St. Patrick's Day: Potatoes For All

Every action of our lives touches on some chord that will vibrate in eternity. ~Sean O'Casey

In the 18th Century the potato became a staple for the poor in Ireland, though it had been introduced before that to the upper class. The Irish people were frugal in order to survive, and used the food that was most readily available to them. The potato was easy to grow, filling and had multiple uses which made it an important addition to a family table. Ireland has a rich history, and it's people survived against incredible odds, especially during the 1700's. With St. Patrick's Day around the corner I thought I would share a few recipes from my older cookbooks that use potatoes.

Rumford Complete Cook Book, 1934
Potato Griddle Scones

2 cups flour
1/2 level tsp. salt
3 level tsp. Rumford Baking Powder
2 level tbsp. shortening
1 egg
About 3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup mashed potatoes

Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder; rub the shortening in lightly, add the potatoes and mix to a soft dough with the milk and beaten egg. Roll out about 3/4 of an inch thick, cut into three cornered cakes and cook on a hot, well-greased griddle.

Rumford Complete Cook Book
Potato Dressing

3 cups hot mashed potato
1 cup stale bread crumbs
1 grated onion
1 egg
1/2 cup finely chopped salt pork
1 tsp. powdered sage
salt and pepper to taste

Mash the potato, add the bread crumbs, onion, pork, sage, salt and pepper. Mix with the egg lightly beaten. Use as a dressing for goose, duck or pork.

Magic Chef Cooking, 1938
Mashed Potato Puff

1/3 cup hot milk
2 tbsp. butter
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
3 cups mashed potatoes
2 egg whites

Add the hot milk, butter and seasonings to the mashed potatoes (left-over may be used) and beat until smooth. Fold in the beaten egg whites and put into a greased baking dish. Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. 6 servings.

International Cook Book, 1929
Potato Biscuits

1 cup potato water
1/2 cup mashed potato
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1/2 cup sugar
1 yeast cake
1 tsp. salt
4 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup shortening

Crumble yeast; add salt, sugar and water. Add potato and potato water. Stir in enough flour to make a stiff sponge. Add melted shortening. Add remainder of flour and knead until smooth. Put into greased bowl. Let rise for two hours. Knead. Let rise for 45 minutes. Shape into round balls. Put in muffin pans. Let rise again for about 30 minutes and bake at 425 degrees F.

Note: 1 yeast cake equals 2 1/4 tsp. dry yeast. Use in place of the crumbled yeast cake.

You'll find Irish recipes on OFL:
http://oldfashionedliving.com/holidays/irishfood.html

~Brenda

The Kitchen Garden: Tip Hodge Podge

Today I'm sharing tips on growing and caring for a kitchen garden. These are things that have helped me over the years. The pictures are from my garden in previous seasons.

Choosing Tomato Varieties
Whether you grow from seed or buy plants you'll need to know what tomato will do well for you. If your garden space is limited then look for a tomato that is listed as "determinate". This means the plant will stop growing, or at least slow way down, when the tomatoes have set. The tomatoes will ripen at the same time, and the growing season is short, but the plants won't sprawl or crowd the other plants.

If you buy a variety listed as "indeterminate" it's a good idea to stake the tomatoes. Use a sturdy stake made of wood, heavy plastic or a metal pipe. It should be anywhere from 4-8 foot long, pounded into the ground next to the plant, about 4-5 inches from the stem. I use a rubber mallet and pound the stakes into the ground at least a foot because the tomato plants becomes very heavy later in the season. As the plants grow they will have to be tied to the stake with cloth, string or plastic.


Pruning is one way to keep tomato plants under control. The plant will continue to branch out from the main stem, and those stems will branch out as well. It won't hurt the plant to trim off the side stems that form to keep the plant from sprawling too far.

Herbs in the Garden
Herbs are perfect for a kitchen garden IF kept under control. Only plant what you know you will use in your cooking if you are concerned with space. If the herbs aren't harvested they will spread. Chives, oregano, thyme and sage are perennial herbs that will survive tough winters. If you are in a warmer climate you'll be able to grow rosemary and tarragon as well. Harvest the herbs as needed, but try to harvest the entire plant by cutting back about halfway at least twice during the gardening season. The herbs can be allowed to bloom if you wish, but always cut the spent flowers off before they go to seed. Chives blooms are peppery and delicious in salads or vinegar.

I don't recommend growing lemon balm or any of the mints in a small area unless they can be grown in a pot that is buried to prevent spreading, or used as a container plant near the garden. They will spread by runners and seed easily and very quickly.

