Cream Cheese Pastry - Gluten-Free

I love making savoury hand pies, and this is my go to recipe for that, and for any other type of pie.  I had a favourite multigrain pie crust recipe from my old copy of Ken Haedrich's Country Baking, but I changed it a lot.  Gluten free flours don't have the sticking-togetherness of wheat flours because they have no gluten.  To adjust for that, I have added cream cheese in addition to the butter.  Since gluten free flours also don't absorb as much fat, I played around with the amounts until it worked to my satisfaction, and this is the resulting recipe.  You'll note that I have the amounts in both volume, and by weight.  I recommend weighing because it is very easy to pack the gluten free flours when you are measuring by volume.  Any kitchen scale will do.

Cream Cheese Pastry - Gluten-Free

Makes enough pastry for one double crust 9" pie

Ingredients

• 7/8 cup (85 grams) Gluten-Free Oat Flour (I used Only Oats Brand)
• 7/8 cup (108 grams) Gluten-Free Masa Harina (not corn flour)
• 3/4 cup (73 grams) Potato Starch (this is different than potato flour)
• 12 ounces cold butter cut in 1/2" cubes
• 12 ounces cold cream cheese cut in 1/2" cubes
• 1 egg yolk
• 3 - 5 tablespoons cold water

Method 

• Weigh out the flour, or spoon it into a measuring cup.  Never scoop oat flour out of the package with a measuring cup.  It will compact, and you will get more flour than you need.  

• You can do this by hand, but I usually use a food processor for this part.  Put the flours, and potato starch into a food processor, and mix for about 30 seconds.  You want the flours well blended.
• Add cubed butter and cream cheese to the flour mix in the processor, and pulse until mixture resembles a coarse damp meal.  Largest pieces should be no larger than a split pea.
• At this point you could continue with the food processor, but I prefer to put the mixture in a bowl and add the rest by hand.
• Mix the egg yolk with 3 tablespoons of cold water, and sprinkle this over the mixture, using a fork tines to help press the the dough together.  If it is still dry, add another tablespoon of water, this time packing the dough with your hands.  
• When the dough pulls together in a damp ball, divide it in half, flatten each half into a disk, cover with plastic wrap or waxed paper, and chill for at least 30 minutes before rolling out.
• Use in any pastry recipe, but I recommend rolling the pastry between sheets of waxed paper. 

I use this recipe as a topping for my individual chicken pot pies.  Here's one that's baked:

Crispy Chewy Cherry Flax Pucks

This is another recipe from Power Hungry by Camilla V. Saulsbury.  I have fiddled with this recipe more than with the Double Chocolate Flax Pucks recipe - the main reason being that I like the texture of that one more than this.  Replacing part of the ground flax with cocoa gives it a bit more regular brownie body, whereas this is somewhat more chewy in a flaxy way.  I've found that substituting part of the dried fruit with unsweetened coconut helps.

Crispy Chewy Cherry Flax Pucks

Makes about 12


Ingredients

• 2/3 cup ground flax
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2/3 cup dried sour cherries

Method

• Grease 12 muffin cups, and preheat oven to 325ºF
• Mix together ground flax, peanut butter, honey, milk, vanilla, and cinnamon until well combined.  Stir in raisins.
• Evenly distribute the batter into the 12 muffin cups
• Bake for 25 - 30 minutes, or until tops appear somewhat dry.
• Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack

Variations:

• You may substitute other nut butters, non dairy milks, etc.  
• I like to mix it up by substituting cut up dried prunes or apricots for the dried cherries.  
• I also often replace half of the dried fruit with unsweetened coconut.

This also makes a great coffee time snack.  I have come to prefer using other dried fruits instead of raisins in this recipe - especially dried apricots!

Double Chocolate Flax Pucks

I found the recipe for these in a fantastic book filled with energy bar recipes called Power Hungry, by Camilla V. Saulsbury.  It includes a variety of recipes, both baked, and unbaked, and what I really like about this book is that there are variations for different food issues in most of the recipes, so you can tailor it to suit your needs.

