Experiments

I've tried a couple of things lately that I've never done before.  After all, I might as well be creative while I wait for it to be safe to plant things in my garden, right?

A couple of years ago, when we were purchasing coffee beans at a roaster in Erie that we like, J and I picked up a couple of burlap coffee bean bags from a box that said "FREE."  When we returned home from vacation, I put mine on a pile and kinda forgot about it.  While I was cleaning house this week, I discovered it and decided to put it over the back of my desk chair like a cover.  Much to my surprise, a handful of green coffee beans fell out!

I wasn't sure it there was enough to do anything with or not, but I decided to try roasting them.  I watched a couple of YouTube videos and roasted them to what should have been a Light to Medium Roast.  I ground them, and JP and I tried a small cup of coffee the next day.

Unfortunately, we were not very impressed - I picked up earthiness with a hint of wet burlap.  Oh well, it was fun trying.

I came upon a recipe last year for a homemade lotion that is supposed to be good for very dry skin.  Working in health care and washing my hands umpteen times a day definitely dries them out, especially in the wintertime.  The mystery ingredient in this lotion is dandelion oil.  Luckily we have no shortage of dandelions in our yard.

I had to start by picking a bunch of dandelion flowers and drying them in the sun.

Then I simmered them in avocado oil for 2 hours.  After straining out the oil, I combined it with equal parts shea butter and honeycomb pastilles and melted it together in a double boiler.

I mixed in several drops of sandalwood essential oil and then poured the product into containers.

I found the lotion fairly oily, but I think it will work well if I put it on at bedtime and wear cotton gloves.  Time will tell.  I have 2 extra containers...any takers?

We had a couple of really cold nights last week (in the high 20's) with frost, so I haven't yet planted out my seedlings, but they are living in the portable greenhouse/cold frame outside right now.  I have been working on trying to rabbit proof the garden for the past several days.  I have gone around the outside of the deer fence twice, pulling weeds and removing debris, and have attached over 50 feet of chicken wire by folding over 6 inches or so, and using landscaped staples to secure them to the ground, and using wire to attach the top to the existing fencing.  I have another roll of chicken wire to go, plus I found some more in the barn.  Hopefully this year I can actually grow green beans!

The strawberries and blueberries are blooming, so I got the areas bird proofed and weeded.  I also dug up strawberry runners that escaped from the beds and planted them in empty areas in the beds.  I'm hoping for a good season of berries this year.

I also put out my hummingbird feeders over a week ago, and have seen the little guys several times already.

I guess spring is here really and truly!  Enjoy it!

Not Yet!

We had a nice heat wave after my last post, but the weather keeps flipping from winter to spring.  We got a couple of inches on snow on the 18th, and below freezing weather for several days, which turned my apricot tree blossoms into crispy critters.

We actually got a bit more snow the morning of March 28th - just a dusting though.  This weekend it was 85* out on Saturday, and I put all the screens back in the windows.  By Sunday, it only got in the 50's, and we had to start a fire in the woodstove!

Luckily the Hellebores (Lenten Roses) are hardy - they have been blooming since late February.

The crocuses, daffodils, and hyacinths have been blooming as well, and the weeping cherries will open any day now.  We have had enough nice days, that I have done some outside work, such as deadheading and weeding in the flowerbeds; pruning the blueberries, butterfly bushes and clematis, and raking gravel out of the grass.

The wild violets have taken over in my largest flower bed.  At first, I tried to weed them out, but it was hopeless, so I decided to let them be.

This year, I thought I'd try something useful with them, and I made some violet jelly.  First I had to steep the flowers in boiling water for 4 hours, which turned it a bright blue.  Right before adding the sure jell and sugar, I added lemon juice, which turned it a bright purple.  After it was gelled, it was a bright pink color.  The recipe stated that the jelly has a "grapey and floral" taste.  All I noted was sweet with a bit of lemon.  Oh well.  I have still been enjoying it on toast!

L was assisting with the HS drama production again last week.  They did "Little Women - The Musical."  They needed a pair of ice skates for a prop at the last minute, so L and I stayed up late and built a pair out of some boots that she thrifted, cardboard, tin foil and hot glue.  They didn't turn out half bad!

