{Recap} October 2015

October, where it starts to feel like fall.

Routines fall into place. Or out the window, again.

This was also the month we found out we were welcoming another boy to our family! 

So if you are keeping track that makes three boys and one girl!

Anyone else with me? Once you have a baby of one gender and go to have another of the same gender, doesn't it make it so much harder than picking out a name for the opposite gender?

October was also the month of Applesauce making!

All these years we thought it was a crab apple tree. Sure enough, it wasn't! We think because we moved our apple trees, it helped pollinate it! So we made lots of applesauce!

Ah, I am loving going through my pictures to share.  

I was working with Wyatt on his letters, and e wanted nothing to do with it.

I started to feel like his fine motor skills needed some work, but he didn't want anything to do with pencil and paper.... so out came the chalkboard, chalk and a wet q-tip to erase what I had wrote!

Worked like a charm!

October is the time of picking the last of the garden before frost threats!

Itty bitty squash anyone? 

This year the kids could not decide what they wanted to be for Halloween. 

I could ask daily, and it would be so different than the day before.

So this year, I sucked it up and just bought their costumes.

At first I had mom guilt. But I couldn't have made them for $10 each and thats all they cost!  So no tutorial on what I made them!

But! I did make these for Carter's Halloween Party at School! So fun right?!?!

Some of the kids loved them, others thought they were too gross to eat! Ha!

{Makes} Pizza Dough!

Who knew adding ONE ingredient would make such a difference in a pizza dough!

I've always made this recipe, and it was always a little dense.

Since finding the secret ingredient to restaurant quality pizza dough I have gone from an occasional pizza eater, to is it pizza night yet?!? 

And since it's Friday, it's Pizza night here! So it's the perfect time to share the perfect pizza dough recipe!

Have you figured out what the secret ingredient is?

Let's think about it...

We all know pizza dough is a yeast based dough (right?), so that isn't the secret ingredient.

Then you need water to wake up the yeast, so it's not that.

Then you need flour, so it's not that either.

Different recipes add seasonings, and they don't change anything but flavor. 

Alright, I'll finally let you in on it...

Baking Powder! 

Who knew one teaspoon could make such a difference!

To make the dough you will need:

1 1/3 cup warm water (too hot and it will kill your yeast)

2 teaspoons sugar

2 teaspoons yeast (or one packet)

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 cups sifted flour  (no sifter, no problem!)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

Let's get dough making!

To activate yeast, put your warm water in a bowl. Not to hot, not to cold. Add your sugar, this will act like a food to get your yeast to start metabolizing and waking up. Then stir in your yeast.  Now is when I start pulling out the rest of my ingredients, and sifting my flour.  The yeast needs about 10 minutes to be ready for dough making. I do this in my metal mixer bowl.

While I wait for my yeast, I sift my flour, baking powder, and seasonings into a separate bowl.  Sometimes you need to improvise and use a cheese grater, others a sifter works too!

Once the yeast is ready, I turn my mixer on low with the paddle on. 

First slowly add the oil, then my bowl of dry ingredients.

Once my ingredients start to get incorporated, I switch over to my hook attachment.

If you don't have a stand mixer, I imagine you could do this in a food processor, or by hand.

If by hand I would say use a spoon until now, then knead by hand.

At this time I use the medium speed on my mixer. I've seen some recipes say allow the dough to mix on medium speed for 10 minutes. I don't think you need to for that long, all it does for me is shake my mixer across the counter, so I like to mix it on medium until I get a nice ball. 

No for some hands off time. The rising. 

If your kitchen is warm, all you need is a damp kitchen towel over the top of your bowl.  

If your kitchen is cold like mine there are a couple of tricks you can do. 

I use my oven. When I start my yeast, I turn my oven on full blast. My oven is 1970's old, so it takes forever to heat up, so you may need to play with your oven temperature. when I'm just about ready to turn my mixer to medium with the dough hook I turn it off.  You don't want to bake your dough in the bowl, just keep it warm. Then I place my dough, with the wet kitchen towel in my oven to rise.

If you have a microwave (we don't), you can put a bowl of water in the microwave for 5 minutes, then take it out and put your dough bowl in (don't turn back on). You just want the moist warm environment.

After an hour or so, you have beautiful fluffy dough!

I like to scrape the sides of my bowl with a spatula, and dump it on the pan I am going to bake it on.

Once on the pan, I roll it out with a  rolling pin. 

I find the less pressure you roll with the better. 

You don't want to ruin all the air bubbles, it will make it dense.

See the corners? I use my fingers to spread the dough to them. Or you could leave it short too.

Now for some toppings! 

If I'm doing a red pizza I start with my canned garden tomato pizza sauce. 

If I'm leaving white, I will add a little more garlic.

For the kids, just cheese! My husband pepperoni! 

My personal favorite? White pizza with Garlic and Broccoli.

Yum! 

Happy Friday!

And Happy Pizza Night!

I'm off to make my dough for later!

{Makes} Yogurt

Makes? Cooks? I'm not really even sure if this qualifies as making or cooking. 

But I'm not sure what else to label it!

 

Yogurt, it's a funny thing in the All Things Fee household. We either love it or hate it. We are kind of picky about it. I've always been a fruit at the bottom fan (but rarely bought it), I think because its not as thin as the mixed stuff. Then I made the mistake of getting my husband hooked on greek fruit at the bottom. Boy can it be pricey! He would take one a day to work, and then the kids would want some, and I'd be guarding the ones for him each week! We even tried buying regular yogurt for the kids (they weren't finishing a cup, and refused to share) and greek for my husband and they would still take his!

I had mentioned a couple times that I wanted to try to make my own, but never got around to trying it out. But then Santa Nana {my mom} gave me a yogurt maker for Christmas! While it isn't necessary to have a yogurt maker, it made it easier (no checking on it, until 8 hrs later) especially for the first try. It took a lot of second guessing away.

Now, that I've made it quite a few times I am finding what flavors we like, and how many batches to make (my maker only makes 2 qts at a time), and how easy it really is.

If your thinking about making yogurt, it really is simple.

Plus, if you think you don't have time to make yogurt, think again!

Your busy for the first 15minutes or so, then you wait 8 hours, move it to the fridge, wait 8 more hours, then wait a couple more hours (if you strain it) then divide into containers. 

So it's maybe 30 minutes of "work" the rest is wait time.

To make your own you will need:

Milk (My yogurt maker only holds 2 qts, so that's how much milk I start with.)

Yogurt "starter" (Just live culture yogurt from the store, or from a previous batch (thats what I used)

A pot (big enough to warm your milk in)

Thermometer (Key temps 115' and 185')

Yogurt maker (other options later in post)

Cheesecloth, Strainer (if you like your yogurt thick)

Containers to store in

Let's get yogurt making!

Heat milk to 180' your not looking to boil it, just warm it up. 

Also I stir it a lot, I don't want any burning to the bottom of the pan.

 Cool to 115', I fill my sink with cold water, and put the pan in the sink full of water.

Add a bit of live culture yogurt. I like to scoop a couple ladle-fulls of warm milk into the yogurt to incorporate. Then I mix it into the rest.

(I've seen the amount of yogurt vary greatly, a couple tbspns to a cup, 

so I am still working on what works best for me, so far I think 1/2 to 3/4 cup may be the winner.)

   Then keep warm for 8 hours.

This is where I used the yogurt maker, But I've seen recipes/tutorials use a crock pot, your oven (off with light on) or cooler full of warm water. This is the "trickiest" part from what I've read. 

After 8 hours, put in the fridge ( I do overnight), and decide if it is thick enough to your liking.

Like I said, we like it thick like greek yogurt, so I strain some of the whey off.

