Snack Time ~ Raspberry Style

Here is an easy low cost individual snack: Chocolate Raspberry Cake with Raspberry Milk.

First the cake, I used the individual 3-2-1 cake recipe.  What you don't know about that?  Okay, it is really easy to make individual sized cakes.  Mix one box of Angel Food Cake with one box of any other cake flavor mix into a air tight container.  I chose chocolate but you can pick any other, yellow, lemon, etc. Maybe next time I will get a devil's food cake to mix and let them battle it out. :D

The only trick to this is that one box needs to be Angel Food.  When the two mixes are good and blended, put 3 Tbsp mix with 2 Tbsp water into a mug and mix, then microwave for 1 minute.  EASY!  I have found the wider cappuccino mugs make a more stable cake then a coffee mug which makes a taller cake which just topples over.

To kick this snack up a notch, I combined some raspberry juice with 2 Tbsp sugar and reduced.  NOTE: because of the pectin from the berries the sauce will be more thick like a jelly not a syrup, so you don't have to reduce it too much.  Now put some fresh berries on and pour the sauce.

To keep with the raspberry theme, I mixed some raspberry juice into milk.  Again, because of the pectin it made a satisfying consistency.

Total cost: $0.63
Fresh raspberries and juice = $0
The Cake and sauce = $0.13
The Milk = $0.50

If I bought a dessert like that in a restaurant I could expect it to be about $6 and a flavored milk costs $1.29, total $7.29, so a savings of about $6.66!

Raspberry Pie or Tarts

It is July and the raspberries are coming fast!  Eating them fresh is great but there are just too many.  I usually can them as preserves but I had a picnic to attend so I got the idea to make a raspberry pie.  While gathering all the ingredients, I was thinking of the picnic experience and all the extras I would have to pack; a knife to cut the pie, plates and utensils.  Then an idea struck me . . . mini pies!  Or as some would call them ~ tarts.

Food processor pie crust: 1 C flour, 1 Tsp salt, 1/4 butter.  Pulse til crumbly then blend very cold water slowly until dough forms, usually less then a 1/4 C.  Form into a ball and chill for 30 minutes.

So now you decide if you want a pie or tarts, roll out the dough and put into the appropriate baking dish then bake the crust.  I baked these in a cup cake tin at 325 for 20 minutes, next time I'll up the temperate and shorten the time.  Let your pie or tart crust cool.

The filling: 1 C sugar, 1/4 C flour [mix these together first or you will get clumps], add 2 C raspberries and 1 C sour cream.  Cook until thickened to your desired consistency, I made it really thick, no need for napkins from a drippy filling.  Let the filling cool a bit and place into your crust, pack and go enjoy!

The dough cost me $0.22 and the filling $0.85: so a pie cost $1.07 to make and ten tarts cost $0.107 each [eat that Little Debbie!].  Yes, I know only 9 tarts are shown, I HAD to test the recipe before I feed it to others. : )  A berry pie cost about $3.79 at the store, so this was a savings of $2.72!

Lion's Tooth

Dandelions are thought to have evolved about thirty million years ago in Eurasia.  They have been used by humans for food and as a herb for much of recorded history and were introduced to North America by early European immigrants.

The dandelion, corruption of French dent de lion meaning "lion's tooth" for the coarsely toothed leaves, is also known as blowball, cankerwort, witch's gowan, milk witch, lion's-tooth, yellow-gowan, Irish daisy, monks-head, priest's-crown and puff-ball, faceclock, pee-a-bed, wet-a-bed, swine's snout, white endive, and wild endive.

In the spring we are blessed with beautiful blossoms which make a wonderful jelly that tastes like jellied honey!  I also appreciate the blossoms and young leaves as fresh additions to salads.  Young leaves also make a nice green to add to sandwiches.  However in the summer the older leaves can have an increased bitter taste which some find unpalatable.  Yet this food source is so plentiful, it is worth the little effort to blanch the greens, leaching away some of the bitterness and creating a cooked green; the taste reminds me of spinach.

How to:  gather leaves, cut into inch long pieces, place in a pot.  In another pot heat water to just boiling then pour over greens.  Let sit for about ten minutes.  Pick out a green and test to see if enough bitterness has been removed for your liking.  If they are still a little bitter, heat another pot of water to boiling, drain the greens in the other pot then pour the fresh hot water over them.  Let them sit another ten minutes. 

I have found a regular sauce pot full takes two times, while the large soup pot shown here took three 'baths' to reach my liking.  Now you can use the greens the way you would use any other cooked greens; as a side dish, in soups, salads and sandwiches.

Let us not forget the medicinal properties of the dandelion:  http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/d/dandel08.html

Lamb's Quarter/Goosefoot/Pigweed

Lamb's Quarter/Goosefoot/Pigweed

Scientific name: Chenopodium album
What: young leaves, young stems, seeds
How: Young leaves/stems raw, stir-fried, steamed or boiled; seeds boiled like couscous or grind for flour
Where: yards, fields, disturbed areas, sunny
When: Early spring through early fall
Nutritional Value: high in vitamins A,C,K,B, minerals, and protein

 Here is my volunteer patch of 'wild spinach,' aka Pigweed and Goosefoot.  I use it mostly as fresh greens in my salads, however there is a lot coming fast and furious.  It can take over and stand over 5 feet tall if you let it.  I will harvest, blanch and freeze this wonderful and nutritious gift of my land!

Warming with Wood

Firewood warms me many times.  First I get warmed by gathering, then by cutting, stacking and finally by burning.  It is a wonderful gift from nature!

Fixing for Drying Time

I like my indoor retractable close line.  However, truth be told, I don't often retract it as I am hanging a load of laundry every other day. 

There is only one thing I do not like, the construction is made with flimsy plastic.  I have already replaced one line.  I was not going to purchase a third when this one broke.  Time to modify!

I removed the short thin angled hooks, spackled, installed a board with 4 inch long screws and repainted.  I then removed the broken plastic bar from the lines and tied the lines to the screws.  I can still retract the line when / if I need to by untying the line.  I just need to make sure the single line does not go all the way into the roller.

Pumpkin Puree

This year I companion planted radish to keep the squash bugs away and it worked!  This year I received two pumpkins.  Here are two ways to store the bounty.

First, gut the pumpkin and separate the seeds from the flesh.  Decide if you are going to save all the seeds or roast some for eating.

Now you need to decide how you will store the flesh.  If you want to can the pumpkin for more flexible uses you'll want to cube the flesh, boil in water with lemon juice for 7 minutes, put the flesh and hot water into jars and hot bath for 10 minutes.  Also, if you do not have a pressure canner, use this canning method and puree the cubes later when you are ready.

If you want to store the flesh as puree, roast the flesh in the oven, long and low, between 250 and 300 degrees.  Remove the skin, puree in a food processor, heat with lemon juice.  If you have a pressure canner, you can can the puree.  A pressure canner is recommended because it is said a hot bath does not get the dense puree hot enough for safe storage.  If you do not have a pressure canner, you could freeze the puree.

Now it is time to dream of soups, breads, muffins, cookies . . .