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Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Christmas and The Garden



Big switch here from Christmas to gardening.  Reminds me of the Christmas movie, "The Homecoming".  I love that movie with Patricia Neal...when John, her husband makes it home for Christmas, in the blizzard.  He brings her flowers and she says, "flowers, in the dead of winter"!  

A while back I posted about collards, broccoli, and turnips growing in the garden...I was so excited, having never grown either of these.

We had collards, stewed turnips, and a pan of cornbread for supper last night!   We did!  There is nothing like cornbread baked in a cast iron frying pan.  Especially, if you have just fried out fat back.  The small amount of salt and fat left in the pan makes a brown, crunchy, salted crust on the bread...

The "real" farmers out there would probably get a good laugh at the tiny vegetables I show and talk about.  I'll be the first to admit...I like small...like in the English Fairy Tale, "the teeny-tiny woman who lived in a teeny-tiny house in a teeny-tiny village".  Here we have a teeny-tiny garden with a teeny-tiny gate and teeny-tiny vegetables inside!












Turnips...


 


The broccoli did not survive the 19 degree weather we had a week or so ago.  I was really looking forward to having fresh broccoli....I wish now that I had cut and used the small heads before the freezing weather.  Maybe next year!

I may be back later today with a bit of a post...

Love,
Henny Penny




11 comments:

  1. Yummy I love greens, collard and turnips. Especially cornbread. These kinds of foods reminds me of my mom and my dad. Daddy loved him some cornbread and milk!!

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    1. Oh I love cornbread and milk too...so did Grandma Jewel!

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  2. Love collards and turnips.Don't know what cornbread is though..is it polenta?
    (Can you tell I was raised in the UK?)
    Jane x

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    1. That's funny. I don't know what polenta is. Cornbread is made with ground cornmeal, eggs, oil, milk (or buttermilk) and baked.

      Jane, I enjoy your posts and pictures. I tried leaving you a comment tonight but could not get it to work. I will try again.

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    2. AHA! polenta is cornmeal and water...often then baked.
      Jane x

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  3. Do you cook your cornbread on top of the stove or in the oven? My Mama (gooooood cook!) always cooked it in a cast iron skillet on top of the stove so that's the way I do it too. Seems like it's not so likely to get too dry that way.

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    1. I cook the cornbread in the oven. I do occasionally fry cornbread patties on top of the stove. I would love to know how you make yours.

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  4. Henny Penny, your teeny-tiny garden is not teeny-tiny, and it is perfect. And I know for sure how good that food was cooked!!! Yummy! Love you! Your gur.

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  5. As to the cornbread it's just a basic cornbread recipe. You mix together the dry ingredients (flour, corn meal,a little sugar, salt, baking powder), egg and sweet milk. Then melt the butter ( I use real butter) or shortening in the skillet and swizzle it around the bottom and sides to grease the skillet and then stir the excess into the cornbread mix. Stir it together well and then pour it into the greased skillet. Cover with the lid and let it cook on a very low heat until the top is set---- about 20 minutes. Then you take the lid off. The top of the cornbread needs a bit more browning so you take the skillet in one hand and tip the bread out onto the other hand and then back into the skillet so that the top is now the bottom and can brown. That takes about 5 minutes with the lid off. It's easier to do with a small skillet (I use an 8 inch cast iron skillet) and half of a regular cornbread recipe.

    It's easy once you get the hang of it. Sure tastes good with a big pot of pinto beans.

    People up here in Indiana just don't know how to cook this stuff!

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    1. Oh thank you. This sounds so good! I use real butter too and I think the pan I use is an 8". I can't wait to try this! My Mother's favorite food I do believe was pinto beans...she loved to put on a pot of pinto's in the morning. They smell so good simmering on the stove. Mama would call me and say, "Melba, come and spend the weekend with me. I'll put on a pot of pinto's" and make some cornbread"!
      I sure miss those days!

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