Month: November 2020

Categories
Dessert

Carrot Cake

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Good morning all. I hope this day finds you happiness and content and I do hope that you had a great Thanksgiving this year. Here’s a snapshot of my desert. And it was good.

I have been making this cake for about 40 years now.

The ingredients are 3 c grated carrots after rinsing and skinning them.

2 c white sugar 1 1/4 c. vegetable oil 4 eggs beaten

2 c flour I use self-rising for all my cooking

2 tsp baking powder (also) 1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon 2tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour your bunt cake pan. You can also use a 13×9 pan.

Into a large bowl add your eggs and oil and sugar and vanilla. Mix, Add in your flour-baking-soda-salt and cinnamon that have been hand whisked together. Add this in slowly and in small amounts as you are mixing the batter. Add in the carrots and nuts if you want them in your cake. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 55 minutes. Watch and do the tooth-pic test for doneness.

After 10 minutes take the cake out of the pan and let it cool completely, before frosting it.

Icing (use a mixer) 3 c powdered sugar 1 stick softened butter 8 oz cream cheese (softened) 2 tsp vanilla extract 5 TBSP of milk or maybe a tiny bit more if the icing is not wet enough to spread around the cake. You can add a cup of chopped nuts to the icing or in the cake batter if you wish. This icing will be thick and creamy!

I do hope that this cake brings you joy as it has for so many many years to me.

Stay a-while, while you are already here, and check out the monthly archives if you wish and share, if you will. Thanks for stopping by. I will be posting again on Tuesday-Thur and Saturdays.

Sincerely, best wishes from me to you. Connie B.

#CONNIEBRECIPESWISDOMFORPENNIES

Categories
Salad

Taco Salad

#taco #salad

Good morning everyone! A beautiful day in North Florida, this morning. It is refreshingly cool. Today, I wish for you, everything good, along with peace of mind, Just hold on and keep on praying. God’s got you, wherever you are.

Today, I am giving you my Connie’s taco salad recipe and I hope that you will keep this one as it is one of my favorites. Whenever you cook up a delicious pot of chili, save some in a little freezer bag so that you can have this later. Use your own chili recipe or look up mine in my monthly archives if you wish. Look around while you are there if you like as I have many of my recipes in there.

Ingredients you will need are tortilla chips

Bag of mixed lettuce or make your own salad.

Sour cream and taco bell fire hot sauce or milder if you choose.

And 3/4 cup of great chili or awful canned chili, your choice here.

1/3 c or less of grated cheddar cheese.

First I heat up the tortilla chips on a plate in the microwave. A heaping plateful of them. Watch them as they will catch on fire and burn! Ask me how I know this? On another plate, I put my rinsed and drained well salad. Now top the salad with all the tortilla chips.

Have your chili warmed up and drizzle it all over the chips. Use a whopping dollop of sour cream. Sprinkle with hot sauce of your choice. And then sprinkle on the grated cheese, again your choice of which kind and how much cheese that you wish.

Be ready to sit down and eat this as soon as it’s prepared or it will get soggy on you! Enjoy!!

Thank you for your visit today and I hope that you will visit me often and share with many. I will begin today ( May 18 2021 only posting on Tuesday and Saturday. Warm wishes to every one of you! Connie B.

#CONNIEBRECIPESWISDOMFORPENNIES

Categories
November 2020 Water Bath Canning

Orange Cranberry Sauce

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Good morning everyone. I thought that I would show you a very nice red and orange-colored, and comforting for those that do like cranberry sauce, food photo that I just took off of my camera. It has been sitting there waiting for today, to have its day in the spotlight all over the world. I hope.

It may go to Italy today or even Switzerland, Australia, or possibly Ireland. This little blog of mine does some traveling for me, as I could only wish to travel, so it does it for me. I do get so much enjoyment out of my little blog!

Ok, I know that there are more cranberry haters than lovers, out there, but this one recipe may change your mind. Once I tasted this, I for one will never go back to the cans from the store, as I myself canned this one in canning jars. And this one will always be my go to.

I used Granny’s old steel pot as you can see. I have had this for many many years and I always make my jams and jellies, only in this pot, with a long wooden spoon. Hey I am 61, so some things will never change in my kitchen, but on the other hand, I do love to create in my kitchen, so maybe I can change. God only knows, not even myself!

