Living in Season

Our climber... or, why Mommy is going gray

John is walking a few steps at a time - he obviously thinks it's much better to crawl - but he has no problem with climbing. I probably should buy stock in hair color.

 

 

Little brownie baker

It's been one of those days, and chocolate was high on my list of must-haves. So, I whipped up a batch of brownies this evening. Sam "helped." Yep, the boy has my sweet tooth, I'm sorry to say!

 

 

Taking an eCourse in whole foods from GNOWFLGINS

 

I'm excited to try my first eCourse on learning how to prepare whole foods. Wardeh Harmon, a Whitefish native who now lives in Oregon, is the woman behind the GNOWFLGINS blog (GNOWFLGINS means "God's Natural, Organic, Whole Foods, Grown Locally, In Season") where she talks about getting back food basics, which is the goal of this course.

This is a five week course so it won't be an overwhelming amount of information dumped all at once. I'm looking forward to learning how to use sprouted grains and seeds, plus work on my sourdough technique (which has been a struggle for me lately for some reason - I'm hoping she will help me figure out what I'm doing wrong), and learn how to make kefir! She also has a lesson on how pickling. I'm a fermentation nut so this should be fun. There's always something to learn!

To sign up or take a look at the GNOWFGLINS Fundamentals. If you would like to sign up, the deadline is February 22 because the fun begins on February 23. Hope to see you on the Forums!

Kokanee for dinner

Grant went fishing today to try to increase our pike supply in the freezer, but didn't have much luck. He did come home with a lovely Kokanee salmon, though. This was a nice one. I know we would've been doing backflips if we caught one this big on Bitterroot Lake in the Flathead.

It's a good thing he caught it because I wasn't able to cook the turkey as I planned. I hate to handle poultry when I have a baby hanging on my leg, and John didn't give me the chance to pop it in the oven. (The corned beef was another story. That only took 30 minutes.)

I like to slice onions and place them inside of the fish when baking it, but Grant prefers it without. So tonight I put in a little pat of butter, salt and dill. Then I baked it at 425 for 25 minutes. It was perfect. Very creamy flesh, almost buttery. Excellent meal! Grant's hoping to head back to try to sack up some more before the ice is off at the end of the season, but I suppose we need to be careful not to smoke our fish before they're caught!

Time with Kelo

I'm always happy for a break in the weather so we can play with the pony! Kelo was feeling under the weather earlier last month, but he's back to normal. He is the first to run up to the barn when we arrive - even when all of the horses are in the big pasture - and his appetite is as sharp as ever. Even though he's an easy keeper, we give him a bowl of senior feed when we visit. It's good for him, and gives me time to set Sam on his back.

Yummy, yummy pike

Earlier this week Grant and Blaine spent some father/son time on the ice fishing for pike, and brought home seven of them! This was unheard of when we lived in Kalispell. If we caught one or two we were excited. The two largest were around five to six pounds. They'll be good eating. Sam was less than impressed. He is fascinated by fish, but sure as shooting doesn't want to touch them!

Christmas Baking at the Funny Farm

Today was baking day, which is why I have a twitch above my right eye. It started off okay. Sam helped me sift the flour and spices together for the gingerbread cookies, and stirred it with a spoon while I mixed the butter, eggs, molasses and such. I was just about to add the flour to the wet ingredients when i noticed the salt shaker was empty. Yep, Sam figured about it needed about 4 tablespoons. Six cups of flour and spices went into the trash, but at least it wasn't the combined dough. Fortunately, I had enough ingredients for a second attempt.

Of course, none of this is done in an orderly manner. While I was trying to regroup, John was melting down because he was ready for a nap. That certainly helps keep everything calm and in control. So, I was frantically measuring out everything as fast as I could so I could finish, and get him to sleep. Meanwhile, Sam was repeating, "Mommy! Mommy!" because he wanted to "help," and I wouldn't let him to expedite the process.

The most exciting part of the mixing was bringing out the big Kitchen-Aid. Sam has a love-hate thing going on with this machine. I keep it under the kitchen sink, and it's proved an effective means of keeping him out. When he was really little, he'd open the door, see it and scream. Now he'll mess with it there, but keeps his distance when it's running. (I should buy a whole bunch of these!) We finished mixing the dough, and then I rolled it in 3 balls to refrigerate for at least 3 hours. That put a wrench in my plans. I hoped to finish the project before lunch.

While we had lunch, I chopped up veggies, and added them to the pot to make soup from the chicken I cooked last night. I thought i would let it simmer while I got the boys down for a nap, then be able to turn it off, strain some broth for Grant, and clean up while they slept. Ha! The best laid plans...

The boys messed around for an hour and a half before I yanked Sam's pacifier. It was time to roll the cookie dough. I had to keep John in his high chair so he didn't pick up any of the little pieces off of the floor in the process. The boy can spot a foreign object from 20 feet away, and has extraordinary dexterity. At one point today, Sam pulled down the bucket of dog treats. Melvin chomped away while John picked up the crumbs. Ick. I grabbed it right away, but I'm sure he got his first taste of kibble.

The dough rolling went well. Cutting them out was okay, although Sam preferred to beat the dough with the shapes instead of pressing it through. We managed to do three trays of bears, snowmen and diamonds. By this time, John was acting very sleepy again throwing everything I gave to him, then hanging his head before wailing at the top of his lungs. After baking the cookies, and making sure Sam was within earshot, I got John down for another nap.

We had to let the cookies cool before frosting, so we made cinnamon rolls for Helen, Sam's favorite person, and her family. Sam helped me roll out the dough, but grabbed a cookie cutter ready to slam into it. Thankfully, the butter and brown sugar mixtures for the bottom and filling changed his direction.

