Time for Onions in Southeast Texas

A few of our raised beds that are home for Heirloom Tomatoes

We've been working the garden beds over since mid fall with green cover crops of peas and beans and agri- mustard being turned in to the soil. Layers of mulched leaves cover most of the garden as well as chicken poop and our homemade, rich and beautiful compost being worked in. 

The milestone of the organic garden is getting your soil nutrient rich as deep as possible. Earning some beneficial nematodes and earthworms takes a whole lot of shovel and wheelbarrow time. A lot of onions will be planted in the raised beds this year, as well as in other parts of the garden.

Our onion starts arrived on December 29th. They were shipped to us by Dixondale Farms located in Carrizo Springs Texas in only 2 days after they were ordered. Dixondale specializes in onions and have been in business since 1913. 

They have a fantastic planting guide to help you know exactly when to start your onions going by your zip code and then they help you determine which varieties are best for your area by mapping out an onion zone for the United States. 

We could have actually been planting our onions in mid December because of our zip code on the Gulf Coast. Because of being is such a severe drought for such a long time, we decided to hold on a bit for some rain. Our zone calls for growing the short day varieties of onions. 

However, this year we are experimenting a bit by ordering a couple intermediate day varieties as well. The storage is actually longer for intermediates so we thought we would at least try and see what they do. Our short day varieties keep stored for about 3 months. I'll keep you updated on the experiment. 

We also are planting Lancelot Leeks, which are not daylight sensitive and can be planted in any zone. They are so pretty in the garden mixed in with all the lovely spring blooming flowers. Leeks are fabulous to cook with and even better chopped up fresh in salads and summer time veggie dips!

This is a picture from the beginning of our 2009 harvest of onions laying out on the drying racks. We grew a few hundred that year. We have 600 or 800 to plant this year. 

The racks are located near the south side of the garden and get plenty of breeze to dry, but also sheltered by the little roof and by a few trees to keep the rain and sun off of them. 

The onions begin to finish up in May in time for the other vegetables to take over the garden. The drying racks will be used again for potato harvesting and I always seem to be throwing flower heads on them to dry for saving seed.

I'm so happy to be getting a chance to play in the garden again. I've been dreaming of the spring garden, going through catalogs and planning and ordering a few new heirlooms. It's a good time to be finding out your zones and not miss out on some sweet organic onions this year.

Happy Gardening!!

Pammy

Texas Pecan Yeast Bread

Texas Pecan Yeast Bread

This bread makes wonderful toast and sandwiches with a lot of variations. It's really delicious with a little homemade jam or honey on top. 

You can add a bit of cinnamon and nice big organic golden raisins to sweeten it up a bit. I just happened to hit the mother load on pecans this season and love them in bread. 

You'll enjoy this recipe because it's a pretty basic one that can be altered in many ways by combining different grains, seeds and even home milled legumes.

 I also use different organic oils as well, such as Sunflower, Sesame, Olive and Canola. The trick is to not add in all your flour at the beginning so you can adjust for the added in grains and such. 

The dough should always be sticky but not to the point of sticking to your fingers where it can't be kneaded well. Makes 2 loaves. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup warm water

1/2 cup dark brown sugar (can substitute with local raw honey or organic raw sugar)

1/3 cup unsalted butter (can substitute with an oil)

5 1/2 to 6 cups unbleached bread flour (can substitute one cup for fresh milled wheat, bran or legumes)

1 cup organic whole oats

1 cup finely crushed pecans

1 tsp. sea salt

4 tsp. active dry yeast

2 nice large eggs from the hen house or cage free

Directions

Take the water, brown sugar and butter and put in a small glass bowl for the microwave. Heat about a minute and stir, then heat one more minute. Leave it to stay warm in the microwave while you prepare the other ingredients. (Optional: if you want to add raisins let them heat in the microwave in this bowl. It helps them swell a bit and makes a little raisin juice that's yummy)

You will need the dough hook and mixing bowl for this part. 

First put in the one cup of oats. Next add 5 cups of flour (Remember, that you can substitute one of the 5 cups for another milled grain like wheat or legume) add salt and yeast. I use a hand wire whisk and whisk it all together, then place the bowl on the stand with the dough hook. (If your adding cinnamon or any other seeds or spices this is the place to do it.) 

