Simple Katie

We've Moved

2007-11-01T11:03:00.000-07:00

For a number of reasons, I've decided to move this blog. You can find me at Two Frog Home, from now on. Please update your links and I hope to see everyone there!

Fall Baking

2007-10-28T12:42:00.000-07:00

I had some left over baked acorn squash I wanted to use up and went searching for inspiration. I found it in, Homemade Bread by the Food Editors of Farm Journal (copyright 1969). I used a recipe entitled: Golden Pumpkin Bread to springboard my own creative tendencies. Here's the recipe for anyone interested. Items in parentheses indicate original ingredients per the book.

Spiced Squash Bread

1 C. vanilla soymilk (milk)
1 C. cooked & mashed acorn squash (canned pumpkin)
1/4 C butter (shortening)
1/8 C sugar (1/4 C sugar)
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp cardamom
2 TBSP yeast
1/2 C warm water
3 C freshly ground whole wheat flour (not in original)
3 C all purpose flour (6 1/2 C all purpose flour)
2 eggs
1 1/2 C raisins

Scald milk; stir in squash, butter, sugar, salt, & spice. Cool to lukewarm.
Sprinkle yeast over water water, stir to dissolve let sit until creamy.
Add about 3 cups of flour, milk mixture, and eggs to yeast. Beat until combined. Add raisins and enough remaining flour to make a dough. Knead until elastic & smooth. Put in lightly greased bowl to rise. Let rise until doubled about 1 hour.
Punch down dough. Form into 2 loaves and put into greased pans. Let rise unti doubled about 45 minutes.
Bake in preheated 375 degree over of 35 minutes.

We ate some while it was still warm last night and it was delish - this morning we toasted it and just yum!

I also made a bunch of fall inspired sugar cookies for some guests tomorrow. I used my grandmother's recipe - only subsitituting real butter for shortening. That's her recipe card there - I feel incredibly blessed to have that treasure.

An Afternoon Walk

2007-10-25T12:41:00.000-07:00

More shots can be found on my flickr page.

Canning Q & A

2007-10-24T17:27:00.000-07:00

Stephanie over at Adventures in the 100 Acre Wood asked me this (a long time ago, my apologies for not responding sooner):

Q: We made pickles for the first time this year. The taste is great, but they are very soft, not crisp. What did I do wrong?

A: I've never had pickles turn out as crisp as the ones you buy at the store. I'm not sure why beyond the heat of processing softens them. Sometimes soaking the cukes in salt water overnight will help - but not always and you have to really take care to wash out the salt or they will be too salty in my experience. However, I read once that iodized salt will soften your product so switch to Kosher salt if you're not already using it. I also think if you do the fermenting type of pickles, they'll be crisper but I'm not sure. How's that for vague?

Stephanie over at Going Green in So. Illinois asks:

Q: Had a question, how do you prepare your salsa for canning? Do you pressure can or hot water bath can? My boyfriend makes salsa from store bought canned tomatoes and he wanted to know how he would go about canning it. It has jalepenos in it and is pretty hot so I didnt think I would need a pressure canner for it.

A: It depends on your recipe, actually. The recipe I use has a good bit of vinegar in it, bringing up the acidity of the salsa so I process it in a boiling water bath. If you don't have vinegar in your salsa then yes, you need a pressure canner. I highly recommend finding a good recipe and using it for your salsa if you're new to canning. The combination of tomatoes and other veggies can make it a bit touchy.

Salsa

2007-10-23T05:58:00.000-07:00

I was inspired by this quote in the August/September 2007 issue of Mother Earth News in the article Eat in Sync with the Seasons:

"If all the effort expended to get fresh tomatoes on supermarket shelves in January in Portland, Maine , was invested into fully utilizing the late August tomato flood, it would revoluntionize our food system. Not only would it improve our nutrition, it would recycle dollars into our communities, and free us individually and collectively from far-away food dependency. In many cases, it might be the difference between local farmers making enough to get by, and making enough to romance the next generation into farming. When I suggest such a simple solution to nationwide problems, the conventional culture laughs me off as old-fashioned. But, in fact, preserving more of our fruits and vegetables would be remarkably easy to do." - Joel Salatin

As I said, I was inspired and went off in search of the last vesitages of local summer produce. I came home with the last case of local tomatoes I could find and more local beets. I canned 16 pints of salsa and made fresh tomato soup for our lunches this week and I canned another 6 quarts of beets. While out and about I found a place that sells butter and cheese made by an Amish community about 250 miles south of me, still in Montana, not exactly local but I'll take it.

Seed Packets

2007-10-22T14:42:00.001-07:00

I've been looking at all my collected seeds, trying to come up with a nice way to store them all. I wanted something breathable and while paper envelopes are easy and certainly up to the taske, I wanted something different.

I decided to make some out of unbleached muslin from my scrap pile. I'm going to work on some with embroided lettering for gifts, but these will do just fine for the time being.

Pantry Photos

2007-10-17T07:24:00.000-07:00

Just a few photos to give a taste of our beautifully stocked pantry shelves.

Quote of the Day

2007-10-16T12:27:00.000-07:00

I have a dear friend, Audrey, who enjoys sharing things she finds or reads with others. She, like me, enjoys reading good quotes. She finds these gems and prints them out on pretty paper to share with friends, church members, loved ones, etc. I treasure each one she gives me, recently she gave me this quote:

"This is the beginning of a new day. God has given me this day to use as I will. I can waste it or use it for good, but what I do today is important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forecver, leaving behind in its' place something that I have traded for it. I want it to be gain and not loss, good and not evil, success and not failure, in order that I shall not regret the price I have paid for it." - Samuel F. Pugh

I can only aspire to and pray for such wisdom in each of my days.

Produce Stand Adventures

2007-10-14T10:14:00.001-07:00

I didn't have a very good harvest of bell peppers this year. We eat alot of green peppers and usually I stock the freezer with green peppers to get us through the winter. On Friday, we decided to hit the two local produce stands to see what we could find. The first stand had green peppers 4 for $1.00. They only had 16 that looked any good, so I took all of those. At the second stand, they had 5 big bags of green peppers each marked $1.00. I picked up all five bags. Those $1.00 bags had lots of bad spots but I don't mind cutting them out. I spent a good bit of time chopping green peppers and putting about 1 whole pepper in plastic bags. When it was all said & done, I put 50 bags of peppers in the freezer (with a few left out for meals in the next week), not a bad deal for $9.

We also picked up some pie pumpkins and made the fall standard, pumpkin butter. One of my other very favorite things about fresh pumpkins are home roasted pumpkin seeds. Jeff and I munched freely on these babies yesterday, but did manage to leave a few for lunch salads and snacks this week.

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I'm feeling like my old self again, thanks so much to everyone who said prayers and left comments for rapid healing, they were all much appreciated.

Pneumonia

2007-10-09T08:21:00.000-07:00

I've had this nagging cough for a few weeks now. Otherwise, I haven't felt sickly. No tiredness, sore throat, aches, etc. Just a rather annoying cough. Jeff remarked a few times that it didn't sound good and maybe I should see a doctor. I declined, until Thursday when walking up a flight of stairs winded me and I couldn't catch my breath.

To the doctor I went, where I was informed that I had the beginning stages of Pneumonia. He put me on a course of antibiotics and sent me home. I felt better for a few days, until last night when I started wheezing again. This morning again I couldn't catch my breath and back to the doctor I went.

Today, the doctor worried that I'm having some asthma like problems brought on by the pneumonia. He put me on a short course of steriods, after answering many questions from me. I've never been on steriods before and am not exactly excited about it, but I need to breathe. He also gave me an inhaler for those periods when my chest gets overly tight.

Oy, this is just no fun. I am so grateful that I don't live with asthma on a daily basis and will try to never again take for granted how easily I take a breath. Any prayers for a fast recovery would be much appreciated.

I Love the Change of Seasons

2007-10-03T14:35:00.000-07:00

I absolutely love this time of year. One of my favorite things about this time of year, especially here in Montana, is the changing colors of the leaves here in the valley coupled with the snowcapped peaks in the distance. I adore waking up on a cool rainy morning and seeing how far down the mountains the snow line has crept.

With the coming of late fall / early winter I'm looking forward to:

lots of snuggling under handmade quilts
hot chocolate spiked with kahlua
pumpkin carving
denim skirts and wool socks
my favorite cardigans
lots and lots of yummy soups and homemade breads

I truly love watching the change in seasons, as much as I'd prefer a longer growing season, I'm truly grateful that I get to experience each of the four seasons so deeply.

Bean Seed

2007-09-27T14:45:00.000-07:00

I had a bumper crop of green beans this year. I planted some from seed I'd saved and some from an organic brand I bought locally. I've been picking the dried beans and planning on saving for next summer. I have alot of seed and it occurred to me that I should share my bounty. If you'd like to have some of my bean seed, please email me at mtkatiecakes@yahoo.com and I'll be happy to send you some in a few weeks (A few varieties are still drying).

Some Notes: The beans are all bush variety, not pole. They have been raised organically by me, though I'm not certified. There are several different varieties, you'll get seed from a mixed bag, I cannot guarantee what variety you will get. These beans have been raised in a zone 3 garden.

Please, if you live in an area where it is illegal to import seed, don't ask me to send some to you.

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PS:The golden tomatoes in the previous post are fully ripe at that yellow/orange hue - beautiful huh?

Tomatoes

2007-09-26T05:23:00.000-07:00

Golden Sunray Tomatoes

Lots of Changes

2007-09-20T14:28:00.000-07:00

It seems with the change of seasons (and especially fall for me personally), I have to make some personal changes as well. And there have been some mighty big changes or decisions to make changes around here in the last few weeks, I hesitated to write about them here before talking to folks locally that these decisions impacted.

Decision 1 (& this seems to be common theme among the many blogs I read and my friends): I'm cutting way back on my activities outside the home. The activities, while geared towards creating community and friendships don't really meet that end for me. It's too busy and more stress than I need. Instead, I'm going to focus on activities that create the community I want to be involved in without added work and time pressures. One of which is joining up with several friends in a book club that will be reading non-fiction topics of interest like simplicity, community building, organic foods, etc.

I truly believe that home is where the heart is, but I believe even more strongly that the heart has to be in the home. Lately my attentions and time have been too divided, hence the cutting back. My term for one board of directors that I'm on is up in December and I'm not renewing. I will remain active in only one volunteer group and that's my local community revitalization group which I'm able to contribute to mostly via email.

Decision 2: I've decided to withdraw from the city council race. The main reason for this has been because of our house hunting efforts. While we haven't purchased a new home yet, it seems most homes we like are just outside the city limits meaning I couldn't be on the council. Instead of running and potentially getting elected and then purchasing a house that would make me unable to serve and having to resign, I'm dropping out now. Having a house we both like and want to be home is much more important than city council.

It feels good to have made these tough decisions. Most of time pressures will start disappearing in 2 weeks after a business trip next week and I'm looking forward to that.

I'll share more about my canning class in the near future.

The Library

2007-09-12T15:42:00.000-07:00

Our county library has branches in each of the towns in the county. I generally visit the one in our town. I also love that I can order books online from almost every library in the state of Montana and have it delivered to my local library for pick up. I do that more often than I peruse the stacks at the library. I keep a running list of books to read and place orders through the library every so often.

Today, however; I was early for an appointment in the county seat and stopped at the main branch of the library to spend time. I had such fun perusing the shelves today. I didn't even stop to see if anything on my list was currently available. Instead I picked up the varied stack of reads you see above. I've done a ton of day trips in the last 6 days, long 10-12 hour trips with around 6 hours of drive time, and I can't wait to firmly plant my behind on the couch with my score from the library.

Oh and dinner was scored from a recipe in the Casserole book at the bottom of the stack.

Fall & Katie the CEO

2007-09-09T07:07:00.000-07:00

Well, fall has arrived! The last two nights have been very chilly and I still have plenty of green tomatoes on the vine. Soon, I may have to bring them in to ripen. Jeff and I also went to a college football game yesterday, that too seems to signify fall's arrival.

With fall another new project has also arrived. I've known about this project for sometime but for whatever reason it wasn't real to me until just a few days ago. Months ago, I approached our local community college about teaching some classes in the continuing education program. The continuing education program are non-credit courses on everything from art to computer skills to cooking to wildflower identification. I've taken many over the years and have been blessed by them.

I sent in couse descriptions for two classes one on home canning and the other on vermicomposting. The canning classes start this week, the vermicomposting will be a spring course. It is a 6 hour class (two 3 hour sessions in two weeks), we'll cover basics on boiling water canning the first week and pressure canning the second week. I got an email last week saying I had 5 students registered that's all thats needed to break even and I can pick up the keys to the school kitchen this week. It wasn't really until I recieved that email that the class became very real to me, no longer a dream, though I've been preparing for it for some time. I'm quite excited about this foray into teaching and sharing this home canning passion with others.

I've also recently applied with the state to become an independent contractor for personal assistant services, as well as office and organization consulting. It's something I've wanted to do for a long time and recently was hired by a small counseling company to help with spreadsheets and learning disability courses they hold for teachers. Yesterday in the mail, I got my certificate from the state and can proceed. I've been working on my website to promote all of this as well.

It feels so poetic to me that all of these changes and new things are happening as the leaves and seasons change outside.

Just Bummer

2007-09-05T07:44:00.001-07:00

The seller refuses to budge, despite the fact that his house has sat empty for 300 days with no other offers. So we're walking away and will begin looking again for a house. That house isn't going anywhere, perhaps the seller will change his mind in a few more months...

Thanks so much for all the prayers, good wishes, and comments.

Beets, Carrots, & House

2007-09-03T15:14:00.000-07:00

Peeled beets awaiting pickling brine. The lighter colored beets are the chiogga variety.

Carrots in a variety of colors picked fresh from the garden.

Jeff and I put an offer on a house this last week. The first offer was countered and we've made another counter offer. It's a small home on 3/4 acre just outside of town. We do love it but are prepared to walk away if we have too. The house has been on the market 300 days, which is an extremely long time in our market, so we think the seller will take our most recent offer. If not, we're not going any higher and hope the seller will contact us in a few months if he doesn't get any more offers. Its a one bedroom home, which obviously limits buyers. It does have a single car garage with a hobby room attached to it which needs finishing. Any prayers and positive thoughts are welcomed.

Beans & Beets

2007-08-25T13:56:00.001-07:00

Harvested from our garden 6.5 pounds of green beans (11 pints) and 4 pounds beets (4 pints). The white ring on the jar is from hard water and too little vinegar in the pressure cooker, its on the outside of the jar only.

Greed

2007-08-24T14:45:00.000-07:00

I mentioned that Jeff and I have been house hunting. We filed all the paperwork for a mortgage and got our pre-approval just yesterday. I'm flabbergasted at the amount of money we could borrow. We have good credit and good paying jobs and no debt so apparently it's no problem to lend a larger sum of money than we would ever be comfortable paying back. The monthly payment would be so large that Jeff and I would literally be living pay check to pay check if we were lucky. There certainly wouldn't be enough money left over to have any kind of savings, let alone money for fabric (ha!). No wonder foreclosures are all over the news lately.

Thankfully Jeff and I know enough to figure our monthly budgets, etc. so that we aren't struggling to make house payments and save for a rainy day and enjoy life too. I know many haven't figured that out and I also know that banks, shamefully, take advantage instead of properly educating folks on options and actual payments versus living expenses. I'm also so glad that Jeff and I have chosen the simple living path.

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PS: I have a few comments & awards I know I need to respond to and hope to find time to do that this weekend.

Sunday Dinner

2007-08-19T14:43:00.000-07:00

Start your charcoal grill, early around 7 am. Then coat a local, organic, free range chicken with your favorite spice rub. Place chicken on the grill and cook until done.

While the chicken is cooking, go to the garden and pick some carrots, green beans, and leeks.

Wash and chop the freshly picked veggies. Then dice some locally grown garlic and strip some locally grown corn from the cob.

After your chicken has cooked, remove the meat from the bone. Save some of the breast meat for lunch sandwiches and chop the rest into bite size pieces and set aside.

Saute the garlic and onion in some olive oil until soft. Then add your other chopped veggies. Add a quart of turkey broth (home canned from Thanksgiving's bird) and stir well. Stir in your chicken pieces and throw in a few handfuls of wild rice. Simmer on low for a few hours until ready to eat.

While the soup is simmering, bake some fresh bread. Today I made some black olive and garlic bread. Bits of garlic and black olives baked right inside the whole wheat goodness. Be sure to serve the soup with lots of thickly sliced bread, slathered in butter.

Beans

2007-08-18T04:34:00.000-07:00

This year I grew a few varities of bush beans and I don't mind saying Jeff and I have been hoarding them. The beans have been producing extremely well and we haven't so much as offered to share them with friends or neighbors.

The varities include your standard string green bean, a slightly flatter green variety, and a purple string bean. When cooked the purple turns to a dark green.

There is something so yummy and special about fresh green beans. Like most things, fresh green beans are so much better than the standard canned supermarket variety. They are crisp and lively, not mushy and bland. If you've never grown green beans try it and if you don't garden at all, treat yourself and buy some fresh from a local farmer and cook them up tonight. You won't be disappointed.

Home & Garden

2007-08-17T13:13:00.000-07:00

Jeff and I are house hunting. It's an interesting process and I'm so glad that Jeff is much more practical than me. I keep looking at all these adorable old houses and seeing all the potential they have, what I could do to make the yard and home feel so wonderful. Thankfully, Jeff is able to see how much is really involved, what bathroom floors are rotten, and estimate roughly how much such repairs might cost. I don't want to write too much about our search yet, but I will as we progress.

In the meantime, we harvested our first sweet pepper of the season with many more on the way. Oh, how we love sweet peppers, it seems we have them in most every dish.

This year I also planted some Anise Hyssop. It's blooming now and is the loveliest lavender color. It makes a yummy tea too.

Homegrown Produce

2007-08-08T06:15:00.000-07:00

The Wednesday edition of our local newspaper always contains the sale flyers for local grocery stores (I think this is a trend across the US, but I could be wrong). One store was announcing a 12-hour produce sale tomorrow and I couldn't help but think that I have a season long produce sale right in my own yard. Last night with dinner we had freshly picked green beans, that Jeff kept saying were sooo good (the first harvest of the season).

We've been eating tons of salad greens, beet greens, onions, and radishes for lunch salads throughout the season as well. Though lately the salad greens have come from local farmers, mine all bolted and are too bitter to eat. The 100 degree heat tends to do that. Soon we'll add homegrown tomatoes to those salads as well.

I do so love these french breakfast radishes. I was never a huge radish fan until I grew this particular variety this year. They are much milder and creamier than the more typical red globe variety.

Pizza Sauce

2007-08-05T13:06:00.000-07:00

The result of my first ever homemade pizza sauce canning adventure. I tried to keep it as local as I possibly could.

Homegrown Ingredients: Basil, Parsley, Onions, Oregano
Locally Grown Ingredients: Tomatoes, Green Peppers, Honey
Non-Local: Vegetable Oil, Bay Leaves, Sea Salt

We ended up with 15 pints in all, that will make a good many pizzas. We adore pizza of all shapes, sizes, and varieties. I make crusts ahead of time and keep them in the freezer for quick meals. We usually host a few pizza parties every year as well, as a casual but fun get together. We've hosted pizza gatherings where we've asked folks to bring their favorite toppings and/or garden produce to make rather interesting combinations.