Tag: Food

Yesterday, at the traditional United States Thanksgiving Day feast, a roasted turkey was served.

Today, millions of people are eating turkey sandwiches.

And tomorrow…

A hearty, homemade soup to warm your stomach. (And use more leftover meat.)

What shall we serve with our soup? Do we have any rolls left? Perhaps the fruit salad is still good. Dessert?

In the mid-19th century, people strived to not let food go to waste. Whether fruit, vegetable, or animal, the settlers and immigrants on farms and in small towns, used all the edible parts.

In the sweet historical romance, Stitching a Dream, Polly Black prepares simple meals for herself, her son, and any guest. Prepare to dine on beans with ham hock. Or meat simmered with potatoes, carrot, onion, and parsnip. For a finish — if she has gone to the bakery — expect pound cake or perhaps a fruit Kuchen. You will find more information about the book at the link: https://amzn.to/3VwoeFh

Do you celebration the US Thanksgiving Day?

Do you dine on roasted poultry? Turkey is the most popular. Don’t forget chicken for a smaller group of people. Or perhaps a duck or goose to stand out from the crowd.

Many years I’ve fixed a Cornish game hen for this small household.

If I’d omitted the six-inch ruler from the photo — this could pass for a larger bird.

I’m grateful for the farmers who raise the poultry and the meatpacker people who do the killing, plucking, dressing (cleaning), and freezing.

As a child, and for a short time as an adult, I was involved in all of the above steps for chickens. (My parents got involved with a duck once. I understand they are difficult to pluck (defeather).)

In the year the sweet historical romance, Stitching a Dream, is set — the Thanksgiving Holiday was not as set or established. It was a full decade later when President Abraham Lincoln fixed the date as the final Thursday in November. Many areas celebrated a day of Thanksgiving after the harvest, and sometimes a national day was proclaimed, but the date varied.

What do you think Illinois residents would have feasted on in the 1850’s? A goose? Venison? Fish?

Whatever your answer — sit down with a good book after the feast to aid your digestion. I suggest a sweet romance. Here’s a link to a sweet historical: https://amzn.to/3VwoeFh

Not long ago, I was in the mood to bake a treat. I had a specific ingredient I wanted to use, so I went on a search through my cookbooks. (I have lots, but frequently only use a few.)

I settled on making a nut bread. And I followed a recipe — mostly.

One positive to making a quick bread (non-yeast), is the fact that you can usually mix it up and get it in the oven in a short time.

The finished nut bread contained black walnuts, cranberries, and a dash of orange juice to modify a basic recipe.

Quick breads conjure up warm and cozy. Think of their members: muffins, biscuits, pancakes. Add butter and you pretty much can make a meal.

When Louisa Mueller was baking in the fictional village of Elm Ridge, Illinois during 1851, she did not have the luxury of packaged baking powder and baking soda. So many of her treats used yeast. Or, in the case of certain cookies, much beating to incorporate more air into the batter.

Check out her story in the sweet historical romance, New Dreams. Follow the link for more information. https://amzn.to/3vWydWE

A visit to an outdoor museum prompted my memory. They had this plant in one of the gardens which looked familiar. I knew we’d not grown it when I was a child. (We didn’t grow the largest variety in the area.) But I think some grew “wild” nearby and the paper-thin pouches holding the fruit looked familiar.

Wouldn’t you know — they didn’t have a nameplate on the raised bed.

Fast forward an hour or two later and the name was supplied — ground cherries. The cook had some soaking in preparation for making a cake.

Louisa Mueller has grown up in a bakery and enjoys the life. Early hours to get the bread into and out of the oven before the shop opens are just a way of life for her. In addition to wheat and rye bread, she makes pies and Kuchen with seasonal and dried fruits. Plus, she has a reputation for the best molasses cookies in town.

Check out Louisa’s early Illinois adventures in the sweet historical romance, New Dreams. Be sure to have your favorite beverage and a treat close at hand.

Here’s a link to the book: https://amzn.to/3vWydWE

When I was a child in the 1950’s, our small town did not have a bakery. Therefore, one of the highlights of a shopping trip to a larger place — we often drove about 25 miles to a sizable town just across the Mississippi River — was a visit to the bakery.

My father liked the French bread in the long, narrow loaf with lots of crust. Depending on the day of the week, we often purchased a stick. (Yes, today I know them as baguettes — but we were neither French nor sophisticated.)

A loaf of Swedish limpa, rich, dark, and round, sometimes came home with us. Potato bread, looking very much like mother’s home-made bread was also an occasional purchase.

Decorated cakes and cookies in the glass case with Danish pastries always deserved a long look. “May we get Long Johns?”

Scents of frosting, fruit, and yeast filled the air and competed with the verbal exchanges of customers and clerks. And a little magic the first time I watched an entire loaf of bread go through the slicer — WOW! That’s how they get the slices even.

When writing about a baker living a century prior to my bakery visits — I skipped the decorated cakes and cookies and concentrated on wheat bread, rye bread, fruit Kuechen, and cinnamon rolls/buns. This apricot Kuechen, baked in a modern oven may have been a special treat on the table in fictional Elm Ridge, Illinois.

New Dreams, a sweet romance set in 1851, introduces the reader to Louisa and Hans. She’s a baker. And he’s…well, it’s complicated. Check out the book at your favorite on-line retailer. Official release date is March 22! Available for pre-order now.

Kindle: https://amzn.to/3vWydWE

Nook: https://bit.ly/3wR900t