I Remember Mom-ma

Although mom-ma went home to live with Jesus back in 2000,

I can still remember from my childhood how mom-ma always stayed home with us kids. She would be the first one up in the morning so she could milk the family cow and fix us breakfast which usually consisted of fried potatoes, eggs & grits or sometimes just plain ole oatmeal. But, even when she just made oatmeal it had the most delicious flavor. Not that she added anything special to it, it was just that Mom-ma herself made it. She would serve up the oatmeal in a special set of bowls that she had just enough for us six kids.

 After Mom-ma died, Daddy gave each of us kids one of the "oatmeal bowls" that we grew up eating from. Growing up Mom-ma always cooked like she was feeding a royal family, but then again to her she was.......cause she was feeding the ones that she loved the most. Everything was cooked from scratch and we always had some kind of dessert, whether it was Lemon Meringue Pie with the crust made out of Ritz Crackers

or a homemade cake. Mom-ma was her happiest serving her family. Every year just before school would start Mom-ma would have Daddy drive her to the fabric store in his 1957 Chevrolet station wagon,

to get material so that she could sew my younger sister, Natalie and I matching school dresses. Mom-ma didn't drive, so either Daddy or some other family member would take her where she needed to go.

Sometimes she would take the local bus which was owned and operated by Mom-ma's brother in law, Uncle Calvin. Mom-ma's sister, Aunt Lois would take us kids to church on Sunday's when Daddy was working off shore. We had lots of property, which originally belonged to Mom-ma's parents, so there was always a HUGE garden. We didn't actually call it a garden, we called it...."The Field." We hardly bought store bought food cause our Field produced a lot, cause Daddy planted a lot. Mom-ma was always canning vegetables to feed her hungry gang through out the year and what wasn't canned, was sold to local families on the bayou. Along with the field, we grew up with a lot of farm animals. We had the typical chickens, which meant we had a steady supply of eggs, which mom-ma would sell the extras to make a few dollars to help with the raising of Six children. There was the cow, which we got milk and butter from and

 When the cow had slowed down from producing milk, she then became meat for the table. There was always lots of pigs also. When butchering day came around, there was always uncles and cousins who would come by to give Daddy a hand. That's when we would fill up our freezer with ham, bacon and hog head cheese. Daddy would always fill up a big "crock" with slabs of pork and cover each layer with salt, making salt meat which would be used in white beans or other dishes Mom-ma made. Mom-ma would even use the pig fat "lard" to fry up our many batches of potatoes that was picked from our fields.

 Daddy would even take the pigs skin and clean it up real good and cut it into small pieces and Mom-ma would fry them up and we'd all enjoy some good ole Cracklins, or as the Cajuns call it.....Grattons, which is Cajun Pig Candy.

 We never had air conditioning growing up. During the day us kids would play outside under the huge oak trees that my grandpaw had planted many years ago. The property was called, "Eagles Nest Plantation. It didn't matter if we stayed inside or outside, it was hot no matter where we played. We didn't have electronic devices, so we played with what we had. We made a lot of mud pies using mom-ma's pie pans. My younger sister and I wanted each a Barbie doll one year for Christmas, but they were more than Daddy could afford. So, they got us Tammy dolls instead.

 I got the brunette one cause I had brown hair and my sister Natalie got the blond cause she had blond hair. Once again I remember my Mom-ma setting up her sewing machine 

and making our Tammy dolls a wardrobe of clothes. This is an exact replica of Mom-ma's sewing machine which still exist, one of the grand-daughters has it now. 

One of the first things us girls were taught growing up was how to make a pot of coffee for when company showed up. From a very young age, maybe 5/6 years old we would pull up a chair in front of the stove and get a pot of water boiling. We didn't grow up fixing a coffee maker and plugging it in......No Way. We were taught using an old fashion drip pot 

and scooping up the hot water and ladling it into the drip pot and Mom-ma and Daddy always used good ole Community Coffee.

Even though Mom-ma is gone, I still try to live through a lot of things that she taught me growing up and I've done my best to pass those traditions onto my children and grandchildren, cause we have to keep Mom-ma's memory alive. 

Until next time..... Remember that you are loved by a Mighty God.

It's Apple Butter/Pie Filling Time

This is pretty much a continuation of my last weeks Blog. 

When I went to my daughter's house in Northwest Alabama, we went to an Apple Orchard where I picked up a few pecks of fresh picked apples. I figured that I'd get enough to make some Apple Butter and some Pie Filling. My friend Gayle Back that lives in Ohio taught me how to make Apple Butter. My family and I met their family when we went up there to attend a Homeschooling Conference. We traveled from Southeast Louisiana all the way up to Ohio to listen to Jonathan Lindvall speak. Gayle was in charge of the homeschooling group up there and we got to stay with another family, Nick & Kim Kraft and we've stayed friends all these years. 

