Recipes

Harvesting in April and May

May 24, 2020 by NZ Filbruns 1 Comment

When I dug potatoes one day, I found this funny duck-shaped one. Mr. Imagination loved it and took a picture of it.

A few days later when the boys harvested pumpkins, he brought this one in to weigh it. He was quite impressed with its size! (That’s 6.3 kilos, or around 13 pounds.)

As usual, we had a lot of green tomatoes at the end of the season. This lot was ripe and could be canned as whole tomatoes or juice: but we also had this to deal with:

I went online to find recipes, and discovered that green tomatoes are as safe to can as ripe ones, or maybe more so, since they are more acidic. I decided to make green tomato salsa first. I didn’t follow the recipe exactly, but the changes I made would have made it safer, since I reduced the volume of peppers. This is the proportions I used; you can find the original recipe here:
1.5 kilos green tomatoes

400 gm onions

2 small HOT peppers plus several milder ones (recipe called for 250 gm; I used more like 50-100 gm)

2 cloves garlic

1/2 cup vinegar (called for lime juice, which I didn’t have)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

I coarsely chopped the tomatoes and onions, then put the peppers and garlic in the blender with the vinegar. After adding the vinegar mixture to the pot, I mixed in the salt and pepper, then brought the whole lot to a boil. I did 4-7 times this amount in each pot, using three pots at a time. And here’s a tip if you do something like this: weigh the tomatoes after chopping, then use a dry-erase marker to write the weights on the outside of the pot. It washes off easily when you’re done, and you don’t lose track of how many batches you’re making! I just discovered that this year. After the salsa has boiled for a little while, put in jars and seal. We don’t like this for eating as salsa, but it’s great in soups. I’m planning to use it through the year when I am making a soup that I want some spice in; I won’t have to chop onions for the soup, either!

Here are the jars of this salsa that we canned. A lot of the tomatoes were half ripe, which is why it looks fairly red. (I should mention that the reason we didn’t leave them to finish ripening was that the slugs were getting them and they would have rotted before ripening.)

I also experimented with pickling green tomatoes (results aren’t in yet), and made a few pots of half-ripe ones into juice. It’s not quite as tasty as juice from ripe tomatoes, but when I use it with ripe ones, we don’t mind it at all. Just a way to squeeze a little more production out of the garden!

All fruit and vege shops were shut down during lockdown, and we don’t have any on the Coast anyway. However, I have my own private one. One day I went out “shopping” and this was what I brought home for dinner. So much fun! I love walking out to the garden every afternoon to harvest what we need for that evening’s meal, and getting the rest from the freezer or jar room. We are rich, and I am thankful God has given us this place where we can grow so much food. (I think it’s good for my mental health as well as our physical health, too!)

Beef and Noodle Soup

July 22, 2018 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

A few days ago when Simon came home from work, he noticed a big pot of beef broth simmering on the stove. That reminded him of the bread soup we used to have at special church meetings, so he put a slice of bread in a bowl and ladled some broth over it. A second slice followed, and a third…. Then he remembered beef and noodles. That sounded so good to him that he dug the noodle maker out of storage and made a batch of noodles that very evening! So, tonight’s menu was beef and noodle soup. After we ate, Esther requested that I post the recipe on here so she can find it. I would never have thought about writing up such a simple recipe, but maybe someone else will be interested, as well.

To make the noodles, mix flour and egg. Simon said he used 3 cups of white flour and 5 eggs. They are small eggs, so it would be a good idea to start with fewer. Just add eggs and flour as needed until you have a stiff, but uniform dough. Then, roll it out. It’s easiest if you have a noodle maker to roll it thin and cut it into noodles, but a rolling pin and knife will work. Sorry, I don’t have any pictures—I didn’t think about writing about making them! After the noodles are cut, hang them on a clothes horse to dry, or lay them in a single layer on baking sheets or a clean cloth laid over a spare bed. Let them dry for a day or so, and then put in an airtight container. Or, you can skip all that and buy egg noodles! The homemade ones taste better, though.

I put about a kilogram (two pounds) of stew beef into the crockpot this morning and covered it with a couple of quarts of water, seasoned it with salt and pepper, and turned it on high. This afternoon, I poured all that into my soup pot and broke up the meat, then added another 2 1/2 quarts of beef broth and brought it to a boil. When it was boiling, I added the noodles and another couple of teaspoons of salt, and simmered about 10 minutes until the noodles were cooked. Then, we enjoyed the delicious meal! Most of the children added extra salt and pepper.

