Almond Milk

I've been making almond milk for a few months now.  Last spring after seeing a specialist to figure out some of our food allergies I stopped buying cow's milk and switched to almond milk.  I eventually added dairy back into our diets in the form of cheese and homemade yogurt (I love our YoLife maker, with the extra tall lid), but we stuck with the almond milk. I was buying two cartons a week for several months when I realized we could be making our own.  Mostly, I got tired of all the packaging.  Our recycling center won't accept the waxed cardboard cartons.  Then, I got a couple of cartons that seemed like they'd sat for far too long on the shelf, all gloopy and gross--I ended up having to dump them.  Also, some of the companies add a lot of extra "stuff" that made me a bit suspect, though I never did any real research-- it may be entirely harmless.
Either way, I looked at a few recipes, ordered raw almonds in bulk from our food coop, and had at it.
You can too!

Here's how I do it:
First, soak raw almonds in water for about 12 hours (more or less is fine, I typically put them in water to soak before I go to bed).  In the morning I rinse them well and strain.  Then I put 1 cup of soaked almonds into the blender with 4 cups fresh water.  I sometimes add some unsweetened coconut flakes too (and a bit more water as well).  I add a teaspoon of vanilla, a pinch of sea salt, and about two tablespoons of maple syrup or honey.  Blend on high for 1-2 minutes.

Then, strain the mixture through cheese cloth into a clean jar.   

 

I use a spoon to gently squeeze the "milk" from the pulp--this is Kale's favorite job, then scoop the pulp into a jar to use as almond flour in many gluten free baking recipes (the pulp remains a little wet, so I have to tweak the recipes a bit to accommodate the added moisture). 

 

Viola, homemade almond, or coconut-almond milk.  This keeps for about 5 days in the fridge. 

Honestly the kids don't really like the taste of this for just drinking, but I use it in all our smoothies, for baking, in hot drinks, or in porridge and no one complains. I like how it tastes but don't drink much of it plain. I do wonder about our calcium intake, and have considered getting a supplement, but for now am just making sure we all get yogurt and cheese into our diets as well.  

Ideally we'll switch to goat's milk when a steady supply is easily obtained (so far I haven't had any luck finding any on a regular basis, and Rob isn't swaying on the idea of getting our own).  But, my sister's goats and sheep are being bred this fall for spring babies and milk, and then we'll most likely make the switch.  Until then I'll stick with our almond milk.  Its easy and inexpensive (if you buy in bulk) plus the almond "flour" is great to have.  Hope you enjoy.  

  

True Love and Green Tomato Pie

My bug-a-phobic, bee allergic man just spent the better part of the morning building this sturdy hive stand so my ladies (and hopefully an additional hive or two for the spring) can come home!  That's true love.  

Unrelated...due to last night's frost we have quite a pile of green tomatoes.  And therefore:  Green Tomato Pie.  I used this recipe and though we were skeptical, we all agreed it was a good one.  I probably wouldn't have guessed it wasn't apple if I hadn't made it myself.  Try it. 

 

Monday Morsels: Other People's Good Ideas

If you have stairs and you have children, chances are your staircase looks something like this.  Or maybe not.  Maybe you actually carry the stuff upstairs where it belongs-- or maybe even your children do this themselves!  I'm going to assume you don't because I know you're all way too busy doing much better things, and hey so are your kids right?  Exactly.



Enter the bucket.  You may have seen these here or over at  soulemama.  Disclaimer:  There was a time in my life (ok so I'm still kinda in that time, but working to get past it) that I considered using anyone else's idea to be copying.  Copying, as in the annoying thing little sisters do, as in never to be done.  Being creative involved creating everything--every idea, or so I thought, from scratch--or at least making it my own as best I could.  Now in the world of crafting blogs, and homeschool resource sites etc. I'm realizing people share their ideas because they are good ones!  Because they know you will like them too and want to make them for yourself.  So, here is this bucket.  I did not make it up.   I copied it, and I love it (and so does Kale, can you tell?).
This one is actually Juni's.  All of the stuff to be returned to her room goes into the bucket and when she heads upstairs she takes it with her to empty and return.  At least in theory.  The boys have some coming as soon as I can find the time.
And viola!  Clean stairs (at least in theory).  

