Quick Sunday Supper

This is nice on a cold winter's evening.

Rice Cooker Beans & Rice

1 can diced tomatoes with juice
pinch sugar
1 can pinto or kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 c rice
2 cups frozen meatballs, thawed
½ of a small onion, peeled and minced (optional)

1 garlic clove, mashed
1 T. oil
1 1/2 c water
Salt and pepper to taste

Pour the tomatoes into the rice cooker, add the sugar and stir well. Stir in the rest of the ingredients, put the lid on the rice cooker, and turn it on. Depending on the timer of your rice cooker, this should be done in 20-25 minutes.

(This can also be cooked on the stove top in a heavy, covered pot in about the same amount of time).

Make sure your rice cooker is big enough to hold everything; you can always heat the meatballs separately and add them at the end. A spoonful of plain yogurt or leftover sour cream folded in at the same time is pretty good, too.

Caturday!

(photo courtesy www.icanhascheezburger.com)

Quote of the Day

"A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin." H.L. Mencken

"Creative Hands"

This was the view from my front porch yesterday but I drove into Cornfedton anyway. I had to get a shot and purchase some groceries not carried by the tiny store in Myvillage; serendipitously, my favorite thrift shop was having a half off sale which is how I got twenty one volumes of the Creative Hands needlework guide at fifty cents each.

(Plus MFK Fisher's/Time-Life book on provincial French cooking and two Aunt Whatsername's pillow embroidery transfers).



This particular store is run by the Ladies' Auxiliary of the Mennonite hospital in Cornfedton. On any given day I can walk out of there with a handful of silk scarves and a bag of tatting thread. Once I arrived just after they had laid out the lifetime accumulation of home-stitched dresser scarves that some lady's heirs had donated instead of throwing out, may they live long and prosper.

Patternless Sewing-1921 Lingerie

This one is from the Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences, Underwear and Lingerie, Vol I (copyright 1921).



This one, and the kimono, come from the Woman's Institute booklet, "Simplified Sewing" (also copyright 1921).



Scans of the original instructions for all three can be downloaded from my Flickr account.

Knitting-Two Pairs of 1950 Slipper Socks

These are from Modern Needlecraft, Winter 1950. Instructions to download are on my Flickr account.

Beware of What You Wish For Department

At least I am no longer looking at mud.



The brother in law came by with the blade on his four wheeler and scraped us out just after sunrise, so this is what has come down in the last three hours.



The feathered forest freeloaders are letting me know that I need to do some clearing out of the Little Grey Bungalow Cafe. Guess I'll put my boots on.



'Specially because somebody wants to go for a walk. You can take the dog out of northern Germany, but you can't take northern Germany out of the dog. He loves snow and will spend all day outside if we let him.

(am now of course asking myself the same question everyone else in town is asking. How long before the power goes out?)

Quilts by Marie Webster

Project Gutenberg, bless their hearts, has put Miss Webster's book online, complete with the original color plates for her masterpieces such as Windblown Tulip and The Iris.

Vintage Sheet Music - Lover, Come Back To Me

April is not the cruellest month

Regardless of what T.S. Eliot says. February is the cruellest month because that's when all the seed calatogs have arrived and lie on the coffee table, tempting us to madness and three-figure seed and plant orders.

About three-quarters of the snow has melted and as far as the eye can see it is mud, mud, and more mud. If I were going to get SADD, this is the month it would happen.

As If We Didn't See This One Coming Department

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/25/world/americas/25cuba.html

Kitchen Staples - Brandy Vanilla

If you do a lot of baking, please try using brandy vanilla instead of imitation vanilla extract, which should only be in your pantry if you make a lot of ice cream (the alcohol in the real thing hinders the freezing process).

Buy a jar of vanilla beans. McCormick’s is fine, or any other supermarket brand. Fill the jar with brandy. Spare the Hennessey, please; E&J or Christian Brothers is a good choice and a small bottle will keep just about forever. Leave the vanilla beans macerating in the brandy for a day or two and then use the brandy for any recipe that calls for vanilla extract. When you get down to the last spoonful or so, refill the jar with brandy. One jar of vanilla beans stays strong enough for half a dozen refills.