As those rose, we went to icing the cookies. I mixed up a basic powdered sugar icing that we separated into three bowls and colored. By this time, I'd completely lost interest. I started out with buttons on the snowman, but when they lost shape all bets were off. I let Sam go at it. The gingerbread look like modern art creations. I also tried one of the cookies, and I am far from impressed with their flavor even though I added twice the amount of cinnamon and more ginger. Oh well, they're certainly colorful, and Sam sure had a good time frosting them.

As we wrapped up our day's cooking adventures, Sam took a bite out of several cookies before I could put them in containers, and of course, spilled his glass of milk. By the time Grant came home I had cleaned the floor, did most of the dishes, and made it look half-way presentable. He was appalled by the dough and flour on Sam, but would been apoplectic if he would've been there 15 minutes earlier! But what can you expect from a budding baker? They have to learn somehow. I learned I need a clone.

Almost ready for Christmas

It's been a crazy several weeks, but it looks like we're almost ready for the big day. Grant brought a tree home a couple of weeks ago, and we actually have a string of lights along the porch. Last year, we were pretty dim compared to the display of lights our neighbors' string. I'm not talking "seeing the house from space" type displays, but it's really nice to take a walk in the evening. Maybe next year I'll rally the troops to do a luminaria display like we used to do on Rose Crossing in Kalispell.

There are a few differences this year... particularly in the cooking and baking department. Grant had surgery for a hiatal hernia a few weeks ago, and still can't have solid foods. As a matter of fact, anything thicker than eggnog gets hung up. His brother is bringing up a prime rib, but I don't know if pureed meat is going to be very appetizing.

So I'm also not baking cookies. I don't need them, and if Grant can't eat them we have a problem. I think Sam and I will make a batch this week just so he can help me - he's such a good baker - but other than that, we're keeping the sweets on the down low.

One thing I am making is bread for friends. I delivered a couple of loaves to editors, and now I need to make a plan to get to baking. I also made jam this summer to give away, and managed to put together a batch a soap a few weeks ago for gifts. It's not as much as I'd like to do, but it's what's manageable. After years of going crazy with the lotion bar business, Montana Mercantile, and oftentimes working until the middle of the night to fill orders, it will be nice to have a relaxing holiday.

Now, before I forget again, I need to go dig horseradish for our prime rib. After several days of 40 degree temps, the ground is thawed, and it should be good and hot!

Gobble! Gobble!

I had Thanksgiving dinner planned months ago. Earlier this year I ordered a heritage breed turkey from Courtney and Jacob Cowgill at Prairie Heritage Farm in Conrad. They raised 75 birds this spring for their Thanksgiving CSA members, and for direct sales. All year long the birds ate whatever came their way, more like the wild ones, and lived the good life outside of a caged existence. Last Friday and Saturday they met their fates, and I picked up a fresh turkey from Courtney on Saturday. For me, it makes more sense to know how the bird lived, and I'm delighted to support local producers.

Since Thanksgiving isn't a huge production around here - it's usually just us and Grant's brother and nephew - I like to make the turkey the night before so I have time do something else instead of just cooking. To roast the bird, I followed the first recipe Courtney has on their website. I brushed the turkey with a half-cup of melted butter (can't go wrong there), seasoned it with minced garlic, salt, pepper, thyme and rosemary, and put it in a 425 degree oven for 30 minutes before turning down the heat to 325 for the remaining 3 hours. The key is to not overcook it. It's done when the internal temp is 165 degrees.

The house smelled heavenly with the turkey cooking in the oven, and we ate some for dinner. Who can resist? The next day, my plan was to make the sweet potato casserole and dressing to be ready to pop in the oven. The mashed potatoes would be made while they baked. I'd reheat the turkey with chicken broth. So, I told the guys we'd eat around four.

I went to see Kelo in the morning. He's so spoiled, and wouldn't stand still for brushing. Romeo, the youngster, was more than happy to oblige. Then I came home and made the sweet potatoes and dressing before giving the boys lunch, and putting them down for a nap. That's where the plan went off track. I fell asleep, too, which is something I desperately needed but wasn't in my schedule, and I didn't wake up until 3:30! All the guys were sitting in the living room!

Thankfully, the Grisaks are not a complaining bunch, and patiently waited until I got things pulled together over an hour later. Everything turned out fine - but of course, they were so hungry by then I could've served them anything! Hopefully, I'll have things better planned for Christmas dinner.

Meat in the Freezer

Despite early cold weather, which is usually a benefit for hunting, success has been slow to come this year. Thankfully, Blaine came to visit last weekend, and counted the first deer of the season. He and Grant went ot to a friend's place near Fort Benton, and Blaine shot this nice, big bodied, two-point muley buck.

I guess they saw quite a few, but didn't have a good shot. Blaine took a couple of cat naps while waiting until the deer started moving again in the late afternoon. He had the sights set on another buck roughly 150 yards away when Grant noticed this one walking up behind them. Blaine turned, readjusted his sight because it was half the distance, and pulled the trigger. One shot is all he needed, which is pretty common for this boy. He's steady and accurate.

Grant is cutting up the deer right now. He is very particular on how the steaks are butchered and wrapped (I'm only allowed to write the deer and date on the package) so he handles the entire process. I'm planning on canning some of the venison later - when he can be home to watch the kids since it takes a good hunk of the day. Canning meat is a long process, but it certainly is handy having it on hand. When I forget to thaw something for dinner, I can grab a can of venison and make a quick "pot pie" or stew. Can't beat it for convenience.