Morsels:  
* Juni and I put together this little "Mr. Gumpy" set for Kale's Christmas present.  "Mr. Gumpy's Outing" is one of Kale's all time favorite books.  This is reminiscent of a project I learned as a preschool teacher, we called them Coffee Can Stories, and kept all the props for telling the story in a coffee can.   I made a set similar to this for my nephew's 5th birthday.  He has since outgrown it (he'll be 9 next week!) and  it was returned to us last summer, but promptly lost.  So, here is a new one.  It's just a felt boat, plastic farm animals and some tiny wooden people.  But it has been a big hit.  It's so sweet to hear him reciting some of the pages almost word for word in his tiny baby voice.  He is saying so much now--6 and 7 word sentences with pronouns and everything but his voice is still so sweet.





* I made these granola bars the other day.  They don't look like much but they were really the best granola bars I've ever had, except maybe a little too sweet.   I made them with gluten free oats, but I'm still skeptical about the gluten naturally found in oats.  I ate several anyway, as soon as they were cool enough to cut.  A word to the wise however (and most likely all of you already know this):  wax paper is not the same as parchment paper.  Oops.  Fortunately I used an all natural wax paper, so I didn't mind too much that parts of them were coated with the wax that melted to them.   We ate the entire batch in a day so I made another using rice flour and rice puff cereal in place of the oats.  These were also really yummy, but not quite as good as the first.
We'll definitely be making these again this week, with few substitutions:   honey or maple syrup in place of sugar, and less of it.  In the first batch I used some condensed milk I had kicking around in place of the corn syrup and it was great, I'm guessing just a bit more honey would do the trick as well.

* We finally got a bit of snow the other day, but have really been enjoying the clear ice for skating this year.

* This morning Wylie said, "how come Juniper can knit and I can't?".  Well, he tried and he could!  He's finished two tiny scarves (for Duck Duck and Boris) and has started on one for himself.  Here he is sporting his new Mama made hat.  I can already tell Kale is going to need a pom-pom hat too.

*Big raar, num you up! (Kale's good idea, inspired by "Olivia")

    sunrise on a cold morning, minus 12 degrees

Happy Monday!

Monday Morsels: Eat Them Up

When Wylie was a toddler he was what some would have labeled "a biter".  My shoulders were covered with black and blue baby mouth sized circles.  It would happen unexpectedly and he was just as likely to bite when he was happy, or excited as when he was angry.  I didn't understand it then.  But now I get it.
That overwhelming feeling of just wanting to latch tightly and not let go. The desire to cram it into your mouth and savor it for just another minute longer--even when you know it might hurt.

Sometimes my kids are so darn cute I just want to bite them.  (I promise I have never actually done it).

Some days I just want to grab time and smoosh it into my pocket, real good so it can't slip out.  Then maybe I can take them out years from now just to remember the way their voices sounded when they sing, or how their cheeks curved into their jaw lines--and that dimple!

Morsels:

*  Its starting to get dark so early already.  This evening we had a short playtime outside after dinner, but most nights its too dark and chilly for outside.  Last night after dinner the kids broke out a few board games.   A few of us have trouble with rules, so board games have not always been successful.  But I love when they actually take out a game and make it work for them.  By the end of the game they had made up a few of their own rules--even better I say!  This one is "Yoga Garden" a cooperative game.  Its really simple and fun, and totally random in its purpose, which makes it all the better somehow.

* Kale's "owd trator wid a guy on it" old tractor with a guy on it.  We picked this tractor/trailer up at Tractor Supply the other day when we were there for a homeschooling event (also random and fun).  Kale can attach the trailer and tractor and load it up with all kinds of tiny animals--which he does over and over again.  So much fun.  

* Cranberry apple pie, for dessert.  And breakfast, and lunch.

* We've been eating a lot of cranberry compote.  I read a few recipes online, here's what we've come up with for a favorite:  2 cups whole cranberries, two apples cored, one whole organic orange seeded (not peeled) 1/2 cup of honey.  Put everything in the food processor and chop until coarse but not mush.  The first recipe called for 1-2 cups of sugar.  I tried 1 cup and it was like dessert.  The 1/2 cup of honey is still sweet, but has a bite to it.  The kids preferred the first, but ate the other happily.  My sister thought red onion would be a good addition to make it more savory.  We'll have to try that too.  The recipes called this cranberry relish and  while we are relishing it (ha) my condiment aversion is keeping me from embracing the name.  I prefer compote. Whatever you choose to call it, its yummy.  This is so easy and beautiful not to mention tastey it will definitely be featured in some holiday gifts to come.

    Kale attempting to remove a splinter all by himself:  "Na Na do"

* I love that my kids love books.  Recently our homeschooling has been really free form.  This always happens, though not quite so early in the year typically.  But it feels good to everyone.  We're doing a lot of reading these days.  Story books, poetry, lots of science books (its what Wylie always chooses) and some beginning reader books too.  Kale will happily look at a book on his own for several minutes, or sit with the older kids while the "read" to him.

