Rustic Roots

 I will update this with the entire procedure in the next few days.  In the meantime enjoy some bread porn.  Imagine baking a loaf in your oven.  Smelling the aroma of fresh bread in your home.  Doesn't that sound delicious and yummy? We have really been into making bread for several months now.  I mean it started this past fall.  Wade gave me another bit of his sourdough starter and we kind of went from there. A nice hot loaf of bread out of the oven on a cool or cold night, nothing beats that. Well, in all fairness I have to say this recipe was perfected by Wade.  We only use his measurements and a slap-and-fold method.  Which was a YouTube video Wade shared with us.  We also retard it in the fridge, well this winter we just left it outside when it was cool enough.   Ingredients 375 grams of distilled water 100 grams of active sourdough starter 500 grams of bread flour 10 grams of fine sea salt This is a recipe we make togeth...

Right now all I have are some pictures to tantalize your tastebuds.  These are as good as any store-bought bagel you could find.  They are so easy and simply amazing to eat.  Scott made fun of the jalapeno cheddar ones but then he found they are the BEST ones!!!   For now, enjoy the pictures.  I will get the recipe up soon.  

UPDATED  will get pictures up soon. Oh my goodness, focaccia is so very good.  Hot right out of the oven with a nice EVOO dipping sauce and this is one of my favorite recipes to make with my discarded sourdough.  There are tons of awesome discard recipes.  I mean who likes to waste sourdough?  I do not!!!  It is so easy and overall a quick and simple bread to make.  You can top it with almost anything.  My normal toppings are course kosher salt, homemade tomato powder, fresh rosemary from my herb garden, garlic powder, and olive oil. QUICK AND EASY SOURDOUGH FOCACCIA 1-3/4 cup bread flour 1 cup unbleached flour 2 tsp kosher salt 1 teaspoon quick yeast 1-1/4 cup warm distilled water 2/3 cup discard sourdough starter DIRECTIONS Add the discarded sourdough starter to the distilled water in a bowl.  Mix together.  Add salt, quick yeast, and both flours to the wet ingredients in the bowl.  I do not knead this recipe by hand or with my st...

It is already hot where we live and May just started!  In the warmer months, it is hard for us to eat a hot heavy meal.  I try to come up with lighter cooler-style foods and snacks for us to enjoy.  This one hit the spot nicely. I also make a Shrimp style snack using almost the exact same ingredients.   1 large cucumber 1 avocado 1 jalapeno 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro 2 garlic cloves minced 1/4 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt 1 - 1/2 tsp lemon juice 1 - 1/2 tsp lime juice 1/4 tsp ground cumin 1/4 tsp salt We serve this with tortilla chips or over broiled fish.   So it can be a snack or an addition to your meal.  Happy Monday!!

I have to say shortly after Christmas we found whole turkeys on sale for .25 cents a pound.  I really do not know what we were thinking considering we have moved and no longer have 2 refrigerators and 2 freezers because we bought 100lbs of turkey.  SMH!!!  Boy, what a ton of work.  We used about every single part that we could. One of the things I really wanted to make was some turkey sausage along with canned turkey, bone broth, smoked parts, and pieces for beans and greens.  I do not regret doing it but for a couple of weeks, we had our hands full working on turkey stuff.   We found this recipe and multiplied it by ten.  We made ten pounds of turkey sausage without even being sure we would like it.  Thank goodness we did!  I am putting the recipe in a pound increment so you can try it before you commit to several pounds.  Please remember you can tweak it as you wish.  If you want less maple syrup put less. If you like a real ...

I love good sourdough bread.  I make a few loaves a week with my potato starter.  I have almost stopped purchasing bread at the store now.  No need to do so when I can make my own bread which is so much better than store-bought chemical-filled stuff.   A few years ago I had my potato starter and my flour starter going great.  Then tragedy struck.  Well not really, I just stopped making bread for about 6 months and when I came back to it I had to start fresh with new starters.  Unfortunately, my flour (San Francisco style) just kept molding and I could never get it right or going again.  I did everything to make sure my container was clean.  Even washed the jar in the dishwashing which should have ensured everything was sanitized.  Oh well, it is what it is, right?  Fast forward to last week.  Scott and I were hanging out at our friend's house by his pool enjoying some good conversation.  The deal was we were to come o...

With winter always comes dry skin for me and for some reason along the way I forgot that a good toner for your face will help combat dry skin. I had a small bottle of toner that came with an IPSY bag which I started using.  It really is making a huge difference in my daily routine of taking care of my skin.  Since the toner is a sample I knew it would not last but a couple of weeks so I started doing research on which toner to purchase.  In doing so, I learned that I could make a much healthier version of toner for my face that would be natural.  Meaning no harsh chemicals on my already aging and dry skin.  This is so simple I am ashamed I never knew about it before. First, you need to use a good raw apple cider vinegar with a mother.  We make our own so I knew it was organic and healthy.  Second, you want to use distilled water so you know there are no chemicals.  Next, you need to work on the ratio for your skin.  The more ACV you use the m...

