Good morning Everyone,
I thought I would share recipes for camping or in your backyard if you have a spot set up
Dutch Oven Mississippi Mud Cake
This sounded really good and you could change the flour to gluten free flour, use keto sweeteners and keto chocolate chips too
Will close with a Dutch Oven Breakfast Casserole
I was hoping to be able to figure out how to put my bench together myself-I am just not good at figuring out things like this. Larry stepped in today and said let's get your bench put together. (He knows me) There was one part I never would have figured out and he was familiar with it. He said years ago Ikea got a patent for this little barrel piece for putting furniture like this together. This is cleverly designed to raise or lower the height.
The other day Larry was given the perfect hanger for a hummingbird feeder. A friend we met here goes through junk that people give to him that they want to get rid of-and this was in the latest. He cleaned it up, fixed it and we hung it up.
This is pretty neat-that arm will swing towards the deck, so I can service the feeder. Two houses down from us has several hummingbird feeders so hoping the birds will find this one. Last night Larry saw one visitor, and I saw one just before I took this photo. This is the perfect spot as there is an ant issue here early spring that we have to be on top of-this way the mess goes down below on some bushes, and hopefully the squirrels will not destroy this. They are quite curious all the time.
So I am feeling special this week, a new weaving bench, hummingbird feeder in place, and my new Paperwhite Kindle will be here Thursday.
Would you believe we had temperatures of 85 degrees f yesterday and today? Felt like summer. A couple friends popped over tonight to sit on the dock and fish-Life is good
Enjoy your new week
I started setting up the warp this weekend, this is a much finer yarn and will need 400 plus threads.
I usually have this warping board hung on the wall, but so far working out ok sitting on the floor to wind it on
The trunks are full of either weaving yarns or mountain man blankets etc. You can see my sheep and the bison baby stuffed animal I picked up in Yellowstone Park back in 2017-we could choose a free gift at the park stores from the nonprofit Yellowstone Forever at the time.
My new loom bench is coming in from a weaving studio in California-she must have sent it express as it is to be here on Tuesday-I ordered in on Friday. Here is a photo from her etsy shop She sells and teaches the Saori looms. I was looking into these looms for awhile as they have some features that makes the set up easier, but they are sooo expensive in my opinion. Saori is a free style of weaving which I can do on my loom-most make clothing pieces which I want to try one day.
Glimakra is a Swedish loom maker. This is suppose to be sturdy and it is adjustable in height.
A few lake photos from this past week
Working on the dock project-such a huge project
Have an awesome new week
I am a bit later getting this posted today (Friday) Last night I discovered my Voyage Kindle has "died" This is about 6 years old but was hoping it would last for closer to 10 years. This was quite the money splurge for me at the time. This was the better one of the kindles and did not need wifi to download books which is what I needed since we never had wifi at the woods house. They are no longer making this model. The screen had froze I tried the suggestions over several hours and again this morning-still froze. Then I realized the battery was no longer keeping a charge. So reading about the batteries they do have them to buy, but what I have read these kindles are not really meant to be taken apart and if you do decide to replace-must be super careful. So I am bummed about this. Any of you replace a kindle battery with success, or able to unfreeze the screen?
Last night before I realized this about my kindle, I was searching for a weaving bench for my loom. My body just can't sit on the old milk can any more. I was in allot of pain after I finished up the shawl. I found one that I like-expensive but not as much so as some. I decided this morning to buy one from a shop on etsy located in California (she was very helpful) and put the kindle on hold for now. I will just read on my desk top computer for now-which is not very comfortable but I have several hard cover books I need to catch up on this summer.
Now for cast iron-I thought I would share cornbread baked in cast iron-which is sooo good.
Here is a link to all things cast iron cornbread from Lodge This includes cornbread festivals and the recipes below
photos from the Lodge site-those recipe links came with the photos but they do not work-sorry-They should be listed in the link above or I set up a link under the photos
and here is a video of chili in your Dutch oven and cornbead baked in the wedge pan, I am surprised this cornbread baked the way he did this- My Mom made just about everything from scratch ( I still do too) but she always had those boxes of Jiffy cornbread in the cabinet-I had to smile as that is what he was using in the video
Happy Friday and Weekend everyone
The 22nd is Earth day
Ever since my "hippie days" I have always worked at recycling, organic veggie gardening and putting up my own food, my arts and crafts, being kind to our planet-it's our home-everyone on the planet's home.
If you search your local area news and/or online there are many many events happening on this day.
