Tie on your apron and come join us in the kitchen as we mix up family holiday favorites with new and affordable ingredients from the homestead!
Pumpkin (Butternut) Pie
Showing posts with label Recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Recipes. Show all posts
Holiday Homestead Pies
Pumpkin (Butternut) Pie
New Homestead Blessings Youtube Series
Dear Frirends,
We are so excited about our new youtube series, "Homestead Hints,Tips, Recipes and other Blessings"! It is our hope that these quick yet informative videos will inspire, encourage and instruct you all in simple, yet useful ways to help make your family flourish and your homestead happy! So check us out every now and then here on our blog and Lord willin' we'll keep y'all posted!
Blessings,
The West Ladies
We are so excited about our new youtube series, "Homestead Hints,Tips, Recipes and other Blessings"! It is our hope that these quick yet informative videos will inspire, encourage and instruct you all in simple, yet useful ways to help make your family flourish and your homestead happy! So check us out every now and then here on our blog and Lord willin' we'll keep y'all posted!
Blessings,
The West Ladies
"The trees of the Lord are full of sap..."
Well the sap is running and we have tapped around 30 trees and have cooked down about gallon of syrup so far. It takes 30-60 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup depending on the year. This year it is taking about 60 gallons of sap to 1 gallon of syrup.
The beautiful sugar snow we had last week has really helped with the sap flow since the nights are right below freezing and the days are up in the 50’s. The other night we read a chapter out of “Little House in the Big Woods” about how Pa went to Grandpa’s to make maple syrup and sugar. Another good book to read about making maple syrup is
“Maple Sugar for Wendy Foot” by Frances Frost. It is an older book but a great read aloud for the whole family to enjoy.
There is a lot of hard work involved in making maple syrup, but the product of beautiful amber color sweetness to pour over hot pancakes is a great reward. The “tapping” of the trees, collecting the sap, boiling down the sap into syrup which can be a long process in itself. But the good news is, you don’t have to live way out in the boondocks or even have a farm to make your own maple syrup! If you have a few sugar maples in your yard, you can tap those trees, collect that sap and cook down your syrup in your own kitchen! We have friends who live in downtown Birmingham who are making their own maple syrup right there in the city! Here is a good book list for you to gather information from:
Making Maple Syrup, By Noel Perrin ( A Storey Country Wisdom Bulletin)
Backyard Sugarin’ By Rink Mann ISBN 0-914378-20-1
The Maple Sugar Book By Helen and Scott Nearing ISBN 0-8052-3400-4
And remember there is a world of information out there on the internet!
Here are a few facts about making maple syrup:
When the temperatures get below freezing at night (32 degrees) and stay above freezing in the day, that is when the sap is running up the trees from the roots to the very tip top branches to get the tree ready to begin budding. It is at this time that you want to tap your trees. For the state of Tennessee, this usually happens at the end of January or the beginning of February.
The older the tree, the more sap it is able to produce. The Maple tree can live to be a hundred years old, some have even lived to be up to 300 years old.
The American Indians were the first recipients of maple tree sweet sap; they then shared it with the early American settlers.
Once a tree is big enough to tap (at least 10 inches in diameter) it can be tapped year after year.
Sugar Maples do not reach tappable size till forty or fifty years after planting.
Maple trees that have been tapped produce larger quantities of sugar water and contain more nutritive materiel than trees that have not been tapped. Tapping does not hurt the tree at all.
1 gallon of maple syrup weighs 11 pounds.
We use maple syrup for all kinds of things. Many times we substitute regular sugar for maple syrup. It is our main source of sweetener that we use, so it is very important for us to make at least 8 gallons of syrup for the year.
In between boiling down sap we have been making sour dough starter using freshly ground rye flour, brewing Kombucha tea (both recipes we got from Sally Fallon’s “Nourishing Traditions”) organizing our sewing room, quilting and playing in the snow!
