What to Do with Leftover Pork? Boy Do I Have the Answer!

I made a pork roast yesterday. Simmered it, covered, on the stove in a cup of milk after browing all sides in a tablespoon of butter. A little salt and pepper--that's it. It was very good. I served it with garlic bread and corn that I flavored with melted butter and a surprising amount of dill weed. I highly recommend buttered corn with dill weed. I know it sounds weird, but it's very, very tasty.

Anyway, I had a bunch of pork roast left over and didn't want to let it go to waste, so here's what I did for "linner" today:

I sliced the pork and threw it in my crockpot with some Sweet Baby Ray's Barbeque Sauce, a smidge of chipotle chili in adobo sauce, and about 1/4 cup of water. I turned it to low for about 3 hours and then took two forks and pulled apart the meat. Stirred it very so often. That was it.

Barbequed Pork, ready to eat

In the meantime, I made a small batch of kind-of coleslaw: I thinly sliced some cabbage, about 1 1/2 cups. I put in 2-ish tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, a small of amount of sugar (around a teaspoon), some salt and pepper (more pepper than salt), and a few pinches of celery seed. I spritzed it with a bit of olive oil and mixed well.

Sorta coleslaw. Very plain. But tasty.

I had some ciabatta rolls and I cut them in half, slathered both sides with mayonnaise, and baked them in the oven at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes. The mayonnaise was melted and the edges of the ciabattas were slightly browned and a bit crisp when I removed them from the oven. They had great bite to them.

I piled on the barbequed pork and topped the meat with a goodly amount of the coleslaw. Popped on the top piece of ciabatta, smashed things a bit so I could get it into my mouth, and then took a tentative bite. Oh, glory...it was so delicious! The crisp sweet tanginess of the cabbage was a perfect complement to the smokey/spicey/sweet barbequed pork. The ciabatta was chewy goodness holding it all together.

I love poking around in my fridge and pantry and coming up with something good to eat. No need to go to the store for special ingredients or follow a recipe. This is cooking at its finest--making do with what I have and enjoying the end product.

And when it turns out this good, well! It's worth writing about. Even better? I'm not as liable to forget what I did if it's written down (my very worst problem in the kitchen), so I can make this again sometime if the mood moves.

Happiness!

May the Lord richly bless you and those you love!
Georgia

An Easy and Inexpensive Baby Blanket to Make

I love to make receiving blankets for baby shower gifts as I'm a firm believer that newborns need lots of blankets. I love to use flannel fabric because it's soft and warm and washable...and I can usually pick up cute, baby-worthy yardage on sale for relatively cheap.

Currently, one of my knitting friends is expecting, and since I already knit her a baby cardigan, I thought I'd make one of my trademark flannel blankies to go along with it.

Further, I thought others might like to know how I do it so they (you!) could have a wonderful, homemade, useful baby shower gift that is sure to be loved and used. So here goes:

I buy 1 1/4 yards of cotton flannel fabric...but you can do just as well with only a yard. Wash it and dry it and then square up all four sides and making them neat, with no ravels hanging.

Next, make a rolled hem edge and pin in place so you can do the next step, which is making buttonhole stitches around the entire edge. Use number 5 or 10 crochet cotton and either a tiny crochet hook that can poke through the fabric or else a large-eyed tapestry needle to actually sew the stitching in place.

Buttonhole stitch in progress

Next I took some pink #5 crochet cotton (because that's what I had that would work for a baby girl, but I often use variegated and that comes out really nice) and single crocheted all around the edgle of the buttonhole-stitched hem. Like this:

Single crochet foundation row

Next I crocheted a scalloped border all the way around. I crocheted 3 double crochets in one stitch, skipped the next stitch, and then single crocheted in the next stitch. Keepgoing like that: Three double crochets in one stitch, skip one stitch, one single crochet in next stitch, skip one stitch, and so on. It looks like this:

Finished with scalloping on the edge!

I'm just finishing this blanket...and it's a good thing because my friend is in labor. Today is a good day!

How Do We Manage When the Electricity Goes Out?

Several weeks ago, the Pacific Northwest experienced an unexpected and record-breaking snow storm. It dumped 9 inches of heavy, wet snow on us, and things pretty much came to a standstill for two days. Trees couldn't stand up to the weight of all that snow and many came down. Especially hard hit were the ornamental plum trees that were in blossom. But everywhere tree limbs--and whole trees--crashed down. I lost a large lower limb from a Doug Fir in my front yard near the house. And around the corner from me, half of a neighbor's mighty oak broke away.Thankfully, it crashed into the street. Another neighbor lost a birch tree that fell on his house. That same scenario was repeated all around our area. As a result, thousands of us lost power in our area.

