RAINY DAY WELSH CAKES

What better way to spend a rainy day than baking with my kids?  I propped up the wee babe on the counter in his chair (which I know you're not supposed to do, but it seems safe) and the kid on the step ladder and we began to bake.  Actually I started off with Jude in the Mei Tai on my back but he wasn't happy there for very long, so onto the counter he went.  He happily gurgled at us as we began to measure and stir. 

 Every time I bake bread or make cookies, Faegan eats more raw dough than cooked.  

Anyway, today's treat was one of my favorites, Welsh Cakes.  They aren't the prettiest cookie, but they are delicious.  Most recipes call for sprinkling them with sugar before you cook them, but you should all know by now that I don't do that.  I like the subtle sweetness of them so leave out the extra sugar.  The original recipe calls for white sugar, but of course, I tried it once with coconut sugar and was really happy with the results so now I always use it instead.  I even tried making them with honey once but they were a little too moist.  But what exactly are Welsh Cakes?  Well let's see what Wikipedia has to say about that....

Welsh cakes (Welsh: picau ar y maen, pice bach, cacen gri or teisen radell) are traditional Welsh snacks.

The cakes are also known as bakestones within Wales because they are traditionally cooked on a bakestone (Welsh: maen), a cast iron griddle about 1.5 cm or more thick which is placed on the fire or cooker; on rare ocassions, people may refer to them as griddle scones.

Welsh cakes are made from flour, sultanas, raisins, and/or currants, and may also include such spices as cinnamon and nutmeg. They are roughly circular, a couple of inches (4–6 cm) in diameter and about half an inch (1–1.5 cm) thick.

Welsh cakes are served hot or cold dusted with caster sugar. Unlike scones, they are not usually eaten with an accompaniment, though they are sometimes sold ready split and spread with jam, and they are sometimes buttered. They are often eaten accompanied by a pot of tea.

WELSH CAKES

100 g organic unbleached flour

125 g organic whole wheat flour

75 organic coconut sugar

1/2 tsp aluminum and GMO free baking powder 

pinch sea salt

pinch of organic nutmeg and cinnamon

125 organic unsalted butter

75 g organic currants or raisins

1 organic egg, beaten slightly

about 3 oz organic milk

Method:  Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium low heat.  In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flours, sugar, baking powder, salt and spices.  Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles coarse meal.  Add the raisins and stir.  Combine the egg and milk in a bowl and stir it into the flour until it forms a ball.  If the dough is too wet, add more flour until it is dry enough to roll out on the counter.  Lightly flour the counter and roll the dough out until it is about 1" thick.  Using a circular biscuit cutter, cut the dough into rounds and place in the skillet.  Cook until lightly golden on each side.

After we gorged on Welsh Cakes, I excitedly brushed my teeth with my new plastic free toothbrush that arrived in the mail today.  This is my second attempt at an alternative toothbrush, and I've got to say, I like this one way better than the bone and boar bristle one I have, and the recycled plastic jobbie that makes me gag every time I put it in my mouth.  The whole family got new brushes today!  How exciting.

FIRST HARVEST

 I quietly celebrated Lughnasad today by harvesting garlic, and some of our potatoes and beets for the first time.  Lughnasad is the first of three ancient Celtic harvest celebrations.  In Irish Gaelic, the word for August is lunasa named after the God Lugh who is associated with grain in Celtic mythology.

After an unusually rainy spring, we are relieved to discover the crops are surviving and are nourishing us despite the challenges they have faced.  Digging up potatoes is always such fun because you never know what lies beneath.  Scott managed to grow some very fine potatoes this year.  One plant gave us 9 spuds!  The technique of mounding the soil up the stem of the plant throughout the growing season really does increase the plant's production.    I harvested some nice bulbs of garlic as well, but we also managed to grow some duds as well.  A quarter of the bed was shaded by a tall spruce tree which we neglected to prune.  

The beets and peas are as fine as any I've ever bought at the Farmer's Market, which is a huge relief because I missed the market this Saturday.  It is strange to realize that I don't need to buy much there at this time of year because we have so much growing right in our backyard.  We have been eating salad pretty much every night and hardly even make a dent in the crop.  The chard was desperately calling out to be eaten so I made a chard and mushroom lasagna last night.  It truly was a homegrown meal.  The lasagna was made with a white sauce that I prepared with our very own goat milk.  Luckily we had lots of milk gathering in the fridge from our morning milkings because I also had to make fresh ricotta cheese.  What an easy cheese to make!  I remembered reading about the Barefoot Contessa's recipe for ricotta cheese on Gwynth Paltrow's blog GOOP so I googled it up (recipe here)and had it made in no time - which is good because I don't have much of that these days.......

The braised chard, drained, finely chopped and mixed in with homemade goat cheese ricotta.

BAREFOOT AND FANCY FREE

One of my favorite summertime pleasures is walking barefoot in the dewy grass to harvest fresh herbs for my herbal tea in the morning.  The earth is so fresh and promising when the sun rises.  Tip toeing back into the kitchen, I enjoy the sight of the flowers floating in my cup as I breathe in the lovely fragrance that comes steaming up.  Today's tea was a gentle blend of fresh lemon balm leaves, chamomile, and lavender blossoms.  I recently discovered the awesomeness of Anise Hyssop leaves, but only harvest from that plant once a week because it isn't a very big plant yet and I don't want to wipe it out.  Anise Hyssop has a lovely black licorice taste which I enhance with just a drop of honey.  

I am still really enjoying Karen Solomon's Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It book.  So much so that I took out her other book  Can It, Bottle It, Smoke It from the library.  Today was a double header day in the kitchen as I tackled two recipes from these books for our supper tonight.  After purchasing awesomely huge grass fed beef burgers from the Farmer's Market this weekend, I decided now was a good time to make some homemade ketchup and burger buns.  Avoiding plastic packaging has meant that I've been buying conventional Heinz Ketchup that is bottled in glass in lieu of our usual organic varieties that come in plastic.  This hasn't really felt right to me, and I am getting kind of tired of eating sicky sweet ketchup from poisoned tomatoes.  Let me just say I AM NEVER BUYING KETCHUP AGAIN!  Homemade ketchup is so amazing, I was licking the spoon and dipping each bite of my burger in it (which you would never find me doing with Heinz - oh yeah baby, there are other kinds).  I am really hoping that I score some bulk organic tomatoes this year for canning and preserving because then I can make vats of ketchup to gorge on all winter.

The homemade burger buns were very awesome too.  I've kind of avoided making burgers and hot dogs because most buns come in plastic bags, and I wasn't really satisfied with any of my earlier attempts at making them.  Luckily I made two batches of these suckers so I don't have to worry about those for the rest of the summer.  Now, I have adapted both recipes.  Karen's method for making the buns was kind of odd because she adds the yeast right into the flour without letting it foam in liquid first.  I tried her method for the first batch, and was disappointed to find yeast granules flecked throughout the dough!  They turned out okay anyway, but I tried a second batch the way I usually work with bread dough and was much happier with the the way they rose so have listed my way in the recipe posted here.  For the ketchup I used apple cider vinegar instead of the suggested champagne vinegar, and coconut sugar instead of brown.  I also didn't have any cheesecloth so just threw the spices right into the pot and just fished out the cloves and cinnamon before refrigerating.....no biggie.

KICK ASS KETCHUP

(adapted from Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It by Karen Solomon)

1 organic cinnamon stick

1 organic bay leaf

5 whole organic cloves

5 organic cardamom pods

10 organic black peppercorns

1 28-oz can organic whole tomatoes

1 large organic yellow onion, quartered

2 Tbsp organic sunflower or safflower oil

2 tsp sea salt

1/3 cup organic coconut sugar or 1/4 cup local honey

1/2 cup organic local apple cider vinegar

1 tsp organic Hungarian paprika

freshly ground organic black pepper

Method:  Using a piece of cheesecloth, tie the cinnamon, bay, cloves, cardamom, and peppercorns into a bundle.  Set aside.

