Sauce Recipes pulled fromTHE EASIEST WAY IN HOUSEKEEPING AND COOKING. Adapted to Domestic Use or Study in Classes BY HELEN CAMPBELL

So I was looking for some cleaning recipes from yesteryear, and thought I would head over to the Project Gutenberg website to see what I could dig up. (For those of you that haven't heard of that website, it is a collection of books that are in the public domain because the copyrights have expired; they have lots of great stuff over there and lots of not so great stuff but all is free and is allowed to be copied, distributed, etc.)

I didn't find any satisfactory recipes for cleaning, but did find some interesting recipes for soups, sauces, and desserts that will definitely be tested. I thought I would share the sauces as inspiration, although not all of them sound appetizing.

SAUCES AND SALADS.

The foundation for a large proportion of sauces is in what the French cook knows as a roux, and we as "drawn butter." As our drawn butter is often lumpy, or withthe taste of the raw flour, I give the French method as a security against such disaster.

TO MAKE A ROUX.
Melt in a saucepan a piece of butter the size of an egg, and add two even tablespoonfuls of sifted flour; one ounce of butter to two of flour being a safe rule. Stir till smooth, and pour in slowly one pint of milk, or milk and water, or water alone. With milk it is called cream roux, and is used for boiled fish and poultry. Where the butter and flour are allowed to brown, it is called a brown roux, and is thinned with the soup or stew which it is designed to thicken. Capers added to a white roux—which is the butter and flour, with water added—give caper sauce, for use with boiled mutton. Pickled nasturtiums are a good substitute for capers. Two hard-boiled eggs cut fine give egg sauce. Chopped parsley or pickle, and the variety of catchups and sauces, make an endless variety; the white roux being the basis for all of them.

BREAD SAUCE.
For this sauce boil one point of milk, with one onion cut in pieces. When it has boiled five minutes, take out the onion, and thicken the milk with half a pint of sifted bread-crumbs. Melt a teaspoonful of butter in a frying-pan; put in half a pint of coarser crumbs, stirring them till a light brown. Flavor the sauce with half a teaspoonful of salt, a saltspoonful of pepper, and a grate of nutmeg; and serve with game, helping a spoonful of the sauce, and one of the browned crumbs. The boiled onion may be minced fine and added, and the browned crumbs omitted.

CELERY SAUCE.
Wash and boil a small head of celery, which has been cut up fine, in one pint of water, with half a teaspoonful of salt. Boil till tender, which will require about half an hour. Make a cream roux, using half a pint of milk, and adding quarter of a saltspoonful of white pepper. Stir into the celery; boil a moment, and serve. A teaspoonful of celery salt can be used, if celery is out of season, adding it to the full rule for cream roux. Cauliflower may be used in the same way as celery, cutting it very fine, and adding a large cupful to the sauce. Use either with boiled meats.

MINT SAUCE.
Look over and strip off the leaves, and cut them as fine as possible with a sharp knife. Use none of the stalk but the tender tips. To a cupful of chopped mint allow an equal quantity of sugar, and half a cup of good vinegar. It should stand an hour before using.

CRANBERRY SAUCE.
Wash one quart of cranberries in warm water, and pick them over carefully. Put them in a porcelain-lined kettle, with one pint of cold water and one pint of sugar, and cook without stirring for half an hour, turning then into molds. This is the simplest method. They can be strained through a sieve, and put in bowls, forming a marmalade, which can be cut in slices when cold; or the berries can be crushed with a spoon while boiling, but left unstrained.

APPLE SAUCE.
Pare, core, and quarter some apples (sour being best), and stew till tender in just enough water to cover them. Rub them through a sieve, allowing a teacupful of sugar to a quart of strained apple, or even less, where intended to eat with roast pork or goose. Where intended for lunch or tea, do not strain, but treat as follows: Make a sirup of one large cupful of sugar and one of water for every dozen good-sized apples. Add half a lemon, cut in very thin slices. Put in the apple; cover closely, and stew till tender, keeping the quarters as whole as possible. The lemon may be omitted.

PLAIN PUDDING SAUCE.
Make a white roux, with a pint of either water or milk; but water will be very good. Add to it a large cup of sugar, a teaspoonful of lemon or any essence liked, and a wine-glass of wine. Vinegar can be substituted. Grate in a little nutmeg, and serve hot.

MOLASSES SAUCE.
This sauce is intended especially for apple dumplings and puddings. One pint of molasses; one tablespoonful of butter; the juice of one lemon, or a large spoonful of vinegar. Boil twenty minutes. It may be thickened with a tablespoonful of corn-starch dissolved in a little cold water, but is good in either case.

