Mountain Mama… Country Living
Old-Fashioned Pound Cake
3 ½ cups cake flour (sifted)
3 cups sugar
2 sticks butter
1 cup Crisco
1 cup milk
5 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. lemon extract
Blend sugar, butter and Crisco together with mixer. Add flour and milk alternately blending mixture well. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix thoroughly. Add vanilla and lemon extract and mix again.
Grease and flour 9 inch tube pan, add batter and bake at 325 degrees for 1 ½ hours. DO NOT OPEN OVEN.
Homemade Berry Ice Cream
2 cup cream
2 cup milk
2-3 cup mashed strawberries
1/2 cup honey or 1 cup sugar
1/4 cup strawberry jam (optional for greater berry flavor)
Blend all together. Pour into ice cream maker. Freeze according to ice cream maker’s directions. Substitute fruit of your choice for strawberries. Ex. cherries, peaches, etc.
I got this recipe from http://homejoys.blogspot.com/2012/06/homemade-strawberry-ice-cream.html
I got this recipe from http://homejoys.blogspot.com/2013/05/rhubarb-upside-down-cake.html
2 cups fresh rhubarb (approx. 3/4 lb.)
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Choose fresh, crisp rhubarb. Chop rhubarb into 1/4-1/2″ pieces. Melt butter in a medium-size skillet over low heat. Add brown sugar and diced rhubarb. Continue to fry for 2 more minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. If you are not using a cast iron skillet remove the rhubarb from the pan to a small baking pan.
Batter: In a small mixing bowl cream together butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla, mix until incorporated. Combine flour, salt, and baking powder. Add flour mixture and milk to batter and mix until combined. Pour batter over the rhubarb. Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes. Remove from oven, and run a knife along the edges to loosen cake. Turn upside down onto a plate. Serve hot or cold with milk or cream if desired.
This is a picture of the latest apron I made. Remember last week, I told you all I was taking the laundry soap and some dishcloths to a local store. Well, she wanted them to sell and she said she would try to sell my aprons as well. I hope to take her this one tomorrow. Wouldn’t it be a blesssing if some of my homemade stuff starting selling? I hope to use the money I make from selling my stuff to purchase school books for next year.
Today we are having a new soup recipe I got from a blogger friend, who got it from another blog. I altered the recipe a little to better fit what I had on hand. The recipe is
Super Easy Crockpot Hamburger Veggie Soup
1lb hamburger (I used london broil leftover from the other night chopped into small pieces)
1 onion, chopped and 1 tbsp. chopped garlic
1 can green beans, drained
1 can corn, drained
1 can diced tomatoes
3 cups water
1 T chicken or beef broth powder
2 T Worcestershire sauce
1 can organic cream of mushroom soup (a brand such as Amys, found in health food stores)
Salt and pepper to taste
Brown hamburger and onions until meat is no longer pink and onions are soft. Add to crockpot. Add remaining ingredients, stir. Cook on low for 7 to 8 hours. Serve with some hot homemade dinner rolls for a great meal. I am hoping to do lots more crockpot meals. The crockpot doesn’t heat up the house like using the stove does and it is easy (I think).
When I started making this soup, I realized I did not have any cream of mushroom soup. I went on line and found this easy recipe to make my own. I found it at CheapCooking.com The recipe is:
Whether you want to control the chemicals or the fat, making your own white sauce and flavoring it is cheaper and better for you than those canned cream of whatever soups.
In a heavy saucepan, melt the butter. Sprinkle the flour over it and stir to incorporate. Cook over medium low heat for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly. Slowly whisk in the milk.
If you want to make a cream of chicken flavored sauce, use half broth and half milk. If you have troubles getting this to be smooth, try heating the milk or broth before adding to the flour and butter. Bring to a simmer and cook over low heat, barely simmering, for a few minutes until thick.
To make a cheese sauce, add grated cheese and stir until melted.
To make a cream of some vegetable soup, saute 1/4 cup or so finely chopped celery, mushrooms, or onion in the butter before adding the flour and use half broth and half milk.
I am making cinnamon rolls for dessert so I guess I better get busy. Enjoy your day and God bless.
We are getting snow today. It started out as rain, changed to sleet and now it is all snow. Predictions are 4-6 in. We’ll see. Anyway, it looks pretty coming down.
Tonights menu is meatloaf, cheesy pototoes, home canned green beans and fresh rolls. The recipe I use for the meatloaf is:
2 lb hamburger, 2 tbsp bbq sauce, 1 cup milk, 1/2 tsp chili powder, 1 sleeve crackers crushed, 1 egg, 1/2 cup chopped onion, salt and pepper to taste. Bake for 1 hr 15 min at 400 degrees. Topping for meatloaf- l cup ketchup, 1/2 cup brown sugar.
Cheesy Potatoes:
In a casserole dish, layer sliced potatoes, chopped onions, salt, pepper, sprinkle on 1 tbsp flour, shredded cheddar cheese, shredded mozzarella–repeat layers pour 1 cup milk over the entire dish and bake at 400 degrees for 45 min or until pototoes are done.
It certainly will smell good in your home while these are baking. Our rolls are baking as I type. I think I am getting hungry. Enjoy your day and God bless.
