Yummy Things

 Getting back into the swing of life here at the MoonBound Home and that means making tasty things. I would show you the finished bread but it was gone before I could take a picture!

 I am trying my hand at fermentation with cool lids my parents got me for Christmas. This will/should be apple cider vinegar when it is done. I have made pineapple vinegar before but not apple so we shall see.

This is something I eat a lot. Basically it is potage. Sort of based on a soup a friend made, hers was very Japanese in style, mine - well sort of. I boil the dickens out of leftover rice, in chicken or beef stock. After the rice has broken down I beat an egg and toss it in then top with green onion and peanuts. The egg thickens the broth. I have been adding other things but always add those things. Lately, I have been cooking onions, mushrooms, and cabbage in with the rice and garlic is especially nice in the beef broth.

Hope you are cooking tasty things!
~ Julia

Mondday Musings

New for this segment next week I will cover how well I met my expectations.

This weekend... Friday night was school movie night, Jim took the girls to watch. Mouse stayed home with me and did homework. He is a brilliant boy but has poor time management skills and is often in some imaginary realm when he should be buckling down and getting the work done. That in combination with advanced topics and the expectations of a self-directed school program lead to many nights of me asking if his homework is done. If one of us sits next to him and re-collects his attention when he drifts off he can get the work done quite quickly, and sometimes we do that, but we want him to learn himself too and notice when he needs to refocus. This makes the lesson less of Geometry and more about self regulation and knowledge.
Saturday was kind of a Jonas day for me, I was woken suddenly and believed it to be in anger. I couldn't shake the idea that those around me were upset with me and mostly for for things I couldn't reasonably be expected to have done. This is on me. I am frustrated with my body and healing - yes it is coming along but it has been so long and so much has been left undone because of it. I ended the day having made everyone around me upset.
Sunday we were all easy with each other, I have a cold and dosed off and on throughout the day, Jim and the kids played many board games and it was nice hearing them play.

Right Now... The bread is cooling. The sauerkraut or rather what hopefully will be sauerkraut is macerating on the counter. My parents bought me some fermentation lids for Christmas. The kids are doing homework, Bunny while signing. I have a cup of honey lemon tea for my cold and I don't intend to leave the house again. Jim is taking the girls to violin. Soon, I will be re-taking all of these duties but not just yet.

Plans... I want to work on my socks and my spilt back tank top. I would like to cut out fabric for a new skirt. I need to darn a pair of Bunny's socks. I want to encourage more music practicing. I need to read another book for my COE - This week Handspinning Art & Techniques by Allen Fannin. I have been refreshing my German on Duolingo and want to continue on with that. I need to get some organization brough back into my business which I mostly have not done much with, in specific to take inventory and make new listings to launch a shop update.I also want to have Nate help with filming a tutorial while he is home. There is also some clean up work I need to do for our 4h club. I am slowly cleaning the house and plan to also slowly de-clutter everything. I want to set a small amount of time aside every week to write a novel that is rolling around in my head. I don't know if it will go beyond getting it out of my head but I want that.

Prayerful Intentions... I pray for understanding and healing. I pray for friends who are struggling with family members terrible health.

New year - old thoughts

A few years ago I decided that instead of making a resolutions list, I would come up with a thematic word for my intentions for the new year. I rededicate myself to that idea.

I would like to work on being a HAVEN for my life.

My mind and body a haven for me. I have set a goal of reading 200 books - and I would like few of them to be pulp fiction. I would like to put into practice more of my ideals of how we should live our lives and less living practically. By which I mean faster and easier not actual practicality. I would like to make my body healthier and stronger. To camp and hike more.

I would like for my company to be a haven for my family and my friends, that they can take comfort and rest in my love. For them to know that I am always there for them, but I also mean that I want to make my life such that dropping everything for a friend in need does not put my family into a tailspin that I must scramble to keep ahead of. I want to focus on showing love to my family and my friends.

I want my house to keep my home a Haven for all who enter, but especially for my family. I want them to feel special and comfortable in a house that is ready for use not one that needs frantic tending before we can let anyone in.

I want to use my resources more responsibly, to focus on our family's goal and dreams rather than on ease for the moment. I don't want this to be a strict diet destined for failure, but rather a change in outlook.

