Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Farm away from Farm Fun

& and I went to a tri-state farm conference put on by the three state extension offices. Fascinating information. 

I learned there are lots of ways to kill bugs. The key is to start early and show no mercy. Bad bug life spans are fleeting and impressive. Get em before they multiply themselves by thousands and you have a chance. 

Growing ethnic vegetables is a tongue twister adventure. Most can't easily be pronounced by the Midwesterner and apparently our tastebuds are pretty wimpy in America. Other cultures favor bitter. Most of the ethnic vegetables I learned about will not end up on my to grow list, but I’m thinking Bok Choy sounds good and possible.

A farmer who started growing strawberries and selling them to co-workers has built a multimillion dollar harvest empire out of that very humble beginning. Another speaker, a farm manager went into the ins and outs of his CSA (Community Sustained Agriculture) experiences. (After listening to his talk, I'm pretty sure our little CSA is way better than I even realized.)

A well-traveled tree expert shared much about what he’s learned on his travels, and as a grower who runs a pick-your-own raspberry farm. He shared the do’s and don’ts if you want to attempt to make any sort of money growing fruits or vegetables. His advice was to plan, plan, plan. With his power point expertise he shared an entertaining look at good get-rich-quick agricultural ideas gone bad. Christmas tree farms. (How difficult can they be? Grow and chop 8 years later, lots of pictures of abandoned farms.) Llamas. Emu’s. Loads of people invested a whole lot of money into ideas that sounded good but just never took off. The advice…go slow, have a plan, know that you aren't going to get rich quick, or without blisters. If you don't love getting dirty, you are going to grow to hate what you do. I think that's advice that covers a lot of areas.

This conference food was the best I've ever had. All locally grown and produced. Carrot cake, roasted root vegetables. Yum. After arriving back at the farm, the farmer gave us one last load of garden booty. She had harvested lettuces, kale, chard and had a few tomatoes. Unbelievable. Especially since the lettuce was picked just days before Saturday's snow. (Pictured).

All in all, it was a very good, interesting and tasty day. 

And there was an element of disturbing, too. Come back tomorrow for that. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Technical Difficulties...

I had the internet provider fix-it squad come to the house on Saturday. My internet suffers from a cute little ebb and flow nervous tic. One minute it’ll be fully fine, so much so that three of us can be using the internet at the same time. Speed? Check. Continuity? Check. But then. Something hiccups and we lose it. The cable company aka internet provider offers an automatic troubleshooter line and I have gotten very well acquainted with the computer who asks the same questions, tells me that my internet indeed is not working, resets it and all is well. For a time. The quicker, and more often, fix has been to reset the modem myself. But. As you can imagine, this is very frustrating. When I am posting a blog post and the whole thing goes down. BIG FROWNIE FACE. When I just want to check my e-mail. BIG FROWNIE FACE. When I’m trying to make payments or look up a recipe or zone out at Netflix instant streaming or Pinterest. GRRRRR BIG ANGRY FACE. The cable guy diagnosed the problem, but didn’t fix it. He put an order in with the guys with the big trucks. And this morning I got a trickle of internet, that’s all. TRIPLE FROWNIE FACE DOUBLE DOG DARE INTENSITY ANGRY FACE.

Then I went to work. And my tower is DEAD. It’s been acting weird every once in awhile. Today it refused to do anything but look at me with it’s green eye. No heat, no fan, no power up or down noises. NADA. At least the IT guy, who is located a thousand miles away, didn't ask me if I was sure it was plugged in. Whew. He pronounced it dead. A new one is on order. I do love technology. When it works.

All that to say. Guess I’m posting when I can, if I can, and don't expect it to make sense if it dies mi.....

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Road Trips and Word Clounds..

Thought I'd buzz over to Wordle to see what word cloud came out of recent Scrambled Dregs ingredients.


Today I head out with two farmers, & and an unknown earth girl for an organic gardening conference. Should be rich. I'll see what I can glean and share.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Fowl Score and Twenty...

Slightly odd happenings and happenstances over the Thanksgiving weekend.

A) Settlers of Catan. A favorite game. Kind of like Monopoly/Pit and not sure what else. You build little wooden empires. Usually, I lose. I'm pretty sure I can count my wins on one hand and I've played it a few dozen times. Pictured is one of those few times. I trounced the table of wannabe winners.

Skill? Luck? Hmmm. A little of both. And the pictured loser is one who usually eats no meat, and he succumbed to the siren call of turkey...dare I suggest it slowed him down a bit?

And he's also prone to gloating when he wins, which is frequently. His version of gloating is subtle, Tweeting about it, taking pictures. That kind of thing.

Can I resist? No. I'll be tweaking a link so he'll be sure to see it. Ha. Ha. Salt in wound, Scott. Salt in wound. You'll lay off the turkey at Christmas won't you?

B) My folks went shopping in Walnut. Home of many antiques and apparently the original Christmas Geese. They wear diapers, too. How cute is that? I'm tempted to visit just to see this is in person.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Salted Caramel Pecan Fudge Pie...

Salted Caramel Pecan Fudge Pie

Crust:

2 Cups pecans

1 Cup pitted dates

2 tsp cocoa

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

In food processor or super blender combine these items until they stick together in a doughlike clump. If too sticky to handle add a little more cocoa and a few more pecans. If not sticky enough add a few more dates. Press the mixture into a large (greased) pie pan or the bottom of two greased tart pans. If your mixture is a little weepy, just soak up the extra juice with a paper towel, I had to blot mine.

