Recommended Recipe Books

Here is my list of favorites with stars by the books that are the most beat up books at my house.

366 Delicious Ways to Cook Rice Beans and Grains by Andrea Chesman
Country Beans by Rita Bingham
The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book by Laurel Roberston et al
*Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon
The New Laurel's Kitchen by Laurel Robertson
*A Busy Cook's Guide to Spices by Linda Murdock
*Fix It and Forget It by Ranck and Good

I have other favorites but they're church cookbooks or old and out of print.

If you're just learning to cook then I would recommend a *Betty Crocker Cookbook, Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, or The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook.
I've always thought it a good idea for an older girl in the home to cook every recipe in one of these to gain a wide variety of skills.

Cast Iron Pan Chocolate Chip Oat Cookie

Cast Iron Pan Chocolate Chip Oat Cookie 
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

1 c softened butter (I use olive oil for my dairy free girls)
1 c brown sugar
1 t vanilla
2 eggs

2 1/4 c flour (I prefer fresh ground)
1 t baking soda
1 t sea salt

1/2 c regular rolled oats
2 c chocolate chips
1 c chopped walnuts

• In a large bowl combine the sugar, butter, eggs, and vanilla. Beat it until it's fluffy. 
• Add flour, baking soda, and salt slowly and carefully so that there are no lumps, or mix it in a separate bowl before adding. I like to cut corners so I put it all into the big bowl.
•  Stir in the oats, chocolate chips, and walnuts. 
• Butter or oil a medium sized skillet. Put the dough into the skillet. 

At this point my sister likes to put salt on the top of the dough. If you're going to eat this with ice cream it's a nice sweet and salty mix. But if you are not going to have this with ice cream--don't do it.

Bake for 45 minutes. If your cast iron skillet is larger then it will take less time to bake. If it is smaller and the dough deeper then the time will be longer.If your pan is smaller then the outside will be crunchier and the inside more cake like. It's all good.

And it's also good in bowl with milk. That is the Amish in me coming out.

Cranberry Pork Roast

Cranberry Pork Roast

Ingredients:

4 lb. boneless pork roast

Spice rub:

2 t sea salt

1 t freshly ground pepper

2 t ground thyme

¼ t ground nutmeg

Herbs, vegetables, etc.:

3 carrots, sliced

1onion, chopped

Several whole garlic cloves

4 whole cloves

3 bay leaves

2 T dried parsley

2 T dried celery leaves

2 c homemade chicken stock (recipe follows) (you could use the watery store-bought kind if you had to)

1 package of cranberries

Use a stoneware covered roaster for the best results.

Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Rub the spice rub all over the pork roast. Put uncovered into oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and add herbs, vegetables and chicken stock. Add cranberries to the top of everything. Turn heat to 200 degrees, cover pork roast, return to oven and slow cook for several hours. The longer it cooks slow and low the more tender it becomes, especially in stoneware.

Serving ideas: baked sweet potatoes, winter squash, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, green beans, etc. and—of course—salad and bread.

Variants that give fine results:

1. After the initial 450 degrees for 30 minutes, 350 degrees for 3 hours.

2. Rub the roast, put it in a crockpot, add the rest of the ingredients and cook it on low all day or high for 4 hours.

Homemade Chicken Stock:

This is a very easy way to save money and much yummier than store-bought.

Roast a chicken in the crock pot (with potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, etc.), use the chicken for a recipe or eat it as is for supper. Put the chicken carcass and leftover vegetables back into the crockpot, add more onions and garlic, cover with water, and cook on low overnight or indefinitely. Slow and low is best, in my experience most slow cookers have too high of a low setting. This can also be done on top of the stove, in the oven, and in a roaster with several reserved carcasses.  The more onions and garlic, the better the broth. Leave the dried brown onions skins on for a darker broth. Cool the broth, strain, and put in freezer containers for later use.

How to use the leftovers for a frugal and delicious soup!

Cranberry Pork Roast into Squash and Tomato Bisque

This is how I used the leftovers last time we had Cranberry Pork Roast. It was very delicious and pretty.

Unfortunately we cannot find the picture we took of it. The bisque is a deep orange with a hint of pink to it. There are pieces of pork, celery leaves, onion, and cranberries throughout. The bites of cranberry and are a wonderful contrast to the sweetness of the bisque.

Ingredients:

olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

4 c chicken stock

4 c  tomato juice

4 c squash puree (butternut, delicada, acorn, pumpkin, etc.) (this is from leftover squash from another meal or you could buy canned pumpkin)

Sea salt to taste

Red pepper flakes

In a dutch oven, saute the onion in  oil. Add the chicken stock, tomato juice, squash puree heat to simmer then puree with a  stick blender. Add seasonings. If you would prefer it thinner, add more chicken broth. This could be thrown together in the crockpot in the morning and served at supper time. Leftovers freeze very well and as with many soups, it tastes better the second day.

