Is Recession Preparing a New Breed of Survivalist? [Survival Today

Yahoo ran an interesting article this morning indicating a rise in the number of survivalist communities cropping up around the country. I have been wondering myself how much of the recent energy crisis is causing people to do things like stockpile food and water, grow their own vegetables, etc. Could it be that there are many people out there stockpiling and their increased buying has caused food prices to increase? It’s an interesting theory, but I believe increased food prices have more to do with rising fuel prices as cost-to-market costs have increased and grocers are simply passing those increases along to the consumer. A recent stroll through the camping section of Wal-Mart did give me pause - what kinds of things are prudent to have on hand in the event of a worldwide shortage of food and/or fuel? Survivalist in Training

I’ve been interested in survival stories since I was a kid, which is funny considering I grew up in a city. Maybe that’s why the idea of living off the land appealed to me. My grandfather and I frequently took camping trips along the Blue Ridge Parkway and around the Smoky Mountains. Looking back, some of the best times we had were when we stayed at campgrounds without electricity hookups, because it forced us to use what we had to get by. My grandfather was well-prepared with a camp stove and lanterns (which ran off propane), and when the sun went to bed we usually did along with it. We played cards for entertainment, and in the absence of televisions, games, etc. we shared many great conversations. Survivalist in the Neighborhood

http://funny-about-money.com/2008/06/26/cheap-eats-easy-yummy-cabbage/

Cheap Eats: Easy, yummy cabbage
June 26, 2008

A couple of months ago, a commenter on one of the many PF blogs I read-believe it was The Simple Dollar-asked how you make cabbage. This elicited several recipes for boiled cabbage and hot dishes. All of these are delicious. But I didn’t see any that resembled my favorite. Here it is.

To make a side dish of two to four servings, you need:

1/2 head of cabbage (I happen to like red, but green is just as good)
1 apple
1/2 onion
about a tablespoon dill weed or dill seed
about 2 teaspoons fennel seed, or more, to taste
a little cumin, about ¼ to ½ teaspoon, to taste (optional)
a dash of cinnamon or nutmeg, if desired (highly optional)
a little dried or fresh thyme, if desired (optional)
small amount beef broth or water
splash of red or white wine, if available
dash of vinegar (add to taste)
Tabasco sauce (add to taste; very optional)
|salt and pepper to taste.
olive oil or butter
frying pan

Cut a head of cabbage in half. Put one half back in the refrigerator for future use. Take the other half and slice it thinly, crosswise, to create a “shredded” effect. Chop the onion coarsely. Cut the apple in quarters; cut out and discard the core. Chop the apple coarsely (no need to peel it, but you can if desired).

Skim the bottom of the pan with olive oil or melt a pat of butter in the pan. Place the chopped onion in the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, over medium-high heat. Cook the onion until softened. Personally, I like to turn the heat down to medium and allow the onion to cook until it’s slightly caramelized — this makes the onions nice and sweet.

When the onions are cooked to your taste, add the sliced-up cabbage. Stir this around to start softening it. Add the cut-up apple and the spices of your choice. Stir to mix well. As the cabbage gets to the point where it’s softening, add a little water or beef broth; if you have it, splash in a little wine. Turn the heat to low, cover the pan, and allow the cabbage to simmer gently until it is cooked to your taste. I prefer not to overcook mine; this takes about 20 minutes, but it can sit on the stove for a fair time without harm.

I like to grind the fennel, dill, and cumin seeds in a molcajete — a mortar & pestle — but this is not necessary. You can use ground cumin that comes in a jar or whole cumin seeds, if you choose to add cumin at all. As you can see by all the optional ingredients, this is a very forgiving dish. You can pretty much combine anything that makes you happy and still come out with a tasty product.

Last time I cooked cabbage — and took this picture right after adding the cabbage to the pan — I sliced the onions instead of chopping them. Onion rings are a little unwieldy for this dish. I think cutting the onion into chunks is better.

Just before serving, adjust the seasoning by adding a light splash of vinegar and a little salt and pepper. Taste it. Add more vinegar and, if desired, a few drops of hot sauce for zing.

Serve this with a mess of grilled sausages and some crispy French or Italian bread for a great summer meal. It’s also really good with roast, grilled, or fried chicken; awesome with roast pork or with grilled or fried pork chops; and good to eat on its own.

