Focaccia Bread

I decided to try my hand at Focaccia Bread.  I found three recipes that I combined to make my own. http://annastable.blogspot.ca/2011/01/no-knead-tomato-focaccia.html   &
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/focaccia_bread_with_rosemary/   &  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/focaccia-bread/


Ingredients
1/2 c warm water
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp yeast

1 1/2 c water
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
4+ c flour
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp garlic powder
pinch pepper

1 c mozzarella cheese, grated
1/2 c parmesan cheese, grated
2 cloves garlic, minced
sundried tomatoes
olive oil


I had never used sundried tomatoes in my cooking.  So last year I decided to dehydrate some Roma tomatoes.  After they were dried, I froze them.

For this recipe, I decided to try two methods of using the tomatoes.  The first was to rehydrate in water.

The second was to rehydrate in olive oil.

I also minced some garlic for the recipe as well.

To make the dough:  Stir the sugar into the warm water and add yeast.  Set aside for about 10 minutes so yeast can start to work.  Mix the spices into a couple cups flour.  Mix the water, oil, salt and yeast and add spiced flour.  Different spices can be used - some use rosemary, etc. but I am partial to oregano.  Add rest of flour, mixing until you have a soft dough.  Knead until smooth and elastic.  Grease bowl with olive oil and roll dough around until coated.  Cover and let rise until double.

Grate mozzarella cheese and set aside.

Divide dough in half and press each onto a well oiled cookie sheet.  Press out dough until it fills the sheet.  Set aside to rise for about 30 minutes.

Use your thumb or finger to press indentations into the dough in rows.

Drizzle on some olive oil making sure it fills many of the indentations.

For one pan, I sprinkled mozzarella and parmesan cheeses.

For the second, I sprinkled on the minced garlic.

Then I added the two types of tomatoes to see which were better.  On the left are the oil ones and on the right the ones soaked in water.  Then sprinkle with the two cheeses.

Bake at 425°F for about 15 minutes or until nicely browned.  This was the cheese focaccia.

This was the garlic sundried tomato one.  Again the oil tomatoes are on the left and the water rehydrated ones on the right.

Remove them from the pan.  Cut into squares and enjoy.

The cheesy focaccia was very tasty with the herbs and cheese combination.  It was good the second, even cold.  The tomato one would have been a great addition to a spaghetti dinner.  The water dehydrated tomatoes turned out to be similar in taste to using fresh tomatoes.  The ones I soaked in oil tasted better but burned more easily because they weren't so moist.  So I have a dilemma next time I try it in how to do the tomatoes. 

Planting Blueberries

We decided to plant some blueberry bushes so we can grow our own fresh blueberries for pies, jams, desserts and smoothies. 

We read that the soil should be more acidic than most soil.  There were several ways to do that.  One was to incorporate pine needles or pine bark in the ground and as a mulch.  We didn't have any pine needles but had a fair bit of pine bark from firewood my son cut from deadfall at the ranch/orchard he was working at.  We used some of the bark as a groundcover under one of the grape arbors.  We had more stockpiled to use under another arbor when we got enough to cover it.

This is the bark we used.  When I gathered it up, Lulu helped to disperse the beetles, centipedes and other bugs.  She had a great time waiting for me to lift the bark so she could go "hunting".

I used our chipper to shred the bark into smaller pieces.  The chipper has a detachable bag that I used so the shredded bark wouldn't spread all over the garden.

We spread the bark on the row where we were going to plant the blueberries and tilled it into the soil.

Once this was done, we were ready to start planting.

I read that you can use peat moss to help with the acidity of the soil.  We mixed more pine bark, and some peat moss with the original soil from the hole.  We dug it deeper than needed so we could put several inches of the bark/peat mix at the bottom.

We set the plant in the hole and added more of the amended soil.

We tamped down the soil around the plant.  We then removed all flowers from the bushes so the plant's energy would go to rerooting and growing instead of producing fruit.  There were many flowers so we have high hopes for a good crop next year.

We mulched the plant with more shredded pine bark.

We then added landscape fabric and mulched with even more bark.

We laid the soaker hose with the additional mister nozzles as in our other bushes.

We finished in between the rows with the shavings we hauled in.  They are finer than the bark I shredded but I think all the contrasts in the groundcovers looks neat.

Now to watch and wait until next year to eat our own blueberries.  ;)

Lunch With Rambo

We stopped in Hope, BC on the way to visit my sister-in-law in White Rock, BC.  After lunch Lulu needed to stretch her legs so we stopped at the Tourism Centre.   Lulu noticed the cutouts on the lawn.

"Who is that guy with the big muscles and why does he have a gun?" Lulu wondered out loud.  "Oh, I see," she continued, "It's Rambo!"

"Did you know much of Rambo, First Blood was shot right here in Hope?"  "That was many, many years ago though," said Lulu, "way before I was even an egg."

"Hey, mom!"  "Look at me,"  yelled Lulu,  "I'm Rambo!  Don't I look tough and scary!"

"Maybe this is my better side."  "What do you think, mom,"  queried Lulu, "Do I look better in profile?"

"Hey, listen to me,"  "Yo, Adrian!"  "Do I sound like Rambo?"  "What do you mean, wrong movie!?"  "Mom, are you making fun of me?"

"Oh, how about this, mom,"  chuckled Lulu, "I'll be back!"  "Yes I was making fun - not only wrong movie but wrong star too!"  "Cackle, cackle, cackle."

