Growing up in coal fields and farm lands… money was always tight for many families. Appalachians have learned to make do with some surprisingly excellent cuisine on a very tight budget! I should know because many of these are my favorites to eat. Now I’m gonna be honest a lot of these are not diet … Continue reading Appalachian cuisine on a tight budget
As a kid I was the youngest of all the cousins. While they were all in high school and college I was just starting first grade lol. So all the big kids grew up together and played together and went to school together. This is on both sides of the family (mom’s and dad’s). My … Continue reading Cousins and collective memories.
We started using this idea while camping. Easy to prepare ahead of time and delicious. Pickled eggs! To make egg salad sandwiches you just slice and dice the pickled eggs, add a bit of mayo, slap it on some bread and you are ready to eat! Super easy and incredibly delicious! Now we like eating … Continue reading A summer tradition: pickled eggs and egg salad sandwiches the easy way!
Last fall while out thrifting and yard sale shopping I bought a box full of crystal glass serving plates and cookies trays and pie plates. All vintage and all with really pretty etched or cut designs. They cost me a whopping one dollar. Hubby thought I was nuts when I bought them and was not … Continue reading Thrifting, recycling, and gardening. They go hand in hand!
So I did a bit of experimenting! I decided to use my bread recipe and make bread with cocoa powder mixed into the flour. See previous post for the bread recipe. I added 1 heaping spoon full of cocoa to the flour as I sifted it. Then added the yeast water as normal and followed … Continue reading Chocolate bread? Sooooo good!
During Black Friday sales on Amazon I scored this fabulous cast iron bread cloche! This thing is awesome! It looks small (only 7” diameter) but makes a perfect loaf of bread! Bread is getting expensive so off on an adventure and I e found the perfect recipe for easy bread! I seasoned the bread cloche … Continue reading Bread! Yummy!
Let me start by saying I am not a professional knitting pattern writer! I’m doing some stash busting (probably better described as “scrap” busting) with my home spun wool (mostly DK to fingerling weight 11-14 wpi) after making socks and hats this winter. These are notes for myself but you are welcome to use them! … Continue reading Cabled mittens knitting pattern
Ahhhhh I do have a fascination with sparkly things lol… I often find salt cellars in yard sales and thrift stores and they fascinate me. They are so pretty! But honestly in today’s age not very useful so I decided to do some upcycling! I also pick up broaches I find pretty at yard sales … Continue reading Recycled crystal salt cellar
As a child I would collect acorn tops! They made great whistles! But I also imagined that fairies and gnomes and small critters like chipmunks and squirrels (yeah my size dimensions were a bit off as a child lol) would obviously wear acorn tops as hats! Heck if I could find an acorn top big … Continue reading Acorn-top hat knitting pattern
We love our electric turkey cooker. It makes a fabulous turkey! With the holidays it gets a lot of use! but it has so much potential for other uses as well! Well worth the purchase! 2023 Christmas dinner … it even makes a nice brown roasted skin and the dripping are used for broth and … Continue reading How to use an electric turkey cooker for other things… and some other helpful tips and kitchen tools.
Conestoga Chuck 