Do you make egg salad? How do you cut up your hard boiled eggs for it? Here is what I do. I use a pastry cutter.
It is very quick and easy to do this way.
Thursday, November 30, 2017
Tuesday, November 28, 2017
I made a new dolly !!
Our first great-granddaughter is having her 1st birthday party soon. So, I made a rag doll for her.
Here she is!<3 p="">
Tuesday, November 21, 2017
Another tiny tip (embarrassingly so)
When I was growing up, and Mommy would make a pie, if there was extra pie crust dough, she would roll it out, sprinkle it with sugar and cinnamon and bake it and let me eat it. That is the nicest cookie ever!
I have promised to make 5 pies for our Thanksgiving feast this year. I made all of the pastry today and most of it is now in the refrigerator. One will be an apple pie and I assembled it today (I did not bake it yet) and ended up with a small amount of leftover pie crust dough. I wanted to bake it, but it seemed silly to heat up the big oven to cook something so very small. So, I tried something new. I rolled it out, sprinkled it with a little sugar and cinnamon and cooked it in a small cast iron skillet on medium heat until the bottom started to brown, and then flipped it over for just a little while. It work out very well.
I have promised to make 5 pies for our Thanksgiving feast this year. I made all of the pastry today and most of it is now in the refrigerator. One will be an apple pie and I assembled it today (I did not bake it yet) and ended up with a small amount of leftover pie crust dough. I wanted to bake it, but it seemed silly to heat up the big oven to cook something so very small. So, I tried something new. I rolled it out, sprinkled it with a little sugar and cinnamon and cooked it in a small cast iron skillet on medium heat until the bottom started to brown, and then flipped it over for just a little while. It work out very well.
Something so small, but at least not going to waste!
Thursday, November 16, 2017
Turkey Wars !
Are you old enough to remember "gas wars?" When I was young, each gasoline station set it's own price. If stations were close to each other, sometimes they would keep lowering prices to try to outdo each other. It isn't that way anymore. I think someone else must set the prices.
Well, every November, here in the USA, we have what I call "Turkey Wars." The grocery stores sell turkeys for ridiculously low prices and it seems to me that they try to outdo each other. I bought a nice frozen turkey for 78 cents a pound last week! I can ordinarily buy whole chickens for about 99 cents a pound and so the turkey was 21 cents a pound lower even than that. A turkey has more meat per bone, by weight, so 78 cents a pound may as well be free. I put that one in the freezer to save for later.
We will be eating our Thanksgiving feast at our daughter's home, and she is fixing the turkey for the meal. I saw another grocery advertisement offering frozen turkeys for 99 cents a pound this week. We went and bought two of them Monday evening. I left one hanging in the cold garage to thaw partially (we hung it so no critters could get to it) and today I canned the meat.
First, I cooked the turkey, whole, on a rack, in my pressure canner/cooker for 90 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure. (I thoroughly washed the pot first!). After the pressure came down and I opened the pot, here is what the turkey looked like. It is about 14 pounds. I added 1 gallon of water, half an onion, roughly chopped, some chopped celery and a few halved garlic cloves so the broth would be flavorful.
After letting it cool, I de-boned it, cut the meat into bite - sized pieces, strained the broth and then packed the meat into pint sized canning jars. I filled them up with broth to within 1 inch of the rim, cleaned the rims, simmered the lids and proceeded as usual. I ended up with 7 pints of meat, and 10 pints of extra broth.
If you are unfamiliar with canning, be sure to consult a reliable canning book, such as the Ball Blue Book, or this book: So Easy to Preserve
It will be very nice to have this on the shelf. I can make turkey and noodles or dumplings, soup, pot pie... Yummy.
Well, every November, here in the USA, we have what I call "Turkey Wars." The grocery stores sell turkeys for ridiculously low prices and it seems to me that they try to outdo each other. I bought a nice frozen turkey for 78 cents a pound last week! I can ordinarily buy whole chickens for about 99 cents a pound and so the turkey was 21 cents a pound lower even than that. A turkey has more meat per bone, by weight, so 78 cents a pound may as well be free. I put that one in the freezer to save for later.
We will be eating our Thanksgiving feast at our daughter's home, and she is fixing the turkey for the meal. I saw another grocery advertisement offering frozen turkeys for 99 cents a pound this week. We went and bought two of them Monday evening. I left one hanging in the cold garage to thaw partially (we hung it so no critters could get to it) and today I canned the meat.
First, I cooked the turkey, whole, on a rack, in my pressure canner/cooker for 90 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure. (I thoroughly washed the pot first!). After the pressure came down and I opened the pot, here is what the turkey looked like. It is about 14 pounds. I added 1 gallon of water, half an onion, roughly chopped, some chopped celery and a few halved garlic cloves so the broth would be flavorful.
After letting it cool, I de-boned it, cut the meat into bite - sized pieces, strained the broth and then packed the meat into pint sized canning jars. I filled them up with broth to within 1 inch of the rim, cleaned the rims, simmered the lids and proceeded as usual. I ended up with 7 pints of meat, and 10 pints of extra broth.
If you are unfamiliar with canning, be sure to consult a reliable canning book, such as the Ball Blue Book, or this book: So Easy to Preserve
It will be very nice to have this on the shelf. I can make turkey and noodles or dumplings, soup, pot pie... Yummy.
Thursday, November 2, 2017
Move over Mac and Cheese!
This morning, I made a batch of mayonnaise and so had 3 forlorn egg whites I needed to find a use for. Voila! I decided to make some egg white noodles, cook them and combine them with a cheese sauce. It turned out lovely and delicious.
As soon as the fresh noodles were made, I boiled them in plenty of water for 5 minutes, then drained them well. In the mean time, I made the cheese sauce:
2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons all purpose flour
1 cup whole milk (warm)
1.5 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
Salt to taste
In a skillet, melt the butter, stir in the flour and very gradually add the warm milk, stirring vigorously with each addition. Do this over medium heat. When it is all nicely combined and thick, stir in the grated cheese until it is melted and smooth. Add the drained noodles. Salt to taste.
As soon as the fresh noodles were made, I boiled them in plenty of water for 5 minutes, then drained them well. In the mean time, I made the cheese sauce:
2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons all purpose flour
1 cup whole milk (warm)
1.5 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
Salt to taste
In a skillet, melt the butter, stir in the flour and very gradually add the warm milk, stirring vigorously with each addition. Do this over medium heat. When it is all nicely combined and thick, stir in the grated cheese until it is melted and smooth. Add the drained noodles. Salt to taste.