Manda-touille: A Harvest Vegetable Stew

Is it already November?! Well, many of you are probably bringing in the last harvest if you haven't already. Often a miscellaneous harvest can leave one wondering, "what can I make with this?" I had that dilemma earlier this year and decided to throw it all into a stew.

Let me introduce you to what my husband calls "Manda-toullie," since it has most of the same ingredients as my attempt with Ratatouille.

I often get into a gray area when it comes to harvesting squash, zucchini, bell peppers, and tomatoes. It's often too many for a week of recipes but not enough to can. That's especially the case with our tomatoes. So what better way to tackle this tasty problem than with a vegetable stew.
 
Manda-touille: 
10 c tomato puree (just blanched tomatoes & pureed)
5 c quartered squash
1 c quartered zucchini
4 c diced bell pepper
3 garlic cloves minced
2 c chicken stock

Add the following spices to taste, the amounts are only an estimate:
1/4 teaspoon bay leaves
1 Tablespoon basil
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon chives
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon pepper

First get the pureed tomato in a pot and cook on medium heat. You'll want to cook down a lot of the water for a rich texture. You'll want to cook it down even more if you want to get rid of that raw tomato taste.

While that is cooking down, chop up you other veggies and saute with garlic in a separate pot.

Add chicken broth to the tomato puree and add the vegetables. Reduce some of the water then add spices to taste. Continue to stir and reduce until you hit that sweet spot in flavor.

There it is: a very simple, but flavorful stew that celebrates this year's harvest. Enjoy!

The Great Pumpkin: Pumpkin Puree

It's finally here! It's that time of year where you can smell apples in the air. Where you can wear a light jacket outside. Where you can reap the harvest of your garden. This, my friends, is autumn!

Even got out the fall decorations

I cannot express how much I adore this season. It's just so pleasant to every sense of the body: feeling warm sun with a brisk wind, seeing vibrant mums and gourds, hearing crunching leaves, smelling rich spices, and let's not forget taste. Oh, the delectable recipes that come out this time of year!

A large staple in all of these recipes is my favorite gourd in the world: the great pumpkin. This is the third time around now where I plan to convince everyone to add some pumpkin to their lives. I love pumpkin so much that we actually attempted our first pumpkin patch this year! I'm happy to report it was a great success! Who knew three little seeds would go so far.

In case you are a new reader, you can catch up on how your body can benefit from some pumpkin. You can also stop by my pinterest recipe page to check out some nifty pumpkin recipes. The base of most of these recipes is pumpkin puree; which you can easily find your grocery store. One interesting fact is that central Illinois is home of a large Libby's pumpkin cannery. Visiting the Pumpkin Festival in Morton, Illinois, was one of of fall traditions before we moved to Kentucky.

You can easily make your own pumpkin puree though at home. All you need is to pick up some adorable pie pumpkins!

Pie pumpkins from Wurth Farms

Now pie pumpkins are not your average jack o' lantern gourd. They are a bit smaller, but have less seeds and a thicker flesh. They also have a nice sweetness to them. All of these factors make it perfect in the kitchen. It just takes a little bit of work. First you need to preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Then you should line a baking sheet with tin foil and dab on a little bit of olive oil.

While the oven is heating up, slice the pumpkins in half before digging out the seeds.

Feel free to save & roast the seeds with this recipe

Then place them cut side down on a baking sheet & cook for 45 to 50 minutes. Take out & allow to cool.

Roasted pumpkin: yum!

After it is cool enough to hold, use a spoon to scoop out the roasted flesh. Place in a blender.

Cooking the pumpkin makes this step a lot easier

Simply puree the pumpkin and place in a jar. You cannot can pureed pumpkin but you can freeze it!

Can I just say I LOVE Ball's freeze jars?!

There you have it: pumpkin puree! You can use this for any of your pumpkin recipes whether it's pumpkin french toast paired with a pumpkin latte, pumpkin chowder, pumpkin pecan pie, or even something special for your pets or a pumpkin scrub to spoil your skin. There are tons of ways to use and enjoy this special gourd.

A True Disney Kid

I'll admit it. I'm a Disney kid. I adore 99% of Disney's original movies. That includes most Pixar movies, especially "Ratatouille."

NOT THE PARSLEY! Courtesy of Born For Geekdom

I could possibly blame Remy and his love of cooking for my recent obsession with recipes and French culture. This lil' rodent is an inspiration for anyone to get into the kitchen and try making dinner from scratch. The movie also introduces a younger American generation to a society that prefers flavor and freshness over convenience.

I could give a full critique on this movie. Pixar does an amazing job at adding social commentary to their family films. But that's for another day. The point is "Ratatouille" is a great movie that I now want to watch instead of sharing my attempt at the title recipe. I will manage though. For your sake. You're welcome.

This weekend I decided that we are far enough into summer to make my first attempt at ratatouille. Our farmers' market has gotten busier, and I now have an awesome mandolin...

and my Mother came down to visit us for the Fourth of July!

How many more reasons does a woman need?

I had to show off at least one awesome firework photo

The best thing about our ratatouille is that the dish itself was made entirely of local produce- even some from my garden! And while the process was grueling, it was totally worth it! Unlike the movie, ratatouille is typically a stew dish. That movie version is so tempting to try though and several chefs posted their recipes including this one form Smitten Kitchen. Here's how my attempt went:

Well, this is before I baked the dish. You get the point though.

I did want to share a few tweaks to the recipe. First off, I made my own tomato puree. That included the my least favorite thing in the world... blanching, skinning, and gutting tomatoes. Oh how I despise this process. So, I made a collage!

Check this out if you want to read further about blanching, skinning, and gutting tomatoes.

With all that being said, it was worth it. I was stuck with a good amount of ripe tomatoes but there was not enough to can. Not only did I make enough for this recipe, but I also have 3 more cups to throw in pasta sauce or even another ratatouille dish!

A few other (but smaller) tweeks I made include using a skinny, but long bell pepper and mincing the garlic. And as you can see I used a 10" rectangular pan instead of an oval. None of these are big changes, but those are my suggestions if you try this recipe. I also recommend tossing a dollop of sour cream!

This dish took me about two hours to make. Most of that though was probably the tomato puree and the time in the oven. It was also well worth in! I paired it with cream-cheese-stuffed sweet mini bell peppers and couscous. This dish turned out so well that all of us went for seconds! It's also vegetarian based and chocked full of nutrients. You can bet this will recipe will be made more often!

Let's Just Keep Chemicals Out of This

No, you don't need herbicide for your garden. Or pesticides. We see so many advertisements these days for chemicals that "help make the most" out our your garden but that leads to who-knows-what on your harvest. Outside of very rare situations, all you really need for a successful garden is healthy plants.

My sage is about to bloom!

Healthy plants fight off their own diseases and pest. It's simply allowing nature to be nature! And it's not that hard to provide your plants the tools they need to stand their ground. First, they need good soil. I'll admit I don't get into soil acidity, but it's easy to simply keep your soil full of nutrients. That's through nutrient-rich compost and rotating your plants. Planting the same annuals in the same spot every year will leave your soil useless overtime. But giving mother earth tasty compost and switching out plants that leave what the next plant needs creates the groundwork for a healthy garden.

Then there is my favorite tool: companion planting! It's kind of like the tick bird and the rhino. It turns out certain plants work really well together and keep nasty pest and disease at bay. One flower I heavily rely on in my garden: marigolds.

As previously mentioned, I planted A LOT of dwarf french marigold this year. And a few Inca marigolds. I'll also buy a few more after we finish off the third bed.

There's a lot of mixed results out there however on whether marigolds live up to their name. Several small-time garden bloggers praise marigolds at keeping bugs and animals away from the garden with their strong fragrance. Others aren't so generous, like the Alabama Cooperative Extension System writing "little documentation exists showing marigolds actually repel insects. In fact, they may attract harmful pests damaging not only the marigolds but also your vegetables."

Later on the provided link above does note that dwarf french marigolds appear to be the most consistent at keeping soil-dwelling nematodes away. Nematodes are microscopic parasite that looks like a miniature worm. Depending on the species, it can do a decent amount of damage to some plants like tomatoes and strawberries.

I keep finding myself going back to the several garden bloggers who swear by marigolds. And they are beautiful. So what's the harm in creating a colorful marigold fort around my cherished plants. It appears to have worked for us before.

