Jennifer Bohnhoff's Blog, page 32

Inspiration in an old Bottle

When my mother in law passed away a few years back, my husband was left to sort out a lot of her belongings. There were clothes and furniture and household items, many of which were sold in a garage sale or given to charity.

But there were also boxes of old papers and pictures to be sorted through, and so many told stories that my husband and I hadn't known. We'd known that my father in law had been turned down for service in World War II. We hadn't known that he'd then joined the Minnesota Home Guard, nor what that service entailed. We found receipts for wedding rings and hospital visits, and other little chits and scraps that hinted at the long and interesting life that had come to an end. 
The jar sitting on the author's desk with all her notes and notecards. We also found things that either didn't give away their story, or whose story were - and remain - a complete mystery. A small white jar falls into this last category. This jar has a metal screw-top lid and a red and green label that says that it once contained Peredixo Cream, a greaseless massage requisite that was sold by the American Druggists Syndicate Laboratories of New York City. The back of the label says that it is an exceptional toilet preparation that is cleansing, soothing, cooling and refreshing to the skin, that it should be rubbed into the skin twice a day, and that it will not grow hair.

The real mystery to me is that this jar wasn't packed into the box with my mother in law's hairnets, brushes and toothpaste; It was tucked into a box of papers and receipts. This led my husband and I to conjecture that perhaps it once held paperclips, or rubber bands, or push pins. I'm sure many of you have a repurposed jar on your desk corralling these kinds of small items. The jar ended up sitting next to our printer, waiting for one of us to need a small jar for some purpose. It sat there for about a year and a half. This spring, I began research on my latest book, which for right now, at least, has the working title The Determined Will, a phrase taken from Into Battle, a poem from the English World War I poet Julian Grenfell. My story takes place on a ranch in southern New Mexico, and in a World War I casualty clearing station in France.

In my search, I came across a digitized copy of Everybody's Magazine. ​It had short stories by Frank Norris and O Henry, poems, articles on childcare, politics, and health issues. And in the back were lots of advertisements. To my surprise, one of the ads was for Peredixo Cream!

Further research told me that this was a very popular cream in the 1910s and 1920s. It was touted as "the original Peroxide Cream," and claimed to contain a healing agent   called peredixo.

Harvey Washington Wiley, an American chemist known as the father of the FDA, reported that it was nothing more than soap, water, and starch. Eventually the public caught on and the cream stopped being a best seller.  Having something from my time period sitting right on my desk seemed far too serendipitous not to utilize! I felt compelled to write this little jar of cream into my novel. It shows up in Chapter One when my heroine comes in from riding fence. Agnes is a spunky, rough and ready cowgirl. She is not the type to keep face cream on her bureau. But her older sisters, who all married and moved away from the ranch are. They are also the kind of sisters who, concerned for the welfare of their tomboy sister, just might give her a jar of a miracle working cream. Agnes uses it not to catch a husband, but to sooth her sunburned, chapped skin.

Now, I look at the little white jar on my desk, and I don't think of filling it with paperclips anymore. I am filling it with stories, and letting it fill my stories with an interesting new layer of authenticity.
Jennifer Bohnhoff lives and writes in rural New Mexico. She is the author of several historical novels set in different periods ranging from the middle ages to World War II.

She is currently working on two: the one discussed above and one set in New Mexico during the Civil War. Her books are available in paperback and ebook versions from Amazon and other online booksellers.

You can read more about her and her books on her website.

Eating Morning Sunshine

Eating lemon-flavored sweets is kind of like ingesting pure sunshine. There is no brighter, sunnier food than one that is laced with the sweet-tart essence of lemon. Making these muffins is sure to guarantee a bright start to your morning. Just don’t make them on the day that your office will be running drug tests on their employees: poppy seeds can leave dreadfully incriminating markers in blood and urine samples.
​ Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins ​ 2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup lemon juice
 
2 3/4 cup manic muffin mix
1 pkg (3.4 oz) instant lemon pudding mix
​1 TBS. poppy seeds
 
Mix the 3 dry ingredients together. Add wet ingredients and stir until there are no dry spots.
Fill muffin cups that have been lined with papers 3/4 full of batter.
Bake in a 350 oven for 20 minutes.

