Posts from the ‘Food’ category

Early June: continuing education

This photo …

It was taken at Flathead Pet ER last Sunday. All is well.

Emmett started with diarrhea Sunday morning, which turned into the squirts getting worse and worse and then some blood so off we went. He was not lethargic at all so I suspected something he ate, but I don’t fool with that kind of thing!

Short story is that was the conclusion and meds immediately got things under control. He had a few squirts after we got home but slept through the night and had no issue with light meals of rice, chicken and pumpkin the next day. We continued through the week, gradually reintroducing kibble.

I am so grateful that we have such a nice pet ER. Coincidentally, the ER vet this round was Dr. Becky Jessup, wife of my regular vet Dr. Scott Smiley. She could read his handwritten notes on Emmett’s vaccination and well check exams :)

Emmett was stellar!

Things started a bit rough. I went into the clinic without him – I always do that because especially at the ER, who knows what might be going on. I’m especially thankful for this habit this visit. Because of his age, even with Dr. Smiley’s records … they immediately told me to touch nothing … they needed to rule out Parvo, which is highly contagious. I understood but it disconcerted me to say the least. A tech came to the car, took a swab and said it would be 10-15 min.

Emmett and I sat in the back of the Jeep and watched the comings and goings at the next door Equine Vet Center. He was calm and interested and shortly the tech came out with the negative for Parvo news. Even though I was 99.9% sure that it could not be Parvo, I had one of those delayed reactions so sat and cried a bit, holding Emmett, who licked my face. Gah.

Then … some difficult things for other animals inside. I was so fortunate that a young woman I know, was there with her dog. She’d had to put down the dog’s sister about the time I had to do the same with Bear. We shared the current ER experience and a few tears. Through all this, Emmett was sitting beside me and eventually lay down with his head on my purse … that is the view in the first photo. He mostly relaxed, sat up when people went by but did not seem at all bothered or anxious. We waited nearly an hour to see the vet and all went well with that. We got the news that a normal recovery was expected, got our meds, paid the bill and came home. Total door to door time was 4 hours.

I didn’t work on Monday. So many things from the ER experience were on my mind and I had not slept well even though Emmett and Auggie did! Anyway, took a day.

For training, we continued but no click-treat for several days until I knew things were really stabilized. This was enlightening because I did “good boy” vs treats and good behavior continued. I also used the crate a bit more as well as the bedroom pen for at least 1 daytime nap.

The best training advance this week is the Emmett and Auggie play. It has become calmer and there are many times when they are in the same area or pass by each other with just a nose touch and no wrestling. Great progress and I am so happy about this! I think Auggie would like to snuggle with Emmett, but Emmett is still a bit wiggly if Auggie gets very close. Auggie is persistent, though as in CATS ARE PERSISTENT!! Also, one evening, when Emmett got to the “overtired/rambunctious” stage, Auggie did something, Emmett yelped … so that gave me some extra confidence that Auggie will say “Enough!” when it needs to be said.

So, Onward!!

I am unsure if it is Auggie’s example or just Emmett, but Emmett feels that he should see what is on top of anything he can get to. Currently, I am doing a low key “off” … but, it is so cute I have a difficult time enforcing…

The lupins, the lupins!!!

I get such a kick out of the serious observation from Beardog Point. Emmett sits “at attention” and watches. Maybe Karl and Bear have been/are whispering in his ear about the duties of the dog in the fambly Summers!

CSA Week 4 – such bounty in NW Montana … the FIRST week of June!

And the wildflowers: a double Mariposa Lily

After a week of sunny and warm-hot (HOT to Auggie, Emmett and me!), we had a whooshy, thunderstorm-y cold front on Saturday. We all love the cool down!

Yea.

A baking experiment: sweet rolls

On Mel’s Kitchen Cafe , a recent post: How to make cinnamon rolls ahead of time detailed Mel’s pointers on how to have fresh baked cinnamon rolls in the morning … without the baker getting up in the wee hours or staying up all night! As she noted, it is an oft asked question around Christmas as families love to have fresh cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning.

