Staying Warm and Frugal Accomplishments

the 4 in front are the barred rocks we got early January

As in much of the country, last week was a cold, snowy, icy one. I'm joining in with The Prudent Homemaker's weekly Frugal Accomplishments.  Other than a quick run out last Sunday for canning jars, I stayed home all week.  I made herb tea for the chickens with dried nettles and chickweed, as mentioned on Heather's fb page, but they were not terribly appreciative, so I then put the nettles on top of the bread soaked in warm milk I had been giving them, which they adore. I also gave them sunflower seeds we grew, extra nutrition and calories to help warm them.  The chicks integrated into the flock very well, and are growing.  SO warmed bricks on our woodstove, and put them in a large clay pot in the coop (out of their usual path), right at dusk several nights, to supplement the heat lamp (we added a 2nd lamp on the nights in the single digits).  I did bring one of the chicks in to warm a bit by the woodstove on the coldest day.  She looked to be struggling (shivering), but in a half hours time, was happily preening her feathers.  They all made it through well otherwise.

Before the very cold temps in the single digits, I harvested all the remaining carrots from the garden, which ended up being just under 2 lbs.

blueberry breakfast cake, before cinnamon sugar topping 

Ate all meals at home, including broccoli fried rice with our eggs and garlic, roasted butternut squash, pumpkin soup w rosemary (squash, pumpkin & rosemary grown here), pasta with sauce using our tomatoes, oregano, basil, onions and garlic, & salad using our arugula.  Also made lentil soup using our carrots, and whole wheat popovers with wheat I ground, blueberry breakfast cake with our blueberries, eggs and homemade vanilla.

It seemed fitting to do all the heat-creating chores I could manage, so I recanned a #10 can of olives- got nineteen 4 oz jars and seven half pint jars. I also took 2 gallon bags of vegetable trimmings from the freezer, and canned vegetable broth: got 7 pints and 2 half pints.  I enjoyed watching the Manor House series while catching up on my ironing, which ahem, took the entire series.  In my defense, half were vintage linens of all sorts I had been given last year.  I felt right at home watching the downstairs servants of Manor House do similar daily chores.  I also caught up on all but 2 pieces of mending- several pairs SO's work pants, several cashmere sweaters, an ornament and a pillowcase.   The handwork was done while keeping an eye on the pressure canner.  I do love the darning feature of my sewing machine to mend pillowcases and cashmere sweaters.

waiting for a spot at the feeder

I made yogurt & kefir.  I tasted the kombucha, which still tasted weak but pleasant, and tasted the kimchi, which I'm not sure about, but don't think I'm going to love.   I think it's as much the smell as anything.  I like cabbage, carrots and garlic... just not sure about the combination fermented.  However, I baked these chocolate chip cookies with home ground wheat.  These absolutely make my taste buds happy!

I watched several episodes of Coal House online.  I believe this is the grimmest of the series I've seen of reenacted time periods. This takes place in a coal mining town in Wales in the 1920's.  These series do make me very aware of just how blessed I am to live in these times and conditions.  Interestingly, a movie that had been on my Netflix queue arrived, Pride, which was also a story partly about a coal mining community in Wales.  A different time and a different story, but I was thankful to have this background before watching it.  I was happy to see the rhubarb, parsley and collards all seemed to have made it through the bitter cold OK.  Though they are out in the open, they all  seemed to be happier than the greens under the hoop house.  Gardening is always interesting!

A New View

Those there are the first curtains I've ever sewn.  I figured the pantry would be a good place to wet my feet, it being somewhere we won't be living and looking at them everyday.  I made them from what I believe is linen fabric I found at the thrift store.  To be sure, they're far from perfect, but they serve the purpose.  We recently put our potato harvest in there.  I've covered the potatoes with burlap, but the less light the better, for them and for the jars of canned goods.

This week, I made the first tomato pie of the summer.  Along with it, I made these muffins.  I'll be making them again. I've also had my eye on a blueberry cornmeal muffin recipe, which uses fresh corn, in addition to the cornmeal.  I just need to buy some corn, and we'll give it a whirl.  Or wait a bit longer for our corn.  A good half of it was knocked down by a storm, but we have hopes of harvesting a few ears, if we can keep the critters from getting them first.

Unraveling a Sweater & a new Pumpkin Soup

The idea of unraveling a wool sweater for yarn has intrigued me for some time.  I'm down to one dryer ball in my shop, and all out of wool yarn, so this seemed like a good time to experiment.  I chose a thrifted sweater that had a nice loose weave.  So far, I've learned it would be a lot easier to unravel a sweater that is one color, as with multiple colors, there are many, many pieces.  It figures; I just really didn't have a clue what to expect, and wondered if they were somehow tied together, but no, they are not.  With the wool being for dryer balls that will be felted, it's not an issue, so I'm just tying them together myself, as I go along.  If you were aiming to make a piece of clothing, you'd want yards of unbroken yarn. This is the tutorial I used, which gave me a basic idea of what to expect.  My sweater had sewn seams, which was tricky to discern at first, and tough to begin unraveling.  Her sweater yielded 428 yards of yarn.  If I wasn't interested in knowing what yardage I unraveled, I could just begin felting, as I've been rolling them up into balls as I go.  But I really want to know, so I can decide the value vs my time.  So, I'll be using her tip of measuring yardage using chairs, then rewinding them.  I may not do that on further sweaters.  I guess that depends on my curiosity, but for this first one, I do want to know.  It will be an approximation, with so many knots tied in it, and likely somewhat varied tension, but an approximation is OK.  At the start, I was keeping colors separate, but I like my dryer balls with varied yarns, so just started tying all the colors together.  I'll keep you posted.  *Thanks to a fellow yarn lover, I now know I can weigh my yarn to get approximate yardage.  Thanks for such a time-saving, wonderful tip, Kellie!

There's a new recipe to share. A pumpkin soup we enjoyed.  It was my first time making browned butter, and I'm sorry I waited so long.  I left the ginger out, as Joseph is allergic, but otherwise made the recipe as is.  For toppings, I used the browned butter and brown rice, which was excellent.  I'll likely try yogurt in the future, and possibly the coconut, just to see.  I found the recipe here, an amusing blog I enjoy.  Scroll to the bottom of the post for the recipe.  Yesterday was a raw, cold, dreary day.  I decided an apple pie was in order.  Forgive the dark photo, but the one with more realistic color didn't show the paisley design as well.  The pie crust used up the last bits of flour in the house, so I made tapioca flour in the coffee grinder to use in the filling.  It turned out better than average.  Today is sunny, and the first load of laundry is ready for the clothesline.  Have an enjoyable day, friends!

An Herb Lemonade for Memorial Weekend

There's a new mint lemonade to add to the herbal lemonade repertoire.  It was a hit at a recent family gathering, which is good, as there's a lot of mint around here.  In fact, I'm slowly but surely working on pulling up all the Kentucky Colonel mint that has taken a foothold in the garden.  It seems a piece came in with some leeks that were transplanted into the garden.   Sneaky stuff, that mint.

The music Playlist is now turned off, due to some feedback I received.  It's still there, at the bottom of the page.  The only difference is you'll have to turn it on now, instead of it coming on automatically.

I recently prepared a salad dressing from Eat To Live, which we're enjoying, with a nice blend of flavors.  It was tweaked a little, as you may have guessed.

Balsamic Vinaigrette

1/2 c water
1/4 c seasoned (basil & oregano) rice vinegar
2 tbs roasted garlic olive oil
1/4 c balsamic vinegar
1/4 c raisins
4 cloves garlic, pressed
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp garlic salt

Blend all ingredients until smooth and creamy.  Have a safe & wonderful Memorial weekend, friends!

