Recipes

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Mint Berry Toothpaste

9.16.13 047This is an updated version of my Candy Cane Toothpaste recipe. The taste is not drastically different, but the dried elderberries at an extra touch of flavor and color. It is made the same way as the Candy Cane Toothpaste with a few minor adjustments.

FIrst, simmer the following ingredients to make a very strong tea using 2 cups of distilled water (this will prolong the shelf life), 1/2 cup peppermint leaf (for taste and disinfecting purposes), a bit of stevia leaf (to sweeten –  doesn’t take much – 1 tsp. or less), and 1/8 cup dried elderberries,. Strain the dried herbs and reduce the liquid to about 1/2 cup. Mix your tea into bentonite clay with a popsicle stick (do not use metal utensils) until desired texture is achieved. To prolong the shelf life and add a little taste, add one drop of peppermint oil (take care not to add more than that or it may be too strong). Store the mixture in glass jar (as pictured above) and apply to toothbrush with a popsicle stick. This mixture should last about 3 months at room temperature.

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Cranberry Ginger Kombucha

Cranberry-ginger Kombucha Cranberry-ginger Kombucha

We’ve been brewing kombucha lately. A friend gave us a scoby and this is our fourth or fifth batch. If you’ve never brewed kombucha you can read more about what it is and it’s health benefits at Wellness Mama.

So, once you brewed your kombucha and decanted or siphoned it off from your brewing container, add the liquid to a glass swing top jar.  Then toss in about 1/2 cup of ginger root (peeled and chopped), and 1/2 cup cranberries.  Let it sit again on your counter for about 3 more days. It will continue to ferment feeding off the ginger and the sugar in the cranberries. This second fermentation will also add carbonation. Be sure you release the carbonation about twice a day, otherwise the pressure will build, and as the swing top jar is designed to do, it will fly open on it’s own. If you want more carbonation, leave it on your counter for a day or two longer until the fermentation is slowed and there is very little pressure when you open the lid.

Once you are satisfied with the amount of carbonation, remove/strain the ginger and cranberries, and refrigerate your new delicious, homemade drink.

Our kombucha fermenting. You can see the scoby floating on the top. Our kombucha fermenting. You can see the scoby floating on the top.

For more information on starting your own kombucha you can refer to the resources below. They are my favorite books. Some of them are even on the Kindle.  Wild Fermentation is especially facinating as it discusses how to begin cultures and ferments using just the natural yeasts and bacteria in your environment without using purchased starters – after all that’s how Maggie would have done it – passing each starter along from friend to friend and neighbor to neighbor. So, if you don’t want to buy a starter go about it the old-fashioned way using a little modern technology to boost your efforts. Post on Facebook and ask your friends. You never know who secretly has kombucha brewing on their counter. And if you find someone they will certainly have a scoby to share and you’ll be off on your brewing adventure.

Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods

Real Food Fermentation: Preserving Whole Fresh Food with Live Cultures in Your Home Kitchen

How to Make Probiotic Drinks for a Raw Food Diet: Kefir, Kombucha, Ginger Beer, and Naturally Fermented Ciders, Sodas, and Smoothies

(See my Disclosures page here.)

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Fall Recipes: Pumpkin, Spiced Chai and more…

10.10.10 089

“Don’t you just love New York in the Fall?”

Anyone ever see You’ve Got Mail? It may be a cliche one-liner, but there is something special about Fall. The leaves change, the air is crisp, you pull out your favorite sweaters and hats, and curl up on the couch in the evenings with your favorite afghan spread across your lap. Add these recipes to your list of fall favorites. They are delicious and they fit the season perfectly.

Pumpkin Butter

Pumpkin Butter on homemade spelt biscuits

Pumpkin Butter on homemade spelt biscuits

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread
Allergy-Friendly Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin Bread 001

Spiced Chai Tea

Christmas Chai Tea

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Quinoa Cornmeal Breakfast Pudding

9.16.13 015 This yummy porridge combines protein packed quinoa and cornmeal to make a delicious and versatile breakfast dish. You can make a whole batch ahead of time to eat on all week. Or make a double batch and freeze half for later.

