Simple Steps to Take Before Leaving Your "Home Alone"

All packed up and ready to hit the road for a week-end or a week or more?
Consider the following before you walk out the door!

Taking a moment to take a few simple precautions may provide additional protection for your home while it is home alone when you are away. Even a pinhole-size leak can wet down a room in minutes!

• If it uses water, turn off the supply
• It if uses energy, turn it down, turn it up or turn it off.
• If it burns fuel, remove the ignition source.
• Turn down the furnace --- or turn up the air conditioner thermostat.
• Lower the water heater temperature setting.
• Turn off all washing machine water hoses and sink/toilet water leads.
• Unplug all electronics and appliances.

Further Do's

• Make sure a trusted neighbor has phone numbers to contact you in case of emergency.
• Have a neighbor pick up your newspapers and mail --- or have them temporarily stopped.
• Leave a car parked in the driveway if possible.
• Arrange to have appropriate yard maintenance continued, depending on the season --- lawn mowed, snow cleared, etc.

And a Couple of Do Not's

• Hide a house key in an obvious location. Even amateurs know most of the favorites -- under mats, in flower pots, inside fake rocks, etc.
• Change your answering machine message to proudly announce your trip (no matter how terrific it is) or to explain why you will not be returning calls.

Now that you have added these simple safety precautions for your home in your absence have a wonderful and safe trip. Increase your safety by wearing your seat belts and avoid talking or texting while driving.

Artisan Bread Dough in Minutes for Pennies

           

Delicious Crusty Artisan/European Breads are showcased in  
bakeries as luxuries---with "luxury" prices
                                    
In reality they are the most basic and simple breads.  The ingredients are as basic as they can get

The luxury myth bubble was broken, and the popularity of these breads were spread with the book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois.

Fleischmann's, the yeast people have tried to cash in and "catch"  people not in the know with their new product Simply, Homemade No Knead Bread Mix. I haven't found it in our local stores yet but this is what I have found on line:

• The"plus" is there is only one 25 minute rising period.
• The "minus" is a  one-loaf package costs $4.19
• Yeast and sugar packets are included in the box but you have to dissolve them with water, and let it "bloom" before adding the flour mixture.

The master recipe in AB in 5 Minutes a Day makes dough for six loaves that will keep in the refrigerator for up to two weeks (or can be frozen in one-pound portions). You also store it in the container you make it in so there is one less thing to wash!

The six-loaf recipe calls for 3 cups lukewarm water, 1 Tablespoon yeast, 1 to one and one-half Tablespoons Kosher or regular salt (or adjust to suit your taste) and 2 lbs (6-1/2 cups) all-purpose flour, all combined at once in one large container. Topped with a loose lid, you let it raise for about 2 hours and put the entire thing in the fridge That's it!

When you want to make a loaf, you just remove a grapefruit-size ball from the container, lightly shape it and let it rise for 40 minutes (or 60-90 if you want a more open hold structure in the interior of the loaf. Or, to eliminate any counter-rising time, shape the loaf and immediately refrigerate it overnight. In the morning, let it rest on the counter until your oven is pre-heated to 450 degrees and bake it.

For complete instructions go to 

http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/2010/02/09/back-to-basics-tips-and-techniques-to-create-a-great-loaf-in-5-minutes-a-day.
(I'm sorry I can't seem to provide a link you can just click on so you will have to cut and paste.

The book provides many variations including pizza crust and rolls, made from the same recipes,  many of which are also available on line.

Here is the recipe I used before learning the above.

Artisan Bread
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 to 1-1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine above in large bowl. Add 1-1/2 cups plus 2 Tablespoons warm water and stir until blended. Dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let rest 12 to 24 hours at warm room temperature (about 70 degrees). The dough will be ready anytime after its surface is dotted with bubbles.

Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it. Sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly (about 30 seconds) shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more of same. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not spring back when poked with a finger.

At least 1/2 hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6 to 9 quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in over as it heats.

