Friday Food: Health, Wealth, Happiness, Harmony, and Joy

Friday 

Short version: Oven-fried rooster, baked potatoes, frozen green peas

Long version: The roosters we got last week were young ones, and we were able to hang them to age and further tenderize. So I figured they would be okay baked rather than stewed.

I spent about an hour prepping these roosters for cooking. The easiest way to do this is to separate the legs at the hip joint, which allows for cutting the legs off without splintering bone. Then I cut off the breast meat from the bone and froze that separately. The rest of the carcasses went into the pressure-cooker to make stock.

I used the legs to make the oven-fried chicken. Again I separated the joint to cut through, this time at what would be the knee, so I had separate drumsticks and thighs. (It takes a lot of strength to separate joints on a home-raised chicken, by the way.) To further tenderize the pieces, I marinated them in yogurt and spices all day, then shook them in a bag with corn flour and spices and baked them at about 400 degrees on butter-coated pans until they were done. 

They still weren't as tender as store-chicken--which is, frankly, not so much tender as mushy--but certainly easy enough to pull off the bone and chew. Any home-raised animal will require teeth to eat. As it should be.

Saturday

Short version: New Year's Day pork, greens, and black-eyed peas, plus rice, and hot chocolate with candy canes or marshmallows

Long version: Our last celebratory holiday meal is always my family's traditional New Year's Day meal. A.'s family has their chocolate cake, pots de creme, and molasses cookies. My family has pork, greens, and black-eyed peas to ensure our health, wealth, and happiness in the coming year.

This year's pork was a chunk of pork butt, baked in my enameled cast-iron Dutch oven until it was tender and crispy from frying in its own fat. Yum.

Greens were collard greens from last summer's garden, blanched and frozen, then chopped and cooked with bacon grease and onion.

Black-eyed peas are made with a roux, in which are cooked the onion, garlic, bell pepper, and celery. This is cooked with the peas in chicken (or, in this case, rooster) stock, along with some ham I diced and threw in there, bay leaves, and some kind of tomato product. This time I just used one of those cans of "low sodium pasta sauce" we get from secondary commodities.

The combination of all the things--pork, rice, greens, black-eyed peas--is always so good. 

The New Year's Day stove.

Children, by the way, love the idea that each food represents something. We all agreed that since I make rice with this meal every time, it also needed to stand for something in the coming year. We decided on harmony. Sounds good with the others, anyway: Health, wealth, happiness, and harmony.

I didn't really make a dessert, so I made hot chocolate after dinner--1.5 parts sugar to 1 part cocoa powder, dash of salt, heated with a bit of water to make a paste, then add the milk and heat through--and let the kids choose either a candy cane from the Christmas tree to stir it with, or two marshmallows. About an even split in their choices. Good thing, since we didn't actually have enough candy canes left for everyone to have one.

The cocoa, by the way, was assigned to represent joy in the coming year. Seems about right.

Sunday

Short version: Improved mac and cheese, leftovers, crispy rice treats

Long version: I still have a bunch of boxes of Annie's mac and cheese that we found far too salty when made according to the directions.

So I didn't use the directions.

I used two boxes of the macaroni, but only one of the cheese powder packets. I did add some of the butter called for, but no milk. Then I added some of that canned pasta sauce, then some garlic powder, and some water to thin it out. Last a bunch of finely chopped chicken pulled off the bones after making rooster stock, and frozen green peas.

The children ate this very happily. Cubby also had a couple of leftover oven-fried rooster drumsticks, because he can never get enough chicken.

For A. and me, I fried leftover pork and greens together, then added a bit of the black-eyed peas as a sort of sauce. A. ate this with rice and the last piece of oven-fried chicken.

I almost didn't make a dessert--because what is December but a month of continous dessert?--but I did decide to stick with our traditional schedule so that I can firmly declare that yes, children, you will get your dessert on Sundays, but no other days from now on.

I decided on the crispy rice treats myself. Because when in doubt, go with crispy rice treats. No one ever thinks to ask for them when it's their turn to choose, but everyone likes to eat them.

Monday

Short version: Bunless cheeseburgers, personal bread, peppers and onions, squash, frozen peas

Long version: When we were at a store a couple of weeks ago, one of the children--while wistfully eying a loaf of store-bread in a bag--told me next time we came, he would bring some money so he could buy a whole loaf of bread to eat.

Which is why I promised to bake bread when we started our week of Zoom schooling after Christmas break, with the express purpose of each child getting their very own loaf of bread. They were SO EXCITED about this.

Low standards coming to my rescue yet again.

