Week 5: Almost Emmeline Apron

(January 31, 2011)

This weekend we took a little trip to visit my parents.  We thought it would be fun for Charlie to hang with his grandparents for a bit and for us to take the opportunity for a night out with free babysitting!  An added bonus of this trip was a little project I had in mind that I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to do by myself.  My mom is crazy about projects.  Sometimes when she's visiting us I make up a project just so she won't go stir crazy.

Confession time: I love aprons.  I already have 3 cute ones in my regular rotation that I got from antique malls, but 2 of them are the half skirt kind, which don't protect my main spill area, and the other doesn't fit me right or something.  Something about it just feels shlumpy, which is NOT how I want to feel while wearing an apron.  I love the idea of being sassy in an apron.  Some kind of juxtaposition between domestic and fantastic.  So when I found this picture, I was smitten.  I think this might be sort of a no-no, but I couldn't really justify spending $11.95 on a pattern for an apron that I don't really need.  And I figured, "I could probably make that..."  Well what I really thought was "I bet my mom could figure that out... and then I could probably make it"

So we teamed up, searched through her amazing fabric stash, selected some prints she didn't really need, and went to work!

Here's my mom, taking charge

The pattern was pretty tricky, and by the end of Day 1 I was ready to give it up and sacrifice the cut fabrics to the quilt scrap bin, but my mom persevered (and ripped out the seams) and thought up a new plan for Day 2.  Her direction worked like a charm and I merely did as I was told. 

This apron is perhaps not exactly like the emmeline apron, but it's close enough for me!  Now I need to go put on my apron and make something.  Thanks mom!

Made It: Body Sugaring

I wasn't really sure what to call this Made It.  What I made was a thick, candy-like syrup from sugar, honey, and lemon juice that has the power to rip your hairs out by the roots. 

A while back, when I had TV and watched a lot of it at home, there used to be this infomercial for a product called Nads (hilarious, right?) which was kind of like a home leg wax kit, but was made of sugar instead of wax.  I recall thinking at the time, "I could probably make that..." but now with the miracle of the Internet, I can!

The recipe I used was sort of vague, and I feel like it should have been more specific regarding temperatures and such, since this is basically some kind of candy stage and it probably only works at a certain candy stage.  (soft ball?  hard crack?  what?)

At any rate, here's what I used:

Just mix it up and microwave in a fairly large container.  I used a 2 cup pyrex measuring cup because it's going to bubble up like crazy.  Here's where the instructions I had failed me.  I think it probably should have had some water or something, because even though the stuff was boiling and liquidy and all, there remained some granulation in the sugar, even when I was applying it to my legs like half an hour later!

This is what my supplies looked like as I was about to begin.  Yep, that's a great big plastic baby fork ("applicator").  And corn starch for dusting your skin with.  I can't recall the reason for the corn starch and forgot to use it on my second leg and didn't notice any difference.  So you probably don't really need it. 

 

 The Lowdown

While I was super excited for this project because a) I haven't removed hair by any means from my legs in several months and b) it is much more cost effective than paying someone to wax my legs and even buying those individually waxed strips, in the end I was slightly dissatisfied.  I think it was a good start, but here's what I didn't like about it:

- Sugar that stayed granulated to the end.  Rubbing paste with granulated sugar on your skin is not comfortable.  I'm hoping to make another batch next time and get the consistency right

- Each fabric strip was basically only good for one pass.  I only cut 6 strips so I fudged it and used each strip more, but I had to add more sugar each time, which made it sort of unwieldy and thick.  And kinda grody.

- It wasn't quite as effective as my old pre-waxed strips

- I'm not sure if this is just because I'm not used to using a liquid wax formula, but I didn't really like the whole spreading aspect.  And the long strings of stuff.

I didn't really like this recipe, but I've found an even BETTER method that I'm excited to try that does not even need fabric strips!  I'll let you know when I do it, though it might be a bit of a wait.  I have to wait for more hair to grow!

Made It: Cloth Baby Wipes

I just did this!  So, so easy!  Really, the most difficult part and the reason that I was procrastinating this whole project was digging around in our tiny storage area to find our baby washcloths.  I had put away all the "baby" stuff and when we moved here it got shoved to the back of the closet/crawlspace.

I basically just did exactly what this lady suggested, minus the tea tree oil.  I may try that if I end up getting some in the future, but for now, we make do!  Also, the feminist breeder has a pop-up method, but mine are already rolled.  Next time!

Got a bunch of baby washcloths?  Got a disposable wipes container?  Vinegar?  Water???  You too can have your very own cloth baby wipes, minus all the nasty chemicals in conventional wipes! The thing that makes this project so gosh-darned sensible is that we're already using cloth diapers.  Now with the cloth wipes, we just stick everything in the diaper pail together, instead of sorting out the disposable wipe for garbage. 

(image taken from www.cubitsorganics.com)

Coming Up...

One of the moms in my weekly parents' group had this great New Years' resolution:  Stop talking about what you want to do or plan to do or hope to do, and leave it to things you've done.  Those kinds of things count more, and keep you more accountable.

I'd like to do this (dare I say, I want to do this?) but I can't help giving a few hints of upcoming projects.  I'm pretty excited about them, and I'll let you know how they go:

- homemade pasta
- body sugaring
- eyebrow threading
- no shampoo
- lotion

Lots of these are more "personal care" items rather than recipes, but when you're strapped for cash, you can't be going out and getting your legs waxed and eyebrows threaded 'cuz that stuff costs!  I found in Edmonton it was pretty cheap to do the ol' eyebrow threading, and even the funniest little hole in the wall did a good job, but here in Kelowna, where the South Asian population is not very big, it's hard to find a cheap threading.  And so, I experiment at home!

Stay tuned!

Week 4: Grainy Mustard

(January 25, 2011)

 

This mustard is so easy to make, I don't know why I never made it before.  ESPECIALLY because  of the cost!  Here's the comparison:  a tiny bottle of fancy grainy mustard, likely half the size of that gimundo up there, would probably run you at least $4.00.  My mustard only cost about $2.25 to make.  So that's like $8.00 vs $2.25!!!  

How You Can Make Your Very Own Grainy Mustard:

1/2 c. brown mustard seeds

1/2 c. yellow mustard seeds

1/2 c. white wine vinegar (approximately) 

1 T. salt

1 clove garlic

1) Soak mustard seeds for several days (I did 2 and a half days worth) in the vinegar.  In separate jars, add however much of each type of seed you want.  Then cover the seeds with vinegar.  Over the next few days, the seeds will soak up some of the vinegar, so you can top it up with water so they remain covered.  Stir occasionally (or shake...)

 

2) Still separately, grind each type of mustard seed until you reach your desired consistency.  I used an immersion blender, but you could also use a food processor, regular blender, or mortar & pestle.  Whatever works! 

3) Mix the 2 types of mustard seeds together, adding more vinegar as needed if it is too thick.  Add salt and other seasonings, and mix well!  My original recipe called for a shallot, but I could not find one at my grocery store, so I added a small amount of chopped garlic.  I'm sure this recipe would be fine without the garlic, and I've also seen other recipes with lemon, as well as other spices.  

I think this is one of those recipes where you can do pretty much whatever the heck you want.  It's super easy, cost effective, and now I know for sure that my mustard is going to be delicious, and free of any strange ingredients!  This stuff is going to make some AMAZING sandwiches.  I imagine this mustard would make a really nice gift as well!

Made It: Brown Bread

In my quest for a doable bread recipe, I decided to try our old standby, the bread Dave used to make when he started baking bread.  I'm not really sure what kind of bread this is, since his ingredient list changes every time he makes it, depending on whims and what we have on hand.  This time, I added:

2 cups warm water
2 cups warm milk
2 t. yeast
3 t. brown sugar
2 t. molasses
1 egg

Into our giant bread bowl (this bowl was big enough to bathe Charlie, our massive baby).  Stir together with giant wooden spoon.  Add 6 - 8 cups flour, substituting in whatever else you want.  I added oats, ground flax, and rye flour.  I'm afraid the flour measurement is totally a guesstimate because I lost count and we were both adding things at the same time.  Basically, add flour (or the like) until it has the right sticky "ball" consistency.  And do not forget to add the 2 tsp salt when you add the flour!

After mixing it all together I let it sit covered in a warm spot for about half an hour to autolyze. Hmm.  I just checked around and apparently, the autolyze will work better if you add the salt after.  It serves to kind of soften up the dough by hydrating the flour.  At any rate, leave the dough to rest before you start kneading.

I think because this bread had so much extra stuff and rye flour in it (in addition to all purpose), I ended up having to knead it for a VERY long time. 

Once you figure you've kneaded enough - maybe if you stretch out a piece of dough and it doesn't break off, but rather stretches - put your big ball of dough back into your now clean giant bread bowl that has been oiled.  Rub some oil over the dough as well and put it covered in a warm place to rise.  Once the dough has doubled in size, punch down and divide into portions to put in oiled bread pans.  Allow to rise just over the top of the pans and bake for 25-35 minutes at 350. 

What happened with my bread: I punched it down twice because Dave was sick and napping and I wasn't sure what to do.  This is okay though!  I think you can punch it down numerous times and still be okay.  It might even be better! (?)  Also, I let the bread rise for too long in the pans, so then when I baked it, they sort of fell.  Later, when Dave was feeling better, he let me know that we could have punched them down in their pans to remedy this.  Ah well...  the bread came out very nice indeed - a lovely daily bread type of bread.  Good for toast, good for sandwiches, good for snack.

One more thing for the people who tend to NOT follow recipe instructions (like me):  Cooling on a cooling rack is really a good idea.  I just flipped my loaves out onto a baking tray and kind of left them there upside down and they got sort of weird marks from the humidity from the pan.  So use a cooling rack. 

Made It: Ciabatta Bread

This is probably my favourite bread to eat.  It's nearly perfect - chewy, great crumb, wonderful texture, crispy crust, nice flavour.  It also, as it happens, is quite easy to make for a novice bread maker like myself.  In order to get that wonderful chewy texture, you have to work with a very wet dough, which does not lend itself to kneading, so this is a kitchenaid bread. 

Biga
1 1/2 cups flour
pinch yeast
3/4 cup warm water

Dough
3 cups flour
1/2 t. yeast
1 t. salt
1 1/2 cups warm water
Biga

Start the night before with the Biga, which is like a sourdough starter.  Mix yeast & warm water together in a medium bowl, then add flour.  Combine, then cover with saran and leave out over night.

Next morning, mix up the rest.  Start with warm water in the mixer bowl, add yeast, stir, then add the biga.  After that is combined gently, add the flour and salt.  **if you forget the salt the bread will taste bad!
Gently mix to combine the ingredients.  Once combined, cover with saran and let autolyze for 30 minutes.

Mix again on low setting (1 or 2) for 30-45 seconds.  Cover with saran and leave in a warm place until doubled in size.  (For me this takes several hours)

Turn dough out onto a floured surface and dust top with flour.  This is the "kneading" part, only you don't knead.  Imagining the dough as a shape having 4 sides, stretch out each side and pile it on top.  Let sit under a giant bread bowl with a warm cup of water to keep it moist and warm.  Repeat every 20 minutes or so for 4-5 times. 

Divide your dough.  I do it in half and it makes 2 decent sized loaves.  Stretch each piece as you did before, cover and rise 30 minutes.

Place on a parchment lined baking sheet, shaping as necessary.  Bake at 360 for 20-25 minutes until bread is a nice caramel colour and has a good crust. 

I don't have any "after" shots of this bread since I took one loaf to a friend's for dinner RIGHT as it came out of the oven, and then we ate the other loaf as sandwiches today.  I do however have this older pic:

The 2 top left loaves are Dave's "regular bread" recipe, which is what I made today!  However, mine turned out slightly differently because a) of Dave's erratic and changeable use of ingredients and b) I let them rise too long in the loaf pans and they fell a bit when they baked :(   But the other 4 are the ciabatta.  Don't they look delicious??  Yum!  So delicious with a swipe of butter and some honey.

Made It: Sweet Vidalia Onion Salad Dressing

This salad dressing is delicious and nice for Charlie to eat on things because it isn't too tangy.  Generally, the really acidic foods will make his face red and irritated (because what toddler can eat anything without getting it all over his face?)  and this dressing doesn't have that effect.  Also, it has a lovely onion flavour without being too overbearing.  However, I've only seen it sold at Costco, which would mean a) buying a gigantic bottle and b) braving that crazy store*.

In addition, it seems kind of silly to be buying salad dressing pre-made when it is so easy to make yourself.  You know, the weird ingredients issue...

So here it is:

1 sweet onion, coarsely chopped  (or 1/2)
1 cup oil
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. celery seed
2 tsp. dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. tarragon







Basically, all you do is blend all the ingredients together in a blender or food processor.  If the onion flavour is a tad too strong you can either add less onion next time (duh) or cook the dressing down a bit.  I've done both.  And here you can see my salad dressing posing next to the pickle embroidery that I picked up at the thrift store.  In a set of 4.  Dave is embarrassed to have them hanging in our kitchen, but I enjoy their ugliness.

* Have you ever BEEN to Costco?  It's dangerous!  My bro says the key to shopping there without blowing your entire paycheck is to imagine that everything you buy is $20.  Either that, or don't get a cart.  Then you can only get like... 2 things.

Made It: WHO bread

In our need and greed for toast around here, I think I could probably make bread every day and not have to freeze any of it.  I've already had 4 pieces of toast today...  But that might be because I made some delicious bread yesterday!  It's just so - eatable!  It's soft and chewy and sweet and ever so lightly flavoured with honey and a touch of cinnamon.  Delicious! 

 I decided to try Soulemama's WHO bread (I think the "WHO" stands for wheat-honey-oat, rather than World Health Organization) and was pleasantly surprised.  The recipe is super easy and quick and does not call for very much kneading.  It also tastes so much better than it looks!  However, Dave has since pointed out to me that the bread should have been kneaded longer.  Apparently it has something wrong with it called an "M-fault," which is when the top of the bread is higher at the sides than in the middle, creating an "M" shape, which you can kind of see here.  It has something to do with the bread dough not having enough strength to stick together. 

This also means that the bread, while delicious toasted with jam, does not have the strength for something like a sandwich.  I could see it crumbling under the pressure of holding together some lettuce and cheese...

All of this has just reminded me that I need to get cracking on today's bread recipe, which is more of Dave's ciabatta.  No kneading in that recipe either, just a lot of stretching.  And waiting.  I'll try to make a post on how that one turns out as well, just to compare.

Goals for Frugally Living Well

One of the things I'm learning through financial restriction is how much of a privilege good food is.  By "good food" I mean food that is fresh, wholesome, and unprocessed.  For a low income family, it is next to impossible to buy locally grown meat, artisan bread, locally roasted coffee, and farmers' market veggies.  These are the things we are used to, but in these reduced circumstances, they're simply out of our reach.  Of course I'd rather buy an organic free range chicken...  Heck, even that "free from" packet of chicken thighs is looking good these days.  But at over $2/kg more than the regular chicken thighs, it's a tough sell.

I suppose financial restriction really just forces you to choose which is more important to you.  If I was stricter with myself, perhaps I would purchase that free range chicken instead, and only have chicken every other week.

At any rate, one of our big purchases used to be our bread selection.  We are a major toast family, and plain old grocery store bread just ain't gonna cut it.  (I can't decide if that's a pun or not...)  As it turns out, making your own bread is much tastier AND more cost effective than buying the grocery store bread.  Here is my list of things that I hope will help us to live within our budget AND live well:

1) Use everything you have.  This means not letting anything go bad in the fridge, and no daily shopping trips!

2) Bake your own bread

3) Make as much as you can yourself.  Future projects include mustard, salad dressing, ketchup, lotion, sunscreen, conditioner, soap, body butter, etc. This helps you to avoid weird ingredients and hopefully will also benefit the grocery bill.  (Though some of the projects have a bit of a start-up cost for materials)

4) If you can't fit anything in your closet (dresser, piles on the bedroom floor, etc.) you don't need any more clothes.

5) Decide what you can and can't live without.  One of the things that we don't cave on is peanut butter.  Yet.  But ordinary supermarket coffee will do for now.  Besides, they don't have Transcend here. 


That's it for now.  I'll probably add to this list as I learn more about our limits and limitations!

Made It: Fast Bread

So, along with our plans for careful budgeting and using every bit of what we have, we've also started to eat a bit less meat around here.  Don't get me wrong, we're pretty strong meatatarians, I just figure we don't have to eat meat at every single meal.  Or maybe the meat can be more on the sidelines, rather than the main event.  We just don't need all that meat protein, and meat can be pretty pricey. 

Following this, I decided to make soup from our homemade chicken stock from the weekend's chicken dinner.  What's in the fridge?  Carrots.  Lots of carrots.  And half a yam.  I found a recipe in my soup cookbook for a curried carrot apple soup, and figured that the yam could be snuck (sneaked?) in there without too many heads turning. 

But what takes a simple creamy soup from decent to Amazing Meal is the FRESH BAKED BREAD you serve it with!!  Generally Dave is the bread baker around here, and I have only recently begun my bread journey with his excellent ciabatta recipe.  But that's like a full day recipe - 2 days if you start the starter the night before.  And I am habitually a late starter at stuff.  It's already 3pm and I don't know what we're eating tonight... 

The point of all this is, I needed a recipe for fast bread.  Something you can put together while currying the carrots for the soup and playing outside with Charlie.  This recipe definitely fit the bill.  Almost perfect for the novice bread baker as well, as it didn't really require too much kneading or special skill. 

*I will admit, however, that as I was finishing up the bread to bake, Dave came home and helped me make it look beautiful like this.  Apparently the technique is called "rounding" - don't just bake the loaf the way they tell you to do it.  Tuck the ends under and kind of round it out, sort of rolling it like a ball sideways.  Then, just before you bake, make the cuts in the top. Beauteous!

We served up the bread alongside our curried soup with some sliced tomatoes, a few little bocconcini bites, and some liver pate to make it interesting.  All in all, a lovely meal!