I made the apple butter first. I peeled the skins off and cut them into small chunks. 

Placed the small chunks into two slow cookers 

Added some brown sugar, cinnamon, apple pie spice, pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg and all spice. I really don't measure how much I put in each pot. I just kinda judge how much I think is needed. 

I set the slow cookers on low and periodically I would give it a stir. The apple chunks break down into tiny bits. This actually took quite a few hours. I usually take a hand wand mixer and give it a good grinding so that the apple butter comes out nice and smooth.

Then it's time to transfer the apple butter into jars. 

I take a clean wet towel and wipe any spills from the top of the jar. (I failed to take a picture of this process, so I'll use my apple pie filling pictures. :-) )

Then the lid and the screw cap gets put on. Make sure to screw on the cap nice and tight. 

This is how many jars I got from two crock pots. 

I don't pressure can these, nor do I hot water bathe them. They get shared with family members and friends so they get eaten up quite fast. 

APPLE PIE FILLING

To make my Apple Pie Filling, I peal and chop the apples just like I did for the Apple Butter. 

Instead of putting the apple chunks in a crock pot, I put them in a pot and cook it down on the stove and add

Brown Sugar, Cinnamon, Apple Pie Spice and 
Ground Nutmeg

For the pie filling I stir every few minutes, mostly to prevent it from sticking to the bottom. 

When the apples look like they do in this picture then it's time to put them into jars. 

Clean around the top of the jar rim before placing the jar lid and ring on. If there is any pie filling or liquids on the jar rim the lid will not seal right. 

These are quart jars and I came out with only Two jars with the amount of pie filling I cooked. Instead of making 2 large apple pies, I'm going to make little pies, that way I'll have more to share with family and friends. 

This little doll right here is my Grand-daughter, Whitney. Every time we would pass in front of the Apple Orchard, we just had to stop and get each of the most DELICIOUS  FRESH frozen Apple slushie which was made with the apples picked from the orchard. Seriously, they were delicious. 

Well, it's time to close for now. So, until next time.....Remember that you are Loved by a Mighty God. 

Busy, Busy, Busy

My goodness gracious.....It's been a few months since I've written a post. I've been super busy, I did some traveling to visit with a couple of the grandbabies who live in Northwest Alabama. 

One of my grandsons came home from serving in the Army after being stationed in Kuwait. It's truly a Blessing to have him back home safe and sound. 

My son (39) went through some health issues and for a while we thought that we might loose him when he went into heart failure. His heart was only working at 20% and he would possibly have to be put on a heart transplant list. He had surgery and had a defibrillator installed to shock his heart if it went into Afib again. But because of our Awesome God that we serve, he's still with us and did not have to get on a transplant list. (Thank You Jesus) 

My two Elgin's  <3
When I came back from visiting with my youngest daughter and grandbabies I brought home a few pecks of fresh picked apples to dehydrate. 

I knew that I had a few dehydrators, but couldn't find them. (They are somewhere in a box in my shed) So, off to Wal-Mart I went and picked up a new one and got started slicing and dehydrating my apples. I really should have bought 3 dehydrators at least. LOL

First thing I did was wash 

and slice the apples really thin. 

After that I layered them in my dehydrator 

and turned it on and within about 4 hours I had the crunchiest, most delicious healthy snack. 

when I got done with the apples, I started with strawberries. 

I sliced the strawberries by hand, which I didn't mind at all. I love doing things in my kitchen. 

Then they got layered on the trays and plugged the dehydrator in and within a few hours I had another great
fresh snack. 

Now, I was on a role, I then did a crate of peaches, 

Even a bag of fresh kale that I picked up at a farmer's market that I went to while visiting my daughter.

The first thing I did with the Kale was give it a good washing, then peeled the hard cord stem that runs through the middle.

Then I added some seasonings and a bit of olive oil and mixed it up so that the kale was coated really good. 

the kale then got layered on the trays and

the dehydrator got plugged in once again. 

As you can see once the kale was dehydrated that I added a bit to much olive oil. I'll know better next time. 😄

I put them in containers and now I've got a few healthy snacks to munch on. 

I even had enough apples to make some apple butter and apple pie filling. I think I'll save those for my next post. 

Remember Ladies......You are loved by a Wonderful and Loving Father. Don't forget to pray Blessings on your husband, you're marriage and your children. Till next time......