Monkey Lobster

ginger ale

I love fermented things. This weekend we decided to give ginger ale a try. We did a lot of research and learned a little bit about the proses of fermentation. Now we just have to wait and see if it works. There is one bottle with a balloon on it, we are hoping it will be a good indicator of weather CO2 is building up in the bottles or not. Here is our recipe:

 

1. Chop up 4oz of ginger root (or more if you want it really spicy).

2. Simmer the ginger, juice of 1 lemon, and 2 cups of sugar in 5 quarts of water for 30 minutes to an hour or longer. 

5. Let it cool down to lukewarm.

6. On the side in a small jar, stir in 1/4 teaspoon of champagne yeast in with 1⁄4 cup warm water (not hot or you will kill the yeast).

7. After 15 minutes, add the yeast solution to your lukewarm brew.

8. Let the brew sit for 10 minutes and give it a good stir.

9. Strain it into sterile jars. We ran ours through the dish washer along with the other tools we needed such as funnels, bowls, spoons and strainers. If you don't have a dish washer you can always boil the bottles. 

I am expecting for it to take 3-4 days to carbonate. This morning Elsa ran downstairs like it was Christmas morning to see if the balloon had inflated. It had not.

 

springing

Spring is coming, and suddenly I remember how much I love to grow things. Easter is April 8th, leaving me just enough time to grow some grass and clover in baskets and other containers.

The baskets are lined with plastic bags and wood chips (because they are light weight) and then filled with potting soil, covered with seeds and then covered again with potting soil. The Vases are filled with pebbles, sphagnum moss, potting soil, seeds and then covered with more moss (just because I think it looks nicer on my counters).

If kept moist they should start to sprout in a few days, but it will take a good two weeks for form a nice sod to fill in. I used grass seed and clover, but I have also used radish, wheat, lentil, and unidentified seeds from the bottom of my seed box in past years.

Living greens make such a wonderful backdrop to just about any treat and wonderful bedding for children to collect eggs into. Sure beats shredded plastic. So get started, you still have time.

granola: my new obsession

I didn't used to like granola until I made this one. I think that my mother-in-laws granola, that I've always made a version of for Ben, turned me away (sorry Susan). Her granola is more like muesli, not very sweet, filled with saw-dust (wheat bran, oat bran, wheat germ) and starts with a bunch of oil. 

This one is quite different. A friend of mine mentioned adding apple sauce, so I started experimenting and the results were very exciting. A crispy, crunchy, appley sweet granola without any oil! The mixture starts out pretty wet but eventually gets crispy and golden in the oven. Not enough apple sauce and it's not crispy and too much you might end up with a chipped tooth. I think that this is the right ratio:

• 1 cup apple sauce
• 1 cup honey/maple/rice syrup mixture add more if you like it sweet
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 tbs almond extract
• 3 tbs cinnamon
• 3 cups almonds (slivered, blanched. whole)
• 5 cups rolled oats (I really like "thick" oats)

Mix all ingredients in a big bowl. Toast in a 300 degree over in two big pans, stirring every 15 minutes for 1 hour, more often towards the end. It should feel almost dry when you take it out. Add dried fruit after it has cooled if you like. I like dried cherries with this combo. I also like pecan/vanilla/coconut with dried cranberries.

1/2 cup of frozen blueberries (thawed for 20 minutes in my bowl), 1/2 cup of plain yogurt, 1/4 of granola and a cup of tea with milk and honey = satisfying breakfast. What's even better is a tea drawer full of the finest teas and a shelf full of jars of different kids of granola to chose from. Now that's living the good life.