Living off the land

Nothing beats fresh food. I was able to go fishing with my Grandpa's brother this weekend and we caught some fresh salmon.  We cooked it up for dinner, it was soo good.   My wife and I picked fresh blackberries, lots of them.  She makes a delicious blackberry crisp.  I will have to get the recipe and post it sometime.

Cupcakes

Deb took this beautiful photos of some of the cupcakes left over from my sisters wedding and some glass that my grandma had bought for my sister.

Whats in your produce?

Found this article on USA today discussing pesticides in fruit and veggies.  I find interesting because my most eaten produce is all on the dirty list.  Foods that contain larger amounts of pesticides.  I don't know if I think it is a big deal or not.  I do know I'd rather avoid them than find out however.  Just found it interesting and thought you might as well.  I'm sure people have seen information like this before.  But does it change how you consume produce?  Does it change your buying habits?

Pretzels

Sorry no picture with this recipe, I had a hard time rolling the dough out, and only now read the footnote that says to roll each out a little bit, then go back through and roll them out the rest of the way. So my pretzels don't look very picture worthy.  I guess I didn't realize how hard it would be to roll out dough (its not like Playdough, who knew?).  Anyway, these turned out ok, not as good as what I remember Costco having at the deli there. 


Ingredients:
1 1/3 C Warm water
2T oil
1T Honey
1.5 C Whole Wheat Flour
1.5 C All Purpose Flour
1t salt
1 packet yeast (2 1/4 t)
Optional: 2 T Flaxseed and 2T Wheat Germ

1 Egg White
Salt to top


Oven: 400 degrees

I made a dough out of the top list of ingredients and let it rise for an hour (I used my bread maker on dough setting).  I then split it into 6 pieces (the original recipe called for 12 pieces, but I couldn't get that many out of it).  I rolled each piece out (18 inches long) and folded it around like a pretzel and placed them on a greased cookie sheet.  Make them as skinny as you can, mine really rose in the oven while cooking.  I then spread the egg white over the top of them and salted them.  Then I put them into the oven. 

Next time I may try a recipe where you boil them first, but I didn't get a chance to do that yesterday. 

Cinnamon Bread

Ingredients:
1/2 C milk (warm)
1/2 C water (warm)
2T butter (softened)
1C Whole Wheat Flour
1 1/2 C Flour
3T cinnamon (or more)
2t yeast
1t salt
2T sugar (and maybe a dash of brown sugar)

Filling
2T Butter melted
1/4C brown Sugar
2T cinnamon


Put them in the bread maker (or make into dough yourself) on the dough setting.  When the dough setting finishes, pull the bread out and place on a floured surface.  Flatten into a 8"x12" rectangle.  Melt 2 more T butter and spread ontop.  Then mix 1/4C brown sugar with 2T cinnamon, and spread liberally on the melted butter.  Roll up (like a jelly roll, whatever that is) and seal the seams.  Place seam down in the bread loaf pan and bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes (sometimes it takes longer at my house).  Slice, and butter and enjoy.  Yummy.

I've also been known to put Wheat Germ in it (high in Vitamin E and Folic Acid, which are good for you).   And/Or I put ground Flax Seed in it which is high in Omega3's which is good for my heart.  Quite important. 

Pancakes

Pancakes & Blackberry Sauce:

Ingredients: 
Blackberry Sauce from the post below

Pancakes:
1C buttermilk
1C Flour
2T Oil
1 egg
1T sugar
1t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4t salt

Mix and cook like pancakes.  Yum Yum

Blackberry Syrup

Update: New with picture, not a very good picture, but a picture none the less.  Deb and I really like blackberry pie, but this is for just a pie filling basically.  We put it on ice cream, pancakes, crepes, waffles, french toast, etc.

Ingredients:
4C blackberries (not the phones either)
3/4 C Sugar
1/2 C Water
2 T Cinnamon
2 T Lemon Juice


Process:
After cleaning the berries put them into a large pot with the water, sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon.  Bring to a good boil for a couple minutes, stirring often so not to scorch the berries.  Turn down to low heat and let simmer for 1/2 hour to 45 minutes (til desired thickness).  Mash the berries as desired.  Put into storage containers, and enjoy... Makes about 3 quarts (I think, its a little more than 3 of our little jars).

Cedar Plank BBQ'd Salmon

This is by far one of our favorite dinners.  So yummy and quite easy to prepare/cook.
Ingredients:
1 Cedar Plank Board (often found near the meat in the store)
.75-1.5 lb salmon fillet
1/2 Onion
lemon juice
Honey
Salt/Pepper
Johnny's Seasoning
Garlic gloves sliced (or powder)

Instructions:
Soak Cedar plank for 1/2 before cooking
While it soaks prepare the salmon...
Lightly spread lemon juice on salmon
Drizzle a little bit of honey on the salmon (this caramelizes while it cooks and tastes so yummy)
Sprinkle a light coat of salt, pepper and Johnny's on the salmon.
Put 1sliced (or powdered) garlic on every square inch or so
Cut onion and spread rings over the salmon
Put salmon on the Plank and then put it on the grill over medium to high heat for 15-20 minutes or until cooked through (may take longer with thicker pieces).
Enjoy...Its so Yummy.

Flank Steak

This is the first blog that will be a recipe, there will be more to follow, but not a whole lot at this time, as I don't have the time to spend trying a lot of new recipes.  However, this is one of our favorite dinners and it is fairly inexpensive if you can get flank steak on sale. 

1.5-2lbs Flank Steak
Garlic powder
Honey (or Brown Sugar, they caramelize on the meat, and it adds a lot of flavor)
Salt
Pepper
Johnny's Seasoning
Teriyaki Sauce


I lay the flank steak in a cake pan and sprinkle the salt, pepper, garlic powder and johnny's seasoning on both sides.  Then I put a little bit of honey on each side (trying to get it all over).  Finally, I fill the pan (over the top of the meat) with Teriyaki Sauce.  I let it marinade for 12-24 Hours.
When I am ready to cook it, I heat my grill on high, till it is hot, and then cook for 5-8 minutes per side (depending on how well done you like