Our Favorite Sugar Cookies

In my last post I noted that we had made sugar cookies for Valentine's Day.  Well, these cookies have been a big hit in our home.  Shawn had me make another batch.  Now they are 3 days old and still as soft as ever.  I'm really impressed with these cookies, so I wanted to share the recipe.

The original recipe came from here:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Super-Sugar-Cookies/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=super%20sugar%20cookies&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page&soid=sr_results_p1i1

However, I made a few changes, so here's the way I make our favorite frosted sugar cookies.

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup evaporated cane juice
2 eggs
1 tsp. lemon extract
4 cups organic, unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cream of tartar
3/4 tsp. salt

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Cream butter and coconut oil together.  Add sugars and blend well.  Add eggs and lemon extract.
3.  In small bowl sift together dry ingredients.  Gradually add them to the wet ingredients until well blended.

For cut-outs
If you will be making cut-outs then you will need to refrigerate the dough for an hour or probably less.**  Once the dough has stiffened up you can pull it out of the fridge and roll it out between two pieces of wax paper.  Then use a cookie-cutter to get your desired shapes.  Place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Depending on the size/shape of your cookies, they will need to bake for 8-10 minutes.

**Coconut oil can harden quickly so watch how long you leave it in the fridge.  I left mine in the fridge overnight and it was rock-hard when coming out.  I was still able to use it though, it just took some time to thaw.

For regular round cookies
If you're making just plain cookies, then you can skip the refrigeration step.  After mixing the dough begin shaping into walnut-sized balls.  Place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Using the bottom of a drinking glass, press the balls into a flattened, round cookie.  Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
5 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp. lemon extract
food coloring (optional)

Cream butter and then gradually add in powdered sugar until blended well.  Mix in milk 1 Tbsp. at a time until desired consistency is reached.  Add lemon extract.  Add optional food coloring.

A Winter-time Week On Our Homestead - Sunday

This morning started off slow.  We woke up around 7:30.  I nursed Anna while the children did their morning jobs.  Shawn started some coffee.  Andrew let out the chickens.

We didn't go to church this morning.  Earlier we had gotten a phone call saying that they were going to cancel the potluck and afternoon service due to the weather and because the church's parking lot is still covered in ice.  Since they were only going to have morning service (and the fact that our congregation is 1-1/2 hours away one-way) we chose to stay home today.

So I made a nice big breakfast of pancakes.

Fluffy Pancakes (triple batch = approximately 35 pancakes)

3 cups milk

6 Tbsp. white vinegar =  approximately 1/3 cup white vinegar

3 cups organic, unbleached, all-purpose flour

6 Tbsp. sucanat =  approximately 1/3 cup sucanat

3 tsp. baking powder = 2 tsp. cream of tartar and 1 tsp. baking soda

1-1/2 tsp. baking soda

1-1/2 tsp. salt

3 eggs

1/3 cup coconut oil, melted

1.     Combine milk with vinegar in a medium bowl and set aside for 5 minutes to “sour.”

2.     Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a small mixing bowl.

3.     Whisk eggs and coconut oil into soured milk.  (drizzle oil while whisking to keep oil from hardening)

4.     Pour the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and whisk until lumps are gone.

**Do not overstir.  Leave mixture bubbly to keep it extra fluffy**

5.     Heat griddle to 375 degrees.  Allow batter to rest while griddle is preheating.

6.    Pour ¼ cup of batter onto griddle and cook until bubbles appear on the surface.  Flip and cook until browned on the other side.

Of course I made some changes, but the original recipe came from here:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Fluffy-Pancakes-2/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=fluffy%20pancakes&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page

If you ask Sarah, she'll tell you that her favorite food in all the world is..pancakes.  She was extra-happy this morning.

After our big breakfast the children went outside with Shawn.  He wanted to continue working on the bike building.  I stayed inside and started some laundry.  I needed to wash a load of clothes and diapers today.  Then I did some research on when to prune roses.  I was planning to prune my roses today, but I found out that I'm better off to wait another month or so.  I also researched companion planting in the garden.  I want to maximize our garden space as well as plant things that will provide some protection from pests like squash bugs and aphids.  After that research I made a few changes to our 2014 Master Garden Map.

