Gluten Free Cookies

Just finished up a three mile walk with my dog and figured we deserved a treat. Last week while shopping at WinCo I picked up a box of Hodson Mill Gluten Free Cookie Mix. The mix smelled nice and mixed easily with the real butter, peanut butter, hen house fresh egg and vanilla. The first batch is in the oven now, tasting to follow soon.
Some kitchen notes: New Black and Decker hand mixer works very nicely, use the large end of a melon baller to get that rounded (literally in this case) teaspoon of dough, mix in the sink in case you are like me and a bit messy when mixing.
The first batch has some chocolate sprinkles on half of the batch and green sugar crystal on the other half. It was in for 15 minutes and the cookies came out a bit overdone. The second batch is going in for 13 minutes.
Okay the verdict is in, with my oven 13 minutes was perfect. The cookies are a bit crumbly but for a box mix of gluten free it is rather tasty.

For those persons worried about my diet, I had a bowl full of fresh shrimp stir fry over steamed rice. One item left out of the picture is a jar of Mowse's Special Ginger Stuff, which I added half the jar to the stir fry. So delicious!

It has been a long time since I last blogged, reasons abound. Any who, a lot of small projects are being worked on around my little homestead, trying to make a livable place out of my chunk of the western Mojave. Yesterday while digging a trench I hit a small 1 foot wide patch of hard as cement sand, Caliche I believe it is called. I chiseled away on it for about an hour from both sides and decided that is where the last valve on that line would go, thus bridging the dirt from ages past.

I have been on my soapbox in other venues about the food we eat (and should not), the use of materials, nuclear energy, and a plethora of belief systems. I occasionally get interesting and well though out responses. More often than not I get short form answers that have been fed to the flocks or handed down by political agenda. If I have one goal during my life (outside of personal happiness) I believe it would be to wake up the minds of others and make then think critically of events around them.

First Sunburn of the Year

Today was filled with tearing out the weeds and replacing them with rather all too orderly garden rows. Seriously, they are in a line one after another with no real planning involved. I think the next time I will be planing the squash and those I will do in some diagonal pattern or something. Straight lines.... what was I thinking?!

I saved most of my head but my arms and neck are burnt, yup I am a redneck in that respect. Staring at the ground for too long causes it. Pondering what will come from my labors in the months ahead. The great news is my greenhouse is doing its job. I have been starting my seeds in there and am ready to plant within two weeks each time. Such a time saver and seed saver. Plus my crops can be started a month earlier than normal, a frost does not usually affect a full plant in a harmful way, but it does prevent seeds from sprouting.

I love the part where I planted enough for a small army of people, and I am the only one living here. Good news for those I consider friends and nice neighbors. When I grow large gardens I like to offer the food for free or a donation, my way of showing love for my fellow humans, and animals of course. I make sure there is enough for the birds, bunnies, squirrels and dogs.

Cat Food

Writing this with Floyd on my lap, she is my rockin' little kitty cat. Since she was given to me I have raised her on various kitten branded pet foods. Last night I decided it is time to start moving her up the chain to adult cat food. Since I was in a Walmart there were a decent selection of dry foods. I started my minor quest by looking at the ingredients label of the kitten food I had been feeding her, Purina Kitten Chow. Corn. Yup corn was the main ingredient as I recall. My cat does not eat corn. How do I know this? I like corn, sweet yellow or white with dairy cream butter and fresh cracked pepper, the cat does not. Left on a counter she will lick the butter but not chew on the corn. The dog will eat corn, but he seems to eat almost anything.
At that point I must have looked like a insane person as I started picking up bag after bag of dry food for cats from every company Walmart had, including Iams. Until I hit a tiny section for natural foods all the major labels primary ingredients, including Iams was corn. I even had a brief discussion with a random stranger also buying food for his pet about corn and we both started listing things like our food, pet food, cow feed, car fuel, and plastic food containers all made of corn. He did not know of the food containers.
So I turned my attention to the tiny naturals section of dry cat food. Newman's own had decent ingredients but the price was a premium. There was a name I had never heard of, also a bit pricey. This was starting to remind me of shopping for food for my own consumption, the better the food the higher the price, the junkier and more marketed the cheaper. My eye was drawn to a small card board box of 'Purina One beyOnd' Chicken and Whole Oat Meal. I was impressed to find Chicken listed first, then chicken meal, whole brown rice (which my cat does eat from my plate, always seems to be sneaking nibbles from my plate), soy bean meal and a host of other ingredients including eggs, beets, fish oil, apples, etc. Guess what was missing. CORN! Yay for Purina. I say that here because the 1 lb box was a stunningly low $2. Real food at a decent price.
I purchased the food, took it home and immediately had the opportunity to fill a bowl that was nearly empty. Floyd hopped up and sniffed the small nuggets of her new food. She nosed around in it a second then tested a dark morsel with a tentative crunch. I was sort of expecting her to turn and look at me with a pensive, what is this stuff look, instead she plunged face first into the food and was munching away.
I only endorse products I feel  deserve it and this product I freely (as in not being paid for it, though I won't turn my nose up at a check Purina!) endorse, as I fairly certain does Floyd.

