colo crafts and cooking

Easy Jam

2011-05-31T12:41:00.001-07:00

About 2 weeks ago I found a very easy recipe in a Whole Living magazine for Easy Strawberry Jam. It looked delicious and when I went to the store and found organic strawberries for $1.99 lb, I had to try it!

1. Wash and hull your berries. Slice them in about 1/2 in pieces.

2. Add berries to a saucepan with 1/2 cup sugar. Although, I would suggest less sugar because the finished jam was too sweet for me.

3. Allow to cook over medium heat. Stir until thicker and bubbling (10-15 min).

4. Let cool a bit before transferring to a glass jar, where it can cool completely before refrigerating.

5. Use as a tasty fresh topping to your favorite dishes!

(Here I topped homemade waffles with freshly made whipped cream and the yummy jam!)

It was a little runny but as a topping on waffles I didn't mind. For something more substantial it could be a problem. Not recommended for a PB&J sandwich because of that but delicious none the less!

Laundry Soap

2011-05-29T14:01:00.000-07:00

I have had a lot of people asking about how I make our laundry detergent lately. It is a pretty standard recipe that I have seen around for awhile. It makes a great base and some have altered it by adding scents and other "secret ingredients" but the standard works fine for me.

Basic Recipe
This makes one batch equal to approximately 3 cups of powder detergent.
Use 1 TBSP per load. Use more for heavier soiled items.

1 bar of Fels Naptha soap
1 cup of Washing Soda (not baking soda)
1/2 cup Borax

First grate the soap bar on a cheese grater. Second, combine the grated soap and remaining ingredients into a food processor and mix until fine and combined.

I find all of these ingredients in the laundry aisle of Fred Meyer. You can order in bulk online various places and probably save even more money.

Borax is $3.00-$4.00 dollars depending on where you buy it, for a 76oz box.
Washing Soda is usually $4.00 for a 55oz box.
1 5.5oz bar of Fels-Naptha costs $1.25 as the most expensive per bar price I have seen. Amazon sells bars for $0.49!

(this is a 5 batch jar)

I broke it down and figured out that with one box of washing soda you can make 7 batches of detergent. You would need 7 bars of Fels-Naptha and only about a 3rd of the Borax. Using the higher of the cost estimates that would equal about $2.39 per batch of soap. One batch can wash approximately 48 loads of laundry. The cost breaks down to about $0.05 per load of laundry. Plus you have tons of borax left for other cleaning needs and future batches of detergent.

(my laundry soap, vinegar that I use as a fabric softener, baking soda and generic oxy-clean that is occasionally added for whites and linens)

Pineapple upside down cupcakes!

2011-02-18T08:28:00.000-08:00

{Last night I made these!!}

Ingredients

FOR THE BATTER:
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter
1/2 cup milk
1 cup flour
1 1/2teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

FOR THE TOPPING:
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter
3/4 cup light or dark brown sugar, tightly packed
6 maraschino cherries
1 (20-ounce) can pineapple rings

Heat the oven to 350º.

Place the butter and milk for the batter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Warm the mixture, stirring occasionally, until the butter melts, then transfer the mixture to a small bowl to cool.

Into each cup of a 12-cup muffin pan, add 1/2 tablespoon of cold butter, then evenly sprinkle 1 tablespoon of brown sugar over the bottom. Place the pan in the oven until the butter melts, about 3 minutes.

Halve each maraschino cherry, then cut the pineapple rings into quarters. Place a cherry half, sliced side up, in the center of each cup and lay a pineapple quarter on each side. Press the fruit gently down into the butter-sugar mixture, then set aside.

In a medium-size bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt, and stir the ingredients with a fork until they're evenly blended.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and vanilla extract until smooth.

Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and stir until the flour is fully incorporated. Add the milk-butter mixture and stir well to combine the ingredients into a smooth batter.

Pour the batter into the muffin pan, dividing it evenly among all the cups.

Bake the cupcakes until they're lightly browned, dry around the edges, and pulling away from the pan a little, about 25 minutes.

Transfer the pan to a rack to cool for 5 minutes. Use a butter knife to carefully loosen each cupcake from the edges and bottom of the pan, then place a cookie sheet over the top. Invert the pan, turning the cupcakes out onto the cookie sheet, then transfer them back to the rack to cool completely. Serve the cupcakes at room temperature.

Makes 12 cupcakes.

{Beware they disappear incredibly fast}

simple things

2011-02-16T13:07:00.000-08:00

Here are a few simple recipes that can be whipped up in about 5 minutes without having to buy prepackaged mixes filled with high fructose corn syrup, high sodium or MSG!

Ranch Dip / Ranch Dressing

1/2 cup mayonnaise (I used a light version)
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon dried chives
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

To make the Ranch dip into a Ranch Dressing thin it out by adding 3/4 cup to 1 cup buttermilk. I usually sprinkle just a bit more chives and parsley in it to add some more color after thinning it out with the buttermilk. :-)

{Mix all ingredients in a small bowl and whisk together}

{Pour dressing into a jar or bowl that can be covered for 30 minutes to chill}

{Top salads or veggies and devour with relish mmm}

Fajita Seasoning Mix
1 Tablespoon cornstarch or arrowroot
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder
1/4 teaspoon cumin
3/4 teaspoon crushed bouillon cubes

Use 2 Tablespoons to equal one packet of store bought mix. You can double or triple this to fill your jar for the future but this is only one batch.

{Mix all ingredients in a small bowl}

{Store in a jar or old spice container}

getting back to it....

2011-02-16T11:17:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since I have last blogged about anything. We moved into our new house!! I have been preoccupied lately with all of the cleaning, moving, waiting for internet, and of course settling in and unpacking.

My focus has been really trying to figure out where to put everything and how to organize our home. I have a feeling that everything will be moved about and re-organized a few times these next few months until I find out the most efficient place for everything.

I have been cooking less lately because our kitchen was stacked to the ceiling with boxes. I made sure to prepare some freezer meals before our move to eliminate some added stress during this time. Now that things are settling in and I can use my kitchen, I started to cook some more this week.

I am on the lookout for a good granola bar recipe and this week I made a peanut butter granola bar.

The recipe calls for these ingredients:

1 large egg white (use a smashed banana in replace of the egg white to make them vegan)
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup sliced almonds (I used chopped almonds because that is what I had on hand)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup natural peanut butter or almond butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar
3 tablespoons vegetable oil ( I used coconut oil)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

And these were the directions:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with 2 crisscrossed rectangles of parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang at 2 opposite ends. In a large bowl, combine oats, almonds and cranberries.
In a small saucepan, whisk together oil, brown sugar, peanut butter, cinnamon, salt and 1 tablespoon water over low heat until sugar has dissolved, about 5 minutes. Let cool slightly; whisk in egg white. Pour over at mixture; stir until moistened. Spread evenly in bottom of pan; smooth top.
Bake until top is firm, about 30 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes. Lift out of pan, using paper as handles. Let cool completely, cut into bars with serrated knife.

{Mix the oats, dried cranberries and nuts}

{Mix peanut butter, coconut oil, brown sugar, salt and water over low heat}

{Add egg white then mix wet with dry ingredients}

{Spread mixture in parchment lined square baking dish}

{I topped my mix with a few chocolate chips because I though it would be a nice compliment to the peanut butter and cranberries}

The recipe says to cook for 30 minutes at 300 degrees but I had to cook it for more like 45 minutes to get it to firm up enough, so check it at 30 and add more time as needed

{After allowed to cool for at least 10 minutes, cut into bars or squares}

{Eat and enjoy}

This recipe was pretty good. It was way too salty, so in my opinion cut out the salt entirely. The peanut butter has salt in it and then adding more in is unnecessary. It was also very sweet so I may experiment with cutting back the sugar too. Over all I might make these again and try the alterations. Depending on how those alterations turn out will determine if I make these a third time.

winter soups

2011-01-24T22:51:00.000-08:00

Winter time is when I make soups. It is perfect for the cold dreary days of rain or snow. Throw in a sandwich, salad or some nice warm bread and it is a quick and easy meal.

{A few days ago I made my 'famous' Velvet Zucchini Soup in homemade bread bowls.}

This soup is passed down in my family and everyone changes it a bit to their tastes. This is the standard recipe but I always change it a little bit.

In a large pan saute 1 onion and 2-4 cloves of garlic in 1tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp butter. Slice up about 12 med/large zucchini and saute it all together until the zucchini "loses it's spirit." Then use a stick blender or pour batches into a stand blender and puree mixture. Pour into a pot and add 1 cup of cream or half and half, and 2 cups of broth or stock of your choice. Stir it up and add 1 tsp curry powder and season to taste with salt and pepper. Served with sourdough bread is the best!

Tonight I made the classic grilled cheese with Tomato Soup.

This is the BEST tomato soup recipe that I have ever made or tried, except for the delectable tomato soup from the Glenwood in Eugene, Or.

Be prepared to have tons of soup! This is a huge batch that can be frozen and saved for later uses or for less soup you can easily divide this in half.

In a large pot, melt together 8 TBSP butter and 4 TBSP olive oil. Add in 1 large onion, chopped. Allow onions to cook for about 3-5 minutes to become soft and translucent. Whisk in 1/2 cup flour and 6 TBSP tomato paste to make the roux. Season with salt and pepper and cook for 1 minute while stirring. Pour in 7 1/4 cups broth and 4 cans of whole peeled tomatoes, use 28oz cans for the tomatoes. I have used diced, and whole peeled together. It doesn't matter that much which type you use because it will be pureed. I then add about 1tsp dried basil, 1tsp garlic powder and season to taste more salt and pepper. Bring this big pot to a boil and then lower heat to a simmer for 30 minutes. After simmering, use a stick blender and puree to desired creaminess. Serve with a yummy grilled cheese sandwich and enjoy! Freeze in small batches after allowed to cool.

{Here are some of my batches cooling before they go in the freezer.}

mmm lemon!

2011-01-19T10:43:00.000-08:00

Sunday we spent the day painting at the new house. I painted the ceilings of the master bedroom, the 2nd bedroom and the dining room. Steven caulked the master bedroom and the dining room while I was doing the ceilings. After the prep work and the ceilings were finished, we painted the master bedroom.

{starting to cut in the ceiling paint edges}

{Steven caulking some spots in the closet}

{me, looking ~~AWESOME!~~}

{closeup of the ceiling}

{starting to cut in the wall paint}

{the yellow walls are finished! these ones look pale because of the lighting though}

{This yellow is more true to color}

{The color is lemon meringue}

We still have a lot of work to do to finish the master bedroom. As you can see in some of the top pictures, the floor is still in horrendous condition. We are going to be sanding and painting the floors this week along with finishing up painting the trim and baseboards.

new phone!

2011-01-14T21:29:00.001-08:00

Well I got a new phone today! I got a droid from Verizon and am experimenting with the blogger app that I just downloaded.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Departure

2011-01-10T09:16:00.001-08:00

Today I am taking a little departure from some of my normal posts. This blog is usually about things that I am cooking or making but it is also about what I am doing in my life. January 1st I began a 90 day Bible reading program.
{The plan was supposed to start on the 3rd but that irritated me to no end, so I started early.}

I am doing this program with the mom's toolbox blog.

{Rant}
No, I am not a mom! Yes, I read tons of mommy blogs and my amazon wish-list is full of baby related things. I am a mom at heart and hope to be a mom with an actual baby someday! Sooner then later I hope. SO I apologize to those who have mentioned to me that I am not a mom and think it is weird that I peruse eco-mom and have g-diapers on my wishlists. I am just a planner and like to be prepared.

Anyway.....

The mom's toolbox blog has set up accountability groups and also SOAP devotionals for some of the readings. Each group was assigned a mentor who has previously completed the 90 day program and is there to encourage/pray for us. We are required to check in every Monday with where we are in our reading plan.

Today I am ahead of the plan because I started early but also because we are going to be moving these next few weeks. I wanted to be proactive and read ahead on those days that I am able to, so that I can stay on pace.

I have read the Bible through multiple times but more often I have just read it popcorn style, a book here and there, chapters from wherever I decided to read that day. I like that freedom of reading where I feel led but I also really like to have a schedule. I am a list maker and a box checker! I love that little feeling of accomplishment when goals are set and made. But this reading plan is not about that. I have had some people question the reasons for reading the Bible in 90 days. It is not about cramming in the words and reading for the sake of reading. It is ultimately about setting a 'habit' of really devouring God's Word.

I know for myself it is easy to allow the weight of the world and busyness of life to distract from delving into the Word. I get on kicks where I read more and have longer more in depth times of devotion and then I fade out and get caught up in this and that and do what I call, "cheater devotionals". Cheater devotionals for me are just reading maybe a chapter or a daily devotional from My Utmost for His Highest and praying for a few minutes and then get going on MY day. I didn't really give my utmost in those times at all. Instead I squeezed in 5 minutes of MY time and gave God a shout out!

I have been desiring to really set a 'habit' of concrete, solid, extended time with the Lord. Really giving my utmost and first fruits of my day to Him. Because MY day isn't really my day at all. It belongs to HIM.

As Acts 17:24-29 says:

²⁴ God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. ²⁵ Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. ²⁶ And He has made from one blood^c]">[c] every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, ²⁷ so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; ²⁸ for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ ²⁹ Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising.

This last week of truly devouring the Word and spending every free moment reading has truly been a blessing. I notice how much more focused my thoughts are on Jesus. I am more hungry for His words and less enticed by the world around me. That is the reason I chose to follow this plan. It motivates me to lay down more of my time and energy before God and shows me that it is possible to do everyday. If I can read the entire Bible in 90 days then I have no excuse when this period is over. If everyday for 90 days I carve out time to read 16 or some odd chapters, then on a normal day there is no reason why I cannot spend an hour or two with Jesus. There is enough time. God grants us each 24 hours a day and yet when we lay our time before His feet, He blesses us with what feels like even more time. I feel as though I have more time in the day even though I spent more of it focused on Him then I would normally have.

This is my reason for following the plan. Not reading for the sake of reading, as some have said, but reading to redirect my devotion to the Lord, away from myself and what I can get out of 15 minutes.

I wrote this post to encourage all of you to get quiet, slow down, get up earlier, stay up later, dedicate your lunches or whenever you can, to stop and ingest the Word of God. Every Word is God breathed and living {even the boring stuff in Leviticus}. Take the time and see God work in your heart!

Deodorant! {for Mary}

2011-01-06T07:47:00.000-08:00

Steven and I both decided to give up the normal antiperspirants/deodorants awhile back. The problem with antiperspirants is that they actually contain aluminum that builds up in your body and research has shown links to using antiperspirants and breast cancer. One study even showed a connection between aluminum use and Alzheimer's. Antiperspirants stop your sweat glands from producing sweat and although this seems like a good thing, it is very bad. Our sweat is there to help our bodies regulate body temperature and eliminate toxins from our body. Constantly inhibiting the body's natural process has negative effects over time, especially when combined with the actual ingredients used to make this happen.

Most over the counter products these days are antiperspirant/deodorant combos so it was a choice of maybe three brands that we could decide between that were both free of antiperspirant and parabens. Over the last few months we have tried all of them with minimal success. I even had a horrible allergic response to one of the brands and broke out in a rash under my arms. {tmi}

One good thing is Steven has noticed he actually sweats LESS when not using the antiperspirants because once his body returned to a normal state of sweating, it regulated itself. When he used the antiperspirants, there was a build up of sweat in his body and when they would wear off during the day, his body would pour out the excess. This cycle lasted for years. He would notice no sweat with antiperspirants= good, tons of sweat after=bad, therefore; use more!! Since he stopped the use of them, his actual amount of sweat has surprised him.

