If you are looking for a low cholesterol, gluten-free, melt-in-your-mouth cookie, look no further.

Beat 2 egg whites with, 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar, and a pinch of salt till stiff.

Add 3/4 C. sugar; red or green food coloring (opt.); and 1/8 tsp. peppermint extract, or to taste.

Fold in 1 C. mini-chocolate chips.

Turn on oven to 375°F.  Heat for 15 minutes.

On cookie sheet covered with waxed paper, make cookies by the teaspoonful. Place the cookies in the oven.

Turn off oven and leave them in the oven overnight.

You may like to try leaving the cookies white and flavoring them with vanilla or almond flavoring.  Feel free to experiment with your favorite flavors.

photo credit:Wenda Grabau
photo credit:Wenda Grabau
photo credit:Wenda Grabau
photo credit:Wenda Grabau

A quick, rich treat for anytime, including Christmas, is caramel corn.  Kids of all ages take to this snack.

I preheat the oven for 250° F. I pop our homegrown popcorn in my popcorn popper. Store-bought popcorn will do.  We need 6 quarts of popped popcorn.  That is enough to fill up my roaster pan or about 3 poppers full. I put the popcorn in the oven to keep warm while I make the caramel topping.

Margarine will work, but...butter is better.

In a heavy saucepan, at low heat, I melt 2 sticks of butter with 2 cups brown sugar, 1 tsp. salt and 1/2 cup corn syrup stirring constantly till it boils.   Let it boil for 5 minutes without stirring.

Take off of the burner and add 1 Tsp. vanilla and 1/2 tsp. baking soda.  Stir.  The mixture will foam.

Remove the popcorn from the oven. Pour the caramel mixture over the popcorn and stir.  Cover as much popcorn as possible.  Return the popcorn to the oven for 15 minutes.  Stir the popcorn.  Do this 3 more times and you have a super treat for any holiday.

When the mixture cools the final time, break the kernels apart with a wooden spoon.  Store in an air-tight container.

When the weather cools and the leaves start to fall, this recipe beckons.

photo credit: Bretta Grabau
photo credit: Bretta Grabau
photo credit: Bretta Grabau
photo credit: Bretta Grabau
photo credit: Bretta Grabau

Scald milk at medium heat. Note the wrinkled texture on the surface of the milk. This is your clue that the milk is scalded.

One of our favorite Christmas breads is Swedish Kardamummakrans, or as we call it, Cardamom Bread.

The spice, cardamom, is a bit costly, but its fresh, mild flavor is a special delight.  I know I will use the spice for Thanksgiving and Christmas, so to me the cost is worth it.  Besides, the spice keeps from year to year.  There have been Christmases when I could not find it on the grocery shelf and I found it helpful to have extra on hand.

Braid dough loosely to allow for the second rising of the dough.

This recipe calls for 2.5 cups of scalded milk.   It is best not to boil it. So a lesser temperature will be helpful.

Add 1.5 sticks of butter, 1 cup of sugar, 1.5 tsp. cardamom and 1/2 tsp. of salt to the milk.  Stir mixture and allow it to cool.

Join the ends of the braid, making a ring, to form the wreath.

The recipe calls for 1 pkg. of yeast and 1/4-1/2 cup warm water.  Mix and let this mixture rest a few minutes to soften.

When the milk mixture cools enough so that you can hold your finger in the milk comfortably, you may add the yeast mixture.  Beat 1 egg and add it to the yeast/milk mixture. Mix well.

Add 8 cups of flour.  Knead dough until elastic in texture.  Let rise until doubled in bulk.  Punch down the dough and cut the dough into 3 pieces.

M-m-m, it is yummy!

Each piece will make a medium sized loaf of bread.  Cut each of the 3 pieces of dough into 3 pieces and make them into 3 ropes of about 15-18 inches in length. (You may make larger loaves by making only 2 pieces of dough of 3 ropes each.)

Braid dough being sure to join the ropes together at each end of the braid.  Place the braid on a greased baking sheet and secure the two ends of the braid together to form a wreath.  Allow the bread to rise again.  Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Christmas Favorites at our House, Swedish Kardemummakrans and Anise Cookies

When bread is cooled, you may freeze it or frost it.

Icing is made with 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 T. soft butter, 1 tsp. vanilla, and 1-2 T. cream.  When the frosting is somewhat hardened, you may decorate the wreath with halved green and red candied cherries.

Have fun and I hope you enjoy this bread as we do.

(For more detail on the process of scalding milk, see “Scalding Milk” on my website.)

photo credit: Wenda Grabau
photo credit: Bretta Grabau
photo credit: Wenda Grabau
photo credit: Wenda Grabau
photo credit: Wenda Grabau

One of the commonly growing trees typical of our area is the Burr Oak.  We have a huge one on the farm next to our house.  Its arms sprawl out far in the summer to shade the house.

Family photos attest to the fact that this tree was large even in 1919. It has stood strong and tall over the years withstanding many a storm.

This tree offers not only shade in the heat of summer, it makes a fun place for the grandchildren to play on the swing. The tree also makes a great place for the cats to climb.

It has produced many fertile seeds.  Even now, two young oaks are growing up on the farm from its acorns.

The Burr Oak acorn has a characteristic appearance, which makes identifying it rather simple.  Notice the the fringe on the acorn cap.  This indicates that it is from a Burr Oak.  Other oaks do not have the curly edge.

Our God is a great creator.  He takes a little acorn and blesses us with large, protective trees like this oak.

photo credit:Wenda Grabau
photo credit:Wenda Grabau
photo credit:Wenda Grabau

We pick bones on the farm.  When we butcher chicken, the meaty pieces are frozen while the boney parts of the carcases are pressure cooked.  When cooled we pick the meat off of the bones.  We freeze the cooked chicken bits for later use.

Making them into sandwiches is a process, I thought you might like to see.

While the chicken bits thaw, we set up the meat grinder.

We grind the meat by hand.

The grinder turns the bits from this  . . .

. . .to this.

We add mayonnaise, dill pickle, and celery.

It is yummy!

photo credit:Wenda Grabau
photo credit:Wenda Grabau
photo credit:Wenda Grabau
photo credit:Wenda Grabau
photo credit:Wenda Grabau

We cleaned out the garden yesterday. Root crops, squash, herbs and flower bulbs came out of the garden on their ways to the cellar for the winter. The chilling air nipped at our fingers as we dug carrots, beets and flower bulbs.

A Carrot with Personality

Rains, the day before, mixed with the garden soil to make a fine mud that clung to our shoes as we worked. The mud stuck to uprooted plants, vines, and vegetables.  We took the greens off of the carrots and beets. We sprayed off the mud with the garden hose.

We put the air-dried beets, carrots and squash into wire baskets and brought them into the cellar for storage.  While packing them into the baskets we discovered a rather unusual carrot.

It looked like a little marionette.  So to complete its look we spent time this afternoon giving it a personality.  I hope this little guy brings you a smile.  If it does, our afternoon with the carrot will have been well worth it.

Have a great day.

photo credit: Bretta Grabau