Life With The Crew

Thankful Tuesday - 2.18.14

Today I am thankful for...

-The fact that my husband and I are able to provide a good home for dogs that other people did not want.  Other than our first two Corgis (which we bought before we saw the light), all of our dogs are rescues.  They drive us crazy, but they also make us laugh and smile.  And they help to warm the bed at night.

(Birkie, who loves her toys.)

(Callie, the old lady who gets stuck in snow drifts.)

(Birkie and Ruby - see the second set of ears?)

(Wallace, my handsome Romanian street dog.)

(Birkie again - she's always game.)

(Just enjoying the moment.)

-I am thankful for the chance to "play".  We woke up to 5 more inches of unexpected snow on Sunday, falling on top of 12 inches that we received on Thursday.  The dogs love the snow, the little babe loves the snow, and I love taking photographs in the snow.

This post will do double duty this week.  I am joining Chrisy at Living A Good North Coast Life for her "Reconnecting With Nature" series.  As we bloggers sit around connected to our computers, it is a great way to force us to step outside and maybe notice something new in the natural world or just appreciate something that we see every day.  Read more about the Reconnect with Nature - one photograph at a time idea here.  

A way to reconnect with nature is to get out in it, even during its extremes.  Act like a kid again, run through the snow, don't worry about what the neighbors think.  Put on your wellies and stomp through the puddles with your children.  Get out of the air conditioning and play in the sprinkler with your kids.  Kids don't get as bent out of shape or worry about weather like adults do.  Yes, there is the responsibilities that come with being an adult, but people let them get in the way and loose the wonder and excitement.  So next time it snows, go ahead and stick out your tongue to try and catch a snowflake.  I bet it will make you smile.

 

Cheese Made By Me - February - Ricotta Cheese

In January I made cottage cheese and loved it!  I made it several times since my first attempt and it was so much easier after the first time.  It is really very simple.  I thought for my next adventure in cheese making, I would try ricotta, which seemed like it would be pretty easy also.  Ricotta is traditionally made with the whey produced from making sheep's milk cheese.  But most of the recipes I have seen use milk, not whey.

I followed these instructions.  Reading them, I thought it wasn't going to turn out any different from the cottage cheese.  The only differences are that you heat to 200 F instead of 185 F and you use 1/3 cup of lemon juice instead of 2 tablespoons of white vinegar.  Here is how it went.

I started with 1/2 gallon of organic raw milk, which is 2 quart sized mason jars.

 

I heated the milk in a stainless steel pot on medium heat until it reached 200 F.  I used a digital candy thermometer to check the temperature and occasionally stirred the milk.

While the milk was heating, I washed and sliced 3 lemons, then squeezed them over the strainer.  2 1/2 lemons gave me just over 1/3 cup of juice.

That is when my camera battery died.  

So when the milk reaches 200 F, remove it from the heat.  Add the lemon juice and let it sit for 10 minutes without stirring.  During this time, the curds and whey should be separating.  The curds will clump and the whey will look sort of yellow.

When the 10 minutes is up, gently stir the milk with a spoon.  If you think you should have more curds, then you can add more lemon juice.  I added the juice from the last half and let it sit a couple of more minutes.  They will not be big curds like with cottage cheese.  These were more like masses of fine curds sort of stringing together.  I know, it sounds totally yummy doesn't it?

Then set a colander over a bowl (to catch the whey) and line the colander with a piece of cheese cloth.  Carefully spoon and dump the curds and whey onto the cheese cloth.  

Then you should let it sit and drain.  How long depends on how you like your ricotta, which also depends on what you will be using it for.  If you are using it for a filling like for cannolis, you will want to let it drain for a longer period so that it is drier.  I let mine drain for an hour (it was hectic here and I forgot about it) and it got too dry for my liking.  You can add some of the whey back in if necessary and add salt if you like.  This is how much it made.

So like the cottage cheese, it is really simple.  Just heat the milk, add the lemon juice or vinegar, then let it separate on its own.  With the lemon juice, the curds are smaller.  I like the cottage cheese flavor and texture better.  This had a strong lemon flavor, which might be good if using it in a dessert.  It was fun to try and it is cheaper than buying organic ricotta, but I think if I needed enough for a pan of lasagna, I would buy it.  However, if I wanted to make a special dessert with ricotta, I would make my own again.

Ciao!

 

I shared this post on Living Well, Spending Less for Thrifty Thursday.

Knitted Bunting

After making the ankle warmers for my little babe, I needed to learn some other knitting skills.  Looking in my Beginner's Guide to Knitting bookazine, I saw the section on increases and decreases.  I knew how to decrease by knitting two together - K2tog, but did not know the other way - SKPO - which means "slip one stitch, knit one stitch, then pass the slipped stitch over" .  There was a really cute pattern for knitted bunting, which gave you lots of practice using both kinds of decreases.

Following the pattern, I cast on 30 stitches, but that looked too big.  I wanted this bunting to go in my little babe's room, which is a small space.  So I decided to try 26 stitches and that looked just right.  Since I changed the number of stitches, I had to change the rest of the pattern, so here it is.

Cast on 26 stitches.  

Row 1 and Row 2:  knit.

Row 3:  K1, SKPO.  Knit until you have 3 stitches left.  K2tog, K1.

Row 4 and Row 5:  knit.

Row 6:  same as Row 3.

Continue this pattern until you have 6 stitches left.  Because this is a Katie project, I don't know what row it is.  I didn't take the time to count.  For this row:  K1, SKPO, then K2tog, K1.

That will give you 4 stitches.  Knit 2 rows of 4 stitches.

Then K1, slip 2, knit 1, pass 2 slipped stitches over.

That will give you 2 stitches.

Knit the 2 stitches then slip one over and bind off.

With one stitch left, cut the yarn, leaving a tail several inches long.  Use the embroidery needle to close the loop and tuck in the ends.

One of my reasons for doing this was to use up some small balls of yarn that I had.  They were different types and thicknesses, which made slightly different sized triangles.  I like the thicker pink and white wool yarn - they made neater, more uniform triangles.  The yellow and green are not wool and are pretty loose - they made slightly longer triangles.

After I decided I had enough, it was time to string them!  The tutorial used pretty ribbon, but keeping with the frugal vibe, I didn't want to buy any.  I had some purple yarn that I thought would work fine.

Using the embroidery needle, I just started pulling it through the top row of cast-on stitches.  I didn't have the time or patience to count the number of stitches, so they are not evenly spaced.  I am fine with that.  Perfection is not my goal - fun, crafty, and handmade is.  

I realized that I had to pull enough string for the entire bunting the whole way through, starting with the first triangle.  I didn't know how much it would take, so I just guessed.  My yarn kept getting tangled, slipping out of my needle, and stringing them took  much longer than it should have.  Oh, and I spotted a stray cat outside sitting in our shed, eyeing up our chickens, so I had to take time out to photograph him.  He looked so photogenic and content, soaking up the winter sun, out of the wind.

So back to the bunting.  Once it was all strung, I took it upstairs to see where I would hang it.  I had planned on making it into two small buntings to string in the windows, but then zoned out and forgot about that while I was stringing it.

So for now the one long bunting is hanging from the wood beams, decorating the wall.  I may move it around.  As you can see, it is not perfect, with the triangles being different sizes, the tips being kind of wonky (to use my favorite British word), but it is fun, makes me smile, and makes my little babe smile.  So that means it was a successful project.

Recipe for the Weekend - Carrot Honey Quick Bread

In our home, we always have either a quick bread or muffins on hand.  My little babe munches on them while we are making her real breakfast, I normally have some before a morning run, and my husband takes some to work for his snack.  I didn't have any bananas and my frozen peach supply is running low.  I used up all of the apples for applesauce.  I had a bag of lemons in the fridge that were going bad and considered lemon blueberry muffins, but wanted something a little more hearty for this cold and wintry week.  So the only other veg or fruit option was carrots.  I happened to have a recipe for Agave Sweetened Carrot Muffins in my recipe folder.  I don't use agave, but thought I could adapt the recipe.  It turned out really good, so here it is.  This was the first baking project that my little babe helped with.  She was getting slightly manic, so I figured instead of chasing her around and saying "don't do that", I could just let her make a mess in one spot.  I think her favorite part was then using the dishrag to "clean up".

Carrot Honey Quick Bread

1.  Preheat oven to 350 F.  Grease 9x5" loaf pan with oil.

2.  Wash, peel, and grate 4 large carrots - this is the hardest part!

3.  Combine 2 cups of flour of your choice (I used whole wheat), 1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon, 1 teaspoon of nutmeg, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

4.  In another bowl combine 2 eggs, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup honey, 1/3 cup veggie oil.

5.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry, stir in carrots, and add 1/2 cup of dried cranberries.

6.  Pour into loaf pan and sprinkle with ground flax seed.

7.  Bake until springy on top and a knife stuck in the center comes out clean.  I wasn't paying attention to the time, I think it went about 30 minutes uncovered, then I baked it for 15 more with a piece of foil on top.

Find a loved one this weekend to do some baking with.  And enjoy the mess and the yumminess!

