The Grape Vines

When we bought our house, the old Concord grape vines were a bit overgrown like the rest of the property. 

It took a little of this (Hubby dusting off the weed whacker)... 

And a little of that (Hubby pushing the mower around). 

It took some good pruning... 

And finally, some summer sunshine. 

At the end of a hot summer day, it's a nice spot to sit back and watch the vines grow. 

Some of Hubby's pickings from last fall. 

Pancakes and Transfer Ware

One of my favorite things to look forward to over the weekend is pancakes! Or french toast - basically anything bread-like combined with real maple syrup! Hubby made these spelt walnut pancakes and I think they may be my favorite recipe. He added fresh pear on top. 

My mom flew up from California last week and while she was here, we took a drive into Portland. My shopping goals were some good nursing tops and some pants. She dropped me off at Marshalls while she drove laps around the parking lot to soothe the babies to sleep. It had been over six months since I'd been shopping. 

I came out half an hour later with these plates - eight dinner and eight salad. I didn't even try on clothes. 

They're the same pattern as my brown transfer ware (here). I thought the blue would be nice for spring and summer...and all the yummy culinary goodness that comes with these seasons - hello morel mushroom pizza, fruit salad, mescalin greens and oh, insalata caprese.

Spelt Walnut Pancake Recipe:

2/3 cup stone ground corn flour

1 cup spelt flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp raw sugar

1 tsp salt 

2 eggs - separated

1 1/2 cup milk 

2 TB melted butter

Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Whisk wet ingredients in a small bowl. Whisk egg whites separately in another small bowl until frothy. Combine together with dry ingredients in large bowl - throw in handful of walnuts. 

I want to thank everyone for your comments and e-mails. It really means a lot to me to hear from you. Unfortunately, it's become quite challenging to keep up with correspondence as I'd like. I pretty much always have a baby in my arms (I'm holding sleeping Margaret as I type with one hand right now!).

I also wanted to say that I'm still reading blogs which I can do with one hand and a mouse! I'm just not able to leave comments so much (but I do write very long chatty comments in my head!). 

xo

Pumpkin Walnut Muffins

I've experienced another hiccup in my pure and utter devotion to being waited on hand and foot. Once again, the hiccup is in the form of a baked good. I made these with pumpkin from our summer garden. Hubby (as I was a pumpkin myself at eight months pregnant), cooked, pureed and froze the pumpkins we had remaining after the Thanksgiving holiday.

Besides having a baked good craving, I was also eager to try baking with xylitol, a natural sugar substitute (inspired once again by my friend Karen). I used it (equal parts) in place of the granulated sugar.

They were good...didn't miss the processed sugar one bit.

Once again, this recipe comes from my new favorite gluten-free baking book, Gluten Free Baking Classics. I've also made these recipes Huckleberry Muffins, and Banana Walnut Muffins.

Recipe:

1 3/4 cups brown rice flour
1 cup granulated sugar xylitol
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 large eggs
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons molasses
1 cup pumpkin puree
I added a handful of chopped walnuts 


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix flour through cloves in large mixing bowl.
Combine eggs, water, oil, molasses and pumpkin in seperate bowl. Whisk to blend.
Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix with blender just until blended.
Add walnuts.
Pour batter into muffin tins - makes one dozen.
Bake 20-25 minutes or until done.
Cool on wire rack.

P.S. Information on bird transfer ware here. 

Simple Pleasures

Since Hubby has continued to do all of our grocery shopping, I keep finding our kitchen filled with delectable little surprises - like these beautiful organic kiwi.

I love their fuzzy skin and their vibrant green sweetness. 

And speaking of fuzzy (Graham's hair is coming in)...here's our little peach. 

We gobble him up all day long. xo

Baked Goods

If there's a bakery in town, I'll find it. Bakeries - the smell of them, the feel of them...are just some of the coziest places on earth. I especially love the ones that use organic whole grains and other ingredients. But I'll admit, any case full of muffins, breads, cookies and pies melts my heart.

I made these Banana Walnut muffins to quench a bakery craving. It was about midnight and we had just put the babies down to sleep. For some reason, I started to think muffins (then sleep). Two very ripe bananas spurred me on and before you knew it, the house smelled like goodness.

This recipe comes from one of my new favorite baking books, "Gluten-Free Baking Classics" by Annalise Roberts. But this batch came from a gift tin that my friend Karen gave us at Christmas, so all I had to do was add the bananas, milk, eggs and oil.

Made me think I should have these 'just add..' tins on hand at all times.

Recipe:

2 cups Brown Rice Flour Mix

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 packed cup very ripe banana

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

2 large eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup canola oil

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum, salt and cinnamon in large mixing bowl. Add bananas and walnuts; stir to coat evenly.

3. Combine milk and oil in small bowl; remove 1 tablespoon of combined liquid and discard it. Beat in eggs. Add liquids to banana mixture and stir until just blended.