  You can use mushrooms in so many ways and I have made these many times over the years.  I normally use the big portabella caps but I recently purchased a couple of boxes of mushrooms from Sam's Club.  For some reason, I thought 2 boxes would be used quickly but they were not and well, I was hungry. I have been trying to watch what I eat.  And I do not mean as it goes in my mouth.  Scott and I both are attempting to be healthier. If you substitute mushrooms for meat it can really help your cholesterol levels.  Plus well, they are just downright good.  Of course, you need to like the earthiness taste to truly enjoy them but I have learned to enjoy food for what it tastes like.  To mean beets and mushrooms both have a very earthy quality taste to them. As I stated I was hungry.  My oatmeal did not last long and I thought why not cook up a bunch of these delicious pizzas.  They are so versatile.  You can add any topping you wish....

  CUCUMBER SALSA Yes, you read that correctly.  I am making salsa with cucumbers.  I have to admit I was leary at first but I had some extra cucumbers and I ran across a recipe and thought, mmm, let's try this.  We just might like it.  And boy, oh boy was I correct.  It is yummy gooooodddd.  I need to add I adapted the original recipe so I will not give a link to the recipe I found online. This is so easy to make and only takes like 5 minutes to put together.  Plus you only need a few ingredients.  English cucumber, sweet grape tomatoes, purple onion, jalapeno, lime juice, and a tiny bit of salt.  Gather all your ingredients and chop them up.  Toss the veggies together and sprinkle with fresh lime juice and salt. It is honestly that simple.  Today is Super Bowl Sunday, so I felt this would be a great snack for some football!!!   CUCUMBER SALSA Ingredients 1 English cucumber chopped 15 to 20 sweet grape tomatoes choppe...

I love stuffed peppers.  I have a really good recipe for  Mexican Stuffed Peppers .  However, growing up I could not stand them.  Mainly because I did not like bell peppers.  Maybe that is because we only used green ones and they can be bitter.  As an adult, I have come to really enjoy eating them.   I decided I wanted to make a healthy version of stuffed peppers.  I looked and researched then as usual came up with my own recipe.   These are loaded with veggies.  You can really use any that you want to but I used onion, mushrooms, zucchini, and tomatoes.  I sauteed everything but the tomatoes.  For my binder I used couscous.  I added everything together and cut up some sweet cherry tomatoes and tossed those into the mix.  I opted out of using cheese but feel free to add some cheese at the end as a topping.   I normally add tomato sauce or salsa in with the mix and also on top.  I chose not to ...

  The Best Ever Pound Cake     I have not made this recipe for at least 13 years but for some reason the cold, ice and snow have me wanting to make a pound cake.  I have to admit this recipe came from a church cookbook.  I have had the cookbook 25 years.  I am a huge fan of church or community cookbooks.  I love the feel of recipes from this type of book.  Kind of like someone is sharing a part of their family cooking traditions.  I love old family recipes.  Passing down your heritage from one generation to the next is something that has always got me. I have to tell you and come clean.  I remember the first time I made this recipe.  It was the first-pound cake recipe I have ever attempted to make.  I read all kinds of information about pound cakes because normally a pound cake is a very heavy dense cake but I had been told it did not have to be so.  I have to admit I think there are four reasons why this comes o...

 If you know anything about North Carolina, you know our weather is very unpredictable.  We can go from 70 to 30 in just a few hours.  As matter of a fact, this happened a couple of weeks ago and we got some snow which lasted until the sun came out around noon.  Yep, that is how it rolls here. Scott and I both enjoy the outdoors.  We enjoy fishing and hunting.  It is so rewarding to be able to provide for yourself with things you are able to hunt, forage or grow.  By the way, I will be starting my pepper seeds this weekend.   This weekend they are calling for a storm to hit us sometime Saturday night and go into Sunday.  If the cards stack just right we might have a fair amount of snow that will last more than a few hours.  As I was sitting here thinking about the cold weather we have been having it made me want something warm and filling in our tummies.  During cold spells, I normally crave soup and make all kinds to keep my b...

Several years ago Scott and I made some of these crunchy little chickpeas and really enjoyed them.  I had read about them and thought we love chickpeas and I have some canned in the basement, lets give it a try.  This was before anyone had ever heard of an air fryer.  The first ones we had to do in the oven but now that I have my air fried I love to use it for lots of stuff.   This is a really good and nutritious recipe.  It is a nice snack to have when you need something crunchy.  Chickpeas are a legume that is high in fiber which if you eat too much can cause a bit of stomach issues. So while they are really good I would not sit down and eat more than a nice handful.  They are low in fat and have a decent amount of protein which makes them a great snack.  I love to toss them in a salad.  It is a great alternative to croutons.   Chickpeas and garbanzo beans are the same.  The difference is the word Chickpea is from the La...

  SEE BOTTOM FOR UPDATE. This is one of the first things I cook when my yellow (summer) squash is coming in from the garden.  It is so good and very fattening.  Sorry, this is not a health-conscious recipe but it sure is good.  But then again butter is better for you than margarine.   It is simple to make but takes time to cook.  Really and truly all you have to do is cut your squash and onions.  Add some butter to a hot pan and let it cook.  It is that simple.   Start with some yellow squash.  Wash them and dry them.                                          Cut your squash in slices.                                            Slice up an onion. Preheat a pan and add the cold butter.  YES, butter.  Do ...