Sour Kraut done!

Hey it's me wearing one of my vintage aprons.


Today Chance and I processed the sour kraut.It had to be done with Thanksgiving coming and the family about to fill the house we needed the counter space the kraut bucket was taking up.
I think it took longer to heat the canning kettle than it did to fill the jars.Our 5 gallon bucket of kraut had really shrunk down so, we ended up with 7 jars to put away and one to put in the fridge to be eaten soon. We are happy with it.Sour Kraut is not a huge part of our diet,the jars should hold us most of the year.I may take that back by the end of the jars but I have written down the amounts used and the amount of jars we ended with so I can always adjust next fall.
To process the kraut we heated the kraut in our large kettle until it reached 185 degrees.(Ball Blue Book said 185-210 degrees.) Then we packed it into hot jars until it was an inch from the bottom of the jar neck.We then poured in the hot liquid from the kraut until it reached the bottom of the jar neck.The jars were processed for 20 minutes in the canning kettle.
Overall Sour Kraut proved to be an easy thing to do.I liked that we did some work,let it sit for many weeks and then could finish it.
I did notice that without my glasses on, the jars of kraut could be mistaken for Apple Sauce opps that could be bad,I made sure we marked the jar lids in big letters KRAUT. I could just see me the sleepy headed mother at 6 AM packing school lunches,reaching for what I think is Apple Sauce and packing the boys Kraut instead. I really am useless until I have had many cups of coffee.And I think the only smell I am focused on in the morning is the coffee I am waiting for.
Tomorrow I figure out my Dark Days Challenge Dinner #1,come back soon to see what we come up with.Have a great weekend.
Rois

Dark Days of Winter Challenge

Look what I am trying out, 3rd annual Dark Days of Winter Challenge S.O.L.E , A challenge to cook one meal a week using Sustainable,Organic,Local and Ethical foods and then write a blog posting about it. I can pick foods from within a 150 mile radius of home.I don't have to give up coffee,chocolate,oils or spices to make my meal. Notice my order of importance there. The blog posting will also share our findings,what we ended up using that's not on our list and just our thoughts.
This challenge got Chance and I talking and thinking.We have thought about the miles our foods travel and the impact those miles have but other than buying bits and pieces,growing/raising our own and supporting local farms when we can,we have not done much I suppose.
Today we got out a map of Oregon and drew a 150 mile circle around Beaverton.Wow,there's lots of food grown in that circle.I know we can find lots of dairy,meat,veggies,fruit,nuts and breweries for most of the year. But with winter coming in the veggies are going to run low on options.That's fine we are up to the challenge.
I know we are only doing one meal a week for this challenge but already I am thinking about foods and things we cook with that are not made within that 150 miles. Cooking oil,sugar, rice,baking things like baking powder hmmm how deep can I go with this?
The challenge dose say I can make my own list of what I am going to use that comes from farther away.Here's the things I have thought of so far,baking items such as baking powder/soda, vanilla ect.Those are the few things that might stump me.I may not end up baking anything for those meals but just in case they are on my own list.
One food group I am most interested in find out more about are grains.I know grains are grown here in Oregon but what kinds and are they grown outside of my 150 mile radius? I am definitely taking some time to find my answer.
Well we have some food for thought,literally, to work on for the winter months.It will be interesting to see what we learn about our food and ourselves as consumers.Stay tuned I will be cooking our first S.O.L.E meal this weekend.
Rois

Look what I found in the coop!

No kidding we really did! An Emu Egg of all things. Some adoring fan of ours tip toed their way into the back yard and left us a BIG surprise. We check the coop at least twice a day,it was not there last night when I locked the girls snugly in.

My family loves a good joke but none of them will own up to it.My brother says he wishes he had been the one since it's such a great gag.I sent Issac a text message this morning and he had no clue either,he's going to ask the neighborhood kids today at school.

A mystery it is for now and we love it! A funny joke and a treasure to keep.

Rois

Update! Our young Solomon did it! I told you my family LOVES a good prank! I guess awhile back Sol was with my Mother at Goodwill and Sol spied the Emu egg and bought it.My Mother gave him the idea of hiding it in the coop,it just took Sol sometime to work it out.I guess bringing in the garbage and recycling cans from the curb last night was his cover. I have I ever told you all how much I adore life with boys?

Apple Fritters no yeast..

I have been trying since Sunday afternoon to sit down and write,the phone has rang,the door bell too and five million other little moments that have kept me away from here. So let me back track a few days and get caught up.In fact I'll back up to last Saturday.
As I wrote last week the family and I went to help move The Urban Farm Store to their new store front.The high light of the day was any homesteader's wildest dream, an entire pallet and a half of CANNING JARS and LIDS! Oh my! We filled the whole back of Chance's Land Cruiser.Two thoughts went through my mind, first one, quick, lets just make a get away! No we would not do that but man o man what a temptation.The second,Dang it! No camera what a great photo that would have been. Everything else was that stuff at the end of any move,the random bits,the things that are too big to load with anything else. We had a good time visiting with the Urban Farm folks,a given in our books.
That was Saturday on Sunday Chance awoke wanting something yummy for breakfast.The daily bread was still rising and so was Chance's hunger meter,what to make? I remembered I had been wanting to make a Fritter recipe I had not done in a VERY long time.So long that it was B.C - Before Children days.
The last time I made these we were camping with friends.We had picked some early Huckleberries that were not enough to just eat so I made them into Huckleberry Fritters.
Sunday I did not have Huckleberries but I did have some apples that needed to be used up. Of course I tinkered the recipe a bit.The book said to slice the Apples,then dip them individually in the batter to fry.Well that seemed like more twiddling around than I wanted to do.So instead I chopped the apples to mix into the batter.I also added a teaspoon each of cinnamon and nutmeg because the batter needed a boost. Apples sometimes need something to bring up their flavor in my mind. The final change I made was I rolled the fried fritters in cinnamon sugar.
I am sharing the recipe with all of you and it will be below.I like this batter,it is light and kind of egg-y like Beignets ( with out the work or the waiting.). It is also not sweet which means you can use it even for a savory type of Fritter.Another plus to me is it dose not use yeast,instant gratification.

Plain Fritters- From: The Betty Furness Westinghouse Cookbook (an oldie but goodie!)

1 Cup Flour
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
2 Eggs beaten
1 Tablespoon Veg.Oil (or whatever you have) Plus more for frying
1/2 Cup Milk or Water

Stir together all the dry ingredients,then add the wet ones,mix it up till there are no lumps. The batter should come out a lot like pancake batter.

Now you can get creative. Like I said I chopped up my apples but the book says to dip slices of apple in the batter then fry. The book also talks about using other fruits as well as clams or leaving the fritters plain. (why?when you can add something yummy.) If you choose to use canned fruit you will need to drain all of the juices from the fruit.

Ok once you have chosen wither to add something or not mix it all in the batter until your addition is well coated.

In a frying pan you will need to heat about 2 inches of oil. The book gives no temp for this and I did not use my electric frying pan so I'd guess around 250-300 degrees .Or until when you drop a bit of batter in it sizzles.

Once your oil is ready scoop enough of the batter to give you the size you may want. Place scooped batter into hot oil. The batter dose not spread like pancake batter but will rise and puff up.I made mine so they were about 3-4 inches across.

For once this cookbook is a bit lacking in directions esp about the frying part of the fritters. I fried them on the first side down until I could see golden brown edges starting to form. I then turned them over.I checked the bottom often and turned the fritter again once the bottom side was golden. The book did say the fritters take 3-5 minutes to cook and it did. I would just treat the frying of these like you were making a thick pancake and you'll do just fine. I turned the fritter more than once on each side before they were cooked through.

Tomorrow Chance and I will process our Sour Kraut that has been pickling away for the past 6 weeks. Besides writing, the processing of the Kraut has been put off a couple of times this week too. Our book said the kraut could sit for up to 8 weeks so even if tomorrow follows this weeks trend of side tracking anything I have planned I am covered for another 11 days.

That's it for now. Please leave me a comment if my directions seem off to you. Like I said the book was not helpful so I winged it and passed my wings on to you.

Rois

Sourdough Starter fed with Spelt flour

I have been wanting a Sourdough starter for sometime now.It seemed like every time I made one it failed.I tried all the little tricks I could find just to end up with a molding mess. I finally got it right this time but I kind of cheated.
Chance and I had talked with the bakers at our local whole foods store about sours and they said keep trying. I even asked them if it could be done using spelt flour,they said it could not be done. I guess being regular faces at our store finally paid off, the bakers said all we had to do was ask for a bit of their starter and they'd give some to us no charge.So last week Chance asked for a bit of the bakery's starter, we brought home this nugget of sour-ness and gave it a try.
I have been really wanting to try this out using spelt flour.I have spent a great deal of time reading up on different diets geared to help people with Crohn's disease and found these points.Lower or eliminate gluten and if you are going to eat bread Sourdhough is the best choice.The reasoning behind this is Crohn's patients tend to be at least gluten sensitive and anything sour you eat turns to alkaline once digested.An alkaline diet balances things in your gut so it helps.
I have reduced our wheat intake here at home.Both Issac and I have noticed a difference for the better.It takes some getting used to since I find there are times when I am wondering what to eat.People don't realize how grain dependent our diets are until you cut one out.
My sourdough starter is still alive and happy one week later.I have been feeding it every three days using whole spelt flour.It dose work after all, now I'll have to inform the bakers at the store.Although the original starter was started using wheat I am hoping after time the yeasts in the sour will have eaten up the wheat parts and I'll have a spelt base.I am not to sure about the science of it but since I am just wanting to lower the gluten not eliminate it I am happy so far.
Chance did some reading up on sourdough starters for me.I was wondering about the layer of liquid that had formed on the top of the sour.I was hoping that I had not killed it yet again.The liquid on top is actually an alcohol,yup booze created by the yeast doing it's job.Chance read on one website that miners used to drink this stuff.GAG! They must have been hard up to drink it.Hey, let's all belly up to the bar and order Sour Hooch shots.Thanks but no thanks I'd rather stay sober if that's the offering.
So far I have had time to make one loaf of bread and a small batch of Bagels.Both were good but the recipes will have to be doubled to feed my hungry crowd. I used whole spelt flour for the bagels and the boys were happy with them.The bread I made with half wheat and half whole spelt was good too, just not enough in quantity. I am still tinkering with recipes and the grains I use.Hopefully soon I'll find the right combination that makes the whole family happy.
We had a hard frost here this morning. My Dahlia's are still blooming which is not uncommon in this area when we have a mild fall.The frost has turned them tho' and soon it will be time to dig them up.Normally I leave my tubers in place for a couple of years but this year I have trade offers so digging is in order.
One of the trades is not really a trade.Chance and I went to a permaculture class last weekend about root crops.One of the roots covered were Dahlia's, I guess they are edible, this was not the first time I had heard this. Our teacher showed us his(he and his partner have not tried eating theirs yet.) and expressed his desire for more and of a different variety, I offered some of ours,I am digging them any way so might as well share them. Norris and his partner Tulsi offer classes at their house for free.Both of them have so much to teach and do it so freely and willing I wanted to also say thank you to them in a way that made sense in a permaculture way.
Today the family and I help Urban Farm Store finish moving to their new store front.If you live in Portland stop by soon and check out their new place. It's not far from their old store,just around the corner on 21st and SE Belmont.The new store is larger so they will be able to offer more to the community.
Rois

Brotformen, a bread rising basket.

Last night two of girlfriends kidnapped me away for a few hours.We went to our neighborhood Goodwill store,don't we live a wild life? We spent 2 hours looking over EVERYTHING,tried on clothes,shoes and clattered through the dishes. I found a small sifter,.99 cents, a restaurant wear (my newest collection.) coffee mug .99 cents,a polka dotted glass .99 cents and on one of the final isles I found my biggest thrill and it was a cheap one!
A Brotformen basket! I had knocked a stack of other baskets over,went to pick them up and there on the shelf calling my name was the Brotformen. Last winter I had seen them on the King Arthur Flour's website for around $ 30, I wanted it but not a price I wanted to pay. The basket last night had no price on it but I was willing to pay up to $10 for it.When I went to check out I was quoted the price of $2.99, whoop whoop, my luck! My total for the night was under $6 what a great night to be stolen away!
So what is a Brotfomen? It is a coiled willow basket used in Germany to rise bread in.You put a thick layer of flour in the basket and place your bread dough smooth side down, in it for it's last rising.When the dough is ready to bake you turn the dough carefully onto your baking sheet.You end up with pretty circles of flour and a slight bee gum shaped bread.The flour and circles stay even once you have baked the bread.The darker the dough the more prominent the rings will be.

The King Arthur Flour's website sells them.I went onto their site today and found the directions on how to use and care for a Brotformen.I also spied while there a chance to enter their sweepstakes.You could win $1000 gift card plus a cookbook,$500 gift card and the book or $100 giftcard.I signed up even the $100 giftcard would be easily spent.
A loaf of handcrafted bread is beauty onto it's self. There's endless ways to take a simple bread recipe into a work of art. I used my everyday bread recipe,baked one as a cottage style loaf and the other came from the Brotformen. So pretty to look at.
My next pan on my wish list is a long Pullman Pan also called a Pain de Mie Pan.These pans make a longer sandwich loaf perfect for a more store bought look.They even come with a lid that slides on. Someday,but right now spending $40 on one pan is a bit ridiculous. It's good to have wishes.

Rois

Saving seeds.

My friend CAS over here, left me a note on my last blog asking about saving pumpkin seeds for next year.I am sure many of you have some sitting around right now and may be wondering the same thing,how do I save these for next year?
Here is how I do it and it can work for other vegetables as well**. Once I have scooped the seeds out of what ever veg I am saving seed from I wash the seeds to clear them of any goo that may be attached to them.I think this also helps to prevent molding. Now I lay the seeds out on either a linen type towel or if you use them you could use a paper towel.Pat the seeds dry.I then lay the seeds out in a single layer on a plate.Set the plate some place warmish,like the kitchen counter.I try and find a spot where they won't be in the way to often.Now you just wait for them to dry out.Now and again you can turn them over just to help both sides dry out quicker. Once the seeds are dry and looking like the seeds that come in a packet it's time to store them away.
What to store the seeds in is part choice.I store mine wrapped in a bit of paper with the name of the seed written on it.Some people store them in small jars or film canisters. These two are best since it means no critters can eat your seeds as midnight snack. My paper wrapping is safe for me since I know there are no snackers lurking behind my fridge. I have read that some people use those little packets that come in packaging,the ones that absorb moisture.Their name has slipped out of my brain but hopefully you know what I am talking about.(these little packets also say DO NOT EAT which is why I don't use them.)
For the long term there's a couple of other things. First put your carefully saved seeds someplace you will remember.I keep all of my seeds in an old cookie jar. (Cookies always disappear before I can put them in a cookie jar.) Next be sure the seeds are kept in a cool dark place,this keeps them from breaking down.

** When saving seeds from Green/String Beans I leave some beans on the vine to dry out on the vine.Once the pod is dry I shell the beans out and save them.Beans are to me the easiest to save.
With other smaller seeded veggies there is a different method that takes seeds,water,a jar and letting it all mold.I have yet to do this.There are lots of information out on the web on this.

CAS, I hope this is helpful and good luck.
Rois