Simply Rurban

Experimenting – High Altitude No Knead Bread Making

Posted on February 22, 2012 by simply0637

We are visiting Colorado this week, mainly for Stella to spend some time with her dad – but what a week to be here and we are taking full advantage of our days to enjoy all the snow! We are staying with my step-mother, Deborah, and her husband, Wayne, and she has wanted to learn how to make bread. We decided we would make the no knead bread with some changes. I lived out here for 5 years, at an altitude of 8,000 feet – so I was used to making the altitude changes to my recipes. We are staying at about 6,500 feet – but still I should have remembered that I had to make alterations to the recipe, which of course I remembered after the fact and I can’t remember what changes I made to my bread making, but I did make changes. The flavor of the bread was wonderful, but it was flat and denser than the no knead bread I had made in the past. I will try this recipe back home and see if it was just the altitude or maybe it was the use of coconut flour.

Rye & Coconut No Knead Bread

Ingredients

1/2 cup coconut flour
1 1/4 cup rye flour
1 1/4 cup wheat flour
1/4 tsp yeast
1 1/4 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 cup water
1/2 cup buttermilk

Coconut flour absorbs liquid, so you need to increase the liquid in the recipe.

1. In a glass or metal bowl, mix all the flours, then add the yeast, salt and liquids. Mix well. It will mix into a ball. Cover and let sit for at least 24 hours – we let the dough soak for about 30 hours.

2. After you have let the dough sit 24+ hours, turn out onto a floured cotton cloth dishtowel.

3. Flatten the dough out and then fold the sides in.

4. Sprinkle flour on the dough, turn so the fold is on the bottom and cover with a cotton dishcloth and allow to rise for another 2+ hours.

5. About 30 minutes before the dough is ready, turn the oven to 500 degrees and place the dutch oven inside the oven and let it get good and hot.

6. Place the dough, with the fold side up inside the dutch oven and place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes with the lid on.

7. Bake for 30 minutes take the top off the dutch oven and bake for another 20 minutes to let the crust brown.

8. Take the bread out of the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Cut with a good bread knife and enjoy.

This bread was very flavorful and had a similar taste to sourdough bread. Wonderful warm just out of oven and also toasted with a little bit of butter.

Posted in Bread, Recipes | 3 Comments

Fast Project – Knitted Headband

Posted on February 21, 2012 by simply0637

Want a quick and easy knitting project? I have the perfect one – a knitted headband. I finished this watching a movie. I had Stella try it on the next morning and she has not taken it off. Since it was so easy and fast to make I will just whip one up for myself during the next movie I watch.

Knitted Headband

Items needed

1 skein yarn (will not use the whole thing, I used the leftover yarn from the felted bowl I made and still had yarn left)
Size #11 double pointed needles and a set of #11 straight needles (I used the pointed needles the whole time)
Darning needle

gauge: 14 stitches = 4″ garter stitch

Size: 15 (17, 19.5”)

1. Cast on 5 stitches onto double pointed needles.

2. Work an I-cord for 2”
I-cord
a) Knit all stitches
b) Without turning work, slide the stitches to the other
end of the needle
c) Pull the working yarn across the back
d) Continue these steps until cord is length you need

Change to straight needles, if you prefer.

3. Increase row (RS) *Kfb (knit into the front, then back of 1 stitch); repeat from *. You now have 10 stitches.

4. Work even in stockinette stitch (knit 1 row, purl 1 row)for 1.5”

5. Change to garter stitch (knit all rows) and work even for 8 (9, 10.5)”

6. Work even in stockinette stitch for 1.5”

7. Decrease row (WS) *P2tog; repeat to end of row. You have 5 stitches

8. Change to double pointed needles and work I-cord for 2” (see above)

9. Bind off loosely, leaving a 10” tail. Thread the yarn into the darning needle and graft the two ends together. Weave in ends.

