I was just thinking about how good we have it

We take so many items from our daily lives for granted, don't we? For example, take bread, that staple that many of us can't seem to live without. Many of us buy our bread and some of us bake our bread. Even baking bread from scratch has so many modern shortcuts.

I know some of us use bread machines regularly. I use a stand mixer to mix and knead the dough. I still have to form the loaves and bake them in an electric oven. But that's nothing compared to how bread was made in the home for century after century. 

Imagine if you had to dedicate an entire day of the week to baking bread. That isn't so far-fetched. This was typical throughout the 1800s. Housewives would set aside one day of the week just for baking. Baking day may have produced bread and maybe a pie or two. Baking those items alone really would take the better part of a day. The yeast would have to be proofed before adding flour. The dough was mixed and kneaded by hand. A fire would have to be built for baking. Loaves would be formed, risen and baked. Perhaps a pie or two would be made to take advantage of the prepared oven. The clean-up would surely take much longer than today. Perhaps water would be hauled from a well or nearby creek. The water  would need to be heated on the cookstove or over a fire. Bowls, pans, and boards would be scrubbed, perhaps using a homemade soap that may or may not have cleaned all that well or perhaps scouring with sand or cleaning with a combination of vinegar and ash. Pans would need to be thoroughly dried before putting away to prevent rusting. On top of baking bread and a couple of pies, the housewife would also need to prepare 3 meals from scratch and do some housework. That sounds like a full day to me.

We were out of bread, here, so I baked a week's worth on Tuesday. My yeast was instant, so no proofing was needed. As I said above, my dough was mixed and kneaded by an appliance. I did form it into loaves, myself. Modern ovens start with the push of a button, so when I want to bake again, for a pie or other items, I can easily do so. No need to add extra baking work on this day. After my loaves were baked, my dishwasher cleaned the pans for me. And because they're not made from tin, I let them air dry.

In addition to baking bread, I was able to complete several other tasks, go for a 1-hour walk, and take a brief afternoon nap. We really are quite spoiled.

Birthdays at Home Are the Best!

Hi, Friends! It feels like I haven't written to you, here, in several days (okay, it's been just about 4 days, I think). I feel a bit disconnected, like I'm out of my groove. But here I am, back to writing. 

It's been a very busy week around these parts. We celebrated our twin daughters' birthday over the weekend, and it just plumb wore me out. My son and daughter-in-law were able to come over and the weather cooperated just long enough for us to have a cook-out on the patio. In addition to roasting frankfurters over a fire, we had buns, sweet potato fries, onion rings, beet salad, and roasted Brussel sprouts for an early afternoon meal. I had baked a scratch German chocolate cake the day before (that was amazing), which we served for dessert. Everything I served was from what we had on hand. Just as we finished eating, a few sprinkles came along. So, we masked up and moved indoors to open gifts and sit and talk for a while. 

I think some of the happiest moments for a parent are when all of their children are gathered together. At least that's how I felt on Saturday.

Sunday was an incredibly lazy day for me. I barely moved all day. I must admit, part of that could have been the super large slice of cake I had on Saturday! I spent the better part of Monday cleaning everything up. Cleaning provides a wonderful opportunity to think about life and stuff.

One of the things that this pandemic has taught us is just how little we need in order to have a good time. In years' past, we sometimes went to a restaurant or movie theater as part of a birthday celebration. Now, we are content to celebrate at home, using foods from our pantry, fridge, and freezers, and just spending time together. The birthday gals said they really enjoyed their pandemic birthdays, this year and last. And we all enjoyed celebrating with them.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Have a great day!

Busy Weeks Call For Easy Dinner Plans: Your Favorite Busy Day Meals

At the beginning of this week I knew it was going to be a busy one. This is always such a busy time of year for me. Four family birthdays, tax preparation, getting the vegetable garden in, and pruning all of the fruit trees means that I have to get and stay organized for a couple of months each year in late winter and early spring.

On Sunday afternoon, I took a few minutes to write out 5 brief dinner menus, using those easy family favorites that I keep tucked in my back pocket, like secret weapons. Here's what's been on the dinner menu for Monday through Friday this week:

Monday
Live and Learn's Curried Pumpkin and Peanut Butter Soup (this is such an easy soup, I don't even measure any more)
freshly baked bread (that I baked for the week's bread supply)
watercress salad

Tuesday

tuna casserole -- made with canned tuna, TVP (for extra protein), canned cream of mushroom soup, lots of diced celery, lots of frozen peas, cooked pasta, onion powder, and salt

Wednesday

frozen corndogs

frozen French fries

canned beet slices in vinaigrette 

black olives

roasted frozen Brussel sprouts

cupcakes

Thursday

canned spinach frittata

sausage links

instant mashed potatoes topped with shredded cheese

jarred applesauce

Friday

homemade pizza

canned green beans

These were as easy as meals get around here, with Friday's homemade pizza being the most labor-intensive of all.

I'm always looking for more inspiration and you, friends, seem to know some of the best easy meal ideas. What are the easy meals you keep in your back pocket? Share your favorites in the comments!

