Cabin Crafted

Category: Cooking

  • Winter’s Roar

    Our winter has been unusual to say the least. Until a couple of weeks ago, I think the temperatures had been above normal with occasional snow flurries, a few barely covered the ground snow falls that didn’t last. Then things changed. We haven’t seen daytime temperatures rising above 20° (-6.7°c) and night time temperatures near zero (-17.8°c) in more than a week. On Saturday, we were expecting flurries and got several inches with sharp temperature drops. We had driven in to town to a nice restaurant to celebrate our 37th Valentine Day and Anniversary and the drive back home was a white knuckle ride.

    Yesterday we took Son#1 and Grandson#1 to the bus to return home from bringing my car home and a weekend visit and it was brutally cold and windy, wind chills in the double digit negatives.
    There were severe weather warnings posted for today and the school makeup day that had been scheduled for today was canceled.

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    We woke to the expected snow. So far about 5″ with the heaviest part of the system due this evening and overnight. We may be looking at a foot or more with extremely cold temperatures and expected to drop to -10°f (-23.3°c) Thursday night. We aren’t used to that type of temperature. Our firewood supply is running low and our heat pump is struggling.
    My chooks won’t come out of the coop when there is snow on the ground and with the temperatures as they are, I didn’t even open the pop door today. I have gone out 3 times to change out the frozen water, twice to throw down a scoop of feed into the straw and collect the eggs before they freeze.
    Our neighbor has two very pregnant cows and we saw her go down to check on them before the snow cover got too deep. Our steep gravel road will be difficult to traverse in a couple more inches of snow. I hope the cows don’t calve before we have a moderation in weather back to around freezing this weekend.
    The grands are playing in the rec room, I am knitting, reading, and cooking stew and homemade bread. A good way to spend a frigid snowy day.

  • Olio – 2/12/15

    Olio: a miscellaneous collection of things

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    Bread day.  Grandson is being stretched each day to a healthier more natural diet.  Fast food is being reduced and the selection less Wendy’s and more Wicked Taco in choice. He has been pretty good about beverages, drinking milk, water, or lemonade if out but he has his quirks.  His favorite foods used to be spaghetti with sauce and cheese or “cheese sandwich all cooked up” (we know them as grilled cheese), but then for some reason, he decided he didn’t like cheese.  He loves pizza and lasagna, even our cheese and spinach stuffed ravoli, but insists he doesn’t like cheese.  The first time I made corn bread he refused to even try it.  Now he asks for it.  The first herb and onion bread I made for them, he went to his room and skipped dinner rather than even be at the table with it. His preferred bread is “balloon bread,” though he will eat commercial Honey Wheat.  In an effort to eliminate more colors and preservatives from his diet, I set out to make loaves of similar texture without the additives.  He also insists that his bread have the commercial shape.  This morning’s results may pass his test.  The Honey Wheat bread I made is light in texture and was allowed to rise well over the rim of the pan before baking.  We are going to make his lunch for tomorrow without saying anything and see how it goes.

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    When they moved here and we purchased twin over double bunk beds for the room, he being the oldest got the top bunk.  To read or write in his journal at night, he had to climb back down to put the book or journal on the night table then climb back up to sleep.  A few days ago, his Mom hauled out her fabrics and snaps and we made him a pouch that holds his book, journal and a couple of pencils that snaps with straps over the side rail of his bed.  He was really excited when he came home from school and saw it.  To complete the idea, his Mom gave him a clip on book light that clips to the rail as well.

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    In spite of Daughter’s Tom Boyishness growing up, granddaughter is a little girly girl and she does not like loud noise, though she can screech like a banshee herself when upset.  She also has had an unnatural fear reaction to the typical bugs found in a mountain house in the middle of a hay field, the occasional Lady Bug, Stink Bug, house fly or little spiders.  I don’t like spiders either, but I don’t run shrieking from the room if I see one. Little by little, we have been trying to help her overcome both.  When I find a Lady Bug alive, I will pick it up in her presence and she has let me put it on her shirt.  She will hold a dead one, but still not a live one.  She now points out stinkbugs, dead or alive instead of screaming and waits for her brother or an adult to remove it.  Flys and spiders are still a work in progress.  I managed to get to her “scoop up” a Lady Bug carcass and some dog hair with the mini vacuum that she had been terrified of.  You still have to warn her that you are turning it on, but she no longer runs crying from the room and she will use it herself now.

    imageMy girls having some quiet time after dropping brother off at his very early school bus.  She wiggled and squirmed on and over her Mom then fell asleep with her head on Mom’s hip and covered in the blanket Mom had draped over her own legs.  They slept like that for about an hour.

