Oktoberfest

Family friend Thelma (left) and Hubby’s mother are ready to sit down for dinner.

We love to entertain, get out the china, crystal and silver and cook foods that normally we wouldn’t be eating. We have an Oktoberfest party annually in honor of both Hubby’s German heritage and our October birthdays. Hubby’s is Oct. 27 and his mother’s is Oct. 16, which is coincidentally my brother and sister-in-love’s anniversary.

Several years go, I started making menu/place cards for these fancy occasions and I started a scrapbook featuring each theme dinner we produce. I don’t particularly like this menu card; it’s definitely not my best design. When we entertain, our dining room becomes “Ye Olde World Café”. Since we served German cuisine that day, all the menu items are listed auf Deutsch, including the café’s name and the date. Both of us took German in high school and try to preserve what we can remember of the language. However, most of the German words for menu came from the dictionary or the cookbook (“Kochbuch”). Sülztotelett is a delicious marinated pork chop, although we didn’t exactly follow the recipe. Recipe called for the pork to be marinated in gelatin made from calf hooves. That ingredient would be very hard to obtain. Besides, “calf hooves” do not sound very appetizing. So we skipped that part. Meat was still wonderful. Next is majoram potatoes marinated in beer, then sweet sauerkraut, dinner rolls, apples with raisins in a cinnamon sauce, German chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream, and guests’ choice of beverages. The apple/raisin dish began as a dessert filling, but it sounded like a wonderful side dish. And it was. Next up is our Christmas party. Deck them halls, ya’ll!

Praline Pumpkin Pie

I hurriedly harvested all our buttercup and volunteer pie pumpkins before our first snowstorm early Thursday morning. Hubby and I also picked every tomato that showed any sign of ripening.

We love pumpkin dessert of any sort. We tried substituting butternut for pumpkin last year and thought it delicious. When I mistakenly planted buttercup instead of butternut this spring, I was relieved to find that ’cup squash is also a good pumpkin substitute.

Thursday morning, I told Marilyn that I was about to prepare squashes for pie filling. She said I had to do one additional step before freezing them: “You must first, first, first bake us a pumpkin pie for tonight!”

I made her choice, “Pumpkin Praline Pie”, with butternut squash Hubby’s parents had grown, plus a standard pumpkin pie with our buttercup squash. Both were judged delicious by the ladies at our Bible study. They couldn’t tell whether I’d used pumpkin or one of the squashes, but they decided the praline pie was the tastier pie.

Hubby devoured the pies when he got home Friday morning.

To prepare the squash for baking, I cut one in half and microwaved it on high for 22 minutes. We have a wimpy microwave. With a decent microwave, start at 15 minutes. After that, I peeled it and pureed it in our processor. Let the squash cool before peeling it; they are hot. One medium ’cup or ’nut squash is about the equivalent of one can of pumpkin.

Pumpkin Praline Pie

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Recipe is adapted from the Kitchen Klatter cookbook.

Crust ingredients:
2 T. butter
1/3 C. brown sugar
1/3 C. pecans, chopped
1 unbaked pie shell

Method:
Combine butter, brown sugar and nuts. Mix well. Spread over bottom of pie shell. Bake at 425º for 10 minutes.

Filling ingredients:
1½ C. pumpkin
1 can evaporated milk
3 egg yolks
¼ C. sugar
¼ C. Splenda
½ C. brown sugar
1½ t. cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
½ t. salt
1 t. burnt sugar flavoring
Whipped cream


Method:
Combine and mix well. Pour over praline layer and bake at 325º until center is firm.

Top with whipped cream.

Chunky Tomato Salsa

Salsa is expensive so I try to make our own. The recipe I made last year was too vinegary and thin for our taste, so I tried a different one yesterday.

Chunky Tomato Salsa

For a step-by-step explanation of the salsa canning process, including a tip for easy tomato deskinning, see Pick Your Own’s recipe, on which this one is based. Mine is a halved from what theirs is.

