Cheese Soup

A friend of mine gave me this recipe years ago. It has been a family favorite; we usually call it cheese soup. In the corner of the card there is a smudged reference to some issue of an Ideal magazine I think. Hope you enjoy it!

Walker-Stalker Cream of Parsley Soup

2 cups chopped fresh parsley (remove tough stems)
1/2 cup onions, chopped
1/4 cup margarine
3 cups vegetable broth (I frequently use plain water)
1 cup water
2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
2 cups milk
2/3 cup powdered milk
2/3 cup Parmesan cheese (best if you buy a chunk of Parm and grate in the blender)
2/3 cup grated cheddar
Salt and pepper to taste (I use 1 1/4 teaspoon salt)

Simmer parsley, onions, margarine, & broth until parsley is dark and limp (about 15 minutes). Stir water and flour together into smooth paste. Add to parsley mixture. Stir and cook 'til thickened. Add milk and powdered milk. Continue stirring until smooth. Salt & pepper to taste. 5 minutes before serving, add cheeses. Cook until cheeses are melted and soup is heated through. Stir slightly each time you ladle out a scoop--the cheeses sink to the bottom.

Another One

Some of you have asked for more of my bread recipes, and since I no longer have my Web site, I thought I'd post another one here today--especially since my camera is broken! This is the bread recipe that I created when I made my bread by hand. The amount of flour you need varies greatly due to the moisture in the flour you are using. Don’t be in too much of a hurry to add the flour because it can take a little time for it to absorb moisture, making your dough turn into whole-wheat bricks instead of whole wheat bread. The amount of gluten you need may vary, too. If the bread rises too much and gets “airy” decrease the amount; if the loaf is too dense and you have not added too much flour, increase it. The yeast measurement depends on the type of yeast you use. I use to add 2 tablespoons of it to the dough, but now that I use Saf-Instant yeast I do not need as much. You will have to work with the recipe to get it to work for you. Be sure that you keep the top of the dough moist while rising, which can be done by covering it with a damp cloth, greasing the outside of the dough before putting it in a bowl or covering the bowl with plastic wrap… I use a spray bottle filled with water to dampen the tops of the loaves very slightly as I place them in the oven to be sure they are moist enough for that final rise which happens when they are first placed in the hot oven. Always remember that the dough is a living thing and that bread has been the staff of life for many throughout time. Handle it with thankfulness.

Jean’s Oatmeal Bread

7-9 cups whole-wheat flour
1-2 tablespoons wheat gluten
1 cup boiling water
¾ cup rolled oats
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons honey
1-2 tablespoons yeast
2 1/2 cups warm water

Pour boiling water over rolled oats and allow it to cool to luke warm. Dissolve yeast in the warm water. Mix all ingredients together, adding the flour one cup at a time. Knead well. Let rise. Punch down and let rest 10 minutes. Form into loaves, place in your pans, and let rise again. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Makes 2 loaves.

Have a wonderful day!
Jean

P.S. You may be interested in why the print is so big at the top. I'll tell you what I know.

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O.K. That's it! I know nothing!

I changed the font so that the recipe is written in "normal size" and the top is written in "tiny size"--oh, yeah. For the love of Blogger...

Poppy Seeds and Pumpkin Muffins

All right, everyone. When those "support empty para/end iff and or but" signs show up on my posts it means I forgot and posted on Mozilla instead of Microsoft Internet Explorer. It is YOUR JOB to let me know that I've forgotten! Was it Donna who referred to them as the poppyseeds in our teeth that we cannot see but others can?

So remember. When the poppyseeds appear, it is YOUR JOB to leave a message in my comments box to help the little gray-haired lady out who writes these posts. Got it?

LOL!

Yesterday was wonderful. I had two visitors. One was a tiny, auburn-headed, smiling, cat-loving little girl. The other was her sweet, gentle, kind, cheerful, and loving mom.

Donna and Katie

We played with cats, visited the boys' cabin in the woods, and chatted. I gave the sweet girl a ride in the gator. We feed Penelope the donkey some carrots and talked to the turkeys. It was a good day!

