How to Save Money on Annuals for the Landscape

The title of this post is deliberately misleading. Most of us want to know that top secret tip for how to buy a thing and spend less money. But often, we can save the most money by just cleaning up what we already own.

I usually cut the lavender when in the bud stage to dry the buds for culinary and craft use.
This year, I decided to let the lavender flower for an extended show of color and fragrance
on the deck.

I've been busy in the yard all week. I've pruned trees, hoed the moss and weeds out from under various trees and shrubs, weeded perennial beds, and swept the hard surfaces. This cost nothing but time and labor. 

In previous years, I've bought annuals to pop into pots and beds around the yard to brighten the landscape. This year, I kept my wallet closed and skipped the flats of annual flowers. Instead, I've brightened the landscape by doing those previously-mentioned yard-tidying chores. And you know what? It's really beginning to look nice.


This strategy works for many of our belongings and living areas. If you tidy and clean your home, it won't be new, but it will look heaps better. If you mend, remove stains, and iron your clothing, your outfits won't be hot off the catwalk, but you'll look quite presentable. And, if you wash that old car, it's appearance will outshine the fact that it is now in its second decade of service. 

Taking care of and cleaning up what we own is one of the oldest techniques for saving money while still looking good.


So, that's what I've been doing this week -- making my yard and garden sparkle with time and hard work, saving my money by not buying annuals.

For the flowers, this year I chose to enjoy the many perennials and flowering shrubs that grace our property. When possible, I have moved pots and troughs of perennials and flowering herbs to spots where we will most enjoy their *free* blooms. 


One daughter mowed the front lawn today. Next up, get a daughter to wash the car and my husband to help scrub the patio furniture. Sparkle, sparkle.



I'm writing up what's in my emergency freezer to post late this week (maybe on Saturday), for those interested. I hope you're all enjoying beautiful summer weather.

What's in My Emergency Pantry?

For me, an emergency pantry is not about a dooms-day scenario or apocalyptic end times.

An emergency pantry is . . .
preparation
An emergency pantry is . . .
prioritized savings
An emergency pantry is . . .
Plan B

Winter of 2008-2009 and winter of 2019 showed the PNW that mild winters are not guaranteed, here. Some years, the roads are unsafe for several weeks for my little car. Do I want to be one of the folks whose preparation for a storm begins the evening before it hits? Or do I want to be one of the folks who is comfy in my pjs watching for those first snowflakes? Beyond snowstorms, an emergency necessitating an already full pantry can come in the form of a layoff, accelerated food inflation, or as we've found this year, less-safe conditions for shopping in stores.


My pantry "savings account"
Financial experts tell us to pay ourselves first, that is, put money into savings before anything else. This is a way to prioritize how our income is spent and reduces the chance that we find ourselves without an umbrella on that proverbial rainy day. A full emergency pantry is another way to prioritize savings. It means that at some point along the line, I have chosen to stock my emergency pantry instead of buying that fun pair of sandals for the summer, or eating out at a favorite restaurant, or taking a long, holiday weekend at the beach. I have actively chosen eating over non-essential spending.

Plan A is for us to maintain a good income, a solid savings strategy, and good health, so that we can continue to cover the basics and have some of the fun stuff, too. Plan A is obviously the best-case scenario of life. But when stock markets fall, employment falls apart, widespread viruses hit, or road conditions prevent deliveries or shopping, Plan B, the emergency pantry, will keep us fed for weeks or even months.

One of the issues with emergencies is they usually happen unexpectedly. Keeping a large stock of fresh foods on hand at all times would mean that my household might have a lot of spoilage. So, shelf-stable foods like canned goods and dry foods work best for an emergency pantry. Keep that in mind as you read the following list of foods that may not be part of a typical, weekly grocery list.


So, what's in my emergency pantry?

I tried to cover the basic food groups in quantities enough to outlast several months without stepping into a store or placing an order.

My emergency pantry is filled with grains, dried beans, canned chicken and tuna, powdered milk, seasonings, pasta, small amounts of flour packed in plastic packaging, ditto on the sugar, peanut butter, raisins, applesauce, canned carrots, pumpkin, and sweet potatoes, instant mashed potatoes, solid vegetable shortening, vegetable oil, dried cheese, soup base, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, canned pineapple, canned green beans, and lots more. 

Here's a run-down of what I've got in dry storage:

(Where applicable, best place for price that I've found is in parentheses.)

