Mid-Mitten Homemade

These marshmallow, caramel dippers were beautiful and tasty!

Well if I thought 2015 was going to be a WHOPPER of a year I was right!  I was lucky enough to speak at the Local Food Summit in late February and then to host the Mid-Mitten Homemade’s first food swap of 2015 in early March.

We had an incredible turnout with 21 swappers who came from all over the Mitten state.  We had newbies and old timers and it was wonderful to see all the product that people brought.  

We had people from Port Huron, Ann Arbor, Davisburg, Flint, and from right down the street in Leslie.

We had prepared meals, condiments, sauces, produce and everything in between.

This is a master recipe that can be made into whatever type of granola you want.  I used maple syrup from the Mason High School’s Sugarbush and it has been great in the morning over some yogurt or mixed into oatmeal. This recipe makes a ton of granola.  It freezes well and once you try it you will never buy granola again. I basically emptied out my pantry and freezer and use what I had.  Please feel free to change the ingredients and make it your own!

Ingredients:

3 ½ cup of grain – I used 3 cups old fashioned oatmeal, ¼ cup uncooked quinoa, ¼ cup ground flax seeds and ¼ cup almond meal. You could also use wheat germ as long as your base is roughly 3 cups of oatmeal.

3 cups of seeds and or nuts – I used ¾ cups of sliced almond and pepita seeds (peeled pumpkin seeds), along with ¾ cup sunflower seeds and 3 TBPS sesame seeds (all unroasted and unsalted).  You could use salted but just make sure you reduce the salt in the recipe.

1 tsp salt – I used Kosher but if you have table salt reduce amount to ¾ tsp. If you have used salted nuts or seeds reduce to ½ tsp.

2 TBPS spice – I used 1 TBPS cinnamon, 1/2 TBSP both of ground ginger and ground cardamom.  This is the time to empty out your spice cabinet of all the old spices.  The baking will liven them up again.

3/4 cup of sweetener – I had five dates so I blend them into the maple syrup.  You could use honey or brown rice syrup.  Make sure you heat your honey or it will be difficult to mix the dry ingredients thoroughly.

1/2 cup oil – I used vegetable oil.  There is really no reason to use fancy oil. (See below for a substitute to some of the oil) 

Instructions:

Put the first four ingredients in a LARGE bowl.  Combine and pour almost all of your sweetener and oil over the dry ingredients and mix until it comes together and starts to clump.  If it is too dry add more of your liquid.  Spread on a baking sheet so that you have only a single layer of granola. Bake at 300 degrees for 40 minutes.  At 20 minutes you should stir and turn the granola to make sure you get it crispy on all sides.  Let the granola cool.  Add additional dried fruits or chocolate chips (if using) and freeze some, store some in your refrigerator and store some on the counter for breakfast or a snack the next day.

Granola Notes:

-- If your granola doesn’t come together while you are mixing add more oil 1 TBPS at a time.  Only use 2 additional tablespoons or your granola will be hard to store at room temperature.

-- If you want to add shredded coconut and it is already toasted add after the granola comes out of the oven otherwise it will burn and ruin your whole batch.  The coconut should be unsweetened and not toasted if you add it to your batch before going into the oven. 

-- If you want to add dried fruits such as dates, apricots or goji berries also do that AFTER you bake the granola. 

--If you want your granola to have a chocolate taste add ¼ cup cocoa powder in the mix before baking, but if you want actual chocolate chips add them after the granola is out of the oven and completely cooled.

--If you’re worried about the amount of oil you could substitute one egg white for every 3 TBPS of oil.  I would only substitute one egg because after all this recipe makes a bunch of granola and it won’t stick together as readily with only egg.

-- If you like your granola loose and almost individual pieces than you will need to empty it into a large bowl right after coming out of the oven.  While it is still warm you should mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon to break up the pieces. 

Walking into Bad Brewery is like walking from a quaint Midwestern town into a cosy, well-worn pub of the British Isles.  The dark walls and low benches, the loud conversation and laughter and the welcoming smiles resemble the pubs that I visited in Ireland.  And on the Friday I last visited the music, the crowd and the beer were all in full force, all with Brian behind the bar.  This interview below follows Brian’s hobby of home brewing to that Friday night at his brewery.   

Give us some background on how you started the brewery and your love of beer.

I was a home brewer for about 10 years before I started the brewery, it was always a dream of mine to start up a brewery but since I had a steady job it seemed kinda far-fetched.  Them in the summer of '11 I was laid off from my job which gave me time to sit down and put together a business plan and well, here we are now a few years later making beer and enjoying life.

How did you decide on Mason for the brewery’s location?

After looking at a few building around the area we found the building we are in now, we immediately saw the potential that it had under its very rough looking interior but we just knew that this was the place to start BAD.  Other factors were Mason's growth in housing market as other areas were declining as well as the downtown area and how is is clearly important to the city.  

Can you take us through a “Day in the Life” of Brian Rasdale and Danielle French?

