Friday, December 31, 2010

Elena's Recipes

I am pretty sure that my love of cooking comes from my mom. She cooked. Boy did she cook. When her friends had parties, she was the one they called to cook. Her Philippine Club had a picnic it was my mom who roasted the pig. Once when I was a young teenager, she had brought home a baby pig, for the picnic. She wanted me to hold it while she slit its throat.........I ran as far as I could and I never ate barbque pig after that. Even today. But the Philippine foods she would cook, oh it was always soooo good. I have memories of weekends sitting watching black and white TV while mom was in the kitchen cooking up a storm and all the windows were fogged up. Pepsi was always on the table. Philippine friends were always over speaking Tagalog with mom. And the house was filled with her laughter. I miss moms laughter and cooking.
This year, I had my daughter and her boyfriend Mike over for dinner and I invited my brother and his family too. I made some of my mothers famous recipes. Many childhood friends now reacquainted on Facebook all commented on how they loved the things my mom cooked. So for the second time in my life, I made Panciet and Adobo, Leche flan and Lumpia.
I cooked all night, the Moday before the dinner. Just like mom did. I had the music on and it was exhausting work!!! But then Jerry Vale started singing and I knew, mom was there looking over my shoulder. Jerry was her favorite singer.
So here is the copy of recipes I shared with all the women in the family Tuesday night so they can practice cooking like their Grandam Elena.



Lumpia

Ingredients
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 pound ground pork
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup minced carrots
1/2 cup bean sprouts
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/2 cup thinly sliced green cabbage
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon soy sauce
30 lumpia wrappers (eggroll wrappers)
2 cups vegetable oil for frying
Directions
1.    Place a wok or large skillet over high heat, and pour in 1 tablespoon vegetable oil. Cook pork, stirring frequently, until no pink is showing. Remove pork from pan and set aside. Drain grease from pan, leaving a thin coating. Cook garlic and onion in the same pan for 2 minutes. Stir in the cooked pork, carrots, green onions, and cabbage. Season with pepper, salt, garlic powder, and soy sauce. Remove from heat, and set aside until cool enough to handle.
2.    Place three heaping tablespoons of the filling diagonally near one corner of each wrapper, leaving a 1 1/2 inch space at both ends. Fold the side along the length of the filling over the filling, tuck in both ends, and roll neatly. Keep the roll tight as you assemble. Moisten the other side of the wrapper with water to seal the edge. Cover the rolls with plastic wrap to retain moisture.
3.    Heat a heavy skillet over medium heat, add oil to 1/2 inch depth, and heat for 5 minutes. Slide 3 or 4 lumpia into the oil. Fry the rolls for 1 to 2 minutes, until all sides are golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Serve immediately.







Pancit




Ingredients: 
1 8 oz. pack rice  noodles
1 cooked chicken breast, shredded
2 cups of chicken broth or 2 chicken bouillon cubes dissolved in 2 cups of water
1/4 cabbage, sliced into strips
1 onion, pealed and sliced
3 cloves of garlic, crushed and minced
1/3 cup scallions, cut into pieces
1 carrot, sliced into strips
2 tablespoons of cooking oil
3/4 cup diced celery
3 tablespoons soy sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Soak the rice noodles to soften for 10 minutes

2. Grease a large pan or wok with oil. Sauté garlic and onions.

3. Add the chicken broth, the shredded chicken breast and all the vegetables until cooked.

4. Mix in the rice noodles and add the soy sauce, cook for about 5 minutes or until the noodles are soft.

5. Salt and pepper to taste.

Chicken or Pork Adobo


1 chicken pieces pork peices
5 or 6 large garlic cloves  (chopped)
  vegetable oil
1 tsp ground black pepper
4 whole black pepper cloves
3 dried bay leaves
   shredded fresh ginger
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup vinegar
7-up or Sprite (optional)
Remember to wash your chicken very well. We recommend using   lemon to scrub all over the chicken parts and rub some salt into it as well.
Heat oil and add all of the garlic, and cook until garlic is lightly browned. Add chicken and sauté until the chicken is beginning to tenderize.
Add ground black pepper, whole black pepper cloves, bay leaves, soy sauce, and vinegar, and let simmer for 25-35 minutes or until chicken is done.
Taste and adjust to suit your taste (should be a bit tangy). When chicken is tender, you may add some 7-Up or Sprite if you prefer a sweeter taste, and let simmer for 5 more minutes.
Serve over rice.
Leche Flan




Caramel:
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
Put sugar and water in a saucepan. Caramelize in medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Pour into flan molds or custard cups, tilting the mold to make sure the whole surface (about less than 1 cm) is covered. The more caramel you pour into the molds the sweeter the leche flan.
Custard:
8 egg yolks
1 can evaporated and 1 can condensed sweetened milk
1 tbsp. vanilla
1. In a large bowl, combine all custard ingredients. Stir lightly when mixing to prevent bubbles or foam from forming. Strain slowly while pouring into caramel lined flan mold.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cover mold with tin foil. Put molds into a bigger tray filled with water. Bake in oven for one hour or until mixture is firm. cool before unmolding on a platter.
Put molds in a bigger tray/ baking pan filled with water.
Bake in oven for one hour or until mixture is firm. Cool before unmolding on a platter.
Mom (Elena) covered with mandarin oranges.

It was really hard work and I couldn't wait to melt into my memory foam, in anticipation for the next day. The dinner was really nice. The food turned out really good. It was wonderful to spend time with my family and we went through my mom's small suitcase of pictures that I recently was reunited with. Baby pictures and wedding pictures. For a short time the windows were steamed up and there was laughter in the house.




Saturday, December 25, 2010

So Simple and So Good!


Why didn't I ever think of this before? It is so simple and yet soooo delish.  I was hankering for Christmas cut out cookies so I know, I know, I made some last night. I knew in the back of my cupboard somewhere I had sprinkles. How old? Oh I don't know, OLD. Then I remembered, I have some candy canes so I crushed them in a zip lock and sprinkled them on the cookies as soon as I iced them. Sprinkle fast as the icing hardens rather quickly.  Ice, sprinkle, ice, sprinkle. It's almost as good as Peppermint Bark, my other favorite.

Ingredients

  • 4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  •  Icing, recipe follows
  • Candy Canes crushed in a zip lock bag

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a bowl, stir together flour and baking powder. In another bowl, beat butter with sugar until fluffy and light. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture, a third at a time to make a stiff dough. Divide dough into 4 pieces. Roll out a portion of cookie dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut out shapes using cookie cutters. Place on lightly greased or nonstick cookie sheets. I use parchment paper, bake untl lightly golden, about 10-15 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through cooking time. Cool completely before decorating.

Colored Icing:
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons water or milk use your judgement
In a small bowl, mix sugar and water to form a thick, smooth icing.  Drop icing onto cookies using a small teaspoon and smooth with the back of the spoon. 

Dreams shattered? Pick up the peices......begin again.



