Make Your Own Butter

Well, I started my Christmas shopping.  I know some people are finished, but I like to start around Thanksgiving Day.  I don't do Black Friday in brick and mortar stores, but I love to shop online.  The deals are much better if you wait it out.  It's like a game with coupon codes and rebates.  So far, I have purchased six gifts, and I am keeping three of them.  I must be buying things we would like.

This is what I bought.  I can't imagine who I would give this to except myself and so I did.  It is a quart sized glass butter churn.  Yes, that's right a butter churn.  Lord knows how difficult it is to buy butter in the grocery store (not).  As soon as it came, I needed to try it but I had to buy some heavy cream.  I went to our local Piggly Wiggly.  I wish I could shop there all the time, but it is very expensive.  Shopping locally helps the local economy, but my grocery bill would be double.  I bought 1/2 pint of heavy cream.  The cost was $1.79 and it only made the equivalent of one stick of butter.  I know I can buy a full pint for $1.69 at Aldi's which still makes one stick of butter little pricey.  The good thing is that I know what is in the butter.  There isn't any wax, coloring or preservatives.  There is just heavy cream.

I poured the cream into the glass jar and started turning the crank.  In no time, the cranking got a little harder.  The cranking becomes easier when the butter forms a ball and the buttermilk separates out.  Just like that you have a glob of butter and buttermilk.  I use buttermilk in other recipes so I can always find a use for it.

This is plain salted butter.

At this point you pour off the buttermilk, and rinse the butter with cool water.  It's as easy as that.  It can be salted or flavored.  I made honey cinnamon butter which is fantastic.  You just mix honey and cinnamon into the fresh soft butter. 

This is the buttermilk and the cinnamon honey butter.

I probably won't be doing this for all my butter needs unless I can find a source for cream that doesn't involve buying a cow.  I certainly will make the flavored butter often.  Recipes come with the churn for parmesan, basil, tomato butter, chili & lime butter and the honey cinnamon.  I think you could flavor it with whatever you like.

I had just made fresh bread and spread on the honey cinnamon butter.  It tasted like a cinnamon roll.  I have a new potato bread recipe that I love.  It uses sour cream and instant potato flakes.  

I started making the bread dough in the bread machine but then shaped the dough into small loaves.  The size is perfect.

From now on I have to focus on gifts others would like.  I have our four grandson's to buy for.  I doubt if I will be tempted to keep anything I buy for them.  Wish me luck with the rest. 

Making a Sows Ear (metal carport) into a Silk Purse (log garage)

For the past two months I have been mentioning that my husband was working on a project.  He hasn't finished yet but with Winter approaching, the finishing touches will have to wait until Spring.  A couple years ago my daughter and son-in-law gave us a carport in exchange for drywall work.  I mentioned in the blog I wrote that it wasn't very pretty to look at but it is functional.   http://www.thecabincountess.com/2014/07/a-carport-gets-new-home.html

This summer we decided it was time to enclose it to keep the rain and snow out and make it look a little more like a garage.  It already had the framework and a roof so how hard could that be?  As it turned out, it was pretty difficult.  To start with, the free standing carport wasn't very square.  Next it wasn't quite long enough to fit our pickup truck, so it had to be extended.  I am no earthly good at construction so the entire job was on my husband's shoulders.  He is a planner so that helped a lot.  He thought out every step and even with that, there were unforeseeable problems.

The first thing he did was build the walls framing in the openings for windows.

We had some lumber he was able to recycle for the walls.  We also had some windows in the house replaced and could use the old ones.  Of course we needed to buy some more lumber to complete the framing.

It was after the side walls were constructed that he decided the building had to be longer.  He looked online and found we could purchase another section of metal frame so off to the lumberyard we went.  We had to order it and another section for the door opening, but there was plenty to do before they arrived.  We actually made dozens of trips in the course of this project.

Putting a four and a half foot extension on.

When the back wall extension was completed, it was time to frame that in.  This took a little longer because there was a peak to consider.

When all the framing was finished, it was time to put on the siding.  I didn't like most of the options because even though it was just a basic shed, I wanted it to blend in with our other buildings.  I mentioned it to a neighborhood carpenter who had done some work for us.  He introduced us to the Amish sawmill.  I wrote about that in an earlier post.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2016/09/an-amish-sawmill.html

Then the siding begins.

It is starting to take shape and is looking more like a "real" garage.

Next the side walls and window framing.

After a lot of measuring, cutting and nailing he has come to this point.  Next Spring he will put on soffit, fascia and garage doors.  When everything is finished we will stain and chink the building.  I have to say, he did a great job for someone his age who is not a carpenter by trade and working pretty much alone.  In fact, a good job for anyone.  Now we will have more room to store even more junk.  Our poor kids will have a job on their hands in a few years, but until that time we have a nice looking shed/garage.

High School Plays are the Best

Being a grandparent is a great thing.  It is so much fun to watch the growing progress.  When you are a brand new grandparent, you look at that baby and feel so much love and hope.  You can't believe the feeling, and it continues with each grandchild.  They are all individuals with special talents.  My husband and I are introverts.  We get our energy from within.  Our daughters are mostly extroverts who can talk to anyone and are outgoing.  They like alone time, but flourish is a group.  Now we have five grandchildren who it appears are taking it one step further each in their own way.

