Visiting and Exploring

 


Last Wednesday, I drove to my friend Emily's house in Milwaukee. The route was about five and a half hours of rolling hills, farm land, brightly colored trees and smooth highway. In Milwaukee, I spent a lovely few days with Emily and her husband Jon. They have a cute little apartment in this city with a river on one side and a great lake on the other. We ate good food, took walks, played scrabble, made this amazing s'mores pie and enjoyed each others company. Oh yeah, and I brought this cake which we enjoyed for dessert the first night I was there.

I'll get back to the cake in a minute, but this little bit of travel has gotten me thinking. Living somewhere new and visiting new places in the United States makes me realize just how big this country is. Going someplace totally different and foreign can be a bit mind-boggling for me. It is amazing but also hard to fathom, sometimes, how we all live so differently on this earth. On the other hand, visiting and exploring places that are familiar in language, architecture, and climate makes me really think about all the places full of people living lives vaguely similar to mine.

You would think that bicycling across the United States would have given me a good sense of how big this country is, but when you are going one day at a time for weeks, it's hard to comprehend that you have ridden from one coast to the other. I find that encountering a new place piques my curiosity and makes me think about all the places I might never see and the people I'll never know, but they are out there, living their lives.

And some of these people out there (you) are reading this blog. Too bad, I can't just cut you a slice of this cake and hand it to you across the table as we get to know each other in person, but I wanted to share it with you anyway. I've been thinking about an applesauce cake for a while, so I was glad to have the opportunity to make it for my visit with friends. Its full of the autumnal flavors I love this time of year, but not too heavy or sugary. You could leave off the frosting and it would make a simple and classic coffee cake. It is reminiscent of this fall cake, clearly I am a total sucker for spices and cream cheese frosting.

Applesauce Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from Gourmet. I used less sugar than the recipe calls for since my applesauce was sweet and I knew the frosting would be, too. 

For the cake
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour 
2 teaspoons baking powder 
1/2 teaspoon baking soda 
1/2 teaspoon salt 
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon 
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves 
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 -3/4 cup sugar (depending on the sweetness of your applesauce and your preference of sweetness)
1 teaspoon vanilla  
2 eggs 
1 1/2 cups applesauce 
1 cup chopped walnuts , toasted    

For the Frosting
5 ounces cream cheese
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon milk


Preheat the oven to 350'. Butter an 8-9 inch square pan (or a 9 inch springform pan, which is what I used). Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves in a small bowl until combined. Beat butter and sugar until soft and fully combined, add eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth. Add applesauce, mix until incorporated. Add flour mixture and stir at a slow speed until mixed. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 40 - 45 minutes. After baking, let cake cool fully before icing.

To make the frosting: cream cheese, butter and vanilla on high speed until fluffy. Add confectioners sugar and cinnamon and beat on low speed. Add milk as needed and beat until the frosting is smooth and creamy. Spread frosting over cake and enjoy!

Why I DIY

I recently started reading the site Scoutie Girl, and this morning Tara posed this question: Why do you DIY? She has some great reasons to do it yourself and I wanted to share some of my motivations and thoughts on DIY, too.

Making it myself is a big part of how I interact with the world. I don't want to just be an observer and consumer. I can't help it, I am a maker  and creator. By making something I am putting a bit of myself into the world and starting a sort of give and take, a dialogue between being an observer and creator. It is also really important to me to be able to rely on my own hard work and creativity. I know that I won't need to buy any salsa this year, since we have plenty that I canned in our cupboard. That is so satisfying.

I am curious and I think I often want to know what it is like to make something, whether it is a batch of homemade croissants or a skirt to wear this weekend, I want to know and understand the process. I also like to see if I can actually succeed at making something

I like a challenge. I'm not a really competitive person, but I like to think that I can make something that I need that will (ideally) be just the way I want it. I was working on a little project last night and I realized that everything I am making for Seedling Design has come from something that I wanted to make for myself. I love making things that are just right for what I need and now I am so excited to be able to share these since, I suspect, they will be just right for many other people to. It reminds me of what my Mom has always said about gift giving, that you should always give something that you would like to receive. I am thrilled to be making a small business sharing the things that I love.



My latest creation makes me wonder, though. I made a little book, almost like a planner, because I sometimes need to jot things down when I am on the go. I usually keep dates and to do lists in my head, but I am hoping I can declutter my brain a bit by having somewhere else to write them. I wanted something nice looking and handy. I love it, but I realize that Apple may have cornered this market with the ubiquitous iphone. I have a cell phone, but its not smart or anything and I'm fine with that. So, I've made the low tech, no batteries needed, perfect place to jot notes, to do lists or numbers. It may not be the thing everyone else needs, but it fits in perfectly with why I DIY.



I don't want or need anything high tech, I'm happy with what I can make myself.

I would love to know why you make things yourself, please share in the comments and check out Tara's post, too!

Fuel for the Day

 

Once a week, or sometimes less, I drive Ray to work (he usually bikes and our car hangs out in its spot behind our apartment) and on the way we stop at a coffee shop and get some breakfast. Its a nice little part of the morning together. Other times our routines are out of sink and we eat our cereal or yogurt and granola separately at the kitchen table. The mornings here have been surprisingly dark lately as autumn settles in. As the day wears on, the sun comes up higher and warms the air, the grass, and my back under a wool sweater. On these cool fall mornings, its nice to have something warm in my belly to get the day started.

Last week I made some ginger pear walnut muffins with those pears I found on my run. I love muffins as an easy breakfast any day of the week and I try to make them full of fruit and nuts so they provide good fuel for the day. These turned out to be the perfect combination of sweet soft fruit, crunchy nuts, and spices. There's nothing like a freshly baked muffin to perfect a cool fall morning.

 

Ginger Pear Walnut Muffins 
I like muffins that have as much fruit as muffin, but you can adjust the amount of added fruit, nuts, ginger, and maple syrup to your taste.


1 1/2 cups white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter milk
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1 egg
2-4 tablespoons maple syrup
4 tablespoons melted butter
1-2 cups pears, cored and diced into 1/4-1/2 inch pieces
1/2- 1 cup chopped toasted walnuts


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a medium bowl combine flours, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Measure out the buttermilk and add the ginger, egg, and maple syrup. Beat gently together. Pour the buttermilk mixture and melted butter into the flour, add the fruit and nuts and stir to combine, its okay if there are lumps. Spoon into prepared muffin tin and bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for 15 minutes before eating.

Compromise and Crackers

I meant to get back here with a recipe sooner, but once I finished canning my applesauce my sewing machine finally returned from the repair shop.  I've been back in sewing mode with trips in and out of the kitchen, too. I've been working on small attempts at keeping our kitchen stocked with basic staples for breakfast and lunch.

Ray and I differ drastically in our approaches to food. Although we both enjoy a good meal out and a good meal in, food and our kitchen is area that requires frequent compromise and tweaking of what works best for both of us. I tend to do the grocery shopping and most of the cooking and you might have noticed that I prefer to make things from scratch. Ray is more of a grab what is quick and easy and usually that isn't found at home. So I am trying to keep some extra already made meals in the fridge and a snack or two in the cupboard. Its a very evolving process for us to move toward common ground on what we want to eat. Ray is busy with work, while I have ample time to spend in the kitchen. Sometimes he forgets his lunch, sometimes my recipes don't appeal to him, and as much as I want our food budget and every meal to work out perfectly, it is a process that takes time.

It seems silly to go on and on about this but our differences in to cooking and eating has probably taken more give and take, discussion, and compromise than anything else in our relationship so far. And, I wanted to share with you a recipe for crackers that I made recently. Crackers might not seem very exciting and they are one of those things that for most of my life I though had to come in a box. It turns out they are really easy to pull them out of your oven and this recipe is full of flavor and crunch. I found it was hard to stop munching on these little triangles. These crackers make a good snack or accompaniment to a soup or salad and they go very well with hummus. They are pretty wholesome with protein from seeds and cheese and they fill that empty spot in our cupboard perfectly. I will definitely make these often.

Seed Crackers
Adapted from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison. 
These crackers keep for a few days, but you can easily freeze half the dough until you are ready to bake more. They come together really quickly (especially in a food processor) and it doesn't take long for them to bake.


1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup of seeds such as sunflower, sesame, poppy, or cumin or a combination of seeds
2 teaspoons of mustard
2 eggs
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt


Preheat the oven to 350'. Work flour into butter until the butter is in tiny pieces evenly distributed in the flour. Add the remaining ingredients and mix until they are evenly distributed in the ball of dough. Cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Lightly dust a piece of parchment paper with flour. Roll out half the dough, turning it over frequently to avoid sticking to the parchment. When the dough is about an eighth of an inch thick, cut it into desired shapes. Leave each cut piece on the parchment, slightly separated from the other pieces and place the parchment on a baking sheet. Repeat with the other half of the dough, or freeze this until you want to use it. Bake for about 15 minutes until crackers are golden brown. Let cool for 15 minutes before eating.

Canning 2010

 

My shelves are stocked for the winter, I hope. I am not sure what other projects I will decide to do, but I think I am mostly done canning for the season. I realize this is not perfect place to store my jars, but this is where I had space. By the way, the shelves were bowed like that when we moved in, they seem quite sturdy, though.

I made: 8 quarts of tomatoes (whole and crushed), 9 quarts of apple sauce, 4 pints of pears, 8 half pints of spiced peaches, 4 half pints and 1 pint of tomato jam, 6 pints and 1 quart of dill pickles, 13 pints of salsa and 4 half pints of mustard. I'm glad I'm writing this here so that next year I will remember how much I made. Hopefully I will remember to make note of how long it lasts, too.

Friday Ramble

On my run today, I came across a box in front of a neighbors house, full of little home grown pears with a sign saying "Help Yourself." I couldn't pass up locally grown fruit and such generosity so I ran home with my hands full. They are sweet and slightly crisp, I would love to use them in my favorite fall dessert, but we'll probably just eat them before I get a chance.



I bought Ray this adorable vintage gadget for his birthday. It is much cuter than the fancy grind and brew coffee maker we have and it gives Ray the option of making cold brewed iced coffee with a french press. I'm not a coffee drinker so I can't say whether it makes for a better cup, but it is so cute and I love having another hand powered, useful kitchen tool. We've been dreaming about a cider press, but it is really impractical considering we don't have any apple trees or the ability to drink vast quantities of cider.  Someday....

I bought the grinder from the vintage section of Etsy. Now that I have an Etsy shop I have been looking around at more of the things people make and sell and I am really in awe. It is so amazing to see what people are printing, crafting and creating. I'm completely convinced that buying handmade (and vintage or used) is the way to go for so many reasons and it is possible to find carefully crafted versions of almost anything you could want.

On that note, I've been thinking about consuming and simplifiying. I read this article last month and it made me wonder, as I often do, if I should get rid of everything (or most things) that I own. I definitely admire those who do, but my thought process usually comes back to point that I don't feel compelled to consume, I would rather make than buy, and I don't feel that my possessions or financial status has anything to do with my worth or my happiness. Almost everything we have in our apartment is carefully chosen, meaningful, useful or inspirational. I'm sure we could live happily with less but I'm pretty careful about what I buy and acquire, so I feel that there is a decent equilibrium. Then again, I didn't hesitate to grab those pears!

Speaking of simplifying and not buying, have you heard of Neighborgoods? Its a website that facilitates borrowing from your neighbor. If you have something you are willing to lend, you can list it on the website and you can also list things you would like to borrow. I am a member, but I haven't shared or borrowed anything yet. It seems like such a good idea, especially now that meeting our neighbors isn't an automatic thing (at least where I have lived recently). I hope that I will have a chance to meet some of my neighbors this way and I love the idea that everyone doesn't have to own one of everything, we can share.

I am going a bit crazy because my sewing machine is in the shop so I haven't been able to complete any projects with that. I will be working at my restaurant job all weekend, but next week I am planning some adventures in the kitchen which will hopefully end up as a couple of go slow make it yourself posts. If you are interested in exploring some recipes for things you can make instead of buy and you haven't seen them yet, check out hummus, yogurt, and whole wheat croissants. Have a wonderful weekend!

Homemade Mustard

In my quest to make things from scratch, I have realized that there are so many things that at first seem unscratchable. It's so easy to go to the grocery store and bringing home boxes, cartons and jars of food that sometimes it seems like that is the only way to get them. But with just a little time and effort pretty much everything can be made from raw ingredients in our own kitchens. I know not everyone has the time or wants to make the effort, but for some reason I can't help myself. I often wonder what drives me to do this. I think it's the thrill of knowing that I can make it myself and don't need to rely on someone else to do it for me, its because it tastes better and doesn't contain strange ingredients, and its an inexplicable curiosity. This last one is what led me to try making mustard.

I am not a condiment person and I use mustard infrequently. Other than to fuel my obsession interest in making it myself, I am not exactly sure what inspired me to try making a condiment that is rarely used in my kitchen. Maybe it was when I needed a tablespoon or two for my balsamic vinaigrette dressing and we didn't have any. Maybe it was because I stumbled upon a recipe in the Ball Complete Book of Canning. Whatever the reason, I now have plenty of mustard and after making it myself, I am thinking about new and exciting uses for it like this recipe and grilled sandwiches with brie, apple, and spinach.

Not only is it satisfying to make something yourself, it also means that you know exactly what is in it. This mustard is simple to make and if you can find a store that has bulk spices, the ingredients are inexpensive and they yield an ample amount of mustard (well, I guess that depends how much mustard you consume, but it makes about four half pint jars -- some of mine will be given as gifts). If you have never canned before, this is an easy project to start with. Unless you grow your own mustard seeds, the ingredients can easily be found year round, so if you are swamped with preserving the fall harvest, this could be a project for the cold months when nothing is growing nearby.

For me, there is something so rewarding about making things myself and I love the creative process. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. Do you like making things from scratch? What is your favorite thing to make instead of buy?

Brown Beer Mustard
Adapted from The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving
Once you get the basics, there are so many variations of mustard you can make. I chose this recipe because it was pretty basic. The beer adds some flavor but it is not overpowering, and of course all the alcohol cooks out. Darker beers with produce a stronger flavor and color.
I used 8-ounce jars and filled four of them with this recipe.

1 pint of beer
1 cup brown mustard seeds
1 cup water
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup dry mustard
1 tablespoon onion powder

In a medium saucepan, combine beer and brown mustard seeds. Bring to a boil then remove from heat, cover and let stand for about 2 hours, until the seeds have absorbed most of the liquid.

In a blender or food processor, puree marinated seeds and remaining liquid until blended and most of the seeds are well chopped (it should still be slightly grainy).

Transfer mixture to a stainless steel saucepan and whisk in remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium and boil gently, stirring frequently until volume is reduced by one third (about 15 minutes).

Prepare canning pot, jars and lids. For canning basics go here. Process the jars in boiling water for 10 minutes. The mustard will keep in the cupboard for up to one year. If you prefer not to can it, you can refrigerate it for several months.