spent grain pancakes

Last night we started brewing a batch of cranberry porter. I've been trying to figure out ways to use the (potentially delicious) spent grain. Pancakes are one idea. These pancakes have a dark color and flavor because the spent grains from our porter included chocolate malt and black malt. I also made tea with the spent hops, and it made me sleepy.

This recipe is based on Tom's vegan pancake recipe.

Serving Size: 4

Ingredients:
2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
2 T. baking powder
1 t. salt
1 T. sugar
2 c. non-dairy milk (we used almond)
1/2 c. water
1 T. canola oil
2 c. spent grain, pureed in food processor
1 t. caraway seed, ground (optional)

Mix dry. Mix wet. Combine. Make pancakes. Great with applesauce!

soap making

I took a soap making class a couple of weeks ago. We made mint soap and lavender soap out of coconut oil, vegetable shortening, walnut oil, lye, distilled water, essential oils and natural dyes. The process was simpler than I imagined. Carefully mix the lye with distilled water, let it react somewhere that you won't be breathing (like outside), and let it cool to a specified temperature. Meanwhile, warm up the fats to a specified temperature. Mix the lye water with the warmed fats. Stir until you can drip the mixture along the surface and see a mark or trace. This visual cue is called "tracing." Add the essential oils and natural dye. Pour everything into your modded out milk carton molds. Wait 2 weeks or so to take the soap out of the molds. Slice and dice. Wait an additional 2 week for the soap to harden and neutralize in terms pH. Then use, gift or sell your glorious soap!

Modern day soap making is pretty precise and scientific with lye and refined fats. The precision allows people like myself to jump into the craft relatively easily. Just follow the recipe! Back in the day, however, people would mix whatever fats they had on hand with wood ash water. With far less precision, I imagine that people spent a lifetime developing the finesse to craft quality soap. I might try the wood ash method someday just to try it...

garlic for victory soup

I caught a cold (frown). Since being sick is no fun and since garlic cures all, Eric and I made some garlic soup while listening to Garlic for Victory. We followed this online recipe exactly except we doubled the garlic. Doesn't the photo feel like you're in a French still life? Sigh... Get me a baguette! Maintenant! Dedicated to Areta Kovalskyj.

Serving Size: 6

Ingredients:
6 c. water
4 potatoes, diced
1 carrot, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 onion, diced
4 bulbs garlic, peeled
1/2 t. thyme
dash of cayenne pepper
salt to taste

We like adding a bit of a the garlic at the very end, so it has a bite. If you add too much, you can always mellow it by cooking.

chocolate chili corn muffins with whiskey cream sauce

Last night, a friend hosted her second annual Iron Chef birthday potluck. This year's theme ingredients were chocolate, cayenne, and whiskey. Julie and I had fun coming up with and preparing this dish. Working with constraints can really open up creativity. I mean, really, who thought whiskey could taste so good in so many things? Also, we discovered a new favorite, chocolate chili!

pumpkin pancakes

Eric made me pumpkin pancakes this morning! We've been eating pumpkin non-stop this week because I baked and pureed the flesh of a 22 lb pumpkin. So far we've had pumpkin seeds, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin polenta, pumpkin chili, maple syrup pumpkin purée, and now pumpkin pancakes. Pumpkin pancakes were definitely a highlight. Anybody have any other pumpkin purée suggestions?

Serving size: 14 unconventionally shaped/sized pancakes (for 3-4 people)

(recipe borrows heavily from Cookography)

Dry Ingredients:
1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. whole wheat flour
3 T. white sugar
1 t. salt
1 t. ground cinnamon
dash of nutmeg
2 t. yeast

Wet Ingredients:
1 c. milk (we used soy)
1 c. pumpkin, puréed
1/4 c. oil
1/2 c. chocolate chips
1/2 c. water

Mix dry ingredients then mix in wet, adding 1/2 c. or more water for thinner pancakes. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Let sit out at room temperature for 30 minutes or more before cooking.

sichuan peppers

I've been really liking the Sichuan peppers (aka Szechuan peppers) I got from the asian grocery. Although they look like peppercorns, they're not related to black pepper or chili peppers. They give a numbing or tingly sensation with a little bit of lemony tang. They work well in a hand grinder for black pepper, which is good because Julie won't let me put them in anything she eats.

I bit my lip the other day, so I tried grinding up some sichuan peppers and applying the powder as an alternative to benzocaine. It worked, but I think the (unrelated) Szechuan buttons (aka toothache plant) would work better. I'll have to try to get some from the guy at the farmers' market who subtly sprinkled some petals in my hand, giving me an electric surprise.

backpack drumset

(photo by vanessa oniboni)

While we're on the subject of bikes and hauling stuff around town, I just love this short documentary of my brother's backpack drumset!

improved bike trailer hitch design

Although there will be two winter farmers market events, yesterday was the last official market. We stocked up on potatoes and winter squash, carrying them home on our homemade bike trailer. I tweaked the hitch design so it is now more stable with three connection points instead of two.

old design:


There are a lot of good hitch designs out there that you can buy, but I didn't find any that would be compatible with our trailer (without additional welding), which we made from bent and welded 3/4" EMT conduit in Pat's dad's awesome metal shop. The design is a modified version of the popular "flatsy" bike trailer design:


Other makin' and usin' photos from Pat

community supported agriculture: season summary

Back in February, we signed up for a full veggie share with Abbondanza Organic Seed & Produce. From the beginning of June until the end of October, we received a pile of veggies once a week (sometimes every other week). This kind of farmer/consumer relationship is called community supported agriculture (CSA). It was a great experience that we will continue in future years. In all we received 225 lbs of veg.

(photos above can be seen in more detail on flickr)

holy scrap hot springs

This past weekend we went to the Holy Scrap Hot Springs homesteader gathering in Truth or Consequences, NM, where we met some great people and learned a lot of DIY skills. Subjects included how to make tempeh from scratch, how to transform coconut flakes into coconut butter and raw coconut "cheese" cake, how to cook in a dutch oven, how to carbonate soda, how to keep bees, how to work on a bike, and how to maintain and care for batteries.

Other highlights included doing yoga in the mornings, soaking in the hot springs under starry skies, finding ridiculous Halloween costumes, plasma cutting a keg, and scoring loofah seeds in a seed swap. Soon enough I will be growing my own sponges!