Squirrel Gravy

Squirrels should be cleaned and free of buckshot, stray fur and dirt.  Quarter them and place them in a pressure cooker.  Cover with salted water and cook at fifteen pounds pressure for twenty minutes. (My friend Mary Beth also says you can cook the squirrel all day long in your crockpot, instead)  Once the cooker has cooled down, remove the squirrel pieces, saving the broth.  Flour the squirrel quarters or roll them in your favorite chicken breader.  Fry until brown in bacon grease.  Meanwhile, bring the broth left in the pot back to a simmer.  Remove the squirrel from the frying pan and stir enough flour into the drippings to make a thin paste.  Slowly add the hot broth, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan. Cook until smooth and thickened. I also added some milk.  Then season to taste and serve with the crisp fried squirrel.

Great Grape Pie

     You won't find this recipe in any cookbook because it's one I made up after a disappointingly runny grape pie.  It's very easy, like all of my favorite recipes and WOW is it tasty.  Kind of like a grape cobbler instead of a pie.  Delicious with icecream or just warm out of the oven.

4 cups of Concord grapes
1 1/2 cups sugar
Cook these together and boil for about five minutes, smashing and stirring with a potato masher.  Then run it all through a food mill, getting as much of it as you can and just leaving seeds and a little pulp/skins behind.

Add 1/2 cup of flour, 2 tsp of lemon juice (I've used red wine vinegar in a pinch), 1/8 tsp salt, and a cup of Bisquick or Jiffee mix.  Pour all of this into a pie shell.  Top with the following:

1/2 cup of oats, 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1/4 cup flour and a 1/4 cup of soft butter--mixed together until crumbly.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until set at 425 degrees!  Get ready to smile--it's that good!

Grape Juice

The grape vines are bubbly with grapes.  There are so many that they look like purple suds.  Soooo...grape juice, grape jelly, grape pie and if I can find a recipe, grape wine.  Here's my easy grape juice recipe.  I made 48 jars and we will sure enjoy them with popcorn this winter.

Really Easy, Great Grape Juice

Wash and stem as many grapes as you want.  Dump two cups of grapes in each quart jar and add 1 cup of sugar.  Pour boiling water over all of it and cap it.  Then process it in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.  Let it sit about a month before you drink it.  We strain off the grapes and then add a jar of water to the juice.  Perfect grape heaven!

The grape jelly is easy, too.  This is called Gaye's Grape Sunshine

Wash and stem a quart of grapes.  Smash them up well to get a good measure.  Add  a quart of sugar.  Simmer on top of the stove for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat and run through a sieve.  Pour into jelly jars and process in a water bath for 15 minutes.  This recipe can be doubled, but don't triple it.
It sets up into a beautiful soft jam.

Blackberry Cobbler

It's blackberry time and my favorite way to eat these shiny beauties is in a cobbler.  This is a recipe for the easiest, most sinful cobbler you'll ever eat.  It has a whole stick of butter in it, but that makes it good.  We especially like it warm, with ice cream or milk.  I would have included a picture of it, but we ate it all before I thought about posting this recipe.  Oh well, guess you'll have to make it yourself!

Ingredients:
1 stick of butter
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
milk
1 pint (more or less) of blackberries sugared to draw the juice (or frozen from last summer)

Preheat your oven 350 degrees.  Melt the butter in a 12x12x2 baking pan.  In bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and enough milk to make a thin batter.  Pour mixture over butter.  Do not stir. Pour berries, juice and all over this and again, DO NOT STIR.  Bake for 40 minutes.  Enjoy.

Squished Squash

This one is an old family favorite.  I call it "Squished Squash."  It's sort of salty and smoky flavored.

First fry three slices of bacon in your black, cast-iron skillet.

When the bacon is done, take it out and crumble it up.  Leave the bacon grease in the pan and add some chopped up squash and onions. The picture shows the size of the chunks. Fill the pan as this will cook down.

Cook this on medium heat, stirring every couple of minutes, until it starts to brown.  The caramalization of the squash and onions is what makes this recipe so tasty.  Then toss in your bacon pieces and add about a half a cup of water.  Cover and simmer until it looks like this.

At this point, you can uncover and stir and cook until it is as squished up as you like.  My family loves squash cooked this way and I hope you will, too.