There are lots of tips for working out the temperature of a wood stove, if you don’t have an oven thermometer. A simple one is to throw some flour onto a baking tray and put it in the oven for a few seconds. If it goes brown the oven is very hot, if it is starting to change colour it is warm. A piece of writing paper will curl up brown when it’s at the proper heat for baking pastry. If you hold your hand flat over the cooking surface, and find it’s too hot to do so for more than three seconds, it should be hot enough to cook. Even if you think the temperature is right, you need to maintain it and you still need to check visually for how the food is cooking. For instance, when biscuits should begin to brown, you can insert a wire cake tester or fork into a cake to test it for doneness. If the wire cake tester or fork comes out clean without batter or crumbs attached, the cake is done. Most of the old fashioned recipes are quite forgiving, and with practice you will get to know the stove, the fuel and your recipes!

Recipes of Indentured Servants and Slaves

I wanted to share a site that I came across for Recipes from Slaves and Indentured Servants that I came across. Like okra soup, pot likker, apple pot pie, plantation gumbo. ENJOY


http://www.semperfidelisnoah.com/CookSlaveRecipes.htm

I love pinterest, and decided I wanted to make my own inspiration board to keep on my wall to place things that inspire me everyday when I am gardening, or cookbooking, or things that just inspire me, so I created this board, I used fabric that I like, and spray adhesive, and bought a simple thick poster board at the dollar store, I found neat stick pins at 5 below, and some clips to clip things on at the dollar general store for one dollar. This is it!

Great Herbs: 1 of 3 - Seed Starting Kitchen Windowsill Cilantro, Chives,...

Victory Gardens for All

Dig For Victory

What a great day this has been. February 15, 2014, the sun finally came out today, after all the cold weather we have had for the last few weeks, it feels so good for the sun to come out and allow us to get into the garden.
    My grand-kids Adam and Emma were over, so we went out into the garden and I let them plant some more onions for me. I have already planted onion sets, radishes, lettuce, carrots, and have my tomatoes growing from seed in the house. I have a lot more seeds that are just waiting to get planted, I have some raised beds set into the garden that I will be using this year, I have to get some more good soil to go into the raised beds. I also have a lot of herbs that will be going out in my raised beds this year. Basil, Cilantro, Chives, and others.
    I am looking forward to Spring and for the blooms to come back on the trees, and the birds to return.

1942 Food Will Win the War

Vintage Cooking with Shelby - Icebox Cake

Here is a PDF of ORGANIC GARDENING I thought I would share with you
http://www.organicgardening.com/sites/default/files/pdf/og_may_1942.pdf

Some Link to Share

Good Morning...Just woke up, could not sleep. So decided to make coffee, Love my new Keurig! Anyway here is some links that I just love and thought I would share with you all! http://www.maryjanesfarm.org/  and http://issuu.com/, thought you might like these, lots of good cookbooks to look for, and other great gardening and farmgirl information on these....ENJOY!

Good Morning...Cold Morning in Texas, How about a recipe for Griddle Cakes! 

This recipe is from a vintage cookbook produced from General Foods Cooking School of the Air
Back in 1932 General Foods Cooking School of the Air was on every Tuesday and Thursday at 11:15 A.M. Eastern Standard Time and 10:15 A.M., Central Standard Time, over Station WEAF and Associated Stations.

GRIDDLE CAKES
1 cup sifted flour
1 tsp. calumet baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp. sugar
3/4 cup milk
1 egg well beaten
3 tbsp. melted butter or other shortening
Sift flour once, measure, add baking powder, salt, and sugar, and sift again. Combine milk, egg, and butter. Add to flour, stirring only until smooth. Bake on hot, well-greased griddle. Serve hot with Log Cabin Syrup. Makes 12 to 15 griddle cakes.

A KITCHEN PRAYER 

God bless my little kitchen 
I love it's every nook 
And bless me as I do my work, 
Wash pot and pans and cook. 
And the meals that I prepare 
Be seasoned from above 
With Thy blessing and Thy grace, 
But most of all Thy love. 
As we partake of earthly food, 
The table for us spread, 
We'll not forget to thank Thee, Lord 
Who gives us daily bread. 
So bless my little kitchen, God, 
And those who enter in, 
May they find naught but joy and peace 
And happiness therein.

VINTAGE RECIPE POETRY

Hello, Just wanted to share a recipe with you that I found today in one of my vintage cookbooks. The name of the book is The Martha's Book of Choice Recipes, the book was published by
HOLY FAMILY HOUSEHOLD No. 243 Order of Martha, Atlantic, Iowa June 1919.
This is the recipe:



BILL COOKIES.
Bill Cookies, and rightly they are named.
If they are goine in a jiffy, no one can be blamed;
Take one cup sugar, a half cup of lard;
Cream these together, add tow eggs and beat hard;
One scant teaspoon of soda, now put in a cup,
Add a mite of hot water, and then 'twill foam up;
Sift three cups of flour, and place in a bowl,
Mix smoothly and swiftly, and then neatly roll;
If the dough is too soft, a little flour add,
I'll assure better cookies your husband ne'er had.
-Mrs. C. E. Kilgore.

This one is for Doughnuts:

DOUGHNUTS.
One cup sugar, one cup milk,
Two eggs beaten fine as silk;
A little nutmeg(lemon will do)
Baking powder, teaspoons two.
Lightly stir the flour in,
Roll on pie board not too thin,
Cut in diamonds twists or rings.
Drop with care the doughy things
Into fat that briskly swells
Evenly the spongly cells.
Roll in sugar, lay to cool,
Always use this simple rule.
-Mrs. Ray Stevenson

HOPE YOU ENJOY THESE!!!

Estate Sales

I just love waiting for the weekly ads in my email telling me where the estate sales will be for the week. www.estatesales.net  is where I find most of my vintage cookbooks. This last week I came across a sale in our area. The lady of the house was being moved out into a nursing home. She had so many vintage recipe books, and vintage women's magazines all the way from the early 1900's to 1940's. I ended up buying about $250.00 worth of books and magazines. 
Some of the ones I found were: The Second Ford Treasury of Favorite Recipes from Famous Eating Places, Dainty Desserts for Dainty People, The New Home Cookbook, published in 1923, Pressure Cooker Recipes from 1921, The Martha's Book of Choice Recipes June 1919, 100 Southern Recipes from 1938...and so many others. It was a BIG collection that I came across, I could have spent all day there, I got so excited that I just about broke out into a sweat!! This is my first post on my new blog, I will be posting more adventures on Hunting Vintage Cookbooks, Will be listing some I have for sale, and posting some unique recipes that I have found  in the cookbooks on here...SOooooo, stay in touch!