Home Made Brownies

This weekend I had a Family Reunion to attend and I was asked to bring a dessert to pass. I wanted to bring something everybody would like and eat, so I decided to make my homemade Brownies. This recipe comes from my grandmother and it makes anywhere from 32 to 40 nice size brownies. So today I will give you my grandmother’s Homemade Buttermilk Brownies Recipe.

Buttermilk Brownies

1 Cup Water                                                    1 cup Butter or Margarine

1/3 Cup Cocoa (dry)                                       2 Cups Flour

2 Cups Sugar                                                   1 teaspoon Baking Soda

½ teaspoon Salt                                               2 Slightly Beaten Eggs

½ Cup Buttermilk or (milk)                            1 ½ teaspoons Vanilla

Frosting

¼ Cup Butter or Margarine                           3 Tablespoons Cocoa (dry)

3 Tablespoons Buttermilk or (milk)              2 ¼ Cups Confectioners’ sugar

½ Cup Chopped Walnuts (optional)              ½ teaspoon Vanilla

1.   

    In a saucepan, combine butter, cocoa, and one cup of water. Bring to a boil; stirring constantly. Remove from heat and set aside.

2.     

  In a large bowl stir together flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt; stir in beaten eggs, buttermilk or milk, and vanilla.

3.     

  Add hot cocoa mixture; mix till blended.

4.    

   Pour into a greased 15 ½ x 10 ½ 1 inch baking pan.

5.    

   Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.

6.       Immediately pour Frosting over the brownies; spread evenly over brownies.

7.       Cool; cut into bite-size bars.

Buttermilk Frosting

1.       In a saucepan, mix ¼ cup butter or margarine, 3 Tablespoons cocoa (dry), and 3 Tablespoons buttermilk or milk.

2.      

Cook and stir till boiling; remove from heat.

3.       Beat in 2 ¼ Cups confectioners’ sugar, 1/2 cup Walnuts (optional) and ½ teaspoon Vanilla.

4.     

  Pour over hot brownies right out of the oven.

5.     

  I start making the frosting when there are about 5 minutes left for the brownies to cook, this way my frosting is ready when the brownies come out of the oven.

6.       Note: this recipe can be made with buttermilk or regular milk. They both taste great.

Making this recipe brings back so many fond memories of baking with my grandmother. She used to make these brownies every Sunday when we came to visit. Making old-time recipes are a fun way to connect with your own children or grandchildren. I hope you try this easy Homemade brownie recipe, my family loved it along with the rest of the family at our Family Reunion. Making things from scratch is so much better than buying a brownie mix from a store and tastes so much better. I hope you like my homemade Buttermilk Brownie Recipe from Suzie Homemaker.

Grapes, Grapes and more Grapes

Grapes, Grapes and more Grapes! My grape vines are producing very well this year, and now I am busy processing my grapes in different ways. Every time my husband goes outside he is snacking on a handful of grapes. We have an old dog coop outside by our old garage and we do not have any dogs, so we decided to use the chain linked fence for our grapes vines to grow on. Our grape vines were very small when we planted them, but three years later we have a nice batch of grapes that we pick each year. Now what to do with all the grapes we get since we can’t eat all of them fast enough. So today I will show you some of the things I use my grapes for.

Grape Juice

1.       Cut your grapes off by the stems with scissors to avoid losing so many of them when picking.

2.       Pull the grapes off the stems and place them into a colander and rinse them off very well.

3.       Place the clean grapes into a large kettle and start cooking them.

4.       As the grapes start cooking smash them with a potato masher.

5.      

When they become soft and the skins break you are ready to make your juice.

6.       Using a food processor or an old fashion food mill start smashing your grapes.

7.      

If you like to separate the pulp from the juice. The pulp is good for other things as I will show you later.

8.     

  Now you have the grape juice to drink right away, or to can or freeze for later.

9.       Add as much sugar to taste. Depending on how thick or thin you like your juice add water. I usually water mine down ¾ water to ¼ juice.

Grape Jam or Jelly

1.       Take your grapes from the vine and pull them off. Place them into a colander and rinse well.

2.       Place into a large kettle and start cooking them, with a potato smasher start smashing your grapes as they cook.

3.      

Again, using a food processor or an old fashion food mill smash your grape.

4.       Using a box of Sure-Jell, follow the directions to make grape jelly or jam.

Grape Fruit Roll-Ups

1.      

Taking your grapes from the vines, pull them off and wash them in a colander under water.

2.       Place your grapes in a large kettle and start cooking them. With a potato, smasher smash your grapes as they cook.

3.      

Place in a food processor or old-time food mill and start smashing your grapes.

4.      

Separate the grape pulp from your juice. The pulp works the best for fruit roll-ups.

5.       Take your fruit roll-up trays and spray with non-stick spray.

6.       Add sugar to taste into your grape pulp.

7.     

  Pour the grape pulp onto your fruit roll-up trays.

8.       Check your dehydrator for temperature directions and time. My grape fruit roll-ups took almost a day to dehydrate.

9.       Cut little pieces and roll them in wax paper. Yummy, Yummy

These are the three things I do with my grapes I get each year. The jams and jellies last me a full year. The juice depending on if you freeze or can it can last up to a year also. The fruit roll-ups never make it much past a couple of weeks, because everybody loves them.

Earlier I mentioned using a food processor or an old time food mill. Food processors can get very pricey and take a long time to set up and then wash up later. I use my grandmother’s old food mill with great success, besides a little arm work never hurt anyone. The food mill is easier to clean up afterward also.

I hope you enjoyed my homegrown grape ideas from Suzie homemaker.

How To Can Tomatoes Crushed

Well, it’s time for canning season to begin, and today I want to talk about tomatoes. My daughter decided I needed tomatoes so I have a bunch to can this year, I will be canning juice and chunks of tomatoes for a while here. But today I want to try and can crushed tomatoes.

1.       First, you need a good amount of ripe red tomatoes.

2.       Wash your tomatoes very well before cutting up. Cut out any bad spots and all stems.

3.     

  Take a big kettle and start boiling some water. When the water just starts to boil place a few tomatoes in the water.

4.   

  When the skins start to crack and peel they are ready to be placed in a bowl of ice water. This way you can handle the tomatoes and peel the easier.

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5.       Peel away the skins.

6.   

  Cut your tomatoes into small chunks or just quarter them

.

7.    

   In another kettle place your chunked or quartered tomato, using a potato masher smash your tomatoes.

8.       Take your smashed tomatoes and place in a clean canning jar to about ¼ of an inch from the top. If you do not have enough to fill a jar just add some tomato juice to fill your jars. Add your canning salt according to directions and lemon juice.

9.     

  In a small kettle boil your lids. Tighten your covers onto your lids. I run a knife around the top of my lids to help it seal tighter.

10.  

Tomatoes need to be water bathed, so fill your water bath so it covers your jars by at least ½ inch.

11.  

Check your canning book for the time you will need for canning.

12.   When done take out and let cool. When your jars pop you know they are sealed. I let my jars cool overnight before I move them.

Now I will have plenty of tomato juice, chunks, and smashed tomatoes to last me through till next season. Canning has been in my family for generations and I love having homegrown produce year round. This saves on the grocery bill so much. Yes, it takes time to can but look at all the rewards you get for all your labor, and my family loves it.

My smallest canner and my water bath canner came from my grandmother, who gave it to my mother who then gave it to me. These canners have stood up to the test of times. I hope someday to pass it onto my children and beyond.

I hope you try this smashed canned tomato recipe for your house soon from Suzie Homemaker.

Tutoring Options

I have a question to ask my readers today! How many of you have children or grandchildren who struggle in school? How many times have you heard your children or grandchildren say, I don’t get it or it’s just too hard. School teachers have more students to teach and the school standards have changed a lot. Common Core has now changed the way our children and grandchildren are learning. Everything is on a faster learning curve than what we learned as parents. No wonder some of our children and grandchildren are struggling in school.

How many of you have thought about extra tutoring for your children to help them out? There are a couple of tutoring places I can think of like Learning R X and Slyvan Learning Center, but these programs can cost over $50 dollars an hour and require a contract of a certain amount of tutoring sessions. This is very expensive and most parents can’t afford this.

I have an alternative solution to try that is much cheaper and can maybe help with your children and grandchildren struggles in school. Why not try a college student who is working toward a teaching degree. This would be cheaper and you can choose what you want and need on your schedule.

Today I have a guest speaker who is a college student who is starting her own tutoring service. Here is her story.

Hello, my name is Heather Schroeder and I’m the owner and founder of FIRE Tutoring Services in Appleton, Wisconsin. Everything FIRE Tutoring Services does is to raise awareness for the number of students in special education who drop out of high school. The way this is accomplished is by offering personalized tutoring services in mathematics, English, elementary general studies, and art. I’m an experienced tutor and instructional aide. I have five plus years of experience working in special education. Recently, I taught conversational English in Beijing, China. To learn more about my tutoring services visit https://www.facebook.com/FIREtutoring/ or http://www.firetutoringservices.com/. If you would like to learn more about my time living in Beijing visit my blog at http://theroadlesstraveledon.firetutoringservices.com/.

I hope this will help some of you with children and grandchildren who struggle in school from Suzie Homemaker