My weekend experiments...

I am so happy to be back here with a good news.
My new batch of yogurt turned out amazing! It's thick and oh so yummyyy!



I have to thank Jennie for suggesting to let it set much longer because that is exactly what I did. I place it on closed heating vent and covered with blankets for most of the day (about 6-7 hours) When I went to check on it later it was still runny, I realized that since I am baking a lot in the kitchen, our heating stopped running, so I moved the yogurt on the top of the stove while the oven was cooling and left. An hour or so later, the yogurt was thick to the point that when I turned the jar sideways, the yogurt stayed in its place.
( Another friend suggested to place it on the top of the fridge towards the back, where it's nice and toasty. )



This morning I had the best yogurt ever.

So how about the bread?
I used the same recipe from Hanna for no-rise bread and made these buns. This time I used only white flour. They turned out great!



For the loaf of bread, I tried my mom's recipe or bread she made when I was little. I have so many memories of this bread baked in our house and me laying my head on the towel covered bread feeling how nice and warm it is.




Mom's bread

1 kg (6 cups) all-purpose flour
1 spoon of salt
3 tsp dry yeast
2 spoons of vinegar
6 dcl (2.5 cups) warm water
1 spoon of sugar
3 medium size boiled potatoes, shredded (I cooked them and used larger cheese shredder)

Add water, yeast and sugar, mix well, let sit for couple of minutes. Add flour, salt, potatoes, vinegar. Knead the dough (it will be light) and let it rise on the warm spot. (about an hour, or until it doubled in size) Spill out from bowl on the flour covered surface and knead some more, roll out a bit and fold, let rise again for about 20 minutes, repeat once more.
Create a oval shaped loaf and place on the flour covered baking sheet.
Bake on 200 C (390 F) for 15 minutes, then on 150 C (300 F) for 45 minutes
I used brush and brushed the loaf several times with water as it was baking, makes nice crust.

- now, I was lazy (I know I wish I didn't do this, but I wanted to be done faster) and only let the dough rise once (just to see if it would work anyway). It turned out OK, but it took much longer to bake. After 45 minutes, I had to raise the temp. on 200 C again and give it another half an hour or so. Also, I remember mom's bread being bigger. I learned my lesson... :(

Sewing Spring...

A whole lot is going on these days, but since I have been kicked by a creative/ sewing muse, I am spending every minute possible at my little sewing corner or in the kitchen.
So what did I do?

( I need to catch up with picture taking.)

- more mindless sewing
- baby quilt almost finished
- quilt top that was planned for a long time
- and another quilt top in progress

It still snows here and even more snow is expected, but I have been longing for spring for some time now. That is how this project started.

Can you find a dog in this picture?



I told you, I was busy...



I have found some new for me inspiring blogs that I would like to share. One of them (and the one I browsed all yesterday and this early morning) is Craftykin I found her through Mary Beth's post.
Hanna inspired me to bake my own bread and make my own yogurt yesterday.



For the bread, I used Hanna's no-rise recipe (look for it on her sidebar). I opted for 4 cups of white flour and 2 cups of whole wheat. Next time, I will try either much less wholewheat flour or none since it made a bread quite heavy.
For the yogurt, I am going to try it again. I know it is supposed to be runny compared to store bought yogurt, but how do I know if mine is too runny or not (reminds me consistency of a banana milk shake). Any thoughts?
Also, I read that sour taste of yogurt depends on how many hours it sits (3.5 hours less sour, 5 hours more sour). I am going to try this again and let it sit less hours to compare the taste.
I can't wait to try both o them again and find ways to make these regulars.

Also,
I have been nominated by my sister for a blog award.



I should pick another five blogs to pass this on. How can I do that? There is way too many gorgeous blogs in my reader.
maybe I can pick some that I was inspired by recently.
1. Craftykin, I don't think this one needs more explanation.
2. Salt and Chocolate, for making me hungry whenever I learn about another yummy recipe she tried.
3. Quilted Simple, for joining me in eliminating buying new fabric, so we can be using what we have
4. Bumble Beans, for inspiring me to play with color.
and
5. Sunflower Quilts, for reminding me that quilting/sewing with friends is much better.

Poor people food...

I was able to cook this weekend with the first fruits of this year's garden (of course, if I don't count radishes, those we are eating for weeks now...). I have planted about 15 kohlrabi plants and if you grew those before, you know it takes a while until the fruit is ready. However, there is plenty of kohlrabi leaves before that.
When I was little, my grandma use to make this meal every time my dad brought kohlrabi from garden or we bought some at the store. I think she developed this recipe in times when food was scarce and people were trying not to trow anything away. What do you do with the left over leaves?

"PODLUBKY"(I quess it was my Grandma who named it, it doesn't really mean anything, we can call it Kohlrabi greens thick soup....)
What would you need? (4 servings)

• 20 or more kohlrabi leaves
• approx. 10-15 slices of bacon, if you use thin sliced
  
• 2-4 cloves of garlic
• a little milk and flour
• salt, pepper, vegetable seasoning

Wash kohlrabi leaves and cut the main stem out.





Roll the leaves up and cut into half inch pieces.



Here you can see my compost bowl/ colander... everything that can, goes to compost around here...



Next dice bacon, and heat to crispy bacon pieces, then add kohlrabi. If you are vegetarian this could be substituted by onion and bit of olive oil.



Once, kohlrabi leaves are a little softer, add water (broth), so everything is covered.
Add garlic, seasonings and cook until soft for 20-30 minutes. Let it boil and then simmer.



While simmering add mixture of flour and milk (about 3 spoons of flour), just to thicken the soup), if you are used to thickening your soups somehow else, go ahead.

We eat this with egg - "sunny side up" on the top and bread, which is optional.
Use your imagination...
Enjoy!


This might not be that gourmet food that you want to make for your guest, but it is very tasty and also healthy. The most important it is super cheap and quick. Most of the people throw those leaves away.
If you never tried kohlrabi before, than all I can say is, "You should give them a try."

The two cornish hens...

I hope all of you had a great holidays in case you celebrated. We don't really celebrate it, but since we live in the U.S. we get kind of sucked in. I don't mind Thanksgiving because I really like the purpose of the holiday- eating- no I am just kidding. I think it is important to stop at least once a year, look back and give thanks. In Slovakia, we kind of do this on the New Years Eve (Silvester).



We all get a turkey at work from my two bosses. Last year I asked for two cornish hens instead. We are not too crazy about turkey at my house, so I felt like it would be a waste. In the past, I gave our turkey to the friends. I got my two cornish hens this year as well. The two cornish hens are perfect for us. Years ago, I found a simple and very tasteful recipe somewhere online (sorry don't have a link, it was seriously about 5-6 years ago). The whole recipe is very simple. It is cornish hen with sage and lemon. You melt the butter with dried sage and spread it with your hands all over the hen, also in between skin and meat. You stuffed cornish hen with more dried sage (you can also use fresh sage) and lemon. Bake and that's it!
For the side I used stuffing recipe from years ago too, but very similar to this except the brandy. It was just two of us since I was sick like a dog, but we had a nice day.



I had a lot of crafting plans for this prolonged weekend, but this time it was never ending flu that got in my way. I did some sewing anyway, but not even close to what I had planned.
I decided that since it is only about two weeks until I go home, I really need to focus on everything else that needs to get done. For some unexplained reason I am extremally stressed out about the whole thing. I need to put myself together somehow. Sigh.....



Also, I just recently joined a number 3 group of Sew Craft Blog. I like the idea of meeting new blogers. You can find links to the blogs in my group on the sidebar.

P.S.: On the pictures:
One of the quilts awaiting binding - in works.
Two pillows to match the quilt - in works.
Will post more later.

Black Bean Soup to warm up ....

Now that I am in the crunch to get everything done (handmade gifts, school projects, wrap up the season at work,...) I am digging in for my super easy fast recipes for meals at home. They need to be super easy and super fast and even better if I can use what I still have left from the garden.
This was the case with our dinner the other night. I had bunch of small peppers from the garden that I frantically picked all up the day before the first frost. They weren't the most beautiful little fellows, but hey, they taste great.
The Black Bean Soup is one of ours favorite anyway and perfect choice for cooler evenings.
This recipe was my starter and I've been using it for a while now, but I seem to change it every time I make the soup. My variations depend on what I have available at home. If I don't have carrots, I add corn or little bit of salsa. If I don't have cooked ham, I cut up what ever I have (sausage, hot dog, you name it...).
But the one main change to this recipe that I made is to use 2 cans of Organic Black beans as for the whole beans in the soup (We like it thick) and I add 1 can of refried black beans instead of messing with the blender.
Give me a handful of corn tortilla chips, spoon of sour cream and shredded cheese on the top and I am all set.
I forgot to take a picture of our fabulous , super easy and fast dinner. This were the left overs next day - we ran out of sour cream.