Here's a recipe from Marilyn McFarland's mother:
Ingredients
2 cups flour
4 or 5 eggs
1 t salt
1 1/2 cups milk
Beat eggs; add milk. Beat in flour and salt. (Be sure the batter isn't too thin. If so, the schterum will be sticky.) Fry in hot greased skillet, using lard or any oil. When batter is partially set, lift batter with fork, and let liquid flow under to continue browining. When solid, turn it over, cut into bit-size pieces while frying. Makes 4 servings.
Schterum
Marilyn McFarland shared this recipe which was originally from Dale Gensley. Dale served would bring this for Sunday dinner - which was generally around 2:00.
Ingredients:
4 eggs, beaten
1/4 txp. salt
1 T sugar
3/4 c. milk
2 - 3 c. flout
Beat eggs, add sugar, salt and milk. Add enough flour to make a thick batter. Pour into greased skillet and stir as batter is frying. Serve with syrup or crushed strawberries. Makes 2 - 3 servings
Ingredients:
4 eggs, beaten
1/4 txp. salt
1 T sugar
3/4 c. milk
2 - 3 c. flout
Beat eggs, add sugar, salt and milk. Add enough flour to make a thick batter. Pour into greased skillet and stir as batter is frying. Serve with syrup or crushed strawberries. Makes 2 - 3 servings
Twice-Cooked Potatoes
This recipe contains a little less oil than the Easy Skillet Potatoes and is also tasty.
Use 1 - 3 potatoes per person, depending on size.
Scrub the potatoes and cut them into pieces of equal size. I generally cube them.
Place cut potatoes potatoes into a pan and bring to a boil and cook until just tender.
Drain and toss potatoes in a mixing bowl with olive oil, some salt, a little paprika and maybe a little garlic powder or dried pepper flakes, any spice that sounds good at the time.
Place the seasoned potatoes on a cookie sheet in the oven at 450.
Bake for about 20 minutes, until they're nicely browned. Turn over a few times during the cooking process. If you're in a hurry, you can use the broiler but watch it - they can go quickly!
These are always a hit - you might want to make a few more than you think you'll need because people will chow down on these little morsels.
The children will like this served with home-made ketchup.
Use 1 - 3 potatoes per person, depending on size.
Scrub the potatoes and cut them into pieces of equal size. I generally cube them.
Place cut potatoes potatoes into a pan and bring to a boil and cook until just tender.
Drain and toss potatoes in a mixing bowl with olive oil, some salt, a little paprika and maybe a little garlic powder or dried pepper flakes, any spice that sounds good at the time.
Place the seasoned potatoes on a cookie sheet in the oven at 450.
Bake for about 20 minutes, until they're nicely browned. Turn over a few times during the cooking process. If you're in a hurry, you can use the broiler but watch it - they can go quickly!
These are always a hit - you might want to make a few more than you think you'll need because people will chow down on these little morsels.
The children will like this served with home-made ketchup.
Chicken Stock
Winter time is the time to make stock. It has a comforting aroma, adds moisture to the dry air, and gives you something to do with all of those laying hens that are no longer producing. To save the stock, place it in pint-sized jars and process in a hot water bath or pressure cooker, according to the directions for your canner.
Ingredients:
1 or 2 stewing hens. The best chicken to use is one that is about 2 years old and has stopped laying.
4 - 5 carrot tops or carrots, if you don't have tops.
2 - 3 onions, washed and cut in half
3 - 4 cloves of garlic - no need to skin these, just toss them in.
2 - 3 T of kosher salt
Some black pepper or 1 - 2 dried spicy peppers if you like spice
1 - 2 bay leaves (I pick these off of my bay leaf plant. I use the ones that are starting to dry up or look weak)
Some celery (if you have it but I usually don't)
Rinse the chickens and place all ingredients in a large pot. I use a 24 Q stock pot and fill it until the chickens are covered. Bring the mixture to a boil and then turn down to low. Allow the stock to cook for 3 - 4 hours, uncovered.
