From my kitchen

December Afternoon

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Knitting a few rows on some Toasty mitts ,

IMG_9031IMG_9040Daily checks on fermenting veggies.  Jalapeno Purple kraut all finished and getting jarred up for gifts.  Plain sauerkraut coming along nicely.  It will be ready to serve with Christmas dinner. (The weight goes back on top when I’m done checking, so all cabbage is submerged below the brine.)

IMG_9024Vying for space in front of the heater vent to thaw frozen fingers and toes,

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Enjoying the ever-rotating display of Christmas decorations the children arrange and rearrange as they play with them.

Back tomorrow with a recipe for the coming Solstice, and some more knitted gifts.

From the Fig Tree

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A cascade of very fresh, very ripe figs the kids poured out onto the kitchen table.  They are from a neighbor’s tree.  She doesn’t know the variety (they are actually her next-door neighbors, but a large portion of the immense tree overhangs her driveway, and no one family can consume the vast quantities of fruit.

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The figs are pale green with a pink flesh, and very soft and sweet.  I think they may be “Desert King”, which does quite well in our climate, and typically produces a large good-quality breba crop (we have a young one in our yard, and it has exactly eight nearly-ripe fruit on it).

I’m planning on starting a small (one gallon) batch of fig wine with some this weekend.  The rest we are eating fresh, or on toast with mascarpone.  I have my eye on these quick fig recipes, though.  Numbers 6 and 8 look particularly good.

I’d also like to try Temperate Permaculture’s fig recipe.

If you’re picking figs, wear gloves, so what happened to me doesn’t happen to you.

For all things “fig”, the knowledge bank at Figs4Fun is the place to visit.

Do you have a favorite fig recipe?  A favorite variety?

 

I will be back with more posts over the weekend.  We will be busy with the girls’ Roller Derby practices, birthday parties to attend, Sunday Parkways, and such.  The weather promises to be perfection, so every un-scheduled moment will be spent in the garden.  So much ripening, and so much in bloom, I hope to share pictures of it all.

Elderberry Kombucha

Kombucha going through a second fermentation to produce a fizzy, fruity final drink.
Kombucha going through a second fermentation to produce a fizzy, fruity final drink.

A few folks have asked for the recipe for a recent batch of elderberry kombucha.   There isn’t much of a recipe – it is simply kombucha put through a secondary fermentation with fruit added.  Here is the process:

I am currently brewing my kombucha using the Wild Fermentation group‘s method of 3 black tea bags, 2 green tea, and 1 oolong for each gallon of water.  You can also set up a continuous brew system, which I hope to set up in a crockery dispenser very soon.

Once the kombucha has reached the desired level of tangyness, remove the SCOBY, and reserve a 1/2 cup or so of kombucha to jump-start your next batch.

From here, you have a few choices.  The first option is starting a secondary ferment of your  booch right in the jar, and starting your new batch of kombucha (with SCOBY) in a new vessel.  This is how I have always done it previously – usually with lemon juice and a little brown sugar, or diced strawberries.  Covered and left on the counter for a few days, it will turn into a fizzy, fruity version that my kids find quite superior to plain-old kombucha.

The downside of this is that the entire gallon is one flavor.  This means you are taking quite a risk when experimenting with flavor combinations.  That persimmon-molasses kombucha I thought would turn out so great?  Yeah, well, that was a whole gallon none of my kids would drink.  But there is another option.

A while back, I had pinned a blog post from My Gutsy that featured fruit combinations for secondary fermentation of kombucha.  It was very late at night, and I was skimming whole-foody type blogs and knitting and half-dozing off, and I should have read her post more closely.  She does her second ferment right in the bottle!  Brilliant!  Why hadn’t I ever done this before?  Now, I can try small batches of different flavors, and it is already bottled up and ready to go when I am scrambling to get out the door for homeschool park day or church or what-have-you.

She recommends  re-using kombucha and tea bottles (about 16 oz), adding 1/4 cup fruit juice or puree and filling the rest of the bottle with booch, but also gives ratios for other sizes of glass containers.  I used some chia-drink and iced-tea bottles I had washed out and saved in our basement canning room (I knew they would come to good use someday!).

For some of the bottles, I picked a few blackberries from the yard, crushed them, and added a little orange juice.  For some, I used my old stand-by scaled down to = 1 Tbsp lemon juice and 1 Tbsp brown sugar.   For the remainder of the bottles, I went with elderberry syrup:

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For each 16 ounce jar, I added 2 Tbsp of elderberry syrup.  Because the syrup already contains quite a bit of sugar, and the elderberries have a strong and distinctive flavor, I thought it might be best to start with 1/2 of Gutsy’s recommended amount of fruit juice.   I was sure to leave a good 2-inches of head-space to prevent breakage, and left it on the counter, tightly sealed, for two days.

The resulting drink is a beautiful magenta color (see top photo), and has just the right amount of sweetness and berry flavor plus fizz.  Of all the flavor combinations we tried, the kids loved the elderberry best (George could be heard shouting, “BOOOOCH!! More  BOOOCH!!” Halfway across Sellwood Park).  So, today when I bottled up another round of kombucha, every jar has an added immune-boosting dose of  elderberry syrup.

A few notes of safety –

1)Raw elderberries contain some cyanide (which cooking removes), and the stems and seeds contain even more.   Please follow my safety guidelines, which can be found here, and do not add raw elderberries to your kombucha.

2)Kombucha is a living food, and helps populate good intestinal flora.  Begin consuming kombucha or any fermented or cultured food in small amounts (a Tbsp or so at a time).  Ease it into your diet in order to avoid digestive upset, gas, etc.)

The Best Dilly Beans EVER

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Lately I’ve been getting back to making home fermented foods, for our health and for simplicity’s sake.  I routinely make sourdough, yogurt, and buttermilk, but had gotten away from cultured vegetables (life gets busy).  But the past several weeks, I have re-discovered how much we love lacto-fermented veggies.

Lacto-fermentation is the process of using beneficial bacteria (primarily Lactobacillus acidophilus and L. bifidus) to create lactic acid and ferment raw fruits and veggies into foods that are more easily digestible and have more bio-available nutrients.  The process also preserves food for many months.

The garden is bursting with produce, but my schedule is hectic and time is precious, so even setting aside the health benefits, lacto-fermentation is the best option for preserving and enjoying much of our garden produce.  Unlike canned pickles, lacto-fermented veggies do not require heating up the kitchen and hours slaving over a canner on hot summer days.  They only require a few minutes to prep the ingredients, a little care in setting up the ferment.

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Today, a batch of Dilly Beans finished after five days on the counter, and I couldn’t wait to crack into the jar.  I must say, they are superb.  They are exponentially better than the less-than-crisp hot-water bath canned bean pickles I’ve made in the past.  A completely different and superior food, and I can’t stop eating them!  These beans are crispy, crunchy, salty, tangy, with just the right balance of dill and garlic.  Did I mention how crunchy they are?

Here’s my recipe, but first a few notes that will help your fermentation be successful:

On the brine – in order to create the proper environment for the good bacteria and inhibit mold growth, the brine MUST be salty enough.  The traditional ratio is 3 Tbsp of salt for 1 Qt. of water.  Also remember that all of your pickles must be fully submerged in the brine – any pieces sticking up out of the brine may mold or grow funky bacteria and spoil your batch.

For a less salty, and quicker fermenting brine:  omit 1 Tbsp salt and substitute in 1/4 cup whey from making yogurt, creme fraiche, or cheese.  (You can strain a cup or so of store-bought yogurt with active cultures (REAL yogurt, not one with added guar gum and thickeners and such) to get your whey if needed.  I like Nancy’s Organic Wholemilk Plain.  It’s what I use as a starter for homemade yogurt, too.)

On the fermenting vessels – My friends at The Liberated Kitchen suggested picking up large fido jars at Ross or Marshalls.  What a great idea!  For $3 or $4 each you can snag half-gallon and gallon-sized jars which work great for fermenting.  I pack my veggies in, add the brine, and then insert a small juice glass to push the veggies under the brine before sealing it up.  (Note: I used to believe that you had to burp the jars to reduce pressure and avoid spill-over or breakage, but have since learned that Fido jars actually allow gases to escape through the gasket, without oxygen re-entering or the need to burp the jars.)

Best Dilly Beans EVER

1 1/2-2 lbs of fresh, organic green beans

4 cloves of garlic, smashed with the side of a knife

2 heads of dill buds/flowers OR a good handful of dill fronds (which aren’t as potent)

1 heaping tsp black peppercorns

Enough brine to cover the beans +1 inch (My beans were quite long, and I needed about 1 3/4 Qts.)

Directions:

1)Place garlic, dill, and peppercorns in the bottom of the jar.

2)Stack beans (standing up on their ends) into the jar.

3)Fill jar with brine, being sure to fully cover beans, but leaving headspace.

4) Leave on the kitchen counter (60-80F is ideal) for 5-10 days, until desired tangyness is achieved, then move to the fridge (Be sure to  check the contents daily, and don’t overfill or  you may break your jar, especially if it is warm in the house and it ferments rapidly).  Will keep for several months in the fridge.

For more info on lacto-fermentation and other fermented foods, plus tips on trouble-shooting and inspiration from other fermenters, visit the Wild Fermentation FB Group.

Tzatziki

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My favorite no-cook summer recipe is Tzatziki…or maybe it’s Raita…it’s a toss up.  These similar nutritious dishes are delicious, and their subtle differences complement other foods so well that we make and enjoy both frequently.  Serve some with a handful of kalamata olives and a little block of feta and a mint iced tea and you have the perfect summer lunch.

Right now there is a lot of dill in the garden, so today Tzatziki it is!  (Whip up a batch of falafels and we’ll call it “good” for dinner.)

Here’s my recipe:

Baker Family’s Favorite Tzatziki

3 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 Tbsp Vinegar (you can use homemade, but a light-colored vinegar is best, so as not to discolor the sauce)

3 large cloves garlic, pressed through a garlic press

1/2 tsp salt

large pinch of white pepper (optional)

2 tsp fresh dill, finely chopped

1/2 onion, very thinly sliced

2 large cucumbers, peeled (or half-peeled as shown above) and thinly sliced

2 cups plain whole-milk yogurt (Greek is best, or you can set homemade yogurt in a strainer for an hour or so to drain)  OR for a yummy twist on the original: 1 cup whole-milk yogurt + 1 scant cup tahini blended with juice of one-half lemon

Directions:

In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil and vinegar.

Add crushed garlic, salt and pepper, and dill and whisk well.

Then whisk in yogurt (or yogurt-tahini blend).

Gently fold in onions and cucumber.

Cover and chill for at least two hours before serving.

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Enjoy!

 

 

Peonies and Raspberries

Dessert last night - chocolate cake with chocolate mousse and raspberries.
Dessert last night – chocolate cake with chocolate mousse and raspberries

Well, I’ve been knocked down somewhat with a summer cold, and didn’t make the Yarn Along this week.  I finished a pair of socks for a friend, and hope to post photos next week.

