Nancy on the Home Front

Simple Soups: Butternut Squash Soup

Recently I have shared several simple soups: Irish Yellow Broth and Chicken Pot Pie Soup. Both are delicious and I enjoy making them in the fall and winter. To me the arrival of cooler weather means more opportunity to enjoy simple soups! I love being able to take a few ingredients from the garden and create a wonderful, nourishing soup that we can enjoy for lunch or for a simple supper. It’s better if I can make extra and freeze some to enjoy later. Butternut Squash Soup is another family favorite. This delicious soup has curry in it as well as leeks. I usually grow both leeks and butternut squash in my garden so this is a perfect soup to use up some of my garden harvest. In just a short amount of time you can enjoy a bowl of this soup. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do!

Butternut Squash Soup

1 butternut squash, peeled and cut up
1 sweet potato or a large baking potato, peeled and cut up
3 large leeks cut up (white part only)
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 shallots (didn’t have any shallots so used onions)
1 stick of butter

Sauté the squash, sweet potato, leeks, garlic and shallots in the butter until they have a soft consistency.

Once the ingredients are soft add the following:

Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp cumin
1 TBSP curry powder
32 oz chicken or vegetable broth

Simmer until the squash is soft, and then puree the soup with a blender or an emersion blender. When it is smooth and free of lumps add:

2 cups of heavy cream (I only used 1 cup of milk).

Serve warm with a nice loaf of bread or sprinkle with croutons ! Simple soups are perfect for those cool fall days! In no time at all you can be enjoying a warm bowl of delicious soup.

Guilford Connecticut Cider Mill

Several weeks ago I mentioned that I went back to my hometown to attend my husband’s reunion and the Guilford Fair. While we were in town we had the opportunity to visit an original cider mill. We have a friend whose family home has been in the family since the 1700’s! On the property is an old cider mill that was in operation from the 1700’s until the early 1900’s!

Everything that was once used in the cider making process is still intact in the old cider mill barn.

People used to bring their wagonloads of apples to this mill to be crushed. The apple juice was then made into vinegar and hard cider. It was amazing to see the large gears that had been used to crush the apples. Apples were unloaded into the top of the barn and then poured into the chute where the apples would be ground up. A team of oxen was hitched up to the yoke and then they would walk in a circle and the apples would be crushed by the large gear. Kind of like a very large meat grinder!

The apple mash would then be transferred to a pressing station and the large press would be screwed down to extract the juice out. There were groves in the wood where the juice would pour out.

If you picture a small apple press the process is very much the same but on a much large scale.

This antique cider mill is in the process of slowly being restored. It was so interesting to see the ancient tools once used in the cider making process. It would have been amazing to go back in time and see the process in action. It’s wonderful that this gem has been saved and is slowly being restored. It gives people a glimpse into the past and how hard cider was once made.

I am so thankful for the opportunity to have viewed this cider mill. I look forward to visiting again someday when the whole barn has been restored.

Simple Soups: Irish Yellow Broth

The end of summer comes all too quickly. Much as I hate to see summer go the fall is one of my favorite times of year. Early fall in Vermont is so enjoyable; the days are still fairly warm and sunny but the nights are cold. When there is a slight chill in the air I enjoy making simple soups for lunch. One of my favorite soups is this Irish Yellow Broth. The steel cut oats not only add nutrition but they give a creaminess to the soup. Usually I leave out the cream and the soup still tastes delicious! Next time you’re looking for a simple fall soup try this Irish Yellow Broth. I’ve shared the recipe several years ago but it’s worth repeating. I enjoy this soup whether it’s the beginning of fall, the middle of winter or early spring! It’s simple to make and delicious!

Irish Yellow Broth

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp butter
1 onion, finely minced
1 celery stalk, minced
1 carrot, finely chopped
2 Tbsp flour
3 ¼ cups homemade chicken stock
¼ cup steel cut oats
1 ½ cups chopped spinach
2 Tbsp cream (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the onion, celery and carrots. Cook for about 2 minutes or until the onions are soft.

Stir in the flour and cook slowly for 1 minute longer, stirring constantly. Add the steel cut oats.Pour in the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Lower the heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes until vegetables are tender. Stir in the chopped spinach and cook for 15 minutes longer stirring occasionally. Stir in the cream, season and stir.Enjoy this creamy delicious simple soup the next time you feel a chill in the air. It’s perfect for your lunch or combine it with a salad for a simple dinner.