    Our spring like days fled overnight.  Our high of 32f (0c) occurred at 6 a.m. and we are falling to 8f (-13.33c) tonight.  It is snowing but not really expected to accumulate much and we are under another high wind warning and wind chill warning.  I’m betting that schools have at least a 2 hour delay tomorrow. The weekend nights are expected to be around 0f (-17.8c).  Monday was to be a school holiday, but is now scheduled to be a weather make up day and we are being threatened with several inches of snow on Monday and Tuesday, so it might yet be a school holiday and the make up day will have to be made up along with another day.

    Son #1 and Grandson #1 are bringing my car home on Friday night and staying for the weekend before riding a bus back home.  It will be good to see them.  The weather will be in the teens so I don’t think we will get the compost bin disassembled and relocated this weekend.  Maybe he will help us build a “dress up” closet for Granddaughter’s dress up clothes.

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    My current knitting project is a 320 stitch Moebius cowl.  The pattern is Gradient cowl and as I don’t have truly gradient yarn, but rather a cake that had 5 equal amounts of increasing darker yarns, I working from lighter to darker using one color, then alternating in the next darker color for a few rows, then using the darker color and so on.  I am on the third color now and will end up with a cowl about 38-40″ long by 5-6″ wide.  I think that there will be enough yarn left to make a hat, though probably not the one I want to make as I would like to knit Wurm on Ravelry using the gradient colors from light at the face edge and the darkest at the top.  The yarn is Green Dragon Yarns Sport weight in Teal.  As David has closed his shop and is no longer dying yarn, I want to use up every inch of it that I can and treasure it.

  • International Days and Borrowed Ideas

    For the past few days, Daughter and I have been visiting other countries through our culinary skills.  We were bored with the same menu repeatedly and decided to venture out, making wholesome, home-cooked meals with fresh ingredients.  On Thursday, we visited Germany, preparing Sausage and Potatoes with Rosemary.

    On Friday, we took a trip to Mexico, making handmade tortillas and using them to make Mexican style soft tacos, with shredded pork or taco ground beef served with fresh cilantro and chopped onion, sided with a salad and guacamole.

    Saturday we traveled to Asia, preparing a pork stir fry with lots of fresh vegetables including some of the ginger I grew this past summer and served it over rice.

    Today we stayed in Asia and made Red curry with Chicken, vegetables and rice.  Tomorrow we will make Ricotto and Mozarella and fresh pasta dough to make homemade Ravioli with spinach and cheese filling, served with some of the pasta sauce I canned last summer and a salad of fennel bulb and carrot.  After tomorrow, we will have to decide where next to visit.

    As for borrowed ideas, we have had an eight year old who in spite of a home library of books, a bookshelf of games, a garage of outdoor toys and two beautiful days, Legos and many other indoor toys, has repeatedly announced, “I’m bored.”  Daughter saw a great idea on Pinterest, a “The Bored Jar,” a jar with tokens each with a chore or suggestion such as “Read for 30 minutes” and we decided that we would implement it.

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    Instead of a glass jar that could easily be broken, we bought a small galvanized bucket with a chalkboard label on the side.  With a paint pen, the label was completed and we bought a bag of 25 wooden disks on which I have been adding the suggestions/chores. Once we have disks all completed, we will fill him in and each time he states “I’m bored,” he will have to draw a disk from the bucket and spend however much time the disk requires or the task takes.  This should teach him some responsibility for entertaining himself and perhaps get a few chores accomplished without constant reminders.

