I am up early, makin’ coffee and writing. Today Mary is coming for lunch, and maybe Tiffany and Baby Rose. (David is at work.) So I am up thinking of what to have for lunch. I may have chili and fresh vegetable salads.

We went to the grocery store yesterday early, and there were many marked down vegetables like for 29

Chicken Soup

Here is how I cook chicken soup from scratch, making the homemade broth. I just take a whole chicken, clean it up, and put it in a big pot on the stove with water to cover it. You could use just chicken parts. I cook it until I can take the meat off the bones. Then take the chicken out of the pan, let it cool, and take the chicken apart. Throw all of the fat and bones away, and then cut the meat up into bitesize pieces. Then put the clean meat back into your broth (the water it came out of).

So now ya have the cut up chicken and the broth. To this, I add onions and salt and pepper and parsley. And then I add cut up carrots and celery, and garlic, if ya like it. Often, I will add some cut up tomatoes for color and flavor. Then, after the vegetables are soft, I add (depending on what I have) maybe some chicken noodle soup or some cream of chicken soup. It gives it more flavor. You could add a handful of rice or some noodles and cook it with the vegetables. And that is how I do it.

This recipe makes a lot, but this is always better the second time. You could also can this soup in canning jars if you have a pressure canner. I would leave out the store bought soup at the end. You could add it later for a meal. The old time Mother canned a lot of this soup to have on busy days when she didn’t have time to cook and she needed an instant dinner. I have canned hamburger before … it was fun. I left the fat in it and the fat on top helped to seal it in and I didn’t have any of it spoil. The fat came to the top, ya know what I mean?

Oh, it’s fun to make the old timey comfort foods. I have made a lot of soup in my day. It sure kept my family healthy and well fed. Many times, when I was busy with the children, I wouldn’t have time to watch my soup, so I would just put it in the oven to cook on a low temp. When I homeschooled, after devotions around 9:00 in the morning, I would start my soup and it would be ready for our family meal.

Jim used to work at the airport, and he would go to work around 2 in the afternoon, so I always had our family meal around 11:30 or at noon. Jim would want me to go with him to do errands, if we had any to do, before he went to work. I would have the children do their hour of reading after lunch. But many times, we took all the children with us to do errands and they did reading when they got back. Papa always wanted all of the children with us wherever we went.

Often, we had five children with us to go to the grocery store. One cart was for babies and one was for groceries. I would buy a lot of food to make food with. My grocery cart would be so full, people would say, “Are you all going to eat all of that?”

I always said proudly, “Well, we have a large family.” My cart would be mostly full of of potatoes and carrots, apples and oranges. I didn’t buy much juice for the children but fed them a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables. Our tables were always full of fresh lettuce salads and fruit.

Sometimes I would take a big can of peaches and put it in a big bowl, leaving all the syrup in. Then I would add bananas and apples, cut up. Sometimes I would add the little marshmallows and some coconut, whatever I had, but the bananas were especially good in the peach syrup.

In the spring, like now when my rhubarb is coming up, I made a lot of stewed rhubarb and then the strawberry rhubarb jam. Danny, especially, loved this jam.

And ya know, Mothers, if you make plenty of homemade bread the children always have bread and jam to eat as a snack. The homemade bread is so good for them.

Homemade Bread

Really, the whole wheat bread made with honey is the best bread. But, ya know, my family just liked the texture of the white bread the best. So I just figured that my white bread made from scratch was better than whole wheat store bought any day. A lot of the time, my brother would give me fresh eggs in the spring so I had these to make my bread. And my milk man gave me free goat milk. And to my white bread, I would add maybe a cup of whole wheat flour, then maybe a half a cup of cornmeal and maybe a half cup of oatmeal. Then I would almost always add a cup of mashed potatoes or a cup of fruit, maybe a cup of applesauce, or I would use the syrup off the peaches as part of my liquid instead of the milk called for.

I would make bread out of whatever I had. If I had a tablespoon of jam or jelly on the table and the kids weren’t eating it, I would add it to the bread. Or maybe the peanut butter was about gone and I wanted to get rid of it, I would add it to my bread. If the cookie plate had some crumbs on it, I added it to my bread mixture. I tried not to waste anything. If I had made pancakes in the morning for breakfast and had some of the batter left over, I would heat it up a bit and add my bread yeast to this and make bread, using this as a starter.

Johnny used to eat about 10 pancakes in the morning before school. I am not kidding. I used to make pancake batter from scratch in one of those big plastic salad bowls, and the pancakes would be as big as a plate. Johnny was always really hungry in the mornings. Christian Joy would eat at least 5 big pancakes. The other children would eat about 2. They loved pancakes.

