Farm "Flowers" and a Cocoa Mix Recipe

After an amazing Thanksgiving holiday, it's time to get back in the saddle.

If I had a saddle anyway.

Of course, then I'd need a horse too. Maybe I should just say, "It's time to get back into the routine of normal life."

But then, I'd have to define normal.

Monday may be harder than I expected.

Thanksgiving for me is an excuse to overeat. Because apparently, a person is only allowed to have roasted turkey, cranberries, stuffing, and pumpkin pie once a year. I think it's a law or something. So I indulge. Which leads to guilty days spent lying on the sofa, wearing dirty yoga pants, and watching Christmas movies on Lifetime. It's only on Sunday when I awaken from my turkey-induced stupor and begin to function again.

Since I had worked so hard on our Thanksgiving dinner, my Mister decided to bring me home the farmer's equivalent of a bouquet of flowers.

Meet Flower. He's a rooster. As in, a boy chicken. And yes, that is my kitchen table and I am inserting a little sarcasm here. (Because we now have 6 boy chickens.) Flower was living a life of luxury in town when his owners discovered his incredible singing talent. Since town-dwellers are only allowed 3 hens inside the city limits, Flower had to go.

Somehow, he ended up here. As my gift. My Mister is either a softie at heart, or he just gets me. Chickens, cows, and chocolate...that's all I need.

Speaking of chocolate...

I love it. Especially hot. What I don't love is all of the ingredients on the can of mix. For the life of me, I cannot figure out why partially hydrogenated anything should be in cocoa mix. It makes about as much sense as the anti-caking chemicals they also add. Seriously? Is caking cocoa really a problem? Could it be because there is hydrogenated fats in it?

Hmmm....something to ponder.

Before you go and buy another can of chemically-laden hot chocolate mix, give homemade a try. And because there are only 5 ingredients in this version, I'm calling this a health food.☺

  ~Hot Chocolate Mix~

 

The Players

 

1 (26 oz.) bag of Bob's Redmill Non-fat Dry Milk Powder

~or~

5-1/2 cups dry milk powder of your choice

1-1/2 cups organic sugar

1 cup unsweetened organic, fair-trade cocoa powder

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (I get organic in bulk at Whole Foods.)

1/4 t. sea salt

 

Into a large bowl, mix all the ingredients. Put 1/3 of the mixture at a time into a food processor and pulse until chocolate chips are powdery. (They will cease to make that obnoxious racket that chocolate chips in a food processor does!) Pour mixture into another bowl. Continue to process 2 more batches until all of the mix is done.

 

 

Pour into a lidded canister or jar.

 

To make cocoa: Add 3 tablespoons of cocoa mix to a cup of hot milk or water. Stir well.

 

Don't forget the whipped cream!

 

Enjoy!

This post is linked to The Homestead Barn Hop.

Storing the Kombucha

♥♥Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the prayers and words of encouragement that you have given me over the last few days. I don't know what the future holds, but I know who holds it, and in Him I will rest. My heart is full.♥♥

Peach/Raspberry, Pomegranate, and Blueberry Kombucha ready for a second ferment

A couple of weeks ago, we had a little incident with our kombucha. 

It wanted out of the bottle in the worst way.

Oh no!!

Since it was time to bottle our current batch, I decided to try a different method of storage.

Leave 1 inch of headroom in the bottle to keep too much pressure from building.

The kombucha is placed in an old insulated cooler and kept in the garage for its second ferment. This will keep the temperatures more consistent and hopefully keep the booch inside the bottles until ready to refrigerate.

Now if the booch goes boom, I'll be ready!☺

*This batch turned out beautifully. The carbonation was just right and the juice made it into our drinking glasses, not all over our faces. Which is always a good thing!

This post is linked to The Homestead Barn Hop
                                   The Morristribe's Homestead Blog Carnival

Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothies

Since my recent discovery of multiple food allergies, I've been trying to incorporate more smoothies into my diet. My reason's are simple.

1. The probiotics from the yogurt will help my tummy heal. At almost 45 years old and having no idea of when these allergies started, that's a lot of healing that needs to happen.

2. I have a freezer stuffed full of Italian plums, sliced peaches, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries. And summer is just a short 3 months away.

3. Making a smoothie allows me to get in and out of the kitchen quickly so that my children are able to make their glutenous, meat-filled, inflammatory lunch creations. I can't watch anymore, my drooling makes too large of a puddle on the floor, and that in fact, is just dangerous for us all.