Start by soaking 2 cups of whole grain quinoa overnight. (Note: I recommend soaking even if your quinoa is pre-rinsed and says ready to cook. It will cook much faster and ensure that there is no residual bitter taste which can happen if not soaked/rinsed properly.)

Drain and rinse in a collander.

Pour the 2 cups of rinsed quinoa into your saucepan and add the following.

2 cups of cornmeal
1 tbls. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. powdered ginger
2 tbls. butter (or coconut oil, or other oil/fat of your choice)
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup brown sugar (or honey)

Stir these ingredients together to combine.

Now add enough water to cover the quinoa/corn mixture. Probably about 5 cups.

Cook over medium heat stirring often until the mixture is thick and the quinoa is less white and slightly transparent. Cover and let stand for 10 minutes. Stir in the 1/2 of dried cranberries and pour into a loaf pan or casserole dish. (Note: It is best to store this mixture in a glass casserole dish or steel loaf pan and not in cast iron. Long-term storage in cast iron may cause the cast iron to rust due to moisture. Also, I was running out of cranberries when I made the batch pictured above so there’s not many showing.)

At breakfast time scoop out the serving size that you want and heat with a little cream and brown sugar to taste if needed.

Or you can change things up a bit and cut the mixture into slices, coat with flour and fry in a bit of oil for a gluten-free granola bar on the go.

You can see my other Allergy-Friendly Recipes by clicking here.

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Probiotic Chocolate “Pudding”

130831_0000A new favorite for my kids. It’s not actually pudding mind you. But it’s very tasty and makes a great healthy dessert. Simply melt a handful of chocolate chips. (Try Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips if you need to avoid dairy, nuts or soy.) To cool the chocolate down a bit stir in a bit of cream, coconut oil, or almond milk depending on your dietary needs. Then mix in 2-3 heaping spoonfuls of your favorite yogurt. I like plain whole milk yogurt. And just like that you have a yummy mock chocolate pudding that is delicious and full of probiotic goodness. Eat up kids.

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Allergy Friendly: Stir Fry!

Beef stir fry with ginger and garlic.

If you can’t have sesame and soy eating Chinese, Korean or other Oriental dishes is out. Here are some my favorite ways to adapt your favorite Chinese food to make them allergy friendly.

These recipes are free of soy, sesame, egg, dairy, nuts and either corn or wheat.

Start with a pot of your favorite rice cooked according to the package directions (I like brown rice).

Beef Stir Fry:
Next saute 1 1/2 lbs of  your favorite cut of beef cut into thin strips with salt and pepper. Throw a 6 cloves of garlic, 2 tbls. of fresh ginger root into the food processor and process until minced and add to the pan. Now add your favorite veggies – onions and peppers, broccoli and carrots, string beans, etc. Cook until the beef is done and the veggies are fork tender.

Chicken Stir Fry

Chicken Stir Fry

Chicken Stir Fry:
Begin by cutting uncooked chicken breasts into strips and saute with your oil of choice. Chop your favorite veggies – mushrooms, broccoli, carrots, onion, etc. Add the veggies to the pan stirring often. Next, prepare your sauce. Combine 2 cups of chicken stock, 1/4 cup of vinegar, 3 tbls. honey, salt/pepper (to taste), 2 tsp. garlic powder, crushed red pepper (optional). Whisk to combine. Add 2 tbls. of corn starch and stir into the sauce to thicken. (If you can’t use corn starch, then add some extra oil to your meat before you add your veggies and sprinkle 2 tbls. of flour (wheat or spelt) over the chicken. This will coat the chicken and combine with the fat to make a roux which will then thicken the sauce when you add it.) Pour over the meat and continue to cook over medium heat, stirring until thickened.

Click here to see my other allergy friendly recipes.