You haven't heard from me in a while because I thought.....well the main reason for this blog, my attempts to live sufficiently at most, in the woods, a long time dream....was shattered. As long as could remember, I wanted to be just like my mentor and my hero Anne Labastille, I read all her Woodswoman books. I wanted to be her! She lived in the woods with her German Shepherds, that WAS ME!!!
 I felt for so long I had moved toward this dream and in one weekend, it disappeared and I was kind of lost, and just floated along not sure where to anchor.
Well, it seems that it was a combination of situations that Thanksgiving week that now, weeks later I can observe with better knowledge at what may have happened.
The first reason was the week before our Allegheny vacation it was all over the news about a 92 year old man that was missing in Allegheny State Park. He was never found. I was there only the second week of this and knowing he was out there just hung eerily in the background of my mind.
My mind. That week, I know now, I was NOT stable. I am giving you too much information, but here it is. My calendar said that week I should have my monthly female "you know".  It worried me only because of Bears or wild animals, could they "tell"? and find me? A week or two before that I started getting these "glowing" feelings, since then I have just installed a large fan on the top of my desk for these glowing things we now call hot flashes. That week in Allegheny was the beginning of my menopause. Yep. Now that I can look back on it. That was it. So now that I have voraciously scoured the Internet on information on menopause, another symptom is anxiety attacks. Which is what scared the daylights out of me by 5 pm every evening because it was so dark out, and I was alone in the woods like a nut. hahaha
So I came home early, dreams shattered. Not sure if I could ever live in the woods alone now. And as I said, I just drifted through it day after day, kind of in a limbo, not sure what to pin my hopes and dreams on. I am a Capricorn and we always have to have a goal. I was goal-less.
So this Christmas morning I woke up and turned on my fake electric fireplace and put the Yule log on TV and sat down to read in my favorite corner of my couch. I did not want to finish reading New Passages by Gail Sheehy. It is a very good book and gives us hope for those of us in mid life. But not on Christmas. I wanted to read something more "winter-y". So I picked up We Took to the Woods by Louise Rich. Now that my panic over menopause is over. I have come to accept my hot flashes and am alot more stable and I am taking some herbal remedies, eating healthy and exercising somewhat regularly.......I started reading Louise's words. Slowly, she brought me back into her world, I could almost hear the crunch of the leaves under my feet walking in the woods, I could smell the wood burning in the fireplace. Oh how I envy her! Did I just say that? And in that quick of an instant, I had realized that I still want to live in the country, maybe not alone in the middle of the woods like Anne or Louise, but pretty close to it. One day. No more fake fireplaces I want my own wood burning stove. I want to walk through the crunchy leaves to the wood pile to gather my wood for the day. When my boys have lived a good and happy life, I WILL get a German Shepherd puppy. I am pretty sure that when I retire, I will be in a cabin somewhere......

Sunday, December 5, 2010

December? Already?



December? Is it really? I am just not in the December winter mode. Even with the light dusting of snow on the ground and last weeks traumatic events of people stranded on the thruway just miles south of me.....I just do not feel, well, winter-y.
I was thinking of getting out the Christmas decorations. Maybe that will help. It is the last month of the year and I guess I should be making my goals for 2011, which I did think about when my daughter told me she had her goals for 2011. But my recent vacation in the Allegheny cabin has thrown me for a loop and I am in this weird limbo of my life. For the longest time I thought I wanted to live in a cabin in the woods. I thought about saving up to buy land and build a small cabin in the country. Close to the man I love so it would be easier for us to see each other. And I do not want to jinx our future by "assuming" anything, but if I don't "assume" am I manifesting that we would not live together or get married? I am in a juxtaposition. So as a Capricorn and an analyst, I tackled my goal like a "project". Doing lots and lots of research, even creating this blog to share what I learn with others that wish to do the same. To build a self-sufficient lifestyle. I even got caught up a little in the "survivalist" mode for a little while.
Don't get me wrong, I still plan on the Self-Sufficient lifestyle. And I will keep water, canned goods, etc. stocked "just in case". But I think I have watered down my plans a bit. I do love the cooking from scratch methods. But after 5 or 6 tries for some reason I just can't bake a good bread!!! It has disappointed me! I want chickens and goats but I could never handle it if something killed them. I know I could live with less electricity off grid on Solar. So I am not abandoning my dreams. I will just work toward them slower than I had planned.
I still love my life. I am the most blessed woman I know! The house I am currently in is the most comfortable I have been in for years now and really feels like a home to me. And as long as Wegman's makes all kinds of fabulous bread, I really don't have to wait 2 days to bake my own. As a Capricorn, I will continue to trudge on like the mountain goat that I am climbing those mountains. I am just not sure what mountain I am on.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Party like its 1829!






Well, we are back from our week at the Allegheny Cabin. For a long time now I have been talking about "retiring" to my "Cabin in the Woods", confident that I would have no problem downsizing my living arrangements. Living possibly off grid. My own sustainable homestead. I thought  maybe I should test it out, so I rented a cabin with no electricity. We got there early, not in the dark and pouring rain like last year. Last year we had electricity. The size did not bother me, the scenery was just gorgeous, cooking  was easy! Food in the coolers - no problem. Give me a wood burning stove and I am happy. The girl in the check in office even let me switch my cabin to one right on a creek! She even helped me find a cabin with NO other people around. So we were the only one's in the loop. Which I believe might have been my mistake. Because the second night at 5 P.M. I opened the door and looked outside and I thought someone threw a huge black tarp over the cabin, it was that dark outside. No of course there aren't street lights in the wilderness! This kind of freaked me out at night. During the day we went on many walks along the creek. It was hunting season so I made sweaters for the boys out of a hunting vest. We cooked some great meals and I got some good book reading in. But always near sundown, that is when I started to get a little freaky. I realized one night how absolutely insane it seemed me laying there in the middle of the wilderness all by myself with two small dogs! You know how you morph your thoughts until they seem surreal if you keep thinking about it. What was I thinking????? The radio kept warning of a snow storm so we left a few days early. I know now that I do not mind a smaller home, wood for heat, or even rough cooking. I do miss my Internet and electricity and refrigeration. What did I miss the most? Running water and a bright lamp tie for first place. So I have ruled out a cabin in the woods for now. I am now leaning toward a nice Craftsman bungalow instead........



Sunday, November 14, 2010

100 Mile Radius dinner





Friday we went to Becker Farms and Vizcarra Vineyard's 100 Mile Radius Meal. To think I only lived a mile away from this great place. They tell you the history of the farm at the beginning of the meal. All the food on the menu is from within a 100 miles of the farm. The food was absolutely incredible and so was the wine. They also offered an Amber beer that was very tasty. I would definitely attend again. The point is that you should support your local farms as often as you can. Next year I plan to return to Porter Farm's CSA.



Sunday, November 7, 2010

Got Milk? Coffee? Tea? or Me?



On the porch and the coffee is gooooooood.

As I poured myself yet another cup of coffee today, I had a question for myself. I have been trying to change over my regular habits to healthy, organic and greener habits. For YEARS I have always drank my coffee with sweet and low and powdered creamer. I became addicted to powdered creamer when I was pregnant with my daughter 25 years ago. I became a "sweet and low" fanatic a few years after that. So when I started becoming this health nut, I was appalled at what I had been doing to my body for so many years. And honey, I am not one of those 1 or 2 cups a day girl. I like a nice cup of coffee around 2 in the afternoon and I make a pot of coffee every night around 7 pm. It does not affect my sleep whatsoever! I did finally break myself of the habit of having to have a sweet (slice of pie or cake with frosting sweet) with my 7pm coffee. I said break not totally quit.......
I cannot and will not give up coffee. I have bought organic herbal coffee and I do have a jar of Caffix in my work desk that I do like occasionally. But I love coffee.

After listening to a podcast on More Hip than Hippie about Raw Milk, for cream I now make my own. I buy heavy cream, which I use for cooking etc. and I mix 1/2 heavy cream and 1/2 water. Why, because heavy cream is the least pasteurized. I mix it with water because I do not need the calories or the heaviness. I do not mix it with regular milk because I would be defeating the purpose of less pasturization.  I like the idea of Raw Milk. I have not had any yet but plan to soon. I found a dairy in Medina that sells it. Once I move to that area I plan to buy my milk from them. I could get my own goats and have my own milk and maybe one day I will. I have not had goats milk either. So I need to try that. I do love the cheese. So a couple things to add to my list of "to do's" Maybe I will take a ride out to get the Raw milk and blog about it!
As for the Sweet and Low, I have found Sweet Leaf, it is the most natural sweetener that I have found. Please, please, please do not believe everything you hear about Truvia. It is processed and owned by Cargill. The same thing about Agave nectar, the real true Agave nectar is produced solely in Mexico
So do your research! I used to feel so guilty about one of my guilty pleasures. I feel better now when I have my coffee. And mmmmmm I smell it now........

Friday, November 5, 2010

More of the same

Barb is coming over tomorrow, we are going to make more pepper jelly, this time I got more hot peppers so this will have more of a kick to it. Sizzle. I am making more chiabatta bread. Practice makes perfect! 
I got my solar iPod charger the other day. My first solar panel! Haha. Slowly but surely. I am learning.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Home SWEET home



I was driving to my sweet's lake house to deliver his birthday sweets. On the way there I am driving on some of my favorite roads, RT 104, 31, 63 and I got lost near Waterport because the Oak Orchard River rd bridge was closed but I didn't care. I love to meander around this area and I found my way finally driving through the town of Lyndonville. I love Lyndonville. This is the area I want to have my Barefoot Hippie Homestead in. I love this comfy cozy little town and I did not realize how much I missed it until I started coming out this way again. There is also something about beautiful Lake Ontario that calls to me. I live about a mile from Lake Erie and I do not get the pull and the calling from Lake Erie that I do from Lake Ontaio. Is it because of my sweet? My love? Well, it is because of him I moved to Gasport, and Albion and had an RV on Lake Ontario in 2006. It is because of him I made those decisions but while there, I fell in love with the area. Would I have fallen in love if I wasn't falling in love? It is not hard to say. 90% of the decisions I make are because of the man I have loved since 2003. Even the decision to move to Denver away from him was mainly because of him. I felt so strongly about him that I had to put thousands of miles between us so I could try to forget him. Look how well that worked. The pull I have toward him is greater than what Lake Ontario does to me. It is like jumping out of a plane (which he has done hundreds of times) with out a parachute and I fall willingly toward him because I know he will be there to catch me.

Jeffery's Lake house views of Lake Ontario

Mystic Meadows Daylily Farm


The pond (yes it's stocked) at Pam's place. She has stalls and outbuildings and lots and lots of land!

I am SOOOOOO jealous!!!

Barb and I took a drive out to S. Wales to visit our good friend Pam. She has a beautiful homestead! She bought the place, hundreds of acres back in the 90's when we were all still party girls and I could not understand why. Slowly she dropped out of the scene as we continued to party on. But now many many years later, way past my party prime, I understand. While me and Barb were doing shots, Pam was fixing, and hammering, and gutting and remodeling, adding and removing, digging, and planting. And now she has a beautiful homestead to show for it. She  also has a very successful Daylily Farm website. She is doing what she loves and loving where she lives.
Oh and I also found out that her brother in law Tim, who I have known for ever! His company now does Solar and Wind installation! How great is that???? Some one I can trust with some thing that is definitely going to be in my future! His company is Buffalo Greenworks.
And having a homestead does not mean you have to live in an ugly old house. Look at how beautiful Pam has made her place!

Her Great, great room that used to be the garage! I could just live in this room alone!

Barb and Pam

Barb in the gorgeous kitchen
Bathroom





Her three donkeys


No more lean ground beef.

 I just spent an hour cleaning my lovely 4 in 1 grill. I had made burgers for dinner the other night and I did buy the lean ground beef but still, It sputtered and smoked up the whole house and then the fat oozed out all over in all the nooks and crannys of my grill that took a lot of scrubbing! And there was grease all over the countertop. Thank heavens the grill parts detach for cleaning but I still had to get the grease that got underneath that! Near the heating elements which I do not think is a good thing. So while I was scrubbing this goopy grease I knew in the back of my mind that some of that stuff got into me as well. I used to eat and make turkey burgers all the time. But some times you all know, the idea of a nice fat burger entices me. Not any more, I do not want to do this cleaning any more. I also want to be healthy. I loved my turkey burgers, I would mix the gound turkey with chopped fresh rosemary and chopped red onion.
Make them all ahead of time and then freeze. I would come home from work and throw one on the grill (geo foreman back then) right from the freezer with a slice of egglant. These did not really need a roll or bun. Fresh cranberry sauce would be good here too. And there would be NO grease in the grease catcher!!!! Makes sense huh.


Poor baby I am sorry I clogged you!

