Dry Mix For Scalloped Potatoes

I would love to write about things I think about and recent current events, but it just causes comments that I need to delete. I don't need the stress. Being an older woman already makes me invisible and open to criticism. It's amazing what people can say when they don't know you, so what do I do? I cook, even if it is for myself. I had a birthday a few days ago and wanted comfort food. This is the result.

 

What is this? It is a dry mix to make Scalloped Potatoes. I really like them but making them from scratch requires planning ahead and having the proper ingredients on hand. The scalloped potatoes at Costco are really good, but the carton is too big for me and they don't freeze that well. This dry mix is perfect for me. I can quickly make the portion I need. I would like to give credit to the person who came up with the original recipe but I don't know where I got it. The original recipe included dried chives and minced onion but I left that out. I actually made half the amount in this recipe because I don't need so much. I stirred all the dry ingredients together and stored it in a quart jar. I sealed the jar with a vacuum sealer.

Scalloped Potato Dry Mix

 

2 Cups powdered milk

1 Cup flour

1 Cup cornstarch

1/2 Cup dried parsley 

2 T. salt 

4  t. mustard powder 

2 t. pepper

1 t. garlic powder 

1 t. Italian seasoning 

Put 3 cups of peeled and sliced potatoes in a buttered baking dish 

Mix together 1/2 Cup of dry mix and 2 3/4 Cups water.

 

Pour over raw potatoes. I added a 1/2 cup of diced ham. You could add some diced onion if you like that flavor.

 

Dot with 2 T of butter

 

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

 

Apple Pie Bread

Today I was doing my normal morning chores as best I could, and I noticed I had some apples that needed attention. I usually make my own apple pie filling and these would be perfect. This is how I make it.

Apple Pie Filling

4 apples (different varieties require different cooking times)

2 T. butter  

1 t. cinnamon (more or less depending on your taste)

1/3 cup sugar

3 T. water

4 t. cornstarch

2 T. water

Peel, core and chop or slice 4 apples

Melt 2 T. of butter and 1 t. cinnamon

Stir the apples into the melted butter and cinnamon, then add 1/3 cup sugar and 3 T. of water

Cover and cook them for about 5 minutes or until they are starting to soften

Next dissolve 4 T cornstarch into 2 T water

Add this to the hot apples. Stir until the apples are soft and the filling has thickened. Boil for one more minute.

This filling can be used to make a pie or eaten like chunky applesauce. 

I was going to freeze the filling until Thanksgiving, but I changed my mind. I had seen a Apple Pie bread recipe on Facebook. It called for one can of apple pie filling. I figured my homemade filling would be the same thing. I found one can of filling equals slightly more than 2 cups of filling. This recipe makes about that amount. 

Apple Pie Bread

1 can apple pie filling, mashed (or 2 1/2 cups of homemade filling)

1 yellow cake mix

4 eggs, slightly beaten

1 cup self rising flour

1 T. cinnamon

1 chopped apple

I had purchased a yellow cake mix at Walmart in the clearance aisle.  It was a Dolly Parton edition for $.75. I haven't tried this mix before but it's just cake mix. How bad can it be?

I had eggs and cinnamon plus another apple.

The only thing I didn't have was self rising flour, but that is easy to make.

Self Rising Flour

1 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 t baking powder

1/4 t salt

Just mix all the ingredients together. If you use a mixer, add the apple pie filling and extra chopped apple last and mix in with a spoon.  This makes two loaf pans. Sprinkle some cinnamon and sugar on top before baking.

