Strawberries and Ice Cream

In our northern climate, strawberry season is finally here!  This is our fourth year with the strawberry plants and they finally producing more than just a few berries here and there.  

Last weekend I picked our first batch of red berries and filled half of the basket.  Subsequently, I have been picking berries every couple of days.

To best use the berries (other than eating them fresh of course!) we decided to make our own strawberry ice cream.    As a wedding gift years ago, we were given a Donvier Ice Cream maker.  We have used it in the past and it truly makes wonderful ice cream with ingredients that are normal and healthy (read: no artificial colourings, preservatives, etc)  It is easy to use as the interior cylinder is kept in the freezer and taken out and placed into the outer casing when it is required.  You assemble the turner, fill your ingredients and give a few turns every couple of minutes for about 20 minutes and at the end you have ice cream!

Donvier Ice Cream Maker

Homemade strawberry ice cream in my vintage polish dessert bowls

I also made homemade Strawberry Marguaritas with the Donvier. Sorry I forgot to take photos.  They turned out okay, but next time I will make sure the puree the berries more, add a bit more sugar or other sweetener and more rum (I'm sure one can never go wrong with more rum!)

I've decided with the hot weather we are experiencing that I'm going to use the Donvier more this summer for making frozen yogurt, ice cream, and drinks.  Guaranteed to be better than store bought.

Donviers can be purchased in two sizes I believe.  I have the larger gallon size which I know costs around $100 in my area, but I have seen them in thrift stores for only a few dollars.  If you're thinking of getting one, check to see if you can obtain one second hand as I would think most people only use the Donvier a few times and then get rid of it, like many other appliances that are not used every day.

Vintage Finds of the Week

I love to look for vintage items by browsing through the thrift stores.  I think it is so much fun because one never knows what will be found.  Usually I walk away with nothing, but today several items found their way home with me.

With Christmas fast approaching I am always on the lookout for a tablecloth large enough to fit my dining table.  I found this vintage print one which is 80x58 and just fits!  I quickly placed it on the table for size when I snapped the photo hence the fold lines.  I'm very happy that there are no stains or holes!

On Wednesday we are hosting a Christmas party for Husband's office executives.  I've been wondering what to make for appies and this will help.  A box of Bridge Set cookie and sandwich cutters.  I have no idea the age of this set but am really happy that they are in the original box which I keep and make sure it remains in good condition (if you happen to know the era of this item please let me know!).  Later today I will be looking for some fancy sandwich/canape recipes

I have been looking for a serving tray for a long time and have never came across one that I particularly liked, but this lovely mid-century modern teak tray fit the bill.

And last but not least, another vintage cookbook to add to my collection (copyright 1970, this edition 1974)

Soup recipe and Immersion Blender

Winter is fast approaching and we had snow over the weekend again.... but this time it stayed :(

With the colder weather I feel like making soup to take the chill away.  I rarely make soup in the warmer months, but it is soooo good at this time of year.

I tried a new recipe to use up the last of the red tomatoes from the garden.  This recipe is from the Nourishing Traditions The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and Diet Dictocrats by Sally Fallon.  If you haven't seen this book/cookbook you really must as it is chock full of recipes and information on cultural diets, nutrition, and ingredients. It is super interesting!

Tomato-Dill Soup
Serves 6

2 medium onions, peels and coarsely chopped
2 celery stalks, coarsely chopped
3 T butter
8 ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
2 cups of chicken stock
1/2 t dried green peppercorns, crushed sea salt or fish sauce
1/4 c snipped fresh dill
piima cream or creme fraiche

Saute onion and celery gently in butter until tender.  Add tomatoes and stock, bring to a boil and skim.  Add crushed peppercorns.  Simmer about 15 minutes.
Puree soup wint a handheld blender.  Thin soup with a little water if necessary, and season to taste.  Stir in the dill.  Simmer gently about 5 minutes, ladle into heated bowls and serve with cultured cream.






I didn't have an immersion blender as the one I had received from my mother-in-law (a 1980's vintage model) began smoking the last time I used and I promptly put it in the trash.  I didn't use it much anyway as it didn't have enough power to make it worth the effort.

