Old-Fashioned Decorating

Here's a tableau I saw once in a flea market
and recreated here at home.

It's an old step-ladder adorned with kitchen utensils and other household items that are old or made to look old.  Keeping
ribbons and greenery to a minimum enhances this simple look.

Nowadays, Even Sandwiches Are Controversial

I hope all of you had a very nice Thanksgiving.  Ours was wonderful, if very un-traditional.  I made most of the dishes ahead of time, so yesterday all that needed to be made was turkey and stuffing.

Kat went to a midday feast with her mom and step-dad, which left Shane and I with several hours of free time.  I spent mine in the RV, sewing.  Shane spent his in, out, and under the RV, getting it winterized for the off-season.  Around 4:00, we came in and started working on our Thanksgiving supper.  Shane deep-fried the turkey while I heated the side dishes.  By the time everything was ready, Kat was home to eat with us.  We enjoyed our meal while watching a movie.  Eating in front of the TV made it as much a holiday as anything else did; that's not something we do often.

We really enjoyed our casual, quiet holiday.  I think making side dishes ahead of time is the way I'll "do" holidays from now on.  Although we ate late in the day, we weren't tired from cooking all day, so cleaning up was a breeze.

So now, what to do with the leftovers?  Enter the controversy.  I plan on making Kentucky Hot Brown sandwiches.  I have never had one, have never been to the Brown Hotel, and in fact, have never been to Louisville at all.  I just thought the sandwich I saw in a magazine looked tasty.

Apparently, though, some folks get a little "tetchy" if the sandwich isn't made exactly according to The Brown Hotel's original recipe.  And, OMG, if you accidentally (or intentionally) call it a Hot Browns instead of Hot Brown, watch out!  Bobby Flay uses white cheddar and gives the bread a French toast treatment, both of which are apparently no-nos.  My Recipes' version calls for Parmesan (Mornay sauce), but is otherwise similar to the original.

Photo: Becky Luigart-Stayner; Styling: Buffy Hargett, via My Recipes

My version will probably include white cheddar (which I have on hand) and Parmesan (which I have on hand), and will probably not include the egg-dipped bread.  It will probably have double the bacon.  And for that reason alone, it will probably be the best recipe of the bunch.

Canning Dry Beans Without Soaking

Canned tomato sauce and canned dry beans.

Disclaimer:  This method is not approved by the USDA as a safe method for canning dry beans.  It's my belief that soaking and precooking the beans is done to expand them before canning in order to make sure there is enough space in the jars for the beans and liquid.  By adding only 1/2 cup of dry beans to the jar (without soaking first), and leaving 1 inch of head space when I add the liquid, there is adequate room for the beans to expand during canning.  I would never ask or expect my readers to do something just because I do it.  If this method does not feel safe or right to you, by all means, follow the USDA guidelines and soak the beans first.  They are still more convenient than cooking beans each time you want some.

Dried beans are some of the easiest things to cook at home.  Soak them or not (I usually don't), put them in a big pan with lots of water, some seasonings and maybe some ham or bacon, and simmer them for a few hours.  Nothing to it!

They are so easy, though, that I sometimes forget about them and boil them scorched dry.  Which is why I love canning them instead.  I save time because I can cook multiple batches at one time, they are SO convenient later, and because the canner needs frequent, if not near-constant, monitoring, I never walk away and forget them.

In the past, I prepared beans for canning by soaking them overnight then cooking them for a short time before hot-packing them into jars.  Forget that!  I recently read about canning them without soaking and par-cooking, and will be doing them like this from now on.

It's very easy.  Just rinse dry beans or peas of any kind except lentils, then put 1/2 cup of them in each hot sterilized pint jar. 

Add 1/2 teaspoon canning salt (optional) to each jar and other seasonings if desired (see below), pour in boiling water or broth, leaving a full 1 inch of head space.  Give them a quick stir to release any air bubbles.

Adjust the two-piece lids and caps and process in a pressure canner at 10 pounds for 75 minutes for pints.  Let the pressure release on its own, then remove from the canner.  The beans will still be bubbling away and as often as not will seal before or right as they come out of the canner.

Finished quarts.

If you prefer to use quart jars, double all the ingredients, but still leave 1 inch of headspace (I left 1-1/2 inches and it was a little too much) and process them for 90 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure.  Be sure to check with your local extension office or the Ball Blue Book for adjustments in pressure if you live at high altitude.

Here are some of the combinations I've made:

• Garbanzo bean pints + 1/2 teaspoon canning salt + water
• Garbanzo bean quarts + 1 teaspoon salt + water
• Pinto bean pints + 1/2 teaspoon canning salt + 1/2 teaspoon dehydrated onion + 1/4 teaspoon garlic pepper blend + water
• Black (turtle) bean pints + 1/2 teaspoon salt + 1/2 teaspoon chipotle season (make your own with this recipe)
• Pinto bean pints + 1/2 teaspoon dehydrated onion + leftover seasoned broth from cooking a pork roast

One jar of pinto beans in broth didn't seal, so we ate those right away, and one jar of garbanzo beans seemed to lose or absorb too much liquid, so we opened that jar and ate those, too.  At first I was concerned that the beans might not be tender without soaking, but they came out great.  They were soft, tender and almost creamy, but had not turned to mush in the jar, which is a problem I've sometimes had when canning beans.  I'm more than happy with the way these beans have turned out.

Are you, like me, a bean lover?  Have you ever canned beans at home?

A Look Back in Time

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I was so excited when, a few days ago, I found these photos on a historical society website.  These photos weren't dated, but must have been taken in the early 1900s.

My first memory of this store is as a patron when I was 4 or 5 years old, in the late 60s.  I have many more memories of it from roughly the mid-70s through the mid-80s, when my parents owned it. 

