A New Year Approaching

Well, the holidays have been good to our little family. We are still a little punch-drunk coming off a 5 day vacation of family, friends, love and home. We hosted two dinners, a traditionally German-inspired dinner and a traditional Italian-inspired dinner as homage to some of our ancestors.

The German meal, held on of the eve of Christmas eve was Saurebraten, homemade german Weck rolls, braised organic red cabbage, organic carrots and mashed potatoes with organic homemade beef stock. The Italian meal, held on the 28th was homemade semolina fettucine, homemade sausage with local meat, homemade tomato sauce from our garden tomatoes, garlic on homemade rolls and stuffed cherry bomb peppers that had been grown in our garden, pickled in vinegar and sugar and stuffed with mozzarella and cured italian meats. I will pass on the recipes at a later time, as they were all so good, they must be shared.

ELLIE'S FIRST CHRISTMAS! What a joy! She makes my heart feel so full and loved. I think the best present for all of us was to have five days of being together, all the time. We begged our families to refrain from feeding into the overabundance and commercialism that surrounds Christmas time for children. She doesn't need dozens of toys, and so we asked that if they were intent on giving material things they don't buy a lot of things and they make those things as basic and educational as they could. Or, if they really wanted to give, she has her own savings account! Well, everyone did well at limiting items to one or two toys. They were all natural, which we prefer, and of an educational nature. And still, we have abundance. Next year we will begin a tradition with Ellie that she donates a toy (or as many as she'd like) to charity.

THE NEW YEAR! The new year approaches and there are many exciting things we are thinking about. We will be embarking on a lifestyle change that I refuse to call a diet. We have been on the cusp of crossing into a healthy and nutritious lifestyle for long enough now that I think we can do this rather seemlessly. We already have switched to consuming mostly organic, unprocessed or local foods and bath products. However, we need to increase the amount of vegetables and decrease the amount of fat and starch.

We have a 1/4 of a cow coming to us in January and receive an additional 1/6 of a cow as a Christmas gift. It is all organic local beef. We are still stocked up on organic local chicken we purchased from the lady who drops off our eggs each week. Josh's dad will be butchering a pig in April that he has promised us, so we are looking at plenty of local, organic meat for the next year.

I am attempting to expand (yet again) my garden area to include more vegetables without freaking out the neighbors here. We live in town and are surrounded by people who have long ago retired and now spend most of their time tending to their lawns or paying someone to tend them. The year I grew red cabbage lining my front walk I had so many people stopping and staring, it was uncomfortable. But after growing kale next to the black eyed susans and garlic in the front flower bed, we stopped getting the strange comments and looks. Finally, we are just ignored!

We have the means to do it... between some great local and organic sources and our own home, it will be a healthful year ahead.

Lamb Stew and fresh baked Whole Wheat White Bread

Yesterday I made a hearty winter meal that was perfect for the chilly temperatures. It was simple and meaty and good.

Lamb Stew


2-3 lb Lamb cut, bones in (We used local organic)
8-10 cups water
1 onion, diced
4-5 cloves garlic
1-2 Tsp dried rosemary
A few large sprigs of fresh thyme
3 carrots, peeled and diced
1 cup whole baby 'bell mushrooms
1 Russet potato
1 celery stalk
Salt to taste

Place the lamb in the water along with the diced onion and diced celery. Smash the garlic cloves and cut them in half lengthwise. Add the rosemary and thyme. Cook on med-high for 2-3 hours, so that a good amount of the water evaporates. Once you feel you've attained a nice rich stock, cover the pot and reduce heat to low and continue to simmer for 2-3 hours, until the meat falls off the bone when prodded gently with a fork. Turn heat off to Warm. Remove all bones and any fat from the pot and shred the meat accordingly. Cube and add the potato. Halve the mushrooms and add as well. Allow to set for 30 minutes. Serve with Whole Wheat White Bread.

Whole Wheat White Bread

I mad ethis bread out of default because I had no white bread flour left. I wanted a light fluffly bread to go with this meal, but such would not happen, as I only had a tiny bit of AP left, a lot of whole white wheat and some whole wheat. But it was a pleasant surprise and we both and seconds.

1 cup AP flour
3 cups White Whole Wheat flour
2 1/2 tsp instant Yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt

Combine ingredients in bread machine and remove before second rise. Form into a long cylinder by rolling it out into a rectangle and folding one side halfway to the end of the other and then wrapping the other side over. Pinch the seal shut. Sprinkle corn meal on baking sheet and place the dough seal-side down. let rise in a warm place for an hour covered with a damp cloth. Heat Oven to 425. Insert broiling pan with 1 cup water in it, followed immediately by the bread and bake for 25 minutes or until the dough sounds hollow when knocked.