"Hey mom, look at these guys!"  cried Lulu.  "Who do you think they are?"

"They're paddling a canoe down the river."  said Lulu.  "It looks like a big river."  "Hey, I'll bet it is the Fraser River that runs right by our house too!"  "What do you think, mom?"

"Hey, mom!"  "Do you think I look good in a beard?"  asked Lulu.  "What about the skunk-tail hat."  "Do I smell funny?"  "What do you mean coonskin?"  "It looks like skunk to me not raccoon!"

"Hey look at me!"  "I'm a blond!"  "Do I look good?  Should I dye my feathers?  What do you think, mom?"  "Hey, mom!  Watch me, I'm paddling a canoe!  Neat huh?!"

"He went thataway!"  chortled Lulu.  "Oh, this was fun, mom, but we should get going."  said Lulu.  "I feel an egg coming on, so I need to get back to the van and get settled.  You know how I hate to lay while we're bouncing down the road."

So we continued on our way and yes indeed, Lulu did lay an egg in the van.  (But not until we stopped for supper.)

Lettuce Go Crazy!

If you see me and my nose is wiggling and twitching, you'll know its because I've been eating too much lettuce.  I got carried away when I planted my garden this year.  Last year it wouldn't have been a problem because the chickens would have loved the excess lettuce and greens but Lulu can only eat so much by herself.  FYI - my rows are around 25 feet long give of take a couple of feet.

I have 1/2 row of mixed greens from my own seed I gathered.  I originally had a package of Mesclun mix and saved some seed from the various plants that grew.  I love the variety of colour and texture in this mix.

This is my 1/2 row of Deer-Tongue Lettuce.  I got the seed from a Seedy Saturday several years ago and have since saved my own seeds.  I love it because it takes a long time to turn bitter.  You can usually eat this long after your other lettuce is gone.

This is 1/2 row is a mix of mustard greens that I saved from mixed seed packages grown over the last couple of years.  The mustard family plants seed earlier and easier than some of the other lettuce and greens.  They add a nice bite to the salad, a bit peppery without being really bitter.

This is my 1/2 row of Super Gourmet Salad Blend.  It is a mix of 5 varieties of red and green lettuce.  I started with at least half a dozen different blends of seed and planted a bit of each.  I've been trying to save some of each type of seed but haven't been successful with all of them.  These seeds are some of the original store bought seeds I have left.  They may be getting too old all they did not sprout as good as my own saved seeds.

This is some salad bowl lettuce from seed I received from Erin, a fellow blogger and gardener.  I also have a volunteer red lettuce and a sunflower growing there.  I planted sunflowers last year for the chickens and have a couple of volunteers from seeds they overlooked.

This is the last of my Bon Vivant mix that contains according to the package a mix of "exotic leaf shapes, textures, and colours ranging from deep reds, bronze tones, and various shades of green."  I have still have several types of lettuces seeds in this mix to collect including some with deeply textured leaves.

I finished that row with more of my mixed greens.  I love the look of a salad with numerous colours and shapes of leaves.  Many of the leaves have a different flavour as well - some peppery and some satisfyingly crisp.  I also use some spinach in my salads as well.

This last 1/2 row is an Ooops row.  I have a second garden that I am not using this year and we were going to till in some grass clippings.  I saw a number of volunteer lettuce plants that weren't big enough to eat but too nice to till under.  So I dug up the individual plants and planted them in an empty 1/2 row at the end of my cabbages.  It wasn't marked with a stake and I didn't bother to go into the house and check my map.  Several days after I planted the lettuce I remembered that was 1/2 row of cucumbers.  I was upset with myself for digging up my cukes before they sprouted.  I found that I missed many of the plants and they are growing alongside the lettuce.  Yippee!  :)

For new seed savers, I found that lettuce is one of the easier plants to save the seeds from.  The biggest problem is removing the flower fluff from the seeds.  I didn't bother to remove it all (too time consuming) so my own seeds get seeded thicker than store bought and as a result grow up much thicker.  If you have a particular lettuce you want to grow again, give it a try.  Really what do you have to lose and in the end you may even save money and have some of your proudly saved seed to share with friends.  ;)



Crispy Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

I saw this recipe and thought it sounded wonderful. 
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/01/crisp-grilled-cheese-sandwich-recipe.html
I love melted cheese but I also love crispy cheese that you get when you order cheese toast in a restaurant and they have grilled it so it is nice and crispy.  This recipe has both!


Ingredients
4 slices bread
soft butter or marg
1/2 c grated parmesan cheese
1 c grated cheese - cheddar or cheddar-mozzarella mix

I grated both cheddar and mozzarella cheese because I like the extra gooeyness of mozzarella but wanted the taste of the cheddar.

Finely grate parmesan or use pre-grated (I didn't have any fresh so used the handy can).

Slice bread fairly thick and butter both sides of each slice.

Place 2 slices in preheated pan and cook until browned.

Sprinkle both slices with parmesan cheese.

Flip the slices over to brown the second side.

Sprinkle cheddar or cheddar-mozza on top of the 2 slices.

Cook until cheese starts to melt and bottom is nicely brown.

Quickly flip one piece onto the second and remove from pan.  Repeat with other 2 slices or as many sandwiches as you need.

Let sandwich sit a couple of minutes so the inside is melted and nice and gooey.  Slice in half and enjoy!  ;)