Archive for the ‘Food’ Category

Got Snow? Make Snow Ice Cream!

January 21st, 2016 by Susan Odom

 

A big winter storm they they knighted as Jonas is coming and it will effect much of the East coast. This is the perfect time to make snow ice cream! Snow ice, snow cream, snow ice cream, however you call it, is made with fresh, newly fallen snow! If you have that, than you have the main ingredient.Just remember to buy some cream when you run out for your milk and bread!  I made it for the first time just a few days ago (Jan 18, 2016).  Here is a photo of the original recipe for snow ice cream or snow ice as they call it here:

Recipe for Snow Cream

Recipe for Snow Ice Cream

Buckeye Cook Book Cover 1904

Buckeye Cook Book Cover 1904

 

 

 

This recipe comes from one of my favorite books, the Buckeye Cook Book! I have a large collection of just this cook book! It was first published in 1876 and the last publication was about 1905. If you ever make it out to Hillside Homestead for a visit we can delve into my collection and have a good time discovering old foodways! I’m open all year and am always scheduling overnight stays and classes.  I do love this book, but lets get to the ice cream…

 

 

fresh snow and cream

The fresh snow on the left and the cream mixture on the right

Here is how I made my Snow Ice Cream:

1 cup of heavy cream
1/2 cup of sugar
1 tablespoon of Vanilla
4-6 quarts of fresh, fluffy, newly fallen snow

Mix together the cream and the sugar and the vanilla. Stir till sugar dissolves. If you think about it before hand, mix these together and heat slightly to help dissolve the sugar and then let it cool for several hours.

 

Mixing in the snow

Mixing the snow into the cream mixture. Work fast. Don’t hesitate. Eat it right away!

Now mix in the snow. Mix in big scoopfuls of snow at the time. Add snow, mix well, add more snow, etc. Till you think it looks done! Then scoop it into bowls and serve it up! Your own homemade snow ice cream!

 

 

 

 

Snow ice cream (3)

A sad picture I know, but I was in a rush to eat my bowl of snow ice cream!   I’m so excited to publish this blog post because of the upcoming storm that my pictures are not polished! Later on I hope to re-read a few of the Little House books, because I know the Ingalls family enjoyed this recipe too. I hope to edit this post soon. Looks like a big storm coming so If winter is going to give us snow then we should make ice cream!

 

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Apple Butter Recipe

October 25th, 2014 by Susan Odom

Once a year at Hillside Homestead we make the supply of apple butter. We follow a common 19th century apple butter recipe which have no added sugar. It makes sense to do this because we use a thirty gallon copper kettle, an eight foot long paddle and one huge roaring fire! It is a big project and best to get it all done in a day. I have some wonderful friends who come and help me do this and it is great fun to share it with the public! So an annual event was born; The Apple Bee.

The apples have just been added and now for the big boil!

The apples have just been added and now for the big boil!

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The Apple Bee at Hillside Homestead – Oct 26 noon to 5pm

September 20th, 2014 by Susan Odom

 The Apple Bee

Sunday Oct 26 from noon to 5pm

Free Heritage Event – Families Welcome

All are invited to Hillside Homestead’s fourth Annual  Fall event, 

 

The Apple Bee fun will include….
  • Making the annual Apple Butter! We will use a 30 gallon copper kettle outside over a roaring fire and boil down 15 gallons of sweet apple cider and 3 bushels of apples! This is the main course of our Apple Bee!
  • Historic cooking demos in the farm kitchen and tastings too! All things apple and historic will be baked, fried and simmered! Lingering in the kitchen is always part of the fun at the Apple Bee!
  • NEW! Hand sewing experience…Please join Jamie Burton, a sewer of all things oldey-timey, for a quick class on the basics of hand sewing. You’ll learn a few basic stitches and even walk away with your own creation: a scented sachet to add color and fragrance to any room in your house or to tuck under your pillow to help you sleep at night (just like the Victorians did!). There is a materials fee of $5 for this add-on opportunity.
  • Tours of the farmhouse
  • Visit with the farm animals which include, 6 pigs, 8 sheep, a bunch of chickens, ducks, Gypsy the Goose and Champ the horse! My neighbor, Rose Jelinek, is bringing her horse over for the afternoon!
  • And plenty of time for visiting and lollygagging on the porch, in the parlour or thereabouts. I hope you can make it to the Apple Bee!
The apples have just been added and now for the big boil!

The apples have just been added and now for the big boil!

 

peeling apples at the Hillside Homestead Apple Bee

Miss Sadie peeling apples! Lots and lots of apples

Mary and Jamie cooking and talking with guests in the kitchen at Hillside Homestead during the apple bee

Mary and Jamie cooking and talking with guests in the kitchen at Hillside Homestead

Bubble bowling with Katie!

Bubble bowling with Katie!

Enjoying the tree swing in the front yard!

Enjoying the tree swing in the front yard!

 

Enjoying the view at Hillside Homestead

Enjoying the view at Hillside Homestead

 

 

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Oatmeal Pancakes

June 19th, 2014 by Susan Odom

We serve lots of delicious food for breakfast at Hillside Homestead. Here is the recipe for Oatmeal Cakes , which are pancakes made with leftover cooked oatmeal. The recipe originally comes from the 1904 edition of “The Buckeye Cook Book”. Just about my favorite cook book of all time! I love to make these pancakes for my guests. Sometimes my guests even like to help! Learning to make a new recipe is fun and learning to cook on a wood stove is even better! I hope you enjoy this recipe. Drop me a line if you try it out!

The New Buckeye Cook Book 1904

The New Buckeye Cook Book published in 1904. My all time favorite cook book!

 

Oatmeal Pancakes

Oatmeal Pancakes the original recipe from the Buckeye Cook Book.

1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup of water or more
1 cup leftover cooked oatmeal (sometimes I add a little apple sauce If I don’t have quite a cup of oatmeal)

Mix together the dry ingredients in small bowl. Mix together the wet ingredients in a big bowl. Add the dry to the wet and mix well. If it seems too thick add a bit more water to thin it out. This recipe doubles and triples quite nicely. Bake (or fry or cook in modern terminology) on a hot griddle. Flip only once. Serve hot with butter and maple syurp or warmed apple sauce or fruit,etc. Use your imagination add banana or squash or pumpkin to the oatmeal. You could use milk instead of water. Experiment with the amount of liquid to suit your taste. This recipe is a guideline, not a mandate. Enjoy!

Written out by Susan Odom at Hillside Homestead in Suttons Bay, Mich. June 19, 2014

 

 

 

 

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To keep eggs… using beeswax and oats…without refrigeration…at Hillside Homestead

May 18th, 2013 by Susan Odom

Its egg season for sure! As they days get longer and longer egg production goes up and up. Here is my egg production for the last several months

  • February=47 eggs, from about 15 laying hens
  • March=160 eggs
  • April=236 from about 11 hens. 2 hens were killed by the hawks and one hen has gone broody. Broody means she wants to be a mama, so she is sitting on a clutch of 11 eggs. She does not lay new eggs while sitting on a clutch and that is ok. Because she is dong a good job of trying to increase the flock size. Sunday evening May 19 is the first chance for the eggs to hatch.
  • May=130 eggs by may 18

I’m getting more eggs than I need right now. But I remember how I ran out of eggs in December and January and February. So I’m ‘putting up’ eggs for the lean times. by following these instructions from “The New Buckeye Cook Book” published in 1904

Instructions on how to keep/preserve eggs to winter time. From "The New Buckeye Cook Book" published in 1904

Instructions on how to keep/preserve eggs to winter time. From “The New Buckeye Cook Book” published in 1904

To do this I dip the eggs in bees wax and then store them in layers of oats. The oats act as a medium for storage. They keep the eggs safe from breaking and bumping into each other. I put up 28 eggs this way so far. And about a month ago I put about 4 dozen eggs using lard instead of beeswax. I do prefer the beeswax method. I plan to do more waxed eggs for the next 4-6 weeks.

Take a peek at the waxed eggs below. The wax closes up the pores on the shell and helps them last longer.

These eggs have been dipped in beeswax to help preserve them to leaner times.

These eggs have been dipped in beeswax to help preserve them to leaner times of winter

After the eggs have completely cooled and hardened they are packed into crocks of oats  Put a layer of oats on the bottom then add the eggs. The eggs should go in big end down. Repeat till the crock is full and then cover with a heavy cloth and string. Keep the crock down in the cellar. 

Eggs coated in bees wax stored big end down in a crock filled with oats. A common way to preserve eggs

Eggs coated in bees wax stored big end down in a crock filled with oats. A common way to preserve eggs

These eggs will be great for cakes and cookies and the such. They don’t suit too well for scrambled for fried. I first learned this method when I worked at Firestone Farm at Greenfield Village, which is part of The Henry Ford. And it works!

Maybe this winter we will have enough eggs to eat pound cake all winter!

Basket of Eggs

The fruits of their labor, eggs for eating and baking!

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