      My trash for the last two weeks.  Not including waste from previously purchased items.    

*  My ecochallenge is over, and while I wasn't 100% successful (I may have set the bar a little too high) most days we had little to no waste.  I realized that to be completely waste free we'd have to first go through all of the things we already own that are disposable.  So, that's my next goal--to not replace items that are disposable unless we can't find a better alternative.  This includes a lot of plastic toys that break, and then what?  We also just bought an annual pass to a local recycling facility that recycles so much more than our town does.  We went today to drop off all of the paper I'd been saving for months, along with some dis-assembled appliances.  We got to see how they sort all of the recyclables, and check out the baling machine.  I'll still try to avoid waste (even those things that can be recycled) but when I can't I'll be glad to visit the center again.  I never knew recycling centers could be so much fun.

* Loving the foliage this fall.

Happy Monday!

Morning Muffins--For Audrey

When she saw the pictures of the muffins in the last post my niece Audrey said, "Let's make them now".
So here you go Audrey, cook 'em up.

Gluten Free Morning Muffins:

Preheat oven to 425 F

Mix together:
2c milk
1/2 stick melted butter
1/2 c plain yogurt
2 eggs

Mix together in another bowl:
3/4 cup brown rice flour
3/4 cup white buckwheat flour
3/4 cup blue stone ground buckwheat
1/2 cup sweet sorghum flour
1/2 cup ground almonds
1 cup of sugar, or some combination of sugar, honey or maple syrup (whichever you prefer)
1 tsp. Xanthan gum
2tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

combine dry with wet and mix well.
Add any combination of fruit and spices as available, approx 1/2 -1 cup fruit
Some of our favorites are:
shredded carrots with nutmeg and cinnamon and 1 tsp. lemon juice
banana with 1 tsp. vanilla (also add 1 tsp. baking powder to dry)
any kind of berries
raspberries with grated lemon zest
diced apple with cinnamon

This should make a dozen normal sized muffins.  Grease the muffin tin well and fill the cups nearly to the top.
Bake at 425 F for 15-20 min.

Notes:
The batter should be thin, but not soupy, just a little thicker than pancake batter.  You can change up the butter/milk/yogurt ratio pretty freely.  More butter will make them stay moist longer.  We can eat the entire dozen before noon so I tend to use more milk and less butter--If I'm saving some for later in the day I use more butter and less milk.

Enjoy!

Gluten Free Baking

I've said this before, but it bears repeating:  I do not consider myself to be a good baker (many others would agree) but, I occasionally get lucky.  However, I do feel like I know my gluten free flours and I actually seem to have more success baking G.F.  than I did before I stopped eating gluten.  How is this possible? Not sure.  


Anyway, quite a few of my friends have recently given up gluten for various reasons and have been asking my advice.  
I will give one final caveat:  You can most definitely find all of this information (and more) from actual cooking blogs and/or G.F. cook books.   
Regardless, here's a brief summary of the flours I typically use, and their personalities (as it were).  

I compiled this list originally for a local friend, so any readers who are not local will have to find their own sources.  Some brand names may be available in other places, others may not.  

Brown Rice flour:  I get this in bulk at the Belfast Coop.  A good all around flour, I use this in almost all baking recipes.  

White Buckwheat Flour:  This is actually an herb (according to the packaging) and is grown in Maine.  "Bouchard Farms" is the name, it is in a grey bag in the baking isle at Hannafords, also found at the Coop.  This is light weight and good for muffins and pancakes--it bakes up really soft and crumbly, not great for cookies or pizza crust.  Not to be confused with the dark or "blue stone ground" buckwheat available in bulk at the coop (which is really heavy and dense and best used in very small quantities--I think.  

Tapioca Flour and Potato Starch:  These two seem to be interchangeable.  I usually buy the "Bob's Red Mill" bags of these, I think there are other brands as well.  These are light weight and good for "white flour cooking", anything I want to be light and cakey. 

Sorghum Flour:  "Bob's Red Mill", either Hannaford or Coop, occasionally Reny's or Job Lot's.  This is sweet and grainy.  It lends a wholesome texture to muffins and pancakes.  I use it a lot.

Quinoa Flour:  "Bob's Red Mill"  is what I buy.  This has a strong, savory flavor.  I tend to use if for non-sweet baking, such as corn bread type muffins (I also cannot eat corn, but the two would go well together).  

