Raspberry Lime Rickey recipe

I was going to do a wrap-up for Pioneer Week, but I guess there isn't much more to be said than I've already mentioned in previous posts. We didn't drive much, ate almost all homemade food, did a lot of foraging for blackberries, camped out back, line dried clothes, used minimal water and energy and, overall, had a super fun, relaxing week.

One person did ask for the recipe for the raspberry syrup I made so here it is (from Cook's Country):

Raspberry Lime Rickey

Ingredients:
3 cups frozen raspberries
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
4 teaspoons grated lime zest
1/2 cup juice from 4 limes

Directions
Heat raspberries, sugar, and water in saucepan over medium heat until raspberries begin to release their juices, about 5 minutes. Mash with potato masher until berries break down, then stir in lime zest and juice. Simmer until mixture is slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.

Pour raspberry mixture through fine mesh strainer set over bowl, pressing on solids to extract liquid (you should have about 2 1/2 cups). Discard berry solids. Refrigerate syrup until completely cool, at least 30 minutes or up to one week.

To serve
Combine 2 tablespoons syrup in tall, ice filled glass, adding sparkling water to fill. Stir and enjoy.

Pioneer Week Dinners

Since it's Pioneer Week, I've been making our dinners from scratch. Some meals have been easier than others, but I've been making a lot of homemade food. So, I thought I'd share what I've been up to.

Sunday night we had grilled wild salmon, roasted fennel and green beans (from our CSA box that I picked up on Sunday) and potatoes from the back yard. For dessert, we had the chocolate cake my husband made and the mint chocolate ice cream he made from fresh mint. Monday was leftovers.



Tuesday night I made pizzas using the pizza sauce I made over the weekend. The yeast must have been loving the warmer weather because, although I didn't do anything different, it turned into the pizza that almost ate Seattle. At least we have leftovers for Thursday. Accompanying the pizza was a salad of cucumbers, onions, green pepper, and tomatoes from our CSA box.

Yesterday, I made some raspberry syrup for drinks for dinner (just add two tablespoons of syrup to sparkling water).

Last night I made the most amazing Swiss Chard. And I'm not generally a huge fan of it since it, inevitably ends up tasting like, well, Swiss Chard. But this recipe is different. This went really well with pasta and the arugula pesto I made Sunday (the arugula from the CSA box).

To round it all out I also made some Speedy No Knead Bread that is super easy to make and comes out perfect every time.

Tomorrow night is leftover pizza and sugar snap pea salad from our garden and the CSA box.

And, I must admit that I was happy to put away the tent. Two nights sleeping on the ground with the cold and moisture was enough for me. Particularly, the raccoon visit at 4:30 am.

Backyard camping

Since I'm off this week, but my husband is working, I figured I'd squeeze in some camping (plus I'm sure you're sick of hearing about Pioneer Week). However, since my husband's going to be joining us tonight, we're going to be camping in the backyard.

I spent yesterday wrestling with our behemoth tent since it's been 4 years since I last unravelled it and the instructions for which poles go where are a little sketchy. Anyway, after a lot of sweat and rejiggering of poles, it's up. And we'll be enjoying some two bedroom camping in our Cougar Tent. It comfortably sleeps 8 and more than comfortably sleeps 4:

Needless to say, I'll be getting a lot of reading done by lantern. Have you ever stooped to backyard camping?

Report from Pioneer Week

This weekend we really got cracking on Pioneer Week. Here's how it went down:

On Saturday and Sunday

• Took a navy/drizzle shower
  
• Wore no makeup
  
• Air dried hair
  
• Line dried all the laundry
  
• Saved captured water in rain barrel

On Saturday

• No driving
  
• Walked to neighborhood P Patch Garden Party
  
• Husband made chocolate cake from scratch
  
• Picked and preserved basil from garden
  
• Planted fall/winter vegetables
  
• Made pizza sauce and froze (14 half-pints)
  
• No movies/internet, little lighting (read by candlelight)
  
• Went to bed early / got up early to save electricity

On Sunday

• Made two loaves of zucchini carrot bread
  
• Drove only to pick up CSA (it was raining otherwise I probably would have biked)
  
• Made two batches of arugula pesto and froze
  
• Walked down to the kid's school and picked a gallon of blackberries
  
• Harvested potatoes for dinner
  
• Husband made homemade mint chocolate swirl ice cream
  
• De seeded blackberries for making jam
  
• Worked on hand-sewing quilt

I'll keep you posted on the rest of this week's Pioneer events!

