I think I got the Granny Square down. Surprising how ingrained the whole yarn thing was. All those years of watching Mom knit like a fiend and just not getting it. I'm still not ready to try knitting, but I do like crochet. I am working on a simple afghan and I think I'm starting to get how to read patterns. Funny, I can pick up just about any handcraft but the yarn-based ones - those that I should be able to do because of exposure from an early age alone.
This poor, un-blocked Granny took forever and made me nuts. To me, it looks like drunken chimps with sticks could have done better with their feet, but the next two looked more like they should.
On another front, a quick trip to GoodWill got me the components for this.
Since I have a fetish for cake plates, everything looks like parts.
One dessert cup and a glass plate made a great cheese platter like this one - cream cheese, mango chutney, green onion, and bacon. OMG it's good!
The nice swirl pattern on both just made them cry out for joining.
$2 and $2.50 respectively for very heavy glass and a tube of clear silicone liberated from Joe's toolbox married them nicely.
If I'm not careful I'm going to wind up with an overabundance of pedestals. I wonder if I can give these as gifts.....
Now on to the eyeball pin cushion!
It's boring, but it rips off the FAT like no other. It's the only radical diet that I've seen that doesn't burn through muscle as fast as fat...I think it has to do with the cleansing nature of the thing. It will end yeast infections/itchy skin and food allergy/chronic sinus/yeast related stuff since you aren't eating any refined sugar or flours. I modify mine since I'm a wuss. I add cheese to my salads, and use a little homemade ranch or thousand island.
Weight Watchers is a great program as well, definitely more varied, but I'm out in the boonies, and really can't afford the weekly tithe to the machine.
Mornings start the same, 1oz (measured dry) oatmeal + 1 diced apple and 8oz plain yogurt. Lunch and dinner are 20 oz of dark leafy green salad with 1oz of vinaigrette without sugar (full fat 'cause you need some in your diet to absorb vitamins) , 4 oz lean protien, and 8 oz non-starchy veg. I can have an apple or orange snack 1 or 2 times a day if needed, and all the water I can stomach. No potatoes, no corn, no cheese, no mocha latte.....whine. Of course I cheat occasionally, but I try to go back to the routine as much as possible.
I know most of the newly lost weight is water I usually retain due to sugar intake, but still it feels good to see the needle go from the heaviest I've ever been to back into my "comfortably obese but want to lose 100lbs" range... I'll get there eventually.
Joe's making me keep a weight training workout schedule too, so that will help LOADS.
That said, I'm now reading craft blogs rather than cooking blogs to stop torturing myself with food pics. Expect to see projects here in the coming days - if I don't collapse under the pressure of the holidays that is.
I would have had a project to post today, but my dog ate it.
Literally.
It was made out of a steel can too, liberally flavored with spray paint, gorilla glue, and spray varnish. Go figure.
I don't know who the culpable party is exactly, but it is either one of the pups or Toby. Somebody had to climb onto the picknick table to get to it. Oh well, another day coming.
I took an hour to strain 4 cups of pulp from the bag of golf ball sized American native persimmons(as opposed to the HUGE Japanese persimmons) in the freezer. I got pretty equal amounts pulp and seeds/skin.
I put three 1 cup bags back in to freeze for later and used the remaining cup in the cookies.
After forcing the cup of pulp through a fine sive to make sure I didn't have any seed or skin bits, I had a little less than a cup and a sieve full of bits...I made up the difference with applesauce.
The first batch of cookies is cooling on the table, and I am pleasantly suprised. I think Joe and the kids will approve too. The are cakey and moist, tasting like chocolate-chip spice cake.
Persimmon Cookies
1 cup Persimmon pulp
1/2 cup Butter
1 Egg
1 cup Sugar
1 tsp Baking Soda
2 cups Flour
2/3 cup Dry Oatmeal
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1 cup chopped nuts (I had almonds on hand)
1 cup Raisins
1 cup Chocolate Chips
Cream together sugar and butter. Add egg. Add pulp and baking soda. Mix spices, oatmeal, and flour and add to pulp/butter. When well mixed, stir in nuts, raisins and chocolate chips.
Drop by teaspoonfuls onto prepped cookie sheet. I use a silpat mat and a #60 disher. Bake at 400F for 10-12 minutes or until just golden. They don't spread much so you might want to squash them down a little before baking.
I got about 5 dozen.
I think cardamom would be nice in these, and will try that next.
I also have recipes for bars and bread, I think I will be picking more persimmons fairly soon!
There it is in all its bacon-y chicken and cheezy goodness. The pawprints on the edge are from the little gremlin. He loves raw bread dough for some reason...and he's not opposed to snitching bacon either.
Here he is again trying to snitch some...he looks more spokes model-esque though. The bitty bun on the side is the only one I successfully made small. I just gave it up and went for the roll.
