Living History: A Page From the Farm and the Viruses

So much to say and so little time...

We talked flu and pantry preparedness last week....

And I was pretty chipper.

I'D NAILED IT!!! GO ME!

RUTHY- 1       FLU- 0

And then pneumonia sent me to the E.R. on Friday, my husband to Urgent Care on Saturday, our doctor's request for Covid 19 testing that was denied (this was Saturday, lack of testing materials in WNY) and we both ended up home, with pneumonia, two healthy people who twelve days before were pretty sure of themselves and their place in the world and we discovered that:

A major or sudden or terminal illness changes our perspectives.

We think of all kinds of things we generally brush off.

Like re-doing that will we did twenty years ago, before we had grandkids, before I was a published author, before the farm was almost paid off.

Organizing papers in case we both die at the same time... and not only isn't the one left behind going to find everything, there wouldn't be "one left behind"... EEK!!!!

So yes, a wake-up call in the highest sense, the kind of wake up call that reminds us of the preciousness of life and if the current worldwide pandemic doesn't make us realize how fleeting our grip on everything is, then maybe we aren't really paying attention.

You know, this all happened so fast, that there wasn't time to fear... well, much. Some. Okay, there was SOME FEAR, but then there was something else.

Trust.

Trust in God.

Trust that whatever was happening was happening for a reason. That whatever was happening was being handled, and that we'd get through, by and by. One way or another. Because God is with us. God is for us, not against us. And I held on to that completely.

Importantly, I'd just gotten my hair cut and styled, so at least if you're going to be rushed to the E.R., it's good to have great hair.

Clean underwear has NOTHING on great hair.

I'm just saying.  :)

We are in the midst of crisis. Of a history-making crisis, but we are not the first to face such things (plagues, famine, locusts, drought, dust, more locusts, malaria, black death, bubonic plague, smallpox, cholera, Spanish Flu, Hong Kong Flu, AIDS) and now Coronavirus or Covid-19.


The world has just pushed the "reset" button en masse.

Things will change for a lot of people. Doors will close and opportunities will open and life will go on, but it will go on differently for so many. So very many.

I won't talk about how the lack of proper testing materials put more of us at risk and has obscured the numbers, but I was interviewed by Reuters (thanks to my daughter's Tweet about her parents' travails) and here's a link to the very informative article the Reuters' team wrote:

SPECIAL REPORT: HOW KOREA TROUNCED US IN CORONA TESTING

That's a story for another day. Today is about getting by. Dealing. Looking at the bright side. Listening to the birds of spring, winging their way northward, assuring us of a new day dawning.

No, we don't know what that day will be like. As the sun rises, there will be new numbers, new worries, valid concerns and millions of parents are trying to figure out what to do with multi-millions of children who can't go to school and can barely leave the house.

A temporary and new normal.

BUT ALL IS NOT LOST.

We have survived so much as societies. As people As faithful.

We will press forward, we will keep moving, we will continue to rock babies, and talk to elders, and knit socks and mittens or quilt blankets and shop on Amazon and have really good coffee sometimes. And ordinary coffee most often.

We are resilient.

We are relentless.

We are children of God, and with that courage and faith comes fortitude, for long before we walked the earth there were martyrs and saints and holy people, sacrificing so much. So very much. For you. For me. For us.

God bless us.

God bless this world.

And may He grace us with sufficient humility to understand that we need Him far more than He needs us, and yet he wants us even more than that!!!

Oh, that God! 

So wondrous and special and good. 

So we don't blame Him for the virus.

Stuff happens. Things mutate. And then they spread. And we take up arms and needles and test kits and we fight back.

 
I am sending you blessings this day, this holy day of March 19 which happens to be my husband's birthday... the day after Fenway's!!!!! 

Happy birthday to Dave and Fenway....

And may we learn to love and trust and share with our utmost good from this day forward.

Ruthy

Thursday Thoughts

Well, as you can see by the timing here, Thursday crept up on me again.

Some day I will be one of those amazingly organized people who blogs three months in advance, dyes her roots before they show and has clean fingernails 24/7/365.

I will most likely be in heaven before any of those things happen, but there was THIS last night:

Isn't that stunning? I saw that moon through the misty heavens and the tree branches and I just marveled at the beauty of our planet. The gift of so much!

This was my first shot. The moon, playing peek-a-boo through the tree. Almost haunting, right? But so absolutely lovely.