[LOL, to go with your sausage...]

http://funny-about-money.com/2009/03/

[Lots of money talk in this blog, for saving it]

Life in the Big City
March 12, 2009

Dang! Now I’m stuck in the house for an hour or so.
Burglar tools, 1875

Burglar tools, 1875

Thanks to a seemingly endless stream of missives from the neighborhood association warning of burglars who wait and watch on the street and then clean out your house when they see you leave on an errand, I’ve been checking all around before I drive my car out of the garage. At one point, our intrepid leader reported seven burglaries and prowlers caught in the act over a 15-day period—one every two days. Many of the perps arrive in pairs or groups; pretty clearly, some of this stuff represents organized gang activity. Others are singletons. The level of their determination to rip off the residents keeps step with the rise in the unemployment rate:

Neighbors,

I’ve received several emails and calls about an incident that occurred in the 8000 block of N 8th Ave today.

A 20-30 yr old Caucasian male approached two homes that we know of in the middle of the day. After ringing the doorbell and pounding loudly on the door but getting no answer, he attempted to drill thru the lock and pry open one of the doors. The homeowner was home but wisely chose not to answer the door for the stranger. When it became apparent he was attempting to break in, the homeowner yelled at the guy and he left.

I’m happy that he left and did not get into the house, but he’s still out there. Phoenix PD was called but the guy was long gone. They indicated they were aware of this guy and have been looking for him. We need to be especially watchful for this creep as it could be very dangerous if he gets into a house where the homeowners are home as he almost did today. If you see someone matching this description, call 911 immediately. You do not need to wait for him to do something. If he matches this description, call 911 immediately. If the dispatcher gives you any grief about it, tell them we’ve been told the police are looking for this guy and our Community Action Officer has asked us to call immediately.

The guy is 20-30 years old, white, about 5-10 inches, shaved head, dark, tightly trimmed goatee. His face was described as gaunt as you might expect a drug addict to appear. He arrived at the house on a red and black motorcycle, wearing a Yamaha motorcycle jacket and a helmet , carrying a backpack.

Be watchful, be safe, be quick.

{sigh}

Okayyy… Just a few minutes ago I gathered my junk to make a run on Costco, Sprouts, and Target. And what should I see parked about three doors down but an old beige Oldsmobile with someone sitting in the driver’s seat. Just a-sittin’ there, minding their own business, eh? Because I couldn’t see far enough to get the license plate from my front yard, I drove my van down there, wrote down the license number and car description, and then came back. The occupant had a shirt hung in the driver’s side window so I couldn’t get a good look at her. (Some of the perps of late have been women, BTW.) I wasn’t even sure it was a woman or a man in drag—the hairdo looked like a bad wig. It could have been a guy tricked out to look like a woman, by way of camouflage.

Damn it. I had a lot of stuff to do today, and I didn’t have in mind spending an hour or so waiting around for a cop to show up. That’s the usual wait time when you call 911 around here. Ohhh well.

In the protective coloration department, yesterday I realized that if I’m to continue shopping at the Sprouts, Costco, and Target in my general area, I shouldn’t be doddering around the parking lots with a purse slung over my shoulder. Since I charge everything, really there’s no reason to haul a bag around everyplace I go.

For a little old lady to carry a purse into the Sprouts or the Albertson’s shopping center down the street is like wearing a sign saying “Mug Me!” The Albertson’s is just creepy—I won’t go in there even in the daytime anymore. Sprouts’s parking lot is a bit sketchy, too. The Walgreen’s in that strip mall allows young toughs to loiter outside the front door, so when you go in there you have to run a gauntlet of threatening-looking men and boys, and you get to enjoy passing through a thick cloud of their cigarette smoke. They may be harmless fellows, but IMHO if you dress like a violent thug and affect the mannerisms of a violent thug, there’s a fair chance you are a violent thug.

continued....

http://funny-about-money.com/2009/03/

Alternative fabric softener and laundry de-static stuff
March 9, 2009

I’ve always disliked fabric softener, because it gums up the washer (or dryer, if it comes in the form of dryer sheets) and because IMHO it smells ungodly awful. I really, really, really dislike industrial-strength perfumes. Weirdly, I want my wash to smell clean, not like some chemist’s idea of what some vague consumer imagines stinks pretty. So, as you might surmise, I don’t keep any of the gunk on hand.