They were the third owners of this store, and although times had changed, the store really had not.  It was very much the same as in these photos. On the outside, the awning no longer wrapped around the side, and the color scheme was more monochromatic, as in this photo... 

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rather than the contrasting colors of this shot...

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Inside was a also very similar.  As in the photo below, cut-to-order fabric was on the left side, shoes were on the right side, but by then the shelves went to the ceiling, or nearly so, with attached rolling ladders to reach the uppermost shelves. 

Many of the fixtures were the same.  The suspended gas lamp had been replaced with several electric lamps, but the store still had a wood stove as it's only source of heat (I do not think it was the one in the picture, however).  Box fans and screened doors were the only way to cool the store; there was never any air conditioning in the building.

On the left side you'll notice a rectangular glass display sitting on the counter, and if you look closely (and know what to look for) on the right side, near the arched doorway, there is a curved-front glass display case.  Both of these were still in the store when my parents owned it, although they were situated on counters in the center of the store in front of the wood stove.  I suspect many of the other counters I remember were also the originals.

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In addition to fabric and shoes, my parents sold sewing notions, small costume jewelery, knick-knacks, useful household items (think clocks, curtains, feather dusters, brooms, etc.) and a few toys.  In the room to the right side with the arched doorway, they sold Levi's jeans and Key overalls.  You can't see it in the photos, but there was a door near the back left of the store for entry from the side street.

The entire back portion of the store, beyond the wood stove, contained groceries.  Canned goods, baking staples and the like were on the shelves, but there was also a counter where they sold custom-sliced deli meats and cheese by the pound, and bottles of pop (not "soda", but "pop" on this side of the state).  Not the new-fangled screw-top plastic bottles, but the old-fashioned pop-top kind.  And oh, the candy!  There were a couple of yards of countertop devoted just to candy!  I'm told the original owners sold plows and other larger farm implements in the grassy lot behind the store.  My parents didn't sell those kinds of things, but in the spring, they sold garden seed in bulk, then in the fall, apples by the bushel, often stacked outside near the front windows. 

I helped out at the store once in a while, but I was in my teens and early 20s then and it was in the next town up the road from where we lived, so I didn't work there often.  My parents had other small stores then to tend to, as did my eldest sister, so my older brother ran this store.  After a decline in business -- all the seniors who loved the store in their youth were passing, and the younger crowd preferred to drive half an hour to the Wal-Marts, JCPenneys and large supermarkets of the world -- and my brother's need to move on, my parents finally closed the store and sold the building in the mid- to late-80s.  The fixtures were sold to collectors and the building sat vacant for a while, before eventually being razed.

Canning Potatoes

We harvested about 20 pounds of potatoes this year.  That's not a great yield, but it was better than any previous year, so we were happy about it.  We ate some of them right away, but I needed to do something with the rest before they started going bad.  My options were eat them (too many), make mashed potatoes and freeze them (I have success with this, but no room in the freezer right now), dehydrate them or can them.  I decided on canning just because I wanted to try them.

I remember canned potatoes, usually with a bland white gravy, from elementary school lunches and just knew that home-canned potatoes would taste better.  And believe me, they do!  One of my jars failed to seal, so we had them for supper that night.  I just mashed them with a fork, added a little butter and garlic powder, and they were delicious.

They are easy to can, too.  Because they are a low-acid food, the must be pressure canned, but the method is simple.  Unfortunately, I didn't have the forethought to take photos of the process, but here's what you do.

Clean fresh potatoes well and peel if desired.  I didn't peel them because most of the skins scrubbed off as I was washing them.  Cut away any deep eyes and/or bad spots.

Cut potatoes into chunks about 1-1/2" square.  Small potatoes can be left whole or just cut in half.

Place potatoes in clean cold water and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium and boil gently for 5 to 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, have clean, hot canning jars at the ready.  I don't sterilize jars, but I do run them through the dishwasher to make sure they are clean and hot.

Once potatoes have cooked, not until tender but just long enough to be heated through, drain them and spoon the hot potatoes into the hot jars.  Add a teaspoon of canning salt to each quart jar (1/2 teaspoon to pint jars) and then fill each jar with clean boiling water, leaving 1 inch of head space.  Use a knife or spatula to remove any air bubbles.

Apply clean, new lids and secure with rings until fingertip tight.

Process in a pressure canner at 10 pounds of pressure for 40 minutes for quarts or 35 minutes for pints.  Always follow the manufacturer's instructions for your canner, the Ball Blue Book, or the advice of your local university extension office to ensure safe canning practices.

Our Traditional New Year's Day Meal

Each year I make a traditional southern New Year's Day dinner.  The meal varies slightly from year to year, but always consists of some kind of pork with gravy, black-eyed peas and cooked greens (to symbolize prosperity...specifically coins and bills), and from-scratch biscuits or cornbread.

Here is this year's version of the meal.

I simmered some smoked ham hocks along with the ham bone from Christmas dinner, all from a hog we bought last fall.  I picked the meat from the bones and then seasoned and thickened it into a rich gravy.  I spooned the meaty gravy over homemade buttermilk biscuits and served it with cooked turnip greens (from last year's garden) and black-eyed peas that I pressure-canned several months ago.  I added some green beans (because Kat doesn't really like greens) and some tall glasses of sweet iced tea.  I didn't make a dessert this year because we still have plenty of treats left over from Christmas, but pumpkin or sweet potato pie would be just right with this meal.

It's a simple meal, but it's rich in flavor and tradition.  I could cook this meal anytime, but I usually only make it on New Year's Day and I look forward to it all year long!

Do you have any traditional dishes you serve on the first day of the year?