If you look into the pot you can see whole cranberries that have been crushed with little orange zests floating around. Imagine the smell! It was decadent! This pot of orange-cranberry sauce made 5- pint jars of sauce. 4 were jellied and 1 was slightly runny, so I say not bad for a first time trying as I made it up as I went along.

Here is the recipe for you. 2 – 12 oz bags of whole cranberries and 3 oranges zested and juiced

5 c. sugar with 2 heaping TBSP of pectin mixed in with the sugar (powdered pectin). I use Mrs. Wages as it is the cheapest to be found for me.

Rinse off the cranberries and put them in a big steel pot. Put the orange zest and juice in the pot also.

Pour in 4 c. water.

Boil until they pop. Then use a potato masher to slightly mash berries.

Add in the 5 c. sugar that has the pectin in it. (This whole recipe is cooked on #8 on the stove. A high boil, while always stirring and watching out for popping sauce as it will burn you. So use a taller pot and a long spoon.

Once you have slightly mashed the berries, then pour in the sugar mixture and keep stirring until it comes to a rolling boil. 5 minutes should do it and be thickened up. It will thicken more in the canning jars.

I water-bathed canned these 5- pint for 20 minutes. if you need more information on water bathing then check my monthly archives under canning.

This is a very simple recipe that is so delightful. You taste more orange than cranberry!

Thank you for your visit and do come back soon or stay awhile if you wish. I will post on all Tue-Thur and Saturdays if you want to visit me again. If you wish, please share the recipes.

Thanks again for stopping by. Connie B.

Categories
Meats

Spiral Brown Sugar Baked Ham

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Hello to everyone on this beautiful sunny and windy North Florida day. I hope this day finds you well and reaching for some little type of joy and calmness. We do have to keep reaching out to discover some, each and every day.

Early this morning as I was sitting out on my little back patio in my rocking chair and having my whiskey cup of coffee for the day, I was enjoying using all my five senses as I sat and marveled at the sights and sounds all around me. The taste was my delicious coffee along with the smell.

I had the sun, warming my legs and shoulders, as I looked up into the most marvelous blue sky, that you could just imagine. I was looking at an old Live Oak tree that is most likely 150 years old. The winds were mightly whipping the dazzling and vibrant green branches that were reaching out to that brilliant blue color of the sky.

I watched the big old crows, swooping, and diving, within the wind currents. They were having so much fun as they played. I saw a little shadow pretty near my bare feet and it was a little brown and bright yellow-bellied, little wren. I imagine that she will be building a nest in my African Daisy plant like they did in the springtime. They raised three, might fine little babies near my bay window and I watched from the laying of the 4 eggs and until the 3 eggs hatching. I also watched Mom and Dad work really hard to feed those babies. I enjoyed that nature experience! Now I really am not sure if they breed in the winter, but the way they are ravenously eating at my bird feeders. I would almost bet upon it! I hope, that I have drawn you a painting with my words, for your day.

The recipe is —- Buy a Cooked Spiral Honey or Brown Sugar Ham. This photo was from last year’s Christmas Community Dinner. And it was bought at Walmart. The price is high, like around $30 on sale. But It has the best flavor that I have ever had.

Buy 2 cans of pineapple rings and 2 bottles of Maraschino cherries. Buy 1 box of brown sugar.

As this ham is already cooked, all it needs is some decorations. Mix a cup of brown sugar with the juice of one of the cans of pineapple rings and also add the cherry juice of one jar into this mix.

Heat oven to 350 degrees and use a 13x 9 pan to put your ham into. When you cut open the package, watch out so that all the juice in the bag does not land all over you. Ask me how I know this!

Use toothpicks to attatch all the pineapple rings and cherries to the ham. Take your sugar juice mixture and pour down into all the spiral slices, throughout the ham. For this to be hot for dinner, you need to slide this in the oven 60 minutes before your Thanksgiving mealtime.

