GardenFork – Eclectic DIY – Page 19 – How To Videos, A Podcast, and Labradors.

GardenFork – Eclectic DIY

How To Remove A Dishwasher – DIY GF Video
Learn here how to remove a dishwasher with our DIY video. It’s pretty easy, and only takes a few tools. It helps to have someone helping you, never hurts to have a second set of hands and more important, eyes. We also have a video on how to install a dishwasher here.

The most important thing is to make sure the electric running to the dishwasher is turned off and the water supply is turned off. Only then can you remove the dishwasher.

How To Remove A Dishwasher
- Turn off the power going to the unit. The dishwasher may be hard wired or have a power plug.
- Turn off the water supply. Hopefully there is a valve under the sink that controls this.
- Disconnect the drain tube by removing the clamps.
- Remove the screws holding the dishwasher in its space.
- Pull it out gently.
Watch the video for the details, and take your time and you will know how to remove a dishwasher.

Cover power wires with wire nuts when removing dishwasher, be sure power is off!

Some stuff to think about. Pay attention to the floor, you don’t want to scrape it when you pull out the dishwasher. The appliance has small leveling feet, and they can drag on the floor. Also, there is likely some debris under the unit, be careful with that too, might be some surprises!

I’ve heard stories where someone has installed a wood or tile floor after the dishwasher was installed, and this makes removing the dishwasher real hard. you may be able to lift the counter above the washer a bit to slide it out, all while having warm thoughts about whoever did this to you.

Breathe.

The drain hose of the dishwasher will have water in it. Hold it up in the air and dump the water in to a bowl. Learn from me.

Watch More DIY Videos Here.

So there you go, a fine video on how to remove a dishwasher for you. Let me know your comments below.
February 7, 2015
Hoop House Cold Frame #2 – DIY GF Video

This is the second DIY Hoop House Cold Frame we have built in our video series. Easy to build, this mini greenhouse allows you to grow plants in winter. Watch the video here, plans and photos are below as well as links to our other DIY Hoop House Cold Frame Videos.

This cold frame uses a wire mesh that’s usually used for concrete, but it works really well as a cold frame form to hold the plastic up. I like how it works
You can buy this concrete reinforcing wire at a local lumber supply yard. It comes in two thicknesses, you want the thinner gauge wire, the thick wire is too much, I think. This wire also comes in rolls, but the it is a pain to work with. The mesh I bought was 10’ x 5’.

To cut the wire mesh we use a right angle grinder with a metal cutting disc. Be sure to wear ear and eye protection and wear gloves while you’re handling this material, it can cut your skin.

Be sure the cut end of the wire mesh faces the plywood end, else the plastic can get sliced by the sharp ends of the wire. You can put pieces of old garden hose along the end of the wire mesh where the plastic bends over to form the end wall, as well as on the plywood end to protect the plastic from the hard edges of the wire and wood.

But you can build this! It’s not hard and I really like it. Another great version of the hoop house cold frames that we’ve built, we have a whole series of them – link here – and every time we make one we get better and better. The super cool part is that you can extend your growing season in the fall and you can use one of these cold frames to warm up the soil in your vegetable beds in late winter and plant seeds even earlier than you could normally. Cold frame hoop houses are especially good for salad greens, radishes, sugar snap peas – plants that are cold tolerant.

You can use scrap wood to tie the corners together, or use brackets.

The automatic vent that we use is kind of a specialty item but that they’re not that expensive. Here is the link to buy it.

You could put one vent in or you could put in two vents. With two vents you would put plywood at both ends of this cold frame. Having a vent on both sides allows more warm air to exit. Cold frames can get quite hot, you don’t realize how much solar energy the sun has even in the winter. You will need to vent the hoop house, you can go out on sunny days and manually vent it if you want by lifting up the cold frames, but I’m not there all the time. So I like the automatic vents.
Have you made a cold frame? Do you have anymore questions? Pease leave them in the comments below.

My cold frame experiences have been greatly influenced by these books by Eliot Coleman and Niki Jabbour.

Four-Season Farm Year Round Vegetable Gardener (affiliate links)

Watch more of our hoop house cold frame plans videos here.