I just started another fire in the woodstove, as it is forecast to be 30* overnight, and it is already starting to get a bit chilly in here.  I can't stand it! It's April 6th...where is SPRING??

In the Kitchen

I spent a lot of time this weekend in the kitchen.  I found myself with a bunch of tomatoes and cucumbers from the garden, as well as a zucchini, and (once again) TOO MANY eggs.

This year I'm having the same issue with my cucumbers that I had several years ago:  they are very prolific, but because it has been dry, some of them are intensely bitter.  I thought I would have enough cukes to can some pickles, but half of them were inedible, so I started some refrigerator Bread & Butter pickles - they have to marinate for 24 hours before we can try them.

I also made some NY style pizza sauce that went into the freezer for later.

I baked 2 loaves of zucchini bread and made 3 quiches (2 ham and cheese for JP & myself and Mom & Dad) and one cheese pizza one for L and managed to use up 3 dozen and 1 eggs.

For dessert, I made "Train Wreck."  Train Wreck is like a messy trifle of my own creation.  I make it with layers of cake cubes, pudding, crushed candy/oreos/fruit, and whipped cream.  This one was angel food cake, chocolate pudding, crushed Skor bars and whipped cream.

Poor Stella had surgery on Thursday to remove a growth from her eyelid.  She doesn't want to leave it alone, so she is having to wear an Elizabethan Collar as well as socks on her hind feet.

She looks like a hybrid vacuum/dog:

Speaking of hybrids, JP and I finally went to look at a car yesterday (one month after losing the Subaru.)  We drove a Hybrid Hyundai Tucson.  It's a nice little car, and we were seriously considering it, but when we came back home and did a bit of research, it has a pretty poor reliability rating with Consumer Reports.  I think we will look at a plug in Hybrid Toyota Rav 4 later in the week.

That's about it for my weekend.  Time to go taste the quiche!

Waste Not, Want Not

Last week and this week, L had her long appointments on Monday and Thursday.  I walked on the indoor track at the Gym that I joined for 2 miles, and swam 1/2-mile one day, and walked and used the rowing machine the other day.  It's a pretty good way to waste time while L is busy and before I take her home.

Today I wanted to make a recipe in Cooks Illustrated for Lemon Tiramisu.  Tiramisu is one of our favorite special desserts - I don't make it too often because it's a lot of work.  I don't actually remember where I found this recipe, possibly from a magazine many years ago, but I've tweaked it a bit over the years.  One of the biggest changes is using Milano cookies instead of lady fingers, since those aren't easy to find around here.

T's Tiramisu

- For the custard, beat 6 egg yolks in a bowl until thick, then beat over a double boiler, gradually adding 1/4 c sugar and 1/4 c Amaretto.  Continue to cook and stir for about 6 minutes until thick.  Remove from heat and continue beating until cool.

- Beat 1 1/2 c Mascarpone until smooth.  In a separate bowl, whip 1 c heavy cream until it forms stiff peaks, then fold into Mascarpone.  Fold this mixture into the custard.

- Mix 1 c strong coffee, cooled, with 3 T Kahlua in a small bowl.  Dunk Chocolate Milanos in this mixture and then make a layer of these on the bottom of an 8" square baking dish.  Spoon half of custard mixture over cookies, then repeat with a layer of dunked cookies and the remaining custard mixture.  (You will need most of 2 bags of Milanos for this recipe.)  Dust with cocoa or chocolate curls.

- Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving, but 4-6 hours is even better.

*******

The Lemon Tiramisu uses lemon curd in place of the custard.  I couldn't find any Lemon Milanos, so I used White Chocolate Coconut ones, and they are dunked in a mixture of Limoncello and lemon juice.  I'll let you know how it tastes!

I made a double recipe of my favorite lemon curd recipe for this, which needed 12 egg yolks altogether, along with the zest and juice from 6 lemons.  

There happened to be a recipe in the most recent Cooks Illustrated for lemon syrup, which is made from the peels of those zested and juiced lemons, cut up and macerated in sugar for 24 hours.  It is currently percolating on the kitchen counter.  Supposedly it is excellent when stirred into iced tea or cocktails. 

