boozy berry sangria

Last week, my Beloved picked up a bottle of wine at the grocery store while we were shopping.  It turned out to be a not very good bottle of wine and what he really wanted was sangria. 

A nice margarita.  A nice glass of sangria.  I am happy with both so I figured why not.  Every recipe I have read so far, I have not been very excited about.  So i went to google and typed in boozy sangria.  I found two recipes that looked interesting with a bit of modification.  Apple does not belong in sangria in my opinion.  The first time I was introduced to that was at my cousin's wedding and I just thought it was odd.  I still do.

This is the first one.  The berry version.  I have no citrus fruit in the house right now but I do have frozen berries.  They worked well.  This sangria is better if you can let it sit for about twenty four hours before drinking.  It also overfilled a half gallon mason jar.  It may have been the amount of fruit that I used but it would be better if you could find a gallon mason jar or such.  Mine is holding whole wheat flour.  Or did before I kneaded dough today.

boozy berry sangria

Note:  I used Life in Pleasantville's recipe with some modification.  Mostly because I did not wish to go to the store again.  Yes, I am lazy.

750 ml bottle of merlot

1 cup citrus, orange, or cranberry vodka - I used a roasted pink lemon vodka.  It is not available for purchase so use what you have

1/2 cup agave

2 cups moscata wine (the recipe calls for white cranberry juice but I had none but I had moscata)

1 to 2 cups frozen raspberries

1 to 2 cups frozen strawberries

1 to 2 cups frozen blackberries

Mix the merlot, vodka, and agave together.  Mix in the moscata.  Put the frozen berries in a gallon container.  Pour the liquid over.  Put in the refrigerator and wait twenty four hours if you possibly can.

I could not.

leek fermentation for healthy bellies

I promise this is the last vegetable fermentation for awhile.  Yes, the boyos really did ask for krauts and kimchis so they could have healthier bellies.  And because is goes so well with brautwurst and such.  They really like it.  It is not really my cup of tea.  Give me time and I might change my mind.  My favorite fermentation is sourdough.  Oh well. 

That is life with boyos.  But the title of this post was actually said in my house.  I keep thinking that I should write them all down.  All those interesting one liners.  It also has been suggested that a movie be made of the goings on but nobody would truly believe our normal life.  This is from someone who works on films and likes documentaries.  Life is always unexpected.

Leek-chi

Note:  Taproot magazine has been my friend for starting fermentations.  I try to stay close to the recipes unless items are hard to find and then I go with what I have in stock or I can buy locally.

6 cups leeks (about 3 pounds), with 2 to 3 inches on the green, washed well and sliced thinly crosswise

2 teaspoons real salt

2 large cloves of garlic, minced

1 tablespoon ginger, finely grated

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

1 teaspoon ancho chile, ground or to taste

1 teaspoon chipolte chile, ground or to taste

In a large bowl, put the leeks.  Cover with salt and toss.  Massage or press with a tamper to start brine development (I used my muddler).  Add the rest of the ingredients.  Mix well.  Let rest covered for 45 minutes with a cloth.

After the rest, brine should have started to develop.  Transfer into a quart jar and tamp down so there are no air pockets.  I did this a bit at a time.

Cover with a quart bag.  I filled with rice but you can use water.  Let the brine come around the sides of the filled bag.  Cover with a cloth and let sit in a cool place for 5 to 10 days.

Make sure the vegetables stay submerged during this time.  I did not have any scum form but if you do scoop it out and put your weight back.  When the color changes from green to a yellow-green and the leek-chi is pungent, remove the weight, cover tightly, and store in the refrigerator. 

Boyos like.

walnut sour cherry rye bread

I am having a difficult time getting back into the swing of Houston life since we have been back.  The upheaval at work is not helping as well as the heat of late summer.  Our last traveling bit was for the boyos and I just did not feel like I came back refreshed.  I have already done some mending today and I hope to put my hands in dough and sit at my sewing machine.  That may help.

Before we left, I made a walnut sour cherry rye bread.  I have been listening to the Kerry Greenwood Corinna Chapman mysteries and since Corinna Chapman is a baker there are all these lovely descriptions of bread and food.  Corinna Chapman starts most mornings with some of her own bread, many times rye, and sour cherry jam.  I rifted on that for this bread.  I was thinking it would be great with cheese on our travels.  The youngest of the boyos though did not think this was food so there was much to much eating out done due to just trying to get him fed.

I made two loaves of this.  I gave half to two different co-workers.  One came back and said it was fabulous as the bread for grilled cheese.  The other, who like stout beers, said it tasted like a really nice Lambic beer, and also like a Flemish Sour Ale.  Since I have not found a beer I like, I would not know but someone else may.  I think it is pretty fabulous with butter and with cream cheese.  The grilled cheese is on my list and smoked salmon and cherry jam.  

walnut sour cherry rye bread

sourdough starter

3/4 cup water

1 cup rye flour

2 3/4 cup water

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup walnut oil

1 cup finely chopped walnuts

1 cup finely chopped dried sour cherries

3 teaspoons salt

5 to 6 cups dark rye flour

The night before, mix the starter, 3/4 cup water, and 1 cup rye in a large bowl.  Cover and let sit overnight.  Take out a couple tablespoons of starter for the next batch of bread.

Into the starter, mix the water, honey, oil, walnut, and cherries.  Mix in two to three cups of rye flour.  It should be the consistency of pancake batter.  Cover and let sit until bubbly, a couple hours or more.

After the batter is bubbly, mix in the salt.  Mix in two more cups of flour.  You should have a stiff dough.  Turn out onto a counter floured with rye flour and start kneading.  The dough should be very soft.  The sour cherries may soak up more liquid and rye rises better if it is a moister dough.  Place back into a cleaned bowl, and let rise until double.

Grease two large loaf pans.  Divide the dough into two and form into a loaf shape.  Place into the pans.  Cover and let rise.  My house was cool so I let the loaves rise overnight.

Turn the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Put in the loaves and bake for one hour.  The loaves are done when they sound hollow when tapped.

It is best if you can wait at least twenty minutes before cutting but that rarely happens in my house.  Enjoy.  

senfkraut

It has been an interesting day.  About twenty minutes before I left for work, I started sneezing.  Allergies.  By the end of the day, my head was woozy dizzy from the allergies.  So woozy dizzy that I did not think I would be able to balance my bicycle on the way home.  My Beloved picked me up from work.

Monday evening, I broke my bone H crochet hook on Papaw's "kitchen" floor.  Most people would call it the breakfast area but in Papaw's house that is probably not the right word.  There is a room that is big enough for the whole family to sit down for Sunday breakfast.  One of the grandchildren said it needed to be built so it was.  My Beloved picked me up an aluminum crochet hook in his travels and I am using that one currently because the bamboo one just has too much friction.  I splurged on ordering a fancy one that is handmade so I will see if I like that.

The allergies are starting to get bad again so I am going to see if I can write faster then I sneeze and swell.  Sometimes witch hazel is my friend.

Before I left for MotoGP, I finished making kraut.  It was a request.  I was rushing to put it into the refrigerator before I left.

The first I made was senfkraut.  It was much easier then I expected.  Reading about making kraut is almost as mystical as reading about sourdough so I should have known better.  I also have better ideas about how to can it after talking with a cousin.  So many tricks can be learned around food with that many women cooking in a family!

My Beloved has been eating it on fish tacos.  One of the boyos has just been eating it.  There are brauts waiting to be cooked for it too.  Happy bellies.  Now, I admit it is not my cup of tea but I do not mind making it for happy bellies.

senfkraut

Note:  I used the recipe from Taproot  It was one of the most straight forward and unmystical descriptions I have read.  It worked well.

1 purple cabbage, rinsed, cored and thinly sliced.  Save about four of the whole outer leaves

1 tablespoon salt

1/2 onion, thinly sliced

3 - 6 cloves garlic minced

1 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and grated

1 tablespoon turmeric powder

1 1/2 tablespoons dill weed

3 tablespoons yellow mustard seed

1/4 cup filtered unchlorinated water

6 bay leaves

1/2 teaspoons peppercorns (I used multicolored because it was what I had)

In a large bowl, put the cabbage.  Add the salt and massage into the leaves with your hands.  The cabbages should start weeping brine.  Add the onion, garlic, ginger, and turmeric.  Mix thoroughly with the cabbage.

In a blender, mix the mustard seeds and water just enough to break up the seeds.

Add the mixture to the cabbage bowl and massage with your hands.  Taste for salt.  Add a bit more if you wish.  No more the 1/2 teaspoon.  There should be enough brine to cover the ferment but if not, cover and set aside for 45 minutes.  Massage again after this time.

In a quart jar or 1/2 gallon jar (or two pints like a used), place a few bay leaves on the bottom and the peppercorns.  Add the cabbage mixture a bit at a time.  Tamp down.  Brine should be coming up and there should be no air pockets.

Top the cabbage mixture with the outer leaves.  Weight down.  I used sarann wrap and lots of rice.  I tamped the rice down too and made sure the brine came up into the space around the rice.  A ziploc of water would work too.  Cover with a cloth and let sit in a cool shaded spot for 5 to 7 days.  Check daily to make sure the vegetables stay submerged.  It is done when it tastes pleasingly sour and like kraut and mustard.

Store in the refrigerator or can.

Like I said, happy excited contented boyos.  Not my cup of tea but an easy make.

from the dr. seuss garden (and as a reminder to me for another experiment)

My garden this year has been interesting.  We started with floods.  The ground got so saturated that it could not hold anymore water and I could not get into it to weed.  The grass took over.  Then, there was no rain and 100 degree Fahrenheit temperatures.  I could not dig the grass out, let alone pull it out.  Some of my flowers did well but there will not be a bumper crop this year. 

There is a bumper crop of amaranth.  Some of the plants stand taller then our neighbors' porch rail which stands probably twelve feet high.  The Dr. Seuss garden comment actually comes from them because when sorghum plants are added it does look like something Dr. Seuss would draw.

Amaranth leaves taste like a more intense flavored spinach then spinach when cooked.  You pick them before the plants seed.  I also heavily suggested that you cook them.  They have a bit of fuss and stiffness to them that breaks down with a nice saute.  Like nettle loses the sting when you cook it.

Now, what I need the reminder for, is on our way back from the races and family, we stopped in a Mexican resturaunt in Arkadelphia, Arkansas.  It was called Rosas Kitchen and it is a non-profit which feeds children.  Every meal served a child is fed.  It is amazing how little actual money that takes.  $.22  But outside the good they are doing by feeding children, their food is fabulous.  I have been eating more vegetarian meals lately and they had a spinach taquito that was fabulous.  I am going to do it with amaranth but first I am going to write down the pizza recipe for amaranth that I created to use as a guide.

Yes, I use my own blog.  My blog is up on my phone for most of the weekend as I cook.  I am such a nerd.

I have actually made this pizza twice now.  I plan to make it again and again before the amaranth freezes.

amaranth, feta, pine nut and pesto pizza

a large bunch of amaranth or spinach, washed well and chopped

5 to 6 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced.  Used roasted if you have it.

2 to 4 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

about 1/2 cup basil pesto (or plain olive oil)

1 to 2 cups of feta

about 1/2 cup pine nuts

1/2 to 1 recipe pizza dough

Preheat oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a large cast iron skillet, heat the oil over medium heat.  Add the amaranth and garlic.  Sauté the mixture until the amaranth is well cooked and the garlic golden.  Take it off the heat.

Roll out the pizza dough until it is the size of your pizza pan.  A half recipe is a thin crust.  A full recipe of dough is a thick crust.  Place on your pizza pan.  I have been using my cast iron pizza pan covered with parchment paper.  Spread with basil pesto.  If there is none in the house, olive oil will do.  Sprinkle with pine nuts and feta.

Once the oven is to heat, bake for 17 minutes.

It is very hot.  Be careful with cutting and eating!  I need to make this many more times this summer as I said but I now need to experiment with taquitos! 

I cannot type today and I also heard that there was hope for taquitos as I was complaining about my typing.  Life is so odd.