Category: Cathy’s Corner

As we will be posting a new Patreon video once a month, at this time I want to address the few who have felt disenfranchised with Randy for doing so.

The main objection seems to be that he will no longer be giving away free information.

Yet we will still be posting 3-4 new videos a month on our YT channel, The Real Gunsmith.  So those who like the content will still be seeing new content. We are not leaving.

Another objection is that “Randy got free mentoring so he should mentor for free, too,” or some variation so therefore all information he publishes should always be free.

If anyone feels like that they don’t understand the investment Randy has in his knowledge.  Yes, he was blessed, very blessed, to have had numerous great mentors that didn’t charge him for passing on their knowledge. 

But he has spent 50+ years acquiring knowledge on his own though the purchase of books, trade magazines, and hours of untold hours of R &D AT OUR OWN expense, plus what he paid for his college education which no one paid for but himself. He says he learns something new every day.  He looks forward to that.  But he doesn’t expect anyone to “give” him free information/knowledge.

So he is playing forward the help he got by the number of free videos.  Judging by the feedback it is reaching more people, in a positive way, too, I may add, than we ever imagined!  Thank you all!

We do work for a living.  Yet Randy is gladly sharing his information, freely, on our YT channel.  When we started YT was paying the same for this type of content as it was for other channels.  Yet we still planned, eventually, to start the Patreon channel for those that wanted more in-depth information.  A private “club” if you will, for those more serious about acquiring knowledge. 

The fact that YT cut back on monetary payment for firearm related videos was not the leading factor.  But it did prompt us to start the Patreon channel sooner than later. 

If you object to the Patreon channel and Randy charging for sharing more in-depth knowledge, don’t subscribe.  Simple.  Yes, we will have videos on YT that will promote each new Patreon “for pay” video.  People can then choose to pay for just that particular video, or become a monthly subscriber. Either way is fine. 

We have been accused of “switch and bait”.  That was not our intent, it is just a preview of what information will be available on the Patreon channel and it is so stated in the intro below the video.  It has become obvious by the comments of some detractors that the intro is not being read.  We will place a notice at the beginning of each intro video in the future.  A viewer will know up front that it will promote a Patreon channel video and decide to watch the intro or not.

For the diehard detractors that think all information Randy has should be disseminated for free, there is no explanation we can offer you that will satisfy you. Vote for Bernie Sanders and maybe he can see that all information, everywhere will be free.   Randy is sharing a lot of information and he is also charging for some. Those will be in the minority.  We still have to pay bills.  [Bernie hasn’t helped us with those yet!]

And we are old-fashioned enough to feel if you want something badly enough you will work for it, pay for it and not expect a free ride.

For all of our subscribers and followers, both on The Real Gunsmith YouTube Channel and Patreon, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts!  You have made this a great experience!!

God bless you all, even our detractors!!

Rhubarb Homemade Applesauce Custard Pie

This recipe came about as a result of not having enough rhubarb to make a pie.

The week before I’d made my hubby an applesauce pie.  He’d wanted an apple pie, but with those little apples there was NO way.

A friend and I had made applesauce using my Vitamix.    So I looked up applesauce pie recipes and sure enough, there are a lot out there.  I rather combined a few, and it was good, but on the skimpy side, calling for only 2 cups of applesauce.

This weekend I had 3 ¾ cups of cubed rhubarb, not quite enough to make a pie with.  But it was the last, all I had.

I decided to combine the applesauce pie recipe with the rhubarb, and a few changes.

3 ¾ c diced rhubarb

2 cups homemade sugar free applesauce

½ cup packed brown sugar

¼ cup flour

1 T cinnamon [Okay, I LOVE cinnamon!  You may want less!]

½ t nutmeg

¼ t ginger

¼ t allspice

4 large eggs

Dredge the rhubarb with flour.  Place brown sugar in the bottom of a medium sauce pan and turn heat to med.  As sugar “melts” add dredged rhubarb and applesauce.  Add spices.  When well mixed, turn heat to medium low.  Stir frequently.  I cooked this for 30 minutes. The rhubarb was starting to soften.  I didn’t want it mushy.