And of course, I used 10 of those 12 egg whites to bake an Angel Food Cake, that will go in the freezer for later.

I'm pretty proud of myself for not wasting much in my cooking adventures today.  We have a pint of lemon curd in the fridge, should have a pint of lemon syrup tomorrow, one Angel Food Cake for later, and that Lemon Tiramisu to try tomorrow as well.  

I also have 4 egg whites to use (2 from today and 2 from earlier in the week.)  Any ideas?

Fall Gardening

 The girls were home for Fall Break last weekend, and L brought her roommate along home.  It was lovely to have everyone together again, and I got a bit of help in the garden from L's roommate.  I have been slowly closing the garden down for Fall.  Last weekend we brought in the squashes, a good sized (and delicious) watermelon, and enough tomatoes to make a double batch of enchilada sauce for dinner.

In addition, it was JP's birthday, so we had 5 Flavor Pound Cake to celebrate.

I had a LOT of wash to do when the girls were home, and I managed to get most of the loads hung outside on the clothesline to dry.  I kept finding clothespins on the ground, and realized that my clothespin bag has degraded enough to have holes in the bottom.  I had enough of that fabric to remake the bag.

J has started to bring home some of the things that she is not currently needing, in order to decrease the load coming home in May when she graduates.  She brought home 3 boxes of pottery, some of which are things that she doesn't like, including a teapot that doesn't pour.  JP offered her the option of shooting it with a shotgun, and she jumped at the chance.  You can see the teapot hanging on a stake behind her.

This weekend, JP and I finished harvesting from the garden and pulled out all the plants.  He took two tractor bucket loads down to the woods to dump it!  I also cut the asparagus back in the asparagus bed, and weeded it.  JP helped me dig the remainder of the compost from last year into the tractor bucket, and it is now spread over the asparagus bed to soak in over the winter.  I still have lots of produce to take care of, but I did get the jalapenos prepped and frozen last night, and I am getting ready to make some Cabbage Roll Soup for dinner to use some more.

Cabbage Roll Soup (serves 8)

- 1 large onion, diced                                           - 2 T tomato paste             

- 6 cloves garlic, minced                                       - 4 c beef broth

- 1 1/2 lbs meatball mix                                        - 1 1/2 c V8

- 3/4 c uncooked brown rice                                  - 1 t paprika

- 1 med head cabbage, chopped (about 8 c )        - 1 t thyme

- 28 oz canned diced tomatoes                             - 2 T Worcestershire sauce

- Salt & Pepper to taste                                         - 1 Bay leaf

In a large pot brown the meat and onion.  Add garlic and tomato paste and saute until very dark.  Stir in cabbage and cook for about 3 min until slightly softened.  Add remaining ingredients and cook until rice is done, about 30-35 min.

Serve topped with grated mozzarella or parmesan cheese.

Kale, Chard, sweet peppers, jalapenos, Thai Basil and Dill

Watermelon, carrots, tomatoes and cabbage

The garden is waiting for its blanket of leaves and straw for winter.

I found this large snake skin in my garden shed when I was working down there this weekend.  I didn't see him hanging out there any longer, but I'm hoping that he had a nice meal of field mice that like to camp out while he was there!

So, like it or not, I'm preparing for winter.  Our driveway should be finished by next weekend to make winter driving easier as well. 

Happy Fall Y'all!

Leap Year

Normally I dislike February with the same kind of sinking feeling that I get in my stomach when my husband offers to make me a steaming bowl of oatmeal.  I feel like there are so many other breakfast things that I do like (some of which are also made with oats) so why should I bother trying to choke down porridge just because "it's good for you?"  In the same way, I feel like there are so many other months and seasons in a year, why deal with February when it's always cold and grey and long Long LONG?  And this year, to make thing more difficult, February has to go and add an extra DAY???

This year, somehow, February has been tolerable.  I can hardly believe that it ends this week!!  Maybe it's because of the days and days of sunshine and blue skies that we've been experiencing this year in our neck of the woods.  Who knows?  I'm just grateful that I haven't sunk into the deep depression that I typically face this time of year.

