last night I had a piece of toasted bread with peanut butter before bed.  For some reason I thought the bread might be tainted as it left a very bitter taste in my mouth.  Again, this morning I had a piece of cinnamon toast and complained about the bread.  I could not get the bitter-medicine taste to go away.  A computer search with the phrase, "bitter taste in mouth after eating" gave the typical medical problems such as diabetes and liver ailments as possible culprits.  Numerous links to articles attributing having eaten small pine nuts from China, Korea or Vietnam were also displayed.  Funny!  I had just made and eaten pine nut laden pesto the day before I got pine mouth.

My package of pine nuts was purchased at Trader Joes.  I do remember reading something about the countries of origin being perhaps Korea or Vietnam.  And ..  thinking back, I tried to buy pine nuts at Costco earlier this year with no such luck.  The pine nuts didn't smell rancid .. but they were a little darker in color than the larger variety I normally buy. 

If you eat pine nuts, please check out some of the links to see for yourself.  Please don't take a chance and end up with pine mouth ... it could take several weeks to go away!

Pine Mouth Puzzle
Bitter Taste ... Caused By Pine Nuts?
Risks Of Eating Pine Nuts
More Nuts
Emergency Medicine, Taste Disturbances

Simple Living?

I think SLOW living is a more accurate term than SIMPLE living.  Finding purpose in all homemaking, gardening, life skills is not easy (simple).  Adding one new skill and mastering it before tackling another one is important if you want to live SLOW and with purpose.  Living SLOW allows you to use and regain senses/skills that our forefathers used.  I can imagine that daily living was even more labor intense without running water and electricity in the home.  And having to drive a team of horses and a wagon as a mode of transportation ... would make your trips to town maybe be no more than once or twice a year.  I can understand the reason my mother-in-law wants nothing to do with canning, sewing, or SLOW living.  She was raised on a farm with ten siblings, no running water or electricity.  The amount of effort to live off the land and make clothing, put away food would be a non-stop job.  I'm sure one reason she has good health today is from her early years on that old farm.  Good food.  Lots of exercise.  Having to get along with so many people under one roof, working together.  This farm family survived the Great Depression from the resources on their farm.  Having the knowledge and skills to hand make nearly all of their necessities gave them the tools to survive.

If you're into SLOW living, please share a few skills you've had to learn.

Guest Room Bed Addition

For as long as I can remember, my idea of a guest room had to include lots of comfy beds ... and be a room set apart from the main living space that could be closed up until needed.

   Since we were able to build and design our own home several years ago, such a room was in the plans for the space above our garage.  I recently added another bed .. one discovered at a second hand store .. that I'm sure was under priced at only $80.  It's probably made from brass tubing and sand cast iron seeing how the pieces fit together with the side rails.  I primed it a rust color and added layers of oil rubbed bronze and a light spray of a metallic brown with a bit of the old brass color showing through to give it a well worn antique look. 

A trip to the Hospice Thrift Store netted a mis-matched set of double sheets ... look at the great wide floral border on the top sheet ... ($4.50 for the sheets and pillow cases).  The other bedding includes a king size white open weave blanket, an electric blanket, and floral coverlet with matching quilted shams, which were stored away and/or on the pop up trundle bed .. now stored underneath the daybed ..

vintage sheets

daybed with pop-up trundle can become a king bed

The accent pillow and winter farm scene picture were also thrift store finds.

This bed will one day sport the quilt I'm putting together with squares pieced by my late grandmother. 

Shopping second-hand and in the basement storage room made this new bed addition a thrifty find.

Home Preserving Tomatoes

This week and last have been spent busily in the kitchen canning various tomato recipes.  While I love to have tomatoes canned and on the shelf, it's nice to have some in the freezer too.  The recipe below is one that was handed down to me by a neighbor.  It had been given to her .. and I'm not sure of the origins.  I made it last year .. and was very happy with how easy it is to make ... it's slow cooking as I type.

Crock Pot Tomato Sauce:

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups onions, chopped
1-1/2 cups carrots, chopped
1 cup green pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 cups tomatoes, peeled and diced
1 - six ounce can tomato paste
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons oregano leaves
2 teaspoons basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoon brown sugar

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Cook the onions, carrots, peppers and garlic until tender.  Place vegetable mixture and remaining ingredients in a 5 quart crock pot.  Cook on high for 8 hours.  When done, cool then divide into 2 cup portions and freeze.  Yields 11 cups.

You can puree it a bit if desired in a food processor after it's cooked and cooled.