Weekend Pics...

Snow is in our forecast and the wind is howling. Sounds like a crochet and soup weekend.

Cranberry Almond Lemon Bread

I love bread. I do. Can't imagine life without it. And I'm a big fan of no-knead artisan bread recipes. In fact, I don't think I'll ever knead dough again. What's the point? I've had more success with the no-knead varieties than I ever had with traditional bread baking. It's easy. It's successful. I'm basically lazy, so this is a win.

Recipes and instructions for no knead breads are available all over the internet, and there are many books out there, too.  The one I am most familiar with is Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.  Easy. For the most part, I follow the basic recipe from Artisan bread in five. I do make a few small, but notable, changes.

Lots of things could affect it, but I get a better rise and airier bread if I increase the yeast a little bit, and add some sugar or honey to the dough. The sugar feeds the yeast, making it rise more.  It's important to follow the recipes the way they are written first - then play with them and see what works best for you. 

Well, this weekend, I was reading through my blog list. I subscribe to a lot of blogs - almost all are connected to food or crochet.  I get lots of inspiration from what others are doing, and this weekend, bread was on the list. Simply So Good is featuring a Cranberry, Almond, Orange, Artisan no-knead bread! It looks fabulous. I MUST try it.  And the dough is rising right now.  I have one minor change - no oranges in the house, but plenty of lemon, thus my version is Cranberry - Almond - Lemon Bread. I am a firm believer in substituting citrus at will, and a little thing like lack of oranges will not keep me from my bread!

Here's what I did:

Combined gently in my Kitchenaid standing mixer:

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 TBSP yeast

about 2 TBSP honey (squirted in, not measured)

1 TBSP kosher salt

Two big handfuls of dried cranberry

about a cup toasted, slivered almonds

grated peel of one lemon

3 cups all-purpose, unbleached flour

Yes, the dough is super sticky. If you compare my ingredients to Simply So Good, you can see they are almost the same.  I did follow her suggestion and toast the almonds. And knowing what I know about MY success with artisan breads, I increased the yeast a little bit and added that squirt of honey.  

I covered the bowl and left it on the counter for two hours. When I returned, it had more than doubled in size. At this point, I generously floured my parchment paper, and dumped the bread dough into a heap. With floured hands, I shaped it into a loaf, covered it with a linen cloth, and walked away. 

Here is the wet sticky dough after the first rising...

And here it is floured, on the parchment paper, ready for more rising.

And here is a favorite tip I picked up from Pinterest!  See that lid?  That's from a Parmesan cheese container. It fits on a standard canning jar. I keep flour in this one, but I have several jars just like it with other things. It is super handy! I don't have to grab my big flour bin from the cabinet when I just need a little bit to thicken a sauce or for baking.  I don't know who figured out that this works, but I'm very grateful.

A few hours later (maybe 3?) I returned.  I put my baking stone on the top rack in the oven, and my old metal jelly roll pan on the bottom rack, and heated things up to 450. This is how they do it on Artisan Bread in Five.  You put the bread on the hot stone, and pour some cold (or at least room temp) water in the metal pan.  Steam happens. Shut the door to keep it in.  Bake, about 30 minutes or so.  It will smell amazing. Take it out of the oven and leave it alone. Do NOT cut it yet. Wait. At least 20 minutes. Longer if you can. Cutting hot bread is bad. It ruins the texture.

Here is the result.  I cut a few slashes in the top of the bread before baking. It's not necessary, but something they suggest at Artisan Bread in Five.  Look at that gorgeous crust.  

And here it is, cut open - filled with luscious cranberries and crunchy almonds. The texture of the bread itself is light and airy. Delicious.

I couldn't resist, and put a little butter on this slice. Not necessary, but hey, I like butter.

Birthday Weekend!

How cool is this?  

Unfortunately, I couldn't make "screen capture" work, so I took a picture with my phone. 

Technologically challenged? Yup. 

Yesterday was my birthday - 48!  It was a great day. I went to Ann Arbor, MI (just an hour from here) for pedicures and lunch with good friends. I don't get a pedicure often, and I'm not sure why. It was lovely. We sipped hot tea, relaxed in comfy reclining chairs, and let them massage and pamper our tired toes. After pedicures, we went to Zingerman's Roadhouse for lunch. So delicious! Warm spinach and mushroom salad...artisan cheese with bagel crisps and roasted balsamic grapes...I even had an ice cold beer.  Now I'm not usually much of a beer drinker. I prefer wine - and nothing sweet. But this was wonderful. 

