Easy Sourdough Pizza Crust using only Sourdough Starter

 

It's that time of year again ... time to dump out the old leaven in preparation for the new!! According to the calendar I follow, this Friday [Thursday at sundown] marks Passover day / Preparation day, and this Saturday [Friday at sundown] marks the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread [which makes this Sunday the day of First Fruits / Resurrection Day and the "first day of the week" a.k.a. the first day of the Feast of Weeks a.k.a. the start of the countdown to Pentecost]. This morning I used up most of my leaven / starter making my favorite sourdough pizza crust dough, and I took what was left (what I normally would feed and store for future use) and made pizza for lunch. This is NOT a fancy, perfect pizza crust, but it works just fine and it's a nice way to use up any leaven that needs used ... in this case, the remaining of the leaven I got started after the last Feast of Unleavened Bread last year. 

I added a splash of avocado oil and a teaspoon of Italian seasonings for flavor in the crust ... since it's straight leaven, there is no flavor, so it's nice to have a little something in it! I got the pizza stone heating in a 450* oven [if you do not have a stone to pre-heat, that's ok ... just use your favorite baking sheet], and assembled the personal-size pizza on parchment paper that was set on a wood cutting board [I actually have a pizza peel ... not sure why I didn't just use that ;) ] for easy moving. 

Spread the leaven / sourdough starter out evenly in whatever shape you desire. Spread sauce over that, toppings, and then your cheese of choice. Bake in a preheated 450* oven until done. In this case, my personal-size pizza took about 10 - 12 minutes ... I was not timing it.

That's it. Sooooo easy. 

Why not do it like this every time? You can if you want!!! But, I REALLY prefer my normal sourdough pizza crust recipe. I use this guy's recipe: Patrick Ryan's No Fuss Sourdough Pizza ... but my changes are: NO added modern yeast, sub avocado oil instead of olive oil, and instead of "strong flour" I use unbleached spelt flour. I divide the weight total amount of dough into 5 or 4, depending on how big I want the crusts, and make 5 or 4 balls. He says 200g balls, but I found that left a little dough over, so that's why I just divide evenly. 

Enjoy!!

The Good and The Beautiful Pre-K Language Arts Course Set: flip through and thoughts

 A few years ago I discovered The Good and The Beautiful homeschool Curriculum and really appreciate it. I actually purchased History 1 and High School Language Arts 1 for myself and am enjoying it :) 

During their recent Early Bird sale for next school year, I purchased a few more reader books for me (and grandchildren when they are older) as well as their Pre-K Language Arts Course set for my grandchildren. I pray this post is helpful for those who are looking in to purchasing this for your preschoolers! [QUICK UPDATE! TG&TB has actually updated this curriculum; here is a link to their Preschool Language Arts Course Set ... this is pretty much what you see here on this blog post, as far as I can tell.]

My initial thought: I love it! Some of the pictures are animated BUT they are not silly or stupid. I'd call them "cute", "peaceful", "friendly", and other similar, happy adjectives.  Some of the pictures in the main Course Book are actual paintings, and usually there are instructions for some kind of simple picture study (think: Charlotte Mason). Sooooooo nice! So beautiful. 

Here is a photo of the Course Book, Activity Packet, Doodles & Pre-Writing, the Letters flip books, as well as two additional / optional flip books I decided to purchase: Butterflies and Beetles.

The next four photos are of the INSIDE of the Course Book ... I just chose them at random:

A peak inside the Letters A-F flip book ... first is the cover, and then I show what it looks like when you open it up. That's followed by the proper "flipped" flaps (?! not sure how to word that). Then the final 2 photos are of letter D with the proper "flipped" flaps. :)
NOTE: To keep costs lower, there is some work involved getting things set up initially ... in this case, parents are instructed to cut along the dotted lines so the pages turn in to flaps that can flip. 

Doodles & Pre-Writing - this book is packed with lots of practice for preschoolers!! I really like it a lot! I especially appreciate how most of the pages actually teach more than just tracing dots / dashes. 

Now for the Activity Packet ... this is definitely the most time-consuming item to set up in the Pre-K Languages Arts Course!! Thankfully it's a one-time deal ... meaning, cut it out and that's it. The pages are thick card stock with a slick coating, however for extra durability I chose to laminate everything. So, first I cut everything out, then I laminated it, and then had to cut it all out from the laminated pouches. Yes, it took a few hours, but I believe it's worth it for longevity. 
Note: I'm included photos of every activity in the packet.
Note: The Course Book has other activities within the book itself, but it also will point you to one of these activities when appropriate. 

A photo of the laminating process ...

Once everything was laminated and cut out, I separated each game and instructions into their own bags.

Beetle Flip Book ... the first page shows all of the beetles with their names. 

Here's what it looks like right after you flip the first page over: 

And then the matching flap: 

Butterfly Flip Book ... same as the Beetle Flip Book.

So there you have it! I plan to purchase a special bin for all of this and label it. We have not actually used it yet since I wanted to get it totally set up first. Now that it's set up, minus the bin, hopefully we'll put it to use soon. While my oldest grandchild, David, fits within the recommended age range of 3 to 5 years old, he might not quite be ready for all of it. We'll see!!

An experiment

 This is an experiment to see if I can post video clips to my blog ... let me know if you can view it!

Batch Cooking ... or something like that

A shortcut that I use often: I like to make several bags of the dry ingredients to my most-used cookie recipe so it's more motivating to make cookies on a whim; the individual bags are stored together in a bigger ziploc bag. Whenever I see that I'm about to use up the last bag, I make more. Also, I keep the recipe card INSIDE of the bag of bags. This saves time since I do not have to pull out, put away, and clean up after all of the dry ingredients each time.

Leftover Makeover: Grilled Steak turned Vegetable Beef Soup

Quite by accident last year I discovered that leftover grilled steak tastes really good in vegetable beef soup ... so now I have one more idea for using up leftover grilled steak. Other ideas: quesadillas, steak fried rice, steak gravy over mashed potatoes, steak tacos, steak lo mein, steak stir-fry. 

I really do not have a set recipe for veg beef soup, so I'll just tell you what I did this time. I used 1qt of flavorful beef bone broth, a few teaspoons of thyme, a good squirt of Bragg's, 4 ribs of celery (minced), and a 10oz pack of frozen mixed veg (the organic option from Aldi), buckwheat groats, and of course: leftover steak. I think the steaks started off at about 12oz before being grilled. I had marinated them in an experimental homemade "streak taco" marinade before grilling ... made for super yummy tacos AND veg beef soup!

Easy. Delicious. Satisfying. 

Freezer Meal: Beef, Cabbage, and Rice

 

Beef, Cabbage, and Rice has been a meal at the top of my family's "Favorite Meal List" for a few decades. Back when we were really broke, I would have to use lentils instead of beef, or do half and half. I'm just sharing that to say: lentils will work in place of beef if that's your thing or that's your need.

You may use purple / red, or green cabbage. For the beef: a little tip ... Aldi's grass fed, grass finished, organic ground beef is SO DELICOUS and definitely worth the extra dollar or two if you can afford it. My rice of choice in general is: Aged [white] Basmati Rice. I choose the stuff that's grown in India and an Indian brand because in my mind surely they must know how to do it properly?! I could be totally wrong though. Whatever the case, aged basmati rice is gentle on your digestion and not as hard on your blood sugar as your typical white rice.

Ingredients for freezing:
*3lbs Lean Ground Beef, cooked (I do not drain my ground beef since it's so high quality)
*Small-diced cabbage color of choice - enough to fill up a glass 8c measuring bowl to heaping (so, I'm guessing here: ~10 full cups of small-diced cabbage). I cannot say "2 heads of cabbage" because every head of cabbage is different ... some are really tight and heavy while others are really loose and light. So, I'll say: 2 tight [medium] heads of cabbage or 3 loose [medium] ones. 
*1 stick of butter (I prefer grass fed, organic, etc)

Melt the stick of butter in a small, heavy-bottom stock pot. I use my 4qt stock pot which actually holds about 5qts. Add the small-diced cabbage and about 1T salt. Mix well. Once it really gets to cooking, turn the heat down to low or medium low (just be careful not to burn it) and allow to simmer for about 20-30 minutes. You might need to add 1/4c-1/2c of water just to make sure it does not burn. I prefer my cabbage WELL COOKED ... but you are welcome to cook yours to your liking.

Once it's cooked, remove from the heat and mix in the cooked ground beef. Allow to sit until completely cooled down (you do not want to put hot food into ziploc bags). 

Since I usually only feed myself and one other person at this season in my life, I put 2 servings in each bag. For me, that's 12oz total of beef & cabbage mixture, or about 2 cups. I used to label each bag, but now I label a gallon-size bag and put the smaller bags into the gallon-size bag. In the photo above: there IS one bag that is labeled, but that's to give to someone else.

LABEL: 
Beef & Cabbage
Make 3/4c dry rice 

To serve: I like to make rice in homemade bone broth for extra nutrition. For those who do not know how to make rice, here's my  method:
White rice -1:1.5 rice to liquid
Brown rice -1:2 rice to liquid
RINSE the rice well ... I rinse it about 3 times. Melt ghee or other heat-stable fat in a heavy-bottom pan (for my 3/4c amount I use my 1qt sauce pot). If you are making rice for something else and want to add some spices, first sauté the spices in the ghee. Add the strained rice and sauté until the rice begins to "toast" (you will notice a difference and it will smell yummy). Then add the liquid. Bring to a boil, cover, and turn down as low as you need to in order to achieve a gentle simmer. Do not remove the lid. Start the time once you know it's simmering properly. White rice: 20 minutes. Brown rice: 40 minutes. When the time is up, remove the sauce pan from the heat but allow it to sit for about 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

Heat the beef and cabbage mixture in a pot that will fit the beef and cabbage AND the rice. To do this: I just add a little bit of water or stock to the bottom of a pan, then the beef and cabbage (thawed is much easier), a lid, and let it sit there on low while the rice is cooking.

Mix it all together. Serve with Bragg's, Tamari, or another soy sauce of choice.

Starting Seeds - Organizing Thoughts

I'm going to share a series of photos ... like I said in the last post, I am really behind this year but thankful that I have a system in place already. I had to adjust my system just a tad since I was in a hurry, and I'll show how it all unfolded in the photos:

The first photo is a general overview and reflection of the chaos that's inside my head. And since I am totally not capable of only doing one thing at a time, I was also making dessert for our family meal tonight, canning chicken bone broth, getting tax stuff ready for 4 different people, and other stuff that I forget now. Normally all of my seed and gardening boxes are nice and tidy, but in the process of moving two years in a row DURING the start of gardening season, I was happy to just have everything in the same spot. Several attempts had been made to get things in order, but other priorities came knocking ... like my oldest son's wedding ... and unexpected trips out of town ... and my 3rd grandchild being born ... and family coming to visit ... and my mom and stepdad MOVING here [!!!!!!] ... and ... and ... and ...
I'm so thankful that I have been settled here at my new place for almost a year and see no plans of moving ever again, unless it's to a new house on the same property. 
Anyway ... here's the picture:

The photo below is a close up of the rows in the photo above. Each row has an index card that helped me organize the seed packs. Since I am already BEHIND in starting seeds, the first row on the left is the row that MUST GET STARTED NOW!!!! Some of the seeds should have been started a month or so ago, but most of them should have been started last week. I am posting this blog post a day or two AFTER I actually did this, so hopefully I am now on track ;)
Note: just because I have them in the rows does NOT mean I will actually plant them all. This is just the way I 'brainstorm'. The final decisions will be made in a few steps.

The next step: I took everything from the first row on the left and pushed it all up top to empty floor space. After that, I organized them even more ... basically flowers, herbs, peppers, and other stuff.

Life has been way too crazy and we have NOT had a chance to get to my favorite garden supply store yet this year. Normally we try to go in January or February to beat the rush and stay ahead of the game, however with all the stuff going on so far this year it has just not happened yet. THANKFULLY I still had 4 new tray inserts [72 cells in groups of 6] left over from last year AND a full bag of organic seed starting mix [a really big bag]. I washed the bottom trays, too, because they were used last year. Since I am limited to 4 trays right now, I had to make do ... and am actually glad because it helped set a boundary. SOOOOOOOO, below is pictured the first "rough draft" of what and how much ...

Second draft of what and how much...

And the final draft of what and how much :) Because I now have things finalized, the next step is to make the tray markers. I put DOTS on the markers to indicate how many of each I have planted. To keep it even more simple, I do things in multiples of 6 ... since that's how the tray inserts are made. You might have noticed the two at the bottom? Those are milkweed (common and pleurisy) ... they need to go in the refrigerator for a few weeks before camping out with the other starts. And the Moringa ... I've never grown that before and am going to attempt to grow it in a pot so I can bring it indoors during the colder months. We'll see. 

With the remainder of the seed packet rows: I put them all into their own ziploc bag with the index card facing out so I can see when I need to start the next ones. The ones on the left can be started outside any time now ... but my kitchen garden has not yet been finished, so I'm patiently waiting :) The bags will then go into the plastic shoe box like I shared in my post about 5 years ago. I will also add a few more bags because this is only what needs to be started inside (besides the stuff on the left that can go outside right now). As in my older post, I will still be adding ziploc bags for what needs to be direct-sown after danger of frost, as well as what needs to be started inside for fall planting and all of the cold weather stuff that can be direct sown in the fall.

BONUS!!!! My daughter and her family started a few seeds the other day ... here's a photo of my grandchildren helping their dad :) So sweet. 

It got too late to actually start the seeds today, so I have it on top priority for tomorrow morning.

GARDENING!!!!!

My grandson, David, with a sweet potato he helped harvest :)

Ok you guys ... what else does one think about when they wake up at 4am but GARDENING? I'm so behind!! Who remembers this post about Organizing Seeds & Garden Planning? Yep. I still do it the same way [though some of my seed-starting dates have changed a little based on trial and error ... which mainly has to do with selling starts]. Since this is the way I've been doing it for several years, even though I'm totally behind right now I at least have a well-worked system and should be caught up this morning. I haven't even started any seeds yet!!!!! But, oh well. Such is life. Thankfully I'm not really much behind on that side of things :) 

This garden season we are really stepping up our game. Now we have 3 locations ... and since it's been a long time with no updates, here's a very quick rundown of the state of things in our neck of the woods. 
My oldest son, Tylor, has been living on our fellowship property for several years. Over the years he has been building up various gardens and berries and grapes. Since I do most of the planning and seed saving, and since we have 3 locations, I assign the harder-to-save seeds / plants between the 3 so we don't have to worry about cross-pollination, hand pollinating, and so on. Besides all of the perennial things he grows, he also grows most of the baby greens / salad greens, and whatever plants I assign to him for seed-saving. He is now married (YAY!!!) so he has a helper and best friend by his side. It's so sweet to watch them working together outside :)
My daughter and her family bought my youngest son's first property. Right now they have all of the Nigerian Dwarf goats. Brian, her husband, grows lots of potatoes and this year he plans to grow a lot of sweet potatoes, too. They also grow veggies for themselves and whatever plants I assign to them for seed-saving. David (pictured above) LOVES to help in the garden!!!! That picture is about 1 1/2 years old already, and now there's Elvia, too :) 
My youngest son got married last year and they have a baby boy, Austin. They live on 20 acres just outside of town ... since it came with 3 houses, he fixed up one for me :) Last year was the first year we had a garden here ... which was thrown together in a hurry with the help of friends ... and we were all surprised at how well it did. Corban plowed up a bigger plot elsewhere on  the property, and that will be the main garden this year. Tylor planted cover crops in the existing garden and we are getting it ready to be a perennial garden. There's also a smaller 'kitchen garden' literally right next to my house for me, and Corban's wife, Megan, has a kitchen garden too. 

Now that you are all up to speed on these things, I'll share a few more gardening photos from last year and the year before ........ then I'm going to get to starting some seeds! Peppers, okra, rosemary, and eggplant are on my hit list for today. Even though I'm totally behind, I did manage to start some sweet potato slips ;) While Brian is growing a lot of sweet potatoes at his place, I am growing my favorite variety here. I don't know what it's called ... but it's white and "meatier" than the deep orange ones. I love the deep orange ones, too, but there's just something about the "meaty" white ones!!! I get them from Azure Standard and let some of them sit "forever" until they start sprouting. Once the sprouts get about 3" long, I pull them off, put them in water, and then roots begin to form. Leave them forming roots for too long and they will all be jumbled up together, which takes work to untangle ... so it's best to mess with them daily to make sure they do not tangle so much.