FOAMING SAUCE.
Cream half a cup of butter till very light, and add a heaping cup of sugar, beating both till white. Set the bowl in which it was beaten into a pan of boiling water, and allow it to melt slowly. Just before serving but not before, pour into it slowly half a cup or four spoonfuls of boiling water, stirring to a thick foam. Grate in nutmeg, or use a teaspoonful of lemon essence, and if wine is liked, add a glass of sherry or a tablespoonful of brandy. For a pudding having a decided flavor of its own, a sauce without wine is preferable.

HARD SAUCE
Beat together the same proportions of butter and sugar as in the preceding receipt; add a tablespoonful of wine if desired; pile lightly on a pretty dish; grate nutmeg over the top, and set in a cold place till used.
FRUIT SAUCES.
The sirup of any nice canned fruit may be used cold as sauce for cold puddings and blancmanges, or heated and thickened for hot, allowing to a pint of juice a heaping teaspoonful of corn-starch dissolved in a little cold water, and boiling it five minutes. Strawberry or raspberry sirup is especially nice.

PLAIN SALAD DRESSING.
Three tablespoonfuls of best olive-oil; one tablespoonful of vinegar; one saltspoonful each of salt and pepper mixed together; and then, with three tablespoonfuls of best olive-oil, adding last the tablespoonful of vinegar. This is the simplest form of dressing. The lettuce, or other salad material, must be fresh and crisp, and should not be mixed till the moment of eating.

SPANISH TOMATO SAUCE.
One can of tomatoes or six large fresh ones; two minced onions fried brown in a large tablespoonful of butter. Add to the tomatoes with three sprigs of parsley and thyme, one teaspoonful of salt, and half a one of pepper; three cloves and two allspice, with a small blade of mace and a bit of lemon peel, and two lumps of sugar. Stew very slowly for two hours, then rub through a sieve, and return to the fire. Add two tablespoonfuls of flour, browned with a tablespoonful of butter, and boil up once. It should be smooth and thick. Keep on ice, and it will keep a week. Excellent.

MAYONNAISE SAUCE.
For this sauce use the yolks of three raw eggs; one even tablespoonful of mustard; one of sugar; one teaspoonful of salt; and a saltspoonful of cayenne.
Break the egg yolks into a bowl; beat a few strokes, and gradually add the mustard, sugar, salt, and pepper. Now take a pint bottle of best olive-oil, and stir in a few drops at a time. The sauce will thicken like a firm jelly. When the oil is half in, add the juice of one lemon by degrees with the remainder of the oil; and last, add quarter of a cup of good vinegar. This will keep for weeks, and can be used with either chicken, salmon, or vegetable salad.

A simpler form can be made with the yolk of one egg, half a pint of oil, and half the ingredients given above. It can be colored red with the juice of a boiled beet, or with the coral of a lobster, and is very nice as a dressing for raw tomatoes, cutting them in thick slices, and putting a little of it on each slice.
Mayonnaise may be varied in many ways, sauce tartare being a favorite one. This is simply two even tablespoonfuls of capers, half a small onion, and a tablespoonful of parsley, and two gherkins or a small cucumber, all minced fine and added to half a pint of mayonnaise. This keeps a long time, and is very nice for fried fish or plain boiled tongue.

DRESSING WITHOUT OIL.
Cream a small cup of butter, and stir into it the yolks of three eggs. Mix together one teaspoonful of mustard, one teaspoonful of salt, and quarter of a saltspoonful of cayenne, and add to the butter and egg. Stir in slowly, instead of oil, one cup of cream, and add the juice of one lemon and half a cup of vinegar.

BOILED DRESSING FOR COLD SLAW.
This is good also for vegetable salads. One small cup of good vinegar; two tablespoonfuls of sugar; half a teaspoonful each of salt and mustard; a saltspoonful of pepper; a piece of butter the size of a walnut; and two beaten eggs. Put these all in a small saucepan over the fire, and stir till it becomes a smooth paste. Have a firm, white cabbage, very cold, and chopped fine; and mix the dressing well through it. It will keep several days in a cold place.

Stressed Out!

Well, my quest for peace has hit some bumps. I have been overwhelmingly busy at work. While I have been doing several people's jobs for going on a couple years now, we are finally hiring some folks. However, unfortunately for me, neither of those people will be sharing my workload. It is very frustrating. Ah well. I need an attitude adjustment for sure. Hopefully I shall soon resume a more successful quest for peace than has been the case recently.

