Maple Syrup Cake

Last week I wrote about making maple syrup.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2015/03/making-maple-syrup-old-fashioned-way.html

As I mentioned, my cousin shared information about how they make the syrup.  She also included this recipe.  I tried it and was pleasantly surprised.  I thought it would be very sweet, but it was just right.  The frosting is quite sweet, but the recipe makes just enough frosting for a thin layer.   If you like the taste of maple syrup, this cake is a keeper.  The recipe says it can be made in layers, 9 x 13 or a jelly roll pan.  I used the 9 x 13, but I think making bars in a jelly roll pan would be the best.  Next time that is what I will do. 

Maple Syrup Cake

1 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter(softened)
3 cups flour
3/4 cup maple syrup
1 tsp. each of baking powder, baking soda and salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
4 eggs
1 cup water

Beat together sugar and butter until light and fluffy. 
Add flour, maple syrup, other dry ingredients, eggs and water.
Beat until just mixed, then on high for two minutes.

Pour into pans.  Three 9 inch round pans,  a 9 x 13 or a jelly roll 10 x 15 pan. 
Grease or spray with cooking spray

Bake at 350 for about 35 minutes.

Icing:

1/2 stick butter
2 cups powdered sugar
enough maple syrup to get spreading consistency (about 2-4 Tbs.)
Beat until light and fluffy.

If you like more frosting, you can double this recipe.

Ewan's Special Surprise

While writing yesterday's blog, I noticed a group of photos I hadn't mentioned.  It all started a couple weeks ago.   My daughter and her husband had an event to attend.  It was an opportunity for my son in laws' parents to take our grandson to their house for a few days.  My husband was volunteering at the Berlin hospital that day, so he picked Ewan up from school and brought him to our house.  Then Beth and Wayne, his other grandparents, picked him up.  Ewan was being a very secretive for a four (almost 5) year old.  He was working on a surprise for us, but he wouldn't give us a clue to what it was.  This is a hint.

Ewan is working on the surprise he helped make for Nana and Papa.

All of them worked very hard.  Grandpa Wayne made the houses and Grandma Beth with Ewan decorated them.  We love them.  What a great surprise.  We have to find the perfect place in the woods for them.  Maybe we will have Ewan come out so he can participate in choosing the perfect locations, but first he will have to sign them.  He was practicing writing his initials last weekend or he can autograph the birdhouse any way he chooses.  Papa thinks we should keep one of them in the house so it lasts forever. 

Grandma painted the flowers.

Ewan painted a bird on the back.

I don't know what kind of bird this is, but if I see such a bird I will be calling the Green Lake Bird and Nature Club, that's for sure.  It would be a unique species.

A Walk About In The Yard

Continuing with the Spring theme, I thought I'd take a little walk down in our marsh.  It is a little cooler today, but it is still seasonable.  This year I can walk out further than I ever have.  As sad as it is to have so little moisture, I could see things from another perspective.  I could look back at the house.  It looks a little drab and sad looking from this angle without the contrast of the summer greenery.   You can see why we don't worry about flooding even when the river gets over flood stage.

Next as I looked around, I saw what is left of the cattails.  I love the fresh new cattails when they form, but these are pretty too.  Some birds use this fluff for making nests.

Interesting lichen growing on a branch.

The pussy willows are starting and will be fully formed very soon. 

It's hard to believe the Baltimore Oriole nest is still hanging from last summer.

There was an eagle sitting in the grass.

Wood ducks have returned.

As I walked along the edge of the marsh, I worked my way up into the woods.  When we were planning the leprechaun trail last Sunday, my husband found an arrow in the woods.  I wonder if this arrow had been used to shoot one of the deer in the area.  The arrow is broken off, but there was no sign of blood.  Hopefully it was just used for target practice and didn't injure an animal.

Circling around into the pine trees, I noticed the pine cones are gigantic this year.  They are usually about five inches long.  That is the size I used for the pine cone wreath I made last fall.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2014/10/making-pine-cone-wreath.html  This years cones measure about nine inches.  Nature is amazing.  Last year we didn't have any acorns, and this year we have mutant pine cones.

Normal sized cone on bottom is five inches long.

The Spring plants are just beginning to poke through the dirt, and the trees are about to bud.  I will take another walk around in a week or two to report on them.  Right now my poor husband is working at raking the yard, and I am walking around taking pictures.  If I stall long enough, the raking will be done.