Posted in Crafts | Tagged knitted headband | 5 Comments

Yummy! Sweet Potato, Oatmeal and Buttermilk Pancakes

Posted on February 20, 2012 by simply0637

Love oatmeal for breakfast, love the oatmeal pancakes I make and we love sweet potatoes – so I wanted to find a way to combine them! After reading Nourishing Traditions I try and soak all my oats and flours before starting the recipe. If you do not have a copy or know someone who has one – I would highly recommend getting the book out of the library – you will love it and then will want a copy for yourself! Why should you soak your grains ahead of time – you ask? Well I don’t want to paraphrase, in case I leave something of importance out – so….

We recommend the use of a variety of whole grains but with an important caveat. Phosphorus in the bran of whole grains is tied up in a substance called phytic acid. Phytic acid combines with iron, calcium, magnesium, copper and zinc in the intestinal tract, blocking their absorption. Whole grains also contain enzyme inhibitors that can interfere with digestion. Traditional societies usually soak or ferment their grains before eating them, processes that neutralizes phytates and enzyme inhibitors and, in effect, predigest grains so that all their nutrients are more available. Sprouting, overnight soaking and old-fashioned sour leavening can accomplish this important predigestion process in your own kitchens. Many people who are allergic to grains will tolerate them well when they are prepared according to these procedures. Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, page 25.

I of course researched to see if I could find a recipe and I found one, but did not have all the ingredients – so using it as a blueprint I came up with my own, but I am re-stocking on my coconut milk so I can make the recipe I used as a guide (Sweet Potato Oatmeal Pancakes http://ragamuffindiaries.wordpress.com/2011/03/27/ingredients-for-a-perfect-day-sweet-potato-oatmeal-pancakes/)

Sweet Potato, Oatmeal and Buttermilk Pancakes

Ingredients

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup oats, not quick
2 cups buttermilk
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup cooked sweet potato, mashed
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon

1. Combine the wheat flour, oats and buttermilk. Mix well. Cover and let sit on counter for 12 – 24 hours.

2. Cut up a sweet potato and cook in water until fork tender. Drain, cool and mash. Set aside for when you are ready to make the pancakes. You can also use leftover mashed sweet potatoes, but make sure that they are plain.

Pancake batter after soaking for almost 24 hours

3. Beat the eggs add to flour mixture and mix well.

4. Add all remaining ingredients, mix well.

5. Using butter or coconut oil – add to the griddle

6. Using a ladle add some batter to the griddle (if batter is too thick you can add some water) – I can usually cook two at a time. Because the grains were soaked, these pancakes take longer to cook than regular unsoaked pancakes.

These were absolutely delicious and so fluffy!!! This recipe made about 18 pancakes. I let the pancakes cool and placed them in an airtight container, stuck them in the fridge and then reheat for a quick, healthy, nutritious and hot breakfast!

Posted in Recipes | Tagged oatmeal buttermilk pancakes, sweet potato | 7 Comments

Love My New iPhone 4S

Posted on February 17, 2012 by simply0637

I have never been that into electronics, but I have to say I am definitely in love with my new iPhone and it brings a smile and giggle each time I pick it up! I think it will also help me manage time – I can now have all my email accounts in one place and take action immediately! Usually I will have to put a couple of hours aside to clean up my emails, which I have to do from the past – but I am keeping up with it now. I have a twitter account and before my iPhone I would take time and go through tweets and then thank people who listed me, retweeted or mentioned me – but if I was a day late sometimes they had updated their pages and I could not longer see what was reposted from the blog – now I can thank people right away, see mentions of Simply Rurban – fantastic! The camera on my phone, what can I say – now when I am out and about I can take a photo of something that I might want to blog about, comment about, or just like – easier than carrying a phone with me and much better than missing the opportunity and photo op.

Now the apps – OMG! Now all the time the phone is saving me is being used perusing all the apps! So to save you some time and to share what is out there, here are some of my favorite apps – I am not sure about all of them, but most of them are also available for android phones.

