Starting with Sourdough

Sourdough Starter

I've had limited success with sourdough in the past. Recently a colleague shared starter with me, and I've finally had some delightful baked goods! 

I've tried to start my own sourdough, and if you can find someone who has some, I think it is easier to start from already active starter. Sourdough bread is also called friendship bread because the starter is shared among friends. I’ve  seen free starter online on Facebook Marketplace, if you don’t know someone with starter.

You can tell if the sourdough starter is good by looking at the container and seeing if it bubbles. Good starter will be very bubbly and will raise about double what it started when you feed it. Your water needs to be at room temperature and filtered. Chlorine seems to have a negative effect on the starter.

Feeding the starter

To feed the sourdough you need to use equal parts of flour water and starter. A typical starter would use a half cup of flour, water, and starter. You can do larger quantities-I prefer a cup measure of all three.

Take the starter that you would normally discard and put it in a new jar and feed it. This is how you would go about sharing it with someone.

If you keep your sourdough starter in the refrigerator, it needs to be fed once a week. I pick a day I know I will be available and make that my sourdough starter day. If you leave it on the counter, it needs to be fed daily. The decision to keep it in the fridge or on the counter depends on how much sourdough baking you plan to do. If you’re baking with the sourdough starter in the refrigerator, you need to let it sit out overnight to warm up and be ready to go when you want to bake.

Because you discard starter that you don’t need when you are feeding it, you can use what you pour often in your baking. If you’re not baking, you can compost the sourdough starter. Rather than just throwing it in the trash or down the drain, this is a great use of your discards.

Sourdough at Altitude

High-altitude baking makes it a bit more challenging. Use a scale to measure the amount in grams so that it is exact. Different flours can have different weights, so using a scale makes it easier to compensate for that. I am less careful when I’m at sea level as the starter and breads are less sensitive. I generally measure without weighing and it seems to be fine.

I also have found that using Hungarian Flour for high-altitude baking makes a lot of difference in the success you will have when making sourdough breads and other sourdough recipes. Make certain that if you are using a scale to account for the weight of your container. I typically use an empty container and use the tare button on my scale to 0 to eliminate the weight of the container.  

Baking with Sourdough 

The excess starter you pour off when you’re feeding your starter is used in baking. There are many sourdough recipes available online. I’ve tried a few and had some good success. I have made chocolate chip muffins, cookies, pancakes, dinner rolls, crackers and tradition bread.

At altitude, I find that you need to add some extra water to recipes, generally 1 to 2 tablespoons. This was especially true for the bread machine bread because my first attempt was very dry.

That’s the basics of working with sourdough. Be watching for future posts where I’ll share some of the recipes that I’ve made with good success.

Gardening Success!

Ok, I admit that my gardening successes have been mixed. But this year the harvest is bountiful!

So, what is the difference? I have a community garden plot, and one of the best things about it - compost and scheduled drip watering. 

The other great thing about a community plot is knowledgeable neighbors. I've learned this year that keeping tomatoes on the vine when you harvest, rather than plucking them, keeps them fresh longer. I also learned that you should harvest green beans at night so they have the cooler overnight weather to recover. Japaese beetles, I discovered, are the bane of the garden and hard to control organically. 

This was my first gardening year in Colorado. I was a little nervous about organic gardening, which I've never done, and being in a new locale. I was worried I'd have the worst plot in the garden.

At the beginning of the season, we had a load of compost we could put on our raised garden beds. My husband and I found some straw on Facebook Marketplace from an owner of an urban chicken coop. We put the straw on heavily to keep weeds at bay.

Here's the result - a  bountiful harvest!

    

Garden Delight - Cucumer Dill Salad

 It's harvest time in the garden and the cucumbers are doing well this year. The dill is also growing like crazy - so that means cucumber dill salad.

This recipe is an adaptation of one from Epicurean magazine. 

Ingredients

1/2 red onion thinly sliced and halved

1 cucumber peeled and sliced

1/8 c. rice vinegar

1 Tbs. honey

1 Tbs. whole grain mustard

1/4 c. mayonnaise

3 Tbs. half & half

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1 Tbs. minced fresh dill

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Prepare onion and cucumber. Mix rice vinegar, honey and mustard along with salt and pepper in a small bowl. Add onion and mix. Let set 30 min. to pickle onion.

In another small bowl, combine mayonnaise, half & half, garlic powder, dill and salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly. 

Toss cucumbers with pickled red onions and pour dill dressing mixture over and mix well. Chill until ready to serve. 

Dollar Tree Trays Become Door Decor

Dollar stores can be a great source for crafting. One of my favorite projects that can be adapted for any holiday uses metal serving trays from Dollar Tree. You can use any shape, just make sure you get the metal trays.

