Posted in In the Kitchen
I have long searched for a good rye bread. We love the soft loaves of rye bread that can be purchased at the grocery store, and I have really desired to immitate them at home. Well, it come to my attention that I really wanted a "sandwich" rye bread recipe. So, I searched the internet and found one. This comes from the blog "A Year in Bread". I made it myself a few weeks ago and was extremely pleased with the results. Finally a bread that was sandwich quality. No l did not have to turn this one into croutons. We ate it up in a day and a half.
Blessings, |
Posted in In the Kitchen
I am afraid that it is probably terminal. I have disliked this oven since the moment I first used it almost 3 years ago. It here when we moved in. I guess for some reason I never noticed that all of the temperature markings around the knobs were worn off. I suppose I could have looked for new plastic pieces to fit on the oven, but I didn't. The temperature markings were not on the knobs themselves, but on a plastic ring around the knob. I bought an oventhermometer instead. After some time the oven began keeping an irregular temperature. It would set it for what was 350, and it would sometimes go up as high as 425 at that setting. If I set it just a little lower, it might never get up to 350. I kept wondering why my bread would smell done 10 minutes before the timer was due to go off. Finally, this oven began leaking gas when it would first turn on. At first it was just for a minute or two, then it would begin to heat up and all would be well. Then it got to the point where it would take longer to heat and the gas would be in the air longer. Then last week it just stopped heating. The pilot light was not lighting when we turned on the oven. This oven has an electric ignition on it. I loved my old, old oven that I could light manually. I could use it even if the power was out. Now I am in a position to look for a new oven. I would really like one that could be started manually as we lose power quite regularly here. I understand that Kenmore might make some that are able to do this. So, if anyone has great oven recommendations, I would be open to any and all suggestions. I do not like not having an oven as I make all our bread and baked goods. Blessings, |
Posted in In the Kitchen
Well, it took a while, but I managed to plan all 21 meals for the week. I was getting so tired of the children asking me, "What's for breakfast? What's for lunch?" Now, I can point to the manu planner for those meals as well. Here is the break down: Saturday Breakfast Lunch Dinner Sunday Breakfast Lunch Dinner Monday Breakfast Lunch Dinner Tuesday Breakfast Lunch Dinner Wednesday Breakfast Lunch Dinner Thursday Breakfast Lunch Dinner Friday Breakfast Lunch Dinner Having a plan gives me so much more peace. No plan for me equals stress. Blessings, |
Posted in In the Kitchen
How it all started~ About five years ago I was plagued by the desire to start making bread for my family. I honestly can’t remember how I came to even have the idea now as it was so long ago, but that year I received a food processor from my mother for Christmas. I started making pizza dough in the food processor, and our family was enjoying my “new” pizzas. Prior to then they were getting the crust from the bags that you mix yourself. I used the recipes in the food processor instruction book to start making my own bread. At the time I used half white wheat flour that I purchased in the grocery store and half white all-purpose flour. As I started branching out into different recipes I started using more and more whole wheat flour. Ultimately, I wanted to grind my own wheat, but I did not have a grinder. Come to find out, a very good friend of mine, Barb, already had a grinder and was grinding wheat for her family. So, for six months, I bought wheat berries and she would grind them for me. That is when our quest to find bulk wheat berries got rolling full steam. Finding wheat berries~ Our search for wheat berries started at a small food co-op in the city of Buffalo called the Lexington Co-operative Market. While we did find wheat berries, they were not in bulk, and therefore they were quite expensive. Other health food stores in the area also carried hard red wheat berries, but again it was quite expensive. I considered purchasing my berries on-line from Wheat Montana, but the shipping was nearly twice the amount of the product. So, we started talking, and eventually came upon the bulk food store that I mentioned in an earlier entry from this past weekend. Purchasing a grain mill~ My friend, Barb, was using a Whisper Mill grain mill for her wheat grinding, so that is what I bought. Actually, my mom bought it for me for Christmas. Since then the company that manufactured it as gone out of business. Then a new company emerged and started marketing the Wonder Mill which is the same as the Whisper Mill. Using my mill has not been without its share of challenges. It seems that wheat pastry flour due to its finer consistency seems to jam my mill with great regularity. Since the warranty is no