Blog Posts

Getting Going on Gardening, Companion Planting

6/10/2011

Catmint/catnip, to help your get more produce from your garden..... read on!

Photo credit: Jennifer Benner

What can I say? --it’s been a strange year for gardening. My garden has not been completely planted yet, and a lot of what was put in, didn’t make it. We had enough rain and snow in May to hit half our precipitation average for the year. Beans and corn were planted three weeks ago; the corn came up in crooked rows (I think they got washed out a little bit), and only two of the bean plants have made an appearance. I may have to replant. The volunteer tomatoes are finally up; they were this size a month earlier last year. But they are up. That’s good. The plants that are doing well are the ones that were established before all the wet weather hit. Onions and celery overwintered, and the volunteer lettuce came up in March or April.

If you’re still putting plants- or seeds- in the ground, consider companion planting. The concept is that one plant can help another. Garlic and onions tend to keep insect pests away from anything real close, and flowering plants attract pollinators. Find something that the bees like, plant it close to your vegetables or fruits, and see your production go up.

The plant in my yard that always has the most bees around it is catmint (nepeta). I've been growing Walker's Low (which is named after a location, not how short the plant is- it's about 2 feet tall.) It looks similar to lavender, blooms longer, and can tolerate colder temperatures- down through USDA Zone 3. See it at http://www.finegardening.com/plantguide/nepeta-x-faassenii-walkers-...

And here's a great find; a video series called "Home Grown/Home Made", produced by Fine Gardening magazine. The description is "Welcome to Homegrown/Homemade, a video series from FineGardening.com and our sister site FineCooking.com. We're following a gardener (Danielle Sherry) and a cook (Sarah Breckenridge) as they plant, maintain, harvest, store, and prepare garden vegetables". They include tomatoes, basil, squash, carrots, blueberries, potatoes, arugula, and peas. Check it out, and see what you think!

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Making Herbal Ointment; Comfrey

6/7/2011

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Comfrey ointment: simple to make, and very useful. Of course, be smart about using home remedies, and use a doctor when you need to!

The only only ointment I've made to date is comfrey . The first apartment we moved into, after getting married, had a comfrey plant growing in the flower bed.   I had bought The Complete Medicinal Herbal, and comfrey sounded like an interesting plant to learn about. So I made a batch.

We had hardly any bruises, breaks, road rash, strains, or sprains in the next decade, so that's how long I kept the ointment. It seemed to still work well at the end there, though the sooner you use it, the more potent it is. The next batch (same size!) lasted us only about 18 months; one son had FOUR broken bones within a year (trampoline, trampoline, trampoline, and scooter). Glad that's over (knock on wood...)! When he broke both his ankles simultaneously, I rubbed comfrey ointment on them twice a day. The doctor was amazed at the healing by his two-week checkup.

I crushed my ring finger between two weights; it turned purple clear down to my wrist. I splinted it with a popsicle stick and put comfrey on it once or twice a day (depending on how often I remembered!). The nail had threatened to fall off, but it didn't, and it grew back straight and smooth. The finger was almost completely healed in two to three weeks. And I don't heal very quickly.

An ointment doesn't blend into your skin, but forms a layer over it. It's especially good for places where the skin is weak, or where you need a barrier from moisture (like in diaper rash). You could make this with coconut oil, which is solid at less than 75 degrees F, instead of petroleum jelly, but that's closer to the definition of a cream since that version will more easily soak into the skin.

Use any herb you want.

You can use the same amount of oil instead of the petroleum jelly, but that's called an 'infusion' instead of 'ointment'. (For a cold infusion, see bottom of page.)   Old-timers used lard or other animal fats as the base; I'll try coconut oil for my next batch. It's supposed to have healing qualities itself.

Comfrey Ointment
16 oz/2cups petroleum jelly (like Vaseline) -or coconut oil
2 oz. dried herb       (or 500 g petroleum jelly, 60 g dried herb)

Melt jelly in double boiler, stir in herbs, heat gently for a couple hours (2-3)until herbs become crisp. Strain through cheesecloth or muslin, squeeze to get as much liquid out as possible. Be careful and/or use gloves, the mixture is very hot. Pour while hot into clean storage containers. Best if used within a year. Good for arthritis, broken bones, bruises, inflamed bunions, torn ligaments, etc.

Comfrey's "country name" was "knitbone". It contains allantoin; this encourages cell growth in bone, cartilage, and muscle. My experience is that it heals skin, too. Use the above-ground parts; the leaves and flowers have the most allantoin.
You can mash/crush the leaves to make a poultice for broken bones, including ribs and hairline fractures. My book says the powdered root, mixed with water to make a paste, is good for varicose ulcers, stubborn wounds, and bleeding hemorrhoids. I haven't needed that remedy yet. :-) Best to harvest the root in spring or fall, when the plant is putting its energy into its roots. ( As a side note, yes, this is correct grammar in “its roots”; there is no apostrophe in a possessive “it”. I’ve been seeing “it’s” so much lately I was wondering if I learned the wrong rules. Here’s my proof of what’s correct, a webpage called It’s “its”! )

A related remedy is for burns: mix equal amounts honey (raw, if you have it) and olive oil. Chop or mash comfrey; add enough to the honey/oil to make a paste. Apply to burns; wrap loosely with gauze or lightweight cotton so it stays put. Put it on as needed. I used this when a red-hot coal landed on my bare foot one day last summer. I put the paste on, and promptly forgot about it. When I remembered later in the evening, all that remained was a slight red mark. No blister, no pain.

For a "cold infusion", to extract the plant's helpful compounds without cooking it, pack a quart jar full of the herb you want. Pour two cups of oil (olive oil, sunflower oil are better choices) over it, screw a lid on, and let it sit on a sunny windowsill for two or three weeks. Strain into clean bottles, amber-colored ones are helpful in protecting it from damage from the light. Store it cool and dark.

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Apple Butterflies

6/3/2011

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Simple, and lots of fun to eat!

Yes, they could be fancier, but they're still cute! This way I'm willing to give each child a whole apple's worth of butterflies. It takes almost no extra time to cut them this way.

Cut an apple into quarters, then cut the seeds out using a shallow 'V' cut. This gives a curve to the outside edges of your butterflies' wings.

Then cut each piece so you have eight more-or-less-equal wedges.

Cut carefully, starting at what was the center of the apple (the narrow side of the wedge). Cut almost through, stopping about 1/8- 1/4 " from the last bit of edge.

I like to make the uncut part about 1/3 the way down the outside edge, it makes the butterflies look a little more realistic.

Open the two pieces, leaving that skin 'hinge' intact.

See how it's attached still? If you accidentally cut all the way through, just set them back-to-back. They just aren't quite as much fun to eat that way.

This is as fancy as I like to get when I'm trying to get lunch on the table quickly. The antennae are strings off a stalk of rhubarb in the garden.

You could get really fancy and creative here, if you have the time and inclination. Strings of licorice would also work for antennae, but kinda defeats the purpose of the healthy snack. (Besides, you know what happens once a package is opened...)
You could also decorate using raisins, other dried fruit (think colors here), mini chocolate chips, colored sprinkles, even paint on the wings with diluted food color, or a finger dipped in a natural color-- cocoa powder, blueberry juice, turmeric or curry powder, crushed safflower, dried powdered beet or tomato.

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Strawberry Pops

5/31/2011

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Cold, sweet, and slightly tangy Strawberry Pops.

Photo courtesy Anitra Kerr

Today I bought more strawberries, they weren't as cheap as they've been past years, but they're awfully good. Meanwhile, I'm anxiously waiting for all the blossoms on my strawberry plants to become fruit!

I got this recipe in a newsletter (SimplyLivingSmart.com) and wanted to pass it on. The original recipe called for powdered sugar or agave, but use whatever sweetener you like.

Strawberry Pops
1 1/2 pints strawberries, rinsed and hulled
sweetener to taste: about 1/4 c. sugar or agave, or 3 T. honey, or 1/2 c. powdered sugar, or 3-4 packets of stevia

Pulse strawberries with sugar and 1/3 cup water or orange juice (YUMMIER) in food processor until pureed, with some chunks of berries remaining. Pour half of mixture into a bowl.
Pulse remainder until smooth. Stir puree into mixture in bowl. Pour into 3-ounce molds or plastic cups, insert sticks or wooden spoons, and freeze until solid, at least 8 hours.

I'm going to make some strawberry-rhubarb pops: using one chopped and cooked stalk of rhubarb in place of a half pint of the strawberries. There should be enough sugar in the recipe anyway (if not, I'll add 'til it tastes good), and the rhubarb with give it a little kick. Kind of like the orange juice does, but a little more tangy. And a dash of vanilla is always good.