First Day of Spring 2015

Today is the first day of Spring 2015.  The exact arrival time is 5:45 pm Central Daylight time.  Every year I like to compare what is happening outside to previous years.  This year there is one big difference.  We usually have a lot of flooding in our marsh.  This year is very very dry.  The landscape actually looks like what we see in late summer.

This is 2013.  A lot more water that year.

If we don't get some rain, we will have very little water in a few weeks.  That drastically effects the wildlife and birds that appear every Spring.  Hopefully we will have enough left to attract our usual visitors.  Nothing out of the ordinary has shown up yet, but maybe I will get some good photos in the next couple months.

The usual muskrat.

An eagle.

Common Merganser.

Slow Cooker Corned Beef

Happy St. Patrick's Day.  Two days ago we celebrated with a family dinner.  I blogged about it and promised to share the corned beef recipe I used.

http://www.thecabincountess.com/2015/03/st-pattys-day-celebration-catching.html

I imagine some of you Wisconsin residents have seen this recipe on some TV spots.  It is delicious and is so easy to make in a slow cooker.  Just put it in the cooker and forget it for 8 hours.  I usually use water but the beer adds to the flavor.  Be sure to buy the Flat Cut Corned Beef, it is slightly more expensive but worth it.  When you slice it, be sure to cut across the grain.  It will be very tender if sliced correctly.

This recipe actually came from the Wisconsin Beef Council-http://beeftips.com/guinnessglazedslowcookercornedbeef.aspx

Guinness Glazed Slow Cooker Corned Beef Ingredients: 1 Corned Beef Brisket with seasoning packet (around 4 pounds) 1 bottle/can (12 ounces) Guinness or other Irish stout beer 1 small onion, sliced 1 clove garlic, chopped 1/4 cup brown sugar 2 tablespoons grainy mustard 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce Salt and Pepper to taste Instructions: 1. Place the Corned Beef along with the pickling spices, onion and garlic in a slow cooker/crock-pot with the fat side up. Pour in the Guinness and cook on low until fork tender, about 8-10 hours. 2. Set the Corned Beef aside.  Strain the solids from the Guinness and juices. Place the liquid into a large sauce pan; add the brown sugar, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until reduced by half; about 10 minutes. 3. Cut the fat layer off the Corned Beef; glaze with the Guinness glaze and bake in a preheated 400 degree F oven until the glaze starts to bubble; about 10-15 minutes. Nutrition facts: 360 calories; 25 g fat (8 g saturated, 0 grams trans-saturated), 130 mg cholesterol, 1526 mg sodium, 6 g carbohydrates, 24 grams protein.

Making Maple Syrup The Old Fashioned Way

One of my favorite memories from my childhood revolves around making maple syrup.  My aunt and uncle in central Wisconsin made this sweet syrup.  I never quite understood how it happened, but I remember going out to their farm.  Across the road in a little shed was something they called an evaporator.  I wasn't sure what that meant.  All I knew was about this time every Spring, they would tap the maple trees, collect the sap, pour it in the evaporator and many hours later as the water evaporated, a sweet amber colored liquid would form.  We would use it on pancakes, but my grandma loved it on ice cream.

Although the big maple syrup producers have a ton of automated equipment such as a pipeline, vacuum pumps, smaller taps, modern evaporators and reverse osmosis machines, there are still small family operations.  They still make maple syrup the old fashioned way.  My cousin is one of them.  My aunt and uncle gave up making maple syrup years ago, but their daughter continues making it to this day.  She brought a quart of her own syrup when she came for my dad's birthday party in November.  I emailed her to see if she was tapping trees again this year, and she said they had tapped the trees a few days ago on March 9.  The weather determines how fast the sap runs.  It is best when it freezes at night and gets between 32 and 50 degrees during the day.  She said that to tap the trees they need to drill a hole with a 7/16" drill bit.  Next they tap a spout into the hole and hang a pail on the spout to catch the sap as it drips off the spout.

My cousin's husband, son and grandson with the tapped trees.

To make syrup, you need 30-40 gallons of maple sap to make one gallon of maple syrup.  The sap looks like water as it comes out of the trees, however it tastes lightly sweet.  After they gather the sap, they strain it and place it into pans.  The pans sit on top of a heat source.  In this case, it is a wood fire.  It isn't a stove, it is called an arch.  The pan is supported around the edges of the pan, and the fire is directly under the pan.  Then the sap is cooked, no stirring required, until most of the water has evaporated away.  When the syrup is finished it is filtered through flannel material to get most of the settlings out of it.  There are fine particles called niter that need to be filtered out.  They usually like to start out with about 200 gallons of sap.  According to my calculation, that amount of sap would only yield five gallons of maple syrup.  I didn't ask but I believe at this point the finished syrup is canned in jars for future use.  