Cassie the Corgi, a furry little character, sleeps on the bed on top of two throws, laid over the blankets to collect her hair. And collect hair they do!

dcp_2393

Washing the doggy bedding often doesn’t get all the hair out. Then the throws get staticky in the washer, and the darned dog hair glues itself to the fabric. Sunday afternoon the throws were especially furry; two turns through the washer and dryer did nothing to remove the dog hair. Called La Maya to see if I could mooch a dryer sheet; no answer. The second-to-last thing I wanted to do was buy a package of fabric softener gunk that I’ll never use; last thing was to sleep with bedding that stinks of industrial chemicals. {gag!}

After much cerebration, the light finally dawned:

Hair conditioner works very much like fabric softener. One of the things it’s supposed to do is defuse static in your long, flowing locks. And because I buy the mildest-smelling hair products I can find, the stuff in my shower doesn’t stink!

So I poured about an eighth of a cup of Kirkland’s best into the washer with the doggy throws. And darned if it didn’t work! Between the washer and the dryer, almost all the magnetic dog hair rinsed or shook out.

Turns out I’m not the first to think of this. E-how recommends diluting hair conditioner 1:10 and using it just like fabric softener. Experience shows this is a good plan: dumping it in undiluted left some blobs on the throws, so I had to run them through the rinse cycle a second time.

Another site, Creative Homemaking, suggests working a tablespoon of hair conditioner into a damp washrag and tossing it into the dryer, just like a fabric softener sheet.

A third idea, which is all over the Web, proposes that the happy homemaker toss a wadded-up ball of aluminum foil into the dryer with the clothing. I could find only one person reporting that this didn’t work. I haven’t tried it, but I may in the future. Doesn’t look like it would do any harm, anyway. One possible problem with hair conditioner is that if fabric softener gums up your washer or your dryer, hair conditioner may do the same. Tinfoil presumably wouldn’t do that.

Posted in Household hints | 4 Comments »

Using coupons and how to get free food with coupons:

http://www.engineeradebtfreelife.com/search/label/free%20food

Ideas for saving on the food bill:

http://www.thedigeratilife.com/blog/index.php/2009/02/25/cheap-meals-easy-dinner-ideas-recession-dining-under-10-dollars/

Frugal ways, how to use and where to get coupons, printable on line coupons:

http://www.thedigeratilife.com/blog/index.php/category/frugality/

Save money tips:

http://www.engineeradebtfreelife.com/2009_03_01_archive.html

The Truth about using coupons and other good info, nice article:

http://www.artofthecoupon.com/truth-saving-money-coupons/

Good page of money articles, 1929 stock crash, open an e-Bay store, several others, also taxes:

http://www.thedigeratilife.com/blog/

She makes money with photography, a nice site, with food and other tips:

http://www.itsfrugalbeinggreen.com/2009/03/generating-passive-income-during-time.html

Wisdom From Wenchypoo’s Mental Wastebasket

Stuff I think you should know for now and in the future, but don’t always have the time (or know the place) to learn it. LEARN THIS: OBAMA IS USING OUR OWN MONEY AGAINST US!

Good articles, on money and depressions:

http://wenchwisdom.blogspot.com/2009/03/consumers-guide-to-functioning-in.html

Money:

http://funny-about-money.com/2009/02/

Free Sunflower seeds:

http://www.greatsunflower.org/

http://www.fowlvisions.com/?p=633

Raising Chickens–Homemade Plans–another Chicken Feeder
Carole on February 28th, 2009

Welcome to Fowl Visions! If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed to keep up with the latest on my chicken raising adventures and bird watching antics in Clay County Florida. Glad you made it here and hope you come back again!

I think about my life just five years earlier and raising chickens was not part of it. Today raising chickens in my backyard has become a way of life for me and I cannot imagine it any other way. Without a chicken backyard fun would not be the same.

Another part of the fun of having chickens is watching my husband create chicken feeders from his homemade plans. He is so creative and comes up with ideas for all kinds of substitutes to the standard poultry equipment you see in the stores. Today I will be sharing another one of his feeder plans.

PVC Chicken Feeder plans

PVC Chicken Feeder
Supplies:
6 inch PVC Pipe
Flower Pot Drain Base
4 Screws
Coffee Container Lid

Directions:
Cut pvc pipe depending on the size you want. The one pictured is 40 inch tall.
Drill 1 1/8 inch holes around the base of the pipe.
Attach flower pot base to pvc pipe with screws.
Cover top opening with coffee container lid (or whatever you choose). We buy the large 27.8oz containers of coffee and this fit the 6 inch pipe perfectly.

base of chicken feeder

Once the poultry feeder is complete I filled it with chicken feed and the chickens immediately started eating from it.
automatic poultry feeder
The beauty of this type of poultry feeder is that it works off of gravity flow. Meaning as the chickens eat the feed more pours out at the bottom. The same goes for the feeder that was created by Babbie. In essence I have an automatic feeder for my chickens. I have only filled it halfway thus far but plan on filling it to the top to see how many days it will go without refilling. The only thing I see that may happen is when filled to the top it may get top-heavy so there may be a need to have it secured with blocks or something to keep it from tumbling over.

I hope these latest chicken feeders I have shared with you help to get you started on your own homemade plans. If so, drop me a line or leave a comment and let others know how you serve up your chicken feed.

Tags: chicken feeder
Feeders & Waterers Subscribe to RSS feed

[A good and easy idea, but I want a wider base than that and a rock on the top so it does not fall over....granny]

http://www.itsfrugalbeinggreen.com/search/label/cooking

Saving money and several nice recipes:

Pasta Carbonara
A recipe from this week’s meal plan based on the Spaghetti Carbonara in Everyday Food: Great Food Fast, modified to use what I already had on hand and only require one pot for easy clean up.

6 slices of bacon, cut crosswise into strips
salt and pepper
1 package of pasta (approximately 1lb)
3 eggs
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup milk

Prepare pasta according to package. While the pasta is cooking, wisk together milk, eggs, and cheese in a small bowl. When the pasta is done, drain and cover the strainer with the lid to your pot to keep it warm. In the same pot you prepared the pasta, cook the bacon. Once the bacon is cooked, add the pasta back to the pot then pour the egg mixture on top and stir. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Steak with Lemon and Chili-roasted Potatoes

Here’s one of my recipes from this week’s meal plan. Adapted from Real Simple magazine. I’m making two servings with this recipe since I live alone, one for dinner tonight and one for lunch tomorrow.

2 russet potatoes cut into 1 inch chunks
1 scallion, sliced
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon chili powder
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon thyme
1 piece of steak (your choice of cut, I’m using top sirlon which was $3.99/lb at Costco)
1 lemon

Heat oven to 425F. Mix the potatoes, scallion, oil, chili powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and thyme in a medium bowl. Transfer to a roasting pan and cook, stirring once, until crisp and golden brown, about 40 minutes. Remove the potatoes from oven and transfer to individual plates (or reusable food storage containers). Switch the oven to broiler mode. Season the steak with salt and pepper. Put on the same roasting pan you used for the potatoes. Broil the steak to the desired doneness, top sirlion takes about 10 minutes per side for medium-rare which is the way I like it. Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes (this will make it so the juices don’t run out when you cut it). Cut the steak in half (since we’re doing 2 servings). Serve with potatoes and lemon wedges.

Featured in the Make it from Scratch Carnival at I’ve Got A Little Space to Fill.

I do like this blog:

http://www.fowlvisions.com/

Ten Things I Have Learned from My Chickens
Carole on March 11th, 2009
Raising Chickens Fowl Visions

Raising Chickens Fowl Visions

I’m sure we can all name one thing we have learned from our chickens. Well I ran across this post from Gardening 4 Life blog where the owner told the Top 10 Things I’ve Learned From My Chickens.

When I read the post it made me sit back and think about what my chickens have taught me. I have alot of the same as Gardening 4 Life but I thought of a few different ones so I will post my top 10.
10 Things I’ve Learned From My Chickens

1. Chickens don’t need water to take a bath. They take dust baths.
2. Chickens have a pecking order. If you have raised chickens anytime at all you will know that there is always a dominate hen or rooster in the flock and they make it known by pecking on the others to let them know who is in charge.
3. Hens are noisy. When I first started raising chickens I thought that chickens were fairly quiet animals but I quickly learned that it doesn’t take much to set off a flock of chickens. Most of the time it is due to one of the hens laying an egg but sometimes the reason for the commotion is never discovered.
4. They eat just about anything. Today it was the pipe wrap on the water hydrant; who knows what it will be tomorrow.
5. Chickens are cannibals. If one bird has a bald spot on it anywhere then the chicken should beware because the others will spot it and peck on the poor bird until blood is drawn. This is a strange behavior that I do not understand.
6. Chickens make great pets. They are easy to keep, easy to feed, and entertain themselves but are also social creatures. They like to be in company with others; no matter if it is people or other chickens.
7. You cannot have just one chicken. Why? Because they are addicting! Kind of like M&M’s, you can’t just have one. The more chickens you have the more entertaining they are.
8. Chickens are like people, each have their own personalities. Some are friendly, some are aloof, and some are down right mean. The mean ones are the ones that go to auction.
9. Don’t leave an egg laying around or it may get eaten or sat upon by a broody hen. Remember chickens will peck anything and that includes their eggs.
10. Don’t mess with a broody hen. If the broody hen does set on the eggs, then beware of the broody hen! She will guard the eggs and set until the appropriate time when cute little chicks hatch. Do not disturb her or you are likely to get pecked. After the chicks are born she is worse.

You know I could go on. Chickens have taught me so much and I mean that for real. I am in my middle ages and have not enjoyed animals as much as I do my chickens. Entertaining is not the word. I enjoy the sounds they make as I approach, the roosters crowing in the morning, raising baby chicks and hearing them chirp, the hens following me as I head to the feed cans, watching the roosters as they try to maintain or gain dominance in the barnyard, and so much more. I did forget the main reason for having chickens was eggs originally. I guess that is because with 52 chickens on my place right now I am getting about 6 per day. That should change soon since my sex links just turned 5-months-old. Anyway, I love raising chickens!

There is a neat homemade waterer on this page for a cage of babies.....granny

Essentials of Hatching Eggs
Carole on March 5th, 2009

Just so everyone is aware, everything I write about here is dealing with chicken eggs. It takes approximately 21 days from beginning of incubation to hatch for a chicken egg; it is different for other fowl. If you are unsure of the time factor, please check other sources.

It’s almost that time again—more eggs are due to hatch in a couple of days. The end result is the biggest benefit of hatching eggs at home but the in between time is sometimes not as easy as some would have you believe.

This will be my third try for this year since receiving my incubator for Christmas. The results from my first attempt was two biddies, a boy and a girl, where I was able to show you how to sex baby chickens. Two out of eight was not very good with a 25% hatch rate. My second attempt had a 100% hatch rate with all six eggs hatching so I can continue raising baby chickens.

At present I have nine eggs in the incubator, starting with 15. The beginning phase of hatching eggs is easy, especially in the type of incubator I have. Mine is a still air incubator (manual rotation) so it has air holes in the top. In the beginning you start with one air hole open and fill only two of the four troughs with water. If you have never incubated eggs before you will find that the temperature and humidity in the environment that the incubator is kept affects the process. Some of you may disagree but these are the standards I use to incubate eggs: humidity level at 40% until day 18 and then bumped up to 60-70% the remainder of the process, temperature striving to maintain 99.5F but varies a degree or two either way. The second air hole is opened up on day 18 and the rotation of egg stops.

I find the humidity is the hardest part of the process. With this being winter and the heater running, the humidity in the house is low and it causes it to be low in the incubator. I keep a hydrometer and temperature gauge in my incubator so I am aware of what is happening in the confined space. I add a water-saturated wash cloth to the incubator at the beginning of the process and I still have a problem keeping it at 40%.

Now I am on day 19 and trying to get the humidity level to 60% is almost impossible. One of the baby chickens in the eggs has started chirping so it tells me they are still able to live but it is necessary to get the level of humidity up to ensure they have enough moisture to hatch out. I have added dampened paper towels and this helps but it is still not to the level I would like. I read on a forum that someone said to spritz the eggs with 100 degree water. Well I actually doused them good because when I went to add more water to the troughs I spilled the water on accident inside of the incubator. This is probably good because the humidity level has increased.

For those of you who are hatching eggs for the first time, watch your humidity closely. This is a key factor in making sure you have a successful hatch. When I tried hatching with a homemade incubator (the electric skillet), I believe this was the cause of my failure. I did not measure the temperatures or the humidity. Can you imagine what the temperature must have been out in the garage during the summer?

I have learned during my trials of trying to hatch my own eggs and the most important fact has been the necessity of keeping a close watch on temperature and humidity levels. These will determine whether you are successful or not when hatching eggs.

Stay tuned, come this weekend I will be sharing my latest additions to my ever-growing flock of chickens.

[Give her an A+ for the efforts she is putting into this..granny]

http://www.pennyjobs.com/pp/public/Articles.aspx?aid=314

The Frugal Live For Recessions
By: Curtis Ophoven
3/4/2009 - 4 Comments

Recessions highlight the advantaged of being frugal and living a frugal lifestyle.

During a recession, the frugal are vindicated of their ways which often times seem contrary to cultures norms.

Recessions show just how important it is to be financially independent and a frugal lifestyle is the primary means to achieve financial independence.

If you are a frugal person, recessions are your natural environment. Like a fish in water.

Recessions also alter the difference between frugal and cheap, which is usually defined by your social environment.