Anna has been crawling for a week now.  She is really enjoying being mobile.  We're having to get in the new habit of keeping bathroom doors closed now.  Somehow she knows exactly where we don't want her to be, so crawling into the bathroom is right where she wants to go.  She's just cute no matter what she does.

While David was napping this afternoon Shawn took the oldest three children on a walk through the property and I stayed inside with Anna and baked some chocolate chip cookies.  Shawn and the children came back with a whole bunch of neat pictures from their walk.  I told Shawn that I would just do a totally separate post about their walk since they had so many nice pictures.  I'll try to upload those tomorrow.

In other exciting news...Shawn finished the children's bike building today!  He even moved most of the children's toys into the building.  That will be a separate post also.

The boys got haircuts this evening and everyone got a bath.  Then I started on supper while the children watched a VeggieTales video.  I had some leftover mashed potatoes, so those turned into Shepherd's Pie for supper tonight..with chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

Wild, hairy boys

Clean-cut, handsome young men

The evening ended with a family Bible time.  Shawn's reading to us out of Matthew.  Tonight we read about Jesus sending demons into a heard of swine.  The children had plenty of questions about that!

So, now the children are in bed.  I'm ready for my quiet time.  See you tomorrow!

Homemade Sausage Seasoning

Since we don't produce our own pork yet I still have to find an outside source to purchase it. Obviously, with our GAPS diet, I'm not purchasing sausage from the store. However, I'm also not even able to purchase it from our local butcher because of the seasonings that are used. I don't trust that the seasonings are GAPS-friendly, so I choose to make my own sausage seasoning. Actually, it works out better because I can get plain ground pork from our local Mennonite butcher cheaper than purchasing ready-made sausage from the same business.


Our family likes the following recipe:

6-1/2 Tbsp. sage
2 Tbsp. sea salt
5 tsp. pepper
5 tsp. red pepper flakes
5 tsp. fennel
5 tsp. marjoram
2-1/2 tsp. ground mustard
2 tsp. garlic powder

Place all ingredients in a small jar and shake until well blended. This recipe makes enough to season about 10 pounds of ground pork. For each pound of pork used, add 1-1/2 Tbsp. of sausage seasoning. It is a bit on the spicy side, so if I were going to alter the recipe I would definitely put in fewer red pepper flakes instead of more!

GAPS-Friendly Spanish Squash

I recently stumbled across a yummy recipe on allrecipes.com. Of course I changed it up a little bit to fit our diet. We really liked it so I thought I'd share it today.


My version calls for:
2 pounds of ground beef
2-3 Tbsp. of fat (tallow or lard)
3 yellow squash, sliced
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced (I also added 3 small sweet peppers from our garden this time.)
3 medium tomatoes, diced
1 Tbsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
Sea salt and pepper to taste

1. In large skillet over medium heat, brown the ground beef.

2. While beef is cooking, place fat in another large skillet. When fat is melted and hot, add squash, onion, and green pepper. Saute until tender. **See note below**

3. When vegetables are tender, add them to the ground beef. Then also add tomatoes and spices to ground beef.

4. Mix together and cook for 5-10 minutes until tomatoes are soft and everything is heated through.

**This can easily be a one-pot meal. It's not really necessary to cook the vegetables separately. The first time I made this I cooked everything together in one skillet. It still tasted great. However, the squash got very "smooshy" when it cooked with the beef. By cooking the vegetables in a separate skillet, the "smooshiness" is avoided.**



Enjoy!


This post is part of Real Food Wednesday.
http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2011/08/real-food-wednesday-8242011.html

Making Vanilla Extract

Today I was due to make some more vanilla extract, so I thought I would share the process with those that are unfamiliar with it. I've made vanilla extract in the past, but I needed to make a new batch that matched up with our GAPS diet.

I began making our vanilla extract back when we took corn syrup out of our diet. The vanilla extract that I had been using contained corn syrup so, instead of searching for one that was pure, I decided to just make my own. It's really a simple process that takes very little time. The lengthy part is waiting for it to be ready to use.