Calendula in bloom
Calendula in bloom

We have company visiting, and volunteers in the garden, and swim lessons and so much summer goodness and fun.  We’ve been baking and playing with the neighbor kids and cutting posies in the yard.  And stuffing ourselves full of raspberries on a daily basis.

I had volunteers here this morning, and together harvested loads of organic produce for BCS – baskets full of Spanish shallots, raspberries, 4 kinds of mint, herb packs, French Tarragon, rhubarb, Russian Red kale, Rainbow chard, snow peas, currants, and lavender.   I was too busy picking to take photos, but will try to make a point of documenting next week’s harvests.

Hope you have a good weekend.  We are looking forward to:

-hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa B, who are visiting from Florida

-making Mujaddara, falafels, and kale salad for dinner tomorrow

– biking at Sunday Parkways with my sister

Blessings!

This and that

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After a weekend full of hiking and trips to the playground and ice cream cones, we are launching headfirst into a busy week.  The three older kids start swim lessons, my folks come to visit, and summer is in full swing.

For now, a few pictures from our weekend:

 

IMG_8493Ruth sorting a 25 cent bag of bias tape she picked up at the thrift store.

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IMG_8455Making kraut.

IMG_8428I’ll be back later in the week for the Yarn Along.

 

 

Gratitude

 

Sourdough on blue cornmeal. Breakfast.
Sourdough on blue cornmeal. Breakfast.

Joining Taryn of WoolyMossRoots for her Gratitude Sunday:

-Very glad to have a little free time to return to blogging, and catch up on some of my favorite blogs.

-And grateful to return to some much-beloved routines and habits (like baking bread nearly every day, knitting, reading aloud to the kids in the afternoon, making pickles).   IMG_8471-Grateful for the intense and much-needed rain this week, followed by a bolt of growth all over the gardens.

-Feeling very blessed to have such kind and thoughtful neighbors, who lavish such unconditional love on my kids.

George, almost two. On his push bike.
George, almost two. On his push bike.

-Bittersweet to see my youngest, who is suddenly full of independence and strong opinions, outgrowing some of his baby-ness as he edges up to his second birthday.  However, it is exciting to see him take on new things and discover words and concepts every single day.

-And of course, on this Father’s Day weekend, grateful for Casey, who is a dedicated and loving father.  He reads the kids adventure stories every night, whittles bows and arrows for the girls, builds Lego monsters with Hal, and gives his kids a childhood full of rich, imaginative play.

Hope you have a peaceful and restorative Sunday and a good start to your new week.

Making Butter

I made a bit batch of beef stew for dinner this weekend – enough to last for two meals.  We rarely eat beef or pork (other than a small amount of ham or bacon to flavor veggie dishes), so it was a real treat for all of us.  All day long, the kitchen was full of the aroma of leeks, smoked paprika, merlot, allspice, and cinnamon.

Ruth suggested we make butter and loaf of bread to go with dinner.   I happened to have 2 cups of organic heavy cream in the fridge.  Okay, let’s make butter!

To make butter

take a 1 quart mason jar, and add:

2 cups of heavy cream

a pinch of ultra fine popcorn salt (optional!  I prefer mine without salt)

screw the lid on, and shake.  And shake and shake and shake.  For about thirty minutes.

(Ruth, concentrating hard on the jar, willing the cream to separate!)

It was a weekend morning, and Casey was reading books to the kids, so we just passed the jar around, each person shaking and swishing until s/he got tired, then passing it to the next person.   After about 15 minutes, it was perfect whipped cream.  Then after about half an hour, suddenly there was a large chunk of bright yellow butter sitting in buttermilk (top photo).

This was the perfect opportunity to get one of the antique butter molds Casey’s grandma, Ruth Young, had given me a few years back.  I believe they were her grandmother’s.  After we had squeezed all the buttermilk from the butter (exactly one cup of each), and chilled the very soft butter in the fridge for a while, we pressed it in the oiled mold.

(The cup of buttermilk was used to make the bread later in the afternoon.)

 The butter smelled buttery and looked so beautiful, and the kids couldn’t wait to eat it.  I never got a shot of the finished molded butter, because as soon as I turned to get some crackers (the bread wasn’t made yet), the children had already dug into it with spoons!  Ah, well.  Next time.  It was absolutely delicious, though.

Great choice, Ruth!  It was a fun activity, and went perfectly with the crusty bread and beef stew for dinner.  Now, if only we had a neighbor with a cow and steady supply of fresh cream…

Applesauce

Joining with Amanda for her weekly This Moment post.

Here’s my recipe, which makes 4-5 quarts finished sauce:

Brown-sugar Applesauce

Enough apples, washed, cored and cut into eighths, to fill an 8-quart pot heaping full.  (I used about 24 med-large apples).

1 cup apple cider

1 Tbsp ground cassia cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground mace

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

Juice of one lemon

Directions:  In a heavy-bottomed pot or dutch oven, combine all ingredients except lemon juice.  Cover, and cook on med-low until apples break down and become soft (about 1 to 1 1/2 hrs).  Put apples through a food mill, return sauce to pot, heat to a simmer, add lemon juice.  Process quarts for 25 min in a hot water bath canner.

Nature Play and a Lunch Recipe

The past two mornings, the kids and I have worked on harvesting the end-of-summer lavender, which we will use for winter craft projects.  (More on that next time).

The lavender plants are all in the front yard, which is unfenced, and we are along a bus line.  Keeping a busy toddler safe and occupied while we work on front yard projects is a must.

George was kept very happy by his big sisters, who were dead-heading dahlias for me, and bringing him the spent blossoms to play with.   He had such a grand time shredding the flowers, flinging petals in the air and giggling to himself.