I want to grow as a business owner and writer and to make certain that the choices I make in those spheres of my life enhance the rest of my life.

I would like to do all the things. Make to family cookbook, finish the projects, use what I have, write more, cook more, be more present. Fingers crossed.

Thanksgiving Desert Table - Butter Mints

We haven't made these in years - I think I was in High School the last time - but I decided to do it.

1/4 cup of Butter, softened
8 oz of powdered sugar
1 T heavy cream
1/2 t of mint extract
food coloring

you just work all the ingredients, except the food dye,  together into a ball, work with your hands this goes fast. Split the dough into two batches mix in green and red food coloring one in each. Roll into balls and lay out on a tray to dry over night. Ideally two. We are putting a fan on them over night to help this along as we should have started it last night.

Thanksgiving Desert Table - Mom's birthday

It is always my mom's birthday at Thanksgiving time, so a birthday cake always happens. The girls are using a present Badger - who hopes to be a candy maker and baker when she grows up - got for her birthday. A five part cake pan.


The girls made the cake mix with no help from me, divided the batter into five equal parts, with some help from me. Then they each added food coloring to two bowls and Badger got the fifth bowl. In to bake out to cool. Then I will trim them, layer them with jam and frost them.

Thanksgiving Desert Table - Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

This one is my sister-in-laws recipe - modified of course!

Here is her recipe:
 Pumpkin Bread
1 1/2 Cups Flour
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 Teaspoon Nutmeg
1/4 Teaspoon Ground Clove
1/4 Teaspoon Ground Ginger
1/2 Cup Butter
1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Pumpkin
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
2 Eggs
1 Cup Chocolate Chips
Sift together dry ingredients (less sugar)
Cream together wet ingredients and sugar
Add dry ingredients to wet.
Add 1 cup chocolate chips.
Bake in loaf pan at 350°F for 1 hour.
Bake muffins at 400°F for 20 minutes.

I double all the spices and add a teaspoon of cardamon. I also never make less than 3 batches at once. I also add a cup of apple butter or apple sauce to each batch.

This year in honor of Seal (my beautiful, clever nephew) we are doing one small loaf without chocolate. My Bunny helped with the start of this but the girls are running out of steam with the baking day. 

Thanksgiving Desert Table - Chocolate Moose.

I must apologize! I have now pictures for this one. This is a bit more complicated and more so with the girls helping.

This is also from the Doubleday cookbook.

6 oz semi sweet chocolate
2 T hot water or coffee
5 eggs separated
1 1/2 t vanilla
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Melt chocolate and water in double boiler. Beat egg yolks lightly, temper them with some of the melted chocolate, add all the eggs into chocolate mix well return to heat, and cook for two minutes. Beat heavy cream until soft peak stage, add vanilla to chocolate mixture, fold mixture into heavy cream. Beat egg white until soft peaks form. Fold mixture into eggs until no white shows, place into serving containers and refrigerate until service. A dollop of whipped cream goes well on top. Because we are eating at my sister's house almost three hours away I put it into plastic cups, and will top when we get there. I hope to snap a few pictures then!

Also, the kids demanded lunch. In my family we work straight through on special prep days, my Grandma was shocked the first time after marrying into the family that my dad asked what was for lunch went they were prepping for a party. It is sort of a family joke now, but I still do it the old way and am always a bit surprised when anyone wants lunch. My dad, btw, learned to rummage about in the fridge when hungry and grab something to eat, rather than expect a meal in the middle of prepping. My husband faces the same problem, though his solution is just to start taking up space and cooking a meal over the top of my work, though he usually makes enough of whatever to feed everyone. I can however still hear my Nonnie saying "You want lunch? But we just ate breakfast six hours ago!"

Thanksgiving Desert Table - Apple Pie

Moving right along to an Americana classic! Apple Pie!

We are using a variety of apples but heavily leaning to granny smith. We have apple trees so we have this cool gizmo to help us process apples!

You will need two pie crust sheets. (secret I am not much impressed with crust so I use store bought or make my own interchangeably and I never notice the difference, it is to me simply a baking vehicle, but as I cringe when my husband says the same of bread, please I understand it you love it, use your favorite and ignore me!)

Apples and lots of them, we used 10.

