Monday This & That

Angel Food Cupcakes Again

If you saw my Thursdays Tea post you found three delicious Gluten Free recipes.  One was for Lemon Angel Food Cupcakes which was featured on Gluten-Free Wednesdays BLOG last week.  I had never thought that it would be possible to make Angel Food cake into cupcakes but it worked wonderfully and this was the best Gluten-Free Angel Food cake I've made yet.

With just the two of us at home there was plenty of cupcakes to go around and then some so I got some strawberries and sliced them up and served them over the cupcakes which made the perfect round two desert from this batch of cupcakes.

I served it up in my vintage Syracuse China bowls.  This china company makes dishes used by restaurants.  Anyone remember the year(s) this pattern was vogue?



Gluten-Free Lemon Poppyseed Madeleines

2 large eggs
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1 teaspoon grated fresh, organic lemon peel
Pinch salt
1 cup gluten-free all purpose flour mix (plus 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum if needed)
1 3/4 cup melted butter, slightly cooled
Powdered sugar to dust Madeleines

Preheat oven o 375 degrees F

1. Generouly grease 2 standard madeleine pans with butter
2. Combine eggs and sugar in a large mixing bowl. With electric mixer beat on high until creamy for about 4 minutes
3. Add vanilla and lemon extracts, lemon peel and salt, beat to combine.
4. Gradually add gluten-free flour mix and beat just unil combined.
5. Slowly drizzle melted butter into the mixture while beaing until combined.
6. Spoon batter into prepared Madeleine molds until almost to the top.
7. Bake for 10-13 minutes or until tops are puffed and golden brown.
8. Invert he pans ono wire ricks and give them a hard tap to remove the cookies/cakes from the molds.
9. Serve warm dusted with a bit of confecioners' sugar.

Welcome to the Avoiding April Showers Giveaway Event. This event is hosted by Put A Little Umbrella In Your Drink, My Mommy's World, Taking Time For Mommy and And The Little Ones Too.
The Avoiding April Showers Giveaway Event is now live!  A ton of great things to win!!!  Click this Link to see what Grandma Farmer is giving away!

Food Recalls
A Grandma Farmer Editorial

I thought it was about time for me to take a look at the recent food recalls.  I found it very interesting that of the 15 food related recalls by the FDA so far in 2012 10 of them were for misbranding or mislabeling of product ingredients especially of not informing consumers of Allergy ingredients.  A Chicken Sausage product was recalled because there were foriegn objects in the meat.  Interesting, I wonder what that was.  Three products were actually recalled because they contained ingredients that had not been submitted for inspection.  Several of the products were 'ready-to-eat' products and there were beef, chicken and egg products recalled for Listeria, E-coli and Samonella.

It was the most recent recall that interested me the most.  It was for pink slime.  Yep, the 'meat' with the pink fat filler that has been soaked in Ammonia so that it doesn't get contaminated with bad stuff.  Well, guess what?  April 11th there was a recall of this product, dubbed Pink Slime, due to..........drum roll...........E-Coli.

I went to Wikipedia and looked up Ammonia.  A long and scientifically complicated article ensued.  Skimming past the formulas I picked out information on how Ammonia is a gas, it gives us a streak free shine, can be combined with other chemicals for various effects including the possibility of explosion.  Finally I read that if a person consumes to much Ammonia or has to much Ammonia build up in their system that it can cause Liver Dysfunction among other things.  I also found that, "Ammonia even at dilute concentrations is highly toxic to aquatic animals, and for this reason it is classified as dangerous for the environment.

I just wonder why then the FDA thinks it's okay to approve the use of Ammonia in food........


  The Sweet Shop Talk

Now here's a place to spend some time, especially on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday...... when lots of creative BLOGGERS post their craft ideas.
http://www.thesweettalkshop.com/2012/04/sweettalkin-sunday-link-party-14.html

Actually it looks like Lisa has a virtual Craft Party just about every day of the week.  I could just spend hours there!!!

Not only is LISA creative with crafts she's the one who created my header on my blog and the two buttons I have.

Genealogy 101
Grandma Farmer is researching and writing a series for her new blog www.footstepsbehindme.blogspot.com.  If you are interested in Genealogy but don't know where to start or have done some genealogy but are stagnent OR just want to put some fun challenges into your hobby join us at FOOTSTEPS.  You don't have to be 'family' to have fun o this site.

Visit us:

Mondays:  Genealogy 101
Tuesdays:  Family Trivia Day
Wednesdays:  Picture Wednesday
Thurdays:  Coming --  Tombstone Thursday
Fridays:  Genealogy Challenge Day


COOKING SPRAY -  Possible Source of Gluten Contamination

My DIL @ http://ForHimandMyFamily.blogspot.com first posted this for my eyes.  Homemade Cooking Spray: In a spray bottle combine 1 part oil (I like grapeseed) and 5 parts water. Shake before sraying. Thank you @Nature's Nurture! http://naturesnurtureblog.com/2012/04/03/tiny-tip-tuesday-homemade-cooking-spray

  PLEASE make sure the bottle you use is food grade, we have enough of all those nasty plactic chemicals in our bodies.  Or better yet go here and purchase a container meant for this type of application.

Buy a bottle designed for this application here:
https://www.azurestandard.com/shop/product/3321/

Azure Standard is a GREAT company set up like a Food Coop!  We've been purchasing food and other things from them for well over a year.

Monday's This & That

Let's Talk About Give-Aways

We've watched as many bloggers scurry to get the best things to give away then race to see who can get to 100 or 500 or 1000 or more followers or 'Likes'.  There are certain bennies for me if I get to that many followers and the kudos is amazing for the self esteem but frankly I don't have time to even enter all these give-aways.  I entered one the other day and it took me over a half an hour just to jump through all the hoops that I had to jump through to get all the entry done.  Then if I do give aways there's all the letters to send out trying to find sponsors for this give-away and that give away.  WOW. 

I'm just a grandma.  I sew for my grandchildren, grow my own food and pretty soon the baby goats will be coming.  I spend hours a week still trying to learn to be Celiac and making sure that I feed us good, healthy, nutrient dense foods. I've got an empty nest after 30+ years of marriage and frankly my husband and I need to learn to reconnect with each other when we don't have children's needs pressing on us.  I need time for him and for us.  I started this blog because I wanted to share with you, from almost 60 years of life, some things I happen to know about, and that I am passionate about. 

If you want to follow me.....I'm honored.  I hope that you will learn something and in turn you'll comment and I can learn from you.  I'd love it if you'd share my BLOG and my Facebook page with your friends so we can all learn together but I'm NOT going to thrust 5 different give-aways on you every day just so I can get 1,000 fans.  I not only hope you understand but I hope that, like me, you'll appreciate the fact that you won't be getting a gazillion messages asking you to sign up for this or that.  I hope you'll enjoy our fellowship time together.  Now, that said, I will probably do 4-6 give-aways a year and one of them is coming up.  Most of all I hope you'll find the information I gather for you helpful.

Having Trouble figuring out how to get everything done?  Cooking Traditional foods seem overwhelming to you?

Feel like you don’t have enough time for everything?

Interested in time saving tips and tricks for your traditional foods kitchen? Want to get more done — not less — for once?

Boy, can we help! Come to a free webinar to learn our best tips for working smarter — not harder — in your traditional foods kitchen.

I've attended one of them Webinars and it was great.  Now you can attend this Webinar FREE!

http://gnowfglins.com/ecourse/webinars/traditional-food-time-savers-free-webinar

Friday, April 15th at 1 pm eastern time.


Have You Noticed?

Have you noticed the cute header and buttons on my BLOG for Grandma Farmer?  They were made by a very talented LISA of www.thesweettalkshop.com.  Visit her site!

Gardening Tips

Get your sheets and blankets out to cover tender things tonight as we are in for a frost!

