I've been subscribing to the blog of the authors of "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day". I've been making their recipe for a simple crusty bread for a while.

They have a new book out - "Heathy Bread in 5 minutes" and they recently wrote about their Whole Grain Master Recipe. I have been trying to increase the amount of whole grains in our diet and this would be a perfect addition. The secret ingredient is Vital Wheat Gluten.

I was grocery shopping this weekend and my grocer had a great sale on organic Whole Wheat flour from Bob's Red Mill - $2.50 for 5 lbs. They also had the wheat gluten but it was not as inexpensive - $7/bag. Fortunately - it should go a long way since it only uses a couple of tablespoons.

I made the bread this weekend and it is super easy to make. You mix the dry ingredients first and then pour in the water. It takes a bit longer to rest after removing from the refrigerator - 90 minutes instead of 40 minutes. Otherwise, the methods are very similar. I cut the recipe in 1/2 and it made two nice loaves. I also reduced the amount of yeast and salt by 1/3 and it was fine - even in my cold kitchen.

It is very tasty and filling. It had a moist crumb and firm crust. The two of us were not able to finish the loaf like we are the white variety. We can't resist the softer white bread - especially with olive oil. But it was perfect with soup on a cold rainy night.

If you want to try it yourself - check out their blog - Healthy Bread in 5 minutes.

Ingredients

Finished rising and out of the refrigerator

Shaped loaf resting before baking

Ready for the oven

Wanna slice?

Last weekend, I made Dutch Baby Pancakes. They were oh-so-good but I wanted to try another recipe for traditional pancakes.

Some people call them hotcakes or flapjacks. I can not remember exactly what my Mother called them. I think she called them hotcakes. She would make them on occasion. I don't remember any particular recipe. Actually, I think she used Bisquick.

I used Bisquick for a bit and later tried a variety of different mixes. One was the local mix from one of our famous Breakfast locations - Snoqualmie Lodge. These are both okay but not my favorite. Another mix that I used to use is from Bette's Diner in Berkeley. The Buckwheat mix is still one of my favorites for waffles. I just can't find it in my local stores any longer.

But there really is no reason to use a mix. It is also comforting to make from scratch and only use a few fresh ingredients - milk, eggs, flour and leavening agent like baking powder. Instead of a long list of mysterious ingredients listed on the mixes. The key is how you mix the ingredients. You do not want to over mix the batter. The second trick is to figure out how hot to have your pan or griddle. That just takes time and experience.

Maya of The Many Walks of Maya posted comment on my Dutch Baby post about Bill's Ricotta Hotcakes. Bill Granger is a well known Australia chef who owns several restaurants in the Sydney area. He is known for the Ricotta hotcakes. Maya blogged about them a couple of months back on her blog.

I just happened to have some ricotta and made them this weekend. They were excellent. The ricotta makes them very tender. The flavor is very slight but very yummy. They are traditionally served with a butter honeycomb but I choose to serve them with loads of butter and warm maple syrup. Excellent.

For the recipe - pop over to Maya's blog and check it out. - Hotcakes

This week's photohunt theme is music. I was surprised that I didn't have more pictures applicable to this theme but I only found a few. I decided to go with this photo of two street musicians in Menton France. They set up late one afternoon at a small plaza on Rue Saint Michel. We were sitting at a small cafe relaxing after a day of siteseeing. You could tell the two men loved making and sharing music. It was lovely.

Last week, I made these Buttermilk Pancakes. I was very doubtful about using sour cream in addition to the buttermilk, but they were the best! The batter was very thick but they cooked up very high and fluffy. These are a definitely keeper.

This week I wanted to try something different. I remembered Dutch Baby Pancakes that I used to frequently make but haven't had for several years. I never came across these in California but they seemed very popular here in the Northwest. They are a specialty of The Original Pancake House in Portland and sometimes also called German Pancakes. I have an old recipe from Sunset Magazine that I've used over the years.

The pancake is similar to Yorkshire pudding or popovers. A thin batter of eggs, milk and flour are poured in to a pan with hot melted butter. Baked in a hot oven for 20-25 minutes and magic happens. Sometimes they are cooked with sauteed apples or flavored with vanilla and cinnamon. I like mine plain with cooked fruit and warm maple syrup. I had some poached pears - it was delish!

Here's recipe and pictures follow:

Dutch Baby Pancakes

1/4 cup Butter
3 eggs
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup flour

Heat oven to 425 degrees. While oven is heating, put eggs in blender and blend for 1 minute. With motor running, pour in milk, then slowly add flour whirling 30 seconds more. Put butter in a 2-3 quart heavy pan such as a 10" cast iron pan. Put oven in pan. When butter has melted, add the egg/milk batter. Bake until puffy and well browned approximately 20-25 minutes.

Serve immediately. Serves 2 people.

Old recipe card

Poached Pears

Batter in the oven

Quick - it is falling!

Local Vietnam Veterans group - Edmonds 4th of July Parade

This week's photohunt is Veterans or Military. And a very appropriate choice to start November. November 11th is a day to commemorate the sacrifices of members of the armed forces and of civilians in times of war. In the US, it is Veterans Day; in the UK, Canada, Australia and other countries in the Commonweath of Nation, it is Remembrance Day; in several other countries it is known as Armistice Day.

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, war ceased on the Western Front during World War I. Since that time, many countries have taken time on November 11th to recognize the sacrifices of the soldiers during war.

In my hunt, I came across these pictures from the 4th of July parade in Edmonds.

A friend call last week and asked if we wanted to go hiking on Sunday. Sure! I had read several good reports about Boulder River,. a low elevation hike near Darrington. It starts at about 1,000ft and only gains 600 feet over four miles. The low elevation makes it a good hike for late or early in the season.

We checked the forecast and it looked pretty good. Sunday rolled around and I checked the weather radar in the morning. There were showers all along the highway from Arlington to Darrington but the forecast was still for clearing and no rain. We packed our rain gear just in case, dressed in warm clothing and headed out.

It was easy and beautiful drive through the farm fields and along the Stillagaumish River to the trail head. The drive was lined with big leaf maples and alders that were still wearing their yellow end-of-the-season leaves. We turned off at French Creek Road - FS 2010. The trees were still dripping from the morning showers and the potholes were filled to the rim with water. I dodged the pot holes the best way I could although we did hit several. After a short 3 1/2 miles, we arrived at the trail head.

The beautiful scent of cedar overwhelmed us as we opened the car doors. We had parked in a group of old cedar trees. We laced up the boots and headed down the trail. One side was lined with tall mossy fern-covered rocky cliff. On the other side, Boulder River roared in the distance. The bright sun rays cut the mist and made the forest look heavenly. The path was covered with huge big leaf maple leaves the size of two large hands. Water dripped from moss laden trees.

The sound of the river became louder. At about 1 1/4 miles, we came to a beautiful waterfall. We continued on walking - in and out of the fog and sun. After about 2 miles, we decided to stop at an sunny cliff and have our lunch.

The sun was getting lower. We had just turned our clocks back the previous night and we realized how quickly dark was coming. We returned to the car and headed back. The late afternoon sun turned the area golden and we had to make one more stop along the Stillaguamish River before heading back to civilization.

More details - WTA Boulder River

Rainier Summit Climb 2004 - sitting on their bags at a break

This week's Photohunt theme is bags. This was really difficult for me. I am not a shopper so I don't have a lot of pictures of shopping bags. I thought for a bit about doing a picture of my luggage bag but that seemed a little.. well let's say... boring. So I had to do a lot of hunting to finally come up with the idea of a backpack. It is a bag - a bag for your camping and climbing gear that you carry on your back.

My husband climbed Mt. Rainier in 2003 and he spent a lot of time carrying a backpack training for his climb. The training all paid off and he was able to summit.

The pack is very necessary on the climb - it can be a seat as pictured above but more importantly, it is used to carry first aid kit, food, water and clothing - all items that can help you survive.

Here are some more pictures from the climb. (Full disclosure - not all of these pictures are mine - part are taken by my husband since I didn't do the climb).

Packing his gear the night before the climb

All the bags (packs) lined up before starting the climb

Accessing their bags during a break

Ice axe helps to balance with the load of the bag

Happy at the summit

The seasons are changing. We are moving into Fall and I have started cooking fall themed meals. I picked up some broccoli this week and smiled when I remembered this was a vegetable I detested when I was growing up.

I was so fussy with the vegetables that I would eat when I was growing up. My earliest memories are of nothing but canned. Yes, that is right - we ate mainly canned vegetables. Our house was build around 1920 and we had built in cabinets in the kitchen. These were stocked with canned food. It was a quartet of 4 main vegetables; peas, corn, green beans, and carrots. Peas were pretty straightforward but the canned corn came in a wide variation of styles. Yellow, White which was called shoepeg, creamed and mexi-corn. Creamed was one of our favorites. I have no idea exactly how it was made but I suspect it was really crushed corn and no cream was to be found. I remember visiting one of my aunts one summer in Oregon and she served real creamed corn and I was amazed. We all lapped it up. Here is a recipe from Mark Bitten for real creamed corn.

Green beans were usually cut or french style green beans. I loved the french style green beans. Sometimes my mother would cook up some bacon and combine it with the green beans. Canned carrots were pretty straightforward. I remember they later introduced 'crinkle cut' carrots but it really wasn't anything different from the standard sliced carrots.

It was in the mid-60's that our family discovered frozen vegetable. Wow - what a change from the mushy salty canned vegetables. Peas were so different and frozen peas quickly came a favorite over canned. We also really liked the Birds Eye rice dishes. They had these different frozen rice dishes in pouches that you would boil and serve. They were very tasty. We eventually moved mostly to frozen vegetables.

But we rarely ate fresh vegetables beyond lettuce. I know a lot had to do with my refusing to eat other types of vegetables. My mother would cook asparagus, zucchini, broccoli and cauliflower but I refused to eat them. They were mostly boiled but a few she would cook up in a sauce with cheese - I still wouldn't eat them. It was a shame because I grew up near the best location for fresh asparagus. Every spring my parents friends and neighbors would bring crates of beautiful fresh asparagus. My parents would eat it boiled up and served with a dollop of mayonnaise. I hated it - or thought I did. My mother would even blanche it and freeze it so she would have it later in the season. Today I will love to get a crate of fresh asparagus from the California central valley,

Corn on the cob was one vegetable that we ate fresh. I loved it and ate lots in the summer. It was very inexpensive in the central valley of California and had it at least once a week. We also occasionally had fresh carrots. There was one different vegetable that I would eat - turnips! My mother would peel, slice and boil them. I love turnips - even raw. I especially love them boiled with slabs of butter or in a beef stew. I rarely eat them now. I need to put them on my grocery list because they are a great vegetable for fall and winter.

When I married G, I learned that he mostly ate salads. He occasionally ate similar canned vegetables but nothing different. But one day, he brought home some broccoli from a botany class and wanted me to cook it. Eek! I had no idea what to do. I think I boiled it and we both discovered it wasn't that bad. Soon we were having broccoli.

Now, we love most vegetables. I discovered fresh green beans in college and sugar snap peas when we started our first vegetable garden. I have rarely purchased canned vegetables in the past 20 years. Majority is always fresh and if possible purchased from local farmers.

There are a few that I still struggle eating. I don't like cooked leaf vegetables - spinach, swiss chard, kale. G likes them but I still just gag....

One of hidden gardens gems of Seattle is Kubota Gardens. Located on 20 acres in South Seattle, the garden is a testament to the endurance of Japanese immigrants and over 50 years of loving labor. The gardens were design by Fujitaro Kubota. He immigrated to the United States in 1907 and started his gardening business in 1923. He designed and planted Japanese style gardens for families here in the Seattle area. In 1927, he bought 5 acres of swamp land off in Rainier Valley and started his dream. Over the years he was able to expand the gardens to 20 acres by the time of his death in 1973. In 1981, the garden was declared a city landmark and in 1987 the city purchased the land. Today, the city continues to maintain and expand the park.

I don't know why we had never visited the gardens before. We knew of the gardens from our friends but never made the time to visit. It is easy to get to and well signed from the Marginal Way exit on I-5.

This year has been outstanding for fall color. The summer was hot enough for the leaves to store ample amount of glucose creating strong reds and yellow as the plants shut down for winter. The Fall is an excellent time to visit. We found a riot of colors throughout the garden.

For more on this history - Kubota Gardens from HistoryLink.org
Directions and information - Kubota Gardens website.

This week's photohunt is tied. Nothing much came to mind with this theme. I found these recent pictures from the Ballard Market with tied bunches of green onions that I liked. I also played around with it and did a little photoshop modification. It is subtle but I like using the Poster edges tool.

Have a great weekend.

Tied bunches of carrots

Busy day at the market

I was looking in the freezer the other day and noticed that I had two packages of frozen fresh cranberries. I froze them last year when we had the snow and were not able to have our friends over for dinner. I had no appetite for cranberries during the summer but now that Fall has arrived - I'm more interested in cooking with cranberries.

I knew that G and I would not eat a full cranberry tart. I wanted something a bit smaller. I did not feel like cranberry bread either.

I recently started following Savory Sweet Life on Twitter. I was looking at her blog and came across a wonderful recipe for Cranberry Apple Crisp. We love crisps. Apples and cranberries also sounded like interesting and seasonal combination. I was also intrigured with the idea of cooking the cranberries in orange juice before combining with the apples.

I cut the recipe in half and put it in a souffle pan instead of a 9x13 pan. I still cooked it 45 minutes and it turned out perfect. Definitely serve it with ice cream since it is a little tart from the cranberries and the ice cream balances the sweetness.

Fresh cranberries

Boiled down with orange juice

Apples and cranberries combined before topping

The garden reflected in raindrops on Salvia mexicana

This week's photohunt is a free week - we get to share the photo of our choice.

I woke up to a hard rain on the roof. The forecast was for a storm of tropical moisture. It was warm but wet. It was just the type where you wanted to pull the covers over your head and sleep - which I did.

The rest of the day was very low keyed. I shuffled around and read a bit. I watched a large flock of robins land on the lawn overjoyed by the rain and a new source of food. Tug - tug - they got another worm. The raccoons enjoyed the new stream behind out house that the country had just completed their once-every-10-year cut back.

The gray lightened and I noticed that the rain had stopped. The leaves out the window were covered with sparkling rain drops. I grabbed my camera and here are a few of the shots from a rainy fall day.

Last of the tomatoes

We started another crop of snap peas at the end of July which have done terrible. They got to about 1 foot and then died. When we pulled them out we noticed that there were no root hairs so we were able to diagnosis that they have Pea Fusarium Wilt. This explains why we had such a poor crop earlier. It is soil born so we will rotate where we plant the peas to another bed next year. There are no varieties of sugar snap that are resistant so we may change to either snow peas or regular English shelling peas next year. It is so disappointing because I love sugar snaps.

We started another crop of lettuce which is still growing. We have harvested several heads in September and October from an early August sowing. We are just waiting for the first strong frost which may be any day now. We also grew another set of radishes but had to pull them out because they got too large. We were not eating them. But we did learn that the problem we had with our earlier crop being too pithy was because of lack of water.

The carrots are still in the ground. We can leave them for a while more since they will tolerate the freeze.

The cucumbers ended around the end of July. They produce a lot at once and then they are finished. One or two of our plants wilted and I'm not certain what caused that. The squash lasted until mid-September although the production had slowed down especially since we were not harvesting. I did not like the varieties we choose this year although one was pretty good. We may try another variety next year and go back to at least one patty pan which did well for us last year.

