Preparing for Winter

 "Preparing for winter?" I can hear you say. "But it's 80° outside!"

Jan here, telling you it's time.

Do you remember last year when that sudden snow storm had you scrambling for milk and bread along with the rest of your city? Or when the food supply chain was disrupted in March? The grocery stores are not fun when that happens!

Now, when we're in the midst of gorgeous autumn days, is the time to make sure your pantry is stocked.

So, last week I inventoried my pantry, checked to make sure all the stored foods are in good shape (no rusty cans or leaking packages,) and bought a few items to bring everything up to par.

And then I noticed a problem. We store dry beans and use them often, but we didn't use many of the Great Northern beans or Navy beans last year.

When beans are stored too long, they dry out even more than they are when you buy them. And the older and drier they are, the longer it takes to cook them. What's the solution? I can them!

Canning beans is easy-peasy if you have a pressure canner (if you don't have one, maybe you can borrow one from a friend or neighbor,) and it's even easier if you have a pressure cooker! Be sure you read the instructions for both appliances.

Super simple - 

First measure out your beans (I used four cups of dry Navy beans.) Rinse them and sort them, then it's time to cook them.

If you have a pressure cooker (aka Instant Pot or similar appliance,) put your rinsed beans in your pot along with enough water to reach the 1/2 mark on your liner. Add a couple tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, then seal your pot. Cook on high for about 30 minutes - longer if your beans are as old as mine. Let the pressure release manually. The entire process takes about an hour and a half.

If you don't have a pressure cooker, soak the rinsed beans in a large bowl or pot with plenty of water and the apple cider vinegar.

What does the vinegar do? It helps get rid of the enzymes that cause people to avoid beans. And it works!

Anyway, after soaking for 12-24 hours, rinse the beans again and cook in a large pot with plenty of water for about 30 minutes.

No matter which method you used to cook your beans, rinse them again after cooking.

While your beans are cooking, prepare your canning jars. Four cups of dry beans will fill about seven pint jars. Wash the jars and sanitize them (your dishwasher is the perfect appliance for this step.) Also, be sure to check the rims of your jars for any cracks or chips. If you find any, throw that jar away and use a different one. A cracked or chipped canning jar is dangerous to have around!

And prepare your lids - put them in a bowl alternating right side to wrong side so they don't nest. Cover them with boiling water until you're ready for them.

Fill the jars with the cooked beans to about 1" below the rim of the jar. When in doubt, put fewer beans in. Now put 1/2 teaspoon of salt in each jar, then fill the jar with boiling water to 1/2 inch below the rim. The threads of the screw top are at that 1/2" point.

Wipe the rims of the jars with a clean cloth dipped in boiling water to remove any spilled liquid or food. Then, using tongs, gently place a lid on each jar and screw on the ring until it's a bit tighter than snug.

Put about 2" of water in the bottom of your canner, then carefully place the jars in (be sure to use a canning jar lifter.)

Here's where you really need to follow the instructions for your pressure canner and your canning guide. Mine has a dial pressure gauge, and according to Ball's Blue Book, I need to keep the pressure at 12 pounds for my altitude (4000 feet.) The pressure needs to remain at that level for one hour and forty five minutes for pint jars.

And I don't fool around with this detail. I watch the canner closely for that entire time, and often keep it a bit higher than 12 pounds. Once your canner is up to pressure, it doesn't take much heat to keep it there. During the canning time, I'm constantly adjusting the burner's setting lower.

After the required time, turn off the heat and let the pressure canner cool naturally. This isn't a step you want to hurry! If you need to run an errand or head off to bed, no problem. The jars can remain in the canner for several hours if you need them too.

Once all the pressure is released, carefully open the lid. Take out the jars with your jar lifter and set them on something heat resistant to cool. Leave a couple inches between the jars. As they cool, you'll hear the beautiful sound of the lids sealing with a "pop" or "ping!"

Beans aren't the only things I'm canning, though. Thirty pounds of apples from Washington made lovely applesauce. And next week, I'll work on vegetable soup.

 I'm also brushing up on my bread making skills - both yeast breads and sourdough. And yes, that makes my husband very happy.

I know it sounds like a lot of work, but for me it's worth it for the peace of mind. We live thirty minutes from the closest grocery store, and it's good to know we don't have to depend on making that drive when a storm is on the way.

How do you prepare for winter? Do you stock up with a few extra cans of soup or bags of rice?