This weekend was focused on the two oldest.  Dylan is 15 years old and is a sophomore in high school.  Melissa just turned 16 years old, and she is also a sophomore in a neighboring high school.   As it happened, they both had their high school plays the same weekend.  Both high schools have two plays a year.  One is a drama and one is a musical.

Dylan's fall play was a dark drama.  It had quite a small cast and was called Voice in the Dark - A Salem Story.  It reminded me a bit of our recent political climate.

Some of you may be familiar with this story.  It is not a happy ending which hopefully isn't the case in our world.  This took place in 1692 where there were reports of flying witches.  This event lead to people accusing other people of being witches to cleanse the community thus acquiring more property.  Females were mistreated by the male masters and mental health issues were unheard of.  These kids did a great job, but it wasn't very uplifting.  From February 9-11, 2017 they will be performing The Sound of Music.  I look forward to a happier and high spirited play.

The next night we saw our granddaughter in a production of Mary Poppins.  This was a huge undertaking by the director.  It had a lot of characters with set changes and costume changes.  They even brought in a company to set up the aerial wires so Bert and Mary could actually fly.

 My daughter did a lot of work on set painting and props.  It was fun for her to be involved especially making some of the props.  

In addition to working on this candy cart, she also made light sticks, ledgers and the measuring tape Mary used when she first arrived to take care of the children.

Melissa appeared in a bunch of different scenes.  She was part of the Cherry Tree Lane residents, she was a chimney sweep, part of the group in the park and in the candy cart scene.

 

Her main role involved being the doll named Valentine.  When the toys came alive, she came out of the dollhouse with a repaired arm.  This was her singing solo.  None of us sing, especially in public.   It is amazing to us that both Dylan and Melissa have wonderful voices, and they aren't afraid to sing in public.  If they are afraid, they don't show it.

I am not sure what they will be doing for their Spring drama or when it will be, but I am also looking forward to it.  Until then we have plenty of basketball and other kid events to look forward to.  I am so glad we chose to move closer to all of them so this can be possible.   It was a great weekend.

Pressure Cooker Goulash

When I started this blog, I posted a recipe every Tuesday.  As I mentioned at one point, Facebook is full of recipes.  Some are Paleo, some are Gluten Free, some couldn't be any more fattening and some have no calories at all.  I got to a point where so many recipes were just overwhelming.  I do search my own blog sometimes for a favorite recipe because it is easier than searching my recipe box, but I haven't added many lately.
 
Tonight I needed to get another meal on the table.  At times, nothing sounds good, and it is just something that needs to get done in a short period of time.   I came up with a good meal in less than ten minutes.  I am posting this so I don't forget how to do it myself.

Most of you know by now that I love my digital pressure cooker. http://www.thecabincountess.com/2013/01/my-favorite-small-appliance.html

I always have browned ground beef frozen in the freezer.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2014/10/different-technique-for-browning-ground.html

I also have jars of pasta sauce.  I recently found a gluten free Butternut Squash pasta sauce at Aldi's.  I had tried it before and liked it.  I think it's a seasonal purchase so last week I bought 6 jars.  Another thing I always have on hand is pasta.

So here are the ingredients.  Browned ground beef from the freezer, macaroni, pasta sauce, salt and pepper.

Pressure Cooker Goulash

1 pound thawed browned ground beef
(I already put an onion and some garlic when I brown the meat)
2 cups of dry pasta..I used elbow macaroni
2 cups water
1 (24 oz) jar pasta sauce
Salt and pepper or any spice you like

Stir all the ingredients together in the pressure cooker pot.  Set the cooker on high pressure for six minutes.  When it beeps, release the pressure.  Stir it up and serve.  It was actually quite tasty.

Simple goulash sprinkled with a little shredded cheddar cheese.

The pressure cooker is the only way I make rice, but I had not made pasta in it.  I thought it would get too starchy.  In this case, it turned out perfect.

The recipe could be doctored up a little.  You could use spaghetti sauce and add some chili powder and even some corn for a Tex-Mex taste.  I would think a cheesy sauce would make mac and cheese.  For some reason we don't eat mac and cheese, but I think it would work. The possibilities are endless and if your imagination fails you, there is always Facebook and Google. 

Ewan the Blacksmith

I haven't written about my youngest grandson Ewan for a while.  He is the most interesting six year old kid.  I think he will grow up to be Grizzly Adams.  He would live outdoors, if he could.  He inspects every little rock and collects critters from ants to snakes.  He plays and uses his imagination all the time.  You almost always see him with a walking stick.

 

He found a snake in the woods.