dairy

• powdered cow's milk, enough for 3 to 4 months
• powdered soy milk, the year's supply as it's less expensive than liquid
• powdered coffee creamer, about 1/2 pound
• cheddar cheese powder, about 1 pound
• Parmesan cheese, 1 large container per month (Walmart, GV in-store)

meat and vegetarian protein

• canned tuna, a couple dozen cans (Great Value, Walmart in-store or online)
• canned chicken, a couple dozen cans (Walmart, Swanson)
• dried beans, several varieties, about 30 lbs -- 2 lbs per week's use (Walmart in-store and online, restaurant supply)
• TVP (nuts.com, 25-lb case, gluten-free)
• peanut butter, 1 large jar per month (Walmart GV, in-store)
• canned and bagged nuts

fruits and vegetables

• jarred applesauce (Fred Meyer and Walmart, store brand, 1 or 2 jars per month)
• canned pineapple (Walmart, GV, in-store)
• large canisters of raisins (Great Value, online)
• canned cranberry sauce (Walmart)
• canned pumpkin (Walmart end of last season, GV)
• canned yams (Walmart)
• canned tomatoes and tomato paste (restaurant supply in #10 cans)
• canned green beans (Winco and Fred Meyer -- last fall's sales)
• canned corn (Winco and Fred Meyer -- last fall's sales)
• canned spinach (Great Value, in-store)
• canned carrots (Great Value, in-store)
• still looking for good deals on canned peas and canned peaches
• dried herbs, garlic powder, onion powder (garden on first 1, Walmart on last 2)

grains and starches

• instant mashed potatoes (Great Value, Walmart, in-store)
• whole wheat and white flour (restaurant supply and Walmart)
• cornmeal
• brown rice (restaurant supply, 50-lb bag)
• white rice (Great Value, online, 20-lb bags)
• barley
• rolled and steel cut oats (restaurant supply, 25-lb bag)
• popcorn (restaurant supply, 12.5 lb bag)
• pasta, I bought 3 pounds for every month (Walmart and Dollar Tree -- 3-lb box GV macaroni about 60 cents/lb, in-store Walmart, 4-lb box spaghetti GV, Walmart, online in two-pack, 64 cents/lb)

fats and oils

• gallon jugs of vegetable oil, 1 gallon for 2 months (Walmart, in-store and online)
• solid vegetable shortening (Great Value, in-store and online)

extras

• granulated sugar (Although I buy 50-lb sacks of sugar at the restaurant supply, I also keep two 4-lb bags of sugar over-wrapped in a plastic ziploc. This is "just-in-case" sugar.)
• molasses (for making brown sugar, pancake syrup, or in cakes and cookies)
• vinegar (for making baking powder substitute or salad dressings or marinades -- I bought an extra gallon for emergency pantry)
• baking soda, a few pounds (for making baking powder substitute, use in cleaning, or in baking, as is)
• cocoa powder (Walmart, in-store, GV or Hershey's)
• chocolate chips (making candy, melting for s'mores patties, baking cookies -- Walmart, in-store)
• extracts
• salt
• beef and chicken soup base
• spices -- large containers from restaurant supply
• corn starch
• future vegetables in the form of seeds
• coffee/tea
• canned olives
• mayonnaise, a couple of jars (need to get a jar or two of mustard, still)
• still looking for yeast in my area

Almost all of the above is in addition to my regular pantry. I keep the bulk of this on a set of shelves behind a door in my office.  Many folks keep their emergency supplies in a basement on shelves or in a garage on shelves in well-sealed storage totes. But for those who lack a basement or completely rodent-free garage (this is us), I can testify that shelves in a closet (or in the open) in a spare bedroom, office, or den also works. 

Although the purpose of this pantry is for emergencies, it is a working pantry. That is, I am currently using items from it; however, I replenish what is used on a monthly basis, rotating the stock so I'm always using the oldest items first. In this way, we have ample emergency supplies, but risk nothing to overextending the expiration dates.

For my own emergency pantry, I selected items that would be normal or normal-substitutes for my own family. An example of a normal item-substitute is the instant potato flakes. My family prefers whole potatoes. But whole potatoes are subject to spoilage. It's not really practical to store 40 to 50 pounds of whole potatoes in my office. I'm also not the biggest canned spinach fan. But canned spinach is shelf-stable -- doesn't take up valuable freezer space. I can make-do in recipes with the canned stuff, should an emergency strike. Ditto with carrots and using the canned for the emergency pantry instead of fresh carrots. 

What's not in this pantry is snack foods. Items like crackers and chips would be raided from the emergency pantry long before any actual emergency hit. So, I stuck to inexpensive basic foods that need some sort of preparation. There's little chance my family will gorge on pasta; but if they did, the cost of pasta was so low, it would be okay.

To determine how much of each food item was needed, I simply multiplied the amounts that I know we normally use in a month by the months that I expect my pantry to sustain us in an emergency. I spent about 2 months procuring everything for my emergency pantry. 

I compared prices between Walmart online, Walmart in-store (using the free pick-up service), Target delivery, Fred Meyer (using pick-up), and Cash & Carry (our restaurant supply store). There were limits on many items, so the purchases were spread over a few visits/orders. While most of the time, buying foods in-store was less expensive than ordering online, there were a few exceptions and I noted those. Often times, the online deals were due to buying multiple quantities. But at least in one instance, the online product was simply cheaper than the in-store version.

With what I bought in addition to what I already hand on hand, my family of 4 adults could live for several months (6 or more), without any further shopping.

