Solid Lotion

I promise this is the last of my "home remedies" posts for a while.  Promise!

BUT, these are awesome people.  Gotta post them!

This is a lotion bar.

Solid lotion.

It works kind of awesome.  ::)

You hold the bar in your hand, and the heat from your skin makes it soft enough to spread on your skin.  So much for taking way too much lotion (wait - am I the only one who does that??!) and needing to smear it all over in places that don't necessarily need it.

I can just use this on the places I want it right then.  I find it works especially good on my feet!

So, wanna make your own?

My oldest son and I experimented with a few different recipes, and this is our favorite:

Solid Lotion Bars

1 part Coconut Oil
1 part Shea or Cocoa Butter
1 part Beeswax

Melt the solid oils/butters together in a double boiler (or glass jar in some boiling water) and add:

2 Tbsp Infused Oil
60 drops of Essential Oil
Vitamin E

Mix well and pour into molds.  I just used some silicone muffin tins.  Let stand until hard (like about 8 hours) and pop out.  Use on all your dry skin.

Cheers

How To Host an Herbal Exchange

A Herbal Exchange?

An Herbal Exchange?

Oh well.  It was an exchange!

A few months ago I ran across a photo of an exchange that a woman did.  She did it just before Christmas and used the products for her gifts.  

I loved the idea, but wanted to do it just after Christmas because I didn't want to overload my friends with stuff to do.

I asked around, texted, emailed, and told people to invite friends.  After a couple weeks, I had 15 people committed to exchanging.

This was perfect because 15 is a do-able number.

Also 15 gives you a wonderful assortment of things to play with!!

I made a muscle rub based on the muscle balm I already make.  Placed it in little jars and printed a recipe (see below if you want it).  This is what else I got:
Flu Buster Kit (lotion and capsules to take)
Lavender and Calendula Body Butter
Shower Disks
Breath Easy Lotion
Balm of Gilead Burn Cream
Solid Perfume Sticks
Calendula Salve
Marigold Salve
First Aid Salve
Coffee Soap
Almond Lotion
Shampoo Bar and Pineapple Weed Infused Soap

Super fun!!

I knew all but two of the attendee's, but all of them didn't know each other as they came from different places.  It was great fun to get together and discuss our methods of why we chose what we did, what it works for, and how we made it.

We had 3 ladies who had made only the one product they brought before.  We had some who had a couple products under their belt.  And we had the rest who had been doing this for at least a couple years.  It was a grand showing and telling time for all of us!

If you ever get the chance to try something like this....grab it!!  It was a wonderful time for all of us.

Now the recipe:

Muscle Rub

In a glass jar:
20 gr beeswax
25 gr Coconut Oil
20 gr Shea Butter (or Cocoa butter)

Melt and pour into a blender.  When it is almost solid (but not solid), begin to blend and add in a steady stream:

3/4 C Infused Oil (I use a few kinds, comfrey, calendula, plantain, chickweed, arnica...to name a few options)
2/3 C Distilled Water
40 drops of Essential Oil (I use a pain blend I developed)
0.1 oz Vitamin E Oil

Blend just until mixed and thickened.  Pour into glass containers to let solidify.

This will keep for about a year in a cool, dark place.

Rub onto sore muscles, headaches, pain, and inflammation.

Cheers!

Head and Muscle Ache Balm

In my last post I talked about the balm I made for muscle aches and headaches.  I thought I would share it with you.

It is amazing for temporary relief.  I am a big fan of something that I can do that doesn't damage my kidneys as much as taking the massive amounts of drugs it requires to tame one of my headaches!

To use for muscle pain rub on affected area as often as needed.

To use for headaches (seems to work for most types of headache) rub on temples (be careful because the fumes make your eyes water so I always lay down after), back of the neck on your brain stem, and on the forehead.  Apply as needed.

Headache and Muscle Balm

0.3 oz Peppermint EO
0.3 oz Lavender EO
0.1 oz Frankincense EO
0.1 oz Wintergreen EO
0.1 oz Birch EO
0.5 oz Cocoa Butter
0.2 oz Castor Oil
0.4 oz Bees Wax

Place the Essential Oils in a separate container.
Melt the butter, oil, and wax in a heat proof, glass container.  Use a pan with some water boiling in the bottom.  It will take about 5 min or so.
Add the EO's and heat till mixed well.

Pour into your containers.
Let set up and use on all muscle aches.
Be careful around eyes and mucus membranes.  You do not want to get this in there.  If you do, immediately flush with water and get it all out.  (not speaking from experience or anything as I rubbed my eye frantically with a towel!!)

This causes a pleasant cool burn.  It will be almost instant relief of muscle pain.

