Homemade Sausage and Kale Sprouts

This post is dedicated to my niece, "J".

We had a phone conversation today and we shared things we love to do and a few things we are enjoying in the moment.

"J" loved her delicious oatmeal for breakfast and is enjoying having one of her older sisters/husband come home for a visit.

She loves math and is breezing through her fractions.  She also loves to read and is currently enjoying Laura Ingalls Wilder books.

I'm celebrating that "J" came into my life.

"J", I said I would send photos of my breakfast.  But then I took it a little further as you can see.

And I look forward to our call next week to report all the fun we had this week.

I have some amazing people in my life.

I am also fortunate to have a grown daughter who among other things, likes to research.

She's generously shares many things she learns and today I'm specifically thinking about healthy food.

It just makes sense to primarily eat fresh food without artificial preservatives.

We like breakfast meat around here, so I set out to make my own sausage with the most pure ingredients I could reasonably obtain.

This is my favorite "go to" cookbook.

This is the recipe:

You can see I made a note about the cinnamon.  Some of the children said it was too much and requested it be left out.  However, I like it. When they aren't around, cinnamon goes in.

Last night I made up a batch so it was all ready to go for breakfast this morning.  Rather than patties, I just made it crumbled.  It's so easy to warm up that way and add it to an omelette.

This morning when I went out to the garden to take out the crushed egg shells (great calcium for homegrown tomatoes), I found, much to my delight, a big patch of volunteer kale sprouts just to the right of the path.

  I took a handful to apply to the top of my breakfast.  Yum!

And right there beside it is a bunch of peppermint coming up.  It is so invasive, so it's going to have to be taken out.   But some will be turned into tea...and bath herbs too.

 I did not have my camera with me so I went back out after breakfast with the camera and picked another handful of kale sprouts for my lunch today.

Breakfast:  Egg, Homemade Sausage, Kale Sprouts.

And another batch cleaned and drying for lunch:

And just because it's so beautiful even when we are having a spring rain I had to take a photo of the very welcome green grass, daffodils and service berry tea just beginning to blossom.

Basket Weaving and Birthday Tea

For awhile now a plan has been in place to weave baskets on a certain day.  The reason being that it was spring break and our family members who are students could be included without skipping school.
 
A fun time was had by all and it wasn't all about the baskets.  We laughed and enjoyed the time.  Taking a hand crafted basket home at the end of the day was a bonus.

So that I may respect the privacy of others, I'm including a photo of our basket party without heads:

Inside my picnic basket I now have a smaller basket to hold a bottle of olive oil, a bottle of flavored vinegar and a travel cup.  I usually take a salad on a picnic (and to basket making class) and those bottles/cup used to roll around a bit in the basket.  No more, I've made a basket customized for the task:

Here is the basket I finished the week before, though this is the unfinished version of it.

And the one before that which was from my mother's birthday:

And now that we have family visiting from another city and a birthday is coming up, it was fun to prepare for it the day before and arrive home from basket class to have a birthday tea party waiting in the fridge.

Hamburger Pinwheels

My husband mentioned a few months back that he would like to eat Hamburger Pinwheels like his mother used to make.  Problem is I don't have the recipe.

This year for Thanksgiving we visited my Sister-in-law and family and she had a string of old family recipes hanging in her dining area for decor.

I got a photo:

Today I decided to make the recipe.  But I didn't have Biscuit mix or chili sauce.

So I make homemade cream biscuits from the Gourmet cookbook and make chili sauce from scratch.

My husband did not remember the confetti gravy part of the recipe and we didn't like it that much.

He imagines his mom fixed it that way once and got lots of feedback to skip the gravy and use ketchup.

We liked it better with ketchup.

Here are some photos of the outcome today:

 

The veggies I chose were onions, carrots and celery chopped fine and sauteed in butter.  I added to the gravy just before serving.

Cranberry Bliss Bars, Coconut Cream Cheese, Almost Sugar Free

Our favorite dessert needs a make over for family members who say no to most types of sugar and the only acceptable dairy is butter.

Let's see how this goes...



Here is the cookie bar layer after it is baked.  It is cooling and waiting for toppings.  I put the dried cranberries in before they cooled so that was an oops.  Tomorrow I will make the topping and finish this.  I'll add more photos after the holidays.

Coconut Cream Cheese, Almost Sugar Free, Cranberry Bliss Bars

by Norita

Coconut Cream Cheese

Start 4 days to one week ahead.

Scoop solid separated coconut cream from coconut water out of one can of organic coconut milk.

It may be challenging to find a can that has separated enough.  Ideally, it would be in the fridge for a several days before scooping out the cream.

Bring solid, separated coconut cream to room temp in a sterile glass dish with lid.

Add 1 teaspoon pure maple syrup and 1 capsule probiotic powder.

Stir and let sit with lid on at room temp for 24 hours.

Refrigerate until use.

Dried Cranberries (no sugar)

One day ahead:

One bag of fresh cranberries

Boil a saucepan of water.

Turn off burner and place cranberries in the water so they split open.

Remove from water with slotted spoon and put on a rimmed oven proof pan.

Any cranberries that did not split open may be poked with a sterilized straight pin.

Mix cranberries with 1/4 cup pure maple syrup

Dry cranberries for 3 hours at 225 degrees.   Leave in oven for several hours with oven turned off.

Cool completely before using in the recipe.

Cookie Bar Layer

1/2 cup room temp butter

3/4 cup Swerve Brown Sugar (Erythritol)

1 egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla

1 1/4 cup sprouted whole wheat flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon Himalyan salt

3/4 cup dried cranberries, chopped

2 Tablespoons zest from clementines

1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans

Mix together, spread into flat bottom Demarle flower mold 8 to 9 inches in diameter and tuck in evenly spaced:

2.5 ounces Blanc Satin white chocolate discs from Alexander's Classic Chocolates

Note: This white chocolate is the ingredient that has sugar in it so I reduced it by 1/2

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Cool completely.

Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

1/4 cup softened butter

4 ounces coconut cream cheese, room temp

1/2 cup Swerve white sugar (Erythritol)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoon clementine zest

Combine ingredients and beat until fluffy.  Spread on top of cooled bars.

Topping

3 Tablespoons chopped dried cranberries, sprinkled on top of frosting

1 Tablespoon clementine zest, sprinkled on top of cranberries

4 ounces of Alexander's Toasted Chocolate nibs melted in double boiler and sweetened with
1/4 cup pure maple syrup. 
Drizzle over the top of bars.

Transfer to cutting board and cut in small wedges to serve.

Note:  This was a total success.  Just as good or better than the original recipe full of sugar and flour.
 

Gingerbread Waffles

When we were growing up mom often made these waffles when we had Sunday night company.  Always, they were served with vanilla ice cream.

When I made them for my older children, they didn't like them so I stopped making them.

Recently our youngest child spent time with Auntie and had these for the first time.  Finally, I have one offspring who likes them.

So we bought the ingredients, dug out the recipe:

and the Belgian Waffle Maker and made them.

I recommend garnishing with cocoa nibs.

Without nibs turned out great too.

Cheese Cake With The Fewest Ingredients

Our children typically ask for cheesecake for their birthdays.  Long, long ago, my teeny almost 6 year old asked for grasshopper cheesecake.  She had no idea the ingredient list included Creme De Menthe.  I still have an almost full bottle in my freezer from all those years ago.

Here is a photo of the tiny cheese cake for the tiny birthday girl.  It was about 2.5 inches in diameter.

It really is worth making again.  And I should.  And I probably will.

Lately we had a high school graduation to celebrate which called for another made from scratch cheesecake.

This time there were a variety of toppings.  Our graduate made huckleberry jam with his grandmother last year and that was the most popular option.  Also our daughter and son-in-law brought fresh strawberries.  So we were all very happy.  The 9 of use ate it right up with nothing left over.  YUM!

One problem...no photo this time.  It's so unlike me.

I am inspired to post this blog for two reasons. 1. We visited "The Dog Spot" in Joseph, Oregon last weekend and they offer about 4 varieties of cheesecake per day.  2.  My sister asked about the take away from the experience.

The offerings on that day were Thai ice tea (with coconut) cheesecake, New York cheesecake, Cabernet cheesecake and root beer cheese cake.  I am most interested in the Thai ice tea with coconut milk cheesecake.  I didn't have any because I was full.  But next time...

Here is the recipe I am currently using for cheesecake:

3 Eight ounce packages cream cheese, softened
4 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

Graham cracker crumb crust:
1 1/2 cups finely ground graham crackers
5 Tablespoons melted butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

I use the Demarle (company recently changed it's name to bon COOK)  flower mold and press the crumb mixture in the bottom.

 At a recent birthday party, I forgot to take a photo until we were almost finished.  Better late than never.

Below is an old photo sent to me by one of my sisters who made a turtle cheesecake in the flower mold.  I would definitely like to make this recipe too.

Once the cheesecake mixture is well mixed (I use the Bosch mixer), pour on top of the pressed down crumb mixture.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Bake for 85 minutes and then turn off the oven and crack the door for 45 minutes.

Scalloped Potatoes in Le Creuset Au Gratin Cast Iron Pan

Today when I went to a local church rummage sale, I found a vintage Le Creuset enameled cast iron 3 quart (36 cm) au gratin pan.  It was just $3.00 and I was very happy to find such a treasure at such an affordable price.

I brought it home and cleaned it up (not much clean up needed) and decided to make scalloped potatoes for the very first time.

First I rubbed the pan with a garlic clove and then chopped it small and mixed it with two tablespoons of butter and rubbed that all over the bottom and sides of the pan.

2.5 lbs of red potatoes peeled and thin sliced (1/8 " thick) with a mandoline.  I even managed to cut myself twice.  Who knows where the hand guard part is?

Alternate in three layers.  Potato slices, butter, salt, pepper, grated cheddar cheese, heavy cream and dried French thyme.

I didn't measure anything.  Just layered three times.

Then I topped it with Panko bread crumbs.

Baked for 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes.  Then let stand for 10 minutes while I made a salad.  I still burned my mouth.  So I think maybe next time I will let it stand 15 to 20 minutes before eating.

I wanted to eat the whole thing but I didn't.  Even the kids liked it.  They thought they would not like it at first as they were sure they could see onions in there.  After assuring them there were no onions they ate it and wanted more.