Beaten Biscuits

 A few weeks ago I challenged you to start on your pantry and building up the basics needed to begin cooking "from scratch" in your kitchen.

How is it going?  If you need to remind yourself of the first list of items I suggested adding to your pantry you can check that out here.

Are you ready for your first "recipe"?

This is a basic biscuit recipe from the 1935 edition of The Southern Cook Book of Fine Old Recipes.  You can download a free copy of this recipe and book online by clicking the title above. 

In the meantime,

Biscuits are very adaptable to most meals.  It can be eaten for breakfast of course, with jam/jelly, honey or syrup.  You can make it into a breakfast "sandwich" by filling it with scrambled eggs, bacon and cheese.  You can smother them in gravy, with or without sausage.

Biscuits are also great leftovers for lunch with soup.  Or filled with a slice of ham or tenderloin.

Dinner time...they can top chicken potpie, going along with about any meat/veggie combo.  You can even sweeten them up as dessert with some strawberries (or other berries or even peaches!) and make little shortcakes.

Use a light touch when bringing this dough together.  You don't want to active the gluten in this dough like you would for rolls etc.  You want fluffy.

And it will take practice.  Try them.  Try them again and again so you get to feel the difference each time and note what you did that made the difference.  Pretty soon you'll be making them without a recipe to follow.  You can just throw them together.

Once you have them rolled and cut out...you can place them on parchment paper on a cookie sheet and pop them in the freezer.  Once frozen, put them in a zip-top bag and you can pull them out whenever you want to bake them!  I personally do this since it's just 2 of us at home most days.  I can make a big batch and then we're set for several meals.  Bake them as normal...may just take a few minutes longer since they are frozen.  No need to thaw before baking.

A simple meal.  Yet comforting and satisfying. Basic ingredients combined with a little skill and a lot of love.  May you be blessed with flour on your apron as you embark on the biscuit journey!

Happy baking,

Lynn

Jesus *said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples ventured to question Him, “Who are You?” knowing that it was the Lord. John 21:12

Fret Not Small Beginnings

 Oh how impatient I can be!

  Especially in the garden.  I plant a seed and immediately "expect" to see a sprout!

That's kind of how we are throughout our daily lives too, isn't it?  What a rush our world is in.  What a hurry...do this, do that, go here, finish this, watch that...and on and on. We expect things to be done now now now.

Everything seems so fast paced. We want our news in sound bites.  We want our sermons in the palms of our hands.

But back to the idea of the garden and those seeds. Is it not a miracle that all the life that seed needs to reproduce a new plant, bush, tree is in that tiny compact container?  It astonishes me every time I think about it.

We have been on this new property for just over 1 year now.  We're constantly working on projects to "make it our own".  Last season I was eager to get the raised beds in place and get SOMETHING...ANYTHING...growing in the ground!  I thought I did all the "correct" things to have a successful growing season.  Good soil (or so I thought).  Plenty of sunshine and water.

My garden however seemed stunted and meager.  Definitely was a "small beginning".

But I learned how to remediate my soil.  I learned how to deflect the intense July sun. I learned zucchini loves this climate while waiting for things to take off and grow.  

By the end of summer, I was harvesting more than plenty of squash.  Small but tasty tomatoes. I even harvested some sweet cantaloupe!  However, the lettuce never got over 1 inch high.  The cucumbers and potatoes were the most horribly bitter things I've ever eaten. The corn never produced.  The beans were measly. Not a single radish grew.

I could have despised my small beginnings garden.   Even through the frustrations, I loved it.  I took a bare space of awful native bentonite soil and made a few beautiful things grow.

This season the garden is leaps and bounds better and it's only mid-June.  I'm harvesting lovely, sweet lettuces.  Kale is extremely happy and abundant.  The tomato plants are growing and even starting to see blooms on a couple of them.  The cantaloupes are coming up.  So are the beans and corn.  We've eaten several big, beautiful strawberries.  Oh! and the zucchini...there are rouge plants coming up EVERYWHERE!

In this hurry up and get there world, it's nice to have a spot to watch things take their time.  A spot where the birds sing as they go about their day.  It's joyful to watch those tiny seeds growing and be hopeful for a delicious harvest in the not-too-distant future.

I added raspberries this year.  Rhubarb as well. The asparagus patch is coming along nicely too.  I won't get to harvest any of them this year.  But one day I will. I rejoice in their small beginnings.

When you have something that seems to be progressing at a much slower rate than you'd like, take time to enjoy the progress, no matter the speed.  Learn from the time spent waiting.  Learn more about the next phase it will enter.  The beginnings may seem small and slow, but there is a harvest waiting on the other side.

Sweet blessings my friend,

Lynn

"Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand.”  Zech 4:10

Recipe or Not

 It's funny, seems most folks are in two camps when it comes to recipe following.

-The Follow It to the Letter Group

-The Wing It Group

Neither one is totally right...or wrong.

Me personally, when I "cook"...I'm a wing it.  When I bake...I'm a follow to the letter.  Sometimes.

My hope here on this blog is to give you courage in your everyday cooking to branch out from following to the letter and wing it a little.

This probably isn't in your comfort zone at all.  I get it.  And hey...you're in good company.  Even Ina Garten says her recipes that she created...she follows to the letter...every. single. time.

No shame or condemnation here.  Just trying to help you switch it up a little and gain more confidence in pantry cooking.  That's when you haven't been to the store but your pantry is stocked with staples.  If you can whip up a semi-nutritious meal from the pantry/freezer...you're winning.

