Lazy Thursday

Didn't do a whole lot of anything today.  Went into town to get 100 lbs of chicken feed and came home and made 3 canning jar baskets.  Did some wash, changed the bedding and started on a new rag rug.  After supper went in to Renee's to take her a roll of chicken wire that Ron got and sat and visited with them for an hour or so.  She gave me some shredded zucchini that she froze yesterday for me and she picked me 2 zucchini to bring home.  Looks like I am going to make some zucchini bread tomorrow, I think I have enough flour for a batch.  Saturday is Amish shopping day and will be getting 50 lbs of flour then.  I also will be getting some clear jel so I can make and can some quarts of raspberry pie filling.  I have a small list of other things that I also need to get when we are there.  I can't rely on my memory to remember them so I write it down.  I don't know if my daughter Gina has a list of things that she wants, I always let the girls know when we go down and will pick up things for them also.
Tuesday night one of the boys from the Amish dairy called because he knows that Ron works in a scrap yard and he was wondering if he could get them an air horn to use at their brothers lumber mill.  They need it to use as a signal.  He also had a couple of other things that they were looking for and Ron will do his best to help them out.  I gave them my number a couple of months ago and the next time they butcher a cow they are going to call me so I can come down and get the suet so I can use it to make soap.  They were raising organic feed hogs and selling them but the price of corn is so high that they can't afford to do that at the present time.  So one of the boys that is still at home is working at his brothers lumber mill to help support the family.  They are so sweet and friendly.
Later, take care.

I Think I Did It

Well I think I did it, ran the well dry watering the gardens and trees.  I unplugged the pump and will have to wait until Ron comes home from work (3 hours yet) to prime it and hopefully the water table will have risen enough in the well so we can have some water.  I was afraid this would happen with the horrible shortage of rain.  When we don't get rain for so long the water table beneath the ground takes longer to fill up and I hope that is all that has happened.  We had this problem about 6 years ago and we really had to watch our water usage.  I have dishes to wash and about 12 -16 cups of raspberries that I picked this morning that need washed and put in the freezer.  I guess I'll just dust and vacuum and call it a day until Ron gets home from work.

Update:
All Ron had to do was plug the pump back in and the water storage tank filled up and the pump shut off.  Got the dishes done and berries all washed and in the freezer, I got 16 cups.

Ham and Cheese Bread & Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Ham and cheese sandwiches are a favorite in our house and when I can bake it all together it makes it super easy and delicious.  Every week I bake bread for the week and I use the Amish Loaf Bread recipe that I found over at http://chickensintheroad.com/ upper right hand corner, Farm Bell Recipes (I use 1/2 the sugar that is called for).   I also use this recipe to make ham and cheese pull apart bread.  I make the recipe (makes 2 loaves) and after it has risen I cut the dough in half.  Then the half I cut into 6 balls of dough.  Pat each ball out into a rectangle, add your favorite cheese, several slices of deli ham, fold the ends to meet in the middle, then fold in half and out them in the bread pan.  Bake it at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes.  Cool for about 1/2 hour and then pull apart a section to eat.  You can add some mustard or your favorite condiment.  This stuff is delicious.  I wrap the leftovers and can reheat in the microwave the next day or eat it cold. 
I take the other half of the dough and have another loaf of bread for the week or pat it out, butter it, sprinkle some cinnamon and sugar over it, add some raisins and have bread for breakfast.  This time since I just baked 2 loaves of bread a few hours ago I made Cinnamon Raisin Bread with the other half of the dough.

Dough, ham cheese

The ends are folded to the center.

Then fold in half.

Put them in the bread pan.

After rising and ready for the oven.

Out of the oven.

L to R; Ham and Cheese, Cinnamon Raisin Bread.  These are ready to be eaten.

Identify this Plant Please

Here are a couple of pictures of a bush and the berries that are on it.  I ate a couple yesterday and 1 today.  They are sweet with soft seeds.  I was hoping you would answer this Mr SLB, you were the person who I thought of yesterday when I told Renee that we needed a guide with us to identify other plants that we could pick.

Bush with berries.

This is a close up of the berries I brought home today.

I'm sure there are so many plants out there that are good for something.  I tried looking up some things yesterday but with no luck. 

Raspberry Picking Again

Got up early and out of the house before 6:30, picked up Renee and we went a couple places we had not been yet.  The berries are everywhere and no one has picked them so a lot are drying up on the vines.  My arms have well over 100 scratches and pokes from the thorns but I just keep on making a path to get to them.  I said we needed leathers like the motorcycle riders wear so we would be protected.  I was in such a hurry this morning to get going that I forgot my hat.  The hat is my buddy, protects me from the sun and keeps the ticks out of my head.  Renee and I might go again tomorrow morning.  I just hate to think of all those good berries going to waste.  The majority of the berries we picked today were a lot bigger that we have found so far.  I have my berries in the colander in the sink of water waiting for me to clean them and put them in the freezer until next week when I will can some quarts of raspberry pie filling.
We almost had a "Grandma in Canada" moment but it was Renee and the car keys.  Thank goodness she remembered where she took a pit stop and laid the keys on the ground or we would have been calling Ron to come to our aid.  A "Grandma in Canada" moment has something to do with no facilities for 100 miles and needing to use them so the side of the road would work.  That would have been OK but she took off her glasses and laid them beside where she made a deposit and then remembered it after we got back on the road.  We went back but no one was ever able to find the glasses.
I have decided that we need to find someone who can identify trees and brush of Illinois to go picking with us.  We have seen several kinds of berries and trees that we wish we new what they were.  I tried 3 different kinds of berries today and if any were poisonous they didn't work.  I know what blackberries look like and they will be ripe in several weeks, I think one of the berries I tried were ground berries and the other 2 were small round purple berries.  Both of them tasted good, not bitter.  I'm sure there are so many wonderful plants out there that we could use for something.  Need a botanist ASAP.  :)

Update:  I got 18 cups from today's picking.
Also I forgot to mention, if you go picking with Renee and want all the berries to yourself just spot a snake and mention you saw it and that's all it takes.  Today was the first time I have seen one while picking.  It was a black snake on a bush and it slithered away when I said "Renee, oh never mind".   

Ham and Cheese Roll

I had 2 gallons of milk that I made up into mozzarella cheese this morning.  While it was sitting waiting for it to curdle I thought I would do something different with it and make some mozzarella cheese and ham roll ups.  When it was ready to be put in containers I took and cut it in half, patted it flat and added some black forest ham  on top of it, rolled it up and put it back in the bowl and stuck it in the microwave for about 15 seconds.  Just enough time for the cheese to melt a little to seal it into a roll.  I then cut it in half and wrapped in Saran Wrap and put it in the fridge to cool.  I will confess I did slice a small piece and put it on a cracker to test.  It is very good.  Next time I'll cut down on the amount of ham but otherwise this is something I will make again.  This would be perfect to serve at holiday times or as a snack.  Here is the recipe I use to make mozzarella cheese, I have no idea where I got it.

Mozzarella Cheese

1 gallon of whole milk, raw or store bought (I use partially skim milk because I separate the raw milk to get the cream to make butter)

1 1/2 tsp citric acid dissolved in 1/2 cup cool water

Rennet, follow the directions on your rennet as how much to use per gallon of milk.  I use animal rennet that I send for and I use 1/16 of a tsp for 1-3 gallons of milk

1 tsp sea or kosher salt

Place the milk in a large heavy bottomed stock pot.  Heat to 55 degrees F.  Add the citric acid /water solution and stir to mix, gently stir once in a while to keep the milk from scorching on the bottom of the pan..  When it reaches 90 degrees F add the rennet solution, stir to mix and continue heating until it reaches 105 degrees F.  Remove from the heat and check for curd.  When the milk has fully curdled and separated from the whey drain in a cheese cloth lined colander.

Put the drained curds in a microwave safe bowl and heat on high for 1 minute.  Remove and drain any whey and knead the curds in the bowl to distribute the heat.  This is where you need a good pair of rubber gloves.  Add the salt and return to microwave and heat for 35 seconds, drain any whey, knead, return to microwave for the 3rd time for 35 seconds.  Remove, drain, knead; at this point the cheese will be shinny and taffy like.  Knead until it is shinny and elastic, form into whatever shape you want, wrap and put in the fridge.  This will keep at least one week in the fridge. 

I remove the cheese from the covered container after 24 hours, put it in a vacuum seal bag and remove the air and put it in the freezer.  I have kept cheese in the freezer for several months without any change of flavor or consistency.  When I am ready to use it I just thaw it.

I never just make 1 gallon at a time, if I am going to make a mess in the kitchen I might as well make a big one.  The pans I use to make cheese in will hold 4 gallons each and this is usually how big of batch I make at a time.  You will need to adjust the amount of time you put it in the microwave but you will know after making it a couple of times what it should look and feel like.

Cheese patted out.

Cheese with the ham.

All rolled up and ready for the microwave.

Out of the microwave.

All rolled and ready to be wrapped.

Taste sample, it had to be done.

Ready for the fridge.

Linking this to Homestead Barn Hop.

 

Berry Picking, Change of Scenery

Ron and I got up at 6:30 this morning to beat the heat and go and pick raspberries.  We picked for 2 1/2 hours and have 3 bags with 4 cups in them (pie size) and 1 bag with 3 cups.  There is about another week of raspberries and then they are done for the year.  Want to try and go at least once more and will dehydrate them to use on oatmeal or whatever.  We also relocated some of the bushes to give them a change of scenery to the back of our property.  We now have 9 starts of raspberries and 7 blackberries.  Digging their new home was horrible.  The ground back there has been packed down really good by the farmers tractor and by us when we were loading and loading things.  We got out the ax and used it do dig the holes, it was that hard.  I added some good chicken mulch and watered them in.  I am keeping my fingers crossed hoping they make it.
I also put in some late onion sets and lettuce where I pulled the garlic.  I just hate to see any bare spots not doing their job.  I pulled the rest of the spinach and feed it to the chickens, it was getting a little bitter because it has been warm out.
Tomorrow I have to bake bread; usually do it on Sunday but was just too darn tired doing everything outside.  I also have 2 gallons of milk that needs made into mozzarella cheese that I will do in the morning after I get the bread started.  I need to make some lasagna and freeze it for easy meals but just have a little flour left until we go down to the Amish store this week.  Sure hope she got her shipment in so I can get 50 lbs and also I can't make any soap until she gets more lye in.
I sat down for a couple of hours this afternoon and tied together strips of rags for some rugs.  I have lots of rags all cut up and ready to tie together.  Crocheting the rugs is the easy part, cutting, tying and winding up the rags into giant balls of material is the hard part.
Later, take care.