Simple Katie

We've Moved

2007-11-01T14:03:00.000-07:00

For a number of reasons, I've decided to move this blog. You can find me at Two Frog Home, from now on. Please update your links and I hope to see everyone there!

Fall Baking

2007-10-28T15:42:00.000-07:00

I had some left over baked acorn squash I wanted to use up and went searching for inspiration. I found it in, Homemade Bread by the Food Editors of Farm Journal (copyright 1969). I used a recipe entitled: Golden Pumpkin Bread to springboard my own creative tendencies. Here's the recipe for anyone interested. Items in parentheses indicate original ingredients per the book.

Spiced Squash Bread

1 C. vanilla soymilk (milk)
1 C. cooked & mashed acorn squash (canned pumpkin)
1/4 C butter (shortening)
1/8 C sugar (1/4 C sugar)
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp cardamom
2 TBSP yeast
1/2 C warm water
3 C freshly ground whole wheat flour (not in original)
3 C all purpose flour (6 1/2 C all purpose flour)
2 eggs
1 1/2 C raisins

Scald milk; stir in squash, butter, sugar, salt, & spice. Cool to lukewarm.
Sprinkle yeast over water water, stir to dissolve let sit until creamy.
Add about 3 cups of flour, milk mixture, and eggs to yeast. Beat until combined. Add raisins and enough remaining flour to make a dough. Knead until elastic & smooth. Put in lightly greased bowl to rise. Let rise until doubled about 1 hour.
Punch down dough. Form into 2 loaves and put into greased pans. Let rise unti doubled about 45 minutes.
Bake in preheated 375 degree over of 35 minutes.

We ate some while it was still warm last night and it was delish - this morning we toasted it and just yum!

I also made a bunch of fall inspired sugar cookies for some guests tomorrow. I used my grandmother's recipe - only subsitituting real butter for shortening. That's her recipe card there - I feel incredibly blessed to have that treasure.

An Afternoon Walk

2007-10-25T15:41:00.000-07:00

More shots can be found on my flickr page.

Canning Q & A

2007-10-24T20:27:00.000-07:00

Stephanie over at Adventures in the 100 Acre Wood asked me this (a long time ago, my apologies for not responding sooner):

Q: We made pickles for the first time this year. The taste is great, but they are very soft, not crisp. What did I do wrong?

A: I've never had pickles turn out as crisp as the ones you buy at the store. I'm not sure why beyond the heat of processing softens them. Sometimes soaking the cukes in salt water overnight will help - but not always and you have to really take care to wash out the salt or they will be too salty in my experience. However, I read once that iodized salt will soften your product so switch to Kosher salt if you're not already using it. I also think if you do the fermenting type of pickles, they'll be crisper but I'm not sure. How's that for vague?

Stephanie over at Going Green in So. Illinois asks:

Q: Had a question, how do you prepare your salsa for canning? Do you pressure can or hot water bath can? My boyfriend makes salsa from store bought canned tomatoes and he wanted to know how he would go about canning it. It has jalepenos in it and is pretty hot so I didnt think I would need a pressure canner for it.

A: It depends on your recipe, actually. The recipe I use has a good bit of vinegar in it, bringing up the acidity of the salsa so I process it in a boiling water bath. If you don't have vinegar in your salsa then yes, you need a pressure canner. I highly recommend finding a good recipe and using it for your salsa if you're new to canning. The combination of tomatoes and other veggies can make it a bit touchy.