I just finished reading the book Beyond The Ice Cream Cone by Pamela Vaccaro Someone on T probably about a year ago shared this book, I think it was Mae. Since this was about the World's Fair in St Louis, Missouri in 1904 I was intrigued and searched out the book.
I had heard about this fair but did not realize til reading the book that this was a world's fair. When I was a kid living at home my parents took us to the New York World's fair and also a world's fair in Canada. These are massive fairs and have so much to view-along with lots and lots of walking, and lots of new foods to try
I don't think there are worlds fairs any longer. This had me searching for the answer and this is what I found The last world's fair in this area of the world was the one in Canada in the '80s Looks like there are still world's fairs but they are totally different now, not like a "fair" and held in other countries.
This was a fascinating book, the author must have spent years researching as I don't think any aspect of the fair was left out. I hadn't realized the magnitude of all the temporary buildings that were put up. After reading the book I wanted to visit this fair-go back and time travel to enjoy it. On the back cover someone else thought the same "Reading this book made me regret that I was born 100 years too late. Pam's stories made me wish I had been at the fair in 1904" I am wondering now if any of my ancestors visited this fair.
The author on several occasions in this book, wrote about Sarah Tyson Rorer who was a food expert of her time-I think she would have surpassed Martha Stewart of today with her knowledge. In the beginning of the book the author mentioned her cookbook that she gave out as a souvenir Thinking--I wonder if there is a kindle version of this book--and there was for .99 cents-a very detailed book if you enjoy reading vintage books. Of course I found the original on sale at Ebay for around $100.00
If you enjoy reading about history, I did not get bored once reading this book-so fascinating.
Today I hand washed this large shawl I have been weaving. It's been wrapped up in thick towels to absorb the water, now ready to finish drying on this big wooden dry rack I have had for years and years. We found this at a garage sale one year.
I decided I worry too much, and just see how everything looks once dry. Quite pleased with the results. This shawl-wrap will be very warm, soft and cozy to wear.
Photos will enlarge just click on them
Yesterday morning when I was doing some housework, I heard a bird call I wasn't familiar with. Wow I stopped at the "wall of windows" and couldn't believe what I saw. He saw me but I walked away slowly to another room to grab the camera.
I was able to snap this photo before he walked further down the tree and flew off
and here is the cropped photo for a better look
This is Missouri's largest woodpecker-the pileated woodpecker. We had many at the woods house which I always loved seeing, but hadn't heard their call before. They are very loud when they peck at the trees. I was so thrilled to see this visitor here at the lake.
Yesterday was a beautiful warm day with little wind. Late yesterday I was able to finally burn about 5 huge bags of leaves in the burn pit. One bag was too wet, so put that one to the side. Today wow what a difference. the temperatures will be dropping to a hard freeze tonight. The forecast is also 3-5 inches of snow. What??? snow now that the flowers are all blooming on the bushes and trees-this is sad. The ground is so warm that the snow will melt pretty fast I think but it could bring icey roads tomorrow morning, and kill off many tender blooms and plants for those early gardeners.
My sister in law is at her lake house for a week. She discovered a major problem that is causing leakage and mold in one room-so trying to find dependable workers has been a challenge for her-but today they will start. So Saturday she wanted out of her house-don't blame her-she drove us to Camdenton (about 45 minutes away) that was having their dogwood festival all weekend. As long as we have lived in the area we have never gone to this yearly event. Larry just can't walk far any more, and we don't get out in crowds much-never did really. This was a fun day set up like a small fair-with lots of booths of sellers and arts and crafts, kettle corn and lots of food trucks, rides for the kids. Also the churches were having garage sales. Friday was the main day for this, but my sister loaded up on really nice heavy glasses for her lake house and other goodies. I found a little bag of craft copper wire and a heavy gold color wire for a dollar.
I had brought my camera but it was so chilly that day I didn't think to take any photos. My sister in law lives not too far from Chicago and she is used to driving everywhere and loves it. So after this event she drove us past my home and on to the Amish market I have been wanting to find. Wow this is the largest Dutch Country Market I have ever seen since the one near my Grandparents farm in Indiana. As big as a regular supermarket-I will be shopping here in the future for sure. They sell rows of spices and dried items, bulk bags of frozen fruits and so much more. A huge meat department with everything already frozen. I was tired by the time we got here from all the walking at the fair so will go back and take my time checking all that they have.
My stomach issues are better finally, but still need to be careful what I am eating. The Amish stores usually have a deli where they sell sandwiches made with their own baked breads. This store offered a lettuce wrap-so good. I needed food by the time we got there around 4 in the afternoon.