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Freaky skies this morning

The skies were really weird this morning, and it was crazy windy and warm. The weather has been just wild this week. I even had to remove  a tree limb from the driveway to go to work. Nothing big. People were seen stopped taking pictures of the big rainbow that appeared too.
So I have only been showing you recipes lately and  I forgot to mention all the research I have been doing for my Barefoot hippie homestead. I have been reading about solar panels, and rain barrels and buying land and stocking a pantry. I have been looking at a LOT of small, tiny cabin kit homes. It all seems so intimidating.  I am slowly learning things here and there. I am not giving up yet. My basic plans change from day to day.
So, I have exciting news to share! Well, exciting for me any way. Since I am always dreaming about living in a cabin in the woods, possibly off grid and all this researching of building and what could I do and not do? How small am I willing to deal with? Will I have a way to get water or electricity. Wood stove for heat? So many questions. How do I figure it all out? I remembered that last year I rented a cabin in Allegheny for a long weekend before Thanksgiving weekend. I loved it! I didn't want it to end. Well, I went to the website and looked at cabins for this Thanksgiving weekend. The prices seemed so high for one night and I have been trying to save and not spend, but what caught my eye was, whats this?
35$ a night???? Why? I checked. No electricity. There is a stove (propane) and a wood fire place. That's it. I got excited. I requested an extra day before the 4 day weekend. It was approved, so I booked the cabin for 4 nights. No electricity. Why not? All I really want is the wood fire place. I can rough it, I need to rough it! I need to see if this is what I really want. So I am so extremely excited about this. I am packing all my cast iron. I think I will be making the Swiss steak for my Thanksgiving dinner. I ordered 4 books from Amazon for reading, Possum Living, Off grid, Momma Poc by my outdoors woman mentor Anne Labastille, which is apropos since I read her previous books at the cabin last year. and We Took to the Woods. Perfect reading material for sitting by the fireplace. I am counting the days. Look for pics!
Tomorrow is Jeffery's birthday, I made my sweet sweets. Chocolate Toffee bars.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Giving Swiss Chard another chance

I used to belong to Porter Farms CSA and that was some goooood veggies. Myself and quite a few friends joined. We would get these big bags stuffed with really fresh organic veggies, each bag a delightful present to open. But we all never did know what to do with the Swiss Chard. I did make it once with a recipe that came with the CSA newsletter,  but I was impatient and burned the olive oil. It wasn't good. But in all my meanderings of recipes and eating healthy and maybe 49% vegetarian, everyone talks about how good Kale and Swiss Chard is for you. Plus it is so fun to say. Well, I said, I am going to try it again. And look at how beautiful it is. Something THAT gorgeous has got to taste yummmm. So I just prepared it simply, blanched real quick in boiling water and then sauteed in olive oil and garlic, mixed with pasta and Parmesano regiano sprinkled over the top.
It was fabulous! Very earthy tasting and smelling, earthy and dirt-y in a good way.  I am going to add it regularly to my diet. It is so healthy, oh gotta go, Barb is here and she is taking me for Arctic swirls....so much for healthy,,,,

Ciabatta Bread after the 5th Try, it WAS the yeast.......

This is the third weekend I have tried to make bread. Mainly Ciabatta bread. I love the Ciabatta bread from Wegman's and really tried to learn to make my own. The last two weekends I was sooooo discouraged because my dough would not rise I tried everything, I heated the water, the milk, I added sugar, or honey I even added beer! Tried to keep it warm in the oven. Nothing. Flat flat flat. I googled yeast, bread and then I googled Why won't my bread rise???? Thank God I came upon a site that said....Its ALWAYS the yeast. The article was very good and talked about how discouraging it could be for new bread bakers if they get bad yeast. That was me. So I got different yeast, actually it is organic because there was no yeast to be found in the baking section so I tried the "Natural Health Food" section of Wegman's of which I spend lots and lots of time in. I could and am buying everything in that section. Last time I got organic natural house cleaning solutions, this time I got the natural and organic shampoo and conditioner and body washes. I am trying to slowly eliminate chemicals in my home. For myself, as well as my animals. I don't want my dogs to walk on floors cleaned with chemicals. I never never never use round up or any of that stuff in the yard. Its not good at all for pets or kids or even yourself. I just heard something about aluminum in deodorant, so that will be next.
Any way the Ciabatta bread came out great!!!!! I can still smell it as I type. Now I can make the "slipper" every Friday night so I can make my bread on Saturday for the week. Now my next project, best pizza dough.
Oh by the way the friends that I gave pepper jelly to said their families LOVED it. I ended up giving more jars to them, especially when I got a voice message from my friend's little daughter telling me how she loved my pepper jelly, how could I resist that little voice.......

