Happy Thanksgiving

It is early here so I am taking a moment to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.
There are many things I could write about that I am so thankful for, my husband,our boys,family,home and health are right at the top but I have a busy day ahead and it would be such a long tale, our guests would arrive to me sitting here at the computer clicking away and no dinner ready.
Today set aside your woe's, gather around with those who matter and as you see all of their faces smiling remember to be thankful for what you have.
Blessings to you and yours,
Chance,Rois,Issac and Solomon.


P.S Today I am thinking of you Pa.I miss you singing to us in Latin at the dinner table,you laughing and the sparkle in your eyes as you cuddled the little ones.Forget the Huskies,what about those Beaver's? See you on the other side.We love and miss you.

Thanksgiving Mutiny

I am about to commit mutiny dear readers,a crime in some eyes is about to happen.Am I quivering in my boots,thinking twice about my approaching deed ? Briefly I did both, then I threw back my shoulders and said to myself,"Too bad,they will get over it."
What is my deal? I am changing the Thanksgiving menu. Scandalous,crazy me I want change.My family has had the SAME thing every year since before I was born.A dull bland menu without any joy left in it,a menu that leaves food on my plate and is so out dated that I wonder at it. Like last years calendar it has got to go.!
The old menu was a typical American Thanksgiving meal.Turkey,Stuffing,Mashed Potatoes with Gravy,Sweet Potatoes,Cranberries, Corn,Salad and Rolls. MMMM Bland Starch.
A few years ago Chance and I started changing things,slowly and quietly.First it started with the Cranberries.My family ALWAYS had a wiggling log of jellied berries that made a sucking noise as it came out of its can. Chance started to make his Cranberry Relish,(I wish I could share his recipe because Damn it is good,but there is no recipe.) offered right along side of the canned. After a couple of years what do you know no one was eating the canned stuff any more.Bye bye can-o-cranberries!
Next came the salad.Chance makes a good Cesar Salad 100% made from scratch.What do you know my Mother was wrong,the family loved it.Bye bye plain tossed salad.
The same year we changed the salad I changed the stuffing to Cornbread Stuffing. No complaints so it has stayed.
Last year as I cleaned up after dinner and was filling plates for the family to take home I noticed no one had eaten the Corn and no one wanted to take any home.Then why am I making it? Bye bye Corn.
Now I have nothing against Mashed Potatoes or Sweet Potatoes,we have either of them with dinner most weeks.But come on like I said we and the rest of the family eat them often there's nothing special to them.
This year much to the shock of my mother I am revamping the rest of the old menu.

Hrafinstaad Thanksgiving Menu 2009

Turkey brined in a citrus herb brine served with gravy.
Cornbread Stuffing
Roasted Roots,Sweet Potatoes, Potatoes, Parsnips,Carrots and Beets with a bit of Garlic.
Fresh Green Beans with Honey and Almonds
Cesar Salad
Rolls
Desserts, Pumpkin or Chocolate Pie and Flan.

I already know my Brother is on my side because I asked him," As long as there is gravy for the turkey I am good with a change." to be exact. My Dad and Cousin are bachelors who are always happy with a home cooked meal they did not make so they won't care.My own household has my back on this one so that's covered. Our invited guest won't know I changed the menu.And as for the Cousins who are else where this year,they don't count this year.
It's my Mother and Aunt,the matriachs (see def.#2) of the family who will turn up their noses and sigh over it. What about tradition? And my answer is times are a changin'. Holidays to me are about getting folks together to share in the days celebration. The family has lots of other traditions I won't mess with but this one needs to become our own.Chance and I host all family dinners and never mind but we both feel it is time for my Mother and Aunt to completely pass the torch to us. Times are changing and I may or may not hear about it.Maybe next year it will just be the four of us sitting here on Thanksgiving Day eating something so far removed from tradition I will regret making the changes but right now my back is straight,shoulders are back and I am ready to change.
Cooking good food for others gives Chance and I huge pleasure.It is our way of saying "We are SO glad you are here with us." I hope the family can see that by changing things we are just finding our joy in the meal again and sharing our love for all of them.
We hope your Thanksgiving is blessed with bounty,gratitude and love.
Chance,Rois,Issac and Sol Dahms

Dark Days of Winter Challenge dinner #1

This evening we had our first Dark Days of Winter Dinner and we went all out and feasted well.We also learned some interesting things at the store today which I will get to as I go along here.
Many weeks ago Chance had read about a cured meat made from Pork Jowls called Guanciale. Guanciale is dry cured meaning it hangs in a cool dry place for weeks on end to do it's curing.It has a mild garlic- herb flavor and reminds me of Bacon a bit,just less salty. There is a blog we follow,One Hungry Chef and that is where Chance found our dinner idea. We started the curing of the meat 8 weeks ago and when we signed up for the Dark Days Challenge we just knew this would be our first dinner.
So here is the run down of what we made and what we discovered.

We made for Dinner- Carbonara the way the Romans did.

Chance made the pasta from scratch. We found today a flour company Stone Buhr that is kind of like a co-op of wheat farmers that all live in either Eastern Washington State or Eastern Oregon. We cheated a bit with this one and this is why.On the bag of flour it said we could go online, enter the date stamped on the bag and they would tell us all about which farm our bag of wheat came from. We figured that maybe we'd be lucky and get the farm in The Dalles Oregon since that's within our radius or maybe there would be a farm in Washington within our circle. Well, we ended up with a bag of flour from Eastern Washington,the farm is 20 miles out side of the radius on my map. We tried, and like I said in my last posting grains will be our biggest challenge here in Western Oregon.
The eggs came from the neighbors since I forgot eggs at the store. 2 came from one neighbors coop and the others were store eggs from Vancouver Washington.
We also needed Parmesan Cheese now that was interesting to learn about.There is not a local Cheese Maker who makes Parmesan,Wisconsin was the closest we could get. The guy at the cheese counter showed us some local cheeses and we picked a semi hard cheese called La Mariposa 5 Esquinas from Sweet Home Oregon, 96 miles south of home.Good cheese and a fine substitute for the Parm.
The original Pork Jowl we bought to cure came from Carlton Meats about an hour west of here.
Chance wanted to add his own twist to the challenge and opted not to use any oils in the cooking of dinner.We had a pint of heavy cream from a local dairy that needed to be used so Chance made his own unsalted butter to use. Chance's other twist was he did not use any salt in making dinner since we did not see any local salt today at the store.
With the Pasta we had a plate of fruit.Today we went to a bike race at one of the local farms we go to often so I was able to buy right from one of our favorite local farmers.Kruger's farm is on Sauvie Island which is within the city limits so it's really local.I sliced two kinds of Apples and one type of Pear.
Last night Chance and I were actually watching TV and came across a show about a 100 mile food challenge this town did.It was interesting to hear what the people missed,how they made do,and seeing the film footage of the families cupboards being emptied at the start of the challenge.One family did get to keep their jar of honey since it was local.Seeing that opened our eyes,wow there's so much we just take for granted!
Today during our shopping trip we read labels,many labels and they can be misleading.Yeah sure we are used to some of the misleading information on products but today we were looking for a different kind of information.
For example I was thinking partly that we may be able to find local wheat from Bob's Redmill flour company,they are based here in our area and well known.None of their packaging tells you where the grain comes from.Then we were wondering about something in the bulk isle.Most items were marked with point of origin but we found one that said to ask the department manager for the information.The bulk foods manager was very helpful and told us that we were not going to find much grain to buy within our radius.He also told us Bob's Redmill is just based here and they bring in all of their product.
We toured the store today just to see what we could find.Dairy,meat and eggs where no problem but veggies were a different story.Most of the vegs were from either Mexico or California yet they were labeled Organic.Where dose one draw the line here? Organic but from far away or Local but not certified Organic.Which one is "greener"? The veggies for this challenge is most likely going to be the challenge for us. We shall see. We saw plenty of local apples and pears at the store.
One of the other things we learned today is, there is a difference between where a company is based and where the product comes from.If I buy from a local company that uses product from out of state is that supporting a local company or is the carbon foot print not worth it even if the product is sustainable, organic or whatever? Lots of the labels gave us no clue as to where the food its self came from.Luckily many of these were on the packaged food isles where I don't really shop much.
I am still thinking about all of this,it certainly is big yet it makes sense in some ways and ties into what we are trying to accomplish here. Now to start thinking of the next meal......
Rois

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