Take your small bowl out of the microwave and test it to be sure it's not hotter than luke warm and the butter and sugar is stirred well and melted. Pour the wet mixture in with your dry ingredients. Mix about a minute with the dough hook on speed two and turn it back off. 

Add the two eggs and turn it back on the second speed. When the dough becomes well combined and begins to pull away from the hook, check it with your finger to see how sticky it is. I will usually add 1/4 more flour here and then test it again. 

If it still feels to sticky I will add one more 1/4 cup. Pour it out of the bowl and knead the dough for a minute or so to make sure everything is worked in well. Lightly oil another big bowl and put the dough in, turning the ball around in the bowl to lightly oil the whole thing. Cover with plastic wrap or a cotton towel and set it in a warm place to rise. Usually about an hour until it is double in bulk.

Next, pour the raised dough onto a lightly floured surface. Pat it out and divide the dough in half. Roll each half into a loaf and place in the slightly oiled loaf pans with the seam side down. Tuck under your ends a bit. I take a small bit of milk and brush the tops and pat on oats or seeds. 

Again, cover with plastic wrap or a towel in a warm place to allow to rise double in size. Bake for about 20 to 30 minutes on 400. You will know when the bread is done by tapping it on the bottom of the loaf. If it sounds a bit hallow it is complete. Cool on a wire rack.

This is another variation using Home Milled Brown Lentils and Golden Flax Seed

Happy Gardening!!

Pammy

Southern Pecan Banana Bread

This is an Old Southern recipe that is almost like cake but certainly bread. I always make extra to put up in the freezer for later. It's very simple and quick to prepare. Pecans are one of the main nut trees that grows so well in Texas. They are gorgeous tall stately trees that reward us with plenty of much needed shade in our hot summer weather.

Preheat your oven to 325

1/2 cup butter softened
1 cup of sugar
2 eggs, fresh farm raised if possible
1 cup bananas, ripe and mashed up
2 cups all-purpose flour (unbleached is preferred)
pinch of salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/3 cup warm water
1/2 cup chopped pecans ( I get them fresh from the farmers market as halves, place them in a ziplock bag and run my rolling pin over them)

Blend butter, sugar, eggs and mashed bananas until smooth. In a separate bowl mix together with wire whisk your flour, salt and baking soda. Add your dry ingredients to your banana mixture alternating in with your warm water. Stir in the Pecans and divide into 2 lightly oiled loaf pans. Bake for at least one hour. Check the center with a toothpick. When it comes out clean the bread is done. This old fashioned bread will crack at the top. It is so beautiful and the aroma will fill your kitchen. Cool pans a bit before removing them from the pans. Let them finish cooling on a wire rack.



Oh the Lazy Hot Days of a Texas Summer!!
Happy Gardening!!
Pammy

Heirloom Pumpkin And Raisin Yeast Bread

Fall is absolutely my favorite time of the year! It gets pumpkin crazy around our home as the baking begins. 

My very favorite pumpkins are all the glorious heirloom pumpkins. The many different shapes and colors of heirloom pumpkins are pure natural art from the earth.

My favorite pumpkin above all other pumpkins to bake with is the Jarrahdale. They have the richest and creamiest orange flesh with absolutely no strings inside. They have a mild, nutty, sweet flavor and perfect for pies.

The Jarrahdale is actually a winter squash, Cucurbita maxima, an Australian heirloom. 

They grow great in the garden, however we do have our fair share of squash borers in the south that can be quite hard to deal with. Reoccurring droughts make it difficult as well.

I always get asked by people what I plan to do with them. I’m sure my grin is from ear to ear when I tell them I’m gonna to bake with them. 

They always looked shocked and quite puzzled. Oh if they only knew what wondrous things can be made with them. 

This bread is great for toast and especially good for sandwich making when you begin to have those left over ham and turkeys during the holiday season.