The Garden Soil
I use compost, and organic fertilizer in my raised bed. Each spring I work the soil around the perennial herbs where the vegetables and annuals will be planted. I add compost and a dry, organic fertilizer. After planting I mulch with a combination of compost, grass clipping and straw.

Watering The Garden
I've watered with sprinklers, hose nozzles, watering cans and soaker hoses in all shapes and sizes. I found out that for the raised bed with both herbs and vegetables the soaker hose works best. An inexpensive, standard hose that I paid less than ten dollars for at the home improvement store worked great. I placed it down closest to the vegetables since they need more water than the herbs. How much I watered depended on the rain and the heat. In the hottest part of the summer I ran it for a couple hours each day unless it rained. I always watered before noon.

On OFL we have an article on growing and using calendula:

http://oldfashionedliving.com/calendula.html

~Brenda

The Kitchen Garden: What to Grow?

Once you've decided on a location and size for your kitchen garden it's time to decide what you will grow. I've had raised beds, traditional plots and small herb gardens. My advice is to start small and enlarge the area or add more beds each season if you need more room.

I currently grow herbs and vegetables in a 4 foot by 8 foot raised bed with a height of about 12 inches. We used untreated pine, which will eventually rot and have to be replaced one day, but I didn't want to use anything that had been treated with chemicals. Below is what I've found works best in a raised bed the size we built. This may give you ideas for your own kitchen garden.

Thyme: in a corner

Oregano: in another corner

Chives: along the front spaced at least 18 inches apart

Sage: in the back left hand corner

Cucumbers & Green beans

Both of these are grown in front of a piece of sturdy metal fencing in the middle back of the bed (see picture below) to grow up instead of spreading out.

Tomatoes: 2 to 3 plants grown in the back opposite the cucumbers and beans. It's important to stake the tomatoes to keep them from sprawling and taking up too much room.

This leaves the center of the raised bed open, plus the space between the chives. I alternate the following herbs and vegetables:

Peppers

Dill

Basil

Nasturtium (with the chives)

Onions

Greens

Radishes

I add color to the garden with nasturtiums, which are pretty and edible. Calendula is another flower that doubles as an herb. Both can be used in salads, garnish or herbal vinegar.

When looking for vegetables, herbs or flowers for smaller kitchen gardens try to choose varieties that are described as "space saving", "dwarf" or "compact".

Starting with the basics will give you a chance to get a feel for how much work and time the garden will involve. Keep track of what grows well and what tastes the best. This will help you decide how much to expand next year.

On OFL we have an article on growing and cooking with chives:

http://oldfashionedliving.com/chives.html

~Brenda

The Kitchen Garden: Historical Examples

I thought this week I would focus on the kitchen garden, which can be as simple as potted herbs and vegetables outside the kitchen door or on a patio to a potager, which is a French term for an ornamental vegetable or kitchen garden. Today I want to focus on the examples of historical kitchen gardens.

Martha Washington helped was known for walking among the rows of her kitchen garden to check the progress of the plants and trees. She was responsible for the planning and care of the garden. On the website for George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate there is a description of the restored kitchen garden:

"Much of the produce that appeared on the Washingtons' table was raised in this brick-walled, sunny spot located directly behind the stables and their unfailing supply of manure. Today rows of asparagus, beets, beans, spinach, and peas grow in beds edged with low-growing herbs. Apple and pear trees pruned to form waist-high, stout fences line the paths between beds of artichokes, onions, and lettuce. The garden is a wonderful example of a formal English kitchen garden."

Reading this description you can picture the garden as beautiful while being functional. The Read House in Delaware has a kitchen garden that was built in the late 1800's. It's been restored and is described as:

"...kitchen garden with alees of pear trees and trellised grapes set by formal boxwood hedges."

The boxwood would be solely ornamental but act as a edging to the garden. Many kitchen gardens are edged by herbs, which would be pretty, fragrant and useful. Obviously the addition of grapes and fruit trees would call for a much larger kitchen garden.

These two gardens belonged to people who were well off, and had staff to assist them with their gardens, and budgets that would allow for trees and perennials to edge their potagers. Some situations called for much small kitchen gardens. I found it interesting that long ago pubs and taverns often had their own kitchen gardens to grow herbs and vegetables too.

During summer vacations my family and I have often stopped by forts such as Colonial Michilimackinac in Michigan, which is a restored fort and trading village. There was usually a large garden, but there were also small gardens behind some of the residents' homes. They were small, fenced in, and often included sunflowers, herbs and vegetables. The wife of an officer probably tended the small garden with limited access to seeds or plants.

