Wednesday, November 2, 2022

Midwest Gardening: Drying Herbs---Sage Smells so Good!

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Part of Gardening of course is eating all the wonderful fresh vegetables and fruits you can produce in your garden or pots. Then there are the herbs which make everything taste better!

Two years ago, our over 10 year-old Sage plant croaked. It was huge one year and then dead the next, probably from our Midwest freeze/thaw cycles. So, I planted a new one---last year, and I had enough sage to do Thanksgiving and that was about it. 


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Here is the second year plant (center) in Spring of this year, and another variegated sage that I planted this year. The plant to the lower right is Marjoram which is still growing and is also hardy here in NE Illinois.
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Well this year---the Sage was huge and luscious with tons of leaves and tall hardy stems. I cut it all before our first frost and hung generous bunches up where the air circulation is good in our house: *the stairway to the basement---we run a fan down there all the time, and the dining center in the kitchen---the overhead fan is always on low.* It took three weeks for the sage to be totally dry. 

Here's a Fabulous Article by an expert on all the benefits of Sage---right HERE ! I just know I love using Sage in cooking, and who knew it was so good for you!


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Drying herbs is so easy---and you can dry and harvest just about any herb like this! Simply wash and clean, tie up in loose bunches (I reuse rubber bands from vegetable purchases) and hang them up.
This is the sage after drying for almost three weeks. Definitely dry enough to harvest.

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First I undid the rubber bands holding the sage, and placed a bunch on a large piece of parchment paper. Any leaves that are browned I pick off and throw away.

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It was easy to just roll up the paper on the diagonal and crunch all the leaves inside the paper---very little mess this way.

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Of course not all the leaves crunched off. But they were 'cracked' and easy to scrape off with my fingers. I leave the bits clinging to the stems. 

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Again, the generous size of the paper controls the mess. Fold the paper and just pour all that luscious goodness into an air-proof container. Today I used a freezer bag.

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Then, I took all the remaining stems and folded them ---into little clusters or sage rolls and tied these with cotton string. These will be for 'purifying' a room by burning, and I will send these sage rolls to a friend who enjoys this. I prefer roasting and cooking, I can easily throw a few leaves on a tray in the toaster for the scent.

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It is a nice gift from the garden....and smells so good---the stems hold so much scent and oil.

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This is what I got from one plant---that's a gallon bag, and six sage rolls. More than enough for a Year of Nummy goodness and health.

My kitchen smells so delicious now! I will transfer the dried Sage to a large gallon canning jar as soon as it come out of the dishwasher and is totally dry. 
Sage will keep in an airtight jar for well over a year...and is just as flavorful as the day you dried it! 

WHAT HAVE HERBS HAVE YOU PRESERVED THIS YEAR? 


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All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, unless otherwise designated. I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown or anywhere I shop.


Thanks ALWAYS for visiting!

I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question.
Thank you for your cooperation,

 Sandi Magle

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Tuesday, November 1, 2022

Old Fashioned Favorite- Pumpkin Spice Bread from Scratch

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It's Sunday, and the kitchen ceiling fan sends the scent from the Pumpkin Candle in the kitchen to the living room...and literally making us hungry. 

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Just when everyone is sick of pumpkin-spice and even the color, orange, I decided to make my Pumpkin Bread kicking up the spice and flavor. 

I don't even know where the original source came from and I've been fooling with this recipe for over 50 years. This was one of the things we made to give as gifts when we were first married and in college.  

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Baking or making was what we had to do for for the holidays. Hubby made Birch Christmas Log candle holders for everyone and we baked pound cakes, pumpkin bread, and some favorite cookies as gifts for all our family and friends. 

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Since then we garden, and I grow fresh pumpkin/squash and roast/puree the delicious inexpensive Pumpkin for baking, pancakes, Muffins and this year's Fritters.! 

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Honestly, I like adding the molasses instead of the artificially (browned sugar) or use Turbinado sugar, which is naturally brown.


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PUMPKIN SPICE BREAD.  makes 2 loaves 

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 to 1hr15min.

Mix Dry ingredients in large bowl

Sift 3 1/3 cups of whole wheat/ or unbleached flour, (oat flour can be subst) with the following:

1/2 tsp of baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp each of ginger, nutmeg and cloves (I kick this up to 1 1/2tsp of each)

4 tsp. of cinnamon or more if you are brave!

In mixer mix ingredients with

1 1/2 to 2 1/2 cups of sugar or brown sugar. (taste your pumpkin, if it is sweet use the lesser amount)

1 heaping TBSP real Molasses (if using white sugar)

2 cups or 16oz. of fresh pumpkin (or canned)

1 cup of oil, (I've used canola, corn, vegetable, sunflower or combos and all work)

1 cup of water

Blend: then add 4 eggs one at a time until well blended.

Slowly add dry ingredients...Do not beat, but mix until blended completely.

(Floured Nuts may be folded in at this time if you wish, or raisins, or both) 

Fill two greased and floured cake pans. (I doubled the recipe in photos)

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I'm still getting used to my new ovens...there are two ovens. I used the conventional Bake oven part for the bread, as I'm still not use to the convection oven for baking.
Bake 350 degrees for 1 hour to an 1 1/4 hours or until a testing stick comes out clean remove and let rest....remove when cool enough to handle the pans. (I used both glass and dark pans and they all baked at the same rate. 1 hr 15 minutes.)

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Keeps for at least a week in the fridge, and freezes very well.

Enjoy---and it's nice to have a gift for a friend or family member!


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Totally Nummy, and make to your own taste. 

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All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, unless otherwise designated. I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown or anywhere I shop.


Thanks ALWAYS for visiting!

I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question.
Thank you for your cooperation,

 Sandi Magle

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Friday, October 28, 2022

Happy Halloween from our Home to Yours!

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Definitely some OLD, NEW, GREEN, REDO in this post. 

It's finally Fall in Chicagoland, trees and foliage have been gorgeous and just as quickly dropped onto the ground. We've had brisk temps and then some sweet warm days...I call them the Golden Pumpkin Days!


We really don't do that much decorating for Halloween. We are on the busy entrance to our subdivision, so foot traffic is scarce and so are trick or treaters. So, we decorate for the drivers stuck at the stop sign and ourselves. 

Hubby is responsible for the blow-ups. We didn't put the OLD 8 foot Cat up this year...it's been awfully windy this season.  

 

This is the NEW lamp post that replaced the tree hubby took down when I was gone this summer.  I used three NEW spiderwebs from $Store.  I used 4 cable ties to put them up---easy peasy.


Here he is making sure the OLD train is still working....I tripped on a cord and ripped it, Thank goodness for Gorilla Tape, it's working pretty well!


Our garage OLD wreath with a REDO, I added some thrift store spiders, a $ store web, and our Old stick pumpkins (these are leftovers from my shop days, closed for 16 years now)  and the pumpkin on the left was a Good Will) GREEN purchase. We have purple lights on here, oh, and the NEW planter---the other one disintegrated from the sun and leaked like a sieve.


Walking up the walk....you see a lone Iris standing tall in the front flower bed. Our Iris were all trampled in Spring with the Roofers...so we really missed their blooms. But, these sometimes bloom twice, once in Fall. Hopefully some of the other colors will try. Odd to see the Fall Red Sedum and blooming Iris in the same shot!


Up the stairs to the front porch---the couch is a REDO covered in a thrift store table cloth-New tag still on it,....perfect for the season. I'll leave it out until Thanksgiving. Tablecloths are a wonderful source for covering outdoor furniture.


On the potting bench the the 'old' pumpkins were bought at thrift stores and rewired if necessary. One PUMPKIN is real from the garden. The Skelly heads scream and laugh and their eyes glow----really kinda spooky, when anyone makes a sharp sound. The door always sets them off cackling!  

The plants are still hanging on and are being sacrificed to the temps. They will be composted...a GREEN 
thing to Do!

Well, How's your 
OLD, NEW, GREEN, REDO Halloween Going ??


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I will post at the following Link Parties, I hope you visit them.




All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, unless otherwise designated. I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown or anywhere I shop.


Thanks ALWAYS for visiting!