One commenter, thinking out loud, wondered about a cold rise (refrigerated rise) for the second rise noting that she did that with bread. I do that with bread as well and I even made The Clever Carrot’s Overnight Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls . I used the cold rise, then 1-2 hour warm up but she notes a freeze-thaw-bake from the fridge option as well.

So.

I decided to try a cold rise – this is after the bulk rise and shaping, i.e. mix the dough, let it rise, make the rolls, put them in a pan and then directly into the fridge. I did this yesterday and recorded the steps in an Instagram story. If I’d been thinking ahead, I would have taken an extra set of photos with my DSLR as the light was iffy and then dark. Hindsight. So, all of these but the last photo in row 4 and the final money shot are from my phone exactly at the time things progressed.

Why is my phone always sticky? (Say that like Captain Jack Sparrow says “Why is the rum always gone”?)

Here we go!

The recipe I made was Mel’s Kitchen Café Lemon Sticky Buns … same buttermilk dough as her buttermilk cinnamon rolls except lemonized. Additionally, I used 1/4 white whole wheat, 3/4 white and 3 T of potato flour. And, I added blueberries making them Lemon-Blueberry Sticky Buns.

Normal mix, rise until doubled, roll out and add filling. Of note, I looked at the link in the recipe to Mel’s tutorial on working with yeast . I believe that for years, I over floured yeast breads and rolls. And recently I make mostly high moisture breads so I decided to brush up.

I believe this batch was floured perfectly.

And as I write that and as I went through this step by step, it occurred to me all of the variables that exist in a bake like this: how much flour, condition of the yeast used, kitchen/rise location temperature, amount of kneading and ???

My advice to any reading this that intend to try this method or any method is to pay attention to the steps and to how things look and feel. It is not going to go the same way every time.

After rolling and cutting, I divided the rolls with the intent of 3 scenarios:

1. Normal warm rise and bake
2. Cold rise and directly into hot oven with no warm up
3. Cold rise and 30-40 minute room temp warm up before baking

On the left, the result from option 1. A good bake, but it did collapse a bit as it cooled.

The middle photo is the cold rise candidates after 8 hours in the fridge. Of note, the round pan was on the bottom shelf – the warmest shelf. The loaf pan was on a top shelf – colder.

IF, I was letting these rise overnight and thought it might be 10-12 hours from fridge to bake, I’d make sure to put them on the coldest top shelf. I think the round pan, left too much longer, would have over risen (over proofed) – just a guess … and again, these are my conditions. For whatever reason, all of my baked goods – commercial yeast or wild yeast – rise well even in my cool house.

On the right, the cold-cold after the bake. They really rose up. I might have even overbaked a smidge. There was no collapsing as they cooled.

The left photo is the one I really wish I had from my big camera and low light lens. The crumb of the cold rise/cold bake is fluffy, almost fluffier than I prefer. But soft and full of good flavor.

Middle photo is the cold rise with a 35 minute room temperature rest before baking. Not quite as much oven rise as the cold/cold, but it started a bit less having come from the colder fridge shelf. You can see the crumb in the top roll that I split. In reality it was very close to the cold/cold rolls.

Conclusion: well, my real conclusion is that this would need to be tested again and by others and by each individual baker and NOT for the first time on Christmas Eve!!! But seriously, I think the cold rise and cold bake is a viable option. The other option which I believe will work is to freeze the shaped rolls, then put them in the fridge the night before baking and right into a hot oven in the morning as outlined in the Freeze/Thaw option of The Clever Carrot’s Overnight Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls .

The money shot … YUM!

Thanksgiving Day

An unusual Thanksgiving Day this year …

It started at 51F with a blustery, but warm wind. It felt more like late September than late November.

We enjoyed much of the day on the front porch.

And although there are a lot of larch needles on the ground (and in the house!), there is still a lot of gold in the woods.

