Batch #1

We haven't been blogging much lately for a lot of very good reasons that you don't care about.  We have found a new culinary related passion - homebrewing!  We made our first batch last weekend and it was quite the adventure...

We decided to start with a stout because the ladies at the homebrew store said it was a good starting beer and because we really enjoy stouts.  We bought a starter kit but, upon opening the box, were a bit disappointed that there was nothing to explain what each piece of equipment was nor were most of the items labeled.  After getting the water up to the proper heat to put the grains in, we realized that we'd neglected to buy a grain bag.  That was fine, though, thanks to my cheesemaking adventures.  We improvised a 'grain bag' out of a 2 foot by 2 foot section of cheesecloth.  First crisis, adverted!!

So, we steeped the grain for half an hour, added the malt and boiled for an hour.  At the end of that, you're supposed to add a bag of ice to the fermenter before adding the hot liquid...  but we seemed to overlook that step:).  So, we put the whole thing outside to get it cooled down to 65 degrees so we could add the yeast.  In the meantime, we'd had a few beers, had friends over for dinner and movies, had a few more beers...  and were totally ready for bed.  The fermenter had only cooled to 80 degrees but our homebrewed experienced friend assured us that we could just deal with it in the morning and nothing bad would happen...

True to form, Ty woke up at 3am, hungry, and added the yeast, sealed the fermenter and inserted the airlock...  or so he thought, anyway.  Remember, before, where I complained that nothing was labeled??  Well, the directions call for the airlock to be inserted and then add water to the fill line.  In our equipment, there was only one thing that could be filled with water but it had no fill line.  It was weird but we were able to get it into the grommet in the fermenter lid so we thought, this must be the airlock!  

We had so much fun brewing that first batch and we decided that we wanted to start our second batch this weekend.  Which meant that we needed the ingredients as well as a few duplicate pieces of equipment...  which meant a trip back to our local homebrew store.  And, lo and behold, what we were trying to use as an airlock was actually the bottle filler and our kit was completely missing an airlock!!!  I'm sure you veteran brewers out there will have a great chuckle at that... but it is super confusing to an newbie!!  

The lady  there said to just go ahead and transfer to our secondary and add the airlock to that and we'd be just fine.  Of course, Ty did this without reading the directions so he just poured it in rather than syphoning it.  Hopefully, though, it'll be okay.  

At this point, I'll just be happy if we get something that's tolerable to drink.  As I'm typing out this blog post, I'm waiting for the water on our second batch to heat to 165 degrees.  So, we seem to be hooked on this new hobby of ours.  I'll leave you with two pictures - our kit and the malt, improvised grain bag and my brewing beer for batch #2. 

Dairy Day

In what should be a surprise to no one, our mozzarella day has turned into a mozzarella, ricotta, butter and Greek yogurt day!  We are nothing if not overly ambitious.  And, Jewel doesn't know it yet, but I'm hoping that we'll also be make a couple of baguettes with the leftover whey from the cheese making.  I've also never made bread but our cheese making instructor said that using whey instead of water makes for very good and interesting bread.  Seems only natural that we should be serving up our homemade cheese with some homemade bread, no?

Cheese Making Class

Jewel and I took a cheese making class last night and it was amazing!  The process is amazingly simple yet very precise.  The instructor, Debbie, had a very relaxed and down to earth personality.  She made the class both fun and informative.  In fact, I'm trying to rearrange my schedule to go to her feta class soon!

We are so inspired to make some of our own mozzerella that we will be making some this weekend.  I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and post about it here so stay tuned... 

Meatless Mondays and no TV Tuesdays

Meatless Mondays and no TV Tuesdays are two ideas that I'm toying with incorporating into my life.  I don't think it would do any harm to go one a week without any meat.  And I also don't think it would do any harm to go one night a week without watching TV - although I think convincing my better half of this might be a lot of work...  if not totally impossible.  I have a stack of about three months of magazines and several books that I really should get to.  Eliminating one evening of TV in lieu of reading sounds like a really good idea.  

Anyone out there try either of these ideas?  If so, what about it worked for you?  And what were the challenges?

CSA

Our CSA summer share started this week after a month off since the winter share.  I missed it!  This week, we got collards, leeks, green garlic, spinach, parsley, cauliflower and popcorn kernels.  We like to supplement our share with our two raised beds which I like to call my kitchen garden.  We put two types of lettuce (just don't ask me which types!) a couple of weeks ago.  We have rosemary, chives and thyme that regularly overwinters quite well so I've been regularly harvesting lettuce, chives and thyme for salads for Ty (I don't eat salad).  We've also been often using the chives, rosemary and thyme in regular meals for the last month or so.  

I planted the majority of the rest of the garden yesterday.  We put in SIX basil plants for four varieties!  I think that basil has been my best gardening success - we use it some in cooking but mostly use it to make batches and batches of pesto.  We don't always do it the same way but it's generally always a combo of basil leaves, pine nuts or walnuts, parm and EVOO.  We them but the pesto into ice cube trays in the freezer until set.  Then we pop the cubes out and into a freezer bag to use the rest of the year.  Except that we always, always run out well before the next year's basil season.  So, this year, we doubled up on the basil plants:).  

We've also put in four tomato plants, another chive, another rosemary (this one trailing), green beans and soybeans.  The soybeans are an experiment but we did get them last summer from the farm so I'm pretty sure it is at least possible to grow them here.  

I'd also like to add three tomatillo plants.  Last year, I had the most beautiful tomatillo plant you've ever seen - tall, healthy with tons and tons of flowers.  I was so proud.  And I waited and waiting for that puppy to fruit...  before I looked it up and discovered that one plant will never fruit because a solo plant does not pollinate.  SO, this year I need enough that they will pollinate so I can make a bunch of salsa verde! 

Quinoa Porridge

I found this recipe in Trail Runner magazine and it is delish!

1 cup quinoa
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 apple, peeled, cored and diced
1 cup walnuts
1 cup raisins or dried cranberries
2 tablespoons maple or agave syrup
1 cup blueberries or other berry

In a medium saucepan, combine the quinoa and 2 cups of water.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer covered for 12 minutes.  Add cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and milk and simmer covered for an additional 10 minutes.  Stir in apple, walnuts, raisins and syrup.  Cover and let rest 10 minutes.  Serve topped with blueberries. 

I had red quinoa at home so that's what I used.  I also used 1/2 golden raisins and 1/2 cup dried cranberries since that was about all I had of each.  Ty added Tabassco to his and really enjoyed it. 

Half a Hog

We recently went in on half a hog with friends.  The total cost was $450 for about 100 pounds of pork products which included hams, a shoulder, country ribs, spare ribs, sausage, bacon and chops.  So far, we've had the bacon and chops - I must say that they were to die for...  the flavor is amazing and the bacon cooks up crispy but not overcooked at all. Easily the best of either that I've ever had.  We got our hog from Full of Life Farms.  They are a local farm that raises all of their animals to be antibiotic and growth hormone free.  Once they are ready for slaughter, they are sent to a local butcher in Mount Angel.  When they receive your animal, they call you to discuss how you'd like it butchered and packaged.  

Here's a picture from this morning's breakfast that includes the yummiest bacon ever as well as collards and purple potatoes from our local CSA.  

Next up?  We'll be buying and splitting a half a cow with the same friends!  Our expectations are high after the hog... 

Spiced Almonds

Spiced Almonds

2 cups raw almonds
2 teaspoons EVOO
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
3/4 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon cayenne

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Toss almonds in bowl with EVOO until coated.  Spread on baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.  Mix spices, salt and sugar in small bowl.  Remove almonds from oven and carefully transfer back to oil coated bowl.   Sprinkle spice mixture onto almonds and toss to coat.  Return almonds to baking sheet and bake 5 more minutes.  Allow to cool and serve!  

Apple Crisp

I used up a jar of apple pie filling last night by baking up an apple crisp.  I went way too heavy on the crisp part so I'm adjusting the recipe down by a bit but here it is:

1 jar apple pie filling

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Blend the brown sugar, flour and butter until the butter is in pea sized chunks - you can use a food processor for this but I just used a pastry blender.  Add the oats and nuts.  Pour the apple pie filling into an 8 x 8 Pyrex and add the crisp topping.  Bake at 350 for 20 - 25 minutes. 

Food Storage

I have been very haphazardly building some food storage options for us without realizing exactly what I was doing.  Last week, we ordered half a hog to split with the Millers and put in our respective freezers.  Next month, I think we'll order a quarter or half cow for the same purpose.  Over the summer, Jewel and I did a bunch of canning and we still have a decent supply of that in the pantry - in fact, we need to get better about USING it more.  

So, today, when I came across this post:  http://sharonastyk.com/2011/03/06/newbie-food-storage-on-the-cheap/comment-page-1/#comment-37479, it really got me to thinking.  Ty and I need to develop more of a plan regarding our food storage.  I'm not sure what that plan is but that's totally okay.  All good plans start with a lot of thinking anyway:).  Unlike a lot of people who store food, we aren't really focused on emergency planning.  Rather, we are trying to make buying good, high quality, organic, sustainable, anti-biotic free, non-genetically modified food more affordable.  But it is nice to know that we'd be in good shape should an emergency arise...  


I'm sure there's a lot of good resources online so I'm off to do more research!