Substitute for Cake Flour (and When It Matters)

I was making some scratch confetti cupcakes for my daughters' birthday yesterday, using a white cake recipe and some pastel cake/cookie sprinkles mixed in with the batter. (That's them above, iced with a buttercream frosting and topped with pastel M&Ms.) My white cake recipe calls for cake flour, but what I have is all-purpose flour. 

What is cake flour and why and when does it matter?

Cake flour is a refined wheat flour that is made with a lower protein wheat than all-purpose or bread flour. It's the protein (gluten) that forms stretchy bonds in bread dough -- nice for holding a piece of bread together but makes for a slightly dense cake. Cake flour makes a finer cake with a smaller crumb. For most scratch cakes, the difference in end result is minimal between using all-purpose or using cake flour. (And that's why I don't keep cake flour on hand, but instead use a substitute when it might make a difference.) Some cakes, like a light white cake or angel food cake do turn out lighter using cake flour.

So, is there a good substitute?

There sure is -- corn starch (or cornflour, but not cornmeal). Using corn starch in place of a small amount of all-purpose flour reduces the total grain protein content and makes a lighter crumb. Some shortbread-type cookies call for cornstarch in addition to flour. The end result is a more tender cookie than a similar cookie using flour only.

The cornstarch plus all-purpose flour substitute for cake flour

1 cup of cake flour equivalent can be made from 2 tablespoons (or 1/8 cup) cornstarch plus 7/8 cup of all-purpose flour. 

For every cup of cake flour called for in a recipe: measure 2 tablespoons of cornstarch into a 1 cup dry measuring scoop. Then add all-purpose flour to fill the 1 cup scoop. Increase or decrease according to this ratio. So, if a recipe calls for 1  1/4 cups of cake flour (which is what my 10 cupcake recipe calls for), measure 2  1/2 tablespoons of cornstarch into a measuring cup, then fill with all-purpose flour to 1  1/4 cups. 

FYI, arrowroot can be used in place of cornstarch, for those with sensitivities to corn.

Little cakes topped with chocolate candies -- always a hit with my family!

A Fun Day Ahead

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all you Irish folks and Irish-wanna-be's!

In addition to the holiday, today is also my two beautiful daughters' birthday. We'll have a bigger family celebration over the weekend, when their brother and sister-in-law are able to come over. Today, I have a few surprises in store for them. They didn't want to be part of the planning this year but instead wanted to be surprised. I used part of our grocery budget for a secret breakfast item and favorite dinner item. They know there's something, just not what the something is/are. (These are items that I rarely ever buy.) And I will use a gift card for an additional surprise today followed by a movie streamed through Roku tonight. It should be a fun day and evening for the two of them.

I hope you have a great day today and enjoy lots of corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, soda bread, or whatever ticks the boxes for you!

Love Languages and Gifts

Do you recall that book about love languages? I was thinking about the book in connection with how my family celebrates special occasions. I know some of you have commented that giving gifts on special occasions is not really a thing in your family. I hope I haven't made you feel badly by posting about my own approach to giving gifts for holidays and special occasions.

According to that book, there are five basic ways of showing and receiving love, named love languages: words of affirmation, acts of service, receiving gifts, quality time, and physical touch. I think most of us would say that we respond to more than one love language. In my own family, we all enjoy giving and receiving gifts. That doesn't mean that we're greedy people or too stuff-focused. It's just one of our ways to demonstrate our love for one another. 

I was also thinking about how my family doesn't really spend money on ourselves, aside from basic living needs. The things on which many other families do spend hold less appeal for the members of my own family, including personal indulgences. So, giving gifts is a way for us to remind one another that we are each worthy of having something special every once in a while. It's just how we are and how we approach holidays and birthdays. It's our love language.

I also like to express and receive love through acts of kindness (often baking or sewing for a loved one or taking over someone's chores) and spending quality time with my family members (I think I've blogged a lot about that subject).

Other families and individuals express and are receptive to love in other equally valid ways.  And I think this is reflected in how they engage on a day to day basis, as well as how they celebrate special events. Have you thought about your own love language?

Different Brands of Milk May Affect Yogurt-Making

I had a yogurt-making experience that I wanted to share, in the event that this might happen to someone else.

I've been making yogurt since 2012 and up until my batch at the end of February, I'd never had the yogurt not set-up. With that last batch, the yogurt only partially set. I'm careful about using the correct temperatures during each step (and I even calibrated my thermometer to be certain). I couldn't figure out what went wrong. I use starter from previous batches that I freeze in small amounts shortly after the yogurt is completed. I was down to just one container of starter in my freezer after this failed batch. On a hunch, I decided to try a different brand of milk for the next batch of yogurt, using this last container of starter.

Success! This batch of yogurt set-up beautifully. I don't really know what was different about the milk used in the failed batch. I had noticed that my yogurt this winter had been missing it's usual tang. So something was definitely different about that milk. With this recent batch, the yogurt is not only thick, but that tang is back.

