Weathering the Blast

I have found it very amusing that in the past couple of decades, the weather has gotten very histrionic. Or rather, the weather hasn't changed so much as the weather reporting. This most recent "arctic blast" is a case in point. I mean, I know it's colder than usual, but the name is sort of ridiculous.

Anyway.

It's cold. And I know it's cold all over the place. Here, it was 3 degrees when I got up this morning, with a wind warning. Which meant our temperatures were forecast to feel like twenty below zero today. And that meant that the last day of school was canceled before our Christmas break began.

YAY!!! 

Of course, that resulted in an absolutely insanely busy day at work/school yesterday. But after we got through finals for Cubby; A. driving the school bus for the whole school to go caroling in the village; hastily arranged last-minute parties for the classes; helping the school cook close down the kitchen for two weeks; AND decorating the church Christmas tree after work . . .

Then I could come home and get ready for the cold weather. 

That included hanging a blanket over the drafty east-facing window in the living room that the wind was hitting full force. 

Moving the dog crates (and the dogs) into A.'s office temporarily. There are only a few nights a year they need to be in, and these two are some of them.

And today, my cold weather activities included baking molasses cookies for about two hours. I made a double batch of this recipe I posted last year, which means I actually made a batch similar in size to one that Grandma Bishop would have typically made.

Poppy insisted that some of them should be heart-shaped, "because Christmas is all about love."

Grandma Bishop's granddaughter--that would be the MiL--gave me a cookie jar for Christmas this year*. I asked for it, so I knew what had come from her. And I decided she wouldn't mind if I opened my gift early so I could fill it with her grandmother's cookies.

And that is just what I did.

In the recipe I posted, I noted that the original giant recipe was the sort of thing farmwives made to fill their cookie jars. That turned out to be accurate, as the whole recipe filled that jar, with a few left over for the kids to eat while they watched The Princess Bride.

Obviously, they're living their best arctic blast life.

So tell me: Are you being blasted? And if so, how are you weathering it?

* Thanks, MiL! I love it. And so do your grandchildren.

A Very Handy Recipe

Maybe this isn't true for every household, but in ours, it's surprisingly annoying to be without bread. Thanks to my foul flour situation, we have been without bread for five days now, and it has made me realize how reliant I am on it for quick meal additions. Toast is a lot faster than fried potatoes in the morning.

I still had two cups of flour from the bit Ms. Amelia gave me to make Jack's birthday pancakes on Sunday, though. And while two cups wouldn't get me very far with sourdough bread--each loaf takes at least four cups--it is enough to make this quick bread. 

I found this recipe a long time ago when I was searching for a way to use up the large quantity of quick oats and white whole wheat flour that we kept getting from excess commodities. I really like it because it's not as sweet and cakey as most quick breads--banana bread, I'm looking at you--but it has enough honey and dairy in it to make it a stand-alone bread. It's delicious with butter and jam, but it can also be eaten by itself.

I've changed some things in the recipe (of course), including doubling it for two loaves and nixing the unnecessary oats on the top and bottom, so this is what I do.

Full-Fat Honey Oat Quick Bread

Ingredients

2 cups quick oats

2 and 2/3 cups white whole wheat flour

2 cups all purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2.5 teaspoons salt

2 cups full-fat plain yogurt

2 eggs

1/2 cup coconut oil or butter

1/2 cup honey

1.5 cups whole milk

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees and grease two large loaf pans. (Use your butter wrappers!)

2. Melt the butter or coconut oil. I do this in a big Pyrex measuring cup in the microwave. Mix in the honey. Add the yogurt and eggs and combine thoroughly.

3. In a big bowl, mix all the dry ingredients.

4. Dump the wet mixture in the big bowl with the dry mixture and combine thoroughly.

5. Add the milk and stir until just combined.

6. Scoop half the batter into each greased loaf pan and smooth out the tops.

7. Bake about 50 minutes, until it's brown on top and a butter knife comes out clean when you poke it in there.

8. Slide the butter knife around the edges to loosen the loaves, then let cool most of the way before removing.

Notes

1. I usually freeze one of these, which is why I make two. So handy to be able to pull one out later without baking again.

