Hankering for Pickles

We found a plethora of Kirby cucumbers this past week, and decided to make some refrigerated pickles.  I posted this back in June of 2012.  Here's a link to the article with the recipe again.  Now we have to wait 72 hours before we can dig in!


http://www.theschultzcompound.blogspot.com/2012/06/pickles-and-patience-is-not-one-of-my.html

Hungry for pickles anyone?

I Was Inspired

I was inspired by my good friend's posts recently about being knee deep in shredding paper.

http://dixiecritter.blogspot.com/2013/08/lost-treasure.html

Here's my bag full, goes all the way back to 2009! Oof da! No longer will I need to walk cautiously around the trip hazard that has been a staple of my floor for far too long! Unfortunately the only treasures I found were an occasional paper clip. Check out Stephens blog, he'll keep you coming back.

 

 

 

 

Sufferin Succotash

What makes a succotash, a succotash?  I moved south from Wisconsin a couple decades ago, and until I moved south, unless it was uttered by Sylvester on Looney Tunes/Warner Bros., I never heard the word, much less knew what the heck it was.

I got the drivel of a newspaper this week, and came across a recipe for corn, string bean & potato succotash salad.  It just so happens I have fresh corn, beans from our garden and a few potatoes beckoning me to make use of them.   OK, I can make this recipe, but I still had no idea what makes a succotash a succotash?

Per Wikipedia; succotash is a food dish consisting primarily of corn and beans. Other ingredients may be added, but it’s the corn and beans together that make it a succotash.  Relatively inexpensive, it was popular during the Great Depression.  Can be served warm or cold, depending.

So, here’s my first foray in to the world of succotash;

4 thin skinned potatoes are put in a pot of cold water w/salt.  Bring to boil over medium-high heat.  While that’s going shuck 4 ears of corn.  Once the water is boiling add the corn and cook for 3-5 minutes and then remove and let cool.  Place about ½ pound of string beans (trimmed) in pot and cook for 5 minutes.  Remove them from the pot with a slotted spoon and place in ice water.  Drain the potatoes when tender in about 20 minutes.

Cut the corn off the cob, drain the beans, slice or cube the potatoes and place all in a large bowl.  Add 1 finely chopped shallot, 1/3 cup olive oil (more as less as needed), salt, pepper to taste and a handful of fresh parsley leaves chopped.

Lightly mix all of it together, and you have a succotash!  It was pretty good, and a good use of a few items I had sitting around.  I served this cold.  Should make enough for 4-6 people.

From the Orlando Sentinenl 7/10/13, Adapted from “Canal House Cooks Every Day” by Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirsheimer.

Huh? and Challah Bread

OK, I made two loaves of bread today.  Same kind, one rose up the other didn’t.  I have no clue as to why.  I measured carefully, and double checked.  I think I have a gremlin in my kitchen!

Challah Bread, I need it for one of the Moose’s favorite things in the whole world; Peaches and Cream Bread Pudding.  I’ll share the recipe once it’s done.

Challah Bread Recipe

1 egg plus enough water to equal 1 cup plus 1 TBL

3-1/4 Cups bread flour

1-1/2 tsp salt

2 TBL sugar

3 TBL butter

1-1/2 tsp yeast

I use a bread maker at this point; place ingredients into your bread machine in the order it requires (mine is liquid ingredients first).  Use basic dough setting, remove when completed.  Divide into three equal parts, roll out into ropes approx. 10 inches long.  Pinch all three together on one end and create braid, pinch final ends.  Let rise 45 minutes or until doubled in size.

Brush with egg wash (1 egg and 1TBL water).  Bake in preheated oven at 375 degrees for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Once I finish his favorite dessert, I’ll l share the recipe.  It gets rave reviews!

A Hunting We Will Go

We’ve been M.I.A. recently.  The Moose and I finally decided to take a few days off and visit family in Wisconsin.  We had a work related trip to Pittsburgh then added on 8 hours of drive time to get to the land of cheese, brats and beer! 

