T'was the Night Before Christmas

I think one of my favorite Christmas traditions/rituals is the candlelight Christmas Eve service at church.  I love sitting in the dim sanctuary, singing Silent Night, while candles get lit one by one from a single flame.  By the end of the song, each member of the congregation is holding a lit candle.  It is so peaceful, and it nearly always makes me giggle.  This is why:

There is one Christmas Eve service in particular that is forever etched in my memory.  I was five or six at the time, and my parents felt I was too young to be entrusted with my own candle (they were right).  Megan, a friend of mine who is a year or so younger than me, was sitting further along the row from my family.  Her parents made a different choice on the candle front, and I was rather jealous. 

We were all singing Silent Night, and the candles were lit down my row, one by one.  A verse later, Megan lost concentration, got sleepy, or simply displayed the coordination of a typical four-year-old.  Her candle started to tip over, in the direction of her mother, Ann.  This was the mid-1980s.  Think fuzzy angora sweaters and giant hair, full of flammable hair products.

This is how I remember things happening, though it was probably a little less dramatic:  Ann's fuzzy sweater sleeve erupted into flame, and a fireball was racing up her arm, toward her giant, hair-sprayed 80s hair.  My dad leaped, Superman-like over the people sitting between our family and Ann, and beat the fire out with his bare hands.

I know that at this point I turned to my mom and said, "Mom, why is Dad hitting Ann?"

Ann escaped without any major burns, and with all her hair.  Megan was not allowed a candle of her own again for a few more years.  And I always picture an angora sweater erupting into flame when I sing Silent Night.

Tonight, I took my two-year-old son, Julian, to our church's Christmas Eve service.  It was a family-friendly service with bible lessons and lots of Christmas carols.  Also, no candles.  I think I'm okay with that, this year.

Grounded

I went outside to check the mail yesterday and ended up spending over an hour weeding the front beds.  I wish I could say it improved the appearance of my front yard.

While I was working I came across this:

I'm no ornithologist (not even a little bit), but I think this might be a makeshift robin's nest.  My best guess is that a robin was desperate to lay her egg, but couldn't get to her nest during the big snow last week.  This nest is located under the overhang of my house, and would have been snow-free and hidden from view by about a foot of snow right in front of it (and my big, tall weeds).

I suspect that this egg has been abandoned, but I am going to leave it be for a while just in case.

Jumping the Gun

On your mark...

The garden is clear of debris from last fall.

Get set...

Seeds have been planted

NO.

May 2, 2013

Spring has a sense of humor this year, and brought us 15 inches of heavy snow over the first few days of May.  I am hoping that the seeds I planted have not germinated yet, and have survived the snow.  The garlic, which was sprouting before the snow, is slightly flattened, but still going.  The rhubarb didn't mind the snow one bit.

The summer squash, cucumber, butternut, and pepper seeds are all protected under the tops or bottoms of water jugs.  My hope is that they will act like mini greenhouses.  I guess I'll know if a few weeks if any of my seeds survived the snow!

Getting the Garden Ready

This was what my garden looked like a few days ago:

 



 

Yes, snow during the last full week of April.  Winter didn't really show up (or the snow, at least) until March this year.  So much for all those garden daydreams!

But today was lovely!  I decided to get a little work done in the garden.  I had been itching to get to work, but I knew that anything I planted would croak with the weather we were having.

I had to clear out some debris from last fall.  I spent about an hour today picking up dry bean, squash, and tomato vines, and then I tilled up the soil.  I have the blisters on my hands to prove it.  I didn't get any planting done today, but at least my beds are ready to go!

Garden Goose approves.

(I left the front bed alone since it is planted with garlic.  The garlic doesn't seem to mind the weather we've been having, and is sprouting.)

A Life-Changing Discovery

Okay, so this isn't exactly a cure for cancer or anything, but I'm still pretty excited about this little discovery.  I learned how to peel garlic.

That's right.

And maybe this isn't exactly life-changing, but I'm pretty darn excited about it.

I love garlic.  I hate to peel garlic.  I was listening to a podcast of  "Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me" at the gym yesterday, and I heard Martha Stewart share this gem.  Incidentally, listening to "Wait Wait" at the gym can get you some funny looks.  I guess normal people don't bust out laughing while lifting weights or buzzing along on an elliptical machine.

Anyway, according to Ms. Stewart, this is the best way to peel an entire head of garlic:

First, get your garlic.  Also, give your toddler a snack cup of Cheerios to buy yourself some time.

The last head of garlic from last summer's garden.  Sad.

Next, get two mixing bowls of approximately the same size.

Put your garlic into one of the bowls.

Put the other bowl on top of the first, like a lid.

Hang onto the rims and shake.  There is no picture of this step because I have yet to grow a third arm.  That would be handy, though.  Ha.

You only need to shake for a minute, maybe less.  Admire the results.

Magic!

Amazing!  Separate the cloves from the chaff.

Now I just need to think of something to do with two heads of garlic.  I was so jazzed to test this trick out last night, that this is the second head of garlic I've peeled.

See?