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Preparing For- and Handling- Trials; Strawberry Leather; Group Orders

5/28/2011

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Have you found good deals on strawberries? Or are your plants starting to produce them? We love to make and eat strawberry leather, though I often mix strawberry puree with applesauce or any other mashed fruit, to make the strawberries go farther. For a simple way to make fruit leather, see http://www.theprovidenthomemaker.com/1/post/2010/11/what-to-do-now-in-the-garden-fruit-leather.html

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If you’re in the Salt Lake valley, I just learned about a lady who puts together group orders every month; she lives just a mile down the road from me. The prices are great, and the food is good quality. It comes from a Utah/Idaho farmers’ co-op; most of the items are even organic. Her website is http://www.organicemily.com

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The following excerpts from an article are from Ezra Taft Benson, published in the Ensign magazine, January 1974, entitled “Prepare Ye”. He repeats D&C 38:30 three times in it (“if ye are prepared, ye shall not fear”), and this talk has been extensively quoted. It contains at least 12 segments I’ve quoted or heard quoted. Read through the talk, and see how many pieces of it you’ve heard before.

Here are some excerpts:

“In Matthew, chapter 24, we learn of “famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes. …” (Matt. 24:7.) The Lord declared that these and other calamities shall occur. These particular prophecies seem not to be conditional. The Lord, with his foreknowledge, knows that they will happen. Some will come about through man’s manipulations; others through the forces of nature and nature’s God, but that they will come seems certain. Prophecy is but history in reverse—a divine disclosure of future events.

Yet, through all of this, the Lord Jesus Christ has said: “… if ye are prepared ye shall not fear.” (D&C 38:30.)

…At the April 1937 general conference of the Church [of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints], President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., of the First Presidency, asked: “What may we as a people and as individuals do for ourselves to prepare to meet this oncoming disaster, which God in his wisdom may not turn aside from us?” President Clark then set forth these inspired basic principles of the Church welfare program:

“First, and above and beyond everything else, let us live righteously. … Let us avoid debt as we would avoid a plague; where we are now in debt, let us get out of debt; if not today, then tomorrow. Let us straitly and strictly live within our incomes, and save a little.

“Let every head of every household see to it that he has on hand enough food and clothing, and, where possible, fuel also, for at least a year ahead. You of small means put your money in foodstuffs and wearing apparel, not in stocks and bonds; you of large means will think you know how to care for yourselves, but I may venture to suggest that you do not speculate. Let every head of every household aim to own his own home, free from mortgage. Let every man who has a garden spot, garden it; every man who owns a farm, farm it.” (Conference Report, April 1937, p. 26.)

…There are blessings in being close to the soil, in raising your own food, even if it is only a garden in your yard and/or a fruit tree or two. Man’s material wealth basically springs from the land and other natural resources. Combined with his human energy and multiplied by his tools, this wealth is assured and expanded through freedom and righteousness. Those families will be fortunate who, in the last days, have an adequate supply of each of these particulars.”

… “Healthful foods, proper rest, adequate exercise, and a clean conscience can prepare us to tackle the trials that lie ahead.”

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How to use dried fruit; Chewy Apricot-Almond Oatmeal Cookies

5/24/2011

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When you buy dried fruit, what do YOU do with it? For a long time we mostly just ate it straight, as a snack. The exception was raisins, which occasionally got thrown into oatmeal cookies, cinnamon rolls, or hot cereal.   So how do I use dried fruit now? We still love to snack on it, but I use it several other ways, too-

·         as part of trail mix- any dried fruit is great
·         granola- think beyond raisins- cherries, figs, dates, papaya, apricots.
·         cooked with hot cereal, especially with a nuts and a little spice- often you won't need any extra sweetener
·         stirred into yogurt (unsweetened or flavored)
·         as a ‘fruit compote’- reconstituted and served in the soaking liquid, especially with a little cardamom or cinnamon added
·         sprinkled into salad- try dried cranberries, strawberries, cherries, diced dried pear or apple. For an extra kick, soak the fruit in balsamic vinegar or any kind of citrus juice
·         throw into a smoothie
·         soaked and put in yeast bread- my favorite sweet bread adds snipped apricots, pecans, and diced candied orange peel .
·         fruit cake. Homemade. This is entirely a different animal than those artificially-colored and –flavored ones from the store. Use a rich butter, egg, and brown sugar base. My favorite combo is dried apricots, pecans, and diced (homemade) candied orange peel. Sometimes with raisins.
·         soaked (or not) and snipped into quickbreads or muffins. Maple-fig-walnut is really good.
·         Reconstituted and baked into pie, cobbler, or crisp.
·         soaked and run through the blender as a puree- use in cakes, muffins, breads to increase moisture and sweetness. You can usually reduce the fat in the recipe by the same amount as you added of puree.
·         pureed (as above); use as a fruit sauce on pancakes, waffles, cake, or icecream.     You can even make this puree into jam.
·         mixed into cookies. Favorite-ever recipe is at the bottom of this post.

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When should you soak the fruit?   Do this when you are adding it to anything that depends on moisture- if you add it unsoaked to breads or anything else baked, the fruit will soak itself while the food cooks- taking liquid away from the dough or batter. This leads to tougher baked goods. For this reason, I prefer to soak raisins before swirling them inside cinnamon rolls or raisin bread.   You can also soak it anytime you want the fruit softer and less chewy, as in salads. Don’t add soaked fruit to granola (unless you’re going to eat it immediately); moisture in granola can cause mold.

When you’re reconstituting dried fruit, don’t expect it to look and feel just like fresh. Drying breaks down cell walls some, so the reconstituted fruit will more closely resemble the cooked version. (In other words, reconstituted apples will NOT be crunchy.)

How do you reconstitute the fruit? Soak it: boiling water works fastest, but will kill any enzymes remaining in the fruit. Cold water works, but takes about three times as long. Warm water is a happy medium. Plan on 5-30 minutes when using hot water, 10-60 minutes for warm, or 30 minutes plus for cold water. Times will vary depending on the hardness of your water (soft water works faster), how old the fruit is, how dried-out it is, if it’s sweetened (sweeter=longer), and how big the pieces are.   Use only enough water to barely cover the fruit; using more will rob the fruit of more of its sweetness. Save the soaking liquid; use it in the recipe if you can. I love to drink it… this can also be used as a pancake syrup.   If you find you’re sensitive to the sulfur dioxide that some fruits are treated with (to improve color and shelf life), draining and discarding the liquid can remove some of this preservative.

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If dried until crisp, the fruit can be turned into a powder, using a blender, food processor, or coffee grinder. Use in any recipe you want fruit flavor- baking, hot cereal, smoothies, and more. What about shelf life?- it's best within 1 year; quite a bit longer if oxygen-free, cool and dark. When not at its best, it's still food!

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Here’s the recipe for one of my favorite cookies. Ever. A friend of mine who DOESN’T LIKE COOKIES loves these!   They’re good without the glaze, but adding that last little kick of flavor (and eye appeal) elevates them to fantastic.   You could substitute dried chopped tart cherries for the apricots. (If you add chocolate chips to that variation, leave off the glaze; it’d be overkill. Unless maybe you’re drizzling melted chocolate!)

Chewy Apricot-Almond Oatmeal Cookies

1 c. butter, softened
¾ c. brown sugar
½ c. (granulated) sugar
1 egg
½ tsp. almond extract
1 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 ½ c. regular or quick-cooking oats
6 oz. (1 c.) dried apricots, snipped
½ c. finely chopped almonds (toast first for best flavor)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Beat butter until almost smooth. Add sugars and beat until fluffy. Mix in egg and almond extract, beat well. Add flour and baking soda and mix. Fold in oats, apricots, and almonds. Add 2 tsp. water if needed.

Scoop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheets. Bake about 8-10 minutes or until just brown around edges. The centers should still look wet, they continue to cook internally for the next twenty minutes. Let cookies cool on tray for one minute, then remove to a cooling rack. Drizzle almond glaze on them in a criss-cross pattern. This is really fast when you put the cookies close together and drizzle them with long sweeping lines.

Glaze:
2 c. powdered sugar
½ tsp. almond extract
2-3 Tbsp. water

Mix to get a good drizzling consistency. Put glaze in a plastic baggie, poke or snip a small hole in it (how big depends on how thin your glaze is), and drizzle this on the cookies. Leftover glaze can be mixed into pancake or muffin batter, or used as a glaze on muffins. (Almond Poppyseed, anyone?)

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Using Dried Fruit; Cherry Chocolate Bliss Bites

5/20/2011

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Dried tart cherries: my favorite cherry for recipes.

Photo from Nutty Guys

Next week’s post will have several ideas for using dried fruit.
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Why buy, or make, dehydrated fruits? My favorite reasons are that it preserves fruit without needing electricity (as in freezing), and it stores in a smaller space when compared to canning. It also intensifies the flavors, allowing me to use it as a sweetener.

If you’re buying them, how do you know what a good price is? The simplest way is to judge by serving size. One ounce of dried fruit is a serving, about equal in size to one medium fresh apple or peach. If a one-pound can of dried apples costs $5.75/lb (which it does at the Home Storage Center), that means you’re paying about 35 cents per apple.   If you want to figure how that compares with price per pound fresh, 25 lbs of fresh apples reduce down to about 4 lbs.   4/25 of 1 lb @$5.75= .92/lb fresh apple price.

For other fruits, a fairly good estimate is 1 lb very-dried fruit = 5 lbs fresh; most fruits are somewhere around 80% water to begin with. 1 lb moist-dried fruit = 3 lbs. fresh, figuring about 2/3 of the water has been evaporated away. This isn’t exact, but is close, and is simple enough to remember and use. Dried blueberries (moist) at $ 12.30/lb are like paying $ 4.04/lb for fresh, or about $ 1.53 for a 6-oz clamshell. It costs around four dollars a pound to buy frozen blueberries, plus then I pay to run the freezer at home. Twelve bucks a pound sounds expensive, but it’s about half  the price of fresh around here. They’re definitely worth having some on hand. Just keep them out of reach of the kids, or you won’t have any left!

If you live anywhere around Salt Lake City, you can get ‘returns’ at Nutty Guys’ warehouse for $1.50 per one-pound bag (of anything they sell). Returns are anything that didn’t sell within their 6-7-month “sell by” date; they get returned to the warehouse. Returns are unpredictable, you never know what will be there on the shelf, but they make for incredible bargains. Dried fruit is considered at its peak for one year. You can extend this by keeping it sealed, dark, and cool.  This is something at its best when rotated regularly.
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Here’s one way to use dried tart cherries; I always get them cheapest from Nutty Guys. (Returns shelf, hooray!) I created this recipe for a bake-off at the state fair a few years ago. The ingredients sound strange together, but, boy, are they good. The balsamic vinegar accentuates the chocolate and adds brightness to the cherry.    (The recipe took 1st place.) These are like a very dark, intense truffle, with bits of sweet-tart, chewy cherry. They take only five minutes to mix.

CHERRY-CHOCOLATE BLISS BITES

1/4 cup dried tart cherries, coarsely chopped
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 (4 oz) bar Ghirardelli 60% cocoa bittersweet chocolate, broken*

Place dried cherries in a small microwavable bowl; pour in balsamic vinegar and almond extract. Microwave 30 seconds to help plump the cherries; set aside.

Microwave condensed milk 45 seconds or until hot but not boiling. Add chocolate and stir until mostly smooth. Add cherry mixture. Stir until well combined.

Pour into a loaf pan or other 2 cup container, bottom lined with parchment. Chill in freezer for 15 minutes or in refrigerator for 45 minutes until set.

Cut into squares or roll into balls.    This recipe can be doubled or tripled.

*Any semisweet or bittersweet chocolate (bar or chips) can be substituted. Try to get something around 60% cocoa solids. I used Ghirardelli’s because that was who sponsored the contest. If you quadruple the batch, you’ll use the whole can of sweetened condensed milk (1 1/3 c.) and one whole pound of chocolate.

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Understanding Fertilizer, Knowing Your Backyard Weeds, and free cooking e-books

5/13/2011

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What is this weed?

Learn from a free, full-color weed guidebook online.

Photo courtesy USU Extension

One of the secrets to good gardening is knowing what you're dealing with. This applies to pests, soil, weeds, fertilizers, plants, growing seasons, and more. This week I found two great resources to help you with a couple of these. I'm especially excited about a guidebook, Common Weeds of the Yard and Garden, from the USU Extension office. It's a FREE, 220-page guide with photos, plant descriptions, information on how to manage the weed, and any historical uses it has had, whether medicinal or edible. If you want a hard copy, either print it out yourself, or contact the USU Extension Office. Their information is included in the guidebook.

In case the link above deoesn't work, you can get it at http://extension.usu.edu/files/publications/publication/Horticulture_Weeds_2011-02pr.pdf

Understanding Fertilizer is a quick-to-read, one-page article about the basics of fertilizers.

And just for good measure, here is a list of 50+ free cooking/baking e-books from
The Prepared Pantry http://www.preparedpantry.com/Free-cooking-baking-recipe-e-books.htm

Did you know the plant in the photo above? It's Common Mallow. My kids call the little round seeds "cheesies" and love to eat them. Every part of this plant is edible, and the 'cheesies' can even be used to make meringue and marshmallows. (There are recipes for these in Edible Wild Plants, by John Kallas. He also has a website, http://www.wildfoodadventures.com)

Have a happy day!

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Cutting Food Waste- Does "Expired" mean "Dead"?

5/6/2011

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Rescuing food can help you rescue your food budget, too. The average American family wastes about 15% of the food they bring home. How much money could you save?

There are sites online, like stilltasty.com, that list the shelf life of foods. One problem with them, though: the sites give the 'best by' information. This means the manufacturer can guarantee the food is at peak quality and nutrition. Food doesn't automatically spoil after that; it's generally a slow deterioration. You control the speed of it, by the amount light, heat, oxygen, and moisture/humidity your storage conditions have. Because of this, all charts tend to give very conservative numbers in case storage conditions are less than ideal. Store something in the dark, where it's cool, and you can easily double its stated shelf life.
Another type of date you'll find on products is the 'sell by' date. Dairy and eggs are two products that have this. This date assumes you'll take a little longer to actually eat the food, so the 'sell by' date is about a week earlier than the 'best by' date.

Higher-fat items go rancid sooner.   Watch for that. How can you tell if it, or anything else has passed its useful life? Smell it. Your eyes, nose, and tongue can tell you a lot. Use common sense; if it smells bad or has gone moldy or foamy, there's no need to taste!! And if you are feeding people with low immune systems, err on the side of caution.

If a can squirts at you when you open it, that can be an indication of botulism growth. Boil the contents for 10 minutes. If food has started eating through the can, well, I wouldn't eat it unless I was starving. Even then, I might not. But the sealed Mason jar of peaches from ten years ago that you just found at the back of a shelf? Yeah, they've turned an interesting peachy-brown. Puree them and use as the liquid in a cake, make a smoothie, or some other creative use. Is ten years old ideal? No, of course not. You'll get better nutrition if you're rotating the food more often than that. But older food is still... food. Use it.

Cutting Food Waste at Home

My #1 tip! Before you cook dinner, look in the fruit basket, crisper drawer, fridge shelves, or freezer to see what needs used up first. Use that in your meal. Be creative if you have to.

·         My #2 tip! Don’t waste what’s on your plate. If you have small children, serve them very small servings (a couple of bites) of just a couple foods. Use a small plate. They only get seconds on anything after the firsts are eaten. As my kids hear, “Firsts of everything before seconds of anything.” They can learn to eat everything on their plate if the servings are small enough. When they’re older, progress in the teaching by letting them learn to serve themselves small/reasonable portions. If they have leftover food (either at home or eating out), SAVE it for the next meal; they “get to” eat that before any new food.

·         Freeze leftovers. You get instant dinners for later!

·         Use leftovers as a ‘variety pack’ meal: put all the leftovers on the table, and let everyone choose which they like best. Or pack them for take-to-work (or school) lunches.

·         Keep a bag in the freezer for celery tops, mushroom stems, bits of raw or cooked meat, leftover oatmeal, whatever odds and ends you have. When the bag is full, make it into soup.

·         When you have heels or crusts of bread, leftover toast, or stale bread, add it to a bag in the freezer. Use it when you need breadcrumbs, or to make bread pudding, poultry stuffing, or bread salad. I also save the breadcrumbs from when I slice homemade bread.

·         Trim away bad spots, eat the rest. Brown edges on lettuce can be trimmed away, same with black on cabbage, mold on apples or strawberries, etc.

·         Chop shriveled apples or other fruit and mix them into muffin batter. Or make smoothies. Find some way to use the food where looks don’t matter.

·         Freeze overripe bananas to use in recipes and smoothies. For simplicity's sake, peel before freezing.

·         when you have so much of something that it will spoil before you can use it all, freeze it, dry it, or bottle it.

·         Moldy cheese? Trim off the mold, use the rest or shred and freeze it.

For other ways to save money on food, see the post from Feb. 3, 2011.

When should you throw out food?

My general guidelines are to throw it out if it is:
-foaming (unless it's bread dough or batter, or if you're fermenting something intentionally),
-molding (except for cheese, and small bits on fruit or vegetables),
-turning slimy,
-developing unusual colors, or
-smells bad.


Learning how to tell when food is still good can really help out your budget. We waste huge amounts of food here in the US, the average family of four throws away just under $600 in food AT HOME per year! (See http://uanews.org/node/10448)   And total food waste, from the field to your stomach, runs between 40-50%. Really.

This higher number includes the following steps:

·         cultivation
·         harvest
·         storage/processing/packing/transport
·         supermarkets
·         consumption (restaurants/schools/home waste)

As a side note, so you don't think the US should be singled out for condemnation, total waste percentages are about the same in undeveloped countries- but they lose more between the field and the store, and less at home. (See http://www.siwi.org/documents/Resources/Policy_Briefs/PB_From_Filed_to_Fork_2008.pdf, pages 18-23)

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Will frost damage wipe out my tree fruit?

4/29/2011

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photo credit: USU Extension

At this stage of bloom, 28 degrees will kill about 10% of your blossoms, 25 degrees will destroy about 90%. Apples can still produce a full crop with only 10-15 % of the buds surviving. Find out more, including how to protect your future fruit, below.

Do you have fruit trees in your yard? Apple, pear, peach, nectarine, apricot, plum, or cherry?

Did you know that freezing temperatures won't necessarily knock out all possibility of getting a crop?

And 32 degrees is not the death-knoll for apple blossoms.

The damaging temperature is different, too, if your trees are almost ready to bloom versus being in full bloom.

The Utah State University Extension office recently published a chart with full-color photos of different bloom stages. It tells what temperatures to watch out for. It can be found here.

So what can you do to protect your crop? Farmers sometimes put out big propane heaters, but most homeowners don't have these on hand.

Two simpler suggestions: cover, or water.

They work on the same principle; to give some insulation to the blossoms.

Way #1: If your tree is small, throw a sheet or blanket over it. This should keep your tree maybe 5-10 degrees warmer than the surrounding air.

Way #2: - what my parents have always done- turn on a sprinkler, set it so the water is hitting your tree. Leave it on overnight. The water will freeze, forming a layer over the blossoms. The ice stays at 32 degrees, which means your blossoms stay at 32 degrees. Niceice blanket. No bloom kill. Go easy on the water, though; you don't want to add so much (ice) weight that the branches start to break.

You can use this to extend your growing season in fall, too; protect your garden from an early freeze.

If you haven't planted your trees yet, consider putting them on a north slope. The soil and air are cooler there, so the trees will bloom later. When it's safer.
Just make sure they will get at least 6-8 hours of sunlight a day. That's required for good fruit production.

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Wheat Flour Basics

4/25/2011

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Left- White Wheat
Right- Red Wheat

As you can see from the loaves, red and white wheat bake up nearly identically except for color. They differ quite a bit in flavor.
"50%" means that the loaf is made of 50% whole grain, and 50% all-purpose flour.

Last time you made bread, was it coarse and crumbly once it sat for a while?

If it was, you had a gluten problem. It could be that the dough wasn't kneaded enough to form good long gluten strands, or your flour may have not had enough gluten in it to begin with.   If so, use flour with a higher gluten content next time, or add gluten itself.  Cans of gluten are often sold with breadbaking supplies.

Another thing that makes a big difference is how finely ground your flour is: if it's coarse, gluten can't form well. Develop enough gluten, and you have small, even air bubbles in your bread, and a chewy texture.

Why is gluten so important?

Gluten is the main protein in wheat. It forms tiny elastic chains that allow the dough to stretch and hold together, and that matrix forms walls around the carbon dioxide bubbles produced by the yeast as it grows. If there's not enough gluten, the cell walls break, leaving large, unevenly-shaped air bubbles.    Gluten is activated by liquid, warmth and kneading- which is why you use as little of those three when you're making pie crust. That's one food that you want to avoid gluten forming.  Gluten makes great bread, but tough pastry.

Wheat comes in different colors and 'hardness', or protein content. You can buy "soft white", "soft red", "hard white" and "hard red".   There are even distinctions among the hard wheats- it is often labeled as "spring wheat" or "winter wheat". Winter wheat is planted in late fall, and grows using the moisture from winter snow and rain.   Spring wheat is planted in spring, and grows through the hot, dry summer. The more water the wheat gets, the more grain it produces, but these higher yields result in lower protein content. So hard spring wheat, growing when it's hot and dry, ends up with a higher protein content. (This explanation is somewhat simplified- if you like scientific details, see here.) If you buy a bag that just says "hard red wheat", assume it's winter wheat. Being able to label wheat as "hard spring wheat" is a selling point, and the farmers get more money for higher-protein wheat.

This also means that if you buy the cheapest 'hard' wheat, you'll most likely have lower protein content. Which means it's gonna take a little more effort to make it into good bread.

Red Wheat, either hard or soft, has a deeper, heartier flavor, and a reddish-brown color.

White Wheat, hard or soft, has a more delicate flavor, and a light tan color. If you're just starting with whole-wheat bread making, this is a good one, since the flavor is more subtle. It tastes more like 'white bread', but better! I love the taste and fragrance of freshly-ground wheat in bread. Hard white wheats are relatively new to the market.

Hard Red or White Spring Wheat is usually between 12-15% protein (or gluten), the best-quality ones run between 14-15%. This is what you want for good whole-wheat bread.

Hard Red or White Winter Wheat generally contains 11- 13% protein.

Soft Red or White Wheat only has about 6-10% protein.

The protein content can be as low as 2%, or as high as 18%. It depends on growing conditions, what variety the grain is, and even how moist the wheat is. And not all the protein is gluten: only the amino acids "gliadin" and "glutenin" will become gluten. That's why oats, though high in protein, will not make good yeast bread on its own. They don't contain gliadin and glutenin as part of the amino acid profile. This is also why celiacs can have oats.
(see here for more info on amino acids and celiac.)
----------------------------

Soft wheat is best in quickbreads and things where you DON'T want gluten forming: cookies, pastries, cakes, quickbreads. (This also means that non-gluten containing grains and seeds are good for this group of breads.)

Hard wheat is best for yeast bread, tortillas, and pasta. When I use 100% hard wheat flour in bread, I still have to add something to increase the dough strength- crushed Vitamin C, lecithin, dough enhancer, gluten, extended soaking, or using part all-purpose flour; see Making Bread for suggested quantities.

See here for info about baking with whole wheat flour.

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Natural-Dyed Easter Eggs

4/20/2011

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Happy Easter! and good Passover! For a short video about our Savior's role, and what this week means to us, see His Sacred Name: An Easter Declaration. I'm grateful to have this holiday as a reminder of His life and willingness to do our Heavenly Father's will. Eggs remind us of the promise of life from something that looks only like lifeless, tomb-like stone.

The yellow eggs were dyed using curry powder, the orange ones used onion skins.

When you dye eggs using natural colors, put water, a little vinegar, the eggs, and your 'dye' in a pan. Boil to both cook the eggs and set the color. (See here to get The Perfect Hardboiled Egg.) The colors tend to be softer and often muted- you won't get stop-sign-red anywhere. Each egg ends up a little bit unique, though. That's part of the beauty. The vinegar helps the dye penetrate and set. Use about 1 Tbsp for every 2-3 cups of water.

I'd heard that eggs should be washed first, to prepare the shells to accept the dyes. I tried it and noticed no appreciable difference between the washed and unwashed eggs. So save yourself the time. Use eggs straight from the carton. Or chicken, if you're so fortunate. (NOTE: the older the egg is, the easier it wil peel!)

For cool effects:
Before cooking/dyeing:
-draw on it with crayons
-wrap it with rubber bands or yarn
-dab, wipe, or drizzle on a little oil or melted wax.
-put 1 Tbsp. oil in the cooking/dyeing water. This will make some marbled irregularities on the eggs.

After cooking/dyeing:
-sprinkle with salt while still wet
-for a more marbled or mottled egg, rub it a little while it's still warm. Or pat/rub with paper towels.
-let the eggs cool while still draped, wrapped, or sprinkled with what you used to dye it. (See photos.)
-partially- or completely- submerge in another dye.
-draw on it with markers when dry

To make it gleam, rub a little vegetable oil on the egg after it has cooled.

Ideas for dyes:
Blue to Purple- grape juice, red grapes, blueberries, red cabbage, blackberries, violets
Brown- white oak bark, juniper berry, coffe, barberry twigs, black tea
Buff- crushed walnut shells, green tea
Golden Orange- onionskins (yellow onions)
Orange- turmeric, ground cumin, onionskins plus beet juice
Mauve- grape juice
Green- spinach, kale, alfalfa, parsley, carrot tops. Or dye an egg yellow then dip in blue dye.
Pink- beet juice- let eggs sit for 30 minutes in it (liquid from a can of beets, or from cooking them)
Reddish Purple- paprika, skins from red onions; beets- boil in the juice, shredded, sliced, or chopped Yellow- Boil with 1-3 Tbsp. turmeric or curry powder, or dye when already cooked- use 1 tsp. turmeric and 1/4 tsp. vinegar in 2/3 c. boiling water

These were dyed using 1 Tbsp. curry powder in just enough water to cover the eggs. The two lighter eggs were pulled out immediately when fully cooked. The others were cooled in the colored water, with a tray of ice cubes added to help them stop cooking.

Fill the pan with eggs, stuff it as full as you can with your dye (onionskins, here), and bring it to a boil.
If you're using a spice or a powder, use 1-3 Tbsp.

For comparison:
Clockwise, starting with upper left: (1) boiled and drained to cool; (2) boiled and covered with wet onionskins while cooling, (3) boiled and left in the hot dye until completely cool, (5) plain white store egg, (6) plain brown store egg.

Each egg ends up a little marbled, a little unique. I find them fascinating to look at.

Any place your fingers, spoon, pan, paper towels, or other eggs touch, the dye will be lighter.

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Perfect Hardboiled Eggs

4/20/2011

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Alright, perfection is in the eye (or mouth!) of the beholder. My perfect egg may not be yours, but here goes...

The goal was to get tender whites and moist yolks, with the least amount of energy possible. I put a dozen eggs in a pan, added water just to cover, put a lid on, and turned the stove on high heat. Eight minutes later, when they came to a boil, I turned the heat OFF, left the lid on, and started timing.

These are the experimental eggs:

Front row, starting left: cooked for 5 minutes after the water boiled; middle front egg was cooked 6 minutes; front right got 8 minutes.
Back left was pulled out at 10 minutes; back middle at 12; back right at 15 minutes. All eggs were put into cold water as soon as they came out of the pan, to make them stop cooking.

The five-minute egg was very tender, very moist, but would mash densely if you wanted deviled eggs. For eating, though, I thought it was great. Same with the 6-minute egg. My kids preferred them at the 8-15 min marks.

The left egg was left in for 15 minutes. You can see it was too long because of the grey-green layer on the yolk's exterior. The one on the right was the 5-minute egg.

So for my idea of perfect hard-boiled eggs, do this:

1- put eggs in a pan, cover with cold water.
2- Put a lid on; heat on high until the water reaches a full rolling boil.
3-Turn heat off; leave pan on the burner, with lid on.
4- 5-6 (or up to 12) minutes later, dump hot water and cover eggs with cold water. Cool and eat.

Your timing may be different, but this will give you a good starting point.

For instance, your elevation will make a difference. I live at about 3500 feet in elevation. The boiling point of water at sea level is 212 degrees F, but is only 205 degrees at my elevation. That means that if you're cooking these at sea level, they'll be done a little bit sooner, since the water was hotter. For every 500 feet in altitude, the boiling point goes down about one degree.

If you have a gas stove, you might need an extra minute. (I don't know, just guessing!) My stove is electric, and the burners stay hot for a couple minutes. Gas burners don't, so they, and the pan on them, would cool faster.

Leftover hardboiled eggs?

Here's a family favorite recipe:

Tuna Burgers, serves 4

3 hard-cooked eggs, chopped

1 (5-oz) can tuna, drained and flaked

½ c. (2 oz.) shredded sharp Cheddar

¼ c. chopped green pepper or celery

¼ c. chopped onion

1/8 tsp. garlic powder

¼ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. pepper

¼ c. mayonnaise

4 buns or Kaiser rolls, split

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix everything together and spoon onto rolls. Wrap in foil, then bake 15 minutes or until warm through. Also good cold on lettuce as a salad.

Need more ideas?

Slice them into green salads (Chef Salad, if you also add your leftover ham!) Or maybe Wilted Spinach Salad with warm Bacon dressing?

chop them and add to white sauce; serve over buttered toast (My family calls this Creamed Eggs and eats it for breakfast.) For Goldenrod Eggs, only add the whites to the white sauce. Push the hardboiled yolks through a sieve over top of the sauce on toast.

make deviled eggs

sliced or chop and add to casseroles

make egg salad/sandwiches

egg-olive sandwich: chop 4 eggs with 8 stuffed olives and 2 T mayo. Spread on bread.

add to potato salad

stir into macaroni salad

add to chicken salad, especially with curry powder added

mix with cooked hamburger and Mexican spices for empanada filling

If you need actual recipes, there's a great collection at Sparkpeople.com

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The Early Garden; Sweet Onion Poppyseed Dressing

4/15/2011

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Self-sown baby leaf lettuce.

I'm really looking forward to eating them in a couple weeks!

Cabbage seedling. The tiny green plants around the right side are volunteer flax.

Right now, in USDA Zone 5, we are still having regular frosts. The weather alternates between November-like grey skies with snow, and May-like days of bright green grass and leafing trees. Still, some vegetables will grow happily in these conditions.
Plants that are growing in my garden now are onion, peas, kohlrabi, cabbage, beets, leaf lettuce, carrots, Swiss chard, parsley, rhubarb, horseradish. There are lots more that will grow now; see Gardening 101 for more of them. My garden has been pretty neglected this spring so far; the only reason the items above are growing is that 1) I let them self-seed, or 2) they overwintered.

If you're new to gardening, start with 2-4 kinds of plants. A great resource for both new and veteran gardeners is the "In The Garden" series from the USU Extension Office. This series covers 55 different garden vegetables, herbs, and fruits: from Artichoke and Asparagus, to Wasabi, Watercress, and Watermelon. (You thought I'd say Zucchini last, didn't you! It's listed under "Summer and Winter Squash".) Each one has 1-2 pages of information on what type of soil the plant prefers, how much sun it needs, what nutrients it needs to thrive, and more.

If you wanted to start tomatoes or other plants indoors, you still can. Remember that some things can be planted directly in the garden as seeds now (see above). If you can avoid transplanting, it saves the plants some stress. One of my favorite garden helpers is called a Wall-O-Water. Frost-sensitive plants, like tomatoes, peppers, and watermelon, can go outside even now, if they're protected by them. Most garden centers sell them, three to a package, for around $10. Use them year after year, too.

If you're still looking for indoor seed-starting information, here's a quick summary:

Simple version of instructions for starting seeds indoors

Use any clean container with good drainage. You can use commercial planting trays or pots, or poke holes in the bottom of yogurt containers, paper cups, eggshell halves, or whatever you have. You can even use cardstock or a couple layers of newspaper to form little boxes or pots. Or cut 1 ½-2” lengths of toilet paper tubes to fill with dirt and plant in. Use a cookie sheet or plastic bin’s lid underneath your planting pots, to protect surfaces below. Plant the seeds in a lightweight mix, not garden soil. Keep moist and dark, and covered, until they sprout. Putting them on top of a freezer or furnace will warm the soil and help them germinate.

After sprouts appear, for best results, use a fluorescent shop light suspended 4-6” above the plants. 14-18 hours a day is ideal. Plants will be tall and scraggly when they don’t have enough light. They sometimes will fall over, damage the stem that way, and die. Water them only after the top of the soil has dried out. If you’re not sure how often to water, poke your finger down ½” below the soil’s surface. If it feels cool there, it is still moist. Overwatering leads to fungus and diseases. Use a little fertilizer in the water every day.

They can be transplanted after their second set of true leaves appear. They’ll only be a couple inches tall if they’ve had enough light. If the garden’s not ready for them, you can transplant them into larger pots so the roots can keep growing. You may use plastic containers (yogurt cups, cottage cheese containers) with holes punched in the bottom.

For more information, see:

Starting vegetable seed indoors: http://extension.usu.edu/saltlake/files/uploads/pdf/Starting%20Seed%20Indoors.pdf

http://extension.usu.edu/htm/news-multimedia/articleID=12035

Space requirements for vegetables:
http://extension.usu.edu/htm/publications/by=category/category=

__________________________________

Sweet Onion Poppyseed Dressing
1 Tbsp. poppyseed
1 Tbsp. prepared mustard
1 c. light olive oil (or other oil)
½ c. vinegar (I prefer apple cider vinegar here)
½ c. sugar*
1 tsp. salt
1 small onion, or a piece the size of a small egg

Mix everything in a blender until smooth.