4. Smoothies are good.

Really, the only reason I actually need is #4, but in the spirit of justification...

Today, I had a craving for something different. Something chocolaty. Something Mr. Reese's would be proud of. Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothies. With a raw twist.

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but my one try at going raw was a total and complete bust. Not only was I cranky, I was hungry. There are only so many things you can actually eat in their raw state. And by the end of that one day of raw, I was starting to eyeball the beagle.

"I'm not listeniiiiinnnnngggg."

Fine specimen that she is, I have an aversion to hair in my food a deep respect for one of our favorite family pets and would never think to eat our beloved Maisie. *ahem*

For some reason that I can't recall (and age has nothing to do with it!), I have 2 jars of raw cacao powder in my fridge. I'm sure they were there to serve some important purpose, but for the life of me I don't remember what. In fact, until I opened the jar, I really had no idea what cacao powder was. My only knowledge up to that point was that it is pronounced "kuh-kah-oh", not "cake-oh". (Personally, I think someone is just messing with us.) Cacao smells chocolaty, but I've been fooled before by carob powder. Try as it might, carob powder ain't no chocolate. (Yes, I am aware of my grammatically incorrect usage of a double negative!) For all I knew, cacao powder was just another fancy chocolate impostor. So I swagbucked it. 

Cacao refers to the tree and beans it produces.

Cocoa refers to the product taken from the plant.

Well, that clears it up.

To recap~it's unsweetened, raw, going-to-be-someday chocolate. I suppose that would have been too easy.☺

~Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothies~

Disclaimer: Not all of the food used in this smoothie is raw. Just in case the store-bought peanut butter and Nancy's yogurt didn't give it away.☺

~The Players~

1 c. whole plain yogurt (You can use raw/homemade)

2 Tb. *organic peanut butter (see below)

2 Tb. raw cacao powder

2 organic bananas

4 Tb. organic maple syrup

1/4 c. (or less) raw milk

1 c. ice

Put all ingredients in a blender and blend until thick and creamy. Top with freshly whipped cream, if desired. Just in case you remembered to pick some up at the health food store even though your children called on the cellphone to remind you but you were just so excited to be out of the house and communicating with other adult-like people you just forgot. 

Something like that.☺

Serves 2-3

Enjoy!

*I only use organic peanut butter after finding what appeared to be rat hair in a different brand. And not just one, but a small clump of hair. I'm no scientist, but either some poor hairy factory worker lost a chunk of back hair or....????

Go organic. Trust me.

First Day of School Cider

One of the reasons that I love the Pacific Northwest is the greeness that lasts throughout the summer. But with that greeness comes water.

Lots and lots of water.

As in torrential downpours.

This is also the reason that I have been trying to talk my Mister into moving to the east side of the state. Where it's drier. And I've been talking for years. It is also the reason that we just began our 2011-2012 year of homeschooling.

If you live around here, you'll understand me when I say that summer doesn't officially begin until July 5th. Apparently, July didn't get the memo, so this year summer didn't really start rolling until the beginning of August. Good if you don't care for extreme heat (and by extreme, I really mean anything over 80 degrees!), but bad if you are expecting much of a garden harvest.

Do you know how difficult it is to maneuver through a farmer's market with an umbrella in one hand, basket in the other while balancing a warm treat from Starbucks, and attempt to pick up things to put into the basket? Thankfully, the farmer's at the market understand. They were very helpful. And dry. Because they watched the weather and thought to put up awnings.

Over-achievers.

Once summer got rolling, we got busy. With life. Mowing, weeding, planting, harvesting, canning, fishing, camping, hiking, home-improvement projects, fence building, hunting, etc... So while we weren't officially on the clock yet with schooling, our children were being educated. Without the books.

So, with the ending of our "unschooling vacation", we begin the book-learning portion of our school year. And because it was the first day of "school", we made popcorn and hot spiced cider, read our books by the crackling fireplace, and stayed in sweatpants all day.

Because after 18 years, tradition counts for something.

And it was raining.☺

~Hot Spiced Cider~

~The Players~

1 gallon organic apple cider (or fresh-pressed at home!)

1 quart organic apricot juice (I found some that was apricot/mango by Santa Cruz.)

1 large can pineapple juice

1/4 cup sucanat

4 cinnamon sticks (or more if desired)

1 Tb. whole cloves

1 Tb. whole allspice

2-3 star anise

1 stainless steel tea ball or cheesecloth and kitchen twine

Place the cloves and allspice in the tea ball or cheesecloth. (If using cheesecloth, tie off with kitchen twine but leave long tails.)

 Pour juices in stainless steel pot. Add sucanat and stir. Add cinnamon sticks, star anise, and tea ball/cheesecloth bag, but hang tea ball on edge of pot. If using cheesecloth, place a long wooden spoon over top and tie bag to that. Make sure the ball/bag is fully in the juice.

Heat on medium-high until bubbles form, but is not boiling. Reduce heat to simmer. Simmer for 1/2 hour. Remove cinnamon sticks, star anise, and tea ball/bag.

Give it a stir and carefully ladle into mugs.

And enjoy!



Refreshing Lemonade

One of my favorite beverages of summer is lemonade. As a kid, I couldn't wait until Memorial Day weekend when I knew my mom would purchase that first can of frozen concentrate. See, there was this unspoken rule in our home. Lemonade was only for the days between Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends.

We were only allowed to wear white shoes during that time too, but it didn't really matter. By the end of summer, our white shoes were trashed, so mom would buy us colored tenny's for p.e., just in case we decided to stomp through some puddles on the way. The following May, she'd march right down to Montgomery Wards or Sears and buy us another pair of white shoes.

Some people just don't learn.

As an avid reader, I can't help myself from reading every single label in my grocery cart. (It's a wonder that my Mister ever goes into the grocery store with me.) Imagine my surprise when I discovered that my favorite lemonade had high-fructose corn syrup in it!

As the first ingredient.

I don't know about you, but trading health for convenience is not a habit I want to have, so I did what was done in "the olden days". I squeezed some lemons myself. Then I added some sugar.

Then I sort of gagged a little.

Water should always be added to lemon juice and sugar.

ALWAYS.

Especially if you want to drink it, not eat it with a fork.

Since my first experiments with the lemonade, I've learned a few things. First, leave the lemons on the counter for a while before juicing. It makes the juicing process a whole lot easier. Second, by adding whey and allowing the lemonade to ferment for a couple of days, the health benefits increase. Now you are drinking a lacto-fermented beverage and your tummy will thank you. Third, once you try this lemonade, drinking the swill from the frozen juice aisle will just seem barbaric.

And unless your name is Conan, you want to avoid barbaric.

~Lacto-fermented Lemonade~

10-12 organic lemons*

1/2-1 cup organic sugar

1 cup organic liquid whey (from draining yogurt)

filtered water

1 gallon jar with lid

Wash the lemons. Cut lemons in half and use a hand-held juicer to squeeze juice into bowl. Pour lemon juice into gallon jar. I like pulp in my juice, so I pour the juice through a fine stainless sieve, before picking out the seeds and adding the pulp back into the juice.

Add sugar. I only use 1/2 cup and it's sweet enough for me. You can use sucanat if you want, but it will make the lemonade a darker color. I've heard of people using honey, but I haven't tried that...yet.☺

Add whey to the jar. Making whey is very simple. Go here for instructions. (After making this, bake some zucchini or banana bread and use your new yummy cream cheese! So good!)

Add filtered water to fill the remainder of the jar. Screw the lid down tight and set on the back of the counter for 2-5 days. When you see little bubbles, it's ready. Refrigerate to stop the fermenting process. Serve over ice.

Enjoy!

*Before cutting the lemons, zest them, then place on a dehydrator at the lowest setting and dry overnight. Store zest in jar and use in baked goods, or in a favorite herbal tea.



Peach Melba Smoothies



In an attempt to clean out our freezers before this summer's harvest, I've been making a lot of smoothies.

When I say a lot, I really mean that most of our meals can be consumed through a straw. Including that Mexican lasagna I made the other night, but that's a meal that I'm not ready to relive.

You'll thank me for it.

See, not every meal that is made in our home is a success. There are those meals that try as I might, end up in the chicken compost bucket. My most recent flop was a prime rib roast that failed to cook after 7 hours in the oven. (It will be making its reappearance in the crockpot with some barbecue sauce this Sunday.) When those little mishaps happen, I need a backup plan.

 Our usual smoothie consists of frozen plums, strawberries, blueberries and bananas. Because we have them so often, I am now officially out of everything but blueberries. (I actually think the little buggers have been multiplying!) What I seem to have an abundance of is frozen peaches and raspberries that are squished together and covered in ice crystals. By themselves~not so impressive.