After harvesting lavender for quite a while, it was time for lunch.  The older three children take turns being my lunch helper on different days of the week.  This gives me a chance to get some one-on-one time with each of them and teach them culinary skills safely.  This lunch couldn’t have been easier, and it was a hit with all four kids.   Here’s what we made:

Bea’s Bacon-Peach “Pizza”

Preheat oven to 400 F.

For each person, you will need:

4 slices cooked bacon (leftover is fine)

4 slices of fresh peach

2 slices stale rustic bread (we had leftover levain)

a few tablespoons of pizza sauce

mozzarella,and Parmesan

fresh basil leaves (optional)
Directions:  Place sliced bread on a jelly roll pan.  Spread sauce, add 2 slices of bacon per piece of bread, top with cheese, then 2 peach slices, then more cheese.  Garnish with basil leaves if desired (kids prefer to leave it off).

Bake at 400F for 8 min.  Place under broiler for another 1-2 min or until cheese is caramelized and bubbly.

Serve with salad and a fruit smoothie.  Viola!  Lunch!  And happy kids!

Who needs toys when you can shred and fling and mash and revel in blossoms?

While some moments are rough, and we’ve had our stresses and hiccups the past few weeks, we are doing our best to be intentional with each other in our homeschooling, our living and being together, and in celebrating the last breath of summer before the return of Oregon’s inevitable grey, rainy autumn.

We love the snuggly, wooly, apple-cidery things that will come with the coming chilly weather, but for this week, we’re holding on to the blossoms, the lavender bottles, the juicy fresh peaches, the playing outdoors together while we can.

Elderberry Syrup Recipe

Yesterday evening, while pulling weeds, I discovered several hands of elderberries that had been overlooked by volunteers.  They were far back in the shade, and just now ripening, weeks after the rest had been picked.

The mini-harvest yielded just enough to make a batch of elderberry syrup, which is delicious on ice cream, stirred into tea, etc.  It is also a traditional medicinal plant, and the syrup is taken to prevent and help fight off cold and flu-like viruses.

The fruits of the Elderberry (Sambucus nigra) are extremely rich in vitamin C, and are also high in vitamins A and B, niacin, protein, potassium, phosphorus, bioflavinoids (particularly Quercetin), anthocyanins (which gives them their purple-black color) and calories.  Elderberries are quite a nutritious and immune-boosting food, and can be made into wine,  jelly, tinctures, juice, dried and more.   Elderberry syrup is by far the most versatile, and can be made in small batches.

I want to walk you through my recipe, but first –

A few notes about elderberries and toxicity:

1.  Elderberries are safe and have been eaten in North America, Europe and Asia for many centuries, but they need to be prepared safely.  Do not eat berries raw. 

2.  It is really important to remove all stems before cooking the berries, as the stems are toxic and should not be steeped, simmered, cooked with the berries for any reason.  That goes double for the leaves. 

3.  All parts of the elderberry, including unripe berries, contain cyanide.  Ripe berries contain only trace amounts, which cooking dissipates.  Eating more than just a few raw berries can result in nausea and sometimes vomiting.  Eating quantities or drinking a few glasses of fresh elderberry juice (uncooked) can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, weakness, stomach cramps, and even hallucinations.  Juice or berries cooked or crushed with ANY part of the hollow stems or leaves will increase these symptoms and can result in hospitalization.

So, now that you know how to safely prepare elderberries (berries ONLY, and cooked), let’s get to the syrup-making.

This morning George and I rose early while Casey was getting ready for work.  While G played on the floor with a ViewMaster, I went through the laborious process of picking the berries from their stems.   It took about 45 minutes to produce about 5 1/2 cups of berries.  Once you’ve completed this, step, you’re ready to start cooking.

Rinse berries in cold water, and let them sit for 10 minutes, stirring a few times.  Debris, bits of stem, unripe berries, spiders, etc rise to the top.  (Believe me, this is an important step.  No one wants a random earwig in their syrup.) Strain off debris and drain off water.

Then add equal parts water and berries (for me, 5 cups water + 5 cups berries) to a jam kettle or large sauce pan.  Bringing to a boil, then reducing to a simmer, cook for 20 min, occasionally mashing with a potato masher or large spoon).

Remove berries from heat and press through a fine mesh strainer (or, place in a jelly bag and then squeeze).  Discard mash and seeds (which are quite bitter).

Return juice to the stove.  Add sugar (you can choose a 1:1 ratio of juice:sugar, or for a slightly thinner and less sweet syrup, I like 3:2 juice to sugar, so 6 cups of juice to 4 cups of sugar.  You may also use honey instead of sugar, keeping in mind that you will need 1/2 the amount of honey as sugar, and it should not be overcooked.)

Simmer juice and Sugar/honey for 20-30 min or until thickening a bit (a wide-mouthed pot will help evaporate off the excess water more quickly than a tall, narrow pot).

Add juice of one lemon (for brightness, to cut the sweetness of all that sugar) and remove from heat.

Pour into bottles and either can (1/2 pints for 10 min in a hot water bath) or store in the fridge for 6 months.

Enjoy!

 

For more on Elderberries:

Pruning

Sourcing culinary varieties

Making elderflower cordial

Collecting wild elderberries

Don’t allow children to use the plant’s hollow stems for straws or peashooters (that’s not a joke).

Elderberry liqueur

 

Bea’s Favorite Quick Bread

The neighborhood school is off today, so my 3 older kids are out with the neighbor boys, running amok.   In about an hour, a hungry horde of 9 or 10 ravenous children will descend on my house, so when they went out to play, I figured it was time to hurry up and bake them a snack.