Here is one of our favorite recipes using maple syrup:
Maple-Pecan Popcorn
8 cups popped popcorn
1 cup pecans, toasted
½ cup butter
1 ½ cups brown sugar or raw sugar
½ cup maple syrup
¾ tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking soda
Grease a large bowl with butter or oil. Add popcorn and pecans to bowl and toss together. Line a large baking sheet with foil grease with butter or oil, set aside. Combine butter, sugar, and syrup in a heavy bottom saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly, then cook, without stirring, until mixture reaches 300 degrees on a candy thermometer (we just let it get real hot and bubbly for approximately 3 to 5 minutes). Remove immediately from heat and stir in salt and baking soda (mixture will foam). Quickly pour caramel over popcorn mixture and with an oiled spoon, stir until thoroughly coated. Turn mixture out onto baking sheet and spread into a single layer. Allow to cool slightly, then break into bite-sized pieces. Enjoy!
Well, I better be getting off this computer trap and get busy with the days living! Ya’ll should do the same! J
Proud to be Southern Sap Suckers,
Cecilia for the West Family
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The beautiful sugar snow we had last week has really helped with the sap flow since the nights are right below freezing and the days are up in the 50’s. The other night we read a chapter out of “Little House in the Big Woods” about how Pa went to Grandpa’s to make maple syrup and sugar. Another good book to read about making maple syrup is
“Maple Sugar for Wendy Foot” by Frances Frost. It is an older book but a great read aloud for the whole family to enjoy.
There is a lot of hard work involved in making maple syrup, but the product of beautiful amber color sweetness to pour over hot pancakes is a great reward. The “tapping” of the trees, collecting the sap, boiling down the sap into syrup which can be a long process in itself. But the good news is, you don’t have to live way out in the boondocks or even have a farm to make your own maple syrup! If you have a few sugar maples in your yard, you can tap those trees, collect that sap and cook down your syrup in your own kitchen! We have friends who live in downtown Birmingham who are making their own maple syrup right there in the city! Here is a good book list for you to gather information from:
Making Maple Syrup, By Noel Perrin ( A Storey Country Wisdom Bulletin)
Backyard Sugarin’ By Rink Mann ISBN 0-914378-20-1
The Maple Sugar Book By Helen and Scott Nearing ISBN 0-8052-3400-4
And remember there is a world of information out there on the internet!
Here are a few facts about making maple syrup:
When the temperatures get below freezing at night (32 degrees) and stay above freezing in the day, that is when the sap is running up the trees from the roots to the very tip top branches to get the tree ready to begin budding. It is at this time that you want to tap your trees. For the state of Tennessee, this usually happens at the end of January or the beginning of February.
The older the tree, the more sap it is able to produce. The Maple tree can live to be a hundred years old, some have even lived to be up to 300 years old.
The American Indians were the first recipients of maple tree sweet sap; they then shared it with the early American settlers.
Once a tree is big enough to tap (at least 10 inches in diameter) it can be tapped year after year.
Sugar Maples do not reach tappable size till forty or fifty years after planting.
Maple trees that have been tapped produce larger quantities of sugar water and contain more nutritive materiel than trees that have not been tapped. Tapping does not hurt the tree at all.
1 gallon of maple syrup weighs 11 pounds.
We use maple syrup for all kinds of things. Many times we substitute regular sugar for maple syrup. It is our main source of sweetener that we use, so it is very important for us to make at least 8 gallons of syrup for the year.
In between boiling down sap we have been making sour dough starter using freshly ground rye flour, brewing Kombucha tea (both recipes we got from Sally Fallon’s “Nourishing Traditions”) organizing our sewing room, quilting and playing in the snow!
Here is one of our favorite recipes using maple syrup:
Maple-Pecan Popcorn
8 cups popped popcorn
1 cup pecans, toasted
½ cup butter
1 ½ cups brown sugar or raw sugar
½ cup maple syrup
¾ tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking soda
Grease a large bowl with butter or oil. Add popcorn and pecans to bowl and toss together. Line a large baking sheet with foil grease with butter or oil, set aside. Combine butter, sugar, and syrup in a heavy bottom saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly, then cook, without stirring, until mixture reaches 300 degrees on a candy thermometer (we just let it get real hot and bubbly for approximately 3 to 5 minutes). Remove immediately from heat and stir in salt and baking soda (mixture will foam). Quickly pour caramel over popcorn mixture and with an oiled spoon, stir until thoroughly coated. Turn mixture out onto baking sheet and spread into a single layer. Allow to cool slightly, then break into bite-sized pieces. Enjoy!
Well, I better be getting off this computer trap and get busy with the days living! Ya’ll should do the same! J
Proud to be Southern Sap Suckers,
Cecilia for the West Family
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Dairy Delights
Howdy Everyone!
We would like to share with y'all about making your own whipped cream! It is sooo easy I'm sure anyone can do it. Start with the chilled heavy whipping cream (about 2 cups)sometimes it helps to chill the bowl you'll be whipping in. We like to use hand cranked egg beaters (since we don't have the electric type) to whip our cream with. What you basiclly do is just beat the cream until it is like the consistitensy of cool whip or stiff egg whites. Right when it starts getting thicker and fluffy, add 1 tsp. vanilla, enough maple syrup to sweeten as you like, and a pinch of salt. The whipping of the cream is like your 15 minute farm girl work out! Sometimes we trade off and share the healthy exercise! This makes a great topping for any kind of desert or just to enjoy by itself. Here are some pictures of a No-Bake Raspberry Swirl Cheese Cake that Hannah whipped up right out of her head! She is good at that kind of thing. Hopefully this recipe will be included in our cook book coming out this spring! For more great recipes check out our newest DVD "The Art of Dairy Delights". This video includes how to make yogurt, mozzerella cheese, butter and much more!You can see it at www.homestead-blessings.com. Alright, better be going- y'all take care and have a blessed day on your Homestead!
PS: Coming up next, maple syrup season!
Holidays on the Homestead
Greetings to y'all!
Winter has come to our valley and although we've yet to see snow... it has been very chilly here. Winter weather brings us in doors by the warm cook stove and we pull out our winter projects to work on by lamp light. Projects like washing wool, stitching on quilts, sewing dolls, making felt socks and hats,canning chili beans and baking cinnamon breads and apple pies. We have found a wonderful easy recipe for apple pie that never fails:
Classic Apple Pie
6 cups sliced apples
3/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. butter
1 tsp. sugar
Place apple slices in pastry lined pie pan. Sprinkle with next 5 ingredients, dot with butter. Cover with top crust; cut vents. Brush with additional melted butter; sprinkle with sugar. Bake @ 400 degrees for 45 minutes.
This holiday season we have spent singing carols around the fire place, having gingerbread "barn raising's" and inviting folks into our home for delicious meals made from the gardens bountiful harvest.
On the homestead, things are moving along in the seasonal orderly fashion. In our new hoop house we have "baby" lettuce, spinach and greens popping up and even though the weather has not been so much to our favor- Hannah and Cecilia still find the courage to brave the cold and ride the horses and before too long it will be time to start tapping maple trees for syrup season!
As we enter into yet another year, we pray that our hearts will be turned towards Christ more and more as we diligently do the work He has given us for occupation until His return.
Happy New Year and many blessings to you and your homestead!
