Drop Biscuits

I've been making this recipe about once a week with a big pot of soup. These biscuits are best right from the oven - warm and a tiny bit "crunchy" slathered with apple butter.

Drop Biscuits

4 C. unbleached flour
1 1/2 tabl. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 stick of butter
2 C. milk

Preheat oven to 425. Stir dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Cut butter in until mixture looks crumbly. Add milk and stir - the dough will be wet and sticky. Use a large spoon or scoop to drop dough onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake for approximately 12-15 minutes or until bottoms are golden brown. This recipe makes about 20 large biscuits.

The Apple Harvest

32 quarts of applesauce
21 pints of apple butter
6 apple pies and . . .
1 pan of apple crisp


HARVEST

"The boughs do shake and the bells do ring,
So merrily comes our harvest in,
Our harvest in, our harvest in,
So merrily comes our harvest in.

We've ploughed, we've sowed,
We've reaped, we've mowed,
We've got our harvest in."

-- Anonymous, Merrily Comes Our Harvest In - Poems for Thanksgiving selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins

Sunday Afternoon Visit

On Sunday after church we took a lovely ride through Maryland countryside to visit M.'s parents at their newest volunteer station. The campus where they now live and volunteer was an old college back in the late 1800's. The grounds are lovely and the buildings quaint with lots of gorgeous views and quirky architectural surprises. We enjoyed a delicious late lunch in the dining hall (the cook left us raid the left-overs) and then they gave us a tour of the conference center and grounds where groups and individuals come for retreats or to live for various reasons and periods of time. Also located on the grounds are several other ministries and two warehouses - one of which receives handcrafted items from around the world to ship out as well as resell in the little shop there. The other warehouse is a huge one with its' own railroad siding that packs and then distributes items to the world wherever natural disasters occur. The campus is really quite a place - filled with ministries and service. We so enjoyed our visit and look forward to going back - to visit again as well as to do some volunteering in one of the warehouses.

Chocolate-Covered Trail Mix

The guys came home from hunting this morning to find this trail mix cooling on the table - they were nibbling at it even before it had a chance to harden. Enjoy -

Chocolate-Covered Trail Mix

11.5 oz. can of mixed nuts
1 C. sunflower seeds
3/4 C. dried cherries
1 C. chocolate chips

Cover a cookie sheet with waxed paper. Sprinkle the nuts, seeds and cherries onto the waxed paper. Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave and pour over the mixture. Stir gently to coat. Allow to sit and harden (if it lasts that long) and then break into chunks and store. NOTE: I adapted this from the original recipe based on what I had in my pantry - throw in whatever sounds good to you.

Fall Photo Shoot

At the cabin on Sunday afternoon I read on the porch while Eli did a mini photo shoot in the leaves. He took all the photos but the last.

Apple Nachos

A pile of cousins showed up at the farm on a recent night to "play" with our boys. I decided to try out a new recipe on them that I found over at Monica's Homespun Heart blog. The recipe is for Apple Nachos, and it was a definite hit (with the kids and with Marty and I). I made two big plates of it for them and a smaller one for us.

Apple Nachos (I made one recipe per large plate.)
Two thinly sliced apples
Drizzle of caramel ice cream topping
3 tabl. chopped peanuts
3 tabl. mini chocolate chips
1 tabl. autumn-themed sprinkles

Simmering Potpourri

This will have your house smelling absolutely delicious! To a pan of water, simply add a few cinnamon sticks, bay leaves, a dozen or so whole cloves, and orange and/or lemon peels (I threw in this orange left over from the Hot Caramel Apple Cider recipe in the Autumn Luncheon post). Heat on low and allow to simmer. Periodically add more water as it evaporates (don't let it burn dry!!). At the end of the day, allow the mixture to cool, pour it into a glass jar and store in the frig to use again for the next several days. NOTE: You can, of course, vary this recipe based on what's in your pantry.

A Decoupaged Heart

A friend taught me how to make these little decoupaged hearts, and I made this one up for my grandmother which has one of her favorite Scripture verses on it.

To make:

Cut a thin piece of cardboard into the shape of a heart. Using Mod-Podge (or similar decoupage glue), glue pieces of torn cardstock into a desired pattern. Trim edges. When the heart is completely covered with paper, brush a thin coat of Mod-Podge all over the front of the heart. Once dry, type and print a desired verse - cut out and glue onto heart. Glue a piece of string onto the back and hang.

An Autumn Luncheon

A few weeks ago I hosted an Autumn Luncheon for two friends. It was so much fun to put together! We gathered on a Friday and each day of that week I did a little something towards getting the luncheon together. That way there was no pressure come Friday morning - after schoolwork, I set the table, made up the parfaits and prepared the cider recipe.


Our menu included:

* Fruit & Granola Parfaits
* Pumpkin & Black Bean Soup
* Pumpkin Cornbread & Leaf-Shaped Butter Pats
* Spiced Jam Bars
* Hot Caramel Apple Cider


For favors, I filled vintage, heart-shaped Jello molds with Pumpkin Gingerbread Potpourri from a bag that I picked up at a recent craft show.


