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AMarthaByHeart

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Everything posted by AMarthaByHeart

  1. Good job Kappydell! Maybe it was just practice for when th SHTF. Midwives will be in great demand. (Name the first girlie kitten after yourself.)
  2. Thanks Violet and gofish. I got my questions answered. I guess you can substitute the liquid for liquid when making biscuits or bread. Now, I guess it is up to Mother to help me with vinegar cheese. Oh Mother.......................wherefore art thou?
  3. Thanks Violet. How long does it last? Can you add honey to make honey butter? Would that work for straining and separating the cream--what I put down? Now how do you make queso fresco? (Added to my growing list)
  4. Miki, you are right. Maybe that is a hint for you to start writing stories since you are deversified in your areas of talents. CGA, when my oldest granddaughter was little she only wore dresses. I made them out of tee shirts and plaid material for the skirt. She loved them. Funny, though I never though of using a tee shirt with a design on it, but did use iron on decals or cut things out of same skirt material and zigzaged around it. I also brought chambray shirts and did the same thing for my sons and their friends. They wore them as light weight jackets. Miki, aprons are also on my list now. I used to sew all of the time but stopped when we moved. (Now Martin Chick, How is the book coming? I need to reread yours and write down suggestions of how to do things, too.)
  5. Ok, I need help please. How can you make butter or cheese without a strainer or cream separator? I don't remember by grandma having them but then again I didn't pay much attention. I called all around and looked on the internet for them, new or used, Craigs list, and freecycle. I even went to second hand stores and farm stores. Everyone laughs, refers me to somewhere else, then tries to remember what they could for me. The lady at the kitchen store suggested a large strainer that you can buy at Walmart or a vegetable sieve with one layer of cheesecloth. Can you let the cream rise in a large jar and use a large spoon and spoon it off or would a fat-gravy separator work? For butter, I have a daisy churn and have used whipping cream and made butter in my food processor for fun. Nobody would eat it but me. It didn't seem to have much taste. I am tried to practice before everything happens. I think this sure would cause me less stress. Now, I have looked and looked trying to find how to make vinegar cheese. Do you know how many hits I got on Mrs. S when I tried to search for it? 98 I read a bunch of them but never found how to make it. Help. I printed off several ways to other kinds of cheese plus adding herbs, etc. If I use the left over liquid, how do I use it in biscuits or bread? What else can I use it for? I used to could do several things at once but now I seem to have lost my zeal for that. Please help and thanks for helping an old woman in destress--at least today. Tomorrow is another day. Four year olds can wear you out but oh what fun!!!!!!!!!!!! (I can blame Mother. After reading her story, I decided I wanted to learn how. Now I have to reread the other stories, then I will have more projects).
  6. Miki, I love the aprons. I am going to try my hand at them. Thanks for the idea. This looks like it could be a stress relieving project. (By the way, how is the new book coming? I am anxiously awaiting.)
  7. I had also bought more dehydrated hash browns from Sam's--same price as before 4 months ago. Today I was putting them in mylar bags and did not get as many bags out of the last two. I checked and they had 4 ozs. less in each of them. I felt cheated. This is happening more and more.
  8. Thank the Lord that your little "Buddy" is ok this morning. I know it was scary.
  9. The wheel is beautiful and looks functional although I know absolutely nothing about spinning. With you spinning, painting (Wonderful picture), canning and everything else you do, you are a marvel. I will try and follow your example but I do seem to run out of energy. Have fun.
  10. Your welcome. It was my pleasure. I am now in the process of reinventorying everything. I have let some of my stuff expire and run out of some things during the past few months. Your book inspired me to get with it again . It was not all blood and guts, and I could relate to it more. I do realize it will be very bad when the SHTF but do not want dwell on that right now.
  11. TMC-- Chapter 12 is where I didn't want to put it down. Now, I am on chapter 28. ( I had to have Christmas with brothers and spouses today.) Not much more to go so I am saying to go ahead and hurry on the next book amongest all of the other things you do. The tease on the new book already has me wondering what in the world is going on. Great work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jeepers is right. It is making me rethink some things.
  12. Got my book yesterday from Amazon. I have finished the first five chapters. It is an easy read and Ellie is one independent woman. So far, it is great and am really enjoying it. Will report again after a few more chapters. I will not give out any details but it is also informative. Thanks.
  13. Got email from amazon--won't get book until Jan. 3. Rats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, I will continue my inventory next week. I have had to use some of my preps which was nice to have on hand. What surprised me is how much we have used since before Thanksgiving. Even my sons were impressed. I will be done by Jan. 3. Then I will be able to relax, enjoy and read.
  14. TMC--I just ordered your book. I sounds great and entertaining. It will be here after Christmas so I will have something to kick back and read next week. Then I reread your post--about DH reading your book and learned about the next book being a sequel. Are you telling me there is a cliff hanger? I love them except please don't make me wait a year before the next one is published like a lot of series do. Congrats on your success. Article in Grit was excellent. My brothers also sold Grit around our little country town, pulling a wagon as they looked for empty coke bottles. P.S. I am in agreement about your picture. Your are a very attractive author who is making all of us at Mrs. Survival very proud.