With the Help of the Wee Folk

The Leprechauns must have been watching over me on Saturday.  I went looking for four leaf clovers to put on the cake, and ended up finding 13 of them, along with a five leaf clover!  The cake was moist and delicious.  There was no regular Guinness stout in the grocery store, so I ended up using a local beer, Natty Greene's Old Town Brown Ale, instead.  Here's the recipe I used, from Simply Recipes:

Chocolate Guinness Cake

1 cup stout or porter beer, such as Guinness
10 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 cups superfine sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cream cheese frosting recipe

As often happens, I tweaked a few things... used organic sugar for the superfine, the brown ale mentioned above for the Guinness, Hershey's Special Dark cocoa, and left out the salt as the butter was salted.

1. Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.  Grease a 8 or 9 inch springform pan with butter and line the bottom with a round of parchment paper.  (I waited until step 2 was done to preheat)

2. In a large saucepan, place the beer and butter.  Cook over medium-high heat until the butter has melted.  Add the cocoa powder and sugars and whisk together.  Take off heat and allow to come to room temperature.

3. In another bowl, beat together the sour cream, eggs and vanilla extract until very well combined.  Add to the beer-butter mixture and whisk together.

4.  In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add to the beer-butter mixture and whisk together until it just comes together.  Pour into the prepared pan and give the pan a few short drops onto the counter to release the air pockets in the batter to the surface.  Bake for 50-60 minutes.  Allow to cool on a wire rack.  Run a knife around the edge to separate the cake from the pan and pop the ring off the springform.

5. Spread the frosting on the cooled cake and serve.

Yield:  Makes one 8 or 9-inch cake.

I also fixed Colcannon for the first time.  This recipe, which was a hit.  I mean, really, how can you go wrong with homegrown potatoes, heavy cream and butter :o)  I hope your St. Patrick's Day was just as nice!

Stickers and Sprouts

I hope your weekend was a good one.  We had a visit from Joseph's son and family.  Little S sure was creative with stickers :o)

Though the season is just about over, I wanted to share a recipe for Brussels sprouts.  My first few attempts at cooking them, many years ago, turned them into bitter little things.  These are tender and delicious.

Oven Roasted Garlic Brussels Sprouts

2 lb Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved (quartered if large)
5 cloves garlic, minced fine or pressed through garlic press
1/2 cup water
2 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Place oven rack in upper third of oven and preheat to 425 degrees.

In a 9 x 13 inch baking dish, toss together Brussels sprouts, garlic, water, oil, salt and pepper and spread out in a single layer.

Bake for 40 minutes, tossing once about 25 minutes into cooking time.  Remove from oven and toss sprouts in the pan, scraping up brown bits into the sprouts.  I found the recipe here.

A Little Different Ranch Dressing

It was a gorgeous walk to the mailbox this morning.  Fairly warm, blue skies, with the sound of spring peepers down at the pond.  I've tried several new recipes recently.  There were 3 keepers and one not so much.  I was reminded that any recipe including both apples and onions is not going to be to my liking.  But, I'll share one of the keepers.  The original recipe is here.  It's a Buttermilk Ranch dressing, which I tweaked to use kefir and fresh herbs.  I've only recently come to appreciate Ranch dressing, the good homemade sort anyway.

Ranch Dressing

1/2c kefir (substitute buttermilk if you'd like)
1/2c mayonnaise
sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
a nice handful of parsley, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 tsp lemon juice

Whisk together the ingredients, and store in a jar for up to one week.  Shake before serving.

It's easy to make a substitute for buttermilk, if you only have milk on hand. Just add 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice or vinegar to the 1/2c milk (1 tbs for 1 c milk, etc), and in about 10 minutes, it will have curdled.  Use just the same in any recipe calling for buttermilk.  I've been making progress pruning trees and bushes this week.  I'm looking forward to getting out there again on this lovely day.  Have a wonderful weekend, friends!

Winter Gardening

I fixed some favorite winter foods for dinner last night. Grandma's Pumpkin soup, bread and a Winter salad. The soup recipe came from Jackie Clay of Backwoods Home magazine. My pumpkin/winter squash harvest has always been good here, but I've never loved a pumpkin soup recipe before this one. The soups were edible, but left me wishing I'd made pie instead. This one's wonderful, and pretty to boot. We had dinner guests not long ago, one of whom didn't care for pumpkin soup. Well, um, he asked for seconds. The Winter salad was the creation of my ex-husband, and it's a keeper. Lots of zesty flavors, which is sometimes just what is needed in the depths of winter. I grow a blend of greens in my cold frame through the winter. In these parts, they call it Grandpa's salad mix. It's a blend of a dozen or so winter greens; several mustards, kales, rape/canola... I get it at the local feed & seed, and ask them to blend mine a little heavier on the kales. Oh, I almost forgot. I also made the Buttermilk Apple Cake posted by Rhonda on down-to-earth . We're feeling pretty fat and happy! If you haven't entered the giveaway, go here.

Grandma's Pumpkin Soup

2 tbs vegetable oil

1 minced onion

1 minced sweet pepper (I used frozen from last year's garden)

3 cloves crushed garlic

2 c cooked, pureed pumpkin

1/4 tsp curry powder

1/4 tsp ground cumin

2 c stock

1 c cream (more or less to suit you)

salt & pepper to taste

In a large pot, heat oil & saute vegetables until soft. Add pumpkin & spices, and saute until aroma is released from curry & cumin. Add stock & cream. Heat through. Double for company.

There really isn't a recipe for Winter salad, & it's a little different everytime, but always good. You'll need:

a large bunch of winter greens

the best olive oil you've got 

feta cheese

oil-cured olives (we've been using black Provencal herb from the local coop instead recently)

lots of garlic, pressed or minced finely (maybe 6 cloves,or to your taste)

Wash & tear greens into bite sized pieces & drizzle with some olive oil to moisten (it helps things mix better). Mix olive oil, feta (break into small pieces if needed)and garlic in small bowl.

Pour over greens & mix well. Throw in a good handful or two of olives & mix. Tastes best if allowed to sit a bit, allowing the greens to wilt a little.

Holiday Spirit

The Piedmont Biofuels crowd really knows how to throw a party. Their holiday potluck/party was last night, complete with some pretty outrageous karaoke. Good food, good cheer, great dancing. An excellent way to get in the holiday spirit. We've been sent some excellent cards this year, including the one on the right from Mark & Meredith of Whynot Pottery. I've been in cookie making mode. Yesterday's was Sparkly Cinnamon Coins, a recipe I got from Food & Wine several years back.

Sparkly Cinnamon Coins

2 sticks(1/2 lb) unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. fine sea salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
crystallized sugar for rolling (I've used both demerara & Sugar in the Raw with good results)

1. In large bowl, beat butter until creamy. Add sugar & beat until combined. Beat in cinnamon, salt & vanilla, then beat in flour. Divide the dough into thirds, wrap each piece in plastic wrap and shape into a 10" log, about 1 1/4 inches thick. Refrigerate until firm, about an hour.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 3 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Unwrap one piece of dough. Sprinkle crystallized sugar into a 3-by-10 inch rectangle on a sheet of wax paper. Roll log in the sugar, pressing lightly. Cut log into 3/8 inch slices. Arrange coins about 1 inch apart on 1 of the prepared baking sheets. Repeat with remaining 2 logs of cookie dough. Bake the cookies for about 17 minutes, or until golden. Let cool on baking sheets.

I've had the best luck in getting the crystallized sugar to stay when I roll them prior to chilling, rather than after. This recipe always seems a bit on the dry side, and makes a pretty, crispy cookie. I'm thinking today's cookie is Crispy Gingerbread Stars. Happy Sunday!