A treasure of old letters

I recently came across a stack of my grandmother's old letters from 1953,1954 and 1955.  As I started reading them, I remembered the stories told of when she lived in Ardmore, OK and would feed Air Force men after church on Sundays in her home.  I had no idea the extent of her ministry to these service men or her "boys" as she would call them.  Evidentially, she wrote their mothers or family members about how they were doing and these letters are people writing back to her. There are 49 letters in all, 30 from family members, 22 mothers, 5 of them wrote twice, 1 father, 1 sister and an aunt, 13 letters from the service men themselves, 2 of them wrote twice, and 6 other letters. 

Ardmore Air Force Base was opened in 1952 outside of Ardmore, Ok and closed in 1959.  There was a bus service to and from Ardmore on Sundays for those wanting to attend church services. My grandmother, her sister, Aunt Dorothy and my mother who was a teenager lived in a 2 story house, 800 square feet with 4 rooms,  1 bedroom and bathroom upstairs and the kitchen and living room downstairs. They attended the First Baptist Church. The pastor there wanted to do something more for the service members that were attending so approached Grandma about having them over for lunch after church.  They also had fellowships for them along with the teens from the church. I think he asked several women to host lunches but my Grandma's was the favorite. Her and Aunt Dorothy were really good cooks and a lot of fun to be around. The "boys" evidentially helped with the cooking, one told his mother about baking biscuits. They also cleaned up, washed and dried all the dishes. Several of the mothers thanked Grandma for Christmas gifts, one mentioned a pretty apron, probably sewn by Aunt Dorothy. The mothers commented that they felt they knew Grandma because their sons had talked or written about her so much. Many of the mothers wanted to meet Grandma in person or invited her to their homes for a visit. Several letters talked about how Grandma had nursed several of the "boys" when they were sick or injured. Grandma was an RN for over 50 years, nursing was second nature for her. As a thank you, several of the boys gave her a Mix Master in 1954. Several of the mothers wrote more than once so there were letters going back and forth between them and Grandma.  Several of the service members wrote her, Aunt Dorothy and Mom when they went home on leave, on training or when they were shipped out and evidentially she wrote them back from the responses. She must have written a lot of letters over these years.

The boys would ride the bus to church on Sunday mornings, then go to Grandma's for lunch and spend the afternoon there, go back to church that evening, then ride the bus back to base.  I don't know how many they had each afternoon but there had to be anywhere from 10 to 20 any given Sunday just from the volume of letters. The house was set back from the road and had a long driveway. I remember stories of how they played music outside and would dance, play games or just hang out there on the driveway.

Here's  excerpts from some of the letters. I'm going to do another post with more excerpts (part 2)since there's so many. For privacy, I'm not including last names.

Mrs.  T (mother) from McQuady, Kentucky, April 1954

"Was so glad to get your nice letter. I appreciate it and the interest you have in Ralph. I know it has meant so much to him. I want to tell you that I don't worry so much about Ralph since I've known about you. Also so glad that he goes to church. Thank you again for your letter and being so nice to Ralph."

Mrs.  P (mother) from Malvern, Arkansas, December 1953, also wrote again in April 1954

"I received your nice friendly letter and am so happy to know that you have taken an interest in my boy, Eugene. When he was home he told me all about you. How nice you were to him and all the boys. I want to thank you with all my heart and may God bless you all. I know Eugene appreciates it very much. I feel so happy to know that he has taken an interest in church work and attends regularly."

Mrs.  C (mother) from Owensboro, Kentucky, Feb 1954 and also in March 1954

"Surely did appreciate your letter last week. You can never know just how much it means for us for the interest you have taken in Bill and he really loves you too. It is worth so much to know he is among such good Christian people and I know he will never forget his days spent in Ardmore. We are so thankful he has had the privilege of being out there. Thank you so much for what you are doing for Bill."

Mr.  M, (father) from Milan, Tennessee, November 1953 

"You don't know how much I appreciated your sweet letter. I sure am proud of the interest you folks are taking in the soldier boys. William has told me you sure are friendly people. It does me so much good that the boys go to church like they did at home. I want to thank you again for your sweet letter."

