Blueberry Perfection!

A Maine Blueberry..... better yet..... Maine Blueberry Pie!

While visiting Kennebunkport last week, we headed straight to our favorite seaside restaurant for our luncheon before an afternoon of shopping and sightseeing. I found it amazing that we had not yet tried the blueberry pie after eating at this little gem for a few years. My, we certainly discovered that we were indeed missing something! We ordered just one piece of the pie along with four forks. All I can tell you is, the plate was clean of any crumbs. Therefore, The Maine House vows to match their delicacy!

Estelle's Perfect Pie Crust
9 tablespoons very cold, unsalted butter
5 tablespoons very cold vegetable shortening (Estelle's prefers Crisco)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/3 cup very cold water


Dice the butter. Once diced, place it in the freezer. Place the water and shortening in the freezer.
 Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Pulse a few times to mix the ingredients. Add the butter and shortening. Pulse 8 to 12 times, or until the butter is the size of peas. With the machine running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse the machine until the dough begins to form a ball.
 Dump the dough onto a lightly floured board and roll into a ball. Wrap the ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
 Cut the dough in half. On a well-floured board, roll each piece into a circle, rolling from the center to the edge. Turn and flour the dough, as necessary, to ensure it doesn’t stick to the board. Fold the dough in half, place in a pie pan, and unfold to fit the pan. Repeat with the top crust once ready!

Blueberry Pie Filling
1 1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
juice and grated zest from 1/2 medium lemon
5 cups fresh or frozen thawed blueberries, rinsed well

In a large bowl combine sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon, lemon juice and grated rind, and blueberries. Roll out half of the pastry; line an 9-inch pie pan and trim edges. Pour berry mixture into pie crust and dot with small pieces of butter. Roll out remaining pastry to about 1/8 inch thick. Cover pie; trim, turn edge under and crimp. Cut a few vents in top of crust to allow steam to escape. Bake at 425° for 40 minutes, or until crust is nicely browned.

"Any Southener worth his piecrust knows that White Lily is the only flour worth stocking in the larder."

Vintage Lavender!

The Maine House is devoting a few days to gift giving ideas. Once October begins the glorious holiday season, our thoughts turn to creative ideas for special and pampering gifts for all the darlings in our lives.

Our first love is lavender! The health benefits of lavender essential oil include its ability to remove nervous tension, relieve pain, disinfect scalp and skin, enhance blood circulation and treat respiratory problems.
LAVENDER IS ONE OF THE MOST NOSTALGIC FRAGRANCES, bringing scenes of childhood vividly to the mind: high summer days that last for ever, lavender bushes shimmering against the blue sky, the bees blundering in and out among the flowers, stirring up the intense, sweet sensation.




Baby Jennyfer has always loved lavender. She has wanted everything lavender from her tutu's, her bedroom, her hair ribbons to her grown-up high heels! So we begin...with her inspiration color and scent!

Scented Bath Salts

2 cups Epsom Salts
1cup sea salt or rock salt
1/4 cup glycerin
Essential Lavender Oil (available in bath shops or health food stores)

Combine salts in a mixing bowl and mix well. Stir in glycerin and 4 to 5 drops of essential lavender oil. Spoon bath salts into glass containers and tightly seal! Decorate with small vintage gift tags and ribbons!

Lavender-Rose Powder
1 cup talc
1 cup cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon lavender essential oil
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon essential oil
10 drops rose essential oil
wax paper
vintage handkerchiefs

Blend ingredients together. Let mixture dry on wax paper. Spoon mixture into the center of new or vintage handkerchiefs and tie with ribbons. Place under your pillow or in your drawers for the softest, loveliest lavender-rose scent!

"There's a few things I've learned in life:

 always throw salt over your left shoulder, keep rosemary by your garden gate, plant lavender for good luck, and fall in love whenever you can."

 

A Dressed Up Oldie!

In medieval Germany, there are references to nuncheontach, a non lunchentach according to OED, a noon draught— of ale, with bread— an extra meal between mid-day dinner and supper, especially during the long hours of hard labor during haying or early harvesting. In Munich, by the 1730s and 40s, the upper class were rising later, and dining at three or four in the afternoon, and by 1770, their dinner hour in Pomberano was four or five. A formal evening meal, artificially lit by candles, sometimes with entertainment, was a "supper party" as late as Regency times.



In the 19th century, male artisans went home for a brief dinner, where their wives fed them, but as the workplace was removed farther from the home, working men took to providing themselves with something portable to eat at a break in the schedule during the middle of the day. In parts of India a light, portable lunch is known as tiffin.