Set aside to cool.  If you like doing dishes, place in a cool bowl in the refrigerator.  If not, and you aren’t in a hurry, leave it in the sauce pan to cool.

Now here, if you are more talented than I am, you can make your own pie crust.  It doesn’t seem to matter what recipe I use, it is not my talent.  So I used one of a two pack of Pillsbury pie crust.

Prepare a 10” pie with shortening or pan spray.  I find shortening works best.  Add pie crust.

When the fruit mixture is nearly cool, preheat oven to 425°.

In a small bowl beat 4 eggs well. Stir into fruit mixture until well blended.  Pour into pie crust.

Cover the rim of the pie with aluminum foil or “crust protectors”.  Bake for 40 minutes on bottom rack. Check and bake another 10-15 minutes after turning 180°.

Cool completely before serving.

Today, just 2/3 of the way through August, it feels and smells like fall.  A nice dampish 45 degrees at 10 am.  It’s nice to settle the smoke from fires all over the west. We’ll enjoy it while we can.

Randy is out splitting and stacking wood in preparation for winter weather.

I decided to clean out the freezer above the fridge last night as well as use up two sorry looking apples, to make a fall themed and flavored cake.

A number of years ago, our oldest son, Flint Selby, a retired Navy chef, gave me a recipe he’d put together after a lot of trial and error, that makes a great large batch of bread or cake. Since he was feeding a family of 9 at the time, it was a good fit for them.  For us, it makes a large enough batch that I can put some in the freezer for when I don’t have the inclination, time or ingredients on hand to bake.

His recipe calls for 5 ¼ cups of zucchini but he told me I could use anything else.  In the past I’ve used just zucchini, or just apples or applesauce or bananas  I’ve used finely ground carrots.  Pineapple.  Combinations.  And EVERY single one of the cakes [as that is what I do 99% of the time instead of bread pans] turns out great!

Last night I put the 2 old apples, a bag of frozen cranberries, a quart bag of sliced zucchini, 3 grated carrots and finally to get to the 5 ¼ cup mark on my Vitamix, a huge dollop of applesauce.     It is scrumptious!!

Here is Flint’s recipe. Following it, I’ve made a few suggestions on the changes I’ve made with, as always, good results.  For me that is a biggie! It is forgiving.  Change it up, it still comes out great unlike a lot of recipes.

ZUCCHINI BREAD WITH VARIATIONS

BY FLINT SELBY

Wet items:

6 large eggs beaten well

1 cup veg. oil

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

5 ½ cups grated raw zucchini or substitutions to make the same volume

3 tsp. vanilla

Add these dry ingredients to wet:

1 T. cinnamon

½ t. nutmeg

½ t. allspice

Mix well and set aside.

Dry items:

1 t. baking powder

2 ½ t. baking soda

2 t. salt

4 cups sugar

6 cups flour.

Mix together dry ingredients.

Optional to add:

White chips, chocolate chips, raisins, cranberries, unsulfured coconut flakes, banana chunks, walnuts or pecans. {Coat lightly with flour and they won’t congregate at the bottom of the pan. 2-3 cups seems to work well for me.}

Mix wet and dry ingredients until blended and smooth.  You need a BIG pot to do this!

Flour and grease about 5- 8 bread pans if you want bread form [depending on the size] or use two 13×9” pans, use pan spray.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour.  I generally turn pans around at 45 min. and bake an additional 10 minutes.

Instead of zucchini you may use the following: bananas, pumpkin, grated or puree; crushed pineapple with juice drained; partially cooked sweet potato chopped fine; finely grated carrots with or without drained pineapple; finely chopped apples with apple sauce. Blueberries [it does make a grey batter!] cranberries, sauerkraut.  Combinations.  Use your imagination!

