Free Holiday Recipe E-Books

Good morning!

Here are some links to free holiday recipes e-books.

The first two, "Classic Christmas Cookies" and "Classic Christmas Candy and Fudge", are from Homeschool Freebie of the Day, and you can only get them today!

Next on the list is "Healthy Christmas Recipes Mini Ebook" from Free-EbooksOnline.com.

Would you like to have a cookie-exchange party but don't know how?
Partybluprints.com has a free e-book, "The Holiday Giving Party Cookie Exchange", with instructions, recipes and tips on how to host one.

And finally, another free e-book, "Recipes and Writing 2008", can be downloaded from Gregory A. Kompes.
This free e-book is full of holiday recipes, stories, essays, and poems from nine authors.

Happy cooking!

Free Gift-In-A-Jar E-book

Thanks for stopping by.
This link has been moved to Gift In A Jar Recipe Links at PawpawHollerHome.com.

Gift-In-A-Jar Recipe Links

Thanks for stopping by.
These links have been moved to Gift In A Jar Recipe Links at PawpawHollerHome.com.

Old Fashioned Gingerbread

With the holidays coming up I thought I'd share my late momma-in-law's gingerbread recipe.

Old Fashioned Gingerbread

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup molasses

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp soda

1 1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup buttermilk

Nuts and raisins (to taste)

Mix first 3 ingredients until creamy.

Mix in dry ingredients; then the milk.

Stir in nuts and raisins.

Bake in large, greased and floured loaf pan for about 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Sulphured Apples

I found another old-timey recipe in our family cookbook, an old way of preserving apples.
Before there was electricity and before canning jars became more widely available, apples were preserved by drying or sulphuring. Sulphuring the apples prevents them from turning brown.
This recipe is also from my husband's Aunt Minnie.

Sulphured Apples

Peel, core and slice apples.

Put 1 thick layer of apples in a big stone jar or a wooden barrel.

Make a little hole in middle of layer of apples and set a little pan or saucer in it.

Put some hot wood coals in the pan; then put in 1 Tbsp. of sulphur on the hot coals.

Put a heavy blanket or old quilt over the jar or barrel to hold in smoke.

Keep repeating layers until you have as many as you want.

Make a new hole for each layer.

Take the amount of apples you want to cook out and soak in water for just a few minutes.

Then fry or bake or just plain cook them.

What is left in the jar or barrel can be left there until all is used up; or you can put in fruit jars and seal and set in a cool place.

Old Fashioned Egg Pie

Here is another old-timey family recipe, this one from my husband's Aunt Minnie.

Old Fashioned Egg Pie

5 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 1\2 tsp lemon flavoring

Pinch salt

Beat well and put into 2 pie shells. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. When done, sprinkle nutmeg over pie.

Potato Candy

Have you ever had potato candy? I never even heard of it until I came to Tennessee. :)
Here's the recipe.

Potato Candy

1 large potato

Salt

1 box confectioners sugar

Peanut butter

Peel and boil the potato. When the potato is done, mash up with fork and add a pinch of salt and the confectioners sugar, mix well. This will make a stiff dough. Roll dough out on well floured surface to 1/4 inch thick. Spread a layer of peanut butter over dough and roll up like a jelly roll. Put roll into refrigerator to chill and cut into slices when firm.

Yummy!

Sassafras Tea

Another recipe from our family cookbook, this one is from one of my brothers-in-law.

Sassafras Tea

1. Find yellow sassafras roots along fencerows. Dig roots.

2.Wash thoroughly.

3. Pound roots and place in boiling water.

4. Boil several minutes and sweeten to taste.

I like to take a little twig of sassafras and chew on the end. :)

Another Family Recipe

This one is from my nephew-in-law by marriage. :)

TDOT Stew

1. Travel highways; find recent roadkill.

2. Take to state garage.

3. Clean if desired.

4. Place in freezer.

5. When winter comes, throw all roadkill in pot.

6. Add seasonings of choice.

7. Can go ahead and bake since meat is already tender.

Betcha can't guess who he works for!

Recipes From Our Family

Here are three great recipes that are included in our family and church recipe books. :)

Recipe for Life

1 cup good thoughts

1 cup kind deeds

1 cup consideration for others

2 cups forgiveness

3 cups sacrifice for others

Mix these thoroughly.

Add tears of joy, sorrow, and sympathy for others, mix well.

Fold in 4 cups of prayer and faith to lighten other ingredients and raise the texture to great heights.

Add all of this to your daily life.

Bake with a heart of kindness and serve with a smile.

Recipe of the Week

Lettuce be kind to one another.

Egg yourself on to speak with someone about Jesus.

Spice up your life with giving.

Pears that worship together make peachy homes.

Rolls of magazines to read?

Instead, catsup on your Bible reading.

Butter think about eternal life.

Dressing to go out? Then we'll meat you for church!

Preserved Children

Take 1 large field, half a dozen chidren, 2 or 3 dogs, a pinch of creek and some pebbles.

Mix together the children and dogs, put them in the field, stirring constantly.

Put the creek over the pebbles and sprinkle the field with flowers.

Spread the deep blue sky over all and bake in the sun.

When brown, set aside to cool in the bathtub.

When cool, wrap in love.

Free E-books-Classic Children's Cookbooks

Thanks for stopping by. :)
These links have been moved to my Free E-Cookbooks page at PawpawHollerHome.com.