We had three full days to cover as many relatives as possible.  I hope to have some follow up stories in the near future.  Our hunt for the infamous, nonexistent in Florida, unless you pay over $8.00/lb. rhubarb.  It virtually grows like a weed in Wisconsin, and this is its prime harvesting season.
On our last full day in Wisconsin spent with the Moose’s Mom and her hubby Gene, we went rhubarb hunting!  Moose’s Mom placed a few phone calls, and those few calls turned in to good prospects. 

Her friend Teresa (an interesting character, emigrated from Italy in 1955 and doesn’t take anyone’s crap, my kind of lady), had a “little” bit left.  Ladies and gentlemen, her idea of a little bit was a black garbage bag full!  Now it had the leaves still on, but really that’s a “little” bit?!  We had a great visit, and solved all the world’s problems over a glass of cheap Italian wine.  She’s Italian, if she says the wine is good, it’s good, who am I to argue?  She doesn’t “waste her good money on expensive wine”.  I could have spent a week shadowing this woman, just to hear her expressions and life experiences.

Then it was off to the Moose’s Aunt Elaine’s, for another “little” bit.  We had almost another whole garbage bag full!  Now this lady is amazing!  She lost her husband this past year, and is fully self-sufficient.  I’m guessing she’s in her late 70’s.  She pushed a lawn mower over her 1+ acre property herself, as her riding lawn mower was being repaired and the lawn just couldn’t wait.  How many 70 + year old ladies do you know of that mow their own lawn?

If that wasn’t enough to impress me, I was absolutely amazed at her garden, and yard.  She’s spent over 30 years at this property, and it is out of this world.  Another lady I could shadow, to learn all her gardening secrets.  I called her the Master Gardener and she seemed a bit embarrassed at the accolade. 

Our final stop and not to be outdone by the ladies, was Gene’s brother Jimmy.  Again, I wonder what the folks in Wisconsin consider as a lot of rhubarb.  Jimmy had a “little” bit, and I could take all that I wanted.  Yep, another bag full!  We spent time with he and his wife looking over his classic cars, and family heirloom rose bushes.    

It was a fantastic day  (thanks for driving us around Gene!) and trip even though short.   I dropped off some rhubarb to my Mom and Padre’ on our way home, and made two more people extremely happy.  My family loves rhubarb, could you tell?

 Interesting Rhubarb Facts:

• Some of the earliest records of rhubarb date back to China in 2700 B.C. and was used for medicine.
• It’s really a vegetable, part of the buckwheat family.
• One pound of fresh rhubarb yields about 3 cups chopped or 2 cups cooked.
• Ben Franklin is credited with being one of the first to send seeds to the American colonies.
• One cup of rhubarb contains as much calcium as a glass of milk, although not absorbed as well as dairy.
• Rhubarb leaves are toxic, they contain oxalic acid.  They can be used to make a natural insecticide.
• Nothing tastes better than a strawberry rhubarb pie!

Only 5 Bucks!

There is a common theme to our yard sale finds, at least for the Moose.  It’s 5 bucks!  I cannot begin to count the number of items he has picked up for a measly 5 dollars at yard/garage sales.  I’m sure you’re thinking, sure I can find stuff too for 5 bucks, but are they worth anything in the end?

Well, would a reverse osmosis system be worth 5 dollars, especially when all you have to invest after the fact, besides some elbow grease, is around $100 to make the whole thing work?

We are getting ready for our community yard sale this weekend, and needless to say, he has a wallet full of 5 dollar bills!  Wish him luck!

Are you a yard sale fanatic?

I didn’t use to be, it always seemed strange digging around in other peoples stuff.  Some people have really great stuff, others think they have great stuff that should have probably hit the end of the street on garbage day.   We’ve basically furnished The Compound with great yard sale finds.  I have nothing to complain about, especially since there’s more in my bank account as a result.

What’s your best find?