Paint the entire tray gray with acrylic paint. Once it is dry, paint the center of the tray with chalkboard paint. I use some black paint to "age" the gray rim. If you want a more contemporary look, you could skip the gray paint and leave it as is. 

Next, glue leaves or flowers to the bottom portion of the tray. This can be done with tacky glue or a glue gun. Using chalk, write your message on the chalkboard center. You can also use a chalk writer if you want a more permanent message. 

Make a bow using wired ribbon and attach it to the top with glue. Attach a magnetic clip to the back of the tray for a hanger. 

If you want to hang the tray on an outside door, you can spray the tray with acrylic spray after you write a message and before you attach the flowers and bow. You can also sand or prime the tray before painting for more durable outdoor use. I've hung the trays on an exterior door without doing this step, and they've been fine. However, I think the acrylic might be a good idea in the event of inclement weather. The total cost is less than $10 per tray. These could be done just as easily for any other holiday or with any other message. 

I've Joined the Instant Pot Fan Club

My kids and several friends have been touting the Instant Pot pressure cookers to me. I, however, was reticent remember the scary pressure cooker my mom had. It blew lentil soup all over our kitchen, and the green geyser was something that I still haven't forgotten 40 years later. We found lentils for years in the kitchen, and the ceiling required repainting after the steamy explosion.

So you can understand my reticence to revisit the pressure cooker. But after assurances that the new models had plenty of safety features to prevent geysers, I broke down and got one.

Ten-Bean Soup

After thoroughly reading my instructions, I decided to try a bean soup. These always take forever with traditional cooking methods. I got the 10-bean soup from the Denver's Women's Bean Project. This is a great soup and a great non-profit. If you've never heard of them, I encourage you to check out their products and their mission.

Women's Bean Project 10-Bean Soup

I did pre-soak the beans, although that wasn't necessary with the pressure cooker. I like my beans soft, so I took the time to get them ready. I followed the recipe for the soup and the cooking recommendations. The normal 2.5 hour cook time was reduced to 40 minutes. I didn't saute anything, just put it all in the pot. I will say releasing the pressure the first time is a little startling, but the geyser of steam was clean and safe.

Then the end result was delicious, so I decided to try a second dish (maybe the first was a fluke). This time I used the Mealthy App for the iPhone. It has healthy recipes for Instant Pots and other cooking methods. The best part is that it links to your Instacart to purchase everything you need for your recipe. So it makes it almost as convenient as the meal delivery services. I don't have the proprietary Mealthy Instant Pot, but you don't have to use it to take advantage of the app.

Teriyaki Chicken Wings

Next, I tried the Mealthy recipe for teriyaki chicken wings. The person who developed this recipe must have previous Asian cooking experience because the wings were amazing. I think they may be the best teriyaki wings that I've ever tasted. They were fast, easy and actually had sufficient sauce (a common complaint about restaurant or frozen wings). 

Teriyaki Chicken Wings

Chicken Wild Rice Soup

Finally, I followed another Mealthy recipe, sauteeing my vegetables, and then I combined the remaining ingredients. The one-pot potential for Instant Pot recipes is a major selling point. This soup is not a low-fat meal since it has cream cheese and half-and-half in it, but at least the rest of it is good for you. I wound up doubling the cooking time to 10 minutes since the rice seemed a bit al dente for my tastes. The end result was fast and wonderful. I was beginning to appreciate the rave reviews for Instant Pot cooking.

Chicken Wild Rice Soup

I will continue to explore the new pressure cooking. I like the improved technology and the available apps. I certainly enjoy the shortened cooking time, and so far I've been pleased with the end results. 

So, if you are a more seasoned cook and remember the old pressure cookers with their spinning knobs, the new pressure cookers have little similarity. If you haven't tried one, they seem to be worth the investment if you like to cook, but have little time for cooking and cleanup. And so far, I've had no green geysers!

Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday?

We never celebrated Mardi Gras as a kid. We called it Shrove Tuesday (one of several names for the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday). My mother always made pancakes to honor the day. Pancakes were initially served to use up the milk, flour and eggs before the fasting time of Lent.

Shrove was originally "shrive," which means to be penitent, and seek forgiveness before Lent's start on Ash Wednesday.

Mardis Gras or "Fat Tuesday" is the same day, but has a much more festive tone. It is the last day to party and celebrates before the somber, fasting, penitent 40-days of Lent.

I was first introduced to Mardi Gras when we were stationed in Shreveport, LA. The "carnival season" runs from Epiphany to Fat Tuesday. The dates vary depending on when Easter is celebrated that year. You've probably seen the parades in New Orleans, but there are Mardi Gras parades across the globe. Beads and plastic coins called doubloons are thrown from floats. There are balls and parties throughout the season. The events are sponsored by krewes, which are organizations that sponsor balls, parade floats and events during the carnival season.