  • Things I don’t buy anymore

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    Tortilla’s for tacos and enchiladas
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    Ricotta cheese
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    Mozzarella cheese
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    Pasta noodles
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    Bar soap, shampoo, laundry detergent
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    Eggs
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    Chicken
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    Tomato products, salsas, jams, chutney
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    Mustard
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    Yogurt and cream cheese
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    Hand and body lotion

    The longer we homestead, the more products have been eliminated from our shopping list, more products are made at home.  As the garden and orchard grow and my desire to be more aware of what goes on and into my body, the more items are removed.  Hopefully, the day will come when we are growing a couple of pigs on our land and at least some of the lard will replace the oils that I buy for cooking and soap making.  If Son #1 or 2 raise bees, we will be able to have honey and beeswax too (I am allergic to bee stings, so I can’t tackle that task.)

    I love being able to make these items, our bread and chicken feed, grow most of our vegetables and have the health and time to do it.

  • First Meetings

    Early this morning, Son #2 arrived with his family.  The eight year old boy cousins haven’t seen each other in several years and the 3 year old girl cousins had never met each other or the boy cousin.

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    The girls hit it off immediately this morning.  They are about 5 months apart in age.  The boys have been running and playing chess with each other all day.

    While this has been ongoing, I decided to learn to make Ricotta cheese. . .

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    A gallon of milk first made into mozzarella and a second gallon into about 4 to 5 cups of Ricotta.  Two balls of pasta dough made and a pound of sausage cooked and a fresh homemade lasagna assembled.

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    Son rolling out the noodles.

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    A baking and a salad and we will have dinner for 9 tonight with two new lessons learned, Ricotta and Pasta.  Three products I will no longer buy.  In a day or two, daughter and I will make homemade tortillas.  I used to make them when Mountaingdad and I were newlyweds but with kids I switched to commercial ones.  Daughter bought an 8″ cast iron tortilla press so we will make our own.

    The dogs don’t know what to make of all the activity and want to be in the middle of all of the play.  The girls escaped. . .

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    It seems safer inside the dogs cage than out.

  • OLIO 1/19/2015

    Olio: a miscellaneous collection of things

    This has been the birthday weekend for the 8 year old grandson now living with us.  His Dad flew in from Florida to be with his family for the weekend.  The celebration began with three generations bowling, 6 of us.   I can’t remember the last time I bowled and in spite of sore stiff joints, it was fun.  From there we were off to the birthday boy’s favorite restaurant, Texas Roadhouse for steaks and ribs, then home for a birthday cake that took his Mom 3 hours to decorate while he was in school on Friday.  He wanted a Corvette Stingray cake and she managed it nicely, placed high enough that he couldn’t see it until serving time Saturday night.  Sunday they went out for family time and lunch together and today, his actual birthday was supposed to be a school holiday, but ended up being a makeup day for a weather missed day last week.

    Before he got home from school and while his Mom was taking Dad back to the airport to fly back to Florida, I finally cleaned up the garage from the move in night when we quickly unloaded their trailer into the garage.  Son #1 had left his butchering station cleaned up, but left in place after we did fall chickens in hope of the deer he never got this year.  I dismantled it and put it back in storage until it is again needed. The box of outdoor toys was finally opened, the crate shelf moved to a more convenient place, the bins of balls, bats and helmets filled, bikes lined up until we can get wall hangers for them.

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    Toys are now accessible and I can walk through the garage to get to the outside.

    Also today, 10 gallons of whole grain chicken feed was made and stored.  Before grandson got home, I made 18.6 oz of homemade Mozzarella cheese, solo this time, in preparation for homemade from scratch pizzas, his request for a birthday dinner.

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    In 20 minutes, I can make this cheese with a gallon of milk at a cost of about half of the price of 8 ounces of “fresh” mozzarella from the grocer.

    Winter day_markedIt was a beautiful day for all of these tasks.  This gorgeous sky was seen while awaiting his school bus to arrive. Once he got home, I stayed outdoors with him for a bit of archery practice with his bow and arrows that he got for Christmas.

    The pizzas were made and savored, followed with left over birthday cake and ice cream.  The end of a busy and full birthday weekend for the young man.

  • Baking with a Grand

    This was another morning where the freezing early temperature was the high. It was foggy with occasional freezing drizzle, not enough to affect the roads or school, but enough to warrant hunkering down in the house for the day. Daughter woke with a bad cold and after taking her son to the bus stop nearly half a mile away, she got in a hot bath then back in bed. Once granddaughter awoke, I decided to entertain her to let her mom sleep.
    After we had breakfast and I did chicken chores, we decided to bake crackers together.

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    She put on her apron, helped measure, pour, mix and cut. After they baked, her job was to put them in the jar.

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    I think she ate one for every 3 she put away, but it kept her entertained for a while and she made a glorious mess playing in the flour.
    This afternoon, we used two very ripe bananas to make a loaf of banana bread and now a pot pie is baking. The warm oven has helped the fire keep the house warm and cozy for sick daughter and the healthier crew that just didn’t want to be outside today. Except for bringing in wood and doing chicken chores, I have stayed inside. If it is going to be cold and damp, I wish it would snow.

  • Pizza from scratch

    Today was girls day out while Mountaingdad and Grandson watched a movie.  We ventured to Bed, Bath and Beyond to get a lidded glass jar for compost as the newest canine addition to the house puts his feet on the counter when no one is watching and steals from the compost bin.  We also needed a broad strainer spoon to make cheese and a cake pan to make grandson’s birthday cake next weekend, then off to the natural food store and grocery.  During our outing, we decided that tonight would be an excellent night for homemade pizza and we were going to have a cheese making session to make Mozzarella.

    This cheese lesson was without the son that gave me the first lesson and was a lesson for daughter.

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    A pound of delicious cheese.  Then we made dough for two pizzas.  Cooked down a pint of my homemade pasta sauce for the pizza sauce, chopped red onion, some of the frozen green pepper strips from last summer’s garden, some chopped garlic, cooked a couple of Italian sausages and assembled them for dinner.

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    One was special for the adults, the second with just sausage, sauce and cheese for the kids.

    We still have a few more ounces of our cheese, so we will look for another dish to have in a day or two to enjoy the rest of our success.

    In a day or two, we will have a soap making lesson, after making a batch of laundry detergent today, the soap supply is low and after all, it does take several weeks to cure.

    Lovin’ life on our mountain farm and having part of our family here.

  • Merry Christmas to all

    The pies were made, from our homegrown pumpkins, cranberries cooked with a bit of honey to sweeten them, cooked mustard made for the ham. Mountaingdad asks for it each year, a simple recipe really.
    Mustard
    1/3 c sugar
    1/4 c dry powdered mustard
    2 beaten eggs
    1/4 c vinegar ( I use raw cider vinegar)
    1/4 c butter
    Mix sugar and mustard in a small saucepan. Stir in beaten eggs and vinegar and mix well. Turn heat to low and add butter. Cook stirring  until mustard thickens. Store in the refrigerator. It will keep for a couple of weeks.

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    The roll dough mixed and stored in the refrigerator until this morning. Rolls to bake, turkey to roast, potatoes to mash. A late afternoon feast will be enjoyed.
    Another tradition with our kids and carried on to grands is the reading by Mountaingdad of Clement C. Moore’s poem, “The Night Before Christmas,” which will be read over the phone or by Skype to the Florida family while we join in from the living room. Stockings will be hung and eager grandson put to bed.
    Wishing my readers the most wonderful of holidays however you celebrate. Enjoy your family and friends.

  • Christmas Eve’s Eve

    Another gloomy but not as cold morning, no sunshine predicted for today. Sausage is cooked, biscuits await the oven, all waiting for other faces to show themselves before baking and making the gravy. The morning treat is fresh hot biscuits with sausage gravy.

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    Today will be baking day, pumpkins pies, dinner rolls, maybe one batch of cookies if I can get grandson on board with the idea of helping. We traditionally, all my life and my children’s lives, we have had Christmas dinner on the eve, so some prep will be done today.
    Christmas morning we will have huevos rancheros, my hubby hails from Texas then after the morning gift exchange, the kids will leave for Virginia Beach to spend the rest of the day with the other Grandparents.
    For now, the house is quite, stirrings about are beginning, a second pot of coffee will be needed soon and the biscuits must be baked, the gravy made.
    Have a peaceful eve of the eve and enjoy your friends and family.