Cooking Tip For Baked Potatoes

How did we ever bake potatoes without aluminum foil? Instead of foil, coat the potatoes with oil and salt. I use olive oil and kosher salt, if I have it, but any kind of oil or salt will do. Bake the potatoes on a cookie sheet at 400 degrees for about an hour.

New potatoes fixed like this and cooked with a roast or chicken are also delicious. If the potatoes are homegrown, we eat skin and all, so I add herbs to the salt and oil rub. I usually use the same herbs I season the meat with, plus paprika and extra garlic.

We think baked potatoes are a lot better fixed like this and a little oil and salt is less expensive than aluminum foil, so you save money, and you won't have trash left over when you're done.

Enjoy!

Kitchen Chemistry- Homemade Soda Pops

A science experiment you can drink! Here are some recipes for homemade sodas:

Making Ginger Ale at Home

Making Root Beer at Home

Making Homemade Soda -a basic recipe to which you add store-bought soda flavoring

Free Recipe Booklets

When I was young I started my cookbook collection with the free recipe booklets that you could send off for from different food manufacturers and organizations. (I have a couple from Heinz with some great pickling recipes!) I still send off for them occasionally, and now I have a daughter who has started collecting recipes and "cookbooklets". :)

Nowadays, with the Internet, a lot of these little gems are right at your fingertips. Here are just a few:

Wild Florida Shrimp has five shrimp brochures with recipes and tips that you can receive by mail or download to your computer.

Order the free updated Jiffy Mix recipe booklet here.

From Smuckers:
FREE Smucker's Cookie Recipe Booklet
FREE Peanut Butter Recipe Booklet

Sun-Maid has five recipe booklets you can order.

Order your free copy of "White House Classic Apple Sauce Recipes Booklet" by writing to:
White House Classic Apple Sauce Recipes
P.O. Box 2040
Winchester, VA 22604

Also from White House Foods, request a copy of "Free Vinegar Tips with Coupon" here.

Last but not least, from the California Olive Industry you can order Eating Well with California Ripe Olives.

Free Recipe E-book

Old Fashioned Homemaking has another recipe book to download! Click here to get "October Sunday Dinners".
Thank you Coffeemom!

Pear Preserves

There's a wonderful old-time canning recipe for pears on one of the blogs I follow, Blind Pig and the Acorn. It's her Granny's Pear Preserves recipe, complete with pictures. Looks yummy! Check it out here.

Now, to find some pears! :)

Homemaking Freebies/Giveaways/Contests

Lisa's Blog at Homestead Originals
Lisa currently has a couple of contests on her blog. She's giving away a bar of Homestead Kitchen handmade soap and a copy of "Haircuts for Little Men" e-book. Just leave a comment on her blog and you're entered. Comment here for the soap giveaway and here for the e-book. Note: You do have to create a free account to make a comment.
While you're there check out the rest of her blog, she has some good recipes, homemaking articles and more.

Old Fashioned Homemaking
Coffemom has two free recipe book downloads, "Jam Recipes" and "Vegetable Dishes". You can download them here.
This is a great Christian homemaking site, you'll find recipes, cleaning and organizing articles, decorating ideas, articles on old fashioned values, homeschooling, family, and so much more!

Some Thoughts on Breakfast

We don't have cold cereal in our house. I used to buy it, but after eating two bowls of it, my children would be hungry again in an hour! I make oatmeal or grits, most of the time, and I'm talking about the kind you cook, not instant.
For oatmeal, we usually eat it with honey or brown sugar and cinnamon. My mom used to make it with cheese, sprouts and (if I remember correctly) sunflower seeds!
We usually eat grits with cheese, and my son and I like them with just butter. My grandmother used to eat her grits with jelly in them.

Other Breakfast Ideas

We have a flock of chickens so we eat a lot of eggs (when they're laying good). I usually boil a half dozen a day. My husband takes a couple in his lunch and the rest get eaten either at breakfast (with fruit and cream-cheese toast), or for a snack in the afternoon. Boiled eggs are also great for a snack on the go.
We love pancakes at our house but I don't like serving them with fake syrup. Real maple syrup is expensive so I buy it on sale and use it sparingly. We also eat pancakes with honey, jelly or applesauce on them, all delicious and much cheaper than maple syrup. Homemade fruit syrup is also good. I froze a lot of berries this year and I'm going to try my hand at making some blueberry syrup. As for the pancakes themselves, I never use a mix, made-from-scratch always tastes so much better. I usually use this whole wheat/buttermilk recipe:

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes

Sift together dry ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

Combine wet ingredients:

4 Tbsp. honey or molasses

2 eggs

4 cups buttermilk

4 Tbsp. melted butter

Mix dry and wet ingredients together quickly, do not over-beat.

Drop by spoonfuls on lightly greased, hot griddle. Flip pancakes when edges turn brown and bubbles are popped. Cook on other side till golden brown.

This recipe usually makes about 20 pancakes (depending on the size) and feeds my family of four.

Enjoy!

Homemaking Giveaway and Freebies

Homestead Originals

Lisa over at Homestead Originals General Store is giving away a bar of handmade soap. To enter, just leave a comment on her blog here.


Homemaking 911

Sign up for Malia's newsletter and get a free bonus, "Our Ten Favorite Freezer Cooking Meals". Sign up here. She also has some free downloads here and check out her blog here for some good recipes and homemaking tips.


Creative Homemaking

You can download all kinds of free homemaking e-books when you sign up for Creative Homemaking's free newsletter. Sign up here.


Old Fashioned Homemaking

Download a free e-book, "Autumn Apple Recipes", here.