Burn Paste

I have been having fun with herbs.  :)

Picking herbs and drying them.  

Making things with them.

The other day I thought I would try another herbal remedy for my stash.

Burn paste.

It was so simple I almost hate to tell you about it!

All you need:
Comfrey
Raw Honey (mine was not raw as I ran out, but use it if you can)
Wheat Germ Oil
Blender

Use equal amounts of honey and oil.  Blend until emulsified.

Add comfrey until a paste is formed.

It will stand up on your spatula.

Place into bags, label, and store in the freezer.

If you get a burn (who am I kidding, WHEN I get a burn) remove a chunk - it does not freeze solid - place on your burn and wrap with a burdock leaf.  If you don't have burdock please come get some from me!! you can just use gauze, but the leaf will keep your skin from peeling with your gauze when you remove it.  Wrap the burdock in gauze.  Replace your paste as needed to heal your burn.

This will help heal without a scar. (or minimize your scar) It will also minimize or take away the pain entirely.  Bonus!

Cheers

Never Fail Soap Recipe

Due to popular request, I am posting the recipe that I alluded to in my catch-up post last week.  I have been searching for a simple soap recipe, one that I could use with whatever I had on hand, and one that was easy to sub things into.  Enter this recipe.

I promise that you will make gorgeous soap no matter what.  Seriously.  I have tried this 4 ways (see variations below) and all have worked.  It is amazing.

The soap lathers great, is simple enough to make within a half hour, and lends itself to experimentation and substitution.

Fine print:  Please plug your substitution values into a lye calculator just to make sure yours comes out properly.  There are several free ones on the internet, and some you can buy.  I bought mine as an iPad app from Bramble Berry Soap Shop.  

Basic Soap

21 oz Lard

16 oz Canola Oil

16 oz Coconut Oil

7.41 oz Lye

17.5 oz Water

1.  Melt your solid oils together in a pan.  Add liquid oils.  Measure the temperature.

2.  Freeze your water (or other liquid), place into a glass bowl.  Sprinkle the lye on top of the frozen liquid.  Stir until the lye is dissolved.  Measure the temperature.

3.  When temperature of both are within 10 degrees, add and blend with a stick blender.  

4.  Trace is when the liquids are all combined and it starts to get a little thicker.  Think thin pudding.  DO NOT blend past trace or it will separate again and your soap will be ruined.  (been there, done that!)

5. Pour into your mold.  I just use a cardboard box that is slightly bigger than a loaf pan, line it with parchment paper.  

6.  Wrap the box in a towel and place somewhere you won't disturb it for 24 hours.

7.  Remove from your mold (box) and cut with a sharp knife into pieces.  I use a pastry cutter.  It is a long metal blade type thing and works great!

8.  Place in a cool, dark place and let cure for 4 weeks.  This is to reduce the strength of the lye.  It will burn if you use it right away.  Lye likes to have a little rest before it is used.

9.  Use your soap and enjoy!

Variations:

Goat Milk Soap - substitute goat milk instead of water.
Goat Milk Oatmeal Soap - Sub goat milk for water, add 1/2 C finely blended oats (I put mine through the coffee grinder) just before trace.
Healing Goat Milk Soap - Sub goat milk for water, sub Balm of Gilead oil instead of canola (or dandelion, or a combination of both), 1/2 C finely blended oats
Coffee Scrub Soap - Sub triple brewed coffee for water, just before (or at) trace add 1/2 C coffee grounds
Goat Milk Honey Soap - sub goat milk for water, at trace add 4 Tbsp raw honey
Clay Soap - at trace add 1/2 C re-hydrated clay of choice
Lavender (or herb) Soap - at trace add 1/4 C crushed and dried herbs/flowers, 1oz essential oil (I have done lavender eo with lavender flowers, dried lemon peel zest with lavender eo, lemon eo with dried basil, rose eo with rose petal dust, etc)
Basic Scrubby Soap - at trace add 1 C cornmeal and 1/2 C poppy seed

Those are a few of the many variations that you could try.  If you don't have the right amount of oil, you can also combine so the total reaches the need amount (I combined Avocado oil and balm of Gilead to make the canola requirement, and I also combined a few solids to do the lard requirement, both worked great) Please let me know if you try it out.  I would love to know how it works out for you!

Dandelions Are Awesome

So, did you know I live in Canada?!  hehehehe

I found this really wicked awesome dandelion cookbook on Amazon that I wanted badly, but turns out the publishers don't like us Canadians so I couldn't buy it!!

Not cool at all.

So I had to make my own versions of the recipes in there.  :)

I found I had a surplus of these in my lawn:

WHAT??!

Yes, that is just a teeny tiny portion of the millions of yellow dandelions that populate my grassy fields.

So, no joke, I sent my kids out to pick me a 5 gal bucket of them.

Then I froze them.

Yup I did.

I stuck those little babies in my freezer for later so I can pull them out and use them for tea in the winter.  (and yes, my Mom already mocked me for the fact that I felt I had to preserve dandelions!)

Then the next day I realized I froze all of them!

Ooops.

Sent the kids back out again.

Filled another 5 gal bucket.  This time I kept them out of the freezer, and not to miss the mocking, but because I wanted to make a few things.

First I put a bunch in oil so I could have dandelion infused oil to make salves and soap out of.

Then, I took my handsome helper boy out and did this:

Seperate the yellow from the green.

Dig your finger in so the green splits in half.

Gently pull the yellow parts apart.

You should end up with yellow in one hand (if you teased it right out of the green) and a green part in the other.

Then you get a lovely bowl of yellow fluff.

We needed this for a couple things.  My boy wants me to make some cupcakes with them and he really wanted me to make pancakes:

They were interesting.

Dandelion flowers have a sort of peppery, flower taste to them.  It added a little chew as well to the pancakes.

All I did was added a couple of handfuls of the beautiful yellow to my regular pancake batter and mixed it in well.  Cooked the same and everything.

Kids all thought I was fancy gourmet!

Speaking of gourmet...

This may look a little nasty, but it was so good!

This is dandelion pasta!

Here is a simple pasta to make that will surprise your kids and make you feel super fancy.

Dandelion Pasta

5 C Flour
pinch of salt

Pour onto clean counter and make a well in center of it.  Add:

3 Eggs
6 C Dandelion greens blended with a tiny bit of water (I just did this in my blender)

Mix until well incorporated.

Roll as thin as you can (if you have a pasta maker use it, but if not, do your best with a rolling pin), add to water that is at a rolling boil.  Boil until tender (about 5 min).  Serve with butter, salt and pepper or your favorite sauce.

Try it, you will like it!

Cheers

Can You Believe Lemons?!

Have you ever ended up with some beautifully colored dirty dishes and thought, "Well, hey now, I hope that tastes good because it sure looks amazing."

No?

I guess it is just me then.

Aren't they beautiful?!

I used them to make this:

Yes I will share the recipe.  I am not that mean.  Although I am this mean...

It is just as good as it looks!  :)

Hibiscus Jelly

makes 5 half pint jars

4 oz Dried Hibiscus (2 C approx) - I bought mine at a Mexican food store, make sure it is nice and pinkish still, if it is brown, they will work still but it is not as fresh.

4 Cinnamon Sticks

1 Tbsp Whole Cloves

5 C Boiling Water

5 C Apple Pectin (or more depending on how "set" you want it - or how many apples you have kicking around*)

1/2 C Lemon Juice

61/2 C Sugar

*I was halfway through making this and realized I didn't have any liquid certo - my preferred method of thickening a jelly.  Then I remembered you could make pectin from apples.  All I had were some shriveled little offerings, but they worked amazing!  

Take your boiling water and pour over your hibiscus, cinnamon sticks, and whole cloves.  Use a heat proof bowl because you don't want it to melt!  Let steep for at least 30 min (or longer if you forgot that you have no certo!)

Pour through a fine mesh strainer into a large pan.  Add pectin, lemon juice and sugar.  Bring to a boil.  Stir occasionally.  What you are going for is a jell.  After about 15 min of boiling I took a plate, dabbed the boiling jelly onto it and stuck it in the freezer for a couple min.  If it jells, you are good to go.  If not, boil some more and repeat until it starts to set up.  I boiled mine for about half an hour.

When you have the jell you need (mine was really soft set) then remove from heat and ladle into jars.  Wipe the rim clean and place the snap and ring on finger tight.  At this point you can choose to water bath for 5 min.  Or not, your call on how fast you will use this.  (I don't because I will use all of it in a year or less)  

Let set on the counter for a full 24 hours.  Within about 15 min you will start to hear those little babies start to snap.  It is really the most beautiful sound when you are canning!

I also canned this:

Not really sure how this tastes, but I am going to try them soon (with some gingerbread).  These are almost too labor intensive though.  It took me 2 days of boiling, taking them off the heat, letting sit for 4 hours, doing again.  I will find out if it was all worth it...

Remember how thrilled I was when I got these for the first time?

I am still thrilled beyond belief...but I am swimming in eggs here!

I get 3 duck eggs a day (which I have discovered I only like in baking - LOVE in baking - but don't like to eat) and at least 4 chicken eggs a day!  That is a whole passel of eggs for a person who is used to rationing eggs.

