Category Archives: Bites of Life

Bites of Life, Canning, Sweet Tooth

Corn Cob Jelly

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Sweet uses for corn cobs

You will need:
12 corn cobs (not ones you’ve eaten off of, but ones you’ve cut the kernels from for cream corn)
2 qt water (enough to cover the corn cobs)

Place corn cobs in large pot of water over medium heat.
Make sure water just covers corn cobs.
Boil for 10-15 min to release whatever milk and sugar is left.
Strain that liquid through fine mesh strainer or cheese cloth.

3 cups liquid
(If you have more than 3 cups liquid, freeze in cup portions and add to soups instead of chicken broth. It gives a great flavor. If you don’t have quite 3 cups, add a little water.)
3 cups sugar
1 box pectin (Sure-Jell)

Fill one large heavy bottom pot with water and place on stove over medium high heat.
Put corn liquid in another large heavy bottom pot and place on stove over medium high heat.


Stir pectin into corn liquid. Allow to heat, stirring occasionally.


In the water pot, put your jar lids. Boil these so they are sanitized and hot which aids in sealing.
Have jars clean and ready. I don’t have them hot as the jelly heats the jar and the lid is heated.


Have a bowl ready with 3 cups sugar measured out.

When corn liquid comes to boil, stir in sugar. Stir this frequently as the sugar can cause the mixture to scorch.


When it comes to rolling boil (a boil that doesn’t stop when you stir), stir constantly for 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir to get foam absorbed back into mixture. If it doesn’t all absorb, you can skim it off now or when you put into jars.


Ladle liquid into jars. If foam is there, skim off.


Wipe jar tops with hot towel to remove any liquid as this can affect sealing or not allow the jar to open easily due to jelly cementing the two surfaces together.

Place hot lids on jars. Screw bands on finger tight (don’t crank down on it).


In the large pot the lids were pulled from, place your jars into that water and make sure water is to top of jars or ideally covering them slightly.
Water bath on medium high heat for 15 minutes. (When the water begins a gentle boil, time 15 minutes.)
Remove from water and place on towel on counter top. Top with another towel to keep heat in and this aids in sealing.

The story:

My parents were raised by parents who’d been through the Great Depression. And they were raised like they were in one because for a lot of folks in the South and elsewhere, the Depression did not end in 1939. Hard times were felt much later. So they were taught to never waste anything. In keeping with that mentality, I give you corn cob jelly. Now, my foremothers did not make this, and I am surprised that they didn’t. It could be because the corn cobs they discarded were put to use for better things … like corn cob fights.
Picture a snowball fight, but with rough corn cobs. My Dad Charles has told me about this particular brand of “fun”. The goal was to wallop one another with them around the head and back as this seemed to pack the most punch. You’d seek out corn cobs that had been given to the cows as these were then soaked in rain … and cow urine. This made them particularly hard and gross. If you could find one slathered in cow pie (manure), that was even better.
He remembers vividly a particular battle in a field strewn with cow patties with a neighbor boy when he was about 10. They were walking together home from school and decided they needed to have a little fun. As they hurtled these homegrown missiles at one another, the competition grew. This friend had found the best, stinkiest corn cob and launched it right between my Dad’s shoulder blades as he ran. It knocked him flat on his face right next to a pretty freshly laid cow pie. He looked back to see this friend doubled over laughing. So he grabbed a big handful of that manure and ran towards his friend who was still laughing and so didn’t see Dad coming until he was within reach. He turned to run and as he did, Dad smashed that manure onto the side of his head. Yes, it did go into his ear and all into his hair and down his neck. I asked Dad if they got in a real fight then. He said no, they just walked together up to his house and my grandmother Lorene dug the manure out of his friend’s ear, cleaned him up, and sent him on home.
No grudge was held. No self pity or lashing out at everyone because you got hit with a corn cob or had manure spread onto you. And parents didn’t intervene unless it was extremely serious. Kids learned to handle themselves, be tough, be fair, be beat at something. They learned to run fast, aim well, and dodge better. All valuable life lessons.
Personally, I prefer to use corn cobs for sweeter purposes so I give you my recipe for corn cob jelly.

Bites of Life, Sweet Tooth

Texas Sheet Cake

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Simple joys of chocolate cake

Fudgy icing on chocolate cake – just yum

Texas Sheet Cake – see video below to see how to make it, even you mess up a few times!

2 cups sugar
4 Tbs cocoa powder
2 sticks butter, softened
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups AP flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup buttermilk (make it with a 1/2 Tbs lemon juice and fill to 1/2 cup mark with regular milk)
1 cups water
Jelly roll pan, or pizza pan or cookie sheet or regular cake pan, or cupcake pan – if ya wanna get fancy

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix sugar and cocoa powder together. This will keep the cocoa powder from flying all over your kitchen.
Add your butter and cream those ingredients together.
Add your eggs and vanilla and mix.
Add in flour, baking soda and salt and mix well.
Add buttermilk and water and mix until it looks like chocolate ice cream.
(NOTE: You can add the ingredients in any order, as we did in our video. And you will make a mess, as we did in our video.)