My power went out in the early morning, shortly after I had gotten up. Normally I wouldn't have even been out of bed that early, but the snow was calling to me and I wanted to sit with a morning cup of coffee and enjoy the quiet and peace of the falling snow before I showered and tried getting to work in one piece on the snowy, slippery roads. So I turned on my coffee pot and watched the snow fall as I waited for it to finish brewing. As I was pouring my first cup I was suddenly plunged into absolute darkness. I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face.

Ah well, I thought, surely it won't be long till it's back on. I fumbled in the dark and lit two of my lanterns so I'd have some light while I waited for the electricity to power back up. Then I sat and drank my coffee and waited. And waited.

Turns out the power didn't come back on for about 15 hours. It was so interesting to talk to people about their experiences because many of them were absolutely helpless in the face of this. They had no idea how to take care of basic needs and they were unprepared. They didn't have a clue how to spend that much time unplugged.

I thought of the Amish: When the electricity goes out in their area, it doesn't even register because they don't use high-line electricity. For the Amish, a day without electricity is like any other day. But of course, not for "the Englisch," which is what they call the rest of us.

Because I strive to live a relatively simple life, I wasn't too hampered by the turn of events. In fact, I rather relished the thought of living unplugged and low-tech for the day. I had my lanterns for light and my handpowered grain grinder for flour and cereal, a pantry full of home-canned food, and my books and spinning wheel and knitting and treadle sewing machine to keep me happily engaged. I had water and a propane stove out back under my patio roof for cooking and heating water. I figured I could take care of myself for quite a long time. Except...

I had no heat. In the Lilliputian cottage I have no wood stove. When I raised my boys in the country, we only heated with wood, and that big old farmhouse never seemed cold. The wood stove pumped out heat all winter long. We'd go through about three cords every winter, and I could stoke that old stove full, turn down the damper, and keep the house warm all night long. In the morning when I got up, I'd first thing go open the damper and get the coals glowing red hot before adding more wood for the day. Many's the day I'd set my cast iron pot on the stove and cook lunch or dinner for us, using the "free" heat from the fire. In the damp and soggy Pacific Northwest, wood heat, in my opinion, can't be beat. It's the best thing for keeping a body warm.

But even with no heat (I bundled up in my woolen hand knits from top to bottom and felt a bit smug), I was fine. And because of the choices I've made to live life simply, I was prepared and knew how to take care of myself.

As I see it, when an emergency hits, there are some things that are nice to have in place. We have need of food, water, shelter, heat if it's cold out (and it seems the electricity always goes out in a winter storm around these parts), an alternative light source, and any special needs, such as medicine or medical equipment. Each of us should think through these needs and decide how we can make them happen even in an outage. A little thought and preparation will go a long way.

I'm reminded of when my boys were little and we'd regularly have days (and occasionally weeks) when we "lived like pioneers." Even though it was fun, it was also educational. Depending on the season, we could forage and fish, cook out back or on the wood stove, play games by kerosene lantern light at the kitchen table, and wash our clothes by hand (even jeans!) and hang them outside or by the fire to dry. Good times.

I remember one time I gathered "fur and skins" (fabric from our local fabric store), leather thongs, and some big wooden needles that I'd found somewhere--the memory of which escapes me now--and when the boys woke up that morning I informed them that they would have to make their own clothes in order to dress for the day. They loved it! In fact, they got so excited about the project that they made a "skins" tent to play in also and we ate our meals there for several days.

These "play days" helped make my sons the creative tinkerers they are today, I think. In fact, besides the heat issue, I found I had one more problem on that snowy day and that was my fancy new iPhone. I'm fairly new to that technology, and people called or messaged me all day long (snow storm and power out = really big news!). Needless to say, my power bar was going down and I'd soon enugh run out of juice. And that was when I realized that once the power was gone, so was my ability to communicate with the outside world--granted, not a necessity, but nice to have available. I mentioned it to one of my boys and without skipping a beat he said to plug the phone into the car chager...which he'd given me for Christmas...and turn the key to accessories and let 'er rip. I did and my communications disaster was averted.

