An Egg-cellent Sandwich

This sandwich was originally my husband's creation, but it is so good I make it for myself now.  Just fry an egg with some pickled jalapenos, when you flip the egg over add whatever cheese you like to the top of it and toast some bread.  When the egg is done put it on toasted bread and let the melted cheese, egg yolk and jalapeno fill your mouth with goodness, mmm.

Using the Leftovers

I know people who don't like to eat leftovers.  We love them, leftovers make cooking from scratch and working full time possible, just use them in a way that seems like a whole new dish.

Earlier this week I baked a ham for dinner, then with the leftover ham we have had ham sandwiches for lunch, I put some in the freezer for a future quiche, and I used some of the leftover ham to make scalloped potatoes. 

I don't have a recipe I follow for scalloped potatoes, I just put together the amount of ingredients that seem right at the time.  This time I tried to messure and write down what I did.  I use whatever cheese I have on hand at the time and this time I had aged provolone, it was very good.  I also think a havarti or fontina cheese would be very good and melt well.  Feel free to add more or less cheese and ham to the recipe, or skip the ham altogether and throw in some veggies, I always make it slightly different.  Make it fit your taste.

Scalloped Potatoes

Serves 4-6

1 medium onion

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

2 1/4 cups milk

salt and white pepper to taste

1 cup ham, chopped

5 medium to large potaotes, thinly sliced

3/4 cup cheese of your choice, grated

Finely chop and saute' the onion.  Then remove it from the pan to a small bowl and set aside.  In the same pan place the butter and flour and cook until the flour browns slightly, then add milk and whisk until smooth and sauce thickens.  Return onions back to the pan with the sauce.  Add salt and white pepper to taste.

In a 3 1/2 quart casserole dish layer potatoes, cheese, ham, and sauce, ending with sauce and a sprinkle of cheese.

Bake covered at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 hour and 10 minutes, then 10 minutes more with the lid off. 

Sense of Home / Recipes / Main Dishes

Taking Charge of Your Life

Ever feel like you are constantly on the go with no time to relax?  Most of us do, we all have full lives with work, families, the house, the garden.  We love most of what we do, but sometimes it is all too much, we become stressed trying to "do it all".  I came across a Mayo Clinic article on Time Management that addresses this issue and provides tips for reducing stress and improving productivity.  The article provides a list of strategies and they suggest picking one and trying it for two to four weeks to see if it helps, then adding another. 

The list includes a couple things I already do, such as, plan each day.  This includes making a to-do list and keeping a schedule.  I live by my calendar at work and my refrigerator door holds reminder notes and lists.  Another one on the list that I try to practice is prioritize your tasks.  Putting those items that have to be done at the top of the list, even numbering the list if I have to.

Of course the list includes several things I don't do well.  Say no to nonessential tasks.  This I need to learn to do.  When asked if I will take on another task I need to practice saying, "I will think about it and get back to you".  Then consider my schedule before agreeing to additional work.  Another on the list that I should try is delegate.  This I need to do, as I have taken on more responsibility at work, I haven't delegated some of the tasks that could be passed on to someone else, this needs to change.

And one I have tried to practice with varying degrees of success, get plenty of sleep, have a healthy diet and exercise regularly.

There are many more excellent suggestions in the article, so if you are like me and feeling the stress of a busy life, read the article and chose one strategy to work on for the next couple of weeks.  I will be working on delegating.

Children's Bags and Shed Moving and Gardens

What a weekend!  We decided we needed to go back to work to get some rest.  Saturday I had my canvas bag program for children and that was a success, 31 people were present which is what I expect for a weekend program.  What I liked was that there were moms and dads and grandparents at the program with their children and grandchildren.  Adults responded to the information on plastic bags, saying they were going to use their cloth bags from now on. 

While I was at the children's canvas bag program my husband, father, and brother moved the shed.  So alas, I don't pictures of the actual move.  They used a Bob Cat machine to lift the shed, and with it strapped on move it across the yard, I am told this part took 15 to 20 minutes.  Then the work began.  When I got home from the program my husband was putting landscapping timbers and rock around the shed so I helped with that.  Then we went to pick up a fence my parents decided they did not want around their garden, so we will be putting that around ours to help keep the bunnies out and for the peas to grow up.  I then went to the store and picked up some paint. 

