[chocomouse]

I do "lazy composting", having tried all possible methods over 35 years. I have 3 open bins: 1. building this year's pile 2. sitting for a year 3. ready to use. I don't turn then, use a thermometer or worry about the brown-green ratio, just let them sit knowing it will take a year (they don't breakdown over the winter in Vermont). I collect garbage in a special small composting bucket on the kitchen counter, and transfer it when full to a 5-gallon pail on the deck, and then to the garden pile. We rarely have a problem with critters scavenging in it, not since the first few years (and after we stopped growing corn!). I do not put meat scraps in it, but do compost egg shells. Vermont has a new law in effect that we must compost all food scraps, including meat, we cannot toss them out with the trash, so I am searching for a commercial composter who will take my meat scraps.

[chocomouse]

Joan, we like beets but love the greens even more, with a splash of white vinegar. I like them best with a tiny round beet on the end. I'm going to try growing them inside this winter. It works for spinach, lettuce, etc. and herbs under grow lights attached to a baker's rack in our passive solar sun room.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 6 months ago by chocomouse.

[chocomouse]

Seems that you all had some egg-cellent fun that I missed out on yesterday! I think I can add to your egg-tensive collection of ways to use eggs in cooking:
-- as a wash for baked goods to aid in browning and shine; or help seeds, etc to stick to the top of baked goods; and to help the edges of dough stick together when baked, such as on turnovers.
-- in bibambop, one of my my favorite Korean dishes

• This reply was modified 5 years, 6 months ago by chocomouse.

[chocomouse]

Our dinner last night was grilled pork chops, beet greens, summer squash and zucchini,and roasted potatoes. I grew the beets in a wooden box on the deck, and it looks like we have two more meals before they are all gone.

[chocomouse]

Brats for dinner! With peppers and onions cooked on the grill, served on the sandwich thins I baked this morning, sliced lengthwise, and the hot pepper relish I canned this week.

[chocomouse]

We have not seen a hummingbird here since early to mid-August. They began the long journey south in early August. But they'll return the first week in May.

[chocomouse]

I am making Hot Pepper Relish, using red bell peppers, jalepenoes, and onions. It's a recipe I created to "copy-cat" the Farmhouse Red relish that Stonewall Kitchen makes. I'm also making a pasta dish for dinner: bowties, with marinara, hot Italian sausage slices, peppers and onions.

[chocomouse]

Yes, Len! Great thinking!! And I've read that if your starter has been sitting for a while or is having a hard time waking up, to use some rye flour to get it moving.

[chocomouse]

I just posted the Sourdough Buttermilk Bread recipe that PaddyL (Lanctot) posted on the OBC many years ago. It begins with a detailed description of starting her "famous" starter "Brigid". She also describes making the dough into a raisin-cinnamon bread that her sister Sheila was so fond of.

Happy Birthday Mike!

[chocomouse]

Dinner tonight was steak tips on the grill, zucchini and summer squash, tomatoes with sliced onions in Greek dressing, and corn on the cob.

[chocomouse]

Paddy, on the obc, posted her English muffin recipe using her sourdough starter, if anyone is interested. I've made it, and wrote on it that it is "good, use it".

Baker Aunt, I have that same splitter tool. Or, "had" it. Don't know where it is, probably threw it away!! A regular fork works as good for me. I also always use buttermilk, and sometimes use oil instead of butter.

Mike, I agree with you. I think a knife just ruins the surface.

[chocomouse]

That is an interesting article. I didn't know that crumpets are cooked only on one side and have holes on top. But you don't just "whip out" a batch of muffins - they take a long time to make and cook. I make a yeast dough muffin. At the English muffin class I took at KAF last year, we were told to have a very wet dough; it helps to develop the big holes. And, also, to not cook them thoroughly, that they would dry out when toasted. But I like mine completely cooked. I have to admit -- I'm a little OCD when it comes to my baked goods. I weigh my dough and use rings. I like my muffins (and buns, etc.) to look perfect, like store-bought! I just don't want them to taste store-bought.

[chocomouse]

Aaron, I had not thought of that, but a good idea; Thank you. I'll try it next time, probably in a couple of weeks, to use up more zucchini.

[chocomouse]

Today I made the KAF recipe for zucchini brownies, and doubled it for a 9 x 12 pan. I've make it before, and was not overly impressed, but I do need to use up more zucchini. I got the same results this time -- it's OK, not great, but more cake-like than fudgy. I've marked it to "not make again". I put a chocolate ganache on it, so it does have some redeeming qualities.

[chocomouse]

It's been a cold, rainy day here, so I pulled a container of baked beans from the freezer for my husband, and a container of Duchess soup for myself. With it we had Tropical Fruit muffins from the freezer.

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