THE NEW FLOORING-----WOO HOO!

Happy Wednesday to you all!  I hope that you all had a great Tuesday as well.  Did any of you try the meatball sub casserole?  How about the pickles?  If you didn't, you don't know what you're missing! LOL!  They are both delicious, especially together.  Oh well, enough about the recipes from yesterday.  Let's get talking about the pics for today!  Are you all ready?  Here goes:

Okay so, this is a picture of my dining room before.  If you look on the lower right side you can see the split, where our house shifts (double wide) through the seasons and then comes back together.  In order to have anything cover that, which won't do the splitting, without costing a fortune we basically will have to put carpet over it.  When we bought this new they had carpet throughout.  Now we understand why.  We didn't like a carpet in the dining room with kids and pets.  We screwed up and took it out and have been waiting since to be able to afford to put other flooring down.  We made it!  Oh happy day! 

This picture above shows a wonderful shot of my kitchen floor before.  We had gotten these little sticky back squares probably 8 or 9 yrs ago and stuck them down onto the plywood floor.  They have seen a lot of feet.  For what we paid for them they did more than their fair share.  They aren't pretty now but, in their day .... I thought they were awesome!  They were certainly better than the plywood! 

The picture above obviously shows the crack between sides much better.  Do you all see why I couldn't wait for my new flooring??  I know there was absolutely no need for it, right?! LOL!  This picture was taken almost as you come in through the front door.  As you look ahead to the left is my kitchen and to the right is the dining room.  To the immediate left is what I call the "front room".  It was originally supposed to be the living room but, I use the "family room" as the living room.  It has the fireplace, duh!  Of course that is going to be the living room.  Don't you agree?  So, the "front room" as I call it, really doesn't serve any purpose.  I just decorate it and it is the first room that you come into when you come in the house.  I try to make it a warm little sitting room, I guess. 

This picture above is taken from my kitchen and looking down the hall to the left.  This goes out the side door and out to the apartment for my sister.  We decided to get a little crazy and put some rock looking tiles down in front of the door.  Thought it was a good idea at the time.  Alright, leave me alone!  I know!!!! LOL!  Love the lifts and tears in those poor tiles.

Okay so out with the old.  Are you ready to see the new?  Me too!!!!

 So, what do ya think?  I was almost crying at this point.  Doesn't that look amazing?  I fell in love with it the first piece hubby put down.  It still makes me excited all over again just looking at these photos.

Wow, at this point I realize that it is finally happening.  The floor is getting done and by the end of the day it would be completed. 

And here is my hard working man!  We had my cousins husband coming over to help us in the afternoon but, he had to work in the morning.  Well, knowing that once we started it, we had to get it finished (due to the sticky edges), hubby decided that he would get started on it in the morning and work on it until Craig got here in the afternoon.  Probably a good thing considering it was finished at about 7:30 p.m.   They would have been working into the night and hubby had to get up early for work in the morning. 

Coming around the cupboard from the dining room into the kitchen.  Looks amazing! 

Here's my new dining room floor all done! 

This is looking into the kitchen from the front room.  I just love how it looks like actual boards. 

This picture above shows looking down the hallway and to my sisters apartment.  We still need to put some of the trim boards back up.  Love this so much more than the rock tile and the other tile. LOL!

In the picture above, it shows the front doorway.  I wanted a big area covered with that flooring for there too because, the Maine winters bring in lots of snow.  I wanted this in front of the door rather than  carpet.  And I love it here too! 

Alright so this is what you see when you first walk into the house!  I know it still needs a little tinkering.  There is an L shaped area now that is going to be covered in a carpet.  We are going to Home Depot this week end to have them come out and measure up what we need and pick out the carpet that we want.  It doesn't get any better than this, I tell ya!  So, even though it looks a little funky for the moment.  Help is on it's way. 

I hope that I didn't bore you all with the pictures and my blabbing too much.  It really does look amazing though.  If you are interested in this stuff.  We purchased it from Home Depot.  It is called Allure Flooring.  It is a resilient flooring.  The bluish gray tabs that you can see in some of the pictures are what holds it together.  It is a floating floor.  You can lay it down on top of anything.  You do not need a sub floor.  That saves a lot of money and time.  You can also lay it down yourself and save more money.  I would definitely recommend having an extra set of hands to help.  The flooring was easy to cut through.  My husband used some of my Pampered Chef scissors and Craig used tin snips.  There were a lot of styles to choose from but, I liked the looks of the "barnwood".  So, that is what you see in the pictures.  We still have to put it down in our bathrooms and in the small hallway by the living room.  Maybe a winter project! LOL!  Hubby is still trying to recuperate from being on his knees all day Saturday and from what he did in front of the door on Sunday. 

I would like to send a Special Thanks to Craig.  "Thanks so much for the help.  It was greatly appreciated."  It's really nice to know that there are family and friends out there that will be there for you when you need them.  We are very fortunate. 

I hope that you enjoyed my flooring excursion.  It was nice to share it with you all.  Hope that if you are waiting for something like I had been, I hope that it comes for you soon too!  I wish you all a nice day and who knows, maybe I will be back tomorrow with more to jabber about. 

Warm primitive blessings to you all.

prim_bug

TEMPTATION TUESDAY

Good morning everyone!  This was supposed to be on here earlier but, you know how that goes!  It's going on now so, that's a good thing.  Right?!  I hope that you all had a really nice week end.  Ours was CRAZY!!!!!!!!!  WOW!  Putting the flooring down was a job and a half.  The actual flooring itself wasn't bad.  It was all the moving around stuff and putting everything back into place.  That's when you realize.... less IS more!  LOL!  No, just kidding.  It has been a long overhaul though.  But, things are getting back to normal.  I hope to have pictures for you on here tomorrow of the flooring and how things are now!  Oh, did I happen to mention that I LOVE IT?!  Well, I do!!!!  It's beautiful.  I get up in the morning and just stare at it.  Sad life, I know!  LOL!  It's been a long time that I have waited for this and believe me you, I am going to enjoy it as long as I can!  I can't wait to post the pics for ya.   I would today but, I am also trying to get back to the gym routine again this week so, short on time.  There's always tomorrow!  Anyway, we need to get some recipes on here today, right?!  Well, let's get going then.  Okay so lately I have been on a meatball sub kick!  I don't know why, I just have!  So, this recipe is here for you because of that craving.  I don't remember where I got it from I just know that it's yummy!  I hope that you all enjoy it too!

MEATBALL SUB CASSEROLE

1/3 c chopped onion
1/4 c seasoned bread crumbs        (I also add an egg into this mix to help it stick together)
3 tbsp grated parmesan
1 lb. hamburg
1 loaf italian bread, cut into 1" slices
1 pkg cream cheese, softened
1/2 c mayonnaise
1 teas italian seasoning
salt and pepper
2 c shredded mozzarella cheese
1 jar spaghetti sauce, (approx 28 oz)
1 c water
2 garlic cloves, minced

Combine onions, crumbs, and parmesan cheese.  Add beef and mix well (this is where you would add the egg if you wanted).  Shape into 1" balls.  Place on a rack in a shallow baking pan and bake at 400 for 15-20 mins.  While those are baking, arrange bread in a single layer in a 13x9 pan.  Combine cream cheese, mayo, italian seasoning, and salt and pepper.  Spread over the bread.  Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of the mozzarella.  Combine sauce, water, and garlic; add meatballs.  Pour over the cheese mixture.  Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella.  Bake uncovered at 350 for 30 mins or until heated through.  This is yummy.  A quick and easy week night supper.  Serve it up with a nice garden salad and it definitely hits the spot.

TIP:  I don't know if you have ever tried it or not but, adding some sour pickle to the side of this is spectacular!  I always order my meatball sub with pickles on it!  That little bit of tang gives it just the right punch of flavor that you want.  Or at least, that I want! LOL!

