Lehman’s Country Life

Carissa and the Crust

One of the first things that I noticed when I moved to this little corner of Northeast Ohio is that Sunday is NOT a good day to get things done that require going to a store. Obviously there are exceptions like the larger chain stores, for the most part, things are closed and the streets rolled up on Sunday. Believe me, this is a small price to pay for the return you get from living in Wayne County Ohio. So Sunday is as it should be in our household, family day, we still get things done, clean up the house (full time job), and cooking.

We have become quite familiar with the concept of a crock pot in a world dominated by a lack of hours in the day. You cannot lose, dump everything into this magic appliance in the morning and several hours later – out comes a dish that even the most picky eater (my son) cannot stick a nose up at. So the morning starts out with breakfast. Then the crock pots are put together and begin their journey, tempting our senses all day.
Read the rest of this post »

Bookmark it:

Hide Sites

Theresa

Sue Steiner with mural

We’ve been busy lining up a whole assortment of educational and interesting arts and crafts demos by Ohio Arts and Crafts Guild members for folks visiting Kidron, Ohio. We are just now heading into the peak of fall foliage as the trees begin to hint at the beautiful display of colors we can expect in the next week or so. As you enjoy the scenery on the drive to the store you can stop in and visit with local artist Dennis Lipp as he paints rural landscapes and local farms as part of his demo.

Last Sat. Theresa of ‘Mind Our Beeswax’ brought along her beeswax and handpainted Christmas ornaments. In the photo you see some of the process Theresa uses to create beautiful, heirloom quality ornaments. We pictured some Lehman’s molds which can be used if you’d like to give this a try at home.
Read the rest of this post »

Bookmark it:

Hide Sites

We’ve passed the autumnal equinox and now the light in the evening is dimming at an ever-quicker pace. Even though there may be more golden days, these past couple of mornings there has been a light shimmering of frost and a crispness in the air that is just a tad on the sharp side.

Artisan Wood-Burning Cookstove

This is when the cast iron casseroles and earthenware bean pots come into their own season. With our log burner glowing my appetite is ready for putting some ‘flannel’ around my own ‘lites.’

In Italy they have reinvented the antidote to fast food with the Slow Food Movement. This season is perfect for doubling up on using your heat sources. So if you have a wood cookstove like an Aga or Stanley, then the low oven is perfect for casserole preparation. You can leave, go out to work and come home to the yummiest, most soul-satisfying dinner. (A slow cooker suffices, too, but it won’t heat your house as nicely.)

Bearing in mind that cattle add to our CO2 emissions, it’s worth considering reducing the amount of meat from cattle we eat. This does not mean that you need to go vegetarian! But to lower your carbon footprint you need to consider supporting your local beef, pork and lamb producers. You can have your meat and eat it too if you reduce food mileage. It’s also important to support local food production from an economic point of view. The more we support local producers and spend money in our local communities we expend less in terms of CO2 emissions from our journeys to market globally. So look for local labels or patronise farmer’s markets where you can be confident of your food’s providence.
Read the rest of this post »

Bookmark it:

Hide Sites

October is Work and Family month, and as a working mom some days are easier than others to get a nutritious meal on the table that works with everyone’s schedules. This is the time of year I love to pull out the crockpot and get a main dish going in the morning so  when I get home at night all I need to do is add a salad or side dish and we are ready to eat.

Soups and stews are a great way to lower fat in your diet, extend the protein and save money! Recipes can easily be altered to include more vegetables and less meat and not lose flavor. In addition, high fiber items like barley, couscous and dried lentils can be included to increase the nutritive value. Remember, to make your dish as healthy as possible, refrigerate the finished soup overnight in a shallow container (no more that 3 inches deep) which will cause the fat to rise to the surface and solidify, making it easy to remove the unwanted fat.
Read the rest of this post »

Bookmark it:

Hide Sites

It is a perfect late summer morning – a Saturday, to be exact, and my favorite day of the week. The front and back doors are both propped wide open and a fresh, cool breeze flows through the full depth of the house. Once I’ve disposed of the day’s obligatory small rodent that the cats have dutifully left on the back porch, Barney is free to wander in and out and pick a vantage point to keep an eye on me as I set up for the first round of canning I’ve done in years. The Ball canning book and a copy of Stocking Up III were among the first of the cookbooks I unpacked, and they will remain out in a prominent place now until late Fall.

As the 20 qt stainless stockpot full of water approaches the boil, I slip the first dozen or so perfect, ripe Roma tomatoes in to blanch, and reflect on the cases of commercially canned goods I have collected over the past few months in a room set aside upstairs for storage. When I lived in hurricane-prone North Carolina, I made a practice of keeping at least a few weeks’ worth of basics, including food, paper goods, and some 40 gallons of well water in labeled glass jugs. When Hurricane Fran swept through the Piedmont, downing trees across roadways and knocking out power for days on end, I had everything I and my animals needed and the only real compromise was bathing with water dipped out of the spa tub (yeah, that was really hard….)
Read the rest of this post »

Bookmark it:

Hide Sites

I remember as a kid taking a stroll through the local neighborhood in search of a tiny mushroom no larger than a dime. No, I was not intent on picking and eating these mushrooms, for I knew nothing about them. My goal was to find and then step on them, because upon being stepped on the tiny little mushroom would release a neat plume of “smoke.” There would be a time or two when nothing would happen, at which time that mushroom be declared a dud. I showed all my buddies who then began their own assaults on the fungi.

It would be years later that I would realize there was more to this “smoke ball” mushroom. The mushroom was called a puffball, and under the right conditions they grew much larger, sometimes to the size of basketballs! Once I found out they were indeed edible, my curiosity turned into a full-blown love affair.
Read the rest of this post »

Bookmark it:

Hide Sites

If you’re looking for the true Taste Of The West, look no further than a freshly picked, mesquite-roasted “Chili Pepper,” better known to the botanical world as Capsicum.  This enchanting fruit had been domesticated in Ecuador for nearly 7,000 years before it was discovered by Europeans in 1492.  Captain Columbus encountered it in powdered form while in the Caribbean, and eager as he was to promote his new route to “India,” brought back the pungent spice (as well as a few unhappy natives) as proof of his success: he’d been to “India,” so they were “Indians,” so the spice must be “pepper,” the most popular and widely traded seasoning of his day.  Of course he was wrong on all three counts, but curiously we are afflicted with his errors even today; we still call the original Americans “Indians,” and Capsicums are still commonly known as “peppers.”
Read the rest of this post »

Bookmark it:

Hide Sites

It’s 5pm on a cold, windy winter’s day, and you’re just now thinking of dinner. The kids are already hungry and your spouse will be home in half an hour. Do you take a frozen lump of something out of the freezer and hurriedly try to thaw it in the microwave? Or perhaps just order Chinese takeout or pizza? Well…you could do those things. OR, you could simply walk to the canning shelf and select a jar of convenient, fully cooked, nutritious, delicious canned meat to serve as the base for the family meal. You open the jar – and dinner is on the table in a matter of minutes!
Read the rest of this post »

Bookmark it:

Hide Sites

The combination of the heat from late August’s “Dog Days of Summer” and the busyness of Back to School can cause the humble sandwich to find its way to a starring role on the supper table. The addition of some delicious and healthy ingredients (some straight from the garden, if you have them!) can turn the ordinary mixture of bread, condiment, and protein into a quick and healthy balanced meal. Give these tasty recipes a try on your supper table:
Read the rest of this post »

Bookmark it:

Hide Sites