We took down our green beans earlier this week. There were a lot of beans still on the trellises. They were no longer any good for using as green beans since they had gotten tough from the cooler weather. I was leaving them on for fresh shelling beans and dried beans. Part of the beans pods had dried and were yellow. These produced about 1 cup of dried white beans. Most were small like navy beans but a few were bigger white kidney beans. I am saving these for a soup in the upcoming days.

The rest of the green beans I snapped to look for larger green shelling beans. This was a tough job. Most of them were still too young to have plump beans. These I just tossed into the compost but I was able to get a good bunch that I could split open like a pea pod and extract the younger shelling beans. I got about 2 cups that I boiled up with garlic and sage. It only takes about 20 minutes boiling to soften these beans and then I pour in a good flavored olive oil. They make a great side dish. I had them with lightly breaded rock fish.

I would love to grow more romano style. Helga variety which have grown the past two years seem to go to seed pretty fast. The seeds are great because they are large white kidneys but it shortens out usage of the romano green pod. I may look around for another type such as Musica next year. I would love to find Gold Marie again which is a yellow romano. We will definitely grow a bed of the bush haricot verts again. Maxibel is great.

The tomatoes plants lasted until after the beginning of October. The ones in the drive way went first - around mid-September - especially the determinates. I canned 2 dozen pint jars and then I was able to freeze about 4 quarts. I still have two large trays in the cool downstairs that I am using to cook with and serve with mozzarella. I suspect we'll eat our last fresh tomato next week.

End of September in the Garden

Mid October - just lettuce and carrots left

End of the Green Beans

Some produced wonderful white kidney beans

All the greens beans - yellow had dried beans and about a third produced fresh beans similar to those seen above.

One of the Fall joys in the Northwest is the opportunity to see the beautiful sub-alpine larch trees turn brilliant gold. If you are lucky, you can catch them on a crisp clear day where the gold blazes against the blue sky.

The weather cooperated this year and yesterday we drove up to Washington Pass to hike to Blue Lake. The big leaf maples were turning along the road as we drove along the Sauk River and as we climbed higher, the vine maples had turned bright yellow and red. But it was cold! There were icicles hanging down the rocky cliffs along the highway.

The trail head to Blue Lake is just before Washington Pass along the North Cascades Highway. It took us about 3 hours to drive from Seattle and we arrived shortly before noon. The parking lot was almost full and several other groups were getting read to head out. Busy day on the trail. Not surprising since it is one of the easiest trails where you can see sub-alpine larches. And it had just been mentioned in the New York Times travel article on "Finding Autumn Gold in Unexpected Places".

The trail starts along boardwalk and parallels Highway 20 for about 1/2 mile before it turns and starts to climb. The climb is gradual and after about 1 mile, the trees start to thin and you can start to see Cutthroat Peak. The larches appear about 1 1/2 miles and after a short 2 miles, you arrive at the lake.

The low sun turned the larches bright gold. They were beautiful contrasted against the dark granite and blue of the sky. Of course, since it was Saturday, every lake vista was taken up with a photographer trying to get the perfect picture. We spent about a half hour climbing along the shore with everyone else before heading back. We still passed many groups heading for the lake.

The drive back was blinding - mostly with the late afternoon sun as we were driving due west. We headed to La Conner for pizza dinner. The beer never tasted better.

Start of the Trail

The Larch appear

Granite peaks along the way

Magical trail through the larch

Golden Needles

Winners!

This week's Photohunt theme is Sports. I knew right off what I would post. We enjoy going to our local all girl Roller Derby matches. It is a take off on the old Roller Derby from the '60s mixed with today's alternative culture. Lots of piercing, tattoos, and gothic costumes. But it is also a great sport and fun time. If you have a local team, I highly recommend checking out a match.

Here are a few more photos:

Prematch last minute coaching

Waiting for the Whistle

Jamming

Timeout

Blocking

Speed