I used to go through 5 dozen a month (because eggs were STINKIN expensive) but now find myself having a half dozen a DAY to use.

I have been baking and preserving and scrambling and you get the idea.

I am not complaining, but it is an interesting change of pace that is for sure!

Do you like my post name?  Did you realize that there is nothing in here about lemons?!

I think these random post generators are awesome.  Some of the names they come up with are so fun!  I may be doing this again.  Can you believe lemons?!  Well can you?....

Cheers

Enormous Eggs are Perfect Pickles

Ok.  That was a cheesy title, but the duck eggs really are enormous!  :)

The other day I walked into my chicken coop to give them some greens and saw this chicken sitting in a new hollow.  I knew it was a bit tall for my littler egg pickers, so I chased her off and checked inside.  

JACKPOT!!

There were over a dozen eggs in there that I could see just without reaching inside to check.  I had thought that my chickens had stopped laying for about a week.  I thought they had gone through shock from moving homes (which they are supposed to do) and thought that was why I wasn't getting eggs.

I called my friend who knows everything about birds (or so it seems!) and she told me what to watch for if that hen was broody.

Turns out she wasn't.  So I had the boys go out and steal all those eggs.

After, they brought in 17 eggs!  I checked them out.  We did the float test and all of them passed.

Holy Crap I had a lot of eggs in my fridge then.

I already had a dozen and a half in there...and add another 17, that adds up to more than I can use fast!

Enter my brilliant brother.  He mentioned to me when I first got my chickens that it would be awesome if I pickled some.  I am not a big pickle fan, but DH also seconded that nomination.

I thought of it today when I was trying to figure out what to do with all these eggs.

So, all but 2 eggs got pickled today.  Aren't they perty?!

Here is a recipe if you want to make some of your own:

Pickled Eggs

1 Large jar or 3-4 quart sized ones
30 (or so) Hard boiled eggs - peeled
3 Onions
1/2 C (or more) of Pickling Spice
2 Tbsp Crushed Chili Flakes (more or less depending on your heat tolerance)
1 Tbsp Pickling (or Kosher) Salt
1/4 C Brown Sugar
2 C Cider Vinegar
1 C White Vinegar

Boil your brine.  Pickling spice, chili flakes, salt, sugar, and vinegars.  Stir to dissolve.

While it is coming to a boil, cut your onions into rounds.

Place some onions in the bottom of each jar.  Place a layer of eggs and repeat until all eggs and onions are used.

Pour your brine over your eggs and onions.  Run a wooden spoon down the sides to ensure spice in all layers.

Store in refrigerator   These are ready to eat after one day, but to have super pickley (that is a word I just made up!) eggs and onions, keep for at least a week if you can handle it before dipping in.

These make amazing egg salad, super good to eat like they are (if you like that sort of thing!), awesome topping noodles, etc.  A great way to preserve eggs if you have an over abundance!

Cheers

On The Seedy Side

Brain Dump time again...you have been warned!  :)

• When reading posts the other day, (I really, really, really love google reader.) I came across a totally awesome idea.

I like seeds.  

Pretty much all seeds.  

I am always looking for new and yummy ways to use them in my cooking and this is a great way.

She has a shaker filled with seeds of all kinds.  She shakes it on all sorts of things.

I figured I would make some and shake some on our pancakes this morning and they were soooo yum!  I am keeping it around for more shaking fun.  (and just so you know, I DO know you need to crack the flax to get the nutrition from them.  I just like the crunch they add so I didn't)

• I made some chicken breasts the other night.  I had some leftover rice, bacon and chicken so I slapped it all in my frying pan with onions, mushrooms and some coconut oil.  MAN was it ever tasty wrapped in a tortilla!  We gobbled it down so quick.

Fridge is good!

• Remember the other day when I mentioned DH and I spent date night in the barn?  

Here is what we did:

There are 3 separate enclosures that we keep different fowl in.  I still need to build a roost of some sort for my chickens, but for now, they are all quite happy in their homes.

It used to look like this side of the barn:

This side will eventually have a goat enclosure where you see the boards.  We are going to re-enforce them and add a couple more so our goats will have a pen.

I am excited though, our barn is totally starting to look like a barn!

Speaking of barns...

• We added a rooster the other day.  He was separated from his girls.  He escaped from his box inside the barn, outside of their enclosure.  He heard them clucking and flew over the 5' fence to get into them!  He was so thrilled he vented on each one of the girls and cock-a-doodle-doo'ed about 700 times.  He keeps them happy and protected though and it is so awesome to see how much he loves his little ladies.

They all seem so happy together.  (and chickens mate WAAAY less violently than a duck...let me tell you!  Birds and the bees take on a whole new meaning now!)

And speaking of chickens (because I was...)

• I called every store in the surrounding towns that sold produce.  

It is apparently against Canadian Food Standards to sell garbage produce.  

Who knew?!

I found two tiny stores that will sell me "trims" of the veggies that normally they will throw away, but they will charge me.

I am still trying to decide if it is worth the $2 that they charge me to get this much (plus another half bag) of trims.  I am not so sure it is.  The chickens and dirty ducks like it lots, but I can feed them layer rations and the gobble that as well, so I am not sold on the cost of this green stuff... 

I can hardly wait for my garden!  

Those chickens are going to eat all my garbage and be so happy!

• I went to the temple with some women from my branch yesterday.

I was so excited to go, but as I looked at each of them, I realized how crazy blessed I am.  I have made some wonderful new friends in such a short time here.  

Going to the temple is a great place for me to realize my blessing apparently.  

We have had such fun getting to know people here and gaining new friends and knowledge.  I wish each and every one of you (who I know in real life and virtually) could come be my neighbour.  Wouldn't we have fun?!

Cheers

Food Storage Friday - Finger Food That Bites You Back!

Hope your Christmas/New Years holidays are treating you well and you are enjoying your time with loved ones.

 

Today I thought I would share one of my favorite things to take with me (or have at my house) when I am supposed to bring appetizers.

 

Spicy Wraps

 

2 pkgs of Cream Cheese (8oz each)

1 C Grated Cheese (any kind, but my favorite is Jalapeno Jack)

2-4 Chipotles in Adobo sauce, chopped fine

12 Large Flour Tortillas

 

Mix all ingredients except tortillas well in your mixer. 

 

On each tortilla place several Tbsp worth of mixture.

Spread to your edges

Roll tightly and place on a baking sheet.

Bake at 350F for about 20 min till nice and piping hot and a little crispy.
Cut into bite-sized rounds and serve hot.

I love the bite to these and the spicier the better as far as I am concerned.  If you are a person who doesn't like spicy, you can leave out the hot peppers.

Enjoy!
Cheers

Food Storage Friday - All Natural Healing

I am prone to get strep throat once every other year or so. 

 

Just happens. 

 

I am awesome like that!

 

This past year (or two)  I have been experimenting on myself with some natural remedies.  I have some that are "tried and true" that we have been using for years with the whole family, but sometimes I just want to test something out.  Who better than myself because that is how I know it actually worked!

 

Anyway, jabber, jabber, jabber.

 

Just to tell you about this new thing I tried.

 

It is kind of a cure all for cold/strep/etc.

I think it basically scares your stuff away!

I made a mixture of:

4-8 Cloves Garlic, chopped fine
1 Tbsp Honey
1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper

Mix well and take 1 tsp every waking hour for two to three days.

Interesting tidbit, 4 cloves of garlic (raw) is equal to one dose of antibiotic.

I react to antibiotics, all of them, with a really upset stomach.  This was just the same.  I gagged it down for 3 days and all my strep symptoms were gone.

Granted I could have had something else, but this cleared it right up.  My swollen lymph nodes, my throat that felt like I was swallowing crushed glass, my crazy plugged nose.  Everything.

I felt like I was going to puke it all up, but that was no different than any other antibiotic regimen and was 7 days less!

I am not a Dr.  I have no medical training, but this worked for me.  Because there is honey (and the garlic/pepper combo is super hot) I would suggest older children, not babies for this.

Cheers

Food Storage Friday - Pineapple Tamales

Dh and I had our new friends over last weekend for a tamale feast.  I told you I had made many, and we wanted to share.  (and see if others liked them too, plus their son had helped and I promised him I would feed them to him!)

I made some simple sauces for each one and they were a hit!

Carmel nut for the chocolate ones, simple mushroom sauce for my meat and potatoes one, and a pineapple sauce for these totally yummy pineapple ones I am going to share with you.

Pineapple Tamales

Soak about 25 Corn Husks in HOT water for about 25 min as you make the ingredients.

For the dough, in a bowl combine:

4 C Masa
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 C Flour
2 C Brown Sugar
2 C Butter (I used Crisco because that is what I was taught traditionally)
2 C Fruit Juice (I used the juice that I drained from the Pineapple for the filling plus water to equal 2 C)

Mix all together well to form a dough similar to cookie dough.

For the filling, in a saucepan combine:

1 Can Crushed Pineapple, drained
1/2 C Water
3 Tbsp Flour
1/2 C Sugar

Bring to a boil over med heat and stir until just boiling and thickened.  Remove from heat.

Assemble tamales (small tutorial here if you need one) and steam for at least 1 hour.

Serve and enjoy!  (we sure did)
Cheers

Food Storage Friday - Chocolate Tamales

I love tamales.