Today has been kinda a resting day. So much has been going on here lately, I thought the girls and I needed a day to rest. Of course, as all you know there is no such thing as a completely resting day. Especially during the week. Anyway, I decided as I was resting to make a cherry pie. I used the cherries we picked over the weekend. I put about 3 cups of pitted cherries and about 1/2 cup sugar. I brought this to a boil and let it boil down some. Then I thickened it with 2 tbsp. cornstarch mixed with 2 tbsp. water.
Then I made my pie crust. The recipe I use is: 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/3 cup milk, 1/2 cup oil. Mix all this together, then add 2 1/3 cups sifted all purpose flour.
Then I divide the dough into 2 parts for the bottom crust and the top. I must warn you though this next picture is not too pretty. I have never been good at rolling out pie crust. I want to be, so I keep trying. Maybe someday.
The finished product. I know it doesn’t look too good but I believe it will taste great. Especially with that homemade vanilla ice cream I’m making. We are also having pork tenderloin, pinto beans and mashed potatoes. I think I will have cornbread with this. Today for lunch I had my first batch of wilted lettuce and green onions, so I had to bake cornbread to go with it. Now, where I from they would have said a “mess” of lettuce and onions but I didn’t want to confuse those of you who do not understand mountain talk. For you all who don’t know what this is, I’ll explain. First pick the lettuce and onion, fry some bacon. Then you wilt down the lettuce and onion with the hot bacon grease. Add a little salt and enjoy with cornbread. Hubby likes pinto beans with his. Anyway you fix it, it is good! My ice cream maker is finished, so I must go. Take care and God bless.
My rose bush is full of these little buds. I can’t wait to see them in bloom! Of course, I will take a picture so you all can see them too. Today we begin our new study today on I Corinthians. Pray for us, as the ladies seem to think this will be a hard study. To me, hard means digging deeper. Hopefully, digging deeper means understanding deeper. We’ll see. Yesterday was a beautiful day here in Floyd. Sunshine, not too warm, just right. I washed clothes again and hung them out on the line to dry. I thought I should take advantage of the sunshine. They are calling for rain this evening through Monday. Every year, our church does a youth Trout Fest day. It is scheduled for tomorrow. The pond is already stocked and ready to go. It is a big day. The kids fish from 9:30 to 12:00. Then we have a picnic lunch. Hotdogs with all the fixin’s. Lots of desserts. The kids and the adults have a LOT of fun. Hopefully, it will not get rained out. We went over to a friend’s house last night. I made homemade cinnamon rolls and took them to share. Good coffee, good food, good fellowship. Life is good and God is great! I took Jessica’s advice and made the rolls a little different this time. I put chopped pecans in the middle along with the brown sugar and cinnamon. Then for the icing I made a quick caramel frosting from my Mennonite cookbook. The recipe is:
1/2 cup butter and 1 cup brown sugar. Melt together on low heat and boil 2 min. stirring constantly. Add 1/4 cup milk and heat just until boiling again. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Stir in 2 cups sifted powdered sugar.
This was very good on the cinnamon rolls. I know it would be excellent on cakes as well. Time for my day to get busy. Take care and God bless.
Yes, we are getting snow! How about that? Well, it is March. I thought spring was here but I guess winter is still holding on. The snow has been gone long enough though that seeing it coming down was pretty exciting. I have come across a really easy homemade biscuit recipe. I have struggled for years to make good homemade biscuits and have never gotten it quite right. I think these are pretty good. Not as good as my grandmothers were but good. Perhaps that has been my problem. Too high a standard. Anyway here’s the recipe if anyone would like to try it. 2 1/4 cups self rising flour, 2/3 cup shortening or lard, 1 cup milk. Combine flour and shortening with pastry blender or fork until no large clumps of shortening appear. Add milk. (Your choice sweet or buttermilk). Stir. Turn out on floured surface. Add enough flour to make stiff dough. Pat out and cut biscuits. Bake at 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes. When done, brush tops with melted butter. I like them because I don’t have to use a rolling pin and I can use self-rising flour. I have made some biscuit recipes that just took forever to make. These go very fast (both in making and in eating).
Here’s a picture of how they turned out. I think they look pretty good! I forgot to tell you the recipe will make about 9 biscuits this size. 2 are suspiciously missing from this picture. Well, I think it’s time to eat. Enjoy your day, take care and God bless.
Yes, we have more snow. It is snowing hard and we have gotten about 1 1/2″ already. All our shoveled out places are covered again. I think it is supposed to snow until about 8:00 tonight. I just pray it doesn’t snow too much. We plan on going to Jessica’s this weekend. The last picture shows how hard it is snowing, if you look really close, you can see the barn in the distance. 
Changing the subject, here is a picture of a peach pie I made today. Instead of using a pie pan, I put it in one of my cast iron skillets. The peaches were home canned. I just thickened up the juice. The pie crust is really simple. 1/2 cup oil, 1/3 cup milk, 1/4 tsp. salt. Stir this together, then add 2 1/3 cup sifted all purpose flour. Mix together. This will make top and bottom crust. I used the entire dough for a bottom crust as this skillet is fairly large, then I put a crumb topping on the top. I think this need vanilla ice cream on the side. What do you all think? Well, enjoy your day and God bless.
Merry Heart Crafts 