Easter Eggs Made with Natural Dyes

I dyed Easter eggs using natural dyes recently after seeing the process here.  I found it on Pinterest originally.  If you've noticed I haven't posted many blog posts lately, you can blame it on Pinterest.  I spend way too much time looking around.  If you are on Pinterest and wish to "follow" my pins, my boards are at http://pinterest.com/shari3139/.  

Thought I'd show you my 4th burner pot I first saw on "Food In Jars" -- linked on the left side of my blog.  The pot comes with a handy wire basket -- great for steaming veggies or boiling eggs.  I also intend to use this pot to process small batches of canned jam this year.

Anyway,I got some unusually results with the dyes.  I think I may have had some uniques chemical reactions because of the method I used to hard boil the eggs.  The recipe I used for the perfect boiled egg called for salt and vinegar in the boiling water.  I got a bit of a salty coating on my eggs and had to scrub it off (which also took off some of the brown tint too.  So odd!).  I think if I had boiled the eggs in just water, my results may have been different.  

I made dye baths with red onion peel, grape juice, red cabbage, beets and paprika.  I found it funny that they are all kind of the same color at the beginning, but create such different colored eggs.
The instructions are different for each color, but none of them were hard to make or took any exotic ingredients -- just boiling water, white vinegar, and the item that contains the color.

I found the red cabbage to have the most interesting result.  I got dark teal and pale teal all in the same batch.  The beets gave a nice mottled pink color.  The red onion was supposed to create jade green, but mine look more like a burgundy with a green patina instead.  The paprika made a nice pale orange and the grape juice made a dark lavender color.

I think they turned out quite lovely.  This is what I have left over after giving my friend, Cristin, some of them.  She contributed some of the red onion skins and she assisted me with making the dyes.  She made a fun creative project even more fun -- and the good music and a great bottle of Concord Wine helped too.  Good times!

What I'm Crafting

I am not a pro at knitting -- but I do enjoy sitting down with a nice skein of yarn and trying to make something out of nothing.  Right now I am making a dishcloth out of a cute variegated cotton yarn I bought a couple of weeks ago with my mom.  She gave me some directions for this checkered cloth and we got started together on the new project.
Mom has probably completed 2 of these things by now, but I am not that fast.  I am about 1/3 done with my first one.  My stitches are often uneven -- but hey, it is only a dishcloth.  What a forgiving project for a beginner to start with.  I'm happy to give out the instructions if you comment on this post with your e-mail address.

Homemade Kahlua and Irish Cream

These two delicious liquors are easier to make than you would think.  Much easier than the limoncello I made last year.  I made a couple of batches of each and gave several bottles away at Christmas.
So, here are the recipes I used:

Homemade Kahlua

4 cups water

2 1/2 cups sugar

3 Tbsp instant coffee

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups vodka

Blend the water, sugar and instant coffee together in a saucepan.  Just as it boils, lower the heat to medium low and simmer for a couple of hours -- stirring occasionally.  Let the resulting syrup cool completely then add the vanilla and the vodka.  Enjoy!  

Homemade Irish Cream

1 cup heavy cream

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 2/3 cups Irish whiskey

1 tsp instant coffee

2 Tbsp chocolate syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract (I skipped this ingredient)

Put everything in a blender and blend on high for 30 seconds.  Store, refrigerated, in a tightly sealed container.  Shake well before serving.  Use within a couple of months.

Both recipes are awesome and oh-so-easy to make!  They are so much less expensive than the store-bought versions too.

My Favorite Things - A Nice Hot Corn Bag

Just a quick post today -- about one of my new favorite things.  Mom made me two "Corn Bags" for Christmas and I have been enjoying them every night since then.  It is pretty self explanatory -- it is a fabric bag or pouch filled with field corn.  You can throw it in the microwave then take it to bed with you.  I have a large one that I keep on my feet, and a smaller one that I move around to where ever I feel cold.
We keep our heat around 60-63 degrees in the winter to help reduce the amount of money we spend on fuel oil.  Before Christmas, I would freeze when I got into bed.  Now I look forward to a nice warm cozy experience.  I fall asleep twice as fast too.
I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday week this past week!  This Christmas was very pleasant for me -- one of my favorites.  I had today off for the New Year holiday, but I head back to work tomorrow.
I'm not making a bunch of New Year's resolutions this year -- because it usually ends up being the same stuff anyway.  I am, however, going to make a list of (fun) things I'd like to do this year.  I am off to do that now...
May you have a prosperous and peaceful year!

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies

Here it is, Christmas Eve again.  Charlie and I are enjoying a slow paced day together, listening to Christmas music on the radio, baking cookies, wrapping a few gifts, and preparing for my family to arrive tomorrow morning.  What a nice way to spend a day!

I just finished making some Peanut Butter Cookies that are moist and chewy -- and just happen to be gluten free as well.  I thought I'd share the recipe because it is so simple and tasty.  A friend from work brought these cookies to a potluck and they were a smash!  She makes them in her toaster oven and it works out just fine.  I've doubled her recipe and baked them in a 350 degree oven.  

Mix together:

2 cups peanut butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla

Stir the ingredients together well.  Form the dough into walnut sized balls and place on a greased cookie sheet.  Use a fork to press down on the ball a little and give the cookie that signature peanut butter cookie look.  Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees.  They will still look a bit moist when you take them out.  Let them cool for a few minutes then carefully transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling.  The cookies are very fragile until they are done cooling -- despite my friend's warnings, I broke the first one I took off the baking sheet.
I also added chocolate kisses to some of the cookies after they came out of the oven.  Who can complain about chocolate on top of their peanut butter?!?

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Solstice or "Festivus for the Rest-of-Us".  Whatever you celebrate -- do it well!  Live it up!  Love one another -- spread Peace and Goodwill -- all of the good stuff that we need more of on this earth.  Stay safe if you are traveling.  Oh, and don't eat too many cookies.  :)

Heirloom Tomato Panzanella Salad

I'm taking a break from all the nature photography to offer up a recipe I made from my last good haul of tomatoes from my garden (a few weeks ago).  It's called Panzanella salad -- it is easy to make and you can add or subtract from this recipe as you please:

Gather heirloom tomatoes and fresh basil from the garden, red onion, garlic, green olives, and fresh mozzarella -- chop, chop, chop.  Blend olive oil and balsamic vinegar, add salt and pepper.  Mix it all up.  Use day old crusty bread and chunk it up.  Mix the bread in a few minutes before serving.  It soaks up all the juices and softens up.  This salad doesn't really keep more than a day because the bread gets too soft -- but don't worry -- it disappears quickly.  Healthy and delicious!!!

See, I told you it is easy!  You could also use cucumber or bell pepper and feta cheese instead of mozzarella.  It is really up to you.  Look around the internet for other recipes to see the variations or if you are the kind of person who wants to know specific measurements.

Tea towels

By request from "starlighthill" after my last blog post -- here are some of the tea towels that my grandmother embroidered for me.  I adore the playful squirrels -- I use these towels all the time in my kitchen.

Here are some of my new towels that she gave me for Christmas.  Aren't they lovely?

Limoncello

I finally had a chance to deliver some of my homemade Christmas gifts to my friends and now I can tell you about what I made.  I made Limoncello for the first time and gifted bottles of it to some of my friends.  You can find all sorts of recipes for limoncello on the internet, so I'm not going to post one -- just the basic idea.  

I used approximately 20 lemons and 2 - 750 ml bottles of everclear (grain alcohol).  You only use the zest of the lemons -- I used a very sharp paring knife to be sure I didn't get any of the white pith.  The pith will make your limoncello bitter.  You could also use a zester but then you have to use filters to get the particles of zest out of the alcohol.  Anyway, I let the lemon zest soak in the strong alcohol for one month to infuse the alcohol with the essence of the lemon.  

After one month, I made a simple syrup (about 4 cups of water and the same amount of sugar dissolve over heat) and blended the syrup with the alcohol.  Immediately the alcohol gets a nice cloudy quality to it.  I love the way limoncello looks!  I purchased bottles from specialtybottle.com and bottled the limoncello right away.  The limoncello mellows with age, so it is nice to let it rest for another month if you can resist drinking it right away.  The limoncello should be served ice-cold.  I'm tucking a bottle of it away for a hot weekend next summer -- I think it would be splendid in the heat of summer.