Ciabatta Bread
For sponge:
  • 1/8 teaspoon active dry yeast
  • 2 tablespoons warm water (105°‐115° F.)
  • 1/3 cup room-temperature water
  • 1 cup bread flour*
For bread:
  • 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
  • 2 tablespoons warm milk (105°‐115° F.)
  • 2/3 cup room-temperature water
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 cups bread flour*
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Make sponge:
In a small bowl stir together yeast and warm water and let stand 5 minutes, or until creamy. In a bowl stir together yeast mixture, room-temperature water, and flour and stir 4 minutes. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let sponge stand at cool room temperature at least 12 hours and up to 1 day.
Make bread:
In a small bowl stir together yeast and milk and let stand 5 minutes, or until creamy. In bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with dough hook blend together milk mixture, sponge, water, oil, and flour at low speed until flour is just moistened and beat dough at medium speed 3 minutes. Add salt and beat 4 minutes more. Scrape dough into an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let dough rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours. (Dough will be sticky and full of air bubbles.)
Have ready a rimless baking sheet and 2 well-floured 12- by 6-inch sheets parchment paper. Turn dough out onto a well-floured work surface and cut in half. Transfer each half to a parchment sheet and form into an irregular oval about 9 inches long. Dimple loaves with floured fingers and dust tops with flour. Cover loaves with a dampened kitchen towel. Let loaves rise at room temperature until almost doubled in bulk, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
At least 45 minutes before baking ciabatta, put a baking stone or 4 to 6 unglazed "quarry" tiles (see note, above) arranged close together on oven rack in lowest position in oven and preheat oven to 425° F.
Transfer 1 loaf on its parchment to baking sheet with a long side of loaf parallel to far edge of baking sheet. Line up far edge of baking sheet with far edge of stone or tiles, and tilt baking sheet to slide loaf with parchment onto back half of stone or tiles. Transfer remaining loaf to front half of stone or tiles in a similar manner. Bake ciabatta loaves 20 minutes, or until pale golden. With a large spatula transfer loaves to a rack to cool.

The "slipper" nice and bubbly after 12 hours


The 3rd really sqare one is the ciabatta bread I bought from Wegman's for 3.50!


Saturday, October 16, 2010

It is all worth it.

All the cooking, and jellying and baking. I do it because I love it. But when the man you love tells you -  this is really good! ....then it is all worth it.  This was the best sunny lazy afternoon. I must remember to fill my food with love when I am creating it. My life is good.

Pepper Jelly! This was soooooo easy!

Ingredients

  • 5 cups finely chopped green bell pepper ( I used green and red and threw in a habanero and red pepper flakes for pizazz)
  • 1 cup cider vinegar
  • 5 cups white sugar
  • 3 ounces  pectin

Directions

  1. After pulsing peppers in food processor,  in a large, stainless steel saucepan, combine green pepper, cider vinegar, and white sugar. Bring to a boil, and cook for 6 minutes, stirring constantly.
  2. Stir in  pectin, and continue to boil for 3 more minutes, stirring constantly. Skim off foam with a metal spoon, and remove pan from heat
  3. Ladle jelly into sterilized jars, leaving a 1/2 inch space at the top. Seal, and process in a boiling-water canner for 5 minutes.

I like the peppers to be a bit chunky

mmmmmm

If you feel trapped how did you let yourself get that way?

I want very badly to get back to the country. I lived in Gasport and I moved even further out to Albion. I lived in the country! I loved it. If you look at my old blog, I had an old fashioned pantry you would die for.........then my cousin died. I was doing yoga to change my life and it did. I asked for a family and I got one.....my own. I saw all of my old Rindfleisch family at the wake and funeral. I got really close to my cousin Ursula, it was her brother that died. Through a series of events, I moved back to the city to be close to my family and friends and work. I left my love behind.  I have liked it here in the city, everything is close. Work is close. I really didn't mind the long drive to work back then. I am no closer to my family than when I lived in the boonies. I have reached out. Many times. But I can only reach out so many times. If I have to be the one to keep doing it, is anything really there? And Ursula and I aren't even talking. We never grew up together, maybe we just tried to force it just cuz we are family. Maybe that is why I loved the country. People treat you like family whether you are or not. I miss my friendship with Katherine. I barely see her now. I do have my really good friend Barb. That's about the only good thing about the city right now.  I feel trapped because I want to move back and smell the air that smells like you are in the middle of a pumpkin. I want to walk my dogs along the edge of the cornfields. I used to sit and watch the sunset every night. And my love would visit me when he could. He has an obligation to nurture a beautiful young daughter. In some ways I used to get so mad at him, when in reality I was really mad at my own father for not doing it. I would never want his daughter to have the terrible inadequate feelings I have had all my life. I feel what he is doing is quite noble and if he and I can share a friendship then I feel very blessed and lucky.  I don't want to move to the country solely because of him, I want to do if mainly for MY soul. That is where I thrive.


