Compost Chaos Calms

Today I am Writing with great joy! We successfully recycled our first crop of composted soil. It took 8 months for us to get enough dirt to fill our flower beds, but it was worth it. The dirt is dark and smells clean. I am so happy about this because we are now working to replenish the soil on our property. Hopefully we will now have a good place to plant veggies if we can recoup our chickens.

Tablet!!

Here is a Haitian desert I experimented with last night.

Coconut- 2 cups shredded, I used fresh unsweetened coconut I shredded myself. I also drank all the water inside!!
Sugar- 2-3 cups, the grainy kind works best
Vanilla- 2 tbls if you like vanilla!
Cinnamon- 2 tbls if you like cinnamon!
Butter- 1 tbls, melted
Milk- 1/2 cup

I just threw all the ingredients together in a small pot and let it boil/simmer on medium for about 10-15 minutes. The goal is caramelization so if it is taking longer for the sugar to caramelize let it do it's thing. I put blobs into a pan and cooled them in the freezer for an hour, then we ate them!! So good!

This picture is horrible, I know, at least you can kinda see what they look like.

Enjoy!

Chayote Squash Surpise!

This week I helped our two house helpers make stuffed Chayote Squash. In Creyol we call it Militon. We boiled 8 squash, halved them and scooped out the insides into a bowl. We mixed that together with cheese, brown rice, seasonings and sauted onions, garlic and green pepper! We baked them for 30 minutes at 375'F. I sprinkled some Rosemary on top for flavoring and served them hot. They were actually really GOOD and it was a very inexpensive meal!

Here is a picture of the squash right before going into the cooker... Dinner a la Haitian!

Baking Bonanza!

It was Nick's birthday last weekend and in the Rickard family "the baking of the cake" is a very integral part of the celebration process.  I am NOT a baker, I still at age 25 have not made a chocolate chip cookie worth eating... I know I need help.  Recipes are more like guidelines to me, hence the reason the recipes I have on this blog are all original. This is because I improvise from the inspiration I receive from others...

Needless to say, last weekend I celebrated victory!  I made a cake that was more than just edible... it was WONDERFUL!  How did I do it? Thanks to http://allrecipes.com I found a vegan cake recipe: no egg, no apple sauce, no milk and no crisco... The cake was moist and chocolaty.  

Don't worry the picture below is not what my cake looked like... this is from the website to give you a visual. For the recipe click here: chocolate-oil-cake and enjoy!

Making home made bread!

Hello, last week I was so desperate for a sandwich, I broke down and made homemade bread without a bread machine. I was shocked by the results!!! The bread was fluffy with a nice shell crust. I didn't have any bread flour so I used regular white flour and it did not seem to make a difference.

Here is the recipe:

5-6 cups white flour (please use whole wheat if you have it)
1 tbls dry active yeast (to activate yeast see my previous post about yeast)
3 tbls sugar
1 tbls salt

Mix together and let is rest for 10 minutes. Place dough on a well floured surface and kneed it for 15-20 minutes, continually adding flour as needed until the dough is no longer sticky.

Bake anywhere from 15-25 minutes or until the outside is golden brown.

This bread is so yummy, and very economic!

Nou Poule Genyen Novou Kay (The chickens got a new house)

If you have kept us to date on my blog you would know that the chickens ate Gabes Garden. They ate the seeds, seedlings, and nested in the pots... Our compound has been over-run with chickens since we first arrived here in Haiti.

Some our friends from Texas came in town last week and built us a Chicken Tractor. A Chicken Tractor is basically a mobile home for chickens. They built a beautiful roost with a door and lock (the lock is key) and a little run... However, what they did not do was catch the chickens and put them into the Tractor...

For a whole week we have been out there chasing chickens trying to get them inside this tractor. Our Haitian staff, who are much more comfortable around chickens, caught two of them on Wednesday but there are still many more that need to move into their new home.

This morning finally I tricked 5 chickens into eating some leftover popcorn inside the roost and slammed the door on them! HA! Only 5 more to go. After we cage our feathered friends we can begin gardening again...

A Time of Transition...

I have reached a plateau with cooking... I have tried so many new recipes now Nick and I have our favorites and unfortunately I have already blogged about most of those recipes.  This weekends menu was as follows:
Saturday:
Petit Mange: breakfast burritos, a friend is in town and brought us real tortillas and bacon
Mange Midi: White bean burgers and baked home fries
Dine: Pizza, and desert pizza

Sunday: 
Petit Mange: Mango Pancakes and hashbrowns
Mange Midi: Torillas with gaucamole and cheese spread
Dine: Left overs and popcorn

I could post pineapply salsa, quinoa burgers, or desert pizza...  any takers on these recipes?? Also after returning to the US in two weeks for a visit I many have some new inspiration for cooking with a few items I may snag at the grocery store (pad thai noodels, miso and quinoa).  

However, I think it is time to start taking on a couple new columns I have been neglecting.  My roommate and I have been talking about restarting our garden and the compost is definitely in a state of chaos (which I expected when I named the column).

Today we will start a small herb garden and I will once again attempt to turn our compost!

Herbs are tricky and since we are in Hurricane season I am uncertain whether or not I will be able to save these tiny seedlings from drowning.  I have been reassured by the seed packaging that oregano, basil and celantro all prefer full sun; and to keep them indoors without a sun lamp would be detrimental to their sprouting.

Will post pictures later today...