{ "version": "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1", "title": "Baking on Marshmallow Ranch", "icon": "https://avatars.micro.blog/avatars/2026/36/1962506.jpg", "home_page_url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/", "feed_url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/feed.json", "items": [ { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/06/25/finally-a-great-loaf-of.html", "title": "Finally, A GREAT Loaf of Bread!", "content_html": "\n
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I am sure I read online that I could turn my smoker up to at least 350° to bake bread. I got the bread ready and went out to turn on the smoker. It only reached around 240°. In the meantime, with the temps hovering in the low 90s, my bread was going to run out of yeast pretty quickly. I was down to two choices… heat the house and bake there, or run out to the farm. Mr. FixIt looked at me, horrified, and I said, “Don’t worry…I’ll head to the farm right away.”

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I grabbed my go bag that I keep pretty much ready to head out to the farm on a moment’s notice, gently carried the two loaves in their carriers, and hightailed it out of there. One good thing is that the air conditioner cooled down the truck quickly, and that slowed the rise a little. I only saw two deer on the way out. One of them was two houses away from the farm, and it walked out in front of me. I rested my hand on the top of those two carriers the whole way because I wasn’t about to lose my bread. This recipe turned out lovely. The only thing is, I think I’ve overproofed the dough again. No surprise there, given the timing. Baking with fresh-milled flour isn’t as forgiving as commercial flour.

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As I write this, the loaves are cooling on their wire racks. They look and smell lovely. I considered spending the night here at Grandma’s house, but I thought about the nice air conditioning at home and decided to drive home. I’m running out of time before next week’s trip to Colorado, and there’s still lots to do. You know me…I always get down to the wire before I complete something. Still, it feels so nice to sit here for a few minutes… remembering a time I came to visit Grandma. She mentioned that she could never bake yeast bread. She said the best hot rolls she ever ate came from my Uncle Ernie’s mother, who was a caterer in Chicago.

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I went to the store, bought the ingredients, and made a HUGE batch of bread for her. I think I baked two dozen hot rolls and 12 loaves of bread. We drove all over the countryside, visiting family and friends and gifting them some homemade bread. I think Grandma looked at me differently after that. I kinda proved myself to her in some way, and I was no longer the little kid who sat on her knee. That made me so proud!

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Our pool is still hazy. This time last year, it was sparkling clear. The heavy rains this summer drew our attention away from opening the pool and onto things like keeping the basement from flooding and rescuing baby deer from the floodwaters. We’re trying to get it ready before the weekend so the kids can come out and swim. I hope you are all staying safe in this dreadful heat! Water is your friend, y’all!

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🔆

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Though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand. Psalm 37:24 ESV

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***Gratitude Journal*** I am grateful I got another couple of loaves of bread baked before I have to leave for Colorado. I’d love to bake a great deal and leave it for him in the freezer, but ours is on the fritz. We’ll have to enjoy this batch, and he can buy bread while I’m gone.
\n\n", "date_published": "2025-06-25T04:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/06/25/finally-a-great-loaf-of.html", "tags": ["The Farm","Baking","Memories","Fresh Milled Flour"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/06/23/my-experiment-failed.html", "title": "My Experiment Failed", "content_html": "\n
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I finally got it together to bake some bread yesterday afternoon. I bought that Magic Chef Countertop Convection Oven last week and as it turns out… It’s really a first-generation air fryer. None of my pans would fit in it, so I tried my Ninja Foodi 10-in-1. It was at least big enough around to use my smallest glass pie pan. I mixed up my dough… not following any recipe, for sure. The resulting dough wasn’t my best, and I knew that even if I baked it in the oven, it wouldn’t be a great loaf. It rose to a moderate height. I preheated the Ninja, placed the plate of dough in, and hoped for the best.

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After a while, I could smell bread baking. I was hopeful, but I didn’t want to open the lid and let the heat out, so I waited the requisite time. When the timer went off, I opened it up and was surprised I had a loaf of baked bread. It was about the thickness of a tall apple pie and much the same color. I let it cool a bit, and I cut it in half. I know, you aren’t supposed to cut bread when it’s warm. Bread continues to bake internally after removing it from the oven. If you cut it open, it won’t finish baking, and you can end up with gummy bread.

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I was surprised. The crumb looked nice. I cut a slice and slathered it with butter. It was quite good! I wouldn’t call it a successful loaf, but it was edible. What it means is… air fryers are not the best appliance for baking bread. I’ll keep looking for an affordable bread machine and/or a countertop oven that will handle one or two loaves of bread.

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We finally caved and turned the air conditioner on yesterday. It was 87℉ in the house, and that’s before the afternoon sun hit the red brick on the west side of the house. The AC brought the temperature down to a “pleasant” range, and we sighed with contentment. Still, I wasn’t about to cook anything. I made some chicken salad sandwiches, chips, and sweet heat pickles and called it a day.

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When it finally cooled down a bit at 8:00, we went out to clean and sweep the pool. My photo memories showed me sitting by a sparkling clean pool this time last year. I’m hoping it will be ready soon! I’ll miss the pool the whole month of July. At least the littles can come to play, and I’ll see them when I get back.

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💜

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For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace.  Psalm 102:3 ESV

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***Gratitude Journal***   Today, I am grateful for the chance to take a dip in the pool. And to have an air conditioner to turn on.
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Almost all the contiguous states in America are under some sort of heat warning. We’ve been getting warnings for a week now that it’s coming. That’s all well and good, but we’re still going to need bread. Sure, we could go buy some at the store, but I’ve been baking for a couple of months with nothing but fresh-milled flour. Well, that’s not exactly true. I had a hankering for some sourdough bread this week. I haven’t even tried to master using FMF in my sourdough recipe, so I made a couple of loaves with store bought flour and it really stirred up my IBS. I won’t be doing that again anytime soon.

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The last time I baked in our house, my poor husband nearly melted. This week, I took my dough out to the farm and baked it there. Doable, but highly inconvenient. So, I’m trying to come up with an alternative. We went to town yesterday and stopped at Goodwill to see if they had anything. To my surprise, they had a Magic Chef Convection Oven that sits on the countertop. It was less than $20! Even if it doesn’t work, I haven’t lost much. I asked CoPilot, Microsoft’s Ai, if he could scale down my favorite recipe to work in this model and he spit it right out. I can see how Ai can assist us with time intensive jobs to save us time. Still, it kinda creeps me out.

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If the convection oven doesn’t work, I found out I can bake in my smoker. That ought to be interesting. I’ll be experimenting this week and see if I can bake bread without driving Mr. FixIt crazy with the heat coming from the kitchen. I don’t have a lot of time to devote on this because I leave on the 29th for Colorado. There will be at least one mowing… maybe two before I leave. I’m taking the bare necessities with me… mainly meds, toiletries, and a change of clothes. Little will take me to their favorite thrift shops and get me set up with something appropriate to wear.

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I knew the time would start to fly by as soon as June hit. I wasn’t wrong!

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💜

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The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.   Proverbs 16:9

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***Gratitude Journal***   Today, I am grateful for the wisdom to know time passes, things change, but Jesus stays the same… day in, day out.

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#heatwave, #keepingcool, #bakingalternatives

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Those of you who have been following me for some time are aware of my strong attachment to my grandma’s farm. It’s the home of my heart. Every squeak of the wood floor, every creak as the house settles for the night…even the smell of old varnished wood reminds me I’m home. Grandma’s been gone since ’99, my mom since ’04, and my Uncle Bob since ’08. Finally, the time came to sell the old place. Fortunately, I became friends with the new owners. They know what the place means to me, so in exchange for mowing the yard, I get to stay here whenever I want.

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The old place is fading. The near jungle-like woods are encroaching, closing in on the house till it’s barely visible from the road anymore. The barn is leaning toward the peach orchard. The old John Deere isn’t working anymore, so I haven’t been able to mow. They’re in the process of getting us another riding mower, but until then, I haven’t been here much. The nurturing feelings I once experienced walking in the back door aren’t as strong these days. It kinda makes me sad, but at the same time, I know it’s got to end sometime. I’m not quite ready, but I’m feeling a change on the horizon. I know it will be ok if I can’t come here anymore. I’ll survive. Till then, I take advantage of the good times when I can.

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I’ve been baking our bread for the last six or seven months, and I had a hankering for sourdough. I told you about the fiasco I had the other day and ended up with a gallon and a half of ripe starter! Hokey Smokes! I decided to dehydrate some to sell, and that still left me with a gallon. I decided to make some sourdough. I didn’t really follow a recipe. I’m getting a feel for the flour, the dough, and the techniques for different types of bread, and it’s becoming instinctual. I loaded up the dehydrator, then stirred up enough sourdough to make two loaves.

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I retarded the bulk fermentation by setting the container with the dough in the fridge for the night. This helps develop the tangy flavor sourdough is known for. When it came time to shape the loaves and prepare for baking, the house was already hot. Poor Mr. FixIt was melting as it was, and I didn’t have the heart to fire up the oven to 500℉. I packed a few things, shaped the loaves, put them in the bread pans, and headed to the farm to bake them here. No matter what the daytime temp is here, when the sun goes down over the far hill, it gets nice and cool.

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I pulled the bread out around 6:00 last evening and could hardly wait for it to cool enough to cut a slice, slather it with butter, and spread on some of Mrs. FixIt 1.0’s apricot jam. I gave her some homemade donuts for that, and it was a good trade. I sat here, eating my jelly bread, feeling the warm hug of my family passed. It’s put a smile on my face. I’m only staying the one night…for now. We‘re having a belated Father’s Day celebration with Mr. FixIt Junior and his family tonight. So, I’ll head home in the afternoon in time to get ready.

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🔆

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Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.   John 6:35 ESV

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***Gratitude Journal***   Today, I am grateful for the opportunity to still come and “visit my family” at the old homeplace.
\n\n", "date_published": "2025-06-17T04:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/06/17/the-past-is-fading-before.html", "tags": ["The Farm","Comfort","Baking","Country Life"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/06/16/its-alive.html", "title": "It’s ALIVE!", "content_html": "\n
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I’ve been baking with sourdough since the COVID-19 lockdown. Everyone and their brother were comforting themselves by baking bread, and yeast became hard to find. Enter sourdough. It was THE big thing on social media. Well, that and Miss Brenda Gannt’s buttermilk biscuits! Whole small businesses have sprung from that phenomenon. From it has grown the fresh-milled flour movement that is currently all the rage. I know some people will jump on the bandwagon till they burn out or it just becomes too burdensome for them to mill flour every time they want to bake something.

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The grain mills are not cheap. I look at this as an investment. Buying one at the age of 72 may seem counterintuitive to some of you, but I’m a Gemini. I need to learn everything. And since I started my blog, everything has become blog fodder. I have a daughter and a grandchild who are really into baking, so someday they may start a micro bakery. Who knows?

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I’ve been wanting to bake something with sourdough lately. I have a lot of commercial flour left over that needs to be used up. I’m thinking I’ll make some sourdough to give to the family. And I want to dehydrate some of my starter because it’s been around for quite a while. I want to take some with me on the July trip to Colorado and bake some sourdough for the family. I can’t take any fresh-milled flour with me because I’m traveling light, and I don’t want to go through the hassle. Preserving dried sourdough starter is easy in a food dehydrator.

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I’ll film some of my exploits in the kitchen in the coming days. We were supposed to go camping on Tuesday for a few days, but they’re predicting rain, and who wants to go to a campground and just sit there for three days? We don’t have a TV in the camper, and Mr. FixIt would be bored. There isn’t much room in there for me to do much more than knit anyway. We rescheduled for September, which will work better for us anyway.

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Have a beautiful day and…be a blessing for those who need one.

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💜

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Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.   John 6:32-35 ESL

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***Gratitude Journal***  Today I am grateful for the wild yeast that God gives us to bake beautiful loaves of daily bread.
\n\n", "date_published": "2025-06-16T04:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/06/16/its-alive.html", "tags": ["Baking","In the Kitchen","Country Life"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/06/11/whole-grain-buttermilk-biscuits.html", "title": "Whole Grain Buttermilk Biscuits", "content_html": "\n
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My latest attempt in the kitchen? Baking Buttermilk Biscuits with Fresh-Milled Flour! I decided to try a traditional recipe and swap out the commercial white flour for a blend of Soft White Wheat and Kamut. Both have very low gluten content, so I figured I’d give it a try.

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I ground the wheat berries and Kamut on nearly the finest setting I could. I was pleased the resulting flour wasn’t overly hot. That can harm some of the nutrients, and I want to preserve as many as possible. I don’t cook with a recipe, but here’s the best I can do.

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Whole Grain Buttermilk Biscuits

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Dry Ingredients:

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Directions:

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If you have leftovers, warm them in a toaster oven or under the broiler till they are the temperature you want. Don’t keep them in too long, or you will just have hard hockey pucks.

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Honestly…I love baking with fresh-milled flour. The results are far more flavorful than those you get with commercially milled flour. And you get all the nutrients that commercial mills strip out and replace with enhancers, chemicals, and synthetic vitamins and minerals.

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If you don’t have access to fresh milled flour, you can use this recipe with commercial flour. Fresh flour starts losing its nutrients as soon as it’s ground. If you find a place that sells “fresh milled flour”, ask them when it was ground, where and how it was stored, and what kind of berries were used.

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💜

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The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah. 1 Kings 17:16

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***Gratitude Journal***   Today, I am grateful for the supportive community that is eager to share new cooking and baking techniques with the newbies out there. More and more young people are eager to learn the old-timey ways of doing things and that’s not only heartwarming…it’s reassuring that maybe these skills won’t be lost after all.
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Mr. FixIt went to town yesterday for the annual reunion dinner for the place he worked most of his adult life. I was up bright and early making chicken and noodles for his contribution to the potluck. As he was leaving, he called me out to see this beautiful box turtle making a beeline to the hedges. I try to photograph the turtles I find here. Then if I recognize them again, I’ll know it’s one of our regulars. Box turtles commonly live twenty years but there have been documented cases of them living forty to fifty years.

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Once I sent Mr. FixIt on his way, I got to work in the kitchen. I made Almond Milk with Cashews, Oats, Almonds and Dates with a splash of my home brewed vanilla extract. It is so delicious and creamy. I made a video showing how I made it and I’m in the process of uploading it to YouTube. Once we get that fiber optic internet out here, I’ll be able to make more videos. It takes so long to get anything uploaded with the service we have now.

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Once the Almond Milk was cooling in the fridge, I mixed up some cornmeal mush and put it in the fridge for breakfast. Then I made a double batch of Sue Becker’s Basic Whole Wheat Bread. I’d never made this recipe before. It didn’t rise as much as I hoped it would, but it made three loaves of bread and a pan of cinnamon rolls. I just can’t get over how flavorful this bread is. The fresh milled flour is a huge game changer. 

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I sure wish I would have known about grain mills back in the day. I would have raised my family on much healthier food. We visited with our son and his wife last evening and she told me the young girls are all learning how to do the grandma things and homesteading. I’m thrilled the pendulum swings back. I’m hoping my new Substack, Kneading Faith, can help these young people learn the old timey skills. It’s an honor to share our knowledge with the younger generations.

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We don’t have a busy week. We are scheduled to camp 6/17-19 but the weather looks like it will rain again. We may have to reschedule again. I hope you have a Blessed day today and enjoy the special gift that is June.

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🩵

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And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.   Philippians 4:19 ESV

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***Gratitude Journal***  Today, I am grateful for the blessings of family.
\n\n", "date_published": "2025-06-08T04:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/06/08/baking-day.html", "tags": ["Baking","In the Kitchen","Fresh Milled Flour"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/06/07/so-this-is-what-real.html", "title": "So THIS is What Real Food Tastes Like!", "content_html": "\n
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I padded into the kitchen at around 8:30 yesterday morning. I turned on the teakettle and emptied the dishwasher while it heated. I watched a little hummingbird hovering around the feeder. We haven’t seen very many this year. We need more feeders. I also want to put out bird houses. The Carolina Chickadee and the House Martin abandoned the little birdhouses in the backyard. I think there was too much activity for them. I’d like to set some posts in the pollinator gardens with birdhouses to offer more nesting spots.

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When the water boiled, I fixed my cup of RYZE mushroom coffee and settled in the Big Red Chair to wait for Mr. FixIt to get moving. I turned on the television and opened YouTube. I’m almost finished with the class Sue Becker did on baking with Fresh Milled Flour. It’s informative and has answered some questions I’ve had. She has an Ankarsrum Mixer that I would LOVE to have. I watched her kneading the dough, and it looked much better than my Kitchen Aid Pro. The problem is it’s $749.95 online! Yikes!!! Maybe someday.

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When Mr. FixIt was settled in HIS Big Red Chair, I headed to the kitchen to make breakfast. I found a recipe in Sue’s cookbook for Basic Multi-Grain Pancakes. I got all the ingredients in place, and when it was time to add the flour, I poured the necessary amount of wheat berries in the NutriMill. I used half Soft White Wheat and half Spelt grains. It took less than thirty seconds to grind the flour. I added the salt and baking powder to the freshly milled flour, whisked it together, and poured it in the bowl on top of the combined wet ingredients. You don’t want to stir too much when you’re making quick breads like pancakes, muffins, and cakes or you can develop the gluten and they get tough.

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I had pancakes on the griddle less than two minutes after grinding. OMGosh! I’m not sure I can explain how amazing they were! I’m telling you, it’s like I never knew flour had FLAVOR. My tastebuds were doing the tango! I will use up the commercial flour I have by baking for others. But I’m hooked on fresh-milled flour. Oh, and. Mr. FixIt told me THREE times how good those pancakes were! We’ve got a winner, folks!

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Mr. FixIt went out and mowed the fenced-in part of the yard while I cleaned house. It looked like it was going to rain, so I went out to the garden to trim back the yellowing leaves and fertilize the tomatoes. We have quite a few tomatoes set on our tomato plants, and they look great, but the lower branches keep turning yellow. I’m hoping the fertilizer helps. I got it on just in time before the rain started. 

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Today will be kinda slow. Mr. FixIt is going to his company picnic, and I’m going to bake bread! I will try to film it for you…or do a Facebook Live. I hope you enjoy your weekend!

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🩵

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For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.”   1 Timothy 5:18

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***Gratitude Journal***   Today, I am grateful for discovering eating the way God intended…with whole grains, whole foods.
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I’d love to say I did an unboxing video and demonstrated how to grind the grain into flour. I DID do that…I just didn’t hit RECORD! Argh! I didn’t catch it till I was finished and felt like an idiot. It was hot in the kitchen, so I spent the afternoon lying in front of the fan, reading about my new toy and watching a baking class on YouTube given by Sue Becker…the Queen of FMF. This course is over five hours long, so I have to watch it in segments. You can watch it here if you like.

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I’m happy to report that all the parts and papers were in the box. I also have Sue Becker’s book The Essential Home-Ground Flour Book. I know it seems like a lot to do when I’ve been baking bread for sixty years. Baking with home-ground flour is a different animal. And since a significant amount of time and money is invested, I want to become proficient in it. (Cue the perfectionist!)

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Everything I’ve read about the Nutrimill Classic says to grind two cups of wheat berries, then throw the flour away. Ohhhh, that was so hard to do. I paid good money for those grains. It gave me a chance to see and feel the flour, though. I know the next time I run the mill, it will be set on a finer grind because the bran and germ were noticeable. It felt a little gritty.

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This is a learning curve…not only grinding the grains but also getting the camera right…not to mention a whole new way of baking. Videos are coming soon, I promise. It’s a little harder to get excited about baking bread when it’s 90°…out AND in! Before I know it…I’ll be mowing again. I love summer!

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💜

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For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah Psalm 32:4

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***Gratitude Journal*** Today, I am grateful to have the equipment that eases my bread-baking journey.

\n\n", "date_published": "2025-06-06T04:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/06/06/the-new-flour-mill-arrived.html", "tags": ["Health","Baking","Homestead"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/06/02/repercussions-of-the-flood.html", "title": "Repercussions of the Flood", "content_html": "\n
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Lee Creek is beyond those trees. It’s usually not much more than a trickle.
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When we saw the muddy waters of Lee Creek up in our fields on Friday, we knew it wasn’t just a matter of waiting for the waters to recede and get on with business as usual. When we got water in the basement, there was only one explanation for it. The end of the storm drain down at the creek was underwater. And that meant there was digging in our immediate future.

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The front creek was almost at the top of the rock berm.
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After a lazy morning, we went out to inspect the mess. Mr. FixIt said it was the worst he’s ever seen. When you live out in the country, you don’t have city sewer…you have septic tanks. And you’re runoff water doesn’t go in there. The house is situated on the opposite side of the creek where the storm drainage flows. Our property is pretty flat, so there isn’t much of a grade to draw that water down. Over the years, creeks move. They deposit dirt, rocks, and trees…here one time, there another.

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After the Storm
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At one point, the drain was about four feet above the level of the creek bed. Now it’s all but even with it, and the dirt covers the ditch when the creek rises. We were out there with a pickax, a shovel, and a hoe for a couple of hours. We’re of an age that hard labor is getting harder to do for any length of time, so we’ll get back out there today and work on it some more. Ahhhh…the joys of retirement, eh?

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The reward for a hard day’s work.
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In the meantime, the grain mill hasn’t arrived, and we were out of bread. I still have a lot of store-bought flour, so I mixed up a triple batch of Japanese Milk Bread. Now we have two beautiful loaves of bread and a pan of cinnamon rolls. That should last us for a few days.

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June will keep us busy, that’s for sure!

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🤍

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Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:58 ESV

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***Gratitude Journal***   Today, I am grateful I am here to serve my husband as his helpmate. Philippians 2:4 says: Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. We are blessed to have each other to lean on and support.
\n\n", "date_published": "2025-06-02T04:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/06/02/repercussions-of-the-flood.html", "tags": ["Aging","Baking","Country Life"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/06/01/the-saga-of-the-grain.html", "title": "The Saga of the Grain Mill", "content_html": "\n

I’m a sucker for trends. I’m a Gemini…I want to do all the things! I’ve done this with sewing machines, those cute little circular knitting machines, and the Ninja Creami. I have an entire appliance garage in the office off the kitchen. “Hi, my name is Ginny, and I’m a trend addict.” I have really good intentions, but I’m so easily distracted by sparklies!

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My current obsession is Fresh Milled Flour. It’s all the rage on YouTube, and I follow at least a dozen “influencers” on the subject. I started baking bread in the late ‘70s. I had the entire collection of Mother Earth News magazines and fancied myself as some latent, back-to-the-land hippy. Never mind that I lived in East Denver on a busy street in a farmhouse that predated the surrounding area by at least 50 years. If I had known you could mill flour at home, I would have jumped at the chance.

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Fast forward five decades, and here I am, living on a five-acre homestead in West Virginia. Saying we’re retired is a misnomer. We’re busier now than we ever were working and raising kids. At least, it seems like it. I haven’t entirely jumped into the prepper movement, but I have committed to making our food from scratch with the healthiest ingredients I can buy. Being on a fixed budget means we buy in bulk at the best prices, as well.

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Once I finally decided to make the investment and get a home grain mill, everyone else was on the bandwagon, and mills were scarce as hen’s teeth. I had researched the different types of mills and decided to buy a manual one. buyer’s remorse set in almost immediately when I started thinking about the actual application of using something I had to not only manually grind, but also to carry it back and forth and clamp it to my counter. I ordered a return label before I even received it.

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While I was originally thinking a manual mill would be best in case of long-term power outages…not entirely unrealistic in this day and age…I ultimately decided to buy a NutriMill Classic. It’s a high-speed unit that grinds about any hard grain and only weighs thirteen pounds, as opposed to thirty-eight for the manual mill. I think it will work great for my needs. It arrives sometime this week.

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I’m determined that this will be a healthy lifestyle change that is sustainable and won’t be a fever-dream of obsession that burns out quickly. Stay tuned for more adventures—indoors and out!

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ᓚᘏᗢ

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And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. Genesis 1:29 ESV

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***Gratitude Journal***   Today, I am grateful that God is opening my eyes to eating real food and treating my body like the temple it is.
\n\n \n", "date_published": "2025-06-01T04:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/06/01/the-saga-of-the-grain.html", "tags": ["Health","Baking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/05/28/failure-or-lessons-learned.html", "title": "Failure? Or Lessons Learned?", "content_html": "\n
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I’ve been baking with Fresh Milled Flour for the last month or so. I’ve tried different recipes and different grain combinations and have never had a flat-out failure till yesterday. It was really humid and rained all day. The kitchen was cool. The flour was milled four weeks ago, and I hated to waste it, but it was past its prime, and I tempted fate. I followed the recipe to a T. I could never seem to get enough flour in it to pull into a ball, and I didn’t want to overdo it. Consequently, the dough was loose and sticky. I let the dough rise in the pans for the suggested time, but when I went back to look at it, I knew it was way over proofed. It was literally flat and oozing over the rims.

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Thanks for reading Kneading Faith! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

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I nearly threw it away, but I figured baking it wasn’t going to cost me anything but time and a little bit of gas. So, in it went. When the internal temperature hit 195̊, I pulled the sad-looking bread out of the oven and was so disappointed. My first thought was to throw the whole mess out. Then I thought, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” I broke the cardinal rule and cut into a warm loaf, slathered it with butter and homemade plum jam, and it was surprisingly delectable! Of course, in the next day or so, it may end up hard and dry. Perhaps I will make a bread pudding or a French Toast Casserole.

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My fresh milled flour is gone now. I decided last week to buy a grain mill of my own. Wouldn’t you know it…I’m always late to the party, so mills are scarce as hen’s teeth to find. I finally decided to buy a manual mill online. Being the fickle woman that I am, I decided over the weekend that the manual mill was probably not going to work for me. My 72-year-old shoulders and wrists weren’t going to like all that extra work. I hadn’t even received it yet when I called and asked how to return it. They were wonderful, and even though I’m going to have to absorb the shipping, I knew I’d made the right decision. Especially after it arrived yesterday morning, weighing 36.5 pounds! I don’t have a sturdy table to bolt it too, so I would have to mount it to a board and add another 3-5 pounds to the total weight. Then I would have to haul it back and forth from storage every time I want to use it.

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There was a time when I would chastise myself over all of this. Thankfully, 72 years have given me the wisdom to know these mistakes aren’t failures…they are lessons. I’ll have fresh flour the next time I bake. I’ll try a different recipe. I won’t put a pan of hot water in the oven (that’s turned off) to boost the rise since we’re heading into summer. I won’t wait 20 minutes to check the proof. Self-recrimination doesn’t get me anywhere, but I can learn from lessons every single day with my dignity intact and a continuing desire to become a better baker.

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ᓚᘏᗢ

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But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Matthew 4:4 ESV

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***Gratitude Journal*** Today, I am grateful for the patience it takes to truly learn a craft that supports my family in eating the way God intended us to.
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\n\n", "date_published": "2025-05-28T04:45:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/05/28/failure-or-lessons-learned.html", "tags": ["Farm Life","Baking","In the Kitchen","Homestead"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/05/23/a-wise-purchase.html", "title": "A Wise Purchase", "content_html": "\n
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Since I found out I nearly killed my coffee grinder getting two cups of flour on Wednesday, I decided I had to have a bona fide grain mill. I’ve been researching them for at least six months. I’ve made graphs and charts and comparisons. I finally decided it had to have some specific qualifications. I wanted a manual mill in case there is a long moment in time when we might go without electricity. A manual mill is much quieter than the electric versions. Loud noises really bother me. I wanted it to have the option of adding a motor to it if cranking it becomes bothersome for me. I also wanted it to grind coarse to make grits or cornmeal as well as very fine to make pastry flour…and all the goodness in between.

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I sat at the computer most of the day going down rabbit holes, trying to find one that would suit my needs. I usually use my laptop, but this time I happened to be on the desk computer which has an extension on it that scours the internet for coupons or good deals whenever you are shopping online. Lo and behold, when I pulled up the mill I settled on…I received an alert stating there were sixteen possible coupons for money off! I clicked “scan all deals” and found one that was $50 off! This was on Lehman’s Hardware in Kidron, OH. If we drove up there to buy it, I wouldn’t get that $50 off. It so happens, there was no shipping…so I saved the time and the money for gas and food. Not to mention how much more I’d be tempted to spend once I got inside that magical place! If you haven’t been there…you MUST go. It’s in the middle of Amish Country and there’s so much to see and do.

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Over the past few years, I’ve made a little bit of money on my blog. So, I took what I made in the last year, plus the $50 off coupon, and my final “new money” expenditure was only $39!!! I’m excited about that! I love the taste of homemade bread with fresh milled flour. It reminds me of what food used to taste like till Big Agra hijacked our food chain. There is an adjustment in your digestion when you start eating whole grains. Theres a LOT more fiber, but there are a lot more nutrients as well. I’m hoping the mill will arrive soon…I can’t wait to try it!

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We’re having a bit of a cold spell here on the homestead. I went out to the pollinator gardens in the far field this morning before the dew was off the grass. I wanted to check on the four lavender plants I planted out there this week. Nothing has touched them so far! I have one more to go in the ground and one to go to Mrs. FixIt 1.0 today. I think I might set the last plant in the fenced-in back yard. I’d love to have that lovely aroma of lavender come through the bedroom windows on a warm spring night.

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I hope you have a lovely Memorial Day Weekend planned. And remember all those who served our country and gave up their lives to keep us free. It’s not about the BBQ.

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Be Blessed…

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Ginny

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Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left.  Matthew 24:41 ESV

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***Gratitude Journal***   
Today, I am grateful for being led to the perfect grain mill for us and for the people from whom I will learn to mill.
\n\n", "date_published": "2025-05-23T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/05/23/a-wise-purchase.html", "tags": ["Farm Life","Baking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/05/22/ginnys-sourdough-buttermilk-pancakes-with.html", "title": "Ginny’s Sourdough Buttermilk Pancakes with Fresh Milled Flour", "content_html": "\n
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Image created through AI via Copilot

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I’ve been baking with fresh milled flour (FMF) for the last month or so. It’s become the latest craze on social media…like sourdough or home-brewed vanilla during the lockdown. I’ve been studying the techniques from several FMF enthusiasts and homesteaders for the last year, and finally have decided to try it myself. I revived my sourdough starter last week, and with just a couple of feedings, it’s bubbling away! I think I will invest in a grain mill for my kitchen. Now I need to decide if I want a manual stone mill or an electric model. From a self-reliance standpoint, a manual model makes sense, but they’re slower and take a lot more effort.

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Do any of you mill your own whole grain flour? If so, what model of mill do you use? What would you do differently if you were just starting today?

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Ginny’s Sourdough Buttermilk Pancakes with Fresh Milled Flour

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Ingredients:
1 cup fresh milled Soft White Flour
1 cup fresh milled flour blend of my choice (I used a combination of Einkorn and Kamut that was left over from baking on Tuesday)
1 cup fresh sourdough starter discard
1 cup warm buttermilk + ½ cup warm water
1 large egg
2 tbsp oil or melted butter (plus more for cooking)
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp vanilla extract (I used my 4-year-old home-brewed extract…extra special!)

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Instructions:

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  1. Mix wet ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together the sourdough starter discard, warm buttermilk-water mixture, egg, oil/melted butter, honey, and vanilla until smooth.
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  2. Add dry ingredients: Sprinkle in the fresh milled Soft White Flour, fresh milled flour blend, and salt. Here’s where you can adjust the thickness. When you’re happy with the consistency, add the Baking Powder and Baking Soda and use a whisk to quickly blend them in. Don’t overdo it or you’ll make the batter tough. Let the batter rest for 15 minutes to allow the flour to hydrate. Don’t worry if it’s a little loose. It cooks up beautifully.
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  3. Heat & cook: Preheat a griddle or non-stick pan over medium-high heat. Grease with butter or oil. An oil spray bottle works great! Pour ¼ cup of batter per pancake and cook until bubbles form on the surface, then flip and cook until golden brown. I use a large cookie scoop to get consistently round pancakes.
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  4. Serve & enjoy: Stack high, top with fresh fruit, warm syrup, or a dollop of butter, and dig in!
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Tips for Perfect Pancakes:

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Yield: 18 four-inch plus 7 six-inch pancakes.

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ᓚᘏᗢ

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And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quick! Three seahs[a] of fine flour! Knead it, and make cakes.” Genesis 18:6 ESV

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Gratitude Journal Today, I am grateful for the many cooks who have helped me grow my skills over the course of my 70+ years.
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📌 Save this recipe & tag me when you make it! 💬 Let me know your favorite sourdough creations!

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*Note: Image created with AI via Copilot

\n\n", "date_published": "2025-05-22T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/05/22/ginnys-sourdough-buttermilk-pancakes-with.html", "tags": ["Baking","Cooking","In the Kitchen","Fresh Milled Flour","Recipes"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/04/23/the-happy-little-baker.html", "title": "The Happy Little Baker", "content_html": "\n
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I love to bake. It’s been one of my favorite activities all my life. That doesn’t mean I baked bread every week for decades. There were several years where I didn’t bake anything but the occasional birthday cake. Things changed during Covid, of course. That’s when sourdough took over the planet. It was hard to find yeast because EVERYONE was baking. But you can create a sourdough starter from scratch with nothing but flour, water, and the wild yeasties circulating in your kitchen. As a matter of fact, if there has ever been a sourdough starter in your kitchen, you can get a new one going a lot quicker. Because of the resident yeasts.

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Yesterday was bread baking day here at Marshmallow Ranch. I made the usual Japanese Milk Bread, tripling the recipe to get two loaves plus a pizza. I tried making a focaccia pizza and while it was very good, it was really thick and too much bread for my tastes. I don’t know why my kitchen looks like a tornado struck when I’m done baking. I do try to keep things washed up as I go, but when a lot of things are coming together at the same time, I just can’t seem to keep up. That was always a bone of contention with Mr. Virgo. He was a trained chef and the kitchen was immaculate while he was cooking. We both worked so we shared the cooking duties. And when one cooked, the other cleaned. Things are different with Mr. FixIt. That kitchen in MINE. I do 98% of the cooking and the cleaning and that’s ok with me. He was out mowing all afternoon on the fenced in part of the property, and I really love preparing a meal for him. He’s always so appreciative.

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When I finally got the kitchen cleaned up for the umpteenth time, I went out to the camper to write. It’s quiet and peaceful out there. It was just getting dark when I heard it…the first Whippoorwill of the season! I love them…from a distance. They take me back to summer weekends at The Farm. Mom slept with both us kids in a double bed in the “Girl’s Room.” It was so hot up there and we prayed for a breath of cool air to brush over us. I’d lay there in the dark, safe and warm, cuddled up against my mama in my cotton nightie listening to the Whippoorwills and Bobwhites in the woods nearby. That house seemed like a mansion to me when I was little. 

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It’s always satisfying to have homemade bread on the counter of my kitchen. The house smells great and I realize there’s not much difference between the life growing up on The Farm and the life we’re living now. I realize this is the life I would have loved when we were young and the kids were little. I know the girls had more opportunities in Colorado than they would have had here, and it’s best we raised them there. Personally, I think they missed out on a lot, but you can’t miss what you don’t know, right?

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I had a little disappointment yesterday. I opened the bags of grits that I purchased at the beach. I poured the first bag into the container. I know I should always empty the next bag in a separate bowl then combine them when I’ve inspected it. I was in a hurry and didn’t check and sure enough, the second bag had bugs in it. I was so made at myself. Because once that second bag has come into contact with the first, they might as we both have been considered tainted because they soon would be. I threw two whole bags away and there went my savings. I checked the next two bags and they were fine. I wrote to the company but haven’t heard back from them yet.

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Mr. FixIt and I have to go to town today. We’ll make a quick trip to Sam’s for a few things and be home by late afternoon. I’m looking forward to next week when I get some time with girlfriends on a knitting retreat. The weeks will be filled the rest of the summer and I won’t get a lot of down time till fall comes. That’s good…it keeps me on my toes and out of trouble!

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🩵

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“After this, Jesus crossed over to the far side of the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberias. A huge crowd kept following him wherever he went, because they saw his miraculous signs as he healed the sick. Then Jesus climbed a hill and sat down with his disciples around him. (It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration.) Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him. Turning to Philip, he asked, “Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?” He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do.”   ‭‭John‬ ‭6‬:‭1‬-‭6‬ ‭NLT‬‬

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***Gratitude Journal***   
Today I am grateful for the smell of bread and the sound of Whippoorwills in the woods.
\n\n", "date_published": "2025-04-23T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/04/23/the-happy-little-baker.html", "tags": ["Peaceful Moments","Baking"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/04/05/good-bread-cures-everything.html", "title": "Good Bread Cures Everything!", "content_html": "\n
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Back when Mr. Virgo and I lived in Denver, we had the kids over for Christmas and I made our traditional chili and cinnamon rolls. I decided to use one of those disposable aluminum baking pans for the rolls. I rarely baked with a recipe back then and I suppose I made mor dough than I actually needed because when I pulled them out of the oven, they were all sticking out of the pan like cork screws! We laughed till we cried. 

