Cheddar Chowder!

When the weather starts turning colder, I love to make a pot of soup to take the chill off the old bones. My family has had a favorite, ever since I found the recipe in the Country Magazine's premier edition. I had this posted on my other blog page, but thought I should bring it over here.  Hope you will enjoy this one as much as we do!  ~ Rustic Froggie

From my other blog site:

15 JANUARY 2009

Cheddar Chowder

2 cups water
2 cups potatoes-peeled and cubed
1/2 cup carrots-sliced (I often use baby carrots cut into chunks)
1/4 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup chopped green celery (optional)
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour * (see below for GF option)
2 cups 2% or whole milk
2 cups grated medium cheddar cheese
1 cup cubed ham

Cut up vegetables and ham. Grate cheese and set aside.

Combine diced veggies with salt and pepper and place in a 2 quart kettle. Add the water and boil for 10-12 min until tender. Do not drain!

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, make the white sauce by melting the butter, and adding the flour. Whisk until smooth- about 1 min. Slowly add the milk and cook until thickened. (it will resemble a thin pudding) Add the cheddar cheese to the white sauce and stir until melted.

Add the cheese mixture and cubed ham to the veggies which have not been drained, and stir well. Heat through and serve. Really good with a crusty loaf of french bread.

This is one of our favorite recipes. It originated in the introductory issue of Country Magazine submitted by a woman named Laura Rothlisberger of Green, Kansas.

 

 * To adapt this as a gluten free recipe, substitute the flour for rice flour or a gluten free flour blend to make the roux. I have found that it tastes just as well! 

Other variations- I have used cauliflower instead of potatoes, and it makes for a lower-carb recipe.

Family Recipes of a Minnesotan

Photo from Taste of Home

The Art of Writing Thank-You's

I am first to admit that I have become very lax in written correspondence.  There was, once upon a time, that I wrote letters to aunts, Grandma's, and even my sister when she was off to college in another state. I even had a pen-pal, who was my age, all through high school. Even more fun was to receive a reply in the mail.

In addition to letter writing, for every gift received, we would hand write a thank-you note to the giver, exclaiming our joy over their thoughtfulness. Our mom instilled this practice in my sister and me at a very young age.

Then the internet happened...and email. It was too"easy" to dash off a quick word of thanks without a second thought. Instant gratification, and nearly instant replies. After that, Facebook and text messaging came into being, and even more impersonal was a quick text or instant message of gratitude, if given at all. Handwriting correspondence sadly went by the wayside along with rotary phones and land lines.

That was until a couple weeks ago, when I received not one, but three gifts, two of which contained letters. I knew I needed to reinstate the art of letter writing and more importantly, that of thank-you writing. 

Before I could even send off my first thank you, one sender- my former Art teacher from high school, who had sent me some teaching materials and a lovely letter- texted me to see if I had gotten it. I assured her that I had and that I would be sending a thank you off forthwith. I chose a pretty card with a Monet painting to respond.

One down, two to go. 

The second unexpected gift was a letter and a cute top from my aunt Bea, which she said I could used for work. She always writes letters and cards, which I tend to save, and so I wrote her a card letter of thanks in return. I have a large cardboard box filled with various blank cards, so I did not use any fancy stationary. Just a heart-felt response.

Last, but not least, my sister and her family gave me a bag of Trader Joe's coffee and olive oil for my birthday. Not only that, but Nicole said she picked up a couple of LuLaRoe shirts for me as well. My sister is amazing and is always doing such nice things for me. I know I do not tell her that enough, but I appreciate how we have grown closer as we have gotten older. So my last thank-you card went off to her. Just a quick note of thanks to let her know how I appreciated the gifts. 

Though this is not New Years, I have started a resolution to write more letters, send more cards, and definitely hand write out all thank-yous. The best part is receiving mail that is not bills!  Consider sending a hand written thank you, if you do not already, for the next gift you receive. I know I enjoy getting those as well. 

Small Towns

"A small town is a place where there's no place to go where you shouldn't."
~ Burt Bacharach

In the small town of Hitterdal, MN, my Grandma Mamie lived on the main street at the edge.

Whenever we would stay over, Grandma would make these amazing meals from scratch, and as a treat we would walk down to "Ma's Store" and buy a bag of penny and nickle candy.
Sometimes we would go to "Jigg's cafe" for a slice of white cake, with lemon filling and seven-minute-frosting while the elders sat around sipping coffee and talking.








Now Grandma, along with Ma's and Jigg's are long gone, but the memories are still there. If you were fortunate to grow up in a small town, you were lucky indeed.


~Rustic Froggie

Cloth Feminine Hygeine Pads

Women, I know that talking about our monthly is something we were told to keep to ourselves and to never discuss with "men" but really, it is a fact of life and can be an expensive endeavor for people on a tight budget to cover.

Several years ago, I learned how to make eco-friendly sanitary pads for "that time of the month." I found a tutorial and pattern online and made several, and they work surprisingly well. Now that I have gone through the "Big M," I no longer need them, thankfully.

Once I had read somewhere that girls in developing countries oftentimes miss school because there is a lack of available supplies (too expensive or just not able to purchase) so I wanted to make a bunch to send to the school our church sponsors in Haiti. Several ladies from church helped cut out some parts, but I lacked the absorbent core (old towels or cotton cloth) so I never got them done.