 

Homemade Chunky Crayons

My little babe is only 16 months old, but I would like to introduce her to coloring.  I was going to buy some chunky crayons for her to start with, but since my husband and I are trying to be frugal, I put off spending the money.  Then I had the idea to make my own.  My mom runs an in-home day care and so always has crayons.  She gave me a box of her old ones.

The hardest part of the whole process was peeling off the labels - the undersides of my finger nails are sore now!  But I learned some new words - did you know that they list the names of the colors in English, Spanish, and French?  Crayola didn't do that when I was a kid!

After peeling off the labels, I separated them by color and broke them into small pieces.

I had a mini muffin pan than I thought would make the perfect sized crazyons.  I cut squares of parchment paper to line the tray.

Because I am doing this project - that means, someone who doesn't read instructions and just tries to wing it - it wasn't until after they were in the oven that I thought, "Oh, can wax catch on fire in the oven?  What temperature should I be using?"  So that is when I looked on-line and saw someone baked them at 250 F, but her crayon pieces were smaller, so I went with 300 F for about 20 minutes, until just melted.  I also saw that she used aluminum foil, which makes more sense than the parchment paper.  You would be able to mold the foil to the shape of the muffin cup.  The parchment paper just sort of sits there and you get crayon blobs.

The crayon blobs work, but the non-rounded edges flaked off a bit when we first used them.  However, they were free (thanks Mom!), it was a fun craft to do (will be more fun when my little babe can help to separate the colors), and it is eco-friendly and frugal (most of my crayons were whole, but I know that kids are notorious for breaking them, so everybody has "butt ends" of crayons laying around).

Plus, they look prettier than regular crayons!  Next time I'll combine some of the colors to make rainbow crayons.  Hopefully they don't just melt together and become "ugly", "feo", "laid".

 

 I shared this post on Living Well, Spending Less for Thrifty Thursday.

Reconnecting With Nature - 2.12.14

I am joining Chrisy at Living A Good North Coast Life for her "Reconnecting With Nature" series.  As we bloggers sit around connected to our computers, it is a great way to force us to step outside and maybe notice something new in the natural world or just appreciate something that we see every day.  Read more about the Reconnect with Nature - one photograph at a time idea here.

In one of my posts last week, I showed this image.

I was in our front yard taking some photographs in the snow and when I turned around, I spied these holes on the tree.  I love how they are so uniform and in a line.  As I was photographing them, I heard a tapping sound and looked up to see the culprit himself - a Downy Woodpecker.  He was high up in the tree, so this is what you get:

You'll have to believe me that he really IS up there!  If you're interested in finding out more about him, you can click HERE.  He is a cute little guy.

We also have Pileated Woodpeckers in the woods near our home and we occasionally see them in the backyard.  They are impressive looking large birds and make a great sound.  I think it sounds like a monkey and love to hear it when we are walking through the woods.  My little babe is going to grow up thinking there are monkeys in the forests of Pennsylvania!  Click HERE for more info about them and make sure to listen to the sound recording of them!

Sorry for not having very exciting photographs, but wildlife is WILD and therefore can't be told to sit still on demand.  Half of the fun of learning about and appreciating nature is not actually seeing the animal itself, but the tracks, scat, and other clues that it leaves behind for us to find.

Thankful Tuesday - 2.11.14

Today I am (still) thankful for...

-this beautiful winter.  I know, I know, I am starting to get annoying with my upbeat attitude when many people are having difficulties from power outages, ice damage, and below freezing temperatures.  However,  I try to write about the positive things in life on this blog.  Yes, it is cold - in fact our petsitter called me last night to say that it was 49 F in the house - but I am drinking tea, going on walks with the dogs and little babe on days when it isn't too cold for the dog's feet, and eating more sweets than I should be.  So keep trying to find some beauty in these winter days (or blisteringly hot days in you are in the Southern Hemisphere).  Beauty is there if you take the time to look for it.  Here are some snapshots from the past week.

(I got a little consumed photographing these echinacea flower heads.)

(My little babe happily entertained herself sitting on the snow.  It had a thick crust of ice on top, so she didn't sink in.  It was the first that I put her down in the snow and she had a great time - ready for some boots!)

(We also had a fun walk with two of the Corgis - what an adventure getting two dogs, one sled, and a little babe situated in 10 F weather!  I think getting ready took more time than the actual walk, but we had a great time.)

(The chickens have been bravely dealing with the cold.  They drink a lot of water in the winter.)

(And the inside pets have been hanging out in the woodstove room.  The smaller ones do it as much as the dogs will allow.)

-I am also thankful for family.  I had a wonderful weekend staying with my parents and visiting my husband's parents.  It was nice to be in warm homes and not have to wear my hooded sweatshirt inside the house.  However, it was also weird.  I felt out of touch with the season - I think that in winter I should be sort of cold, even inside - that is just what my husband and I are used to.  I think when you really are in touch with nature - being cold in winter, sweating in summer and not hiding from the heat inside a dark, air conditioned house - you appreciate the little things that make the hard times more bearable.  So while I am appreciating the heat and ambiance that the woodstove provides, I will try not to grumble (so much) about the ash and woodchips all over the floor.

  I welcome other bloggers to leave a link to their Thankful Tuesday post in the comments section below.

 

Recipe for the Weekend - Natural Pink Frosting and Some Chocolate Cake Too

My husband and I are a good team.  Normally I find a recipe and he executes it.  However, this time, he thought of the idea and I made it happen.  I received a baking tray for making mini heart shaped cakes or muffins.  I immediately thought Valentine's Day and chocolate.  And then because I am on a coconut kick, I thought chocolate coconut cake.  My husband said, "Do you think you could make pink frosting naturally?" and I jumped on it!  Yes, I can - from my favorite vegetable - the red beet!  Then when I went looking for a chocolate coconut cake recipe, I thought, well, lets add a banana to make it healthier and moister, plus coconut and bananas just go together.  So I present to you, the Valentine's Day Chocolate Coconut Banana Cake with Natural Pink Frosting.  

I have not used food coloring in my icings for several years.  The chemicals are just awful and I can't afford the natural food colorings.  I normally make peanut butter or chocolate icing anyway, so its not like we're missing out.  But I am super excited about this icing!  It is just so amazing that this awesome pink color is from beets!

So if you're willing to follow me on this crazy beet adventure, here are the recipes.

Natural Pink Beet Frosting

1.  You are only going to be using about 1 tablespoon of beet, so roast as many as you would like to use in another recipe.  I made beet fritters with mine.  You could also make beet chocolate cake, beet chocolate cookies, or beet chocolate quick bread.

2.  Cut off the green tops (you can cook with these, give them to the chickens, or compost them).  Pierce the beets with a knife several times, and put in a pan with a little olive oil.  Cover with foil and bake at 400 F for about 1 hour.  Remove foil, let cool, and remove the skins.

3.  Beat 1 stick (1/2 cup) of softened butter with 1 teaspoon of vanilla.

4.  Here is where the beety part comes in!  Take about a tablespoon of the cooked beet and mash it with a fork.  Then take a small shallow bowl and fill it with 1/4 cup of milk.  Take a fine mesh strainer or sieve and set it in the bowl with the milk - it should be sitting in the milk.  Then put the mashed beet into the strainer and mash it some more.  The milk will turn pink.  Do this until you get the color pink that you like.  You can use as much beets as you need, but 1 tablespoon was enough for me.  Discard the mashed beets - you are only using the milk.

5.  Adding one cup at a time, cream 2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar with the butter mixture.  Add the pink milk and beat until smooth.  

6.  Stand back and marvel at that natural wonder!

Chocolate Coconut Banana Cake (inspired by this cake, but I made several changes)

1.  Preheat oven to 350 F.  Grease and flour your cake pans.  This recipe made 12 mini heart shaped cakes, one 6" round cake, and then a very thin 9x5" cake that I baked in a bread pan.  You can make two 8" round or one 9" round.

2.  In a large bowl combine:  1 3/4 cups of flour (I used whole wheat), 1 cup of white sugar, 3/4 cups of cocoa powder (I used 2/4 Hershey's Natural and 1/4 Hershey's Special Dark), 2 teaspoons of baking soda, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, and 1 teaspoon of salt.

3.  In a mixing bowl combine:  1 can of coconut milk, 1/2 cup of coconut or veggie oil (I did half and half), 2 large eggs, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla.  Mix until smooth.

4.  Mash one large banana and add to the coconut mixture.

5.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet.  Mix until smooth.

6.  Stir in one cup of hot water.

7.  Pour into pans and bake at 350 F until springy to the touch and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.  My mini heart shaped cakes took about 25 minutes.

8.  Let the cakes cool, then remove from pans and frost with the naturally beautiful pink frosting.  Share them with your loved ones and feel good knowing that you are serving them natural goodness instead of chemical laden color.  An honest note though - for some reason, this icing was not sticking to the cakes, so I just had to kind of glop it on top.  Not sure why, so if you have a favorite white icing recipe, you can use that and just follow my instruction for coloring the milk.

