Country Home, Food and Life

Almost Spring 2014

2014-03-01T14:16:00.003-08:00

ALMOST SPRING

March 1, 2014 - just 19 days to go till the first day of Spring.

It is a lovely day and it looks like we are now going to enjoy the last few days of this horrendous cold spell.

We still have wood left...started with 9 rows and today begins row 4. Works out to about 1 row per month. We added this wood lean to about 3 years ago. Sure is awesome for the winter wood supply for our 2 wood stoves.

HI FOLKS -WELCOME BACK AFTER ALMOST A 2 YEAR ABSENCE

Pancakes and Syrup

2012-05-03T21:55:00.001-07:00

Pancakes and Syrup

Simple Pancakes

Mix in bowl : Preheat griddle to 400 F

1 cup flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix in Separate bowl:

1 beaten egg
2 tablespoons canola oil ( or melted shortening, marg, butter)
1 1/2 cups milk

Make a well in center of flour and pour in liquid - stir to mix (do not over-mix - lumps are ok )

Bake on lightly greased griddle. Flip when bubbles appear on top of first side - cook another 30 seconds on second side. Make sure you griddle is hot.

Serve with butter and syrup (maple syrup is best)

Now if you don't have any store bought syrup - you can make some quite easily.

Syrup

Add:
2 cups brown sugar
to
1 cup boiling water in a pot - cook for 5 minutes

Then sir in:

1/2 teaspoon maple flavoring
a pinch of salt

Store in covered jar in the refrigerator

My Tiny Kitchen

2012-04-27T16:16:00.002-07:00

Tiny & Cosy but very functional

Welcome to my tiny Country Kitchen
This ones for Oprah

Last week I heard Oprah say that she loved snooping in other peoples homes especially kitchens. She wonders what other people do and what they have in their cupboards - what they eat!

I have a tiny kitchen in a tiny house. We took the teeny room next to the kitchen and made it into a pantry where I keep all my food that should not freeze,baking supplies and most of my kitchen appliances. Below this is our water tank room that we split and put a second small pantry at the back of. This is for dry goods and any thing that can freeze.

I don't keep any food in the kitchen except for coffee, teas and spices.
The only appliances in the kitchen are the coffee maker, electric kettle, toaster and Mixer.

My Tiny Kitchen....circa 1970..only .updates are ceiling and walls.
I have a fridge in the kitchen - all fridge - no freezer in it.

Pantry One - below this in the water room where I have another full fridge and a matching stand-up freezer.

Pantry 2

Next tip is to keep everything super organized - always know where your food is and what you have.

This is my main spice cupboard - to the right of the stove.

Here is my salt, pepper and seasoning cupboard - over the stove and above the hood

Next - here I keep my flour - whole grain, pastry, bread and all purpose. On top is m;y current baked goods in containers - cookies and muffins; ready to put in lunches. These containers are on plant stands that have rollers so they are easy to move.

Next

Well, that was my kitchen tour. Catch you all later. Cheers.

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Dutch Oven Cooking - A Fun Year Round Activity

2012-04-20T21:34:00.002-07:00

We love to cook with our dutch ovens year round!

This is the 'soup kettle' over an open fire - we also did bannock in the cast iron fry pan on this fire

Campfire Bannock

Mix:
5 cups flour
5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
Mix:
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 cup oil ( or any solid fat melted)

Make a well in the center of the flour mix - pour in liquid - mix quickly, knead about 10 times - roll on floured surface into 2 rounds or 1 large for cast iron pan and bake for approximately 10 min each side until lightly browned.

This recipe can also be used to make stick buns - small pieces of the dough may be put on the end of a stick and cooked over the fire. Great fun for kids!
You can also take bits of dough and flatten a little in your hand to a hamburger bun size - fry it in oil or bacon drippings - slice fry bannock in half - good with hamburgers or sloppy Joe's in the bush. Also for breakfast - put bacon or other meat, egg, cheese inside and enjoy.