Misconceptions of Food Advancements 2

This morning while eating my breakfast the flavors in my mouth reminded me to continue this article. Last time I covered briefly that food is often ripened using hormones and chemicals after the fruit has been picked way too early. The lack of essential nutrient load was mentioned.

Food that is picked too early also is missing many flavor compounds. Lackluster taste is the hallmark of early picked food. I currently live in an agricultural area and at the end of summer I bought a crate of nectarines for the low sum of $9. An entire crate, what did I do with it all? I ate some fresh, I made juice, added them to Jello, I handed them out to city friends, and I prepared some for freezing. Freezing preserves the fruit with a small breakdown in cellular structure from the water in it expanding. In the case of the nectarines this is a useful feature. I like to freeze then in small containers so I can use them easily.

Yesterday I defrosted a container of nectarines and this morning I opened them up. Yum! The aroma of late summer filled my kitchen and I had not even done anything with the fruit yet. Going to the cupboard I pulled out the rolled oats and bottle of ground cinnamon (grinding fresh spices is a great way to add mega flavor). A layer of oas, some cinnamon, a layer of oats, the fruit spooned in, a layer of oats, some sugar crystal (just a pinch) then some water. I put it in the microwave for a minute. Took it out and oh my goodness, the scent was so good, reminded me of peach pie, stir and replace for another minute. Piping hot greatness! Notice I said greatness not goodness, the flavor is so intense because the fruit was not picked until ripe and about ready to fall on the ground.

The orchard I picked them up from supplies grocery chains in California and abroad with many types of fresh fruit. The thing is, for the shipment the fruit is picked a week earlier than what I purchased at their roadside stand. The difference is really noticeable.

The same can be said of the groceries I am growing in my backyard. Fresh out of the ground, with no chemical fertilizers or pesticides. Heck even the wild bunnies and fowl like going in the garden to help themselves it is so good. No need for me to fret, I planted enough to go around.

If you get the chance grow some fresh herbs, vegetables or fruit and visit your local farmer's markets. Seasonal food surprises that will not find on any grocery shelf await your taste buds!

Misconceptions of Food Advancements

Food. In the most simple definition food is a set of nutrients and potential energy in a stored state. It is once we eat the food that it becomes the energy and life sustaining particles that we all need.

I may have an unusual advantage, and by that same advantage a larger loss, when it comes to understanding food. Food production has been part of my families heritage for generations. My grandfather and his family were dairymen, and farmers. He brought his skills with him from Europe and continued to raise dairy animals here in Southern California. The area was mostly pastures at the time, I still have photos and my memories as my proof. Since that time however the area has changed from one that contained agriculture to one that is urban/suburban sprawl. This is important because the it also represents a change from small farms spread throughout the country, to a more mass produced style of food production.

When I was growing up my parents taught me how to raise animals and crops. Not grains, which require vast fields, but small plot crops such as carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers and a great many others. I ate fresh food directly out of the earth or off of the plant. Delicious, needing only a wipe on my pants or shirt to remove the surface dirt. We used natural fertilizers and if memory serves, no pesticides, unless you count the chickens and good insects. The food was always ripe when I ate it, naturally so, no chemicals used to bring the fruit to 'maturity'.

Think about that a moment. To make bananas yellow, or tomatoes red, etc. the stores have to use chemicals/hormones to ripen the fruit while it is in storage at shipping facilities. The fruit and vegetables are picked while still green, unripe, not ready to be eaten. These crops have to be picked that way because tit helps the goods to endure lengthy trips via boat,train and truck to the store bins you buy them from. This food is not complete, it is missing nutrients that would be there if it had matured on the plant.

I end the article there for now, to be continued...