This photo shows the operation including the wood fire with the pans of sap cooking on top.

We don't have maple trees on our property which is probably fortunate.  I would probably want to try this lost art.  I didn't think anyone around this area had a sugar bush, but I guess I was wrong.  As I was going to town the other day, I noticed this small area with milk jugs hanging from the trees.  I hope they are maple trees or these people may end up with something very different from maple syrup.

I want to thank my cousin for filling me in on this process of making maple syrup.  Most people have no idea how much work is involved in doing this.  It is indeed liquid gold.  

St. Patty's (or Paddy's) Day Celebration - Catching A Leprechaun

 
One day last week, our daughter told our youngest grandson that Nana thought she saw a Leprechaun while out feeding the birds.  Ewan is almost five years old and this made him very excited.  He asked a lot of questions.  Heather told him he would have to wait until he came to our house and maybe he could see for himself.  Since St. Patrick's Day is in the middle of the week this year, we decided to have our annual dinner today.

 
In preparation for the day, my husband decided to make an adventure out of it.  He found a brush pile in the woods.  I knew he was spending some time in the garage and woods, but when I saw him cutting the fingers off of an old leather glove, I had to ask questions.

 
 He was making hinges for the entry door to the Leprechaun's house.

The Leprechaun is a naughty little guy.  He stole a few pieces of twig furniture right off the porch.

After getting the Leprechaun house set up, he planned a trail to follow to find it in the woods.  When everyone arrived my husband Mike explained to the kids that the day we went for groceries to get supplies for our St. Patrick's Day dinner, we left a package on the porch.  In the bag was some silly string and plastic Irish eyeglasses.  They were for the kids to play with.  When all the groceries were put away, we realized that the package was missing.  We were pretty sure the Leprechaun took it.  They needed to look for clues to see if we could find the items and probably the Leprechaun.  The first thing Ewan spotted was a yellow bag.

He called to the rest of us, and we began looking for clues.  The naughty little Leprechaun worked his way through the woods leaving a trail of silly string and the packaging of the glasses.

Here we go, Ewan telling the big boys the plan.

Oh my gosh, there it is.  Who is going to brave enough to look inside.  What if the Leprechaun jumps out and bites.  We said all you do is grab his beard and he won't bite.  Of course, Jack, one of the youngest was the bravest.  He opened the door and all that was inside was the POT OF GOLD with the missing glasses and other golden treasures.

Oh look, a Pot of Gold and other stolen items.

The boys had fun.  Melissa opted out.  I guess this wasn't too exciting for a 14 year old girl.

When the adventure was over we ate our dinner.   There were fourteen of us.  Our family plus my son in law's parents.  It was a beautiful March day and everyone was happy.  It was a perfect day.  For my Tuesday recipe this week, I will post how I made the corned beef this year.  It was similar to how I have made it previously with a few important variations.

Tamale Pie

As I mentioned a few times lately, my husband has taken on a lot of the kitchen duties.  He plans the menu and makes the grocery list.  He is a very precise cook and his recipes turn out as they should.  I was taking a little creative licensing with my cooking and some times it turned out and some times it didn't.  Yesterday he made a Tamale Pie.  It was excellent.

Tamale Pie

1 pound ground beef, cooked and drained
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, drained
1 cup whole kernel corn
1 (2 ¼ oz) can sliced black olives, drained
1 small diced onion
1/2 pkg. taco seasoning mix (1 ½ to 2 T. of homemade taco seasoning mix)
1 (8.5 oz.) Jiffy cornbread mix
½ cup shredded cheddar cheese

In a large bowl combine cooked ground beef, diced tomatoes, corn, black olives, onion and the taco seasoning.  Mix well and pour into a 8 x 8 cake pan.

Bake covered for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.  Then prepare the cornbread mix according to the package directions and spoon over the beef mixture.  Sprinkle with the cheese.  Bake for another 20 minutes until the cornbread is done.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream.

We actually make our own Taco Seasoning Mix

2 t. chili powder
1 ½ t. paprika
1 t. onion powder
½ t. sea salt
½ t. garlic powder
½ t. ground cumin
½ t. oregano
¼ t. black pepper

Mix together and use in taco recipes.

Frankincense Oil Testimonial

I really like my essential oils but I don't feel comfortable recommending certain oils.   It is an individual thing and what works for one person may not work for others.  I sure don't want to get in trouble with the FDA for saying something is a cure all.  I believe essential oils work, and I always try them as my first course of treatment.  I don't take any prescription drugs and I attribute that to my home remedies which include using oils.  This is just a testimonial as to what recently worked for me.

It started one Saturday morning.  I was making some home made laundry detergent.  I like to use my immersion blender to make sure the ingredients are well blended.  Just as I was finishing up, I heard my daughter at the door.  I wanted to finish up quickly, but first I needed to check to see if there was anything in the blades before I rinsed it out.  I usually unplug the blender at this point but this time I was not paying attention and forgot.  The blades engaged and I cut my finger very badly.  I had two wide open gashes.  I probably should have gone for stitches, but instead I applied pressure and grabbed some stretchy tape.   I wrapped it and held it tight for quite a while.  When the bleeding finally stopped, we rewrapped it.

The next day I took the bandage off but because I hadn't put anything on it, the gauze stuck and I ripped it open again.  At this point I put on Frankincense oil mixed in some triple antibiotic salve.  I had used this oil on a few burns in the past and healed them without blisters in a few hours.  I rewrapped the finger every couple days.  Each time I applied more frankincense.  In less than two weeks my finger was healed with hardly any scars.  I could hardly believe it myself.

When I took the bandage off for good, I could barely see where I had cut myself.  Just a couple little red lines.  Now today, after some time has past, the finger is a little numb but I can't even see the two big gashes.  I give the credit to my Frankincense Oil.

Walking Taco Casserole

It seems that everyone eats tacos these days.  When I was growing up we never heard of tacos or pizza for that matter.  I think I was in high school before I heard of pizza.  The first time I heard of it was when my elderly aunt ordered a piece of Pizza Pie while we were out to eat with her.  At least I thought she was elderly.  When I was 14 she was 51.  Now, 51 years of age is a youngster to me.  My aunt lived in Madison Wisconsin where they were more progressive in many ways including food choices.  I thought she ordered a piece of Peach Pie.  I was shocked when the piece of pizza came.  I was sure they made a big mistake with her order.  Soon after that experience a little pizza place opened in my home town.  I think it was called Bob and Bonnies.  They had a greasy cheesy pizza with a unique taste that I have not tasted since.  I heard later the taste was from fennel seed, but I'm not sure.  For all I know, the taste could have been from never cleaning the oven.  One time my aunt came to visit us and wanted to take a pizza back to Madison on the bus.  She called when she got home and said everyone on the bus could smell her pizza.  I never developed a taste for pizza pie's, but it has become the mainstay for most American households.  I do however like tacos.  I don't remember when I was introduced to them.  I think it was later than pizza.  Times sure have changed, but every generation says that.

My recipe for today is for a Walking Taco Casserole.  Although I like tacos, they can be messy to make and eat.  This casserole cuts in squares and includes my favorite food in the world, FRITOS.  I think the original walking taco recipe put a serving of this meat mixture in a snack size bag of fritos and topped it with lettuce, tomato, salsa and sour cream.  Then you just eat out of the bag with a fork.

This recipe also reminds me of one of the only pizzas I like.  Our daughter's both worked at Pizza Hut during high school and college.  We liked to go there when they were working but I never knew what to order.  When I discovered the Taco Pizza, that became my favorite.  I haven't had it in years, but it is a good memory.

I made half a batch because we always have so many leftovers.

Walking Taco Casserole

1 ½ pounds Ground Beef
⅓ large onion, chopped
1 small can green chilies
1 15 oz. can enchilada or tomato sauce
Taco seasoning powder to taste
2 oz. cream cheese
1 bag Fritos corn chips or Doritos
1 8 oz. bag shredded cheese

Toppings:
 ¾ cup lettuce, shredded
½ cup tomato, diced
16 oz. salsa
8 oz. sour cream

Brown ground beef with the onion.
Add the green chilies, taco seasoning, enchilada sauce and cream cheese.
In a 9 x 13 pan, layer fritos, meat mixture and shredded cheese
Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes until the cheese bubbles.
Top with shredded lettuce, dice tomatoes, salsa and sour cream