Home Cooking with our homesteading Tennessee friends, the West Ladies, is a beautiful 218 page book with over 150 tasty and unique recipes.  Amongst the pages you will find original art work by Vicki, essays on country living by all the ladies, countless home cooking tips, many beautiful full-color photos of life on the farm and even the sheet music to their hit song, “Green Beans in the Garden!”

Focusing on wholesome, healthful foods, the introduction is packed with information on healthy substitutions for harmful ingredients such as white sugar, hydrogenated oils and pre-packaged foods.  However, there is no substitution to great taste!  So, country favorites like, Cecilia’s Cornbread Dressing or Jasmine’s Chicken Pot Pie are sure to please hearty appetites.  Unique, wild harvest recipes such as Violet Jelly and Wild Sumac Lemonade will get you out in the woods discovering these gems.

So, heat up the cast iron and join the West Ladies in their homestead kitchen for some cooking fun.  It's such a blessin'!

BUY The HOMESTEAD BLESSING COOKBOOK

:: Resources ::

Homestead Blessings DVD Series

Farther Along CD by the West Ladies

Farmer's Daughter CD by the West Ladies

A “Cottage Food Production Operation” involves a person using their own kitchen facility to produce food items that are not potentially hazardous, including bakery products, jams, jellies, candy, dry mixes, spices and some sauces. -- via Facebook

California bakers asked California state legislators to enact a Cottage Foods bill authorizing the Department of Health and Senior Services and/or the Department of Agriculture to issue customized "Home Bakery" licenses to residential kitchens for the purpose of selling non-potentially-hazardous bakery products, such as, but not necessarily limited to: breads, cakes, doughnuts, pastries, buns, rolls, cookies, biscuits, and pies (except meat or cream pies).

Sign the Petition

:: Resources ::

Cottage Food Law Update in other States

Homebased Baking Cottage Food Laws

Vintage Kleenoff Jelly ad via alsis35 on Flickr.

Do you know that there is a way to clean your stove without any chemicals?  I  learned a trade secret form a trendy housecleaning service that kept this little nifty trick "under wraps."

She told me the following story. They had been hired to clean an upscale kitchen. The owner was dismayed because she could never get the unsightly burned on black spots off her stove  that inevitably happen to all of us when cooking. Try as she may, even with certain chemical cleaners, nothing did the trick. However, this cleaning company got these ugly back spots off with one simple device--a glass scraper! All you have to do is get one (or a razor if you can be careful) and you can just flick the spot off in one simple move! It won't scratch or harm the surface of the stove.

Well, there was one pleased and shocked customer who could not believe her eyes and begged for the secret, which, of course, was kept hidden from her. It also really works well for any hard to remove spots both inside and out of the stove. No more "black freckled" stove tops or hard to remove black gook inside! I try to never be without one and, for me,  is the only way to clean a stove.

We also use a little baking soda for keeping the stove top clean.  Works great, too !

Good bye, chemical stove cleaners-- hello, glass scraper!

Thanks to an extended summer harvest season, I'm getting my canning groove back after a month hiatus.

I certainly wasted no time in putting up... it was time to put up or shut up!  No more dawdling (well, not that I WAS but ... )

Our second crop of later summer tomatoes are loaded with green tomatoes so a friend brought me a big box of canning tomatoes which needed to be processed immediately.   60 lbs turned into 30 quarts.

I figure another batch like this should keep with plenty of tomato sauce us till next Summer and nothing, NOTHING, beats homemade tomato sauce, especially sauce made with fresh, homegrown herbs and vine ripened tomatoes.

BASIL TOMATO SAUCE

from Ball Blue Book of Canning --  BTW I LOVE this book. I've had mine for years and use it ALL the time!

Makes about 7 (16 oz) pints

20 lb tomatoes (about 60 medium)
1 cup chopped onion (about 1 large)
8 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup finely minced, fresh basil  (I love herbs, the more herbs the better so I and add another 1/4 cup mixture of herbs from the garden - rosemary, oregano)
1 Tbsp Bottled lemon juice per hot jar
7 (16 oz) pint glass preserving jars with lids and bands

Directions:
1.) PREPARE boiling water canner. Heat jars and lids in simmering water until ready for use. Do not boil. Set bands aside.
2.) WASH tomatoes; drain. Remove core and blossom ends. Cut into quarters. Set aside.
3.) SAUTE onion and garlic in olive oil until transparent. Add tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4.) PUREE tomato mixture in a food processor or blender, working in batches. Strain puree to remove seeds and peel.
5.) COMBINE tomato puree and basil in large saucepot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until volume is reduced by half, stirring to prevent sticking.
6.) ADD 1 Tbsp bottled lemon juice to each hot jar. Ladle hot sauce into hot jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe rim. Center hot lid on jar. Apply band and adjust until fit is fingertip tight.
7.) PROCESS filled jars in a boiling water canner for 35 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Remove jars and cool. Check for seal after 24 hours. Lids should not flex up and down when center is pressed.

Like to start canning your garden's bounty?  Complete CANNING KIT

Homegrown ingredients

Moving to California really opened up a whole new world of exciting eats to a kid who grew up in the South (no offense) where foods were mostly American traditional.  California  cuisine abounds with the exotic influences  from other cultures from around the world.

Ever since I was introduced to this Mediterranean salad back when I was a teenager, Tabouleh has become  one of my favorite summer salads.    Especially using the fresh homegrown ingredients that are growing in our garden, I could easily polish off a whole bowl myself.

I like to be creative and add a bit more “stuff” than what’s in a typical tabouleh dish. Tabouleh salad is traditionally made of bulgur, finely chopped parsley,  mint, tomato and spring onion, seasoned with lemon juice and olive oil.

To liven the dish up, I like to put a bit of purple and green basil, along with cucumbers (gives the salad a nice cool crunch)

Mmmm good.

Summer salad

 TABOULEH

Ingredients

2 bunches of fresh parsley (1 1/2 cup chopped, with stems discarded)
2 tablespoons of fresh mint, chopped
I medium onion, finely chopped
6 medium tomatoes, diced
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup bulghur, medium grade
6 tablespoons lemon juice
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Romaine lettuce or grape leaves to line serving bowl (optional)

Method

oak bulghur in cold water for 1 1/2 to 2 hours until soft.
Squeeze out excess water from bulghur using hands or paper towel.
Combine all ingredients, except for salt, pepper, lemon juice, and olive oil.
Line serving bowl with grape leaves or romaine lettuce, and add salad.
Sprinkle olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper on top.
Serve immediately or chill in refrigerator for 2 hours before serving.

Recipe courtesy of http://www.expatrecipe.com/2010/08/23/tabouleh/

Serve as a side dish on top of leaf lettuce or stuffed in a pita bread.

If you wanna do right by your appetite,
If you're fussy about your food,
Take a choo-choo today.....

And we'll put you in the happiest mood. with:
Shoo Fly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy
Makes your eyes light up,
Your tummy say "Howdy."

-- Song "Shoo-Fly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy"  Guy Wood & Sammy Gallop. 1945

Blame it on the humid weather last week and the smell of wet pavement when the humidity broke or the  Gillian Welch tune “Dixieland” rolling around in my noggin,   I got a hankering for good ol’ southern cooking.

Time to wrangle up some

Peach Pandowdy

Ingredients

6 cups thickly sliced peaches
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Place the peaches in a medium bowl. Sprinkle lemon juice over them. Mix together 1/2 cup of sugar and cornstarch. Sprinkle over the peaches, and stir to coat. Spoon into a 2 to 2 1/2 quart casserole dish.
In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, 2 tablespoons of sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in butter with a fork or pastry cutter until it is in fine crumbs. Make a well in the center, and pour in the cream. Stir with a fork until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
Roll out dough on a floured surface until it is just big enough to cover the baking dish. Cut a 2 inch cross in the center. Place over the peaches, and tuck in the dough around the sides. Turn back the corners of the cross to reveal the filling.
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes in the preheated oven, until filling is bubbly, and top is golden brown.

Recipe courtesy of http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/peach-pandowdy/detail.aspx

What the heck is a “pandowdy”   May sound a bit “hickish” like a dish right out of “Aunt Bee Taylor's” Mayberry kitchen.  It’s sorta like pie but without the bottom crust  - and, BOY, is it good!

Cut peaches go in a cast iron skillet

Hot out of the oven

What’s your favorite summertime treat?

Sunset Magazine has put together 16 Ways With Fresh Peaches

Look what "beached up" here on the homestead!

With massive squash plants (all that good compost) one's bound to miss one or two... more like three!    Aye, aye!   But what to do with these here "whales"?

They are great for things like:

Muffins - sweet & spicy  or do a savory one with cheese & chives

Chocolate Cake/Cupcakes

Bread

Pickles

Fritters

Or you can grate 'em and freeze for later

Already put one of them to good use.

Zucchini chocolate bread - super moist and delicious!

What creative ways, besides dumping them on our neighbor's front porch at night, do you use the 'one that got away?' 

With a  have a huge elderberry bush in the corner of the property, every summer I always enjoy making preserves and  syrups.

Elderberries are extremely high in vitamin C.  The berries contain more vitamin C than any other herb except rosehips and black currant.   The bush and berries are steeped in folklore and offer many a remedy for a slew of ailments.  Not only growing your own food but "pharmacy" too!

The syrup is great to take during the flu season and there's no need for a "spoonful of sugar" to help this "medicine go down!"

Elderberries are known to have "antioxidant activity, to lower cholesterol, improve vision, boost the immune system, improve heart health and for coughs, colds, flu, bacterial and viral infections and tonsilitis." - HerbWisdom.com 

This year, I tried a more "European" style preserve that doesn't require straining out the seeds and skins (I believe the skins are the healthiest part!).    And with our very own small orchard of apple trees, I used  homegrown apples instead of pectin.

ELDERBERRY PRESERVES

Ingredients

450g (1lb) elderberries, stripped from stems
225g (8oz) cooking apples, peeled and chopped
150ml (1/4 pt) water
juice of 2 lemons
2 sprigs of lemon balm (I substituted Lemon Verbena)
675g (1 1/2 lb) sugar

Put all the ingredients into a pan and simmer until a small quantity, put on a plate, wrinkles when cold. Remove balm. Pour into hot sterilized jars and cover.

Recipe courtesy of

http://www.grouprecipes.com/85273/elderberry-jam.html

When you can mosey out into the garden and  pick sun- ripened fruit, then  take a few steps back  into the kitchen to prepare a simple, but delicious fruit bowl, I feel soooo "rich."  I am extremely thankful for the blessings from the good earth.

One of the joys of summer eating is fresh herbs.   Herbs make dishes "pop!" Mixing herbs like mint, pineapple sage and lemon verbena with fruit are fireworks for your taste-buds.  Herbs can turn an ordinary fruit bowl into a gourmet dish that will leave family and friends ooohing and aahing.

For our summer fruit salad, I adapted the recipe below with what we are harvesting now- apples, strawberries, blueberries, peaches and apricots.   Also, instead of sugar, I like to use honey.

Summer Fruit Salad with Infused Lemon Herb Syrup

This is a light and refreshing dessert, the use of the vanilla bean makes these fruits seem exotic. Lemon balm, verbena, and lemon grass, even some orange mint, are all good in this recipe. Other fruits such as any melon, mango or papayas, berries or cherries, plums or apricots, or bananas can also be used.

Serves 8 to 10

1 cup water
1/4 cup sugar  (or HONEY!)
1/2 vanilla bean
1 large handful of fresh lemon herb leaves, bruised
Few strips of lime zest
1 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
6 peaches or nectarines, peeled if desired, and sliced
1 small, ripe cantaloupe, seeded, and cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 large honeydew or small watermelon, seeded, and cut into bite-sized pieces

Make the flavored fruit syrup by combining the water, sugar, vanilla, herbs, and zest. Bring the contents of the pan to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

When cooled to room temperature, strain the syrup and stir in the lime juice. At this point the syrup can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Toss fruit in a large bowl. Pour the syrup over the fruit. Toss the mixture well. Cover the fruit and chill it for at least 1/2 hour before serving. Serve at cool room temperature.

Recipe courtesy of Olney Farmers Market

Our family wishes you and yours a very Happy 4th!

Paul shows off his sun oven design

It's summer and that means dusting off those solar ovens.  No need to heat up the house hotter than it is for cooking simple foods.    We built our first sun oven back in the mid 90's and have been harnessing the sun's free energy ever since.

Solar cooking is fun, easy and better yet you can make solar ovens simply and cheaply - with free "cast offs."

Like our friend here (shown in picture) did for a class project (he got an "A" btw!)

"This was an old plastic file cabinet on a stand. It can look straight up or usually best at a 45 degree angle as the Sun's path changes throughout the day. I used Hardibacker concrete board for the thermal mass layer cut to fit on the inside of the plastic box, Sealed as a complete concrete board box prior to pressing it in with gaff/fabric tape.

This is all sprayed black with toxic free black paint. (Flat black is best. It has a low Albedo. High absorption, low reflectivity.) I replaced the original plastic lid (which melted on the first test) with a double paned glass & wood lid, using an old picture frame glass and hardware and an old wood TV table tray top... The new wood lid frame was cut and routed to fit tightly in the oven opening, the glass installed matching the original picture frame template glass size using the original picture frame hardware to mount the glass. Old hinges served for the new lid, but is not necessary.

You want a tight fit to keep the air trapped. This is important and pointing the oven directly at the sun is best. The reflector dish is cardboard covered with aluminum foil. If you look at thes DIY videos you'll find the info. There are some good ones there. "

- Paul

:: Resources ::

DIY Solar Oven

Solar Oven Plants

Solar Cookers World Network

Pre Built Sun Ovens

Solar Oven/Cooking Books