And I waited until the moon rose a little more to get a better shot of the moon itself, but I didn't want to miss the aura. You know if the moon loses the angle, the aura fades away...

That's parabolic with so many things in life, isn't it? To wait until the direction is clearer, but not so long as to lose the wonder of the moment.

So this was supper:

Grilled chicken on salad... I did mine with chopped apple and dried cranberries and cukes and tomatoes and cheese.

Farmer Dave doesn't do fruit on salads! :) So his was meat and veggie-style with peppercorn ranch dressing.

Homemade dressing. By that I mean that I opened the Hidden Valley Ranch jar and spooned out two tablespoons and added a cup of milk and mayo.

:)

Then I added about 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese and a lot of restaurant grind black pepper.

Voila!

Pepper Parmesan Ranch dressing.

Still crazy busy here, which isn't abnormal, it's good! But I can't believe I'm late with this post while I've already written two October posts for other blogs. Forgive me!!!!!

DUH!

Slightly crazed and still beloved inspirational author Ruth Logan Herne is raising pumpkins and writing sweet stories on her farm in Western New York where the beauty of God's season is reflected in her yard and in her heart... most days. On the occasional day she sneaks away and hides in a rabbit hole past the third hollow tree north of the Big Woods. Friend her on facebook or follow her on Twitter and visit her here or on her website ruthloganherne.com

Magnolia Market with Ruthy and Foodie Fun

This Texan hasn't done much cooking this week. And when I did, I forgot to take pictures. However, I did make a trip to Waco, Texas to meet up with our own Ruth Logan Herne.

'

We met at The Silos, home of Magnolia Market.

Not to mention some of prettiest gardens I've ever seen.

 The snapdragons and roses were in full bloom. And check out this cool fence.

 I loved all of the little vignettes.

Then we shopped at Magnolia Market, though neither of us bought anything. Mostly because we were holding out for the bakery.

Pastries and a long list of cupcake choices awaited us there. I got a coconut cupcake, a strawberry one, lemon-lavender, the Silobration and a Chocolatier. 

Hmm... Can't imagine where the Chocolatier and the strawberry one went. Though, I will say that the strawberry was my favorite.

Then it was back home to the ranch for our final fish fry of the 2019 Lenten season. This is some of the best catfish you've ever tasted.

Just for the record, this was my son's plate, not mine. But I still ate my fair share of fish.

Yes, those were the highlights of my week. The rest of it was spent finishing up my latest manuscript which, I'm happy to say, is now in the hands of my editor. I think that calls for a celebration. Someone pass me a cupcake.

How did you spend your Holy Week? And how was your Easter?

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.

Homemade New York Granola

NOTE:

I'm posting this for Ruthy because her internet is out.

Gotta love March winds!

NOT!!

Homemade New York Granola

I was inspired by Mary Jane's Granola a few weeks back, and I love having granola to snack on and it's crazy expensive at the stores....

So I had some old nuts.

Not like ANCIENT, but I buy the big tubs of peanuts and mixed nuts at Sam's Club and once you get down to the bottom inch or two, they can get a little stale tasting... and they're salted and I love a mix of sweet and salty with my granola.

So I took those two tubs of nuts (dry roasted peanuts and salted mixed nuts) and they met their maker in my Cuisinart food processor (the one with the deadly blade... and I did get a notice that my non-deadly blade should be arriving in MAY....

Five months without using the food processor??? How's about... no.

So killer blade in place, I chopped about 4 cups of nuts.

IT BEGINS!!!! And the reason we call it New York granola is because I modeled it after my New York Baklava.... Dark amber maple syrup makes me smile!!!

Ruthy's New York Granola

4 cups chopped salted nuts (Mary Jane, there were lots of peanuts!!!)
4 cups rolled oats
3 cups Honey Bunches of Oats (or your favorite flaky cereal)
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Mix the dry ingredients together thoroughly.  Drizzle with the mix below:

1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup coconut oil

Melt the liquids together. Once heated, add 2 tablespoons vanilla and drizzle the liquid over the dry ingredients. Mix with hands thoroughly.  Taste for sweetness. Or just taste because it tastes so good. You don't even NEED a reason to taste this, honestly.

Spread onto aluminum foil or parchment paper lined cookie sheets. (took three cookie sheets to bake this amount) (And they were big ones, by the way) (Just in case you wanted to know)...

:)

Bake at 275° for fifteen minutes. Stir. Bake for another ten or fifteen minutes for desired crispness.

Baking longer makes crispier granola.... baking shorter makes chewier granola (like a granola bar).

Both are marvelous.

Now here's the New York reference.... My kids are not all that adventurous when it comes to food conglomerates so you could add shredded, sweetened coconut to the mix.

And when it's out you could add dried cranberries or raisins or any dried fruit you'd like.

Not here.

Here we're dyed-in-the-wool straight up granola, don't mess with my crispyness peeps.

(What a bunch of New England style stick-in-the-muds, right???? Oy vay!!!)

I love granola on its own. I love it with yogurt, It's just a fun snack and the rolled oats and nuts are great for us.... and maple syrup and honey are SO GOOD.

Shh. Let me live with my delusions of healthiness because we know I'm not a big "healthy eating" type person, not if there is cake or cookies around... although I do sub in a Shakeology shake daily now because they actually taste good. I blame my daughter Beth for that!!!

Posted by Ruth Logan Herne  

Sometimes You Just Need Cheesecake

As the GAL (gluten free, allergic living) member of Yankee Belle, sometimes it is plain torture to read the delicious posts of my compadres. Whether you're watching what you eat due to health restrictions, allergies or ethical beliefs, living around food and foodies can be a challenge.  I just read about a vegan blogger who developed orthorexia, over focus on ethical eating. Another ate too much kale and found it interfered with her thyroid levels as too much of a good cruciferous thing can. And I lost too much weight when my allergies were first diagnosed a decade ago because I was afraid of dying at any moment from hidden corn syrup!

That's not a way to live. No matter how hard it is, you need variety in your diet. You need more than green leaves every day, all day or so much pumpkin your hands turn orange (don't ask!).  And maybe sometimes you just need cheesecake. I blame it on the fact that cheesecake was my birthday cake growing up. I associate it with comfort food. It is friendlier toward diets needing protein, less sugar, and fewer carbs. 

Ruthy's Triple Berry Cheesecake looked so scrumptious but thanks to my allergies to corn and wheat it was out. I ignored Ruthy. Or rather Ruthy's post. How could she do that to me?

But one day last week, things in my life transpired to make me declare, "I need cheesecake" and I immediately thought of Ruthy's recipe.

The berry flavor.  I wanted Ruthy's cheesecake - but what fruit did I have? My sister and I had eaten almost all my cherries but I did have a pint of black berries. Except ManO says he doesn't like the seeds in blackberries. Hmmmmm, so I cooked down what I had and strained it to make a sauce. Note: I cut the sugar level because I've gotten rid of a lot of sugar out of my diet.

Confused about the PBJ picture here? Keep reading.

    
Berry Cherry Sauce:
1 cup cherries
1 cup blackberries
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
water to dissolve sugar
1 tablespoon tapioca starch (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a small sauce pan. Boil until fruit is soft, pressing spoon against softened fruit. Turn to low and simmer twenty minutes for a thin sauce.

Happy Accident: Add tapioca starch at the start if you want a more jelly type consistency. I was so thrilled to have jelly on my peanut butter toast!  It will still have a drizzle consistency for your cheesecake if you leave it out a few minutes but straight out of the fridge it is perfect for PBandJ.

Now to the crust.  Ruthy used Nilla Wafers. I didn't have any gluten free wafers in the house but I  just made my own gluten-free granola. Tah dah! Necessity is indeed the mother of invention. That and a bunch of granola crust recipes online! Don't let lack of ingredients keep you from getting something you really want.

Make sure you pulverize your granola but still leave small bits of oat.

  

Granola Crust:
2 cups granola WITHOUT fruit bits
4 tablespoons butter

Pulverize two cups granola in a processor or blender until chopped up but not fine like flour. Add cold butter and mix. Press into pie plate. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes and take out of oven.
 

Two eggs are hiding under here to add a bit more protein.

The cheesecake: The most important part, right?  I needed a recipe that was lower in sugar, higher in protein, and organic everything for me. I also knew vanilla would bring out the sweetness and almond would give it a bit of gourmet flavor.

Pie filling:

2 packages softened organic cream cheese
1/2 cup organic cane sugar
1 teaspoon organic vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon organic almond extract
2 organic Omega-3 eggs

Mix all ingredients until just blended with a mixer.  Pour into granola crust and bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes until center is set. Take out and cool on counter for 15 minutes and then place in refrigerator until cool, at least two hours.