longer valid because of the company’s demise, my husband has taken the mill apart on one or two occasions to clean it out and get it working again. I am also in a dilemma with my separator lid right now. It has complete cracked at the connector and must be replaced. If I were buying another mill today, I would look seriously at the Nutrimill. The biggest selling point on the Nutrimill for me is that fact that it does not have to be running to put the grain into it. A tried and true recipe~ As I moved forward with bread making, my recipes were becoming a problem. The loaves weren’t rising as much or they were flattening out at one end. I also thought that my food processor might be over kneading the dough. It was hard to get a good knead with the food processor. I also could only make two loaves at a time in the food processor. So, what did I do? I looked for another recipe, and I went back to kneading the dough the old fashioned way: by hand! I am so glad that I went through that because I think it is VERY important to learn to knead by hand. It was about this time that I came across my friend Crystal’s website: The Family Homestead. I began to use her delicious two loaf recipe, and I have been using it and then the Bosch size recipe ever since. Here is a look at some of my bread:
Jennie
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Posted in In the Kitchen
Sunday~Cream tuna, biscuits, rice and applesauce Monday~Crockpot porkchops, potato casserole, vegetable Tuesday~Taco Night Wednesday~Macaroni and cheese, broccoli, fruit Thursday~Spaghetti, rolls, salad Friday~Pizza night Saturday~Christmas Dinner at my mom and dad's house Jennie |
Posted in In the Kitchen
I began in June with strawberry jam, and I ended right before Thanksgiving with applesauce. Here are my grand totals of canned items: 8 half pints This is by far the most I have ever canned in my brief four year experience. All of it was canned in the boiling water bath canner that belonged to my mother. I think it has gotten more use in the past 4 years than it did in the previous 35 years. I canned the following items: Strawberry jam I also did a bit of freezing, but not nearly as much as I canned. I froze 11 bags of whole strawberries and 20 bags of green bell peppers. My canning cupboards are not equipped to hold the volume of all the canned jars, so I have jars here, there, and everywhere in the basement. Take a look.
I look forward to hearing how your 2007 harvest preservation went. Jennie |
Posted in In the Kitchen
Since my peaches entry we have been canning away. During the month of September I put up another batch of sweet relish (4 pints plus 1 half pint), 6 pints of watermelon pickle rind, tomato sauce (15 quarts and 6 pints), 9 quarts of pear, and just today I did 6 pints of grape jam. Grape jam was new to me, but everything else I had canned before. I did accomplish one goal. Now, all of my jams will come from my homemade varieties. No more store bought jams. I still have a peck of grapes left, and I will be making that into jam as well because we go through a lot of grape jam around here. I am hoping to finish canning by November 1st. I still have to can applesauce and apple pie filling. I am hoping for at least 21 quarts of applesauce plus 7 quarts of apple pie filling. Happy harvesting...Jennie |
Posted in In the Kitchen
Last Monday, the children and I canned one bushel (actually a little less) of peaches. Some of the peaches were too firm to can, so I saved those for the peach jam I made on Wednesday. Here is a brief pictoral of our canning adventure. Canning peaches is such a task, but we love to eat the results in the middle of winter. These peaches came from the farmer's market. I have been buying my peaches from the same farm for the past 2-3 years.
I use the hot pack method of canning my fruit. I have done that for the past two years and I really prefer the results to the raw pack method. We canned 14 quarts in all. Tomorrow it is going to be tomato sauce and more sweet relish. Blessings to you...Jennie |
Posted in In the Kitchen
Rachel had asked for the recipe for oatmeal pancakes that I listed on my last entry. I cannot take credit for this. They are wonderful and come from my dear friend Crystal Miller at The Family Homestead. Overnight Cinnamon Oatmeal Pancakes |
Posted in In the Kitchen
I took a 40 minute drive out to the local Mennonite-run bulk food store on Friday. This time I ordered a 50# bag of organic quick oats, 50# bag of evaporated cane jucie crystals, and 50# bag of Prairie Gold wheat berries. I also used this opportunity to stock up on some spices that I was running low on. The prices cannot be beat. I got 1/4 pound of ground ginger for $1.75, 1/5 pound of rosemary for $1.01, and 2/3 pound of aluminum free baking powder for $1.35. In addition, I picked up about 5# of cheese and 2 dozen eggs. I spent $146. The bulk order of oats, ECJ, and wheat made up $88, and the cheese was about $24. It is supporting a local business that I hope stays for a very long time. Weekly Menu Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday |