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cutting fruit into flower shapes

Apr 19th, 2010 by

This isn’t something the Damsel ever saw her grandma do. Still, it keeps with the spirit of the Old School’s purpose, because it’s a creative, new use of a basic item. In other words, use what you have. Make it something more.

The Damsel’s daughters made fresh fruit into flowers. Amazing! First, they saw a picture that looked something like this:

Because they are fearless, they said, “We could make these ourselves. We could make LOTS of these and use them for centerpieces at sprog #3′s wedding. People can eat them. It will be fun.”

The Damsel is ashamed to admit she was afraid. She was afraid they’d look funny. She was afraid people would think the centerpieces were weird and not eat them. She was also afraid people would eat them faster than they could be replenished.

The Damsel hated to forbid the daughters on the basis of her own fear. Then she got a brainwave. “Go right ahead, daughters. But first, how about making a prototype? Then we’ll see how much time it will take.” She sat back with a smug smile. She knew they would struggle to make fruit look like flowers. She knew they’d see it would be time consuming and not look like the professional version at all. They’d decide on their own that this was crazy, and it wouldn’t be the Damsel saying no. It would be their own decision.

A day or so later, sprogs #2 and #3 happily reported that the prototype turned out great, didn’t take too long, and was pretty cheap to boot. Eeek!

Remember the adorable cookie cutters from This Post? They definitely came in handy for this project. (www.annclark.com)

Pineapples were sliced, leaving their cores intact. Flower-shaped cookie cutters made this step easy. (Slightly underripe pineapple cut easier.) Cantaloupe balls formed the centers.

Placing something across the cookie cutter helped to press it down evenly.

Wedges of honeydew were cut freeform with a corrugated cutter thingy.

These were assembled on skewers with cubes of other melon types.

Statistics revealed grapes were eaten at a high percentage rate.

Orange slices, skewered. Also, strawberries. (Some people have cut an x slit in the top of the strawberry and inserted a piece of marshmallow for additional flowerishness. We didn’t.

Our sweet serving girls attended the tables throughout the evening, bringing out fresh skewers so the centerpieces stayed looking good. The Damsel’s fears were for naught.

The fruit scraps were blended up into delicious wedding punch. Waste not, want not. Grandma would have smiled.

Posted in thrifty | 25 Comments »

guest post

Apr 16th, 2010 by

The Damsel is guest posting over at Mormon Mommy Blogs today. See ya there!

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

spring break

Apr 14th, 2010 by

The Damsel would like to apologize for not announcing ahead of time about spring break at the Old School. She kept hoping a miracle would happen and a spontaneous clone would form of herself. This did not happen.

Sprog #3 got married. It happened! No one died!

First we had this:

Which became this:

Weddings are full of busyness which sadly kept the Damsel away from her duties as the Old Schoolmarm. But the wedding was full of sweet moments as well, so it was a good thing. A very good thing. And life is slowly getting back to normal at the Cottage by the Mountains. A real post is coming soon.

Posted in personal, Uncategorized | 8 Comments »

Homemade Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup

Apr 5th, 2010 by

The Damsel is happy to introduce today’s guest writer. She was tempted to follow the “school” theme and call her a substitute teacher, but that sounds grumpy or something. Julie is not grumpy. She is a marvelous example of living lightly, and the Damsel holds her in the highest esteem. Plus there is the added coolness that she is from Australia. The Damsel delights to look at her photos when it’s cold and awful outside at The Cottage By The Mountains, since Julie’s seasons are opposite.

For extra credit, please visit her beautiful blog, Towards Sustainability.

One of the first things I did when we began to live more simply was to look for homemade substitutes for commercial products.  I *heart* my slow cooker (aka crock pot) and at the time I used a lot of canned condensed soups in various slow cooker casseroles, so when I found an easy-to-make substitute on Tammy’s Recipes website, I was excited!

As the comments on her original post imply, this recipe is so tasty,  quick and easy I would never go back the bought stuff again.