Now, to jazz it up a bit with Cranberry Pork Roast leftovers (we’re very frugal foodlovers here).

I happened to have leftover Squash and Tomato Bisque in the freezer. Into a dutch oven I put 4 cups of Squash and Tomato Bisque, 4 cups of chicken broth, 2 cups of leftover baked sweet potatoes (from our cranberry pork roast dinner). I heated and pureed this soup with the stick blender. Then I cut the leftover pork and vegetables into bite sized pieces and added it to the hot soup. Heated it to a simmer and served. It was very pretty and tasted wonderful.

As a young bride, I needed kitchen wisdom. My mother-in-law mentored me and gave me an excellent pork roast spice rub recipe. I learned to make an excellent chicken stock, the value of herbs, spices and garlic, and to cook slow and low. Eventually I combined the spice rub with a cranberry pork recipe to make a tender, juicy, home-time favorite. I can dump this easy recipe into the crockpot in the morning, or take the extra time to rub the spices and sear it. Now, Cranberry Pork Roast is a “comfort food” for my husband and nine children.

The Heidelberg Catechism

Of all the catechisms this one is my favorite. I just appreciate how poetic it is. I especially love the first Q and A.
It is especially poignant tonight.

Q.
What is your only comfort in life and in death?


A.

That I am not own,

but belong—

body and soul,

 in life and in death—

to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.

He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,

and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.

 He also watches over me in such a way

that not a hair can fall from my head

without the will of my Father in heaven:

 in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.

Because I belong to him,

 Christ, by his Holy Spirit,

assures me of eternal life

and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready

 from now on to live for him.

Beautiful Stocking Stuffers for Girls

Look at the pictures and read all the way to the bottom because there will be a FREE GIVE AWAY!!! Plus a coupon—buy three get one free.

Misty Marr, a sweet mama and faithful reader, sent me a couple of Lilla Rose hair clips to try out on myself and my girls. Let me just say that these clever things are very pretty. And practical. I carry one in my purse so that I can have something to put up my hair or the girls’ if need be.

Pull the hair into a pony tail, the flower and the loops are on the top part and you take the stick part behind the pony tail and fit it back into the left hand loop. It’s easy. They come in different sizes for different hair styles or thickness of hair.

They are quality pieces that you will not find anything like at walmart or those kind of places. They are strong, not plastic, lie nice, and again quality. We save them for church and special events.

They are jewelry for your hair! Sooooo pretty. And just the right size for stocking stuffers.

 

There are oodles of styles to choose from—match it to the personality of your unique girl.

The headbands are also beautiful.

Look at this beauty.

There are also jeweled bobby pins, beaded O-rings, sticks, you-pins—and I know that you probably don’t know what some of these things are but you should go look. You will be inspired!

ooooh, there are also have earrings, necklaces, and eyeglass lanyards. Very pretty. I can’t quit saying pretty pretty pretty pretty.

Like this one. Simple Danglie Necklace. I even like the name.

There are also videos of how to style your hair with these pretties.

Even if you don’t plan to buy anything at all—you should go look at this site and watch the videos with your girls. FUN! FUN!

 

I was originally intending to include pictures of me and my girls’ hair with the clips in. We’re going to a ladies' tea this evening and these will be perfect in our hair.

However, there is a three day sale and free shipping that Misty just emailed me about and I wanted to let you know about it so that you have time to order and get these beauties for your girls before Christmas.

Perhaps the pictures of us with our hair clips will be up tomorrow or later in the week.

Like Misty’s page on Facebook so that you can be updated on future sales and new styles.

Now it gets better than all the fun of looking through her Lilla Rose site, there will be a GIVE AWAY!

This is how you enter to win a stylish, practical, feminine, and super-easy-to-use flexi-clip (up to $15 value),      you get one entry for each thing that you do,      put all of your entries into one comment post:

• Go to the Lilla Rose site and choose a favorite Flexi-Clip, then come back here and post in the comment your favorite
• Watch the sizing video at the Lilla Rose site
• Register at the Lilla Rose site
• Like Misty Marr’s Sweet Hairlooms Facebook page
• Post about the Give Away on your Facebook page
• Post about the Give Away on your blog

 

So see, you can enter the Give Away SIX times!

Additionally, Misty is offering a coupon for three days, Buy Three, Get One Free. The three days start today, so Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Just send Misty a message with Buy Three, Get One Free in the subject line to sweethairlooms at gmail dot com