After several months of debating whether I should purchase a new one, I finally broke down and came home with a Kitchen Aid model.  In the store I really looked over the various models which ranged from $10 to $80.  Of course the Kitchen Aid was the most expensive, but upon closer inspection I could see why.  The blade was twice as long as the other models (giving more cutting/blending surface), the motor power was adjustable, and in general it just seemed much sturdier.  I would rather spend the money on something that will work properly and will not have a planned obsolenscence.  So far I have been extremely happy with my Kitchen Aid stand mixer and I hope the blender will give me the same good results.

So far I have used it for blending the soup in the above recipe, smoothies, hummus, and chopping/blending kale and cream a dish for last night's dinner.  (If you like kale this dish is awesome... I will post it another time after I have translated it from German)

You Don't See This Very Often...

Over the past two years or so I have been collecting vintage cookbooks. What I like are pre-1960's books because I like to see the thrift and old cooking methods that were once employed by homemakers of the past.

I recently visited the local Value Village and came across an older book published in 1968 - "The American Every Day Cook Book in Color". I originally picked it up because it looked old, but bought it only because it was authored by Marguerite Patten.

If you are unfamiliar with Marguerite Patten she is a British home economist who has authored around 170 books.  Durring the Second World War she assisted the British government's Ministry of Food in educating the public in rationing and invented nourishing recipes from the foods available at the time.

So, of course I needed to have this book in my collection even though it was published in the 1960's.  Upon looking at the recipes there were many things that struck me as being from before the '60s such as this recipe for Mulligatawny soup (and you don't see this very often)...

I don't know about you, but I have never seen a recipe requiring you to simmer a small lamb's head in any modern cookbooks.  In fact, I'm not sure if my butcher even stocks small lamb's heads... maybe I'll ask next time I visit the shop.

Anyway, the book surprised me with the thrift and use of ingredients(?) that nowadays we no longer use or would even think of using.

Weekend Happenings

Saturday was our 17th wedding anniversary and we had planned to go out to dinner to celebrate, but I ended up working all day and I just didn't want to have to go back into town. So instead we had a lovely BBQ of babyback ribs, potato salad and roasted peppers.

While I was away over the day, Husband found a tool hanger which he installed on the side of the hen house. I now have my scraper, shovel and pitchfork all in one place right where I need it!



We love our morning coffee and before I rushed off to work Saturday I noticed the electric drip coffee maker wasn't working. AAAaaagggghhh, nothing frustrates me more than our throw away consumer products! This coffee maker actually lasted for about 2.5 years so I guess I can't be too upset, as usually a coffee maker will last me 6 months. The silly thing is the machine works in the mornings only - its not like we have it on all day. So we decided that is it now; no more automatic drip machines, we would look for an old fashioned perculator. Do you know how hard those are to find??? I remember as a kid everyone had a heavy glass perculator that sat on the stove. I went to Northern Hardware, as they have almost anything you could ever possibly need, and they had one flimsy glass perculator and a metal stovetop one. I took the glass one up to the counter and the salesman convinced me it was not worth purchasing. He suggested the old type of electric perculator - I didn't even know they came in an electric variety. He said he has owned his for 6 years(!) and would never go back. All I had to hear was the 6 years and I was SOLD (even with the $60 price tag).

Here is our new electic perculator. It takes the same length of time to brew coffee as the automatic drip, but in comparison the coffee is really hot and actually stays that way.




Yesterday was cold out and Husband's back was bothering him again. He did some puttering around outside. I did laundry and hung some out to dry, then gave the kitchen a good cleaning.

Last night we candled some of the eggs in the incubator and it appears (to our novice eyes) that something is growing! Yeah!

I ran out of chicken feed yesterday, so this morning I'll have to run into town to pick some up. I hadn't planned on going into the office today (saving me a trip to town), but I guess I have to go now anyway. Today's plan is to clean house and take photos as I have been asked by the girls at Home Sweet Home to do a home tour on their blog. I'll let you know when my guest spot appears.

Birds

Yesterday I saw four very large shining white birds flying against the sunny blue sky. It took me a minute to realize that I was seeing Trumpeter Swans. Swans over-winter a bit north of here, and I have seen them on the rivers, but never flying. It was quite a sight.

A short time later, I witnessed a beautiful mature bald eagle circling overhead.

Today Husband and I broke down and purchased an egg incubator... the Hova Bator 2362n. At $219 it wasn't cheap (cheep - ha ha - pun very much intended)

Isn't she a beauty?

