Pioneering Today

Faith and Home the Old Fashioned Way

By Melissa K. Norris

Pioneering Today Faith and Home the Old Fashioned Way

Copyright © 2012 by Melissa K. Norris. All rights reserved.

Cover Photo: Julie Newberry

Cover Design: Shannon Shipley

No part of this publication, except brief quotations in printed and online reviews, without permission of the author.

Scriptures taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

The “NIV” and “New International Version” trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society. Use of either trademark requires the permission of International Bible Society.

ISBN-13:978-0615699424 (Melissa K. Norris)

ISBN-10:0615699421

Foreword

When I sat down to write this book, I thought it was going to be a straight tutorial, cookbook, and do-it-yourself handbook for country living. I believe God chuckles every time I try to yank the reins out of His hands.

I became more emotional and choked up writing this book than any other project I’ve authored. God used the following chapters to remind me of His goodness, to show me how far He has brought me. Scars deep in my heart were brought forth, things I thought I’d long gotten over, and He whispered a kiss over them. Those ugly painful areas in our lives, those are the places only He can bring beauty and healing to, if we choose to let Him.

I pray that you’ll experience your own healing as you read this book. That you’ll see God in a new light and find Him in new places. Above the hands on practical lessons, my heart’s cry is that you experience Jesus and His love in every aspect of your life, from tending the garden, to cooking daily meals. May He permeate every moment of our lives.

Dedication

To my husband, who has embraced this pioneering way of life whole heartedly. To my parents, who taught me the pioneer way from the moment I could walk. To my children, may you always walk hand in hand with the Lord on your own pioneer journey.

Contents

1.     PLANTING

2.     HARVESTING

3.     PRESERVING

4.     BREADS

5.     CLEANING

6.     BAKING

7.     HOMEMADE GIFTS

8.     LIVESTOCK

CHAPTER 1

Planting

Faith and Gardens

Late afternoon sun kissed my cheeks, warm dirt curled around my bare toes, and a gentle breeze rustled my dress. I tucked the extra folds of my skirt between my legs as I squatted next to the row of beans I was picking in the garden. The slightly sticky leaves of the Tarheel bean plant momentarily held my skin. Slender green beans snapped from the vine. Larger, bloated pods thudded against my colander.

Despite sitting on my haunches, my muscles melted. The stress of the work week, a job that normally made my stomach clench, seemed farther than a day away. A sense of calmness nestled in my soul. My hands worked in rhythm, an even tune punctuated by the chirping of the birds and the swish of the horses’ tails in the pasture nearby.

A whisper blew through the late July air, so quiet it was merely an impression.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven (NIV) Ecclesiastes 3:1. I bring this bean from a seed, to a sprout, to a producing plant, and back to a seed. Do you think I would care for you any less?”

I stared at the beans filling my colander. Peace washed over me, like the steady spray of the sprinkler. Just as the plants that sustained my husband and me through the cold sterile months of winter, God promised to take us through every season.

The slick beans snapped between my fingers, bit sized pieces to fill the Mason jars lining our cramped kitchen counter tops. It never failed. Every time I stepped foot in the garden behind our first home, a single wide trailer, I sensed God’s presence. Instead of feeling like I had one more chore to add to my long list, I came to treasure my time in the garden.

My mother was and is a godly Christian woman. I was raised in the church, saved at young age, and a full believer of Jesus—but I first felt His presence, while in our patch of tilled dirt, tending the vegetable garden.

I believe that when we are still, away from the hustle and bustle of technology, we can feel God’s presence. It is stronger when there is no static or interference from man-made noise. There is much we can learn from our pioneer forefathers and mothers. I believe the first and most important lesson is growing some sort of crop.

I don’t feel it’s coincidence we feel closer to God while gardening. The creator of all life, the I Am, who could have chosen any place or thing in the world to house Adam and Eve, placed them in a garden.

He came down from heaven every night, in the cool of the evening, to walk and visit with two people whom He loved. Just as He loves you and me, He still comes down from heaven to walk with me in my garden.

Of all the tips in this book, growing a garden is the one I picked to share first and pray that you will undertake. If you already have a garden, ask Jesus to make himself known to you when out amongst His plants.

Deciding What to Plant

You don’t even have to have a large yard. It does help if you want most of your food to come from your own land, but a few large containers will get you started.

Easy crops to grow in containers are strawberries, tomatoes, peppers, garlic, and herbs. Pick the largest container for your available space. Fill the bottom with some rocks for proper drainage (make sure there is a drain hole, if not several) then top with soil. Potting soil is fine, just make sure it is suitable for edible plants, you don’t want anything that’s treated with chemicals.

We built two foot by four foot and two feet deep rectangular beds out of non-treated cedar. Cedar is naturally slow rotting and container gardening allows us to grow garlic during the winter. We live in the Pacific Northwest and our normally rainy winters leave the soil pretty saturated, so raised beds work best.

We plant the garlic in October and harvest it in mid July. I also put my tomato plants in with the garlic the first of June. The tomato plants aren’t disturbed by the garlic, and the garlic is harvested before the tomatoes get too big. Rotating crops helps you get the most out of your space.

Blueberry plants make a lovey addition to landscaping. They have dainty white flowers in the spring, plump blueberries in the summer, and the leaves flame a brilliant scarlet in the fall. They don’t spread and are fairly slow growing, so they make an excellent choice for a flower bed.

Blueberry Buckle

½ cup shortening

½ cup sugar

1 egg

½ teaspoon vanilla

2 cups flour

2 ½ teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup milk

½ teaspoon cinnamon

Mix together and spread in a greased 11x7 pan. Top with 2 cups fresh blueberries. Mix ½ cup sugar, ½ cup flour, ½ teaspoon nutmeg, and cut in ¼ cup butter until crumbly. Sprinkle on top and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

If you do have a yard or some space for an actual garden, then you’ll be surprised how much food and peace you can get from a square of tilled soil and some seeds. Our garden is a rectangle approximately 20 by 40 feet. With the plethora of deer and our cattle occasionally getting out, we fenced the plot. We used plain chicken wire and some regular metal t-posts.

If you’re just starting out, plant some easy things like zucchini, squash, beans, peas, cucumbers, peas, corn, and tomatoes. After you’re comfortable with these you can move on to potatoes or things that require a little more work. But if you like to jump in with both feet, go for it.

We’ve tried lots of different vegetables, but we’ve narrowed down the vegetables we plant by the following list.

1.      Do we eat them routinely in lots of recipes?

2.      Can we buy them cheaply at our local farmers market?

3.      Can we preserve them to eat all year long?

Our garden consists of Tar Heel green beans, October beans, snow peas, onions, potatoes, brussel sprouts, dill, zucchini, butternut squash, acorn squash, cucumbers, corn, garlic, and tomatoes.

We’ve tried broccoli and cabbage, but our broccoli always bolted before we could get a very good harvest. Plus, we prefer fresh broccoli over frozen, so it just wasn’t practical. Cabbage took up a lot of space and being able to only harvest one head per plant didn’t justify it for us.

That’s the beauty of your garden. You can pick what works best for your family and change it accordingly every year.

Faith Planting

Most old timers around here will tell you not to plant your seeds until Memorial Day weekend. We live in the foothills on the west side of the North Cascade Mountain Range and spring enjoys a good long game of peek-a-boo.

I tend to be an antsy person and after a few good days of sunshine, decide it’s going to be an early spring and start popping my seeds in the fresh tilled dirt.

When the rain and cold temperatures rear their heads, I anxiously trudge out to the garden, bemoan the mud sucking at my rubber boots, and watch for the first green tendril brave enough to break through the soaked soil.

Usually a few of the seeds will sprout but most rot in the ground and I end up replanting. You guessed it, on Memorial Day weekend.

I often wonder how many people are like those seeds. Upon first hearing God’s word and the wonder of salvation, they plop themselves down in the warm soil of His love. But at the first sign of cold rains, they let their faith rot in shivering bitterness. They don’t dig in and wait for His love, hidden just beyond the layer of clouds.

Some seeds I’ve assumed rotted, because the rest of the row is already waving tiny stemmed leaves at me. Then I go out a few days later, only to find a new sprout timidly poking its head above the dirt. These little plants always make me smile and my heart warm. I’d given up on them, but God hadn’t.

That’s the beauty of Jesus, He doesn’t give up on us. Ever. We give up on Him.

When things in life start to beat us down, the rain, hail, and winds strike us, and batters our hearts, I remind myself to be like that seed. It is better to rise up later, than not at all. Jesus won’t love me any less for stumbling into His presence.

This year, we had a particular wet and long spring. I replanted my garden twice, but my Tarheel green bean rows only sported two plants apiece. My husband and I wondered if perhaps the seed was bad.

Tarheel green beans are heritage seed brought from the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina. You can’t buy them in the stores.

Our seed came from my father. In 1942 my grandparents, five-year-old father, and two other families made their way west on the back of a flatbed truck they’d converted into a bunked camper.

They stopped every night and cooked dinner. My father remembers eating on the flat plains of the prairie, seas of grass rolling before him. One special afternoon, they pulled into a store and for a treat, bought a loaf of white Wonder bread. Can you imagine being excited and thinking a piece of store bought bread was special?

My kids are the exact opposite of their grandfather. They clamor around the oven door when I pull out a loaf of homemade bread. Eager eyes and hands, reach for that first slice of still warm bread, letting the crumbs melt on their tongues.

When my family and I go on a road trip or camping, we’re loaded down with gear. Toys and books to keep the kids occupied. A change of clothes for any kind of weather, snacks and drinks to keep store and restaurant stops to a minimum. I can’t begin to think of trying to set off across the country with two other families, and no more room than perhaps underneath a bunk for our things.

I probably would have shrunk back inside our home, the long ribbon of bumpy dusty highway taunting me.

But the pioneer spirit lived inside my grandparents. Like them I have to look at what is most important and leave the rest behind. God travels everywhere with us, we can’t leave Him behind or outrun Him.

Also like my grandparents, one of the most important things I treasure is our heritage Tarheel green beans seed. Not only are the beans straight from the hand of God, not altered by scientists or humans, they remind me of my true heritage. They are the best green beans I’ve ever eaten. I’m thankful my ancestors counted the seed as one of the top priority items to bring west.

When my husband and I were dating, he came to my parents’ house for dinner. I knew he didn’t like green beans, so when Mom passed him the bowl of Tarheel beans straight from the garden, I knew he was eager to impress them when he took a spoonful.

After he cleared his plate, he reached for the bowl of beans. I leaned over and whispered, “I know you don’t like green beans. You don’t have to have seconds, Mom won’t be offended.”

He looked at me and said, “I don’t like green beans, but I love these.”

This September we’ll have been married thirteen years and we’ve never had any other kind of green beans at our house. We planted a garden our first summer as newlyweds. I’d never not planted a garden, it was just something we did every spring, but it was my husband’s first.

After the second planting of our Tarheel green beans and not enough plants for a harvest, I headed up the road to my parents’ house to beg some extra seed. Thankfully, my dad had put up more than enough seed to share.