Here’s my recipe:

Bea’s Favorite Quick Bread

(Also known as Banana-Yogurt-Hazelnut-Chocolate Bread, but that’s a mouthful!)

Ingredients:

1/4 cup hazelnut oil (or you could use a light olive oil)

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

3 eggs (my hens lay eggs a between medium and large, so if you have really big eggs, use 2)

3 medium bananas, mashed

1/2 cup plain whole milk yogurt (homemade is best, but a store-bought with strong tang, like Nancy’s, is a good alternative to balance the sweetness)

1 tsp pure vanilla

1 cup unbleached white flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup finely chopped hazelnuts

1/2 cup chopped dark chocolate

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F.  Combine first 5 ingredients in a stand mixer with paddle attachment and beat until fluffy.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, sift together flours, baking soda and salt.

Slowly add 1 egg at a time until combined.   Then add banana, vanilla, and yogurt and mix until thoroughly combined.  Add dry ingredients from bowl until just combined.

Fold in chocolate and nuts.  Pour into a buttered 9×5 loaf pan (I prefer a well-seasoned stoneware pan so the chocolate doesn’t stick!) and bake in a 350F oven for 1 hr 10 min – 1 hr 20 min, or until knife comes out fairly clean.

Let rest in pan for 10 minutes, then turn-out onto a cooling rack and let cool thoroughly before slicing.

A note on slicing:  Very moist and delicate quick breads are notorious for crumbling when cut.  Consider cutting very thick slices and then cutting those in half (almost like a piece of cake – shown in the bottom slice) to avoid this problem.  🙂

My kids love it with PB or hazelnut butter spread on top and some sliced pineapple, oranges or other sour fruit on the side to cut the sweetness.

Hard-cooked Eggs

Hard-boiled eggs that aren’t actually boiled?  There’s no water involved?  I think the proper term is “hard-baked eggs”.   A few versions of the recipe have been making the rounds on Pinterest for a while.  I remember my grandfather doing something similar when we visited during my childhood, and thought I’d give them a try to see if the recipe lived up to the hype.

Hard-baked Eggs

12 or 18 raw eggs, placed in muffin tins or a jelly-roll pan so they cannot roll off.

Preheat oven to 325 F.  Place eggs on center rack and bake 25 minutes (30 min for duck eggs).  Remove from the oven and allow to cool before peeling. 

(Adjustment: If you are already baking something in the oven at 350, you can add some eggs on the top rack of the oven and bake for 25 min.  The heat will be reduced by the item baking below them.)

What exactly is the hype?

1)Claim: They taste better than hard-boiled.

I found this not to be true.  While they taste a bit more “roasted”, perhaps, it’s not like the baking imparts a delicious smokiness to the egg (perhaps it would if you had a wood-fired oven?).

They were perfectly done in the middle, with no greying of the yolk, so perhaps that makes them a tinge less sulfur-y than eggs that are more easily over-cooked while boiling on the stove. Overall, they tasted just as yummy as hard-boiled eggs.

2)Claim: They peel easier (even fresh eggs just laid).

What I found:  YES!  They peel very easily.  Typically, I don’t hard-boil eggs from our chickens until they are 2 weeks old (3 weeks for duck eggs), since they will peel much easier when the membrane holding the white to the shell has broken down a little bit.  (By the way, this doesn’t mean those eggs are “old”, most grocery store eggs are already 30-60 days old by the time you purchase them).  The eggs I baked were laid YESTERDAY, and the shell just slipped right off as soon as the egg was mostly cooled. 

3)Claim: There is less clean up.

Well, yes, there is less clean up, if you mean that you don’t have egg-water to pour on the plants, and 1 pot to wash (I confess to putting the muffin tins right back in the cabinet.  There wasn’t a speck on them…).

My friend Kelsy pointed out that there is much more ENERGY expended, and I think that is the more important issue.  I baked 18 eggs while baking lunch.  I just put them on the top rack of the oven.  I wouldn’t preheat the oven and run it for half an hour just for 18 eggs, but I would put them in with another dish that is already cooking.

So, the bottom line is that hard-baked eggs turn out very well, and if you are already baking a dish, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to make a batch this way.  I’ll definitely be doing it again.  🙂

 

 

Raspberry Oatmeal Bars

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This post originally published in  October 2009.  I’m baking a raspberry batch for homeschool co-op and a peach butter batch for the neighborhood kids/my kids today.  I make this recipe several times a month, even for breakfast, and the recipe is frequently requested, so I thought it was worth republishing.

PLEASE NOTE –   I no longer make it in a 9×13 pan, but instead on a large jelly roll pan with the parchment on the bottom – I freeform a rectangle in the middle (it will not fill the entire pan).  This makes it easier to cut and serve afterward.

These raspberry oatmeal bars were a hit with the kids, so I thought I’d share the recipe.  It’s an adaptation of this recipe, which can also be found in Martha Stewart’s Cookies. The original recipe called for a more complicated raisin puree in the middle,  and my girls weren’t so thrilled with it.  Also, I found it didn’t fit the pan requirements very well,  and made a few other small changes.

Raspberry Oatmeal Bars

For the filling:

approx 2 to 2 1/2 cups raspberry preserves (Edit 2011 – or any berry preserves or fruit butter)

For the bars:

1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/4 tsp salt

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup shortening

1 1/2 cups light brown sugar, packed

1 large egg (edit 2011 – a great way to use our duck eggs!)

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups old fashioned (not quick-cooking) rolled oats

organic sanding sugar, to sprinkle on top

Directions – 1.  Preheat oven to 350 F.  Line a 9 x 13 casserole dish with parchment paper and grease with butter.

