I think we'll eat Reuben sandwiches tonight

As I was thinking about making supper... Reuben sandwiches came to mind.  It feels like forever since we've had them and before the girls head back to college it would be a nice home cooked meal.   A couple of days ago I made bran pumpernickel bread that is wonderful!!! 

 Bran Pumpernickel Bread

3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1  tablespoon instant coffee
2 1/2 cups whole bran cereal
1/2 cup molasses
2  teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons caraway
2  packages yeast active dry
3/4 cup water warm (105° to 115° f)
3 cups flour
1 cup rye flour

In a medium saucepan, heat milk, butter or margarine and coffee powder until melted and dissolved. Add next four ingredients and blend well. Let set 5 minutes. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in water; let set until foamy, 5 to 10 minutes. Add milk mixture and rye flour; stir in enough all-purpose flour to make a stiff dough. Knead on a floured surface until smooth and elastic, 5 to 7 minutes. Place in a greased bowl; turn dough to coat surface. Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, until doubled, 60 to 75 minutes. Punch down dough and form into two loaves. Slash tops several times. Place on a greased baking sheet, cover and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, until doubled, 40 to 50 minutes. Brush with cold water; bake in a preheated 350° F oven, for 35 to 40 minutes or until tests done. Remove from baking sheets; cool on wire racks.

Then it dawned on me that we didn't have thousand island salad dressing. Then I wondered if I could make my own.  To the computer I went and this is what I found...

Thousand Island Salad Dressing

Ingredients

• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup chili sauce
• 2 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
• 2 tablespoons chopped green onion
• 2 tablespoons chopped celery
• 4-1/2 teaspoons finely chopped onion
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Salad greens

Directions

• In a small bowl, combine all ingredients. Cover and refrigerate until serving. Serve with salad greens. Yield: 1-1/2 cups.  So it looks like we'll have Reuben sandwiches afterall!

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Have you missed me?

I know many of my friends have been asking where are you and what's going on...  Well, life...pure and simple.  The garden is now done and I'm working on my new Artfire Studio  Trying to learn a new format is taking some time.  There will be many NEW things coming to Country Soaps for the upcoming holidays...stay tuned!!!

Pumpkins everywhere!!!

     I'm pleased to show you a picture of the first of the BIG pumpkins to come in.  This one weighs in at 47.8 pounds!!!  Can't wait to see how many pumpkin pies we get out of it.    Because of the dry weather last year pumpkins were in short supply.  So I wanted to make sure we got enough pumpkin to take care of our craving.  Last night we made a delicious curried pumpkin soup from taste of home

About my Music

     I love music for different reasons.  Sometimes the girls and I are cleaning the house so we'll pick upbeat songs to listen to.  When there is thinking to do, I'll pick a low key and slower song. 
     Straight no Chaser is a Capella group that I ran across.  They do mainly Christmas songs some are remakes and some they wrote themselves.  I love listening to their harmonies any time of year. 
     Sold is a song that I wanted to request at Jason and Katie's wedding...but time got away from me and then the day was done.  :(  
     The Fenians is a group I found while listening to the Jerry Lewis telethon one very early morning while I was up with Karlie who was our baby at the time.  Their music makes me smile.  The lyrics are hilarious and the tempos are just plain fun. 
     Enya is good spring cleaning music.   I don't know why, but her music reminds me of spring. 
     The other songs are bits and pieces....as my girls say "Mom really likes random music".  So I hope you enjoy my playlist as much as I do. 

Our Very Wet Summer

     With all the heat, humidity and rain we've been getting you'd think we live in the rain forest along the Amazon river...no, we live in Wisconsin.  Oh, and did I mention the mosquitoes?  Last summer was so cold and I guess this is the year to average it all out.  Below you'll find pictures we've taken throughout the summer of 2010.  

Storms coming across the field.

A double rainbow followed that rain.

Clearing after the storm.  

This is our daughter Emily standing in a corn field after a storm late July.  

What does all this rain lead to besides lots of mosquitoes?  A garden that is yielding like no tomorrow!!!  I give my daughter Angie lots of credit for these next pictures.  She battled loads of "skeeters" to take these for me.  In one swat she got 5 at once!!!  Thanks Angie!

This is that yellow pumpkin in a previous post.  Angie took along a quarter so you can see size.  This is going to be one big pumpkin. 

I'm pretty sure that this is a different peanut pumpkin that I've blogged about. 

All in all I think we'll have no troubles eating our 5 a day this winter.  Our biggest concerns will be harvesting the corn starting in about a month.  

Ketchup~Recipe #1

There is nothing like canning your own ketchup.  No preservatives just homemade goodness fresh from your garden.
Many people have asked about my recipe, so here it is...
Ketchup recipe #1
1 gallon thick tomato juice
2 1/3 c. sugar
2 t. celery seed
1 t. mixed pickling spices (tied in a small piece of cloth)
1 t. cayenne pepper
2 med. onions chopped
1 t. mustard seed
Bring all ingredients to a boil and simmer until half in volume. Remove spice bag.  Then add...
1 1/4 c. vinegar
1 t. paprika
1 t. cinnamon
1 1/2 t. salt
Thicken with perma flo or clear jel.  For those of you who don't know where to get these, tomato paste will work.  I buy mine from the Amish. 

This is from an Amish book.  I bought a new book this year and there are 3 recipes.  This one is the first one that I'm trying.  Our family will go through 80-100 quarts of ketchup.  It is great on top of meatloaf.  This past spring was the first time in 3 years we had to buy ketchup.  So this was the first big project with our tomatoes because we didn't want to do that again. 
If you have a nesko roaster you could times this recipe by 4 and fill an 18 quart nesko. 

Pictures will be coming...it's still cooking as I'm typing this recipe...Mmmmm...does it smell good!!!