Blueberry Walnut Cookies

Blueberry Walnut Cookies

• 2 cups AP flour
• 2 tsps baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, room temp
• 1 cup granulated sugar
  
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup frozen blueberries, thawed and drained (or fresh if you have them!)

 Mix wet ingredients into a large mixing bowl and dry ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Slowly add the dry ingredients the wet. Once blended well, fold in walnuts and blueberries. Chill dough for 15-3 mins. Use two spoons to form dollups onto cookie sheet. Makes about 3-4 dozen.

Perfect Oatmeal Cookies

Perfect Oatmeal Cookies

1 Stick Butter
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup water
1 Tbs. vanilla
3 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup AP flour
1/2 cup raisins (opt.)

Mix well and drop into balls on cookie sheet. Cook for 12-14 minutes.

French Bread

Well, obviously I made some major mistakes, but since I'm a novice breadbaker, I was pretty proud of myself.

French Bread

1 1/2 c water
1 1/2 tsp salt
4 cups bread flour
2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
cornmeal
eggwash- 1 egg yolk, 1 Tbs water

I cheated by throwing everything in the bread machine and taking it out before the second rise to form. I threw some cornmeal on the baking sheet and formed the dough into a rectangle. I then rolled it together, pinching the seal shut. I layed that seal side down on the cornmeal, sprinkled some more on top. Let rise for an additional 45 minutes. Then, make 3-4 slices 1/4 deep on the top and wash with the egg wash. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. Throw 1 cup of water in a bottom pan when you insert the bread into the oven.

Fun with pressure canning and... mayo?

We canned beets this weekend and were so proud of ourselves for conquering the massive pressure canner borrowed from my mom. It came out to eight quarts of beets, not bad considering all the freshies we've eaten and the bunch we kept on hand. This year we grew Detroit Dark Red and Tall Tops. Our garden being limited as it is, we grew one row in the middle garden (15 ft). For two people, that was plenty!

Also, I want to talk about mayonnaise. I don't use a lot of mayo in this house, but found myself trying to plan meals around the homemade mayonnaise I made the other day. It was super simple, had taste and you use ingredients that I always have on hand: egg yolk, vinegar, salt and oil. I eat a lot of egg whites for breakfast, lunch and brunch, so it is a perfect way for using the yolks up. .I'll never buy mass produced mayo again.

Homemade Mayonnaise

3 egg yolks
1 tsp vinegar (I used rice vinegar)
1 tsp salt
1 cup canola or olive oil

Beat the egg yolks with the vinegar and salt. Add the oil a slowly, heavily whipping the mixture as you go. Adjust seasoning to taste. You could also add some powdered mustard or sugar if you'd like

Rustic Italian Bread

I love my bread machine. It makes things so so easy. I hate kneading dough, but I love homemade bread so we are a match made in heaven. Here is the jumbo sized rustic Italian bread that I made this morning. Not sure what I'm going to use it for (other than the obvious!) but I think I'd like to plan our meal over it tonight.

Recipe is as follows:

Rustic Italian Bread
makes two loaves or one large

1 1/2 cups warm water
2 1/2 Tbs EVO
2 1/2 tsps Sea Salt
1 1/2 tsp granulated sugar
4 cups bread flour
1/2 wheat bran
2 1/2 tsp instant or bread machine yeast
Sesame seeds and extra wheat bran to coat

Put everything into the bread machine as listed and let knead and rise. After it kneads the second time, remove it and shape into your desired loaves (or loaf). Rub with the sesame seeds on top and wheat bran on the bottom. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425 for 30 minutes before baking. Be sure to place a broiling pan in the bottom during this time. Let dough rise a second time, another 45 mins or so. When finished, places bread on baking sheet into the oven. Add a full cup of water to the broiling pan below and shut the oven door immediately. Cook about 25 minutes.

Butternut Sage Ravioli

Last nights dinner was phenomenal. I made a pumpkin sage ravioli with fresh butternut squash and served it with hand-crafted Apricot-Cranberry Sausages and Broccoli from the farmers market.

Butternut Sage Ravioli

For the Dough:
1 3/4 cups AP flour
2 eggs
2 Tbs water
salt

For the Filling:
1/2 Butternut squash
1/2 cup good Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 egg
1/2 cup breadcrumbs (preferably fresh)

For the sauce:
4 Tbs butter
8 sage leaves

To make the dough: Slightly beat the eggs. Make a well in the flour to slowly incorporate the eggs. Mix with hands and begin to knead. Add more water or flour to adjust. Knead 10 minutes. Let rest 15 minutes. Run dough through pasta machine in four batches.

For the filling: Split butternut and remove seeds. Place butternut inside down in a casserole dish with 1/2 inch water. Cover and bake at 350 for 50 minutes, until soft. Let cool. Peel squash and run the meat through a food mill. Mix in the rest of the ingredients.

Cut the past into 3 inch squares. Place a small amount of filling in the center of each (maybe a little less than a Tbs) and wet the edges to seal. Boil in salted water for 7-8 minutes or until they float to the top. Drain. Meanwhile, melt the butter and lightly cook the sage leaves. I used small and large ones from my garden so I removed the large ones after cooking. Add the raviolis and lightly brown in the butter.

Serve with artisan sausage, broccoli, broccoli raab, green beans, mixed green salad, and/or fresh cranberry chutney. Or any other veggies you think would be good! AB

End of Season Harvest

Ahhhh... The end of harvest season is here. The last frost hit around the 24th of October here and so on the 30th we got out there, cleaned up shop and then sowed some winter rye. We were a little late out there, but still made out fine. Josh brought home a Honda tiller for us to use--it is perfect. Small, easy to handle and did the job well. We tore up the tomato, pepper and eggplants, the squash vines and green bean bushes, we dug up the small crop of potatoes and the large crop of beets. I did end up with a few buttercup squash (as pictured), despite the long hard battle with a ground hog that took up residence under our shed (it was a long, hard love/hate relationship with he and I that ended badly). Other than the winter squash we got about 15 lbs of beets, 5 pounds of potatoes and a handful of random peppers that were hanging on for dear life. The white squash that you see are volunteers from patty pans we grew last year. Think patty pans on steroids. They are more round and huge, but still tender.

The large squash you're seeing was not one of mine, rather from my mom's garden. I'm fairly certain is an Amish Crookneck, but its kind of funny--for years she's been growing these and eating them as summer squash when they are young and very green. This is the first year she let them go to seed and realized they were actually a winter squash! My mom's gardening technique is... very liberal. She basically plants things as nature would have intended--everywhere and in no specific order so it is easy to see how this happened.

Squash squash squash...PIE!!!

I love winter squash. I love it halved and cooked with a tab of butter and a bit of honey. I like it cubed and stir fried with winter greens or tossed in curry or added to stew. I love it pureed into a creamy soup or julienned into a salad. I could eat it cooked with nothing but a spoon (and I have). My husband is less interested in it, however. That is until I cooked a butternut squash the only way I knew he would definitely eat it... in a pie! So I threw together a recipe using ingredients I had on hand (which wasn't much considering a trip to the market was much needed). It was custardy and not-too-sweet and he loved it.

Here it is:

I'll give you the recipe and then explain what I would do to change it:

2 cups cooked butternut squash
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp ground ginger
3 eggs
1 frozen pie crust

First of all--the frozen pie crust--grossss! I don't even know how I ended up with it in my freezer, but as I said I was trying to make something out of nothing. So that was terrible. Second, the sweetened condensed milk is a no-go. I would have used organic cream, half and half or even milk but had none of the above. I also would have liked more squash in it. Sooo next time I will increase the squash to 2 1/2 cups, substitute cream and add more brown sugar. I might even add a bit of molasses....

Nonetheless, it was a success as it is and my husband enjoyed it, so that makes me happy.

Tomatillos

I grew tomatillos for the first time this year. We are addicted to salsa verde in this house and it just seemed silly to be buying it when I knew that nothing I could get from a can would compare to what I could make fresh. That is the understatement of the week. Fresh salsa verde is amazing! I didn't grow many plants. In fact, I started half a dozen seeds a few weeks before the last frost here and they all grew into spindly, scrawny tendrils that eventually died. So at first I was discouraged.

Then, after last frost I decided to try again and direct sow some seeds. I literally sprinkled a pinch in a little spot just to see what would happen. Within a week I had hardy healthy shoots coming up. I eventually thinned these into approximately ten plants. I planted some of them in large pots because I had not planned an area for them and put the rest in an old shady compost pile to try to grow because I just didn't have room. I planted two per pot, which I would not do again.

They were huge! And they flourished! I got a nice crop from the few potted plants I had. The plants that grew in the shade also did well, in many ways better than the pots, however, they were late to produce fruit so I did not get as much as I could have. Next year I will be planting them in an area of their own, probably one of the raised beds in my back garden. They bush, there is no pruning or controlling them. And they need steady water, which was difficult for me since they were in pots and were so big (we'd go away for the weekend and inevitably have weeping plants when we got back). So I made a lot of mistakes, but we got a nice crop considering.

Our tomatillos (tome-ah-tee-owes) were extremely tasty. I grew the green Mexican variety, the most common. They are smaller fruits that look like a green tomato wrapped in a husk. The majority of mine were smaller, maybe 2 inches in circumference. The outer skin is sticky under the husk--nothing a quick rinse in hot water doesn't take care of. They are ripe when they actually burst through their husk.

Their flavor is excellent, almost fruity. They have a very light and crisp texture, almost reminiscent of a star fruit. I wouldn't cook them, mostly because I'm not sure how I would use them that way. I have heard they are tasty grilled. I took most of ours and made salsa verde, of course.

Tomatillos will definitely be a permanent addition to our garden.

Here is our Salsa Verde recipe:
25 (maybe 2 lbs) Tomatillos, husked
4-5 Garlic cloves
1/2 Red Onion
3-4 Jalapenos
Salt to taste
1 bunch (approximately 1-2 cups) Cilantro chopped

Submerge the tomatillos into almost boiling water for 15 seconds. Be careful not to cook the tomatillos. Place all ingredients in food processor and pulse in batched. Combine and adjust ingredients to taste.

New order for Soapmaking

I just processed a new order for soap making supplies and I'm SO EXCITED (and I just can't hide it)!!! I've been planning to get serious about soap making for a while now and finally I got my first big order in. Thanks to some great people and wonderful websites, I've found a plethora of information out there to get me going. What has really pushed me to do this is... well, actually a few things have been catalysts:

1) In my constant effort to go green and as natural as possible, toiletries play one of the biggest parts for me. They are products you come in contact with everyday, several times a day: soap, shampoo, body lotion, facial lotion, lip balm, eye balm, etc. That's not even touching on make-up for the ladies. And organic, natural bath products can be hard to find and very expensive. I have been wanting to phase these non-organic products out of our lives for a while.

2) Personally, my skin has changed in the last few years. Although I still consider myself quite young, wear and tear is evident. I have become sensitive to changes in the weather and I've developed an uneven skin tone. I suddenly have dry spots on places like my eyes that are uncomfortable and only become more irritated with over-the-counter products. I want something that soothes naturally.

3) We have a baby! I will not put any of those crappy products out there on my child. Yuck! Take a look at the ingredient list for any given bath product in your house. You'll see what I'm saying, Lauramide DEA??? What???

4) I have the time. Yes, tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime is on my side. Finally, I have the time to experiment. Thank you, Josh.

The line of products that I'll be working on will be as simple and natural as possible. I'm not big into fragrance. I like scent, but I don't want it to overpower the natural oils and butters I'm using. LOVE beeswax and olive oil, so expect a lot of that. I'm going to experiment with natural colorings (another thing I want to avoid are synthetic dyes) and herbal infusions. Also, I'm going to be making chocolate soap and beer soap! Check this awesome recipe out that from the Soap Queen:

http://soap-queen.blogspot.com/2010/10/last-call-advanced-oatmeal-stout-cp.html

Does that not look good enough to eat???

Yogurt

I consume an inordinate amount of yogurt. Maybe not as much as some people, but I have a cup of yogurt every single day and get really bent out of sorts when I run out. This has been going on for about a year now, around the time I found out I was pregnant I think it started. In fact, I was consuming so much yogurt that--thanks to my husband--I quickly switched to making my own. I don't do flavored yogurt, like that nasty stuff that comes in land-fill bound little cups and promises flavors such as "Strawberry Shortcake!" or "Chocolate Cheesecake". Gag. I like plain, low-fat organic yogurt. I mix walnuts and flax meal in for an Omega3 boost and sometimes I'll add dates or bananas. I could go on and on about how much I love yogurt and the health benefits of it (packed for of protein! great for your stomach!). But what gets me today is that I just sat down to another batch of yogurt that was less than perfect. How did this happen... again??? After about a year of making yogurt, something has changed. The last few attempts I've made to re-culture my yogurt have resulted in a thin yogurt, not what I'm shooting for at all. I like a thicker, firmer yogurt (Greek yogurt is an indulgence). So what am I doing wrong? What did I change in my method? The milk wasn't too hot, so I didn't kill my culture, I tried "tempering" it so that it would be distributed evenly... I even let it 'cook' for an extra hour. I can't figure it out. This has only happened when I tried to re-culture, so its gotta be something with that. Could it be because after the incubation time I let it sit out for a few hours? The incubation time ended at 3am and I forgot to get up and move it to the frig until about 6am. I don't know, but I'm disappointed. Meanwhile I am eating thin yogurt and using all of my husband's precious milk trying to figure this out.... ~sigh~