There have definitely been bad days.  L had another low low day last week, but doing better now.  Stella returned to the vet a week after starting treatment for external ear infections because she was doing worse instead of better - vet noted that she now has ruptured ear drums on both sides.  (No wonder she can't hear a doggone thing!)  She is now on both oral antibiotics and new ear drops, and actually seems to be doing a bit better - I think she heard me calling her this afternoon.

We hide her pills in peanut butter...

By the way, one breakfast food utilizing oatmeal that I really enjoy is granola.  I have been making this recipe from America's Test Kitchen lately, that is a real winner with all of us:

Maple Almond Granola

1/2 C vegetable oil (I used 1/4 c coconut oil and 1/4 c avocado oil)

1/3 C Maple Syrup

1/3 C brown sugar

4 t vanilla

1/2 T salt

5 C Rolled oats

2 C raw almonds, chopped

2 C raisens (I used 1 1/2 c craisens instead)

Line baking sheet with parchment paper and spray with vegetable oil spray.

Whisk oil, maple syrup, brown sugar, vanilla and salt together, then fold in oats and nuts.

Transfer mixture to baking sheet and spread into an even layer and press until compact.

Bake at 325* for 35-40 minutes, rotating sheet about halfway through.

Cool thoroughly and then stir in dried fruit.

I got a new cookie cutter from an Etsy store just in time to make Valentine's Day Cookies:

Fridge Facts - Valentine's Edition

A week ago, JP & I, and a friend (L was being a butt and backed out at the last minute) drove to Wheeling for dinner and a concert.  We heard Renee Elise Goldberry (Angelica Schuyler from "Hamilton") sing with the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra.  It was a great concert!  JP drove us home in a blizzard that dumped about 4 inches of snow on our town.  It was gone by Saturday afternoon.

We got another 2 inches of surprise snowfall yesterday morning, which disappeared by nightfall.

This week I made 60 newspaper pots and planted 20 different varieties of seeds.  My SIL recently gifted me with this fun container of heritage seeds.  They are packaged in 5 different lots, and I have only dipped into Lot A this year, but from that have planted tomatoes, peppers, winter & summer squash, 2 types of melons, cucumbers, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Swiss chard, eggplants, okra and dill.  I also dipped into my previous stash to plant pumpkins, jalapenos, sweet basil and Thai basil.

Fridge Facts - Gardening Edition

My Lenten Roses are blooming with abandon, and Punxsutawney Phil did NOT see his shadow, so spring is on it's way... hooray!

Happy Easter, Do You Wanna Dance?

L's Easter/Spring Break was eclipsed by my illness and her Spring Musical.  We had to cancel our weekend in Toledo with J due to illness, and L had 4 hours of rehearsal every day except for Good Friday, so that was that.

I did try to do some Easter-y things, masked of course.  Having binge watched an entire season of "Great British Baking Show" over the previous 2 days, I decided to make Hot Cross Buns for Good Friday.  This involved 10 minutes of kneading dough, which was actually quite therapeutic.  They were delicious and I will definitely be baking these again, although I might cheat and use the bread hook on my KitchenAid instead of all that kneading.

I also boiled some eggs, and I expected L to help me decorate them, but she was much too busy.  I ended up using paint pens to paint them, which was not actually a good idea, because I could only paint about 1/3 of the egg, and then I had to let it dry before moving on.  They looked ok from far away.

For Easter brunch, I made beignets, which we enjoyed hot with fresh berries.  Yummy!

We have had some lovely weather, in fact, it has been a bit warm and dry!  Midweek, I ended up watering the peas that I planted, and just discovered yesterday that 2 of them have come up.  I'm hoping for better germination than that!

In the meantime, my asparagus has been sprouting, and I'm guessing that the rain over the weekend may really get it going.

JP spent a few days last week DIY-ing a 100 year old sink that we scavenged from our public library before a renovation project over a year ago.  The library is housed in a mansion built between 1900 and 1905 and gifted to the library by the previous owner.  The sink is now part of an outdoor sink/potting bench, which I think is wonderful!  I will stain the wood once it dries a bit...perhaps this fall.

L's show opened on Friday night.  I spent Thursday night and all day Friday washing, mending, ironing and steaming costumes!  They did a wonderful job, and it looked like they all had a fun time!  The show was titled "Do You Wanna Dance?"