When dough is ready, make 3 slits across top of loaf with a sharp knife and carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under the towel and turn dough over into the pot, seam side up. It may look like a mess but that is okay. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed. It will straighten out as it bakes.

Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes. Remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack. Makes one 1-1/2 pound loaf.

'till we eat again,
          Simply, Gail


If you are interested, and have a few more minutes to sit and read, below are a few thoughts I picked up from a "what exactly is artisan bread" site. It turns my descriptions of "just stir it up and dump it out" into a creative feel-good experience.

Remember you are making one of the oldest most basic foods there is. It wasn't necessary to add chemicals to bread for centuries and it still isn't.

Artisan bread is best described by thinking about the person who makes the bread. An artisan baker is a craftsperson who is trained to the highest ability to mix, ferment, shape and bake a hand crafted loaf of bread. 

How to tell a true hand crafted bread from one that is just called artisan. First look at the ingredients. There shouldn't be anything in bread besides flour, water salt and yeast. If the bread is made with a sourdough there may not even be yeast in the ingredients.

Flavored breads may list other recognizable ingredients like nuts, garlic, herbs or cheese. A viennoiserie bread , for example a brioche, will include milk, butter and/ or eggs. All of the ingredients should sound like familiar foods. 

Compare an artisan baker to other familiar craftspersons. A baker's work parallels that of jewelers, glass blowers or furniture makers. They all have a palette of preferred, trustworthy materials. They know how to combine their materials to build something strong and at the same time delicate or elegant. Combining the raw materials in different ways will create various shapes, textures or colors.

Fresh Hot Cake Donuts --- from Craving to Ymmmm in Minutes

We love donuts!

A real, great doughnut is getting harder and harder to find. 

Now, with the following recipe, you can satisfy your craving faster than you could grab your car keys and head for the nearest store.

These homemade donuts are the crispy-old-fashioned-kind
and--- for much less than 20 cents each

Just imagine, you can have 12 hot fresh cake donuts, simply and quickly made from things that are probably sitting right there in your cupboards, just waiting. . .

In a medium bowl, whisk together the following:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 pinch nutmeg

In small bowl combine
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup milk
 2 Tablespoons melted butter

Combine with dry ingredients. Knead lightly and place on lightly floured surface. Roll or lightly press dough  to about 3/8 inch thickness. Cut into circles (I use a drinking glass and poke a hole in the middle with my finger since I don't have a doughnut cutter)

Heat oil, about two inches deep, to 375 degrees, using a heavy frying pan if you do not have a deep-fryer.

Carefully drop donuts into the oil, two or three at a time, not crowding them. Fry until bottom is golden, turn over with a long fork, and continue until down side is also golden --- about three minutes total. Drain on paper towels. Let cool slightly and then "top" them as desired.

We like ours drizzled with a glaze made from stirring a little milk and vanilla into powdered sugar.  I am going to try  orange or cherry icings because those are usually my favorites. They are also good when you shake them in a paper bag with powdered sugar or a cinnamon-white sugar mixture.

Recently screen-writer son Jeremy, who really, really loves donuts, told me about the latest craze in twinkle town --- faux donuts.  Ironically that seems like an appropriate name for the town's faux environment. He is planning on trying them out next week when he is in Hollywood.

I immediately searched the Internet to see what a faux donut was.  I learned they come in a variety of exotic flavors, are very expensive (one site listed them from $3.25 to $3.75 each) and they are not deep fried but rather baked --- thus to seem healthier than their traditional counterpart.

I further read their rich ingredients, including heavy cream, negated the "savings" from frying, they were time consuming, required special pans, and according to some reviews, had the taste and texture and look of "squatty" muffins.

When we crave muffins I'll bake big muffins. When we crave donuts I will make the real thing --- simply, cheaply, crunchy-fried, and fantastic.

A fresh batch will be ready when Jeremy walks through the door. I can hardly wait.

'til we eat again,

       Simply, Gail

Homemade Greek Yogurt: Cheap, Simple, Delicious!

I was excited when I found Susie E's recipe for "Foolproof Crock Pot Greek Yogurt" on the "one good thing by Jillee" site.  I didn't think it could get any easier than that but
IT DID!
                                                                                                  
As I read her instructions I got hung up on the stated precise temperatures apparently necessary for the perfect finished product.  I got frustrated when testing my crock pots' temperatures to find they varied greatly.  I was afraid to continue but wanted to succeed so I returned to the Internet.

In my search I found what the "official" difference was between pricey regular yogurt and very pricey Greek yogurt! And several suggestions from others. Hopefully my efforts will save you effort.

After looking at other sites and their methods and reading the zillion suggestions and comments that accompanied them I found the comment that was right for me when one responded that her grandmother was from the old country, where yogurt has been made forever, and her grandmother's temperature directions were "stinging" when you put your finger in the pot for the 180-190 degree range and "comfortable" when it had dropped to the 95-115 degree range.

Using "Grandma's" temperatures ---- (and comments I found on further simplifying from others) you can make Greek Yogurt in simple steps

• Milk 
• 6 ounces approximately(a small tub) commercial Greek yogurt that contains live cultures
• Powdered milk, if desired

1. Pour 8 cups of 2 percent milk and almost 2 cups of powdered milk (I don't think you need to use that much) into a large heavy pot, whisking until the dry milk was thoroughly combined.

2. Heat, over low heat, it until it "stings" your finger (which when measured with my old candy thermometer was about 185 degrees)

3. Remove pot from stove and let cool until it feels "comfortable" to your finger. (Again, as a first time precaution, I checked it with the thermometer and it was in the right range)

4. Thoroughly whisk in the commercial yogurt.

5. Pour into sterilized* jars (whatever sizes you wish, but always one small jar to hold for the "starter" for the next batch so you only have to buy the commercial product once.) *I don't have a dishwasher so I dip them in boiling water and swish them around to sterilize) and put on lids.

6. Put the jars in a small hard plastic cooler*, fill the container about half way up the jars with hot tap water, close the lid, wrap a towel around the whole thing, and let it sit for about 8 hours.  (*Others used Styrofoam or soft-sided coolers. Some put the jars in the  crock pot, others in the oven with the light on, some on heating pads, some wrapped them in blankets, and others used a combination.)

Once again, they did it simply in the old world, showing us the process is very forgiving.


I discovered :

• Greek yogurt has greater protein than regular yogurt --- thus making it healthier.
• The increased protein is the result of draining regular yogurt.
• Adding powdered milk to the liquid milk further increases the protein content of the finished product.
• The drained liquid (whey) is good to use in baking, enriching soups, etc.
• This basic yogurt, without sweeteners or flavorings, is a good sour cream substitute, and if drained for a longer period of time---cream cheese.

I also learned:

• It is easy to adjust the ingredients to make smaller or larger amounts.
• It will keep in the refrigerator for about a month.
• You keep some yogurt from each batch to use in making the next batch.
• Any "percentage" of milk may be used -- skim, 1 or 2 percent, or whole milk, even powdered.
• There were disagreements on the outcome when using soy, almond, goat, etc. milks. Some said ultra pasteurized milk worked while others said it didn't.  
• If you add powdered milk the protein is increased and the product is thicker. 
• A variety of sweeteners, natural and artificial, can be successfully used.
• Most individuals preferred making the plain basic recipe and adding any extras to individual servings just before eating, allowing for more versatility. 

Once again, they did it simply in the old world? Apparently the actual process is very forgiving.

Most of the "quick" recipes I found call for straining the yogurt to separate the whey making the yogurt very thick. Adding powdered milk eliminates that need.  Where some indicated they poured off a lot of whey, reducing the amount of finished product, I only had about one teaspoon of whey.

When I tipped the jars I could tell the mixture had set up, so I moved them to the refrigerator to chill. Apparently different batches may not thickened/set up the same, and will continue to thicken in the frig. If, for some reason, a batch doesn't thicken, you can use it in smoothies!

I love it when I am able to recreate---usually significantly healthier and cheaper---a commercial product. Even if I don't continue to make it on  a regular basis (which is rare for me) I know I can do it when I want to -- or need to!  

I strongly feel that it is wise to learn how to be as self-sustaining as possible as insurance against a time of need. Learning how to do now, when supplies are readily available, can save experimenting and frustration when the need is there and abundance is not.

'till we eat again,
            Simply, Gail

Everything We Need to Know We Learn From . . . our Canine Friends

• When loved ones come home, always run to greet them 
• Never pass up the opportunity to go for a ride in the car
• Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy
• When it's in your best interest --- practice obedience

• Let others know when they've invaded your territory
• Take naps and stretch before rising
• Run, romp, and play daily
• Thrive on attention and let people touch you

• Avoid biting when a simple growl will do
• On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the grass
• On hot days, drink lots of water and lay under a shady tree

• When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body

• No matter how often you're scolded don't buy into the guilt thing and pout --- run right back and make friends

• Delight in the simple joy of a long walk
• Eat with gusto and enthusiasm and stop when you have        had enough
• Be loyal
• Never pretend to be something you're not

• If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it
• When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and nuzzle them gently

Doing as the doggies do will make life a little less Ruff!!!

                              Author, while unknown, knows exactly what he/she is talking about.

About 1999 - February 26, 2013

                                                             

In tribute to our wonderful rescued puppy "Puppy" who 

watched over us and blessed our lives for 11 years.

Still More of What is Real in Food Claims and Labels

In the children's classic book The Velveteen Rabbit, the rabbit  asks this simple question, What is Real?

In regards to the processed food we eat, it is getting harder and harder to answer that question.

Very little of the food we eat is "Natural" or "Real."  

Do you realize that 90 percent of the money that Americans spend on food is used to buy processed food? While the first purchase of a food item may be because of  its attractive packaging or appearance, subsequent purchases are determined mainly by taste.

Do you know that the canning, freezing, and dehydrating techniques used to process food destroys most of its flavor?

Do you prefer to purchase/eat foods that contain natural flavor rather than artificial flavor?

Most commercial mass food production began after World War II. At that time a highly secretive flavor industry arose in the United States to make these new processed food palatable. Dozens of highly secured flavor manufacturers --- actually refineries and chemical plants --- are located in an industrial section along the New Jersey Turnpike.  The largest is International Flavors and Fragrances which is the world's largest flavor company.

Eric Schlosser, investigative journalist and author of Fast Food Nation, visiting IFF as part of his research, was required to sign a nondisclosure form, promising not to reveal the brand names of products that contain IFF flavors.

The book is a fascinating, enlightening (and sometimes disturbing) read. Here is a section on the "natural flavors" that consumers prefer, believing they are healthier. Terry Acree, a professor of food science technology at Cornell University writes that the distinction between artificial and natural flavors can be somewhat arbitrary and absurd. He states that "a natural flavor is a flavor that's been derived with an out-of-date technology." Natural flavors and artificial flavors sometimes contain exactly the same chemicals, produced through different methods. Acree uses banana flavor as an example:

• Amyl acetate provides the dominant note of banana flavor. When you distill it from bananas with a solvent, amyl acetate is a natural flavor. When you produce it by mixing vinegar with amyl alcohol, adding sulfuric acid as a catalyst, amyl acetate is an artificial flavor --- either way it smells and tastes the same. 

During his tour, Schlosser was invited to sample some of IFF's flavors. He said it was an unusual taste test because there wasn't any food to taste. The test consisted of a dozen unmarked small glass bottles from the lab, and long white strips of paper.  With his eyes closed, Schlosser  sniffed each strip of paper, inhaling deeply. His report: 

• "One food after another was conjured from the glass bottles. I smelled fresh cherries, black olives, sauteed onions, and shrimp and...a grilled hamburger. . . the aroma was uncanny, almost miraculous. It smelled like someone in the room was flipping burgers on a hot grill."  