  15. A homemade hoagie and salad. Grandson is here--helped to make sandwich. He won't eat it but loves to help.
  16. We are now on our 68th day of over 100 degree weather since middle of May, with no relief in sight. It is easier to cool off than to get warm. We put a towel on the bottom window sill in the winter and also roll a towel and put it at the bottom of the door. This can easily be moved if needed to make an fast exit. We have a lot of wind in Central West Texas. We also thumb tack around the edge of my thermal curtains to keep the air out. Across the top of window, we also use a large towel. DS used duct tape on the bubble wrap in his travel trailer. He said it made a world of difference. After baking, we always leave the oven door open. Wonderful suggestions. Our winters are mild compared to some of yours. The bad thing is that we are not equipped for icy or snowy weather. We did lose power last winter and used some of the great suggestions that were on Mrs. S. At least, I have food preps nearly ready but need to get some wood. Thanks for the reminder of a soon-coming winter, although our first freeze usually doesn't come until late Nov. or early Dec.
  17. Right on Jeepers!!!!!!!!!! Today, I canned 14 quarts of beef vegetable soup. It sure will be good this winter (not today though--106 is too hot for soup).
  18. Thanks for asking and suggesting that I contact Violet. As usual, she came through and was very encouraging. She answered all my questions promptly. After I started canning again, it started coming back to me. I did do everything according to the proper instructions. I canned 16 pints of chicken, 16 pints of seasoned hamburger, and 14 pints of sausage. My next project is spaghetti sauce, chili, vegetable beef soup, and chicken soup. Oh,yes, I am going to make some Apple Butter. Homemade is so much better than store bought. We did get a new freezer and got it loaded this morning. It was too hot in the garage yesterday. We have fans going and leave the door up half way but still too hot by 2 or 3. I guess things come in threes. Our TV in our bedroom went out Sunday night(DH now wants a HDTV--I think it is a waste of money, but he loves his TV at night.) Now our dishwasher is going out. He loads and unloads it so he is ready to get a new one. Well, at least that is our three things, so no more. :laughkick:
  19. Help!!! freezer is trying to go out. I had just restocked it with meat. It is still cooling, just not letting things freeze entirely. It finally dawned on me that it is 22 years old. It still looks new so I guess I forgot. I have been talking about getting back to canning ever since I have been on here but it seems something always got in the way. I have really been into dehydrating but now it seems I have no choice but to start canning again. I had forgotten what fun I used to have. Today, I have canned 14 pints of chicken to use for soups. Violet I used buillon cubes like you said. Now my questions are: I have 50 lbs. of cooked hamburger meat with 2 c. in a bag. Can I thaw it out and can it? plain, chili, beef soup, spagetti sauce, other suggestions, etc. How would it taste? 1 also have 40 lbs. of seasoned chicken I had cooked and froze/2 c. to a bag. How would it do thawed and canned? Can I use frozen vegetables or would fresh be best. Because I have so much to can, I just thought that frozen would be faster. Other suggestions besides soup. Please tell be how to find Darlene's chicken soup recipe. I looked and could not find it. Next, I just bought 20 lbs. regular Jimmy Dean Sausage. It is partially frozen. Can I cook it, drain and then can it? What kind of broth would I use? One book said to put water in the leftover grease and pour it over it to can? To me, that didn't sound right. I could do crumbles so I could use it in sauces. I looked on Violet's website that she is always recommending. It sounds sort of like you do hamburger. My concern was the grease residue. I would drain it. Has anyone tasted it and does it taste normal? other sugestions on what to do with it? I have looked in the canning section for ideas but don't have a lot of time. Pleae any help at all would be appreciated. I had forgotten how much fun it was and how good if feels to see things in a jar. I guess I look at this at sort of a prelude to wtshtf, maybe a warning of sorts. If we had no electricity, I would feel panicked like I did this morning when I suspected we might have a problem. I could not start canning till this afternoon since I had my little GS. We played outside all morning until it got too hot. We are going to get another freezer but I still need to do something with all of this first. We will look possibly tomorrow. By the way, so far my ceramic glass top is doing alright. Thanks!
  20. Apples with cinnamon sprinkled on them. They sure are good. Our Walmart had strawberries on sale for $1.00 a lb. They are next. I had been lax at dehydrating fruit. I finally learned that fresh fruit is better than frozen. Now I am trying to get caught up.
  21. Good ones also. AH. Now I am going to use these on my grandkids. They are always sending be shortcuts, then they have to send me the meanings. Now I can get even. :laughkick:
  22. Dee--how do you make corn meal mush? I have never heard of it but does sound good.
  23. I went to Academy today and found replacement 14", 16", 18" 20" round grill racks for $.88 @. What a buy! They can always be used for something.
  24. Does anyone have suggestions for deyhydrating fruits? My bananas and apples are fine but berries, cherries, etc. always turn out sticky. My veggies are usually okay, also. What am I doing wrong? I watched the dehydrated2store shows but they don't seem to help. Bought dehydrated or freeze dried fruit is to expensive to buy. Help please.
  25. CAT, WAY TO GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :eclipsee_Victoria:
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