For the next recipe I have decided to share a sour pickle recipe to go along with your meatball casserole.  This is the best sour pickle recipe ever!  (I know, I say that about all of my recipes.  I speak the truth.  They are the best to me!  I hope that you think so too!)  Anyway, with these pickles, either you love them or you hate them.  If you like pickles you will probably love these, if you don't like sour, don't bother to try them you will probably not like them.  Although, when my husband and I first got married he didn't like anything sour or pickled and now, he eats these pickles on pizza, sandwiches, anything.  So, maybe you should give em a shot!  I hope that you enjoy these.  My mom has been making these for years.  And once you get a liken for em its all over! LOL!

OLD FASHIONED SOUR MUSTARD PICKLES

1 1/4 c. sugar
1 c. pickling salt
1 c. dry mustard
1 gallon vinegar

Mix these ingredients all together.  Fill your pickle jars with small pickling cukes.  Pour the juice over the cukes and fill to the top.  Cover and let them sit in a cool dark place.These are usually ready in about a week they should start but the longer they sit, the better they get!  We make these up in the summer and enjoy them all year round.  I hope that you give them a try they are quite simple to make and they pack a huge punch. 

TIP:  When you get your pickling cukes, you want to try to get fairly small cukes.  They tend to be less seedy and they are the best for these pickles. 

TIP:  Make sure that you take a dry cloth and wipe your cukes off before you pickle them.  You do this to remove the prickly little black spurs on them.  This probably takes the longest time out of the whole process.  Definitely well worth it though. 

Well, I have to get heading to the gym now.  I hope that you all enjoy these recipes as much as we have in the past as well as in the present and hope to for a long time into the future.  I will be back tomorrow with pictures and more blabbing I am sure. LOL!  I hope that you all have a great day and I am off to grab my pickle for the ride out.  My mouth is watering already! YUM!

Warm primitive blessings to you all.

prim_bug

SOME RE-DO PICTURES

Good afternoon everyone!  I hope that your day is going well.  Mine is finally getting there.  Yesterday, Samantha and I painted and then stained two of my hutch/cupboards.  WOW!  What a job.  They were still tacky this afternoon but, I wanted and needed to get them re-decorated so we could have our table back for supper time! LOL!  I have to tell you though, that was quite an ordeal getting them painted.  For some reason the paint kept peeling away on my corner cupboard.  It looked like there was some kind of an oil in the stain that was originally put on the cupboard.  It wasn't all over though just in some places.  To make a long story short what physically didn't drain me, emotionally did.  I thought that I had ruined the thing and I would never get it to come out even half way decent looking.  Yikes!  You be the judge of it;

This is the before, and there is nothing wrong with the wood look but, if you can see my walls then you will understand why I wanted to paint it.  The cupboard melts into the walls.  Or at least that's the way it felt to me.

This kind of shows what I mean a little bit better.  The glass in the door on the right in the picture has a crack in it.  Needs to be replaced.  One step at a time.  Okay, so here is the picture of what it looks like now.  What do you think;

I truly LOVE it now!  I think that it came out great considering all the trouble that we had with it.  I really didn't have any white pieces and I thought that it would be kind of nice to break up all the darker colors with a little punch of white.  I still need to wash the windows in it though, sorry.  I was trying to get some pictures done so that I could show you all what I have been up to and that I am not gone away on vacation somewhere! LOL!  Right!!!!

This is the other cupboard that we re-did.  Again, the same problem with this one.  It melts into the background of the wood walls.  I really like for pieces of furniture to pop out.  I got this cupboard on the side of the road for $25.00.  I know, right?!  We brought it home last fall and it sat on the front deck for a week or so and we were supposed to get snow possibly over night.  That meant we had to quickly put a coat of paint on and bring it in.  My husband spray painted it roughly with flat black paint and then I painted over it with the mustard color that we had already.  It was the only color that I thought I had enough on hand to paint with.  It worked.  It has been this way for almost a year now but, deep down I knew that it wouldn't stay this way for much longer.  So, I opted for a new color that I hadn't tried on anything.  Sometimes that's good and others it's quite scary.  What do you think about this one now?

Talk about popping out from the walls!  Oh, yeah!  This one here came out awesome!!!  And, I have to give Samantha credit for this one here.  We both painted it but, she stained this one all alone.  And I have to say she nailed it!  Love it!  See how it's darker in places and then lighter in others?  That's great, that's exactly the look that I love.  It looks so aged in some spots and then not so much in others.  Perfect!  The best thing about prim is that perfect is not perfect!  Got to love that!  I think that this is my new favorite cupboard. 

These next couple of pictures aren't the best but I did want to show you that we have been changing and doing our improvements.  Slowly but, surely!

So, here are the infamous doors that open on their own during wind storms and the middle of winter they like to set off the house alarms because of our house shifting.  The red tape down the center?  To seal the gap between them while we were waiting to replace them.  Nice, huh?! It worked!  Anyway, they are gone now too!  Another HOORAY!!!

I didn't prep this picture so my curtains are still messed up from where the dog had been up on the bed.  Yeah, he loves the new window!  He thinks that we went to all this trouble for him.  Little does he know, it was for me! LOL!  The walls are going to be done in pine..... probably next summer.  We have been quite a bit busy doing these jobs.  That will be our next year project.  Along with everything else that we don't get finished this year!  Oh well! 

So, yeah we have been a little bit busy and this week-end we are doing the flooring in the kitchen/dining and hall.  Can't wait for it!  Like I haven't already told you this a million times!  It's just that it is all sitting in these boxes in the front and I walk by them all day long and just drool.  It's starting to flood in here! LOL!  No but, I should have some cool pictures for you on Monday!  YIPPEE!  

Well, I have probably bored you all to death.  I hope not.  But, I need to get going and get supper started.  The hubs will be home soon and he will be STARVING!   Do any of you have someone like that?  I'm quite sure that you probably do. 

I hope that you all have a great evening and what ever you are doing or working on.  I hope that it goes well for ya.  Don't stress over it too much like I do.  Remember prim is not always perfect in fact it's perfect when it's not!

Warm primitive blessings to you all.

prim_bug

TEMPTATION TUESDAY

Good (wet n drizzly) Tuesday morning everyone!  I hope that you all had a nice week end.  We did but, it was busy.  We took the doors out of bedroom and it was a good thing we did.  The door frame had started to rot and we did not even know.  I am a strong believer in things happen for a reason.  We really needed to change out those doors before fall and HOORAY, we got it done!  One project down.........  tons more to go!  Does it ever end?  Do you ever get truly satisfied that this is good!  And then get to sit back and say "Wow, we're done and it looks great"!  I believe it will happen.  I have to right?!  LOL!  So, this coming Saturday we are going to be putting down our kitchen and dining room flooring.  I have waited so long.  It makes me feel like a kid on Christmas morning, I am so anxious. I hope to put pictures on soon but, again we have been painting ceilings, doing the change in the bedroom and now Samantha is coming over again today to give me a hand painting my two cupboards/hutches before the flooring gets put down.  Lots to do.  But, I suppose that I should get going on to the recipes for this week.  I am putting three on today.  The first one is a special request for Nancy;

BLT FINGER ROLLS

bacon
lettuce
tomato
mayo
finger rolls

Cut little slits into the finger rolls and spread with mayo.  Add; lettuce, tomato and bacon. 

These little guys are as simple as they sound.  The thing that makes these special is that you can make up a lot of these from just a few ingredients.  Being that they are finger roll size, I think that you get a lot more bang for your buck.  Nancy had made some of these up for her wedding and they were a huge hit. Hope that you all enjoy these as much as we have and Thanks Nancy for requesting a special recipe/idea.

Tip:  For family gatherings and parties finger rolls are always more inexpensive and fun to make.  We also have done up mini italians, and mini meatball subs.  These are a lot of fun for kids to help make up for fun little parties (Halloween/Christmas/Birthday, etc).  Try some out for your next little get together and see if you notice how much it may save you.  I hope that you all enjoy these!