A day in the life for me usually consists of me walking down to bestseller and grabbing a cup of coffee to start the day then back to the brewery to start heating water for the days batch (we brew about 4-5 days a week) as the water is heating I will mill (grind) all of the grains necessary for the days batch and then start brewing.  As the brewing process is taking place we are also cleaning the fermenter that will be used to ferment in after the wort (un fermented beer) is boiled and cooled.  This process happens 4-5 days a week and other days include kegging beer, transferring beers from tank to tank, more cleaning followed by more cleaning.  While I’m doing all of this Danielle is taking care of all of the paperwork taxes and accounting before we open the doors to start serving.

Through all the process of the initial business development what lesson(s) have you learned that you wish you knew before you began?

Starting a brewery has been a learning process in its own and we continue to learn new things all of the time as we grow.  The biggest thing that we would have changed from the beginning was starting with larger equipment.  I guess we were a little naive about realistic numbers of beers that we would be selling, a problem but a good problem as we still struggle to stay ahead to this day after growing our fermenter space 922% since opening the door in July of '12.

What piece of advice would you give someone who would like to start their own food business?

My advice for starting up your own business is if it makes sense to you just go for it, every situation is different and don't let people tell you that your plan will not work.  If I would have listened I would have never opened.

What is your favorite beer that you have on tap right now?  What’s your all time favorite?

MY favorite beer that we have on tap right now would be the Bourbon Barrel Aged Barley Wine that has been aged in bourbon barrels for one year. My go to beer that we brew would be the Super D's IPA.

How do you choose the great names for your beers?

We never name a beer until its fermented and we taste it, then normally the employees and I talk about it and whoever come up with the best name.

Tell us about your mug club.  Tell us about your growler fill process.

All the mugs in the mug club are made locally by Jon Whitney, when you are part of the mug club you get to pick out your own hand crafted mug, get 4 extra ounces per pour (20oz) for the same price as a 16 oz beer. On Wednesdays you get an extra $.50 off every beer, and $1 off all growler fills any day.  Also included in the price is a beer on your birthday and one when you sign up.  The cost is $50 for the first year and then $35 annually.   We allow growler (64oz) and howler (32oz) fills on most of our beers, these beers can be taken out from the bar and enjoyed wherever you wish. 

Why did you make the decision to not serve food as a part of your business model? 

Our decision not to do food was easy, we don't have the space at all to even think about making food.  Also we did not want to focus on anything else other than the beer.  So it’s a perfect fit that we now have the Good Bites food truck here at the brewing doing some really delicious food Tuesday through Saturday.

What is your opinion on the new Senate bill that was passed that allows Michigan bars to pay $10,000 for a special permit to stay open until 4am?    

Personally the crowd that we have which is great would normally never be out that late anyway, even on the weekend most of our crowd is out of here by 12-1. 

What do you think about all the new breweries opening?  Do you think the demand is there? And do you see a problem in the future with getting the ingredients you need to brew or do you see a demand for better ingredients?

All of the new breweries opening is a good thing, its promotes local growth in some of the smaller towns, in my eyes it will got back to the way it was before prohibition and every smaller town that can support one will have one, the demand is there for sure.  Ingredients are already showing harder to access and yes I believe that it will only get harder with more places opening.

Tell us about some of the events you have hosted in the past year and what kind of events are coming up in 2015.

This past year we have held numerous events, 3 street parties with live music, food truck and special release beers.  We will be hosting several more in the coming year and should be releasing the dates around March so people can plan ahead.  We also had out fist bottles released about a week ago and plan on doing that several times a year.

Do you have any new projects or ideas that we can look forward to in 2015?

For 2015 we have some plans of growth and some small scale bottling, nothing too crazy.  The main thing is just to keep making beer that the beer community enjoys.

Brian’s high quality brewing has gotten state wide attention when in the Fall of 2013 Brian and a lively crowd at the brewery were interviewed by the hosts of the Michigan Beer Show.  If you would like to hear the podcast recorded at the Bad Brewery click here.

To get more information about Bad Brewery visit: http://badbrewing.com/  

I asked Brian which of his beers he would advise to use in my Beer Braised Beef Stew and responded that he “would go with the Mud in your Rye. The dark malts and slight spiciness of the rye and hops should go great with the beef.”

Well the first of the Casual Cooking Classes are over!  After a year of working on this project it was incredible to have people in my house, covered in flour, working together and finally sharing a meal together.  

Both classes decided on having the crab and cheese raviolis as their meal and no one was disappointed.  

Below are some of the comments on the class.  

"What great class! I especially liked the butter/lemon sauce for the crab ravioli. So very tasty! Thanks Danielle!" "Great class! Danielle took the fear out of making pasta!" "It was awesome learning from you. It was amazing to see how simple and forgiving it all was. Your a great teacher."

Diane created her business with a love and attention to detail that anyone can see.  Her quick breads are found all over the Lansing area and if you haven’t tried them you MUST.  Diane wouldn’t have been able to come as far as she has without the help of Marcy Bishop Kates of INCU-BAKE.  INCU-BAKE is an incubator kitchen in Holt that allows food producers a chance at their dreams of becoming part of the local food scene.  Below is an interview with both ladies while they were in action at the fully licensed commercial kitchen in Holt. 