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Ingredients:
10 lbs. tomatoes, preferably Roma, skinned, deseeded and drained
1½ C. onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
½ T. fresh oregano, chopped
½ C. diced fresh mild peppers such as Bell or banana
¼ C. diced fresh cilantro
1/8 C. diced fresh celery (about two large stalks)
2 jalapeno peppers, diced (1 if you want milder salsa)
1 T. salt (optional)
¼ t. ground black pepper
2 cans tomato paste
½ C. 5% apple cider vinegar
½ T. ground cumin
1½ t. turmeric
½ t. lemon juice
1 t. chili powder (omit for milder salsa)
2 T. corn starch (omit for thinner salsa)

Method:
Chop tomatoes into approximately ½-inch cubes. Dice, chop or mince all other ingredients in food processor. Put tomatoes in stock pot. If thicker salsa is desired, mix corn starch into vinegar before adding. Add all other ingredients and bring just to boiling.

Fill jars, allowing ¼ inch head space. Process in boiling hot-water bath for at least 35 minutes, depending on altitude.

Yield: About 5 pints

Carrot Spice Cake

Kathy and friend Dallynn get ready to taste a bit of the cake.

Kathy turned 57 Tuesday, so we celebrated with a cookout.

When I think of the number 57, I think of Heinz’s 57 varieties. I suggested that we all give Kathy a bottle of some Heinz product and asked about what cake to make. I inadvertently sent the email to her, too.

She said, “Personally, I prefer 57 on my steak and not on my cake!”

That was the end of making Heinz 57 frosting. Sigh. I still carried out the Heinz 57 idea, though. The cake topper reads “Kathy, est’d 1951: 57 years and in a pickle. Happy birthday!”

Donna suggested I make a carrot or spice cake for Kathy’s cake. So I made a combination:

Carrot Spice Cake

This recipe comes from Kitchen Klatter Cookbook, which is unfortunately now out of print. The batter is very thick, more like brownie batter than cake batter.

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Ingredients:
5 oz. matchstick carrots broken in half, 5 oz. grated baby carrots or 3 large carrots
2/3 C. sugar
2/3 C. Splenda/Alterna
1/3 C. shortening
¼ t. butter flavoring
1 C. raisins
1 t. cinnamon
½ t. nutmeg
½ t. cloves
½ t. salt
1 t. vanilla flavoring
1 1/3 C. cool water
2 C. sifted flour
1/2 t. soda
1 C. chopped nuts

Method:
Combine all ingredients except flour, soda and nuts in saucepan and cook over low heat for 20 minutes. Cool 10-15 minutes and add flour and soda which have been sifted together. Stir in the nuts and pour into 9X13 inch pan which has been greased and floured. Bake for 1 hour in 325º oven.

Top with spicy whipped cream or cream cheese frosting.

Rescued cucumber

This cucumber had been hiding under our summer savory when I found it Tuesday night. Cuke weighs 1½ lbs., three times what a normal slicer cucumber weighs, and is blemished and yellowing.

I brought it into the house with the other cukes I’d picked, but told Hubby I intended to throw it out.

“It’s too big to eat,” I said.

“No, don’t throw it away,” he said. “I’ll cut out the seeds and will use it for a sauce.”

Just like this cucumber, many of us were headed for the Dumpster. Our lives were seen as bitter and blemished, worthless for anything but the landfill.

But then the Master said, “No, don’t throw her away. I have a purpose for this life. I must deal with the seeds of sin. I must cut away the blemishes, but I am patient. I will do what is necessary to complete my plan for her redemption. After all, I have already paid for it on the cross.”

Peach Custard Pie

Donna loves peach pie, so I made this pie for her birthday. I’ve never tried this recipe before. Nothing like using your friends as guinea pigs!

This recipe originated in the “Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook”, the best cookbook I’ve ever found for quick breads.

Peach Custard Pie

Printable PDF version

Ingredients:
1 unbaked pie crust
3 C. sliced, peeled peaches
2 eggs
¼ C. Splenda/Alterna
¼ C. sugar
3 T. flour
1 t. vanilla
½ t. peach flavoring
1/8 t. ground nutmeg
¾ C. milk

Method:
Line pastry with double layer of foil. Bake crust in 450º oven 8 minutes. Remove foil. Bake 4-5 minutes more or until set and dry. Layer peaches in pastry shell; set aside.

For filling, slightly beat eggs with rotary beater or fork. Stir in dry ingredients. Gradually stir in milk, just until combined.

