One good mess deserves another ;-)....

Several years ago there were severe blizzard conditions back east and I remember we were fielding questions in the Cooking group for people stuck indoors with limited food supplies, and unable to get out to the stores. They would post a list of food/ingredients they had on hand, and we were trying to figure out what they could make with it. It was like a little game show for cooks.

Where you in NJ the year of the huge blizzard. 90s I think. I lived in Lambertville then. I remember being slightly amused by the hysteria as a Mainer. That said I remember my dog walking on top of car shaped snowbanks with tiny antennas sticking out and that there was no place to put the snow. And a huge flood that spring...

It has started here... No cooking yet beyond oatmeal. But maybe something cooked outside in the snow would be fun.

We had lots of snow yesterday...I baked bread and ate Christmas leftovers...mostly cookies!

Which reminds me that I have a pile of chocolate truffles languishing in my freezer....

Lotta' snow here yesterday afternoon & evening, too. I made sausage & kale soup after being inspired by nancync's thread and tried Emeril Lagasse's recipe for Italian Bread. Soup was good, bread was OK. DSII found a recipe for a veggie lasagna yesterday and picked up the ingred. we didn't have on his way home from work. He got it all assembled last night & it's waiting in the refrig for me to pop into the oven for tonight.

We had an all-day storm of snow mixed with sleet and freezing rain. I decided it was a perfect day for casselout in the slow cooker. Yum.

You might think I'm crazy, but this is making me envious. That photo conveys such a feeling of coziness. It's so muggy & warm here - sick of humidity & bugs - longing for rain & a cold front...

I was living in Clinton Township, just across the street from Round Valley Reservoir. Remember the blizzards of the early 90s quite well. That's what convinced me to get out of NJ, although it took until 1998 to sell the damn house and leave. 3-1/2 acres of land, 5000 sf of living space! What a maintenance nightmare.

We are getting snow now, but last night we got sleet, freezing rain, snow, some rain, 50 MPH wind. Last week it was in the 50s, go figure. I baked bread and then did things like take a shower, run the dishwasher, waiting to lose power. We never did, thankfully.

Fawn, my ex has 5,000 SF on his main floor and 5,000 more in the basement, plus a garage and a room that was supposed to be an indoor pool, but instead it's still just a room. And, of course, it's mostly empty, so empty that Ashley put an inflatable 10 foot tall bounce house in his living room for Madi's birthday and there was room left over. I can't even imagine trying to fill all that space with furniture! He did turn one room downstairs into a "theater", negating the need for anything except chairs and a huge television...

Annie

Fawn - Just up the road from Lambertville. Though I really only knew the art center in Clinton.

When I lived in NJ I had friends who lived in huge houses. The mainer in me always wondered how much it cost to heat huge rooms with cathedral ceilings. But what I most remember is how huge everything needed to be in order to be in scale with the rooms - 6' Christmas wreathes and 15' Christmas trees. I never really thought about the maintenance. Makes me tired just to imagine.

Annie - I made dough today but did not bake yet. Maybe tomorrow. Another storm or two and my oven will be behind a huge snowbank for the season. So I want to back up some bread in the freezer.

Proceeded with my midwinter house cleaning and took my unwilling dog for the last field walk without snowshoes. He was not happy wading through the snow.

One more shovelling and then a pasta attempt.

We walked the pups on the beach, PrimeHook Del., on Sunday in t-shirts...70.

Now back in NY we have cold and snow dusting. Our new rescue puppy is having firsts...a first swim in the ocean and out of the car in NY, snow!.

Soup tonight and stock on the stove tomorrow...for future soup.

Happy New Year to all!

So my snow day cooking did not lead to soup...

I made two small quiches with leftover vodka pie crust - one broccoli and ham -and the other squash and leek. I am a little obsessed with food waste at the moment. In the midst of a kitchen cleanup.

I just got the book 'Pasta by Hand' - which is a bit of a misnomer - it assumes a stand mixer and food processor. Lovely looking pasta recipes - excellent directions and illustrations. Somewhat daunting ingredient lists. I tried a very basic dough - flour, semolina, salt and water. My shaping was poor but it came out yummy. I will make this again. I want to try one recipe that uses a yeast risen dough. Curious.

I made a double batch of Pain L'Ancienne dough. Hope to cook it tomorrow or the next day. I want to make some pita dough as well. A couple more storms and I won't be able to get to my WFO easily so I would like to freeze some bread.

agmss, I'm with you on the bread in the freezer. I'm so spoiled with homemade bread that I won't even buy bread from the store, I'll do without instead. I have been known to cave in and buy a loaf of rye from Panera Bread, but it's darned expensive. Oh, and I've frozen pasta too, I shape them then freeze them on sheets and package after frozen into zip lock bags. It keeps very well.

Happy baking, before it snows a ton!

Annie

Annie -

I actually live in a bread renaissance area. Someone bought an old jail and made a gristmill which is supporting grain farmers in Maine. Heirloom varieties of wheat are being trialed locally. The people who started the gristmill also started the kneading conference where a variety of bread gods (as a friend quipped) teach classes to foodies of various stripes. My neighbor is obsessed with home built wood fired ovens - and Maine Wood Heat makes very expensive ovens in the same town as the gristmill. There is good to spectacular bread available locally mennonite baurbraut - romanian french bread. Very very different from my childhood.

Here is a video of my solemn bread loving neighbor.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DYnpwJ-pNzV4&ved=0ahUKEwjny6m7u4XKAhXJTCYKHXwUDAwQtwIIIzAD&usg=AFQjCNFlW-MDJSdzRD725icQqpvJ0h-w6A&sig2=95OIuY591A68Py8D-d7qgg

Wow, he IS solemn, isn't he? (grin) Here there are no wood fired ovens unless I take a 50 mile drive to the Lakeshore or to Grand Rapids. No heritage wheat unless it comes on-line or I grow it. Definitely no mills. (sigh) So, it's what I make or whatever 2nd rate bread I can buy. In the summer the wood fired bakers by the Lakeshore come to the Farmer's Market weekly, but their bread is between $8 and $10 a loaf, a bit pricey for my blood, so I bake.

Annie

He is but he is a family friend from way back. Very nice guy. And he helped design and build my WFO.

agmss15 - would love to know what type of pasta is that in your photo?

Hey, I figured he likes to bake bread and build ovens, so he must be OK. (grin) I'll trust your judgment, so I'm sure he's a very nice guy.

The pasta does look good, I suppose I ought to make some of that too, although I have an extremely fancy wedding to attend tomorrow night (yeah, on New Year's Day, ugh) and Elery's birthday is Saturday. I need to make and can more beef broth too, and get stepmom to Grand Rapids on Monday to her vascular doc and I have a dentist appointment on Wednesday. I don't know how I did all of this before I retired, LOL.

Annie

Hi Carolb -

So now I am going to mispell as well as mishape the pasta. Orechiette or little ears. Not very ear-like but quite yummy. I will post the recipe tomorrow if you like.

Welcome 2016!

Happy New Years everyone!

Agmss, one way to use the atlas for is to stand on to give you a little more of a view from higher of what you're coming on the stove. Now, only a short person like me would think of something like that. My favorite things to do in the winter is to make soups, stews and comfort foods as well as to bake bread. We've already had two power outages, a couple of hours a few days before Christmas and earlier on a full day. No problem though, because we have two generators and a wonderful wood burning stove. Plus we can always move out into the motorhome if need be. Its all diesel and has full tanks.

Since my husband can't eat much of anything, I mean he can't eat beef or any meat, bread, dairy or much of anything else, we are having a very weird New Years Day meal. So far it consists of black-eyed peas, cabbage and whatever vegetable he can get down. Most food tastes and smells horrid to him. I have to use the downdraft on the stove because the smell of cooking food can make him violently ill. He did request the black-eyed peas for today since he knew it was my tradition as is cabbage. He'll probably only be able to eat a tablespoon or so of each.

We really are celebrating. He made it to Christmas, then our 42nd anniversary (which I kept referring to as our 43rd) and then to New Years Day. He said this morning he's just added another year of survival to his tombstone. Have I mentioned my DH has a great sense of humor? Now we're aiming for a trip to Florida. Three months worth if possible. He says we may not make it there, but its worth a try. Don't go down without a fight! Oh, and my birthday is the 9th so we have to make that mark in time as well, then on to Valentine's day. Heck, just like a kid take baby steps towards goals.

I am looking for another house for my niece and I to buy together that has enough property for a big, big garden and a few animals. DH wants me to sell our house and property where we are because he doesn't like me to be alone 'way out in the country. We've found two places we are interested in, much small on property than I have here, but still large enough to have our animals and to be able to grow enough food to sustain us and sell at the town's farmers market. Everyone flocks to that farmers market.

So, my wish for everyone is a 2016 that is full of wonderful blessing, karma or whatever is important to you.

Madonna

Madonna, I'm so happy your hubs made it to see a new year, and now, some warm weather south as a goal.

So you're going to be a farmer? (grin) Break out that cider press, and find someone to plow you up a garden, it'll be sure to keep you busy!

As always, you are in my prayers. Happy Anniversary and a very Happy New Year.

Annie

Happy New Year - Congratulations to another year for your husband. I hope you get to warmer climes and have a lovely time. You both seem to have a positive outlook and to be counting your blessings.

My mom and her SO came over today. First installment on our plan to make bread together.

I made dough for pizza and french bread. I have a huge bag of local whole wheat flour and I have started using a higher percentage whole wheat to all purpose. I am not happy with the result and need to go back to 50/50 or 25/75.

So tonight I stretched dough and took pizza orders, SD ran the wood fired oven and invented new pizza combos and my mom visited and recovered from digging snow today.

My niece also came over. She is brilliant, beautiful, 20, angry and deeply deeply troubled. Some combination of mental illness, drugs and being theatrical make her very hard to be around and she knows it. She deeply distrusts the medical world and desparately needs help. I fed her tea and pizza and sent her off with hugs, dark chocolate truffles and fresh bread. None of which address her problems. It all leaves me worried and exhausted although happy she is touching bases with me more often.

Oh and at 5' and a very important not quite inch I have been known to use books to stand on to reach up... If put the Atlas down I will have to pick it back up. This is a table sized book and heavy.

agmss, you're about the same height I am, 5'1 and that very important "half. (Grin) I've also been trying to use more whole wheat flour, after grinding my own wheat, but have not yet been happy with the results.

Good luck to the niece. (sigh)

Annie

Another miserable day. Actually I like snow - but today is cold and rainy. Yuck. Even my semiferal cats want in... And rain falling on frozen roads makes for precarious driving. So cooking...

So I am going to attempt another recipe from Pasta by Hand. Cecimariti which is a yeast risen dough and hopefully easier to shape than my last experiment.

I have a thawed top round that I absolutely need to do something with today.

King Arthur also just sent out a no need recipe I would like to try. Maybe not today.....

Hope others are having productive Sundays.

Agmss, I like winter quite a lot. I don't care for spring, here it's gray, wet and muddy, an altogether ugly time of year. Summer is hot and humid and buggy, summer is my least favorite of the seasons. I love autumn and like winter. No rain here, just lots and lots of snow, blowing and drifting. We had rain yesterday, that changed to snow today. Poor horses and cows had icicles hanging from them as the temperatures fell, and I have a calf locked in the barn for weaning so the others couldn't get out of the weather. So Elery and I knocked a few 2x4s onto the end of a hall and made a makeshift "box stall" for the little one and opened the barn up for the other animals. They were very happy to get in before the worst of the storm, which was today. And today I found that the ice had collected on the netting over the chicken's winter run and collapsed the entire thing. (sigh) The hens are inside for the duration of the storm, which is just as well, because it's cold and windy. We had tickets to the Grand Rapids Symphony yesterday and had to default, we would be driving that 60 miles each way in the worst of the storm, and it seemed just kind of.....dumb, you know?

I canned 7 quarts of beef broth yesterday and 6 quarts of chicken stock today and made 6 pounds of liverwurst, so I was at least productive. I put a brisket in the oven along with twice baked potatoes and Amanda and Dave came with the kids for supper after Dave plowed the driveway for me. Makayla made a peanut butter pie for dessert. I think I'll bake bread tomorrow.

Annie

Finally some cool weather down here, I turned the heat on for the first time in 14 months and I get to wear long sleeves today. Honestly I'm not rubbing it in as I would love to see some of that pretty snow and wear something besides capris and short sleeves.

Madonna, Glad to hear your DH is looking forward to 2016! Where in FLA are you thinking of?

Annie, Being an animal lover, my thoughts always go to them when I see such weather. I can't imagine how they survive but obviously they do.

Wow you are productive. I have been slowly continuing a major house cleaning but no homemade liverwurst.

I truly truly loath mud season - a shorter warmer winters seem to be in our future. I wouldn't mind a short snowy winter but an Oct-April mudseason would be dreadful. My road is horrible in the spring thaw which we are having now.

ps The saga with my niece continues. She went to a drs appointment on the wrong day and time. She was so irrational that the dr convinced her to hospitalize herself. Whatever they have given her so far is not working but hopefully they can figure something out. Worried but somewhat hopeful for both her and my sister.

Back to cooking.

I made cecamariti - which is a yeast risen dough. Supposedly a traditional way to use up absolutely all the bread dough. The dough had wine as well which was new too me. The name means something like husband blinders.

I must say my play dough skills are pretty rusty. But much closer to the picture in the book than my last experiment.

An excellent project for dealing with bad weather and stress. I would not make these when guests are waiting. Time consuming!

And cooking. They poof quite a bit. I almost think I should cook them in batches.

And a horrible photo of the final product. These were quite yummy.