*If you want to reduce the sugar, cook a whole medium or large onion in 1 Tbsp. of the oil until tender. Cover and cook on low another 10 minutes, until caramelized. This makes it sweeter. Mix the dressing as above. Add 1-2 teaspoons of sugar for best flavor. Use immediately or store in fridge.

This recipe came from a neighbor ten years ago; (it's been modified a bit by me) and was from her grandmother. The salad she poured it on was made with spinach, lettuce, sliced onion, crumbled bacon, sliced mushrooms, peas, Swiss cheese, and cashews. One of my favorite salads. Ever.

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Homemade Marshmallow Eggs and Chicks

4/8/2011

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What a fun basket to make and give! (or eat...)

Chocolate-covered cherry marshmallow egg.

Marshmallows are one of those things that most people don't realize you can make at home. They are simple, pretty quick, (15 minutes if you make squares,) and superior to what you can buy. (Most homemade things are, aren't they?)

To get the actual recipe and to see photos of the marshmallow cooking- and beating- process, see this post.
Egg- shaped marshmallows- fill a couple 9x13 pans (or one jellyroll pan) with 1- 2” of flour. Make egg-shaped indentions in the flour using a clean egg or the back of a large spoon. Pour, drop by spoonfuls, or pipe marshmallow into the indentations. When they’re set up, dust the tops with flour, cornstarch, or powdered sugar. Great dipped in chocolate (brush extra flour off first) and decorated.

The flour can be put back in your canister and used for something else.

Chick-shaped marshmallows (‘Peeps’)- Whip the mixture until it can hold a shape. Put the slightly-cooled whipped marshmallow mixture into a pastry bag, no tip needed. Or put in a gallon-sized ziptop bag, with ½” of one corner snipped off. Sprinkle a cookie sheet with a layer of granulated sugar, colored if you like. Squeeze the marshmallow sort of into an upright ‘Z’, pulling off to form a beak. Make them so the sides just touch; this gives them extra support. Sprinkle with sugar. When set, pull apart and roll in a small bowlful of sugar. Coating them with yellow-tinted macaroon coconut would be very cute, too.

The chick on the right was made when the mixture wasn't beaten quite enough. If you're not sure, scoop some on top of itself in the mixing bowl. If it flattens, it's not ready. If you already made them and they're flattening-- well, you weren't really going for realism anyway.

Don't be too hard on yourself- they still taste the same!

If you want colored sugar on your chicks: put about a cup of sugar in a ziptop bag. Add a couple drops of food color and a couple drops of water. Shake or rub the bag until the color is evenly distributed.

Shape the chicks by putting the marshmallow mixture into a pastry bag -or a ziptop bag with 1/2" of one corner snipped off. Pipe them by making sort of a 'Z'. Pull away to form a beak. (If they look more like a sleeping elephant than a bird, you can pinch of part of the 'trunk' when they've firmed. Or just call it "charm".)

Sprinkle more sugar over the top. This helps them not stick to you as much when you finish coating them.

How sticky are they without a coating? As my hubby said, "Ever hear about Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby?"

Put a chick in a bowlful of sugar, and flip it over using a fork or spoon. After it's completely coated, do the next one. If you want the external chewiness you get with Peeps, let them sit uncovered for several hours. Or a couple days.

To make marshmallow eggs:

Pour flour in a 9x13 pan. You need a layer at least 3/4" deep. Make egg-shaped depressions using an egg or spoon.

You can get the marshmallow into your 'molds' by using a spoon...

Or with a pastry bag. Make your own disposable pastry bag by snipping off 1/2" from one corner of a ziptop bag. A gallon-sized bag will fit the whole batch at once. Let the eggs sit aside at room temperature until they're firm. This usually takes a couple hours. Flip them over or sprinkle with more flour so they're not sticky. Brush off any extra, then call it good or dip them in chocolate.

Dipping chocolate or confectionary coating is the easiest option for good results. Sometimes you just don't have it, though, and a trip to the store defeats the purpose...

This is a 12-oz bag of chocolate chips, melted with 1 Tbsp. of coconut oil. (Use between 1 tsp. and 1 Tbsp.) Heat in the microwave for one minute, stir, and heat for another minute. Stir until smooth. Or heat over barely simmering water.
Chocolate chips are thicker than dipping chocolate when melted. The extra fat is to help thin them out. One downside is that it doesn't set up firm- or stay that way- unless it's chilled. So store in the fridge or freezer anything you coated with this.

Drop a marshmallow egg into the chocolate. Flip it over with a fork or your clean, DRY fingers, then lift it out, onto waxed paper or plastic wrap. If there's so much as a tiny spot not coated by chocolate, drizzle some onto it. The whole marshmallow can dry out through a small hole in the coating.

If you get even a tiny amount of water in melted chocolate, it will 'seize'- turn lumpy and thick.
If this happens, add a little more oil or shortening and try to get it to smooth out.

Put the dipped eggs in the fridge for 15 minutes, or in the freezer for 5-10 minutes, until the chocolate sets up.

If you have leftover chocolate, pour it onto waxed paper, plastic wrap, or parchment, chill until mostly set, then cut into small chunks. Use them in place of chocolate chips.

Or turn the chocolate into truffles by stirring in 1-3 Tbsp. butter. Pour into a foil-lined pan and chill until set. Cut in 3/4" squares and roll in powdered sugar, cocoa, or nuts.

An easy nest can be made with a lunch-size brown paper bag. Fold the top over, then scrunch it down to make a nest shape. Add some grass, and put in your eggs or chicks.
I saw the paper-bag idea in Family Fun magazine They glued twigs on, but I didn't want sticks touching the marshmallows- and this way is is much quicker and simpler.

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Homemade Marshmallows, and What's Preparedness?

4/8/2011

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Light, fluffy, and springy homemade marshmallows.

Two quotes have been on my mind lately, they are:

“Preparedness, when properly pursued, is a way of life, not a sudden, spectacular program." - Spencer W. Kimball

* * * * * * *

“ For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” -2 Timothy 1:7

God is aware of us, and offers his love and power, as we keep trying to become the kind of person he intends us to be. Are we adjusting our way of life to become more self-reliant? I know he blesses us as we do.

____________________________

This is a recipe my mom made every Easter; she made marshmallow eggs, dipped them in chocolate, and decorated them with a flower and our name. We made marshmallows other times of the year, too, in just a simple square shape. There are recipes available that use less gelatin; they are egg-white based. This recipe, however, is as simple and quick as you can get, and doesn’t require heating sugar syrup to soft-ball. These are also egg-free, dairy-free, and gluten-free. There’s even a version that uses honey instead of table sugar.  To get instructions for making marshmallow eggs or chicks (“Peeps”), seehere.

Mom’s Marshmallows

2 c. sugar
3 envelopes (2 Tbsp.) unflavored gelatin
1 c. water
¼ tsp. salt, optional
1 tsp. vanilla
Powdered sugar and/or cornstarch for dusting

Combine gelatin and sugar in a small pan, stir in water and salt, if using. Heat just until sugar is dissolved, then bring just to boiling. Remove from heat and cool about 5 minutes. Stir in vanilla, transfer to a large bowl. Beat at high speed about 10 minutes or until it looks like thick marshmallow cream. Pour into buttered 9x13 pan. Let set a couple hours. With clean scissors dipped in hot water or shortening, cut into squares. Roll in powdered sugar and/or cornstarch. Store airtight, unless you like them crunchy!

Flavored marshmallows: Instead of the 2 c. sugar and the gelatin, use 1 c. sugar, 1 big (6-oz) box of flavored ‘Jello’, and 1 envelope (2- 2 ½ tsp.) unflavored gelatin.

Naturally flavored marshmallows: Use fruit juice in place of water, and reduce sugar by 1-2 Tbsp. Use vanilla or any other complementary flavor. Almond extract is great with cherry juice; orange oil, zest, or extract is good with strawberry, lemon oil/zest/extract with raspberry, 1 tsp. ground cinnamon with apple juice…. Just don’t use oils in an egg white-based marshmallow recipe; it won’t whip. Jell-0 brand gelatin says that it won’t set if you use “fresh or frozen Pineapple, Kiwi, Gingerroot, Papaya, Figs, or Guava.” So be aware those might not make marshmallows, either.

Chocolate marshmallows: Add 1/3 c. cocoa to the mixture before whipping. Use the optional salt.