So how do I change this? I don't know yet. I have some what of a plan to get back. Eventually to buy my homestead. Soon! I do know that what ever I put my mind to. I do. I do well. I get it done!!! So I am not worried.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Bread

Well this weekend I was going to make pepper jelly and bread. I am trying to find the best bread recipe, the best pizza dough recipe, etc. So I can use it over and over. I am determined to make my own bread. Not knowing much about bread or yeast except from what I can google, I am finally happy with my second try. My first attempt did not rise at all. Now I know how to start the yeast and proof the dough. I still don't think it is perfect. It was partial rolled oats, whole wheat and regular bread flour. I like the rolled oats on the crust too.
I didn't make the jelly because I want to share jars with my friends and I got a really bad cold that kicked in Friday night, and I was just dying Saturday. I didn't want to take a chance of spreading germs. So I will do it during the week maybe.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

My new baby!!!

Isn't she purty?????
Well I have been cooking out of cast iron frying pans for the last year or so now. They were handed down in the family. Not to me of course but I got a hold of them eventually because they are so cumbersomely heavy. That doesn't bother me at all, I am "strong like bull".  A lot of the recipes I see call for a Dutch Oven. So I had been looking in my periphery when I am out and about.  I did see a Paula Dean oven at Wally's for around 60-90$? I can't remember. Then I thought of Harbor Freight and looked online, and there it was! $24.00 and the reviews really were not bad at all. I even think you could fit a medium sized possum in there! I am very excited to do some cooking in this! My first recipe with it will be the Swiss Steak.  You can even use the lid to cook biscuits or bacon!
I know this is mainly for camping but I will be using it in the home. When I do get my wood burning stove I will get just that the one with the cook top. Just in case I really am off grid..........never off griddle...........

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Crack Me Up!!!!!


I have been listening to the Self-Sufficient Homestead podcast. Not only does this podcast give you a ton of information on homesteading from gardens and bee keeping to animal husbandry and recipes. But Johnny Max and the Queen are so down to earth and they CRACK ME UP!!! If any thing you MUST listen to the Queen read the recipe for Possum Pie.

It is on the fourth Podcast . I plan on listening to every single show. You should too, even if you don't plan on a homestead, its good quality entertainment. And REAL reality.



Throw Togethers = what ever you have laying around


I like the taste of tomato, zucchini and cannelloni beans together. It has been my summer go to base. This throw together I started with ground turkey, browned and then threw in a 15 oz can of crushed tomatoes. I put in garlic salt and I use sugar with all my tomato sauce types. I like a sweet sauce. Lots of ground pepper and added 1 can of cannelloni beans. With olive oil I sauteed zucchini, bell pepper and onion. In yet another pan. Cooked the whole wheat elbows. It has taken some time, but I like whole wheat pasta's now. Give your self time. The white stuff just isn't good for you. READ LABELS! Since healthy and whole wheat is the new rage, labels can be deceiving. I used my dried basil from my garden.

I added a little pazazz with hot pepper flakes and Frank's hot sauce. And with each individual serving I add fresh grated Parmesano Romano hard cheese. Crusty bread in winter and nice green salad in the summer.

I keep tons of cans of diced and/or crushed tomato's and cannelloni beans in the cupboard. I hit the farmers markets last month and bought LOTS of zucchini and squash and instantly chopped in squares, some zucchini I sliced the long way. (Love them grilled like that) and froze. Just for these kinds of "throw togethers".

I call this one Roumahhhlashhhh!

Roumahlahhhhsh