I did tell them that the bread is supposed to be a supplement to their actual food, not their sole source of nutrition for two days or whatever. So they all had a piece of their own bread with their dinner, and then, if they finished their dinners, they could have more.

The boys all had one more piece and declared themselves full. Poppy didn't even want a second piece. 

Tuesday

Short version: Beef and potato skillet, frozen peas

Long version: The rest of the uncooked ground beef from the day before, plus diced potatoes, the rest of the tomato sauce, chile powder, garlic powder, cumin, and cheese. 

Unrelated-photo break!

This girl's Rainbow Brite snow apparel is a far cry from her brothers' black boots and blue mittens.

Wednesday

Short version: The Best Ham In The World, egg noodles, cucumber spears

Long version: "What kind of ham is this?" A. asked after a bite. And then, after I said it was just the grocery store ham he had bought last month, "What did you do to it?"

Guess I'd better write it down, huh? I used the juice from a can of pineapple I had given the kids earlier in the day--it was just juice, no sugar--maple syrup, and dijon-style mustard, poured it over the bone in ham, and baked it a couple of hours. 

That was it. I didn't measure anything, but I don't think it matters. Everyone loved this. Everyone had seconds. Some had thirds.

The kids also had seconds or thirds on the egg noodles--butter, cream cheese, pepper, garlic powder--and cleaned up the entire spread of food that I had thought would make leftovers.

Okay.

While they went into raptures over their ham and noodles, I was in a state of quiet bliss over my salad. And why is that? Because I found out that Misfits Market delivers to me*. To me! In the middle of literal nowhere! And what did they deliver? The produce I ordered, which included lettuce, beets (with greens!), cucumbers, and radishes (among other things), all of which went into my salad along with ham and cheese.

I cannot even TELL you how excited I am that a box of produce shows up at my gate. This is a big deal for me. A. called it "life-changing," and that isn't even an exaggeration.

Thursday

Short version: Fajita meat, rice, raw radishes, squash

Long version:  I took out fajita meat, and then realized I didn't have enough tortillas.

Whoops.

Of course, I could have made tortillas, but instead I took the lazy option and made rice. I mean, I'm sure everyone would have appreciated home-made tortillas, but they all ate the rice. So.

Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?

* Yes, I will be doing a whole post on this soon, but in the meantime, if you want to try it, I can give you a referral code that will mean $15 off for you, and more vegetables for me. Fun. Should you feel inspired, you can click here on the blue text to order and it will automatically apply the referral code to get you the discount. I think. 

T.T.: Old-Fashioned Molasses Cookies

This is not really the traditional time of year to be trying out new cookie recipes--New Year's resolutions? what're those?--but someone asked for my molasses cookie recipe. And so I must, of course, oblige.

So! Who here has ever even eaten a molasses cookie? Anyone? Bueller?

Yeah, I hadn't, either, until the MiL made them some years ago. It is, as noted in the post title, an old-fashioned kind of cookie. It's more spicy, less rich than modern cookies. It's the sort of cookie I can imagine keeping in a cookie jar so kids could have a few every day*. 

Did you ever wonder why "cookies and milk" used to be considered a wholesome snack for children? It's because it would traditionally be cookies like this, not "monster cookies" or whatever. 

This recipe came to me, of course, from the MiL. She got it from her mother, who got it from her mother. And that was Grandma Bishop, of chocolate cake fame.

Grandma Bishop's recipe would make a huge quantity of cookies. Even the half recipe that I'm posting here for you will make about 50 medium-sized cookies. The original recipe is obviously the sort of thing meant to fill a cookie jar for a week's worth of cookies for a big family. If that sounds good to you, by all means, double this.

This recipe requires the dough to be chilled very well so it can be rolled out and cut, like sugar cookies. So you can make it ahead and either bake all the cookies after chilling the dough for a few hours, or keep the dough covered in the refrigerator and bake it in batches over a couple of days.

Grandma Bishop's Molasses Cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup lard OR 1/2 cup plus a tablespoon more of butter or neutral oil (the MiL noted that if you use butter, you need more fat because of the milk solids in the butter--she's a smart one, that MiL)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 cup molasses

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cloves

pinch of salt

2.5 cups-3 cups flour (might need more or less depending on humidity)

Instructions

1) Cream together the fat and sugar, then mix in the egg.

2) Mix in the molasses.

3) Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until fully incorporated.

4) Chill before rolling out. I usually stick it in the freezer for a half hour or so, but you can put it in the refrigerator for at least a couple of hours.

5) Pre-heat the oven to 375 degress.

6) Roll out the dough, not too thin--as if making sugar cookies--and cut in whatever shapes you wish. If the dough is too sticky, add more flour. If it is too dry and is cracking, add a bit of milk.

7) Bake about ten minutes, but keep an eye on them, because you don't want to overbake them. I think mine were in for more like 8 or 9 minutes. You want to pull them out before you see any browning on the edges.

8) The MiL noted that you can sprinkle sugar on top if you'd like. I didn't, but I bet that would be good.

9) Store in an airtight container. Put a piece of bread or a piece of apple in the container with the cookies to keep them soft. If storing for longer than a day, replace the bread or apple with a fresh piece as needed to keep the cookies from drying out.

The hearts and shamrocks got a bit overbaked. The circles were perfect.

This is not a particularly fast recipe, but it does make for some delicious cookie-jar cookies. I would say they're even suitable for these days of New Year's resolutions. Enjoy!

* Not that I do this. I don't need to have a supply of cookies on hand for my children, who are not working on a farm every day.

Snapshots: New Year, Old Photos

Happy new year! Most of these photos were taken before Christmas, I just haven't posted them yet. And many of them, unusually, are of animals.

I even got one of (some of) the chickens, which doesn't happen often.

And the sheep. Hi, sheepies!

And the horse and pony show at sunrise.

This is a the table for a treadle sewing machine over at the casita. I don't think we have the machine that goes with it, but it might be somewhere over there.

Poppy and I sorted seeds and found that I actually don't need to buy any more. Hard to resist all the seed catalogs that have started showing up now, though.

The setting moon . . .

And some very cool clouds lit by the rising sun.

And last, snow to start the new year. The first precipitation we've had in literally months.

There you have it! My life, snapshotted.

Friday Food: So Much Celebrating

With three family birthdays, Christmas, and New Year's within a two-week period, this is a very celebratory time of year in our house.

Friday 

Short version: Tamales, chocolate roulade

Long version: Such a simple meal . . . that takes so long.

This was the second year I made tamales, and, as with anything, it was faster and easier this time as I implemented my own shortcuts. 

Like soaking the corn husks in the sink, because no matter what all the recipes say about using "a large bowl," I'm pretty sure almost no one outside a commercial kitchen has a bowl large enough to fit these things.

I started it the day before by pressure-cooking beef ribs, which makes stock, meat, and rendered fat. All of those things are in the tamales. Most people, of course, use purchased stock and lard, but I figured it was a good way to use up some beef ribs. Plus, as a general rule, the fewer the purchased ingredients in anything, the better it tastes.

Tamales are a lot of work, but they are worth it.

Ditto the roulade.

Next year, though, I need to remember that the quantities in the tamale recipes I consult ("follow" isn't really the right word . . .) don't really make enough. The recipes say they make about 30 tamales. This year I made one recipe's worth and ended up with only 21, so I made another half recipe and had 34 tamales at the end of it. But really, I should just double the masa mixture to start with so I can have 50 and can freeze some. Because if I'm going to all that effort, I should definitely get at least one more meal out of it.

Anyway. That's just me talking to myself. 

Saturday

Short version: Spaghetti and meatballs, Christmas mushrooms, green salad, eggnog, molasses cookies

Long version: The tamales were actually our big Christmas dinner, albeit on Christmas Eve, but this meal was almost as popular.

The meatballs were some I had made a month or so ago and froze, so all I had to do was make the spaghetti, to which I added a bag of roasted tomato sauce from the freezer and some Latino cheese.

The Latino cheese is made by a local-ish cheese factory that sells their cheese in the grocery store of one of the small towns we go to sometimes. I think they made up the name entirely, because an Internet search revealed nothing about it. Anyway, it tasted like a slightly less aged Parmesan, so I grated it and added it to the pasta. The kids didn't notice any difference, which is great, because I can't get blocks of Parmesan here. Having a local substitute--like the asadero cheese we use in place of mozzarella--is really useful. I hope they keep making it.

The mushrooms are a Christmas tradition going back to Cubby's toddler days. When he was very small and offered some mushrooms to try, he declined by saying he only ate mushrooms on Christmas. I suspect he was just trying to delay the mushroom consumption to some far later date and randomly chose Christmas, but it has now become an unalterable family tradition to have mushrooms on Christmas Day. Three of the four children actually like mushrooms now, but the one who doesn't still gamely eats his yearly Christmas mushroom piece every year.

The molasses cookies are a recipe from the MiL's Grandma Bishop, of chocolate cake fame. The recipe as written uses lard and would make something like 100 cookies, which is what farm women used to make to fill their cookie jars. I made half a recipe, with butter, and they are delicious. The combination of spices is very Christmas-y, and they make a perfectly seasonal dessert with some eggnog.

I made the eggnog, too, using this recipe. It used up the seven egg yolks left after making the roulade, and was perfect with the cookies. Mine was too thick after chilling, but I just thinned it out with some milk.

Sunday

Short version: Beef stew, bread and butter, cheese

Long version: I had taken out a random bag from the little freezer labeled "beef for BBQ," which I think was from the last time I made beef stock with soup bones. I actually used that for the tamales, and so I didn't need the beef from the ribs. I used that beef for this soup, which also included beef stock left from pressure-cooking the beef ribs, the last of the roasted tomato sauce, some already cooked onions, potatoes, carrots, and frozen green peas.

Monday

Short version: Birthday chips and meat, cake and ice cream

Long version: I do cook my own birthday dinner, because that way I'm assured of getting exactly what I want. I had bought some tortilla chips awhile ago, so I just combined the last of the tamale meat and the rest of the rib meat with more salsa, shredded cheese, some leftover canned black beans, and sour cream, and served that with the chips. Everyone scooped up the meat with the chips, and yes, that is what I consider to be a celebratory meal. 

I still believe chips make everything better, I just don't often indulge in them.

I made the ice cream using this recipe and the last of a bag of Oreos Cubby had bought with his own money at the store last time we were there (he gave me permission). You may recall I had tried this sort of condensed-milk-based no-churn ice cream before, with overly sweet results thanks to too many chocolate chips. This one was not too sweet, although it does have an odd mouthfeel. It sort of coats. I suspect it's our ersatz "heavy cream," however, which has thickeners and nonfat milk and all kinds of weirdness in it. And is the only kind we can get. Sigh.

Anyway.

The ice cream was good with the cake, though, which was, of course, Grandma Bishop's cake and which Cubby made for me.

Oh! And the MiL's brother, who is the family historian, sent me some photos of Grandma Bishop. Including this one that features the MiL herself (in a baby bonnet!) on Grandma Bishop's lap.

No cake or cookies in sight, though. Bummer.

Tuesday

Short version: Rooster pot pie, biscuits with strawberry jam

Long version: I got a call the morning before from a lady we know slightly who had heard we would take roosters. 

How many calls like this have I gotten over the years? Dozens. Which is how we've gotten hundreds of pounds of home-raised chicken for free.

This particular delivery was seven roosters. That's a lot of roosters.

Anyway. 

A. killed them Tuesday morning and skinned two of them for dinner. (The others he hung for a day or so to age.) These two I pressure-cooked and used for the pot pie.

Instead of a regular pie crust, I made a biscuit crust for the top. The children were very happy with this meal.

I was feeling whimsical, hence the vent slits in the shape of Christmas trees.

I had a little of the biscuit dough left, so I made some biscuits and let the kids have one each with strawberry jam for dessert. That was popular.

Wednesday

Short version: Cubby's tomato soup, leftovers

Long version: The "creamy" tomato soup from Cubby's ATK kids cookbook is one of the recipes out of it that we make somewhat regularly. Actually, that he makes somewhat regularly. He makes a quadruple recipe of it (which is not actually that much, since the original recipe only serves 1-2), and this time we got to use my brand-new immersion blender to puree it.

Thanks, MiL!

The soup doesn't have any protein in it, so the kids had it with tortillas and melted cheese. The classic pairing of a grilled cheese sandwich is overkill with this soup, because the soup is thickened with a bunch of bread.

A. had a bowl of chicken soup made with rooster stock and pot pie filling. And I had the last of the leftover meatballs.

Thursday

Short version: Bull and potato skillet, frozen peas

Long version: I used the immersion blender again to break down the pressure-canned bull meat even further before I added it to the potatoes and tallow in the skillet. I can tell this immersion blender is going to get a lot of use.

Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?

Thursday Thank You

Okay, I think I need to lay off the days of the week alliteration titles, right?

NEVER!

Anyway.

I did want to say thank you to all of you lovely people who took the time to comment and wish me a happy birthday. I am very bad at responding to comments individually--which doesn't at all mean I don't love them because of course I do--so I thought one big blanket thank you would be the way to go here. Except . . .

Linda: I love how consistently you show up to cheer in the comments section. And that you actually make some of the random recipes I post. Thank you!

MiL: I'm not scared of lard . . . just of grocery-store lard. As soon as we have a good source for real lard, it will be in all of Grandma Bishop's recipes. Thank you for being the respository for family history (and recipes). It's fun to pass them along to the next generation.

