It%u2019s officially fall and officially fantastic. All of my sweaters are so happy to see me, and me them. So are the sweatpants and the socks. They are here for me to keep me all cozy and warm. Nothing like coming home on a cold dreary day and throwing on a big chunky sweater, a oversized pair of soft sweatpants, and thick wool socks. Add a cup of hot tea, a good book, and a lap blanket and heading out tp sit on the front porch and breathing in all that fresh fall air. So good. So freaking good.
Last Sunday camp was at Gifford State Park. Another Vermont gem. So pretty, so quite, the colors starting to show in the trees. We went for a nice hike into a forest of old growth trees, then launched out the kayaks on a nearby pond and paddles around for awhile. Back to the campsite for lentils and zucchini then the mr fired up some wood and we watched the sun set behind the golden trees. Laid under a sky full of the brightest stars and watching the trees whip around and listened to the wind blow hard and wild all night long. It was dang near perfect. And after the morning coffee making and tent taking down, off into the week we went.
Back in town we got back to it as per usual. The this and that of life. I made gallons of applesauce, fed Barb and went on a tea and pumpkin run (fall essentials). Went over to Moms for dinner and so the mr could fix her sink. I harvesting the last bits of summer from the garden then went to Costco to find a Christmas tree??? (They had them set up right next to the bathing suits and halloween candy. %ud83e%udd37%ud83c%udffb%u200d%u2640%ufe0f) We did some more stuff that needed doing. Looked at land in the wilds of Vermont (found a piece but there were offers on it already. So bummed) I worked the studio, picked up farm share, and I worried about the mr after he stabbed himself in the eye with a screwdriver and almost lost the eyeball. Then we had the boys sleep over Friday for Mileys birthday so she could have a sleep over with her friends at her house. We made pizza, went to the park, and all cuddled up in pile of blankets while they watched a weird cartoon something that I paid zero attention to and I read and kind of fell asleep. The next day after pancakes we dropped the off, the mr and I did the chores and then went back over for a little family party for the birthday lady. The mr made spaghetti, Miley and I decorated her cake, then they ate the pasta, then the cake, and then the mr and I peaced out to come home. Straight up, I was feeling way over stimulated from days of human interaction. So I pretty much passed the F out when we got home. I love my family but jeez can they make a lady tired.
Sunday for reals and I am feeling ready. Today is suppose to be another fantastic day, slightly on the chilly side maybe but not raining so that is good. We are heading out for one of the few camps we have left for the year. Zack Pond Woods. A little pond with a couple of undeveloped designated campsites. It is first come, first to use so we are super hoping that we get there and there will be a place available to set up for the night. If not, we might have to boogie over to a campground near by that we have already been too. But I am feeling like there might not be a ton of people trying to camp out on a Sunday night when it is suppose to get into the 30%u2019s overnight and maybe rain the morning. I am ok with all that, especially if that means other people aren%u2019t and leave us be. HA.
Anyway, hope you all are having a grand old weekend and taking in all the fall and focusing on eating all the apples and pumpkins. We know your priorities!
Links to things that I read and looked at n the internet this week.
-Today is National Coffee day!!!!! Everywhere You Can Get Free Coffee for National Coffee Day
–You%u2019ll Be Shocked by How Much Food Americans Waste Each%u00a0Year. Sadly, I was not shocked.
-Fall medicinal shopping list. These to make a syrup for cold and flu, and this for everything. Get it before you need it (and it%u2019s out of stock)
–Tree-Poaching Is On the Rise. What the fuckers. Also, so sad for trees and for the people.
-If telling people a little more gets them to recycle, well tell them what they want to hear! This simple tweak could drastically raise our pathetic recycling rates
–Vegans are more than what they do not eat. Hear Hear!!!!
-Did you know? Peanuts Aren’t Real Nuts (And More Essential Nut Info). Especially good to know when allergies are involved
–Is corn a fruit, a vegetable, or a grain? What were you thinking?
-IF you are going to smoke weed around people, you have to share it. No way around it unless you are an asshole. HA. How to politely smoke weed
–Why Millennials Are Suddenly So Obsessed With Houseplants. I grew up with a million house plants so thats one reason, but also I need real living things around me to feel good feels.
Pictures from the week
It is exactly that time of year. Apples galore, cool days in need of a little extra warm, meaning a warm oven is welcome, if not needed. It%u2019s the best time of year, or at least one of them.
And so I bake bread. Sometimes just a roll, and sometime a loaf, almost everyday. I love bread baking because, well just because. Plus it%u2019s what people want to eat and will always eat because I guess bread=love. Makes sense to me.
This bread was made from a small dip in the 2 gallons of applesauce I made the night before. (We had sooooo many apples). The mr isn%u2019t the biggest fan of applesauce, says he would rather eat a fresh apple. I kind of get it, but dude, warm, chunky, slightly cinnamon-y applesauce%u2026 I mean, that is happiness right there. Right? Anyway, I am trying not to eat all the applesauce to my face by myself at once (it has been a challenge) and plus I needed to make the mr some bread, so I figured what the hell. I%u2019ll just use applesauce as my liquid in the bread. And so I did and that is that and now that mr really like applesacue (when it is baked into bread)
This bread is a basic sandwich type bread. The apple taste is there but not overwhelming so it can be used for sandwiches of all kinds, toast, just eating with a smear od something, or not. Just a overall good loaf of bread with a little extra from the apple. And braided because I was feeling classy. It%u2019s amazing what at little braiding of bread dough can do for your self esteem. Made me feel like I was the coolest person in the world. Haha!
Now to the bread.
The stuff. A few apples, regular all purpose and white whole wheat flour, salt, applesauce, maple syrup, yeast, and warm water.
Applesauce, shredded apple, maple, yeast, and a little water get mix up and let to sit for a few minutes to activate yeast. Then the salt gets mixed in, along with all the flour. Stir until dough forms. Dough should be slightly sticky, ut not wet. IF wet, add a handful more flour. To dry, add more water.
Dump the dough onto a floured surface, cover your hands in flour, and knead dough for about 5 or so minutes, adding more flour as needed to keep dough from sticking, until the dough is a nice and cohesive texture.
Nice looking dough. Now roll dough into a ball.
Place dough in a clean wet or oiled bowl and cover with a damp cloth for one to one and a half hours or until dough doubles in size.
Dump dough onto floured surface.
Cut dough into 3 equal pieces and roll out into long longs.
Braid logs together. You can stop here bake it this way or%u2026
After placing it on a parchment lined baking sheet, tuck the ends of the braids underneath each other and make it like this. Either way. And once you have the dough on the baking sheet, brush a little water or plant milk on top and let dough rest for 15 minutes of so while the oven preheats.
Before oven and after oven. Classy, right?
Then for shin and soft crust, rub warm loaf with some plant butter.
And for the hard part. Let it cool before slicing it. Ok sure, a little warm is fine, but wait at least 20 minutes (an hour would be best) and then eat you some bread.
Eat you some bread. That%u2019s a t-shirt right there.
Happy Fall friends!
-C
makes pretty one loaf
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour plus more for kneading
1 cup unsweetened room temperature applesauce
1 large or 2 small apples ( about 2/3 cup shredded apple)
1/4- 1/2 cup warm water
1 tablespoon maple syrup or honey
2 teaspoons active yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon or so plant milk or water
1 tablespoon plant based butter (optional for rubbing on finished bread)
Grab the apples and shred them until you have 2/3 cup shredded apple. In a large bowl, mix together the applesauce, shredded apples, yeast, 1/4 cup warm water, and sweetener.and let yeast activate for a few minutes. Add in salt, the all purpose flour and the 1 1/2 cups white wheat flour. Stir together until dough forms. The dough should be a little bit sticky so if the dough seems to dry, add in 1/4 cup more warm water. If it seems really wet, add in a handful more flour.
Dump dough out onto a well floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes adding a little bit of flour to the counter as needed to prevent it from sticking. Once dough is cohesive in texture, roll into a ball and place into a clean wet or oiled bowl. Cover with a damp towel and allow the dough to double in size. Should take between an hour and an hour and a half.