Filling

1 2/3 cups dark chocolate chips (melted)

1 pkg silken tofu (Mori Nu 12.3 oz, I used firm)

1 1/2 TBSP cocoa

1/8 tsp salt

2 TBSP agave nectar

1 tsp vanilla

1 TBSP non-dairy milk.

Mix all together all ingredients except melted chocolate. When completely mixed add the chocolate and combine until uniformly chocolate. Spoon mixture into pie shell or tart pans. Place in refrigerator.

Salted Caramel Pecan Topping

2 TBSP Earth Balance

3 TBSP brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 Cup chopped pecans (toasted are nice)

1.5 tsp cocoa powder

3 pinches of salt (about 1/16 to 1/8 teaspoon)

Melt Earth Balance, add brown sugar and heat til it bubbles and comes together, stirring constantly, turn heat down and simmer for about a minute. Add the remainder of the ingredients. Drop randomly onto the pie.

Keep refrigerated. (If you don't eat it in one sitting.)This is delicious. Totally. Every omnivore who tried it loved it, so it's not just for those freaky Vegan tastebuds.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Post Thanksgiving Recipe Round Up

A few more Thanksgiving recipes. As long as I still have a few leftovers, I can keep posting, right? & made a brown rice "stuffing" that cannot be shared with y'all. If I don't watch her and write down what she's doing the "recipe" remains in her brain alone...and not for long. Ha. Ha. But there is one more meal's worth of that bad boy... so one more recipe tomorrow. It will be worth it. Salted Caramel Pecan Fudge Pie....oh, BABY, it's amazing!


Mushroom Sage Gravy

3 TBSP Earth Balance
3 TBSP flour
1 oz package mushrooms (diced)
1/2 med or 1 small onion (small dice)
1 minced clove of garlic
4 Cups vegetable broth
2 tsp dried sage
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp salt
3 TBSP red wine vinegar


Saute onion and garlic in Earth Balance until they are carmelized. Add mushrooms and saute until tender. Add flour. When it is all mixed in and forms a paste add the veggie broth. As sauce thickens and simmers add the sage and thyme. When it gets to the consistency you want taste it. Add the vinegar, taste again, add the salt if needed. Great over potatoes or on the Chick pea cutlets. I spied a few family members drenching turkey, too. Makes about 3 1/2 cups depending on how thick you like it.

Here is a bonus. Vegan Mashed Potatoes

4 Lbs organic potatoes, large dice (leave skin on unless you hate chunky potatoes)
1 head of cauliflower (deflowered, as in cut the good stuff off the stems and get rid of the stems)
4 cloves garlic
4 TBSP vegan cream cheese
3 TBSP Earth Balance
potato water or unflavored/unsweetened non-dairy milk if needed
salt and pepper to taste.


Boil the potato chunks and garlic in a pot large enough to add cauliflower to so all can be covered in water and lidded (a dutch oven worked, a large crockpot will work too, if you are doing this the night before. If you want to use a crockpot, add the cauliflower with the raw potatoes and cook on low overnight). Add cauliflower when potatoes are nearly done. (25 minutes or so into the simmer process.)When everything is tender (45 minutes or so) turn off heat. When cooled enough to handle without danger of scalding, carefully drain, saving a cup or two of potato water. (More if you are making gravy and need it for that.) Mash all -- garlic, potatoes, cauliflower. Mash some more. It won't be smooth with the skins. And that's good. Add the cream cheese and mix it in real well. Taste, add potato water or unsweetened non-dairy milk if needed for consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste. When happy with texture and taste, mix one more time and leave three small wells on top of potatoes. Add the 3 TBSP of Earth Balance, one in each well. As people dig in the "butter" will end up on most servings. Feeds at least 15 people unless they are potato freaks. My 3 quart crockpot was nicely full.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Brrr It's Cold Outside...Soup for You...

I spent the weekend being domestic. I. E. I did a lot of cooking and began the start of some craft projects. I made a big ol' batch of Seitan (Vegan with a Vengeance version) and decided I needed to use up some onions that had decided to begin sprouting in my pantry. Here's what came out of that. 

(Happy Tail-end Side of Birthday Week to You, X-ta! Hope it's been a good one.)

"Steak" and  Potato Stew

2 Cups Potatoes small dice (3-4 potatoes)

1 TBSP Earth Balance

1 Cup Chopped Mushrooms

2 Small or 1 Medium/Large Onion

7 Cups Vegetable Broth

1/4 Cup Soy Sauce

2 Cups Small Dice Seitan

1/2 tsp Salt

1 TBSP Balsamic or Red Wine Vinegar

Melt Earth Balance in Dutch oven/soup pot) or frying pan. When hot add onions until they begin to caramelize, then add mushrooms and saute until tender. Either transfer to a crock pot (if using frying pan) or add directly to the Dutch oven the vegetable broth, soy sauce, potatoes, seitan. Simmer until the potatoes are tender. (Low 5-6 hours, high 2-3, stove top 1 hour) Taste and either add the salt or skip it. Add vinegar and serve with crusty bread.