I would make surprise pancakes. They had to guess what was in them. One time, I had some left over chip dip that I thought was really flat. I put some in the pancakes. Actually, the dip was really garlicky … Christian Joy loved them. They were her favorite. But not the rest of us. I probably made bread with that batter. Those pancakes were bad news.

Jill and I would make a package of chocolate chips last forever. Jill would make her chocolate chip cookies without any chocolate chips in them and, just before she put them in the oven, she would put a chocolate chip on the top of each cookie. If the cookie had one chip in them, we called them chocolate chip cookies. We were poor and raising kids. Good Grief!

This morning, I wanted to tell you all how I make bread. I don’t use a recipe. Basically, you need 2 cups of liquid for 2 loaves of bread and about 6 cups of flour. You need some salt and some sweetener and some grease. I put in about a tablespoon of yeast per loaf of bread. That’s a lot, I know.

Say you need to clean out your refrigerator and need to make bread before you go to the store. Well, just take what you have in the fridge and make bread. For instance, if you have some jelly at the bottom of a jar or a bit of syrup or honey just taking up space, use it in your bread for sweetener. You don’t have to have sugar as the syrup and jelly or honey is the sweetener. You do need a sweetener to make the yeast work, but, you know, use your imagination. I would say you could put in anywhere between a tablespoon of sweetener to a half a cup … it’s not going to hurt anything, either way. And maybe you have some applesauce in the fridge or leftover mashed potatoes or a few bananas you need to use up. You can put it in the bread. I mean, up to a cup. But just make your bread from what you have.

You may start out with white flour, and then when you go to knead the bread, you may want to dust your kneading board with cornmeal or whole wheat flour or oatmeal, or any kind of flour. Just use what you have. I used to take oatmeal and grind it in the blender and make oatflour. But you can just use the oatmeal whole, about a cup or 2. I mean, bread is pretty forgiveable. If you get too much liquid, you can always add more flour as you knead it.

Also, if you have a lot of eggs, you could add up to 3 eggs in a recipe that makes 2 loaves. I mean, just experiment and see how much of what you can get away with using.

If you are using up some bananas in your pantry to make your bread, you may want to put in some cinnamon, ginger or nutmeg, and some more sugar, at least 1 cup for a sweet yeast bread for 2 loaves. Just taste the dough and see if it has enough sweetener. But if you are using up mashed potatoes, you may want to add seasoning salt and herbs like garlic powder or onion, parsley or basil. For 2 loaves of bread, you could use like a tablespoon of parsley. You still need sugar, even in an herb bread, or some kind of sweetener to make the yeast work, but only a few tablespoons.

So you need to start out with 2 cups of liquid. This can be just what you have. If you have milk, use this, but you can use 2 cups of fruit juice for your liquid, too. I have made tomato bread and used tomato juice for my 2 cups of liquid. Then I put in the herbs like thyme, basil and garlic.

Last night, as Papa was home for the evening, I made some holiday breads, just from my own inspirations. I imagined myself as an old fashioned mother deep in the forest, far away from all recipe books. Oh, a health nut would have hung me for this bread I made last night, but I wanted it to be really old fashioned. I used a cup and a half of pig lard from my imaginary hog, and six eggs from my pretend chickens. I used milk from my pretend cow. I put in my bread dough brown sugar and white, and I stuffed it with raisins and cinnamon and nuts.

I made two braided loaves of bread. One I laid out flat and, when it was done baking and cooled, I frosted it with white icing and sprinkled green sugar and red over the top. The second braid I made into a circle like a wreath and baked it in my big cast iron skillet. I iced it, also, after it was done baking, with white frosting and green sprinkled sugar on the top. I will use these cinnamon loaves to give away for Christmas.

I made Papa and Mary caramel rolls from the same dough. I just took my square cast iron frying pan and filled it with some brown sugar and maple syrup and margarine. Then I placed cinnamon rolls in it and baked it. When it’s done, you tip your pan out on another pan so the goo is on the top. Papa loved these and ate and ate of them, and Mary loved them, too.

Then I made a small plain loaf that didn’t turn out.

A few days ago, I bought some more nice ground beef for a buck a pound again at the meat market. So I mixed up some more sausage and I will shape these into loaves this morning and bake them. I still have to make fudge, maybe tonight, and also the traditional cut out sugar cookies.

Merry Christmas to Friends and Family.

Often, when I am checking my inner man, I will, of course, check to make sure I am walking under the authority of my husband. Another way I will check it out is this. I ask myself the question, “Have I made bread lately? Or do I WANT to make bread? If not why not?”

To me, it is a very spiritual thing to make a loaf of bread. I have tried making it when I have been in a hurry, or if I am full of contention toward Jim … it never turns out. So whatever, in any given day, that is keeping me from making bread for my family, I will cut it out. Often, I can’t make bread because I am worried or whatever. Well, I have to give it all to the Lord so I can be free to yield my hands to righteousness.

I think the bread we make for our families is very important. It’s the body or the substance of the meal. This bread should come from the godly mother who lives there. It’s a shame all the mixes we all bring home from the world … all the worldliness we pump into our families. A lot of women say, “Well, I can’t afford all of those expensive organic foods to cook from scratch.” Well, I think the Lord knows that, so I just buy as many good things as I can and I bake with what I have brought home from the store. I use mainly white flour for my bread with about a cup of whole wheat. I have tried to use all whole wheat and no one ate it. So I make my bread with what I have and the way my husband likes it. We pray over all of our food, so to me, it is blessed and it will be healthy for us. I don’t get into all this worry about vitamins. I figure if I just stay away from the world and all their mixes, I am cooking in a healthy way.

I cook and bake with eggs from the store, and flour and white sugar and brown. Yesterday, I made my bread rolls with lard. But I don’t look at what I put into my bread; I look more at the spirit within me that makes the bread. The old-time mothers used to say that if your bread didn’t turn out, it was because you didn’t love it enough. They didn’t blame it on the ingredients! Hello? And that’s true.

Don’t try to make bread for the family when you are mad at Papa or the kids … it won’t turn out. So I test my spirit. “Do I WANT to make bread? If not why not?” And whatever it is that is interfering has to go. Mixing up bread in a big bowl with a big wooden spoon would certainly cause the demon of feminism to run away. And BOY!!!!!! — was the devil mad the day I got the wringer washer out! Now, that slung some demon hash like you wouldnt have believed. WOW!!! I cant wait to do that again.

Now, if ya really want an experience, make bread and wash your laundry in the bath tub, if ya dont have a wringer washer. Do both the wash and the baking on the same day. That will blow the feminism out of ya. Now, do it cause ya wanna. Humble your heart and submit yourself to your role as keeper at home. I love my stove because the thermostat went out of it. So when I turn it on, it keeps heating up until it gets to about 500

How do I make bread? Well, that’s a loaded question.

For two loaves of bread, I dissolve two packages of yeast in about a half cup of water with some sugar in it, just a little to make the yeast bubble. And if it doesn’t bubble within a half hour, then your water isn’t hot enough or it’s too hot, or the yeast is old. Your water should be just a tad hotter than spit. And remember … Happy hearts make happy bubbly yeast.

Basically, I start out with two cups of liquid. That could be water, milk, juice or a bit of all three.

Then I put in shortening or margarine or lard, melted, about a half a cup. Then some sugar, about a cup. And some salt, about one teaspoon.

Then mix in some flour until the batter is about like pancake batter or cake batter.

At this point, add some eggs … oh, maybe one or two or three, whatever.

Then add the yeast mixture. But make sure your batter isn’t hot from the melted lard as you will kill your Happy yeast. Remember, Happy yeast always needs a warm home — not hot or cold.

Well, just keep adding flour, but be careful to not add too much at once. When ya can’t stir it anymore, take it out of your bowl and knead it on a floury surface. Knead it until it is satiny smooth like a babies behind.

Then put it in a greased bowl and cover it with a cloth, and let it rise in a warm place — don’t forget — away from drafts. Let it rise, and then take it out and shape it into loaves and put it in greased bread pans. Let it rise again and bake it at about 375 degrees.

After it is baked, take a cloth and cover it and this will make the crust stay soft. Also, I always butter the top, too.

But, hey, this recipe should be called Hillbilly Bread. I don’t make bread from a recipe.

Dear Kitchen Saints,

Oh Glory. Lately I am having so much fun in my kitchen making sour dough. You basically are making your own homemade yeast to put in your bread in place of the regular yeast. I don’t use a bread machine of course, although I guess it would be nice for a small family that just eats a loaf every few days.

Ya know, back in the old days with my six children? One day it dawned upon me, “Hey, guess what Connie. You can’t feed these kids like other folks feed their kids from the grocery store. You had better have some major tricks up your sleeve.” So I learned to make my kitchen to be like the old time mothers used to have theirs.

I had a special place in my kitchen where I made yogurt over a hot air register. I put a little stand over the top of the register. I used the yogurt for sour cream in cooking and for buttermilk. I used it to make salad dressings and vegetable dips. Of course, the old time mothers would have used the coolest part of their woodstove to make yogurt, but the idea is the same.

