Hammock House

Here is a quick tip: when making homemade butter, let your freezer do most of the work for you!

I’ve taught you how to make butter from heavy whipping cream, in a simple jar. Now I going to tell you how much easier it can be.

When I buy the whipping cream, I usually purchase 7 or 8 cartons at a time, and freeze them. When I need to make butter, I will take out a carton the evening before, say around dinner time, let it start to thaw in sink, and then I’ll put it in the fridge before I head to bed to finish thawing. Come morning, I give a quick shake, pour some into my butter making jar (halfway) and then quickly make butter. On the other hand, I’ve also had the cream thaw before I headed to bed and was able to quickly make it that night, which is great.

By letting the freezer and thawing action do their parts, I can make a pound of butter in a half-hour. The jar I use, I can do 1/2 pound at a time, if I had larger jar I’d be able to do more. Remember though… to let the cream set out first so it is not so cold. The colder it is the longer it takes to make butter. I let mine come up to about 60° F, or until I walk back in the kitchen and go, dang, I knew I forgot something! :o) It really won’t hurt it, just give it better flavor, and less work for you.

Everything else is the same from the other article (just remember that it takes a lot less time shaking!), so, grab some cream out of the freezer, thaw it, and make some butter!

I know that I have sorely lacked in updating, and anyone who has read my blog in the last 2 years pretty much knows all the struggles that we have dealt with. Well, we were dealt another one…on Mother’s Day.

My Pappap passed away.

My Pappap, for those who are uninitiated, was my grandfather. But more than that, and I can say this with all due prejudice, one of the best!

This man, with a ready smile and a twinkle in his blue eyes, taught me to fish, to love watching all kinds of movies, to play with my food, to ‘drive’, to be careful when telling ghost stories cuz you yourself might just get the jibbies scared out of you, to enjoy a good fried bologna sandwich with Fresca®, to laugh, to love and so much more.

He also taught me, along with the other 3 great men in my life (my Daddy, my Uncle Art and my Uncle John), what real men are supposed to be like, act like, live like. I mean for heaven’s sake, the man let me sit on his lap when I was little and ‘pluck’ his whiskers from his chin after he got home from work, with my fingernails, and never flinched! Yeah, thinking back on it, ewww, but when I was little, all I knew was that his whiskers tickled when I went to get my hugs and kisses when we saw him.

I’ll have to scan some images into computer, but let me tell ya, I know why my Nanny married the man. Sure, he was great, sure he nice…etc., but, I know the real reason! It was his black hair mixed with bright blue eyes!

There is so much more to tell and maybe one day I will, but for now, my heart is still hurting and I want to keep the rest of my memories to myself. For now.

What does one of the worst days of my life have to do with pancakes?! Well, I’ll tell ya, my Pappap was a great cook, and he taught me that it was okay to play with my food, to experiment if things didn’t work. He, along with my Nanny, also taught me that great things can be made from scratch and not from a box!

Well, about a week ago I was kinda down, not really hungry, but having not eaten for 2 days, decided that I really should, but what?! Thought about pancakes, which I hadn’t had in years. I’ll be honest here, my Mom had a husband in the military, she worked, plus had 4 daughters, our pancakes came courtesy of Bisquick® Baking Mix. Don’t get me wrong, I loved them! But now, I don’t keep it on hand, because I make my biscuits, breads, buns, rolls, etc., from scratch. I love the flavors and it’s better health-wise. But, I hadn’t tried making pancakes. Didn’t even have a pancake recipe that didn’t call for help from a baking mix.

Good Housekeeping to the rescue! Up on the cookbook shelf was one of my Mom’s old cookbook from the 50’s and there inside it, Homemade Pancakes. Awesome! Until I read, how much sugar, how much salt and butter in the mix. Hmmm, I well, I’ve been baking for a couple of years now *smirk*, I’ll just switch things up a little and test it.

I am happy to say that I’ve tested and tweaked and I think came up with a pretty gosh darned good recipe, and it helps in rotating out my food storage! So, I thought I would share it.

In honor of my Pap, here you go…

Homemade Pancakes

• 1/2 C = all-purpose, unbleached, flour
• 3/4 C = whole wheat flour (freshly ground if you can!)
• 2 t = baking powder
• 1 1/2 T = brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 t = salt
• 2 T = powdered whole eggs
• 3 T = powdered milk
• 1/2 t = vanilla extract - I use 1 tsp, cuz I really really like it. :o)
• 1 C = buttermilk (I use the ‘milk’ left over after I make my butter, you can use it or real buttermilk, or, even use powdered buttermilk)
• 1/4 C = warm water

Reminder: C = Cup; t = teaspoon; T = Tablespoon!

• Preheat pan or griddle on medium heat, you’ll know it is ready when drops of cold water dance and skate across it.
• Add all DRY ingredients to a medium sized mixing bowl and grab a whisk. Mix the dry ingredients together.
• Add the vanilla extract, as well as the other liquids. Whisk all together, just until dry ingredients are completely incorporated. Batter should be just slightly thick. If you want thinner batter (thinner pancakes too), then add a little more water or buttermilk.
• Check pan for readiness, then using 1/3 C measuring cup, drop batter onto pan. I usually make 2 at a time. Watch closely, when the edges take on a matte/dry look and bubbles start to pop, flip them once. Do NOT press down the middle when it rises. Let cook another minute or so, check bottom, and then turn out onto waiting warm plate. I usually keep plate in oven, set on warm. Make sure your plate is allowed in oven!
• Add real butter if you want, and then your favorite syrup.
• Only one thing left to do at this point - ENJOY!

This following is the review that I did over on Amazon for the The WonderMill Grain Mill. I have been meaning to upload it here sooner, well, now is the time, since WonderMill has increased the price. And with more people wanting healthier food, well, get it while you can!

WonderMill Grain Mill - Powerful, fast, gets the job done!

Let’s start right with - I LOVE my WonderMill! I also have a hand-grinding mill (Back to Basics) that I have used, but decided to look around for an electric mill, because even though the B2B is great, my hands and arms got tired, quick. Have no fear though, I’ll keep the B2B for when the power is out, or we go camping, it does a great fine grind. So, I did some research, and then I saw and read some comparison tests. Well, I chose the WonderMill.

Just to clear up some things: