Tallow Candles

This next blog post is a preparedness project. 

If you ever take the time to stock up on the necessities in life, you know you can never have enough light.  Whether its flashlights or candles.  So today I'm going to talk about a simple way to make candles with supplies you most likely already have.

The only thing you need for the "wax" is tallow, or rendered animal fat.

Rendering means cooking the fat long enough to melt it.

What I like to do is save my rendered fat every time I fry up some meat to use later.

I'll briefly explain the process of this project as it is really simple.
After you've got your fat stored up in the fridge, find some kind of container for your candles.  I prefer jars, in this case baby food jars, and my husband picked out one of his old bb pellet tins.  Just be sure its cleaned thoroughly.  You will also want to put a tray or plate under them in case you spill any tallow later.

Next, you will need some sticks and wicks.  I actually made my own wicks by soaking hemp string in some of the melted tallow and allowing it to dry for a few minutes.

Tie your wick to the center of the stick and cut off enough to go all the way to the bottom of the container.  If you're using something wide and shallow, like an Altoids tin, you may want at least 3 wicks to make sure the tallow burns evenly.

Then, melt your fat.

Once it becomes liquid you can strain it if you want. Then poor into the jar, making sure to get a little on the wick.  Double check that the wick is in the center when your done.

All you do now is let it become solid again.  As long as your container is air-tight, it doesn't have to be refrigerated and will last a very long time.  Just a quick note though, tallow is a very soft substance.  If you want your candle to be more firm, you can just put it back in the fridge until use.

And there you have it.  An easy, cost efficient prep item.  Have fun!

Kombucha Time!

We finally took the day to rescue our poor, neglected 8 Kombucha cultures.

Well actually we only rescued one.  The rest went into compost.

Got a little ahead of ourselves last year and ended up, well, forgetting about them. 

Turns out, a year later, they were all healthy and living.  Just huge!!

So we decided to put 7 to rest and start up a new one. 

Its been about a week now and already a new culture is forming!  

The cloudy white stuff you see on the top is the new culture and on the bottom is the original.  

If you have no idea what a Kombucha is, basically its a fermented tea.  

One that is full of probiotics and antioxidants that boost your immune system, naturally detoxifies, helps your liver function, and fills you with energy.  Not only that, but it is also rich in B-Vitamins which help your heart, stress level, memory and much, much more.

If you would like more info or to make your own kombucha, head over Here for your very own scoby. Fingers crossed it will be delicious.  The hard part is being patient.  

Growing Celery in Water

We began the experiment of growing celery from our scraps just five days ago and you can already see a big difference.  All you have to do is cut off the bottom and place it in a dish of lukewarm water.  Make sure the water doesn't reach the top of the celery.  Then stick it in the window sill and wait.  Once the leaves come up, plant it.  That's it!

Here is day One:

Day 2 (Switched Containers):

Day 3:

Day 5 (Forgot day 4):

This is just so fun to watch and I love the fact that I don't have to waist our scraps!

Thick Fluffy Sourdough Pancakes

Ok, so I just got done making my second batch of these pancakes.

They are the best I have ever had.  Really.

My first batch, I decided to take a chance with whole wheat flour.

I thought, 'Man I'm going to hate these, but oh well.'

I remember being the pickiest 8 year old when it came to food and mom telling me she was making pancakes one day.  I brought up my plate and she plopped down a brown mass of buckwheat.  It scarred me for life. (Just kidding Mom. ;) )

So I decided to give it a shot one more time since I have never liked any of my other pancake recipes anyway.  The problem I've had is that they always seem to soak up all of the syrup and become this sugary sponge that feels like diabetes waiting to happen.

I hate that.

Well, these were so good I have made another batch, mostly whole wheat with some of my excess white flour starter.

Now, if you don't have a sourdough starter or need to learn more about it, I would recommend The Bread Geek.  She knows practically everything about it.

The good thing about sourdough pancakes is that your starter doesn't have to be in its prime.  It actually just reacts with the baking soda to make it extra fluffy.  Although if your starter has got that good sour flavor, it also gives them a slight tang, which personally I find even better.

  

This recipe does take some getting used to.  My first batch didn't go quite as smoothly being as how I'm used to a watery batter, but it is way worth it and much easier to flip without breaking.

I ended up with 8 pancakes (a few got larger the more hungry I became.)  They freeze really well and out of the toaster they still taste freshly made.

For all of this recipe and a few tricks, head over to Shannon's Blog.

Aluminum Free??

So I've been on a baking craze lately.
I tend to learn something new and obsess over it for a bit before moving to the next.
My latest obsession is natural yeast (a later blog post.)  Zucchini Bread (a huge hit btw) was up next so I went to the store for some ingredients.  One of them was baking powder. 

In a hurry, I picked up the first, generic brand, and plopped it in the buggy. Just then I thought, I am making bread yeast the natural way and sticking who knows what in there with it.  That just defeats the purpose! 
I didn't bother reading the ingredients because, lets face it; generic is not top notch stuff.  I then carefully looked for the words, non gmo and found one.  But then I noticed, beside it, an even smaller container of baking powder with a phrase highlighted on the front.
"ALUMINUM FREE"....

Ummm, what? 
So they can just stick whatever the heck they want to in our food now?  (The answer is a big yes btw.) 
Not only that, but they make you think you're buying quality by labeling it, non gmo.

Later I decided to find out what could provoke them to add aluminum, so I did some research. Just a little.  Well, surprise surprise.  They started putting it in there to save money.  Originally, baking powder was made with baking soda and cream of tarter.  Well, this got expensive to use.  ( A whole few cents extra people.)  So they started using alternative acids instead of cream of tarter.  One of which is sodium aluminum sulfate.  Aluminum.  Apparently it reacts the same way with the baking soda, so yeah, that makes it alright...

Since then I have been carefully reading the ingredients list in everything I buy.  I am not able to get all of the good stuff yet since anything natural or chemical free is of course costly, but this has taught me to at least pay attention.

It has also proved that having your own source of food or shopping at farmers markets will improve your health and quality of life tremendously. 

Stew for Storage

There are so many nutritional foods and ways to store them that it gets to be confusing sometimes on what to save first.

Do you go for vitamin c? Protein? Calories?  The list goes on and on.  And if you aren't lucky enough to have a garden some things are just not very affordable.  (Please try to have at least a small garden next season.  It is way worth it.)




We just recently started pressure canning and it is Way Awesome!  (I used to go with the oven method and that was anything but successful.)  So amidst my husband canning anything he can get his hands on, we recently realized a great couple of foods that cover the basics and are easy to come by.

Carrots & Potatoes!

Yeah, not what you would have said huh?
Well, let me explain our thinking.

First off, carrots and potatoes are both very easy to grow and tend to yield a lot.  They also save space and are easy to harvest.  Just about any gardener grows these plants for those very reasons.  They are also very easy to come by.

Potatoes. They are such a good staple.  Like rice, you can add it to anything to make a bigger meal and can be cooked in many ways.  And in case you didn't know, they are also nutritious!  There is as much fiber in a potato as there is in pasta or bread.  The skin of a potato even has Vitamin C.

Carrots.  There are so many nutrients in carrots, mainly B-Carotene which metabolizes into Vitamin A.  They are rich in antioxidants and minerals.  They naturally help with poor vision, the digestive system, constipation, and many more things.

Still thinking, why carrots and potatoes?
Well, if you for some reason ran out of food or couldn't afford to buy anything, most likely you will be out hunting (as long as you aren't a vegetarian or don't live in the middle of the city.)  So protein is already covered for the most part.

And instead of opting for straight meat, you're going to want to make something with it.  Hopefully you will be out finding wild herbs or whatever, but that's not enough.

So what can you do with it?  How can you make that meat stretch?  Make a Stew of course!
Just about any meat can go in a stew and will go perfect with carrots and potatoes.  The meat and veggies will both flavor each other and you already have most of what you need.

Having them on the side is just fine and dandy, but when you're down to the back up food, you want to have something a little different every now and then.  And by storing these two basics, you'll almost have everything needed for a stew.

Other veggies are also very important.  These are just the two we could easily access that made the most sense.  Have any more ideas of how to use carrots and potatoes?  Or possibly an even better food to store?

If so, please share.  We'd love to hear it. :)

Sourdough Breadmaking for Newbies

Its Sunday.
Wonderful, sleep in till noon, do whatever you want Sunday.
I'm not a church goer as you can tell.
I know, I know.  Cue the finger wagging.

Anyways,
In the colder months, on my days off, I try to find something fun to do around the house.
When I'm not making orders for etsy, or doing some laundry, I LOVE to bake sourdough bread.
Today was very cold and boring, and I hate doing laundry, so sourdough time!
I'm still quite a newbie, however there is one recipe that I've got down pat.