2. I've never made these as muffins because I loathe cleaning my muffin tin, but I suspect this batter would be very good for muffins.

3. Because of all the dairy in it, I store this in the refrigerator. You can toast to heat slices, or use a microwave.

4. My children love this with butter and peach jam. It is, indeed, astoundingly delicious warmed in the microwave to melt the butter and then slathered with jam. Almost like cake. But way healthier.

I didn't take a photo of this when I made it yesterday, but here's one of Jack and Poppy enjoying a woodstove picnic, which later included a slice of this very bread.

Jack had a sore throat (the dreaded mucous season has definitely arrived), so I made them a fruit shake* and they drank it by the fire. Because the only way to drink something that cold in December is to be three inches from a heat source.

* For some reason, I dislike the word "smoothie." So I call them fruit shakes, which will probably ensure lifelong confusion for my children.

I'd Like a Word

Not long ago, I found ten-pound bags of unbleached Gold Medal flour on Amazon for not too much more than I pay for the Sysco flour from the school. The Sysco flour is bleached, so I thought I would pay the nominal extra money to get unbleached flour.

And then it arrived. And it smelled like detergent. Which meant anything I made from it tasted like detergent.

I was very upset.

This is something I first started noticing maybe ten years ago. Sometimes the produce I would buy at the very small grocery near Blackrock would taste like perfume to me. Apples particularly had this problem.

I have also noticed it with crackers, cookies, and, as in this case, flour. Anything that is prone to absorbing odors will pick up this disgusting taste of chemical fragrance. Most of my issues with this have been with small grocery stores. My guess is that it happens when these items are stored in a warehouse or truck with cleaning supplies or whatever that have artificial fragrances in them.

I'm very sensitive to it, and it grosses me out. I can't ignore it. Which is why I was so mad that the FORTY POUNDS of flour I ordered was unusable. Particularly because I had no other flour on hand, and no way to get it easily. 

This of all weeks is not the week I can afford to be low on flour. This is one of the biggest baking weeks of the year. I use a LOT of flour in the week leading up to Christmas, what with the bread for teacher and neighbor gifts, the molasses cookies, and all of Jack's birthday requests. I had to borrow flour from Ms. Amelia to make pancakes for his birthday breakfast, and he had to choose a runner-up dinner because the pizza he wanted was a no-go without usable flour.

This was meant to be five loaves of bread for teachers, and Jack's birthday pizza.

Instead the chickens got all five loaves, and I baked the pizza dough in these pans for the chickens as well. Lucky chickens.

I will note that Amazon gave me a full refund on the flour without requiring me to return it. But still. Not cool.

Have you noticed this issue with flour or other foods in recent years? 

Update: I can't believe this, but I bought flour from the tiny store in the village yesterday, and when I got it home, it too was contaminated with artificial fragrance. (I couldn't exactly sniff it suspiciously in front of the store owner.) I was afraid it would be, because I could tell from the brand that the store owner got it from a dollar store, and sure enough, it too is unusable. It's a plague.

Snapshots: The Annual Tree Expedition

We have once again braved the wilds of the New Mexico range to cut our Christmas tree. Come along for the fun . . .

First we stopped to see this abandoned adobe house on the neighbors' property. 

It's owned by our post office lady, and she told us we should go see it. So we did.

It was only about 10 a.m., and the children were delighted to find that the dirt tank near the adobe house was still frozen enough to skate on around the edges. Their cowboy boots were excellent skates.

Jasper elected to stay off the ice and monitor their activities with me from a distance.

The road to the tree area.

I left A. and the children playing at yet another dirt tank and wandered over whatever the Western equivalent is to hill and dale, searching for a good tree.

Actually the western equivalent to hill and dale is cacti and rocks. It's a bit tricky looking for a tree while still watching my feet. I found one, though!

Destined for our living room.

The view standing next to the tree.

A. performed his annual tree-cutting duty.

With Jasper's enthusiastic assistance, of course.

And away we went with our (soon-to-be) festive tree.

A. got it in the stand, and I put the lights on, but the kids put on all the ornaments.

The star is also A.'s job, because he doesn't need to stand on a chair to get it on top.

Enjoying the fruits of their labors.

There you have it! Our Christmas tree, snapshotted.

P.S.: Today is Jack's 8th birthday. Yay!

Friday Food: A Custard Hat Trick

Friday 

Short version: T-bone steaks, rice, green salad with ranch dressing

Long version: The steaks from the most recent cow we got are perfect. Perfect thickness--I got 2-inch steaks last time and that was too thick, but this time I went with 1.5 inches--perfect size, perfect marbling. So good.

I forgot I still had some ranch dressing in the refrigerator that was actually made with the last of the fresh dill that had been hanging out in a jar of water for weeks. Which means I can make fresh dill last until almost Christmas. 

I find these sorts of things fun, yes.

Saturday

Short version: Pizza, carrot sticks

Long version: Anything interesting about this pizza? Not particularly. I used a bag of roasted tomato sauce for the sauce on them, which is always a good idea. One of them had diced leftover steak on it, so that was pretty fancy.

And I had just enough ranch dressing left for the one child who likes it with his pizza. So long, dill. See you next year.

An old photo of exuberant green beans, just for auld lang syne.

Sunday

Short version: Bull enchilada casserole, baked custard

Long version: Soldiering on using the bull, even though our new, shiny beef is much more appealing. I had a bag of prepared bull in the freezer. "Prepared" means it was pressure-cooked until tender and then food-processed to shred it up. Even then, it can't be used in anything where you're going to get a big mouthful of it. It's just too chewy.

Enchiladas are a good use for it, because the meat is a thin layer. And enchilada casserole is way less trouble than actual enchiladas.

A. always likes more sauce than I do, so this time I indulged him and used an entire quart jar of pureed tomatoes to make the sauce (onion, cumin, garlic powder, chile powder, green chile, vinegar) for a 15"x10" pan of casserole. Some of the sauce went in with the bull meat and a can of black beans, and then I layered sauce, meat, corn tortillas, more sauce, cheese, etc. 

Everyone likes this, and I really should make casseroles more often. They feel like a lot of work to put together, but it can be done ahead, and making a big one is almost no more time than making a smaller one. And then there are leftovers. Which you know will be featured later on a work day. 

Any casserole recommendations for me? I have about two hundred pounds of ground beef to work with.

I did not overbake the custard. Yay for me!

Monday

Short version: Leftover enchilada casserole, cookies

Long version: I found a container of snack cookies I had forgotten were in the small freezer over the refrigerator, so I took those out and the kids had a couple after dinner. Because why not? Every Monday is improved by cookies.

A. had leftover steak and rice, to make sure there was enough of the casserole for the kids. And because he likes steak.

Tuesday

Short version: Shepherd's pie, maple custard

Long version: Cubby had been sick and not eating much since Thursday. No stomach troubles, just a limited appetite and a bad sore throat. I was trying to make relatively soft things he could eat. Shepherd's pie worked.

As did the custard. This custard is much different than the baked custard I usually make. It only has four ingredients--milk, maple syrup, whole eggs, and salt--and is a much thinner, softer custard because there's no cream or extra egg yolks. I don't think it's as good, but it's certainly much easier to make. And I didn't overbake this one, either. 

Wednesday

Short version: Baby shower food, leftover shepherd's pie

Long version: Poppy and Jack stayed at school with me for a baby shower. There we had smoked beef sandwiches, coleslaw, fruit kebabs, pigs in a blanket, and an impressive variety of tiny cupcakes.