Let’s start with the star of the show, Diane of Glory Bee Sweet Treats.  And then we will finish with Marcy of INCU-BAKE in her supporting role. 

1. How did you decide that you wanted to go into a food business?   

Originally, I started doing craft shows.  When I found how much enjoyment I got out of doing it, I decided to pursue it on a larger scale.  The IncuBake kitchen, and owner, Marcy Bishop Kates, allowed me to pursue the endeavor without having to take on the high overhead of a commercial kitchen.   

2. Give the reader an idea of what you have to sell and anything special about your products.   

I have always enjoyed baking, especially for others.  Currently, I make muffins, sweet breads (apple cinnamon, banana nut, cranberry walnut, hummingbird (bananas, pineapples and walnuts), pumpkin and zucchini), gluten free granola bars and scotcheroos, a variety of cookies (chocolate chip, peanut butter, banana oatmeal power cookies, as well as some seasonal items.  My fudge is made with my Mother’s recipe and is absolutely exceptional.

 3. What sets your product apart from your competitor’s?   

This may sound corny, but I think when you have so much love and passion for what you do, it somehow, transfers in to the items that you make.  There are a lot of people that do good baked goods.  I have spent a significant amount of time looking for recipes that are different.  I continue to look for items that will stand out.  Quality is so critical!

 4. What kind of services from Incu-Bake did you take advantage of?  Would you have been able to start your business without an incubator kitchen?

 There is absolutely no way I would have been able to start a baking company without the incubator kitchen.  With the change in the law regarding Cottage industries, many people can do food type items and get them out into the public arena.  The incubator kitchen allows you to take that next step.  Marcy is well versed and resourced in regulations regarding health inspections and requirements.  She is well resourced and helps all of her clients reach their potential in the market place.    

The facility itself is a wonderful place.  There is a large area for prep work on one side of the kitchen and then on the other side are all the utensils you need, there is a restaurant size stove, a 4 shelf convection oven.  There is a large walk in cooler and a freezer.  IncuBake provides a large amount of shelving and storage area. 

 5. Where can people buy your products? 

 Items can be purchased at:

Coffee Barrel (Holt), Horrocks (Lansing and Battle Creek), Monticellos (Haslett), Old Town General Store (Lansing), Sweet Season Orchards (Lansing City Market), Tirrell’s Farm Specialties (Charlotte) and Creative Wellness (East Lansing).

 6. For each of the food producer/farmer interviews I do I use one or two of their products and make an original recipe.  Can you give me a couple of ideas how to use a product of Glory Bee’s to transform it into a great dish? 

Most of my items stand alone. Raspberry Cream Cheese Brownie – just add ice cream, Muffins – with a great cup of coffee, Chocolate Chip Cookies – tall glass of milk J

 7. What piece of advice would you give someone who would like to start their own food business?

 The risk is worth the effort.  Understand that it will not be an overnight success, but with hard work and passion, it can be.  I think the hardest thing for me to learn how to do was to sell myself (and my baked goods) every single day of the week.  Don’t be afraid to make “the ask”. (Asking people to complete the sale can be the hardest part).

 8. What has been your biggest surprise about running your own business?

 Just how much satisfaction you get from people telling you your items are really good.  I never dreamt that I would be doing this and enjoying it as much as I do, after spending 34 years being a secretary/administrative assistant. 

 9. Do you have any new projects or ideas that we can look forward to in 2015?

 I am always looking for new ideas and recipes.  I just started having a discussion with a fellow baker about the possibility of doing yeast breads.  Then there is always the possibility of owning my own kitchen/bakery.

 Diane is the owner of Glory Bee Sweet Treats.  If you want more information about what she is selling visit her website at http://www.glorybeesweettreats.com/index.html. 

Diane talked about how important having a licensed kitchen is to her business and without INCU-BAKE she would not be able to have grown her business. An incubator kitchen can solve many problems that new food businesses have. It can be the first facility a food producer relies on when starting by legalizing and growing their operation within the specific state food laws and regulations.  It can also be a great way for a business to grow from a small market and possibly begin to increase sales on a wider scale.  Marcy has been in Holt helping food entrepreneurs for many years and her interview is below:

1. Tell us the process of how you started Incu-Bake. When did you start thinking about becoming an owner of an incubator kitchen?

I’ve always had dreams of being an entrepreneur, but up until a year before we opened, I had never heard of an incubator kitchen. I was looking for a kitchen to rent so that I could do catering legally; it came to my attention that I wasn’t the only person in the area looking for a commercial kitchen. Lots of research later, I had the good fortune to discover the building we now occupy, and in July, 2011, Incu-BaKe was hatched!

 2. What has been a difficult part of the business that you hadn’t thought about and how did you get over it?

 I was unaware that regulations are often interpreted in different ways by different people. I have overcome that by learning as much as I can and by creating a very good relationship with our licensing officials—to the extent that I can debate pretty much any issue with them. Sometimes I even win!

