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Thursday, July 16, 2020

July on the Farm



They are wearing pink this year!


It has been a hot summer so far, one of uncertainty and dread. The cruel COVID-19 has gripped the country, indeed the entire world, and turned us upside down. We have been told to wear masks in public, maintain social distancing and wash our hands repeatedly. My hands have never been so chapped! As a family, we have gotten together for our usual special meals and have been able to avoid acquiring this horrible pandemic.

The farm doesn’t run itself and the Blalock’s have all had their usual yearly chores that must be done. From ear-tagging the cows, planting a garden, gathering ears of sweet corn, new potatoes, and zucchini, to mowing, raking and baling hay.







Bob and I are not much help around here because of our age and physical problems that age has brought on. Bob grew up helping his Grandpa Davis on the dairy farm in Maryville, Tennessee, so he has difficulty accepting his limitations. He has spent numerous hours on a tractor and knew every milk cow by name, operated machinery that put field corn in the silo, and mucked stalls on many a day! Now he diligently keeps this yard and Lois’ mowed and cleared of debris and weed-eats around the two houses. It is a large place, too!



He and I watch the pesky squirrels, blackbirds, and deer strip the sweet Seckel pears from the tree before they have a chance to get large enough to gather. Do you remember my posts about making Grandma Mildred’s pear honey the first few years after we moved back here? We haven’t had enough pears or pecans to even make a pie the last three or four years!

Everyone is always busy.


Saturday, December 2, 2017

Yearly Traditions

Brunswick Stew and Chopped Bar-B-Que


Does your family have any yearly traditions that you enjoy, or don’t enjoy, at this time of year? Here in North Carolina it is Brunswick Stew and chopped Bar-B-Que for us the first week of December. My daughter’s in-laws and a couple of their friends are the cooks with several weeks of advance preparation. Chickens and pork roasts are cooked, de-boned, shredded and frozen; sweet corn from their garden is cut from the cob, bagged and saved for the stew; and butter beans from their garden frozen and saved. On the big day potatoes and onions are cooked and mashed ready to add to stew. Hot pepper flakes, salt, and pepper added. It has to be a lot of tiring work, but I have only been on the clean-up crew! Mr. Blalock’s mother and her neighbor used to make the stew, along with the older kids’ help. She was a great cook.




The men cooked the pork for the bar-b-que and then chopped it. We had Jamie’s husband, Jeff’s, homemade vinegar-based sauce. Their youngest daughter helped them all morning, even taking a few pictures for me.




 It was very, very cold today, and everything was done indoors. Payton started getting ready for Christmas!




I love all the Winter traditions here in North Carolina!

Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Sweet Pickles

From AMERICA'S BEST
Vegetable Recipes
Selected and tested by the
Food Editors of FARM JOURNAL
Copyright 1970 by Farm Journal, Inc.

The most fragrant cooking this side of the moon - that's the way one home economist in out Test Kitchens described pickle-making. Farm home-makers agree.

Aristocratic Pickles are a favorite of a Nebraska farmer's wife, who makes them when the cucumber crop is good.

ARISTOCRATIC PICKLES

Very crisp; sweet, sliced pickle has excellent flavor and appearance.

2 c. pickling salt 
4 qts. Water
4 qts. Thinly sliced cucumbers (4 to 5" in length)
1 Tblsp. Powdered alum
1 Tblsp. Ground ginger
2 c. White vinegar
2 c. Water
6 c. Sugar
1 stick cinnamon 
1 tsp. Whole cloves
1 tsp. Celery seeds
1/2 tsp. Whole allspice

Dissolve salt in 4 qts. of water; add cucumbers. Let stand 8 days in stone crock, glass, pottery or enamel-lined pan (should no t be chipped.)
On the ninth day, drain well. Add fresh unsalted water to cover; add alum. Simmer 30 minutes.
Drain well. Add fresh unsalted water to cover; add ginger. Simmer again 30 minutes. Drain well.
Mix vinegar, 2 c. water, sugar and spices (tie spices in cloth bag). Add cucumbers and simmer again until Pickles are clear. Pack in hot, sterilized jars; seal. Process 10 minutes in boiling water bath. Makes about 6 pints.


