A Roost of Their Own

Oh man.  The first day back-to-normal after a fun holiday is never easy.

Little Petey

I was best fitted for guzzling coffee and snuggling on the couch this morning, thinking over the coziness of hosting a bunch of loving people, eating good food together, and enjoying one another's company.  Jason & I were excited to have both sets of parents and our younger sisters come for Thanksgiving at our house, along with our friend Cathy and her mother--many of my favorite people in the world.  Everyone contributed to our non-traditional (but delicious) menu, and best of all, I didn't wash a single dish!!  As tends to happen when my sister comes to stay, we continued the celebrating after the actual holiday was done--getting in some quality time with good friends over the weekend.  (Again, over a shared meal in most cases--is there anything better than eating with those you love?)

So tired!

Velvety, irresistible puppy ears.

Also, thanks to my sister, we welcomed a new furry member to the extended family:  a little pup named Petey, who Christiana witnessed being dropped off at the pound (not a no-kill shelter) and couldn't forget.  A week later, he was still there, shaking in fear in the back of his cold wire cage, now plagued by fleas and kennel cough--and that was that!  Petey seems to understand his debt, and his wiggly, overjoyed little body never stops trying to pay Christiana back with love, snuggling, and the kind of enthusiastic tail-wagging that brings his whole back half right along with it!  Part dachshund, and seemingly part Italian greyhound, Petey seems more like a miniature deer with his slender legs and body--with the exception of those soft, floppy ears.  Being a bit of a baby still, he was most easily captured by a camera during his many naps on his mama's lap....

Completed cold frame

Today, however, was also a beautiful day with sunshine and a temperature in the high 50s, and so after dawdling through much of the morning, I had an early lunch and headed outside to finish a few odds and ends.  First, I finally added the hinges to the cold frame I built a few weeks ago, and fashioned a wedge to use for venting the box on warmer days like today.  This was one of those pesky five-minute jobs that has been hanging over my head--very satisfying to cross off the list at last! 

Lettuce, collards, cabbage, spinach and green onions

While in the garden, I also tore down the tomato plants and their climbing paraphernalia, depositing the dead plants in my brush pile and the metal tomato ladders in the garage, and I also drained the big plastic barrels I have set aside for rain barrels in the spring and made sure to turn them over so that no more water can collect in them and freeze.  I hauled the rest of the free wood that has been piled in the driveway around to the back of the garage, next to the compost bin, in an attempt to tidy up a bit, and I filled the bird feeders and straightened the garage.  Every time I think it is finally going to be too cold for any further outside chores, the weather warms enough for a productive day like this!

The new roost (and curious chickens)

Another lingering task was to build a roost for the chickens inside their coop.  They are showing more and more interest in roosting, and are of age to want to sleep that way.  Unfortunately, this means that they have been flying up to the top of the coop--which I hadn't yet put a ceiling on--and this means chicken poop on my garage floor.  Ew.  So, today I was determined to add both a roost for them, and a ceiling to the pen for better insulation during the cold months to come. 

Ramona (and one of her pin-up roosters)

The roost is simply a 2" x 2" piece of wood mounted around 18-24" off of the floor of the coop--a good circumference for the girls to grasp and the preferred height
off the ground.  Within minutes of getting it in place, the girls were checking it out.  Then I used a large piece of plywood to cover about two-thirds of the coop and placed a spare window screen over the remaining opening, to allow for ample ventilation and extra light inside the coop.  No one seemed concerned with the changes--just appreciative of the food and water being returned to their hangers.  The only remaining chicken-construction will be their nest boxes, and I don't plan on making those until the new year.

Coop, Sweet Coop

And now it is time to get some Christmas-centered knitting accomplished--as well as reassuring my darling felines that the dreaded puppy has, indeed, gone back to Ohio and the house is theirs once more.  Not to mention my lap.  :)

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Homemade Hygiene. Oh, yeah.

Well, I've crossed another invisible line, but I think that our relationship can handle it.

Herb garden.  Food, medicine, and cleaning?

Since you haven't written me off with the urban livestock, I feel safe venturing into another new realm:  I'm tired of buying "natural" cleaning products, shampoos, conditioners, and laundry detergents.  I'm tired of all of the label-reading and expense.  I would love to make use of my home's gray water--but I don't quite know that I trust even my green stuff, poured over my plants, to prove healthy for them and the soil.  So, I've listened to my favorite enviro advice column and decided to make these products for myself.

I'm taking all of this one step at a time, using up the remaining commercial products we have and starting herbal concoctions going that take a few weeks to brew.  For now, I have switched to making my own shampoo, conditioner, dish soap, and kitchen floor cleaner.  Whew.

OK.  I would guess that anyone still reading this is with me here, but I should still mention that--ahem-- I do not live in fear of germs and dirt.  There are bad germs, absolutely; I like a clean house & self as well as anyone.  I am a big fan of washing hands.  What I find laughable is this pervasive idea that we are going to nuke any potential germs (The Bad Guys), and this will magically grant us health and safety--as though the larger world and the microscopic one can be adequately assessed by an "us-versus-them" scenario.

Anyway, I can rant about systems thinking and out-dated patriarchal competition-and-fear-based social paradigms another time.  (!)  For now, let's talk about castile soap, baking soda, white vinegar, lemon juice, herbs and essential oils--and pursue a less heroic path towards cleanliness.

Step aside, Suave...

Wanna try this yourself?  These recipes are heavily inspired by The Naturally Clean Home and my latest favorite herbal book Wild & Weedy Apothecary, both of which contain all sorts of goodness.  I get impatient about measuring things closely, so I used the recipes as guidelines most of the time.  Here are the successes (at least so far, so good):


Simple Shampoo
1 T. baking soda dissolved in
1 c. warm water

Pour into an old shampoo bottle, close, and shake.  Apply generously to wet hair & scalp, scrubbing scalp with fingertips and making sure to thoroughly saturate your hair.  Leave on for a few minutes if you like and then rinse.

Variations:

   -Use a cup of herbal tea or an herbal infusion* in place of the water.  Good herbs to use include rosemary, sage, horsetail, nettles, and yarrow flowers.  I find this recipe lasts me through several showers--if you use tea, it might be best to refrigerate after a few days.

   -You may substitute 1 oz of castile soap for the baking soda. I've been happy with the baking soda so far...and afraid the castile soap might be too drying.

*An herbal infusion is a tea made with more plant material, brewed for a much longer time.  A very general recipe might be one ounce of dried herb (root or leaf) in one pint of boiling water, covered and steeped for eight hours or overnight.  Flowers and seeds are more delicate and require shorter steeping time.  Any herbal by Susun Weed is great for more detail.  

Conditioning Rinse
1 T. apple cider vinegar (preferably the good organic stuff) added to
1 c. warm water.

Pour into an old conditioner bottle, shake, and work your concoction through your scalp and hair, letting it soak in for a bit--I rinse it at the end of my shower. 

Variations:

   -If you would like, you can steep beneficial herbs in the vinegar for a month, shaking daily and storing in a sunny window.  I have some brewing; in the meantime, I added 4-5 drops of bergamot essential oil to my current mix--the earthy orange blends blissfully with the cider vinegar.

   -For help with dandruff and to encourage general scalp health, make an herbal vinegar out of nettle, violet leaf, red clover and peppermint, according to The Wild and Weedy Apothecary.  Or (no joke) parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme.  Love it.

Love-in-a-Tangle and herbal vinegar

As strange as it seems to not be lathering a sudsy shampoo into my hair, it is actually working well--not too oily, not too frizzy or dry--I'm digging this, to be honest.  I am still using a tiny dab of leave-in conditioner and a larger dab of gel...although while researching recipes, I came across this website which has a ton of info on making the baking soda/vinegar potions, why they are effective, and recipes for homemade gel, mousse, and hairspray.  Hmmm.  I sense homemade gel in my future.

Another super homemade cleaner is the citrus-mint kitchen/bathroom floor cleaner that I used to mop my kitchen linoleum a few days ago.  Using essential oils has been reminding me how effective aromatherapy is--who knew I could enjoy mopping anything??  And, yet, the smell was blissful.

Citrus-Mint Floor Cleaner
Fill a bucket with very hot water
Add:  a few squirts (tablespoons?) of Dr Bronner's peppermint castile soap
15 drops sweet orange essential oil
8 drops lemon essential or 1/4 c. lemon juice (or both)

If you have unscented castile soap, that is how I originally found this recipe, and I am sure it would be great--however, I just used what I had--which was the minty stuff, and it smelled fantastic with the orange & lemon.

My big failure so far has been liquid dish soap.  Boo.  Unfortunately we do not have a dishwasher, and so I need something that will really hold up to loads of dishes.  In the middle of this, I've also been experimenting with creating herbal salves and lip balms--which means a lot of olive oil, shea butter and melted beeswax all over my kitchen.  This is not a great time for lackluster dish soap.  I'm about to cave and spend some more time on R & D...with a bottle of Mrs. Meyers or Seventh Generation handy.

First, I tried several tablespoons of castile soap to a sinkful of hot water, adding 4-5 drops of lemon essential oil as well.  This seemed to clean adequately but left a hazy film on everything, particularly glassware.  I tried collecting rinse water in the other side of my sink and adding several tablespoons of vinegar to get rid of the film, but that didn't seem to help.  Of course, I was also washing olive oil salve off of some of this stuff--I'm not sure anything can handle that the first time through.

Grated soap:  now available in a bottle-shaped bar!

So, I tried another recipe.  I grated a bar of Dr Bronner's unscented castile into hot water, stirred it until the soap was dissolved, and let it cool for five minutes.  Then I added lemon juice, some essential oils, and several tablespoons of vegetable glycerin.  When I deemed it cool, I stirred it to break up any areas that might have solidified, and then I used a funnel to pour it into an empty dish soap squeeze bottle.  Unfortunately, I discovered that it wasn't cool enough and now I have a squeeze bottle-shaped hunk of hard-ish soap and a little filmy, bubbly water surrounding it.

I think that to truly make a good dish soap, I may have to venture into actual soap-making.  I would love to try at some point, but not right now; I'm not entirely excited about working with lye anyway.  So, in the interim, I am resigned to buy it ready-made.

There you have it.  Homemade Hygiene, Part One.  When I run out of laundry detergent, window spray, and the various bathroom cleansers I will be back with more recipes!

Bread Baking. It's time, y'all!

OK, so, not everyone is a baker.  Or wants to be one. Yeast breads in particular take up several hours of your day and have a notorious reputation for being difficult.  If, however, you are a label-reading food shopper, you know that bread with wholesome real ingredients is expensive--and I suspect that when you proudly bear your first loaf from the oven and taste a still-warm slice, you will wonder how you ever tolerated the lifeless stuff on the grocery shelves.

[Warning:  if you find yourself converted from store-bought sandwich bread, you may be at risk for venturing into other, equally delicious realms of bakery.  Flat breads, tortillas, cornbread, crackers, quick breads, english muffins--they are all fantastic when homemade.  Carb heaven, I tell you.]

I must confess:  I love the alchemy of yeast.  I rarely proof my yeast now because I use instant rather than active dry yeast, but if you are new to baking, I think a few rounds of watching the active dry get all bubbly is inspiring.  It is kind of like gardening...with fungi...at a microscopic level...on super fast-forward steroids.  I may just be weird about this, but there is something about taking the rough dough, kneading it until it is supple, and then watching it grow and change and bake and change again that is half science experiment and half mysterious transformation, ruled ultimately by the gods of warm rising spots and fickle yeast.

Right.  Moving on.  Sorry.

I grew up watching and helping my mom bake bread, so in many ways, a house that smells like baking bread signifies "home" to me.  I know that yeast gets a bad rap, and I would have to recommend bypassing cheap supermarket yeast packets that have been sitting at room temperature or hotter for god knows how long--make a $6 investment and buy some good instant yeast.  It should be kept in the freezer, but I prefer working with it--there are more live cells in it than the active dry and so it responds faster and you can use less.

