More on Waffles - or - Mid Winter Blues

It's easy to get the blues in the middle of the winter, when all around you the world looks like this:


Why not make something cheery for breakfast?


I know I've already written a post about making waffles, but I want to share a new recipe I came up with. We bought a grain grinder a few years back, and I've dabbled in baking with fresh ground wheat, but have a long way to go before I master it. One thing I really want to accomplish this winter is baking bread with fresh ground wheat. But before I dive into that adventure, I decided to play around with quick breads first. This is a picture of my faithful KitchenAid stand mixer. It really gets a lot of use around here. Hubby gave it to me for Valentine's Day about nine years ago... back when we had a bit more money and were more extravagant with gifts.



When we went shopping for a grain grinder, we thoroughly researched our options. There are so many grinders available, and a wide range at that. You can spend anywhere from $140 all the way up to $1,400! Someday I would love to own something like this:

Diamant Grain Mill

But for now, we own the Family Grain Mill, which works very well for our purposes and has interchangeable meat grinding, grain rolling, and food processing attachments to mount on its universal base. Here's a link to my friend's store, where you can buy one of them for yourself, if you want:

Amazing Graze General Store

She has such great prices on so many wonderful things, and has great customer service, and is just a wonderful person, so I'm tooting her horn here on purpose! If I'd known Marci before I bought my grain mill, I'd have bought it from her, but I didn't. Oh well, I shop the Amazing Graze General Store now, and I guess that's the important thing.

Shortly after buying my grain mill, I discovered that there is an adaptor for my KitchenAid, so I can fit the mill into this spot on my mixer....


... plug it into the wall, and let it do the grinding for me. Don't get me wrong... I really like grinding by hand, but sometimes, I want the wheat quickly, or I need a big amount, so I like having this option to electrically grind my wheat. Here is the grinder, attached and ready for action!

And here is a close up of the mechanism attached with the adaptor to the motor of my mixer:


This is a bucket of hard white spring wheat, with bay leaves for pest-deterrent...



and here is the wheat, up close and personal...



I'm not going to provide a link for that, but if you research food coops in your area, I'm certain you can find a good, local source for wonderful wheat. Hard white spring wheat is great for quick breads, whereas hard red winter wheat is better for yeast breads. If you would like to learn everything you could possibly want to learn and more about wheat and successful grinding and baking, I highly recommend this book:

Flour Power, by Marleeta F. Basey

There is an amazing amount of information in this book. All the way down to the chemistry of protein and effective baking. There's a really good chapter on grinders and choosing one for your needs, too, so it's a good book to check out from your library if you are considering milling your own grain at home.

Anyway, get yourself all set up, fill the hopper with wheat, and grind between 8 and 9 cups of flour. Here's mine in action:



While you are waiting, gather the rest of your ingredients. Here is the recipe:

Suzanne's Prairie Waffles
DRY INGREDIENTS:
8 to 9 cups fresh ground wheat
6 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
6 Tablespoons sweetener (I use dehydrated cane)
WET INGREDIENTS:
6 to 8 eggs
7 cups milk of your choice
Grated rind from 2 oranges
6 Tablespoons oil
2 Tablespoons vanilla

A word on quantity, here: My recipes are BIG. I like to make a LOT. Because then I get a stack like this


that I can freeze and save for quick breakfasts. All you have to do is pop them in the toaster and you have a fast and nutritious and home made breakfast.

So, back to baking. Grate the zest from two oranges onto a plate. Use a microplane grater, if you have one. I love these things. Believe it or not, hubby found mine at a thrift store! Yippee!


I want to thank my son for doing this job and allowing me to photograph him in the process. And please be careful when microplane grating anything... it's easy to turn orange-infused waffles into finger-infused waffles. Yuk.


Here's the finished zest:


Your grain is probably ready by now. Start with the dry ingredients in a big bowl. I like to start with about 8 cups of flour. That way, if I need to adjust the thickness of the batter later, I have a bit leftover:


Sift them all together and then get out a slightly smaller bowl for the liquid ingredients. I'm showing my bowls side-by-side, to give you an idea of how big these bowls are. The pyrex bowl is a 4-quart mixing bowl. The stainless steel jobbie is huge, and also came from hubby's thrifting action.


Sometimes it's important to step back and think about thrifting. There is such an abundance of material goods in the world. Why go buy new when you can find gently used things so much cheaper? I feel good about saving money, but I feel even better about giving unwanted things new uses. I think it's the ultimate in recycling. That gorgeous pyrex bowl was just 2 dollars at a thrift store! Celebrate!

Anyway, back to the wet ingredients. Start with the eggs. I say 6 to 8 eggs for this recipe because the size of the farm eggs we get locally vary a great deal. If they are regular grocery-store sized eggs, use 8. If they are huge, like ours often are, use 6. Use your judgment. You can always thicken the batter with additional flour later, if you need to.


Whisk those eggs and add the rest of the wet ingredients, including the orange zest. Whisk it all together very well. I'd like to mention at this point that grated citrus zest can turn almost any quick bread into a gourmet baked good. Just try adding the zest of a grated lemon to your favorite blueberry muffin recipe, or grated orange zest to banana bread. You'll see what I mean. In fact, when we have citrus in the house, I try to grate all of it before it gets eaten. Then I put it in little jars and keep it in the freezer. That way I have zest whenever I want some.


About the milk. Use whatever you like. Whatever you have. I actually used all three of these in this recipe, just 'cause there were partial boxes of all three in my fridge that needed to be used up...


Also note, I'm not completely local, right? None of these milks are local! I'd prefer to use local raw milk, but that's against the law in Ohio. Crazy. Don't get me started. My oranges come from Texas, but they come straight off a truck and into the arms of my local food coop manager, The Good Shepherd's Fold so at least I'm supporting local business.



I'll keep whisking while I finish this topic. I'm using vanilla from Mexico...


My mom goes there several time each year and always brings me sarongs and vanilla. How lucky is that? At least she's supporting locals while she's there.

Keep whisking all of this together and then add the wet stuff to the dry stuff...


As a final note on the local thing, it's a goal. Some things, in fact very many of the things, that I make use ingredients that came from within 50 miles of my home, while the bulk of our produce comes from right outside my window, namely from our garden. It's a process, an evolution. Treat the land right, treat your neighbors right, and they will treat you right!

Now, while you are frying those waffles (see my previous post on waffles for details on the iron and the magic of making waffles in the iron...), slice up the oranges for a garnish, and to eat later with your breakfast.



Put them on a plate and arrange them nicely. No one will even notice that their skins have been shaved. Let the kids eat some while they are waiting on the waffles. They will make people happy, with an added boost of vitamin C!



Finally, if you happen to have some blueberries around, get them ready to serve with the waffles. In season, I always can a boatload of blueberries in apple juice to use during the winter months. They are so good this way. The juice combines with the natural pectin in blueberries and makes a lovely syrup during heat processing. I dump jars in yogurt, on waffles, mixed with other fruit. Anyway, I like to warm up a half pint while frying the waffles. With this lovely fruit, you almost don't need any syrup.


Finally, serve it all on a plate and wait for everyone in your family to get down on their knees and kiss your feet! Seriously, my son did that once, after eating about 7 waffles!

I've been taking the time to photograph some of my favorite recipes and will share them with you here. Next up will be "Suzanne's Better-Than-Marshmallow-Cream Yogurt." But first, I need to go eat some waffles!



Enjoy! And thanks for stopping by...

Auld Lang Syne - or - The Fruits of Our Labor

It's snowy around here, and has been for just about the entire month of December. I love it. We had a white Christmas for the first time in quite a few years, and it was so perfect to look outside and see softly falling snow on Christmas Eve and on Christmas morning. Just perfect.




In a few days, in fact, just in time for New Year's Eve and Day, it's going to warm up and rain and all the snow will turn to slop. I could complain about that, but I try not to complain about the weather. It seems like the weather always brings what we need, in some way or another, even if it isn't obvious at the time. Having the snow melt away will certainly help hubby to get more firewood, for example.




During winter, the pseudo hibernation we slip into around here is not only pleasant, but necessary, I feel, after the long days of summer so full of work. It's perfect for planning next year's garden, canning lots of convenience food for the pantry, getting the house in order, tackling indoor projects, and playing games with the kids.




I've just about wrapped up my gifts for the season. It happened yesterday as I assembled the final gift box for some dear friends of ours. As I stood back from my work table and looked the items gathered there, I realized how much a reflection of our lifestyle this gift is. I decorated a sampling of our canned goods with fabric "hats," and attached labels. I baked several breads and cookies and made a cheese log, plus knitted a kerchief and a hat. It's a nice box, altogether.




Then I started thinking about where everything came from. The ingredients for the canned goods almost entirely came from our garden, with the exception of salt and vinegar and a few seasonings. The fabric to decorate the jars came from the box of fat quarters I got from a garage sale last fall. The labels came from a thrift store. The box and tissue paper to package it all have been reused and recycled many times. The work came from my hands and was spirited by my heart and soul. I cannot express the satisfaction that accompanies my pursuits. To put it simply, it drives me, it motivates me to eliminate the middle man in ever more ways.

This is not a bragging post. It is simply a post to communicate to anyone who might be reading that you can do it yourself! Every year we do more for ourselves. We have such a long way to go on this journey, but seeing the fruits of our labor encourages me, spurs me on to continue and to bite off another chunk each year. In my mind it unfolds like this, as I look down at my gift box...

