Beemer Family History: Johann H. Dickhaut (1754 - 1804)

One of my best memories as a teenager is when my grandma handed me a bunch of papers and said, "Well, here's the history of our family.  It's your turn to take care of it and add to it."  From that point, I've been interested, not just in the names and dates, but the stories that make up richness of the history of our families.  I've collected so much information, stories, copies of pictures, and background information that I can bore the poor soul who asks, "What was great-great grandma's name?" to death with 7 hours of commentary.  Posting some of the information and stories seems like a good way to share these things in small bits, and if you're interested, you can ask for the whole story!

So we'll start with a thumbnail sketch of the generation that goes back the furthest on the Beemer family tree that's posted on the Family History page.  This information comes from an article written by Johannes Helmut Merz, a Hessian soldier scholar and author.  The link to the article is below.

Johann H. "Henry" Dickhaut was born in 1754 in Hesse-Hanau, a province in what would become Germany.  He became a Hessian soldier in the Revolutionary War, was wounded, captured, escaped, and became a schoolteacher.  He married Anna Catherina Teigert on August 16, 1778.  After some time in New York and then Phildelphia, he heard about land being granted in Canada to soldiers who had fought for the British a few years before.  He applied for and received a 500 acre grant and moved his family to Ontario in 1797.  His daughter, Elizabeth, was born in Philadelphia in 1783.  Elizabeth's daughter, Esther, eventually married into the Beemer family, marrying Judson Beemer in 1863 in Lee County, Illinois.  Henry died in 1804 at the age of 50, according to a sworn statement from his daughter several years later.

Read the whole article here:
A Hessian Soldier's Odyssey - Henrich Dickhaut from Dudenhofen by Johannes Helmut Merz

Gluten Free Baked Apples

This is one of my favorite gluten free desserts.  There's (of course) several ways I make it, depending on what works at the time.  This small recipe is great for 2 people, 1 serving each.  Multiply the recipe for more folks or to have leftovers.

Ingredients:
     1 thin-sliced apple
     sprinkle of cinnamon
     1-2 Tbsp. agave nectar or honey
     VERY small pinch of cloves (about 5-10 grains in the palm of my hand that I brush into the mixture)
    
Mix the ingredients together. 

For stovetop cooking, add 1 Tbsp of butter or oil to the mixture.  Simmer in small sauce pan or skillet until apples are soft and sauce is starting to thicken (20-25 minutes or so). 

For oven or toaster oven baking, add 1/2 c. water to the mixture and put in a greased glass dish.  Add 1 Tbsp. butter if desired.  Bake apples at 350°F for 30 minutes or until soft.  Stir occasionally to keep the top apples from drying out.

A yummy twist:  I had boiled cranberries for the juice and strained the berries out...  I added the strained-out berry mush to a 6-apple batch of these baked apples.  It turned out to be a great mixture!

Picture of the Week, 10-17-2010

One of my other favorite hobbies is taking pictures...  so we'll take a break from recipes sometimes and do pictures instead.  This picture was taken on a rainy afternoon a few days ago.  Just the fact that we still have roses blooming in October is amazing - the raindrops give this peace rose a special beauty.  I'd like to work on noticing more of the small beauties in my life, whether visual or otherwise. 

Gluten Free Banana Bread

This recipe has taken a while to perfect, but is one of my favorites!  I make "banana bread squares" rather than loaves.  It works great here at 4700 ft, but it may take some adjustment at other altitudes.

Ingredients:
    5 bananas, mashed
    7/8 c. honey
    2 Tbsp molasses
    3/4 c. melted butter
    3 eggs
    3/4 c. rice milk
    1-1/2 tsp. tsp vanilla
    3-3/4 c. flour -- I use Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Gluten Free Flour
    1-1/2 tsp. baking soda
    1-1/2 tsp. salt
    1 tsp. xanthan gum
    1 c. walnuts (optional)
    1 c. chocolate chips (optional)

Heat oven to 350°F.  Move racks so tops of pans are in the center of the oven.  Grease bottom only of 2 - 9"x13" baking dishes - I use glass.  Mix butter, eggs, rice milk, bananas, vanilla, honey, and molasses.  Stir together the flour, baking soda, xanthan gum, and salt in a separate bowl.  Mix the dry ingredients in the wet until just moist, then stir in nuts and chocolate chips.  Pour 1/2 the mixture into each baking dish and bake 22-25 minutes until toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean.  Cool on rack in the glass dishes for 1-2 hours.  Cover tightly to store. 

Note 1:  To measure the honey and molasses -- I usually spray my measuring cup with cooking spray, then measure the 7/8 c. honey, then add molasses until the total measures 1 c.

Note 2:  Another option is to add 1/2 c. chopped cherries instead of 1/2 c. of the chocolate chips.  I haven't tried substituting all cherries instead of chocolate chips, but I'm sure it would work.

Note 3:  I usually freeze most of what this recipe makes and pull it out a little at a time.  If you cut both 9"x13" pans into thirds, "width-ways," then wrap each piece in wax paper and freeze in gallon-size freezer bags.  Then you can pull out a little at a time.  

Fried Green Tomatoes

Well, if you read the Garden page, you'll know I agreed to try them.  Today's the day you and I both found out I LIKE them!!  No kiddin'!  So, my honey was right about salsa and scrambled eggs (yep, that's yummy also), and right about fried green tomatoes, too.  Here's how I fixed them:

Ingredients:
     2 c. Sliced green tomatoes
     2-3 Tbsp. cooking oil (I use grapeseed oil)
     Seasoning salt
     Black pepper

Pretty simple to do -- just put the oil in the skillet, add the tomatoes, sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.  Fry over medium heat until brown on both sides.  We like them almost slightly crunchy.  Tonight I fried a small yellow squash, sliced, with the tomatoes.  It turned out yummy, and I'm convinced!

Gluten Free Sweet and Sour Sauce

This recipe is great for chicken stir fry, awesome with shrimp or scallop stir fry, and mouth-watering with grilled fish (tilapia or salmon).  I make several variations of this, so I'll give you the main recipe, my favorite alternate recipe, and a couple ideas for experimenting.


Ingredients:
     1/3 c. pineapple juice
     1/3 c. red wine vinegar
     1/3 c. brown sugar
     1/8 - 1/4 tsp seasoning salt or table salt, depending on your taste
     1/4 tsp powdered ginger
     1/4 tsp garlic
     1 tsp. arrowroot powder mixed in 1-3 Tbsp. water (just enough to dissolve the arrowroot; I usually do this in a small cup.  Make sure to stir it well.)


Mix the first 6 ingredients together in a saucepan and heat at medium heat until boiling and the rest of your meal is almost ready.  Stir the arrowroot in water mixture, then Add arrowroot in water mixture slowly, stirring, until sauce is the desired consistency.  Stir until well mixed, turn off the burner and replace the lid.  Make sure sauce is hot, and serve.  Leftover sauce keeps well in the refrigerator and reheats just fine.


Substitution note 1:  I usually use 2-4 Tbsp. agave nectar instead of the brown sugar.  Sometimes I use 2 Tbsp. agave with a sprinkle of stevia.  I haven't tried other sugar substitutes or stevia by itself, but they would probably work.  If you use all stevia, make sure you have a brand that doesn't leave an aftertaste.  If you try something I haven't listed, let me know how it works!

Substitution note 2:  Other fruit juice such as cranberry or pomegranate juice works just fine.  I used a cran-grape mixture once too.  Decrease the red wine vinegar to 2-3 Tbsp, depending on your taste, if you do this. 


Substitution note 3:  There are other thickening agents besides arrowroot that might work with this recipe.  I have used tapioca starch mixed in water as well, but I don't care for the flavor that this adds.  A friend of mine simply sprinkles guar gum on the top of her sauce to thicken it.  I haven't tried this, so you're on your own if you want to use guar gum! 

Here's my favorite alternate recipe, using some of my substitutions:

Ingredients:
     2/3 c. pomegranate, cranberry, grape, or mixture juice
     1/3 c. red wine vinegar
     2 Tbsp. agave nectar
     sprinkle of stevia
     1/4 tsp seasoning salt
     1/2 tsp garlic
     1/2 tsp ginger
     1/2 Tbsp arrowroot in 3 Tbsp. water (mixed well)

Mix the first 7 ingredients together in a saucepan and heat at medium heat until boiling and the rest of your meal is almost ready.  Stir the arrowroot in water mixture, then Add arrowroot in water mixture slowly, stirring, until sauce is the desired consistency.  Stir until well mixed, turn off the burner and replace the lid.  Make sure sauce is hot, and serve. 

Welcome

Welcome to Tuckalucky Ridge.  Have a seat in a rockin' chair, feel the fall breeze with its hint of a chill cross your face, and watch the sunset with me.  I'll be posting about things I'm interested in - recipes, allergen-free eating, photography, family history, gardening, and whatever else comes to mind.  When all is quiet, you might hear the sound of a fiddle drifting across the valley.  Thanks for stopping by!

Gluten Free Sweet Potato Pancakes

This recipe is one of my favorites!  These pancakes are good with strawberry jam, honey, molasses, syrup, or even just plain!


Ingredients:
     1/3 c. cooked, mashed sweet potato
     1/2 c. rice milk (or regular milk or buttermilk)
     1 Tbsp. grapeseed oil (vegetable or canola oil will work also)
     1 egg
     3/4 c. Pamela's Gluten-Free Baking and Pancake Mix
     sprinkle of cinnamon (optional)
     1/2 tsp. vanilla (optional)


Mix mashed sweet potato and other wet ingredients together, including vanilla if desired.  Stir until smooth.  Add the dry ingredients and stir gently until flour is just moistened.  Let stand five minutes.  Drop by 1/4 cups of batter and use scoop to slightly spread batter until relatively even.  Cook in greased electric skillet at 350°F until top appears slightly dry, then flip and cook until browned on both sides.  Serve hot.  To re-heat, toast lightly.  Makes about six 4" pancakes.


Note:  I use Pamela's Gluten-Free Baking and Pancake Mix in this recipe.  Other pancake mix probably could  be used as well, or you could make your own.  I may try this and will post it if it works. 
10-17-2010 Edit: I used Bob's Red Mill Biscuit and Pancake Mix to make these pancakes last time.  I added another 1/4 c. rice milk to the recipe, and probably could have added yet another 1/4 c. (for a total of 1 c. in the recipe).  Also, the baking soda-y taste was quite a bit stronger.  I'll continue to experiment with this and let you know how it turns out.