Saturday, September 6, 2008

Hearty lunch and a new pinafore

Today for lunch we had Hearty Corn Chowder and Cheddar Herb Picnic Biscuits. It was so good! The soup recipe takes dried corn, which is how I am preserving our corn this year. Home frozen corn beats store bought hands down, but dried corn is sublime! Here is the chowder recipe:



  • 2 cups cream

  • 2 cups milk

  • 2 cups water

  • 2 cups dried corn

  • 1 cup diced onions

  • 1.5 cups diced potatoes

  • 1 stick butter

  • 2 tablespoons dried parsley

  • 1 teaspoon cracked pepper

  • 1 teaspoon salt

Heat over medium heat until potatoes and onions are soft. Dried corn is preferred because the sugar in the corn carmelizes and makes a mouth watering treat, but if you must use store bought frozen corn then add some brown sugar to the chowder. My only other advice is please follow the recipe as closely as you can. You won't get a decent chowder using margarine, soy milk and tofu chunks! ;-)


The Cheddar Herb Picnic Biscuits are a recipe I developed to enter a recipe contest. They won first place and are a nice compliment to the soup.



  • 4 cups flour

  • 2 tablespoons baking powder

  • 1 teaspoon salt

  • 2 tablespoons sugar

  • 2 teaspoons dried parsley

  • 1.5 cups milk

  • 1 cup small curd cottage cheese

  • 1.5 cups shredded cheddar cheese

  • .5 cup oil

Combine dry ingredients then blend in wet ingredients. This makes a very stiff dough. Form into balls and place on greased cookie sheet; bake at 400 for 12-14 minutes. Makes 3 dozen big biscuits. I get over 5 dozen gem sized ones.

After removing from cookie sheet dip biscuits in this mixture:



  • 1 teaspoon garlic salt

  • 1 teaspoon Italian blend seasoning

  • 1 stick melted butter






I finished Tabitha's pinafore after lunch. I used rick rack instead of bias strips so it isn't really period-correct but it is cute! I love little girls in pinafores!

8 comments :

  1. The corn chowder sounds SO good, and a perfect thing for this chilly weather we've been having. This biscuits look delicious too! And a lovely pinafore! I too like rick rack. It gives such a cute finish!

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  2. The pinafore is really cute!!! I've made one just like it, but the front turned out a little long. :(

    Brooke whitaker

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  3. Brooke, mine have *both* turned out too long in the bodice despite measuring beforehand. I've had to fix both of them before posting pictures. ;-)
    Paris

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  4. Oh!!

    At least I know its not just me! :)

    Brooke

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  5. Rachel, You take fresh corn and blanch it, cut it off the cobs, place on a buttered cookie sheet and put in the oven at 450, stir every 10-15 minutes. After it is golden brown and fairly dry move it to your dehydrator or if you don't have a dehydrator then turn your oven down to 150-200 and let it finish drying. The high heat in the beginning carmelizes the sugar in the corn which is what makes this so sweet. Also, Cope's sell dried corn online, if you do a search you'll find it, but it's expensive! Your Mom tried some of ours when she was here this week. ;-)

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  6. I finally got around to making the corn chowder and cheese biscuits! They were delicious! I only had enough dried corn to make half the recipe, but it was more than enough for the two of us; got leftovers to take to the parental units. The only addition I would make to the biscuits is to grease the baking sheets first. Mine tended to stick to the pan. Luckily I blanched some corn earlier in the season, so later this fall or winter I can dry it and make more soup! :)

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  7. Greasing the cookie sheet helps a *little* but they still really stick. The best solution is to get them off quick!

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