Xanthum Gum: "Bob's Red Mill"  You only need 1-2 teaspoons of this per recipe, so it lasts forever.  I've been Gluten Free for almost 3 years and have only bought maybe 4 bags of this ever.  Used as a binder.  If you forget it everything crumbles apart.

Almond flour:  you can buy this but it costs a ton.  I typically get bulk almonds from the Coop and grind them myself in a food processor or small coffee grinder.  I store whatever  I don't use in a container in the fridge.   This is like the secret ingredient in G.F. cooking.  It makes everything taste better.  Can also be used to coat fish or chicken for frying.

For a typical baking recipe I substitute approximately (everything I make is approximate) 2 parts Rice flour, 1/3 part tapioca or potato starch, 1/3 part sorghum, 1/3 almond flour.  I keep baking soda or baking powder, and liquids the same.  1-2 tsp. of Xanthum gum added with the dry ingredients.  Once you get to know the other flours you can add them in in small quantities to best appreciate their different tastes and textures.  

So, for typical pancake recipe that calls for 1 1/2 cups flour, I would probably use 1 cup rice flour, 1/4 cup tapioca flour, and 1/4 cup of sorghum or light buckwheat flour, plus the xanthum gum.  

For muffins calling for 2 cups flour I would use 1 cup rice, 1/3 cup sorghum, 1/3 c almond, 1/3 c tapioca.  Plus the xanthum gum.  I also like to use a ground flax in my muffins.  

Cookies are tricky, I have a good recipe that has worked well for me on my blog in the entry here . 

Here's the link to the Gluten Free Girl blog that I like.  She is a great baker and has all kinds of good advice.  http://glutenfreegirl.com/2011/03/

Aside from baking we also eat plenty of "Nut Thins" Rice Crackers, and rice cakes with almond butter or cream cheese.  The rice wraps at the Coop in the freezer section are good for quesadillas.  We make homemade pizza, typically with the "Bob's" crust mix, or a homemade dough.  The "Joy" brand rice pasta is decent, we also do a lot of green veggies, roasted root vegetables, soups, yogurt and granola, fruit, nuts, eggs, frittatas and some meat.  

I hope this is helpful.  Good luck!

Good Food

I won't share recipes often here, because I don't really think of myself as a good cook, and probably most other people don't either.  But, I'm decent.  Some things I make are very good (people other then myself have said so) and other things well... (those who know me well have admitted as much).
But recently we've been enjoying some good food.

The first is a raw kale salad that is so easy anyone can make it, and even Rob (not typically a second helping of greens kinda guy) has been chowing it.  The kids will eat it with a bit of complaining.  The recipe was given to us by a friend, after we loved it at her house, and it came to her from Polly over at Village Farm.  I'm not sure who's it was originally (Polly,maybe you can let us know who deserves the credit.)

Here's the recipe, as I know it (as with everything I make, all measurements are approximate) :

2 bunches of raw kale, washed, stemmed and shredded
1/4 cup olive oil
1/8 cup Braggs liquid amino acids
1/8 cup lemon juice
1 diced avocado
1 red onion sliced very thin (I left this out both times without missing it too much)
a hand full of toasted seeds (ie. sesame, pumpkin, sunflower)

Massage the dressing into the leaves, and (according to the directions given) giggle. A chuckle seems to work just fine.  Most food no doubt tastes better when you prepare it happily.
This salad is really good.

I have tried this with flat lacinato (also known as dinosaur kale), and the regular frilly kind.  Both worked well, but the frilly needed a bit more dressing.
*Recipe Update (3/6/12)  We still love this salad, but learned a tip from my sister that makes it even better.  Before dressing, massage the kale with sea salt, or kosher salt (regular table salt will not work).  This breaks down the kale and draws out the moisture really well.  Of course you should then remove the salt from your dressing--I cut out the Bragg's and just use an olive oil and lemon juice or cider vinegar to dress.  Yum.

After all that kale we needed some cookies:

As Rob will profess, cookies are not my strong suit (in baking measurements tend to matter a bit more).  I should mention here that all of my baking is gluten free (per allergies).  But my cookies need help even before going gluten free--in fact they've improved since then.