Frugal is being wise with your money and not wasting it on things of little value. Cheap is the perception that other people have of you when they feel that you are not paying enough or they feel that you are burdening them with your financial obligations.

The perception of being cheap is usually determined by your friends and family. But during a recession, family and friends are more willing to accept money saving ideas. This means that the frugal are more accepted and the cheap can finally get away with being cheap.

The Frugal Live For Recessions

During a recession, the frugal get to toot their own horn, telling everyone about their frugal lifestyle; because it’s the only time anyone is interested.

The frugal get a change to show the world the wisdom of their ways. They write books, blogs, get on TV and radio programs. They shine like the only ones that saw the recession coming – whether they saw anything coming or not.

Most frugal people are frugal by nature. If you give a frugal person a million dollars, they are unlikely to change their ways. They are programmed to be frugal. Frugality can be learned, but it is much more effective if it is natural.

Most people will spend as much money as they can get their hands on and that is exactly why an infinite expansion of credit can only lead to an infinite amount of debt (which is the current direction of our nation).

The Frugal Revolution

There are not enough frugal people to go around, to share, to lean on in this recession because many of them have been converted to consumers in the last 40 years of unabated credit expansion. The few frugal people that are left in our society are now in great demand to teach everyone else how to live within their income – or even close to it.

The stability of the US economy has also reduced the need for frugality, causing many natural frugal people to not teach their kids how to be frugal.

Nevertheless, the frugal are gaining momentum, as consumer confidence is at a record low for several months. The frugal are growing in numbers as people that have lost a lot of money or their homes or their jobs, are converting at record numbers.

Converting to a frugal lifestyle is not an easy task. The conversion process includes life altering decisions that are very hard to make and even more difficult to maintain. But the frugal are already living the lifestyle that everyone else is trying to convert to.

Being frugal is much easier in times of recession than in times or prosperity, which is why the frugal live for recessions.

The Courage of the Frugal

The government is unsupportive of frugality because it lowers the amount of money people spend, which lowers the tax revenue they receive and ultimately lowers the amount of money they can spend on government programs.

The government is determined to keep the frugal out of play, minimizing their influence with the promotion of more unabated spending and credit expansion.

All the while, a frugal lifestyle is one of the best solutions to a recession and perhaps the most patriotic thing to do. The frugal are the last to ask for bailouts or handouts or government jobs or any type of government help. The frugal have the courage to face the recession. The courage that the government leaders cannot seem to find.

The frugal are the only ones that seem to understand that debt is something to avoid, not embrace.

http://mission-food.blogspot.com/2009/03/bees-knees.html

The Bee’s Knees

Honey. It’s the single reason I don’t want to plan a mass attack on the entire bee population. That and, oh yeah, pollination. Honey serves many purposes, other than being delicious (which is obviously its main purpose). Unlike sugar, it contains antioxidants and vitamins, is unrefined and natural. It’s also lower in calories and won’t raise your blood sugar as quickly! It’s perfect for sore throats and oh so delicious in your tea.

There are so many places you can use honey in your life that you may have never even considered. Try replacing jelly with honey for a peanut butter and honey sandwich. Your life will change forever. You can easily substitute honey for sugar in lots of recipes when baking. Here’s how:

1. Use equal amounts of honey for sugar up to one cup. Over one cup, replace each cup of sugar with 2/3 to 3/4 cup of honey depending upon the sweetness desired (honey is actually sweeter than sugar).

2. Since products with honey brown faster, lower the baking temperature 25 degrees and watch your time carefully.

3. In recipes using more than one cup honey for sugar, it may be necessary to reduce other liquids by 1/4 cup per cup of honey.

4. In baked goods, add 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda per cup of honey if baking soda is not already included in the recipe. This will reduce the acidity of the honey, as well as increase the volume of your product.

Finally, here’s something you’ve probably never tried. Honey ice cream! If you love honey like I do, this will become a popular recipe, since it’s not something you can commonly find at supermarkets and ice cream shops. It’s really worth investing in an ice cream maker if you don’t already have one. You can buy one for about $50 (this is the one I have) and once you’ve tried homemade ice cream you won’t go back!

Honey Granola Ice Cream
Makes about 1 quart

1/2 cup mild honey (I used wildflower honey, but you can try clover, orange blossom, etc. Each will contribute a unique flavor)
6 large egg yolks
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup granola

In a medium mixing bowl, beat the honey with the egg yolks until thickened and pale yellow. Set aside.

