Faith, Folklore, and Friends

It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.  They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness. ~Lamentations 3:22-23

Making pizza..... Roll out the pizza crust to desired shape and thickness.  We like thin crust.  I have nothing against round pizza, but I like to do things 'out of the box' some days.  In other words, I couldn't find my round pizza pan. Spread with pizza sauce.  Mine is tomato paste with some Italian seasoning mixed in. Eight ounces of fresh mozzarella cheese , cut in thin slices. Cover the cheese with sauteed onion slices. Add some cooked country sausage and mushrooms. Add lots of black olives. . . and some smoked sausage. Of course, the joy of pizza is that you can put anything you want on it.  Except for the crust, I have never made the same recipe twice. Bake at 400 degrees until done...about 12-15 minutes. Yummy.  It is even better warmed up the next day.

I love this book by Barbara Kingsolver.  In it, she tells how she and her family lived for a year on things they grew and raised on their farm.  Everyone needs to read it.  The book contains many of the recipes they used, including one for mozzarella cheese.  I had never made cheese, and wanted to give it a try. You need one gallon of pasteurized whole milk in a stainless steel pot and a cooking thermometer. Gently heat the milk to 55 degrees. Mix 1 1/2 level teaspoons citric acid dissolved in 1/4 cup cool unchlorinated water. Add to the milk when it reaches 55 degrees. Dissolve 1/4 teaspoon liquid rennet in 1/4 cup cool unchlorinated water.  Add to milk when it has reached 88 degrees.  Stir gently.  The milk curdles very quickly. When milk reaches just over 100 degrees, remove from heat.  The curds should be pulling away from the sides of the pot. Using a slotted utensil, remove the curds from the liquid, or whe...

Labor: productive   activity,   especially   for   the   sake   of   economic gain; the body of persons engaged  in  such  activity, especially those working for  wages;  this body of persons considered as a  class  (distinguished from management and  capital);   physical   or   mental   work,   especially   of   a   hard   or   fatiguing   kind;   toil;  a   job   or   task   done   or  to   be   done. Labor Day was created to honor the American  Labor  movement.  Since 1887, it has been  celebrated on  the first Monday in September. Labor Day marks the unofficial end to summer,  but  around here, the temperature appears to    be  in  denial. Still, if you are a proper Southern  lady, you  need to ...

The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.    ~Psalm 126:3

This is the last day to guess the miles we traveled.  Winner announced on Monday.

When we got home from our recent road trip, I couldn't wait to try to make some peach fritters.  My friend, Linda, had shared a recipe for fritters, so I thought I would start there.  Unfortunately, I didn't have any fresh preaches, so I tried apple fritters instead. Here is what you will need: 1 cup all purpose flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 3/4 teaspoon salt, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/3 cup milk, 1 egg, 1 cup chopped apple, and powdered sugar to sift on top when they are done.  Mix the dry ingredients together. Beat the egg and milk together, and add to the dry ingredients. It already smells good! Add the apples and stir until just mixed.  Drop by tablespoons into hot oil. Cook for 2 or 3 minutes, then turn them over and cook a few minutes more. There was smoke on the lens in the photo below. When they are brown on both sides, remove from oil and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle the top with powdered suga...