Homemade Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

1½ cups of chicken stock (broth)*
¼ teaspoon onion powder
¼ tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp dried parsley
1/8 tsp ground pepper
dash paprika
1½ cups milk
¾ cups plain flour

* I like to use homemade chicken stock, made from leftover roasted chicken carcasses, which I freeze for storage.  Homemade stock will be really flavorful, however you can, of course, use bouillon cubes or powder.

Method:

Add ½ cup of the milk to the chicken broth in a medium saucepan:

And then add the herbs and spices.  Luckily for me, my trusty measuring spoons include one for “dash” so I can get the paprika just right ;-)

You’ll need to heat the mix until boiling, and continue to boil for 1 or 2 minutes whilst whisking the mixture.

In the meantime, add the plain flour to the remaining 1 cup of milk:

And whisk together until you have a nice smooth batter:

Then pour this into the mixture in the saucepan:


And continue to heat whilst whisking, until the mixture is nicely thickened, about 1-2 minutes:

The finished product

And there you have it! Easy peasy.

This recipe makes the equivalent of two cans of condensed soup; I divide mine into two and freeze in labeled portions until needed, when I thaw it in the refrigerator overnight. The recipe can also be easily doubled, tripled etc.

Now that’s one more product you don’t have to buy ;-)

Posted in cooking, guest post | 5 Comments »

perfect hard boiled eggs

Apr 3rd, 2010 by

hard boiled egg isolated on white

No more eggs that have to be peeled chip by tiny chip. This is the Damsel’s wish for you. Obey her instructions, and everything will be as it should be.

1. Choose eggs that aren’t super fresh. If you didn’t take your eggs from under a chicken, you’re probably good, considering shipping and whatnot for the modern supermarket.

2. Set eggs carefully in a pot and cover with COLD water.

3. Heat until water boils.

4. Cover pot and remove from heat.

5. Let the eggs stand in the hot water, covered, for 18 minutes. Let us be clear that the pot is no longer on a hot burner.

6. Run cool water over the eggs. You can ice them if you like. DONE! Time to start coloring!

Posted in cooking | 14 Comments »

homemade candied ginger

Mar 30th, 2010 by

The Damsel will guess that the pressing need for candied ginger comes up in your life only now and then, like when your #3 sprog is about to be married and you’re casting about for something fancy to feed the folks.

Yes, this scenario is drawn from real life. Soon the Damsel will be feeding 100 people at a family-dinner-before-the-wedding-dealio. Just refer to her from now on as Headless Chicken.

One recipe that fell under her scrutinizing eye called for candied ginger. Usually such a recipe would be scoffed at and immediately passed over. But the bride begged so prettily that the Damsel deigned to give it a try. A trip to the market revealed that one small bottle of candied ginger cost over $9. The same amount of raw ginger cost $0.51. Hilarity ensued. As if!

The Damsel found several complicated ways to make your own candied ginger, and one easy way. GUESS WHICH is featured in this post?

Hints:

1. The Damsel has a wedding to take care of very, very soon.

2. The Damsel has many, many other children which have loads of things going on.

3. The Damsel has a lazy streak a mile long.

4. The Damsel categorically shies from recipes that use words like “hard ball” or “soft crack” or any fear-inducing words. The easy recipe had no such thing.

Acquire a large-ish piece of fresh ginger and peel it. The Damsel heard that scraping it with the side of a spoon works well, and indeed it does.

Dice it up, baby.

Combine 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup water, and 1 tablespoon lemon juice and heat until it just comes to a boil.

Add the chopped ginger to the pot. The Damsel’s hunk yielded about 1/3 cup. Cook for 20 minutes or so until the ginger is tender. Let it cool a bit.

Let it drain, but don’t stress. The Damsel’s cooking liquid got sort of thick, and nothing bad happened.

Pour a bunch of sugar over the drained pieces and stir to coat. “Candied” ginger means “ginger cooked in sugar and then drenched in more sugar.”

Keep stirring and tossing the little pieces until they are individually coated. The Damsel just left them in the same strainer, and as sugar fell through the mesh, she just repoured it over the top until everything was completely coated.