Bake at 325 degrees for 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

No Murders in this Building, Just a Carrion Plant

Two years ago a very generous neighbor of mine gave me the starts to some plants. They were a pencil cactus plant, a variety of a snake plant and a type of cactus I wasn't familiar with. At some point I posted photos of these on Facebook. I heard from my uncle Jeff telling me that this type of cactus blooms. It hadn't up to this point so I thought conditions must have to be perfect for that to happen. He told me not to water it all winter and it would blossom, but be aware it doesn't smell good. I waited all summer and it grew well but I didn't see any buds. Then it happened. On October 14 I was looking out the window as I often do. I had recently brought the plants inside because we were expecting frost. I did a double take because there were buds on the plant.  If you look carefully, you can see two buds. I am not sure how long they had been there, but I was excited to see them.

I had no idea what the blooms would look like or how long it would take. I researched the plant. This is what I found. It is a Carrion plant from the species Stapelia gigantea from the genus Stapelia. That meant nothing to me but then I read they are also called corpse flowers or stinking flower not to be confused with the gigantic African corpse flower. Now I understood the warning about the smell. It is actually a spine-free succulent, and it isn't a cactus at all. I waited and waited. Every day the blossoms got a little larger. Two weeks from the day I discovered the buds they were larger than a golf ball and slightly smaller than a tennis ball. They were quite large for the size of the plant and looked a little like a balloon.

I went away for a few days. I was sure it would blossom while I was gone, but when I got home everything looked the same. Patiently I waited. Every morning and evening I checked for clues. Then 30 days from when I spotted the first sign of a bud, I saw a crack in one of the buds.

At this point I set up the time lapse feature from my cell phone camera. A short time later, I captured this happening. 

As I watched both blossoms eventually opened.  One by one the petals popped open. They actually made a popping sound. They are so beautiful.

It has been an exciting day. I don't know how long the blossoms will last. My barrel cactus blossoms last only one day. These flowers already look like they are fading. I only hope I don't get any visitors for a while. They will surely think I have a dead body hidden in the basement. The blooms are pretty but they do smell like rotten hamburger.  I only hope it dissipates quickly. 

My other plants have also done well. The pencil cactus has grown very quickly and is interesting. It only has very tiny leaves. Apparently it is quite toxic which I didn’t know. I don’t have small children and pets so I’m not really worried, however it’s good to be aware. The plant is really large and will need to be trimmed back eventually.

 The other was a variety of the snake plant.  I'm sure it has a scientific name but it's just a shorter version of the snake plant.

 Next summer they will all return to the outdoors. Maybe if I am lucky the Carrion plant will bloom again and the other plants will flourish.

My Bus Trip to Shipshewana Indiana.

I just returned from my third bus trip. The first two were 7-9 days long. They were all pleasant in their own way. The first was to New York City with the Fond du Lac Wisconsin senior center.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2017/10/our-visit-to-big-apple.html This trip was mostly visiting the most popular landmarks and attractions around the city. The next was a trip to Maine. http://www.thecabincountess.com/2022/10/my-nine-day-bus-trip-to-coastal-maine.html This trip was a lot of sightseeing and seeing the beauty of the state. It also included a trip to Niagara Falls. Both of these trips went to areas that would be difficult to drive to for this country bumpkin. It took the stress out of traveling for me. The trips are quite structured so if you are a free spirit and like to do your own thing, this isn't for you.

My recent trip was only three days long. It was to Shipshewana, Indiana. It wasn't as far away but also included activities I would not have done on my own. It did include a little more shopping time than I would have liked. I don't enjoy window shopping. I buy what I need when I need it. However, I did learn a lot the rest of the time.

We left bright and early on a Wednesday. The bus picked up people in two more locations, and we had two rest stops so the trip went quite fast. Since I was traveling single I had a seat mate I didn't know. It turned out to be a fun trip. She was a great person, and we had some fun conversations and learned about each other’s lives. We arrived in downtown Shipshewana in the middle of the afternoon, leaving two hours of shopping. I didn't spend 10 cents. I was under the impression this was an Amish community and the whole town was Amish stores. I was wrong. The Amish and Mennonite populations live in the outskirts. They have many nice businesses but I didn't discover any in town.

After shopping we checked into the hotel and headed out to Yoder's Family Dinner. It was supposed to be a family style dinner at an Amish farm. It actually was, but that population is very wealthy it seems. The story is that the Jayco corporation which makes campers has a big factory in the area. Many of the Amish farmers went to work there and made a lot of money. They were able to buy land and build fancy houses. I expected a homespun house with a wood stove and scrubbed wood floors. Instead it was a beautiful home on a lake. I have only seen white Amish houses with a barn and horses out back. It did have horses and a buggy parked by the lake, but it also had a big pontoon boat. They seem to be doing very well.

The meal was excellent and we all went back to the hotel stuffed with mashed potatoes, meatloaf, ham, green beans, salad, homemade bread, noodles and pie. We were miserable but happy.

The next morning we visited the Silver Star Leather shop where they demonstrated making a belt and answered questions about the process and how they started the business. The shop owner also worked for the camper factory but in recent years after Covid, the camper business is not as strong as it was. This man started the leather business and is successful enough to stop working at the factory either by choice or was forced to quit. The store was filled with very nice leather goods. I don't know for sure but I don't believe he is Amish. He sells on Amazon and has a phone.

Next was little more shopping. We stopped at a little Amish house where the woman made jams and jellies. She used white grape juice for sweetener. 100% white grape juice doesn't contain any added sugar so it was a popular stop. Then we were off to the Daniel O'Donnell show. My parents were huge fans and had most of his CD's. They listened to him everyday. I liked him fine but I really wasn't a big fan. I knew most of the songs by osmosis. I was very pleasantly surprised. He put on an amazing show for three hours. I teared up a little when he sang my mom's favorite song of his, the Green Green Grass of Home. 

Since it was a three hour show, it was dinner time when it was finished. We had another family dinner at a different farm. This one wasn't so fancy but still nice. The host was an Amish man who was about 34 years old. His little children helped him serve and collect dishes. A question and answer session afterward revealed a lot about their way of life. No question was off limits. He was very open about the way they live and had a great sense of humor. The prayer before dinner was in high German. They mostly speak Pennsylvania Dutch and English. The food was about the same and again we rolled out of there stuffed to our ears.

The next day was Friday and we were going home later that day, but before we left we visited a few more cottage industries. The first was Teaberry Wood Products. It is an Amish-Mennonite family run business specializing in handcrafted baskets, puzzles, cutting boards and other items. We were allowed make a small wall hanging out of wood in the shape of a quilt square. It was great fun.

For a short time we were allowed to go into a large grocery store that sold bulk foods as well as other grocery items. There were many Amish shopping in there. It was explained that there are Amish, there are Mennonites who can drive cars and also Mennonites who only drive buggies. So when I say Amish, I don't really know for sure. I can't tell the difference by seeing them unless they are driving a car.

 

 

It was now lunch time. We went to Ben's Pretzels. I hadn't heard of Ben's Pretzels but the owner Ben met us at his restaurant. He told his story of how he started making pretzels many years ago when he was young. He has left the Amish but some of his siblings are still practicing that way of life. The business has grown to 150 locations. They sell in many college and NFL stadiums as well as shopping malls and even Meijer grocery stores. Ben taught us how to make pretzels. I see another recipe blog in my future. He didn't share his recipe but it will be a good challenge for me to come up with one. He prepared the dough and showed us how to roll and twist the pretzel. Then he came along, picked them up in order and baked them. The warm baked pretzel we made was returned to us to enjoy eating.

 

Our next stop was an Amish schoolhouse. We picked up a gentleman who was able to get us into the school while it was in session. No photos were allowed in the dinners or the school. This was a fairly new building. There were 44 students from 1st grade to 8th. They had 4 teachers in one room. They had just sectioned off an area for 3rd grade because there were so many of them, but it was only separated by a cabinet. One of the male teachers told us all about the school system. Children only go to 8th grade or age 15. At that time they find work or help in the family business. The children were very well behaved but they are modernized a little. Some of the families are more liberal and allow fleece jackets, clogs and more colorful clothing. Actually outside next to the building were parked several electric bikes. Even though it is controversial, some families use electric bikes instead of the buggy. We also noticed solar panels on almost all the Amish homes. The school lights were battery operated. I am thinking that the homes are getting away from lanterns and have moved to charging batteries with solar power.

