USB Charger Lamp

Behold, the multipurpose USB Charger lamp!

I've been slowly gathering the parts for this lamp for a while. I'm really into how it came together. It took a bunch of tries but ultimately I figured it all out. There might have been a bit of a mess in the meantime, but it all worked in the end.

The most important parts for this project are USB receptacle and the 3 wire cord. I found them at my local hardware store and they are available on Amazon as well. It's important to use the right USB receptacle for this lamp, if you are going to charge smart things with it (iphone, ipad, smart phones, etc). Some of them are the wrong amperage and can damage your device or just not work at all. 

If you aren't comfortable with wiring, this might not be a good first-electrical-project, but it's a really fun one if you are familiar with wiring.

Here is the basic diagram for a lamp with a USB changer, plug and light switch. In this lamp, the switch only turns the light off and on, the USB and plug are always powered. Be sure to use a single pole switch.

Putting it all together looks like this awesome beasty.

Vegan Volcano Biscuits

These biscuits have a warm jam topping that melts down the side of the biscuit when cooked. The lava flow of jam is the hallmark of my volcano biscuits. And let’s be real, it’s fun to wake up and ask “Do you want volcanos?”

Dough:

2 cups flour

2 Tbl sugar

½ tsp salt

1 Tbl baking powder

1 Tbl ground flax seed (I just grind it up in a coffee grinder) – you can also sub 1 T dry egg replacer

1/3 cup light veggie oil

1/3 cup rice or soy (or whatever fake) milk

½ cup water

1 tsp apple cider vinegar (white vinegar also works)

6 Tbl of your fave jam

1 additional Tbl of sugar for dusting

Heat oven to 385 degrees.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients. In a small bowl, combine all of the wet ingredients. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet, then fold wet and dry together.

Make 6 balls out of the dough and put them on the baking sheet. Press down on the dough balls, making them into a sort of nest shape – this usually involves flattening the dough out a bit, and then pushing down a little extra in the middle of each one. Top each with 1 T of jam. Dust dough with remaining Tbl of sugar. Bake for ~18-20 minutes.

Makes 6

Fig Puffs

I love figs. I love figs to a level that is a little frightening. We have a gorgeous fig tree in our back yard and I really like making these crispy, flakey, attractive Fig Puffs as soon as they start to ripen. They are so delightfully easy.  

To make them, you need:

1 package frozen Puff Pastry

3 Tbl white or raw sugar (divided)

3 Tbl brown sugar

3 ripe (soft but not super soft) green or black figs - I use green

Directions:

Remove frozen puff pastry from the freezer about an hour before you start the rest of the recipe. 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine both sugars in a small bowl, keeping 1 Tbl of white/raw sugar set aside. Open the puff pastry and unfold it flat on a baking sheet. Cut the puff pastry in 6 equal parts (I usually follow the seams and then slice the long pieces in half). Sprinkle puff pastry with white/raw sugar 

Prepare figs by slicing off stem and bottom. Slice fig into 1/8th inch slices. Arrange in a row on the pieces of puff pastry. Sprinkle each piece with the sugar mixture. 

Back until golden brown and delicious looking (about 15 minutes) - Remove from oven and enjoy!

Persimmons and Home Canning Basics

I have the pleasure of working with the Portland Fruit TreeProject throughout the year. They are a great organization, which organizes harvest parties for the large amount of fruit trees in Portland. Groups of volunteers harvest ripe fruit and a portion is donated to the Oregon Food Bank. Volunteers also take home a portion of the fruit, as does the owner of the property/fruit trees. On top of the harvest parties, they also organize canning and cooking classes to help people with ideas on what to do with… we’ll say 30+ pounds of Persimmons, for instance.

Enter Heather and Jason! We joined with the PFTP to teach a Persimmon Preservation class. We did a demo of one of my favorite persimmon recipes, Persimmon Chutney. It makes a great addition to a holiday gift basket and goes well on all sort of things. Jason prefers it on pork while I prefer it on a nice curry… or a spoon.

To help with the class, I put together a handout. Who doesn’t like a good handout? It includes three persimmon recipes as well as a basic guide to home canning. Credit where it is due, the basic guide came directly from My Pantry Shelf. It is incredibly well written and a great guide.

The three recipes are:

Persimmon Chutney

Persimmon Jam

Persimmon Cookies

Granted, persimmon cookies aren’t a canning thing, but it you have persimmons, you should 100% make these cookies. They are soft and chewy. On top of that, the bizarre science experiment that is persimmon and baking soda brings me a weird level of joy.

The garden grows

We got half of the garden planted last month and there is more to come this weekend. It looks like we're in for a great growing year!

The new potato bin is amazing. It's made out if a drawer insert that we found at the Rebuilding Center. Jason (the amazing husband) put casters on it, so it can be wheeled around the yard. Potatoes enjoy new views and travel, just like the rest of us. 

We have also planted beets, chard, romaine, strawberries, kholrabi and carrots. The carrots aren't sprouting for some reason... Very likely because Data Dog keeps jumping into the containers. I'll plant more in the planter bed this weekend. 

Next up is tomatillos, tomatoes, hops, more beets (never enough). Pickling cucumbers will follow close behind. 

I'm looking forward to a bounty this year!

Seitan Roast – Celebrate your Holidays with Seitan

Seitan Roast – Celebrate your Holidays with Seitan

I love this roast for holiday events. With Easter coming up, I wanted to share it with you. This is a great one for mixed company. Meat eaters completely enjoy it. Sadly, not for the Gluten Free guests though.

All Hail Seitan!

Ingredients
For the Seitan:
10 oz Firm tofu
1 cup water
3 Tbl oil
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic gradual/powder
1 tsp sage
2 Tbl soy sauce
1 Tbl Braggs liquid amino (or ½ Tbl more soy sauce)
2 Tbl Nutritional yeast (big flake, not fine powder)
2 tsp Kitchen Bouquet
2 and 1/4 cup vital wheat gluten

For the Stuffing:
.5 cup mixed wild rice
1 cups water
1 “chicken” flavor bouillon cube
1 sprig fresh Rosemary, finely chopped
¼ cup pine nuts (raw or toasted – I usually use raw)
Salt and pepper to taste

You will also need:
A steamer tray or stove top steamer (available for super cheap at any Asian grocery store)
Tin foil
Spray cooking oil

Start the stuffing first – In a pan or rice cooker, add rice, water, bouillon cube and rosemary – Cook rice following standard cooking method – Once rice is done, add pine nuts, salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Get your steamer going.

In a medium bowl, add the vital wheat gluten. In a blender (blender is preferable, but food processor will also work), combine everything on the “For the Seitan” list except the vital wheat gluten.  Pour mixture into the bowl with the vital wheat gluten and stir. Once the mixture has combined a little, get your hands in there and knead it a bunch. You want to activate the gluten so that it pulls against itself a bit and creates thick strands (about 3-4 minutes of kneading).

Lay out 2 large pieces of tinfoil in a cross pattern and spray with cooking oil.

Create a flat layer of the gluten mixture in the center of the tinfoil cross. To do this, I usually pull off small pieces and lay them side-by-side and then flatten them all together (since gluten can be difficult to roll out or flatten like pizza dough) – the small pieces will form together as it is cooking.

In the center of your flattened gluten, make a pile of the rice mixture. Roll the gluten around the rice mixture like a burrito. Pinch the ends together so that the rice is entirely encased. Use the foil wrapping to hold it all together tightly.

Place in the steamer and steam for 1 hour. Check on the water occasionally to make sure your steamer doesn't boil dry. 15 minutes before the steaming is complete, turn the oven to 350 degrees. When the steaming is complete, put the foil wrapped goodness into the oven for 45 minutes.

Optional, you can roast vegetables in the oven with the roast (in a separate pan) so they are ready when the roast is!

When oven time is complete, serve sliced with your festive meal :D