Once dough doubles in size preheat oven to 400
Dump risen dough back onto a well flour counter. Cut the dough into 3 equal sizes and roll each piece into long logs about 20 inches or so long. Place each roll next to each other and braid. Grab a baking sheet and line with a piece of parchment paper. Sprinkle with a bit of flour and place braided dough onto sheet, either as a braid or if you want, like I did, wrap the braid around itself into a rounded braid situation. Tuck ends into each other and under the loaf. Brush the top gently with a little plant milk or water and let rest for about another 15 minutes or so.
After the rest, place dough into preheated oven. Bake for 35-45 minutes (Less if left long braid, more if wrapped braid) or until the top is a deep golden brown and when tapped on the bottom, it sounds hollow. Also can use an insta read thermometer and check temperature. You want it to reach 190 degrees.
Once bread is baked, remove from oven. If you want the top to stay a little crispy, don%u2019t do anything but let it cool. For a softer, shinny crust, rub the top while it is still warm with some plant based butter.
Let bread cool completely before cutting.
Then eat it like you would eat bread. Any and every way.
Store cooled loaf in a airtight bag on counter for 2-3 days but if not eating that fast, slice and place into freezer. That way you can pull out individual pieces and toast as you want.
I am feeling pretty sleepy at the moment. Actually, all week I have been tired due to the fact that the mr has been snoring so loud that it wakes me up in my sleep. We both have some allergy stuff going on, but he has got it really bad and so he snores really loud. All. Night Long. And I don%u2019t sleep. It is really annoying.
Other then that, well things are just fine and dandy. HA.
The week started off with camping at Half Moon Pond State Park and oh was that place fantastic. A sweetie little pond in the middle of the woods. We got a camp site pretty much right up against the water and there were not a lot of people so it was super quite. This time of year most camping is pretty sparse as far other campers go which is just the way I like it. After setting up camp we took a great hike to another cute pond high up, went back down and did some kayaking. The mr fished, I paddled around in circles. After that we hung out for a bit and then it started to rain just pinch so we walked around until it stopped. Even the rain was lovely, especially watching it hit the water. It was just one of those times when all was feeling right and good.
And then after we ate, sang kumbaya by the fire, slept, and woke up, we made the coffee and headed back as usual.
Then life. Work, people, dinners with the littles. Picked up farm share where we are getting less and less of the sweet summer produce. I trained a person on how to load glaze kilns. Made banana bread. I also managed to spent way to much time on hold on the phone. The mr kept nice and busy spending half his time painting at one of the houses and half his time digging the hole on the back of the house which made for a slight anxious me due to all the dirt he has been trailing into the house. And best yet, I got my first PUMPKIN. Sure, it is just a little bitty pumpkin, but I got it and I will not eat it until I get a few more to strategically place around the house as edible decor. (Why not buy pumpkins that you can look at AND eat?) Plus the weather. All week, all super great. So yeah, a good hardy week.
Yesterday was Jackson%u2019s 18th birthday! (Happy Birthday buttface!) which just sounds freaking crazy. Sure he is not my kid, but I have a nephew that is now a legal adult. That just seems wrong but it is what it is and I am just tuning into a old lady. Ha. And so we partied family style with food and cake and absence birthday cards (thanks to the mr). We jokes (many to dirty to mentioned) we laughed, we ate, then we left. Early because being a Saturday night the boy (man) had his own parting to do. And I am old so I needed to go to bed.
Back to Sunday. Today we head to Gifford Woods State Park. Really excited about this one. Just last week the mr and I heard a story on VPR on how there are very few parts of the forest in VT that have any old growth (over a hundred years) left and there is old growth forest at this park. I am hoping we get to see lots and lots of big ass trees!!!! What more can you ask for? Maybe a long ass nap on the drive down there. Jeez I am tired.
Internet links from the week.
-There is hope yet. Young People Lead Millions To Protest Global Inaction On Climate Change.
–21 Comforting Dumbledore Quotes To Make You Feel Slightly Better About How Shitty Everything Is Right%u00a0Now. Thanks Dumbledore, I needed to hear this.
-There is a spider that has been living in our bathroom for a least a few months. They don%u2019t bother us so yeah, we just let them be. Why You Really Shouldn%u2019t Kill the Spiders in Your Home, According to an Entomologist
–3 Tips to Keep Apples Fresh for Much%u00a0Longer. Always a hassle. I always want to stock up on a years worth of fresh apples but know that they will not last THAT long.
-Pictures of how people store books always makes me happy. UPDATE: BOOK SMART.
–Speaking of books, I just finished this one and it was really good. The writing, the story. Just a good book.
–You can%u2019t be productive without routines and rituals. Here%u2019s why. I am all about routine and ritual, like crazy stuck on them to almost a fault. I sometimes think I need to get out of them%u2026.
-Tell me this isn%u2019t freaking cute as hell. Stop and Smell the Flowers: Dick van Duijn Captured a Squirrel%u2019s Floral Delight
–The Woman Who Convinced Me That Everything Bad Is Actually Good. Going to take a look at this book for sure.
-I want to go see this DRIED FLOWERS CAVE. –
Pictures from the week
I love me some falafel. I love me some peppers. So I guess it is natural that I would want to stuff falafel inside of peppers and eat them all to my face right? I think so.
As we all already know, most of what I cook is depicted by whatever I get at farm share. And the past few weeks we have been getting a lot of peppers. I have been happily eating one or two a day, just as they are, but I figured it was time that I did something else with them. Now what is the first thing that comes to mind with peppers? Stuffed peppers of course. And there you have it, falafel stuffed peppers.
So I am not going to lie and say the mr ate them and swooned. He is not the biggest fan of peppers (I am starting to realize that he doesn%u2019t have all the right taste buds in his mouth. So sad for him.) so he dumped the falafel out of the pepper and ate it with most of the pickled onions, the tahini, and rice. That he really liked. Lucky me, I wanted his pepper anyway because roasted peppers are freaking fantastic amazing and whatever him. Me, as a pepper and falafel lover, I found these stuffed peppers to be everything that I wanted and needed and then some. Eaten pretty much right away warm, with pickled onion and covered in all the tahini, it was a very very satisfying meal. But also a left over stuffed pepper that was stuck in the fridge, eaten cold standing in front of said fridge, right before bed. That was something great as well. I might have even gone in for a second one%u2026%u2026
Anyway, a pepper stuffed with falafel is a good idea if you want food, like peppers, like falafel, and are cool. Just saying.
To the falafel stuffed peppers!
The stuff. A few sweet peppers, some cooked chickpeas, chickpea flour, an onion, a bunch of fresh cilantro and parsley, a few cloves of garlic, red wine vinegar, a little water, tahini, cumin, chili pepper flakes, and salt and pepper.
First, take the onion and cut in half. Take one half and cut into very thin slices, place in a bowl, sprinkle with a pinch of salt and toss with the vinegar and a few tablespoons of water. Set that bowl aside. The other half of onion just cut into a few smaller chunks.
To make falafel. Add the chunks of onion and garlic to food processor and pules a few times to start chopping it up. Add in the cilantro and parsley, the chickpeas and chickpea flour, the cumin and chili pepper flakes, and a good few pinches of salt and lots of pepper. Pulse until completely combined but still a bit chunky. OR pulse until smooth if you would rather it like that. It%u2019s up to you.
Grab peppers and cut each in half. Remove the ribs ad the seeds.
Take falafel mix and stuff it into peppers.
Place peppers onto a baking sheet and into the oven they go.
In the meantime while the peppers are cooking, toss the onions around in the brine a few times. Then right before you take the peppers from the oven, drain the brine from the onions into a jar with the tahini and mix until smooth. Add a splash of water to the mix if you need to loosen it up a bit more to make the consistency of the tahini drizzle-able.
And out they come when all roasted and crispy and my oh my, so good!
Now you eat. Garb a bowl, maybe a grain of some sort if you like (I made the mr rice), plop a pepper down, add some pickled onions and drizzle that tahini all over.
Eat.
