Posts by Liz

Homemade English Muffins and stuff to go with them

Yesterday, Pioneer Woman’s Tasty Kitchen had a feature post: homemade English muffins.

Aside from making me want an english muffin right then and there, it made me want to make my own. I read through the recipe. I really didn’t have time…still catching up from last week’s computer adventures. But I did have some of the Portuguese Broa dough in the refrigerator. ( the bread I’ve been making)

Last night I tried an experiment with one little bit of dough. It was successful, so this morning I made 3:

I used a plum sized bit of dough squashed into a flat circle. Mason jar lid rings were my muffin molds.*** That is cornmeal on the board underneath them. I let the dough rise in the rings for about an hour while Karl and I had our walk, I had my first cup of coffee and did usual morning stuff. I preheated my skillet slightly more than medium hot and then plunked the rounds in the hot pan – about 5 minutes each side. I let them cool about 5 minutes on a wire rack, then split them open with a fork…

….nooks and crannies!!

Toasted, with orange marmalade made by me in my very own kitchen just before Christmas – Breakfast!

And again for lunch with Spicy Tuscan soup, another Tasty Kitchen recipe.

The eatin’ is good in the little house in the woods!

***I’ve since made muffins without “forms”. And I’ve made various sizes. I’ve also decreased the rise time as they “rise” on the skillet while cooking. So my current procedure is to take a piece of dough the size I want, squash it into a flat circle, let it rise about 15 minutes on some cornmeal and then grill it on a hot cast iron skillet. For me it is working out to about 5 minutes per side.

After the storm

At my house…and along the road home, just a smidge over 2 inches of new snow with this last storm. It was windy and very cold compared to last week. It was 12F when I ventured out with Karl yesterday afternoon about 4:30 p.m. to see what the valley looked like. The last of the storm still hung over the mountains south of the road home as it started its march East.

My road home, unplowed. The highway looked like it had been plowed but the wind had blown snow over it and although beautiful, a trip on it was unnecessary.

I turned around, put on snowshoes and Karl and I traipsed around the state land for our afternoon walk.

A beautiful afternoon as the sun headed to bed after the storm.

***2/1/2011 Edit…Sorry, comments were off by accident – back on now :)!

Where’s my treat?

This morning…snowing and blowing per NOAA’s forecast. And the temperature dropped from its balmy 39F to 16F overnight…scheduled to go even colder…Karl’s kind of weather :)!

The routine is our morning walk down the driveway at which point Karl peels off and circumnavigates the property while I keep an eye on the bouncing blue collar and return via the direct route back up the driveway. Meanwhile, Bob circumnavigates the garage and adjacent wood pile.

One of Karl’s “2 per day” special treats is dispensed after Karl, Bob and I return to the house.

“I’m back! I’ll take my treat now”.

“Oh, wait – invader???”

“OK, I’m in. Where’s my treat?”

Orange Chocolate Coconut Macaroons…and Bob

Since making the Orange Chocolate Chip Muffin/Cupcakes …which I have made 2 or 3 times since the original post on 1/7…I have been on a bit of an orange/chocolate bender as far as sweet treats. I use dark chocolate 60% cocoa chips in the muffin. It is a wonderful combination with the light orange flavor of the muffins.

Enter coconut. In some combination of looking at recipe sites and nutritional/healing food sites, I got into coconut. I bought unsweetened finely shredded coconut from “Let’s do Organic”, Coconut Oil from Spectrum and Thai brand coconut milk.

This morning, in a quest for something easy and quick to have as a bit of sweet before a quick run to town to beat the forecast Winter storm…I found this Chocolate Orange Macaroon Recipe on Pioneer Woman’s Tasty Kitchen recipe site. Perfect!

I subbed my organic, unsweetened, finely shredded coconut for the typical sweetened shredded stuff, used King Arthur Flour’s White Whole Wheat flour for the Whole Wheat, backed off the sugar about 2 Tablespoons, upped the orange zest a smidge and used 60% cocoa “shavings” from a bar instead of chips. I made them bite sized and OH MY!!! – very good little bites they are!

They were in the oven lickety-split, out and cooling in time for a couple with a cuppa before Karl and I headed to town.

It is late Saturday afternoon as I write this. It is still 39F, drippy and calm. The forecast calls for a Canadian Arctic cold thing to run into this warm air and cause a ruckus resulting in snow, wind, etc.

Meanwhile, Bob was looking sweet as I walked by with the camera so he made this post with the macaroons.

Happy Weekend!

Ice Fog in the valley

Although the NOAA website for Kalispell kept saying “Ice Fog”, it was sunny at my house. I wanted to return the Costco computer so decided on a lunch hour run to town for that errand and a walk.

NOAA was correct.

But the fog was lifting in a most beautiful way leaving a bit of itself behind on everything.

We walked in sunshine…

and the remnants of ice fog in the valley.

Bob rethinks his wish for more attention

Karl continues to do well…more on that in another post, but a gluten free/corn free diet with some probiotics, digestive enzymes and immune strengthening supplements…along with the piroxicam – Mr. Karl’s latest ultrasound looked great! And even more important, his energy is good, he is happy, we play, we walk, we LIVE!

It has been six months of some up and down news and a lot of my focus on Karl. Now, let me assure you that Mr. Bob was not ignored. First, he would never allow that and second, I wouldn’t do that. But I do think that he did not feel the center of attention.

Enter his diabetes. Be careful what you wish for Bob!

The pet dispensary and my method of keeping track of who gets what when. And to the right, Bob’s instruments of torture… the glucometer and the insulin.

The drill:
insulin every 12 hours
spot check with the glucometer at the 6 hour point 3-4 days after a dosage change
a full glucose curve (glucometer check every 2 hours) 7 days after a dosage change

We are a test case for “owner” use of the glucometer.

Canines and felines have a vein that runs along the edge of the ear so that is lanced for the blood drop. This canine/feline glucometer is designed to work with a very small amount of blood and thankfully, it does.

Wakey-wakey Bob, time for a check.

“Owwww!!!!”

“You’re killing me here!!!”

He’s being overly dramatic…

“Note to self: a little less attention is not a bad thing”.

***The “pain” photos are actually Bob yawning. Although he growls to let me know he is not happy with the procedure, I cuddle him like giving a baby a bottle, coach him (and ME!) – with “let’s get it in one, Bob”…1 lance, and we just do it! The insulin shots are just under the skin and he doesn’t flinch or appear to feel the needle. He has figured out that when my phone alarm goes off it means I am going to mess with him…smart aleck!