Cozy Kitchen Wood Stove

Perfect afternoon for a cup of hot blueberry leaf tea. Can’t believe I’ve had these blueberry bushes for over 10 years and I’m just now trying this. Steep 1T dried blueberry leaves per cup of boiling water.

Bella and friend make old fashioned peanut brittle. So easy and soooo good! Ready in less than 10 minutes with only 4 simple ingredients! https://cozykitchenwoodstove.com/2023/12/28/bella-makes-old-fashioned-peanut-brittle/

Just happened upon a treasure trove of old cookbooks today! The oldest was from 1912– the newest was 1933. Bella can’t wait to bake recipes from these! Such fun!

Bella Bakes embossed cookies for the holidays. Follow link for a tip on easy removal from the die cut. https://cozykitchenwoodstove.com/2023/10/18/molded-cookies/

Have you ever read a recipe that calls for a pinch of salt? Here is a short little post about old recipes, my grandmothers's antique salt cellar and a link that I thought everyone might like to a site with a lot of historical recipes! https://cozykitchenwoodstove.com/2023/08/20/a-pinch-of-salt/

Bella's Wild Edible Raised Bed. 4 of My Favorite Medicinals: Thyme, Plantain, Prunella (Heal-All, Self-heal), and Turkey Rhubarb

If you are afraid that you cannot identify wild edibles, have you ever considered purchasing seed from a reputable seed company? Of course you can! Read all about it here. Links to seeds too! https://cozykitchenwoodstove.com/2023/07/30/bellas-wild-edible-raised-bed/

Milling wheat berries for whole wheat bread. So easy, fun and rewarding! Working together with good friends. FROM WHEAT BERRY TO TWO BREAD! You can learn all about the milling process here. https://cozykitchenwoodstove.com/2023/08/08/milling-wheat-berries-for-whole-wheat-bread/

Growing up on the farm in the 1950’s and 60’s, I always begged my grandmother to ring a dinner bell for my grandfather to come in from the fields. At the time, we did NOT have a dinner bell, but Nanny did have an old cowbell. One day, she finished dinner a little early (Read the rest of the story here). https://cozykitchenwoodstove.com/2023/07/07/the-old-farm-bell/

Bella baked a Very Vanilla Birthday Cake for her daddy from a vintage 100 year old recipe! videos + recipe + tips https://cozykitchenwoodstove.com/2023/05/01/bellas-vanilla-cake-vintage-100-year-old-recipe/

Bella’s Vanilla Cake from a vintage 100 year old recipe! Bella has been so busy with school here at the end of the year that we have not had a chance to do much baking. Saturday was her daddy’s birthday, so it was the perfect opportunity. She baked him a vintage vanilla cake from a 100 year old recipe! Videos + recipe + tips here: https://cozykitchenwoodstove.com/2023/05/01/bellas-vanilla-cake-vintage-100-year-old-recipe/

This week’s Timeless Treasure is an ancient Indian Artifact. It belonged to Bella’s 4th great-grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Yates.

This egg shaped rock is one of my earliest memories. My grandfather kept it in a top drawer in an old chest in his bedroom. Frequently, he would pull it out and show it to me and tell this story. I know now, he told me so often because he was afraid that I would forget.

My grandfather would always say that the egg-shaped rock belonged to his grandmother–that she picked it up on the banks of the Cahaba River where they lived in Alabama when she was a little girl. And he would always end the story with–she was a little Indian girl.

I have done extensive research on that branch of my family. Mary Elizabeth’s father was Joshaway Yates, and his wife was Nancy Farrar. It seems that Nancy Farrar was brought to Bibb County, Alabama as an Indian slave of the Farrars from Farrar Island, Virginia. Joshaway, her father, was a Cherokee from Kentucky, according to my grandfather.

I really have no idea what the egg-shaped rock really is. I just know that it is ancient. It undoubtedly belonged to some of the earliest inhabitants who dwelt in that river bottom along the Cahaba eons before my ancestors arrived.

It is the exact size and shape of a peeled, hard boiled egg. It even has the little dimple in the top!

People always ask, “If your house caught on fire and you could only grab one thing. What would it be?” Well for me, I would not have to think twice. It would be my grandfather’s egg-shaped rock.

Mary Elizabeth was born in 1848 in Bibb County, Alabama. So the rock has been in my family over 150 years.

Visit Bella's blog for more Timeless Treasures. You will find them at the end of each recipe post.

https://cozykitchenwoodstove.com

Little Blue Daisies--will eating them really make you beautiful? Read about the old wives tale here, and decide for yourself! https://cozykitchenwoodstove.com/2023/03/28/little-blue-daisies-will-eating-them-really-make-you-beautiful/

This week's TIMELESS TREASURE is my great-grandmother's wooden churn lid: My grandmother was born in 1902 and lived through the Great Depression of the 1930s. She never had much, but I never saw her frown. She was always laughing , and there was always a beautiful smile on her toothless old face.
She told me this story: When she was a girl, her mother made her churn butter as one of her chores. They only had a wooden churn lid. Nanny said if she ever grew up and got married, the first thing she was going to get for herself was a nice, stoneware churn lid.
Well, Nanny never got her new churn lid. She churned with her mama’s old wooden lid her entire life–well up into the 1970s..READ the entire story here: https://cozykitchenwoodstove.com/2023/02/14/bella-makes-muscadine-jam/
Just scroll to the end of the blogs to read the TIMELESS TREASURES.

Our TIMELESS TREASURE this week is the round table that Bella bakes on. It sat in my grandmother’s kitchen at the old farmhouse when I was a child. I remember the day she got it! I was ten years old, and Nanny wanted a round table so badly. My mother had one of the old stainless steel–formica dining sets that were so common at the time...Nanny’s sister had moved from Memphis to Coldwater, Mississippi, and she sent word that her neighbor had a round table that she would trade for mama’s formica set. So the three of us loaded the dining table and chairs in Daddy’s 1964 Chevy pickup and headed to Coldwater. When we got there, my little 10 year old eyes bugged out. The round table was in terrible condition! It was over 75 years old–in 1967! I remember thinking, I hope Nanny doesn’t put that thing in the kitchen...READ ENTIRE STORY HERE Just scroll all the way to the bottom of the blog post. https://cozykitchenwoodstove.com/2023/03/08/bella-bakes-a-wild-redbud-cake/

Bella Bakes a wild redbud cake. Vintage chocolate cake decorated with wild redbud flowers. See other ways to incorporate wild redbud into recipes. We are inching into wild edibles! RECIPE + VIDEOS + TIPS https://cozykitchenwoodstove.com/2023/03/08/bella-bakes-a-wild-redbud-cake/

Bella Bakes a vintage chocolate cake garnished with wild violets. We are inching into wild edibles! This cake is so simple to make! Literally 20 minutes work time--and that includes the glaze! Everyday ingredients I keep on hand--made from scratch! RECIPE + VIDEOS + TIPS How to make sugared violets. https://cozykitchenwoodstove.com/2023/03/20/bellas-chocolate-cake-with-wild-violets/

Back when people still knew how to have fun! My granddaddy, Shuck Williams, at picnic on Moon Lake, Mississippi Delta--late 1930s.

Bella Bakes Cinnamon Rolls. So easy, and absolutely some of the best you’ve ever tasted! You will want to make these every week! A recipe of dough or store-bought dough, 1 stick butter, cinnamon + sugar is all it takes. Visit her blog for the recipe + videos + tips! This week’s Timeless Treasure is a black washpot and its history in our family. Repurposed to use as inside wood storage.
https://cozykitchenwoodstove.com/?p=752&preview=true&_thumbnail_id=754

Bella Bakes Old-Time Tea Cakes in a WOOD COOK STOVE! It’s just something about tea cakes that all kids love! Cut them out and store in fridge in a ziplock bag–you can have a sweet treat baked in 10 minutes. Recipe + Videos + Tips! Simple Ingredients: butter, sugar, eggs, (buttermilk or yogurt), vanilla, soda and flour are all you need!
https://cozykitchenwoodstove.com/2023/02/02/bella-bakes-old-time-tea-cakes/

Bella makes Jam—on a wood cook stove! BLUEBERRIES or MUSCADINES. Use hulls and all—so much flavor and NO WASTE! No candy thermometers--just time for one minute after it comes to a rolling boil and you are done! Jam making is one of those homesteading skills that everyone should know how to do. It is so rewarding. I wanted to share this recipe with You. It is super easy. If you're having trouble getting your jam to set properly, this is the recipe for you! Fresh OR Frozen fruit. Recipe + pictures + videos here https://cozykitchenwoodstove.com/2023/02/14/bella-makes-muscadine-jam/