Place a colander over another large pot and strain the stock. The chicken should fall apart at this point. Put the broth back on the stove, along with the bay leaves & garlic (squeeze the meat out of the skin and toss it in and it will dissolve.
Let the chicken cool and then remove the meat that you want to remove. The meat should be really tender now and can be served for dinner, saved to make chicken sandwiches, made into chicken pot pie, anything.
At this point, you can can your stock or freeze it. I don't have room in the freezer, so I can it. I also don't have a lot of room on my shelves so I continue to cook the stock for 2 - 3 more days! After I separate the meat from the bones, I toss the bones back into the pot and continue to simmer the stock. At night I put it in the cold garage or fridge and in the morning I put it on the top of the wood stove. By the end, the stock is very concentrated. Strain the broth again and then pour into your clean jars. When I use a pint to cook with, I'll add water if I'm making soup or gravy.
The last time I made stock, I ended up with about 7 pint-sized jars. I did add a little water as the chicken simmered, to make sure the meat was always covered during the cooking process.
A tasty, organic, inexpensive alternative to store-bought stock!
Ingredients:
1 or 2 stewing hens. The best chicken to use is one that is about 2 years old and has stopped laying.
4 - 5 carrot tops or carrots, if you don't have tops.
2 - 3 onions, washed and cut in half
3 - 4 cloves of garlic - no need to skin these, just toss them in.
2 - 3 T of kosher salt
Some black pepper or 1 - 2 dried spicy peppers if you like spice
1 - 2 bay leaves (I pick these off of my bay leaf plant. I use the ones that are starting to dry up or look weak)
Some celery (if you have it but I usually don't)
Rinse the chickens and place all ingredients in a large pot. I use a 24 Q stock pot and fill it until the chickens are covered. Bring the mixture to a boil and then turn down to low. Allow the stock to cook for 3 - 4 hours, uncovered.
Place a colander over another large pot and strain the stock. The chicken should fall apart at this point. Put the broth back on the stove, along with the bay leaves & garlic (squeeze the meat out of the skin and toss it in and it will dissolve.
Let the chicken cool and then remove the meat that you want to remove. The meat should be really tender now and can be served for dinner, saved to make chicken sandwiches, made into chicken pot pie, anything.
At this point, you can can your stock or freeze it. I don't have room in the freezer, so I can it. I also don't have a lot of room on my shelves so I continue to cook the stock for 2 - 3 more days! After I separate the meat from the bones, I toss the bones back into the pot and continue to simmer the stock. At night I put it in the cold garage or fridge and in the morning I put it on the top of the wood stove. By the end, the stock is very concentrated. Strain the broth again and then pour into your clean jars. When I use a pint to cook with, I'll add water if I'm making soup or gravy.
The last time I made stock, I ended up with about 7 pint-sized jars. I did add a little water as the chicken simmered, to make sure the meat was always covered during the cooking process.
A tasty, organic, inexpensive alternative to store-bought stock!
Easy Skillet Potatoes
We made these last night with some Fingerling potatoes from the root cellar.
I typically prepare 2 - 3 potatoes per person. These potatoes are generally 2 - 3" long and about 1 1/2" in diameter so if they're smaller, I'll use more. Choose the potatoes that are getting a little soft first.
1. Scrub your potatoes and slice them into equally-sized pieces - approx. 1/3" wide.
2. Bring the potatoes to a boil and then simmer until slightly tender. Don't overcook or they'll fall apart. Drain.
3. Pour some canola oil into your cast iron skillet and heat on medium heat. Add potatoes to the skillet and let cook for about 3 - 5 minutes, until one side is brown. Turn over all potatoes and cook on the other side. You'll probably need to add oil during the cooking process so that they don't burn.
4. Turn down the heat to simmer until you're ready to serve.
5. Salt occasionally during the cooking process (I use sea salt and a grinder). You could also add paprika or Old Bay Seasoning or, if you like spice, a little cayenne pepper.
Another option is to place the skillet in the oven on broil - but watch it, they burn quickly!