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Yesterday was baking day here at Marshmallow Ranch. I tripled the King Arthur recipe for Japanese Milk Bread and it was PERFECT. But…the rolls peeked up out of the top of the pan like “The Rolls That Ate Denver!” I had to take a quick picture and send it to Daughter #1 with “Look familiar?” I knew that would give her a giggle. I love when we share the lighter moments of life. There were far too many hard moments and I want my girls to remember the happy memories.

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Something else happened yesterday that took me back to that same time period. I was only working three days a week and Daughter #1 was working for the school district. She told me they were looking for Special Ed. paras to help in the severe needs classroom. I have a lifetime of experience with special needs kids with my brother, so I figured it would be a good fit. I’m not sure I lasted two weeks when I had to admit defeat. SpEd teachers are angels walking this earth and deserve to be paid the highest salaries. ALL teachers do.

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I received a letter this winter saying I had money in my PERA retirement account and I needed to withdraw it or it would be sent to the Colorado Lost Money Department and I’d have to deal with them. I finally got around to filling out and mailing the papers and forgot all about it. Well, yesterday was PAYDAY! I opened the envelope and started laughing. My retirement fund amounted to $57.24. I could hear my grandma’s voice saying, “Don’t spend it all in one place!”

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Mr. FixIt was on “drain watch” with all this rain. Our storm drain out back tends to overflow when the ground is completely saturated and if it gets too high, we have to run a pump in the stair well to keep it from coming into the utility room downstairs. We feed root killer down there to keep the forsythia roots from blocking the drain pipe and I don’t know if we started early enough this spring to stay ahead of it. It didn’t come in the house so I’m thinking we’re ok.

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So, the bread and rolls turned out great, the drain didn’t flood the house, and I am $57.24 richer! It was a pretty good day!

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🩵🌷🩵

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“Work brings profit, but mere talk leads to poverty!” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭14‬:‭23‬ ‭NLT‬‬

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***Gratitude Journal***   
Today I am grateful for good memories to tide me over through difficult times. And bread…I am grateful for bread. Bread cures a multitude of ills.
\n\n", "date_published": "2025-04-05T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/04/05/good-bread-cures-everything.html", "tags": ["Gratitude","Baking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/04/01/hello-april.html", "title": "HELLO APRIL!!!!!", "content_html": "\n
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The redbud are blooming!!!

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Wowza! We not only survived winter, but we’re full on spring around here! Lots of rain and I believe you can HEAR the grass growing. I’ll be on the mower by next week. I love walkabouts at the time of year. It makes me slow down and appreciate our surroundings here at Marshmallow Ranch.

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We had one heck of a thunderstorm in the wee hours yesterday. I think I still have a little PTSD surrounding that time we almost got swept up to Oz in Kansas last summer. I slept in the camper with the windows wide open so I could hear the frogs and other night critters. Around 2:00, the wind picked up and the thunder roared. The sound of rain on the roof wasn’t something gentle that would lull me to sleep. Nope…I just laid there and waited till it was over. It came back around 4:30, so there wasn’t much sleep. The creeks were roaring.

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We did have a great weekend, though. I baked my weekly loaves of bread. I’ve figured out two medium-sized loaves will last us the whole week. This Japanese Milk Bread is THE bomb and my new go-to. Mr. FixIt loves it. When he gets home from bowling on Sunday night, I slice a nice hunk of warm bread and fix him a cup of tea. I’m getting rave reviews on the bread now!

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Little Grey Tree Frog on the Storm Door

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When I got home from knitting group yesterday, Mr. FixIt had the fishing poles in the living room, cleaning them and getting ready for our camping trip at the end of next week. We’re getting really excited for this trip. I’m hoping the weather will be nice for fishing. I helped him put the lid back on the console of his truck. The latch broke off and try as we might, we could not find a replacement piece. A new cover cost over $700 and a used one was around $350. I puzzled over it for a few days and the solution came to me. We needed magnets. Glue one to the top and one to the bottom. Voila! Problem solved. We glued them in place and will check today to see if it worked.

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I love figuring things out…and when you can save that kind of money, it’s deeply satisfying. There’s an old saying…”Watch your pennies and your dollars watch themselves!”

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🌷💛🌷

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“Wealth from get-rich-quick schemes quickly disappears; wealth from hard work grows over time.”   ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭13‬:‭11‬ ‭NLT‬‬

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***Gratitude Journal***   
Today I am grateful for my mechanical abilities so I can fix things without spending a ton of money. A skill needed in times like these.
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#Skills, #Homemade, #Spring

\n\n", "date_published": "2025-04-01T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/04/01/hello-april.html", "tags": ["Change","Farm Life","Baking"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/03/24/a-quiet-sunday.html", "title": "A Quiet Sunday", "content_html": "\n
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Mr. FixIt and I enjoyed each other’s company yesterday. I made a nice breakfast of grits and eggs…one of our favorites. I’m happy to see the price of eggs is easing up a bit. I buy them by the case with 7.5 dozen in it. I know it’s a lot, but I don’t have to buy more for a month or so. We use a lot of eggs. We eat them just about every day and I bake with them a lot. 

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When my sweetheart left for the bowling alley, I headed to the kitchen to bake some homemade pop tarts. They are super easy with a simple, tender, and delectable crust with jam sandwiched in between. I used up the last of the Caramel Apple Jam that my friend Loretta gave me for Christmas. 

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I was happily mixing up a double batch of Betty Crocker’s Oil Crust and I thought the dough looked a little funny but I pressed on. I rolled the dough out between two sheets of plastic wrap, trimmed the sides to grease a rectangle then proceeded to cut each rectangle into eight smaller rectangles. I lined cookie sheets with parchment paper, placed a small rectangle of crust on it and spread a heaping teaspoon of the jam on it being careful to keep the edges clean. I placed another small rectangle of crust on top and sealed the edges down with a fork. I finished by poking holes in the top crust to let out any steam to further help keep the jam from leaking out the edges.

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I love to keep the light on in the oven and check what’s baking. It’s very satisfying. I waited about five or ten minutes and checked the pop tarts and I was a bit confused. They were really puffy. That’s when it dawned on me. I checked the flour jar and sure enough, I used self-rising flour! Sometimes a mistake turns into a happy accident. Such was the case with these little delicate treats. They were so light and had a wonderful tooth. I would exactly call the pastry flaky, but it was really tasty. I might just try this “mistake” again next time I bake a pie or tarts.

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It rained off and on all evening and I love that. I especially love sleeping in the camper when it’s raining. The sound of the raindrops on the roof is soothing. I played on the computer for a while looking at Google Earth. There is a feature now where you can look at a particular spot and see the changes through the years. I looked up The Farm, my Mom’s old house, my house in Colorado, and our house here in WV. It was fun seeing the changes taking place from one year to another. I took a screenshot of “Marshmallow Ranch” to give you an idea of the size of our fields. This is what I mow. I’ve slowly been adding a couple of pollinator gardens each year so I mow less and less as time goes on. I have to wean myself off keeping this place looking like a golf course.

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I hope you had a good weekend. We’ll be heading to Athens today to meet friends for brunch. I’ll give you a review of the restaurant tomorrow!

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💚

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““When you bring a grain offering baked in the oven as an offering, it shall be unleavened loaves of fine flour mixed with oil or unleavened wafers smeared with oil. And if your offering is a grain offering baked on a griddle, it shall be of fine flour unleavened, mixed with oil.” ‭‭Leviticus‬ ‭2‬:‭4‬-‭5‬ ‭ESV‬‬

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***Gratitude Journal***   
Today I am grateful for the opportunity to visit with my dear friend and neighbor from long ago when we lived in England. You can make new friends…but you can’t make old friends. They are to be cherished like silver and gold.
\n\n", "date_published": "2025-03-24T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/03/24/a-quiet-sunday.html", "tags": ["Comfort","Farm Life","Baking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/03/23/bread-baking-day.html", "title": "Bread Baking Day", "content_html": "\n
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Since my sourdough has been a little unpredictable lately, I decided to make a double batch of Japanese Milk Bread. It’s the same recipe I made for the Thanksgiving hot rolls. So tender and soft! The recipe shows the loaf made in four pieces in the loaf pan. I did that the first time but didn’t see the point other than looks, so I just made it in a regular loaf shape. The recipe makes one loaf so I doubled it and it worked just fine. You can find the recipe here.

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As I was working up this bread, I was reminded the dough is deceiving. I waited the requisite 60-90 minutes for the first rise and it only puffed up a little. I thought I’d messed up another bread batch, but I decided to heat a small saucepan of water to a boil then put it in the bottom of the oven. That brought the rise up much better. I’ll bet I let that bread rise between 2.5 and 3.0 hours. Then I shaped it and let it rise in the pan another 1 to 1.5 hours before baking it.

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Bread baking is a science, but it’s also an art. After you’ve baked for a while, you get a feel for the dough. And there are so many factors that affect the rise. Temperature, humidity, quality of ingredients, and barometric pressure all make a huge difference in your results. 

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Other than the baking, we didn’t have much else to do yesterday. It was quite a bit cooler last night than it has been, but I toughed it out in the camper anyway. I just turned the little ceramic heater on, turned the electric blanket up a bit and I was snug as a bug in a rug. Mr. FixIt goes bowling tonight so I’ll have my little bit of weekly quiet time. Who knows? I might learn something new and share it with you this week!

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Hope you have a Blessed Sunday!

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💚

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“And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”   ‭‭Mark‬ ‭2‬:‭27‬ ‭ESV‬‬

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***Gratitude Journal***   
Today I am grateful for a safe travel day for Big as she went home for Spring Break. They’re planning a big meal today with her favorite green chili that her Mimi makes for her.
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#Bread, #Baking, #Family

\n\n", "date_published": "2025-03-23T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/03/23/bread-baking-day.html", "tags": ["Baking","Cooking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/03/17/success.html", "title": "Success!!!!!", "content_html": "\n
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Y’all are going to get so tired of reading about my bread baking adventures, but I finally got good results with the sourdough yesterday. The biggest problem I had before was using something other than King Arthur flour. I’ll not make THAT mistake again. My starter is happy and healthy again! Also, I didn’t use Vital Wheat Gluten this time. I think that was a contributing factor of the dense bricks I was making. Come to find out, that stuff is really for bread made with fresh milled flour. I am still looking into getting a grain mill but I’d really like to try baking with fresh milled flour before I make that big of an investment. 

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The main thing I did yesterday was watch my rise time. I think I was over proofing my dough so it ran out of gas too early. It didn’t take any time at all to make the first rise. I skipped the second rise and just shaped the dough. Once it rose, I popped it in the oven and got two nice, soft loaves of bread and eight killer cinnamon rolls. I made cream cheese icing this time and it was really good.

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Mr. FixIt was bowling last night so I had the evening to myself. I took my time baking, then I thoroughly cleaned the kitchen. Now I’m ready for the week. I need to start gearing up for the summer work load. I don’t like to go from the Big Red Chair to the tractor overnight. I want to get more walking in and build up my stamina. 

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I saw some more photos of the wedding yesterday. I can’t wait to see more…it was stunning! We had quite a bit of rain over the last couple of days. It’s good for the drought. We had such a dry summer last year. It cut down on our mowing but at what price? It’s rare to see so many forest fires in such a rainy state. This morning is knitting group then I’m going to try to finish the taxes and get that out of the way. Then I can focus on making our travel plans for the summer.

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I hope you are all safe from the storms over the weekend and you’re seeing signs of spring!

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☘️

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“Ask the Lord for rain in the spring, for he makes the storm clouds. And he will send showers of rain so every field becomes a lush pasture.” ‭‭Zechariah‬ ‭10‬:‭1‬ ‭NLT‬‬

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***Gratitude Journal***   
Today I am grateful for time in my kitchen and things turning out right. It feels good. We are so fortunate to have food, water, a warm bed, and a roof over our heads. 
\n\n", "date_published": "2025-03-17T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/03/17/success.html", "tags": ["Family","Baking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/03/16/were-back-in-business.html", "title": "We’re Back in Business!", "content_html": "\n
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I bought ten pounds of King Arthur flour Friday to try to salvage my sourdough starter. I figured out why it was doing so poorly. Last. Weekend I went to The Pig to buy flour and they didn’t have King Arthur. So, I bought White Lily. Without even thinking, I fed my starter and it got worse and worse every day till it hardly had any bubbles and didn’t smell nearly as good as it did before. I finally dawned on me…White Lily is bleached flour and the chlorine residue damages or even kills a starter. 

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I usually have a “mother” jar…a starter that is strong and healthy. You feed it, put a loose lid on it, and put it straight in the fridge where it stays. Every week or so, you feed it like normal but you don’t use it…you just keep it for insurance. The thing is…I fed it with the White Lily and it was NOT happy. I keep a jar of discard…the extra that’s left over when you’re baking. Again…it had White Lily in it. I tried to figure out what to do when I remembered I did an experiment a couple of months ago. 

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I often watch how-to videos on YouTube…most on baking and knitting. One of the videos I watched said when you pour out the discard into the discard jar, scrape all out except maybe a tablespoon or so, cover it with a tight lid, and stick it in the back of your fridge. It’ll last in there for months. To feed it, you put a little warm filtered water in the jar and using a scraper, soften and loosen and scrape off every little bit of starter that you can off the inside of the jar. Then put enough flour in to make a thick batter consistency. I put mine in the oven with just the oven light on and it keeps it the perfect temperature. 

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I was so excited when I checked it yesterday morning and it rose really well. I fed it again to make sure it was active. By afternoon, it had doubled and I was thrilled to see that activity. I fed it again before we went to the birthday party at the bowling alley last night. Since it was so robust, it more than doubled so I set up my levain before I went to bed because I need to bake again today.

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The evening out with family is just what the doctor ordered and I felt so much better after getting out for a while. The daffodils are blooming. The iris beds are putting out flat blades and I’m hoping the Black Iris will bloom this year. Mrs. FixIt 1.0 gave them to me and they are gorgeous. There are som buds on the trees. The peepers are singing. The birds and the bees are doing what birds and bees do. Well, actually…I haven’t seen bees yet, but the worms are doing the tango out in the lawn. I’ve never seen so many earthworms in a single yard before. I’ve heard that’s a sign of a healthy lawn. We had a lot of rain yesterday and a little bit of hail. That always makes me nervous since we had so much hail damage last summer. 

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I hope you are enjoying this beautiful spring weather as much as we are!

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💚

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“Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” ‭‭John‬ ‭6‬:‭35‬ ‭NLT‬‬

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***Gratitude Journal***   
Today I am grateful for family near and far. We are the ones that are always there for each other through thick and thin. I miss my Colorado family so much and can’t wait to see them this summer. I need to get over the mountains to see my WV family. And I love my FixIt family here in town. I am so grateful to have family to love and be loved by.
\n\n", "date_published": "2025-03-16T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/03/16/were-back-in-business.html", "tags": ["Family","Holiday","Baking"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/03/10/this-bread-is-makin-me.html", "title": "This Bread Is Makin’ Me Crazy!", "content_html": "\n
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Look at this beautiful dough!

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Y’all…I couldn’t believe how my bread turned out yesterday. Instead of that light, fluffy loaf like last week, it was the dense brick of the week before. Same recipe…in general. Week before last, I added a tablespoon of Vital Wheat Gluten. I read somewhere that it helped with the rise. Last week, I hit the ball out of the park with perfect loaves and realized afterward that I forgot the VWG. I made bread yesterday with three changes. I added the VWG, I used oil instead of butter, and I used White Lily all purpose flour instead of my usual King Arthur. I honestly think it was the extra gluten, so I’ll try eliminating that next week. I made a pan of Cinnamon Rolls yesterday and Mr. FixIt and I had a small one with a cup of tea before bed last night. They were disappointing, too. They tasted good, but just not the way I wanted them.

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The dough was light and puffy, but the loaf was dense and didn’t rise much. Maybe I overproofed the dough?

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I did as much as I could with the taxes yesterday. I can’t find the receipt for the real estate taxes last year so I need to call today and get the amounts. I know I could let someone else do our taxes but, even though I complain about it every year…I actually don’t mind doing them. And I don’t want to pay someone else to do them. As long as I can keep doing it, I will.

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I FaceTimed with Daughter #1 yesterday. Saturday was the one year Angelversary of her half-brother’s passing. I cannot imagine what that has been like for his parents. Even though her father and I have been divorced for 46 years, I still care for him and his wife. Parents aren’t supposed to bury their children. There’s a word for losing a parent or a spouse, but there isn’t a word for a parent who has lost their child. Some use “orphaned parent” but that’s convoluted. The word vilomah is perhaps the closest I’ve found. In Sanskrit, it means “against the natural order.” Losing a child is definitely against the natural order of things.

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I’m heading to knitting group this morning. I’ll take cinnamon rolls with me and see if these gals can give me any feedback on what they think went wrong. The weather will steadily get warmer all week. I need to get out in the hedgerow and cut through some big wild grape vines before they choke out the tops of some trees. Outdoor work is looming!

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💚

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“The Sovereign Lord will show his justice to the nations of the world. Everyone will praise him! His righteousness will be like a garden in early spring, with plants springing up everywhere.”   ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭61‬:‭11‬ ‭NLT‬

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***Gratitude Journal***   
Today I am grateful we can still take care of ourselves. We have good health, strong-ish bodies and sound minds.
\n\n", "date_published": "2025-03-10T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/03/10/this-bread-is-makin-me.html", "tags": ["Baking","Cooking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/03/09/im-procrastibaking.html", "title": "I’m Procrastibaking!", "content_html": "\n
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Honey, if there’s anything I really hate to do, it’s paperwork like taxes and bills and balancing my checkbook and making budget cuts. But here we are, smack dab in the middle of tax season and I always have to make sure the checkbook is balanced and ready for that. The bills I don’t worry about so much because I have them on autopay. And the budget cuts? Don’t get me started. Let’s just say, we are heading into a season of belt tightening in the coming months, so I’m cutting as much out of our spending as I can. That may entail some travel cuts…we’ll see.

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So…I bake. I procrastibake, to be exact. When I SHOULD be doing any number of other things. When I padded into the kitchen yesterday morning for my first cup of the day, I noticed we were getting pretty low on bread. I fed the starter Friday evening and fed it again yesterday to be sure it was strong and active. When my starter doubled in size, I mixed up my preferment and set it aside for the night. This morning I’ll get it out and mix up the dough so I can bake by evening time. This way, I’ll have freshly baked Cinnamon Rolls to take to knitting in the morning. My gals will be thrilled! Mr. FixIt will go bowling this evening. I’ll work on the taxes while the bread is rising.

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Remember, the time changed as the clocks sprang forward an hour at 2:00am local time this morning. We have to change all the clocks on the appliances and Mr. Virgo’s wall clock in the living room. Everything else does it automatically. Please be extra careful with these time changes…especially the one in spring. For some reason, it messes with your circadian rhythms and there is a spike in heart attacks. That’s what happened to Mr. Virgo. The cardiologist explained it to me when he came out to tell me they’d done everything they could.

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The weather is going to be beautiful this week…perfect for field camping! We’ll even be up in the 70’s by week’s end!

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Come on, Spring!!!

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☘️

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“Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know him. He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring.”” ‭‭Hosea‬ ‭6‬:‭3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

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Gratitude Journal Today I am grateful for the coming spring. We’ve made it through the long, dark winter and warmer days are ahead. I can’t wait to sit in the sunshine with my coffee in the mornings!
\n\n", "date_published": "2025-03-09T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/03/09/im-procrastibaking.html", "tags": ["Farm Life","Baking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/03/05/im-in-my-happy-place.html", "title": "I’m In My Happy Place!!!", "content_html": "\n
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Spending the night in “Grace the Camper.”

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OMGosh! Y’all, it was so beautiful yesterday. I took a long walk around the property and picked up some limbs that had blown down. It was 69° and that sun went straight to my bones. It always feels like getting out of prison when the first warm day in March wraps us up in her gentle arms.

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Who can tell me what this is?

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I looked at the weather forecast and the low for last night was predicted to be 56° so it was time to get some things out in the camper and spend the night. Mr. FixIt had an appointment in town yesterday, so I stayed home and cleaned house. I sent a loaf of sourdough to Mrs. FixIt 1.0 and she loved it. Then I got the camper ready and could hardly wait till bedtime!

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Pepperoni Bread….YUMMMM!

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I cut into the Pepperoni Bread yesterday afternoon for lunch and I’m telling you…it was SO good! I used a quarter of the 4x batch of Kate’s Sourdough Sandwich Bread, rolled it out, spread some spaghetti sauce on it and covered it with slices of pepperoni. Then I rolled it up tight, put it in a bread pan, and let it rise for an hour or two. I baked it along with the other loaves of bread for 20 minutes, turned the pans so they’d bake evenly, then baked another 15-20 minutes till it reached an internal temperature of 190-200°. (I shoot for 195° for a softer loaf.) I wanted till it completed cooled so I wouldn’t tear the spiral apart. And I warmed it up about 20-25 seconds in the microwave to warm it before eating. Fabulous!

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A Flock of Robins…Spring is Coming!!!

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When I was coming back to the house, there was a whole flock of robins on the front yard! Another sign that spring isn’t far off. Mr. FixIt has to go to town again today so I’m going to get some more spring cleaning done. It is supposed to rain today and get really windy. I hope you all are staying safe out there with the rough weather that spring brings. What’s the old adage? If March comes in like a lion, it goes out like a lamb. I’m counting on that!

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☘️

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““Be glad, O children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given the early rain for your vindication; he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the latter rain, as before.” ‭‭Joel‬ ‭2‬:‭23‬ ‭ESV‬‬

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***Gratitude Journal***   
Today I am grateful for our little camper and for the five acres we have to camp on for free! I am grateful for the warm sunshine that chases the chill from our weary bones.
\n\n", "date_published": "2025-03-05T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/03/05/im-in-my-happy-place.html", "tags": ["Camping","Grace","Baking"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/02/28/where-are-those-hard-drives.html", "title": "Where Are Those Hard Drives???", "content_html": "\n
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I’ve torn this house apart looking for those hard drives. Well, not completely. I still have a couple other places to look but I’m just baffled where they could be. Don’t you hate it when you put something in that “special safe place” and you don’t have a clue where it is? Drives me nutso.

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We didn’t really do much of anything yesterday. I still haven’t been able to find my tax returns online and my old laptop that I’ve used for taxes before won’t even start up. Sometimes when you’ve worked for a few hours on something without making progress, you need to set it aside for a while and regroup. I can get back to it today.

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We had the other half of the pizza last night that I made Wednesday. Mr. FixIt kindly mentioned that “we’ve had pizza a lot lately.”  Which translated to “I love your pizza, but maybe we don’t need to have it every week.” Isn’t he a sweetheart? lol I told him I’d make pepperoni rolls with the extra dough next time. He loves pepperoni rolls. They are West Virginia’s State Food!

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I got to see Daughter #2 on FaceTime yesterday…twice! She looks a lot better. Her dad brought them food from the deli down the street. She had a Reuben Sandwich and her wife got Challah French Toast. Since he’s on anti rejection drugs from his transplants, he has to stay away from people who are sick. Bless their hearts…the stood on either side of the glass storm door and spoke to each other on their cell phones. Very resourceful. I’m so glad their appetites are improving. I may not be officially Jewish anymore, but I’ll always be a “Jewish Mother” and worry about my little “sheyne punim.” No matter how old they get, they’re still your babies…right?

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🩵

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“Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth.” ‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭33‬:‭6‬ ‭KJV‬‬

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***Gratitude Journal***   
Today I am grateful my daughter and her dad got to see each other. She said he looks great which warms my heart. We are so blessed to have him still with us. 
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#Healing, #HomemadeBread, #Taxes

\n\n", "date_published": "2025-02-28T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/02/28/where-are-those-hard-drives.html", "tags": ["Gratitude","Baking"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/02/27/baking-day-at-marshmallow-ranch.html", "title": "Baking Day at Marshmallow Ranch", "content_html": "\n
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I’m finally getting a rhythm with this baking. I’ve found a recipe that I like and can replicate if I keep myself on task and don’t get distracted by sparklies. I fed my starter on Tuesday afternoon when I got home from the farm. It had more than doubled by bedtime so I started the levain. A levain is an interim step between the feed and mixing the dough. You add starter, flour, and water. It’s really like a BIG starter. (This recipe uses a cup and a half of levain.) Then you cover it and let it set out on the counter overnight.

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I used my go-to Ruth’s Soft Sourdough Sandwich Master Recipe. I can make two loaves of bread, a small pan of cinnamon rolls, and a pizza from one batch of dough. It’s nice to get so much in return for a few hours in the kitchen. It all came out great but I think I let the cinnamon rolls bake about five or ten minutes too long. They were just a little tough. You can see the glaze is a rich caramel color. I added some coffee to it and it really added a new dimension to the flavor palette.

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There was a real feel of spring yesterday. It got up to 67° and was just lovely. Walking out in that just feels like velvet on your winter-parched skin. Mr. FixIt and I worked on the center console of his truck. The latch broke and we were trying to get the pieces out. So far, we haven’t found a place to buy the replacement latch…but we’ll keep looking.

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Daughter #2 came home from the hospital late yesterday afternoon. She’ll need oxygen and home nebulizer treatments for three weeks but she says she’s breathing much better now. Her wife is still pretty sick but she doesn’t have asthma so fortunately she’s not as bad. I sent them some ginger ale and Gatorade Tuesday night so they’d have it the rest of the week. #2 doesn’t have to go back to work till Saturday, so hopefully she’s feeling up to it. They’ve been very accommodating at work.

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It’s back to the taxes today. Argh…not my favorite time of year. I sure hope I find those external hard drives soon!

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🩵

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“But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭4‬:‭4‬ ‭KJV‬‬

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***Gratitude Journal***   
Today I am grateful that my daughter was discharged from the hospital and is on the road to recovery. Prayers answered! Continue praying for their health and for all who are suffering illnesses that are spreading.
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#Baking, #Sourdough, #Family, #Healing

\n\n", "date_published": "2025-02-27T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/02/27/baking-day-at-marshmallow-ranch.html", "tags": ["Family","Baking","Cooking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/02/22/stories-and-updates.html", "title": "Stories and Updates", "content_html": "\n
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First, I wanted to give you an update on Hubby #2. He had the kidney transplant on Monday and was released from the hospital yesterday. They’ve rented an Air B&B to stay close for doctor’s appointments for a while. He reported to me yesterday that the kidney is working like a charm. I want to thank you all for your continued prayers. God is good…all the time!

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I saw something come across my FB feed yesterday. There were some old photos of the area around the New River Gorge and the Hawk’s Nest Rock Overlook here in WV. I never visited this area till much later in life…probably in my forties. But as I was growing up, my grandma talked about Hawk’s Nest. I can’t quite remember what she used to say about it. She had a saying for everything. Like “A dime’s worth a smell o’ my jug.” Or “Wish in one hand, spit in the other…you get just as far.” When I would tell her about one of my hare-brained scheme about traveling somewhere, I seem to remember her saying “She’s a goin’ to Hawk’s Nest.” Meaning, it was a fool’s errand. She was a pip!

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I saved a portion of my bread dough the other day so I made homemade pizza for supper last last night. It’s so much better than restaurant pizza. I’m really enjoying all this baking. I was a little worried because I hadn’t weighed myself for a week or so. I was sure I’d gained weight from all these yummy baked goods. However, I got on the scale yesterday morning and it was exactly the same. I know I gained a few pounds after I got back from Colorado, but I’ve maintained the same weight all winter. I should be able to start losing in the spring when I become more active. 

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Warm weather is coming, kids! Hang in there!

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💜

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“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” ‭‭John‬ ‭14‬:‭12‬-‭14‬ ‭NIV‬‬

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***Gratitude Journal***   
Today I am grateful for Hubby #2’s healing and friendship. It took us a lot of work to mend some fences and the fact that he is doing this well is a miracle.
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#Family, #Healing, #Pizza

\n\n", "date_published": "2025-02-22T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/02/22/stories-and-updates.html", "tags": ["Family","Baking","Healing"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/02/20/the-zen-of-bread-baking.html", "title": "The Zen of Bread Baking", "content_html": "\n
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“Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.” I’ve heard this proverb since I was a child. My grandma used to say this to me when I was bored and complaining there was nothing to do. If I didn’t have something to do, she’d make sure to find me something so I quickly learned to at least LOOK busy. If not, I’d be oiling all the wood in the house or scrubbing something.

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I love having my hands busy doing something. In the summer it’s usually doing something in the garden. I knit and crochet and write because it soothes my soul. Now I’ve thrown myself into baking bread. Creating something beautiful from such simple ingredients is deeply satisfying. Baking bread stimulated all our our senses. From mixing and kneading the dough to the heady aroma wafting from the oven…from eyeing that crusty loaf to cradling that perfect slice in my hand and spreading butter and jam over it. And the taste….oh, the taste is divine. There is nothing as good as hot bread fresh from the oven in my opinion.

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Mr. FixIt made a trip to town yesterday. He always calls before he heads home to see if I need anything. I asked him to stop and get some ham from Aldi for sandwiches. He said, “Speaking of sandwiches, do we need any bread?” Nope, I told him. I have two loaves and a pan of cinnamon rolls rising, plus some dough in the fridge for making a pizza. That man knows how good he has it here. He may have to put up with my sassy demeanor and my intrepid independence, but he knows he’ll be rewarded with yummy things from the kitchen. I think that’s a fair trade!

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OMGosh! It is so cold here! Our high temp has been in the mid 20’s with lows barely out of the teens. This has been a hard winter on several fronts. When I put the camper out behind the house facing the “far field,” I could clearly see where the pollinator gardens were…lying dormant, waiting for the warmth of spring to bless us with bees and butterflies. I can’t wait to hear the songbirds return…and the owls and whippoorwills and nightjar in the hedgerow. I want to ground myself in the grass with my bare feet and feel the sun on my face….wear tank tops and shorts and flip flops…sip cool drinks in the shade of the maple tree out back. It’s coming, dear friends. The sun is rising earlier and setting behind the far ridge later and later. Soon, we’ll hear the high-pitched call of spring peepers followed by thousands of green tree frogs with their intermittent calls back and forth. After that, the occasional deep-throated bullfrog will charm us. The night sounds of crickets and katydids and cicadas. 

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Just hang on. The world may be a dumpster fire, but spring will come and remind us there is still beauty in God’s World!

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🩵

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“We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies. Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat. And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good.” ‭‭2 Thessalonians‬ ‭3‬:‭11‬-‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

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***Gratitude Journal***   
Today I am grateful for the smell of freshly baked bread in my kitchen and the ability to give my family good food to eat.
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#baking, #bread, #springiscoming

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Ever since the Covid lockdown, I’ve left the Christmas tree up till Super Bowl Sunday. We were so excited by the game, I didn’t even think of it. Mr. FixIt had an appointment in town yesterday so I stayed home and started taking the Christmas decorations down. And of course, since I’m a multitasker, I started a triple batch of Kate’s Soft Sourdough Sandwich Bread…my new go-to for baking bread, rolls, pizza crust, and cinnamon rolls. As I write this, it’s 11:00pm and I’m going to be up late baking again. Actually, I kinda like having the house quiet while I work on projects.

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I received some good news yesterday. Hubby #2 has been getting dialysis three times a week since his kidneys stopped working after his heart transplant. The last few weeks, he’s been having tests to see if he could get approved for a new kidney and he finally got the call Tuesday. He’s on the list! His transplant team are perfectionists so the kidney has to be an exact match. It could be this week, or next. We don’t know. But I know he covets your prayers so if you would please pray for the right donor for him, we would all be so appreciative.

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This last year has been very difficult for our family. With nearly losing my daughter’s dad and my other daughter’s mother-in-law, we’ve all grown so much closer. In 2000, my second marriage didn’t end well and there was a lot of lingering pain. As I was walking through all that, I decided my anger wasn’t helping anyone. So, whenever he popped into my mind, I prayed earnestly for his happiness and for God to heal my family. Being the instant gratification girl that I am, I wanted it done in a hurry…thank you very much. Over time, that prayer turned into my salvation as I came to Christ in 2004. 

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Hubby #2 went on to marry a wonderful Christian woman. And I met and married Mr. Virgo. We were both happy for the other, but there was still a difficult distance. As you know by my embrace of Mrs. FixIt 1.0, I wish always to have a familial relationship with my exes. I think it’s better for us and better for the kids. As you can imagine, facing the prospects of an early death created a spiritual journey for #2 and Jesus created an awakening in him that opened his heart to a renewed friendship with me. We text when he’s in dialysis. I share spiritual messages with him and I know how much he appreciates that. When I see a short video when a message, I copy it into a message and leave it in my phone. As the two days between dialysis pass, I add more so that when he’s at the kidney center, he’ll have good things to contemplate. This has healed both of our hearts immeasurably and takes me back to those early prayers in 2000.

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“Lord, heal my family.” And look what He’s done! More than I could have ever imagined. 

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God is Good…ALL the time!

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🙏🏼

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“For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭14‬-‭15‬ ‭NIV‬‬

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***Gratitude Journal***  Today I am grateful for the friendship and fellowship I enjoy with my former husband. God not only healed my family…He gave us a totally new relationship. We are now brother and sister in Christ and I couldn’t ask for anything more beautiful than that. 

\n\n", "date_published": "2025-02-13T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/02/13/dismantling-christmas-and-getting-good.html", "tags": ["Faith","Family","Baking","Healing"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/02/02/the-rear-view-mirror.html", "title": "The Rear View Mirror", "content_html": "\n
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Photo watermarked with iWatermark for iOS.
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We spent a quiet day at home for Mr. FixIt’s birthday. He asked for Garlic Shrimp and Pasta for his special supper. It was really good, but not my favorite way to fix shrimp. I saved half the bag to make Southern Shrimp and Grits sometime in the coming weeks. I saved the sweets for Wednesday’s party so his “birthday cake” was a slice of toasted sourdough with butter and black raspberry jelly. 

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I was looking through my photo memories yesterday when I came across a couple of pictures of my house in Colorado. This was the home I built when I was newly divorced. It was where I welcomed Mr. Virgo into our lives. It is where I had to start a grief journey I’d never imagined taking. These pictures were take the first winter after he died. Beautiful, yes. But, that snow shovel only had one name on it and that was mine. I was blessed with wonderful neighbors who happened to get new snowblowers from Christmas that year and after this massive storm, they took turns cleaning out my driveway and sidewalks. They were blessings from God, I tell you. Because I really didn’t have the spoons at that point to take care of myself.

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That was a long, dark winter…even with all that Colorado sunshine between the storms. It will soon be twelve years since Mr. Virgo died. It’s been twenty years since I met him and eighteen years since we got married. It boggles my mind. I only had him eight years…which is exactly the amount of time Mr. FixIt and I have been together.

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While I do my best to be mindful and stay in the moment, you better believe the fact we’re at that eight year window crosses my mind more often that I care to admit. When I made the decision to open my heart again to the possibility of loving another person, I weighed the odds of being left alone again. Then I realized…who’s to say it would be ME being left behind. It could just as easily be my Mr. FixIt that has to go on without me. We just don’t know the number of days we get on this earth. I’m not a fatalist, but I don’t fear death. After what I’ve already gone through, age and experience has tamped down that fear and dread I carried in my anxiety bucket all my life. 

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Today is a new day, and I will praise God for each moment…good and bad. My good moments today will revolve around another batch of Sourdough English Muffins. And jam!

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❄️🩵❄️

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“But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.” ‭‭Luke‬ ‭2‬:‭19‬-‭20‬ ‭ESV‬‬

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***Gratitude Journal***
Today I am grateful for the little things like the smell of a ripe sourdough starter and the three little raccoons who pressed their noses up against the glass door last night watching me and the melting snow and the coming spring.
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#mindfulness, #baking, #sourdough

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Monday was such a bummer finding Grandma’s house had been broken into. I sat with those feelings of disappointment, anger, confusion, disbelief, and violations for a while. Then, like I always do…I had a little conversation with myself. I could carry it, or I could do what I could and make it a good day. I called the Deputy Sheriff and answered all his questions then I sent all the photos I took and he said he’d look into it. I know it’s low priority and nothing may come of it, but I did all I could do and moved on.

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My big chore of the day was baking bread. We were down to just a few slices of sandwich bread so that was on the docket. RuthAnn Zimmerman shared “Kate’s Soft Sourdough Sandwich Bread Master Recipe” from the blog “Venison for Dinner” the other day and I decided to try it. I’ve been getting mixed results with my sourdough. Sometimes it’s light and airy and sometimes it’s like a brick. I’ve had to throw too much of it away. When I made King Arthur’s Sourdough English Muffins last week, the recipe called for sourdough starter AND regular yeast. It was exactly what I was looking for in an everyday loaf…the tang of sourdough and the predictable rise of store-bought yeast.

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The recipe called for whole milk, but we don’t really drink milk anymore. It said you could substitute plant-based milks or buttermilk. I had some buttermilk in the back of the fridge from baking biscuits the other day so that’s what I used. The dough was perfect, easy to work with and shape, and made a really good loaf. The flavor was wonderful and the crumb held up to spreading a shmear of butter and jelly. There is nothing like a warm piece of bread fresh from the oven!

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My friend Loretta gave me a jar of black raspberry jelly the other day and I could hardly wait to use it. My grandma always made what she called “black cap jelly.” It isn’t made with traditional red raspberries. And black caps aren’t blackberries either. Black raspberries are smaller, more tart, and have a thinner skin than blackberries. Loretta went berry picking last summer and didn’t have time to make the jelly so she canned the juice. Now she can pull a jar of juice from the shelf and make this elixir of the gods anytime she wants. And I was a lucky recipient of this treasure.

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I remember going berry picking with Grandma when I was a little girl. I wanted to relive the experience one summer when I came back for a visit. I took my berry bucket and hiked up on the hill to the old home place. It took me a little while to get my bearings and find the berry bushes. Everything was grown up and unrecognizable but I finally found them. It was a little late in the berry-picking season and I didn’t get very many. But I did get something for my efforts…chiggers!

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I don’t know if you’ve ever had chiggers or not, but those little buggers are awful. They are a tiny mite that is so small you can only see them with a magnifying glass. They live in moist, grassy areas like lawns, brush, and out in the woods. To keep them at bay, you should wear long pants and socks pulled up over the bottoms of the pant legs. A long sleeved shirt is a must. The problems is, they’re active right in the peak of the summer heat and humidity and no one wants to bundle up like that when it’s hot.

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It took me a while to realize what was wrong when my ankles and the tops of my feet were on fire. Itchy red spots broke out around my waist and ankles. I was miserable. Calamine lotion did nothing. I used an old home remedy and painted each spot with clear nail polish. I’m not sure if it was that or just the tincture of time, but they finally got better after several weeks and I was left with dark brownish purple spots for quite a while.

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After our snack of bread and tea, I went out to help Mr. FixIt take out the old headlights on his truck and install the new ones my bonus son gave him for Christmas. It took a little trial and error but we got one side finished before it got too chilly. Mr. FixIt has a little trouble with the dexterity of his fingers so he’s my walking instruction manual and I’m his hands. We make a good team. I learn about things that really interest me, and he still feels useful.

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I have to run to town today to get the tags on my truck and get it inspected. I also need to get the oil changed and the tires rotated but I’m not sure I can get all of that done in one day. We’ll see!

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❄️🩵❄️

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“However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.” Ephesians‬ ‭5‬:‭33‬ ‭ESV‬‬

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#baking, #mechanics, #marriage

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Sourdough English Muffins
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I began learning how to make sourdough bread during the Covid lockdown…like a gazillion other people did. Yeast was hard to come by so sourdough experienced a renaissance and everyone was doing it. Therefore, YouTube was (and still is) packed with instructional videos. I’ve been making it long enough to spot the recipes that probably won’t work so I can avoid the costly waste of ingredients. While I was learning, I came across a recipe for English Muffins, tried them, and they were divine!

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A Strong Dough
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I quit baking sourdough around the time the world opened back up, but I decided I’d start again this winter. I got a good, strong sourdough starter going and commenced to baking bread. Every once in a while I try a different recipe for sourdough bread, but I always seem to come back the Tartine Bread Book by Chad Robertson. Their beginner recipe consistently works for me. I was lured away to try a different recipe yesterday was bitterly disappointed at the flat dense loaf it produced.

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English Muffins Ready for Last Rise
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I’ve tried a few English Muffin recipes and could never get them right. You know how sometimes things you’ve apparently forgotten just come back to you in a rush? Well that’s what happened and I found the original recipe on the King Arthur Baking website. ([www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/e...](https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/english-muffins-recipe) ) I followed the steps yesterday and voila! Perfectly wonderful muffins with a nice crumb, nooks and crannies, and tangy flavor. 

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Muffins Rising in Front of the Fire
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Mr. FixIt had an appointment in town yesterday so I stayed home and baked. I had to laugh at the end of the day when I surveyed my totally destroyed kitchen. Mr. Virgo worked his entire career in restaurant and hospitality management. He knew how to cook and ALWAYS had everything clean as he went. Not me! My ADD brain has the kitchen looking like a bomb went off as I tried to cook a meal for an army. I finally gave up and I’ll finish cleaning it this morning.

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A Recipe Failure
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Flat Sourdough
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Are you all bread bakers? Did your mom and grandma bake bread and teach you how? What’s your favorite kind of bread? Extra points for sharing a recipe with us!

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❄️🩵❄️

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“The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.”    ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭13‬:‭4‬ ‭ESV‬‬

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***Gratitude Journal***
Today I am grateful that I connect with people I love on a regular basis. I’m grateful I can provide comfort when my loved ones encounter struggles. And, I am grateful that I have the love and support of so many people.
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#baking, #cleaning, #englishmuffins, #sourdough

\n\n", "date_published": "2025-01-23T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/01/23/i-finally-found-it.html", "tags": ["Gratitude","Baking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/01/22/you-are-precious.html", "title": "You Are Precious!", "content_html": "\n
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When we find ourselves navigating rough waters, it’s easy to start feeling helpless and it’s not a long stretch to hopeless and worthless. The path behind us may have felt much lighter than the rocky road ahead and you may wonder how you will ever navigate this new world. If that’s happening to you, know God is always with you and he’ll never leave you.

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You aren’t alone…you are precious!

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When it’s difficult to find the motivation to get up off your couch and do something other than doom-scrolling or mindlessly playing games on your phone or computer or watching endless TV, just remember…dark times never last forever. Darkness, fear, and anger does not come from God. It comes from the enemy. The Bible tells us we will have trials and tribulations in this world, but fear not because Jesus has overcome the world. If you feel tired or defeated, ask God to come sit beside you and give you a pep talk.

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You aren’t alone…you are precious!

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There are so many things you can do to lift your spirits. I was feeling pretty bummed this week so I got my big mixing bowl and ingredients and mixed up the dough for a loaf of artisan sourdough and a batch of English Muffins to do an overnight ferment in the fridge. I will do some baking today. I may even make some sandwich bread, too. It has been SO cold here in WV. Monday night got down to -9 here. It only got up to 18° degrees here today.

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Please stay warm and safe, my friends!

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❄️🩵❄️

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“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” ‭‭Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭16‬ ‭ESV‬‬

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***Gratitude Journal***
Today I am grateful for my grandma and all those who taught me to cook at a young age. I can make just about anything to keep us fed…deliciously and economically.

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#cooking, #baking, #precious

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One of Mr. FixIt’s former coworkers at the tool plant died over the weekend. He’d been ill for quite some time so it was not unexpected. Still, it’s always sad when you lose a friend. He’s lost so many over the last couple of years. We seem to be at that age now. A lot of his friends worked for him and he often played golf and fished with them over the years. 

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Mr. FixIt was an engineer in the plant and helped design tools for gardening and firefighting. We were watching the news last night and he kept stopping and rewinding over and over. Then he said, “Look at this. It’s a brush fire tool. I helped design it.” I love when we go to hardware stores. He always gravitates to the tools like the kind they manufactured. He’s always a bit disappointed at the lower quality these days. Yet proud to see things he’s designed still in use.

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He met his friend Harry in town this morning so they could go to the viewing together. Afterward, they had lunch then he ran some errands. While he was gone, I indulged in binge watching homesteading, baking, knitting and crafting videos. I found a video for One Hour Sandwich Bread and decided to try it. The bread wasn’t anything you would win a ribbon for, but it was quick and tasty. It only goes through one rising and I think the crumb would have been much better with a second rising. I will try the recipe again with a second rise. In the meantime, here’s the video: https://youtu.be/sRK18hBDd_w?si=o4153o15-soxvwmK 

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I also made two batches of Almond-Cashew-Date Creamer.  I love it because it’s thick and rich and it has NO artificial ingredients or fillers or stabilizers. I have about a pint of nut pulp from the straining process that I’ll use in a recipe in the coming days. I didn’t get to make the chicken livers yesterday. Mr. FixIt ate in town and wasn’t hungry for more than a ham sandwich on that nice, warm bread. I’ll try again tonight.

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I worked so hard getting this weight off and now I’ve gained ten pounds in the last six months. I need to get control of that before it gets out of hand. You don’t suppose baking has anything to do with it, do you?  We have a couple of weeks coming up with really frigid temps. It was -1 yesterday morning at 8:00 and there are several days that will be in the single digits. Thank God we got our furnace fixed last year. I can’t wait till it warms up and I can get out and be more active again.

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❄️🩵❄️

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“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭3‬:‭5‬-‭8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

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#baking, #bread, #comfort, #home, #winter

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It’s getting to the point there are several baking days a week around here. We were out of bread so I baked a couple loaves of sourdough yesterday morning. It is SO good toasted with butter and jam or for a quick supper of ham and provolone. I’ve pretty much given up trying to eat in the dining room or the kitchen bar. Poor Mr. FixIt has a bad back and his recliner is really one of the only places he can sit and get some relief. So I bring his meals in to him in the family room. We sit and watch the television…another thing I swore I’d never do after Mr. Virgo died. It must be a guy thing, I don’t know. But I’m at a point where I just want him to be comfortable and if that means we slack off in the formal dining department, that’s fine with me.

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Every time I bring his something…a plate of food, a bowl of chili, a sandwich, or even a cookie…he always says, “Thank you, my baby.” I smile at him and say, “Who takes care of you?” “You do!” “Yes, and don’t you forget it!” He laughs and I kiss him on top of the head. I do take care of him. But he takes care of me, too. He’s always watching out for me, helping me with whatever I need, giving me hugs no matter what he’s doing. He’s a good man. I don’t take his presence in my life for granted. I remember the terrible pain and loneliness after Mr. Virgo died. Our days are numbered here, so I will treasure each one…even when he’s standing on my last nerve and jumps. That’s a guy thing, too. lol

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We watched Jimmy Carter’s funeral yesterday. There were so many heart touching moments. The eulogies honoring him by his family and peers alike, made my eyes leak a few times. He was a good and faithful servant and his accomplishments inspire me to up my game in the service department and be a better human. I can’t do what I used to do, but I can still do a lot!

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Aren’t the fires horrible in California? We know people who were evacuated or the evacuation orders came within a few blocks of their homes. There have been terrible fires near me when I lived in Colorado but none of them had that degree of destruction. I did witness the Storm King Fire where we lost 14 smokejumpers in Glenwood Springs. That was devastating. Daughter #2 was little and we hiked up the hill a little ways to see the fire from a few miles away. It blew up so fast and hot, the day turned into night and the sun was a deep red ball in a black sky. We watched the news last night and entire cities and towns were wiped out. It’s just so hard to imagine what those poor people are going through right now. Keep them in your prayers.

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The weatherman predicted a low of 8° last night. I still sleep with my window cracked, but that might just be a little too much for me. It’s supposed to snow sometime late this afternoon. My dentist’s office called yesterday morning to reschedule me. He had a family emergency. I hope everything is ok. I’ll make it a quick trip and get back home. I’ve become a hermit this winter and that’s ok. We rest when the world sleeps. There will be plenty to keep me busy come spring.

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I think I’m going to try baking a loaf of sandwich bread this weekend. It’s been a long time since I’ve made just a regular loaf of bread. What are your plans for the weekend? Do you find yourself wanting to bake and be cozy? Or are you getting indoor projects done?Whatever you’re doing, I hope you are safe and warm, happy and healthy!

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🩵

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“Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭22‬:‭9‬ ‭ESV‬‬

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generosity #character #goodness #GoodnessOfGod

\n\n", "date_published": "2025-01-10T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/01/10/baking-day.html", "tags": ["Comfort","Baking","Kindness"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/01/08/english-muffins.html", "title": "English Muffins!", "content_html": "\n
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Finally! I got the English muffins to rise enough to bake. They were tangy and crunchy when toasted and tasted great with butter and jam. However, they were still pretty dense and a bit chewy on the inside. Really, the only room in our house that stays toasty warm is the family room but even with the bowl of dough sitting right next to the gas stove, it was still too cool to get a proper rise. I even tried to set the bowl on a heating pad but it kept timing out and turning itself off after 10 minutes. Sourdough is a tricky animal. Its performance is highly dependent on perfect conditions. I think I’ll try a different recipe next time.

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I haven’t ventured out in the snow yet. Mr. FixIt has to run to town today, but I’m staying home. I will have to give in and go sometime soon. When I was flossing last night, one of the caps on my front teeth came off. I’ll need to get in and have that cemented back on. If it isn’t one thing, it’s another, right?

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We watched the special ceremony at the capitol last evening when they brought President Carter’s coffin into the rotunda to lie in state. As they were firing the cannons in the 21-gun salute, I teared up. For one thing, it reminded me of the gun salute at Mr. Virgo’s funeral. I still can’t hear Taps without tears stinging my eyes. As the camera shot from the top of the Capital Dome down into the Rotunda, I was struck by the goodness of that man. He may not have been the best president we ever had, but he sure ranks up there with the most honorable.

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We finished off the last of the beef stew yesterday. I have a piece of fish in the freezer. I think I’ll take that out and we’ll have fish and rice and a nice salad for supper. What are you all cooking these days?

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“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” ‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭10‬:‭31‬ ‭ESV‬‬

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#snow#sourdough#baking#homebody#hygge

\n\n", "date_published": "2025-01-08T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/01/08/english-muffins.html", "tags": ["Baking","Cooking","Home","Hygge"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/01/07/do-you-know-the-muffin.html", "title": "Do You Know the Muffin Man?", "content_html": "\n
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I’ve been working with this English Muffin recipe and I almost dumped the dough yesterday for the second time. It just wasn’t rising like I wanted. So I decided to go a different route and set the dough on a heating pad. That did the trick! The dough started rising like crazy. Once it was doubled, I popped it into the fridge for an overnight cold fermentation. This gives the finished product a much more complex flavor that I prefer.

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While I was waiting for the bulk rise, I mixed up a batch of sourdough crackers. They were delicious and crunchy, but I sprinkled a bit too much salt on them. This is a good way to use up sourdough discard. I’ve been trying to use the cowboy method of keeping sourdough starter which goes without the discarding. But, creature of habit, I know that a regularly fed starter is going to stay healthy so I’m back to my original method. In exchange, I’m trying lots of discard recipes so nothing’s wasted.

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You know…French Fries did not originate in France. But English Muffins do have their origins in the UK. I wish I would have known better when I lived over there. I could have learned so many things that would have served me over the years. In the early 1800’s, the muffin man would walk around his neighborhood and sell these wonderful golden rounds with plenty of nooks and crannies to hold the butter and jam we spread on them. I think they’re best toasted so you get that little bit of crispy crunch.

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English muffins are different than crumpets in a few ways. Muffins are griddled on each side then they are split, either by slicing or by poking all around the sides with a fork and prying the two halves apart. I prefer the second method as the little bits of bread that sticks up add even more crunch when they’re toasted. Also, English muffins are made with yeast…either regular or sourdough.

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Crumpets are made with a thick batter that you pour out on the griddle. It is griddled on the one side and top cooks through from the bottom up. They are made with a different leaven like baking soda. They have nooks and crannies, too. But they’re more like a tunnel that fills up with that yummy melted butter and jam or honey.

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We really got clobbered with the snow. We ended up with a full ten inches! Mr. FixIt stayed on top of things by running the snowblower frequently. We haven’t had a snow like this since I’ve live here. The last time I saw a snow like this was in February 2015. My aunt and I had parted ways and I watched a friend’s house for two months. Then I moved Big TOW-Wanda to another friend’s place where I could plug in to the utilities. We had a big snow that month and I remember I pretty much stayed in bed for three days to stay warm under an electric blanket. That was quite an adventure, let me tell you. Looking back, I remember feeling so proud of myself for soldiering on when things got tough. I thank God every day for our warm and happy home here with Mr. FixIt.

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I also want to thank you all for your warm and loving words yesterday regarding my 25th Anniversary of sobriety. That’s something else I am proud of and I know I’d never be here if it weren’t for Jesus walking with me…and sometimes carrying me.

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I’m hoping I’ll get these muffins baked today then I can start on some bread. I’m so glad we don’t have to go out in this weather. It’s going to be frigid in the next few days, then another winter storm will be coming through. I’m praying you all are safe and warm today!

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“he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,” ‭‭Titus‬ ‭3‬:‭5‬ ‭ESV‬‬

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#snow#frigid#baking#sourdough#englishmuffins

\n\n", "date_published": "2025-01-07T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/01/07/do-you-know-the-muffin.html", "tags": ["Farm Life","Baking","Cooking"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/01/04/every-day-is-saturday.html", "title": "Every Day is Saturday", "content_html": "\n
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When you’re retired, the days just kind of run together, don’t they? I often have to think hard or resort to looking at my phone to see the day and date. I mean, there’s nothing but doctor’s appointments and dates with family and friends that makes me keep track of time. I never gave time a second thought in my working years, other than getting to work on time. There was structure in every day. Even more so when the kids were still at home.

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When I worked in medicine, one of the things they keep track of is orientation to time and place. When you stop remembering the day and date, they look at you with a different set of eyes. I know there are signs and symptoms of dementia, but I also know how easy it is to lose track of time. I don’t know that I want to set an alarm or anything, but I do want to start keeping a bit of a schedule…just to keep me on my toes.

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Mr. FixIt and I have gotten into the habit of going to bed at midnight then lounging around in bed reading the news and catching up with social media and emails till we’re ready to get up and about. It’s different in the summer. There’s all that mowing and outdoor work to be done and there’s no time to laze around. That being said, winter is the time for slowing down and getting quiet. Who am I to deny myself such luxuries, right? It’s not like we don’t work our hind ends off all mowing season.

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The cold has moved in for the long stretch of sub-freezing temperatures that January always brings. Along with it, we’ll probably have the biggest snowfall we’ve had in years and we’re ready for it. Mr. FixIt got the snowblower out yesterday and blew off the inch of snow we got overnight. Then he brought the generator out and it started right up. While he did that, I filled all the bird feeders and suet cages. Our birds will be very happy in the coming days. I have the starter fed for the English muffins. I have enough yarn to last me ten years and a zillion projects I can work on. There’s enough food in this house to last us for months, if need be. So, I’m going to get up a little earlier, make my RYZE mushroom coffee, and enjoy a little quiet time in the house before Mr. FixIt gets up and turns on the TV. Along with that routine, I’ll make it a habit to check the calendar to orient myself to time and place.

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Are you all working on any projects this winter? This is my basket, so far. Share your projects with us. We’d love to see them and get inspired!

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“So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” Psalm‬ ‭90‬:‭12‬ ‭ESV‬‬

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#crochet#winter#snow#storm#baking#sourdough

\n\n", "date_published": "2025-01-04T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/01/04/every-day-is-saturday.html", "tags": ["Farm Life","Baking","Crafts"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/01/03/kitchen-magic.html", "title": "Kitchen Magic", "content_html": "\n
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I am constantly amazed by sourdough. It is just water and flour and wild yeasts. Yeast is everywhere but when you make a sourdough starter from scratch, it takes a while to get established because the yeasty beasties it needs may not live in your kitchen yet. Now, I was actively making sourdough all the way through the covid lockdown so those little yeasties are thriving in my kitchen. I bought a fresh starter from King Arthur Baking Co. It was a really strong starter and was bakeable in about ten days.

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Mr. FixIt went to town yesterday to get his tires changed then ran a few errands. He got gas for the generator to make sure it’s in good working order. We’re supposed to get snow tonight and again Sunday night so we need to have everything in place.

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I made a double batch of granola yesterday. I may have baked it a bit too long, but it’ll have to do. I fed my starter to get it ready for baking Sourdough English Muffins. I’ve only made them once and I can’t find that recipe. So, while Mr. FixIt was in town, I browsed through some YouTube videos and found a recipe I want to try.

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I’ll be baking today and working on the market bag I’m crocheting. I’ll have the house to myself for a little while as Mr. FixIt has to run to town for a bit. I think he’ll wait till the afternoon since we may have some snow overnight. I found a wonderful music channel on YouTube that features classical cello and that’s a wonderful way to spend a quiet afternoon…especially if there’s snow on the ground.

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“Give us this day our daily bread,” Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭11‬ ‭ESV‬‬

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#snow#sourdough#baking#crochet#granola#baking#sourdough#bread#englishmuffins#crochet#snow#hyggehome

\n\n", "date_published": "2025-01-03T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/01/03/kitchen-magic.html", "tags": ["Baking","Crafts","Hygge"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2024/08/10/this-is-more-like-it.html", "title": "This Is More Like It", "content_html": "\n
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Mr. FixIt had a couple of things to do in town yesterday and that gave me the whole day to myself. I didn’t do much till around noon when I decided I’d better go to the farm to mow. The grass was long but not as bad as I thought it would be. I got it mowed pretty quickly and took some time to sit on the front porch and contemplate how peaceful it was. The birds were singing. A little western blue-tailed skink wiggled out from under my chair and soaked up the sun till I moved and he went on his way in a hurry. 

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This was exactly what I needed to center myself and feel anchored. I was home. 

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It wasn’t long before the temperature spiked and it was time to head back home. I stopped first at Happy Jim’s Trading Post. When I bought those cook books there in June, I left behind a few that I regretted picking up. I was thrilled to see they were still there, plus a more on sewing that I had to have. I mean, for $4, how could I resist? A quick stop at Piggly Wiggly to pick up a few things and I got everything put away before Mr. FixIt got home. 

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I was happy when he said he’d like to have hotdogs for supper. That always makes for an easy time in the kitchen and a quick cleanup after. After the news and a couple of episodes of Big Bang Theory and I was ready for a little after dinner sweet. Remember when we were in Colorado and bought “sugar biscuits” at Whole Foods? They were a whopping 400 calories…each! I knew I could make them for less. I’ve been baking biscuits in my air fryer for the last few months. I adapted them and the results were delicious!

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I put about 3 Tablespoons of sugar in one pie plate and a few tablespoons of evaporated milk in the other one. I dipped each biscuit in the milk then the sugar and placed them in the air fryer, turned the heat to 330°, and cooked the first side for 10 minutes (I actually did 7 minutes and checked them then added 3 more.) I turned the biscuits over and cooked them for another 3 minutes. I popped a couple biscuits in each bowl, added about a cup of lightly sweetened strawberries and topped with sugar free whipped cream in the can. It came out to about 400 calories. Twice the volume for the same calories as a sugar biscuit alone from Whole Foods.

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My sister-friend in Florida has dubbed me MommaPie because of my baking skills. I’ll take that. I ended the day feeling energized and ready to really re-enter everyday life again. That’s always a “thing” I have to go through every…single…time!

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🩵

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“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”” Matthew 11:28-30 ESV

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#TheFarm, #StrawberryShortcake, #ReEntry

\n\n", "date_published": "2024-08-10T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2024/08/10/this-is-more-like-it.html", "tags": ["The Farm","Baking","Cooking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2024/03/30/the-little-lost-beagle.html", "title": "The Little Lost Beagle", "content_html": "\n
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The view from the bedroom window. Flowering Quince and Forsythia.

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We settled on Popcorn Pancakes for breakfast then I settled into the Big Red Chair to finish up the taxes. I vowed to finish them…no matter how long it took. My chair faces the full length glass storm door and I leave the inner door open so I can see out. Sometimes the cat comes to the door and talks to us, then lays in the warm sun on the stoop. As I was entering data in the forms on my laptop, something caught my eye. I looked up but barely caught the tail end of something as it ducked out of sight. Mr. FixIt said, “Hey! There’s a cute little dog out there in the yard!” I got up to see, and sure enough, there was the beagle that’s been keeping me awake for the last two nights.

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I hear beagles barking a lot, but they’re way far off and they don’t bother me. But this little guy has been roaming all over our property and in the surrounding woods…baying and howling and barking up a storm day and night. It’s never come this close and I think it was looking for food. He wasn’t afraid of us…as a matter of fact, he came right up to us. Mr. FixIt went to get a little cat food for him while I tried to call the number on his collar. No answer. So I googled the owner’s name that was on the tag and it turns out, they live on the next road down.

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I got a leash out of the building and we got the dog in the backseat of the truck and drove him on down. It just so happened, the doggie’s human was coming out of the house as we pulled into the driveway. I rolled the window down and asked him if he was by any chance missing a beagle. His eyes lit up and he said he’d been looking for him for about two or three days. It turns out, the little guy is about twelve years old and he can’t hear very well so he wasn’t coming to them. He was so happy to have him back and I was pleased to know the dog was well loved and missed.

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We got back home and I had the taxes done in short order. SO happy to have another year behind me. And now that everything is on my new computer, it should be relatively easy next year. (Yeah….you’ve heard that before, right?) When you have finished submitting your tax returns in TurboTax, there is a screen that offers you the opportunity to buy next year’s software at this year’s price. I always do this because it usually saves me a few dollars. Well, I paid for it, hit enter, and what popped up as “Purchased” was 2023! The tax year I’d just finished!

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I called the customer service at Intuit and got one of their outsourced phone centers. there was a bad connection and I could hear an echo of what I said to the person with about a four second delay. It got to the point that he was thinking I wasn’t answering, then I would interject and he’d already be saying something to me when my voice reached him. It was a mess and I’m not entirely sure we straightened things out, but I’ll check again today. I just didn’t have it in me to do anymore. I was getting hungry!

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I’m bringing dessert to our Easter Dinner tomorrow at my WV daughter’s house. My bestie Gail sent me a recipe for Potica but after watching a video of how to make it, I decided that was WAY too industrious or me today as I have other things to do. So, I think I’ll make Grandma Lois’ Very Best Chocolate Cake and call it good! You can read about it on this post from several years ago. Grandma Lois isn’t with us anymore. She was my bestie Sue’s mom…my son-in-law’s grandma.

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Now that the taxes are filed, I can get back to work catching up around here. It’s supposed to rain for the next five or six days so at least I know I won’t be mowing. I have a list as long as my arm of things that need doing, so there will be no lallygagging around here…that’s for sure!

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🌷

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”Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.“

\n1 John 4:11 NIV\n
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#Taxes, #Baking, #Potica

\n\n", "date_published": "2024-03-30T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2024/03/30/the-little-lost-beagle.html", "tags": ["Choices","Farm Life","Baking"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2024/01/28/facing-food-and-enjoying-life.html", "title": "Facing Food and Enjoying Life", "content_html": "\n
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I was up super early yesterday because I needed to bake two pies, start a pot of chili, and get a pork roast in the open and have it all ready by 1:00 in the afternoon. The kids came early and I was happily sitting in the Big Red Chair working on the market bag I’m crocheting when they walked in the door. We visited for about half an hour and then the pork roast was ready to come out of the oven.

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The conversation flowed easily. The food was perfect. The gifts were well received. We asked the kids for an experience instead of gifts. We’ll get together soon for that. It was a delightful day. Everyone left before dark and we settled in for a quiet evening together. We discovered a show that’s been on for a few years called Bull. It’s a series about a psychologist who studies juries and how to choose the perfect jurors.

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This fascinates me because my younger daughter was on the Mock Trial Team in high school. They repeatedly placed in the state levels of competition and it was fascinating to watch the process play out. The actor who plays Bull is the same guy that played Tony DiNozzo on NCIS…a character I really like. Bull is a well thought out program that’s entertaining and exercises the mind…traits I appreciate in a show. 

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I know I am always telling you how much I hate television. Overall, that’s true. But I do like a show that makes you think, that isn’t aggressively violent, and has likable and relatable characters. Most of the time when I’m sitting in the Big Red Chair…writing, knitting, crocheting…I have my headphones on listening to soft spa music or campfires or rainstorms. True confession….I’m a selective television watcher. I don’t like to waste time when I could be doing something more constructive…but an occasional guilty pleasure never hurt anyone. And it’s calorie free!

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Speaking of calorie free…I baked two pies yesterday. An apple, and a peach. I used some apple pie filling from Amish Country and my home canned peaches. I purposefully kept the sugar content down to shave some calories, but I can guarantee you they were NOT lo-cal! I made crust from scratch and it was so tender and flaky. If I could pinpoint anything, I’d say I didn’t put quite enough salt in the pie dough. 

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As I’m sitting here writing this, and thinking of those two pies in there…I can hear them calling to me. I did have a slice of the peach pie in the afternoon. I don’t need to eat another piece. It will not taste a bit better than the first piece. Overindulgence is a slippery slope when you have issues with food as I’ve had in the past. Part of the Noom program is looking at the psychology behind the choices we make around food. It’s not about restrictions. It’s about freedom..freedom to choose. Freedom to be able to make missteps without the negative self-talk. “I ate that big piece of pie. I might as well admit it…I’ll never lose this weight. I have no self control.” These thought distortions are untrue and do not serve me. So, what am I going to do? I’m going to have my usual evening snack of yogurt and granola with blueberries.

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And today is a brand new day!!!

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🩵

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”How much better to get wisdom than gold! To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.“

\nProverbs 16:16 ESV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2024-01-28T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2024/01/28/facing-food-and-enjoying-life.html", "tags": ["Family","Gratitude","Baking"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2024/01/27/christmas-in-january.html", "title": "Christmas in January", "content_html": "\n
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”Smoke on the Water” by Sue Lilly

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I was up early when the sun hit the trees on the far ridge with a golden glow. A single pine tree provided a stark contrast to the bright, sunny trees. It wasn’t long till the sky became more overcast. We didn’t get rain for the first time in days and it was really warm. I worked in the studio for a couple hours and didn’t accomplish much. I started making a baby and the yarn wasn’t right. It was way too light for the project. I’ll save it for something else.

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I was working with a different yarn, but I heard Mr. FixIt up rummaging around so I stopped and came up to fix breakfast. When I came upstairs, he was already cooking oatmeal…his specialty. He put fresh blueberries in it for me. He’s such a sweetie. I sat in the Big Red Chair and put babies together till it was time to start cleaning. 

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Mr. FixIt and I split up the duties. He’s a doll…he cleans the bathrooms! He is definitely a keeper! I was going to make cinnamon rolls to go with the chili for our family gathering, but Mr. FixIt’s birthday is next week so I told him I’d make him whatever he wanted…a cake or a pie. It took me ten minutes to get him to tell me what he really wanted instead of what he thought everyone else would want or what would be easier for me to make. He’s the most selfless person I know. We finally settled on pies…an apple and a peach. So I’ll be up bright and early baking pies and then I can put the pork roast in the oven.

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The family is coming over at 1:00 and I’m really excited to see them! We get stuck out here in the country and become hermits in the winter so it will be nice to have company and see the kids. Mr. FixIt bowls tomorrow night then we have a light week ahead. I mean…hear we are nearly at the end of January already. We will be mowing again before we know it so I need to step up my game and get more done before I won’t have the time to.

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As I was writing this last night, one of my high school friends read my post from yesterday. She lives along the river and saw the fog rolling in. She ran up to Fort Boreman Park and caught a beautiful photo of the “smoke on the water” and gave me permission to use it today. We live in such a beautiful and picturesque place, don’t we? 

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🩵

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”Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.“

\nProverbs 27:1 ESV\n
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I finally made a hat for me!

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Ten years ago when I faced my first Christmas without Mr. Virgo, I could never imagine a life without him let alone one with all this joy in it. I cooked a nice breakfast of grits, eggs and turkey sausage. When the dishes were done, I headed to the studio to play. I made four hats and sorted through some antique hand-pieced quilt blocks I picked up this summer. I absolutely love these blocks. They’re shabby and aged with the occasional stain on them. I can’t decide what to make with them…whether I want to make a small quilt, or divide them up and make several wall hangings. I thought of making table runners, but for now I’ve bundled them in packets of nine blocks to keep them safe and in the back of my mind.

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I brought the hats upstairs to do the finishing work and ended up doing a little holiday baking. I made two full sheet pans of Rolo Pretzel Cookies and a batch of fast Two-Ingredient Fudge. You can find my fudge recipe here. Well, three ingredients…I added walnuts! I made a big pot of White Chicken Chili. OMGosh! It’s been years and years since I made that and it was SO yummy! With the tender chicken, chunks of onions, carrots, white beans and fire-roasted corn in a thick rich broth, it was comfort food without a ton of calories. I trimmed the calories down by eliminating the tortilla chips, cheese, and avocado and adding carrots as an extra veggie. You can find the White Chicken Chili recipe I used here.

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I enjoyed several phone calls with family far and wide. We watched football while I did the handwork on the hats. It was a beautiful, relaxing day. I’m so grateful I have spaces in the house to work that are away from the heat of the family room. Mr. FixIt keeps it pretty warm in there and for some reason, it about made me sick. So, I just retreated to my own comfort zone. I usually sleep in the spare bedroom because of our different heat preferences. I keep a board over the heat register and open the window…even when it’s in the twenties outside. Poor Mr. FixIt comes in of a morning and shivers, bless his heart. I’ve never slept better in my life so I think we’ve found a happy medium. Life is too short to be miserable or to take offense. We have plenty enough fun to make up for the time spent in separate corners of the house.

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I think I’ll play in the kitchen some more today. Not sure what’s on the menu yet! Cookies? Another pan of fudge? Those sugared nuts I’ve been talking about? Who knows? Maybe I’ll do a Facebook Live! That would be fun to get to visit you at Christmas.

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And here it is…Christmas Eve. I have such a clear memory of my brother and I kneeling on the floor of the living room…looking out the picture window…hoping against hope that we’d catch a glimpse of snowflakes for Christmas Eve. We had just moved to the new house. It was a mansion compared to the ratty old houses mom and dad had rented. Christmas was always slim pickin’s at our house, but that year we felt like Richie the Rich Kid!

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Fond memories. I’ve known a few people whose entire childhood was filled with perfect holidays with the perfect family. That wasn’t us. But now…as an adult…I choose to focus on the GOOD times. Too many people go through life blaming their problems on their upbringing. I know…I was one of them for far too many years. You can’t rewrite history, but you CAN change the narrative!

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May this years’ story be the best one yet!

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🎄

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”In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.“

\nLuke 2:1-5 ESV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2023-12-24T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2023/12/24/i-love-my-life.html", "tags": ["Holiday","Baking","Cooking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2023/12/23/a-job-well-done.html", "title": "A Job Well Done!", "content_html": "\n
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I finished the last hat and scarf set yesterday and actually had a chance to sit down and relax with a little knitting of my own. I love knitting with Lion Brand’s Thick and Quick yarn. It’s super bulky so it knits up quick, and it’s super soft, warm, and washable. It ticks all the boxes for a cozy winter hat that will last for years and years.

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My tally for the year in knitting gifts is twenty-three hats, six hat and scarf sets, seventeen Christmas stockings, fourteen scrubbies, one pair of slippers, two pairs of socks, and a crocheted trivet. Not bad when you add in a king-sized quilt, two month-long camping trips, and mowing two farms. This between furnace repairs, a totaled car, and a new roof. It has been a REALLY busy year!!!

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I had to put the shop on vacation while I was doing the last big push to get this stuff finished because we got into that grey area where it was too close to Christmas to receive something on time. I certainly wouldn’t want someone to buy something and be disappointed that it didn’t arrive on time. I still made some sales on special orders, but for the most part, I’ve taken the month of December to just play with yarn.

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Now that the gifts are taken care of, I can get in the kitchen and start baking today. I went over to The Pig yesterday and got fresh flour. Mine had grown stale as I haven’t been baking nearly as much as I used to. I looked at my weight on a graph yesterday. One graph show just this year, and the other shows 2017-now. I had a huge weight gain between 2017 and February 2020. Those are the first years Mr. FixIt and I were together and set up housekeeping. I think the term is “fat and happy”. I baked and ate and baked some more. Then Covid struck and Mr. FixIt’s two strokes helped me feed my emotional eating machine till I finally got a handle on it in March.