You and your family could try a "live like the pioneers" day (or two or three!) and find where you have gaps in your ability to take care of yourselves. And then you can make plans for how to close those gaps so when an uncertain future hits, you'll be prepared.

As for me, I'm saving up for a wood stove for the Lilliputian cottage. I know me well enough to know that I won't rest easy until I have it installed. And when I do, even if it's the dead of summer, I'll fire it up and put on a pot of stew.

Reading the Bible--In a Day! (Almost)

We had been forewarned: Today at work, the editorial department would be gathering en masse to proofread the newest edition of The Daily Bible, which is due out later this year. Our goal: Get as much of the Bible read in one day (with 12 of us on task) as humanly possible--reading carefully, not skimming--taking care with God's Word. A huge responsibility.

Every so often we will have a special project like this, that takes all of the editorial staff working together to accomplish. This day's work was massive, but every one of us looked forward to it. Think about it: we got paid today to sit quietly and--for an entire day!--read the Bible. It was lovely.

And it was fun...

The managing editor of the department is a creative genius when it comes to making big projects enjoyable. In our department, food often plays a big part in our communal times, and today was no exception. Food choices today were direct reflections of what Jesus would have eaten in His day. You see? Fun!

When we got to work, we had an early morning snack waiting for us that consisted of two types of honeycomb (dark and light), almond butter, and whole wheat bread. I'll freely admit that the electric toaster wasn't authentic, but it tasted so good to slather the goodies on perfectly toasted, warm bread.

We had already decimated the dark honeycomb and almond butter before it occured to me to start taking pictures:

What's left of the honeycomb. Not very exciting, but oh, so good!

We worked solid for two hours and then were treated to more food. This is where it got fun:

We had so much to choose from that I quickly wrote everything down because I knew I wouldn't remember it all otherwise, and here it is:

Matzo
goat cheese
flat bread
hummus
cashews
almonds
pistachios (already shelled!)
pomegranate seeds (ready to eat!)
raisins
dates
dried apricots
dried figs (two kinds, Mission and a Middle Eastern variety that was out of this world)
grapes
yogurt

What a feast! As we ate, we talked about what each of us had been reading this morning. How nice is that? Remember: This is my job.

We worked until lunch and were on our own for that meal. Frankly, I was still full from morning break. But I met my twin sister in town (prearranged) and we had a bit of tapas, which was just right for me today.

Then, back to work for the remainder of the day and one more treat:

Scripture Cake!



You can do a Google search to find out more about Scripture Cake. Along with a cup of hot tea, I sailed through the afternoon, alert, happy, satiated, and reading, reading, reading.

Such a blessing!

Homemade Bread--As You Like It!

This week, one of my sons put together my new Country Living grain mill. It's a manual grinder...not a bit of electricity is used to get the nicest flour anyone could possibly want. I've used an electric grinder for years, but always wanted to get away from "machinery" and just use good old-fashioned arm power instead. The Country Living grain mill with the power bar attachment makes grinding grain really quite easy.

I also purchased the corn and bean auger because I love fresh ground cornmeal, and can't wait to use that next. And if you've read my previous posts (see "A Handy Woman -- Sort Of" on 2/12/12) you know I'm not mechanical. So, if I can use this mill--and change out the augers--I figure anyone can. It's that easy!

Okay, so here are some picture of my new mill:

A Close-up view

Shown bolted onto a butcher block cabinet

Of course, I immediately set about grinding grain. I made some cracked wheat for hot cereal, and then set it to fine and ground flour for bread. The flour was beautiful stuff--perfect bread flour.

I want to share with you my go-to recipe for a plain load of bread (although you can add anything you want to it. Or do like I do and make several loaves at a time and turn one of them into cinnamon sugar bread. Yum!). The recipe comes from an Amish cookbook published in 1980 and "Compiled by a Committee of Amish Women."

What I love about this recipe is that it's easy and you make as many or as few loaves as you want. Here are some pictures of today's whole wheat bread:

Loaf At a Time Basic Bread Recipe

For each loaf use:

1 cup very warm water

1 teaspoon melted lard or butter, or cooking oil

1 scant teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon yeast (if you make 8 loaves, just use 2 rounded tablespoons yeast)

3 cups flour

Combine everything but the flour in the order given in a large bowl. Let the mixture stand until the yeast dissolves and gets bubbly. Stir in about half of the flour and beat it until smooth. (You can use an electric hand mixer, but I just use a wooden spoon or a whisk and go to it.) Then add the remaining flour. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 8 - 10 minutes. Shape into a ball.