-C
Makes 6 half peppers stuffed
3 medium sized sweet peppers
2 cups cooked and drained chickpeas (or one can)
1 large onion
1 bunch (about 1/2 cup packed) cilantro
1 bunch (about 1/2 cup packed parley
2-3 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon chili peper flakes
1/3 cup chickpea flour or oat flour if you don%u2019t have chickpea
salt and pepper
1/4 cup tahini
a few tablespoons water
3 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Preheat oven to 425
Grab the onion and cut in half. Take one half and cut into very thin slices and place in a bowl. Spinkle with a pinch of salt and dump in the vinegar along with about 2 tablespoon water. Toss around until all the onion is coated and set aside.
Take remaining half onion and cut into big chunks. Toss into a food processor along with the garlic and pulse a few times until the onion is chopped up. Add in the cilantro, parsley, chickpeas, chickpea flour, cumin, chili pepper flakes, and a good pinch of salt and lots of pepper. Pulse the hole shebang until the mixture is combined, the herbs are incropeted, but there is a little chunk left. Or you could make it smooth if you wanted too. It%u2019s up to you.
Grab the peppers and cut them in half. Remove the ribs and seeds then take the falafel mixture and evenly distribute it between the peppers halves.
Place stuffed peppers on a baking sheet, falafel side up, and place into oven to bake for about 45 minutes. You want the falafel mix to have a chance to cook inside and out and to get nice and golden brown and crispy on top.
Right before the peppers are done, grab the onions and the tahini. Toss the onions one last time in the briny mix it%u2019s been sitting in, then drain that brine into the tahini. Mix around until smooth. The tahini should be at the consistency to drizzle so if it is still to thick, add in a splash of hot water to loosen it up.
Once peppers are cooked, remove fro oven. Place on a plate with or without some grain, toss on some pickled onion and drizzle tahini all over.
Eat.
Store left over peppers in a the fridge. To eat, just reheat or eat cold. I really enjoyed eating one cold.
Do you have a pumpkin yet? I don%u2019t but I think this might be the week where I start stocking up on pumpkins. For decoration yes, but really, just to eat. I had my first taste of winter squash for the season (delicata) and once that happened, there is no turning back. Fall food is here. Apples and pumpkin (all winter squash) and big old pots of hot soup. Eaten with wool socks and cozy sweaters while watching the leaves fall from the trees. Fall is here (basically) and I am all in.
Last week started off at Ascutney State Park and oh was it gorgeous. We hiked to the summit of the mountain, I climbed the observation tower while the mr cowardly sat at the bottom, and took in all the views. Bopped around some more trails and basically just tired ourselves out enough to go hang around at the campground (which was empty) to eat , read, and and enjoy getting warm by the fire. These are the best camping days for sure. The simpleness of it all, just being able to be outside. Maybe get a little chilly but then warmed by fire. Watching the stars come out. And no one else is really around. Life can be pretty dang good, you know?
And then we crawled into the tent, slept, woke up, drank coffee, and back home we came.
Not much other then the usual happened the rest of the week. A bit of work, a bit of play. Hung out with Megan and Anthony and talked about how he is a genius with SAT scores of 1480 which then translated to the mr that he will someday be super rich and be able to financially support him. HAHA. We got our first batch of winter squash from farm share and probably our last batch of cucumbers. The giant sunflowers are dying and going to seed. I%u2019m back to working with adults at the studio instead of kids now that they are all be back to school. And the mr started to dig a giant hole on the back side of the house to make an access door to the basement form under the porch. He comes home from work everyday and digs and smashed concrete for about an hour then tracks dirt all over the house. So maybe the week has been a little dirtier then usual. Actually, a lot dirtier if I am telling he truth, but a door from outside right into the basement%u2026 It%u2019s worth it.
In a few hours the mr and I are tossing the kayaks on the car, grabbing the camping stuff, and heading south to Half Moon state park. A little pond in nowhere Vt. This has been one of the parks that I have been saving to visit until this time of year when it is quite and gorgeous out and sparse of people. If the campground is anything like it was last weekend at the other park, it should be empty and all ours to enjoy. But if not, well, it will still be great. Great,great, great!
Internet stuff from the week.
-Remember when there was news that to much kale would kill you? 10 Out of 10 Sensationalized Food Study Headlines Will Kill You Dead
-Food information. How to Ferment (Almost) Everything
–Fabric dyes are a toxic problem. These beautiful alternative colors are made out of food waste. I accidentally dye my clothes with beet juice and turmeric all the time.
-I hate that I love this shit so much. Cabin Porn. A new book af all the cabins I need.
–The Weirdly Untraceable Origin Story of Ants on a%u00a0Log. Ants on a log are the best. Add a few carrot rounds on Bothe ends and you got a race car too!.
-A simple hat pattern. Thinking this will be a hat I am gonna knit for myself!!!
-The mr had been saying he wants to put a hole threw the house and install a laundry shoot. I just throw things down the stairs. No hole required. Laundry Chutes Have a Dirty History (But I Still Want to Bring Them Back)
–Scrunchies Are Little Rainbow Reminders That Millennials Are Old. I had so many scrunchies and have even thought about making a few to wear now but. But. I feel like I am just not cool enough (too old) to wear them.
–Why Are American Homes So Big? Why have a big house if you don%u2019t need the space. Simply put, it%u2019s stupid.
–British Authorities Scramble To Find Stolen Solid Gold Toilet. I have it.
Pictures from the week
Cool sunny days, Chilly billy nights. Darker out earlier every day. You don%u2019t really need an excuse to make cookies, but this weather is a good of an excuse as any. All I want to do is throw on my coziest warm sweater, make a humongous hot cup of coffee or tea (or both), grab a book or one of the knitting projects I abandoned last spring, and bake. It%u2019s not just me right? It%u2019s that time of year. Hunker down and be cozy. And it%u2019s just the best.
So cookies. I knew I wanted to make them, and honestly I was just going to go straight up peanut butter, but something in my brain just told me I needed to add jalape%u00f1os. It might have to do with the peanut sauce I was making the night before which I add jalape%u00f1os sauce to, or maybe it was the fact that a couple of a days before I picked a million (not really, but probably like 200) jalape%u00f1os at the farm to pickle and freeze for the coming winter months and just happen to have jalape%u00f1os on the brain. Whatever the reason, I just did it.
Going to straight out and say it. No, these are not gross or weird. They are sweet nutty peanut buttery with bits of slight hot spicy jalape%u00f1o goodness. For real, these cookies are things of greatness. The people that I have given them too have declared them the best. So good that the mr said I had to tell everyone that he thinks these cookies are over the top AMAZING! He ate 5 before I was even done baking the second batch.
I had to hide the rest and now I deal out cookies for good behavior. Haha
So when that feeling of the need to bake hits, why not grab a few hot peppers and get down on it with there cookies. You will not be sorry. Or maybe you will because you will end up eating shit load of cookies. (But that is totally A-okay)
To the cookies!
The stuff. Brown and white sugar, peanut butter, jalape%u00f1os, and flour, baking powder and soda, salt, vanilla, and plant butter and plant milk.
Cream together the butter and peanut butter with the sugars until completely combined and kind of fluffy. Add in the vanilla and milk and mix until completely incorporated, Mix all the dry ingredients together then add those in and mix until it forms dough. The dough might look a little crumbly but when you pick up a chunk, it is easy squished into a ball.
And for jalapenos, just remove stems and seeds and dice into little tiny pieces.
Mix in jalape%u00f1os. Yup, it;s happening.
Grab chunks of dough and roll into balls. Roll each ball in a little sugar then place on baking sheet. Using a fork (or whatever you want) squish each ball down to about 3/4 inch thick.
Cookie dough going in to oven and cookies coming out. All green studded and golden brown. And the small, Amazing! I love going through the day smelling like a giant cookie. It%u2019s the best.
Make sure to cool those cookies on a wire rack when they come out of the oven.
And there you have it.
Cookies for you but share if you care. Or not. HAHA
-C
makes about two dozen cookies
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup vegan butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar plus about 1/3 cup for rolling dough in
1/3 cup plant milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 jalape%u00f1os (2/3 cup finely diced)
Preheat oven to 350
In a large mixing bowl, mix together the peanut butter, butter, brown sugar and the 1/2 cup white sugar until competlety combined and slightly fluffy. II used a wooden spoon but you could do it with a mixer if you wanted to) Add in the milk and vanilla and mix to combined. In a sepereate bowl mix together the flour salt, baking soda and baking powder. Dump the dry into the wet and mix until combined. The dough might seem a little crumbly but when you pick up a hunk is should easily form a ball.
For jalape%u00f1os. Just remove the stems and seeds then dice into very small little pieces. Then toss them into the cookie batter and mix until evenly inpcorporated.
Grab a baking sheet and a little bowl for remaining sugar. Scoop tablespoons sizes chunks of dough and roll them into balls. Roll each ball in the remaining sugar and place on baking sheet. Using a fork or a the bottom of a cup, squish each ball down to about 3/4 inch thick. Then when the baking sheet is full, place cookies in oven.
Bake cookies for 13-15 minutes or until a nice golden brown. Remove from oven and place cookies on a wire rack to cool.
Then eat them.
Not just sweater weather, which it had been all week and I am LOVING IT, but it%u2019s lamp light weather too. I forgot that I had all these fantastic lights around my house and yesterday when it was dark out at 6 (it was raining so the sky was cloudy) I got to turn on a couple lamps that haven%u2019t had any action in months. It was soooo nice and cozy. This my friends, this is the best time of year!
Camping last week was great and not so great. The campground was pretty, but our fellows campers were very rawdy and loud and there was a party at the picnic pavilion that had a shitty classic rock cover band playing. The noisy people and shitty music echoed through the park for longer then anyone should have had to deal with it. But I guess that happens, especially on a long holiday weekend. And really, besides the buttheads, we had fun. We went for a nice hike through the woods and into giant fields of wildflowers and goldenrod then spent some great time in the kayaks on a nearby lake (away from all the people). Plus after eating dinner and then packing it in for the night, we didn%u2019t get soaking wet, which we could tell by the many car doors slamming and people screaming at 1am , a good few people did. Our tent stayed nice and dry inside and we even managed to stay dry when we got out of the tent and and realized it was sitting in a giant puddle. We even managed to stayed pretty dry packing up and getting on our way home, in the rain! It%u2019s because we are good at coming I guess.
Then the rest of the week came and went in a fast blur. Mostly some same. Had lunch with Barb, cleaned apartments for new tenants,, made cards for artwork, picked up farm share, and you know, other life stuff. I have been busy in the kitchen harvesting garden food and canning or freezing it as well. Trying to stock up on as much food as I can for the winter. Then the littles slept over Friday. We watched Dumb and Dumber and I fell asleep on the couch. Woke up made waffles (I was so excited to use my waffle iron. It%u2019s been too long) and sent them on their way home to be moody tweens because that is now happening.
Oh, and I can%u2019t forget about how some little shithead smashed in the back of our car. Yup, that happened too. But that is pretty much it. I think%u2026.
Now for today. Mt Auscunty State park if all goes to plan. Should be a fun one with lots of hiking and a big high tower and stuff. I know it is gonna get mighty cold tonight so I am packing my winter long underwear and a jacket, hat, and mittens. So excited!
Links to explore on the internet.
–Doctors are now prescribing houseplants to help treat anxiety and depression. Makes a whole heck of a lot of sense to me. And why not try this simple remedy before trying a bunch of drugs?
-I wasn’t;t surprised much when I read this. Junky processed food is so bad, especially if it is all you eat. .19-Year-Old Goes Blind Due to Diet of Pringles, Bread, Fries, and Processed Meats
–Lush Botanical Forms Translated Into Abstract Embroideries%u00a0. So very pretty.
-Another good reason to ditch that pessimistic attitude and to look at he bright side of things. It doesn%u2019t hurt to try. Optimists For The Win: Finding The Bright Side Might Help You Live Longer
–Why do clowns creep us out?%u00a0Because they are creepy, that is why.
-I want, no, I need this cabin. Totally Off-the-Grid Cabin in the New Hampshire Woods
–This Apple Might Be the Most Anticipated Piece of Produce in History. I heard about this apple few years ago. I wonder if it%u2019s gonna live up tp all the hype. We shall see.
-Why don%u2019t we have one of these? The Otter: The 1950s Amphibious Caravan That Time Forgot!
–Can Bullet Journaling Save You? I am a list maker in all the ways. I a ma doodler to no end. I love pretty things and I love hand writing and have a ton of sketch books but besides the occasional list of note in a sketch book, I have never really gotten into Buju. It%u2019s to time sensitive I think, for me anyway.
–Squeeze in a Quick Nap at Work with This Under-Desk Hammock. A new way to sleep on the job. HA.
Pictures from the week.
Corn is the name of the game, and this game I won!
The mr doesn%u2019t much like to eat corn. But I do. And this time of year I get like 10 ears of corn every week from farm share, which is a lot of corn for one person to have to eat every week and sometimes I just can%u2019t do it. So every now and then I make something that I think the mr will tolerate, if not like, to get him to help me eat the stash of a hundred ears or corn that I have going on in the fridge.
These fritters helped me with that and I think with all the future corn that I will get from the farm. They are soooo good! The mr liked them! As for me, I couldn’t stop eating them and almost didn’t want to share because they we just so dang good. Sweet fresh corn, nutty and slightly chewy oats. Scallions. And that%u2019s pretty much it. So fresh and clean and yummy tasting. A summertime fritter situation that takes corn to a place where even the corn hater likes it.
Although who the hell hates corn? I know one person. One. And I live with him. Weirdo.
Anyway, to the fritters!
The stuff. Fresh sweet corn, old fashion rolled oats, and a few scallion. Also some ground flax seed, water, baking powder, salt and pepper, and a little oil.
Start with oats. Add most of what we need to a blender and blend until it becomes oat flour.
Then the corn. Remove the kernels from the cobs. Best way is to hold corn in a large bowl and cut downward. Don%u2019t want corn flying all over the place!
Add most of the corn you just cut off the cob to the blender with the oat flour, along with with flax and water. Blend until smooth.
Chop the scallions into thin and tiny pieces.
Now dump the contents of the blender into a bowl, add in the scallions, the baking powder, and the extra oats and corn. Mix it all up and then let the batter rest for a few minutes (like 10) so the oats have a chance to really absorb all the liquid.
And then to cook them. Heat a lightly oiled skillet to medium high heat. Once skillet is hot, drop scoops of batter into it. Cook for 3-4 minutes or until the bottom is a nice deep golden brown. Flip and cook the other side the same.
When fritters are done cooking, place them on a wire rack. So they don%u2019t get soggy.
And then serve them right away. I ate mine with fresh salsa. Definitely the way to go. So GOOD!
Now eat your corn.
-C
makes about 12 fritters
3 ears fresh corn ( about 1 1/2 cups of kernels)
1 1/2 cups rolled oats (gluten free if needed)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2-3 scallions
1 tablespoon flax meal
3 tablespoons water
salt and pepper
a little oil for skillet
Combine water and flax meal, mix and set aside.
Place 1 cup of oats into blender or food processor and blend for about a minutes or until the oats are a fine flour.
Grab corn and remove from cob. Best way to do this is to place corn vertically in a big bowl and cut downwards so the bowl catches all the kernels. Cut enough corn until you have about 1 1/2 cups of kernels. Also, garb scallions and chop into very small, thin pieces.
Add in a cup of the corn, the flax and water mixture, baking powder, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Pulse or blend until completely combined and the mixture is mostly smooth.. Dump mixture into a bowl and add in the remaining corn, chopped scallions, and oats and mix together. The mixture should not be runny, but also should not be dry enough to pack together. If the mixture seems too dry and tight, add in a tablespoon or two more or water. To wet, add in a small handful of oats.
Once batter is mixed, set aside for about 10 minutes to rest.
Grab skillet and place on medium high heat. Add a touch of oil to pan and make sure it evenly coats the bottom. Once pan is preheated, add scoops batter into pan (about 2 tablespoons each). Cook first side for about 3-4 minutes or until dark golden brown, then flip and cook the other sides for another 2-3 minutes until a dark golden brown. Remove from pan and either place on a wire rack or a plate. ( I recommend a wire rack just to keep them from getting soggy.)
Serve right away. Fresh salsa goes amazingly with them!
Any left overs can be stored in fridge and reheated in the oven.
