Rhu-berry Pie!

For reason I can not pronounce Rhubarb strawberry pie, hence rhu-berry. I've been planning on making this scrumptious pie back when rhubarb first came in season but I somehow forgot. A week ago I remembered my longing and went on a search for late season rhubarb. After purchasing nearly two pounds on the ruby stalks from a local produce stand, I planned my pie date. Now, for this pie not just any strawberries would be good enough. Oh no! I picked my own at Trauger's. For $1.50 a pound, who wouldn't? I made the top crust myself but the bottom is a premade pie crust that was taking up space in my freezer.

The recipe that I used is adapted from Betty Crocker's Cookbook. I highly recommend this cookbook to anyone that likes to cook.

Ingrediants:

Pie crust enough for bottom and top

2 cups rhubarb peeled and sliced into 1/2 inch pieces

2 cups strawberries sliced into 1/2 inch pieces

1 1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup flour

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl mix everything together. A poor into pie crust lined pie pan. Put other crust on top and "pinch" it down. Poke ventalation holes on top. Cover edge with tin foil. Bake for 40-50 minutes taking the tin foil off for the last 15 minutes of baking.

Your end product should look something like this.

Homesteading Fever

I've been very lazy lately. I have no idea why. Suddenly, I have no desire to cook, clean, or work in the garden. I'm calling it Homesteading Fever. It's where you stick to homesteading then slowly you begin to get tired of it then end of doing nothing. I'm trying hard to counter the effects on me. To help I made two rhubarb-strawberry pies.
It' nothing like a pie bakin' to git yer 'omesteadin' feet o gin! I'll post pictures soon. I found my camera chord!
I've been reading a lot lately, mostly trying to hid from the ugly muggy, humid weather we have been having.
I managed to plant my pumpkins and green bean but nothing else. Oh well. They say to start small anyway and after all of this year's short comings, I don't blame myself. Shit happens, right?
As much as I hate summer's mugginess, I'm going to try to keep pulling my ideas together.

Summer Conditioning

With highs reaching the mid 80s this past weekend it's time to start summer conditioning. Now, with most people this means cranking up the A/C. This is not the case here. In previous years I was in a downstairs bedroom that had A/C but in the fall of 2008 I moved up to my sister's old bedroom. When she was in this room the A/C was always cranked up and the windows closed. I'm just the opposit. I booted the A/C to the curb for a more energy approch and, besides, I only have two windows in my room, might as well make the most of it. So summer conditioning is not making the temperature suit you but making you suit the temperature. We humans are warm blooded animals and our body temperature flucuates with the temperature around us. Ever wonder why you still wear jackets in 70 degree weather? You're body has not adjusted yet.

The first step to summer conditioning is to drink plenty of cold water, ice cold if possible. We need water to perspire and perspiring is our "cooling system". Also do not wear anti-perpirant deoderant as it inhibits our natural cooling system.
Wear light clothing. For this you want to go with natural fabrics such as cotton and silk. Wearing light colors helps as well.
Open your windows and turn on fans. In my room I have three fans; a window fan, a box fan, and a regular fan that I can turn towards the ceiling in hopes of creating a cross breeze.
You have any more ideas on how to keep cool during the summer without an A/C please comment! I would love yo hear your advice!

It's getting hot in here!

Progress on the garden is slow. This weekend I plan to plant my crops, try to deal with the weeds between the rows, and reinforce the compost pile.
I've been busy with other things, mostly reading and books. I've been trading and buying books. It's a good addiction that really doesn't that much if you know were to look for great deals. If any of you decide to join paperbackswap.com use my username catsnbooks as a referance. I've got about 15 new books to read.
I have really done that much cooking because my mom deciedes to cook certain things on the nights that I plan to cook dinner. That needs to be worked out.
I'll update this weekend and see how far I get with my garden.
Almost forgot! Tomorrow is opening day for my town's farmer's market. I'll check it out before I go to work.

UGH! NO!

I came home from work yesterday and checked on my lettuce. The window box of lettuce that I grew from seed fell on my other lettuce plants. The box was on a sort of surdy surface and had held up nice during the really windy weather we had a little while a go. My thought are that a car had play a role in this.
Lucky, the green lettuce will survive. They're not crushed too bad. The endives in the window boxes flowered so I had to pull those. I think is actually will benifit the lettuces so they can get bigger. We'll see.
I still need to plant the garden very soon!
P.S. The farmer's market opens next Friday so maybe I'll go and get some pictures.

Compost Pile Completed

It may have taken me way longer than I thought it would because of lack of proper supplies, but I fininished it on Sunday with zip ties. There's one slight modification that I want to do. The door is rather long right now so I'm going to put another stake in the ground to make it half the size that it currently is. I started the pile off with some of that wild grass, that took over the garden last year, and some kitchen scrapes. I'll post a picture later once I find my camera chord.

Don't Sell it Swap it!

Are you done with your copy of Twilight or finished listening to Ke$ha, but want to get rid of it those items and want to advoid the hassel of selling it or taking to the thift store? Look no further. Swaptree.com is a website that lets your swap books, CDs, DVDs, and games for free. All you have to pay is the shipping cost.
Swaptree.com utilizes two lists, what you have and want to trade, and what you want. Once you have a good amount of items on both lists you can either browse or wait until Swaptree sets you up with a trade. From there you can either accept the trade or reject it. There is also a time limit you have to accept or reject the item. Letting that time run out will freeze your account. Don't worry. Just log in and unfreeze by answering why you didn't do anything.
There are three kinds of trades; two way, three way, and four way. This makes it easier to get what you want and allows more flexiblity for trading. Instead of you sending your book to someone who's sending you a book, you send your book to person #1 who sends their item to person #2 and person #2 send the item you want to you. It's pretty simple because Swaptree does most of the work in setting up trades.
Swaptree.com makes it easy for applying postage, as well, with their prepaid postage labels, but be warned. To use their postage they raise the price a few cents and they charge you a $1 each month you use it. If you plan to swap a lot, this is ideal and better than waiting in line at the post office. All you need to do is print out the label, drop in the mailbox, and it's done! The only down side to this system is that they automatically give you media mail for books and first class for DVDs. If you know you can get cheaper postage, go to the post office.
Here's my challenge to you. Select at least ten books, DVDs, CDs, or games that you will never read again, and don't want hanging around. Set up a free account on Swaptree.com. List your ten books, DVDs, CDs, or games and make your 'want' list. By the end of the week, trade at least one item and report back here and tell me want you traded and what you got or getting (some traders are really slow at mailing the item).
Happy swapping!
P.S. If sending books to strangers doesn't tickle your fancy, hold a swap party with friends. I'll tell you more about this later because I maybe holding my own.

Homestead Pantry Essentials

The list is complete! Head over to the Homestead Pantry Essentials and have a look see. If you think I'm missing anything feel free to e-mail me at elfscuz at yahoo.com

Too Cute to Not Post

I was browsing YouTube and found this.

Cookie Day

I love to bake. Infact, when I move out I plan to bake at least every two weeks, making multipule loaves of bread and such then freezing them. There use to be a time where I loved baking more than cooking but now the tables are starting to turn. But, of course, I still enjoy baking.
Today's baked good was oatmeal rasin nut cookies. I wanted something a little but more wholesome then chocolate chip cookies but with a little spice. So I found Beth's Spicy Oatmeal Rasin Cookies. I recommend following a reviewer's suggestion and added 1/2 teaspoon more of cinnamon and adding 1/4 teaspoon ginger, and 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg. I also added walnuts and I wish I had some whole wheat pastery flour to pack in the while grains. I also used half rasins and half golden rasins. They turned out vey good!
Stay tuned for a Pantry Esstential list. I've been browsing them online and find that non of them reflect what one really needs.
P.S. Food picture quality has definatly improved. Who would have thought to use the Cusine setting on my camera without the flash?