Movies to Commemorate D-Day

June 6 is the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. One way to commemorate this historic day is to watch a movie about it. Here are a few recommendations. Ike: Countdown to D-Day This 2004 movie, which originally aired on the A&E Channel, stars Tom Selleck as General Dwight Eisenhower. Instead of the day itself, this movie tells the story of the three months leading up to it. Operation Overlord was quite an undertaking. The weather, other leaders, and sheer luck seemed to be against this invasion ever succeeding.  The Longest Day If you want a bullet-point detailed list of events that occurred on D-Day, The Longest Day is the movie for you. Filmed in 1962 and based on the book by the same name written by Cornelius Ryan (the book is well worth a read, too! Ryan's sources include eyewitness accounts, journals and diaries, and lots of official records), this epic movie covers the big picture while at the same time giving enough personal vignettes to make the story personal. Plus, just about every body who was anybody in Hollywood appears in this movie. The Big Red One This isn't a movie about D-Day per se. Rather, it follows one sergeant of the First Infantry Division through World War II, including its landing on Omaha Beach. Lee Marvin plays the sergeant, and Mark Hamill, fresh off attaining stardom in Star Wars, plays a private whose conscience forbids him from killing the enemy. This epic war film was Samuel Fuller, whose Hollywood bread and butter was B grade movies, and it shows. Saving Private Ryan This 1998 movie is also not about D-Day, but the invasion comprises its opening scene. Much more graphic and realistic than the three movies above, this one supposedly left veterans in its screening audience in tears. I can't say that it won't give you nightmares, but watching the first half hour of this movie will make you appreciate what our soldiers and sailors went through that day in a way that the others won't. Did I miss your favorite D-Day movie? Tell me about it and I'll add it to my list of movies to watch next D-Day.  Jennifer Bohnhoff is an educator and writer. Her novel Code: Elephants on the Moon is set in Normandy at the time of the D-Day invasions. You can read more about her book and the trip she took through Normandy to research it on her website. 

Surprise! Muffins for May

May kind of snuck up on me. Between teaching (I'm a middle school language arts teacher), track (I'm also a track coach at the middle school), and life in general, I missed my self imposed deadline of posting a new muffin recipe on the first Monday of each month.

I am writing this on Mother's Day, and naturally I am thinking about my own Mother and how great a cook she was when I was a kid - and still is.
My mother made a lot of baked goods. One of my favorites were surprise muffins. They were a basic muffin with a little hidden surprise inside: a spoonful of jelly. Mom made them with lots of different kinds of jelly, and all were good. If you wanted to try making muffins similar to the ones I loved as a kid, you could start with my basic Manic Muffins and add a spoonful of any jelly that struck your fancy.  Instead of just copying my Mother's recipe, I decided to create a little variation. What goes well with jelly? Peanut butter, of course! I used chunky peanut butter because someone in this house thinks it's the only kind worth eating, and I liked the little chunks of nuts in the muffins, but you could use smooth peanut butter in this recipe instead. You could also use a different type of jelly. Strawberry would be good, and apricot or orange marmalade would all be worth trying.

​Give this quick and easy muffin recipe a try. I think it might become as common on your breakfast table as - peanut butter and jelly! PB&J Manic Muffins 1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
2 eggs
1 cup water
2 2/3 cup Manic Muffin Mix
Grape jelly
Put peanut butter in a microwavable bowl. Microwave 30 seconds.
Add water, eggs, and mix thoroughly.
Add muffin mix and stir until there are no dry spots.
 
Fill muffin cups that have been lined with papers half full of batter. ​ Add 1 tsp. grape jelly to the middle of each muffin.
Top jelly with enough batter to bring each muffin cup up to the 3/4 mark.
 
Bake in a 350 oven for 20 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack, or serve immediately.

Spring Muffins

Spring is here! No foolin'! Here in New Mexico, March came in like a lion and went out like a lion, but there's no denying that plants are budding and spring will eventually rule out over winter.

To celebrate, I made a batch of muffins that are a little lighter and have some ingredients that I, at least, associate with spring. These muffins would be great for Easter brunch, and would be a good accompaniment to ham.

I started with my basic Manic Muffin Mix. Don't have any mixed up and stored in your cupboard? You should! It makes getting muffins on the table quick and easy. You can get the original recipe for the mix here.
Spring can be a little tricky for finding fresh local produce. The Farmer's Market here doesn't open for another month. So instead of fresh, I used two dried items that I picked up at Trader Joes: pineapple and coconut. Okay, I admit it: neither of these items are ever fresh and local here in New Mexico. But really, I don't need an excuse to pick these two items up. This coconut has no added sugar to it and it adds a nice crunch to the muffins. The pineapple adds a bright spike of flavor and nice, chewy chunks. Whatever's left over in the bag are great for snacking. Because they're still pliable, I chopped the pineapple for these muffins on a cutting board using a bit of flour on the knife to keep them from clumping together and sticking to the knife. And what  would spring be without bunny food? I added one carrot, shredded in my food processor, to the batter for a little bit of color and some added interest. I added the chopped pineapple, coconut, and carrot to the dry ingredients and stirred them around.  Coating them with flour this way keeps them from sinking to the bottom once the wet ingredients are mixed in.

Then I mixed the wet ingredients together in a 2 cup measuring cup before I stirred them into the dry ingredients. The batter will remain slightly lumpy, but make sure you don't have any pockets of completely dry mix left before you spoon it into your muffin tins.
To finish them off, I mixed up a topping of butter, brown sugar, and sliced almonds that I mixed up in the same measuring cup I had used for the dry ingredients. (no sense in making too much of a mess to clean up!) 

I added just a little to each muffin by scooping it up with a spoon and sliding it onto each muffin with my finger. The topping made the muffins look pretty and added a little more crunch.  Carrot Muffins Preheat oven to 350.

Mix together in a bowl. 

2 3/4 cup of Manic Muffin Mix 
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup diced dried pineapple
1/4 cup shredded carrot

Add the following ingredients, which have been mixed together in a 2 cup measuring cup or small bowl:

2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup water
1/2 oil

Line muffin tins with paper. Fill tins 3/4 full. 

Topping: Mix together in a measuring cup or small bowl, then sprinkle over muffins:

1 TBS melted butter
2 TBS brown sugar
2 TBS sliced almonds

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. 

Blueberry Muffins

Have you been following my monthly manic muffin posts? I started with a basic muffin mix that you can make up ahead of time. Each month so far I've offered a variation on the basic muffin: chocolate cherry in February, and corned beef and spinach in March.

This week I added 1 cup of blueberries to the basic recipe, and they were yummy!

This coming Monday I'll post a spring version of manic muffins that will work well as part of your Easter brunch menu, so keep your eye out for it!

A Walk Through History

All pictures (with the exception of the live crinoid) by Heather Patrick. Last week I got a chance to hike with my sister Heather in the Sacramento Mountains, east of Alamogordo, New Mexico. Alamogordo is 200 miles south of my home, and its season is weeks ahead; while it is still cold and snowy in my Sandias, the Sacramentos were balmy. The sky was blue, the birds sang, the sweeping vistas spectacular, but what really made the hike memorable is that it was a walk through time that stretched way, way back.

It's hard to envision now, but this arid land was once very different. Between  358 and 323 million years ago, it was part of a vast ocean. Much of the  limestone in the Sacramentos is studded with fossils that prove that the area was underwater. I saw lots of shells and shell imprints, but especially prevalent were the fossilized stems of crinoids, which look like stacked rock coins. Although they look like little palm trees, crinoids are animals, not plants. They are still alive today, but they are hard to see since they live at great depths.  ​ Looking west, we could see straight across the Tularosa Basin to the San Andreas mountains, about 60 miles away. Once, these two mountain ranges were contiguous. The land in between has dropped.

Can you see the white line that seems to extend from the bill of my cap? That's the gypsum sands at White Sands National Monument.​
Moving up the trail brought us forward in time. While walking along an arroyo, we saw these pock marked rocks. Although these were the only ones I saw on the hike, my sister tells me there are many of these in the area, and they are not naturally formed. Because water tends to collect in them, these depressions are called Indian wells. (The parking lot at the trail head is at the end of Indian Wells Road.)

A sign at Oliver Lee State Park, which is not far south of this trail, explains that these depressions weren't originally used for collecting water. Instead, they mark places where Indians ground up nuts and grains ground up. They are more like mortars than wells.  Farther up the trail, in a narrow side canyon, we came upon something that I've never seen in a mountainous desert setting before: cattails. The cattails were in front of a cave that my sister tells me is a spring visited by Indians since time immemorial. There was about a foot of standing water in the cave, which seemed to stretch far into the mountain. This water source, so valuable in the arid southwest, has obviously been used by more modern man; on our way down the canyon we saw several lengths of rusted pipe and the derelict remains of an old water tower. It was a lovely hike on a lovely day, and it was a reminder that there is interesting things to looks at wherever you go. History and geology, archaeology and botany are right under your feet, and beneath them, if you use your imagination, are story prompts enough to last a long, long while. Jennifer Bohnhoff is a writer and hiker who lives in central New Mexico.

Click here if you want to learn more about the geology of the Sacramento Mountains. 

​Click here if you want to learn more about Jennifer and her books.

What to do with a bit of leftover Corned Beef

Earlier this week I posted a recipe for muffins that used some corned beef. Here's a way to use up the rest of that can. You could dice up leftover corned beef from St. Patrick's Day and use it instead of canned meat and you'd still get a great meal - warm and comforting on a cold winter's night.

One of the nice things about this recipe is that the ingredients are all shelf-stable or things you would commonly have around the house. That means that you can throw it together even when there's a snowstorm and you can't go to the store. This recipe was my mother's, and it was one of my favorite comfort foods growing up.
Corned Beef and Cheese Pie 1 unbaked pie shell 
12 oz (or less, if that's all you have) canned corned beef
e eggs
1 1/2 c. undiluted evaporated milk
1 TBS instant minced onion (or fresh onion, diced small)
1 tsp mustard
dash black pepper
dash tabasco
1 c. shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 tsp dried or fresh parsley

Spread corned beef in bottom of pie shell.
Mix together next seven items. Stir in cheese. 
Pour cheese mixture over corned beef. Sprinkle with parsley.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 40 minutes, until firm.
Cut in wedges and serve warm. Serves 6.

Savory Muffins for a Winter's Day

MMMM. Muffins. They are warming comfort food on a cold winter's day. But they don't have to be sweet. Muffins can come in savory varieties, too.

Most people associate muffins with breakfast. A savory muffin can be a great breakfast treat. I think it would be great split, toasted, and topped with a poached egg. But savory muffins can serve well beyond breakfast. A savory muffin can be a great accompaniment to a cup of soup at lunch, like in the picture, which it's served with tomato soup and cream cheese-stuffed celery. It packs to sell that it can be an easy snack at your desk in the middle of the afternoon, or a nice way to complement a glass of wine in the evening. Make them in tiny muffin tins and the become great appetizers! I began a monthly series on muffins back in January, beginning with a recipe for a muffin mix that would make a manic Monday morning a little easier to swallow. In February I offered a variation on the basic muffin that gave a nod to the two big holidays of the month, Valentine's and President's Day. You can find that basic muffin mix and recipe here, and the cherry chocolate version here.

Inspired by St. Patrick's Day, March's muffin variation is a savory one made with cheddar cheese, corned beef, and spinach. The nutmeg that's in the original mix complements the spinach well and makes the kitchen smell warm and inviting when the muffins are in the oven. Try them! You just might be searching for ways to eat them all day long. Corned Beef and Spinach Muffins Preheat oven to 350.
Mix together in a mixing bowl

2 eggs
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup oil
1 TBS mustard
1/4 cup frozen, chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup canned corned beef, broken up with a fork

Add and stir until there are no dry lumps
2 3/4 cups of Manic Muffin Mix

Line muffin tins with papers. Fill cups 3/4 full with batter. Bake 20-22 minutes, or until golden brown. Not sure how to squeeze spinach dry? I poured the frozen spinach into a measuring cup and thawed it in the microwave, then pressed on it with the back of a spoon, pouring the excess water into the sink.

Don't know what to do with the leftover corned beef? I'll have another recipe later this week that will use it up.
Jennifer Bohnhoff is a Middle School English teacher and the author of 7 published novels, which you can learn more about here. But a girl's gotta eat, too, so she publishes recipes on occasion.

The Army mule in time of peace.

That men are ungrateful can plainly be seen
In the case of that mule standing out on the green.
His features are careworn, bowed down is his head,
His spirit is broken: his hopes have all fled.
He thinks of the time when the battle raged sore,
When he mingled his bray with the cannon's loud roar;
When Uncle Sam's soldiers watched for him to come,
Hauling stores of provisions and powder and rum;
When his coming was greeted with cheers and huzzas,
And the victory turned on the side of the stars.
These thoughts put new life into rickety bones-
He prances just once, then falls over and groans.
A vision comes over his poor mulish mind,
And he sees Uncle Sam, with his agents behind,
Granting pensions by thousands to all who apply,
From the private so low to the officer high;
To the rich and the poor, the wise man and fool,
But, alas! there is none for the “poor army mule.”

Taken from John D. Billings, Hardtack and Coffee: The Unwritten Story of Army Life Jennifer Bohnhoff is the author of two novels set during the American Civil War: The Bent Reed takes place at Gettysburg, and Valverde is set in New Mexico Territory. She is currently at work on a sequel to Valverde which will cover the Battle of Glorieta, which has been called the Gettysburg of the West.