Preserving Food

Connie's Kitchen

 {From the Archives of Connie's Letters, July 2007.}

Part One:

Dear Housewives,

Ya know, when Wild man got saved and we had 3 more children my life was so changed. . I had to figure out how to feed a houseful of 6 children and a husband. . 

One of the first things I did was to pray for a freezer and the Lord got me one at a garage sale. . It was one of those big beasts from the 60's and I loved it. . When it died and couldn't be fixed . . . oh getting rid of it was like getting rid of an old friend. . 

When we first got the freezer in the mid 80's Danny would do acrobats on the handle of the freezer and we would yell at him to stop it. Finally, the handle broke off. . Oh man I about croaked. . So we got one of those elastic car carrier straps and hooked it to the door and to the back of the freezer. . And that is how it stayed for many years. . But it worked well. . and we forgave Danny for being part monkey. . 

Anyway, I had a huge garden and froze many vegetables. . And then I would buy vegetables on the fly from the back of the store for cheap as they were outdated. . so I might get a box of broccoli for a buck or cauliflower or whatever. . I would can some things like pickles but I froze more things as it was easier if I was dealing with odds and ends of vegetables. . 

Now some veggies you have to bring to a boil first and then take them out and put them in bags to freeze. . Here are some of the veggies you have to bring to a boil first or it's called blanching. . Things like green beans. . Just clean the beans and take the ends off and cut them up and bring to a boil. Then turn the fire off and drain them and then sack them up for the freezer. . You would also blanch cauliflower and broccoli. . Stuff like carrots, and beets and other root vegetables I never canned or froze as they will last almost forever in the fridge it seems. . Sweet potatoes I would blanch. . . ok some vegetables you don't have to blanch and are so easy to freeze. . 

For tomatoes just wash them and cut them up and put them in a bag and freeze them. . you don't have to blanch them. Also peppers of any kind are great frozen. . Of course you would use these in cooking and for making winter soups and stews. . Grated zucchini can be easily frozen in bags to make breads during the fall and winter, or it could be used to put in soups and casseroles. . If I ran low on cucumbers when making pickles, I would use zucchini instead and pickle it right in with the cucumbers. . No one knew the difference. Zucchini is wonderful for many things. . I used it to make an apple pie once and it was great. . You just cut it up to look like apples and season it like apple pie and bake it and no one knows the difference . . 

If during the summer I have the family over and say all of the veggies aren't eaten on the vegetable plate, I just throw it all in a bag and put them in the freezer for winter soups. . If you want your hot peppers to stay really hot, then you would want to dry them instead of freezing them. . I would take my whole hot pepper plant out by the roots and hang it up in the house. . The peppers can dry on the bush that way and you don't have to string them up to dry.

Part Two:

When we used to sell baked goods at the Farmers Market, we met Barbara who had 11 children. . She gave me some good tips on freezing food for the winter. . She said she always made her jams and jellies in the fall. . She would freeze her grapes and berries, rhubarb and other fruits. . Then in the Fall when all the rest of her canning was done, she would thaw out the berries etc. and make jam. . 

Things like green beans and corn you have to can up or freeze right away or they will spoil. . and that can take up the whole summer. . Making pickles is something ya gotta do pretty quick or the produce will spoil. . But jams and jellies you can have fun with in the fall if you have the fruit right in the freezer. . And it's fun to make jams and put them in cute jars to give away during the holidays. . When I bought fruit on the fly, I sometimes got whole boxes of different varieties of grapes. . I would freeze these to make jelly and also grape juice in the Fall. . 

You can slice up apples and all kinds of fruits to store in the freezer for winter use. . I have a wild plum tree, and I just freeze these plums whole as they are small and have a pit in them. . I make plum butter in the Fall. . I just put the plums in a pan and cover them with water. . bring them to a boil and boil until they are just soft. . Then just mash them with a potato masher and then strain them of the seeds and skin. . And if you end up with 5 cups of pulp then put in equal amounts of sugar. . 5 cups. . or 2 cups or whatever equal amount. . Then just boil this and stir it until it is thick and you will have made plum butter. . Then just jar it up for your winter pantry. . You can make peach butters like this too. . If I got grapes from the store that had no seeds, I would often make grape pies. . Just slice each grape in half . . you don't have to take the skin off. . I think this has to be my favorite pie of all. . Usually the grapes are very sweet, so you don't have to use a lot of sugar. . 

