How about roast beef dinner and next-day hash? No, not the nasty stuff in a can but real hash.
When I was a child, we would have roast beef with carrots and potatoes cooked around the meat. We would heat up our large, heavy, flat-bottomed aluminum roasting pan. Place some oil in the bottom and fry the meat on all sides. While that was frying, mom or I would peel and quarter potatoes, peel and cut into 3 pieces large carrots and set them aside. When the meat was done, it was removed from the pan and set aside. We then fried the potatoes in some oil in that pan. When they were nicely browned, but not necessarily cooked through, the meat was added back while the potatoes were scooted to the sides (so the meat was on the bottom of the pan), and the carrots were placed with the potatoes surrounding the meat. My dad didn't eat onions or garlic, so mom had to sneak onion and garlic powder onto the meat. She then poured about a cup or cup and a half of water over the meat, put the lid on and placed it in a 350 oven. We'd be gone to church for about 3 hours. When we arrived home, the meal was ready. All mom had to do was make the gravy from the pan drippings.
We were free to eat all the potatoes and carrots in the pan, but a portion of the meat was reserved for another meal a couple of days later. If we were still hungry, we were free to have bread, butter, and usually with gravy over it.
A day or two later, the left over meat was made into hash for another dinner.
Chunk/cube up some raw, peeled potatoes and start them frying in a little fat of your choice. Cover potatoes with a lid. While the potatoes are frying, chunk/cube up some left over roast beef. As the potatoes start to brown and cook, you can add the meat and warm it up. (If you don't keep stirring the potatoes every few minutes, they will brown better and have more flavor. Let them sit for 5-8 mins per "side" to brown them up.) After letting the meat heat up - 5 mins or so, sprinkle a handful or two of flour over the meat/potato mix and stir it in. Season with salt, onion powder (unless you use onions in it - we never did), garlic powder, Adobo - whatever floats your boat!) Add enough water to cover mixture. Stir it well and when it gets to a boil, lower heat to simmer, and put lid back on. Let simmer until potatoes are tender. Takes about 30 mins to make this. I never tried it with precooked potatoes, we always just used raw, probably because we'd have eaten all the potatoes and carrots that were cooked with the roast.
This hash is lovely with some buttered bread dipped in the gravy! mmmmmm...mmmmmm
The crazy world of a former homeschool mama whose babies are young adults. Come learn about baking bread, Once-a-month/bulk cooking, making soap, sewing, self-sufficiency, what food storage is and how to start your own. What a 72 hr kit is and how to create one. I'm not an expert but I have been doing most of these skills for a long time. I like to be as self-sufficient as I can. I love learning new skills or ways of doing things at home instead of having to buy at the store. Come join me.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Homemade baking powder
I just realized that many cooks do not know when a recipe needs baking POWDER or when it needs baking SODA to leaven a product.
Baking SODA can only be used in a recipe where there is an acid ingredient to work with it. So if your recipe calls for lemon juice, buttermilk, vinegar or other "acid" food, baking SODA will work to leaven it. For the soda to bubble, it needs an acid. No bubbles, no raising of the product.
If your recipe does NOT have anything "acid" in it, you HAVE to use baking POWDER. (unless you're using whipped egg whites folded into the batter), but then you wouldn't need anything else for leavening. Baking POWDER has both baking soda AND Cream of Tartar in it. The soda is a base, the Tartar an acid. Get them together and they foam. (Think baking soda and vinegar volcanoes from school.)
Homemade baking powder:
2 Tbs Baking SODA
1 Tbs Cream of Tartar
1 Tbs Corn Starch
Mix together and use as if it were commercial - 1 tsp for each tsp called for in recipe.
This one can sit on a shelf for a while.
Or
1/4 tsp Baking SODA
1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar
Mix together and use right away.
Makes enough to equal 1 tsp commercial baking powder. (If you need 2 tsps, just double the recipe.)
Baking SODA can only be used in a recipe where there is an acid ingredient to work with it. So if your recipe calls for lemon juice, buttermilk, vinegar or other "acid" food, baking SODA will work to leaven it. For the soda to bubble, it needs an acid. No bubbles, no raising of the product.
If your recipe does NOT have anything "acid" in it, you HAVE to use baking POWDER. (unless you're using whipped egg whites folded into the batter), but then you wouldn't need anything else for leavening. Baking POWDER has both baking soda AND Cream of Tartar in it. The soda is a base, the Tartar an acid. Get them together and they foam. (Think baking soda and vinegar volcanoes from school.)
Homemade baking powder:
2 Tbs Baking SODA
1 Tbs Cream of Tartar
1 Tbs Corn Starch
Mix together and use as if it were commercial - 1 tsp for each tsp called for in recipe.
This one can sit on a shelf for a while.
Or
1/4 tsp Baking SODA
1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar
Mix together and use right away.
Makes enough to equal 1 tsp commercial baking powder. (If you need 2 tsps, just double the recipe.)
Saturday, September 12, 2009
90 minute bread recipes. Yes, start to finish, 90 minutes!
I have two of these recipes. One is the original, with conversion to an ABM included. The other is my tweaks to it - I use less sugar and salt than the original. Actually, I changed the sugar to honey and also used less than the original honey/sugar conversion would have been.
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Friday, June 12, 2009
Working on Blog
Well, I just went in and changed almost all of the tags on my blogs. It seemed to me that there were too many "labels" being used, so I condensed them down to a smaller amount. I also added a search bar on the sidebar. I just went in and tested it and it seems to work.
I also found some posts that I had written, but failed to post. I went ahead and deleted one and posted the other one.
I'm also changing the layout a little bit. Just to freshen up the look of the blog. Now I hope I don't lose all my past posts!
Hope you like the changes.
I also found some posts that I had written, but failed to post. I went ahead and deleted one and posted the other one.
I'm also changing the layout a little bit. Just to freshen up the look of the blog. Now I hope I don't lose all my past posts!
Hope you like the changes.
Are you canning food or just sealing your jars?
Time for a post on the difference between CANNING food and meerly sealing the jar (making it "ping" and the lid button go down.)
I just read a blog about canning and someone commented that they had an easier way to "can" salsa. Instead of putting the jars into boiling water (or using a dishwasher on the "sanitize" setting and keep them in there and hot), they put them on a tray in a 250 deg oven. They made up the uncooked salsa then put it into the jars, popped a lid and ring on, closed the jars and put the jars back into the 250 degree oven for 10 minutes?!??!!! That salsa wasn't even brought to a boil before it was "canned"!
Here is the comment that I left. Hopefully, others will see this on the blog in question and not try the suggestion of the other commenter.
re:xxxx's comment:
DO NOT USE THIS METHOD!
I took a Master Home Preserver course from the local extension office. One thing people don't seem to understand is the difference between a "sealed" jar and a "canned" jar.
ANY jar of hot food with a sound, dry, chip-free lip and a new lid put on it will normally SEAL. The heat will cause the compound to soften and when the pressure in the jar drops as the food cools, the lid will "ping" and the jar is SEALED. That does NOT mean the food is "safe". All it means is that the mechanical part of "sealing" has been done. This does NOT mean that there is no bacteria in the food, only that the jar lid is "glued" to the jar itself. Which means that any bacteria that is anaerobic (doesn't need oxygen)can multiply and poison you. Can we all spell botulism? These types of instructions are what give canning its bad name. People think the jar is "canned" after all, the lid "pinged" and then eat food that makes them sick.
CANNING is where you prepare food, put it in a jar, put a hot lid on a hot, sterilized jar and then HEAT THE FOOD IN THE JAR in a canner or pressure canner for a specific amount of time and in a specific way so that any bacteria that was in the food is killed. Acidic food can be "water bathed", any other foods need to be pressure canned with a pressure CANNER, not a pressure COOKER. (a big difference having to do with size of pot and amount of time not being correct for "caning" in a cooker.)
Water boils at 212 degrees, but it takes either an acid environment OR 240-260 degrees to kill some types of common bacteria, bacteria that are found in the normal environment that doesn't hurt us as long as the bacteria has to deal with oxygen. However, when we seal a jar, then the oxygen is gone and the bacteria multiplies and when it does, it excretes toxins. It's not the bacteria that kills or sickens you, it's the toxins that the bacteria releases. The only way to get water above 212 deg. is to put it under pressure - hence pressure canning.
Remember that we put meat in a 350 degree oven for several hours and only have meat that gets to about 190 degrees. Stuff put in a 250 degree oven for 10 mins doesn't get even CLOSE to 212 degrees, unless it was put in boiling first. But that STILL doesn't do the trick. Remember that in a water bath, 212 deg water is under, around and over the jars for 20-30 MINUTES FOR ACID foods ONLY. You should not even think about water bathing non-acid foods. Here again, yes, you CAN make the lids "ping", but it's STILL NOT safe!
Hopefully, at least the person who owns the blog and said she was going to try this method will read the post and chose to not try the oven "method of canning".
I just read a blog about canning and someone commented that they had an easier way to "can" salsa. Instead of putting the jars into boiling water (or using a dishwasher on the "sanitize" setting and keep them in there and hot), they put them on a tray in a 250 deg oven. They made up the uncooked salsa then put it into the jars, popped a lid and ring on, closed the jars and put the jars back into the 250 degree oven for 10 minutes?!??!!! That salsa wasn't even brought to a boil before it was "canned"!
Here is the comment that I left. Hopefully, others will see this on the blog in question and not try the suggestion of the other commenter.
re:xxxx's comment:
DO NOT USE THIS METHOD!
I took a Master Home Preserver course from the local extension office. One thing people don't seem to understand is the difference between a "sealed" jar and a "canned" jar.
ANY jar of hot food with a sound, dry, chip-free lip and a new lid put on it will normally SEAL. The heat will cause the compound to soften and when the pressure in the jar drops as the food cools, the lid will "ping" and the jar is SEALED. That does NOT mean the food is "safe". All it means is that the mechanical part of "sealing" has been done. This does NOT mean that there is no bacteria in the food, only that the jar lid is "glued" to the jar itself. Which means that any bacteria that is anaerobic (doesn't need oxygen)can multiply and poison you. Can we all spell botulism? These types of instructions are what give canning its bad name. People think the jar is "canned" after all, the lid "pinged" and then eat food that makes them sick.