When I left and put the third set of seeds in the ground, I couldn’t help but think of how my earthly father had bailed me out, just like my heavenly Father does. When I fail, God will always be there to step in and rescue me. He’ll never leave us without a harvest, because whatever He touches grows, and I pray that He will continue to touch us daily.

Gardening Tips

Plant some kind of plant as soon as your growing season allows.

Don’t let your size or place of residence stop you.

Some of God’s best lessons happen in our failure.

Don’t be scared of replanting.

Plant a new or different variety of plant every year.

CHAPTER 2

Harvesting

I stared at my leafy green tomato plants, vines twisting up the wire cage like Rapunzel’s golden locks tumbling from her tower. Only the climb up my tomato vines wouldn’t be worth the prince’s time.

Even by Pacific Northwest standards, the sun refused to come out from behind her curtain of damp clouds. Dark green jewels hung from the vines.

Mid-September and not one ripe tomato. My hands curled into fists. What was I going to do with that many green tomatoes? Obviously, they weren’t going to ripen this late in the season.

For thirteen years I’ve worked as a pharmacy technician. It pays the bills and is fairly close to home. I only have to drive eighteen miles to work and when you live sixty miles from the nearest stop light, that’s pretty close.

I’ve dreamed of becoming an author ever since I was a little girl, eight-years-old to be exact. Over ten years, I’ve written books and submitted them for publication. My dream is to be able to make enough money from writing, my passion, to be able to quit my day job.

Eight years ago I prayed He would deliver me from my job. I really wanted a book contract. Anything had to be better than my current situation. Every time I sent out a query letter, I begged God for this to be the one accepted.

When a rejection letter came, hot tears stung my cheeks. It meant I was stuck in a place and position I didn’t want to be in. Why did God refuse to deliver me?

I could see the way out so clearly. If only He’d shove open the door.

Many tears and years later, I found myself at a new pharmacy. It wasn’t the book contract I wanted. Just like my green tomatoes weren’t the red ripe tomatoes I wanted.

Here’s what I did with those green tomatoes.

I sliced through their skin with a sharp knife, dipped them in beaten egg, dredged them through seasoned bread crumbs, and fried them in sizzling butter. We ate them by the pan full.

I still had green tomatoes.

Like a true pioneer, I refused to let them go to waste.

Green tomatoes had to be good in other things. They are. Here are a few recipes:

Green Tomato Bread

3 eggs- beat until light and foamy

½ cup oil

½ cup applesauce

2 cups crushed green tomatoes (liquefy in a blender)

1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix these lightly but well

Add 3 cups flour

Blend: 1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon ginger

1 cup chocolate chips or raisins

Pour into two 9x5x2 loaf pans and bake at 325 degrees about one hour or until loaves test done.

Green Tomato Salsa

10 large tomatoes (10 cups) peeled

3 large onions

4 to 5 green bell peppers

2 cloves garlic

1 to 2 hot peppers (I prefer a mild salsa and use one)

½ cup vinegar

1 tablespoon salt

1 6oz. can tomato paste

½ teaspoon oregano

½ teaspoon cumin

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 cup fresh coarse chopped cilantro

Chop first 5 ingredients, you can use a food processor or blender.  Put in a large bowl and mix well with other ingredients. Ladle into prepared jars. Process in pressure cooker for 25 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure. If preparing using the water bath method, simmer salsa for 30 minutes, pack into jars, and process for 30 minutes in a water bath canner.

This recipe may also be used with ripe tomatoes. Either way it’s finger licking good.

Beyond the yummy food, green tomatoes gave me something far better. God used them to teach me something valuable.

I wanted the tomatoes to ripen. I wanted out of my current job as a pharmacy technician. Do you notice anything similar in these two statements?

It was everything I wanted. I didn’t take the time to ask God what He wanted for my life. I told Him what I wanted and then cried and whined when He didn’t deliver.

Tired of feeling constantly beaten, I surrendered to God. On bended knee, I asked Him to put me where He wanted me. I prayed He’d allow me to serve Him wherever and however He chose, regardless of what I wanted, I would trust Him.

Then it happened.

Not the book contract I’d been waiting for, not a new job, not winning the Lottery. Something far different. I began to look at my work with new eyes. Instead of focusing on the bad things, I began to focus on the good things.

I had a job. I wasn’t forced to spend nights or weeks apart from my family working away from home. I was home at night to tuck my children in and kiss my husband.

The rude customers, the situations that made me grit my teeth, those were opportunities to show God’s love. Our jobs, even the ones we dislike, should be performed for God.

When I invited God to take to control of my work place, what He really took control of was me. I was what needed to change.

If it weren’t for those green tomato years, I may have never appreciated when the tomatoes in my life started to ripen.

We all have green tomatoes moments. Yours will be different than mine, but how we choose to react to them will be the same. We can make something good and useful from the green tomatoes, or we can let them rot on the vine.

Let’s make something useful.

Ready to Harvest

My least favorite part of gardening is pulling weeds. Weeds are thieves. They steal nutrients and water, choking out the fruitful plants. Left alone, weeds will overtake a garden, erasing all your hard work of planting.

We make sure and plant our rows wide enough to fit our rototiller between. When the weeds begin to grow, we run the tiller between the rows. This saves time and sore muscles.

You can’t run the rototiller too close to the plants, or you risk tilling up their roots. We still have to get on our knees or squat down and pull the weeds huddled up close to the plants.

I’m always amazed at the weeds hiding under the leaves or sneaking up among the bean vines. From a distance, they look like they’re part of the plant, and sometimes are even intertwined.

Weeds are like sin.

Some sins you can swipe out with a run of the rototiller. These are sins I stop from committing by avoidance. I purposely stay away from situations I know will make me slip up.

Sins that hide under the leaves and slither in close to my roots are harder. These things trip me up continually. Gossip, judgmental attitudes, and pride are all things I struggle with. These weeds are ones I’m constantly pulling up.

Lastly, there are some sins I’m not even aware of. They are so closely wrapped around my heart that I’ve accepted them as part of me. Even though they squeeze me and steal joy, I’m unaware of their presence—until I call on God to weed out the hidden places of my soul.

Once I ask Him to remake me in His image and surrender. The Master Gardener comes through, prying back leaves, exposing my sin for what it is. A camouflaged thief, strangling me unawares, until my life is cut short if it’s not removed.

Thankfully, everything won’t ripen at the same time in your garden. Strawberries, rhubarb, and raspberries are the first crops at our house. I make jam out of the strawberries and rhubarb, along with my favorite dump cake. This coffee cake recipe was given to me by friend and fellow author Valerie Comer.

Raspberry Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

4 cups flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 ½ cup sugar

2 cups milk

½ cup softened butter

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 eggs

Streusel

2/3 cup flour

½ cup sugar

½ cup butter

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Mix dry cake ingredients together. Add liquids and combine fully. Grease a 9x13 pan and pour half of the cake batter into it. Sprinkle one cup chocolate chips and one cup frozen or fresh raspberries. Add ½ of the streusel topping and repeat layers. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.

Strawberry Rhubarb Dump Cake

1 box yellow or white cake mix

4 cups diced rhubarb

1/4 cup sugar

1 small 3oz package strawberry Jell-O

1 cup cold water

2 Tbs. butter

Grease a 9×13 baking dish and place rhubarb in pan, sprinkle sugar over it, then Jell-O, then dry cake mix. Pour water over all of this and dot with butter. Don’t stir!

Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

A great way to keep rhubarb for baking all year long is to chop it up and freeze it in a plastic freezer bag or freezable container. You may want to cut the water to 2/3 cup if you use frozen rhubarb.

This recipe for rhubarb custard pie came from a lovely woman in the town I work, Mrs. Betty Knowles.

Rhubarb Custard Pie

3 eggs slightly beaten

Add 3 tablespoons milk

Mix and then stir into egg and milks

2 cups sugar

¼ cup flour

½ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Add 4 cups pink rhubarb and mix thoroughly. Pour into pastry lined pie pan (Flaky Pastry) Dot with butter. Bake in a 400 degree preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes. Serve while still slightly warm.

I prefer raspberry jelly over jam due to the larger seeds. I also freeze some of the berries to use in later baked goodies, smoothies, and milkshakes. A quick tip for freezing berries. No need to freeze in a single layer on a pan, just dump them in your plastic freezer bag. I’ve never had a problem of them sticking together.

The first veggies to come on are lettuce, snap peas, zucchini, cucumbers, and other summer squash.

Zucchini is best used fresh. You can grate it up and freeze for cakes and breads, but it isn’t a vegetable I recommend canning. Some people dice it up into chunks and add it later to soups and spaghettis. It will thaw mushy, perfect for sauces.

Double Chocolate Fudgy Zucchini Bread

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup brewed coffee

1 1/2 cups white sugar

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups grated zucchini

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Beat eggs with a fork till foamy. Add oil, coffee, sugar, and vanilla, stir well. Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl then add to liquids. Stir in zucchini and chocolate chips.

Grease 2 large bread pans. Pour batter in prepared pans and bake in preheated 350 degree oven for approximately 40 minutes. Test center with toothpick until it comes out clean. Cool in pan for about 20 minutes before removing. I think adding a cup of frozen raspberries would make a nice addition to this as well.

Blueberry Zucchini Muffins

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup melted butter

1/2 cup applesauce

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups raw sugar

2 cups shredded zucchini

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 and 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 to 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

Cream together eggs, applesauce, butter, sugar, and vanilla. Fold in zucchini. Add flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and spices. Stir in blueberries. Grease muffin tins and loaf pans. Pour into pans. Sprinkle with raw sugar crystals.

Bake in preheated 350 degree oven. Muffins for 18 to 20 minutes and loaves 40 minutes. Pull out just when set, check center with toothpick. Allow to cool for about 20 minutes in pan then finish cooling on wire rack.

Cucumbers are a versatile vegetable. Excellent on salads or dipped in ranch dressing, a great salad when paired with a creamy dill dressing, and of course, pickles.

There are many recipes for pickles. One of our family favorites is Mustard Pickles.

I first forayed in to pickle making three years ago. My father-in-law kept raving about his mother-in-law’s Mustard Pickles. He said they were the best thing he’d ever eaten and since she’d passed away, no one had made them in years.

I asked every pickle maker I know if they had a recipe for mustard pickles. Most ladies frowned and said they’d never heard of mustard pickles, but if I came across a good recipe, to let them know.

After several months, my husband’s grandmother found an old faded handwritten copy of the mustard pickle recipe. Spidery script sprawled across the index card. A tie to my husband’s heritage from a woman I’d never meet this side of heaven. Here are her words.

Mustard Pickles

6 cups cucumbers-diced

2 cups onions

Put in a salt brine overnight using 1 cup salt and 2 quarts water. Drain.

Place cucumbers and onions in a large pot.

Add the following

2 pints vinegar (use at least 5% when pickling)

4 tablespoons sugar

4 tablespoons flour

6 tablespoons dry mustard

2 tablespoons turmeric

2 teaspoons celery salt

Bring to a roiling boil. Pour into clean jars, put on lids and seal. Place jars in a hot water bath for 5 minutes, let cool and sit on a folded towel on the counter for 12 hours.

This is more of a relish than a sliced pickle. It is awesome on sandwiches, hotdogs, and hamburgers. Use it when making potato salad and you don’t have to dice any onions or pickles. Simply add the relish to your cooked potatoes and eggs with mayonnaise. A great time saver.

Here are my tips for pickle making, no matter what recipe you use.

1.      Always use fresh, not overripe pickling cucumbers-if they’re bloated, no knobby bumps, then they’re overripe.

2.      Pickle as soon as possible after picking, preferably within a few hours if not immediately

3.      Never use alum, which is thought to help keep pickles fresh. This is aluminum and not something we should be ingesting. Instead, use a grape leaf. Put one at the bottom of each jar.

4.      Store pickles upside down to keep the cucumbers in the brine. When opened and stored in the fridge, the spices will mix and settle on the bottom. This helps keep the flavor all the way through the jar.

5.      Hot water bath pickles for as little time as possible, no more than 5 minutes. The longer they process, the softer the cucumber.

6.      Slice off a quarter inch of the blossom end. Enzymes are stored there and make cucumbers turn soft if not removed.

No matter what we’re harvesting, it’s always best to pick at the peak. Done to early, it’s not mature. Too late, and the flavor is compromised and shelf life is short.

This is like our hearts. God has a hard time using someone to their full potential if they’re not mature in His ways. Those who have hardened their hearts against Him can’t be reached. I pray that you and I will always fall into the ready-to-harvest category.

CHAPTER 3

Preserving

“Get your shoes,” I called to my children.  I dump sandwiches into lunch boxes, flip off the coffee pot switch, grab my laptop, and take the first load out to the car. I hate Mondays.

I scramble back up the stairs, tripping on a pair of boots left at the front door. “Find your shoes.”

My three-year-old daughter Maddy walks out of her room, arms laden with five different stuffed animals.

“Pick one and get in the car.” I slip my cell phone into my pocket and turn the crock-pot switch to low. I grab the glass milk bottles to return to the store for deposit. The blinds are open.

I slam the southern exposure windows shut and close the blinds. Laundry. I forgot the wet load in the washing machine. Vaulting over the stray toys in the living room, I empty the washing machine in three huge handfuls and run for the clothesline.

Shirts hang by one clothespin in a haphazard line. Check my watch. Two minutes until I’m officially late. I can do it. Towels are clipped to the line by a corner, shorts dangle by the hemline. If hanging clothes were a timed Olympic sport, I’d have won gold.

I dash back into the house. Lock the sliding glass door. Whew. I race back through the kitchen, snag my purse, and—where’s my son?

Panting, I lunge towards his room. He’s sitting on the floor, playing with his electronic video game. Without shoes!

“I told you to get your shoes on. Let’s go.”

“One more level, Mom.” Landon rolls his seven-year-old eyes.

The hair on my head begins to steam. My nostrils flare. “Shoes, now!” The words erupt from my throat, scraping my vocal chords.

Like a cold engine in the middle of January, he looks through his sock drawer. It’s mid-July and forecasted to be in the eighties. No socks.

I lose it. Finger jabbing, the neighbors can hear me, voice hoarse for a week kind of lose it. My son ran for his sandals by my third word.

We make it to the car. Bright numbers glare at me from the dashboard clock. I’m late. I shove the gear shift into place, punch the accelerator—did I unplug my curling iron?

I’m ready to bang my head against the steering wheel, except it would take too much time.

***

This particular Monday morning is me inside a pressure cooker.

The dictionary describes a pressure cooker as 1. An airtight pot in which food can be cooked quickly under steam pressure. 2. A highly stressful situation or assignment.

Life is often a pressure cooker. So many things happen to us and we feel like we can’t possibly take one more thing going wrong.

God uses pressure cooker moments to preserve us for Him. It takes my being in a highly stressful situation, when I no longer feel in control, before I really turn to God. I may offer Him a prayer, but not until all my air is gone and steam presses me from all sides do I truly let go of my troubles and cling to Him.

I pray that one day I will learn to lean on Him without a pressure cook atmosphere, but until then, I’m thankful He takes me just as I am. No matter when or how I come to Him, He gladly opens His arms.

For preserving food, a pressure cooker is your best friend. It cuts hours off of canning times following traditional hot water canners. You may have heard horror stories of the first models of pressure canners exploding and harming people. The new pressure cookers hiss and jiggle when the steam rocks the selective automatic pressure control, but with the overpressure plug and the lock levers, they are safe.

I recommend purchasing a pressure cooker that allows you to process both pints and quart size jars. You don’t want to have to buy or store two different sizes. Every canning season, take your pressure cooker out and go over the gaskets. I’ve had my pressure cooker for thirteen years and have replaced the gasket and overpressure plug once.  Our local hardware store stocks replacement parts or you can purchase them online.

Mason jars may be one of the most used items in my home. Not only do they house my garden’s bounty, but they are useful for so many other things. Flower vases, soap dispensers, nightlights, food canisters, holding leftovers in the fridge and cookie mixes. The list could go on and on. I am always finding new uses for these jars and share them on my website www.melissaknorris.com

If you’re just starting canning, there is some initial startup cost in buying your pressure cooker, jars, lids, and rings. But I’ve had my same jars for over thirteen years, only having to purchase new lids annually.

I try to catch the lids on a good sale and stock up for a year or two. Jars can be bought from any grocery store new, but I’ve found many of them at garage sales and thrift stores. Make sure to run your finger over the rim to check for any nicks, which will inhibit a proper seal.

Jars are available in jelly size, pints, and quarts, in both wide and regular mouth. Wide mouthed jars are good for things like pickles where you’ll need to fit your hand inside. Most of my jars are regular mouthed. I do my pickles, stewed tomatoes, salsa, and apple pie filling in quart sized jars. Jams, jellies, apple sauce, green beans, and regular beans I do in pints. Although now that my children are growing, I’ve started doing some Tarheel green beans in quarts to take to potlucks and large family gatherings.

Some people also can their pearl onions and potatoes for use in soups, stews, and casseroles. I store my onions and potatoes in a well-ventilated, cool, dark shelf in the pantry. My garlic is braided and hangs in the pump house, except for the braid I keep in the kitchen.

We freeze our snap peas, blueberries, and raspberries fresh. Our winter squash we peel, dice into bite sized chunks, and steam. After it’s steamed, I freeze on a cookie sheet then dump into a plastic bag.

When you’re ready to cook, place in a single layer in your baking dish. Here are my two squash recipes:

Savory Butternut Squash

1 medium sized diced butternut squash

3 cloves minced garlic

1 to 2 Tablespoons dried basil flakes

1 Tablespoon parsley

3/4 cup grated parmesan or other hard aged cheese

Fill a 9x13 glass baking dish with diced butternut squash (fresh or frozen)

Drizzle with olive oil. Salt, pepper, and basil to taste. Bake uncovered at 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes, stirring half way through. Sprinkle grated cheese on top and put back in oven until cheese is melted.

Sweet Winter Squash

1 winter squash, hubbard, or butternut squash peeled and diced (fresh or frozen)

¼ to ½ cup butter

½ to 1 cup brown sugar

Salt to taste

Fill a 9x13 dish with squash and salt to taste. Sprinkle with brown sugar, amount depending on your sweet tooth. Dot with butter. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until done.

Another way to preserve food is to dry it. A food dehydrator allows you to dry apples, bananas, grapes, and blueberries for starters.

A unique way to dry green beans without a dehydrator is by stringing fresh Tarheel beans on a string, they are referred to as “leather britches” or “shuck beans”. Thread a needle and string through the center of the bean. String until you have a two to three foot string of beans. Hang in a warm dry spot. Most old timers hung theirs in the attic or next to the chimney.

Let the beans dry for at least two months. The beans will shrivel up, the pods resembling leather, hence the name. When ready to eat, pull off the string, soak the beans overnight in water, drain. Cover in water and par boil for an hour. Drain and cook as usual. The texture is chewier than a canned green bean, but the flavor is the same. Before the invention of the Mason jar in 1858, all produce was either dried or pickled to last the winter.

Growing up, my father and his siblings all slept in the upstairs attic of their cabin. He remembers strings of leather britches dangling from the eaves. I never gaze upon a string of leather britches without remembering my grandmother’s fingers. Spotted with age, skin wrinkled and thin, but always ready to rub my back while she spun stories to keep me entertained. While she wasn’t a written author, her art of storytelling flows through me.

We raise our own organic grass fed beef cattle. At butcher time, we often make homemade beef jerky in our dehydrator.

While you need acreage, good fencing, hay, and a building for hay storage, raising your own meat is highly rewarding. If you don’t have all this, then I recommend finding a small family-owned farm or ranch and purchasing your beef from them. Most farmers will sell a whole, half, or quarter of a beef.

The cost may be $300 at a time, depending on the weight of the cow, but you can’t beat the flavor. Plus, you pay the same exact amount for hamburger as you do your choice cuts of steak. You get to tell the butcher exactly what cuts of meat you want.

I was raised on a small cattle farm and never ate store bought meat. When my husband and I were first married, we ran short of our own hamburger. I bought some from the store.

I could hardly eat it. It had an odd odor while cooking, and even though I’d purchased the lean, I couldn’t believe the amount of fat and liquid I had to drain. The flavor was bland.

After recent reports of pink slime found on store bought meat, I’m so grateful I know where and what my beef contains. Last year, my co-worker bought a quarter beef from us. After hearing me rave about it, he and his wife decided to taste the difference for themselves.

Last week, he informed me they were almost out and wanted to know our butcher date. His wife said she could never go back after having tasted homegrown beef.

Check your local paper in the late summer and early fall, many farmers will advertise their beef for sale. Better yet, ask around and find out who buys beef from local ranches/farms in your area and see if they have any extra for sale. You may be able to call the local butcher shop and ask if they have any names or phone numbers to recommend.

You’ll need a chest freezer. I don’t freeze a lot of my produce or make freezer jam. I need my freezer space for beef.  We keep our chest freezer out in our pump house. During the winter, we lose power a lot, for days at a time. Ten days straight is our record without power to date. With most of my food in canned jars, and cold temperatures outside, I don’t have to worry about losing our food.

This is one of my favorite recipes for using ground beef.

Slow Cooker Cabbage Rolls

Ingredients

10 cabbage leaves

1/2 cup uncooked wild rice

1 egg, beaten

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup minced onion

2 cloves minced garlic (We’re huge garlic fans, adjust to your own taste)

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper (I’m not a huge pepper fan so if you are increase to a tsp.)

1 lb. lean ground beef

Sauce

1 15 ounce can tomato sauce

2 Tbs. brown sugar

2 Tbs. lemon juice

2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

Boil a pot of water and add head of cabbage, cook for 2 minutes and drain. (You can freeze cabbage then thaw and skip the boiling part. You just need the leaves soft enough to roll)

Combine rice, egg, milk, onion, garlic, beef, salt, and seasonings in large bowl. Place 1/4 cup meat mixture in center of leaf and roll, tucking ends. Place seam side down in slow cooker.

Mix all sauce ingredients together and pour over rolls. Cook on low 8 hours in slow cooker.