I started off by purchasing a 750 mL bottle of vodka and 1 oz. vanilla beans. I'm not particular about the type of vodka I purchase, but I do like to get good vanilla beans. I purchased my beans through Mountain Rose Herbs.

I opened the vodka and poured out a bit of the liquid so I would have plenty of room for the beans.


Then, using kithcen scissors, I took each of the vanilla beans and cut them in half down the length of the bean. I left about an inch or so intact at the top of the bean. Then I placed each bean in the bottle of alcohol.


After all the beans were placed in the bottle, I poured in some of the liquid that I had previously removed. Of course, not all of it would fit, but most of it did. Then I placed a label on the bottle showing the date that I started the extract and the date I expected it to be ready for use.


I like to let my extract sit for two months before using it. I just sit it up in a cabinet and give it a little shake every so often when I open up the cabinet and see it sitting there.

Here is the newly made vodka-based vanilla extract next to a rum-based vanilla extract that I made back in August. (Rum isn't allowed on GAPS..that's why I needed to make a vodka version.) The extract will take on a dark color over time, so eventually my vodka-based extract will look like what the rum-based one does now.



Anyhow, that's all it takes. It's really easy to make your own vanilla extract and then you don't have to worry about any hidden "badness" in there.

GAPS Pumpkin Muffins and Cupcakes

We started our adventure on the GAPS diet a week and a half ago. Well, right off the bat we had a birthday party to attend, so I had to come up with a safe birthday treat for my children. Fortunately, I was able to take our GAPS pumpkin muffins and have them serve double-duty for the birthday party. Here's what I did:

Pumpkin Muffins - Makes 2 dozen

12 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup pureed pumpkin
1 cup honey
1-1/3 cup coconut flour
1/2 tsp. sea salt
2/3 cup coconut oil, melted
cinnamon and nutmeg to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin tins or use muffin papers. Whisk together first five ingredients, then add in melted coconut oil by slowly drizzling it into the bowl, whisking as you add it. (Doing it this way keeps the melted coconut oil from cooling too quickly and turning clumpy.) Add cinnamon and nutmeg to taste. Spoon into muffin pans and bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick in the center comes out clean.

Hint: If you used muffin papers (which I do because I only have aluminum muffin pans) be sure to let your muffins cool for a few minutes before peeling the papers off. If you choose to eat them immediately, the papers will stick to the super-hot muffins and you'll end up having to spoon your sticky muffin mess out of the paper...I know this from experience!

So, the morning of the birthday party I made Pumpkin Muffins and we ate a dozen of them for breakfast. The kids loved them, no surprise there.

Then I took the remaining dozen and topped them with this frosting recipe:
http://www.healthhomehappy.com/2010/10/simple-meringue-frosting-refined-sugar-free.html

Finally, I sprinkled a little cinnamon on top of the frosting to make them pretty. They were a huge hit! The pumpkin keeps the muffins/cupcakes SOOO moist.

These would be perfect for all the parties that happen this time of year. If you do try the recipe, let me know what you think!

This post is proud to be part of Real Food Wednesday at
http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2010/10/real-food-wednesday-102010.html

Our Favorite Chili Recipe

A while back a good friend shared her chili recipe with me. Ever since then, it's been our family's favorite. Those of you that know my husband, know that he's a picky eater. There are several things that he doesn't like to eat and soup is one of them. He likes his chili to be nice and thick, definitely NOT soup-like. This recipe even gets Shawn's approval!

Here's our favorite chili recipe:

2/3 c. dry pinto beans
2/3 c. dry red beans or kidney beans
2 lbs. ground beef
1 c. onion, diced
2 tsp. garlic, minced
1/4 c. green pepper, diced
1/3 c. chili powder
28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
8 oz. can tomato sauce
1-1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 c. shredded spinach

The night before, sort dry beans, place in pot, and cover with warm water. Let soak for 12-24 hours. The next day, after soaking period has lapsed, drain, rinse, place back in pot and add water to cover beans. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for approximately two hours or until beans are soft.

After beans are cooked, begin browning ground beef with onion and garlic. Drain if necessary. Combine all ingredients together and simmer until done.

The addition of the shredded spinach thows some extra nutrition into the dish, plus I think it makes it looks prettier with the flecks of green in there! If you like your chili to be "soupier" than we do, then you could simply add in more tomato sauce. However, Shawn loves this chili because it makes the best Frito Chili Pies. This is the way he prefers his chili: Fritos covered with chili, then topped with shredded grassfed raw cheddar cheese.



This was the perfect meal for the small-scale camping trip he had with the kids this past weekend.

This post is proud to be part of Real Food Wednesday with Kelly the Kitchen Kop
http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2010/09/real-food-wednesday-91510.html

Shawn's Favorite Meal

Last night I made Shawn's favorite meal for supper. I figured I'd share it with you all today since it's such a big hit at our house. I enjoy serving this to my family since it employs so many aspects of a healthy, traditional diet: grassfed beef, animal fat, soaked rice, soaked beans, organic vegetables, etc.



Shawn's favorite meal consists of Spanish rice, refried beans, and guacamole with tortilla chips. A disclaimer on the Guacamole recipe though...I don't use a recipe to make the dip. I just throw everything into a bowl, so my measurements on the recipe are just estimates where I "eyeballed" what I seemed to be putting in the bowl.

Spanish Rice

1 cup uncooked brown rice
2 cups warm water
2 Tbsp. acidic medium (whey, yogurt, kefir or buttermilk)
2 Tbsp. lard or tallow
½ cup chopped onion
½ cup chopped green pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound ground beef
1 cup frozen corn
4 medium tomatoes, chopped
2-3/4 cups water
Chili powder, salt, pepper, and cumin to taste
Fresh cilantro, chopped

Place rice, 2 cups warm water, and acidic medium in covered dish and leave in warm place for at least 7 hours.

Later, after soaking time has finished:
In large skillet over medium heat, heat fat until melted and hot. Strain rice from acidic water. Add rice, onion, green pepper, and garlic to hot fat. Saute for 5 minutes or until onions are tender. Add the ground beef and cook until browned.

Add corn, tomatoes, and water. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 50 minutes or until rice is cooked. Season with chili powder, salt, pepper, and cumin to taste. Add freshly chopped cilantro and stir.

Crockpot Refried Beans

3 cups pinto beans
8-1/2 cups water
1 onion, diced
1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. cumin
2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper

The night before, place 3 cups dry pinto beans in a pot. Cover beans with warm water and allow to soak 12-24 hours. After soaking, drain water, rinse, and place in crockpot. Add all other ingredients and cook on high for 8 hours. Drain out most of the water. Mash beans, adding some liquid back in if needed. Can be portioned out and frozen for later use.

Guacamole

4 ripe avocados
1 lemon or lime, juiced
1 tsp. sea salt
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 c. onion, minced
1 Tbsp. cumin
1/3 c. fresh cilantro, minced

Combine avocados, lemon/lime juice, and sea salt. Mash together with potato masher. Add other ingredients and mix well. Refrigerate one hour for flavors to blend.

We add good, pastured, raw cheddar cheese to the crockpot refried beans. We do eat our guacamole with tortilla chips purchased from the store. The best that we are able to find are organic, non-GMO chips that are fried in sunflower, safflower and/or canola oil. I'm not to the point of making my own tortilla chips yet, so this is what we use now!

I hope you enjoy this meal as much as my family does!



This post is proud to be a part of Real Food Wednesday with Kelly the Kitchen Kop
http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2010/09/real-food-wednesday-9810.html

A WAP Birthday Treat

Yesterday was Sam's 5th birthday and also the first time I had to consider incorporating the Weston A. Price food guidelines into our menu. I did find a wonderful recipe for a Brownie Pudding Cake (you know, the brownie with the gooey fudgy chocolate sauce underneath...yum!) that called for soaking the grains and used real food in the ingredients. The recipe can be found here:

http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2009/06/brownie-pudding-cake-dairy-free-and-soaked.html

The only alteration I made was, in the first six ingredients when it calls for 1/2 cup of non-dairy milk, I just used 1/2 cup plain 'ol raw milk. It turned out wonderfully! I purchased some Breyer's All Natural French Vanilla ice cream and served it with the warm brownie pudding cake. Sam was excited with his birthday treat. Andrew loved it. The messy picture on my previous post is Andrew after devouring the brownie pudding cake.

