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posted by Mom on 10/10/09

I am thankful that God  gave us taste buds. I’m also glad He gave us good-tasting things to eat–and herbs can make them taste even better!

My family did not use herbs very much when I was a child, at home, so I’ve had to learn this art from talking with others through the years. Here are some of the questions I asked and the  discoveries  I made.

1. Do I have to use pork in my soup beans to make them taste good?  After all, the less pork you eat the better.

2. What did you put in this stew? Mine always tastes so bland!

3. Can canned green beans taste good without adding oil or butter?

The answers, I’ve found, to each one of these questions involves using the right herbs and spices.

1) When Esther (now age 23) was three months old I found myself in the “nursing mothers’ lounge” in Knoxville while Don and I were attending the home school seminar. I asked one of the ladies, who was also there in the lounge, question number one, and this was her reply: “bay leaf”. She was right! After experimenting a bit, I discovered a very delicious recipe. This recipe is for one pound of dry beans (all kinds of dry beans will work).

Let beans soak overnight. Add one teaspoon of salt, one teaspoon of bouillon, 1 bay leaf, 1/2 cup of onion, and one clove of garlic (minced). Cook until desired softness. We have soft water so they are done after about `1 1/2  hours. Harder water will take 2 1/2 hours.

2) At a covered dish dinner, I tasted the best beef, potatoes, carrots, and onion I had ever eaten. I asked the one who brought it what herbs she used, and she said. “My brother actually made this, but I think he used  ‘rosemary’.” What a revelation! After experimenting a bit, I came up with this recipe for two pounds of stew meat,  two pounds of potatoes, one cup of onion, and three carrots. Add  1/2 teaspoon of rosemary (don’t overdo it–you can get too much!), one bay leaf, one clove of minced garlic, one teaspoon of bouillon, salt & pepper to taste.

3) This one is the best yet. Once, While waiting on our children, another mother and I were talking about menus. I asked her what she liked to fix, and she told me about adding Cajun spice to her green beans! After I warm  up the can of beans, I pour off the water, sprinkle on the Cajun spice, stir it up, and serve. You will have to experiment to see how much you like. I use quite a bit. Cajun tastes great on beans fresh out of the garden too.

One more little tip. If you grow your own herbs, they will usually dry just fine if picked and left on the counter for a few days. Just put them in a glass jar and keep them all winter. I found this out after accidentally leaving some raspberry leaves (for tea) in the car one summer.

3 Comments » | posted in Recipes

posted by Mom on 08/24/09

Ring! Ring! “Hello, yes, Dad, we have to eat at 5:00 so that we can meet Don at 6:15 and Judy at 6:30 because the program is at 7:00 and Chris will be disappointed if we aren’t there!”

“Are you sure you can be here by 5:00?  It is 4:15 right now.”

“No problem, Dad.  I’ll call Evelyn and tell her to be at your house at 5:00 too.”

Where did the time go?  I thought I had all afternoon! How can I  have the promised dessert (rhubarb crunch) ready in 15 minutes?  It would take 40 min. just to bake it.   Hum…  I’m glad Esther had diced some fresh rhubarb and made granola before she left for Virginia.  I will make rhubarb sauce!  We can pour it over ice cream and sprinkle the granola on top!

Here is the rhubarb sauce recipe.  It is also very good on plain yogurt, topped with granola.

Combine 3½ cups of diced rhubarb, 1 cup sugar, and 2 T. of orange juice.  Let stand 10 minutes.  Stir, cover, heat to simmer.  Cook, stirring several times.  Increase heat slightly as juice cooks out, until rhubarb is tender but not mushy.  Serve warm or cold.

We were late for Chris’ program but not because of a late meal!  We ate our supper on time!

6 Comments » | posted in Recipes

posted by Mom on 11/22/08

You can’t judge a book by its cover; well, you can’t judge a pumpkin by its shape either.

Actually, I am not talking about a pumpkin but a “melon squash” or “sweet necked squash.”

Some look at its shape and call it a gourd, but when you cut it open you see a solid orange neck and a hollow bulb full of seeds. We dry the seeds to plant in the spring or eat. Michael started growing these squash when he learned that they were sweet enough to eat raw. However, they are best when cooked and used in recipes which call for pumpkin.  They make perfect pumpkin pies.

