homemade – New England's Narrow Road

Monkey Faces and Indian Pudding

Slow Cooker Indian Pudding (Photo credit: lynn.gardner)

As I sit here trying to cool off at 3:00 AM – yes it’s winter and the inside temp. is 62, but I am hot, (you older ladies will understand), I was enjoying reading about the Indian Pudding again, and I was replying to comments on the re-blog post, from Laurie @ A Taste of Morning. That Indian Pudding recipe and photo got me thinking of my grandparents and all the baking and cooking they did.

My grandmother always had cookies on her little counter in the kitchen and sometimes they were store bought, but I remember her holiday cooking best. She made “monkey faces” which were cookies filled with mincemeat, but I didn’t like mincemeat so she would put jam in some too. She made her own jam and jelly also and had a little dirt cellar where she kept her jars of preserves on wooden shelves. The cookies – which were more like little pies because the dough was like thick pie dough- were made by plopping the mincemeat, or jam, onto a round piece of dough and then covering it with another round piece. The edges would be pressed down with a fork and then slits made in the top.

She also made the tallest apple pies ever. I used to call her apple pie “mountain pie” Continue reading “Monkey Faces and Indian Pudding”

Never Send Cookies in the Mail

chocolate chip cookies — Homemade cookies!

I usually start my blogging with a photo. I take lots of pictures of all kinds of things and I came across this cookie photo which reminded me of how I had this great idea to send cookies to my son last year.

He lives in Florida and his family (us) all moved north and left him. So I feel guilty and last year I got this idea that I would give him a taste of home – a blast from the past – and send a box of my chocolate chip cookies. He would love that!

I am tired of cooking and baking. I really don’t enjoy it much these days and would prefer to have my own personal chef whip up something and serve it to me. Comes from all those years of BEING the personal chef to everyone else I guess. But the cookie recipe is from my old Betty Crocker cookbook and it makes a ton of cookies. There would be plenty to keep for ourselves too. I always like the idea of killing two birds with one stone.

So I made the cookies, found a box and began packing them up. I put 2 cookies together in a baggie, then layered all the baggies between packing paper – the kind with air bubbles that pop if you step on them. I needed a bigger box. I kept bagging and layering and filled a big box and as I was doing it I thought that Nick had better LOVE this gift. It was a pain in the neck.

So between the baking, cleaning up, finding a big enough box, packing it, addressing it and taking it to the Post Office and paying to ship it, I learned a valuable lesson.

Do not ever do that again.

Hilda OslenPiffleFeffer (myfullcup.wordpress.com)
When the going gets tough, the tough get cookies! (berries.com)

Knitting a Hat With Painted Yarn

It’s always difficult to visualize the outcome when buying painted or dyed yarn in varying colors and shades. I loved the colors in this wool yarn and wanted to knit another hat using one of my favorite hat patterns.

So here is the result. It took me a little over a skein and this yarn doesn’t come in matching dye lots so the colors in the second skein (shown) were a little different than the one I used for the main portion of the hat. But no one would notice.

I’ll use the rest of the skein for part of a scarf or mittens.

Make Your Own Suet

It’s November and was only 27° this morning so I started to feed the birds. I had made up some suet about a month ago and kept it in the freezer to use this winter. The birds seem to like my homemade suet much better than the store bought kind.

Although we don’t eat much bacon, I save the grease in a can in the fridge to use for making suet. When I have a full can, I add it to store bought fat (beef usually) and melt it on low heat. Then I add peanut butter, and whatever else I have to bind it together – such as old bread, cornmeal, crackers, cereal, etc.

I’ve found that using a disposable tin pan is best, since clean up can be a chore, and a nice square or rectangular one is perfect for cutting the suet (once it’s cold) into the right size for my feeders.

I don’t add seeds of any kind to my suet as it is intended mainly for woodpeckers. I put out plenty of sunflower and thistle seeds for the seed eating birds so I don’t waste it in the suet.

A tail prop feeder works best for woodpeckers since they use their tails for balance. Also the upside down suet feeders are good for keeping the squirrels from chowing down.