Here's my message for anyone who makes their own yogurt and has a failed batch: After you've considered everything about your process, such as the temperatures for each heating and cooling step, the constancy of temperature maintained in your incubator while the yogurt was setting, the viability of your starter, and the ratio of starter to milk, try a different brand of milk. One brand may be pasteurized and processed in a slightly different way from another. This may not change the milk's nutritional benefits, but can alter the milk just enough so that homemade yogurt batches fail. The milk doesn't need to be an expensive brand. I only use house-brand milk, this recent batch the house-brand from a different store.

After I had success with this recent batch, I found other folks had similar experiences with failed batches, one brand of milk worked, another didn't.

I'm sure you're curious about what I did with the failed batch of yogurt. I ate it anyway, thickening it with soy milk powder before adding vanilla and honey. I suppose I could have used it in baking, making pancakes, or making cream soup. 

Anyway, just sharing my personal experience with changing brands of milk after a failed batch of yogurt.

Your Favorite “Irish” Foods for St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day is in just a few days. My family has a couple of favorite themed foods for this holiday. One is a shamrock-shaped cookie. Some years I make gingerbread shamrocks and other years I make sugar cookies, either frosted with green icing or sprinkled with green sugar crystals or any green sprinkles leftover from Christmas baking. 

Shamrock-shaped cookies and I go way back. When I was in the 4th grade, my mother was one of the room mothers for my classroom. This meant that for special days in the school year, my mother and one other mother made treats for all of my classmates, and we had a little party in the last 30 minutes of the school day. St. Patrick's Day was on a Tuesday that year. I remember because the afternoon before, I got to help my mom make some cookies while she stood at the ironing board, pressing my father's shirts for work. (Monday was laundry day, and it always ended with a pile of shirts to be pressed.) My mother let me use her shamrock cookie cutter to cut the dough that she had rolled out. The baked cookies were set aside while we all ate dinner. After I went to bed that night, my mom decorated the cookies. The next morning, I peeked under the lid of the large, rectangular Tupperware carrier sitting on the kitchen counter and saw that my mother had frosted the cookies in white and green, making curlicues of green frosting on all of the leaves of each shamrock. I remember feeling so proud of my mother's cookies, thinking about them as I waited through the day in school. The skinny, red second hand of the classroom's wall clock clicked throughout the afternoon hours, the movement from one second to the next feeling painfully slow. At last, the two room mothers appeared in the doorway. They poured cups of punch and placed those beautiful cookies on napkins, one for each of us. We lived just up the hill from the school, so my mother walked home with me after the class party. She said something about my big smile as we stepped off the curb and into the street. I just said that I was feeling happy that day. 

The other food that I can't not serve for St. Patrick's Day is cabbage. I love cabbage. I love it as a slaw or sautéed with onions. The caramelized onions add sweetness to the pungent, cooked shreds of cabbage. This delicious dish only needs a sprinkling of salt and a dash of pepper to finish.

I've shared two of my favorite St. Patrick's Day foods and now I'm wondering, what are your favorite Irish-inspired foods for St. Patrick's Day? Share in the comments! 

Being More Mindful When Grocery Shopping

Back to the discussion on principled buying . . .

With food, in addition to avoiding specific countries or companies for ideological reasons, I also want to take food safety seriously. Some countries have very weak safety guidelines concerning pesticides, fertilizers, water and soil contamination, and chemical preservatives like formaldehyde and sulphur dioxide used to make "old" produce appear to be fresh. In addition, some countries have different standards for "organic" than North America and the EU, meaning that a product may be labeled "organic" but not meet the guidelines that you've come to expect. 

Most of us are tuned in to where our fresh produce comes from, but do we really know where our packaged and frozen foods are coming from? I did a quick inventory of my own pantry, fridge and freezers and found:

• orange juice concentrate from Central America
• apple juice concentrate from China
• coffee from Mexico
• hazelnut spread (my daughter's) from Mexico
• other hazelnut spread (also daughter's) from Germany
• honey from Canada and Argentina
• cocoa powder from Holland and Germany
• shredded coconut from the Philippines
• mixed nuts from Argentina, Mexico, Vietnam, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Bolivia, Peru, Columbia
• canned pineapple from Thailand and Indonesia
• boxed pasta - "made with imported ingredients"
• canned tuna from Thailand
• unflavored gelatin from Brazil
• yeast from Mexico
• frozen Asian stir fry vegetable blend from China, Mexico
• frozen chicken breast fillets from Mexico
• frozen broccoli from Mexico
• frozen blueberries from Canada

No indication but most likely not USA-produced:

• black tea
• chocolate chips

It's not that all of the above countries are in question. I completely trust the safety of the honey and blueberries from Canada and the cocoa powder  and hazelnut spread from Germany and Holland. I was just very surprised by some items. The peanuts in the can of mixed nuts came not just from the US ( as most of us would imagine) but also from Argentina and Mexico. And who would have thought that my big bag of yeast was produced in Mexico?