I pretty much love all Mexican food though so I guess I am biased! 

So...I was thinking chocolate is yummy right?!  What about a chocolate tamale?

I found this recipe and tweaked it to my liking and voila...chocolate tamales!  (I also made pineapple ones, but that is next week.)

 

If you have been around here for a while, you may remember I made a small tutorial on how to make tamales.  These are the same basic method, so if you have never made a tamale, here is a tutorial on how to form and make them.

 

Chocolate Tamales

 

2 C Masa

1/3 C Cocoa

2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Cayenne or Chili powder (can omit if you don't like the bite, but it is well worth that little bite in your mouth!)

1/2 tsp Salt

1 1/3 C Water

1/2 C Chocolate - melted (use the best quality dark chocolate you can find)

1/2 C Butter, softened

3/4 C Sugar

3 T Coconut Milk

 

Soak about 25 corn husks in some HOT water.  It will take about 30 min to an hour to soften them.

 

Mix the dry ingredients together.  Crumb in the butter. 

 

Make a well in the center and add all the remaining ingredients. 

 

Mix well with a mixer. 

 

This will be your masa dough.  (to spread in your corn husks)  If you need it to be a bit more moist, add in a bit more coconut milk until consistency is reached of cookie dough.

 

Spread some of your mixture in the center of your corn husk and top with chocolate.  I used dark chocolate chips.  I wanted the chocolate taste without the over sweet.  I was going for almost a bitter chocolate taste.

 

You can add some chopped nuts (pecans would be awesome) on the top of the chocolate and wrap up.

 

Repeat until all the masa is used.

 

Steam about 1 hour until they pull away from the corn husks easily.

 

Serve drizzled in chocolate or plain.  I also think that sprinkled with powdered sugar would rock!

 

Enjoy

 

 

 

Food Storage Friday - Squash/Carrot Soup

We have been busy moving into our new house, settling and all that.  My brother was a huge part of that settling, and will be as he is building shelves in pretty much every closet I own...because of that I wanted to make some dinner for him and his family. 

 

That is how I nurture. 

 

Food.

 

I had this beautiful squash sitting in my storage and some lovely carrots...I thought they would go nicely together so I decided soup...it is always forgiving!

 

Because I am so awesome, I forgot to take a "finished product" shot...but the photos kind of give you an idea...and I am not very good at remembering to measure (ha!) so all things are approximate as this was totally thrown together as I went!

 

Squash/Carrot Soup

 

1 large winter squash (I used butternut, but pretty much any would work)

5-6 large carrots, peeled and cut into coins

2 medium onions, peeled and diced

Salt and Pepper to taste

Drizzle of Olive Oil

Milk to thickness of soup (maybe 5 or 6 Cups?)

Flour for roux (about 1/2 C)

 

1.  Cut your squash in half.  With one half cut in half again and scoop out the seeds.  Place cut sides down in a glass baking dish.  Bake at 350F for about 1/2 hour until totally soft.

 

With mine it was the bottom half, the rounded part, that went into the oven. 

 

2.  The other half needs peeled.  I just cut the squash into long strips and cut the peel off, but if you have a really good peeler, you could do it that way.  Then you dice them.

 

Add the dices into a pan. 

 

3.  Dice the onions and add to the same pan.  Drizzle some Olive oil over top (or whatever oil you want...I think coconut oil would be fabulous too) and sprinkle with generous amounts of salt and pepper.

 

Stir fry until the squash is nice and cooked.  It will brown on some of the sides, you want that.  Caramelize away!

 

4.  Do the same thing with your carrots.  Stir fry with or without the salt and pepper, but make sure to add a bit of oil to them or they will burn.

Depending on how long you want to simmer this, you could leave your carrots slightly crunchy if you want to simmer for a while.

5.  Take that squash out of the oven and scoop the insides into a bowl.  Mash it all up so it is nicely pureed.  No chunks left.

6.  Make a roux.  That is a little butter (I used ghee) in a pan (about 3-4 Tbsp), melted.  Add your flour until a paste forms. 

Whisk in about 4-5 cups of milk.  Bring to almost a boil. 

Your mixture should have thickened quite a bit.

Whisk in your squash.  It will now be super thick.

7.  In a large pan, combine all your ingredients, diced squash, carrots and roux mixture.  Thin with more milk (or water) to desired consistency and serve.

We ate it with french fried onions and cheese on top.  I think it would also be super yum with cottage cheese, bacon bits, chopped green onions...and pretty much anything else you want.  It is so good.  Enjoy!

My brother, the soup hater, loved it and gulped down huge seconds!

If you make it, please let me know how you enjoyed it.

Cheers

Food Storage Friday - Raisin Plum Pound Cake

My Dad likes raisins. 

 

A LOT!

 

So when he requested dessert, his only specification was,   "raisins, lots of them."  I knew I needed to come up with something new and delish.

 

I love the taste and density of pound cake, and knew it would lend itself well to my leftover plums with some raisins added in for my Dad.  So here is my creation...

 

Raisin Plum Pound Cake

4 C Flour
3 1/2 C Sugar
2 tsp Cinnamon
2 tsp Cloves

Mix well in a large bowl.  Add:

2 C Oil
4 tsp Vanilla
6 Eggs
1 Quart Jars Canned Plums - pits removed and crushed
1 C Raisins

Mix just until moistened.  Pour into greased Angel Food Cake pan.  Bake 300F for 60  min or until firm and cooked through.

Serve with whipped cream.

This is a really dense cake that is not very sweet.  We all figured it was pretty much perfect! 

Cheers

Food Storage Friday - Canning Peppers

I had this great post all written out on canning plums, because that is what I did this week...but then just before I posted it, I thought that I had written something like that before. 

Turns out I did!  Here it is if you missed it. 

So, good thing I picked tonnes of peppers at my Mom's!

 

I had given her a bunch of seeds because I wasn't able to grow a garden for the past couple years.  I didn't want them to get too old so I had her grow them and we shared.  :)

 

These were "hot" peppers.  Turns out they were just long...not hot at all!

 

So, I was at a loss for what to do with them.  I thought and I thought.

 

I had already dehydrated about 40 lbs of peppers so I didn't want to do that.  Then I remembered that DH loves the pickled banana peppers that you get.

 

So, today I am making pickled peppers.

 

Here is the recipe I am going to fake, and I will post a photo when they are done.  (because that is today's project)

A Peck of Pickled Peppers

Brine:

2 Cups Water

1 1/2 Cup Sugar

2 Cups Vinegar

4-5 Tbsp of pickling spice in a spice bag

(more on a spice bag and how to use it here on this post)

 

Bring all of it to a boil in a pan and simmer while preparing your peppers.

 

Wash your peppers well.  If they are grown in your garden all you have to do is remove the dirt.  If they are store bought you want to remove the pesticides and wax.

 

Slice starting at the bottom and make rings.  You can make them as thick or thin as you want.  This is entirely dependant on how thick you want them when you eat them.  I made mine 1/4 inch thick.

 

Place 2 tsp Pickling Salt into each jar and pack your peppers into your jars to 1/2 inch below rim.  Pour your HOT brine over top of them and place your snap and ring on finger tight.  Process in your boiling water bath.  15 min for pints, 20 for quarts.

 

 

These will keep for up to 2 years.  (according to health standards)

 

Enjoy.

 

Do you have any canning questions?  Are there certain tutorials you want me to do?  How about basics that you want to learn?  I would love to do a post just for you...

 

Cheers 

Food Storage Friday - Soapy Experiments

You might remember when I mentioned waaaaay back in March that I wanted to learn how to make soap.  No?  Well I did.  I wanted to learn, and a dear friend of mine called me up and we made some together. 

 

I thought today I would share the recipes I had the most success at so if you wanted to learn, you could to!

 

 

We each made 3 kinds.

We had scoured the Internet for various tutorials and recipes.  (you can see more of each on my pinterest board if you would like)  If you haven't found one that you like, my favorite was this one here. 

Then I actually bought the app for my iPad that The Soap Queen told me to...and plugged in my numbers. 

This is what I came up with, and what my friend and I found to work the best:

 

Milk Soap (with Cornmeal and Poppy seed)

 

Yield: about 71 oz

 

18oz Coconut Oil

18 oz Olive Oil

12 oz Palm Oil

 

6.71 oz Lye

15.8 oz Frozen Coconut Milk

 

2 C Cornmeal

3/4 C Poppy seed

(or any desired amount - more or less to your taste in scrubby power)

 

Take your coconut milk and freeze it a couple hours in ice cube trays.  When frozen, remove and place in your glass container that you will mix the lye in.  Slowly add the lye, mix until no lumps remain and measure the temperature.  Cool to 100 degrees if it is above that level.

 

While it is cooling, melt your oils in a pot over low heat.  Bring temperature down to 100 degrees as well.

 

In your pot, slowly add the lye and blend until trace (takes very little time). 

 

Add your cornmeal and poppy seed.  Use a spatula to mix them in.

 

Pour into your chosen mold.  Let sit 24 hours, remove and cut.  Let cure at least 4 weeks.  (I did 6 because I am a nerd and really wanted the lye to be properly cured)

 

 



Sea Clay Avocado

 

Yield: about 94 oz

 

24 oz Olive Oil

16 oz Coconut Oil

12 oz Avocado Oil

8 oz Cocoa Butter

4 oz Castor Oil

 

8.47 oz Lye

21 oz Water

 

1 tsp Sea Clay (reconstituted)

1 oz Essential Oil (I didn't use)

 

Make Lye solution.

 

Weigh out solid oils and melt.

Add liquid oils to solids.  Add clay water to oils.  It will not want to mix in, but with stick blending it will.  Add scent if desired.

 

When oils and lye are at 120 to 140 degrees, add lye to the oils.  Stick blend to trace.  (it will not take long)

 

Pour into molds.  (I used some PVC molds and it said in the original recipe that it would get full gel without insulation.  It seemed to work, but it was wicked hard to get out of the PVC!)

Cure 4 to 6 weeks. 

 

Have fun! 

 

I am seriously in love with my soap.  I hated making it, I honestly thought I ruined it a couple times, but it worked out and we love these two the best.  I love the scrubby one, and DH loves the clay one.  

 

They both lather so well and clean you so nothing is left behind.  One of my pet peeves is the feeling of something on my skin...so this is a great thing for me!

 

I am running low on the one kind, so I am making more right away!

 

And price....let's talk about the price.

 

A handmade bar of soap generally runs you about $5 per bar (the big size).  If you are lucky to not have to pay shipping, then lets say it only costs you the $5.

 

My bars were about $1.50 to $2.25 per bar.  If I were to sell it, I would charge that $5 as well.  Although you can buy something like Irish Spring for quite cheap (about $0.30 per bar), I think, personally, that this is much nicer, lasts longer and is much better for you.  I am in love. 

 

I was willing before to buy handmade, and so this price is acceptable to me.  Just be aware of the fact that it is more pricey than the stuff you buy in the store. 

 

Cheers 



Food Storage Friday - "Instant Breakfast"

My boys are getting older and way more independent.  With that independence comes opinions.  Seriously!  Who knew that you could have an opinion on EVERYTHING?!

Their opinions have left me at a loss for breakfast.  My oldest prefers Oatmeal of some sort, my second son likes Pancakes and my baby likes cereal and pancakes.  This makes it tricky when I don't want to make seventeen different things for breakfast! 

Enter my solution.

"Instant" packs of breakfast.

I made some packs of pancake mix, oatmeal breakfast cookies, and granola...placed them in baggies in a large air tight container and wrote instructions to tape to the front.  This way they can make them on their own and specialize it according to their tastes.  I also have a bunch of ziploc containers in my freezer with various mix-ins so that it makes it super simple. 

Want some recipes?  Here they are:

Single Serve Pancakes (makes 2 or 1 large one from each baggie)

3 Cups Flour
1/4 Cup Sugar
3 Tbsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt
3 Tbsp Powdered Eggs

Mix well and place about 1/3 Cup in each baggie.  Makes about 10 baggies.

On the instructions taped to the front I write:

Add 1 Tbsp Oil of your choice (I have olive, canola and coconut for them)
Add enough water to make pancake batter.

Close baggie and squish until it is mixed well.  Clip off corner and cook in hot pan until cooked both sides.

If you want to change it up, add some of the mix-ins.  Hemp Hearts, Wheat Germ, Flax Seed, Sunflower Seeds, Pumpkin Seeds, Dehydrated Fruit, Raisins, Chocolate Chips, etc.

Single Serve Breakfast Cookie (makes one large "cookie" each baggie)
(adapted from here)

3 Cups Oats
1/2 Cup Flour
1 Tbsp Baking Powder
2 Tbsp Cinnamon
1/2 Cup Chocolate Chips
1/2 Cup Raisins
1/4 Cup Peanut Butter Powder (optional)

Mix well and put about 1/3 Cup into each baggie.  Makes about 14 baggies.

On the instructions taped to the front I write:

Pour into a bowl and add 1 Tbsp Syrup and 3 Tbsp Yogurt.  Mix well and microwave for about 70 seconds.  Eat.

You can add some mix-ins if you want a little different cookie.  Try: Sesame seeds, flax seed, sunflower seeds, hemp hearts, wheat germ, bran, dry fruit, etc

My boys love the independence this gives them.  I realize it is probably easier to just place a box of cereal on the table...but we don't really eat that so this is my solution.  I also have on hand at all times a big batch of homemade granola.  The mix-ins change every time I make it, but this is my basic recipe. 

I love how it helps my boys make breakfast all on their own, and they learn about making healthy food choices, but still keeps it fun.

What is your favorite breakfast food?  Maybe I can make a single serving instant pack out of it....  :)

Cheers