Mrs.  A (mother) from Many, Louisiana, January 1954

"Thank you so very much for the lovely gift. We are so glad that George is at work in the church there. We want to thank all of you good people for being so nice to him. It makes us feel good to know that he has good friends up there."

More farmers market adventures

This summer I've visited a few more farmer's markets in OK and on my travels.  The end of July we went on our annual family vacation to Mississippi for the Beckman family reunion.  We meet at Clarkco State Park near Meridian MS.  We're there from Tues until Sunday.  One of my cousins stopped at the Mississippi visitors center and saw a flyer for a farmers market trail and got it for me.  I was so excited, more farmers market road trips in the future. On Saturday morning, several of us went to the Meridian farmers market at Union Station.  This has become an annual event for us and one of my favorites.  I always manage to find things that I can take back with me to Oklahoma, mostly produce but this year it was also a plant.  I love plants and the majority of my plants have come from farmers markets.  I was walking by one of the vendors with plants and just looking, trying to figure

out logistics with taking something back to Oklahoma. When I asked about one of the plants the lady told me it was a Confederate Rose and because she needed to repot it she would sell it to me for $5.  SOLD! My husband was amused but use to me doing this by now so I brought it back, researched about it online and planted it in a 5 gallon bucket in my yard.  I wanted to get it established before putting it in the ground because full sun in Mississippi is very different from full sun in Oklahoma.  I'll overwinter it inside this year and plant it outside in the spring. One of my favor things to bring back from Mississippi is peaches.  I freeze and/or can them. In August, we planned another Saturday in OKC with our daughter, Tabitha. My husband, John, our dog, Clapton and I went to our local Lawton farmers market before leaving town, dropped the produce and Clapton off and then headed to Norman, OK.  I decided I wanted to add another farmers market to my list so Tabitha met us in Norman and we checked out theirs. Quite a few of the area farmers have booths at the OSU/OKC, Norman and Edmond farmers market but there's still unique vendors to each market.  We enjoyed it and bought produce, cheese and baked goods.  I bought peaches, not that I needed any because I still had peaches from Mississippi but later that week I canned 4 jars of Bourdon peaches plus made a peach cobbler for work with my MS and OK peaches.  Tabitha and I went in her car back to OKC and stopped off at the OSU/OKC farmers market for

yogurt and a couple more things that we couldn't get in Norman.  So that was 3 farmers markets for me in 1 day. Over Labor Day weekend my husband, John, Tabitha and I went to Little Rock, AR to visit my father-in-law and his wife. That Saturday, Tabitha and I went to the Hillcrest Farmers Market by the Pulaski Baptist Church on Kavanaugh Blvd.  We had went there last year when we visited and really enjoyed it so went back. We bought stuff to cook there for the family and to bring back to OK.  I cut up cantaloupe to go with sandwiches for lunch, made tomato pies and on Sunday made my farmers market eggs with veggies for breakfast.  Earlier this month I was asked to speak at my garden club about my farmers markets adventures which was fun. I do love to talk about farmers markets, veggies and cooking and preserving them. Unfortunately, with my work schedule I have to work 2 Saturdays a month so am unable to go to the farmers markets those days but I've converted my husband, John so he goes without me. Clapton also is a big fan of the farmers market, he loves people and most of the vendors know his name and he visits them for pets.  John buys produce and something for my lunch from the food truck, which he brings to me (I bring my lunch everyday but Saturday I get takeout from the farmers market since I can't be there in person). When I get home, I cut everything up and cook my go to dish on working Saturdays which is what I call Farmers Market Skillet.  It's any kind of meat, ground pork, ground lamb, lamb sausage or whatever John has bought and cooked plus veggies.  I add whatever veggies I have, usually a combination of fresh from the market and from my freezer stash, add seasonings, seasoned salt, pepper, herb blend, sofrito, sometimes mustard and sometimes something to make a kind of sauce and top it all with cheese.  It's a quick and tasty homemade meal and one of our favorites.   Farmers market adventures are the best.