One squash goes a long way. I cut up one that was fourteen pounds last week and was able to can five quarts of pumpkin with three cups left over for soup!  They also keep well in the cellar.

In all the pumpkin recipes posted, I have used this squash either fresh or canned. My latest experience with this delicious vegetable has been a pumpkin cake roll.  This is a cake rolled up with cream cheese.  This recipe is going to take some practice!  Does anyone have any pointers about how to make a pumpkin roll? Mine tasted good but did not look “like the picture.” 

“Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgement ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” Matthew 7:1,2

14 Comments » | posted in Recipes

posted by Michael on 07/1/08

There have been so many things going on here at the Staddon house that it has been impossible for me to get anything posted for a while. It seems too bad because those things would make great blog posts. We’ve been splitting bee hives, planting trees, harvesting honey, chipping branches, and all kinds of other interesting projects. I even had my first try at welding. It has been a lot of hard, sweat-dripping work. But what deserves a blog post the most is what our family read in Psalm 118 this morning, especially verses 19 through 23:

Verses 19-20: “Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and will praise the Lord: this gate of the Lord into which the righteous shall enter.” Question:Who is “the door of the sheep” through which they enter into the fold?

Verse 21: “I will praise Thee: for Thou has heard me, and art become my Salvation.” Question: Who is our Salvation?

Verses 22-23: “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.” Question: Who is the Head that the builders rejected?

Verse 24: “This is the day that the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” Key question: What is “this” Day that the Lord has made?

Read the verses again. Verse 24 is just a continuation of the other verses. The gate, the salvation, and the stone are speaking of Christ. The Day in verse 24 is not ultimately speaking of any 12-hour or 24-hour period! This is speaking of Christ, the Eternal Day in which I will rejoice, beginning the moment that I made peace with God through the sacrifice of His Son. “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” 1 Jn. 5:12. The water Christ gives is a well of water springing up unto everlasting life (Jn. 4:14). “For God, Who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” 2 Cor. 4:6. “The Lord is my light and my salvation” Ps. 27:1, “a light to lighten the gentiles” Luke 2:32, Is. 9:2, and Is. 49:6. According to Hebrews 4:8-10 this eternal day that lives within me is the Sabbath, the Day of rest. “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” Mt. 11:28. My temporal body may work and sweat, but how glorious it is to abide in the Rest of Jesus Christ forever! Woe to me if I attempt the labor of iniquity on this Day! Question: “And to whom sware He that they should not enter into His rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not  profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into rest” Heb. 3:18 – 4:3a.

4 Comments » | posted in Politics, Recipes, The Bright Side, Tidbits

posted by Mom on 02/12/08

Grandma Brown introduced us to vegetable pizza a few years back but it was not until recently that I began making it myself by “staddonizing” the recipe.

The first thing I changed was the crust — we like “the real thing” rather than Pillsbury cresent rolls.

The second thing that was more to our liking was replacing the Ranch flavor powder style dressing or dip mix with our own spices and some sour cream or plain yogurt. Tastefully Simple has a very good all natural Fiesta Party dip Mix which makes a very good replacement.

We bake 5 loaves of bread once or twice a week so when we need a pizza crust we just make the crust instead of the loaves of bread: One loaf makes two crusts. After baking it about 6 minutes, the 12″ crusts freeze very nicely in a two gallon plastic zip-lock bag.

Also the vegetables can be cut up ahead of time and kept for as long as a week if covered with water which is changed every day.

Bake one pizza crust and cool
Mix: 1 T. Fiesta Party Dip,
          ¼ c. mayonnaise (real mayonnaise only), and
          ¾ c. sour cream or plain yogurt
Spread on cooled crust
Cut into small pieces:
          Cauliflower
          Broccoli
          Carrots
          Olives
          Celery
          Red/green/yellow peppers
          Whatever raw vegetables preferred (yellow squash, etc)
Top crust with vegetables
Chill well and serve

Enjoy!
 
 

2 Comments » | posted in Recipes