Spetzla

In 1817 about 300 Germans came to America and started a commune. The English Quakers helped finance their travels and the purchase of 5000 acres of land in Ohio. This land became known as Zoar. From Field To Table by Hilda Dischinger Morhart is a collection of original Zoar recipes. This is a small 52 page paperback that is spiral bound.

I chose to make the Spetzla from this book.

Spetzla

2 cups flour
1 egg
1 tsp. salt
water

Mix flour, egg and salt with enough cold water to make a very stiff batter. Beat until very smooth. Drop by teaspoonsfuls into boiling water and boil until they come to the top, about two minutes. Drain well.

The Spetzla can be added to soups.

My approach was to brown 1/2 stick of real butter in a skillet to a golden perfection and drizzle over the well drained Spetzla. Pretty good.

Here is the most interesting part of it all.

The Zoarites women had laundry days on Monday. Spatzlies were made for the afternoon meal on Monday. The water in which the Spetzla was cooked would be saved and then used to starch the clothing before hanging it out to dry.

This communal people paid off their debt of $15,000 to the Quaker community, by earning money digging the 7 miles of the Ohio Erie Canal that ran through their land.

Until 1898 this group survived with agriculture being their main task.

I enjoyed this cookbook for the educational side of it. The Zoar community didn't share my view on many facets of life. They loved to garden and cook. The group shared these two things in common with me. I don't think I would have faired well in the commune religious lifestyle.

The Sky Is Falling

Living a frugal lifestyle matters for most people alive today. Having a high income level, no matter how significant, is not a license to be wasteful. I'm not insinuating that Mister and I have a high income. We get by. Our world has everything we need to lead happy, healthy, normal lives. The needs of our home are met and our wants are honored within reason. Usually our wants tend to be practical items. We are average independent business owners who work and live our business. If we don't make it happen for ourselves then it doesn't happen. Still our world spins at the pace we set for ourselves and does not revolve around the rest of the species.

I have noticed frugality popping up on the faces of the 20something crowd these days. My confidence is fairly high for our mankind's future based on this observation. There will always be those pretentious up -and- coming pukes that will over spend and under achieve.  But, then there are a few smart ones. The up-and-coming generation of artists, thinkers, and dreamers that are the soul of our country. This crowd knows frugality.

If I hear one more gloom and doom story about the economy, crisis, our country and it's politics I might have to write a very long rant on my blog about it. Oh, wait, I am.

I seek out the frugal. The women who raised their children during the Great Depression understood how to make do. That generation is all but gone. Reading through the pages of a cookbook from that time period is very much a history lesson.

Should the doom sayers of our world have their wish and doom us into some cataclysmic collapse, then you had better believe, the survivors will be the artists, thinkers and dreamers. Because they know how to "get by" and "make do."

Carrots



Seeds sealed inside of a strip of paper. Brilliant ?

Five hundred and seventy carrot seeds, measured with precision for me. This is my luxury seed purchase this year. The thrill of growing a garden is part due to the experimental process. Ya never know. My 2011 carrot crop should be pretty little even rows (or not) if the planting strips are a success. After the two years prior of growing carrots this seems like a worthwhile adventure. For all I know these have been around for years. They are new to me and I'm curious.







2009

 



Two years ago I learned the lesson of proper thinning of my carrot crop. As you can see by the photo, each carrot did not have proper room to develop. Delicious though.

2010

Rainbow carrots were the whim of 2010. I thinned the plants better and came out with a fuller vegetable. The purple carrots were swell with purple cabbage in coleslaw. The red carrots were stunning too.

Will the planting strips of carrot seeds be a lazy man's way, or is it better living through new methods?

Either way, I will be making carrot cake this Autumn with fresh, grown in my yard, carrots.

Sunflower Breakfast Scones

Sunflower Breakfast Scones

A produce stand was having a going out of business sale over the weekend and I landed 4 lbs. of sunflower seeds for $1.00.

Four 1 lb. bags of sunflower seeds for $1.00. Bargain!!

I have never made scones. The point was to find a new use for the Sunflower seeds. I went straight to a sunflower website in hopes of finding a good recipe.
These are very interesting with nutmeg, mandarin oranges, and sunflower seeds. Actually, until tonight, I've never eaten a scone.
I think these were good. I'm not an official scone taste tester though! Try this recipe for Sunflower Breakfast Scones.

I love how beautiful my sunflowers were a few years ago. I grow them for their beauty and for the birds to snack on over the winter months. *Look*


I hope to find more unique recipes for my sunflower seed booty. If you have one that you think highly of, please share it with me!

Dinner plate in the photo is a vintage Crooksville China Company plate. The Carnation Delight pattern. I believe it is early 1930's. My love for pottery, and china lead me to buy this. Pink, isn't it lovely?

 Sunflower Breakfast Scones

2 cups all purpose flour 1/2 cup quick or old-fashioned oats, uncooked 3 tablespoons granulated sugar 1 tablespoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon salt Grated rind of 1 orange or lemon (optional) 5 tablespoons cold butter 1/3 cup toasted sunflower kernels 1 can (11 ounce) mandarin oranges, well-drained 1/2 cup milk

Preheat over to 425 degrees and begin to drain the mandarin oranges. Set the oranges aside. In medium bowl, combine flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, salt, and orange rind. Mix well with a wire whisk. Slice cold butter into about 10 pieces and cut into flour with a pastry cutter until mixture is crumbly. Stir in the sunflower kernels. Add the mandarin oranges and the milk to the dry ingredients. Working quickly, stir your mixture lightly to form a rough dough ball. Dough will seem dry but will moisten as you knead the dough. Knead quickly and gently about 10 turns. Divide dough in half. Pat out each piece into a 6-inch circle and place onto an ungreased baking sheet. Using a knife, cut each circle, making each circle of dough into 6 wedges and separate slightly. Beat 1 egg white with cold water. Brush each wedge with the egg white wash and sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake 18 to 20 minutes until golden brown on top and bottom. For a tender inside, do not overbake. Place on wire rack to cool. Separate wedges and serve.

Garden 2011

Our weather took a turn for the better today. I planted peas, spinach, and romaine lettuce. All of which I have grown many times. As for the spinach though, this year I plan to harvest and freeze it. We usually just pile the  tender spinach leaves into our salads or I make soup with it. Ditto for the peas. Romaine lettuce leaves me blank on how one could go about preserving it for later use.

On the subject of nice weather. I know it's too soon to put away the overflowing basket of scarves, gloves, and wool caps. I know better! We have had measureable snowfall far into the month of April before.

We did take the last remaining Christmas lights down today! Mister and I agreed that there was just something disturbing about the shed being decorated like a gingerbread house while we were tilling the garden. Yeah, I know. This is your neighborhoods worst nightmare. We are those people. It's not like we turned them on at night or anything.

It was a -Getting things done with Delores- type of day! Aside from the above mentioned projects, I also managed a little light spring cleaning. Plus, Mister and I played hookie this afternoon and went to our favorite flea market/open air marketplace.

 I hurried home from the flea market today in time to cook a nice St. Patty's Day dinner. It's our version of Irish food anyhow.

Corned Beef Hash  (homemade with the loot I scored at the market)
Carrots
Rueben Sandwiches

The flea had:
 3 bags of carrots for $1.00
2 huge onions for $1.00
 Corned Beef on sale for $3.99 a lb.

It's a great open air marketplace.

I am considering taking some of my own produce there this summer. Last year a vendor was selling Zinnia's for one dollar a stem! I could make a fortune, well maybe not that much. I could certainly support my habit of shopping for the treasures there.

Sure sign of spring! Hitting the flea markets.

One final mention of the garden. We are growing Sesame this year. I purchased seeds at Monticello while we were on holiday there. I guess Thomas Jefferson was a huge sesame fan. This is a new crop for me, so I'm excited. I suppose any old seeds would have worked. I like the nostalgia of knowing these seeds were harvested from Jefferson's garden, right there at Monticello. I want to go back there in a powerful way.

Happy St. Patty's Day




The future of farming.

There are 201 posts on this blog to date. I rarely make mention of my children. Perhaps, well for sure, this has been based on my philosphy of not mixing my worlds. Today is different.
Today was one of those days where the planets aligned perfectly and coincidences could not be overlooked. I am a firm believer in collective thinking.
I have 4 children. I mean really when you're oldest kid is almost 26 years old it seems weird to still refer to him as my child. What is the correct terminology for that? My adult son/daughter sounds so cliche`.
My day was divided among all three of my daughters today. Not collectively, which is rare. As children age and move away from home, it's more likely to gather as a family.
Really, it was a treat to spend time one- on -one with each of them.

The future of farming starts at home with our children. I'm not talking about a large scale farm with tractors and silos (although that would be swell too). It's teaching young people how to grow food.

I've had the good fortune to have healthy children. I fed them plenty of junk food over the years. We ordered pizza more times than I am willing to confess. Yet, each of them have experienced the thrill of harvesting dinner from our backyard.

I'm proud to have taught my children an appreciation for farming. Some of the years we grew our garden in pots on the patio. My youngest child is fortunate enough to help me plant a garden large enough to feed a multitude.

I know a young family.They have started a garden this year. With a young son and daughter, this family is making their contribution to keeping farming alive! Yeah! I wonder what memories those children will have of their gardening experience.

For the sake of stirring up some positive collective thinking on the subject of teaching children gardening, I will mix my worlds...just this one time.

Josh is my oldest child and only son. He is a bit of a purist and certainly the philosophical type. He has the ability to enjoy a simple cup of tea and a nice bowl of rice.  Gardening teaches us to make good use of our food and not to be wasteful. He has mastered that concept. He's a hiker and knows his food nutrition well.

Libby is my oldest daughter. I stopped by her apartment today and was thrilled to hear her make mention of planting a few things outside her door. She has the tiniest plot of soil, yet she is thinking of what she will grow there. I hope she still comes home to help pull weeds this summer.

Anna is my self confessed tree hugger. She not only has the knowledge of gardening but, also the skills to cook with fresh actual food products. Not every young person knows how to turn a whole food into a meal without the use of boxes and cans. When I get old, I hope she is in charge of my meals on wheels!

Aimee is my youngest child. When she was three years old we were scratching in the dirt of the garden together. I saw her look into her pocket and talk to something. She had put worms in her pocket to keep them safe. I guess my little lesson on how worms are our friends and they make our garden grow had an impact on her.

I see, in each of my children, such drastic differences. Yet, the one common ground is their love for the earth and gardening. I think they will all be valuable members of society. Despite all of those long nights locked up in that garden shed....ah ha gotcha! It was getting a little sappy so I had to slip a zinger in there.

For pete's sake people take less time driving your kids across the county for crazy extracurricular activties, instead teach them valuable things.

I will never regret having taking the time to teach these small principles to my children.

History

Every evening, I read before falling asleep. This time of year, sleep is an elusive thing. The topics of what I read vary. Obviously there's the food related stuff, then there's a blog about how to style one's hair with a 1940's look.

My favorite readings are blogs maintained by writers who do not overtly earn money from the blogger world. Like me, I don't advertise on this blog. I never plan to. One blog actually has a Paypal button installed so that her readers can give her money to "buy ingredients" to cook with, and make posts. Whatever makes the world go around, I guess. Ha, I offer free entertainment if nothing else.
Reading is a luxury for me. Writing this blog is my anti-social way of offering my input on what is near and dear to me. So, this is where I am heading with this. Posting this link.

http://lincolnslunch.blogspot.com/


When I was of school age, I didn't approach the subject of history with gratitude. I'm a history junky now. Yeah, please do not confuse that statement with the notion that I am a historian. It does make me wish that I had an interest in the subject sooner in life. There are not enough evening hours available to take in all of the wonderful writings out there.