About cost . . . I used our vacation money for 2020 to pay for all of the above. However, this is simply pre-paid food. With a few exceptions (powdered milk, for example), I paid close to what I would normally when shopping on a monthly basis. An example, the canned spinach was 48 cents for a 13.5 oz can, or 57 cents/lb. I normally buy frozen spinach for about 80 cents/lb in 3-lb blocks at the restaurant supply. With the canned carrots, also 48 cents each, my normal good price on fresh carrots is about 45 cents/lb. So, for some foods, I came out a little ahead and others a little behind my normal spend for the item. As a result, I feel okay about the cost to stock this emergency pantry. No one likes to spend a huge chunk of money on basic items. But for peace of mind as we possibly approach a second wave of this virus, which in turn could result in employment instability (this has been a worry for our family, living on one income), this was a good move for my family.

I consider my freezer to be an extension of our emergency pantry. Many foods are either more economical, save time, or retain a higher level of nutrients when in frozen form. I'll write up what I bought for our freezer this next week. 


When I began writing this post, I wasn't sure if I would publish it. However, as Kathryn (in the comments a couple of days ago) requested more information about stocking an emergency pantry, I went ahead and finished this up to post. Kathryn, I hope this post answers your questions. You've seen how I prepare meals for my family. I mostly use basic ingredients, cooking from scratch, and try to vary the resulting food. Especially for an emergency pantry (which would only need to be the sole source of food for a limited time), this seems to be the most cost-effective way to provide meals, even if there would be some redundancy.

Reclaiming What is Rightfully Ours: Using Unripe Sweet Cherries before the Birds, Raccoons, and Squirrels Get Them

Every year, same story. Those pesky pests (squirrels, raccoons, blackbirds) beat us to the cherries before we can enjoy even a handful. Earlier this year, we began scheming how we could beat those rascals to the punch.

Yesterday morning, after chasing 6 blackbirds out of one cherry tree, I made a call in my house for all hands on deck. The family joined me to pick all of the reddish cherries we could find. We left the yellow and barely peachy ones on the tree, but got a bucket full of the red, but unripe ones. (These cherries would normally be dark red when ripe, like a Bing cherry.) When picked underripe, the cherries are not as sweet and lacking a bit in flavor.

After lunch, I set out to pit and use these cherries. I decided on an open-faced pie. Cherries meant for eating fresh tend to be quite juicy, so a pie without a top crust would allow for evaporation of liquids. I added sugar, lemon juice, and almond extract until the flavor was just right. The lemon juice gave the cherries the tartness they needed while the almond extract boosted the cherry flavor.

In the end, it was 3 tablespoons lemon juice, 3/4 cup of sugar, and 1  1/2 teaspoons almond extract that gave cherries enough for 1 full pie just the right flavor. I also tossed the cherries with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch to help thicken the juices. In hind sight, I would increase the cornstarch to 3 tablespoons for thickening.

This is how full the pie pastry was before baking, to give you an idea of how many cherries will yield a full pie.

I baked the pie at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes. Then I reduced the temp to 350 degrees F and baked another 30 minutes. At this point, the crust and some of the cherries were browning, so I covered the pie with an inverted pan (our skillet which has lost its handle was just the right diameter and depth) and baked for another 15 minutes.

After baking, this is how much the cherries "shrunk" down. 

The family agreed -- this pie was absolutely delicious.

There are enough of the ripening cherries for me to do this one more time later this week, if we can keep those pests out of the tree.

Making the most of what we can get from our garden this year.

Homespun Holidays: Our 4th of July Dinner Using What's on Hand

Here's our menu for the 4th's cookout dinner. It uses many of the components of our other summer meals, so I thought I'd share, here.

hot dogs in homemade buns

scratch macaroni and cheese

jello salad using pureed vanilla-rhubarb sauce/plain gelatin as the base with sliced homegrown strawberries and banana slices, all topped with whipped cream from the freezer (leftover from the winter holidays)

large tossed salad containing homegrown Romaine lettuce, red leaf lettuce, watercress, and radish seed pods, frozen peas (thawed), turkey bacon bits, grated cheese, homemade sourdough croutons, and a scratch dressing

carrot curls, watermelon pickles and olives

s'mores --graham crackers, marshmallows, and large, semi-sweet chocolate patties made from melted chocolate chips

Earlier in the day, we plan on having a combination birthday/Easter/4th of July cake, followed by an Easter egg hunt -- events that we didn't get to celebrate as a whole family due to lockdowns. I baked the cake layers in advance and froze them to make my day just a little bit simpler. I've got the layers thawing in the fridge now, and will frost them Saturday morning. After the cookout, we'll have some fun with fireworks. It will be a long and busy day, that's for sure.

Wishing you all a safe holiday!

Howdy, Friends!

I've been taking this past month off from blogging, just trying to take better care of my health. I've had several health challenges this spring and now summer. This has been my wake-up call to do better. 

So, that's where I've been. I truly could not string together enough words to create an upbeat and positive blog post and still have energy to take care of my family and myself.

We've still been living frugally -- who hasn't during the pandemic when you couldn't go out shopping, eat in restaurants, go to the movies, theme parks, or any other activity that has an admission fee.

To restart my blog posts, I thought I'd list out some of my recent frugal activities with 

the penny-wise dozen edition

• 1) cut my own hair, several times over the course of the last 4 months
• 2) colored my hair with a kit in a box

• 3) made rosemary and rhubarb preserves
• 4) restocked and expanded the pantry to develop an emergency pantry while we seem to be in a good place with grocery shopping -- store shelves are full once more and autumn stockpiling has yet to begin. I used our vacation fund for 2020 to pay for the purchases. Also, we've increased our monthly grocery budget to $250.
• 5) made a long-term food use plan and have been sticking to it. Doing so ensures we have well-rounded meals for a long stretch of time.

• 6) still baking sourdough bread -- loaves, hot dog and hamburger buns, and pizza crust

• 7) making yogurt on the reg. I'm a creature of habit and have a small cup of vanilla yogurt every morning and another small cup of chocolate yogurt after lunch.

• 8) I'm harvesting from our garden. Not everything did well. However, in the places where seeds failed, I replanted with other veggie seeds. It looks like it won't be a green bean year -- boo.

• 9) the hanging lettuce baskets are finally looking like I could pick from them

• 10) drying sage, oregano, thyme, lemon balm, and peppermint and freezing rosemary and basil for use in the coming months. Lemon balm and peppermint iced tea has become a favorite in the afternoons.

• 11) playing with ring and pin designs using wire wrapping techniques -- the pins are in gold wire and the ring is double wire (one silver, one gold)
• 12) knitting another dishcloth using leftover yarn (this one is lavender)

What are some of the ways that you've been penny-wise (but not pound-foolish) these last couple of months? Add your list in the comments.

The Last Bit of the Radish That We Eat -- the Seed Pods

We eat the red roots of radishes. We eat the greens. And we also eat the green seed pods.

A trough of radishes in flower.
The red stalk through the middle is a beet plant going to seed,
to collect seeds for next year's beets.

When radish plants are about to go to seed, they develop these small and pretty, pale pink flowers. From each flower, a seed pod will grow. When the seed pods are still green (so the seeds inside are still soft), they are edible to eat fresh or added to soups or stir fries, tasting like mild radishes. The pods are best when still young and tender. 

I've let this trough of radishes go to seed just for the pods. I don't need this planting space for another 2 or 3 weeks, so the timing is great. Over the next two weeks, I'll be harvesting all of the seed pods and use them, fresh in salads and slaws as well as cooked. They're also good for pickling in a garlic brine. I may pickle a jarful if I have enough at any one time. 

Radish seed pods -- making our meals interesting.

TVP "Burgers"

Just thought I'd show you another way we're eating our TVP (textured vegetable protein).

My daughter made TVP patties for us last week. These are delicious -- chewy and flavorful. My daughter incorporated some sautéed onions, carrots, and celery with the TVP, and used flour and an egg as a binder. She pan-fried the patties in oil that evening. We also plan to try baking some soon, hoping they'll hold their shape without over-browning to keep on hand in the freezer (like commercial veggie patties). 

The burgers had a great texture, too. That's where TVP burgers and bean burgers differ. Bean burgers, although tasty, have a mashed texture, while the TVP burgers are chewy.

TVP is a regular on our menu, using it 2 meals per week as the main protein. 

Homespun Holidays: Using What I Had for Memorial Day Dinner

some of my favorite plates -- Liberty Blue c. 1976

Rainy day -- A cook-in with hot dogs in homemade, part whole wheat/part white 
sourdough buns. This sourdough is so soft and fluffy. The hot dogs were served 
with homemade relish, homemade ketchup, and commercial mustard.

sauteed radish greens from the garden with onions and garlic -- delish!

mashed potato, herb, and homemade yogurt (instead of sour cream) casserole,
 topped with melted cheddar

creamy rhubarb gelatin for dessert, made with cooked garden rhubarb, 
cream cheese, sugar, gelatin, baking soda (to reduce the sugar)

The four of us had a nice dinner, using just what I had on hand. I still haven't been inside a grocery store since late February.

The sourdough just keeps getting better and better. This is my new favorite bread. When I say it's light and fluffy, it's really light. The loaves feel so much lighter in weight than my yeast-raised wheat bread. Like they're full of air.

I hope you had a good weekend.

Baking Delicious Cookies With Half the Sugar

Like many folks these days, I've been reading about how to use less of just about all of the ingredients in my baking cupboard. A couple of weeks ago, I looked into baking cookies with half or less sugar -- what changes I would need to make, and what results I could expect.

Fortunately, someone else has already done a reasonable amount of experiments in this area, from baking cookies with half the sugar to 25% of the sugar for a variety of cookie types. Here's the link to the full article: King Arthur Flour: How to Reduce Sugar in Cookies and Bars.

The article experimented with 8 types of cookies: gingersnaps, buttersnaps, fudge brownies, cut-out holiday sugar cookies, chocolate chip, oatmeal-raisin, sugar, and vanilla-chai bars.