Speaking of burgers, Schlosser has a large section on the beefy subject of fast food hamburgers and their rise from a tainted and unsafe to eat food for the poor, sold at lunch carts parked near factories, circuses, carnivals and state fairs in the early 1900s to our "national dish."  A 1996 United States Department of Agriculture study found 78.6 percent of the ground beef tested contained microbes that are spread primarily by fecal material.  And that, folks, is why we are told to never eat rare meat. Note: The subtitle of Fast Food Nation is "The Dark Side of the All-American Meal."

Fast Food Condiment Packets

The following eye-opening information comes from Michael DeGroote, a reporter for the Deseret News in Salt Lake City, Utah, following his scrutiny (and the scrutiny of others) of the small print on these squeezy plastic packets.

Kentucky Fried Chicken -- Honey Packets, when reading the fine print you will discover that the honey packets are actually honey sauce packets  The blog "Playing in the Dirt" analyzed the ingredients of KFC's honey sauce: "If we look closely at the printing on the back of each packet, we find that the honey sauce contains the following ingredients: high fructose corn syrup, sugar, corn syrup, honey (only 7 percent), caramel color. Notice that honey is the fourth ingredient, after HFCS, sugar, and corn syrup. HFCS, of course, is unnatural; sugar is fine. Corn syrup — I'm not too sure about how it differs from HFCS, although I have read it is not as bad for you. Caramel color — why would you need caramel color for honey? Isn't it already that color?

                  The customer was offered honey or butter with her order.

                  She said "both" and this is what she was given. Later,

                  after looking up KFC's nutrition list, neither were listed.

 

To determine what ingredients honey contains, I took a look at one of the jars of honey I purchased at (the) market. 

Here's the ingredients list: honey."

"Food Safety News … food scientists say that over three quarters of the honey sold in American supermarkets and drug stores may not be what the bees created, but a watered down, reconstituted hodge-podge of the real deal mixed with other cheaper, less savory, and often less safe, ingredients."

Real honey contains pollen — which, in addition to being good for health, also makes it easy to track where it was made. So companies strain out the pollen so consumers can't tell that it came from, most likely, China.

"It is for this reason that U.S. Food and Drug Administration rules state that any product that contains no pollen cannot be called honey," Schiffman said.

So Food Safety News sent 60 store-bought containers of honey in for testing. Seventy-six percent of the honey had zero pollen in it, and so it wasn't really honey.

A similar test was made of honey bought at farmers markets, health food stores and the like. They all had pollen.

Subway -- Olive Oil Packets - The Consumer Reports' Consumerist website looked at how Subway's "olive oil" packet used different-sized fonts to deceive customers: Everything...is right on the packet. "But it helps to occasionally point out the ways companies play with design to trick your eyes into seeing what the company wants you to,"

The real master stroke is in the text that fills the appropriately olive-green background, located above the image of olives and to the right of the drawing of the corked container that presumably contains olive oil. In tightly spaced  italics, it reads “A Master Chef Blend of Canola Oil and 10%” before bursting into larger, all caps, “EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL.”

 "The most prominent words on the packet being 'OLIVE OIL' in large type in the center of the arced ribbon. Below these words, in significantly smaller but still noticeable type, is 'BLEND,' which may cause some to wonder what the rest of the stuff is. But it's in the tiny type squeezed above 'OLIVE OIL' that you get the truth with 'CANOLA & 10% EXTRA VIRGIN.'"

The iconic Twinkie was originally a very popular sponge cake with a creamy filling and ... a shelf life of two to three days. That was the problem.  Modern food technology (aka the chemical industry) was Twinkies' salvation. Today the Twinkie is made up of 39 ingredients, most of them not even food (or even food-like substances). I guess it is suppose to comfort us to learn that the FDA classifies over 700 hundred items of food additives as GRAS (generally regarded as safe)! And many of them are in Twinkies -- increasing their shelf life to ----- forever!

And Then There's  Dessert!

Check out Steve Ettlinger's interesting and easy read of his "journey to discover how the ingredients found in processed foods are grown, mined (Yes, mined), and manipulated into what America eats" in his book Twinkie, Deconstructed.





 --- “a fascinating exploration into the curious world of packaged foods. . . takes us from phosphate mines in Idaho to cornfields in Iowa, from gypsum mines in Oklahoma to oil fields in China, to demystify some of American’s most common processed food ingredients—where they came from, how they are made, how they are used—and why. Beginning at the source (hint: the ingredients are often more closely linked to rocks and petroleum than any of the four food groups), Ettlinger reveals how each Twinkie ingredient goes through the process of being crushed, baked, fermented, refined, and /or reacted into a totally unrecognizable goo or powder with a strange name—all for the sake of creating a simple snack cake.”

If this makes you want to boycott commercial Twinkies but still crave them, go to your search engine and type in “twinkie recipe.”  There are several. The filling I use is from my recipe for Ho Ho cake — a copy cat of another multi- (mostly unnecessary) ingredient snack cake.     

Ho-Ho Filling
1 cup milk
3 T cornstarch
1 cup sugar
½ cup margarine (1 cube)
½ cup shortening
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
Combine milk and cornstarch and cook until creamy, stirring constantly. In separate bowl, beat sugar, margarine, shortening, salt and vanilla until creamy. Combine the two mixtures, beating  until fluffy.

'til we eat again,
            I am Simply, Gail

More Food Labels: What Do They Really Mean

It is not safe to assume that all claims on all product labels are entirely accurate ---
many are intentionally misleading and unfortunately, some are downright false!

In my last post I used two different government guidelines to help us distinguish between a variety of terms --- including free, light, low, reduced and less.

Today I am continuing with more ambiguous terms and how our government defines them. 

Hopefully they give us some general guidelines but, after reading the terms and their USDA and FDA definitions, I looked up ambiguous* in Webster's Dictionary. I think the word I chose to use is, for the most part, the correct one:  

               *not clear, indefinite, uncertain and vague. 

FRESH: Raw of unprocessed, has never been frozen or cooked, and contains no preservatives. "Fresh frozen," "frozen fresh" and "freshly frozen" can be used for foods that are quickly frozen while still fresh. Foods that have been blanched briefly in scalding water to prevent nutrient breakdown are allowed to be called fresh.

ORGANIC (also CERTIFIED ORGANIC or  USDA ORGANIC): Regulated by the USDA, contains at least 95 percent organic ingredients --- meaning grown or produced without using most conventional pesticides---not counting added water and salt. Does not contain added sulfites.

LEAN & EXTRA-LEAN: Both refer to the fat content of meat, poultry, seafood, and game. Per serving (100 g), "lean" foods contain less than 10 g fat, 4.5 g saturated fat, and 95 mg cholesterol. "Extra-lean" foods contain less than 5 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, and 95 mg cholesterol.

HEALTHY: Low in fat and saturated fat, with limited cholesterol and sodium; can also mean a food contains 10 percent or more of vitamins A or C, iron, calcium, protein, or fiber.

WHOLE GRAIN: For some reason this is not regulated by the FDA. Whole-grain products are made with the entire grain, including the fiber-rich bran and nutrient-rich germ. For example bread labeled "wheat bread" or even "100% wheat bread" (see the tricky difference) is different from WHOLE-GRAIN wheat bread.

DIET: Another term not recognized by the FDA as a general food term. In regard to soft drinks, it is defined as something low in calories. (usually contains a lot of artificial chemical additives in the place of calories)

NATURAL: Defined by the USDA as meat or poultry containing no artificial ingredients or added color and that is only minimally processed. (Nothing is said about "natural" as it is used in many other food products!)

FREE RANGE or FREE-ROAMING: Defined by the USDA as meat or poultry that comes from animals that have been given significant access to the outdoors.

If you think I am overly critical or skeptical, Friday's post will cover additional reports that make me this way.  In the meantime check out my posts on Burger King Strawberry Milkshakes and McDonald Chicken Nuggets.

 http://thecreativecheapskate.blogspot.com/2012/05/scary-news-about-fake-foods-we-eat.html

http://thecreativecheapskate.blogspot.com/2012/05/secret-life-of-chicken-nuggets.html