Home Made Vegan Pudding July 7, 2009

A friend and I were talking recently and the subject of pudding came up. She mentioned how much she liked it, and so I asked her if she ever made it. “It’s too hard, isn’t it?” she asked me. So, I invited her over and we had a pudding making party. She was impressed with how easy-and how good it was.

Here’s the recipe:

2 cups vanilla soy milk

1/2 cup raw sugar

2 Tablespoons corn starch

1 teaspoon vanilla.

Mix the cornstarch with a small amount of the milk in a small jar with a lid. Shake vigorously until cornstarch is dissolved.   This is a very important step. If you do not, the corn starch will clump up, ruining all of your eating enjoyment.  Add sugar and stir. Pour into pan and heat on medium high stirring  often. Cook until it starts to simmer. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
Here are  some photos of the steps involved. It really is amazingly simple.

The Ingredients.

Mixing the cornstarch with a bit of milk.

Pouring in the mixed cornstarch

Stirring the pudding on the stove as it thickens.

The finished pudding. Yum.

My friend thought of making green tea pudding, so I tried that. I mixed half of the milk with half cold green tea. That was very yummy, too.
For adults, I like to pour about a tablespoon of Kahlua or other flavored liquor on top of the pudding. It runs down into the pudding as you eat, flavoring it all through. It makes a sophisticated desert for a dinner party.

Let me know if you have any questions about the recipe, or what you think if you do try it.

June 27, 2009

Check it out-
There are some good ideas here on how to get rid of bugs without using chemicals.

http://green.yahoo.com/blog/huddlergreenhome/38/cheap-and-nontoxic-ways-to-get-rid-of-bugs.html

Ripe Cherries June 15, 2009

It’s Cherry Day!

This morning I decided it was time for Cherry Day; an annual event around here.  The vacant lot behind my house has some old and productive Queen Ann’s cherry trees  planted on the edge of my place. They hang over my yard.  So I consider the cherries in my yard mine.  I like cherries, and I like to put up the food that grows on and around my place.

My son and I picked about 3 1/4 pounds of  the small tasty cherries.  We would have had  more, except I ate a lot of them.  I had to keep my strength up. It took us about an hour. Picking cherries on a warm and sunny June  summer Sunday morning is  pretty great.

I’m not, however the only one around that likes cherries. So do the squirrels and the birds, particularly the ravens. They both chew me out when I go into the back yard for any reason during cherry season, even for completely innocent errands like hanging out the laundry. I’m sure I can understand both the squirrels and the ravens. They both tell me the same thing. “Stay away Human! Those are for me!”

These trees are old and probably 30 ft tall. Most of the cherries grow towards the top, tantalizingly out of reach-at least of me, being without feathers or claws. So, I gather what I can from the ground with my ladder. The tops of the trees were filled with a squirrel family feasting and above them was a large raven eating his fill. There is enough for all.

Making jam, especially from free fruit around your place is one of the ways to live easier on the planet. No trucking involved! I find the jars at garage sales, and reuse them over and over.

I was recently given a cherry pitter which I now consider one of the top inventions of all times. Okay maybe not that great, but it saves hours of tedious work, so I love it. If you are going to use fresh cherries, it’s worth finding one.

Once I pitted them, I had the jam made in less than an hour. I just follow the directions on the pectin box.

I got 2 and 1/2 pints of cherry jam for about 2 hours work. That jam will be a special treat next winter, and in the meantime I’ll admire the jars on my pantry shelf.

Here are some photos:

The full Cherry tree.

The fruits of our labor.

A much smaller bowl after pitting them.

The finished jam.

The Planting of the Greenhouse May 29, 2009

Finally, it’s time to plant. I had already added some organic compost and worm castings to the soil. I cheated this year and bought starts-but I won’t have to next year!  I have 3 varieties of  tomatoes with 10 in all, 2 bell peppers (1 is setting flowers already!) and a acorn squash. One end is under the willow tree and is shaded all summer, so I planted some mesclun and arugula that I did start from seed. Soon I’ll be eating from it!!
A friend told me her about her organic pest control. She uses a mix of ammonia and lemon scented dish soap. I’m sure bugs will find my delicious baby veggies soon, so I think I will try that. Anyone ever try that, or have other good tried and true methods?

My greenhouse is up! May 22, 2009

May 13, 2009

It’s almost complete. I should be able to start planting in it this weekend.

May 11, 2009

May 11, 2009

Greenhouse!!! May 7, 2009

Slowly but surely it is coming together. The frame was just delivered. Now I just have to get it put together.

Greenhouse April 21, 2009

I’m Getting A Greenhouse! I’m excited!
It’s been high on my want list for a number of years. A few years ago I had a large pantry built. That had been at the top of my list. Now I can start my own starts and have fresh veggies all year long. Talk about eating local
I’ve started preparing the ground for it’s arrival. Here is a photo.
I’ll put up more as the greenhouse progresses. Stayed tuned!