Enjoyment & Experiments

It's only been two days since I posted, but it feels like there's plenty to note. Sorry in advance for lots of links rather than pics...

Yesterday was my birthday, and I celebrated by spending most of the day in the kitchen. :0) Thank you to all for the cards, flowers, etc!

In my kitchen playtime, I made Honey Vanilla Pound Cake (really good and a perfect base for strawberry shortcake) and Swiss Chard Dolmades (a creative new way to use the swiss chard that came in our CSA bag). I liked the idea of the dolmades, but will definitely improvise my own filling next time with a lot more spice to it. In addition, I located a recipe for make-your-own Vanilla Extract that will save me a bazillion dollars. Vanilla extract that doesn't contain high fructose corn syrup is expensive! Meanwhile, I got to enjoy World War Z as an audio book free on youtube! So fantastic.

While I was playing, the Supreme Court was doing their best to advance the extinction of mankind, compliments of their latest brilliant decision to allow Monsanto to sell GM (genetically modified) seeds without testing. It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to understand that this is a terrible idea, but if you'd like to have nightmares about all the very real and frightening consequences of GM seed please let me know and I'll be happy to give you a short reading list.

Back to enjoyable things, I timed myself and discovered that I can grind 2/3 cup of flour per minute by hand. :0) That, along with the fact that I just emptied my second superpail of hard wheat means only one thing: I bake (and eat) WAY to much bread! Lol. Speaking of which, I've got a fresh batch of dough rising. It's a much simpler version of the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day plan, where you make a big batch of dough, let it sit in your fridge, and take off hunks whenever you want fresh bread. This reduces your prep time to about a hour from thought to done baking. Nice, huh? (EDIT: This is to die for and sinfully easy! Make some!)

Since the World Cup has been going on the last couple days, Eric has been teaching me the basics of the sport and keeping me posted on who's doing well and who is an embarassment to their nation (*cough*France*cough*) While I may never sit and watch a whole game, it's be suprisingly fun to learn.

PSA of the day: the government thinks individuals don't have the right to choose what to eat or what to feed your children. I won't rant... I'm sure you all know what I think already.

Like to read? If you read The Shack, please make sure you read the counter book that was recently published - Burning Down The Shack. The original is not exactly what it's presented to be.

Okay... that's enough out of me for now. Hugs all around! :0)

Recipes Galore

I promised a few people recipes recently and, as I sat down to type them out, realized that some were already available online. So, in the interests of efficiency, I will post links to them here.

New things I tried (and liked):
Strawberry Preserves with Balsamic Vinegar
Barley Risotto

Recipes I promised people:
Brown Rice Flour Mix (for the brownies below)
Amazing Chicken Pot Pie

Okay, I can't for the life of me find this recipe online anywhere, so I'm going to break down and type it out. My understanding of copyright law is that if I give credit to the source and paraphrase the directions, it's okay to post, so here goes!

Gluten Free Brownies by Annalise Roberts in "Gluten Free Baking Classics"

2/3 cup Brown Rice Flour Mix (above)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
2 oz unsweetened chocolate
4 oz semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 lrg eggs
3/4 cup chopped toasted walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 325*. Line 8 in. square pan with lightly greased foil. Combine flour mix, salt, baking powder, xanthan gum in small bowl. Set aside. Melt chocolate and butter in medium saucepan over low heat. Whisk in sugar and vanilla. (remove from heat) Whisk in eggs one at a time until smooth. Whisk in dry. Stir in nuts if using. Bake for about 45 min. Cool for 5 min before cutting.


I won't post the recipes for pickled pears or pickled peaches until after my initial batches have been tested, so that's it for today. Happy baking!

Life in Pictures

Today has been a busy and productive day. Seeing as it's summer, much of the activity has centered around the kitchen! Banana chips (for granola) and bread crumbs (why buy what you can make better yourself?) in the dehydrator.

An experiment on the counter... watermelon rind pickles. I'd read about them, but never seen any. Since mini melons were on sale this week and I was apt to buy one anyway, I figured it was a good time to try this new recipe. Here the peel is soaking in brine over night; I'll let you know how they turn out!

On the stove, bubbling away, is the canner. Spiced peaches (also on sale this week) - if they taste half as good as they smell, I'm hooked! It smells like peach cobbler... mmm... Unfortunately, they have to cure for three months, so it will be a little while before I can tell you if they turned out!

On the floor is our latest attempt to acquire border-collie-proof toys. We are quickly reaching the conclusion that there is no such thing. Arthas considers squeaky toys a personal affront and makes a point of killing any squeaker in short order. The puncture marks and shredded nylon make me suspect this toy, however much delighted in, will not be long for this world.

My birthday presents came early this year - Eric bought me both a book I loved (The Crazy Makers - read it; it will change how you look at food), and a stoneware cookie sheet! How cool is that?! Easy to maintain and perfect for everything from artisan bread to cookies to crackers (next on my list of things to master).

And a suprise house-warming gift from a friend! I had mentioned to my friend Kerry a month or so ago that Eric and I were looking for crystal wine goblets, but that I was out of my league because I don't know the first thing about crystal. Kerry's soon-to-be-husband David happens to be an expert on crystal. So what did they do? They sent us some! How beautiful are these? My pictures don't do them justice; they are lovely and we are delighted. :0)

Okay, that's it for now. Our trip to Rochester went well and was without incident, and although we were quite productive I didn't remember to take any pictures. lol.

More stuff to post soon! -hugs-

The Search Concludes

After much searching and polite explaining that we were looking for a solid (real) wood table without leaves (which inexplicably baffled people), we finally found a dining room set we love!

Made with reclaimed barnwood (how awesome is that?!), it is exactly what we wanted. It's heavy, too! There's a store in Glen Falls that sells Amish made and Adirondack-style furniture, and I'm sure we'll go back if we ever need more. Loved it!

Happily, our furniture searching is now over. :0)

Headed to Rochester for a few days. Back on Monday with pictures of the early birthday presents my husband brought me and a beautiful housewarming present from a friend!

Book Reviews

Yes, I know... lots of posts recently. But there's a lot going on!
Four quick book reviews today. (And no pictures, because I'm REALLY annoyed with blogger's inability to properly format them...sorry...)

Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds - obviously haven't read it yet... Purchased as a reference material, intial review seems impressive. Excellent illustrations and sketches, clear and easy to read descriptions and all kinds of fascinating facts in easy to use format.

The Book of Preserves - the beginning of my quest to read everything I can get my hands on relating to preserving and food storage. Not a bad start; I've copied out several simple recipes. Not going on my list of resources worth owning, however. Just not that helpful.

Putting Food By - considering one of the classic tomes of preserving wisdom, this is a clearing house of basic information on canning processes and safety. I have my eye on the companion book, Putting Food Up with Honey, but this will definitely make the need-a-copy-for-my-shelf list! If you're new to canning, it's a good place to start.

unChristian - picked up at the library on a whim, this turned out to be fantastic. A little dry, but precious in content: three years of research into what people really think about Christians and why. Most of it rang soundly true. I would love to see this book get in the hands of pastors and ministry leaders. A valuable read for everyone, no matter where you stand.

Food Storage Analyzer

Have you ever noticed the Preparedness Pantry button on the side of our blog? It's a link to the great people at Emergency Essentials and the very informative blog they run. Full of info about preparing for emergencies of all kinds.

I've known for a while that they had a tool called the Food Storage Analyzer, but never made time to try it out... Until now.

Verdict?


It's awesome!!


You plug in basic information (age/gender) of the people you're preparing for and it calculates the number of calories you will most likely need per day (if it looks a little high, it's because people usually need extra calories when they're working all day, and let's face it - if there's a major emergency, we're not going to be sitting around watching tv!).

Then, the program gives you the option to plug in what you already have on hand. This is great, because not only can you choose from commercially available products, but you can enter your own if you don't see what you like/want on their list! The program also allows you to earmark products you have not yet purchased but intend to so that you can evaluate their impact on your preparedness level.

The best part: this free calculator takes all your inputs and tells you how many days worth of food you have and it's nutritional content.

It even allows you to search items by nutritional need (i.e. if you come up really low on vitamin c, it can give you a list of suggested items high in vitamin c that you can add to your supply).

I strongly suggest you check this out now, while it's summer and produce abounds!

Canning, dehydrating and freezing summer's bounty while produce of all kinds is in season is the least expensive and one of the most nutritious ways to feed your family - in an emergency or as a general practice. (There are plenty of other options for those less domestically inclined or limited in resources/storage space: MRE's, meal replacement bars, etc.)

Whatever your opinions on emergency planning or food, I encourage you to check out this resource. It's easy both to use and update and can offer you some really insightful perspectives on where your family stands.

If you try it, let me know - I'd love to hear other people's results and opinions!

Hodge Podge

First off, food notes: Chicken Empanadas - if they're not already in your cookbook, add them now! And Strawberries with Balsamic-Honey Yogurt. Not posted yet, but to die for. Look for them on Recipezaar soon!

Next up, furniture - ours came! The beautiful living room set we bought does an excellent job of complimenting the amazing shelves my talented husband build, does it? (Yes, we need to fix the wiring situation... one step at a time.)

Interesting reading - on gardening in suburbia. While I can't say I agree with all his ideas, it's a good debate with several facets well deserving of deeper debate.

Gun control - the best graphics I've seen in a long time illustrating basic concepts. (Click on the links by subject on the bottom of the page.) Here are my favorites:

Also, it's farm stand and farmers' market season! If you don't already have a favorite, check out the Weston Price Foundation website to find a good one near you and start stocking up! :0)