2.  In a large bowl, combine flours, salt, baking soda, oats.  In a stand mixture with paddle attachment, beat the butter and shortening until fluffy.  Add brown sugar and beat thoroughly.

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3.  Lightly beat egg and vanilla together.  Add to the mixture and beat until combined.  Reduce speed to low and slowly add the flour/oat mixture and beat until just combined.  Mixture should be crumbly (see above).

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4.  Spread half of the flour/oat mixture into the bottom of the pan.  Push thoroughly into the bottom of the pan.

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5.  With a spatula, spread the preserves in a liberal layer over the flour/oat crumb mixture.  Lastly, add the remaining half of the crumb mixture until over the top, gently pressing it down.  Sprinkle with sanding sugar (optional).

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6. Bake approximately 30-40 minutes (rotating half-way through) until bars are beginning to brown on top and preserves are bubbling up around the edges.  Remove from oven and let cool completely before cutting into 2-inch squares (this is a very important step, if you cut them while the preserves are hot and have not reset, the bars will crumble.)

Enjoy!

Oatmeal-Honey-Molasses Bread

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I let the kids sleep in, and worked on tidying up a bit since the neighbor boys are coming over this morning for a play date (Bend-a-roos and Playmobils and sofa-cushion forts are on the agenda, according to the girls).  Chickens and ducks were let out and fed a breakfast of mashed, roasted pumpkin, scratch and oatmeal.   It was too rainy and cold to do any yard chores this morning, so after poutry-duty, I got to come in and have a few minutes to get a nice breakfast going and read my book.

Breakfast this morning is a new recipe I’ve been tweaking – Oatmeal-Honey-Molasses Bread.  My kids really like the flavor of molasses (in the winter, we make some kind of gingerbread a few times a month), and we have a good quantity of honey on hand at the moment, so I thought I’d alter the oatmeal bread recipe we make frequently.  Here’s the work-in-progress recipe (although, it taked pretty darn good this morning, and had a lovely caramely-color):

Larksong’s Oatmeal-Honey-Molasses Bread

1 1/2 tsp dry active yeast

2 cups high-gluten bread flour

1/4 cup whole-wheat flour

1 Tbsp vital wheat gluten

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 cup rolled oats

1 1/2 Tbsp hazelnut (or olive) oil

1 1/2 Tbsp molasses

2 Tbsp honey

4 oz warm milk

6 oz warm water

Directions:

1.  Proof yeast in warm milk for 10 min.  Combine dry ingredients in KitchenAid with dough hook.

2.Slowly add wet ingredients (including yeast/milk), except water.  Process on slow, drizzling in water until good doughy consistency is reached (it will be a little sticky.  You may need a teaspoon or two more or less than the recipe indicates, depending on humidity in your house.)

3.  Knead with dough hook on medium speed, or by hand, for 10-12 minutes until dough becomes less sticky and holds together in a nice ball.  Place ball of dough in oiled pan, rolling to coat, cover with a damp towel or Saran Wrap, and let sit in a warm place until doubled in size (in my cold kitchen, that took 1 hr 15 min, but may take 45 min in a warmer kitchen).

4. Punch down dough, and shape,  rolling edges of dough under until formed into a nice loaf.  Place in well-oiled loaf pan (I like a ceramic 9×5), cover lightly with towel, and let rise an additional 45 min, or until loaf has risen nicely over the edge of the pan (in a warm kitchen, it should take about 30 min.)  During this time, preheat oven to 350, with rack in the middle.

5.  Place loaf in hot oven, and quickly dump 1 cup of hot water in the bottom of the oven.  The steam will make a nicer crust.  Bake loaf for 35 min or until bottom of loaf makes a hollow sound when thumped.  Let rest 5 min and remove from pan and let cool before cutting.

Enjoy this very moist, sweet loaf simply sliced with butter, or use leftovers for really yummy bread pudding or French toast.

A shared meal

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A quick update after Sunday afternoon chores are done.  Spinach-parmesan puffs (above) are cooling, a pot of 3-bean soup is simmering on the stove…looking forward to bringing them to our Sunday night homegroup in a bit, where we share a meal and fellowship with friends, and dig in to our new book together.

And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts. – Acts 2:46

Snackin’

(This post originally published in Oct 2008, but we’re making a batch again this morning!)

My favorite fall snack as a child – roasted pumpkin seeds.  Growing up, we only got this once a year, when we carved pumpkins at Halloween.  Now that I’ve got my own pack of kiddos, I cook pumpkin many many times in the fall and winter and always save the seeds for roasting.  They make the perfect thrifty, tasty, healthy snack.

Larksong’s Mother’s Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

All the seeds scraped from the inside of a pumpkin, washed, and arranged in one layer on a pie plate or cookie sheet (most any winter squash will work, however, I have found that a few large heirloom varieties have very tough, thick seeds, and are not ideal for cooking)

a little salt, paprika, garlic powder tossed together. (If you’re feeling lazy, use any spice blend from Penzeys, but pick one that includes salt – I like Ozark or Old World seasonings.)

Drizzle a little olive oil over the pumpkin seeds, and sprinkle with the spice mixture, tossing to coat.

Bake in a 350F oven for 10-20 minutes (watching closely to prevent overcooking.  time depends a lot on the variety of pumpkin used and the size of the seeds).  Some seeds may pop and bounce out of the pan when they’re almost done.

Let cool and enjoy!  Little Hen thinks they’re “super good” with hot apple cider!

A good, quiet morning

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…reading a few chapters in Ann Voskamp’s book before the children were up…
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…enjoying granola in the breakfast nook after morning chores, watching chickens, ducks mucking happily around the yard  (Cran-Walnut Granola recipe at the bottom)

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…quilting for a neighbor’s baby, due in 2 weeks, while the children had breakfast.