My dilemma now is that we're supposed to have an informal birthday party for Sam this weekend. I'd like to make him a traditional birthday cake, but I haven't found any recipes for a cake from soaked grains. I'm so new to soaking grains that I don't feel confident in converting my tried-and-true non-soaked recipe. Does anyone know of a good cake recipe using soaked grains? Or can you give me a simple tutorial on how to convert my tried-and-true non-soaked recipe into a healthy soaked recipe?

Here's my non-soaked recipe in case it helps:

2-1/4 cups freshly ground soft white wheat
1 cup raw honey
3/4 cup cocoa
1-1/2 tsp. baking soda
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs, well whipped
1 cup milk
1/2 cup melted virgin coconut oil
3 tsp. vanilla
1 cup boiling water

Combine all ingredients except boiling water. Beat for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). In greased 9x13 pan, bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes. Frost with your favorite frosting.

Oh, I guess I also need to research frosting recipes that don't include powdered sugar!

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday
http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2010/03/real-food-wednesday-3910.html

Real Food SUCCESSES!!!

Yay! I have successes to report for a change.

Some of you may remember a previous post where my attempt to make cream cheese and whey from our raw milk was a complete failure. Well, I took the advice from one of the comments and pulled the failure back out of the fridge. I combined what should have been my whey and cream cheese into one jar again and let it sit for another day. Wow, what a difference a day made! Apparently I hadn't let the milk separate enough before processing it the first time. Of course, I started processing it this time before I realized...Hey, I ought to take a picture of this!! So, this picture was taken after I had already started pouring off the whey. However, I hope you can still see a big blob of white that has solidified in the center of the jar. That's the cream cheese. The yellowish liquid surrounding it is the whey.



When I first separated the cream cheese from the whey, I thought the whey had a very soured smell to it. However, I recently opened the container to use it for soaking oatmeal and noticed that the soured smell wasn't so bad. So, I don't know if I'm just getting used to it or if the smell becomes more tolerable over time. I am VERY pleased to report that oatmeal soaked using whey doesn't have a soured taste to it. I was pretty worried about that. I now have a new recipe for oats! Yay success!

Also...I recently made my own butter! I've been skimming the cream off the tops of our jars of milk. When I got enough to fill a pint mason jar I decided to process. I used the instructions from Mother Earth News.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/1978-03-01/How-To-Make-Butter.aspx

It took me 20 minutes of vigorous shaking, but this was the end result. (The jar contains the buttermilk that I poured off the butter.)



You might be able to see the consistency of the butter better here.



My butter didn't have that pretty yellow color to it. Unless someone else has any ideas, I'm going to contribute that to it being winter and the cows not having access to much fresh green grass. Anyway, I'll take white butter as opposed to paying $9.25 per pound for pastured yellow butter.

So, things are improving. I have recipes printed out for soaked wheat bread and soaked muffins and soaked tortillas, so those are going to be the next experiments in the kitchen. It's a slow process, but we're getting there!

For more information on Real Food, please check out Real Food Wednesday at
http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2010/02/real-food-wednesday-22410.html

Bread Recipe for Marcee

Marcee has asked for my bread recipe, so here you go!

Janice's Favorite Bread Recipe (makes 2 loaves)

1. Mix the following ingredients well: (TIP: Measure oil first, then honey - the honey will slide right out of the cup. Also, liquid lecithin is extremely sticky. I avoid using a measuring spoon because it is difficult to clean afterwards. I found liquid lecithin for sale at our local health foods store.)

2 cups very warm water (around 110 degrees)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup raw honey
3 tsp. INSTANT yeast
1 Tbsp. liquid lecithin (don't have to be exact - pour an approximate drizzle)
3 cups flour (I use freshly milled hard white wheat)

I mix this together with a wooden spoon. When you have the correct amount of flour, the mixture will not be too soupy...it'll look more like a stew.