G.P.: Thank YOU for being here for so many years and for all the kind comments you have left.

Mary in MN: Thank you! I hope your winter this year in MN hasn't been too severe. And if you're sick of snow, please send some to my particular drought-stricken county in New Mexico.

Sheila: Thank you! I wish we had gotten your white post-Christmas (see above).

Lisa: And a belated thank you to you!

Tammy: Thanks! I hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas.

Anonymous: I hope you do try the cake. It's delicious, and fun to watch the baking soda and buttermilk fizz.

Kit: Thank you! I appreciate your regular Friday Food comments so I can be a nosy parker and read what everyone else eats.

Cheryl: Thank you so much for making one of your rare comments here. I'm so glad you like coming here and reading.

Claire: Thank you! Having a framing of the rising sun does greatly enhance glowiness.

What can I say? I was inspired to write individually to each and every one of you.

And to those of you who didn't actually comment but who still spend some of your precious time here reading these many words that I throw out there . . . Thank you. I truly do appreciate each and every pair of eyeballs. Here's a pretty picture for you.

Sunrise and sunflower skeletons. (Never going to stop with the alliteration.)

T.T.: In Honor of My 42nd Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday. To commemorate the occasion, I took a special Morning Walk Photo:

A selfie with the rising sun. And my faithful companion in the background.

Of more practical use to all of you, however, is the following recipe for Grandma Bishop's Chocolate Cake.

I have mentioned this cake many, many times in my Friday Food posts. It's my go-to cake, because it's so easy and good. The recipe came from the MiL's grandmother. The original name of it was Dom Econ cake (as in, Domestic Economy).

The Dom Econ cake recipe is associated with Cornell University. It's possible Grandma Bishop, who attended Cornell, learned it there. The recipe I have from the MiL indicates that it's circa 1910. 

My actual recipe.

She may also have learned it from a women's club she belonged to that almost certainly received information, recipes, and demonstrations from Cornell's Agricultural Extension program.

In any case, this recipe has now been in the family for over a century.

Grandma Bishop's great-great grandson (Cubby) made it for me yesterday for my birthday. It's easy enough that an 11-year-old can just follow the recipe. And it uses only one mixing bowl. And no electric mixer.

If that's not an endorsement, I don't know what is.

So, without further ado, I present to you . . .

Grandma Bishop's Chocolate Cake 

* Recipe as written makes one cake layer.

Ingredients

2 well-rounded tablespoons cocoa ("well-rounded" means "heaping")

1/4 cup lard OR 1/3 cup butter at room temperature

1/2 cup boiling water

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

pinch of salt

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup buttermilk or full-fat plain yogurt

Instructions

1) Butter and flour an 8"x8" pan, or 9" round cake pan. If you want to be very sure the cake comes out cleanly, cut parchment paper to fit the bottom of the pan and then butter and flour it.

2) Put cocoa, lard or butter cut into pieces, and boiling water in medium bowl. Stir until all the fat melts.

3) Stir in the sugar, flour, and salt.

4) When combined, stir in the egg and vanilla.

5) In the measuring cup you used for the flour and sugar, put the buttermilk or yogurt and quickly stir in the baking soda. It will foam up. It's fun.

6) Add the buttermilk/yogurt mixture to the batter in the bowl and mix it all together quickly. Pour into prepared pan.

7) Bake at 350 degrees for about twenty minutes, until a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean.

8) Let cool completely before upending the pan to take the cake out. Frost as you like. Or, if you're like me and aren't so into frosting, just dust the top with some powdered sugar.

Yum. 

Thanks, Grandma Bishop. Your memory (and your cake) lives on.

Boxing Day

Americans don't really celebrate Boxing Day as a general rule, but we did this year. And it was funny.

See, one of the gifts my parents sent for the kids this year was a boxing bag and a pair of gloves each. A. used to take boxing lessons and had been meaning to get a bag for a couple of years now. Our covered porch, built by one of the previous owners, has a frame of welded steel pipe that is perfect for hanging a 100-pound boxing bag. 

A. was sick on Christmas Day, so he didn't hang it right away. But yesterday he was feeling well enough to hang it up. On Boxing Day. Ha.

A. gave a quick boxing lesson first.

Demonstrating a basic combo.

I don't think cowboy boots are generally recommended for boxing.

You think this little lady with the unicorn hairbows is going to be left out?

Think again.

I don't know how Boxing Day is typically celebrated in Britain, but here in the Wild Wild West, whacking a giant sandfilled bag seemed appropriate. And fun.