Kitchen Floor Therapy

The first time my kids saw me on my hands and knees, with a bucket next to me, wiping the floor.....they asked if someone had puked :). Now, they know to leave me alone when they see me wiping.

When I ditch the mop, and get back to my roots, either:
1. I am bonding with my Oma. She lived, and I grew up, in an old browstone. There were 10 apartments in her building, and each week one apartment was responsible for wiping down the stairwell. Yep, all flights of stairs and entry lobby. And don't you DARE not do it! My Oma was a neat freak. When she got older, I would take over her wiping when I visited. I would also wipe her floors where she did not have rugs.  I never used a mop until I got to the U.S., we did it with a bucket, and a rag :). Her picture hangs in my kitchen, and she is watching me with a smile on her face. I think we could have done surgery on her floors.

2. Need thinking time. When I scrub my kitchen floor, I think. The kitchen is "my place". It is the heart of the house, this is where I brew & stew, and this is where I go to ground. When I scrub that floor, I don't listen to music or talk, I just silently scrub & ponder.

When I am done, I feel happy. Yes, my knees hurt, as I am not 18 anymore, but it doesn't matter. I have tried to meditate for many years, completely failed. This is how I meditate. If I really need some grounding and simmer down time, I do the whole house (this is when the family flees).

I use hot water and vinegar, and throw in some essential oils and a few sprigs of rosemary. My favorite scents are rosemary, peppermint, lemon, lavender, or today I used Super Immune, a mix I purchased :). The EO's clear my mind as I scrub.

Before the floor dries, the dog trapses across it to say hello, and at least one child will instantly poof away if they don't immediately get some water or food. It is never ending :).

I always finish with a happy sigh and an ice cold brew. Perfect ending.

Much love,
Heike

Squash is taking over the world, are you ready?

Fresh from the garden :)

This year I thought ahead, and planted only TWO squash plants :). Plus, I chose a mediterranean squash (sounded mysterious :)...), and a spaghetti squash instead of our standard zucchini & yellow crookneck. I know I will get both left in anonymous baskets on my front porch not too long from now.

The funny round squash is already bursting. One day I will go out and there is nothing, and the next day there will be a few of fabulous little green pumpkin looking surprises.

I love to ferment, and when I googled, sure enough, I found a Lacto-Fermented Summer Squash recipe. If you’re wondering what to do with it all why not ferment it which improves flavor, digestibility, and keeps for months in cold storage. Quick & simple too, my favorite. And friends, this is what you are getting for Christmas & Yule, as my magic squash plants are promising with lots of flowers......

Lacto-Fermented Summer Squash from Culturesforhealth.com
(original recipe here)

Ingredients:

• 1-2 medium sized summer squash, cut into 1/2″ chunks (just enough to fit in a quart jar)

• 3 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled

• a few sprigs of flowering cilantro.

• a couple of mesquite, oak, or grape leaves (to keep them crunchy)

• 1 quart of filtered water

• 2 tablespoons sea salt

Instructions:

1. Combine water and sea salt, stir well and set aside.

1. Add the crushed garlic and one sprig of flowering cilantro to the bottom of a quart jar. Fill jar halfway up with chunks of summer squash. Add a bit more garlic and cilantro and fill the jar with squash chunks up to 1-2″ below rim.

1. Pour salt water brine over the squash. At this point you want to weigh the squash down in order for it to remain below the level of the brine and ferment evenly. This isn’t an ideal solution, but I like to use a narrow-mouthed lid in my wide-mouth quart ferments. Just press it down until enough brine covers it that it weighs the squash down. You could also use a cabbage leaf or a cleaned rock.

1. Cover tightly with a canning lid and ring. Allow to sit out at somewhere near room temperature, ideally 60-80 degrees. Check your jars and burp them every 12 hours or so by loosening the lid and allowing some gas to escape.

1. Let ferment 2-5 days, depending on temperature and then transfer to cold storage (refrigerator, root cellar, etc.).

P.S. If you are in the need of grape leaves, and live in Sacramento, I am happy to share. I have LOTS. Not sprayed either :). Stuffed grape leaves is next....

Easy DIY Laundry Soap

I do a lot of laundry. Trust me, detergent is put to the test in this house, especially the laundry of my 11yr old son.........

About a year and a half ago, I came across an easy recipe for laundry soap. Bonus: it WORKS! Once you do this, you most likely will never go back to buying detergent.

1. It is easy, grating the soap is the most tedious part, and that is what we all have children for.
2. It is cheap, and if you do as much laundry as I do, you will appreciate that.
3. You can be rest assured that there is nothing in your laundry soap that will slowly diminish you.
4. If you forget the laundry in the washing machine for a few hours, or even overnight, it will NOT smell like moldy socks!!

Our water tends to be hard, so I put white vinegar in the rinse cycle (when I remember). Also, if the laundry is SUPER DIRTY,  I will add a scoop of OxyClean.

