Pie or Cake?

Jun 4, 2024

This ongoing question at our house never seems to tire out. We have fun asking folk which do they prefer? Which then always leads to the next obvious question; what is your favorite pie or cake?

It makes for interesting talk. Invariably answers include childhood memories. Often it depended on their mommas and what they baked for them.

I have baked both because my main squeeze, Bill, prefers fruit pies while I choose cake. My favorite cake is Chocolate Cake with Mocha Icing. Bill’s favorite pie he says, “Undecided, between cherry or blueberry”.

If I had to choose a pie, Blueberry would be it.

There is a close runner- up though, and that is Strawberry Pie. Made from local berries. This Spring has been a lovely season. Cool and lots of rain. Strawberries came in early. They are very good.

My dear friend gave me some from her patch, so I decided a strawberry pie was in order. May I say it was delicious? Fun and easy to make too.

Which do you prefer? Pie or cake?

*Beautiful strawberries from my friend’s garden.*

*Turned out nicely. This crust was made with lard.*

*I added blueberries for fun and color. Only thing it needs is whipped cream on top! Very good.*

The Million Dollar Question

Oct 5, 2018

Every mother and wife has heard it forever, it seems. So, what is this question?

“What’s for dinner?”

And it comes everyday! Even for those of us that enjoy cooking, everyday is a lot. I am here to help you with this daily chore. Sans a complete autobiography, suffice to say I raised four rowdy boys, and one brave little girl on one income in a small 1,800 square foot home. For a couple years, four of the five were teenagers all at once!

They are all now grown and some with children of their own. Feeding them was a mighty daily chore, most especially with one income. I can say with certainty it can be done, and done well.

So, I have decided to post on my blog recipes that are real winners with moms, dads, and children. But before recipes come, the right cooking tools need to be on hand. And anyone who follows my blog knows I love tools! Here is a fun blog on The Tool Purse

Required Kitchen Tools:

Crock Pot I do not recommend one over the other, except this, be sure it has a Low, High and Keep Warm feature. Also, I suggest you choose a good size one, at least big enough to hold a whole chicken, or a nice size roast.

There are lots of crock pots to choose from. Be sure it is large enough for a whole chicken.

Dutch Oven This is a round heavy metal cooking pot with a snug fitting lid. Can be used in oven or stovetop. This is your most valuable kitchen cooking tool. In the photo are two different types of Dutch Ovens. The green enameled over cast iron cooks remarkable meals in remarkable time! I use this one in the oven. The stainless steel one I use on the stovetop.

Good Heavy Slotted Spoons and Solid Spoons Good spoons are necessary tools for your kitchen. There are so many to choose from. Try them out before purchasing to be sure they fit your hand well, are comfortable, and have a good long handle.

Have a good supply of sturdy slotted and solid spoons in your kitchen tool box! The colored ones are fun!

Good Thick Hot Pads And plenty of them. Also hold them in your hand to be sure they fit well, are soft and bend well. Some are so stiff they are a danger for handling hot pots and lids.

Be sure your hot pads are thick, soft and pliable. Do not forget to make them fun too!

So, check your kitchen ‘tool box’, be sure you have good tools for working and preparing the delicious meals you will be making for your family with yummy left-overs. For a very fast starting recipe try this:

Crock Pot Whole Chicken

This is one of the easiest recipes to put together. Do it in the morning before going to work. It will take less than 15 minutes.

Remove whole chicken from plastic, discard the giblets. Rinse chicken inside and out. Place whole chicken, breast side up in crock pot. Season with salt, pepper, paprika, or your favorite seasoned salt.

For extra flavor add onion and cloves of garlic. No need to peel them. They cook sweeter in their skins and can easily be pressed out of skins at end of cooking time with your fork. Also add a few potatoes with skins on. Pour a cup of water over all of it. Set crock pot to “Low”, and go about your day.

You will need your slotted spoons to remove chicken from crock pot. It will fall apart upon removal. Arrange on a plate with the cooked potatoes, onion and garlic. Allow to cool while your favorite vegetable cooks in a little boiling water on the stove. After cooling some, remove the skin from the chicken, discard, the chicken will fall off the bone.

For extra yumminess, mash your potatoes with a fork, get a little juice with your solid spoon from crock pot, pour over meat, onions and potatoes. Enjoy! Let me know how it turned out!

This will serve a family of 4 or 5 for two nights (providing they are all not teenagers!).

Homemade is not as hard as you think!

The Art of the Smithy

Jul 25, 2018

The blacksmith may be not on every corner these days, but he is alive and well at my twinsters’ ranch in Green Mountain Falls, Colorado. Her son, Joseph, was taught the art of blacksmithing years ago. He learned this skill well from the master smithy at Rock Ledge Ranch in Colorado Springs, CO. A beautiful tourist attraction for those interested in the history of the farming folks that settled the area.

He began in the shop as a teenager, and now, well into his 20’s he is accomplished in this art/trade. He was asked to make flower crooks for his sisters wedding this past June. With the help of his Virginian cousin (who is a greenhorn), they crafted twelve beautiful flower crooks. Two of these lovely pieces of hand-wrought crooks made their way back to my gardens here in Virginia.

It took all afternoon to make these pieces of art. Yet, I did not tire in watching these two smithies craft plain steel bars into lovely pieces of useful art. Joseph was teaching Gordon as they were making the crooks. It was fascinating, and even this Primary Farm Operator was learning a few things! In fact, Joseph being the fine teacher he is, let this ‘ole PFO have a few whacks on the anvil! What an amazing song is sung with the hammer on the anvil!

In addition to teaching us the craft of blacksmithing, Joseph also shared some interesting and fun sayings used in our daily talk that is attributed to this craft:

“Knock the daylight out of it.” A term used of the master blacksmith to an apprentice. To take a bend out of the metal the apprentice would place the bend upwards on the anvil—and hit it. This straightens the metal and removes the daylight between the metal and anvil. So, in other words—‘Straighten Up!”

“Too many irons in the fire.” A reference to having too many pieces of metal in the fire, which could cause some of them to burn because of too many.

“Loose your temper.” Tempering is a process of metal. After hardening it, it is tempered to make it a good balance of hard and flexible. If the temper is lost, so is the usefulness of the piece.

“Strike while the iron is hot!” That’s a blacksmiths life.

“It has a nice ring to it.” Refers to the sounds a good anvil makes when struck 🙂 !!