Do Plants Belong Here?

 

The news people insist we are going to have our first freeze tonight. If they mean freaking Oklahoma again I am going to be Maaaaad.

A dozen years or so ago, I convince Manly Man to come help me move the plants inside because I was a helpless girl and he was a big strong man. He didn't stand a chance. He was so stunned he didn't even try to get away. He does not have to help me bring in the plants anymore. I make his kids do it.

So anyway, we brought in most of the plants before sundown tonight. About ten minutes ago, I remembered the little water garden. It had glass balls in it and a few plants that might not like having their roots frozen. Great, where does one put soaking wet plants? The bathtub, of course.

I can't wait to see their reactions when they wake up, stumble into the bathroom, and find it full of soggy plants. Sometimes it is fun to be me.

Where is the weirdest place you have stored a plant?

Homemade Noodles

 

 

Are y'all ready for more of my awful pictures. Here they are pictures of my first attempt at homemade noodles.

We are having chicken and dumplings for dinner tonight. Teenage Monkey does not like dumplings, but he loves pasta. I thought it would be nice to give him something homemade too. It was not hard at all.

1 1/3 cup flour
2 eggs
3 tablespoons olive oil
Pinch salt
1/4 cup hot water

Mix the flour, eggs, oil, and salt in a bowl and begin stirring. While stirring, add the hot water a little at a time until a ball of dough forms. Turn this out onto a floured cutting board and kneed for a minute or two. Roll out as thin as possible. Use lots of flour to keep this from sticking. Cut into long noodles and let them dry a little.

These cooked really fast. Less than a minute in boiling salt water and they were ready. Will definitely do this again.

Bits and Pieces

The radish poll is closed. 13 of y'all love em, 3 of y'all hate em, and 5 could care less. This was my best voter turn out ever. Thanks for playing. Next time y'all get to pick out what we vote on. You can campaign. I will provide links and make fun, provide encouragement . Good Times.

I just got rid of my links list and added a blog list. This is so much better. The most recent posts go to the top of the list. I can see if you have posted without having to go to the blog first. Saves me tons of time. I kind of Internet stalk your blogs. I'm harmless, really. Don't be skeered.

My attempt at whole wheat sour dough starter appears to be working. There are a few bubble, but no sour smell yet.

I spent a little bit of time in the garden this morning with my best friend. The wind was awful and made her eyes sting, so we quit and went to lunch. Still, I got a new veggie bed and a nice visit out of it.

I have procrastinated on the quilt and need to get on with it.

Does anyone know how to do that line through text trick?

Have a nice Wednesday.

Deb

Mailbox Suprise

I am so excited I can barely stand it. My morning trip to the mailbox revealed two great things about winter. The first Christmas card and SEED CATALOGS. YEAH. The 2009 Vermont Bean Seed Company and Totally Tomatoes catalogs arrived today.

This gets my gardening imagination going. This year I want to try garbanzo beans, Jerusalem artichokes, and celeriac. I will get Celebrity tomatoes again. They were the plants that caused the great green tomato glut of fall 2008. If I plant them in the spring, there should be plenty of tomatoes for canning.

Okay, gotta go now, must study catalogs. Oh lookie,there are tools.

WEEEEE....

Now go see what Joy has to say about catalogs and magazines.

Sour Dough Bread

This time of year when there are many parties and family gatherings I receive a lot of requests for my sour dough bread.

The starter was a gift from a neighbor. It came with that friendship bread recipe. I don't like sweets, so I just make my sour dough bread like I used to make my regular yeast bread.

Sour dough starter is alive. Mine lives in the refrigerator in a one gallon plastic freezer bag. Once every week or two, I feed it. Usually there is a little hooch on top of the starter. This is alcohol and I just poor it off. Then I add 1/3 cup of sugar, 1 cup of flower, and 3 cups of water. This is pretty runny stuff, but remember, I just pored off some of the liquid and may need to do that again before I bake.

Many recipes tell you to make a sponge. Not me.

Here are few measurements that I don't use.

2 cups starter

3 cups bread flour

1 egg

3 tablespoons olive oil or butter

3 tablespoons honey

Pinch of salt.

Mix it all together. It should be a very soft loose dough. If it is too stiff, add more starter.

Next comes the kneading. Turn out the dough on a floured cutting board. Use lots and lots of flour. Knead by pushing the dough away from you and then folding it back toward you in a rocking motion. Don't be rough and don't kneed too long. As soon as the dough is elastic, holds a ball shape, and is relatively smooth STOP.

Place the dough in an oiled glass bowl and let rise for a long long time. If it cold in the house, I set it on top of my food dehydrator with a plate over the bowl to keep the dough from drying out.

After the dough has doubled or no longer springs back when you pressed it with your thumb, turn it back out onto the cutting board. Divide the dough in half. Knead just like before. Let the dough balls sit for a few minutes and then shape into loaves. Place in a oiled glass baking pan and let rise again for a long long time.

When the dough has doubled in size again, or when you simply run out of time and patience, bake the bread at 350 for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Brush the loaves with melted butter and let cool.

Then get out of the way. People get a little aggressive when cutting and serving this bread.

There are only a few more hours to vote on radishes. Let me know how you feel.

I am Officially the Slowest Land Mammal

A few times a year I get motivated to try to get back into shape. Like most Americans, I need to lose a few pounds. I usually start walking or take a class. Unfortunately, I always get side tracked by Monkeys, my garden, or something one of my sisters is doing. I guess my fits and spats of healthful thinking have kept me from weight 300 lbs, but they certainly have not brought me back down to pre-Baby Monkey size or condition.

Recently, I have been inspired to start again. I bought one of those step meters and thought I would see what would happen if I just worked around the house and yard all day. I cleaned house for about six hours. I spent another 45 minutes or so in the garden. I would usually spend more time in the garden, but it was cold and windy today.

After a little less than 7 hours on my feet, the pedometer says I have walked 2.27 miles. I am officially slower than a tree sloth. YEAH!!!

Check out my sister's craft blog In Stitches. She has a couple of giveaways.

Our Little Christmas Tree

Every year the day after Thanksgiving Manly Man and the Monkeys put up the Christmas tree for me. Sometimes I come home from a sister's house and find it up. Yesterday, I was on the computer and they came in to tell me to come look. Isn't it sweet?

I did a little research trying to figure out if our fake white tree is better for the environment than a real tree. From everything I read, it is basically a wash. In the future, if we decide to get a real tree, I would like to get a living tree and then plant it in the yard. Or maybe we could go to a local tree farm and cut down our own and then mulch it after Christmas. In the meantime, this little tree will last us for years. When it gets to ratty to be inside, I will save it as a deck or front porch tree and it will get many more years of service.