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I am so making this! Heading to the kitchen now. Thanks for sharing.

Funny you should ask! I just made some nectarine ice cream from the culls I picked yesterday. They are small but have a great flavor. this is our first crop off the tree. It was a pain to cut out all the bad spots, but they're too good to waste.

A happy surprise when ice cream lover boy gets home tonight.

Must add- use real butter and do not decrease amount. I was afraid they would be too brioche like, but they are perfect.

Hamburger Buns

Regular flour is fine, I sprout and grind whole grains but any flour will work.

Peel, quarter and cook enough potatoes to equal 1 cup mashed. 1 large or 2 med russets should do it. You want starchy, not waxy red potatoes. Save the cooking water and measure out 1 ½ cups. If you run short, just add some regular water.

1 ½ cups buttermilk or sour milk. I use dairy kefir cause I make it and it’s always on hand.

2 pcks yeast if you bake often you can save a bundle buying yeast by the pound. It keeps in the freezer. King Arthur Flour sells a measuring spoon that equals a pck of yeast.

2 tbs sugar

1 tbs salt

1 stick unsalted butter softened

1 1/2 cups sprouted whole wheat flour

3/4 cup sprouted spelt flour

½ cup sprouted kamut flour

3 cups unbleached flour, may need more

sesame seeds

In stand mixer with paddle attachment combine mashed potato, potato water, buttermilk, yeast, sugar, salt and 2 cups flour. Mix till batter forms. Remove paddle and attach dough hook.

Add remaining flour a little at a time until dough pulls away from sides of bowl. This is a soft sticky dough. If your mixer does not have a strong motor, remove dough and finish by hand. Keep kneading in flour until a workable dough is formed. Don’t add too much flour, it should be a soft dough. If you are using sprouted flour, always make your dough a little slacker than usual or the texture can be too dry.

Cover and let rise till doubled. Punch down and let rest. Divide dough into at least 16-18 pieces. I made 16 the first time and they were enormous. Next time I’ll make 2 doz.

Shape each piece as though you were making a roll. Then flatten with your palm to bun size (remember they’ll double). Cover and let rise till doubled.

Preheat oven to 375. beat an egg and brush tops of buns. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Bake for about 20 minutes. Cool on rack and use or freeze.

Hope you like them!

I try to do meals that I can do the prep on early in the morning. Tonight is chirashi sushi. I marinated pork in char sui sauce overnight and cooked it first thing in the morning. While it was in the oven, I toasted sesame seeds, cooked and chilled spinach, sliced scallions, cucumber and pickled ginger. I'll cook the sushi rice in the rice cooker this evening, scramble an egg and put it all together.

Last week I poached chicken breasts in the morning and used them during the week in different dishes. First was a salad with bacon and blue cheese, balsamic vinaigrette. Next fried rice with napa slaw. Then quesadillas.

Now that the garden is going strong, a quickie fave is zucchini pancakes with yogurt and applesauce (chill the applesauce) and sliced tomatoes.

Squid, octopus, fat on meat, insects, offal, MIL's eggplant casserole.

I finally figured out how to make the perfect (for us anyway) hamburger bun. The recipe makes a lot and they freeze beautifully.

The Vidalia relish I canned is finally ready to use, and tomatoes are ripening. Made a batch of Carolina slaw and whipped up some mayo.

We just can't stop eating hamburgers....the first ones were so good the next morning we made them for breakfast. They were even better. Eating them several times a week and still not tired of them. It's like we totally reinvented the burger lol.

Jerzee pretty well covered all the basics. Over the years I've found you can learn to cook anything if you just keep trying. Don't let failures discourage you.

Try using a soft pastry flour like Martha White or Gold Medal Organic.
I always sift dry ingredients 3 times for a cake.

Bake On!

Rectangular with handles and lip. Something that hot and heavy, I need handles to get it out safely. At first I thought I wouldn't like the lip on my Lodge pan, but I find it makes the edges hold up nicely and prevents sauce spillover.

I don't understand the Lodge not getting great reviews, I've had stones, quarry tiles, the Lodge is my fave.

I love it here in the country too. But tossing out garbage of any kind, even having an uncovered compost pile is asking for trouble. Rats and mice at the very least which carry disease.

Skunks, squirrels, raccoons, stray dogs all are very susceptible to rabies.
We have outbreaks around here every year and they are taken very seriously.

Safer than town? That's debatable. Rattlesnakes, copperheads, water moccasins, bears in mating season or mothers with cubs, Hillbillies on oxycontin, mowing a steep hill on your tractor (can flip and kill you in an instant), it ain't exactly tame out here... oh I left out the profusion of black widow spiders and ticks with lyme disease.

And yes, you should be making stock with the carcasses. If you don't have a freezer, can it. This winter you'll be glad to have it.

First we tried the Moka Pot. Didn't wow us.

Then we saved up and got the Silvia and the Rocky Grinder. Much Better, but not as good as we were expecting. They are sitting in storage on the West Coast and we are now permanently on the East.

Then we came into a windfall and splurged on the Miele and an Alpenroast home roaster. Eureka! Been having perfect coffee on demand for years now, and it has definitely paid for itself. The grinder is a little Krups bought years ago and still cranking.

To experience Transcendental Bliss make a batch of doughnuts and brew up some iced Lattes.

I'm only going to list what I've made:

Strawberry Balsamic, Strawberry Rhubarb Jam
Red Onion Marmalade
Orange Spice Jelly
Black Raspberry Cherry Jam
Raspberry Jalapeno Jam
Lemon Chutney
Chow Chow
Vidalia Onion Relish
Plum Sauce
Pickled Jalapenos
Jerusalem Artichoke Pickles
fermented vegetables from Nourishing Traditions
Orange Almond Butter Spread use it on mochi waffles yum!
Pimento Cheese
Yogurt Cheese Herb Spread
Neufchatel Cheese
Ice Cream Base (Strawberry)
Olive Walnut Tapenade
Pizza Sauce
Mayonnaise
Worchestershire Sauce
Teriyaki Sauce
Pesto
Hummus
Lard