Pioneer Woman at Heart

It’s still raining here today.  If I had not run out of sugar, I would be canning apple jelly today.  I don’t want to waste gas driving to town for one bag of sugar.  However, I did bake up 2 dozen organic pumpkin muffins.    I found a quick recipe on-line , but used ½ cup whole wheat flour with 2 cups of white, used sea salt vs. regular salt, used my farm fresh eggs, and only used 1 cup of organic evaporated cane syrup.  And with all other recipes, I swap out oil with organic or homemade apple sauce.  I did not top mine with the suggested sugar mix either, and they taste wonderful. I have yet taken the time to make my own pumpkin pie spice, so that is on my "to-do" list.

. . .it’s raining again, and has been raining every day for the last week.   We can’t seem to get a break long enough to plant in the gardens.   Even if it stops, the ground is too wet. . . . our first potatoes are up . . . our buttercrunch lettuce is up . . .the heirloom lettuce is up . . .the heirloom peas are up and a few spinach plants . . .the solar bird house has not yet been visited by birds.   The inside actually lights up at night, after a full day of charging in the sun.   I’m not sure the birds will enjoy a night light.

I baked a new cookie recipe today, and it does not contain flour.  It is not an inexpensive recipe either.  It contains an ingredient we have never tried before – Almond Butter. Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies 1 cup Almond Butter 3/4 cup brown sugar 1 large egg 1 tsp. vanilla 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1/4 tsp. sea salt 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 1/2 cup toasted sliced almonds Preheat oven to 350°.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.  These cookies will need to be baked on the center rack of your oven. In medium bowl, stir the first six ingredients together.  Add chocolate chips and almonds.  Drop by rounded teaspoons on parchment paper lined cookies sheets.  Do not press dough down. Bake 10-12 minutes until lightly browned.  Remove from oven and allow cookies to remain on cookie sheet for a few more minutes to allow the cookies to set.  Remove cookies from cookie sheets, and cool them on cooling racks.   Yield:...

I added 3 ½ more pints of grape jelly to our cupboard.  I would like to try making sugar free jellies/jams soon also. I finished a hot pad set for my 3 rd grader’s teacher, and am contemplating making her a 3 rd surprise one to go with it.

I made my first batch of homemade organic graham crackers.  I have to say I will have a hard time not eating all of these before the kids get home.  They are unbelievably good.  Between the wheat thins and these, I now have replaced 2 more processed foods we used to buy.  They are much better tasting and much cheaper to make.  They do take time, but they are well worth it. Dough before it was rolled out as instructed by the recipe I used.

Our weather went from 70-80°, to a high of around 55° the last 2 days.  It’s definitely not gardening or yard work weather.  I can see how weather was a major factor for the life style of pioneers.  Too much rain or lack of rain can make a big difference in farming and gardening. Although there is still enough work to complete indoors, such as canning more jelly, and regular housework, I may spend time journaling. To see my Book of Possibilities , visit my S.C.R.A.P. blogspot.

Today I baked wheat thins from scratch.   I used a recipe I found on-line, and they were delicious.   We typically enjoy store purchased, processed wheat thins with our homemade hummus.  In doing away with as much processed food as we can, we are now going to be baking these regularly, using as many organic ingredients as we can.  The whole wheat flour we used is from a local flour mill, that produces stone ground and preservative free flour.  We use organic milk and butter.  Once our goats are producing milk, we will try baking these witho our own organic milk. Here is the link for the recipe:  Wheat Thins One Tip:  Use parchment paper to avoid the crackers sticking to the pan.   There are several more recipes for these in cookbooks and on the Internet.  I am sure we will be doing some more experimenting with recipes.