The Butcher

We moved down around Indianapolis in January and have been on the search for a butcher shop like the one we used to go to.

Lowery's in Buchanan, MI, has the best deals on good meat, like fresh cut New York Strip for $3/lb or less.

OH Ma ma ma ma good times....good eats.

Check it out if you're ever in the area...Buchanan is super small, so it's easy to find.

Well...with all our searching high and low, we just haven't found a market here that you can buy in bulk and save like we did back home. We have, however, come across one meat market that I'm sure we will be frequenting.

Claus' German Sausage & Meats was quite a find.

As soon as you walk in, you know that you've entered through the plate glass doors of hog heaven!

It's filled with the beautiful aroma of meats that have been cured and smoked on site without any preservatives or fillers!

Maybe that wouldn't be hog heaven, possibly hog he!!

...not so great for the hog but great for us!

Kinda like this!

I digress...

This Saturday was our first trip to the south east side of Indy to see what owner Claus Muth had to offer. Being new to the German assortments of meats, we were curious and ready to try some new things.

You'll notice right away, "You AIN'T in Kansas, no mo!"

Hot dogs don't look like hot dogs!

Bologna don't look like bologna!

Then there are all of the different blood meats that I can't even begin to comprehend anyone eating. But seeing them didn't spoil the moment. Just because things weren't prepackaged foods that I grew up on didn't mean my palate couldn't handle something more mature

The service there is impeccable!

The older gentleman behind the counter was so nice and helpful.

He looked like a butcher.

He sounded like a butcher.

He had my confidence he was the butcher.

We told him we had never been there before, and we were wondering if he could help us pick out some new things. He gave us some newbie friendly suggestions so we could make several small selections.

He said, "Take our flyer that has everything listed on it and buy in small portions. What you don't like, mark off."

He was a man of wisdom, with a great sense of humor.

He was suddenly, "My butcher!"

We bonded over bologna!

We bantered over bacon!

I felt that nothing could change this euphoric moment between us....

and then...

I don't know if I can say it

...he...he...

he slipped me the tongue!

Yes! Right there in the shop!

Mr. D standing right there!

I had trusted this man! We had history (about 10 minutes).

He was sneaky!

This is how it all went down: I saw him grab something in the cooler. It was small enough to fit in his hand and not be seen clearly. He didn't say a word, and he just took it over to the meat slicer to shave some off. He came back to us, and reaching over the counter, handed us each a petite little slice of "something". "Try this!", he said.

"Ummm...like...OK!", replied Mr. D...I mean me.

It was mild, nice texture, clearly came from a small strangely shaped loaf.

"Do you like it?", said the butcher with an ulterior motive.

"Ummm...it's ok! What is it?"

"It's tongue!", he says with a smile on his face.

Suddenly my world changed. Every bit of what was left in my mouth, hangin' out in my teeth began to...well...taste me back.

I could feel things stirring in me, and my only hope was to swallow hard. Look out the window...swallow hard...look at all the birdies...swallow hard.

Ok, so my palate ain't so mature.

"You liked it before I told you what it was, didn't you?" he says now with a smirk across his face.

"Ummm...kinda...(swallowing hard again).

Needing to put this little moment behind us, we continued to make our selections. We selected about four different kinds of bologna, ham and turkey lunch meat, and some of the best hot dogs we've ever eaten.

They're on the far left of this picture.

It's so cool...it's like they're linked together just like in the cartoons!!

( Immature dork alert!)

One of the wonderful new things we had to try was

Holiday Loaf/Schweinebauch ~wrapped in bacon.

(#41 on the list...will not be marked off, but maybe circled with a heart)

Oh, it was delicious!

I tried to ♥girl it up♥ good by serving it on a croissant.

Horrible picture, but really good eats.

So if you're ever in the neighborhood, be sure to stop in to Claus' and tell him the lady that choked down the tongue says, "Hi."

Coming soon!!

We also purchased the

DOUBLE Smoked Bacon!

I'll be baking it in the oven just like ya'll suggested.

Ya'll Come Back Now! Ya Hear?

My Nanny

I'd like to take a moment and share with you a snapshot of my beautiful grandmother,

Edith Rose.

"Nanny" to me and the rest of the grandkids.

(I love the flower in her hair)

Many of the homemaking skills that I know have come from her. In fact, at the beginning of my married life adventure, I would find myself double checking my work and thinking,

"Would Nanny approve?"

She was a strong woman who raised and cared for her 4 children the best she knew how. She came from meager beginnings, but her faith carried her through all of the challenges in her life. So much of what I know about life and cooking came from watching her, and most of the time I wasn't even realizing the wisdom that I was absorbing.

Her kitchen was intended to be the heart of her home and the heartbeat definitely came from her. The layout was meticulously thought through and designed to suit her needs perfectly. To this day, I long for her counter and cabinet space! There was a large peninsula that housed a double sink, and also was large enough that we grandchildren could all sit around it and eat. I can't help but imagine the thought that went into this one area. It was an ingenious plan to keep all of us little ones at arms reach and under her wing.

My fondest memories of her are the simple ones. I can remember every step she took to wash her dishes. The suds from the detergent filling up her cloth as she would wash and rinse each dish by hand, and THEN put them in the dishwasher.

While she did the dishes, she would talk about the day's events and tell stories of the past. Then came my favorite part! It was when she would clean out the sink. With a soapy cloth in hand, she would wipe every handle, faucet, seam and basin. It was like a sudsy ballet as the bubbles formed all over, just as she intended. Then came the rinsing. It wasn't rushed. It was all part of her thoroughness and care for her home. You knew when the story she was telling was important to her (or more like, she realized she had a captive audience), because the bubbly bath would begin again. I always knew that when she dried the counter and sink the story was coming to an end. It was her time and way of passing on wisdom, and I would be so thankful for just one more moment sitting there with her. I still have so many things to learn.

My Nanny is with the Lord now, and as I write this my heart aches because I miss her terribly. But, I know that one way to honor her memory is to take the homemaking skills she passed down to me, and pass them down to my children.

Oh Momma, could my Nanny cook!

This woman had some mad kitchen skills!

Nothing was spared and only the best was served. Occasionally I would I see her pull out a cookbook, but mostly the family recipes just seemed to flow out of her! We all had our favorites like pork chops, fried chicken (ya knows me and ma chicken), homemade biscuits and gravy, and desserts Desserts DESSERTS. All had been mastered.

I came across Grandma's Wartime Baking Book by Joanne Lamb Hayes at the library. It has become one of my favorite cookbooks.

In fact, I've checked it out about 3 times in the last six months.

(It's on my Christmas List!)

It's full of WWII recipes that were published in variety of cookbooks and magazines at that time.

Whenever I flip through these pages I can't help but think of Nanny and the women like her who had to learn these skills out of necessity.

I can't imagine what it would be like to have sugar rationed

or not even to be able to purchase butter.

But that's just what they did!

That great American ingenuity kicked in and they figured out how to make more with less.

I rarely "read" a cookbook, but this one is full of tidbits and stories of this time period. Each recipe has an explanation of where it came from and why it was altered to meet rationing needs. Many are sugarless desserts and can easily be thrown together with very basic ingredients.

This week I gave the Sticky Buns In A Hurry a go. I added raisins and a little glaze on top.

They were a hit with the kids and Mr. D really enjoyed the one left for him.

Here is the recipe!

Click on the picture and it will enlarge.

I made the measurements bold so that you were sure to see them.

My mother recently has let me borrow my Nanny's cookbooks, and I'll be sharing more of these wonderful recipes with ya'll soon.

Fanny Packs

Our schedule for the weekend was changed a little with unexpected sleep overs for the kids. That tends to throw my menu that I planned for the week off. When the kids are gone, it makes sense to make some simpler meals for dinner.

I've really fallen in love with this No-Knead Bread Recipe, and I decided to do a little experiment with it for dinner tonight. I made some super delicious little dinner pockets that were made out of the bread recipe. I stuffed them with ground sausage, onion, mixed veggies and mozzarella cheese. They ended up being HUGE because they rose so much in the oven. We laughed about how they were no longer just little pockets. Now they were "Fanny Packs".

The Bread Recipe is:

1 1/2 TBS Active Dry Yeast

1 1/2 TBS Sea Salt

3 Cups Warm Water

6 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour

Mix it all together and it makes a big wet ball of dough. You don't knead it! It needs to sit for at least 2 hours to rise and then you can use it. Or, if you have it in the fridge, it should be set out for about 40 minutes.

It makes a really wet dough that can stay in the fridge for up to two weeks covered with a little tiny bit of air allowed in the container. One batch makes four pizzas or fanny packs. Check out the link above for more recipes.

When the dough has set out for at least 20 minutes, sprinkle a little flour over the top of the batch to make it easier to cut. Divide it into fourths and form dough balls. Sprinkle corn meal on a pizza peel or cutting board and let the dough rest while you get all of your filling ingredients together. Cooking all the filling will take about another 20 minutes and that will give you your 40 minutes. Meanwhile preheat your oven to 550 degrees.

For the filling I used:

1 lb of sausage

1 small chopped onion

1/2 a small bag of mixed veggies

2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Shape the dough into a pizza.

Put filling and cheese

on one half.

Fold over and slide onto a baking stone in a 550 deg. preheated oven for about 8 minutes.

This was so good! We sat around talking about all the different things we could fill it with. For example, sloppy Joe's, pie filling, pizza fixings, chicken pot pie, etc.

I'm so glad when a cooking experiment turns out so easy and delicious.

I'd love to hear what you would put in your "Fanny Pack".

Have a Blessed Week Everyone!!