Here are the recipes for the Spiced Jam Bars & Hot Caramel Apple Cider:

* Spiced Jam Bars – Preheat oven to 350. Cream ¼ C. sugar, 6 tabl. softened butter, 1 tsp. vanilla and 1 egg. Stir in 1 C. flour, ½ C. chopped walnuts, ½ C. quick oats, ½ tsp. baking powder, ½ tsp. cinnamon, ¼ tsp. salt and ¼ tsp. ground cloves. Spread half of mixture into an 8” or 9” pie plate. Spread ½ C. strawberry jam evenly over the top of the dough, then drop teaspoonfuls of remaining dough over the jam. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool and cut into wedges.
* Hot Caramel Apple Cider – Press 12 whole cloves into the skin of an orange. In a large stockpot, over medium-high heat, bring 2 quarts of apple cider to boil. Add prepared orange and 3 cinnamon sticks. Reduce heat, and simmer on low for 1 hour. Stir in 1 C. heavy whipping cream and 1/8 C. caramel ice cream topping. Cook until just heated through and serve immediately.


The ladies blessed me with these sweet hostess gifts as well as a delicious loaf of just-baked whole wheat bread -

An Autumn Game Night

My sister and brother-in-law host a game night each fall for us and another family. Their home always looks so pretty - even more so with autumn decorations adorning the dining room.

We usually spend more time visiting than playing games (!) at our fall game night, but we did manage to get in a game of Compatability. We also spent lots of time eating! And autumn is the perfect season for all kinds of yummy treats. Among other things, we enjoyed apple crisp and pumpkin cookies as well as pear and apple slices with caramel dip. My friend made pumpkin cookie dip and displayed it in a hollowed-out pumpkin along with a dish of honey Teddy Grahams - delicious! (You'll find the recipe below.)




Pumpkin Cookie Dip

1 – 8 oz. pkg. of softened cream cheese
2 – 7 oz. jars of marshmallow crème
1 – 15 oz. can of solid-packed pumpkin
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. grated orange peel

Beat cream cheese and marshmallow until smooth. Stir in pumpkin, cinnamon and orange peel. Place in frig and allow to cool several hours before serving. (This also helps the flavors blend together for a richer taste.) Serve in a hollowed-out pumpkin with honey-flavored Teddy Grahams, graham crackers, animal crackers, vanilla wafers and/or butter cookies. NOTE: This recipe makes a lot – enough for a pretty large pumpkin. You could, of course, cut the recipe in half for a smaller gathering.

Fall Festival

Sunday afternoon was our church's fall festival. It was a gorgeous autumn day - sunny and a little cool- perfect for sweatshirts and cups of cocoa. It was a sweet time of great fellowship and good food. The last photo is of the goodie bag I put together for the hostess with ginger snaps and cinnamon apple spice tea. To make the paper pumpkin, click here for instructions.

Early Autumn on the Farm

(Photos by Eli)

An Anniversary Present

My husband and I went out for dinner last week on our anniversary. The meal, conversation and atmosphere were perfect, and we had such a good time together. (The chocolate cake with frosting and chocolate shavings and a hot cup of Orange-Peach Tea put our meal over the top!) We drove home, and I was chatting as we walked up the steps. As I walked in the door, I stopped mid-sentence and gasped. There in the living room, in place of the small cupboard I used as a desk, stood a beautiful, little roll-top desk. I have been wanting one for a long time and there it stood. M. and the boys bought it one evening while I was out and hid it at his grandmother's. While we were out for dinner, the boys drove down and hauled it home. I was so surprised and overwhelmed.

I adore my new desk and just about live there these days! It has been so much fun to fill up all the little cubbies, sit there to write a birthday card, and make notes in my calendar. I didn't even mind paying bills this month while I sat there and sipped apple cider while doing it!


This houseful of men spoils me rotten.

Cherry Almond Granola

This is a delicious new granola recipe that I've added to my repertoire.

Cherry Almond Granola

¼ C. brown sugar
½ C. nonfat dry milk
½ C. honey
1/3 C. apple juice
2 tabl. Canola oil
1 tabl. almond extract
6 C. quick oats
1 C. dried cherries (or cranberries) – Dried cherries can be expensive but I found them for a good price at a dollar store.
1 C. organic sunflower seeds (could use sliced almonds or pecans instead)

Mix sugar, milk powder, honey, apple juice and oil; heat over medium until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and stir in extract. Combine oats, cherries and sunflower seeds in a large bowl. Drizzle with sugar mixture and mix well. Place granola on two large, rimmed cookie sheets. Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown, stirring occasionally. Cool and store.

Keeping Little Ones

We recently kept my sister's babies for the day. We visited the goats, played Frisbee, slurped watermelon and watched The Flintstones.


Ben spent a large chunk of the afternoon "wrestling" with them. The baby would throw out his arms and fall full-tilt onto Ben for a body slam. The older one kept getting squeezed by Ben's scissors leg move.


I'm not sure who enjoyed it the most . . .


OR who was the most tired. The baby fell asleep on the floor, and I found Ben napping on the couch.

Actually, I was exhausted, too - without any wrestling moves. At the end of the day, just like a grandparent, I happily waved good-bye 'til next time.