Double Chocolate Flax Pucks

Makes about 12


Ingredients

• 1/2 cup ground flax
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup quartered chocolate chunks, or semi sweet chocolate chips 

Method

• Grease 12 muffin cups, and preheat oven to 325ºF
• Mix together ground flax, cocoa powder, peanut butter, honey, milk, and vanilla until well combined.  Stir in chocolate chips or chocolate chunks.
• Evenly distribute the batter into the 12 muffin cups
• Bake for 25 - 30 minutes, or until tops appear somewhat dry.
• Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack

Variations: You may substitute other nut butters, or non dairy milk but of course the results will vary.



I confess that these are my absolute favourite recipe in the book - could it possibly be the fact that they taste like chocolate brownies?  Perhaps.  :)  I love them for my afternoon coffee break, with a strawberry or raspberry milk kefir smoothie.  Yumm!

Hand Knotting Gemstone Beads

I've always loved the look of hand knotted pearl necklaces, something so classy about them, and I decided it was time to give the technique a try.  But I wanted to do it with gemstone beads instead of pearls.

Here's my first attempt.  Of course when you're learning something new, it's going to take practise to be get the technique down, which is why this one's for me.



I learned a lot doing it.  For one thing, it's good to have the proper thickness of silk thread (what I used to string the beads), and it turns out that I should have used a thicker thread for these beads.  It was difficult to make the knots tight against the bead without the knot disappearing into the bead hole.  There are also tricks to snugging the knot right against the bead, and I wasn't using the right tool.  Most of the videos I watched recommended a pointy tipped tweezers, which I didn't have.  I decided to stop for the day.

Sometimes taking a break helps you work through a problem, and after a good night's sleep it occurred to me that I had a pointy tipped jewelry pliers with flat jaws.  They worked perfectly!  I also had two sizes of silk cord, and was able to use the proper size for the beads I used the next day, so my success was greater.  I am using french wire (a coiled metal tube) to protect the silk thread as it passes through the clasp end.  I prefer the way it looks rather than a bead cap.



I got a few more necklaces worth of knotting done, although I'm going to need to fix the last one.  I had difficulty with the french wire on it, and then the needle of the silk thread broke off as I was trying to finish it off.  SIGH!  I'm going to have to take it apart and redo it.  But that's part of the learning process, too.  And I really love the way the hand knotting looks with the gemstone beads.

Seed Crackers

This is my favourite gluten free cracker.  The flavour reminds me of eating salted sunflower or pumpkin seeds in the shell.  It's very easy to make, but you do have to plan for the soaking time.  I usually start soaking the seeds right before I go to bed, and they are ready to go the next morning.

Seed Crackers

Makes enough to fill 2 cookie sheets

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup each of sunflower seeds, and (shelled) pumpkin seeds
• 1/2 cup whole flax seed
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• water

Method

• Place sunflower and pumpkin seeds in a large bowl and cover with filtered water - should be a couple of inches extra water.  
• Put the flax seed in another container, and stir in 1 cup of filtered water.
• Cover, and let both containers sit at room temperature for 6 hours, or overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 325ºF.
• Put the sunflower and pumpkin seeds in a sieve to drain them, and rinse them.  Put the rinsed seeds back in a large bowl.
• Pour the flax seed, with the water, into the bowl with the other seeds.  By this time, most of the water in the flax seed container will have turned to a gel - that is what binds these crackers together.  
• Add the sea salt to the seeds, and mix well.
• Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Divide the seed mixture evenly between the two baking sheets, and spread until quite thin.

• If desired, grind some flavoured salt over the seed mixture on the two sheets.
• Bake for approximately 35 minutes.
• Score the crackers, and flip them.  (I confess, I often don't flip them, but they do look nicer when you do)
• Bake for about 35 more minutes or until golden brown, and desired crispness.  
• Remove from oven, and allow to cool on a wire rack.

Variations:

1. Feel free to substitute other seeds.  I have tried nuts, but don't think they work as well in this cracker.  
2. Don't eliminate the flax seed - you need the gel.  You can substitute chia seed for flax, as they also make a gel.
3. Try adding various dried herbs, or other seasonings.  Maybe chopped green onion, etc,

You can make them crispy or chewy by varying the length of time you bake them - I'm a fan of crispy myself!  I love to eat them with salad for lunch, or a snack for coffee break.  But they would be good with toppings as party snacks.  Everyone I've served them to scarfs them down.

Crafty Birthday Gift!

For my birthday, my Sister gave me a gift card from Knit Picks, home of the lovely wooden interchangeable knitting needle set that I got as a Christmas gift last year.