A bit of cheese over the top in the last 5 minutes of baking gives it that artisan bread look...
Slices topped with warm marinara hit the spot...well, Hunts mushroom tomato sauce really. It's the only store sauce brand I like. I do need to work on getting the dough thickness more even, and it could have used a shipload more cheese as well.
It just needs WAY more cheese. I'll over-stuff it next time. Also, I'm a Miracle Whip lover. It's what I was raised on and it's what's in my fridge. However, I must say, Never, NEVER use Miricle Whip to make homemade ranch dressing. NEVAH! Something evil happens, trust me. Get Kraft Real Mayo or Hellmans, but not MW! It was a new level of bad.
The kids spent an hour racing through the inflatable slides and obstacle course over and over again. Of course I forgot to take my camera!
I'll troll around town this week and get some pics of the decorations. Lots of inflatables this year. A popular one seems to be a horse drawn hearse with a top-hatted skeleton driver. I'm not normally fond of the big nylon things, but this one is pretty neat.
On another note, I picked a big sack of native persimmons. I'll pulp them tomorrow and bake cookies and persimmon bread. Posts to follow.
The pen is a swamp.
I have one suffering - Lulu, and the other 7 adults freshly trimmed with no bad spots. Nilla in particular has hooves of steel.
The two 2009 kids are too wild to catch, but I'll get them yet. Even if they don't need much trimming, it's time to worm. I really need to get the next fence up so I can move them onto fresh pasture.
So now, when Lulu gets milked, she also gets Dr Naylor's hoof treatment and LA200. It looks like she has lesions on the top of the hoof rather than the sole, so I'm researching what to do. It almost looks like founder crossed with hoof scald...
This means we get up at 3 and do farm chores, leave here by 4am and check in in time to hurry up and wait while my baby goes under general anesthesia to get 4 teeth capped.
I HATE this.
There has to be a better way to do pediatric dentistry than GA.
I took a basic white cake I wanted to try and subbed a nice cane sugar sweetened root beer for the liquid. I like the Saint Arnold brand that I can pick up locally. I also have Zataran's root beer extract on hand for forever ago when we went to New Orleans (pre-Katrina).
I think I could have doubled the cake recipe, as the layers were kinda thin. I would have liked it to be at least 1 layer taller than in the pic.
I also tucked wax paper under the cake to keep the cake plate clean while frosting. I can't remember where I learned that tip, but it is a good one.
The frosting is a better buttercream than the one I posted with the rainbow cake. It will be my go-to recipe for icing from now on. It came together like a dream and tastes like buttercream should.
Ignore the clutter and bare insulation walls in the background, just stare at the cake.
The icing got the Zataran's root beer extract for its flavor. Also, I needed and excuse to use one of the fancy footed cake stands I've been collecting for the last 10 years. I love the things!
Simple White Cake
INGREDIENTS
* 1 cup white sugar
* 1/2 cup butter
* 2 eggs
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (Should have subbed Zatarans here too, but didn't think of it)
* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 cup milk (I added 1/2 cup root beer instead)
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x9 inch pan or line a muffin pan with paper liners.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder, add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Finally stir in the milk until batter is smooth. Pour or spoon batter into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven. For cupcakes, bake 20 to 25 minutes. Cake is done when it springs back to the touch.
and Icing:
Quick Buttercream Frosting
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand
Ingredients
* 3 cups confectioners' sugar
* 1 cup butter
* 1 teaspoon flavoring extract
* 1 to 2 tablespoons whipping cream
Directions
In a standing mixer fitted with a whisk, mix together sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.
Add flavored extract and cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more cream if needed for spreading consistency.
We'll eat it tonight, and I'll review the flavor.
Pretty stand....good flavor, but could be stronger, and it was too dry. We ate it with ice cream.
Boxed white cake, divided 6 ways and each tinted.
It doesn't take much of the jell colors to tint each layer, 3 or 4 drops max.
The toughest part is getting the batter to spread out evenly since there isn't that much to each layer. I practically pounded the pan against the cutting board to get it to even up.
They look too thin, but since there's icing between each one, it makes a tallish cake anyway.
Baked for 10 minutes at 350F and cooled before being frosted in sweet, innocent, lemon flavored white buttercream.
I'd seen the cake on Tastespotting, and fallen in lust. So had Charley. He insisted it was his birthday cake all day yesterday! I will be baking one just for him in December because he barely got a taste of this one. Folks loved it - especially the kids.
Next time I may use homemade lemon curd between the layers rather than frosting.
