Yep, it’s mayhaw season. The tree is loaded. And so we’re tarps this morning.
After an afternoon processing juice, I’m loaded with jelly. I made a mistake on one jar; I’m not sure if it will set up, so there’s an X on the lid. If that jar doesn’t set, I’ll mix it in some brewed tea.
The little dish off to the side is the foam or sponge scraped from the freshly cooked jelly. Remember to spoon off the foam so your jars of jelly will be clear. Biscuits are on the menu for a light supper and that scraped off part will grace each one.
Are you making jelly this year? Last year the weather did not cooperate. Late freezes and big spring storms killed all the berries – mayhaw and blueberry – in the back garden. So, I’m really happy this year. I should have blueberries late May early June.
Just as I was getting supper ready last night, the power went out. I had my mouth all set for homemade tacos and “sopaipillas,” but I wound up eating Oreos and ice cream. The power came back on at bedtime, so I just put tacos on hold for Saturday. But when I woke up this morning, I thought about the tortillas I was going to fry for dessert last night. Why not fry them up for breakfast? So, I did.
Using an iron skillet, I melted coconut oil over medium heat. The skillet was big enough to fry the small tortillas two at a time. They drained on paper towels, then were sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. I dressed my plate with lite whip topping , a drizzle of local honey, and a ration of bacon.
A walk to the mailbox had me enthralled with the blooming camellias, dotting the landscape. Their colors really brighten up the late winter garden. I picked a big handful and arranged them in a favorite vase.
Earlier in the day, I cleaned house, did a mountain of laundry while listening to albums I found last weekend at TBones in Hattiesburg.
After housework, I got in the kitchen and used up part of a cake mix to make cookie ice cream sandwiches.
If the egg is left out of the cake mix recipe, you can have cookies instead. Here’s what I did:
In a medium bowl, I dumped in the cake mix ( I had about 3/4 of a box mix). I added about a 1/2 cup chocolate chips and a generous dash of cinnamon and ginger. Then I added 1/4 cup of brown sugar and stirred all the dry ingenious together to coat the chocolate chips well. Next, I stirred in half a stick of butter, melted, and enough water to bring everything together. I pressed the cookie dough into a 10 × 12 cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Then I baked it in a 350° oven till the top was golden – 15 minutes or so.
Then I took a round cutter and, well, cut out rounds. I figured this method would be the most consistent.
I put a dollop of my favorite ice cream on one cookie and topped it with another. Repeating till I ran out of cookies, I then put them on a plate and placed them in the freezer to harden up. Each cookie sandwich was then stored in its own baggy and back into the freezer for individual snack time.
Note: Cool cookie completely before adding ice cream. I didn’t wait long enough, and the ice cream began to melt. Learn from my mistake.
The local PigWig wanted $3.99 for a pound bag of vanilla wafers. I wasn’t buying them at that price, because my finances are in penny pinching mode.
I baked my own instead, and though they have a slightly different texture, this recipe comes close to the iconic wafers we all know. The original recipe calls for unsalted butter, but use salted. I think the recipe needs it. When these little round cookies cool completely, they have a satisfying crunch.Â
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup salted butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 tablespoon milk
What to do:
Preheat your oven to 350° and line two ig baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking powder, and salt.
In another bowl, with an electric mixer cream together, sugars and butter till fluffy. Then add in the egg, vanilla and milk.
Next, add the flour mixture to the butter and sugar mixture, slowly incorporating. Chill the dough for about 10 minutes.
This dough is stiff, jsyk. Scoop 1/2 teaspoon size amount and roll into balls (I dampened my hands with cold water so the dough wouldn’t stick to my hands). Place each ball about an inch or so apart.
Bake 15 to 18 minutes till the wafers turn slightly golden.
When cooled, store in an air-tight container. This recipe made about 4 dozen wafers.
Homemade Vanilla Wafers taste tested with Smucker’s natural peanut butter.
Penny pinching Blessings from the Exile’s Kitchen.
This recipe serves four to five people, depending on their appetites. MaBell Sausage, a Mississippi company, now has a source for shipping sausage all over the country. Call MaBell’s Simply Shipping at 601-522-5954, if you’re wanting to send Sausage this holiday season – or anytime!
Greens are in season right now. My oldest son grew different types of greens and gave me two grocery bags full. Here’s a recipe using both fresh turnip greens and MaBell Sausage. Your slow-cooker makes this soup a great one to start in the morning and have it ready for lunch.
Ingredientsand what to do:
Add the first 6 ingredients to your slow-cooker.
Enough washed, sorted, and chopped turnip greens to fill an 8 quart slow-cooker. I don’t like eating the turnip stems, so I cut them off. Give your greens a good chop. You want them to fit in your soup spoon, ya know? Put your prepared greens in the slow-cooker.
1 medium onion, chopped
1 15-ounce can of Great Northern beans, drained
1 medium potato, peeled and chopped into bite-sized pieces. (My greens didn’t have any roots with them. Had they had roots, I would have added them instead of the potato.)
1 15-ounce can of chicken broth. Using the can, add 2 canfulls of water to the cooker.
A half a pound of MaBell’s Sausage, chopped into bite-sized pieces. I used mild sausage.
Seasoning the soup:
Add all of the following to the slow-cooker.
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
salt to taste
ground pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon Tony Chachere’s mild Cajun seasoning
Stir all of the above into the tunip greens, cover and set slow-cooker to high. With the slow-cooker on high, the soup should be ready for lunch; set on low, the soup will be ready for supper.
Serve with homemade, buttered cornbread and a few dashes of hot sauce.
Sausage and Turnip Greens Soup
This soup is even better the next day, as the flavors have time to meld. Enjoy and let me know what you think.
You know it’s there. That box of cereal that no one finished. What do you do with it now that it’s gone stale? Throw it out? That’s wasteful, and in this depressed economy, we need to pinch pennies any way we can.
So, I decided to make cookies. I’m not sure what to call them. Cereal Cookies sounds kind of bland, and these cookies are definitely full of flavor. Chewy and crunchy, they are great for dunking in a cup of coffee or hot tea.
Here’s what to do:
Preheat I’ve to 350° and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
In a big mixing bowl, cream together one stick of softened butter, a half cup of brown sugar, and a half cup of white sugar.
Next, add in an egg and a splash of vanilla, with a dash of cinnamon. Mix all really well.
Then stir in 2 1/2 cups of cereal. I had Special K with Almonds and Great Grains. Also, add in at the same time as the cereal a cup of self-rising flour. Incorporate everything well.
(I used a cookie scoop, but if you don’t have one, drop cookie dough onto parchment in heaping teaspoons.)
Space them about two inches apart, as these buttery cookies spread. Smoosh the cookie dough down slightly, with the bottom of a small juice glass dipped in water. Then bake them for 15 minutes.
This recipe makes two dozen, three inch cookies. I still don’t know what to call these. So, how about October Cookies?
The flower show is a week away. I am so excited about the swath of white cosmos. One volunteer of coreopsis, planted from a DOT mix last summer, stands out like that cousin at the family reunion. You know the one; you don’t see them very often, but you enjoy their company and wish you lived closer, so you could visit more. There’s also, as far as I can tell in this early budding, one fushia cosmos near the front edge. So, the high purity rating on the bag of seeds was true. Possibly the fushia is another cousin -that loud cousin that when you see them you take your hamburger and go hide in the quiet garden to eat in peace. Just kidding. Maybe…
I’m nerding out about flowers again. But, hey, that’s what I do!
I was recently asked if I was planning a vacation this summer. No; I have precious few days left that I can take off from work. That being said, every evening is a mini vacation as I step into the garden. The sunflowers are coming along and the cosmos have begun to bud. Fresh picked squash. Zucchini bread just pulled from the oven. The Patriotic Pumpkin Patch is promising for autumn picking. I’ve seen a meme that goes something like ‘Into the garden I go to lose my mind and find my soul’. I don’t lose my mind, but the garden does settle my soul.
We lost our mother in April and learning to live without her is so new and, really, I don’t have adequate words to describe what it feels like.
As a very young woman, I went from my mother’s home to being newlywed and running my own. A wife, a mother, and kids almost all grown and on their own, I found myself divorced 30 years later. Back to Mama I went, which was good for both of us. Her health declined and I took care of her the best I knew how. Now, she’s gone. I don’t have anyone I need to tell my plans to. There is no one I need to consider, but myself. For us women, that is a foreign concept. I remind myself that it is perfectly fine to pick up and go at a moments notice. It’s kind of freeing, but also daunting.
I spent the spring at the ballfields, watching grandchildren play. That was nice, as in recent years I had missed a lot of their activities because Mama needed me. Suppers for one. Light laundry duty. Just Marigold for company in the evenings. I catch myself thinking, “When I get home, Mama will get a kick out of what happened at the grocery store.” But a second later, a sadness washes over my soul. Mama’s in heaven, not at my house. Then I think of all the joy she is experiencing in her new body and that Saint Peter is probably trying to rein in Mama and her three sisters. Man, did they have fun together on earth; in heaven- unrestrained elation!
So, into my garden I go almost each evening to pittle, to weed, to harvest. And my soul is settled.
Miss Marigold was at her food dish, when she realized her favorite person had gone out to get on the tractor. She stretched herself between the kitchen and dining room doorway and threw her soulful eyes at me. But I had just sat down with my cup of coffee and made her wait. Spoiled? Just a bit.
It’s strawberry season, so a pie is on tonight’s menu. Lemon Strawberry Pie. Put this recipe under refrigerator pies and Sunday dinner favorites. Also, it’s just in time for your Easter celebration.
Here’s what to do:
In a big mixing bowl whip up a small carton of heavy whipping cream… (what else does one do with whipping cream?). I added a 1/3 cup of sugar, a little salt and vanilla.
Once nice a fluffy, add the zest of one lemon, the juice of the same lemon and a can of sweetened condensed milk.
Mix all of that together, then add in a generous cup of fresh strawberries that have been washed, capped, sliced and lightly sweetened with a little sugar. I prepared my strawberries the night before, because this step is the most time consuming of this recipe. Slowly let the mixer incorporate the strawberries into the whipped mixture. Next, pour into a graham cracker crust.
I just used a store bought crust, but if you’re industrious enough to make your own, go for it!
Decorate the top of your pie with strawberry slices, if you wish. Lightly cover with plastic wrap and chill in the frig a few hours before serving.
George in the background, with that spoiled bloodhound Marigold.
The local Piggly Wiggly had some springy candies, so I bought Jordan Almonds and Gelly Frogs. They’re gilding the lily of my strawberry pie stand. Try this for Easter dessert.
Blessings from the Exile’s Kitchen and spoiled Marigold.
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