Bad Weather? Cook and Bake!

For dinner today I made this soup:

Hamburger with Barley Soup

1 pound lean ground beef

1/4 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped carrots

1 cup chopped cabbage

1-28 ounce can tomatoes, undrained

28 ounces water

1/3 cup  uncooked barley

4 teaspoons beef bouillon base (concentrate)

1/2 teaspoon basil

1/2 teaspoon thyme

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tablespoon brown sugar 

2 teaspoons vinegar

In a kettle or Dutch oven, brown beef just until no longer pink.  Add remaining ingredients, except brown sugar and vinegar.  Cover, bring to a boil, and immediately reduce heat.  Simmer 1 hour.  Add brown sugar and vinegar. Check seasoning.  

The color is better on this picture of the soup.

This recipe is out of the cookbook, Mrs. Chard's Almanac Cookbook Hollyhocks & Radishes written by Bonnie Stewart Mickelson.  This is a great book that you would love reading the excerpts that are letters written from Mrs. Chard  to the author.  Mrs. Chard ran a produce stand on Les Cheneaux Islands along with her husband. It is full of great recipes and wonderful stories.  I bought the book at a barn sale but you can still buy it on Amazon.

Wildtree Beer Bread

If you have not tried these foods you should try and find a distributor in your area.  They have organic grape seed oils and other organic foods and seasonings. You can read about this company here.

I also baked some not too healthy cookies.  I had told hubs that I would bake cookies on my day off and he told me yesterday he had been thinking about fresh baked cookies all day.  I made these cookies  years ago when my daughters were little.  The recipe makes around 7 dozen cookies, so some for hubs and some to deliver to my grandchildren tomorrow since I am stopping at both homes.

Ten Cup Cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1 cup butter

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup coconut

1 cup mini chocolate chips

1 cup raisins or dates (I used raisins but have used dates in the past both are good)

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup quick oatmeal

1 cup flour

2 eggs (from our very own feathered ladies)

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

Cream together butter, peanut butter, sugars and eggs, followed by flour, to which baking soda and baking powder have been added.

Stir in coconut, chips, raisins, walnuts and oatmeal.  Drop on lightly greased cookie sheet from a teaspoon.

Bake in 350 degree oven 10-12 minutes.  (11 minutes worked best in my oven)

Make a fresh cup of coffee and enjoy!

I hope you enjoy these recipes.  I have finished some more Farmers Wife quilt blocks and I will try and get a post finished with those soon.  As you can see from the photos above, the overcast skies from the rainy day we were having today made it difficult to take a decent picture so I decided some recipes would be better than quilt block pictures. Blessings from our home in the woods!

Brenda

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