Anyway, here's the frosting adapted from Cooks.com. It makes this cake really shine!
| LEMON BUTTERCREAM FROSTING | |
4 sticks of butter, room temperature (1 cup) The zest of 1 lemon A good Pinch of salt 7 cups confectioners(powdered) sugar 1/4 to 1/2 cup milk 2 TBL. fresh lemon juice In a mixer bowl, cream the butter, lemon rind, and salt until light - about 2 minutes. Beat in the lemon juice. Add sugar alternately with milk until the mixture is creamy and smooth, beating well after each addition. Watch your consistency. You want the icing to lose it's shine a bit, and fluff up. It was too much liquid for me with the whole 1/2 cup and the icing broke. I had to add more butter and sugar to bring it back together, so keep an eye on it. | |
.
Shadows and specters danced in the mist,
And then, the sun turned everything to gold....
I am scared of him going under general anesthesia, but he has to have them fixed. No more than 1 cup of juice a day from now on. His teeth are just more prone to cavities than anyone elses' in the family. Poor little guy.
More cheese making - yawn. My goal is a wheel a week.
New cheese press from Darling Husband. Yay!
Plywood and PVC all waxed with paraffin to make it waterproof. I love the old rusty weight plates on top. Oh so stylish! I have a can of Krylon waiting for a dry day to take care of that problem.
He also fixed my tea trolley and picked up another wheeled cart with drop leaves from the trash. 1950's vintage, it needs new top and leaves, but he found a scrap of ash plywood that will work great. The original steel edging is in great shape and will be re-used.
The weather has turned and it feels like Fall! Yay!
The ragweed also feels like fall; Max, Charley, and I all have hay fever - snort/sniff/sneeze.
- Location:Welcome Home Farm
The county rep said after talking to Benny and his teachers that the plan drawn up by his old school was NO LONGER APPROPRIATE! YAY!
They agreed that while Benny is still struggling with reading and language, he is right on grade level target with all his other subjects and should not need specialized instruction for anything! (other than the reading and language of course)
What a far cry from last April when the previous school and county rep told me my son was very learning disabled, mildly mentally retarded and should be placed full time in life skills classes. They said he had memory problems and couldn't retain information.
I knew in my heart that a kid who memorized his story books after the second or third sound through had good memory skills.
I received no encouragement, and even mild discouragement for seeking independent IQ testing. My thoughts on his corn allergy effecting his behavior were dismissed.
I feel vindicated, and so profoundly grateful.
Have discovered that spirals make way better looking burger buns than slapping the crap out of a dough ball,
Yet the simple, straight, featureless, domed breadstick body of the hot dog bun eludes me??
I mean, look at those deformed twisties! They were perfectly mannered when they went in to rise. See!
But will they take on a simple, bland bun-like shape my kids will accept as food? Oh Nooooo....
Hotdog Buns...Thou mock me, but I will master thee yet!
- Location:Welcome Home Farm
I know, I know, I'm obsessed with cheese right now. You would be too. Heck, I've got 3 sons who have tasted nirvana and won't even consider eating good ole' Borden American slices anymore. Those little heathens are macheteing through my Tillamook stash like locusts. For microwaved cheese and saltine crackers (or Hot Cheese as they call it)! Oh the pain, the pain...
Anyway, I actually got a good culture going, had a perfect curd for a change, and followed the Farmhouse Cheddar recipe from Riki Caroll's book to the letter.
Then I couldn't find the weights I wanted to use...No problem, I'm good at improvisation!
4 washed and scalded hand weights later, I had a 2lb sack of curds-n-whey sitting in a perforated coffee can with a faux tupperware lid sitting on top for a follower.
Balanced a 10lb weight on top for 10 minutes? Check.
re-wrap cheeseoid and plop back in can and switch to 20lb weight for another 10 minutes...
Check, but the cheese wanted to press unevenly and the weight kept tilting...I stepped off to one side to break up a kid fight-club meeting and CRASH!
Weight tilted backwards, chipped the enamel on my NEW STOVE (WHAAAAAA!!!) and flipped the stockpot full of whey onto the floor and under the fridge! (future ricotta no more) Damn near destroyed my good stock pot, and did take my stainless steel colander from my steam juicer out of round.
After mopping up all that sweet/sour whey, cleaning out from under my stove, and beating the fist-sized dent out of the bottom edge of the pot with a rubber mallet, I turned to the embryonic cheddar now mocking me from the sink.
(Note to self: When expressing the desire to get around to cleaning out from under the refrigerator and stove, be specific of the circumstances lest fate take a hand - I had JUST said minutes before, "I really need to move this shelf and mop back there...")
Joe, delight that he is, quickly figured out how to balance the next weight - 50lbs - and this time I sat it in the sink to press.
12 hours later I have what looks like a nice large round of white rubber.
Now the tricky part. {{{{shudder}}}}}
Dry for 3 to 4 days at 55F and 70% humidity. Well, one styrofoam ice chest, ice, 2 canning jars for supports, and a cake cooling rack have become my cheese cave. It currently sits at or near the coveted 55 mark, and it is in fact drying nicely and forming a rind.