SWEET GREEN PICKLES
Good with hamburgers or roast meat

3 c. pickling salt
6 qts. water
30 whole pickling cucumbers (3 to 4" in length)
5 c. white vinegar
10 c. sugar
2 1/2 Tblsp. powdered alum
1 1/4 tsp. whole cloves
2 1/2 sticks cinnamon 

Add salt to water; bring to boil. Pour over cucumbers in stone crock. Weight down with plate. Let stand 8 to 10 days. Rinse well in fresh unsalted water. Slice Pickles; rinse again. Let stand in fresh unsalted water 1 hour. Drain.
Combine remaining ingredients (tie spices in cloth bag); bring to boil. Pour over cucumbers; cover and let stand 24 hours.
Drain syrup; bring syrup to boil, pour over cucumbers. Let stand 24 hours. Repeat this process for a total of 3 mornings.
On fourth morning, drain Pickles, reserving syrup. Pack Pickles in hot, sterilized pint jars. Bring syrup to boil. Add green food color, if you wish. Pour hot syrup over Pickles jars; seal. Process 10 minutes
In boiling water bath. Makes about 6 pints.


Friday, July 28, 2017

Grandma Mildred's Bread and Butter Pickles

Bobby's Favorite Pickle

4 quarts sliced medium cucumbers
6 medium sliced white onions
2 green bell peppers, chopped
3 cloves garlic
1/3 cup course/medium pickling salt
5 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons turmeric (optional)
1 1/2 teaspoons celery seed
2 tablespoons mustard seed
3 cups cider vinegar

Wash cucumbers, but do not pare. Slice thin. Add onions, bell pepper, and whole garlic cloves. Add salt and cover with cracked ice. Let stand in refrigerator for 3 hours. Mix thoroughly, rinse and drain.

Combine remaining ingredients and bring to boil. Boil for 10 minutes. Place cucumber mixture into boiling mixture. Bring back up to a boil and then remove from heat. Seal in hot sterilized jars. Makes 8 pints.


Sunday, July 2, 2017

Ann's Squash Relish

A great way to use all that yellow squash from the garden!

Ann writes: "I am including this recipe especially for my dear brother-in-law, Bob Shubert. He just loves squash - any way you fix it! Ginger Shubert Snider, who probably doesn't remember this since she was only two years old at the time, helped me make my very first batch of squash relish over 20 years ago. I wanted to make sure she knew how to make it for her grandpa some day!

Now, I guess to keep the story straight for anybody who doesn't know - truth of the matter is that Bobby cannot stand the taste of squash - no matter how you fix it! I pulled a real sneaky on him once, and put squash relish in my potato salad, which he dearly loves, and never made him the wiser until he had finished with two big helpings!"

2 cups yellow squash, chopped
1 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup sweet green pepper, chopped 
1/2 cup sweet red pepper, chopped
2 tablespoons salt
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 cup apple cidar vinegar
2 teaspoons celery seed
1 teaspoon mustard seed

Combine squash, onion, and peppers. Sprinkle with salt and cover with cold water. Let stand for 2 hours. Drain vegetables, pressing out liquid. Combine remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Add vegetables and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and pour into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch space at the top. Adjust caps and process 10 minutes in boiling water bath. I use food processor to chop vegetables.





Niece Sommer was Busy Making

35 jars homemade dill pickles in Texas! Granny Mildred's recipe!!
Recipe found here: 







Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Maureen's Memere's Recipe

Maureen's Family Recipe
View this email in your browser

Free Family Recipe

Dear Judith,

Yesterday, due to a software application glitch we had several people with difficulty accessing my grandmother's recipe. So, I wanted to send it out to you again today with an updated link. I hope you enjoy the recipe.





In celebration of Mother's Day and all families everywhere, several of this month's blog posts and the photos shared from my library revolve around food. Our food stories are part of the glue that binds us together with our past.

I have created a special giveaway for this month, a recipe from my grandmother. I found a partially handwritten recipe in my grandmother’s cookbook, a family heirloom.  There were no directions on oven temperature or on the size of the box of raisins/baking pan dimensions. I had no idea how long it would take to bake.   It’s a dense cake that’s dairy-free and can be made gluten-free.  You can download both the recipes here.