I started back to work last week as well following the bout of COVID.  I am still getting tired sooner than typical, and my chest gets really tight when I exercise, but otherwise I'm doing fine. Yesterday and today are my days to recover from the show.  I ended up grooming and bathing the dog on Saturday, pushing the lawn mower out back yesterday, and I have to clean house today as well as attend the library Board meeting this evening.  Sigh.  Will life EVER slow down?

Swiss Miss

The rainbow swiss chard in my garden did amazing this year.  Since we had some frost here over the past 2 nights, I harvested most of it before the weekend.  I actually got a kiddie pool full of chard (this is only half of it!)

This stuff grew to massive proportions!

I have already blanched and frozen 5 lbs of it:

John cooked 4 lbs of it southern style with onion, garlic and a ham bone.

Last night we ate a bunch in this delicious pasta that I adapted from a NYT recipe.

Creamy Linguine with Swiss Chard

16 oz linguine

5 T butter

1/2 c panko crumbs

3/4 lb of swiss chard, stems sliced thin and leaves cut into smaller pieces

2 leeks (I used one large onion, sliced thin)

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tsp fresh thyme

1 filet anchovy, chopped

2 c broth

1 c heavy cream

3/4 c parmesan, grated

Italian seasoning, salt, pepper

-Melt 2 T butter in a skillet and add panko.  Season with salt, pepper and Italian Seasoning and toast until golden brown.  Set aside.

-Melt 3 T butter in the skillet and add onion, chard stems, anchovy, garlic and thyme and sauté until soft and onions are translucent.

-Add broth and cream and bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer for 10 min.

-Cook pasta and drain, then return to pot and add chard mixture.  Slowly stir in parmesan until creamy.  Serve with toasted breadcrumbs.

This weekend I also made some of my secret ingredient apple sauce to freeze.  It feels amazing to put food away for the winter months!

Enjoy your food adventures!

Resolution/Revolution

My New Year's resolution this year is to try to create less waste in order to preserve this earth for my grandchildren so that they don't have to live in a space craft orbiting earth for posterity becoming obese and stupid (think WALL-E.)

I already try to use everything - those 9 egg whites left after making egg nog for Christmas were baked into an angel food cake.  The little bit of champagne left over after New Year's Eve was turned into mimosas the next morning.  Half a can of sweetened condensed milk left after baking L's birthday cake went into my coffee for the past few mornings.

Food scraps go into the compost or to the chickens.

I recycle everything I can - cardboard, paper, metal and plastic, but wouldn't it be great to have LESS of that too?

I read an article recently, talking about why we should use bar soap for EVERYTHING.  One of the biggest reasons is to reduce plastic waste.  JP has been using his organic coconut oil soap to wash his few head hairs for years, but I don't like to not condition my hair.  Did you know that there are now shampoo and conditioner bars available?

I started using this grapefruit scented conditioner bar from byhumankind.com right after Christmas.  It smells great and works really well.  The only downside is that it is quite expensive at $15 for a small 1.8 oz bar.  I did read somewhere that it lasts for something like 75 washes...time will tell.

A few days later, I found this Love Beauty and Planet shampoo bar at Target for $4.99.  I didn't notice until I started using it that it is supposed to be for color treated hair, but I still feel like it works really well and does not require much to get a good lather going. 

So...shampoo and conditioner in 100% recyclable (paper/cardboard) packaging - good for the environment and works well.  I'm on my way to using bar soap for EVERYTHING...baby steps.

We just got a new keurig machine before the holidays, and now I am feeling excessive guilt about all of the waste created with those little pods.  Good news though, I have a refillable/reusable pod - haven't tried it yet though.

The girls have been eating vegetarian for several years, in order to eat more sustainably.  I join them much of the time.  Over the weekend, I tried a new recipe for Ratatouille.  It was DELICOUS, although not super attractive.  Remember in Ratatouille the movie, where the food critic, Anton Ego, is given the Ratatouille made by Remy the Rat?  He loved it because it was comfort food from his childhood, but Remy mixed it up a bit and made it attractive.  I've made both:

Ratatouille comfort food vs.

Remy style Ratatouille

Long story short - trying to be kind to the environment this year.  Let's all do it!