Relish the Memories...

How precious is Your steadfast love, O God! The children of men take refuge and put their trust under the shadow of Your wings. They relish and feast on the abundance of Your house; and You cause them to drink of the stream of Your pleasures. ⁹ For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light do we see light. Psalm 36:7-9 (AMP)

Several weeks ago my husband's sister stayed with us for a few days so she could visit her parents in the local nursing home. While with us she asked for some of my home canned relish because it was made from Mom's recipe. She always loved her mom's relish and Mom had been unable to can that

sweet treat for many years because of her severe arthritis.

Judy had used up all the jars of relish left in the basement at the homestead and no one else in the family makes it except me. How could I resist that look of longing in her eyes as she asked if she could have a couple of the jars I had canned this past summer?

I decided to repeat the relish recipe here today so others can "relish" mom's homemade relish. Since I'm already planning my garden for this coming summer, I want to be sure I grow enough of the necessary veggies  - it looks like I'll have to make another batch or two this coming summer. My sis-in-law isn't the only one who wants more of it....

Mae's Pickle Relish

Ingredients:

1/2 bushel of cucumbers (about 20 pounds)
5 lbs. each of green peppers (add a few red peppers for color), green tomatoes, onions
2 heads of cabbage, small to medium sized
Grind everything up and place in a food-grade container or crock. Salt and let stand overnight to bring out the natural juices of the vegetables.
Drain - squeezing out excess moisture the next day.

Place the drained relish in a large pot and cook for 1 to 1 and a half hours with:
1 quart of apple cider vinegar
1 quart water
2 T celery seed
2 T Mustard seed
3 T Turmeric
Sweeten it to taste with 1 1/2 to 2 pounds of sugar.
(I use my crock pots to cook the relish for 3-4 hours so I don't have to stand and stir it - it will stick to the bottom of the pot and burn on the stove - Been there done that!)
When relish is thoroughly cooked, you can ladle it into sterile pint jars, seal and process it in a water bath canner for 15 minutes. I usually get a dozen or more jars from each recipe I make, but I'm not sure how much the actual recipe makes since I don't measure my ingredients.
This is the best relish for hot dogs - or eating straight from the jar like Judy confessed to doing LOL!
Don't forget to "relish" the memories and traditions of your loved ones. And especially to "relish" the Lord today!

Homemade cottage cheese

"Whatever has happened—that’s what will happen again; whatever has occurred—that’s what will occur again. There’s nothing new under the sun. ¹⁰ People may say about something: “Look at this! It’s new!” But it was already around for ages before us." Ecclesiastes 1:9-10 CEB

What a treasure trove my mom and mother-in-law left me! I have their recipe files - boxes and boxes of news clippings, hand written recipes and whole recipe books. There are way too many recipes to keep them all, but as I look through them, I've found some really great oldies that are new to me which I plan to keep and pass on to my daughters.

This morning I found a wonderful recipe to make my own cottage cheese from ingredients
I already have in my kitchen. We are trying to live more frugally so cottage cheese is one product we don't usually have on our grocery list, though I really enjoy it.

To start with, you make a recipe of buttermilk starter. It's made with powdered milk, store-bought buttermilk and a dash of salt. Once you get it going, you shouldn't need to buy the buttermilk again.

To make it, start by making the instant powdered milk - usually about 1 and 1/3 cup of the dried milk and 2 and 3/4 cups of water. (Use 1 cup less of water to mix the milk than the box recipe calls for. ) Mix thoroughly.

Add 1 cup of the regular buttermilk and stir until well blended. Let stand at room temperature in the kitchen.

After 24 hours, you have a jar of buttermilk "clabber" which you can stir and store in a sterile glass jar in the fridge. It should keep for several weeks that way, according to the author. Use as you would use buttermilk in any recipe. It also serves as a starter for future recipes of cottage cheese or more buttermilk (much like you would use a sourdough bread starter.)

- OR for the cottage cheese -

You can let the buttermilk-powdered milk mixture stand in a jar on the counter without stirring for a total of 48 hours, until the bottom third of the jar contains clear liquid (the whey) and the top 2/3 of the jar contains curds.

Without stirring it, pour the mixture into a large strainer filled with cheesecloth or a large wire-mesh strainer. When drained, voila! You have cottage cheese. Refrigerate the curds and use as you would any store-bought cottage cheese.

The recipe went on to say that the next day, the author would show us how to make a low calorie, low-fat substitute for sour cream using the homemade cottage cheese - but I haven't found that piece yet! Guess I better keep looking... since I'm all about low cal, low fat goodies! LOL!

Thank you Lord for helping us revive old recipes to help live more frugally today! Amen.

