Hello Friends.
I've been meaning to post but the days get away from me quicker and quicker. To be truthful, I have been a bit lazy. Our weather has been all over the place. One day it will be sunny and very warm. The very next day, it will turn so cold and either sleet or snow. I am so ready for a more pleasant weather pattern, aren't you? I am also ready to plant a few veggies and flowers. A few years ago, I swore I wouldn't even try to grow anything in the soil e have on our place. It is very dense and almost all black clay. It is just not good for anything, really, except maybe weeds. This year, with the price of food getting more expensive, with each visit to the grocery store, I will be trying to grow a few things in containers and raised beds. I've never had much luck with that either but I am going to work harder at it and hopefully produce at least the makings of salads. Surely, I can grow spinach, radishes, cucumbers and a few herbs! Surely! Certainly, I won't be able to grow enough to feed us throughout the year but every little bit helps, at this point. I believe, we as a nation, are at a point where we should all be looking for ways to help with the budget and simply surviving. It is getting crazy. I've never seen anything like this and I have seen a lot of lean and even broke times. I was thinking about what I call survival foods and I remembered one of my favorite breads, Hot Water Cornbread. Now you can't get much easier and inexpensive than that.
You can trace Hot Water Cornbread back to Natives of the Americas and to the slaves. I, however, only came to know about it in 1980 something. When I married my ex-husband, I met the sweetest, kindest, most gentle soul I've ever known. She was his sister-in-law but she quickly became my friend and in many ways, my mentor. She was also a strong, hard-working woman who cooked many frugal, yet delicious, meals. One of those meals turned out to be a lasting favorite of mine. Purple Hull Peas and Hot Water Cornbread. More times than not, there was fresh tomatoes and onions straight out of the garden. Most of the time, there was chow-chow and sweet tea to go with it. Oh my goodness, friends! I am almost drooling just telling y'all about it. She always had something yummy on her small counters. The one I remember most is the cornbread. I made a batch for supper and thought I would share the recipe. There was plenty left over so I can have some, slathered with real butter and maybe some honey, for my breakfast.
Hot Water Cornbread
Ingredients:
2 cups white cornmeal (self rising or regular)
1/2 - 1 tsp salt (1 tsp is too much for me but I use kosher salt which seems a bit saltier than table salt)
2 cups of boiling water
Cooking oil, shortening, or bacon grease.
Directions:
Preheat an iron skillet (or whatever you have). Add the cooking oil to the pan and allow to get super hot. Not to the point of smoking but just before. Mix the cornmeal and salt together, making sure that it is very well combined. Slowly, stir in the water. You may need the full two cups or slightly more/less. You want the consistency to be that of thick cream of wheat. Form the mixture into patties, about 3/4 inch thick. Carefully place the patties into the skillet of hot oil. Once you see the edges start to brown, gently turn and brown the other side. Cook for about 4 minutes each side or until golden brown. Remove from the oil and drain on paper towels. Enjoy!
*You can add a bit of bacon grease to the mixture for added flavor or maybe even through in some chopped bacon pieces, green onions, or whatever you fancy. Either way, these are delicious without adding anything.
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It is Spring Break so I get to see my grandblessings a tiny bit more than when they are in school. They came out today and spent some time at "Granny's House". I try my best to keep them off of their phones and tablets, because let's face it, I don't get to see those beautiful, precious eyes and smiles as much as I would like. Besides, I can't imagine that all that screen time is good for anyone much less kids. I always have some little project or activity planned for them. Today, we made Four-Leaf Clovers with things we found while walking around the place.
We gathered grasses, small twigs, pecan hulls, flowers, leaves, small gravel and other fun things. Now, understand, one grand does pretty good at looking for things and one grabs a handful of whatever he sees first and calls it good. Still, it is fun to look for treasures with them.
I cut out the clover shapes, last night. Once we had all of our "gatherings", we came inside and started gluing them to the cut outs. It was so much fun but you might want to use a hot glue gun rather than the old stand-by, Elmer's School Glue. It takes forever for that to dry. If you do use a hot glue gun, please don't let the littles do it. You sit down and enjoy your babies, while YOU use the hot glue gun. That's just to cover myself from getting sued or bashed because someone let their kiddo use the hot glue and they got burned. I am sure most of you have the good sense to not let that happen but you never know!
Here is one of our finished Four-Leaf Clovers.
Well, friends, I hope you are still visiting every once in awhile. Thanks for doing that.
Have a beautiful night and rest well in Jesus.
Grace & Peace,
Pam