cabbages

I had to add another picture of autumn.  You might see a few more even though we are home now.  Our last full night in North Carolina, we were invited to a potluck type dinner.  We brought cabbages (coleslaw), mushed potatoes, and a pumpkin brownie.  The boys provided snacks, drinks, and bratwurst.  It was yummy.  

My Beloved likes these cabbages so much, he will help.

Cabbages (non-mayo coleslaw)

Note:  If you can make this the night before, the slaw improves with age.

1/2 green cabbage, shredded or julienne

1/2 red cabbage, shredded or julienne

2 to 3 carrots, shredded

1/2 red onion, minced

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup white vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper or to taste

Mix the cabbages, carrots, and onion in a large bowl.  Mix well.

Put the sugar, vinegar, oil, garlic, and pepper in a large pot.  Bring to a boil.  Pour over the cabbage mixture.  Mix well.  Refrigerate overnight.

Cabbages.  My Beloved loves these as a snack.  They are pretty fabulous on tostada.  I liked them with the pork chops and the bratwurst.

Cabbages make me smile.

weather coming and pork chops

Weather is coming in here.  I am enjoying it because I will be back in Houston soon.  It is supposed to be raining today and in the 20s tonight.  So far the rain is damp but not buckets which is very nice.  

Yesterday was an interesting day.  The truck had a bad bearing in the right front and spent most of the day at the shop, Singleton's Automotive in Canton, NC.  If you ever need a mechnic in that part of the world, go there!  I am supposed to go back and visit if we are ever back in the area.

With the weather coming in, I really wanted comfort food.  Pork chops and rice.  I grew up with (and so did my Beloved) pork chops cooked in Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup.  That really is not an option any more.  I created my own.

Pork Chops and Mushrooms

Note:  Ingredients are per pork chop.  You do not have to increase one to one if you increase the number of pork chops unless you wish or you REALLY like mushrooms.  Like my Beloved does.

1 pork chop We go the thick cut and no bone

olive oil

6 crimini mushrooms, minced

2 shitake mushrooms, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 small onion, minced

1 to 2 cups hempmilk or other milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Heat a cast iron pan over medium heat.  Add the olive oil and heat.  Add the onions and saute until brown.  Add the mushrooms.  Saute until brown. Add the garlic.  Add the pork chop and brown on one side.  Salt with a 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.  When brown, turn the chop to the other side and brown.  Sprinkle with the rest of the salt and pepper.

When brown, add the milk.  Bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and cover.  Cook for 20 to 30 minutes or until the pork chop is cooked through.  You can do this in a preheated 350 degree oven too.  Just make sure all the pans and lids are ovenproof.

The gravy will have browned up from the juices of the pork chop and the pan leavings.  Depending on the milk you are using, it may thicken as well.

I served the pork chop and mushrooms with rice.  This is my plate.  My Beloved's plate had many more mushrooms on it.  He likes the fungus.

rambles and gluten free vegan chocolate chip peanut butter cookies

I am going to post some of the pictures from our rambles this weekend because I so enjoyed the colors.  

We were at the North Carolina Arboretum and it is a beautiful place.

I really enjoyed our rambles there.

This was outside our trailer this morning.

And this is what I have been doing in the mornings.  Writing letters.  Drinking tea.  Reading.  Cleaning.  It is not a bad way to spend the morning.

My Beloved and I worked on his course work last night.  He was bouncing ideas off of me and using my drafting skills.  It was fun to work together.  And our plumbing is fixed.  There is a fabulous North Carolina mobile RV repair person, Joey Fountain.  If you ever need somebody in the Asheville area, he is the person to call.

But I have been wanting cookies.  We got the most fabulous peanut butter from the grocery store we found here so I decided to use it for a cookie.  Both  my Beloved and myself had to restrain ourselves from eating all of these at one sitting!

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies (vegan and gluten free)

1/2 cup oil (I used olive, it was what I had)

1/2 cup peanut butter (old fashioned, stirred)

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup brown sugar or 3/4 cup white sugar and 2 tablespoons molasses (the darker the molasses, the more you will taste it)

50 grams almond or amaranth flour

50 grams teff flour

50 grams sorghum flour

65 grams arrowroot flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup chocolate chips (make sure gluten free and vegan)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

Mix the oil and peanut butter together.  Add the sugar and vanilla.  Mix well.  Add all the flours, soda, cream of tartar, and salt.  The dough my be crumbly.  Add the chocolate chips.

See.  Crumbly dough.

Take a teaspoon and smash it into a ball.  Place on a baking sheet covered with a silpat or parchament paper.  Bake for 10 to 13 minutes.  Let cool for ten minutes before removing from the baking sheet.  

These will not spread, so if you want flat cookies, you are going to need to take a glass and use the bottom to press them down.  I would dreg the bottom of the glass in sugar so the cookies do not stick.

My suggestion is to hide them if you do not wish to eat them right away!

Note:  I had someone come back to me who said that this made them want to go to the arboretum.  She has a lovely list of arboretums to go if you are ever interested:  55 Arboretums Everyone Should Put On Their Bucketlist.  I think may be missing some nice ones but this is a very good starting place.  

a view from my window and gluten free sourdough starter

This is the view from the window where I work in our travel trailer.  I have been watching the clouds race across the sky and the leaves dance today.  It is a bit chilly outside but I put on a ratty cardign sweater and a quivit shawl and I am good.  I am not very bundled when it comes to other people I see so I just think i tis the quivit.

This is what most of the day has looked like.  That field was harvested before we got here and it had bell peppers in it.  There were workers in it today picking up the plastic that had been layed down.  I expect them back tomorrow becasue I do not think they had finished.  I could be wrong.

This is what the sky has been like.  Clouds then patches of bright sun.  I would not be surprised if there was snow tomorrow morning.

We had french toast this morning made from gluten free sourdough biscuits.  I do not buy yeast unless I am caught traveling without my starter.  I have a wheat one and a gluten free one.  The gluten free starter is a new creation.  I created it specifically to make biscuits but I am going to use it to make bread as well. 

Gluten Free Sourdough Starter

Note:  The recipe is on my site, but if you wish to make a regular sourdough starter, replace the flours with the equivilant amount of wheat flour.  The process is the same.

40 grams almond flour

40 grams sweet rice flour

40 grams teff flour

40 grams sorghum flour

3/4 cup water

Mix all together in a non-metallic bowl.  Let sit loosely covered for 3 to 7 days.  It will be bubbly and there will be a liquid on top.  

That is all there is to it.  You now have a gluten free sourdough starter that you can use in bread making.  I would label what it is in your refrigerator so someone does not throw it away by mistake.

gluten free snickerdoodles

This last weekend we were at a workshop for my Beloved.  I wrote about it a little bit yesterday.  I realized that we had eaten all our snack food on the trip over.  Snack food for us was apples and two different type of nut butters.  I decided we needed a bit of snacky food for the way home.  

The Tall Short Person had leant me a copy of the Halloween version of Martha Stewart.  There was a snickerdoodle recipe in there that I decide sounded like a lovely thing for a dessert after lunch and the drive home.  I just turned it into gluten free.  I am going to try the Boston Cream Pie in there soon.  It has pumpkin in it!

Snickerdoodles

Note:  Adapted from Martha Stewart Halloween 2011.  If you wish to use wheat flour, use 1 3/8 cup.

82 grams almond flour

82 grams sorghum flour

82 grams teff flour

82 grams arrowroot flour

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar plus 2 tablespoons

1 egg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

2 teaspoons butter

Cream the butter and 3/4 cup sugar together.  Mix in the egg.  Add the flours, salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Mix well.  Refrigerate for a couple of hours or over night if you can.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Cover a baking sheet with a silpat or parachment paper.  Mix 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon together in a shallow bowl.

Take the dough out of the refrigerator.  Take a teaspoon of dough and roll it in a ball.  Roll it in the sugar cinnamon mixture.  Place on a cookie sheet.  Do this until there are a dozen balls on the sheet.

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until the edges are golden.  I think they are better on the under done side so try 10 to 12 mintues first.  Let cool for 5 minutes before removing from the baking sheet.  Repeat until all the cookies are baked.

So this is a gluten free whole grain snickerdoodle.  Coming from the one who can eat gluten, these are probably the best snickerdoodles I have ever made.  I would continue to make these just this way for everyone.

By the way, they disappeared.