Christmas Photo Outtakes

Yes Megan, it is "an impossible task" but that doesn't stop us from trying to get a decent picture of the kids for Christmas sharing.

There were "interesting" faces

And some sweet ones

In the end you have to *try* and enjoy the process as much as the result, in practice I'm still trying to figure that out.

But the sweet moments help.  She yelled "Huggies!" seconds before.

Where's the snow?

Can you believe our area of northern Michigan is still waiting for a real start to the snowy season?  Living outside of Detroit I always complained that there was no point in living in the cold without it and now luck seems to have brought SE Michigan's weather here.  But I shouldn't complain too much because even though the days are getting much, much shorter we have been blessed with some beautiful sunny days.

Alex loves that the flocks of starlings haven't gotten all our autumnberries yet.

Penny likes chasing after kitties outside.

Nelson doesn't much care for this game.

We put up the tree early this year and with luck we will still have a white Christmas.  

Until then I'm doing some trial runs of Christmas cookies.  

Spring in the air and gluten-free pizza in the oven

The pizza pictured above is my very first attempt at a gluten-free/dairy-free pizza and it was damn good.  I used the recipe for Gluten-Free Crusty Boule dough from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day.  With help from the directions in the book I kept my crust thin, patting it out with floured hands instead of rolling and baked it at 500 degrees F for about 10 minutes.  But as good as that pizza was the time spent outside today was even better.

A few hours in the afternoon, bracketed by thunderstorms in the morning and early evening, the weather was perfect--just enough sun and as warm as a midsummer day.

It began innocently enough.
We thought it would be fun to let Penny try out her walking feet in the grass.

She is still unsure about walking on uneven ground and completely refuses to walk in shoes.

Alex wanted to make a hose river but his sister didn't think it was a good idea.

Her fears were validated when he put mud on her foot.

Things looked considerably better after Abbie showed up.

And all was forgiven once the mud was wiped off.

We left Alex to his imagination.
There were mumblings about the mighty Mississippi.

And we did some daydreaming of our own in the garden. 

I don't know what Penny is thinking but I'm picturing pumpkins and lots of kale.

Karmal came with us to the garden.

But Perfect stayed to watch the river.

We tracked down the ducks, who seemed a little skittish.

They finally settled down in the white pine forest in our valley.

Penny and I relaxed under the pine boughs on the soft fallen needles.

The weedy equisetum growing there kept Penny entertained.

And Fritz acted as our guard dog.

It's a good thing we had him because look what came after us!

We had nothing to fear, except getting dirty, it was only Alex.

Thunder and a chill in the air chased us indoors where we told a sleepy Nelson all about our adventure.

And then we had some leftover pizza.

Spring on Dog Hill a Flickr set

Maple Tapping '11

This is our inaugural year of maple syrup production on Dog Hill.  I purchased a kit from Tap My Trees last year but due to my very pregnant state at the time and John's desire to hurry and finish a project before the birth it never happened.  So the sap buckets collected dust for a year.

Alex was very eager to start and so we put in the taps at the beginning of this month.  In the first few days we got a small amount, enough to make a 1/4 cup of maple sugar, and then the temperature dropped.  Finally, this past week was wonderfully warm and the sap was flowing.  Unfortunately, I'm ridiculously stubborn and wanted to try judging the doneness of the syrup by look instead of being smart and getting out a thermometer.  Hence the three jars above of crystallized maple goo.

It doesn't matter though, it's been a tremendously fun learning experience.  In all we've collected enough maple sap to make over three pints of goo, which I think would translate to a little more syrup if I could master the last half an hour of sap boiling.  Now if I can just keep the kids (and myself) out of these jars so they last a little while, I may cook with some and use the rest to make maple sugar candies or some maple candied ginger.  

One of our sap buckets

Penny likes peeking

Perfect was helping too

I received no compensation from Tap My Trees but I do get some amount if you purchase through the Amazon links below.

