Mary's Musings

This is a story about me…when I get bored! I go crazy when I’m bored! It’s not like I have nothing to do…I could always dust or do laundry (frown) but last week I was really in the mood to learn to make something different. I turned to a book that I’ve read and re-read many times over the last 15 years called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver. It was published in 2007 and each time I read it I’m inspired to try something new in the garden or make something from scratch.

The book is a description of the family (Barbara, husband Steven, daughters Camille and Lily) moving from Arizona to Southwestern Virginia. While working on restoring a farm property, they embraced the rural lifestyle. After settling in to their homestead, they decided to embark on a year-long challenge of trying to eat only foods in season and within a designated area of miles and write about it. While Barbara wrote about the challenge of finding local foods in season and feeding the family, Steven added information about the challenge of local farmers trying to compete with large companies and encouraging folks to choose food closer to home. Daughter Camille contributed recipes throughout the book, based on her interests with nutrition and young Lily became quite the entrepreneur raising chickens and selling eggs to the neighbors.

For me, it came about the time everyone was talking about how far our food travels and encouraging us to eat local. Our kids were out on their own, but I’ve always been interested in cooking from scratch and even ground my own wheat from a local farm and practiced making my own bread. I still make my own bread and the kids and grandkids request I bring my Oatmeal Bread when we visit!

About the same time, I was interested in reading about how the Kingsolver family learned to make bread and added homemade pizza to their menu. The description of the whole family making the mozzarella cheese always sounded like fun. This last time through the book (and remember I was bored!) I thought, why couldn’t I try that now! It sounded so EASY! Haha!

Of course, there’s a kit to come to the rescue! So, while I was bored, I started assembling tools and tried to read about how to make my own mozzarella cheese. I ordered this Kit (arrived in 3-4 days):

In the box were the essential ingredients and tools.

Citric Acid, Vegetable Rennet, Salt…

…a small plastic strainer, a TINY thermometer and a piece of cheese cloth.

Instructions were online. While I was waiting for the kit to arrive, I ordered these two books to read. They took another 3-4 days to come.

I asked Bert to find me a different thermometer that was big enough so I could SEE the read-out.

I added a package of cheese cloth just in case I needed more.

And then, of course, the instructions said I would need to handle the hot ball of cheese to stretch it and work with it. Soooo…I ordered heat safe gloves! Geez…I could put my hands in a barbeque grill and not get hurt. However, they are so padded I can’t imagine being able to do anything with a hot ball of cheese!

Now, I have a pile of ingredients and supplies but no idea what to do with them! I have never seen someone actually make mozzarella cheese!

I guess my next step is to find some demonstrations on YouTube and clarify what needs to happen. Until I know what to do, I won’t buy any regular milk (not ultra-pasteurized). Now that I’m totally overwhelmed, I’ve also run out of time! I’ll have to keep reading and learning so the NEXT time I’m bored I’m ready and know what to do.

I have about 29 bracelets to make to fill out my inventory for a November 14 craft show nearby. After that I may have time to try making mozzarella cheese. If you know how to do it and have any advice, I’d love to hear it! Hopefully, someday I’ll be able to post a successful ball of cheese! Enjoy!

Please email me directly with comments or questions maryjkisner@gmail.com.

My second batch of Shortbread was a learning experience, mostly about ingredients. I wanted to find a traditional Scottish shortbread recipe that was simple to make and still used authentic ingredients. Since there were really only three major ingredients…flour, butter and sugar…I could see how just a few changes could affect the final product…or not! My one adjustment to all the recipes was to start with melted butter instead of cutting it into the flour. By starting with melted butter, I found regular granulated sugar worked just fine and dissolved easily (which was the point of using the fine ‘castor sugar’ in the first place).

Basically, some recipes called for all-purpose flour and 1/4 cup of corn starch, or finely-milled flour with some rice flour added and powdered sugar instead of granulated. Since I was starting my batch with melted butter (which really wasn’t “traditional” compared to cutting the butter into the flour with a pastry cutter, I wanted to keep the rest of the ingredients plain and simple.

