Cranberry Sauce

Quick recipe post today. I've been wanting real cranberry sauce for a while now (Thanksgiving only had the canned stuff), so I decided to make some for dinner. I'll be serving it with a pork roast, if you're wondering. Anyhoo, here it is:

1 bag fresh cranberries
3 cups water
3 tablespoons of orange juice concentrate
1 cup applesauce

Simmer on very low heat for 3-4 hours, adding water as needed to keep it from burning. When it is ALMOST desired thickness, remove from heat and allow to cool. If you like a sweeter sauce, add a few tablespoons of sugar. Enjoy.

Gluten Free Chicken Strips

Just a quick post to share a recipe I'm working on. London wanted chicken strips for dinner, so I had to gluten free my usual fried chicken recipe.

1 c. gluten free flour (I use a premade all- purpose blend from the store)
1 clove garlic (finely minced)
1/8 c. dried onion
1/2 c. mashed potato flakes
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
salt to taste
pepper to taste

Mix flour, spices, garlic, onion, and potato flakes in a gallon size bag.

Slice 1 lb chicken cutlets into one inch strips and set aside.

Crack two eggs into a bowl and whisk until well blended.

Coat chicken strips four at a time in egg.

Drop coated chicken into flour mixture and shake until well coated.

Carefully place coated chicken into hot oil (I used bacon grease) about one inch deep.

Fry about five minutes on each side in medium high heat.

Repeat with the rest of the chicken until it is all cooked.

Place fried chicken onto oven sheet and bake at 400* for about ten minutes. (You can skip this step if the strips are cooked all the way through, but I'm really paranoid about under-cooked chicken)

As always, feel free to let me know how it turned out for you or if the directions aren't clear. I welcome suggestions and variations as well!

Home Sweet Home

We just got back from a horrible* vacation only to find the entire garden had been eaten by a band of roving chickens. It took all day and $20 in 'cheater plants', but we got the garden back together. The only things that survived was the onion patch (though one of the hens did manage to trample it pretty hard) and we found two small pea plants that I re-potted in a better location. We decided to give up on spinach for now because the cutworm problem is, well, a problem. In all, I think we might manage to pull a decent amount of food out of the garden this year.

Basil

Peas

Bell Pepper

Cherry Tomatoes

The Onion Nest

*The vacation was horrible because we had some major car trouble that took our entire budget to pay for the repair. We ended up sitting around at Jeremy's mom's house unable to spend a dime. The girls were really disappointed that we didn't make it to Disneyland and the Zoo. We'll try again next year.

Brownies!

This morning I needed chocolate. BADLY. So I made some brownies.

  This is a gluten free recipe that I am still developing based on the SACO brand cocoa recipe, so let me know if you made successful changes.

1/2 c. butter
1/2 cocoa
1 cup cane sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 all purpose gluten free flour
1/4 tsp. xanthan gum
1/4 tsp salt
1 small handful of chocolate chips (I like ENJOY LIFE brand)

Preheat oven to 350*. Melt butter in small saucepan. Remove melted butter from heat, add cocoa, and stir until well blended. Add sugar. Mix well. Add eggs and beat well. Stir in vanilla, flour, salt, and xanthan gum. Spread into greased pan (mixture will be thick). Bake for 25 minutes or until fork comes out clean.

Do not cut until entirely cool, or they will be super crumbly!

Spring!

In spite of the windy weather it is beginning to feel like spring. We finally got around to using the greenhouse and have started our seeds in there. Unfortunately the wind has given the greenhouse a few too many good shakes and we already lost all of our starts (except the spinach).
  The lettuce has sprouted in the beds, and the onions are doing really well. I think I saw some carrot sprouts this afternoon, but I couldn't tell them apart from the little weeds mixed in there.
  I'm hoping to get the clothesline set up next weekend because it is finally warm enough to start hanging clothes outside.

Lettuce

Yellow Onion

Spinach

Kitchen Antics

  I have a confession to make. I hate my crock-pot. So many women I know worship that stinking appliance, but I just can't. A friend of mine forced me to take one of hers a couple months ago because it "would save my life at dinner time". I've tried several different recipes, and while the turn it on and leave it angle appealed to me, I can't get behind the mushy quality of the food. Nothing is overcooked, it's just too soft. The meats fall apart too much and the veggies are goo. It's just not a great meal. There is no reason to have to eat like this when I can monitor a pot on the stove for half the time and twice the texture. Am I alone with my anti-crock feelings?

Fall is Coming

Usually this time of year I'm really sad about the weather changing because that means my garden is dead until next spring. While I was looking around in the yard for hidden eggs, I was really surprised to find my tomatoes and peppers thriving. I picked five peppers and there are hundreds of tomatoes still turning red and the vines were flowering. I think it's time to figure out how to move the little greenhouse over the giant tomato bed to see if we can get fresh tomatoes during the winter. Great experiment, huh?
  Little things like this make me really excited for the possibilities that might be out there. Could I grow lemons here? Or bananas? When we can get a heated greenhouse, how far can we take our homesteading here in the middle of this little city? Perhaps this winter will be more productive than I thought.

Future Salsa

After months of waiting for something to grow in the garden, FINALLY, the first ripe tomatoes. Last year I didn't get any tomatoes out of the garden because the first frost hit early and hard. This year I planted double and I'm going to can most of it. It will also be my first year canning. I need to find a decent salsa recipe. And ketchup. I'd better get started.

These are going to be so good!

Summer Love

So I've been busy. Here is some of what we've been working on:

We planted blueberries! Three bushes to be exact. 

What else? 

Peppers

Eggs

Tomatoes