Apart from that surprising result, the odor has still been the issue. These other brands have failed to impress and so I decided to finally make some homemade deodorant. I have been wanting to make some for awhile but we were giving the store bought ones a try. But when Steven finally gave the go ahead and wanted to try the homemade, I was rearing to go!

{I started with 1/2 cup baking soda, 1/2 cup arrowroot (or cornstarch). Mix that up in a small bowl.}

{Cut in 8-12 Tbsp coconut oil with a fork or pastry blender. Use less or more coconut oil as needed to combine the ingredients enough that when you mush it with your hands they stick and combine.}

{I added a bit of tee tree essential oil, just a few drops for the scent and its natural antibacterial properties}

{You can use this in a bowl and apply with your fingers but I decided to fill up an old dispenser. Just lower the dispenser back down and fill it up, gently pressing it as you go to form a cake.}

{This dispenser had easy to remove labels so I took those off and now we have a great homemade deodorant stick! This batch makes enough for 2 sticks.}

We absolutely LOVE this deodorant. It does an amazing job at keeping things free of odor and with only having 3-4 ingredients, it keeps my mind free of concerns as well.

Three posts in one!

2011-01-05T08:47:00.000-08:00

Well first off I must begin with a "shout out" to my amazing husband who searched the internet and found me some wedding imperial tea for Christmas! I have not had the pleasure of drinking this tea for quite sometime and just inhaling the sweet aroma of caramel, chocolate and black tea co-mingled into liquid heaven is sheer decadence.

{aaaaahhhhhh!!!!!}

{Steamy}

On to the actual post.....

Monday I was going to make Steven a tuna fish sandwich for lunch. My dad had sent us home with a bunch of his freshly packed tuna after Christmas and that is what Steven wanted to eat this week. I opened the tuna, got out the pickles {because Steven likes pickles in his tuna?! weird} and reached for the mayonnaise and it was empty! My poor love had to go without his tuna on Monday but that motivated me to try something I have been meaning to try. I decided to make mayonnaise!

I had saved a recipe a long time ago for mayonnaise that I found on Just Hungry.

It seemed fairly easy and the ingredients were the same as most other recipes but I liked how well she explained the stages and how she fool proofed the mayonnaise making process.

I gathered the ingredients, and remember I had to do this on the fly so I was not completely prepared. I only had a small amount of sunflower oil and used extra virgin for the rest. My mayo turned out really well but in the future I would not use the olive oil as it leaves a very 'olive-y' taste.

Ingredients:
2 organic eggs {I actually used 3 because I messed up a bit}
1-1 1/2 cups oil
1-2 TBSP acid {I used 1 T lemon and 1 T vinegar}
1/2-1 tsp salt {I only used 1/2t}
I then added to taste a bit of dry mustard, garlic powder and a few more vinegar and lemon splashes to get rid of some of the olive taste.

I started this recipe differently then she says to. I wanted to try using my KitchenAid Stand mixer instead of a hand held electric mixer.

{I added one egg at a time}

{I used mostly olive oil and about 1/4 cup of the sunflower oil that I had left from making sugar scrubs at Christmas}

{I should have known this wouldn't work well in the mixer when I started!}

{I tried anyway and added the salt to my egg}

{It failed miserably! And so I ended up using a third egg and starting the emulsifying process with the hand held and adding my egg-oil failure mixture from the KitchenAid into this bowl and it worked much better!}

{I added my egg-oil mixture and slowly incorporated the rest of the oil into this bowl}

{This is the final product!}

It turned out thick and very much like store bought mayo. I added a tiny bit of water to it and made it thinner and creamier but over all I love it and will make this again. I currently have a jar of it in the fridge and am trying to find other uses for it besides Steven's tuna!

Now what to do with eggwhites?!

I decided to use all of those egg whites from making mayo and whip up a batch of meringues.

I used this recipe for French Meringues that I found on Allrecipes.com

{I poured my egg whites into the mixer}

{I beat them until frothy and added the sugar}

{Getting thicker}

{Just about done!}

{I poured this into a pastry bag and piped out little blobs and put into the oven}

{A few hours later they are done and yummy}

Join the challenge!

2011-01-03T15:37:00.000-08:00

Carpets

2010-12-30T17:10:00.000-08:00

We closed on the house and got our keys on December 21st. YAY!!! This next month is going to be INSANE! {in the membrane} We have so much cleaning, painting, fixing up, packing and moving to do. The holidays prevented us from accomplishing much because we were out of town with family this year. So far all we have done is change the locks and start pulling out the carpets in the upstairs bedrooms.

Steven and I love hardwood floors aesthetically. But the other benefit is that we suffer from allergies and Steven has asthma, so for us, hardwood floors help to minimize our symptoms. When we saw this house we had hoped that underneath the carpets, would be beautiful floors that match the hallway, stairs and first floor flooring. Unfortunately, the master bedroom looks as if someone had used the floor as a painting drop cloth for the past 50 years and decided to just cover it with carpet and forget about it.

{Steven starting to cut the carpet}

{The first glimpse! At least it was hardwood and not just particle board sub flooring!}

{See the glorious mess we now have to repair}

{just a close up of the paint}

{It looks as if they had previously attempted restoration and gave up}

{another view of the MESS}

We wanted to take a peek at what the floors looked like in the 2nd bedroom too, even though we are doing that room second and still have a ton of work left to do on the master.

{Steven cutting into the 2nd bedroom carpet}

{Pulling it up!}

{Surprise!!! There was a cut-out in the floor!}

The flooring in the 2nd bedroom looks in better condition then the master but this cut-out was a very disappointing discovery. This will not be as easy as we thought. We have yet to pull up this board and see what is going on underneath. Steven is anticipating some hidden treasure of sorts! I am just praying there aren't any rodent or spider friends. Hopefully, when we pull up the rest of the floor in the 2nd bedroom, we will not find anymore holes or cut outs.

{Close up of our lovely wood floor cut out}

The issue we are facing with the floors now is whether to restore or paint them. We are leaning towards sanding them down and painting them for now. Time and money are the major factors that we have to work with and painting appears to be the best option. We can always come back in a few years and strip the floors and restore them, but now the painting option seems the most feasible. As for the cut-out, we may try to find a better fitting board and when we paint the floor hope it is not as noticeable, or I mentioned that it might have been an old spot for a heating vent and we could possibly find an old iron vent to replace over the top and disguise the entire issue. We found an architectural salvage place in Seattle that might possess such a grate that would compliment the era of our home.

{Something like this perhaps?}

Christmas Projects Part 3

2010-12-29T10:05:00.000-08:00

I made a few things this year and as I mentioned before, I could not photograph step by step for everything.

Here are some images of the various things I made for gifts this year.

{Cinnamon, Honey and Oatmeal Soap}

{Vanilla Extract, Peppermint Sugar Scrub, Lavender Bath Salts}

{The scrub with labels and ribbon}

{The bath salts with labels and ribbon}

{This is another image of the Lip Balm}

{The Lotion Bars again}

{The Vanilla Extract labeled and ready to go!}

{Group shot}

{All together}

I like to wrap each gift completely different. I never wrap them so they all look the same. Each one has it's own ribbon or design. This year I found a great "how to" on making the Christmas bows that people usually buy with the sticky backing on them. It was really fun and you use newspaper or magazine pages, cut into various sized strips, twist, tape and assemble. I didn't get the greatest picture but you can see it on the bottom present in this picture.