Now, the straining process is simple, the timing of it depends on how thick you want your yogurt. 

My yogurt machine came with a straining bag. It looks and feels like a light canvas material, or even a muslin material. It has to pull strings to close if you want. Personally, I put the bag inside out,so the seams and strings are on the outside and not inside with the yogurt. Then I just set it in my strainer, and the strainer in a my giant pot (so that strainer handles balance on the rim, and the whey falls away from the bag). You want the whey to fall away from the yogurt, not sitting in it.

I haven't timed my yogurt straining. I just put the pot in the fridge, and check on it with a spoon. Once it is thick enough I lift the bag and squeeze it once or twice.

This is the whey. It's a thick liquid that I've read is wonderful for you. I haven't tried to do anything with it (some drink it straight, some bake with it), except give to our Golden Retriever. He LOVES it. I just pour it over his dry food and he goes to town.  He had some "doggy dandruff" going on, and I've noticed a big difference in his coat and he is less "flaky"!

Once your done straining your yogurt, divide into individual containers if you plan on packing in lunches, or put in a large container, add toppings of your choice! Also, save some plain if you plan on making again! You can use a bit from this batch to start your next! But I have noticed after 2-3 batches I need a new starter. I found it didn't seem to smell as fresh once we were a couple batches away from the original. 

So far, my husband likes cherry pie filling and blueberry as a topping.

Hopefully this summer our *new* cherry trees produce, so I can stop buying store bought. 

I bought the cherry pie filling, but for the blueberry I cooked down blueberries in simple syrup.

Personally, I am a peach fan, so I am anxiously awaiting my peach trees this summer!

Other perks of making your own yogurt?

 You can strain it until it's a solid and use like a cream cheese!

Use as sour cream! I can't tell you how many times I've bought the smallest container of sour cream and had it go bad because we don't use much! I've used it to make french onion dip, and no one was the wiser!

Whey! Cooper (our golden) loves it, but I am tempted to substitute it for water in baking recipes.

The first time I made yogurt, I felt I was crazy.

 But seeing the difference in price, and quality made it worth it!

What have you made that you swear you'll never buy in store again?

Me? Pickles and now yogurt!

Canning: Pasta & Pizza Sauce

Okay, still in over your head with tomatoes?

Even after making Rotel and Salsa?

Today I am sharing what recipes I used for Pasta Sauce and Pizza Sauce!

Make sure you follow the directions to a T, for tomatoes because they are in a gray area when it comes to pH. Hence recipes needing citric acid, vinegar or lemon.

For my sauce I went with Ball's Basil Garlic Tomato Sauce. 

Except, instead of letting it simmer for hours on end ( I tried and couldn't get it to the thickness I like for my sauce) I went with roasting instead. I know, I am shying away from the recipe, which I clearly said is a canning no no. But hear me out! I used the recipes proportions (which is where the pH comes from) and changed the technique to get to the end result. 

To roast instead of simmer, I took all my ingredients and placed in a 9x13 rimmed pan.

Stuck it in my oven at 450' for an hour or so. Your house will smell amazing.

Then using a slotted spoon (I bet a colander would work too) I scoop all my solids into my blender. 

Because it is still hot at this point, I do not fill my blender all the way and pulse until smooth. 

Then, I go back to the Ball recipe, and finish as per their instructions.

I like to can my pasta sauce in quart jars as that is a good size for our family of five. 

To do so, I increase the citric acid (it tells you right on the acid bottle) and increase my time in the hot water bath canner.

For the Pizza Sauce, I use Preserving by the Pint's recipe, and it is to die for!

(If you go to the link, there is a picture of the book, and the recipe is readable!)

If you can't read it, definitely check out her book from the library or purchase it!

Also, there is an errata for the book, so if you have her book you may need to reference it, here!

Well, now that my mouth is watering just thinking about sauce... I

 better go figure out what we will be having for dinner... pasta? or pizza?

Canning: Rotel and Salsa

If your new to canning, check out my safety post. 

Then, check out how to make applesauce, cider and pickles!

In over your head with tomatoes? I was! 

But now my pantry is full of Rotel, Salsa, Pizza Sauce and Spaghetti Sauce(I'll share the sauces recipes next week!)

Growing up I remember have Cheesy Rotel dip at a friends all the time, never have I bought a can of rotel, or the cheese to make it. So when I was looking for uses for my tomatoes and found a rotel recipe I knew I had to try it!

After finding a recipe I liked, I was happy to find it linked right back to the NCHFP!

NCHFP calls the recipe Chile Salsa, but it has the same ingredients as most of the Rotel recipes I found.

I canned my Rotel in 1/2 pint jars as we weren't sure if we would love the recipe. Now that we had it a couple times I know we love the recipe, it's the perfect combo of sweet and heat for us! But I think I will continue to can it in this size jar as we have finished a jar each time we have opened one. 

Now, for the salsa! I took out Marissa McClellan's books Food in Jars and Preserving by the Pint out from the library, and was so happy I did! There were several recipes that I have tried from there! The Blender Salsa is the recipe I used. Unfortunately the exact recipe is not on her blog, but a different blender salsa is. If you want to make the exact one I did, check out her book Preserving by the Pint. 

The only change I had was that I like my salsa a little chunkier, so instead of blending my double batch I did one batch blended one batch hand chopped. 

Taco Tuesday hasn't been the same since I started opening up jars of homemade Rotel and Salsa. Yum!

Canning Away!

While my blog may look bare, my pantry shelves do not! 

I've been a busy bee canning away the garden!

I'm playing catch up writing posts about the garden, and recipes to share since I've had some friends ask which recipes I used! So stay tuned! 

Preserves: Sauce Versus Soup

This year I grew 73 pounds of tomatoes! Crazy I know!

While I love tomatoes on my sandwiches and salads, 

We just couldn't keep up eating them fresh.

So I knew I had to preserve them in some way.

For me, just canning them wasn't appealing. I'm not sure how I would use them.

So I went with sauce, and put it in the freezer.

But then I was talking to a friend who makes tomato soup, and it hit me! 

Make some tomato soup too!

Curiosity hit me too!

 Soup is defined as a liquid dish made by boiling meat, fish or vegetables in stock or water.

Sauce is defined as a thick liquid served with food, usually a savory dish, to add moistness or flavor.

To make my sauce, I would cut up my tomatoes ( just to get the core out, and maybe in half) and throw them in a big pot with lots of basil, garlic and some olive oil. And cook them down for a while, and then use my immersion blender to puree it. 

Her recipe says to roast the tomatoes, onions and garlic, but since I had already started my sauce, I just added the only ingredient that was different. Broth.

How simple is that? One ingredient, and it thins it out to soup! 

I added about 4 cups chicken broth to my batch, but may add some more next time.

So now, my freezer is full of sauce and soup! Ready for the cooler temps!

Organizes: Canning Supplies Station

For the most part my Canning Supplies were all in the same cabinet. 

The cabinet above my wall oven. 

And if you don't know me in person, I'm pretty short. Just 5 foot.

So, this is what it looked like. 

I would just reach in and hope for the best. 

The tray was a good idea for being able to slide in and out like a drawer, but items would fall off often.

I had an extra basket around, and man did it make such a difference!

Canning has never been easier! Pull basket out, can, put basket back!

Make any simple switches lately, that were so helpful? 

Wish all my organizing attempts were this easy and successful!

What's your favorite organizing trick?

Please share! I need all the organizing help I can get it seems!

Preserves: Just This Week!

While I have been recooping from the week from... well you know.

I've been attempting to keep my sanity.

One way I do that, is turn on some music and get in the kitchen.

And since the garden is booming, it was time to preserve some things!

First up, Pickles. Yum.