Dragon Dictation (free)- allows you to speak your emails and just information. You can speak a document and then email it to yourself and cut and paste it into word, blog or website. It does take a little while for it to recognize our voice, but then it makes life a whole lot easier and safer – since some people still try to email and text while driving!

Good Guide (free) – provides information on products (food, toys, cars) – this information is about the health, environmental and social performance of the products and the company. With the app you can scan the barcode while shopping and get information on the product – let’s you become a more aware and informative shopper.

Locavore (free) – using your GPS location, this app will make searching for in-season, local food easy by giving you the farms and farmer’s markets nearest you. You can get informed about the local farms, etc in your area, find specific items, know what is in season in your area and then you can also get recipe suggestions!

Seafood Watch (free) – I love the fact that I can now have the latest version at my finger tips. I usually carry the card in my wallet and use it frequently at restaurants and the grocery. Seafood Watch let you know what fish are the best choices, good alternatives and what to avoid.

If you want to read up on other green apps, check out Eco Libris’ blog – they are compiling a listing of the top 100 green apps – adding a new one each week.

Now Stella is more versed on my phone than I am and when I have a problem, Stella comes to my rescue. She loves the many games that she can download on her iPod and now my iPhone. I do limit her time on her electronic devises, that includes the computer and there is no”tv” during the week – that also includes movies. So if your kids or grand-kids are like Stella – you may want to check out this site BestAppsForKids.org I did download one app for both Stella and me – it is a game and it also educates.

Green Schools Revolution – The Game (free) – teaches kids and adults about energy, conservation and healthy eating. Play the game or take the quizzes – so much fun!

Posted in Life | 4 Comments

The Basic Little Black Bag, But Different

Posted on February 16, 2012 by simply0637

I used to have the perfect little black beaded bag that I would use for those occasional dress up events, but the last time that I needed it I could not find it anywhere. Maybe in one of my cleaning frenzies I put it in the goodwill bag or maybe I lent it to someone and never got it back, but I needed another one. I decided that I would make my own this time instead of buying one. I found a great knitted purse pattern that could be felted – so I was on my way – added some beaded fringe and I had my little, black bag.

Felted, Knitted Black Purse

Items Needed

1 skein bulky wool yarn (I used black, but you could use whatever color you wanted)
Size US13 circular needles (24″)
Darning needle
Beads
Pillow case

Approximate size before felting: 13″ wide and 10″ tall
After felting: 10″ wide and 7.5″ tall

1. Cast on 60 stitches – join into a round, being careful not to twist.

2. Knit 6 rounds

3. Next round: *K9, K2tog, repeat from * to last 13 stitches, K11, K2tog

4. Knit 5 rounds

5. Next round: *K8, K2tog, repeat from * to last 12 stitches, K10, K2tog (56 stitches)

6. Knit even until piece measures 9.5″

Handles

Use the backward loop method to cast on where necessary (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJdBdf2jaWo)

Round 1: K9, bind off 10, K18, bind off 10, K9

Round 2: K8, cast on 10,k18, cast on 10, K10

Knit 6 rounds and bind off and weave in end.

Assembling the bag:

With the right sides together, sew the bottom of the seam with an overcast stitch. Stitch the seam twice, Weave in the ends.

For the handles – I chose to sew around the handles to reinforce.

Before

After

Felting the Bag

1. Place the purse inside a pillow case and knot closed.

Before Felting

2. Set the washing machine to the lowest water level, longest washing cycle and hottest temperature.

3. Add a tiny bit of liquid soap and add the pillow case and a pair of jeans to the wash.

4. Check the purse frequently – once it is felted to your liking take it out, rinse in cold water, place in-between a towel and press to get excess water out.

After Felting

5. Shape the bag and let dry.

You can be done here or you can add some flare to the purse. I chose to do some beaded fringe along the bottom edge. Fringing is not hard to do.