We have been thinking about this for some time and will try to hatch some of the Amercauna (chicken) and Khaki Campbell (duck) eggs.

Weight Loss, Goal Setting and Stevia

Well here we are at the end of the first week of 2011. We, as many people, have our New Year's resolutions (or goals as I prefer to call it). I think goal sounds much more like something that is achievable by following a set plan, whereas resolution (to me) is something I might want to work towards without much intention.

Husband and I have set a goal to lose weight (okay, now who hasn't done that), but our goal does have a plan attached. My plan is to lose 35 pounds by December 1, 2011 and I have carefully set out how I will achieve this loss. I have a written plan, and also a journal in which to make myself track progress and be accountable everyday. Now that I have put that out there publically, I guess I had better achieve this goal!

Do you have any goals with set written plans for 2011? If not, you may want to write them down...

Harvard University conducted a study in the 1950's to see how many students had taken the time to set goals. While virtually all of the them stated they had set goals, when the question was asked how many had written down the goals the percentage dropped significantly. In fact, only 3% of the group surveyed had actually put their goals to paper.

Fast-forward 30 years later...the same group was surveyed. Guess what? The 3% who had written down their goals were worth more (financially) than the other 97% combined.

Husband likes to drink sugar in his coffee and to have it on his cereal. He already cut out drinking the 'evil' sugar laden soda pop and cut down on the sugar in his coffee late last year and managed to drop 12 pounds (Cheers and clapping). I have purchased a natural sugar substitute for him in the form of Stevia to help him along the way and to make his coffee more enjoyable.

Stevia is a plant grown in western North American and into South America, and is related to the sunflower family. The extract is taken from the sweet leaves and is up to 300 times sweeter than sugar. The availability varies from country to country, and I found that my local health food store has carried it for an number of years. In Canada it is considered as a dietary supplement.

The other day I also saw it in my local grocery store with the natural food products. It came in either liquid or powder form. I decided to purchase the powdered form, and did some cost comparison before finally buying stevia in a canister shaker which cost approx $12.00 for 112g. There was also a box of stevia for just under $12.00 which I originally looked at. Upon closer inspection I found it contained small individual packages of stevia and the entire weight was only 28g! Obviously the cost was for the extra packaging and not for the actual stevia itself.

Boots

Now that winter is here I decided that I would really like to wear more skirts in the cold weather. I do have to dress up for work and I usually wear pants all winter due to the cold, and also because I have never in my adult life been able to find dress boots that fit my calves.

I'm sick and tired of going out to Christmas and New Year parties wearing a dress with snowboots and carrying my dress shoes in a plastic grocery bag to the event. (You ladies who live in northern climates know what I mean! I'm sure you have done it before too!)

Trust me, these boots look lovely with evening wear ;)

I finally did a search online for wide calf boots and guess what I found? A company specializing in wide calf boots! http://www.widewidths.com/ has all sorts of boots in wide calf, extra wide calf and super wide calf and I found a pair I thought looked great. I measured as instructed by the website and ordered them. A week and a half later the boots appeared on my doorstep thanks to door-to-door delivery! I was a little nervous at first, but they actually zipped up.... all the way up! [Cue the angels singing and the Hallelujah chorus] I honestly couldn't believe it! The quality is nice and I'm very happy that I can finally dress up in winter!
This is the boot I purchased. I thought it had a classic look and shouldn't go out of style. It is the Ros Hommerson Ella boot in super wide calf.

Rainy Day Blues

Actually I'm not really blue, but it has been raining all day and I have a bad head cold. So I'm taking it easy today. Husband I went out this afternoon and did our grocery shopping plus looked around for a crock with which to make Sauerkraut and Kimchi in.

Tomorrow I'll be making mincemeat with our green tomatoes to can for future Christmas baking. I'll also be making dilled carrots and then freezing the what is left of the carrots. And preparing the cabbage for sauerkraut. We have not yet built a cold storage room so right now everything is still in the garage which it cool, but it is definately not an optimum produce storage area.

During the week I canned cherries, canned pears, made dill pickles, made nectarine jam, canned corn off the cob and baked 2 fresh peach pies. Husband was in the Okanagon and brought home several boxes of fruits which don't grow in our area, so I had to get busy.