Creamless Celery Soup with Rosemary

I usually kill rosemary plants when I try to overwinter them and have in past few years chosen not to fight it and treat the plant in the garden like an annual.  I do try and remember to dry a big bunch so that it doesn't go to waste so I was all ready for this month's Spice Rack Challenge from Mother's Kitchen.

The weather combined with going lower carb and wheat free has me craving soup.  In addition, the local chickens at our co-op Oryana are HUGE, +7lbs!! and I have been butchering the whole birds I buy myself to make them stretch into at least three meals.  This creates a lot of chicken carcasses that are helping me replenish my freezer stash of stock.

Celery soup with rosemary seemed a great pair since celery is a vegetable that has an assertive enough flavor to stand up to the resinous quality of rosemary.  No real cow's milk cream in our house right now so I "creamed" my soup with celeriac, the tasty root version of celery.  I thought it was fantastic and John (a noted celery hater) liked it a lot, which must be due to the Mediterranean influence of the rosemary.  Penny liked it as well but Alex was on the fence.  He's getting to be quite the picky one lately.

Creamless Celery Soup with Rosemary
Makes 4-6 servings

1 large leek
1 large celery root (celeriac)
1 clove garlic
2 teaspoons crumbled dried rosemary, divided
1 tablespoon olive oil
6-8 cups good stock (chicken or vegetable)
6 stalks celery with leaves, chopped
salt and pepper (white pepper preferably) 

-Remove the greens from the leeks and save for stock making.  Dice the leeks and rinse and drain.  If the leek is especially sandy then repeat the rinsing a few times.  Peel and slice the garlic.  Peel and dice the celeriac into 1/2 inch cubes.
-Cook the leek, garlic and celeriac in the olive oil along with 1 1/2 teaspoons of the rosemary over medium heat in a medium soup pot.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cook until the leeks are limp.
-Add 6 cups of the stock to the vegetables and bring to a strong simmer.  Simmer for around 20 minutes until the celery root is cooked through.
-Transfer the soup to a blender and puree until smooth.  Use caution when pureeing hot liquids, this will probably need to be done in at least two batches.  If you own a immersion blender, you can puree the soup in the pot. 
-Return the soup to the pot and add the chopped celery and celery leaves.   Add more stock if needed to get your desired thickness.   Bring to a simmer and cook for around 10 minutes until the celery is tender. 
-Crumble the final 1/2 teaspoon of dried rosemary into the soup and check for seasoning, add more salt and pepper as needed.  Serve hot.

Anyone else notice that there have been way too many dog pictures here lately?
Abbie is on house arrest after disappearing for 10 days before Thanksgiving.  We were sure she had been gobbled up by a coyote!  So far she hasn't protested too much but will probably give us trouble when the snow is gone.

Wheat free, week one

I couldn't lose pass up the opportunity to catch a few precious rays of Michigan winter sunshine this morning so the whole family went for a hike through the neighboring orchards.  We saw lots of interesting animal tracks and a noisy pilated woodpecker, maybe the same one that occasionally visits my suet feeder?   

Week one of my recent wheat free adventure has gone well.  I went most of the week focusing on meats, sprouted beans, vegetables and fruit but then yesterday got the urge to do a little baking.  For Alex and some visiting friends I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies and then this morning I made some chocolate chip muffins.  I also made lemon muffins for Alex earlier in the week but didn't have more than a nibble myself.  All of these were wheat free and not bad but not terribly noteworthy either.  I think it will take a little more practice to feel like my baked goods are "blog worthy" but I do feel capable of making things to curb a craving and feed the hungry boy.

In lieu of a recipe today I have a few snack recommendations I've been meaning to pass along.  These are completely uncompensated plugs for products that I know I could make myself but just find it a relief that someone is out there making them.  Everything in moderation and all, including laziness!  Here are my recent favorite convenience foods:

Earth Chips   I ordered some of these after reading Alisa of Go Dairy Free's review of their chocolate flavor.  Alisa was right, the chocolate ones are really good and a HIT with Alex!  He also likes the vanilla flavor.  I crave salty things and love the Cheezy Nutty version.  They also sell sprouted nuts that are to die for!!