Place partially-baked pastry shell on oven rack. Carefully pour filling over fruit in shell. Cover edge of pie with foil or crust cover. Reduce oven temperature to 350º and bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil. Bake for 20-25 minutes more. Pie is done when knife inserted into center comes out clean.

We had a hard time getting the pie to finish baking. After 30 minutes, it still was not done. We increased the temperature to 450º and baked it for 5 minutes. That finished it.

Pineapple Fizz Cake

Fizz cake is my birthday cake of choice. A birthday without fizz cake just doesn’t seem like my birthday.

Saturday wasn’t my birthday, but I did not have time to make a fancy dessert for the dinner party we were having. So I chose to make fizz cake. Mother got this recipe from Kitchen Klatter, a recipe radio show. Kitchen Klatter made wonderful flavorings. I can always tell a recipe that originated from that program because it has some kind of flavoring in it. Of course, I’ve tweaked it a bit. I never can resist a bit of tweaking.

The company is now called X-Tra Touch and still offers a wide range of flavorings. While making this, I noticed that I am nearly out of butter flavoring. If I cannot find that flavoring locally, I’ll order it from X-Tra Touch.

Pineapple Fizz Cake

Printable PDF version

Cake ingredients:
1 box lemon cake mix
4 eggs
1 3-oz. box instant French vanilla pudding mix
1 12-oz. can Sprite/7-Up/Sierra Mist
1 t. vanilla

Cake method:
Mix mixes and eggs well. Add Sprite and vanilla. Pour into greased 9x13x2-inch pan. Bake at 350°.

Topping ingredients:
3 eggs
1 stick butter (do not substitute)
1/8 t. butter flavoring
¾ C. Splenda/Alterna
¾ C. sugar
1 C. crushed, undrained pineapple
1 T. flour
¼ t. pineapple flavoring
1 C. coconut

Topping method:
Combine all ingredients but coconut in saucepan on medium heat. Cook until thick (approximately 10 minutes). Add coconut and pour over cake when cake has cooled.

Super Simple Pancake Syrup

A few days ago, I was talking with the financial office staff at work. Somehow we started talking about my pancake syrup recipe. One of the ladies asked, “You can make syrup?”

My mother didn’t buy pancake syrup. She made it. “Store-bought syrup is a waste of money,” she said.

I generally can’t remember recipes, but this one is too simple to forget.

Super Simple Pancake Syrup

1 C. sugar
1 C. brown sugar
1 C. water
Few drops each maple, vanilla and butter flavorings
Stir together and allow to boil. Take off heat and pour into container for serving. Keep refrigerated.

Burger Salt

We attended a cookout Saturday. The grillers made wonderful burgers. When I complimented one of them on how good they tasted, she said, “It’s all in the seasoning.” I asked what she was using.

Burger Salt

¼ C. granulated garlic (NOT garlic salt)
¼ C. Lawry's Seasoned Salt
scant ¼ C. ground black pepper

Pour into shaker and sprinkle on burgers or hot dogs to taste.

Southern Pecan Cake

I made two Southern Pecan Cakes for Hubby's office party cakewalk. They didn’t last long. Cake is very easy and it looks and tastes delicious. Unfortunately, I forgot to photograph cakes before they were gone.

I obtained this recipe from a Duncan Hines press kit.

Southern Pecan Cake

Ingredients:

1 pkg. Moist Deluxe French vanilla cake mix (do not substitute)
2 C. pecan pieces — Toast on baking sheet at 350° for 4-5 mins. Chop fine.
1 pkg. (four serving) vanilla instant pudding mix
4 eggs
1 C. water
1/3 C. oil
1 pkg. cream cheese frosting

Method:
Combine cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, water and oil. Beat at medium speed for 2 mins. Fold in 1½ C. pecans. Pour into 2 greased and floured 9" round cake pans or one greased and floured 9 X 13 pan. Bake at 350° for 35-40 mins. or until toothpick is clean.

Cool in pans 15 mins. Invert onto cooling rack. Cool completely. Frost cake. Garnish with reserved pecans. Refrigerate until serving.

Dirt Dessert

Dirt Dessert centerpiece. Note the gummi worms at pot edges.

Mostly emptied Dirt Dessert serving pot. Note that the serving utensil is a garden trowel and that pot is lined with foil. Use new pot and trowel for serving food.