A lot of products don't indicate on the packaging where the contents are produced. Some brands are better than others at this. Many of Walmart and WinCo's house-brand items are produced outside of the US. But there are also a lot of their house-brands that are stamped USA. Here's a contrast -- my canned mixed nuts were from 9 different countries in addition to the US, while my bag of Great Value pecan halves were USA-only. 

Some highly recognizable name-brand foods that you would think are American products are actually from other countries. For example Dole canned pineapple. Dole canned pineapple chunks, slices, and crushed are products of the Philippines and Thailand. Dole canned pineapple juice and Dole jarred pineapple chunks are products of the Philippines. If you want Hawaiian Dole pineapple you have to buy fresh pineapple that is labeled product of Hawaii. 

USA-produced is not always most expensive. Sometimes the bargain version of a food is the USA-produced one, such as the Dollar Tree frozen blueberries that I bought. DT's frozen blueberries are stamped "product of USA" while the more expensive frozen blueberries from Walmart are stamped "product of Canada."

A complicated case is found with apple juice. Most of the frozen apple juice concentrate available in the USA is now made in China. The store-brands of frozen apple juice concentrate (AJC) from both winCo and Walmart are stamped with "Product of China." Old Orchard's website indicates that they source their apple juice concentrate globally (including from China) for bottling in the USA.  Bottles of Mott's apple juice are stamped indicating that the product is made with apple juice concentrate from China and Turkey. There are two bright spots in apple juice production in the US, Tree Top and Martinelli's. The apples used in Tree Top apple juice are 100% grown in the USA. Tree Top supplies most of the American-grown and processed apple juice concentrate in the US. Martinelli's is another "made in the USA" apple juice, using 100% USA apples. Not concentrated, Martinelli's is bottled in large glass bottles or individual-size bottles and rather pricey. Apple juice particularly concerns me, because I use commercial apple juice as a base for some of my vegetable juices and my family really enjoys apple juice. I question the safety of China-produced apple juice. There was a study a while back concerning high arsenic levels in China-produced AJC compared to USA-produced AJC. Going forward, I'll be more likely to spend extra on USA apple juice and try to save money in the food budget elsewhere.

Although my family doesn't eat a lot of frozen fish, I have read that those products could be a concern, and I'm mentioning it because I know a lot of folks do buy frozen fish. Frozen tilapia and cod from China is often farm-raised. I have read a few articles that raise concerns about the farm-raised tilapia from China. The fish are raised in crowded and sometimes polluted water, possibly using more chemicals than are healthy. I don't want to tell you what to believe, so I recommend you search for more info on this, if it is a concern to you.

It isn't always just a matter of finding a USA-version for X,Y, or Z. There are some foods that I can't find as USA-produced, such as cocoa powder, canned tuna fish, or fresh bananas (not on my list, but something we consume a lot of). And there are some foods for which I could find a US substitute, but those would be very expensive, such as Hawaiian coffee and shredded coconut or South Carolina black tea. Due to their cost, those products would be more along the lines of specialty food items, in my opinion, and not basic groceries.

My personal plan is to choose one item that most offends me (based on country of origin) and try to work a better choice into our budget. When I've found ways to make that work, I'll add the next item. And, so on, until I feel satisfied with the sourcing of all of my family's food. 

In the end analysis, if my budget were constrained and I had to choose between buying my food from a non-preferred country vs not buying enough food, buying enough food, even from a "bad" country, wins hands-down. It's like my thinking concerning buying organic produce vs buying "regular" produce. If buying "regular" produce means I buy and eat more fruits and vegetables than if I were to buy organic produce due to budget constraints, I think it's a better choice to buy the "regular" produce. The additional nutrients of more produce would hopefully outweigh any negative effects from residual pesticides and fertilizers.

Fortunately, there are some workarounds that remain frugal options for many of us. Growing a vegetable garden, going to local u-pick farms and orchards, buying from local farm stands, and eating in-season produce are all ways to ensure your produce is grown in the country(ies) of your choosing while not spending more for those items. And as you can see from my list of non-USA foods in my own kitchen, there were only about 2 dozen different foods that were produced outside the US. And of those, there are only about a half-dozen that I feel I should look into finding alternates. That's not too overwhelming.

(It's true what they say, writing something out helps clarify one's own mind about a topic.)

Putting Principled Buying into Action

Last week ,when I talked about my gift shopping for my daughters, my discussion was about trying to find products that were made by my own personal standards. To be specific, not wanting to buy from countries whose government treats some of its people reprehensibly or from companies who support causes that are in opposition to my own beliefs, as well as wanting to buy from American small businesses whenever possible to keep money in fellow American's pockets.  It was mentioned in the comments that I was fortunate to be able to shop by my principles. 

I am fortunate. But I'm not spending more money than previously on categories like gifts, clothing, and household needs while I practice principled buying.

So with that in mind, I wanted to share how we afford to shop by our principles and deal with the often higher cost of products that are American-made, small business-made, or imported from countries that provide a fair wage to their workers. If my budgets for gifts, clothing, and household items have not risen, and I'm avoiding buying the super cheap stuff that comes from some countries, something has to be different with my shopping, right? 