Click on the link above. The best of both worlds. History and Food!

Garden 2011

"If we don't learn from the mistakes of our past we are sure to repeat them." Someone important said something like that once. Sorry, you research that if you want, my eyes are too tired for researching, just for the sake of a perfect writing.

It was March 11th 2010 when I wrote a post about the upcoming garden. Feel free to head down memory lane and read about it. Me, I'm choosing to learn from what I have written in the past.

Blueberries- the perfect fruit to support the notion of slowing down. This is how it looked last year.



I walked out into the marshy soup a few days ago and took this photo of the year old blueberry bushes.

2011 Blueberry Bushes

I am inexperienced at growing this item. I have read some information on growing blueberries and learned a few tips from other people's gardens. I suppose the best teacher will be time. Wish me luck. I really hope to pick a few blueberries this year!

*a few notes on what past garden adventures have shown me*



Corn- Mister likes to grow it. I like to freeze it. The raccoon loved eating it right off the stalk last year before it was totally ripe. If we skipped it this year I wouldn't shed a tear.

Tomatoes- Summer would not be the same if I couldn't wander out barefoot to the garden, and pick a ripe beauty, for a BLT sandwich. Last year, we cut back on the amount of plants. A few Roma, and a nice slicing variety will be planted this year. Tomatoes can be high maintenance.

Peppers- If you have never planted Anaheim's then I highly recommend that you give it a try. Of course, we will plant tons of sweet bells because we like them stuffed.

 Onions- Yes, Please. I would guess that our 2010 planting was doubled from the year before. I plan to squeeze onions in every nook and granny of the garden this year. I ran out of my winter onion stash long before winter was over.

Squash- Ugh, I love to eat them. If I can talk Mister into letting me grow them along the edge of the yard, then maybe I will plant them again. They just take over and disrupt the order of things.

Cucumbers- Viney, viney, viney! I need a whole garden just for the viney stuff. The jury is out on this crop still.

Celery- I had marginal success with the celery. I only planted 4 plants. Damn it,  I can't believe I threw out the bottom of a store bought celery the other day. I wanted to try growing celery from this. I hear it's possible. Definately planting more of this staple.

Lettuce- I have packets of seeds on my kitchen counter. I hope the muck dries up enough this weekend to plant them.

Cauliflower- Really, I need to master this crop already! We love 'callyflower' around here. I only tried planting purple cauliflower last year and the result was pitiful. I am going for the non exotic variety this year.

Carrots- Rows and rows of carrots this year. The purple variety of 2010 were a unique addition.

Cabbage- My cabbage grew well last year. I'm thinking of making kraut this year, so tons of cabbage will be planted.

Peas- We ate the peas as quickly as they grew last year. More is needed if I plan to freeze any, which is in the plan.

There are the old stand by herbs!

Cilantro

Basil

Mint

Oregano

Dill

Chives

I'm probably forgetting a few.

Pinto Beans- My uncle grows them. I know very little about growing them but, I cook with them plenty. Aside from green beans, I am on the look out for new exciting bean crops.

Potatoes- Oh baby, will we have potatoes. We kept a nice storage of spuds in the cool basement all winter long. The spuds have sprouted! I am the proud owner of several crates of ready to go in the ground taters. Red, Yukon Gold, and Russet.

Sweet Potatoes- were a smash hit last year. Round 2 coming up this year.

Strawberries- we have 2nd year plants growing. Last year the plants yielded a few quarts. I kept picking the flowers throughout the summer because, I read this makes the next year harvest larger. Mmm smoothies!

Spinach- This crop needs to go in the ground soon. I haven't planted spinach for awhile. During the winter it seems like so many recipes use frozen spinach. I would rather head to the freezer in the garage than the frozen food aisle.

