Friday, May 24, 2024

"Warming up the house" a memory


Even in late May there are cold,clammy,foggy, bone chilling days. And today is one of those days. Days when it is  too warm to build a fire in the woodstove, but a little heat would feel really good and might even chase away the feeling that summer will never come.  

Indeed the house needed to be warmed up,  first the soup pot can out of the big cupboard in the corner.  Then the preparation of  "must go soup" began with the dicing of many onions,potatos, carrots from the root cellar. That is if there were any left,otherwise it was store bought veggies from the refrigerator, odds and ends like dried celery, and some left over roast beef. that last bit of pasta sauce, and some leftover kidney beans, you get the idea.   Cornbread might go good with this, or a loaf of fresh baked bread {even if you use store bought dough}.


Oh and don't forget the cobbler.

Easy cobbler

  in a large bowl

combine 3 tsp baking powder {I use Rumford}

a level cup of all purpose flour

1/4-1/3 cup sugar

set aside a 1 c milk {almond milk is good too} do not add it into the dry ingredients yet

get out a sturdy rubber spatula and stir the dry ingredients until they well mixed, a whisk works well also

 

 cut  up 1/2 stick of butter into  several pieces and put into a 9x13  glass or ceramic baking dish  set aside


 

in another bowl p

mix berries, diced up apple, or peaches,  even frozen fruit or berries, just thaw them completely first, one can even use well drained canned fruit, use what you have on hand

combine with about 1/3-1/2 c flour stir well and  1/2 cup sugar, more or less to suit your taste

 Now sit down and reread the recipe, turn the oven to 375 Degrees.

Put the butter into the baking dish and melt the butter  in the  350-375 degree oven

stir up the fruit mixture ,

stir the dry ingredients to make sure the baking powder is well distributed, then add the milk,  blend well with the spatula

Take the baking dish with the melted butter out of the oven, place it on a cutting board or whatever, you use and scrape the milk and dry ingredients mixture over the butter.

Then carefully add dollops of the fruit mixture over the mixture. Return the dish to the oven for about  20-30 min until it is baked thru, work quickly Remove from oven and place the dish on the board or trivet to cool.

ENJOY!!!

 

 

Also making jam, jelly, or pickles will also will also warm up a house and there are always a few extra berries, pears, apples that could be transformed into jam.  Might even try some pickled leeks/ramps.




 


 




Haiku~~~~mushrooms of the forest, composed with AI

          In the forest’s heart, Mushrooms whisper ancient tales, Peace in every step.