The West Family
Sunday, May 3rd, 2009
Well, we got our rain Mama wrote of. It started on Tuesday afternoon and continued on and off for the rest of the week. Yesterday morning we woke to find our lovely little creek that gently flows through our front yard to be a mighty raging river pouring out of its banks. Our foot bridge that goes over the creek was swept sideways and covered with water and debris, but we pulled it out with a 4-wheel drive truck and got it to higher ground. The little dirt road we live on became a nice sized flowing creek, and a few places where there were coverts got completely washed out, leaving big holes impossible to drive around. Several corn fields and watermelon patches were washed out, taking all the nice top soil with it, leaving big gravel bars behind. The old timers are saying this is the biggest flood we’ve had in this area since ‘91. Through it all, we managed just fine and things will be back to normal soon. With all this rain, everything has turned mighty green and our garden has grown a lot with the past week. It’s almost like you can watch it grow! But along with the peas, potatoes and lettuce, the weeds are popping up everywhere! I fully understand the term, “growing like a weed”. It can be very hard to keep up with them!
Yesterday I noticed the green beans are coming up in the garden. We’ll be picking our first crop at the first of June most likely. There will be “green beans in the garden”!! Our Nubian/Boar goat, Magnolia, is due to kid sometime this month. It’s exciting to think we’ll have fresh milk and little baby goats jumping and running around the place. Magnolia was born on this farm two years ago and this will be her first time to kid.
The blueberry bushes are blooming and there are little peaches on the peach trees. We are expecting a good crop of apples from our orchard on top of the hill this year. The strawberries are ripe and ready to pick, thus beginning the long canning season. This month we’ll put up strawberries and green peas most likely.
I have been busy sewing the past week. Making dresses, skirts and aprons from patterns (first time I’ve really used a pattern) from the 1860’s era. I love to sew (and wear!) these clothes, it’s like your stepping back in time. We can relate so much to the old days because we live very similar to the way everyone did then. We even sew on a treadle sewing machine like the folks did then!
Well, I best be ending this essay and go fix some buttermilk biscuits and gravy for dinner. Ya’ll take care now!
A Rambling Farmgirl,
Cecilia
West Girls Buttermilk Biscuits
4 cups unbleached white all-purpose flour
8 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
Mix these dry ingredients together. Add just enough lard or coconut oil to make flour mixture like course cornmeal. Then add just enough buttermilk to make soft biscuit dough. Roll out 1 inch thick and cut with regular canning jar ring or biscuit cutter. Bake at 400 degrees until lightly browned on top. Makes around 12 biscuits
Yesterday I noticed the green beans are coming up in the garden. We’ll be picking our first crop at the first of June most likely. There will be “green beans in the garden”!! Our Nubian/Boar goat, Magnolia, is due to kid sometime this month. It’s exciting to think we’ll have fresh milk and little baby goats jumping and running around the place. Magnolia was born on this farm two years ago and this will be her first time to kid.
The blueberry bushes are blooming and there are little peaches on the peach trees. We are expecting a good crop of apples from our orchard on top of the hill this year. The strawberries are ripe and ready to pick, thus beginning the long canning season. This month we’ll put up strawberries and green peas most likely.
I have been busy sewing the past week. Making dresses, skirts and aprons from patterns (first time I’ve really used a pattern) from the 1860’s era. I love to sew (and wear!) these clothes, it’s like your stepping back in time. We can relate so much to the old days because we live very similar to the way everyone did then. We even sew on a treadle sewing machine like the folks did then!
Well, I best be ending this essay and go fix some buttermilk biscuits and gravy for dinner. Ya’ll take care now!
A Rambling Farmgirl,
Cecilia
West Girls Buttermilk Biscuits
4 cups unbleached white all-purpose flour
8 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
Mix these dry ingredients together. Add just enough lard or coconut oil to make flour mixture like course cornmeal. Then add just enough buttermilk to make soft biscuit dough. Roll out 1 inch thick and cut with regular canning jar ring or biscuit cutter. Bake at 400 degrees until lightly browned on top. Makes around 12 biscuits
Tuesday, April 28th, 2009
Well time has gone by as it so quickly does and we have now had some very hot and dry days! That’s Tennessee for you! We have been able to pick pok choy, butter crunch lettuce, (my favorite) spinach, a spring mix with wild flowers and more! Its is such a blessing to gather the beautiful, healthy food that will nourish another sweet family ! There are many wild trees and flowers to enjoy right now, dogwoods, mountain laurel, blackberry and more! Plants are so amazing to me! They feed us, cloth us, (cotton, flax and linen) give us medicine to heal us, feed our animals and more. Wow, we are blessed! It is so wonderful to work with them and watch them grow. We are truly working close to our Creator when we are in the dirt!