1t cinnamon
1t ginger
1/2 t cloves
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 cup sugar
lemon juice - you can use vinegar you just need a bit of acid to keep the apples from browning while you work.
1/4 cup flour
3 T butter, melted
egg wash for brushing the top
sugar for dusting the top - ideally it should be a large grained sugar but regular will work
apple or apricot jelly warmed up.

A peak into the oven shows the Pumpkin too!

Peel, core and slice apples, as you work drop them into a bowl of cold water with a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar. When all the apples are done, drain them, add spices, sugar and flour to bowl with the apples, toss to coat well. Place one pie crust into pan, carefully layer apples into pie, top with second crust. Crimp edges, cut vent holes, brush with egg wash and dust with sugar, carefully pour melted butter into cut holes, bake at 325 until crust is completely done. brush with warmed jelly and sprinkle with sugar.

Thanksgiving Desert Table - Pumpkin pie

I decided to make a series of posts on the recipes we use for our Thanksgiving feast! We are in charge of deserts this year, while my sister is handling the rest of the meal. The girls helped me with all of this.









Pumpkin Pie
Before you start you need to bake the pumpkins. Cut them in half, scoop out the seeds (bake these later to munch on) and place the pumpkins cut side down on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 until they are nice and soft - about an hour. Let them cool, scoop out the flesh, and run through a food processor or squish up with a potato masher.




This recipe is from the Doubleday Cookbook Volume two. This is a go to book for me. I don't know if you can get it still, but whenever I see a copy of either volume, I grab them and give them away. So if you see one at a rummage sale grab it.




I modify nearly everything that comes across my hands.

One pie crust, unbaked
3 eggs lightly beaten
1.5 cups pumpkin
1 can evaporated milk
1 T Whiskey (recipe calls for brandy)
1 T molasses (we used extra as I am using white sugar - this is because I am out of brown)
2/3 cup packed brown sugar




1 teaspoon cinnamon (this is double the original recipe)
1/2 teaspoon ginger (this is double the original recipe)
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon cloves










mix all ingredients together pour into pie crust bake at 450 for ten minutes, reduce temp to 325 and bake 45-50 minutes until filling is set (knife into center should come out clean)






Also I make my pumpkin seeds by cleaning all the pumpkin off, soaking them in salt water for a few hours, then marinating them in Worcester sauce, soy sauce, and a bit of hot sauce for a few hours. Bake them at 300 stirring frequently, watch this as burnt seeds smell bad and taste worse!

Monday Morning (Sort of) Musings...

Now... I am in my studio, listening to the History of Byzantium, drinking the cold end of my coffee. I have spent the morning getting myself organized, home and business wise. Time has moved quickly, and while I want to start crafting my tummy would like to point out that it is almost 1.

This Weekend... We celebrated Badger's eighth birthday. It was actually in August but she wanted to wait for the school year for friends and we have had a busy month with weddings, funerals, and birthdays. She had a great time. Friends and Family gathered and ate the cakes she made and one little girl stayed over night. Birthday season has begun in earnest and Little Seal is next in two week.

Some Plans for the week... That leads into my plans well as I want to make him a stuffed animal dragon. I want to do more work on my business, especially posting listing and such - so much more fun to spin and weave and felt - but work I much do. I also want to get my Christmas crafting plans started.  I also should clean up the garden and put it to bed and will be helping a friend harvest her grapes.

If I get some time for myself... I will likely fall asleep, as much as I like this new schedule, I am a bit run down from all the stress of the past month and feel very tired just now.

I am grateful for... my beautiful funny Badger, who loves to help and to bake.

Some prayerful intentions for the week... I will continue to hold Becca in my heart, she lost her mother to cancer this month. I want to work on my own intention to lose weight and exercise more. I view this in the prayerful section of these musings because it is my head and my heart that need to change. I need to find a balance in this area of my life.





I am off to find some lunch and wish you a good week. ~ Julia

Some highlights

 Many - though not enough - days at the beach with friends. Including seeing Giraffe (dear friend's daughter, here nicknamed as they are her favorite toys) experience the surf - dislike - and the sand  - loved it. Mouse built her a little pool to splash in and then we spent a long time building retaining walls and moving water. Even though this is Lake Michigan, the waves where very strong that day.

 Lots of fiber-y fun, this is a camel and sheep's wool blend.

 Homemade tasty treats, my granola shown here.

 Dehydrating food for our backpacking trip. I loved the trip and am attempting to lose some weight and get in better shape to hike more.

 Hiking trip breakfasts, my granola plus dehydrated banana chips, pineapple, blueberries, and cranberries. mostly it took me hours to finish eating a bag. Very tasty but a bit crumbly/messy.

 Gear and packing required a lot of thought I used everything I brought at least once, but in a fit of trying to lighten the pack the night before I left some things behind - long sleeve shirt, pj pants, drawing pad and pencil, flashlight (this was accidental,) hand sanitizer, and honey sticks - that I really could have used. A learning experience and due to friends not a horrific to endure one.

 Tiny little dishcloth I made to bring on the trip the day before!

First day back to school. A new schedule since Mouse is in middle school and has to be there by 7:12, the girls and I get to their school now well before supervision begins, so we play on the playground or in the van depending on the weather. Beaver has a new schedule for his last year in high school and doesn't have to be in until 9. Which makes morning bathroom fights all but disappear. I really think this new schedule is a boon to our family.

~ Julia

camping food prep

 We are going on Wednesday, so the prep has to be done soon. This trip we are expecting 13 people. Mostly everyone does their own food but shares adult beverages and snacks. Jim and I tend to experiment with food. Scratch that. I tend to experiment and He puts up with it and packs extra just in case food. One year I did all 1800's recipes including a rabbit stew (we both thought I could have gotten the same taste with a mix of pork and chicken & saved quite a bit of money,) crackers, and bread. One year I made a bake reflector oven and made cinnamon rolls. One year I did all 1700-1800 drink recipes. The ones that were basically a shot in cider or beer were good, some of the others were very not good. I won't do that as it required too many things and mostly I didn't like the drinks anyways.

This year we have the following and I am experimenting with some stuff at home and planning on doing the hiking trails at the campsite.

Menu

Skewer of chicken Lunch Wednesday (Jim)

Mushroom Hash Dinner Wednesday (Jim)

German pancakes breakfast Thursday (Julia)

Mussels stew & french bread lunch Thursday (both)

Fajita dinner Thursday (Julia)

Fish in foil corn on cob lunch Friday (Jim)

Bean and rice & cornbread Dinner Friday(Both)

Tortilla soup lunch Saturday (Jim)

Beef curry & Sticky rice Dinner Saturday (Friend&Julia)

Brats lunch Sunday (Jim)

 These two are attempts at photographing my horseradish infused vodka. At the top is my lemoncello. I got one large bottle of vodka and split it between the recipes. The lemoncello has sugar, water, and the peals of 5 lemons. I let it infuse for almost two weeks. I used a 8 inch long piece of horseradish grated and the vodka and let it infuse for four days - it smells strong enough to strip paint. I strained and bottled both today, discarding the lemon peal but I ran the horseradish through the food processor and jarred it for later use. 

Later today I will be starting on beef jerky and honey roasted nuts. I also plan to make banana bread and chocolate chips to take with, and have two types of home-brewed beer to bring along.

Yarn along - what I can't show you

Joining Ginny and the ladies of the yarn along...

 

 

I am working on a present or two for a dear friend's first baby, so until next week I can't show the knitting that has taken up most of my time lately, and boy do I want to show it. When I have not been knitting on that I have been crocheting this throw, as a Christmas present. I am looking to clean out my stash and spend as little as I can for presents this year, so this simple but soft blanket will be switching it's pattern soon. I have been doing 5 rows black then 2 rows silver, I am nearly out of black so I am going to do 5 rows silver then a row of black and 5 more rows of silver, then flip the blanket do 5 rows of silver a row of black and 5 more of silver. Hopefully, both colors will hold out and I can get a nice throw out of it. I found a tiny bit more of the black this morning so fingers crossed.

What I can show you...

This is a closeup of the black, I don't really like crocheting with it but the material is soft and warm in the blanket. As for reading I have not gotten much done, I am reading through the Backpacking reference I showed last time, it is very dry but interesting if sometimes way overly detailed. I am sure that the section on boot construction would be great if I were looking to buy boots but as a read through it is deadly dull. Which may explain the sleep I am getting as I only get a few pages done each night before turning off the light. It is good though. I have this knitting book too, which I love, I want to make lots of the things shown but more I want to have the author over for a cup of tea and knit. 

