fall

I live for fall. I love fall, but often times it seems as though this sunshiny state just skips right over it. Few of our trees flame with brilliance and our weather can be fickle. But it has FINALLY started to cool down and feel more like...well..fall! These are some things that I have seen that just make my heart smile. :)

 

Apples growing on a neighborhood tree. :) A silent harvest unseen by most. I was simply fortunate enough to notice it as I walked by.

Rows of corn stalks growing high at a farm a couple of hours from my house. This city girl's heart loves to wander in fields of corn and marvels at the straight rows and laden stalks. I don't think there is a way to put into words just how much I love rows of corn...and yes, I realize that is a little odd.

Pumpkin on the vine! I'm used to seeing pumpkins stacked up at the grocery store, but to see it still laying in it's bed of dirt, still attached to the mama plant, so neat!

 

I went to the Cal Poly Farm store a few weeks ago and bought some shafts of wheat that I placed into a pitcher in my living room. :) Apples, wheat, corn, pumpkins, does it get any better!? 

thank you

 

To our Vetrans: thank you for your courage and sasacrifice. I am thankful for the freedoms that I enjoy and I know that they would not be possible with you. 

Banket

As the holiday season is quickly approaching now is when everyone starts to bake their yummy treats. My boyfriend's family is Dutch on his mom's side. A very traditional Dutch treat is banket (pronounced bahn-ket). And since practically no one outside of the Dutch community has any idea what it is I thought I would share with you how to make this tasty treat. :)

So, here's a how-to-make-banket-tutorial :) 


Ingredients for pastry crust                                                 

-4 cups of flour                                                                  
-2 cups of cold butter, cut into small pieces  (best if the butter has been in the freezer)                    
-about one cup of ice water                                               
-1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

Ingredients for filling
- 2 eggs (you can also use only one egg, we've tried both ways and they both work)
- 2 cups of sugar 
- 1 lb or 2 cups almond paste
- 1 tsp. lemon juice

Bake Temp: 425 degrees F.
Bake Time: 15 minutes

Step number one: cut cold butter up into small pieces. Put flour, butter, salt and baking powder in a large mixing bowl.

Step number two: mix together flour, cold butter, salt and baking powder. The point is not to cream the butter into the flour mixture but to make it a crumbly mixture. The best results come from very cold butter. You do not want to over mix your crust. By not creaming the butter, but leaving small chunks in, you get a delicious, buttery, flaky crust.

See how you can still see small chunks of butter? This is what you want.

 Step number three: Mix in your ice water SLOWLY and only enough so that it starts to form a doughy ball. I would start with 3/4 cup, adding just a little bit at a time. The dough should not be too sticky so make sure not to add to much water.

(this isn't actually one cup, it's two. I put ice and water in here then poured one cup into a one cup measurement)

Once your dough is starting to look like this it is usually easier to mix the rest by hand. You can then add water a little bit as a time as needed.

Step number four: One you have your dough take it and break it into 8 equal balls. The easiest way for me to do this is to take the dough, break it in half and then continue to break those halves in half until I have eight balls.

 If you added to much water and your dough is super sticky you can add a little bit more flour. It also helps to put it in the fridge. You can refrigerate dough for a couple of days or so and it is actually easier to work with when it is colder.


Step number five: For the filling mix together the eggs, almond paste, and lemon juice. We buy our almond paste in 7 gallon cans from Blue Diamond because it is MUCH cheaper then buying the tiny little tubes of almond paste at the grocery store. However, we have also made our own almond paste, and that works as well.

Step number six: Time to roll out the dough! I usually sandwich the dough between lightly floured waxed paper. Roll each ball out so that it measures twelve inches long and four inches wide. Supposedly, if you have not over mixed your dough you should be able to see butter striations in your rolled out dough according to my boyfriend's family. I have yet to achieve making perfect dough.  In any case, it doesn't really matter, but, if you get butter striations then bravo! You've done it correctly. :)

Step number seven: Starting from about an inch from the top of the rectangle spoon filling onto the middle of the dough. Leave about an inch or so from the top and bottom of the rectangle.

 Step number eight: Starting with the short sides fold dough up and over filling. Then fold over long sides. Make sure to press seams together and seal tightly. Water can also help to seal seams. If the seams are not sealed tightly you will end up with a bubbly, hot, sticky, almond paste filling mess on your cookie sheet after baking. Unfortunately, I know this from experience. So seal those seams!

  Step number nine: Flip banket over so that the seam side is touching the cookie sheet.

Step number ten: Use a knife and cut evenly spaced diagonal slits along the top of the banket. The slits are used to help release the heat while baking and they also serve as an easy way to break the banket into pieces to share and eat. :)

 

Step number eleven: Brush the top of the banket with either egg whites or milk (I usually use milk that way I don't have to figure out what to do with the extra yolk). Sprinkle with sugar.

 Step number twelve: Bake at 425 F for 15 minutes or until tops are golden brown. 

Wait a little bit for the boiling hot melty insides to cool down a tad and then enjoy!!! :) 

*word of advice- while making banket the traditional way is well worth it, I usually buy pre-made pie crust (shhhh...don't tell my boyfriend's family!) and make it that way and it is still quite tasty* 

**if making this for the first time I recommend cutting the recipe in half...it makes a lot!**

gifts list

In November of 2009 I started a habit that has changed and shaped my life. A habit that takes less than five minutes out of my day and is this simple: I pick up a pencil and write down what I am thankful for. Three years and 1,377 items later and I am amazed at how this has changed me.

One study has shown that we those who wrote down that they were thankful for weekly were "associated with more positive and optimistic appraisals of one’s life, more timespent exercising, and fewer reported physical symptoms".

I was inspired to try this habit when a farmer's wife in Canada, Ann Voskamp, shared on her blog the dare she had received from a friend to write down 1,000 things she was thankful for. As she shared her journey, and has even written a  New York Time's Best Seller, I decided to jump on the band wagon as well.  

This is a practice that I plan to continue for the rest of my life, and I have a feeling that if more people stopped to write down what they were thankful for they would see a change in their lives as well.

handwritten recipes

In January of 2007 my world was turned upside down when my Grandma passed away. When my birthday occurred that April I remember opening the birthday card from my Grandpa and bawling my eyes at the realization that I would never again receive a birthday card from her. My greatest regret is not having kept more of those handwritten notes from her.

So... when I saw this idea online I knew that I wanted to jump on that band wagon.

This woman took handwritten recipes, scanned them, and then sent them to a company to get them printed on fabric. She turned that fabric into these beautiful tea towels. 

I raided my family's recipe boxes, as well as my boyfriend's family's recipe boxes. Those near to me are going to get some tea towels with recipes in their loved one's handwriting.

I may not ever get a birthday card in my Grandma's handwriting again but having a sample of her writing displayed in my kitchen will be a way for me to honor her memory and cherish the few samples of her hand writing that I do have. :)

the small stuff

Why the name?

Because I believe that joy is most often found in the small things. But "simply the small things" was already taken as a blog name...so stuff it was. And, I like alliterations.

This blog will document the small things- the ordinary, the plain, even the mundane. Yet, when viewed through the lens of gratefulness those very things that are often taken for granted can transform your life.

So, this is me...just counting the gifts and trying to live this one life well. :)