I want to see you winning!!

What staples do I keep in my pantry?

Glad you asked.  

For a very basic beginner pantry get yourself the following items.  Don't stress if you cannot get them all at one shopping trip.  Spread it out over a few trips.

Flour...all-purpose

Sugar

Oil...I use coconut oil and olive oil.

Baking POWDER  (be sure to get the aluminum free kind)

Baking SODA  {NOTE:   Baking Powder and baking soda...these two items are NOT interchangeable. You need both.}

Salt  {If you can possibly invest in "real" salt, not iodized table salt please do.  It will taste better, be better for you and help keep you from retaining fluids.  I use Redmond's Real Salt.}

With these basic items (plus maybe some eggs/milk)...you can make breads, muffins, pancakes, waffles, crackers, start sourdough, make a breading/batter for meats or veggies.  

We'll add to this list as we go along.  But for each of the above...get the best quality that your budget will allow. Start adding them to your pantry (cupboard or wherever you safely store your nonperishable food items).  I'll give you some time to gather them.  And then we'll make something yummy. 

Without a recipe.  ;) 

Where did I come from?

I've kicking around this blogging can for quite some time now.

Never really consistent or anything.  But I've been hacking away at it. I guess I believe the numbers lie.  You have to have XYZ followers etc to be "successful".

Truth is you don't.

If ONE single person finds value...doesn't that mean something?

I have so many friends from my former "Sunflower" days.  I treasure them.

I thought you might be interested to visit those super old posts too.

SunflowerGirl Farm

Sunflower Studio & Farm

Both of my previous blogs really focus on nutrition, food, etc.  And I will have that here too.  But in a more laid back approach.  More of a Grandma (or Emmaw as my grands call me) teaching and sharing approach. More just a day-to-day journaling what's on my heart and mind but sharing it with you approach.

I want to take you out into my garden.  Share what I do in this new harsh 3B/4A high desert climate and what I learn works...and doesn't work.

I want to take you into the craft room and share what I do there and what inspires me.

I want to share whisps of wisdom as I make dinner...or lunch...or snacks in my kitchen.

I want to take you into the canning kitchen. Canning is something handed down to me from both of my grandmothers.  My love of gardening from my "Granny" on mom's side and "Grandaddy" on dad's.  {You can read a bit about Granddaddy here...In Granddaddy's Shadow }. And "putting it by" was something regularly done to preserve the year's harvest for winter time mainly.  {{I've always followed that routine...but now in WYO...it's a MUST for winter.  There are days/weeks we don't leave the house to go to town.  Or roads are closed due to snow. So having a well stocked pantry and freezer are necessities.}}

I want it to feel like you came into my home and sat down for a cup of coffee or tea with me.

I want you to leave feeling better than when you came.

So thank you for joining me in this new chapter of the journey of life.

Until next time...blessings on you and yours.

~Lynn

Titus 2:3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good...

Do you even know?

So many times we see something on the "webs" and are inspired or guilted into feeling like we should be doing ALL the things.

We should have a perfectly decorated house.

We should have a perfectly crafted meal on the dinner table every.single.time.

We should have this...or that...or those.

It's a never-ending deluge of "attacks" that make us feel less than enough.

My friend...I hope you find joy here at Flour on My Apron.  My goal is to inspire you to go more, create more, try something new but never ever ever make you feel inadequate or not enough if you don't do something that I do.

You don't even have to do it "MY" way.  Just be inspired!

I'll share from my kitchen.  My home.  My garden.  And even my craft room. I'll share this new landscape of mountains, hills and desert.  I'll share my faith.  My thoughts.  My dreams.  My successes. AND my failures.

So WELCOME.  I'm glad you're here.  I hope you know you're invited to come back anytime. 

Home-Instead

There are many ideas of what a “homestead” is or is not.

What is should or should not include.

Some think it means you are completely “off the grid”.

Others feel it means you raise all your own food.

I’ve heard it said that to be a true homesteader, you must do everything the “old fashioned way”.

Spring Cabbage

I know for us it means, “We’d rather do it at home ‘stead of going out.”

I’ve always had a love for gardening, canning, cooking, sewing, crafting, animals and learning the skills my Appalachian heritage is known for.  These things come as naturally to me as breathing.  It’s part of my DNA.  It nourishes my soul.
Ten years ago, we left the ever-growing suburbs of Atlanta and purchased land in the northern part of GA.  Seven acres in God’s country.  Plans of gardens, orchards, and the like were under way.

Then the unthinkable…

The economy took a turn for the worse.  And times got hard.  Things got tight.  It was all our two incomes could do to stay afloat.  We had no choice but to do it at home...‘stead of going out.

We made it through that valley. And old habits of eating out crept back in.  Life was back to normal.

Or so we thought.

That’s when the doctor gave my husband the diagnosis of cancer.

And we began to REALLY educate ourselves on the food that nourishes our bodies.  The harmful effects of chemicals, over processing and other additives in our modern American diet became front and center of our focus.
It’s when we got real about being “home insteaders”. Our choice wasn't a political one. It wasn't a desire to be trendy. We were not prepping for fear of the future. We were simply being intentional about life and all that entails.
That diagnosis came several years ago now. Fast forward to today...Last year we picked up and moved from GA to WY. We're empty-nesters that have always had a dream of living "out west". So we did.
If we weren't home-insteaders before moving to WY it would have been a lot more difficult a transition.Join us as we continue this adventure in a new state, a new climate, new people, new EVERYTHING!!