What type of kitchen garden could you grow? As yourself the following questions:

1. How much room do I have for a garden?
2. What tools would I need?
3. What is my budget?
4. What would I like to grow?
5. If I leave on vacation could someone water the garden?
6. Would I care for the garden alone or have help?

These are the basic questions to ask yourself. Once you've answered these then you an go on to the actual details. In the next blog post I'll go into more on choosing what to grow.

On OFL we have a nice article on a kitchen garden:
http://oldfashionedliving.com/kitchengarden.html

Slow Cooking: Beef Dishes

Beef roast, steaks or stew meat have been expensive for quite some time now, and I never buy it unless there is a good sale, even if it's a special occasion. Sometimes I have to get creative as you'll see in these recipes. If roast isn't on sale, but steak is, then I use that instead. This is one reason I love cooking in the crock pot. Cooking any cut of meat all day long makes it very tender, even if it's on the tough side. I admit that I'm thrifty, but I've had to be over the years, and I can't imagine being any other way. These recipes will feed about four people, depending on how many are teenagers:)

Slow Cooked Beef Roast

Ingredients:
3-4 lb. chuck roast
1 cup water
1 cup beef broth
1 tsp. garlic powder OR
1 or 2 cloves garlic
salt and pepper
4 potatoes, peeled, cut into chunks
2 cups carrots, baby or full sized, sliced
1 sweet onions, sliced very thinly

Place beef in crock pot. Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder or garlic. Saute the onion in a skillet until soft. Add the onions to the crock pot. Place the one cup water into the skillet, heat to stir up the bits of brown, then add the liquid to the crock pot. Place the vegetables around the roast. Add the cup of beef broth. Cover and cook on high for about 5 hours, or low for 8 to 10 hours.


Crock Pot Beef Stew

Ingredients:
2-3 pounds beef roast *see notes
1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 c. beef broth
1 cup tomato sauce
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 cups carrots, sliced
3 potatoes, peeled & cubed
1 onion, quartered

Cut the beef into one inch cubes. Brown in a large skillet with the onion. Place meat and onion in crock pot and sprinkle the flour over all. Stir to coat meat. Add the beef broth, Worcestershire sauce and tomato sauce. Stir. Add the remaining ingredients and stir to mix well. Cook on low 10-12 hours or high 4-6 hours. Serve with noodles or rice.

Notes: Stew meat is often fairly expensive. Any cut of beef can be turned into stew meat by cutting it into cubes. Use ranch or chuck steaks, chuck roast, or any type of roast for this recipe.

Mexican Beef

Ingredients:
3 1/2 lb. chuck roast
1 (15 oz.) can crushed tomatoes
1 (4 oz.) can diced green chiles
1 cup beef broth
1 packet dry taco seasoning mix
2 tbsp. corn starch

Brown roast on all sides, then place in the crock pot. Add tomatoes, chiles, taco mix, broth together in a bowl. Mix well, then pour over the beef. Cook on high for 4-5 hours. The roast should be tender. Use a meat fork and knife to slice up or shred the beef. Do this 45 minutes or so before serving, add the corn starch, stirred into about a 1/2 cup of water. Stir it into the beef, then cover again and cook for the additional 45 minutes. Serve the beef over rice or in tortillas with cheese, lettuce, green onion and salsa.

Slow Cooked Beef Burgundy

Ingredients:
1 lb. bacon
3 lbs. beef, cubed
1 bottle red wine
1 lb. onion, diced
1 lb. carrots, diced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 bay leaf
Salt
Ground black pepper
Flour

Cook the bacon in a large skillet, remove when cooked to a plate and set aside. Remove all but about 1/4 cup or so of bacon grease. It doesn't have to be exact. In a pie plate or bowl mix flour that has been seasoned with black pepper. 2 cups flour is plenty. Coat the beef cubes in the flour, then brown in bacon fat on all sides. Transfer meat to a crock pot. To the same skillet, add the onion, saute until softened. Add to the crock pot with the garlic and carrots. Pour about a cup of wine into the skillet and loosen the brown bits from the pan. Add to the crock pot. Add bay leaf, and salt and pepper to taste plus one more cup of wine. Cover and cook on low 8 to 12 hours or high for about 6 hours. Serve over noodles or rice.

This is a fun article I wrote awhile back with Greek recipes for OFL:

http://oldfashionedliving.com/greek.html

An Elegant Dinner for Valentine's Day

If you've been reading this blog for awhile you know that I had do not enjoy long, complicated recipes. I like simple recipes with ingredients that I can find with ease. I know myself, and know that I will not enjoy making a dish that is overly complicated. Valentine's Day should be fun and relaxed, so I go for simple.