{Chocolate Walnut Fudge}

{Cooling Peppermint Bath Cookies}
{NOT for eating in the bath tub BTW hahaha for fizzy bath sensations}

{Dark Chocolate Almond and Milk Chocolate Truffles}

{Magic Cookie Bars}

This was so much fun to do this year! In past years I usually bought gifts or sent out cards. {If I did anything} This year I really wanted to be creative and try my hand at various crafts and goodies. It was very fun and I hope you enjoyed them, those of you who were recipients. I want you to know that I love you all and that was just a simple way to tell you I care and miss you!

Christmas Projects Part 2

2010-12-29T09:40:00.000-08:00

Hard Lotion Bars

I had planned all along to make the lip balm. It wasn't until after I made it that I realized how easy and fun it was and wanted to make something else. There is an overwhelming sense of satisfaction when you melt a bunch of things together and it molds into an everyday useful product! Because I had so much fun and had a bunch of leftover ingredients, I decided to make the hard lotion bars that were on the Made On D.I.Y page as well.

Gather all of the same ingredients and tools used for the lip balm plus and minus a few things:

*medium saucepan with glass bowl that fits the top (or a double boiler)
*shea butter (4.25 oz)
*coconut oil (5.5 oz)
*bees wax (I used 4.25 pastilles)
*molds for the lotion bars (I used muffin tins)
*stir stick
*scale and/or measuring cups
*medicine dropper or turkey baster
(I used the dropper for lip balm and the baster for the bars)

{Measure out your ingredients}

{Melt together}

{Fill your molds or muffin tins like I did}

{Allow to cool then place in the freezer for 30 minutes so that they will be easier to remove}

{Pop out onto a clean surface}

{I packaged mine in wax paper and tied with a bit of ribbon}

In the future I would probably find little tins to package these in but since it was kind of a spur of the moment project this is all I had. They are wonderful though. I kept one for myself and have been using it every day. The winter cold does a harsh number on my hands and this bar is a skin saver for sure.

Christmas Projects Part 1

2010-12-29T08:56:00.000-08:00

Lip Balm

I haven't been able to blog about anything because everything I have been working on was for Christmas gifts. Now that Christmas is over and everyone has received their gifts I am free to share!

I didn't do tutorial photos of everything that I made this year, who has time for that? I already would like to add a third arm to my wish list for next year so that I can actually take better pictures in the future. Anyway, this recipe is from Made on that she provides in her D.I.Y section. I was originally going to follow a recipe from Mountain Rose Herbs but this one was much easier, even though they are all pretty basic, her recipe only called for 3 ingredients!

Here is what you need:

*medium saucepan with glass bowl that fits the top (or a double boiler)
*shea butter (3/4 oz)
*coconut oil (3/4 oz)
*bees wax (I used 3/4 oz pastilles)
*lip balm tubes or tins
*stir stick
*scale and/or measuring cups
*medicine dropper or turkey baster
* 3/4 teaspoon essential oil if desired

{Gather ingredients and pre-measure your oils}

{Melt bees wax in a double boiler}

{Add in shea butter and coconut oil}

{You can add essential oil if desired. I added peppermint oil}

{Using your dropper, fill up tubes to the top.}

{Allow to cool for 10 minutes before adding lids back on}

{Add lids and admire your fine craftsmanship!}

{I added labels with the flavor of the lip balm and ingredients on the back}

Post Thankgiving

2010-12-06T00:05:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! My father in law Joe, my mom Denise and my brother Jacob were all able to make it up. Sadly, my brother Caleb and my dad Rob had to stay home. I tried to take pictures but was only able to snap off a few. I was cooking up a storm and by the time the food was ready I didn't want to hold everyone up while I took a bunch of pictures. Here are just a few samples!

{Our table}

{We had rocks and candles in those mason jars and I made the napkin rings from leftover grapevine from our wedding}

{We cleared off our shelf to use as a buffet. }

{In order: Roasted sage turkey, luxurious mashed potatoes and gravy, roasted carrots with mint}

{bread stuffing with sage, lemon green beans}

{cranberry cherry relish & brie and chive biscuits}

{Next to my stuffing is the roasted cauliflower with parmesan, you can't really tell the difference in this picture though}

{Maple cheesecake with roasted pears}

{Steven enjoying pumpkin pie... 2 days later!}

Thanksgiving menu!

2010-11-19T23:33:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday! An entire day set aside to give thanks and celebrate with food is just my idea of a great time. My birthday is on the 30th as well, so for me Thanksgiving was always the time I got to share with my family and celebrate both. I have had a lot of birthday pumpkin pie through out my life.

The last few years I have had the privilege of preparing the thanksgiving meal. I start planning the first of November. I pull out all of my cook books, recipes, bookmarked pages of food ideas and get inspired. I love it. I get fully immersed in a yummy autumnal food-ville for a few weeks until I decide what to make.

The problem I face in entering 'food-ville', is that I want to go nuts. I often get these grandiose ideas and super gourmet recipes that I would love to try. On top of that, I must consider my guests and my family loves the classics. For example: This year I toyed with the idea of serving halved acorn squash stuffed with a wild rice stuffing { my mouth is watering as I type that} but I had to nix this because I know my family would throw a fit if there was not any bread stuffing on the table and I am not about to make a rice and a bread stuffing, thank you very much!

After much deliberation, I have concluded my thanksgiving menu.

Appetizers
Almond Tomato spread with crostini
Roasted Pumpkin Soup {served and cooked in a Cinderella pumpkin}
Salad

Dinner
Roasted Sage Turkey with apples
Gravy
Fresh Cranberry Sauce
Apple Walnut Stuffing
Minted Carrots
Roasted Parmesan Cauliflower
Brie & Chive Biscuits
Luxurious Mashed Potatoes
Green Beans with Lemon
Lentil Loaf {mainly for me}

Dessert
PUMPKIN PIE!
Maple Cheesecake Topped with Roasted Pears

Cocktails/Mocktails
Sparkling Apple Cider
Vodka Cranberries
Sparkling Pear Cranberries

This year is turning out to be a bit of a bust, however. People are too busy and we live too far away so it may be only Steven and I with the possibility of Steven's dad and my mom coming to join us. With that said, I would love to welcome any one of our friends who is without a place for dinner on Thanksgiving. We have a few seats left empty at our table this year and it would fill our hearts with such joy to fill those chairs.

Sandwich bread search!

2010-11-15T19:58:00.000-08:00

{I started to write this entry a few weeks ago. My computer broke and I have been unable to post it until now!}

Last week I was on vacation! I have been compiling lists of things to do with all of that free time for months now. I am happy to say that I managed to get most of it accomplished. It was mainly cleaning and organizing projects and cooking. I deep cleaned every inch of the house, floor to ceiling. All of those random things you do practically never like move the refrigerator and actually clean underneath it and behind it. I did that! It feels so great now to look around and know that there is not a speck of dust on a single surface. I even got to use my new label maker and get my uber nerd on. To look into my pantry now is to see glass jars labeling their contents and everything in it's place. Now when Steven gets the urge to cook and asks me which flour is "flour" he can tell between the whole wheat, spelt, whole wheat pastry, white wheat, unbleached all purpose, buckwheat and semolina.

Speaking of flour, I have been using a lot of it lately. Now that I am starting to understand how to make bread and have it actually taste like real bread, I have wanted to find a recipe that will work really well for sandwich making. This bread search was also one of the many goals I crossed off my vacation to do list.

TAKE 1!

I found this soaked whole wheat sandwich bread recipe from Musings of a housewife. It looked delectable and I had to make it first. I was drawn to this recipe because it had 3 of my most important qualifications:
1) soaked
2) minimal ingredient list
3) easy!!!

This bread was so delicious! I will make it again!

role reversal

2010-10-30T09:17:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago Steven gave his notice at his job because he was offered a new job. He worked it out to where he was able to have some time off in between quitting the old and starting the new. It has been so much fun having him around everyday!

