Cook With Me!

 

This is a random day in my life post. Here is how it went:

I heated up leftover oatmeal for breakfast at 9am. This morning I served it with diced bananas, cinnamon and a hunk of butter.

I start our school day with "Church Practice" at 10am. The baby usually falls asleep for his morning nap sometime within the hour.

Baby's morning nap gives me an opportunity to work in the kitchen, usually. 

This morning's To Do List:

Make Muffins

Start Pizza Dough

Shred Mozzarella

Make Pizza Sauce

Can you guess my dinner plan? :)

I made the muffins. Someone had given me this baby food puree. I have used it to make muffins and they turn out fine. I just replace the bananas in my Extra Banana, Banana Bread with the puree. (Recipe)

I started the pizza dough. (Recipe)

The baby woke up.

Well, looks like my To Do List 

was a little ambitious. :)

I fried some eggs.

Eggs and muffins for lunch.

I taught the first grader and the kindergartener their school. Or, finished them up, rather.

Quiet time from 2-4pm.

I let the house go and did some reading.

The baby didn't fall asleep again until 4pm.

Back to the To Do List!

The boys wanted to help shred the cheese. I did the bulk of the shredding and then cut two chunks for each of them to have a piece to shred.

You can see some school leftovers still on the table and an onion I am about to dice up for pizza sauce.

I let the children each make their own individual pizzas after I finished the sauce. It was pretty easy this night because our only topping was cheese.

The oven was preheating and caused the smoke detector to go off.......waking the baby. I still had yet to prepare a pizza for Mr. In the Mid-west.

Ggggggrrr! I hate smoke detectors. :/

I said a prayer for patience. 

I had been up tight and pretty edgy most of the day. I had tried adjusting my attitude, but it wasn't until I prayed out loud for patience that it came. 

You know, there really is power in the blood. Funny, that is one of our "Church Practice" songs for this week. 

"Would you be free from your passion and pride?
 There's power in the blood! Power in the blood!
 Come for a cleansing to Calvary's tide; 
There's wonderful power in the blood."

The pizzas turned out great!

We finished dinner and got ourselves ready to go to mid-week service at Church.

That was my day.

Maybe tomorrow I can catch up on the house work 

that I have been letting pile up. :)

Hebrews 6:12 
That ye be not slothful, but followers of them 

who through faith and patience 

inherit the promises.

Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah

 

Psalms 18:31+32
For who is God save the LORD? 
or who is a rock save our God?
It is God that girdeth me with strength, 
and maketh my way perfect.

Here is a very regal rendition of this great hymn. 

It has the majestic organ accompaniment 

along with a full bodied choir. 

I don't know about you, but,

sometimes this style of music hits 

the right spot in my soul.

Bees Wax Chews

I had the idea to make some chews out of beeswax

 as a replacement for gum or even cough drops.

I ordered some raw beeswax.

The seller packaged the wax very prettily!

Here is a link to the listing for the raw beeswax.

 https://www.etsy.com/listing/1029000974/beauty-supply-raw-beeswax-for-diy-beauty?ref=shop_home_active_1&pro=1

Beeswax can be hard to clean up after.

I dedicated an old measuring cup to the job of

 beeswax melting.

I place the measuring cup into a pan of water

that I keep at a simmer on the stove.

I use a wooden popsicle stick to stir the wax

as it melts to avoid getting beeswax on any 

of my utensils.

Once the beeswax is I melted I add therapeutic

grade essential oils. It takes about 15 drops

 to achieve the strength that I was going after. 

I have only tried two flavors: 

Peppermint and a blend called On Guard. 

(On Guard is supposed to support immune

system function. It has Orange, Clove, and 

Rosemary aspects.)

I pour the flavored wax into ice cube trays. 

Just a very small amount into each compartment.

I thought I would have to buy some special molds

for this step, but I put my thinking

cap on and saved the money by

being resourceful. :)

I freeze the wax to make it hard.

Once the wax is hard the pieces come out of 

the trays very easily.

I cut each piece in half. I have been happy

with these size of pieces.

I store the beeswax pieces in labelled zip top bags.

I have been pleased with using the Peppermint

variety as breath mints.

I used some recently as a cough drop substitute

when I had a sore throat. It worked really well

to produce saliva and the oils were soothing.

The beeswax can be chewed for 20 minutes

or longer. It does get crumbly,

but I like playing around with it with

my tongue and teeth.

I crumble it and then pack it back together

and then crumble it again.

I am weird like that. :)

Do you have any ideas of how I could 

improve on this concept?

What about flavors I should try?

I'd love to hear your suggestions!

Green Lentil Dahl Recipe

I feel so adventurous! This is way out of my normal cuisine range.

I really like this recipe! I have yet to try it with the red chilis added, but I would like to in the summer when chilis are in season.

This recipe comes from Slow The Cook Down. Check out the original recipe HERE. I have cut it in half and it is still plenty for our size family. I swapped out the red onion for a regular onion, too. I like to buy my spices from my local Indian grocer. (I wrote I blog post about it. Check it out HERE!) The Indian grocery store has great prices and selection when it comes to spices!

Green Lentil Dahl

Ingredients

 

• 2 cups green lentils
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp mustard seeds
• 3/4 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tbsp ground cumin
• 3/4 tsp mild curry powder
• 1 bay leave
• 1 onion diced
• 1 inches ginger minced
• 2 cloves garlic mince
• 1 red chilis minced
• 13 fl. oz coconut milk (1 cans) 
• 1/2 cup water 
• juice of one lime
• salt and pepper

Instructions

• Place the lentils in a large bowl of water and set to one side.  Chop the ingredients and get your spices ready!
• Heat the oil in large pot over a medium heat. Once hot, add the mustard seeds.
• When the mustard seeds start to pop, add in the turmeric, cumin, curry powder and bay leaves. Stir for a couple of minutes until the spices become fragrant.
• Add in the onion, ginger, garlic and chili.  Stir so that the spice coats the onions and cook for 5 minutes until the onions start to soften.
• Drain the lentils, and add in to the pot.  Add the coconut milk, lime juice and water and mix well.  Pop a lid on for 15 minutes
• After 15 minutes, take the lid off and give a good stir, at this point you can add any added vegetables that you wish.  Cook the dish for another 10 or so minutes until excess liquid has cooked off
• At this point, you could stir in some spinach or herbs - parsley and coriander work really well!
• Serve with rice
• Enjoy!

Creation Close-Up: Spider Silk

 

Spider Silk is quite remarkable! I am sure everyone here has heard that spider silk is stronger than steel and this is a fact that has been demonstrated by careful experiments. 

But, have you heard that spider silk can be harvested and woven into fabric? 

I recently watched a video highlighting a beautiful tapestry woven from spider silk. This led me to learn more about the history of Spider Silk Harvesting.

Over the centuries many attempts have been made to expedite the harvesting of spider silk. 

Spider silk has antibacterial and coagulant properties. I have read that, as far back as the middle ages, midwives would gather spider webs for medicinal purposes. They collected spider silk in an unsophisticated way by scooping together spider webs from the wild.

But, a cost efficient way of producing spider silk has proved elusive. In the late 1800's Paul Camboué found a way to effectively milk spider silk.

Spiders can produce several types of silk. The type of silk desirable for weaving is known as drag line. It is the type of silk that a spider uses to drop to the ground not to build a web. As long as there is a pull on the line the spider will continue to produce silk.

Video of Spider Silk Harvesting:

Paul Camboué devised a contraption that harnessed a spider and kept it in position.* A strand of silk can then be pulled from the spider's spinnerets and wound onto a spool. A single strand of spider silk can be up to 600 meters** long!

Once enough strands have been collected they can be twisted into thread and woven into fabric.

The kind of spiders that have been most useful in this process have been golden orb weavers on the island of Madagascar. Thier silk is a stunning golden hue. The resulting tapestry is a beautiful golden color without any dye.

Simon Peers and Nicholas Godley have undertaken the project of creating Spider Silk Tapestries. They have produced a few pieces. The latest and most remarkable is a cape that has been displayed in several museums around the world. I can only imagine what this material would feel like to wear. The women that were fortunate enough to model this cape really had a once in a lifetime experience!