The greatest thing about the pioneer lifestyle is choosing what works best for you and your family. Each person is unique and while some of my suggestions will work for you, not all will. And that’s okay.

We should always strive to take what works best for us in our current situation. Too often I’ve compared myself to others. Berating myself for not doing something as well as or as much as another. This is not healthy or biblical. Thou shall not envy. Any form of envy is harmful.

Know that God made you. Before you were formed in your mother’s womb He knew you and loved you. He made you just the way you are, faults and all. He died on the cross for you. Don’t minimize that by trying to be like someone else.

While preserving our food prolongs its shelf life, there is no substitute for the eternal life preserved for us through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.

CHAPTER 4

Bread of Life

I eyed the price stickers on the loaves of bread at our local grocery store. The only loaf that didn’t list high fructose corn syrup was $4.69. Almost five dollars for a loaf of bread! I picked up a loaf of cheaper plain white bread.

Turning the plastic coated bread over, I skimmed the ingredient list. A skilled reader, I couldn’t pronounce half the ingredients, nor did I know what some of them were. Why should I have to sacrifice affordability for health?

I don’t. Neither do you.

Years before, I baked our bread in a bread machine. It broke and I never ended up spending the money to buy another one. Here and there I’d make homemade loaves, but with kids, a job, writing, and a garden, I was rarely home in long enough stretches for kneading and rise times.

After complaining to a friend, she told me her father hadn’t bought bread in over two years since he discovered the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day on www. Artisanbreadinfive.com

Fresh Bread in Five Minutes a Day Recipe

3 cups lukewarm water or 120 degrees

1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 ½ Tablespoons yeast (store your yeast in the fridge to prolong freshness)

1 ½ Tablespoons salt (kosher or coarse sea salt is best)

6 ½ cups un-sifted flour (I was out of bread flour and regular works just fine)

You’ll never miss the oil or butter, I promise.

If you want to use wheat flour, I recommend 4 cups wheat to 2 ½ cups white flour and ¼ cup wheat gluten to help your rise.

I started with the basic recipe and could not believe the ease and taste of the bread. It really does only take five active minutes or less a day. I haven’t bought bread in over six months.

I altered the recipe after using it for several months to what my husband calls, “the best bread ever.”

You need a stretch of a few hours when you first start the dough for rise time, but you make enough to last for two weeks, depending on how much bread your family eats. My directions are slightly different from the original, due to baking other breads.

Whenever you bake bread or anything with yeast, make sure you only use a glass, wooden, or plastic mixing bowl and utensils. If you use stainless steel or metal, you won’t get a good rise on your dough, so just avoid it. Second, use lukewarm water about 120 degrees. I don’t bother with a thermometer; just use the inside of your wrist. Dissolve your yeast, and let it stand 10 minutes. It will turn nice and foamy.

Stir in salt and vinegar. If you want to make an herb bread, mix in a few tablespoons at this point. Mix your dough, adding a cup of flour at a time. Cover your dough with a tea towel (helps trap the warm air and improve the rise) and set it on top of the fridge (usually a draft free warm place) to rise for about 2 to 5 hours, or until the dough has risen and started to collapse. Now pop it in the fridge for either overnight or at least 3 hours. Chilled dough is easier to handle and a must when working with wet dough.

The original recipe calls for stone and a free form loaf. But I prefer the texture and taste when baked in a large greased bread pan. Dust the top with flour and slash it with a sharp knife (flour keeps your blade from sticking) and let it rise for about 40 minutes. Don’t skip the slashing part, it allows your bread to rise evenly.

Place a metal broiling pan in the oven on the lowest rack and preheat to 450 degrees. Put your loaf in the oven and then quickly pour a cup of HOT water into the broiler pan and shut your oven. Bake for forty minutes (my oven cooks a bit cool, but you can’t really over-bake wet dough).

This bread has that awesome crunchy crust with an incredible soft flaky inside. My kids inhale it. The recipe states this makes four 1 lb. loaves, but for sandwich size loaves, it makes two. You can double or triple it and store it in the fridge for 2 weeks.

The best part, it only costs $0.30 a loaf to make. That’s $17.60 a month or $211.20 a year savings on your grocery bill. If you add in the health benefits to cutting out chemicals, oil, butter, and eggs found in most recipes, you can’t add up the savings on future medical bills.

My children enjoy helping make the dough. In fact, they both love to help in the kitchen. I realize as they get older, this may change, but I treasure the times we cook together. When cooking with little kids, here are some tips.

1.      Make sure you have extra time.

2.      Don’t sweep or clean the floors beforehand.

3.      Measure out the ingredients and let them pour them into the bowl if it needs to be exact (yeast, flour, salt).

4.      Don’t fret if something gets spilled. It’s not on the carpet right?

5.      Count out loud for preschoolers. Do simple adding and subtraction for early grade school age, multiplication and fractions for older children.

6.      Let them taste as they go. It’s a great time to learn how different ingredients change the flavor.

7.      Don’t cry over spilled milk.

Yeast is a funny thing. If your water is too hot, it kills the yeast and it won’t rise. Too cold, it won’t activate. You can vary almost any bread recipe, swapping ingredients out, except for the yeast.

Jesus is the yeast of our lives. We can go to church, read our Bible, know the Ten Commandments by heart, but unless Jesus is active in our hearts, we won’t rise to heaven when He calls us home.

Too many times in my life, I’ve been focused on doing the right things. Foolishly, I thought Jesus would reward me if I followed some type of how to be the best Christian checklist.

Thankfully, Jesus doesn’t work like this. He died on the cross for us knowing we would fall miserably short of being worthy every day of our lives. He never expected us to live up to His wonderful gift. Instead, He asks us to follow Him. To let Him live in our hearts so that we can rise above the death of sin through His gift, based on nothing more than His grace and our willingness to love Him.

Let Jesus be your yeast. Let Him be your daily bread. He always gives us enough for today. He has all your tomorrows in the palm of His hand. Focus on today and know He is enough.

The Other Breads

Many of us hold a memory of our grandmother standing over the stove, preparing a meal for the people she loved. One of the reasons Grandma's food tasted so good was her use of cast iron cookware.

Our grandparents were smart people. Cast iron is superior to other metals because it distributes heat evenly and can go directly from stove top to the oven. Today’s Teflon coated pans, when scratched or exposed to extreme heat, release a chemical proven to cause cancer, immune system problems, and birth defects.

When seasoned properly, cast iron is non-stick. To ensure your cast iron pan remains seasoned, here are a few tricks you need to know.

After purchasing a new pan or one at a garage sale that needs to be re-seasoned, apply a thin coating of shortening and place in a preheated 400 to 500 degree oven for a couple of hours. As the oil cooks, it fills the pores of the pan, allowing a nice black charred looking finish. Don’t be alarmed if it smokes, just turn on your fan.

Always preheat your pan with some butter or oil before frying. Use enough to form a thin layer over the bottom of your skillet.

Cleaning cast iron is much different than cleaning your regular cookware. Never use soap to clean your cast iron, it will destroy the seasoning. Don’t pour cold water into a hot pan… you can cause it to crack. Use hot water and wipe out your pan with a non-abrasive cloth. If you have any remaining cooked on food, use table salt to scrub it off. Rinse, wipe dry, and recoat with a thin layer of vegetable oil or shortening.

Your cast iron will store best in the open. If you must stack, always place a towel in between the pans to absorb moisture and prevent scratching the seasoning. I love the charm they add to my kitchen and display mine on the open shelves beneath the island.

Cast iron will last a lifetime if cared for. Some of my best pans have been ones I’ve picked up at thrift stores or garage sales. A little bit of salt scrubbing and re-seasoning and they’re better than new.

One of the things I love about cast iron is the ability to put it in the oven. Here’s my grandmother’s egg-less cornbread recipe. During the Depression, they didn’t always have eggs, but they never went without cornbread. A southern woman, my grandmother only used white corn meal, she said yellow was for chicken feed. I however, think yellow tastes just fine.

Revonda’s Cornbread Recipe

1 cup flour

1 cup white corn meal

3 tablespoons sugar (If you like it on the sweet side, adjust to a 1/3 cup)

¼ teaspoon baking soda

2 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1 cup buttermilk

Mix ingredients together, add a little water if too stiff. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes in cast iron pan or fry into pancakes.

Serve warm with a pat of butter and honey. Or slather on a layer of your favorite homemade jam or jelly. In true southern fashion, my dad crumbles his cornbread into a glass of milk and eats it with a spoon. This is one of the few southern traits I haven’t picked up.

Cornbread Salad

1 pan cornbread

4 slices of bacon

Tomatoes

¼ cup diced onions

1 can corn (optional)

1 can drained black beans

Mayonnaise

Crumble cornbread into bite-sized pieces. Cook onion and bacon until crisp. Drain and crumble. Chop tomatoes and toss with cornbread, bacon, and cooked onions. Add mayo to taste. Keeps several days in refrigerator.

Cornbread’s cousin is the other side bread, biscuits. While researching my historical fiction series, I learned a lot about chuck wagon cooking. Both cattle drives and wagon trains had to be able to cook their food while traveling. The dusty trails and cramped wagon confines didn’t leave much space or time for conventional breads that needed hours to rise.

Biscuits, traditionally sourdough, and cornbread were the breads of choice. The artisan bread I shared with you earlier closely mimics sourdough, except we don’t have to feed it or worry about it growing mold if the yeast dies.

All cooking was done either on an open fire or in Dutch ovens on the trail. There is something about the slow baking with coals and cast iron that makes bread delightful. I have several tutorials with pictures on my website.

Biscuits are a wonderfully versatile bread. My father likes them smothered in white sausage gravy. My mother-in-law favors a huge pat of butter and strawberry jam. I like a biscuit and egg sandwich.

My biscuit recipe was handed down to me from my mother. I’ve never tasted a more flaky, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth biscuit than these. You can double the recipe for a large batch and the way these fly off the plate, you’ll probably want to.

Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits

2 cups flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

2 ½  teaspoons sugar

½ cup cold butter cut into small pieces

¾ cups buttermilk (Do not substitute regular milk, if you don’t have buttermilk add 1 almost full tablespoon of lemon concentrate to regular milk and let sit for 2 minutes)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix together dry ingredients. Using a pastry cutter, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Pour in buttermilk and stir until dough holds together. Turn dough onto floured surface and knead just until dough holds together. Pat or roll to 1 inch thick. Cut out in 3 inch rounds with floured cutter. If you don’t have a biscuit cutter, turn a glass cup upside down and use the edge. Place 2 inches apart on baking sheet or stone and bake until golden brown 15 to 18 minutes. Makes 10 biscuits.

Another bread we make frequently at our house is pizza dough. The first pizza is ready to eat, from start to finish, in 20 minutes.

Thin Crust Tomato Basil Pizza Recipe

.25 oz. pkt. active dry yeast or 2 ¼ teaspoons

1 cup lukewarm water (just use the inside of your wrist if you don’t have a food thermometer)

1 ¾  cups all-purpose flour (extra for the quick knead and roll out)

½  tsp. salt

Topping

2 large ripe tomatoes (I used heirloom from our garden)

1 cup fresh basil

Sliced mozzarella

Grated white cheddar cheese (Or your choice of white cheese, provolone would be awesome!)

Combine yeast and sugar in water in a non-metal bowl. Allow to activate for 8 to 10 minutes, it will look slightly foamy and bubbly towards the end. Chop your veggies and cheese while the dough is activating. Measure out flour and mix in salt. Mix with liquids using a plastic or wooden spoon. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead for just 2 minutes or until dough is no longer sticky. Roll out to a thin crust and place on your pizza stone. Grade a thin layer of white cheddar cheese over crust. Layer tomatoes, fresh basil, and thin layers of sliced mozzarella cheese. (My husband wanted green peppers and tomatoes, my side is minus those additions) Bake in 500 degree preheated oven for 8 minutes.

If you use the thin crust for recipes with a sauce, prebake crust for 5 minutes in oven before adding sauce and toppings. Then bake for 8 to 10 minutes.

Traditional Pizza Crust and White Sauce Chicken Pizza

This crust recipe was adapted from Jill Winger, editor of the popular blog www.thepriariehomestead.com and author of Your Custom Homestead.

1 cup warm water

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon sugar

1 Tablespoon yeast

1 teaspoon Italian herb mix

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

2 3/4 cup flour

Combine yeast and water in bowl until yeast is dissolved. Mix oil, sugar, and seasonings in small bowl. Add to yeast and water, mix, then add in flour. Knead for 8 minutes on lightly floured surface and allow to rise for 1 hour. I use the top of the fridge, it’s warm and draft free.

Sauce

1/2 package (4oz) softened low-fat cream cheese

1/4 cup minced onion

1 clove minced garlic

1/2 cup ranch dressing (You can use blue cheese if you prefer, or a mixture)

Mix all these together and add more dressing if you prefer it thinner.

Toppings

1 grilled chicken breast, diced

3 slices cooked turkey bacon, crumbled

sliced mushrooms to taste

1/2 sliced zucchini, slice very thin or it won’t cook all the way through, I used a mandolin

1 to 2 cups grated Queso Fresco Mexican cheese (or mozzarella)

Grate fresh parmesan on top for added flavor

Bake at 400 degrees in preheated oven on a pizza stone for 18 minutes.

Traditionally, some sort of bread was served at every meal. It’s a rarity that we don’t have bread on the table in some form or another. Whenever you break bread, remember Jesus. It’s not coincidence that thousands of years ago, Jesus chose bread to remind us of His sacrifice during communion. I challenge you to not only think of His gift to us once a month at church, but every day, at every meal.

CHAPTER 5

Cleaning

Heart and Home

Dirty dishes taunted me in towering stacks on the crumb-scattered counter. Specks of grass and dirt trailed into the living room. Toys hid in the carpet, ready to ambush my bare feet when least expected. The last rays of sun struggled to shine through my smudged sliding glass door.

After pulling two extra shifts at the pharmacy, my cleaning schedule suffered. My feet ached and stiffness pulled my shoulders down. Where to start?

I melted into my recliner. Apparently, starting was going to have to wait until morning.

The next day, I subdued the laundry monster with the first load in the washing machine. I started with the dirty dishes, filling the dishwasher then moving onto wiping down counters.

As I worked my way to the floors, I realized how often my heart resembles the jumbled mess of an unkempt home. My normal schedule of basking in God’s presence sometimes takes a back seat to life’s extra shifts.

Instead of making the time to clean up the waywardness of my heart, I let it pile up. My messes tower above me, threatening to crush me. Pride leaves dirty smudges over every path I walk. Gossip streaks the windows of my soul. Judgment reeks like sweaty, unwashed clothes.

The only cure for this is to refresh ourselves in God’s presence. Like our bodies need the restoring hours of sleep, our souls need restoration from our Maker.

Jesus is the only cleaner that can truly wash away our filthy sin. Prayer, worship, and soaking in His word make us sparkle. Anything else we try will merely wear off, the stain spreading and bleeding through our masked attempts.

Dirty Laundry

Laundry is one of those chores that is never done. Before I had children, I would try to do all of our laundry once a week. With kids, working outside the home, and my writing, I can’t afford to let the laundry go all week.

I do one load of laundry almost every day. As soon as I get up, I start a load. Power company rates are lower during off peak hours, generally from eight p.m. to eight a.m. Unless it’s a very soiled load, I wash my clothes in cold water and before eight in the morning. Call your power company, some have different hours and a few don’t offer off peak hour rates.

Whenever it’s not raining, I dry my clothes outside on the line. I always wash a full load and depending upon the number of items, it usually only takes about five minutes to hang a load. I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Hanging laundry relaxes me.

Birds chirp, the breeze rustles my hair. Horses in the neighbor’s field nicker at me. With each family member’s clothes, I send a little prayer up to God for that person.

By washing and rinsing our clothes in cold water and line drying them I knock $20 a month off our power bill. A savings of $240 a year. This doesn’t count in the fact I’m causing less wear and tear on our dryer and replacement costs. Another added benefit is our clothes don’t wear out as fast. The lint in your dryer is fibers being knocked off your clothes.

Other ways to save costs on house cleaning is to make some of your own cleaners. Most cleaning in your home can be done with just three ingredients. Water, vinegar, and baking soda.

Cleaning with vinegar

1.      Window cleaner. Take a spray bottle (I used an old rinsed out Windex container) and add approximately a ¼ cup of white vinegar then fill to the top with water. Even with paper towels, I washed my sliding glass door, mirrors, and all the windows without a single streak. Newspaper makes a great rag for wiping windows.

2.      Floor cleaner. Add a cup or so to your bucket or sink full of water. No soap. Use to mop your hardwood, laminate, tile or linoleum. Vinegar won’t hurt your grout or your tile like other harsh cleaners, plus it kills bacteria. Ever notice small dark spots in the dips of your linoleum? Over time, soap builds up and dirt sticks to it. Using vinegar eliminates these spots. If you have little ones or pets, you won’t have to worry about harsh chemicals where they play.

3.      Laundry room. Add ¼ cup vinegar to your laundry instead of bleach. It will kill odor causing bacteria, clean your washing machine, and no discoloring. I toss mine into the liquid softener dispenser.

4.      Counter tops. I use the same spray bottle for windows as my counter tops. Spray them down, let sit for a few minutes, and wipe clean. If you don’t like the scent of vinegar, try adding a few drops of your favorite essential oil. Lemon and lavender are popular choices.

5.      Carpets. Spray stains with vinegar and water mixture. Scrub with rag.

6.      Faucets. Soak a towel in vinegar. Wrap it around your faucets and handles and let sit for an hour. Come back and wipe clean, hard water stains and gunk will be gone.

7.      Shower heads. Fill a plastic bag with vinegar and secure it around your shower head with a rubber band. Make sure shower head is submerged in vinegar. It will unclog any plugs and clean off soap scum and hard water.

Cleaning with baking soda

1.         Sinks. Sprinkle baking soda in your sink. Mix with a small amount of water to make a paste and scour the sink. Eliminates odor and rubs off stains. Rinse with water.

2.         Toilets. Dump a cup of baking soda in the toilet, let sit for around an hour or so, scrub with brush. Takes away the odor and anything else hanging around.

3.         Dirty dishes. If you have baked on food, sprinkle on baking soda then pour vinegar on top. It will foam, loosening the baked on food. For extremely dirty pans, you may have to do twice.

4.         Carpets. Sprinkle baking soda on your carpet, let sit awhile, and vacuum up. It will help take away any odors in your vacuum and carpet at the same time.

5.         Ovens. For the oven door liberally sprinkle dry baking soda. Scrub with a dry rag or use your fingertips. The dry baking soda absorbs the grease and the grit lifts it off. Especially baked on spots may need harder scrubbing. Sweep off the dry soiled baking soda into a dustpan. Wipe any remaining with a damp cloth.

A clean heart before God gives us peace. When I’ve done something against God, something I know He won’t be proud of, my heart is troubled. I have trouble sleeping. My words grow curt, my temper ready to boil over like an unwatched pot of pasta.

When I go to God and confess my shame, I feel His gentle peace wash over me. His soft cloth polishes each piece of my heart once I finally hand it over. May we remember to hand over our hearts and souls to Him daily, to seek His cleansing touch continually, never allowing the stain of sin to set.

In this busy life, even when we implement most of the pioneer lifestyle, simplifying things as much as possible, there will be times we’re overwhelmed.

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33(NIV)

Never sacrifice your time with God. Put Him at the top of your priority list. Make Him the first thing you seek upon waking.

I’ve never been much of a morning person. I prefer sleeping in and staying up late, despite my children’s tendency to change this as infants. This meant I would wake up and only have enough time to get ready for work in the mornings. I promised myself and God I would spend time in the Bible at night, after the kids and my husband were in bed.

Sometimes I did. Sometimes I fell asleep in the chair.

God deserves more than our tired leftover hours.

Wherever we spend our time, this is our priority, regardless of what our words may say. Despite sneering at the alarm clock, I set it for a half hour earlier. Before I allow myself to check my email, exercise, or eat breakfast, I spend time reading the Bible and praying.

There are mornings when I try to hit the snooze button. Sometimes I succeed and over sleep. I can tell a difference in my day when I miss my morning date with God. I’m messy. My attitude, my heart, my words, run on empty when I don’t refill them with Jesus.

There are never enough hours in a day to get everything done that I want. To keep myself sane, I’ve learned the art of prioritizing. No matter what needs tackling in your day, instead of worrying about all you need to do, focus on the top three things. If you finish them early, great, tackle the next items on your list.

Know what you have to do today and forget the rest. It will still be there tomorrow.

I’ve found when I begin to feel overwhelmed, it is usually from the expectations I’ve put on myself. For some reason, I think I’m Superwoman. I believe I’m capable of much more than I am.

Don’t fall into this trap. Don’t feel guilty for saying no. We can’t do it all. Only God can. When I remind myself I’m to rely on His strength, to be focusing on heavenly treasures, not earthly ones, things have a way of becoming suddenly clear.

I pray that the window to my soul will always be spotless and clear because of His mercy and grace.

CHAPTER 6

Baking

Sweet Treats

None of us get through this life without hard times. I look back at the times I suffered the most. When I lost my baby to an ectopic pregnancy, when I gave up on my dream to become a published author, and when my child suffered at the hands of another. My heart cried out, “Why God?”

Great sorrow brings us to a cross road. There are ultimately two paths we can choose.  We can turn away from God or we can cling to Him and trust in His goodness. I chose God.

When I chose to trust Him, He eventually led me through the other side of despair. His deliverance is so much greater than anything I could do on my own. He brings things into my life I can barely imagine. I now have two beautiful children whom I know are gifts from Him.

God brought me a writing mentor, a woman who gives encouragement but doesn’t let me get by with being lazy or not continuing to grow as a writer or as a child of God.

If I had been given these desserts without tasting the bitterness of life first, would I appreciate the sweet juices quenching my dry throat?

I don’t think so.

I believe if God only gave us the things we asked for, such as the melt-in-your mouth, buttery cinnamon rolls, dripping with caramel syrup, we would take them and Him for granted. They would lose their appeal, their specialness.

