Life on a little urban homestead in the making, showing ideas for self-sufficiency, Permaculture, DIYing, organic gardening, food preservation, Chicken keeping, cookery, crafts, thrifting and more...

Nov 12, 2011

My Favorite Early American Holiday Recipes

My Fave Unusual Holiday Recipes- As I got older, and became a better cook, I started adding some old early American recipes I stumbled on. These three I use every year. I found the first two in magazine articles years ago. The third online.  I serve the Queen's cake every Christmas morning, with eggs, juice hot drinks, for a simple, but tasty breakfast. I LOVE the citrusy flavor!!! Bake the cake the day before, however, as it's better after it cools. I make the Indian Pudding for Thanksgiving, but I cut the recipe in half, as it's rich, but yummy! I make the Marlborough pie for Christmas, along with my mince pie. Here's the recipes, with links-


1 cup unsalted butter- room temp
1 cup sugar
5 eggs
1 teaspoon lemon extract
2 teaspoons orange extract
2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cup currants

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. add lemon and orange extracts; mix well. Sift flour, baking powder, and cinnamon together. Gradually add to the batter, stirring well after each addition. Toss the currants with 1 Tablespoon additional flour; add to the batter. Bake in greased and floured loaf pan at 325
° F for 1 hour, 20 minutes or until done. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before turning onto a rack.


Marlborough  Pie-

·                        Juice 1 lemon
·                        2 large fresh apples
·                        ¾ cup sugar
·                        ¾ cup sherry
·                        6 TBL. melted butter
·                        4 eggs well beaten
·                        1/2 cup heavy cream
·                        2 teas. Nutmeg- I use fresh
·                        Pinch salt

Squeeze lemon. Chop apples, add lemon juice, stew and mix. Puree, rice or mash apples Add sugar,  sherry, eggs, cream, nutmeg, butter. Pour into 8” pie pan and use 1 pie crust or puff pastry. Bake at 350 about 1 hour until set. Cool before serving. Looks similar to pumpkin pie.

 http://www.amazon.com/Old-Sturbridge-Village-Cookbook-3rd/dp/0762749296

Indian Pudding-

  • 6 cups of milk
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
  • 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup molasses
  • 3 eggs, beaten
  • 1/3 cup of granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon of nutmeg
  • 1 cup golden raisins (optional)
  • Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream
1 Scald the milk and butter in a large double boiler. Or heat the milk and butter for 5 or 6 minutes on high heat in the microwave, until it is boiling, then transfer it to a pot on the stove. Keep hot on medium heat.
2 Preheat oven to 250°F.
3 In a separate bowl, mix cornmeal, flour, and salt; stir in molasses. Thin the mixture with about 1/2 cup of scalded milk, a few tablespoons at a time, then gradually add the mixture back to the large pot of scalded milk. Cook, stirring until thickened.
4 Temper the eggs by slowly adding a half cup of the hot milk cornmeal mixture to the beaten eggs, whisking constantly. Add the egg mixture back in with the hot milk cornmeal mixture, stir to combine. Stir in the sugar and spices, until smooth. At this point, if the mixture is clumpy, you can run it through a blender to smooth it out. Stir in the raisins (optional). Pour into a 2 1/2 quart shallow casserole dish. Bake for 2 hours at 250°F.
5 Allow the pudding to cool about an hour to be at its best. It should be reheated to warm temperature if it has been chilled. Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
Yield: Serves 8-10.


http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/indian_pudding/







Nov 9, 2011

Early American Cookery


Early American Cookery- Here's a few fun freebies I got on my "Dover" samplers email, from a book vendor, on early American cookery, and includes the illustration above and below at the bottom. It's a fascinating look at what our ancestors ate, cooked, and recycled! Talk about frugal!!!



















Nov 6, 2011

Chicken Hospital and Sunroom


Well, just when you think life is predictable, you get one sick bird! Poor Ellie, she was droopy for several days. Short version, she had worms. I brought her in all day yesterday, trying to diagnose her, keep her warm and push fluids and food. I read this wonderful article that really helped-
CARING FOR A SICK OR INJURED CHICKEN
After seeing she had worms, I did lots of research.  Backyardchickens.com was a wonderful resource! This morning I got her started on worming meds, and a high calorie paste for dogs (chicken flavor!). The meds (Wazine 17) kicked in in about 4 hours, EW times 2! Then she started feeling much better. Ellie above, taking a break from her laundry basket room, looking out the window. She missed her friends, but had a nice view.

Here's her pals inside the sun room during our morning lite snow-




I let her out for about 20 minutes, and her friends mobbed her. They obviously missed her and stayed by her side as she walked around very slowly. I brought her back in and she went fast to sleep. All pooped out, excuse the pun. One more day in and I hope she'll be fine. We'll see....