New School, New Classrooms!

School started at the New high school this week!

It has been a summer of packing boxes, unpacking boxes and setting up the foods lab and the sewing lab.

I have to tell ya, it looks pretty darn good! I hope you agree.

I wish I had a kitchen island and double ovens!!!

This is what I unpacked a couple of weeks ago.

Here is the child development room. The teacher I work with, that is teaching the child development classes,  had all the electronic babies getting all charged up. They even come with car seats!!

Here is a picture of the sewing lab. I have more sewing machines set up now for the students to use.

This is what it looked like before I got started unpacking boxes and moving tables around.

I think the sewing lab is looking pretty good! I still have some work to do.

Anywho, I thought you might want a quick update on the new school and new classrooms.

This summer was an adventure!

I think I could get a job at Two men and a Truck place…..I have packed and unpacked so much!

Maybe not…..I think the “men” part eliminates me : )

I have a some more garden updates (I planted…with help….a fall garden), apple picking with grand girls, and some jam recipes.

So, please check back!!!!

I know I will survive the first week of school…..

Tomorrow is Friday and Jean Day! woohooo!!!

Becky

 

 

 

Happy Birthday to “A Small Town Kitchen!”

A Small Town Kitchens is one year old today! It is hard for me to believe That a year has gone by so fast!

This  little web page of mine was something I wanted to do for a long time before I actually took the plunge. Baby college girl help me set it up and get all the information filled in all the blanks. I remembering watching tons of you tube videos on how to do all of this and taking notes. Trying to decipher my scribbled notes was really fun too!

Thank you to my amazing family who does not mind me sharing them with you!

Minerva…you always keep me inspired. You are a rare gem of a friend! I wish I could spell better for you! ; )

To all my other friends who read this and who I occasionally write about, you all are irreplaceable to me!

Anywho, last but not least to all my readers who keep coming back, I am humbled by you!

Here is a link to my very first post www.asmalltownkitchen.com/?=21

Thank You Again!

Becky

 

Cooking (blackberry cobbler) with Company

Have you ever tried to bake something with Company?

It can be a comical and yummy experience….if you are brave enough!

Last week, I went blackberry pickin with two of my retired teacher friends and I came home with almost 8 pounds of blackberries. you can read about it here. I did not want to waste one berry because I waited too long to either bake, freeze or make jam with them. Since black berry cobbler is one our favorite things to gobble up this time of year, I took the chance to bake with oldest grand girl and Company.

Here is how it went….

The first thing we did was round up all the ingredients. Whew…it was like….flour on first base, sugar on second, what’s in the grocery bag?…..(blackberries you ding dong….)

Grand girl takes charge and starts measuring out the flour to make the crust.

Next, Company takes over and adds in some baking powder.

Then adds in some sugar.

This is when it gets interesting.

Company takes over (again) and decided to measure the cinnamon.

Company was very exact when measuring.

Then…..

Company has to tap…tap…tap…tap….and tap (again) the cinnamon into the bowl. (it has something to do with the way company’s grand ma did it).

Grand girl, rereads the recipe and finds that we have left out the salt. She does not want to use table salt. so she spends 10 minutes looking for the sea salt.

They final let me help by whisking the dry ingredients together.

I think this is about the time that it was getting dark outside. My last working kitchen light bulb had gone out the day before and it was getting pretty dark in the kitchen. (did you notice all the shadows in the pictures?) Company decided to make a Walmart trip to replace the bulbs so we can finish up our cobbler.

So…..oldest grand girl and I wait…and wait….

40 minutes later…..company comes back with a bunch of light bulbs and in no time we have light!

Grand girl takes control (before Company can) and adds the butter.

She uses the pastry blender, to cut in the butter.

She carefully measures the milk (trying to impress company hehe).

Gently stir the crust together. They actually let me do this.

Right in the middle of us finishing up the cobbler crust, company pulls kit kat candy bars out of a Walmart sack. “What!? Are you hungry?”  “Yes…” ” We are going to be eating hot blackberry cobbler in about a hour.” Company smiles and asks….”Do you want a piece of my kit kat bar?”

“Well….Sure…”

Who can resist a piece of a kit kat bar?

Knead together the crust and roll out between two pieces of plastic wrap. I used a oval baking dish, so I was making sure the crust was the correct shape to fit. Put the crust in the fridge while you make the berry filling.

Measure out the blackberries in to a bowl.

Add the sugar.

Add the cornstarch next for a thickener.

Add the lemon juice.

We are moving a little faster now cause…..

I gave Company something to do while grand girl and I finished up.