And now, the pumpkin:

I have no idea where this recipe comes from—it doesn’t say on the card. Apparently it was a quick break that was made into muffins in order to hasten the baking time. It’s great for autumn—made with pumpkin and applesauce. I hope you enjoy it!

Pumpkin Muffins

2/3-cup applesauce
1-cup honey
4 eggs
1 can 15 or 16 oz. pumpkin
3 1/3 cup whole-wheat flour (all-purpose can be used)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
1-teaspoon cinnamon
1-teaspoon cloves
2/3-cup raisins (optional)

Mix all ingredients and bake in greased muffin tins at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, or when toothpick comes out clean.

I use medium sized muffins tins and the recipe makes about 2 ½ to 3 dozen. I like to bake half of the recipe one day and refrigerate the batter overnight to make fresh muffins again the following day.

Have a blessed Reformation Sunday, everyone!

Jean

Jean's Everyday Bread (Bosch Mixer )

Warm to 115 but not higher than 125 degrees:
(I microwave for 6 min.)
6 cups water
1/2-cup rolled oats
1/3-cup oil
1/3-cup honey

In mixer bowl put:
6 cups whole-wheat flour
3 tablespoons instant yeast (I use SAF Instant Yeast)
1/4-cup wheat gluten
Warmed water mixture above

Run mixer with dough hook until well mixed and smooth. Cover bowl and let rise 15 minutes. This is called a proof and is the 1st rise.

Add 2 tablespoons salt (DON'T FORGET THIS) and enough flour to clean the sides of the bowl while kneading.

I like to add flour a small scoop at a time. When the sides just start to be cleaned off, I stop the mixer and let it sit a few seconds--maybe a minute-- so that the ww flour has time to absorb the water. It takes ww longer to do this than white, and I find that if I don't wait this minute, I get too much flour in my dough.

Start up the mixer again, adding just enough to get the sides to clean, then kneed for a short while. I have never timed this, but it isn't long (3 minutes maybe?). I like to wet my hands and rip a piece of dough off and try to smooth it out into a thin sheet. If you can get a section to smooth out so that it is thin enough to become almost transparent, the kneading is done--make sure your hands are wet enough not to stick to the dough. The dough should not be exceptionally sticky. If it tears, it needs more kneading. This stage is short--if you over knead it you will not be able to get the proper rise out of your bread.

When ready, pull dough out of bowl onto a floured surface and divide into 6 pieces. Form into balls making them smooth and taunt. Cover with a towel and let rest for a few minutes (4 or 5)--this allows the bread to relax and let you form it into loaves without fighting with it. Shape into loaves and place into greased loaf pans. I use 8.5X4.5 pans—if your pans are too large, whole wheat bread might deflate part way through the baking cycle.

Let rise. It is ready to preheat the oven when you poke the bread slightly and the indention fills back in slowly. If it doesn't fill back in or if it "sighs" you have waited too long. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place in oven leaving a small amount of space between pans--as much as you can with 6 loaves. I place them all on the center shelf. I use glass pans, and I check my loaves after 20 minutes. If the bottoms are about the same color as the tops, they are done. Let cool on a rack--do not wrap in plastic until they are completely cool. If you are going to slice them before placing in the freezer, it helps to let them sit in their bags overnight before slicing. This allows the bread to firm up a bit.

If you want to roll out one loaf into a large rectangle, smooth melted butter over it and sprinkle with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar, you can roll it up and have a loaf of cinnamon bread as well. Caution: this never sticks around in the kitchen for very long.

When I place the pans in the oven, I use a mister bottle to mist the loaves very lightly with water so that the surface is just damp enough to get that last rise from the heat as it starts to bake. They should easily rise an inch or more above the bread pan.

Enjoy!

Fall Is For...

Combining soybeans!



















Today:
Give all 12 cats ear mite meds
Hubby visits the eye doctor
School
Talk to the donkey
Call the wood stove store and tell them the part that was back ordered forever is defective
Doctor Who

Dance and sing!
Jean 

Say Goodmorning, Orion

The parts to my wood stove have come in! Hopefully my hubby will be able to get it working tomorrow.