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I think I am at a point where I can bake now without fear of “going off the wagon.” I’ve learned a lot about the “why” of eating and can easily enjoy fruit instead of dense sweets without feeling deprived. Because every once in awhile, I indulge in a goodie and don’t feel guilty about it. Life is too short…eat the cookie. Just not a dozen cookies, and maybe some fudge and sugared nuts, and brownies. All things in moderation.

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So that’s what I’ll do today. Bake…and feed the neighbors!

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🎄

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”“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”“

\nLuke 6:37-38 ESV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2023-12-23T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2023/12/23/a-job-well-done.html", "tags": ["Health","Holiday","Baking","Crafts","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2023/12/14/a-day-in-the-studio.html", "title": "A Day in the Studio", "content_html": "\n
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It’s been a long time since I could sit in my studio and just create whatever I wanted. I ended up making some Christmas gifts… attaching prayers and love to every stitch. Mr. FixIt was in town so the house was quiet. I was cozy in my little corner of the basement. The stove was glowing, soft music in the background, a hot mug of tea at the ready. My workspace is beginning to look like a tornado blew through it. Such is the life of the creative with ADHD.

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I’ve been making Christmas stockings, hats, scarves, and slippers in the studio. Then I place the pieces in a basket and spend the hours after supper, sitting in the big red chair carefully assembling them while Mr. FixIt watches his shows. Sometimes I listen in, but if it’s a western or a shoot ‘em up show, I put on my headphones and listen to thunder storms in the background.

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One of our readers posted that she’s been making divinity candy. My Grandmother Roush used to make divinity every Christmas. I remember Mom making it once, but it didn’t turn out like Grandmother’s so she never tried again. I’ve never made it myself, but I’m lining up my recipes for my Holiday Baking Extravaganza next week and I might give it a try. I just found this YouTube video from Come Sit at my Table. He makes it look pretty easy. You can see his video here. [youtu.be/XzCDVlCkw...](https://youtu.be/XzCDVlCkwcI?si=0x9z37V4K19sORda)     I’m going to make some English Toffee, Fudge, Sugared nuts, and those little Rolo Pretzels that I always make. Oh, and I’m thinking of trying my hand at Souther Pecan Pralines. Do any of you have a foolproof cookie/candy recipe you’d like to share? Have any of you made pecan pralines?

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We won’t be having our family Christmas gathering till the 30th. Everyone has places to go

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I do have good news about my eyes. The doctor put punctal  plugs in on Monday. The drops she has be on has reduced the inflammation and my vision is much clearer. And, I can work without my eyes feeling like there’s sand in them. That is such a relief. I kept thinking I had cataracts or something. As long as I follow the regimen she has me on, I think I’ll do fine.

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I’m thinking of offering some of my handmade items in my Etsy shop. Everyone loves having something handmade, and it would mean a lot to me to make things people love. I’ll be posting some items soon.

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🎄

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”By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”“

\nJohn 13:35 ESV\n
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Doing a little shopping…for little bananas? Have you ever eaten one of these? What’s the point?

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Mr. FixIt and I are together all the time. We love to be together and enjoy the same things for the most part. And, every once in awhile, I need a day that I can take just for me. I do that at The Farm whenever I can, but I seldom get a day to myself in town. Our trips to town usually entail one or both of us having an appointment or shopping. I had an appointment yesterday for my eyes and Mr. FixIt had the roofers at the house, so I went alone after knitting group. 

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I got up too late to have breakfast before knitting so I stopped at my favorite diner…Mary B’s. Pancakes, eggs, and sausage. Knowing how and when and what to eat is easier when you’re writing everything down and keeping track, but it gets tougher when I get in the driver’s seat.  I’m getting down to the end of the Noom course and I made an executive decision to renew for another six months. Winter is my nemesis when it comes to eating and I want to be sure I can get through without regaining the weight I’ve lost.

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I didn’t wander around town as much as I thought I would. I did go to Michael’s to check out their sales and picked up a few things. Throw in a quick stop at the store and to pick up Chinese food for supper and I was home well before dark. The roofers are winding up their job and it looks great! This roof ought to last us the rest of our lives. Isn’t that a sobering thought? I remember the first time we put a roof on a house back in 1990. We had our whole lives ahead of us. And now…two husbands later, we’re putting (hopefully) the last one. 

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I knew we were going to get old someday. I just thought it would take longer to get here. Not that I’m OLD, mind you. Age is just a number and I hear 70 is the new 50. It breaks my heart to see my contemporaries getting sick and dying. All the more reason to not wait to visit people. Call your friends when they come to mind. Add it to your calendar to check in. We don’t know when we’ll run out of chances.

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I’ll get to stay home the rest of the week and I’m knee deep in holiday gift making. I may even start on some of the baking and candy making. Have you all started making things or am I really late to the party? I’ve been looking at toffee and pralines recipes. Doesn’t that sound yummy? What’s your favorite treat to make for the holidays?

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🎄

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”A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.“

\nProverbs 17:17 ESV\n
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I really love baking. It’s been awhile since I’ve baked a pie. Mainly because I haven’t been eating all that yummy stuff and truth be told, by sweetheart doesn’t need all that sugar either. When it came time to volunteer items to bring to our family dinner this afternoon, I elected to bring the Sour Cream Apple Pie as well as those yummy Brussels sprouts. I filmed the pie baking session and it recorded correctly this time. I’ll get that edited and posted as soon as I can.

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We had a lovely day here at home watching football and eating leftover turkey. I played on the computer, creating some designs and tweaking my Pinterest account. I haven’t spent a lot of time on there this year. When I went in to look at it, I was really amazed at how many pins I’ve managed to accumulate over the years. Pinterest is one of those places where you can find yourself going down a rabbit hole of delightful photos and cool projects. I have these great ideas. It’s just I can’t live the 200 years I’d need to do them all. I’m like everyone else…it’s all eye candy and dreams!

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My sister-in-law and her family went to the Michigan-Ohio game so that was really exciting. I kept looking for them when the camera panned the stands, but there were only about 110,000 people there was practically no chance I’d see them. But I can tell them I looked for them!

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This was one of those days that had me feeling nostalgic. I used the beautiful crocks my Aunt Peeps gave me many years ago. With the house smelling of apples and cinnamon, the Christmas tree twinkling in background, my sweet husband sitting opposite me talking to the football players with a running commentary, loved ones checking in… it made me happy to be alive and so very grateful for my many blessings.

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I hope you enjoy your day and it’s peaceful and relaxing.

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🎄

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“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

\nPsalm 118:24 ESV\n
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You know, for not doin’ much a nuthin’, the day sure got away from me. I basically piddled doing one thing or another without accomplishing a lot. I did move the black walnuts over to the garden. The hulls need to rot off and if I leave them in the buckets, they’ll just mold. Grandma used to take them to the basement and spread them out on old newspapers to dry. But to be honest, I don’t have the square footage available here to do that…in the basement or in the building. I spread them out in a single layer and shut all the gates. I can see the garden from the bedroom so if something gets into them, I should hear/see the nut snatchers. I don’t think a bear would scale the tall fence for walnuts when there are plenty down by the creek. The deer can’t get in with the gates closed. So, if anything gets into them, it’s got to be something small.

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I worked on the computer a lot yesterday…designing some Christmas ornaments for the shop. In the middle of the day, I decided to bake Mr. FixIt a Pineapple Upside Down Cake. It’s his favorite and I’m trying to get some calories in him to build up his strength. He’s feeling better every day. He’s still congested, but he hasn’t had a fever for a couple of days now. I’ll run another Covid test on him tomorrow, but I think the worst is past us. I’ll test myself again tomorrow, as well. God was watching out for him, I’m telling you that.

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Along in the afternoon, I moved the dresser away from the wall in the bedroom and vacuumed the cool air intake vent. I did the same in the hallway and guest bedroom. I don’t think there is a blockage on the supply side of the furnace. And, there doesn’t seem to be any blockage from the blower into the rooms. Personally, I think our son might be onto something. He thinks maybe bees got down into the exhaust from the furnace burners and it’s tripping a safety switch. Either that, or the motherboard is faulty. We have to figure this out pretty soon. The temps are taking a nosedive in the coming days and it’s going to get pretty nippy in here!

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Isn’t it sad about Matthew Perry who played Chandler on Friends? He passed away from an accidental drowning in his hot tub. He has struggled with the disease of addiction for many years and I know from personal experience how terrible that is to live with. I was blessed…my miracle came instantaneously after I overdosed. I never had a desire to drink or abuse prescription drugs after that. Others aren’t so lucky. They fight and lose over and over and over till that particular demon takes them. My prayers go out to those who knew and loved him…both in real life and those who loved the characters he played.

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I think I may try to sleep in the camper tonight. It will be quite some time before the temperature will be above 50° at night. Mr. FixIt hasn’t needed me at night since the first couple of days he was sick so I can slip away. I need to get out to the farm and get the furnace and the gas stoves turned on and make sure everything is working right.

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I spoke with my sister-in-law in Utah last night. They are Jewish. We talked about the war in Israel and how everyone in the Jewish Community knows someone or is related to someone there. It breaks my heart. I am so worried for my Jewish friends and family and for everyone affected by the violence perpetrated against them. I pray earnestly for them all.

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Please pray for peace.

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🍁

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“And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.””

\nExodus 33:14 ESV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2023-10-29T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2023/10/29/a-speedy-saturday.html", "tags": ["Baking","Cooking","In the Kitchen","Home"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2023/01/08/my-birdies-have-me-trained.html", "title": "My Birdies Have Me Trained", "content_html": "\n
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I awoke before Mr. FixIt and went into the kitchen to make my tea. As I walked into the family room with my steamy mug of my “not coffee”, I heard a racket over by the window. There was a Tufted Titmouse pitching a fit as soon as I walked into the room. It would go into the clear plexiglas feed and peck around for a little bit, then it started pecking the window and squawking like crazy. It fluttered around, grabbing on the window frame then flit back over to the top of the feeder. 

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I walked over closer to the window. In the past, this was enough to scare the birds off and they wouldn’t come back till I moved away from the glass. Not this little birdie! This one kept looking straight at me and pitching a fit! I took out my phone and took a video to show Mr. FixIt because I was sure he wouldn’t believe me. Finally I figured out the bird must be hungry. The bird feeder was looking pretty close to empty and apparently this little dude (or dudette) wasn’t having that!

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I put my tea down and went to the building to fill the window feeder. Once I got the feed drawer back in the feeder, I walked inside to see what would happen. That little titmouse was in the feeder in second and ate and ate and ate! After about five minutes, the little bird took off to do its little birdie things and I had my answer. 

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I’ve been trained by a bird to fill up its feeder on demand!

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Cool!

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I did a few things yesterday. I’m trying to back up my photos from my iPhone onto an external hard drive. I wasn’t very successful and haven’t figured out why yet and eventually gave up for the time being. I knitted some on the next little Christmas Stocking. Then I decided to made a Hummingbird Cake, since the theme of the day was hunger and birds.

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A Hummingbird Cake is a southern staple. It gets its name because it is “SO sweet, it could attract a hummingbird.” I don’t know the accuracy of that statement, but I will tell you it’s the sweetest cake I’ve ever made. We don’t need decadent sweets in the house on a daily basis. So, today I’m going to cut it up in slices and wrap them individually for the freezer. That way we can take a slice out from time to time when we want a little snack and not overeat sweets.

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I’ve finally started sleeping better. I’ve been really frustrated this year. I’ve never been a terrific sleeper and a long time ago, I took Trazodone as a sleep aid. Trazodone is an old school antidepressant with a welcome side effect of drowsiness and it isn’t addictive. I’ve tried several over the counter remedies like Benadryl and Melatonin and Magnesium. I’ve tried meditation and 432hz sound therapy. I know what good sleep hygiene is and I routinely practice things like turning off the screens an hour before bed and cutting out caffeine. I’ve tried the Military Sleep Method. Some things work a little bit for a short time but nothing has really fixed the problem.

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When I saw my primary care provider this week, I told her my memory was slipping. After many questions, I off handedly mentioned my sleep issues and she zeroed in on that. Sleep deprivation can affect your memory and your mood. Once she found out I’d tried all the non-medication routes, she asked if I’d ever taken anything prescription for it and I told her about my experience with Trazodone. So, we’re trying it again and if Friday night is any indication, we just might be onto something here. I slept like a stone by Friday!

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I hope you are enjoying your weekend. I’d say I’m enjoying mine, but every day is a Saturday for us so it doesn’t seem to make much difference. 

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Sunday Blessings, dear ones…

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Ginny

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?

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““Work six days, but the seventh day will be a holy rest day, God’s holy rest day…..”

\nExodus 35:2-3 MSG\n
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After not feeling well on Christmas Day, I decided to just lay low and eat light yesterday. Toast and tea for breakfast, some more on the computer, and some knitting while Mr. FixIt watched his shows left me feeling refreshed and rested. We had a lovely video chat with my in-loves in Colorado. My son-in-law’s parents are the salt of the earth and we had a grand time visiting with them over tea. In the late afternoon, Mr. FixIt headed to town for a minute. By that time it had started snowing.

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Just as he left, I saw a post on the scanner page on FB that warned of an accident on the top of the hill above our house. My sweetie called me from the truck and said it was a bad one but the roads weren’t all that terrible. It must have been caused by something else. Who knows? There are so many deer about at that time of day and people drive like maniacs on that road. Someone got on his tail all the way home and peeled out around him when he turned to check the mail.

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Then I learned Christmas Day that my sweet aunt…my mom’s only surviving sister…fell on Christmas Eve and broke her hip. My Auntie Rosie is a gem. She looks so much like my mom and my grandma that it shakes me to my core when I see her. She lost her husband a few years ago and has been living with her daughter. When my cousin lost her husband, the two of them moved back to Indiana to be near friends for support.

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Aunt Rosie was in Nursing School when I was born. She stayed at our house a lot to help mom with me and my big brother. I was a handful, I’ve been told. My aunt likes to tell the story of how she discovered I had torn up my mom’s new book and was going to spank my little butt. Instead, Auntie Rosie hid me in the closet till mom cooled down. When her only child was born when I was about five or six, she brought her home on the train so we could meet her. I remember her curly red hair framing her face like an auburn halo and her porcelain skin was just like a little china doll.

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My aunt got a new hip for Christmas and they started her on rehab yesterday. I spoke with her for a moment, but her attention span was short so I asked my cousin to keep me up to date. Please send up some prayers for them both to get through this with ease and quick healing.

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When Mr. FixIt was in town and called me, he asked if I wanted him to stop at the store to get us a sweet. I told him I had something better in mind. Within an hour, I had a homemade apple pie in the oven. We warmed up the leftover Cheesy Broccoli soup for supper and ate as we watched a light snow dust the sidewalks. This has been a cozy and quiet week here at Marshmallow Ranch and I’ve really enjoyed the down time. I’m about half through the fifth Christmas stocking!

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I’ll need to pick up the pace in the next couple of days. There’s a lot to do before the FixIt Family Festivities on Friday. Cleaning house and wrapping presents. And I still need to send our Christmas cards. I might eke out one more knitting day before I have to get busy.

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?

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“May the Master of Peace himself give you the gift of getting along with each other at all times, in all ways. May the Master be truly among you!”

\n2 Thessalonians 3:16 MSG\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2022-12-27T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2022/12/27/settling-in-with-a-little.html", "tags": ["Comfort","Peace","Baking"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2022/12/19/on-the-outside-looking-in.html", "title": "On the Outside Looking In", "content_html": "\n
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‘Tis the season of happy holidays. Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Years…all times for gathering with the people you love. The sharing of meals, gifts, companionship. It’s all so hectic and frenzied and fun…isn’t it? It is…until it isn’t. I remember when I was a new widow. The fun evenings out with others pretty much ended. Invitations dried up. It was especially hurtful when I was left on the outside looking in. 

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Social media is the first to show when you’ve been left out of a fun event. Pictures of parties and gatherings you once attended seem to go on without you and that is particularly painful to note. It isn’t exclusive to the bereaved. Those of us who live far away from our families feel the same sense of longing and feeling a little left out. I haven’t flown to Colorado for the holidays for a long time. Partially for financial reasons…partially because of unpredictable travel to the Rockies in the winter months. I just don’t like to fly anymore and driving cross country in the winter isn’t reasonable.

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We haven’t had our FixIt Family Holiday Extravaganza yet…it’s coming. But in the meantime, I watched the fun happening at the Annual Cookie Bake Off in Colorado yesterday via Facebook and I felt pretty darned sorry for myself. My heart has been tender this month anyway…it doesn’t take much to hurt it right now. It’ll sting for a bit…then I’ll pick myself up by the bootstraps and get moving on with something else. 

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It’s not like I have nothing to do. I am always busy doing something. Mr. FixIt went to the bowling alley last night. He’s a sub on the league he’s bowled on for decades so he’s in hog heaven hanging with his buddies. I sat at home in the big, comfy red chair…knitting another little stocking. I had the TV tuned to a roaring fireplace scene complete with sounds of a crackling fire. The gas fireplace kept the room toasty and I tucked my lap blanket up around me.

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I was enjoying a bowl of warmed up chicken and noodles when I caught sight of the neighbors coming up the walk. My heart leapt with joy. They have three little girls and they were bringing us homemade cookies!!! I invited them in and they told me what kind of cookies they made. They told me their names and ages. The little one is three now! The last time they brought us cookies, she was just a toddler. 

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I gratefully took their precious offering and went to the dining room to get their box of cookies and fudge I had waiting for them. I handed it to the oldest, and told her what kind of cookies I made for them. When I got to “fudge”, her little eyes widened and twinkled. Now I know for sure what to give them next year! LOTS of fudge!

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As they trudged back down the sidewalk, I stayed at the door and waved goodbye and I thought of my grandma. How many times did she stand on the front porch and wave goodbye to the littles? How many times did her hanky come out of the pocket of her housedress to wipe a tear away because she missed us all so far away?

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I could feel her near me saying, “It’s ok to be a little sad, pet.” 

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It’s only because we LOVE that we feel anything at all. And LOVE…real love…is worth all the tears that come after. We have FixIt Family Fun coming up soon and that’s something joyful to look forward to!

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“But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

\n1 Timothy 5:8 ESV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2022-12-19T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2022/12/19/on-the-outside-looking-in.html", "tags": ["Family","Holiday","Baking","Memories"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2022/12/17/the-cookie-fairy.html", "title": "The Cookie Fairy", "content_html": "\n
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While I really wanted to just sit in my big red chair and knit all day yesterday…it didn’t happen. Those cookies were not going to deliver themselves, so we grabbed everything we needed and headed for town…again! It turned out to not take nearly as long as we thought it would. Our first stop was the Former Mrs. FixIt’s house where we found out she was going to see the rest of the kids that evening for their annual gingerbread house extravaganza. So instead of driving all over town, we asked if she would take the cookies and give them to the kids for us. I didn’t want them to wait till we get to see them over the holidays because the cookies wouldn’t be in their prime.

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Since that freed us up, we ran a couple of errands and went home. I heated up the chicken noodles from the night before then baked a batch of cookies. Whether you call them Mexican Wedding Cookies or Russian Tea Cakes, these feathery light sweets literally melt in your mouth and I ate WAY too many of them! They were my first cookies that I’ve eaten this season because I’ve given up chocolate, but still…it was hard not to keep nibbling.

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I found the recipe in The All-New Blue Ribbon Cookbook. I’ve had the original version for decades and when I searched to see if Catherine Hanley had any other cookbooks, there was just this new edition. You can get one HERE if you are interested.

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I was about to pop the first cookie sheet in the oven when the phone rang. Our grandson had some car trouble up on the hill above our house and needed a ride. Grandpa to the rescue and in five minutes…my boys were here!!! I was so busy loving on them and baking cookies and just gazing at our good fortune to have the unexpected visit…I totally spaced on getting a picture! But they’ll be back next week sometime for our Christmas, so we’ll have more opportunities.

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I finished baking the last of the cookies after they left. I put two London broils in to marinate last night and I’ll grill them this afternoon. I’ll slice them, bag up dinner sized portions, and our main dish for several meals will be in the freezer. I love cooking ahead and having the ease of taking something out to thaw instead of running to the store. When the kids were here last evening, I took any special requests they had for dinner when they’re here. Homemade Mac & Cheese! Easy peasy and the boys will love it, too!

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I’m heading to town yet again this morning. This time it’s to have coffee with my classmates from high school. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a chance to get together and I’m really looking forward to seeing them! Hanukkah starts at sundown on Sunday night. I have some friends I’d like to have over to make latkes one day next week. There’s a fellow here in our town who has a yearly event in one of the local restaurants. He makes latkes and people come from all over to get some. I’ve missed his event the last few years, so we’ll just make our own!

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““So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

\nMatthew 7:12 ESV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2022-12-17T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2022/12/17/the-cookie-fairy.html", "tags": ["Family","Holiday","Baking"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2022/12/14/its-beginning-to-feel-like.html", "title": "It’s Beginning to Feel Like Christmas at Our House!", "content_html": "\n
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Mr. FixIt and I split the holiday shopping duties. I take care of the girls. He takes care of the boys. Which isn’t really even because there’s a lot more girls than there are boys in our family. I don’t really mind, though. I know how to shop for girls…I’ve done it forever! Mr. FixIt took off for town yesterday morning to do his shopping and left me at home to bake. I needed to add to the cookie trove.

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The first thing I did was make Rolo Turtles. You know, the ones that use a square pretzel for the base and you put a Rolo in the middle. You put the cookie sheet filled with these in a 250° oven for about four minutes. When you take them out, you press half a pecan on the top and let them cool. Easy peasy!

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I also made Two Ingredient Fudge. It is SUPER easy to make. Line an 8x8 baking dish with parchment paper. I sprayed a little nonstick cooking spray on the glass to help it stick. Pour 2.5 cups of semisweet chocolate chips and one can of sweetened condensed milk in a glass bowl. Microwave for two minutes. Stir it all together and scrape it out into the parchment lined dish. You have to work fast because it hardens up pretty quickly. Put some plastic wrap over it and put it in the fridge for a couple of hours. Take it out. Lift out the fudge by the parchment paper “handles”. Cut in squares. SUPER easy!

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Then I made Cowboy Cookies. I have a dear friend who makes them. Patti is the Head Baker Gal for Buffalo Baking Co. based in Colorado. She makes the BEST Cowboy Cookies! Mine don’t hold a candle to hers, but Mr. FixIt says they’re REALLY good! A Cowboy Cookie is a chocolate chip cookie with a twist. It has oats, coconut and pecans in the recipe which makes for a really nice, dense, chewy cookie. I used a recipe from Food Network. You can find it HERE. But if you want the real deal, you can order some from my friend HERE.

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I finally finished around 9:30 last night. I got a surprise phone call from my Uncle Bud…the uncle that owned the family farm and sold it last year. Bud was a Junior in High School when I was born so he wasn’t all that much older than me. We never had money to go on vacations when I was growing up, but we went every summer for a week to visit my Uncle Bud and Aunt Viv. It was a week of playing with my cousins and our moms would sit in the kitchen talking and drinking coffee all day. 

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Uncle Bud would pile us kids in his little VW Bug and takes us to all kinds of places…the fish hatchery or huckleberry picking on Dolly Sods. He was a practical joker. He told me one time he’d caught a mongoose and it was in a box in the basement. He took us down to see it. There was a little hole in the door and he said if I bent down and looked in, I might catch a glimpse of it. When I bent down, he released a latch and the door opened and out flew an old raccoon tail he had on a spring. It about scared me to death and everyone laughed…including me once I got my heart back in my chest! I think now he might think that was a dirty trick, but we were young and entertainment was scarce.

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Mr. FixIt’s Peanut Butter Blossoms

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Anyway, it was so nice to talk with him. I told him about my cookie baking and he told me how they didn’t have sugar when he was growing up because it was rationed in the war. Everyone had a cane patch and a Mr. Williams from over near where we live would go around the countryside with a portable cane mill. He’d work a pipe that turned a big roller and it would squeeze the juice out of the cane. Then that juice would be boiled down to make sorghum molasses. And that’s what folks used for a sweetener.

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When I was little, Grandma always had a jar of sorghum in the pantry. Grandma had a milk cow and we churned our own butter. In the spring, the butter took on the flavor of the spring onions the cow got into so toast with butter took on a taste that wasn’t necessarily pleasant to a kid. Grandma would mash the butter up in a dish and add sorghum and stir it up. Then I spread that on my toast. It covered up the funny taste of spring butter really well.

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Just having that half hour or so to reminisce with my sweet uncle did me a world of good. It lightened my heart and it turned out to be a lovely day. I set up our new Apple TV and played with it a bit between batches of cookies. I haven’t figured out how to watch the nightly news in real time yet, but I’ve only just begun to explore it. There’s certainly a lot to see that’s free.

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We’re going into town today for just a couple more things. I told Mr. FixIt exactly what I’d like for Christmas and he said he thought I’d better come with him to pick it out myself. I don’t mind that at all. Maybe we can find something perfect for him, too! Honestly…we need nothing. But it’s nice to have a little something to open on Christmas morning.

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“Give us this day our daily bread,”

\nMatthew 6:11 ESV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2022-12-14T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2022/12/14/its-beginning-to-feel-like.html", "tags": ["Family","Baking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2022/12/11/the-man-makes-cookies.html", "title": "The Man Makes Cookies", "content_html": "\n
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Mr. FixIt’s Famous Peanut Butter Blossoms! I have no idea how he makes them…it’s magic!

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I don’t particularly care for the big box store. I also don’t particularly care for the shopping online opportunity that offers me cheaper prices and convenience. I don’t care for their business practices. I don’t care for inferior products made in Chinese sweatshops. But…I’m now officially a senior citizen living in the boonies on a fixed income. Gone are the days of just buying whatever my little heart desires. 

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Call it maturity. Call it enlightenment. Call it lack of choices. Whatever it is…it is what it is and I won’t make myself feel bad for doing what I have to do to keep every penny I can and make it work for me. That being said, I made the trip to town to a vastly overpacked big box store to get some things. 

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I was fully prepared to buy some cheap holiday fabric and make a few drawstring gift bags, but once I priced the fabric and figured in my time, I was less inclined to think that was the cheaper route. I went back into the “Sparkle Department” and found some large drawstring bags that were really cute and just a little over $2 each. That worked for me and I bought what I needed.

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Mr. FixIt asked me on my way out the door to bring home some creamy peanut butter. This is a fun feud we have every year. I make my peanut butter cookies with super chunky peanut butter. It adds interest by way of texture. I like chunky. He likes smooth. I have a monstrous jar of chunky peanut butter in the pantry, but it just will not do for Mr. FixIt’s Famous Peanut Butter Blossoms. 

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I ragged him about this incessantly the last few years. I wouldn’t eat his cookies. Because…I like chunky! It became a matter of principle. I made my own with the chunky and that is just the way it was. No problem. Then….

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I tasted his cookies.

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Darn it.

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They were freaking AWESOME! 

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Power struggles. We all do them in relationships…to one extent or another. I’ll never forget the first time I tasted his cookies and had to do the whole mea culpa thing. And you know what he said? Nothing. He just smiled and gave me a big ol’ hug. He’s the best guy in the world for me. He gives me all the rope in the world I need to hang myself, then wraps me up in his big bear hugs and loves me anyway.

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So, when he asked for the jar of creamy peanut butter yesterday, I turned to him with my brightest smile. And, with a twinkle in my eye, I said…”You’re such a harda$$!” And we laughed and laughed. 

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He’ll be baking cookies today!

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“He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.”

\nProverbs 18:22 ESV\n
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FINALLY!!! After being in the shop more than we actually had her, the a-frame is back from the camper doctor. And she looks absolutely perfect…almost like a brand spankin’ new camper. I say “almost” because when we opened her up for her final inspection, the very first thing I saw was a huge scratch across the front of the refrigerator door that wasn’t there the last time we saw her in September. Oy! It’s ok though…they are ordering a new refrigerator door that will be delivered to us and we just have to pop it on. No problem! 

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We stopped at Menard’s and bought some new tarps. The one on Joy, the ‘67 Franklin is ripped so we needed a new one for her. We also needed one for a couple things we have stored outdoors. And I wanted a great big one that absolutely wraps up the a-frame so there isn’t the least bit of chance it will leak. Then, in the spring, we’ll put her up for sale.

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Mr. FixIt and I were talking about the details of all she’s been through and he was worried it might deter someone from buying her. But, here’s how I look at it. Every new camper…no matter how expensive or well made…is going to have bugs to work out that first year. That’s what the warranty is there for. This particular camper had a few more bugs than usual, but we’ve stayed right on top of it, addressed each issue, and rectified it with repairs that made her better than new. So, I feel confident someone is still going to get a beautiful, useful camper that will give them years of pleasure. Really, the only reason we wouldn’t keep her is our age and Mr. FixIt’s balance. It’s meant for a younger, stronger person who wants to get out in the woods and have some fun. And besides, we have Grace, the 2021 Jayco.

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It was almost dark when we got home. We quickly parked the camper and covered her up for the winter. We tied the tarp down with sturdy ropes instead of bungee cords. Bungees seem to deteriorate so fast out in the sun and rain. We had supper on the way home from the RV dealership. After we watched the news, I made some peanut butter cookies with the recipe I shared in a video for National Cookie Day. They were delish! Here’s the recipe:

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Peanut Butter Cookies

1 c. peanut butter
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg 

Mix ingredients together. Chill ti stiffen dough. Roll into balls, place on parchment lined cookie sheet, and flatten with fork or press a chocolate kiss on top. Bake at 350° for 10-15 minutes till done. Let cool some before removing to wire cooling rack. Makes about a dozen medium sized cookies. Enjoy!
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I received a book in the mail that I ordered from eBay and I was so excited to get it. It’s about knitting Fair Isle and I really want to master that this winter. Imagine my dismay when I opened the package and it was a book on crocheting granny squares! lol Don’t get me wrong…I love granny squares, but this was NOT what I was looking for. I immediately wrote to the seller with a photo of the book I received and he apologized profusely for selecting the wrong one from the shelf. He’s sending me the correct one today and told me to either keep or donate the book that was sent in error. That was so kind of him…the only thing I dislike more than getting the wrong item, it’s having to package it all back up to return it. It’s a king-sized hassle. Instead, I’m going to gift it to Daughter #1 who crochets! Win/Win!!

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So…today is “Tamale Tuesday”!!! Yay!!!!!

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“Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me.”

\nMicah 7:8 ESV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2022-12-06T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2022/12/06/the-big-birdhouse-is-back.html", "tags": ["Fun","Baking","Cooking","Big Birdhouse"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2022/12/03/gearing-up-to-give.html", "title": "Gearing Up to Give", "content_html": "\n
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I made another trip to the grocery store yesterday. Last week’s trip was to prepare for Thanksgiving dinner. Yesterday’s was to gear up for the holiday baking soon to ensue. We are really careful with our spending on groceries. We don’t eat fancy and we very seldom eat fast food or processed meals. This keeps the bill down. However, holidays are a different story. I don’t mind paying a little extra for the “splurge” that is Thanksgiving and Christmas.

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There’s always an event to go to or someone to give a little gift to as a thank you for services rendered during the year. So, I like to start early in the month and get ahead of some of the baking. This means, of course, that I’m going to blow the food budget out of the water at least twice…and probably three times between the middle of November through the end of the year. This is ok because I plan for it. 

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Inflation as taken a bite out of everyone’s budget this season. I’m really happy I started making Christmas gifts for family last December. The yarns I used were drastically reduced in a store wide close out, so the items I knitted are of good quality yarns. My cousin in Indiana is in sales. She buys close out lots of items for everything from office supplies to clothing and this year she scored a sweet deal on some plush hoodies. Combined with my knitted items, the family…at least the girls…will get some really nice presents that didn’t break the bank.

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There are lots of ways to curb your spending at this time of year. I personally feel like regifting and repurposing ought to be normalized for holiday gifting. Good quality items that are clean and useable and in perfectly fine condition can be just as cherished as something you pay a bundle for. I would suggest that you have a conversation with your gift recipients beforehand. Make it a challenge. Set a spending limit with specific instructions that the gift be thrifted, shared, repurposed through crafting, or homemade. 

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I mean, seriously…do we actually NEED more tchotchkes? No. We need more time. Offer a group outing as an alternative to individual gifts. Get everyone together to make gifts for others. Volunteer at a meal for the homeless and take the family with you. Seeing others less fortunate than themselves goes a long way toward humbling children and demonstrating a giving heart. 

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We have little ones who live out the road from us. I’m making cookie boxes for them. The trash man is getting some, too…along with a little folding money in his card. The mail delivery person is getting a little packet of fudge. I want to put the money in the food I feed our family and the time we spend with them. The littles will get a small toy with a couple of dollars. One dollar for their piggy bank, and the other for the bell ringer in front of the store.

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Let’s move into this holiday season with different kinds of gifts for our fellow man. Let’s show a whole lotta Jesus in our actions. After all…that’s the Source of all Love. Let’s spread a lot of love and joy…and some homemade goodness. And remember, when you give to the poor…don’t tell anyone. make your gift anonymous that it may remain pure of heart and minus praise for the giving.

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“The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. As it is written, “He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.” He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God.”

\n2 Corinthians 9:6-12 ESV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2022-12-03T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2022/12/03/gearing-up-to-give.html", "tags": ["Family","Holiday","Humbled","Farm Life","Baking"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2022/11/30/finding-comfort-at-home.html", "title": "Finding Comfort at Home", "content_html": "\n
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Knitting in front of my ”fireplace”…the one on Netflix!

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Comfort comes in many forms. There is comfort in food, as that is the origin of nurturing in our lives. The same goes for the comfort of touch and smell and sound. It can harken us to our earliest memories of our family of origin who loved us, held us close, and fed us. Comfort may change form over time and it may come from different sources, but it always takes us back…way back to “home”. 

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When we go through times of emotional upheaval, we reach for those things that brought us comfort. And if they no longer work, or they’re no longer available to us, we make substitutions. When I went through my divorce from Hubby #2, I found comfort in the home I built. I chose colors and furnishings that calmed me. I burned a zillion candles and played soft, soothing music that made me feel safe and secure. When I lost Mr. Virgo, I found comfort and solace in camping.

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The Farm has been a touchstone my entire life and I am always comforted there. I can walk in the back door and instantly feel calm. When I was going through the worst episodes of fear and anxiety and sadness in my life, I could close my eyes and visualize Grandma’s house, the wooden staircase leading to the “Girl’s Room” upstairs, and the warm bed piled high with comforters. The house was always warm…and there were always wonderful aromas wafting up from the kitchen. It smelled of good cooking and lemon oil furniture polish and Ivory Snow.

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When we woke up yesterday, I snuggled over against Mr. FixIt to soak up his warmth. I remember the pain Mr. Virgo’s sudden absence brought me and I swore, if God would ever see fit to bring me another partner, I would memorize every moment to save up…just in case. We always check in with good morning greetings and how did you sleep questions. We look out the window and wonder about the weather of the day. One or the other of us picks up a phone to check the temperature and forecast. Then we take a look at the calendar to see if there’s anything going on. We hold hands and share contented sighs. Then one of us has to break the reverie and get the day going by getting up. It’s usually Mr. FixIt whose feet hit the ground first. He starts the electric tea kettle while I get myself up and about.

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That ritual, in and of itself is incredibly comforting and I know all too well how nebulous it is. I padded into the kitchen and made oats and toast for breakfast. We watched a little TV. I baked bread and froze a couple dozen hot rolls for later in the month. I was at the end of my flour supply. I didn’t have enough bread flour, and the all purpose flour was a little past its prime. But we were down to just a few slices of bread, so I baked anyway.

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I heated up turkey pot pie for supper, then Mr. FixIt went out to put up the inflatables. We hung the huge four foot wreath up together on the end of the house facing the road. I knitted a little on the sweater. Every row is another row closer to being finished. And here it is…the last day of November. Another month gone…a brand new month starting tomorrow. We sat in our big red recliners and enjoyed the warm glow of the Christmas tree. I read with my lap comforter thrown over my legs. Mr. FixIt softly snoozed with his feet up. The flames in the gas stove that looks like an old fashioned wood stove flickered softly. This is my comfort and joy.

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We don’t live in a fancy new house. We don’t drive expensive cars with the latest gadgets. We don’t jet set around the world or buy the best of everything. We don’t need to. We have everything we could possibly need right here on this beautiful patch of ground. We have a big, healthy family. And we have each other. What more could I possibly ask for? 

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God has answered every prayer I’ve ever uttered one of three ways. Yes. Yes, but not right now. Or, no…I have something better in mind for you. I rest in great comfort knowing He is always a breath away from us. And I am always and eternally grateful.

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“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

\nRomans 8:28 ESV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2022-11-30T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2022/11/30/finding-comfort-at-home.html", "tags": ["Gratitude","Comfort","Farm Life","Baking","Home"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2022/11/19/winter-is-creeping-in.html", "title": "Winter is Creeping In", "content_html": "\n
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Every once in a while, I have a night where I sleep like a baby. I woke up suddenly at 6:30 yesterday morning to the incessant chirping of Mr. FixIt’s phone announcing an impending snow storm. I was sure I was awake for the day, but I fell back to sleep and woke up at noon! I rarely do that and it was delightful to wake up thoroughly rested. Still, not rested enough to want to do much of anything.

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We need to do some cleaning for company coming on Friday. We’ll be observing the FixIt Family Thanksgiving that day and we love to have the house all pretty for them. I want the tree up, too. So, there’s lots to do. Some time in the afternoon, Mr. FixIt suggested we start cleaning and I begged him to take this one day off and enjoy the snow and each other’s company. That’s what we ended up doing and it was so peaceful.

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We had a snow squall yesterday afternoon that made the ground white in thirty minutes. The temperature didn’t get over 33° all day. I was going to cook a pork roast yesterday, but I didn’t get up in time to put it in the slow cooker, so I’ll do it today. We can put on some music, clean the house, then put up the tree. I bought some new lights to replace the burned out ones on the pre-lit tree. It’s still perfectly fine to use and the new ones are so expensive.

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There are certain areas of my life where I’ll scrimp. Making do, reusing, upcycling…I’m all about that. Eggs? I passed them up at the Pig when they wanted almost $7.00 for eighteen eggs. But the fresh turkey? I won’t pass up a fresh turkey. Frozen turkey can’t compare to the moist and flavorful meat of a fresh bird. 

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I remember so many Thanksgivings of my childhood when Grandma baked the turkey in a brown paper grocery bag because she read it made it tender and juicy. I loved my Grandma, with the white hot heat of the sun, but she cooked meat to death. The turkey, while a beautiful golden brown, was dry as a bone. That’s how I learned to eat the dark meat. It was hard to make the dark meat too dry.

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I have cooked approximately forty Thanksgiving dinners in my lifetime and I have always searched for the perfect turkey. It wasn’t until I discovered brining a fresh turkey till I found nirvana! I have the turkey and the brining bag. I still need to buy the brine mix and whole cranberries. I think I’d like to put chestnuts and oysters in the dressing this year so I’ll have to go to the store sometime early next week. 

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Have any of you cooked your dressing in a slow cooker? Kaleb of Wyse Guide…a blog I follow…has a wonderful recipe that I want to try. He also has his grandma’s recipe for Butterhorns on there. They sound incredible! You can find his blog HERE.   https://www.wyseguide.com

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I always get excited about cooking a big traditional Thanksgiving Dinner. I grew up in Appalachia, and subsequently lived twenty-seven years as a Jewish Mother. I’m all about feeding people. It’s my love language…to make sure you eat the best meal of your life at my table. Sometimes I miss the mark, but I’ve gotten pretty good after all these years. I especially love planning a unique dessert. You can NEVER have too many desserts!

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Do you have big plans this year? Is there a new recipe you’re going to try? What’s your favorite Thanksgiving food? Let’s share some recipes and get excited about this!!!

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“I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.”

\nPsalm 7:17 ESV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2022-11-19T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2022/11/19/winter-is-creeping-in.html", "tags": ["Holiday","Farm Life","Baking","Cooking"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2022/08/28/smack-my-headi-forgot-the.html", "title": "Smack My Head…I Forgot the Beans!", "content_html": "\n
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I added about half a teaspoon of baking powder to the self-rising flour this time and I love how high these biscuits rose…and so light and fluffy!

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Ever have one of those moments where you just KNOW there’s something you’re forgetting to do? Well, when I woke up yesterday morning at 6:00 (why that early, I have NO idea), I checked to make sure my post actually…you know, posted. It did. And you wonderful people started talking about how good those soup beans and ham hocks and iron skillet cornbread sounded, I was like… “Dang! I knew there was something I was supposed to do before I went to bed!”

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I forgot to put the beans on to soak. I know there are shortcuts like bring them to a boil then cover and remove from the heat. Or cook them in a pressure cooker. But they never quite taste great unless I cook them the way I always do…in a slow cooker seasoned with a couple smoked ham hocks and chopped up onions and a generous grind of fresh black pepper. I’ll try again today!

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Since I woke up so early, I decided to get up and work on the sweater and get it finished. And I did. However, when I tried it on, the sleeves were too short so I ripped them back out to the point before decreasing for the cuffs and added a couple of inches. I’m not exactly sure what went wrong other than the fact that it’s hard to read the length correctly till you try it on with both sleeves. Of course, it could be that this is only my second sweater and I just don’t have the technique down yet.

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Mr. FixIt lounged around this morning and didn’t get up till “brunch-time” so I fixed a big spread…sausage, eggs, fried potatoes, cooked apples, and homemade biscuits. I used Tipper’s recipe again and I’m telling you…I am SOLD. Seriously the best biscuits ever. I stored the leftovers in a plastic food container, then before bed last night, I warmed two of them up in the microwave for twenty seconds, spread a nice portion of real butter on top and a dollop of my homemade plum jam. 

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*swoon*

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Other than those two things…I didn’t get a thing accomplished yesterday. Mr. FixIt went out after it cooled down to wash and wax the Lincoln. We live on a gravel road and the dust is terrible. Then you get a sprinkling of rain and you can imagine what it looks like. We watch a lot of reruns of Law & Order and last night we watched an episode of America’s Got Talent that we had recorded last week.

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It actually felt pretty good to not have anything pressing to do. It’s supposed to be in the 90’s today and tomorrow, so there may be a whole lot of nothing getting done around here the next couple of days, as well. And that’s ok. One doesn’t have to be totally productive every single day. Accomplishing self-care is still an accomplishment.

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?

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“It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.”

\nPsalm 127:2 ESV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2022-08-28T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2022/08/28/smack-my-headi-forgot-the.html", "tags": ["Farm Life","Baking","Crafts","Cooking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2022/04/10/biscuits-birthdays-and-bounty.html", "title": "Biscuits, Birthdays, and Bounty", "content_html": "\n
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Remember when I learned how to bake biscuits like Miss Brenda Gantt? I mixed them up in a “nest” right in the flour of the biscuit bowl, then covered the bowl with a clean pillowcase to use the next time. Well, the flour sat in that bowl over the winter. I didn’t bake them as often as I thought I would. I got the bowl out yesterday to make a batch of biscuits for breakfast and they were awful! The flour was stale and had picked up flavors from cooking. And the leavening was no longer active. I was so disappointed, not only in the biscuits themselves, but in the fact that I now need to throw all that flour away. It’s such a waste. If I knew someone who had pigs, I’d send it off to them, but I don’t.

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Our day was totally uneventful until late afternoon. Mr. FixIt found a rebuilt lawnmower on FB Marketplace for our rental house so we headed over there to get it before we headed to our youngest FixIt’s 18th birthday party. The place was much further out than we originally thought. It rained off and on all day yesterday and we drove out through the country just as the clouds were parting. We went out one of those typical West Virginia single lane roads up a holler to the top of a steep hill. We kept chasing the rainbows with every turn. These people had the most amazing views from their house.

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We had a lovely evening with the family. Our great-grandpuppy is growing up fast and has learned more tricks. The birthday girl got lots of gifts she can use as she heads off to college in the fall as well as a dousing with Silly String. The former Mrs. FixIt brought some quail eggs to show us. The egg lady gave her a dozen when she went to pick up her egg order yesterday. They are so pretty with their brown spots. Nature’s decoration. 

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So, I don’t have a lot of newsy, noteworthy, deep-thinking things to talk about today. Just life in it’s infinite beauty…moments spent with people I love…doing the mundane, everyday stuff. But, isn’t this what we live for? These days of calm in a boiling sea of angst? I feel so incredibly blessed to have this life. Oh, and my truck turned over 120,000 miles last night! Thank you, God for the bounty we receive!

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?

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“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”

\nJames 1:17 ESV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2022-04-10T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2022/04/10/biscuits-birthdays-and-bounty.html", "tags": ["Family","Aging","Baking"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2022/03/28/west-virginias-state-food.html", "title": "West Virginia’s State Food", "content_html": "\n
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I don’t remember pepperoni rolls when I was growing up. I think the first time I had them may have been when I came home from living in England in 1975. I’ve tried my best baking them over the years without much success. Which isn’t a real problem because you can find a decent pepperoni roll at just about any gas station or mom and pop convenience store. Around here, bakeries make them alongside fritters and cream horns and you can buy them by the bagful.

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We have a local bakery in our little burg that makes really good pepperoni rolls, but the demand isn’t too high so they only make them on Fridays and Saturdays. I seem to be busy on those days. I do indulge in their donuts mid-week so I feel like I’m supporting them.

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I was sitting in my recliner, knitting another pair of mittens and watching basketball yesterday with Mr. FixIt. I got a hankerin’ for a good pepperoni roll but wasn’t about to get up and go out in 30° temps to try to find some. I’ve been ruminating since Christmas about the dough I use to make my homemade cinnamon rolls. I wrote a post about them HERE. They use an interesting dough that stays soft and chewy for days so I decided to try it for pepperoni rolls. 

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Oh…My…Gosh!!!

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They were heavenly! Light, moist, chewy…divine! I brushed them with butter before and after baking. I also dusted them lightly with grated parmesan cheese and a bit of Italian seasonings. I think next time, I’ll try just brushing with butter after the baking as I think it contributed to the darker crust. Also, I wasn’t please with the parmesan cheese. It was hard, dry, and brown by the time they were baked and the flavor wasn’t on point for me.

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I filled the rolls with about six of the big slices of pepperoni and used the only cheese I had available at the time…sliced Colby Jack. Next time I’ll probably add more pepperoni and try mozzarella…maybe in string cheese form. You can use hot pepper cheese to turn up the heat a little bit. That’s always good.

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I finished one mitten of a new pair I’m knitting with the superwash wool I bought at our local yarn shop on sale. I can get one pair of mittens or one hat from one skein with just a bit left over and each skein only cost me a dollar! These will be lovely gifts come Christmas. I shipped off some hats to my Colorado grands last week and I’m looking forward to hearing what they think of them.

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Today is another chilly day so I’ll be staying in and knitting again. Not too many more days like this. I can HEAR the grass growing! We should be up to 80° by Wednesday!

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“Give us this day our daily bread,”

\nMatthew 6:11 ESV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2022-03-28T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2022/03/28/west-virginias-state-food.html", "tags": ["Farm Life","Baking","Cooking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2021/12/27/we-hit-it-out-of.html", "title": "We Hit it Out of the Park!", "content_html": "\n
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We’ve had to divide up the family parties since covid. One faction believes in vaccines and the other does not. It’s not a problem in the summer so much because we can gather outside, but during the winter when we can’t do that, we have to take everyone’s choices into consideration and make the necessary adjustments to holiday festivities.

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My bonus son and his family came yesterday for lunch and to exchange gifts. When I joined the family, I introduced a Colorado tradition of chili and homemade cinnamon rolls. I’ve been baking cinnamon rolls for decades. As a matter of fact, I used to supply one of the local coffee houses in Glenwood Springs with my cinnamon rolls once a week. They were always a big hit and people would call ahead to reserve them. Well, I thought they were good, but they couldn’t hold a candle to the new recipe I tried yesterday!

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The 2021 Recipe of the Year for King Arthur Flour is Perfectly Pillowy Cinnamon Rolls. OMGosh! These things are HEAVEN ON A PLATE! They are light and pillowy soft thanks to an extra step at the beginning of the recipe where you make a Tangzhong…a cooked paste of flour and milk to which you add the wet, then dry ingredients. The recipe sounds complicated, but it is surprisingly easy to make. You know how wonderful Cinnamon Rolls taste when they’re fresh from the oven…but within a very short while, they get hard and dry? Well…these will last up to a week (although I cannot imagine them making it that long the way we eat them!) They are SO good…I will never make a different recipe when I want this particular yummy goodness. They were a major hit…so much so that the youngest grandchild wants to come out this week and learn how to make them!

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We exchanged gifts and had a wonderful visit. I felt much better yesterday and having family around did me a world of good. I didn’t get to see all the family in person, however we at least got to talk with all of them either over the phone or on video chat. It turned out to be a Merry Christmas after all! Inviting Jesus into every circumstance has really helped me feel so much better. That being said, I’m still not terribly excited about the upcoming procedure this week, but I know He’ll be there with me so I have nothing to fear.

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❄️

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“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”

\nRevelation 3:20 ESV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2021-12-27T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2021/12/27/we-hit-it-out-of.html", "tags": ["Health","Comfort","Holiday","Farm Life","Baking","Home"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2021/12/23/its-christmas-so-why-aint.html", "title": "It’s Christmas So Why Ain’t I Jolly?", "content_html": "\n
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Lawzy me…my leggings are lying to me. They’re saying, “Go ahead…eat that cookie. We got you, boo!” I went to the doctor this week and, while I haven’t really gained anything…I sure as heck didn’t lose any. So, I’ll take that as a win, considering what we’ve been through the last couple of years. It’s a wonder I’m not bigger than the broad side of a barn! I baked dozens of Chocolate Chip Cookies yesterday. We like to give cookies to the neighbor children so I’ve been having fun in the kitchen. Unfortunately, I’ve been my own taste tester, too.

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Losing one of my besties last week really took the wind out of my sails. I’m just so blah about the holidays now. Well, let me rephrase that. I don’t have the spirit like I’ve had for Christmases past. I’ve been quietly knitting and puttering around in the kitchen. I’ve tried to stay in the moment and not focus on the loss(es) directly while remaining mindful of the changes they have wrought.

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I’m not as interested in gifts as I used to be…giving or receiving. I don’t look forward with the delicious anticipation of my younger years. As I sit and knit in front of the fire, I examine what is really important. We watched “It’s a Wonderful Life” yesterday afternoon. George Bailey lost everything when he wished he’d never been born and he was shown what the world would be like if he’d never been in it. It was dismal and dark and when he learned his lesson, and was miraculously restored back to the life he thought was so awful, he had a new appreciation for it.

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When you experience the loss of someone you love…especially this close to the holidays…it brings home what is really important. Rushing around in the malls and spending money you don’t have is not the most important. Having the perfectly decorated home and the perfect family photo on the Christmas card and piles of presents under the tree is not the most important. Being exhausted, stressed, overstimulated and cranky is definitely not the most important. Don’t get me wrong…those are great things! Oh, my gosh…when you can pull off the magic of Christmas and make it look all Hallmark and happy and everyone has a great time? Wow…that is really, really awesome and fun. 

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It’s not all that work that’s important, though. It’s the memories you make with the people you love that made all that work worthwhile. It’s the quiet camaraderie of sitting together…knitting, reading, napping in the recliner, watching a tender movie. It’s the filling of the bird feeders. It’s opening the Christmas cards from friends and family. It’s making homemade soup and the house smelling of cookies and cinnamon and tea. 

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We got the kids what they wanted. We got new cell phones this year as our big gift. We bought a new set of pots and pans…the first time since we’ve been together. Mr. FixIt has had trouble with his left hand feeling cold since he had his second stroke. The other day, I found a battery powered hand warmer at Walmart and brought it home for him. He says it really helps. I have a couple little things for him to open that I think he’ll like. I’m hoping next year will be better.

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No, none of these things mean much to me right now. What’s most important for me this year is Jesus’ birthday. Mary and Joseph had nothing but a donkey and what they could carry. Keeping things simple this year has given me time to be more grateful for the Gift God gave us in His Son. I have no idea how I could get through life without that. I’m glad I don’t have to know.

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I’m reminded of that first Christmas without Mr. Virgo and how Santa helped me get through one of the toughest days. If you’ve been with me for a while…you know the story. But I’ll share the link here because it’s just as timely now as it was then. If I could visit with Santa this year, I’d tell him, “My bestie died. I need a new heart.” And he’d drape his arm across my shoulder, just like he did that day nine Christmases ago.   https://www.marshmallowranch.com/santa/

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“fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

\nIsaiah 41:10 ESV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2021-12-23T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2021/12/23/its-christmas-so-why-aint.html", "tags": ["Grief","God","Holiday","Baking"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2021/12/20/snapping-out-of-it-albeit.html", "title": "Snapping Out of It, Albeit Slowly", "content_html": "\n
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Art: Mary Engelbreit

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If there’s one thing I knew about my friend Sparky, it’s that she didn’t suffer a fool. She was no nonsense…honest, sometimes brutally honest. There were a couple of times she took me to task over something I wrote in my blog. When I was talking about downsizing, I was acting like I’d just discovered a new language and everyone should start speaking it. She reminded me that some people come from an abusive relationship and leave with what they can carry. She was very proud of…and attached to…the things she worked hard for as a single woman and I should acknowledge that. She’s right, of course. I just didn’t have that perspective and I appreciated her telling me her thoughts.

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Another time, I was lamenting the loss of something important to me. Perhaps I’d been lamenting a little too loud, and a little too long for her. She called me and told me to snap out of it. She said, “This isn’t like you to whine.” She was right again. She kicked me in the butt when I needed it, but she would fight to the death for you if you were rightfully distressed.

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You don’t just “snap out of” grief, of course. She knew that. But I’m picking up the pieces of my broken heart…again…and getting back to the art of every day living. I baked two different kinds of cookies yesterday in between watching football games and a series on the History Channel about the early financial tycoons of this country…Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Carnegie, Morgan, Ford, etc. I knitted dishcloths in between batches of cookies. 

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Remember how I’ve told you God throws gems down in the flames of our grief? Well, I’ve found a gem in my grieving for Sparky in the form of one of her good friends. He was the person who told us that Sparky died on Monday. He texted me his phone number and I sat on our deck in the unusually warm sunshine of December 13th and cried. We lamented how we would miss her and over the course of the last week, we’ve exchanged several texts…usually sharing the funny kinds of memes that our friend used to share with us and telling funny stories. We met him at the funeral home on Saturday evening. Sparky seems to have brought several of her friends together who didn’t know each other before her passing. This is how we’ll keep her alive…through our collective memories.

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Walnut Horns…recipe shared by Richard Lowe

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Our new friend shared a recipe on his Facebook page this weekend and, since I was baking, I decided to try it. It’s for Walnut Horns. I’ve also heard of them called Walnut Crescents. They’re a different kind of cookie in that they have a yeasty dough…kinda of like a brioche, but not cooked. They’re quite good so I asked him if I could share the recipe with you here and he said yes.

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This is how we navigate grief. We form new bonds. We try new things. We bake, we cry, we grow. And each step brings a little tiny bit of healing.

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❄️

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“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”

\nPsalm 147:3 ESV\n
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#Grief, #Baking, #Friends

\n\n", "date_published": "2021-12-20T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2021/12/20/snapping-out-of-it-albeit.html", "tags": ["Grief","Baking","Friends"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2021/12/16/my-little-feathered-friend.html", "title": "My Little Feathered Friend", "content_html": "\n
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Mr. FixIt and I were sitting in the living room yesterday waiting for his friend to call. They were heading to one of the grandkid’s house to deliver a load of wood for their Christmas present. If it’s warm enough outside, we like to leave the inside door open so we can see outside through the full-length glass storm door. It is a rare occurrence that a bird hits this particular glass, but sure enough, one hit it hard just when Mr. FixIt was walking by.

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He went over to look for the bird when I saw the cat make a beeline for the door. I jumped up and ran out in time to see the cat preparing to leap to the spot halfway up the wall where the bird was clinging to the bricks. Mr. FixIt shooed off the cat while I very carefully took the bird to a safe, quiet place. I could tell she was stunned because her head tipped slightly to the side, her beak was open, and she was breathing fast.

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I follow the friend of a friend…Julie Zickefoose. She is an author, illustrator, birder, blogger, naturalist, and the widow of one of the founders of Bird Watcher’s Digest. Just the other day, she found a little titmouse rustling around in the leaves under a window at her house. She doctored it for a couple days, but the internal damage was too great and the bird died during a seizure. She has rescued many birds, and she does caution that it’s not for the amateur.

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The little white-breasted nuthatch didn’t seem to be badly hurt, just stunned. I followed the steps Julie did and took the little bird to a quiet place and held her gently for a few minutes. I could see she was coming around a little. She closed her mouth, but her head was still a little tipped. I gently stroked her on each side of the neck, moving her head a little each way and after another couple of minutes, she was turning her head on her own. 

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I asked Mr. FixIt to put the cat in the building and I gently placed the bird in the crook of a maple limb in the side yard. I left her alone for an hour to rest. When I came back out, she scooted up higher in the tree and soon flew off into the woods across the road to live another day. It felt good to help this little feathered friend get back on the wing. 

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I baked cookies while Mr. FixIt was off unloading wood for the grandkids. Just a simple Turtle Cookie that I make every year made with those little square pretzels, Rolos, and pecan halves. I’ll bake more today. I’m not feeling particularly festive after losing my friend, Sparky over the weekend. I took advantage of the time alone to play some Christmas music, string some extra lights on the tree where the other ones burned out, and baked. 

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I talked to my friend as I worked. I told her how sorry I was that she was gone. I apologized for not coming to her house and dragging her to the ER myself. I asked her to watch out over us all and that I’ll look for signs she may be around. Who knows…maybe she sent the little bird so I could save it since I couldn’t save her? The world is a mysterious place, isn’t it?

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Sparky’s memorial service is Saturday afternoon. Several of us friends and classmates are arranging a proper charity to send money to. Sparky was a benefactor to several charities and was particularly fond of animals and food pantries. We arranged to donate to a pet food pantry that needed replenishing after sending off a truckload to our neighbors in Kentucky who are reeling from the devastating tornadoes over the weekend.

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There will come a time soon when I will make the conscious decision to pull myself up by the bootstraps and not mope around over my loss. But, this is not the week for that. I will grieve and mourn and cry when I need to and laugh when I can. That’s the thing about grief. Joy and pain can exist at the same time. And eventually there is more joy and less pain. It is the nature of grief.

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❄️

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“Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell; they sing among the branches.”

\nPsalm 104:12 ESV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2021-12-16T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2021/12/16/my-little-feathered-friend.html", "tags": ["Grief","Courage","Baking"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2021/12/11/if-its-christmas-it-must.html", "title": "If It’s Christmas, It Must Be Time For Aebleskivers!", "content_html": "\n
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The #32 pan has a lip on it which keeps the oil from spilling over into your flame when it bubbles up.

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I never heard of aebleskivers till my friend Judy showed me how to make them back in the ‘80s. Aebleskiver literally translates to “apple slices” in Danish and the filled spherical shaped pancakes of the same name are made in a special pan. A long time ago, I had a nonstick aebleskiver pan and used it a few times. It went to the wayside when I downsized and sold my Colorado house. A few years ago, I bought one off of Amazon and when it arrived, it was cast iron. And not the nice smooth cast iron of years past, but the rough cast iron that’s made nowadays.

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I’ve been told that with enough use and good seasoning, these rough pans can become usable, but I’m skeptical. I never had much luck with a Lodge pan, for instance. The surface is so rough and pitted and the food always ends up sticking. I returned the aebleskiver pan to Amazon and didn’t think much of it. These days, if I buy a piece of cast iron cookware, it’s going to be a Griswold.

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The original Griswold foundry was established in Erie, PA  in 1865 and they made door hinges. However, in the 1870’s, they branched out into cookware and became the most respected name in the business. The company lasted till 1957. Their cookware is prized and highly collectible and people hand down their cast iron pans with as much circumstance as handing down family jewels. In many cases, in the hills and hollers of Appalachia…cast iron skillets WERE the family treasures.

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I have a couple of Griswold skillets. I have my grandmother’s cast iron waffle pan, but I cannot recall if it’s a Griswold…I’ll have to look sometime. Mr. FixIt knows by now not to even bother showing me a piece of cast iron unless it’s a Griswold. So, yesterday, when I was sitting in the living room knitting, he sent me a text from Facebook Marketplace. As soon as I opened it, my heart skipped a beat. 

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An Antique Griswold #32 962 Cast Iron Aebleskiver Pan for $85!

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I didn’t even know Griswold MADE an aebleskiver pan! And, not a bad price, apparently…I looked them up and some went for at least $135…sometimes more. I looked over at him. He smiled.

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“Offer them $75.”

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It’s what you do. 

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“It’s only been on there for fifteen minutes. They aren’t going to take that!”

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“Well, you won’t know till you ask.”

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I sent the offer and she accepted! Hmmmmm….maybe I should have offered less. Nope! The offer was just right. No need to be greedy! We made arrangements and were in the truck heading to town in five minutes. I was so excited to find this pan and add it to my collection. And, it’ll be another new tradition I can start with my grandchildren…making Aebleskivers together. I still have the Aebleskiver Cookbook so I’m really looking forward to cleaning up this pan and seasoning it.

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You never know when you wake up in the morning what is going to come your way. What kind of adventure is right around the bend? Who are you going to meet that’s going to change your course? I am firmly convinced our lives are like a mountain stream. We have twists and turns. Sometimes it is rough and rushed. Sometimes it’s slow and placid. But every inch of the journey is an education. I always know God will lead me right where I’m supposed to go.

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Today, I’m happy a funny, lumpy little pan fell in my path.

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For more information about Aebleskivers, check out this website for The Solvang Restaurant.

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?

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“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

\nProverbs 3:5-6 ESV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2021-12-11T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2021/12/11/if-its-christmas-it-must.html", "tags": ["Holiday","Farm Life","Baking","Cooking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2021/12/08/lifes-perfect-imperfections.html", "title": "Life’s Perfect Imperfections", "content_html": "\n
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There is nothing in life that is perfect save for the love of God. Flaws face us at every turn and no matter how hard we try, we will never be perfect. When you operate as a perfectionist, you rob yourself of so many opportunities to laugh at yourself. You cheat yourself out of the glorious feeling of being good enough. That doesn’t mean you don’t strive for better. We all should. Like Little said this summer when we were baking together in our country kitchen in West Virginia….”We should have a baking show! We’ll call it Bear and Nana’s Baking Show. And our tag line will be…It’s Good Enough!” My Little Bear gets it! I wish I would have at that age!

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I finally finished decorating the tree yesterday. The last of the precious vintage and hand blown ornaments went up and I carefully placed them where we can see and enjoy them all season. Mr. FixIt went out to the building and found a timer plug so the lights will automatically come on in the morning and off at midnight. I love to see the lights all day. I’ll take every opportunity to bring more light into my life…especially when the days are getting shorter and the nights still get longer.

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I no sooner finished and put the boxes away when Mr. FixIt walked in and said, “What’s wrong with the tree?” I looked over and wouldn’t you know…another strand of those pre-lit lights went out?!?! My heart sank a little. I tried to figure out if it bothered me enough to take everything off the tree, string new lights on it, and decorate it again and you know? It does not. After we watched The Voice last night and I prepared to come in our room to write to you, I sat on the edge of my seat and stared at the tree. 

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“You know what?” I asked my sweet husband. “Nothing on this earth is perfect so this is just going to be our year of the imperfect tree.” 

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“Eh, we’re getting the new tree top angel pretty soon. Maybe she’ll brighten up the top of the tree.”

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Yep, I’m sure she will. 

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As I was sifting through the box of fragile ornaments, I came across a little treasure trove. I put those ornaments away in February, and I have no memory of tucking this little packet inside. Maybe it got placed there as I absentmindedly searched through boxes at some point since. You know, like the time I finally found a long lost phone book in the freezer. It happened to be in my hand and when my mind went in a different direction, i just set it aside as I picked up the rump roast.

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I sat down in my recliner and sifted through to see what I’d found. There were several photos of past employee parties when Hubby #2 was finishing his internship and residency in Denver. There was a photo of a cloth doll I made when you couldn’t get your hands on a Cabbage Patch kid to save your life. My foster sister and her husband, looking like the babies they were, in their wedding picture. I sent it to their son. There was a funeral card for my step great grandmother. How did these things even get in there? I found two slips of paper torn from notepads with the autographs of Avery Schreiber and Harry Belafonte. I met them back in the early ‘80s. 

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But, the very best treat was a letter from my grandma written in her eighth grade hand. Her letters were always newsy, telling us what was going on at the farm. She always told us about the weather and who had come to visit her and when she’d seen the doctor last. Whenever I find one of her letters, it almost feels like a little visit with her. Mom always read her letters out loud to us. They always started out “Dear Ones…” no matter who she was writing to. Mom wrote back to her faithfully, even though we lived less than thirty miles away. When I married and moved away, her letters were precious jewels to me and I still cherish them when I run across one.

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The next thing we will tackle is the annual Christmas cookies. Mr. FixIt will make his peanut butter cookies with the kisses on top. I’ll search my recipes and come up with some fun ones to bake. We like to give away containers of cookies every year to the neighbors and family and friends. My back is all better now so I’m ready to rumble!

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❄️

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“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”

\nProverbs 22:6 ESV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2021-12-08T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2021/12/08/lifes-perfect-imperfections.html", "tags": ["Family","Aging","Baking","Memories"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2021/11/26/let-the-games-begin.html", "title": "Let the Games Begin!", "content_html": "\n
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I just had to show you this AMAZING sourdough starter. I bought a one ounce jar of starter from King Arthur Baking Company and was thrilled to see it arrived fresh. And look…after only two days of feeding, this thing has taken on a life of its own. It is aromatic and rich and so active…I’m just thrilled! I can’t wait to get in the kitchen and started baking sourdough again.

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Another Thanksgiving is in the books…this one decidedly low key. Mr. FixIt got up at the crack of dawn and went to walk with the kids in the Turkey Trot. I elected to stay home and not overtax these aching bones of mine. I’m hoping after we solve the hyperparathyroidism issue, I can get back to my normal way of life and I can go play with the kids again.

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Our town delivered Thanksgiving meals to our door yesterday morning, so we didn’t even touch the soup beans I had in the crockpot. I’ll make cornbread today and we can have them today. I also decided to wait till today to put the tree up. I love when it’s up and the lights glow in the window, but the idea of slogging everything up the steps and putting it up is not as exciting. As with most things, this Gemini has to be in the proper space to get anything creative done.

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I loved all the video calls I had yesterday. Seeing the kids helps make the distance shrink just a little bit. They look good, they’re healthy and happy and thriving. One cannot ask for more than that in this life.

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I hope your holiday was filled with moments that warmed your hearts. I hope you held close the memories of those no longer with you. And, I hope you made new memories to take with you as we move on down this road of life.

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Life isn’t always easy at this time of year. Pace yourselves, dear ones. Eat well. Drink plenty of water. Get good sleep. Go outside and walk every day. Touch the earth, kiss the sky, and embrace nature. It’s good for what ails ya!

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They’re predicting a little skiff of snow on this morning. And so…it begins.

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?

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“for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?”

\n‭‭1 Timothy‬ ‭3:5‬ ‭ESV‬‬\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2021-11-26T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2021/11/26/let-the-games-begin.html", "tags": ["Comfort","Holiday","Farm Life","Baking","Cooking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2021/11/24/holiday-preparations.html", "title": "Holiday Preparations 2021", "content_html": "\n
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I need this in my life!

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I took a look at my new starter yesterday morning and it was ever so slightly fluffy. Not a lot of bubbles, but not dead looking either. So, perhaps the bleach in the bleached flour didn’t kill my yeasties after all! I Googled it and couldn’t get a definitive answer either way. I sent a question to King Arthur Baking Company and got the following response:

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“Hi Ginny,
Thanks for contacting us here at King Arthur Baking Company!

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Starters are very hearty and can survive on all types of flour. You certainly did not kill it by using bleached flour, and likely the starter is just sluggish due to its time in transit. 
Because your starter has been traveling without food and water, it may take a couple of feedings to get it back on its feet. 
The best way to increase your starter’s activity level is to keep it at room temperature and give it regular feedings. There are tips on how to feed, maintain, and even troubleshoot a starter that’s not working.  
If your starter continues to lack signs of activity after several regular feedings (no bubbles developing or growth of starter) please do get back in touch with us so we can assist further.

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Don't forget to check out our Complete Sourdough Guide, too!”

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I waited till the day warmed up a little. Oh, who am I kidding…it got up to forty-two outside. I had my coffee and my egg sandwich, then I fed the starter…this time with unbleached flour. And, I created two jars of it. Hopefully, this will work. It looked pretty good by bedtime last night so, fingers crossed.

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I cleaned the kitchen and picked up a little around the house and sat down for a little while in the afternoon. I turned on my favorite “show” for this time of year….the 24/7 Crackling Fireplace! I pulled out some knitting and put my feet up while Mr. FixIt went to town for an appointment. I love those little times when I can have the house to myself and recharge. He brought supper home so I didn’t even have to cook. And, upon my request, he stopped at the store and bought some dried beans and ham hocks. I think I’m going to make that for Thanksgiving with some buttermilk cornbread and a homemade apple pie.

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God has blessed us with such abundance. And the idea of feasting till you lay on the couch like a tick about to pop isn’t the only way to give thanks. For years, my dear cousin Tammy has been hosting a big Thanksgiving dinner and, instead of a huge turkey with all the trimmings, she serves a huge pot of brown beans and ham and cornbread. And it’s the BEST Thanksgiving dinner I’ve been to in years. Unfortunately, we are going to miss it again this year. Even though we are vaccinated and boosted, we both have medical procedures coming up in the coming weeks. The likelihood that we would catch covid is very slim, but still…we just don’t want to chance it. We’ll go visit when there aren’t as many people coming and going.

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Big is in New York City with Daughter #1 taking a second look at a college up there. They posted some pictures of their day off playing tourist yesterday. I never knew how they decorated the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center. I always assumed they used a crane. Who knew? They also rode the carriage through Central Park, visited Strawberry Fields, and traveled in and out of Grand Central Station for the first time.

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Decorating the tree at Rockefeller Center is quite an undertaking!

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Little practiced making Brenda Gantt’s Buttermilk Biscuits over the weekend for the family and they were very impressed. I used to go to Colorado every Christmas, but the weather is totally unpredictable. I’ll miss the Annual Cookie Baking Extravaganza and the long drive around town looking at the lights on Christmas Eve. I’ll miss my Colorado kids and my brother. I think it’s been three years or so since I’ve flown. I’ll be heading there in May when Big graduates from high school. The youngest of my bonus granddaughters graduates on the Saturday after Big’s graduation, so I’m going to have to fly this time. I just don’t like flying quite like I used to.

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The holidays can be particularly rough when you are grieving, so if you are heading into this time of year bereaved, please be gentle with yourself. I stumbled across a post I wrote the Thanksgiving after I sold my home and moved to the farm in West Virginia to help my elderly aunt. I’ll share it with you tomorrow and send you love and light and hope for better tomorrows.

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?

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“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

\n1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ESV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2021-11-24T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2021/11/24/holiday-preparations.html", "tags": ["Family","Holiday","Baking"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2021/11/23/getting-started-on-the-starter.html", "title": "Getting Started on the Starter", "content_html": "\n
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I woke up yesterday and smiled at Mr. FixIt.

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“I’m makin’ waffles!”

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“Hey…that sounds great!”

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I padded into the kitchen, got my coffee brewing, and started to gather my ingredients. I like to make high protein pancakes because I try to keep tight control on Mr. FixIt’s blood sugars. Poor man doesn’t stand a chance, marrying a Diabetes Educator. Regular pancakes will cause a spike in blood sugar then when the simple carbs burn off, it’s crash city and that not only feels bad, it’s not good for you.

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I had the buttermilk, milk, and butter combined when I reached for the eggs and came up empty. Well, we had one…I needed three. I went in to tell my sweetheart I was running to town to get some eggs. While I was there, I picked up some more flour, another container of pancake mix, and some sugar free syrup. If you ever want a really good sugar free syrup, try Smucker’s. It tastes great and it’s thick, like regular syrup. Most sugar free syrups are runny. I got back and made a big batch of waffles. I had enough to freeze for at least two more breakfasts. You can just pop them in the toaster like the ones you buy in the freezer section.

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While I was at the store, FedEx delivered my package from King Arthur. I ordered a sourdough crock and a starter. I thought it would be dehydrated, but I was thrilled when it arrived and was fresh! After breakfast, I cleaned the kitchen, filled my flour container with the fresh flour I bought, and fed the new starter. It smelled great. Kinda of sweet and fruity with a hint of sour. The one I was using for the last year and a half had developed a lovely fermented aroma with hints of wine and apples. It had matured so well, and I was hopeful it would last me a lifetime, but I neglected it beyond repair.

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I set the bowl aside with the new starter and saw Mr. FixIt off to run errands. Then I washed all the windows in the family room. I want to put the tree up so I needed to get those windows sparkling clean. I don’t know if you have ever used Norwex products, but I swear by their glass cleaning system. It consists of two cloths. One is a microfiber terry. You wet it and scrub the glass with it. You never use soaps or chemicals with these cloths. The second cloth is smooth and has a kind of sheen to it You wipe the glass dry and polish it with that one. When the cloths get soiled, you boil them in plain water and stir them with a wooden spoon to remove any dirt, let them dry on the back of the kitchen chairs then fold and put them away the next day. So, so simple and they work without streaking.

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By the time Mr. FixIt got home, I was cuddled up in my recliner under my throw. My cousin received her books yesterday and texted. She LOVED them! She wanted to know if I had all those photos so she could scan them. I did her one better. I’ve already scanned them all so I’m in the process of emailing them to her. I can only send five photos in each email because our internet is so slow. But hey…where else do I need to be? It’s a small labor of love for my sweetest cousin.

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I bought candied fruit at the store yesterday so I’ll look for my Aunt Marge’s White Fruitcake recipe today and get started on that. I’ll have Mr. FixIt bring the decorations up from the basement so we can get that going as well. It’s going to be pretty cozy in here soon!

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?

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“for the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move.”

\nJeremiah 10:3-4 ESV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2021-11-23T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2021/11/23/getting-started-on-the-starter.html", "tags": ["Holiday","Farm Life","Baking","Cooking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2021/11/20/give-us-this-day-our.html", "title": "Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread and Batter!", "content_html": "\n
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A hundred lifetimes ago, I baked competitively and had a bit of a reputation around town as The Pie Queen. The year I got four 1st Place and one 2nd Place, I realized God keeps us humble in pretty blatant ways sometimes and I stepped away from competition to let others coming up behind me have a chance at the fame and fun. I never really missed it. Funny, one of the things I kept was that box full of ribbons. Tales of the glory days, I suppose.

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After a lifetime of baking, I know a good baker when I find one. And I’m always on the lookout for a really great bakery. Some time ago, Mr. FixIt and I were driving down a two lane blacktop when I spotted a sign pointing up a holler. “Our Daily Bread and Batter”. (You can find them here: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100074026041367 )  I was intrigued…but I was also hauling a camper. Since I don’t get down that way very often, I never had the occasion to go back, but that little sign stayed with me. I thought, you have to be a pretty good bakery to make a go of it up a West Virginia holler.

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There’s a little house on the main road that goes through our town. Someone came in and tried to open it up as a restaurant, but it just didn’t look very appealing and before long, it was closed up again. The house sat empty for some time. About a month or so ago, I drove through town and saw a sign out front. “Future Home of Our Daily Bread and Batter!” Wahooooo! I went to the post office yesterday to ship off the books to those who wanted them, and on the way home, I pulled into the little parking lot in front of the little blue house for a little…snack!

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As one might expect from the name, I was greeted with artwork and signs of Faith all around. A small basket by the cash register held copies of “Our Daily Bread”…the devotional I used to get from Grandma’s church. I picked one up with a smile, warm memories flooding over me. Or, was that the enticing aromas coming from the little kitchen in the back? Oh, my…it did smell divine in there!

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A small glass case held what was left of the day’s baked treats. It was already 2:00 by the time I got there and someone else had just about cleaned them out. I selected two glazed donuts, two fry pies, and two pepperoni rolls. A few years ago, there was a small country store on the two lane near the farm that sold the best pepperoni rolls I’ve ever had. I have looked everywhere and haven’t found anything near as good…until yesterday! Oh, dear…I can already see that I am going to have to have a weekly ritual throughout the winter to break up the monotony. There’s a small coffee shop that opened this summer. And now, the bakery. Add that to a couple very cute junk shops and a quilt shop housed in the old one room school house, and I can see I may be having some very happy Wednesdays on my calendar!

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I used to have a weekly open house at my needlework shop. Every Wednesday, women would be waiting for me to open the door. They’d haul in their tote bags with whatever project they were working on, and we would sit around the big table in the back of the shop. We’d order lunch in, then the gals would wander around the shop and pick out more projects to work on. The last gal would leave as I locked up the door for the night. Those were always my best days. Not just because I had big sales. That was nice. But, more important was the camaraderie…the communing with other like-minded women. I’ve always said my stitching groups have been my favorite forms of group therapy.

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When I first moved here, I had visions of the big building out back being converted into a space for gatherings, retreats, quilting bees…that sort of thing. Over the years, the hopes of that have slimmed as it’s just so hard for my sweetheart to let go of his “stuff”. I get that…it took losing Mr. Virgo and the need to downsize for me to let go of mine. Now, I picture “the campground”…the space I’m slowly creating to have a ring of campers or tiny homes or a big tent…something where I can gather creative women for an afternoon, or a day, or a weekend. I picture a covered pavilion where we can sit out of the sun or rain…maybe with a fire pit in the middle. It could have sliding doors…or garage doors that could open according to the weather. 

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We always need dreams. It’s what makes us get up in the mornings. It’s what helps us get through hard times. It’s what brings us joy. I’ll keep dreaming and visualizing a real “Marshmallow Ranch”. I will build it…and the gals will join me and we’ll all have a big time! 

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Won’t it be grand?!?!

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?

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“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”

\nProverbs 4:23 ESV\n
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Photos: Mostly from Our Daily Bread and Batter Facebook Page

\n\n", "date_published": "2021-11-20T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2021/11/20/give-us-this-day-our.html", "tags": ["Gratitude","Comfort","Peaceful Moments","Baking","Friends"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2021/11/16/kitchen-mishaps.html", "title": "Kitchen Mishaps", "content_html": "\n
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I’ve been pretty lucky in the kitchen over the years. I have won a box full of ribbons for my pies and cakes and for canned and baked goods in various fairs and contests over the years. I’ve been featured in a couple of local papers when I lived in Glenwood Springs and was known as “The Pie Queen”. I taught baking classes and baked for a couple of the restaurants in town. I can remember two major mishaps in the Colorado kitchen. 

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I was in a hurry to get my cakes to the judging table at the Colorado Mountain Fair one summer. I had to park quite a distance and Daughter #1 helped me carry the cakes. Unfortunately, she tripped and the cake flew into the air, did a flip, and landed on it’s top on the ground. She was devastated and I felt so bad for her. I couldn’t have cared less about the cake itself. Another time, the face didn’t turn out the way I wanted, and at the last minute, I tried to turn it into a kind of trifle thing and it was a disaster. 

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When you win a lot of ribbons, expectations begin to be placed on you to continue with bigger and better desserts. It really was a lot of fun, but it was an incredible amount of work. The refrigerator was off limits to my family and heaven forbid they eat something I’d been working on as a main ingredient for a complex presentation. Presentation is as important as the flavor and texture of anything you enter in competition.

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I haven’t baked like that in years. I finally quit competing when I overheard someone say the contests were getting less entries because my two friends and I took almost all the ribbons…year after year. My last year competing, I won four blue ribbons and one second place. I didn’t figure I could do much better than that. I decided if I quit before being perfect, it would help me stay humble. 

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During the lockdown, I…like so many in this country…began baking. I taught myself how to bake sourdough bread which was quite an undertaking. One of my friends is Kate Dunbar…the Campground Gourmet and currently BBQ Pit Boss on the production of the prequel for Yellowstone, 1883. Kate lost her precious husband a little over a year ago. Just before he died, she sent me some of her dehydrated sourdough starter. 

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I’d been wanting to bake sourdough for years, but it was never the right time for me. Being home a lot presented that opportunity I’d been waiting for and I threw myself into it with great fervor. There are several pounds of sourdough on my backside as a result, but man…was it ever good. I kind of got a little burned out on it after a year. I did continue to feed the starter about twice a month to keep it going. Little and I baked sourdough this summer, and now that the weather is getting colder, I got the starter out to feed it and get it growing.

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I fed the starter last week and it grew like crazy. I decided to feed it one more time before I baked my first loaves of the season. When I looked at my starter the next day, there were grey streaks running through it and I knew something was terribly wrong. I took the link off and it had an off odor and I realized I’d picked up some bad bacteria. Unfortunately, that was my only working starter and I knew I had to throw the whole thing away and sterilize anything I’d been working with…jars, spatulas, measuring cups. 

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I keep the bottle of filtered water and a jelly jar by the stove. I use the jelly jar for the water and warm it up slightly in the microwave before adding it during the feeding. And I use a small coffee measuring cup for the flour. I got into the habit of setting the measuring cup in the top of the jelly jar as it just fit. When I picked everything up to clean it, there was mold on the bottom of the measuring cup. I had inadvertently contaminated my sourdough starter.

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Fortunately, I dehydrated a batch of starter last spring so I’d have some to fall back on should something like this happen, but I was really sad I’d killed my starter because it was really ripening well and had picked up some nice wild yeasts along the way. It was starting to develop a really good flavor. I have started feeding a new starter so we’ll see how that goes. Hopefully I didn’t kill the yeasties with too high heat in the dehydrator. I won’t know for a while.

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?

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“But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’””

\nMatthew 4:4 ESV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2021-11-16T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2021/11/16/kitchen-mishaps.html", "tags": ["Farm Life","Baking","Cooking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2021/11/11/grandmas-kitchen.html", "title": "Grandma’s Kitchen", "content_html": "\n
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(I’m not sure I would attempt to make this recipe as written. I think the measurements are off.)

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This is the cozy time of year…when you’re more apt to fire up the stove and do a little baking just for the comfort of it all. The smells, the tastes, and the memories they bring to mind are just one of the things I love about fall. I’ve always loved the change of seasons when the colors are rich and glorious and the light is filled with gold. I’ve always felt a little melancholy along with the fade from summer to winter, but this year feels a little different. We had such an incredibly busy year, I’m really looking forward to the down time winter inevitably brings.

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We did some needed chores around the place today…Mr. FixIt outside and me mostly inside. It was a beautiful day…warm enough for short sleeves. We didn’t have the stove running in the family room today, so we didn’t have a plethora of pests trying to invade our space. That’s not to say they didn’t dive bomb us when we were outside. Mr. FixIt and I moved the little a-frame around to “the campground” here on Marshmallow Ranch (aka The Ponderosa). We chained it up to another camper and covered it for the winter.

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I worked on a couple of projects today…the family room and the farm memories book I’m putting together for the family. I really need to get it finished so I can order them in time. I was going through a box this week trying to find the property taxes from last year. In the box, I found Grandma’s steno pad where she wrote down her favorite recipes. Honestly, there aren’t very many and for the most part, she didn’t cook with a recipe. But there are a few that just evoked such wonderful, warm memories of the kitchen at the farm.

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Grandma had certain recipes that she made all the time. She always had Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. She said when her kids were growing up in the depression, the ingredients for those nutrient rich handfuls of heaven were affordable and with a glass of milk from the dairy cows she kept, she could always rest easy knowing her kids were getting something good to eat for breakfast. She often made Raisin Filled Cookies in the fall when the walnuts and hickory nuts had fallen. She made box cakes but always dressed them up. Pineapple Upside Down Cake was my mom’s favorite. My Uncle Bud and I loved the Yellow Cake with Penuche Frosting. I made Grandma’s Brown Sugar Pie for Thanksgiving the first year I moved back to West Virginia and my Aunt Peeps swore you couldn’t tell the difference between it and the ones Grandma used to make…a high compliment coming from her.

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Grandma always said she couldn’t make a pie crust that was fit to eat. That’s not entirely true. There were many times when she took the extra crust, laid it out on an old flat pot lid, sprinkled it with salt and baked it plain. I could eat my weight in that…seriously. But, often her pie crust was dry and flavorless. When I found her pie crust recipe in the notebook, I had a rush of memory. I made pies for her and she raved over the crust. I told her how I made mine and she wrote it down. I don’t think the quantities are exactly right in this recipe, but it is pretty much the one I used when I baked for competition. I can’t guarantee you this would come out right if made the way it’s written so I’ll just say…let’s look at it as a great example of my grandma’s handwriting and her love for me that she would attempt to write down my recipe.

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Anyway, as I read through and did some editing yesterday, I took pictures of the recipes most of us would remember and added them in the book. I know everyone will love seeing them in her own handwriting. I certainly do. I’ve got the price down to $42 a copy. I know that’s exorbitant for a memory book, but it’s the best I can do with Shutterfly. If you know of any other place to self publish high quality photo books, please let me know.

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?

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“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”

\nGalatians 6:9 ESV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2021-11-11T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2021/11/11/grandmas-kitchen.html", "tags": ["Family","Farm Life","Baking","Memories","Cooking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2021/11/10/bugs-and-buttermilk-biscuits.html", "title": "Bugs and Buttermilk Biscuits", "content_html": "\n
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This was before they got bad!

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Oh…the continuing saga of the lady beetles. It was a wonderfully warm day yesterday. And, you know what that means? The uptick in the number of lady beetles takes an astronomical leap. This is my fifth November in this house and I’ve never seen an infestation this bad. Actually, now that I think about it, last fall was fairly light in the beetle department, so maybe that’s what they’re so bad this year. I vacuumed them up several times during the day clear into the evening. This is the worst I’ve seen since 2004 when my mom died.

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The day started out good, though. I had a hankerin’ for buttermilk biscuits and sausage gravy for breakfast. I’m getting better at making them. Like learning how to bake with sourdough, these things take time to perfect. I think this batch was the best so far and I actually ended up handling the dough more than usual. Maybe I haven’t been working them quite enough out of fear of making them tough.

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\n[youtu.be/pev2kxd5Y...](https://youtu.be/pev2kxd5YCU)\n
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Once things were put away, we got to work scrubbing the little a-frame and getting it ready to put away for the winter. We had it under the maple tree which was a HUGE mistake. It had little black spots all over it that looked like mildew. But, with a lot of elbow grease and a scrub brush, we finally got it clean. We’ll move it around to the “campground” tomorrow so it doesn’t run the risk of a limb falling on it this winter, then we’ll do a little work on it and sell it come springtime.

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It was a day of putting things away and doing laundry and changing beds. I cooked my own version of a rotisserie chicken in the Ninja combo pressure cooker/air fryer. It was yummy with those leftover biscuits, crinkle cut fries, and macaroni salad. We’ll need to do some mowing today. I thought for sure we were done for the year, but alas…we don’t seem to be. We need to run the snake down the drain out back again before the winter rains set in. Mr. FixIt is going to start cleaning out the big building soon. And I need to go through the boxes downstairs and get rid of more stuff. 

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We are having an early Thanksgiving Dinner tomorrow with the FixIt Family! I can’t wait!

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?

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“While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.””

\nGenesis 8:22 ESV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2021-11-10T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2021/11/10/bugs-and-buttermilk-biscuits.html", "tags": ["Family","Comfort","Farm Life","Baking","Cooking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2021/09/17/relaxashun.html", "title": "RE-LAX-A-SHUN", "content_html": "\n
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Yesterday was a “self-care” day. I slept like a log and woke up at 9:00. What a treat! Mr. FixIt came out to the camper and asked if I wanted to go with him to take the truck to get the tires changed, then head off with Ben & Sue to buy a mirror for their new bathroom. As much as I love them all…I declined. I wanted to stay home and chill.

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I was going to do laundry. It was in the truck. Cool!

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I wanted to find a file that I’d put on Ben & Sue’s computer, but when they upgraded to a new computer, the file went out with the trash. That was fine, too.

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I surfed a little on my phone and read the news. Boring.

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What could I do that would be fun AND productive? Ahhhh…I remembered there was still some buttermilk leftover from the biscuit baking lesson the day before. So, I pulled out the ingredients and Little’s Biscuit Bowl and whipped up another batch. I’m getting pretty good at it now. The biscuits had just a few more minutes left to bake when Sue texted to see if I wanted something from Dickey’s BBQ. I told them if they brought it home to eat, there would be hot biscuits fresh from the oven. They hurried home and we ate all but two of them with some yummy BBQ! It was divine…if I do say so myself!

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Daughter #2 asked me to come over after work yesterday to look at some china she inherited to see if it was worth keeping. She and her stepsister inherited their grandmother’s china. I use the term loosely. One set was clearly purchased as premiums from a grocery store. The other was ok, but dated. to make matters worse, when the dishes were shipped to them, the sets were mixed together so that there wasn’t a complete set of either pattern. 

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My daughter is not a china kinda gal. Her life is as simple as she can possibly make it. Her stepsister didn’t want the dishes either. I suggested she donate them to a charitable resale shop. My research showed there really wasn’t a market for any of it.

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I picked up my two decorative presents my daughter has held onto for the last two years…one was a camper-shaped bird feeder and the other was a decorative teardrop shaped camper for my collection. I don’t think I need anymore little camper tchotchkes now. I don’t have the room for more. These are so cute though and thoughtfully purchased.

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When I got back to Ben and Sue’s, I did what little laundry I had left in the truck and called it a day. It was so relaxing and peaceful. One more sleep and we head back east. The kids come back over tonight to tell us goodbye one last time. Bittersweet.

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?

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“And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.”

\nMark 6:31 ESV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2021-09-17T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2021/09/17/relaxashun.html", "tags": ["Colorado","Family","Peaceful Moments","Baking"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2021/09/16/how-to-celebrate-years-of.html", "title": "How to Celebrate 50 Years of Marriage? Breakfast for Supper!", "content_html": "\n
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While I’ve been having a wonderful visit, and I really haven’t been running around like I usually do when I’m in Colorado, it turns out…I’m two years older with hyperparathyroidism symptoms that knock my socks off sometimes. I’ve been planning a nice supper to celebrate Ben & Sue’s 50th Wedding Anniversary ever since we arrived. We’ve also been talking about making homemade Buttermilk Biscuits with Little. So, I decided to make a big southern breakfast for supper last night.

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Little got out of school at 1:00 yesterday. Daughter #1 invited me to come early and she’d give me a tour of her school and introduce me to staff. Afterwards, Little and I went to the grocery store to buy the necessary ingredients. Mr. FixIt and I brought a tote from West Virginia with some things they left when they came for a visit. One was the biscuit bowl I bought for Little. 

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When we got back to the house, we made three batches of biscuits to make sure we got it down pat. We also took a video of the whole process and Sue wrote down the directions. I made a huge skillet of fried potatoes, a double batch of sausage gravy, half a pound of bacon, and a pan of grits. We had several kinds of jams and a jar of Honey Butter I picked up from Whole Foods. 

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I know not to eat late…especially rich foods like that. Yet…ohhhhhh, they’re all so good. And sure enough…I’ve been paying the price ever since. I was supposed to go have lunch with my sweet friend Michelle today, but I knew by the way I felt last night, I wouldn’t be very good company today. I took a rain check for the next time I’m in. I’m disappointed. I’m sure she is, too. A third friend was supposed to join us but she was possibly exposed to Covid on Tuesday, so she couldn’t come either. 

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Sometimes, disappointing or not, you just have to say no. We have a huge drive ahead of us in a couple of days and I need to be at my best. Today I’ll take it easy and do a little laundry. Mr. FixIt is going to get the new tires on the truck. The kids were over till late last night and will come back Friday evening to say goodbye. I can’t believe how fast it’s going. It really has been a wonderful trip.

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?

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“So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”

\n1 John 4:16 ESV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2021-09-16T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2021/09/16/how-to-celebrate-years-of.html", "tags": ["Family","Baking","Littles","Cooking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2021/04/01/a-sweet-homecoming.html", "title": "A Sweet Homecoming", "content_html": "\n
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Happy April, everyone!

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I took my time over at the farm yesterday morning. I was awakened early by a hard rain driving down on the old tin roof. That house was built at least 85-90 years ago and it has the original roof on it...to the best of my recollection. That’s not 100%, you know. I laid there for at least an hour listening to the roar before I drifted off to sleep again. Having just that little sheet over the window kept the morning sun from rousing me too early. When I finally woke up, the creek was roaring. Unfortunately, I forgot to put the rain gauge out on Tuesday so I am not sure how much rain we had, but judging by the creek I’d say upwards of a half to three-quarter of an inch.

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I love the window right beside the bed in Grandma’s room. You get a nice breeze in the room without it being too cold. As time went on, Mr. FixIt and I texted our “Good Mornings” to each other. We both slept well. Finally, I decided it was time to gather my things and head back home. There’s always the prerequisite tidying up and packing the truck and having one more cup of coffee in Grandma’s chair. By the time I left, it was nearly 2:30. 

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As always, Mr. FixIt and I were tickled to see each other. Just a couple of days away is a nice break but not so long that we can’t stand it. I walked in the house to the sweetest smell of a Pineapple Upside Down Cake baking in the oven. My mom wasn’t a terrific cook, but she was known far and wide for this cake and she taught me how to make it...therefore, I’m a bit of a snob about it. I have to tell you...my husband makes an awesome version. His has a little less brown sugar, a little more butter, and he uses some of the pineapple juice in the cake batter making it incredibly moist. I rarely bother with the Maraschino Cherries any more, but he added them and I just thought he did a terrific job.

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The only job around the Ponderosa yesterday was removing the old storm door we are replacing. We need to paint that door as well as the end of the house, but we are in the middle of a few days of rain...and maybe even a little bit of snow! Last night’s low was predicted to be 29 degrees. Tonight and tomorrow night are 22 and 23 respectively. It’s hard to go back to chilly weather when you’ve had nice, hot days...but at least we don’t get spring blizzards like they do in Colorado.

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I am watching the redbud very closely because I’d like to make a batch of Redbud Jelly this spring. My friend Stacie gave me a jar of it last year and...oh, my....it is such a pretty and delicate pink. This time last year, I was still baking two loaves of sourdough bread every week and it tasted wonderful toasted with a slathering of real butter and some of that jelly. It’s no wonder I have all this weight to lose after eating my way through the pandemic! You can find the recipe for Redbud Jelly HERE.

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Today is my annual pilgrimage to see my dermatologist. I had a melanoma (in situ) removed from my arm in the summer of 2005, so I am extremely careful to get checked regularly. As we, ahem...ripen, it is vitally important that we watch our skin for any changes. We were the sun-worshippers, were we not? My girlfriends and I used to mix up a bottle of baby oil and iodine and use it for suntan lotion. Then, in the ‘80s and ‘90s, I used a tanning bed...never giving it a thought. My wrinkles are reminding me of those carefree...and careless...days of my youth. Get yourself checked, dear ones. I want you all safe and healthy and happy!

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“and distributed among all the people, the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, a cake of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins to each one. Then all the people departed, each to his house.”

\n2 Samuel 6:19 ESV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2021-04-01T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2021/04/01/a-sweet-homecoming.html", "tags": ["Farm Life","Baking","Marriage","Cooking"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2021/03/02/day-the-walkabout-and-a.html", "title": "Day 351: The Walkabout and a Missing Pie", "content_html": "\n
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See, this is why I don’t bake the good stuff...I eat it. We polished off that whole apple pie in little more than twenty-four hours. It’s ridiculous....but OH SO GOOD. Life is short, right? Eat dessert first. Use the good dishes. Wear that hat. Don’t wait for a special occasion. TODAY is the special occasion!

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Yeah, I know...I’ve worked in medicine long enough that I should be encouraging you all to eat right and exercise and stay fit and live forever. And, there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m sure I’ll get back to that really soon. After all, mowing season is coming and I’ll be working my butt off again. But, I’m not going to beat myself up over a few pounds gained because, dang it...it was a pretty rough year. And, by golly, we made it through! There is something to celebrate there, I think.

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Being good to yourself isn’t always about doing all the right things. Sometimes it’s about doing the right things for you...right now. The “right things” change with the season and the seasons of life are not defined by the elements or the months or the time the sun sets. The seasons of life are noted when you feel the paradigm shift and the earth moves under your feet. You feel it when your world shakes you and wakes you and you ride every wave till you’re spent. You feel it when your heart breaks open and spills on the ground. And, sometimes you feel it when you hear the water rushing in a full creek or peepers in the holler. This is what living close to the ground has given me. I feel my roots so deep in the West Virginia red clay mud.

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I love when Mr. FixIt and I go out and walk the land we own. It changes every day. We’ve heard hawks screaming in the surrounding trees. We’re convinced they’ve been feeding on the moles and voles sticking their little heads up from the saturated ground because we see the holes in their tunnels. I love the way the fog starts rolling in as the sun sets. It rolls like a carpet, spreading out from the creeks and settling in the low places.

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There are more and more migrating birds showing up. I haven’t taken time yet to sit and watch the feeders to identify them, but I hear their calls in the morning when I awaken. The window is always left open and the flowering quince and forsythia are just outside our bedroom. I love to hear the world wake up from its quiet slumber. We still haven’t had thunderstorms yet, but they’ll be coming before long. We have a stretch of sunny yet cool days coming, then warming up by next weekend. These are the days I love the best in West Virginia.

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When life is good...it is very, very good.

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“While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.””

\nGenesis 8:22 ESV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2021-03-02T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2021/03/02/day-the-walkabout-and-a.html", "tags": ["Aging","Be Joyful!","Farm Life","Baking"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2021/03/01/day-rain-peepers-and-apple.html", "title": "Day 350: Rain, Peepers, and Apple Pie!", "content_html": "\n
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I love sixty-four degrees! We keep the thermostat at 64 degrees year round. We have a gas stove in the family room that keeps us a little toastier, but the rest of the house stays at 64. In the summer, the AC is on...until the heat of the summer breaks. Then...as soon as I see the outdoor temperature is 64, the AC is turned off and the windows are thrown open wide. The opposite is true in the winter. As soon as the thermometer hits that magic number, I can breathe again. It means spring is well on its way...even if there are more freezes, or even snow after.

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We had heavy rain yesterday. When I woke up, I could see the water dripping from the eaves out the window and knew the rains had come. I could hear the roar of heavier rain as it came over the far hill....louder and louder as it made its way closer and closer...till it pounded the roof over my head. I smiled. I love, love, love rain. Maybe that’s why I love West Virginia so much. We have received between 1.5 and 2.5 inches of rain from this storm.

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Sometime in the afternoon, I got up from my comfy red chair to make that apple pie I told you about. As I peeled the apples by hand, I mentioned to Mr. FixIt it was a good thing I don’t like to peel apples very much, because I dearly love apple pie and we’d be having it far too often. I make my pie crust in my food processor because it’s ready in no time. But peeling the apples. Ugh. I try to make it a meditation, but that doesn’t always work. I glanced at the clock and decided I knew the perfect way to pass the time.

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I moved our little Amazon Echo into the kitchen where I sat at the breakfast bar. I knew my Colorado peeps were gathered at Ben & Sue’s house to celebrate Big’s birthday, so I made a video call. As I finished the apples, and rolled out the dough, I visited with my family and sang Happy Birthday with them. It was so much fun! We all laughed as Big opened her box in a box in a box times five to get to the money she requested. Her mom is taking her to the Olympic Swim Trials this summer to observe, then they’re coming here. We will keep Little with us while they go look at college campuses. (How is this possible???) I cannot tell you how incredibly excited I am to get my family here!!!

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I heard the very first sounds of peepers up the holler last evening...their bright and cheery calls beckoning their mates to do what little froggies do at this time of year. The creeks are roaring and our yard is filled with water, but our work on the drain last week was successful. It’s working like it’s supposed to, which is a great relief. 

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As I write this, I again remind myself of our many blessings for which we are so grateful. I think of my dear friend who lost her only sister yesterday. I think of another dear friend who lost a cousin to suicide last week. And another dear friend whose niece is suffering “locked-in syndrome” after a brain bleed and a major stroke right as they were about to have their first baby. It kind of makes any complaints I may have seem pretty puny in comparison. God is so good to us and provides for our needs. I am so grateful I have His presence in my life...to lean on in times of trouble. It’s easy to forget to thank Him when things are going great, so I’m especially mindful to express my gratitude.

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Goodbye, February...Hello, March!!! I hope you have a pleasant Monday and things go well in your world this week.

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“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”

\nJames 1:17 ESV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2021-03-01T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2021/03/01/day-rain-peepers-and-apple.html", "tags": ["Change","Farm Life","Baking","Cooking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2021/02/20/day-chocolate-chip-cookies-fix.html", "title": "Day 341: Chocolate Chip Cookies Fix Everything!", "content_html": "\n
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I’ve been on the prowl for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe for the last three decades. There was a bakery restaurant in Glenwood Springs called The Daily Bread. It was THE place to go for breakfast and lunch and I’ve spent countless hours lingering over Terry’s Eggs Benedict or my favorite salad that was served in something akin to a wash tub. I’d order mine with extra turkey, avocado, and no croutons. As soon as the server took my order to the back, I’d hear John call out...”Ginny’s here!!!” I loved that place.

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And, as much as I loved all the wonderful dishes they served, their signature was a huge chocolate chip cookie. It was a good four inches around and nearly 3/4 of an inch thick. It was dense and chewy and rich...the perfect balance of buttery goodness, deep dark chocolate, and chunks of pecans. Oh...they were divine. And, try as I might, I could neither pry the recipe out of Terry or deconstruct the cookie myself to recreate it. Nothing I ever made came close...until this week.

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One of my little guilty pleasures the last few months has been watching cooking videos on Facebook. Cooking with Brenda Gant and Emmymade are my very favorites. Emmy is bright and young and spunky and she always tastes her creations and gives a solid critique which makes you almost taste what she’s made. Brenda, with her grey ponytail and her southern drawn and her praise for Jesus mixed in makes her recipes for things like her Buttermilk Biscuits and Sawmill Gravy seem like something I absolutely HAVE to try.

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I also enjoy watching Kaleb share recipes from the kitchen of The Grey Boxwood Farm where he lives in his grandma’s house. Sound familiar? When I saw his recipe for the Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie, I knew right then, I needed to try it. This recipe uses a couple of ingredients you don’t usually see...molasses and malted milk powder. The former I had in my pantry, but malted milk powder was nowhere to be found in our semi-rural area...not even over at the Belpre Kroger store, which is a darned close comparison to the grocers I was used to in Colorado. You can find a much wider variety of hard to find items there, but alas...no malted milk powder. I had to order it from the internet.

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Baking, for me, is something I must be in the right frame of mind in order to do it well. Much like writing, if I’m not in the right headspace, you can just about guarantee the results will not be worth the time and effort put in. I saved the video in my Facebook files to look at when the mood struck me to bake them. That happened this week when we were snowed in. Like I told you the other day, when I bake cookies, I really want to mix, bake, and eat them in relative short order. These cookies are more involved and the dough really should chill in the fridge for twenty-four hours to get the best flavor.

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It was all I could do to resist baking even one pan full of cookies before that time was up. But I resisted and I have to say, the results were surprisingly good. Still not the Daily Bread chocolate chip cookie my memory carries, but maybe I’ve just built them up so much in my mind that I’m remembering something bigger and better than they really were...I don’t know. But these are really, really good. Crispy golden around the edges, thick and chewy in the center, with a depth of flavor you don’t normally find in a Tollhouse Cookie recipe. I attribute that to the malted milk powder and molasses. Just enough difference to make you sit up and take notice.

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I was so engrossed in mixing and baking these and staying present in the moment, I didn’t take any photos, so I lifted a screenshot from the video itself. I can’t take credit, but those are exactly what my cookies looked like. We dropped off a container at the former Mrs. FixIt’s house yesterday when we went to town for birdseed and prescriptions and ham hocks for my sweetheart’s Split Pea Soup. (That soup is NOT my thing, but I love him.) We are slowly polishing off the rest of the cookies, even though I packaged them in six-to-a-bag ziplocks for the freezer. (No...they never made it downstairs. Sue me.)

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If you want to try a really great chocolate chip cookie, check out the Wyse Guide Facebook page HERE. If you make them, come back and let me know what you think.

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“But don't forget to help others and to share your possessions with them. This too is like offering a sacrifice that pleases God.”

\nHebrews 13:16 CEV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2021-02-20T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2021/02/20/day-chocolate-chip-cookies-fix.html", "tags": ["Farm Life","Baking","Cooking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2021/01/06/day-baking-buttermilk-biscuitsthe-old.html", "title": "Day 296: Baking Buttermilk Biscuits...the Old Fashioned Way", "content_html": "\n
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Along with grief comes a lot of triggers to bad, sad, traumatic and scary memories that can be really hard to deal with. I had PTSD after Mr. Virgo died and I really wanted to just turn off my brain and never remember anything again...ever. Thank goodness, that’s not how it works. I had “grief brain” for a couple of years, but as the bad memories faded to the background, I was really pleased the good memories could billow up in their place.

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I was scrolling through the suggested videos on Facebook the other night. I watch a lot of cooking videos. And, those cute little “talking” dachshunds...Moonpie Starbox and her little sister, Buttercup. I get the biggest kick out of “Cooking with Brenda Gantt.” She is so country...she could be my kin. She has great cooking videos. Nothing fancy, she just shows you how it’s done. Well, how SHE does it. I love her!

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I came across this video about making biscuits in a dough bowl and something way, way deep back in the recesses of my mind flickered. I had to think about it and cogitate a bit till I placed where I’d seen this before. My grandma’s sister-in-law was a small, wiry woman that lived in a little house a few miles from the farm. Aunt Ann was great! She always had a feedsack apron on over her house dress. She might have anything from a little chick to a baby squirrel or fresh farm eggs in her pockets any given time. She had those thick lenses in her glasses that magnified the ornery sparkle in her eye and a laugh like rainwater...smooth and clear and easy.

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We used to go over to visit Aunt Ann when I’d stay with Grandma some during the summer. She always had ducks and geese and chickens and more fresh eggs than she knew what to do with. There were kittens and puppies and who knows what all running around her yard. We would sit on the porch and talk for a spell and eventually it was time to go home. I remember always feeling sad that it was time to leave. I’m so glad Daughter #1 has memories of her Great Aunt Ann, too.

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I will not swear on a stack of Bibles that it was Aunt Ann that made her biscuits like this, but that’s who I immediately thought of when I saw this video. I also remember my Aunt Peeps telling me about Grandma Teters’ (her first husband’s grandmother) making her biscuits in a dough bowl. They had a house along the “turnpike” where teamsters stopped overnight to rest. It was the predecessor to the B&B. When I went to visit my Aunt Peeps one summer and she sent me home with Grandma Teters’ crocks. 

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That big blue crock on the left was Grandma Teters’ dough bowl that she made biscuits in like Brenda Gantt in her video. The next blue crock is one I purchased along the way. The third blue crock was used for whatever was needed...serving at the table, carrying scraps to the pigs and chickens, or maybe mixing up a bowl of cucumbers and onions with a little vinegar, water, sugar, salt, and pepper...a sort of “refrigerator pickle” commonly served in the summer. Maybe with a little cut up tomatoes in it. Refreshing!

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The little yellow crock with the light blue and pink stripes around the top was Grandpa Teter’s “sody crock.” He suffered from a “sour stomach”, so whenever he walked past his bowl of baking soda, he’d scoop up a finger full and eat it, washing it down with some spring water. That was the early equivalent of Alka Seltzer or Tums. The two small crocks have cracks in them so I don’t use them. I keep them inside another bowl so they don’t get bumped and broken. 

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When I downsized, there were a few things that I absolutely refused to part with, and these crocks were among my most treasured possessions. And now, I have this vague memory and the knowledge of just exactly how Grandma Teters made her biscuits in that big, blue crock.

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You can watch Brenda Gantt making Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits the old fashioned way HERE.

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?

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“Everything that happens has happened before; nothing is new, nothing under the sun.”

\nEcclesiastes 1:9 CEV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2021-01-06T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2021/01/06/day-baking-buttermilk-biscuitsthe-old.html", "tags": ["Fun","Farm Life","Baking","Cooking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2020/12/23/day-special-deliveryjust-in-time.html", "title": "Day 284: Special Delivery...Just in Time for Christmas!", "content_html": "\n
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I’ve been feeling kinda blue about Christmas this year. Covid has us sequestered and the kids all feel like they could just as well be on the moon. Top that with our firm commitment NOT to buy each other gifts this year and the season has just been...blah. I certainly have no complaints about the gift thing. We bought ourselves new recliners this year. Then the microwave went out and we replaced that. We had a trip to the beach in October. And there was an unexpected assessment on the condo this year, so we figured that was plenty. There really isn’t anything we really need anyway.

