Queen's Edge Farm: Happy Thanksgiving!

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving!

May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
Have never a lump.
May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize,
And may your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off your thighs!

It's here! The start of the wonderful holiday season!

When I was little every year after we ate Thanksgiving dinner, my mom would put her Gene Autry Christmas Album on the stereo. That for me was so exciting, as it meant Christmas was on it's way. Once I was married I looked all over for that album, but couldn't find it. Recently I did find a tape cassette, and an abbreviated version on CD, and was very happy about that....

I normally do the same thing after Thanksgiving dinner. Tomorrow I will hang my red bows on the front porch posts, along with hanging my wreath here, and one on the gate at the land.

My turkey is in the roaster, since about 8:30 a.m. My dressing is done and in the refrigerator, along with the chocolate cream pie. I need to make the mashed potatoes, gravy, warm the green beans, and brown the rolls, which will be a little later. I put a cinnamon coffee cake in the oven, and am waiting for it to be done, drinking hot tea while I type. My kitchen is trashed and I really need to wash dishes. The hot water is turned off in the kitchen, as there was a leak earlier in the week, it is making it very hard to keep the dishes done, as I am bringing hot water from the bathroom in a metal wash pan.

The weather here is a little chilly, with heavy fog. I have a small fire going to get the damp and chill out of the living room. Rodney and Lauren are laying in the bed in the bedroom watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and Hannah is watching the Barbie special "The Diamond Castle" on Nickelodeon.

We will head out to the land later to feed the animals, and work on the fence. Beta killed a young raccoon yesterday, and Rodney had a difficult time getting it away from her, she liked carrying it around with her and tossing it up in the air, but that was a little gross. He was finally able to get it away from her and tossed it over the back fence under the "Memorial Tree". This is the area that we have been throwing all the dead animals we find from our two chickens to a variety of other animals (doves and even a prairie falcon once).

**picture courtesy of the Proverbs 14:1 woman

http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/106186/How-Much-More-Thanksgiving-Will-Cost-This-Year

I was reading the above article and I wanted to post the cost of my own Thanksgiving dinner.

Turkey: $9.11 for a 12 lb turkey
Dressing: had cornbread and all ingredients on hand to make
Eggs: eggs given to me by a friend from her chickens
Rolls: .95 X 2 = $1.90
Pie: .88 cents for cool whip, .89 cents for pie crust (jello pudding already on hand)
Green Beans: in pantry already
Mashed Potatoes: in pantry already
Gravy: Watkins turkey gravy mix (on hand)
Iced Tea: on hand

Total: $12.78 out of pocket expenses to make Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanks to having a full pantry I had most items on hand to make the dinner, plus ingredients to make a Brown Sugar/Cinnamon Coffee Cake this morning for breakfast. I did run out of milk, but had powdered dry whole milk by NIDO to mix up a batch and refrigerate that way I could finish my cooking.

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The day has actually been a pleasant day, with little fussing. The girls played all afternoon with the puppies. It started raining around 5 p.m. so we headed home. No one (except me) wanted anymore turkey so I made grilled cheese and chicken noodle soup, and a turkey and mustard sandwich for "moi".

I sure am glad I bought a small turkey this year, as I don't have much leftovers. I have a small aluminum pan full, and am now making turkey stock in the roaster with the bones, wings, and odd bits of turkey meat. I added a cup of dried onion, garlic powder, and covered everything with water. It's cooking on low, and will cook for about 24 hours, before I strain it, and place in the freezer. It will make great turkey soup as it gets colder this winter. I like to then add carrots, celery, and egg noodles along with some fresh bread and YUM!

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Things I am thankful for:

1. Salvation
2. My Family
3. My Home
4. Food

No comments:

Grandma's Yummy Cinnamon Rolls

2 pkgs active dry yeast or 5 tsps if using bulk yeast
1/2 cup warm water (not too hot)
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup shortening, butter, margarine
2 tsps salt
2 cups milk, scalded
1 1/2 cups cold water
10 to 12 cups flour (white or whole wheat)

Yield: 4 loaves

Soften yeast in warm water, springkle in a tsp of the sugar
In LARGE mixing bowl blend sugar, shortening, salt and milk until shortening is melted. Add cold water, cool to luke-warm. Stir in yeast. Gradually add flour to form a stiff dough. Knead on floured surface until smooth and satiny, 5 to 10 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turning dough to grease all sides. Cover with foil or damp towel. Let rise in warm place (85 to 90 deg) until light and doubled in volume about two hours. Punch dough down by plunging fist in center. Knead dough for about 5 minutes.