A few weeks back, one of my senior girls mentioned the very same thing to me- "Did you know there are girls who can't go to school when they have their periods?" she asked, indignantly. And I explained that yes I did and that I had started to make some for that reason. So for her senior project she has decided to pick up where I left off, and we are making the pads with the help of staff (donating supplies) and her friends (who are learning to sew with my help). My church has agreed to send the finished products to Haiti, so I am happy that this project, once tucked into my closet, has been reborn. Here is a link to the original pattern I use from a fellow blogspot blogger

http://sewinpeace.blogspot.com/2013/08/feminine-cloth-pad-tutorial.html 

Cleaning Copper-Bottom Kettles

I have several copper bottom "Revere-ware" kettles which I received as gifts when first starting out on my own. Love them, but they do tend to tarnish.

There is a simple recipe for shining up a copper bottom pan:

Salt and Vinegar + bit of elbow grease. That's it!

 Sprinkle salt on the bottom of the kettle. Add some vinegar to a paper towel or other scrubbing device and start working in a circular motion.

 Just plain white vinegar works fine.

 This is Himalayan salt, but just any normal  granulated salt works.

 Keep scrubbing in a circular motion, adding more salt and vinegar as needed.

Was able to remove most of the burnt on food and discoloration before my arm decided it had had enough of a workout for one day.

Just rinse when done and dry with a towel. Easy as pie. :)

Pineapple Chunks from fresh Pineapple!

If you are like me, you love fresh pineapple, but might feel a bit daunted by the thought of cutting one up. I used to shy away from cutting them up, just opting to purchase already sliced and diced pineapple at extremely high prices.

But really, it is not that hard. I will show you my step-by-step process to this delicious and healthy snack.

Choose a pineapple by the smell. I usually smell the base (the most yellow end) and if I can detect a nice pineapple smell, I buy it. I know some people say that if you pull on the top and if the leaves? pull out easily, then it is ripe, but I have not always found that this equates a sweet pineapple. To me, the smell test is most reliable. Make sure there are no soft spots.

Using a sharp knife and a cutting board to protect your counter-top, cut off the base about  1/2 -1 inch up, and do the same for the top.

I attempted to "grow" the top but became bored with it and threw it out. Perhaps another time.

I usually stand the pineapple on its base and slice it down the center.

And then again slice the halves into quarters.

 Now comes the time to slice off the hard inner core. Sometimes this is a bit tricky, but you can usually see that the core is a slightly different shade of yellow and is much firmer than the flesh. I do not always slice enough of the core off, leaving a hard, chewy spot on my chunks.

 I halve the quarters now, so I end up with eight pieces (wedges?) of pineapple. They still have the outer prickly rind on, so that is the next thing to remove!

 It is actually easier to lay the pieces flat, but for the photo I stood one up to show how to slice off the rind. You want to go about 1/2 inch in or more to get all of the seed spots off. Some extra trimming may be required. Discard the rind and core pieces.

 Line up your pineapple wedges (disregard the piece in the front where I had a sample...I could not help myself!) so they are ready for cutting.

 Slice off the "chunks" as uniformly as you can. It is not a contest! Be sure to sample a few, just to make certain they are edible.









Another angle....

Voila! Pineapple Chunks.
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for one to two days (if they last that long!) You can also use them in fruit kebabs (with other fruits such as melon, grapes, kiwi, or whatever you like), or on pizza with some ham or Canadian bacon. I just like to nibble on them for a snack. Enjoy!

Chocolate Covered Cherries!

Also called "Bon Bon Cookies," this recipe was one my mother always made at Christmastime....and I would sneak into the freezer and eat them frozen (for which I caught quite the scoldings.)

While you can omit the cherries and use chopped walnuts instead, our family preferred the cherry version.

Chocolate Covered Cherries (or Bon Bon Cookies- by Carol Meyer)

2 lbs (453 grams)  powdered sugar
1 large package (198g) of sweetened shredded coconut
1- 14oz (397g) can sweetened condensed milk
1 stick (114g) butter, melted (no substitutions!)
1- 10 (283g)ounce jar of stemless maraschino cherries, drained, dried, and chopped fine * there are dye-free options available on the market.

Mix together in a large bowl, stirring well. Roll into 1 inch- (25cm) -balls and place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Refrigerate for one hour.






In a double boiler, melt 1 large package of chocolate chips (I prefer Enjoylife brand, as they are soy free, but you can use whichever you like) and -if you choose not to temper your chocolate- you can add 1-2 ounces (15-30ml) melted paraffin or baking wax.*
(*That is how the original recipe is written, but since paraffin is a petroleum product, I am more apt not to use it. There are many online sites which tell you how to temper chocolate for coating candies, so that paraffin is not necessary. Here is one I found: http://www.thekitchn.com
/how-to-temper-chocolate-without-a-thermometer-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-196475  )



Dip each ball into the chocolate mixture- I poke them with toothpicks and then hold the cold candy over the chocolate and dip/spoon the mixture over the entire piece. Then place the finished candy back onto parchment paper. Store in an air-tight container in a cool spot. (You can refrigerate or freeze, but the chocolate might grey/dull).