Lastly we added some vanilla.

Stir the berries together with the sugar, lemon juice and the vanilla and pour into a prepared baking dish.

Put the chilled crust on top of the berries (tucking in the crust if it is a bit too big) Brush the top of the crust with cream (grand girl used milk).

Sprinkle the top with sugar.

I used this sugar, because it is bigger than regular sugar and has a nice flavor to it. Feel free to use regular or sanding sugar if you want. Put the cobbler in oven and bake until bubble and the crust is brown, about one hour.

While the cobbler was baking, oldest grand girl did magic tricks for us. She even has a levitating box trick.

 

Here is what ours looked like when it came out of the oven. If you need to cook yours longer but are afraid the crust will get too brown, just put a layer of foil on top of the cobbler.

You are suppose to wait for half and hour before eating the cobbler.

Did we wait????

Heck NO!

This is a juicy and tart cobbler. This would be perfect with a scoop of ice cream. Enough juice to swirl over your ice cream and tart enough to go with the sweetness of the ice cream

Did we have ice cream on ours.

Heck NO….cause Company does not like ice cream on his cobbler.

Sometimes, you have to make the Company happy.

Anywho…..if you have time to pick some fresh blackberries or just pick some up at the store, this is a easy and delicious cobbler.

It goes great with Company!

Enjoy!

Becky

Here is the recipe:

Blackberry Cobbler

Adapted from Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt.

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

6 tablespoons cubed butter

3/4 cup of heavy cream (I used whole milk cause that was all I had)

Ingredients for the filling:

6 cups fresh blackberries

2/3 cups sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)

Directions:

For the crust:

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. With a pastry blender, cut in the butter. Gently stir in the butter. Knead together (do not over knead or it will make a tough crust). Roll out crust to desired shape (I put the crust in between two piece of plastic wrap) and place in the refrigerator while you make the filling.

For the filling:

Combined the berries, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice and vanilla. Pour into a butter coated baking dish.

Place the chilled dough over the filling. Brush cream (I used milk) over the top of the crust and sprinkle with sugar.

Place in a preheated 350 degree oven and bake for about an hour.

Let the cobbler sit for 30 minutes before eating to give time for the crust to absorb some juice and the juice to thicken. (We could not wait…ooops)

It was great without ice cream too…..Company said so!

Have a great day!

Becky

 

Recipes you also might like:

                                       

Sour Cream Apple Pie                      Three Layer Strawberry Cake                       Poppy Seed Bread

Pickin’ Blackberries

I don’t know about you but I love pickin’ berries.

I can remember The Princess pickin’ gooseberries and making a pie…though I was not brave enough to try a green sour fruit pie….LOL. Years and Years ago, Niener Wiener and I went to our Aunt Pat and Uncle Larry’s farm and picked blackberries. We climbed over barb wire fences, walked through high grass and braved pickly thorns to pick our little black globes  of sweetness. When we were done,  Aunt Pat rewarded us with homemade tomato soup right out of a Campbell Soup can. We went home and made the best tasting blackberry jam.

Those memories make me smile!

I miss my Uncle Larry……real bad!

Anywho, yesterday I took the morning off (from still setting up classroom labs) and went blackberry pickin’ with two of my retired teachers friends, Carol and Jill.

If you look hard enough, you might be able to see Carol up this row.

I was late getting there, because of road construction, missed signs, not paying attention and basicaly spaceing off while I was driving till I was about 8 miles past where I was suppose to turn. My two teacher friends, called me and decided to go ahead and start picking. When I got there, I took my bucket and started walking down to where you can pick the blackberries. (This is a local ” you pick”  farm called, Pick and Pick). As I start walking toward their large blackberry patch,  I am walking down the ailses hollering “YouWhooooo,” trying to figure out where they are.  They are hollering back..”We can hear you, keep walking this way.”

the blackberry patch is way up ahead

“YouWhoo”

“Your voice is getting closer….keep walking.”

“YouWhoo!”

“Oh Jill, I found a mother lode of berries!!!”

“YOUWHOO!!!!”

“Woohoo Carol, I found a mother lode of ripe berries over here!!”

“Youwhoooooooooo!!”

“Oh Becky…I think you just need to walk down a couple of more rows….Jill…Becky is here….”

“YOUWHO!!”

“I think one more row should do it!”

“YouWhoo”

“We are down here! No here! Just a little farther..”

Whew….I felt like I was in a maze. But, I finally found my two buddies, and they did indeed find a mother lode of beautiful ripe berries.

I found some too!

I also found a adorable birds nest.

Not quite ripe berries, but they will be perfect next week for pickin”.

It was a beautiful day for pickin’ blackberries. It is beautiful too at Pick and Pick.

Pick and Pick has rows and rows of neatly trimed blackberries.

With a little help from Carol, this is what I came home with. Almost 8 pounds of super sweet blackberries. Let’s just hope I do not have the same fiasco as I did with all the corn, read about here.

I have already used 1 cup of the blackberries in a oat cake with blackberries and blueberries I made as soon as I got home with these blackberries. I will post the recipe later on today.

Right now, I better start freezing some of these blackberries and find jars for blackberry jam.

I hope you can find some time to go out and pick some berries.

It will bring you berry much pleasure….and be berry delicious!

Becky

Couponing at Hyvee

I never try to ignore couponing at Hyvee, it just happens.

But that all changed this past Monday.

In the Sunday paper, Hyvee had these great coupons that was good for Monday only. I meant to go before I went to school (to unpack some more) but alas I did not make it.

So, at 9:00 a night, I headed to Hyvee to use those awesome coupons.

 I picked up some bottle water for $1.99 with a coupon, 10 packages of ramen noodles (I got the oreintal kind because I need the seasoning pack for a pasta salad recipe I like to make) some tuna, some tomato sauce, a dozen eggs, some pork and beans, some margarine and two free bananas.

Yep! Two free bananas. The coupon was for one pound of free bananas, So….I grabed three bananas and took them to the scale to weigh them. I noticed a man watching me weigh the bananas. When I put one banana back cause it made it go over one half pound, he asked me how many bananas was a pound. I said two. So he grabed his two free bananas too.

I guess we all went a little bananas over Hyvee coupons.

I spent around $8.50 for everything.

Anywho….Hyvee has more coupons you can use the next two days (Thurs and Fri). Just grab their sale add as you go intot the door, and save, save, save.

This time the coupon is for .38 cents for a pound bananas. (I am pretty sure that is the right amount)

So that means you can get two bananas for. 38 cents.

Yippee!

Now, I will peel out and go to bed.

Yes, this is corny humor but I can’t help it…

Happy Shopping! Time for me to banana spilt!

(Sorry, I could not resist one more banana joke)

Becky

 

Coupon Shopping Trip

Schnuck’s has a coupon promotion going right now. They will double 75 cent coupons. This will last until next Tuesday. So, this means 75 cent coupons will be worth $1.50.

Anywho, before I left to work in new classrooms (yes, I am still unpacking) I did a little couponing.

I bought three boxes of cereal, a container of potato salad, one of coke slaw and four candy bars for .88 cents.

I was able to save $17.65 by coupon matching with the sale items.

Head over to Schnuck’s and see what bargains you can come up with and let me know. Just remember they only take three like coupons and will only double 15 coupons per day.

Good luck!

Becky

Vanilla Rhubarb Jam

I remember the first time I ever cooked/tasted rhubarb.

While I was in my junior year of  college,  my foods teacher, ( the one with whose shoes made scary clip clip sounds when she walked down the hall), brought in these long, skinny looking, green and red streaky stalks.

This is what rhubarb looks like.

They look delicious right?…pat the time I did not think so.

She walked (with her clip clip shoes) to the front of the classroom and told us…”today class, we will make a spread using rhubarb.”

Being raised around farms my whole life, and with all the church socials I attended growing up, I had never gotten brave enought to eat anything with rhubarb (or gooseberries….really…who would name a berry a goose).

My foods class in college was encouraged but never forced to try the recipes we made, just as long as we made them.

I am SO glad I tried this spread made out of rhubarb.

We cooked down the rhubarb with a little water until it got soft and added enough sugar to make a sweet/tart spread.

I went home and made it again and again…as long as I could find some rhubarb.

This summer I planted some rhubarb, because I love it so much!!!

This is what my rhubarb looked like before I planted it. (one died or was eaten by some critter)

One of my favorites blogs that I read is called One Hundred Dollars a Month, and she posted this great sounding recipe for vanilla rhubarb jam. When I read the recipe and seen that it had earl grey tea in it, I knew I had to at least try it.

All I can say is….lick that spoon clean, it was so good.

Anywho, if you can find some rhubarb, I know it is a little late in the season, (but I did see some at Hyvee over the weekend) try making a little bit of jam. You can save it to eat during the winter months, and it will remind you that spring will come again…if you can wait that long to eat it!

Here are your step by step instructions on making vanilla rhubarb jam.

This is all you need to make your jam!

The first thing you need to do is slice the stalks into one inch pieces.

