Basic Dill Pickles

This morning my garden decided it was time to start Canning Season (unfortunately it didn't ask me - I was planning to clean the house!) I found 20 good-sized cucumbers (the first of the season), so it was definitely time to make the year's first batch of pickles. Coincidentally, this was also the day we used up the last jar of last year's pickles, so that worked out nicely!

My kids are huge pickle lovers, and they are particularly fond of my homemade pickles. Only through strict rationing does one summer's harvest last through the whole year! Thankfully, these are very easy to make:

Dill Pickles (very similar in flavor to Vlasic Dill Stackers)
(makes about 7 quarts)

10 cups water

2 cups white vinegar

½ cup pickling salt

Mix these together in a large pot and bring to a boil.

Into each quart canning jar, place:

2 cloves garlic

2 heads dill

Cucumbers to fill jar (this recipe works for slices or spears equally well)

Pour vinegar water over cucumbers in each jar, leaving ½ inch headspace. Process 7-10 minutes in a boiling water canner.

(If you have the space, these are good uncooked. Simply store them in the refrigerator until cured. They stay nice and crispy, and have a more cucumber-y flavor)

For pints, use 2 cups water, 6 Tbsp vinegar, and 1 ½ Tbsp salt

Since we all know our gardens don't produce by the canner load, sometimes you end up with half a jar of cucumbers, or one jar extra. Instead of wasting that half jar, or boiling a whole canner of water for just one jar, you can prepare the amount you do have (combine dill, garlic, cucumbers, and brine in the jar - just make sure you have enough brine to cover your cukes) and put them in the fridge until you get more. You can even half-fill your jars, store them, and fill them up later.

This post is part of the Homestead Barn Hop at New Life on a Homestead

Sowing Seeds the Easy Way

I have to give credit for this idea to my Grandma Ada, via my dad. Whenever the topic of planting spinach came up (which, oddly, it did every so often . . .) he would tell me, "Ma always used to just let her spinach go to seed when it got hot out, and then the next spring she'd have the earliest spinach of anybody we knew!"

So last year I tried it. When the spinach plants started bolting in June (that means it starts to get tall and send up a seed stalk, which generally happens when the temperatures start to climb) I didn't pull them up like I normally would (the leaves get bitter, so they're not good to eat anymore) but instead let them do their thing (I did thin them out to about one plant every four feet or so - they'll easily seed an area that large).

They got up to about two feet tall (a few were almost three feet tall) and soon I saw little green balls along the stems:

Later, these little balls turned brown - these were the seeds. I "helped" the spinach a little by pulling off some of the seeds and scattering them around between the plants.

Well, not only did I have the earliest spinach this spring; I also had a second harvest last fall! Bonus!
Spinach is pretty cold-hardy, so even here in Wisconsin, uncovered, I had spinach to eat after the first snowfall (I'm hoping to experiment with cold frames and row covers this fall, which should keep the spinach growing longer into the winter, as well as help it get going earlier in the spring).

I should also note that you will have a LOT of extra plants to thin out - which is a good thing, since you can eat all of those thinnings as "baby greens" before the main harvest is ready, extending your harvest even longer (this just gets better and better!)

I also tried it with my lettuce last year - I didn't get a fall harvest, but I did get more lettuce than I knew what to do with this spring! Bolted lettuce looks different than bolted spinach:

It gets about four feet tall, with tiny yellow dandelion-ish flowers all over the top. The flowers eventually turn white (like dandelion fluff), at which point you can harvest them and store them for next year, or just let them plant themselves (or both! I did a little of each last year. Lettuce seeds are pretty time-consuming to harvest, so I took a few from each plant and left the rest).

Of course, as a general rule you should rotate your garden every year so that you don't wear out a certain garden bed (planting the same type of vegetable in the same spot every year depletes the soil, and also lets plant diseases proliferate). My way of dealing with this is to let the "volunteers" grow in the spring, but then don't let those plants seed out that summer.