Love Connie

{Note from the administrator: This writing has been gleaned from the archives of Connie's letters. Find out more about the posts on this blog by reading this introduction. }

* Order Connie's book, "Dear Kitchen Saints."  It is autobiographical and tells the beautiful story of her marriage testimony! You will be encouraged in old time homemaking.* 

An Old Fashioned Family



{From the Archives of Connie's Letters. February 16, 2012.}




Dear Mothers,

I was the first-born in my family, and then I had 2 younger brothers. . . Dad fought in W.W.2.. .. and I was a Baby Boomer. 

But then Jim was born into an old fashioned family. . . He was the 12th child out of 13 children. My Mother was a modern Millie. Dad was an up- to- date guy.  But as a child I loved the old fashioned ways.

Jim was born into a well established old timey family. He loved just plain, black coffee ...and drank it with his meals sometimes. He would take my homemade bread, after it got hard, and he would then crumble it up in a bowl...put sugar on it, and milk, and eat it like cereal. . . He loved radish sandwiches. . The Old timers would make anything into a sandwich.  Jim would eat cucumber sandwiches too.  

As a boy he would work for some of the farmers in their town. . . He would spend all day topping onions. . . So he hated onions..  When we first married, Jim asked me to make bread pudding. . . I had no idea how to do that. . . I had never heard of such a thing. But I learned how and made many pans of  bread pudding.

Jim also loved hamburger gravy.   He loved anything with gravy.  Creamed Eggs was another meal he asked me to make. . . As a young wife I had sure never heard of that. . . All you do is hard-boil some eggs and chop up the eggs in a white gravy. .We would eat this on biscuits or just plain buttered toast. . . Our Mary loves creamed eggs too. . . Sometimes, if I had cheese, I would add some cheese to the white  gravy. . . Sometimes if I ran out of meat we would have fried potatoes and fried eggs for a late supper.

The old timers didn't eat a lot of snacks between meals either. . . Jim loved homemade cakes and pies and peanut butter cookies. . . But he didn't really want a lot of  store bought desserts. . 

In the summer, we loved our garden. We ate fresh tomatoes along with every meal, even for breakfast.  Jim loved plain tomato sandwiches too. . 

Love Connie

 PS Another thing Jim's mom made for her family, that I have never made, was fried bananas. . I think you just fry them in a skillet in butter. . and then put powdered sugar on them when they are done cooking.

* Order Connie's book, "Dear Kitchen Saints," - It is autobiographical and tells the beautiful story of her marriage testimony! You will be encouraged in old time homemaking.* 

Down Home Comfort Foods

Connie's Kitchen

 
{From the Archives of Connie's Letters. January 2010.}

In the summer when the fruit is so plentiful, its easy to make some good fruit cobblers with the homemade biscuits on top. . Just cut up the fruit or use berries. .

Add the sugar to taste,  and a little flour. . .

Bake the fruit until it bubbles then add the biscuits to the top. .

Bake until the fruit is bubbly and the biscuits on top are brown. .

I usually put a baking sheet on the rack below the cobbler in case it runs over. . If it runs over and gets burnt, it is surprisingly good like that. Same story with fruit pies.

Oh mercy this story is making me hungry. . Anyway I say all of this to say that if you learn to make good tasty biscuits, you can make a lot of GOOD DOWN HOME COMFORT FOODS.

Another quick dessert is to take your biscuit dough and flatten it with a rolling pin. .

Then put butter on it and cinnamon and brown sugar. . Then roll it up and slice it to make cinnamon rolls. . Bake in a buttered pan. .

Put the rolls close together, and cut them about an inch thick.

Another way to do this would be to put about a half stick of butter in the pan chopped up. . And sprinkle about a cup or so of brown sugar at the bottom. .

Then lay your cut biscuits over this . .When they are done,  flip the pan over on a plate so the gooey butter sugar mix is on top.