The three at home had the leftover shepherd's pie. Also some of the cupcakes we brought home with us.

Thursday

Short version: Birthday Frito pie, pumpkin custard with whipped cream

Long version: Happy birthday to A.! I didn't actually ask him what he wanted for his birthday dinner, since I was somewhat limited by the fact that I was at Cubby's basketball game with all the kids and we all got home around 6 p.m.

I knew I wouldn't be there to make dinner in the evening, so I made chili in the morning so we could have dinner ready ten minutes after I walked in the door. Not the most elegant of birthday dinners, but tasty.

The pumpkin custard was a double recipe of the filling for this pumpkin pie recipe, baked in a 13"x9" Pyrex. I used our own pureed squash, of course, and it was very good. Very rich too, what with the six eggs and almost three cups of cream in it.

Custard is sort of hard to festively decorate, but it will at least hold birthday candles.

A. was obviously not turning six years old, I just put a row of candles for each digit.

With the pumpkin custard, I was officially three for three in not overbaking my custards. A notable feat for me, indeed.

Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?

The Tradition Carries On in Song

For the eleventh year in a row, we must sing to the birthday boy. 

That's A., in case you didn't know. And the song we always sing is one I write every year to the tune of "The Candyman Can." I call mine "The Woodchuck Man Can." 

The previous ten versions start here, and if you really want to, you can click your way through the past decade of songs. It might take awhile. That's a lot of songs.

Okay! Here we go!

Who can drive a schoolbus

Through the snow and ice?

Who can build a wall so my garden will look nice?

The woodchuck man

The woodchuck man can

The woodchuck man can

'Cause he uses what he has and makes it work for him. 

Who can build a truck cage

To transport several lambs?

Who can fix the neighbor's chimney high above the rangeland?

The woodchuck man

The woodchuck man can

The woodchuck man can 

'Cause he uses what he has and makes it work for him.

Happy birthday to A., the most useful woodchuck I know.

Season's Greetings from the Wild West

I never did do a Snapshots post on Sunday, but since many of my photos were of Christmas decorations, let's start there.

The wreath truck-loving Jack made at the school crafting event last week.

Saying he made it is kind of stretch, as in actuality he just chose the things to put on the wreath and pointed where he wanted them, and then I attached them. Because I didn't want him wielding a hot glue gun.

Ditto Poppy and the jars she made into candle holders.

The three in the middle are her new ones, and the two on the outside are older ones her brothers made a couple of years ago.

The jars are painted with glue, then rolled in Epsom salts.

I shocked all the women present by admitting that this was the first time in my life I had ever used a hot glue gun. What can I say? I dislike crafting. And although this was a fun event, I still don't have any great desire to hot glue things.

Anyway!

Although we have several festive decorations up, we do not have our tree. As you may recall if you've read here for awhile, we cut a real tree from a friend's ranch every year. But, since we leave it up until Epiphany--12 days after Christmas Day--I don't want to get it too early. So we usually wait until pretty close to Christmas.

I guess Cubby thought that was too long to wait, so he decided to take matters into his own hands. He brought in one of the many (MANY) tumbleweeds that are choking the fences everywhere . . .

So. Many. Tumbleweeds.

Propped it in an industrial-sized pinto bean can with some rocks, and decorated it.

The other children all contributed an ornament as well.

And then, of course, we had to adapt the song for the occasion. The best I could come up with was kind of lame, but the children liked it.

O Christmas weed, 

O Christmas weed

You blew across the prairie

O Christmas weed, 

O Christmas weed

You blew across the prairie

We brought you in

Inside a can

To celebrate

God as man . . .

I was informed that this cannot take the place of a real tree, and we must still get one of those so there's enough room for the presents underneath, but until then, we have a Christmas weed.

If I may appropriate another carol . . . It's beginning to look a lot like a Western Christmas.