nature tables and soup

fall has officially arrived at my place. i was dreading it at first but now i'm getting inspired by the season. i've been baking and enjoying the intermittent rain, the colorful leaves on all the trees and the cozy warmth of my kitchen. last weekend i collected a bunch of wild dried plants by the river and made an arrangement with them.
it reminded me that i've been wanting to make a nature table at my house. we found an old dresser several months ago on the side of the road and it's been sitting outside looking rather forlorn. it turned out to be the perfect size for a nature table! i covered it with some wool fabric i had in my stash and our very first nature table was born!pixie and i then went out into the yard and collected all kinds of fall nature treasures. there are sticks, rocks, leaves and chicken feathers! i also want to make some other cute fun things to put on it. pixie got a little porcelain angel/fairy from my sister and put it on the table too. i added a big brown candle.

here is a cute autumn nature table, on a very cute blog, i might add. i was really inspired by the pool of nature tables on flikr and this page: a gallery of nature tables.
i hope you have fun learning about these and maybe even start a nature table for your family (if you don't already have one)!

it seems to me that there is nothing better on a cool, cloudy, damp fall day than warm soup with crusty bread. this is the soup i made today. and a new favorite bread recipe i've been playing with! :)

menagerie soup

ingredients:
4 potaotes, washed and coarsely chopped
1 large onion, diced
1 cup red lentils (i strongly prefer these to the brown lentils)
1/2 cup alphabet pasta
10 cups water, milk or a combination
seasonings:
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon rosemary
1 teaspoon rainbow pepper (fresh ground)
1 tablespoon chunky salt
1 tablespoon butter
instructions:
put the first five ingredients in a good soup pot. mix them up and bring to a boil. turn it down and let simmer. when the potatoes are soft, add the seasonings. simmer for a little longer. serve hot (preferably in a colorful bowl) with crusty buttered bread!

garlic and sundried tomato sourdough bread

ingredients:
1/4 cup sourdough starter
1 cup whole wheat flour
5 1/2 cups white flour
2 1/2 cups room temperature water
2 teaspoons salt

olive oil
6-10 cloves garlic peeled and cut whatever size you like
1/3 cup sundried tomatoes, chopped

instructions:
measure the starter into your bowl. add the water. stir it up. add the whole wheat flour and salt. start adding the white flour 1/2 a cup at a time. i use my kitchen aid to mix most of the flour in. once it's mostly mixed together, take it out of the bowl and knead it for 15-20 minutes or until it passes the windowpane test. i know that sounds like a long time but it's so worth it!

put the dough in a bowl coated with olive oil. cover really well(i use 2 plastic grocery bags). let it rise overnight or, if you start in the morning, all day! after it rises, punch it down to get the air out. knead it a bit to see if you need more flour. if it seems floppy you will need more flour! it's better for it to be a little stiff than not have enough flour. flatten it out a little and put the garlic and sundried tomatoes on it. roll it up and shape it into one big loaf or two regular ones. place on a floured baking sheet or in buttered bread pans. let rise a little before baking, 45 minutes or so. place a dish of water on the bottom oven rack. bake the bread at 350' for about an hour or until internal bread temperature reaches 190'. mist it occasionally (maybe every 15-20 minutes) with water while baking. let cool on a wire rack under a towel. i like to slice it and broil it with butter on it just till it's crispy!<3>

pizza: think outside the box

ever since hero got me my little red kitchen aid mixer (pixie and i named her martha, as in martha stewart) a couple months ago i've been on a baking binge!
we even started a friday night pizza tradition! i'm pretty sure we'll never ever eat pizza from a box again!
i'm so smitten with the crust i've been making that i decided to share the love. yesterday i made some and turned it into a bunch of mini pizzas and froze them. so, i'll give you instructions for that too. crafty mamas (all mamas, really) should always have a tasty frozen dinner on hand in case 'crafting-time' runs over into 'cooking-dinner-time'...not that that ever happens in my house. ;)
eventually i'd also like to experiment with making some gluten-free crusts, so stay tuned!

pizza by be <3

ingredients:
1 package active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
1 cup warm water
1/2 teaspoon real salt
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 1/2 -3 1/2 cups organic white flour plus a little extra to dust the pan (wheat or spelt both work, additionally, you can use part whole wheat if you want to make a healthier pizza.)

instructions:
in a bowl dissolve the yeast in warm water.
measure the flour into another bowl and sift in the salt. i don't like to add the salt directly to the yeast since it slows the action.
add olive oil and 2 1/2 cups of the flour to the liquid. mix it up with a wooden spoon. add the rest of the flour 1/2 a cup at a time.
knead the dough for about 5 minutes or until it passes the windowpane test.
put a little olive oil into another bowl and place your ball of dough in it, turning to cover with oil.
cover and let rise in a warm place for about an hour, or until about doubled in size.
when the dough is done rising, roll it out to approximately the size of your pan. flour a large baking sheet (or a pizza stone). you can use cornmeal, i just don't because i hate the large grains of it on the bottom of my crust!
place it on the pan and press it to the edges with your fingers.
add toppings.
bake at 450' for 15 to 25 minutes. i like to broil it for a couple minutes at the end to make it a little crispier.

for mini pizzas:
divide the dough into eight equal pieces. press each one into a pizza shape. place on a floured baking sheet. i just put sauce, cheese and oregano on mine, baked them for half the time. after they cooled i stacked them with wax paper in between and froze them. now i have a quick easy snack or dinner for a hectic day!

endless possibilities for toppings:
sauce (pesto, tomato, alfredo, olive oil with balsamic vinegar)
organic mozzarella cheese
organic goat cheese
organic parmesan cheese
kalamata olives
artichoke hearts
thinly sliced or diced eggplant
bell peppers
jalapeno peppers
roasted red peppers
tomato slices
mushrooms
zucchini
broccoli
onion
garlic
fresh basil
spinach
pineapple
(if you like meat on your pizza i recommend locally grown, organic, grass fed, sustainably farmed meat!)
a note about toppings:
i usually put 2-5 toppings on my pizza, besides cheese. too many toppings can make a soggy pizza crust and that's never a good thing!

my roasted tomato sauce recipe:
cut up enough tomatoes to mostly fill a 9' x 13' casserole dish.
peel a bunch of garlic cloves, 4-8, however many you want really. cut them in half or quarters, not too small, though. place on top of the tomatoes.
sprinkle with some chunky salt and drizzle with olive oil. bake at 275' for about 5 or 6 hours, or until desired consistency has been reached. stir it about every hour. this is the most flavorful sauce i have ever tasted! and so simple, it just takes time.
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goji berry cookies

goji berries(also known as wolfberries) are one of the newest things i've experimented with. they are very high in antioxidants and phytochemicals. i got mine at a local co-op. you can buy them online at various sites. these were sitting in my cupboard waiting for me to get inspired to try them. finally i had a reason to use them when the dried blueberries i bought to make cookies with had high fructose corn syrup in them and i'd failed to read the ingredients before i bought them. health-freak mama fail! so, i improvised and here is my recipe. this is a cookie you can truly feel good about eating and feeding to your kids! i use organic ingredients whenever possible although i don't type it out in every ingredient in the recipe! ;)

goji berry cookies

ingredients:
1 1/3 cups whole wheat flour
2/3 cup unbleached white flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons milk
2 large eggs or 3 medium eggs
1/2 pound butter or substitute(i use earth balance)
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup raw local honey
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup rolled triticale
1 cup goji berries

instructions:
sift the flours, salt, baking powder and cinnamon in one bowl. whisk together the eggs, vanilla, maple, honey and butter. add the flour mixture to the egg mixture. then add the oats, triticale and berries. preheat your oven to 350'. drop onto an oiled baking sheet using about 2 tablespoons of dough for each cookie. bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown on the edges. they don't spread a lot so you can fit quite a few onto each sheet. this recipe makes about 3 dozen.
ENJOY!

baby biscotti

baby biscotti

ingredients:
1 banana, mashed
1/4 cup maple syrup(could use concentrated fruit juice)
2 tablespoons milk(soy, almond, rice, whatever)
1 tablespoon applesauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups spelt flakes or any grain/flour(ground up in a coffee grinder to a coarse-ish flour)
dash of salt

instructions:
mix everything into a stiff dough. shape into a rectangle about 3/4" thick. the size isn't important. place on an oiled cookie sheet. bake for 25 minutes at 350'. remove from oven and slice the 'loaf' thickly. turn the pieces on their sides. return to the oven for 10 minutes. turn onto other side and bake for another 10 minutes.
let cool then break each piece in half for baby sized teething biscotti's!


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