THE LOVELY CRAZY
November 8, 2019 by maximios • Blog
It%u2019s officially fall and officially fantastic. All of my sweaters are so happy to see me, and me them. So are the sweatpants and the socks. They are here for me to keep me all cozy and warm. Nothing like coming home on a cold dreary day and throwing on a big chunky sweater, a oversized pair of soft sweatpants, and thick wool socks. Add a cup of hot tea, a good book, and a lap blanket and heading out tp sit on the front porch and breathing in all that fresh fall air. So good. So freaking good.
Last Sunday camp was at Gifford State Park. Another Vermont gem. So pretty, so quite, the colors starting to show in the trees. We went for a nice hike into a forest of old growth trees, then launched out the kayaks on a nearby pond and paddles around for awhile. Back to the campsite for lentils and zucchini then the mr fired up some wood and we watched the sun set behind the golden trees. Laid under a sky full of the brightest stars and watching the trees whip around and listened to the wind blow hard and wild all night long. It was dang near perfect. And after the morning coffee making and tent taking down, off into the week we went.
Back in town we got back to it as per usual. The this and that of life. I made gallons of applesauce, fed Barb and went on a tea and pumpkin run (fall essentials). Went over to Moms for dinner and so the mr could fix her sink. I harvesting the last bits of summer from the garden then went to Costco to find a Christmas tree??? (They had them set up right next to the bathing suits and halloween candy. %ud83e%udd37%ud83c%udffb%u200d%u2640%ufe0f) We did some more stuff that needed doing. Looked at land in the wilds of Vermont (found a piece but there were offers on it already. So bummed) I worked the studio, picked up farm share, and I worried about the mr after he stabbed himself in the eye with a screwdriver and almost lost the eyeball. Then we had the boys sleep over Friday for Mileys birthday so she could have a sleep over with her friends at her house. We made pizza, went to the park, and all cuddled up in pile of blankets while they watched a weird cartoon something that I paid zero attention to and I read and kind of fell asleep. The next day after pancakes we dropped the off, the mr and I did the chores and then went back over for a little family party for the birthday lady. The mr made spaghetti, Miley and I decorated her cake, then they ate the pasta, then the cake, and then the mr and I peaced out to come home. Straight up, I was feeling way over stimulated from days of human interaction. So I pretty much passed the F out when we got home. I love my family but jeez can they make a lady tired.
Sunday for reals and I am feeling ready. Today is suppose to be another fantastic day, slightly on the chilly side maybe but not raining so that is good. We are heading out for one of the few camps we have left for the year. Zack Pond Woods. A little pond with a couple of undeveloped designated campsites. It is first come, first to use so we are super hoping that we get there and there will be a place available to set up for the night. If not, we might have to boogie over to a campground near by that we have already been too. But I am feeling like there might not be a ton of people trying to camp out on a Sunday night when it is suppose to get into the 30%u2019s overnight and maybe rain the morning. I am ok with all that, especially if that means other people aren%u2019t and leave us be. HA.
Anyway, hope you all are having a grand old weekend and taking in all the fall and focusing on eating all the apples and pumpkins. We know your priorities!
Links to things that I read and looked at n the internet this week.
-Today is National Coffee day!!!!! Everywhere You Can Get Free Coffee for National Coffee Day
–You%u2019ll Be Shocked by How Much Food Americans Waste Each%u00a0Year. Sadly, I was not shocked.
-Fall medicinal shopping list. These to make a syrup for cold and flu, and this for everything. Get it before you need it (and it%u2019s out of stock)
–Tree-Poaching Is On the Rise. What the fuckers. Also, so sad for trees and for the people.
-If telling people a little more gets them to recycle, well tell them what they want to hear! This simple tweak could drastically raise our pathetic recycling rates
–Vegans are more than what they do not eat. Hear Hear!!!!
-Did you know? Peanuts Aren’t Real Nuts (And More Essential Nut Info). Especially good to know when allergies are involved
–Is corn a fruit, a vegetable, or a grain? What were you thinking?
-IF you are going to smoke weed around people, you have to share it. No way around it unless you are an asshole. HA. How to politely smoke weed
–Why Millennials Are Suddenly So Obsessed With Houseplants. I grew up with a million house plants so thats one reason, but also I need real living things around me to feel good feels.
Pictures from the week
It is exactly that time of year. Apples galore, cool days in need of a little extra warm, meaning a warm oven is welcome, if not needed. It%u2019s the best time of year, or at least one of them.
And so I bake bread. Sometimes just a roll, and sometime a loaf, almost everyday. I love bread baking because, well just because. Plus it%u2019s what people want to eat and will always eat because I guess bread=love. Makes sense to me.
This bread was made from a small dip in the 2 gallons of applesauce I made the night before. (We had sooooo many apples). The mr isn%u2019t the biggest fan of applesauce, says he would rather eat a fresh apple. I kind of get it, but dude, warm, chunky, slightly cinnamon-y applesauce%u2026 I mean, that is happiness right there. Right? Anyway, I am trying not to eat all the applesauce to my face by myself at once (it has been a challenge) and plus I needed to make the mr some bread, so I figured what the hell. I%u2019ll just use applesauce as my liquid in the bread. And so I did and that is that and now that mr really like applesacue (when it is baked into bread)
This bread is a basic sandwich type bread. The apple taste is there but not overwhelming so it can be used for sandwiches of all kinds, toast, just eating with a smear od something, or not. Just a overall good loaf of bread with a little extra from the apple. And braided because I was feeling classy. It%u2019s amazing what at little braiding of bread dough can do for your self esteem. Made me feel like I was the coolest person in the world. Haha!
Now to the bread.
The stuff. A few apples, regular all purpose and white whole wheat flour, salt, applesauce, maple syrup, yeast, and warm water.
Applesauce, shredded apple, maple, yeast, and a little water get mix up and let to sit for a few minutes to activate yeast. Then the salt gets mixed in, along with all the flour. Stir until dough forms. Dough should be slightly sticky, ut not wet. IF wet, add a handful more flour. To dry, add more water.
Dump the dough onto a floured surface, cover your hands in flour, and knead dough for about 5 or so minutes, adding more flour as needed to keep dough from sticking, until the dough is a nice and cohesive texture.
Nice looking dough. Now roll dough into a ball.
Place dough in a clean wet or oiled bowl and cover with a damp cloth for one to one and a half hours or until dough doubles in size.
Dump dough onto floured surface.
Cut dough into 3 equal pieces and roll out into long longs.
Braid logs together. You can stop here bake it this way or%u2026
After placing it on a parchment lined baking sheet, tuck the ends of the braids underneath each other and make it like this. Either way. And once you have the dough on the baking sheet, brush a little water or plant milk on top and let dough rest for 15 minutes of so while the oven preheats.
Before oven and after oven. Classy, right?
Then for shin and soft crust, rub warm loaf with some plant butter.
And for the hard part. Let it cool before slicing it. Ok sure, a little warm is fine, but wait at least 20 minutes (an hour would be best) and then eat you some bread.
Eat you some bread. That%u2019s a t-shirt right there.
Happy Fall friends!
-C
makes pretty one loaf
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour plus more for kneading
1 cup unsweetened room temperature applesauce
1 large or 2 small apples ( about 2/3 cup shredded apple)
1/4- 1/2 cup warm water
1 tablespoon maple syrup or honey
2 teaspoons active yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon or so plant milk or water
1 tablespoon plant based butter (optional for rubbing on finished bread)
Grab the apples and shred them until you have 2/3 cup shredded apple. In a large bowl, mix together the applesauce, shredded apples, yeast, 1/4 cup warm water, and sweetener.and let yeast activate for a few minutes. Add in salt, the all purpose flour and the 1 1/2 cups white wheat flour. Stir together until dough forms. The dough should be a little bit sticky so if the dough seems to dry, add in 1/4 cup more warm water. If it seems really wet, add in a handful more flour.
Dump dough out onto a well floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes adding a little bit of flour to the counter as needed to prevent it from sticking. Once dough is cohesive in texture, roll into a ball and place into a clean wet or oiled bowl. Cover with a damp towel and allow the dough to double in size. Should take between an hour and an hour and a half.