Some marigolds keeping guard for my squash and zucchini

Marigold isn't the only flower you can consider to deter pest. In my research for marigolds, I suddenly came upon pages and pages about a beautiful flower called nasturtiums. It apparently keeps away squash beetles, whiteflies, and striped pumpkin beetles. With our beloved squash and future pumpkins, we will have to give it a try.

Some gardeners also swear by certain mints (warning: it's very invasive!) , catnip, and various kitchen herbs to prevent certain bugs. Just mindful planting of your produce plants can improve your harvest too. This simply just takes some research into what you want to grow. Here's a Companion Planting Guide by seed company Burpee.

Oh and before I forget, I decided I will occasionally provide a link to a recipe I discovered on Pinterest. The kicker is that it will be based on what's in season. May is just around the corner so I just finished up a batch of Strawberry Crunch Bars! It's a shame it's only seasonal a few weeks year in my area. But it's worth the wait!

Last year's Strawberry Crunch Bars!

If you ever want to check my attempts at Pinterest recipes and crafts, be sure to follow this board!

DIY Gift: Lip Balm & Why My Husband Refuses To Wash Dishes From Now On

It maybe after the Holidays, but I still wanted to provide ways that you can create great gifts for a loved one. Maybe save the idea for next year or use it as a way to get brownie points for Valentine's Day or St. Patrick's Day. You never need an excuse to give a small gift that you made.

One new idea we tried this year was DIY herbal lip balm. I've been enamored with Rose Mountain Herbs for quite some time now. Not only do they sell great, healthy products but they also provide a blog and YouTube Channel that inspires your inner herbalist. Have I said enough good things about this company yet? Are you still reading this? Hope so.

Well, their YouTube channel has a great tutorial on how to make lip balm. It seemed so simple we thought we would try it out.


First off, you will need:
1/2 C Calendula Oil
1 oz Bees Wax
1/2 teaspoon lavender oil
20+ lip balm tubes (we did have left over lip balm)









It was so fun trying out this recipe! But I highly suggest you use specific cookware just for wax products. We'll get to that later. But basically you start off with melting the one ounce of wax. I did this by cutting off an ounce, shaving it, then place in a double boiler. Shavings will melt quicker than just a block. While it's melting, go ahead and take the caps of of the lip balm tubes or tins.

After the wax is completely melted into a liquid, you pour in the cup of calendula oil. Next step: don't freak out when the wax slightly solidifies like this:

The wax slightly solidified because the oil was room temperature. So just keep the heat up so the wax can melt back down to a full liquid. This is also when you add the 1/2 teaspoon of lavender oil. You can actually use a 1/2 teaspoon of any kind of essential oil for flavoring. I might use mint oil next time.

After everything is all smooth & mixed, you then have a very short amount of time to pour the balm into the tubes. To make it easier for us, we poured the balm into a measuring cup with a spout. Then poured it into each tube and let it dry.

The only issue I had was that it appears the wax dried before it could get to the very bottom of the tube. It didn't take too long for the entire tube to dry. We labeled and presto! 20 lip balm tubes to go out as stocking stuffers!

Now for the downside. Due to this little experiment we had a double boiler pan, spoon, and measuring cup that were seriously coated in wax and oil. I did my best with hot water to wash it out before my husband came home, but I wasn't able to get it all. He wasn't impressed. Needless to say you should try to to all this with older kitchen equipment or purchase cheap tools that can be dedicated just to wax projects.

Everyone that received lip balm for Christmas love it. And we were able to make it with local beeswax purchased at the Farmer's Market along with lavender oil I made with lavender branches my in-laws gave to me. Next year I hope to have enough dried calendula to make my own calendula oil too! What other essential oils do you think I should add for flavor?

Beginning Of Festivus: Thanksgiving

Well, we have finally arrived to my favorite time of year: Festivus! And that includes up coming Thanksgiving. We will be visiting my husband's family in just a few short days. But we decided to have a small Thanksgiving meal with one of our second families in Western Kentucky.

The Bargers & The Appels

You've probably seen the two a few times through out this blog. We decided to have a little feast this weekend. But since there's only four of us, we came up with an inexpensive way to have a portion-appropriate feast.

Here's what we featured:
- Lemon-Thyme Chicken
- Skillet Cream Corn with Bacon
- Homemade Canned Green Beans (from our good friend, Dillon)

What can I say? My man knows how to cook

My husband was in charge of this feast (we'll get to what I was up to in a moment). Here's how our recipes went:

Lemon-Thyme Chicken (which we found in the all-new ultimate Southern Living Cookbook)
1 lemon, cut half
1/2 medium onion
1 (5-pound) whole roast chicken (ours was actually quartered, but we still made it work)
1/4 cup butter, softened
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 t chopped thyme
1 t coarse salt
1 t ground pepper
1 cup chick broth
1/2 c dry white wine (we had a pinot grigio)
2 T all-purpose flour

First you normally shove the lemon into the chicken cavity. We ended up squeezing lemon juice over the quartered pieces.

Then stir together butter, garlic, and 2 t of thyme. Loosen the skin on the chicken by gently pushing your fingers in between the skin and meat. Do not totally detach the skin. Pour the butter mixture under the skin. Pour the rest over the skin. If you have a whole chicken, tie the legs together.

Place the chick, breast side up, on a lightly greased rack in a lightly greased shallow roasting pan. Sprinkle with salt & pepper. Bake at 450 degrees for 30 minutes. Then reduce heat to 400 degrees and bake for 55 minutes or until meat thermometer inserted into thigh registers 180 degrees. Baste occasionally with drippings and turn pan for even browning.

For the gravy, add broth to reserved drippings in pan and stir to loosen browned bits from bottom. Whisk together pan drippings, wine, and flour in a small saucepan for 5 minutes.


Skillet Cream Corn:
6 bacon slices
1/2 Vidalia onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
3 cups fresh corn kernels (if your ambitious, that's about 6 ears)
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups half-and-half
A dash of salt
A dash of pepper
1 T butter
1 T basil

Cook bacon in a large skillet until crisp. Then do the typical drain on a paper towel. Reserve 2 Tablespoons of drippings in skillet. After it drains, crumble bacon and set aside.

Saute onion and garlic in hot drippings skillet for 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in the corn and cook for 5-7 minutes or until golden. Remove from heat.

Cook the flour in a large clean skillet over medium. Bake & stir occasionally for 5 minutes or until golden. Slowly whisk half-and-half until smooth. Add corn mixture along with salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes of until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in butter and basil. Sprinkle with bacon and serve.


Homemade Canned Green Beans:
We obviously just heated the green beans in a pot. But we added a bit of rosemary to spice it up. We are so grateful to our friend who sold us the chicken & threw in a couple goodies like the canned green beans. He also gave us deliciously canned apples, black eyed peas, and salsa!

Our little feast turned out perfectly, but alas, my photos did not. You have to trust that it was delicious. And even better, it filled up four tummies without over doing the table. If you need to have a smaller holiday feast, this is the way to go. It was also very thrifty. The whole thing was maybe $40 at the most? Probably less.

Oh, and what was I doing while my amazing husband was cooking? Starting up the Christmas decore of course!

This is just a preview of Ashley's & my work. There is much more ahead. But that's for another day. I hope you all have a delicious Thanksgiving. And be sure to take the time to count your blessing and express thanks for a wonderful things you have in your life. I have too many to count. But a loving husband, great friends, a good family, a roof over my head are just to name a few. What are you thankful for this year?

Wild Card Recipe: Cheeseburger Pasta

Sorry for another delay my friends. Alas, work always seems to overwhelm me at times. But I guess that's why it's called work right? Last week we held our 2012 election coverage. Needless to say it took a bit out of me.

Anyways, to make it up to you, I'm going to share a recipe for one of my favorite dishes. And it's been awhile since I've done a wild card recipe. It's a tasty comfort food: cheeseburger pasta. It's a staple at our home and even better- it is incredibly easy & cheap to make! I did make a few changes to original recipe I found.


All you need:
- 1 lb of ground beef
- 3 cloves of garlic diced
- 1 Tablespoon of onion power
- 1 can of condensed tomato soup
- 1 can of condensed cheese soup
- 1 1/2 cups of water
- 2 cups of uncooked shell pasta
- 1 pinch of oregano, thyme, and basil

One of of the best things about this meal is that you make in just one skillet. Begin by sauteing the garlic in some olive oil. Then throw in the beef.

There's nothing better than cooking up some local ground beef

 During that time, I toss in a couple dashes of onion powder. After the beef fully cooks, you can begin the... colorful part: pouring in the soups.

Yep. It looks gross, but it's worth it, my friends!

I normally stir in both soups a little bit before adding the water and pasta. Get the concoction to a boil then reduce heat to medium before letting it cook for another 10 minutes or so. All the while, keep stirring on occasion.

Don't worry, it will slowly become something much more delicious-looking. Just keep stirring. I had a few occasions where parts of the bottom stuck to skillet.

 You will basically cook it until the water is reduced and the noodles are tender. When you only have about a minute or so more, add the oregano, thyme & basil. After another minute and a few more stirs, you're done! It's ready to enjoy.

Pure yumminess

So there you have it, super tasty cheeseburger pasta. You basically have your own hamburger helper with less msg! One day I want to figure out a more natural replacement for the two soups, but there's at least reduced sodium versions out there.

It'll be a busy week ahead. In a few hours, I'll be off to help at our station's televised telethon. It's our 56th annual Telethon of Stars. We work with the Lions Club to raise money for several charities throughout our four state area. If you'd like to do your part, send a nice donation their way.

When Illness Strikes

So I'm a little behind this week. But it's because I caught a nasty head cold from work. Thankfully I've had the past two days off so I was able to relax with some buddies.

What I woke up to Monday

Everyone seems to have their cure for the common cold, but I thought I would share what I'm doing to get over this ailment quickly.

First off you need some ibuprofen & vitamin C. Ibuprofen takes down any swelling or inflammation, including your ear tubes & sinus cavities. I also grabbed a six pack of orange juice cartons. Vitamin C can also help reduce inflammation and is well known for boosting your immune system. Some say while it won't cure a cold, it can help prevent further complications. Outside of juice, drinking tea is also key.

The one echinacea flower I was able to grow this year

I normally try to drink echinacea tea. Echinacea is an amazing herb along with a beautiful flower. It is actually a native plant in North America.

Echinacea's root is normally what is used, which is best after growing for three years.  Some argue the real benefits of echinacea for the flu or cold, but it does have anti-bacterial properties that can stop pathogens from spreading. It can also be used as an anti-inflammatory.

But alas, I was out of echinacea. And my normal grocery store was not selling it. And needless to say with a cold, I wasn't motivated to look elsewhere. But there's more you can take than echinacea!

I first started off with some peppermint tea. Peppermint is normally best for an upset stomach, but mint's powerful menthol does wonders as a decongestant. It's also known as an astringent, antiseptic, antibacterial, and antimicrobial- just to name a few. My mother swears by peppermint tea for a sore throat and she's right. As with about any tea, I add a bit of honey. It not only sweetens the tea, but honey is also beneficial to your throat. If you don't enjoy peppermint tea, you can also brew and steep the tea before just inhaling the vapors.

Over the past couple days, I interchanged juice with peppermint tea along with Celestial's sleepytime throat tamer. That contains chamomile, licorice, ginger, tilia estrella, and slippery elm to coat the throat. Continuing a lot of a fluids is a must when you are ill so the body can stay hydrated as it disposes the bacteria & toxins. And knowing that I'm normally dehydrated, the extra fluids can't hurt.

But along with fluids, vitamins & herbs, I must confess that I used some medications. I'm dealing with a head cold- there's nothing wrong from the next down. There's just a sore throat and a lot of head congestion. So I caved in and took either some form of NyQuil or Mucinix. But we can still go over what these medications do to the body.

First we have DayQuil, which is obviously a "day" version of NyQuil. It has acetaminophen, phenylephrine, and dextromethorphan as active ingredients. I would rather see ibuprofen than acetaminophen since acetaminophen reduces inflammation in different way than non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (like ibuprofen & aspirin). And Tylenol never really does anything for me.

But it's the Phenylephrine that matters the most to me. It's a decongestant and is marketed as a replacement for pseudoephedrine. Decongestants retract blood vessels in the chest and nasal cavities which reduces inflammation and mucus in those areas. Peppermint tea can break congestion up, but I needed my body to stop making unnecessary mucus.

Dextromethorphan is a cough suppressant, but my cough in this case isn't terrible. That ingredient is just a bonus.

Ok, a friend convinced me to also take some Mucinex D. Its active ingredients are guaifenesin and pseudoephedrine. Guaifenesin is a cough suppressant like dextomethorphan. Both are debateable as a "good" cough suppressant, especially for kids. I would say if you are looking for a good cough suppressant, stick with honey and tea.

Mucinex D or even NyQuil D's biggest selling point is that it has pseudoephedrine, which is the leading cause of a big debate in my state. Pseudoephedrine is not only a degonestant, but a powerful stimulant. Drug makers use pseudoephedrine to make meth. In response, lawmakers in several states are making restriction of how a person can get medications with pseudoephedrine. So most drug companies conjure up a replacement for pseudoephedrine & can be sold over the counter. I'm not too concerned on this topic, but I can understand the arguments.

So there you have it- what I used to battle an icky head cold. It's been about two days & I'm feeling a lot better but it's also thanks to one thing I haven't mentioned yet: rest. I filled in at work over the weekend & in return I had Monday & Tuesday off. While it's always awful to be sick over your weekend, I'm overall glad. It happened over a time period where I could get a lot of rest. Sleep is the number on best way to get rid of an ailment. Resting allows your body focus entirely on destroying the bacteria or virus. And who doesn't enjoy a lazy morning or two?

Also something to keep in mind: a good amount of sleep, vitamin C, and tea will help keep away the cold or flu. So rest well my friends; and enjoy a cup o' tea for me.

Katsumi ensuring that I keep resting

Thanks Pumpkin: A Lovely Pumpkin Breakfast

Ok, things are now back in order. I hope you all enjoy the new layout. And I welcome any new visitors that come through pinterest.

Well, it's October and that means only one thing: time to enjoy some pumpkin! Last year, I explained why pumpkin is such a magnificent fruit. It's crammed pack of vitamins, minerals, and fiber all while containing low on calories.


Since there are so many ways to enjoy pumpkin, I'd like to continue to show you the great ways your can easily add a little pumpkin to your diet. Today's feature: a delectable breakfast of pumpkin french toast with a pumpkin spice latte!

As of all things, both of these ideas come from pinterest. I found a vegan recipe for the pumpkin french toast. For those who are not vegan (like myself), two regular eggs work just as well compared to flax. And we ended up not needing any additional topping outside of butter & syrup. It was delicious all its own!

A Yummy Pumpkin Breakfast

And I was able to find a great, but simple pumpkin spice latte that you can easily make at home. I even bottled up a second batch to keep as a creamer.

There is one thing to keep in mind for these and other autumn breakfast/dessert recipes. Many call for some "pumpkin spice." That is quite easy to make.

Pumpkin Spice For Various Recipes:
- 3 tablespoons ground cinnamon

- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons nutmeg
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground allspice
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cloves

Combine those ingredients and store as you would any spice- in a seal-able container. I ended up using it for both of these breakfast items. When mixed with pumpkin, it is delectable. But then again, when is pumpkin not delicious?!

Oat Flour Waffles & Real Maple Syrup

Hello again friends. Bet you didn't expect to see a new post this week, eh? I don't blame you. But things are really starting to calm down. One thing is for certain, a wonderful (and grueling) fundraiser for the American Cancer Society is over. Our Ladies Social turned out great.

Dressing in style at the Ladies Social

But with that over, I was able to get another relaxing chore day at home with my husband this weekend. And we started the day right by sleeping in before I made us waffles. But these aren't your everyday kind of waffle. I made the mixture myself and with oat flour verses all purpose.

Waffles = Om nom nom

So why oat flour you ask? Well, in our attempt of getting to a more natural/traditional/hopefully healthier diet, I'm trying to replace nasty uber-processed ingredients with items in mother nature's pantry. Normally it's as easy as using olive oil instead of canola. But processed sugar and flour appear to be awful on the body since those lack any kind of nutrient. So those two are on the top of my list of figuring out replacements.

Nutrient-speaking, oat flour is a great substitute for all purpose flour. Oat flour contains more protein, dietary fiber and calcium. Also (depending on if it's from gluten-free oats) the flour can be gluten free. Oats in general are a great way to help your heart and reduce your cholesterol, so it seemed logical to try to implement more into my baking. And I have a lot on hand since I use it for our dog biscuits. Also, if you have a food processor- you can make your own flour.