Here is my final recipe for Shortbread:

Finally, the last ingredient I added was Almond extract (vanilla would be good also.) Some traditional recipes suggested caraway seeds or candied citrus peels for flavor. Not what I had in mind!

So, here are the steps to make this batch of shortbread. I made a double batch so I could share them at a meeting, but it was still pretty simple.

Making Mary’s Highland Shortbread (see the recipe above for ingredients for a single batch):

1. I preheated the oven to 350 degrees F. and prepared a 9″ x 13″ cake pan with spray oil.
2. I measured out the sugar and salt into a medium bowl.

I did buy some ‘castor sugar’ from King Arthur’s website, but I don’t think it was necessary. In the future I’ll use regular granulated sugar.

It was pretty lumpy but dissolved easily in the melted butter. Regular sugar would also melt in the hot butter.

3. I melted the butter and added it to the sugar and salt. It stirred up easily.

I added the Almond extract to the melted butter/sugar mixture.

4. I measured out the flour and added it to the butter/sugar mixture. This made a very stiff dough but was easy to mix by hand.

5. I scooped the thick batter into the prepared pan and pressed the pile into the corners and flattened the top with a spatula.

6. I pricked the top with a fork and actually sprinkled some coarse sugar on top just for fun. Certainly not a necessary part of the recipe!

7. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown and firm.

8. While warm, cut the shortbread in the pan with a table knife into 1″ x 3-4″ pieces but leave them in the pan until cool.

9. When cool, remove the pieces to a plate for serving or store in an air tight container. May be frozen.

Regardless what size pan you use the final pile of shortbread looks pretty yummy!

I was just reading a novel set in the Scottish Highlands and came across this recipe online. I had to give it a try. My maternal grandfather’s line did go back to the Irish coastal region and my mother always said his lineage was ‘Scotch-Irish’ but I don’t recall ever tasting shortbread like this! I’m thinking I could add a batch of this shortbread to the offerings at our next bake sale…next to the pile of scones I bake!

Just a thought…this was my first try. They tasted good. However, I did another search for ‘authentic shortbread’ and found another recipe. I’ll try it next. Stay tuned for my second try.

This recipe appealed to me because I could melt the butter instead of having to cut it in to the flour.

The recipe called for cornstarch, sugar (or a mix of regular and powdered sugar) and flour.

First, I measured out the cornstarch, sugar, salt and flour.

Then, I added the dry ingredients to the melted butter.

This made a nice dough, easy to mix.

I patted the dough into an 8″ x 8″ pan that was sprayed with oil.

About halfway into the baking, I realized I had forgotten to poke holes in the dough, so I pulled it out of the oven, poked holes and sprinkled coarse sugar on top (I had forgotten to do that too!).

It baked about 45 minutes at 300 degrees F. After removing it from the oven, I cut the pan into small finger-sized servings with a table knife and let it cool in the pan.

When completely cool, I scored the servings again. They easily lifted right out of the pan. They were delicious! I shared them with Kathy’s family last weekend. They were a hit! I still plan to try the other ‘authentic’ recipe, which cuts the butter into the flour and uses regular sugar that’s been buzzed in the blender to make it finer. I’ll post that next…after I try it! I think some form of shortbread will make an appearance at the next bake sale! Enjoy!

If you have comments or questions, please email me directly at maryjkisner@gmail.com.

Two weeks ago, our Ladies Auxiliary to the Boalsburg Fire Company had a very successful Yard and Bake Sale for the community. My huge pot of Sweet Italian Sausage Soup with Tortellini was very popular and we sold it down to the last drop! You can read about the recipe at https://marykisner.com/making-italian-sausage-soup-with-tortellini and try making it yourself! For the sale I tripled the recipe, so it was quite a pot of soup!

Today, Bert and I made a single batch of Chicken Tortellini Soup, hoping to see if it would be acceptable as an additional soup for the second day of the sale. This time, instead of Italian sausage, I bought a rotisserie chicken. I picked off all the meat and cut it all into bite-size pieces. I put the cut chicken (4 cups) into a quart-size zip bag and put it in the freezer. It was easy to just take it out of the freezer and dump it into the pot today.

Of course, the left-over chicken carcass is always tricky to dispose of…since we’ve learned we can’t put smelly stuff like that in the garbage cans outside until the morning of garbage pickup. (Thanks to roaming animals…like bears…we’ve had to clean up the toppled trash cans and garbage more than once! No problem! I just put the whole mess of skin and bones into a big zip bag and put it in the freezer! We’ll add it to the garbage next Wednesday morning. [Note: If I was in the mood, I could take the chicken carcass and boil it for a few hours and make my own stock…but for now I can let it go.])

Here is the recipe for the Chicken Tortellini Soup:

This soup can all be made in one large pot. Start by sauteing the onion in butter.

While it was warming up, we chopped up all the vegetables and measured out the spices. We decided to add 2 tsp of chicken bouillon for flavor and we didn’t need to add salt to the recipe.

The carrots we dug up from the garden are BEAUTIFUL!

Celery

Garlic, Italian seasoning, Parsley

We wanted a meaty soup, so we used the whole 4 cups of chicken. We had to thaw it out to get the pile out of the zip bag!

Since it was too early for supper, we put the whole soup pot in the refrigerator. When it was time for supper, we heated it up and added the tortellini.

This recipe made a great soup! Give it a try! I think if I triple the recipe, I will feed lots of people at next spring’s bake sale! Enjoy!

If you have comments or questions, please email me directly at maryjkisner@gmail.com

I’d like to share a recipe that makes a delicious, hearty soup! I needed to find an alternate soup to make for our Yard Sale/Bake Sale next weekend (Sept. 11 & 12). If you are local, come join us at the Boalsburg Fire Hall Friday (9-2) and Saturday (9-1).

In the past we had offered a Chicken Corn Noodle Soup and it just didn’t seem as popular as in the past. So, I decided to try this Italian Sausage Soup with Tortellini instead. This recipe is from https://allrecipes.com.

This first batch was just for us to see if it would even work. I’ll triple the recipe if the tortellini holds together. I needed something that could simmer for 3-4 hours and still look like tortellini. Usually, noodles worked well, but I knew fresh tortellini just got HUGE and then fell apart if simmered too long. I had corkscrew pasta ready, but I thought I’d try dried tortellini first.

Here is the recipe:

We started with 1-pound of sweet Italian sausage…loose like a package of hamburger. Bert cooked it and drained it in a bowl lined with paper towels. (Sorry…I didn’t catch a picture of the frying pan!)

While Bert was cooking, I chopped up celery, carrots and onions. We decided to skip the zucchini. We didn’t think it would be sturdy enough to simmer for 3-4 hours.

I measured out the minced garlic, basil, parsley and oregano:

I got the Beef Broth and cooked tomatoes out of the pantry:

Bert donated a bottle of red wine (we needed 1/2 cup!). If this works, we’ll save the rest for the triple batch of soup next week (at least another cup and a half!)

This all got assembled in our 5-quart pan and was brought to a boil.

When the vegetables were soft, we dumped in an 8-oz bag of dried tortellini.

Once stirred up, we let it simmer for another 15 minutes or so. Wow…it made a huge pile of soup!

This soup needed no additional seasoning, but it could have used more liquid…or less tortellini. It really sucked up the juice.

Finally, we let the soup simmer for several hours, just like it will at the Bake sale. It still tasted great. The best thing…the tortellini held together! I’ll take an extra box of broth to add if necessary after simmering for 2-3 hours, just in case!

We now have a great recipe to make soup for a crowd…or at least a hearty soup for us this winter! Enjoy!

If you have comments or questions, please email me directly at maryjkisner@gmail.com.