Pour the tomatoes and their juice into a food processor or blender (I recommend a blender which I didn't use, but will next time).  Puree until totally smooth, and set aside all but about 1/4 cup.  To the remainder, add the onion and puree.

In a large Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium high heat.  Add the onion puree and the salt and stir well.  Cook for 8 minutes, letting the puree reduce.  Add the tomato, sugar, and vinegar, turn the heat to a low simmer, and reduce for about 15 minutes, uncovered, stirring occasionally.  Add the spice bundle and reduce for 10 minutes more.  When it is done reducing, it should be a little thinner than commercial ketchup.  Stir in the paprika, taste for seasoning and adjust as needed.  Let the ketchup cool and remove the spice bundle.  Pour into a jar and chill for at least 6 hours.

HAMBURGER (OR HOT DOG) BUNS

(adapted from Can It, Bottle It, Smoke It  by Karen Solomon)

5 cups (1 pound 11 oz) organic flour ( I used whole wheat and unbleached)

5 tsp active dry yeast

2 Tbsp local honey

1 Tbsp sea salt

2 Tbsp organic butter

1 cup organic whole milk

1 cup water

Method:  Pour the water and milk into a saucepan over the stove and warm until you can stick your finger into it without burning it.  Then pour it into a large, warmed bowl.  Stir in the honey and yeast.  Let stand 10 minutes until the yeast is completely dissolved and foamy.  Stir in the salt and butter.  When butter has melted,  add the flour, a few cups at a time, stirring until all the flour is absorbed 

Knead the dough by hand: Scrape the dough onto a well floured surface, sprinkle it with flour and knead it. Gather the dough together in your hands and push it away from you with your palms. Fold it in half towards you, then turn and turn and repeat pushing, folding, and turning, sprinkling a little flour if necessary on the dough to keep it from sticking. Keep kneading for several minutes, until the dough becomes smooth and elastic.

After kneading, put the dough in a large oiled bowl, and flip to coat both sides with oil.  Cover the bowl with a round plate, and place in a warm place (near a woodstove or in a gas oven that has a pilot light).  Let it rise for 1 hour, or until the dough has doubled. Punch the dough down to remove air bubbles, then roll the dough into a ball.  Stick your finger directly in the centre to make a small hole.  Use your fingers to widen the hole and work the dough, hand over hand as if you're pulling on a rope, into a large O-shape about 2 inches thick.  Cut the rope in half, then cut each half in half again, you will have 4 equal parts.  Cut each piece into thirds, resulting in 12 pieces total.  

     Keep the dough pieces covered in the bowl while you work.  One at a time, roll each piece into a ball.  For burger buns, press down on the dough ball to flatten its bottom.  For hot dog buns, pinch, stretch, and shape the dough into 7" long rolls.  Transfer the buns to greased baking sheets as your form them.  Let the dough rest on the sheets for 30 minutes, ensuring you cover them with floured dish towels.

     Preheat the oven to 400*.  Brush the tops of the buns with milk, place both sheets in the oven, and bake for 10 minutes.  Rotate each baking sheet 90* and switch racks (so that the top sheet moves to the lower rack and vice versa).  Bake for 10 minutes more, or until the tops are golden brown.  Let cool before serving.

SUMMER DAYS

After a very wet spring, I've been savouring each and every day of sunshine that has come our way.  The apple trees have blossomed, and now we watch and wait for the apples to grow.  The vegetable garden is full of greens in various stages of growth.  Scott has staggered the planting of salad greens and it is a delight to harvest fresh leaves each afternoon for our supper.  I pick from the larger plants, and watch the younger plants grow bigger each day.  As always, the arugula grew quickly and in abundance, and is now going to seed.  No wonder it's other name is rocket, that stuff shoots out of the ground and reproduces in a very short time.  

     Thank goodness our garlic plants have sprouted their scapes, because locally grown garlic is very hard to come by these days, and I can't live without garlic in my food.  They tasted very delicious in the garlic butter I drizzled on baby new potatoes at supper tonight. 

