MerryHeartCrafts.comMountain Momma… Country Living

Hubby took this picture from our dining room window.  I think the dogwood is looking very pretty.  Yesterday was a busy day.  Remodeling always makes the whole house a mess, not just the area where you are working.  Our house seemed to me to be very chaotic.  The girls and I took some time before school to straighten up a little.  Then we decided to take a morning walk.  It would have made a good picture.  Myself, Julie, Grace, our two dogs and one kitty cat.  The little black cat, Moon, always loves to go on walks.  She was very tired when we got back and had to take a long nap under the maple tree.  Hubby got the first coat of mud on the drywall yesterday evening.  It is starting to look more and more like a room now.  Gets me excited thinking things will soon get back in order. 

Today seems to be another beautiful day.  Yesterday was very nice-sunshine, warm temperatures, breezy, a nice day for drying clothes outside.  We made homemade doughnuts yesterday.  They turned out okay, I guess.  The girls and I did not care a lot for them, but Hubby thought they were good.  He likes doughnuts much more than we do.  I made the dough in my bread machine and then fried them.  If I do them again, I think I will try baking them.  A blogger friend of mine bakes hers and they like them better.  I did discover though, the doughnut dough is excellent for making garlic bread sticks.  The girls liked them better than the ones I did the other evening.  The recipe I used is:

1 1/4 cups milk, 1 beaten egg, 1/4 cup shortening, 3 1/2 cups flour,1/4 cup sugar, 1 tsp. salt, 1 1/2 tsp. yeast.  I put this in my bread machine in the order listed.  Set it on dough cycle and let it work.  I love that. 

  Today I think we will make some cookies-chocolate chip of course.  They are the girls favorite-not mine.  I am not much of a chocolate person.  I know that goes against all nature-for a woman to not like chocolate- but I just don’t care a lot for it.   Well, we better get started on our day.  Take care and God bless.

We did make cookies this afternoon.  It seems like it has been a long time since we made cookies.   We have made lots of other desserts this summer, just not cookies.  Here’s the recipe I like to use:

1/2 cup shortening, 1/2 cup butter, softened.  1 cup packed brown sugar, 1/2 cup white sugar, 2 eggs, 1 tsp. vanilla, 3 cups self-rising flour.  I use 2 cups white flour, 1 cup fresh ground wheat flour.  Add 1 12 oz package chocolate chips.  I use the mini chocolate chips.  I think they do much better, makes you think there is more chocolate in each cookie.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 min.  We are enjoying them now with a tall glass of fresh milk.  Life is good!

We gathered the corn this morning but because of my back problems it had gotten a little bit hard so we are making pickled corn from it.  I really like pickled corn with brown beans and corn bread.  When I make pickled corn, I cut it off the cob-do not scrape the cob.  Then I put it into a crock, cover it with cold water.  Put a plate on top of this so the corn stays under the salted water.  For every gallon of water I need to cover the corn, I add 10 tbsp. of canning salt.  Let the corn sit in the crock for 1 week.  Drain the salted water off and rinse the corn.  Put into jars and process in water bath canner.  10 min. pts and 15 min. qts.  When it is time to eat it, we like to heat it up in a cast iron skillet with just a little bit of oil.  To make myself feel better I use olive oil.  The old way is to use lard.

More cookies are ready to come out of the oven.  Enjoy your day and God bless.

I thought I would post a few pictures of things that are growing in our garden. 

Green beans starting to set on the vine.  I will soon be able to pick some of these and enjoy them.

Our hot peppers.  They will taste so good in our homemade salsa.

Sweet banana peppers.  YUM!  Hubby and I have had to start watering our garden.  It is so dry here.  Forecast is calling for a chance of rain over the weekend.  We really need it.  Seems like no matter how much you water, it never does the garden as much good as rain from God does.  I think I forgot to tell everyone what a nice weekend we had here-very cool temperatures.  Two mornings when we got up the temperature was 43 degrees- then up to the lower 50′s, upper 50′s and today mid 60′s.  Daytime temperatures over the weekend were great-low to mid 70′s.  Starting Monday though its been back up to HOT-not near as hot as some places but hot for us.  96 degrees yesterday when Hubby came through Christiansburg.  Upper 80′s here on the farm. 

Last nights supper was grilled chicken, green beans, pasta salad and rolls.  I fixed everything on the grill so as not to heat the house up any more than it already was.  We ate outside at the picnic table.  It was really nice.  A little breeze was blowing which helped a lot .  Yesterday I got a recipe from my friend Vicki-applesauce pie.  I made it and thought it was really good.  I wanted to share it with you all.

2 eggs, 1 cup sugar, 2 tbsp flour, 1 tsp.ground nutmeg, 1 stick melted butter, 1 cup applesauce, 1 tsp vanilla.  Combine sugar, flour, and nutmeg.(You can use cinnamon instead or a little of both).  Beat eggs, add eggs to dry ingredients.    Gently combine butter applesauce and vanilla until mixed.  Pour into pie shell.  Bake at 350 for 45 min or until golden brown.   (I would recommend if your applesauce is sweet to cut down some on the sugar, I didn’t but Hubby thought it was a little too sweet.  I thought it was just fine.)

Enjoy your day and God bless.

