Recipe of the Week: Rustic Bread

I have fallen in love! With this  simple, easy, no-knead, only-four-ingredients bread recipe!

Ramsey Farms Rustic Bread

Prep time: 5-10 minutes. Rise time: 3 hours. Bake time: 45-60 minutes Total time: 4 hours+

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 tsp yeast
• 2 cups luke warm water
• 4 1/3 cups flour (bread flour, all purpose, or self-rising)
• 2 tsp kosher salt (omit if using self-rising flour)

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, combine the yeast and water.
2. Add the flour and salt; stir until combined. Batter will be lumpty, but no visible dry flour should be visible.
3. Cover with towel. Rise until doubled - about 2 hours.
4. Sprinkle flour over top of risen dough and cover hands in flour. Grab dough, shape, and transfer to baking sheet, pot, loaf pan, or skillet.
5. Let rise for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Preheat oven to 375. Slash top of dough with sharp knife (opt.)
6. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour until browned on top and cooked through.
7. Cool before slicing (if you can)!

This Week at Ramsey Farms

October 21 - October 26, 2014

Tomatoes canned last week

It was a busy week here at the farm in preparation for our first group of visitors from North Carolina to celebrate my birthday!

I have set up a Ramsey Farms Facebook page and began listing the garden pics there. So for now to see all of our 2014 Fall Garden pics you will have to go HERE for the first album and HERE for the October 21 - December 31, 2014 pics.

Fresh Baked Rustic Breads

Chief Farmhand, Chris got the ol' homestead cleaned up, mowed, did the weedeating/trimming/edging, created trails in the woods, and finished up the new bonfire pit out back among many other chores. He stayed busy from dusk till dawn every day in preparation for our guests and the weekend party. I worked on ensuring sweet,  southern hospitality with a nice comfortable home and lots of good food! I made six loaves of bread (overkill, but I got to send a loaf home with each of the girls), got all the grocery shopping done, and did as much advance food prep as I could.

Gina, Katie, and Stephanie arrived shortly after midnight and we enjoyed hugs, greetings, quick catching up, and a midnight snack of fresh fruits, cheeses, crackers, and a creamy zesty cream cheese dip. Thank you to Katie for making her famous French Toast using my homemade rustic bread for Saturday breakfast! We enjoyed our sweet toast with fruits, juices, coffee, and mimosas!

Ramsey Farms Fridge Pickles

At lunchtime we feasted on Gina's chicken salad, turkey, and ham sandwiches on homemade rustic bread with swiss or colby cheeses alongside my Ramsey Farms pickles, fresh fruits, and chips.

Saturday's dinner was my brown sugar chili, so here is the recipe link again for your convenience as this got rave reviews! This is an awesome recipe that can be altered according to your own tastes, based on what you may have on hand, halve it, double it, freeze it, love it! I sauteed my onions and garlic, browned, drained, and seasoned my ground beef on Thursday. I then chopped my carrot, celery, and peppers and added those on Friday. Then Saturday afternoon, added tomatoes, beans, salt, and pepper and turned on the crock pot! We were serving steaming hot chili, baked potatoes, and homemade rustic bread along with homemade hot apple cider by the brand new fire pit by 8pm! It was the perfect birthday day and evening!

Having these friends come visit the farm was the best birthday gift I could have asked for and I hope they know what this meant to me and how important they are to me. "Watching your car head off down the driveway was a very slow and sad parade. I cried like a baby when you were out of site. Please come back soon - you know the gate at Ramsey Farms is always open for y'all!"

I did promise Gina and Katie that I would share the apple cider recipe. So look for that in a future (soon) post - promise. This has nothing to do with anything else in this article, but I just want to share my new way the cook bacon! Thanks to The Kitchn blog for this recipe solution.  Baking it in the oven is so much easier, quicker, and far less messier than pan frying on the stove. This is perfect for me and I'll never splatter my stove-top with bacon grease again!

"Of course you can dance! You've just spent too long listening to someone else's music!" ~ Ramsey Penegar

This Week at Ramsey Farms

This Week October 6 - October 20, 2014

So you already know that time flies when you’re having fun! I must be having lots of fun because the days just seem to roll on by in one big chunk of time! Sometimes there are just too many things going on to try to write a blog post. By the way, I am excited to tell you all that this simple, little blog has had more than 2,100 visits since I launched it last year! YAY – thank you for dropping in, please be sure to “follow” us, post comments and questions, and share your ways of finding the joy in the simple life with us!