Anyway, this may not change your life, but hopefully it will make it a little easier.  Or maybe you knew this little trick all along, but you never told me, in which case, why?  Why would you hide such an amazing tidbit of knowledge from me?

So pretty.

English Muffin Bread

Damian loves English muffins.  If we have home-baked bread and store-bought English muffins in the house, he will usually go for the muffins.  Alas, I am too lazy to make English muffins from scratch.  Then I came across this recipe for English muffin bread.  This was perhaps the easiest bread I have ever baked.  I scaled the recipe down, since I only have two loaf pans and the recipe makes three loaves.

Here is what you need for two loaves:

• 3 2/3 cups warm water
• 4 teaspoons Kosher salt
• 4 teaspoons sugar
• 2 packets instant yeast (4 1/2 teaspoons)
• 7 1/2 cups bread flour (all purpose will do, too)
• melted butter (about 1 1/2 tablespoons)
• cornmeal
• non-stick spray

Start by stirring the water, salt, sugar, and yeast together in a mixing bowl.  I used my stand mixer with a paddle attachment, but this can be mixed by hand, too.

Add the flour and mix until the dough just comes together.

The dough will be loose, stringy, and very sticky.

Cover the bowl with some plastic wrap sprayed with non-stick spray, and set it in a warm place to rise.  

You want it to double in size.  It will take about an hour, though this batch was ready to go after about 30 minutes.

Prepare your loaf pans by spraying them with non-stick spray and adding a handful of cornmeal.  Turn the pan to coat the bottom and sides with the cornmeal

Spray your hands with the non-stick spray and divide the dough between the loaf pans.  You want the pans to be only about halfway full.

Did I mention the dough is very sticky?

Cover the loaf pans with your oiled plastic wrap and let the dough rise again.  Preheat the oven to 350 while you wait.  You want to be ready to go when your dough is!  The bread is ready to put in the oven when the dough has risen to the top of the pans.

Bake for 30 minutes, then brush the tops of the loaves with the melted butter.  Then put the bread back in the oven for ten more minutes.

Turn the loaves out onto a cooling rack immediately, and brush with melted butter again.  Allow to cool, then enjoy!

This bread was a huge hit.  The first two loaves disappeared in only a couple days.  I'm pretty sure my toddler ate about half a loaf by himself yesterday.

New Mexican Chili

Once upon a time, I lived in the far southwest corner of Colorado.  There were so many wonderful things about living there:  my job, the vistas, the weather, the food.  Chili is something different there.  In fact, I think it is fair to spell it "chile" instead.  This is a recipe adapted from one I found in a Penzey's catalog.  Here is the original recipe.

The first time I made it (following the recipe), it was a bit spicy for me.  It tasted fabulous, and not a drop went to waste, but I had to add a lot of sour cream to make my way through it.  Perhaps moving to Minnesota has turned me into a spice weenie.  Perhaps I was never as tough as I imagined.

This chili is so good.  Do yourself a favor and make it soon!  Here is what you will need:

• 3 pounds boneless pork butt, trimmed into 1-inch pieces, or 3 pounds of pork stew meat
• 3/4 cup flour, for dredging
• Olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 4 bell peppers (I like to use red ones)
• 2 poblano chiles
• 2 Anaheim chiles
• 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 1 quart turkey stock (I use homemade)
• 1 bottle of beer
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon Arizona Dreaming (available through Penzeys--just substitute extra chili powder and a dash of lime juice if you want)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• Salt, if desired
• garnish (I use sour cream and corn chips)

Step one is to roast your chiles.  This is not optional.  There is a world of difference between raw chiles and roasted.  All you need to do is wash the peppers and slap them down on a hot grill.  If you don't feel like standing outside in the sleet to roast your chiles (like I did), you can do this under the broiler, or if you have a gas range, right on the burner.

Stay nearby, and keep your ears open for pops and sizzles.  You will need to turn the peppers every few minutes.  This smells like heaven, assuming of course that heaven smells like roasting peppers, and I don't see why it shouldn't.  You want the skin to turn black and blister.  It's a good thing.

Once the peppers are nice and roasted, pop them into a plastic bag to steam.

How long you let the peppers steam depends on how big a hurry you're in (and how immune your hands are to burns--these suckers are hot).  When I make this chili, I try to roast the peppers early in the day so they are nice and cool when I'm ready to use them.

After the chiles have steamed (and hopefully cooled), peel and seed them.  The skin comes right off.  I like to do this step over the sink with cool water running.

I also tear the ribs off the flesh of the peppers at this point.  This is what you'll have when you're done:

You will also be left with this:

Dice the chiles and your onion.

And now for the pork!  If your roast is packaged in a salt syrup (most are), be sure to rinse it.  I don't mind the salt; I do mind the slimy nature of the meat when it's packed that way.

Trim your pork butt and cut it into small (1-inch-ish) chunks.  If you were clever and bought pork stew meat, skip this step!  You're ahead of the game.

Put the flour in a shallow dish and dredge the meat.  This helps to thicken the chili.  If you or those you are cooking for are gluten intolerant, skip this (obviously).  You can thicken the chili at the end using masa or a slurry of corn starch, if desired.