Wyatt is a pickle nut! So, I've been pickling here and there for him!

I did some classic cucumbers....

Some dilly beans. 

(not pictured! :) They were eaten already! )

If you have never had a pickled green bean,  you are missing out.

They are by far my favorite! I prefer them over cucumbers!

Jardinaire

I wish I could say I grew the carrots, celery and cauliflower. But I didn't.

They were leftovers from a veggie tray that I didn't want to throw out!

and because I hate throwing hot brine out... some green tomatoes.

So for these, they are all the same pickle recipe. 1 tbspn pickling salt, 3/4c vinegar and 1 3/4c water

Add garlic and dill to your liking.

Should I do a full post on pickling? 

I've also blanched and froze 3 lbs of edamame! and 2 lbs of green beans! 

And last but not least, our favorite Strawberry Rhubarb Jam! 

The cupboards are filling up! 

Are you canning or freezing anything lately?

Any awesome canning recipes your willing to share? 

Preserves: How To Braid Garlic

This is the first year that I have gotten a decent amount of garlic and some decent size garlic. 

So, instead of peeling it all and freezing in oil, I decided to braid it.

And if you can braid hair, you can braid garlic!

For a while, my back porch smelled so garlic-y and strong, 

the running joke was I was getting ready in case of a vampire invasion!

Anyways, back to the braiding!

It took a couple tries and time, but I'm glad I figured it out!

For mine, I sorted my garlic in sizes.

I did this so that I would use the biggest first, and come fall I would plant the smaller bulbs again.

Next came the braiding!

(I didn't take any pictures because I needed both hands!)

Starting with three bulbs (with their scapes on) lay them down scapes towards you.

Then I would add a bulb and scape as I went to braid ( more like a french braid)

If a scape was really thick, I wouldn't add a bulb I would just braid it in.

If a scape was tiny, I would add one or two bulbs with similar sized scapes.

It definitely was more of trial and error as it was my first braiding try. 

But. It worked and I was able to hand them to dry.

And when I need some garlic I just walk over and twist some off!

If you need more of a visual check out this video!

By braiding garlic, you can keep it in a cool, dry place and it will keep for months!

Preserves: Pickled Swiss Chard Stems

This is my first year growing Swiss Chard, and so far so good! I harvest 1 1/2 lbs yesterday! 

Plus I've harvested for dinner here and there. 

But yesterday was different! The bed was looking full, and I wanted to preserve some for a later use.

After a quick search, I learned how to process and freeze the leaves. 

But I didn't want the stems to go to waste, which led to another search.

Which led to the idea of Pickled Swiss Chard Stems.

We like pickles, so why not?

As far as recipes I found, I didn't have all the ingredients and didn't want to run out to buy ingredients when I had ingredients for a tried and true recipe. Most of the recipes I found called for sugar, so that's what I went with too, a sweet pickle not a garlic one.

Here's the recipe I used:

8 cups water

1 cup vinegar

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup salt

Garlic and Dill to taste ( I omitted the dill, and put a tiny clove in the bottom of the jar)

Pack jar with chard stems, garlic and dill ( if you want it). Boil rest of ingredients or 5 minutes.

Pour into jar. Store in fridge.

What do you think? Have I fallen over the deep end? 

Swiss Chard Stem Pickles? I love green bean pickles, so I thought why not... 

Preserves: Mixed Berry and Rhubarb Jam

Last year we loved our Strawberry Rhubarb Jam, so this year as soon as the rhubarb was ready I picked up some supplies. And as I was making some jam, I realized we had a bag of frozen mixed berries (raspberries, blueberries and strawberries) so I decided to throw them in! Boy did it come out good!

This recipe is super simple for a beginner canner. 

