Recipe: Pumpkin Braid

So I gave this recipe a try today as something special to go with our pork stew. It's a variation on a Squash Braid recipe I found online. I didn't have any squash on hand so I used canned pumpkin (organic of course) that I had had for a while. I made a few other changes too and I'm quite happy with how it turn out.


You will need:
1 cup canned pumpkin
2.5 tsp of active dry yeast
3 tbsp warm water
1/3 warm milk
1/4 softened butter or margarine
2 eggs
3 tbsps brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2.5 tsp cinnamon
1-2 tsp molasses
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup spelt flour

In a small bowl dissolve yeast in 2 tablespoons of warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10mins. Then in a large bowl add the yeast mixture to a mixture of milk, butter, pumpkin, 1 egg, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, molasses, vanilla, 1 cup whole wheat and 1 cup spelt, stir well to combine. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/4 cup at a time, mixing well each time. Then knead on a floured surface until smooth and elastic (about 5 mins). Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl then turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp clothe and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Divide into 6 equal pieces and roll each into a 18 inch long rope. Take 3 ropes, pinch ends together and then braid together. Pinch ends to seal. Do the same with the other 3 ropes. Place braids on a lightly greased pan. Cover and let raise for 20 mins. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In small bowl beat together 1 egg and 1 tbsp of water. Before putting in the oven brush loaves with the egg wash. Bake for about 25 mins or until the braid is crisp and golden. Remove from baking sheet and let cool.

Snapshot Sunday

My very first pair of point shoes now hang in our music/guest room.

The empty bottles from J and his friend at dinner.

Freshly folded laundry (the first of many loads this Sunday)

Our fruit basket piled high with yummy organic fruit.

The homemade popsicles I made today. Pureed strawberry, blueberry and blackberry with some water then frozen. Yum Yum!

See Sarah at The Napping House for more Snapshot Sunday.

Recipe: Won Ton Soup

For tonight's dinner I used the left over pot stickers from last night to make Won Ton soup. This is a totally made up recipe by me, I didn't even look at another recipe for reference so it was a little touch and go but it actually turned out great (it actually tastes like Won Ton soup). I had to cook the soup a little longer than I would have liked so the won tons kinda fell apart but the whole soup still tasted awesome. Again these measurements are approximate, so use your best judgment.

You will need:
4 cups of vegetable broth
2-3 cups of water
3 tbsps miso paste
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
4-5 mushrooms, chopped
1 baby bok choy, chopped
1 leek, chopped
2 cups of chopped red cabbage
200 grams of tiger prawns
Won Tons (see the recipe below)
1 cup of chopped firm tofu
1/2 tsp of soy sauce
2-3 drops of fish sauce
some garlic powder
some sea salt
some black pepper
some ground coriander

Heat all the liquid and the miso paste in a large soup pot on medium heat. Add onions, garlic and leek and cook until almost tender. Add mushrooms, cabbage, and bok choy. When almost ready to serve (as these will cook quite quickly) add the prawns, tofu and won tons. Season with soy sauce, fish sauce, garlic powder, salt, pepper and coriander. Cook for about 3-5 mins more (until prawns are cooked through) and serve.

Recipe: Pot Stickers

We had the most delicious homemade pot stickers for dinner tonight. Although they were time consuming, they were worth it. This is my own recipe (inspired by my good friend, Kyre) so none of measurements are exact.


You will need:
- 1 package of won ton wrappers
- about 400 grams of ground meat (I used turkey)
- 1/4 shredded cabbage
- 1/2 chopped onion
- 1/4 shredded zucchini
- about 5 mushrooms, chopped
- 2 cups bean sprouts
- some grated ginger
- 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
- small handful of cilantro, chopped
- some sesame oil
- some soy sauce
- some fish sauce
- garlic powder
-black pepper
- ground coriander
- red pepper flakes
- yolk of 1 egg, beaten

Heat some canola or olive oil in a large skillet, add the onion, garlic, cabbage, mushroom and zucchini. Cook at medium heat until tender. Add the meat and continue to cook until meat is cooked through. Finally add the ginger, sprouts, soy sauce, fish sauce, sesame oil and spices. Allow the mixture to cool then spoon mixture into the won ton wrappers. Use the beaten egg yolk to seal the edges. Tonight we cooked some in hot oil in a wok, kinda fried them and served them with plum sauce. Tomorrow I going to try making won ton soup with the remaining stickers, so I let you know how it works out.

Be Prepared

Here on the west coast earthquakes are a very real possibility and they happen more often then you would think. We live on what is called the Ring of Fire, a seismically and volcanically active band along the west coast of North America and continuing around to the far coast of Asia. On the island we have small earthquakes all the time however it is common knowledge that we are very due for a major quake sometime soon. We all are prepared from incidents in our home; we have smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, first aid kits, gas detectors, etc. But I'm surprised by how many people are not prepared for a major event.
About 2 months after we moved into our house we put together an earthquake kit. If you live on the west coast I strongly encourage you to take steps to protect your family in the case of a major disaster.

In our kit we included:
-a pair of shoes for everyone in the household (flip flops don't count, you want shoes that you can walk over broken glass with)
- a complete change of clothes (long pants, long sleeve shirt, underwear and a jacket, something that can work for all seasons)
-flashlight (it's best to keep the batteries separate to prevent corrosion)
-candles and matches (these don't need to be waterproof though we have a set of both)
-radio (ours is battery and hand cranked) to keep up to date with rescue efforts
-extra batteries (make sure to have a spare set of all kinds you use i.e. AAA or D)
-first aid kit (make sure this contains heavy duty bandages, gloves and anything you may need for CPR)
-space blankets (these are waterproof and are best of conserving body heat, they look kinda like tin foil and are available in the camping section of most department stores)
-lots of clean water (we have 4 refillable 4L jugs of water, never underestimate the need for water)
-towels (one for every member of your household, they don't have to be full size we use large hand towels, they just need to be big enough to wipe you clean and dry)
-food (non-perishables, high-protein, easy open is best so we have a large sealed container of nuts, 4 cans of pop-top chili, 2 cans of ready to serve chicken soup, 4 cans of tuna, 2 cans of turkey chunks, 2 cans of orange slices, a bottle of powdered meal replacement drink and more)
-signs (these can be made and laminated yourself or purchased at a department store, they will let rescue crews know if your party is in need of immediate help)
-medications (easy to forget yet vital, I have asthma so I have an emergency inhaler but if you are diabetic have insulin, if you have allergies have an epi-pen, anything that you may need in an emergency)
-everything else (this includes utensils for food, diapers for your baby, instructions and locations for turning off the gas to your home, toilet paper, phone numbers and addresses for friends and family members, gloves for moving rubble, etc)

Everything in your kit should be in an individual zip-lock bag, make everything as waterproof as possible. Store all your supplies in a waterproof container then store the container in a location away from buildings and power lines, you want to be able to access the kit easily. Your kit should contain supplies to sustain you and your family for up to 72 hours in the event that help is not immediately available. Your kit will need to be updated once a year, so write dates on your food and water. Even though canned goods don't really expire too quickly, you should still rotate your goods every 12 months.
You also need to prepare for the fact that you may be incapacitated so make sure everyone in your home knows where the kit is and how to use it. It is also a good idea to begin preparations inside your home as well. Store a pair of hard soled shoes under everyone's bed so that if a earthquake hits in the night you aren't caught completely off-guard. Teach your children how to duck and cover and how long to wait before exiting the home. Show them where to go if Mom and Dad aren't out there to meet them (i.e. to a neighbors house or to the school across the street).
Although it isn't fun to think of the worst case scenario, it is your best chance at survival. If you have more concerns and would like to learn more, your local government should have emergency preparedness information. Your local fire department is also a good source of information for building a good kit.

