This year I had my best Concord grape harvest yet. I picked a total of 15 lbs of grapes from one bush. And I still had several grape bunches that I couldn't reach or left alone. However, I ended up picking too much for what I could process in my off time. I ended up throwing away about half the batch due to the grapes turning moldy before I could turn them into juice or freeze them. This post is about lessons learned for processing grapes to avoid making similar mistakes in future years. Grapes should ripen around mid August. Tools needed are some sharp kitchen scissors and a 5-gallon bucket or similar. Also some garden gloves to prevent bee stings. Pick early in the morning or late evening to avoid bees and wasps. They like to suck the juice out of the grapes and get active when the sun is up. Probably best to pick before 7am or after 7pm. Even during these times, watch out. I ended up getting stung by a small bee that I didn't see when I reached for a bunch to cut. Pick only

Now that I've stopped nurturing my sourdough starter for the time being, I've begun to really miss my cast iron pizza. I was determined to figure out a fast pizza crust that didn't involve needing a starter. In fact, I wanted it so fast that even using yeast and waiting for the dough to rise would take too long. I wanted a crust that I could make and start using right away. After some trial and error, this below crust works pretty well. Sure it lacks the fluff and chew. It is more cracker like than pizza crust, but it holds it's shape well along with the ingredients on top. And it tastes delicious. The best part is, I can go from making the crust to having the pizza in under 45 minutes. I show two different options, one for a thin crust and another for a slightly thicker crust. I use both in a 12 inch cast iron skillet and will select the version depending on the amount of toppings. For lighter toppings, the thin crust works great. But for heavier or extra toppings, I u

This is the time of year where I get more zucchini than I know what to do with. One of my favorite recipes is my Vegan Zucchini Bread however I didn't have any applesauce. I decided to play around with the recipe by subbing mashed ripened banana for the applesauce. And I also added an egg to improve the texture after getting a tip from the Starbucks banana bread recipe (see inspiration link below).  This new recipe turned out so delicious. The perfect combination of zucchini bread and banana bread with a fantastic texture. I will definitely be making this more frequently as a tend to have frozen ripened bananas always on hand. Ingredients 2 cups all purpose flour (300g) 1 tsp salt 1 tsp baking powder 2 tsp cinnamon 1 cup sugar (120g) - I prefer organic sugar 2 mashed ripened bananas (about 1/2 cup) 2 eggs 1/4 cup cooking oil 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 cup (8oz) cooked grated zucchini - about 2 cups (12oz) raw Directions Grate the zucchini and cook in a skillet over medium heat with 1

Production Garlic - 7/14 2 large bulbs for seed 3oz, 8 small bulbs 4oz Kale - 7/14 12oz, 7/21 8oz Swiss Chard - 7/14 3oz, 7/21 6oz, 9/15 2 lbs Snap peas - 7/13 6 edible, 7/14 8 dried, 7/21 1 edible, 30 dried, 9/15 4 edible Zucchini - 7/17 14oz, 7/21 21oz, 7/28 21oz, 8/4 23oz, 9/8 3.5 lbs, 9/15 4 lbs Carrots - 9/9 2.5 lbs Tomatoes - 9/9 4 lbs, 9/15 5.25 lbs, 10/13 11.5 lbs Red onions - 9/9 12oz Butternut squash - 9/9 4 lbs, 10/13 2.5 lbs Green beans - 9/9 1.5 lbs Peppers - 10/13 3 oz Aug 24 Kale - 32 oz Swiss Chard - 16 oz Carrots - 19 oz. Most were still really small likely because I planted them too closely. However, I did get a couple full size carrots over one inch in diameter. I will likely try a different variety of carrot next season. Green beans - 15oz. Still getting a ton of Japanese beetles on this plant but it is now producing pretty well.  Mayakoba beans - around 150 pods (7 plants). Removed all the plants since they were showing signs of yellowing and harvested all the pods

Google has completed the transfer of their Google Domains service to Squarespace. With this transfer, I had to revisit how to set up an email alias. I wrote about this option for free custom email a couple years ago but some of the steps have now changed. Here are the updated steps: Step 1 - Create the email alias Register the domain you want at Squarespace.com. Once registered, navigate to the dashboard for that domain on Squarespace. Click on the "Email" sub menu on the left, then to the "Email Forwarding" section, and finally clock on the "Add Rule" button. Enter the beginning part of the email (note, it fills in the @yourdomain part automatically). Then pick an existing @gmail.com email account to forward your new alias to. Step 2 - Prep your Google account Log into your Google account at myaccount.google.com. Note this is not Gmail. It's your actual Google account. Click "Security" in the left menu then "2-Step Verification". F

I had yet another experience where I found lower pricing for a product I intended to buy on Amazon directly on the manufacturer's website. This one was for a cool new portable projector from BenQ (model GV31) for watching TV and movies on any wall, ceiling, or outside screen. Amazon has it listed for $599. I wanted to confirm that the product had an audio out port so I went to BenQ's website to find the technical specs. Not only did I confirm it did, but BenQ was selling it for $499!  Then it gets better because they had a sale being advertised for an additional 10% off using a discount code. This allowed me to add a $59 carrying case and get all of it for $489 which is $110 less than Amazon (really $169 less after adding the cost of the carrying case)!  You may be thinking what about shipping costs and the ability to return? Shipping was free just like Amazon! And the company accepts returns for 30 days including opened packaging so long as you keep all the original packaging.

I got inspired one weekend morning when I wanted something different than my usual soaked oats. It dawned on me to try pancakes by taking the rolled oats and turn them into flour using my high powered blender. I also wanted to make these truly gluten free (as long as the oats you use are certified gluten free) by eliminating the usual all purpose flour and instead use a different ingredient that works as a binder. My solution was cornstarch, but as I went to grab the cornstarch and sugar (another ingredient I needed), I stared right at the powdered sugar which is a combination of the two and thought "why won't I just use that"? So I did and the result was so simple and so delicious. Give these a try and you may never go back to wheat flour pancakes again. This amount makes four large pancakes just a bit smaller than diner size. This is sufficient to feed two children or one hungry adult. If you need more, it is easy to double the recipe. Ingredients 1 cup rolled oats 1/4

One method to saving a lot of money on food is buying in bulk and making the most out of leftovers. But instead of making one dish and having it again and again, I like making one type of base ingredient then mixing up the dishes featuring that base ingredient. One of the ingredients I do that with is pasta. I love making the whole package and then finding 2-3 ways to enjoy the pasta.  I recently had some leftover spaghetti noodles in the fridge but was out of pasta sauce. I went to my cupboard to see what I had on hand and saw a jar of roasted red peppers. A light bulb went off when I recalled there is a pasta sauce made out of red peppers called Romesco. I did a quick google search to get inspiration and found a recipe that was easy to modify for my liking. It turned out amazing so I wanted to include in this blog to share with others (and so I can refer to it myself in the future to make again). This recipe makes enough for about half a box of pasta (8oz dried). If you want to make

I've now developed the most delicious Thanksgiving stuffing. It starts with my Thanksgiving Sourdough Stuffing base, and then for the customizable ingredients, I choose ingredients in a trail mix like cranberries, almonds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds.  My other secret is I now cook my Epically Fast & Delicious Roasted Turkey directly on top of the stuffing. It's not good to stuff a whole turkey with stuffing because the middle of the turkey can't come to a safe temperature. But if you break down the turkey and cook it on top, your get all those delicious juices to flow into the stuffing but the stuffing can come to the property temp since it is directly exposed to the oven heat. This was bar far the hit dish of this year's Thanksgiving and I will now be making it this way from here on out (that is until inspiration strikes again). Ingredients Sourdough bread - 8-10 slices of large sandwich style (about 8 cups cubed) 2 tbsp butter or oil 1.5 cups di

If you've been cooking your Thanksgiving turkey as a whole bird, you are missing out big time. There are several disadvantages to this method - it takes way longer to cook, you can't season it properly unless you brine it, brining it leaves a mushy texture, the dark meat cooks too slow meaning you'll get overcooked and dry white meat, it's really challenging to cut and carve, you end up with a bunch of wasted meat still on the bone, and you can't use the bones for stock until after Thanksgiving. Have I convinced you yet?! The secret is to break down the bird in some fashion. You can either spatchcock it by removing the backbone. Or my favorite way is to break it down into all its parts like if it was a whole chicken. See my steps here.  Now with all the turkey parts, you can follow the steps below to make the most incredibly delicious turkey in under 2 hours. After you give this a try for the first time, I can promise you will never go back to the old method of cook

Here are my steps for cleaning and breaking down a turkey. One major tip throughout the process is don't cut through bone until the very end when splitting the breasts. All the parts of the turkey are connected using a socket joint or tendon and that is what you want to find to make your job a lot easier (and to preserve as much meat and skin as possible). If you get stuck, it helps to move the wing and leg parts like a turkey would so you can better see where the joints connect. Remove the packaging in the sink to let the fluids run out. Remove the neck and packet of innards.  Wash the skin in the sink to remove any residue. Pat the skin dry with paper towels. Place the turkey on a cutting board near the sink so you can clean up and throw parts in the sink or trash as needed. With the breast side up, cut away the skin between the thigh and breast. Follow the thigh line and cut the skin closest to the thigh. Do not cut any meat part yet. Grab the leg and thigh and pull it back towa

Last week, I wrote about a scenario where a venture owns a home worth $500K outright. And then I played with various scenarios on debt issuance, dividends, and stock buybacks to show how stock buybacks may actually be eroding value for remaining shareholders especially if the buybacks are just being done to neutralize employee stock option issuance. I'd like to use the same scenario to illustrate what happens in a changing interest rate environment like we are in now. Let's start by assuming the same $400K loan on the $500K home at an interest rate of 3%. This is not far off from what mortgage rates were a couple years ago and also what the average corporate bond rate was at when the risk free Treasury rate was around 1%. Now, for this scenario, we need to assume the home is rented out and generates income. Let's use a 5% yield on the $500K value. This equates to a P/E multiple of 20 (1/.05) which is about what homes and stocks had been valued at in a low interest rate envi