Salsa

2007-10-23T08:58:00.000-07:00

I was inspired by this quote in the August/September 2007 issue of Mother Earth News in the article Eat in Sync with the Seasons:

"If all the effort expended to get fresh tomatoes on supermarket shelves in January in Portland, Maine , was invested into fully utilizing the late August tomato flood, it would revoluntionize our food system. Not only would it improve our nutrition, it would recycle dollars into our communities, and free us individually and collectively from far-away food dependency. In many cases, it might be the difference between local farmers making enough to get by, and making enough to romance the next generation into farming. When I suggest such a simple solution to nationwide problems, the conventional culture laughs me off as old-fashioned. But, in fact, preserving more of our fruits and vegetables would be remarkably easy to do." - Joel Salatin

As I said, I was inspired and went off in search of the last vesitages of local summer produce. I came home with the last case of local tomatoes I could find and more local beets. I canned 16 pints of salsa and made fresh tomato soup for our lunches this week and I canned another 6 quarts of beets. While out and about I found a place that sells butter and cheese made by an Amish community about 250 miles south of me, still in Montana, not exactly local but I'll take it.

Seed Packets

2007-10-22T17:42:00.000-07:00

I've been looking at all my collected seeds, trying to come up with a nice way to store them all. I wanted something breathable and while paper envelopes are easy and certainly up to the taske, I wanted something different.

I decided to make some out of unbleached muslin from my scrap pile. I'm going to work on some with embroided lettering for gifts, but these will do just fine for the time being.

Pantry Photos

2007-10-17T10:24:00.000-07:00

Just a few photos to give a taste of our beautifully stocked pantry shelves.

Quote of the Day

2007-10-16T15:27:00.000-07:00

I have a dear friend, Audrey, who enjoys sharing things she finds or reads with others. She, like me, enjoys reading good quotes. She finds these gems and prints them out on pretty paper to share with friends, church members, loved ones, etc. I treasure each one she gives me, recently she gave me this quote:

"This is the beginning of a new day. God has given me this day to use as I will. I can waste it or use it for good, but what I do today is important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forecver, leaving behind in its' place something that I have traded for it. I want it to be gain and not loss, good and not evil, success and not failure, in order that I shall not regret the price I have paid for it." - Samuel F. Pugh

I can only aspire to and pray for such wisdom in each of my days.

Produce Stand Adventures

2007-10-14T13:14:00.000-07:00

I didn't have a very good harvest of bell peppers this year. We eat alot of green peppers and usually I stock the freezer with green peppers to get us through the winter. On Friday, we decided to hit the two local produce stands to see what we could find. The first stand had green peppers 4 for $1.00. They only had 16 that looked any good, so I took all of those. At the second stand, they had 5 big bags of green peppers each marked $1.00. I picked up all five bags. Those $1.00 bags had lots of bad spots but I don't mind cutting them out. I spent a good bit of time chopping green peppers and putting about 1 whole pepper in plastic bags. When it was all said & done, I put 50 bags of peppers in the freezer (with a few left out for meals in the next week), not a bad deal for $9.

We also picked up some pie pumpkins and made the fall standard, pumpkin butter. One of my other very favorite things about fresh pumpkins are home roasted pumpkin seeds. Jeff and I munched freely on these babies yesterday, but did manage to leave a few for lunch salads and snacks this week.

****

I'm feeling like my old self again, thanks so much to everyone who said prayers and left comments for rapid healing, they were all much appreciated.

Pneumonia

2007-10-09T11:21:00.000-07:00

I've had this nagging cough for a few weeks now. Otherwise, I haven't felt sickly. No tiredness, sore throat, aches, etc. Just a rather annoying cough. Jeff remarked a few times that it didn't sound good and maybe I should see a doctor. I declined, until Thursday when walking up a flight of stairs winded me and I couldn't catch my breath.

To the doctor I went, where I was informed that I had the beginning stages of Pneumonia. He put me on a course of antibiotics and sent me home. I felt better for a few days, until last night when I started wheezing again. This morning again I couldn't catch my breath and back to the doctor I went.

Today, the doctor worried that I'm having some asthma like problems brought on by the pneumonia. He put me on a short course of steriods, after answering many questions from me. I've never been on steriods before and am not exactly excited about it, but I need to breathe. He also gave me an inhaler for those periods when my chest gets overly tight.

Oy, this is just no fun. I am so grateful that I don't live with asthma on a daily basis and will try to never again take for granted how easily I take a breath. Any prayers for a fast recovery would be much appreciated.