Pioneer Week begins!

Yes, I'm still using my computer this week, but only because I have other work to do. In any case, I think it's going to be hard to keep the lights off around here. I'm still using the washing machine, but forgoing the dryer today.

We're well on our way to making meals from scratch (although the hubs is focusing - yet again - on cakes and ice cream). I pick up our CSA basket tomorrow and we have a ton of greens growing in the backyard.

The kids spent the morning playing with a huge lego box filled with water, but that went into the rain barrel, so I don't consider it much of a waste. I'll be taking a navy shower here soon and trying to keep the waterworks at a minimum in the rest of the house.

I'm making some serious headway on Emma's quilt, but it will be a struggle to keep the kids from wanting to watch a movie or some sort of entertainment so we'll see how long that lasts.

How are things looking for you?

Planning for Pioneer Week

For those of you who are interested in doing Pioneer Week next week, I thought I'd repost some of the "rules" of the week for you to follow along.

I'll be off from work next week and so I'll have a lot more latitude to livin' like a pioneer. For my part, I'll be planning on making all our food from scratch, so that will include a ton of baking and eating out of the garden.

I will be using minimal electricity and line drying all of our clothes next week. Since we don't have alternative sources to cook from (in other words, a wood stove), I'll still be sticking to our range, but maybe I'll try to grill more stuff just to simulate cooking over fire.

As for transportation, I will try not to use the car all week. Since I'll have the kids with me, this will be more difficult, but maybe we'll take the bus or walk if we need anything. And this will give me an excuse to use my new cargo bike.

It will be harder keeping the kids entertained without transportation or electronics, but that just means that we'll be doing a lot of reading and games and probably going on hikes nearby, playing with neighborhood friends and working out in the yard.

Pioneer Living Rules

1. Food: During Pioneer Week, you must make all your meals from scratch. This isn't really as hard as it sounds particularly if you start now. That's right, I'm letting you prepare meals ahead of time to freeze if you won't have time during the work week. But, anything prepared ahead of time must be made from scratch.

2. Energy usage: Keep your energy usage low by keeping the A/C (or heat if you live in the other hemisphere) low or off, use only one light in the house at a time (or at least turn off the lights when you are not using them) and line dry your clothes. Since you'll be doing a lot of cooking at home, try to coordinate when you are using the oven to take advantage of baking and/or roasting items at the same time. I don't expect you to unplug your fridge or freezer, so don't worry about that.

3. Conserve water: Since we don't all lug our water from the stream for home use, we'll have to do a few things to help conserve water. Besides taking shorter showers (5 minutes or less or take a military style shower) and flushing less often, you can create a great reminder about water usage by turning the water off on most of your sinks so when you go to use them nothing comes out.

4. Transportation: Walk or bike as much as possible. This will force you to support more local stores if you can't drive across town. If this isn't feasible, then drive or take public transportation. Most importantly, try to combine trips and if you really don't need to go out, stay home!

5. Rethink your entertainment: Instead of spending the week passively watching television or movies, try to engage more with the people you live with or neighbors within walking distance. Get the family back into playing games, music or just sitting around talking and telling stories. If you aren't in the mood for socializing try picking up that long lost craft hobby or start a new one.

6. Watch your wallet: Think of this as a Buy Nothing Week. Since you'll be pretty much eating at home all week, you don't really need to buy anything, now do you?

Finally, remember this isn't all or nothing! If you can only work on one area for the week, that's totally fine. And, if you haven't already signed up and are interested in Pioneer Week, leave your name in the comments!

Pioneer Week Poll

I was listening to an interview on our local NPR radio station yesterday morning about the history of the fur trade and how it helped shape America and it got me to thinking that we haven't had a Pioneer Week this summer as promised, mostly because I was out of town the time period we previously discussed.

So, what think ye? Anyone interested in participating in another Pioneer Week in mid-August (say, the 21st through the 27th)? The basic premise is to try to live as close to the pioneer ways as possible by using minimal electricity, water, making homemade meals from scratch, keeping off of electronic entertainment, buying nothing non-essential, etc.

You can read the original "rules" from the last Pioneer Week and all the posts for it here.

1. Answer with one of the following (or your own version):
a. I'm interested!
b. I'd just like to read along and see how others fare
c. No, thanks

2. If you are interested in participating, tell me which week in August works best for you.

For inspiration, make sure you check out Frontier House from PBS.

Photo by Debbie Henderson