Pantry supper - Granny Bates Cornbread

Pantry supper - Granny Bates Cornbread

     Cornbread has been a staple of my diet for as long as I can remember.  My parents are from southeastern Kentucky.  In the early 1960s, the moved to eastern Indiana and put down roots.  But, "home" was, and for them always will be, the mountains.  Any school break, funeral, or sickness we were on the road down home.  I am glad for those miles.  Many treasured memories that modern kids miss if parents let a DVD player, DS game system, iPad, iPod, or cell phone 'keep the kid busy'.  I highly recommend road trips with disconnect agendas to allow your kids to get to know you better. You will be amazed and even shocked at all the beans a kid will spill about friends and family and hopes and dreams from the back seat of vehicle while they think you are only sort of paying attention.

Pantry supper - Granny Bates Cornbread

     This ain't a "hoosier-cake" as I call midwestern yellow and sweet cornbread.  This is poor mans bread that some call hot water cornbread.  It's cheap and will make you lick your lips all night dreaming of another slice with butter melting on it.  My parents love it as a dessert... crumbled up cornbread into a cup of buttermilk or even milk if you don't have a taste for buttermilk.

Pantry supper - Granny Bates Cornbread

Granny Bates Cornbread

     Here's the tricky part that can mess folks up on the final result... it a 1:2 ratio of one part self-rising white flour to 2 parts self-rising white corn meal mix... one part flour to two parts meal.

Ingredients to make a medium size pone of cornbread in a cast iron skillet:
2 cups self rising white corn meal mix
1 cup self rising white flour
4 pinches of salt (that's how I measured it when I paid attention this time, lol)
2 pinches of pepper (again, that's how I measured it when I paid attention this time, lol)

Pantry supper - Granny Bates Cornbread

     Preheat oven to 350 F.  Medium to large cast iron skillet, gently wipe interior with a thin layer of oil as when seasoning it (the cleanup will be so much easier if you do this), and wipe one more time with a clean paper towel to assure excess oil removed.  Put the skillet in the oven to preheat while you assemble the cornbread ingredients. Combine all dry ingredients.  Now, here's your challenge... getting the right amount of water into the batter.  So, start with 1/2 a cup and add 1/4 cup at a time until it seems the consistency of thick pancake batter.  Some folks swear hot water helps, I haven't noticed a big difference.  Stir well a couple of times until all ingredients are mixed, and then let set about 5 minutes at least.
     Carefully remove the hot skillet from the oven.  Stir the mix one time well, then pour into the hot skillet quickly.  Put the pan in the oven.  Turn up the heat to 400 F and let it bake about 35 minutes, then continue baking until the crust is the desired dark crusty crust you prefer (one hour at most).  Hey, if it burns somewhere and no one in the house likes that... just cut that part off and add to the compost pile.  I actually prefer a crust a darker and crunchier than noted in the pictures.  I am a crust loving girl.  Some folks like the inside stuffings.  You decide for yourself.

Pantry supper - Granny Bates Cornbread

     If you flip the pone of bread out of the skillet while hot from the oven onto a large plate... your skillet should be clean enough to fill with a batch of brownie mix to bake since the oven is already hot.  I might have done that and loved it. The Boys like that use of efficiency.  Same on the brownie, flip out onto a plate and clean up should be just a wiping out of the skillet.

Brownies baked after I turned out a pone of cornbread from my cast iron skillet. 

If you try it... leave me a review.

Pantry supper - Baked sausage casserole

Pantry supper

     For January 2014 I have participated in a No Spending Challenge group.  *sigh*  The ONLY good thing I am finding about Old Man Winter so far... is being trapped at home with The Boys having so many delayed or cancelled school days... it keeps me from stopping in a store to or from work.

     The heating bills have also increased and the incentive to stay on track in the challenge is strong.  Add the awareness of increased medical premiums, higher co-payments plus deductibles and I am on board to keep up the challenge in February.

     That all being said... the goal is no to very little grocery shopping.  Loaf bread, gallons of milk, dry cereal are about what is on the list once a week.  We had to add in ketchup and peanut butter since my 8 year old survives on those and I hadn't had a lot left in the pantry.

Baked sausage casserole

     My husband and I like to have sliced sausage with potatoes and green beans and onions sometimes.  The kids don't care for it, but like I said earlier they live on peanut butter, lol.  I wanted to stick to the challenge and hoped to cook something a little healthier, too.  That meant... the oven, and one of my cast iron skillets to help with a richer flavor.  I dug around in the pantry and found a can of whole kernel corn and carrots. I had leftover canned green beans in the fridge, and peas from our garden in the freezer.

Baked sausage casserole.  Before going in the oven.  

     We liked it.  The frozen peas I have found hold up better in casseroles than from a can, but I would have only had canned they would have been fine, too.  I was glad I had part of the sausage on the top and part on the bottom.  Some was nice and caramelized crispy and some soft and tender. If I hadn't had the long polish sausage to cut up, I would also have used little smokies if those were on hand. I like cutting the sausage in bit size rounds instead of the traditional angle cuts, everything ends up one bite size.  To me, a casserole isn't about needing a knife to eat it, it's about comfort food and easy eating.

Baked sausage casserole.  Hot out of the oven. 

Baked sausage casserole

Ingredients:
Frozen peas -two handfuls, frozen but broken loose from one another
Whole kernel corn -1 can drained
Green beans -2/3 can leftovers
Sliced carrots -1 can drained
1 package polish sausage -two large links sliced into thin medallions, or any sausage sliced, about 2 cups.

     Preheat oven to 350 F.  Medium to large cast iron skillet, gently wipe interior with a thin layer of oil as when seasoning it (the cleanup will be so much easier if you do this), and wipe one more time with a clean paper towel to assure excess oil removed.  Put the skillet in the oven to preheat while you assemble the casserole ingredients. Combine all vegetables and mix well.  Canned vegetables and the sausage have more salt than home canned/frozen foods so I did not add extra -I decided that could be added to taste at the table and keep the dish a bit healthier.
     After about 10 minutes, carefully remove the hot skillet from the oven.  Layer half of the sausage in the bottom of the skillet. Cover with the vegetable mixture.  Finally, layer with the remainder sausage.  Pour in enough water halfway up the side of the skillet.  Turn up the oven temperature to 400 F.
     Cover the skillet loosely with aluminum foil.  Bake about 20 minutes as the meat used was precooked. Then, remove the foil and bake the dish another 15-20 minutes until the some of the top sausage layer is noted to be caramelized to your liking.  Remove from the oven, and loosely recover with the foil until ready to serve (at least 10 minutes).

Baked sausage casserole. 

I do believe I will make this again and not the skillet method. The cleanup of the baked dish compared to when I have usually fried it was wonderful.  And... it surely is healthier since there was no frying involved.

If you try it... leave me a review.

County Highway crews are local heroes

County Highway crews are local heroes
26 January 2014

Snowy afternoon view on 26 JAN 2014. Snowplows are on their way. 

The county is on the highest level of warning and no one should be on the roads. 

The wind isn't howling as bad, but when a vehicle goes down the road the snow "dust" billows taller than the trees. 

More snow expected tonight and extremely bitter wind chills as well for two days. 

Old Man Winter is proving he is meaner than The Grinch.

 The first of two back to back snowplows from our county highway department trying to clear drifts and widen spots that barely allowed one vehicle to pass through.

It must be a very bumpy ride based on the rattling of the truck and plow and jamming into all those drifts.

The second of the two back to back snowplows from our county highway department came along just behind the "snow dust" of the first plow.

These are our local heroes when Old Man Winter huffs and puffs and tries his best to keep us trapped in our homes.

When you are out and about... shake their hand, buy them a cup a coffee, say thank you.

Mothers in other frozen lands

Prayers. 

Well, Old Man Winter you are making it a rough one here in modern convenience Indiana. 

However, it is good to focus on the blessings of the snug home and clothes and full cupboards of good that God has provided. 

Ancestors stronger than I am, braved wagon train paths in winter storms with no parkas or heated vehicle keeping them dry, homes of log with no windows and cooking what dry beans were left in an open fireplace pot and watching snow blow in cracks to build drifts.  

I am not as brave or strong as modern humans born in isolated bitter cold lands such as remote Siberia, tents of Tibet, rural far northern Korea, or those holding to traditional igloo lifestyle. 

God, I pray a woman in those lands, who tries to hold strong wondering how she will survive to care for her child since she has to give her food and coat to the child to keep the child alive... I pray that woman has a moment to feel your comfort and You guide her to wisdom to keep forging ahead. 

I pray that the people You impress upon to take action to give relief not to governments or tribes but directly to those mothers... That they take the burden and Your guidance and seek her. 

Thank you for blessing my family with silly concerns such as stocking up on convenience foods and gasoline and waterlines not freezing. 

Thank you for keeping the burden of stronger mothers in other lands weighed on my heart. 

Amen.  


*Pictures taken during the first Arctic Blast of 2014, January 6th. Now, we are in round 2 and preparing for temperatures worse than round one.  Fifty-five days until Spring... 

Lester, Allen, Coon Dog...

Lester, Allen, Coon Dog...

     Going through old notes on facebook, I came across a few pictures of my Dad up to his usual antics.  70-something and we still have to worry about his carrying-on more than the toddlers or teenagers.  However, we all do hope that we can grow up to enjoy life as much as he does when the opportunity presents itself. 

     He always was a hard worker.  He would have fun while he worked, even in the summer heat to earn college money. 

     That's him in 1957 when he worked for Del Monte, out in the fields bringing in the harvest.  Oh, to hear those tales of Del Monte coming to the mountains and getting a load of college kids to live in bunk houses to earn money for another year of school.  

     Dad always rattled off to ditty to us: Allen Lester from Winchester.  Well, it did help us learn where we lived.  He is the son of Douglas Irvin and Mary Emmer (Holcomb) Halcomb of Gordon, Linefork area in Letcher County, Kentucky.  Irv is the son of Jesse & Susanna "Susan" (Stamper) Holcomb.  Mary is the daughter of Joseph "Joe" and Nancy (Cornett) Halcomb/Holcomb. 

     That is Dad in 1981 in front of Granny Halcomb's house.  The house he grew up in from school age to adult.  It is along the Linefork Creek, near Gordon, Letcher County, Kentucky.  Poor creek is wider than a lot of rivers I've seen, but is was just shy of having enough length to be classified as a river.  It was so cool when they moved in that house for a little boy.  There was a "window" that was built in that really was an old car door.  All they had to do to let in a little fresh air was crank the window down.
     Sadly, the house burned to the ground years later after no family was living in it.  Then the land became overgrown with weeds, and there is no sign of it having had a house, outhouse, couple of wells, barns, not even the long sidewalk that went up to the roadside.  On an adventure there, I did find a small chunk of the old sidewalk.  Both homes I've had, I put it out in a flowerbed area I walk in often. Little things like that help give pause to days gone by, as well as thanks for having been picked to be a part of this family.

     That is Dad enjoying life with the kids.  This merry-go-round is best EVER when voted on by my kids.  It is in Berne, Indiana.  I highly recommend it for there are giant swings and old monkey bars. The great toys that we kids loved, and now deemed unsafe for school yards, but totally waiting on adults to play along with kids on them.  It was taken Labor Day 2009.  The weather was drizzly.  We had stopped for a picnic at a covered bridge just south of the area.  And of course always stop to play in the park. 

     Dad saw I had my camera out (as usual) and hollered: "Howdy, folks!" 

     I think my Dad dreams of the days when the grandsons get "toys" that he can play on.  In 2006, that is him jumping right on a go-kart one of his grandsons had gotten.  He isn't a playing sports kind of guy.  Get out a big boy toy or anything to do with hunting & fishing... and he can't get there fast enough to join right in on the fun.  He did well, no accidents or crashes.  I don't even think he had a near miss that day. 

     On a Saturday after Christmas in 2008, the kids & grandkids gathered as usual.  One of his grandsons had gotten a brand spanking new dirt bike from "Santy Claws".  Dad loved watching how much fun the older grandsons and sons were having.  

     

     He got a quick rundown on the operation of the machine, declined a helmet, and took off.  

  Dad rounded the barn with the bike pushed to full throttle. 

I had to jump back to avoid getting hit while trying to take a picture that wasn't blurry. 

     This is what stopped the bike, and Dad.

     Dad rounded a big pine tree in the yard, still having the bike roaring at full throttle.  He couldn't swing the bike to a wider curve, mind you still going full speed, thus wasn't curving wide enough to avoid the bar... and hit it full force head on, going over the handlebars.

     It was quite the heart-stopping moment.  Most of us had come outside to watch him, and every one of us were frozen in our shoes in shock for a few seconds.  He had mud all over his bibs, it shows a bit in the following picture. 

  
 He had scrapes down both legs, a little gash on his hand I believe, but he had his spirit still in tact.  There was nasty bruising for a few days.  But he got back on it after supper and was on it about once a year given a chance.  However, it seems that the boys tend to have 4 wheelers and go-karts and not so many dirt bikes around to catch his eye. 

    Oh, the biggest lesson to everyone was always asking first where the emergency shut off switch is located. My sister-in-law summed it up well when she said she will never forget him on the dirt bike, even if she loses her memory, for that vision will be her forever. 

   

     In July 2011, here is Dad with a roasted banana.  He had heard about folks doing it.  Someone had recommended he try it, and of course that meant he had to try it.  If I recall, he didn't like it.  I don't allow bananas at home during the summer -when you eat them, your body emits something that attracts mosquitoes and the kids & I seem to be hypersensitive to the bites & get whelts, thus no 'naners.  

     Dad brought his own, even had his name wrote on it.  I must say, an ink pen marks a banana pretty well.  We had all gathered for fireworks.  We were worried we'd have a no fireworks gathering.  The weather had been a nasty drought with terribly high heat for many weeks.  There was just enough rain and break in the weather for the celebration.  Sadly, the heat returned and garden harvests for everyone were pathetic. 

     On 23 January 2011, Dad made dinner for us.  One of the best parts is he also does the clean up saying we need to "go visit with your Mother."  It is the usual hill-jack dinner.  Ribs (not Hoosier or western style; KY style where you boil them blandly with taters).  Of course I grab BBQ sauce to pour over mine, because they raised me in Indiana.  Mac & 'mater juice, corn, green beans, two pones KY corn bread, soup beans. AND, stove top peach dumplings.  He took a plate to Mom and said: We sweated when we put 'em up last summer -now we're freezing eating them.

     Last thoughts are what fun he creates for The Boys.  My sons are lucky to be able to have outings with him at times.  Here, he was taking the older one on a hike through a muddy woods.  September 2011 will be one they both remember well.  You can never go wrong with fashion or comfort when you wear your "Papaw Pants" -bib overalls.

Mrs. Ayers binders

I purchased a large lot of binders at an area auction a couple years ago. Mrs. Gertrude Ayers painstakingly maintained binders on all holiday event newspaper clippings, all local obituaries, and area news. Amazing collection. I will be working on a blog of the vast amount of information in the future. The information is from about the 1960s to the early 2000s.

Some of Mrs. Ayers binders I have yet to pour over.

I started with the heavier duty binders and then worked my way through some of the rougher, older not really good for long term storage binders. These are what I have pulled so far of obituaries she had painstakingly saved for years.

One of Mrs. Ayers binders that was packed full of clippings she had carefully glued to sheets of paper and inserted in sheet protectors. This one I found interesting as it had the tag from Murphy's.  That was the 5 & 10 store on the east side of the Winchester courthouse square.

A large stack of obituaries she hadn't gotten filed. They have old paperclips holding many in bundles, likely from a week's worth of newspapers.

I can not find the cable to connect my "wireless" printer to my laptop as it seems it needs to be reset. So annoying.  Once I solve that mystery, I'll scan pages and start loading up the years of local history she saved over the years.