Happy May, I hope to see you!

Maureen

Friday, January 9, 2015

Banana Nut Bread ~ One Slice at a Time

Cousin Kay Cox says "Jackie Orsag was my neighbor in Waco for 20 years, and she never failed to bring us a loaf of this banana bread every time she baked it. Take my word for it, it is the best you will ever put in your mouth!"
My family has chosen to place this recipe in our Family Cookbook, One Slice at a Time. We all love this Banana Nut Bread!





Banana Nut Bread
from my Daughter 
And Son-in-Law's Kitchen
in North Carolina
Christmas 2014

INGREDIENTS:
  • 1 1/5 cups sugar
  • 1/5 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/5 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1/5 cup buttermilk
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 4 ripe bananas, mashed
  • 2 cups plain flour
  • 1/5 cup chopped pecans
Mix all ingredients well. Pour into greased and floured loaf pans. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 1/5 hours or until toothpick comes out clean. This recipe will make 4 small loaves or 2 regular size loaves.

IMPORTANT:Take loaf out of pan. Place on a rack to cool. Take a stick of butter and rub over sides, top and bottom while still hot ~ keeps bread rich and moist.

   Banana Nut Bread
from my Son 
And Daughter-in-Law's Kitchen in Alabama
Christmas 2014



Photographs on this Post
Photographs taken by and belonging to Gail Shubert Blalock and David C. Shubert, December, 2014; digital format used.

Copyright 2015: Judith Richards Shubert

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Lois's Chocolate Pound Cake


Lois Walker Blalock
and her Handwritten Recipe for
Chocolate Pound Cake

The handwritten recipe above and picture of Lois
is part of a small 3-ring binder cookbook prepared and given to some of the family members for a special occasion quite some time ago. This one belongs to my daughter, Gail, who married Lois's grandson, 23-years ago. She treasures the book.
Sometimes I have a perfectly beautiful chocolate pound cake; other times it is as though the oven gremlins are laughing at me behind their oven mitts and aprons as my cake sticks to the bottom of the pan or fails to cook evenly. Recently, as I've gotten used to my new oven, I've had more good luck than bad. Lois's Chocolate Pound Cake is a favorite of the Blalock and Shubert family and has always been one of my go-to recipes when called upon to bring a dessert to any kind of a gathering, even when living back in my home state of Texas.
There are many variations of pound cake found in the New Sharon United Methodist Church Cookbook, Hillsborough, North Carolina. Lois has several recipes found within the pages of her beloved church's cookbooks, but somehow this one slipped through and fell on the editing floor. 


,


I gather all of the ingredients together, allow the eggs and butter to come to room temperature before I begin to mix the cake.

Turn the oven on to preheat. I find every oven is different. Lois's recipe calls for a 325-degree oven, but I set mine on 350-degrees or it will not get done! Adjust your baking time accordingly. She bakes hers at 325-degrees for 80 minutes; I bake mine at 350-degrees for 85 minutes. Generously grease and lightly flour the tube pan and after the eggs and butter are at room temperature I am ready to prepare the other ingredients. I am giving you her version of the recipe here. I sift and then measure the dry ingredients together into a large bowl and set aside. I pour the milk into a large cup and set aside. 

 Lois's Chocolate Pound Cake

1 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup shortening
3 cups sugar
5 large eggs or 6 small
3 cups flour (straight)
1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
4 T. cocoa (rounded)
1 c. milk
1 t. vanilla

Cream together butter and shortening. Add sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each. Add vanilla. Sift all dry ingredients together. Add dry ingredients and milk alternately to cream mixture. Bake in 10-inch tube pan at 325-degrees for 80 minutes.




TIP: Cool in pan on a cooling rack for 20 minutes. Also run a butter knife around the edges between the cake and the pan to loosen before turning out onto the rack. There won't be much left if you take it to a pot-luck supper. Certainly not this much!

Gratitude

When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the morning light, for your life and strength. Give thanks for your food, and the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies with yourself.

--Chief Tecumseh

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