4. Fill muffin pans (makes a dozen). Bake 18-25 minutes until golden brown. Remove from pan and serve immediately or cool on rack.

Here's the recipe for Huckleberry Muffins from the same book.

Concord Grapes

I waddled out to the grape vines with Hubby early this morning. I had to lean over quite a bit to find my boots in the beautiful autumn confetti.

The grapes are finally ripe after several months of hot summer sunshine and crisp fall air.

While Hubby searched through the curly vines for bright purple clusters, I documented our fall harvest tradition with photographs (which is another way of saying, I watched).

We only picked a colander's worth because we plan on making smoothies with them in the blender. Our plan to make wine and jam...well, it will have to wait until next year. We're using all of our extra time to prepare for the babies.

But the grapes freeze really well. I pluck them from their stems, wash and lay them out to dry. When dry, I put them in zip lock freezer bags and freeze them. They're easy to dip into for smoothies throughout the year.

Fall Gingerbread and Transferware

One of my favorite fall breads is gingerbread. There's just something about ginger, cinnamon, cloves and rich molasses that make it so delicious.

I love to pair fall foods with my brown transferware. I'm certain it makes everything taste better.

I purchased the transferware several years ago when I came across them at Home Goods. I bought twelve bowls, salad plates, and dinner plates as I thought they would make wonderful Thanksgiving dinner ware.

This is what the pattern looks like. I love the birds with the flower adornment.

This is the mark on the back.

This monogrammed 'B' silverplate was my Grandmother's everyday ware, but I keep it tucked away for special occasions. I actually found an entire set of this pattern at a flea market, but without the monogram. I wonder where one would bring silverware these days for monogramming?

Gingerbread Recipe:

2 cups organic all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

3/4 cup low-fat organic buttermilk

1/2 cup organic sugar

1/2 cup organic molasses

1/4 cup organic low-fat milk

1/4 cup organic canola oil

2 large organic eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat 9-inch square baking pan with cooking spray.

Combine flour through cloves in a large bowl with whisk. In a separate bowl, combine buttermilk through eggs and stir with whisk. Pour into flour mixture, stirring until moist.

Bake for 45 minutes or until done. Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes and then remove from pan. Enjoy.

Happy last weekend of October to you! xo

Heirloom Tomatoes

Thanks to our recent warm Indian summer days, we're finally able to pick some of our heirloom tomatoes. The tomatoes have been drastically behind this year due to the cool early summer. But the autumn sun has helped nudge these voluptuous fruits to ripeness.

The basil is done growing for the season. I made lots of pesto through the summer which we happily enjoyed with pasta, pizza (in place of tomato sauce), and sandwiches much like the one shown above. So in place of pesto, I've been using sliced avocado instead.

The recipe includes: a crusty loaf of organic whole wheat bread, a sweet tomato, organic avocado and organic provolone cheese. I toast the bread first, then add avocado, tomato and cheese and bake it in the oven for a few minutes until cheese has melted.

It's the perfect way to eat a fresh picked tomato on a beautiful fall day.

Pumpkin Walnut Bread

Of course I couldn't make pumpkin soup and pumpkin birthday cake without making some yummy pumpkin bread. The aroma of it baking in the oven elicited the warmest of warm fall fuzzies. I love the smell of cinnamon...it's the coziest spice of all.

I used an Epicurious recipe (found here).

I think this will be it for pumpkin recipes for awhile. But come November, I'll make pumpkin pies. Also, due to the abundance of pumpkins the garden produced this year (I counted twenty-five yesterday), I may make Pumpkin Walnut Bread to give as gifts over the holidays.

Our pumpkin plant, on average, was supposed to produce four to five pumpkins...so not sure how ours exploded to five times that amount. Perhaps the pumpkins were trying to make up for the tomatoes that didn't fair so well.

Happy pumpkin season to you! xo

Happy Birthday Pumpkin

Hubby (also known as Mike or Sweetie...or for this post, Pumpkin), has celebrated another birthday. He's forty (again). He's decided to stick with forty for another year...or so, and I couldn't help but oblige him.

Here's the Birthday Boy.

I made him a Pumpkin Spice birthday cake using pumpkins from the garden.

It was really delicious...moist and rich.

This is the recipe I used.

Happy Birthday Sweetie!

Pumpkin Goodness

Two fresh pumpkins were plucked from the garden in order to make our pumpkin soup.

They were cut in half and their pulp and seeds scooped out.

I separated the seeds from the pulp, washed them thoroughly and roasted them. To do so, I spread them on a cookie sheet covered in Canola spray and sprinkled them with salt. After 10 minutes at 325 degrees, I stirred them again and baked them for an additional 10 minutes until nicely toasted.

Roasted pumpkin seeds are delicious and some of the most nutritious seeds around. Ours didn't last long.