Enjoy,

Bamah

 

 

 

 

 

All Things Pickled

We love pickles in my family, all kinds.  There is nothing better than homemade pickles and there's so many easy ways to make your own pickles.  Also pretty much every kind of fruit and vegetable can be pickled or made into a relish. My favorite is dill or sour pickles and bread and butter pickles but I also like other vegetables pickled as well. This summer, both of my daughters and I have been making and experimenting with different pickles on our own and comparing notes.  My oldest daughter, Tabitha, lives close by so we've been able to share jars back and forth which has been fun. I have several jars of refrigerator or quick pickles, cucumbers, radishes, and watermelon rind, plus a variety of fermented pickles and relishes.  I've been experimenting with fermentation and have made garlic paste, onion and sweet pepper relish and real dill pickles. My daughter, Aubree, bought me a book and fermentation kit several years ago and I've been having fun with it and now she's caught the fermentation bug and has been making her own pickles as well. This year, I've also canned several jars of dill pickles.  This post I'm going to mainly focus on quick or refrigerator pickles which are the easiest to do and do posts on canned pickles and fermented pickles and relishes in the future.

Radish quick pickles

Radish quick pickles

Basically pickles are made with a brine of either vinegar, salt and water or just salt and water.  Fermented pickles are made with a salt water brine put over cucumbers and allowed to set at room temperature for 7 to 10 days to ferment. Once fermented they are refrigerated for up to a year.  Canned pickles are made with a vinegar, salt and water brine, heated and poured over cucumbers and processed in a water bath.  They are then shelf stable for up to a year. Quick or refrigerator pickles is vinegar, salt and water added to vegetables and they are stored in the refrigerator and can be eaten within hours or a couple of days.  You can also use leftover pickle juice to make quick pickles.  If I have cucumbers left from what I've cut up for a salad or something, I just slice them up and add them to a jar of leftover pickle juice I keep in the refrigerator.  I just keep adding cucumbers until the jar is full.  They are quite tasty even by the next day.  I also made some radish quick pickles, just cut up fresh radishes I bought from the farmer's market and put in a jar of leftover pickle juice and put them in the refrigerator and they are fantastic.  I never throw out leftover pickle juice, there's so many uses for it.  Like I said, it makes easy and tasty quick pickles and is a way to preserve fresh produce, it can be drunk for leg cramps, used in a vinaigrette dressing or for a sauce or added to any kind of salad like potato, egg or tuna for an extra zing.  Here's Tabitha

recipe for Watermelon Rind Pickles:

Brine

1 cup of water
1 & 1/2 cups of (white) or (apple cider) vinegar can also use combination of different vinegars including balsamic or any kind of fancy vinegar
1 & 1/2 cups of white sugar (maybe 2 cups) can also substitute honey for part of sugar (1/2 and 1/2)
1 tsp. whole black peppercorns
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
3 tbsp. Kosher salt

juice from 1/2 a lemon
(You can also add 2 tsp. coriander seeds)

(Apple Cider Vinegar has a bit more bite and the white vinegar
is a bit smoother... especially when you use 2 cups of sugar.)

Mix and bring to a boil and simmer for one minute...

Remove from the heat and let cool for a couple minutes
then add 1 cup of ice cubes and stir until they are gone. Put cubed watermelon rinds in jars and pour the still warm (not hot) brine over the rinds and put lids on.  When completely cooled, refrigerate.  Let set at least 1 day before eating, the flavor will intensify the longer they set.

Fermented real dill pickles

So I hope this inspires you to make your own quick pickles, they really are super easy and so tasty.

Enjoy,

Bamah

Refrigerator pickles

Refrigerator pickles from leftover pickle juice

Canned dill pickles

Spaghetti Squash Fritters by Aubree Beckman

I have a treat this month. My youngest daughter, Aubree, has once again done a guest blog for me and shared her recipe for Spaghetti Squash Fritters. She's a wonderful cook and I'm a very proud mom.

Enjoy,

Bamah

Hello Again! It's Aubree once again guest blogging. For those of you who don't know, I follow a grain free diet for health reasons (mostly because I am intolerant to ALL grains), and this makes finding good recipes and things to cook... interesting. The following recipe is from a Facebook post my wonderful mother found and shared with me, and I've adapted it over the years. I have added the original recipe at the bottom if you wish to makes these non-grain free. I have also made these paleo with coconut milk cheese, and they were still tasty. Now, without further ado, here is my recipe for Spaghetti Squash Fritters.

Spaghetti Squash Fritters

First, you need to cook a spaghetti squash. The original recipe states you need 3 cups of cooked spaghetti squash, but I don't really measure it and basically mess with the mixture until I like it.