This next recipe is from my mom.  She has been baking alot with blueberries and she can't stop raving about these muffins and how moist they are so:

BERRY CREAM MUFFINS

4 c flour
2 c sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 c (fresh or frozen) blueberries or raspberries
4 eggs
2 c sour cream   (my mom uses lemon yogurt instead)
1 c veg. oil
1 tsp vanilla

In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Add berries and toss gently.  Combine eggs, sour cream (or yogurt), oil and vanilla; mix well.  Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.  Fill muffin tins or papers about 2/3 full.  Bake at 400 for 20-25 mins.  Makes about 2 dozen.

Tip:  My mom had been making these using the sour cream and she used to rave about these before but, she decided to try them with some lemon yogurt one morning and she hasn't stopped going on about these muffins since.  In her defense; they are DELICIOUS!  Try to make these up and use the lemon yogurt- give it a shot.  These are so moist and yummy.  You'll be raving over them too! LOL!

And, last but not least!  The recipe that I had told you about last week.  The relish!  

MOM'S GREEN TOMATO RELISH

2 qts. chopped tomatoes (drain liquid from tomatoes before measuring)
Put these in a large kettle and cover with cold water.  Heat on medium heat and bring to a boil.  Let boil for 15 mins.  Drain and then add;

2 sweet red peppers
1 hot pepper (we use jalapeno but if you like it hotter feel free to use what you like for heat)
2 c sugar
1 pint vinegar
1/4 box pickling spice- in a bag made of cheesecloth (for the bag, I just cut off a piece of cheesecloth and tied kitchen twine around it)
1/4 c pickling salt
1 pint onions (about 2 c ground)

Cook for 1/2 hour.  Put into jars while it is still hot so the jars will seal.  This stuff is so yummy.

Tip:  We use a hand crank meat grinder to run all of the veggies through.  This makes them come out the right consistency.  I would not recommend using the food processor my mom said that it will make the food come out too liquidy and not have the right consistency for the relish.  This is kind of a tradition for us.  I can remember making relish for years.  The grinding up all the veggies was something that I used to look forward to.  This year Samantha did it!  Memories, they are so awesome. 

When we first start; we grind up the tomatoes and pour them into a 2 qt pitcher.  Once we get the tomatoes going we start to grind up the peppers and onions.  The grinding and measuring take the longest time.  The worst part is just cleaning up after. 

Hope that you enjoy this for many years to come as we have already.  If you have any questions please feel free to let me know.

Have a great day and I will be talking to ya soon.

Warm primitive blessings to you all.

prim_bug

T.G.I. THURSDAY

Hey everyone!  Is it just me or has the been a long and exhausting week for you all too!  Phew!  It seems like I have been run through the mill this week.  And it's not like I have done anything major.  I don't know what it is but, I am looking forward to the end of this week.  I hope that you all are not as exhausted and overwhelmed as I feel right now.  (Right, like that's gonna happen..... this is real life here and exhaustion happens.  I know!)  Okay, enough of my whining! 

Moving on, today I didn't go to the gym (tee hee)!  I couldn't help it.... honest!  I had to make some homemade Green Tomato Relish!  Yes, that's what I said.... Green Tomato ....Relish.  It is the absolute best relish there is!!!!  Hands down!  My mom had some tomatoes (green of course) and thought we had better get to making the relish pretty soon so, today was the chosen day!  So, she and my niece Sam came over and we made a trip to the supermarket, picked up a few items and headed for home.  We got here chopped up the goodies and ground them.  Then we cooked it up.  My house smells divine.  We put it up into jars and when we were all done but licking out the kettle..... I remembered that I wanted to take some photos!  DUH!!!!!!  At least I thought of it.  Late but, I thought of it.  I do have a couple photos after we finished to show you but, I wanted you to see the kettle full of relish.  UMMMMM!  I could just eat it by the spoonful, especially while it's hot.  I guess I should show you the two pics that I did get:

I wasn't fibbing when I told you I didn't think of pics till we were done.  And actually, I wasn't even the one that thought of it then, it was Samantha!  I had put my camera on the counter last night so that I would see it and it would be a reminder to me. HUH!  So much for that idea I guess.  Ok, so we have all established I have a slight memory ... issue!  And we'll leave it at that.  All those jars of relish came from a double batch.  I will be sharing this recipe next week.  By the way, don't be alarmed by the (little rooster on the left side of the kettle), it is my cheesecloth bag of pickling spices and it has some of the red peppers on top.  It looks so cute like a rooster in the pic.  The clump of relish in the bottom of kettle........ that's samplin' goods!~ And that they were!    Here's another picture of the jar of relish that I took:

Looks delicious doesn't it?  I don't know about you but, I can't wait for a hot dog!!!!!!  So, now you all need to get yourselves together some green tomatoes this week end so you can make up some relish for yourselves.  You wont be sorry.  Unless you don't make some.

On with something else.  I have a problem and I am hopeful that someone out there might be able to give me some advice or ideas.  You all know how much I love my critters (birds, squirrels, chipmunks, dogs, okay, animals in general), right?!  Well, yesterday afternoon I was walking out to my sisters apartment and when I went by the side door in my house I saw this:

Do you see him in there?  Poor little guy.  I thought that he was just kinda hanging around.  There were birds all around on the ground eating the seeds.

So, I went out onto the deck to take a few more pictures of him........ totally amazed that he would be staying there so still for me.  I talked with him and thanked him for letting me get some cute pictures for my blog. 

So, as I am trying to take pictures before this little guy decides to up and run away.  I start thinking, why hasn't he taken off yet?  And if you go back to the second picture I showed.  Look at his back feet.  His toes are inter-twined together.  It was like he had a death grip on the pole.  HMMMH!  I wonder why he has such a grip?  So, I decided either he was stuck or the neighbors cat was hiding somewhere around.  Just as I went around the corner of the deck the cat went running.  It obviously went a little faster than it had planned because all of a sudden it had freakin crazy lunatic (huffin and puffin all the way) right behind it.  After my breath came back and I started seeing colors again, LOL!  I went back by the poor little guy, who was still wrapped snugly around the post, and I went inside.  When hubby got home a little bit later, the squirrel was still there.  So, we went out and touched him with a post (no, I am not chicken to touch him, I just wasn't sure if he could have rabies and I am afraid of needles) to see if he was wedged in or not.  NOT!  He jumped up and out of there so fast it made my head spin.  Three jumps and he was out of sight.  And, no the cat didn't get him.  I had been on watch for the cat till hubby got home. 

Back to my problem though,  how do you get rid of a neighbors cat without harming it?  I do not wish to harm any animal.  I just don't like it that I have other animals coming into my area and causing harm to my wildlife pets.  So, if any of you have any ideas, I would really appreciate it.  Yes, I have mentioned to them about their cat coming to our house and him catching all my birds and squirrels and she said "well, that's life.  That's what cats do!"  She's right.  And I am not arguing that but, I do think that I have a right too!  So, if you happen to know of any solution I would greatly appreciate anything to try. 

Okay, I guess that I have rambled on long enough today.  I probably wont be back for a couple of days but, make sure that your get your tomatoes ready for your relish.  YUMMMMM!

Have a great week end everyone!

Warm and primitive blessings to you all!

prim_bug

TEMPTATION TUESDAY

Good morning everyone!  Bet you were all placing bets on me not showing up today!  You lose!  I showed up.  I have to make this post short and sweet (and sour) due to my leaving for the gym.  So, here are a couple of recipes for you all to enjoy.  I hope that you like them they are both family favorites.  I have some special recipes that I am trying to save for around seasonal veggies like the ones today and some for the holidays that I have been waiting for too!  I might have to occasionally fill in with a recipe here or there from a book or magazine but for the most part I like to use the tried and true recipes that we have used.  I hope that your families have been enjoying them as much as we do.  And I also love to receive recipes from anyone out there that would like to share like Nancy and Samantha did.  Those two recipes have both been added to our favorites too!