How Peers and Godley conducted the making of the Spider Silk Cape:

Isn't this fascinating? I was amazed by this information. I wanted to share it here for your enjoyment, too. Had you heard about spider silk being used in this way before?

Psalms 9:1 
 I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.

Sources:

Medical Uses of Spider Silk: https://www.materialstoday.com/biomaterials/news/spider-silk-the-future-of-antimicrobial-materials/

*Picture of Camboué's invention: https://daily.jstor.org/the-tangled-history-of-weaving-with-spider-silk/

**https://www.jstor.org/stable/26006154?mag=the-tangled-history-of-weaving-with-spider-silk&seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

Grandma Nancy's Peanut Butter Cookies

This recipe comes from my paternal grandmother. I made it past my 19th birthday without ever having tasted her peanut butter cookies. Grandma Nancy was never the type of grandma to make cookies with the grandchildren. She loved being outdoors! She took me fishing and let ride with her when she mowed. I have a lot of good memories of splitting and loading fire wood with her. I didn't know that she ever made cookies, but apparently, when my Dad was little she did bake cookies. 

This has been my favorite peanut butter cookie recipe ever since the first time I tried them. I would have never thought adding cinnamon to peanut butter cookies would be good, but it is delicious! (I have never tried the orange zest version.)

Peanut Butter Cookies

2 1/2 cups Flour

1 tsp. Salt

2 tsp. Cinnamon (or Orange Zest)

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1 cup Butter, Softened

1 cup Peanut Butter

1 cup Sugar

1 cup Brown Sugar

2 Eggs

2 tsp. Vanilla Flavoring

Set oven to 350° F. 

Sift together flour, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda. 

Combine in mixing bowl: butter, peanut butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla. Cream for 2 minutes. 

Add dry ingredients. Blend well.

Roll into small balls. Place on cookie sheet. Flatten, criss cross, with a fork.

Bake 8-10 minutes.

 I added some of these dark chocolate chips from Aldi to a batch of peanut butter cookies. They make a great addition. With chocolate and peanut butter you can't go wrong! :)

Paper Crafting

I believe everyone needs to make time for a creative outlet. It doesn't have to be a lot of time, either. Just 15 minutes can be refreshing. You can try writing, art, sewing, calligraphy, wood burning, cooking, building a model, scrapbooking, embroidery, playing an instrument, ect.......

I rotate through several creative endeavors. Recently I spent some time with my watercolors. I made several pieces of art for birthday cards and the like.

I also have been doing a little paper crafting with stamps. 

A few months ago Mr. In The Mid-west called me on the phone. He was at a thrift store and found some Stamp'n Up stamps. He wanted to know if I used stamps. 

"Yes, I have a handful of stamps and I use them. If there are some nice stamps for a good price I would be happy to have them!" I replied.

He bought them all! Now I have 8 gallon size ziplock bags full of Stamp'n Up stamp collections. Yay!

I have used a few to make some birthday cards.

Is having a creative outlet important to you? What do you do with your creative energy?

More About Enchiladas

 

I learned a new way to make Enchiladas from this video. 

In this video the chef, Ethan Chlebowski, details his experience eating Enchiladas in Mexico, which are quite different from the Enchiladas that we are accustomed to in the United States. 

According to Ethan Chlebowski, the Enchiladas in Mexico are made like tacos; as you are ready to eat them, not in a casserole dish that has been baked in the oven.

The Sauce on Mexican Enchiladas is different, too. It is a chili sauce with no tomatoes. To assemble Enchiladas you start by frying a corn tortilla in oil. Next dip your fried tortilla in sauce. Put your choice of filling into your fried and sauced tortilla. Serve with more sauce.

I tried Ethan's method with my own Tex-Mex tomato based sauce, and we really preferred Enchiladas made in this manner to the way I used to make them in a casserole.

These new Enchiladas are going to make a regular appearance on my menu! 

Did you know how authentic Mexican Enchiladas are made? If you have never had these before, I highly recommend that you give them a try!