Skip to content

Monthly Archives: May 2013

Taking bread up a level

First test: not too shabby, especially for 75% whole wheat A week ago, I would have said that no hope existed that I would ever be able to make bread that could begin to compare with the bread one can buy from the excellent bakers of sourdough bread in the San Francisco Bay Area. Now […]

The spring garden

The garden is about three weeks behind because of the cold spring weather, but otherwise it’s doing great. Ken has been doing all the work. We’ve started harvesting lettuce, mustard greens, and baby bok choi. The cabbages will be ready soon. The onions are looking fantastic.

French toast from low carb banana bread

Low carb quick breads are as easy to make as low carb yeast breads. This morning I made low carb banana bread and used it to make French toast. Instead of regular wheat flour, I used a mixture of 2 parts gluten flour, 2 parts barley flour, 2 parts almond meal, and 1 part soybean […]

Barley risotto

The barley experiments continue. I am coming to the conclusion that anything rice will do, pearled barley will do better. I have made barley stir fries, barley pilaf, and barley risotto. With barley, you get much lower carbs, more flavor, and a meatier, more satisfying chew. I’ve also bought some hulled barley, which like pearled […]

What's blooming at the abbey

Rhododendron Spiderwort White spiderwort Blackberry More blackberry Petunias Daisies Knockout roses Snowballs Carolina jasmine Fiona takes a dirt bath Ken starts an irrigation dam remediation project White clover I’m not sure what this is. It’s wild and appears to be a legume. Wild strawberry

Low-carb cinnamon rolls

The barley experiments continue. I’m also experimenting with another low-carb ingredient — almond meal. These cinnamon rolls were made this morning with about 1/3 gluten flour, 1/3 barley flour, and 1/3 almond meal. That’s a good, high-protein low-carb combination. Of course there’s a bit of powdered sugar (and butter and cinnamon), but I kept the […]

Barley bread

Barley is great in soups, but the real test of a grain is: Can you make bread out of it? Lately I’ve been experimenting with barley, as new research has come out about what a healthy food it is. For one, barley is low on the glycemic index, meaning that it doesn’t spike your blood […]

The cicadas are back!

[Click on image for larger version] This is the year in the East Coast cicadas’ 17-year life cycle when they come out of the ground to sing and molt and mate. This guy was in one of the abbey’s arbor vitae trees this morning.

An abbey bird list

A Carolina wren in a sycamore tree Recently a visitor to the abbey made a list of the birds she identified here during a few days of birdwatching. The visitor is a friend of Ken’s, Rebecca, from Washington D.C. Here is her list of birds seen at or near Acorn Abbey: 1. Loggerhead Shrike 2. […]

Barley pilaf

During the past couple of weeks, barley has been in the news because of newly found health benefits. An article in Nutrition Journal ends with this conclusion: “The results indicate that the BK [boiled barley kernel] evening meal, facilitate glucose regulation, increase the release of GLP-1, reduce subsequent energy intake while at the same time […]