I was home in time to make dinner...and decided to make Mushroom Stroganoff. Sorry, no pictures, but it was delicious.  The tradition here is for my husband to bake my cake. It is always the same - Angel Food, from scratch, with fluffy, seven minute frosting. The fun part is he usually makes a mistake and we get to laugh at the various disasters. Yup, I'm serious.  One year, he mistook tsp for tbsp, and let's just say I've never had such a salty cake in my life!  With years of practice under his belt, I think he has finally mastered the art.  Here's what's left of the cake today.  The picture doesn't do it justice - so light and airy.  Nice work!

Tricks to the perfect Angel Food cake: don't use your freshest eggs. I get better results when they are at least two weeks old. Bring them to room temperature before starting.  If you are lucky enough to have one, using a standing mixer. The egg whites need to whip a long time to get stiff.  We actually bought a standing mixer because we love Angel Food cake so much.  I don't regret it at all.  Folding in the ingredients is not the same as mixing. Folding allows you to gently combine the wet meringue with the flour/powdered sugar, without losing the air that's been whipped into the batter.  That air is what makes the cake so light and fluffy. Take your time - practice. If your first one isn't perfect, try it again.  It's so worth the effort. 

Of course, if you bake an Angel Food cake, you have a dozen egg yolks staring at you. I can't bare to throw  them out or feed them to the dogs - my hens worked hard laying those eggs! What else could I do but whip up some lemon curd? I followed Martha Stewart's recipe, which was quick and easy. The curd came out just perfect. But now I suppose I need something to put it on.  

Just for fun - here's a picture of eggs from our hens.  The palest ones are not white, but a soft greenish blue.  So pretty! No need to color eggs for Easter around here. 

And finally, my husband thinks he is really funny. Here is one of my gifts this year:

If you always wondered, "who buys this crap" when seeing such "lovely" items in the stores, well, now you know.  

Hands off ladies - he's all mine! HA HA HA HA HA!

Bring It On Down to Veganville

I have to share this clip from Saturday Night Live this weekend. It's hilarious - and I appreciate the nod to Justin's vegan lifestyle.  Trust me, it's worth waiting for the commercials to get to the clip.  I hope you enjoy it, too!

March 9 - Justin Timberlake

Lemon Marmalade

What do you do when you find yourself with a gallon of cut up lemons? Lemon curd? I already have some in the freezer.... Lemon meringue pie? Love it, but I'm likely to eat the whole thing.... I settled on lemon marmalade. Processed in a canner bath, it stores easily and can be shared with friends.

Using a micro grater, I tried to get as much grated peel from the lemon pieces as I could. This was challenging, as the chunks were hard to hold onto. The yellow peel is an important source of oil and flavor.

Next, I cut the lemon pulp away from the rind, making sure to remove the white pith and seeds. The pith is bitter, so I was careful to keep it out of marmalade. I ended up with about four cups of lemon.

Dump the pulp and four cups of water into a heavy duty pot. Bring to a low boil, reduce the heat and simmer. I let it cook down for a good hour or two. Add four cups sugar, stir until dissolved. Let simmer another hour.

It's important to cook it to the "jell" stage, so that it thickens up to a good jam consistency when cooled. I'm lazy, so I just guess. Other people (cooks who aren't lazy) put a plate in the freezer ahead of time, so they can test the jelly by spooning a little onto the frozen plate. It cools quickly this way, and you can tell if its jelling appropriately.

Tonight, I'm having fresh baked bread with butter and marmalade, with a cuppa tea. Delicious!

White Bean and Kale Soup

Perfect on a cold, snowy February evening, a soup like this one makes the whole house smell great while it simmers through the day. And the homemade bread? Heaven.

Start with one bag dry white beans. I used navy because that's what I had on hand, but northern would be just as good. Follow the directions on the bag to prepare the beans.  If you are planning ahead, soak overnight, drain and rinse the soaking water, then add to the soup pot and simmer all day. As is typical for me, I did not prepare ahead. This meant bringing the beans to a boil, turning the heat off and letting them sit an hour or two. Drain, rinse, and begin the recipe. 

