Finished butchering deer

We finished butchering the deer today, got the roast and steaks packaged and frozen, also got the burger ground and have some of the meat in marinade to make jerky. We always de-bone and remove all the silver skin and ligaments as we cut the meat. Its all done by hand with no saw to leave the bone dust on the meat. I think this is one reason most people don't like venison. The jerky has been sliced 1/4 inch thick and will be smoked and dried later this week after it marinates for a day or two. So hopefully this is all the butchering we will be doing this year till next spring when it starts all over again. Was nice that Jason was here to help with the first 2 deers and Rob and Amoy were here to help with the 2 we did today. Sure makes things go a little faster.
Luna seems to be feeling better after her visit to the vet yesterday. She is getting used to taking her vitamin supplement tablets and pain tablets so we don't have to pick them up and put the pills in the back of her throat now. She had plenty to do toting and burying pieces of meat and deer fat as they were skinning the deer today. Am sure that is gonna be real pleasant this spring if it last that long.Not to mention all the turkey and ham bits that she got to eat over the holiday.I think she stuffed herself like the rest of us. But that's a good thing.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Late Thanksgiving

We had our family Thanksgiving dinner today when both the boys could be home to enjoy time together. I think I forgot how much work that can be to cook a big meal for a holiday. We had turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed taters, gravy, corn, coleslaw, green beans and several desserts. And it was pretty dang good if I do say so myself. I think we all ate more than our share and everyone had their nap afterwards. It is nice to know that most of the food on the table was home grown and homemade. For all this I am very thankful.

Earlier today Luna had to go to the vet. She has been limping in her left front leg for a week or more now. The vet said the Great Pyrenees grow so fast that the cartilage in the joints gets brittle and tears easily and that this is likely what is wrong with her. So he gave her vitamins to take for a month and some pain pills to take for a week to see if it improves. If it don't heal on its on then she will need surgery. And this is the part I did not want to hear. Am so hoping this heals well for her. If nothing else this does qualify for lots a treats.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope you had a happy Thanksgiving and lot of good friends and good food. We had dinner with hubby's sister and the rest of his family today. We are having our family dinner on Saturday as my youngest son Rob and his girlfriend Amoy both had to work and couldn't make that dinner. So I get to do more cooking tomorrow and then the big meal on Saturday. I don't mind as you can have leftovers for a few days and not have to cook again.
It was cold today and got colder as the day went on. We are supposed to have some snow flurries tonight and tomorrow but don't think it will amount to much. There are 2 more deer to skin tomorrow and get in the freezer while we got some help. But thas for another day, as for this one, I feel a good nap coming on. Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

More preparations for spring

Hubby has been on vacation this week and has managed to get some things done here on the place. The garden fence has been taken down and the garden plot mowed and then turned to be ready for spring. This is the first time in years that we have managed to get the garden turned before winter. In spring all we will need to do is disk the ground and plant. It needs to be a lot drier to turn than to disk which is what delays our planting every year. He also turned about an acre to plant some corn for feed for chickens and what ever else I might possibly have. So as of now we are one step ahead in that area. He probably could have gotten a lot more done outside if I could get out an help a little. But with a bad back and the right arm still in the healing process, I am banished to the house.
Today they got 2 of the deer skinned and cut up for the freezer. Got a good deal of meat from them. Wont need to buy beef for a while as we use the deer meat in place of beef till its all gone. Still have 2 more deer to process probably on Friday. All this is up to Rodger and Jason, not much you can do with one hand when it comes to butchering.
I finally got some baking done for the holiday. Finally got a dried apple stack cake made, this is the first one I have made in many years. Good thing I dried a lot of apples last year. The cake looks really good, so we shall see how it tastes tomorrow. I still need to make a couple apple and a couple cherry pies as well. These will be using the pie filling I canned last year as well. So I am off to make pies. From our family to your, have a happy and safe Thanksgiving. Till next time blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Dried Apple Stack Cake

This is an article published in Appalachian Heritage magazine at Berea College in Berea kentucky. Avery traditional Appalachian recipe.

Enjoy the history and recipe.

THE "DRIED APPLE STACK CAKE" is the most "mountain" of all cakes baked and served in Southern Appalachia. The story goes that James Harrod, one of Kentucky's earlier pioneers and the founder of Harrodsburg, Kentucky, brought the stack cake recipe with him when he traveled the Wilderness Road to Kentucky. Whether this story is true or not, this cake has remained popular with mountain people.

Wherever Appalachian people migrated--to Washington, Florida, and Arizona, for example—they took along recipes for their favorite version of old-fashioned stack cake. Called by different names such as the dried apple stack cake, apple stack cake, Confederate old-fashioned stack cake, stackcake, and Kentucky pioneer washday cake, all were made using two constant ingredients: ginger and sweet sorghum molasses.

While sorghum molasses was considered not suitable in most cakes and pies, it worked very well in the stack cake. Sometimes cooks varied the amount of sweetening by adding brown sugar to the sorghum molasses--one-half cup of sugar to one-third cup of molasses. The apple stack cake is a low fat, not sweet, many-layered cake. It is made with stiff cookie-like dough, flavored with ginger and sorghum molasses, and a sweet, spiced apple filling. When served, the cake is tall, heavy, and moist. The dried apple stack cake was a favorite pioneer wedding cake.