CANNING is where you prepare food, put it in a jar, put a hot lid on a hot, sterilized jar and then HEAT THE FOOD IN THE JAR in a canner or pressure canner for a specific amount of time and in a specific way so that any bacteria that was in the food is killed. Acidic food can be "water bathed", any other foods need to be pressure canned with a pressure CANNER, not a pressure COOKER. (a big difference having to do with size of pot and amount of time not being correct for "caning" in a cooker.)
Water boils at 212 degrees, but it takes either an acid environment OR 240-260 degrees to kill some types of common bacteria, bacteria that are found in the normal environment that doesn't hurt us as long as the bacteria has to deal with oxygen. However, when we seal a jar, then the oxygen is gone and the bacteria multiplies and when it does, it excretes toxins. It's not the bacteria that kills or sickens you, it's the toxins that the bacteria releases. The only way to get water above 212 deg. is to put it under pressure - hence pressure canning.
Remember that we put meat in a 350 degree oven for several hours and only have meat that gets to about 190 degrees. Stuff put in a 250 degree oven for 10 mins doesn't get even CLOSE to 212 degrees, unless it was put in boiling first. But that STILL doesn't do the trick. Remember that in a water bath, 212 deg water is under, around and over the jars for 20-30 MINUTES FOR ACID foods ONLY. You should not even think about water bathing non-acid foods. Here again, yes, you CAN make the lids "ping", but it's STILL NOT safe!
Hopefully, at least the person who owns the blog and said she was going to try this method will read the post and chose to not try the oven "method of canning".
Saturday, May 16, 2009
On to the Gluten, pt 1
We've made the gluten, we've dealt with the bran and starch water so on now with how to use it.
Gluten is also called "wheat meat". When seasoned, it tastes like meat and also has the texture of meat. Gluten can be made into "vital wheat gluten", the stuff that helps whole wheat bread to rise higher and be tender - foldable even. It's all in the final processing.
Today we're making the dried gluten for adding to bread. This will eliminate our need to spend $2.00 or so for a small box of "vital wheat gluten". This procedure will allow the gluten to keep indefinitely on the shelf.
Take your raw gluten and break/tear off quarter size pieces. (For non-North Americans, that a piece of dough larger than a marble, but smaller than a golf ball.) Flatten it and place the pieces on an oiled cookie sheet or on the tray of your dehydrator. In oven, bake at 350 degrees until hard. In dehydrator, dry out dough. You can also roll dough out into 1/4" thickness and cut shapes with it. Thin shapes will dry more quickly, evenly and be easier to get to grind to a flour.
When dough is very dry, you can place it in an airtight container and place it on the shelf. As another option, you can actually put them in a jar with an oxygen absorber packet and put the lid on. Or use a vacuum sealing device and suck the air out of the jar. Anything is better than zipper bags. I've found after a while that foods put in zipper bags will pick up tastes from the pantry and get a rather odd taste to them.
At some point, you will want to use the dried gluten for bread making. You will need to grind or grate the dough balls to a flour texture. Use of a micrograter, food processor, grain mill, blender, nut/coffee grinder, or mortar and pestle will all work. Youwant a flour with this, so keep grinding the larger chunks until it's flour. Mills will be the easiest and quickest to use. Then the grinder/food processor, next the blender, the grater and last the mortar and pestle. M&P's do work, but it will be WORK to get it ground by hand. You can grind it all ahead of time or just what you need at the moment.
Tomorrow on to "wheat meat".
Gluten is also called "wheat meat". When seasoned, it tastes like meat and also has the texture of meat. Gluten can be made into "vital wheat gluten", the stuff that helps whole wheat bread to rise higher and be tender - foldable even. It's all in the final processing.
Today we're making the dried gluten for adding to bread. This will eliminate our need to spend $2.00 or so for a small box of "vital wheat gluten". This procedure will allow the gluten to keep indefinitely on the shelf.
Take your raw gluten and break/tear off quarter size pieces. (For non-North Americans, that a piece of dough larger than a marble, but smaller than a golf ball.) Flatten it and place the pieces on an oiled cookie sheet or on the tray of your dehydrator. In oven, bake at 350 degrees until hard. In dehydrator, dry out dough. You can also roll dough out into 1/4" thickness and cut shapes with it. Thin shapes will dry more quickly, evenly and be easier to get to grind to a flour.
When dough is very dry, you can place it in an airtight container and place it on the shelf. As another option, you can actually put them in a jar with an oxygen absorber packet and put the lid on. Or use a vacuum sealing device and suck the air out of the jar. Anything is better than zipper bags. I've found after a while that foods put in zipper bags will pick up tastes from the pantry and get a rather odd taste to them.
At some point, you will want to use the dried gluten for bread making. You will need to grind or grate the dough balls to a flour texture. Use of a micrograter, food processor, grain mill, blender, nut/coffee grinder, or mortar and pestle will all work. Youwant a flour with this, so keep grinding the larger chunks until it's flour. Mills will be the easiest and quickest to use. Then the grinder/food processor, next the blender, the grater and last the mortar and pestle. M&P's do work, but it will be WORK to get it ground by hand. You can grind it all ahead of time or just what you need at the moment.
Tomorrow on to "wheat meat".
Thursday, April 30, 2009
What to do with this stuff?? Gluten, bran and starch
Ok, so...we now have a container of bran and starch and a handful of gluten. NOW WHAT?
Well, if you don't want to fool with it, you can pour the contents of the fluid container down the drain. You are pouring off fiber and nutrition, but it's your choice as to what you want to do. No food police will come cart you off if you don't use it.
First off, the bran will last 4-6 days in the fridge or you can freeze it for later use. Do yourself a favor and sack it up in portion sizes. That way you only have to work with a portion worth and not unthaw the whole mess.
The starch water will spoil a WHOLE LOT quicker. It needs to be refrigerated as soon as possible.
To separate the bran from the water:
To use the bran and starch water you need to let the water settle for about an hour. I have a glass "sun tea" jar that I bought to separate some organic raw milk I was able to get. It has a large opening at the top and a small spigot at the bottom. I'm going to put my bran/starch water into it and let the bran settle out to the bottom. I'll then use the spigot to drain off the bran and some of the water. How liquid I take out much depends on how thick I want the bran or starch to be. The more water that goes with the bran, the thinner the bran will be and the thicker the starch water will be. The less water I let go with the bran, the thicker the bran will be and the thinner the starch will be. First draining will be to remove the bran. Then in another container, I will drain off the starch portion. The water that is on top will be used to water my plants with.
So you don't have a sun tea jar and don't want another do-dad in your house. If all you have are canning jars, a bowl or pot, then you will do it differently. Let it settle down so that the 3 layers (bran, starch and water) separate. The pour (or use a turkey baster or meat injector to suck off) the layer of water. Pour or suck off until you start to get some milky fluid. Now you're down to the starch layer. Put the water aside in another container. Now gently pour or suck off the starch layer. When you start to see the brown bran flakes, stop. Put the starch in another container and put the bran in another container. Unless your going to use the starch right away (as in NOW), put it in the fridge and work with it later (as in another hour or more). You may find that the starch needs to be separated from the water a couple of times (3-4) for a thicker starch or just let the water sit overnight in the fridge and you can do it in one pouring.
Water:
You can water your plants with it, pour it over the dog/cat/goat/pig/chicken's feed or use it in place of the water in your bread, powdered milk, soup or stew recipes.
Starch water:
You can also water your plants with it, pour it over the dog/cat/goat/pig/chicken's feed or use it in place of water in your bread or powdered milk recipes with this. You can also use it to thicken sauces, gravies, puddings, soups and stews or anything else that you would use flour, cornstarch, arrow root or tapioca to thicken with - with the exception of tapioca pudding - for obvious reasons. lol You can make drinks both hot and cold with it. You can also make hand lotion, floor wax, a paste for matting or hinging art work, a paste to fix torn archival papers and artifacts, and use it to bath the baby.
Thick starch:
Gravy: 4-5 tbs to thicken 2 cups liquid
Stews: 6-7 tbs to 2 cups liquid
Other: use as you would cornstarch. It has a clearer and more delicate flavor than using regular flour to thicken foods.
Tip: After the water has been poured off and before you use it, stir the starch well.
A little different way to make and use gluten and it's byproducts:
http://www.countrysidemag.com/issues/83/83-2/Countryside_Staff.html
I've searched for DAYS (well, since I starting this particular post) and can not find more uses for the starch - like how to use it on your floors. Perhaps someone can post that for us. So, I'm dropping the search for now and I'm going to continue on so this gets posted!
Ok, so now what to do with the bran? Well, you can freeze it to use or work with later.
Thin Bran:
Best for making bran flakes out of it. After the bran has settled, leave at a minimum 2" of the liquid on top of the bran.
Thick Bran:
Best for adding to other ingredients. Let the bran settle, then pour off as much liquid as possible or use a turkey baster or meat injector to suck the liquid from the top, leaving the brown flakes behind.
Dehydrated bran:
Dry on cookie sheet or in dehydrator. Powder in food processor, blender or nut mill. When ready to use, rehydrate or mix in with rest of ingredients.
Bran is good for crackers, cereals, and drinks. It's also good when used in breads, pies, pancakes, waffles, cakes, cookies, muffins and other baked goods.
Bran is good to use if you're "bound up" or if you have the "reverse". One of my girlfriend's twin daughters had GI troubles from the time she was born. The older ladies she knew kept telling her to give the child some bran muffins or bran cereal. She kept think, no! The baby has diarrhea and the bran will make it worse. Dr. after Dr. gave her prescriptions - to no avail. FINALLY, she gave up and tried what the old ladies told her to do. Guess what? A problem that the child had had for the first two years of her life went away! In a couple of days! For free. And the child would not have suffered for the better part of 2 years if mom had listened to the grannies who kept telling her what to do.
Moral of the story, many times Mamaw knows what she's talking about. Unless they're telling you to use something toxic, give it a try, can't hurt and will probably fix the problem. Granny didn't have the money to run the kids to the MD's every time they skinned a knee or had a stomach ache. How many of you remember how you're supposed to deal with a child with measles? Or mumps? or chicken pox? Yeah, the kids are all immunized against this stuff, but what's going to happen when, as they get older, the immunity wears off? My prediction is that we're going to see a whole lot of very sick people! Hopefully, I'll be wrong. I'll be thrilled to be wrong.
Bran can be used at 1/2 cup bran to 2 cups flour without altering the recipe. If it's already wet. If it's been dehydrated, then the bran will take up some of the liquid in the water. So look at your batter/dough as you're making your product. If it looks a little dry, add a tad more water - until it looks like is "should".
Pancakes
Milk group:
1 Cup fresh buttermilk (yoghurt or kefir will probably work too!)
OR
1 Cup sour milk
OR
1 cup water (+ recommended buttermilk powder to make 1 cup buttermilk will be added to dry ingredients. Saves you the time of mixing it together.)
OR
Put 2 tsp vinegar in the bottom of a 1 or 2 cup measuring cup and add milk, evaporated milk, reconstituted powdered milk or 1/2 and 1/2 to make 1 cup and let it sit for about 5 mins to sour.
Egg group:
1 egg
OR
1 Tbs Knox unflavored gelatin + 3 Tbs water. Mix together.
OR
1 Tbs ground Flax seed + 3 Tbs water. Mix together.
Oil Group:
2 Tbs Oil, Melted shortening, butter, margerine (Regular Mayo NOT Miracle Whip, may work. It does in biscuits)
OR
2 Tbs applesauce
To one of the milk group add one of the egg group and one of the oil group. Add 1/4 cup thick, raw bran.
Stir in the following ingredients into the wet mixture:
If you used water above, now add in the necessary buttermilk powder
1 cup whole wheat flour (AP flour will work too)
2 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp soda
1/4 tsp salt
Stir until just barely blended.
Cook on heated griddle.
Waffles
2 cups from Milk group above
Add to milk:
1/2 cup from Oil Group above
3 eggs or equavelent from above
1/2 cup thick raw bran
2 1/2 ww flour
1 cup powder whey (from Health food store OR use your own whey from cheese making and reduce milk choice by 1 cup)
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp soda
3 tsp baking powder
Mix all wet ingredients with electric mixer/beaters. Add dry ingerdients. Stir well but don't overmix. It should still have little lumps
Bake in preheated waffle iron.
TIP:
When I make pancakes or waffles, I use more than one pan/appliance. If I'm making pancakes or waffles, I double or triple the recipe. I cook pancakes in 4 cast iron pans (all going at one time). If I'm making waffles, I use both of my waffle irons. I cool and freeze leftovers for later breakfasts or snacks. This lets me get done faster! (Is anyone else bored to DEATH watching pancakes or waffles cook?)
Cold Cereal:
2 cups thin raw bran
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbs sugar (raw, brown, white, honey, Blue Agave, whatever you like)
Mix ingredients. Pour a bit of the mixture paper-thin onto an oiled cookie sheet or on the fruit leather tray of your dehydrator. Tip cookie sheet pan from side to side to coat pan evenly. Bake 20-25 minutes at 300 degrees. Lfit sheet of bran from pan right away. Let it cool and break it into pieces. If using dehydrator, tip tray and make a thin layer of batter on it. Put tray(s) into dehydrator and let dry. Remove dried bran from trays, let cook and break it apart.
Part-way through drying times, you can sprinkle cinnamon and sugar over pan/tray, or other topping of your choice over partially dried batter. (jello would work too!)
This is good for cold cereal or for use in granola.
Well, if you don't want to fool with it, you can pour the contents of the fluid container down the drain. You are pouring off fiber and nutrition, but it's your choice as to what you want to do. No food police will come cart you off if you don't use it.
First off, the bran will last 4-6 days in the fridge or you can freeze it for later use. Do yourself a favor and sack it up in portion sizes. That way you only have to work with a portion worth and not unthaw the whole mess.
The starch water will spoil a WHOLE LOT quicker. It needs to be refrigerated as soon as possible.
To separate the bran from the water:
To use the bran and starch water you need to let the water settle for about an hour. I have a glass "sun tea" jar that I bought to separate some organic raw milk I was able to get. It has a large opening at the top and a small spigot at the bottom. I'm going to put my bran/starch water into it and let the bran settle out to the bottom. I'll then use the spigot to drain off the bran and some of the water. How liquid I take out much depends on how thick I want the bran or starch to be. The more water that goes with the bran, the thinner the bran will be and the thicker the starch water will be. The less water I let go with the bran, the thicker the bran will be and the thinner the starch will be. First draining will be to remove the bran. Then in another container, I will drain off the starch portion. The water that is on top will be used to water my plants with.
So you don't have a sun tea jar and don't want another do-dad in your house. If all you have are canning jars, a bowl or pot, then you will do it differently. Let it settle down so that the 3 layers (bran, starch and water) separate. The pour (or use a turkey baster or meat injector to suck off) the layer of water. Pour or suck off until you start to get some milky fluid. Now you're down to the starch layer. Put the water aside in another container. Now gently pour or suck off the starch layer. When you start to see the brown bran flakes, stop. Put the starch in another container and put the bran in another container. Unless your going to use the starch right away (as in NOW), put it in the fridge and work with it later (as in another hour or more). You may find that the starch needs to be separated from the water a couple of times (3-4) for a thicker starch or just let the water sit overnight in the fridge and you can do it in one pouring.
Water:
You can water your plants with it, pour it over the dog/cat/goat/pig/chicken's feed or use it in place of the water in your bread, powdered milk, soup or stew recipes.
Starch water:
You can also water your plants with it, pour it over the dog/cat/goat/pig/chicken's feed or use it in place of water in your bread or powdered milk recipes with this. You can also use it to thicken sauces, gravies, puddings, soups and stews or anything else that you would use flour, cornstarch, arrow root or tapioca to thicken with - with the exception of tapioca pudding - for obvious reasons. lol You can make drinks both hot and cold with it. You can also make hand lotion, floor wax, a paste for matting or hinging art work, a paste to fix torn archival papers and artifacts, and use it to bath the baby.
Thick starch:
Gravy: 4-5 tbs to thicken 2 cups liquid
Stews: 6-7 tbs to 2 cups liquid
Other: use as you would cornstarch. It has a clearer and more delicate flavor than using regular flour to thicken foods.
Tip: After the water has been poured off and before you use it, stir the starch well.
A little different way to make and use gluten and it's byproducts:
http://www.countrysidemag.com/issues/83/83-2/Countryside_Staff.html
I've searched for DAYS (well, since I starting this particular post) and can not find more uses for the starch - like how to use it on your floors. Perhaps someone can post that for us. So, I'm dropping the search for now and I'm going to continue on so this gets posted!
Ok, so now what to do with the bran? Well, you can freeze it to use or work with later.
Thin Bran:
Best for making bran flakes out of it. After the bran has settled, leave at a minimum 2" of the liquid on top of the bran.
Thick Bran:
Best for adding to other ingredients. Let the bran settle, then pour off as much liquid as possible or use a turkey baster or meat injector to suck the liquid from the top, leaving the brown flakes behind.
Dehydrated bran:
Dry on cookie sheet or in dehydrator. Powder in food processor, blender or nut mill. When ready to use, rehydrate or mix in with rest of ingredients.
Bran is good for crackers, cereals, and drinks. It's also good when used in breads, pies, pancakes, waffles, cakes, cookies, muffins and other baked goods.
Bran is good to use if you're "bound up" or if you have the "reverse". One of my girlfriend's twin daughters had GI troubles from the time she was born. The older ladies she knew kept telling her to give the child some bran muffins or bran cereal. She kept think, no! The baby has diarrhea and the bran will make it worse. Dr. after Dr. gave her prescriptions - to no avail. FINALLY, she gave up and tried what the old ladies told her to do. Guess what? A problem that the child had had for the first two years of her life went away! In a couple of days! For free. And the child would not have suffered for the better part of 2 years if mom had listened to the grannies who kept telling her what to do.
Moral of the story, many times Mamaw knows what she's talking about. Unless they're telling you to use something toxic, give it a try, can't hurt and will probably fix the problem. Granny didn't have the money to run the kids to the MD's every time they skinned a knee or had a stomach ache. How many of you remember how you're supposed to deal with a child with measles? Or mumps? or chicken pox? Yeah, the kids are all immunized against this stuff, but what's going to happen when, as they get older, the immunity wears off? My prediction is that we're going to see a whole lot of very sick people! Hopefully, I'll be wrong. I'll be thrilled to be wrong.
Bran can be used at 1/2 cup bran to 2 cups flour without altering the recipe. If it's already wet. If it's been dehydrated, then the bran will take up some of the liquid in the water. So look at your batter/dough as you're making your product. If it looks a little dry, add a tad more water - until it looks like is "should".
Pancakes
Milk group:
1 Cup fresh buttermilk (yoghurt or kefir will probably work too!)
OR
1 Cup sour milk
OR
1 cup water (+ recommended buttermilk powder to make 1 cup buttermilk will be added to dry ingredients. Saves you the time of mixing it together.)
OR
Put 2 tsp vinegar in the bottom of a 1 or 2 cup measuring cup and add milk, evaporated milk, reconstituted powdered milk or 1/2 and 1/2 to make 1 cup and let it sit for about 5 mins to sour.
Egg group:
1 egg
OR
1 Tbs Knox unflavored gelatin + 3 Tbs water. Mix together.
OR
1 Tbs ground Flax seed + 3 Tbs water. Mix together.
Oil Group:
2 Tbs Oil, Melted shortening, butter, margerine (Regular Mayo NOT Miracle Whip, may work. It does in biscuits)
OR
2 Tbs applesauce
To one of the milk group add one of the egg group and one of the oil group. Add 1/4 cup thick, raw bran.
Stir in the following ingredients into the wet mixture:
If you used water above, now add in the necessary buttermilk powder
1 cup whole wheat flour (AP flour will work too)
2 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp soda
1/4 tsp salt
Stir until just barely blended.
Cook on heated griddle.
Waffles
2 cups from Milk group above
Add to milk:
1/2 cup from Oil Group above
3 eggs or equavelent from above
1/2 cup thick raw bran
2 1/2 ww flour
1 cup powder whey (from Health food store OR use your own whey from cheese making and reduce milk choice by 1 cup)
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp soda
3 tsp baking powder
Mix all wet ingredients with electric mixer/beaters. Add dry ingerdients. Stir well but don't overmix. It should still have little lumps
Bake in preheated waffle iron.
TIP:
When I make pancakes or waffles, I use more than one pan/appliance. If I'm making pancakes or waffles, I double or triple the recipe. I cook pancakes in 4 cast iron pans (all going at one time). If I'm making waffles, I use both of my waffle irons. I cool and freeze leftovers for later breakfasts or snacks. This lets me get done faster! (Is anyone else bored to DEATH watching pancakes or waffles cook?)
Cold Cereal:
2 cups thin raw bran
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbs sugar (raw, brown, white, honey, Blue Agave, whatever you like)
Mix ingredients. Pour a bit of the mixture paper-thin onto an oiled cookie sheet or on the fruit leather tray of your dehydrator. Tip cookie sheet pan from side to side to coat pan evenly. Bake 20-25 minutes at 300 degrees. Lfit sheet of bran from pan right away. Let it cool and break it into pieces. If using dehydrator, tip tray and make a thin layer of batter on it. Put tray(s) into dehydrator and let dry. Remove dried bran from trays, let cook and break it apart.
Part-way through drying times, you can sprinkle cinnamon and sugar over pan/tray, or other topping of your choice over partially dried batter. (jello would work too!)
This is good for cold cereal or for use in granola.
Vital Wheat Gluten aka "wheat meat", bran and starch
Back in one of my first posts I have a recipe for "foldable" whole wheat bread. I mentioned Vital Wheat Gluten as a component of the bread - the one that lets the bread rise higher and lets it fold without crumbling. I'm just now getting around to giving you the recipe to make your own gluten, also known as wheat meat. By making your own, you also get bran and starch to use. Yes, this is the same bran as in what you buy in the stores. You can add some sugar to it and make a cereal out of it, if I look around, I can probably find a recipe for Grapenut Flakes.
Homemade Vital Wheat Gluten aka Wheat Meat
Ingredients:
Flour: Whole wheat is best. You get brown gluten, bran and starch from it. AP white flour works and you get a larger yield of white gluten. BUT you don't get any bran with it AND you lose the vitamins that come with whole wheat. Other flours don't work - they don't have much gluten, which is why, for instance, you can't make bread that rises out of all barley or all rye.) Remember to leave out 1 cup of flour and mix the dough well. Then look at the dough. Does it NEED the extra flour. I live in a very humid area (Georgia). I usually need more flour than the recipe calls for. The flour has absorbed the humidity in my house, so it can't absorb the water in the recipe. HOWEVER, if I pop a #10 can of wheat that was canned out west and then immediately grind and use it, I don't always need all the flour a recipe calls for. Since it's easier to add flour than water in a dough. I err to the side of leaving out some of the flour. Then I can always add more flour. This is true for whatever type of baked good I'm making, not just for making gluten.
Water: if it's safe to drink, it's safe to cook with.
Methods: There are several methods for making gluten. Mixing with a bread mixer, portable mixer, bread machine, by hand or by letting the water and wheat flour sit for several hours after mixing it together. I'll touch on all of these methods.
Bread Mixer: Tried this method years ago, works great. (Yields 2-5 cups raw gluten, depending on protein content of flour)
This is nice if you have a Bosch, Kitchenaid, etc. Can't use it if there is no electricity to power the machine.
11-14 cups flour
7 cups of water
Using dough hook, you can either put all the water in and then dump all the flour in the bowl at once, or add the flour in increments. Turn on, knead for 10 mins. When all of the flour has been added and is moistened, knead another 5 mins. Or knead for 15 total mins. Rest of instructions will follow.
Portable mixer: Tried this method years ago, worked great, BUT...since then, they have cut the power of portable (hand-held) mixers down. If you have a wimpy mixer, it's not going to work very well for you. There is a work-around that I haven't tried, but logic says should work. (Yields 2-3 cups raw gluten, depending on protein content of flour)
Saves you some work, but again, if power is out, you can't make it this way.
9 cups flour
6 cups water
Dump in bowl, turn on and mix at med. speed for 5 mins. Let the machine rest for a few minutes and then mix another10 mins. You may have to keep stopping and letting the machine rest. You don't want to burn up your mixer, so if it starts smelling hot. STOP and let it cool off! Rest of instructions will follow.
WORK AROUND for wimpy mixers: Put all the water and about 1/2 the flour in the bowl. Start mixing the flour and water together on medium speed. It should be fairly soupy at this point. Let the mixer work for a few minutes and then start adding in more of the flour. Keep adding flour until the mixer starts to slow down a bit. Kick the speed up to high. Do not add any more flour, just let the mixer run for about 5 mins or until it starts to "smell hot". Let the mixer rest for about 10 mins to cool off. Mix for another 5-10 mins by machine. You may have to let it rest some more. Then remove the beaters and start adding flour by hand. You want a bread dough consistency dough. Too wet and it's a sticky mess, to dry and it's too stiff to knead well. From the time you finish putting in the last of the flour, knead about another 5 mins. Rest of instructions will follow.
Bread machine:Trying this today as it's my invention. (Not sure of yield)
Again, the electricity is an issue. Also, my machine will allow 4 cups flour. Other machines have less capacity. CHECK YOUR OWNER'S MANUAL before trying this so you don't burn out the motor of your breadmaker! If you can't use 4 cups flour, then half the recipe and make more batches until you have the amount of gluten you want.
4 cups flour
2 cups water
Set machine on dough cycle. Let it knead until it goes to the first "rest" period in the cycle. This should be about 15 minutes. If it's not, then let it rest and knead again so you have about 15 mins total kneading time. (I would reset my machine to start, rather than waiting the 30 or so mins that the machine rests before starting to knead again. Rest of instructions to follow.
By Hand: Think I did try this some years ago, don't remember how it worked out. (Yield 1-2 cups raw gluten.)
This is time consuming and more work for you. You're basically kneading it like you would bread and for the same reasons - to activate the gluten. This is nice to know because if the power is out, you can still make gluten.
7 cups flour
3 cups water
Make a dough that is neither sticky nor too dry. You really are shooting for a bread dough consistency. So put all the water and 1/2 the flour into a bowl and then start adding more flour from there. You will need to flour the dough, your work surface and your hands to work the resulting dough.
Once the dough is a bread-dough consistency, you will either knead or pound the dough. You can use your fists, a rubber mallet or a rolling pin to pound the dough flat. (DO NOT use your good marble rolling pin on this one it WILL break!) Keep pounding the dough, turning it over from time to time and adding a bit more flour to your surface so it doesn't stick. It will take 15-20 mins to work the gluten, just like when you make bread. Rest of instructions to follow.
No-Knead: Not tried this yet. (Yield unknown)
No fuss, no muss, no worries if power goes off method.
7 cups flour
3 cups water
more water to cover dough
Mix flour and water into a dough. Cover with cold water and let it sit for 2-3 hours. Pour off water and mix until smooth.
Rest of instructions:
First, test dough to make sure that it's been kneaded enough. To do that simply take a small ball of dough (marble-size is good), flatten it out and then stretch the center of the ball out. If it just tears, it's not kneaded enough and you need to knead it some more. If it stretches and thins out, and you can start to be able to see through it before it finally tears, then it's ready to use. (Same as for kneading bread!)
Now that you have a lump of dough that has been well kneaded, your ready to wash it. You want to wash the dough to extract most of the bran and all the starch from the remaining gluten. We can save the bran and the starch for other purposes. That will be another post as will what to DO with all this goodness you're making.
Washing the gluten:
You need:
water
Colander
Clean pot, dishpan, large bowl, etc to set the colander inside of so you can catch the bran and starch. It needs to be large enough to hold the colander inside it and allow you to cover dough with water.
In the olden days of the 1960's and 70's, when we didn't think about "wasting" water, people just washed the gluten under running water. I reckon ya still can, but it will waste a lot of water. So I'm going to tell you how to do it with less water.
Put the colander in your chosen vessel. Then taking as much of the gluten as you can easily work with, put it into the colander. Cover the dough with warm (not HOT) water. Work the dough with an in and out movement so that you loosen the bran and starch. Keep working the dough in the same water until it toughens up and becomes the consistency of bubble gum. Repeat until all the dough has been rinsed. (Remove the worked dough from the colander before you put in the next piece.) When all of the dough has been washed, set the pan of bran/starch water aside.
Next, hold pieces of dough under a small stream of water and rinse until water is clear and dough is elastic and rubbery. You won't get out all of the bran. That's fine, don't bother trying.
Now you have gluten to make into flour or wheat meat. You have bran to use in recipes calling for bran and starch to thicken and add nutrition to foods, plus to use for pets, household cleaners, etc.
Whoops:
If the gluten doesn't collect or falls apart to the point of going through the colander, you have one of a couple of potential problems.
1.) Your wheat may have been soft wheat for pastries; or a "biscuit" flour like White Lily. You have to use hard red or hard white wheat. The gluten is the protein in the flour. Lower protein, lower gluten. All Purpose (AP) flour works too - if you know your brands. Anything that is touted as making biscuits tender is a pastry flour, not a hard wheat flour. The best way to get tender biscuits, muffins, pastries, etc. is to not over-handle the dough. But since too many people today have not learned how to cook from the older generation, they end up having a "heavy" hand. To fix that the baking supply industry has given us "biscuit" flour. That way, when people over-mix their dough, they don't activate the gluten as easily as in regular flour. The only problem is, most people don't realize that certain brands are using a pastry flour blend instead of regular flour. Then they have all kinds of trouble with any of the bread-stuffs that NEED to be kneaded. Low protein, low gluten = low rising of the dough. The sad thing is, they think it's their fault not the fault of the type/brand of flour they're using. So either grind your own wheat from known wheat types or read the bag of flour. You want to look at the protein content. High protein is about 11 to 18%. (Do I really need to tell you how I learned THIS fact. sigh) Bread flour will work, but it's more expensive. You may as well use bread flour to begin with and save yourself an hour or so of work.
2.) The pounding procedure was not hard enough or long enough. Both will cause the gluten to be underdeveloped. Do the window test to make sure it's been pounded long/hard enough.
3) The dough was not stiff enough (this happens when you use the mixer method or hand method.) You don't want a sticky dough. Add some more flour
4.) The dough was too stiff. This can happen when you mix by hand. You can add water into a formed dough, but it's a pain in the tush to do so. You have to really work it to get the water to incorporate. The best strategy is to not put in too much flour to begin with. You need just enough flour to make a dough that isn't sticky. No more. And if you're doing this by hand, make sure to take it out of the bowl when it's still a little sticky. The flour on your hands and kneading/pounding surface will incorporate into the dough.
5.) It was not kneaded enough. (Do the window test, even with machine kneaded dough!)
If you can, pound or knead the dough longer and test it again. Keep kneading/pounding until it stretches instead of rips. If you've already put the whole thing in water and it's falling apart, then let the mixture rest 4-8 hours and then try washing it again.
Tomorrow, I'll tell you what to do with the gluten, bran and starch.
Homemade Vital Wheat Gluten aka Wheat Meat
Ingredients:
Flour: Whole wheat is best. You get brown gluten, bran and starch from it. AP white flour works and you get a larger yield of white gluten. BUT you don't get any bran with it AND you lose the vitamins that come with whole wheat. Other flours don't work - they don't have much gluten, which is why, for instance, you can't make bread that rises out of all barley or all rye.) Remember to leave out 1 cup of flour and mix the dough well. Then look at the dough. Does it NEED the extra flour. I live in a very humid area (Georgia). I usually need more flour than the recipe calls for. The flour has absorbed the humidity in my house, so it can't absorb the water in the recipe. HOWEVER, if I pop a #10 can of wheat that was canned out west and then immediately grind and use it, I don't always need all the flour a recipe calls for. Since it's easier to add flour than water in a dough. I err to the side of leaving out some of the flour. Then I can always add more flour. This is true for whatever type of baked good I'm making, not just for making gluten.
Water: if it's safe to drink, it's safe to cook with.
Methods: There are several methods for making gluten. Mixing with a bread mixer, portable mixer, bread machine, by hand or by letting the water and wheat flour sit for several hours after mixing it together. I'll touch on all of these methods.
Bread Mixer: Tried this method years ago, works great. (Yields 2-5 cups raw gluten, depending on protein content of flour)
This is nice if you have a Bosch, Kitchenaid, etc. Can't use it if there is no electricity to power the machine.
11-14 cups flour
7 cups of water
Using dough hook, you can either put all the water in and then dump all the flour in the bowl at once, or add the flour in increments. Turn on, knead for 10 mins. When all of the flour has been added and is moistened, knead another 5 mins. Or knead for 15 total mins. Rest of instructions will follow.
Portable mixer: Tried this method years ago, worked great, BUT...since then, they have cut the power of portable (hand-held) mixers down. If you have a wimpy mixer, it's not going to work very well for you. There is a work-around that I haven't tried, but logic says should work. (Yields 2-3 cups raw gluten, depending on protein content of flour)
Saves you some work, but again, if power is out, you can't make it this way.
9 cups flour
6 cups water
Dump in bowl, turn on and mix at med. speed for 5 mins. Let the machine rest for a few minutes and then mix another10 mins. You may have to keep stopping and letting the machine rest. You don't want to burn up your mixer, so if it starts smelling hot. STOP and let it cool off! Rest of instructions will follow.
WORK AROUND for wimpy mixers: Put all the water and about 1/2 the flour in the bowl. Start mixing the flour and water together on medium speed. It should be fairly soupy at this point. Let the mixer work for a few minutes and then start adding in more of the flour. Keep adding flour until the mixer starts to slow down a bit. Kick the speed up to high. Do not add any more flour, just let the mixer run for about 5 mins or until it starts to "smell hot". Let the mixer rest for about 10 mins to cool off. Mix for another 5-10 mins by machine. You may have to let it rest some more. Then remove the beaters and start adding flour by hand. You want a bread dough consistency dough. Too wet and it's a sticky mess, to dry and it's too stiff to knead well. From the time you finish putting in the last of the flour, knead about another 5 mins. Rest of instructions will follow.
Bread machine:Trying this today as it's my invention. (Not sure of yield)
Again, the electricity is an issue. Also, my machine will allow 4 cups flour. Other machines have less capacity. CHECK YOUR OWNER'S MANUAL before trying this so you don't burn out the motor of your breadmaker! If you can't use 4 cups flour, then half the recipe and make more batches until you have the amount of gluten you want.
4 cups flour
2 cups water
Set machine on dough cycle. Let it knead until it goes to the first "rest" period in the cycle. This should be about 15 minutes. If it's not, then let it rest and knead again so you have about 15 mins total kneading time. (I would reset my machine to start, rather than waiting the 30 or so mins that the machine rests before starting to knead again. Rest of instructions to follow.
By Hand: Think I did try this some years ago, don't remember how it worked out. (Yield 1-2 cups raw gluten.)
This is time consuming and more work for you. You're basically kneading it like you would bread and for the same reasons - to activate the gluten. This is nice to know because if the power is out, you can still make gluten.
7 cups flour
3 cups water
Make a dough that is neither sticky nor too dry. You really are shooting for a bread dough consistency. So put all the water and 1/2 the flour into a bowl and then start adding more flour from there. You will need to flour the dough, your work surface and your hands to work the resulting dough.
Once the dough is a bread-dough consistency, you will either knead or pound the dough. You can use your fists, a rubber mallet or a rolling pin to pound the dough flat. (DO NOT use your good marble rolling pin on this one it WILL break!) Keep pounding the dough, turning it over from time to time and adding a bit more flour to your surface so it doesn't stick. It will take 15-20 mins to work the gluten, just like when you make bread. Rest of instructions to follow.
No-Knead: Not tried this yet. (Yield unknown)
No fuss, no muss, no worries if power goes off method.
7 cups flour
3 cups water
more water to cover dough
Mix flour and water into a dough. Cover with cold water and let it sit for 2-3 hours. Pour off water and mix until smooth.
Rest of instructions:
First, test dough to make sure that it's been kneaded enough. To do that simply take a small ball of dough (marble-size is good), flatten it out and then stretch the center of the ball out. If it just tears, it's not kneaded enough and you need to knead it some more. If it stretches and thins out, and you can start to be able to see through it before it finally tears, then it's ready to use. (Same as for kneading bread!)
Now that you have a lump of dough that has been well kneaded, your ready to wash it. You want to wash the dough to extract most of the bran and all the starch from the remaining gluten. We can save the bran and the starch for other purposes. That will be another post as will what to DO with all this goodness you're making.
Washing the gluten:
You need:
water
Colander
Clean pot, dishpan, large bowl, etc to set the colander inside of so you can catch the bran and starch. It needs to be large enough to hold the colander inside it and allow you to cover dough with water.
In the olden days of the 1960's and 70's, when we didn't think about "wasting" water, people just washed the gluten under running water. I reckon ya still can, but it will waste a lot of water. So I'm going to tell you how to do it with less water.
Put the colander in your chosen vessel. Then taking as much of the gluten as you can easily work with, put it into the colander. Cover the dough with warm (not HOT) water. Work the dough with an in and out movement so that you loosen the bran and starch. Keep working the dough in the same water until it toughens up and becomes the consistency of bubble gum. Repeat until all the dough has been rinsed. (Remove the worked dough from the colander before you put in the next piece.) When all of the dough has been washed, set the pan of bran/starch water aside.
Next, hold pieces of dough under a small stream of water and rinse until water is clear and dough is elastic and rubbery. You won't get out all of the bran. That's fine, don't bother trying.
Now you have gluten to make into flour or wheat meat. You have bran to use in recipes calling for bran and starch to thicken and add nutrition to foods, plus to use for pets, household cleaners, etc.
Whoops:
If the gluten doesn't collect or falls apart to the point of going through the colander, you have one of a couple of potential problems.
1.) Your wheat may have been soft wheat for pastries; or a "biscuit" flour like White Lily. You have to use hard red or hard white wheat. The gluten is the protein in the flour. Lower protein, lower gluten. All Purpose (AP) flour works too - if you know your brands. Anything that is touted as making biscuits tender is a pastry flour, not a hard wheat flour. The best way to get tender biscuits, muffins, pastries, etc. is to not over-handle the dough. But since too many people today have not learned how to cook from the older generation, they end up having a "heavy" hand. To fix that the baking supply industry has given us "biscuit" flour. That way, when people over-mix their dough, they don't activate the gluten as easily as in regular flour. The only problem is, most people don't realize that certain brands are using a pastry flour blend instead of regular flour. Then they have all kinds of trouble with any of the bread-stuffs that NEED to be kneaded. Low protein, low gluten = low rising of the dough. The sad thing is, they think it's their fault not the fault of the type/brand of flour they're using. So either grind your own wheat from known wheat types or read the bag of flour. You want to look at the protein content. High protein is about 11 to 18%. (Do I really need to tell you how I learned THIS fact. sigh) Bread flour will work, but it's more expensive. You may as well use bread flour to begin with and save yourself an hour or so of work.
2.) The pounding procedure was not hard enough or long enough. Both will cause the gluten to be underdeveloped. Do the window test to make sure it's been pounded long/hard enough.
3) The dough was not stiff enough (this happens when you use the mixer method or hand method.) You don't want a sticky dough. Add some more flour
4.) The dough was too stiff. This can happen when you mix by hand. You can add water into a formed dough, but it's a pain in the tush to do so. You have to really work it to get the water to incorporate. The best strategy is to not put in too much flour to begin with. You need just enough flour to make a dough that isn't sticky. No more. And if you're doing this by hand, make sure to take it out of the bowl when it's still a little sticky. The flour on your hands and kneading/pounding surface will incorporate into the dough.
5.) It was not kneaded enough. (Do the window test, even with machine kneaded dough!)
If you can, pound or knead the dough longer and test it again. Keep kneading/pounding until it stretches instead of rips. If you've already put the whole thing in water and it's falling apart, then let the mixture rest 4-8 hours and then try washing it again.
Tomorrow, I'll tell you what to do with the gluten, bran and starch.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
No money to eat
One of my ezines has an ongoing forum for people asking what to do when they have already pared down their budget.
One poster was only eating bread and eggs. Here is my reply to her:
It is hard, isn't it? I'm a single mom, so I understand when there is no food budget. I work 2 part-time jobs, plus homeschool. I have kids in church and scouts, so I'm pressed for time as well.
One of the things I've just started doing is using sprouts. It only takes 2 tbs of seed to make a couple of cups of sprouts. I find seeds to sprout in many different places. I bought some mung bean seeds at the health food store. They were $7 for about 2 1/2 cups of seeds. There are 16 Tbs in a cup, so that's about 40 batches of sprouts for that money. Mung beans when they are eaten under 1/2" taste like sugar snap peas!
I have wheat. Whole wheat sprouts. Again, 2 Tbs makes up to a quart jar full of sprouts. They are a little chewier than mung bean, with a sweet taste to them.
You can also sprout raw sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, broccoli seeds, rye, oat groats, any type of dried beans, peas or lentils, etc. Many seeds can be found in the grocery store. As long as the seeds haven't been heated/roasted, etc, you can make sprouts from them. Even in my rural area, the regular grocery stores have a "gourmet" section where you can by grains. Remember, you don't need to buy a pound at a time. Buy a smaller amount so that you can afford it. Even at $8 a lb, a 1/4 lb is only $2. and 1/4 lb will be about 1/4 - 1/2 cup. This amount will make 2-8 cups of fresh veggies for $2.
Make SURE you use FOOD SEEDS, not garden seeds. Garden seeds are usually treated with some sort of chemical to prevent problems with sprouting and to keep them fresh.
Look up sprouts on the net and you will see how easy it is to use grow them, the flavors of the different sprouts and the HUGE nutritional advantage to eating them. Even if you only used them for 2-3 meals a week, at least it's SOME fresh veggies. Also, even people who are "allergic" to a food can many times eat the sprouts. Wheat loses all of it's starch when sprouted for a few days.
Use dried beans/peas to cook with. It doesn't take as long as people think to cook beans/peas. For the price of a dozen eggs, you can buy a 16-24 oz bag of dried beans/peas and they are much more filling than eggs, for the same cost.
1 lb dry beans = 2 1/2 cups dry beans = about 7 1/2 cups cooked beans
1 cup dry beans = about 3 cups cooked beans
14 oz/398 ml can beans = about 1 1/2 cups drained beans
19 oz/540 ml can beans = about 2 cups drained beans
That bag will make 7 1/2 cups of beans. Beans are much more filling than eggs! I cook mine by dumping the bag of beans out onto my table, sorting through the beans and removing any broken, moldy-looking or shriveled beans or stray rocks or dirt clumps. I scoop the good ones into a pot, doing a bit at a time while I sort. I fill the pot 1/2 full of water, swish the beans around, and drain them - to remove dust/dirt. I then refill the pot with water (about 3 cups for each 1 cup of beans, though I don't measure it.) and put on stove on high. Bring to a boil, boil for 1-2 mins. Turn off heat, cover and let sit for 1 hr. At this point, some people drain the beans and refill pot with water. I just turn the heat back on and bring beans to a boil again. Lower heat and simmer for 45 mins to an hour, or until tender. I don't add salt to the beans until they are cooked, as the salt can make them tough. You can season them after they are cooked.
If you won't be home, then either soak them the night before, or do the quick soak in the morning. Then plop them into a Crockpot and let cook.
If you have a pressure cooker, it only takes a few minutes to cook dried beans and you don't have to presoak them.
DO NOT ADD BAKING SODA. Yes, it will make the beans soften quicker. BUT it also kills the vitamins in the food. And if you're not eating them for the nutrition, they WHY are you bothering to eat them at all? No nutrition = a packet of sugar or cardboard. (Ever thought of food that way before?)
You can grow a lettuce "garden". On a patio, in the house or in the yard. All you need is some food grade soil (potting soil for veggies, dirt from your yard, unless you use chemicals on the yard.), and some containers. See Dollar Stretcher for the instructions on growing a lettuce patch in containers.
If you're buying bread, start making your own. Look at "Artisan bread in 5 mins a day". It's wonderful bread, VERY inexpensive to make and you do NOT need a "pizza stone". I went to the local big box home improvement store and bought a 12"x12" unglazed Terra cotta tile for $1.50. Wash it off and plop it in the oven. Use as you would a pizza stone. I actually bought 2 of them, but when I measured my oven, I forgot to allow for the spot where the rack sits. I should have gotten them to cut about 1" - 1 1/2" off the side of one tile and then it would have fit my oven and I could do French bread. But for now, the single tile is working well. With this same easy to make dough, I make pizzas, calzones, rolls and more. I use whole wheat that I grind myself, but I do have a flour mill I got used for $50. The recipe uses flour, yeast and water. That's all. Takes longer to get the ingredients out than it does to make the dough. Dough lasts for a week or two in the fridge. Buy the yeast at a large big-box store in 1lb mylar packages. Bring it home, put in freezer. I had a friend with a Sam's membership bring me two packages that were twin packed (so I had 4 1lb packages of yeast) about 7 years ago. I put them straight into the freezer and I'm still using them. They are WAY past the "expired" date. Total cost then was $4. I'm sure yeast costs more now, but it's still cheaper to buy it in large quantities than the little foil packets or the only slightly larger jars from the grocery store.
Rice. Rice is also your friend. A 2 pound bag costs under $2. Even brown rices is under $3 for a large-ish bag. 1 cup of uncooked long-grain white rice = 3 cups cooked so that's about 6 cups of a very filling grain.
To cook rice the easy way in 24 minutes: MEASURE out 2 cups of water or stock for each 1 cup of rice you wish to cook and bring it to a boil. Add seasonings - salt, onion powder, garlic powder, Adobo, etc. (or cook plain and season when ready to use). Add your premeasured rice. Bring back to a boil. Cover pot, turn down to simmer and let cook for 14 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit another 10 minutes. DO NOT remove lid at any time between time you put lid on and the 24 minutes until it's done! Most recipes I just "eyeball", but this is one of those things, like making bread in a bread machine where you do need to measure carefully to have it turn out well. Also, you want the rice doing a slow boil, without boiling over for the 14 minutes that heat is applied.
Rice, beans and bread all freeze well. So if you work outside your home, making and freezing these basic items will make fixing dinner so much easier. It will take time to fix these recipes, but do it in large portions. It takes no longer to cook 2 loaves of bread at a time or 4 cups of dried beans/rice than it does to make 1 cup at a time. (Well ok, it will take 8 cups of water longer to come to a boil, but that's a few minutes, not hours.) Put cooked items in a zip bag or freezer container in portions that YOUR family needs or that you normally cook with. Then just pull out what you need for that meal. So I freeze my rice in either 1 cup or 3 cup portions. I freeze my chili in 1 cup portions, then take out the number of bags/containers I need for that meal.
Shop sales and look at the reduced meats and produce. Also, don't pass by larger cuts of meat when they are on sale. The only store that I've had NOT willing to cut or grind sale meat is my local Food Lion and they're weird anyway. (I think it's the local manager's decision, not a franchise-wide decision.) Every other store I've ever been to will grind a large on-sale cut of meat to hamburger for me. Make your own "stew" meat. Any roast can but cut up into cubes by you and then stored in 1lb packages for soups/stews/casseroles. When chuck or top sirloin go on sale, have the butcher run them through the cuber 2 times. Tender meat, low cost. Repackage into smaller portions. Google "cube steak" for recipes that don't require frying.
When you come home, repackage any meat products in recipe or serving size packages. Know that 3 oz of cooked meat is the size of a deck of cards! I package 5lb of ground whatever in 1lb zip bags by dividing the package in 5 portions, putting a portion in a zip bag and zipping bag closed. Remove air and then flatten bag out. Makes it easier to store when they are flat. (Flatten all freezer bags and you can stack them more easily or store them upright. Use an empty cereal box like you would a magazine holder to keep them in groups.)
One poster was only eating bread and eggs. Here is my reply to her:
It is hard, isn't it? I'm a single mom, so I understand when there is no food budget. I work 2 part-time jobs, plus homeschool. I have kids in church and scouts, so I'm pressed for time as well.
One of the things I've just started doing is using sprouts. It only takes 2 tbs of seed to make a couple of cups of sprouts. I find seeds to sprout in many different places. I bought some mung bean seeds at the health food store. They were $7 for about 2 1/2 cups of seeds. There are 16 Tbs in a cup, so that's about 40 batches of sprouts for that money. Mung beans when they are eaten under 1/2" taste like sugar snap peas!
I have wheat. Whole wheat sprouts. Again, 2 Tbs makes up to a quart jar full of sprouts. They are a little chewier than mung bean, with a sweet taste to them.
You can also sprout raw sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, broccoli seeds, rye, oat groats, any type of dried beans, peas or lentils, etc. Many seeds can be found in the grocery store. As long as the seeds haven't been heated/roasted, etc, you can make sprouts from them. Even in my rural area, the regular grocery stores have a "gourmet" section where you can by grains. Remember, you don't need to buy a pound at a time. Buy a smaller amount so that you can afford it. Even at $8 a lb, a 1/4 lb is only $2. and 1/4 lb will be about 1/4 - 1/2 cup. This amount will make 2-8 cups of fresh veggies for $2.
Make SURE you use FOOD SEEDS, not garden seeds. Garden seeds are usually treated with some sort of chemical to prevent problems with sprouting and to keep them fresh.
Look up sprouts on the net and you will see how easy it is to use grow them, the flavors of the different sprouts and the HUGE nutritional advantage to eating them. Even if you only used them for 2-3 meals a week, at least it's SOME fresh veggies. Also, even people who are "allergic" to a food can many times eat the sprouts. Wheat loses all of it's starch when sprouted for a few days.
Use dried beans/peas to cook with. It doesn't take as long as people think to cook beans/peas. For the price of a dozen eggs, you can buy a 16-24 oz bag of dried beans/peas and they are much more filling than eggs, for the same cost.
1 lb dry beans = 2 1/2 cups dry beans = about 7 1/2 cups cooked beans
1 cup dry beans = about 3 cups cooked beans
14 oz/398 ml can beans = about 1 1/2 cups drained beans
19 oz/540 ml can beans = about 2 cups drained beans
That bag will make 7 1/2 cups of beans. Beans are much more filling than eggs! I cook mine by dumping the bag of beans out onto my table, sorting through the beans and removing any broken, moldy-looking or shriveled beans or stray rocks or dirt clumps. I scoop the good ones into a pot, doing a bit at a time while I sort. I fill the pot 1/2 full of water, swish the beans around, and drain them - to remove dust/dirt. I then refill the pot with water (about 3 cups for each 1 cup of beans, though I don't measure it.) and put on stove on high. Bring to a boil, boil for 1-2 mins. Turn off heat, cover and let sit for 1 hr. At this point, some people drain the beans and refill pot with water. I just turn the heat back on and bring beans to a boil again. Lower heat and simmer for 45 mins to an hour, or until tender. I don't add salt to the beans until they are cooked, as the salt can make them tough. You can season them after they are cooked.
If you won't be home, then either soak them the night before, or do the quick soak in the morning. Then plop them into a Crockpot and let cook.
If you have a pressure cooker, it only takes a few minutes to cook dried beans and you don't have to presoak them.
DO NOT ADD BAKING SODA. Yes, it will make the beans soften quicker. BUT it also kills the vitamins in the food. And if you're not eating them for the nutrition, they WHY are you bothering to eat them at all? No nutrition = a packet of sugar or cardboard. (Ever thought of food that way before?)
You can grow a lettuce "garden". On a patio, in the house or in the yard. All you need is some food grade soil (potting soil for veggies, dirt from your yard, unless you use chemicals on the yard.), and some containers. See Dollar Stretcher for the instructions on growing a lettuce patch in containers.
If you're buying bread, start making your own. Look at "Artisan bread in 5 mins a day". It's wonderful bread, VERY inexpensive to make and you do NOT need a "pizza stone". I went to the local big box home improvement store and bought a 12"x12" unglazed Terra cotta tile for $1.50. Wash it off and plop it in the oven. Use as you would a pizza stone. I actually bought 2 of them, but when I measured my oven, I forgot to allow for the spot where the rack sits. I should have gotten them to cut about 1" - 1 1/2" off the side of one tile and then it would have fit my oven and I could do French bread. But for now, the single tile is working well. With this same easy to make dough, I make pizzas, calzones, rolls and more. I use whole wheat that I grind myself, but I do have a flour mill I got used for $50. The recipe uses flour, yeast and water. That's all. Takes longer to get the ingredients out than it does to make the dough. Dough lasts for a week or two in the fridge. Buy the yeast at a large big-box store in 1lb mylar packages. Bring it home, put in freezer. I had a friend with a Sam's membership bring me two packages that were twin packed (so I had 4 1lb packages of yeast) about 7 years ago. I put them straight into the freezer and I'm still using them. They are WAY past the "expired" date. Total cost then was $4. I'm sure yeast costs more now, but it's still cheaper to buy it in large quantities than the little foil packets or the only slightly larger jars from the grocery store.
Rice. Rice is also your friend. A 2 pound bag costs under $2. Even brown rices is under $3 for a large-ish bag. 1 cup of uncooked long-grain white rice = 3 cups cooked so that's about 6 cups of a very filling grain.
To cook rice the easy way in 24 minutes: MEASURE out 2 cups of water or stock for each 1 cup of rice you wish to cook and bring it to a boil. Add seasonings - salt, onion powder, garlic powder, Adobo, etc. (or cook plain and season when ready to use). Add your premeasured rice. Bring back to a boil. Cover pot, turn down to simmer and let cook for 14 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit another 10 minutes. DO NOT remove lid at any time between time you put lid on and the 24 minutes until it's done! Most recipes I just "eyeball", but this is one of those things, like making bread in a bread machine where you do need to measure carefully to have it turn out well. Also, you want the rice doing a slow boil, without boiling over for the 14 minutes that heat is applied.
Rice, beans and bread all freeze well. So if you work outside your home, making and freezing these basic items will make fixing dinner so much easier. It will take time to fix these recipes, but do it in large portions. It takes no longer to cook 2 loaves of bread at a time or 4 cups of dried beans/rice than it does to make 1 cup at a time. (Well ok, it will take 8 cups of water longer to come to a boil, but that's a few minutes, not hours.) Put cooked items in a zip bag or freezer container in portions that YOUR family needs or that you normally cook with. Then just pull out what you need for that meal. So I freeze my rice in either 1 cup or 3 cup portions. I freeze my chili in 1 cup portions, then take out the number of bags/containers I need for that meal.
Shop sales and look at the reduced meats and produce. Also, don't pass by larger cuts of meat when they are on sale. The only store that I've had NOT willing to cut or grind sale meat is my local Food Lion and they're weird anyway. (I think it's the local manager's decision, not a franchise-wide decision.) Every other store I've ever been to will grind a large on-sale cut of meat to hamburger for me. Make your own "stew" meat. Any roast can but cut up into cubes by you and then stored in 1lb packages for soups/stews/casseroles. When chuck or top sirloin go on sale, have the butcher run them through the cuber 2 times. Tender meat, low cost. Repackage into smaller portions. Google "cube steak" for recipes that don't require frying.
When you come home, repackage any meat products in recipe or serving size packages. Know that 3 oz of cooked meat is the size of a deck of cards! I package 5lb of ground whatever in 1lb zip bags by dividing the package in 5 portions, putting a portion in a zip bag and zipping bag closed. Remove air and then flatten bag out. Makes it easier to store when they are flat. (Flatten all freezer bags and you can stack them more easily or store them upright. Use an empty cereal box like you would a magazine holder to keep them in groups.)
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Darning socks
Woohoo!
I've learned to darn socks and did a pretty good job of it - as in it looks ok and feels ok.
I noticed when I washed my socks, that the first one I made (and wore with a slipper for the other foot, was looking a little thin in spots. I realized that if I didn't do something NOW, I wasn't going to have that sock in a wearable condition for much longer. And since it took me NINE months to get knit, I wasn't giving up on it and toss it.
So...I Googled "darning" and found several websites that showed or told how to darn.
I started out using an egg. No, not a darning egg. I don't have one of those. I went to the fridge and got...an egg. Worked pretty well for the smaller areas, but I had the sole of the foot that needed major work. So...I got a burned-out lightbulb and hey, that did the trick and it has that "neck" on it that made a really good handle.
I guess I should have taken pictures, but I forgot. Again. sigh
I used a mixture of methods. On some small areas, I did a "swiss darn" aka "duplicate stitching". On the larger, really thin areas, I just "rewove" the missing yarn, over and under or along side the existing stitches.
Also, since these were 100% wool, I left a short bit of wool on each end of length of wool I was darning with and didn't make any knots. I didn't want to be walking on knots or hard spots and knew the wool would felt. The darning felt weird next to my skin for the first day I wore them (worsted weight socks that I wear around the house), but then it packed down and feels fine now. I had enough yarn left over to make another pair of socks, so there was more than enough matching yarn to darn with.
If my darning hadn't worked, I was looking at just knitting another bottom for them. I've done that with a slipper-sock I knitted for my son. It didn't look pretty - most of the bottom was missing, but it's good enough for him to wear to slide around the house in and he said it didn't feel uncomfortable. But then again, it was a double-soled sock and it was the bottom sole that he wore through, with some help from a certain puppy dog who will remain unnamed.
Here are the websites I used:
http://www.knitchat.com/2007/05/29/how-tos-day-darn-socks/
http://www.hjsstudio.com/darn.html
and
http://simple-green-frugal-co-op.blogspot.com/2008/10/oh-darn-mending-socks-or-gloves.html">
I also used this technique:
http://needleshooksandbooks.typepad.com/a_blog_of_my_own/2008/10/duplicate-stitch-swiss-darning.html
And then here's a good video of how it's done. Make sure you watch to the end, they have some tips in there on what to do and also so the finished darn with a nearly matching color.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nY1jTVyBE0
I'm sorry that I don't have live links. Today, for some reason, I can not get the hyper-links to set up correctly. Either the published blog give me a blank spot where the link should be or it won't publish at all with the html code. sigh
Happy knit repairing.
I've learned to darn socks and did a pretty good job of it - as in it looks ok and feels ok.
I noticed when I washed my socks, that the first one I made (and wore with a slipper for the other foot,
So...I Googled "darning" and found several websites that showed or told how to darn.
I started out using an egg. No, not a darning egg. I don't have one of those. I went to the fridge and got...an egg. Worked pretty well for the smaller areas, but I had the sole of the foot that needed major work. So...I got a burned-out lightbulb and hey, that did the trick and it has that "neck" on it that made a really good handle.
I guess I should have taken pictures, but I forgot. Again. sigh
I used a mixture of methods. On some small areas, I did a "swiss darn" aka "duplicate stitching". On the larger, really thin areas, I just "rewove" the missing yarn, over and under or along side the existing stitches.
Also, since these were 100% wool, I left a short bit of wool on each end of length of wool I was darning with and didn't make any knots. I didn't want to be walking on knots or hard spots and knew the wool would felt. The darning felt weird next to my skin for the first day I wore them (worsted weight socks that I wear around the house), but then it packed down and feels fine now. I had enough yarn left over to make another pair of socks, so there was more than enough matching yarn to darn with.
If my darning hadn't worked, I was looking at just knitting another bottom for them. I've done that with a slipper-sock I knitted for my son. It didn't look pretty - most of the bottom was missing, but it's good enough for him to wear to slide around the house in and he said it didn't feel uncomfortable. But then again, it was a double-soled sock and it was the bottom sole that he wore through, with some help from a certain puppy dog who will remain unnamed.
Here are the websites I used:
http://www.knitchat.com/2007/05/29/how-tos-day-darn-socks/
http://www.hjsstudio.com/darn.html
and
http://simple-green-frugal-co-op.blogspot.com/2008/10/oh-darn-mending-socks-or-gloves.html">
I also used this technique:
http://needleshooksandbooks.typepad.com/a_blog_of_my_own/2008/10/duplicate-stitch-swiss-darning.html
And then here's a good video of how it's done. Make sure you watch to the end, they have some tips in there on what to do and also so the finished darn with a nearly matching color.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nY1jTVyBE0
I'm sorry that I don't have live links. Today, for some reason, I can not get the hyper-links to set up correctly. Either the published blog give me a blank spot where the link should be or it won't publish at all with the html code. sigh
Happy knit repairing.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Washing wool socks
A while back, I finally finished the other sock, the mate to the one I made earlier this year. And I've been wearing them often enough to have one of my kids asked if I had needed to have them surgically removed to wash them. Yeah, it's cold in this house, they're warm. Back AWAY from the socks and no one will get hurt!
I've heard so many cautions about washing wool and how easy it is to felt the wool that I was just plain scared to wash them. However, it's been in the 60's for the last week, warm enough that I did worry about wanting to wear them and so I decided to bite the bullet and wash these bad boys.
Here's what I did. First I cleaned out the bathroom sink - washed the toothpaste and dog hair (how DOES dog hair get in the sink? 12lb Chihuahuas are NOT tall enough to get to the sink!). Then I got the water just barely warmed. I mean it was just enough to take the chill off our mountain water, but still cool to the touch.
I then plugged the basin and put about 3 drops of "Dr. Bonner's liquid Castille soap" into the water. Not enough to cause suds. I set the socks into the water and let them soak for about 2 mins, GENTLY squished them about 5 times. Kinda poking them into the water. Yep, they WERE dirty. I pushed them up and down a couple more times gently, pushed the water out of them and supporting them well, let the water run out. After the water was out, I repeated the process without wringing or twisting the fabric. I just pushed down on top of the socks, trapping them between my hand and the sink bottom to squeeze out the excess water a bit. The second verse is same as the first, with the same results. Ok, they WERE dirty. (dog hair, grrr)
Then I got a bright idea. I mean, how do I wash MY hair? Uhmmm...wool is just sheep hair, right? When I wash my hair, I put a tablespoon or so of plain old sodium bicarbonate a.k.a. baking soda into one 16oz. cup and 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar into another 16oz. cup, fill both with warm water. (do NOT put both in the SAME cup unless you like science project volcanos!) I then pour the baking soda laced cup of water over my wet head, work it in - sort of like I was using soap and rub my scalp. Then I rinse that out and pour the apple cider vinegar laced water over my head and work that in. (Prepare these before getting into the shower! lol) I then rinse that out of my hair. And no, it doesn't leave your dried hair smelling like vinegar!
Anyway, I got the bright idea of using the baking soda in the water for my socks. It did pull more dirt out of them. By that time, I was nervous about how I had squished my socks some and they were looking a little "rough" - some of the fibers were standing up away from the yarn. But, I was committed. So I drained THAT small basin of water and refilled with the same temp water and this time added the vinegar. It pulled a little soap out of the socks. Again, I pushed them up and down a couple of time gently, pushed the water out of them and supporting them well, let the water run out of the sink again. I wrapped them in a couple of towels and stood on them to get more water out. (Uh, if it's a very large item, do this in the tub - so the water runs down the drain and not all over the floor.)
I next gently picked up the socks and supported them - I didn't want to stretch them out and tried to figure out where I was going to put them so they'd dry - and besides, I don't own a "drying rack". But I DO own several cooling racks. The kind you put baked goods on. hahaha. Yep, got one of those bad boys out, arranged my socks on it and then took a good look at them. (Happy dance begins!)Not only were they clean, but the fibers that had formerly been standing up were all laying down. NO FELTING! wooohoooo. And as a bonus - they are SOFT!! Seems that the baking soda "melts" off the dirt on socks and the vinegar closes the open hair shafts on the wool just like it does on human hair. Less itch and feels soft to the touch. My well-worn socks look new - except on the bottom where I can see a couple of wear spots from not wearing slippers with them. (These were worsted weight yarn knit with #3 dpns.)
Now how does one repair a pair of knit bottoms on socks? How does one darn socks? Me thinketh I'm going to learn to do double knit on the bottoms of my house socks so they wear longer.
By the way, you can clean hair brushes and combs with baking soda and hot water - with out having to "work" on them. I put about 1 tbs of baking soda into the 16oz. cup, run some hot water into the cup, stir to dissolve the baking soda, add my brushes and combs and finish filling up the cup. Let them sit about 5-10 mins, dunk up and down 10 times or so and then rinse. Mine are clean - even the ones that live in the bottom of the purses/backpacks that only get washed once in a blue moon, hence are caked with gunk.
I've heard so many cautions about washing wool and how easy it is to felt the wool that I was just plain scared to wash them. However, it's been in the 60's for the last week, warm enough that I did worry about wanting to wear them and so I decided to bite the bullet and wash these bad boys.
Here's what I did. First I cleaned out the bathroom sink - washed the toothpaste and dog hair (how DOES dog hair get in the sink? 12lb Chihuahuas are NOT tall enough to get to the sink!). Then I got the water just barely warmed. I mean it was just enough to take the chill off our mountain water, but still cool to the touch.
I then plugged the basin and put about 3 drops of "Dr. Bonner's liquid Castille soap" into the water. Not enough to cause suds. I set the socks into the water and let them soak for about 2 mins, GENTLY squished them about 5 times. Kinda poking them into the water. Yep, they WERE dirty. I pushed them up and down a couple more times gently, pushed the water out of them and supporting them well, let the water run out. After the water was out, I repeated the process without wringing or twisting the fabric. I just pushed down on top of the socks, trapping them between my hand and the sink bottom to squeeze out the excess water a bit. The second verse is same as the first, with the same results. Ok, they WERE dirty. (dog hair, grrr)
Then I got a bright idea. I mean, how do I wash MY hair? Uhmmm...wool is just sheep hair, right? When I wash my hair, I put a tablespoon or so of plain old sodium bicarbonate a.k.a. baking soda into one 16oz. cup and 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar into another 16oz. cup, fill both with warm water. (do NOT put both in the SAME cup unless you like science project volcanos!) I then pour the baking soda laced cup of water over my wet head, work it in - sort of like I was using soap and rub my scalp. Then I rinse that out and pour the apple cider vinegar laced water over my head and work that in. (Prepare these before getting into the shower! lol) I then rinse that out of my hair. And no, it doesn't leave your dried hair smelling like vinegar!
Anyway, I got the bright idea of using the baking soda in the water for my socks. It did pull more dirt out of them. By that time, I was nervous about how I had squished my socks some and they were looking a little "rough" - some of the fibers were standing up away from the yarn. But, I was committed. So I drained THAT small basin of water and refilled with the same temp water and this time added the vinegar. It pulled a little soap out of the socks. Again, I pushed them up and down a couple of time gently, pushed the water out of them and supporting them well, let the water run out of the sink again. I wrapped them in a couple of towels and stood on them to get more water out. (Uh, if it's a very large item, do this in the tub - so the water runs down the drain and not all over the floor.)
I next gently picked up the socks and supported them - I didn't want to stretch them out and tried to figure out where I was going to put them so they'd dry - and besides, I don't own a "drying rack". But I DO own several cooling racks. The kind you put baked goods on. hahaha. Yep, got one of those bad boys out, arranged my socks on it and then took a good look at them. (Happy dance begins!)Not only were they clean, but the fibers that had formerly been standing up were all laying down. NO FELTING! wooohoooo. And as a bonus - they are SOFT!! Seems that the baking soda "melts" off the dirt on socks and the vinegar closes the open hair shafts on the wool just like it does on human hair. Less itch and feels soft to the touch. My well-worn socks look new - except on the bottom where I can see a couple of wear spots from not wearing slippers with them. (These were worsted weight yarn knit with #3 dpns.)
Now how does one repair a pair of knit bottoms on socks? How does one darn socks? Me thinketh I'm going to learn to do double knit on the bottoms of my house socks so they wear longer.
By the way, you can clean hair brushes and combs with baking soda and hot water - with out having to "work" on them. I put about 1 tbs of baking soda into the 16oz. cup, run some hot water into the cup, stir to dissolve the baking soda, add my brushes and combs and finish filling up the cup. Let them sit about 5-10 mins, dunk up and down 10 times or so and then rinse. Mine are clean - even the ones that live in the bottom of the purses/backpacks that only get washed once in a blue moon, hence are caked with gunk.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Homemade de-icer - edited
Ok, so I've become a fan of alcohol. No, not the kind you drink! Sorry 'bout that. No, this is the plane old Isopropyl alcohol aka rubbing alcohol that you find in the "drugstore" section of any grocery store, pharmacy or Wallyworld type business.
Remember my alcohol instead of deodorant? It worked well all summer long. When I worked inside or outside. Still using it with no complications. 2 or 3 squirts under each arm still does the trick.
Well, my daughter was running late one morning, and wouldn't you know, we got up and there was frost on the windshield. What to do? The de-icer can was empty. ($1.00 for 2 or three rounds of window clearing.) Then I thought, hummm...alcohol? So I got my trusty deodorant bottle out and commenced spraying the windows with it. Yes, windows in the plural. Squirt the first section and away went the ice. So, around the car I went squirting. It was rather hard on the hands - little bitty squirt bottle.
Today we went to the store and for 97 cents for a trigger spray bottle and $2.68 for 32 ounces of 91% isopropyl alcohol I'm in business. I'm trying 1/2 alcohol and 1/2 water. Since the alcohol is stronger than the normal 50%-70% that you normally buy, I think I can water it that much and it still work. Of course, now it's about 50 degrees out and raining, so I can't try it until the rain passes and it gets cold again. So for less than the cost of 3 cans of the spray stuff, I have a eight 8oz bottles of spray. It only took me about 1 oz to de-ice the car. A little went a long way and that was pure alcohol. It will last longer mixed with the water.
Correction:
Ok, a really bad frost hit. The watered down alcohol did not work very well. It did melt the frost, but then immediately re-froze. We were in a hurry (she was late - AGAIN). So I dumped out the watered stuff and used just straight alcohol and it worked like a charm. And it's still cheaper than the stuff in the spray can. Also, the straight 70% alcohol that sells for $1.00 for 32ozs. works just fine.
Remember my alcohol instead of deodorant? It worked well all summer long. When I worked inside or outside. Still using it with no complications. 2 or 3 squirts under each arm still does the trick.
Well, my daughter was running late one morning, and wouldn't you know, we got up and there was frost on the windshield. What to do? The de-icer can was empty. ($1.00 for 2 or three rounds of window clearing.) Then I thought, hummm...alcohol? So I got my trusty deodorant bottle out and commenced spraying the windows with it. Yes, windows in the plural. Squirt the first section and away went the ice. So, around the car I went squirting. It was rather hard on the hands - little bitty squirt bottle.
Today we went to the store and for 97 cents for a trigger spray bottle and $2.68 for 32 ounces of 91% isopropyl alcohol I'm in business. I'm trying 1/2 alcohol and 1/2 water. Since the alcohol is stronger than the normal 50%-70% that you normally buy, I think I can water it that much and it still work. Of course, now it's about 50 degrees out and raining, so I can't try it until the rain passes and it gets cold again. So for less than the cost of 3 cans of the spray stuff, I have a eight 8oz bottles of spray. It only took me about 1 oz to de-ice the car. A little went a long way and that was pure alcohol. It will last longer mixed with the water.
Correction:
Ok, a really bad frost hit. The watered down alcohol did not work very well. It did melt the frost, but then immediately re-froze. We were in a hurry (she was late - AGAIN). So I dumped out the watered stuff and used just straight alcohol and it worked like a charm. And it's still cheaper than the stuff in the spray can. Also, the straight 70% alcohol that sells for $1.00 for 32ozs. works just fine.
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