I was browsing my cookbooks this week looking for a nice menu and I ran across these lovely dishes in The Wine Cook Book by The Browns, published in 1960. I'm going to serve this with a nice salad, and a loaf of French bread. I made changes to the recipes for clarification and taste, so they aren't identical to the published recipes.

A note on the wine: Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Pinot Gris, or a Pinot Blanc will work well for these recipes. It doesn't need to be expensive either. You'll need a total of four cups for the following recipes. This would be more than one standard bottle of wine, which is fine, because if you buy two bottles, then you'll be able to have a glass with dinner too.

Peach Soup

Ingredients:

2 cups sliced peaches

2 cups white wine

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

2 cloves

sugar to taste

Place a pint of water in a medium pan to heat. Add peaches and cook until tender. Press through a colander or use a hand blender. Place the peaches back in the pan as they are strained. Boil for a few minutes. Stir in the wine, and add sugar to taste. Heat until just boiling and serve in bowls.

Notes: honey can be used instead of sugar. The soup can be garnished with whipped cream.

Mussels in White Wine

Ingredients:

2 quarts mussels

1 small sweet onion, sliced thinly

handful of fresh minced parsley

3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

1 cup white wine

1 tsp. butter

salt

ground black pepper

Wash mussels several times in clean water each time. Place the mussels in a deep soup pot, sprinkle with parsley, onion and garlic. Add the butter and the wine. Cook for 15 minutes on high heat, covered tightly. The mussels are done when opened. Serve in bowls with the liquid. To eat, remove the mussel from the shell, dip in the broth and eat.

Fish in Sauce

Ingredients:

1 cup white wine

2 pounds firm fleshed fish *see note

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 thinly sliced onion

1 bay leaf

1 garlic clove, peeled and minced

1 fresh, chopped tomato

salt

ground black pepper

1 tbsp. flour

In a heavy skillet heat the olive oil and saute the garlic and onion until very lightly browned and soft. Be careful not to scorch. Add the tomato, seasonings and the fish to the pan. Cover the pan and saute over medium heat, shaking the pan often so it doesn't stick. When tender, lift out the fish and keep warm on a platter. Stir the flour into the broth of the pan, add the wine and bring to boiling.

Firm fleshed fish should be one that won't fall apart easily. Catfish, Cod, Halibut, Red snapper, Striped bass, Grouper or Mahi-Mahi will work well. If you aren't sure ask at the fish counter when you buy it.

On OFL I have an article with plans for a romantic evening with menu:

http://oldfashionedliving.com/holidays/romance.html

~Brenda

February Tidbits: Love and Garden Fever

It's February, which always brings to mind love for me, not only because of Valentine's Day, but it's my 23rd anniversary this year and my daughter's twelve birthday. Yes, it's a chaotic, but memorable month in our family. I thought I'd start things out with a note on some past blogs that have some great information. I especially love the party recipes.

Tea Cookies, Cake & Homemade Vanilla Sugar Recipes:
http://oldtips.blogspot.com/2010_01_31_archive.html

Homemade Frosting Goodness:
http://oldtips.blogspot.com/2010/02/homemade-frosting-goodness.html

Valentine's Recipes from 1938
http://oldtips.blogspot.com/2010/02/valentines-day-recipes-from-1938.html

Valentine's Day Party Recipes:
http://oldtips.blogspot.com/2010/02/valentines-day-party-recipes.html

GARDEN FEVER
February is also a time to start thinking about landscaping. Why so early? If you're in a warm climate, it's not too early at all. In Florida, trees and shrubs can be transplanted. Evergreens and summer flowering shrubs can be pruned, but just as in cold climates NEVER prune spring flowering shrubs until after they bloom. You'll be cutting off the future buds.

In colder climates there is something important we can be doing. Since the trees and bushes have shed their leaves it's a good time to look at them and make notes of what needs pruning. You can look at the bare branches and determine if they look properly shaped. Keep a notebook and make sketches of what you want to do when it warms up. Keep in mind that large pine trees often do better if the lower branches are trimmed so they aren't touching the ground.

It's also a great time to look at your landscape as a whole, and plan what you want to add or change this year. Again, takes notes, sketch out plans, and look through nursery catalogs and websites. Be sure to make a budget because purchases can get our of hand very quickly.

On OFL we have some tips on keeping a garden diary:

http://oldfashionedliving.com/gardendiary.html