A Good Day

Such a beautiful day! Walking, tobogganing, playing with friends. The sunshine was so amazing, the woodpeckers loud, the weather crisp. Did I mention the sun? it makes such a difference when it joins us.

It didn't hurt starting our day with these sundaes.

For Steve

I have just started making buns. Breads and pastry feel like they are under my belt, but buns got lost in the shuffle along the way. They were way easy. So easy! They go great for sandwiches, soup, etc,

So this recipe is for my friend Steve. He loves to make his own burgers. Now I think you should add these to your menu, they would be a great couple!

Here is the recipe

1 cup milk (we have used rice also)

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup unsalted butter

4 1/2 cups flour ( we have used combinations of white, whole wheat and spelt flours)

2 1/4 tsp yeast

1 tablespoon honey

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 egg room temperature

1. Mix water, milk, honey, butter in a sauce pan. Heat until the butter is melted. Check temperature and let cool until 120F. Then add 1 egg carefully beating in.

2. Mix 2 cups of the flour, yeast and salt. Mix into milk mixture. Stir in the rest of the flour 1/2 a cup at a time.

3. When the dough pulls together into a soft ball knead it for about 5 mins on the counter

4. Divide into 8-10 pieces, forming whatever shape you want. Place on parchment, cover and put aside to rise for 30-35 mins until they have doubled

5. You can brush with egg or milk. You could sprinkle sesame, poppy seeds on top.

6. Bake at 400 for about 10 mins.

Pumpkin Pie

It was one of Ben's goals to grow pumpkins specifically for pie. He has made pumpkin pie lots of times, always with canned pumpkin. We have grown lots of pumpkins but they have always been for jack o lanterns. This year was his year. He grew the pumpkins, cooked the pumpkins and made some super delicious pie!!!

Cooking Over a Wood Stove

With the cooler autumn weather we have been enjoying the wood stove for warmth. The stove is in the basement so even though it provides the whole house with warmth, because it is out of sight most of the time it is also out of mind. But I have been thinking a lot lately of how I can make more use of it for cooking or harnessing the heat.
We have had bags of apples for pies, sauce, cakes, fritters, the list endless. The kids love dried apple and I have made them in the past by having thinly sliced apples on hand to put in the oven whenever I have finished baking. I pop the trays of sliced apples to make use of the heat. This does work, it takes a few baking sessions though. To put them in the oven on their own always feels like a waste of energy.

So I put two and two together, strung the apples on strings horizontally above the wood stove while the fire was on and viola!!! beautiful dried apples. I wished I had taken a picture of them strung up because they really did look beautiful. We think we might try some pears next.

The Cupboard

The smells in the house have been (temporarily) shifting from apples and cinnamon to beeswax and lavender. I don't know which I prefer, although totally different types of smells, they are both have such rich, comforting aromas. The new slab of beeswax was picked up at the market so we could get started on stocking the first aid cupboard. Each year we try our hand at making more of our own remedies to have on the shelves. We started with different dried herbs for teas, soaks and poultices, making our way to creams, salves, tinctures and oils. It gives us great satisfaction to grow or gather the ingredients, have them steep or dry over time and then mix them up into their final product. It is a slow and steady process, requiring patience. A process that builds our anticipation.
Shai has very sensitive skin, calendula cream is the most effective way we have found to sooth it. We can easily spend $10 a week on giving him comfort. After planting calendula flowers a few years ago and learning how easy it is to make a salve it made sense for us to make our own. This is the simplest recipe, one we have made successfully for the last few years.

I also steeped some plantain, red clover, mint and lavender. We combined infused plantain oil, beeswax and tea tree oil for skin irritations, rashes, cuts. For achy muscles, colds, congestion we mixed together olive oil, beeswax, comfrey, mint, eucalyptus, and pine. The red clover is for pms (not that I get that!), grape seed oil infused with the red clover can be used on the temples. We also did a jar we called "smells good herbal rub", its a little bit of this and that; lavender, mint, calendula, rosemary, beeswax and a few other things for good measure. We collected rose hips for a syrup chalked full of vitamin C, perfect for warding off colds. It tastes good to boot and I remember making as a child with my mum.

Combined with vitamins, herbal remedies, homeopathics, hot water bottles, some newly made cloth 'band aids' (for my sensitive skin guy), our cupboard if fuller and we feel healthier just knowing it's there!

Feeling the Crock Pot Love

Fall= Crock pot

I don't usually use the crock pot during the summer, but the autumn I begun to dream about all the yummy warm goodness I can cook up in it. I dusted it off and brought it out this week. I cooked three breakfasts and one pot of chili for dinner in it. The ease the crock pot brings us on slow mornings or over scheduled evenings, is one of many reasons I love it. The way in which the house fills slowly with the delicious aromas of the food bubbling away, it is comforting and homey. Ahh.

I thought I would share our three current favorite crock pot breakfasts. It works well for breakfast because the kids can all help themselves to a warm cooked breakfast as they trickle down stairs.

These are my three favorites.

Oatmeal (the basic)

1 1/2 cups steel cut oats

4 cups water

1 tsp cinnamon
Mix in the crock pot, put on low heat before bed- ready for you when you wake up!