We have had some gorgeous, warm, sunshine so far this October! Based on the comments all over Facebook, it may be looking like autumn in some more northern locations (including North Carolina) but here in the southeastern coastal plains of Georgia, nary a leaf has turned.  Will they change? I have no idea! The weather has vacillated between summer and fall these last weeks. It’s still can hit 100° in the sun but the average high has been 82° with lows around 60°.

Chief Farmhand Chris finally got his Z-mower and has spent many hours mowing our fields and yard spaces. His next project is a fire pit for entertaining, cooking, and simply enjoying! Yummmm, I am ready to roast marshmallows and sing campfire songs! ;) He reseeded lettuce and we have tons of baby radishes popping up! Check out the garden pics here.

Getting up early has its perks. We would not have gotten to see the lunar eclipse earlier this month if we weren’t outside before 6:30 in the morning! It was the October full moon and a “blood moon” that made it appear red. I love checking out the sky every morning, it seems to be so much more visible than we lived in the city with a million twinkling stars in the big Georgia sky. No buildings, city lights, or smog to block the view. It takes my breath away almost every single morning! I hope I never get used to it!

I am so happy that we visited a local farmer’s market where we were able to purchase locally grown potatoes, tomatoes, green beans, and fresh local eggs! The woman I bought the eggs from has invited us to check out her farm to get ideas and buy some laying hens. She seems like she’ll be a great resource to us in the coming months as I am very anxious to get started on the poultry side of our farming adventure.

Last week, Chris spotted something moving across the back field. It took me a moment to see what he saw as he fled outside gun in hand. A 3-foot diamond back rattlesnake was moving rapidly through the fresh-cut grass beyond our fence. He put a couple 22s in it and nearly decapitated it with his shovel and it was still moving! I’m so glad no one was outside in the field at that time! Just a not-so-gentle reminder that we live among the wild and we must be careful. I can handle some chiggers or ants, but I’d much prefer to avoid the bite of any snake, much less a venomous rattler. Speaking of chiggers and ants, did you miss my post on DIY soothing anti-itch cream? It is wonderful - I dare ya to try it!

The whole household had a great time Saturday helping out at our community’s rescue squad / fire station’s biannual fundraiser. We got to help serve up BBQ chicken, homemade potato salad, green beans, bread, dessert, and tea while meeting a slew of neighbors. My son even got to do the honors of drawing the winning name for a 30-0-6 shotgun! He didn’t choose any of our names but oh well! It’s all for a good cause.

I had a plethora of local, farm-fresh tomatoes that a neighbor had given to us. I had never canned tomatoes but I was able to put up 3 quarts this weekend thanks to the canner from Chris’ grandmother and some handy internet instructions! I have a new, easy rustic bread recipe to share with you all too. There are days I just don’t feel like kneading dough, so I’ve been searching and testing no-knead bread recipes and think I found a winner!  On the subject of food, how often do you visit the grocery store? I am looking forward to discussing “once-a-month grocery shopping” with you all in a future blog post!

Many times our life’s greatest desires are fulfilled in unexpected ways! –Ramsey Penegar

DIY Anti-Itch Cream

After getting the bejeejeez bitten out of my ankles by chiggers, I needed to find some fast relief lest I go insane with the itching! I got busy researching the web and found a couple recipes I liked and had ingredients on hand. The base recipe I used was from one of my favorite blogs, Wellness Mama and I have used many ideas I've found on this site.

This concoction worked wonders! It soothed and cooled the manic itching and seemed to have helped reduce the swelling. This worked on my chigger bites and subsequently, fire ant bites I got a few days later. (Note to self: Wear long pants, socks, and shoes in the field and woods, not flip flops!)

I did notice that after a few days, the mixture seemed to congeal (probably the oatmeal) and added more witch hazel/water to the container. I made a very small amount so the following recipe may certainly be doubled. It may be a good idea for me to mix up a large batch of the dry ingredients to have on hand and simply add the liquid portion when needed.

I have included a link to info on why these ingredients are good for you!

Anti-Itch Cream

Ingredients

• 1/2 tsp zinc-oxide powder (optional)
• 1/2 tsp fine salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp ground oats
• 7 ml witch hazel (water can be used for a shorter shelf-life)
• 5 drops of wintergreen essential oil

Instructions

1. Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl or jar. Slowly add witch hazel, stirring constantly until it reaches a creamy consistency. Add essential oils.
2. Store in an airtight jar and use within 2 weeks (use within 1 week if using water in place of witch hazel).

This Week at Ramsey Farms

Week ending Sunday, October 5, 2014 ~ 

Chief Farmhand Chris built a really cool dog house for George and Carolina. The best thing is that it didn’t cost a dime because he was able to reuse materials we already had on hand! My five-year-old said it's the nicest doghouse ever, gave it his thumbs-up approval, and asked if he could sleep in it, too! 

The garden is doing well. Okay, well the cucumbers are doing really good! We harvested our first ever Georgia-grown produce this week: two perfect cucumbers! There are a lot of cucumbers forming and tons of yellow flowers on the plants. I foresee a pickle-making and canning day in my near future! YAY, I adore homemade pickles. Are there any other kind?!! Check out our garden pics here.

This week Chris has been busy in the garden. He has created a temporary, makeshift fence to help keep the dogs and other large animals out of the garden, created some new planting space, and seeded more produce. This week we planted yellow onion bulbs, more beets, leaf lettuce, buttercrisp lettuce, three varieties of radishes, carrots. He also recently planted spinach, mesclun mix, and arugula.  

Mmmmmm…I am ready for some delicious, crisp autumn salad with my homemade ranch, vinaigrette, or bleu cheese dressings and homemade croutons!

Southeast Georgia is beautiful in fall! The air smells of wood burning fires and the sun’s rays are crisp and intense. The leaves have not started to change, but I did find a couple red leaves on a maple tree in my yard. The sun is still hot as fire with the heat of the direct sun pushing the thermometer past 110°! The average high last week was 80 and the average low was 64, but this morning our half-mile walk to the bus stop was a brisk 46°! We have dipped into our winter clothes storage and begun breaking out sweatshirts, jackets, and long pants again.

We had my "famous" chicken-n-dumplin's this week, one of my daughter's favorites! I’m looking forward to apple cider, pumpkin patch visits, pumpkin pie, jack –o-lanterns, mulled wine, and more autumn fun in the coming weeks! I'm going to make real pumpkin pie this year - not pumpkin from a can! (Wish me luck!) Did you check out my wine slushy recipe? My friend Gina said I need to post a mulled wine recipe instead...so I will work on that! 

Enjoy your week! I mean hey...it's only your life! So be sure you really DO enjoy it! This week I plan to get a little more exercise, try a new bread recipe, get crafty, and visit with my neighbors. What are you going to do to refresh your spirit?

"How we speak to ourselves can have a powerful effect on what happens in our lives."

Recipe of The Week: Wine Slushies

My recipe of the week for you this week is WINE SLUSHIES! Ever get a bottle of wine that just isn’t quite as tasty as you’d like? I found the cure! I had a bottle of inexpensive red sangria that was only so-so (drinkable, but more so after you ma de it through the first two glasses!). So in a vain attempt to find a recipe using the Spartan ingredients I had on hand (hey, it’s a one hour round trip excursion to the store – ya don’t just run out for frozen lemonade just ‘cause you want a cold refreshing adult beverage on a Tuesday night!) I googled! I treasure my findings…

Wine Slushy

 Ingredients 

• 1 bottle of wine (750 ml) 
• 1.25 to 1.75 cups sugar 
• 1 tsp citric acid
• 3 cups (730 ml) water 

Directions

1. Whisk or shake well the sugar and citric acid. Use enough sugar to suit your taste –if your wine is already sweet use less sugar. 
2. Add the water. Stir / shake / blend. 
3. Pour into freezer safe containers (I used a glass bowl and plastic food containers but then the next batch I just used a 1.5L wine bottle and slightly less water). 
4. Freeze for 3 to 6 hours. 

I was impatient and enjoyed slushy-slushies after about 90 minutes in the deep freeze. The citric acid gives it a tart lemony flavor and...OMGosh! this is just the perfect wine slushy! Forget about buying those mixes for $12 – this will be my  beverage of the week every week! (I can just see me sitting around the pool or patio with Katie, Mandy, and my Mom sipping this, talking, laughing, and enjoying life! Stephanie, you and Gina would love this too! Let's make some soon!)