It is very good in this pudding, which is from the 1934 cookbook that I think is still available from the Hershey company as a reprint. When I was growing up in a large single-income family, we rarely had desserts or sweets, and this was for special occasions like birthdays. It’s a Depression recipe; it didn’t dawn on me until I was old enough to pay for my own groceries that this has the advantage of being cheap to make (and if you are feeling particularly frugal you can replace ½ cup of the milk with cold leftover coffee).

The traditional method requires a lot of stirring so I am including the microwave version as well.

Hershey’s Cocoa Pudding

¾ c. white sugar (the original recipe calls for a cup which is too much)
½ c. cocoa
¼ c. cornstarch
Pinch salt
3 c milk
1 T. butter
1 t. brandy vanilla

Stir together the sugar, cocoa, cornstarch and salt in a heavy pot. Gradually blend in the milk. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly until it comes to a boil. This will take a long time but don’t stop stirring or the milk will scorch and the pudding will be ruined. Pull up a chair.

Boil for one minute, still stirring. Remove from the heat and add the butter and vanilla. Pour into serving bowls and press plastic wrap over the top once it has cooled, to prevent the top from hardening into a layer of skin. Refrigerate.

Microwave version:

Combine the dry ingredients in an 8-cup Pyrex measuring cup or large microwave-proof bowl. Gradually blend in the milk. Microwave on high for 8-10 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes. The pudding is done when the mixture begins to thicken (I’ve never had to cook it more than 8 minutes). Stir in the butter and vanilla and pour into a serving dish. Refrigerate. Don’t forget the plastic wrap.

Honestly? I don’t make the stovetop version any more. The microwave keeps the milk from scorching and eliminates the standing over a hot stove, making it a great dessert for summer. Because it is so rich and so sweet don’t feel stingy about getting eight servings out of it. Whipped cream really gilds the lily. WARNING: this does not keep well, after a day in the refrigerator the cornstarch begins to “weep.” We never had any left over when I was a kid so that wasn’t a problem!

This is by no means low calorie, even if you use skim milk, but if you are feeding someone who is avoiding eggs it is a useful recipe. I take it to office potlucks as I work with a lot of religious vegetarians, i.e. they can eat dairy but no meat, fish or eggs.

Caturday!

(photo courtesy www.icanhascheezburger.com)

Quote of the Day

"To bring together the records of the past and to house them in buildings where they will be preserved for the use of men and women in the future, a nation must believe in three things.

It must believe in the past.

It must believe in the future.

It must, above all, believe in the capacity of its own people so to learn from the past that they can gain in judgment in creating their own future." Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Cave Canem

I was standing at the ironing board the other day when I heard a ferocious barking from outside the window. That’s odd, I thought; one of Funnyface’s few redeeming qualities is that he’s a pretty quiet dog. Then I realized that a) it was not his bark, and b) it was coming from the side yard.

Two little rat dogs were bouncing up and down in the driveway, putting on a ferocious show against the German Shepherd (behind a chain link fence). I decided not to let them tempt Fate and went out to bring Funnyface in before anything happened. Just about the time I got to back yard, it dawned on both of us that not only was the winter supply of firewood stacked against the fence, but the spousal unit had removed enough logs from one end of it so that it now made a nice ramp to use as a launching pad onto the driveway.

Funnyface looked at the woodpile. He looked at the driveway. I swear I saw a light bulb go on above his head.

He beat me to the top of the pile but by virtue of a Nijinsky-like leap that I will never again in my life be able to duplicate, I got hold of one hind leg before he made it over. The logs began to slip under his paws and the two of us came crashing down to a triumphant chorus of yapping from the rat dogs.

Funnyface is not quite one year old; he was fine. I am fifty-two; I was not. Next day my boss saw me hobbling down the hall at work, favoring my left knee, which had ballooned up to the size of a cantaloupe.