We got the tomatoes (that we started in the green house from seed) planted in the garden this week. We planted Roma tomatoes which make the best for canning pizza sauce, ketchup and salsa. This year we started our okra in the green house around the first of the month and we set the plants out in the garden yesterday. That way we will have okra a little bit earlier this year. Maybe some jambalaya and okra file` gumbo will be on the menu this spring. Okra is related to the hibiscus flower and is very healthy for you. Some dear friends of ours came out yesterday and helped us build a big beautiful trellis for our cherry tomatoes and hyacinth bean to grow and climb on. We will also plant the beautiful moon flower vine that blooms big and white in the evenings. It is so nice because we will be able to walk under the arbor into the big garden, pick our food and enjoy the beauty of it!
I’ve been transplanting zinnias and marigolds from the greenhouse out into the garden. I got African marigold this year for a salve I would like to make and marigolds are soooo good for the garden and to keep away bugs. Zinnias make beautiful cut flowers and of course look wonderful in the garden! Cecilia and Hannah have been staking the early peas and Jasmine is planting arugula. We are all trying to get plants and work in before the rain comes in the next couple of days. We will be working on getting a new chicken coop built next week. We are having to move our hens to another spot on the farm because they like to find our neighbors garden and scratch up their lettuce. Oh how they love to ramble! We have 18 hens and 1 rooster that give us plenty of beautiful brown eggs. (Not the rooster of course!) Three times a week we sale eggs to our faithful egg customers, which is more than enough to help pay for the feed and still leave plenty of eggs for us!
Well I must go transplant my basil now. We love pesto, and we eat it with almost every meal in the summertime! We hope to share a few recipes with ya’ll in the future. That’s all for now folks, gotta get back to the garden!
Blessings,
VickiP.S Here is a recipe we love to use when the spinach is coming in:
Mushroom and Spinach Marinate
1 gallon sized bag of baby spinach or chopped large spinach
1 ½ cup mushrooms, sliced
1 can black olives, drained and sliced
¼ cup olive oil - or more if needed
Celtic or Kosher salt
Fresh cracked black pepper
Toss spinach and mushrooms with olive oil, add black olives, pepper and salt to taste. Let marinate in warm kitchen for 1-2 hours or in fridge overnight. We like it best at room temperature. This sounds too simple to taste good, but we love it and even served it at a gourmet party and everyone raved about it.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Hello from the West Family! While its raining out, just thought I would give an update on what’s happening here on the homestead. The rain is much needed and we are very grateful. It’s a bit chili, we must be having what the old timers call Blackberry Winter. But our little seedlings are staying nice and warm in the kitchen by the old wood cook stove. The raised beds are filling out with lettuce, cabbage, radish and broccoli. Chickweed is everywhere, we have been collecting and drying for later use for our healing salve. The herbs we have throughout the garden are making their appearance!
The Greek oregano are large, beautiful mounds of green. Its ready for its first trim. We have already made herb butter with plenty of oregano, garlic chives, thyme and sage. All ingredients right from our very own homestead ! You can make this healthy, tasty, butter too, here’s how; soften unsalted butter, 1/4 pound or so, you can add some olive oil if you wish, then chop or cut up about 1 to 2 teaspoons of fresh herbs real fine,(or if your using dried, ½ teaspoon) sprinkle the herbs into the butter, whip or stir the green and yellow mixture, and there you have it! Just pop this herb butter into the fridge or another cool place wait an hour or so, over night, even better! Yum! This wonderful, better butter, is so good spread on fresh baked bread or pastas or any food you would like to flavor up.
Blessings,Vicki