I am on their list for receiving periodic flyer/catalogues with which they tempt me to buy more of their lovely yarns and accessories.  And earlier this year, I succumbed to the temptation to buy some sock yarn, and enough yarn for a sweater.  Alas, the poor exchange rate at the moment made it not as great a deal as it seemed, and it was a bit of a shock when I got my credit card statement.  So I am not tempted to buy anymore yarn from them for the forseeable future.

So, what to buy with the lovely gift card burning a hole in my wallet?  I had been eyeing their wooden crochet hooks, since I love their wooden knitting needles, but discovered from reviews that the sizes were not written on the hooks.  That seems like a big problem to me.  Instead, I opted for a set of metal hooks with a larger rubberized handle.



And for the remainder, I went for the Knit Picks zippered case made for their interchangeable wooden knitting needles.  The needles come in a fancy gift box that would last for a long time, and protect them well, but it's always nice to have something more portable.



I was really excited to discover that the case has much more space than it appeared from the picture.  Not only does it have places to put the needles, there are more slots on the back of this same piece where I could store more knitting needles, or some crochet hooks!



And there is a zipper pocket on each side where I can store accessories



and other things like my set of wooden dp needles.  These don't have the sizes on them, so I need to keep them in the plastic sleeve they came in, but that fit perfectly in the pocket...



So how cool is that?  Loving it!!!

Making Pumpkin Puree

I do love pumpkin pie, and it's easy to find pumpkins to buy in fall, but then you have to cook the pumpkin to use it in pies and other recipes.  I've tried various ways of doing this, including chopping, peeling, and boiling them, but that's kind of a pain.  It's so much work, and I found the puree pretty watery, even though I drained the boiled pumpkin.  Here's what I do now, and it is super simple.

• Wash the outside of the pumpkin
• Cut the pumpkin in half.
• Remove the seeds and stringy stuff in the middle.  I find it helpful to use a small paring knife to cut the stringiness around the edges.  A spoon doesn't really scrape it out effectively.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and place the pumpkin halves upside down on it.

• Bake the pumpkin at 350º F for about 1 hour or so.  My 8" pumpkins took 1 hour and 15 minutes.  You'll know they are done when soft to the touch, and moisture is leaking out around the bottom.

• Turn the halves over and let them cool a bit.  You can see the steam rising off this one!

• Using a spoon, scoop the cooked pumpkin out of the shell, and put in a bowl.
• Puree the pumpkin right in the same bowl using a stick blender.  Or you could use a regular blender.

• Place the pumpkin puree in jars, and freeze.  Make sure to allow enough head room for expansion.  I froze them in 1 cup portions - makes it easy to know how much to take out for any particular recipe.

And here is my pretty pumpkin puree, ready to use in any recipe that calls for canned pumpkin.  I got about 4 cups of puree from each 8" pumpkin.

Rice Crackers recipe

I had been eating commercial rice crackers, and didn't like all the preservatives, etc. in them.  So I started looking for a recipe to make my own, and found this recipe for easy to make rice crackers at Little House Living.  I have the rice flour blend on my site, but for some reason it won't let me add a link to it.  You can find it by using the search box on the top left hand corner of this site.

Brown (or White) Rice Crackers

Makes a couple dozen

Ingredients

• 1 cup Rice flour All Purpose Gluten free flour blend
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• Pinch brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• water

Method

• Mix together the flour, butter, olive oil, sugar, and salt, using a fork.
• Add water slowly (about 1/3 cup, total), mixing with your hands until it forms a nice dough.

• Place the dough on a greased baking sheet, or stoneware baking sheet.  Cover with a piece of waxed paper, and roll the dough out very thin - 1/8" or thinner.
• Score the crackers in the size you'd like.
• With pastry brush, apply melted butter, and sprinkle with sea salt.
• Bake at 400º F for about 15 minutes, or until the crackers are crispy and slightly brown.

Variation:  Add 2 teaspoons of flax seed, poppy seed, dried herbs of your choice, etc.

This is a lovely cracker to eat with soup, or any other time you want a cracker!  

Rice Flour All Purpose Gluten Free Flour Blend

When I stopped eating gluten, I naturally looked for gluten free substitutes, and I discovered this all purpose Gluten Free Flour blend at Little House Living.  It has 3 basic ingredients, and I used it successfully as a straight substitute for wheat flour in several bar recipes that first Christmas.