This is my Valentine's Day gift to all of my wonderful readers!  I wanted to give you plenty of time to get your beets before the big day.  Thanks so much for joining me.  I hope I'm giving you some yummy recipes, some frugal tips, cute little babe photos, and lots of pet hair!  And sometimes some serious topics to ponder as well.

 

I shared this post on Living Well, Spending Less for Thrifty Thursday.

I shared this post on yourlife7.blogspot.com for Real Food Fridays.

Field Trip Fun - Stitch Your Art Out

Today was a beautiful February day.  What is all of this talk about the dreary February blahs?  Fresh white snow, vivid blue skies - its gorgeous!  Since I hadn't ventured out into the real world since Monday, except to walk the dogs, I decided that my babe and I needed to have a field trip.  We also needed some groceries, so I decided to put on my grown-up clothes (something other than fleece pants) and go out on the town!  My husband has asked me to knit him something (I'm not going to share it yet) and I didn't have anything in my stash, so after going to the grocery store, we went to Stitch Your Art Out, the local knitting and sewing shop.  Several years ago I took some knitting classes there, but I have not been there since.  Since it was midday on a Thursday, we were the only ones there for most of the time, which made it really nice to take some pictures and let the little babe wander around.  Since yarn shops are so colorful and I have so many readers that knit, I decided to share the color.

First things first though, after grocery shopping and then talking in the parking lot with a friend, we needed a snack.  Since I don't go places a lot, this Mom did not think to bring anything to eat, so we hit up Starbucks.  I was very good and only got one slice of bread - I had already drank my homemade chai.  The little babe and I shared the bread in the car before we went in.  Can you guess by the crumbs what kind we got?

And now for the color.

Half of the shop is dedicated to knitting and the other half to sewing.  They offer a ton of classes for all levels, in crocheting, knitting, and sewing.  It is a cute, light filled shop.

The shop is owned by Kim and Cynthia.  Cynthia was in while we were there and was great about letting my little babe wander around.  They even have a small toy bin, but is that what my little babe wanted to play with?  N-O.

I got one skein for my husband's project and then I found this beautiful yarn, made in NH and hand dyed, so I decided to use the money from January and February's Frugal 'Fun Budget' Calendar and buy it for myself.  Isn't it gorgeous?!

Why do cats always seem to be in the way?  Chickpea, blocking the light.  Did he need to watch the squirrels RIGHT then?

It was a wonderful morning with my little babe.  I'm thankful I have such a well behaved little miss.  And thanks to Cynthia at Stitch Your Art Out for allowing me to photograph her great little shop.

 

To Make Or Not To Make - Peanut Butter From Scratch

I know this is not a new concept to some people, but to others I know it will be - you can make your own peanut butter!  Imagine that - whole peanuts, a food processor, a dash of salt, 15 minutes tops - and you're done!  I have read several blog posts recently that talk about making your own nut butters.  I always thought it would be way too much trouble.  I have no idea why I thought that - its not!  Here's how it works.

You can buy bags of whole peanuts still in the shell, but I chose the faster route and bought shelled, roasted, unsalted peanuts in the bulk food section at the natural food store.

Put two cups in the food processor and start processing!  It will look crumbly at first...

then the crumbs will look wetter...

keep processing...

and then it will start to look like peanut butter.  You can add a pinch of salt at this point.

After this stage, my peanut butter clumped into one big ball (it looked like dough) and started flinging around the food processor.  I thought it might be done and was just going to be really thick.  But I let it keep going and then it started to smooth out and REALLY look like peanut butter.

From the two cups of raw peanuts, I got one heaping cup of peanut butter.

I paid $2.39 per pound for the raw peanuts at the health food store.  Regular, non-organic "natural" peanut butter at the grocery store is $1.39/pound.  So I was very disappointed to find out that it is not cheaper to make your own, at least with the peanuts that I bought.  I think you would save money if you bought a bulk bag of peanuts still in the shell and not from a health food store (they tend to be more expensive).  It doesn't matter though, I am going to keep making my own because it is makes me feel like such a darn cool homemaker.  Plus it does not have any added oil or sugar.

And this is what we do with peanut butter in our house...

(Kongs for the dogs when they have to stay behind when we go for a run.)

(Chocolate cake with peanut butter icing - for the humans, not the dogs.)

So give it a shot at least once to say that you did it.  It really is easy and quick - dump them in and hit the start button!  Your kids and partner will be so impressed!  I'm so addicted that my little babe and I have been eating it straight out of the jar with a spoon.  (You did notice her legs were looking pretty thick in her ankle warmers, right?)

 

 I shared this post on Living Well, Spending Less for Thrifty Thursday.