PA Dutch bread and potato stuffing

“Herod called a meeting of all the leading Jewish priests and teachers of the law. He asked them where the Messiah would be born. They answered, “In the town of Bethlehem in Judea, just as the prophet wrote: ‘Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, you are important among the rulers of Judah. Yes, a ruler will come from you, and that ruler will lead Israel, my people.’”” Matthew 2:4-6 ERV

Bethlehem - "bread town" was the place God chose for his son, the "Bread of life" to be born. So I thought it was fitting today to include a recipe for my mom's homemade bread and potato "filling" which always graced our table on Thanksgiving and Christmas when the family gathered for dinner.

Mom came from German Mennonite background so she grew up understanding the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect her parents spoke and enjoying many traditional foods. Many of the old family recipes were lost though when she married and followed my dad into the Schwenckfelder church (another German-based denomination in south eastern PA). Also, since they married in the post WWII era, she was a working mom, putting in long hours in a sewing factory and later a factory that made floor tiles, so that our family was well-provided for.

However, the one recipe she never lost was her bread and potato stuffing. On the eve of every Christmas or Thanksgiving holiday, Mom cubed several loaves of white bread into a large 6-quart bowl. She amply covered the bread with about a half cup of dried parsley, then placed a towel over the bread to dry out over night. In later years, she began to buy 4-5 bags of already dried bread cubes.
Early the next morning, she would be up by 6 AM, peeling and cutting potatoes into small cubes to fill her 6 quart Dutch oven. She cooked them until they were tender, draining them and reserving some of the liquid to moisten her bread.

While the potatoes cooled a bit, she finely chopped 4-6 stalks of celery and 2 cups of onions, adding them to the dried bread along with salt and pepper. When I got old enough to help, this was my job. Boo-hoo and LOL!

She added the cooled potatoes and about a quart of the reserved potato liquid to the bread and mixed it together. It was important that the bread be slightly moist. About an hour before the turkey was done, she would add turkey broth to the mixture as well for flavor. She always knew just how much to add so the stuffing was moist and stuck together well.

Putting it into two large casserole dishes, Mom topped the mixture with pats of real butter to help flavor it and brown the top. She baked it at 350° for at least an hour , covered with foil. Then she removed the covering and baked it for another half hour or longer until it came out nicely browned on the top, but fluffy and moist inside.

Christmas reminds me of Mom and I still make her recipe for my family dinners, though I omit the potatoes. I never could figure out why we needed them in the stuffing and mashed too.

No matter how you fix your stuffing / filling / dressing at this time of year, take time to remember and praise the Living Bread of Bethlehem who came that we should never hunger or thirst for God again! Amen.

Second chance tomato soup

The recipe for tomato soup was typed on a piece of onion-skin typing paper, in the days before we used personal computers. An older pastor's wife had taken the time to type it out for me when we tried out for the youth pastor position at their church, MANY years ago.

The soup she served us was excellent, but when I tried to make it a few years later, I took a shortcut, pureeing the tomatoes in my blender without slipping the skins first. I loved the flavor of the soup, but I kept getting pieces of tough skin in every jar with each bite of the soup. Ewwwww!

Considering it a failure, I tucked the recipe away in my stash. But I kept it because of the memories of the sweet woman who took time to mentor me - both in canning and as a pastor's wife.

I dug that old recipe out last week and tried it again with the frozen tomato juice from this year's garden. This time, I followed the directions - no skin on the tomatoes. Wow! It tastes phenomenal - better than tin-canned tomato soup. I will definitely not forget about this old recipe again.

It reminded me of an important life lesson: Listen to those who take the time to mentor you!



Thank you Lord for being patient with me, even when I try to do things my own way. Help me to eventually get it right and do it your way!

“Come, let’s sing out loud to the LORD! Let’s raise a joyful shout to the rock of our salvation! Let’s come before him with thanks! Let’s shout songs of joy to him!” Psalm 95:1-2 CEB

Home-canned Tomato Soup

by Sister Barriss from Jeanette, PA
Cook and puree:

• 1 Peck of tomatoes (about 15 pounds)
• Or use 6 quarts of home-canned tomatoes
• Or 6 quarts of home-canned tomato juice (use half the recommended salt and sugar if you used them to can the tomato juice)

Cook well and blend, then add pureed veggies to the tomatoes:

• 2 large ribs of celery
• 2 green peppers
• 6-8 onions (small to med)
• 1 Tbsp parsley flakes

Add to mixture and heat until all are well blended:

• 1/2 pound of butter or margarine
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1/4 cup of salt

Make a paste with 1 cup of flour and some of the tomato juice. Blend well then stir slowly into the tomato soup. Bring to a boil and cook for about 10 minutes.
Ladel the soup into your jars and process for 20 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure for a pressure canner

Sharing your faith with future generations

“Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”” Matthew 28:18-20 NLT

Being a writer is important to me. It's a way to share my faith and my story with my family, friends and those I've never met. So when asked to share about my writing with a group of women at a luncheon, I wanted to encourage them to become writers too. No, they may never write a novel, but anyone can leave a legacy of their faith with a few words strategically placed for others to find. Who knows how your words will impact another person and teach them important lessons about Christ?