 
The older kids can't live without their electronics, but not Ewan.  He prefers exploring and making things.  I have written about him wanting to be a fireman.  That lasted a long time.   He wanted to be a doctor and a secret agent.  He was also going to be a pilot or astronaut and then a cowboy.  Actually he wanted to be a Native American but settled on cowboy not realizing it was a conflict of interest.   These days he wants to be a blacksmith.  Fortunately so does his dad.  They have a blacksmith shop set up.  They have coal for a hot fire, anvils and all the necessary equipment .  They heat metal and pound it into objects.  When they aren't actually blacksmithing, they watch the latest blacksmith televison shows together. 

Carefully they heat the metal.

Then pound it into shape.

Even brother Dylan got in on the act.

Ewan and his dad are a good blacksmithing team.

It's a dirty job but that's what bathtubs are for.

I love that Ewan has so many interests and so does his dad.  They are always busy with something.  If they don't know how to do something, they research and study until they learn.  Right now Ewan's dad is busy rebuilding a 1951 pickup truck.  The last time I saw this truck it was torn apart down to the axle.  I can't wait to see what it looks like when it's finished. 

I have no doubt Ewan will be successful in whatever he ends up doing and for sure, he will never be bored.

A Pretty Good Day Despite the Rain (and the soup)

Today was a chilly and rainy day.  It was a kind of day to get caught up on all sorts of odds and ends.  We ran some errands and then came home.  We started a fire in the fireplace.  It was so warm and cozy.  I made bread and some really disgusting squash soup.  I had gone to Panera yesterday for lunch and ordered their Autumn Squash soup.  It was delicious so I googled a copy cat recipe so I could make some today.  I found several recipes and chose one.  I had all the ingredients like squash, pumpkin, apple juice, cinnamon and a little onion, carrot and celery.  How could I go wrong with these ingredients?  It looked so good and creamy and comforting.  I made a big kettle of it.  I cut big slices of homemade bread and slathered them with butter.  I ladled a big soup mug full of soup.  Then I tasted it.  GAG!  I thought is was horrible.  As I served it to my husband, I warned him.  He tried (bless his heart) but just couldn't finish it either.  Now I have half a kettle of soup to dispose of.  I don't know if I should try another recipe or just go to Panera when I have a hankering for this soup.  You probably can guess my answer.

It doesn't look so bad, does it?

As long as I am discussing disgusting, I switched my closet today from summer to winter.  My closet looks ugly, and I swore I would never blog about it or show it to anyone.  It looks like I live in a warehouse, but the system I have is awesome.  It took me less than a minute to switch seasons.  I don't have a ton of clothes anymore.  I donated bags of clothes last year, and it was such a freeing experience.  We have a fairly large closet with a wall of shelves which my husband built.  In the past I would stack clothes on the shelves instead of putting them in a dresser drawer.  The idea was good, but it was hard to get a clothing item without toppling the whole pile.  Then the stack was either a mess or the whole pile would end up on the floor.  To remedy this situation, we went out and bought 25 of the plastic milk crates.  People usually use them for file folders.  We split them up and each of us loaded our clothing in the crates.  We put t-shirts in one, pajamas in another, and so on with all like items together.  They fit on the shelf perfectly.  When I do the laundry, I fold the clothes on the bed.  I put mine away and leave my husbands for him to put away.  I fold on the bed so they have to get put away before he can get into bed.  It takes no time at all because every item has a bin or fits on the shelf.

I fold the laundry on the bed.

We still fold the jeans on the shelf, but we are considering bins for them too.

As bedtime approaches, I had a pretty good day.  A lot of these days would not be welcoming, but it was a small introduction into winter.   I knit a little, I read a little, I cooked and baked and rearranged things, I bought a few groceries and even bought a Christmas gift.  Yup, it was a good day.

Toad Lily

This is going to be a short blog written to document information about a certain plant we have in our garden.  I haven't started my bullet journal yet so this is a way for me to remember the weather on this day.  Bullet journals are awesome, and my daughter is having great success in using one.  If you don't know what they are, there are several youtube videos showing how to set them up and how they work.

The bees love this plant and they are still feeding this late in the season.

This is the Toad Lily.  My sister gave me a start of this plant a long time ago.  I can't remember when, but probably almost ten years ago.  It is a perennial plant that dies down every year and comes up in the Spring.  It gets two or three feet tall on single stems. I have no idea the name of this variety, but I know it grows well in a somewhat shady environment. 

Toad lily's grow on a single stem with alternating leaves.

It has always been very sensitive to cold weather, and it is the first plant to get touched by frost.  Some years we barely get any blossoms and those we do are zapped by the cold.  This year is very different.  It is the last week in October in Princeton Wisconsin, and we haven't had a frost yet. My Wax Begonias look the same as they did in the summer and the mums and hydrangeas are still beautiful.  They are getting covered with pine straw and falling leaves, but still look nice.  I took my geraniums in a couple weeks ago because I thought the summer was over.  I could have waited for a while longer.

The leaves of this Toad Lily are beginning to turn brown but each stem is still loaded with blossoms.

I am sure this nice fall weather will end soon.  It is Wisconsin after all, but each nice day will make our winter shorter. Because of these blogs, I can keep track of the seasons.  It appears that late October 2013 was similar to this year.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2013/10/the-last-few-days-of-fall-in-wisconsin.html