PVC Cold Frame Hoop House #3 – DIY GF Video

February 7, 2015
Cold Frames, Sugar in Yogurt, & Lentils in Dogs – GF Radio 369

Seed Starting in cold frames starts the show, as its time to start seeds indoors and you can use a cold frame or a hoop house to get a head start on your growing season.

This brings us to grow lights, with the GF grow light videos on our site, and Eric saw some LED shop lights and was thinking of how they would do as grow lights.

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but I earn a commission from. Thx! Amazon or at Home Depot.

This leads us to LED conversion for recessed lights, esp good for lights that are high up. There are several models available, and don’t need to be replaced very often, plus they save energy.

Yogurt has sugar. Eric just realized this, Rick already knew this. A cup of french vanilla yogurt has 22 grams of sugar. wow.

Safety at train crossings is next, if you are stuck on a rail crossing with the barriers closed down around you, drive through the barriers, they are designed to break.

Viewer mail from South Africa on lentils and beagles, Eric and Rick talk about lentils for a while. Then we move on.

Rick has been using an add on for Evernote called Reflect.

Nitrogen run off article talks about how run off really happens.

Birds are ok with quad copter drones, according to Scientific American, Eric is less ok with them.

February 5, 2015
Oatmeal No Knead Bread Recipe – GF Video

I love the simplicity and versatility of the no knead bread recipe, this no knead bread variation being a great example of taking the basic recipe, adding a few tweaks, and baking an artisan bread that rivals those in the bakery.

I don’t often use steel cut oats for anything, but I saw this recipe and I thought, wow that’s a great reason to buy some steel cut oats. After we made this recipe, I cooked the steel cut oats in the pressure cooker, making a nutty oatmeal that was a lot of fun.

This recipe is based on one on the Breadtopia website, a great source for all sorts of bread baking info and tools. Go check them out, the site is run by a web food guy named Eric, so you know its good.

But back to the no knead bread recipe. I’ve become a big convert to using a digital scale for measuring out the flour for recipes. I’ve learned that it makes a big difference and I talk about it in this video: Five No Knead Bread Tips
Pay attention when you’re toasting the steel cut oats on your stovetop. Use a nonstick pan or cast-iron pan. You want to heat this up, but stay right there while it’s toasting. I burnt the first batch of these because I walked away, the oats go from toasted to burnt in very short order. So watch out for that; once again, learn for me.

But once you get those toasted oats into the bread dough, it’s a great thing. It adds a neat texture and flavor. It’s subtle, it’s not like super oatmeal bread ,but I think it’s just enough. I also added whole wheat flour – I’m trying to eat more whole grains rather than refined flour. I think it works really well here. you can watch our other no knead bread videos here

Let me know your thoughts, have you made the artisan bread recipes or the no knead bread?

Oatmeal No Knead Bread Recipe

10 ozs (2 1/4 cups) bread flour

3 oz (3/4 cups) whole wheat flour

3 oz (1/2 cup) steel cut oats

1 tablespoon coarse salt

heaping 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 5/8 cups water filtered preferably

Toast the oats in a pan on the stove, you want them toasted, not burnt.

Add the flour, salt, yeast, and oats in a large bowl and stir together

Pour in the water, (warm water is best, I think) and mix.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm area overnight. 12-18 hours.

Flour a board or counter and shape the risen dough into a ball. Turn the ball into itself several times as shown in the video.

Place the dough on a piece of parchment paper larger than your dutch oven.

Place this in a bowl and cover with a towel, let rise for about an hour.

Preheat the oven and dutch oven at 500F for 30 minutes.

Dust the dough with flour if you like, and cut a design into the top, as shown in the video.

Use the parchment paper to lift the dough out of the bowl, and place in the hot dutch oven.

Cover and bake for 30 minutes at 450F. Take off the lid and bake an additional 15-2o minutes.

You want the crust browned and the internal temperature to be about 190F.

Remove from the dutch oven and cool on a wire rack. Do not cut it right away, let it cool.

February 3, 2015
Feeding Honeybees Sugar Syrup, Zip Bag Method GF Video

When feeding bees sugar syrup, I have tried many methods, and I like the zipper bag method best. Here is another of our beginning beekeeping 101 videos, this one on how to feed bees sugar syrup.

I have tried various sugar feeders with some success, but it seems that most feeders drown bees also. My friend Rick Kennerly introduced me to this zipper bag sugar feeder method.

The advantage of many sugar feeders is that you don’t have to open the hive to add more sugar syrup. With the bag method, you do open the top of the hive, but its not much more work than filling up a sugar feeder. When the first bag of syrup is empty, I leave it on the top frames of the hive, and just lay another one on top if it. This keeps the bees from making too much burr comb in the space where the feeder sits. Its also less intrusive that way, you aren’t peeling off a bag every time you open the hive, you peel off all the bags when its time to stop feed sugar syrup.

You can add essential oils to the sugar syrup, we do. Here is a recipe for essential oil mix for honeybees, or you can buy it pre-mixed. Either works well.

You may have to experiment to find the best zipper style food bags. The store brand ones work fine for us. Transporting them when they are full can be tricky, I put them in a wide tray or bucket when I drive to the beeyard. You don’t want syrup spilling in your car or your yard, it creates bee chaos.

I fill up the bags by putting them in a metal pasta pot, with the opening spread over the top of the pot. Don’t fill it up all the way, or the bag will burst.

Here is our overview of how to overwinter honeybees, with all sorts of good info.
A video and information about sugarcakes, which you give the bees for winter:

January 31, 2015
Pizza Ovens, Storms, and the Missing Egg – GF Radio 368

Today Eric talks about the Best Pressure Cookers that you can use to can foods, where to find flax oil, and polenta & grits.

First we talk storm preparedness, and the wisdom of shutting down the roads. The roads in the tri-state area were closed for Winter Storm Juno, and accidents were minimized. Here is the NY Times article about storm modeling.

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but I earn a commission from. Thx! Amazon or at Home Depot.

Checking on your neighbors during a storm is a great icebreaker. Is there a neighbor you don’t know well but might need some help? Offer in a way that doesn’t seem like they *need* help. But its a good way to get to know your neighbors.

Viewer Mail

Eric fixed the banana bread recipe to include the egg.
Making pizza in the fireplace, here is our fireplace pizza oven video

We talk about how to make polenta, here is our polenta video and the use of baking soda, and an article lucky peach about baking soda and making cheater ramen noodles.

A question about where to buy flax oil to use in our how to season cast iron video.

Praise for the Fagor pressure cooker, which you can use as a pressure canner, though I have not done so. Here is our pressure canner buying guide. Here is a link to the Fagor Pressure Cooker – Canner on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1tMiKVy

January 31, 2015
Microwave Polenta Recipe – GF Video

Our fav way to cook polenta is with a pressure cooker, but here we show a microwave polenta recipe and a stove top polenta recipe. I call these kitchen hacks, since we are showing you how to get a step ahead in the kitchen and cook polenta faster than you can using traditional methods.

Microwave ovens are not all the same, so pay attention the first time you do this. I overflowed the dish in our first test, not a lot of fun to clean this one up!

Polenta becomes transcendent when you add in some butter and Parmesan or Pecorino cheese.

Our first attempt at a Microwave Polenta Recipe

Microwave Polenta Recipe

3 1/2 cups of water

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup of polenta or corn grits

Mix the polenta and baking soda into the water in a large microwave proof bowl.

Cover with plastic wrap and put in the microwave on high for 5 minutes.

Remove the plastic and stir the polenta, be careful, the polenta will be real hot.

Cook for another 5-6 minutes at 75% power, keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t boil over.

Remove from the microwave and stir, let sit for 5 minutes.

Add salt and real good cheese and eat.

Watch our grilled polenta recipe and pressure cooker polenta recipe video here:

January 27, 2015
Pressure Cooker Polenta Recipe – GF Video
Here’s our pressure cooker polenta recipe, and it couldn’t be easier, but that’s why we love the pressure cooker.

Polenta doesn’t have to be hard to cook. So many people think to make polenta you have to stand over the stove and constantly stir the polenta in a sauce pan for hours and that’s not true. You can use your pressure cooker to make polenta quickly and easily and you don’t have to stir it.

Our pressure cooker polenta recipe is based on one from Lorna Sass who has several pressure cooker cookbooks I have her Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure book and I like it

This is a great example of how a pressure cooker can make things go much faster in the kitchen and they taste great of course polenta always taste really good with butter and cheese I especially like pecorino reminder cheese with the polenta

I usually make a double batch of polenta because I like to take the leftover polenta and pour it into an oiled loaf pan to make grilled polenta slices the next day would you can fry up for breakfast lunch or dinner they taste great anytime do you have a favorite polenta recipe or do you use polenta in a dish that you make I like to hear about that in the comments below.

Watch our Microwave and Stovetop Polenta Recipe Video here:

Grilled Polenta goes great with a simple tomato sauce, vegetables, or Braised Short Ribs.
Pressure Cooker Polenta Recipe

Quick polenta recipe that doesn’t require constant stirring that uses a pressure cooker. I’ve cooked polenta many ways and i think this pressure cooker recipe is the best and easiest way to do it.

Ingredients
- 1 cup
  Polenta or Corn Grits
- 4 1/2 cups
  water
- 1 teaspoon
  salt
Cooking Directions
1. Take your polenta, also called corn grits and put in the pressure cooker
2. Add the 4 1/2 cups of water and salt.
3. Close the pressure cooker and lock the lid.
4. Bring up to high pressure, and then cook for 5 minutes.
5. Take the pressure cooker off the heat and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes, allowing for a natural release
6. When you open the pressure cooker, the polenta needs to be mixed together, best tool for that is a whisk.
7. If you want to make polenta slices, pour the cooked polenta into an oiled loaf pan and cool overnight.
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January 27, 2015
DIY Portable Generator Cart

A DIY Portable Generator Cart adds wheels to your portable generator for free. This is from a GardenFork viewer, Edward, who embraces the GF ethic of ‘use what you got’ perfectly.

He writes:

“At first glance, this might not look like much, but seeing how I looked for a wheel kit for a generator and saw
that they cost around $40 to $60, I decided to come up with my own inexpensive solution.

I remove the engine from an old mower. I only leave the lower section of the handle connected to the mower
frame (a great place to leave your extension cord). Using two tie-down ratchet straps the generator is secured to the
mower frame. Doing this, I can remove the generator easily in case I need to put it in the trunk of my car. I am planning
on adding a ply wood deck on the mower or a box style base that I can use for other projects.

This setup is extremely stable and makes moving the generator a breeze. It also keeps the generator higher off
the ground away from water and snow.”

I think this is brilliant. My portable generator has air filled tires, which makes it easy to move around rough frozen ground, but if you have a flat place, or are just rolling the portable generator out of the garage into the driveway, this is the way to go. Save some money on the generator wheel kit.

Watch our Generator Transfer Switch Install Video here.

Click Here to shop for Generators at Home Depot.

January 21, 2015
Is Polenta the Same as Grits? & A DIY Canoe GF Radio 367

Rick and Eric ponder whether polenta is the same as cheese grits. Rick likes cheese grits, but not regular grits. More information on that if you want. Just ask Rick.

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but I earn a commission from. Thx! Amazon or at Home Depot.

Eric talks about building a DIY canoe our of plywood and whether using the PL brand of construction adhesive that comes in a caulk tube would work well in the place of the epoxy fiberglass putty one must make for the wood joints of a boat. This is based on comments from the original Plywood Boat video we did, and a great post on Instructables.

Have you built a wood boat? Would like to hear from you. [email protected] is the email.

January 20, 2015
Preparing A New Battery

The quad needed new battery, and I’m preparing for the maple syrup season, so I picked up a new battery at the farm supply store. Its a fairly common battery, and most stores stock this one.

The battery comes dry, that is, there is no battery acid in the battery. It comes in a separate container. This makes it easier to ship and store, I imagine. Car batteries usually come filled and sealed, and they are charged already, not the case with smaller engine batteries like this.

Pretty straightforward process, the important caution here is to wear gloves and eye protection. You don’t want battery acid on your hands or in your eyes. And its easy get a few drops of this in the wrong place. Learn from me…

Follow the instructions that come with the battery, but the general steps are to take off the caps of the battery cells, fill the cells with acid to the level indicated, and charge the battery, usually overnight.

Save the red caps, you will replace those. The instructions that came with this battery were vague about that. I used a low amperage smart charger and this battery was ready the next morning for installation.

I use the smart charger to charge up dead car and small engine batteries. To keep this battery at full charge but not wear it out prematurely, I’m thinking about a solar powered trickle charger. One less thing to plug in and have running all the time.

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January 18, 2015
Coconut Banana Bread Recipe – GF Cooks Video

Not your bland banana bread recipe, this one has a few twists to make banana bread stand on its own. Too often, banana bread is this dense wet slice of cake that is overpriced in the artisanal cafe. Not this one. Watch the video, the recipe is below.

Banana bread brings up those memories of being raised in the Midwest. You came home from school and your mom had made banana bread. You carved off a big slice and life was good.
My aim here was to make a banana bread that wasn’t like that kind of dense stuff that they sell in coffee shops now. I put in a couple of twists that I’ve been thinking about for a while: first I added whole wheat flour, which I think adds a different flavor definitely in a little bit better structure I think. And I added coconut which I happen to love – if you’re not a big coconut band that’s okay this banana bread recipe taste great without coconut.

Source your bananas from the discount rack at your grocery store. Somewhere in the produce section in the far corner is probably a rack of vegetables and fruits that have been discounted because they might have some dents or they might be a little brown or have some spots on them, but they’re perfectly edible. And they’re super cheap! I got this bunch of bananas for $.69 which is a beautiful thing.

If you want a higher loaf you should use a slightly smaller loaf pan. There is a standard loaf pan which is 9″ x 5″, but there’s also one that they sell that just slightly narrower 8.5″ x 4.5″ (buy here) and that’ll make this pop up a bit more. You could also amp up the baking soda, but the careful if you add too much baking soda it starts to have kind of a chemical taste to it.
What are your banana bread recipe favorites any suggestions you have any thoughts about the recipe or just your memories of banana bread let me know in the comments below thanks.

Coconut Banana Bread Recipe

4 super ripe bananas – ok to use less than super ripe

1/2 cup Whole Wheat Flour

1 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup sweetened coconut

1/2 cup (1 stick) melted butter

1 egg, scrambled

1/4 cup milk

Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl.

Add in the wet ingredients, be careful with the butter, its better if its cool, don’t want to burn anyone.

Pour into a buttered or oiled loaf pan, I like butter better for this one.

Bake in a 350F oven for about an hour, the sides may smell toasted before the center is done.

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January 13, 2015
Baking Bread and Landing Rockets – GF Radio 366

Batter Bread is Eric’s new project, and we talk about baking this bread into a good partial whole wheat sandwich loaf. Rick is skeptical and yes, a lot of whole wheat bread bakes up into a brick. But, we learned about a new small batch flour miller in L.A., Nan Kohler and her urban flour mill, Grist and Toll from a Root Simple interview. In that interview we discover there are whole grain flours that are more complex than your grocery store whole wheat flour.

Eric takes from the interview that it might be possible that some people with gluten intolerance may be able to use these flours and long fermentation times to create breads they can eat. No concrete evidence, but food for thought on how highly processed our baking flours are now.

Bill Gates funds a machine that extracts drinkable water from solid human waste that can be sent to developing countries. Wastewater treatment plants have been doing this for years, but to come up with a machine the size of a large refrigerator is pretty cool, we think.

Space X almost lands the primary stage of a cargo rocket on a barge in the Atlantic, and earns our high praise. “Close but no cigar” is still an amazing feat. The promise of recycling rockets would greatly reduce the cost of space flight.

Preparation for the Maple syrup season and tapping maple trees is underway at Eric’s house. a new DIY maple syrup evaporator made out of a file cabinet, inspired by this Earth Eats story, will debut in late February.

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but I earn a commission from. Thx! https://gardenfork.tv/amazon

Our Home Depot link: https://gardenfork.tv/home-depot-1

January 11, 2015
Seed Starting Archive Show GF Radio 365

We will be recording new GardenFork Radio podcasts later this week, here is an archive show from 2 years ago, its a good one about seed starting.

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Here are the notes from this archive show

Rick joins Eric to catch up and talk seed starting! If you are listening on iTunes, please leave us a review, we appreciate it. Eric just weathered the snowstorm named something which Rick doesn’t know about. Rick took a quick trip to Florida. Eric rebuilt his cold frame hoop house to start salad greens, but learned recently that while salad greens are considered cool weather crops, the seed prefers a warmer temp to germinate. Seed germination mats is talked about and one should not use a regular heating pad to try to warm your seed trays to speed germination. regular heating pads are too hot. When is the best time to start seeds and why Eric does not like to use a window sill to start seeds. Eric’s how to build a grow light video is talked about, and how one should not mix up the color temperatures in each fixture of the simple grow light.

Building plastic greenhouses, how to use PVC pipe for greenhouses, and why you might consider UV stable plastic when making a hoop house or cold frame. Rick tells us some of his experiences in the plastic greenhouse he has his hydryponics system in, and how the raccoons have ruined a lot of his project.

Rick is going to try tomato grafting, he has ordered tomato root stock and is on the way , he will update us as he goes along.

January 6, 2015
Lentils Recipe with Carrots and Coriander Video
Here’s a lentils recipe we make often when its cold. I call it wow winter comfort food. I don’t remember the first time I had lentils but I’m pretty sure it was probably a can of Progresso lentil soup, which is not the worst thing, but again it wasn’t the greatest thing. But now you can make the greatest thing: a lentils recipe with carrots and coriander.

I’m not a vegetarian, but this is a vegetarian and vegan recipe, and that doesn’t mean it doesn’t tast great. It tastes more than great. Wow winter comfort food. I’m pretty sure I read about the addition of coriander seeds first in the NY Times, Martha Rose Shulman has written about lentils there.

There are many different kinds of lentils, for this recipe, I like to use the Goya Pardina lentils. You could also use French green lentils or just a regular round brown lentils. The brown lentils tend to break apart, but then, that’s what that kind of lentil is supposed to do. I recently went to an Indian food market, and there were shelves with all kinds of lentils. They are called Dal by the way, so don’t ask for lentils, just look for Dal, OK?

Canada, interestingly enough, produces the most lentils in the world. India is the second biggest grower, understandably. Lentils are a great protein source and has good fiber, besides tasking great. Green lentils have more fiber than red lentils, FYI, according to Wikipedia.

The secret to this dish is coriander seed coriander powder or ground coriander you want coriander seed would you contact might have to search all of it if you have a Indian grocery store or a light room foods grocery store coriander seed little later

Coriander seeds are like little flavor bombs. This is one of those simple recipes where the sum is greater than the ingredients.

Lentils Recipe with Carrots and Coriander
Lentils Recipe with Carrots and Coriander Video

Recipe Type: Vegetarian

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Total time: 40 mins

Serves: [url:1][img:1]

Healthy lentils make a great weekday dinner.
Ingredients

1 cup pardino or green lentils, if possible

One medium onion, chopped as you like, not super fine.

1 heaping tablespoon coriander seeds

One lb bag of carrots chopped into 1-2″ pieces
Instructions

Pour a few glugs of vegetable oil into a medium pot, you want to coat the bottom of the pot, and not a thin coat either.

Drop in the chopped onions when the oil is hot.

After about 5 minutes, add in the coriander

Brown the onions until they are clear and the edges are getting the burn brown look to them.

At the same time, in a medium small saucepan, bring 2 1/4 cups of water to a boil.

Rinse the lentils, and when the water is boiling, add in the lentils.

Set the lentils to simmer covered.

When the onions are cooked down to your liking, add in the lentils and chopped carrots, and cover the pot and simmer for 20 minutes.

Take off the lid of the pot, and allow the liquid to cook down a bit.

Check the lentils, they should not be crunchy.

Add salt, mustard, and vinegar to your taste.
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January 5, 2015
Archive Show: Mike’s Disc Brakes and Haybox Cookers GFR 366

A re-broadcast of a show from 2 years ago, Mike talks of brakes and Sarah joins in to talk Haybox Cookers. We will post new shows next week, we are taking some time off this week. I cleaned the garage!

December 28, 2014
Outdoor Maple Syrup Evaporator In Our Yard

There are the vestiges of an outdoor maple syrup evaporator in our yard and every time I look at it, I think about a bunch of people hanging out outside in the winter in the cold boiling sap over an outdoor fire and how much fun that must’ve been. This evaporator was made out of a custom made metal tray that was welded together, and pieces of old wood stoves.

One of my neighbors has a very DIY maple syrup evaporator that is basically a large steel tray that a divided into two parts. He sets this over a fire and boil sap outside on the weekends. Most trays are divided into at least two sections so you can manage the boil. The larger sections are for the initial boil, the smaller sections for when the sap is close to becoming syrup. Most DIY evaporators have a pipe and a valve drilled into one end of the tray to pour off the syrup.

He lives on the main road so when I drive by and I see the steam coming off the saturate I stop by and we’ll just hang out we talk about the same things every time how much sap we collected what the ratio is this year how much sap to how much syrup sometimes it’s high sometimes it slow it’s usually around 35 to 1 or 40 to 1

This year I plan on building a new DIY maple syrup evaporator out of a metal filing cabinet so stay tuned for that in the meantime you can check out sober maple syrup videos here

Check out all of our how to make maple syrup videos here

December 19, 2014
Pressure Cooker Short Ribs Recipe – GF Video

This pressure cooker short ribs recipe really shows just how great a pressure cooker is. Pressure cookers are great for easy cooking and last-minute cooking – if you decide you want some short ribs at the last minute you can cook them up fairly quickly with a pressure cooker. If you were to cook short ribs in the oven or on your cook-top it would take quite a while. But with the pressure cooker, you toss your ingredients in the cooker close it up, bring it up to temperature, cook it happen hour and you’re done. And that my friends is amazing!
For this pressure cooker short ribs recipe, I like bone-in short ribs you can also get boneless short ribs those short ribs will cook much faster in the pressure cooker but I think the bone adds flavor so that’s why I use bone in short ribs.

sear the short ribs, don’t cook them

You want to make sure to cut big chunks of carrot. If you make the carrot pieces small I think they’re going to fall apart in the pressure cooker. They’re in there for half an hour if they are too small the pieces breakdown, maybe even like turn to mush. Which would be a bad thing.
For this pressure cooker short ribs recipe I use half red wine and half water. I think if you use all wine for the braise it’s just too strong I use a medium bodied Malbec box wine. Good box wine is just fine. K?
When cooking food in the pressure cooker, it’s actually better to under estimate the cooking time than to over estimate. If you overcook the ribs, they’re not as good. If you undercook them you can always close the lid back up and bring them up to pressure and cook them for a few more minutes. When you open the lid, some of the meat will be falling off the bone, some will still be sticking to the bone, but either way your friends are going to love this. My friends did. Let me know what you think in the comments below, do you make short ribs or do you have some good pressure cooker tips and recipes?

Here is my pressure cooker review and purchase suggestions post.

Pressure Cooker Short Ribs Recipe

4 large pieces of bone-in short ribs

1 medium – large sweet onion chopped coarsely

1 lb carrots, chopped into 1″+ chunks

1 cup medium body red wine, like a Malbec or Cote Du Rhone

Sear the large sides of the meat in a few glugs of vegetable oil in the pressure cooker without the lid on. Just brown the meat, don’t cook it.

When all the meat is browned and in the pot, add in the carrots and onions, and pour in 1 cup of wine and 1 cup of water.

Attach the pressure cooker lid and lock it according to the manufacturers instructions.

Cook on high pressure for 30 minutes.

Turn off heat and let pressure cooker cool down for 10 minutes. Release any remaining steam per instructions and open the lid away from you.

Gently pour the meat and vegetables into a colander and collect the braising liquid in a bowl. Use a fat separator or a glass container to pour off most of the fat in the braising liquid.

Put the meat and veg into a serving bowl and pour the braise liquid over it. You could thicken the liquid if you wish with cornstarch.

December 17, 2014