Daily Bread

It occurred to me that I have never posted by bread recipe. It's an odd thing considering I endeavor to make bread at least once a week. Bread is a true staple around here. I somehow manage to incorporate homemade dough into just about everything.



I learned to make bread from my grandmother, affectionately called Nanny. I suppose it's an old Newfoundland tradition brought over from Europe to call your grandmother Nanny. I can't tell you how many times someone has assumed when I said Nanny they thought I meant a care provider Nanny. I guess in these parts Nannies are reserved for well to do families, something we are certainly not. But I digress.

My Nanny is such a sweet woman. She has made it her life purpose to take care of people. The eldest of five children, she was a care provider at an early age. When she married she had one son, my father. Considering her maternal instinct is so strong, you would image she would have more children but like me (who also has a strong maternal instinct) that was not to be.

Much of my homemaking prowess is due to her tutelage. We bonded early on and she often remarks how I have surpassed her in some ways. The bread I make it very different from the bread she taught me to make but the principles remain the same. The way I knit is very different from the way she knits. The recipes I cook are often things she would never desire to learn. But that's not the point. She planted a seed in me and allowed it to flourish. She never scoffed at my efforts or discouraged my desire to learn more. She has supported my desire to stay home and seems to understand my need to make my home for a living.

Whenever I make bread, my hands wrist deep in flour and water, the sticky dough clinging to my fingers, I think of my Nanny and wish I could just drive across town to bring her a loaf. She lives two and a half hours a way now and we can no longer connect as readily as we used to. But the knowledge is still there and the connection will never fade.



White Bread

2 cups of warm water
3 tsp of dry active yeast

Place the above together in a bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix:

6 cups of flour
4 tbsp of margarine or butter
2 Tbsp of sugar
2 tsp of salt

Mix with hands while adding in water/yeast mixture. Make sure you scrape the sides of the bowl with your fingers to release all flour. Turn and knead until dough pulls together in a nice round mound. Knead for five minutes then place in the oven with light on.

Let rise for 30 minutes.

Knead again. Let rise in oven with light on again for 30 minutes.

Form into loaves. I make long baguette like loaves for my bread but you can also use bread pans as well. If you are making baguette loaves make sure to cut diagonal slits along the formed dough before the final rise.

Let rise once more in formed loaves then bake at 350 degrees until golden brown, about 20 minutes for baguettes, 30 minutes for bread pans. Let cool for 10 minutes...Enjoy!

Cupcakes

These cupcakes are so far from being within 100 Miles that they are almost from another planet.. but not quite. Part of our ability to do this 100 Mile thing is knowing that there will be certain exceptions and for us Halloween and even Christmas just wouldn't be the same without a few (note I said few) treats.



These are just standard cupcakes with my world famous icing, or let's just say famous at my house. I use a piping bag and different tips but for the most part it's pretty simple.


Whipped Icing Recipe


1/2 cup of shortening
1/4 cup of boiling water
2 to 3 cups of confectioner's sugar

In a bowl place your shortening and begin to whip with a hand held or stand mixer. Add the hot water a tablespoon at a time. The shortening should be getting a bit fluffier. After about 5 to 7 minutes of whipping add your sugar one 1/2 cup at a time. Alternate between sugar and tablespoon of water until your desired consistency is met. For more detailed piping/decorating go for a more stiff icing (ie: one with more sugar) if you want more of a whipped consistency use less sugar but a bit more water.



I used a basket tip for the Mummy's wrapping and made uneven lines to make them looked wrapped. The legs of the spiders are just mint licorice, since my children refused to use grape, which in my opinion would have been closer to black but these turned out okay as well.

Happy Halloweeen!

Quilted Table Runner

I tried a new block pattern, the Pinwheel pattern. It is pretty easy to assemble. Each triangle is cut from a square and then those triangles are mismatched with a contrasting colour and sewed together.



I have a few more pieces to put together to make another runner but I have a feeling I won't get to it before the end of this harvest season. As it is I have two twin sized quilts and two wall hangings I wish to get done before Christmas. And I also have my son's Halloween costume to complete but my sewing machine decided to keel over while I was doing the hem of my daughter's costume. Of all the times for my sewing machine to die it had to be when I am most busy and gearing up for the holidays.

I have a vision for my quilts. Eventually I would like a quilt done up for all seasons (harvest, Christmas, Spring, Winter etc) so that my quilt rack will always have something current and decorative. We are always snuggling up on the couch with my quilts but when we are not using them they are on display. Quilts are wonderful. They provide a use while being viewed as a piece of art as well.

100 Mile Diet: Week Two

We are heading into our third week on the 100 Mile Diet. I don't believe the reality of the diet has hit us yet. We are still making our way through our stash of former pantry items albeit not as quickly as we would have before. But at this point we don't feel deprived or like we are missing out.

Truth be told I feel spoiled. I have been cooking wholesome food, with raw ingredients and the tastes are excellent. The difference was greatly noticed when over the weekend we caved and bought a bag of chips, 100 Mile chips mind you, made just on the edge of our allowed buffer but potatoes soaked in fat nonetheless. You can't get any more unwholesome and junk foodie than that. To be honest, I don't think I have ever noticed how much they resemble cardboard. They had no taste, a weird texture and my stomach became sick later on that night. That's not to say I won't ever buy another bag of chips again (I probably will) but I will say I will think awfully hard about whether it is worth it.

Another pleasant surprise is the weight I have lost. I have dropped 6 lbs since starting this diet that isn't a diet. Results obviously are not typical. I am larger to begin with and have struggled with my weight all my life so I am not surprised I have lost so much so soon. We'll see if the trend keeps up... or down, in this case.

My son struggles the most. He seems to have not grasped the concept completely. Luckily he's pretty good about eating what is put in front of him, whether it's Washington apples or Ontario apples, he eats them cause he's hungry.

We've had lots of discussions about food being fuel. If you put refined sugar in your gas tank your car will not run, if you put refined sugar in your body you will have a similar reaction. We told the kids just like with your car needs a certain type of fuel so does your body. I think my daughter is a complete convert and my son talks more about fat contents of food than any other 6 year old boy I know.

Blog Action Day "Climate Change"

Today is Blog Action Day, a day when bloggers all around the world are focusing their thoughts and their words on Climate Change.

Climate Change is real. It is happening and we are not as helpless as many would think. We can make changes to alleviate the strain we have put on the earth. With all the back and forth arguing about whether or not Climate Change is real or even mankind driven it is easy to get bogged down in the details. I liken the banter to arguing whether the house is on fire. "Is the house on fire? If so what is the proper course of action? How can we put the fire out without destroying the items inside (aka our way of life)? What about the structure (economy)? How can we be sure the entire building won't collaspe?
Truth is we don't know anything for sure but if we look at all the scenarios what is worse?

Option A: If Climate Change doesn't exist and we do nothing, then no loss, no gain

Option B: If Climate Change doesn't exist and we do something thinking it exists then we have strengthened our sustainability, our alternative energy source infrastructure and made the world a better place regardless if it was necessary.

Option C: If Climate Change does exist and we do something then we could possible overt disaster by minimizing damage and bettering the planet at the same time.

Option D: If Climate Change does exist and we do nothing... oh crap!

I once had a heated discussion with someone about developed nations and their ability
to derive enough energy from renewable resources (ie: Solar, wind etc). His argument was that it would be impossible to generate enough power from these alternatives to supply everyone with enough power. I strongly disagreed.

I have been dreaming of living off grid for years and have done enough research to know that utilizing power completely from solar and wind energy is very do-able. The only caveat? We may not be able to consume the amount of electricity at our current rate.

My argument to him was I do not plan to have a dish washer, I can wash by hand. I will most likely live without a clothes dryer I can hang anything on the line, even indoors during winter. I can use solar cookers and outdoor ovens. I can use a wood cook stove or choose more meals that require no energy to heat. By doing all these things I can live without any need for damaging energy sources. It can be done. The question is whether or not our current society is ready to give up these luxuries for the sake of the planet?

The thing is Climate Change is not something that can be tackled by one person, or a group of people. Climate change is something that must be tackled because of a genuine acceptance by the public at large of how our way of life is affecting the planet.

Here are a few things everyone could be doing to offset our affect on the planet and halt climate change.

- plant a garden, even a small one, to reduce the number of miles our food travels from field to plate.

- line dry whenever possible and avoid using the dryer. Buy a drying rack or a retractable clothes line for inside during winter or rainy days.

- buy second hand whenever possible and pass on anything you don't need to someone who will use it.

- Think long term when making purchases. Buy items that will last, even if it costs a bit more. In the end it will save cheaply produced items from finding their way to the landfill within a year or two.

- Walk, ride your bike or carpool to work and school. Make a conscience choice to drive less. Combine outtings and plan one day a week when the car stays at home.

- Teach children that taking care of toys and being gentle with them so they don't break is something they can do for the environment.

- Avoid plastic (since it is derived from fossil fuels), seek out items made of natural materials like wood, wool and cotton. Our even glass because it lasts longer than plastic.