Vegetables Over Fire

Veggies cooking in Dutch Kettle over open fire on a tripod. Always warm your water in the dutch oven - if you pour cold liquid in a hot dutch oven you can cause it to crack.

This is carrots, rhutabaga and potatoes

It was 12 degrees farenheit this day but it sure was fun.

Here are the guys getting the cook fire going

Snowed really hard all afternoon

We were cooking for about 6 hours

It sure was good

While this was going on we got the dutch ovens going in the shed

Here there is a chicken cooking in the bottom right oven and ribs in the upper one. The one on the left is a blueberry cobbler. We also did rice a little later.

We are in the shed because of the wind Here we have the briquettes on top and below each oven

Here are the Pork ribs - by the time I got the camera out they were 3/4 gone already

Here is what is left of the chicken -

I cooked the chicken with one can of beer-

it was so tender the boys called it pulled chicken.

The rice was really light and fluffy

And finally - dessert - Blueberry Cobbler

And to all a good night !

Best Banana Bread - Moist and Easy

2012-04-20T17:39:00.002-07:00

Hello again and welcome

Today it was raining and windy out - I wanted to do some work in the garden but it was just too cold so .....there they were - 3 sad bananas - not destined to last for hubby's lunch on Monday so here they are....... Banana Bread

This is so easy to make - just needs two bowls - mix with wooden spoon -pour -bake.

Recipe - Makes 2 loaves in 5 x 9 loaf pan - 325 F for about 1 hour + 15 minutes

Mix in medium bowl:

3 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

Mix in another Large bowl in this order:

1/2 cup oil (canola or other neutral flavoured)

1 1/2 cup sugar

4 beaten eggs

1 cup sour creme or yogurt or buttermilk (or any combination of these)

2 cup mashed bananas

Pour flour mix into wet mix and sitr together - do not over mix

Pour into greased loaf pans and bake for 1 hour +15-20 minutes at 325 F

Let stand 10 minutes in pan on rack before removing - Enjoy!

Tip: if you don't have any sour cream, yogurt or buttermilk - substitute any milk by adding 1 teaspoon of lemon juice or vinegar to it and let stand 10 minutes.

Tip: I only had 3 bananas (1 cup) so I used 1 cup of chopped up fresh strawberries instead to make 2 cups..

I also added 1 cup of frozen local blueberries at the last minute. So I had a total of 3 cups of fruit. You could also add some nuts - walnuts would be excellent.

Tip: You often read about taking a toothpick and inserting it in the middle of your cake to test for done-ness. This is fine - but a done cake will pull away from the edge of the pan slightly and if you just touch the top middle with you 3 middle fingers - if it is firm - it is done. Try testing with your hand and then check with your pick and you will soon be confident without the toothpick.

Here's the end product

And a little closer

Cheers for now !

First Post from countrycook

2012-04-20T15:12:00.000-07:00

Fraser River at Tete Jaune Cache, BC

Hello and Greetings to all from North-East British Columbia.

Well, here goes - my first post and I'm really just figuring out how all this works!

I love cooking and I would like to share some of my experiences and favorite food recipes as well as general things to do with country living & camping.

We love to camp and cook outdoors. My partner and I live on a tiny country property in the Robson Valley, between the Rocky and Caribou Mountains in British Columbia, Canada. He works locally at a small sawmill and I mostly stay at home and do quite a bit of cooking and gardening.

Home Sweet Home

Now the snow is mostly gone so summer will be busy with a lot of yard work. I will be growing a small raised bed garden and some other veggies and herbs in pots. Plans for this summer are to create a few more raised beds.

Mica Mountain -taken from our front yard April 18, 2012

We are just an hours drive from Jasper National Park and only 10 minutes from Mount Robson so it is very beautiful here with lots of places to hike and explore.

Great fishing and rafting too - on the Fraser River.

Welcome to my Blog and Thanks for stopping by -
hope to see you again real soon.....