A welcome reprieve before tackling the general chaos of the day.

Larksong’s Cranberry Walnut Granola

Preheat oven to 325F, and get out two large jellyroll pans.

In a large bowl, combine:

6 cups old fashioned oats

2 cups unsweetened, unsulfured coconut

1 cup wheat germ

1 heaping cup sesame seeds

1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1-2 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground cloves

pinch of sea salt

In a saucepan, on med-heat, combine 1  cup of honey, 1/2 cup maple syrup, 3 tbsp dark brown sugar, 1 cup veg oil (I use 1/4 cup hazelnut oil, 3/4 cup veg oil), and heat until warm and honey is thin.  Stir vigorously, and then pour over dry ingredients.

Toss all until combined, then spread over two sheets and bake 20 min.

Remove from oven, stir, scraping around the edges especially, since they will brown first.

Return to oven, and bake approx 20-25 min more, scraping and stirring granola every 5-7 min to prevent scorching in parts.

When granola is dark, toasty, and fragrant, remove from oven and immediately stir in 1 1/2 cups dried cranberries.  While granola is still hot, transfer to a glass or other nonstick bowl, or granola will stick to sheets as it cools.  When totally cooled, break up with a fork and put in sealed jars to keep crisp.  Will keep 1 month, but ours is eaten up in less than a week.

(Cost comparison: similar granola at New Seasons Market – $8.99/lb.   Estimated cost of homemade – about $2.50/lb (all items purchased in bulk to cut costs considerably, except walnuts, which were gleaned from a friend’s tree.)

Persimmon Cake

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I hope you had a peaceful and restful Thanksgiving.  We had a very nice time, with my mother-in-law hosting for all the extended family.    I was relieved to not have to make the turkey, since I didn’t think I could handle the smell of roasting turkey filling the house for hours and hours, but the day before, I felt a little better than I have the past several weeks, and managed to make some desserts to bring.   I made chocolate-pecan and regular pecan pies, an apple-cranberry puff-pastry tart,  and a gingerbread (I usually make this version, but this year, I kept it simple).

I had a lot of very ripe persimmons on hand, and so made a persimmon cake as well.   Persimmon cake is very moist and has a wonderful texture – it reminds me a little bit of applesauce cake.   For folks who don’t like the texture of raw persimmons, this is a great way for them to enjoy this nutritious and tasty fruit.

This winter we’re putting in a persimmon tree, and I’m looking forward to the years and years of cakes and cookies we’ll enjoy from it.

Here’s the easy recipe:

Persimmon Bundt Cake

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Grease and flour a bunt pan thoroughly.
In a medium bowl, sift together
  • 2 cups unbleached white flour
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

In a separate bowl, beat together

  • 2 cups white sugar
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 2 cups persimmon pulp (about 8 very ripe fuyu persimmons, peeled and squished)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Gently fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients until thoroughly combined.  Pour into greased and floured bundt pan and bake at 300 degrees for 1 hr 10 min to 1 hr 20 min, or until cake tester comes out clean.  Let cool ten minutes before carefully inverting cake from pan.

When cake cools, you may wish to drizzle a simple lemon or vanilla glaze over the top.

Enjoy!

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And now, to get crackin’ on Christmas gifts still not finished!

Ripe, with a recipe

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The tomatoes are starting to ripen!  Can’t wait to take them in to BCS on Friday!!  Families have been asking for the last month when we’d have fresh, ripe tomatoes.

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90 percent of the tomatoes are still green, including many gigantic beefsteaks, like this Brandywine (look at that sucker in my hand! HUGE!).  If you’ve got a moment, say a quick prayer that they’ll all ripen before the cooler weather sets in, or I’ll be sending out lots of green tomato recipes with the week’s harvest (green tomato chutney, green tomato pickles, fried green tomatoes…).

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The first of the tomatillos are ripe as well – these are the DeMilpa, which have  a purple blush, and regular old green tomatillos mixed together.  We have ten tomatillos plants, so there will be many MANY pounds of tomatillos to harvest in the next two or three weeks.

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How to use tomatillos?  Well, there are several uses, but after removing the husk and washing these sticky little cousins of the tomato, I like to make them into the best salsa verde ever:

Larksong’s Super Simple Salsa Verde (this is sort-of a recipe – just wing it!)

Two to four double- handfuls of ripe tomatillos, husks removed and washed (how many did you pick in the garden today? Use what’s on hand…the amount is flexible!)

(optional – if you like it spicy!  I leave it out for the kids) 1 small jalapeno, whole

3 or 4 cloves of garlic (add more or less, to your taste), crushed

lime juice, to taste

sprinkling of sugar

flake sea salt.

Directions:

1)Line a broiler tray with foil, and oil very lightly.  Place tomatillos (and optional jalapeno) on the tray and broil, checking every 1-2 minutes, until blackened.  Remove tray, and with tongs, flip tomatillos (and jalapeno) over.  Place back under the broiler until all are blackened on the other side.  Remove from oven and let cool.  (Remove stem and seeds from jalapeno and slice, if using.)

2)Toss whole tomatillos and any accumulated juice into a blender with the garlic (and optional jalapeno slices – sometimes it’s best to put in half at first, so you don’t get it too hot).  Blend, then add sugar, lime juice, and salt to taste, blend again to incorporate. (My kids like a bit more sugar, and depending on the source of your tomatillos, they may be pretty acidic and not need much extra lime juice – so just taste as you go!)

3) Serve!  Enjoy!  Make lots, because it goes fast!