Toasted-Coconut marshmallows- toast 1 ½ cups of fine-flake coconut. Take any shape marshmallows, after they’ve set up, and spray them with a fine mist of water or roll them on a lightly wet surface. Roll them in the coconut.   If you don’t have fine-flake coconut, put two cups of regular sweetened shredded coconut in a food processor. Pulse until the pieces are mostly under ¼” long.

Honey marshmallows: use 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. honey instead of the 2 c. sugar. Reduce water to ¾ c. Or use a 2/3 batch: ¾ c. honey, ½ c. water, 2 packages unflavored gelatin. These would be good with a little lemon extract/oil, or 1 c. fine flake (macaroon) coconut stirred in at the end. Using a couple tbsp. of lemon juice in place of some of the water may work, but having a lot of Vitamin C prevents the gelatin from setting properly. I wouldn’t use fresh lemon for sure, only bottled. If it doesn’t set, you’ll know why. If it does set, I’d love to know!

This batch was made with tart cherry juice instead of water. Normally the mixture is off-white before beating.

After you combine the gelatin, sugar, and water, you only need to bring it to a boil. You don't need any particular temperature, just make sure the sugar and gelatin have dissolved.

Prepare your pan while the mixture cools a few minutes. For square marshmallows, just butter a 9x13 pan. For eggs, fill couple pans with a 1-inch-deep layer of flour. Make egg-shaped indentations to mold your marshmallow eggs. A clean egg from the fridge, or a big spoon for big eggs.

Pour gelatin mixture into a big bowl (a standing mixer is ideal), add vanilla, and start beating it on high speed.

This is mostly beaten. It will set up great at this point, but if you want puffier eggs or chicks, keep beating.

This is thick and fluffy, perfect. It holds its shape pretty well. Pour into your prepared pan, and let set up, at room temperature, for a couple hours, until firm.

Cutting square marshmallows is easiest with scissors. You can dip them in hot water or grease them. A quick way is to poke them down into a container of shortening or coconut oil. After snipping, roll them in more powdered sugar or cornstarch. Store tightly covered.

This is the yield of a whole batch of marshmallows. Well, almost a whole batch. We had to taste-test, you know...!

3 Comments

Building an Earth Oven

4/6/2011

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Bakeries boast if they use a brick oven for their breads. Why?
These ovens cook using multiple forms of heat- conduction, radiant, and direct heat. Add some steam, and you get some seriously fabulous crust on your bread. Pizza? You better believe it. You cook it at an ideal 700 degrees Fahrenheit; a thin-crust pizza is done after only 3 minutes, emerging bubbling and with a lovely smoky flavor.
Cook anything in this that you would in a regular oven. And when it's cooled down, it can remain the ideal temperature for incubating yogurt, clear through the night.

This type of oven has the fire built on the cooking floor. Fill the oven with wood, light it, and let it burn for 2-4 hours, until the oven walls glow white-hot. My thermometer doesn't measure high enough to know how hot this is; it only measures to about 1400 degrees!

Scrape out the fire, quickly scrub off the oven floor, and let the heat "soak"- you're letting the temperature equalize all over the interior. When the temperature has dropped to what you want, add some steam (for bread baking) by swabbing the oven floor with a wet cloth or mop. Load it up with your bread, or turkey, or squash, potatoes, casserole, or whatever-- and close the oven door to bake.

It's called an earth oven because it's made using packed earth; in other words, mud. This makes it very affordable! I highly recommend Kiko Denzer's book, Build Your Own Earth Oven. It was invaluable to me, and has many excellent suggestions for making do with what you have locally. He also has a great overview on Mother Earth News, right here.
You can make a fabulous oven out of nothing but dirt, sand, chopped hay or leaves, and some bricks or tiles. There are even simpler versions around, using just rocks and dirt.

Since I opted for several upgrades on this oven, it cost about $200 total.

Items I got for free:
cinderblocks (a stack was in the yard when we bought the house)
sand (huge sandbox, in the photos' background)
bricks for the oven face

Items purchased included:
bags of cement for a foundation pad
rebar for reinforcing the foundation
rebar for reinforcing the cinder blocks
cement for reinforcing cinder block construction
one used steel entry door
one circular saw blade to cut the steel entry door
about 45 firebricks
1/2 cubic yard of dirt
a couple small buckets of refractory cement
portland cement and a bag of vermiculite, for the insulation layer.
12" of 1" diameter steel electrical duct tubing
one dial-gauge thermometer
mortar, used with the oven face, and some gaps in the cinderblocks

If the pictures below seem overwhelming, here are the steps in short form- prepare an insulated base for the oven; build a sand dome on it; pack moist earth all around the dome (thermal layer); pack insulation around the thermal layer. Finish with a breatheable plaster, for longest-lasting results. The doorway can be molded in as you go, or carved out afterwards.

Sorry, I didn't take any photos before this point. I poured a slightly sloped foundation pad, reinforced it with rebar, and dry-stacked cinderblocks, leaving some slots for drainage between cinderblocks at the low part (the back) of the pad. To reinforce the cinderblock walls, I stuck rebar down every 2-3 cells, then filled those (with rebar) with cement. (I did this because I have roughhousing boys, and live nearby a major fault line.) In this photo, half of it is in shadow; the oven floor is meant to be just above waist-high. The area under the oven is to store wood. To support the block over the opening, I found a piece of hardi-backer (cement) board. The top course of cinderblocks were narrower than the ones below, which gave me a spot to place some kind of support for the oven floor. I bought a used steel entry door and a special saw blade, and cut the door to fit. On top of that went a layer of sand, for insulation, filled even with the top of the blocks (packed really well). Firebricks were set snugly together for the oven floor, and a circle scribed in chalk. This would be the inner diameter of the oven.

The sand was free, but it had lots of rocks- and small toys- mixed with it. A frame with 1/2" hardware cloth stapled to it worked well for sifting. If you notice my expanding waist in the next photos, it's because I was 8 months pregnant when I started this project, and 9 months along when it finished.

Build a dome of moist sand; this will be your oven's hollow part later. There's a height-to-width radio that works most efficiently, but about ratio will give you an oven that cooks.
The pipe in the middle was to show my required finished height. Pack the sand really well, or it won't support the weight you're about to put on it.

TIP: this takes a TON of sand, which you'll have to scoop out later. At about this point I started added cinderblocks and other large items to the dome. That saved a lot of scooping. And sifting.

Once the dome is as big as you want, pack and smooth it as best you can. A little water helps, and a board to press and smooth.
If you want a layer of refractory cement, to help hold heat and protect the inside walls, add it now. A thin layer, 1/8 - 1/4 " thick, is all you need.

Once that's in place, mix your dirt- er, I mean 'earth'. It needs to be moist enough to hold together, but not so wet it squishes when you pack it. You can mix it on a tarp with your feet, or in a wheelbarrow with a shovel. Starting at the bottom, tightly pack this earth in a layer about 4" high, and the width of your hand. Use your closed fist to pack it, and a small bucket of the dirt to keep it handy. Spiral your way up the dome, always packing hard onto the layer below. Don't apply any pressure to the sand dome. Let this sit for a few days, then scoop out all the sand.

Once the earth layer is complete, add an insulation layer in the same way as the earth layer. This makes a huge difference in how well your oven retains heat. You can use more mud, mixed with any organic material- chopped leaves, straw, horse hair, you name it. They will burn out when the oven heats up, leaving insulating air pockets behind. This oven's insulation is a mixture of portland cement and vermiculite; I wanted it to be very durable. Shape this layer with your oven door in place so it fits.

The pipe sticking out in front of my face is a piece of metal conduit with a fitting to screw on the temperature gauge. Next time I'll put it down close to the oven floor, which is where the bread bakes. There's actually about 100-degree (Fahrenheit) difference between the oven floor and where the oven probe sits.

If you want the oven to dry with as few cracks as possible, build a low fire and let it burn for several hours.

For a brick face- a chisel and hammer yielded a really poor keystone for the arch. Improvise to support the arch until it dries. A bucket and cinderblock came to the rescue here.

The completed oven.

More completed, with flagstones set around it.

When using the oven, keep a bucket of water handy.

I still intend to make a roof for it- Utah winters are rough on it. There are two eye bolts embedded in the top of the oven- all it will take is a piece of sheet metal, creased at the center to make a sloping roof, and two slits cut in it to slip over the eye bolts. Twist them, and it should stay on.

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Cookbook- Miscellaneous, Pies, Quick Breads 1

4/4/2011

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Different pies and piecrusts. The card only covers cream pie varieties, but has a few different crusts.

Did you want to see closer?

This one is chocolate-peanut butter cream pie.