The mothers were like scientists figuring out where the best cultures would grow where. When the ladies come to my house they ask me, “So Connie, whatcha got growing here in this jar?” Well, I have Kumbacha tea in one jar and various other things growing in other jars. You don’t want to know. Usually these jars are in obscure places out of sight, usually in warm dark places, but the ladies love looking in corners and finding things they wish they hadn’t found.

But lately I am having a ball making sour dough starter. All the books would say to make your starter with something boring like a cup of water and a cup of flour and a little bread yeast, and a bit of sugar … Put it in a quart jar… Well, the quart jar idea was what was stunting my creative growth.

Now I have out a big gallon jar and I am having a good time with this. I am happily throwing all sorts of things in this jar that I know will make the yeast grow. I mean, that poor yeast needs more than flour and water to grow. Lately I threw in potato water and that will make it grow.

I grew up in my homemaking by reading Carla Emery’s Old Fashioned Recipe Book. She really taught me to be free in my cooking and how to make things from what you have on hand. I will say, though, that I am maybe a more free spirit than she was concerning sour dough. Carla Emery WAS a Christian, and her book is good. But now, trust me, she has backslidden. So if you look up this book on the internet you will see that she has gotten into new age and all sorts of devilry. But she was a wonderful wife and mother when she wrote her recipe book back in the 1970s. I do recommend this book to you. Maybe you could ask for it for Christmas. This is how I got mine one year.

When Mothers tell me that they can’t get their bread to rise, I always tell them ‘Well, ya didn’t love it enough.” Our bread will take on the atmosphere around it. It does grow from live yeasts in the air and, especially, when you are growing your own yeast in making sour dough. So make sure the air is full of love and domestic joy when you make bread.

A happy home will make a light and joyful loaf of bread.

Dear Ladies,

It is Tuesday. Mondays around here are like stopping a parade after the weekend. I do this because of that… and that because of this… but nothing on purpose. On Tuesdays I do things on purpose. Today I will make homemade soup… probably chicken. And hopefully homemade dinner rolls.

Papa brought home some bread last night that a friend at work had given to him… it was an expensive pumpernickel brick bread. Well, some people may like it. But, well, I think it’s the day for me to bake bread.

I don’t follow a recipe for bread, so get ready for a joy ride as I explain this.

First I test my yeast. I put about 2 tablespoons of yeast in a bowl of hot water with a little sugar. 2 tablespoons is about 2 packages of yeast. When the yeast starts to bubble then I know the yeast is good, and also ready to use. Set aside.

Then I get out my big bread bowl… it’s a crock. I start out by adding 2 cups of heated liquid into the bowl. This liquid can be anything. Such as water, milk, fruit juice, tomato juice, left over potato water, buttermilk, just a liquid… 2 cups.

Then add your oil for the fat… oil or melted shortening… anywhere from a tablespoon to a cup… what ever. Sir that up.

If you want to add a few eggs at this point, go ahead. If you are out of eggs, skip it. If you love eggs, add 1 to 3 or so. Stir that up.

Pour in some sweetener. A tablespoon of sugar or up to a cup. Whatever… Use a cup of honey if you want to. Or use leftover jelly or pancake syrup… not too much more liquid, though, unless you want to add more yeast, another tablespoon or 2.

Then begin adding your flour… Stir it up good until it looks like a cake mix… beat it up good.

Then I add my yeast.

Then carefully, cup for cup, stir in about 6 cups of flour.

You will end up with a glob of dough. So now take the glob out, put it on a floured surface and kneed it, adding more flour as you go. If your dough turns out soft and easy and sweet, just make dinner rolls with it. If it is more stiff and elastic, then congratulations, you made bread dough.

Let it rise in a warm place, then shape it and let it rise again, and then bake it. About 375 degrees for about a half hour? I don’t know — I just check mine.

Now here are some housewife secrets to making really good bread or dinner rolls.

Ladies, ya gotta love it. If it turns out wrong, you didn’t love it enough.

And it helps to wear a long skirt and an apron… an old fashioned one of your grandma’s… or one you got at a garage sale… and a bandanna on your head. The apron has to be old and look comfortable.

It has to be quiet when you make bread. So get the children settled with their toys and games and books. Tell them everything has to be peaceful. Mama is going to make home made bread.

It helps to have soup simmering on the stove, also, to create a warm steamy kitchen. Then when you set your bread out to rise on the stove top, the soup keeps the bread warm, friendly and comfortable.

Yeast is alive and it likes a warm happy atmosphere. And good homemade and handmade bread creates a happy home. Papa always comes to my kitchen after work and starts lifting up lids on pots on the stove. And if he sees bread rising on the stove, under an old cotton print cloth, it sets his mood for a quiet evening at home.

Good bread… made with willing hands. A happy mother whose aim is to make a quiet and loving nest, always makes good bread.