buttons, crochet, and chukar

It was another quiet evening for me where I am working on projects.  Al lthe strips for the Pixie's quilt are done and I have already started to put the quilt top together or you would see a picture here of it.  I am even going to do a touch of quilting on the back.  

I took the time to pin strips together and put buttons on my Beloved's shirt.  I got all the sewing machine work done on his shirt today.  The buttonholes are the only thing left.  He picked out beautiful brown buttons to go on his shirt.

I even took a few minutes to work on an alpaca shawl.  I have one made already in a black grey yarn that I am planning to use in the sling with Pixie.  I figure if I finish this one, I can use it too.  Having two is not a bad thing.  I really need to make some soakers for the babe but I figure I have a bit of time.  

The biggest thing was figuring out how to get us fed today.  We just packed too much into the evening.  I put together salad, beans, and braised chukar that my Beloved hunted last winter.  Simple but yummy.  

Braised Chukar

1 chukar (a type of game bird related to a pheasant)

a couple tablespoons olive oil

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

a pinch thyme, sage, and rosemary

2 tablespoons dried orange peel

1 cup white wine

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit.

In an oven proof pan, place on the stove and heat on medium.  Add the olive oil and heat.  Put the chukar in and brown on both sides.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper, thyme, sage, rosemary, and orange.  Pour in the wine.  Cover and place in the oven.

Bake for 3 hours.

Drizzle with some of the leftover juices if you like.  This was very moist and yummy.  I wish we had braised another bird.

lentils and greens

I have been having interesting reactions to my adrenal hormones lately which help facilitate blood sugar crashes.  It makes life quite interesting for when I wish to do something a hour after eating.  I have realized that I need to better balance protien in my life.  But after trying a different style of eating, I really need less sugars/grains in my life.  I did not crash yesterday or today which is really amazing.  Getting up was easier.  

My Beloved has been completely supportive especially since it means he gets more beans and lentils in his life.  I had a request for lady lentils and I made them with a few tweaks.  The tweaks were adding a bit of greens because I really do not like green vegetables.  Long story but not high on my list of likes.  These turned out well.

Lady Lentils

1 cup french green lentils

1 cup spanish paridillo lentils

4 cups water

2 to 4 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1/2 bunch of turnip greens, chopped

1/2 bunch of swiss chard, chopped

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground ancho

1/4 teaspoon ground chipolte

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/2 head of garlic, peeled and minced

Place the lentils and water in a crockpot.  Cook on high for two to three hours or until the lentils are done.

In  a large heavy pan, heat the olive oil.  Add the onions and start to cook.  When they have started to turn translucent, add the hard bits of the turnip greens and swiss chard.  Cook until the onions start to brown.  Add the garlic and the rest of the greens.  Cook until the garlic is starting to turn brown.  Add the salt, pepper, ancho, chipolte, and paprika. Mix well and saute a few minutes to get the spice warmed through.  Add the lentils.  Heat through.  Taste and adjust the seasonings to your taste.

My Beloved eats this with a spoon.  It was his request but I will probably snitch some because these do not taste like lentils.  Much better.  Starting with good lentils is the key they.  They smell peppery when cooked.

Yes, I am rambling.... Sorry.

cider and pizza night

I planned a cider and pizza night tonight and I figured I would not have a recipe to post because I have already posted my pizza recipe, yes?  No!  Or at least I could not find it when I searched.  I was going to talk about the three projects going on in that picture:  one dress and two quilts.

Much too much to do and then I add in a craving for pizza.  I am very picky about pizza.  I really only eat the ones I make.  There are a few others but they are far and few between.  That tells you, that on a Friday night, when I am craving pizza, I have actually started it that morning and make for dinner.

This is one of those times when I just cringe.  Just like at the work meeting when I was very obvious I knew how to make my own butter because I was going through the washing step.  Welcome to my life.

Pizza

sourdough starter

1 cup flour

3/4 cup water

1 cup water

pinch of sugar

2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 cups flour or a combination of all purpose and whole wheat to equal 3 cups.