Green Cleaning - Carpet Edition

I'm new to this whole carpet thing.  We lived for nearly 8 years carpet-free.  But now that we're in a basement suite (I just can't sugarcoat it!) and it's winter, I'm beginning to enjoy the perks of having some carpet.  It's warm.  It doesn't hurt your knees when you crawl-chase a toddler from one end of the house to the other.  It's kind of nice to lay down on.  Somehow (and I'm worried that this is because the carpet is a heck of a lot dirtier than it seems) the dirt does not seem to track all over the house the way it does when you have all hardwood and tile. 

But the downside to carpet is the stains.  Especially when your carpet is the colour of oatmeal.  Everything shows up!  Add 2 clumsy people, a toddler, and 2 cats, one of which is a habitual vomiter, and you have a recipe for disaster. 

Not to fear my friends!  I have discovered an aMAZing carpet stain remover:  WATER.  It's seriously amazing.  And no weird chemicals!

Seriously.  All in just 5 easy steps:

1) get any "bulky" materials off the carpet.  Gross.

2) blot the stain with a terrycloth towel (No scrubbing though!  This will work the stain deeper into the fibers)

3) wet the stain (I like to use a spray bottle with plain water)

4) blot the stain with a terrycloth towel

5) repeat steps 3&4 until the stain is gone. 

Try it.  I DARE you.  If it doesn't work, you can always try whatever other chemical-laden stain remover  you were already using.  I also have this pink solution stuff, but have yet to try it, since the water method works so well!

Week 3: Tea Cozy

(January 17, 2011)

I've been a tea enthusiast for the last 11 years (ahh those dorm room tea parties... so nice.) but the whole time without a cozy. Whenever I went to buy one in a store I always stopped, thinking "I could probably make that" but never did. And now I have one!  It's quite a bit taller than my teapot though, so I think it's probably more effective rolled up, as in the last pic.

cost breakdown: free!  (Scraps again!  My mom found me all these great little Japanese hand towels the last time we were there, and the liner is made from a linen skirt I cut up a while ago.  The sad part is that all the towels are different, so there are no more in this awesome pattern.  Both sides came from the same towel!)

Week 2: Laundry Powder

(January 10, 2011)

As per my weird ingredients issue, I decided to make some laundry powder, a la Soulemama.

I've since learned that the best time and place for photographs in this small and dark house are just after noon in the living room perched on something high like the ironing board.  Definitely not in the windowless laundry room at night with ugly flash.  Apologies. 

cost breakdown:  this works out to approximately $0.16 per load.  Regular detergents run about $0.70 per load.  I could probably make it cheaper by using a less expensive soap, but this Dr. Bronner's peppermint stuff is quite lovely.

Week 1 : Pincushion

(Monday, January 3, 2011)

I figured I'd start this whole thing off nice and easy with a project I first tried somewhere around grade 4.  Nothing's really changed in this project since then, though I'd hope I have a bit better sense of which fabrics go well together.  However, my fabric stash is nowhere near as extensive as my mother's, and those 4th grade pincushions are still looking great in her sewing room...

Anyway, here's my new pincushion.  I needed this because I accidentally left my other one at a friend's place in Edmonton before we moved, and completely forgot about it in the stress of all the other moving stuff. 

cost breakdown: free! (just some fabric & ribbon scraps, hot glue, stuffing, and a cat food can - clean of course!)

post #1 - What exactly are we doing here, anyway?

I'll say right off the bat that I've been inspired by a bunch of things lately:

1) a year from scratch - She's creating a new project each week for a year.  That's basically what I have in mind, except my projects are perhaps not quite as ambitious. 

2) Living with less -  For the first time in a long while, our family is on a very strict budget and I am doing my best to both use up all of the many resources we have that often go unused, and try not to bring any/very much new stuff into our house

3) "I could probably make that" - Why buy it when you can make it?

4) Weird ingredients - I'm noticing more and more the lists of strange and probably harmful ingredients in things we use on a daily basis to put on our skin, in our hair, in our food.  So by making things myself, I'm hoping to eliminate some of that. 

5) Balance.  All of this other stuff sounds like it could get pretty out of hand, so I'm trying to  keep it manageable.  I also think that making things with quality and ethical ingredients can become prohibitively expensive, which is the opposite of what I want.  I suppose I'm hoping that I will be able to have a little of both worlds in my life now.  It's sure to be an interesting challenge, anyway...

So there you go.  And here I go.  I've got a few projects that are already complete that just need to be blogged about when I can find the time away from my husband and his amazing hot chocolate.  No, that's not a euphemism - he really makes amazing hot chocolate.