Hankies...

                 You may not be aware that there was a time, when I was a young child, when there were no such things as Kleenex (facial tissues.) We all (men and women) had pocket handkerchiefs (hankies.) When I was a little girl, my blessed mommy, who adopted me when I was 3 and my parents died, sent me to the local Assembly of God church.  I attended their wonderful Sunday school. That is where I first learned to love Jesus. I always carried a hankie in my pocket with my little coins for an offering tied into the corner of it. We had opening exercises and then would divide into classes.  The teacher would pass a little basket around the room and we’d put our offerings in there.  Then she would open the classroom door and set the basket on the floor outside of the room, and close the door.  She told us that the money was for Jesus. I thought if she’d just leave the door open, we could see Him come and get it.

                Now, a hankie is something you put in your pocket and use the same one all day. Then it goes into the laundry. Yes, that’s what we always did.  I still use hankies a lot of the time. There may come a time when you are out of money and out of Kleenex at the same time, so you might want to make or purchase some pocket hankies, just in case.

                For these hankies, I cut some lovely soft pink flannel into 10 inch squares. My sewing machine has the decorative overcast stitch you see in the picture.  I do not have a serger, or I could have used that. After I did the line of stitching all the way around the perimeter I then used those little scissors to trim off the excess fabric.  When I launder these, they will fray a small amount, but that will quickly subside.

These are very nice.

                

                

A new tiny tip.... toasted cheese (and ham) sandwiches...

For lunch today I put together two sandwiches with a slice of cooked ham and a slice of mild cheddar cheese on each one.  I decided to "toast" them in a skillet.  Ordinarily, I would butter the outsides of the bread slices first, but I was distracted and forgot until I already had the sandwiches assembled.  So, I tried something new.  I heated up the skillet on medium heat and then added butter to it, enough that it covered the bottom and then I toasted the sandwiches on that.  The flavor was amazing!  The butter browned and added so much to the taste.  I will do it this way from now on.

This is not my picture, as we ate them before I could take one.  :)

What I am doing with our wonderful Purple Sweet Potatoes....

Here is a purple sweet potato that we grew in our garden this year.  I think we ended up with about 2/3 of a bushel of them from FIVE plants.  They did amazingly well. As I've told you before, sweet potatoes (orange or purple) are very easy to grow, and, at least where we live, are very productive.  All I have to do is dig them up, let them cure (I do it on the garage floor) for a week or two, and then place them in baskets or paper bags or cardboard boxes and set them in the house.  They will easily stay nice until the next harvest.  They are not sensitive to light like Irish potatoes, but they don't like to get cold, so don't keep them in a cold cellar or in your refrigerator.

These potatoes are much dryer than the orange variety. They also are sweet, but not as much as the orange ones.  However, what they might lack in taste (on their own) pales in comparison to the nutritional benefits. I assume you are familiar with the fact that blueberries are very rich in certain antioxidants? This purple color reflects a rich concentration of those same phytonutrients that we find in blueberries.  If you garden, then this is an easy and very inexpensive way to be able to eat those on a regular basis.

One morning, recently, I was laying in bed pondering what I might do to use more of the Purple sweet potatoes.  I do like to boil them, peel and mash with a little lime juice, some butter and sour cream and maybe some sort of sweetener.  I have also made very nice Purple sweet potato pie a few times. On the  morning in question, I decided to try making powdered Purple sweet potatoes.  It worked out perfectly.  If you have a dehydrator and a good blender, you can do this too.

I cut the Purple sweet potatoes into large slices, covered them with water and boiled them until they were tender when pierced with a sharp knife.  Then, I drained them, let them cool and removed the skins.  Next, I put them in my mixer and used the "paddle" attachment and added a bit of water and mashed them thoroughly.  Next, I spread them on fruit roll trays in the dehydrator, not very thinly, actually, and dehydrated them at 135 F. It only took a few hours.  When they were nice and crisp, I put them in the blender and turned them into powder.

Next, I put them in a glass jar and covered it tightly.

Here is a picture of a little bit of it in a spoon so you can see what the powder looks like:

So, you may ask, what do I do with this powder?  You can add it to anything you wish!  I've been adding some to bread, I sprinkle it on yogurt, or in a sandwich on top of something else. I'm sure it will be lovely in smoothies.  It is mild in flavor and packed with nutrients.

That pint jar was filled by just 3 of the potatoes.  Like I mentioned, they are quite dry, so they yield a lot in comparison with other vegetables and fruits.

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