No, really. Read the directions.

Ivy says:

I probably should have saved this for Heather’s confessional, but I have so many things to confess, I’ll just go ahead and post this one here. Besides, this one comes with a life lesson!

I was making brownies for the family, from scratch. I was in a hurry, though, and I read the directions very quickly while I was getting everything out. While I was mixing everything together, I thought something seemed odd. A half cup of salt? That’s an awful lot, I thought. Then I internally shrugged and dumped the half cup of salt in. And I failed to notice that I had put an awful lot of salt in and NO SUGAR.

When I tasted the brownie mix before putting it in the oven, I realized my error. Worst brownie mix EVER. I had misread salt for sugar and had somehow skipped over the actual salt in the recipe entirely. So, let my massive screwup be a lesson to you: Always, always, always, read the directions thoroughly. And if something seems odd, stop and look at the recipe. Salty brownies are a bad, bad thing.

Then and Now, Some Encouragement

Heather says:

I stumbled across this little quote while browsing through The Project Gutenberg.  It’s from The Easiest Way in Housekeeping and Cooking by Helen Campbell:

Every science is learned but domestic science. The schools ignore it; and, indeed, in the rush toward an early graduation, there is small room for it.

“She can learn at home,” say the mothers. “She will take to it when her time comes, just as a duck takes to water,” add the fathers; and the matter is thus dismissed as settled.

In the mean time the “she” referred to—the average daughter of average parents in both city and country—neither “learns at home,” nor “takes to it naturally,” save in exceptional cases; and the reason for this is found in the love, which, like much of the love given, is really only a higher form of selfishness. The busy mother of a family, who has fought her own way to fairly successful administration, longs to spare her daughters the petty cares, the anxious planning, that have helped to eat out her own youth; and so the young girl enters married life with a vague sense of the dinners that must be, and a general belief that somehow or other they come of themselves. And so with all household labor. That to perform it successfully and skillfully, demands not only training, but the best powers one can bring to bear upon its accomplishment, seldom enters the mind; and the student, who has ended her course of chemistry or physiology enthusiastically, never dreams of applying either to every-day life.

Take heart, Home Eccers, ours is not the first generation to struggle with the age old question “What’s for dinner?”  This book was first written in 1880 and revised in 1893. So the next time you find yourself staring blankly into the pantry trying to figure out what to feed the family, know you do not stand alone.

Make It From Scratch Carnival Round Up

Heather says:

Many thanks to Stephanie of Stop the Ride for letting us host this week’s Make It From Scratch Carnival .  It’s a round up for those who are sharing things they have made from scratch.  Do you ever wonder where that term came from?  A quick Google search suggested it was first used to mean starting from the line, perhaps a scratch mark in the dirt or sand.   Some would start from the scratch and others would have a headstart or handicap. Participants in this carnival are welcome to define their own version of made from scratch.  For instance, knitters don’t have to raise their own sheep, shear, wash, card, spin, and finally knit their own products to be included.  Make It From Scratch is an effort to encourage everyone to give new things a try and to show off their results.

If you would like to participate in next week’s round up, hosted by Country Magpie submit your entry here.

Let’s start with health and beauty aids, where it’s like a spa without having to tip:

Teaching Diligently made her own lemon-lime sugar scrub.

Renee is testing homemade moisturizing creams, she submitted Basic Moisturizing Cream.

Head out to the farm where Fowl Visions has a tutorial on how to use an electric skillet as an egg incubator.

Next up, crafting and sewing:

Susie shares the results of her latest sewing project, a vintage styled apron.

After all that cooking, there is bound to be some cleaning up to do.  Don’t worry, My Recycled Bags has homemade dishcloths with scrubbie centers.

Lea shows off her latest creation, Muno from Yo Gabba Gabba.

Lastly we head into the kitchen where carnival entrants were quite busy:

Modern Beet caught my eye with her Lamb’s Quarter Filo Pie.  Don’t let the name scare you away, lamb’s quarter is a vegetable, and you can use spinach if the ingredient is hard to find in your area.

If you belong to a CSA chances are you will occasionally end up with an unfamiliar vegetable or two.  Julie of ChezArtz experimented with kohlrabi salad.

Heather is in big trouble for putting a song in my head, but I’ll forgive her if she shares some of her home fries.

The Cincinnatti Locovore made and preserved garlic mustard dill pickle relish.

Ready for more preserving? See the strawberry jam canned by One Krusty Mama.

Adobo chicken salad is presented by I’ve Got a Little Space to Fill.

Need a frugal recipe for cabbage? Check out Funny About Money.

Tip Diva shares her top ten tips for making great deviled eggs.

Chief Family Officer orders you to pick up three pounds of potatoes and make Pommes Anna.

For dessert Lighter Side shares her strawberry shortcut cake.

Summer offers plenty of opportunity to try Adventures in Daily Living’s recipe for fruit crisp.

I am drooling all over Our Red House’s lemon tart, sorry about that!

Finally, would you like a tasty beverage to wash down all the goodies?  How about some of Stephanie’s blackberry shrub? It won’t be ready for a bit, which gives us all a chance to make our travel arrangements to stop in and give it a try.

See you next week at Country Magpie!

Retro Saturday: Biscuit Baking

Retro Saturday is a chance to see a blast from the Home Ec 101 past and gives Ivy and I a chance to relax.
Heather says:

I searched high and low. I tried at least a dozen recipes people swear were from Grandma and now I have it. This is the one I recommend to biscuit novices. This is my choice for those who are scared of rolling pins and feel unsure about kneading.

Basic biscuits:

• 2 cups all purpose flour + extra for dusting
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup vegetable shortening (COLD)
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter (COLD)+ 2 TBSP
• 1 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Melt the 2 TBSP unsalted butter and pour into a 10″ square cake pan. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl thoroughly combine the flour, salt, and baking powder. Add the shortening and grate in the butter. If you have a pastry cutter you can work it in that way, but for novices I find a grater simplifies the process. Do not worry about the little bit that sticks to the grater.

Using your fingers work the shortening and butter into the flour mixture. When it is thoroughly combined it will resemble coarse crumbs.

Add the milk and stir until just combined. The dough will be VERY sticky, that is exactly how it is supposed to be.

Heavily dust your work area and hands with flour. Turn the dough onto the floured surface. Fold each side toward the middle. Pick up the dough, redistribute the flour on your work surface, turn the dough over, and set back down. Once again fold each side to the middle. Pick up the dough and turn it over. Set it down and using your hands, gently press it out until it is about 3/4″ thick.

Using a biscuit or cookie cutter, cut the dough into 2″ circles. Push the cutter straight into the dough and pull it straight out. It sounds silly, but do not twist the cutter. You can push the scraps together to salvage the last biscuit. One at a time, set each biscuit into the buttered cake pan, then turn over, this gives them a nice buttery topping without having to use a pastry brush.

Bake 15 minutes or until golden.

Yields ~ 9 biscuits

Vacation Frugality

Heather says:

I’m home from our surprise getaway and although I’m still twitching from sudden Internet withdrawal, I have been assured it is harmless and will eventually stop.

So, what does one do when they find themselves with a vacation that has not been budgeted for?  Well, if there is a refrigerator, bring along the crockpot.  Seriously folks, I used Meredith as my inspiration and searched my cupboards and freezer for meals that were minimal work.  Sandwiches were used to fill in the gaps.  Six people ate for five days and four nights without breaking the bank.  We did eat out a couple times*, but we planned for those meals.

I used the in room microwave to heat vegetables to round out the meals and we had cold cereal* for breakfast several days.

Our menu:

• pot roast with onion, celery, carrots, and potatoes (cut with a butter knife because I forgot to pack my chef knife)
• chicken burritos
• Faux sloppy joes (ground beef cooked in the crockpot, drained, crumbled with a spatula and heated with BBQ sauce)

Looking back, if I had more time to plan, I would have brought some of the ingredients in storage containers, baggies, or twists of plastic wrap rather than in their full containers.  If the fridge in our room had been any more compact, we would have had to resort to utilizing the cooler.  For those concerned that I spent my vacation slaving away over the crockpot, let me assure you that I’d rather fill a slowcooker with ingredients than be responsible for slathering sunscreen on the squirming baby before trekking out to the beach.  Really, it was a fair trade-off.

If you brought your crockpot, what would you plan on cooking?

*As an aside I must note that there was an hour’s wait at the seafood restaurant on a Monday night; some people must still be spending money hand over fist.  While I am sure a few of those in line were of the frugal sort who had saved up for the treat, the overall mood of the place was jaded and reminescent of shuffling cattle through gates.  I don’t think we’ll be visiting another calabash a long, long time, much to my crableg loving stepdaughter’s dismay.

« Previous Page — Next Page »