Apple Cider Syrup is YUMMY. We use the recipe to make many flavors. Our latest favorite is made using mango juice.

Crunchy on the outside, velvety on the inside, simple Drop Biscuits. The batch pictured uses about half whole-wheat flour.

Craggy, crisp, and hearty- use the Drop Biscuit recipe to make Drop Scones. Here, I swapped some oats for some of the flour, and stirred in chopped figs and toasted nuts.

Miscellaneous card 1 apple cider syrup, basic syrup, easy jam, cooking grains, 5-min marmalade

Miscellaneous card 2 granola, granola bars, home remedies, seasoned salt, seasoned flour, spice chart

Pies cream pie filling, shortbread crust, meringue, crumb crust, pat-in-pan crust, traditional crust

Quick Breads card 1 drop biscuits, English scones, biscuit mix, soft breadsticks, rolled biscuits, shortcake, biscuit dough ideas

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Seasoned Flour; Brigham Young 'wheat vs. gold' quote

3/31/2011

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image courtesy photos8.com

Seasoned flour is fabulous to coat any meat before cooking. It's also delicious added to onion-ring batter. All you do is mix 1 cup pancake batter with 1 Tbsp. seasoned flour.

Slice an onion and separate it into rings. I like to leave the center tiny rings together. Dip into batter, and drop into 375-degree oil. It will take only 1-2 minutes per side to cook. Drain on paper towels.

One giant onion (18 ounces!) and a half-hour later, we have a giant pile of delicious onion rings.

This recipe is kind of a shake-and-bake thing, but cheaper and fresher. It is really delicious with any kind of meat- chicken, beef, pork, fish, you name it. Put ½ cup of this on a plate, then dredge (dip) raw meat in it, coating both sides. The mixture is pretty salty, so use serving-sized chunks of meat. If you’re going to coat chicken-nugget-sized pieces, combine mixture with an equal amount of cracker crumbs or flour, or the meat will be too salty. (Lesson learned the hard way.) Heat up 1-4 Tbsp. of oil in a saucepan on medium-high heat, then cook the meat until as done as you like. Any leftover (used) seasoned flour can be kept in the freezer until you need it, or mix it into a batch of biscuits, breadsticks, or cornbread. My new favorite use for seasoned flour is Onion Rings: make pancake batter (any recipe, don’t add oil or butter) but add 1 Tbsp. of Seasoned Flour to it for each cup of flour or pancake mix you used. Slice an onion and separate it into rings, dip them into the batter, and deep fry a few at a time until golden. NO restaurant onion ring in my memory can compare to this!

Seasoned Flour
4   cups   flour
3   Tbsp.   seasoned salt
3   Tbsp.   garlic salt
3   Tbsp.   onion salt
3   Tbsp.   pepper
3   Tbsp.   salt

Mix together and store airtight in cupboard. Makes about 4 ½ cups.

If you don't have garlic salt or onion salt, use
4 cups flour
3 Tbsp. seasoned salt
1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp. onion powder
3 Tbsp. pepper
1/4 c. salt

If you don't want to keep more than a quart jar's worth, give the extra 1/2 cup to a neighbor to try- they'll want the recipe too!

_______________________
Have you heard this before? It’s a quote from Brigham Young (if you’re short on time, just read the bold):

“Were I to ask the question, how much wheat or anything else a man must have to justify him in letting it go to waste, it would be hard to answer; figures are inadequate to give the amount. Never let anything go to waste. Be prudent, save everything, and what you get more than you can take care of yourselves, ask your neighbors to help you. There are scores and hundreds of men in this house, if the question were asked them if they considered their grain a burden and a drudge to them, when they had plenty last year and the year before, that would answer in the affirmative, and were ready to part with it for next to nothing. How do they feel now, when their granaries are empty? If they had a few thousand bushels to spare now, would they not consider it a blessing? They would. Why? Because it would bring the gold and silver. But pause for a moment, and suppose you had millions of bushels to sell, and could sell it for twenty dollars per bushel, or for a million dollars per bushel, no matter what amount, so that you sell all your wheat, and transport it out of the country, and you are left with nothing morethan a pile of gold, what good would it do you? You could not eat it, drink it, wear it, or carry it off where you could have something to eat. The time will come that gold will hold no comparison in value to a bushel of wheat. Gold is not to be compared with it in value. Why would it be precious to you now? Simply because you could get gold for it? Gold is good for nothing, only as men value it. It is no better than a piece of iron, a piece of limestone, or a piece of sandstone, and it is not half so good as the soil from which we raise our wheat, and other necessaries of life. The children of men love it, they lust after it, are greedy for it, and are ready to destroy themselves, and those around them, over whom they have any influence, to gain it” (Journal of Discourses, 1:, p.250).

The onion rings and some hushpuppies. This was from a 2-cup batch of onion ring batter. Next time I'll use 1 cup and a normal-sized yellow onion.

If you have extra batter, you can add a little oil or melted butter (for tenderness), and stir in cornmeal and/or flour until it's thick enough to get round spoonfuls. Also nice with some dried parsley for color. Drop the spoonfuls into the hot oil, flip to the other side after a minute. Drain on paper towels, too.

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How to Prune and Fertilize Fruit Trees, shrubs, and landscape trees

3/30/2011

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Both the red-twig dogwood, left, and pine tree, right, will benefit from pruning. There's also a rosebush behind the pine tree that needs it.

Why should you prune and fertilize?

Fertilizing right makes a huge difference in how quickly your trees grow, and how healthy they are.
Pruning also helps their health; you cut out anything broken or diseased, remove branches that rub (these would open them to more disease and breakage), helps make for strong trees (by selecting and balancing good branches with strong angles), and opens the tree up to allow more light onto the leaves and fruit/flowers, making it more productive. Some shrubs give more blossoms and better stem color (like the red-twig dogwood, above) when pruned.

Most trees handle pruning best while dormant, so right now is perfect. Fertilizing fruit trees and other fruit-bearing shrubs is best done before you see the flowers. You can still do it after, but the resulting fruit will be softer and bruise more easily. Now is a great time for this, too.

These great videos and links are from the USU Extension site. Right now is a perfect time to prune. So if you have been wondering how to really prune a fruit tree, this video's for you!

§ Step By Step Orchard Pruning (video) - techniques demonstrated by Matt Palmer

Here is info on pruning other things:

§ Pruning Landscape Trees

§ 5 Minute Pruning Shrubs (video)

How to Prune A Rose Bush (video)

If you don't know how to choose a fertilizer, see  Selecting and Using Inorganic Fertilizers

To fertilize a fruit tree the simplest way, measure the width (diameter) of the trunk. You need 2-4 ounces of actual nitrogen per inch of diameter. If you have a new tree, 1" diameter trunk, let's say you'll need 2 ounces. If you have a bag of fertilizer that says 33-0-0, that means it is 33% nitrogen by weight. To get 2 ounces of nitrogen, you'll need 6 ounces of this particular fertilizer . If you have a bag of 10-10-10, you'll need 20 ounces of that one.   (see the fertilizer link above.) If you already know this and want to know more, there are more details here, Fertilizing Fruit Trees.

--Rhonda

http://www.theprovidenthomemaker.com

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Getting Going on Gardening, Companion Planting

Making Herbal Ointment; Comfrey

Apple Butterflies

Strawberry Pops

Preparing For- and Handling- Trials; Strawberry Leather; Group Orders

How to use dried fruit; Chewy Apricot-Almond Oatmeal Cookies

Using Dried Fruit; Cherry Chocolate Bliss Bites

Understanding Fertilizer, Knowing Your Backyard Weeds, and free cooking e-books

Cutting Food Waste- Does "Expired" mean "Dead"?

Will frost damage wipe out my tree fruit?

Wheat Flour Basics

Natural-Dyed Easter Eggs

Perfect Hardboiled Eggs

The Early Garden; Sweet Onion Poppyseed Dressing

Homemade Marshmallow Eggs and Chicks

Homemade Marshmallows, and What's Preparedness?

Building an Earth Oven

Cookbook- Miscellaneous, Pies, Quick Breads 1

Seasoned Flour; Brigham Young 'wheat vs. gold' quote

How to Prune and Fertilize Fruit Trees, shrubs, and landscape trees

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Need a Search bar?One day I may upgrade my website-- but until then, use your web browser search bar. Type in my web address and what you're looking for, like this-- www.theprovidenthomemaker.com pumpkin -- and you should get results.Author

Archives

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Need a Search bar?
One day I may upgrade my website-- but until then, use your web browser search bar. Type in my web address and what you're looking for, like this--
www.theprovidenthomemaker.com pumpkin -- and you should get results.

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