Dec. 1, 2008 - Bathroom Project - tub Surround
For the first several hours there was much measuring, reading, marking, contemplating, deciding etc. and so forth. but here is where we ended last night.
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Dec. 1, 2008 - A way to do even less in the morning.
for those of you who send your kids off to school, this is a great time saver in the morning.
Crockpot Oatmeal.
2 c. rolled oats
4 c. water or milk
dash salt
Optional: chopped fruit, raisins, nuts or alternatively save these for toppings.
throw all ingredients in crockpot at night before bed turn on lowest setting.
In the morning, throw it on the table with some bowls and spoons and toppings and away you go.
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Sep. 28, 2008 - Homemade fresh salsa
after baby sitting our tomatoes for a LOOOOOng time we are finally seeing a bunch of ripe ones at a time... enough to do some stuff with.
we've been eating a lot of bruschetta... mmmmm
but today I made salsa. We have yet to try it but it contains
tomatoes (from our garden0
hot peppers (from our garden)
chives (from our garden)
olive oil
garlic
cilantro
salt
now i'm letting it sit in the fridge for a while and I'm going to make nachos for supper.
So who's coming for dinner?
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Sep. 13, 2008 - Easiest Pretzles EVER!
1.5 c warm water
2-3 T yeast
1 T sugar
1 t salt
3 c flour
soak the yeast if you need to, add all the other ingredients and knead altogether. separate into 8 -10 balls. roll into long thin worms. shape into pretzles. brush with beaten egg and sprinkle with topping. salt, cinnamon sugar, or whatever. bake at 450 for 15 - 20 min. no rising no waiting. yumm!
My friend reminded me that this recipe is from our other friend who used this recipe in Africa when they were craving pretzles. thanks Ashley!
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Sep. 8, 2008 - Pickling.... Again
I already pickled a bunch of veggies 2 weeks ago, plus some eggs. Today I thought I would try baby yellow crookneck squash along with my cucumbers and hot peppers. They look so pretty in the jar. I only made half a batch of my pickling solution but I still have way too much left... so I'm canning it. it's gonna last forever. I should sell
"Jo's Famous Pickling Solution" and make my million that way.
Aaaaaand.......yesterday we got 15 EGGS!!!!
Also, last week I did get around to canning some spaghetti sauce and some meat and veggie mixture that I can use for a soup base.
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Sep. 7, 2008 - Faux Pineapple
so you take some of your over abundance of zucchini or yellow crookneck squash and peel and cut it up in chunks or grate it.
You'll need 4 quarts of prepared summer squash.
1.5 c. lemon juice
46 oz. pineapple juice
3 c. sugar or honey
bring to a boil and simmer for 20 min.
pack hot into hot pint jars and waterbath for 20 minutes.
Tada! Use in place of pineapple in any recipe that calls for it.
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Sep. 7, 2008 - Make your own chicks
Jeremy made a funny little incubator for some eggs we saved before the rooster (henceforth known as BP, short for butt-pick) went in the soup.
We didn't know if it would work as BP and the hens were still very young.
but Jeremy candled them last night and at least 50% are developing and we are half-way through the incubation period! it's incredible how fast they develop. in 21 days they go from egg to cute little furry chicks with all the instinct of chickens. They scratch and flap and fluff up their feathers....
God is really incredible.
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Sep. 2, 2008 - mmmm... I'm going to have these for supper tonight.
Spicy Squash Cakes
This recipe works well with a combination of zucchini and pattypan or yellow squash. Temper the fieriness of the jalapenos by adjusting the amount or by removing the seeds and white membrane. Prepare small cakes for an appetizer or larger ones as a side dish or serve with crusty bread and tomato salsa for a full meal.
1 whole egg plus 2 egg whites or use 3 eggs
4 cups grated summer squash
1 cup fresh corn kernels, cut from 2 ears
1/4 cup chopped green onions, tops included
1 large jalapeno pepper, chopped
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper or black pepper
Canola oil for sauteing
Low-fat sour cream (optional)
Fresh tomato salsa (optional)
In a large bowl, beat the eggs. Beat in squash, corn, green onions, jalapeno, the cheeses, flour, olive oil and ground pepper.
Heat two tablespoons canola oil in a heavy 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. For small cakes, spoon one tablespoon squash mixture per cake into the hot oil and flatten to uniform thickness. For large cakes, use two tablespoons of squash mixture per cake. Do not over crowd the skillet. Leave about an inch between cakes.
Cook until edges turn golden brown, turn and cook the other side until golden brown, about three minutes total cooking time per cake. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate. Place in a warm oven and continue cooking the remaining cakes.
To serve, arrange two or more cakes on individual plates. Serve with some of the salsa and a dollop of low-fat sour cream. Sprinkle with salt if desired. Serves 6.
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Apr. 27, 2008 - Curdled canned Zuppa....dryed lemons
Looks gross, tastes good, but I won't can Zuppa with the cream in it again.
The weekend's not a total bust though, I am drying some 1/4 inch slices of lemon, as i type, which will then be ground and used in place of lemon zest and as seasoning.... I gotta find out how to store this so it will last.
Fun, Fun, Fun!
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Apr. 25, 2008 - Canned Zuppa
I will try to can this for my weekend project. So far all my canning projects have turned out great. so here's hoping.....
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Apr. 17, 2008 - Weekend Canning Project
Each weekend I am going to find something to can. Last weekend, on the spur of the moment, I decided to can meat sauce, like for spaghetti and such stuff. It turned out really well. It's so lovely to have "convienience food" that doesn't have any mystery ingredients.
Next time I will not cook the veggies ahead of time, I will just put them in at the end of cooking the meat and heat it all through.
this weekend I am going to can stew.
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Apr. 17, 2008 - More tortilla trouble
So I bought Masa. Tried the recipe on the package. I figured out how to make pretty good tortillas but the trouble was, turning them into chips.
these things were sooooooo hard, wow, my jaw was sore after eating them.
plan for next time: try to make them thinner somehow.
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Apr. 15, 2008 - Homemade Lemon Curd with honey instead of Sugar
2 eggs beaten
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 2 lemons
1/2 cup butter
1 cup honey
whisk ingredients together and place in top of double boiler,
Stir constantly until thickened, 10 -15 minutes.
Pour into jar (makes approx 1.5 cups). cool on counter and then refridgerate.
Eat on bread or buns or gingerbread.
Why? Less waste, less harmful additives. Now if only I could get a cow and a lemon tree and a beehive.
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Apr. 15, 2008 - Best mayonnaise recipe so far
I keep adapting until I find one I like. this one is adapted from several different recipes and requires a food processor. you could do it with the beaters on high or a whisk attachment on your stand or hand mixer but it will not be as thick. Or you could whisk by hand like the proper chefs do it .... Not until the grid goes down, thanks! At least not for me.
2 egg yolks (reserve whites and add to your next batch of scrambled eggs, keeps for 3 days well covered in fridge)
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp - 1 Tbsp dijon mustard to taste
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp whey (from draining your yogurt)
run food processor for a half minute, stop, scrap everything together and run again .... leave running.
now mix together in glass liquid measuring beaker:
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup safflower oil
3/4 - 1 cup sunflower oil
stir a couple times with a spoon.
Now, using your drizzle insert, add, 1 tsp at a time, 10 tsps of oil mixture, mixing for 15 - 30 sec between the last drop of each tsp. (does that make sense? Add a tsp of oil, watch for it to be done dripping through the drizzle attachment wait for 15- 30 sec. and then add your next tsp.) (if you are using something that is not a food processor add the first 10 tsp of the oil mixture 1/4 tsp at a time, allow it to emulsify into the egg mixture and then add your next 1/4 tsp.) Do Not Hurry this process or you will end up with a gross bunch of eggy globs floating in oil.
Once you are done with the 10 tsps, you may start adding 1 Tbsp at a time to the drizzler in the same way for the next 10 Tbsp and then just glob it in there every couple of minutes. If you are not using a food processor do it just with the thinnest drizzle you can, such a little bit at a time until you are down to 3/4 - 1 cup of oil, then you can start adding it in a very little bit faster. If you hurry this process you will have a gross inedible mess.