Place the dough into a clean bowl that has been greased (Crisco or butter). Turn the ball of dough all around so the entire surface gets greased. Then, put a clean towel on top of the bowl and set it in a draft-free, warmish place (I just set mine on the counter) and let it rise until double.

Punch down and knead it a bit. Then shape it into a ball again and place it back in the bowl, making sure to grease the entire surface again. Cover with the towel and let rise to double again. Do this punching down/rising step one more time and then:

Shape into a loaf or loaves, depending on how many you're making, and place the loaves in greased bread pans. Cover with the towel and let rise again until nearly doubled. (The bread will continue to rise a bit when it's first placed in the oven.)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. When you place the bread into the oven, turn the temperature down to 350 degrees and bake for 30-35 minutes.

When you remove the finished bread from the oven, you can lightly grease or butter the top crust. This helps the crust to remain soft...but I hardly ever do this and I don't have a problem with hard crust. After about 5 minutes, turn the finished loaves out of the loaf pans and set the bread on racks to cool.

It's really hard to let the bread rest for a bit before you dig in...but resist the urge to cut into it until the bread has had a chance to cool slightly. You'll be happy you waited because the bread will cut better and hold it's shape.

Also, you can skip the last rising before you loaf it up if you feel pressed for time. However, the bread will have a better texture and will be softer and lighter if you do all the risings because the air bubbles that get trapped are smaller; therefore, the bread is finer textured.

That's it! It's really quite easy. This bread makes great toast and works super well for sandwiches.

Happy eating!

Blessings,

Georgia





Cream--or, If You're on a Diet, Walk Away from This Post!

I try valiently to eat well...and by that, I mean lots of fairly naked veggies and lean cuts of meat and fish. But the truth is that I love sauces and butter and rice and potatoes, and some weeks I just have to satisfy my epicurian lusts.

This weekend I did.

I bought a container of organic whipping cream when I did my weekly shopping yesterday and immediately set about using it. I made "Lemon Cream Tarragon Chicken" and "Savory Scones"...and they are such good eating that I realized I had to share the recipes. Both of these recipes were "unvented" by me, so that's probably why I love them so much, as they appeal to my personal taste buds.

The fact that an entire pint of cream is already gone underscores just how calorie-laden and rich these recipes are. But please don't let that stop you from trying them--I think they could become favorites in your kitchen as well!

Lemon Cream Tarragon Chicken

(Serves 2 to 4)



Lemon Cream Tarragon Chicken

4 boneless skinless chicken breast tenderloins (good sized ones if you're feeding four people)
flour for dredging chicken
1-2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup sliced fresh button mushrooms
4 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon French tarragon
salt and pepper to taste
cooked white rice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. (At this point I set the rice to cooking and things come out in good order at the end.)
Melt the butter and olive oil together in a saute pan. Dredge the chicken pieces in flour and cook them in the butter/oil until browned on both sides. I make sure my heat isn't too high so the butter doesn't burn. When the chicken is sufficiently browned, I lightly salt and pepper them and then put them in a baking dish (anything that fits will do) and throw them into the oven to finish cooking while I make the sauce.

Into the remains of the butter/oil, I place the onions and mushrooms and saute those until the onions are translucent and the mushrooms have cooked some. Then I turn up the heat slightly and add the lemon juice, stirring well so I can deglaze the pan and get all those good bits of floury-chickeny goodness. I cook down the lemon juice a bit and then turn the heat way down. Next, I add the cream, tarragon, and salt and pepper. Heat until the cream is very hot but don't let it boil. I stir and let things simmer for a few minutes so the flavors meld and then I serve the chicken and tarragon cream sauce over rice.

One thing to keep in mind: These measurements are really just suggestions. Taste as you go and add more if you want.



Okay, that was last night's dinner. This morning I made:

Savory Potato Rosemary Scones

(Serves 8)
 (You will notice there are only 7 scones pictured. That's because I ate one before I took the photo. I have my limits for self-discipline!)