 3. Tell us about the artisans you have that you work with you at the incubator kitchen. 

 My customers are the best part of this business. They come from as far as St. Clair Shores, Jonesville, and Portland, and in fact soon we’ll have a client from Chicago. Their work ethics are incredibly inspiring, and their products are delicious—I do far too much quality control. Their dreams for their businesses are very diverse; for some, they hope to turn this into a career. For others, it’s a fun hobby or some extra spending money. I always joke that everything from granola to golumbki comes out of our kitchen—on any given day, the fragrances, tastes, and noise is different!

 4. One of your artisans that started at Incu-Bake is Diane from Glory Bee Sweet Treats. What did you help her with as the service provided by Incu-Bake from the first time she walked into the kitchen to now?

 Diane is both client and staff. She first came in to help me with some projects, and in return she got kitchen time to grow her former Cottage Foods Business. I worked with her to get her licensed and to scale up her recipes, so that she could start to sell wholesale to markets and stores.

 5. Can you take us through a “Day in the Life” of Marcy Bishop Kates?

 There is really no normal day. In addition to Incu-BaKe, I do contract consulting for a couple of local nonprofits, but those tasks also focus on small business development in different ways, just at different regional levels. Although I spend more time away from the kitchen than I used to, it has really helped me expand my network, which is then beneficial to my clients.

 A good portion of time is spent meeting with new potential clients, preparing them for the licensing process, and then getting them oriented to using the kitchen. A larger portion is spent supporting established clients. My nickname alternates between “Glinda” and the “Incu-Mom,” and I provide a lot of support and encouragement to those who need it, and broad shoulders to others are experiencing frustration and discouragement.  I help research questions about things such as labeling, food safety, and more.

  6. What advice would you give to a person who might have a great food idea and want to make it their life’s passion? 

 ·       {C}Understand costs, and the difference between wholesale and retail.

·       {C}Be sure you can fit the endeavor into your lifestyle.

·       {C}Test out your product and possible price points on friends and family—and anyone who will give you honest feedback.

·       {C}Decide where you’d like to go with this? Do you want to end up with a mass produced product available in every big box store? Or do you want to create an exclusive artisan product?

·       {C}Come see me; I’ll help you refine your plans!

 7. What were some of the highlights at Incu-Bake this year?

 ·       {C}There are so many: Olympus Salsa going from an idea to a fully-fledged business with their own production facility and in well over 30 stores in less than 9 months.

·       {C}Seeing products made in the Incu-BaKe kitchens in a variety of stores around the state.

·       {C}Hiring a young woman who is a recent graduate of the Career Center Culinary Program to work part-time as our kitchen manager and special project supervisor. Watching her hone her leadership skills has been really rewarding.

·       {C}Between the Buns and More, a small retail shop carrying a wide range of small-batch Michigan made products, was finally fully launched and ready for customers.

 8. Do you have any big projects or ideas that we can look for in 2015?

 In conjunction with Ruben at RG Distribution, we are preparing to start co-manufacturing for a few select companies, and to do some private label products. This will allow me to expand the Kitchen Manager position to full-time, have more regular hours for our retail store, and quite possibly hire a few additional staff. RG Distribution works with many Michigan businesses.  You can always purchase them at INCU-BAKE.

 Marcy Bishop Kates is the owner of Incu-Bake.  Incu-Bake is an incubator kitchen. An incubator kitchen can solve many problems that new food businesses have. It can be the first facility a food producer relies on when starting by legalizing and growing their operation within the specific state food laws and regulations.  It can also be a great way for a business to grow from a small market and possibly begin to increase sales on a wider scale. Marcy works with business owners on a variety of details, from understanding how to reach the target audience to creating labels for their food products.

Now chances are you won’t have any leftover quick breads from Glory Bee Sweet Treats but if you do this is a great recipe.  Feel free to add the dried fruit of your choice.  I love cherries but this pudding would be great with dried cranberries,  raisins or apricots as well. This recipe is great because no added sugar is necessary (except for the icing).   

Ingredients:

FOR PUDDING:

3 cups, cubed quick bread left out overnight to stale in a bowl.

1 cup milk, (I used 2% milk)

¼ cup dried cherries

3 large eggs, beaten

FOR ICING: (OPTIONAL)

3 TBSP confectioner’s sugar

2 TBSP maple syrup or water

DIRECTIONS:

I have been using this recipe for years and every time I bake it I change up the spices. Sometimes it's cinnamon. Other times it's clove. But this time I decided to go with the original recipe that calls for cardamom. I love the smell and since I drink tea instead of coffee in the morning the distinct smell of chai is in the air while the biscotti are baking is always great.   

This is the cookie I decided to bake for my first ever cookie swap!   Every year food bloggers from across the world come together and send a dozen cookies to three different bloggers and in return receive three dozen cookies.  The recipe is from Martha Stewart so you know it's good and I love how the almond flour makes the biscotti crispy.  