I think to myself... The first year we gardened, I only canned tomatoes and cucumbers, because we had so very many. The rest of the food we basically ate or stored in the cellar. The next year, I made sure to plant enough to can green beans, too. But it wasn't a huge amount. So the next year I planted enough of lots of different foods to can enough to store a big variety for winter. But still, I was using garlic and onions from the store, and lots of other stuff, too. This most recent year I only bought salt and vinegar, and some seasonings, to accomplish my canning. The rest came from us.

Five years ago we had no garden.

So... look around you and consider from whence your stuff cometh. Regard the fruits of your labor and determine how much you buy and how much you create or provide for yourself. There's always another step you can take care of yourself, like saving your seeds, growing and drying herbs, and getting chickens. We do some of this already, but can do even more next year.

As the current year wraps itself up and the new one approaches, take some time for reflection. Look around you, think about what you can do for yourself, and make a change. And give thanks and gratitude for the richness of your life. Because no matter what you have or where you live, there is always so much to be thankful for. I am thankful for my family, my friends, the cycle of the seasons, this chunk of land we are borrowing from Mother Earth until we become a part of it, and for opportunity. There are so many choices, each and every day.



Suddenly this is sounding a lot like making resolutions. So with that, I will bid you a peaceful passing of the year, and a tender start to the new one.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days of auld lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll take a cup of kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.


Happy New Year

In Which I Knit Some Hats

The garden is finally put to bed for the season, the kids are fully involved in school work, music, and jujitsu, and our big holiday celebration of the year has come and gone. Around here, the big party of the year is at Thanksgiving, when my entire family meets here in Ohio for a long weekend of fun and festivities. This year was the 11th year in a row, so it's really becoming a tradition.



This year I tried some new techniques to prepare in advance, and they worked quite well. I've decided to blog about them, but not tonight. Tonight I would like to share some hats I have been knitting. I gave a bunch away for Christmas gifts, and now, everywhere I go, everyone wants a hat. This is a great pattern, and will serve you well, so my hat goes off to the designer (pun fully intended!)...

Click on this link to see the pattern and its designer...

Or you can try this one...

Anyway, I've been busy knitting up these hats and they are simply wonderful! Since it's been snowing a lot lately, and Christmas is on the way, I'd like to show you my hats, and encourage you to knit some yourself. Either that, or ask your knitting friend to knit one for you. I can almost guarantee that wearing one or giving one will make you feel warm all over, especially on your head!



Stay tuned for my series of Thanksgiving posts. Perhaps I can help some of you prepare your next feast with less stress! In the meantime, try knitting some hats!



Wishing you warm heads and happy hearts...

New Pattern! - Just in Time for Thanksgiving!

Just a quick post to say I'm putting a new pattern on Ravelry today!

It's my:
Ballband Bun Blanket
or
Clever Croissant Cozy
or
Mitered Muffin Manager
or
Wicked Waffle Warmer
or
Resplendent Roll Wrangler

Whatever you decide to call it, I hope you enjoy knitting it, and decking out your holiday table in style!


Click here to see my pattern on Ravelry!

My Victory Garden - or - Of Course I Can!

I've been thinking a lot about canning lately, probably because I've been doing so much of it. I've been canning for about eight years, now, but really seriously canning for the last four. This coincides with the number of years I've been seriously gardening, which is certainly no surprise. Every year, I take gardening and canning activities to a new level. This is not with purpose and intent, it just evolves. It's like gardening and canning are members of the family, growing and changing and maturing with all the rest of us living in this house. I'm never quite sure where it's headed at the beginning of the season. Then, when the season approaches its close, I find myself reflecting and realizing how things have grown, both physically and spiritually.

Today I worked hard to can 36 quarts of apple sauce, and I realized, this has been the season of the Victory Garden.



On canning days, it's always a challenge to make meals, do the dishes, keep up with laundry, teach children, and be an attentive mother, wife, and daughter-in-law. I try to plan for these days, but it's always hard. And it gets me thinking about my grandmother, otherwise known as Mammoo. She passed away eight years ago, so I hope she's watching me from wherever she is, because I learned so much from her. She raised her family on a farm in South Texas, supporting her husband as he farmed cotton. She grew a large garden, composted kitchen scraps in the field before people knew what composting was, took meals to my grandfather, Pappoo, and the cotton-pickers, wore a bonnet to shield her eyes and face from the harsh wind and sun, sewed all my mother's clothes and kept her in fashion model style on a shoe string, traded her abundances with others who had things she needed, hung her laundry on the line, loved her children and husband with all her heart, and prepared delicious home-cooked meals with fresh, garden produce.


Mammoo also canned. Even in her seventies, if she found a good deal on beets, she took all she could and went home and canned them. I know, because I was visiting once when she did exactly that. She didn't let company stop her, she just told us what to do and we all worked on those beets! As it should be.

This summer I dug deep and found determination on canning days. Determination to still hang my laundry on the line, carry out the compost, make meals, eat on dishes (not paper plates), and pay attention to family needs as much as possible. I'm not suggesting I did this without being grumpy by day's end! There have been some really exhausting days during the last few months! It's just that I kept thinking, "Mammoo couldn't run out and buy convenience food on canning days, and she couldn't throw the clothes in the dryer, either." They were far too frugal for paper plates, and the dishes didn't wash themselves. And all these thoughts led me to think about the WWII Victory Gardens.


Families were struggling to support their sons and husbands fighting a war overseas, resources were devoted to the war effort, rationing made many common foods and supplies in scarce supply. Such worrisome and troubled times, yet families rallied, pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, planted gardens, harvested their crops, and canned them for the long winter months. And it wasn't just food that was in scarce supply. Even the materials used to make pressure canners had to be devoted to the war effort, namely cast aluminum. I know this for a fact, because I am the lucky owner of the All American Victory Garden Pressure Canner!



Anyone who spends time canning these days knows that All American makes the best pressure canners on the market. They are gasketless, solid, heavy duty cast aluminum, and last for decades, if not forever. Several years ago, when I was getting into canning, I responded to a man on Craig's List who had some canning jars for sale. The man offered me "an old pressure canner" for $10 so I could get going with my pressure canning. Hubbo picked the jars up on his way home from work, along with the canner, and this is what he came home with, original instruction manual and all:



This canner is made of stainless steel, because of the national mandate to devote aluminum manufacturing to the war effort. The canner is aptly named the Victory Garden Pressure Canner and includes an inspirational introduction to the buyers, encouraging their efforts to grow and can home grown foods. It even calls the canner the weapon that will help win the war from home. I could not believe my good fortune, this piece of history that now helps me preserve my food, many decades later, still in great working condition, used by so many others in their efforts, now belongs to me, and I treasure it.



I wanted more information about this piece of history, so I called the manufacturer in Madison, Wisconsin. I asked if they had any information on this piece of equipment, or if they had any interest in having it on display in their showroom. They had nothing. Nobody there knew a single thing about this beauty. Nobody was even remotely interested. I've never seen one on eBay, never heard about them from anyone else.

Yet here it lives, and I use it all season to help me with my food preservation. And I can't help but believe that all the hope and determination of the many hands touching this canner over the years transfers to me every time I touch it. So whenever I feel overwhelmed by my many tasks at hand, whenever people ask me why I spend so much time growing and preserving food in our uncertain world, whenever I doubt myself, and wonder if I can manage canning a big batch, I think to myself, "I can." No, I think, "Of course I can!"


I dedicate this entry to all home-canners: past, present, and future. Of Course You Can!

Just yesterday, a mailing tube arrived, via UPS, with a surprise for me! Hubbo ordered the above "Of Course I Can" poster for me, got a frame, and we are hanging it in my kitchen. I am ecstatic. Can't wait to see it on my wall.

I obtained images of the above posters by googling "Victory Garden" under "images."

A Tale of Tomatoes

Today, the kids and I worked on pureeing about 2 bushels of tomatoes, to make tomato soup for the coming winter. I thought you might like to see a brief photo essay of our process.

Huge, white beefsteak tomatoes from the garden.

Lonely table, awaiting tomatoes and boys...

Victorio strainer, ready for action...

First boy on the job, eager to make soup!

Keep up the great work, Levi!




Look, Mom! The puree looks like rainbows!




Cherokee Purple and White Beefsteak Tomatoes responsible for making the rainbows.




Second boy, ready for action!




Izak is looking forward to tasting the soup after sledding this coming winter!




Tired Mama, after the work is done...

Summer! -or- Please Stay Tuned...

If you stopped by to check in on me, I thank you.




Wow, has this been a busy summer! Maybe the busiest ever, for me.




Since early June, we have taken two trips, managed our huge garden, built a wood shed, completed 4-H projects, had the projects judged, socialized with friends, and prepared and pulled off a big bake sale/fundraiser.



I have sprinkled a bit of harvesting and food preservation in there, as well, not to mention mowing, weeding, mulching, and regular household maintenance.



Factor in Father's Day, Hubbo's birthday, a few dentist and eye doctor appointments (we all wear glasses), and basketball camp, and you start to see wear I am going with this post.



I simply have not had time to devote to this blog.



But I knew that would be the case.



I have had desire to blog all summer, and certainly enough subject matter, but not enough time.



So, before the next round of craziness kicks off in the next couple of days (State Fair, another journey, Aztec Adventures Camp, and the loads of harvesting and preserving coming on) here are a few pics to tide you over.



If you're still stopping in and haven't given up on me, thank you! I hope to post more often in the coming weeks, so please stay tuned...