While we are often in areas where Mardi Gras is not celebrated, we keep the tradition alive in our family by enjoying King Cake, a tradition of Mardi Gras. The cake is bread dough (in various flavors and fillings) formed into a circle. The cake is frosted and sugared with the colors of Mardi Gras, purple, green and gold.

The Mardi Gras color tradition is more than 100 years old. They were selected by the Rex Krewe in New Orleans. According to Mardi Gras New Orleans, Rex selected the official Mardi Gras colors in 1872. The 1872 Rex Parade theme Symbolism of Colors gave meaning to the colors. Purple Represents Justice. Green Represents Faith. And Gold Represents Power. 

The cake contains a baby that represents Jesus the King. The person who gets the piece with the baby is supposed to bring the King Cake to the next year's party. So the cake colors and tradition have their roots in Christianity.

Whether you enjoy pancakes, King Cake or just raise a glass, enjoy the celebration, which is rich in symbolism, history and good old fashioned fun.

Cookie Exchanges

This year marked the 7th annual cookie exchange at my house. One of my children thought I came up with the idea for such an event, but the idea of a cookie swap or exchange began long before I was born.

According to “The Food Timeline” the tradition began in WWWI as a fundraiser. The concept took off during the 1960s as a social event during the holidays.

The best known exchange is the Wellesley Cookie Exchange, which began in 1971 in Wellesley, Massachusetts. It became famous for the cookbook it spawned, “The Wellesley Cookie Exchange Cookbook” written by Susan Mahnke Peery in 1981.

The 2018 Cookie Exchange had our largest attendance to date.

Hosting an Exchange

Why have an exchange?

There are many reasons to host an exchange. The primary one is that you can make one batch of cookies and leave with an assortment of holiday treats. It is an easy party to organize. I found that the exchange rarely takes more than a half hour. I added a social hour prior to the exchange with a simple meal of soup and sandwiches and some adult beverages. It allows latecomers to make the exchange portion of the evening and makes the exchange more of a holiday social event. For me, it makes me get my house clean and decorated, so my home is ready for the holidays.

How many cookies are needed?

My exchange is fairly relaxed. I don’t specify the number of cookies to bring. Everyone is just asked to bring whatever one recipe makes. Some exchanges require a certain number of dozen. I’ve never not had enough cookies and candy with their system, but if you’re nervous, specify a specific amount.

Should you share recipes?

The first few years I asked people to bring their recipes. Some forgot, some brought only one copy, so I had to scan and make copies. Many recipes were left behind for me to recycle. I finally gave up this traditional cookie swap practice. The idea of a cookie exchange is to make one recipe at which you excel and then get everyone else’s best cookies. The idea of recreating their recipe is something a person motivated to atttend an exchange, probably will never make. Now, if someone want to bring their recipe, they are welcome to do so, but I no longer ask attendees to do so.

How do you handle the exchange?

I purchase paper trays for each attendee to assemble his/her assortment. I buy holiday ones at Hobby Lobby or you could get plain ones in a seasonal color. I provide food service gloves for each participant to use. The cookies are placed on my dining room table with all the chairs removed so we can walk easily around the table. I place a few stickers on the bottom of a couple of the trays and use this to give out door prizes. It adds a bit to the fun, and is a way to thank guests for their work.

We then walk around the table taking 2-3 cookies from each plate. We continue around the table in this manner until all the cookies and candies are gone. Everyone is instructed to take what they need for their size family. I always make a couple of extra batches of cookies or candy so that we can assemble a couple of cookie plates for shut-in members of our church. I have never had a problem with someone taking too many and others not having enough. It seems to work out fine this way and people take as they need.

After we have our filled trays, I provide Press N Seal to cover the trays for transport home. Usually people hang around and socialize for awhile after the official exchange is over, and those with pressing schedules are free to leave with their cookies.

The cookie exchange is such a time saver for busy families who don’t have time to make 16 differ types of cookies and candies at the holidays. If you haven’t tried one, I encourage you to attend or sponsor one. It is a wonderful time to celebrate and save time during the holidays.

Tomato Tips

Tomatoes, the red jewel of cooking, makes so many dishes taste great. Cooking and growing tomatoes can be as challenging as arguing whether the juicy red treat is a fruit or a vegetable.
Here are some tips to streamline your future tomato time.

Growing Tomatoes

After many disappointing seasons of low producing tomato plants, I finally learned the secret to tomato filled vines -- pollination. All those blooms that never produced tomatoes just never were pollinated. With the reduction in bees and other insects within my suburban yard, the chance for the stray insect to find my tomato blooms at just the right moment is slim. So I took over bee-duties. I purchased a tool for the purpose, but a cotton swab or electric toothbrush would also work.

The results?  Nearly every bloom now becomes a tomato. In fact, I have to be selective so that I don't overload fragile vines. So if you want more tomatoes, be the bee.