2 1/2 - 3 cups flour
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup shredded or fine diced cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon butter, plus more for greasing the baking sheet
1/4 cup finely diced onions
1/4 cup sliced button mushrooms
1/4 cup finely diced bell peppers (use orange, green, and red for a pretty display of color)
1/2 large potatoe, peeled and diced (I usually use a small one and call it good)
1 egg
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon rosemary, bruised so the aromatic oils come out
1/4 teaspoon sage

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter a cookie sheet in a 12-inch circle. (This is where the dough will go later. If you only butter the area where the dough will go, it's easier to clean afterward.)

Cook the potatoes in boiling water until a bit softened. (I usually throw them into vigorously boiling water and let them boil for a minute or two. Then I turn off the heat and let them sit on the hot burner until I need to drain them.)

Saute in 1 tablespoon butter the onion, mushrooms, and bell peppers.

In a small mixing bowl, mix together the flour, salt, and baking power and set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together the cheeses and egg. Add the cream and mix well. Add the sauted veggies and the drained potatoes and mix well again.
Fold in the flour mixture, a bit at a time, by hand. You may need to add more flour--what you want is a soft dough. Mix just until the flour is thoroughly incorporated in the mixture.

Pat out into a round about 1 inch thick on the buttered cookie sheet. Take a knife and score by cutting down as best as you can into eight equal pie-shaped "slices." When they bake, they'll still stick together but the scores will be there and help to define individual pieces.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until the scones are cooked through and golden brown on top.

Set on a wire rack to cool.

Yum!


 I plan on eating mostly naked vegatables and lean cuts of meat for the remainder of this week as my pennance...but it's hard to feel bad about eating such good food!

Blessings to you and yours,
Georgia

Rainbow Chard--Friends At Last!

I love growing rainbow chard because it's so pretty. The stalks come in neon bright colors--red, orange, yellow, and cream. Against the deep green broad leaves intersected by colorful ribs, rainbow chard just looks like it would be wonderful to eat.

But I've never been fond of it, which fusses me no end because I can't stop growing it. Up until this evening that was a problem...

This morning I woke up to snow. Snow! In March. In the Willamette Valley. Not usual. I girded my loins, hopped in my car, and drove to work without mishap. (In these parts, we aren't very skilled at driving in snow or ice and I always get nervous.) I realized pretty early in the morning that I was suffering from a case of spring fever. I think the snow had something to do with that. I promised myself that I'll mud in my peas this weekend no matter what the weather, and that helped somewhat, but I still yearned for the taste of the growing season. I really wanted something fresh. So I decided I'd do a quick spot of grocery shopping at lunch.

When I got to the store, I saw gorgeous organic strawberries and raspberries for sale at a good price and I quickly scooped up a couple of clamshells of each. As I was turning to leave, my eye caught sight of...yep. You guessed it. Organic rainbow chard. It was fresh and crisp and oh so colorful and pretty. Now I never actually buy chard. I only grow it. I've always felt that to spend my hard-earned cash on a veggie that I'm not likely to eat isn't being a good steward. But today...

Today I couldn't resist, and a perfect bunch of chard made its way into my basket. When I got back to work, I had a chance to contemplate what I had just done. I had just bought chard. I DON'T LIKE CHARD. Oh, dear.

All afternoon as I worked I thought and thought about that chard. I really wanted to like chard. So I thought and thought some more and this is what I did:

This is a picture of my sauted chard. I wish it was a larger picture so you could really get an idea of how pretty it is. But still, I think you can see the different colors.

Sauted Chard

4-6 stalks chard (use Rainbow and your meal will be beautiful plus tasty!), more or less

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tsp. butter

1/4 cup onion, chopped

1/3 cup white wine (I used cheap cooking wine. It would probably taste better with good quality wine.)

salt and pepper to taste

4 tablespoons Parmesan cheese (or to taste)

I cleaned and separated the chard stalks from the leaves. I put the olive oil and butter into a saute pan and turned the heat to about medium. While it was heating I chopped the stalks and when the butter was melted I threw in the onion and chard stalks and stirred occasionally for about 4 minutes. Next I added the wine and the chopped leaves, lowered the heat a bit, and stirred every so often while the whole shebang cooked for maybe another 3 minutes. I turned the heat off, salted and peppered the chard, added the Parmesan cheese over the top (I didn't stir), put a lid on it, and let it set, covered, for a few more minutes so the Parmesan would melt.

Now here's the amazing part: I liked it! I really liked it! I'm thrilled with this development. Because I already knew I'd be growing chard this summer. But now? Now I'll be able to enjoy eating it too!