Christmastime

It is now nearly Christmastime and my Etsy addiction grows - although my purchases remain at one as of yet. But, I can spend hours dreaming. I also am still considering arranging a store to sell illustrations and maybe photos? In the meantime, I've asked for some really good acid-free paper for Christmas (cotton rather than wood pulp base). Good supplies always make the act of creation more desirable, and I haven't been so good at feeding my artistic side lately. Part of that artistic starvation comes with long hours at work and never ending housework. I'll tell you that sufficient storage would make ALL the difference (but that should come someday when we finish the build-out of the basement, get rid of a window in the kitchen so we have a place for the refrigerator and some cabinetry, and build-out the attic including a ton of under-eave built-ins.).

The photos I would place in an Etsy store would be varied, but honeymoon pictures would have to go in there. Some of those pictures from Italy are just gorgeous. I got about 10 of the photos printed off in the 8" X 10" size about a week ago and couldn't wait to get them framed. On Sunday, I bought two 11" X 14" picture frames with 8" X 10" mats. Once I put the pictures in them, I was shell-shocked by the look. They are extraordinarily beautiful. (On a side note, I don't think you can take a bad picture of Venice's canals.)

Anyway, above I mentioned that my Etsy addiction grows. I have found some new favorites in the illustration/prints genre. They include:

Amariah Rousch

John Clark
Rodistudio 
OrangeWillow

National Novel Writing Month

November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). This is an event wherein people around the world are challanged to write 50,000 words of a novel within the month of November. The idea is that people write their individual novel while others out there are writing as well. Writers have a sense of community as they can commisserate with others out there who are doing the same thing. The neat thing about the challenge is that because of the word goal, the editing that normally inhibits a writer from finishing a project is limited.

Also, there is a greater purpose of the month, and that is education. There is also a program for young writers and educators, wherein money is raised to help provide classroom work to get students writing. I've signed up, and will try my best to reach my 50,000 words by the end of November. I am also trying to figure out how to donate some funds for this cause. If this sounds of interest to you, you can visit their website here.

My grandmother was born in 1912 so she was "coming of age" at about the time of the great depression. Her first memories were of a ticker tape parade celebrating the end of World War I. As a youngster she was unsure of herself, had divorced parents, and was trying to do the best she could. Like many from her generation, she was incredibly frugal. But, unlike many, she grew up that way. She grew up learning about plants, experimented with religion, attended college (English and Chemistry), and met a young man at college who was to become my grandfather.

By the time I was born, my grandfather was no longer alive; My parents and I lived with my grandmother and her mother on 40 acres on a dirt road in a small southeast Michigan farm town. Because we lived together, we spent a lot of time together. She would take me into the woods to pick wild raspberries. We would harvest mint, swiss chard, and some other things that I don't know the name of from edges of the pasture, yard or forest. My family had a garden of about an acre, and a field that would alternate between corn, alfalfa, wheat, etc. I remember working as a whole family in the garden. I also remember my grandmother inferring the knowledge she had regarding ecosystems, recycling, limiting chemical usage, and being selective when making purchases. She subscribed to Mother Earth News and was constantly pursuing knowledge about  composting, natural fertilizers and other earthy-crunchy, earth-friendly practices. In winters, our home was  pretty cold, heated primarily by a wood stove. Each night, we would heat large stones on the wood stove. Later these stones would be placed into pillow cases and inserted under the covers to warm our beds. The stones would keep emitting heat for about an hour (or more). I believe this is similar to the way a modern-day radiant floor works - especially when the material is concrete or stone. In the summers, because the house was surrounded on three sides by forest/trees, the home stayed pretty cool.

I believe I was lucky to have grown up in a multi-generational household. My grandmother died in 2003, and I miss her incredibly much. However, she'll always be with me. Each week when I take my recycling to the curb, I remember her saving tinfoil for reuse and talking about how the Native Americans were the "original recyclers." I don't quite remember what it was in reference to - maybe string and leather - but I remember her imparting the importance of recycling. I remember her natural remedies - aloe as skincare/burncare, which in the 1970's was not all that commonly used, chamomile tea for sleepiness, and mint to settle a stomach. I remember her feeding us dandilion greens and swiss chard. And, I remember the neighbor kids thinking this was the grossest thing, since those things grew naturally and not in the garden. Now those same greens are sold for high prices in the grocery stores - sold as organic greens mix. She also had trees planted in her memory through donations to an environmental cause (I cannot remember whether it was The Nature Conservancy or the Arbor Day Foundation).

