Getting back up to speed

The last two weeks have been so slow and easy around the farm and I confess I’m having trouble finding my inner dynamo. (Erin and Paige have suggested I have a t-shirt made with “lazy” printed on one side and “dynamo” on the other so I can just turn it around to suit my mood.)

It’s not that I’ve done nothing over the holidays; I’ve read four books, tried a whole passel of new recipes, thrown a big party, re-stocked the shop and spent some quality time with my flock. But the idea of working on the 2010 marketing plan today seems completely lame compared to making Clementines Preserved in Honey (yesterday) or homemade ketchup (later today).

Speaking of food, there are a few questions leftover from my pantry post that I haven’t gotten to yet. Several of you asked for the recipe for the Toffee Shortbread Cookies that were in my freezer. I used this recipe but I cut the amount of mini chocolate chips in half. More importantly, next time I make these I will cut the size of the cookies she recommends in half, if not in quarters. These cookies are super-rich and a bite of two is really all we could eat.

A couple of you asked about freezing whipping or heavy cream. You can certainly freeze it for use in recipes but it won’t whipped up as much never-frozen cream will. I would rather not run to the grocery store for fresh cream every time we need it so it’s worth the trade off. You should note that I have only tried whipping previously frozen cream in the cream whipper.

The makers of Southern Biscuit Mix Formula L Biscuit Mix contacted me after my last post to let my readers know that you can order good ol’ Formula L online if you aren’t lucky enough to live south of the Mason-Dixon line.

A couple people asked me why the “quick soak” method for dried beans isn’t just as good as soaking the beans overnight. It’s not that soaking beans overnight is better, it’s just that I’ve found quick soaked beans still take longer to cook than beans soaked for 8 or more hours. Another benefit of soaking and freezing your beans is that you don’t end up with beans that have been sitting around in your pantry for a few months that take ages and ages to soften up, if they ever do. I just soak the beans I purchase as soon as I get home from the market, throw them in a freezer bag and stick them in the freezer. That way they will be as fresh as the day I bought them when I’m ready to use them.

I was excited to read Hilary’s suggestion for using a thermos to cook beans and I will be trying it, you can be sure!

Trinity asked about salted vs. unsalted butter. Butter used to be salted before refrigerators were ubiquitous (even into the 1040s) because it made it last longer at room temperature. Obviously there is no need to salt it anymore but people had developed the taste for it on things like toast so they kept making it. I find that salted butter throws off the amount of salt in most of my recipes so unless a recipe specifically calls for salted butter, I never buy it. And honestly, I would probably just add a bit more salt and stick with the unsalted.

By the way, I should have said that my post wasn’t an exhaustive list. We do eat a lot of fish, mostly frozen unfortunately. I also didn’t write about the Asian and Mexican sections of the pantry because I thought that might be getting a bit to into my own tastes.

EDITED TO ADD: I left out on of my favorite frugal shortcuts in my last post! Every time I use up a stick of butter, I save the wrapper in a ziplock bag in the freezer. When a recipe calls for lining a pan with parchment paper and buttering it I just pull out my baggie o’ butter wrappers and layer them across the pan or cut them to fit. Super-simple and saves money on parchment.

If you have any more food questions or suggestions I’d love to hear from you. I’m thinking of giving all this food talk it’s own page here on the blog. Thoughts?

Now, if I haven’t bored you to death, on to farm news. We bid Sweet Aldo farewell today as his gigolo contract is up and we think all of our ewes and yearlings are now with child. We are going to miss that ram! You’ve just never met a more gentle creature than Aldo and he was just a joy to have on the farm.

I’ve a couple worried emails asking after Miss Linda.Proof of Life pic: Linda with today’s Washington Post

In spite of our dire predictions that Linda probably wouldn’t make it through the winter, she is fattening up and absolutely thriving. There is nothing in the world wrong with her; she’s just very old for a goat. She is spending the winter in the small paddock with access to the barn (along with Dimples, Jasmine and Will) and doesn’t have to compete for grain or hay, which explains her weight gain. Linda continues to act as Jasmine’s foster mom and the two of them sleep snuggled up together every night. It’s quite a lovely thing to see and I go all kitten-headed every time.

Here are a couple more funny pics from Linda’s morning photo shoot:

If you haven’t checked out the new colorways in the shop get over there quick! They are selling like hot cakes, thanks to Suzy’s brilliant dyeing. Also, don’t forget to visit the Juniper Moon Swag Shop for all kind of JMF gear. My mom just got her order and she can’t get over how high-quality everything is, especially the tote bags are which are much larger than our previous totes.