Warning:  I don't always measure.  I'll do my best to give measurements, but sometimes, you just have to look at it and use your best judgment.  This is especially true of things like soups and stews. 

Use a good size stock pot.  In olive oil, saute 1 large chopped onion and about a cup and a half each - chopped celery, carrot, kale - until softened, but not brown. With the kale - I did not use the stems or ribs, just the leaves. Add 3 chopped garlic cloves, and saute a little longer. 

Add the beans, 2 quarts water, and two bay leaves. At this point, you can cover and let the soup simmer covered for 2 - 3 hours, or you can put it in a crock-pot on low for 6-8 hours.  I cooked mine on the stove today.  When the beans are tender, I like to smash some of them with my soup ladle, to make the broth creamy.  

In the last hour or so of cooking, I added fresh cracked pepper, and some McKay's Chicken-style Instant Broth and Seasoning. I waited  until the beans were tender, because it's high in sodium and I've read that salt can toughen your beans. I don't know if it's true, but it's just as easy to add salt and/or salty seasonings at the end!  It's important to taste test to make sure you don't over do it with this. I add just a tablespoon at a time, tasting in between. 

And that's it! I do think this would be delicious with some vegan Italian sausage cut in chunks, cooked in a little olive oil, and added  in before serving, but I didn't miss it at all, and the beans provide a hearty, filling dinner without the sausage. 

Now for the bread....

I've been following the basic recipe for Artisan Bread In Five Minutes for years now. Please check out their website for more recipes and all the background information about this baking technique. It's wonderful - mostly for liberating me from the need to knead the dough!  I like my bread to have a good, crunchy crust, and light, airy inside.  Here is how I've modified the recipe to fill my needs:

In my standing mixer: 3 cups warm water + 2 1/2 TBS yeast + 1/4 cup sugar or honey (the sugar feeds the yeast, helping it rise.)  Let it sit 5 or 10 minutes, until the yeast is foamy.  

Add 1/4 cup canola oil, 1 1/2 TB kosher salt, and 6 cups of flour - a little at a time. 

The dough will be sticky.  Be careful not to add too much flour, that's what makes bread dense.  Remove the  beater from the mixer, cover the bowl, and let it sit. I sprayed the lid to my bowl with oil to keep the rising dough from sticking.  After an hour or two - the dough literally lifted the lid off the bowl! 

This is enough for 3 loaves.  I coated my hands with flour and pulled out 1/3 of the dough, shaping it into a loaf, put it on my silpat on a cookie sheet, covered and let it rise again, about an hour. 

The rest of the dough goes in the fridge for loaves later this week.  I'll just bring it to room temperature before rising and baking. 

Back to today.... Preheat the oven to 400 and put an old jelly roll pan on the bottom rack during the preheat.  When ready to back, cut slits in the top of the loaf, put it in the oven, and pour cold water on the bottom pan - creating steam. Close the oven door and let bake about 20 minutes or until the loaf is golden brown.  

Resist all temptation to cut into the bread before it has a chance to cool. It can ruin the texture!

Our bread is almost gone, and there are only two of us here tonight. I love dipping it in the soup broth. So good - it doesn't need butter. And I will never knead dough again. 

Carrot Cake

 

Do you go crazy on Pinterest? I see so many awesome looking recipes and ideas, and I've got hundreds of pins on my bulletin boards.  Here's one recipe I found on Pinterest, and actually made. To Die For Carrot Cake is delicious!  If you like carrot cake, this recipe is simple and worth giving a try. 

Vegucated

I like documentaries, and I especially enjoy watching the ones about food. Today, I watched Vegucated.  It follows 3 omnivores as they take on the challenge of living a vegan lifestyle for 6 weeks. I particularly liked this film, as it doesn't bash omnivores at all (which I think is important!) Instead, it simply teaches about the vegan lifestyle, and its benefits.  Yes, it does cover the atrocities in factory farming and the negative effects that has on our planet - but the purpose is to educate. We really do need to understand where our food comes from, and how animals are treated.

I'm a vegetarian, not a vegan. I don't eat anything you have to kill an animal to get - so I eat no meat at all, including no beef, pork, chicken, fish - no animals. The difference is that I will eat the things an animal naturally makes, and derivatives of those products - so milk, cheese, butter, honey, eggs - these things are part of my diet, but a vegan would not eat them.

Eggs - I restrict these to those from my chickens, or my friends' chickens. (My silly hens have stopped laying eggs for the winter, so I had to buy 2 dozen from a friend this month.)  I will only use eggs from hens raised in a truly humane way.  To me, there is no problem eating these eggs.  I know the hens have to lay them.  Mine aren't laying right now, because the days are short. And that's so interesting to me - that during the winter - when the days are shorter, a hen may naturally stop producing eggs. Many people provide artificial lighting to lengthen the day and keep hens producing. Some hens keep going regardless of the light.

After seeing Vegucated, I'm rethinking my consumption of dairy.  I may seek out a local source that will ensure a humane product, or I may significantly reduce or give it up altogether.  I haven't decided what I will do, but I'm definitely thinking about it.  I struggle with a few things.  Besides my complete love of all cheese, cream, butter, and more cheese....

1. I don't want to replace natural foods with highly processed, oil-based options. I don't believe that is healthier, and it certainly doesn't taste as good. 
2. I want to eat a humane diet, in which no living thing is intentionally, or unintentionally harmed. I just can't feel good about it.
3. I don't want to take on a diet that becomes difficult to follow in my normal life. Eating vegetarian is fairly easing to do.Vegan is quite a bit more restrictive, and presents more challenges. That doesn't mean it isn't worthwhile - just more difficult. 

Thinking about our food is good. No matter what decision any person makes, I think it is important to know where food comes from, the process used to get it from farm to table - the good, the bad, and the ugly - without blaming or finger wagging. 

Vegetarian French Onion Soup

 What do you do when you score a you a huge box of onions - free?

Thank God for food processors!

I filled my pot with the sliced onions and a little olive oil to get them started browning.  I like to start with olive oil and add the butter a little farther in the cooking process. This gives me the illusion of making a healthier soup. :)  Season with garlic, salt and pepper. Cook on low for a very long time, until beautifully caramelized.

When the onions reach a lovely, golden brown, add a vegetarian beef-style broth. I used McKay's, but if you are sensitive to MSG, you'll want to find something else.  Simmer until the onions are tender.  Add 1/4 cup dry sherry towards the end of cooking.

Cut a thick slice of crusty french bread. Toast it and place in oven-safe bowls. Ladle soup over the bread, and top with mozzarella, provolone, or Parmesan cheese. I used shredded Parm because that's what I had on hand.  Place on a baking sheet and slide into a 350 degree oven until the cheese is melted and beginning to brown.  Nirvana!

Next time, I'll get a picture of the finished soup.

Ready for 2013!

How did we celebrate the new year? Well, the husband went to bed before 11 p.m.  Thing One dropped Thing Two off at an overnight party around 10:30, then joined me on the couch for crochet and Star Wars. We noticed it was 2013 at 12:09 and gave our obligatory new year's greetings.  Very exciting, indeed.  I was more interested in planning my New Year's day dinner - a traditional Hoppin' John recipe - vegetarian style. This one got rave reviews from The Fam, and so I'm making a slightly altered version today using navy beans, and multi-colored peppers.

After dinner, we played cards, drank tea, and ate homemade lemon meringue pie. The pie tasted good - but wasn't one of my best, so I'm not including it here. I think I used too much lemon juice, as it just didn't set up quite right.  

Our game over the holidays has been 500.  I live with sharks. Card sharks.  In 500, you get a partner for each hand, based on whatever trump is and the card the "leader" calls.  Around here, people are willing to throw themselves into negative numbers to stop other people from winning. It made for quite an interesting game.

Here is the original, basic recipe Hoppin' John.  Use the dry beans (super cheap!) soak them overnight. Discard the soaking water and rinse. They say this reduces flatulence associated with eating beans, so I always do it. Gotta say, since we've been vegetarians, I haven't noticed much trouble with this. 

1 pound black eyed peas, pre-soaked

1 chopped onion

1 chopped bell pepper. I used yellow because that's what I had. Traditional Hoppin' John calls for green.

1 15 oz can chopped tomato with the juice. If you have fresh tomatoes, by all means use them. 

2 cups water

Spices: 2 bay leaves, 1 tsp thyme, 2 chopped garlic clove, 1 tsp chili powder, salt & pepper to taste

Dump it in the crock pot and cook all day on low, or use a covered stockpot and simmer gently for a good 4 - 6 hours. If in doubt, cook longer. This recipe benefits from a low, slow simmer. Check it periodically and add more water if needed - especially if cooking on the stove. You don't want so much water that it becomes a soup (although it would be a delicious soup). Think "stew" with enough liquid to create a gravy or sauce, rather than a broth. 

It's done when the beans are soft and tender, and you can gently mash some of them to thicken the sauce. Serve over rice. 

Feel free to adjust the spice levels to your taste. If you like a little heat - go ahead and add it. Beans are bland and rely on good seasoning for flavor.  

Which Came First? The Chicken or the Chaos?

There are certain people in this world who wake up every day with the preformed thought, fully articulated before their eyes are halfway open (possibly carried over from some blissful and manic dream) that, "My life is pretty good, but there's way too little chaos and confusion in it; I wonder how I could change that." Still others go through the day thinking, "Wow, my life is really chaotic and disorganized.  What I'd really like to do is test the limits of my ability to cope with chaos and disorganization; I wonder how I could do that."  Whatever the time of day, this is invariably followed by, "I've gotta have three cups of coffee first; this is gonna take a lot of energy!"

At the extreme end of this hypothetical chaophilic scale (people like this often make up their own words -- like this one which is a fancy and scary word meaning 'chaos loving' -- probably because the English language, like all man made institutions, is too precise and rational) are those who think, "one farm animal in the backyard of my suburban home would be just plain boring; I need at least half a dozen."  When they were single, you can bet dollars to donuts they followed a  natural and orderly progression from there to "I need a partner who won't mess up my chaos with his own chaos [yes, these people are usually women; sorry, but it's true].  If only I could find someone who scores high on both the 'buttoned down' and 'tolerant' indices."

Happily for them, there is a yin to their yang, the maniacs who marry the type of person who wakes up every day thinking, "what kind of crazy, chaotic activities (editor's note: plural intended) can I add to my buttoned down beloved's life today?"

As you may have suspected by now, I... am just such a yin.  And Elizabeth is, well, she's the crazy chicken lady.  Yes, go ahead, it's safe.  Go ahead and call her Crazy Chicken Lady.  It's her own term of endearment.  She likes it!  How crazy is that?

Let's be honest: I, myself, would probably never have gone out of my way to ensure that every morning, when I look out my back door, I see chickens.  I never wanted four hamsters, either.  In fact, I never wanted one hamster.  Or three bunnies.  A turtle with a broken shell.  A used guinea pig.  Four frogs.  Or their crickets.  Or the tadpoles who would have become even more frogs had not one of the frogs I didn't ask for but got anyway - Scratchy (and proud of it) - hadn't been so darn vicious.  What's that, you say?  "I'll bet you had them anyway hahaha!"  Darn right I did.  I had ALL of them.  (I never asked for the three bats that found their way into my house over the years, either, but that's probably nobody's fault.  Probably.  At least they didn't stay long.)  What's next?  Bees?

So, entropy being what it is - that is pretty much its definition, "it is what it is" - and overruling such things as "conservation of energy" in the conservative, orderly hierarchy of laws in my ideally conservative, well ordered universe... I have chickens.  Not just one chicken.  Half a dozen chickens.

At least they are out of my house now.  At least they're out in the yard , where they provide an endless incentive for my three dogs to bark.  A possible side benefit is that they may scare the poor little things into a heart attack, thereby giving me an excuse to say, "Quick!  Call the pediatric bird cardiologist."  'Cause I like saying that (don't ask me why; I don't know).  That's a triumph for a "store bought eggs" kind of guy.  If you say, "dozen," I say "eggs."  If my wife overhears you (and she will, because she's always looking for new "ideas"), she will say, "chickens."  You say "chaos," I say "theory" ... and she says, "Yay!"

In fact, she overheard the title of my post and immediately blurted out - you guessed it - "CHAOS :D"