Love Connie

 * Order Connie's book, "Dear Kitchen Saints," - It is autobiographical - all about homemaking and family life. It also tells the beautiful story of her marriage testimony!* 

Homemade Chicken Pot Pie

Connie's Kitchen

 

{From the Archives of Connie's Letters. January 2010.}

After a chicken dinner, if any chicken or vegetables are left over, just cut up the chicken in bite - sized pieces and put it in a 9 by 13 pan.

 Add some vegetables. . Then cover all of this with gravy or cream of chicken soup . . diluting soup with a bit of water. . keep it thick like gravy.

Bake this in the oven until it bubbles. . Then take this out and drop your homemade biscuits on the top. . 
Crank the oven up to 450 to bake the biscuits.

This makes a hearty meal for a big family with rambunctious boys.

Yesterday I had to shovel as it snowed again. . Also I had to drag my trash to the front of the driveway over chunks of ice, covered in snow. . . Like walking on water?  Frozen water?  It was so slippery. . The cold made me so hungry for biscuits and gravy last evening. . That's what I had for supper . . and potatoes. . It was so good.

One way I used to fix potatoes for our big family was like this:  Just wash the potatoes and leave the skin
on. . .Slice them in half lengthwise and lay them in a baking pan, with oil, cut - side down. . Salt and pepper them and bake them like this in the oven. . We ate these potatoes with ketchup. . I flip these once in the oven so they get done well. . I used to bake these on my cast iron griddle. . I planned to make soup yesterday. . But the biscuits and gravy and potatoes won out.

Love Connie

 * Order Connie's book, "Dear Kitchen Saints," - It is autobiographical - all about homemaking and family life. It also tells the beautiful story of her marriage testimony!* 

Living From Scratch

 {From the Archives of Connie's Letters. January 2010.}


Part One

Well I wanted to write in the subject line,"Cooking From Scratch."  But really I want to write about living from scratch. 

I went to a prayer meeting yesterday.  I had a lot of fun with Terry and her husband ..They took me out for lunch after the meeting.  I just loved it.  Terry's new husband Joseph is very spiritual and interesting.  This couple is loving and humble and know what true treasures are.  Anyway they want to buy an acreage and live off the land.  At lunch we talked about how to make cheese etc. .

Back in the old days when we decided to homeschool, it was against the Iowa state law.  So we quit getting any help from the state like food stamps etc..  For me it was like getting hit over the head with a sack of potatoes ..  With food stamps, I had 500 a month to spend on groceries.  Jim could only afford to give me 200 a month out of his paycheck for groceries.  But that was okay with me.  I knew he was being honest about it.  He had to pay the house payment and the other bills.  We had to keep a roof over our heads.

We had 6 children to care for.  Well 5 at home at the time.  Jimmy [the oldest] was in the Navy.  But he came home often ..We all missed him a lot.  I had an idea of how to cook from scratch only, but hadn't done it as a way of life for so many people at one time.  It takes a lot of planning.  You can learn to cook from scratch ..You can learn about herbs and gardening, saving your own heirloom seeds each year to plant in the spring.

 Ya know we women should stay home more.

You can quit going to the Beauty Salon to get your hair died, permed, and frizzed.  You can wear a scarf on your head and forget it.  Scarves on your head make you look mysterious, like you are up to something. Or better yet wear a cowboy hat with your apron.  Just stay home and learn womanly ways.  The old time Mothers got up with the chickens and started biscuits or bread of some kind for the day.  She spent time in the kitchen.  I always got up early too, usually to write.  But when I got up I would always be thinking of feeding my army.

So while I wrote, I was frying a pound of hamburger with onions for an afternoon Hamburger, Vegetable Soup.  I made the soup here and there as I passed the kitchen. . . Writing, thinking, cleaning vegetables as I went about my morning.  It was a way of life. . . I kept the morning quiet ya know.  I didn't vacuum. . just did what I had to do as it was my time to write and pray.

But then about 6:00 in the morning I got the kids up for homeschool.  They showered and helped with chores, and I fed them breakfast.  But then I didn't have much time then to fix a lunch.  I was so busy with the kids and school work all morning.  But that meal made in the wee hours of the morning saved me for the day.