In a large sauce pan, combine the sliced rhubarb and sugar.

Pour in your earl grey tea to the sauce pan with the rhubarb and sugar.

Bring to a boil.

         

Add the lemon juice, vanila paste (or split vanilla bean) and salt to the jam. Simmer for 10 minutes until the rhubarb is tender.

Add the pectin and cook until the jam thickens and coats  the back of a spoon.

Skim off any foam that forms on top of your jam.

Fill hot sterlized jars with jam (leaving 1/4 inch of head space), screw on sterlized lids and rims. Process in a water bath for ten minutes. (make sure at least one inch of water covers the top of the jars).

Take the hot jars out of the water, and let them cool on towels. You will hear the lids go, ” POP,” when they are sealed.

I have to say a thank you to my foods teacher, with the scary sounding clip clip shoes…..I would have never tried rhubarb if it wasn’t for her!

Here is the recipe!

Adapted from One Hundred Dollars a Month web site.

Vanilla Rhubarb Jam

Ingredients:

10 cups of sliced rhubard stalks, which is about 2 adn 1/2 pounds

5 cups of sugar

1 cup of brewed earl grey tea

1 teaspoons of vanilla paste, or one vanilla bean, split and scraped

1 tablespoon lemon juice

pinch of salt

1 box of pectin (1.75 ounce size)

Directions:

In a large saucepan, bring the rhubarb, sugar and tea to a boil. Add the lemon juice, salt and vanilla. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Add the pectin and cook for a couple of minutes or until the jam coats the back of a spoon.

Fill sterilized jars with the jam, and process in a water bath for 10 minutes.

Remove from the water bath and cool on the counter.

Have a try at making jam with this recipe. It does not take too long and it taste wonderful!

I have two more rhubarb recipes I will be posting this week.

I guess it is time for me to “jam” out!

Enjoy!

Becky

Strawberry Cake

One of the highlights (at least for me) teaching summer school, is that our school does a Fun Food Friday.

We come up with a theme and all the teachers bring food in to share.

This is a fun time for me to try new recipes and have the teachers try them out.

Teachers eat anything….you know that don’t you? : )

On the first fun food day, I brought in this Strawberry Cake. I found the recipe in a Southern Cake Magazine, and it looked way too good to pass up from trying it out.

There was not a crumb left over from this cake.

I have even been asked by a couple of teachers to make it for them and they will pay me.

Woohoo….money in the bank!

Anywho, before I left for vacation in Branson, I made this cake again for a teacher friend of mine. She is paying me to make it for her Aunt’s birthday party.

How cool is that?

I am always humbled when I get asked to cater something or make a cake. Cooking and baking is just something I love to do.

Now I wish I could say that about cleaning the kitchen.

Below, is a shorten, step by step instructions on how to make this cake.

These are the ingredients you will need to make this show stopping cake.

First thing you need to do is  make the strawberry curd filling. You will need to cook, egg yolks, sugar, corn starch and drained frozen strawberries, until thick. Then add in butter and strawberry extract.

Next,  you need to make the cake batter. Take butter and sugar and cream together. Add vanilla. The alternate flour, baking powder and salt mixture with the buttermilk.

Next whip up 5 egg whites until stiff.

Fold in the egg whites with the cake batter.

This what the cake batter looks like when you get all the egg whites and cake batter folded together.

 

Spread batter evenly in three 9 inch round cake pans and bake till done.

Remove cakes from pans, and cool completely. Then spread strawberry curd on top of the two of the cakes.

This is what it looks like all layered with the strawberry puree filling.

To make the yummy strawberry icing, cream together butter and cream cheese. Add some strawberry peree, extract and powdered sugar.

Now you can spread that yummy frosting

Now, decorate with some cut strawberries.

Then watch it dissapear.

How much would charge if you made this cake for hire?

I would love to know!

I never know how much to charge.

Here is the recipe for this beautiful and deliscious cake.

 Strawberry Cake

Adapted from Southern Cake Magazine

You will need to make a strawberry curd filling, three white cakes and a strawberry frosting.

First make the Strawberry Curd (so it can cool)

Ingredients

1–15.5 ounce package of frozen sliced strawberries in syrup. Please thaw and drain the juice.

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

3 egg yolks

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/4 cup butter

1 teaspoon strawberry extract

Directions:

In a food processor  or blender, process the drained frozen strawberries. Resever 1/2 cup for the frosting.

In a s heavy sauce mix together sugar and cornstarch. Add puree, egg yolks and lemon juice. Cook until very thick, whisking the mixture all the time. This should take around 8 minutes.

Remove from heat and whisk in butter and strawberry extract. Let mixture cool.

Cake Batter Ingredients:

1 cup butter sofened

2 cups of sugar

1 teaspoon vanill extract

2 and 3/4 cups all purpose flour

2 and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup whole buttermilk

5 egg whites

Directions:

In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar together (I used my stand mixer) until they are fluffy. Add vanilla and mix together.

In a different bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and alt. Add the flour mixure to the butter mixture, alternating it with the butter milk.

In another bowl, whip the egg whites until they form stiff peaks.

Fold in the egg whites, a third at a time with the cake batter.

Divide the batter between the three pans and bake until the centers are done. This took around 20 minutes in my oven.

When the cakes are baked, cool on a cooling rack  and remove from pans and cool completely.

Strawberry Frosting Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 (8 ounce) package of cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup of the reseved strawberry puree (it is what you saved from the strawberry curd recipe)

1 teaspoon strawberry extract

6 cups f confectioner’s sugar (I call this powdered sugar)

Directions:

In a large bowl, beat the butter and cream cheese together until it is very smooth. Add the strawberry puree and the strawberry extract, mixing them together with the butter and cream cheese mixture. Gradually add the confectioners’ sugar, beating until smooth and spreadable.

To Assemble the cake:

              

Spread the strawberry curd on top of one cake. Put a cake on top of it, and spread strawberry curd on the top of the cake. Place the third cake on top of that one. Frost the cake with strawberry frosting. Add a finishing touch of sliced strawberries to the top of the cake.

Here is what the cake looks like all finished.

Tell me how you like this cake!

Here are links to a few other cake recipe you might like to try.

                           

The Best Chocolate Cake                 Dad’s Key Lime Cake                                Banana Bars

Enjoy!

Becky

 

 

Throwed Rolls, Duck Rides and Wagon Races

Whew!

Have you wondered where I have been?

I just got back from a family vacation to Branson Missouri.

This was the first year (in about 10 years) ALL of my chidren and my grand children where able to go on vacation with me at the same time.

Was I a little nervous??????

YEPPER!

But, we all got a long great (even with 5 girls sleeping in one hotel room).

We went to Lamberts first and ate all their throwed rolls….well….we tried to eat them all

Then we rode The Ducks! Quack Quack. The ducks are boats that have wheels to drive on the roads and then go in the water.

Next we ate at McFarlands and had big pieces of their famous corn bread. (check out my version of their recipe here)

The rest of the week, we spent at Silver Dollar City, riding the Branson Belle, eating and watching the show at Dixie Stampede. (buffalos, wagon races, ostrich racing, lots of great food)

I even make a little time for shopping at my favorite fabric store and Christmas ornament store.

We all make it back home safe and sound and about 10 pounds heavier. (how does that work, when you walk all day long pushing a stroller????)

Anywho….

I am back now!

I have a three layered strawberry cake all ready to post for you!

So check back in the morning!

I need to go to bed, before I start eating more kettle corn, pork rinds, jelly beans, cheese and chocolate……

Whew….all that eating  walking can make you hungry!

Becky

 

 

Buying More Corn

Alas, I think I am going to have to buy more corn.

Am I kidding???

No!

Am I crazy??

Yes!!

Here is my dileimma….yes, same corn dilemma that I had yesterday.

I bought 120 ears of corn to process into, freezer corn, corn soup, corn relish and just plain old corn on the cob.

I bought the corn last week.

As of yesterday I only had about 55 ears of corn left.

(After freezing 10 bags, making corn soup, hiding ears in the Princess’s refrigerator and begging Rachel to take some off my hands)

I was planning on making corn relish with the rest of it.

This is when all the interesting things started happening.

Well……Daughter who does not cook’s car broke down, I had to take her to work. Then have her car towed. Then have meeting at school. Then got sent to price equipment for new classrooms. Then picked up Daughter. Then took her to get her car. Then had to go get car seat in drive way. Then met everyone at day care. Then went to eat at cheap pasta place becaue we were all too tired to care what we ate.

When I finally got home and got a good look at the corn, it looked a little old and shiveled up.

I decided I did not want to spend hours on it, if it was not in prime condition.

So…I learned my lesson.

Lesson Number One….Do not buy more corn than you can process in a couple of days.

Lesson Number Two…Buy more corn when you run out.

Anywho…I will be buying more corn, if I plan on making the corn relish.

I will leave you with this riddle….

What vegetable can you throw away the outside, cook the inside, eat the outside and throw away inside?

Take a guess…

Corn… : D

Becky

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