I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question.
Thank you for your cooperation,
 Sandi Magle


OldNewGreenRedo


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Thursday, October 27, 2022

Just a Bit of BOO! for this week

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Between killing ourselves in the yard and garden with Fall cleanup and projects, hubby is also doing the side stairway...which entailed ripping out 25 year-old wood and pouring a slab-besides lifting huge beams and wrestling 4x8x3/4"treated plywood. HEAVY!

He turned 75 this summer, and well,we have both found that we are half-day workers now. Age definitely has harnessed our capabilities and endurance.

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I didn't decorate much in the house except with naturals, but, I had to do a little 
BOO!

This is my front window table, which was displaying natural gourds, fabric pumpkins and some old brass and silver.

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Dusk falls so early, I tried to catch this before it was totally dark. Fun skellies, 
just add the right amount of 
BOO!


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The cute antique silver pitcher with the wood handle was found at a thrift store, and the gourd spooky guy from a crafter at a craft show. The artist works only in dried gourds and natural items. 
SO CUTE! 
Bride and Groom Skeletons were from somewhere at 50% off early in the season-I totally forget where?  
This couple was Too cute!
So much for my indoor 
BOO! 

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All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, unless otherwise designated. I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown or anywhere I shop.


Thanks ALWAYS for visiting!

I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question.
Thank you for your cooperation,
 Sandi Magle


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Wednesday, October 19, 2022

Darn Healthy Fresh Pumpkin Fritters

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One thing, good or bad, about participating in blog link parties is the exposure to all those NUMMY recipes. One caught my eye last week, fritters using pancake mix. 

Low and behold, my freezer holds quite a bit of fresh baked PUMPKIN for baking, and my pantry holds several boxes of pumpkin spice pancake mix. So, I just had to try it.

If you want to learn how to make your own fresh pumpkin, directions are HERE.

I cobbled this recipe together just for us, we are trying to watch cholesterol and sugar intakes, so this was suppose to make a bunch of small servings.

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My vintage enameled pan is the perfect size for hot anything!

Fresh Healthy Pumpkin Fritters      Canola/Corn Oil at 350 degrees 

Add to Bowl: 1 cup of (don't add anything but water) pumpkin spice pancake mix
3/4 cups of Old Fashioned Oats
combine in: 2 Tbsp of white or brown sugar or sweetner
1 tsp of cinnamon or more
1/2tsp of nutmeg
(optional) 3/4 cup of nuts 
Mix well

Beat together: 1 egg or egg equivalent
1 cup of fresh baked pumpkin or canned pumpkin (I freeze mine--directions HERE)
mix together with 1 tsp of vanilla

Add all to dry ingredients and mix together by hand until combined well. Dough should stick to an upside down spoon. If it is too stiff, add more pumpkin---or a bit of water. 
Let the dough rest for a few minutes while your corn/canola oil gets to temperature of 350 degrees.

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I use a small ice cream type scoop dipped in the oil or 2 Tbsp of batter and drop the round dollop of batter into the oil. The fritters cook fast, turn each until both sides are golden brown.
Watch your temperature on the oil adjusting the heat if needed.

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This small recipe made two pan fulls. Cooking time was about 3-4 minutes.

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Scooping them out and letting them drain, then dump them on paper toweling to soak up some of the excess oil. I sprinkled them with some powder sugar, you could leave them plain or roll in cinnamon and sugar.

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They really were very tender and light---I was worried they were raw---but they were perfect inside.

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The coffee pot was on....and of course they had to be taste-tested.

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My Taste Tester...well, it really isn't really healthy to eat 8 or more...but he did, and declared them excellent.
Too easy, and I will make some again for the family on the weekend when they come for a visit, and keep my Taste Tester at a lower limit. 

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From our Fall Home to yours! 

WHAT IS COOKING IN YOUR FALL KITCHEN?
 
If You enjoyed this post please FOLLOW IT in the upper right hand corner, to get just one email of each AD-Free post.

I will post at the following Link Parties, I hope you visit them.


All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, unless otherwise designated. I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown or anywhere I shop.


Thanks ALWAYS for visiting!

I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question.
Thank you for your cooperation,
 Sandi Magle


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