Badger has been working with her daddy on cooking her favorite breakfast food. She made me this waffle all by herself, I was in the kitchen if she needed help but the only things she asked was for me to fill up the smaller bottle with oil - she can't lift the big one - so she could measure that and if I wanted maple syrup or corn syrup. Maple, of course, although I will pour that next time.

looking forward to seeing what everyone is working on,
~Julia

hi world it's me Julia

I took a bit of a break from blogging. At least from actually sitting down and writing out a post, I written hundreds in my head. What the quiet has taught me is I take more pictures and had something to look back at a remember exactly what I was thinking at the moment rather than what I think I was feeling from the point of view of where I am at now. So I will be fitting in more time to record my thoughts.

Finally finished the hairpin lace throw I made for my Grandpa from yarn I inherited from my Grandmother's Stash. He loves it and has shown it off to all the ladies at the senior center. They are impressed with me and with my Grandma for teaching me.

I washed a lot of wool.

Did a lot of craft fairs selling my work and my Dad's these are his work - bowls, pens, crochet hooks, wine stoppers... He is amazing.

Canned a bunch of stuff - only balanced like that for the photo, I am not completely crazy - these are tomato sauce and grape jelly.

We bought property to vacation on, Grow with and eventually move too. It is on a river flowage. I love the idea of my kids running all over this land, finding nature's hidden joys and secret places. Just being in the woods, calms and brings out the kid in my husband. It has been worth the budgeting and the frustration of the search just to see the stress and care fall from his shoulders as we explored the woods. Even if I didn't love it in it's own right - which I do - I would love it for that alone.

I took up weaving and gave some of the family handwoven placemats for Christmas. I really enjoy doing this.

I started writing a novel. I hide in a local coffee shop read while I eat their yummy breakfasts and write for a while. I have about 70 pages, hand written, so I have only just begun, but it is a bit like a date with myself as I intended to be in high school.

Lots of baking, brewing - beer, wine, and cider, I tried making sausage and cheese and plan to explore that a bit more. I've also worked more on the garden this year. We'll see, I like gardening but more in the planning and harvesting and processes aspects that in the tending it aspect.

Apples, apples, everywhere.

This is how the day started!

I did not move the apples from the below picture onto the table. There are just that many apples.  I worked on apple related projects for the entire workday.

I am waiting for the last batch in the canner to finish so I can go to bed now.  I stopped work at 5 to take Beaver to his dad's for the weekend and visited with my parents - we meet at the halfway point which works out to be near my parents house. 
 

My Dad was helping me to restore a great wheel that Garfield Farm Museum had stored in a barn.  They want to fix them (there are three) up to have volunteers demonstrate spinning on a great wheel. They have the Garfield family wheel in the museum, these were donated at some point. Dad got it working and it looks great. We spent some time working on tension and spinning with it tonight. I need to do some research on better cord splicing methods... but that is another post this one is suppose to be about apples not spinning. It sneaks it's way into all parts of my life.

While I was working on apples today I made up these loaves of bread, which I just pulled out of the oven. I used only the yeast left in the bottom of the carboy after bottling a batch of pear cider. It is a sour dough like bread with a faintly pear cidery taste.

left to right apple butter, apple butter in cool anniversary blue glass jars that makes the food look different, and spiced apple rings.

I did up apples for jelly - I have near a half gallon of juice.  Most people dump the fruit after making juice for jelly, I don't I mill it and make apple butter. I got 5.5 pints tonight and it smells so good.  I cut and froze apple slice for pie, I am also going to try making pie filling - this is not how I make my pies normally but experimentation is fun, right? I also did spiced apple rings with cinnamon and star anise. This is a new recipe for me and they were so yummy it took serious willpower to not just eat all of them.  I have 9 half pints - side note doesn't hay-pint sound better, like a hay penny - and a half gallon of syrup I will use to make more.

Oh and the apples are still everywhere... I seriously doubt anyone but me could tell any got used - unless I made you carry the compost out - and the trees have at least that much again on their branches. Hoping you kitchen smells as good as mine ~ Julia