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Crock Pot Cooking: Tips and techniques for creating one-pot meals

Rival Crock Pot

Rival Crock Pot

The convenience of crock pots for me is that it’s a one-pot dish. You throw it all in to cook in the morning and by dinnertime (when everyone is melting down and you’re exhausted) dinner is ready.

However, this means that I have a hard time finding crock pot recipes that I will actually make. Most recipes that I come across require cooking the meat beforehand. Frankly, I’ve never understood that. If I wanted to cook the meat in the skillet, then I would cook the meat in the skillet and not cook it first so that then it could cook in the crock pot all day. So, if it requires cooking meat or sauteing beforehand then it’s pretty likely that it’s not going to make it to my dinner table. I do have a few recipes that I’ve used and liked (click here and scroll down to see a recommendation for my favorite little crock pot book). But, most of the time I end up modifying a recipe that I’ve used before or just making one up as I go along  based on what I have on hand.

So, here are some tips on coming up with your own crock pot meals.

Crock Pot Cooking Tips and Techniques:

  • Meat: If cooking meat with the bones in season with basic spices – salt, pepper and garlic (whole cloves with the skins on, read more about that here), cover with liquid so that you can use all the yummy bone broth. Visit the Pantry for directions on how to turn your homemade broth into bullion cubes.
  • Veggies: If cooking only veggies (like baked potatoes, mashed potatoes or sweet potatoes – read my other crock pot cooking article – click the Crock Pot Cooking category in the sidebar – for directions on how to cook these in your crock pot), then only add enough water to just cover the bottom of your crock pot by about one inch. You don’t want then to turn to mush. Since a crock pot is a sealed cooking system the veggies will cook with their own liquid and so it needs very little liquid added.
  • One-Pot Meals: These are my favorite meals to cook in my crock pot. If cooking meat and vegetables together put the meat on the bottom, especially if it contains bones. Add water, but just enough to barely come to the top of the meat. If adding veggies, add whole vegetables (i.e. whole potatoes) or large chunks if possible so that they are easy to remove whole. If adding rice, add extra liquid but only about half as much as what is the package directions say. And add a little bit of oil/fat to keep the rice from sticking to itself and the sides of the crock pot as it cooks. Always cook meals with rice on the low setting otherwise it can burn or stick on the sides of the crock pot.
  • Sauces and Stews: These are usually the chop it all up, toss it all in, stir and put the lid on kind of meals. However, I recently found a easy way to convert those “cook the meat first” recipes so that you can avoid cooking the meat first in a separate pan. Recently as I was in a make-it-up-as-I-go mode, I turned my crock pot on high, drizzled a little olive oil in the bottom and put my chopped meat in (Italian sausage in this case). This allowed the meat to start browning for about a half hour or so until I got all my veggies washed and chopped. So, I started washing and chopping and would occasionally give the meat a little stir. Just before I added all my veggies, I added a heaping tablespoon of flour which then absorbed all the fat from the meat and olive oil. This became my roux and will automatically thicken your sauce or stew as it cooks. I was very excited about this method as I’ve always hated having to thicken crock pot dishes at the end of cooking. If you can’t start with a roux as I did, then you can also dissolve a little corn starch in cold water and pour that in your crock pot at the end of the cooking period, stir and let it cook about five minutes longer to thicken.
  • Beverages/Desserts: These can be very yummy in the crockpot. Cobblers, bread pudding, apple butter, hot cider or hot chocolate. Usually they only need a few hours too cook at the most. If you’ve never cooked these in the crock pot I think it’s best to follow a recipe the first time and then improvise after that if you want to. For recipes that use milk or cream always cook on low or add during the last hour of cooking to avoid scalding the milk.

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New Family Favorite: Scrapple

8.17.13 004 Try our new favorite breakfast recipe – Scrapple. It’s traditionally  known as a Pennsylvania Dutch recipe but it’s actually something that I grew up eating even though that’s not at all my heritage. My grandmother made it for us. So maybe it was one of Maggie’s recipes. I don’t know.