Ladies whose husbands would eat at the club would be free to leave the house and have lunch with one another, though not in restaurants until the twentieth century. In the 1945 edition of Etiquette, Emily Post still referred to luncheon as "generally given by and for women, but it is not unusual, especially in summer places or in town on Saturday or Sunday, to include an equal number of men"— hence the mildly disparaging phrase, "the ladies who lunch." Lunch was a ladies' light meal; when the Prince of Wales stopped to eat a dainty luncheon with lady friends, he was laughed at for this effeminacy. Afternoon tea supplemented this luncheon at four o'clock, from the 1840s. Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management had much less to explain about luncheon than about dinners or ball suppers!

Lunch can be with your best friend you don't see so much anymore, but still treat each other on your birthdays,  or lunch is the quick bite to eat with your co-worker that runs into a second (ahem...) glass of wine. Lunch is three women who are having a "meeting" about the school fundraiser, but talk about everything but! Lunch is MMSM having lunch with me, with her happiest two-year-old sitting between his two favorite women. Lunch is your husband stealing home with a hamburger and fries in a white bag (ugh)!

Lunches are also the gesture you make to take good care of your family. They know "Mom...the heart of the home", thought about them and tucked in an extra cookie!....... Bought that special type of bread they like, remembered that they like tomatoes, but not lettuce.
Took the time to write a little note, or draw a little picture. It's the only way we can send a bit of our "tender loving care" with them for their eight or so hours away from the nest. Send them off feeling like they are most loved!

So.......  The Maine House make lunches!

Estelle's Five Cheese Grilled Sandwich
½ cup of butter salted, softened
1 t. finely minced garlic
¼ t. minced parsley
8 slices sourdough bread
¾ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
4 slices Swiss cheese
4 slices cheddar cheese
4 slices Monterrey jack cheese
4 slices mozzarella cheese



 Combine butter, garlic and parsley in a small bowl. Preheat a large sauté pan or griddle pan to medium heat. the pan should be big enough to fit 2 slices of sourdough bread. To make each sandwich, spread garlic butter on one side of each slice of sourdough bread. Cut the crust off the left and right sides of each slice of bread-leave the crust on top and bottom. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on to a plate, and then turn each slice of bread over on to the cheese so it sticks to the garlic butter. Allow the excess cheese to fall of the bread, and then gently place each slice of bread, cheese side down on to the hot pan. Immediately place a slice of Swiss and a slice of cheddar on one slice of bread, and then place a slice of jack and a slice mozzarella on the other slice of bread. In 2½ to 3½ minutes, when the Parmesan cheese has browned, use a spatula to flip one slice of the bread over on the other, and then remove the sandwich from the pan. Let the sandwich sit for 1 minute then slice it diagonally through the middle and serve hot.

Estelle's Tomato Soup with Fresh Basil

3 tablespoons good olive oil

1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onions
2 carrots, peeled and chopped finely 
1 tablespoon minced garlic 
5 large vine-ripened tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/4 cup packed chopped fresh basil leaves, plus julienned basil leaves, for garnish
3 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup heavy cream
Croutons, for garnish

Directions
Heat the olive oil in a large dutch oven, over medium-low heat. Add the onions and carrots and saute for about 10 minutes, until very tender. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, sugar, tomato paste, basil, chicken stock, salt, and pepper and stir well. Bring the soup to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer, uncovered, for 30 to 40 minutes, until the tomatoes are very tender. Add the cream to the soup and process this mixture with an immersion blender or hand mixer (I use my smoothie maker). You can discard any of the dry pulp that's left. Reheat the soup over low heat just until hot and serve with julienned basil leaves and croutons.

"It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato." ~Lewis Grizzard

This One's for the Birds!

The Maine House has been in full swing of our latest hobby! Feeding the birds!! Autumn and chilly weather are finally here in New England and we are beginning to clear the gardens of their spring and summer accents and preparing the gardens and bird feeders for the approaching winter. Today was rather chilly, 52 degrees, blustery and cold rain!




 It is a wonderful project to incorporate into your family and a time to teach children how to feed and care for our feathered friends during those harsh winter months.

 The gift they provide to us, as their human caretakers, is returned ten-fold by their display of beauty and color!

Wild birds are already making decisions about which back yards they will visit this winter. Fall is the season to begin, even though natural foods are plentiful and the birds may not spend much time at your feeder yet. They are out in the fields and woods, feasting on seeds, berries and insects.

The birds that do visit feeders in the abundance of autumn are scouting. They need to be ready when cold weather hits.
Cold will increase their calorie requirements, right at the moment that food becomes harder to get. Insects stop flying and wiggling. Snow covers seeds. Ice seals away tree buds, wild fruits, and the insects that woodpeckers and nuthatches like to find under the bark of trees. So they need to be ready. That's whey they're studying their resources in advance. Noting where food is available, seeking alternatives,taking inventory of contingent provisions.

It's good to be included in their inventories. If the birds discover that your yard is worth visiting, they'll remember. And when that first storm hits, they'll show up, hungry, chirpy and chattery. Red and blue and black-and-white and yellow. Fun to look at on a snowy day.

On the other hand, if you wait until hard weather arrives, the birds may not ever realize what you have to offer. Under the stress of freezing weather, they can't afford the luxury of exploring. They must go where they know there will be a payoff. They might not discover your feeder all winter, even though it is abundantly supplied, so start offering provisions now.

Some good examples of foods to offer are seeds such as black oil sunflower, white millet, niger, safflower, cracked corn, broken nuts.Offer suet in hanging baskets, for woodpeckers.We are also going to try some chopped up fruits.

Don't worry about them if you have to be gone from your home for a while in winter. Birds are used to having a food source disappear. They won't starve because of your lapse. It might take them a while to rediscover your yard when you return, but they'll be back.

One of the best ways to get the birds into your yard is to provide unfrozen water, replenished daily. Sometimes water is harder to come by in winter than food. When the temps stay below freezing, some kind of heater is needed to keep the water unfrozen.You can get a heating element that soaks in your bird bath and turns on whenever the water begins to freeze, or purchase a bird bath with the warmer built in.



 One of the best such designs I've seen is a plastic bath so light that you can lift it with one finger, but which looks like a boulder with a natural hollow for the water.

What birds will come?You'll attract the birds of your own region. A Maine bird feeder will have northern cardinals, while someone in Mississippi might get bluejays.

If you have some thick trees such as evergreens for shelter in your yard you'll probably also attract chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, and woodpeckers. In each part of the country you'll get species characteristic of your region. Generally you'll attract the most common species of your locale.

We love going to shop for various birdhouses. The designs are rather plentiful. You can go simple or elaborate, depending on how much time, money, and space you have to devote to the subject.  Most people who feed birds do several of these things.The simplest is just to toss the birdseed on the ground. Many birds enjoy eating at or near the ground. A step up is to put it on a porch railing, where it won't get so dirty.Better yet, put it under your eaves, where it won't get wet, either. One of the most successful feeders we've used was a lobster buoy that we hollowed and wrapped with wire. We suspended from a tree. The chickadees loved it!

A variety of feeding locations will bring you more kinds of birds than a single feeder, because each species will find its own preferred level and location.
If you want to get more elaborate, you can sink a post into the ground and mount a platform at the top. Put a bit of molding around the edge to keep the seeds from rolling off. Let the molding leak at the corners so that the feeder doesn't fill up with water.You might want to buy a hanging tube feeder with small holes for thistle or niger.

Whatever you use, be sure to put your birdfeeder where you can watch the birds from where you live. We even have the pleasure of Wild Turkey families in our back woods....very exciting indeed!!  Enjoy the chirps of chickadees while you're eating. Start now......... You'll enjoy the birds all winter long!

Homemade Bird Feeders

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup peanut butter

1 1/4 cups bird seed

String

Pine Cones

Combine cornmeal, peanut butter and bird seed. Tie a string on the pinecones and smear with the mixture. Hang up in trees outside for birds.

"In order to see birds it is necessary to become part of the silence."

Robert Lynd (1879 - 1949)

An October Heirloom!

Now let me tell you...my mother-in-law was a fabulous cook! She never failed to produce a dinner that was both delicious and beautiful to look at. On one occasion, when we were home visiting family in October, we sat down at the heirloom Duncan Phyfe dining table, to steaming bowls of her white chili. It is most memorable and today, at The Maine House, we serve Miss Bobbi's White Chili with Estelle's corn bread ! This is a perfect weeknight family meal on a cool October evening!

Miss Bobbie's White Chili

1 tablespoon olive oil
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cooked and cubed
6 cups chicken broth
2 medium chopped onions
2 (4.5 ounces) can diced green chilies, undrained
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 pound Great Northern Beans
3 cups shredded Monterrey Jack cheese
Salt to taste
Course ground black pepper to taste
Sour Cream
Garnish-fresh parsley fresh cilantro


Directions
Sort and wash beans; place in large dutch oven. Cover with
water 2 inches above beans and let soak for 8 hours. Drain
and set beans aside. Cook onion and garlic in dutch oven
over medium high heat, stirring constantly. Add beans and
chicken broth. Bring to a boil and cover, reduce heat and
simmer 2 hours until beans are tender. Add cooked chicken,
one cup of cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a
boil; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered for ten minutes.
Stir often. Ladle chili into individual soup bowls and top each
with portions of 2 cups of cheese, sour cream, parsley& cilantro.