The ginger will keep in a covered container on the shelf for at least 3 months. You just saved $9!

Homemade Candied Ginger (cut and pastable version)

1/2 cup water

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup minced fresh ginger

Additional sugar

Heat sugar, water and lemon juice until it just comes to a boil. Add minced ginger and cook for 20 minutes or until ginger is tender. Drain. Toss with additional sugar until all the pieces are well coated. Store at room temperature, covered, up to 3 months.

Posted in cooking | 11 Comments »

guest post

Mar 24th, 2010 by

Skip on over to MMB where the Damsel is guest-posting today, discussing all sorts of horribly important things, like sunshine and nose hairs. Yes. You heard her right. Now scoot…don’t be tardy.

Posted in guest post | 3 Comments »

rolled sugar cookies

Mar 24th, 2010 by

The Damsel loves presents. She recently received a box from Ann Clark Ltd., which is a cookie-cutter-making-company in Vermont.

Awww! What’s cuter than a bunch of springtime-shaped cookie cutters?

Making rolled sugar cookies is way old school. The Damsel has been meaning to do a post about them for a long time. She’s put it off because, well, let’s face it. She has seven kids, and rolled cookies are not the fastest way to get flour and sugar into your mouth.

The Damsel doesn’t want to hear any sniping about the fact that three of her seven kids are grown up and don’t live at home. She likes her seven-kids-excuse and plans on using it for the rest of her life.

So. Sugar cookies. They really aren’t hard, and kids love to make and eat them.

Each one of these cutters comes with a free cookie and frosting recipe tied to it. Aww! The Damsel loves this one because dragonflies are her totem.

There are a billionty sugar cookie recipes, but today the Damsel is following the one sent with the cutters. But, of course, any recipe will do. This one is fast, easy, with only a few ingredients.

Soften 2 cubes of butter (1 cup) and throw them into a mixer bowl. Add 2/3 cup plain granulated processed unhealthy delicious white sugar. Mix it around a bit.

Have your 14 year old put one egg in because you can’t take a picture of yourself cracking an egg.

Ye olde teaspoon of vanilla. Then 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 2 1/2 cups flour. Mix everything until well blended.

Here’s a short video from Epicurious about mixing sugar cookie dough:

The Damsel said this was easy, but there is a hard part. You now have to chill the dough. Oh, the waiting! The cookie making party comes to a screeching halt. The recipe recommends 3 to 4 hours. The Damsel made it 2 hours before succumbing to the lure of the Pretty New Cookie Cutters. As far as she can tell, nothing bad happened. (Note: the video says 1 hour)

Preheat the oven to 350, and get yourself a cookie sheet, lined, if you like, with a silicone mat. Some folks lightly spray a bare pan with cooking spray.

Lightly flour your surface and roll out 1/4″ thick. Chilled dough is much less sticky, so you shouldn’t need much flour. By the way…1/4″ is thicker than you think it is.

Press the cookie cutter firmly down till you hit bottom and wiggle just a bit.

Pull dough away from the cut design until you can liberate it. With a design like this, with long skinny parts, you’ll have to be extra careful. The Damsel used a thin spatula to transfer them to the cookie sheet.

You don’t need as much space between the cookies as you normally would, since these cookies have no leavening (baking powder or soda) that would make them rise or spread very much.

Bake the cookies until they have the tiniest hint of color, about 8 to 10 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

There’s nothing shameful about eating a sugar cookie plain, but here’s a the frosting recipe that came with the cutters: 3/4 cup powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon melted butter, 1 tablespoon milk, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice. Whisk until smooth. The Damsel added bright yellow food coloring because it seemed springish, and she was way too lazy that day to make a bunch of colors.

Then, shockingly, there was an Attack of the Fourteen Year Old Girls. Three. At Once. Resistance is Futile.

And then a sixteen-year-old floated through the kitchen, and it was all over. This pretty much covers the reason why there are no pictures of beautifully decorated, pristine cookies for you to see.