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for surface

2 teaspoons baking powder

Salt

3 3/4 ounces blanched almonds, ground (about 1 cup)

1 tablespoon cardamom pods, husks removed, seeds crushed (1/2 teaspoon)

3/4 cup sugar

2 large eggs plus 1 large egg white

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place rack in center of oven.

Sift flour, baking powder, and a pinch of salt into a large bowl. Mix almonds, cardamom, and 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar into flour mixture. Beat eggs and vanilla, then mix into dry ingredients until well combined.

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface. Roll dough into a 9-by-2-inch log. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Press gently to flatten top. Bake until pale gold and lightly cracked, about 30 minutes.

Lightly beat egg white, then brush onto biscotti. Sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Bake 15 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes on baking sheet on a wire rack.

Transfer to a cutting board. Using a serrated knife, cut dough into -inch-thick slices. Place slices, flat sides down, on baking sheet, and bake until golden brown and crisp, 15 to 18 minutes. Transfer biscotti to wire rack, and let cool completely.

I think the best of part of this recipe is that you can spread it over two days. Day one can be mixing, and the first baking. By leaving the loaf of biscotti out on a cooling rack it can cool, making it easier for you to slice the biscotti for the next step. I always want to slice while the loaf is too hot and it results in cracking of the biscotti and general frustration. 

If you are not planning on working on the biscotti for a second day of baking do yourself a favor and wait until the loaf is completely cool.  

Then you can slice the loaf into individual biscotti and bake them once more. I like to bake them until they are crispy but not browned and without the extra moisture in the almond flour that can be very hard (pun intended!).  

Then you wait again until their cool and in the mean while, melt your chocolate. I don't usually temper my chocolate for these biscotti because they are gone before you know it. But if you are planning on storing them or shipping them then you want to make sure you temper your chocolate so that the recipient doesn't see those white spots in the chocolate. The biscotti taste the same but don't look as nice as they could.  

                                                                                To learn how to temper chocolate check out this video.  

These biscotti will last forever. Without dipping in chocolate you could store them on your counter for weeks or in your frig for a month or so.  

Anybody that knows me knows that I don’t drink beer and only occasionally drink wine.  I like all things hard, hard ciders and hard liquor.  So when I was approached by Arctic Chill and asked if I would be interested in reviewing their Ice Balls I couldn't resist.  Along with reviewing the Ice Balls Arctic Chill was nice enough to send another set of four Ice Balls for me to give away to one lucky reader.

 The Ice Balls are easy to use but I needed a couple tries to get the right amount of water in the all plastic mold. Too much and the two halves would split apart.  Just a little too much and the Ice Ball looked like it had a female reproduction protuberance.  Not enough and the Ice Ball should have been called an Ice Half. After a small learning curve I was off and running with tons of cocktail ideas. 

I love my cocktails cold, ice cold.  But that usually means dilution.  And I don’t like dilution.  But with the Ice Balls the problem is solved.  I was able to drink 2-3 cocktails before the Ice Ball even tried to melt.  So unless you are a really slow drinker the chance of getting a diluted drink with the Ice Balls is slim. 

I have seven cocktails for you to try for the holiday season. Every day this week I will entice you with another libation to introduce into your repertoire.  All are super easy and all you will need in most cases is a shaker, sparkling water and some booze.  Each one I have personally tried with an Ice Ball and every one of them are delish!  

These Ice Balls would make a great gift for someone who has everything or is just starting to get serious about cocktail making.  Or would be a great gift for yourself! But for just a little work on your part a set of Arctic Chill Ice Balls may be yours for the taking.   Answers the questions below and put yourself in the running for the giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Arctic Chill has offered a set of four Ice Balls to my readers for the giveaway.

 Here’s how to enter:

 1. Answer the two questions above so that I can provide the Lansing area the best casual cooking classes starting Jan. 2015.   

2. Leave a comment on this post and tell me which of the three newly designed logos below that you would like to see as the new logo for Mid-Mitten Homemade in 2015. Comments will close at 11:59 pm east coast time on Thursday, December 25, 2014. 

The winner will be chosen at random and their name will be posted to this blog post and announced on the Mid-Mitten Homemade Facebook by Saturday, December 27, 2014.

The giveaway is open to US residents only (so sorry, further-flung readers). One comment per person, please. Entries must be left on the blog; I cannot accept submissions via email. Winner will be chosen by random by rafflecoptor. If no response within three days, a new winner will be chosen. 

 Disclosure: Arctic Chill did not pay me in any way for the review and only gifted me a set of Ice Balls for the review.  The review is my opinion and not in any way biased by Arctic Chill.

And now onto the seven great cocktail recipes I have made for you this week. Each of them can be made without alcohol but what’s the fun in that?  For inspiration I went to my handy dandy Google and found some really good instruction videos that gave me so many ideas.  I changed a little of this and a little of that and in the end I came up with something delish.  I have the videos that inspired me below each recipe so that you can watch them and maybe get ideas for a new and exciting cocktail of your own. 