Top with your berry-cherry sauce and voila! Just what ManO and I needed! 

So what about you? Any food you just HAVE to have when you are low or for a party or just because? What have you had to adapt to fit your lifestyle or your family's tastes or because you hate an ingredient?

Old Year Blessings

As the year closes, I tend to think a lot about the new year ahead. But I'm counting my blessings for the past year as I looked through old posts!

1) Being part of this blog, working with old friends and making new ones and always learning something new from cooks from all over the country. Like everyone has had an epic blog recipe fail!

All the Yankee Belles confess to recipe fails but apparently Virginia and I really like to document our woes in pictures.

2) Having enough to eat and enough speciality groceries around to make my life easier. There are a lot of folks who are starving for the right food to eat and who have no grocery store with fresh food in their area.

Here I insert a shameless plug for one of my favorite charities to help people who are starving because of disaster or everyday poverty, Stop Hunger Now.

I bet you can think of a local food bank or charity you can give to in the new year. Hunger is one of those things we just haven't seemed to banish.

3) Speaking of food, I nominate my stuffing recipe as my favorite GAL recipe of the year (or half a year since I have only been around since May!)  You can find it Here under New Traditions. Perfect for the New Year.

 

3) It has been the year of pie! Go ahead, I dare you to do a search for "pie" here on Yankee Belle. It is amazing how we all seemed to go on a pie rift!  Pecan, Pumpkin, Sweet Potato and more. What's so stinkin' funny is Yankee Belle started off with a pie recipe. No wonder we all talk pie with youse on a regular basis. You can find the inaugural post here. And if you couldn't tell by my poor imitation, it's a great apple pie recipe by Ruthy. 


4) A new grandbaby. Might not be a puppy but she is pretty cute as her older brother and sister are!


5) Surviving hospital food!

6) Giving up chocolate and living to tell about it!

Hope your year ends well and the new year starts with hope, anticipation and joy in blessings to be discovered.

What do you count as blessings this year? 

Surviving the Christmas Season

I assume you survived Brown Thursday aka Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and are prepared for today, Small Business Saturday. So we are going to talk surviving the Christmas Shopping, opps, I mean Christmas cooking, baking, eating season.

Of all the holidays to navigate for folks who are on diets, have allergies or are gluten sensitive, Christmas seems the most designed to break hearts and resolve.

That would be me on my fire engine and the special elf from my childhood before elves were used to prompt good behavior. 

I loved Christmas growing up. Such a season of anticipation of goodies. A huge box of Christmas cookies and candy came every year from my Nanny. It was stored in the cold garage until my mother's HUGE open house around mid-December. So, so, so hard to keep from sneaking out and sampling. There was peanut butter roll, chocolate fudge, peanut butter fudge,  coconut kisses, fruit cake cookies, date nut cookies and a huge fruit cake. I know I am forgetting something but those were my favorites.

I will be sharing some of my adaptive recipes in the coming weeks but wanted to share, as baking and making season starts some tricks I've learned to make some of the old recipes a little healthier or non-allergenic!

For pulled candy recipes: Instead of corn syrup use cane syrup or Lyles Golden Syrup. It can be found on Amazon and at speciality grocery stores.  Note: I don't use brown rice syrups any more due to the reports about high levels of arsenic in the processing.

For fudge and other recipes that use confectioners sugar: I have gone corn-free. Even if you don't have allergies, reducing the corn in your diet is a good thing. Most organic confectioners' sugars use tapioca. You can also pulverize granulated sugar and starch in your processor.  Add two tablespoons of tapioca or arrowroot starch per cup of sugar and grind to a fine powder.

For breads like pumpkin or banana: Substitute Pamela's baking mix for flour and leavening. 

Search the web for adapted recipes. No, it's not your favorite Aunt's strudel but you may find something that evokes the memories, if not the actual cookie, candy or other holiday favorite.  

More and more traditions are going organic. Trujoy candy canes are the only organic candy canes out there.

Focus on the scents of Christmas, not the calories: Can't eat Hershey's candy cane or chocolate mint kisses? Find a mint chocolate coffee or tea.

Reward yourself for staying on your diet or within your restrictions.  As I navigate through meals and parties, I am going to reward myself for staying away from things that aren't good for me by getting a kindle novella or book I really want. Ruthyand Virginia have books I am allowing myself to read because I made it through Thanksgiving. Click on their names to reward yourself.

So, what special treat do you make during the holidays? Any you have had to adapt?