Made It: The Best Chocolate Treat Ever

 Okay, so I totally fell off the wagon with the whole "one project per week for a year" idea.  Things happened.  I got a full-time teaching job and shortly after became pregnant, which means I then had a baby AS WELL AS a 3 year old.  Now my baby is 10 months old and my son will be 4 in a few months.  I don't necessarily have more time for projects, but I have all these projects burning up in my imagination.  I just gotta share 'em!!

Here's my current favourite:  Chocolate thin mints.  These babies have only 3 ingredients but are so delicious, impressive, and I like to think they are healthy.

1. Melt dark chocolate in the top of a double boiler.  I like to use the callebaut chunks, about 1-2 handfuls.

2. Spread over a wax paper lined cookie sheet.  I usually spray the sheet with water to keep the paper from moving around as I spread.  I also like the chocolate layers to be as thin as possible, which requires lots of spreading!  Refrigerate to set and cool for the next steps.

 3. Using the residual heat from the double boiler (but a different bowl), gently soften some coconut oil.  I used about 1 1/2 cups for this batch, but it all depends on the size of your cookie sheet and how thick you like the coconut oil layer.  I like it thick!  Add peppermint essential oil (or extract).  This batch turned out almost too peppermint-y, but usually about 20 drops is good.  When the coconut oil mixture is smooth and easy to stir, remove from water.

4. Pour over the chilled chocolate layer and quickly spread out until evenly spread and flat.  The coldness of the chocolate will harden the coconut oil layer, so work fast!  Refrigerate to set and cool.

5. Do another layer of chocolate for the top.  The tricky part is spreading it on the coconut oil layer without too much oil melting.  I still haven't figured this part out yet.  I think it's probably best to allow the chocolate to cool slightly after melting.

6. Refrigerate once more to set.  Cut into desired shapes.  If I'm feeling really lazy, I'll just break pieces off like chocolate bark and eat off the cookie sheet...

Week 10: Yogurt

(March 6, 2011)

In an offhand comment, my mom recently asked me if I wanted her to bring anything for her weekend visit.  I couldn't think of anything, but she came up with the brilliant suggestion of her yogurt maker!  When I was little the only yogurt we ever had was homemade, usually with a dollop of homemade jam stirred in to make it sweet and fruity.  (Could this be where the "I could probably make that" spirit comes from?)

However, her yogurt craze ended sometime around the junior high mark for me, and I just assumed the old yogurt setup had been sold in the community garage sale or something.  Not so!  Just squirreled away in the (very full) closets of the basement! 

She even managed to find all of the little jars that go with it, so I could potentially make yogurt almost every other day - not that we'll be able to use that much yogurt...

How to make homemade  yogurt:

1 liter of milk (I used homo)
1/3 - 1/2 cup skim milk powder
some plain yogurt with live bacterial cultures (enough for a tablespoon in each jar
thermometer

1. Clean and sanitize jars.  I sanitized mine by pouring boiling water in there and leaving it for about 5 minutes.

2. Heat milk to 185 F.  Once the milk is warm, you can add the milk powder.  This helps to bump up the protein content, as well as thicken the yogurt.  I read that if you keep your milk at 185 for half an hour it will also help thicken your yogurt.  I love thick yogurt.  Make sure that the powder is all dissolved, or you'll get lumps.  (the warmth of the milk will help to dissolve it)

3. Cool milk to 110 F.  I put a bunch of cold water in the sink and put my pot in there to speed up the process.

4. While your milk is cooling, put about a tablespoon of yogurt into each container you'll be using.  Then once the milk reaches 110, pour it in while stirring to incorporate the yogurt throughout.

5. Place lids over containers and carefully set them in yogurt maker.  Be sure that this is in a space you don't mind giving up for the next 6-8 hours, because apparently the yogurt doesn't like to be disturbed.

6. Go over to grandma's for dinner, come home, watch a movie, go to bed late.  Next morning, your yogurt is made!  Put in the coldest part of your fridge - the back.

NOTES:

- If you want to use your own yogurt for the starter on the next batch, do so within a week
- It only takes 6-8 hours, and apparently the longer you leave it, the thicker and more tart it will be
- This yogurt maker is indeed "thriftee"...  my mom bought it over 20 years ago second hand, and it has been shared among the neighbours.  And it works like a hot damn!
- My batch turned out slightly lumpy.  I'm not sure why this happened, but I'm going to see if I can find a solution to this little issue.

*** You don't NEED any special equipment to make yogurt.  I've seen recipes where people use a thermos, a cooler with jugs of hot water, a heating pad, or a warming oven.  The key is that the milk is kept at a nice warm temperature and not disturbed for several hours. 

As a bonus, with all this yogurt hanging around you can use it for lots of different things!  My skin has been feeling crazy dry lately, so last night I whipped up a nice yogurt-cucumber-honey face mask.  Home spa time!

Week 9: Bubble Bath Flop

(March 1, 2011)

As suggested by a friend of mine, I set out this week to make a nice bubble bath for Charlie's evening baths.  Something gentle with natural ingredients and soothing and bubbly!

I found this recipe several times over, so decided it must be a good one:

1 cup liquid castile soap
3/4 cup water
1 tsp. glycerin
6 drops essential oil

For a soothing sleepytime bath, I selected Lavender EO.  I mixed it up, and put it in a nice pump bottle and got excited about using it, but it doesn't work!! 

The only thing that happened is that it turned the bath water very milky and slightly lavender-scented.  I even added just straight soap and it didn't bubble!  Maybe I need more glycerin? 

This was a pretty disappointing project for us...  Though the bath was nicely soapy and smelly and it did the job getting a small body clean, the whole point of a bubble bath is the BUBBLES!



I'll probably continue to tinker and search for better recipes to make this work.

Pants helps to stir it up

Cost breakdown: Castile soap $5.00 + glycerin $0.30 + EO (varies depending on type of oil) = between $5.50 and $6.00 for just under 2 cups of bubble bath.  That doesn't work.

On the plus side, apparently this liquid Dr. Bronner's soap can be used for a multitude of things, so at least I can use the rest for other projects along the way.  And the "bubble" bath still smells quite nice.  Maybe it'll just be cloud-bath from now on...

Cloudy bath water!

Made It: Coconut Milk Frosting

I like how on the stand the cake looks like it's rising out of a lava rock island or something...

So as part of my goals for frugality this year, I'm trying to use everything we have.  That means that box of random non-perishables that Dave brought home after helping his friend move last month all got tucked away in our cupboards in preparation for using in our kitchen.  Because who are we to turn away something a friend has to offer?   And I must admit that some of these items have caused me a bit of consternation.  Here I am, trying to live a green lifestyle, a health conscious lifestyle, a frugal lifestyle, and a homemade lifestyle simultaneously, and what do I do with this box of Hamburger Helper?  Lots of times these different lifestyles will intersect and help each other out.  Use vinegar for everything - done.  Go no 'poo - done.  Make your own laundry soap - done.  But the handed down food items, they just don't jive with so many of my ideals.  Though if I discard them, then what do I become?  How does that make economic sense?

Simple.  Quit worrying and bake a cake!  (from a box!)

It's actually quite delicious, and almost even too easy of a project to get 19 month old Charlie involved in.  There were only 3 things for him to put in the mixer!  And the saving grace of this cake (aside from the awesome castle cake pan we got as a wedding gift) is the frosting.  And again, using everything we have...  I had about 3/4 c. of coconut milk in the fridge that wasn't getting used, so I decided to make coconut milk frosting.  It's pretty much a regular frosting recipe with coconut milk substituted for milk.  But it is so light and fluffy and delicious, it feels like a revelation!  Just your basic butter, icing sugar, and milk recipe with a touch of vanilla.  The other thing about using coconut milk is that with only a few tweaks you could make this into a vegan frosting.  Or a delicious coconut frosting.  The only thing is, the coconut milk doesn't add very much coconut flavour, so you might want to add some shredded coconut or coconut extract. 

Delish!

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: 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!