Beaded Fringe

1. Thread needle with same color yarn as beads – I double the thread, but you do not have to.

2. Place as many beads as you want on the thread, that will determine the length of the fringe. (I did between 14 & 17 beads per fringe)

3. Now go back through all the beads but the last one that you put on the thread, pull tight, stitch into bag, having the needle come out close to where the other fringe ended and repeat. I did not count how many beads I put on each fringe – I wanted them to be uneven, Fringe the whole bottom.

You could also decide to do some beading on the purse itself – I may do that at a later date, but I think the fringe is enough for me at this point.

Now get dressed up and go out on the town with your significant other or your girlfriends!

Posted in Crafts | Tagged knitted felted purse | 2 Comments

Have Food Will Travel

Posted on February 15, 2012 by simply0637

Today is a travel day for us, leaving the house at 4:30am to catch our first of three flights at 6am. By the time we arrive at our last airport we would have been traveling for 10 hours. Traveling by plane is hard and tiring – you never know what is going to happen, flights delayed, flights cancelled or flights overbooked. Stella has been traveling since she was about 4 months old and she is a great travel companion and well-seasoned. We have had to run through many an airport and she is good, we have our plan, talk it through as we are getting off the plane and then we are running. Because of the unknown we never know if we will have time to eat, but, really, who wants to eat airport or airplane food – it is really expensive and pretty gross.

Travel food

For as long as Stella has been traveling with me (8 years) I have been packing our travel food. Pretty much my carry-on bag is at least half full with our food – depending on the length of travel. I have had many a mom come up to me in a gate waiting area asking me where did you get that!? I then pull out my stash and a discussion follows, sharing my tips of what travel wells, that you can freeze a yogurt tube and it will pass through security since it is only 2 oz – keeps the food cold and when it is time for lunch it is usually defrosted, but then again Stella loves them frozen. I also freeze grapes, muffins, etc – whatever freezes well, defrosts quickly and travels well. I pack cloth napkins, water bottles, silverware and anything that we might need.

Food packaged

I always pack some snack foods, fruit, protein, yogurt and/or cheese and the one meal that we would normally eat during our travel time. We will be missing both breakfast and lunch on this travel day. For breakfast I have packed fruit and pumpkin muffins and for our lunch yogurt and hard boiled eggs. I have also packed some dried fruit (that I dehydrated over the summer/fall) apples and strawberries, pretzels, pistachios (saving the shell for a fun craft project when we get enough) and the last of the chewy granola bars. A must for our travels is a water bottle – we take it through security empty and then fill at the water fountain as we are waiting to board our plane. We have also packed one of our favorite new game quiddler for the plane ride – should be interesting to see how Stella is going to spread her words out in such a small space!

Packed up and ready for the backpack!

Posted in Life | 2 Comments

Kids Craft Corner – Make Your Own Picture Frame

Posted on February 14, 2012 by simply0637

I love pictures and have a picture wall to prove that one and Stella loves making pictures – so what better way to spend an afternoon then decorating and make our own personal picture frames. We used the leftover pieces of the toilet paper rolls from our Christmas wreath, beads, paint and our imaginations! We first painted our frames allowed them to dry and then decorated them – so this was a morning and afternoon project. It always amazes me the different artistic outcomes when people start with the same materials!

Making Your Own Picture Frame

Materials Needed

Picture frame (I picked some wooden ones up at Michaels for $1)
Paint (assorted colors)
Paint brushes
Glue
Beads/ decoration materials
Toilet paper tube, cut into even rings, about 1/4″ – 1/2″
Imagination

1. Paint your picture frame and allow to dry.

2. If you are going to use rings from the cardboard tubes, cut them. You can paint them or leave them plain. We left ours as is. You can leave the rings or join to form a flower.

3. Take whatever decorating materials you have, place in the center of the work place and start imagining, creating, designing and gluing. Allow the glue to dry and set.