Also I would start my bread early too if I needed to.  If we had to go some place in the morning, we had that meal to come home to.  Otherwise we would have been tempted to buy fast food that we couldn't afford.  And I would be exhausted when we got home after getting up so early in the morning.  So to come home to a big pot of vegetable soup was such a comfort.

And after lunch I always rested.  This was when my children did their reading for book reports.  I rested for a few hours.  Then back to the kitchen to do more cooking.

Part 2

 I loved to see Wildman buy a 50 pound bag of potatoes and haul them over his shoulder at the grocery store.  Or 25 pounds of flour over his shoulder.  Oh what a cowboy I married.  He brought home the bacon and his wife fried it. I worked like a dog keeping up with Wildman and his seeds.

His 4 sons were creative like him, and still are.  Our home was dominated by boys growing into men.  The boys sat at the table and watched Jim heap his creamed peas or corn over his mashed potatoes and gravy, and they ate the same way.  Well not Jimmy as he was too educated to do such a thing.  David always says "Are you sure Jimmy is one of us?"  Jimmy was raised as an only child by primarily a hippy Jesus freak ..that would be me.  My life was a fright and I was afraid to have another child.  But then when Jimmy was 7, I got the Holy Ghost and thought I could do anything.  So I preceded to have 5 more children. . What the heck. .

I had to do a lot of creative thinking to keep my family afloat.  I did a lot of praying, on and off.   As my washers and dryers would break down, I used a wringer washer, and my back yard clothes line.  I used an old garden rake to hold up the middle of the clothes line rope as it sagged.  I didn't have a drain to drain the washer so I drained it into buckets.  Then I had the kids take the buckets out to the garden and water the vegetables.

I loved my 2 wringer washers.  I wasn't wasting water.  I did 3 loads of wash at a time.  Well I could use the same water for a 4th load to do rag rugs.  Anyway you can still buy wringer washers.. I know the Lehman's catalog has them.  Wringer washers save on so much water.  And it's easy to use your used up soapy water for the garden.  The soap in the water keeps the bugs out, especially in a cabbage patch.  And in a drought, the water comes in handy.

Anyway I used my wringer washer to wash all of our clothes.  Also I made my own laundry soap. But I used lye and I guess ya cant get it now at the stores.  Maybe from Lehman's catalog or on the internet.

It was a lot of work to live like we did.  But to me it was a mission or calling.  I believed God had given me my children to train for Him.  I knew I wasn't to go out to work.  So I knew God had a plan for me.  I knew He could teach me how to make it on only 50 bucks a week for everything.  I didn't know how . . .But God showed me in the wee hours of the morning when I would get up to pray.  I was confident that He knew what He was doing. . . I knew I didn't. . . but He showed me.

love Connie

 * Order Connie's book, "Dear Kitchen Saints," - It is autobiographical - all about homemaking and family life. It also tells the beautiful story of her marriage testimony!* 

Mother's Homemade Light and Tasty Biscuits

Connie's Kitchen

 
{From the Archives of Connie's letters. January 2010.}

Good Morning Happy Housewives,


  Here is the recipe and tips for light and tasty biscuits.. I feel that making biscuits is an art.  And it takes practice to get them to turn out like you want them.  But just practice.  And the ones that don't turn out, just throw them out the door to the birds.  I had to throw a lot of my brick biscuits out.  One day we saw a squirrel running down the street with my biscuit in his mouth.  He liked "Mother's Home Made Biscuits."

Ok the recipe for biscuits is on the can of CLABBER GIRL BAKING POWDER, Probably on any
can of baking powder... But that's an awfully small amount of biscuits just using 2 cups of flour. . Ok for a family, use 4 cups of flour. . . Anyway, turn on your oven to 475 first before you do anything else.  Biscuits have to have a hot oven or they won't turn out okay.

Get out a big bowl and put in 4 cups of flour, and 2 Tbs of Baking Powder..Some salt and a lil sugar, a half tsp of both?

Mix this up and add almost a cup of lard or shortening of some kind. . . Now just work the shortening into the flour mixture with your fingers. . Until the mix looks like cornmeal sorta. . Just work all the shortening in to the flour.