OK.  Here is the basic sandwich bread recipe that I grew up with.  It is my mother's, it makes two loaves, and it is the most delicious toast or grilled cheese ever.  It is originally written as part white flour and part whole wheat--for the lightest results, that is probably how you should try it.  If you would like to make it entirely from whole wheat, as I do, that works too--I like the new "white" whole wheat that you can get from King Arthur Flour and Bob's Red Mill and that Trader Joe's sells as well.  You can add a few tablespoons of vital wheat gluten (available from King Arthur & Bob's also) if you would like to help the loaves rise a bit more.

If you have a heavy-duty stand mixer, like a Kitchen-Aid, then you can mix up the ingredients and also let the mixer do the kneading for you.  It took me a long time to accept this, but a mixer or a bread machine will produce a lighter whole wheat loaf than hand-kneading does...but much of the pleasure (and exercise) of bread baking comes from kneading the bread the old-fashioned way.  I say, try both ways and become proficient at both.  When you want to savor the experience, knead by hand; when you want to be more speedy or efficient, let the machine work for you.  Remember:  even though the bread requires some time to rise, you have very little work to do once you've mixed up the ingredients and kneaded the dough--spend the rising time doing other stuff around the house or garden and suddenly you've accomplished a bunch of chores and you end up with yummy homemade bread. 

And, a final note:  the abbreviations that I use for different measuring units are:  c. = cup, T. = tablespoon, t. = teaspoon.

Mom's Bread:

Wet Ingredients
4 T. (1/2 stick or 1/4 c.) butter/margerine
1 1/2 c. water
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. cottage cheese
1/4 c. honey

Dry Ingredients
2 c. whole wheat flour
4 - 4 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
2 packages (4 1/2 t.) active dry yeast (or 3 1/2 t. instant)
1 T. salt

Prepare wet ingredients:  slowly melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat, making sure it doesn't start to brown.  Add the milk, then the honey, water, and the cottage cheese, and stir occasionally until it is quite warm, but not too hot for the inside of your wrist--similar to checking a baby bottle.  If you want to assess it with a candy thermometer, it should be around 110 degrees.

If you are mixing and kneading by hand, mix three cups of the flour with the yeast and salt in a large mixing bowl.  Pour in the wet ingredients and stir until the flour has been incorporated.  I use a wooden spoon usually, but sometimes a large metal spoon is better at scraping down the sides & bottom of the bowl as you stir.  Add more of the remaining flour until the dough is too stiff to mix anymore by hand.  Prepare a clean counter top with a good dusting of flour and make sure that you have some elbow room.  Tip and scrape the dough onto the floured surface, dust the top with more flour and start to knead.

Kneading is done by folding the dough over on itself, pushing into the fold with the heel of your hand, and then turning the dough about a quarter turn or so and repeating (1. Fold  2. Push  3. Turn).  The dough will gradually become smooth and elastic rather than sticky and soft.  At first, the flour soaks in quickly and the dough gets sticky again--continue to dust the counter top and the surface of the dough as needed.  It is smart to measure out the remaining flour and try not to use more than that--the bread will be heavy and dense if you add too much flour, particularly when you are working with whole grains.  You can knead for a few minutes and then let the dough rest for 10 minutes--this allows the flour and water in the dough to combine a bit and will make the kneading a little easier.  Knead for 8-10 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic.

If you are using a mixer, pour the wet ingredients into your mixer's bowl first, then add almost all of the dry ingredients--reserving about 1/2 to 1 cup of the flour.  Use your dough hook, and start mixing on low until the wet and dry are combined, then turn up a bit--either level 2 or 4 on a Kitchen-Aid and medium at most if you have a different machine.  Use a 1/4 cup measure to add the rest of the flour evenly around the edge of the bowl as it mixes, pausing for a few minutes between to let the flour incorporate.  After several minutes the dough will start to cling to the dough hook and not be sticking to the sides of the bowl--this is what you are aiming for.

Lightly grease a large mixing bowl.  Form the kneaded dough into a ball and put it in the greased bowl, turning it once to coat both sides with oil.  Cover with a kitchen towel or use plastic wrap that you have sprayed with oil on one side, and then drape, oil side down, loosely over the bowl.  Place the bowl in a warm spot (oven with pilot light burning, top of refrigerator, on a heating pad set on "low" and swaddled in kitchen towels) for 45-60 minutes, or until the dough has doubled in size.  (With instant yeast, start checking for size at 30 minutes.)

Turn dough out on a clean counter and gently deflate.  Shape the dough into a rough rectangle and cut into two equal pieces.  Pat the pieces in to loaf shapes, trying not to trap large air bubbles inside.  Grease two 9 x 5" loaf pans and place the loaves in them, with any seams on the bottom.  Cover again and let rise for 35-45 minutes.  Toward the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  When loaves have risen an inch above the rim of the pans (or the end of the rising time, whichever comes first), place in oven and bake for 35-45 minutes.  Loaves should be a deep brown on top and sound hollow when tapped.  Turn out of loaf pans and cool on a rack.  Keep in a large plastic bag after fully cooled.

And, voila!  Homemade bread. 

It is good that this recipe makes two loaves...if I haven't been baking regularly, we usually are overwhelmed by the yummy-ness and the first loaf seems to evaporate a few hours after baking!  Enjoy--and if you have any questions, I am happy to help.  Just post a comment or send me an email at mjgoeglein@msn.com.  Happy bread baking!

p.s.  One more fun fact:  the more you bake with yeast in your kitchen, the higher your loaves will rise--thanks to the wild yeast that starts living there.  The wild stuff lends a hand too.  Love it.

Spaghetti Squash Cheesy Ridiculousness--a recipe.

I thought I would jot down quickly (before I forget) the yummy goodness that we had for dinner last night. I tend to throw recipes together with what's on hand and not really write things down.  This one was a keeper. (Apologies for the cheese--we have a ton leftover from pizza weekend with my parents.  Not that that is a problem; we're into aged dairy in this house....  Also, all measurements are a guess.  I would increase the seasonings if you are using tomato paste.)



Cheesy Baked Spaghetti Squash

1 med-lg spaghetti squash
half of 1 lg onion, chopped into thin slivers
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 med zucchini, cut into quarters and then sliced 1/4" thick
1 med green bell pepper, chopped
3 c. shredded mozzarella or italian mix (or to taste)
1/3 c shredded parmesan
1 package Quorn crumbles or 1 lb ground beef, cooked and drained, or 1 pkg soy crumbles
2 ripe tomatoes
1/2 c. tomato sauce/pizza sauce (could use a few T. of tomato paste & 1/2 c water)
1/2 t. garlic powder, onion powder
1 T. dried basil, dried oregano
fresh ground pepper
1/2 T red pepper flakes

Cut squash in half the short way, remove seeds.  Place squash halves cut-side down in a baking dish with 1" of water and bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes.  In a large skillet, saute onion in a tablespoon or so of olive oil for a few minutes, then add garlic.  After a few more minutes, add zucchini and green pepper.  Saute until tender-crisp.  Scrape insides out of the squash into a large mixing bowl.  Add the sauted vegetables.  In the same skillet, add all of the remaining ingredients except the cheeses and heat over med-low heat (if it seems dry, add 1/4 c. water or tomato sauce as needed, but this will be more "meat" than sauce).  Heat through and simmer briefly.  Add to squash and vegetable mixture and toss well.

Spray 9 X 13" baking dish lightly with oil.  Put a shallow layer of the squash mixture to cover the bottom of the dish.  Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and add a layer of the shredded cheese.  Repeat with squash, parm, and mozz, ending with a layer of cheese.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or until nicely browned on top.  Serve with garlic bread.  Serves 4-6 with leftovers.

Mmmm.   And now, off to enjoy a 72 degree day in November!  I think I'll plant some garlic :)