FERMENTING

     I have recently become obsessed with fermenting vegetables.  I started by making Kimchi.  That stuff was the bomb!  I may post my recipe at some point.  Richard and i went through gallons of the stuff in a few months.  I had never had Kimchi until I made my own.  The next thing I made was Sauerkraut.  It was also delicious; better than any sauerkraut that I have ever had before.  I also started making Kombucha and we drink it regularly.  I have a 2 1/2 gallon jar that I keep loaded up with kombucha so we have it all the time.  I have made several kinds of pickles from spicy to mild with cucumbers, green beans, okra,       and all sorts of other vegetables.

     So, today I got the itch to go into the kitchen and make something.  I had some radishes that someone gave me straight from her garden, so I chopped those up. One jar has radishes, carrots, cauliflower, and garlic in a salt water brine.  I used a cabbage leaf to push the veggies under the level of the brine and covered it with a cheesecloth and a rubber band.  The other, smaller jar, has radishes, 1 jalapeno, and some garlic with salt water brine, pushed down with a cabbage leaf and covered with a cheese cloth.
     Also, I have a gallon of sauerkraut that is fermenting in my kitchen that I plan on taking to my family reunion next weekend.  I will post my "recipe" because it is literally the best sauerkraut I have ever tasted and it is so easy.
     First, I chop up 3 heads of cabbage (save the outer leaves).  After each head of cabbage is chopped, i sprinkle on a generous tablespoon or 2 of Pink Himalayan sea salt (amount of salt just depends on how big the cabbage is and I use my own discretion on that one).  Once all the cabbage is chopped and salted and in my huge fish shaped bowl, I mix it up and let it sit for several hours so that the salt has a chance to pull some juice out of the cabbage.  It has a bit of a coleslaw consistency at this point.  I sprinkle on a generous amount of mustard seed and celery seed and mix that up, then put it in my big jar and pound it down with a big wooden mallet (a rolling pin with only one handle would work great). After pounding it down, there will be quite a bit of liquid on the top.  I use a plastic tupperware lid to keep the veggies below the level of this liquid so that they won't spoil and put a jar of water on top of that to weigh it down.  They make special equipment for this, but I just work with what I have.  Cover it with a cheese cloth and let it sit out.
     There is no point at which this stuff is not edible, but I wait at least a week before tasting it.  I have found that it is best at about 10 days.  Everything I have fermented, with the exception of one batch of Kimchi that grew a bunch of KAHM yeast, has been great.  The benefits of fermented vegetables are immense and the flavor profiles intense.  Let me know if you have questions about getting started and let me know if you try any of my recipes.

It's been a long time

So much has gone on since the last time I posted anything on my personal blog.  I have taken up new hobbies, had another kid, learned to cook so many new recipes and make many many new crafts.  I need to share these things with the world, but I wouldn't know where to begin, so I'm going to leave this here and start with today on a new post.  Each time I start something or finish something that I think is going to be awesome, I'll try to post here.

look! 2 posts in one day! My Hummus recipe:

I went on what seemed like a scavenger hunt looking for the main ingredient in Hummus, "Tahini".  Well, after searching every isle of every grocery store in Ponca City, I finally ended up at the only one I hadn't been to and what should have been the most obvious choice, Food Pyramid on 14th street.  I found it on the international food isle by the peanut butter.  So, today I made the hummus and it was well worth the hours of searching and the $10 jar of Tahini.  This stuff tastes way better than any hummus I've ever purchased pre-made from the store.  I found a good recipe, but it was a little too dry, so I added olive oil and more lemon juice to the mixture.  Here is my altered recipe:

Ingredients:
1 15.5 oz can Garbanzo Beans (chick peas), drained
1/3 cup tahini
the juice of 4 lemons
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
about 1 Tbsp olive oil
sprinkle of paprika and parsley flakes

Directions:
Place the garbanzo beans, tahini, lemon juice, salt, and garlic into a blender or food processor.  Blend until smooth.  Transfer mixture to a serving bowl.  Drizzle olive oil over the top and sprinkle with paprika and parsley.