EDIT: Ice chest is working GREAT as cheese fridge. However, I still need a working electric fridge to age the stuff in. Cant see myself swapping ice in and out for the next 3 months to keep it 55F. It's also being a well-behaved cheese and not growing an unsightly beard!
Wednesday or Thursday I will wax it.
Me standing over the stove with a double boiler ('nother coffee can in a pot) with molten cheese wax dabbing at a round of cheese. Open flames and flammable substances...That should be fun.
Then it's just 3 short months to tasting time. That means I should be able to sample my new cheese sometime around Christmas...
Anyhow, wish me luck.
Today I have a pork shoulder in the crockpot for Pulled Pork, Crash Potatoes, and Sour Cream Strawberries for dinner.
Pulled Pork
ingredients
5lb pork butt roast (Picnic Shoulder I got 18lbs for $20! Yay me!)
1/2 cup dijon mustard
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup salt
2 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper
2 teaspoons smoked paprika (yeah right! My store has McCormic and Shur Fine paprika. If I want it "smoked" I best get rolling papers and make a cigarette out of it baybee. It's plain paprika, it'll do)
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 garlic cloves (jarred Garlic - a good spoonful)
2 cups water
2 - 3 cups Homemade Barbecue Sauce (Or some store bought sauce... pansy. Just kidding. Kinda.)
8 sandwich buns
2 cups thinly sliced green cabbage (for serving, oh yes, do it.)
Paint on the mustard, mix the sugar and spice and rub it on that bad boy. Crock pot or slow oven (250F) the whole mess and let it cook down until fork tender.
The Sauce
and
Strawberries with Sour Cream
I had this from a Mexican Ice Cream shop in Gainesville Tx and knew I could re-create it in all it's glory. Oh Gawd it's good.
1 to 2 pints strawberries, hulled and quartered
1 cup sour cream
1 to 2 TBL brown sugar
dash of vanilla extract
Mix the sour cream, sugar and vanilla. Spoon over berries in individual serving cups, Lick bowl.
To pass the time, I've been reading the Diary of a Food Whore. I think I injured myself snorting. At one point I flirted with the idea of becoming a caterer. She shows me why I don't have the temperament. Funny stuff.
- Location:Welcome Home Farm
Sad, mal-formed, elephant-man hotdog buns...
But this morning I did something wonderful with that fresh bread...
Free range home grown scrambled eggs - Joe's smothered in pepper, Tillimook cheddar melting quietly under the eggs, thick cut, boneless, locally produced artisanal ham from locally raised pigs, and home grown ripe tomatoes from Joe's grandmother's garden. Except for the cheddar, everything came from within 50 miles of where I'm sitting!
What a beautiful way to start this cool and rainy day.
- Location:Welcome Home Farm
I crock Potted the beans for 2 hours and used my homemade BBQ sauce for them. They worked great as a crock pot dish since the oven was occupied by the ribs - I did fry the bacon crisp first though.
The apple dumplings were so sweet. I think I could cut back on the sugar, butter, and MD by about half and still be great.
It was crazy good! Grandma contributed her coleslaw and we ate like pigs.
I took pics of the leftovers today at lunch because I was too damn busy eating them yesterday to bother with the camera!
Pics tomorrow when I unload the camera.
UPDATE:
BBQ Sauce to Die For!
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup ketchup (I use Heinz)
1 cup water
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder (I use diced jar garlic)
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 teaspoon celery salt
1 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon cayenne (do it. It's not too spicy)
Preparation:
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over a medium heat. Stir constantly for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Sauce should be thick. Allow to cool. Store in an airtight container. Refrigerate.
- Location:Welcome Home Farm
the sun and the moon seem to acknowledge each other and they moved in both apposition and concordance in a breath taking dance of light across the oaks ----- Jimy Buffett, Prince Of Tides
Un-retouched, un-edited. Welcome to my morning. The photo doesn't do the sun justice. It was cherry red and dull enough to look at with no problem. It hesitated just above the horizon and below the clouds like a ripe peach hanging just out of reach.
Woohoo! I figured out the panorama feature on my camera!
This is 7 shots stitched together! Sunset through a thunderstorm!
- Location:Welcome Home Farm
And the full attention of my entourage.
I follow the instructions found at fiascofarm.com/dairy/mozzarella.htm
Fiasco Farm is a great resource for cheese and cheese makers. I'm also waiting on a book by Riki Carrol about the art, a pound of cheese wax, and culture for cheddar. It's next on the project list.
Curd-n-whey...
Update: 2.5( ) gallons of milk yielded a ball of moz about the size of a volleyball,
and about a cup and a half of ricotta.
Profile
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
stonemaven- stonemaven
- Website
Syndicate