These simple things are what I'm trying to find in my life. I am looking for a way to consume less, to lessen my footprint, and to promote these practices to others. I believe there is climate change. I believe that it was unfortunate that climate change was initially called "global warming" because some people assume that if its cold in their region that the earth isn't warming - regardless of whether glaciers are breaking off, and shorelines are being lost. I am interested in learning more about the Natural Step, sustainable building, elimitating waste through selective purchasing, buying local, reforesting land, and generally enjoying nature. Today there will be many blogs dedicated to these issues, being as it is Blog Action Day and the topic is climate change. However, these issues are important to me each and every day, and many such ideas will continue to pepper my blog.

Mashed potatoes

In our household, we love potatoes and have them as a side dish at least a couple times a week. Last week, I actually used a recipe for mashed potatoes -- I know, it seems kind of silly, but I thought I would give it a try because there were enough differences from how I normally make them. Usually, I just boil the potatoes, add a ton of butter and creamer, and call it a dish. The specific recipe I tried was published in Cook's Country magazine*, February/March 2009 issue under the name "Sour Cream and Onion Smashed Potatoes." I just can never seem to follow a recipe exactly as its written especially when it's for something so simple. And oftentimes, I don't have exactly the right ingredients. Here's how I modified the recipe:

Boil six medium to large redskin potatoes (I cut these to six pieces and leave the skins on) until cooked through. Drain. In the meantime, saute 1 small onion in 4 TBSP butter until the onions become translucent. To this add 1 cup sour cream, and 1/2 cup half-and-half. Add the potatoes and mash. Salt and pepper to taste. It was suprising what a different taste the sauteed onions added to the mix.

Tonight, I made a variation on the theme, but didn't have sour cream, was running low on half-and-half and wanted to use up some fresh basil. The modification turned out pretty well, but it would have been much better with the sour cream. I sauteed the onions, added five large leaves of basil cut into pieces with herb snips, then added about a quarter cup of half-and-half and some cream cheese. This would be delicious if it had been made with the sour cream. I also like the idea of using dill in the recipe.

Other ways we like potatoes are as garlic potatoes made on the grill or in the oven. They are incredibly easy. Cut up potatoes and place in an oven safe dish or if cooking on the grill, in a double layer of tin foil. Cut several dabs of butter and add to the potatoes. Squeeze a clove or two of garlic through a garlic press and add to the potatoes. You can also add cut up onions or herbs to this concoction. If cooking in the oven, cover with tinfoil (or a lid if you've got an oven safe one) and cook at about 350 for 15 or so minutes. If on the grill, make sure any seams are placed up rather than down - otherwise all of the butter will run out, and your potatoes will be really dry and will burn onto the foil. Check occasionally until the potatoes soften.

Some day, I will be making potato pasta (gnocchi) and potato pancakes. I will post the results then.

*Cooks Country is a publication of America's Test Kitchen. As you may know, America's Test Kitchen is often shown on public television. The show, the website, and the publication are wonderfully informative; although not as much as a celebrity machine as the Food Channel shows, the recipes are tested with many variations until the panel is satisfied for taste and texture. They will often provide variations. If you have the extra funds, I'd suggest purchasing a subscription (the magazine can be bought off the rack as well). The website provides a free recipe on the opening page. On the date of this post the free recipe is for Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili.

Etsy

I am addicted to Etsy.com. I could spend hours surfing through the site. Actually, I am not kidding anybody; I HAVE spent whole weekends doing just that! I have multiple favorite sellers but have only made one purchase so far. For my recent wedding, the bridesmaids' gifts were bought from Rachael Sudlow Jewelry.

I only had two bridesmaids, and they were my darling sisters. During the winter of 2008/2009, I had stumbled across Rachael's "three peas in a pod" necklaces. I immediately knew that they would be a part of the gifts that my sisters got. (I decided it would be necessary to buy myself one as well.) Just because I found them adorable, didn't mean that my sisters would though... but, I was certainly hoping.

At the rehearsal dinner in August, I pulled out the gifts. (I also got them batik robes - each with a different color scheme and print.) They loved the necklaces and decided that they were going to wear them at the wedding... even though they didn't quite match. There is a special simplicity in the meaning that was not lost on anyone who noticed the necklaces.

One of our close friends fell in love with the necklace too because she and her significant other call their baby "sweet pea." Unbeknown to her, he is very interested in purchasing one of these necklaces for her as a special gift. What do you think of my necklace below - is it not just too cute?

I keep thinking that I need to get myself into gear and create enough items so that I can open a store. I think I would primarily do pencil drawings, but I have some other items up my sleeve as well.