Spray pan with cooking spray and spread cake into pan.
Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. (If using a 9×13 pan, adjust the time to 40 minutes. If using cupcakes, adjust to 20 minutes)

Icing:
1 1/2 sticks butter (3/4 cup)
6 Tbs. milk (whole preferred)
1 tsp vanilla
4 Tbs cocoa powder
4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup pecans, chopped (toast them for extra flavor, if you like)

Over medium-high heat in heavy bottom sauce pan, melt your butter.
Add in milk, vanilla, and cocoa and whisk smooth.
Bring to boil and cook for 1 minute after it begins to boil.
Remove from heat.
Add in powdered sugar and stir well to incorporate.
Add in pecans.

Spread on cake that you’ve removed from the oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes.

The story

My dad appreciates simple things, souped up ‘57 Chevys; and his 56” TV with Dish, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and Netflix. But mostly … simple things.
His parents, MC and Lorene, taught him to work for the things he had and would have. Pa Maxwell, as we called him, worked in the log woods. And my dad, Charles, did too. From the time he was 10, he was expected to help with pretty heavy manual labor. His main job was to use a draw knife to peel poles. This was a pretty dangerous undertaking for anybody as the method was to grab the “knife” which was a very sharp blade in between two handles, stand on one side of the pole or at the end of one and forcefully pull the potentially lethal instrument toward your body skinning the bark off in ribbons. It was sharp enough to cut into wood. Let that sink in. So If your blade slipped, you could create a gaping hole where there should not be one in your chest, arm, stomach, or hips.
This is something I can’t imagine my 10-year-old son doing. We’ve been to the ER 3 times and a burn unit once and he was standing still with no hazardous implements in use.
Anyway, dad’s grandparents (MC’s mom and dad) did have a farm; and he loved going to visit them just about every week. They lived in Jones Creek, what would be called a suburb in today’s fancy lingo. The better term would be the outskirts of Waldron, where he lived with his parents and younger brother Jack. The trip to go see his grandparents, Eb and Florence was special, not because he was given gifts each time he went. And not because he was given constant attention or constant stimuli in the form of games or toys, but because he was raised to appreciate his grandparents and the time he got to spend with them. It was an event to go visit anyone and not be working in the woods, in the cotton fields, or at home. That visit was special because he viewed them as special and they him. Florence was a good cook. This was unlike his mom’s mom who was best known for cornbread so flat and tasteless, it could be used as a Frisbee; and not lost as even the animals didn’t try to run off with it. A story for another time.
Florence would make my dad a chocolate cake because she knew it was his favorite. She would make it without icing most of the time, partly because icing ingredients could get expensive and such frivolity was unneeded; and partly because my dad liked it that way. He’d get a huge piece of that chocolate goodness with a big glass of milk fresh from the dairy cow that resided on their farm. And if she made ice cream, he would take that cake and ice cream and mash it all up together – sort of like a super thick milkshake with cake bits in it. It was delicious that way. It is delicious that way as this is how he still prefers it. In an age full of crazy thick heaping mounds of icing, candy toppings, and herb or flower infused flavors, he prefers a simple piece of chocolate cake. No glaze, no icing, no crystallized sugar standing in spires on top – because it’s delicious without all that mess. It is simplicity and happiness and good memories. And there’s something to be said for that. Appreciate the delicious simple things. Appreciate the people we love and who love us. Be happy with less. We’d all be better off with just the cake and making a memory with, and for, those we love. Appreciate that and realize anything else we’re given is just icing on the cake.

When I figure out her simple recipe, I will post it. In the meantime, I gave you my mother-in-law’s Texas sheet cake recipe, complete with fudgy icing. This is because sometimes a cake IS just a vessel for the icing. 🙂

Bites of Life, Canning

Lasting Flavor – How to Add it to Life or a Bowl of Beans

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There are a lot of things my mama and daddy taught me.
Mom taught me from a young age how to cook and can even though she could’ve gotten it done way quicker if she’d done it herself. And that in itself was a lesson in patience and love.
She and my dad made us help in the garden and taught us how to work. And I am grateful they did. At the time I would’ve rather been sitting on the couch watching one of the three TV channels we were able to receive. (Yes, only 3, and that’s with someone turning the antenna so you could catch the signal – can you imagine?)
But now, thanks to them, I know how to garden and how to preserve that food for winter. Knowing these “old ways” is a privilege to me. Knowing how to “make do”, how to not waste, how to be mindful of being prepared are all gifts they gave. They took the time to teach – by example and by patiently showing my sisters and I how to do things.
Both were raised “poor” as some would call it – not much money in either household in the midst of a rural community still recovering from a depression ten plus years later. But what got them through was their work ethic and their parents love and their knowledge of how to make use of anything and everything to not only survive, but make things taste good.
This recipe is for pepper sauce. As soon as peppers (mostly cayenne) begin to grow in early summer, they can be jarred as pepper sauce. But it is a great way to use up excess peppers at the end of the growing season so that all those peppers aren’t lost to the first frost.
It adds a little something extra to an ordinary bowl of black eyed peas, pinto beans, or any bean really. I also use a couple tablespoons in my meat marinades for a spicy flavor without tongue-burning heat.