Well, there it is, all laid out in black and white.

Oversights will be adjusted as need be.

Good luck with your planting this year. A small little terrace garden can be just as rewarding. Just plant something, nurture it, and respectfully treat it as a valuable ingredient in your favorite recipe!



Sugar Rush

 I mean, if you are going to cook/bake with carbonated beverages and pre-packaged stuff, why not make it Mountain Dew and Crescent Rolls.

 Right?

I might be irritated, or surprised, by how good this is. Everything in me is telling me this recipe is wrong but, oh it tastes so good.

My youngest child brought this recipe home from Grandma's house. Grandparents are really good at sugaring a kid up and sending them home. So, hey... why not toss a little caffeine in for good measure. Sure, the caffeine bakes off, just like alcohol??

These are extremly delicious despite the less than posh ingredients.
I have no idea where this recipe originated from. It came to my house via the 9- year old and her adoring grandparents. The recipe came to me without an official title, so I will take credit for that.

Mind you, I made alterations to cut down on the sugar but, these are still pretty sugary.

Sugar 'em Up Apple Snacks (with my alterations)

1or 2 Granny Smith apples ( if you use 2 the dough will need some stretching)
1 10 oz. canister of Crescent Rolls
1/2 stick of butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
6 oz. Mountain Dew or similar type carbonated beverage

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
•  Cut 4 squares of  parchment paper approx. 4x4" each.
•  Core and cut apples in 1/8's. I didn't peel mine.
• Divide crescent dough into 4 equal sections.
• Use the parchment as a mat to assemble each bundle of apples/crescents.
• Roll the apples up in the dough and seal well.
• Place the apple bundles along with the parchment paper mats into a 7x11 bake dish.( I sprayed mind lightly with non-stick.)
• Melt the butter and mix with the sugar/cinnamon.
• Sprinkle cinnamon mixture over the apple bundles.
• Gently pour the Dew evenly over the bundles.
• Bake for 45 minutes.
• Cool slightly and then pull the parchment mat with bundles onto a serving platter.
• You might as well drizzle the leftover sugary goodness on top of the bundles.



the four small bundles prior to baking
the pan will fill up nicely after baking

Cocoanut Cake

Cocoanut Cake, as written in The Institute Cook Book by Helen Cramp.

This cake was not complex at all. I liked that. There was something familiar about it. It's just pretty cool to know that this recipe was in print almost 100 years ago. I will have to eat another piece (for the sake of research, of course) to see if I can put my finger on what the familiarity is.

I whipped up a simple frosting because, Mister likes frosting. I think next time I will just spread some good jelly over it. It's really that kind of cake.

First off, the recipe specified a moderate oven. To me, that would mean 350 degrees. I used a dark non-stick pan so, I baked mine at 325 degrees.

The recipe did not specify a pan size. I gambled and used a 9" cake pan. It seemed to work pretty well.

Flavor to taste...okay this instruction is pretty vague.

I added a teaspoon of vanilla at this point.

I wished I would have had coconut extract, if so, I would have used that instead.

On the note of flavor, a little salt maybe??

I prepared the cake as the recipe was written and found it acceptable.

If you decide to make this cake, my advice is to generously grease the pan.

Below, check out a few snap shots of the recipe and an interesting certificate that the book contains.

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup shredded cocoanut

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 3/4 cups flour

1 tsp. baking powder

flavoring

Whip the butter and sugar to a cream. Add the cocoanut and the eggs. Then add the milk and sifted flour and baking powder. Flavor to taste. Turn into a greased pan and bake in a moderate oven for 45 minutes.

Department Of Domestic Science
I think my skills at domestic science is pretty well tuned. I wonder what Helen Cramp would think?

$2.00 had to be an expensive due back in 1913.

I have several recipes flagged in this book. The Cocoanut Cake isn't nearly as fabulous as Alton Brown's recipe, I'm sure. Also, not nearly as expensive to make.

The beauty here is in the simplicity of this cake.