Then add a cup and a half of milk.  Stir this up to make a biscuit dough. Like you are playing with play dough.  Add flour to your work surface so it won't stick. . not much flour.  I barely pat my dough together.. Just mix it up good enough so it doesn't stick to your work table.

Then cut out the biscuits with a floured tin can or cookie cutter or just a drinking glass?  Set the cut outs on a greased cookie sheet,  and pop them in your preheated oven and bake about 12 to 15 minutes, or until brown.

Don't use a rolling pin on these biscuits.  Just pat the dough into a mound.  I cut my biscuit dough to be about an inch high.  Or you could just drop the dough on the cookie sheet like cookies..I just always cut mine out.

Love Connie

 * Order Connie's book, "Dear Kitchen Saints," - It is autobiographical - all about homemaking and family life. It also tells the beautiful story of her marriage testimony!* 

Storing Food for the Winter

{From the Archives of Connie's Letters, December, 2012.}


If I got up in the morning and said to Jim.."Honey we need a miracle today." he would say, "Well we have needed one before..."

Well, yes we lived in a nest planted on a branch that hung over troubled waters........As long as ya didn't look down you were ok.. God often made a way for us where there was no way...Often I prayed for food.  We had 6 children to feed..One day in prayer the Lord told me to clean out my cabinets as the Lord was going to give us a lot of food.  And that was when I started buying the fruit and vegetables at the back of the store that was outdated...  I would pay like a buck or 2 for a box filled with lettuce..Most of it would be good but some of it not so good.  So I would throw the rotten parts on my compost pile. . I would have a garden in the summer with mostly tomatoes and green peppers..and cucumbers.. I always grew herbs and country flowers around the house.. I dried some of the herbs and some I froze..I loved the different basils and I would plant them in pots and then bring the basil pots into the house when the weather turned cold.. The basil would last a few months in the house by a sunny window..

At times I would get up to 15 boxes of produce from the back of the store..You had to take all of the leftover produce or not at all.  Once we got about 4 boxes of bananas..Oh mercy the boxes wouldn't even fit in the car..So we took all the bananas out of the boxes and stuffed them in the car in every available place..I had this huge freezer we had bought for a song...So I froze a lot of the bananas just as they were in the skins..  These are good for banana breads..or I would just put them in regular yeast bread.. Now this was back in the 1980's.. But we lived on about 50 bucks a week for food. . In the produce boxes I would maybe get a whole box of grapes.. I would just freeze these .. I would take the grapes off the stem and put them in Ziploc bags... I made grape juice by putting the washed grapes into a gallon jar..Then I poured boiling water over the grapes..Then a few cups of sugar..Then you just let it sit for a few days .Then sift the grapes out and throw on the compost pile. You could make a lot of grape jam too.. But I had grapes growing in my backyard and so I used these for making jam in the Fall.

I got a lot of fruits like apples and all kinds of different fruits..So I would freeze the fruits in Ziploc bags..And then in the fall when most everything was stored away, canned or dried.. Then I would make jams and jellies..We had a wild plum tree and in the Fall I would make plum butter..and can it..I didn't can the stuff from the store because they spray a lot of it ..And washing the fruit doesn't get all the spray off.  So to store the produce from the store I would freeze that..  But I made ketchup and tomato sauce etc. from my fresh tomatoes from my garden...  And about my tomatoes.. If I was real busy and didn't have time to can my tomatoes ..then I would cut them up and freeze them..Then I would use these tomatoes for chili or any kind of tomato based soups.. You can just throw these tomatoes in frozen.. I didn't even peel them if I was in a hurry, because the peeling will float to the top in the hot soup anyway and you can just ladle it off and throw the peeling away..

I guess I think to write this as winter is coming. . And it was always harder to feed my children in the winter then in the summer..love connie

* Order Connie's book, "Dear Kitchen Saints," available on Amazon. It is autobiographical and tells the beautiful story of her marriage testimony!* 

Real Homemade Corn Syrup

i live in Iowa ..and this is where alot of the country's corn comes from..So i will freeze some corn and also make corn syrup..I just put the cleaned ears of corn in a big pan and i bring it to a boil on the stove..i let it cook a few minutes..Then i take it out and cut the kernals off with a big knife..i put it in ziplock bags and thats it.Its ready for the freezer..ok then measure the water you cooked the corn in...Then put it through a colander to get all of the leftover corn, or whatever, out..So say its about 6 cups of water you had left..prolly more like 4 or 5..Anyway if it is 4 cups of the corn water strained then put in 4 cups of sugar in the pan with the 4 cups of water..And you bring this water and sugar to a boil and then let it cook a while..Keep stirring it until it thickens and is like pancake syrup..You may want to add a lil salt and some vanilla..Maybe a lil nutmeg..when its done just put it in the frig and it will thicken..You cud just put it in a big jar for the frig..The kids will eat it on pancakes if you dont tell them its corn water..love connie

 

* Order Connie's book, "Dear Kitchen Saints," available on Amazon. It is autobiographical and tells the beautiful story of her marriage testimony!* 

A Morning Homemaking Visit

Good Morning Ladies,

Lately i have been thinking about Household schedules again...Ya know when i was a young housewife i used this schedule from this little book a friend gave to me...One of the most important things i read from this book was this......Start your evening meal preparations right after breakfast...Like for me today..i plan to have Sloppy Joes for supper this evening..and a Pasta salad...So i will fry the hamburgar and cook the pasta this morning..Tomorrow afternoon i am having 2 friends over for lunch..I have to vacuum livingroom and dining room and scrub the bathroom etc...So i am going to make the Salad and the sloppy Joe mix this morning..while doing my cleaning....That way i can make an evening Sloppy Joe sandwich to see if it is good enuf for company .Haha! No.. i am making enuf for several meals...along .with the Pasta Salad too.... Another easy fun thing to do is to just clean the kitchen and scrub the kitchen floor as  you cook,, each day..i used to always have a sink load of dishes to wash when i got up in the morning,,So most of the time i had to wash the dishes before i cud cook..No big deal,,just do it...............................ok heres the recipe for the Sloppy Joes...Now i must tell you... this friend of the kids said these were the best Sloppy Joes he ever had,,A pound of cooked hamburgar mixed with a can of tomato soup is all it is...Heat it up of course..Well that is a simple recipe ..and with 6 kids thats all the time i had .on some days...But now that i have more time i wud put a squirt of mustard in it...Some pepper and a lil brown sugar and salt ..just a bit...And the macaroni salad is so simple..Just cook the macaroni and when its done just put it in a bowl,..Put in alot of raw cut up veggies and add Italian dressing ..Stir it up and put in frig to let the flavors mix together..and to chill.. For veggies i will put in a red tomato from my
garden..and a purple onion..Broccoli and yellow and orange peppers...Have a good day ladies...love connie

 

* Order Connie's book, "Dear Kitchen Saints," available on Amazon. It is autobiographical and tells the beautiful story of her marriage testimony!* 

Summer Baking

When my children were home ..wow what a busy time..Mary was born the yr Jimmy graduated..and left for the Navy ......Jimmy was our first child and Mary was our 6th..and last child...Having a houseful of children and a loving husband was so wonderful.Oh we had our problems like anyone else..But once Jim was healed we had a happy life for the most part..In the summer ..it was so hot in this big house..We had fans of course but no air-conditioner !!! i had to do my baking at nite in order to keep the house cool..We had homemade bread most the time..well since i am here alone i dont bake as much..Boy do i miss the homemade bread..Today at the store i got a loaf of white bread..it looks pretty bad too..i will have to make some bread ..i miss it so much...i always cooked from scratch and i loved it..i made home made dinner rolls and bread sticks and cinnamon rolls..Jim used to make Monkey Bread for our monkeys{kids}..hahaha..These were the HAPPY DAYS !!!
love connie.

 

 

* Order Connie's book, "Dear Kitchen Saints," available on Amazon. It is autobiographical and tells the beautiful story of her marriage testimony!* 

Making Groceries

{From the Archives of Connie's Letters, May, 2011.}

Ya know yrs ago when the children were all home and Jimmy in the Navy we wud get so low on groceries,,i wud be up in the nite prayin about it,,So early in the morning i wud start cookin and baking..Usually i wud make Hamburger Soup...with vegetables in it..or just carrots and potatoes in it..I wud make up a big batch of bread dough and make bread and rolls.And often i made Granola..i wud buy a big box of the Old Fashioned Oatmeal not the instant,,Anyway if i only had Oatmeal to make it then thats all i used,,i wud mix up about a half cup of honey and half cup of oil and bring that to a boil and pour it on my big roasting pan of dry oatmeal..And then ya bake it until it is brown,,Then we ate this like cold cereal..After it is baked you cud add raisins or the dried cranberries,any dried fruit..,But never bake the dried fruit in the oven it will come out like rocks..If the honey cost too much i wud use brown sugar instead,,Now if ya got some nuts put them in with the oatmeal to bake..or sunflower seeds or whatever,,If we were going some place in the car i wud make lil bags of granola for the kids to eat in the car...i wud add choc chips to this,,We called that Trail mix..Then i made Gorp ? too..That is peanuts with raisins in a jar..For snacks in the evening i wud make old fashioned cooked on the stove popcorn,,If i made homemade pizza i made popcorn to go with it,,.The pioneers used to eat popcorn with milk and sugar on it..For supper sometimes i make old fashioned popcorn and eat it with apples..You can buy alot of popcorn in the bags for hardly nothin,,and it tastes so much better then microwave popcorn,,i just make it in a skillet on the stove..love connie

 

 

 

* Order Connie's book, "Dear Kitchen Saints," available on Amazon. It is autobiographical and tells the beautiful story of her marriage testimony!* 

An Old Time Kitchen

{From the Archives of Connie's Letters, May 2005.}

And ya know if ya make jam or jelly and it dont turn out or set up then pack it
 in your cupboard and use it for pancake syrup..Or you can use it in bread for a
 cup of the liquid..Or in muffins or whatever..The old time mothers didnt use
 recipes.they used what they had in the cupboard and nothing was wasted..I use a
 pressure canner to can beans. Yet the old time mothers didnt use .anything but
 the waterbath method to can their beans..For my tomatoes i use what we have
 always called the "open kettle method"..I just have 2 pots on the stove..One is
 the tomatoes boiling and the other is the jars and canning lids and rings
boiling..And then you work quickly to fill the jars while everything is boiling
 ..Then you cap the jars and you are done..I think Kelly does this in a more
 simple way..Kelly when ya have time wud you tell the ladies how ya do it? With
 my way you have to work real fast and make sure the children arent around at the
 time..or they cud  get burned from splashing hot water..I am thankful to say i have never burned
 any of my children during canning time..But my kitchen is so small that there is
 no room in there for more than one person anyway.I have the Little Rose today
 ..later this morning..Jim used to help his mother can when he was a boy. She
 canned outside and it was Jims job to dig 2 fire pits and put bricks around
 them for the big washtubs to rest on..One wash tub held the jars and the other
 one held the food to be canned..Mom Hultquist made all sorts of things in her
 washtubs..She made ketchup , pickles and canned many vegetables for the
 winter..She made rootbeer for the neighbor children in her big wash tubs...She
 canned her corn on the cob on the cobs in big jars..She made many different
 kinds of pickles.All the old timers made a barrel of saurkraut for the winter to
 keep in the root cellar..But you can make saurkraut in a few canning qt jars.Its
 easy, it just has to ferment.  I am good at fermenting.  No snickering from the balcony..thanks you so very much..In the fall i make blender ketchup,Jim loves it and even puts it on his
 fried potatoes..it is so delicious !! i make it in the fall after all the other
 good tomatoes have been canned...My sister in law Kris used to let me come and
 glean the rest of her tomatoes she didnt want in her garden after she had canned
 ..And in the fall i wud take the less than perfect tomatoes and clean them up
 and make tomatoe sauce and ketchup..Kris had the big farm garden and often
 planted extra for me, plus i had my own town garden..The old time Mothers wud
 make picklelilly in the fall...Just before a frost they wud pick the last of the
 vegetables in their gardens..They may have a handful of beans and some small
green tomatoes and some onions and dill..A few small peppers ..and a few
cucumbers.Some lil heads of cauliflowers, cabbage or brocolli.that grew back
 after the big heads were  cut..But whatever it was they picked it as they wudnt waste anything..They wud  take these odds and ends into their kitchens and put it all thru their steel
 grinders mixed with vinegar, sugar, fresh herbs and spices....And they made a
 pickle relish and canned it for their winter family tables..Most old time
 families had pickles on the table for most every meal and snack..Also homemade
 breads and berry jams and home churned butter..And this was not so long
 ago..And we can do all of this now if we need to or if we just put our minds to
 it..And Mom Hultquist had to have all her canning done by Saturday as she needed
 the wash tubs for the Saturday nite baths.Then Monday she had to have them for
 wash day.She had 13 children and never lost one thru any kind of neglect..That
 says alot for her..Never had a miscarriage.and raised her children right thru
 the Depression era..What a woman..Love connieh

Homemade in the Old Time Kitchen

Part 1

Dear Mothers, Do you know how to make homemade noodles..? Here is how i
make them...I get out my middle sized crock bowl and i throw in about 2
cups of flour..Then i rub in about a Tbs of butter... and a lil salt..Then
i make a lil well of flour ..and into the lil well i add 3 eggs if i have
them if i dont i just add 2 eggs..And then i stir them all up..Make a dough
out of the mixture like you wud play dough? If it is too dry add a lil
water.If its too wet add a bit more of flour..But it shud feel like play
dough..You have to have your dough dry enuf so you can roll it out..Ok now
i used to roll my noodles out on my table ..i always had a plastic table
cloth on my table because i had no space to roll dough out. . .. No counter
space...i have some now as Mary and Brad remodeled my kitchen,,But you can
buy the plastic tablecloths at the Dollar Store..Thank the Lord for the
Dollar Store..!!! Anyway to roll this dough out just sprinkle some flour on
your work space and roll your dough out with a rolling pin..Or use an old
washed out wine bottle or something like it.Wash the bottle really well and
dry it good..Then just roll the noodles out very thin,,,but not so thin you
cant get them off the table..Ok just roll your dough out and then cut
strips with a pizza cutter..Or just use a sharp knife..Have a big pan of
water on the stove and when you are ready to put the noodles in the water
...it shud be boiling ....But dont put them all in at once..Just cut some
noodles and put them in and then cut some more and put them in..Other wise
you will get them all stuck together..Boil for about 20 min or so..Just
stir them gently ..whenever ya think about it. continued

Part 2

Dont worry about cooking the noodles too long.. i have made homemade
noodles with vegetables and i have cooked them all day and they are so good
and tender..Like if i had a beef roast for supper ,,then we wud have left
overs..So i wud just add some more vegetables..to the pan and cut up the
left over meat...i wud then add water to the pan and a can of tomato
soup..stir this all up..Then add the freshly cut noodles.. Just a couple
handfuls of noodles..Then i put this all in the oven to bake. This is a
delicious meal..The noodles will float to the top and brown ...i wud bake
this at 350 degrees, for about 45 minutes..or until the noodles are brown..
dont forget to salt and pepper this..I use garlic too..Ya know if we
homemakers can learn some basics then we can save alot of money..Like to
learn the feel of the pie dough and how it differs from biscuit dough..I
mean for yrs i cudnt make a decent pie. i was so used to making biscuits
..and i just cudnt understand how to make pie dough..i mean i made pies..they looked good
but oh man the crust was like cement..But one day i was watching the
cooking channel and some one on there told us the diff between pie dough
and biscuit dough..Ok here it is..When you make biscuits the dough can be
shaped ..like into a ball.. It holds together,,But pie dough will fall
apart when you try to shape it..You will want a real flaky dough for
pies..Pie dough is very delicate..and it needs to be cold when you use
it..Pie Dough has more fat in it then biscuit dough..But ya know each cook
is different.. But just try to make a nice pie crust from just flour ,
shortening , and cold water..i have made all kinds of pie ,,,it is my
favorite desert.. ..And also learn to make muffins..Learn the secrets of
good cooking.. And when you get low on groceries..but ya still have flour
in the cupboard..and maybe some hamburger and some potatoes then the sky is
the limit..love connie