Get your soup pot out and drizzle some olive oil in it.  Turn the heat on medium-high, and sear the meat.  You will need to work in batches.  Do not crowd the pan, or you will braise the meat, not sear it.  Add more olive oil as needed.  You aren't cooking the pork all the way through at this point, only browning it.

Once the meat is all seared, add a little more oil to the pot and sweat the onions.

Once the onions are translucent, add the chiles.  Cook for a few minutes.

Then add the pork,

and add the liquids.

Stir in the spices.

Cover, and simmer for an hour.  Check on it periodically and give it a stir.  Before serving, taste and add salt, if needed.  Top your chili with sour cream, cheese, corn chips, diced onions, or leave it plain.

Even the kiddo loves it!

I hope you give this a try.  It is a little time consuming to make, but believe me, it's worth it!

Garden Daydreams

Two things happened last week that led to mid-winter garden daydreams.  First, the temperature got up to the mid forties, it rained, and all the snow melted.  Second, I got my first seed catalogs of the year in the mail.

Cue spring fever.

I have been looking through my catalogs in an effort to choose what to grow.  Tomatoes are always on the list.  Obviously there will be garlic.  I will grow bush beans this year.  I have grown pole beans in the past, but last year my pole beans tore down my pretty plant supports, and I got a total of three beans out of them!  I always try to grow peppers, but I don't get much of a yield.  There will be basil.  I'm thinking I might try to relocate my strawberry pants to a tower to free up one of my raised beds.  Also, I lost most of my berries to weird little beetles last summer, and I'm hoping that if I get them up out of the dirt, maybe bugs will be less of an issue.  Birds are another problem all together.

I enjoy growing squash, but the vines tend to escape the raised beds and intrude into the lawn, which irks my husband.  I am looking at some A-frame type structures to grow my squash on.  Maybe I will be able to grow some cooler-weather vegetables (like salad greens) under the squash frames.

Once I move the strawberries, I will have nine 3' x 5' beds to fill.  I have used a square foot gardening inspired method in the past, so I can grow a surprising number of plants in each bed.

Here's my veggie list so far (items I have not grown before are in italics):

• Tomatoes
• Beans
• Squash (butternut or sweet dumpling)
• Strawberries
• Basil
• Thyme (already in the ground)
• Garlic (already in the ground)
• Rhubarb (has its own bed, and is in the ground already)
• Carrots
• Peppers (maybe)
• Beets
• Parsnips
• Kale
• Salad greens

Any other ideas?  I have tried to start tomatoes, peppers, and basil from seed the past few years, and I end up with very mediocre results.  Either my cats eat the seedlings, or I kill them in a failed attempt to harden them off.  I think I need a grow light (and a cat-free zone).  This year I plan to just buy my plants at a local nursery.  They usually have really good deals on six packs of small tomato and pepper plants.

The temperatures have dropped again, but the snow is gone.  I don't mind winter, but I sure enjoy it a lot more when there's enough snow to go play in.  My cross country skis haven't seen much use the past few winters.

Something From Nothing: Turkey Stock

Okay, so it's not really something from nothing, but it is something useful made out of stuff you would have otherwise thrown out.

I like to make my own turkey stock to keep on hand.  It is easy, practically free, and I have control over what goes in it (no MSG, for example).

To make your own turkey stock, you really only need two things:  turkey bones and water.  You can certainly add aromatics like onions, garlic, carrots, and celery, and you can add salt and seasonings if you want, but I like to keep it simple.

After cooking and consuming a turkey, I put the bones and leftover skin in a large ziplock bag and pop it in the freezer until I am ready to make stock.  I almost always make stock during the winter months so I don't have a pot simmering on the stove all day during the summer.

The bones go in the stock pot.

Just add water.

I don't add salt to my stock so I have control over the sodium content of my finished recipes.  Sometimes I add a few bay leaves and some whole peppercorns.  I simmer my stock for eight to 12 hours, and boy, does it make my house smell good!

At the end of the day, I fish as many of the bones out of the stock as I can using tongs.

Then I pour the stock through a cheese cloth-lined colander into another large container.

I use clothespins to keep my cheese cloth in place.

At this point the stock needs to be cooled down.  This is another reason I make stock in the winter:  I can just put the pot out on the deck.  The world is my refrigerator (or freezer)!  I cool the stock outside overnight, then skim the fat off with a spoon.

I used to package the finished stock either in containers or freezer bags and store it in the freezer.  This took up tons of freezer space, and I found I was reluctant to use the stock since I had to plan ahead and thaw some out.  Now I can it, so I have jars of home made stock ready to go at a moment's notice!

If you choose to can your stock, it is important that you use a pressure canner, and be sure to follow the directions that come with it.  I canned this batch and gave it to my mother in law for Christmas, because I'm the type of person who gives turkey juice to her mother in law.

The batch size depends on how large your stock pot is.  I get 12 quarts out of one batch.

You can also make stock in a crock pot, if you prefer.  Just put your bones and water in your crock pot and leave it on low all day (or overnight).