Flying and Fennel....

it's Swallowtail larvae time!! Throughout the years i've tried to let the garden grow, all of it, including insects and in my 'world' it's full circle, i try to stay out of the affairs of the inhabitants and let nature take it's course... today i found 3 Swallowtail larvae happily munching away on my Bronze Fennel.. the new seedlings, not my older well established Bronze Fennel.. and no i did not plant them... they 'appeared' in the garden this year, so i left them, only pulling out or transplanting those that got in the way of my Tomatoes or Leeks.. my theory on gardening is that it's only a weed if in the wrong place... most plants are valuable and if they should decide to grow in a certain spot, then it must be the right place! i'm afraid my garden isn't the wonderous rows of particular veggies or herbs, but i have a pretty diverse group of plants in a fairly small area!

mmmm pickles!!!! Refrigerator pickles to be exact... i already have quite a few jars of bread and butter pickles in my 'larder' so i really don't need to go out of my way to make more, but i had 4 very long cucumbers to use up... so i got out my Messermeister Gourmet Selection Mandoline Slicer which i bought at Judith's Kitchen Tools in Yachats Oregon... was one of my better kitchen gadgets that i've bought over the years!! i added a hot red pepper and seeds to the pickles to give it a kick.. already tried one of the slices with a seed.. WHEEEEE my mouth suddenly had a warm fuzzy kick... yum yum!!

Refrigerator pickles

4 cups sugar

2 cups apple cider vinegar

1 tsp. tumeric

1 tsp. celery seed

1 tbsp. pickling salt or Kosher salt

1 onion ( i used a sweet onion)

1 or more peppers ( i used 2 of my green peppers and 1 one red hot pepper)

and enough cucumbers to make an ice cream bucket worth (about 8 cups )

mix the sugar, vinegar, tumeric, celery seed and salt... pour over the veggies and stir gently...

put in ice cream bucket or glass jars ( i used one of my gallon jars)

put in refrigerator and let sit for at least 24hrs... will keep in refrigerator for a LONG time... yum yum!!

my next 'job' is to preserve my gallon of blackberries myself and a friend picked yesterday... she has a 'bluff' behind her house, a wire fence at the top, and all the blackberries one could ever need, behind the fence and falling over the fence... fortunately we picked yesterday as it's raining this morning.. YAY!!! supposed to clear and warm up this afternoon... the garden will be happy happy.....

Breads and Sacrificial Lambs...

Bread making was at it's very worst this morning!! UGH.... i'm on the hunt for the 'perfect' gluten free sandwich bread recipe and this morning's attempt was a failure!! i'm not sure if the failure was me (most likely) or the recipe... i think the end result which is in the oven at the moment will be fodder for the peacocks and duck.. i'm sure they will think it's delicious! I used Bob's Red Mill gluten free all purpose baking flour which does make life much easier BUT for my sense of smell and taste buds... no no... all i could smell are beans... anyways all was great except for the scent of beans ..mmmm yummy (not)! i let the bread mix rise in my 2 little pans and oopsy, over the top the mix went.. all over my oven.. let me tell ya, that cleaning my oven this morning was NOT a high priority.. what a disaster and bean flour isn't much fun at all... since i'm saving all my non toilet water for the garden, my chicory and squash got a dumping of lovely gritty bean flour liquid.. i hope they appreciate it and don't wither and die before the end of the day...

i think over all the recipe itself is okay, everything turned out the way it's supposed to so am going to attempt it again, but just using another type of gluten free flour mix... the recipe is from Bob's Red Mill site:

Gluten-Free Sandwich Bread for Conventional Oven

contributed by Carol Fenster, Ph.D.
INGREDIENTS:
2-1/2 tsp Yeast, Active Dry
1-1/2 cups Warm Milk (cow, rice, soy or nut)
3 cups Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour
2 Tb Sugar
1 Tb Potato Flour
1 Tb Xanthan Gum
3/4 tsp Lecithin Granules (Plain Soy)
3/4 cup Whole Egg, must measure 3/4 cup*
1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
1 tsp Cider Vinegar
1 tsp Guar Gum
3/4 tsp Salt
In a small bowl add yeast to warm milk and let foam for 5 minutes.Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl of heavy-duty stand mixer, combine all ingredients. Add yeast/milk mixture and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl with spatula, if needed.Place dough in a greased 9” x 5” nonstick pan. Smooth dough with spatula. Cover and let rise in warm place (75°-80°) until dough is level with top of pan (approximately 30-40 minutes).Bake in a preheated 375°F oven for 60-65 minutes. Do not under-bake. To prevent over-browning, cover with foil after first 15 minutes of baking. To test for doneness, tap loaf with fingernail. A crisp, hard sound indicates a properly baked loaf. Turn out of pan and cool thoroughly on a wire rack before slicing with electric knife or serrated knife.*For lighter colored bread, use one whole egg and enough egg whites to equal 3/4 cup. For an eggless option use 3 Tb Ener-G Egg Replacer mixed with 1/2 cup & 2 Tb water.Makes 1 loaf (12 slices).
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATIONServing size: 1 sliceCalories 190, Calories from Fat 70, Total Fat 7g, Saturated Fat 1.5g, Cholesterol 40mg, Sodium 35mg, Total Carbohydrate 27g, Dietary Fiber 4g, Sugars 3g, Protein 5g.

The Sacrificial Lamb...

i mentioned in an earlier post about a poor Burdock that was Aphid Heaven... the whole plant is covered like what you see in this picture.. what you don't see is the 'community' that is being supported by this plant.. the ants that are milking the aphids, the ladybugs larvae that are eating the aphids, the wasps that coming cruising, looking for a snack or two and the fact that my Brussel Sprouts and Brassicas have hardly been touched this year... thank you Burdock

Grandmothers.....

are a wonderous lot, diverse if nothing else... incase your wondering why i'm talking about grandmothers, it's because i just spent several days with 6 of them, and one being a great grandmother... all of us similar but not, was a magical few days...

we went to The Calico Cat Teahouse in Nanaimo, at rather unearthly time of 9:30 on a Sunday morning! All of us had our tea leaves read by Heather, the proprietor, who's simply one of the best readers i've encountered... if you ever come to Nanaimo and are interested in a great bite to eat and an even better reading go to there.... well worth it!!

after our breakfast we wandered around Nanaimo and followed the roads along the waterfront and watched a couple of seaplanes land.. some of the grandmothers aren't coastal folk and were excited to see the ocean...

after seeing the waterfront we wandered inland to Coombs to check out other tourists and the best ice cream cones! we checked out some of the little shops and the goats on the roof.. it's another great place to wander, any season...

ahhh was great fun!!

today i spent with one of my children.... shopping!! we are the queens of thrift stores!! i got a very cute little red curio cabinet and a couple of cute little dishes, she bought some collector plates and dog beds!

i've decided it fit on top of another cabinet which i got for $5.00 at another time and thrift store shopping trip.... anyways.. the curio cabinet matches my favorite mixing bowls!! YAY for luck!!

i perused my garden and it's perked up a bit... we've had a bit of rain, and much cooler weather..

perhaps now my Scarlet Runners will start to form beans!

tonight i made a gumbo with my tomatoes, onions, some corn and okra and some turkey sausage.. was pretty tasty!!

Saying Goodbye...

to my very old, very well used camper van... it was a 1976 Ford Econline and an amazing vehicle.. i bought it many years ago, got oodles and oodles of camping out of it.. some very fun times and an incredible cross Canada trip...
the cross Canada trip was wonderful.. we went all the way to and including Newfoundland, then came back through the U.S. .... my dog Shadow and my partner at the time had an amazing journey meeting people from the internet, seeing things we'd never seen before, getting lost in Boston, staying in New York for a week while we had a water pump replaced, seeing CATS on Broadway.... surviving travelling the desert with no a/c, staying in Los Vegas for a few days ...much later it became a dog house for Uno (daughter's dog) and a chicken coop because the chickens loved Uno... and eventually after Uno passed, a rat house... of which i'm sure the rats had a marvelous time!!

ahhh the memories...

as for my garden, no pics today.. but tomorrow!! i have 3 very luscious cucumbers ready for the picking... my tomatoes are ripening at an alarming rate and the kale is becoming overwelming..
my parsnip is way over my head and loaded with seeds.. i'll be harvesting the seed for next year.. maybe i'll even plant a row!! i always manage to just let the parsnip just grow where ever, and where ever it has grown!! My lovage is loaded with seeds as well but doesn't look quite ready yet.. will save the seeds for next spring and perhaps i'll get a few babies....

in one of the blogs i love to read, Subsistence Pattern there was an awesome tutorial on making laundry soap with Saponaria Officionalis aka Soapwort.. sooo that got me to thinking that perhaps next spring i need to pop a few of those in my garden... would be fun to try it, and according to the blog is a great natural soap.. i'm very cautious as to what kind of laundry detergent i use, because i'm on septic but also because i'm enviromentally aware of the 'crap' thats out there...

Pita bread and children......

go together well i'd say! the best filling holders ever!! can be filled with whatever you tummy desires... they are easy to make and i confess that i love to watch them turn into little space ships! tooo fun i say!! for anyone who hasn't made them, make sure your oven is clean or your going to smoke the house out!! they need to be baked at a high heat, like pizza or other types of flat bread.. i have a pizza stone that i use.. i found one on sale so snapped it up right away, but you can use any kind of UNGLAZED tile or brick.. the stone/tile/brick needs to be HOT..

what i wouldn't give for a 'real' oven... over at Masonary Stove Builders are some cool ovens and some great info.. i think i could almost be in heaven, i truly love to bake bread!

here is my Pita Bread recipe:

preheat oven and tiles 450 or 500!!
cook 4-5 mins

in large bowl mix

1 cup 115 deg. water
1tbsp. yeast
1 tbsp sugar

let sit for 5 mins.
stir in

2 cups flour or enough to make a stiff dough.

knead 10 mins or until smooth and elastic then cover in greased bowl, let rise for 1hr or until doubled.

punch down, let rest 5 mins, cut into 8 pieces, roll each into a ball
flatten with fingers to 4 inch rounds

let rest 5 to 10 minutes

roll out each until 6 inches across and approx 1/4 inch thick
let rise on floured board for 30 minutes

to cook.... place on preheated unglazed tiles, or pizza stone, careful not to tear dough rounds.. cook approx 4-5 mins..
cover with cloth when cooling...

so easy, so tasty!

i also made 'regular' bread as well.. well 'regular' is a loose term as per usual i experimented! Fortunately it turned out very good, and i'm quite please with the result..

i'm like whole wheat bread, but it doesn't always like me, so i keep trying different combinations of 'white' flour breads, with a kick.. i usually will put in a cup or 2 of other types of flours (usually gluten free items) like chick pea, or millet, or maybe quinoa or coconut flour.. whatever i happen to have handy..

Regular Bread

mix together and let 'grow' for 5 10 mins
1/4 cup warm water
1-1/2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
2 tablespoons bread flour
1-1/2 teaspoons white sugar

soak
1 cup quick cooking oats
in
2-1/4 cups warm water

add, mixing with beater or by hand
1 cup whole wheat flour ( i used 1/3 cup of millet flour, 1/3 cup of coconut flour, 1/3 cup of quinoa flour and a tbsp of Xanthum gum)
2-1/4 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil

2 tbsp. black strap molasses

slowly add in approximately

5 cups bread flour (depending on 'weather')

knead for 10 mins or until smooth and elastic
let rise until doubled in bulk
punch down cover and let rest 10 mins
form into 3 loaves.. let rise for about an hr (double in bulk)
bake at 350 for 35 mins or brown on tops (hollow sound as well ) and turn out on racks to cool..

Yummy yummy Tomatoes......

and Brussel Sprouts.. they are going gangbusters!!! even tho they look short, they are doing very well and standing about 3 feet tall and sporting tiny brussel sprouts on the stems.. i only have a few this year and i'm hoping that they won't get the traditional coating of aphids... this year i had one poor Burdock that seemed to be the designated destination of said aphids and of course lady bugs :D so instead of pulling it out and getting rid of it.. it's the scapegoat.. and so far, so good, none on my brussel sprouts..

Kale... i happen to think it's delicious, nutritious and versatile as well... i'm going to make some kale and carrot muffins and see if anyone will notice that there are VEGGIES in them.. carrots are of the none veggie category when it comes to baking!!!!

Gypsy, Sweet Peppers.. are of a very good size, starting to change colour and i'm oh so hopeful that they are tasty!!

ahhh paste tomatoes Viva Italia ... now we're getting to the nitty gritty... i LOVE paste tomatoes, they are good to eat, good to slice, good to cook, and hopefully they are prolific this year!!

now for something different.. at least for me... Russian Bull Heart, they can get over 2 lbs a piece.. i'm hopeful that they get large.. you can't tell by my photo but they actually are quite big already.. and very strange looking.. a fun tomato to grow.. i'm sure i won't win any size contests but am looking forward to having some BIG slices of juicy tomatoes.

Down the Blogging path.......

i wander, from site to site and it's truly amazing how many are out there, how much information is to be had by the 'common' (not so common) folk anything from gardening, cooking, pets, life skills, you name it, whatever your interested in is out there! This morning i got drawn down the path when i was looking for a recipe for lentil salad... am feeling rather vegetarianish at the moment, so figure i should go with it.. so my pot of lentil salad is in the cooking stage, cooking in my big rice cooker, it is smelling absolutely delicious, and in my small rice cooker i have 2 types of Quinoa cooking and will make a cold Quinoa salad when they are cooked and cooled i'll add the rest of the ingredients... fast forward...... lentils and quinoa are both cooked.. the lentil salad has a minty kick to it because i used mint sauce.. my poor mint is struggling in the garden, no water and mint and no water just don't go together..

i pretty much borrowed the lentil recipe with a couple of tweaks.. i used my 'trail' mix of pecans and dried fruits and mint sauce (out of a bottle)

Mediterranean Lentil Salad

Ingredients
2 c Dried lentils
(preferably small French
Kind will do) ( i used a pkg of mixed lentils)
1/4 c Extra virgin olive oil
3/4 ts Salt
1 lg Clov garlic; minced
3 tb Fresh lime juice
3 tb Balsamic vinegar
OR cider vinegar
1/4 c Very finely minced red onion
1 sm Carrot
Shredded or finely minced
1/2 sm Red bell pepper; minced
1/2 sm Yellow bell pepper; minced
A HANDFUL EACH
Finely minced fresh parsley
Finely minced fresh chives
Finely minced fresh mint ( i used mint sauce)
Instructions
i cooked the lentils, carrots, onion and garlic in the rice cooker.. mixed in the dried fruits and vinegars, mint sauce when the lentil mix was cooled.. back to the fridge to meld the flavours..


Quinoa and Bean salad

1 1/2 cups quinoa (small disk-shaped seeds)*
1 1/2 cups cooked black beans, rinsed if canned
1 1/2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
1 1/2 cups cooked corn (cut from about 2 large ears)
3/4 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
2 pickled jalapeño chilies, seeded and minced (wear rubber gloves)
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh coriander For dressing
5 tablespoons fresh lime juice, or to taste
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cumin, or to taste
1/3 cup olive oil


i cooked the quinoa in my small rice cooker and added the rest of the ingredients when the quinoa cooled...

yumm ... and easy :D

something about a seed head, even if it is a WEED, it is delicate and beautiful dancing in the wind, nature's ballerina...