**I’ve subbed 1 cup butter or 1 cup shortening in place of veg. oil, be sure it is very soft, works well.

I add 1-2 cups bananas or applesauce to replace an equal amount of sugar, or even use ¾ cup of molasses for a cup of sugar.

At one time I read the sugar can be cut in half in most recipes and still turn out fine. That works but it’s a bit drier.

And I’ve used 2 T of pumpkin pie spice for any of the recipes in place of listed, as I found I had way too many jars of the spice to just use for pies!

Enjoy plain.  Or topped with whipped cream.  Or with peanut butter.  Frosting of your choice. Butter and jelly.

I divide one cake in half.  Wrap in Saran Wrap, then in freezer paper.  Mark and place both in a gallon freezer bag.  It can last 6 months or longer in theory, but it never seems to stay in the freezer that long for me to prove it!

Recently I’ve seen numerous posts about the weather, natural disasters, the political climate and social issues, to name a few, with the words, “…it’s been a bad year”.

Has it really been a bad year?

I don’t believe so.  There are events that have occurred, of weather, geology, political and social,  that are bad, by many standards, but not all. We must admit that those events get more press time than the GOOD news.

Take time to smell the roses.

Added to that, the “year” has nothing to do with it.  A “year” is a construct of measuring time by the seasons, a way for our finite minds to rope infinite time into manageable chunks.

In reading some of the daily Church liturgy recently, I am once again reminded that the turmoil we see in our time is truly “nothing new under the sun”. [Ecc. 1: 9-11]  The turbulence of the earth, the warring of tribe against tribe, family against family, nation against nation, brother against brother, all are as old as humankind.   [Matthew 10: 34-35]

A browsing through history shows us that the crisis’s we face today in our society aren’t new.  They are just packaged in new wrappings.  Same song, different verse, change of venue.

I wish I could find the quote, at the end of one of Richard Proenneke’s books, but I can’t.  So paraphrasing, he comments that we are not meant to hear all of the sadness, evil and bad times around the world.  We can’t absorb all of the bad news.  For eons “we” would have heard the bad news in our immediate area for the most part, and in a small part the general area around us.  Only in recent times have we been bombarded with bad news, instantly it seems, from around the world, and it can be overwhelming.

Focus instead on the good. There are millions of acts of kindness, of happy beginnings and endings every day. They happen in our own lives, in our family and friends lives, all around us.  Focus on “It’s been a good year!”  And your outlook will change.

This has been a good year!

© Cathy Selby 8-17-18

A good year.

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CATHY’S CORNER

‘Tis the season! Hunting season that is. We’ve had cooler nights with some cool to downright nippy days.

There is a great debate that makes the rounds about whether to age wild game meat for improved taste and tenderness. I’ve gone on our experience of many, many years. We prefer to not use marinating to achieve tenderness.  While I believe marinades can add zing of other flavors to the meat, we prefer to let the natural flavor of the meat to speak for itself.
Of all of the wild game we have ever harvested, elk, deer, antelope, moose, and big horn sheep, I can say without a doubt that ALL of it that we were able to hang, given cool temps, was more flavorful and always more tender than the meat that, because the weather was too warm, we had to process quickly. We don’t like to soak the meat in marinades and cover up the wonderful taste. That is a personal preference. By letting them age well we don’t need margination to tenderize. We don’t have strong gamey tasting meat, either, by doing this.
Most years at least one of us has a late season elk tag, with the elk being brought in late Nov. to mid-Dec. Those elk can hang and age longer than anything else [most of the time] and that meat always is more tender and more flavorful than any elk we get in warmer weather that can’t hang as long, no matter the age or sex of the animal. One year my cow hung for 2 months as it was so cold and we were busy. That was the best danged meat we ever had.
My suggestion is to age your meat as long as possible. If you’ve never tried it, I suggest you do. If you already do, you know what I am talking about! Yummy!

Cathy Selby ©  9-16-2014

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