Bring the milk to a simmer (but not boil) in a heavy medium saucepan. Slowly beat the hot milk into the eggs and honey. Pour the mixture back into the pan and place over low heat. Whisk constantly until the custard thickens slightly, making sure it doesn’t come to a boil or else the eggs will scramble. Remove from the heat and pour the hot honey custard through a strainer into a large clean bowl or measuring cup (this will make it easier to pour later). Let the custard cool slightly, then stir in the cream and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate until cold or overnight.

Stir the chilled custard, then freeze in 1 or 2 batches in your ice cream machine. When the ice cream is semi-frozen (about 5 minutes before you plan to turn it off), add 1 cup of granola to the machine and allow it to mix into the ice cream. When finished, the ice cream will be soft, but ready to eat. For firmer ice cream transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze at least 2 hours.

Keep in mind that smaller bits of granola (you know, those oats that have strayed from the pack) will not stay as crunchy in the ice cream after the first day (but it will still taste delicious). You can either use slightly bigger clumps of granola or just eat all of it in one day!! Viva la honey :o)

Posted by Victoria Kabakian

2 comments:

http://mission-food.blogspot.com/search/label/baking

“You Think I’m Fruity, Huh?”

Ah, Psycho. You may remember the quote above from this classic Hitchcock film, and one of my favorites of all time. This fruit tart is one of my favorite desserts of all time as well, and so simple to put together! You can use almost any soft fruits or berries you enjoy (harder fruits like apples wouldn’t work here). Give it a try! You’ll stop buying tarts from bakeries, I’ll promise you that.

Fresh Fruit Tart
8 to 12 servings

1 fully baked and cooled tart shell (see below)
2 1/2 cups pastry cream (see below)
2-4 cups fruit, sliced or whole depending on type
3 T. apricot jam as glaze or honey to drizzle

Spoon pastry filling into prepared tart shell about three-fourths full. You may not use all of the pastry cream. Set aside the leftovers, or use them to fill extra tartlet shells if using (see below). Smooth out the cream, and decoratively top with the fruit.

In a small saucepan, heat the apricot jam over low heat until it liquefies, then strain it to remove any solid bits of fruit. Brush the glaze over the fruit. Alternatively, instead of glazing with jam, drizzle a little honey over the tart. This will give it a slightly more rustic look and a hint of that delicious honey flavor. Eat the tart right away or refrigerate for up to 2 days. Any longer than that and the cream will eventually soften the tart shell. Serve it cool.

Sweet Tart Shell
Makes 2 9-inch tart shells (you will only need 1 for this tart, so freeze the rest of the dough or double the recipe)

1/2 cup plus 1 T. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugar, and salt together on medium speed until smooth. Mix in the egg and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the flour and mix on low speed until incorporated.

On a lightly floured surface, diving the dough into 2 equal balls and shape each into a disk 1/2 inch thick. Wrap well in plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours or overnight. This dough can also be frozen in a freezer bag for and later defrosted in the fridge the night before use. The dough will keep well frozen for a few weeks.

Place a disk of dough on a lightly floured surface and roll out 1/8 inch thick, rolling from center to edge in all directions. Lift and rotate the dough occasionally, to make sure it doesn’t stick to the board. Add more flour if necessary. Work quickly to keep the dough as cold as possible throughout this process. Lightly wrap the dough circle over the rolling pin and carefully unroll it over a 9-inch tart pan. When the dough has been lightly pressed into the proper shape, use the rolling pin to roll over all the metal edges, thus cutting the overhanging dough perfectly. Do not stretch the dough into the pan or else it will shrink when baking. If the dough tears at all, patch it with leftover bits of dough, pressing firmly. This is a very forgiving dough, unlike some others.

If you happen to have small tartlet pans on hand and would like to use the excess dough to make a few extra tartlets, roll out the scraps and follow the same process to line as many tartlet pans as you can with the remaining dough.

Place the tart pan and tartlet pans into the fridge for about 15 minutes or until firm.

Preheat the over to 325 degrees F.

Prick the insides of the shells with a fork, and place them in the oven for about 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool completely on wire racks until ready to use. These baked shells will keep, well wrapped, in the refrigerator for 1 week, or in the freezer for 2 weeks.

Pastry Cream
Makes 2 1/2 cups

2 cups milk (I use low-fat milk and it always turns out great)
1 tsp. vanilla extract (don’t use imitation, it sucks)
1/4 tsp. salt
3 T. cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 T. unsalted butter

Pour the milk, vanilla extract, and salt into a heavy saucepan and heat over medium-high, bringing the milk just to under a boil, stirring occasionally so the milk doesn’t burn to the bottom of the pan.

Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl whisk together the eggs, sugar and cornstarch.

When the milk is ready, slowly ladle about one-third into the eggs, whisking constantly. Pour the egg mixture back into the hot milk and continue whisking over medium heat until the custard is noticably thicker, about 2 minutes.
To check the correct thickness of the cream, dip a wooden spoon into the custard, remove it and run your finger across it. It should leave a line where your finger crossed. When the custard is thick enough, remove it from the heat and strain it into a clean bowl.

Let cool for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cut the butter into 1 T. pieces and whisk the butter into the cream, one piece at a time. To cool the cream, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and press the wrap directly onto the top of the cream. Once the cream is a little cooler, put it into the fridge to finish cooling. Pastry cream will keep in the refrigerator for 5 days.
Posted by Victoria Kabakian

http://mission-food.blogspot.com/2009/03/tastes-like-chicken.html

Tastes Like Chicken

Last night I was trying to decide what to do with a package of chicken that would be a delicious and un-boring dinner. There are a million things you can do with a chicken. It’s probably the most versatile meat around. Still, we get set in our ways, and generally will choose between the same hand full of recipes every time. I decided to make a simple and juicy Chicken Milanese complimented with my absolute favorite Pomodoro sauce (adapted from Al Forno’s version), which is excellent on everything! I’ve used it on pasta and even on pizzas and it is so much better than jarred sauces. It’s thicker than marinara and is very easy to make. Definitely try the sauce on it’s own, even if you don’t want to make chicken or don’t eat meat. Like I said, it all started out served over pasta! Also, the sauce freezes well, so I usually will make a large batch and then freeze it in individual containers for whenever I need some sauce. Chicken Milanese isn’t traditionally served with tomatoes, but it can be, and is also sometimes served topped with fresh arugula. To be honest, I rarely measure ingredients for dishes like this. When breading chicken, use your judgment. If you need more bread crumbs, add more, and so on. Here is my take on Chicken Milanese...

Chicken Milanese with Pomodoro Sauce
Serves 6

6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 cup flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
3 eggs, beaten with a little water
1 1/2 cups dried bread crumbs
Olive oil and/or butter for frying
Pomodoro Sauce (see below)

Place each chicken breast one at a time between plastic wrap and use the flat side of a meat mallet (or the bottom of a bottle if you don’t have one) to pound the chicken breasts to about 1/4 inch thickness (the chicken will be very flat and large). Arrange a breading station with large shallow bowls or other containers side by side as so: seasoned flour, eggs, then bread crumbs. One by one, dredge each chicken breast on both sides with flour, then eggs, making sure to drain off most of the egg, then in bread crumbs and set aside.

When all the dredging is complete, heat up 1-2 T of olive oil and/or butter in a large saute pan over medium heat. Olive oil has a high burning temperature, so only fry with it if your meat is thin enough to cook through before the crust starts to burn. Never deep fry in olive oil. Your food will burn. Butter has a lower burning temperature, so feel free to use half olive oil and half butter to achieve the flavor of the oil and the burning temperature of the butter when cooking your chicken. If you hate both options, use vegetable oil and I won’t tell anyone you did.

Add one or two breasts to the pan at a time, alternating their positions and flipping them over to ensure even cooking (since the pan is heated more in the center, the outer edges of the chicken won’t brown or cook through as quickly, thus it is best to flip flop outside to inside once before flipping over, especially if you are using a large pan). Cook through on both sides, adjusting the heat as necessary so the chicken cooks through without burning the crust.

Remove the chicken to a paper towel-lined tray and set aside until all the chicken is cooked. Serve chicken topped with a generous spoonful of pomodoro sauce.

The Best Pomodoro Sauce You Will Ever Have
Makes about 5 to 6 cups

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 T minced fresh garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup water
3 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes, with their juices

Heat the olive oil, garlic, and salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring often. Keep a close watch and adjust the heat if necessary because you want the garlic to slowly turn from opaque white to slightly translucent golden without browning. As soon as the garlic is lightly golden, immediately add the wine and water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the garlic is soft and has taken on a nutty color, and the liquid as reduced by half.

Add the tomatoes and bring to a boil. Use a potato masher to lightly break apart some of the tomatoes. The sauce will still be chunky, but this will help some of the tomatoes break down a bit and thicken the sauce. Lower the heat and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, for about 45 minutes to 1 hour, or as long as it takes for most of the liquid to evaporate and the sauce to thicken nicely. Yum!!
Posted by Victoria Kabakian

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