Kitchen / Garden / Sanctuary - Urban Homesteading to Nourish Body + Spirit

Category: Natural Homemaking (Page 4 of 15)

Sand + Jar = Candle holder

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The other day I found my baptism candle in some old stuff.

I tossed it in the trash — no need to keep that.

But then the next day I had a cool idea for a candle holder, so I poured some sand into a jar and fished my candle back out of the garbage.

I’ve never liked tapers because they’re so tippy and drippy, but this holder is the solution! The sand keeps them stable no matter how thin or wide they are, and it catches all the wax drippings.

Now I’m sure this idea has been thought up before by someone, somewhere — but I’ve never seen it done.

And so now that I’ve found a good way to hold tapers, I’m going to use them a lot more because they seem to give off more light than pillars or tea lights — maybe because there’s less wax in the way.

And I do like the simple aesthetic of the sand and the jar and the warm glow of a candle…

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Classic Pumpkin Pie

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With an eye toward Thanksgiving this week, here’s my own recipe for classic pumpkin pie, along with my own crust recipe.

Neither recipe is the most decadent you’ll find out there because heavy, fatty things don’t agree with me. So if you’re wanting to make a pumpkin pie that’s on the lighter side, try this one. I make it every Thanksgiving. The crust is not really rich and flaky, and probably won’t wow any chefs out there, but it is humble and it does the job. I like it.

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Lindsey’s Classic Pumpkin Pie

Rounded 2/3 cup of rapadura (or white or brown sugar)

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp, heaping, of cinnamon

1/2 tsp, heaping, of powdered ginger

1 tsp allspice

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp nutmeg

2 eggs, beaten

3/4 cup whole milk

3/4 cup half-n-half (light cream)

1 15-oz can Libby’s pumpkin (or 2 cups cooked pumpkin or winter squash, pureed, and cooked down if too watery — the healthfood store brands of canned pumpkin are way too watery. I learned my lesson to use Libby’s!)

1 9-inch pie shell (recipe below)

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Preheat oven to 425°.

Mix sugar, salt, and spices in a small bowl.

Beat the eggs in a large bowl, then stir in pumpkin, sugar-spice mix, and the milk and half-n-half. Mix until thoroughly combined, but don’t get overzealous (like, don’t do what I did once and overbeat with egg beaters — it beats too much air in, and makes a souffle-type thing!)

Pour into unbaked pie shell.

Bake at 425° for 15 minutes, and then reduce temperature to 350° and bake 40-50 more minutes until a knife inserted into the center of the pie comes out clean.

Cool on a wire rack for at least 2 hours.

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Lindsey’s Not-Too-Rich 9″ Pie Crust

2 cups flour (whole wheat, or white, or a combo)

1 Tbsp sugar

Scant 1/2 tsp salt

6 Tbsp cold butter, cut into pieces (salted or unsalted, either is fine)

Ice water (you’ll use about 3/4 cup)

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In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt. Cut in cold butter.

I like to use my fingers to rub in the butter and blend until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Mix the ice water in, 1 Tbsp at a time, stirring lightly with a fork after each addition, until a dough is formed. (3/4 cup is about 12 Tbsp.) Try not to overwork the dough. Small bits of butter will be visible — this is what you want.

When a good, workable dough is formed — not too dry, not too sticky — wrap in cellophane and refrigerate until ready to use.

When ready to roll out, lightly flour your work surface and rolling pin.

Roll into a circle. Transferring to your pie plate is made easier by folding the dough in half and draping it over your rolling pin.

Trim off any excess dough, but leave enough extra around the edge to fold under and crimp with three fingers, as in the photo below.

If you do have a little extra dough, you could use a cookie cutter to cut out a little something-or-other (a maple leaf, for example) that you can bake and then place on top of your finished pie as decoration.

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Homemade Arnold Palmer

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Iced tea and lemonade — it’s a great combination!

I’ve been perfecting my AP recipe over the summer and I’ve got it just the way I like it. You may want to make slight adjustments according to your tastes of course.

(I find myself craving and making Arnold Palmers when I’ve got some extra nausea goin’ on and plain water doesn’t appeal. So keep it in mind for hydration during times of illness, too.)

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Lindsey’s Homemade Arnold Palmer

1 tsp good quality black tea OR 1 teabag (for APs, my favorite happens to be Mountain Rose’s bulk Nepalese Black Tea)

3 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice (~ 1 medium lemon)

2 Tbsp honey or maple syrup

1 cup cold water

1 cup ice, OR an additional 1/2 to 1 cup of cold water

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Boil water for brewing the tea. (Decaffeinate the tea first, if you like.)

Then, in a mug or measuring cup, pour 1/2 cup of boiling water over the tea and allow it to steep for several minutes — only 1/2 cup because you’re making a concentrate.

While the tea is steeping, in a tall glass combine 1 cup of cold water, the lemon juice, and the honey or maple syrup. (If you’re using honey, you may need to dissolve it in a little bit of warm water first.)

Once your tea has steeped for at least several minutes, strain out the leaves and pour into your glass with the water/lemon/honey.

Add either 1 cup of ice OR 1/2 to 1 cup of additional cold water — depending on how cold you want it, how soon you want to drink it (waiting for the ice to melt, you know), and how strong you like it. I usually like mine not-as-cold, ready immediately, and on the more dilute side, so I add the full 1 cup of water in place of the ice.

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It's lovely to take on picnics

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Harvesting Our Apples

Well it’s been an awesome year for fruit here, since our usual blossom-killing frost mercifully did not occur this spring. And so “Make more applesauce” has been somewhat of a standing order on my to-do lists of late. What a blessing, to have so much free organic fruit! My mom’s recent comment in an email made me giggle, asking me what I’ll do with all my time once the apples are through!

The apple tree in the backyard is Red Delicious variety, but the apples are really not good for fresh eating, however they make great applesauce! So F and I harvested them all recently and I’ve been picking away at them, cutting out the wormy parts, peeling them, chopping, and then cooking and canning them.

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What kind of fruit are you harvesting this autumn?

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Functional Art

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It’s nice to make mundane things beautiful.

Instead of purchasing a standard “No Solicitors” plaque to post next to our doorbell, I wanted to make one that was a little prettier and a little friendlier (but not too colorful, and heavens, no smiley faces).

F and I tinkered with wording, trying to state it in the positive — the way a sign at a public garden might say “Let It Grow!” instead of “Don’t Pick the Flowers.”

We thought “We admire your persistence, and yet we thank you for allowing our doorbell to remain un-rung” was nice, although perhaps a bit…meandering.

We wanted our statement to be friendly, yet firm, but “Please no solicitors, Thank you” had the subtlest undertone of ‘beg.’

(This is important stuff. Worthy of lengthy discussion.)

“No Solicitors Please” was F’s suggestion, and it seemed just right.

We like it.

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(And its batting average, you ask? 0 for 2! And they shoved Romney campaign fliers in the mailbox before leaving. Hmph…)

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