So I decided I would share to my fellow novices how to make a simple, yet favorite sourdough recipe.  (Now, since originally making this post I have learned that this is not traditional sourdough.  I will soon be adding a post about natural yeast and what I have learned thus far.)
I found it on allrecipes.com (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/san-francisco-sourdough-bread/detail.aspx)
I just don't use the onion egg wash on mine.  I like it simple.  Thanks to my sister-in-law for showing me this one.

You can also find several sourdough starter recipes on there too.  Just browse around.

You also want to feed your starter every now and then too.
There are lots of opinions on how to feed your starter, but this is how I've done it:
Pour out (or use) half of your starter.  Add 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of water.
If your starter has a lot of liquid formed on top, only add about 1/2 cup of water.
After a few times your starter will be less watery and you can go back to equal parts.
Let it sit 2-3 hours covered, but not air-tight, then stick it in the fridge.

All right, back to the bread making!

So, to begin, make sure you have your starter at room temp before using.
Also be aware that bread takes Patience.  So you if want your bread to be ready at dinner time, start no later than 11:30 a.m. or 12 p.m.

Mix together 1 cup of flour, the sugar, salt, and active dry yeast.  (Traditional sourdough does not use any other yeast than your starter.)  Next add the warm milk, softened butter and starter.  Now, gradually start adding in the rest of your flour.  About half way through mixing, it will become very thick and too hard to mix with a spoon.  This is where the messy part begins.

Make sure you set out the rest of your flour needed.  Flour up your hands and start mushing that dough around.  Keep adding flour gradually to the mixture. Your hands will be very very sticky but once the dough stops sticking to your hands, your probably done.  The dough will still be a little sticky, but you want it to be one big soft ball of dough that's just slightly gooey.

Now for the fun part!
Clean off a big section of your table very well.  Sprinkle flour in a circle about twice as wide as your dough.  Plop that baby down.  Sprinkle even more flour on top and begin kneading your dough.
To do this, fold your dough in half and then push downwards with both hands. (I'm using one because I cannot photograph and knead correctly at the same time.)  Use your palms to really push down on it.







You're going to knead for 8 to 10 mins.  I always do 10.  As you knead, it will get thicker and thicker.  As it does, you'll want to push down harder.  I like to slide my palms back and forth a couple times while pushing down more and more.  You can find your own way of doing it though.  Have fun with it!  Its a great way to take out your frustrations. 



Once its a good and thick, elastic feeling ball of dough, you're done with this.  Make sure not to add too much flour at a time.  The wetter the dough is, the more moist your finished bread is because the oven will bake off some of the moisture in it.

Grab a bowl and grease it with butter.  Butter makes everything better!  It also keeps the dough from cracking or sticking to your bowl.  Put your dough in and roll it around in the butter once or twice over.

 Cover with a cloth and let it sit until it has doubled in size.

Now is the time for patience.  It will take 1-2 hours to double.  The colder it is, the longer it takes.  Mine took 2 hours because it is so cold today.  If its not perfectly doubled its ok, but don't let it go too much more than double because what goes up, must fall down and it will not turn out right if this happens.

Once it has doubled, punch down on the dough a few times until its been flattened a tiny bit like so.

Then wait 15 mins.  While waiting, get out your bread pan or cookie sheet and grease with butter like we did earlier.  If you get as bored as me, you can take a few photos of your elf with the dough.  Yeah, I know, very creative.  

Now, divide your dough in half, or as much as you like, and form your loaves.  My husband requested a long, skinny tube of bread so I also did that.  Yeah, don't ask me.  I just did what I was asked.

Wait until it has doubled again.  It will take about the same amount of time as before.  Preheat your oven, then put them in for about 30 mins.  The smaller you make your loaves, the quicker it will will bake.

You can tell that the bread is done by tapping on the bread with your finger.  As long as it sounds hollow when you tap, it's done.  It's good to check the bottom too, as that is going to be the softest part.  This skill takes a few times to get down pat, but if you under cook it, you can always stick in the oven on 300 degrees for 10-15 mins.  It will be just as good.

Now, wait till its cooled down, if you can, and enjoy!  Isn't it a beauty?  I just love seeing the transformation of bread as you make it.

I like to make my own butter for this bread because it goes really well with it.  Just take some whipping cream in a jar and shake for about 20 mins until its a really solid mass of butter.  Add some salt if you want before shaking.  Pour out the buttermilk on top and its ready.

Just don't store your butter in a glass jar in the fridge.  Otherwise you will hand a slice of bread to your husband who will then bite into glass and make you throw away your bread because you didn't realize the glass was in the butter, not the bread... just sayin'...that would really suck..


To see the full recipe go to:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/san-francisco-sourdough-bread/detail.aspx

Happy Baking!