Wow this has been a weird spring.  It's way to warm and things are growing a popping out at least a month to early.  Now the next several days we are running the risk of frosts that might harm or even kill our plants, especially if you've gone ahead and put out tender perinnials.

Below is a link that should help you to know when the average last frost is in the spring and the first frost is in the fall.  None of these days are absolutely accurate to the day but they will give you an idea of when to expect them on the average.

http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html

Keep this link handy.

PLANNING THE VEGETABLE GARDEN

Every year I take my calendar and the Hardzone dates and plan my planting schedule.  I carefully count the days or weeks that I can safely plant seeds and set plants in the ground.  I schedule sucession planting and even some late summer plantings so I can harvest before that expected first hard freeze.  You can do this too, easy as pie.

KEEPING A GARDEN JOURNAL

I also like to keep a garden journal.  In this journal I'll record the temperatures, cloudiness and rain amounts each day.  I'll record when and where I plant seeds and/or plants.  I will especially record names of the varieties that I have planted.  By doing all this I'll be able to note which varieties grew best for me and which ones tasted the best so I can track my favorites.  I can recognize that some plants prefer certain areas of the garden and remember to plant them there again next year, if I can.

Scrappy Fridays!

In the coming weeks we'll be sharing ideas on how to use your stash of fabric candy or your stash of fabric Scraps in quick projects.  CLICK HERE to find out how you can join in.  Best of all....IT'S FREE

Monday This and That

Kitchen Quick tip - Need room temperature butter but forgot to set it out to soften? Grate the butter with a cheese grater, let sit for 15 minutes at room temperature and you're ready to go!

Daylilies

Heads up!  We will be selling almost all our Daylily plants.  We have four huge beds of Daylilies and they all have to be moved out of these beds.  This is your chance to purchase some beautiful Daylilies for just $1 a fan.  Yes you saw it right!  We will be having a Garage Sale April 13-14 from 9-3 each day and will dig lilies from the beds hoping to get the right colors for you as they are not in bloom right now.  I have posted the colors from the bed so watch make your color choices.  First Come First Serve.

NOTE: I will also be selling bundles of 5 fans for $6 through www.Nebraskafood.org on their next cycle that starts next Sunday.

Lemon Mania

I was sorting through my late grandmothers recipe files and I ran across an OLD FASHIONED LEMONADE SYRUP BASE that you can keep in your refrigerator to make glasses of lemonade.  I've added that recipe below.

One important point I want to make about lemons and all citrus fruits for that matter.  If you are going to be zesting the outside of the citrus fruit YOU MUST PURCHASE ORGANIC FRUIT.  The reason for this is the all the pesticides that have been sprayed on that fruit can be found on and in the skin.  It cannot be washed off.

Health Tip:  A healthy body is an alkaline body system, Cancer loves an Acidic body system.  What is curious is that Apple Juice and Lemonade, being acidic products, actually convert to Alkaline within the body.

I did a little search for lemons and found this awesome site you are sure to want to spend some time on:  http://lemonmania.com/

LEMONADE SYRUP BASE

1 1/2 cups sugar  (Substitute 1 cup Coconut Sugar or 3/4 cup mild honey)
1/2 cup boiling water
1 tablespoon fresh grated ORGANIC lemon peel
1 1/2 cups fresh squeezed ORGANIC lemon juice

• Dissolve sugar in boiling water.
• Add Lemon peel and juice
• Store in covered containe in refrigerator
• Makes 2 2/3 cups base

Lemonade by the glass for one 8-oz serving

• In a large glass, combine 1/4-1/3 cup lemonade syrup base and 3/4 cup cold water; stir well.
• Add Ice Cubes

Lemonade by the pitcher for nine 8-oz servings

• In large pitcher combine 2 2/3 cups lemonade syrup base and 6 cups cold water; stir well
• Add Ice Cuber

Why I Hang My Clothes on the Line

1.  I love the fresh smell of the clothes when they are hung on the line.

2.  It is easier on the clothing.  Ever wonder where the lint comes from in dryer?

3.  Depending on how many are in your family, it saves lots of money by not using the clothes dryer.

This Weeks Raffle.......Enter today

Click Here to go to the Entry Page

Our Pre-Kick-off Give Away Winner Announcement!

We reached a total of 26 Facebooks Likes and Follows on my BLOG.  Thanks everyone for following us.  The winner of the washcloths was actually a guy!  LOL, I hope his wife likes them!  Congratulations!!!!!

It's Maple Syrup Time

If  you are still buying "Pancake Syrup" you are missing out.  Not only are you not getting a pure product but, 'Pancake Syrup' is typically made from water, sugar of some kind and maple FLAVORING.  We love pure maple syrup with all the 'natural' ingredients only place in there by our Father God, the Creator!

 If you've followed my BLOGS or know me at all you know that I love, love, love small family farms and support them whenever I can.  When I ran out of our Pure, Organic Maple syrup I knew I didn't want to buy it from just my typical supplier and definately did not want to get it through the local store or warehouse.  I've heard stories about horrible additives that is sometimes added to even pure maple syrup and these additives don't have to be listed on the label.  Yes, that might have been cheaper a cheaper route to go but there are just things that must be purchased direct.  Why?

When you buy from a small, local producer you trust you just know what is in your product......or rather what isn't in your product.  How did I find Branon Maple Farm?  Well first of all I asked around on different lists I was part of, then I went to their web site and what did I find?

Every year Branon Family Farms enters the team of horses in the Vermont Maple Festival Parade, which takes place here in Franklin County in the spring. The word traditional or traditions is important for this family, and so is generations.

I was convinced after reading the web site that they are a family that loves what they do.  Yes, they are in Vermont but Maple syrup is not processed in Nebraska so Local was out but, small family farm was still important.

Ordering my gallon of pure, organic maple syrup was easy using the cart on the web site and my gallon of syrup was received in record time! And talk about taste!  I wasn't disappointed.  You will love any of the syrups or products you order from this great family farm.  The Price?  Couldn't be beat for what I got!  Order some today, you'll be glad you did.

To win a free pint of Branon Maple Farm Maple Syrup enter below:

Labeling Your Quilts

As you know a well made quilt can last for 100 years.  I have one and it's a beauty.  It would have been nice if my great aunt would have at least put a label of some kind on it with her name and the date she finished the quilt.  I haven't started doing this yet but with this link I may just get a start on getting this job started.

Victorian Quilt Designs is among several options for some great FREE  label designs for you to get started with.

There are tons of options for the label from just using a fabric marker and writing your name and the date on the back of the quilt to a fancy paper pieced fabric label that has the information embroidered on it. 

Some companies offer pre-printed labels and there are companies that will custom make labels for you to use.

Some folks put awesome little sayings and quotes on the label to further personalize the label.  Quilters Diary offers many for you to choose from.

With all these options you're sure to find something to document your cherished quilt that you spent so much time making.

HAPPY QUILTING

Free Give Away!

To get us started we will be offering a special prize of FIVE special crochet wash cloths by GRANDMA FARMER.  After we hit the 25th follower of our BLOG we will draw a winner randomly.  This drawing will officially end when we hit our 25th follower.
  Tell your friends and join us TODAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway


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March is Officially our KICK-OFF month!

Join US..........it will be a party all month!

We will be awarding prizes all month long for various things every week!  For example WEEK'S are beginning to look like this!  There WILL be more reviews and PRIZES all month long!!!!

WEEK ONE - March 4-10

March is Maple Syrup Month. We'll be reviewing our favorite source for pure Maple Syrup. You could be the winner of a jar of pure, organic Maple Syrup.

WEEK TWO - March 11-17

We will be reviewing Pleasant Hill Grain of Aurora, Nebraska and their Tortilla Press.  Watch for how-to's on Gluten Free Tortilla Making.

WEEK THREE - March 18 - 24


WEEK FOUR - March 25-31

A Prize for the 200th Follower. Be our 200th Follower and you'll recieve a very special prize! Prize To Be Determined.