The Western Larch are beautiful against a gray sky and also when the sun shines on them.

And then there is Thanksgiving dinner.

I had sardines and black beans for my Thanksgiving dinner. Not exactly the traditional turkey and fixings.

A little over a week ago, I fell. Ironically, I tripped over a mat that I placed on the transition between front porch and walk way. That spot gets slippery in the winter and the mat is for both footing and as a reminder to me to slow down. Right. I was moving too fast and not thinking what I was doing. I barely saved myself from a face plant on the concrete and managed to tuck and roll kind of sideways on to the grass. But my tote bag was under my arm and I came down on that hard enough to get an “oof” and partially knock the wind out. Rats. Ribs again. So nights have been majorly uncomfortable and daytime not too bad until yesterday when the muscles started doing little spasms. I was horribly uncomfortable.

In an effort to help things improve, I upped foods with potassium and calcium hoping to calm things down. At suppertime I got to thinking about some salmon for vitamin D but I just did not have the oomph to cook and then remembered the sardines – superfood! Black beans have good stuff also and I had some in the freezer so sardines and black beans. I had a better night and today, Thanksgiving Day felt MUCH better.

But, I wanted to stay feeling better and decided to stick with the superfood program, hence sardines and black beans for Thanksgiving dinner. I have my turkey thawed, some of the side dishes prepped and I baked a mini version of an Apple Skillet Cake for my sweet. The Thanksgiving turkey dinner will just be a day or two late.

That little cake smelled and looked so good. Between taking the photo and writing this post, the cake is half gone. Fortunately, it takes about 10 minutes to mix up and get in the oven so I can make another if necessary.

Not the usual Thanksgiving Day, but as I noted on my Instagram, I am thankful for another year with Bear and Auggie and today, I am very thankful that I am feeling better.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Of pumpkins and figs and fall scenery

Sugar Pie Pumpkins in the Instant Pot!

For Sourdough Oatmeal Pumpkin Bread…

Perfection!

Figs. Bad photo but great figs. I hadn’t had fresh figs until this find at a local spot

I thought to make fig jam, but I kept eating the figs…

Sourdough Oatmeal Pumpkin Bread … French bread with figs!

The figs and the sourdough oatmeal pumpkin bread: good.

And out and about …

… Fall light…

Still smokin’

The Road Home … smoky version.

By all accounts, including my own 23 years in this area, this is the worst wildfire smoke ever. Even short exposure dries the throat and lips, starts a headache and generally makes a person feel uneasy and unwell. Mr. Bear licks his lips, sneezes and occasionally includes a hacky cough. We go out only as absolutely necessary. Auggie is confined to quarters and not very happy about it!

The crew of Lower Valley Farm, my CSA source, is working in masks as are many who must work outdoors. The local dragon boat race and festival was cancelled. School sports cancelled and all recess activities are happening inside.

BUT.

NOAA says, with some confidence, that things will be a bit better tomorrow afternoon and Sunday. AND THEN … Thursday into Friday they forecast a significant “pattern change” and a hopefully “last gasp” of smoke. I hope they are correct. At any rate, it is wonderful to have some hope of an end to this after forecasts that continued with the same “hot and smoky” line.

Meanwhile…

The recipe: Breadtopia’s Zucchini Sourdough .

This is the BEST sandwich bread I’ve made to date. I had a good one in Quinoa Sandwich Bread , but this is better, although I have a thought to combine the two because quinoa!

The zucchini sourdough bread is soft in crumb and crust but does not come apart even with a gooey-ish filling. And unlike the typical zucchini baked goods, this recipe uses all the moisture from the zucchini. I absolutely love it.

I am headed to Farmer’s Market in the morning to stock up on zucchini which I will shred and freeze so I can make this bread through the Winter.

And this week’s CSA box:

Eggplant, green bell pepper, potatoes, cucumber, zucchini, tomatoes, golden beets with greens, red leaf lettuce, long red onion and basil!