Some good news and some bad

It was a gorgeous day today, it was so hot and sunny it was almost summer weather. So I decided to take advantage and spend some quality time in the garden (but isn't that what I always do these days :P).
I planted another blueberry plant. They say for best results to plant more than one variety so I now have a Harti blueberry and a Duke blueberry. One produces in the summer and the other in the fall. I also planted some potatoes that I had kept indoors to sprout, they were just little sprouts but I thought they would do better out in the sun. I also planted some garlic cloves that had sprouted in my fridge. I'm hoping they take since my sweetie is really hoping for home-grown garlic. I also planted some Walla Walla onion and some dill. Then, in the greenhouse I planted some Roma tomatoes. I haven't decided if I'm going to keep those in the greenhouse the whole summer or if I'm going to move them outside. Hmmm....
My brother also came by today to help me dig out the other plot. It was quite the job (we found plywood, plastic and garden netting in there) but it looks like it's ready now. The seeds I order for that plot should be here sometime this week. My friend had told me about this seed mix which is corn, beans and squash and I was intrigued so I looked it up online and I had to have it. So that will be going in the new plot.
The bad news is that we found a ton of tent caterpillars in our apple tree. We had to cut them out, there really isn't anything else to do about it. So we lost a fair number of branches from our only apple tree. The other thing that made me sad today is that our clothes line (which was torn down during the wind storms this winter) won't be up and run for quite a while. It was so hot out today I tried to fry some of my clothes out on a little fold out laundry rack. A little disappointing. The other unpleasant thing I noticed today is that I got sunburnt while I was out in the garden yesterday. My whole face and my arms were burnt. Because I'm so fair I burn quite badly and it hurts a lot.
To end on a happy note, I had a yummy dinner with my brother and our friend from across the street. We had BBQ Cajun chicken with focaccia bread and steamed yams and onions with fig goat cheese. So good! And we got eat our dinner outside....ah yes summer is coming!

Snapshot Sunday and a Garden Update

This is a new thing I'm going to try. I got the idea from a friends blog. She takes five pictures, wherever she is, no cleaning or tidying, just "in the moment" type pictures. Kind of a neat way to see into other people's lives a little bit. This week I'm combining it with a garden update.
The garden is coming along, finally. Things are actually starting to take form. Here are some pictures of my wonderful garden. I'm so excited, I can't wait until harvest. You'll notice in the pictures that the soil is very sandy and that's because we had a huge delivery of sand to help break down the clay that we had before.

In this picture we have my wonderful greenhouse (which I love) and in the back there is my great compost bin that my darling built for me. Where you see the tall posts is my 3 rows of English Peas. On the left of that is my lettuce, spinach, onion, chives, carrot (summer and fall), beets, cauliflower, broccoli, radish and tomato.


Here is the other side of the garden. Again you see the peas, then to the right of that is swiss chard, brussel sprouts, beans (climbing and bush), potatoes, garlic, pumpkin, butternut squash, zucchini, cucumber, rhubarb, current, and artichoke. We are also planting some more beans, squash and corn in a bed that is yet to be dug.


Here is our messy yet functional greenhouse. We still have a ton of stuff left from the old owners in the greenhouse. So again we have lettuce and spinach in the middle box on the left, then in the middle from the top, sweet peas, peppermint, thyme, rosemary, cilantro, lavender, sage, chocolate mint, oregano, and jalapeno and cayenne peppers. In the the smaller containers I'm starting my beans, broccoli, cucumber, pumpkin, squash and tomato. We have more going that just didn't make it into the picture, there is sweet pepper, a guava tree and a hanging basket of strawberries. The bin with the tan lit that the peat containers are sitting on is our earthquake kit.


My beautiful pear tree blossomed today, thought I would grab a picture of it.

Here is the awesome Mason Bee house that my sweetie made. We but it under the grape vine to try to protect it from the rain a little. I hope we get lots of bees this year, we need these little workers to make the most of the garden. I've seen some bees around but I don't think they are Mason Bees.