I hope that you enjoy this ham recipe as I know that

we all, truly enjoyed it last Thanksgiving. This ham is not the salty type of ham. While you are already here, take a look at the monthly archives if you wish and also share if you will. Do feel welcome to come back again as I post on Sat-Tue and Thursdays. Warm Holiday Wishes to Every one of you. Connie B.

Oops, I almost forgot! Those little bags on the table were for my 2 mail ladies for Christmas last year. And I will have to treat them again this year, as they always make sure that I get my packages and mail, They were filled with medium size tins of homemade chocolate fudge.

PS As today is December 2020 there is no warm sunshine today. Just wanted to share again. This is what I hope to fix for Christmas Dinner.

350 degrees for 60 minutes as it comes already cooked from Walmart in the ham bin.

Categories
Breads

Connie’s Cornbread

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Good morning everyone, on this beautiful 40 degree, North Florida day. A very nice, nip in the air for me. And I am very thankful as it makes breathing, quite a bit easier for me. So I am happy!

I do wish the very best for your day and hope that you reach for something to smile about today. As the skies are blue and the trees are green. There is always beauty to find if you just stop and take a look.

Today’s recipe is not for the timid as it does take some extra work to achieve but you will learn a bit about the people before us, with their genius minds. Makes me feel kind of dumb, but oh well, I for one, am glad to have found this lesson from history.

I wanted to store popcorn for cornmeal as it’s clean corn to eat. To try and grind the popcorn, nothing would work and I did try all my gadgets. So if you look online, you could order a $500.00 professional grain mill grinder or go to a stone mill house, like in the old days, if you can even find one nowadays.

So as I was researching way back in time. I found out that our Indians and our Mexican peoples knew what we don’t know today. Yes, they knew how to grind corn with a simple little rock. Not all the fancy machines that we have today.

Their process is called nixtamalization. It involves dry lime powder with water and hard dried corn. I used pickle lime. Here is the recipe if you dare to try it. It was some of the best ever cornbread that I have ever had.

2 c. washed popcorn in a large pot

6 c. water 1/2 tsp. pickling lime

Rinse popcorn and add it and water and lime powder to the pot. Have on a simmering boil for 10 minutes. Leave in the water overnight. (Do not put your hands in water). It is caustic and will burn your hands. In the morning, rinse the corn with a strainer for 10 rinses. A lot.

Now you can put this in the freezer for later when you want to cook cornbread or you can use it now. I filled my little coffee grinder up and ground it right up. I used enough to make a cup and a half for my recipe. Then as I had more popcorn leftover for next time. I put it in the freezer It was wet but it ground up dry, like the beautiful fresh cornmeal that it was. So our Ancestors did know something that most of the world doesn’t even know now. And I just imagine that they did this for their Thanksgiving meal for their families.

My cornbread recipe that I have used for so very many years is—-

1 1/2 c. cornmeal

1c. self -rising flour with 1 TBSP baking powder, also

1/3 c. sugar (If I am not making stuffing).

2 eggs beaten and 2 TBSP melted bacon grease

1 cup milk with 1 TBSP lemon juice (makes buttermilk)

Heat oven to 350 degrees and have a cast-iron frying pan of medium size with 2 TBSB. grease in the pan. ( I usually use cast-iron, but this time, I did not).

Use a medium bowl to mix everything up in. If the batter is too thick or too dry, add in small amounts of water and stir until it is pourable but not runny. Pour batter into a hot cast-iron skillet and bake 25-30 minutes until it’s a pretty brown. Now enjoy with butter! Or use this to put in your stuffing along with biscuits or other breads.

I do hope that some of you will try this! I know that this will make my 25 lb bucket of popcorn, a whole lot easier to cook up. Thank you for visiting me and check out the monthly archives for more. Always share so others might find a recipe that they like. I post on Tue-Thur and Saturdays so do come back for more if you want. Thanks again for reading my blog. Connie B.

Categories
Sandwiches

BB Pork Sandwich

A very nice and free, appetising lunch from two of my friends.

North Florida is still not cold, today, as I would love to see and feel some awesome coolness in the air. It is not to be! So I will take this day as it is given and find a little joy, within my day.

I am hoping for you all, that you will reach deep, within yourself and find you some of it for you and your’s. And if you just can not reach this pleasure, then God can get you there.

