Real Corn Bread!

Not long ago, my husband and I went camping at Spring Mill State Park, near Mitchell, Indiana.  We had a very nice time.  We visited the Pioneer Village one of the days we were there, and went to tour the old grist mill.  They get dried corn (non-GMO!) and grind it to sell.  I bought 12 pounds.  :)  Today I was hungry for something simple to eat, so I invented a new (to me, at least) cornbread recipe.  Here it is!

Real Corn Bread

Preheat oven to 425 and grease a square baking dish.

Combine:
2 cups corn meal
5 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

In a smaller bowl, mix together:

7/8 cup whole milk
2 egg yolks (reserve the whites, as you will use them shortly)
1/4 cup melted butter

In a small bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff.

Now, pour the liquid into the dry ingredients, mix well, then fold in the beaten egg whites until fairly well combined.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for approximately 25 minutes.  Check after 20 minutes by touching the center of the corn bread.  It should spring back, not still be liquid inside. 

When it's done, remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes before serving.  Serve with plenty of butter!

Simple, satisfying, gluten - free (if you care about that).  Yes.  This is a keeper!

Homemade pancake syrup

This is not Log Cabin syrup.  Our daughter and her family are living with us currently, and I want to share with you how she makes pancake syrup.  Indeed, it is healthier, in some ways, to eat REAL maple syrup, but it can also be too expensive for many of us.  Long ago, I taught her how to make pancake syrup, but she has improved the process. Read the recipe carefully.  The success is in doing it properly.

Homemade Pancake Syrup

1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup water

Combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan with a heavy bottom.  DO NOT STIR...EVER. 
Bring it to a boil, reduce heat and boil for 5 minutes.
Allow to cool.  Pour into serving bottle.
It will sit at room temperature and NOT crystallize.  The secret is in not stirring it while it is cooking.

No HFCS, no other scary things.  Just "real" sugar and some ambient molasses in the brown sugar.

Use sparingly and enjoy!

Perpetual fabric softener sheets...

Along with the theme of the last post, I will tell you about my "fabric softener sheets."  I have a large empty cottage cheese carton with a lid.  Into the container, I put 1 cup liquid fabric softener and 2 cups of water.  Then, I filled the container with old wash rags I had, left from washing goat udders (truly - due to events of life I had to sell my milk goats.)  When I put clean, wet, laundry in the dryer, I take one of the wash rags and wring it out thoroughly and toss it into the dryer.  That's it!  Hopefully, next summer my husband will be able to put my clotheslines back up (long story...) and next winter, we'll be using the wood heating stove again (another long story...) and I won't be using the dryer very much.  But for now, this is nice.  I can have just enough fabric softener for the laundry and it costs Almost Nothing. 

Un - Paper Towels

Here is a humble little project that pleased my frugal heart immensely.  I cleaned my laundry room today.  I don't do it very (cough) often.  I found a plastic bag full of kitchen towels that I had quit using because the kitchen drawer was too full of them when I was given some new ones.  The old ones are faded and stained, but still quite useable, so I couldn't bring myself to throw them away, and they really weren't nice enough to even donate.  I think they've been awaiting their destiny in there for a couple of years.

I have paper towels, but every time I use one I feel a little "guilty."  It's like throwing pennies in the trash.  Somehow it just doesn't seem right.

Here is what I did.  I cut the hems off of the old towels on all four sides and then cut each towel in half, zig-zagged the raw edges and voila!  Un-paper towels.  They will live in this little basket in the cupboard under our kitchen sink.  I'm sure there will be some times I will still use "real" paper towels, but most of the time will opt for the washable ones.

Oh, yes, here is my clean laundry room. :)

Pears, again! (...and bananas)

Yesterday, our neighbors gave us the rest of the pears hanging on their tree!  Their son shook the tree and made nearly all of them fall to the ground.  They are HUGE, crisp, sweet and delicious!  I have no idea what variety of pears these are.  Do any of you Gentle Readers have any idea?  We will can most of them, in water, this time, as I don't use very much sugar anymore.  If you want to know my method, please check out THIS post.  I did use sugar that time and they were really wonderful.  I feel so blessed!

At the same time, I am grateful for these:

Our local grocery store sold bananas this week for 38 cents a pound.  At least here, that is a very good price so we bought a lot of them!  Some will be sliced and dehydrated and the rest, when they are quite ripe, I will peel and put into freezer bags and freeze them for smoothies. 

The best Granola I've ever made!

I love granola.  Well, I love GOOD granola.  It's actually been quite a number of years since I made any.  I ran across a recipe the other day, changed it up to suit my taste and what I had on hand, and here it is.  It is SO good!

Best Granola Recipe

5 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
3 1/2 cups almonds, coarsely chopped
3/4 cup unhulled, untoasted sesame seeds
1/2 cup Sucanat
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon dried ground ginger
1 teaspoon Realsalt

3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup real maple syrup
1/4 cup honey
2 Tablespoons virgin coconut oil

Set the oven to 300 F.  Get a really big bowl and combine all the the dry ingredients.  Then, put the wet ingredients in a saucepan and heat that, stirring, until it is good and hot, not boiling.  Pour the liquid over the dry mixture and combine thoroughly.

You will need two big baking trays with the little sides.  Grease them with coconut oil.  Divide the mixture between the two.  Bake, stirring every 10 minutes until the granola is getting brown.  Mine took about 45 minutes, but keep an eye on it.  You don't want it to burn!

Remove from oven.  Cool thoroughly.  Store in an air-tight container.  It should keep for a few weeks.

Today's Bread!

I made 5 loaves of bread today.  I have caught a rotten cold and was up at 4:30 this morning, so thought I may as well do something useful.  Here they are raising in the pans:

I have posted about the method for making bread previously... so look in my recipe index for that.  I just want to record the ingredients here, mainly because it turned out SO delicious and tender.

Today's Bread - 5 loaves

6.25 cups 115 degree water
2.5 teaspoons instant yeast
10 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (That is 1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons)
10 Tablespoons black strap molasses
2.5 Tablespoons Realsalt
1/4 cup flax seed, ground
3 eggs
2 Tablespoons brewer's yeast (not the fortified kind)
Freshly ground whole wheat flour (start out with 12 cups and add more as needed)

Combine all of the ingredients and knead for 10 - 15 minutes until the dough is springy and elastic.  Add sufficient flour to make the dough nicely kneadable as you are working it, but not dry.
Place dough back into oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap.
Allow to rise until when you poke the dough, it "sighs".  Punch it down.
Allow to rise again.
Form into 5 loaves and place into greased medium-sized bread pans.
Pre-heat oven to 350.
When the sides of the dough is almost to the top of the edges of the pans, then place them in the oven.
Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.
Remove from  pans and cool on wire racks.
Try to wait 15 minutes before slicing!  With only 3 of us here today, this is all that was left of the first loaf. :)