Bella’s Raised Garden Beds. We are lining the sidewalk between the old farm house and the new one. Here is the material list with cost of each item. The total cost for one raised bed 12 feet X 3 feet X 18 inches tall was $103. MATERIALS: See link for pictures, videos and more. * 2 sheets 26 gauge (high ribbed) metal roofing @ 25 dollars per sheet for 12 foot length. (If you go with a shorter bed, you can do it with one sheet. My beds are a full 12 feet long, so we had to buy an additional sheet for the ends.
* 1 stick corner trim (3 inch X 3 inch)--10 feet long @ 9.25
* 3 sticks J-Trim (for a 12 foot bed). This trim also comes in 10 foot sticks. @ 13.00 each. Measure the bed size you are planning. You might be able to do it with 2 sticks. MOST METAL PLACES WILL NOT LET YOU RETURN UNUSED METAL, SO MEASURE FIRST!
* 2 rods of all-thread @ 2.70 each
* self tapping sheet metal screws
* 12 bolts and nuts for all-thread
TOTAL COST for 1 bed 12 feet X 3 feet X 18 inches high=$103.65
You can see pictures and videos of every step here at COZY KITCHEN WOOD STOVE https://cozykitchenwoodstove.com/2023/02/09/bellas-raised-garden-beds/

This week's Timeless Treasure at Cozy Kitchen Wood Stove is a milk glass butter bowl--a little rooster!

My mother loved to collect antique glass. When I was a child, we rode through the countryside of Calhoun and Yalobusha counties asking around at old home places if they had anything they wanted to sell.
This little blue, milk glass butter bowl was one of my favorite finds. Mother said it was special because it was a little rooster. Most of the butter dishes where hens.
Back in those days, the mid-sixties, most of the country roads here in north central Mississippi were dirt–red clay, with very little gravel. After a rain, if you weren’t careful, your car would slide into the grader ditch! My oh my, those old red clay roads were slick! And you had to depend on the kindness of strangers to pull you out!
Now, I think we take our cell phones for granted. Help is just a click away. https://cozykitchenwoodstove.com/2023/01/29/bella-bakes-old-time-coconut-cake-with-fresh-orange-filling/

Bella Bakes Old-Time Coconut Cake with Fresh Orange Filling! A wood cook stove friendly recipe developed here in the kitchen of Cozy Kitchen Wood Stove. Visit Bella's blog for more recipes, videos and tips! https://cozykitchenwoodstove.com/2023/01/29/bella-bakes-old-time-coconut-cake-with-fresh-orange-filling/

Bella Bakes Old Fashioned Caramel Cake in a wood cook stove! Another recipe from great-great grandmother’s 1920 cookbook. Simple ingredients for a simple life.

Bella Bakes Old Fashioned Caramel Cake–in a wood cook stove! Bella Bakes Old Fashioned Caramel Cake in a wood cook stove! Another recipe from great-great grandmother’s 1920 cookbook. Simple ingredients for a simple life.

Bella Bakes a chocolate cream pie with Mile High Meringue. Visit her blog for the recipe + videos + tips!
https://cozykitchenwoodstove.com/2023/01/08/bella-bakes-chocolate-cream-pie-with-mile-high-meringue/

We have an extra special Timeless Treasure this week at the bottom of Bella’s blog post- a leather wallet belonging to her 4th great- grandfather, a soldier in the Mexican War.

Cozy Kitchen Wood Stove Hamburger Stew We have an extra special Timeless Treasure this week at the bottom of Bella’s blog post–a leather wallet belonging to her 4th great-grandfather, a soldier in the Mexican War.

Bella Bakes Cathead Biscuits-from scratch- in a wood cook stove. So simple, but oh so good! Visit her blog for recipe+videos+ tips!

Bella Bakes Cathead Biscuits From Scratch–in a Wood Stove So so simple–and oh so GOOD! I grew up with both of my grandmothers and my mother making homemade biscuits from scratch–every morning! It is a skill t…

Since buying my wood cook stove, I see where so many people are having problems getting them to bake. I had the same problem until I implemented these 9 tips! Now it bakes like a dream—in the amount of time the recipe calls for! Visit Bella’s blog, Cozy Kitchen Wood Stove at the link below and see the changes we made. Hope it helps!

https://cozykitchenwoodstove.com/2022/12/20/why-wont-my-wood-cook-stove-bake/

Bella baked her great-great-grandmother's raisin cake from 1920! A beautiful bake in a wood stove! Visit her BLOG at the link below for the recipe, videos, and cooking tips. Hope you enjoy!

https://cozykitchenwoodstove.com/2022/12/22/old-fashioned-raisin-cake/