And before we go, I have to share a couple wedding pictures with you!

If you remember, our son Benjamin married Erica Vetsch's daughter Heather back in July. It was a beautiful wedding and a wonderful day!

First of all, the BROTHERS! This is Benjamin with his two brothers and two brothers-in-law. A pretty formidable bunch! Don't you love those epic beards?

I love this picture of the "first look!" Such a sweet couple!

But this one is my favorite. Look at those faces! How happy can two people be?

*sigh* Don't you love weddings?

Jan Drexler has always been a "book girl" who still loves to spend time within the pages of her favorite books. She lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota with her dear husband of many years and their active, crazy dogs, Jack and Sam. You can learn more about Jan and her books on her website, www.JanDrexler.com.

 

Winter Vegetable Soup with Garlic Twist Bread Revisited

Jan here, talking about losing things.

NOT losing my marbles...although it feels a little bit like I am some days! But losing things that I thought I had. That I knew where they MUST be.

I'm not alone in this, am I?

We've been in our new house for just over a year, and last week I finally unpacked the last couple boxes. I knew what was in those boxes - one of them had my mom's old cookbooks and a few other things like that. And it was one of those "few other things" that I was looking for.

A bread cookbook that I got several years ago when I bought my Bosch mixer...but it wasn't there! That was, literally, the last place I looked. How can something just disappear?

*sigh*

Then I remembered that I had shared this recipe from that cookbook here at the Cafe many years ago - almost eight! - so I thought I'd share it again so we could all enjoy it!

This post also includes my own Winter Vegetable Soup, adapted from Nourishing Traditions, one of my go-to cookbooks. Here's the link, in case you're interested: Nourishing Traditions

A few days ago, I couldn't imagine making this soup. We were at the end of more than a week of 95°+ temperatures...but then the weather changed. SUDDENLY it's feeling awfully fallish!

Maybe not quite that fallish - it will take a few more weeks for the aspens to don their golden cloaks. But the deer and bison are gathering into their winter herds, the birds are returning from the far north on their way south, and I'm putting on a jacket when I take Sam for his morning walks.

Here’s my updated version of this delicious soup:

Winter Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:

¼ cup butter

2 medium sized turnips, chopped

3 parsnips, chopped

3 carrots, chopped
2 medium potatoes, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 ½ quarts stock – chicken or vegetable

2 teaspoons salt

½ teaspoon pepper

2 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon dried thyme, or one sprig fresh thyme

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

½ cup heavy cream

2 cups kale

1 Tablespoon each, butter and olive oil

In a large soup pot (I use an 8-quart pot), melt the butter. Add your turnips, rutabaga, parsnips, carrots and onions.

Cook on medium-low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

After the 30 minutes, add your stock, garlic, thyme, salt, pepper and cayenne. Bring it all to a boil, and then reduce it to a simmer and cook for an additional 30 minutes or so until the vegetables are soft.

When your veggies are nice and soft, it’s time for the blender. (If you used fresh thyme, remove the sprig now.)

If you have one of those handy immersion blenders, this is the time to put it through its paces. Just stick it in the pot and blend until the soup is smooth.

If you don’t have one of those, put the soup – about a quart at a time – in a big blender and blend away. As each part gets done, put the blended soup in a large bowl and do the next batch until the whole pot of soup is nice and smooth. Then return it to the soup pot and put it back on the stove on medium heat.

While the soup is coming back up to temperature, tear the kale into 1-inch pieces.

Heat butter and olive oil in a skillet until melted. Add the kale and stir to coat. Add salt to taste. Cook at medium heat, stirring, about 3 minutes. Cover the skillet, reduce the heat to low, and let the kale steam for about 5-7 minutes, or until soft.

While the kale is cooking, add the cream to your soup and let it heat slowly. You don’t want to heat it too quickly or let the soup boil or the cream will break.

Serve the soup in bowls with a nice dollop of kale for a garnish.

Now, soup for dinner begs to have bread on the side, and the fresher the better.

For this yummy Garlic Twist Bread you need:

one loaf of bread dough

2 Tablespoons butter, softened

2 teaspoons minced garlic (about 3 cloves)

¼ cup shredded parmesan cheese

¼ cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 teaspoon dried Basil

Since I make my bread six loaves at a time*, it’s easy to use one lump of dough for this recipe…

*2020 note - I no longer make six loaves at a time. Remember, we're empty nesters now!