For my birthday Husband had bought me a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer which I love, and today we bought the extra attachments to go with it (food grinder, pasta maker, fruit & vegetable strainer, slicer & shredder)! I couldn't believe our luck as the package of attachments was on sale for $100 off the original price!

This is my mixer above - the Kitchen Aid Artisan in silver.

Of Lights and Trees

Well, another 15 cm (6 inches) of snow overnight. I guess winter really has arrived. The power flickered off for a minute, but hasn't gone out totally. Husband called during his drive into town to work and there are neighbourhoods near us that have no power. I filled up some pots of water just in case, as no power means no water because the well pump can not work.

I spoke with Husband last night about our blog. He reads it and is interested that I keep it up, but he has no interest to write anything himself. I asked him what he would like me to add and he said he wanted me to write about the Christmas lights. So here goes...

Two years ago we gave away all our outdoor Christmas lights (thanks freecycle!) and replaced them with LED lights as they are more energy efficient and the bulbs last longer. WRONG! Over the weekend Husband put went to put up the outdoor lights and found that on a few of the strings many of the LED bulbs were not working. He couldn't put the strings up because it would look like a mouth full of missing teeth. He figured that he would just take the bulbs out and replace them. WRONG! LED bulbs don't seem to be replaceable (at least not on our strings). The only way Husband figures that he can fix them is to cut the cord apart, remove the burnt bulb and wire it together again. Considering these strings are outside it make me worry that moisture could get into the cord.

This year we bought four strings of new LED solar outdoor Christmas lights from Canadian Tire. We thought these were a great idea for areas where the extension cords don't reach. Husband charged up the solar power and one set did not work at all. For the life me I was unable to find the receipt, but luckily Canadian Tire let me exchange it for a new set anyway. Husband put two of the strings with the solar panel onto the front fence. One of the strings works fine, but the other one doesn't seem to hold the charge for long. First the blue and green bulbs go out, and then the rest just kind of flicker. Perhaps the panel needs to be charged more, or the rechargeable battery needs to be replaced.

We plan on getting our Christmas tree this afternoon. That makes it 3 days before the full moon, so according to legend(?) the tree should not lose any needles. My parents swear by it, so we will give it a try. Considering where we live we can easily cut down a nice tree on the side of the highway, our acreage, or anywhere really; but we have decided to visit one of the tree farms in town. After discussing it we decided that it would be better to support a local farmer, and to use an agriculturally grown tree rather than to cut down one from nature.

One Down

It's amazing how quickly work around the house can stop when one householder is down.

Husband hasn't been feeling well and had a bit of a fever a few days ago. On Thursday evening we had company and when they left Husband says "Can you please drive me to the hospital". Um, what? He never even goes to the doctor! Things apparently had progressed for the worse over the evening, though he didn't look particularly ill. Luckily the emergency ward wasn't overly busy and he was in and out fairly quickly.... diagnosed with either a bladder or prostate infection. Ouch! He has been sitting and watching football, hockey and movies ever since - and he needs to take it easy for a few days. He will be seeing our family physician tomorrow and may be on antibiotics for 4 weeks.

Needless to say, I have been busy. I have been catching up on laundry, baking, knitting and beginning some sewing projects for Christmas. I found this great Burda site with free sewing patterns. I used to do lots of sewing and made most of my own clothes at one time. Sadly, I haven't sewn for many years. Funny, I don't really know why. Perhaps life just gets too busy and setting up the machine and finding room is too laborious.

On Friday I picked up our meat order. I panicked when I saw how many boxes there were! I was sure it would not all fit into our freezer... and it didn't. I was left with one turkey that just would not fit, so we had a turkey dinner on Saturday evening. It is just as well, now the kids have luncheon meat for this coming week. We stopped purchasing any prepared meats after the listeriosis outbreak a couple of months ago. Husband has been wanting to quit buying it for a long time and now we really have reason.

The snow continues to come down, though I went into town yesterday and there is very little accumulated. That's what we get building our home north and at a higher elevation than town. Actually there is a standing joke in town that we tend to get two weeks earlier winter and two weeks later spring.

This week's purchases...

A subscription to Down to the Roots magazine, plus all back issues.

A new (and much larger) chainsaw, plus work gloves, hardhat with ear protection, wedges, oil etc.

We didn't manage to get to the property to work at all this week. Just as well, since we had another large amount of snow come down earlier this week.