A new recipe planned for this week: stuffed eggplant kind of a moussaka-light.

And so…

Still smokin’ but with an end in sight!

***Edit at 7:29 p.m. From the NOAA Forecast discussion for my area:

A significant Fall pattern change will take place Wednesday
evening through Thursday night. It`s finally happening.
Anticipate widespread precipitation during this time, with
temperatures and snow levels (yes, snow levels) decreasing during
this time. Snow levels down to 6000 feet appear plausible by
Thursday night. This system is likely to put a significant dent in
the wildfire season, which has gone on longer than most already.

Cool and showery weather will continue across the Northern Rockies
Friday through the weekend. Fall is here; Fall is here!

I just love our local NOAA writers. They write friendly and locally with good weather info and a minimum of “jargon”. I think most of the writers must be outdoors people as they seem enthusiastic about conditions for outdoor activities. I laughed out loud to see the “Fall is here; Fall is here!”

*** Bonus *** From “Great Big Story”. Leif Haugen – I met Leif briefly years ago when he delivered a cup of coffee to his wife Heidi on the way to delivering May Day baskets. Heidi worked in a book store that I frequented and also is the potter that made my sage green dishes with words (circa 1999!). I follow Heidi on Instagram ( Heidi Haugen Pottery Instagram ) and she often includes photos Leif takes from the Thoma Fire Lookout.

This ‘n that

According to an article in the local paper, July was the Fifth Hottest July on Record . We had plenty of days in the 90’s but some of the upper 90/100 forecast did not come to pass so YEA!

Still, I am happy that we’ve cooled a little, although part of the reason for the cooling is smoke from fires in Washington, British Columbia and Montana.

BUT!! – they are saying that there is a chance that some of the monsoon moisture hitting other parts of the Rocky Mountain West, just might make it into our territory. THAT would be welcome!

Meanwhile …

A broccoli rubble beetza! The sweet roast beets go nicely with the salty broccoli-asiago cheese mix.

On to a non-vegetable treat: ice cream.

Early last Summer, I saw No-churn Birthday Cake Ice Cream from In Jennie’s Kitchen . I have an ice cream maker so I took the easy route and churned it. The cake mixed in with the ice cream, absorbing some of the cream is very good! I made it several times. Last year I made it with a bakery white cake but this year I took it up a notch and made it with Mel’s Kitchen Café Mel’s Kitchen Café Lemon Blueberry Cake .

The other thing I like about the recipe is no eggs. I am not a fan of the custardy ice cream base even though that is supposed to be the best and according to gourmet recipes … the more eggs, the better. Jennie’s recipe is heavy cream, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla … plus the cake. I’ve been using the cream, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla base in various ice creams and not only do I like it, but it is almost too easy.

Then one day I wanted ice cream but did not have heavy cream. I did have cashews and I have often subbed cashew cream for heavy cream in recipes. I gave it a try and it worked and I liked it. Heavy cream is mostly fat and while cashew cream has fat it also has protein and fiber. Probably more than you care to know…

This week’s ice cream is to be vanilla-mint with chocolate brownie crumbles in lieu of cake.

The cashews soaked for about 4 hours and then a whiz in the Vita-Mix…

… and we have cashew cream.

Ready to mix the ice cream: cashew cream, sweetened condensed milk, peppermint extract, a wee bit of vanilla extract and a pinch of salt.

The container and utensils go in the freezer when the ice cream goes in the maker.

Thirty minutes in the ice cream maker and we have the base.

Mix in the brownie crumbles and freeze. The brownies are Mel’s Kitchen Café Deep Dark Chocolate Brownies .

Vanilla mint ice cream with brownie crumbles. It’s pretty good :) !!

Back to vegetables.

This weeks box and extras: purple onions, zucchini, tomatoes, new potatoes, cucumber parsley, braising greens, lettuce mix 1/2 cabbage and the extras being a whole cabbage and red beets with greens. More good eating this week!

And a post would not be complete without some help from Bear (so tired!) and Auggie.