Thursday, March 29, 2012

Strawberry Buckwheat Muffins


Now that I'm making more butter from fresh cream, I have an abundance of buttermilk. After I strain the butter from the buttermilk, I add a bit of cultured buttermilk (I just keep a "start" going) from my existing buttermilk. I keep it in a clean glass quart jar and always have a supply of fresh buttermilk. But what to do with all of it? I found this awesome website with all sorts of wonderful buttermilk recipes:

http://www.pinkofperfection.com/2009/10/ultimate-buttermilk-recipe-repository/

So I made these the other day - tender, yummy, not-overly-sweet muffins. I think you'll like them. Oh, and I added some frozen blueberries just because I love blueberries in muffins.

Strawberry Buckwheat Muffins
 makes 12
1 1/2 cups sliced strawberries
 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
 1/2 cup buckwheat or whole wheat flour (spooned and leveled) (I used whole wheat flour)
 2 teaspoons baking powder
 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
 1/2 teaspoon salt
 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
 1 cup low-fat buttermilk
 1/4 cup light olive oil or vegetable oil
 1 large egg
 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a standard 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners, or spray muffin tin with cooking spray. Toss together strawberries and 1/3 cup sugar. Using a potato masher, lightly mash berries; set aside.



In a large bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.


In another bowl, whisk together buttermilk, oil, egg, and vanilla until combined.

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the buttermilk mixture and the berry mixture (including juices).


Fold until just combined.


With an ice cream scoop or ladle, divide batter among the muffin cups. Sprinkle the tops with remaining sugar (which I forgot to do. Oh, well, they were still wonderful!).


Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 17 minutes.


Cool 5 minutes in the pan, then transfer muffins to a wire rack to cool completely.


So good! And good for you!

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Springtime and Gardening


This time of year is busy! Especially if spring comes a month earlier than usual. Laura Engalls Wilder said it best in Farmer Boy: “There was no time to lose, no time to waste in rest or play. The life of the earth comes up with a rush in the springtime. All the wild seeds of weed and thistle, the sprouts of vine, bush and tree, are trying to take the fields. Farmers must…plant the good seeds quickly.”

That’s how things have been around here. We’ve had such warm days compared to last year when we got lots of snow in March. So here’s the update on gardening.

At the first of the month, I planted seeds indoors. The only seeds I start inside anymore are tomatoes and peppers because squash and pumpkins seem to do just fine started from seed in the garden. I planted about ten varieties of tomatoes and ten of peppers – from sweet peppers to very hot.

I also tried different methods of starting the seeds. I filled an aluminum roaster with soil medium, made lines with a ruler in the dirt and planted a few seeds of each variety in the rows. So far, I’m not too impressed with that method.


I also tried coir pots instead of peat pots – less damaging for peat bogs. The tomatoes in the coir pots seem to do just fine. Coir, BTW, is from coconut husks – thus renewable.



I planted two different methods in those little “greenhouses” that you get at the store – one in peat pots and one in plastic cubicles. They both seem to be growing about the same, but we’ll see what happens when it’s time to transplant – either into bigger peat pots or the garden. I tried both tomatoes and peppers in all the different methods.



The actual planting medium was two different kinds. First, were those little planting cubes that you add water and they expand. They’ve done very well. The other was our own mixture of peat moss and compost from our compost pile – I used that in the little peat pots and the coir pots. They’ve also done well.

I also labeled everything carefully. It’s so easy to get plants confused when you either transplant them or move them into the garden. You don’t want to mis-label a pepper, cook it up, and have everyone gasping for water if you thought it was a sweet pepper and it wasn’t.


After everything is planted in the little pots, spritz with water, put a lid or plastic wrap over the top. Place them in a warm, dark place (I put them next to the woodstove) and let the seeds work their magic. You’ll know there’s enough moisture in there if water condenses on the lid.


After 7-10 days, there are little sprouts. Take off the lid, move the seedlings to the brightest, sunniest place in the house. We started using a grow light a year ago, and that really helps the plants not get so leggy before it’s time to plant outside. Position the grow light about 2” from the seedlings.




At the same time, things were warming up outside, so I took the straw mulch off the garlic. We put the mulch on the garlic beds last fall, and that insulates them well. When I took off the mulch, little garlic shoots were already poking up through the soil. We planted twice as much garlic last fall, and twice as many varieties, so I’m pretty excited for the garlic to be ready in about 4-5 months.



We also got a big load of sheep manure. We’ve tried all kinds – cow, horse, goat, sheep – and the sheep manure is really the best. So we put some of it in this year’s compost bin


to fill out the compost, then we dumped the rest on the Three Sisters bed (remember the corn, beans and squash bed?).  We’ll get one more load to add to next year’s compost bin so it can compost over the summer and winter.


The next step was to prepare the raised beds for planting. We had to reconfigure the garden this year. With gardening, there is never enough space, so gardeners just keep making more places to plant. I’m sure we’re about maxed out for watering capabilities…

Anyway, we're not maxed out yet! SoWalt built a new raised bed – 12’x3’. We had to move one of the older raised beds to make room. So we took all the soil (it’s not dirt in a raised bed) out of the old bed, moved the bed, put all the soil, along with more peat moss and new compost, back in the old bed. Then we placed the new raised bed.

First, we put down a layer of newspaper. That keeps the existing grass and weeds from growing into the bed.


We have four older beds that needed replenishing, so we took some of the soil from each of those beds to add to the new bed. Then we put some new peat moss and compost in each bed, and tilled it all in. We use one of those wonderful Mantis tillers to work everything in.



There are many advantages to raised beds: you don’t walk on them, so the soil never gets compacted. You can make your own soil mixture – peat moss, compost, whatever you prefer. You still have to kneel on the ground to plant or weed, but you can make your beds as high as you want to cut down on bending over. You can plant things closer together so you get more yield per square foot of garden. You weed less. You use less water, especially if you use drip irrigation. And it’s just a wonderful feeling to have those garden beds all composted, tilled and ready to plant.

Note the straw mulch around all the beds. It really keeps the weeds and grass down.


So, happy gardening! There’s no time to lose!

Random picture of baby rhubarb

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Chocolate Hazelnut Cake


This cake is good - it's not so much a cake as it is a fudge. Did I mention that it's good. Really good. Some more serious chocolate.

Chocolate-Hazelnut Cake
From the NPR website: Fair warning: This cake is decadently rich. You'll want to cut very thin slices. It also keeps well, so if you can't finish it off within a few days, slice and then freeze, defrosting a piece whenever you need a shot of chocolate. If hazelnuts aren't your thing, substitute 1 cup of ground almonds for good results.


Makes 12 servings
12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into chunks
6 large eggs
1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1/4 cup cream or half and half
1 cup finely ground hazelnuts (about 5 ounces raw nuts ground in a food processor)
1 teaspoon salt

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350 degrees.

Butter 9-inch-diameter cake pan, and line bottom with parchment paper round. Wrap outside of pan tightly with 3 layers of heavy-duty foil.


Combine chocolate and butter in medium metal bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Whisk until mixture is melted and smooth. Remove bowl from over water. Or microwave until nearly melted.



Whisk eggs,


brown sugar and cream in large bowl to blend.


Add chocolate mixture and whisk until smooth.


Stir in ground hazelnuts




and salt.



Transfer batter to prepared pan. Place pan in a large roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into roasting pan to come halfway up sides of cake pan. Place in oven and tent pan loosely with foil.



Bake until cake is set in center and top is dry to touch, about 1 1/2 hours (top of cake will remain shiny). Remove cake from roasting pan


and remove foil from top and outside of pan.
Cool cake in pan on rack, then chill until cold, about 3 hours.




Yes, you'll want to cut very thin slices so we solved this dilemma by having a first and second dessert. One right after Sunday dinner, then one later in the evening. Sort of like hobbits. It's so worth it.


Flourless Almond Butter Cookies


Flourless Almond Butter Cookies
I got this from the NPR website. They have some great recipes and these looked delicious! And they are flourless! They are super easy to make, too.

This is what the website says: All I can really say about these cookies is that they are addictive. It's impossible to eat just one (well, you can try). If you prefer peanut butter, feel free to swap in the equivalent amount and instead of slivered almonds try 1/2 cup of roasted peanuts or a nut of your choice.


1 cup almond butter
1/2 cup light or dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a baking sheet with butter and set aside or use parchment paper.

In a large bowl, stir almond butter and sugars together until well combined. Or do this in the food processor.


Add egg, baking soda, maple syrup, vanilla and salt and mix well.


Stir in the almonds and chocolate chips.



Using a teaspoon, scoop out small, walnut-sized amounts of dough and roll them in your hands to form a ball. Place on cookie sheet about 1 inch apart.


Bake 10 to 12 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool for 5 minutes.


These are really good - they lasted about 5 minutes with 6 grandkids here. Maybe 4 minutes.