Once dough doubles in size preheat oven to 400
Dump risen dough back onto a well flour counter. Cut the dough into 3 equal sizes and roll each piece into long logs about 20 inches or so long. Place each roll next to each other and braid. Grab a baking sheet and line with a piece of parchment paper. Sprinkle with a bit of flour and place braided dough onto sheet, either as a braid or if you want, like I did, wrap the braid around itself into a rounded braid situation. Tuck ends into each other and under the loaf. Brush the top gently with a little plant milk or water and let rest for about another 15 minutes or so.
After the rest, place dough into preheated oven. Bake for 35-45 minutes (Less if left long braid, more if wrapped braid) or until the top is a deep golden brown and when tapped on the bottom, it sounds hollow. Also can use an insta read thermometer and check temperature. You want it to reach 190 degrees.
Once bread is baked, remove from oven. If you want the top to stay a little crispy, don%u2019t do anything but let it cool. For a softer, shinny crust, rub the top while it is still warm with some plant based butter.
Let bread cool completely before cutting.
Then eat it like you would eat bread. Any and every way.
Store cooled loaf in a airtight bag on counter for 2-3 days but if not eating that fast, slice and place into freezer. That way you can pull out individual pieces and toast as you want.
I am feeling pretty sleepy at the moment. Actually, all week I have been tired due to the fact that the mr has been snoring so loud that it wakes me up in my sleep. We both have some allergy stuff going on, but he has got it really bad and so he snores really loud. All. Night Long. And I don%u2019t sleep. It is really annoying.
Other then that, well things are just fine and dandy. HA.
The week started off with camping at Half Moon Pond State Park and oh was that place fantastic. A sweetie little pond in the middle of the woods. We got a camp site pretty much right up against the water and there were not a lot of people so it was super quite. This time of year most camping is pretty sparse as far other campers go which is just the way I like it. After setting up camp we took a great hike to another cute pond high up, went back down and did some kayaking. The mr fished, I paddled around in circles. After that we hung out for a bit and then it started to rain just pinch so we walked around until it stopped. Even the rain was lovely, especially watching it hit the water. It was just one of those times when all was feeling right and good.
And then after we ate, sang kumbaya by the fire, slept, and woke up, we made the coffee and headed back as usual.
Then life. Work, people, dinners with the littles. Picked up farm share where we are getting less and less of the sweet summer produce. I trained a person on how to load glaze kilns. Made banana bread. I also managed to spent way to much time on hold on the phone. The mr kept nice and busy spending half his time painting at one of the houses and half his time digging the hole on the back of the house which made for a slight anxious me due to all the dirt he has been trailing into the house. And best yet, I got my first PUMPKIN. Sure, it is just a little bitty pumpkin, but I got it and I will not eat it until I get a few more to strategically place around the house as edible decor. (Why not buy pumpkins that you can look at AND eat?) Plus the weather. All week, all super great. So yeah, a good hardy week.
Yesterday was Jackson%u2019s 18th birthday! (Happy Birthday buttface!) which just sounds freaking crazy. Sure he is not my kid, but I have a nephew that is now a legal adult. That just seems wrong but it is what it is and I am just tuning into a old lady. Ha. And so we partied family style with food and cake and absence birthday cards (thanks to the mr). We jokes (many to dirty to mentioned) we laughed, we ate, then we left. Early because being a Saturday night the boy (man) had his own parting to do. And I am old so I needed to go to bed.
Back to Sunday. Today we head to Gifford Woods State Park. Really excited about this one. Just last week the mr and I heard a story on VPR on how there are very few parts of the forest in VT that have any old growth (over a hundred years) left and there is old growth forest at this park. I am hoping we get to see lots and lots of big ass trees!!!! What more can you ask for? Maybe a long ass nap on the drive down there. Jeez I am tired.
Internet links from the week.
-There is hope yet. Young People Lead Millions To Protest Global Inaction On Climate Change.
–21 Comforting Dumbledore Quotes To Make You Feel Slightly Better About How Shitty Everything Is Right%u00a0Now. Thanks Dumbledore, I needed to hear this.
-There is a spider that has been living in our bathroom for a least a few months. They don%u2019t bother us so yeah, we just let them be. Why You Really Shouldn%u2019t Kill the Spiders in Your Home, According to an Entomologist
–3 Tips to Keep Apples Fresh for Much%u00a0Longer. Always a hassle. I always want to stock up on a years worth of fresh apples but know that they will not last THAT long.
-Pictures of how people store books always makes me happy. UPDATE: BOOK SMART.
–Speaking of books, I just finished this one and it was really good. The writing, the story. Just a good book.
–You can%u2019t be productive without routines and rituals. Here%u2019s why. I am all about routine and ritual, like crazy stuck on them to almost a fault. I sometimes think I need to get out of them%u2026.
-Tell me this isn%u2019t freaking cute as hell. Stop and Smell the Flowers: Dick van Duijn Captured a Squirrel%u2019s Floral Delight
–The Woman Who Convinced Me That Everything Bad Is Actually Good. Going to take a look at this book for sure.
-I want to go see this DRIED FLOWERS CAVE. –
Pictures from the week
I love me some falafel. I love me some peppers. So I guess it is natural that I would want to stuff falafel inside of peppers and eat them all to my face right? I think so.
As we all already know, most of what I cook is depicted by whatever I get at farm share. And the past few weeks we have been getting a lot of peppers. I have been happily eating one or two a day, just as they are, but I figured it was time that I did something else with them. Now what is the first thing that comes to mind with peppers? Stuffed peppers of course. And there you have it, falafel stuffed peppers.
So I am not going to lie and say the mr ate them and swooned. He is not the biggest fan of peppers (I am starting to realize that he doesn%u2019t have all the right taste buds in his mouth. So sad for him.) so he dumped the falafel out of the pepper and ate it with most of the pickled onions, the tahini, and rice. That he really liked. Lucky me, I wanted his pepper anyway because roasted peppers are freaking fantastic amazing and whatever him. Me, as a pepper and falafel lover, I found these stuffed peppers to be everything that I wanted and needed and then some. Eaten pretty much right away warm, with pickled onion and covered in all the tahini, it was a very very satisfying meal. But also a left over stuffed pepper that was stuck in the fridge, eaten cold standing in front of said fridge, right before bed. That was something great as well. I might have even gone in for a second one%u2026%u2026
Anyway, a pepper stuffed with falafel is a good idea if you want food, like peppers, like falafel, and are cool. Just saying.
To the falafel stuffed peppers!
The stuff. A few sweet peppers, some cooked chickpeas, chickpea flour, an onion, a bunch of fresh cilantro and parsley, a few cloves of garlic, red wine vinegar, a little water, tahini, cumin, chili pepper flakes, and salt and pepper.
First, take the onion and cut in half. Take one half and cut into very thin slices, place in a bowl, sprinkle with a pinch of salt and toss with the vinegar and a few tablespoons of water. Set that bowl aside. The other half of onion just cut into a few smaller chunks.
To make falafel. Add the chunks of onion and garlic to food processor and pules a few times to start chopping it up. Add in the cilantro and parsley, the chickpeas and chickpea flour, the cumin and chili pepper flakes, and a good few pinches of salt and lots of pepper. Pulse until completely combined but still a bit chunky. OR pulse until smooth if you would rather it like that. It%u2019s up to you.
Grab peppers and cut each in half. Remove the ribs ad the seeds.
Take falafel mix and stuff it into peppers.
Place peppers onto a baking sheet and into the oven they go.
In the meantime while the peppers are cooking, toss the onions around in the brine a few times. Then right before you take the peppers from the oven, drain the brine from the onions into a jar with the tahini and mix until smooth. Add a splash of water to the mix if you need to loosen it up a bit more to make the consistency of the tahini drizzle-able.
And out they come when all roasted and crispy and my oh my, so good!
Now you eat. Garb a bowl, maybe a grain of some sort if you like (I made the mr rice), plop a pepper down, add some pickled onions and drizzle that tahini all over.
Eat.