I've been reading The Song of Roland. I am really enjoying it, but I am glad that I have a handy electronic dictionary. My Franklin Dictionary has almost every word I need, but the new Sharp I purchased is nearly worthless for this--I had hoped it would be just as good since the reviews I'd read were so glowing.

The leaves are falling and soon we will be raking and burning. Autumn is a beautiful time of year here in Wisconsin.

Have a wonderful day! 

The Last of the Tomato Crop

I guess it helped to complain about Blogger. Today it came up the way it should. Curious.

Last night we went to the Paul Nelson/Ron Kind debate. They are running for Congress for our district. It was interesting to watch the differences between the two men: Nelson's "this is exactly what you can expect of me" and Kind's more polished rhetoric. When it comes down to it, the Democrate (Kind) stands for all the policies of the Democrate party; Nelson stands for the conservative side of the Republican party--life, marriage, energy independence, stopping illegal immigration. It really should not be difficult for anyone to decide which person he wants to vote for if he or she knows what they believe. There are two more weeks before elections. We will be glad when it is done--my daughter has put a lot of time and work into the Nelson campaign!

My camera died! The shutter will neither open nor close all the way. I'll have to do some research and see what I want to do. Until then, you'll have to put up with photos taken from my files. Have a great day!

Jean 

Say Hello

I'm going to try to post this photo a 3rd time. What's up with Blogger? Why does it take 30 minutes to post one photo when I'm using DSL? Do they have more blogs than they can handle? I'd try moving to another blogger, but I've not time for that! Sigh. Any ideas?

These turkeys are going to be huge by the time we butcher them at Thanksgiving!

Have a great day!
Jean 

Autumn

Warm turtleneck sweaters
Wool lined slippers
Fuzzy-soft mittens
Warmth sharing kittens
Wood burning stove
Shivering in the cold
Layers of warm clothes
Mukluks
Frost on the ground
Brightly colored leaves falling down
Clearing off the garden
Raking and burning
Duvet covers
Blankets on the back of each living room chair
Hot soup and homemade bread
Preparing for winter

What do you love about autumn?

Jean

True Love

Ruffy and Ears

Astrophotography: My First Attempt

Not a very crisp and clear photo of our moon, now is it?
I'll have to try again sometime!

My Boys' Cabin Has a New Door!

Such a Sweet Little Donkey...

I have my nose stuck through this fence, and you pull out a camera.
Duh.
Carrot, girl, carrot.

Say Hello to the Turkey

I'm glad she knows nothing about Thanksgiving. Gobble, gobble.

A Box Is To Sit In

Snowflake found a box on the floor and, being a cat, of course he needs to sit in it. The pears behind the stove came off our tree and still need time to ripen. It is in the 30's today. I hope the part that is backordered for our stove will be here soon. It's cold inside!

Dear Katie,

Mama Kitty does have a real name other than Mama Kitty--it is Nickabrick. We use to call her Nicky for short. Over time, however, she had given birth to so many kittens that we began calling her Mommy. Today everyone in our household refers to her as Mama Kitty, and so that is the name I call her when she is in a picture on my blog.

A long time ago she would answer to her name if I called, "Nicky!" Today she does not respond to that name. If I call out "Mama Kitty,” she turns to look at me, and sometimes she comes to rub her soft body against my legs in response. To her, Mama Kitty is her name.

Lots of our cats have had different names; many of them have been given nicknames that have stuck. Snowflake started out Glorfindel, but when we decided to bring him into the house as a house cat, we all agreed we preferred to call him Snowflake. Charcoal is frequently called Chuck Bunny, Betelgeuse is now called Bug, Orion is sometimes called Wannabe, and William of Orange is usually called Willie. A cat’s name in our household, unlike people names, seems to change to fit the personality of the cat as it grows up.

Thanks for asking!

Jean

When the Air Turns Cool...

All summer long the kitties were not interested in coming into the house. Now, however, you can find them waiting at the door, asking to come in. Apparently Mama Kitty and Bright don't mind sharing a basket lined with an old, soft robe. 

I Just Had To Stop By Today...

This morning. Peace, beauty, wonder...

I miss you all--Jean