I often add in one or more of the following before I turn it on
-1 cup of chopped dates
-1 cup of raisins (although my guys don't like warm raisins)
-1 cup of cranberries
-1-2 cup chopped and peeled apple or pear

In the morning I often add some of the following
-almond milk
-coconut milk (a big hit lately)
-coconut
-nuts
-honey or brown sugar
-berries
-jam

Blueberry Syrup for Pancakes (or yogurt, on fruit, on leftover oatmeal)
2-3 cups blueberries (or whatever berries you have, fresh or frozen)

1 cups water

1/3 cup sugar

2tsps lemon juice

mix, put crock pot on low heat for 2 -3 hours

Apple Sauce
8 apples, peeled and quartered

1cups of water

2-3 tsp of cinnamon

1/4 cup of brown sugar

mix in crock pot, put on low heat before bed, warm chunky apple sauce ready for you when you get up!

a year of crock pot recipes

a discussion of crock pot cooking at beauty that moves

Red Pepper Jelly

For Penelope and Jen

We have been loving the Red Pepper Jelly we made. I must confess we have tried a few different recipes over the years but the jelly consistency has never been quite right. I was so excited to have this red pepper jelly and the crab apple jelly we made turn out with such a wonderful jelly texture that I called my mum in celebration at 11pm just to share my joy! It's the little things - right?

Most recipes aren't like this one. Many recipes suggest you press the juice out of the peppers or use a cheese cloth bag for easy removal of the pepper pieces. This recipe has you leave them in. I loved how easy that made it and the bits have such a soft consistency after being cooked that really you don't notice. Red peppers are on sale this week for .49 cents a pound, so I might be making some more!

So here it is

3 1/2 cups finely chopped red pepper (careful to keep the seeds out) you can hand chop or use a processor

5 cups of sugar

1 1/2 cupsapple cider vinegar (you can use white vinegar, but I think this brings out the flavour even more)

4 ounces of liquid pectin (for the type I bought it meant 1 and a half pouches) and NOT the powdered kind

Mix the peppers, vinegar, sugar and heat until it is a rolling boil. Stir at a boil for 6 mins. Stir in the liquid pectin, boil for 4 more minutes. Skim foam off. Ladle the jelly into jars leaving 1/2 inch head space at the top of the jars. Put the sealed jars in the canner for 5 mins.

It is great served over cream cheese for crackers or dipping, as a topper to warm brie, as a side for leftover turkey. Enjoy!

similar to one we have used in the past for crushing the juice out of the peppers.

Apple Picking

We enjoyed a gorgeous sunny afternoon with Grammy apple picking. The farm, one my sister and I both worked at during many of our high school years, has become very commercial and pricey. Despite that, we had a great afternoon gathering 30 lbs of yummy eating and baking apples, riding the wagon and checking out the animals they have on site. Tucked in our bag for a treat at home is a kit for caramel apples - thanks Grammy!

Bath Bouquets

One of the joys of moving to a space with lots of wildflowers has been the picking. Rushes and grasses in the fall, boughs at Christmas, pussy willows in the spring and flowers throughout the summer. The walking around and gathering, picking and choosing the right combination has been just as enjoying as the bouquet itself. This holds true for the kids too. Often their bedside has vases filled with daisies.

We were inspired by the flower cubes over at 5 Orange Potatoes. We used muffin tins to make flower bouquets for the bath. Very quickly every made their own combinations of petals (and a raspberry or two!), filling the freezer with every ones own labelled supply. In fact it was baths all around once they were frozen.

Jam Season

We have an incredibly huge field of wild raspberries on our property, our road and down the street. It is a serious crop. We have picked 12 cups of raspberries the past two days- 12 cups! I love raspberries. I have always cherished eating the few we have grown in the past, or picked, especially since it usually takes so long to fill a basket. This year we have eaten bowls of them, picking a few before breakfast for our yogurt or before dinner as a dessert.

I have never dreamed of making jam with them before, they have always been too precious, tiny bits of yummy goodness. With literally baskets filled, I dared to dream. The counters are filled with raspberry jam. And I think I will head out picking again tomorrow....cause I can.

Many Cooks in the Kitchen

What is better than a meal the whole family truly enjoys? How about one your 6yo can make? We have always loved spanakopita, an easy dish for sure. The folding of the filo pastry, calls to be given a try. And Aria loves making making with the folds. She can wash, chop and saute the filling, butter and fill on her own. Makes my job of reheating soup (i know in july!) such a breeze!

Spanakopita

1 bag of spinach

1 onion chopped

1 container of feta cheese

2 garlic cloves chopped

1 egg beaten

1 package of filo pastry

melted butter

saute the onion and garlic until soft. add in the spinach (all of it, it very quickly goes down in size), once it is half the size toss in the beaten egg. stir so it gets mixed in and cooked. mix in the feta, stir for a few minutes. take off heat.

roll out pastry. we use 2 sheets of filo per bundle. (we make six big pockets, you could make many small ones, or even one giant one) scoop up some filling and put it on the pastry. using a brush, spread butter on the filo- not lots just a little to help brown. fold the pastry with the filling in triangles. it doesn't have to be perfect, but folding instead of rolling is less likely to rip. the folding is fun.

cook for about 15mins at 375

Happy Canada Day!

despite being a rainy day, we enjoyed fort building, a soaking wet bike ride, a new (to us) series from the library, super yummy (easy) cupcakes and fireworks! Hope your day was wonderful!