     As I was gathering fresh oregano for our chicken marinade, I harvested an extra bouquet of it for drying.  I can't believe how tall the oregano plants are this year!  To my surprise, I also discovered that my chamomile plants from last year must have self seeded, because my herb garden is full of lovely chamomile blossoms.  I am harvesting some of those for drying as well.  The bunches of herbs look so charming hanging in the most unexpected places in our kitchen.

I kept thinking I would wait until we had some guests over to use the nasturtium blossoms in a salad, but then I realized tonight was as a good at time as any.  They are in radiant full bloom in the garden.  The bees and butterflies are in abundance right now as well, dancing amongst the flowers.  The herb garden is so beautiful, a symphony of healing goodness.  I can't wait to get in there and do some serious weeding.  I'm not sure why, but the clover really seems to like the soil in the herb garden and are becoming a bit of an herbal threat. 

 

     I've also been having a lot of fun making frozen summertime treats for Faegan (oh let's be honest, I eat just as many of them as he does!)  I came across a really delicious recipe for Banana Cream Pops in a cookbook I took out of the library called Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It by Karen Solomon.  I adapted it a bit to omit the refined sugar and cumin!, (which I replaced with coconut sugar and cardamom) and we've been eating them non-stop all week.  I had to make an emergency trip to the supermarket to pick up some more bananas for another batch.  I am currently using some Baby Cubes with wooden popsicle sticks for molds, but certainly intend to invest in some stainless steel popsicle molds in the very near future.  I am also experimenting with Fudgsicles, which I have yet to perfect, but am enjoying nonetheless.  I will wait until they are awesome to share the results with you.  I hear that freezing pudding makes tasty treats, so I am going to try that next....

BANANA CREAM POPS

4 very ripe organic bananas

1 cup organic plain yogurt ( I was so excited to use our very own raw organic goat milk yogurt!)

1/2 tsp organic ground cardamom

1 tsp organic ground cinnamon

1 tsp pure organic vanilla extract

1/4 cup local honey

1/2 cup organic coconut sugar

pinch of sea salt

Method:  Combine all ingredients in a blender then pour into molds.  Freeze for at least 6 hours before serving.

SUNNY DAYS

The sun came out to play this weekend after a very long and very, very, very rainy spring season here on the Eastern Shore.  I had to forgive myself for not being very inspired to sit at the computer and work on editing my book.  I just wanted to be outside and have some fun in the sun.  And so I did.  

My son literally spent the entire weekend outside with this Dad.  At one point he went into the house to put on some "shorts" and came out wearing his underwear.

The smoke in the distance is Scott getting a nice bed of hot coals ready for grilling our Saturday evening meal.

Grilled asparagus and pork chops hot off the grill.

It was so hot I was inspired to brew up a batch of Classic Iced Tea.  Unfortunately I was too busy having fun to take a photo of it, but here is the recipe...

CLASSIC ICED TEA
Makes 1 quart


So easy to make, you'll never buy packaged again.


2 cups water
3 organic orange pekoe tea bags
local honey or organic sugar to taste (I used about 2 generous tablespoons)


Method:  Bring the water to a boil.  Remove from heat and immediately add the tea bags.  Steep for 5 minutes.  Remove tea bags, sweeten with honey or sugar to taste.  Pour the tea into a pitcher, adding 2 cups of cold water, or less if you want a stronger brew.  Allow tea to cool before refrigerating.  Serve over ice, garnished with a wedge of lemon.

The turkeys playing in the grass.

Late Sunday afternoon, the turkeys decided to fly up into the trees and peer out over the land from above.

Today was a cold, blustery, windy, and rainy day that was somehow so much easier to swallow after a weekend of solar battery recharging.

SETTLING IN

My neighbour Catherine took a couple of great photographs of the goats.

