Waste Not

This weekend we made some apple pies for our church's Thanksgiving Dinner.
However, we had to buy new apples because the ones we had picked last month were getting soft and hard to peel. I figured they wouldn't hold up well in pie and that they were too soft to enjoy eating raw. I decided that rather then let those apples go to waste, I'd make some apple sauce. It turned out we had half a bag of cranberries in the refrigerator also from a meal a couple of weeks ago. They went in the apple sauce too.
We also had left over pie crust, and that led to an improvised chicken pot pie for dinner. We didn't have the traditional peas, potatoes, celery and carrots. Rather I had 3 parsnips that needed to be used, one sweet potato, and half a jar of corn in the freezer. I added an onion and sauteed these in a pan with some sage and savory. We had a cooked chicken breast in the freezer that I thawed by boiling in 2 cups broth with a bay leave and some allspice berries. The veggies went into the bottom pie crust, I chopped up the chicken and added it to the pie. Then made a white sauce using 4 tablespoons butter, 1/2 cup flour cooked over medium heat for minute or two. Then I added 1 cup milk and stirred while it thickened, then added back the 2 cups broth. This cooked until thickened and then was poured over the veggies and chicken. Covered with extra pie crust, this baked with the pies (but should have baked at 400 for 25 minutes or so.) It took longer with the pies, but saved time and cooking fuel. We were so hungry we gobbled down the chicken pot pie before any pictures could be taken, but we heartily enjoyed it.

Here's the recipe for the Cran-Apple Sauce.

Cran-Apple Sauce

About 7-8 apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped
1 cup cranberries rinsed over
1/4-1/2 cup sugar
1/2-3/4 cup water
dash of cinnamon
dash of nutmeg
3-5 cloves (in a tea ball or cheesecloth)

Combine the ingredients in a sauce pan. Start with lower amounts of sugar and water. Add water only if the apples begin to stick.
Simmer over medium heat, stirring often.
The cranberries will begin to burst, changing the color of the liquid.
Cook until all the berries have burst and the apples are soft.
Remove from heat, remove cloves, and mash with a potato masher. For a smoother texture, run through a food mill or puree with a blender. Taste and add more sugar as needed.
Transfer to a jar and store in the refrigerator. In larger quantities this could be canned, processed in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes. Makes about 1 quart.

Art Quilting

Today I went to an Art Quilting workshop at the home of one of the ladies in the town where I teach. I didn't know her directly but got invited through the principal of my school. The hostess was trying out an idea of having a workshop on art quilting at her home which might eventually become an event to register for and bring some tourism to the town. It was a varied bunch of ladies from surrounding towns with a variety of skills. The hostess is known for her art quilting pieces and her work has been featured in Quilting Arts Magazine.
We were experimenting with postcard size pieces. The basic idea is that you sew fabric and batting to a stiffener and then begn layering and embellishing. We used sewing machines and a felting machine (which was very cool!). I wasn't thrilled with my first piece and I applied glitter paint to outline my flower, only to realize it would take forever to dry. So there is still one part to be sewn on another day. I started a second piece and enjoyed using the felting machine to add a layer of sheer with lace on it. Next I sewed beads and sequins on and finally gave it a ribbon border. I'm much happier with the second one. Ms. Alford sent us home with some stiffener so I have more to try out another day with my large pile of scraps in the craft room.

Seed Pods

Growing up, we had day lilies of numerous varieties and colors all over the yard. I remember being fascinated in the fall when the seed pods dried and cracked open. I enjoyed breaking them apart and dumping the seeds on the ground. I always wondered about the seeds and whether they would really sprout into a day lily because I knew my mom always spread them by division. I still haven't found out if you plant a seed whether you'll get a day lily or not. Currently in our yard there is just one or two. The texture and color of the seed pods grabbed my interest for a picture a week or two ago.

Here's how it looked back in August. Soon the seeds will be buried under snow.

Honey Oatmeal Bread

I've decided to take on baking bread on the weekend more regularly. We enjoy having fresh bread for toast in the morning and with dinner at night. This week I made Honey Oatmeal Bread from the recipes that came with my Kitchen Aid Mixer. It was a nice light tender loaf with just a hint of sweetness. I actually followed the recipe to the letter this time, which is unusual for me when making bread. The only change I made was halving the recipe because we only needed one loaf, not two. Next time I'll be experimenting with adding whole wheat flour instead of all the white flour to make it a more hearty loaf.

Brussels Sprouts

Tonight we broke down and harvested some of our Brussels Sprouts. The largest is only an inch. I harvested from the lower reaches of the stems of the five plants. The total harvest is only 6 oz. Here are the sprouts after harvest.
And after cleaning them up. Its interesting that the outer leaves have a purplish hue.
And finally, cooked and ready to eat. They were wonderfully flavorful and tender.
We braised as in first recipe I knew for cooking them, and the reason I tried them at all. The recipe comes from Cooking for Engineers and it was an early blog that I read back in 2005. Shortly after I read the recipe, I saw Brussels Sprouts at the farmers market and gave them a try. Ever since I've been sold on them and enjoy them many different ways. I've introduced them to my family and my sister's even said at times that they are her favorite vegetable.

It looks like we should have another small harvest of Brussels Sprouts with dinner in a couple of weeks.

Indoor Garden

My swiss chard indoors seems to be doing well, though not making huge growth. I've densely seeded lettuce seeds around it and we'll see how these leggy seedlings make out.
I also have a pot of cilantro seed (not pictured). I've had cilantro do very well indoors before.

Tonight we harvested the lettuce from my indoor window box. I'd noticed it was getting a bit leggy. We trimmed most of it off and hopefully it will leaf out again. The one odd thing is that the red leaf lettuce has lost its red color. All the lettuce is a pale green. I wonder if that means it is not getting enough light. My window faces south east, and we've had many cloudy days in the past week. Below are the leaves I harvested. You can see the color they had when I planted them indoors in this post.