Obviously then I won't get any self-seeded plants the next year, so I also put a few lettuce or spinach plants in another bed, and let those new plants go to seed that summer. That way I can have "volunteers" for next year, but still rotate the plants through my garden. As an added bonus, this also extends the harvest, since the second planting usually doesn't bolt quite as early as the first.

You may recall that I'm also trying to raise some of my own onion sets from seed this year, as well as save my own seed. Here's a picture of the onion flowers in the main garden (I left one about every four feet in the row, and left the rest to make big bulbs for harvest this year):

(If I can keep the stray three-year-olds away, I'd like to plant some of these in the flower garden - I think they're pretty!)

Here are the onions that grew from the seeds I planted this spring:

I left my hand in the picture for size reference - obviously these aren't bulbed out enough for harvest this year, but they should have a great head start next spring, and hopefully get really big for harvest next year!

(By the way, if you want to learn more about saving and using your own seeds, I highly recommend the book Seed Sowing and Saving by Carole Turner. This is great resource with specific information for many different varieties of vegetable, herb, and flower seeds.)

This entry was kindly voted a FEATURED POST (!!!) on Simple Lives Thursday (thanks, everyone!)

and was also added to the Best of 2011 Tuesday Garden Party.

The Hidden Danger of Herb Gardening

I wanted to warn you, so that you can make an informed decision before starting your own herb garden. They have many benefits - many herbs are easy to grow; they are usually fairly pest-free; they are generally quite prolific, and you can easily grow a year's worth in a very small plot. But beware! When you go out to weed your herbs, never go out on an empty stomach. You will get very, very hungry!

I made this mistake this morning. I went out early to beat the heat of the day, before I had breakfast. The herbs were looking a little crowded, so I decided to do a little quick weeding. Big mistake! As I weeded the oregano, all I could think was "Mmmmm . . . pizza!" and when I moved on to the sage: "Mmmmm . . . SAUSAGE pizza!" and at the dill, it was: "Pickles!" And don't even get me started on the parsley (I think parsley is my own personal catnip - I sometimes wonder if I could plant a bed big enough to lie down and roll around in, like a cat. Perhaps Heaven will be planted in lawns of parsley instead of grass . . . but I digress . . .)

And, sadly, when I came in, all I had to eat were some shockingly bland buttermilk oatmeal blueberry pancakes with violet jelly. Of course, normally I would consider this a wonderfully tasty breakfast - but there was not an herb in the whole meal, and after the olfactorally overabundance of the herb garden this morning, those usually splendid pancakes just seemed plain old bland.

So, consider yourself warned!

This post is part of the Tuesday Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage.

Simple Whole Wheat Sourdough Tortillas

I made a batch of these tonight, and I have to say, I LOVE these tortillas! They only have three ingredients, they roll out easily, they taste good, and they stay soft and flexible even after you store them in the fridge. They're great for enchiladas,  fish tacos, breakfast burritos and of course wraps! Plus they're much more healthy than anything you could buy in the store.

Whole Wheat Sourdough Tortillas
(This recipe actually uses my favorite sourdough bread dough - you can make tortillas out of almost any bread recipe!)
2 cups sourdough starter
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
(I've found that my starter is wet enough that you don't have to add any water - if you find these hard to roll out, you may want to add some water next time)
I knead this in my Kitchen Aid stand mixer for 10 minutes, then divide in to 12 balls (more or less depending on the size you want your tortillas) and roll out with my Pampered Chef dough roller until they're very thin and about the size I want. Make sure your surface is floured VERY well - this dough can get sticky! Also make sure you roll out from the center, and never roll back and forth; the dough will roll back with the tool and stick to itself and you'll have a big glob of dough wrapped around your roller and you'll have to start that piece all over and it's really, really frustrating (yes, I know this from experience!)
Then carefully (these rip very easily) place this on an ungreased preheated skillet (I actually use my cast iron griddle). Cook until browned (I usually get some bubbles, but these go away after the tortillas cool). Flip and cook the other side (again, be careful not to rip it! I have an extra-wide spatula I use for this), then place on a plate under a damp cloth. If you're not using them all right away, let them cool and then store them in a gallon-size ziploc baggie with the damp cloth in the bag - this helps keep them soft. These also freeze very well.