Sunday afternoon after helping a friend move we were home to finish our projects.  My husband expanded the width of the garden by taking out some sod; we found the ground under where the shed sat was too hard to use the hand tiller so he finished tilling the garden with my parents tiller, working in compost as he went.  I put the first coat of paint on the shed.  We finished just as it began to sprinkle.  I did not get my potatoes and onions in the garden, but it is now ready for them and the fence.

Here are some of the weekend's photos.

  There were musical notes,

hearts, and

transformers.

This girl's father is a tatoo artist, can you tell?

Moms got into it

and grandmas got into it too.

Harmony

The shed before,

and after; with the beginnings of a rhubarb and blueberry patch to the left.  It looks like it needs something.  I have a big pot that I plan to put lavender in and the rosemary and basil pots will probably go here as well, it faces south so there is good exposure to the sun.  Then maybe it will look like it belongs.

Borrowing From the Best

My children's great aunt is known for making the best bread and buns.  I have not been satisfied with the recipe I was using so I finally asked her if she would share her recipe, she gladly did.  When she gave me the recipe, it was just a list of ingredients.  I liked the assumption that I knew how to make bread and wouldn't need any instructions.  I modified the recipe to include half whole wheat flour and use honey rather than sugar.  I also cut the recipe in half, her recipe made enough for a large family, with just two of us half the recipe gives us enough to eat now and some in the freezer for later.  This recipe makes very good buns and bread, so soft and tasty.  We made french dip one night and have been enjoying them with butter and jam, mmm.  Here is my modified recipe.

Wheat Bread and Buns
Makes 2 loaves plus 2 dozen buns   

2 1/2 cups warm water

1/2 cup honey

2 packages of yeast

Mix the above ingredients together in a small bowl and let set until bubbles form.

1 large egg, beaten
1/2 cup oil
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups whole wheat flour
Mix together and add proofed yeast mixture.  Continue mixing until thoroughly blended.
Add up to another 6 cups of flour, half whole wheat and half white flour.

Once dough is soft, but not sticky, knead the dough for 15 to 20 minutes, adding flour if it becomes sticky.  After kneading until the dough is smooth as a baby's bottom, place in a large greased bowl, cover with a cloth and let sit in a warm, draft free area until it doubles.

Punch the dough down and knead it until it is back to its former size.  Lightly grease 2 loaf pans and 2 cookie sheets.  Shape into buns and loaves and place onto cookie sheets and in loaf pans.  Let rise to about double, then bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit; buns for 18 to 20 minutes and bread for 25 minutes.

Babyface Yellow Viola

Preparing the Soil

This is the tool I am using to loosen the garden soil and mix in the compost.  We have good soil that was tilled deep last summer and lots of compost/manure added, so it was easy to hand till this year.  Excessive tilling can compact the soil rather than break it up.  With this tool I just turn it back and forth and loosen the soil  to the depth of the tool's tines.  It is a gentle, quiet way of tilling and it gave me a chance to unwind after work and time to think about how I want to plant my garden.  I have the packets of seeds I bought laid out, planning where they will all go. We are still finishing up our moving the shed and expanding the garden project, as you can see by the landscaping timbers in the picture.  As I dig in our garden I see lots of earthwarms, I can't believe how many I have come across.  This is a sign of healthy soil, earthwarms eat their way through packed soil, depositing behind them rich compost, which they have digested from nonliving organic matter.  The result is crucial aeration and enrichment of the soil.  Earthworms are extremely sensitive to environmental pollutants, pesticides and herbicides often unintentionally eliminate earthworms.  Their loss can lead to dramatically lower soil quality.  The number of earthworms in a certain area can be an indicator of toxic contamination in that soil.  With the amount of worms I have in my soil, I know it is not contaminated and I plan to keep it that way, no pesticides or herbicides will be put into my garden.

I bought seed potatoes and onions sets.  If the weather holds I will have them in the ground by the end of the weekend.

Kennebec potatoes

                                                                                                                        

Dakota Jewel (red) potatoes

Yellow Onions

Homemade Flour Tortillas

Often there is the assumption that making things ourselves will be difficult or time consuming, sometimes it is, but not always.  Sometimes it is so easy and quick we have no excuse not to make it ourselves.  I have found this to be the case with flour tortillas.  They are very simple to make and taste so much better when made at home.  I started this recipe in the morning.  Got as far as covering the 8 balls of dough and then put them in the refrigerator and went to work.  Then after work I took it out and let it come to room temperature as I changed clothes and started the filling for the tortillas.

Homemade Flour Tortillas

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
3/4 cup lukewarm milk

Stir the flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl.  Add vegetable oil to the lukewarm milk and mix together.  Gradually add the milk to the flour mixture, and using clean hands, work it into a gooey dough.

Turn dough out onto a surface dusted with flour and knead until the dough is no longer sticky.  Return the dough to the bowl and let sit for 20 minutes. 

Divide dough into 8 balls of equal size. Cover them, let sit for another 20 minutes (or up to 8 hours).

Roll the balls out one at a time to about a 7-inch circle.  Cook in preheated, ungreased skillet, cast iron preferably.  Flip after 30 seconds.

Keep in warm oven until ready to serve.

Children's Program: "Design Your Own Canvas Bag"

On Saturday afternoon I have a children's program scheduled called "Design Your Own Canvas Bag".  I did this same program last summer on a weekday with great success, there were 80 in attendance that day.  This year I decided to do the program in the spring on a Saturday afternoon to give working parents a chance to attend the program with their children.  The children will choose which bag they prefer and then decorate the bag using fabric markers.  I will try to get some pictures of finished bags to post later.

I have a young volunteer that will be helping me with the program and she is so excited to be involved.  We plan to share information about plastic bags at the program.  Children have a great influence on their parents so perhaps this program will get some kids to help their parents remember to use their reusable bags.

Here is the information my volunteer and I will be sharing with the group:

• 500 billion plastic bags are consumed annually, that's almost 1 million per minute.
• 60,000 plastic bags are used in the U.S. every five seconds.
• An estimated 12 million barrels of oil are required to make plastic bags for the U.S. every year.
• At a cost of $500 million dollars.
• The petroleum used to make only 14 plastic bags could drive a car 1 mile.
• Plastic bags can take from 400 to 1,000 years to decompose, but their chemical residues will remain for years after that.
• Plastic bags cause over 100,000 sea turtle and other marine animal deaths every year when animals mistake them for food.
• Windblown plastic bags are so prevalent in Africa that a cottage industry has sprung up harvesting bags and using them to weave hats, and even bags.  According to the BBC one group harvests 30,000 per month.

Save Money with Proper Food Storage

Wasting food is the same as wasting money so I keep a close eye on the contents of my refrigerator and freezer.  I have read that the refrigerator temperature should be between 35 and 38 degrees Fahrenheit to keep food fresh and healthy for as long as possible.  Freezers should be set at 0 degrees Fahrenheit or lower.  Unfortunately many refrigerators and freezers don't have a thermometer, just a digital pad with numbers that don't mean much.  My refrigerator says the optimal setting number is 4 and for a colder setting adjust up one number and for a warmer setting down one number, but that doesn't tell me how warm or cold my refrigerator is.  The only way to know is to buy a small thermometer and keep it in the refrigerator, or put it in once in a while to test the temperature.

Allow warm foods to cool before storing them in the refrigerator, but put them in within two hours to prevent bacteria from growing.  Warm or hot foods will create condensation, which contributes to mold growth and makes the refrigerator or freezer work harder to keep everything cool.  Using your manual find out what section of your refrigerator is the coolest, top or bottom.  Then be sure to store any raw meat in the coldest section. 

I try to keep my fruits and vegetables in separate bins since fruit gives off a gas that causes many vegetables to spoil more quickly.  But, I am sometimes confused on which fruits and vegetables need to be stored in the refrigerator and which do not.  I found a handy guide put together by the University of California, Davis that answers the question on which fruits and vegetables need refrigeration and which taste better stored at room temperature.

Nutritious Fast Food

No, that heading is not an oxymoron; not with recipes like this one.  This recipe cooks up very fast, so it is perfect for those nights when there is little time to cook, plus it is nutritious.  There is no need to serve frozen or packaged foods with a few of these quick recipes at our disposal, just plan ahead and make sure you have the ingredients on hand.  This dish is spicy and the crab adds just the right amount of sweetness, it was delicious.

Spicy Crab Linguine

1/2 pound linguine

1/2 cup chopped red onion

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 to 2 teaspoons sambal oelek

1/2 pound cooked crabmeat, cut into 1-inch pieces

2 pieces preserved lemon, pulp discarded and rind rinsed and finely chopped (1 tablespoon)

1/3 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

2 tablespoons butter

Cook linguine in a pot of boiling salted water until al dente. 

Meanwhile, saute onion in oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring until softened.  Stir in sambal oelek and cook 1 minute more, then add crabmeat.  Reduce heat to low and cook stirring frequently, just until crabmeat is heated through.

Drain pasta, then add to skillet along with remaining ingredients and toss to coat well.

Serves 4

Homemade Sambal Oelek

I have a recipe that calls for sambal oelek and since I had quite a few dried red chilies I decided to make the sauce rather than purchase it at the store.  The recipe calls for 1 pound of red chilies and since I was using dried I started with 1/2 pound and soaked them in water for 24 hours, thinking they would weigh more after they had soaked.  Well, they still weighed 1/2 pound after soaking and they still seemed pretty dry, but the end result was very good and made enough for us and two to give away.  I used the sambal oelek in a very tasty Spicy Crab Linguine, I will share that recipe tomorrow.

Sambal Oelek

1 pound red chilies

5 1/2 ounces garlic, peeled and chopped

5 1/2 ounces fresh ginger, peeled and chopped

1 teaspoon dried lemongrass

3/4 cup vinegar

1 cup sugar

salt to taste

1 tablespoon lime zest, chopped

Blend the chilies, garlic, ginger and lemongrass in a food processor.  While  processing gradually add the vinegar.  Place the pureed mixture into a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer for 3 minutes.  Add the sugar and sitr until dissolved.  Add the salt and lime zest.  Remove from the heat, cool and bottle in sterilized jars.

Aromatherapy For Cats

Elroy loves the new herbs, I keep finding him with his nose in the rosemary.

Library Conference

I'm off to a library conference, I'll be back next week.

2010 Food Preservation Begins

Between the months of November and April there are no local foods growing.  It is just too cold even for a cold-frame or an unheated green house, ok you could start to use a cold-frame in April and you may be able to use one into the first or second week in November, but that is only if the weather cooperates.  Even May is early for most produce, asparagus and rhubarb begin producing and you could produce some greens and radishes using a cold-frame or green house.  In October the only thing we are harvesting without the benefit of a green house or a protected cold-frame are root vegetables, winter squash, and apples, and many times these are harvested in September if we get an early hard frost.

Because of this I purchase fruits and vegetables that I can't grow, or grow enough of, when they are in season and preserve them for later.  This way I am getting the best price and highest quality produce.  Plus it is so good to be able to pull vegetables or fruit out of the freezer or open a jar of your home canned food in the middle of winter.  This year food preservation begins with asparagus.  Rhubarb will likely be next, we grow that in our yard and gather from friends and family, with the nice spring we are having it has been making great strides and I believe it will be ready to pick early this year.

To prepare asparagus for the freezer, begin by boiling water for blanching.

Then wash and trim off tough ends.  When the water gets to boiling good, blanch the asparagus, 2 minutes for thin stalks or 3 minutes for thicker stalks.

Blanching is important.  The enzymes in the vegetables make them lose flavor and color and sometimes make them tough even after they are picked.  The enzymes continue to work even at freezer temperatures.  To stop the enzymes from from spoiling the flavor and texture, heat the vegetables for a few minutes.  The number of minutes depends on the size and texture of the vegetable.

As soon as you put the vegetables in the boiling water, fill a large bowl with icy water.  After boiling for the required amount of time, quickly plunge asparagus in cold water to stop the cooking process.

 

Change the water if it gets warm, you don't want mushy asparagus next winter.  Then drain in a strainer running more cool water over it if needed.

Then lay the asparagus on a clean cloth to absorb some of the moisture and store in freezer bags or containers.

As you can see I used freezer bags.  I have been saying I am going to find a better container for my frozen fruits and vegetables, but we have several of these left from last year and I will use them up and hope to come up with a good substitute.  I know I could use canning jars, but they don't stack as well, and we don't have a lot of freezer space.  I'll keep looking for a good solution, if you have any suggestions, let me know.