To make the soup, I took the pumpkin halves and placed them face down in a dish to bake at 350 degrees for an hour. Once they cooled, I scooped out the pumpkin and pureed it until smooth.

Here's the pumpkin soup recipe we used...

3 cups organic pureed pumpkin

3 cups scalded organic milk

1 TB organic butter

1 TB organic flour

2 TB organic brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ginger

Heat the above ingredients in a saucepan and serve.

This was the easiest and healthiest pumpkin soup recipe I found (no heavy cream). It came from the Joy of Cooking, although I made some adjustments. Also, to make it all the more healthy, I used as many organic ingredients as possible.

YUM.

Huckleberry Muffins

I realize that I've been posting a lot on food recently. I would say it's because I'm pregnant and food is on my mind quite a bit but honestly, it has more to do with dragging my feet on other projects. Shall we say these have been the lazy days of late summer?

Not too lazy to make my new favorite muffins though! These come from a Blueberry Muffin recipe from the fabulous gluten-free baking book called, " Gluten-Free Baking Classics," by Annalise G. Roberts. Go here to see the book.

My friend Karen, who follows a strict gluten-free diet, recommended the book. We are not a gluten-free household but these recipes are delicious and I think having variety in your diet is always a good thing.

Recipe:

2 cups Brown Rice Flour Mix

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon xanthum gum

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4-1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 1/2 cups unsweetened fresh dry blueberries

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup canola oil

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease muffin pan with cooking spray.

2. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, xantham gum, salt and nutmeg in a large mixing bowl. Add blueberries; stir to coat evenly.

3. Combine milk and oil in small bowl; remove 1 tablespoon of combined liquid and discard it. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add to dry mixture and stir until just blended.

4. Fill muffin pan and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.*

5. Bake 18-25 minutes and until light golden. Cool on rack.

* Cinnamon sugar is 2 tablespoons sugar to 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon.

We happened to have wild huckleberries on hand, so we used those in place of blueberries.

I hope that everyone had a lovely long weekend. We, once again, spent our entire weekend working on the house. The upside is that we accomplished a lot and I'll have some after photos of the dining room in my next post!

xoTrina

Pickles, continued...

Our garden is producing a bumper crop of pickling cucumbers! I now have two full crocks of refrigerator pickles, but not even a pickle craving pregnant woman nor a Midwestern pickle-consuming husband can keep up.

So Hubby decided to dust off his old recipe to can some pickles. A delicious fact about my Hubby is that he loves to cook - french toast, big dinner meals, yummy cakes (he makes me a birthday cake from scratch), and pickles.

The recipe he's used (which comes from an old friend's grandma, modified by Hubby's Mom) is pretty open to variation but the basics are as follows (for six quarts):

Fresh cucumbers, washed

Seasonings:

Pickling dill in each jar

Pickling spices (we found ours in the bulk section of our grocery store)

Garlic cloves, two in each jar

Brine:

Organic vinegar (1 quart)

Water (3 quarts)

Pickling salt (3/4 cup)

Sterilize jars in rolling boil in large pot.

Pack cucumbers tight in sterilized jars with seasonings.

Bring brine to rolling boil.

Pour brine in jars. Let sit for 10-15 minutes, until cucumbers begin to turn olive.

Pour brine back into pot and bring to second boil.

Fill jars with brine again, to 1/4-1/2 inch from top.

Secure sterilized lids on full jars, and allow to cool.

After jars have cooled, check that lids have sealed.

Let cure for three months.

Our canned pickles won't be ready to sample until on towards the holidays. The Refrigerator Pickle recipe I blogged about a few weeks ago results in a much more mild flavor than these will have as there is no salt in the recipe. For some, the Refrigerator Pickles may be too mild (especially if you're used to really salty or sweet pickles), but I continue to use the recipe because as a swollen pregnant pickle consuming woman, the no salt and low sugar is a good idea for me. ; )

Sweet Blackberries

I love blackberries. They're my favorite berry to eat in the languid days of late summer. When I lived in Maine, my house had a long hedge of them, and I used to pick them like mad. Waiting for those berries to ripen was one of my annual pursuits. Enjoying their sun-warmed sweetness was one of the highlights of my summers there.

We planted our first blackberry bush here this summer. It will be awhile before we're able to pluck berries from its vines, but I found these beauties at the market today.

We also bought a loaf of crusty wheat bread...

...and moved the rocking chairs to the west side of the porch for more shade...

...to enjoy one of our favorite weekend breakfast treats - French Toast.

Hubby makes these. He uses a recipe from Joy of Cooking, but then adds a few extra spices that make them extra special.

Joy of Cooking recipe:

4 eggs

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 cup of milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Hubby's extra spices:

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon cardamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

Combine all of the above ingredients in a square shallow dish. Dip bread slices in and grill until done.

Top with fresh fruit and maple syrup.