Ginger Switchel

I thought I would give you a drink today that is not only non-alcoholic but also has almost all of your daily needs for potassium. It is Monday after all. We have time to build up to more potent drinks the week goes on. 

 Today’s cocktail is old, really old.  It is the Ginger Switchel.  It’s part sour, part sweet and all delish! It has drinking vinegar as the main ingredient which has really come (back) into its own lately.  The recipe is from The Kitchn.  If you want to know more about drinking vinegar read this article written for the Smithsonian. 

And if you want to purchase some incredible instilled drinking vinegar try the Michigan made McClarey Bros.  They have flavors like Michigan beet and carrot, apple pie and basil.

Ginger Switchel (from the kitchn.com)

Makes 1-2 drinks

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar 4 teaspoons sweetener (maple syrup, honey or sugar) 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger or 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger 1 cup water

Combine all ingredients in a jar or glass. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours and up to a day.

The November food swap was an incredible ending to a great first year of food swapping.  We had an intimate group with close friends and friendships that began with the food swaps.

What the 2014 food swaps meant to be in one word: Validation!

There were a comments that I loved that I wanted to share with everyone. 

"This is the best swap because I want everything."

I love the variety of swap items and how open people are to trying new things.  

I can’t tell you how warm that made my heart.  

Almost no one knows but I keep a journal where my my ideas, dreams and aspirations are written.  The journal is a 5 year journal that only allows me to write two or three sentences each day so it works great for a busy person. {The Happiness Project Journal}  And if I don’t write on a certain day I don’t hate myself for it, instead I write inspiring quotes so that the next year I will re-read the quote and feel inspired.  

Rereading that this year when I went to enter by thoughts was profound.  Everybody has these thoughts right? You’re not sure if your idea is good enough, trendy enough or worth it?  You doubt yourself, doubt your ideas and can come up with millions of reasons why you shouldn’t put yourself out there. 

But one of the things I have realized through starting the food swap is that you have to forget the doubt or you will do nothing that is brilliant.  I had thoughts of hosting a food swap over three years ago but my doubts stopped me. And starting it and have a great response was validation that my idea was sound.

And look what happened. 

The food swaps have spawned a writing interest in me that has gotten me published with City Pulse and Masontoday.com.  I have tried more recipes and had more food ideas in this year than ever before. My food club has gone from 300 members to over 500 in less than a year.  

And I will grow Mid-Mitten Homemade in 2015 in exciting and novel ways, some would have never entered my mind without the people that I've met through the swap.  

So thank you. Thank you for taking your own chance and registering for a food swap and gathering with people you didn't know.  Thank you for baking, cooking, preserving and making food swaps with care and warmth that you show for your family.  Thank you for being jazzed about the swaps and inviting friends who would be interested. Thank you for traveling many, many miles to attend.  Thank you for caring enough about the place you live in to make it better.  I knew Michigan had some great foodies and you have proved it. 

One of the benefits of becoming a food blogger is that I get to expand past Mid-Michigan and the USA and can become friends with bloggers from all over the world.  It has been almost one year since I started the blog and my lovely food swaps.  

And this year I am participating in two other types of swaps besides Mid-Mitten’s final food swap of 2014. For the last couple of months I have been on a Facebook group for organizers of food swaps nationally.  We will be sending one person a swap care package this holiday season and will get one in turn from another food swap organizer. 

If you want to try this type of food swap exchange for yourself than you can enroll into one on Lindsay has a great system for signing up for a foodie pen pal.  

I will also be participating in a food blogger cookie swap.  The idea is the same as the pen pal mixed with a little bit of Secret Santa.  You bake three dozen cookies and send a dozen to three different food bloggers.  Then you blog the recipes and wait for your cookies to come in the mail.  

Over 500 blogger participated last year and the number is currently at 565 for this year.  At the end the organizers compile all the recipes in one (or two) lists so that you will never be without a cookie recipe. 

And the great thing is that in order to participate you donate $4 to the Cookies for Kid’s Cancer.  Their mission is committed to raising funds for research to develop new, improved treatments for pediatric cancer, the #1 disease killer of children in the U.S.. 

Oh, and one more thing.  I will get a goodie bag from the sponsors. And the sponsor (OXO, Dixie crystal, California Olive Ranch and Brownie Brittle) are really cool.  I will let you know what that looks like once I get it.

There is also a FOOD52 swap which had over 200 swappers last year. If you’re not sure what to swap they have a great site with ideas from last year. I am VERY tempted to join this one too but I don’t want to be too overwhelmed this holiday season. Who knows!

One of the benefits of becoming a food blogger is that I get to expand past Mid-Michigan and the USA and can become friends with bloggers from all over the world.  It has been almost one year since I started the blog and my lovely food swaps.  

And this year I am participating in two other types of swaps besides Mid-Mitten’s final food swap of 2014. For the last couple of months I have been on a Facebook group for organizers of food swaps nationally.  We will be sending one person a swap care package this holiday season and will get one in turn from another food swap organizer. 

If you want to try this type of food swap exchange for yourself than you can enroll into one on Lindsay has a great system for signing up for a foodie pen pal.  