- Find out what your municipality accepts for recycling. You might be surprised at how much can go in the blue bin.

- Refuse plastic shopping bags and carry your purchases or use reusable cloth bags every time you go to the store.

- Use cloth diapers, cloth napkins, rags to clean up spills instead of paper towel.

- look around your home for ways that you can effect change.

- speak up! Let others know you are thinking about the environment. Think of ways your hobby, activity, sport, or group can become more earth friendly. My spinning group began asking everyone to bring their own mug, plate and utensils so that we didn't have to use paper/Styrofoam plates for our meals.

To read other blog posts on Blog Action Day check out their website!

Giving Thanks

This time of year is so magical. It is the time when the crops are in, stored away for winter. It's the time when people come in from outside and spend more and more time beside one another.

I have always had reverence for autumn but this year for some reason my wonder is so much more pronounced. I have put more up for winter than I ever had in years passed. I have canned more, blanched more and prepared more than ever. It feels good to have a stocked freezer and pantry.

I am more thankful for what we have now that we have pared down our lifestyle. I am grateful for the time we have. I am aware of the many blessings in my life today. I can not say things are really all that different from the way they were last year. We still live in the same house. We still hang in the same circles and we still enjoy (endure?) the same level of income.

I feel my new found gratitude is rooted in my increasing self-sufficiency. I have more control over our successes and failures than ever before. I am finding my true self, (my authentic self if you will allow me to be entirely cliched).

For all these things I am giving thanks.

The 100 Mile Diet

Has everyone heard of the 100 Mile Diet? When I first heard of it a little more than a year ago I thought it was another crazy scheme to loose weight, you know something like the cabbage soup diet or grapefruit diet. Turns out the authors of the book, Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon, meant DIET in the traditional sense, the make up of what we eat.



You'd be surprised at the amount of food that, although grown right down the road, is being brought in from other provinces or states, even other countries. My family and I, well actually I mostly, have been shopping the last year with this in mind. I noticed a massive display of strawberries in my regular market. It was the height of strawberry season here so naturally I thought I can enjoy a summer delicacy without much guilt yet when I looked at the package I noticed all plastic clam shell packages had been imported from California. There is a fairly large berry farm right down the road and I knew their fruit, picked fresh from the plant was sweeter, redder and would last longer.

It angered me to think that my local grocery could not support our local farmers, save the environment and our taste buds. Locally picked produce is so much better when picked in it's prime and eaten shortly after. Even my 9 year old daughter notices the difference between store bought strawberries and the ones we pick ourselves from the field.

I have known for a long time that I wanted to exert more control over where my food comes from. I am a locavore at heart but have fallen short of actually sourcing out all the local food until recently. My resistance to actually taking on the diet is purely financial. If money was no object it certainly would be nice to rely solely on the food produced locally but let's be honest, local food and local farmers can not compete with the large agribusinesses who's profit margins matter more than animal well being. Local food is expensive and my inner tightwad has been sabotaging my efforts to live completely from food produced here.

On some things I have had to swallow back my Ebenezer tendencies but in others I just can't. I can not see paying $5 for a dozen eggs even if they are organic (in my house local trumps organic considering how many hoops small farmers must jump through around here to get an official designation).

I came up with a plan, not an excuse but something my family and I can better live with while making the transition. We're calling it A Whole Lot of Local. It's a combination of Whole foods (foods closest to it's original source, without processing) with a lot of Local. And when I say a lot, I mean a lot... 75 per cent local is a number I have in my head but we will see how the winter goes.

We kissed Tim Horton's goodbye with one last shabang. We've been traveling around checking out farms and farmers markets sourcing out our food. Even my daughter has reminded my son that we can't go to McDonald's "because it's not a 100 Miles"... he thinks the diet means we have to walk a hundred miles before we can eat anything, got to love kid logic.

Certain things we will allow. Sugar, for the time being while I source out conversions to honey or maple syrup sweetened recipes. Black tea for my husband, who has also promised to give herbals another try. Yeast for my baking, and a small amount of lemon juice for canning. We plan to treat ourselves with a box of clementines at Christmas like the pioneers. There will be other exceptions I am sure but let's face it, so much of the world economy is driven by international trade that many places in Canada that would have produced flour or yeast have migrated down south. One of the points of this diet is to keep what we have alive and thriving here in Ontario and perhaps encourage more producers to give it a go here as well.

Thanksgiving is the perfect time to give local eating a try. An entire meal can be prepared using only locally sourced ingredients. Even if most people don't think an entirely local diet is not for them, making small local purchases can go along way to help the bigger picture.

Happy Thanksgiving Canadian readers!