In the mountains weddings were celebrated with "in-fares" where people gathered to party, dance, and eat potluck food. Because wedding cakes were so expensive, neighbor cooks brought cake layers to donate to the bride's family. The dough for the cake was rolled or pressed out into very thin layers and baked in cast-iron skillets. The family of the bride cooked, sweetened, and spiced dried apples to spread between the layers of the cake. The number of layers per stack of her wedding cake often gauged the bride’s popularity. Sometimes there would be as many as twelve layers, but most often the average was seven or eight layers. Along with weddings, the stack cake was served at family reunions, church suppers, and other large gatherings.
The original recipe is a long, tedious process (taking as much as three hours to assemble). Some cooks just use regular cake layers and plain applesauce or apple butter, or a combination of both, as the filling between the layers. While stack cake made this way may be tasty, there is no comparison between applesauce or apple butter and the strong apple flavor that dried apples give.

Dried Apples

One method of preserving foods in Appalachia is by air and sun drying. After coring and peeling, apples are cut in half then cut into quarters. Each quarter is cut into two or three thin slices. When the apples are ready, they are spread on a large white cloth and placed on top of a shed or other flat area to dry in the sun. A fine wire screen put over them kept out flies and bugs. This method is chancy because of cloudy skies and often rain. However, apple slices can be dried near a wood-burning stove, in a sunny window, or in the oven at a low temperature. They can also be dried by stringing the slices with a needle and stout thread and hanging them up to dry. The apple slices shrivel and turn brown. When completely dry they are stored in cloth bags, glass canning jars, or the freezer.

Not many mountain families dry fruit in this old-fashioned way, although they still love dried apples and dried green beans. They are more likely to dehydrate or barter with local florists for room in a greenhouse where they can spread out their apples and beans to dry. Today different versions of the stack cake are found in recipe collections and cookbooks, but mountain cooks still prefer the old-fashioned recipes that come down through generations of mountain cooks.
I collected the following recipe from Mrs. Elmer Gabbard who, with her husband, founded the Buckhorn Center and Orphanage, and worked there many years. The widowed Mrs. Gabbard retired to Berea where, by good fortune, I met her, and we talked about the old-time cooks in the mountain. She said the recipe she gave me had been handed down in her family for generations.

Dried Apple Stack Cake
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg, well beaten
1/3 cup molasses
1/2 cup buttermilk
3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon vanilla
Cooked dried apples

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream shortening and sugar; add beaten egg, molasses, buttermilk, and mix well. Sift flour, soda, salt, and ginger into a big mixing bowl. Make hole in center of dry ingredients and pour in creamed mix, stirring until well blended. Add vanilla, stir well, and roll out dough as you would for a piecrust. Cut to fit 9-inch pan or cast-iron skillet (this amount of dough will make 7 layers). Bake layers for 10 to 12 minutes, or until lightly browned. When cool, stack layers with spiced, sweetened old-fashioned dried apples. (See recipe below.) Spread between layers and smooth around sides and top. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired, or beat egg whites into a meringue and spread on outside of cake. You may brown the meringue if desired. Prepare cake at least a day before serving it and put in refrigerator (it will keep several days, if necessary, in a cool place). To serve, slice into very thin layers.

Cooked Dried Apples*

Put 1 pound apples in heavy pan and cover with cold water. You may need to add water several times to keep apples from sticking to pan. Cook until soft enough to mash. While still hot, mash apples and add 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup white sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon cloves, and 1 teaspoon allspice.

*If dried apples are not available, cook several pounds cooking apples with a little water. Add spices and sugars as listed above, and cook until mixture is very thick.

Things happen

I make plans and then make more plans to do things till I end up with too many things to do and then something gets forgotten. Such is the case with the turnips and turnip greens. I had hoped to can more turnip and mustard greens and then kinda thought they might be too big an tough after I got my surgery done. Hubby went to the garden today to take down some of the electric fence around the garden so he can bush hog and get the garden turned and put to bed for the winter. He stopped by the turnip patch and those things are huge. The tops are still green and the turnips are sweet as sugar from growing in the cool weather. Really had not planned on having turnips, I planned on canning lots a greens. Don't like cooked turnips but love those things raw. Would rather peel and eat them like apples. We planted 3 row that are about 75 feet long so I have a bunch. Am thinking I need to pull and sell some turnips. Some will go in the root cellar for eating later. and I just might get some of the greens canned yet.
Till nest time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella

Getting ready for spring planting

We got some things done today to get ready for spring plantings. Yeah I know, we haven't even had winter yet but its always good to get things ready so you dont lose precious growing time.The area in front of the root cellar was in bad need of some compost and manure to improve the soil so I can plant herbs there in the spring. So I got the compost moved and spread over the area. Then a layer of manure from the chicken house and covered the whole area with black rubber roofing. So in spring all I will need to do is remove the roofing material and plant. On the other side of the door I will be doing some of the same kind of prep but making only 2 smaller areas with a walkway between. I also added some more manure to the grapevines and blueberries. Had to put the cages back around the blueberries to keep the chickens from eating the leaves and digging the plants out. We cleaned the chicken house again and hauled the manure to the garden and spread it so it can be plowed under to rot before spring. The pullets love having fresh bedding and straw in their nest boxes. Probably tomorrow I am sure it will all be in total disarray.
I even got the outbuilding organized and some things in there that had previously been sitting on the deck. It sure looks neater with all the stuff gone. Maybe I can enlist some help moving the gravel from the back drive to the front of the house and get the landscape done this week before the holiday. Just been plugging along, staying busy and trying to let my arm heal. Its doing pretty good but still causes a lot of pain.
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella