GardenFork – Eclectic DIY

Category: Video

Thaw Meat Quickly How To – GF Video
Learn how to thaw meat quicky, defrost steaks, chicken breasts, fish and other smaller pieces of meat with this simple method. No longer does one have to defrost meat in the fridge overnight. No when you get home from work, you can thaw meat quickly and have it for dinner that night.

The information presented here was first published in the NY Times in a article by our favorite food science writer, Harold McGee.

The science behind how to thaw meat quickly

Liquids transfer heat more efficiently than air, so if you want to change the temperature of an object, putting it in a liquid instead of the fridge will cause the objects temperature to change faster. Putting a frozen steak in the fridge overnight, the steak is surrounded by slightly warmer air, and over time, an equalization of temperature happens.

Putting that same frozen meat in a warmer tray of water, the temperature equalization will happen much faster. The warmer water will cause the meat to warm up, and the water will lose of of its warmth, both the water and steak come to an equilibrium eventually.

For a long time, we’ve been taught that you can run cold water over a piece of frozen meat to thaw it. But this still takes some time and lots of water, despite the water running at a trickle. Now we’ve learned that you can use warm water – I use about 100F water – to defrost meat quickly.

A few rules here:
- One must cook the meat right after defrosting it
- This works only for small pieces of meat- steaks, fillets, breasts, etc.
- The meat must be fully submerged in the water, weigh it down with something heavy.
An alternative to the hot water running over the meat is to fill pot with 125F water, and put the meat in it. Stir the water occasionally, and the meat will defrost. Its important to stir the water. This method saves water too.

Chicken Breasts can be thawed quickly with this method

What do you all think? Let us know below:
August 15, 2014
Dr Pepper Pulled Pork Slow Cooker Recipe – GF Video

Pulled Pork is a GardenFork favorite, and I’ve heard of adding soda to the slow cooker, so here is our Dr Pepper Pulled Pork Slow Cooker Recipe. I like how the soda adds some sugar-caramel flavor, plus that raspberry taste that Dr Pepper has. Plus it was just fun to put this together to see what happened. What did happen was a great pulled pork. Add a side of our easy coleslaw recipe and you are good to go for a summer BBQ. Yet another great slow cooker recipe

We used a smaller pork shoulder for this recipe, but you can use a large one if you have a large slow cooker. The cut of shoulder we use is also called a Pernil, you might see that on the label at the butcher. We like skin on and bone in, but you can use a boneless pork butt if that is what you have. Use what you got. The skin, aka fat cap, adds flavor, and you peel it off after the pork shoulder has spent its time in the crock pot.

Dr Pepper may sound like an odd choice, but I like it. I do not drink a lot of soda, but Dr Pepper has that cola taste with a touch of raspberry that makes me want to try it with this. Colas in general have sugar and caramel, which work well for slow cooking meats, I think.

A key tool to have here is a gravy separator, which I did not own until recently, but I’m glad I have it. After the pork is cooked, pour the cooking liquid into the gravy separator, and add some of this braise liquid back into the pork after it is pulled apart. I’ve seen a bunch of recipes that toss this cooking liquid, not sure why.

Cole Slaw is a must for pulled pork, and we have a companion video with an easy Coleslaw recipe here. I like apple cider vinegar in my slaw, and sweet tomato BBQ sauce in BBQ pork.

Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork Slow Cooker Recipe

3-4 lb pork shoulder, bone-in, skin on

1 bottle Dr. Pepper

1 medium onion, chopped into rough chunks

This is one of those throw it all in and turn it on pulled pork recipes. Some people brown the pork before braising it, and we have another pulled pork slow cooker recipe where you can do a dry rub overnight here. But this is super simple

Take all three ingredients and put them in the slow cooker. You want the Dr. Pepper to cover about 2/3 of the pork shoulder.

Put the cover on the slow cooker and turn it on Low and let it go for 5 hours, check it with a fork. If the pork is not falling apart tender, put the lid back on and let it go longer, check again in an hour. Repeat.

Once cooked, remove the pork, and pour the braise liquid into a gravy separator. Remove the fat cap and shred the pork with two forks.

Pour the braise liquid over the pork, using the separator to avoid adding the liquid fat back into the pork.

This is best when put in the fridge overnight, but you can dress it right away with BBQ (sparingly) and have at it.

The accompanying Coleslaw recipe is here.

August 7, 2014
Grilled Pineapple – GF Video

Are you grilling some food tonight? Then try this Grilled Pineapple Recipe while you’re at it. I like the idea of making dessert outdoors, one less thing to heat up the house with.

We’ve touched a bit on grilled fruit before, with mixed results, but this one works well and is easy to do. Its a good way to get your kids acquainted with grilling and the payoff is a healthy dessert. Nice.

Grilled Pineapple How To

At its simplest, we take pineapple, slice it up, and place it on an oiled hot grill and keep our eyes on it. Half inch pieces work well for us, any thinner and they burn quickly and can be hard to lift up off the grill. Learn from my experience.

This grilled pineapple can be cooked on a gas or charcoal grill, or you can use the broiler in your oven. In the summer I’m all about keeping heat out of the house, so if we are already grilling some meat or vegetables, I automatically think about grilled fruit. One could also make this in the fireplace with a grate like the one we use in our fireplace cooking videos here.

Variations on grilled pineapple

There are a lot of recipes that say to put the pineapple in a marinade or glaze it with oil or sugar. I don’t see the need for this, but go ahead and try it with honey or brown sugar. We drizzle some of our balsamic vinegar reduction on it (video here), and sprinkle on cinnamon or nutmeg. Chunky salt flakes are good too for that sweet – salt thing.

A few thoughts on cutting up pineapple here. You can add the skin and top to the compost pile, but it will take a while for the top of the thing to break down. Its kinda like a cactus or spiny aloe vera plant with thick leaves. One GF viewer suggested saving the skin and cuttings and put them in a juicer, had not hear of that one.

Let me know your thoughts below on how to make grilled pineapple.

July 29, 2014
Garlic Scape Recipe, A Scape Frittata – GF Video

Here’s a garlic scape recipe that my friend Georgina sent to me, and I immediately wanted to make it. I had given Georgina a bunch of scapes we had harvested from our garlic plants, and she sent me a photo of the scape frittata she made. Hence this video.

What I like about this garlic scape recipe is it moves scapes beyond the usual sauteed garlic scapes, which we have a video of here, into an area i had not thought of. But then it became obvious to me that garlic scapes can be substituted into many recipes that call for scallions or chives.

Raw, garlic scapes have a bit of a bite, but when cooked, they mellow out. We use them in a pesto recipe raw, but I usually cook them down in a pan with some olive oil when used in other dishes.

When harvesting garlic scapes, be sure to get them before it uncurls. That’s when the stem gets woody. You want the young immature flower and stem. If you grab them when it unfurls, you wont like the taste or the hard stem. If you don’t grow your own garlic, you can usually find garlic scapes in your Farmers Market in late spring and early summer. If you belong to a CSA, there’s a good chance you will find them in your allotment box at some point.

To get the garlic smell off your hands after handling scapes, or garlic in general, grab a stainless steel spoon or similar tool, and rub your hands over the spoon under running water. Not sure how it does it, but the stainless steel removes the garlic smell from your hands. We’ll have to find out what that happens.

Below is our Garlic Scape Recipe, let us know your thoughts and suggestions for more scape recipes!

Egg Frittatta Garlic Scape Recipe

5 or 6 eggs

1 cup of chopped garlic scapes, 1/2″ long

2 slices of bacon – optional

Parmesan Cheese to taste

2 tablespoons of milk

If using, cook the bacon in an 9″ oven proof fry pan, set the bacon aside and drain off most of the bacon fat, leave about a tablespoon.

With the pan still hot, toss in the garlic scapes and cook them down to your liking. I like them brown

Put the scapes in a bowl and crumble the bacon into the bowl.

Add a few glugs of olive oil into the pan, and pour in the eggs. Add the scapes and bacon on top of the eggs. Don’t touch.

Turn down the heat and let the eggs cook slowly. It should be 5-6 minutes, mbe more depending on how many eggs.

Fire up the broiler and place the pan under the broiler to cook the top of the Frittata, I like to brown the top, but careful not to brown it.

Slice the frittata into wedges, and sprinkle with some cheese or add dollops of goat cheese.

Serve warm or cold.

June 29, 2014
Bake A Cake : Outdoor Cooking with a dutch oven – GF Video

Outdoor cooking recipe to bake a cake in a dutch oven. Great camping recipe or to keep you house cool in summer, outdoor baking is the way to go. We use this basic cake recipe and add in whatever fresh fruit we have in the summer months. Its a fun way to bake a cake that doesn’t heat up the house, or when you are camping, this is a super simple cake recipe. Its easy to change up the recipe to suit whatever ingredients you have.

How To Bake A Cake Outdoors

You need to have a fireproof safe place to do this. We use our grill, it works well because it is a good height, and is already built for fire. Or you could use some other fireproof material, but be careful, you will be using hot charcoal to do this. In a camping situation, you can use the coals from a campfire, but you will have to pay more attention to the coals, probably adding a few during the baking process.

If you do not have some oven-proof bowls of some sort – we like to use ramekins – you can use balled up foil to raise the dutch oven above the coals. You do not want the bottom of the dutch oven to touch the coals, this can burn the bottom of the cake. If your dutch oven does not have a flat lid, you can make a ring of foil that will keep the coals from falling off the top of the dutch oven.

To Bake a cake this way requires some experimentation, its easy to burn the cake if the coals on the bottom are too hot. There is some trial and error here. And wear oven mitts or heat proof gloves, this stuff is hot!

Easy Cake Recipe:

1 cup self rising flour
OR 1 cup all purpose flour + 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt

1 stick of butter

1 cup milk

1 cup sugar – you can use less sugar, this cake is pretty sweet

1 can of peaches, drained, light syrup preferred, 20-24 oz

Preheat the oven to 375F

Put the stick of butter in a 9×9 baking dish, preferably a glass dish, and place in the oven to melt the butter.

Mix together the dry ingredients, then add the milk and mix.

Pour the batter into the heated baking dish with the melted butter, then add the can of peaches.

Bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes. The cake is done when a knife comes out clean.

June 5, 2014
DIY Rain Barrel System – GF Video
Easy Rain Barrel System we built with spare lumber and trash cans and some PVC. What I like about this rain barrel system is that you don’t have to go buy or find some rain barrels, you just go to the hardware store and buy some garbage cans. Done.

How to build a rain barrel system

Below is a slide show of photos I took while we assembled the rain barrels. The exact dimensions of your project will vary, depending on the size of your trash cans and how high up in the air you want to put your system.

Important: Be sure to screen the slot where the downspout enters the barrel or use mosquito dunks to control mosquito breeding.

A list of the items used:

Gutter Downspout Diverter, available here: http://amzn.to/1mf6ENG
- 2″ male and female electrical PVC connectors to attach the PVC drain pipe to the trash cans
- 2″ PVC plumbing pipe to connect the rain barrels to the garden hose spigot. The length of pipe you need depends on your trash cans and the stand you build.
- Two 2″ PVC 90 degree elbows
- One 2″ PVC T connector
- One 2″ PVC 30 degree elbow
- Assorted PVC adapters to fit the garden hose spigot to the end of the PVC pipe
- One each 3″ male and female electrical PVC connectors for overflow pipe
- One 3″ PVC street elbow for overflow
- Various 3″ PVC elbows to divert overflow to where you want it to drain.
- Sections of downspout pipe to connect downspout diverter to your rain barrel system
- Quality silicone bathtub caulk
We built the stand for the rain barrels out of scrap lumber. Be sure to build the stand to support a heavy load, and do not site the rain barrels where they could fall over, they are heavy! If the stand is sitting on soft earth, put bricks or pavers underneath the legs of the stand.

The top of the stand has a gap in the middle of it for the pipe that comes out of each rain barrel, plan for this ahead of time.

Our overflow pipe is 3″, which might be overkill for some designs. This system takes in water from a large flat roof, and in a hard downpour, a smaller overflow pipe would be overwhelmed, we believe. If you are doing rainwater collection from a smaller roof, your overflow pipe could be smaller.

link for diverter in text above

dry fit all pipes before you start gluing together

cross bar supports hose spigot
May 23, 2014
2 Ingredient Cake Recipe – GF Video
Bake a simple cake with our 2 ingredient cake recipe. Yes, it works. Super simple cake recipe, just watch our video and follow along.

This cake recipe succeeds because ice cream has the same ingredient as most cakes:
- Eggs
- Dairy – in this case cream and milk
- Vanilla or some sort of flavoring
The addition of self rising flour makes for a true 2 ingredient cake. I have found if you want to get a high rise, use a narrow loaf pan. And in true “use what you got”™ GardenFork style, we had some dried cranberries on hand, so we tossed those in. You could add in walnuts or raisinss, dates, etc.

The choice of what kind of ice cream opens up all sorts of possiblities. Want to make pistachio cake? Buy pistachio ice cream. I think a chocolate chip mint ice cream cake sounds great. That and cup of coffee makes dessert easy. I also like this style of simple cake recipe because it gets kids interested in cooking. I’m thinking they will be curious about how ice cream can become cake.

I like to have ice cream along with most quick cakes, and our 2 ingredient cake work well with additional ice cream in its original form alongside the cake. Now i’m wondering if someone makes banana ice cream, and whether it would work , and how it would taste. With the endless flavors of ice cream available, you will busy with the cake recipe.

If you like easy cakes, consider trying out our 5 minute microwave cake, decadent and done in 5 min. nice.

If you don’t have self rising flour, you can make some. For each cup of self rising flour needed, add 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and a pinch of salt to one cup of all purpose flour

2 Ingredient Cake Recipe
Ingredients
• 1 pint high quality ice cream, vanilla to start
• 1 1/2 cups self rising flour
• handful nuts, dried fruits, whatever you got
Cooking Directions
1. Preheat your oven to 350 F
2. Oil and flour a 4 x 8 cake pan or similar loaf pan
3. Put the ice cream on counter to melt.
4. When its kinda thick but liquid-like, pour the ice cream into a bowl.
5. Add the flour and mix, but don\’t over mix.
6. Pour into cake pan
7. Bake for 45 min, until knife comes out clean.
April 22, 2014
Simple Apple Crisp Recipe : GF Video 12

A simple apple crisp recipe that you can make for a quick dessert with minimal effort. We visited our local pick your own orchard, Riiska Orchard in Sandisfield, Mass, and picked way too many apples! This is our go to recipe for a quick dessert. You can use store bought apples, but we’re all about local when we can, so please consider supporting your local orchards.

We usually add a lemon juice or orange juice to the sliced apples for flavor. The juice also keeps the slices from browning, but this isn’t a big deal for us, because its going to be baked anyway. We like to use the apple slicer gizmo – link here – but you can also just use a knife to cut them up. Thinner is better, but the apple slices don’t have to be wafer thin, just thin, OK? I have found it handy to use an apple corer when slicing the apples with a knife, this round handle device cuts out the core of the apple, saving time. Yes it is one of those uni-tasker tools, but I have one.

Avoid using the instant oatmeal in this apple crisp recipe, its cut too thin, and I like the big flakes of the rolled oats, aka old fashioned oats. You can use different nuts, again use what you got, I like walnuts, but pistachios would be neat in this, or almonds or whatever you have.

This is for a 8×8 pan, but works for something slightly larger. Glass or metal pans work fine. Glass might produce a more crunchy apple crisp along the sides and bottom, not sure why. We served this with our homemade ginger ice cream, but it tastes great alone as well. You can dial back the sugar more , but not too much or the topping wont work as well, I think.

Simple Apple Crisp : GardenFork.TV
Ingredients
• 4 sliced apples
• 1 tablespoon lemon or orange juice
• 1 tablespoon lemon or orange zest
• 5 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 handful walnuts
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup flour
Cooking Directions
1. Slice up your apples, not paper thin, but not chunks either. Use the slicer rig or a knife. Either way core the apples.
2. Put the slices in a bowl and mix with 1 tablespoon sugar and lemon or orange juice and zest. If you like it sweet, you may add more sugar. Keep in mind a little zest goes a long way with flavor.
3. Put the oats, flour, 1/2 cup sugar, walnuts, and butter in a food process and give it a few whirls. You want to cut in the butter, but not over mix it.
4. Grease an 8×8 pan, and put the apples in the bottom.
5. Top with the flour-butter mixture, and bake in a 350 oven for 45 minutes or when the top starts to brown and a bit bubbly

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March 25, 2014
Is It OK To Double Dip? Viewer Mail Video #5

Double Dipping, Cranky Comments and more on Viewer Mail Video #5

Karma is boomerang is a big theme in Eric’s life, and we talk about that today. I am aware of what I did, so just move on in life.

“It’s a great time to be alive” is Rick Kennerly’s life mantra, and we believe in that too. Don’t try to outdo negativity, come back in a positive way.

A bunch of self help there for you. What do you think? Let us know below.

We talk about our tapping sugar maple videos and then segue to double dipping, and why it’s ok to double dip.

If you want to see an interesting photo of Eric’s foot post surgery, you can see that here.

March 21, 2014
Cast Iron, Maple Syrup, & Cake! Viewer Mail Video #4

Here’s Viewer Mail Video #4, where we answer questions about Cast Iron, Maple Syrup, and Chocolate Cake.

March 16, 2014
Cutting Firewood With A Chainsaw – GF Video

We dropped a tree that was dead last fall, of course we made a video about that click here, and we needed to cut the tree up into firewood for the wood stove at the camp, so I had my phone camera with me while we worked. So out come the chainsaws, safety gear, and camera. It took a while to cut this hardwood cherry up, dead wood can wear out your chain quick.

In this video we use a peavey to move the tree and the logs. Its a great tool to have, makes it much easier to roll stuff and save your back. We talk some about using the peavey here.

The most important thing when cutting firewood is to keep in mind what it is going to be used for. This is for a woodstove, so we measured the wood stove opening and then marked the tree accordingly to make sure each log was just the right length to fit in the stove. Don’t want to do all that work and then find out the firewood wont fit, not a good thing.

This tree had been dead a year, so it was good to be split and ready to burn. If you are cutting down a fresh tree, let the firewood dry a year, I say. We used a hyrdraulic wood splitter to break up these big logs, there’s a video about that in the links below.

I keep two or three newly sharpened chains with me when cutting down trees or firewood. There’s nothing worse than a dull chain, your saw will overheat, and you wear out your saw and yourself. Chains are cheap, buy a few, and sharpen them regularly.

Always keep safety in mind when using a chainsaw, they are dangerous tools. Note that I am wearing a helmet, ear protection, eye protection, chainsaw chaps, and steel toed shows. Links below to sources for these items. Be smart and be safe.

Click Here To Watch All Our Chainsaw Videos

An all in one helmet is the #1 piece of gear you need:

Click Here to Shop For Chain Saw Gear

March 10, 2014
Tap Sugar Maples for Maple Syrup with Buckets – GF Video

Its time to tap sugar maples to make maple syrup in our area, and I went out with my neighbors to help them tap with buckets and spouts. This is the traditional method of tapping trees, many people now use plastic taps and tubing. See the links below for our videos on tapping using tubing. My neighbor Bill puts out about 150 buckets, mainly along the roadsides in our town.

If you are thinking of what method you’d like to use to tap sugar maples, I have no strong opinion between buckets and tubing. The buckets are better for smaller operations, and for tapping on other people’s property. Most tubing stays up year round, and not everyone likes how it looks in summer.

I use tubing and plastic taps, and I take down the tubing every spring. I tap the same trees each year, and I can put back up the tubing. Its work, but so is hauling sap buckets.

This is a hard to find attachment for your chain saw

I’ve also seen people use plastic bags and milk jugs to tap trees. I have no experience with these, but at least with the milk jugs, i can see how they would overflow easily when the sap is running. That wastes a lot of sap.

Ask around your town or check on craigslist for buckets to tap sugar maples, I’m sure there are some in a garage. You can also buy them new, though I believe the new buckets are made of aluminum.

We have a bunch of how to make maple syrup videos, check them out below:

Click Here To Watch All Our Maple Syrup Videos

March 7, 2014
Beginning Snowshoe How To – GF Video

We love to snowshoe and wanted to show you how to snowshoe yourself. When the snow is knee deep, its the best way to get around the yard or go on a hike. Plus its a great outdoor exercise. Watch our video here and read on to learn about snowshoes:

We bought our snowshoes at the end of the winter season, they were on sale and we saved quite a bit. You can also find snowshoes for sale on eBay in addition to your online stores. Click here to find snowshoes on Amazon.

Like most things in life, you get what you pay for when buying snowshoes. While you probably don’t need the über professional snowshoes, you don’t want to cheap out either, else they will break when you really need them. I use them a lot to get to the wood shed, it keeps me from falling down in the snow with a load of firewood.

Our snowshoes have a metal cleat or gripper underneath for walking across ice and frozen snow, and I suggest you be sure your snowshoes have them. Look underneath for a wide claw thing about 4″ wide. You might also consider gaiters or some sort of snowpants to keep snow from falling into your boots or shoes, real handy when you are throwing up snow as you walk.

Snow shoes will not keep you floating above the snow, you will still punch down into the snow a bit, but its much less than going completely up to your knees. They can be a bit clunky, so look for shoes that are easy to put on. Keep in mind you will be putting these on in the cold, not inside your house. Ours have easy release clips, makes it easy to take them off at the end of a hike.

So let us know your snow shoe experiences below, be good to hear from you.

March 7, 2014
Triple Chocolate Cake Recipe – GF Video

Take our chocolate cake recipe, add chocolate chips and chocolate icing, and make a triple chocolate cake! Based on comments viewers made to our original simple chocolate cake video, we added a few things to amp up the cake, and it tastes amazing.

I love this cake for its simplicity. But then, I love making everything as simple as possible, life is complicated enough as it is. So with a few additions, you can amp up the decadence of the chocolate cake and it still takes almost no time to make.

Adding chocolate chips on top of the batter makes this decadent.

Snooki said in her comment that her family makes a similar chocolate cake recipe and adds chocolate chips across the top of the batter, so we did that. Simple and done. You could mix the chips into the batter, but this cake doesn’t need it. I like how the chocolate chip layer is on the top. If you wanted to switch it up a little, you could use white chocolate chips, or peanut butter chips. Either one would be a great addition.

Cathy suggested the chocolate icing or glaze. ( Not sure if its called icing or a glaze, let me know your thoughts below ) Take a half stick of butter, melt it, add in cocoa and powdered sugar and spread across the top of the cake. You could do this just before serving, but I like to do it beforehand and let the glaze settle into the cake a bit. I like the word unctuous, and it fits here really well. Now while writing this i want some cake, and its not even lunchtime yet.

Do you guys make a cake like this? Let me know in the comments below, we can make a third and fourth version of this going forward

Check out our original simple chocolate cake recipe video here.

Triple Chocolate Cake Recipe – GardenFork.TV
Ingredients
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup veg oil
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
Cooking Directions
1. This is based on our simple chocolate cake recipe, amped up with more chocolate
2. Heat Oven to 350F
3. Put all the dry ingredients in an 8 x 8 or 9 x 9 pan.
4. Mix together well, using a whisk or fork if you like
5. Make a well or hole in the middle of the dry ingredients
6. Add the wet ingredients in to the well.
7. Mix the wet into the dry until it looks like chocolate cake batter
8. Smooth the top of the batter, and scatter across the top the chocolate chips
9. Bake on the middle rack of the oven. Check at 25 minutes, you want it moist, not dry.
10. In our oven, this bakes in 30 minutes, a convection oven may be faster.
11. Mix up the chocolate icing recipe, pour across the cake, and let it cool.

Simple Chocolate Icing
Ingredients
• 1/2 stick – 4 ozs butter
• 2 teaspoons cocoa
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
Cooking Directions
1. This icing was suggested by one of our viewers, and its great on chocolate cake
2. Melt the butter in a small saucepan.
3. Turn off heat and add milk.
4. Stir in cocoa
5. Add in powedered sugar
6. Mix well and then spread over the cake.
7. Smooth it out if you want and allow cake to cool.

March 6, 2014
Viewer Mail Videos #1, 2, 3 – Seed Starting, Choc Cake, & Labs

This is a new thing for us, answering viewer mail in a video. Here are the first three, what do you think?

February 14, 2014
Simple Chocolate Cake Recipe – GF Video

Fast and Simple Chocolate Cake Recipe, a perfect last minute dessert or for when you want chocolate cake and want it fast! Mix this cake in the pan, put it in the oven for 30 minutes, and you’re done. Nice.

This cake recipe is also called screwball cake, or crazy cake. Its a great cake recipe for kids, its not complicated, and its fun to make. You can’t really mess up this cake, except for I almost messed up this chocolate cake while making this video…

This was was the first cake I ever made, I remember a neighbor gave us this recipe, and I liked how you could make it all in the cake pan, no extra bowls, etc. The other neat thing is it uses vinegar and baking soda as a rising agent. Not something you see too often in chocolate cake recipes.

Things to keep in mind when making Chocolate Cake

Make sure your sugar doesn’t have lumps in it

Mix the dry ingredients together well. Use a whisk if you like, or a fork.

You don’t have to grease the pan. Not sure why, but it works.

Don’t overbake the cake, you want it moist.

This cake recipe is pretty flexible, I’ve made it a bunch of ways, and you can ramp up or down the amount of oil or sugar. Add more water if you take out some of the oil. My oven bakes this at 30 minutes, if you have a convection oven, or one that isn’t from a camper trailer, test the cake at 25 minutes, it might be done already.

You can frost this cake, but I’m not big on frosting, I find most frostings too sweet and gets kinda crunchy after a day. At 1 cup of sugar in the cake, that’s enough sweet for me.

Does your family have a Screwball Cake Recipe? let us know in the comments below:

Simple Chocolate Cake Recipe – GardenFork.TV
Ingredients
•   1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
•   1 cup sugar
•   1/2 teaspoon salt
•   3 tablespoons cocoa
•   1 teaspoon baking soda
•   3/4 cup veg oil
•   3/4 cup water
•   1 tablespoon vinegar
•   1 teaspoon vanilla
Cooking Directions
1. Heat Oven to 350F
2. Put all the dry ingredients in an 8 x 8 or 9 x 9 pan.
3. Mix together well, using a whisk or fork if you like
4. Make a well or hole in the middle of the dry ingredients
5. Add the wet ingredients in to the well.
6. Mix the wet into the dry until it looks like chocolate cake batter
7. Bake on the middle rack of the oven. Check at 25 minutes, you want it moist, not dry.
8. In our oven, this bakes in 30 minutes, a convection oven may be faster.

February 10, 2014
5 Great Seed Starting How To Videos
How to start seeds? Watch these seed starting videos from the GardenFork video archive.

Simple Seed Starting Pots Video

Cardboard Pots Video

Origami Newspaper Pots

Our Super Easy Grow Light How To Video

Here’s how to build the grow light stand for your cheap grow lights:

Some Seed Starting Thoughts from Eric
- Do Not Overwater Seedlings or seed trays.
- Damp sponge consistency is good. Wet is not good.
- Keep the grow lights right on top of the seedlings, they tops of the plants should be touching or almost touching the bulbs.
- Keep the grow lights on 16 hours a day.
Not enough light and over-watering are the two biggest mistakes people make when seed starting. I don’t believe in using a window to start or grow seedlings, the weak light makes the plants leggy and weak, in my opinion.

If you want to save money and avoid having more plastic pots around, consider using cardboard or newspaper seed starting pots. The videos above show how easy it is to make these.

I use coir as a seed starting medium, I avoid using peat moss, which isn’t the most renewable resource we have. We seem to have a ton of coconut shells and fiber around. With coconut water being the new cupcake and all…

I add vermiculite and perlite to the coir fiber to give it some air and drainage. Easy enough to buy this stuff in the local garden shop. The exact amount is not important, use what you got, but you want a majority of the seed starting mix to be coir.

Break down the coir bricks in warm water. It helps to break them up with a hammer or some sort of smashing type object. I tend to add too much water to the coir bricks, and end up draining off a lot of it.

What are your seed starting practices? Thoughts? Let us know below:
February 6, 2014
Bottling HomeBrew Beer – Home Brewing 101 – GF Video
Learn how to bottle homebrew beer and hard cider in our homebrewing 101 tutorial video. Eric show you that bottling homebrew beer is not hard, all you need are brown bottles and a few pieces of equipment. This same homebrew how to applies to bottling hard cider.

Get your supplies from your local homebrew store, or consider Midwest Supplies, we like these guys:

Make Your Homebrew Easier with this gear
- Jet Bottle Washer: attaches to your faucet, rinses bottles quickly
- Bottle Tree: great way to hold, dry, and move 2 cases of bottles
- Bottle Filler: simple bottle filler makes it all easier
- Siphon Starter: its a pain to get a siphon started without something like this
The most important thing to remember is everything must be CLEAN that comes into contact with your beer or hard cider. You can use a diluted bleach solution, or better yet, a sanitizer. There are several types available from your homebrew supplier.

If you decide to use bleach, 1 tablespoon of laundry bleach per gallon of water works fine. Keep in mind if this gets on your clothes, it will leave white dots and patches. Not good. This is why I use sanitizer. I have ruined several pairs of pants with bleach.

Move your fermenter bucket carefully. There is sediment at the bottom of the bucket, and you don’t want to stir it up. Its best to elevate the bucket above your work surface. Its a pain to bottle beer on the floor. Gently remove the airlock and fermenter lid.

If you get lots of bubbles in your bottling tube, check that you have the right diameter tubing. It really helps to have 2 people doing the beer bottling, as something always spills. If you have to put down the bottle filler tube, place it in a clean bottle, so the tip does not get dirty. Remember, clean is everything with homebrewing.

Have some suggestions? Questions? Let us know below:
February 4, 2014