This post is part of Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade.

Homemade Barbecue Sauce

Grilling season is definitely upon us, so I thought I'd share one of my favorite recipes:

Barbecue Sauce 

½ cup honey
¾ cup tomato paste (6 oz can)
¾ cup vinegar (apple cider vinegar works well)
3 Tbsp molasses
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp onion powder, garlic powder, and pepper
Mix all together and heat to boiling. Refrigerate overnight to let flavors mingle.
(I just mix it all together and throw it in the crock pot over my shredded beef or pork roast! No fuss, no mess!)

This recipe is very sweet - like Kraft Original Recipe Barbecue Sauce - which my kids and I like. Originally, it called for 1 tsp liquid smoke (which made it more like KC Masterpiece) but since I don't know what's in that, and the kids didn't really like it anyway, I leave it out. But if you prefer it that way, feel free to add it in!

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday.

Cubed Oven Potato "Fries"

We don't make french fries often (mostly because it's a pain! I hate cleaning up after deep frying!) but when I get a hankering for potatoey goodness, I love to make these (we usually have them at least twice a week!) They're so simple, so tasty, and no questionable ingredients. Definitely a winner in our house!

Note: this recipe makes enough for two adults and five hungry kids who LOVE these; if you have fewer people in your house, you might want to make a half batch.

Cubed Oven Potatoes
2 pounds potatoes, washed and cut into cubes
1/4 cup melted butter or olive oil
1 tsp salt
You can do this two ways: put all three ingredients in a bowl with a cover and shake it up, so the potatoes are well coated, then spread them out on the cookie sheet, or just spread the potatoes on the cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil or melted butter, and sprinkle with salt. The first method gets better coverage, but the second is faster and makes one less greasy dish to wash!
Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour (until the tops are brown and crispy).

(I like them plain, but my kids like to smother them in homemade ketchup.)

This post is part of Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade.

Garden Accounting - June

This is my sixth year at this house, which means my vegetable garden is pretty well established (although it seems to grow every year!) and the perennial fruit plantings are starting to bear (I just got my first mulberries this year!) so I thought I would take a record of how much I spent on the garden, and how much produce I got out of it - basically, is the garden paying for itself (I KNOW it's worth it - if nothing else, just because I know where my food is coming from, and what's in it!) I tried to do this honestly, which means taking the prices from what I would otherwise buy, not the high-end fresh organic it really deserves to be compared to.  If I would buy organic, I compared it with organic; if I would just buy the cheap stuff, I used that price.

So, here's how the garden did for June:

First the bad news: I spent $183.06 on seeds, started plants, hog panels (those cost me over $80 right there), red mulch film, and other supplies.

Now the good news:
I saved $154.23, just in the month of June. This was mostly greens and herbs - can't wait to see how much I save the rest of the summer, when the tomatoes, cukes, carrots, etc. start rolling in!

In case you were wondering, here's what I actually harvested:
3 pounds of rhubarb
1 1/2 pounds of spinach
5 1/2 pounds of lettuce
2 green onions
3 oz dried oregano; 16 oz fresh
10 teabags worth of chamomile
16 oz fresh chives
4 pints fresh strawberries (almost half of these were wild - I am so thankful for little girls who love to pick them!) :)

Like I said, I've never done this before, so it was nice to see these results. It made me feel much better when I was out weeding this morning!
(For the continuation of this series, click here.)

Safe and Easy Homemade Bug Bite Relief

We have had a very wet spring up here in northern Wisconsin, which means we have a lot of mosquitoes. Which means if you spend any time outdoors in the late evening or early morning, you get mosquito bites. LOTS of mosquito bites (my poor 5 year old has six of them between her elbow and her wrist). Thankfully, this simple homemade remedy works like a charm:

Homemade Bug Bite Relief
About a tablespoon or so of baking soda (aluminum free, of course)
Maybe a teaspoon of water (shoot for a consistency that's spreadable - not too thin - but still sticks to your skin)
Mix them together to desired consistency and put it on the bug bite. Works for bee stings, too!

We've actually been keeping this in a babyfood jar next to the sink so it's ready whenever we need it - I don't think it will spoil, and you can't really make it in small enough quantities for just a bite or two, so this works great for us. 

This post is part of Simple Lives Thursday.

Whole Wheat Sourdough Pizza Crust

Although I really do love a good, thick pizza crust, I've been making this recipe a lot lately. It's a thin-crust pizza, and much simpler than the other one (only four ingredients instead of seven; and it only needs to rest for half an hour, instead of and hour and a half. Plus, when I'm impatient, or don't let the oven preheat properly, I sometimes ended up with doughy crust in the middle. Since this recipe is pre-baked, it never has that problem. It also has the added benefit of working very well from the freezer, so I can make the crust on say, Tuesday, and finish and bake the pizza on Friday (like I'm doing this week!)

Sourdough Pizza Crust

2 cups sourdough starter

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

1 ½ cups flour

Knead all together well; cover and let rest for ½ hour.

Roll out into desired shape and bake 5-10 minutes at 450 degrees.

At this point, you may either let it cool and then freeze it, or top it and finish baking it (450 degrees for15-25 minutes, depending on your toppings. Remember, the crust is pre-baked, so you just have to cook the toppings.)

Makes two 12-inch rounds or one cookie-sheet size pizza crust.

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday.

"Thank You for Your Support" Part 2

I posted about a month and a half ago about how cheap wire tomato cages were great - but not for growing tomatoes. I read a tip in Countryside magazinesuggesting using wire hog panels instead. So last week we finally got around to taking a trip to the local Farm & Fleet store, where we picked up 4 (they come in 16' lengths, and I have two 24' beds, so I got 4 and we overlapped them (I didn't want to cut them because who knows, we might get pigs some day!)

As you can probably see, I'm also experimenting with mulch. I got red plastic mulch film for this bed of tomatoes, a thicker silver mulch plastic for the bed in the far background (I'm actually re-using this from last year - worked great!), and the bed in the middle is going mulch-less (that bed is all volunteers, so they're not exactly spaced, and so not conducive to plastic mulching. I do have lettuce and garlic interplanted with them, though, so I won't be weeding just for the tomatoes there. I also didn't put hog panels on that row, since I didn't know they were going to volunteer there, so they have - you guessed it - cheap wire cages).

And, while we're talking mulch, you can also maybe see that between the rows I mulch the walkways with old paper chicken feed bags and leftover landscape fabric. Waste not, want not! My garden's not going to end up on the cover of any magazine, but it's functional. I went for too many years weeding the beds and the paths (as if I didn't have better things to do!) so now no path goes uncovered!

(I do want to say here that I'm not completely comfortable using plastic in the garden - who knows what chemicals are leaching into the ground, and then into my plants? If I decide to mulch again next year, I might try paper mulch, or maybe newspaper or feed bags (free!) with wire over top to hold it down (it gets very windy here on the hill).  More research!) 