Estelle's Corn Bread

1 cup self-rising cornmeal
3/4 cup self-rising flour
3/4 cup vegetable oil 
1 cup cream-style corn
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 cup grated sharp Cheddar
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, optional


Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.Generously season a cast iron skillet with up to 1/4 cup vegetable oil. Preheat the pan either in the oven or on the stove over medium-high heat. Mix remaining 1/2 cup vegetable oil and remaining ingredients together in a large bowl, stirring with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until combined. Pour batter into the preheated cast iron skillet. Place skillet in the oven and bake until golden brown, approximately 30 minutes. If making individual size cornbread in smaller pans, they will require a shorter cooking time. Alternately, you can make this in muffin tins to make corn muffins, but check for doneness after 15 minutes.

"It's a toxic world but you have the power to protect yourself. Feed your life from the well of sweetness. Kind words. Good books.

 Music that makes your spirit soar.

 Movies that inspire." Susan Branch

October's Rainy Day Tea Time!

The October air is blustery today. Rain is predicted for the afternoon and the sky is dark and gloomy. The Maine House thinks this is a perfect day to welcome the little ones home with  Warm Tea Muffins and Fruited Spiced Tea!

Estelle's Light and Airy Tea Muffins
1/3 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cup cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
1/2 cup milk
Topping
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup melter butter

Cream shortening, sugar and egg. Combine dry ingredients and add to creamed mixture, alternating with milk. Fill greased muffin tins 3/4 full. Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden. Cool for five minutes. In a small bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon for topping. Roll warm muffins in melted butter and then cinnamon mixture. Serve warm and enjoy those smiling little faces.

Estelle's Hot Fruited Tea
4 (3-inch) cinnamon  sticks, halved
1 teaspoon whole cloves
1/2 teaspoon whole allspice
1 quart hot tea
1/2 cup sugar
3 cups orange juice
3 cups unsweetened pineapple juice
orange wedges

Combine first three ingredients in a tea ball or cheese cloth bag and set aside. Combine hot tea and sugar in a large dutch oven and stir in fruit juices. Add spice mixture and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat. Simmer for 30 minutes and remove spice mixture. Garnish each serving with an orange wedge. Serve hot!

"When your life overflows with God's joy, you fill the hearts of others with blessing." Bonnie Rickner Jensen

Apples and Spice......and "Our Little Pumpkin!"

Can you see them? The leaves of reds and golds, drifting....ever so softly...outside your window.....Can you hear them....the crows.....their sounds early in the morning, echoing throughout the air.....Can you feel it....the chill of the October breezes whispering at your doors.......

Oh, happy are the days at The Maine House. October has arrived and the air is crisp and cool. We decided to enjoy our morning coffee around the breakfast table and savor that most delicious smell of spicy apples baking in the oven. We had a relaxing Sunday morning with family as we discussed fall gardens, the changing foliage in New England and decided where we would spend the day taking in the sights.

 We packed a picnic lunch of various cheeses, our homemade trail mix, almond butter with buttery crackers and those irresistible caramel bites. We even packed  "our little pumpkin", along with the McIntosh apples to create our festive fall centerpiece. Once we arrived at our destination we sat and gazed at the Atlantic, each lost in our own thoughts. 

The chill from the ocean drifted over us, so we decided to gather around the wedding ring quilt and savor our small feast as we talked and laughed about family.

 It was a most marvelous October day!

Estelle's Apple and Spice French Toast
1 large loaf French or Italian bread
8 large eggs
3-1/2 cups milk or light cream
1 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla
3 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
6 to 8 medium-sized cooking apples (Cortland, Macintosh, or Granny Smith) and 1/4 cup butter 

                                                                        
Slice bread into 1-1/2 inch slices. Spray 9 x 13-inch glass pan with corn oil or non-stick spray. Place bread in glass dish, placing tightly together. In separate bowl, beat together eggs, 1/2 cup sugar, milk, and vanilla (by hand, with whisk, for about 30 seconds). Pour one half of egg-milk mixture over bread. Peel, core, and slice apples. Place sliced apples on top of bread to cover. Pour balance of egg-milk mixture evenly over apples. Mix remaining 1/2 cup sugar with cinnamon and nutmeg and sprinkle evenly over top of apples. Dot with butter. Cover and refrigerate overnight.Next morning, preheat oven 350 degrees. Uncover dish and bake in oven for 1 hour. It will rise high and brown nicely. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Cut into squares and serve with warm maple syrup. Top with whipped cream and garnish with a sprig of fresh mint.


          "The Little Pumpkin"

"The sweetest flower that blows, I give you as we part.

 For you it is a rose For me it is my heart."- Frederick Peterson