-C
Makes 6 half peppers stuffed
3 medium sized sweet peppers
2 cups cooked and drained chickpeas (or one can)
1 large onion
1 bunch (about 1/2 cup packed) cilantro
1 bunch (about 1/2 cup packed parley
2-3 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon chili peper flakes
1/3 cup chickpea flour or oat flour if you don%u2019t have chickpea
salt and pepper
1/4 cup tahini
a few tablespoons water
3 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Preheat oven to 425
Grab the onion and cut in half. Take one half and cut into very thin slices and place in a bowl. Spinkle with a pinch of salt and dump in the vinegar along with about 2 tablespoon water. Toss around until all the onion is coated and set aside.
Take remaining half onion and cut into big chunks. Toss into a food processor along with the garlic and pulse a few times until the onion is chopped up. Add in the cilantro, parsley, chickpeas, chickpea flour, cumin, chili pepper flakes, and a good pinch of salt and lots of pepper. Pulse the hole shebang until the mixture is combined, the herbs are incropeted, but there is a little chunk left. Or you could make it smooth if you wanted too. It%u2019s up to you.
Grab the peppers and cut them in half. Remove the ribs and seeds then take the falafel mixture and evenly distribute it between the peppers halves.
Place stuffed peppers on a baking sheet, falafel side up, and place into oven to bake for about 45 minutes. You want the falafel mix to have a chance to cook inside and out and to get nice and golden brown and crispy on top.
Right before the peppers are done, grab the onions and the tahini. Toss the onions one last time in the briny mix it%u2019s been sitting in, then drain that brine into the tahini. Mix around until smooth. The tahini should be at the consistency to drizzle so if it is still to thick, add in a splash of hot water to loosen it up.
Once peppers are cooked, remove fro oven. Place on a plate with or without some grain, toss on some pickled onion and drizzle tahini all over.
Eat.
Store left over peppers in a the fridge. To eat, just reheat or eat cold. I really enjoyed eating one cold.
Do you have a pumpkin yet? I don%u2019t but I think this might be the week where I start stocking up on pumpkins. For decoration yes, but really, just to eat. I had my first taste of winter squash for the season (delicata) and once that happened, there is no turning back. Fall food is here. Apples and pumpkin (all winter squash) and big old pots of hot soup. Eaten with wool socks and cozy sweaters while watching the leaves fall from the trees. Fall is here (basically) and I am all in.
Last week started off at Ascutney State Park and oh was it gorgeous. We hiked to the summit of the mountain, I climbed the observation tower while the mr cowardly sat at the bottom, and took in all the views. Bopped around some more trails and basically just tired ourselves out enough to go hang around at the campground (which was empty) to eat , read, and and enjoy getting warm by the fire. These are the best camping days for sure. The simpleness of it all, just being able to be outside. Maybe get a little chilly but then warmed by fire. Watching the stars come out. And no one else is really around. Life can be pretty dang good, you know?
And then we crawled into the tent, slept, woke up, drank coffee, and back home we came.
Not much other then the usual happened the rest of the week. A bit of work, a bit of play. Hung out with Megan and Anthony and talked about how he is a genius with SAT scores of 1480 which then translated to the mr that he will someday be super rich and be able to financially support him. HAHA. We got our first batch of winter squash from farm share and probably our last batch of cucumbers. The giant sunflowers are dying and going to seed. I%u2019m back to working with adults at the studio instead of kids now that they are all be back to school. And the mr started to dig a giant hole on the back side of the house to make an access door to the basement form under the porch. He comes home from work everyday and digs and smashed concrete for about an hour then tracks dirt all over the house. So maybe the week has been a little dirtier then usual. Actually, a lot dirtier if I am telling he truth, but a door from outside right into the basement%u2026 It%u2019s worth it.
In a few hours the mr and I are tossing the kayaks on the car, grabbing the camping stuff, and heading south to Half Moon state park. A little pond in nowhere Vt. This has been one of the parks that I have been saving to visit until this time of year when it is quite and gorgeous out and sparse of people. If the campground is anything like it was last weekend at the other park, it should be empty and all ours to enjoy. But if not, well, it will still be great. Great,great, great!
Internet stuff from the week.
-Remember when there was news that to much kale would kill you? 10 Out of 10 Sensationalized Food Study Headlines Will Kill You Dead
-Food information. How to Ferment (Almost) Everything
–Fabric dyes are a toxic problem. These beautiful alternative colors are made out of food waste. I accidentally dye my clothes with beet juice and turmeric all the time.
-I hate that I love this shit so much. Cabin Porn. A new book af all the cabins I need.
–The Weirdly Untraceable Origin Story of Ants on a%u00a0Log. Ants on a log are the best. Add a few carrot rounds on Bothe ends and you got a race car too!.
-A simple hat pattern. Thinking this will be a hat I am gonna knit for myself!!!
-The mr had been saying he wants to put a hole threw the house and install a laundry shoot. I just throw things down the stairs. No hole required. Laundry Chutes Have a Dirty History (But I Still Want to Bring Them Back)
–Scrunchies Are Little Rainbow Reminders That Millennials Are Old. I had so many scrunchies and have even thought about making a few to wear now but. But. I feel like I am just not cool enough (too old) to wear them.
–Why Are American Homes So Big? Why have a big house if you don%u2019t need the space. Simply put, it%u2019s stupid.
–British Authorities Scramble To Find Stolen Solid Gold Toilet. I have it.
Pictures from the week
Cool sunny days, Chilly billy nights. Darker out earlier every day. You don%u2019t really need an excuse to make cookies, but this weather is a good of an excuse as any. All I want to do is throw on my coziest warm sweater, make a humongous hot cup of coffee or tea (or both), grab a book or one of the knitting projects I abandoned last spring, and bake. It%u2019s not just me right? It%u2019s that time of year. Hunker down and be cozy. And it%u2019s just the best.
So cookies. I knew I wanted to make them, and honestly I was just going to go straight up peanut butter, but something in my brain just told me I needed to add jalape%u00f1os. It might have to do with the peanut sauce I was making the night before which I add jalape%u00f1os sauce to, or maybe it was the fact that a couple of a days before I picked a million (not really, but probably like 200) jalape%u00f1os at the farm to pickle and freeze for the coming winter months and just happen to have jalape%u00f1os on the brain. Whatever the reason, I just did it.
Going to straight out and say it. No, these are not gross or weird. They are sweet nutty peanut buttery with bits of slight hot spicy jalape%u00f1o goodness. For real, these cookies are things of greatness. The people that I have given them too have declared them the best. So good that the mr said I had to tell everyone that he thinks these cookies are over the top AMAZING! He ate 5 before I was even done baking the second batch.
I had to hide the rest and now I deal out cookies for good behavior. Haha
So when that feeling of the need to bake hits, why not grab a few hot peppers and get down on it with there cookies. You will not be sorry. Or maybe you will because you will end up eating shit load of cookies. (But that is totally A-okay)
To the cookies!
The stuff. Brown and white sugar, peanut butter, jalape%u00f1os, and flour, baking powder and soda, salt, vanilla, and plant butter and plant milk.
Cream together the butter and peanut butter with the sugars until completely combined and kind of fluffy. Add in the vanilla and milk and mix until completely incorporated, Mix all the dry ingredients together then add those in and mix until it forms dough. The dough might look a little crumbly but when you pick up a chunk, it is easy squished into a ball.
And for jalapenos, just remove stems and seeds and dice into little tiny pieces.
Mix in jalape%u00f1os. Yup, it;s happening.
Grab chunks of dough and roll into balls. Roll each ball in a little sugar then place on baking sheet. Using a fork (or whatever you want) squish each ball down to about 3/4 inch thick.
Cookie dough going in to oven and cookies coming out. All green studded and golden brown. And the small, Amazing! I love going through the day smelling like a giant cookie. It%u2019s the best.
Make sure to cool those cookies on a wire rack when they come out of the oven.
And there you have it.
Cookies for you but share if you care. Or not. HAHA
-C
makes about two dozen cookies
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup vegan butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar plus about 1/3 cup for rolling dough in
1/3 cup plant milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 jalape%u00f1os (2/3 cup finely diced)
Preheat oven to 350
In a large mixing bowl, mix together the peanut butter, butter, brown sugar and the 1/2 cup white sugar until competlety combined and slightly fluffy. II used a wooden spoon but you could do it with a mixer if you wanted to) Add in the milk and vanilla and mix to combined. In a sepereate bowl mix together the flour salt, baking soda and baking powder. Dump the dry into the wet and mix until combined. The dough might seem a little crumbly but when you pick up a hunk is should easily form a ball.