The next time you bite into something delicious, remember to thank God for the sweet things in your life.

Some of my favorite recipes have been handed down from friends and family.

This pastry dough recipe was my great grandmother’s, my grandfather’s mother Gracie.

Grandma’s Flaky Pastry

4 cups flour (your choice, I recommend using pastry ground if using wheat)

1 3/4 cup shortening

1 Tablespoon sugar

2 tsp. salt

1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar (You can use white vinegar, but I prefer apple cider in baking)

1 egg

1/2 cup cold water

Mix flour, sugar, and salt. Cut in shortening.

Mix in the rest of the liquids.

Chill for 15 minutes. Dough is much easier to work with when chilled. Take out dough and divide into four equal balls. Each quarter or ball will be one pie crust, or two for a top and bottom. Bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes or as your pie recipe calls. I always sprinkle a little sugar on the top of the crust.

When your favorite fruits are in season, can up a few jars of pie filling. It cuts the work of preparing a homemade pie from scratch in half, along with the cost in the middle of winter. Apples, peaches, and cherries easily can into homemade pie filling.

This pumpkin pie recipe tastes almost like custard and is my mother’s favorite. You’ll love the creamy light texture and that it requires no condensed milk.

Creamy Pumpkin Pie

1 ¾ cups mashed cooked pumpkin (can substitute squash)

¾ teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups milk

3 eggs

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons white sugar

½  teaspoon cinnamon

¼  teaspoon ginger

½ teaspoon nutmeg

1 tablespoon melted butter

Beat all ingredients together with a mixer or in a blender. Pour into pastry lined pan. Bake at 425 degrees for 45 to 55 minutes or until center is set.

A sweet treat is to roll out extra pie crust and brush with butter. Sprinkle a generous helping of sugar and cinnamon on top. Bake in the oven until done, being careful to pull out before it burns. I used to love the extra bits of dough my mother trimmed off the edges of from the side of the pie plate. She’d let me roll them out and make my own cinnamon sugar pie.

If you’re not baking today, take unbaked dough ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Toss in freezer. When ready to use, thaw in fridge overnight or on the counter for a few hours. Lightly flour surface, flatten dough ball with hand, and then roll to desired thinness. Remember to flour your rolling pin.

When freezing, be sure to mark your dough. I also freeze sugar cookie dough and Christmas morning, mistakenly used sugar cookie dough for my pastry crust in a sausage quiche. My brother said, “Does this have maple flavored sausage? It’s sweet.”

It took me a few bites to figure out what I’d done. Every cook makes a mistake once in a while. Some turn out better than others.

Here’s my Apple Pie filling recipe.

Apple Pie Filling

20 to 24 apples or 5 ½ to 6 pounds apples (I had medium apples and about 3 to 4 apples filled one quart jar)

3 to 4 ½ cups sugar (depending on the type of apple your using, tarter apples may require the higher sugar measurement)

1 cup cornstarch

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon salt

Using an apple peeler, corer, and slicer (I bought mine at Goodwill, but even a new one is worth the price), peel, core, and slice your apples. Pack washed quart jars with raw apples. Be sure to push down apple slices and pack tightly to within 1 inch headspace. Stir together the sugar, cornstarch, spices, and salt in a large saucepan. Stir in 8 cups water. Cook and stir until thick and bubbly. Pour over raw apples, leaving ½ inch headspace. Wipe rims clean with a damp cloth, seal, and process in pressure cooker for 8 minutes at 5 pounds of pressure, or process in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes. Makes 6 quarts. Each quart is enough filling for one pie.

Though not traditionally a sweet treat, here’s my recipe for sausage quiche. I recommend using the flaky pie crust instead of the sugar cookie dough.

Sausage and Broccoli Quiche

1 lb. sausage

1 cup minced onion

1 clove minced garlic

2 cups broccoli-fresh or thawed frozen

1 and ½ cups shredded mozzarella or Colby jack cheese

4 eggs, well beaten

1 and ½ cups milk

1 teaspoon salt

Dash of pepper

1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

In a large skillet, cook sausage, onion, garlic, and broccoli (if fresh) until done. Drain fat. Dump into crust and sprinkle with cheese. Combine eggs, milk, salt, and pepper. Pour mixture over vegetables and cheese. Bake in a 350 degree oven, uncovered, for 45 to 60 minutes or until center has set.

Another great breakfast treat is my mom’s oatmeal pancakes. These are so good, I can’t always wait for the syrup so I’ll roll one up and eat it plain.

Oatmeal Pancakes

2 cups milk

1 ½ cups quick oats

2 eggs

½ cup oil

¾ cup flour

2 tablespoon sugar

2 ½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

Pour milk over oats. Let stand 2 minutes. Beat in eggs, oil, and remaining ingredients. Fry in hot oil.

I have a weakness for breads. There’s something about the yeasty, softness, a pillow for my tongue that calls to me. I would never survive on a no-carb diet.

I love cinnamon rolls, the ooey-gooey doughy middles and sweet stickiness you have to lick off your fingers. The way they make my house smell, like Christmas morning and a bakery all wrapped into one.

I also love versatile recipes. Those two for one deals get me every time. Below is my recipe for dinner rolls that also double as cinnamon rolls. I’ll give you directions for making both. Warning, I can sniff a homemade cinnamon roll from a mile away and may stop by to share with you.

My husband’s grandmother is a fabulous cook. At every extended family meal, people always asked, “Where’s Grandma’s rolls?”

A couple of years ago, my husband and I hosted Thanksgiving dinner at our home. I wanted to make the rolls and asked my grandmother-in-law if she would mind. My hands broke out in a cold sweat when she raised one of my rolls to her mouth. Everyone waited for her verdict.

After the first bite, she declared, “You’re the new family roll maker.” She graciously passed the mantle to me.  A huge compliment and one I don’t take lightly. I hope you enjoy these rolls as much as we do.

Dinner and Cinnamon Roll Dough

½ cup warm water (120 degrees of lukewarm on your wrist)

½ cup warm milk

1 egg

1/2 cup soft butter

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

3 and ¾ cup flour

1 package yeast or 2 ¼ teaspoons

Pour warm water and milk over yeast. Let sit for 10 minutes or until foamy. Add egg, butter, and sugar. Stir in salt and flour. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes, adding a little flour as needed. Dough should feel smooth and not sticky. Cover with a tea towel and allow to rise in a warm, draft free place (top of the fridge) for an hour. Form rolls and rise again. Bake dinner rolls and 400 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes.

Make a double batch on a weekend afternoon and store half of them in a couple large freezer bags. Whenever you need some, thaw in the microwave for approximately 20 seconds per roll.

Chocolate Cinnamon Roll Directions

Use Sweet Roll Dough recipe but increase sugar to ½ cup.

For cinnamon rolls, melt ¾ cup butter and pour in bottom of baking pan. Sprinkle ¾ cup brown sugar on top of this.

After the first rise, roll out dough on a lightly flour surface into a rectangle approximately 18x14 inches. Spread ¼ cup softened butter and sprinkle ¾ cup brown sugar evenly on top. Dust with cinnamon. Sprinkle with semi-sweet chocolate chips. (You can use raisins, but my husband doesn’t like them)

Roll up long end, keeping roll tight. Cut into about 15 pieces, keeping them even, with a sharp knife. Place cut edge down in pan, with sides just touching. Allow to rise another hour or place in fridge overnight. If baking the next morning, cover in plastic wrap, and allow rolls to come to room temperature before placing in oven. Bake at 375 degrees for 12 to 25 minutes. Let cool in pan for 3 minutes then invert over plate. Scrape remaining caramel filling from pan onto cinnamon rolls.

My husband’s grandmother makes the most delicious pumpkin roll. It’s not the holidays without grandma’s pumpkin roll. I truly believe she could charge for these and people would put in orders all year long.

Grandma Lucille’s Pumpkin Roll

3 eggs-beat about 5 minutes

Add 1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon lemon juice

2/3 cup pumpkin

Mix the following dry ingredients together

¾ cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon nutmeg

1 ½  teaspoons cinnamon

½ teaspoon ginger

Put in a greased and flour cookie sheet. Sprinkle with pecans if desired. Bake 15 minutes at 375 degrees. Turn out on towel sprinkled with powdered sugar. Roll up and refrigerate until cool.

Pumpkin Roll Filling

1 cup powdered sugar

8 ounces cream cheese

½ cup butter

1 teaspoon maple syrup or ½ teaspoon lemon extract

Mix until like frosting. Unroll pumpkin and spread filling evenly over the surface. Re-roll and store in fridge.

Have you ever heard the saying as American as apple pie?

I think it should be as American as a chocolate chip cookie. Growing up, my mother and I made chocolate chip cookies at least once or twice a month, far more often than we had apple pie.

I’ve tried several recipes, but none are as good as Betty Crocker’s original recipe in my opinion. Part of me wonders if that’s because it’s the recipe my mother used. The Bible says raise up a child in the ways they should go and when they’re grown, they won’t depart from them. I think this encompasses all aspects of your life, especially my cooking and kitchen.

I prefer my cookies on the soft side, so I always increase the flour by ½ cup. (This works for any cookie recipe) Use an ice cream scoop to make even sized balls of dough. Make sure to pull out the cookies just when they start to turn golden, cool on cookie sheet for 3 minutes, then transfer to a plate or wire racks.

Cookie mixes in a quart sized canning jar make wonderful gifts. Layer the dry ingredients in the jar, seal with a canning lid or a piece of pretty fabric cut long enough to hang below the screw on lid. Be sure to include the liquid measurements in the directions. You can use holiday colored M&M candies for extra color.

Chocolate is the dessert in our house. If my husband goes more than one day without chocolate, he will drive to the store for a fix. I try to make sure I’ve always got a home baked goodie to save him a trip.

These are a great cookie, but best eaten within a day or two to retain the moist chewiness.

Chewy Chocolate Cookie

1 ¼ cups softened butter

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups flour

¾ cup cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup chocolate chips or white baking chips

1 cup chopped nuts (optional, I don’t like nuts in my baked goods, so I never add them)

Cream together butter and sugar in a large bowl. Add eggs and vanilla, blend. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Fold into creamed mixture. Drop by teaspoonful onto ungreased cookie sheet or baking stone. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. Do not over bake, cookies will be soft. They puff up during baking and flatten when cool.

When I thumb through my recipe book, for a moment I get to hold hands with friends and family members dear to my heart. Spidery script from my grandmother, faded but stretching across the years as strong as her high pitched call over the fence and across the pasture to our home. Even and neat letters, perfectly spaced, like my mother’s voice and patience when teaching a squirmy do-it-herself kind of girl in the kitchen. A smudged and soiled recipe card, from a neighbor long moved away, but her smile still winds through my heart every time I drive by her little house tucked among the waving grass.

God brought each of these people into my life for a reason. Some have gone, others remain, but all were in my life for exactly the right season. Even when tears burned my cheeks and my heart ached at their goodbye.

Recipes are more than just food, they are memories, past and present. I hope in sharing mine, you’ll create future memories with the people dearest to your heart.

These cookies were shared with me from a co-worker years ago. The lemon reminds me of summer, perfect on a slow lazy afternoon. The ginger spikes my tongue with thoughts of pumpkins and shiny twinkling Christmas tree lights.

Lemon Ginger Cookies

1 cup packed brown sugar

½ cup shortening (I use store brands for a lot of things, but I only use Crisco shortening)

1 egg

½  teaspoon vanilla

1 Tablespoon freshly grated lemon peel

1 ½ cup flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon cream of tartar

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

¼  teaspoon nutmeg

Cream together sugar, shortening, egg and lemon peel. Stir in remaining ingredients. Roll into 1” balls, dip in granulated sugar and place sugar side up on ungreased baking sheet. Flatten slightly. 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes until lightly browned on edges. Makes about 2 dozen.

It’s not Christmas at our house until I’ve made these special molasses sugar cookies.

Molasses Sugar Cookies

¾ cup softened butter

1 cup sugar

¼ cup molasses

1 egg

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ teaspoon ground ginger

In a large bowl cream sugar and butter, add molasses and egg until well blended. Blend dry ingredients and add to molasses mixture. Mix well, cover, and chill for at least 15 minutes.

Form dough into 1 inch balls, roll in sugar, and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 6 to 8 minutes. Let stand 1 minute before removing to cool. Makes approximately 4 dozen. For gingerbread, cut ¼ cup butter and increase molasses.

These next cookies were given to my mother by a neighbor. I’ve never had another cookie quite like them and they are delicious and moist.

Raisin Cookies

1 cup water and 2 cups raisins. Combine water and raisins, bring to a boil, cook 4 minutes, and let cool. Don’t drain!

¾ cup shortening

1/3 cup butter

1 ¾ cup sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 ½ cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder and baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ginger

½ cup chopped pecans

Cream shortening, butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Stir together dry ingredients and add to creamed mixture, mixing well. Add undrained raisins and chopped pecans. Drop by the spoonful onto cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.

Grandma’s Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake (from my grandmother’s mother, Pearl)

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

½ cup cocoa

1 teaspoon soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

¾ cup mayonnaise

½  cup water

½ cup brewed coffee

1 teaspoon vanilla

Heavenly Frosting

1 cup milk

½ cup flour

Cook until thick then put in fridge until cold. Add:

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 and ½ teaspoons vanilla

Beat all together until light and fluffy. Be sure cake is cold when you frost it.

Mix on low until smooth. Bake at 350 degrees in a greased and floured 9x13 pan for 30 to 40 minutes.

No matter what people move in and out of your life, our heavenly Father never leaves us. His presence is a solid rock, unshakeable by the earthquakes of life and hurricane winds that rip at our feet. I pray that we’ll cling to Him and savor the sweet moments He gives us.

CHAPTER 7

Homemade Gifts

From the Heart

When I was a little girl, my favorite doll was a small rubber baby whom I called Tiny Baby. She had a soft smooth belly, a pert mouth you could squirt water in and she’d wet her diaper.

For my fourth birthday, my mother made us matching white eyelet dresses with pink gingham ruffles. No matter how many new dolls I received, Tiny Baby was always the one I cradled in my arms. Snapshots of me with my baby litter our photo albums.

I retired Tiny Baby to a shelf in my bedroom when I turned thirteen, too old for baby dolls. Every now and then, I’d take her out, trying to reach back through the sands of time to a simpler time.

I still have Tiny Baby. She is nestled high in the closet, on a shelf that holds my childhood, waiting for a drippy rainy day to be remembered, if only for a few hours.

Sadly, I think this is how some people think of Jesus. He is something they take out every now and then. More like a memory of Sunday school lessons from childhood, something to reminisce over, than a Savior we love and talk with every day.

I used to treat Jesus like this. He was Someone I knew, Someone I’d learned about as a child, but had put on a shelf and neglected to take back down.

The day I lost my first baby to an ectopic pregnancy, it rained. Fat wet drops streaked the sweaty thin windows of our single wide trailer. Tears blurred my vision, until I could scarcely tell where they ended and the rain began.

Jesus came off the shelf that day.

In my pain, I learned Jesus was more than a token from my childhood.

Jesus is the ultimate gift. A gift we never outgrow, one we can’t break or tarnish. He is always within reach and available to everyone. He is never outdated.

The only price He requires is our heart. No coupons, no standing in lines, no credit card payments, just ours from the mercy and grace of His love.

Jesus is the most precious gift we will ever need or receive. In the dark hours of the night, when despair circles me, ready to suck me into its depths, Jesus is there to lift me out. He will lift you up and cradle you in His arms, too.

Food Gifts

In this increasing day and age of never enough time, why not consider giving some easy homemade food mixes as gifts? Any cookie or brownie recipe can be put into a quart sized Mason jar as a gift. You can put together a brownie mix for about $.30, not including the cost of the jar.

Put the jar in a large mixing or batter bowl. Maybe pair it with a new dish towel or set of measuring cups. Better yet, crochet or knit a dish rag in the person’s favorite color.

A few years ago, my mother gave out brownie mixes as part of our Christmas gifts. I work retail and when I came home on New Year’s Eve needing something to take to a party I whipped up her homemade brownie mix and sailed out the door. Preparing your own dry mixes is extremely frugal and helps make cooking easy when you’re busy with other things.

Mixes shouldn’t be limited to just sweets. Consider making your own taco seasoning mix.

Taco Seasoning Mix (Mild)

2 tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (increase to ½ teaspoon for moderate heat)

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon paprika

3 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Mix ingredients together in a glass jar. Use 2 tablespoons of mix to 1 lb. of meat and 2 cloves minced garlic with 2/3 cup water. If you like tacos on a regular basis or are making the mix for gifts, double or triple the recipe. Be sure to add the recipe to the gift so the recipient can make it.

Trust me, when folks see how great it tastes and it’s way less than the store bought packages, they’ll want the recipe. Store in a sealed jar and it will be good for months in your cupboard. You can add a tablespoon of cornstarch if you don’t feel like this clings to your meat enough.

Pair this with a jar of green tomato salsa for a cute and yummy gift.

Mix up the dry ingredients from my cornbread recipe with a jar of homemade jam.

One Christmas I made up two batches of homemade cinnamon rolls and delivered them Christmas Eve morning to the neighbors. One of the families had them for Christmas morning breakfast.

A basket packed with home-canned jams, jellies, pickles, relishes, and a few fresh baked treats will put that well known Farm basket to shame.

Instead of traditional popcorn balls, try making this treat. It looks festive in a jar with dried cranberries and a green ribbon around the top.

White Chocolate Popcorn

1 cup popcorn, unpopped

2 packages white chocolate chips

1 cup dried cranberries

Pop popcorn and pour into a huge bowl, add cranberries. Depending on the size of your popper or kettle, you might want to pop this in two separate batches. Melt white chocolate chips and pour over popcorn. Toss until coated. Place onto wax paper lined cookie sheets. Let chocolate coating harden and then break into clusters.

Take this a step farther and dip pretzels, cookies (Oreos), and brownies. Spread peanut butter onto graham crackers, make into a sandwich, and dip into white chocolate mixture.

Busy moms sometimes struggle with putting dinner on the table. Why not bake your favorite casserole, freeze it, and deliver to the active woman on your list? Pair it with a fresh baked loaf of bread (also freezable) and she’ll have a homemade dinner ready when she’s most frazzled, which often happens around the holidays. Here are two of my main dinner dishes.

Chicken Enchiladas

12 corn tortillas

3 to 4 cups cooked cubed chicken breasts

12 strips mozzarella or Colby Jack cheese

12 strips cooked green bell pepper

Roll up chicken, cheese, and bell pepper in tortillas. Place seam side down in a 9x13 baking dish.

Sauce

1 medium and 1 small can tomato sauce (3 cups)

1 pint sour cream (reserve ½ pint for topping)

2 tablespoons flour

1 minced clove garlic

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

½ teaspoon cumin

¼ teaspoon oregano

Cover enchiladas with sauce. Place a large tablespoon of sour cream on top of each tortilla. Cover with grated cheese and bake at 450 degrees for 20 minutes.

Broccoli and Chicken Biscuit Bake

2 cups cooked chicken (or turkey)

1 bunch cooked broccoli

3 cups white sauce

1 cup mayonnaise

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon curry powder

1 teaspoon lemon juice

½ to 1 cup shredded cheese

Flaky biscuits

In a 9x13 baking dish layer broccoli then chicken. Blend white sauce, mayo, Worcestershire sauce, curry powder, and lemon juice together. Pour over broccoli and chicken. Top with cheese then biscuits. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Gifts of Time

My co-workers and I used to buy each other small gifts at Christmas. While we kept our budget down, it became a burden to find something each person would like and keep it at our set dollar amount.

The past two years we decided to spend an afternoon and evening together instead. We go to stores we normally don’t have the time to go to and browse. Without work, children, or a certain time limit, we can spend the day simply enjoying one another’s company. With the money we would have spent on gifts, we choose a nice restaurant, and we order appetizers and dessert with our meal.

We’ve all come to cherish this time much more than any gift we could have purchased for one another.

Why not plan a special afternoon with your best friend? You can even wrap up an itinerary of things to do and give it to her. It may be as simple as a latte at your favorite coffee shop and two hours just to chat.

For your spouse, what about a special date night? If possible, recreate your first date. Or plan to have the kids go with a sitter and family member and have a special dinner at home with just the two of you.

Kids love to do things. Plan to take them somewhere, the zoo, a museum and ice cream shop, or arrange something at home. By letting them be the center of your attention, no matter where it is, you’re showing them they matter.

Gifts of Escape

One of the things I love most about books is their ability to take me away from my life. Fiction sweeps me to the long-ago days of the deep south, or a rocking ship sailing from shore to shore, a drafty stone castle.

Good books are one of the best gifts you can give. Not only do they transport us away from our troubles for a time, they teach us valuable lessons.

Books helped save my life. After I had the surgery from my ectopic pregnancy, I was angry at God. How could Someone so loving take my baby away from me?

While I recovered at home, I couldn’t stand to watch another numbing television show. My heart refused to be soothed, each beat seemed to rattle through my body.

My aunt brought me a book and two crockpot meals. After she left, with dinner slow cooking, I read The Scarlett Thread by Francine Rivers.

This book changed the course of my life. God knew my frame of mind, the condition of my battered soul, and He knew exactly how to reach me.

Though it’s now been eight years, I still remember the weight of the closed book on my lap. Hot tears seeped past my swollen eye lids. With a humbled heart, I bowed my head before God and vowed that I would follow Him with my whole life, not just parts of it.

He hadn’t caused me to lose my baby as some sort of punishment. But He had used the moment to draw me back to His side.

First, as a reader, and now as an author, I believe God uses fiction and non-fiction to reach us. Jesus used parables in the Bible. He knew the value of stories and so should we.

Give someone the gift of a story and you have the potential to change a life.

I keep a list of books that have changed my life on my website. In my author newsletter, I have a Best Books section if you’re looking for some new titles for yourself or as a gift.

The best gift we can give anyone is an introduction to our Savior, Jesus Christ. We never know what God will use to draw someone to Him, it may be a conversation, a book, but most certainly, it will be through the way we live daily. May we give our lives, every minute of them, to our Creator.

CHAPTER 8

Livestock

Shepherding

I grew up on a small cattle ranch nestled against the foothills of the North Cascade Mountains. White faced Herefords dotted the green pasture like daisies. The sound of my father’s old red Ford pickup truck rolling across the dirt track of the long abandoned railroad track called the herd better than any cattle dog.

When the first crisp leaves drifted towards the ground until green jeweled leaves unfurled, I accompanied my father every night to feed the cows. Like a bovine Pied Piper, the truck’s engine enchanted the herd, or perhaps they just knew they were about to be fed.

Cattle trailed out behind us, a red ribbon of hides, all the way to the sturdy tin-roofed barn standing sentinel over the pasture. Dad started to load the bed of the truck with bales of hay. I slipped between the falling bits of hay, a prickly shower, climbing high upon the stacked bales of hay.

The view from the top of a hay stack, sturdy roughhewn rafters under my feet, makes me feel like I can fly. If I spread my arms, close my eyes, and jump, that I’ll simply float to the straw littered floor. The tips of my shoes flirt with the edge. I decide the view from the up here is better and I don’t really want to fly tonight.

Dad hollers up at me to push off some bales from the top of the stack. When a bale leaves my hand, it topples through the air, an awkward trapeze artist with no safety net. I wait while Dad positions the hay in the bed of the truck.

Country fields defy the laws of the county roads. No license is needed and I slide behind the wheel of the truck, grateful for the sputtering heater. At age eight, I drive the temperamental stick shift while Dad tosses the hay off the back of the truck. The hardest gear is first. That old truck bucks more than any rank bronc at a rodeo.

After all the hay is tossed off the back, I surrender the steering wheel. Dad drives slowly alongside the long tail of grazing cattle. “See that cow there, the one with the curled up hooves?”

I nod. Her hooves remind me of an elf’s shoes.

“I can’t take off work tomorrow and the butcher is coming. Think you’ll be able to remember and point her out when they come?”

I glance at her once more in the yellow glow of the headlights. “Yep.”

The next morning is bright and cool. My breath hangs in the air as I point out the curled hooved cow to the butchers.

The shot echoes across the dew soaked grass. I’m a farm girl, I don’t flinch, but I don’t particularly enjoy this part.

When the butchers prepare the cow for the truck, they discover she is pregnant.

My heart drops to the bottom of my rubber boots. I scan the herd, my gaze searching the hooves of nearly a hundred cattle. There. Another set of curled hooves.

I’d picked the wrong cow.

My shoulders drop. Tears scald my tight throat.

Being responsible for another living thing is a heavy responsibility. I know this first hand now, the consequences of not paying attention.  My father wasn’t angry with me. I think he knew I felt horrible enough on my own.

I’m always comforted when I remember that Jesus is my shepherd, or in my case, owner and foreman of the ranch. He’ll never make a mistake with me; never allow me to get lost in the herd.

The story of Jesus leaving the flock of ninety-nine sheep to go after the one used to strike me as irresponsible. Until I remember the way I felt that day. We are so much more important than animals.

We are so dear to Jesus that He would have died on the cross for just one of us.

And He did.

He died on the cross for me. He died on the cross for you.

Raising Livestock

Now my husband and I raise beef cattle. We have a small herd. Two cows, their current calves, and a couple of two-year-olds we butcher every fall. A total of six.

We operate on fourteen point nine six acres, with only eight acres of full pasture. The rest is our yard, garden, and some forest. Though our animals are raised for meat, I love our cattle. The sight of them grazing in the field, the calves running with their white tipped tails like flags through the grass warms my heart.

If you have acreage I recommend having some sort of livestock. Where we live, still in the foothills of the North Cascade Mountain range you need approximately one acre of pasture per animal if you don’t want to have to feed hay year round. Personally, I think all of God’s creatures need room to move around.

Tips for raising cattle.

1.      Make sure you have a secure fence. Unlike horses, cattle will go through barbed wire if it’s not tight. If there’s a long span between posts, we use metal stays to keep the barbed wire from stretching when the cows push on it. If using electric, test it to make sure your current is strong all the way through. If you’re in an area of dry summers, make sure your ground posts go deep into the ground.

2.      Start out with a few head. I recommend buying from a private buyer rather than auction. You can see what the rancher’s herd looks like and that your cattle are coming from strong healthy stock. We purchased our cattle from my father when he down-sized his herd.

3.      Decide how you’re going to breed your cows. Purchasing a bull can be expensive and they’re usually harder to keep. If you have a large herd, it will be cheaper to own your own bull. We share a bull with my father. Most ranchers keep their bulls for a few years and then swap with a neighbor or sell it so you don’t run the risk of inbreeding. You can rent bulls or do artificial insemination.

4.      Figure out where you’ll be purchasing your feed. We don’t have enough acreage to hay or the equipment. Buying bales of hay from the feed store is usually the most expensive. We purchase hay from local fields at wholesale. If you come and load the bales directly from the fields, you usually get a better price than out of the barn.

5.      Budget in for extra hay. Depending on your region, your growing season will differ. Always figure on purchasing enough feed for the harshest winter. If you have extra left, feed it at the very start of fall. It’s better to be prepared than run short.

6.      Do your research. Contact local farmers and ranchers in your area. Most will be happy to give you advice and answer your questions. Pioneer folk are usually good about lending a hand that way.

Chickens are probably known as the easiest and most widespread livestock option. Even if you live in the city you may be able to raise chickens. Check with your local ordinance to be sure.

Chickens need a coop as they’re pretty defenseless against predators. There are lots of pre-made coops available in feed stores or you can order them from catalogs and on-line. You can also build your own, too.

I have to tell you a little story about chickens. Two springs ago we purchased chicks from our local feed store. I researched which were good layers all year round and bought Americanas, Buff Orpingtons, and Rhode Island Reds.

We kept them in a large plastic tub with a heat lamp until they got large enough to put in our small coop. My husband built their coop off the backside of our pump house.

Our flock started out with fourteen hens the beginning of summer. By September we had one hen left.

The coyotes had to go on Weight Watchers that fall.

We gave our last hen to our neighbor who had a better built coop than ours and a large fenced run out.

I still believe all God’s creatures should run free, just maybe not as free as my chickens.

This is a great recipe for using up some eggs and broccoli. It can be served as a side dish or for breakfast.

Broccoli Casserole

1 small container cottage cheese

3 eggs

Mix and beat well, add

1 bunch cooked broccoli

3 Tablespoons soft butter

¼ pound shredded cheese

3 tablespoons flour

½ teaspoon onion powder

Dash of pepper

Stir all ingredients until mixed well. Put in a buttered 2 quart baking dish. Bake covered for 1 hour at 350 degrees or until bubbles in the center.

This is my husband’s favorite breakfast dish. His grandmother served it for dinner sometimes also. It’s sure to be a hit at your house too.

Creamed Eggs on Toast

¼ stick butter

2 to 3 tablespoons flour

1 cup milk

5 hardboiled eggs

Toast or biscuits

Melt your butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour a tablespoon at a time to make a thick paste. Slowly add milk until sauce reaches a thick consistency. If making this for a chicken dish, try substituting a quarter of the milk with chicken broth. Salt to taste. If using for casserole, stop here. Add in chopped hardboiled eggs. Serve warm over toast or biscuits.

We raised goats for a while. They are excellent brush eaters, but they love to eat everything else as well. I don’t recommend investing in your landscaping unless your fence is superb with goats around.

Don’t be afraid to try different things. If you’re anything like me, you won’t be successful at all of them, but you will find the one you are.

Despite the incident with sending the wrong cow to meet the butcher, I love the experience raising our own beef taught me. It didn’t scar me for life. It taught me responsibility and awareness from where our food comes from.

When it was time to butcher our first year, I realized I had no idea how I’d explain it to my son. He was four-years-old and I didn’t want him to be upset. My older brother had nicknamed our cows Hamburger and T-bone, so my son had a vague idea.

We’d always told him cows were meat and that hamburger was cows, but that didn’t mean it was all registered in his mind. I called my mother and asked how she’d explained it to me. I just remember always knowing, never having been bothered by it.

She said she never had a big sit down talk with me that it was just part of the farm.

I explained to my son the butcher was coming the next day. They would take the cow and wrap it up into meat for us and we’d go pick it up in a few weeks. “Okay, Mom.” He ran off to play with his toys.

He’s now seven and has never been bothered by butcher day. A farmer’s son, it’s just the way of life. I’m glad my children know where their food comes from. They know the importance of caring for our animals and the circle of life. They have respect for animals.

The lessons my father taught me, both earthly and heavenly, I now teach my children.

Jesus is our shepherd. When we push against our fence, the safety measure He’s outlined for us, He gently says, “Child, don’t do that. I only want what’s best for you.” May we always listen to his guiding and follow the Shepherd.

Author’s Note

I’m so glad you’ve stepped onto this journey with me. I hope you were inspired and learned something new while reading this book.

Don’t let the closing of this book be the end of your pioneer journey. Come join me on my website www.melissaknorris.com for free weekly articles. I’ll continue to share how Jesus is drawing me closer to Him, despite my getting in His way from time to time. Every week I share a new gardening, cooking, or homesteading tips and I hope you’ll join in the comments as we learn from one another.

May you send your faith and pioneer roots deeper every day.

Recipe Index

Breakfast:

Blueberry Buckle

Blueberry Zucchini Muffins

Chocolate Cinnamon Roll

Creamed Eggs on Toast

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Green Tomato Bread

Oatmeal Pancakes

Sausage Broccoli Quiche

Breads

Artisan Bread

Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits

Revonda’s Eggless Cornbread

Dinner Rolls

Canning/Preserving

Apple Pie Filling

Green Tomato Salsa

Mustard Pickles

Desserts

Cakes

Grandma’s Chocolate Mayo Cake

Heavenly Frosting

Grandma Lucille’s Pumpkin Roll

Raspberry Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

Strawberry Rhubarb Dump Cake

Cookies

Chewy Chocolate Cookies

Lemon Ginger Cookies

Molasses Sugar Cookies

Raisin Cookies

Pies

Creamy Pumpkin Pie

Grandma’s Flaky Pastry

Rhubarb Custard Pie

Snacks

White Chocolate Popcorn

Main Dishes

Basic White Sauce

Broccoli Chicken Biscuit Bake

Chicken Enchiladas……

Sausage and Broccoli Quiche

Slow Cooker Cabbage Rolls

Taco Seasoning Mix

Thin Crust Tomato Basil Pizza

White Sauce Chicken Pizza

Side Dishes

Broccoli Cottage Cheese Bake

Cornbread Salad

Savory Butternut Squash

Sweet Winter Squash

Cleaning Supplies

Baking Soda cleaners

Vinegar cleaners

Table of Contents

Copyright

Foreword

Dedication

Chapter 1 Planting

Chapter 2 Harvesting

Chapter 3 Preserving

Chapter 4 Bread of Life

Chapter 5 Cleaning

Chapter 6 Baking

Chapter 7 Homemade Gifts

Chapter 8 Livestock

Author’s Note

Recipe Index