Rustic Summer Dessert

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Ah, summer dinners in the backyard…

Here’s one of my favorite summer dessert recipes – we’ve been making a lot lately, with whatever fruit we have on hand:

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Larksong’s Farm Stand Fruit Pie

For the filling:

5 peaches, peeled and sliced or 10-12 apricots sliced

4 big handfuls of raspberries, blueberries, or blackberries

2 Tbsp cornstarch

1/2 cup white sugar

For the crust:

1 3/4 cups unbleached flour

1/3 cup cornmeal (I like Bob’s Redmill‘s medium grind.  If you use their blue cornmeal, the crust will have a pretty lavender color.)

1/3 cup white sugar, plus 1 Tbsp for dusting the crust

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, grated with a box grater on the large setting

1 egg white

1.  In med bowl, combine all crust ingredients, except egg white, using clean hands to evenly distribute the grated butter.  Slowly add 4-5 Tbsp ice water, one Tbsp at a time, until nice dough comes together.  Shape into a ball and place in the fridge while preparing filling.

2.  Prepare fruit as necessary, and then, in a large bowl,  combine all filling ingredients, and toss gently (so as not to crush berries).  Make sure no lumps of cornstarch remain.

3.  Preheat oven to 425 F.   Lay a large piece of parchment paper on the counter and sprinkle with 1-2 Tbsp of cornmeal.  Remove dough from fridge, and carefully roll out on parchment into a round approx 14-15 inches.  Dough will be fragile – take care in handling it.

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4.  Mound fruit filling (using a spatula to scrape out any fruit juice/sugar remaining in the bowl) in the middle of the dough, leaving a 2-inch margin all the way around.  Carefully fold edges up over the fruit – leaving a large opening in the center.  Take care to seal any cracks.  Crust should have a rustic appearance – don’t worry about getting it perfectly round!

5. Carefully transfer parchment to a large, rimmed jellyroll pan (this will prevent any juice that bubbles over from spilling out and burning onto the bottom of your oven!!)  Brush outside of crust with egg white and sprinkle with additional Tbsp of sugar.  Chill for 20-30 min.   Then, bake at 425F for about 45 min, or until crust is golden and fruit is bubbly.

Enjoy! Excellent served warm with whipped cream or ice cream.  Leftovers make great breakfast the next morning!

Hippie Snack

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Just a quick post to share the recipe for my favorite childhood snack.

We were given 40 lbs of honey (albeit, crystallized, so I’ve had to de-crystallize it in batches), so I’ve been trying to come up with ways to use it in my cooking.  We’ve made several batches of jam, substituting honey for a portion of the sugar (more on that later this week.), and tomorrow we’ll be canning peaches with honey instead of sugar and also starting a batch of mead.

I wanted to pass along a recipe that my mom used to make me for an afternoon snack – it’s super simple and quick to make, uses whole, natural ingredients, and kids love it.

Larksong’s Energy “Candy”

Time: less than 10 min start to finish – no baking!

1 cup natural nut butter (we use the grinder at the grocer’s – no added sugar, just nuts – peanut, almond or cashew – all are yummy!)

3/4  cup dry powdered milk

1/4 cup wheat germ (I keep mine in the freezer – it goes rancid easily)

1/2 cup honey

Additional 1/4 cup wheat germ (to roll balls in)

Directions: 1)  Combine first four ingredients in a bowl and let your kids use their hands to knead them together until a homogeneous, non-sticky dough forms.

2) Pinch off scant tablespoons of dough, roll them in your hands until they form a ball, and then roll the ball in additional wheat germ to coat.

3)Enjoy now with a big glass of milk, or store in the fridge up to 3 days.

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Black Currant Jam

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Little Hen’s new favorite jam:  Black Currant!

I’ve always loved a little Cassis in my hot tea in the winter, but this is the first year we’ve tried jam made from these relatives of the gooseberry, which have a distinctive, smoky/ musky flavor.

Black currants are full of pectin, so they are perfect for jam – all you need is currants, sugar, water, and a little lemon juice.  (Although, next time, I think we’ll try adding some cardamom or cloves, as Sarah@ UrbanMamas suggested).

Here’s what we did:

Sterilize jars, wash lids and rings and get them hot.  Have canner going and almost up to a boil.  Then, you can start making the jam –

In a heavy bottom pot, bring to a boil:

2 1/2 cups water plus 5 heaping cups black currants, stems removed, and washed (that’s how much we picked).  Reduce and simmer 15 minutes, crushing berries against the side of the pot.   (Berries should be soft and well cooked.)

Add in 6 cups sugar + 1/4 cup of lemon juice and return mixture to a full boil.  Continue to boil until you have reached the setting point (22oF) (check often – mine took about 15 min – you don’t want to over cook!).

Remove jam from the heat, and continue stirring once a min for 5-7 min (this helps distribute any berries so you don’t have floating fruit).  Pour into hot, sterilized jars, place lids and rings on, and process 5 min in a hot-water-bath canner.
Enjoy!

Sour Cherries

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A bit late, but here are some pics from our drive out to Sandy Farms last week to pick sour cherries.  (A big thanks to Chris at Lost Arts Kitchen for letting me know about the good cherry picking there!)

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This was the first time I’ve cooked with sour cherries, and we made sour cherry + brandy jam, and sour cherry + rhubarb jam.  Both were delicious!  We also started some cherries in brandy and some in vodka, for liqueur making next month, and froze a LOT of cherries for pies this winter.

It seems like the girls and I have been pitting cherries endlessly, but we’ve enjoyed the fruits of our labors –

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Not much says “summer” more than a rustic cherry pie (with cornmeal, butter crust), hot out of the oven!