Once all the oil is incorporated transfer to a glass jar (you will have 1-2 c. of mayo) cover tightly and let it sit at room temp for 7 hours. This allows the whey to do it's work which is innoculating anything that may cause the mayo to spoil. then put it in the fridge. If you skip the whey your mayo would need to be eaten within a week, but with the whey and the room temp resting period your mayo should last several months in the fridge.
Ideas: mix half yogurt and half mayo then add dill, garlic, basil, thyme stir and allow to sit in fridge for 1/2 hour. Dip for your veggies. Use however you would use store bought mayo.
To make into Salad Dressing (miracle whip) add sugar and horseradish to taste.
Why? there are more and more additives in the mayo and miracle whip you by at the store, most of them not good for human consumption, not to mention how taxing it is on the environment to be buying and chucking all those plastic and glass jars and lids, even if you recycle them. Recycling is not a guilt free, go ahead to buy into our society's consumeristic mindset. Recycling uses gas to get the materials to the recycling plant, chemicals and energy for the recycling process and usually the product is no longer food safe when it comes out of the recycling plant which means our only option for food safe plastics and glass is raw virgin materials..... besides...... The first R of the 3Rs is REDUCE, and by making this, among other things from scratch I am hugely reducing my waste, recyclable or other wise.
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Apr. 14, 2008 - Easiest Homemade Yogurt
here's a recipe that I came to on my own, tryed all different methods and this just was the easiest for me.
What you will need:
- large pot
- 5-6 jars with lids (reuse mayo jars, jam jars, whatever)
- 2 L milk
- plain yogurt or yogurt starter
- cooler
- towels
Take 2 L of milk and bring to a boil.
Your choice what %, I like whole milk because it makes a thicker yogurt.
Allow milk to cool to luke warm.
Remove approx. 1/2 cup of luke warm milk to a bowl and whisk in 1/4 cup of plain yogurt or two 5g pouches of yogurt starter.
Add back to large amount of warm milk.
pour into jars and loosely put the lids on, do not tighten lids, you want the yogurt to be able to breathe.
Now fill 3-4 jars or water bottles with the hottest water you can get from your tap and put the lids on tight.
line cooler with a towel and place the jars filled with milk in and wrap the towel over them.
Then place jars of hot water all around the wrapped up milk. place the other towel over the whole works and close the cooler.
Let sit for 5-6 hours, overnight won't hurt it. but not longer than 12 hours.
close lids tight and refridgerate.
I use as a replacement for sourcream, in baking, sweeten with maplesyrup or lemon curd, on oatmeal, on pancakes, Myriads of different ways to use yogurt. You can drain the whey off for 1-2 hours for extra thick yogurt to make Tzadziki, or 6 hours and use the resulting yogurt as a replacement in any cream cheese recipe.
Also, when you get the hang of it just reuse your last 1/4 c. from your last batch to start the next batch. or if you can never remember to do that, just freeze Tbsp dollops of plain yogurt on a cookie sheet and once frozen, store them in a container in your freezer. Everytime you start a batch of yogurt take out 4 chunks and by the time the milk is cooled down your chunks are thawed and ready to whisk in.
Why? You know all those plastic tubs from yogurt and sourcream? I just can't stand throwing them away and they are more difficult to recycle than plastic or paper milk cartons. Besides, when the food shortage hits, I will know how to make yogurt and i will be very useful to all my neighbors.
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Apr. 14, 2008 - Tortilla Chips
I did it, I made baked flour tortilla chips. I will do it again. But with a different recipe. These tasted like Wheat Thins. They were very good but didn't go so well with my Homemade Salsa and Homemade Yogurt. I took a Pita Recipe and replaced some of the flour with cornmeal. Next time I'm going to buy Masa (corn Flour) and make them properly.
Why? Because how can you reuse a tortilla chip bag? It's brittle and rips easily, chip bags do not lend themselves to reuse and I hate throwing plastic away so, If I want chips, I have to make them.