2. At this point, let mixture sit for 20 minutes.

3. Add 1-1/2 tsp. salt and 2-1/2 cups more flour (again, hard white wheat). Using your wooden spoon, mix until it starts to clean the side of the bowl. Usually several good rotations with the spoon will accomplish this.

The dough will still be tacky/sticky, but should not be gooey. If it's too gooey, add a little flour, but not too much or the bread will be really dry. You want to add the flour now and be done with it, or the flour you add later will not have developed gluten because it won't have kneaded long enough.

4. Once you have enough flour (better too little than too much), knead on medium speed for about 8 minutes (I use speed 2 on my KitchenAid, with dough hook). Cover mixing bowl with a clean dish towel and let dough rise until doubled in bulk (about 1 hour).

5. Punch down dough. Using oiled hands on oiled counter, knead by hand a few times. This will take the "sticky" out of the dough. Divide dough into two parts and shape into loaves. Let rise in greased pans until double in bulk (about 1-1/2 hours in my home). Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from pans to cool on racks. Bread is done when an instant-read thermometer read 195-200 degrees. Enjoy!


After receiving our grain mill I went through A LOT of recipes before I found one that worked for us. Working with freshly ground wheat definitely entails a learning curve. I went through a lot of "hard as rocks" trials. This bread is soft and slices well for sandwiches or toasting.

I Still Don't Like Liver

I am still attempting to find a way to fix liver that could be remotely deemed as edible. So far I've attempted frying it and smothering it with tomato sauce. That didn't go over well. Yesterday I tried fixing it using Sally Fallon's recipe in Nourishing Traditions. I only made enough for myself because I knew that any additional servings would be wasted by the other members of my family. Here's what I did:

Mid-morning I took the sliced liver (from some great grass-fed beef we bought) and placed it in a bowl with the juice from two lemons. I set it aside and let it soak for about 2-1/2 hours. Here's what it looked like after soaking.



Then I removed the liver slices from the bowl and patted them dry. I put some leftover freshly ground wheat flour, Celtic sea salt, and pepper in a pan and battered the slices of liver. Then I placed them in a skillet with some lard. They only cooked for a short period of time. It really didn't take very long because the slices were pretty thin.

While those were cooking, I put some olive oil and grassfed butter in another skillet and began heating. I thinly sliced an onion and added it to the pan. I sauteed this for about 10 minutes. I know Nourishing Traditions says to cook for about 30 minutes, but my onions were starting to look burned, so I took them out early.

Then I placed the liver on a plate and covered them with onions. It looked really tasty I thought. I love onions, so I was looking forward to this meal.



I couldn't eat it. I took a couple bites and then ended up eating chili with Shawn and the kids. There was a strong lemon juice taste and, of course, the liver taste and texture were still there. I've read that you sometimes have to try a food numerous times before you start to like it. I can attest that it takes more than two times to enjoy liver. Maybe the third time's the charm...

This post has been linked to Real Food Wednesday at
http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2010/02/real-food-wednesday-21010.html

Making Snow Cream

I know I'm a bit late getting this put up, but life got in the way, so you get to see a late version of "Snow Cream" that we made Saturday morning. We'd never made this before, but our friend Bill posted his recipe on Facebook and we had to try it out. His recipe went like this:

Mix one egg, a can of evaporated milk, 3/4 cup sugar, and a teaspoon of vanilla. Then add snow, gradually, until you get the desired consistency. We followed his recipe and ended up with a yummy treat! Here's the finished product:



Sam and Sarah were excited to get ice cream in the morning-time.





Yummy, yummy good! Thank you Mr. Bill!

A Real Food Failure

My first attempt at making cream cheese and whey from raw cow's milk did not go so well. I'll spell out my journey and maybe someone out there can tell me where I went wrong! I used the recipe from the book Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon.

Everything started fine. Sam and I placed a half gallon jar of raw milk on the counter and started the wait.


After three days of sitting on the counter, the cream is very separate from the milk, but I'm still unsure whether it's ready or not, so I wait another day. The recipe does say "1-4 days" after all, so I continue to wait.