She: “What did you to yourself this time?”

Me: “I was chasing the dog and fell off the woodpile.”

She: “I don’t think I want to hear any more.”

25-Motif Challenge - Mrs. Beeton's edging

Mrs. Beeton's Book of Needlework is available online at Project Gutenberg.



This is one of her edgings. I have incorporated a picot into the smaller ring and left out the crochet part.



It will make a nice bookmark if, as I have done above, you mirror-image another row of it and insert with a strip of velvet ribbon . It's done with a single shuttle or if you needle-tat, working with the thread cut off the ball.

Large Ring 1: 4-3-3-3-3-4. Leave a one-sixteenth inch space on your thread.

Small Ring 1: 4-4. Leave a one-sixteenth inch space on your thread.

Large Ring 2: 4+3-3-3-3-4, joining the first picot to the last picot on the first large ring.

Continue until the edging is the desired length.

Vintage Needlework - Modern Priscilla Catalog

The Smithsonian has a Modern Priscilla needlework catalog in their online collection. From the artwork -- and the references to "these difficult times" -- it appears to be from 1915 or 1916. The cover alone is worth framing.

Vintage Sewing - Inspiration Magazine

(Inspiration was a leaflet published six times per year by the Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences, a Scranton, PA correspondence school that offered mail-order courses in cooking, dressmaking and millinery. This one is from the fall of 1921).



(I originally posted all eight pages here but have transferred them to my Flickr account to spare the bandwidth).

Vintage Advertising - Searchlight Oranges

(Nice to see the Navy being useful, even if it’s just for advertising oranges. Although from the apparent deflection of that forward gun, she’s about to blow a chunk of her bow off.)

In Which I Get All Hippy-Dippy

I make my own granola as well as yogurt. I do so because it is easy and it tastes so infinitely much better than what you can get in a store that for the minimal amount of time and effort it takes, it’s worth it.
The granola recipe comes from a children’s cookbook called Peter Rabbit’s Natural Foods Cookbook, by Arnold Dobrin. It was printed by Miss Potter’s publishers, Frederick Warne & Co, and is illustrated by her paintings. The inscription inside says that it was donated by the After School Arts Class from the Pine Shadows Elementary School, wherever that happens to be, in 1977. I have adjusted the sweetening more to my liking and added the butter, which gives it a richer taste but also means it has to be kept in the refrigerator and should be eaten within two weeks.

Johnny Town-mouse’s Granola

2 c oatmeal
½ c wheat germ (I usually leave this out)
¼ t salt
2 T vegetable oil
1 T butter (optional), melted and cooled
¼ c honey (I prefer brown sugar and it’s also less messy)

A total of one cup of any combination of the following:

Chopped nuts
Unsweetened grated coconut
Sesame seeds
Sunflower seeds, unsalted
Chopped dried apples
Chopped dried apricots
Raisins

(Since I tend to go with what is in the cupboard, I usually make this with golden raisins, walnuts, and coconut, which are staples with me. It’s amazing how you redefine “necessities” when the nearest supermarket is almost thirty miles away. A box of Quaker Oats is something else we always have on hand because the spousal unit is three quarters Scotch-Irish and has “parritch” for breakfast every’ day from December through the end of March).

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Put the oatmeal, wheat germ and salt in a mixing bowl and stir well. Add the vegetable oil, butter, and the honey or sugar. Spread the mixture on a cookie sheet or large baking pan and bake it for 30 minutes. If you choose honey as your sweetener, I recommend some aluminum foil to line the baking sheet with or you will wind up chipping honey off it.

Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and add your additional ingredients EXCEPT the raisins. This is important. They get too crunchy. Bake for 15 more minutes. Take the cooking sheet out of the oven and allow it to cool, stirring it occasionally as it cools. Add the raisins once it has cooled completely. I store this in an old Ball canning jar in the refrigerator and sneak handfuls of it occasionally.

Eat with milk or yogurt and fruit for breakfast (wonderful on blueberries) or stir some into a muffin batter.