Recent Entries to this Blog Yummm! Homemade bread
Posted: 03 Dec 2010
My first HERBED Turkey
Posted: 30 Nov 2010
Great way to share ideas
Posted: 17 Nov 2010
Exciting news for a little ol farmer like myself
Posted: 13 Nov 2010

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prairie_dancer's Blog




Yummm! Homemade bread

Category: Home Cookin' | Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 5:16 pm

Hello Everyone! today is just one of those days that my daughter and I have decided to make homemade bread. Some may ponder for a moment and say to yourself hmmmm or some of you may actually make bread at home. We are no where near perfect as a family with eating and making all of our food but we do try very hard to be as sustainable as possible.

We buy real milk from a dairy farmer and trade for wheat with another local organic farmer. Since I have gad of produce in the warmer months it works our wonderfully with this set up.

I mention this because I grind the wheat that I do a trade with/for and the fresh unpasturized milk is added to the bread. Of course I make several loaves at a time. The first one or two are gone in the same day. Depending on who comes over and how warm the bread still is.
Butter is slathered and melts into the warm bread and of course on a day like today(snowy and windy and of course cold too) we make hot cocoa. In our house we call it cocoaliscious.

Here is my off hand recipe for homemade bread. It's pretty easy after a time or two of making it.

I suggest getting ingredients out first and then it's even quicker to make

1 1/2 Cups of warm milk
1 1/2 Cups of warm water
1 1/2 Tb of granulated yeast or 1 1/2 packs
6 1/2 cups of flour
if you use white and want to add some ww or rye then all one has to do is minus 1 C of flour and add the rye or ww or what ever you may choose.
Mix the dough in a large bowl(really large) cover and let it set for a few hours. You can use immediately or chill if for a while(this would be good if you have not made to much bread) when you chill the dough. Work with it by flouring you hands so that it does not stick. Make sure to have your bread pans ready and greased. Simply work the bread apart in equal portioins(makes about 3-4 loaves) and shape it quickly an put it in the pan(s).
Let rise for some time(about an hour) then bake at 350 for about 3o minutes and let cool for a while before digging into the wonderful loaves you've just made.

Cool what you wont eat completely wrap in plastic wrap then bag it in gallon bags or saved bread bags. When you need bread simply go to the freezer and you have your homemade yummy fresh bread. It costs about .74 cents a loaf.
Compared to the 3.00 loaves in the store. You cant go wrong.

Enjoy!
And have a wonderful day!

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My first HERBED Turkey

Category: Market Gardening/Farming | Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 10:00 pm

Since I garden during the warmer months of the north here, I have enjoyed the bounty of herbs. Fresh of course. I love fresh herbs and I also enjoy drying the herbs from the garden as well. I have to say that my all time favorite herb is parsley. It's common yes I know but it's so versatile. From meat to soup to chopped on pasta. And fresh Parsley ... cant beat the flavour.

Here is what I did with the a turkey this year. I loved it. I stuffed it with herbs. First I defrosted the turkey, then set it out for about a half an hour to ripen to room temp. I gently separated the skin from the meat on the brest section of the bird. Then I made 1" slits in the legs. I went deep into the meat with a very sharp thin knife so I could stuff fresh herbs into the "hole"

Now that the bird is ready for the herb concotion here is what I did

In a food processor, I pulsed parsley(1/4 c), a bit of fresh sage, even smaller amount of rosemary(1-2tsp), and about 2 TB of fresh lemon balm. I added the herbs to the food processor with a little olive oil( not much at all 1TB at the most) when it was blended well. I pulled the blade out and took about 1Tb of herbed oil-rubbed it between the skin and the meat of the bird(on top), put about 1 tsp in each slitted hole on the legs, and then rubed the rest inside the bird and cooked it. It was excellent.

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Great way to share ideas

Category: Market Gardening/Farming | Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 4:22 am

Over the weekend I harvested what I thought was the last of the produce from the garden. NOPE! was more than tickled to harvest yet anohter huge amount of Swiss Chard. Here is one of the ways I like to cook Chard.

I of course rinse or even sometimes soak the Chard for a little while. It becomes very crisp that way. Then I put the entire leaf and stalk in a very large skillet. Some of it hangs over the edge and thats ok. Just remember to keep the flame or electric burner to a dull roar.
When I do this the Chard flavour is not marred by cutting it up. It hold that wonderful Chard flavour.

Toss in olive oil or bacon fat and saute for a while until it's all wilted then I mix in some garlic. I love garlic so I add quite a bit. Then I serve it with either pasta or rice. And of course both are cooked.

I've also been known to add Chard to a crock pot(slow cooker) with beans and potatoes with herbs and what ever seasonings you like.

That's good too.

Thanks everyone.

This blog entry has been viewed 170 times


Exciting news for a little ol farmer like myself

Category: Market Gardening/Farming | Posted: Sat Nov 13, 2010 4:45 pm

I was so happy to stumble across this wonderful site. And decided to join in the all the awe-inspiring ideas, creativity and plant knowledge on the GardenStew blog site.

I have been gardening all my life and in the past few years had decided to try to make a go of making money selling the beautiful produce that I grow.

So far I've been blessed with such a tremendous response the heritage and heirloom foods that I wanted to share the good news with people who have the same likes and challenges that I do.

Gardening in the north can be challenging at times and also a gift. I started a CSA( Community Supported Agriculture) 3 seasons ago. It's a very small CSA by some standards. I've been, once again, blessed with such enthusiasm and interest in what I grow that I have had an offer to sell my goodies in Minneapolis at brand spanking new Farmers Market. It all ties together in a wonderful web of who we all know and what we know.

I will post some recipes on here along with photos of what was grown this year in my gardens and of course tell tales of gardening loves and hopes.

Thanks for reading and hope you come back again.


This blog entry has been viewed 208 times




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