 

After a short tour of the countryside, the final stop was the Casket Company. It seemed an appropriate end. We learned a lot. Caskets and Coffins are two different things. Caskets are rectangular shaped with four sides and coffins are tapered at the head and usually the feet. They have six sides. This is a Coffin, but it looks like it's only tapered at the head. The craftsman builds them to family specifications. These burial boxes only cost $850 compared to funeral home caskets which can be priced in the thousands. This stop was more interesting than I expected it to be.

By now everyone was tired, dehydrated and ready to head home. The average age of my other bus tours was much younger. Many were in their upper 50's or lower 60's. Many were newly retired or still working. I think the average age on this trip was higher although it is hard for me to tell age. It was about 4:00pm EDT when we headed home. I got to my car and after a half hour drive I arrived home about 11:00 pm. 

It was a great trip. We packed so much into 3 days.

Cleaning Your Closet Leads To All Sorts Of Things

I haven't written for a while. Actually I have, but they are sitting in my queue unpublished. I have been in a "mood". It isn't a good mood nor a bad mood, but it is definitely a mood. I was trying to think of something interesting that I haven't written about before. That's a tall order considering I been writing this blog for almost twelve years. I was going to write a clever post about things rattling around in my head or things I have observed in this political climate, but that isn't what I need to dwell on. I actually did write a whole paragraph of venting and deleted it. Just writing it down released it from my mind. It's time for everyone to do the same thing. Being bombarded with so much anger is not healthy. So in order to move on with all of that, I decided to do something really important. I cleaned my closet and got rid of another batch of stuff. In doing so I found a wool sweater I have been keeping for years. It was itchy, pilling and a little snug, but I liked it even though I didn't wear it. I decided to unravel it to repurpose it. 

Even I didn't know what a sharp turn this blog was going to take, but this is what I came up with. The first thing I did was undo all the seams and remove the zipper. Then piece by piece I began unraveling the knitting. I have done this many times. Sometimes the sweater seams are sewn with a serger. This means the seam is stitched and the excess is cut off in the same process. Those sweaters can't be unraveled into a single strand of yarn. It will unravel into a piece only one row long. Usually a nice wool sweaters like this are perfect for repurposing the yarn. 

When all the sweater pieces were unraveled and rolled into balls, they were ready to use. I just had to decide what to make.

There is a lot of yardage in a sweater, so I can probably make several small things. The first project I made was a crocheted pumpkin. There are a lot of free pumpkin patterns available on Ravelry.com or Pinterest. This pattern was free when I signed up for a newsletter. I can't share the pattern but it is from Briana K Designs. Just look her up, you should be able to find it. It is crocheted in a rectangle, sewn up and stuffed. For the stuffing I used the batting in an old pillow. This project repurposed things I was getting rid of. I think it's better than ending up in the landfill.

 

This project still needs a little embellishment before it's totally finished. For the stem I just went outside and snapped the top off of one of my bird feeder pumpkins. I cut the top off of them anyway. 

Enjoy your day. Focus on the good simple things in life. Those things are the most important. 

This is my second pumpkin project this month. The first was a project I did with my daughter and her mother in law. We like to do a seasonal craft together. We folded paperback books into Christmas Trees last Christmas. https://www.thecabincountess.com/2023/12/2023-christmas-crafting-project.html

 

Using that theme we made pumpkins. We drew a circle shape on an old paperback book. My son in law cut the shape with a band saw or jig saw, I'm not sure which. Then page by page we creased the pages at the spline removing the cover. Attaching the first page to the last makes the shape of a pumpkin. A little spray paint and some decorations made a cute decoration. 

 

Preserve Peppers by Drying Them

I have a friend who is big into gardening. He starts his own plants and must have a great system because he has the biggest and most prolific plants I have ever seen. This spring he gave me several tomato and pepper plants. I don't have a garden so I passed them on to my daughters. There were many different varieties. All of the plants produced very well. I would usually get 1 or 2 peppers per plant, but these were loaded. 

I didn't want to see any go to waste so I experimented with drying some. I picked 12 small green and red peppers. I diced them with my favorite Vidalia chop wizard (http://www.thecabincountess.com/2012/12/a-day-of-recovery.html). I had exactly 4 cups. I don't have a dehydrator but I put the diced peppers on parchment paper on the air fryer rack in my Ninja oven. I used the dehydrator setting which was 150 degrees.

I dried them for 7 hours stirring every couple hours. Eventually they were very dry to the touch.

4 cups of diced peppers turned into 3/4 cup of dried peppers.

At this point I ground the dried peppers in a small grinder. I didn't quite make powder but ground it pretty fine. 

To make it simple:

12 peppers = 4 cups diced peppers = 3/4 cup dried peppers =1/3 cup ground pepper

I think it's amazing there is that much water in vegetables. I did the math and a heaping teaspoon (1.33 t) is equal to 1 pepper. It smells really good. I am not sure what I will use it in, but there are a lot of recipes that this could be added to for additional flavor.

Pumpkin Bars

 

I have been asked why I write this blog. I have asked myself the same question particularly when I write stories about insignificant topics like making cheese or chasing bees. It is pretty boring to read about someones family vacation or how to repair a coffee pot. I do it so I can find my own recipes or important events easily by typing the subject in the search bar. It's a way of organizing my life by year. But more than that, it's a way of being heard. It may not be anyone else's experience, but people don't want to hear what you have to say. They don't want details, just the cliff notes. I am an introvert so I would rather not talk then. When I write, I can include a few details. Even then, it can't be too long. People are easily bored. Every single time I post a blog, I get a pang of anxiety but I do it anyway.

The art of conversation is lost. Today's technology is somewhat if not totally responsible. Texting in incomplete sentences using abbreviations is a way of the world. Snapchat is a snap of a persons life that doesn't require a response and disappears quickly. What is the point of that? I am at fault as well. When I tell a story in person, I get tongue tied and skip to the end because I can tell I am losing their attention. Often I miss important details, so what I say is either forgotten or doesn't make sense. I can identify we have a problem but I can't fix it. 

My wish for the future generations is that they ask questions about their heritage and listen to stories their parents, grandparents and even friends are telling. I was in the car with my daughter recently and I mentioned something about my college days. She had never heard it before. It wasn't an important story but it made me realize people don't really know each other very well, even our children. We try to have family meals but even that is hard to arrange. Those times are when the best conversations occur. In the 1970's I listened to a song called Stop and Smell the Roses. We all need to start doing that.

So that being said, I made Pumpkin Bars yesterday. Type Pumpkin in my search bar, and you will see I like pumpkin. Here is the recipe I used for the pumpkin bars. Sorry there is a piece missing from the pan. I had to sample it to make sure it was good. Well maybe the truth is I was so excited to eat it, I forgot to take a picture. 

Pumpkin Bars

4 eggs

2 c. brown sugar

1 15 oz can of pure pumpkin puree

3/4 c. (1 1/2 sticks) melted butter or a scant cup of oil

2 c. flour

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

2 tsp cinnamon 

1 c. chopped nuts (optional)

Mix the first 5 ingredients together until well blended. Add the dry ingredients and pour into the greased jelly roll pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean

Frosting

4 T.  softened butter

1 8 oz. block of cream cheese

1 tsp vanilla

3 c. powdered sugar

1 T.  milk or more if needed.