Grammy’s Busy

I have to apologize but for the next two weeks my thoughts are going to be elsewhere! We have our two daughters and three grandchildren arriving early tomorrow for a wonderful Vermont fall vacation! The days will be full! I will do my best to be sharing a post here and there but I foresee busy days and spending time with family is very important to me! Have a wonderful week! (Photo by Jessica Keating) cousins

Chicken Pot Pie Soup

When the weather cools off in Vermont and there is a constant chill in the air my thoughts turn to simple soups I can make. This Chicken Pot Pie Soup is a favorite in our family and it is so easy to put together. If you have leftover chicken in your refrigerator this is a great way to use it up while at the same time making a delicious meal. The soup tastes just like the filling of a chicken pot pie; in fact you can also thicken the soup up a little more and top it with a crust for a delicious chicken pot pie. However you enjoy this simple soup it is bound to become a favorite in your family!

Chicken Pot Pie Soup

Ingredients:

2 cups potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 cup of carrots, peeled and sliced
1 cup of frozen peas
6 Tbsp butter, sliced
1/3 cup flour
4 cups of whole milk (1% and 2% will work too)
5 tsp chicken bouillon granules
¼ tsp pepper
2 cups of cooked chicken, cubed

Directions:

In a soup pot cover the potatoes and carrots with water. Cook over medium heat until tender, about 10-15 minutes. Add the peas and cook until tender, 3-5 minutes. Drain; set the vegetables aside in a bowl. In the same pot melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in the flour; cook and stir until the mixture is golden. Add milk, bouillon and pepper to the butter mixture. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened. Add the chicken and vegetable and heat through. Makes 5-6 servings.

The soup is thick and creamy. Perfect for a quick lunch on a cool fall day or serve with a salad and some bread for a complete dinner.

Guilford Fair: An Old Time Town Fair

I grew up in the small shoreline town of Guilford, Connecticut. Every year we looked forward to the Guilford Fair. It used to be held on the Guilford Green and the town schools were closed the Friday of fair weekend. It was started as an agricultural fair and people would come from all over to exhibit their fresh fruits & vegetables and exhibit their prized animals.

The Guilford Fair has since been moved to a dedicated fair ground and has expanded to include numerous rides, food booths and entertainment! The fair may have changed location but it is still a fun old time town fair.

Two weeks ago we had the opportunity to be in town for my husbands 40^th high school reunion. The reunion coincided with the Guilford Fair. Both my husband and I grew up in the same town and we looked forward to returning to Guilford, both for the reunion and the fair.

When we were in high school each class was responsible for a class float, which would be in the parade. All summer the classes would work on their float hoping to be the best. The reunion committee decided the class should have a float this year. Since the class of 1976 was a bicentennial year the float was decorated with red, white and blue. Judging from the smiles on the float everyone had a blast.

After the parade we spent time exploring the fair. I love watching the horse pulls and the oxen pulls. Amazing how well these teams of horses work together.

The tents of fruits and vegetables are another favorite. This year there didn’t seem to be as many vegetables on display. However the displays were just beautiful. It was nice to see the exhibit of canning. If I still lived in town I think I would have to enter some of my preserves!

It was so much fun to be back in our hometown and enjoying the fair with our friends. I enjoyed it as much this year as I had as a kid.

Frugal Meals: Tuna Veggie Macaroni

My husband and I are always trying to think of ways to save money, especially on our food budget. This is the one area we tend to over spend on. There are numerous blogs dedicated to frugal meals, one of my favorites is Premeditated Leftovers. Don’t you just love the name! Alea has a wonderful cookbook out called Prep Ahead Meals From Scratch. You may already know that the best way to save money on your meals is to cook from scratch. I cook from scratch the majority of the time and over the years have come up with many frugal ideas for our dinners.

We have many frugal meals that are so tasty they have become favorites. As the weather cools, this is one of my favorites. I love macaroni and cheese and the additional of tunafish and vegetables makes this dish even more delicious. It’s a great way to sneak a few vegetables into your dinner. This Tuna Veggie Macaroni is perfect for my husband and I. There is usually a little left over and that is perfect for lunch the next day. If we have company this recipe is easily doubled.

Tuna Veggie Macaroni

Ingredients:

1 ¼ cups uncooked elbow macaroni
5 oz Cheddar Cheese
½ cup milk
2 cups of frozen peas and carrots, thawed
1 can (6 ounces) of solid white tuna, drained
¼ tsp dill weed

Directions:

Cook the macaroni according to the package directions; drain. Add the cheese and milk and stir until the cheese is melted. Stir in the vegetables, tuna and dill. Heat the mixture through.

Makes three servings.

As the weather cools what are your favorite frugal meals? Usually soup is the number one favorite in our house, but I have to say this Tuna Veggie Macaroni is an all time favorite. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Gardening Year: Is it the end?

Is autumn really the end of the gardening year?

“Fall is not the end of the gardening year; it is the start of next year’s growing season.”
Thalassa Cruso

Autumn in Vermont is one of my favorite times of year. The days are clear and sunny and the nights are cold! The leaves begin to change color and you know winter is just around the corner. Is it really the end of another gardening year?