Bacon Bone Soup

October 9, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Since moving to New Zealand, we have learned about bacon bones. It’s not easy to get all the meat off some of the bones of a pig, of course, so often a lot of meat will be left on deliberately. Then, the meat is brined just like ham or bacon, and smoked, and sold as bacon bones. A favorite winter soup here is Bacon Bone Soup. Gayle got hungry for it recently, so he bought a bunch of pig tails (attached to a long portion of the backbone) and turned them into bacon bones for us. I thought maybe some of you would be interested in this delicious soup.

I first cook the bones for several hours with plenty of water.

Then, take out the bones and add vegetables. This time, I used potatoes, carrots, and onions. Sweet potato is also very good in it. Cook till soft; add black pepper and maybe a bay leaf. Debone the meat and add it back in.

Enjoy this delicious soup! I felt like we needed more protein, so I made filled eggs to go with it.

Jello, From Scratch

September 26, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

We rarely have jello salad, because I don’t like the idea of eating artificial color and flavor, and sugar. I could use plain gelatin and fruit, but several years ago I learned how to make it from scratch, and we love it! Therefore, every time we butcher chickens we skin the feet and freeze them. About once a year we have enough accumulated that I decide I need to clean out the freezer and make gelatin. This time, I took a few pictures of the process so I could show how I do it. This is my big 20-quart stock pot. There are a couple of turkey feet, but mostly chicken. And by the way, everything that has ever touched the ground or the air was peeled off.

Cover the feet with a lot of water. Bring to a boil, and simmer for a day…or two…or three, depending on how life is going. I keep the lid on most of the time.

When you finally decide you have time to drain the broth, pour the whole lot into a colander. Discard the bones. I think I usually add some vinegar at the beginning of cooking, but I forgot this time. The vinegar helps pull the good stuff out of the bones.

Chill the broth thoroughly, then scrape off all the fat you can from the top. The broth should be very firm. I remember one time it was so jelled that when I pulled a spoonful out it escaped and bounced across the kitchen!

Next, clarify it. This is what I do; these instructions are from The Encyclopedia of Country Living, by Carla Emery:

I clarified this particular batch twice, and I wish I would have taken a picture of the second time. I did it right, for once, and was able to scoop out the egg white, with most of the solids in it. Fun! Next, add juice concentrate. I have never found frozen juice concentrate here, like I got when we lived in Michigan. I make my own, though, following some other of Carla Emery’s instructions. I cook plums in a little water till they are falling apart, then drain them in the colander and freeze the juice in a plastic milk bottle. I thaw the milk bottles of juice upside down so the juice drips out as it thaws. When the ice that’s left in the bottle is looking kind of clear, I refreeze what thawed and discard the ice that’s left. It is mostly water, as the sugary part of the juice is what thaws first. I repeat the process two more times and end up with a very thick, syrupy juice. It’s great for flavoring, and much sweeter than the sour plums I start with. Just add enough juice, and some sugar/honey/maple syrup/stevia, till it tastes right.

Then, I add fruit. This is frozen plums, blackberries, and cherries, and fresh apples and bananas. I just put in whatever I have on hand. (No raw kiwifruit or pineapple, though; they contain enzymes that will prevent the gelatin from setting.) Put in the fridge and chill, then enjoy! It is softer than commercial gelatin, and has kind of a creamy texture. Delicious!

Fancy Bread

July 17, 2015 by NZ Filbruns 7 Comments

Last year sometime, I found a website titled “The Kid Should See This”. It is a collection, being added to all the time, of YouTube and Vimeo videos on all different topics. The videos are not created for children, but are very interesting for children (and adults!). I signed up for their weekly newsletter, consisting of links to five or six videos each week. Once or twice a week, when everyone is done with the morning’s school, plus science, by 1:00, and Esther doesn’t have to go back to work right after lunch we’ll watch several while we eat. This week, one of the ones we watched was about braiding bread. The woman who did the video demonstrated braiding with 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 strands! We were all fascinated all the way through. Since then, Mr. Intellectual, who loves to cook, has tried his hand at a 3-strand loaf. I made bread today, and decided to make one braided loaf. At first, I tried six strands, but couldn’t remember for sure how. Rather than watch it again, I just did a 5-strand loaf. It turned out nice!

Here is the video we watched. Mom, you would love this.

The Way Boys Like to Cook….

June 21, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Over the past year, I’ve gradually turned more and more of breakfast duty over to the children. A year ago I was still cooking something for breakfast every day of the week. Now, on weekdays, I make sure there is something ready for Gayle to heat up before he leaves for work at 5:10 (no, I don’t get up to fix it for him or even to see him off), and fix my own breakfast and make sure Mr. Imagination gets fed. Otherwise, the children are pretty much on their own. Some of them have gotten pretty creative! Mr. Intellectual has become an expert at pancakes. He mixes them up without following a recipe. I’ve given him tips here and there at making better ones. He usually makes enough for himself and one or two of the other boys, which makes him popular! Mr. Inventor and Mr. Handyman usually fry a couple of eggs. When eggs are plentiful, I let them have as many as they want, and Mr. Handyman will eat five at a meal. Right now, I have to restrict them all to two eggs each, and even at that we have to buy some to supplement what our hens produce. Mr. Diligence can’t handle the thought of spending more than a minute making his breakfast, and he hates all the casseroles I make for his daddy, so he lives on leftover toast in the morning. He will make a lot of toast one afternoon, to tide himself over for the next few days! He eats it with peanut butter and sugar-free jam. Esther often makes herself a pudding with 2 eggs, 1/4 cup milk and some vanilla stevia. Just whisk it together and keep whisking until it just starts to thicken, then take off the heat and whisk another half minute or so till it’s just right.

On Saturdays and Sundays I make breakfast for everyone. I often make a fried oatmeal with apples in it on Saturday, or pancakes. I get the pancakes mixed before I head out to milk, and assign some boys to fry pancakes and make waffles (with the same batter) while I’m out. The morning these pictures were taken, a few weeks ago, the coal range was going hot enough to cook the pancakes. Wood heat makes the best pancakes! It is a very even heat, and usually not as intense as electric. We don’t scorch things when cooking with wood like we do with electric. That’s Mr. Intellectual frying pancakes; Mr. Diligence was operating the waffle iron. It looks like Mr. Inventor, in the background, was making tea.

The boys have also been baking potatoes lately, for snacks. We were given a bagful of washed potatoes, so I told the boys they can have them. They wrap them it tinfoil, and stick them in the stove in the living room. It’s fun to see the boys having fun cooking!

Mr. Imagination is playing with Legos while I write. He came over a few minutes ago and very seriously told me that his plane crashed and people were hurt. He showed me the “crashed plane”. A minute later he brought it back over and asked if I wanted some juice. I asked, “I thought that was a plane that crashed?” “It turned into juice,” was his reply. And now, it’s a cup of water!

Quinces

May 6, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Sometime around the end of March, Gayle and the boys went to pick plums from a tree at an old house on the property a friend lives on. There was a quince tree nearby, and they picked a few quinces. Those quinces sat in our windowsill for a week or two before I got around to cooking them. I just put them in a pot with some water and brought them to a boil, and over the next two or three days brought them to a boil again so they wouldn’t spoil. Finally I had time to peel them and take out the cores, and then they sat in the fridge for another week till finally one day I put them on the table at lunch because I knew they wouldn’t keep much longer! To my surprise, the children loved them. I had not cooked them with any sugar or even stevia, but they were sweet enough to be good, and with cream on top they were absolutely delicious! We decided we wanted to can some quinces this year, so went back to pick a banana boxful off the tree. By this time, a month had passed since the first ones were picked, and they were now quite ripe. I washed and trimmed a dishpanful and cooked them the same way as the half dozen a month before, but they went to mush! So, I took the cores out by hand and froze the mush to make into jam when we have jars to put it in. The next batch, I peeled, trimmed, and chunked before cooking them, and canned them with stevia (I use NOW brand Better Stevia, 1 teaspoon to two quarts of water). We decided to make sauce from the rest, so I cooked them to mush and then picked out the cores and canned it as I do applesauce, with a bit of stevia because it was rather tart. Quinces are a distinctive flavor; I think they taste like flowers smell. With cream, they are quite a treat, and nowhere near as sour as I used to think they were. If you have access to this old-fashioned fruit, give them a try!

Above-the boxful of quinces I worked up. Below-some finished jars of quince chunks and one of sauce to enjoy this winter.

More Harvesting

May 4, 2015 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

This was the zucchini we found in the garden after our trip to Timaru. It ended up being nearly the end of the zucchini for the year, too, since we had a killing frost a few days later. We were happy to have these, since I’ve discovered a way to cook zuchini that everyone likes. I dice it in about 1/2 inch cubes, then toss with salt, pepper, fresh rosemary, and oil. Then, I spread it on a cookie sheet and bake at about 350°F for an hour or so. Yum!

Last week, Gayle and the boys dug all the potatoes. It wasn’t a very good harvest, but we’re thankful for what we got—and thankful that they weren’t rotting in the ground like they did last year! This is Mr. Handyman, Gayle, Mr. Diligence, and Mr. Inventor.

This is Mr. Diligence running away!

Taco Salad

July 6, 2014 by NZ Filbruns 3 Comments

Maybe being pregnant makes you remember food from childhood. I don’t know for sure, but I do know that when I bought some Chinese cabbage today at the supermarket I remembered a favorite meal very vividly! Back when I was in my early teens, I would say, we would occasionally have taco salad for lunch. I will guarantee, however, that it was not the same as most people’s taco salad! To start with, we did not mix it ahead of time, but rather each person built their own on their plate—a lot like the “straw hats” or “hay stack” that are popular in some circles. Then, instead of buying corn chips, my frugal mother made corn bread. And by the way, I’m very thankful to my mom for instilling frugal values in me, although I’ve never pinched pennies quite the way she did. We would crumble corn bread onto our plate, then add a layer of pinto or kidney beans (we cooked enough to make about two quarts of beans, then added a pound of fried hamburger and seasoned it with salt and pepper). Next would be a thin layer of grated cheese, and then chopped dill pickles and onions. In season, we would use chopped tomatoes; the rest of the year we opened a couple of jars of canned tomatoes. I always liked to add some extra tomato juice to soak up the cornbread! The top layer was either lettuce or Chinese cabbage, depending on season; Mom always grew Chinese cabbage in the fall and stored it till about December. From then till summer, we had no salads except the occasional coleslaw and Iceberg lettuce once or twice when it went on sale. We got so hungry for salad by spring! But I digress. On top of the stack, we poured Basic French Dressing, a recipe from the old Oster blender cookbook, or Hidden Valley Dressing. Yum! That was before we started making salsa; when I was in my late teens we started making taco sauce and then salsa.

All the ingredients, ready to assemble!

My plateful, ready to eat. It was as good as I remembered! Everyone else liked this, too, and there were hardly any leftovers—a spoonful of beans, a few chopped pickles, and some tomatoes.

The recipes we used:

Cornbread (from Joy of Cooking)
Mix: 1 1/2 cups yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-2 Tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoons salt
Add: 1 egg
2-3 Tablespoons melted butter or bacon fat
3/4 cup milk
Mix lightly, bake in two loaf pans or a 9”x9” pan 20 minutes at 350°F

Basic French Dressing (from old Oster Blender cookbook)
1 1/2 c salad oil
3/4 c vinegar
1/2 t sugar
1 1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1 t paprika
2 t dry mustard
Put all ingredients into blender. Cover. Process until well blended. Shake before using.

Hidden Valley Dressing (my mom’s creation)
Put in blender:
1 egg
1 3/4 t salt
1/2 t dry mustard
1/4 t paprika
1/4 t garlic powder
2 t dry parsley
good shake black pepper
1 T vinegar
1 T lemon juice (or another Tablespoon vinegar)
1/4 c oil
Start blending. Immediately remove feeder cap and slowly pour in another 3/4 c oil. Then blend in 1 1/4-1 1/2 c buttermilk.

Caraway Red Cabbage

January 31, 2014 by NZ Filbruns 2 Comments

I had a large head of red cabbage in the garden, so I cooked it up this evening. We have a favorite way to make it–a recipe handed down from my Dad’s Belgian family.

Ingredients:
2 Tb butter
1 c chopped onion
1/4 c sugar
2 1/2 t salt
1 1/2 t caraway seeds
1 c vinegar
3/4 c water
1 large (about 3 pound) red cabbage, shredded

Saute onions until golden in hot butter in large saucepan; stir in sugar. Add remaining ingredients. Simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, about 35 minutes or until cabbage is tender.

I don’t exactly follow the recipe; I used stevia instead of sugar, and I don’t bother sauteing the onions. I just omit the butter and throw the onions in raw and let them cook with the cabbage. This is delicious! We enjoy it for a meal, and then I freeze the rest in meal-size bags for winter. If any of my uncles read this, maybe they will remember who hand-wrote the recipe on a page for my mom’s cookbook? Thank you, which ever one did that, for passing on this recipe! Another generation is now enjoying it–my daughter loves it!

I got some other food put up for winter today, also–28 pounds of sourkraut, 16 quarts of green beans, and also made about 4 pounds of butter. Since there was extra space in the canner, I put in four jars of chick peas. I hadn’t soaked them, but they cooked up nice and soft in the 25 minutes I processed the green beans at 10 pounds pressure. We’ll just use them soon, since they didn’t get the 90 minutes processing they need to be shelf-stable. It was a way to take full advantage of the fuel to heat the canner.

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Thank you!