This post is included in Simple Lives Thursday at GNOWFGLINS

Homemade Fish Tacos

Being a Wisconsin girl, I didn't grow up eating much seafood, so I don't really know many ways to prepare it (make that 2 - fish chowder and the ubiquitous beer-battered fish fry). Then last fall, my husband and I went on a business trip to San Diego. Spurred on by two high school friends who now live in California, I decided to be brave and try two new fish dishes - sushi (YUM!!!) and fish tacos. Now, one of those friends is married to a marine biologist, so he knew where to get good seafood, and he recommended Blue Water Seafood Market and Grill (at the time, I didn't realize that it's actually pretty famous - it's been featured on the Food Network, etc.) They didn't serve sushi, but they did have fish tacos, so that's what I tried first.
It was nothing like what I expected (think Taco Bell but with fish). It was fresh, it was light, it was wonderful. I was hooked.
Of course, our week in San Diego was soon over, and we were back in Wisconsin, where few people have even heard of fish tacos, much less knew where to get one. So I set out to make my own. In my own typical fashion, I found a recipe in a cookbook (The Everything Cast Iron Cookbook - which I highly recommend!) and scoured the internet until I found about three likely-looking recipes, combined them to my taste, and started cooking. Here is the tasty result:

Fish Tacos

Corn tortillas

One pound firm white fish fillets (perch, tilapia, etc.)

Cabbage (or lettuce), tomatoes, onions, cheese, avacados (or whatever other toppings you choose)

White sauce:

1/3 cup mayonnaise

1/3 cup yogurt

1 tsp lime juice

½ tsp oregano

½ tsp cumin

½ tsp dill

½ tsp chili powder

Prepare toppings, mix together the white sauce, and warm the tortillas. Rinse fish and pat dry. Place a skillet (cast iron works well) over medium-high heat. Once it is heated, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and swirl to coat. Add the fillets and cook for about 3 minutes (more or less depending on the thickness of your fish). Flip the fish and cook for another 3 minutes (you should see the fish change from translucent to opaque).

Chop the fish into 1 inch strips and place in a bowl. Sprinkle with salt. Serve in tortillas with toppings.

(This will definitely be made frequently in our house - even the kids liked it!)

This post is part of Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade.

Iced Chamomile Tea

It was 100 degrees around here yesterday, but my sure way to beat the heat (other than a trip to the beach!) is to sit down and relax with a nice cool glass of home-grown iced chamomile tea.

(I love this drink even more because the chamomile plants came up all by themselves this spring (they are notoriously vigorous self-seeders) - so no planting - in the rock garden we are ripping out this summer - so no weeding - and my girls also love chamomile tea, so they volunteered to pick it for me - no harvesting! My oldest daughter even boiled the water for me, so all I had to do was put the flowers in the tea ball, add some honey, and stir it all up! If it wasn't 100 degrees out, I wouldn't even break a sweat!)

Iced Chamomile Tea
Fill your tea ball with chamomile flowers (fresh, dried, or frozen) - or - use 2 chamomile tea bags (I like Choice Organic which is what I buy if I run out of home-grown flowers)

Boil 2 quarts of water; take off heat and add tea ball or bags. Steep for ten minutes. Add honey to taste.
Pour into a glass pitcher (I don't like to use plastic because of the heat) and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Chamomile is known for its relaxing and soothing properties, perfect for when you're winding down at the end of a long, hot day in the garden!

Mac N Cheese - without the Mac!

This is what we're having for supper tonight - a meal that's evolved so far as to no longer have its original defining ingredient! But we love it, and hope you will too.
This dish started out as plain old mac n cheese, with some peas thrown in to add a little vegetables ('cause you're supposed to eat your vegetables, you know!) Eventually I made it a meal by adding some ham. Then I started making it from scratch, using homemade cheese sauce. And finally, now that I know better, I've started leaving out the pasta entirely (although we still call it Mac n Cheese).
It's what I call a "toss in some of this" recipe - throw in some leftover peas, some leftover ham (pastured, of course), and make a cheese sauce; then mix it all together and warm it up. Couldn't be simpler (or faster - I often fall back on this when I forgot to get meat out of the freezer for supper!)

(I know, it doesn't look like much - but it's comfort food - it's not supposed to look good!)

This post is part of Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade.