Homemade maple syrup

The weather in Michigan is perfect for gathering sugar maple sap. When the nights are cold, and the days are warm, it’s perfect because the sap freezes at night, then melts and flows during the day. I have tapped only three sugar maples, making sure that they were hard maples, not soft. The reason for just tapping three trees was because I just won’t have the time to collect and boil down a lot of sap.
So far, I have collected four gallons of sap. By this weekend, I hope to have about fifteen gallons of sap. I’m not sure how much maple syrup this will produce. I’m guessing that I might get two or three pints of maple syrup!The process of tapping the sugar maple trees is very easy. You only need a small drill, tubing, taps, wire, and of course...sugar maples!

It's spring...I think...

Spring has come early to Marquette Michigan and I absolutely love it. I have been going on walks through Presque Isle Park every day. Taking a walk outside while the sun is shining, and the robins are singing is one of my most enjoyable pastimes. The same goes for my walks in Houghton. I recently found this beautiful cedar swamp that looks unexplored. It seems like it has a lot of potential for some good plant diversity. I can’t wait for more of the spring flora to start growing. There is a strong chance that I will find some lady slipper orchids in this cedar swamp! When and if I find some of these orchids, I will post pictures of them on my blog.

Anyways, I took some pictures of what I thought portray an early Michigan spring.

(Picture 1) In the spring, my family mixes grass clipping and compost remains into our garden. It doesn’t really look that nice, but the compost really helps the vegetables grow.

(Picture 2) When the snow melts, it’s amazing what you notice. I have walked this same trail for years, and just happened to notice this tire chilling in a log. It looks really old. I wonder how old?

(Picture 3) These are so pretty. I love pussy willows. They make really beautiful decorations!

I baked the best bread!

So, I have been trying to experiment with Peter Reinhart’s different bread recipes from the “Bread Bakers Apprentice” book. Today I made Anadama Bread and my friends and family loved it.

Anadama Bread
Ingredients:

8 oz. cornmeal
8 oz. water
15.25 oz. bread flour
5 oz. whole wheat flour
.22 oz. instant yeast
8 oz. lukewarm water
.38 oz. salt
4 oz. molasses
1 oz. room temperature butter
4 oz. dried wild blue berries
4 oz. raisins

The night before I made the bread, I mixed 8 oz each of cornmeal and water, covered it, and let it sit over night. The next morning, I made a soaker by mixing the yeast, lukewarm water, and half of the bread flour. This mixture sat for 1 ½ hours, until it started to form bubbles. I added the remaining ingredients to this mixture and then kneaded the bread for 12 minutes. Once the kneading was complete, the dough had to sit for another 1 ½ hours. I then gently formed the dough into a loaf, and eight small rolls. I placed the loaf and rolls onto a greased baking pan, lightly oiled the dough, and covered it with plastic wrap, and let it sit for another 1 ½ hours. I preheated the oven to 350°F, and bake the bread for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.

If you are looking for a lightly sweet snack or breakfast, this is perfect for you. I ate one of these rolls (4 oz.) and it kept me full for four hours. This was a really fun project, and there are so many different flavoring ingredients you can experiment with in this recipe. The possibilities are endless!!

What should I make for dinner?

On a cold spring day, the only kind of food that sounds good to me is soup. After a long day of class and work, I just can’t wait to get back to my apartment and relax with a hot bowl of soup, a dinner roll, and a great cup of coffee.

I don’t have a lot of money to spend on groceries so I try to think of healthy inexpensive soups that will feed my sister and me for a few days. On Sunday, I made “Ham, Lentil, and Bean Soup”. I chose these ingredients because they were what I had laying around. The only ingredient I had to purchase for the meal was the ham.

“Ham, Bean, Lentil Soup”-

Ingredients:

2 c. diced ham

6 to 8 c. water

2 ½ c. cooked lentils

1 c. cooked northern white beans

1 c. cooked black beans

2 c. chopped carrots

1 ½ c. chopped celery

1 c. diced onion

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pepper

2 tsp. sugar (optional)

Let the beans and lentils soak overnight. The next day, add all of the ingredients to a large pot and bring to a boil. Once the soup starts to boil, reduce the heat and allow it to simmer for about 20 minutes or until the celery and carrots are tender.

The great thing about soup is that after a few days of sitting in the refrigerator, it has more flavor and has lasts a long time!

If anyone has any inexpensive meal ideas, I would love some ideas.

I love growing Arugula

In the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the winters are really long and the growing seasons are short. My apartment has a huge window that allows plenty of sunlight in, so.…I decided to take advantage of this. A week and a half ago I started to grow a small container garden. I chose hardy, fast growing plants so I would see quick results J I’m growing arugula, chives, and parsley.

The arugula is great and by far my favorite! After only three days, the seeds germinated. Supposedly, arugula prefers soil temperatures that range from 40 to 50 degrees F, and likes semi shaded areas. My apartment is a lot warmer than 40 degrees, but the arugula seems to like it. Also, arugula only takes 30 days to mature. If you plan to eat arugula, you need to do so while its young, because it gets very bitter and strong flavored as it matures.

With the arugula I plan to just add it to a salad. I will make a new post on my blog with details about the kind of salad I plan to make.

"The Bread Bakers Apprentice"

I recently purchased this book in Salt Lake City and I absolutely love it! Before I read this book, I didn't know a lot about the technical and scientific side to baking breads. Peter Reinhart used the first 100pages of this book to discuss the different stages that bread has to go through in order get the most flavor and the best texture from the grain. He give a short history lesson with each of the different recipes, which really liked :)

Overall, If you are looking to become a more experienced and knowledgeable bread baker, I highly recommend you get this book. This book offers you soooo much more than the recipes! After reading the book, Peter Reinhart has made me just as passionate about bread baking as himself.

First time with the new blog...

I have been meaning to start a blog for awhile. Recently I have had a lot of time on my hands, because I'm only taking 13credits :) Sometimes I have so many great thoughts as to what I want to do, whether it be baking, crafts, gardening, a good book to read, or a new restaurant I want to investigate. I just feel that a blog is a good way to help me organize my thoughts and experiences. I hope my future blog followers enjoy reading and learning from my blog posts!