My goal each year is to get all my gardens cut back and cleaned up for the winter. Sometimes this happens, sometimes it doesn’t. It all depends on how busy our fall is.

First step in preparing for the winter is to remove all the decaying plant material to our compost pile. This means the random tomatoes that have fallen to the ground, the old tomato vines and the dying flower stalks. I like to leave my raised beds free of any weeds. If I have time I like to plant a cover crop in my raised beds as well. This will add nutrients to the soil while at the same time keep the weeds at bay.

If our compost bin is full we will also top off the raised beds with some compost and dig it into the raised beds. By spring it will be well composted and the beds will be ready for the spring planting.

There are also my flowerbeds to be cut back. Cutting back my numerous hosta plants is always a chore, but I don’t want to leave decaying leaves on the beds.

Once the gardens are cut back and cleaned up we are ready for winter. Now the snows can come, my garden is wonderfully cleaned up and ready to face the winter.The way time goes by it won’t be long before the seed catalogs begin arriving in the mail. It will be time to sit by the wood stove and plan next year’s garden!

Homesteading: The Perfect Homestead

Finding the Perfect Homestead

Our house is on the market and we’ve been told it could take several years for it to sell. Real estate in Vermont is not moving quickly. This gives us plenty of time to come up with our lists of “wants and needs” for our perfect homestead.

If money were no issue I would want to move to a large parcel of land and employ a caretaker to help us run our homestead. However, this is not the case and it will just be my husband and me. We currently have more than ten acres and it is a lot of work. So our future homestead will be on a much smaller scale.

Ideally we would like to have enough land for a nice garden, some fruit trees and blueberry bushes and a few chickens. We are thinking of a small size homestead perhaps on only an acre of land! Just enough to be able to manage while not having to spend all our time on it, After all we are moving to be closer to our children and grandchildren so we would like to have time to spend with them!

In our last two homes I have had to start the vegetable gardens from scratch. This means years of preparing the soil year after year to get it just right. I would like to be able to find a new home where I am taking over from the previous owner. Moving into a home that had a previous garden lover would be awesome!

We don’t need a large lawn either. While a lawn is nice who wants to spend time mowing and watering just to have a nice green lawn? We don’t have plans to raise livestock other than chickens so I think an acre or so would be fine.

One of my favorite books is The Have More Plan. They talk about setting up your ideal homestead on an acre. If we can find just the right property I plan to follow their lead.

Basic Principles of a Perfect Homestead

Every bit our land should be used advantageously.

Our vegetable gardens should run north and south for equal sunlight. The vegetable garden should be close to the kitchen. I absolutely love having an herb garden within walking distance to the kitchen.

Inside the house there should be adequate storage and closet space. I’m going to hate to leave my current pantry, but would like to have my next pantry closer to the kitchen! I definitely need a cold storage room for vegetables and canned goods.

There should also be space for a home freezer, laundry and fireplace wood.

Housing for our garden tools, wheelbarrows, lawnmower and a small tractor would also be nice as well as space for a home workshop.

In a way I am glad that our house is not selling as quickly as we thought it would. This gives us plenty of time to figure our what we want in our perfect homestead.

Skunked? Quick Solution!

We have had my daughter’s dog, a Boston Terrier on and off through the years. Several years ago when we were taking care of Riley she got skunked! Apparently she thought the black and white critter outside our bedroom window was a distant cousin to a Boston Terrier!

Up until that point we had never had any trouble with skunks. Neither our pug, Purtie, nor our chocolate lab, Gracie, ever had an encounter with a skunk. However, this all changed one night when we had Riley under our roof. We had just let Riley outside to do her business and in a mater of minutes Riley came running back to the house. At the same time we smelled skunk. Poor Riley sat on the steps while we tried to figure out the best way to treat her.

What To Do When You’ve Been Skunked!

Luckily just days before I had read something about using hydrogen peroxide and baking soda to treat a dog sprayed by a skunk.

Talk about good timing! Luckily we had all the ingredients on hand (it is prudent to have a well stocked pantry). We soon had a much better smelling and very clean dog. There was still a slight odor of skunk so she did have to spend the night in the laundry room.

If your dog runs into a skunk here is a wonderful recipe that I can vouch for!

Skunked? Quick Solution!

Ingredients:

1 quart 3% hydrogen peroxide
¼ pound baking soda
Bit of laundry detergent of dish soap

Directions:

Mix the hydrogen peroxide with the baking soda. Add just a bit of laundry detergent or soap to help with the washing process. Rub the mixture over your dog and then rinse with water.

This worked so well on the dog. Getting the smell off of the steps to the house was another story.

Have you or your dog ever been skunked? What was your solution?

Riley is now living in Portland, Oregon and hopefully will not ever run into a skunk again. It was certainly not something she was very happy about!