Sea's Gift Korean Seaweed Snack   Another fix for salty snack cravings, Alex and I love the satisfying crunch of these seasoned nori sheets.  The shredded version is great for topping vegetable dishes or on diced avocado.  I used them a while back on these savory tuiles.

Chocolate Chia Goodness I mix up chia puddings on my own but for lazy breakfasts this combination is spot on. It's good mixed with unsweetened almond or hemp milk but even better stirred into So Delicious Coconut Milk Yogurt.

Penny and me

Alex sledding

New year = new puppy

Presenting Perfect our new border collie, I personally can't stand the name but John and Alex love it and I haven't convinced them anything is better suited to her.

Here she is wrestling with Fritz

Fritz is still the "baby" of the family though.  His small size and cuteness get him privileges no other dog would get.  Here he is napping on my lap with Penny.

DB Baked Alaskas

The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alaska or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”.

I know August was here because I have a number of new freckles, unloaded pictures on my camera and sand in my purse to prove it, but usual there was more to do than time to do it in.  In spite of my grandiose plans to wow all with my dairy-free baked Alaskas I instead bring you my thrown together, last minute attempt at this month's Daring Baker challenge.

We were given a brown butter cake recipe and I was enamored of our host's tag line, "Nutty and toasty meets cool and creamy."  However, margarine is not the kind of thing that improves with browning.  I instead played with the given pound cake recipe to make it toasted almond flavored.   I made a test loaf with the recipe quartered so I would only need one egg and could bake it in a mini loaf pan for just a few individual Alaskas.  I replaced the butter with coconut oil plus two tablespoons of almond flour.  Then I followed the butter browning and cooling directions with my coconut oil/almond flour mixture to get the most nutty flavor out of the ground nuts.  When I added the vanilla extract I also added in an eighth of a teaspoon of almond extract.  The resulting mini loaf was delicious!!  

I stuck with the ice cream recipe from Speedbump Kitchen I used last month but I flavored it with a real vanilla bean in addition to vanilla extract.  My only major trouble came when I beat my egg whites for the meringue cover.  They looked nice and glossy and not overbeaten when I finished beating them but in the time it took to turn around and get the piping bag ready they took on a slightly curdled texture.  Maybe it was the heat?  Either way I loved the cake and my son appreciated another baking challenge that included ice cream.  Thanks Elissa!  

Links:
-You can find the challenge recipes at our host Elissa's site, 17 and Baking.  She collaborated with Jen of Sugar High Fridays.
-Or you can go to original sources.  Elissa got her ice cream recipe from The Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments and the Brown Butter Pound Cake recipe from Epicurious. 
-The ice cream recipe I made was the "The World's Easiest Dairy-Free and Egg-Free Vanilla Ice Cream" from Speedbump Kitchen (click to see all her other ice cream flavors.)
-I replaced the soy creamer with So Delicious Coconut Milk Creamer.  I tried using the Original flavor this month but I recommend using the French Vanilla flavor instead. 
-Visit the Daring Kitchen and see other ice cream treats made this month by browsing the Daring Baker Blogroll. 

Naked Alaskas

Unbaked Alaskas

Alex at the NW Michigan Fair at the Cooking the Kids event making a sandwich wrap

And vegetable pasta salad

And blowing bubbles at the Buckley Old Engine Show.

Abbie has been murdering mice all summer

Sadly our duck Coco was killed by a predator while we were on vacation.  We suspect a weasel.

The others are doing well and free ranging more now that the dogs are back to protect them.

Penny is smiling and laughing.

And trying to wear all the cute clothes she got as gifts before the summer ends.

And she started rolling on our vacation to South Carolina and travels across the rooms getting into mischief.

Enjoy the rest of the summer all!

This is the almond flour I used, the cups I formed the Alaskas in and the cutters I used to cut out a slice of cake.  Love 'em all!