Rice Flour All Purpose Gluten Free Flour Blend

• 2 Cups Brown or White Rice Flour
• 2 cups Sticky Rice Flour
• 1 cup Potato Starch (not potato flour)

Whisk all ingredients together until well blended.

The sticky rice flour works as a binder in this recipe - like a gluten substitute.  If you can tolerate rice, then this works well for bar recipes, and crackers.  I didn't try it for other things because I discovered that in addition to gluten, my body doesn't like rice.

Here's a few more pics of bars I made using this blend in regular bar recipes.  They were deemed delicious when I brought them for Christmas!

Oatmeal Buttermilk Drop Biscuits

I've tried a few times to create a recipe for gluten-free biscuits that you pat out and cut, but no success so far.  Part of the problem is that I can only use a few of the gluten-free flours - oat flour and corn flour being my favourites - and I prefer to use them without additives like Xanthan gum etc.   I decided making drop biscuits might work better, and I am very happy with this recipe.  I used oat flour along with a little potato starch, and cut the amount of butter that would be in a regular recipe since gluten-free flours don't absorb fat the way wheat flour does.

Oatmeal Buttermilk Drop Biscuits

Makes 1 dozen

Ingredients

• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 2 cups (200 gm) gluten-free Oat flour
• 1/2 cup potato starch
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Method

• Put the oven rack in the upper middle, and heat the oven to 450º F.
• Weigh out the flour, or spoon it into a measuring cup.  Never scoop oat flour out of the package with a measuring cup.  It will compact, and you will get more flour than you need.  
• Mix together the buttermilk and melted butter.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients until well combined.  Oat flour, baking powder and baking soda can all clump a bit.  Make sure to press out any of these clumps between your clean fingers.
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry mixture and stir until just mixed.
• Using lightly greased tablespoons, drop 1 tablespoon worth of dough per biscuit onto an ungreased cast iron frying pan (9 or 10"), or cake pan.  I found that the biscuits held their shape best in the cast iron pan.

• Bake until the tops are golden - 20 - 25 minutes.  Check after 20 minutes.
• Serve warm with butter.

These biscuits are very tender, and they freeze and reheat well.  I really enjoyed them with my soup, and they'd be great with stews or chilis.  

Harvest Time

A week ago, I was digging a few carrots to put in a batch of sauerkraut I was making that day.  It was a lovely sunny day, and I briefly thought "Maybe I should dig all the carrots today".  But it was already a full day, and I didn't think I had the time to dig, clean, and bag all the rest of the carrots, too.  I decided to wait one more week.  That turned out to be a mistake!  Just a few days later we had a foot of heavy wet snow.  SIGH!

The forecast was talking about some double digit temps in another week, and I thought I would wait for that.  But I realized that it wouldn't be much better because I'd be digging in mud.  So yesterday, I dug up my carrots from under their snow cover.  At least the wet soil made it easy to dig them out.  And I got the very clever idea of wearing a pair of heavy duty rubber gloves for the job.  The worst part of digging carrots in snowy wetness, is how cold and muddy your hands get from having to break off the tops -  the rubber gloves did a great job of protecting mine.

I managed to get the pails of muddy carrots home without messing up my car too much.  Then the next couple of hours were spent washing all the mud off.  Here's a pic of the carrots drying on a flannel sheet.  You can see my 3 pumpkins along one edge.



I had already given some carrots away because I only have some much storage space, but my cousin kindly allowed me to store the remaining 4 bags in her extra fridge.

Here is the sauerkraut - you can see that fermentation is causing stuff to seep out along the edge.  That's natural, and the reason I have the jars sitting in ice cream pails to catch any seepage.



I also decided to ferment some other veggies, in this case onions, carrots, and celery.  Since there is no cabbage in it, I fermented them in a brine solution.  I have been enjoying having a little sauerkraut in my salad, and thought some fermented variety would be nice.  In terms of adding stuff like fresh ginger, onions, or hot peppers in my ferments, I have discovered that a little goes a looong way.  Too much and it can be overwhelming.



The cabbage I bought at the farmer's market was very large, so I had enough to make 3 litres of sauerkraut.  It makes such a difference when the cabbage is fresh and full of juice!  The process of making sauerkraut goes so much faster than at the end of winter when your choice of cabbage is drier.