For jalape%u00f1os. Just remove the stems and seeds then dice into very small little pieces. Then toss them into the cookie batter and mix until evenly inpcorporated.
Grab a baking sheet and a little bowl for remaining sugar. Scoop tablespoons sizes chunks of dough and roll them into balls. Roll each ball in the remaining sugar and place on baking sheet. Using a fork or a the bottom of a cup, squish each ball down to about 3/4 inch thick. Then when the baking sheet is full, place cookies in oven.
Bake cookies for 13-15 minutes or until a nice golden brown. Remove from oven and place cookies on a wire rack to cool.
Then eat them.
Not just sweater weather, which it had been all week and I am LOVING IT, but it%u2019s lamp light weather too. I forgot that I had all these fantastic lights around my house and yesterday when it was dark out at 6 (it was raining so the sky was cloudy) I got to turn on a couple lamps that haven%u2019t had any action in months. It was soooo nice and cozy. This my friends, this is the best time of year!
Camping last week was great and not so great. The campground was pretty, but our fellows campers were very rawdy and loud and there was a party at the picnic pavilion that had a shitty classic rock cover band playing. The noisy people and shitty music echoed through the park for longer then anyone should have had to deal with it. But I guess that happens, especially on a long holiday weekend. And really, besides the buttheads, we had fun. We went for a nice hike through the woods and into giant fields of wildflowers and goldenrod then spent some great time in the kayaks on a nearby lake (away from all the people). Plus after eating dinner and then packing it in for the night, we didn%u2019t get soaking wet, which we could tell by the many car doors slamming and people screaming at 1am , a good few people did. Our tent stayed nice and dry inside and we even managed to stay dry when we got out of the tent and and realized it was sitting in a giant puddle. We even managed to stayed pretty dry packing up and getting on our way home, in the rain! It%u2019s because we are good at coming I guess.
Then the rest of the week came and went in a fast blur. Mostly some same. Had lunch with Barb, cleaned apartments for new tenants,, made cards for artwork, picked up farm share, and you know, other life stuff. I have been busy in the kitchen harvesting garden food and canning or freezing it as well. Trying to stock up on as much food as I can for the winter. Then the littles slept over Friday. We watched Dumb and Dumber and I fell asleep on the couch. Woke up made waffles (I was so excited to use my waffle iron. It%u2019s been too long) and sent them on their way home to be moody tweens because that is now happening.
Oh, and I can%u2019t forget about how some little shithead smashed in the back of our car. Yup, that happened too. But that is pretty much it. I think%u2026.
Now for today. Mt Auscunty State park if all goes to plan. Should be a fun one with lots of hiking and a big high tower and stuff. I know it is gonna get mighty cold tonight so I am packing my winter long underwear and a jacket, hat, and mittens. So excited!
Links to explore on the internet.
–Doctors are now prescribing houseplants to help treat anxiety and depression. Makes a whole heck of a lot of sense to me. And why not try this simple remedy before trying a bunch of drugs?
-I wasn’t;t surprised much when I read this. Junky processed food is so bad, especially if it is all you eat. .19-Year-Old Goes Blind Due to Diet of Pringles, Bread, Fries, and Processed Meats
–Lush Botanical Forms Translated Into Abstract Embroideries%u00a0. So very pretty.
-Another good reason to ditch that pessimistic attitude and to look at he bright side of things. It doesn%u2019t hurt to try. Optimists For The Win: Finding The Bright Side Might Help You Live Longer
–Why do clowns creep us out?%u00a0Because they are creepy, that is why.
-I want, no, I need this cabin. Totally Off-the-Grid Cabin in the New Hampshire Woods
–This Apple Might Be the Most Anticipated Piece of Produce in History. I heard about this apple few years ago. I wonder if it%u2019s gonna live up tp all the hype. We shall see.
-Why don%u2019t we have one of these? The Otter: The 1950s Amphibious Caravan That Time Forgot!
–Can Bullet Journaling Save You? I am a list maker in all the ways. I a ma doodler to no end. I love pretty things and I love hand writing and have a ton of sketch books but besides the occasional list of note in a sketch book, I have never really gotten into Buju. It%u2019s to time sensitive I think, for me anyway.
–Squeeze in a Quick Nap at Work with This Under-Desk Hammock. A new way to sleep on the job. HA.
Pictures from the week.
Corn is the name of the game, and this game I won!
The mr doesn%u2019t much like to eat corn. But I do. And this time of year I get like 10 ears of corn every week from farm share, which is a lot of corn for one person to have to eat every week and sometimes I just can%u2019t do it. So every now and then I make something that I think the mr will tolerate, if not like, to get him to help me eat the stash of a hundred ears or corn that I have going on in the fridge.
These fritters helped me with that and I think with all the future corn that I will get from the farm. They are soooo good! The mr liked them! As for me, I couldn’t stop eating them and almost didn’t want to share because they we just so dang good. Sweet fresh corn, nutty and slightly chewy oats. Scallions. And that%u2019s pretty much it. So fresh and clean and yummy tasting. A summertime fritter situation that takes corn to a place where even the corn hater likes it.
Although who the hell hates corn? I know one person. One. And I live with him. Weirdo.
Anyway, to the fritters!
The stuff. Fresh sweet corn, old fashion rolled oats, and a few scallion. Also some ground flax seed, water, baking powder, salt and pepper, and a little oil.
Start with oats. Add most of what we need to a blender and blend until it becomes oat flour.
Then the corn. Remove the kernels from the cobs. Best way is to hold corn in a large bowl and cut downward. Don%u2019t want corn flying all over the place!
Add most of the corn you just cut off the cob to the blender with the oat flour, along with with flax and water. Blend until smooth.
Chop the scallions into thin and tiny pieces.
Now dump the contents of the blender into a bowl, add in the scallions, the baking powder, and the extra oats and corn. Mix it all up and then let the batter rest for a few minutes (like 10) so the oats have a chance to really absorb all the liquid.
And then to cook them. Heat a lightly oiled skillet to medium high heat. Once skillet is hot, drop scoops of batter into it. Cook for 3-4 minutes or until the bottom is a nice deep golden brown. Flip and cook the other side the same.
When fritters are done cooking, place them on a wire rack. So they don%u2019t get soggy.
And then serve them right away. I ate mine with fresh salsa. Definitely the way to go. So GOOD!
Now eat your corn.
-C
makes about 12 fritters
3 ears fresh corn ( about 1 1/2 cups of kernels)
1 1/2 cups rolled oats (gluten free if needed)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2-3 scallions
1 tablespoon flax meal
3 tablespoons water
salt and pepper
a little oil for skillet
Combine water and flax meal, mix and set aside.
Place 1 cup of oats into blender or food processor and blend for about a minutes or until the oats are a fine flour.
Grab corn and remove from cob. Best way to do this is to place corn vertically in a big bowl and cut downwards so the bowl catches all the kernels. Cut enough corn until you have about 1 1/2 cups of kernels. Also, garb scallions and chop into very small, thin pieces.
Add in a cup of the corn, the flax and water mixture, baking powder, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Pulse or blend until completely combined and the mixture is mostly smooth.. Dump mixture into a bowl and add in the remaining corn, chopped scallions, and oats and mix together. The mixture should not be runny, but also should not be dry enough to pack together. If the mixture seems too dry and tight, add in a tablespoon or two more or water. To wet, add in a small handful of oats.
Once batter is mixed, set aside for about 10 minutes to rest.
Grab skillet and place on medium high heat. Add a touch of oil to pan and make sure it evenly coats the bottom. Once pan is preheated, add scoops batter into pan (about 2 tablespoons each). Cook first side for about 3-4 minutes or until dark golden brown, then flip and cook the other sides for another 2-3 minutes until a dark golden brown. Remove from pan and either place on a wire rack or a plate. ( I recommend a wire rack just to keep them from getting soggy.)
Serve right away. Fresh salsa goes amazingly with them!
Any left overs can be stored in fridge and reheated in the oven.