We chose a theme of “Marilyn is older than dirt” for her Friday surprise party. Going along with that theme, Kathy and Donna made Kathy’s Dirt Dessert recipe. It’s simple, fun and delicious.

Dirt Dessert

1 pkg. of crumbed Oreo sandwich cookies (I use my food processor. Should be the consistency of potting soil.)
12 oz. pkg. Cool Whip
8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
4 oz. box of instant vanilla pudding
1 C. powdered sugar
¼ C. butter

Cream butter, cream cheese and sugar together and set aside.

Mix pudding according to box directions and fold in Cool Whip. Mix together with the cream cheese mixture.

May be put together in a flower pot or served in individual cups. Lay cookie crumbs on bottom, then filling, then another layer of cookie crumbs. Gummi worms finish the idea of dirt dessert. Plastic flowers can be added for a final touch.

Black Forest Cake

Last year, I asked Marilyn what her favorite cake was so I could make it for her birthday.
She told me she liked Black Forest Cake.

I had no idea what that was so looked it up on the Internet. I found it in About.com's Southern Food section. I made it for her. She loved it and has described the recipe as “to die for” ever since.

Since she turns the Big 5-0 this year, I had to make it again.

Although I am the pastry chef in our house, Chef Hubby cannot resist tinkering with ingredients and I cannot resist tinkering with the method. Here is our version of Black Forest Cake. (Printer-friendly PDF)

Black Forest Cake

Ingredients:

1 dark chocolate cake mix (or your own from scratch)
¼ C. kirschwasser (cherry brandy)
1/8 C. amaretto
1 can extra fruit cherry pie filling
16 oz. heavy whipping cream
½ C. confectioners’ sugar
Maraschino cherries, drained, optional, for garnish
milk chocolate curls or shavings, for garnish

Preparation:
The day before serving —

Drain 1 can extra fruit cherry pie filling in a colander to remove most of the thickened juices. Leave filling in colander on plate in refrigerator overnight for best drainage.

Make cake, following package directions. Bake cake, as directed, in two 9-inch layer cake pans. I buy the dark chocolate fudge cake mix.

When cool, run knife around outside of cake to break any clinging pieces from the sides. Holding cake with one hand, turn cake pan on its side and tap on the counter while gently turning pan. This should loosen the cake. Remove cakes from pans. Place on separate plates. Sprinkle mixture of kirschwasser and amaretto over both cake layers. Insert toothpicks on top and in sides of cake and wrap in cling wrap. Let stand overnight.

Chill electric beaters and large mixing bowl; beat heavy whipping cream until it thickens slightly. Gradually add confectioners’ sugar and beat until thick enough to hold its shape. Refrigerate overnight.

Using a cheese plane (preferred) or vegetable peeler, shave chocolate; refrigerate until ready to serve. I found that the side of the chocolate my hand had warmed was the best to shave. Once the chocolate became difficult to shave, I switched sides to rewarm the chocolate. Store in covered container at room temperature or below overnight.

The day of serving —

Assemble cake.

Place one layer on serving plate. Dilute ½ C. of whipped cream mixture with water until it becomes a glaze. Spread glaze over top of bottom layer. Wait half hour, then spread its top with layer of whipped cream to total ½ inch. Strew the cherries over the cream, leaving about ½-inch margin around border of cake with no cherries.

Set other layer on top of cherries. Spread remainder of glaze on top and sides of cake. Wait half hour, then spread top and sides of cake with remaining cream, shaping cream into decorative swirls on top.

With fingers, gently press chocolate curls into cream on sides of cake. I completely cover sides of cake with the chocolate curls or shavings, whichever I’ve managed to produce. This both looks good and covers up any frosting boo-boos.

Garnish top with any remaining cherry filling and maraschino cherries or with a few chocolate curls. I like the look of the cherry juice on the white frosting.

I inserted bamboo skewers through top of cake to hold it together during transport to party, then removed them when I arrived. I added the topper just before serving.

Enjoy!

Tasty Cucumber Relish

Last year I looked for a cucumber relish recipe online. I found the best relish I've ever eaten.

If you’ve never canned or pickled, PaulNoll.com gives excellent step-by-step instructions, complete with photos, of how to make the relish.

Hubby and I have made some changes to the recipe.

Here is our version.

Tasty Cucumber Relish

Vegetables
6 lbs. grated or chopped cucumbers
1 grated white onion
1 grated carrot
10 chopped or grated medium bell peppers (if possible, include some red, yellow and/or orange peppers for better color)

Mix together. Grating will make a coarser relish than chopping will.

Brine
1 T. turmeric
1/2 C. salt
8 C. water

Mix together.

Pour brine over vegetables. Stir well and let sit for 3 hours. Drain. Cover with water and let stand for 1 hour. Drain, refill with water and drain again.

Syrup
1 T. mustard seed
1 T. cinnamon
1 t. ground cloves
2 t. allspice
2 C. brown sugar
4 C. cider vinegar

Mix and bring to boil, then pour over vegetables. Let stand 10-12 hours.

Boil before filling prepared jars, leaving 1/2 inch head space. Make sure liquid covers vegetable mix. Process in water bath for 10 minutes.

Makes about 7 pint jars.

Our cucumbers are bearing prolifically right now, so we tripled the recipe this time. I thought I had enough for four batches, but the 23 lbs. I started with became 19 lbs. by the time I removed the ends and blemishes from the cucumbers and deseeded large the ones.

Unfortunately, our peppers aren’t keeping up with the cukes, so I had to buy 34 peppers at the grocery store. The cashier’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head when she saw how many peppers I had in the cart. (We’ll freeze the unused peppers.)

We mixed the recipe in storage containers because we had no other containers large enough.

The Frugal Gardener always feels so virtuous when she preserves her own food!

Where cheese comes from

Some years ago, we visited Sweet Home Farm in Elberta, Ala. The proprietors had free-range chickens roaming about and their Guernsey cattle were pastured within sight of their cheese store.

To us, rural folks that we are, the chickens and cattle were comforting signs of authenticity. We could tell that we would be buying — and eating — artisanal cheese, not some “cheese food” cranked out of some soulless factory.

The cheese we bought was all we hoped it would be: Absolutely delicious. Too bad proprietors don’t ship their cheese. We would love to eat Bayside Blue Cheese again.

However, not everyone found the animals’ presence comforting.

Some city folks had come in one day. They asked what the cattle were doing there.

Proprietors told them the cattle produced the milk that proprietors made into cheese.

City folks turned green and left. Apparently, they thought milk and cheese just magically appeared in the store.

That is an udderly ridiculous notion.

So I leave you with today’s lesson in food production. Cows produce milk which can be made into cheese. And, just in case you need a review, chickens produce eggs.

Class dismissed.

Opportunity knocks

Junking, seeking items to turn from trash into treasure, can be intentional or opportunistic. I’ve found wonderful items when I was actually Dumpster diving and I’ve found equally wonderful items when I was doing something else.

For some time, I have desired to put pavers underneath our turkey fryer, which we use as an all-purpose outdoor cooking device. But I didn’t really want to buy the pavers. That’s no fun.

Last week, my boss tore out a bricked, fenced patio. When I saw the contents of the trailer he’d used for demolition, my eyes lit up. He had thrown several old fence posts into trailer, which I immediately saw as landscape timbers. I asked him for those. He said that I could take away any item that was in that trailer.

When I looked at it more closely sometime later, I noticed bricks in there. Nice big, thick, coated bricks. Perfect for getting the fryer’s legs off the ground. I brought both fence posts and bricks home.

Saturday morning I laid those bricks where I had envisioned them and put the fryer on top. I had just enough to do the job.

I put the cover back on and was very pleased with my work.

Hubby also grabbed opportunity recently when he took out some trash. A nice plastic tub was in the Dumpster with the price sticker still attached. He fished it out and covered the tiller’s engine with it. We have no place to store the tiller, so the tub will protect the engine from rain and dirt.

Keep your eyes peeled!

Farm-fresh eggs from free-range chickens

I visited a farm on Friday. Residents were feeding their chickens when I arrived, so I went to the chicken coop. The smell of the coop took me right back to my grandparents’ farm.

Grandma kept chickens throughout most of my childhood. I thought the chickens were hilarious. I laughed at the way they walked, how they stuck out their necks with each step. I laughed when they tried to fly. They were busy things, always chasing after bugs. Grandma didn’t have many bugs; the chickens ate them all.

When I visited, my “chore” was to gather eggs. That was hardly a chore. I thought gathering eggs was a privilege. I loved the smell of the coop and the taste of farm-fresh eggs. The yolks were a deeper yellow and the flavor was much more intense than anything bought in the store.

I didn’t think their beaks were funny, though. Grandma said that I could take eggs from underneath the setting hens. I tried that once. Hen didn’t appreciate my actions and pecked me. I stayed away from occupied nests after that. That beak was sharp!

Grandma finally dispensed with her chickens about the time I went to college. Grandpa tore down the chicken house. Three years later, Grandma dug the soil underneath the chicken house and put it on her garden. The plants came up, then died. That soil was too hot even after three years. Grandma didn’t have much garden that year. The only veggies she harvested were in corners where the “chickenized” soil hadn’t reached. The next year made up for it. She had never had such bountiful crops in decades of gardening.

The farm was never quite the same post-chickens. I missed their soft clucking and their funny strut. And I sure missed fresh eggs and Grandma’s fried chicken. Store-bought chicken just does not compare to free-range, bug-eating chicken. The flavor just is not there.

Now I’m getting hungry!

Volunteer veggies: a pleasant surprise

I love surprises.

Sometimes my garden produces those surprises by bringing up a volunteer vegetable or flower.

I’m not always that surprised, though. Last year, I did a very poor job of picking green beans. So I have a good crop of volunteers this year. Unfortunately for the beans and their picker, the Three Sisters garden has been moved. No cornstalk poles conveniently await beans to climb them. I’m fated to crawl on hands and knees to harvest most of these. Some of them are climbing the fence I erected for them last year, for which I am grateful.

When the fall holidays were over, we threw our pumpkins and gourds into the garden, hoping that a seed would take root. If memory serves me, we threw the pumpkin on the west side of the garden and the gourds on the east. This plant, on the very eastern edge of the pond garden, is probably a mini white pumpkin. But who knows. I look forward to finding out.

This tomato is a complete surprise. I don’t remember throwing any tomatoes in the garden, but here is a tomato plant. It isn’t very healthy, though, so we’ll see if any fruit appears.

Kenny Point at Veggie Gardening Tips
suggests that gardeners learn what baby leaves look like so we don’t pull out something good. If I hadn't known what baby squash and tomato leaves look like, I would have pulled those gifts from the garde

Let us grow lettuce

Some years ago, I read an article about growing lettuce. Article said to just let it bolt (go to seed). Plants would reseed themselves and come up in the next growing season. I liked that idea. No sowing or tilling and I get good things to eat? What’s not to like?

At its current stage, the lettuce is truly ugly. Plants look like tall many-branched dandelions. And I truly loathe dandelions. A big swath of our pond garden looks like a weed patch. But for free buttercrunch lettuce, I’ll ignore that nasty patch. The little dandelion-like seeds fly away and land wherever, coming up later as lettuce. And that’s just fine.

However, the other day Hubby did confess to helping the little white puffs in their mission. “I spread them around,” he said.

By accident, we started eating lettuce on St. Patrick’s Day this year. Hubby was trying to preserve our lettuce from fall cold snaps. He laid down a triangle of landscape timbers and put a piece of Plexiglass over them. This worked for awhile. Eventually winter got its way and killed the lettuce. We forgot about our makeshift cold frame when snow covered it.

I walked past the cold frame in early March. To my surprise, I saw little shoots of lettuce under the cold frame.

We don’t often enjoy our own fresh produce in March, so we ate it eagerly.

This fall, we’ll be intentional about our cold frame.

About the time school starts, I want to sow some other lettuce varieties, hoping for a second season. Mesclun would be welcome this fall.

Let us grow lettuce!

Raspberries and the city

One day several years ago our city inspector called. He told Hubby that we had to remove the tall weeds in our yard.

The Frugal Gardener and her hubby carefully tend our yard. We knew we had no tall weeds. We were perplexed. What was he talking about?

Then we realized that he had to be thinking of our raspberry bushes.

At this time we were editor and publisher of a weekly newspaper.

Hubby called the inspector.