I will also be participating in a food blogger cookie swap.  The idea is the same as the pen pal mixed with a little bit of Secret Santa.  You bake three dozen cookies and send a dozen to three different food bloggers.  Then you blog the recipes and wait for your cookies to come in the mail.  

Over 500 blogger participated last year and the number is currently at 565 for this year.  At the end the organizers compile all the recipes in one (or two) lists so that you will never be without a cookie recipe. 

And the great thing is that in order to participate you donate $4 to the Cookies for Kid’s Cancer.  Their mission is committed to raising funds for research to develop new, improved treatments for pediatric cancer, the #1 disease killer of children in the U.S.. 

Oh, and one more thing.  I will get a goodie bag from the sponsors. And the sponsor (OXO, Dixie crystal, California Olive Ranch and Brownie Brittle) are really cool.  I will let you know what that looks like once I get it.

There is also a FOOD52 swap which had over 200 swappers last year. If you’re not sure what to swap they have a great site with ideas from last year. I am VERY tempted to join this one too but I don’t want to be too overwhelmed this holiday season. Who knows!

Didn’t I tell you I was going to post my recipe for my salsa verde? Well here it is.  Again if you read my red salsa rant about my lack of measuring then you will know that this “recipe” is also going to be proportions and eye-balling it.  

This time I didn’t broil the tomatillos or onions or peppers.  I actually charred them on my deck with the help of my fire pit.  I have some wood and some charcoal and I built a fire and did it that way.  Because let’s be honest, when I actually took the photos it was mid-August and it was freaking HOT and I wasn’t going to put my broiler on.  I told you this was a #laterrecipe right?  

But be careful.  This type of cooking isn’t for everyone.  You can burn yourself, singe your eyebrows off, sizzle your skin off, toast your pup, crisp your house, etc.  You get it right??  It’s dangerous! So be careful. 

Step one is coming to terms with the fact that you will be destroying a baking sheet.  Just deal with it and do it.  I have this one that I only bring out for crazy, fire centered chaos and I just deal. If it’s your first time burning the crap out of a baking sheet just make sure you burn it good BEFORE you put anything food on it.  And it CANNOT be NON-STICK.  You don’t need to inhale that.

So you have a sheet and you load it with tomatillos, green tomatoes, garlic, peppers, onions, whatever.  Then once the fire is good and hot you place the veggies on the sheet and watch it. In five minutes I usually have to turn the veg, the fire is that hot.  This is not a project you walk away from.  This is kamikaze cooking.

Once the vegetables are charred to your liking then you need to let them cool.  While you’re waiting you could be enjoying the rest of the fire and use it to roast anything else you need.  I had some poblano peppers and roasted them to later stuff and cover with my final product as a kinda enchilada style dish.

And now I am going to do something drastic.  I am going to just copy and paste the directions from the spicy red salsa because it’s exactly the same.  Bad food blogger, bad!

Now comes the time when you get to add more things to make you salsa high quality.  I put a half bunch of cilantro, some lemon juice and a huge pinch of kosher salt. Then the mixture gets plopped into the food processor and blended. 

Taste and season, blend, taste and season until its right. I like to have a fairly smooth salsa because I use it for enchilada sauce and I don’t like big chunks.  But again, it’s your choice. 

Another note: You could use a food mill to get rid of all the skins but I don’t think it’s worth the hassle of cleaning a food mill.  I do love my mill but for applesauce, mashed potatoes and the such.  Not for salsa. After all you worked (or your oven did) hard for that char why would you want to get rid of it.

Spicy Red Salsa

I know, I know.  This is a really late post on summer ripe tomatoes and the making of salsa with them.  Oops!  I have had some major writer’s block and been busy doing things, other things.  Like life things.  

I was getting so many tomatoes from my CSA, my neighbors and friends that I had to do something.  I decided I wanted to make a super easy salsa.  I had a handful of spicy hot peppers too so it became a spicy red salsa.  I roasted up a tray full of ripe tomatoes, onions, and peppers.  If you have an odd piece of garlic, then throw it in. If you only have a bell pepper throw that in too. 

And don’t worry about skins of cutting the tomatoes.  Leave them whole and placed them under the broiler “butt” side up.  Yes, the broiler. I don’t got time for baking or roasting.  I broil baby!!! If cooking isn’t easy I tend to order pizza.  Or in this case I would buy some jar salsa.

NO oil, no salt, no nothing. Just tomato, onion and peppers.  And anything that you have in your frig that you would normally find in a salsa.  ​

Now let’s get down to the recipe, or non-recipe as it is.  If you haven’t already noticed I don’t usually like recipes.  I tend to use them as inspirations and suggestions. 