Recipe: (you will see why it is so easy to remember, you won't even have to save this post!)

1 bar of Fels Naptha soap.
This is what I use, but some people use Ivory soap. If you are very sensitive, you could use Dr. Bronner, but that would make it costly. Grate the soap with a cheese grater. The smaller the pieces, the better they will dissolve. I bought a grater at the thrift store just for soap. Don't use your kitchen stuff, your cheese will ever taste the same.....

2 cups Borax
2 cups Super Washing Soda
2 cups Baking Soda

Layer it all in a big gallon size jar (old pickle jar?) and SHAKE. You can add some essential oils to this if you like. The soap is pretty smelly, so I don't. You will need between 3 and 5 tbls of detergent per wash, depending on your wash load & water. Experiment and see what works best. I get my supplies at my local ACE Hardware most of the time, but if I am ordering something from Amazon, I use them. Great deals on bigger sizes. Costco has a great price on a 13.5lb bag of Baking Soda, which I use everywhere, so BIGGER is BETTER!

Nettle & Garlic LOVE

Sometimes,  a recipe catches my eye because it looks pretty :), and sometimes because my favorite foods are in the title.

In this case, the nettles & garlic reeled me in. Nettles is the "all wonder" herb in my book, and I try to get as much of it as I can.

You can find the original recipe on Mountain Rose Herbs blog. I made a few switches to accommodate what I had in the house, and my biscuits look a little different. I copied the original recipe, and made my switches below.

Talk about YUM!!! Just the smell of them baking had us all drooling!

Nettle Garlic Buttermilk Biscuits

• 2 cups organic spelt flour (I only had the whole wheat kind, would normally use white spelt flour to make them a bit lighter)
 • 1⁄2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 cloves fresh garlic, crushed
• 5 tablespoons organic unsalted butter
• 1 cup 1.5% organic buttermilk
• 1/2 cup dry nettle leaves, soaked for 10-15 in the buttermilk. You can buy dry nettles here.


1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Combine flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a large mixing bowl and stir thoroughly. Using two butter knives or a pastry cutter, add the butter until the mixture resembles a crumbly meal.
2. In a separate bowl, combine buttermilk with finely chopped garlic and Nettle leaf. Add this liquid mixture to the dry ingredients and gently fold together to form a soft dough.
3. Form small balls, smoosh them flat to resemble biscuits (I did not roll them out, like to save dishes and time).
4. Bake the biscuits for 14-16 minutes or until light golden brown. (watch your biscuits. I find spelt flour often needs less time than regular flour.)
5. Remove from the baking sheet to avoid over crisping your biscuit bottoms and serve warm fresh from the oven with butter.
Makes 10-11 biscuits.

Served with chili :)

I warmed these up in the oven, wrapped in some alu foil, the next day, and they were delicious. A bit
more crumbly than day 1. My daughter requested that I make them with cheese next time, which sounds like an excellent idea, and makes me think of quiche.

Bon appetit!

1 chicken = 3 meals

Until recently, I did  not know you can "roast" a chicken in a crockpot.

I know, right?? Where have I been?

Now that I know, a chicken has a hard time escaping my crock pot, one of my FAVORITE kitchen utensils.

Just in case I am not the only who has been devoid of the chicken secret, I am posting this fabulous way to make 3 meals out of one chicken......while shooting the breeze (or reading a book, or playing on Facebook...).

First meal:
Cut one onion, cover the bottom of crock. Wash chicken. Remove any gizzards, and put them in the

crock. Stuff chicken with an organic lemon, and any herbs you have. I love rosemary, thyme, and marjoran, and they love me by growing abundantly here :). Rub chicken with salt & pepper, or garam masala. Cook on high for 6-8 hours. Check with thermometer for doneness.....poultry should reach at least 165 degrees.

Second:
Eat wonderful, juicy chicken, but keep all the bones. Put any chicken left overs in a glass jar in fridge for tomorrow!

DO NOT CLEAN OUT CROCK. DO NOT THROW AWAY BONES!!!

yummy stock

Put all your bones back in the crock, with whatever is left in there (lemon, gizzards, herbs). Add some garlic and celery. Put in some wine, if you like.  Fill with water to top, and let cook on low overnight at least, longer is ok.

Third, and second meal:
Strain fabulous chicken stock. Give your dog any gritty knuckles and gizzards :).

Heat in pot with some cream and make thickish sauce. Add chicken leftover meat. Add some kapers, salt n' pepper, and fresh parsley. Serve over rice, noodles, or make dumplings. Server with green salad. Mmmmmm.

Fourth, and third meal:

Saute' some onions. Add turmeric and let soak into onions a bit....before everything burns, fill up with rest of chicken stock. Add some sliced carrots, green onions, and noodles (we like rice vermicelli from the Asian store :)..). When everything is done, whisk up 2-3 fresh eggs, and add to boiling soup. Stir quick until eggs 'shreds". Sprinkle with some fresh parsley or cilantro, and a side of fresh bread.

YUM!

1 chicken = 3 meals. Can't beat that!

Love,
Heike

This magic stings!

Stinging nettles is one of my favorite herbs. It is one of those magic plants that just gives!

Especially beneficial for women, here is a "short" excerpt from Dr. Christopher:
"Stinging nettle is an astringent, diuretic, tonic, anodyne, pectoral, rubefacient, styptic, anthelmintic, nutritive, alterative, hemetic, anti-rheumatic, anti-allergenic, anti-lithic/lithotriptic, haemostatic, stimulant, decongestant, herpatic, febrifuge, kidney depurative/nephritic, galactagogue, hypoglycemic, expectorant, anti-spasmodic, and anti-histamine. 

Nettle leaf is among the most valuable herbal remedies.  Because of its many nutrients, stinging nettle is traditionally used as a spring tonic.  It is a slow-acting nutritive herb that gently cleanses the body of metabolic wastes.  It is one of the safest alteratives, especially in the treatment of chronic disorders that require long-term treatment.  It has a gentle, stimulating effect on the lymphatic system, enhancing the excretion of wastes through the kidneys. 

Nettle’s iron content makes it a wonderful blood builder, and the presence of vitamin C aids in the iron absorption.  As a hemetic (an herb rich in iron), this is an excellent herb for anemia and fatigue, especially in women.  It “promotes the process of protein transanimation in the liver, effectively utilizing digested proteins, while simultaneously preventing them from being discharged through the body as waste products.” 

WOW! Right?

There are many creative ways to incorporate the beautiful Nettle into your body, I prefer infusions. Simple. I put a handful of dry nettles in a quart size mason jar and cover with boiling water. Cover and let stand overnight. Strain the next morning and drink throughout the day. Voila!
P.S. The only place I get dry nettles is at Mountain Rose Herbs.
When you purchase dry nettles, make sure they are DARK green, and smell earthy. Anything that is grayish, or does not smell is usually old. It will not have the same healing properties. You can get a huge bag at Mountain Rose for under $10.

You can be adventurous and pick your own Nettles. Yes, I think that is crazy, but I have done it and it is also very fulfilling to talk to Nettle and ask her to spare you the sting, thanking her for her healing as you pick :). Make sure to educate yourself before you go, and wear thick gloves!

AND LAST, BUT NOT LEAST!!
I love Nettles during the spring. It is a wonderful spring tonic, but my biggest secret is that she saves us from allergies. Yep. When the first blossoms come out, we Nettle up. 

I even give my fabulous Rex dry nettles. Last year, my dog started shaking his head violently, and licking his paws. I ended up taking him to the vet, as his ears and paws were bothering him and getting raw. The vet noticed that I had been there the same time of year (almost to the day) a few years back, with the same symptons. Why not the years in between? Duh! I was giving Rex Nettles RIGHT at the beginning of allergy season. $150 later, equipped with chemical war fare to help him heal, I swore to put him on a regime.

So, I simply put a handful of dry Nettle into about a cup of wet dog food. He will gulp it down because he never gets canned food and this is a treat :). You can put it in anything wet: egg, make your food, etc.  Start with a little first to see if your dog will tolerate it.  It is worth a try, and has saved me lots of $$'s!


 

NO WHEAT! Banana spelt muffins

I have given up wheat! It is a dramatic adventure, as I live & breathe baked goods, bread, and pasta. I am experimenting, and often, the experiments are so bad not even the dog wants to eat it. BUT, every once in a while, I have a winner! These muffins are healthy, and SO yummy!

I found this recipe on fannetasticfoods originally, but altered it a bit. Here is my version.

 I usually get about 8 nice sized muffins out of this.

Ingredients:

• 2 C spelt flour
• a good swig of maple syrup
• 1/2 C finely ground flaxseed
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 3 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 3/4 C  milk
• 1/2 C plain nonfat Greek yogurt
• Optional add ins: 1/2 C each of: walnuts, sunflower seeds, chopped almonds, chia seeds (which I put in the muffin in the pic)

1. Preheat oven to 300 (spelt bakes more quickly than regular flour!). (I actually set my oven to 350. Experiment!!)
2. In two large bowls, separately mix dry (flour, sugar, flax, cinnamon, baking powder/soda, salt) and wet (bananas, milk, yogurt, add-ins) ingredients.
3. Add wet ingredients to dry, stirring until mixed.
4. Spoon into a cooking-sprayed or nonstick muffin pan.
5. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes. Time varies every time I make them. Do a sticky test for doneness. These muffins are moist, so do not overbake.

Now spread with a thick slab of butter, and enjoy!