Here's how we're doing it. We're using those tried and true frugal methods to save on some items, so that we can afford to buy those more expensive other items from companies and countries that are on my personal "approved" list. 

• I am repairing, refurbishing, and repurposing as much of our clothing and household items as I can, so that I postpone replacing items further into the future. I've currently got 1 pair of mittens, a sock, a pair of blue jeans, and a bath rug in the mend pile. If I were to buy all of those items new, I'd spend well over $100. That same $100 will pay for replacing a piece of clothing or a household item that is past repair and bought according to my principles.
• I have been asking for basic clothing items and necessities as my gifts for Christmases and birthdays. Last year for my birthday, I received a pair of basic leggings and a sweatshirt. For Christmas, I received a requested headband and hair conditioner. I used a gift card from my birthday 2019 to buy new underwear. And I used another gift card from Mother's Day 2018 to buy my everyday shoes. Money I didn't take out of our budget is money that can go toward principled buying.
• We're also turning to thrift stores for many items. Thrifts stores do more than just prevent stuff from ending up in landfills or provide merchandise super affordably. Thrift shops often have a charitable cause or benefit a needy group. Thrift shops provide job training for folks that have had a hard time breaking into the job market, fund homeless shelters, fund non-profit rehab centers, sponsor soup kitchens, and subsidize childcare centers for lower income families. Thrift stores don't operate to pad wallets of stockholders or CEOs. Their prices would be much higher if that were the case. Instead, their focus is on helping people. Shopping thrift stores saves me money and makes me feel good about my choices. And the money I save by buying a needed thrifted top or saucepan compared to buying new is money that I can put towards those more expensive principled purchases.
• I'm also shopping online marketplaces for gently-used or new-condition items. Online marketplaces are like garage sale Saturday every day, but with a phenomenally large selection. I like that by buying an item from an individual seller, I put more money into that person's pocket and less into a large corporation's. And I save some money in the bargain. 
• We are still shopping at Dollar Tree for some items. Dollar Tree has a surprising amount of Made in USA items. I just check labels on everything. I needed a new box of envelopes. Same brand, but one set of envelopes were security envelopes and the other set were plain envelopes. The plain envelopes were made in the USA and the others were imports. I bought the plain ones.
• When it comes to giving gifts to others, I am reducing the number of gifts, overall, and prioritizing the items most wanted so that I can shop by my principles. The bonus -- buying and giving less means that fewer items might wind up on a closet shelf or in another giveaway box. When I first set out to shop for some small gifts for my daughters I was thinking spa items. I had thought about some bath soaks, bath bombs, maybe some bath oil or shower gel, a loofah, a bath brush, a shower cap, and some chocolates. As it turns out, by buying only American-made, small business, or marketplace items, I was able to buy 1 bath bomb, 1 packet of bath soak, 1 bottle of shower gel, 1 chocolate bar, and 1 shower cap (small business-made) for each daughter. I spent the same amount of money that I would have spent on a larger selection of cheap imported items, but I think I did more good with my money. Will my daughters mind that I didn't get everything on my list? Not at all. Here's another one -- I needed a $15 to $20 gift for someone recently. I chose to buy coffee beans from a company that donates a share of its proceeds to a cause that is close to my heart. The recipients of my coffee bean gift were delighted to receive the coffee and happy to hear about the cause the purchase benefitted. (This is a cause that they also support.) I am taking the same amount of money that I would have spent, but directing it toward companies, organizations, or people of my choosing.

So that's how we're affording to buy clothing, gifts, and household items in a principled way with the same size budget we've had for years. The harder category to shop in this way is food.  I have a post in the writing that I'll finish up for tomorrow on that.

I wanted to add, if my choice was to buy a small Dollar Tree gift for someone in my life or not buy a gift at all, due to a very small budget, I'd definitely buy the Dollar Tree item. I think it's more important to make another person feel good and appreciated than to satisfy principles. And if one of my family members needed clothing that didn't obviously look mended (for instance, work apparel), I'd buy a cheap import item if that is what my budget dictated. Sometimes, keeping principles means putting others' joy or self-esteem ahead of our own desires.

There are several categories for which there isn't a good American-made or small business product. We're doing our best, making changes where it is possible, and not sweating the rest.

Using up Jam and Jelly

oatmeal and plum jam bar cookies -- almost like a breakfast bar

I've mentioned this already, that I'm trying to use up my surplus of different jams and jellies before the next jam and jelly season begins. 

So far, we've used jam and jelly this winter in jam sandwich cookies (my daughter made heart-shaped shortbread for Valentine's Day and sandwiched them with blackberry jam), oatmeal and plum jam bar cookies, fruit granola (two versions), smoothies, fruity yogurt and oatmeal, as topping for pudding, in a cream cheese spread, in creamy dressing for fruit salad, in vinaigrette dressing for tossed greens, and as a dipping sauce, in addition to spreading on bread products.

I counted my jars yesterday and discovered that I still have 31 jars of jam and jelly left. I know, that sounds like a lot of sweet spreads. So, I started a list of the various ways I could begin incorporating more jam and jelly into my cooking. 28 ideas so far.

Cookies

• Oatmeal and Jam Bars (used a whole jar of plum jam)
• In Thumbprint cookies
• In Sandwich cookies -- spread between 2 sugar or shortbread cookies

Breakfast

• Making fruity granola
• As filling for jam and cream cheese overnight, stuffed French toast
• As filling for crepes
• Spread on breads, muffins, biscuits, scones
• To top pancakes, waffles, or Dutch Baby, as is or thinned to make a syrup
• Swirled into yogurt or oatmeal
• Layered with fruit, cottage cheese or plain yogurt, and granola for a parfait
• Blended into smoothies or shakes

Baking and Desserts

• As filling for a layer cake or topping for a single layer cake
• Dropped into batter in muffin tins, 1 tablespoon dropped into the center of cornbread batter
• Baked into jam swirl bread, like making cinnamon bread, but using jam instead of cinnamon and sugar
• As filling for mini tart shells
• To glaze fruit in a pie or tart or fruit served as is, such as pear slices glazed with raspberry jam
• As an ice cream sundae topping
• Topping any kind of cream cheese concoction
• Spooned over rice pudding, tapioca, or cornstarch pudding

Salads

• Blended with mayo for a sweetened dressing for fruit salad
• Blended with a vinaigrette for a sweet and tangy salad dressing -- especially good on spinach salad

Savories

• In a sweet and sour glaze over cooked meatballs
• To top brie cheese before baking
• Melted jam blended with spices (ginger) and seasonings (garlic powder) and a bit of soy sauce for a dipping sauce for chicken strips
• To make a glaze for meat (pork roast, ham, poultry)
• Mixed in with mustard to use as a condiment
• Inside a grilled cheese sandwich or a turkey or ham sandwich
• Mixed into chicken salad

What else? How else can I use some of these jars of jam, jelly and preserves?

Meal Planning from the 1950s

Our conversations about favorite retro cooking last week prompted me to think about a section of my mom's 1953 cookbook. My mom was a very young bride by today's standards, 19 when she married my father. As a wedding gift from an aunt, she/they received the Better Homes and Garden's New Cook Book. A good deal of what my mother learned about cooking in those early years of marriage were found in the pages of this cookbook. 

As a teenager I had a crazy obsession with reading my mother's older cookbooks. When I was 18 and left home for college, my mom gave me this cookbook. Despite having taken Home Ec in middle school, I still had a lot to learn about cooking after I moved away for school.

One of my favorite sections of this cookbook has always been the meal planning one. I may not be wild about meal planning, but I like reading about how it could be done in someone else's household.

I think "ideal" meals of the 1950s were somehow lost by my own childhood years. On Leave it to Beaver (and other TV shows of its era), the star family, the Cleavers, always had dinner in a formal dining room, while the kitchen table was used for breakfast and lunch. I don't know if this is how families of the 50s actually ate their meals, or if this is just how TV families dined. But I always felt that family life had somehow shifted by the time I was in elementary school. Once we had a separate dining room as well as a an eat-in kitchen, my family always ate "regular" dinners in the kitchen, while the dining room was reserved for special occasions.

In addition to a shift in where Americans tended to eat their meals, the actual dinner menus from the 1950s (form my mom's cookbook) seem more formal than how my family today eats. In my mom's cookbook, the "dinner suggestions" section contains 6 different elements for each meal: entree, starchy food, vegetable, salad, dessert, and "nice to serve." Here's an example:

Rolled Rib Beef Roast

Browned Potatoes or Whipped Potatoes

Succotash or Broccoli with Hollandaise Sauce

Gold Coast Salad or Cranberry Salad Squares

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie or Date Pudding with Whipped Cream

Watermelon Pickles or Bouillon

Can you imagine making all of that on a random Tuesday? Okay, so maybe this would be a "special" meal. Here's another dinner suggestion:

Grilled Minute Steaks

Hash-brown Potatoes or French-Fried Potatoes

Buttered Corn or Wax Beans with Bacon Bits

Perfection Salad or Tossed Green Salad

Ambrosia or Walnut Gingerbread

Chili Sauce or Toasted Buns

My guess is these elaborate everyday meals went out of fashion as women's daytime hours were filled with work or other time-consuming activities. Here's another dinner suggestion:

Baked Pork Chops

Whipped Potatoes and Gravy or Corn Stuffing

Parsnips or Green Beans

Prune and Apricot Salad or Spiced Pears

Brownies a la Mode or Baked Apples

Relishes or Grape Juice

There's also a small section on meals that save you money. This section looks a little more like how my mother cooked (but with fewer and simpler desserts). Here are a few of those entries:

Meatballs with Spaghetti

Whole Carrots or Green Beans

Chilled Relishes or Mixed Greens with Garlic Dressing

Winter Ambrosia or Pineapple Sherbet

New England Boiled Dinner

Carrots, Potatoes, Onions, Cabbage (cooked with corned beef) or Turnips and Beets may be added

Apple-Raisin Salad or Molded Cranberry Salad

Lemon Meringue Pie or Maple Cup Custard

Tuna Bake with Cheese Swirls

Glazed Carrots or Buttered Green Beans

Tomato Aspic or Bouquet Salad Bowl

Emerald Isle Fluff or Lemon-Coconut Squares

Pork 'n' Apple Pie

Buttered Shredded Cabbage or Cauliflower

Chef's Salad Bowl or Celery-Apple Salad

Cottage Pudding with Lemon Sauce or Chocolate Bread Pudding

It's interesting, but the section that I think more closely reflects how many of us do dinner, now, is actually titled for lunches -- "Lunches your family will like." Many of the entries in this section would fall under a supper designation, in my mind. Here are several "lunch" suggestions:

Creamed-egg Casserole

Green Beans with Bacon or Spinach with Mushrooms

Circles of Head Lettuce, Russian Dressing, and French Bread or Waldorf Salad and Hard Rolls

Cherry Puff or Broiled Grapefruit

Creamed Dried Beef on Baked Potato

Pickled Beets or Brussel Sprouts

Tossed Green Salad or Citrus Salad

Applesauce Cake or Whole Apricots and Cookies

Spanish-rice Skillet

Buttered Asparagus Tips or Spinach with Mushrooms

Chef's Salad Bowl and Biscuits or Orange and Grapefruit Sections on Watercress and Relishes

Date Pin Wheels or Chinese Chews

Chicken a la King

Potato Chips and Fresh Buttered Peas or Corn Coblets

Pear Halves with Softened Cream Cheese and Cloverleaf Rolls or Tomato Slices on Lettuce with French Dressing and Biscuits

Orange Cake or Red Raspberry Fluff

Cheeseburgers

Potato Chips or French-fried Onions

Kidney-bean Salad, Dill Pickles Slices, Celery and Carrot Sticks or Tossed Green Salad and Cocoa

Banana Split or Fresh Fruit

Fluffy Tomato Omelet

Fresh Peas or Broccoli with Lemon Butter Sauce

Pineapple-Cottage Cheese Salad with French Dressing and Bread Sticks or Sunshine Salad, Celery Curls, Ripe Olives

Crispette Squares or Coconut-Banana Rolls

Those were obviously lunches to be eaten at home. There's another section on lunchbox ideas. Here are a few of those menus:

Deviled Ham and Pickle in Bun

Iced Tea

Potato Chips

Celery and Olives

Brownies or Pear Halves

Egg Salad in Coney Buns

Milk or Coffee

Whole Tomato

Grapes or Sponge Cake Bars

Vegetable Soup

Chocolate Milk

Crackers

Cottage Cheese, Tomato Wedges

Date Pin Wheels or Apple Wedges

Baked Beans

Cream Cheese Sandwiches on Brown Bread

Milk or Coffee

Chopped Vegetable Salad

Canned Peach Halves

Corned Beef Sandwich on Rye Bread

Cocoa

Mustard Pickles, Celery Hearts, Carrot Sticks

Baked Custard

Fried Chicken

Bread and Butter Sandwich

Mixed Vegetable Juice

Tomato Slices, Cucumber Sticks

Chocolate Cupcake

Baked Ham Sandwich on Whole Wheat Bread

Milk or Coffee

Potato Salad

Plums or Pecan Crispies

As a teen, I loved food and thinking about food. I was often dieting, so reading about these varied and full menus seemed to fill something in me. In any case, I thought a little trip down the memory lane of meal planning, via my mother's first cookbook, would be fun. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did.

Your Retro Cooking Favorites

Earlier this week, I posted a modern rendition of a retro recipe from my childhood, creamed chicken and broccoli on toast points. My mother often used a white sauce or canned soup, along with frozen mixed vegetables, a mix of dark and light meat chicken, and white bread toast. With my family's more modern tastes I substituted a scratch cream of celery soup, frozen broccoli, chicken breast meat, and homemade whole wheat toast. My version reflects my family's preference for broccoli, leaner meat, and whole grains.

Later this week I made a childhood favorite dessert, sliced bananas in vanilla pudding. In my childhood, this was often served with vanilla wafer cookies. My more individualized and contemporary version used a scratch soy milk pudding to meet my personal dietary needs. I wish I'd had the vanilla wafers, but graham crackers had to substitute.

Ruthie expressed interest (in the comments) in hearing what you cook that is retro. I thought that was a wonderful suggestion. Today, I am curious to know what your favorite retro recipes are and how you adapt them to your modern tastes and needs. What do you still make, now and then, that takes you back to your childhood? How have you changed how the previous generation made this dish? Let us know in the comments!

Shopping Intentionally Can Be Stressful (Warning: A Rant)

My twin daughters have a birthday later this month. So, I'm making plans for how to celebrate and what little gifts to buy. While I know I can't solve the world's economic or political problems all on my own, I've made a sort of deal with myself concerning the gifts I'm buying.

2020 and now 2021 has been a year of discovering the very worst about a couple of countries and many corporations. I feel compelled to use my wallet to make my voice heard. I won't buy items from countries whose governments are participating in egregious treatment of human beings and I won't support a corporation that supports organizations or industries that violate my conscience. 

So, with that in mind I went out shopping for a couple of small gifts yesterday afternoon. As if shopping with a mask that kept bumping up into my lower eyelashes wasn't stress enough to deal with, I was checking every single label on every single item in three sections of the store looking for the specifics of each's manufacturing info. If I were in store security, I'd have been monitoring my own curious shopping this afternoon.

What really stunned and saddened me was how few goods are actually made in the USA any more. When did this happen? Do we not make anything in this country any more? I spent several hours shopping and came home with just a couple of small items. Even many books are no longer printed in the US. Books are just paper and ink. How is that we can't do paper and ink any more?

I had an idea for a bunch of spa items for each daughter. Wow, the print on packages was so tiny! Most of the items were made in China, a couple in Taiwan, one in Egypt, and a couple in Indonesia. I had really wanted to support manufacturing in my own country, as I see us getting deeper and deeper into an unemployment hole right now. I wanted a shower cap, a scrubbing brush or loofah, maybe a bath bomb or two and a couple of hair accessories. A big fat "nope" on the shower cap, brush/loofah, and hair accessories. I checked every package. Brands that I thought were surely American-made are now all made some place else.  In the end, I found a couple of USA-made bath bombs, bath soaks, and a chocolate bar each. I also checked the clothing department of same store and found nothing my daughters would ever wear from the paltry amount of US-made items.

We did this to ourselves. We were so eager for bargain prices that we didn't notice that products weren't being manufactured locally. We knew that sometimes what we were buying didn't last as long as it should have or that we had known previous purchases had lasted. We didn't care. So long as it was inexpensive, that's what mattered. And deep down, we did know that many of our products were made elsewhere. It wasn't as if someone was fooling us. But we just didn't care enough, or I didn't care enough that I was buying products made somewhere else. Like I said, I felt saddened by this realization, like I sold out. 

The good news is that there are American companies out there. They're not the big names that we've grown up knowing as American, but instead, small cottage industry businesses. You won't find many of their items on the shelves of the big box stores. You have to search out these small businesses. When I got home, I spent time online looking for shower caps made in the USA. After a lot of google searches, I finally found several sellers on etsy. They're a lot more expensive than what I saw in the big box store. But maybe the higher price means that the worker made a fair wage for their time with my purchase. Plus, I think these are much cuter!

If I could, would I go back to not reading packages or caring where my money was going? I don't think I can. I can't un-know what I've learned this last year. But I hope that intentional shopping won't always feel this stressful.

Rant over.

Wild Greens Are up and Thriving in My Yard This Week

I planted watercress in my garden, once, almost 20 years ago. And now, it has seeded itself all over that portion of my yard. Every spring -- I feel so blessed.

The weather has been dry this week. So, I've been working outside while I can. I'm pruning fruit trees and cleaning vegetable beds. While outside, I noticed lots and lots of watercress plants popping up all over. It's a use-them-or-lose-them sort of thing in March. By the end of the month they'll have begun to go to seed and won't be so tender.

I picked a basket full on Monday and made a nice salad to go with our dinner that night. I'll be picking another basket full this afternoon.

My daughters have grown up eating watercress salads every spring. It's kind of funny -- I don't think they realize that watercress is one of those "fancy" greens that sells for a couple of dollars a bunch in the grocery store. I think they see our watercress salads as something "odd" that their mom picks from the yard, like a throw-back to a hunter-gatherer civilization. I'll be peeling bark off our trees for tea next.

Watercress has a peppery flavor, which I find very appealing this time of year. It's super healthy -- one of the most nutrient-dense leafy greens. And for me, it's free. I'll be making the most of our watercress riches in the next several weeks.

Have you ever eaten foraged greens? We don't get very many dandelions, but I've wanted to try those, too. Have you ever tried dandelion greens? Would you recommend them?

Retro Cooking: Creamed Chicken and Vegetables on Toast Points

An old time favorite using this recipe for cream of celery soup, some cooked chicken, and frozen broccoli -- Creamed Chicken and Vegetables on Toast. With cooked chicken and frozen vegetables, this was a quick supper, taking me under 30 minutes from start to table. 

I left the cream soup in the saucepan and reheated the cooked chicken on the stove over Low heat while I made the toast and microwaved the broccoli (so I could drain off any liquid before adding to the soup and chicken).

My mom made a similar version of creamed chicken on toast points, only she used frozen mixed vegetables in place of the broccoli.

Super easy. I just wanted to show you how this scratch cream soup can be useful for suppers other than casseroles.

Does anyone else still eat creamed chicken on toast points or am I really dating myself here?