I am still drying dandelions, violet leaves and flowers, and a few lilacs. These will later get infused in oils and made into soaps or balms
I did finish the fringe on the woven shawl a few days ago. I did find something concerning though-when I was taking out the 4 inch area of a finer weave it had weakened a few of the warp threads-I didn't notice that til I was almost finished knotting the fringe. Haven't decided if there is a remedy for this at this point. will think on that this week.
Happy New week everyone.
I thought I would do a post on simpler weaving. I think I may have posted something similar a few years ago. A few of my readers have mentioned an interest in weaving, but something simpler than a floor loom.
Floor looms do take up allot of space. The ideal set up is to have a dedicated weaving room. My floor loom is pretty small. You may remember I had a 45" vintage rug loom that I just never got set up-I think I was intimidated by it, now it would have been too much for me to handle so am glad that I was forced to sell it when we moved here to the lake. and--There was no room for it which also forced me to downsize, and my age with normal aches and pains would have been a challenge working with that size of loom now.
Weaving is an expensive hobby-or it can be. I hunted around at the time I was buying yarns and tools for sale prices. Webs and a couple others online had allot of bargains/closeout sales that I took advantage of. It is surprising to find some weaving yarns or supplies at resale shops or garage sales on occasion so I always keep a lookout
I have never worked on one-but all the rage right now is weaving on a rigid heddle loom. They come in different widths and you work at a table-so much simpler and less space to use. I always thought about what I would like to weave and what is the width I would need. My small floor loom is a 30 inch but that is wide enough to make allot of things, even clothing pieces. I think this is an ideal width that doesn't limit you as much. I would personally look into a 30 or 32 inch rigid heddle loom.
I just ran into this site that I was not familiar with before, and they have allot of information and free weaving patterns Here is their article on Introduction to rigid heddle weaving
From this article I am sharing an Ashford loom (Ashford is one of my favorite weaving companies)
Here is a video about the rigid heddle loom
I was searching for videos and wow I found this one that is set up on a stand-I think this would be really comfortable to weave at, and it's by Ashford
Rigid heddle looms are 2 harness's-which are set up in the reed-where as if you have a floor loom with at least 4 harness's you have many many choices for patterns. With 2 harness's your patterns are in the fibers. Saori weaving is a floor loom but the original only had 2 harness's so it's plain weave but patterns are with fibers and different techniques.
So I would think about what you want to weave and do allot of research on what is available now.
If you would just like to have a little fun with plain weaves you can make a simple loom from cardboard or cardboard boxes.
Here is a video on how to make cardboard loom
a video on how to make cardboard box loom
If you have an urge to play a little with weaving you can do that simply with a handmade cardboard loom
Hope this will give you some ideas if you would like to try weaving.
Welcome to my Cast Iron Saturdays which I will post on Fridays.
I haven't set this up as a link up, but anyone is welcome to share a recipe that you like to use with cast iron or other cast iron information in comments.
I thought I would explore Dutch Ovens this week. Those of you that have followed me for awhile, may remember me sharing photos of my lemon meringue pies baked in the Dutch Oven. Those were the best pies ever. I am hoping to get set up here at the lake soon-(we have been waiting for the sewer people to come back and finish) I may just place some bricks around the fire pit so I can bake again.
I want to share a story with you. Years ago, probably soon after we retired to Missouri and when Yahoo had allot of groups-I joined one for cast iron cooking and baking. I was so proud of myself that I had figured out if I put a trivet in the bottom of my Dutch Oven and then put a pottery pie plate on top of that-I would get a nicer bake and less chance of burning the bottom of the pie (or bread) this way. So I shared this on the site-so happy with my success. Well, I got ripped apart by the administrator-this was not authentic, this is not how this was done and on and on. I wrote him back saying at least I baked up something with real foods and did not use all those canned items, cake mixes, soda pop etc. that would not have been used in the day, and left the group haha That still pops up in my head once in awhile.
First of all what is a Dutch Oven?? These come in many different sizes, they will have 3 legs and the lid will have a lip around the edge to keep the coals on top.
Several years ago I found James Townsend and Sons, a historian and reenactor of the 18th century. His videos are amazing tools to learn from. This video I just found again explains using the trivet and pottery pan when baking in the Dutch Oven. The book he mentions in the beginning I had purchased and enjoyed the read. He also demonstrates how to use wood coals instead of charcoal briquettes-which I like the idea of as well. I also on one of my last bakes forgot that one should get your cast iron "oven" preheated first. I had tried using an oven thermometer on one of my bakes, but as he indicates the temperature drops sooo much when opening the lid. I like his idea of having one of those instant reads with a probe. So how did our pioneers know when their "ovens" were ready to bake in?? I should look that up.