Scrapple is basically a mixture of sausage and cornmeal. It may sound strange but it’s actually quite tasty. I had never made it for my kids, but in our search for more breakfast variety (since we eliminate eggs, oats, peanut butter, and some fruits for at least part of our family) I turned to my childhood and tried it. My kids like it and I like that it’s a good source of protein in the morning.

I had to call my mom to find out how to make it. She typically uses breakfast sausage (like Jimmy Dean) but our local store doesn’t carry a brand of breakfast sausage that I like. So I used sweet Italian sausage with some added seasonings and turned out quite well.

sausage simmering

sausage simmering

Start with….

1 lb. Italian sausage (sweet or spicy)
8 1/2 cups of water
1 medium sauce pan

Fill the sauce pan with the water and crumble the sausage (remove the casings first if necessary) by hand into the water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Now add….

1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 tbl. sage (note you may want to use less if you are nursing as sage reduces milk supply)

Stir. Then gradually add…

3 cups cornmeal
1/2 cup flour (all purpose, white spelt, whole wheat)

8.16.13 012Combine the cornmeal and flour in a bowl. MIx. Gradually add the cornmeal/flour mixture to the boiling water while stirring quickly. There will be some clumps of cornmeal but just keep stirring until all the cornmeal has been incorporated. You should now have a very dense, thick mixture. There should be no remaining liquid. It should be so thick that a wooden spoon will stand up on end in the mixture. If the mixture doesn’t seem that thick then add more cornmeal. Turn the heat off and immediately pour into a loaf pan (not cast iron as the moisture will cause it to rust). Let it cool completely and then refrigerate overnight so that the mixture will set.

In the morning, cut into slices about 1/2 inch thick and dip into flour to coat on both sides. Fry in a little bit of oil until crisp. Eat and enjoy.

Note: Once chilled, the scrapple should slice easily and hold together. If it falls apart and is still mushy when you take it out of the loaf pan then you need to add more cornmeal.

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Chocolate Banana Bread

yummy goodness

yummy goodness

I improvised on my basic King Arthur whole wheat flour banana bread bread recipe and came up with the most delicious, most chocolatey banana bread ever. It’s a new Family Favorite (click for recipe) and it’s so good I thought it deserved to be a blog post. 🙂

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What books are popping off my bookshelf?

Peruse the shelves to find out what I've been reading lately....

Peruse the shelves to find out what I’ve been reading lately….

Visit the Library to see what I’ve been reading lately. The topics that I’ve found interesting include cooking, gardening, historical recipes, herbs, natural cleaning and remedies, etc. Maybe you’ll find something that peaks your curiosity there too.

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Crock Pot Meal: Sausage Stew

I invented a yummy sausage stew this week. Here’s the recipe.

Note: This recipe is for an 8-quart crock pot or two 4-quart crock pots. Adjust for your crock pot size.

7.29.13 048drizzle of olive oil
2 lbs. Italian sausage (sweet or spicy)
4 potatoes, peeled and cubed
6-8 carrots peeled and sliced
1/2 lb. fresh green beans, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
half of a large yellow onion, chopped
one head of garlic, minced
one can tomato paste
heaping tbls. flour
salt and pepper to taste
water (fill halfway up the crock pot)

Turn the crock pot on high and let it begin to warm.  Drizzle some olive oil in the bottom of the crock pot. Add your sausage removing the casings and cutting into chunks with kitchen shears. Let the meat begin to brown while you chop your veggies.

When you are done chopping your vegetables, sprinkle salt, pepper and a tablespoon of flour in the sausage. Stir until the flour has disappeared by absorbing the oil. This is a roux and will thicken the stew for you.

Now throw in all your chopped veggies, and fill the crock pot half way up with water. Put the lid on. Cook on high for four hours or low for 6-8 hours.

Enjoy! Mmmm.