Peeling Tomatoes

Peeling the taut-skinned gems can be an exercise in frustration. There is an easy way to separate the skin from the fruit (or vegetable). All it takes is a little boiling water.

Place raw tomatoes in boiling water. Once the skin cracks, remove the tomatoes and run under cold water until the tomato cools enough to handle. Now the skin will slide off easily by hand, leaving the bulk of the tomato intact.

Seasoning Tomatoes

Tomatoes are a highly acidic fruit (or vegetable depending on your side of the argument) which can cause problems for those with sensitive digestive problems. Fresh tomatoes seem to be more problematic than canned ones.

So how do you deal with the acidity? The answer is -- sugar. A tablespoon or two (to taste) will cut the acidity of spaghetti sauces, soups and dips. It will provide a smoother, more digestible flavor.

Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine and the tomatoes go down.

Packing for Summer Trips

Summer vacation

It's summer and that means summer vacation (at least we all hope we get one). Trying to get ready for the trip can be exhausting. Having a good packing list for each person can eliminate forgotten items and allow children to get their own bags ready.

Let the kids pack

Once our children were old enough to read and follow a checklist (usually around 8) we allowed them to pack their own bags. It saves some stress for the parents and instills responsibility in the child. It teaches them important planning and organizational skills. Doing everything for your children may be easier at times, but allowing them to succeed (and fail) provides lifelong learning that you need to facilitate.

Don't sweat the small stuff

I get panicked because we forgot something. My much more level-headed husband has a much saner approach. He says, "There is always Wal-Mart," which is true. If you forget something, you can always find a store close that will carry what you forgot. It might not be just the same as what you had, but learning to be flexible is another good lesson for children. Also, learning to live without or living with the consequences of your actions (forgetting something) is also a needed coping skill in adulthood.

So next time you are tempted to pack for the family - let them do it themselves. It provides great learning opportunities and takes some of the stress off of you.

Sample Packing Lists 

Child’s List	Number Needed	Check
Blanket and pillow
Pajamas
Underwear
Socks
Shoes
Play Outfit
Dress Outfit, socks, shoes
Swimsuit
Beach Towel
Coat
Sweater
Hat
Toys
Books
Toothbrush
Medicine
Comb

Teen’s List	Number Needed	Check
Bedding—Blankets and pillows
Pajamas
Underwear
Socks
Shoes
Casual Outfits
Dress(es), socks, shoes
Swimsuit
Beach Towel
Coat
Sweater
Jeans/Shorts
Hairbrush
Books/Music
Toothbrush
Sunglasses
Facial cleanser/medicine
Personal items-razor, deodorant
Jewelry
Feminine products
Other

Kids’s Joint List	Number Needed	Check
Vitamins
Medicine
Medicine cups/Syringe
Shampoos
Shampoo/Body Wash
Hairbrush/Hair bows, etc.
Bandaids
Nightlight
Benadryl cream or spray
Books
Cups/drinks
Videotapes
Cassette Tapes
Glowsticks
Dramamine
Wipes
Aloe Vera (after sunburn care)

Family List	Number Needed	Check
Beach: Boogie Boards & Sun Shade
Swim Noodles, Blanket, Chairs, Kites
Golf Clubs
Fishing Poles
Swim Bag/Water & Sand Toys
Coolers    Large     Small
Tripod/Selfie Stick
Games/Cards
Bible / Reading materials
Bug Spray
Paper Towels/Kleenex/Dish Soap
Plastic Bags/Ziplocs
Airline Tickets
Passports
Money/Credit cards
Stamps (for postcards)
Medicine/Tylenol/Rolaids/Anti-Diarrhea/
Sunscreen
Batteries/Charger
Air Pump
Cell phones
Other electronics
Crafts/Projects

Adult Female List	Number Needed	Check
Pillow
Pajamas/Robe
Slippers
Bras
Panties
Hose/Socks
Blouses/Tops
Sweaters/Sweatshirts
Jeans
Dresses
Swimsuit/Beach Towel
Coat/Sweater/Umbrella
Jewelry/Hair Accessories
Cosmetics
Toothbrush/Toothpaste
Vitamins/Medicine
Personal Hygiene
Deodorant/Skin Care
Hairbrush
Curling Iron/Hairdryer
Razor
Shampoo/Conditioner
Sunglasses
Laptop, Extension cord

Adult Male List	Number Needed	Check
Pillow
Underwear
Dress Shirt
Suit/Dress Clothes
Tie
Dress Shoes/Socks
Belt
Jeans
Casual Shirt
Sneakers
Shorts
Sneakers
Swim Trunks/Beach Towel
Razor
Hairbrush
Hair dryer
Vitamins/Medicine
Toothbrush/Toothpaste
Deodorant
Shampoo
Sunglasses
Other