To cook a spaghetti squash: Cut it in half, spoon out the middle (and keep the seeds to roast later :) ), sprinkle the halves with some avocado oil (or olive oil). Place the 2 halves cut side down on a baking tray (you can line it with parchment paper, foil, or a silicone baking sheet to decrease chance of burning the squash).

Cook the Squash at 400 degrees for 45-60 min, until the outside is slightly brown and soft.

Take it out of the oven and let it cool before scraping out the insides with a fork or spoon. I sometimes do this the day before and put it in the fridge overnight. The original recipe says to wring out the squash, but I don't like to do that part, so I've adapted to allow for a little more liquid.

Once you are ready to assemble your fritters, you'll put all of these ingredients together in a bowel.

Ingredients:

 - 2 eggs

- 2/3 cup of almond flour

-1/3 cup of coconut flour

- 1 cup chopped fresh spinach or kale

- 1 tablespoon of Arrowroot starch

- insides of a cook spaghetti squash

-1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated (you can use other hard cheeses, but don't use a soft cheese like cheddar, it makes a mess)

- 1/2 lb of cooked bacon, chopped

-seasonings to taste - I use salt, pepper, onion, garlic, parsley

- avocado oil and coconut oil for frying the fritters at about a 50/50 ratio.

In a bowel, mix all ingredients together until you can form a good patty shape. I mix with my hands for a better consistency and to make sure I can feel the right texture. At this point, if I need to I add a pinch of coconut flour if it's still too runny.

In a skillet, heat oils to hot, but not burning (about medium- medium high heat depending on your stove), and drop patties in. I cook them about 2-3minutes a side flipping them once.

And that's it, they are ready to eat!

In the original recipe, they top them with Greek yogurt, but I've never needed something on top.

On a side note, I fry them in a combo of avocado and coconut oil, but I have also cooked them in butter/ghee or olive oil. I prefer a mix of the 2 above, but feel free to experiment.

- I also like to throw some diced onions and sweet/mild peppers in the mix, and like my mother, I like to add random veggies.

I have also cooked these in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 min, and although they are still good, they are not as crispy.

Here is the original blogpost recipe- https://juliasalbum.com/bacon-spaghetti-squash-fritters-recipe/

Hope you enjoy!!!

Aubree

Eggplant and Potato Casserole

I love eggplant, it's considered a vegetable but it's actually a fruit.  It's so versatile and good for you.  My family is divided when it comes to eggplant, my husband and youngest daughter aren't fans but my oldest daughter, Tabitha and I love it.  I've been buying it at the farmers market for years, finely chopping or shredding it, keeping a baggie of it in the freezer and putting it almost everything I cook and since it's finely chopped it's indistinguishable.  It's a great way to stretch ground meat, it takes on the flavor of the meat it's cooked with. Tabitha and I have made stuffed eggplant before which we really liked but no one else would eat.  Recently, I saw a recipe on Cookist for an eggplant and potato dish that looked good so I tried it this weekend since Tabitha was home. It turned out so well and very yummy that I will defiantly be making this again.  The recipe called for the eggplant to be sliced, pricked with a fork and placed on a baking sheet and baked for 20 minutes to pre cook it.  The potatoes weren't pre cooked in the recipe and took about 45 minutes to get tender so next time I'm going to pre cook them along with the eggplant.  In the recipe video that I watched the eggplant, potatoes and cheese were all uniform sized and were put overlapping in a round baking dish and sliced like a pie when baked.  My vegetables were not uniform and I was using more of them to make enough for both Tabitha and I for lunches.  I layered mine in a rectangular baking pan starting with the eggplant, sliced block cheese, (I had bought a really nice herb cheese from the Norman Ok farmers market), potatoes, sprinkled olive oil and shredded cotija cheese and then did another layer. The recipe called for sliced scamorza (which is a type of mozzarella) and shredded Parmesan cheese but since I had the really nice block of herb blend and shredded cotija I just used that instead. You could really use any kind of cheese. I think a layer of sliced tomatoes would be good as well so next time I'm going to add them. I have jars of sofrito and fermented garlic paste in my refrigerator that I add to whatever I'm cooking so I added 1 teaspoon of each to the first layer when I drizzled the olive oil on.  It just gave it added flavor but there were a few pockets of garlic so next time I'm going to mix them in with the oil then add on top of the potatoes.

Here's the recipe:

Eggplant and Potato Casserole

3 to 4 medium to large eggplants, round ones work better, sliced 1/4 inch

6 to 8 new potatoes, sliced 1/4 inch

8 oz. block or ball of cheese, any flavor, like cheddar or mozzarella, (I used a herb blend),sliced

2 cups shredded Parmesan or cotija cheese

seasoned salt and Italian blend seasoning (I used Tastefully Simple Rustic herb seasoning)

4 T olive oil

1 t. sofrito, optional added to olive oil

Slice eggplant 1/4 inch thick, prick a couple of times with a fork.  Also slice potatoes 1/4 inch thick.  Place eggplant and potatoes on separate baking sheets, sprinkle with seasoned salt and Italian blend seasoning and bake at 350 for 20 minutes to par cook.  Let cool slightly. In baking dish, layer eggplant, sliced cheese and potatoes starting with eggplant.  Mix olive oil and sofrito (I added garlic paste as well) and sprinkle 1/2 over potatoes. Sprinkle 1/2 shredded cheese and repeat layers topping with shredded cheese.  Bake at 350 for 30 to 45 minutes or until potatoes are done.

Optional, a layer of sliced tomatoes.

Enjoy,

Bamah

Homemade Stock and Broth

I've been making homemade stock and broth for years and freezing it for later use. Homemade stock is so easy to make and tastes so much better, plus has less salt than the box or canned type from the grocery store.  I've pretty much used the terms stock and broth interchangeable but they are actually two different things.  I looked up online the difference so here's a little lesson on the difference. 

Stock is made by simmering a combination of animal bones, a mixture of vegetable scraps of onions, carrots, celery and garlic in water.  Stock always involves bones and is cooked anywhere from 2 to 6 hours on the stovetop. Stock is always left unseasoned. Broth is any liquid that has had meat cooked in it.. It is made by simmering meat and celery, onions and carrots in water for a relatively short amount of time, usually under 2 hours, where the meat and vegetables can be eaten or used for dishes such as soup or a casserole. Unlike stock, broth is typically seasoned. They both are used for sauces, gravies, stews and soups.

The general consensus is stock is made with bones and broth is made with meat. Vegetable stock is made with vegetable scraps that are discarded after cooking and broth is the leftover liquid when cooking vegetables. I mostly make stock but I season mine like broth. I've made lamb, beef, chicken, turkey and vegetable stock.  I just keep a gallon size Ziploc baggie in the freezer and add vegetable scraps to it when I'm cutting stuff up from what I've bought at the farmers market and when I have a full bag, I make stock with whatever I have.  I also have kept bones in the freezer, turkey carcass  left over from Thanksgiving, T bone steak bones and lamb bones I got from the farmers market until I had time and enough vegetable scraps to make stock.  I've also just made vegetable stock, especially if I have an abundance of vegetable scraps especially greens from turnips and beets. I put bones and vegetable scraps in my large pot with cold water, bay leaves, a little seasoned salt and pepper or pepper corns, sometimes a little dried herbs or fresh herbs from my garden.  I cook it on the stove top for at least 2 hours, cool then strain out the bones and vegetables and put stock in a crock pitcher or large canning jars to cool completely in the refrigerator.

lamb bones

The next day or a couple of days later, skim off fat on top, stir stock and I put mine in quart freezer bags, double bagged and freeze. It can also be frozen in ice cube trays. The bones and vegetable scraps can also be roasted for richer flavor.  I usually just throw everything in frozen and cook it for several hours until the stock is dark and tasty. Here's the recipe:
Basic Stock Recipe
lamb, beef, chicken or turkey bones
1 onion, quartered or onion scraps
any type of vegetable scraps, such as celery leaves, potato or carrot peelings, turnip, beet greens, cabbage leaves or core
2 or 3 bay leaves
1 or 2 cloves of garlic
4 whole black peppercorns or 1 t. pepper
1 t. seasoned salt
1 to 2 t of any fresh or dried herb such as parsley, sage, basil, rosemary or thyme
cold water


In large stock pot, add bones, vegetable scraps, seasonings and cover with cold water, (start with COLD water to extract the most flavor from the bones and vegetables). Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 2 to 3 hours.  Let cool for awhile. Lift out bones with a slotted spoon and remove any meat for another use and discard bones.  Strain the stock through a mesh strainer into a glass pitcher or container and chill in refrigerator, discard vegetables.  Lift off solidified fat and store in refrigerator for a few days or freeze in containers, freezer bags or ice cube trays for up to 6 months.