 The goats are settling in.  They are part of the family now, part of our rhythm, a part of our lives.  As I write this I am listening to their goat song, their tragic cry as they learn to be separate for a little while each night.  We are gently weaning the kids from momma each night for 4 hours to build up her milk.  Then Scott goes out and milks Cassie (the momma), and the family is then reunited for the night and all of the next day in the pasture.  It is an interesting journey into home dairying, especially being an actively lactating mammal myself right now.  I am face to face with the reality of animal husbandry.  To be in the front lines, in direct contact with the process of extracting milk from an animal and then consuming it is pretty intense.  I often wonder what it would be like if I was the mammal being kept by another animal for the same reasons.....As you can imagine, my mind then begins to wander in all kinds of interesting directions.  Suffice it to say, getting goats has been a very eye opening experience.

This first week was also a bit stressful.  We had to figure out how much to feed the goats, when to feed them, and when to milk Cassie.  Scott has also been busy building housing for the goats, as well as a goat stand. Then Cassie's pooh got all clumpy, which freaked me out because it is supposed to be like little beans or pellets.  To top it off, we then discovered she has an infestation of some sort of flea or bug.  So off I went into the city to purchase some bulk herbs to concoct a formula to rid her of those, along with some other herbs to keep her worms at bay.  I think everything is under control.....for now.  My current concern is whether she is too thin.  It's like having another child!  In a good way though.  I love having them here.  I know it was kind of crazy to get goats when I have a such a young baby to take care of too.  Our lives are definitely "full" right now....but it is also wonder"full", thought"full", and bounti"full".

Goat accommodations.

Super comfy goat accommodations.   The new wood and straw smells so good.  I could live here.

My husband Scott is hilarious.  He is definitely getting into this.  Maybe too much.  The other night he was milking Cassie in his "shop", which temporarily housed the goats.  He had the radio going, he had Cassie's udder all greased up, and he was milking her in time to the rock song on the radio.  He then proceeded to tell me about how when you stroke her in a certain way, her eyes kind of half close in ecstasy.  Oh my, what have we gotten ourselves into?

On a totally unrelated note, here is picture of our lovely turkeys.

NEW ADDITIONS

     We are so delighted to welcome the newest members of our family - a nanny goat and her two kids.  They have yet to be named.  The day was so full of activity; driving to Angelhoeve Organic Farm in the valley to pick them up, and of course trying to learn as much as we could about caring for goats in the short time we were there.  Once we've settled into a more familiar routine and get to know the goats better, I am sure the perfect names will naturally arise.  We aren't sure how our son will react to his little friends suddenly "disappearing" one day, so are debating whether or not it is a good idea to name the male kid.  Male goats are aggressive, and well, really only useful as sperm donors, soooooooo he probably won't be frolicking in our fields for too long.

     Needless to say, we are all very excited to have these lovely animals around.  I am a little overwhelmed and worry that we are too inexperienced.  I really want to make sure we take care of them properly so that they thrive and live happily.  I am sure they will, yet I can't help but wonder how it will all turn out.  There is also the whole experience of learning to milk her, while keeping the process sterile and clean so we don't consume tainted milk!  EEEEEK....it's one thing to romanticize keeping goats, and another to actually have the animals in your care.

     Once we master the milking thing, you know I am going to be all over the cheese making process.  I am very thrilled to have our own dairy goats to provide us with milk.  So long Superstore, you won't be seeing me much anymore.  Seriously, I pretty much only went there to buy dairy products.  Plastic wrapped, pasteurized, very non local organic dairy products.  I look forward to reducing our family's plastic pollution even more now that we have goats.  Tomorrow will be my first day home alone with the goats, and it is my job to let them out into the back yard and put out some hay and dairy ration - with two kids in tow (my two kids that is!).  Wish me luck!  I hope she doesn't jump the fence!

Our nanny goat in the milking stand at Angelhoeve getting her nails trimmed before she says goodbye.

The HUGE pig at the farm, getting a little scratch on the head.

Our little farmer boy, getting ready to load the goats into the trailer (which had no ventilation, so Scott had to drill holes into his poor trailer.  It has also been lovingly urinated in big time!)

Our sweet lovelies eating hay.  I just want to hug them.