Today’s post is all about gifts of food and coming up with ideas to make it fun. And it worked out, mighty fine and mighty tasty, too. In the morning one of my friends brought over some vegetables and in the afternoon, another friend brought over a fine, roasted and rose-mary, scented half of a pork-loin. I thought hmm, what can I create with these fine gifts of today! So this is what I came up with.

I happened to have some Italian bread and green olives, along with mayo-mustard and bb, sauce. I decided to toast the bread in my bright red, little toaster. It’s smelling good already! Off to a good start. I had already, very slightly heated up the pork-loin in my bright red little microwave.

By the way, can you tell that I like bright red appliances in my little kitchen? Red is a color of happiness, to me. It makes me want to get creative in the kitchen and hey, the color is just, beautiful to me! Ok, let me get back to my 2:00 pm, late brunch/lunch.

On my barbecue pork sandwich, I put some mayo and mustard and barbecue sauce. I sliced up the gifts of the avacado and tomatoes and then I tossed some of my little green olives onto my plate, added some pink salt and freshly ground peppercorns, for my spices. Next I added an ice cold coca-cola to the mix. And I was ready to sample this.

So I turned on an Amazon free movie and sat at my coffee table in the living-room as I truly enjoyed all the different flavors, of my meal. This was a simple meal, but one to remember, as it was that good.

Sorry about my rambling on, but I do have to entertain myself, and this takes a whole lot of whitt, to keep ahead of myself. So I do , stay on my toes, with God’s help, as He is the only one that can understand me.

Pisces are nuts! So I fit the mold very well.

Thank you for stopping by and being a part of my world, you all, really do mean a lot to me! I do appreciate, each and everyone of you! Check the archives for more, and stay a while, if you can. Remember to come back again, just to see, what I’m up to next. I never know myself!

I always post on Tue-Thur and Saturdays. Today is a freebie for you, so you, also have something free. Connie B.

https://www.wisdomforpennies.com

Categories
Soup

Connie’s Country Potato Soup

Comfort Food on a cold day.


http://wisdomforpennies.com

Good, late morning to all.Last night was a very nice and cool night, here in North Florida. As, we have been having muggy days, it was a nice gift of weather.

I hope that you are well and hanging on, as I know the pressure may be getting higher. I can say that I am praying daily for you all, and I do include myself in there, also. I have a comfort food recipe, that I created and want to share with you, today. May it bring some comfort to you and your’s.

I do hope that you will try this one. I know that I will as soon as cold weather arrives and stays here in Florida. I also took this to a Community Dinner (way back) when we could have those things. The pot was scraped clean, with no left-overs.

And I am proud to say that this is the one recipe that gave me my first and only blue ribbon, but hey, it’s off my bucket list!

Now for the recipe. 3 large baking potatoes that are wrapped in 2 very wet paper napkins (each one). Microwave each potato for 9 minutes each, Test for doneness, with a fork. Set aside to cool.

1 stalk of celery-1 c. baby carrots 1 small package of turkey bacon and 1 small onion (chop everything). Saute all this with 1/4 c. of butter for 10 minutes. While this is sauteing, peel potatoes and cut into large chunks, and set aside.

Have a boiling cup of water ready and drop in 2 chicken bullion cubes to melt and set aside. Stir in 1/2 c. flour into veggies and turkey bacon. Now add in the hot water with bullion cubes and stir very well.

Add in 4 c. of milk and 1 c. sour cream (stirring well). Add 2 tsp. salt and 1 tsp. pepper. Now it’s time for the chunked potatoes to be gently lifted in and gently lifted to be mixed into the soup.

After sauteing the veggies and bacon, this recipe is cooked with a low heat setting (low and slow) while you are anticipating tasting it. It is worth the wait!

Sorry, this recipe was so long, I did shorten it as I typed it into this post. Basically, you need turkey bacn and 4 huge baking potatoes or equivalent in potatoes.(LARGE CHUNKS).

Most of us have the onion-carrots-sour cream and bullion cubes and milk around the house already, hopefully.

I post on Sat-Tue and Thursdays. So stay awhile with a cup of coffee and read some of my monthly archives, if you wish to. And remember to come back again to see what’s next. Even I do not know that, myself.

https://www.wisdomforpennies.com #Connie #Country #Soup #Recipe #Blueribbon

Categories
Jellies Water Bath Canning

Raspberry Jam

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Hello World. Today in North Florida, it is a cloudy and rainy day, with hit and miss, quick little showers. I hope that you are holding something close to you, that brings a special memory to your mind and soul. I wish this for all, along with God holding you, in his peaceful arms. I know that this is where I choose to try to stay, each and everyday. Sometimes I miss, but I know where I should be standing.

To lift up myself in spirit and mind, I made my very first raspberry jam today. I just heard the last jat seal with a pop, a moment ago, so I know all 4 jars are sealed for storage. I would love to open one now, but alas I have a jar of lemon-drop jelly already opened! So I must wait with anticipation, maybe in January on a cloudy day!

I happened to see raspberries on sale the other day for 99 cents each pack. So I got 5 little packs of them, so I could try to make some jam. The recipe is very simple and does not take long at all. You will also be water-bath canning, once at a full boil for only 10 minutes.

#Raspberry #Jam #Recipe

It’s kinda seedy looking, but those seeds don’t mean a thing! This stuff is what, raspberry dreams are made of. I hope you are smiling now!

The recipe that I put together_—- 5 little packages of raspberries (makes 5 cups of berries). Minus 1/2 a cup, that I ate. Turned into

4 1/2 c. raspberries 4 c. sugar

1/4 c. lemon juice 2 heaping TBSP Mrs. Dash Pectin

4-to 5 jelly jars. I used olive jars and pickle jars that had rubber seals in the lids. Tiny container of vinegar paper napkins de-bubble chop-stick

Jar lifter and kitchen towel folded in two on counter, neat the canning pot.

Candy themometor ( will read 225 F. when your jam is done).

Wash raspberries and put into a heavy duty med-to big pot. (This pops out while bubbling). Keep in mind. Mash berries with a potato masher or spoon.

Stay with this stirring with a long wooden spoon and cooking on med-high while constantly stirring to it comes to a rolling boil. Pour in the sugar and keep stirring. Have your 2 heaping TBSP of pectin, near by.

This will come to a rolling boil, now is the time for the themometer to be placed on the inside of the pot. Att 175 degrees F., I stir in the pectin.Stir and boil until it reaches 225 degrees F. Then add lemon juice and skim off the foam with a spoon and discard it.

Now its time to get a bigger pot that allow your filled jelly jars to have 2 inches over the top of the lids filled with boiling water. So get the water boiling as your jam is very hot. Use a ladle to funnel in the jam into the jars.

Use the de-bubble stick now. Dip napkin in vinegar and wipe each jar rim very well as you do each jar. Finger tighten lid on each jar. When water is boiling in pot, put the filled jam jars in and set for 10 minutes of rolling boiling. Remove and set on kitchen towel and listen for the pings as each jar seals. If a jar does not seal, open it and eat it or recan the same way again.

Thank you for visiting me and do come back for more, if you wish. Share if you will and I will be back on Saturdays-Tuesdays and Thursdays. Connie B.

Categories
November 2020 Recipe

Spaghetti

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Hello to everyone on this sunny but cloudy, North Florida day. Our day is in between, while making up it’s mind today. So it is in sync with our world today. I wish you peace of mind on this day and all the days that follow. I also wish you, happiness, so look around and grab onto some and hang on to it, with all your might! I am also keeping all of you in my prayers, each and everyday.

A big pot of my spaghetti sauce with a fist-full of my de-hydrated mushrooms tossed into the pot.

I am working up to the recipe, I promise!

Here it is!

Now for the recipe—-1 can of tomatoes

1 can of paste (the little one)

2 jars of Ragu (Left-over from my couponing days) The last two!

6 cloves of garlic peeled and chopped fine

1/2 of an onion chopped 1/2 tsp. accent 1/2 tsp. garlic powder 1/2 tsp. oregano and 1/2 tsp. basil

3 TBSP. sugar (An Italian tip to reduce heartburn). Mushrooms if you like them,however many you like.

2 lbs, hamburger meat Box of spaghetti 1-lb.

I use ground round hamburger meat so I don’t have to drain off, a lot of grease. Fry the meat, along with onion and garlic cloves until done. If you have grease in the pan then drain it off.

Open up your jars of Ragu and pour in the pot, use a little water in the empty jars to get all the sauce out. Open your can of tomatoes and pour in the pot. Open your paste and dilute it in a bowl, with 3 cans of water, whisked into it. Pour this in the pot.

Add all your spices and if you want, add in some mushrooms. They can be dry of fresh. If fresh make sure to wash in water real quick, and cut up. Cook on medium high temp. for 30-40 minutes, while stirring the pot sometimes. You could use a lid on the pot so that the sauce will not pop out everywhere.

Use a big pot of water and get it to boiling. Put in your spaghetti noodles. I use the 1 lb box and that makes a ton of spaghetti. Boil for 8 minutes for al dente spaghetti (firm) and not mushy). Drain off the water and put into a huge bowl and pour all the sauce over the spaghetti, if you wish or keep the sauce and pasta apart if you wish.

The only reason that I used Ragu in this recipe is that I was one of those bad Mamma jamma couponers, years ago and this was the last of it. I could buy $100 worth of editable groceries and only have to pay $8 for them. But I don’t coupon any longer as I am by myself now and I have no use for all that food.

So without the Ragu, you will need to have 3 cans of tomato sauce and 2 cans of tomato paste to take the place of the Ragu.

So I will be adding a whole tsp. of each of my spices the next time I make spaghetti and adding in 1 tsp. of parsley also. I hope that you will try this recipe and see if you like it! I eat this for days and then on the 3rd day, I give the rest of it to one of my neighbors and tell them to eat it that day as it is 3 days old, but still good for the day.

While you are here, feel free to check out my monthly archives for more recipes. I post on Sat-Tue and Thursdays so stop back in for a visit anytime. Thank You. Connie B.

Categories
Meats November 2020

Pork Chops

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Good morning everyone! I hope this day finds you staying on the calm side of your emotions, as they could be swinging wildly, like a ship on the ocean. Please try to find that little calming place within yourself and hang on to it. I am praying for you all, in this trying, world that we are all, part of.

I thought that I would put this pork-chop recipe up for my post, today. As I have not cooked pork chops in about 5 years, I was not too sure how they would turn out. But as you can see, they turned out,even the bone.

I could imagine that about most everyone on here, knows how to cook pork chops, but this is for the ones, that just might need this recipe. And I do use lard in my cast iron frying pan, so no lard haters, please. On to the recipe now.

Ingredients needed are—2 inches of lard in a cast iron frying pan or any frying pan.

A deeper bowl with 1 1/2 c. self-rising flour in it, also add in 1/2 tsp accent and 1/2 tsp CAVENDEK’S greek seasoning (Save A lot) Grocery Store. This has the pepper already in it along with other nice seasonings.

Pork-chops rinsed off and sprinkled with accent and greek seasoning also.

A splatter screen ( A northerner) taught me this one! And I love, not getting burned with the grease. ( Dollar Tree has them).

Heat up the lard or whatever, your choice of grease is. I only cook these on #5 on my stove dial and lower it to #4, when I first put in the second batch of chops, to let cool a little, then I raise the temp. back to #5 to finish cooking. There is nothing worse than burned grease tasting meat!

I also like to cook entirely the first side before I turn the chop over to cook the second side entirely, without turning it. So I keep my lard on a medium-hot to accomplish this, by frying for about 5 minutes on each side. Peek at your chop for around 4 minutes until you see how your stove does for you. These are the medium-thick pork-chops, not the paper-thin ones. For those that need this recipe, I hope that you try this one! This is how I do it!

I forgot to tell you, that that jar in the photo, is my lemon drop jelly, that went on one of those hot biscuits. It is so sweet but then so sour too! I think it is my favorite. You can find the recipe in my monthly archives if you wish to make some for yourself. Try October archives on my blog, which you can also get to from Google. I hope that you will share my little blog and I do hope that you like some of my recipes. Just save it to your favorites and you won,t have to write it down or print it out if you do.

Well it’s time to stop for today, so I will post again on Saturda-Tue and Thursdays. Wishing you well. Connie B.