But together, they're magic.

I may need to be more purposeful in my kitchen disasters.



~Peach Melba Smoothies~

~The Players~

1 cup whole milk yogurt (I use Nancy's Organic)

1 Tb. coconut oil

1 Tb. flaxseed oil

1 Tb. 100% frozen orange juice concentrate

1 Tb. raw honey

1 cup frozen peaches

1 cup frozen raspberries

1 t. pure vanilla extract

1 cup (more or less) milk (I use raw.)

Put ingredients into blender. Blend on high until smooth. Add more milk if needed. (If you need to smoosh everything down, use a wooden spoon...after the blender is turned off. Trust me.)

Pour smoothies into glasses. Add straws.

Enjoy!

This recipe makes 3 good-sized servings.

Whole Foods and a Confession...or Two!

Even though we're a "whole foods" family, not everything we consume would be considered healthy.

Confession #1: I had a chocolate/peanut butter frappuccino today. With real peanut butter. And it was good. I didn't even feel guilty about it. I am sure that I burned off the calories pulling a very full wagon around the garden center.

Confession #2: My college-aged children brought me home a chocolate/peanut butter frappuccino this afternoon. With real peanut butter. And it was good. This time however, there is guilt. Tremendous guilt.

What is a mother to do when her children present her with such a gift? It would've been rude to deny them the obvious pleasure that they received, delivering to me that sin in a cup. What could it have done to their psyche? To their developing, yet still fragile self-esteems?

It is because I love them and desire them to go into adulthood with the utmost confidence that I accepted that second cup. It is also why I am in stretchy pants right now. And why I will have to spend a little extra time on the treadmill this weekend. (I'm still in denial that I can burn off the extra calories just by sneezing.)(Don't judge me. It's my fantasy.)

Most of the time we eat whole foods. Here is how the rest of the day went.

Strawberry/Peach Slushies...I didn't have anymore frozen strawberries (What will we do for the next 8 weeks or so?), so I substituted marionberries for the strawberries and used organic maple syrup instead of stevia drops. It may not have peanut butter in it, but it was still wonderful!

During the making of these, I had to interrupt with a kitchen/homeschool lesson.

DO NOT PUT A WOODEN SPOON INTO THE BLENDER WHILE IT IS RUNNING!

EVER.

Good thing it was bamboo...pandas love this stuff!

For dinner, we had beyond organic, grass fed, grilled burgers with a Garlic Potato Salad and home-canned applesauce. We sweetened it with maple syrup and added some cinnamon for kicks. (Recipes are below.)

Juicy, Grilled Burgers

2 lbs. organic ground beef

1 t. dried oregano

1 t. dried basil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 t. onion powder

1 Tb. dried parsley

1 t. sea salt

1/2 t. pepper

1 piece sourdough bread, ground fine

1/4 cup milk

Using your hands, mix together. Shape into thick patties. Grill until just done. Do not overcook!

Garlic Potato Salad

(adapted from Simply in Season)

6 cups new potatoes, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup green onions, diced fine

3 hard-boiled eggs

1/4 cup EVOO

2 Tb. balsamic vinegar

2 t. fresh rosemary, minced

sea salt & pepper to taste

Boil potatoes until tender, about 5-10 minutes. Mix everything in bowl. Chill for at least 3 hours before serving.

Fall and Pumpkin Spice Lattes

As I mentioned in a previous post, this week is a busy one. With our first major storm approaching, we have been keeping a frantic pace, trying to finish outside projects. With minutes to spare, we did it!



The bounty that we received from our garden this year was well worth the hard work that went into it. We successfully harvested onions, cucumbers, beets, peas, black, pinto and green beans, zucchini, carrots, Swiss chard, lettuce, potatoes, amaranth, and more tomatoes than we knew what to do with! What was once a beautiful "oasis", has now turned into a very large compost pile! The bean arbor's are put away, the tomato cages dismantled and the water system have all been stored for the winter and it is time for the garden and the gardeners to rest a spell.

We can also put a check next to stacking the firewood and cleaning the chicken coop. With the entire family pitching in, the outside is ready for the long, cold winter. And so are we!

I visited another blog recently and "borrowed" her recipe for Pumpkin Spice Lattes. As usual, I couldn't leave the recipe in its original form...it needed "tweaking". So I tweaked. But just a little...

Pumpkin Spice Lattes

3 cups milk
3 T. canned pumpkin
3 T. pure maple syrup
3 T. pure vanilla
3/4 t. pumpkin pie spice
3/4 cup very strong, brewed coffee

Whisk together everything except the coffee in a medium saucepan. Heat until temp. reaches 160 F. Add hot coffee. Pour into coffee mugs and top with freshly whipped cream. Sprinkle with pumpkin pie spice. This fills 2 large "to-go" mugs or 3 human-sized mugs. The original version called for 3 T. white sugar, since we don't use white sugar too often, I replaced it with the maple syrup. The maple and pumpkin mesh very well together!

Yogurt Smoothies

Quite often, you will see "Smoothies" on our menu plans. My family really loves these and by adding different fruits, each drink can be customized to each person. (Although, I'm usually not THAT generous!)

The base for all of our smoothies is yogurt. Not the cheap, mass produced, little cups of corn syrup, but the good stuff. The kind that comes in a large container and says "organic", or even better, the kind that came from our own yogurt maker! (If you don't have a yogurt maker, it is a great investment and so easy to do!)

A good yogurt is going to have a lot of unrecognizable words in the ingredients. Some of those words are; L. acidophilus, L. bulgaricus, S. thermophilus and bifidobacterium lactis. They are our bacteria friends! These bacteria are beneficial to our bodies by increasing the acidity of the intestine and curbing the reproduction of many harmful bacteria. They help to break down the sugars and fight infections.

Fruit is almost as important as the yogurt. By adding the right fruits, you can replace vitamins and minerals that are lost during times of sickness and stress. Here is a list of some of the fruits we use and why.

Raspberries...High in Vitamins A & C, (which are antioxidants), high in fiber

Blueberries...Highest content of antioxidants, known as a "superfood"

Strawberries...Another "superfood" that is high in antioxidants

Bananas...High in potassium, this mineral is vital in controlling the body's water balance and for proper muscle contractions. Bananas are also high in fiber and have the title of "The World's Most Perfect Food". (Freezing the peeled bananas is best for smoothies!)

Plums...High in antioxidants which enhance the immune system

There are others that we use like; mangoes, pineapple, and peaches, which are also high in Vitamin C.

To sweeten a smoothie, add a teaspoon of pure maple syrup, raw honey or a few drops of liquid Stevia. (Vanilla is great!)

Before blending, you have to add a liquid to thin things down a little. Pure fruit juice or a high-quality milk are good choices. We usually use raw, organic milk in our smoothies. Since they aren't heated, we are able to reap the full benefits of the raw milk.

Smoothies

1 cup good organic yogurt

1 frozen banana, chunked

2 cups frozen fruit of choice

1-2 teaspoons pure maple syrup, honey or 10 drops of liquid stevia (or to taste)

1 cup milk or fruit juice

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (omit if using vanilla yogurt)

Blend together. Makes 2.

Enjoy!

Benefits of Black Tea

In a family of our size, finding drinks that are affordable and nutritious is a sometimes daunting task. We do not drink Kool-aid or other sugary beverages, and buying fruit juice is limited to orange and apple only. When we lived at our previous home, apple trees were plentiful and autumn meant pressing the extra apples into cider. It was a huge family affair, with aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents participating and the prize was to be able to take home 15-20 gallons a piece! Of course, the juice never lasted as long as we wanted it to, but boy, was it delicious!

When thinking about black tea, I picture Grandma in her chair, sipping from a pretty teacup, with her sugar cubes and cream lined up neatly on a tray. Grandma enjoyed her afternoon tea, but I wonder if she knew about the "benefits" of drinking it!

Black tea has been used throughout history for medicinal purposes, such as; preventing tooth decay, lowering cholesterol levels and relieving diarrhea. It also promotes blood flow to the brain without overstimulating the heart like coffee does. While black tea does contain caffeine, it is at a much lower level than coffee.

How do you incorporated black tea into your family's diet? Try making this simple, nutritious drink.

Pineapple Tea

8 cups water
12 black tea bags
2 cups pure pineapple juice
2/3 cup lemon juice
4 Tbl. agave nectar

Bring water to boil. Turn off heat and place tea bags in water to steep for 3 minutes. Remove bags. Add juices and agave nectar and stir. Serve over ice.

Not only will your family enjoy the healthy benefits of the tea, but they will also be getting their vitamin C from the juices! And better yet...no artificial dyes and preservatives!