Roll out one fourth of dough to a 16 X 12 inch rectangle. Brush with 2 TBSP of melted butter. Combine 1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar, 1/3 cup sugar and 1 1/2 tsp of cinnamon (or more to taste). Sprinkle mixture over dough. Starting with 16 inch side, roll jellyroll fashion. Either cut into 16 1 inch slices or leave as a whole loaf. Place on a greased pan, cover and let rise in warm place until light, about 30 to 45 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees about 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Mix one box 10X sugar with 2 tbsps water. If too stiff, add more water until icing consistency, add a drop of vanilla too. Spread on baked bread while bread is still warm.

2010 Homestead Stats

Laundry Soap

Homemade Laundry Soap:
1/3 bar Fels Naptha or other type of soap, as listed above
½ cup washing soda
½ cup borax powder
~You will also need a small washpan or bowl that holds about 2 gallons.

Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan. Add 6 cups water and heat it until the soap melts. Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until it is dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 4 cups hot water into the washpan. Now add your soap mixture and stir. Now add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir. Transfer soap (using a funnel if necessary) into empty plastic laundry holders, milk containers (I use my empty glass milk bottles and old Fab containers) Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel. You use ½ cup per load.

Wild Mustang Grape Jelly

Wild Mustang Grape Jelly

5 cups grape juice (about 3 1/2 pounds of ripe grapes)1 (1 3/4 ounce) box of sure-jel pectin7 cups sugarBefore getting started it is best to clean the entire kitchen, making sure the sink is empty. Bleach the sink and all utensils used in making jelly (I do this as I sell my grape jelly as part of my homesteading business.)

Wash the canning jars in warm soapy water, and rinse well. Set off to side.

Place a large pan of water on the stove to heat. Once it starts steaming, place lids and rings in the bottom, and 2-3 jars (depending on if you use actual jelly jars or pints) to sterilize.

Next make the grape juice using clean washed grapes (make sure you use rubber gloves when picking or washing wild grapes)To 3 1/2 pounds of clean grapes (6 cups of grapes) add 1 1/2 cups water.Bring to a boil and simmer covered for 10 minutes.Strain and squeeze out all of the juice with cheese cloth (see paragraph below)
I didn't have cheese cloth, so I poured the grape mixture into a large spaghetti strainer with a large pan underneath. I had to stir it around some as the skins and seeds would sink to the bottom, and clog the colander up. Stirring allowed the liquid to drain out. I then used a large metal spoon and squished it some to get more of the juice out.

In a very big pan, put 5 cups of the juice (it’s okay to add no more than ½ cup water to even out amount)Add the fruit pectin to the juice.Mix well.On high heat, bring to a full rolling boil, and boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly.Stir in sugar all at once, and bring back to a full rolling boil, again boil hard for 1 minute stirring constantly.
Remove jelly from heat, skim off foam
Use a large spoon inserted inside the jar to lift CAREFULLY out of the water. DO NOT TOUCH THE INSIDE OF THE JAR OR THE RIM WITH YOUR HANDS.
Ladle jelly into hot jars, place a lid and ring onto jar (do not tighten yet).
Set jars to the side. After a while you should start hearing “pings” as the jar seals.
When jars are completely cool, tighten rings and store on pantry shelf.**SIDE NOTE: Wild Mustang Grapes are normally ready the end of June, so be prepared. Keep an eye open for vines on the side of the road, or any that friends and family may have growing in their yard. Many people just let them grow and don’t do anything with them, so it shouldn’t be hard to find a good supply. Also, the more you pick off the vine, the more the vine produces new grapes, so you probably won’t EVER run out of grapes to use until the vine dies or you get sick of making jelly. Good luck and feel free to contact me at queensedgefarm@yahoo.com for questions.