"The Cast Saga" or "We knew a broken bone was coming"

So, Miss M has her first (and hopefully last) cast on right now.  We got a call from her school on October 30 saying that we needed to pick her up.  Now, we've gotten this call before and it has never been anything serious.  In fact, it's been the least serious of incidents, the kind where you think, "School, why in the world are you sending this kid home?  There is nothing wrong with her."  So I have to admit that I wasn't exactly taking things seriously.  I had just started Bible study time at our house with a couple of my girlfriends here and I asked one of them to talk on the phone and see if we really had to get M.  She said the teacher in no uncertain terms said we had to pick her up, so Dave graciously gave up his Spanish study time to go get Miss M and I continued on with my group.

We wasted no time in getting signatures.

When Dave and M came home, her arm was swollen and wrapped in an elastic strap.  The school had had a doctor look at her and she said he didn't think it was broken but to keep an eye on it.  We were applying ice on for 10 minutes and off and elevated  her arm.  She was crying a little but most of the time just resting without tears.  I applied some essential oils for pain management and to help reduce the swelling and they seemed to help along with the ice.

First night- it's her left wrist and it wasn't very swollen by the time she went to bed.

Miss M told us that she had climbed a tree and was hanging from a branch about as high as Dave's shoulder (so maybe 5 feet or so) and that she dropped down to the ground.  She somehow shifted and ended up landing on her left wrist and then the other kids were laughing, thinking that it was a trick, until they realized she was crying and then they stopped laughing.  She got help from the teacher, they got a doctor and some ice, and then she came home.  We continued with the ice and elevation and oils and by bedtime, most of the swelling was gone but it wasn't totally gone.  I conversed online with another expat friend (who happens to be a doctor and whose own daughter fell off a horse the same day and fractured her wrist) and she suggested we go to get an xray just in case.

So, on Oct 31, Dave and M headed off to the doctor to find someone to take an xray.  The first doctor was not available in the morning, so they went to another hospital.  Now, the medical system in Peru is a smidge different.  We have insurance, but it's high deductible and the health care costs here are not that high, so it's basically a pay as you go event for us anytime we need health care.  In the past year we have only gone to the chiropractor and had a wellness check for Little A.  We've been healthy.  So this was our first foray into the Peruvian health care system.  There were a lot of lines and Dave had to pay for each component as he went.  He waited in line for each component of care and waited in line to pay for each component of care (the consult, the xray, the supplies needed for the consult (like exam gloves) and the cast components (plaster of paris webbing and cotton), and the doctor putting the cast on).  We were fortunate in that the doctor working the shift that day was an arm and wrist expert.  He is the one who saw Miss M and did her casting.  She ended up with an over the elbow cast to prevent movement of her wrist bones and we were told she needed it on for about three weeks.  In case you are wondering, the grand total for all of this medical care was about $83 USD.

Then, she went back to school for the few hours left in the day and when she came home it was time for the Halloween costume transformation.  She didn't really have much trouble with pain past that first 12 hour period and once the cast was on, the little swelling she had rapidly went away.

Getting Rarity ready (the Equestria Girls version- My Little Pony but the human version)

Ready to trick-or-treat

 

Our adventurous girl hasn't let a cast slow her down.  It's a bit heavy, and another expat friend here lent us an arm sling.  M has been wearing it periodically, but most of the time she prefers the free range motion.  She accidentally leaned her arm in a puddle of water on the second day and her cast turned mushy, so we got to go to the pharmacy and buy some additional plaster webbing ($2 if you wondered) and Dave applied a patch.  It's holding up ok, but I'm still glad we only have to make it through a few weeks!

Trick-or-treating with her friend who fractured her wrist the same day!

Miss M has continued to want to do anything and everything and has been struggling with being told that jumping on the trampoline or climbing on monkey bars might not be the best thing for right now.  But for the most part, she is handling the cast quite well.  As my mom says, it's kind of miraculous that she hasn't broken anything before now.  She just has a minor fracture in her wrist bone and hopefully all will heal up nicely.  The doctors aren't anticipating any long term problems.

Playing in the ocean? No problem!

Running up and down the beach?  Easy peasy.

Climbing at the park?  Why not?  (I did draw the line at monkey bars, though.)

Travel Tips Series: #1- Support Your Digestive System

I'm starting a new travel series.  With over 30 countries visited in our lifetimes, we hope we can share a few tips that will make your travels more interesting and enjoyable. (Dave did a 7 month round-the-world trip back in the 1990s, we have traveled to several countries together and as individuals, and we've been on sabbatical in Peru for 15 months now.) 

Comment below if there are specific kinds of tips you want to hear.  I'm going to be sharing packing tips, products we love, how to scope out deals, and more.

I hadn't heard of either of these two products before we moved to Peru, but now that I know about them, I will be taking them with me on all future international trips (seriously, probably domestic trips, too.)

Because who really wants to get Montezuma's revenge?

GSE: (Grapefruit Seed Extract).  This is a product that is available for purchase through Amazon (this is NOT an affiliate link) and many health food stores, like Whole Foods.  If you get the 1 ounce size, you can take it in your 3-1-1 liquids bag and still travel with carryon luggage only.  We use this to clean our fruit and vegetables- a few drops in some potable water, soak the fruit or veg for 5-10 minutes, rinse with potable water and you've killed off some potentially bad bugs.  We started out with a product here in Peru for washing but found that GSE was about one quarter the cost.  You can also put a drop or two in fresh squeezed juice, stir and wait a few minutes to minimize the chances that any little tag-along bugs will negatively impact your digestive tract. $12.49 on Amazon as of this posting and the one bottle should last for more than one trip.

DiGize: This is an essential oil from Young Living and I absolutely love it!  You can dilute this with another carrier oil, like olive oil, almond oil, or fractionated coconut oil to make it last longer.  I apply a drop or two on my belly button to support my digestive process whenever I feel a little off after eating food.  When I have applied it that way after a family member has had diarrhea, our digestive issues have cleared up within an hour or two and we have started feeling better within 10 minutes.  I typically will apply every 2-4 hours for 24 hours after a traveler's diarrhea incident- whenever our stomachs start feeling like they might be going downhill (excluding sleeping time). This oil is absorbed by rubbing on the skin and no pills are required!  If you have a wholesale membership, the DiGize bottle costs $32.75.  There are about 250 drops in a 15ml bottle, and if you dilute 50:50, it costs about 10-15 cents per application.  This bottle should last you more than one trip.

If you are interested in purchasing DiGize but aren't into essential oils, comment below and I would love to help you out.

Standard Medical Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional, and can not treat, cure or diagnose you. This information is for educational purposes only. Always consult a doctor first.

I am just sharing products that have made our traveling more enjoyable. I am a distributor for Young Living Essential Oils.

Tea Cake: Historical Food Fortnightly Challenge #10

For background on the Historical Food Fortnightly, click here.

The Challenge: Let Them Eat Cake! October 5 - October 18
The 16th is the anniversary of the beheading of Marie Antoinette (zut alors!). In honor of Madame Deficit, prepare your best cake from a historic recipe. And then eat it, bien sur.

True confession: I don't really like cake.  If I do eat it, it needs to be super moist, like a carrot cake (really, I like the cake part ok but it's all about the cream cheese frosting).  I can't stand eating sheet cakes.  At our wedding, we didn't have a cake.  So I wasn't overly looking forward to this challenge.  But I decided to make the Tea Cake recipe after making the Cup Cake recipe last challenge and since I don't have pearlash, I used baking soda instead.  My adventure resulted in mixed success, as you shall see.

This was the disaster part of the challenge attempt.

The Recipe: Tea Cake, The American Frugal Housewife: Dedicated to Those who are Not Ashamed of Economy, Lydia Child, 1841, (p. 71 in this edition.)

The Date/Year and Region: Recipe is English, published 1841 in New York.

How Did You Make It: At first I was going to go with a 1/3 recipe, but at the last minute I decided to go for a full recipe to use up more of the sour milk we had on hand.   I should have stuck with my initial idea.  I simply creamed the sugar and butter, then added the eggs, then the milk, then a spoonful of baking soda instead of pearlash, then the flour, two cups at a time.  It was a little stiff, so I added a smidge more milk since I was trying to use it all up. (Interesting side note: period bakers would have known to use sour milk to activate the pearlash.  Here's an interesting blogpost from another Historical Food Fortnightly participant on historical leavening agents.) I also threw in a huge spoonful of cinnamon because I thought it would taste good and there was no spice included (I suppose because it's supposed to be a frugal cake.  I was going for taste.) I did use a modern hand mixer.  This made up a really big batch of batter, bigger than I had anticipated.

Time to Complete: I have completely forgotten about tracking this piece of things....but I'm estimating about 20 minutes with interruptions to mix it up.  I had to bake it in two pans and the first one baked for about 40 minutes at around 350-400 (temp varied in my oven, I was going for 350 but sometimes when I checked it was high).  The second part went into disaster and consumed about 1.5 hours.  I haven't counted the clean up time yet, that is probably another hour.

Total Cost: Around $6-7.  Everything came from the pantry, but I think about $2 for the butter, 50 cents for the milk, 75 cents for the eggs, 25 cents for the sugar, and $2.50 for the flour.  Negligible cost for cinnamon and baking soda.  This made a 9x13 pan plus another pan that is larger than an 8x8 but I am not sure of the exact dimensions.

How Successful Was It?: The pan that baked well was moist and tasty, though not particularly appealing to look at.  It rose and then fell fast and hard, so I added a little more baking soda to the second pan.  In retrospect, that was probably not a good idea.  While both pans had been filled to approximately halfway, the extra baking soda encouraged a high rise that bubbled over the edges of the second pan (approx 9x13).  This was after the first issue of having our gas tank run out- ovens here in Peru run off something similar to a propane gas tank.  You don't know until you go check on things and realize your oven temp is at 150 F and you were aiming for 350.  You con your husband into changing to the backup tank after you can't figure out how to do it and run in the house to reheat the oven, hoping it isn't too late.  Only then do you realize after another 10 minutes that the burning smell from the oven isn't a good thing and you realize the extra baking soda gave the batter life....life that it spent escaping the confines of your glass baking dish.  You wait, figuring how bad can it be?  It probably only needs another 10-15 minutes to bake what remains in the pan.  Unfortunately, things can be very bad.  All that butter, sugar, and egg make a lot of smoke on the bottom of your oven.  So, you call a time-out, scrape the offending mixture from the bottom of the oven and the metal wires it coated on the way down, and put your pan back in for another 10 minutes.  You fail to hear the timer as you are attempting to wrestle your children into bed, and when you remember (mainly because your eldest asks, "Mom, what is that smell?") and you sprint down the stairs to check on the cake, your husband tells you, "It's done," in a tone of voice that indicates there will be no resurrection for this particular cake.  The oven is turned off, smoke hangs in the air, and you leave the whole mess in the oven for "tomorrow is another day."

How Accurate Is It?: I used modern tools.  I didn't have pearlash and used baking soda.  The ratios were correct and it doesn't taste like a regular cake (I actually much prefer it to a regular cake.)  I would be curious to bake this again back home in the States with my consistent gas oven and more space in the dish and see how it goes.  I have a hunch this would bake well in a stoneware dish.

Interpretation: I used my homemade Gluten Free flour blend in this because everyone else in the family is gluten free and it just seems mean to make baked goods they can't eat.  Details are in my post on the Cup Cake.

Time to Research: 5 minutes or less, when another participant commented on my Cup Cake post that I could use baking soda, I knew exactly what I was going to make next.

The ingredients

Batter after creaming butter and sugar and adding eggs.  I had to change bowls after the butter and sugar only, the first one I used was nowhere large enough.

The batter seemed like it would work well in these two pans.

I sent the smaller pan in as a test.  Not much to look at, but it's a moist, tender, chewy tasty cake.  Kind of like half baked cookies, which is probably why I liked it.

This is after the overflow (so it already had to handle the gas going out).

The offending smoky blob.

I concede defeat!  This is the larger pan, which took out the stovetop, oven, and baking dish in one fell swoop.

Dave's Chachani Climb: Almost 20K feet up

Climbing Chachani – Thursday, September 4^th- Friday, September 5^th, 2014

by Dave

(Ed. Note: If you are thinking of hiking Chachani, here is a link to Dave's TripAdvisor Review)

The view from basecamp

 'Step… breathe…. step… breathe… step…. breathe…’ 

Like a bent-over aged man, shuffling along a rocky path. 

‘Step… breathe…. step… breathe… step…. breathe…’ 

I spoke the words in my mind like the rhythm of a skipping record. 

‘Step… breathe…. step… breathe… step…. breathe…’

Seeing my own steps advance only inches, and knowing half a mountain remained… I wondered – “Am I going to make it?”

‘Step… breathe…. step… breathe… step…. breathe…’     

In the backyard of Arequipa stands a three-peaked mountain called Chachani (Cha-CHA-nee).  At just over 6,000 meters (20,000 ft), it would be considered the second highest peak in North America- if such a transplant were possible – only a couple hundred feet short of Mt. McKinley.

Being that we’re in a desert, Chachani sports only a snow-capped peak, and therefore allows a summit without technical gear (crampons, ice axes, etc).  Knowing that this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity lasted only as long as our stay in Arequipa, I signed up at a local outfitter to join the next climbing group.

Joining a team of guys from Belgium, Spain, and Switzerland, we gathered at the outfitters headquarters where we were assigned gear (tent, sleeping bag, backpacks and the like), loaded into a 4x4, and driven out of Arequipa.  About two hours later up a rutted dirt trail to where the ‘road’ ended – we were dropped off - about half-way up the side of the three-peaked mountain called Chachani – what the locals call ‘the three sisters.’ 

The hikers and their gear set out

Though laden with gear, the hike to basecamp provided a good chance to get acclimated to the higher elevation, and get a good ‘warm-up’ under our belts before the next day’s ascent. 

By the time we reached basecamp at 5,000 meters, the only living creatures we encountered (outside of our team), were otherworldly moss-like organisms – a unique mass of thousands of small plants, clustered into a ball – not growing on a rock, but creating a rock-like mass unto themselves.

The proposed itinerary had our team making it to basecamp by late afternoon, striking tents, eating some form of a meal (most people, including myself, lose interest in eating at this altitude), and trying to get in a short rest before getting up in the early morning to begin the ascent.

Since no one on our team slept (most people aren’t able to sleep at this elevation), we gathered the group at about 1:30 in the morning, drank some tea, strapped on our headlamps, and began the ascent. 

Tents "slept" two....but nobody actually did more than doze and mostly couldn't sleep at all.

Before we got started, Gens (pronounced ‘Yens’) from Belgium, lightened the load from his stomach, and off we went.

The single-file line marching up the side of Chachani must have seemed rather microscopic from afar – five miniscule dots ascending a slab of rock the size of a small city. 

In the first hour, such contemplative thoughts were possible.  After the second hour, the only thought going through my head sounded like a slow drum-beat: ‘step… breathe… step… breathe… step… breathe.’

Imagine putting a clothes-pin over your nose, putting a straw in your mouth, and using the straw to breathe as you ascend the IDS tower stairwell… ten times… as you suffer from the flu (‘Wait, and you paid money for this?’).

Our stomachs were all on the verge of losing whatever they contained (half our team emptied themselves along the way), yet if we didn’t eat, we wouldn’t have the energy needed to keep going.  Our heads felt like a stone had been unnecessary inserted into our skulls – pushing out of the way any musing or introspection.  My attempts at praying my way up the mountain took too much energy.  It’s not that a person can’t think at that elevation – it just that it… takes… too… much… effort.  ‘Step… breathe…. step… breathe… step…. breathe…’

Opportunities to rest held a double-edged sword – so well received, yet so hard to get back up and continue.   One of our team members laid back to catch his breath, and within moments, he was sound asleep from exhaustion.

Ernst from Switzerland felt that the half-way point was far enough, and asked to be left there until we had summited, and be picked up on the way down.  The guide encouraged him on.  ‘My head… it isn’t working quite right.’  ‘That’s OK, you can do it.’ 

I offered to him the perspective that he knew himself best – he had hiked the Alps many times – if he felt his body would be harmed by continuing – “Half-way up is fine.  Continue only if you want to continue – we can go together if you need help.”  Within minutes he was twenty paces ahead of me, and making good time.   Later, I would notice that the tube on his Camel-back (a pouch of water with a tube that leads to your mouth for regular hydration) had frozen.  How long had he been going without getting water?  Did he think he was getting water?  I wish I would have had the foresight to recommend that he run the tube under his clothes to keep it from freezing.

‘Step… breathe…. step… breathe… step…. breathe…’  Hour… after… hour.

We rest again.  The rising sun illuminates the massive valley stretched below us.  I’m breathing like I’m out for a long run, but I’m just sitting on a rock.  We can see the summit – but it seems like a small point on a vertical horizon – so far away… and yet it’s right there – like you could reach out and grab it.  I think about the flu – this feels like the flu… but on the rolling side of this massive ship of a mountain.

When you have the flu, you know your body is in a form of internal war.  You know you can ‘push through’ it to a certain degree, but you also know there are limits – to your body, with your mind – to how important getting to your goal really is.  If you have the flu, you can force yourself to get up and have breakfast – but you aren’t hungry and will probably throw up anything you eat anyhow.  You can force yourself to get dressed, but you don’t really care if your pants have a neat crease in them.  And you can go to work, but no one else is going to think you are doing ‘great work.’  You could fake it if needed for a bit, but after an hour or two, if your body doesn’t begin to recover; you’re just trudging through sub-par work in misery.  And that’s what we did – from about 2:00 a.m. to something like 9:30 in the morning – hours in the dark of switchbacks – trudging six inches at a time – six inch step – six inch step.

There’s a point – sort of a semi-peak, that’s about 100 meters from the peak of Chachani – and apparently a number of people stop there to get a picture – they are officially over 6,000 meters – over 20,000 feet – and some never make it further.  We didn’t stop there.  The last leg… sucking air like an asthmatic.  No energy left.  Running on fumes for hours.  Nothing left. 

I was the last to get to the top – but we all made it.

On the edge of weeping, I hugged each man that stood on the peak overlooking the vast expanse of the South of Peru. 

We took some pictures.  And I realized that my energy was as close to zero as I’ve gotten in my life.  I don’t know if I’ve ever been at zero before.  Here, atop Chachani, I felt dangerously close to zero.  But we needed to get down. 

I began my extended stumble down the side of the mountain – a loose-rock, almost sand-like alternative path that seemed designed for weary climbers – the worst that could happen to someone would be to flop into a pile of loose rock that would hold you on the side of the mountain until you gained the strength to move on.   The others felt rejuvenated, and made good time.  I scraped the bottom of my stubborn barrel of persistence, and lurched on.  I made it down, the last one across the ‘finish line’ of basecamp.  But like a cruel joke, the moment I half-collapsed next to our site, the guide announced: “The truck is waiting for us – let’s go.”

The excitement of the summit left far behind, I got up again, and continued the march.  Sometimes life is like that – ‘keep me going God’ - ‘step… breathe…. step… breathe… step…. breathe…’ 

Election Day!

Voting in elections is mandatory in Peru.  If you don't vote, then you have to pay a fine.  I have been told it's 70 soles (about $25 in today's exchange rates.)  Because voting is mandatory, there are several systems set up.

If one sign is good, three are better.

• Elections are held on a Sunday.  This is because the typical work week here is Monday-Saturday.  Saturday is usually a half day.  
• You might wonder how they know if you didn't vote.  When you vote, you get a special sticker to put on your DNI (national ID card).  If you don't have this sticker the next time you go to get some official government business done, they will make you pay the fine before you can get the business done.  Peru has a lot of government business that is required, so there are plenty of opportunities for them to get their fine.
• If you are a Peruvian citizen out of the country, you can vote by going to the Peruvian Embassy and voting.  For most Peruvians living abroad, it's easier to just pay the fine (which can also be done at the embassy or when you come back to Peru).
• Any large gatherings (including church services) are prohibited on election day.  The church we've been attending held services on Saturday night instead.
• Alcohol sales are prohibited by law from 8am on Saturday through election day.  Theoretically, this helps people make a better choice with a clear mind.
• There are lots of female candidates according to the posters we've seen, but I think most of the election material thrown through our gate has been from male candidates.

Some of the election materials that have been thrown through our gate.  Calendar, phone book, match box and some election materials.  No one seems to care that we can't vote here, I think they are more concerned about distributing the election materials.

Here are some of the interesting voting differences I have observed.

• The freebies handed out by candidates range from the typical-to-me literature, buttons, water bottles, and pens to the unusual (boxes of matches, seed packets, native potato recipe book from the restaurant party candidate) to the completely different than the United States (live baby chicks- mostly given in the poorer sections of town).  
• There is very little information on what the candidates positions or platforms are- we only started getting any of that kind of information in the past couple of weeks (and election materials have been up for a few months).
• The number of candidates in the election is similar to a primary- the field is completely crowded.  We got a sample ballot thrown through our gate with something like 16 candidates for city mayor.
• We were awoken at 6am one morning by a marching band parade for a candidate.  I don't know who it was, nor can I vote here, but I would consider NOT voting for someone based on that tactic!
• There were parties and signs being added up until the very last week- parties I had never seen before would all of a sudden put a sign up.  I get not being the first one to start, but starting your visible campaign in the last two weeks before the election seems a bit different to me.
• You vote by putting an X through the picture that represents the party.  While you are voting for a specific candidate by doing that, the person's name is not on the ballot.
• A few common election campaign tactics:
• Parades using cars.  We have had several drive by our house.  Cars are decked out with campaign posters and signs, the candidate rides in the back of a truck or open vehicle smiling, waving, and throwing things to the masses, and you have other things like a band or speakers on top of a car blaring theme songs.
• Throwing campaign literature through gates (same way that any other mail comes to our house)
• Driving cars around with the election symbol of the preferred party (e.g. a big house or cow for the parties whose election symbols are a house or a car).
• I've been told that there is a lot of corruption in elections here, and that part of the reason it's required for everyone to vote is to more easily throw or buy elections.  
• I am not sure who is going to win, but I will update this post if I can figure it out.  The stuffed pepper party?  The cow party?  The arrows moving forward party?

A parade for Elvis!  Running for mayor of Yanahuara.  It caused a traffic jam and that's a combi decked out in Elvis colors and flags.

Elvis sighting!

A live band playing in the parade.

Just a smattering of the election signs.  The arrow party guy was one of the first to have election signs up.  That stuffed pepper party and Elvis (the tree party) have been around awhile, too.  I just started seeing S party man.

Cup Cake: Historical Food Fortnightly Challenge #9

For background on the Historical Food Fortnightly, click here.

The Challenge: The Frugal Housewife September 21 - October 4
Throughout history, housewives and housekeepers have kept a close eye on their budgets and found creative ways to pinch pennies while providing delicious and nutritious food. Create a dish that interprets one historically-documented method of frugal cooking.

I knew that for this challenge, I could depend on Mrs. Lydia Child (sort-of authoress of The American Frugal Housewife...and by that I mean she basically repackaged the content someone else wrote.  Deets here.)  She did not disappoint.  Not only is her whole book dedicated to economy, but she had instructions for cakes that got progressively cheaper!  I couldn't do the Tea Cake because I don't really keep pearlash around and even if I did, I'm not sure I would bake with it.  Read here for another participant's experience with pearlash.  But, the cup cake was a winner.  And everything turned out swimmingly, from the discovery that it works with my home made GF baking mix made with ingredients I can purchase in Peru to the taste of both regular and gluten free versions.  The only problem was the foil cupcake wrappers that lost some of their color on the cupcakes.....

We will be using these for a party that our eldest is throwing, just because.  It's always helpful to have some reason or audience for your baking experiments.....

The Recipe: Cup Cake, The American Frugal Housewife: Dedicated to Those who are Not Ashamed of Economy, Lydia Child, 1841, (p. 71 in this edition.)

"Cup cake is about as good as pound cake, and is cheaper."  How's that for economy!

The Date/Year and Region: Recipe is English, published 1841 in New York.

How Did You Make It: I cheated and conserved my time by using my hand mixer. But I put in the butter, then the sugar, creamed them per conventional standards. Then I added the flour, mixed until coarse crumbs, then finished off with the eggs.

I opted for about 3/4 cup whole wheat coarse ground flour and 1 1/2 cup regular white flour.  I used Azucar Rubia, which is a brownish sugar that has a grain like white sugar but is slightly less processed (I think that's the difference...it's what I have more of right now.)

Time to Complete: Approximately 30 minutes to mix up two batches and another 40 minutes to cook.  First I made a 1/4 batch using gluten free flour.   I did NOT add any Xanthan gum for the cupcakes (I mix up a batch of the GF flour and typically add Xanthan gum as I am making up the recipe.)  See below for GF flour recipe.  I also made a 3/4 batch using regular flour.  I did have small children helping me, so you could probably achieve the end result faster.

From Mary's Busy Kitchen - Basic Rice Flour Mix - can be used to replace wheat flour in any recipe. 

 *add 1 tsp Xanthan Gum per cup of flour for yeast based recipes and 1/2 tsp Xanthan Gum per cup of flour for all other baking)

3 cups rice flour (brown or white)

3 cups tapioca flour

3 cups cornstarch

3 Tbsp potato flour (not potato starch)

Total Cost: I had everything on hand....but I think it was pretty economical.

How Successful Was It?: They taste good, both the regular and gluten free. I cooked them for 20 minutes at about 300 degrees F.  They were very soupy in the middle, so I rotated the pans and changed shelves from top to bottom and bottom to top.  In the end, some of them have a crispy but edible crust and the color from the foil wrappers leaked onto the batter....but still should be ok for kids who may leave behind the crust anyway.  They also puffed up much more than I had expected given the lack of additional leavening agent.

How Accurate Is It?: I think the ingredients are ok for accuracy (excepting the GF flour).  But, it was a pleasant surprise to note that 1/4 of the recipe makes 4 cupcakes and they taste good!  This may be my new go-to recipe for cupcakes.  It's handy to be able to bring something to a birthday party where your GF kid might not otherwise have something and it's very fast.  You could easily make these in a toaster oven.  The recipe uses very basic ingredients.  I also don't have real tea cups to use here, so I used cup cake liners instead.  That will be better for the party anyway.

Time to Research: I spent about 1 hour trying to find a tomato paste recipe as I bought tomatoes to make some tomato paste and could (theoretically) kill two birds with one stone. Alas, it was not to be. Sauce and catsup recipes abounded, but tomato paste by itself was elusive. At least pre-1960s documentation with ingredients I had on hand eluded me. I made the tomato paste anyway and it was delicious.  So, I was double frugal this week!

Four simple ingredients: Butter, Sugar, Flour, Eggs

It made a much thicker, stickier batter than I associate with cakes made in the modern era.

The 1/4 recipe made 4 gluten free cupcakes, but when I did a 3/4 recipe (aiming for 12) I actually got 16 cupcakes using regular flour.

The finished product fell a bit from their nice domes immediately after taking out of the oven.  You can see the interior of the tester cupcake.

Bonus Pictures of the Tomato Sauce that didn't make it for the challenge.

Our delicious, organic tomatoes!  Usually our tomatoes here are devoid of taste but these are so yummy!

In process.  I stopped taking pictures at this point knowing that I was going to do something else for the challenge.

Gooseberry Jam: Historical Food Fortnightly Challenge #8

For background on the Historical Food Fortnightly, click here.

The Challenge: In a Jam (Or Jelly or Preserve) September 7 - September 20
It’s harvest time in the northern hemisphere, and springtime in the southern hemisphere. Make something either to preserve that produce that you’re harvesting, or replenish your supply after the winter! Fruit and vegetable jams, jellies, and preserves are the focus!

Aguaymantos are native to Peru.  I discovered these little gems when we moved down here.  Come to find out, they are also grown in the States and known as ground cherries or cape gooseberries (among other names).  They have a limited life span in the midwest (only about 75 days) but down here they are a year round treat because of the temperate climate.  I love them and want to plant some bushes when we go back home to Minnesota.

I wanted to find a recipe that allowed me to make some jam or jelly out of these little fruits and after some online searching, I finally found a documented historical recipe.  

Here is some background on the berries.  A subquote from that link: 

Cape Gooseberries are native to Peru or Brazil. They were introduced into England in 1774, and into the Cape of Good Hope, Africa by 1807. Hawaii before 1825. From the Cape of Good Hope, they were introduced into Australia. The Australians are the ones who named them Cape Gooseberries.

   Here is a nice blog post on growing these little fruit gems for yourself.

The Recipe: Gooseberry Jam, The White House Cookbook, MRS. F.L. GILLETTE AND
HUGO ZIEMANN, Steward of the White house [1887] (p. 435)

*I'm thinking these are the kind of gooseberries we have here because I found that they were used/known in New England at this time and also because it says they have an amber color. The other gooseberries are kind of greenish.

GOOSEBERRY JAM.

Pick the gooseberries just as they begin to turn. Stem, wash and weigh. To four pounds of fruit add half a teacupful of water; boil until soft and add four pounds of sugar and boil until clear. If picked at the right stage the jam will be amber colored and firm, and very much nicer than if the fruit is preserved when ripe.

How Did You Make It: I took the husks off the ground cherries, rinsed them a couple of times, put the berries into a pot, added a smidge of water, boiled it, added the sugar, boiled some more until I deemed it "clear" and poured the final product into glass jars.  Pretty much just followed the instructions.

Time to Complete: About 1.5 hours.

Total Cost: Total cost about $4.60 USD.  We paid about 11 soles for the ground cherries ($3.85 USD)My husband bought four small bags of ground cherries from the organic market.  We had the sugar and water on hand.  Each bag of ground cherries runs 2.50 or 3 soles per bag (exchange rate now 2.85 soles per dollar).  I didn't weigh them before husking, but the net weight after husking was 1.46 lbs.  The sugar was on sale for 3 soles a kilo.  I used 1.46 lbs of sugar so about 2 soles worth.  I got about 3.5 jars of jam from this recipe and happened to use empty containers from jam I bought before for 10 soles for one jar.  The other jars I got from someone who moved away, so this was quite a good deal since I paid 13 soles for 3.5 jars.

How Successful Was It?: Tastes yummy and looks just the same as what I purchased before.

How Accurate Is It?: I used plain white sugar and modern utensils/pots but I think it's a good representation.  I also made a smaller batch because I don't need as much jam as the full recipe would make, but I kept the same ratios.

Time to Research:  Approximately 2 hours, plus I asked my mom to review her old cookbooks.  I wasn't having luck finding anything online until I tweaked my word search and the 1870s White House cookbook popped up.

This is what the ground cherries look like when you buy them.  You can leave them in their husks, it's kind of paper-like, similar to a tomatillo.

You peel away the husks to reveal the berry inside.

In the pot with a little water.  This is after cooking for a bit, I didn't start with that much liquid.  I included the green (unripe) ground cherries because the recipe said under-ripe was ok.

There is quite a bit of water that gets released when cooking the ground cherries.

I had forgotten just how much sugar goes in jam (this is a 1:1 recipe).

Tons of liquid boiling off.

In goes the sugar.

Another 20-30 minutes of boiling and stirring and it started to look more like jelly.  The timing is all off here because of the high altitude and lower boiling point, and in the end, after it cooled, the jam was pretty sticky/thick.  So I probably could have boiled for a shorter time.

The final product!  Isn't it amazing how I made up a label?  (Just kidding, I reused my empty container!)