Enjoy,
Bamah

Baggie of vegetable scraps

before cooking

finished broth

An Original Farmers Market Fan Girl

This past Saturday my husband and I went to Oklahoma City to spend the day with our oldest daughter, Tabitha.  The plan was to go to several farmers market, see a movie and go out to eat. It really was a day of farmer's markets.  Before leaving town, we went to our local Lawton farmer's market to get breakfast, produce and visit friends, farmer's market #1. I had worked last Saturday so missed the farmer's market and it's peak season so I wanted to check ours out first before heading to OKC.  I tried to contain myself and not buy too much but it was really hard, so many fresh produce to select from especially tomatoes.  Tomatoes are one of my absolute favorite summer fruit to preserve and cook with.  I'm a tomato snob and only like fresh tomatoes and don't buy them from grocery stores.  I'm growing my own tomatoes as well and this is the best year I've had so far. We dropped our dog, Clapton, and our purchases off at the house and headed out of town.  Clapton loves the farmer's market as much as I do and is a big hit there getting lots of pets from his friends.  We met Tabitha at the OSU OKC farmers market,  on 400 N Portland Ave, farmers market #2.  This is a year round indoor market on Saturdays from 8am to 1 pm. I've been here before and it's a great market with all kinds of local products, plants, meat, baked goods, dried teas and herbs, live music and more.  Tabitha shops here frequently and has her favorite vendors she buys from so it was fun her sharing that with me. I've passed on my love of farmers market, eating local and cooking from scratch to both of my girls. Tabitha calls me a farmers market tourist and this weekend she posted that I'm the original farmers market fan girl since I've been taking them to farmers markets and fruit stands their whole lives. I bought fresh corn, dried tea, spices, dried beans, fruit and more. I got really excited about the dried beans and Tabitha laughed at me and said I was cute but when I can replace something that I normally buy from the grocery store with a local option, that's exciting to me. We took our purchases back to her apartment and my husband stayed there while Tabitha and I checked out  farmers market #3 in the OKC farmers market district. Located in the historic OKC farmers public market building this is an indoor, year round market open on Saturdays from 9 to 2.  It's on 311 S Klein Ave off of Reno. It has produce, meat, handmade goods, honey, baked goods and more.  We got baked goods, cantaloupe, some amazing chicken and goat sausage, cabbage and more. Tabitha shops here but I had never been before so it was fun checking out a new place. We saw plants and produce around the corner on 211 S Ellison Ave so checked out Pam's Plants and Produce as well, open daily from 8:30 to 5:30, market #4. I had not bought plants at any of the other markets but they had a rose moss with really pretty flowers that's a different variety than what I have so I bought 2 to put on my porch. I also got green beans and watermelon.  The watermelon was from Texas since it's too early for ours yet but I've been really wanting watermelon so figured that was local enough. We were hot and tired so headed back to her apartment.  Another great place in that area is the Urban Agrarian on 1235 SW 2nd St.  We've shopped there before but didn't this last time since we had so much stuff already. They work directly with farmers and offer local produce, eggs, dairy, meat and locally prepared foods.  They are open on weekends and sell at various farmers markets including Norman, Edmond and across from St Anthony's  Hospital.  We had a great day with Tabitha, farmers market shopping, going to a movie and out to eat for dinner then headed home. Sunday afternoon I started cutting up my produce and made a big pot of green beans and new potatoes with ham, all products of farmers markets and one of my favorite summertime meals. My recipe is on another blog post. So that's a day with a  farmers market addict, tourist, fan girl, and a very happy woman.

Enjoy,

Bamah

OSU OKC farmers market

Tabitha said this is me in my natural habitat

Pam's plants and produce

Pam's plants and produce

OKC farmers public market

Green beans and new potatoes with ham

OKC farmers public market