Rhubarb Custard Pie

A friend (a fellow pie-lovin' friend) sent me a link to this recipe - Rhubarb Custard Pie "to be Reckoned With".  How could I not make a pie with that name?!?

And so I did make it.

Then I made it again.

And then again.

And yet...not one photo of the baked finished pie.  Why's that?  It's simply too good.  We couldn't wait to eat it.  It truly IS a rhubarb pie to be reckoned with.

Sourdough Starter, Sprouts and Yogurt

It's been a bit of a frazzled week around here - restoration workers (still!) in the basement, dental issues, sickness - but there was also comfort to be found in the kitchen.  I always think that centuries of women must have found comfort and calm, during trying times, in their daily rounds in the kitchen, and in the rhythm of food preparation.

I've been wanting to make sourdough starter for ages and when I came across this wonderful tutorial I couldn't resist.  I made the starter with the help of our oven light and, once it was ready to use, then put it to good use making a couple loaves of sourdough.  I ended up using the starter to make the whole wheat sourdough bread recipe from my Salt Spring Island Cooking cookbook.

One loaf was a boule shape which we quickly finished off with our lunch and the other loaf was made in this thrifted bread pan.  French is not something my boys are very familiar with but I was surprised when they both asked me why it said "pain" on the bread pan - was it meant to imply that it was a pain to make homemade bread?  I told them that pain was bread in French and then thought back to my own years of French lessons and then wondered if the boys would know more french if we ate more processed food - my brother and I used to practice our French by reading labels on cereal boxes, etc. at our breakfast. 

At any rate, this bread was not a "pain" to make and I've tucked the starter away in the fridge so that we will be able to enjoy it regularly. 

Since I had to have the oven light on for the starter I thought I might as well make another batch of yogurt in the oven.  I used to use this method to make homemade yogurt but recently found it to be much easier just to pour the mixture into a casserole dish and set it in the oven overnight. 

There is no need to put the light on for the yogurt - you can just warm the oven for a minute before placing the dish in but I found the oven light worked nicely as well.

And, since we're all feeling hungry for greens and fresh...anything...we've started making sprouts again. I love to have these on sandwiches but E likes them so much he will just snack on them while he reads.

Sprouts aren't the only thing sprouting around here - there are lots of onions on the go as well as some (early) tomatoes and peppers that are just about ready to move to the greenhouse.  Nothing like veggie seedlings to make one feel more springish.

Stocking the Pantry

One of the things I find very helpful in keeping our household orderly (along with menu planning) is to have a well-stocked pantry.  I always like to have jars full of staples on hand - beans, rice, oats, lentils, etc.

Recently I had the opportunity to get some of these staples from a buying club and was pleased to be able to really stock up and get buckets of some things (organic coconut oil and natural peanut butter), big paper bags of other things (french lentils, rolled oats, beans) as well as essential oils, coconut milk and more - all this without having to go to a grocery store.

(even though we've eaten loads of legumes for years this is the first time we've tried French lentils - they're our new favourite)

So along with our cold-room full of preserves and stored veg. we also have a full pantry which means very few trips to the grocery store for us.  This is such a time saver and...frankly, a sanity saver because I find big grocery stores - with their vast array of choices - to be pretty overwhelming and time-consuming places.  Stocking up on all the essentials now means more time outside in the garden in the coming months. 

Stocking up also usually leads to a cooking day when dry pinto beans are turned into jars of re-fried beans and put in the freezer for future use. 

(the boys love to have re-fried beans on hand so they can use them on corn tortillas with our salsa for their lunch)

Rolled oats are made into big jars of granola.  And lentils are made into a favourite - lentil casserole (which we now like even more with French lentils instead of brown lentils).

Sima - a Finnish Spring Mead

Sometime ago a friend told us about a special drink her son had made - a fizzy, lemon drink.  I knew E would be interested because he loves anything lemon, enjoys being able to make things himself and anything fizzy is an unusual treat around here.  The friend was kind enough to share her recipe and I tucked it away in E's folder and the months went by.

Then on Saturday I was looking through a library book - Lotta Jansdotter's Handmade Living: A Fresh Take on Scandinavian Style - and saw a Swedish drink called Mead  that looked and sounded very much like the Sima that our friend  had let us sample.  I found her Sima recipe again and sure enough...it was very similar. 

I told E about it Sunday morning and he decided that we Must make it Now!  So after our walk in the woods we stopped at our neighbourhood shop to get some lemons and sugar and came home to make it.

E boiled the water and added the sugar, lemon rind  and lemon juice then left it to cool a bit.  Once it was cooled to the right temperature he added a bit of yeast and then we left it overnight.

The next day we bottled it with a few raisins in each bottle - meant to tell us when it was ready by floating to the top of each bottle...I do love a clear indication of things going well!!

Then the next day E checked on them and two of the bottles had raisins floating and tiny bubbles in the neck.  He was thrilled.  Of course, he had to sample immediately...and was delighted. 

The other bottles are in the fridge and I have a feeling they won't last long. ;-)  He wants to make this regularly and I'm hoping he will make it for May day as the start of a new tradition.  We've read that Sima is a traditional May Day drink in Finland and who doesn't like a special drink to celebrate Beltane - the renewal of nature and the beginning of the bright half of the year? 
Speaking of that  "bright" half of the year, rather than waiting patiently for it to bring us blooms, I decided to "force" the issue and bring in some Forsythia to force.  The branches of yellow flowers bring a bit of cheer to our living space!

Edited to add recipe -
Here is the recipe from our friend - we actually used two lemons and, after removing the zest from them, instead of slicing them we juiced them so that we wouldn't have to bother removing the white pith.  You can see another similar recipe and directions here.

Sima
1 lemon

5 liters water

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 granulated sugar

1/4 tsp. yeast

additional granulated sugar and raisins

Remove zest from lemon and place in a large non-aluminum pot. Slice the lemon and set aside. Add the water and sugars to the pot and bring to a boil. Stir until the sugars dissolve. Remove from heat, cover and cool to 110 degrees F. Stir in lemon slices and yeast. Cover and let stand at room temperature until the next day. Bubbles should appear. Strain through a sieve and fill five 1 liter bottles. Add 1 tsp. sugar to each bottle and 2 raisins. Seal and store in a cool place until raisins rise to the surface (2-4 days), Chill until ready to serve.

Simple Shawls and Simple Fudge

Today I finished another shawl.  I'm pleased to have these two shawls made and looking forward to gifting them.  The last four years some very special women in my life have had cancer - these two shawls are a celebratory gift to two of these women who have recently finished their treatments. 

I'm hoping they will keep them just a little warmer and cozier this winter and that they will feel wrapped in love and healing thoughts each time they use them.

This last one I finished binding off with just this much to spare!  And, during those last tense moments, when I thought I might run out, I wondered why on earth I hadn't just done one less row to be sure I would have enough yarn to finish.  I've made a mental note to remind myself next time but feel free to remind me because I'm sure to forget (I've done the same thing before).

I did make sure that I used a bigger needle to bind off rather than trusting myself to bind off loosely - it makes the shawl lay so much nicer if it is not bound off too tightly.

I really love this shawl and have one on the go for myself as well (using odds and sods of wool).  It is a simple but pretty shawl (free download Herb Garden shawl on Ravelry) and I especially love the rounded bottom instead of a pointy one.  If you've never used a shawl I highly recommend them - there really is a reason why women have used them for centuries.  They're Just Right for a little added warmth and comfort (and Perfect if you like to sit up and read in bed).

E has been wanting to try fudge for ages and so we decided to make a very simple recipe that I used to make when I was younger.

Not health food for sure but a delicious treat all the same (we used 2 cups of chocolate chips and 1 cup of butterscotch chips).

And since teens don't get the concept of Christmas baking being for Christmas...another batch of brown sugar buttons to replace the one that was scoffed eaten.

Goodies and Greenery

E and I have been enjoying watching A Victorian Farm and A Victorian Farm Christmas together.  It's fun to know that the way we decorate our home is not unlike the way a Victorian farm family decorated their home for the holidays. 

(we drove by these guys on our way to find a tree, by the time we got the camera all we could get was a bum shot)


We've been collecting greenery on our walks for some time and last weekend we set out to the woods to get our tree.  We came home with red cheeks, a sweet little tree (which, I admit, took some getting used to after two years of massive trees) and assorted other greenery (we are fortunate enough to have yew, ivy and lots of other greenery right on this property including these gorgeous red berries, no holly but oregon grape leaves do in a pinch).

I've had some fun making two simple green decorations outside - one in an old milk can and one in an old cream separator.

The rest of the greenery has been placed throughout our home - I couldn't resist tucking a string of white lights under some old glass insulators on our mantel.

Simple, lovely and all able to be tossed back outside afterwards to compost - my favourite kind of decoration. ;-)

We've been doing a bit of baking, some of our favourites - toffee, brown sugar buttons, seedy crackers - with shortbread, gingerbread men, thimble cookies and nanaimo bars still to go.

Yesterday we made a treat for our favourite canine companion and, since I've been working on planning a new business, E and I talked about a business idea for him - homemade dog biscuits sold at the farm stand.  This batch - carrot, apple, molasses - seemed to go down a treat so it will be a keeper recipe.  Happily we have our own very willing taste tester dog (and actually E tested them out too as they are made with ingredients that non-furry creatures can also enjoy). ;-)

And, I don't usually like to post photos of myself (camera shy and all that) but I thought I would share this one because I wanted to show this great hat.  I wear it all the time because it is so warm (felted wool). I've had so many compliments on it and I love being able to say, "Thank you, I got it at the dump.".  Fun to see the looks that gets.  This summer we were camping on a little island and they have a re-store at their dump, it is a place where people can drop their stuff off and then others can buy it for a small donation.  There is a similar place up near my folks' house (although things are free at that one).  I LOVE the idea of this and wish there were such places at all landfills.  Such a wonderful idea and interesting to me that it is often in island communities where you will see these.  I'd like to be able to say that I usually look much tidier than this but, no...that's me, hair knotted in a bun, stuffed in a hat and off I go. ;-)

Now...to get back to that knitting.

Pumkin Tradition

Yesterday I turned one of these into this.

Such a lovely way to enjoy the pumpkin harvest. ;-)

(this was such a nice variety of pumpkin to grow - almost all flesh and seed but hardly any stringy bits)

Two and half years ago I came across this recipe and a new tradition was born - make pumpkin cinnamon buns out of one of our pumpkins.  This, for me, is what I love about tradition - they don't actually have to have been done for ages.   They are easy to start at any time - you simply find something you love...and then you continue to do it  regularly (although make no mistake - we don't limit these to only harvest time!).

(with cream cheese icing made from cream cheese and a touch of honey)

And what's not to love about pumpkin cinnamon buns!  We have giant  pumpkins from the garden again this year but we've decided not to cook them all up this year, rather to use all our smaller ones instead but I did get a good laugh remembering the year I did cook the giant ones.

Several more pumpkin recipes to work our way through (some on the sidebar) and always happy to hear any of your favourites. ;-)

Potato Bins

Sometime earlier I mentioned that I planted our potatoes in bins (you can see earlier photos here and here) so that they wouldn't use up much garden space.  I love how these work and I've been meaning to post some photos of these and am finally making time to do so. 

I planted several seed potatoes in the bottom of each bin and then filled the bin as the plant grew.  I had wanted to use straw or leaves as the mulch but, since I didn't have enough, I ended up using dirt (leaves are like gold around here). The best thing about these (to me, anyway) is the ease of harvesting.  Once I push the cage aside the boys can easily start picking potatoes. 

Next year I'd really love to keep up with mulching with straw or leaves - less dirt on the potatoes that way.  And there's one of the fun things about gardening - you're barely done for the year and already looking for ways to improve next year's garden.

So, of course, we've been enjoying lots of potatoes lately. Last week I made a potato crusted quiche (with cherry tomatoes and nettle!) and it was delicious (shown here before pouring the egg on top so you can see the crust).

And with the amount of potatoes we have I expect to be enjoying home fries, baked potatoes, scalloped potatoes, roast potatoes,  mashed potatoes, hashbrowns...