5 cups rhubarb 

3 cups sugar ( I used 2 cups)

1 box (3oz) strawberry jello

Bag of mixed berries

Put your rhubarb and sugar in a bowl. Let sit for 6+ hrs. Original recipe said 12 but I've done it after about 6, and its been fine. Mix a couple times. Once your sugar looks all dissolved put in a pot on the stove and let boil for 10 minutes. Add fruit.  Let boil ten more. Take jam off of heat, add jello. Pour into clean, sterilized jars. If you plan to water bath these, I let them boil ten minutes. Done!

Now, this makes a pretty small batch in my opinion. Maybe 6 cups or so. So you can always just put it straight in the fridge.  Also, the original recipe did not water bath it, they froze it. So that's always an option too!

Preserves: Tomato Jam

This week has been all about preserving over here!

As our harvest is winding down, and giving me lots of yummy fruits and veggies I am preserving away so that I can savor the flavor in the next couple months.

This year, I planted an astounding (for me) 9 tomato plants. 

And I have to say, this was not my best garden year I really should have gotten more tomatoes.

*Note to self: Don't plant more than 9 plants, because I may have better luck next year!*

 But I was able to preserve tomatoes, and in a couple different ways!

The easiest way I preserved some of my tomatoes ( and how I did most of my tomatoes) was to chop them up with some basil, garlic and olive oil and cook them. It made a nice sauce, and I froze them in small batches for pasta or pizza. 

After making a couple batches that way, I decided to try something new after seeing Tomato Jam on Diners, Drive in's and Dives. So online I went and found this recipe.

Now I followed the directions and even hot water bathed my jars, let them cool and it wasn't thick enough for me. It looked more like a ketchup, and I wanted more of a Jam. So I added some pectin 

(the one where you have to add sugar, because there was already sugar in the recipe) and it came up to a nice thick jam/jelly.  I cannot wait to try this on a blt or sandwich this winter when fresh garden tomatoes are not an option.

Have you ever made a jam/jelly with something other than what you would think to make it out of?

I've done jalepeno jelly before! 

Rhubarb Ginger Jam!

After  my successful batch of Strawberry Rhubarb Jam, I decided I would try another recipe!

And with Rhubarb growing like mad in the garden, I went with this recipe that a friend gave me!

2 lbs chopped rhubarb

3 cups sugar

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup crystalized ginger

Mix your rhubarb and sugar in a bowl and let sit 6-12 hours. 

Put water and ginger in a pan over medium heat. Let ginger dissolve. Add rhubarb and sugar mixture. Cook until thick. Add to jars. Boil in hot water bath 15 minutes if you are planning on storing in cabinet.

That's it! It was super simple, the worst part was waiting! 

Can't wait to make a second batch!

Now, this is not your Pb & J kind of jam. It's more of a wine, cheese and cracker platter type of jam. It's  very good on crackers, and decadent too! Plus a little goes a long way!

What is shown is just a half batch, I wasn't sure if we would enjoy the taste so I didn't want a full batch hanging around going to waste. But I am definitely going to be making again! 

Preserving: Garlic

So after my semi successful garlic harvest, I was looking for ways to preserve it. 

Now, I know you can braid it and it will stay for about 6 months, but I just couldn't get the dirt off and some of the stalks broke when I pulled them out so braiding really wasn't an option.

So I did some research.  Here is what I learned:

-Un-peeled garlic will last on the shelf for about 5 months ( just like the braided).

-Once you peel your garlic you either have to use it, store it in fridge for 2-3 weeks or freeze. {Source}

-Do not store your garlic in olive oil at room temperature. This can cause botulism. {Source}

-However, you can freeze chopped garlic in olive oil. {Source}

I froze my oil and garlic in ice cube trays, then when I warm up my pan just put a cube in,  let it melt and start cooking! 

Just chopped it all up in the food processor, and divided into my ice cube trays.

Added my oil, and froze. Once froze I popped them out and put them in a container for easy grabbing!

Any neat preserving tricks? I'm trying a bunch of new things this year!

 So far this and the strawberry rhubarb jam have been a hit!