Pepper Sauce
Use any kind you grew and make however many jars you want. For this recipe, I used 6-7 cups of cayenne to make 7 pints of pepper sauce.

6-7 cups cayenne peppers, washed and left whole
7 pint jars with lids
2 quarts water
1 quart white vinegar, 5% acidity
1 cup canning salt (NOT iodized or sea or kosher)
Large pot for boiling liquid and small one for boiling lids.

Pick your peppers and wash them.
Place jar rings and flats into small pan of water and heat at medium high heat to boiling.

Pour water, vinegar, and salt into large pot and heat at high heat to boiling.
While this is coming to a boil, pack your peppers into jars. You can pack them tightly or loosely – the more peppers, the hotter the sauce will be.

When the liquid has boiled, pour over the peppers and immediately place jar flat and ring onto jar.
Repeat until all jars have liquid and lids.

Hot water bath the jars. This is how:
Fill a large pot about halfway with water and place jars into pot.
Heat on medium heat until the water starts to boil.
Let the jars sit in the bubbling water for about 6 minutes.
Remove from heat and sit on a clean towel.
Cover the tops with a second clean towel and allow to sit 24-48 hours undisturbed while the jars seal. You’ll hear them sealing and popping. If one doesn’t seal (the little circle in the middle stays up), simply use that jar first (within 3 months) or refrigerate.

You can also slice jalapenos and jar them for a hotter sauce.

Bites of Life

Just a minute …

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Trampoline view
Looking up at The clear blue sky while taking a jumping break on the trampoline.

I took a minute today ….

Just a minute. I’ll be there in a minute. I just need one minute. Gimme a minute. Hang on just a minute.
I say that all too often. Especially, I think, to my 8-year-old most precious child. He is actually very patient, for an 8-year-old. It hit me how often I say that yesterday when I’d gone outside to jump with him on his newly set up trampoline. He has no siblings, so I am a stand-in playmate a lot. And not a very good one, I’m afraid, though I try. He shows me things he’s drawn and wants me to draw with him. I do … after a minute (or more) finishing up a load of laundry. He wants to go outside and play football. I go … after a minute (or ten) finishing loading the dishwasher. He wants to create paper airplanes, or have nerf gun battles, or build something with legos. He wants me to do these things with him. And I do … after a minute (or twenty) getting supper started or finishing work.
So yesterday, we went outside in the face- melting Arkansas heat to jump on the trampoline. He got right up and started jumping. I sat on a chair in the shade to finish a couple things I’d neglected during the day.
“C’mon mom!”
I was on the phone checking on my parents that I hadn’t called the night before. “Just a sec.” I ended that call.
He jumped around and then, “Mom, you bout ready?”
I was setting up a doctor’s appointment. “Just a minute.”
I finished that call and texted someone back about a project I’m working on.
“You coming?” He stood still for a brief second to see if I was getting out of the chair in the shade yet.
“Yep, just finishing this up.” I ended the text.
I looked up and he was was standing, waiting – patiently – on me.
I felt guilty for making him wait so long. (5 minutes, not 1)
Now I believe in letting him play alone so he learns how not to depend on others for entertainment. I don’t overschedule his life so that he can play. But he needs interaction too. And he wanted me right then.
So I hopped up on that trampoline and jumped with him. We played Crack the Egg and I showed him what my old P.E. teacher used to make us do on the old trampoline in the gym. He tried to do those tricks. (Super hard stuff like jumping high enough to land in a seated position and then pop back up on straight legs. I was almost able to do it!) We took turns sitting cross legged and letting the other one try to bounce us in the air. We held hands and jumped together to see how high we could go until we collapsed laughing on the trampoline. (He at me because I’m not coordinated anymore and make quite a spectacle and me at his beautiful laughing face.)
He laid on my arm and said, “You’re the best mom in the whole world!”
“Your the best kid in the whole world!” I said because he is.
I was the best mom to him because I’d taken time to jump, to play … with him.
He laid on my arm and we stared up at the sky trying to imagine cooler weather and talking about how nice it would be in the fall to just lay here and watch leaves fall.
And we will. Because I’m going to take a minute. Just a minute – a little more often.