This takes up a fair amount of space on my counter, but it's only for a week or so, and then I have enough veggies to last for months - yay!  Now, the only thing I really have left to deal with from harvest time is my pumpkins.  They were still green when I bought them from a local organic gardener, but are now a lovely shade of orange and ready to go.  However, that really can wait another week, and I think I deserve a break today.  Gonna have a Thanksgiving chicken with potatoes, gravy, etc.  And I made a little pumpkin pie from last year's frozen pumpkin puree....

Oatmeal Pancakes

I love my Johnnycakes, but sometimes it is nice to have a regular, fluffy pancake.  This recipe is similar to the one I used to use when I made waffles.  There is a small bit of baking powder, but it is the separately beaten egg whites that provide most of the lift to these pancakes.

Oatmeal Pancakes (gluten free)

Ingredients

• 4 eggs, separated
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• 2/3 cup (67 gm) oat flour 
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Method

• Weigh out the flour, or spoon it into a measuring cup.  Never scoop oat flour out of the package with a measuring cup.  It will compact, and you will get more flour than you need.  
• Beat together egg yolks, buttermilk, oat flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, vanilla, and olive oil.
• In another bowl, beat egg whites until stiff, but not dry.
• Fold beaten whites gently into the first mixture.
• Drop batter by large spoonfuls onto an oiled skillet or griddle over medium heat.  Flip when the first side is golden brown.
• When done, the pancakes will be golden brown and puffy.

Note:  I have used oat flour, but some other gluten free flours would also work since the lift is due mostly to the beaten egg whites.

I am fortunate enough to have a griddle, but a good cast iron skillet would also work well.  

The tricky part with a recipe like this is folding the egg whites into the batter.  You don't want to beat them together, because that would get rid of some of the lift of the egg whites.  It's hard to know exactly how much is too much.  Usually, I find that there is batter left at the bottom of the bowl which doesn't have much egg white in it.  These will not be quite as puffy, but will still taste delicious.  :) 

I was never really crazy about syrup on pancakes, although real maple syrup is an exception.  Usually I would put butter and homemade jam or preserves on my pancakes - yummy!   This pancake would be great with any of those toppings, but I go for peanut butter and honey - my favourite sandwich filling, when I still ate them.

Gluten-free Brownies - Mini recipe

Have you ever had a desire for brownies, but didn't want a whole pan of them around to tempt you later?  Then this is the recipe for you - it makes 3 delicious chewy brownies.  A perfect amount to satisfy your chocolate craving, and maybe that of a friend or two if you want to share.  :)

Gluten Free Brownies - Mini recipe

Makes 3 brownies or 4 brownie cupcakes

Ingredients

• 3  rounded tablespoons cocoa
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup dehydrated cane sugar
• 1 large egg, slightly beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 rounded tablespoons gluten-free oat flour
• 1/3 cup chopped pecans or ground hazelnuts

Method

• Preheat oven to 350º F.
• Line bottom of a 2 cup loaf pan (5 x 3") with foil.  It's good to have a large enough piece of foil so it will hang over the upper edge of the pan. 
• Butter the foil 
• If you want to make cupcakes instead, use parchment paper lined muffin tins.  If you are only making one recipe (4 cupcakes), put a little water in the unfilled cups of the muffin tin before baking.
• Melt butter, and mix with the cocoa powder.  Stir until smooth.
• Stir in sugar, then the egg and vanilla until just blended.
• Mix in the flour.  Oat flour tends to clump together, so I press the lumps out before using.
• Stir in nuts.
• Spread in the buttered pan and bake for about 30 minutes, depending on your oven.  Brownie is done when a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs.
• Lift the brownies out of the pan using the foil, and let cool on a rack.  (Or not, if you can't wait)

Variations:

• As with most brownie recipes, this has very little flour, so you could substitute your flour of choice without affecting the recipe too much.
• Substitute 1 oz unsweetened chocolate for the cocoa.  Change the amount of butter to 2 tablespoons.
• Sprinkle 1/3 cup of chocolate chips on top

Look at the chewy chocolatey goodness....

I've already had one, and put the rest in the freezer.  Truthfully, I don't know how long it will stay there.  In case you didn't know, brownies get even chewier when frozen. - yummy!

flourless.