For my batch of cookies, I chose chocolate chip drop cookies and used half of the usual amount of sugar that was called for on the back of a bag of chocolate chips (your standard Toll House recipe). Instead of a combined 3/4 cups of brown and white sugar for the batch, I used a total of 3/8 cup of sugar (both brown and white sugar combined). My batch made 25 cookies. That's about 3/4 teaspoon of sugar per cookie in addition to the sugar contained in the chocolate chips. By the way, I sampled just the dough, and you know how cookie dough can have a slightly grainy texture from the sugar? This dough was smoother -- a lot like those tubes of dough sold in the refrigerated cases at the supermarket.

The King Arthur website indicated that cookies with less sugar wouldn't spread as much, so after forming balls of dough, I flattened them all slightly. The cookies still held more of a mounded shape than the completely flat cookies that I'm accustomed to. However, unlike some other cookies which are rather soft and cakey, these cookies still had a crispy edge to them (which I especially liked). And they were definitely sweet. Next time, I'll try flattening the dough even more to produce a larger and flatter cookie.

The King Arthur website also suggested refrigerating the cookie dough overnight before baking. This rest period for the dough allows the sugars to caramelize better, resulting in a cookie that tastes sweeter. Since I didn't bake a control batch (following the regular recipe), I don't have an adequate way to compare sweetness of my half-sugar cookies with how they usually turn out. But I can say this, we enjoyed the cookies very, very much and didn't care that I only used half the usual amount of sugar. The flavor was rich and deep.

I thought the results of the KA's experiments were interesting. As you might guess, cookies that had a sweet extra ingredient, such as chocolate chips or raisins, gave the consumer a greater sense of sweetness than cookies which didn't have such ingredients. 

In addition, the KA's experts indicated that with considerably less sugar, other flavors become more prominent -- spices took on a larger flavor profile in a cookie, sometimes overwhelmingly so, and baking soda became more pronounced. Because they recognized that baking soda was more pronounced, I did use slightly less soda in my batch. The recipe called for 1/2 teaspoon baking soda. I used a shade less, somewhere between 3/8 teaspoon and 1/2 teaspoon. My batch had no detectable soda taste to it.

King Arthur's article had a bunch of helpful nuggets for reducing sugar content in homemade cookies. It's worth a quick read. 

I'm not in any danger of running out of sugar soon, but I am being cautious with my supplies. The bonus was that I made a very tasty cookie that may be better for my waistline. 

I think I'll continue reducing sugar in other cookies and bars, using some of King Arthur's suggestions and experience to guide me as I alter favorite recipes.

Quick Garden Greens

I've mentioned that we harvest early spring greens from our garden from perennials, self-seeding annuals, and greens that I plant in fall to overwinter and harvest in spring. Those greens are very welcome in March and April. 

However, they finish up long before any of the main-season garden veggies are ready for harvest. There seems to be this void in the harvesting calendar beginning in May and lasting until the first or second week in June for my garden.

Enter the veggies that I plant for quick greens. I think all vegetable gardeners know that radishes are a fast-growing from seed vegetable. I take advantage of their spritely growth by seeding them thickly with the sole intention of growing radishes for their greens. I can harvest quite a lot of vegetable matter in a small space by planting my radish seeds close together.

peas in the back, radish greens in the middle, and spinach in front
spinach and radish planted in same week

I sowed these seeds around the first of April, and now there's plenty of greens for harvesting. I made a tuna-noodle casserole the other night and used radish greens as part of the vegetable component. I've also been using some of the greens added to eggs at lunch for myself. And, one of my daughters is making lentil-vegetable curry tonight and using more of radish greens.

To harvest radish greens, I pull up any plants that are crowding others, or about 1 in every 3 or 4 plants. I leave the plants which have roots that look like they could develop into a sizable red radish. Until those are ready, we're enjoying these lovely greens in a time of the season that usually doesn't offer much ready in the garden.

Better Sourdough Bread

I've been baking our sourdough in loaf pans
 this spring. For one thing, the slices are
easier to retrieve from the toaster.
For another, it's just a familiar look
to my homemade bread for my family.

I mentioned last week that my work to improve my sourdough bread had paid off. I read several articles, watched a couple of informative videos, and used some trial and error at home. If I had to pinpoint what really helped with my own sourdough success, I'd have to list these three areas of change:

• time
• temperature
• physical work

Time

Sourdough simply need more time than yeasted bread. The total time for the dough to rise, both as a mass and once in the pans, is far longer than yeasted doughs. Sourdough takes a couple to a few hours to fully rise. Once the dough is in the pans, the rising phase can take up to three hours. Furthermore, while yeasted bread will continue to rise once it's in the oven, sourdough has much less oven-spring. However big your loaf is when you put it in the oven is pretty much the size that you will have once it is fully baked.

Temperature

While you can be somewhat imprecise when working with sourdough, it's ideal temperature range is somewhat important to the natural yeast's activity. Too cool and the natural yeasts don't do much or work very, very slowly (think 5 hours to get a loaf of bread to rise). Too warm and the natural yeasts are toast. In my own kitchen, I've found that my sourdough prefers temps that are right in the range of 70 to 80 degrees F. 

My starter will continue to work and bubble at 64 degrees F. But whoa, look out if it's in the 70s for a day. That starter will bubble over the container and spill all over the counter. Sourdough bread dough made on such a warm day will rise, beautifully, in about 1  1/2 to 2 hours. 

To give you an idea of how high temperature can bring sourdough activity to a halt, here's what happened to a friend. Several years ago, a friend of mine was beginning to use sourdough starters. He misunderstood just how warm is too warm for a starter and the dough. His sourdough bread had a good taste, but it was quite flat and chewy. Fortunately, he had another friend who walked him through the process and determined that he was adding water which was far too warm for the sourdough yeasts. Once this was understood, this friend was then able to produce really great sourdough bread. 

In my own experience this year, I began my starter in the early spring, a time when it's typically still quite cool. Our house is always a bit on the cool side, so I chose to keep my starter in a closed oven with a light on 24/7. When I would place my hand in the lit oven, it would feel quite warm. Pans of bread dough (placed in the lit oven to rise) almost felt hot, they were so warm. My starter did get bubbly, but not overly so. And the bread was good, but not fully risen in those early batches. One morning, I went to check on the starter and noticed the oven light had burned out. I took the starter out of the oven and just started keeping it on the counter. Later that same day, I noticed that the starter was bubbling more vigorously. And my bread was rising more. What I gather from this is that my oven with a light on was at the too warm end of the spectrum for good activity.

In addition to maintaining a better temperature for the starter and rising dough, I've also adjusted the temperature for baking the loaves. I had been baking my sourdough at about 375 degrees F. My reading indicated that I really should be baking sourdough is a hot oven, as much as 475 degrees F. For my own dough, I've found 460 degrees F to be the sweet spot for this kind of bread. I like the color that the bread's crust develops and the interior is nicely baked, yet soft.

Add in a Good Dose of Physical Work

Sourdough bread is not one of those no-work breads. It requires a lot of kneading to activate the gluten. Gluten gives doughs that stretchy texture that will hold the bubbles of gas created by natural or commercial yeasts. Without gluten, those bubbles collapse on themselves, leaving the baker with a flattened loaf. With commercial yeasts, gas bubbles are more durable and reliable, for lack of better words. Even if the gluten has not been fully developed through kneading, its still possible to make a good loaf of no-knead bread by using commercial yeast and giving the dough extra time. In the case of no-knead bread, the mixing of the dough begins the development of gluten, while the additional rise-time allows the commercial yeasts to reproduce. With sourdough, vigorous kneading substantially develops the gluten in the dough, enough so that it can stretch and hold around the bubbles of gas produced by the natural yeasts. 

I notice a texture change during the process of kneading the dough. At first, the sourdough feels grainy or gritty. After about 10 to 12 minutes, the dough becomes satiny and smooth. I knead for about 15 minutes and then check the stretch of my dough. There's a bakers' term that describes a technique to see if a dough's gluten development is full -- the windowpane test. If you take a small chunk of dough, flatten it in your fingers, then stretch slowly, a fully-developed dough will stretch until thin. Some say that the dough should be almost transparent (like a window) in the center of this stretched dough. In my own experience, my sourdough doesn't become this stretchy, but it does become thin enough to develop a small hole. In contrast, dough that fails the windowpane test will break off as one tries to stretch it, much like how the kids' product Silly Putty will only stretch so far and then "break" into two pieces.

So, this is what I've been doing with my sourdough for the past month:

• I give the dough ample time to rise, as much as 3 or 4 hours per rising if my kitchen is really cool, but most of the time about 2 hours per rising.
• I bake on days when the kitchen will be around 68 to 78 degrees F in the afternoon hours when my loaves will be rising. This means that I am actually baking the sourdough loaves in the evening, after dinner.
• I now knead my dough for 15 solid minutes. My technique is pretty vigorous. If I didn't have the same strength or endurance for this kind of kneading, I would knead in 5 minute intervals, with however long breaks in between that I needed, to a total of 15 minutes. I check the dough by way of a windowpane test. And then, just for good measure, I knead for another 3 minutes before forming the dough into loaves and placing into pans.

The end result of this "extra" work is really great sourdough bread. Sourdough bread has better keeping qualities than yeasted bread, with the center of each slice being stretchy and soft, days after baking. My family all thinks my bread tastes amazing and is much like what we've sampled in San Francisco at the wharf. For the time being, while I can't buy the large bags of yeast for the $5 to $6 that I am accustomed to, I'll continue with baking sourdough.

If you're interested to know -- I use about 1/3 whole wheat flour and 2/3 white flour for my sourdough. This seems to be a good balance of fiber and nutrients with the softness of an all-white flour bread. For more on the recipe that I use, see the post in this link.

what my previous loaves of sourdough looked like,
in case you were wondering

On the commercial yeast front, I've been stalking several sites  as well as my local restaurant supply for a few weeks, hoping to find the large bags bag in stock on one of the sites that waives shipping fees with minimum purchase or has local availability for me to pick up. I thought this was interesting: on one website's page for large bags of yeast, "Temporarily Unavailable due to Global Shortage." Wow, that really caught my attention, a global shortage. It's no wonder that so many people are trying their hands at sourdough baking right now!

It Took Me About 3 Weeks to Get It Right

this is sourdough bread, made completely without yeast

For the first 3 weeks of eating my homemade sourdough, our loaves looked something like this -- flat, chewy, and quick to become stale.

from one of the early loaves of sourdough

Then, after some research and reading, I hit upon a technique that enabled my sourdough to get a good rise and develop a smooth texture. For the last couple of weeks, this is what my sourdough bread has been looking like.

sourdough success

This looks like a regular yeast bread, doesn't it? The texture is soft and smooth on the inside and the bread keeps for several days in the pantry. The dough contains some of my starter (which was made with just flour and water), water, flour, 2 teaspoons of salt and 2 teaspoons of sugar. That's it.

You know the saying. . .

if at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

Free Onion Flavor Using Chive Blossoms

I do have some whole onions in the fridge from a large purchase this winter. But I'm trying to make those last as long as possible. In order to stretch them out, I'm using both the chives greens and now the chive blossoms.

This time of year, I also like to make chive blossom vinegar. I'll have more than plenty of blossoms for that, so I'm using the rest of the blossoms in cooking.

I use about 2 to 4 blossoms per serving of soup, salad, or sauce/gravy. I pull apart the heads right into the dish that I'm cooking.

Then toss. Not only do they add a nice onion flavor, but I think they're pretty, too.

I'm working at using every last bit from this year's garden.

Not the Loveliest of Pots, but It Will Work

When my son was in the 4th grade, he had to write a report on his home state -- Washington. In investigating what Washington produces, one book he read highlighted the state's wood and paper industry. The page said, "trees grow well." This phrase took root in my mind and comes to the surface every year when I begin to plant my vegetable garden.

The sunny part of my yard is extremely limited. Each year, I try to plan where I can plant those heat and sun-loving vegetables, such as tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, and beans. Eggplant and peppers are completely out of the question for me. I've tried and had success about 20% of the years. It's just too shady. To cap it off, in one of the sunniest portions of the yard, a wide, paved path takes up a huge amount of the sun-filled real estate. This year, I decided that I would line that path with my various pots.

While I love the look of terra cotta pots, the winter weather really beats those beauties up. Lurking in the corner of the garage are a stack of chipped, cracked, and otherwise less-than-stellar clay vessels of all sizes. Here is one of the two largest of those broken down, but still useful, pots. The upper edges of both pots have completely broken off, leaving this ragged, "who dragged that thing in" appearance. 

So, they're not pristinely beautiful. But they do have a charm of their own -- a shabby, bedraggled chic, if you will. And, they seem to be holding the soil pretty well. I planted some of my zucchini in the pots and am keeping my fingers crossed.

With no realistic way to shop for garden supplies this spring, I'm having to use what I have on hand, even if it's not my first choice. I have revived the components of a pea trellis and put it all together a week ago. I also found part of an old soaker hose running through a defunct part of a garden bed, which I've now used in one of the strawberry beds. And as I need soil for pots (such as these two), I'm looking to my own yard for soil rich enough to hold water during the hot weeks of summer. In past years, I likely would have bought pot soil. 

So, while there have been many inconveniences to staying at home during this pandemic, I think I may be saving money and giving a little extra life to some of the belongings that have lingered in corners of the garage or less-wandered parts of the yard.

The Meat Eater's Guide to Crafting a Meatless Meal, pt.5: Some Favorites From My Kitchen

Meat Eater's Guide for Meatless Meals, part 1

Meat Eater's Guide for Meatless Meals, part 2

Meat Eater's Guide for Meatless Meals, part 3

Meat Eater's Guide for Meatless Meals, part 4

I often think it must be boring to read about what I cook. But I did want to give suggestions from what works for meatless meals my family as a sort of springboard for ideas, yours and mine. So, I've divided my family's favorite meatless meals into categories based on the major protein source for each meal.

Tofu

• Tofu-Veggie Lasagna     This dish is something that I think about as I fall asleep at night. It's a garden vegetable lasagna. When my daughters were first born, the hospital sent us home with a dinner basket of a frozen vegetable lasagna and a bottle of sparkling apple cider. It wasn't long before I felt compelled to replicate the lasagna, adding my own twist to the dish. The greens can be frozen spinach or garden (or market) spinach, kale, chard, beet greens, collards, or broccoli. I also like to add about a half of a large carrot grated. I'm lactose intolerant, so I can't have a lot of soft or fresh cheese at any one time. That led me to try tofu as the "cheese" filling, sometimes all tofu, sometimes blended with part cottage cheese. So, I mash 16 oz of firm tofu and season with lemon juice, salt, and garlic. I then add the chopped veggies and stir together. I don't use any meat in this lasagna. Instead, I layer lasagna noodles with the tofu-veggie filling and a marinara sauce. I top the entire casserole with a mixture of grated mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. This makes a 9 X 13-inch baker of lasagna with about 140 grams of protein total and 8 servings, with about 17.5 grams protein per serving.
• Chocolate-Tofu Silk     This is not a meal, but a high-protein end to a meal, with about 7.5 grams of protein in a serving (if dividing the recipe into eighths). 
• TLT Sandwich     Using strips of fried tofu, layer tofu, lettuce, and tomato on whole grain bread, like a BLT only subbing in the fried tofu for the bacon. One-sixth of a 1-lb block of firm tofu, cut into slices and fried has roughly the same amount of grams of protein as 2 regular slices of pork bacon, about 6.5 grams. Two slices of whole wheat bread adds 7 grams of protein, for a sandwich with about 14 grams protein.

Lentils

• Sloppy Lentils on Buns     I make a Sloppy Joe filling with tomato sauce, green peppers, onions, garlic, chili powder, mustard powder, beef bouillon, salt, pepper, and bit of cornstarch, plus about 1 1/2 cups of cooked lentils and 1/2 cup of cooked barley for 4 people. Serve on large burger buns. Each sandwich contains about 17 grams of protein.
• Lentil-Barley Marinated Salad     I toss together cooked lentils and cooked barley (in about a 2:1 ration lentils to barley), with diced celery, minced shallots, and a mustard vinaigrette. Chill for a couple of hours. Grams of protein would depend on serving size.

Garbanzo Beans

• Hummus and Fry Bread     Fry bread is a yeast dough, such as French bread dough, that is formed into rounds about 4 to 5 inches in diameter and about 1/2-inch thick. I fry them in a skillet with a little oil to prevent sticking (these are NOT deep-fried). We like the fry bread spread with homemade hummus. I make hummus in the food processor with cooked garbanzo beans, lemon juice, garlic, salt, oregano, parsley, and olive oil.
• Tabouli     The tabouli recipe that I follow comes from Jane Brody's Good Food Book. The recipe calls for prepared bulgar wheat, cooked garbanzo beans, olive oil, lemon juice, parsley, garlic, shredded carrot, diced tomatoes, diced cucumber, salt, and pepper. This is a favorite of ours in August, when my garden provides fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, and parsley. It's a dish that is served cold, so this can be made in the cool summer morning hours, refrigerated, and served in the evening -- no heating the kitchen in the late afternoon.

Assorted Other Beans

• Vegetarian Chili     I make vegetarian chili, using beans, barley or TVP (for "chew"), canned tomatoes, green peppers, the usual seasonings, then top with shredded cheddar cheese and fried/baked corn tortilla strips. It's very good, even without meat. The barley or TVP provide that chewy sensation that would otherwise come from ground beef.
• Vegan Shepherd's Pie     The "meat" in this shepherd's pie can be a vegan meat substitute, rehydrated TVP, or cooked beans. I like to use about half TVP/half cooked beans or lentils. We think this is quite delicious and don't miss the meat at all.   
• Bean Tacos/Tostadas     filled with black beans or refried pintos, marinated corn (in a lime vinaigrette), avocado, tomatoes, bell pepper, shredded cheese, and drizzled with plain yogurt.
• Bean and Cheese Quesadillas     whole grain flour tortilla spread with refried pinto beans and shredded cheese, topped with second tortilla and toasted on a griddle. 
• Kitchen Sink Burritos     flour tortilla filled with beans, rice, avocado, cheese, yogurt/sour cream, salsa, tomatoes, olives
• Pasta Primavera     made with spaghetti noodles, an assortment of sautéed vegetables (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, asparagus, green beans, carrots, onions, garlic), black olives, Greek olives or capers, cooked cannellini beans, Parmesan cheese, pine nuts or chopped almonds, basil and oregano -- all tossed together.

TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein

• TVP Spaghetti
• TVP (or lentil) Cabbage Patch Soup

Eggs

• Egg Foo Yung
• Garden Vegetable and Cheese Frittata
• Garden Vegetable and Cheese Quiche
• Skillet Huevos Rancheros     with corn tortillas, black beans, eggs, chopped tomatoes, onions, garlic, seasonings, olive oil, avocado, fresh cilantro, lime wedges, cheese, hot sauce, and any extra veggies (such as zucchini or bell peppers). 

Peanut Butter

• Peanut Noodles     using whole grain pasta, peanut butter, red pepper flakes, garlic, soy sauce, ginger, lime juice, and cilantro, topped with chopped peanuts.
• Live and Learn's Curried Pumpkin-Peanut Soup     topped with whole grain croutons.

Wheat Meat made from whole wheat flour (I haven't ever given this recipe, here. The texture is a lot like ground beef.  It is high in gluten, so a very bad option for someone who needs to be gluten-free. But my family has enjoyed it over the years.)

• "Salisbury Fake"     This is a faux ground beef patty smothered in brown gravy.
• Wheat Meat Breakfast Sausage     Again, a high-gluten meat substitute, seasoned and formed into sausage patties.

Okay, so those are my family's favorites. What are your family's favorite meatless meals?