canned

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Lots going on here, like I know with you all too-traveling down south for my cousins graduation, participating in the girls school activities-school will be out in about a week, can you believe it!
In between all these happenings I'm also taking a class. The class, which meets once a week for seven weeks, is a class about food preservation. I am really enjoying this class because its so hands on-perhaps too hands on seeing that I cut my pinky finger pretty good today while cutting carrots for a pickled carrot recipe.
So far in the class we have made and canned jams, jellies, soups, fruits, and today we pickled lots of things and even made our own custom herb vinegars. I kept my vinegar simple, a white wine vinegar with chives. We also are making sauerkraut and kimchi the old school way (using salt fermentation). Next week we are going to learn the proper way to process and can tomatoes, make salsa, as well how to make fresh cheese-queso fresco. I think I'll take some tortilla chips to class for some good ole' taste testing (:
Have a great holiday weekend!

fermentation station

~brewing kombucha

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~injera starter

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~kefir grains

Someone has been busy in the kitchen and guess what it hasn't been me! My husband is currently experimenting with the process of fermentation. He is reviving some kefir grains that we have had for at least 2 years now (we thought they were not "alive", but after sitting out on the counter at room temperature for a week (and adding lots of sucanat) the grains are now bubbling up. Next is the injera. We are huge fans of Ethiopian food. Injera is like a sourdough pancake that is used to scoop up lentils, vegetables, and stewed meats-no utensils needed-and it is so so good. I think the starter has another week to go before its done. He also has a batch of kombucha going. Now I'm a little apprehensive about this one. My husband found a free scoby on craigslist and the person who gave it to him even included their favorite recipe. A couple of years ago (after reading Nourishing Traditions) I did think about making kombucha, but instead thought kefir would be easier and less daunting to make.
At first when I saw him doing all these things in the kitchen, I kinda felt like he was taking over my "territory"-not the kitchen per say (because he cooks a lot of the time too) but the territory of experimenting-doing "quirky things" but hey I'm learning to keep my mouth shut. Really I'm looking forward to the results of his fermentation station, especially the injera (:

in the kitchen, for the kitchen

~in the sink

~by the sink

~making salad

~making potholders

I actually cut out the material for these potholders before our move. I finally got around to sewing them up this weekend. A really small satisfying project (although I found it interesting to sew bias tape around a circle:) The pattern for these potholders are in Handmade Home.
Hope you are having a great Tuesday!

last week, this week....

~we've eaten quiche

~we've been hit by the cold/virus bug, drinking lots of tea with lemon and honey and taking cold medicines, my workout routine is also lacking now-really I should be in bed now but I can't sleep.

~we've been admiring the beauty of plants, forget clothes shopping- I'd rather go shopping at the plant nursery.


~we took enough cough syrup and a supply of cough drops in order to visit with a dear friend who was visiting in the area (from the Midwest), we had lunch at a great vegetarian restaurant (I told her to load up on elderberry syrup and vitamin C after our visit :) she's headed back home today.

I'd better go get some sleep, the kids on spring break this week and when these colds subside maybe we'll get to something a bit adventurous.
hope you are having a good week!

snack time

~today's after school snack

~my snack of choice lately, dates and slivered almonds

We try to eat relatively healthy snacks, but of course there are times we eat a cookie or two. Anyway my snack of choice lately has been dates with slivered almonds. Dates are so sweet, sticky, really they are natures own caramels. Just a few of them help subdue that sweet tooth of mine-they are full of good stuff too. Here are a list of snacks that make there way on our table after school and on the weekends~

*chips and salsa
*apples with nut butter or cheese
*bananas with nut butter
*crackers
*granola
*cut-up pieces of pineapple
*oranges
*toast with some spread
*popcorn popped in coconut oil and topped with a little butter and brewer's yeast

snacks of course should quell those hunger pains, but shouldn't fill us up.
I notice that the higher quality of the snack the more satisfied I feel (which really is the case with most of the food we eat).

Have a great weekend, and have some great snacks!

kitchen Sunday

I actually did spend some time in the kitchen Sunday, but not so much time on the other things I'd listed (the knitting, the laundry, the reading). I made potato fennel soup, quinoa salad, and gluten-free banana bread~

~rinsing quinoa before cooking


~chop, chop!


~soup simmering


~gluten free banana bread-with a "couple" of chocolate chips thrown in for good measure


It was so nice to come home after picking the girls up from school yesterday and not having to really worry about cooking right away (and it helped even more considering the schoolwork that needed attention). We ate the soup last night for dinner with some sandwiches. More is still in the fridge for my lunch today. The gluten-free banana bread turned out better than I thought it would. I tasted the batter before I placed it in the oven and it did have a pronounced "beany" flavor, but that flavor wasn't so strong after the bread finished baking and rested for awhile. I think it's pretty good and my youngest thinks so too (I suspect this has something to do with the chocolate chips-to her adding chocolate chips to a dish makes it absolutely delicious-note to self, add chocolate chips to tonight's broccoli :)
The gluten-free flour I used was from Bob's Red Mill. We are not a gluten-free family, but I am interested in consuming less gluten-maybe becoming more in terms of "gluten light".
I think I'll try to keep this Sunday cooking going because it definitely makes the start to the week a bit less hectic.
Have a great Tuesday!

soupin' it

soup, originally uploaded by *nichole*.

Made a big pot of white bean and kale minestrone soup this afternoon- a big pot because I want it to last most of the weekend. My oldest daughter has several church activities to participate in tomorrow, then I'm hoping to get some other things done on Sunday (laundry, reading, knitting, cooking). This upcoming Sunday I'm going to try to do a big food prep thing so that during the week we have things to eat on hand. I'm already planning to make another soup-potato fennel-for the week. I'll let you know how the Sunday food prep thing goes. My youngest stayed home from school today (she has a bit of a cough) so we took Chester to the vet for some of his immunizations and then we went to the co-op to stock up on apples, mandarin oranges, and bananas.
I like having fruit around.
Have a great weekend!

makin' something for Christmas

Remember this post, about wanting to make small knitted gifts for the family? Well I got around to it and knitted these for the girls~

slippers, originally uploaded by *nichole*.

The pattern is found in Knit Simple.I like to think of them as "peppermint slippers" because of course they are colors of peppermints. For my youngest daughter I used smaller needles and decreased the number of rounds knitted-also a crocheted draw sting was also added so that the fit could be a bit more snug. The girls tell me that the slippers are cozy, which of course makes me happy.

I also did a little sewing for the small pillows on the couch~

patchwork style, my seaming could have been a bit more precise, but I still think they add a colorful touch to the living area.

In the kitchen~

Swedish fruitcake, originally uploaded by *nichole*.

fruitcake-Swedish style, I made this last year-I love it, it's light and not as dense as the traditional fruitcake. I didn't have all the dried fruit that was listed in the recipe, so I just used what dried fruit I had in the cupboard, which included dried cranberries, dried apricots, candied ginger, and raisins.

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to all the new possibilities of the New Year.

goings on-part 2~ the food edition, mostly

Hey, remember I mentioned about eating more raw foods, well last night for dinner I had a collard wrap/roll and it was so good (similar to the raw kale wraps, but with salsa too). Really the hot weather just makes one crave for cool crunchy veggies, and sweet juicy fruits. So eating this way is definitely easier when the outside temps are in the nineties with unbearable humidity. Realistically though I know that I couldn't be a full time raw foodist because I like cooked food as well. I think it would be pretty tough to maintain a high raw diet in the winter, especially in a place that gets chilly-but like I said this is just me. I just love experimenting and I totally believe that you have to do what is right for your health, for yourself, and your loved ones, this is what I call liberation in eating!
Anyway while eating raw has been great for my dinners, we have been also clearing out our freezer because of our upcoming move. This clearing out included cooking up a turkey (a small one about ten pounds) that I had purchased about 2 years ago. I don't know if we are going to get that freezer all cleared out (alot of stuff is in there, hello-frozen apples from 2008?) so perhaps we will invite the college kids from our church over so they can have their pick of things-you know the college crew is always in need of food.
To tell the truth right at this moment in my life I feel a little overwhelmed. Our move is approaching fast, we are getting things packed, I want to make sure the kids are doing okay with everything as we get ready for the move, I want them to adjust well to their new environment, really I just want all of us to adjust well to our new home. I will also miss the wonderful friends I have made here in the Midwest. One friend (a friend I met through a fellow blogger) has been very special to me-I remember when her youngest was just a baby and now he's getting ready to turn three! Oh my, how I'm going to miss them. This will be the farthest that we have moved away from most of our extended family as well (we have usually been in driving distance to at least someone). Yet at the same time I am excited about moving to a new place and seeing the possibilities that await us there-prayerful and hopeful is were I'm at now days.

Well enough of this moving talk, lets get to the pictures-more foodie pictures (:

~berry flax smoothie (frozen raspberries, frozen fruit juice, fresh strawberries, ice, two tablespoons of milled flax and a squeeze of lemon-yum!)


~brewing sun tea

~visiting the Wednesday evening farmer's market


~milled flax


~a mango a day keeps everyone happy


have you had your mango today?

~the full days of May

The month of May was hectic. We had family visiting for two weeks, the girls finished school at the end of May, we traveled to the West Coast, appointments here and there, music lessons, plus the daily keeping up with meals, cleaning, etc.(which at random moments I may have been just a little frazzled, just a little:)
Seems like we are just trying to find our summer rhythm and truthfully we are not there yet. We have some things coming up this summer which involve major purging of junk and lots of cleaning-but right now I'm not going to think about that too hard. Instead I'll share some photos I took today along with a small list of things I'm loving, okay?

~flowers in our garden box


~peas, so good raw


~today's lunch


~things I'm loving

*this water, totally refreshing, no calories-a win, win

*Jack Johnson's new album

*this oil for my face (it's a bit pricey, but a tiny bit goes a long, long way)

*these shoes-they are awesome, really (especially on the treadmill)

Have a Happy Wednesday!

getting reacquainted

getting reacquainted, originally uploaded by *nichole*.

Really coffee is my every morning usual-I absolutely love my coffee, but today I wanted something-no scratch that-I needed something different. I haven't made a green smoothie in a long, long, while. This mornings concoction consisted of frozen mango chunks, spinach, honey, water, hemp-protein, chia seeds, and a small squeeze of lemon, and it was so refreshing, a totally successful reunion I'd say.
Green smoothies stick around this time, I think I need ya!

fruity

Yesterday for Easter I made two types of desserts-both based on fruit. As I've mentioned before I'm trying to healthify (is that a word?) our sweet selections. Now the most simple dessert one can make involves chocolate and fruit-and I believe anything with chocolate qualifies as a dessert.

~dried apricots and strawberries with dark chocolate


~our second dessert, a dairy-free fruit tart
we are not vegan, or even vegetarian for that matter-but the more I cook the more I love looking everywhere for recipes, ideas, suggestions. I don't like limitations, especailly in the kitchen. I made this tart by googling certain things (like dairy free vanilla pudding and vegan fruit tart) and the tweaking what I saw online with what I had in the pantry and fridge. The crust of the tart is a combination of ginger cookies, fine coconut flakes, almonds, dried apricots, a little coconut oil, and a dash of salt-pulsed together in the food processor then pressed into a pan. The filling part of the tart consists of pudding made with almond milk and pureed mango(I made the pudding first, cooled it overnight and folded the mango puree into the pudding the following morning). Strawberries and plums complete the top of the tart. Not too hard at all, and well worth the effort. Isn't it an awesome thing when desserts are actually good for you (:

paper mache and a birthday

this weekend included church, our weekly church potluck, experimenting with paper mache, eating Indian food and then baking up a birthday cake~

~tissue paper everywhere


~adding glue paste and tissue strips to the ballons


~ready to dry

~ingredients for carrot cake


~my husband's birthday cake frosted with cream cheese pecan frosting


an enjoyable yet full weekend.

oatmeal cookies with a power punch

I admit, I have a serious sweet tooth-and yet I know that this has to be kept under some control. Lately I've been having an insane craving for oatmeal cookies, but a lot of recipes for oatmeal cookies call for at least two sticks of butter. Believe me I'm a fan of butter, but I like to spread out my butter/oil consumption through out the day-and not be done with it in just a couple of bites. So this morning after dropping the kids off at school I got in the kitchen to do some experimenting.
My goal was to make a good oatmeal cookie, with less fat but that also had a bit of a nutritional punch. Basically I took a standard cookie recipe and made appropriate substitutions.

Another goal I wanted with this recipe was to use less flour. I replaced some of the flour with super fine grated coconut (pictured above) and I also added flax seeds. When the cookies came out of the oven I couldn't resist and had to try one right away. Being very hot, the texture reminded me of small oatmeal cakes, but as they cooled a nice slight crunch developed. After school the kids ate them and then asked for more-which I see as a good indication that I'll be making these again (and maybe I'll try a few more tweaks, you know me :)

here's the recipe~

dry ingredients
1 cup of super, super fine coconut
1 and 3/4 cups of old fashioned oats
3/4 cups of sugar (I used a combo sucanat and raw sugar)
1/4 cup of flour
2 tsp of baking powder (next time I'll reduce this to 1 tsp)
1/2 tsp of salt
1/4 cup of golden flax seeds
1/2 tsp of cinnamon

wet ingredients
2 eggs
4 tablespoons of butter, melted and cooled
2 tablespoons of peanut butter (or any nut butter)
1/4 cup of applesauce
1 tsp of vanilla

Preheat oven at 350 degrees.
Beat eggs and stir in cooled melted butter, peanut butter, applesauce, sugar and vanilla-combine until well mixed. In another bowl place dry ingredients and combine very well also. Take mixed dry ingredients and add gradually to the egg/butter/sugar mixture. Stir all ingredients together. Spoon drop cookies on cookie sheet bake for 10-15 minutes (when tops are a bit golden) at 350 degrees.

(I also think adding raisins, or some other dried fruit would be great, but my youngest has thing about cooked raisins).

what we ate today....

After a morning doctors appointment my youngest girl and I headed to the library cafe for a cookie and some tea (or in her case hot cocoa)~


for lunch we had broccoli soup, cukes, tomatoes, and pita bread with hummus~


and finally for dinner we all had~

chicken pot pie (:


happy Tuesday!

a year in review~food 2009

As this year comes to an end, with 2010 on our heels, I began wondering about all the food I cooked this year. Sometimes (really alot of times) I get bogged down with the daily preparation of food-but when something comes together and I'm pleased with the result, it makes all the time I spend in the kitchen well worth it (well that and also my crew, who like I've said many times before loves to eat). I remember when I started dating my husband nearly fifteen years ago, he had a way more diverse palate than I had at the time. He loves food, especially Asian and African food. Now me being from the South, I was really only acquainted with Southern cuisine-like chicken and gravy, collard greens, hot-water cornbread, black-eyed peas, chow-chow pinto beans, good, good food-food dear to my heart. When we met he totally encouraged me to eat out of my comfort zone which of course I was skeptical to do at first, but wow I am so glad that I did.
Here are some photographs of food that I took in 2009. Some food in process, some food that is fully prepared~

I'm looking forward to more good eats in 2010 and hope you are too.

Advent-days 21, 22, 23, 24~in pictures

~Christmas cookies decorated with friends



~table garland made


~pumpkin pie ready for oven


~plaintains chopped, ready for frying


~brussel sprouts prepared for Christmas Eve dinner


Have a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year.