Home-Ec - Resolution

Earlier this year I made a resolution of sorts to try my hand at some "old school" home-ec projects.  I took up sewing, knitting, crocheting and canning.  I'm better at some than others;  crocheting over knitting.  Knitting takes too long as far as I can tell, and I'm not very patient.  It also bothers my hands more, as I've developed carpal tunnel over the years. 

Part of my resolution was not only to learn the basics of these skills, but use them.  I decided to try and make home made gifts this Christmas for my family.  That may mean someone ends up with a jar of pickles, but they'll get something.

I wanted to share with you a small project I did for Daughter #2's dog Winston.  I couldn't wait to see it on him this past holiday weekend, and figured he would get better use out of it this next month through the holiday season.  Let me know what you think.  The buttons are actually jingle bells.

Dry Chickens, Raised Roof on the Pond and Home-Ec

We spent the night at The Compound Friday.  We had some rain, but did get a chance to mow a section of the yard, and insert a plastic sheet above the Hooligan's roosting area to help keep them dry at night.  They decided some time ago, that sleeping in their coop was out of the question, and we've finally gotten around to eliminating the issue of rain while they sleep.  The Moose unhooked the green cloth overhead, and inserted a sheet of white plastic and the reattached the green cloth and plastic together on the overhead chicken wire.  They were all very curious Friday night, but I'm sure were grateful for the dry feathers come Saturday morning.


We spent Saturday, trying to resolve the sinking of the orange fencing material over the pond.  We think birds were landing on it, and caused the twine to stretch and the material to sag.  If left alone the birds would have the ability to reach through the holes and continue to fish for Tilapia.  So we headed to the hardware store, and bought 3/16" wire cable and stretched it across  the pond, under the fencing, and raised it all back up again.  Hopefully this'll do the trick!  We seem to learn something new each weekend, mostly by trial and error. 

Finished mowing on Saturday, picked another basket full of veggies, and took care of the Hooligan's all 30 of them!  The Class of 2012 are getting restless, but are too small to mix with the older ones. 


I took sewing lessons a few months back, part of my Home-Ec goals for the year,  and decided to try a larger project.  I've made a pillow or two, and this project is my largest to date.  I had some left over fabric, from the curtains we used inside the camper.  We got the curtains at Ikea at $4.95/pair and they were 96" long.  I had to cut them down for the windows in the camper and was left with 6,  48" x 54" pieces of beige fabric.  I pinned them together and sewed the sections together, to create one long, 27' piece, and created an opening on each end to hold a piece of 1/2" PVC pipe.  This pipe is to help keep the fabric weighted down and in place.  Here's what I made;

A shade cover for the deck.  It gets awfully hot under the sun this time of year, and we need a place to go for shade, still enjoy the outdoor view and breeze.  This should do the trick.  I have the fabric held up along each beam with more PVC pipe and hooks. 








Fabric:  free, left over from previous project
PVC - 4 each 10' pieces 1/2" $3.55  total of $14.20

Hooks - $4.46 for a box of 25, needed only 10, or $1.70

Thread - $2.30, used around a 1/4 of it $ .57

Total - $16.47

Knowing you did it yourself;  priceless

The bees are doing well, I took a peak through the window and see more capped brood, which is a very good sign.  We should see a noticeable increase in the population in the next week or so.

We had a good time, hot and sweaty, but good.  Glad to be home, and already starting to think about next weekends project list...



Home Economics - Knitting

D1 (daughter #1) and I took a Knitting 101 class at our local Jo-Ann store.  This is part of my "to do" list for this year;  sew, knit, canning, etc.  We both enjoyed the time together, and had a few laughs at our sorry excuse for knitting.  We learned the basic casting on, knitting, purl and casting off stitches.  At the end, mine looked like a very bad bookmark!  I've been practicing in my spare time, and made D2 a pea green coaster.  Just one coaster.  Pea green because that's the color yarn they gave us for class.  I enjoyed this enough to want to take additional classes, so that's a plus.

I've also continued to practice my sewing skills.  I've made two pillows.

Won't my family be surprised when they get pillows and coasters for Christmas next year!