4. Display your frame with your favorite picture!

Let your inner creativity play!!!!

Posted in Kids Crafts | Tagged picture frame | 2 Comments

The Breakfast Burrito

Posted on February 13, 2012 by simply0637

I spent most of the weekend making breakfast items that I could put up in the freezer. During the week are pressed for time as we both get ready. Stella for some reason takes about 25 minutes to get dressed on a school morning – she stands at the window, looks out, gets warm (the heater is there), drinks her smoothy, sits down on her chair to get dressed – so by the time she gets downstairs we usually have about 15 minutes for breakfast before she needs to head out the door and walk to school. I like a warm, hearty breakfast, especially during the winter, and not just on the weekends! We go back and forth on our breakfast choice: oatmeal pancakes, apple cinnamon pancakes, oatmeal, fried egg sandwich, hard boiled egg, sliced on toast – but this weekend I added another to the list and the freezer stash: Breakfast Burritos. The burrito is such a perfect food – all the goodies wrapped and tucked inside a wrapper and you get to eat it with you hands!

Breakfast Burrito

Ingredients

Tortillas (pick your favorite flavor – I like spinach, but everyone was out! – also try to use a good one that does not have a long list of ingredients that you can’t read and have no idea what they are)
Eggs (I get these beautiful, big, brown eggs from a local farm – love it!)
Cheese
Veggies (your choice, we used spinach)
Sausage (we used veggie sausage)
Garlic

1. Chop your garlic into small pieces or whatever size you prefer. If I do them too big Stella won’t eat it, the smaller the better hid!

2. Put some oil in a pan, I used coconut oil, and throw in a bunch of spinach, when almost done add the garlic. When done cooking set aside. You can also use fresh spinach and skip step 1 & 2 – the spinach will wilt when heated later on in the toaster oven.

3. In another pan, heat some oil, and if doing, brown the sausage – when done set aside.

4. Beat some eggs in a bowl – I did 4 eggs at a time. Again, heat some oil in a pan and scramble up the eggs. If using cheese add it either during the beating or when scrambling. I usually add it to the eggs before beating. When the eggs are cooked to your liking – set aside.

Beautiful eggs

Cooking eggs

Eggs and cheese

5. I had some lentils left over so I decided to add them. Really you can add anything you want to the burrito. If I had had some salsa I would have added a dollop of that!

All the ingredients

You can warm your tortillas before using – makes them easier to roll up. I just put my cast iron pan on the stove top on low and put a tortilla in and then flip.

6. Lay a piece of tin foil on the counter or cutting board, enough to wrap a burrito. Place the tortilla on the tin foil and add your ingredients, wrap the tortilla and then wrap in tin foil. I made 5 burritos with the ingredients I had. Take the wrapped burritos place in a freezer bag, label and stick in the freezer.

7. When you are ready for a hot breakfast, grab one of these out of the freezer and place in a toaster oven to heat. When done eat and enjoy!

I made a batch just for Stella (eggs, cheese, lentils and veggie sausage) – she LOVED them! I am not sure if you are familiar with the commercial for Nutella – showing a mom giving her kids nutella spread on toast because she wants to start them off with a nutritious breakfast and with nutella she can do that and they will eat it! While Stella was eating her burrito she told me that I should definitely blog about them because they were a way better way to start the day than nutella, like in that commercial, that is just starting the day with a bunch of sugar!!! I am so glad that she gets it and is not taken my all the advertising aimed at kids.

Posted in Recipes | Tagged breakfast burrito | 4 Comments

Make Tonight Game Night!

Posted on February 10, 2012 by simply0637

I love games, cards, puzzles, you name it. Spending time with family and friends over a game is my idea of a really good time. Up until recently, Stella did not have my same enthusiasm for games, but that has all changed and I can’t tell you how excited that makes me. We each have our favorites and they are not necessarily the same, but we laugh and have fun and that is the whole point! Our repertoire of games is growing, but these are a few of our favorites.