My job however, has had some issues. We lost a coworker to another job, my boss was also unexpectedly on bed rest and our assistant manager was on vacation. Normally I only work about 20 hours per week but during this short staffed period I have been working a lot more. Steven has jokingly referred to me as his "sugar momma" lately since I am the only one bringing in the money haha. Monday he will be going back to work and I thought I would be returning to my 20 hour shifts but the schedule came out and I am still going to be working extra hours for the next month.

My motto at the moment is, "it's for the house, it's for the house!" Steven and I have been looking for a home to buy and are playing a little bit of a waiting game at the moment to hear back about the offer we made on this house.

As any one who has bought a house knows, you need every cent you can get your hands on in this process. The extra hours will pay off financially, but there are many down sides for me in working outside of the home more.

Some might say we are very "traditional" about our roles. I fully plan to be a stay at home mom when baby time comes and I am so excited for that day! I know that it is not easy for any family in this day and age to be a single income family and many need both parents to work in order to survive. But Steven and I are both very firm in our belief of Biblical roles for a husband and wife. Our belief is strong and it forces us to make sacrifices in other areas so that we will be able to live in that way.

Right now we are in an odd stage of life though. We don't have children yet but plan to soon. We are seeking to buy a home. We have a crazy puppy that needs care and even though we are not parents yet, we already see a huge difference in when I am working and when I am not. As you see in this blog, I love to cook and care for my home. When I am not working outside of the house, I have much more time to devote to cooking, cleaning, planning, budgeting, caring for my husband and being his helper suitable! I love this part of my role as wife. When I am home, our life runs much smoother! That is why we first decided that I should only work 20 hours a week. That enables us to have some extra income while still reaping the benefits of my staying at home a majority of the time.

These past 2 weeks it has been very hard for me. Steven has been at home and I have worked more than usual. Last night it was so wonderful to come home to a clean kitchen and a great dinner prepared by Steven. But as I sat there waiting for dinner and watching him in the kitchen I just got sad. I told him that I am ready for us to switch back, he agreed! I think he is ready to go back to work too and desires to return to our normal roles as well.

If we get this house we will be moving at the end of January. We have decided that at that time I will not return to work unless I want to find another 20 hour a week job. I think I will probably be at home for some time getting the house ready and moving in. Maybe I will look for something after we are settled and work until we have a baby.

In the interim, I am trying to endure! I don't like working extra hours and it is hard for me to be away from the things I love to do. {Which just happen to be the things that keep this blog going!}

I know some women who LOVE to work out side of the home and would go crazy if they were stay at home wifes or mothers, but I go crazy when I have a normal job. I could have handed this blog over to Steven this week to keep up and post about his projects since I have done practically nothing! This week he has baked cranberry nut bread, butter scotch cookies, made stuffed shells for dinner, cooked up a yummy stir-fry, fixed things around the house and cleaned a whole bunch! I am so thankful for him being at home this week to help because I am beat from working so much. Hopefully work will calm down and life can return to normal soon.

Upcoming posts may be fewer and far between but Thanksgiving is soon and that means fun times are ahead!!!

Bread WIN!

2010-10-21T08:45:00.000-07:00

I had previously written about my horrendous bread making failure and have been leery of trying another recipe because it is such a let down to labor over bread and have it not turn out. Well this is a winner! I wanted to make french bread to go with our ravioli dinner and use throughout the week so Monday I tried this recipe for easy french bread by passionate homemaking.

I followed the recipe to proof my yeast by combining:

5 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 tsp honey.

After it is bubbly and active, about 10 minutes, I combined the yeast mixture to my wet ingredients of:

2 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp salt
2 cups hot water.

The recipe says to add 7 1/2 - 8 cups of flour using 3/4 whole wheat to 1/4 white flour.
As I added my flour I noticed I only had to add about 6 - 6 1/2 cups of flour. I used 4 1/2 cups whole wheat and just about 2 cups of unbleached white whole wheat. I prefer to use white whole wheat to plain unbleached white flour and since whole wheat absorbs more moisture that is why I had to use less flour then called for. Just add is slowly and work with the dough. you want it to be tacky but not soaked.

This is my dough waiting in the greased bowl to rise. I did not get a picture of the rise but I must say, the technique used by Lindsay the author of this recipe was amazing and I have never had such a brilliant rise before! Her technique is to turn on your oven at the lowest temperature. As soon as it is at that degree, turn it off and set your dough, covered in the greased bowl, into the warm oven to rise for 30 minutes.

After the first rise, punch the dough and rest for 15 minutes. Then divide into two portions and roll out to a rectangle of approximately 12X15 in. Then using the longest side roll the dough into a baguette shape. Set the two baguettes on the cookie sheet and slash the tops. Allow to rise again for about 15-20 minutes.

After the second rise, brush some butter or egg whites on the top of the dough and bake at 400' for 20 minutes.

TADA!!!

Thank you Lindsay for giving me the technique to make perfect french bread! It was light, moist, and hearty like good whole wheat bread should be. Steven and I ate half of a loaf fresh out of the oven because the aroma filled the house and made them irresistible.

Everything but the kitchen sink bagels!

2010-10-21T00:17:00.000-07:00

I have had A LOT of "luck" baking lately. I think it is due to the amazing recipes from Passionate Homemaking. She is a very gifted baker and that has always been a gift my cooking skills have lacked. Maybe it is just all of the practice, or maybe her recipes are fool proof? Either way I decided to make all of her baked goods now because I have LOVED every recipe.

The first recipe that popped out to me was the bagel recipe. When I saw how easy it was to make them, I had to try.

{this is my dough soaking over night}

The next day I added the wet ingredients to my soaked dough.

I kneaded the dough for 5 minutes.

After allowing the dough to rise until doubled, I divided into 12 balls. Then let rest for 5 more minutes.

Next, I poked a hole in the balls and stretched the dough into bagel shapes.

Afterwards, I set bagel shaped dough onto a cookie sheet. The recipe never said whether it should be greased or ungreased but for the future I would grease them lightly. Mine stuck to the cookie sheet a little and tore a few of my bagels.

Once all bagel shapes were on the cookie sheets, I allowed them to rest again for 10 minutes as the oven preheated to 350'.

Meanwhile, I brought a pot of water to boil, dropped in 1 or 2 bagels and let it boil for 20 seconds on each side.

I used a big slotted spoon to pull out the boiled bagel and placed on the cooling rack to drain.

Brushed each bagel with an egg wash.

I combined my toppings while boiling the bagels. I wanted to make an "everything" bagel so I mixed up rosemary, fennel, sesame seeds and poppy seeds together in a bowl

.

Sprinkle on toppings!

Finally, I placed all topped bagels on (lightly greased) cookie sheet. At this point I also sprinkled some garlic and onion powder on top for just a tad more flavor.

{EXTREME CLOSE-UP}

Bake for 35 minutes, rotating once......

{VOILA!}

Enjoy! We toasted these up and ate them with cream cheese. MMMMMM!

I will make these again for sure. There were a dozen here and they lasted 3 days! hahaha Steven and I ate them for breakfast and used them for bagel sandwiches for lunch too.

Our granola!

2010-10-21T00:12:00.000-07:00

I stopped buying cereal a while ago. Cereals are overly processed, contain genetically modified grains, are often full of refined sugars and contain many additives and "enriched" ingredients that I don't care to consume. Organic cereals are better but expensive so the easiest and most frugal alternative is homemade granola! I make a big batch that lasts us quite a long time.

I start with about 8 cups of organic rolled oats. The 8 cups is really just an approximation. I have made this so often I kind of eye ball it now.

To the oats I add 1 cup wheat germ (nutritional giant!!), 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut, 1 teaspoon real salt, 1 cup chopped nuts of your choice (this batch I used pecans)

The wet ingredients are 1 1/4 cup water, 1/2 olive or coconut oil (melted), 3 tablespoons vanilla, and 1 cup sucanat.