Ingredients

1/2 cup warm water

2/3 cup warm milk

2 tbsp organic sunflower oil

2 farm fresh eggs room temperature

1 1/2 cups pureed fresh pumpkin

5 1/2 cup organic unbleached flour

1 cup organic wheat bran

4 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

1/2 cup brown sugar or raw organic pure can sugar

2 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp ground ginger

3/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 cup organic plump golden raisins

2 tbsp flax seed plus extra for topping

3 tbsp raw organic sunflower seeds

Instructions

1. In a small sauce pan, combine the water, milk, oil, brown sugar and raisins. Heat until nice and warm, but not hot. Set aside and allow raisins to soak. Stir to make sure sugar has dissolved.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, wheat bran, yeast, flax and sunflower seeds, salt and spices, Whisk together well.
3. Place dough hook on mixer with dry ingredients first. Add your small bowl of liquid ingredients and begin mixing on 2nd speed, add eggs and pumpkin and continue on 2nd speed until well combined. 
4. The dough for this bread is very sticky. It allows for the bread to be moist and fluffy. Oil a bowl and place dough and cover to let rise in a warm place until double in bulk.
5. On a well floured surface pour out dough and divide in half. Work out gas bubbles and roll into a good square and then roll up into a loaf to place in your pans. Brush the top with egg white and sprinkle on flax seeds. Makes two loaves. Cover and let rise about an hour. Bake at 375 degrees for about 40 to 50 minutes. You can tell if your bread is done when you turn it out of the pan and you tap on the bottom of the loaf and it sounds hollow.

Happy Gardening!

Pammy

Homemade Honey Graham Crackers

You may have just thought you loved graham crackers! Try to imagine them made from scratch! AND without that long list of ingredients unknown on the back of a store bought box!

This recipe is actually a little flexible...which I LOVE!! I'm thinking I may just make them a little different at Christmas thyme to build a Gingerbread House! Just add a little ginger!!

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups organic unbleached flour
1 cup organic whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup graham flour, or wheat bran
good pinch of kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup unsalted organic butter, softened (2 sticks)
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
3 to 4 tbsp. local raw honey

Directions

Add all the dry ingredients to a large bowl and whisk together. In a separate bowl add the butter, brown sugar and honey and whip with your mixer. 

Add the dry ingredients to your butter mixture and stir with a wooden spoon just until it begins to lump together. Next, simply dump out your bowl onto a lightly floured surface. Squeeze it together until it forms a nice little dough ball.

Divide the dough into four parts. Take one part at a time and roll it out in between a couple of sheets of parchment paper until it is about 1/8 of an inch thick. Use a pizza cutter and cut your graham cracker squares or rectangles.

Slide the whole thing onto a cookie sheet and place it in the freezer for about 30 minutes.

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.

Take your tray out of the freezer and make holes with a fork, just like you see when you buy a box.

It was taking exactly 9 minutes in my oven. Not one minute more! They are still quite soft when you take them out. I simply let them cool on my wire rack and they firm the cooler they get. Although...we had quite a bit of a treat eating some warm out of the oven with a little cold milk.

This was another great project to share with my grandchildren. They just never know what to think about all that dough on their fingers. 

Happy Homesteading!

Pammy

Sweet and Spicy Pickled Baby Okra

This is the quick version of pickled okra. These go straight up into the refrigerator. In just about one week they should have marinated just right to start munching. 

The recipe is really just a matter of taste. I like mine spicy, but I always love just a bit of sweet to balance out those hot peppers. 

Recipe

(For two or three pint jars)

Brine: 3 cups 5% distilled white vinegar to 1 cup distilled water. 2 Tablespoons of Kocher Salt.  Bring this to a boil on the stove in a stainless or non reactive pot, just until the salt has dissolved. 

In the meantime you can gather and prepare the other ingredients. Have your mason jars and lids sterilized and ready to go.

Per jar I used:

2 thinly sliced garlic cloves, 

1 very small dried hot petite red pepper crushed, 

Good Pinch of Celery Seed

1/2 tsp. Black Peppercorns

1/2 tsp. Black Mustard Seed

Good Pinch Organic Raw Pure Cane Sugar

Some Sprigs of Fresh Dill Weed (You can use seed too)

Baby Okra

Go ahead and put all of the above in each mason jar. Then you can begin arranging your baby okra. Make sure you have washed it and trimmed your stem a little. 

I know I don't always have exact measurements for everything I do. But like I mentioned before, it is really a matter of taste.

It always looks pretty when you can alternate the okra in the jar. Although it is not always easy when using the baby okra. 

Pour the brine over the ingredients and leave a little head space. You just want to be sure all of the okra is covered, but the brine isn't to close to the rim. 

Put your lids on and let it cool down before you place the jars into the refrigerator. 

I always enjoy putting a couple of these up in the fridge and some for the pantry too. For the pantry they will require a hot water bath and plenty of baby okra to make it worth your time. 

The refrigerated version will last up to 6 months in the fridge. But they should be long ate before all that. It's a southern thing!!

My Okra Patch

Happy Gardening!

Pammy

Putting Up The Sweets Canning Watermelon Jam

Watermelon Jam

My goodness this is so Good!! I'd been searching for ways to save and preserve for quite awhile as I've watched our watermelon patch go crazy this year. Watermelons are everywhere out there and my mind was racing with thoughts of making this a valuable food source during those winter months. 

Of course many of you have already heard about my Popsicle craze. Let me tell you tho...my Granddaughter absolutely loves them! I got even more creative and blended dewberries in them that I had put up in the freezer from some earlier spring pickings. Then I blended some Plain Whole Greek God Yogurt in them with a little squirt of Agave Nectar. 

Now I need to buy more molds! I know I could make my own, but the Grands love the sippy straws and frankly so do I because of the melt drips. What a easy fun way to preserve summers delights. 

Sweet Jubilee 

So I decided to go a step further with canning up the watermelon jam. I found a whole bunch of recipes for making it several places, but the most trustworthy one I found at Food In Jars. After reading how they made it and all of the comments that fans had posted I felt sure I could do this.

I did not find the need to alter it in anyway what so ever. Although I kind of chuckled when I read comments from people who wasn't looking for the Watermelon Jolly Rancher Candy flavor. All I could think was if I could actually achieve that candy flavor in a jar my family would be extremely happy. Who doesn't love Watermelon Jolly Rancher Candy in the South? 

I'm going to go ahead and give you the run down on the basic recipe, but I did do a couple of things to try to guarantee a decent good set for this jam. 

First, make sure you have a candy thermometer or even a meat thermometer will work as long as the temperature goes up to 220 degrees. That is the peek of perfection for the jam.

I still put two saucers in the freezer. The reason for this is to test the jam before you remove it from the heat. 

Once the jam reaches the 220 degree mark, grab a saucer out of the freezer and put a spoonful in the middle of the dish. Watch what it does, if it is really runny let the jam boil a little longer. Then test it again with your second saucer. If it begins to jell up it is done.

 This was also my opportunity to taste it while I stuck my finger in it on the saucer. YUM!!

Have some fun with varieties of heirloom colored flesh too!

The Basic Recipe

Makes 5 to 6 Half pint jars

6 cups pureed watermelon (remove any seeds prior to pureeing)
5 cups white sugar
6 tablespoons bottled lemon juice
1 packet powdered pectin

Be sure to use the powdered pectin. After all the research I did, I had seen many caners having problems trying to use liquid pectin.

You really don't want to cut back on the sugar here. That is what helps it thicken and preserve it. I made mine in 1/2 pint jars because this jam is going to be considered a treat for special occasions. I can see it making an awesome dipping sauce combined with some other ingredients to use for dipping homemade egg rolls. 

Directions

Prepare your canning jars and lids. Canning jars should be boiled and bands and lids in hot water, just to before it reaches boil.

Crack open that watermelon and start in the middle section where there are less seeds. Cut out chunks and put them in a large bowl to get ready to blend it up in either a food processor or blender. 

Make sure you take out all of the seeds as you get nearer the rind where they are usually plentiful. After it is all blended measure out the 6 cups needed into your non reactive pot.

Note: Do not double this recipe and actually the wider your stainless steel pot is the better it will cook. 

In a large bowl whisk together the sugar and the pectin. Add this to your pot along with the lemon juice. 

Bring to a good rolling boil. It took mine almost 30 minutes to reach 220 degrees. It seemed as though it wanted to stay at around 117 degrees for quite awhile, but you can see the difference in the reaction of the boil when it reached the mark.Next time I probably won't need to use the thermometer after seeing what it does.

Do your frozen saucer test before you remove it from the heat. Do two saucer tests if need be. Once it has jelled on the saucer it is done. Fill your jars. Make sure you wipe the rims clean with a paper towel and then put on the lids and screw bands. 

Place the jars in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.

Give this a chance to fully set. Sometimes it can take up to one or two weeks before it is fully set. So patients are needed while waiting.

Happy Gardening and Happy Preserving!!

Pammy