That's all you have to do to make an amazing liquor beverage that is great to give at Christmas time.  It is not cheap, but it is easy (besides the hours spent to peel all those lemons).  When I was done peeling, I wasn't sure what to do with all of the lemons.  I ended up juicing them and pouring the juice into ice cube trays to freeze.  After freezing, I put the cubes in a freezer bag and dated the bag.  I figured I could then thaw them as needed throughout the year for any recipe that calls for lemon juice (I'm suddenly hungry for tabouleh salad - yum!).  

As it turns out, a couple of weeks later I decided to start making wine.  Making limoncello is the reason I chose to make lemon wine in the first place -- to use the abundance of fruit juice that I already had on hand.  As an update on the wine -- today I syphoned the wine into a new glass jar to get rid of some of the sediment at the bottom of the bottle.  I also tested the specific gravity and it is almost done.
Today I am also starting to venture into fermented tea -- or "Kombucha".  My good friend, Jen, gave me a chunk of her "mother" (the mushroom culture that turns tea into kombucha) yesterday when I visited.  I gave my dear friends limoncello and walked away with some of her amazing apple butter and some fungus (and got to try their cranberry wine too).  Stay tuned for more info on kombucha.

Wine making -- the beginning

Wine making has been something that I've wanted to try for years.  For some reason I thought it would be difficult or take a lot of equipment.  A few of my friends have been fermenting various things and having some pretty decent results, so I was inspired to tackle the project myself.  

I purchased a simple one-gallon equipment kit from a beer and wine making supply shop in Grand Rapids last weekend.  I also picked up a hydrometer at the shop as it wasn't included in the kit.  After looking over the recipe book that was included, I decided to try lemon wine to start.  I had a lot of lemon juice in the freezer from another project I am working on (I'll tell you more about it after Christmas).  The recipe called for some white grape concentrate and some yeast energizer.  Luckily, I found a supply shop in Saginaw where I could get them -- so Charlie and I made the drive on Sunday to get the remaining items that I needed.  You could certainly piece together the items you need without buying a kit, and you might save a buck or two -- but I was more interested in saving time.  

So, the basics:  1. Sterilization is very important.  You don't want wild yeasts and funky stuff growing in your wine.  You add a Campden tablet (included in the kit I got) which contains sodium metabisulfite.  It acts as a sterilant and antioxidant.  I'm assuming this is the stuff that causes problems for people with sulfite sensitivities.  2.  Keep the air out.  The kit also comes with an airlock that allows carbon dioxide to escape while preventing air from entering.  3.  Patience and observation.  Obviously it takes time to make any fermented item.  Observation is the stage I am in right now with my batch.

On Wednesday night I mixed together lemon juice, white grape concentrate, sugar, water, Campden and yeast energizer.  I covered it and let it sit for 24 hours.  Thursday night it was time to add the packet of yeast and cover it again.  This morning I sanitized my hydrometer equipment and did a test.  

The hydrometer helps you test when the wine is "done" -- it tests the specific gravity of the solution it is floating it.  You don't have to be a scientist to do this, you just have to be able to read measurements.
My recipe calls for a specific gravity of 1.04 -- mine is at 1.12 right now.  After a few more days (testing on a daily basis), I should be able to syphon it into my secondary (the white bucket is the primary, a 1-gallon glass jar is the secondary) and let it do it's magic for a couple of months.  Then it gets bottled.  It is that easy.
The equipment ended up totaling about $40.  The white grape concentrate was NOT cheap.  $15 for one liter (but it will last a while).  The lemon juice was something I already had on hand that I didn't want to waste.  Considering this equipment will last a long long time, I think it was a pretty good investment.  I'm excited to try different flavors.  Now I'm going to be on the look out for orchards and u-pick places that might want to get rid of their left overs.  I also want to find some elderberry bushes next Spring and see what I can get when the fruit ripens.  Lastly, I want to plant some fruit vines/canes/trees around our property so I can grow my own.
Be warned -- I have no idea if I am doing things correctly.  I probably should have spent some time reading a book about wine making first.  I just decided to jump right in with the very basic instructions that came with the kit.    Luckily, I have friends that have been doing this for a while, and another friend that works at her family's vineyard (I would adore that kind of career!).  If I need help, I have some support from people who know what they are doing.
Stay tuned for more updates...

Homemade elephant ears

I'm at my family's home tonight for Father's day because my Mom and I are going on a couple of day trips this week.  They decided to make some homemade elephant ears tonight so I thought I would learn how to do it and share the info with you.  Dad learned from a friend of his that makes them professionally (at fairs, etc).  

Start out with frozen white bread dough...

Let it thaw and rise...

Dad spread it thin -- very thin.  He says holes are OK...

Heat up oil to around 375 degrees -- you can test it with a little piece of dough.

Meanwhile, Mom was in charge of the cinnamon sugar.  There aren't any specific measurements -- just guess. 

Carefully drop the dough in...

Turn it over when it is golden brown...

Coat them in sugar when they come out and enjoy...

Yum!!!

Mmm... bread!

I can't think of anything more satisfying that fresh bread with a bit of homemade jam. The problem is, I'm not a baker by nature -- I'd prefer to cook, anyday. But fresh "artisan" bread (not that fake white fluff that stays preserved for weeks in the bread isle) costs an arm and a leg at the store. I decided I am going to teach myself how to bake.

I am starting with a no-knead recipe from one of my favorite magazines -- Grit. If you are at all interested in homesteading and country living, may I highly recommend this magazine. Most of their articles are on-line, including the recipe that I am attempting to make. Click here for a link to the article with the recipe for this no-knead ciabatta.

So, the first step is done 48 hours before you plan to serve the bread. I'll be eating this for Sunday dinner, and take it to work for lunch on Monday. I should grill up some veggies for a nice sandwich, or maybe just peanut butter and strawberry freezer jam... yum.

Anyway, step one was easy. Just mix a bit of flour, water and yeast together then cover and let it stand at room temperature for 24 hours. I like to use a retro mixing bowl (that Mom gave me) on my lovely retro counter tops (this house was definitely built in the 70's). I think the old bowl will make the bread taste better -- call me crazy if you'd like.

Tomorrow is step two which involves adding more ingredients and letting it sit a bit longer. It helps that I have a long weekend to attempt this on.

I am also making a loaf of bread in my bread maker right now. Charlie wanted some to go with the goulash he just made. Bread maker bread is good -- but still expensive if you use a mix. And you can't make specialty items like ciabatta bread in a bread maker.

Hopefully I'm able to pull off this recipe. I will be posting more to show the results...

Last minute Christmas gifts

The Christmas tree is FINALLY up and decorated. This is one of my favorite ornaments -- a couple of love birds (perhaps turtle doves? I'm not sure I know what those look like) snuggling in the tree.

Today was nice and relaxing. Charlie came home from work in the morning (after running to Ohio and back yesterday -- hauling sugar to the cereal plant). He took a nap while I started assembling Christmas gifts with Christmas music on in the background. We scaled way back this year -- mainly because we have a house to pay for now. I needed a few things to fill a gift basket to Uncle Dave and Aunt Mary (our previous landlords) as we are going to see them this weekend. I thought I'd share what I made in case you too are looking for inexpensive last minute Christmas gifts.
These chocolate coated pretzel rods are easy to make and definitely yummy to eat! I just melted a block of "Candyquick" and cover the pretzels... then add some sprinkles before they harden up. You can find either chocolate or white chocolate flavored in the baking section in most larger grocery stores.
I had a lot left over so I decided to jazz up some caramel corn. I broke that up in to chunks once the chocolate set up and bagged it up too.

This last photo is of some spicy sweet pecans. This is my first year making these (Mom made them previously and I insisted on getting the recipe). I halved the recipe she gave me because I only had 12 oz of pecans. They made the whole house smell AMAZING and, well, Christmas-y.

Grease a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Blend 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tsp salt, 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon, 3/4 tsp ground pepper, 1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne.

In a separate large bowl, beat an egg white until slightly thickened but still a bit frothy. Add 12 oz. pecans. Stir until all the pecans are well coated. Add the sugar mix and stir well until the pecans are evenly coated. Place in a single layer on the cookie sheet. Bake 1o minutes; stir. Bake 10 more minutes; stir. Bake 5 minutes more then transfer to a cookie sheet lined with wax paper and cool completely.

They have a bit of a kick from the cayenne and the pepper, but I like it.

So, anyway, Charlie is up now and we need to go out and grab a couple gifts -- and also deliver the gift to Dave and Mary. It finally feels like the holidays are here.