(Photos by Eli)

Pig Iron Fest!

Last Sunday we spent a fun afternoon enjoying the Pig Iron Fest in a little town across the river. Pig Iron is a type of iron that was made in huge furnaces in the late 1800's. (The name comes from the fact that the iron spilled out into a large mold with little molds coming off the sides of it, resembling a sow with her piglets laying beside her nursing.) Up and down the Susquehanna River of Pennsylvania were furnaces that created this iron - eight of them alone in this area. The furnace is now in ruins, but every year the historical society puts on free tours of the area - with archeologists who explain the process and re-enactors who teach the history of the specific furnace through their skits. Fun and fascinating!

Yogurt Making 101

A friend recently shared with me how much she enjoys making homemade yogurt every week. Her encouragement got me to wondering if I could make yogurt at home in my slow cooker. I stumbled across this link which gives the incredibly easy instructions for making yogurt in a crockpot. I adapted this recipe simply by setting my slow cooker to between the 2nd and 3rd heat levels. The yogurt came out great - how cool is that?! The yogurt is thinner than store bought but works just fine for our smoothie breakfasts. If you want it thicker, you can add a packet of Knox gelatin to the mix to thicken it (scroll down further into her post and you'll see that mentioned). Enjoy!

Love Feast

It’s been nearly fifteen years since I participated in a Love Feast – a time of foot washing, eating of the Lord’s Supper, and communion with my brothers and sisters in the Lord. I wasn’t sure how much of it would come back to me last evening, but it was just like riding a bicycle . . . but far sweeter.

* the sound of the old hymns with just our voices reverberating off the walls
* the humility of washing another’s feet and the love and thankfulness for that person that such an act generates
* the even greater humility of having an elderly sister struggling to get on her knees so that she can wash your feet
* watching my brothers in the Lord across the aisle embracing each other after serving one another in this way
* hearing an elderly man who can barely speak because of a stroke be able to clearly say to the one next to him: “This bread which we break is the communion of the body of Christ.”
* the comforting taste of lamb, sop and unleavened bread
* watching a brother lean over and tenderly wipe the face of his elderly father
* hearing the whispered encouragement from one sister to another who was struggling with the fact that this was the first Love Feast without her husband who’s gone Home
* the hug from a friend who told me she loved me and was so glad I was back
* missing my mother-in-law who couldn’t attend but always sat next to me when I was a young bride
* the refrain from a Michael Card song sung earlier that morning running through my mind: “Day after day, we must take up the basin and the towel.”
* the laughter and fun of cleaning up together afterwards
* the intimacy that such a time brings to the Body of Christ

It’s good to be back.

Corgyncombe's Agricultural Fair

Miss Diane at Corgyncombe Cottage has invited us to her Agricultural Fair and Exhibition. Trust me, it's a delightful treat. The photographs of lovely vignettes and scenes from Corgyncombe Cottage are definite "eye candy," as they say. Enjoy!

Inspiration From Mitford: Apple-Pie Baking

“Miss Sadie Baxter was the last surviving member of one of Mitford’s oldest families. At the age of eighty-six, she occupied the largest house in the village, with the most sweeping view. And she owned the most land, much of it given over to an aged but productive apple orchard. In fact, the village cooks said the best pies weren’t made of Granny Smiths, but of the firm, slightly tart Sadie Baxters, as they’d come to be called.”

Aftering reading this passage, I felt inspired to create SOMETHING with apples in it. Though I don’t have any Sadie Baxters to put in my crusts, we do have a bumper crop of Golden Delicious down in the basement. And this being Autumn, it’s the perfect time to bake apple pies.

I recently tried a new pie crust recipe – one that you don’t have to roll out. I found it in a Martha Stewart magazine and adapted it a smidge. Last Saturday I made two Apple Crumb Pies using this shortbread crust recipe, and M. declared them the best he’s ever tasted.

Press-In Shortbread Crust – makes two 9” crusts

Stir together 6 tabl. of softened butter and 6 tabl. of sugar (I used 2 tabl. of Sun Crystals instead). Add in two large egg yolks. Lastly, add 2 C. flour and 1 ½ tsp. salt. Mix, divide and press into the bottoms and up the sides of two 9” pie plates. Freeze for 20 minutes. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes then let cool a bit and fill. (This recipe calls for the crust to be baked a little before adding the filling and baking again. I usually do this anyway with any crust I make as this helps to prevent a soggy bottom pie crust.) This crust has a flavor similar to a shortbread cookie – unique and delicious!

For Apple Crumb Pie:
Slice plenty of apples to fill Shortbread Crusts and sprinkle generously with cinnamon. Sprinkle top with Pie Crumbs (see recipe below) and bake at 375 for about 50 minutes or until you see a bit of juice bubbling and bottom apples are tender. (You may need to cover pie with foil so the crust doesn’t get too brown.)

Pie Crumbs – enough for 2 pies

Mix 2 C. flour and 1 C. sugar (OR ½ C. Splenda OR 6 tabl. Sun Crystals). Add 6 tabl. of softened butter and ¼ tsp. baking soda; mix well until crumbly.