Start your starter eight hours before, minimum.  In a large ceramic bowl, mix the starter, 1 cup flour, and 3/4 cup water.  Cover and let sit until bubbly, 8 to 12 hours.

Dump everything in the bowl and mix it up.  You will want to knead this up until smooth but it will be a very wet dough.  Cover and let rise a couple hours or until double (big and puffy)

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Flour a baking stone or put parchment paper on a baking sheet.  I also have a very nice cast iron pizza pan that is well seasoned and I add a bit of olive oil.

Roll out dough (a had a small and large thin pizza out of this so we could have a savory and sweet).  Place on baking stone.

Put your toppings on the pizza.  We had two.  The first was basil pesto, potato, onion, garlic, and asiago cheese.  The second was cinnamon sugar and butter.

Bake for 17 to 20 minutes or until the edges are brown.

Dessert pizza

Savory pizza.

They both went really well with cider.  Made my Friday night.  My Beloved wishes my polenta pizza soon.

venison shoulder ragu

On Sunday, while I was making the fussy bread, I decided I needed to put something in the crockpot for later in the day.  My Beloved had pulled a venison shoulder out of the freezer the day before so I decided to make a ragu with it.  

Venison Ragu

Adapted from Apples for Jam by Tessa Kiros

1 venison shoulder (you could use pork here too)

Olive oil

3 medium onions or 1 1/2 large onions, peeled and chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 bay leaves

1 cinnamon stick

3 tablespoons worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons sweet smoked paprika

1 1/2 cups white wine

salt

pepper

1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes.

Cooked pasta for serving

grated asiago cheese

Brown the onion and garlic in a medium skillet with a bit of olive oil.  Put the onion and garlic in the crockpot.

Put the shoulder in the skillet, sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Brown both sides.  While the meat is browning, mix the tomatoes, bay leaves, cinnamon, worcestershire sauce, paprika, and wine to the crockpot.  

Add the shoulder to the crockpot.  Cover and let cook for six to eight hours on low.  When getting close to serving, cook the pasta and grate the cheese.  Remove the shoulder from the pot and remove the meat.  Remove the bay and cinnamon stick from the pot.  If you wish to make the sauce thicker, blend it a bit.  Add the meat back in.

Serve over the pasta with cheese on top.

 

:)

non-fussy bread

I had a go at the very fussy bread again.  I made it very non-fussy and it was such a better bread it was not fussy.  This is what I did:

Non-Fussy Bread (French style)

200 grams refreshed sourdough starter (Refresh starter about 8 hours before with 200 grams water and 200 grams flour.  Let sit.  Keep leftovers for next time)

20 grams salt

900 grams all purpose flour

100 grams whole wheat flour

(or 1000 grams of a mixture of the flours)

700 grams water.

In a large bowl, refresh your starter.  Make sure there is 200 grams left in the bowl.  Add the salt, flour, and water.  Mix in well.  I had to use my hands to finish even though this is a very wet dough.  My right shoulder has been hurting more then a bit so if you are not hurting you may be able to do all of it with a wooden spoon.

Cover the dough with a cloth and let it sit for three hours or a bit more (like four hours).  It will be puffy.

Grease two loaf pans.

Scrape the dough out of the bowl and onto a floured counter.  

Divide into two and shape into loaf.  Put each loaf into a pan.  Cover with a cloth and let sit two to threee hours.

Slash the top of the loaves after rising.  Turn the oven on to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and put in the loaf.  Bake for one hour.

Turn the loaves out of the pans after baking.  They will sound hollow when you thunk them.  Cover with a cloth and try with all your might to not cut into them for 20 minutes.

I have taken a loaf of fussy bread and non-fussy bread to work.  The fussy bread lasted all day (one slice left). The non-fussy bread lasted about a hour.  It was truly that much better.  Much less fuss!  I have been told by Mr. C at work that he likes very heavy bread so it fills him up.  I am thinking about trying this with 100 percent whole wheat but my Beloved said that he gets at least a slice.

Success!