What's the hardest you've ever worked for FREE fruit/veggies?

[retiredwith4acres]

Wisher-guess I forgot the 1 cup milk. I will make that change. Thanks for noticing! Everything in it is a 1. Be sure to soften the butter or it isn't as chewy and even better when half white sugar and half brown sugar. Granny was very poor but the most wonderful cook in the world and had the heart of a giant! I was just thinking the other day that she would have been 100 years old this year.

 

[retiredwith4acres]

Sorry if this is hijacking but wanted to answer the question.

Don't know if this it what you call chocolate cobbler, but I have heard this called that or hot fudge pudding cake.

1 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 T cocoa
1 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1/2 cup milk
2 T shortening melted
1 cup nuts optional

1 cup brown sugar (packed)
1/4 cup cocoa
1 3/4 cups hot water

Mix the first 7 or 8 items together to make a cake mixture. Pour into ungreased square pan, 9x9x2 inches. Mix brown sugar and 1/4 cup cocoa and sprinkle over batter in pan. Pour hot water over top of all. Bake 45 minutes in 350 oven. The cake will come to top and pudding will form on bottom.

 

[Kassaundra]

Here is one version


Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups boiling water




Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F ( 175 degrees C).
2. In ungreased 9 inch square pan, stir together flour, white sugar, cocoa, the baking powder, and salt. Mix in milk, oil, and vanilla with a fork until smooth.
3. Spread batter evenly in pan (batter will be thick). Sprinkle with brown sugar and 1/4 cup cocoa. Pour boiling water over batter.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 40 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes, then spoon into dessert dishes or cut into squares. Invert each square onto dessert plate and spoon sauce over each serving. Top with ice cream or whipped topping, if desired.

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

Far as processing goes......elderberries. They taste GREAT but talk about a LOT of work to prep. Collection is easy enough its just the work load to get them apart.

Other than that, Id probably say hunting for morels. But even thats just a walk in the woods.

Jared, I've never seen a elderberry or morel. As far as I know that is! I'm going to have to look them up!

Edited to say: Looked them up. Nope never seen a morel, but haven't been looking either! We do have plenty of wild mushrooms around that's for sure. And, I think we do have elderberries!! Looks alot like berries we have that I though were "just for bird" berries. How do you prep them?

 

[Wisher1000]

LOL! I never saw an elderberry, either, that I know of, but I hear it makes pretty good wine. As for hunting for morals, my dad cultivated enough for everyone and in my family, you were spoon fed your daily serving every day! If I didn't get enough, it was my own fault....

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

I guess I would have to say the hardest free food was picking blackberries in early July in the briars, snake infested hills with my grandmother and mother. BUT, those cobblers were the best!

My Aunt is visiting my mother this week and brought a cookie my grandmother used to make. It was SO sweet and yummy and we talked about how it was made and wondered how many thousand times she made them. She was a school lunchroom cook where she made them probably once a week and we always had them at home. A poor man's dessert: 1 cup sugar, 1 stick softened butter, 1 egg, 1 cup flour, 1 cup of milk, and maybe a little vanilla. Thin, moist, and chewy delicious bar cookies!!

Yeah....I would have had to skip the cobbler for sure! Snakes!! I'm really not a whimpy, but I really don't get excited about seeing them either!!

And anything with a stick of butter has to be good! I would say that your Grandmother had that special Grandmothers touch when it came to baking!

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

retired and Kassandra, YUM! And Carol, I am glad that you have some of your Grandma and Great Aunts recipes. I've tried to replicate my Great Grandmothers chocolate chip cookie recipe many times. Hers were just sooooo wonderful! I can't do it. You would think, how hard could it be, it's a chocolate chip cookie? But I truly believe that back 40ish years ago, the quality of ingrediants was different and gave an entirely different texture.

 

[lesa]

Stubborn, I will bet you her secret ingredient was lard...

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

Stubborn, I will bet you her secret ingredient was lard...

You know lesa, I never thought of that. But you could be on to something! All of that stuff like, lard, that is tabboo now a days was a staple in the homes of my ancestors that lived well into their 90's. Hmmmm......Now you've got me thinking.

 

[lesa]

Try it- you will like it!!