My first post on the Mac without assistance.  I believe I can do this!  I thought I would share a picture of my clematis.  I think it is very pretty this year.  Very exciting day today.  We will finish language for the year.  Yeah!  I will be spending most of my day washing clothes.  The wringer will get a work out today.  We have had rain all week.  I put off during the laundry hoping for sun today.  We’ll see.  Right now it doesn’t look too promising.   The wringer is kinda fun to use though and I am getting faster at it.  It requires more attention than the automatic machine.  Last nights supper was baked chicken, green beans, stuffing, sweet potatoes and home made rolls.  Watermelon for dessert.  I am experimenting with using less salt in our food as I have been having some high blood pressure issues.  I marinaded the chicken in a Mrs. Dash marinade(no salt).  It was really good.  I have a cookbook that tells how to make different types of seasonings.  The other night I made a taco seasoning to use on our chicken tacos. (Chicken was on sale this week at our local grocery)  I did not put any salt in the seasoning and honestly could not tell it was not there.  Here is the recipe I used:  2 tsp minced onion, 1 tsp chili powder, 1/2  tsp cornstarch, 1/2 tsp crushed dried red pepper, 1/2 tsp minced garlic, 1/2 tsp ground cumin, 1/4 tsp dried oregano.   If you want to use salt, the recipe calls for l tsp.  As I said, I used no salt and could not miss it.  I got this recipe from my (and Jessica’s) all time favorite cookbook.  ”Mennonite Country-Style Recipes & Kitchen Secrets” by Esther H. Shank.  This is a marvelous cookbook.  If I had to choose only one cookbook to use, it most definitely would be this one.   Well, my friend the wringer, is calling to me.  Take care and God bless.

Here are some pictures of the fun we had last Thursday on Jess and Daniel’s visit.  In the first picture, we are outside playing, the next picture is coltsfoot (one of our earliest wildflowers to bloom).  We took a ride around the farm in “MawMaw’s bumpy truck”.  On the tractor road, we spotted these kildeer walking on the road.  Jess took the picture from the truck.  I think they might have a nest somewhere close as they did not want to leave thier area.  The last picture is Daniel, thinking.  I am not exactly sure but it looks like he is trying to figure out how to get the sawdust in his wheelbarrow.  We had lots of fun!

Tonight’s menu is pork tenderloin on the grill, french fries and corn on the cob-frozen from our garden last year.  I gathered some rhubarb today and plan to make rhubarb dumplings for dessert. 

Rosemary Marinade Recipe

1/3 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup lemon juice

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp minced garlic

2-4 tsp dried rosemary-crushed

Combine all ingredients.  Pour over beef, chicken, or pork. (I use this on all types of meat).   School is finished for today.  Time to enjoy the sun.  We got our bikes out today, pumped up the tires,and oiled the chains.  We rode for a little while.  Long enough for me to discover how out of shape I am.  It will take a while before I can keep up with the girls.  I hope to work some on the garden this evening.  We have some clean up to do before Hubby can plow.  I hope you all enjoy your evening.  Take care and God bless.

Here is how I make our pickled eggs.  First I boil the eggs.

After they have cooled, peel them.

Put them into a large glass container.  I use a wide mouth half gallon canning jar.  Using a wide mouth jar makes it easier to get the eggs out.  We grow beets in our garden.  In the fall we harvest them and make pickled beets.  I use the pickled beet juice to pour over the boiled eggs.  If you don’t have your own pickled beets you can buy them from the store.  If using store brought you will need to add pickling spice to the juice.  About 1 tsp. per can.

As soon as you pour the juice over them, they turn this beautiful color.  Put them in the fridge and they will be ready to eat in about a week.  As I said yesterday, Hubby loves them.  I think they are just okay so I consider making  them an act of love.  Last night’s supper menu was pork roast baked in a cast iron dutch oven, mashed potatoes, home canned corn, homemade rolls, and blackberry dumplings made from blackberries we canned last fall.  Delicious!  Today is sunshine, beautiful sunshine.  Warmer temperatures are on the way.  Jess is coming up tomorrow with Daniel.  She has some shirts she needs altered.  We also hope to go the the local greenhouse and check out the flowers.  Lots of fun!  The girls don’t know it yet but we are taking an Easter break.  Half school today and then no school until Monday.  They will be very happy.  Well, now it’s time for a language test so I better get busy being Teacher.  Take care and God bless.

Field corn, dried and ready for grinding.

Grain Master Whisper Mill.  I use this for grinding corn and wheat.

Fresh ground corn meal.  To make this self rising, I follow this recipe.  4 cups fresh ground corn meal (or wheat flour), 1 tsp salt, 1 tbsp baking powder.  Sift together.

Finished product, ready to enjoy.  What do you think we’ll be having for dinner?  God Bless.

I have been asked to post my salsa recipe.  This is a very good recipe and can easily be divided to make less.  This recipe makes about 10-12 pints depending upon how thick you let it get when simmering.

Salsa

7 qts tomatoes chunked
6 cloves garlic chopped
5 med. onions chopped
5 green peppers chopped
1/2 cup hot peppers chopped(this makes med. hot-lower or increase amount for your preference)
2 cups vinegar
2 tbsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp oregano
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp cilantro
2 tsp chili powder
Combine all ingredients.  Simmer until thick.  I  simmer 4-5 hrs.  Process in hot water bath canner 20 min.  I use pints.

Enjoy!