It was really hard to get smooth in my blender.  I had to keep stirring it up and still ended up with a few beans not blended, but it tastes so good.  It would probably be better in a food processor, but this is definately THE recipe to keep.

mumu to tunic in about 30 minutes

I recently went shopping in Ponca City for maternity clothes and came home very disappointed.  There is absolutely no place to buy maternity clothes except for the second hand stores and pickins are slim!  I found one actual maternity top in my size in all the stores I visited.  I did, however, find some pieces I could repurpose.  I found this great mumu for $1 at My Favorite Things.  It was a great color and the fabric had good weight for fall/winter and i loved the details on the sleeves.

I started by cutting off the gathered skirt piece at the bottom.  I also cut off the elastic hemmed into the sleeves.  I then, by luck, found some matching thread that I had already purchased for some other project, and hemmed the bottom and sleeves.

I then pinned some elastic to the inside to make the waist empire and fitted.  The easiest way to do this is to put the piece on inside out, pin the elastic to the sides and mark with a tailors chalk where you want the elastic to hit, then take it off, stretch the elastic and pin it down in even increments to make sure it gathers evenly.  I then sewed the elastic on with a straight stitch across the top and bottom edges of the elastic, stretching while I sewed.

Voila!  now I have a cute maternity top that took me $1 and about 30 minutes.

What to wear on Sunday morning

What to wear to church on Sunday has always been an ordeal to me.  I never like to wear the same thing 2 weeks in a row, or even every other week.  I know God doesn't care, it's just my preference.  So, I always end up picking my outfit the night before so I don't have to spend the entire time I have to get ready just on picking an outfit.  Besides, God does want me to shower before church too.  So, it's getting colder and my slacks are not really nice enough any more so I have to make something a little more "fall" to wear tomorrow to church.  My mom is already asleep so she couldn't help me take pictures, so sorry for the iphone self-shots. 
I have had this hideous 80's dress in my closet for about 5 years now.  I got it at a second hand store very cheap and couldn't resist the 80's pattern and red zebra fabric.  However, I have never once worn it in public, so I decided that if I messed it up, it wasn't that big of a loss.  Here's the before pic.

I started by cutting off the awful piece attached to the top of the skirt.  I cut it as close to the garment as possible.

gone

Next, I cut the top away from the skirt and black elasticy waist part.  I left about an inch under the top of the dress because I thought I may be able to use that later.  I hemmed the top part of the skirt down, making sure to fix up the zipper so it would be a good waistband for the skirt.

 I tried the skirt on and it fit perfectly as a nice trendy pencil skirt.  Right to the knee, perfect for church. :)

 I decided to try the top part on backwards and it worked really cute as a short jacket to match my skirt.  I pinned the zippered sides under, sewed them up, and voila! a matching bolero!

 I think it looks much better than the 80's dress that it has been for the last 30 years or so, and I'm excited to wear something new and original to church in the morning.

upcycle a big shirt into a dress/cover up

I found this size 4x woman's cotton shirt at a garage sale and thought it would make for a very cute cotton summer dress.  It's very casual and perfect to use as a swimming suit cover up also.  Here is the before:

 

 my computer won't let me rotate these pictures :(

I started by cutting off the sleeves leaving a little around the seams so I could hem the edge.

I turned it inside out, put it on, and pinned the armpit where it would fit me.  Then I took it off, pinned down the side at an angle to the bottom hem of the shirt, and cut off the excess.  

Next, I pinned and sewed down the raw edges all around.

That's it. It's cute and comfy.

The reversible American Vest

I have had this vintage polyester patriotic fabric for a while now and never knew what to do with it until I found out Osama Bin Ladin had been killed.  I decided to make a vest.  I didn't have a pattern and couldn't find a good tutorial online, but I used several different tutorials to make my own pattern. 

 

 I drew the vest out on a piece of newspaper by using a loose fitting tank top as a guide and cut the pieces out of both fabrics.

Now, you lay the pieces wrong sides together and sew them up the side seams.  You will end up with 2 pieces.  Do not sew up the shoulder seams just yet.

Lay the pieces out flat, wrong sides together and pin around them.  Sew all the way around the arm holes, neck and the long curved edge, leaving about a 5" space in the bottom so you can turn it inside out.  Leave the shoulder seams open.  Once turned inside out, pin and close the space in the bottom of the back of the vest.

Now to sew up the shoulder seams...  Turn the back shoulder seams in about 1/2 and inch and put the front shoulder pieces inside of these.  Hand sew these in place for an invisible seam or just machine stitch across like i did.

Now wear your reversible American vest with pride!