OR, you can buy a loaf of frozen bread dough from the grocery store…

The main thing is to have bread dough ready to go.

On a baking pan (greased or lined with baking parchment), spread your dough out into a rectangle, about 9 inches by 12 inches.

On this rectangle, spread 2 Tablespoons softened butter. 

In a bowl, mix together 2 teaspoons minced garlic, ¼ cup parmesan cheese, ¼ cup shredded mozzarella cheese and 1 teaspoon dried basil.

Spread this mixture evenly over your dough.

Now, roll up your rectangle from the side, jelly-roll style.

Next, cut the roll up the middle.

If you don’t have a pair of kitchen shears, buy one. They’re way too handy not to own a pair.

Oh! When you’re cutting, stop just before you get to the end!

Now, carefully twist the two halves of the roll around each other. This isn’t as easy as it looks, but it works.

Warning: you’re going to make a mess. Just put any spilled filling back on top of your bread.

Brush the top of the loaf with an egg beaten with a tablespoon of water, then sprinkle with sesame seeds. (This step isn’t crucial to the recipe, but it sure makes the loaf look professional!)

Let it rise for about 20-30 minutes, and then bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes, or until nicely browned on top.

Now, doesn’t that look like a great cold-weather meal?

Back to my lost cookbook - I've given up trying to find it. Maybe I loaned it to somebody, or maybe it slipped into the trash when I wasn't looking one time...

But I know where to get a new one! My friend Martha Greene wrote the cookbook, and sells it on her website: Built From Scratch Life The original cookbook that I lost has been revised and updated, but my favorite bread recipe (Best Bread) is still included! Here's that link: Make It Special

Have you ever "misplaced" a favorite cookbook? 

Jan Drexler has always been a "book girl" who still loves to spend time within the pages of her favorite books. She lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota with her dear husband of many years and their active, crazy dogs, Jack and Sam. You can learn more about Jan and her books on her website, www.JanDrexler.com.

Bidding a Fond Farewell to Fall....

We had a great Thanksgiving. I had most of the family in NYS, so that in itself was a coup!

And we had two days of celebrations! PARTY!!!!! The first day was at our house, welcoming our oldest daughter and her crew to WNY Thanksgiving for the first time in a lot of years... a decade, maybe? Anyway, it was great fun and we got to do this:

For years I've wanted to do a Living Nativity with my own grandkids. I've done several with my wonderful daycare families, but never had all my grandkids together when it wasn't 90+ degrees... so this time daughter Beth and I planned it all out... got out bins of the old costumes and found some new parts at the Salvation Army Thrift Store and put together the look... and an outdoor venue, using our fall photo prop background, but stripped of it's cute stuff. It gave us a nice, stark venue.

And then a storm moved in. Wind. Pouring rain. Then more wind. That meant we weren't doing an outside venue, so we scrambled... on Thanksgiving morning... to put up old fencing and hay bales and draped burlap because our garage isn't conducive to quick change.... it's more like a storage facility all winter long, for all the farm stuff because we don't have a barn. You get the picture!

But in the end, despite the scramble, it came out wonderfully well! And the parents, who may have doubted my sanity, are really happy with it! :) So all's well that ends well or "Ende gut, alles gut".

Farmer Dave's German grandmother used to say that.

And here are some more fun remembrances from this past month at the Herne/Blodgett house!

Loading the porch with firewood....

Preschool with Lena... making a fall collage in waxed paper

Our Halloween night! Warmer than usual, about 60 degrees and pouring rain! But fun! We made memories that night for sure!

Cookies by kids.... for kids! They were really into the spirit! :)

And now we end fall looking forward. This beautiful story releases in two weeks, on shelves nationwide or you can PREORDER IT BY CLICKING THIS LINK.

 

 

And Mary and Joseph's trek to Bethlehem begins a new liturgical year with the season of Advent, a beautiful time of reflection, prayer and anticipation because who doesn't get a little giddy when a baby is due? For unto us a child is born! Mary and Joseph and the donkey (who may or may not have existed, but was commonplace then) are making their way around the dining room. On Christmas Eve they'll arrive at the inn, where they'll be rebuffed but offered a place to stay in a place where animals slept... And so it begins.

 

 

And now I'm wishing you the peace, hope, faith and joy of a blessed Advent season! There's a new Christmas cookie recipe coming next week "Christmas Crinkles", and we'll watch Mary and Joseph continue their journey... and we'll pray for one another because that's the very best thing friends can do, isn't it? God bless you and yours!