I have used raw sugar, honey, and maple syrup for the sweetener. Use what you prefer but you may need to adjust the amounts based on your preferred level of sweetness.

Mix up the wet ingredients and pour into the dry!

Get your hands in the bowl and mix it all up. Squeeze it into little clumps that start to stick together a bit. Divide the granola onto 2 cookie sheets and bake.

There are two options in the cooking procedure. The first is to cook this on 170' overnight. The second, which I prefer, is about 4 hours on 250'. If you choose the faster method, make sure to turn granola about every 30 minutes to keep from burning.

Granola is done when it is a darker golden brown, crunchy and crispy!

This is the basic recipe and can be altered to add in other fun stuff. Feel free to add in raisins, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, chocolate chips, other dried fruit chunks.... really just add whatever 'add-ins' your family enjoys. Steven and I like it just plain like this as a snack, with milk as a cereal and with fruit and yogurt for parfaits.

Peak into our plan

2010-10-20T22:37:00.000-07:00

Tonight I made butternut squash risotto with the left over squash half that I had from making my pear & butternut squash ravioli on Monday night. It was pretty good. I still prefer my Spring Risotto which is made with peas and lemon. My spring risotto is a 'go to' recipe in our house. Often when I am doing my weekly menu plan and I ask Steven what he would like this week, he usually says, "RISOTTO!" That is why I decided to branch out and change up our risotto this time. Since I am trying to prepare meals with more seasonally available food, squash seemed quite appropriate.

When I menu plan for the week I try to find roll over meals or ingredients. This allows me to shop frugally while still being fresh, local, organic and seasonal. I usually decide on 3 meals I would like to prepare during the week. Since it is just Steven and myself right now, we eat a lot of leftovers.

Here is an example of how I do this:

Last Wednesday I roasted a chicken for Steven. He ate that for dinner with whatever we had (I forget what I made then). Friday I made homemade pot pies. I used half of the chicken for Steven's pot pie. We ate on that for a few days. I had purchased fresh green beans for the pot pie but used only half.

On Sunday when I took inventory of our pantry and fridge I noticed that we still had chicken and green beans. I also noticed that we still had plenty of arborio rice on hand. I was inspired to make raviolis and wanted to find a way to incorporate what we had on hand with my desire to make ravioli. Thus the butternut squash this week!

Monday I baked bread for the week, made bagels, and made the ravioli. Tuesday we ate leftovers for dinner. Today I made granola, and the risotto using the rest of the squash. I served the rest of last weeks green beans and Steven had more of his roast chicken on the side. Tomorrow we will eat leftovers again.

This is just a glimpse in how I like to roll our food into multi use meals. Some weeks we do themes. Some weeks we eat more and don't have leftovers in which case I always have rice and a freezer full of veggies for last minute stir-fry!

Once a week I like to bake something for breakfasts for the week. Last week was scones, the week before was muffins. This week I made bagels. We ran out of granola too so I had to make another double batch to last us a while.

Since I make breakfasts and dinners, our lunches are usually standard things like sandwiches or leftovers too.

Steven and I have noticed a huge difference between when I am diligent in planning our menu and shopping lists compared to when I am not. When I am not diligent, we see our grocery bill double, our food lasts less, and our tendency to eat out increase!

Really taking the time to plan the week helps us to save money, time, and calories! Planning allows us to have healthier options, waste less food, be creative and try new things.

Ravioli workout

2010-10-20T08:41:00.000-07:00

Steven's family is italian. He has been telling me about the amazing homemade raviolis that his grandmother Violet makes when he visits her in Chicago. I have never had homemade pasta let alone made homemade pasta. I always thought you needed a special pasta roller or one of those contraptions you attach to your stand mixer that swirls out elbow and penne noodles. Granted those would come in very handy and probably save me some time, but I decided to give it try by hand.

I wanted to make something a little different and something fall inspired. I know the wonderful health benefits of the butternut squash and was drawn to this recipe for pear& butternut squash ravioli in a rosemary butter sauce.

I followed two recipes to get the final out come. I liked the filling of the above recipe and I liked this pasta recipe because I had semolina flour on hand and wanted to give that a try and finally use it since it has been sitting in my pantry awhile.

I sifted the semolina flour, salt and whole wheat flour together and formed a well on the counter. The recipe called for all purpose flour but I wanted to make these healthier.

I beat the egg, olive oil and water together and poured into my flour well. FYI the egg mixture should not spill out of the well. This is the result of combining photography and pasta making. oops!

I followed the recipe for kneading and refrigerating. When the dough was ready I rolled it out to the thickness of a nickel. I had to do this in smaller portions then the recipe suggested because the whole wheat flour I added made this dough rather tough. It was an arm workout to get this to be that thin. Steven had done yoga that morning and I told him that this was my workout. I was rolling and cutting the dough for over an hour!

Anyway, I rolled these out and instead of using the pizza cutter as the recipe suggested I used my round biscuit cutter and decided to make round ravioli.

While the dough was chilling, prior to rolling and cutting shapes, I prepared my squash by halving it and scraping out the squash guts.

{mmmm squash guts}

Then on a foil lined baking sheet place the squash face down to be roasted. I really hate to use foil for cooking because of the aluminum leeching into the food but since I rarely use it I thought it would be ok to follow that part of the recipe.

After roasting the squash, scoop into a pan and cook till flesh is dry.

As the squash cooked to dry out I peeled and chopped one large pear. I combined the pear with chili powder and parmesan cheese and add the dry squash to the pear mixture.

When the filling was ready, I put a teaspoon into each pasta disc. As per the recipe, I brushed egg onto the noodles and sealed two pasta discs together and squished then edges.

Bring a pot of water to boil and add a few ravioli at a time. Boil them for 4 minutes.

Remove from boiling water and drain for a minute.

While pasta is draining, add chopped rosemary and butter to a pan and melt together on low.
I also added a little bit of cream to make the sauce a bit saucier.

Toss sauce and ravioli together and sprinkle some fresh parmesan on top.

BUON APPETITO!
{insert italian accent and finger kiss smack gesture}

Tea & Scones

2010-10-12T08:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had the oat waffle debacle so I decided to make something easy today. Blueberry scones and tea. I used this recipe from allrecipes.com:
http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/blueberry-scones/Detail.aspx

I made these scones before and I used 2 Tbsp cornstarch to substitute for the egg. I think that I prefer the outcome with the cornstarch to the actual egg. The cornstarch held these together better and made the dough less sticky and easier to work with. If you keep the egg in the recipe I would add a bit more flour. This recipe only calls for 2 cups but the stickiness requires at least another 1/4 cup.

Combine all dry ingredients.

Cut in butter until small sized crumbles appear.

Mix in blueberries.

Beat one egg and half and half together and slowly add to dry.

Drop onto floured surface and knead 3 or 4 times. Divide into two balls.

Pat each ball into 6 inch rounds and divide into 6 wedges.

Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes on 375'

Serve with freshly steeped tea! mmmm

Wheat-thicks?

2010-10-11T22:43:00.000-07:00

Steven has a serious addiction to wheat thins. He hoards boxes of them in our pantry and sometimes hides a box in his nightstand. He loves them and I hate to buy them because they aren't organic and I know they are chalk full of GMO wheat. I have been on a mission to find recipes that satisfy and replace his cravings for these. This one I found through:
http://wiseanticsoflife.blogspot.com/2010/01/homemade-wheat-thins-make-your-own.html

Combine ingredients in a food processor and pulse.

Turn out dough onto a surface and knead a few times.

Divide into 2 portions . One for each cookie sheet. To be honest I actually ended up making 3 balls because I tried to roll this out as thin as I could.

Roll out each ball on to a parchment covered cookie sheet. I actually started rolling it on parchment just on the counter and transfered the parchment onto the cookie sheet to finish the edges.

Trim off edges with a pizza cutter and then divide into wheat thin sized squares.

Sprinkle with real sea salt.

Bake at 325' for about 20 minutes.

These turned out great. The flavor tasted very much like real wheat thins. The only down side to this recipe is that the dough is tough to handle. Rolling it out was extremely labor intensive. It took me a long time to get them this thin and to be honest they are still too thick to be called wheat thins. Steven said they taste like wheat thicks so that is what we call them now. Next time I think I will divide the dough into 4 balls and really thin them out because the few that were thinner really tasted identical to the original! This is a keeper for sure though!

Gone gold fishin'

2010-10-11T17:28:00.000-07:00

I love crackers. I just don't like that I have to pay $5.00 a box for anything organic when the conventional is sitting there on sale for $2.00, this annoys me. I look for the sales and buy extra when I notice the organic versions are on sale but it still gets under my skin. I decided to take a stab at baking crackers from scratch. I have two recipes lined up for this endeavor. One is a a homemade wheat thin recipe that I will post about later. The second is for homemade gold fish!

I found this recipe somewhere online a long time ago and saved it in a word document to maybe try someday. Needless to say I now have no idea where it was that I found it. I apologize to whomever deserves the credit. Anyway, the recipe is actually for a vegan version of a goldfish cracker. I love the gold fish but usually buy Annie's cheddar bunnies which are yummy! But since I did not have a gold fish or mini bunny cookie cutter on hand I used the smallest cutter that I have which is a heart. So, this is my adventure in making homemade organic golden heart crackers.

Ingredients:

2 ¾ cups white whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
1 teaspoon baking soda-Rumford brand
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
½ teaspoon onion powder
½ cup oil, chilled in the freezer for at least 30 minutes
½ cup ice water
1 tablespoon raw apple cider vinegar
Orange food coloring, if and as desired
Olive oil cooking spray
Fine sea salt, to taste

1. Combine flour, nutrition yeast, baking soda, salt, paprika, cayenne, and onion powder in a mixing bowl or mixer.

2. Drizzle in cold oil slowly until dough begins to stick together and forms medium sized balls or holds together when pressed.

3. Add the apple cider vinegar to the ice water along with orange food coloring if you desire. I added a little red and yellow food coloring since I didn't have any orange. Then slowly add to dough while the mixer is on to gently combine.

4. After the liquid is added knead dough together a few times and turn onto a lightly floured surface.

5. I divided the dough into 4 equal size portions and rolled out the dough to 1/8in thickness and cut out shapes.

6. Place parchment paper over cookie sheets. Lightly spray with oil and place cut shapes on them.

7. Spray lightly with oil and sprinkle the fine sea salt on top. Bake for 10 minutes at 375'. Remove from cookie sheets and allow to cool.

8. Repeat the above steps for the remaining portions of dough. I made about 4.5 cookie sheets worth of crackers which was approximately 300 crackers.

Allow to cool and enjoy!

This was my first attempt at making these and I wasn't sure how they would turn out. Overall I am satisfied. They don't really taste like gold fish or bunnies in my opinion. It is probably because they are vegan and use nutritional yeast in stead of cheese. I am a fan of nutritional yeast and use it in many things, so the flavor is very good to me but it is an acquired taste. If you aren't used to nutritional yeast then these might not be as good to you. Even though I don't think they taste much like the originals, I like them. They are interesting enough and satisfy my crunchy cracker cravings.

stay tuned for homemade wheat thins....

Kitchen explosion!

2010-10-11T08:08:00.000-07:00

So, I was very excited to make these:
http://www.tastebook.com/recipes/996802-Outta-Here-Oat-Waffles

I soaked my oats all night so that this morning they would be perfectly ready to whip up yummy waffles. This morning I added the rest of the ingredients in my blender and blended it all together.

I preheated my waffle iron and began to get very excited about the taste explosion I was about to have! When I grabbed the blender to pour my very first waffle, another kind of explosion occurred. The ENTIRE bottom of my blender came off and batter went EVERYWHERE.

This is the culprit that ruined my breakfast.
I wish that I had photographic evidence of the explosion but you will just have to take my word for it.

I screamed and froze in absolute shock. The counters, my cupboards, my floor and my self were drenched in gooey oat batter. All of that hard work and nothing to show for it but leftover batter stuck in between my toes. :-(

I cleaned the disaster as quickly as possible. Then tossed my poor jammies in the washer, poured a cup of coffee and had some toast. hhhhuuuummmmfffff

Homemade dog treats

2010-10-10T09:13:00.000-07:00

When we first brought Edgar home we spoiled him with very expensive organic dog treats. He loves them. His favorite are these freeze dried chicken chunks that we like to call puppy crack because when he gets a whiff of that bag opening he runs from the other side of the house and practically jumps into your arms. I knew that those treats were not affordable for long term everyday treats and so I began looking for a cheaper, yet healthy dog treat.

One day we went garage sale hunting and I came across a tiny dog bone cookie cutter and I suddenly realized I could make dog treats! That began my search for an easy healthy treat recipe. A lot of the recipes I found required me to cook with meat because obviously dogs love meat! I however, do not.

My search found a basic peanut butter recipe that I altered to be a little bit healthier.

Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tbsp baking powder (Rumford brand because it is aluminum free)
1 cup natural peanut butter ( natural doesn't contain sugar like conventional PB does)
1 cup organic milk

Directions:
In a bowl mix all dry ingredients together then add the wet. You will need to use your hands to work with the peanut butter. It makes a really easy dough when finally combined. Roll out to 1/4 inch thickness and cut out dog treat shapes!

Bake on a cookie sheet in a preheated oven at 375'. You need to watch them closely because they can burn easily.

I usually bake for 5-8 minutes on one side then flip the cookies to other side and cook another 5-8 minutes. Depending on your oven they could go for a total of 20 minutes. Just watch them! Allow them to cool before giving to your puppy.

Store in airtight container.

Tonight I made homemade toothpaste!

2010-09-13T20:48:00.001-07:00

I stopped using my favorite toothpaste of all time:

Colgate Total plus whitening a few months ago and switched to Burt's Bees natural toothpaste. The Burt's is ok. I will say that was a VERY hard switch for me. I was in LOVE with my Colgate. I used that brand of toothpaste for at least the last 10 years. I made the switch because of the many harmful ingredients in regular toothpaste. It was important for me to give that up and find a more natural approach to oral hygiene. I liked the Burt's pretty well but I knew that it was only a stepping stone in the right direction. It is a little more expensive then Colgate but not by much so the cost wasn't the factor as much as the desire to know what is going in my body.

When I read the label on the natural toothpaste I am still unaware of what certain things are and where they come from even though they are most likely safer. There is something wonderful about gathering up a few simple ingredients and combining them into a "product" I can use and know that I made it. I know what the three or four things are with out having to Wikipedia an ingredient name and discover it is an FDA approved preservative that is also a carcinogen. This lead me to find a recipe for my own homemade toothpaste.

My search brought forth many recipes online that are this same basic recipe plus or minus flavorings and also many others that I may try later depending on how well I like this one. I chose this one because of how much it sounded like "real" toothpaste. Maybe this will be yet another stepping stone or a keeper, we shall see.

I mixed equal parts organic coconut oil and baking soda together. Then I added a few drops to taste of organic peppermint extract. I was supposed to use peppermint essential oil but I only had the extract on hand and since it is merely for flavor I thought it would be fine. Also for flavor I added half a packet of natural raw stevia. This cuts the baking soda flavor and keeps me from gagging. Some people can brush with straight baking soda and peroxide with no problems but that flavor combo does NOT work for me.

I made only a small amount this time for the trial run. I filled a travel sized squeeze bottle that I though would dispense well and be reminiscent of the regular old toothpaste tube.

I may have Steven write the review on how well this works since he is the one who will have to kiss me!

No more poo! (Shampoo that is)

2010-09-13T11:54:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since my last update. Admittedly, I am not the best at "blogging". I have never been a faithful journal writer and go through on and off periods. I am also not the best "writer" and my insecurities in this area hold me back some times. I began this blog prior to getting my part-time job and now with work I find that I am even less motivated to write anything at all! I would often much rather read everyone else's blogs than update my own on most days. :-) I want to change that and I will try to be more diligent and post more of the experiments that I am hatching!

Anyway... on to the update!

I had been reading about the no-poo method of hair washing for months and finally took the plunge a few weeks ago. We ran out of the Burt's Bees shampoo and conditioner we had been using and I decided it was time. Armed with my baking soda and apple cider vinegar, I stepped in my shower and entered an entirely new world of clean hair!

I have been fussing with the ratios and trying to make the process easier and more streamlined and I believe I have it down to a science now.

What I do is this:

1. I boil some water and allow it to cool. I do this because we have very hard water and if you don't have hard water you can skip this step.

2. I mix the now cool water with a few tablespoons of baking soda. I've just been using the empty shampoo bottle for this mixture but you can use whatever bottles or jars you wish. The rule of thumb is about 8oz of water per tbsp of baking soda but precision is not important. Shake it up and you have your NEW shampoo!

Get in the shower, wet your hair and incorporate the baking soda wash. Concentrate mostly on the scalp and work your way down. Let it sit a minute and rinse just like you would with regular shampoo.

For the "conditioner" or rinse all I do is combine about 1/3 apple cider vinegar to 2/3 water in the conditioner bottle. I had started by using a spray bottle of 1/2 vinegar and water but the vinegar was too strong and made my hair oily faster. I have cut down on the vinegar and diluted it more. Now instead of spraying, I pour a small amount on the middle and ends from the bottle. When I used conditioner I always ran my BIG FAT COMB through it and I still like to do this with the vinegar rinse. It helps with my tangles and frizz. So after I comb through my hair I let it sit another minute and rinse.

Steven has been trying this with me and is still not 100% sold. He has always had problems with itchy scalp and at first he said it helped a lot but it turns out that was just the "honeymoon" phase for him. His scalp is unfortunately back to it's itchy state.

Saturday I bought some tea tree oil that is supposed to help with itchy scalp and I am going to add that to our baking soda wash. I may also add some rosemary for dandruff that his itchy scalp causes at times.

Hopefully those "additives" will help! I will update later on the outcome.

Bread failure

2010-06-13T08:45:00.000-07:00

I am a wonderful cook. Most people will agree with that statement. However, when it comes to the realm of baking, my skills are pretty horrendous. I so desire to be a good baker. I try all of the time! But everything I bake just turns out awful. On occasion I will have nominal success and bake something edible enough for consumption but now that I am married and baking for someone else the standards are a bit higher. I will eat just about anything terrible that I make but I don't want to subject my sweet husband to that torture.

On to the bread.... I geared up to bake some bread. I followed this vegan bread recipe out of an old Seventh Day Adventist cook book. I am not an Adventist, but they are vegetarians and I often enjoy their recipes. The recipe was for about 7 loaves of whole wheat bread. It said it needed 8 cups of flour but up to the entire 5lb bag depending on how wet the dough was. Eventually I would love to grind my own flour and make that into our bread but for now I used an organic whole wheat flour and followed the recipe to the 'T'!!!

What came out was 7 bricks I could use to build a little house with. The bread is still "edible" if I slice pieces off, toast them up and cover them with peanut butter. The taste of the bread is ok but it is pretty dense and dry. My husband won't eat them and so now I have a freezer full of bread for me to suffer through.

This is one of the 7 bricks loaves of bread. It was tripled this size but sank and compressed.

The next adventure in baking land was an english muffin recipe. Again, to the 'T' I made these. I now have little dense hockey pucks in my fridge that taste almost the same as the bread bricks from before. The only bonus to all of this dense bread is that it is quite filling! hahaha

I have since read more tips and techniques for bread making but am greatly discouraged. It seems that it is such a precise science or delicate art. I hope to get better but in the mean time I am back to buying our bread until I get the motivation to try again. Blast!

GMO blues

2010-05-24T17:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I watched a film called The Future of Food. It is similar to that of Food Inc. It goes a bit more in depth regarding the entire Monsanto dilemma and genetically modified food. I am so irate! I know about GMO and non-GMO food, however, I have been so incredibly blind about this issue. As a vegetarian for years I think I just got lazy. I was unaware about shopping for non GMO products specifically. I think I just assumed most vegetarian food was most likely natural. After watching the film I did some research and I was not aware that more then 75% of our food contains GMO ingredients. My beloved Morningstar veggie burgers have GM Soy! Even though I don't eat them very much, they are a guilty pleasure. The US does not require labeling for GM foods. There are four main crops of GM food: corn, soybeans, cotton, and wheat. These four however are considered GRAS which is Generally Recognized As Safe by the FDA. That means if you buy some wheat thins or even a brick of tofu you're probably eating genetically modified food, only it doesn't have to say a word about it!

My desire to make everything we eat has now gained even more fervor. My husband watched this film and got upset too. He is infuriated as much as I am. I am more convinced then ever to buy only organic products and make as much as I can without depending on a corrupt government food system.

I can keep ranting on this subject for hours. There is so much to discuss in this vein but it is not helpful. Instead of ranting, I will be acting.

Introduction to my insanity

2010-05-23T11:34:00.000-07:00

I live with my husband in a small 2 bedroom apt in the greater Seattle area. We are getting a dog in 2 weeks and soon we shall be a family of 3. I have been a vegetarian for 17 years (7 of which were vegan). I enjoy healthy, organic, vegetarian and vegan cooking. As I am getting older though, I am realizing the importance of becoming one with the food I eat. I say this not in a merely meat vs. no meat sense, but in the sense of a relationship where I understand where my food comes from. My desire is to one day live in a sustainable, healthy and organic home. I have never gardened a day in my life. I have never prepared food for canning and storing. I have never made cheese, milled my own flour or thought of making my own mayonnaise. My husband thinks I am a little insane to want to conquer these feats but I truly desire to make everything from scratch! I know that my baby steps will eventually lead to a smaller foot print on this planet God has blessed us to be stewards over. I want to know that the food I make is made from ingredients I can pronounce and know where they come from and how they are grown. I want to cut out the middlemen of government, corporations, subsidized goods, marketing, gmo's, the million aliases for msg, high fructose corn syrups and partially hydrogenated oils. Even beyond the food we consume, I want to know the products used in our home, on our skin and hair and clothing don't contain parabens, phenoxyethanols, sulfates, dioxins, other preservatives and chemical agents that cause cancers and autism and countless other ailments. Women for ages and ages have cleaned and cooked for their homes without all of this processed junk! The last 50 years have changed the course of our planet for the worse and it is time to step back and return to a simpler way of life. Cleaning, sewing, crocheting, knitting, gardening, canning, cooking from scratch! These things are so rewarding and yet so frowned upon today as old fashioned, inconvenient activities. I enjoy technology as much as the next person, but our microwave society has gone too far. Keep your blackberry's and laptops and ipods! I love mine that is for sure! Just don't confuse a tv dinner as a convenience anymore. See it as it really is, the death of real food... the death of humanity and the eventual death of this planet.

My goals are to someday have a home and a garden, can our own fruits and vegetables, make my own mayo, mustards, ketchups, flours, pastas and breads. I want to learn the art of cheese making, butter churning, pickling, soap making, knitting, quilting, and crocheting. In a small apartment I can't do it all but I will do my best to learn and accomplish as much of this as possible. I can shop locally, organically, and join some co-ops (some of which I try to do now). I can and have already begun making my own cleaning products for the home. I just started learning to crochet this week. I made homemade organic granola this morning and the to do list for this week is bake my own bread and english muffins.