So when I post a recipe that how I am expecting you to use them too.  "Take some tomatoes and some spices and put them together”.  For some that is an anger inducing sentence. How many tomatoes, what type of spices, how much???  Ugghhhhh!!!!  Well unfortunately or fortunately I live my life mostly in the gray zone. So I use proportions instead of cups and what the ingredients look and smell like instead of minutes. So I’m sorry, not sorry about this “recipe” too for those of you.  Because this “recipe” is just that.  I threw together “stuff”, measured nothing and took the ingredients out of the oven because it looked and smelled like it was done.  BUT, I did take some pics of what everything looked like at fifteen, thirty and forty-five minutes to give you a little bit of a clue as to when yours will be done and what you’re looking for.

So onto the recipe: Spicy Red Salsa

Now comes the time when you get to add more things to make you salsa high quality.  I put a half bunch of cilantro, some lemon juice and a huge pinch of kosher salt.  Then the mixture gets plopped into the food processor and blend.  Taste and season, blend, taste and season until its right. I like to have a fairly smooth salsa because I use it for enchilada sauce and I don’t like big chunks.  But again, it’s your choice.  

Another note: You could use a food mill to get rid of all the skins but I don’t think it’s worth the hassle of cleaning a food mill.  I do love my mill but for applesauce, mashed potatoes and the such.  Not for salsa. After all you worked (or your oven did) hard for that char why would you want to get rid of it.

I don’t know what it is about noise and chaos that settles me? From young girlhood when others were freaking out I would be calm.  The more anxiety that was felt in the room, the calmer my mind got. This was great for tests and competitions.  People would comment that I was “Grace under fire”.  And I took the compliment but never knew how it would shape my future.  

Our mind, our memories are a funny thing. Memories can bubble to the surface without notice and can wash over you in good, bad and indifferent ways.  And if you’re in the right mood and can see from an almost out-of-body perspective you might actually see yourself grow.

Last Friday was one of those days, where memories and feelings washed over me and I saw myself grow.  My mind, my attitude, my love actually GREW! 

Each Halloween, since I moved back to Mason I have hosted a pumpkin carving party for a small group of friends that are funny, uplifting and sarcastic.  In short, they are my family, my tribe. Each year is a made up hodgepodge of core friends and a smattering of new ones.  Having them come together means a lot to me and I always love that they feel comfortable in my house.  They know where the plates are because they are been in every one of my kitchen cabinets.  They help themselves to drinks in the refrigerator without remorse.  They truly treat the house like their own. 

And because of that chaos always ensues. :)

Just before people are supposed to arrive I always put music on.  But once people arrive no one even knows it’s on.  The level of conversation and laughter is loud, usually really loud.  And I love it.  It calms me in a way that makes memories from my past flood back.  Good ones, bad ones, indifferent ones. 

And when I walk into the kitchen and hear the laughter I feel comforted that my tribe is happy.  When the noise and chaos is loud and almost overwhelming for most I am calm and content.  There were people missing from this year’s pumpkin carving that were missed but not forgotten and hopefully they will make it another time.  

This is the final post of the kombucha post series and I know that I wrote in the hibiscus kombucha post wrote about the different ways in which you could dress your kombucha up.  You have two choices.  Either through steeping additional ingredients into the tea such as the hibiscus tea, or by infusing the tea with a special ingredient.  I hope you got a chance and tried the last recipe and I invite you to try this one as well.

There are a lot of peach iced tea recipes out there so I wanted to make a peach kombucha.  Bubbly, peachy and slightly sweet can hit the spot during a hot Indian summer day.

The recipe is exactly the same as the basic kombucha (basic recipe is below) up to the point in which you put it on the counter top to ferment.  Once you have brewed, steeped and cooled the sweet tea mixture you will place the SCOBY with its liquid your holding tank.  

The recipe is exactly the same as the basic kombucha (basic recipe is below) up to the point in which you put it on the counter top to ferment.  Once you have brewed, steeped and cooled the sweet tea mixture you will place the SCOBY with its liquid your holding tank.  

Your peaches should be as fresh as possible so farm-stand fresh is best.  And they should be washed and the skins left on.  If you are not in the middle of peach season you can use fresh, frozen peaches.  Unfortunately the skins have been removed with the frozen kind but if that's what you have, then that's what you have.

Well it was the biggest and the most diverse food swap yet.  We had twenty-one swappers and I was overjoyed.  

We had seven new swappers which was incredible and a real testimony to the power of Facebook. I posted a registration link and a small comment asking members to share the link. Three people were gracious enough to share it and those three people helped spread the word to over 380 more people.  With only 144 “likes” that is pretty impressive!  

If you haven’t already “liked” the Facebook page please do.  And if you know of someone who might be interested in what we are doing please share the link with them and bring more people into the loop.  

Rib seasoning, mustard, hot sauce and cheese biscuits. 

We had a wide variety of swap items.  We had fresh herbs and vegetables, semi-prepared items such as frozen cinnamon rolls and prepared meals such as chicken curry and hand-wrapped grape leaves with a light sauce.  

We will have one more swap in 2014. The November food swap will be announced soon enough so start thinking about what you want to make and bring.  I know there will be a bevy of great hand-made, homemade and hand harvested food items.  

Strawberry ginger ale, crab apple jelly, sage infused honey and two types of English muffins.