Multipublished inspirational author Ruth Logan Herne loves writing stories, and if she didn't have a gazillion kids and grandkids and half-a-zillion animals, why she'd tuck herself right into a writing cave i.e.: Emily Dickinson and hide from the world, but seeing as how that's not the case, she does a lot of smiling and nodding and funny projects that it seems like a really cool mom and grandma ought to do... and then writes her stories in the middle of the night. And that seems to work! Find her on facebook, stop by Ruthy's website ruthloganherne.com or email her at loganherne@gmail.com. She'd love to hear from you!

Fall at the Ranch

Things are finally feeling more like fall here on the coastal plains of Texas. Believe it or not, I even spotted some fall color.

Yeah, they're sorry little trees, but a little bit of gold is still a treat when everything else looks like this.

Maddie is happy to have a little more water in the cow ponds, though.

The cooler weather has brought out some interesting sites, too. We've seen does and fawns throughout the spring and summer, but these fellas dropped by the other day.

And then promptly set out to determine which one would get to stick around.

We were surprised to see this beauty in our yard the other morning. (Note the gopher mound it's got its eye on)

And you never know when you might spot the occasional cowboy.

But sometimes there are sights that just make you sit up and say, "Wow."

What are looking like in your world?

Three time Carol Award finalist Mindy Obenhaus lives on a ranch in Texas with her husband, the youngest of her five children and two dogs. She passionate about touching readers with Biblical truths in an entertaining, and sometimes adventurous, manner. When she's not writing, she enjoys cooking and spending time with her grandchildren. Learn more a mindyobenhaus.com.

Oatmeal Cookies - A Favorite Fallish Treat

Cookie anyone?

I don't know what it is about this time of year, but every October I find myself craving Oatmeal Cookies, or some variation thereof. Maybe oatmeal raisin or cranberry. Or how about just oatmeal pecan?

That's what happens when you start to make Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies and then discover that you're not only out of dried cranberries, but you're out of raisins as well. Still, it was those fall spices I was craving and what's not to like about pecans? Well, unless you have a nut allergy.

Here's what you'll need:

• 1/4 cup regular shortening - *see note below
• 1/2 cup butter flavor shortening
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 to 1 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 2 2/3 cups old fashioned oats
• 3/4 cup dried berries/raisin blend (optional)
• 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl, cream the shortening and sugars. *In the past, I have used a blend of butter and shortening because I prefer a softer cookie. However, unlike chocolate chip cookies, these still weren't soft enough, so that's why I went to all shortening. The flavor was off when I used just the butter flavor shortening, though, which I why I did a mix of the two. And the fact that I had the butter flavor on hand. Otherwise, I could just use the regular shortening and add a little bit of butter extract. If you like a crunchier cookies, though, then feel free to use all butter.* 

Beat in the eggs and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, soda, salt, cinnamon and cloves, then, with the mixer on low, lest we send a cloud of dust flying everywhere (experience talking), add flour mixture to shortening blend and mix well .

Now, with the mixer on low, add your oatmeal.

So about those nuts .

First, I like to see and taste the nuts in my cookies, so I coarsely chop them.

And pecans are always my nut of choice. That said, you are allowed to use whatever nuts you like and chop them as fine as you prefer.

If you're adding dried berries or raisins, add those along with the nuts.

Stir to combine.

Then drop by large tablespoons onto your prepared baking pans.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. If you like them crispy, let them go the longer time, if you like them chewy, go with the lower time.

Even without the berries or raisins, they were still delicious. 

Believe it or not, fall has finally made it to the ranch. Of course, summer isn't going to just up and leave, but one front and another one on the way are doing their best to encourage her on down into the southern hemisphere. And that's fine by me. We've spent too long enduring 90s and 100s. I'm more than ready for some 70 and 80 degree temps.

I don't know about you, but I still can't believe it's October. 2019 has just flown by. And I'm sure that before I turn around, Thanksgiving and Christmas will be knocking on my door. So I guess that means baking season has already started. 

What's cooking in your kitchen?

Three time Carol Award finalist Mindy Obenhaus lives on a ranch in Texas with her husband, the youngest of her five children and two dogs. She passionate about touching readers with Biblical truths in an entertaining, and sometimes adventurous, manner. When she's not writing, she enjoys cooking and spending time with her grandchildren. Learn more a mindyobenhaus.com.