After a full 4 days have passed, I decide to go ahead and attempt processing my cream cheese and whey. I got my large strainer and lined it with a clean and relatively thin dish towel. I tried really hard to only use glass containers to collect the whey, but I didn't have anything that would hold all of it. So, I ended up using a plastic pitcher in the end.


This is what was passing through the strainer.


I removed the strainer and tied the corners of the dishtowel to a wooden utensil and let the dishtowel hang until nothing else was dripping.


This is what I ended up with: a whole lot of liquid and very little cream cheese. The recipe said that I should've ended with about 5 cups of whey and 2 cups of cream cheese.


This picture's not great, but it might give you a better idea of the consistency of my "cream cheese."


I fear that I just ended up letting my milk spoil on the counter and then proceeded in separating the soured milk from the cream. The end result doesn't exactly stink, but it also doesn't smell real tasty either!

Does anyone have an idea on what I did wrong? I'd really like to start soaking oats and making fermented ketchup, but I need whey to do those things.

It's a constant learning process, but I'm stubborn enough to keep on trying!

Also, if you'd like to see posts of real food successes, then I suggest that you visit this site:
http://www.cheeseslave.com/2010/01/20/real-food-wednesday-january-20-2010/

A Pretty Picture and a Recipe

We went grocery shopping today and picked up some oats and produce. I cannot explain it, but I find joy in coming home and putting away our newly bought produce. In the picture we have bananas, apples, limes, tomatoes, avocados, garlic, and jalapeno peppers. I just find a display of fresh fruits and vegetables to be really pretty.

Also, today I made up a batch of Crockpot Refried Beans. We like this recipe because it's easy and it makes a large batch. I do this every so often, use what we need, and then freeze the rest.

Crockpot Refried Beans

3 cups dry pinto beans
8-1/2 cups water
1 onion, diced
1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 t. cumin
2 t. salt
1/2 t. black pepper

Combine all ingredients in crock pot. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. Drain out most of the water. Mash beans with potato masher, adding some liquid back if needed. Can be portioned out and frozen for later use.

Enjoy!

Miscellaneous Thoughts and a Recipe

Shawn and I were so excited this morning to get up, open the curtains in the living room, and see a group of deer walking across our pasture. They had come out of the woods on one side and crossed to get to a small creek on the other. When we first saw them, Shawn said he saw a total of six deer. As we watched them longer, we noticed another, then another, then another. There were a total of NINE deer drinking from the creek that's 100 yards away from our front door. It was amazing to watch. Needless to say, Shawn's getting rather excited about his first deer season on this property.

Since this is an earth-berm home, the north side of our house is built into the ground, but the south side has a lot of windows. Our living room has two large picture windows. Outside one of the windows is a Bradford Pear tree that we've hung a bird feeder on. We enjoy looking out those windows and watching the birds outside. At one point yesterday I had two turtledoves, a woodpecker, two cardinals, and about five of some unknown cute, little gray bird all eating at the birdfeeder.

On a less happy, but still very interesting note, Shawn also found fresh coyote tracks in a patch of mud that's 40 feet away from our front door.

Since it was such a sunny day yesterday, I spent a little time out in the garden. I was able to tear out the previous owner's old pepper plants. While doing that, I ran across a small carrot that was still in the ground. I pulled it and gave it to the kids. It was only about three inches long, but it was a pretty, bright orange and the kids liked that it came out of our garden. I am really looking forward to working in the garden with the kids.

Oh, how I love it out here!

Finally, I figured that I'd leave you with a recipe that I tried recently for the first time. I discovered it on one of the healthy eating blogs that I visit, then adapted it a bit. I call it "Healthy Fudge" because it has some really good ingredients in it. Shawn and the kids all really liked it too. I hope you enjoy it as well.

Healthy Fudge

1 cup cocoa powder
1 cup unrefined virgin coconut oil
3/4 cup honey
natural peanut butter

Melt halt the coconut oil in a small saucepan. Place remaining 1/2 cup of solid oil in blender with cocoa and honey. Add melted coconut oil and pulse until smooth and blended. Line a bread pan with saran wrap or parchment paper. Pour fudge into pan and place in fridge until solid, about 1 hour. Remove from pan. Spread a layer of natural peanut butter on top and cut into squares. Store in fridge. Yields approximately 15 squares.

I hope everyone has an enjoyable Sunday!

Making Pumpkin Puree

Well, I tried something else new this week! Some of you may have heard about the devastating pumpkin shortage of 2009. Rumor has it that there will only be enough pumpkin puree to fill the demand for the holiday season and then there won't be any more pumpkin available for the rest of the year. Are you in a panic yet? I decided to take matters into my own hands and make my own pumpkin puree!

I used a pumpkin that my mother-in-law (Hi Colette!) purchased for me at a pumpkin farm when she came to visit in October. The owner of the farm assured us that this was a great pumpkin to use for making pumpkin pie..sorry, I don't know the exact variety.

I cut the pumpkin into chunks. Sarah helped me scoop out seeds and stringy stuff. She helped out so much that I had to wash her shirt afterwards..orange pumpkin was everywhere. Then I put it into a 350 degree oven for about an hour. This is what it looked like after baking.

Then I scraped out all the flesh.

I placed the chunks into my blender and processed it until smooth. This is all the puree I ended up with from the entire pumpkin.

I placed it in freezer bags in one cup portions. I ended up with about 15 cups of puree. I figured that a typical can of pumpkin contains 1-3/4 cups of puree. So, I had about 8-1/2 cans of pumpkin puree here. Since that pumpkin cost $4 at the pumpkin farm and I ended up with 8-1/2 cans of puree, that works out to about $0.47 per can of pumpkin puree. Now, I don't know what it typically sells for at the store, but I usually pay $0.70 per can at our local "bent and dent" store. So, even at my reduced cost it is still a money savings for our family. Of course, there's more work involved in this method, but that's one of the reasons that I stay home, so I have the time to do little things like this.

And then we had pumpkin muffins for breakfast this morning. The homemade pumpkin puree must've turned out ok since Sam ate about five of the muffins!

So, unless you want to be one of the unfortunate victims of the great pumpkin shortage of 2009, you'd best get to work processing your leftover Halloween pumpkins!

Productive Day: Take 2

Ok, so yesterday was very NOT-productive. I am determined to rectify that today.

So far today, I have a pot of chicken broth simmering on the stove and smelling very yummy. I also have a load of towels in the dryer. We're all fed and dressed.

Since I need to play catch-up from yesterday, my to-do list is rather lengthy..

Water plants
Plan weekly menu
Fold and put away towels
Sweep and mop floors
Clip coupons
Library with kids
Walgreens/Kroger/Dollar General/drop off recycling
Organize coupons after kids are put to bed tonight

Since I have so much to do, I guess I ought to get off here and start getting things done! I'll leave you with my recipe for homemade chicken broth:

carcass from one roasted chicken (bones, skin, everything)
2 carrots, coarsely chopped
2 stalks of celery with leaves, coarsely chopped
1-2 onions, quartered
salt and pepper to taste
1 T. vinegar
water
parsley

Take your roasted chicken carcass and, using a meat cleaver, chop up some of the bones. This will make your broth more nutritious by accessing the good marrow inside the bones. Dump the chopped up carcass in a large stock pot. Wash carrots, chop and dump in the pot. It is not necessary to peel the carrots, but you can if you prefer. Wash celery, chop and dump in the pot, leaves and all. Quarter onion and dump in the pot, skin and all. (The addition of the skin will give your broth a pretty golden color.) Add salt and pepper. (I used my new Celtic Sea Salt!) Then add 1 T. vinegar. This helps in drawing the nutrients from the bones of the chicken. Add enough water to cover all contents of stock pot. Place on stove and bring slowly to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 24 hours. Yes, you read that right, 24 hours! About 10 minutes before broth is finished simmering, add a palm-full of parsley. I use fresh parsley from my kitchen windowsill, but if you're using dried, just add to taste. Strain into a large bowl and set in refrigerator until fat congeals at top. Skim off fat and package broth for storage in freezer. You now have yummy, nutritious broth that doesn't include MSG or any other badness!

Ok, now to tackle that to-do list...