This first recipe is kind of guessed amounts.  Sorry.  When I used to go and get my nails done the manicurist had brought this in for her lunch and she was explaining that her father in law made this stuff and it smelled delicious.  So as she was telling what she could remember was in to for ingredients, I made some mental notes and went to the grocery store to pick up the few things that I needed to try to make this.  It is delicious and I honestly don't think that you can mess it up with too much or too little of anything.  I never caught the name of it either so I am just going to call it a;

CABBAGE AND KIELBASA SKILLET

olive oil (to coat pan for cooking veggies in)
1 kielbasa ( I use turkey kielbasa---tastes great and better for you)
1 large red onion, peeled and sliced
2 apples (I like granny smith or macs but, use whatever type that you like), cut into small chunks
cinnamon and nutmeg
1 head of cabbage, quartered and then shredded
stock ( I have used chicken stock in the past and yesterday I used beef stock-it was delicious with both, again personal preference)
balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper

I take a large skillet/frying pan and coat it with olive oil.  I turn it up on about med/high and start putting in the onion.  I like to get a little coloring on the onion, it tastes sweeter to me.  Once it starts to brown, I add the apples, and a little pinch of nutmeg and a little pinch of cinnamon.  Whenever I add apple to anything, sweet or savory, I like to add cinnamon and nutmeg.  I just think that it needs it.  While that is frying up I start shredding my cabbage basically, just slicing it real thin and throwing that in the pan as well.  It looks like its alot but, it all cooks down.  After the cabbage goes in I pour some balsamic vinegar over the top.  I would turn my pan down to med to med/low now.   Now I just pour some all around the pan over the top of everything.  If I was to guess I would say about 1/2 cup.  If you're not a vinegar fan cut back some.  But, the balsamic vinegar puts a nice sweetness in this so, I enjoy it a lot.  I try to let the vinegar cook down some for a few minutes and add my salt and pepper.
Now, I would add my stock to it.  This here I pour all over and almost half fill my fry pan with the stock.  I want it to sit and cook on low for about an hour.  Most of the juice should be cooked down but it will be a little liquidy (is that a word)?  That's okay because when you refrigerate the leftovers it will absorb in and they are even better the next day!  If you have any questions on this please be sure to let me know.  I don't have any exact amounts but, I have made this often and different each time and it comes out delicious every time.  I hope you give it a whirl!


MOM A'S BLUEBERRY CAKE

3 c flour, sifted
2 c sugar
3 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1 c milk
1/3 c oil
1/2 tsp vanilla

Beat 2 minutes.  Fold in blueberries.  Bake in nonstick sprayed 9 x 13 pan. 

Mix; 1/2 c sugar and 3/4 tsp nutmeg.  Sprinkle over batter. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

This recipe belonged to my mother in law and she had it handed to her by an elderly lady that had lived in town years ago.  I was very fortunate to receive this recipe before my mother in law got Alzheimer's disease.  I hope that you get to enjoy making this for your family for many years to come as my mother in law got to make for her family for many years previous, and I have been able to make for now.  Again, it's a simple quick and easy recipe and is so delicious.  Blueberries are here now, so enjoy them while you can.

Tip:  I forgot to add this tip at first but, I just made up one of these cakes and as I was preparing to put in the blueberries I remembered my mom telling me; whenever you add blueberries or choc. chips or anything weighted like that, you should put them in a little coating of flour before you add them to your mixture.  It keeps them from all falling to the bottom of the cake.  This way your blueberries are seen throughout the cake bottom and top.  You probably all knew this but, in case there are some new cooks, this might be helppful.

If any of you went ahead and made up some of that blueberry jelly yesterday............. now would be a great time for a dollop of it!!!!!!!
Well I hope that you all have a great day.  I will do my best to do the same.

Warm primitive blessings to you all!

prim_bug