Since I stopped eating gluten (celiac seems to run in my Dad's side of the family), I have become increasingly interested in how I can make things without it.  Truthfully, I don't really miss bread, which is astounding because I use to love it, and baked a lot of it.  I did a lot of baking, period.  Being gluten free can be a challenge, particularly since most gluten free products use rice flour, and I can't eat rice, either.  So every time I find a new gluten free cookbook, I have to look through it just in case there are recipes with ingredients I can use.  Which is why I was so excited to find flourless (Recipes for Naturally Gluten-free Desserts) by Nicole Spiridakis.

It's one thing for you to eat gluten-free baking, and another thing entirely to feed it to your guests. I used to use wheat flour when I was baking to take someplace else, but now I don't even have wheat flour in my pantry.  This book is a pleasant surprise as none of the recipes use rice flour either.  Instead Nicole concentrates on recipes for delicious cakes, puddings, cookies, etc. that can be made without flour.

For instance - Angel Food Cake.  Most people just use an angel food cake mix, and that is definitely easier.  But if that's not an option for you, it's not difficult to make from scratch, but you do need a dozen eggs for one cake - not exaggerating.  Angel food cake is predominantly composed of egg whites and sugar, with a very small amount of flour.  In this case, Nicole substitutes corn starch which worked perfectly.  My gluten eating taste testers all agreed that it tasted just like regular angel food cake.

I borrowed an angel food cake pan, but it wasn't one that was in two pieces, so I had a little difficulty getting it out of the pan.

So since I used a dozen egg whites, I had to figure out what to do with a dozen egg yolks - they turn to rubber balls if you freeze them.  Back to flourless where I found a recipe called Salted Caramel Pots de Creme - an absolutely decadent custard which used 8 egg yolks.  Gluten eating taste testers again declared this delicious!  I used the rest of the egg yolks to make pastry, which I can freeze for later use.

In addition, I tried the Double Chocolate Brownies, which contain chocolate, butter, sugar, eggs, cocoa, and vanilla - ooey gooey goodness.  And finally,  I made her Oatmeal - Chocolate Chip Cookies.

I brought these cookies to work, where they were scarfed down in one day by my coworkers.  They are a basic oatmeal cookie except that instead of adding flour, the recipes simply uses more oatmeal.  They are simple, and act just like a regular oatmeal cookie recipe does.

These are but a small fraction of the delicious recipes in this book, and it gave me the confidence to try adapting some recipes on my own.  I highly recommend it.

Finally Finished Projects

I don't know about you, but it often takes awhile for me to finish a project.  Starting any new project (knitting, bookbinding, rug hooking, whatever) is all exciting!  Designing your item or looking for a pattern to make, and then choosing the colours, materials.  Usually there is some tweaking involved, and sometimes you change your mind because you see a new pattern, or get a new idea.  All this is fun!  

Then you get started, and that's fun, too, because you imagine how much you are going to enjoy the finished item.  You work hard on it, and then you get to the not-so-fun part - finishing.  There is finishing to be done in anything that you make.  With knitting, there's sewing it together and hiding all the ends.  With rug hooking, you have to bind the unfinished edges, and snip any excess threads.  You get the idea.  So sometimes (or often, depending on the person), the finishing gets put off in favour of starting another new and exciting project.  It's obvious that this is pretty common, because I've heard of knitting shops having UFO (Unfinished Object) nights to make finishing more pleasurable by turning it into a social event.  :)

So here are some of my finally finished projects.  These socks are made from sock yarn I bought while visiting family several years ago.  I did start knitting with it, and the yarn kept splitting - aaargh...  So I put it away.  Actually, I almost gave the yarn away, but this year I tried it again, this time with my newer wooden dp needles.  And it didn't split!  My metal needles were getting fairly sharp at the tips, so that might have been the problem.

