Hillbilly Beans

INGREDIENTS
1 lb. of dry navy beans or great northern beans
1/4 lb. of bacon, cut into small chinks
1 large onion
1/2 C. molasses
1/3 C. packed brown sugar
1 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper


DIRECTIONS
1) Rinse beans. Soak overnight, in three times as much water as beans. After soaking, boil on stove top until tender in the soaking water. According to experience, softening should take 1 to 1 and 1/2 hours. Your mileage may vary, so check the beans at the one hour mark for desired tenderness.

2) Drain beans, reserving the liquid. In a 1 1/2 quart bean pot or casserole, combine beans, salt, bacon and onion. Stir in one cup of reserved bean liquid, molasses, brown sugar, dry mustard, 1/2 tsp. of salt and pepper.

3) Cover and bake for 300 degrees (F) for 2.5 hours or to desired consistency, stirring occasionally. Add reserved bean liquid if necessary to maintain consistency.

Adding additional mustard and ketchup for desired flavor is usually a good idea, but no measurements are offered here; you are on your own.

House Pictures

I added a blog of our own and put some house pictures on it. These pictures are all of the house before we moved it onto the lot and before renovations were done. I will get more pictures up this weekend!

Visit our blog:
http://djhollowell.blogspot.com/

Have a great day!!

Dan & Jill

Cream Puff Cake

INGREDIENTS
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
4 cups milk
3 (3.5 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
1 (12 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
1/4 cup chocolate syrup

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. In a large heavy saucepan, heat butter and water to boiling over medium-high heat. Add flour and reduce heat to low. Cook and stir until it forms a ball and pulls away from the pan. Remove from heat and transfer to a large bowl. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each egg.
3. Spread in bottom and up the sides of an ungreased 9x13 inch pan. Bake at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) for 35 minutes. Cool completely.
4. To make the filling: In a large bowl, combine cream cheese and milk and beat until smooth. Add pudding mix and beat until thickened. Spread over cooled shell. Top with whipped topping, and drizzle chocolate syrup over the top.

Beef Bread Dip

Ingredients:

2 Cups Sour Cream
2 Cups Mayonnaise
1 4.5 - 5 oz. Package Dried Beef
2 Tablespoons Dried Onion Flakes
2 Teaspoons Parsley
2 Teaspoons Dill Weed
1 Teaspoon Celery Salt
2 Loaves of Italian Bread

Directions:

Mix together - sour cream, mayonnaise, dried onion, parsley, dill weed, & celery salt. Cut the dried beef up and stir in with the sour cream/mayo mixture. Keep Chilled. Cut the bread up into bite size pieces.

A Visit to University Park

Hot Summer Chile Salsa

Hot Summer Chile Salsa - makes 6 to 8 pints

Ingredients:

5# fresh red tomatoes (about 10 cups yield after blanching peeling and chopping)
1# chopped chile peppers
1# chopped onion (about 4 cups)
1 cup white vinegar 5% acidity
4 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 tablespoon dried cumin
2 teaspoons oregano
1/4 cup of fresh cilantro
6 to 8 count; 1 pint canning jars, lids and rings.

Direction:

Prepare canning jars by cleaning in dish washer.

Place 2 cups of water in small saucepan, bring to boil and add canning lids. Boil for five minues, remove lids from hot water and place on a celan paper towel to cool.

A canner is useful here. It is a rack to submerge jars into a boiling bath to hot pack the salsa. Prepare canner by adding sufficient water to submerge jars and bring to a boil.

Boil water and blanch tomatoes until the skins begin to curl. Remove from boiling water and peel skins. Quarter peeled tomatoes and remove as many seeds as is easily accomplished using your fingers. Chop tomatoes to achieve 10 cups.

Add chopped chile peppers, tomatoes, chopped onion, vinegar, salt, pepper, dried cumin, cilantro and oregano to large cooking pot. Bring to a rolling boil and stirring often, reduce heat to allow mixture to simmer for 15 minutes.

Carefully spoon mixture into 1 pint jars, allowing some air space. Clean rim, cover with top and screw ring on firmly. Place filled jars into canner and submerge. Cover with lid. and boil for 15 minutes. Carefully remove jars and allow to cool. Covers will snap to seal as cooling progresses.

Enjoy the salsa.

Cicadas

This year we received a large emergence of cicada at various spots in this area. During the Father's Day weekend we took a trip through Rothrock State Forest to a spot on North Bear Meadows road where I had earlier heard what sounded like a cicada party.




After a short hike we discovered many exit holes where the larva emerged and saw a large number of empty husks. All around us were whirring cicadas and we took several photos.

Also found up on this ridge was a box turtle.