Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day!

I found this old poem written by Helen Steiner Rice. It was in a book of her poems that was published in 1981 after her death.

God Bless America

America the beautiful
May it always stay that way-
But to keep "Old Glory" flying
There's a price that we must pay...
For everything worth having
Demands work and sacrifice,
And freedom is a gift from God
That commands the highest price...
For all our wealth and progress
Are as worthless as can be
Without the faith that made us great
And kept our country free...
Nor can our nation hope to live
Unto itself alone,
For the problems of our neighbors
Must today become our own...
So in these times of crisis
Let us offer no resistance
In giving help to those who need
Our strength and our assistance-
And the stars and stripes forever
Will remain a symbol of
A rich and mighty nation
Built on faith an truth and love.

By Helen Steiner Rice

Amish Friendship Bread- Cinnamon Bread

This is made from the starter called Amish Friendship Bread. You usually get this starter in a gallon sized ziplock bag. Today I'm typing up the "origional" directions for the first 10 days, & then the recipe for the cinnamon bread.

Amish Friendship Bread
DO NOT USE METAL SPOONS! DO NOT REFRIGERATE!
Day 1- do nothing
Days 2,3,4, & 5-"mush" the bag.
Day 6- add 1 cup flour, 1 cup of sugar, & 1 cup of milk to bag & mush the bag.
Days 7,8,9- "mush" the bag & let the air out of the bag.
Day 10-add 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup milk to the bag & mush it really well (get all the lumps out that you can).
Pour this mixture into a large bowl. Stir with a wooden spoon & pour four 1 cup starters into gallon zip lock bags. You can give all four away, or give away 3 & keep one as a starter four your next batch. All of these starters are now at day 1.
There should be about 1 cup of starter left in your bowl.
To this add:
1 cup of oil (or 1/2 cup applesauce & 1/2 cup oil)
1/2 cup milk
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
Mix this well with your wooden (or plastic) spoon.
In a separate bowl, mix:
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 large box vanilla instant pudding
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture & mix thoroughly. Pour into 2 large, well -greased loaf pans that have been coated with the cinnamon & sugar mixture (see below).
Sprinkle extra cinnamon sugar on top.
Bake at 325 for 1 hour.
Cinnamon & sugar mixture=1 tsp. cinnamon & 3 tsp. sugar

I *think* you can make your own starter by putting 1 cup each of milk, flour, & sugar into a ziplock bag. This would be day 1. I have read this online, but I've never done this myself though. **edited to add: Here is a link at recipezaar that tells how to make the starter. **

And, you can start giving your starter "half feedings" if you get too overwhelmed with too many starters every 10 days. Instead of feeding your bread 1 cup each of the milk, sugar, & flour, give it only 1/2 cup of each. Do this on day 6 & day 10. Then on day 10, baking day, you'll only have a total of 3 starters. I usually make 2 batches of bread & then only have 1 starter to keep it going.

I posted about half feedings here.

Kitchen Tip Tuesdays: Amish Friendship Bread Half Feeding

I thought of another tip. This is about Amish Friendship Bread. You know that starter that someone gives you in a big ziplock bag? You have to "mush" the bag for 5 days, & on the the 6th day you "feed it" 1 cup milk, 1 cup four, & 1 cup sugar. You feed it this same amount of milk, flour, & sugar on day 10, & then it's baking day. After you've "fed" the mixture on baking day, you have 4 new starters, plus 1 cup of batter that you use to make the loaf of delicious cinnamon bread. You usually give 3 starters away to friends, & keep 1 starter for yourself to start all over again (it's day 1 for these starters), & bake one batch of cinnamon bread. It's great...at first. After a few cycles of 10 day periods, you run out of friends to give starters too. Or, all your friends have already had this experience, & they quickly tell you ""NO!" when you offer them a starter. LOL It just gets hard after a while when you can't get rid of, I mean, you can't give away all your extra starters. If you have a hard time wasting things, you end up making several batches of bread on baking day. There are great variations to this recipe so you end up making not just cinnamon bread, but lemon poppyseed muffins, chocolate coffee muffins, caramel apple bread or muffins, & the list goes on & on. It's wonderful to have a freezer filled with so many different kinds of bread & muffins. But it really does make baking day every 10 days a lot of work.

Well, I had a starter in the freezer & I decided to get it out & have another go at it (it had been 3 years since I had done it). After 3 cycles or so I hit that time where I couldn't get rid of my starters anymore. I found a GREAT tip online. I can't find the link now. I was sure I saved it to favorites so I could link to it, but now I can't find it anywhere. You can actually give your bread "half feedings".
Instead of 1 cup each of the flour, milk, & sugar, you can feed it it a half cup of all of those ingredients. And the result? On baking day, you end up with 3 cups, which means you only have 2 starters & then 1 cup to make a batch of bread with. So you can bake 1 batch, save a starter for yourself, & then have 1 starter left over to either give away or just make a second batch.
On baking day I have been making 2 batches. It's not hard to do, I make them both at once. If I make bread, it means 4 loaves of bread. 4 loaves of bread to bake every 10 days is much more managable.
Another tip for this amish bread is that you can use a bundt pan in place of 2 loaf pans. So if you do it that way, every 10 days you make two bundt loaves, & then only 1 starter to keep going.
And when you get tired of it all & you need to stop, just put that 1 starter in the freezer & you can start the whole thing up later.

So if you've done this before & cringe when someone offers you a starter, try giving it another chance & only give your starter half feedings. It works really well & that bread really is so good!

I'm going to start posting some of the variations I'm been making, which can take the form of breads, bundt cakes, muffins, & yesterday I even made cookies.

To see more Kitchen Tips, please visit Tammy's Recipes!

Deep Fried Potato Wedges

I had never made fried potato wedges. I've just always made potato wedges in the oven & called them oven fries. Oven fries are really good, but sometimes you just need batter covered, deep fried potato wedges. :)
So I searched the net for a batter recipe & found one on Cooks.com. I did alter it a bit by adding seasonings. It calls for 3/4 C. cornstarch & 1/4 C. flour. I was low on cornstarch & didn't use that much, but other recipes I found just called for 1 C. flour, so I think that's what I'll do from here on out. I'm not sure why it called for cornstarch really.
So here's the recipe I'll use, but may add *more* of the different seasonings.

Batter for Potato Wedges

1 C. flour
1/2 t. salt (or more)
1/4 t. peper
1 t. baking powder
1/2 to 1 t. garlic powder
1/2 to 1 t. celery salt
1/2 to 1 t. seasoning salt
1/2 C. water
1 egg, beaten


In a bowl stir together flour, baking powder, & seasonings.
In another bowl stir together the egg & water. Pour into flour mixture & stir until smooth.
Dip vegetables & deep fry.

We really liked these potatoes. I usually use 9 potatoes for our family of four, whether I'm making mashed potatoes, oven fries, & even cheesy potatoes. I don't ever remember deciding on 9 potatoes, but that's what works for us. It makes a nice sized amount, usually with some left-overs for snacking later. And these deep fried potatoes were delicious as left-overs...cold right out of the frig (what little left-overs there were).

I'm going to keep this batter handy. I think it would be great for onion rings, deep fried cauliflower, or anything I can think of to deep fry. LOL

Radish Sandwiches & My Dad

This is one of my all time favorite sandwiches. Our radishes are producing abundantly & I fixed my first radish sandwich of the year yesterday. As I cut the radishes & buttered my bread I thought about my dad. He taught me how to make this sandwich when I was just a kid. We'd butter our bread, add the radishes, shake on some salt, & dig in.

I had some cantaloupe already cut up in the frig, so I added that to my plate. Then I grabbed the quart of pickled beets that I had chillin' in the frig. My mouth watered as I filled my plate, & then I smiled because this was a plate my dad would LOVE. I can still see his eyes light up when I'd bring him out a few quarts of pickled beets. He loved them as much as me. He loved cantaloupe & radish sandwiches were his favorite too.
So as I prepared my plate, I thought about my dad & how many things he taught me besides how to make a radish sandwich (or an onion sandwich, or a tomato sandwich...LOL). On my first day of school in 1st grade, he let me have a piece of gum. I look back at this a wonder, because we hardly ever had gum when we were little kids. Anyway, he gave me this little piece of Trident & told me that they might not allow gum at school. I told him that if they didn't, I'd go right to the trash can & spit it out. (it makes me giggle to remember this) He said, "Oh no. Don't spit it out, that's not very lady-like. Little ladies don't spit their gum out, they take their gum out of their mouths with their fingers, & then throw it away." I can see him kneeling down one one knee & telling me this. It was probably 1971, & he had a crew cut & his hair was already snow white. When on rare occasions I do chew gum (hardly ever) when I go to spit it out I always remember that & I laugh. It's just a silly thing, but it's something I remember from when I was really little, & my dad wasn't just my dad, it was when he was my daddy....& that was so long ago.

I realized yesterday as I was fixing my fun lunch & thinking of my dad, that the next day (today) is the anniversary of his going home to Jesus. He's been gone 3 years now. I hadn't planned on having a radish sandwich & having it turn into a tribute lunch for my dad, but that's exactly what happened. So I looked around for my camera, & set some things next to my plate that Dad would really get a kick out of. I put the big container of radishes near, & my quart of chilled pickled beets, & of course some salt.
If he were here, he would have loved this lunch & thoroughly enjoyed it as much as I did!

Here's to you, Dad!
I am so thankful that God blessed me with you for my DAD.
I sure miss you.
I love you.

Bride's No-Fail Rolls

I found this recipe for Bride's No-Fail Rolls in an old cookbook titled Blue Ribbon Recipes County Fair Winners. I was looking through old books & came across this one. I kept hesitating before I put it into the "donate" pile. I finally set it aside because I knew I had to go through every recipe before I could let this book go, or I should say IF I could let this book go.
I'm just over half way through this cook book, & it's looking like it won't get donated. LOL I have personalized it by writing in the front cover the page numbers with the names of recipes that I want to try.
This cookbook was published in 1968, & each recipe has a lady's name with it & which county fair she won ribbons for it. For example, Bride's No-Fail Rolls was submitted by Mrs. Joan Deakins, Craig, Colorado, Moffat County Fair. Pretty neat, huh? I thought so too.

So yesterday I had smoothered chicken in the crockpot & I thought rolls would be good to go with our supper. I've been making breads for a while, but I haven't made rolls in ions. I'm no new bride (our 24th anniversary is in a few months), but since I haven't made rolls in years, I thought this recipe sounded like a good one to start with. And it was! My family loved them.
I wish I would have shaped them a little differently, but they were still really good. I didn't put them in muffin tins, or make cloverleaf rolls with them, I just made balls about the size of golf balls. They came out kind of looking like small buns, but they were so good.

Bride's No-Fail Rolls
1 pkg. yeast (2 1/2 t.)
1 C. warm water
2 eggs, beaten
1/3 C. sugar
1 t. salt
1/3 C. oil
3 1/2 C. flour

Dissolve yeast in water. In large bowl mix eggs & sugar. Add salt. Add oil. Stir in water & yeast. Mix in flour, 1 cup at a time, & stir well. Cover bowl with cloth; let rise until double in size. Punch center to let air out. Make into rolls, & place on lightly greased cookie sheets. Cover & let rise until double in size. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes. Yield: 2-3 dozen.

This recipe didn't call for any kneading, so I let the dough rise right in the mixing bowl. The dough is stickier than bread dough, so I put some flour on the table to dust my hands with while I was making the dough shapes.
The size I made (golf ball sized) yielded exactly 2 dozen. I served 1 dozen with our supper & under cooked the other dozen by just 2 or 3 minutes. When they cooled I put them in a large freezer bag & put them in the freezer. When I use them, I'll defrost them & bake them at 350 for maybe 5 minutes, & they'll hopefully be the same as just fresh baked rolls.
I didn't take a picture of my plate, because we were all so hungry we just dug right in.
These rolls are a definite KEEPER.

Grilled Cabbage

I found this recipe in Country Magazine. I would love to get that magazine, I really enjoyed every single page. I received a free copy in the mail & it was the April/May 2009 issue.

Grilled Cabbage
1 medium head cabbage
1/3 C. butter, softened
1/4 C. onion, chopped
1/2 t. garlic salt
pepper

Cut cabbage into 8 wedges; place on a double thickness of heavy-duty foil (I just used regular foil). Spread cut sides with butter. Sprinkle with onion, garlic salt, & pepper.
Fold foil around cabbage and seal tightly. Grill, covered, over medium heat for 20 minutes or until tender. Open foil carefully to allow steam to escape. Yield 8 servings.

Here's my cabbage just before going on the grill:

And here it is after grilling.

It was delicious!