Here's another pair of socks I finished this year - I was on a roll this spring....   I got this yarn in a swap, and again it sat in my stash for many years, mostly because it was a variegated yarn with a lot of bright yellow in it.  I like the colour yellow, but not in my clothing.  I had bought some weak acid dyes to use on wool fabric for rug hooking, and decided I might as well over dye this yarn with the maroon at the same time.  The results were wonderful!  Now the yarn was varying shades of red with small bits of yellow - much more my style.  And here are the finished socks:

And finally, here is a knitted felted tote bag I designed years ago (seeing a theme here?).  It originally had a knitted felted handle, too, but I was never happy with it.  I loved the bag but felt the handle was too light weight and might stretch out if I carried anything in the bag.  So I removed the handle, and the bag sat in storage waiting.  This year I finally found a wide leather belt at a thrift shop that I thought would work.  First, I lined the bag with some cotton fabric.  Then I punched holes in the belt, and handsewed it onto the bag and through the lining with thick waxed thread - the kind used for sewing leather, etc.  Now I love the bag, and will use it.  The leather strap is long enough to make it a shoulder bag, and there is a magnetic purse snap that holds the bag shut.

Sometimes it's okay if it takes awhile to do the finishing, because maybe things change and you get an idea that will make you love your creation even more! :)

A Peck of Pretty Peppers

I picked a peck of pretty peppers from my garden - okay maybe not quite a peck (which apparently is 2 gallon jars full), but fairly close if you count both both my hot and sweet peppers.  Look what a gorgeous red they are!  You will note one green guajillo at the back that is looking wrinkly.  I am drying some for use later in chilis and stews, and it has begun the process.

It was a bumper crop this year, in spite of the slug problem.  Apparently they loved the sweet peppers, but not the hot peppers.  They crawled inside the sweet peppers (Yuck!), but only attacked the leaves of the hot pepper plants.  Fortunately, I had all the pepper plants in pots or planters, and moving the planter with the sweet peppers out of the garden helped.

This is the first year in a long time that my peppers have turned red while on the plant.  Usually they are still green when it gets to the end of summer, and it's perfectly okay to use them that way in food.  But I wanted to save some seed, and they need to turn red while still on the plant in order for the seeds to be mature enough to germinate.  This summer, the heat started earlier, and rather than wait till the first weekend in June, I planted my bedding plants a couple of weeks early.  It made a huge difference with both the peppers and tomatoes.  I was very excited because I was able to save seed from each kind of pepper I planted, all heirloom varieties - Yay!  Fresh seed for next year.

I'm also hoping to save seed this year from my 3 varieties of romaine lettuce.  It is quite a process because you have to wait for them to flower, and growing the flower stalk, which makes the plant almost 4 feet tall, takes awhile.  Then you wait for the flowers to bloom, close up, and then reopen with fluffy stuff attached to seeds -  just like dandelions do.  Lettuce is part of the dandelion family - who knew!  You pretty much need to check the plants every day because the flowers bloom at different rates.

And this year I finally grew Calendula, also called Pot Marigold.  I had been given seeds a long time ago, and tried them this year, but they were too old.  I did manage to find some bedding plants grown locally, and they produced an abundance of flowers and seeds.  You can see the cluster of seeds in the bottom right hand corner of the pic.  I'm drying the Calendula petals to use later in making infused oils for handmade soaps and creams.  It is very soothing to dry irritated skin which is why I love it.  And they are such a sunny flower!

Lake Time

As a person who grew up on the farm, there is nothing I find quite as relaxing as getting out of the city for awhile.  My cousin has a cabin at a lake, and I was fortunate enough to be invited there for a few days.  One of the things I miss most about living outside the city is the quiet.  Of course nature is not perfectly quiet, but it beats the constant traffic noise of the city.  Besides the sounds of nature are, well, natural, and often more soothing.  For instance, the sound of wind blowing through tree leaves, or the sound of moving water.  So much easier to fall asleep to, or relax by.

It was lovely, mostly sunny and pleasant weather, and surprisingly mosquito free. Hooray!  The lack of bugs is what makes spring and fall my favourite seasons.  It’s not quite fall yet, but the temps at the lake are usually a little cooler, which made sleeping easier than in the heat of my apartment.

I have to admit that my favourite time of day when at the lake is first thing in the morning, which is when I took this picture of steam rising from the lake.  It was the middle of the week, which meant there were less people around. And early morning is beautifully quiet, which helps you to just stop and enjoy your surroundings - something I rarely do when I am in the city.

Both my cousin and I were in the mood to do very little, which worked well.  We went for a walk every day, spent a lot of time reading, napping, and watching movies in the evening.  We slept as long as we wanted, ate when we wanted, and snacked when we felt like it.  Sometimes in order to relax, you need to be away from home and all the things that “need” doing.  Of course when you get back, there's catching up to do, but there will always be things to do at home, no matter what, and it's good to be reminded that you need to relax, too.  It helps recharge the batteries so you can do the stuff that needs doing.

Johnnycakes

I had heard of johnnycakes, but never tried them.  The original recipes are made with only cornmeal, but I have seen some with flour added.  Of course, since I'm gluten free, I went for the only cornmeal recipes.  I have since found out that not all cornmeal is gluten free.  Like oatmeal, cornmeal doesn't have that irritating gluten in it, but is not necessarily processed in a gluten free building.  Frustrating - but I found some that was gluten free in the Bob's Red Mills line of products.

This recipe is from How it Can be Gluten-Free Cookbook Vol 2 by America's Test Kitchen, and I like it a lot.

 Johnnycakes

 Makes about a dozen 3 inch johnnycakes.

  Ingredients

• 1 cup (5 ounces) stone-ground cornmeal
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• 2 ¾ cups water, plus extra as needed
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Method

• Whisk cornmeal, sugar, and salt together in a bowl.
• Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan.  Slowly whisk in the cornmeal mixture until no lumps remain, and cook until thickened - about 30 seconds.
• Remove from heat, and whisk in butter.  Cover the saucepan with the lid, and let rest at room temperature until slightly firm - about 15 minutes.
• Rewhisk batter until smooth.  Batter should be consistency of mashed potatoes - if not, whisk in 1 to 2 tablespoons of hot water as needed.
• Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a cast iron pan over medium heat until shimmering.
• Grease the inside of a ¼ cup measuring cup, and use that to scoop the batter into the pan.  Greasing the cup helps the batter to slide out easier.
• Cook until edges are crisp and golden brown.   6 - 8 minutes.
• Carefully flip the johnnycakes over, and press with spatula to flatten into 2 ½ - 3 inch rounds.

• Cook until well browned on the second side.  5 - 7 minutes
• Serve immediately, or keep warm in a 200º F oven.
• Repeat with remaining batter, whisking extra hot water into batter if needed.

I am fortunate enough to have a griddle, which is what I used to cook these.  Johnnycakes are not light and fluffy like ordinary pancakes, but I like them better.  They are crispy on the outside, have a creamy interior, and are absolutely yummy with butter, maple syrup, and a side of bacon. The biggest trick is that you must be sure that johnnycakes are set before you flip them over for the second side, or they will fall apart.  But other than that, they are simple, easy to make, and delicious!  They also freeze and reheat well, and are great with savoury dishes such as soup or stew.

Hazelnuts - my favourite!

Hazelnuts have always been my favourite nut.  At Christmas, when we had a bag of mixed nuts, I would be the one to eat all the hazelnuts in the bag.  And hazelnuts with chocolate - the best!  I remember when I was a kid and we were at the lake, my Mom showed me the wild hazelnut bushes, and we picked some.  I was amazed that we could grow them here.  :)

A few years ago, a group called Out of your Tree was formed in the city.  Its purpose is to make sure all fruit from local trees are harvested.  Many people have fruit trees in their yards but never pick the fruit themselves, which means that it falls to the ground and attracts wasps - a lose, lose situation.  There are also lots of fruit trees on city land, and usually they don't get picked either.  Probably people assume that you can't pick them because they are city trees.  Out of your Tree has done a lot of research, and discovered that it's permissible to harvest from city trees, which is great!  So through this site, and their facebook page, arrangements are made to pick city and personal trees - 1/3 goes to the owner of the tree (should they want it), 1/3 is donated, 1/3 is for the fruit picker.

I put a random post on the Out of your Tree facebook page indicating that I would be interested in any extra apricots or hazelnuts.  I was excited when someone responded saying that she would let me have some hazelnuts from the bush in her yard.  I assumed that I would be picking, but she had done the harvesting and handed me a small bag.



The hazelnuts are small, which I remembered from when I was a kid, so probably it's a bush of the wild variety.  One the left, you see what they look on the bush.  They are encased in a fuzzy covering which is easier to remove when the covering is dry.  One thing I'd forgotten was that the fuzzy covering is prickly, and sticks in your skin like tiny thorns.  Next time I would wear gloves when I peel the covering off.  The uncovered hazelnuts in shell are about 1/2" wide.  They need to dry a bit more, but when they are ready, I'll have to think of a special way to use them - definitely with chocolate.  Maybe hazelnut bark?