I typically prepare 2 - 3 potatoes per person. These potatoes are generally 2 - 3" long and about 1 1/2" in diameter so if they're smaller, I'll use more. Choose the potatoes that are getting a little soft first.
1. Scrub your potatoes and slice them into equally-sized pieces - approx. 1/3" wide.
2. Bring the potatoes to a boil and then simmer until slightly tender. Don't overcook or they'll fall apart. Drain.
3. Pour some canola oil into your cast iron skillet and heat on medium heat. Add potatoes to the skillet and let cook for about 3 - 5 minutes, until one side is brown. Turn over all potatoes and cook on the other side. You'll probably need to add oil during the cooking process so that they don't burn.
4. Turn down the heat to simmer until you're ready to serve.
5. Salt occasionally during the cooking process (I use sea salt and a grinder). You could also add paprika or Old Bay Seasoning or, if you like spice, a little cayenne pepper.
Another option is to place the skillet in the oven on broil - but watch it, they burn quickly!
Sausage, pumpkin & veggie quiche
What to do with all of the eggs, frozen squash and frozen veggies during the winter? Here's a pretty quick recipe which is very tasty. Serve with Easy Skillet Potatoes:
1 lb. ground pork (you could use any meat here but the pork was tasty)
3 - 4 cloves of garlic, diced
2 cups pre-cooked pumpkin (I cook my pumpkins in the fall and scoop out the flesh and divide in 2 cup bags and throw in the freezer for future use)
1/2 lb. frozen chard (could use frozen collards, spinach, kale or broccoli)
3 - 5 Danver's half-long carrots, cut in 1/2" chunks (we dug these from the garden in January)
4 eggs
1 cup shredded cheese
About 1/8 cup cream
1 pie pastry
1. Pre-heat the oven to 350.
2. Place your pie pastry in a large pie plate and pre-cook until it's lightly brown. Remove from oven.
3. While the pastry is cooking, saute the garlic in a few T of canola oil. Add the ground pork and saute. When the pork is no longer pink, add in the pumpkin and saute for maybe 5 minutes - until most of the water has evaporated and the pumpkin is evenly distributed. Add a couple of grinds of sea salt from your grinder.
4. Set pork/pumpkin mixture aside.
5. Saute the carrots in a little oil until lightly brown.
6. Add carrots to the pork mixture and stir.
7. Cut the chard into 1/4 " strips and saute with a couple of drops of sesame oil. If this is chard from the freezer, you just need to warm this up as it was blanched prior to freezing. If this is fresh, I'd saute for 5 minutes or so.
8. Add the chard to the bowl.
9. Spoon all of the ingredients into the pastry crust.
10. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and cream. Stir in the cheese.
11. Add the egg mixture to the pie pan and mix in a little.
12. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes and reduce heat to 350 for about 30 minutes - until the quiche sets up and is lightly brown on top.
1 lb. ground pork (you could use any meat here but the pork was tasty)
3 - 4 cloves of garlic, diced
2 cups pre-cooked pumpkin (I cook my pumpkins in the fall and scoop out the flesh and divide in 2 cup bags and throw in the freezer for future use)
1/2 lb. frozen chard (could use frozen collards, spinach, kale or broccoli)
3 - 5 Danver's half-long carrots, cut in 1/2" chunks (we dug these from the garden in January)
4 eggs
1 cup shredded cheese
About 1/8 cup cream
1 pie pastry
1. Pre-heat the oven to 350.
2. Place your pie pastry in a large pie plate and pre-cook until it's lightly brown. Remove from oven.
3. While the pastry is cooking, saute the garlic in a few T of canola oil. Add the ground pork and saute. When the pork is no longer pink, add in the pumpkin and saute for maybe 5 minutes - until most of the water has evaporated and the pumpkin is evenly distributed. Add a couple of grinds of sea salt from your grinder.
4. Set pork/pumpkin mixture aside.
5. Saute the carrots in a little oil until lightly brown.
6. Add carrots to the pork mixture and stir.
7. Cut the chard into 1/4 " strips and saute with a couple of drops of sesame oil. If this is chard from the freezer, you just need to warm this up as it was blanched prior to freezing. If this is fresh, I'd saute for 5 minutes or so.
