Homesprout

Soap

I recently tried making some soap.  I stuck with a simple recipe the first time around.  This recipe included olive oil, palm oil, shea butter, and lemon essential oils.  The oil turned the soap a sweet balmy yellow color.  

Soap making is not nearly as difficult or intimidating as it seems. When I heard about the dangers of lye, I had visions of big vats of boiling liquids bubbling over and burning my hands. In fact, if one is making soap in small quantities, as I am, it's really quite easy, and the amount of lye used is less than the size of a mason jar.  I still used safety precautions - my goggles stayed on my face during the lye portion of the day, and I washed my hands over and over.  However, don't let the lye scare you.   

I'm still working on the cutting part.  Mine crumbled a bit when cut.  

The soap has to cure for about six weeks.  The six week curing process allows the lye to leave, and the soap becomes safe for one's skin.  

Soap making can become addicting.  I already have several other recipes picked out, and there will be more batches made before the summer ends.  

Have you tried making soap?  Any favorite recipes, or soap making books? 

Lately

Life has been filled with canning the abundance and admiring the flowers that have come forth in the vegetable garden.  

I finally found some cherries (semi-local, but no local were to be had).  I made pickled cherries.  The title sounds gross, but Marisa makes them sound so, so good.  I had to try.  I also experimented with some half pints of cherry jam, and the garlic scapes made it into jars as well.  I love her small batches.  It gives me more variety for winter, and if I don't like something, I don't have gallons to guiltily eat up.  

The garden is filled with flowers of all type, shapes and size.  Almost everything is in bloom, which means that the fruits are soon to follow.  It means more work, but I love to build the stock pile for winter.  Each bite holds more meaning.  

Grilled Pizza Tutorial

I finally had the chance to put together a grilled pizza tutorial. We're knee deep in wedding season this year, and our meals for the past few days unfortunately consisted of Chipotle, or the standard wedding fare. Last night, we were finally able to cook again. The heat subsided a little, so grilled pizza made for a perfect dinner.

The pizza dough was actually made a few weeks ago, and then frozen.  When we make pizza dough, we don't bother including yeast.  I much prefer a flat pizza crust.  (The dough is just flour water, salt, and a bit of sugar).   The above dough was coated in olive oil, and then flattened into a semi-rectangular shape.  The olive oil also protects the dough when its placed on the grill.  The grill should be set on low.  

Placing the dough on the grill can be rather tricky.  Try to do it quickly, and with one swoop.  The dough can't really be moved after it has been laid out.  Don't worry if it sticks, it will crisp up.  Check the dough in two minutes.  The bottom should be crisp.  

Pick up the dough from the grill with some tongs and a spatula.  It will come right off.  Flip the dough back onto a tray, and add your sauce and cheese.  (If you have other toppings that you'd like warmed, you should add them at this point.)

Slide the pizza back onto the grill.  Let it cook for another two minutes, until the cheese is melty.  

Make sure to check the bottom after a couple of minutes.  The dough crisps quickly, and you certainly don't want the crust to burn.

Add your toppings.  We added prosciutto and fresh arugula from the garden.  Yum! 

 

D.I.Y. Kale Powder

This is the first year we've grown kale.  Packed with nutrients, it makes sense to have it growing in your garden.  It's not the most likable of ingredients however.  Raw, it's quite bitter.  In an attempt to find likable recipes for kale, I've made kale "chips" quite a few times.  In the oven, the kale became much sweeter, and the warmth of the oven makes the leaves crunchy.  When I saw some kale powder online, I realized that I could easily make some myself using similar steps.  

First, I washed the kale leaves, and placed them on a tray in the oven.  Next time, I'll cut out the stems.  They didn't roast well, and it would have been much easier just to leave them out.  Then, I roasted the leaves at 200 degrees for about 20 minutes.  I checked back several times to make sure they weren't burning.  Since this was just an experiment, I didn't use very many leaves.  Next time, I'll probably roast several trays at a time.

Once they seemed crispy.  I placed the leaves in the food processor.  I let them chop until they broke down into a fine powder.  

I actually incorprated the powder into a strawberry and blueberry smoothie. It didn't taste like kale at all!  I tried taking a picture of the smoothie, but because I waited until evening, the smoothie looked a sad gray color.  Trust me, it was really yummy.  The dried powder should store for months.  

What do you make with kale?

June Canning

Some canning finally occurred around here.  Tim and I hurriedly picked a flat of strawberries on Sunday, and without even planning to can today, I ended up spending the evening in the kitchen.  In the above picture, from left to right, is strawberry rhubarb jam, rhubarb syrup (made earlier this week), some chive vinegar (made two weeks ago, but strained today) and some strawberry syrup.  I also made some strawberry jam, but it was still in the canner when I took this picture.  

The chive vinegar smells amazing.  Any suggestions on how to use it?

I had a little fun with the labels.  All of the recipes are from Food in Jars in some form or another.  The chive vinegar is on the blog.

Here they are all together.  I have a tendency to let them collect on the counter before they take their rightful place on our basement shelves.

Of course, someone was at my feet when I was taking these pictures...

Yarn Along Wednesday

I decided to stop linking to the yarn along as often because my projects take so long!  No one needs to see the same sweater for six weeks.  At any rate, I'm on to a new project, and it's a tank top made with cotton yarn.  The front and back are knitted separately, so right now it just looks like a big towel.

At this moment, I'm unsure about the color choice.  When I picked it, I thought the blue yarn looked a bit more green, but now it just looks like baby colors.  I think it will actually work in tank top form, but time will tell.  

For reading this week, I absolutely must mention the new Food in Jars book.  It is hands down the best canning book I've eve purchased.  I want to make 100% of the recipes included, and I'll probably made 90% this summer.  Seriously.  Marisa (I like to think we're on a first name basis), included recipes for a whole variety of "food in jars," including jams, salsas, nut butters, and condiments.  

What I like best about the book is that she includes suggestions on how to actually include the food in a meal.  For instance, if the green tomato chutney goes well with eggs, you can be sure I'll be making that if there are tomatoes left over this fall.  She also included a little bit of food history with her descriptions.  I had no idea that there was all kinds of ketchup in the 1800's, and not just "tomato" ketchup.  If you've never canned before, this is definitively the book to purchase.

I'm linking up with Ginny's yarn along this week.  Remember, I link in the morning, but I can't comment until the evening.  Make sure to leave a comment if you stop by!

Rhubarb and Preserved Lemon Syrup

Around this time of year, I start to crave some sweet, summery rhubarb seltzer.  Many of these recipes contain fresh lemon or lime juice.  Since I still had some preserved lemons hanging around from winter, I decided to try and use them instead.  The result is tangy, and refreshing.  It's a sweet treat for warm weather.  

Rhubarb and Preserved Lemon Syrup

• 1 1/2 pounds rhubarb, cut into 1-inch pieces (obviously, you can make this in larger quantities, this is what I had on hand)
• 6 cups water
• 3 to 4 preserved lemons, with the salt rinsed off
• 1/2 cup sugar 
• A few sprigs of  mint

Combine the rhubarb and water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to low, and cook for about 20 minutes.  Using a colander, pour the rhubarb mixture into a bowl.  Return the juice strained from the rhubarb to the stove.  

Add the lemons and the sugar to the rhubarb water. Raise the heat to medium-high and cook at a low boil, uncovered, for 20 minutes or until the mixture is slightly reduced and thickened.

Remove it from the heat, add in a few sprigs of mint, and cover. Let steep for 5 to 10 minutes. Taste and add sugar if needed. Strain through a fine-meshed colander into a jar or bottle and let cool. You can keep this in a covered mason jar  for 10 days in the refrigerator or, if you end up with pounds of rhubarb, stick it in the freezer.  

To make a sweet summery rhubarb seltzer, simply add three or so tablespoons to a cup of seltzer.  Add some fresh mint as a garnish, and drink up!

 

Adventures in Cheesemaking - Farmhouse Cheddar - Part III

It was a scary moment, cutting open that cheese.  The temperature had been a bit cool (okay, 20 degrees cool) in the fridge most of the time, so I had no idea what was encompassed in that red wax.  Mold?  Slime? Or, possibly, it could look okay, and then spray my mouth with a disgusting taste.  Many thoughts went through my mind as the knife sliced through.  

Happily, it was none of the above.  I slowly put the cheese in my mouth, and ate it bit by tiny bit, until I realized it was delicious! The cheddar tastes like cheddar!  It's a creamy dry Vermont cheddar.  It's also a bit sharp.  

Unlike other random garden ingredients that I'm not always sure about, I will not have a difficult time using up my cheese.  It is my favorite food after all... (Yeah, I know it's supposed to be kale or something, but it's really cheese!)

You can see part I of my cheddar adventures here

You can see part II of my cheddar adventures here

 

Mushroom and Scallion Frittata

Ever since we've had chickens, we've been having fun making frittatas. They're usually pretty quick for a home cooked meal (about 30 minutes), and they use seven eggs. We accidentally ended up with a bunch of mushrooms this week from the farmers market (an accident in communication), so we decided that a mushroom frittata would be an obvious dinner choice.  

The beauty of frittatas is that one does not need to be perfect in their ingredient measurements.  Therefore, feel free to substitute as you wish.  

Mushroom and Scallion Frittata

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp. expeller pressed coconut oil
• several scallions - chopped (I was thinning my egyptian onions, so I used those)
• 1/2 lb. fresh mushrooms 
• 7 farm fresh eggs (use six if yours are from the grocery store)
• 2 tbsp. parmesan cheese
• a handful of chopped parsley and chives 
• salt and pepper

Melt the coconut oil in a cast iron or non-stick pan over medium heat, and saute the scallions until they are soft.  Add in the mushroom, and saute them until they are reduced in size, and softened.  

In a bowl, whisk the eggs, parsley, chives, parmesan and some salt and pepper.  Add the egg mixture to the pan, and gently stir to mix in the mushrooms and scallions.  Preheat the broiler.  Cooking on medium-low heat, allow the frittata to set.  This will take 5 to 8 minutes. 

Once the frittata has set except for the top, put it under the broiler of the stove and allow the top to cook for a minute or two.  Watch carefully so that the top doesn't burn.

Flip the frittata on to a plate (I employed my husband for this task), sprinkle on a bit more parmesan cheese, and enjoy!

What are your favorite frittata ingredients? 

A Coconut Oil Giveaway!

For the past year, I've been switching the oils I use in my kitchen.  A reading of Nourishing Traditions confirmed my suspicions about corn based oils, and so I've been replacing it with other oils in recipes.  Natural oils, like olive oil, lard, coconut oil, and butter go a long ways towards boosting your immune system.  Although I can't attribute my improved health directly to my use of natural oils, I can tell you this is the first year in many years that I haven't had a cold.

I've been utilizing two kinds of coconut oil in my kitchen, both expeller-pressed coconut oil, and virgin coconut oil.  The regular coconut oil can be used when one wants to add a bit of coconut flavoring to a recipe.  One of our favorite snacks made with coconut oil is popcorn. 

Making popcorn with coconut oil is easy.  Simply melt a little coconut oil in the bottom of a pan, drop in some kernels of popcorn, and shake! 

Shake first to cover the popcorn in oil, and then shake more consistently once the popcorn begins to pop. 

Because of the coconut flavoring, sometimes we eat the popcorn plain, and sometimes we eat it with a bit of butter and salt.   

The expeller-pressed is helpful when one wants to cook with coconut oil, but they don't want any of the flavoring.  The best hash browns I've ever cooked were made in a cast iron pan with some expeller pressed coconut oil.  

Coconut oil has also been really helpful to my skin.  I suffer from chronic dry skin, and when I used to try lotion on my skin, I noticed that it just laid on the surface, and never really absorbed.  The coconut oil provided more lasting relief, and I noticed that my skin has looked and felt more consistently soft.  Next I'd like to try some other beauty products made with coconut oil.    

So, on to the part you've been waiting for!  Tropical Traditions has offered a quart sized jar of their coconut oil to a reader of my blog.   Their virgin coconut oil is hand crafted in small batches by family producers, and it is the highest quality coconut oil they offer. You can read more about how virgin coconut oil is different from other coconut oils on their website: What is Virgin Coconut Oil?  

I buy all my coconut oil from Tropical Traditions, and they provided me with a jar for this review, and a jar to give away.  Simply leave a comment on this post for your entry, and subscribe to their newsletter.   The giveaway is now closed, I'll post a winner later today.

Tropical Traditions also carries other varieties of affordable high quality coconut oil. Visit their website to check on current sales, to learn about the many uses of coconut oil, and to read about all the  advantages of buying coconut oil online. Since the FDA does not want us bloggers to discuss the health benefits of coconut oil on a page where it is being sold or given away, here is the best website to read about the health benefits of coconut oil.

Tropical Traditions has some amazing sales also, so make sure to follow their twitter feed, and like their facebook page to be notified of their sale offerings.  If you decide to do so, and comeback and leave a second (or third) comment, you will earn another entry into the giveaway!  See above.

 

 

I'll post the winner of the giveaway next Tuesday, so check back then.  

Disclaimer: Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product. If you order by clicking on any of my links and have never ordered from Tropical Traditions in the past, you will receive a free book on Virgin Coconut Oil, and I will receive a discount coupon for referring you.  However, I do want to note that I would never recommend a product that I didn't use and enjoy myself.  I promise!