Yahtzee

Who does not like to shake the dice and yell YAHTZEE!

Quiddler

This is a new game for both of us. Stella got it in her stocking. There are 8 rounds, with the first round starting with 3 cards and the last with 10 cards. You have to build words and then add up the points for each round, high score wins. We get really absorbed in this game and the time just flies by. It usually takes us close to an hour to play a full game. Stella places her cards on the ground so she can lay out words and then asks me if such and such is a word, when I say no, she say “well it should be”. This is a great way to enhance her spelling and knowledge of words.

Backgammon

I love this game and could play it for hours. Stella is just learning but she is really starting to understand the strategy behind it.

Boggle

Love this game! I used to play it often with my grandmother, who usually won. You are suppose to have words with 4 letters or more, but we play that a word can be 3 letters or more. The more we play the better Stella is getting at figuring out words in all types of directions. When she is stumped she turns the timer on its side and ask me if this is a word, again with the “well it should be” if is not – I don’t think she understands that now she has given away a word that I may not have had – I am good and I don’t write it down!

Headbands

The person wearing the headbands asks the other players questions, trying to guess the card on their headband. Very Fun!

Puzzles

We both love puzzles. We always start with getting all the straight edges pieces and then go from there. Put on some good music and away we go!

I could list a couple more, like Bananagrams, many card games, Sorry, etc, but I think the list above gives a good idea. Grab some family members, neighbors and/or friends – make some homemade pizza and make tonight a game night or better yet designate one night a week as game night and take turns on who gets to pick the game. Laugh, have fun and enjoy!

Posted in Life | Tagged games | 1 Comment

Kids Craft Corner – Heart String

Posted on February 9, 2012 by simply0637

This week was a 2 craft session week. With Valentine’s Day next week and all the materials out, we decided to do a little more decorating. Remember the construction paper chains we made as children for Christmas? We took that idea a little further and used the cardboard tubes from paper towel rolls and created hearts that we strung. We made a couple strings and hung them in the doorway of the kitchen.

Heart String

Materials Needed

Paper towel cardboard tubes (10 hearts per tubes, we used 3 tubes)
Pencil
Ruler
Scissors
Newspaper
Red paint
Paint brushes
Red embroidery thread
Push pin
Needle
Red beads

1. With a ruler mark a cutting line for every inch. Flatten the cardboard tubes and cut the tube on the lines.

2. Paint the inside and outside of the rings with red paint. Protect the surface by laying some old newspaper down. Allow them to dry completely.

3. Shape each tube by pressing in on one of the creases to form a heart shape. This is easier said than done – we had to glue some of the tubes back together, since where they form started to peel away – looked great and could hardly notice.

4. Take your push pin and make a hole in the top and bottom of each heart.

5. Thread the needle with the embroidery thread and knot it. String one bead on and let it fall to the knot. Loop back and thread the needle back through the bead from top to bottom – this will secure the bead.

6. String on a heart, going from bottom to top of heart.

7. String another bead on and loop back going from bottom to top of bead. You now have a bead at the top and bottom of your heart.

8. Determine how much space you want between your hearts and string another bead, securing it by looping back through bottom to top. Follow steps 5 – 7. Continue until you have strung your hearts.

9. Once you have strung all your hearts, leave enough thread at the top for hanging. Tie a loop on the top to secure to whatever you are going to hang it from (nail, thumb tack, hook).

Posted in Kids Crafts | Tagged heart string | 1 Comment

Experimenting – High Altitude No Knead Bread Making

Fast Project – Knitted Headband

Yummy! Sweet Potato, Oatmeal and Buttermilk Pancakes

Love My New iPhone 4S

The Basic Little Black Bag, But Different

Have Food Will Travel

Kids Craft Corner – Make Your Own Picture Frame

The Breakfast Burrito

Make Tonight Game Night!

Kids Craft Corner – Heart String

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