The Big White Farmhouse

intentional living, little by little

No.679: A Year of Vintage Recipes // German Blueberry Kuchen

It’s been awhile since I’ve experimented with my vintage cookbook!  My daughter and I decided to try a German Blueberry Kuchen, which the cookbook described as a “delicate, fine-grained coffee cake” that is perfect for “breakfast or dinner dessert.”  We thought it was delicious and not too sweet.  Would be wonderful with a cup of hot coffee!

Print Recipe

German Blueberry Kuchen

taken from Farm Journal's Country Cookbook
Servings: 6 servings

Ingredients

  • 1½ cups flour sifted
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • ¼ cup soft shortening or butter
  • ⅔ cup milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • ½ tsp grated lemon peel
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup fresh blueberries
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tsp grated lemon peel

Instructions

  • Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and ¾ cup sugar. Add shortening, milk, vanilla and ½ tsp. grated lemon peel. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed for 3 minutes, or 300 strokes by hand.
  • Add the egg and beat with the mixer 2 minutes longer (200 strokes by hand).
  • Turn into a greased 8" square pan.
  • Lightly stir together the blueberries, 3 tbsp. sugar and 1 tsp. grated lemon peel. Sprinkle over the batter in the pan.
  • Bake in a moderate oven (350°) for 40 to 45 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool slightly in pan. Cut in squares and serve warm.

Check out some other recipes from “A Year of Vintage Recipes” series:
Cheese and Bacon Pie
Old Fashioned Oatmeal Bread
Sugar-Top Coffee Cake

No.678: A Scrappy “I Spy” Quilt Top

This is more of a progress report than a finished product, but I am so happy to see this first part DONE!  Definitely the most time intensive goal from my summer “Get Things Finished!” Challenge.

This is a quilt top with a story, each piece lovingly sewn together by hand.  I learned to sew this way from my maternal grandmother and now that she has passed away, I am so glad I took the time to sit down and pay attention.  There are fabrics in this quilt that she passed along to me.  There are fabrics from my early days of quilting, where the only fabric I could afford were fat quarters at Joann’s.  There are a few vintage fabrics, a pillowcase, even a stained chambray blouse!  It’s loud and colorful, but beautiful in its own way.

Right now, the quilt measures 37×80″, but will grow slightly with the binding.  I copied the size from one of the childhood quilts my grandmother made for me; it’s the perfect size for wrapping up.  Oh!  A fun aspect of this quilt is the way I “fussy cut” different fabrics to make a sort of “I Spy” activity.  Some examples:

Next up: the “quilt sandwich” and then hand quilting the entire thing together!

No.677: A New Reading Challenge // WILLA Literary Award Winners

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Another year, another reading challenge! 

Have you heard of the WILLA Awards?  According to the website, “The WILLA Literary Awards honor the best in literature, featuring women’s or girls’ stories set in the West that are published each year. Women Writing the West (WWW), a nonprofit association of writers and other professionals writing and promoting the Women’s West, underwrites and presents the nationally recognized award annually at the WWW Fall Conference. The award is named in honor of Pulitzer Prize winner Willa Cather, one of the country’s foremost novelists.”

I’d like to read the last six years of award winners (2016-2021) in the Historical Fiction and Contemporary Fiction categories.  I’ve already read a few of them and will update this post as I go!

HISTORICAL FICTION WINNERS

CONTEMPORARY FICTION WINNERS

No.676: Homemaking Notes on a Monday // Vol.32

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The weather outside is //

As I look outside my window // As you are reading this, we are hopefully (!!) getting Fiona onto the trailer and off to processing!  We borrowed a farmer friend’s trailer last Wednesday and it’s been in her paddock ever since.  She’s been stubborn and even put herself on a hunger strike (we put her food in the trailer, but she refused to go in)…but I think we turned a corner on Sunday.  Praying for a smooth moving process today.

As I look around the house // The weather forecast looks like I’ll be spending a lot of time indoors, which could be dangerous!  Last week on a rainy afternoon, I had the crazy idea to bring the old loveseat in the basement up two flights of stairs to the schoolroom.  One of my sons helped me move it (we only dinged one wall!) but he definitely looked at me like, “Oh no.  Mom’s got that redecorating look in her eye again.”

A low buy month update // I’m considering Week 1 a success!

  • Most money was spent on groceries.  Our local grocery store has been having shortages and limits, so we decided that continuing to add to our pantry is probably wise.  (This week we added some peanut butter, jelly, and marinara sauce.)  I’m still hoping to keep the grocery budget low throughout this month, so we’ll see if I can accomplish both goals at the same time.
  • We had four days of zero spending.
  • I began decluttering again.  I started a box for Goodwill and listed 14 items on ebay/Poshmark.  By the end of the week, I had made three sales.  Money earned after fees: $31.30

Returning // to this post after feeling like my Year of Simple has been a terrible fail so far.  Thankfully, it’s only August…plenty of time to turn this ship around.

On this week’s to-do list //
– get a start on fall garden planting
– work on the permanent pig shelter
– make a DIY grout cleaner
– post a few toys on Trash Nothing
– troubleshoot the sanding problem with the laundry room walls
– celebrate the feast day of Saint Lawrence by having a BBQ (weather permitting)

Currently reading // 

On the menu this week //

Monday: breakfast enchiladas
Tuesday: cheesy meatballs casserole
Wednesday: Refrigerator Cleanout Night
Thursday: chicken on the grill
Friday: homemade cheese pizza

Less Materialism, More Intentional Living

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