This is not homemade, but here's an idea of it's consistency

BUT I have to warn you that oat flour is not the exact same as all purpose flour. Since I've incorporated it (and Amish butter) into my cooking, I've noticed a distinct consistency difference- mostly for the better. But the waffles (and other baked goods) are more moist and dense. It's still delicious, but keep that in mind when you try to replace your own baking ingredients.

So Sunday morning, I decided to attempt this waffle recipe, but changed a few things. So here's what I did:
- 1 1/3 c Oat Flour
- 4 t baking powder

- A pinch of salt
- 3 t sugar

- 2 t cinnamon
- 2 eggs, separated
- 1/2 c butter, melted
- 1 3/4 c 2% milk

I pretty much did everything that recipe called for, just added my own flare and ensured at least one meal that day didn't contain processed flour. It turned out great. The only thing I would note is that I had to put my waffle iron on a lower heat and baked longer. That's because the oat flour is so thick, it took awhile to cook all the way through. But after a few lame attempts, our last two turned out perfect. It's always nice when an experiment turns out delicious, right?

Oh, and while I'm on the topic, I'm going to bash fake maple syrup for a moment. It's unnatural. It's unhealthy. And most importantly: it. tastes. gross. I was raised on only have real maple syrup on my pancakes and waffles. I've tried the fake stuff (normally when we go out for breakfast) and I can't do it. In fact, I normally smuggle a small bottle of real syrup. I know I'm a syrup snob. My husband has made that fact known for years; but if the taste alone won't convince you, here's something to think about: normally, fake syrup contains mostly high fructose corn syrup. With that, it normally doesn't have any nutritional value. And while I wouldn't say you should go chug a jug of Canadian maple syrup, the real stuff does contain manganese and zinc, which can boost your immune system. Both generally have the same calorie count. Real maple syrup is mostly made up of sucrose, with a little bit of fructose and glucose.

My Smuggling Bottle

And in case you actually take my advice and go looking for syrup, here's a tip: in Canada & the U.S., a product can only use the phrase "maple" if it has a high amount of real maple syrup. It's going to be more expense, but your taste buds will love it.

So the moral of these waffles is to try to replace all purpose flour with oat flour in your next baking experiment. And use real syrup next time.

Canning 2012: Pasta Sauce

It's been a full week, my friends. I not only had to adjust to a new schedule/work load, but I got to work an extra day this week. Thankfully, I still had Sunday off so I was finally able to attempt what was once thought as impossible: make & can my first tomato sauce.

First a little background. I have absolutely, positively no Italian background, but I love me some pasta. It's almost an unhealthy obsession. The weird thing is I hate tomatoes, but I love tomato sauce. But recently, I noticed both pasta sauce & ketchup sold at the grocery store have a lot of sugar. And I'm talking like a cup or two. So, I wanted to make my own without sugar. That did not turn out too well last year thanks to the neighborhood squirrels. But this year, we have some beautiful, huge Better Boy tomatoes. And since I'm not sure how many more we'll get since there's a new excessive heat wave, I decided to start cooking.

First, I attempted to do a lot of research. And I found a few conflicting things:
- Needed 20 lbs tomatoes (not happening)
- Simmer for 2 hours (or not)
- No exact "air room" for jar
- No exact time on bathing jars
- Having water over jars (or not)

So here's what I did. And this is what I used:
- 14 better boy tomatoes right from my own garden
- 1 red onion from farmers market
- few leaves of basil from the garden
- few sprigs of oregano from the garden
- 1 garlic clove
- ground thyme
- 1/3c of Cabernet Sauvignon
- 2T sugar (I'll explain later)
- A couple splashes of lemon juice
- I'll admit it, 1 can of garlic roasted diced tomatoes

Beautiful tomatoes from my garden

So, let's first start with the pasta sauce. Getting the tomatoes ready is the hardest part. First you need to de-skin. The east way to do that is first cut an "X" lightly on the bottom and scald the tomatoes for about sixty seconds.

Just throw the suckers in boiling water for one minute

Then immediately put the tomatoes into ice water. The stress in temperature loosens the skin and makes it super easy to pull off the tomato.

See? Simple.