“My wife loves her raspberry bushes,” he said. “And she doesn't want to cut them down. Do you really want my wife, the editor, to have to cut down her raspberry bushes? You know that you’ll hear about it in print forever.”

We never heard a word more.

Talk about the power of the press!

Growing raspberries

Our raspberries were here when we moved in. I kept thinking those bushes were raspberries. They had raspberry leaves, but they didn’t produce any berries. So I didn’t bother with them. I didn’t have time to do much gardening then, so I just left them alone.

We’d been here one or two years when we had a wet spring. Berries appeared. Oh, so they are raspberries! We were delighted.

I’ve been tending them carefully ever since.

Raspberries want lots of water, especially during blossoming and fruiting seasons. However, I can water all I want and only have fair results. For a good crop, we must have rain, especially during blossoming. This year, we received no rain during blossoming. I watered, but the blossoms were sparse. Last year, we did have rain during blossoming and blossoms were everywhere. Blossoms produce berries, so the more blossoms, the more fruit.

Rains during fruiting time make the berries larger and juicier than they are with only watering.

Raspberries do require some work.

Pruning

If you don’t prune, your raspberry patch will soon be overgrown. After years of neglect, our raspberry thicket was nearly impenetrable. Once I began to prune, we received better yields — and I could get through the canes to reach their fruit.

Pruning is very important for raspberries. Otherwise, they become a tangle and have too much competition for sunlight and nutrients. I leave my canes intact until late February or early March in order to trap as much snow as possible. I then cut off all canes about 18 inches from the ground. I remove all the old, dead canes.

Red raspberry canes should be pruned to the ground.

Make sure to wear plenty of protection when pruning, including safety glasses. My face has been badly scratched when I hauled off the prunings.

Propagation

Black and red raspberries propagate themselves differently. Red raspberries send out suckers. To propagate red raspberries, sever the sucker from the mother plant and plant it in its new location.

Black raspberries start new plants from the canes of the old ones. Canes grow long enough to bend over and touch ground. The tip grows roots and up comes a new raspberry plant. If you wish to propagate the berries, cover the tips with 2-4 inches of soil to encourage rooting. Next spring, sever the new plant from the mother cane and transplant it.

Do not propagate any plants from diseased canes. The new plant will be infected with whatever infected the parent.

Marilyn's homemade ice cream

9 oz. Cool Whip
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
Vanilla
2 pkg. instant pudding mix – any flavor!
½ gallon milk

Beat ingredients together well and pour into ice cream mixer. Let the ice cream maker do all the work and you just enjoy it! A delicious variation to making the same old vanilla flavored ice cream, is to use chocolate pudding mix and sprinkle some chocolate pieces in it as well. I also like to use the strawberry Cool Whip and then put a container of frozen strawberries in the mix! Yummy!

My late husband was the best homemade ice cream maker in our family! His secret was the amount of rock salt he used, mixed in with the ice. He always told me to never skimp on the amount of rock salt, as this makes the ice cream creamier, and will help it to freeze faster. No matter how many different ways I’ve tried to make homemade ice cream, this particular recipe is the one for me and my family! In making this ice cream dozens of times over the years, I’ve learned that I shouldn’t start the process until about two hours prior to eating it. I then place it in the freezer until about half an hour before we want to dig into it. The consistency is best this way.

So get out the old ice cream maker that’s hiding down in the basement or out in the garage and get in the mood for some lip-smacking good eating! Add some nice, warm brownies to the table and you’ll be the best cook in the world in your family’s eyes!

Tara's gone to the kitchen

I've been asked what to do with tarragon. Since I love to find answers for people's questions, I searched Google, that fount of all information. (What did we ever do without search engines?)

Tarragon is most commonly used in bearnaise sauce and in the herb mixes herbes de provence and fines herbes.

About.com's Home Cooking site gives tarragon history, storage information and, most importantly, recipes.

In My Kitchen Garden talks about tarragon, too. Make sure to read the comments.

TheBigOven.com has a recipe for chateaubriand with bearnaise sauce. Reading their recipe brought back good memories. Last year, we won a trip to Vail, Colo. On our trip's first night, we ate at The Ore House. We chose to split chateaubriand. Was it ever delicious. We were stuffed at the end and our stomachs were very happy!

Hubby at The Ore House the morning after we gorged ourselves there.