But these cookies were nearly perfect--perhaps a bit too crisp.   As standard form these cooks did not come from a recipe, but here's my best guess after the fact:

Cream together:
1 1/2 sticks butter
3/4 cup of sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix together dry ingredients:
1 1/2 c brown rice flour
1/2 c ground almonds (I do mine in a cheap coffee grinder)
1/4 c tapioca flour (potato starch is almost the same thing)
1/4 c sorghum flour
1 tsp. xanthum gum
1 tsp. baking soda

Add dry to wet and mix thoroughly.  I added about 2 tbs. of maple syrup while mixing because it seemed a bit dry.
Add chocolate chips, or whatever you like.

Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes.  Allow to cool on the pan as they are crumbly when first out. Don't worry, you can eat these warm (always the best way) just not seconds from the oven.  They are also good the next day, though crispy.

Enjoy!

Valentines

I wanted to post this for Valentine's Day, but we were away for a few days, and it didn't get done, until now.  The week before Valentine's Day we made some quick, no fail fudge, to give to friends, inspired by this post over at angry chicken .  We made three different flavors, vanilla cherry--made with white chocolate and dried cherries, chocolate cherry, and an extra dark chocolate made with raw cacao powder.  I didn't exactly follow a recipe (this is a habit I have with pretty much all directions).  
But I based all of the above loosely on the following:

1/2 pound confectioners sugar
one egg (I used our fresh eggs)
6 oz. of chocolate chocolate chips
1 stick of butter

Melt butter and stir in chips until melted.
Mix sugar and egg in mixer until blended.
Stir in chocolate butter mixture and blend until smooth.
Pour into pan and chill.

That's it!

There were also some small gifts for my littles.  Wylie got a cowl that I'm calling "the chessman" since it is made of alternating stockinette and garter stitch squares, with a chess piece felted on.   For Juniper I made this pink and red hat, with hearts.  This was my first intarsia project, and of course, like the fudge it was made sans pattern.  I think it came out great, except she says its a bit small for her.  She has declared it a gift for her cousin, my niece, in Washington state (its headed your way Audrey!) which surprised me since, really it fits her fine, and it is her favorite colors.  But, perhaps (I'm crossing my fingers here) she is outgrowing the "everything pink, and I only wear dresses" phase.  Actually, as you can see in the photo, she seems to have entered the pajama's only phase, and will not wear actual clothes unless I make her.  And really why not, they're cozy, warm enough, and she wears a snowsuit when she leaves the house anyway.

 
Poor Bittle (Kale) didn't get anything knit since we ended up traveling to NH unexpectedly.  My favorite place to knit is in the car (when someone else is driving) but alas I was the only adult, so I had to just look at the knitting beside me on the seat.  Such a waste of three long hours. (I would be lying if I said I didn't think about trying to knit and drive-- honestly, I only thought about it). Fortunately Bittle is still really a baby and didn't notice at all.  I did get him some dried cranberries and some strawberry flavored baby yogurt snacks.  I never buy those "baby snacks" marketed just for babies, but they were all natural and they were pink. I thought they might be a nice treat in place of the fudge.  He hated them.  Even the big kids won't eat them.  Oh well.  We were at Mimi's house so it didn't matter anyway.  Everyday at Mimi's is special.  And of course Mimi was up to her usual "mischief" (Juniper's word) and had gifts for each child to open.  No one was left out.  Including me, who made use of the three long hours home to eat most of the Mimi-made chocolates.  Yum.  Thanks mom.

Frozen Eggs

This is not a post about infertility.  None of my own eggs have ever been frozen.
But, you can freeze hen's eggs.  Really!

I had read about freezing hen's eggs in a few different canning and preserving books, but was skeptical.  

Last winter however, we found ourselves feeding 8 hens and buying eggs weekly.  Bummer.  So, this past summer, when we were averaging 8-9 eggs a day I mixed up several in the mixer and poured them into ice cube trays to freeze.  All the books I read said either separate the eggs and freeze them, or beat them well before freezing.  I was hoping it would work out so one cube equaled one egg--not quite.  Next year I could probably fill the cubes a bit higher and make it workout more nicely.  For this year I'm working with approximately 3 cubes = 2 eggs.  I didn't do a ton because I wasn't sure how they'd be. 

But really, they're great.  I haven't tried using these for eating as eggs--only for baking.  But, people freeze quiche right?  I did freeze one solid block of 10 eggs to thaw and use for a frittata, I'm guessing that will work well too.  A friend of mine just shared that she freezes a whole container full, then thaws it and measures egg out by the tablespoon.  One whole egg is about 3 tablespoons.  Here's one link that may be helpful.  There are tons out there.  

Hooray! Fresh (almost) eggs in February!  

We are still getting about 2 eggs a day from our cold ladies, and, depending on when we trudge out to collect them, often those are frozen too!