The Ann Clark company has offered the Damsel’s students a discount on their website. BLGA19. It is good thru 12/31/10 and provides a 10% discount at checkout. These are very nice people…a family-run business, and the Damsel highly recommends you have a look around their website. Cutest Cookie Cutters Plus they have a blog with lots of fun ideas for using cutters, many of which the Damsel had never thought of. The Blog

And finally, here are the recipes in a more cut-and-pastable form:

Sugar Cookies

Cream: 1 cup butter, 2/3 cup sugar

Beat in: 1 egg

Add: 1 tsp. vanilla, 1/2 tsp. salt, 2 1/2 cups sifted flour.

Mix until all ingredients are well blended. Chill dough 3-4 hours before rolling.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Roll out 1/4″ thick and cut. Bake about 8-10 minutes or until barely colored. Remove from cookie sheets and cool on wire racks.

Frosting

3/4 cup powdered sugar, 1 tbl. melted butter, 1 tbl. milk, 1/2 tsp. vanilla, 1/4 tsp. lemon juice.

Whisk all ingredients until smooth.

Posted in baking | 19 Comments »

off topic but oh so nice

Mar 22nd, 2010 by

Remember the field trip we took about Chopin’s 200th birthday? Click to review your class notes.

The Damsel found out today you can buy practically everything the man ever composed for $4.99. UNBELIEVABLE. This is an mp3 download from Amazon, ready to put on your favorite Listening Addiction Assistance Device.

$4.99!! The Damsel is in a swoon.

A link to this item is way down yonder on the right sidebar, in the box entitled “Buy stuff from Amazon, give the Damsel a penny.” (blush)

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

pruning raspberries

Mar 17th, 2010 by

The Damsel will be the first to admit she’s no expert on raspberries. She is highly expert on eating them, and getting mighty scratched up trying to fool with her raspberry patch.

What little she knows, she is happy to share with you.

Raspberries grow on long, willowy, prickly wands (properly called canes). They grow straight up from the ground without branching. They produce fruit on last year’s canes. That is, one year a cane will grow, get all long and stuff, nice and leafy, but no raspberries in sight. The next year raspberries will form on these one-year-old canes, while at the same time new canes (for next year) are also growing up, all mixed in together.

Then, once the canes produce fruit, they die. That’s all they live for. Once they’ve made their beautiful little fruit, they lose their will to survive and it’s all over. These canes can then be pruned out.

The Damsel likes to do this the following spring, early before the new canes start growing. The reason she likes to do it then is:

1. There’s less stuff to contend with–the weeds haven’t started growing yet, nor the new canes. All she has is the canes that will fruit this year and the old dead ones from last year.

2. It’s a little easier to tell everything apart. The two kinds of canes each have their own look. The Damsel will attempt to show you what she means by this.

Let’s be honest. Last year’s canes have a sad, dead look. There’s this whitish, papery layer on the wood, and the canes are brittle. Sometimes they’ll break right off in your hands before you even have a chance to cut them out. Many will have already broken off, pushed down by snow or large dog-shaped horses.

The live canes will have little buds of growth, a lighter color, more flexible, and if you cut them they will have a live, greenish layer in their wood. They will also strive with all their might to snag your ponytail and scratch your arms and poke you in the eye.

Snip the dead ones as close to the ground as you can reasonably manage, and attempt to remove the cut cane from the rest. Not as easy as it sounds, because it likes to tangle itself with its brother canes and stab humans. That’s what kind of creature we’re dealing with.

Here’s an area of the Damsel’s raspberry patch that has been pruned. Notice the live canes reaching out toward her in a menacing way. And the bonus PVC pipe sticking up in the middle. Don’t trim or cut the live canes at all. Berries form all the way out to their ends, so trimming them back means less Berries 4 U.

It’s hard to believe, but soon, these claw-looking thorn-infested canes will be covered with lush green leaves and delicious red berries. (And they will still be prickly and pokey as ever.)

Love hurts.

Posted in gardening | 13 Comments »

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