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I’ve been so blessed to have all this time and supplies to do so much canning this year and those things don’t come cheap. But there’s only so much room in the kitchen and I’ve long since run out of space to store my small appliances. There are the shelves in the basement where I can store them but I know just as soon as I cart them downstairs, I’ll need one of them. Some of them are fairly heavy and unwieldy. An idea has been bouncing around in my mind for the last several weeks.

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My dear friend Ryb had a beautiful piece of furniture built in her Colorado kitchen to store her small appliances and baking pans. I always admired that, and vowed someday to have one. Then, divorce took away my big country kitchen and the house I built was just too small for such a cumbersome piece. Segue to 2020 and the Ponderosa. Another country kitchen, but still not enough room to house all my kitchen gadgets. I’ve been scouring Facebook Marketplace for something that might work but nothing was catching my eye. So, I did what I always do...I gave it to God and went about my business.

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Yesterday morning, I was having my coffee when a notification came across my phone...from Mr. FixIt...who was sitting on the other side of the living room. 

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“Look at this,” he said.

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It was a three piece, solid wood bookcase cabinet combo. An early entertainment center, really. But lovely. Country styling. Light oak. Interesting. I figured it would be way more than I wanted to pay. I kinda had a price in mind...$300.

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“Nice! How much to they want for that?”

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“$300!”

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“Each piece?”

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“No...total!”

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We looked at each other and smiled. I texted the lady and made arrangements and by 8:00 last night, the office was cleaned out, the furniture was in it, and it was holding all my appliances! I mean...if I would have measured out the space I needed to house my stuff, I couldn’t have done any better than this! It is so solid and heavy (thank you Harry and Joe for helping bring it home!) Seriously, it took three men to get it over here.

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As I carted my appliances from the floor of our dining room into the office adjacent to the kitchen, I placed each one in just the perfect spot. And with each trip, my heart got lighter and lighter. Because, I realize how truly blessed I am. I know there are people struggling mightily this year to just put food on the table. We are blessed this pandemic hit when we were retired and not when we were trying to raise a family. But, mostly...my heart was light because God always provides us with what we need. 

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Did I NEED that piece of furniture? No, I did not. Did it brighten my heart and fill me with a sense of awe that God hears us? Yes, it did. God isn’t a Sears & Roebuck Catalog. You don’t just send out wishes and He fills them like the genie in the lamp. But He provides and wants to hear from us about all our hopes and dreams and wishes. Sometimes He says no...a LOT of times He says no. But...sometimes He says yes! We have been so blessed to be able to help out food banks and assist a few people during these trying times. This gift makes it easier for me to be organized and cook and provide for others without breaking the bank so that we CAN keep helping others. I am so humbled that God is so good.

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?

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“You will be blessed in every way, and you will be able to keep on being generous. Then many people will thank God when we deliver your gift.”

\n2 Corinthians 9:11 CEV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2020-12-23T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/12/23/day-special-deliveryjust-in-time.html", "tags": ["Faith","Uplifting Stories","Positive Energy","West Virginia","Gratitude","Change","Farm Life","Baking","Cooking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2020/12/21/day-ill-be-at-home.html", "title": "Day 282: I’ll Be (at) Home for Christmas...You’re Always in my Dreams", "content_html": "\n
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I have been in a whirlwind the last couple of weeks, as I’m sure you all have been as well. Shopping, wrapping, baking...and baking...and baking some more. Along with the baking comes a little nibbling here and there. Hey, it’s called quality control, right? It is really not a problem till your body puts on the brakes and says, “Whoa, lady! What the heck are you trying to do to me???” Yeah...that was me yesterday morning.

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I’ve been sleeping well the last week...mostly out of sheer exhaustion, I’m sure. But Saturday was one of those toss and turn nights. When I finally got to sleep in the wee hours of the morning, it wasn’t long till I jerked awake suddenly at a strange sound. I sat up and looked around the room. There was sweet Mr. FixIt....sound asleep...and singing away! I shushed him and he just kept right on singing. I smiled to myself. Whatever he was dreaming, he was sure having fun. I shook him gently and he rolled over. I laid back down, but sleep was over.

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I got up and padded into the kitchen to start my coffee and sat down to read the news. You know, there’s a lot in the news this year that is upsetting for the strongest at heart. As I said in my post yesterday, I’ve been feeling the strain of the year in not seeing my loved ones like I want to. Between that, and the virus, and the news...and overdosing on sweets...I just felt sick. I had nothing pressing that needed to be done, so I ended up laying back down after Mr. FixIt got up. 

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Sometimes a little self care is all you need to get yourself back on track. As I laid there, having my conversation with Jesus, I was reminded I could look at this in two ways. I could see the coming weeks with trepidation and fear of the unknown. Or, I could look forward to the joy after the trials and tribulations that come with life. I chose joy, pulled the covers up around my chin, and closed my eyes.

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My step-daughter and her boyfriend came over in the late afternoon to exchange gifts. At first we had a fire, but it started drizzling. So, we sat on the front porch with the propane heater running and had a lovely visit as a misty, gray rain fell. It was so nice to see them. We sent the gifts for the grandkids and their babies and will look forward to a socially distanced visit somewhere down the line. 

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No, this Christmas doesn’t look anything like holidays past. But, if we are healthy, happy, and have many joyful times ahead to look forward to...together...we can make it through this. We are doing our part to try to flatten the curve and give the front line workers a break. I know, we’re all tired of this. But, we must keep calm and carry on. We have a personal responsibility to do everything we can to protect each other and bring these numbers DOWN.

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Stay home. This is our gift to humanity.

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“I’ll be home for Christmas...if only in my dreams.”

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?

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“The true light that shines on everyone was coming into the world.”

\nJohn 1:9 CEV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2020-12-21T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/12/21/day-ill-be-at-home.html", "tags": ["Health","Comfort","Holiday","Baking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2020/12/17/day-baking-down-memory-lanegrandmas.html", "title": "Day 278: Baking Down Memory Lane...Grandma’s Raisin Filled Cookies", "content_html": "\n
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From as early as I can remember, I was in the kitchen making something. Out of necessity, I learned to cook the meals at home when I was still in grade school. Mom was...ummmm....challenged in the kitchen, as it were. Her culinary concoctions were enough to make me beg her to let me go to the cooking school for kids at our local community center one summer. Things were much better around the table at our house after that.

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As with many of us, this challenging year has driven me back to the kitchen and to my roots. As I was preparing to bake cookies this week, I was reminded of Grandma’s favorite cookie. She made a huge batch of Raisin Filled Cookies whenever my Uncle Bud and his family came to the farm for a visit. My uncle would whisk in, wrap his mom in a big bear hug, and reach around her for a handful of these delectably soft cookies before he headed back out the door to empty the car.

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My uncle lost his wife a couple of years ago, then continued to care for his sister...my Aunt Peeps...till she finally had to go into a nursing home. My aunt passed away this summer, and Uncle Bud has been on his own for the first time in his life. He was one of those men who honestly didn’t know his way around a kitchen. Aunt Viv was a stay-at-home mom and always took care of everything. As I went through my list of cookies I like to make, I thought of my uncle alone up on that mountain and decided I’d make Raisin Filled Cookies for him.

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These were never my favorite cookie. Grandma always used black walnuts in them because that’s what she had available. Back then, you used what you could produce on the farm and we had vast woods around us. My Uncle Bob would gather walnuts every fall...rubbing the husks off them till his hands were stained brown. They were like that for months. Then, in the winter, Bob would crack the walnuts and Grandma would pick the nut meats out and freeze them for use throughout the year.

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Black walnuts make my mouth sore when I eat them. I get blisters and I really don’t like the flavor as they’re quite strong. I called my uncle yesterday and told him I didn’t have walnuts and would pecans be ok. He said he actually preferred pecans, so pecans it was. I cooked the raisin filling and after the news, I made the dough. I ran out of dough and still had three to four cups of the filling left so I may make some Raisin Bar Cookies today.

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I was really pleased with the recipe, but they were much sweeter than I remember my grandma’s to be. She was pretty frugal with her ingredients. Even though they’re a little labor intensive, I think they were well worth the effort and I’ll make them again. The sourdough starter is well fed and bubbling so I’m going to make the dough today and bake it tomorrow.

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You can get the recipe for the Raisin Filled Cookies HERE.

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“Get a large bowl. Then mix together wheat, barley, beans, lentils, and millet, and make some bread. This is what you will eat for the 390 days you are lying down.”

\nEzekiel 4:9 CEV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2020-12-17T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/12/17/day-baking-down-memory-lanegrandmas.html", "tags": ["Family","Comfort","Holiday","Farm Life","Baking","Cooking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2020/12/13/day-nailed-itkinda.html", "title": "Day 274: Nailed It...Kinda", "content_html": "\n
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Have you ever seen those posts on Facebook where someone sees the cutest thing on Pinterest and tries to make it...only to fail miserably? However, in true optimist fashion...and with much self-depredation...posts a side-by-side comparison of the two? Yeah...well. I had one of those experiences yesterday. 

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First...the turkey is STILL too frozen to remove the giblets so it has to wait till today. Since the oven was unoccupied, I simply HAD to bake...right? I was so excited to use my new-to-me cookie press from the thrift shop. It came from Pampered Chef and had a dozen or more different extruded patterns...all for the amazingly low price of $5! I had the perfect score...or, so I thought.

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I found a video on YouTube with a recipe for the PERFECT Vanilla Spritz Cookies. It had a couple “secret ingredients”. Vanilla Bean Paste which I JUST happened to buy at TJ Maxx when I bought the Indian Ginger I used for the Appalachian Gingerbread. Powdered sugar...which I just happened to find a bag of stuffed in the back of the cupboard I cleaned out this week over the microwave. And, cornstarch. Apparently, these magic ingredients create the perfect light and crisp Spritz Cookies for your holiday baking needs.

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Right.

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It took for-e-ver to mix the dough. I should have used the big KitchenAid mixer, but opted for the handheld instead. When I finally got all those dry ingredients incorporated in the butter, it was a pretty stiff dough. Come to find out afterward, I really could have added some more flour because it was raining and high humidity outside and I was working with the kitchen window open. 

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Once I finally got the dough mixed and chose my design, I set to filling the tube on the cookie press. Back in the day when I tried this before, the press I had was only about an inch to an inch and a half across and made tiny little cookies. You could easily get three or four dozen out of a batch of dough. The Pampered Chef press is easily two and half inches across and one tube full of dough nearly filled a cookie sheet. The raw cookies were pretty big and I knew they would spread so I placed them pretty far apart. I only got eight on each cookie sheet.

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The first thing that happened was...the cookie would not stick to the parchment paper, even though I had tacked it down at all four corners with a bit of raw dough. I took the paper off and buttered the pan. Nope...still wouldn’t stick. The dough just lifted off with the press every time I picked it up. So, I tried putting the pan in the freezer for a few minutes. This time, about 3/4 of the cookies stuck. The rest I had to scrape off and try again till I was finally successful.

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The first batch was perfect...very slightly brown at the edges...but they were pretty flat and didn’t hold their pressed shape much at all. Disappointing. The second batch were placed in the freezer for a few minutes before I baked them. They came out too brown and no better shaped...but still edible. By the third batch, I was just about ready to throw the whole mess out the window...batter AND press. I had dough left and it would NOT stick, so I gave up, rolled the dough in balls the size of a small walnut and baked them anyway.

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Moral of the story is...sometimes those really great gadgets you find in a thrift shop are there for a reason. At least I was only out $5 and not what it would have cost new. I’ll just clean it up and take it back to the thrift shop the next time I have a bag of donations. maybe someone else will have better luck with it than I did.

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At the end of the day, I have to admit, the cookies were really tasty...light with a crispy bite and a melt in your mouth texture. Still, a full two and a half hours to bake two dozen cookies was not very time efficient. We ate some with a little ice cream last night after the news. So, all was not lost and a lesson was learned. I need a tad more “instant gratification” than that when I’m trying to make a ton of cookies for holiday gift trays. I’ll stick to bigger batches of drop cookies for that.

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“for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.”

\nProverbs 24:16 NIV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2020-12-13T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/12/13/day-nailed-itkinda.html", "tags": ["Fun","Farm Life","Baking","Cooking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2020/12/12/day-in-the-kitchenagain.html", "title": "Day 273: In the Kitchen...Again!", "content_html": "\n
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I couldn’t wait to get into the kitchen yesterday and start baking. I really thought I’d get more done than I did, but I was happy with the results. I decided to make the Appalachian Gingerbread I saw on YouTube. Actually, the video was originally posted on TikTok. I don’t know if you’ve seen many TikTok videos, but they are only sixty seconds long. Try to recite an entire recipe along with the video in just sixty seconds. She talks really, really fast! But, I was determined. 

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The first thing I did was sit down with my iPad and watch the video several times to make sure I got the gist of it. My friend Lynn actually managed to grab a screenshot of the recipe at the end of the video. As with many Appalachian cooks, the recipe wasn’t exactly word for word like the one in the video. I learned hot to cook in my grandma’s country kitchen so I am well versed in the “dab of this and dab of that” method of recipe interpretation. I added the sour cream they mentioned in the video, and used the buttermilk they mentioned in the recipe. And, I threw my own touch in and used butter instead of shortening or lard and added a teaspoon of salt for good measure.

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As often happens with making a new recipe, the results didn’t look exactly like theirs. They said the gingerbread was done when the surface cracked but mine didn’t. It also didn’t rise as much as theirs did, but it was really quite good. The recipe has a full eight tablespoons of ground ginger. Ginger is a hot spice. I bought two jars at TJ Maxx a month ago specifically for this recipe. I really don’t know a lot about ginger, other than the pickled ginger you get with sushi. This particular ginger came from India. I don’t know if that makes it hotter, or if it’s merely the quantity, but these gingerbreads pack some heat...in a good way. I think I may put a lemon glaze on them to balance the flavors.

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We took the huge turkey out of the fridge in the garage and placed it in a cooler full of ice overnight. I’ll put it in the oven today so I’m not really sure if I’ll get more cookies baked today. My next baking endeavor will be Spritz Cookies....a buttery, crisp shortbread cookie squeezed from a press with interchangeable disks to create different shapes. The spritz cookie press was invented around 1930-35. We never had one when I was growing up, but I remember the first time I saw these pretty little shaped cookies and tasted their rich, buttery goodness. I scored Pampered Chef’s version of the cookie press at a thrift store this summer for $5 so I’m really looking forward to trying it out.

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So it’s going to be another busy day here on the Ponderosa. Mr. FixIt had to remind me yesterday what day it was. I though it was Wednesday. This safe-at-home thing is great for our health but my sense of time is pretty well shot.

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It’s not forever...it’s just for now.

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You can watch the Appalachian Gingerbread video HERE.

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“But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.”

\n2 Peter 3:8 NIV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2020-12-12T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/12/12/day-in-the-kitchenagain.html", "tags": ["Comfort","Baking","Cooking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2020/12/11/day-just-a-simple-country.html", "title": "Day 272: Just a Simple Country Kitchen", "content_html": "\n
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There was a time in my life when I was fussy about my surroundings. I mean, I grew up in a tiny little house and spent as much time as I possibly could out at my grandma’s farm. I was used to just having the basics...nothing fancy. And while I was a doctor’s wife for twenty years, I can’t say my kitchen was extravagant. Big, yes...tons of cabinets and storage for days. But it certainly wasn’t like some of the kitchens the other doctor’s wives got to cook in. 

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I built my own house after my divorce in 2001 and had a simple galley kitchen with lots of light...light cabinets, light countertops, light flooring, and no curtains. I needed as much light as I could get. My kitchen was perfectly functional, but really small. I didn’t know what small was till I moved into my camper and lived for much of three years. Now THAT’S tiny living.

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When I came off the road and moved back into the little red house on the farm, I was back to my roots. The kitchen was really a nice size. My uncle made the cabinets out of cedar back when they moved the whole house onto the newly built basement. Grandma was in hog heaven in that kitchen...it was like the Taj Mahal to her, and it was perfectly serviceable for me as well.

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Then along came Mr. FixIt. When we set up housekeeping, the kitchen at the Ponderosa was already set up. Fortunately, he is a really flexible guy and gave me free rein to adjust and move things around to suit my cooking style. It’s funny. We’ve been together three years now and whenever he empties the dishwasher, he still puts things in the “wrong place.” I have to laugh because he lived here for forty years...it’s ME that’s putting everything in the wrong place...poor man. It’s a nice sized kitchen, and it’s nothing fancy...just a simple country kitchen. And I couldn’t care less. I am blessed beyond measure to have this wonderful man who is willing to share this beautiful life with me. 

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About three or four weeks ago, the big over-the-stove microwave died. We went to Lowe’s and bought a new one only to realize several hours later...we weren’t sure if it had the right kind of exhaust. Sure enough, it was the wrong kind so we cancelled and kept shopping. Mr. FixIt is quite the bargain hunter and he quickly found us a deal at Big Sandy Superstore. We ordered the new microwave and it came in late last week.

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First things first...the family room needed cleaned and organized so we could put up the tree. Once that was accomplished, it was time to tackle the new microwave. We took the old one out on Wednesday then had to run to town to get a new outlet to plug it into. Errands took up all afternoon...as they always do. There is no such thing as a “quick trip to town.” Mr. FixIt did get the outlet wired Wednesday evening, but we left the actual installation for yesterday.

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After a nice, leisurely breakfast...it was time. There was measuring. And remeasuring. Then discussion about the measurements. There was puzzling over the template...turning it this way and that. There was trimming and more measuring. Then it was time for tea. Holy cats! It took us five hours to install that microwave. There was no blood loss. There were very few bad words spoken. And we were still married when the job was complete, so I’d call that a success!

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Of course, once the job was done, I had to clean the kitchen...again. It seems that is all I get done. Cook. Clean the kitchen. Over and over and over. My friends and I were discussing the other day...our lives have become something akin to the Bill Murray movie, Groundhog Day. Every single day is the same stuff with very little variety to it. Breakfast. Clean the kitchen. Some other chore. Lunch. Clean the Kitchen. Another chore or two. Dinner. Clean the kitchen. News. Write. Snack. Clean the kitchen.

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Covid has done this. Retirement has done this. Comfort has done this. We had family come over yesterday and we all lamented how the year has just felt weird because we didn’t have our big family Thanksgiving Dinner and now we are facing the same disconnect at Christmas. They decided we’ll have to set up the outdoor propane heater outside our big picture window and share Christmas that way. We are only halfway kidding. I’m not quite sure but somehow we need to work it out so we can at least see each other and the babies, even if we can’t get close and be inside and give hugs around their necks.

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There is hope around the corner, though! The vaccines are coming and it’s going to help us turn the corner and start heading into a post-Covid life. We can’t let our guards down completely because the vaccines are still only 95% effective. But it’s going to be a darned sight better than this last year has been.

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Today, I’m going to try making Appalachian Gingerbread and I’m working on a surprise to go along with it. We’ll see how it works. My friend Diane came over yesterday with some extra food she had received and we neither one want things to go to waste. I have a large container of plain yoghurt now so I’m going to set it over a strainer in cheesecloth to drain some of the whey and make a soft cheese we can use on bagels instead of cream cheese. Thank goodness I am getting some of my “Merry Mojo” back!

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?

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““Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’”

\nLuke 14:28-30 NIV\n
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\n\n", "date_published": "2020-12-11T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/12/11/day-just-a-simple-country.html", "tags": ["West Virginia","Comfort","Farm Life","Baking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2020/12/08/day-the-gift-of-an.html", "title": "Day 269: The Gift of an Heirloom Recipe", "content_html": "\n
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The first day of holiday baking was a huge success. After a relaxing start to the day and enjoying my morning coffee, I got to work in the kitchen. I grew up in the ‘50s and ‘60s when the obligatory holiday fruitcake came to our house...usually as part of my dad’s Christmas bonus package. Fruitcakes back then came in these really great heavy-duty tins embossed with festive Victorian holiday scenes. These tins often went on to become the button boxes many of us remember sifting through at our grandmother’s homes. 

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I really hated fruitcake. It was almost a rule of thumb that children and fruitcake did not mix and if you liked it, you never admitted to it. It was thick, dark, gummy, and so sickeningly sweet. Once in a while, I might pick out a candied cherry and eat it, but that was the extent of my experience with fruitcake. The fact that it’s often soaked in booze might have been a deterrent in my house growing up. (I received a cookbook as a wedding gift from my grandma and she crossed out the word “beer” in a recipe for barbecue sauce!)

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Enter, Mr. Virgo. Fruitcake, like opera and the Philadelphia Eagles, entered my world along with that tall, handsome man. Unfortunately, he liked traditional fruitcake. I happened to mention this to my cousin’s wife and she sent me my Aunt Marge’s White Fruitcake recipe. She assured me, even a diehard fruitcake hater like me would love this recipe. The following year, I made two loaf pans of fruitcake before Thanksgiving, wrapped them in cheesecloth, and started giving them a weekly drink of bourbon.

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The week before Christmas, I brought the fruitcake in from cold storage in the garage and cut a few slices for Mr. Virgo’s gustatory pleasure. He declared it the best fruitcake he had ever tasted. I felt this was a fine endorsement and he talked me into trying a piece myself. Being the good sport that I am, I complied...fully prepared to again, hate it. But...oh my GOSH, people! It was divine! Granted...it’s still not something I’m going to overindulge in. It is definitely an acquired taste. But as far as fruitcakes go, this is the bomb. And here’s where the bad news comes in.

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I cannot share the recipe with you.

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My Aunt Marge was an incredible cook. Legendary. She worked and perfected this recipe over the years and would never give the recipe away, no matter WHO asked. I was privileged to be gifted this recipe and had to promise I wouldn’t share it. (Trust me, I asked with you all in mind...no go.)

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So, why am I sharing this when I can’t share the recipe? Basically, to share my love for my Aunt Marge. To share a tradition. And, yeah...to maybe brag a little that I finally found a fruitcake I can eat. Don’t be too dismayed. If you hate fruitcake as much as most people, you’ll just scratch your head at the thought people really eat this stuff. If you DO love fruitcake, you can Google “White Fruitcake” and find a recipe that might give you something like Aunt Marge’s. But I doubt it will be as good as this one. ‘Cause...it’s truly a family heirloom.

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Next up...Banana Bread!

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?

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“Your wife will be as fruitful as a grapevine, and just as an olive tree is rich with olives, your home will be rich with healthy children.”

\nPsalms 128:3 CEV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2020-12-08T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/12/08/day-the-gift-of-an.html", "tags": ["Family","West Virginia","Holiday","Be Joyful!","Farm Life","Baking","Memories","Cooking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2020/12/07/day-finallythe-tree-is-up.html", "title": "Day 268: Finally...The Tree is Up!", "content_html": "\n
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It took much longer than I expected to get the house decorated this year. I really wanted to have things done by Halloween because I...like many this year...wanted the joy of twinkly lights. It’s really been a hard year and I wanted the lift that an early Christmas would bring. So, I set my sights for Thanksgiving which came and went with nothing more than piles of papers and books around the foot of my recliner.

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I finally made the absolute commitment to getting things done this past weekend and by sundown yesterday, it was looking a lot like Christmas on the Ponderosa. I love going through the ornaments and remembering when they came into my life. Who made it? Where did we buy that? What year was this one? Mr. Virgo and I bought a special ornament every year we were together. I continued that tradition after he passed and bought ornaments that were meaningful to what I was going through. When Mr. FixIt came into my life, we picked up that tradition and buy an ornament every time we go on a trip. 

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This year was different. First, we’ve only taken one trip...to the beach. And second, shopping was limited and the Christmas Shoppe was closed when we were at the beach. The other day, I saw a friend post a photo of my favorite ornaments made by Ne’Qwa. These are very special glass ornaments that are hand painted on the inside. Many of those Mr. Virgo and I bought were Ne’Qwa and I really wanted another one. Since we couldn’t go shopping, I bought one online. It arrived Friday...just in time to decorate.

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The only diversion from my decades long decorating day tradition was...football. I always have watched “White Christmas” when we decorated the tree ever since I was a kid. I raised my own kids doing the same thing. I think this was the first year in decades where I didn’t watch my movie. But, the results are the same and our house is beautiful. I swear I am not taking them down till Covid is under control. I love the lights, especially in the dark of winter.

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Now that the house is organized and decorated, I can start baking. First up...my Aunt Marge’s White Fruit Cake. Mr. FixIt has to run to town today for a couple of things, so I’m going to have him pick up some bourbon or maybe cherry brandy to soak the fruit cakes in. This is when the fun part starts!

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?

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“Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.”

\nColossians 2:16 NIV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2020-12-07T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/12/07/day-finallythe-tree-is-up.html", "tags": ["Holiday","Baking","Memories"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2020/11/30/day-oh-rightnow-i-get.html", "title": "Day 261: Oh, Right...Now I Get It!", "content_html": "\n
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Recipe from @joyfoodsunshine

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I finally baked those pumpkins pies today. They still don’t taste like grandma’s but I have lots of pumpkin purée left so I’ll bake some more soon. When the pies were in the oven, Mr. FixIt ran to town for something, and I stayed home to deep clean the family room so we can put up the tree. NOW I know why I have been procrastinating! 

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First...I’m a pile maker. Creative people only LOOK disorganized. We know where everything is...just ask my husband! We have a table in the family room that has a long tablecloth draped over it. I have taken to stuffing things under there, but I actually need to move the table to make room for the rocking chairs that are actually supposed to be out on the front porch but they’ve been in the family room for the last three years taking up WAY too much room. Why aren’t they on the front porch, you ask? Because we never sit out there. We enter the house from the back door. The front faces the big road so it’s dusty, dirty, and noisy out there. And, the back deck isn’t covered and the rain would ruin my pretty wooden rockers. So, there they sit and I work around them. 

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The first thing I had to do was go through my books. The one thing Mr. FixIt and I do not have in our house is a nice bookshelf. I got rid of almost all my books when I left Colorado, but I’ve slowly accumulated more over the years. I suppose I’ll just have to put them in boxes till we get a bookcase one of these days. In the meantime, my piles are still on the floor around my recliner, waiting for me to return to them today. I still have camping stuff that needs to be taken downstairs. Stacks of papers. Projects. Cards and letters. It’s sort of ironic that one of the books in the piles there is “Get Organized”.  Oy! 

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I kept myself so busy this year, I just threw things on that table and now it’s time to pay the piper, so to speak. I’ll get through it today and get the decorations brought up from the basement. One step at a time...always forward!

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?

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“But do everything properly and in order.”

\n1 Corinthians 14:40 CEV\n
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\n\n", "date_published": "2020-11-30T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/11/30/day-oh-rightnow-i-get.html", "tags": ["Comfort","Baking","Cooking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2020/11/29/day-looking-for-my-merry.html", "title": "Day 260: Looking for my Merry Mojo", "content_html": "\n
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I’m having trouble finding my footing with the change from uber busy spring-summer-fall to...indoors. There are a million things I could/should be doing, but I am not finding the wherewithal to get after it. I STILL haven’t made those pumpkin pies. Not that I didn’t try. I pulled the dough out of the fridge yesterday and when I started rolling it out, I knew something was terribly wrong. It was springy, like bread, so I knew the gluten got activated. Also, I used that cheap bargain basement flour from the Piggly Wiggly and it’s just not good for much of anything. I ended up throwing both the dough and the remaining flour away. I promise I’ll bake these pies today!

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We had company yesterday. It’s really something when you get super excited if someone comes over. The former Mrs. FixIt called Friday evening and asked if we had extra room in the garage freezer for a twenty pound turkey. This is the great thing about buying turkey after the holiday...you can get really good prices. Kroger had big turkeys on sale for $ .59 a pound so we asked her to pick up one for us. We already had a big twenty-four pound turkey in the downstairs freezer, so we put it in the garage fridge to defrost and put the new turkey in its place. Here’s the best part of the story, though. When she was checking out, the manager asked her if she would like a Black Friday Special. Well, who doesn’t want that, right? So, he sold her the turkeys for $ .39 cents a pound. Too bad there weren’t more turkeys (she got the last two) and we don’t have a bigger freezer. I would have bought several. It was really great to stand out in the sunshine and visit for a while and show her all the work we’ve been doing around the Ponderosa.

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My missing mojo shows up in my missing Christmas tree, too. I swore I’d have it up before Halloween, and now here we are after Thanksgiving and I’m procrastinating for some reason. Maybe my motivation will return today! I’ll start with baking those pies after church, then we’ll drag the decorations out, turn on White Christmas, and before we know it, the job will be done. Then I’m not taking it down, like...ever! lol I think the fact that we have had to forego having the family over for the holidays is what’s bumming me out. I can’t jump on a plane and fly to Colorado to see the family, either. 

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Mr. FixIt made me a bowl of ice cream last night as we watched the news. He put a little chocolate sauce on it, and I added a couple spoonfuls of cranberry sauce on top. OMGosh! It was SO good. It tastes like chocolate covered cherries. I’m determined to try as many new recipes and methods of serving the leftovers. I will freeze a container for the turkey I’m thawing out.

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“Big” sent me a picture of her “Gingerbread Camper” the other day. I had to laugh. This was the grandchild who went camping and absolutely loved it, saying over and over, “We need to do this again, Nana!” Till the next summer when her adolescent self decided camping with Nana was infinitely uncool. Yet, here she is...I knew those memories would come back with fondness one of these days. It warmed my heart.

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Have you decorated for the holidays? If you are newly bereaved, you may find it very difficult. I managed to put up the tree the first Christmas then was promptly depressed the next day. The second Christmas was when things fell apart with my Aunt and we didn’t have any decorations. I don’t think I really decorated until I settled back on the farm in 2016. Do you have favorite ornaments? What about traditions surrounding trimming the tree? I saw a story where people are flocking to buy real trees this year because of the memories of the hunt for the perfect tree. I haven’t had a real tree in many, many years. Basically, because I feel it’s wasteful, but also there’s the fire hazard and mess it makes. I have a candle with a very realistic pine tree scent. That’s good enough for me.

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It’s time to get back up and get in the game. There’s work to be done and fun to be had and memories to make...no matter the circumstances!!!

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?

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“It is truly wonderful when the people of God live together in peace.”

\nPsalms 133:1 CEV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2020-11-29T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/11/29/day-looking-for-my-merry.html", "tags": ["Family","Comfort","Farm Life","Baking","Memories","Cooking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2020/11/27/day-inside-the-bubble.html", "title": "Day 258: Inside the Bubble", "content_html": "\n
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Mr. FixIt and I were standing at the corner of the house...of all things, looking for a tiny silver link that broke on the bracelet I bought him for Christmas a year or so ago. He caught it on the ladder when he was working on the outdoor electrical outlet he was replacing while I was at the farm. I heard a vehicle pull into the drive and turned to find a young couple delivering our Thanksgiving Dinner. Our little town gave out 500 meals yesterday...regardless of income or need. We were told we were actually helping them out in order to keep up their funding for next year. And, believe me, I was grateful to not have to cook a big meal...especially after just getting home Wednesday afternoon.

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The food was wonderful...turkey with all the trimmings. As I sat down to eat, I counted my blessings that we are at a point in our lives where we know where our next check comes from. There’s something to be said for the Social Security and Medicare years. I’ve been watching the news and seeing such long lines of people sitting in their cars in line at food banks and thinking....where would we be if this pandemic had occurred when our own children were small and we were struggling, just starting out? That is where so many are...just starting out and victims of the efforts to prevent this virus from overrunning the hospitals.

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Yet, here we are...numbers rising astronomically. It does no good to go backwards and say, “If only this would have happened.” We are here now. We know not enough people cancelled travel plans and gatherings, I’m afraid. Let us pray hard in the coming weeks that somehow people “get it” and practice healthy safeguards. I come from a science background, so I know how this should go...I just hope it does.

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Yesterday was still a day filled with blessings. I talked to so many people...by phone, chat, and FaceTime. It wasn’t the same as giving them a hug around the neck, but oh....it still felt so good to see the faces and hear the voices of those I love. We all agreed, this is a major interruption in how we normally celebrate. But if we can keep the chairs filled next year...it will have been worth the sacrifice.

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With all that communication, I didn’t get a chance to bake the pumpkin pies I wanted. I did make cranberry sauce and I baked two of the Sugar Pie Pumpkins and made the purée. I’ll try to get the pies made today. I almost hate making cranberry sauce because I’m the only one who likes it and I cannot eat all of it. I’m looking for recipes that will help me use it up, so if you have any...please share. We all have leftovers!

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?

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“Your wife will be as fruitful as a grapevine, and just as an olive tree is rich with olives, your home will be rich with healthy children.”

\nPsalms 128:3 CEV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2020-11-27T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/11/27/day-inside-the-bubble.html", "tags": ["Family","Holiday","Baking"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2020/11/24/day-still-waitingand-waiting.html", "title": "Day 255: Still Waiting...and Waiting...", "content_html": "\n
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I finally gave in and called the little clinic where I had my Covid test done on Saturday. I know they said three days, but I was hoping it might have come in. No such luck. As a matter of fact, I left a message and it wasn’t returned. So, hopefully it comes in today. My back still hurts some, but the rest of the symptoms seem to have abated, so I’m thinking it was just a run of the mill virus and not the BIG one.

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I puttered around the house yesterday out at the farm. I decided to put the Christmas decorations up. I have a couple of trees that light up that Mr. FixIt gave me the first Christmas right after we started dating. I went to Colorado that Christmas and was gone a month. When I got back, I pulled in the driveway and the trees were on the front porch of Grandma’s house. It was the first time I’d seen lights out there since I was a little girl and I sat right there in my truck and cried. It was the sweetest thing.

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I pulled the trees out and put them together and ran the extension cord out to the front porch. No matter how I hooked it up, they wouldn’t light. I tried plugging them into the light receptacle. Nothing. I even brought them back inside and purged them into the house. Nope. When I have them set up out here, they run 24/7 for at least 6-8 weeks. I’m sure they just burned out. Unfortunately, they aren’t the kind of lights you can change, nor is there a fuse. So, I’ll just have to come up with something else for the porch this year.

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When I was living here at the farm, I saw a couple of boxes of Christmas stuff in the basement. I went down there yesterday and rummaged around and found them. There wasn’t a lot that was really usable, but I salvaged what I could and put them out on the dining room table to brighten up the place for the holidays. Grandma always had pretty tablecloths for the old round dining table. Most of them were practical flannel-backed vinyl, but one of them is this printed cloth one for Christmas. I also found the three red plastic bells that have always hung on the front door ever since I was a very little girl. They don’t work anymore either, but they’re out there...bringing back the memories. So, we’re all decorated on the inside. 

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While I’ve enjoyed my respite here at the farm, I am really ready to go home. I miss my boyfriend! I had the opportunity to have long conversations with family and friends the last few days. We talked about marriage and how we get into a groove when we are together all the time. Bring in a global pandemic and keeping to yourselves and that adds a whole new layer of togetherness. BC...before Covid...Mr. FixIt bowled two nights a week. BS...before strokes...he worked odd jobs with his friend Harry. I traveled and camped and spoke publicly. We were used to having some separation. So, yeah...any breaks away only make us appreciate each other that much more when we get back together.

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I’ll hang around today for the phone call. I’m just certain it’s negative. It has to be...if not, we’ll be spending Thanksgiving alone. I need to get home and prep some pumpkin and make some pies! Thanksgiving is just around the corner!

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“I have provided all kinds of fruit and grain for you to eat.”

\nGenesis 1:29 CEV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2020-11-24T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/11/24/day-still-waitingand-waiting.html", "tags": ["West Virginia","The Farm","Comfort","Baking"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2020/10/31/day-well-butter-my-buns.html", "title": "Day 232: Well, Butter My Buns and Call Me a Biscuit", "content_html": "\n
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I decided yesterday was a great day for an iron skillet full of yummy homemade biscuits. I first tried baking biscuits when I was old enough to stand on the kitchen stool at my grandma’s elbow out at the farm. I learned to cook the way she did...a pinch of this and a dab of that. She learned to cook when “receipts” had measurements like “put in a hunk of lard the size of a hen’s egg” or “add a scant teacup full of sugar”. Grandma actually had an old coffee cup that she used as her one cup measure. She was a good ol’ country cook and I have tried to be just like her.

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I’ve tried every recipe out there and seldom make a biscuit that’s swoon worthy. As I learned to bake a mean sourdough this year, I’m vowing to perfect my biscuits this winter. My go-to method at the moment is Virginia’s Best Biscuit Mix from Big Spring Mill in Ellison, Virginia. It uses their self rising flour and they add high quality shortening right in it so all you need to add is buttermilk or whole milk. I use buttermilk. Three cups of biscuit mix and one cup of buttermilk makes a baker’s dozen of very tasty biscuits. 

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I find it takes much longer to bake than the 10-12 minutes recommended. I think the batch I baked yesterday took a good 25 minutes to get a nice golden brown. I used my new 11” cast iron skillet that recently seasoned. I added a teaspoon of bacon grease to the skillet and set it over a low flame to warm the skillet just enough to melt the fat. Then I spread it around with the back of a spoon and took the skillet away from the heat. You don’t want it too hot. 

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Working quickly, I mixed the dry and wet ingredients together and turned it out on a lightly floured surface. I dusted a small amount of flour over the top and on my hands and gave the dough three or four turns, kneading it till it was just incorporated. I didn’t even bother with a rolling pin. I just patted the dough out till it was about a half inch thick and cut all the rounds I could get out of it and placed them in the skillet. I took the leftover pieces of dough, gently pressed them together and flattened it out again. I only got a couple of biscuits that go round. The last little bit of dough was hand shaped into a biscuit and added to the pan. 

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I popped the skillet full of biscuits into a 425 degree oven and baked them about 20-25 minutes...but that was with opening the oven door a couple of times. You’ll want to watch them at around 15 minutes or so to see that they don’t burn. I always melt about three tablespoons of butter to brush on top of the biscuits as soon as they come out of the oven. Serving them hot with butter and my homemade apple butter was a wonderful treat on a very chilly fall morning.

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The rest of the day was busy...delivering food to a friend recuperating from surgery, running a couple of errands in town, and a stop at Joann Fabrics for a little sparkly thread for my knitted Christmas ornaments I’m making. I also have a project I’m making as Christmas gifts so I picked up some melting chocolate and lacy cupcake papers. I’m not doing anything this weekend except sit and knit. I need a weekend off.

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What do you want to bet it doesn’t quite turn out that way? lol

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❤️

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“If you cook bread in a shallow pan for this sacrifice, use only your finest flour. Mix it with olive oil, but do not use any yeast.”

\nLeviticus 2:5 CEV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2020-10-31T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/10/31/day-well-butter-my-buns.html", "tags": ["Farm Life","Baking","Cooking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2020/09/27/day-food-prep-made-easy.html", "title": "Day 193: Food Prep Made Easy", "content_html": "\n
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When I got up yesterday, I gathered everything to get started on the pumpkin when I remembered...I had all the ingredients in the fridge for some pre-beach food prep. Our spring trip to the beach was cancelled because of the lockdown and we chose our wedding anniversary as the substitute week. We’ve been watching the extended weather predictions as well as the Covid counts and it looks like we are likely to have smooth sailing on both counts in the middle of October. The cat is booked at the Kitty Hilton. We’ve cleared out the drain at the bottom of the stairwell out back so we aren’t likely to have problems with backed up water. Now it’s down to meal prep and packing.

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Sam’s carries these black plastic trays with clear lids that are about the size of a frozen entree. I used them a lot last fall when I was touring around in the raffle camper. They are the perfect size for two small portions or one large one so I bought a big pack of them the last time I shopped. These are the same containers I used in my Hot Logic Mini portable cooker. On my travel days, I put a frozen entree in the container, zipped it closed, and plugged it into the 12v “cigarette lighter” outlet (using an adapter) in my truck. By the time I arrived, I had a hot meal ready to eat with easy cleanup after. 

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Yesterday, I mixed up a triple batch of Bobby Flay’s Salisbury Steak and placed two portions with sauce in each container. I also made a batch of Italian Meatballs and froze them as well. I’ll make four pre-baked pizza crusts and freeze those a few days before we leave. And a good sized batch of homemade macaroni and cheese. I’ll also pack along a jar or two of the smoked pulled pork I canned for sandwiches. We have some family members meeting us there to stay in the “B” side of our condo. We will share meals out on the big deck as a safe way to visit without entering each other’s living space.

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Once I finished with all that, I didn’t have it in me to start canning the pumpkin. There isn’t a real hurry because the pumpkin won’t spoil. I thought we might get to go camping before we head to the beach, but last night convinced me otherwise. I had decided after such a busy week, I would treat myself to a night out in the camper. But the cool nights are bringing the stink bugs inside in a hurry. After jumping up and down a dozen times to snatch them up in a wad of tissue, I gave up and came back inside. I guess that’s it for camping in Big TOW-Wanda. 

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Today is the Lord’s Day...and time for a much needed rest. We are almost to the tail end of mowing season. That’s a reason to celebrate right there!

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❤️

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“You have six days when you can do your work, but the seventh day of each week is holy because it belongs to me. No matter where you live, you must rest on the Sabbath and come together for worship. This law will never change.”

\nLeviticus 23:3 CEV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2020-09-27T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/09/27/day-food-prep-made-easy.html", "tags": ["Baking","Cooking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2020/09/23/day-im-makin-waffles.html", "title": "Day 189: “I’m Makin’ Waffles!”", "content_html": "\n
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In April 2001, a brand new movie came out that kids everywhere loved. Shrek was a green skinned troll with questionable social skills who paired up with a delightful donkey named...Donkey. They lived in the swamp and met up with Princess Fiona...a girl troll. It was fun and funny. Daughter #2 and I watched it a lot! She was eleven years old at the time...one of our fondest memories.

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Donkey wants a sleepover and he declares he’s getting up the next morning and making waffles!!! Ahhhhh....waffles. That was a very special treat at our house reserved for the occasional Saturday morning. We had a rather large waffle iron and the batter invariably stuck to the plates of the iron no matter how much you oiled them. But when they did come out well, they were decadent. The butter pooled in the little wells of the waffle, soon to fight for its place when the syrup was poured on.

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I had a nice waffle iron at one point. And it may be one of the things I saved to use in TOW-Wanda when I traveled. But I haven’t see it in ages so I started looking for one. People must not be making waffles like they used to because I couldn’t find a regular waffle iron anywhere. I did find a few Belgian varieties, but that’s not what I wanted.

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I’ve been in every store in town over the last few weeks just popping my head into the kitchen department and they were either out of stock or never carried them. I know God loves for us to come to him with even the most mundane requests so I asked Him to direct me to a waffle iron. And not just any old iron either. I wanted the big square one that made four smaller square waffles. And, wouldn’t it be wonderful if it was multipurpose like these new ones are now? Where you can open it up, lay it flat and turned the metal plates over to the smooth side to use as a griddle? That, please.

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Every time I go to town, I check someplace else. Then yesterday, I was driving down the main drag of town when I just “felt” that waffle iron was nearby. I looked to my right and there was Goodwill. Masked up and phone in hand, I wandered in. I looked up and down the aisles and was not finding any kitchen items. Then, I got the nudge. “Look there!” And there she was! Exactly what I wanted. It even has the accompanying booklets to go with it!

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I took my treasure to the front to pay and the clerk asked if I qualified for the “Senior Discount”. Part of me wanted to bristle up in indignation. The other part say, heck yeah...bring it on!

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“That’ll be $2.89, please.”

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Are you kidding me??? I was nearly giddy with the experience!

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So that’s the story of the $2.89 waffle maker. 

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Guess what WE had for supper?

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“I’m makin’ WAFFLES!”

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❤️

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“And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

\nPhilippians 4:19 ESV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2020-09-23T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/09/23/day-im-makin-waffles.html", "tags": ["Comfort","Downsizing","Baking","Memories","Cooking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2020/09/18/day-ohhhhhtomato-pie.html", "title": "Day 184: Ohhhhh...Tomato Pie!", "content_html": "\n
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When Mr. FixIt and I were visiting the Outer Banks for our anniversary, we stopped in a seafood shop to check out what the local waters were offering. Among the many delicious varieties available was a seemingly out of place item...Tomato Pie. I asked about it and they said it was a southern thing and very tasty, however...the price was outrageous and you couldn’t buy just one piece. You had to buy the whole pie. I could only think of one thing...what if we didn’t like it? I would hate to throw all that food away. So, I vowed to try making it myself when my own tomatoes were ready.

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Over the weekend, we noticed the garden was heavily dotted with the bright red of ripe tomatoes. Yesterday was the first chance I’ve had to stay at home and play around in the kitchen. The first thing I did was check on my brined pickles. I hate to report they were a huge flop. I don’t know what happened. Maybe they were overripe. Maybe my brine wasn’t the right concentration. Maybe my jars weren’t sterilized. I don’t know. They were soggy and some were downright slimy. And there was mold on the surface. I wasn’t about to taste them. I just dumped them out and washed and sterilized the jars. That’s not bad...one failure in all the things I’ve cooked and canned during covid. It was disappointing, though.

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Once I had that mess cleaned up, I went out and picked a bucket of tomatoes. Not all of them were ripe but I hate leaving them out there for the critters to eat. I line up the ripe ones on the counter and windowsill till they turn red. I had about eight or ten medium tomatoes ready to do something with. I scalded, peeled, and cored them and gently pressed out the majority of the seeds. Then I put them in my new food processor with the steel blade and processed them till they were smooth.

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I put the tomato purée in a saucepan and simmered it till it was reduced by about a third and was the consistency of spaghetti sauce. I seasoned it with salt, pepper, garlic, oregano, paprika, and a pinch of cayenne and set it aside. I made some pie crust in the food processor and rolled out half. The other half went in the fridge to make something with today. I lined a 10” pie plate and set that aside. Then I made a roux. Are you familiar with that? You melt butter and stir in flour over a low heat. You keep stirring till the roux gets a nice golden brown, then you add the tomato sauce that has been cooling. Once the two were combined, I turned off the heat and browned some chopped up bacon till it was crispy. I drained it well on paper towels and sprinkled it in the bottom of the pie crust. Then I added a handful or two of grated mozzarella cheese. 

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I put the cooled tomato sauce back in the food processor on low and added four extra large eggs, one at a time till they were fully incorporated. I preheated the oven to 375 degrees, lined a baking sheet with foil and set the pie plate on it, poured the tomato/egg mixture into the pie shell, sprinkled another small handful of grated mozzarella on top, and popped it in the oven. I baked it for 50 minutes...watching it the last ten minutes or so to make sure it didn’t burn.

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We let the Tomato Pie cool a bit while we cleaned up then sat down to try it out. I have seen a dozen different recipes for Tomato Pie and it runs the gamut from nothing more than thickly sliced tomatoes baked in layers with grated cheese to a two crust version that looked kind of loose and runny. I wanted mine to look more like the one I saw in North Carolina...more like a quiche. And that’s exactly what this one looked like. And....oh, my! The flavor!!! It tasted like eating a big plate of spaghetti without the heaviness of all that pasta. I made a pie crust recipe that used butter only so the crust was very tender and flaky. It was fabulous, if I do say so myself. And Mr. FixIt loved it!

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We were in such a hurry to eat, we didn’t have anything with the Tomato Pie...but it would have been lovely with a nice green salad and a glass of wine if you choose. A luscious end of summer treat made extra special with our own tomatoes. You know me...I don’t really cook with recipes so writing it like this is the best I can do and you should be able to duplicate it in your own kitchen. If you try it, let me know how it tasted!

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It’s “Feel Good Friday” and cooking up something yummy in the kitchen on the Ponderosa makes me feel really good!

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❤️

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“Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.”

\nGenesis 9:3 NIV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2020-09-18T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/09/18/day-ohhhhhtomato-pie.html", "tags": ["Comfort","Farm Life","Baking","Cooking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2020/09/13/day-a-lazy-saturday-at.html", "title": "Day 179: A Lazy Saturday at the Ponderosa", "content_html": "\n
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I wish I would have kept track on my calendar how many nights I’ve slept in the camper this year. Not getting to have a real camping trip this year was one of the many changes Covid brought into our world. Not of the most importance, mind you...but something Mr. FixIt and I both love to do. So the next best thing was spending as many nights in the camper as I/we can. Sometimes Mr. FixIt joins me. But, sometimes we’ve worked too hard and the change from one mattress to another is hard on his back. So, occasionally, I stay out there alone. 

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Friday night was one such night. We worked so hard at the farm earlier that day, and we knew it was not going to be a restful night with all the tossing and turning and groaning with every movement. We both slept like logs and awoke feeling refreshed yesterday morning. Over coffee, I told Mr. FixIt what my plans were for the day.

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Absolutely nothing.

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I know, right? I took the day off! I read and relaxed and talked to some of my people on the phone. I did run the dishwasher. And, I baked an Apple Upside Down Cake. You make it exactly like the traditional one, only substitute apples for the pineapple. To be honest, I think I liked it better. I baked it in my trusty Griswold iron skillet. I love that thing...you can cook anything in it.

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I did some research online yesterday. We had a friend come by on Friday to show us her new car. As we stood talking, something fell from the sky and landed on the hood of her car. She jumped a little and said, “Did you see that? What is that thing?” I looked closely and it looked for all the world like a little ball of dirt. There were no trees overhead, so...where did it come from?

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Then, yesterday morning, there were several of them on the roof and hood of my truck. This was really becoming a mystery!

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I did what I always do...I asked my Facebook friends if there were any science geeks out there who might have a clue. I heard everything from alien eggs to caterpillar poop. Then a friend sent me a link to a story about these mysterious bits of clay falling from the sky. There was a story out of Wales. And another out of Georgia. After digging around on the internet and reading story after story, I finally found the answer.

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Yellowjackets!

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Unlike wasps and hornets, yellowjackets nest underground and all that dirt has to go somewhere. As the bees excavate underground, they make a wad of dirt and saliva, carry it up out of the nest, and drop it in flight. That’s where the little balls of dirt come from. Now the job is to find out where the nasty little buggers are making that nest. The article said wherever you find these little balls of dirt, there is more than likely a busy yellowjacket nest within fifty feet. There is a spot off the side of the driveway that seems to interest the cat and she sometimes jumps and dives around it. I’ll have to carefully observe then see if we can eradicate it. Yellowjackets are nasty, aggressive critters.

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Taking a day off is good for the spirit. I think I’ll take another one off today!

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❤️

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“But so many people were coming and going that Jesus and the apostles did not even have a chance to eat. Then Jesus said, “Let's go to a place where we can be alone and get some rest.””

\nMark 6:31 CEV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2020-09-13T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/09/13/day-a-lazy-saturday-at.html", "tags": ["Farm Life","Baking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2020/09/08/day-getting-things-done-for.html", "title": "Day 174: Getting Things Done for Winter", "content_html": "\n
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You can see the tree to the left that fell and crushed the old meter box. You can also see the old iron bridge that went across the creek to the outhouse.

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My Colorado family has checked in and they are expecting snow today! I think they said it will be the earliest measurable snowfall in twenty years. I must say...I certainly don’t miss that! I miss my kids and my Colorado peeps...and I miss the beauty of the Rockies...but I do NOT miss snow and cold...not one bit. Still, snow will come to West Virginia one of these days and getting ready for it is what a proper country gal does.

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I wanted to make another batch of jam yesterday, but we decided we had better go to the farm to mow and finish building the enclosure for the gas meter. I found out why there is a cover for it. The holler up behind the house works like nature’s air conditioner as the cool air sweeps down through the woods past the house. That’s great in the summer, but in the wintertime, that same air flow brings frigid temps with it. There is a good deal of moisture in natural gas and the water condenses and lays in the gas lines. If it gathers at the meter and the temperature takes a nosedive, the line can freeze and shuts off the gas to the house. Then, there’s no heat and the water lines are the next to go. 

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We’ve been really lucky the last few years to have fairly mild winters, but you never know when one will be harsh. The little shed surrounding the gas meter protects it from that downdraft through the holler and helps to keep the gas running. We finished rebuilding it yesterday and got it in place and if I do say so, we did a pretty good job. We decided not to mow out there. The grass hadn’t grown nearly as much there as it did here at the Ponderosa, so we didn’t even unload the mower.

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Oh, we did have one little bit of excitement on the way over to the farm. I’m the one who hooked up the little utility trailer and loaded the riding mower and lawn mower while Mr. FixIt was busy doing something else. I checked everything, just like I do when I hook up the camper. I did notice the latch that locks the hitch in place was a little hard to put down, but I finally got it. Well, we stopped at the Piggly Wiggly for some lunch supplies and when we went over a bump, the trailer came unhooked! Thank God we were going very slow or that could have been a problem. The safety chains did their job and nothing was damaged. We got it hooked back up and didn’t have any more trouble.

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Dehydrated mushrooms. I was surprised how easily these dried.

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I emptied the dehydrator and put the mushrooms in a jar before we left for the farm. These will be really nice to throw into soup, stew, and spaghetti sauce over the winter. Our dining room table is getting filled with jars of goodies. Mr. FixIt thought we should carry them downstairs, but I told him I want to take a picture of the bounty before we do that. I love looking at all the jars of healthy foods put away for the coming winter.

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It’s time to bake sourdough again and I think I’m going to try to cut the recipe in half and only make one loaf this time. I actually had to throw some away last time because it got moldy. I should have stored the extra loaf in the fridge, but there wasn’t enough room and I just got so busy canning, I forgot about it. I really hated to throw that bread away! If we had a pig or some chickens, that would have gone out to them. I still haven’t fixed up a compost bin yet. So much to do...so little time to do it.

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So, Labor Day is gone and we are heading into fall. I’m not minding it a bit this year. We don’t have a thing on our schedule till Saturday so we’ll see what we can get into here at the Ponderosa. I’m on the prowl for some half-runner beans to can!

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❤️

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“Everything on earth has its own time and its own season.”

\nEcclesiastes 3:1 CEV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2020-09-08T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/09/08/day-getting-things-done-for.html", "tags": ["Family","West Virginia","The Farm","Farm Life","Baking"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2020/09/05/day-from-sunup-to-sundown.html", "title": "Day 171: From Sunup to Sundown", "content_html": "\n
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I caught my second wind this week after having a couple of lay low days. Thursday and Friday were hit-the-ground-running kinds of days. When we were coming home from town Thursday, we came through flash flooding the likes of which no one around here can remember. There is a small creek that runs through some properties along the road our house is on. This little creek is never more than a yard wide during a downpour. There were places Thursday where that creek was forty feet wide! There were about twenty places where the rain came over the road and we had to drive really slow. It wasn’t deep water...just an inch or so running across the pavement but we were very careful.

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Mr. FixIt kept moaning about the drain at the bottom of the steps and that there was bound to be water backed up. I kept telling him we didn’t know that and let’s just pray God protects us. By the time we got within a mile of the house, we could tell it hadn’t rained nearly that hard at the Ponderosa and we just thanked God we didn’t have a mess on our hands. We certainly cleared that drain out at the right time!

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I got up yesterday and took a pint of blueberries out of the dehydrator and put in a load of sliced bananas. Then I mixed up two batches of pizza crust dough to rise while I went out and mowed the two big fields. I got done just in time to clean up and start assembling the pizzas when the kids came for a visit. I baked the pizzas on the outdoor grill on the deck while everyone played corn hole. We visited for a good long while. Then Mr. FixIt took the kids down to the creek to check on the drain pipe. While they were down there, they caught minnows and looked for arrowheads. My stepson cut a dead tree branch out of the maple tree before they left.

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When they were gone, I brought everything back into the kitchen and told Mr. FixIt I would clean up in the morning. I kissed him on the forehead and as I was heading out the door to go to the camper to write, he said, “You did a really good job today. Man, you’re a really hard worker.” I turned and smiled. THAT’S all I’ve ever needed from anyone...a thank you and a kind word. That’s all we ever really need, isn’t it? To be loved and appreciated? I will tell you what...I love to work. I love the feeling of accomplishment a good hard day of work gives you. I can feel that sense of accomplishment on my own...but it feels so good when it’s offered from someone you love.

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❤️

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“But I am giving you a new command. You must love each other, just as I have loved you. If you love each other, everyone will know that you are my disciples.”

\nJohn 13:34-35 CEV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2020-09-05T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/09/05/day-from-sunup-to-sundown.html", "tags": ["Family","Be Joyful!","Baking","Marriage"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2020/08/29/day-step-onepick-tomatoes.html", "title": "Day 164: Step One...Pick Tomatoes", "content_html": "\n
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Earlier in the season, I wasn’t at all sure I would get many tomatoes. Blossom end rot was decimating my crop, but I changed the feed and...wham! They are coming on like gangbusters now. I had another bucket ready yesterday morning and...they don’t know a day off from nothin’! 

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I went out and got the crocks of bread dough from the garage fridge first thing so I could bake in the cool of the day. When you bake sourdough bread in a dutch oven inside your kitchen oven, you have to heat it up to 500 degrees. It doesn’t take long till your house is overheated...even at 9:00am. I have a window fan so I put it in the kitchen window and exhausted as much of the heat out as I could before the outside temp climbed.

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I am thrilled with the success I’ve been getting with my sourdough bread. I have read that the longer you bake sourdough, the more wild yeasts grow in your environment, and the tastier your bread becomes. I’ve been getting a really nice “oven spring”, as well. That’s the amount of rise you get in your bread in the oven before the crust gets too hard to expand. The cuts I make on the surface helps that as well as the way I form the dough before I set it in the fridge to raise slowly overnight. One of the loaves was at least 5” high before I cut it in half. The cutting kinda smashed it down a little.

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As soon as the bread was done, I considered just stopping for the day, then I checked my tomatoes and I cannot stand to lose even one. So, I scalded them in boiling water, dropped them in ice water, slipped the skins off and cut the core out. Then I gave them a quick flip of my wrist to extract the seeds and dropped the pulpy tomatoes into my cooking pot. When I was finished cleaning the tomatoes, I strained the seeds from the juice in the bottom of the bowl and added it to the pot. I set it on a low flame and when the juices started to simmer, I used my immersion blender to chop up the tomatoes but stopped short of actually puréeing them. I let the sauce simmer all day, seasoning it here and there to my tastes.

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Later in the afternoon, we made a quick trip to town for meat and mushrooms for the sauce and finally sat down for a feast at 6:30! I didn’t actually get my day off. But, Mr. FixIt mowed because I was busy inside, so I didn’t have to do that. Maybe today will be my real day off! lol

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❤️

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“It is useless to get up early and stay up late in order to earn a living. God takes care of his own, even while they sleep.”

\nPsalms 127:2 CEV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2020-08-29T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/08/29/day-step-onepick-tomatoes.html", "tags": ["Fun","West Virginia","Gratitude","Comfort","Farm Life","Baking"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2020/08/20/day-celebrating-farm-life-in.html", "title": "Day 155: Celebrating Farm Life in the Kitchen", "content_html": "\n
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Yesterday was tomato day. I took my soup pot out to the garden and picked every tomato that was ready. With the pot full to overflowing, I headed back into the kitchen and commenced working them up. I thought I would have tomatoes coming out of my ears this year with twenty-one plants, but up to this point...we’ve only been getting a handful at a time. Not enough to do anything with, but too many to eat. We’ve given a few away and we lost a lot to blossom end rot. I’ve been told by experienced farmers that this hasn’t been the best year for tomatoes. Seems about right since it’s the year WE decided to go whole hog.

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I was in my canning prime in my early 30’s. I was telling Mr. FixIt yesterday, it wasn’t anything for me to put up a bushel of green beans, a couple flats of tomatoes, and a couple flats of pickles up over the three day weekend of Labor Day. I would have jars of food spread everywhere, stored in boxes under the bed and on shelves in the basement. I’d give jars away as gifts. I was prolific. Now? Ahhhhh...the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.

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I set to with my big pot of tomatoes. I elected to use the Foley Food Mill method to get a smooth, seedless and skinless sauce that I could use in a soup or a creamed tomato gravy. Optimistically, I washed six quart jars. I washed, cored and quartered my tomatoes and put them in the canner since that’s the biggest pot I have with a heavy bottom that wouldn’t scorch them. I turned the flame to medium and started mashing the tomatoes with a potato masher to get the juices flowing. I kept a close eye on them, mashing and stirring and adjusting the heat till they were soft and tender.

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I removed the canner from the fire and scooped up the stewed tomatoes into the food mill. If you haven’t used one of these, they’re pretty handy. There’s a kind of slanted plate that draws the tomatoes over a screen and presses the juice and flesh out while keeping the seeds, skins, and any coarse fibers in the pan. You empty it and fill again and repeat till you’ve processed all the tomatoes. Then, you have this wonderful, smooth tomato juice.

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Now, what you want your end product to look like will determine how long you simmer your juice over medium heat. You stir frequently. I wanted mine to be the consistency of store bought tomato sauce....a sort of thick, pulpy juice. When I was satisfied, I ladled the hot sauce in the hot jars with about a tablespoon of lemon juice in each jar for extra acidity, wiped the rim with white vinegar, centered a hot jar lid and screwed it down with a jar ring. Then I placed them in the boiling water bath, adjusted the water level from the simmering tea kettle, and timed them for 35 minutes from the time they reached a rolling boil.

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I got...get this...TWO QUARTS!

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Yes...all those plants, all that hoeing and weeding and watering and feeding and babying those tomato plants and I got two quarts of juice. I have discovered this. You do just as much work to can two quarts as you do to can twenty. I should have bought more tomatoes to add to mine. When Mr. FixIt called from town to see how I was doing (he was looking for a replacement chain for the pole saw) I told him I was really disappointed. He said, “Look at the bright side. You know exactly what went in those jars.” Ever the optimist...we are a good match.

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As soon as the jars were in the water bath, I set to making a peach-blueberry lattice top pie. I reached back to my baking contest days and used my never fail pie crust that has lard in it. SO not good for you...SO flavorful. Then I made the recipe that won me a blue ribbon in the Carbondale Mountain Fair sometime back in the early ‘90s. I hadn’t made it in years and forgot it needed instant tapioca, which I did not have. I used flour...and not enough of it. So the pie is soupy....really soupy. But flavor? OMGosh...knock your socks off awesome! Served warm in a bowl with a spoon, it just couldn’t be beat.

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By the time I was done with the pie and had it in the oven, the jars of tomato sauce were ready. I just turned off the heat and let them sit while I fried up some bacon for BLT’s. I had a big tomato...still warm from the sun. And a head of butter-crunch lettuce from the greenhouse down the road. It was meal fit for a king. 

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Oy! I can feel my arteries crackling. 

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❤️

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“I have provided all kinds of fruit and grain for you to eat.”

\nGenesis 1:29 CEV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2020-08-20T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2020/08/20/day-celebrating-farm-life-in.html", "tags": ["Fun","Comfort","Farm Life","Baking"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2019/11/27/giving-thanks.html", "title": "Giving Thanks", "content_html": "\n
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Surrounded by family, fifteen inches of snow, and enough food to last a month! I baked five pies yesterday…two sugar free pumpkin, two regular pumpkin, and a burnt sugar pie. My grandma always made burnt sugar (also called butterscotch or caramel) pies because she had a cow and sugar was cheap. Anything else was too expensive. And hers were SO good. We'll see how mine holds up to the taste test today. I also made a big pan of yeast rolls. Today I make my famous sugar free candied yams. And whatever else my cousin throws at me. We will gather 25 family members and friends. We will remember those who are no longer with us. And we will give thanks for our many blessings.

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One of my many thanksgivings is for this page. I don't know if you understand how important your love and support has been to me. I was telling my cousin last night, one of the biggest gifts Marshmallow Ranch has given me is knowing I'm not the only one. I'm not the only one who grieves. I'm not the only one who gets anxious at 2:00 in the morning. I'm not the only one who finds socks (or chili or the color green) sad. I'm not alone. There are many of you reading this who are walking your own paths. We've come to walk together. We've come to trust each other. We've come together as friends…soldiers…partners in crime. We've laughed and we've cried and we've held that sacred space for each other to return to.

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I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. You are unbelievable. May you remember the little things. May you find much laughter. May you feel the love of your families.

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Have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

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<3

\n\n", "date_published": "2019-11-27T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2019/11/27/giving-thanks.html", "tags": ["Family","West Virginia","Holiday","Be Joyful!","Baking"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2016/10/30/theyre-baaaaack.html", "title": "They're Baaaaack!", "content_html": "\n
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Asian beetles....not to be confused with the common lady bug. Lady bugs are sweet. They eat aphids. You see one on the rarest of occasions when it lights on your sleeve. You pick it up on your finger and hold it to the wind and make a wish when it flies away. Asian beetles? You walk into your house on the first really hot day after the first freeze and hundreds...HUNDREDS of them are on the Windows, the curtains, the floor. They're tap-tap-tapping on the ceiling. You vacuum them up only to have more an hour later. They stink if to smash them. They leave unremovable yellow spots on everything. Gross!

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Then, there was the invasion of the possums last night. I was eating dinner when I heard the familiar loud crunching in the cat dish. They simply do NOT have table manners! I've chased them off. I'd trap them if I thought I could stand to go near the trap afterwards. I think I would just catch one in the trap and then move to another state!

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The colors yesterday were absolutely amazing! The sun hit them just right and suddenly there are a lot of reds coming out. I went for a drive in the country and stopped at my favorite antique store. I bought a small section of a ladder from an apple orchard. I want to hang it from the ceiling and hang pots from it in the kitchen or herbs in the dining room. Or, I could prop it up against a wall and fold quilts over the rungs.

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Cold weather brings out the domestic goddess in me. I cooked a brisket in the crock pot yesterday that was killer. I served it with mashed red potatoes and the best Brussels sprouts. A baked apple topped it off for the perfect fall meal!

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Ginny's Brisket

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Rinse a medium sized brisket. Pat dry. Trim any extra fat on the bottom side. Sear both sides in a hot skillet. Place on cutting board and cut in large chunks. Place in crock pot. Sprinkle with a little garlic powder. Slice one large yellow onion and place the rings on top of the meat. Pour one bottle of Heinz Chili Sauce over all. Fill chili sauce bottle with water and shake then pour around the edge. Cover with lid and cook on high in your crock pot for at least 5 hours. Yummy!!!

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❤️

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“So heap on the wood and kindle the fire. Cook the meat well, mixing in the spices; and let the bones be charred.”‬‬

\n‭‭Ezekiel‬ ‭24:10‬ ‭NIV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2016-10-30T01:30:39-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2016/10/30/theyre-baaaaack.html", "tags": ["Comfort","Farm Life","Baking","Cooking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2016/03/25/fitness-friday.html", "title": "Fitness Friday", "content_html": "\n
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This was a really good week. I worked out hard enough to see results but not so hard as to burn out or cause injury. I listened to my body and took a day off when I needed to. It's a delicate balance between pushing yourself and knowing when to back off. AND...making yourself keep going. I can get lazy if I take a day off because then I think maybe two would be better and before you know it, I'm back to square one.

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I am eating healthier than I have in years. Good, healthy salads with superfoods...i.e. dark green, leafy veggies, craisins, walnuts, avocado, EVO. Yummy stuff! I've discovered the joys of quinoa. It's a tiny grain that's packed with protein. I toast it a bit in the skillet, add veggie broth and cook till it's light and fluffy then I add a variety of sautéed veggies.

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My weakness is sweets. I came up with a great recipe yesterday. Sweet potatoes are a complex carbohydrate and they are packed full of fiber and vitamins. I usually bake six at a time and have one with dinner. I add a little butter, a few chopped walnuts and a little drizzle of agave syrup. Delicious! I'm having a dinner party tomorrow night and I want to serve a healthy dessert so I played around with a couple of the leftover baked sweet potatoes. OMGosh! This is SO good! You hardly miss having a crust. If you try it, let me know how it worked for you. I've only made it the once but it was super easy and came out great.

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Crustless Mini Sweet Potato Pies

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Preheat oven to 350°F.

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Peel cold baked sweet potatoes and mash in a bowl with a fork. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs till frothy. Add vanilla, pumpkin pie spice, agave syrup, and salt. Mix well and combine with mashed sweet potatoes. Beat till a smooth consistency.

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Spray a muffin pan with Pam Baking Spray. Fill each muffin cup to the top and sprinkle each with a few walnut pieces. Bake any extra mixture in a coffee mug.

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Place muffin pan on a cookie sheet and bake on the middle rack of a 350° preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until set.

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Yield: 6 individual servings plus a little extra, depending on the size of the sweet potatoes.

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Calories: 143 per serving

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❤️

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“Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.”

\n3 John 1:2 NIV\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2016-03-25T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2016/03/25/fitness-friday.html", "tags": ["Health","Positive Energy","Baking","Fitness","Cooking","In the Kitchen"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2015/07/13/lemon-cake.html", "title": "Lemon Cake!", "content_html": "\n
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Way, WAY back in the day, I used to bake competitively. There were three of us gals…Ryb, Judy, and me…that would enter three pies into Saturday's competition, and three cakes on Sunday's at the Carbondale Mountain Fair. Almost without fail, the Three Amigas would take home all of the ribbons! SO unfair…but SO fun! Invariably, the field would be heavily laden with \"Death By Chocolate\" and any manor of liqueur-laced lovelies so I would try to come up with something different that would catch the judges by surprise. This yummy taste of sunshine won me one of those coveted ribbons and has become the all-time family favorite for birthdays.

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There's been a running joke since my son in-law joined the family twenty years ago that if anything happened to their marriage, I was keeping him and my daughter would have to go! Of course, everyone knew it was tongue in cheek, but I have to tell you, my daughter won the lottery in both the husband AND the in-law department. Their birthdays are the 11th and the 13th, and their anniversary is the 15th. And, since my wonderful son-in-law is partial to chocolate…I made chocolate cakes every year. But this year is different. This year is special. We've reached a new depth in our mother/daughter friendship. She works SO hard as a special ed teacher, as a mom to two very busy girls on swim team, as a student going to grad school, and as a loving wife. So, this year she gets the much coveted lemon cake for her birthday.

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In the past, I would have worked on this cake for two weeks. I would have carefully cut lemon peel into thin strips, boiling it in a simple syrup and refrigerate. I would have made the cake from scratch. I would have piped the whipped cream frosting on with a flourish. Then I would have carefully tied the lemon peel into little knots, rolled them in sugar crystals and place them around the top. But hey, I said she's special but she's not the queen! So, I doctored up a moist lemon cake mix (gasp!) by using sour cream instead of oil. I added the zest of one lemon. Once baked and cooled, I used lemon curd from a jar for the filling between layers instead of painstakingly making my own. I whipped heavy cream, adding a couple tablespoons of light corn syrup (stabilizes whipped cream so it lasts for hours! There…one of my secrets!) and added three tablespoons of the powdered lemon drops. (I put some lemon drops through the blender till they turn to a sugary powder and sift out any chunks.) Frost with the whipped cream, dollop on some lemon curd, and sprinkle with a bit of the powdered lemon drops and, voila…Lemon Cake! Chill till serving time and wait for the ooooohs and aaaaahs!

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❤

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\"His sons used to hold feasts in their homes on their birthdays, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.\"

\nJob 1:4\n
\n\n", "date_published": "2015-07-13T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2015/07/13/lemon-cake.html", "tags": ["Colorado","Family","Fun","Comfort","Be Joyful!","Baking"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2014/11/25/over-the-river.html", "title": "Over the River…", "content_html": "\n
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I spent the day yesterday baking. I made a yellow cake with penuche frosting. Have any of you had that? My grandma always had a yellow cake with penuche frosting at family dinners. It was baked in a sheet cake pan and I dearly loved that frosting. It's made with butter and brown sugar and confectioners sugar. Ok….it's just sugar…spreadable, caramelized, burry sugar! Then I baked a double batch of corn bread. This was for the Hunter's Chili/Soup Bean Supper at the community building last night. Yes, my friends…I'm sure if you have never spent time in our neck of the woods, you are not aware that yesterday started a national holiday. It was the opening day of rifle deer season! Schools actually SHUT DOWN for the first week. Grown men quit their jobs if they think their boss won't let them off for hunting season. People dressed in camo, rifles in their gun racks, muddy four wheelers in the backs of their muddy trucks, shots ringing out from every hilltop and holler. Man oh man…it's Carhartt Heaven here! So, we had our supper last night and the fellers sat around to chew the fat fer a while. The old guys telling these young whipper snappers how it was done in their day…each tale bigger than the last. What a hoot!

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Y'all are gonna think that's all I do…bake and cook. Well, I sure have been enjoying it and this farm brings it out in me since this is where I learned to cook in the first place. Tomorrow we head to the cousin's for Thanksgiving. I'm bringing all my ingredients with me to bake there. We were going to leave Wednesday but there's six inches of snow predicted so we'll go early. It was 70 degrees here yesterday…what an absolute treat!

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What is your favorite food memory of Thanksgiving?

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<3

\n\n", "date_published": "2014-11-25T02:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2014/11/25/over-the-river.html", "tags": ["West Virginia","The Farm","Comfort","Baking"] } ] }