A few years ago I bought a book on hearth cooking, the author did reenactments of hearth cooking and baking. I learned so much about using cast iron from her, and she indicated the trivets and pottery pans as well for baking. If any one is interested let me know in comments and I will search my bookshelf for the title and author.
When baking with the charcoal there are quite a few charts around on how many briquettes to use top and bottom depending on the size of your Dutch Oven. Also temperature outdoors and wind is also a factor. Here is a link to more detailed charts-depending on what you are cooking. Also many videos make a big deal about turning the pot one direction and the top a different direction-I don't do all that very often-I try to keep my coals even and not "mess" with things. haha
Another must have tool is a pot lifter. I had welding gloves that we had near the woodstoves and thought I could pick up the lid with those-ahh nope way too hot. I don't remember what brand I had purchased but this Lodge one looks like mine-these are excellent and very secure to use.
If you have cast iron pots with no legs than you can raise them up on a grate-there are some neat ones available now. and for the top I have fashioned thick foil or aluminum pie pans that I cut a slit in the middle to fit over the handle-which will work pretty well for stews, soups etc-it will not be as even a bake on top though for breads etc.
For recipes-again this method is just another way to have an oven-so what ever you want to cook-bake-etc will work. Also great ideas on camping sites and the boy scouts etc. I found this beginner one for Dutch Ovens on Pinterest
If you can eat breads-they are sooo much fun to bake here is a simple no knead bread photo from site
If you like to bake pies-just bake it in your pre heated Dutch Oven with wood coals or charcoal briquettes I have baked things like brownies, a chocolate chip cookie recipe spread on the bottom, I have also baked upset down cakes with success.
I did find a cake recipe made from scratch ingredients that looks really good-and took me to a blog site I used to follow, they stopped posting a few years ago but this is a nice site for recipe ideas I am happy I found it again
Johnny Appleseed Cake from Everyday Dutch Oven blog
You can bake up anything you wish outdoors in your cast iron and really Wow your guests opening up the lid to reveal breads, pies and more.
What have you baked-cooked outdoors in your Dutch Ovens??
.......with a little This and That
I took this photo Sunday Morning, as it was so good to see the sun again. Friday evening through late Saturday allot of rain came down, and brought in some wind and cooler weather. Today-Monday-was also sunny but still a nip in the air.
We do have lovely blooms, very green grass, and lots of dandelions. I love dandelions and this year we have lots-thinking me spreading some seeds around last year helped and we have gotten allot of rain in as well. I picked some to dry just a bit ago. I will infuse them in warm olive oil and add to my melt and pour soaps along with calendula petals next time I make soap
Some times when one is anticipating mail to arrive, a bunch of it will arrive in one day. Today was that day. Larry got two packages, I got two new rubber stamps in the mail, stamps I ordered from the post office online-I like to buy stamps that way because I can get the newest ones out and they just released coffee stamps, and slow mail from Amanda in Spain-that was for sure slow mail as it took 27 days but that's ok with me-happiness in my mailbox
I was looking for rubber mounted stamps with script, the one on the left I fell in love with, and the same seller had the one on the right too-thought it would be perfect for my slow mail to other countries. The seller also put in those little cutouts. and I received one of Amanda's raock's included with her slow mail letter today.
I am really enjoying writing and receiving letters again, I enjoy the whole process very much-so thank you all so much. It helps me feel more connected to friends Especially more so--as we don't see any friends any more since covid and also mostly because we moved an hour away from the woods house.
I am making progress adding in yarns for the fringe on the shawl. It's a slow process but I have a "system" now haha. I am almost finished with one side.
Those of you that have celiac, IBS or other digestive issues you will understand my pain. Something I ate about 5 days ago or so must have had some hidden wheat in the product. I think the culprit was the corn chips I was eating-and they were organic yellow corn chips from Chi chi's, they were not marked gluten free but usually corn chips will be ok for me especially organic ones. Not these. I have been drinking yarrow tea with chamomile, eating yogurt, applesauce, chicken soup, more yarrow tea or decaf green teas. I have not been in this sad a state for years. I had to re think what to do as I have not had this severe a flare up for many years. Also peppermint oil capsules helps as well. Hoping the pain will be little less finally soon. Hubs wants me to go to the doctor since it's been over a week now-but I am pretty sure its the celiac and/or IBS (irritable bowel syndrome)
My seeds must be too old that I am trying to start in the bottles. So far only one tomatoe seed has sprouted but we have had a cool week.
Have an awesome new week everyone
Hello Everyone,
Welcome to Cast Iron Saturdays where I will be posting recipes that look yummy enough to share, and even some cast iron history from time to time.
Almost 40 years ago now when Larry and I got together one of the things we really enjoyed was shopping for what we needed-or thought we needed-at garage sales, resale shops, estate sales. We never went to many auctions as the prices are usually a bit high and you really need to know the value and what you want to spend before hand so you don't get yourself caught up in the bidding wars.
We were always on the look out for cast iron cookware pieces. Mostly vintage pieces like Wagner and Griswold. At the time I didn't look at Lodge pieces too much but now knowing their history they are a really good USA company and getting their newsletters they are always innovating their pieces. If I were younger there are some I would pick up. They have some really nice versatile camping cast iron.
This year marks Lodge's 125th year 1896-2021 I never realized before that Lodge was in business during the years of Wagner and Griswold.
Lodge has been sharing articles about their 125 years in business Here are a few At the end of those links is a link to their recipes. and about their tear drop handle here and about their seasoning the pans
Information about Griswold cast iron and about Wagner cast iron
For recipe shares this week, I ran into Keto Cast Iron's Cheeseburger Soup with Bacon
This actually looks and sounds like "good eats" They used a cast iron dutch oven to make this (Photo from their site)
From this same site they shared Keto Gluten Free Sticky Sesame Cauliflower which actually sounds really delicious (photo taken from their site) They used a large cast iron skillet to make this one
and for dessert, I visited Southern Cast Iron and found their carrot cake recipe baked in a 9 inch cast iron skillet. You can easily change this to gluten free by using a good gluten free flour blend-I like Bob Red Mill's one to one I think it is called I would also change up that cup of sugar to a keto sweetener, or splenda, or even coconut sugar. I would change the powdered sugar in their frosting recipe to a keto powdered sweetener (photo from their site)
Hi Everyone,
I was going to wait and update with the total finish-but after working about 16 hours or more over the last two days I decided it needs to sit a day.
Getting older and doing the different motions with weaving has made me realize, I need to start walking again once the mornings are warmer, and get back to stretch exercises. I hadn't woven in about 5-7 years so I can really feel it. I have trunks of yarns that I have collected since the late '70's so not weaving is Not an option haha. I have different things I have been wanting to weave and I have most of the yarns already-I need to see what I have for making kitchen towels. Back in the 90's I had discovered Webs and they had a bargain basement area with really good prices especially for the nicer yarns. I need to see if they are still doing that-in case I need something haha-I know I don't have many warp yarns (the yarn that is threaded on the loom). I know the prices have really gone up over the years as well. I had bought this organic cotton from a cotton supplier which I need to search for again I really liked weaving with it.
Just sitting at the loom or standing in the back untying all those knots was quite the job-especially since I used a fine and textured yarn
Years ago, I had picked up a rare weaving book on different ways to finish edges, and different ideas for the fringe area-So I am going to try one of those techniques to add in the other yarns. ( Looking for the link-wow I guess this is more available now than when I bought it-and now a much cheaper price too-it is a unique book)
At the lake we are at what is considered the 5 mile marker on the lake-so we are very far west on the lake. Yesterday at mile marker 70 to 80-they ended up with a tornado that caused allot of damages to property and docks-my prayers go out to them. We had some strong rains early afternoon, but no lightening and no damaging winds.
After a week with Larry's hearing aids they are not right-so we are sending them back today-hoping they will do him right and fix the issues.
Hoping your day is going well-I will be back tomorrow with another cast iron post.
Good morning-you will hear the birds singing and the thunder-rain storms moving in today
Hi everyone,
I pretty much decided to weave most of today so I could get to the end, and to find out if I was going to have just enough of the blue yarn-or not.
So as you can see this is the very end of the blue alpaca
I am going to let this sit on the loom til I am refreshed. I decided I did not like the plain weave I did in the beginning because this is going to be a large shawl and not sewn into a wrap so no need for the cuff area. Taking that out I should have plenty on that end for long fringe. After the fringe is on I will give it a wet finish. Soaking in warm warm with a gentle soap, a good rinse, and lay out to dry. Then off in the mail to my friend.
Til next time.