Then there is the not so fun part. Tomatoes are FULL of seeds (obvious) and water (not so obvious). So to make your life easier, core & quarter the tomato. Then de-seed & squeeze out as much water as you can.

Not going to lie, this felt really gross. And finding the seed quarters is like gutting a fish. Really encouraged my dislike of raw tomatoes. Bleck. But soon as you get this over with, the real fun begins: making a tasty tomato sauce.

What squeezed tomatoes with skins look like

The sauce is pretty easy. I just tossed the tomatoes into a pot & used a potato masher to break down the tomato. I also sauteed the garlic & onion before throwing it in with the tomatoes, spices, lemon juice & wine. Later on I threw in some last minute sugar because I learned a little helps the sauce last longer since it's so acidic. I'm not going to lie, it doesn't look pretty at first.

It will first look chunky yet watery.

But don't worry; over time, it will look, smell, and taste much better. I did simmer it for about an hour and 45 minutes to get some of the extra water out. And I ended up using the diced tomatoes so I ended up with more sauce. I now see why you need so much tomatoes. With my 14 tomatoes AND can of diced tomatoes, I still only ended up with TWO jars of sauce. I guess this will be more of a can as you go kind of thing.

Ok. So, about an hour or so before your sauce is ready, it's time to get your canning gear in place. Thankfully I have all I needed after my mother bought me a canning set: pot, jars, lids, rings, magnetic wand, funnel, tongs, jar rack, and a little thing that helps you get all the extra air out of the jar.

Back when I first received the kit

For each canning session, you need to get your jars, lids & rings clean. So again, about an hour before the sauce was ready, I threw the jars into the dishwasher. I also put a few of the lids & rings into boiling water. After those are clean, you'll need to keep them warm until you are ready to can. That way the jar won't crack when you put hot sauce into it & the rubber on the lid is hot and can make a proper seal.

You should also start heating up the water bath early. And take it form me, put on a lid on the pot. It takes forever to get the water boiling. And silly me, I didn't put the lid on so it took even longer. Frankly, the water didn't get to a good boil until after I got tired & put the jars in. Which I'm sure is a no-no.

Sauce reduced and is ready

So after everything is ready to go, I filled the jars right to under where the threading begins. You want to give the tomatoes enough room to expand when in the boiling bath. I used a clean towel to dry of the tops of the jars & bottoms of the lids before placing the lids onto the jars. Then place the rings only finger tight around the jar. It just needs to keep the boiling water out. You then place the jars into the bath.

I still had about 1/2 - 1 inch of water above the jars

I ended up leaving the jars in the bath for about 30 minutes. The sauce & jars were already quite warm before going into the bath. I also noticed the pressure pushed the lids up, which I hope is a good thing. And after that, I used the tongs to pull them out & set on up of a towel on the counter. I'm happy to say, both lids gave the satisfying "pop" in only a few minutes afterwards.

ta-daaaa

 I am resisting the temptation to mess them more because you're supposed to leave them completely alone for 12-24 hours to ensure a good seal. After that, I plan to test the lids to see if the move up or down at all. The suspense is killing me.

Word is after you know you have a good seal, you should remove the rings to prevent any rusting. The sealed lids should be enough. And while you can reuse the rings, you should never reuse the lids.

So that's how my first experience with canning went. Since I only made two jars, I'm sue we'll end up testing out the sauce soon. And while I enjoyed learning about using the water-bath method, I'll probably test out a pressure-system next time. Mom swears by it.

Speaking of, I ended up taking the best advice from my mother & step-mom when it came to the sauce & canning. I guess I should of just taken that route instead of getting confused online. I guess that's the moral of the story.

Now that I got my first canning out of the way, my next big attempt is making a chicken bone broth. One of my favorite bloggers, The Healthy Home Economist, writes that making & using homemade bone broths & stocks is the number one way replenish the nutrients your body is lacking. I've wanted to make my own broth for months, but now that a friend is giving me one of his chickens (that I know was well care for/fed/exercised) , I will soon make my dream a reality. But you'll have to wait another week or two. I'm actually taking a short vacation next week. With that said, I'm not sure there will be a post next week. All depends on how busy I'm enjoying a few days off. Maybe this last photo of my kitchen buddy will make up for it.

"Let me help you cook."

By the way, if you follow me on twitter, you'd know all about this fun adventure.