8. Add the chard to the bowl.
9. Spoon all of the ingredients into the pastry crust.
10. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and cream. Stir in the cheese.
11. Add the egg mixture to the pie pan and mix in a little.
12. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes and reduce heat to 350 for about 30 minutes - until the quiche sets up and is lightly brown on top.
Canned Tomatoes
Canned tomatoes are a staple in our home. We use them to make tomato sauce with meat and pasta. I drain them (drink the juice) and toss them into salads in the winter. We eat them on hamburgers and as a side dish right out of the jar. Compared to the "fresh" tomatoes which are available in the market, there is no comparison for flavor.
The only tomatoes we can (as long as we have a choice) are San Marzanos. They are a roma tomato and are very meaty with less water than other varieties. They hold up well, are not very acidic, and taste great!
To can tomatoes whole, I do the following:
1. Wash the tomatoes in the sink. Cut off really bad spots (black spots) and smell the tomato to make sure it's OK. A lot of times if there's a big black spot in the tomato, the whole thing should be tossed out. Feed the scraps to the chickens or pig, or compost them.
2. Prepare 7 quart-sized jars for canning (wash) and fill each with 1/2 t. salt.
2. Drop 10 - 20 tomatoes into boiling water. As soon as you see the skin on one tomato crack, remove them all. I place them immediately into cold water.
3. Remove the skins. Put the whole tomato into the jar. It takes about 14 tomatoes to fill a jar.
4. Fill the jar until it's about 1/4" from the top. Take a knife and run it along the outer edge (down to the bottom) of the jar to release any trapped air in the jar.
5. Wipe the rim. Place a seal on and the ring.
6. When you have enough jars filled to fill your canner, place in either a hot water canner or a pressure cooker and process according to their instructions.
Important: Make sure you replace at least half of the water in the canner with cold water before you do a second batch or you might crack a jar. Also, do not open the lid on a pressure cooker until the pressure is down to 0 or do not open up the steam vent to let the pressure go down more quickly - the liquid in the jars will evacuate and you'll be left with a 1/2 full jar.
Remove the jars from the pot, let cool, rinse the next day and remove the rings (only after about 24 hours) and store in a dark, cool place. I store ours in a pantry and it's not super-cool or super-dark but it works.
Enjoy!
The only tomatoes we can (as long as we have a choice) are San Marzanos. They are a roma tomato and are very meaty with less water than other varieties. They hold up well, are not very acidic, and taste great!
To can tomatoes whole, I do the following:
1. Wash the tomatoes in the sink. Cut off really bad spots (black spots) and smell the tomato to make sure it's OK. A lot of times if there's a big black spot in the tomato, the whole thing should be tossed out. Feed the scraps to the chickens or pig, or compost them.
2. Prepare 7 quart-sized jars for canning (wash) and fill each with 1/2 t. salt.
2. Drop 10 - 20 tomatoes into boiling water. As soon as you see the skin on one tomato crack, remove them all. I place them immediately into cold water.
3. Remove the skins. Put the whole tomato into the jar. It takes about 14 tomatoes to fill a jar.
4. Fill the jar until it's about 1/4" from the top. Take a knife and run it along the outer edge (down to the bottom) of the jar to release any trapped air in the jar.
5. Wipe the rim. Place a seal on and the ring.
6. When you have enough jars filled to fill your canner, place in either a hot water canner or a pressure cooker and process according to their instructions.
Important: Make sure you replace at least half of the water in the canner with cold water before you do a second batch or you might crack a jar. Also, do not open the lid on a pressure cooker until the pressure is down to 0 or do not open up the steam vent to let the pressure go down more quickly - the liquid in the jars will evacuate and you'll be left with a 1/2 full jar.
Remove the jars from the pot, let cool, rinse the next day and remove the rings (only after about 24 hours) and store in a dark, cool place. I store ours in a pantry and it's not super-cool or super-dark but it works.
Enjoy!
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