1. Photos. We all have them. I inherited a large boxful when my parents passed away. Many of them are meaningless to me: nameless faces in unknown places. I'm not sure what to do with them since I feel uncomfortable tossing them out.  

However, the ones I do know, I am in the process of labeling so my children will know who they are and how they fit into their family tree. If I know something about their faith, I'm including that as well - little stories, memories I have of them or quotes that I remember to inspire and encourage my grandchildren in their faith Sticky notes work well so I don't have to write directly on the photos or to create labor intensive scrapbooks.

Another thing I would recommend is to make a list of 50 "facts about me". Or to write out your testimony - when you first met the Lord, how knowing him has changed your life, some examples of answered prayer. Select a personal photo to go along with those writings. It's an ideal way to share your personal faith for your family and place them in a special box or folder.

2. Recipes. I inherited my mom's cookbooks and recipes. Many of those bring back childhood memories and become topics to write about to share about family traditions, about how we celebrated Jesus as a family, etc. Again, including photos with these particular foods or events will help to bring the writing alive and can be a memory maker or teaching tool. connecting one generation to the next or in sharing the gospel.

3. Diaries or letters. Do you keep a diary or journal? Keep one that details the important inspirational or faith-related happenings of your life. This is a great way to share your story of your relationship with Christ. As your children and grandchildren read these, they will learn what made you tick and why Christ was so important to you. If you are into technology, you might keep an online blog to preserve your faith stories for all to read. Include a photo in the front of the diary as well to put a face to the faith stories!

These are just a few ways anyone can become a writer/teacher to share their memories as well as their faith with family and future generations.

Father, help me to impact family, friends and future generations through my words and show me new ways to share those words each day! Amen.

Relish

“But each day the LORD pours his unfailing love upon me, and through each night I sing his songs, praying to God who gives me life.” Psalm 42:8 NLT


Yesterday I finished a marathon 2-day canning project – homemade Relish!
My Mother-in-law taught me how to make her recipe many years ago and it is so much better than the commercially made product. It’s a combination of

• 20 pounds of cucumbers
• five pounds each of peppers (red and green), onions, cabbage and green tomatoes
• 2 Tbsp. each of mustard and celery seeds
• 3-4 Tbsp of turmeric
• 1-2 cups of sugar (to taste) sugar
• 1 quart each of vinegar and water.

On day one, the veggies are ground up and salted, then left to stand overnight. The next day the excess water is squeezed off the veggies until they are almost dry before cooking them in the fresh water and vinegar-spice mixture.

I have changed things up over the years. For example, I don’t stand over a hot stove and cook the mixture for one and a half hours. After I burned a batch a few years ago, I decided to let my crock pots do the cooking! The crock pots keep the mixture moist and I only have to stir things up occassionally while they cook for 4-5 hours on high. Sure it takes a bit longer, but I’m free to do other chores while the pots do all the work. LOL!

This year’s batch was about 2/3 the size of the recipe, but I ended up with 14 pints. I thought it would be enough to last for 2 years for my husband and I, but when I told my daughter about the relish, she immediately said, “I gotta have me some of that!” Oh well… I guess I can always make more next year.

Relish is a condiment – not something people usually eat by itself, but something they use to help enhance the flavor of other foods. I love the thought that God can make me into a condiment for his use. He takes all the trials and hurts that I’ve gone through and adds lots of learning experiences, interactions with others and a little heat to make me into a person who will add just the right touch to help to bring out the best in others.

It may be a marathon process, but I suppose God loves the process just as much as he loves seeing the finished product all ready to enjoy – just like I enjoy making and seeing my relish all canned on the counter!

Thank you Lord, for my relish and for preparing me to spice up the lives of others. Amen!

My daughter Cammie visited us this weekend so we made a tried and true family favorite - Pizza! I like it because it's easy and the bread maker does the hard work while I get to enjoy my company. When the dough is ready. we get to spend some time cooking together which we've always enjoyed. And of course we all like to eat it. At about half the cost of ordering pizza from our local pizza shops, it is a frugal - and healthier alternative.

Pizza dough recipe: (makes 2 medium sized pizzas)
1 1/3 cups water
1 1/3 Tbsp of Olive Oil
1/2 tsp salt
4 cups bread flour ( or half whole wheat and half bread flour)
2 1/2 tsp yeast

Set your machine on dough cycle if possible.

When it's done roll the dough out on your pans and top with whatever you choose. We used sauce, cheese, garlic, peppers, onions, slices of the first ripe tomato from my garden, sautéed zucchini and yellow squash also from the garden for a yummy veggie pizza. Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes or until it is lightly browned on bottom and crust edges.

Enjoy your family and of course, the pizza!