Rhubarb: A serenade & a muffin

Rhubarb cake & rhubarb compott, both bring instant happy childhood memories :).

Rhubarb is a pretty hardy plant that is easy to grow, and often grows in masses. You would not know it here in California, where Rhubarb is priced as if a truffle pig had to scout it out. Last year, I decided to plant my own in my front yard, where I am slowly removing the weeds lawn to make way for food. I do not water things I cannot eat. Even though rhubarb thrives in cooler climates, I decided that "I" am going to be a pioneer woman and grow rhubarb anyways....even if my summer average is a smoldering 100+ degrees. My plant actually grew, but my neighbor, whose over-sprinkling seemed like a blessing at first (I generally forget to water),  sprinkled too much and the plant literally drowned.  So in January I planted two new plants and a wall to safe guard them from the killer sprinkler, and by the end of January I saw the little heads of my old plants come back! EUREKA!!!

Rhubarb should not be harvested until the second year, so I am now harvesting my old plants :). I

have green rhubarb, just so you don't get think I am confused when you see the pictures! Today I got a big batch that looked like it wanted to get out of the heat.  You can store fresh rhubarb in a bucket with some water, just place it with the "root" side down in the water. I would not keep it this way for longer than a day. If you need longer, cut and put in the fridge in airtight containers (a few days), or freeze.

Since we are road tripping tomorrow, I made muffins. While looking for recipes, I found the coolest site, all about rhubarb and fittingly named Rhubarbinfo.com! I used their Rhubarb-Buttermilk recipe, but adapted it to fit my food:

WARNING: If you do not eat sugar, or butter, my recipes will offend you. I eat both. They make me happy.

Ingredients:

1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup salad oil coconut oil (I don't even know what that is.)

1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract (I used home made Bourbon Vanilla! Yum! Just soak 

pods in bourbon or rum!)
1 cup buttermilk kefir (I make kefir, always use it in lieu of buttermilk)
1 1/2 cups finely diced rhubarb
1/2 cups pecan pieces almond slivers. I did not put them in the mix, 

sprinkled them on top for crunch.
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour white spelt flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Topping: I completely omitted this. First, I only use butter. Second, I rather put the butter on my 

mmuffin :)

1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp melted margarine

Procedure:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 24 18 medium-sized muffin cups.
• Combine in large bowl: brown sugar, oil, egg, and vanilla. Beat until well mixed. Stir into mixture buttermilk, rhubarb, and pecans.
• In another bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add this mixture all at once to rhubarb mixture and stir until all ingredients are moistened. Do not over mix.
• Fill prepared muffin pan 3/4 full with batter.
• Quickly combine topping ingredients and sprinkle on top of batter in each muffin cup.
• Bake in preheated oven on center shelf 15 to 20 minutes.

YUM!!!

I also chopped up some rhubarb for compott. Easiest thing in the world, and tastes great on joghurt, pancakes, oatmeal, etc.

Chop rhubarb in 1/2 inch pieces. Put in pot, cover the bottom with a bit of water. Add some brown
sugar (to taste!), a cinnamon stick, and some cloves. Simmer until the rhubard is soft. Do not overcook, or you will have jam! You can add strawberries to this, they work nice together!
Put it in a mason jar, and store in the fridge for easy access!

Rhubarb freezes well too! Just chop in small pieces, and freeze. I like to write how many cups are in the bag on the bag. This way I can use it to make rhubarb jam (delicious, and a family favorite) in
the winter. Or I will just heat it up for compott or pie filling. 

So here is my muffin, my wine, my computer :). The perfect late night study snack. Happy Solstice to you!

Much love, Heike

No Lie, it's Natural!

People are often asking me about my hair.
"Is that natural?"
Maybe. Depends on what you mean with natural?

My natural hair color is dark brown/auburn. I started dying my hair when I was about 14ish :). Black, red, streaks, blondish, back to brown, pink, etc. I did it for fun, and change.

When I had my daughter, I began getting gray hair. By time I had my son 4 years later, the sides and top of hair were pretty much gray. Of course, I kept dying, 'cause gray is not my color :).

Unfortunately, or fortunately for my hair experiment addiction, my hair grows very fast. I had to dye every 3 weeks at least to cover my roots.

One day I was reading a research paper on chemicals in our every day cosmetics. I was already using organic cosmetic, making my own lotion, eating well, but I was still dying my hair every 3 weeks with chemicals that were leaching straight to my brain!

A change must be made! I had tried henna as a teen, and it was frickin' mess. But, I found henna was the only "real" natural hair color to my disposal, so off I went and ordered some.

The first three brands I used just did not do it. The color was weak, and it did not cover y grays.  Then I found Mehandi.com (just a note, I am NOT a affiliate, nor do I get free henna for mentioning them :)...) who sells "body art henna". One of their colors was precisely for covering gray. Hey, I had nothing to loose, and they had an excellent tutorial.

This was about 3 years ago. I have been dying my hair with henna since then, and I still only use the henna from Mehandi. So far, it is the only one that covers my gray, plus we like using the extra for tattoos :).

Don't let anyone tell you henna is easy. It is a messy biz, but once you get into your groove, it

becomes second nature. In comparison to using hair color, which often only takes 30 minutes, you do have to plan ahead. The henna needs to be mixed and "ripen". It is messy, and it takes a few hours (at least two) on your head, not the best time to go errand shopping :). The great thing is that henna hardly fades, so when your hair grows out, you can just d the roots. Amazingly enough, the roots always adjust to the rest of my hair, it is like magic. Also, the color LIVES, each hair is a different shade.

I am posting some pics to show you. If you want to try henna, check out the tutorial at Mehandi. com. She really explains it much better than I could.

You will need some good rubber gloves, Saran Wrap, and a good sense of humor :). Don't wear your favorite clothes, or use your favorite towels.

 

This is my hair early this morning. Everyone was sleeping, so I had to do a selfie with my phone.  You can see my gray, this is about 3 weeks growth. Also, you don't want to wash your hair for a few days before doing henna. I don't use shampoo (I do the "no poo" method, will post more soon), but still, I find this way the henna takes better, and my scalp does not take on so  much of the color. Just brush well before you go :).

 This is my hair after about 2 hours of henna. I usually leave it on longer, but this morning something came up so I had to rinse earlier. The longer I leave it on, the deeper the shade gets It is always REALLY bright in the sun when it  is fresh, my hair will darken a bit more over the next two days. But you can see, the roots are covered, and the magic happened. You cannot tell where the old or new henna meet. My scalp will be less red after the first "wash". For those of your that dye your hair red, you know it is a hard color to keep from fading. Henna does not fade.

If you read this and try henna, post a pic!

Have fun!

Much love,

Heike

Beets! Beets! Beets! Beetlejuice?

The Farmer's Market overrunneth with one of my favorite roots: RED BEETS!!

I love them so. When I was pregnant, instead of chocolate, I had cravings for red beets out of a can. They had to be canned beets, for reasons unknown. One day I swoll up like a puffer fish, and my canned beets and shrimp days were over.

Thankfully, I live in the Land of Abundance, and can get wonderful fresh beets at the farmer's market. I am actually going to grow my own this year to satisfy my need for unaltered, dirty, roots.

Here are my 3 favorite, quick recipes:

1. Beet & Carrot Salad.
Grate an equal amount of red beets and carrots. Mix. Make a viniagrette of olive oil and apple cider vinegar, salt & pepper, and dill. Or parsley. OR BOTH!! Toss, and eat. Warning, this is addictive, really. Good thing is, it is healthy and you can gorge yourself on it happily. Tastes even better the next day, so make lots more than you think you need.

2. Beet Kvaas.
If you have Russian neighbors, you will have seen the very, very old people who take walks like they are on a Volksmarch. Often, they are carrying bags. They are powerhouses of vigor. I am sure it is because they drink Beet Kvaas daily. This fermented drink is full of health magic. Google it to see. Here is how I make it.
Cut up 3-4 beets in big chunks. Put them in a 1/2 gallon Mason jar. Add 1 tblsp of GOOD salt (don't buy cheap salt for anything fermented. Just don't buy cheap salt. I like to use Redmond Real Salt. If you have whey, add about a 1/2 cup. Fill up with filtered water, or boiled water, or water from your magic spring. No tap water. Close tight, and watch for 2 days. After 2 days, taste it. Is should be bubbly, slightly salty, and red. If it is ready, put it in fridge and drink a glass a day. Once it is empty, use your beets one more time, same process. This kvaas will be slightly "thinner", but still good.
здоровье!

3. Soup

This is not Borscht, a traditional soup made from beets. This is a quick soup.
Cut 3-4 beets in smallish slices. Cut fresh ginger into small bits (I love ginger, us lots!!). Toss both in a hot pan with olive oil, until beets are slightly tender. Fill up with the bone broth from your refridgerator, or two cans of chicken broth. Let simmer for 20 minutes, add salt & pepper to taste. Add left over noodles, rice, quinoa, etc.  Enjoy the beautiful color! Put it in a bowl and top with fresh cilantro or parsley. 
YUM!

Have a favorite beet recipe? Share with me!
That rhymes :).

How does a Witch celebrate the Season?

I LOVE this time of year!

Autumn is my favorite, I get to pull out my boots & sweaters, and the FOOD! It makes me happy!

It is a few days before Thanksgiving, and you have surely noticed the GIFT messages everywhere. Gifting season is here!

I have made a Goddess Holiday Gift Guide this year, incorporating wonderful gifts, made with love, for your favorite Kitchen Witches, treasure hunters, vintage fans, or green witches :).

Enjoy!
Much love,
Heike

Quick, & very fattening. The best Cheesecake ever!

Many, many moons ago I visited New Orleans. During that stay I bought a fundraiser cookbook off of a nice lady I met :).

I LOVE this cookbook! It is about a million years old, a bit stained, a bit tattered, but it is still one of my favorite. Everything in there is SIMPLE :).

Everyone one in my house has a birthday cake favorite. Yesterday was my husband's birthday, and he wanted cheesecake.

Here is the recipe, hold on to your buttons!

3 large packages of soft cream cheese
4 eggs
3/4  cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 pint sour cream
1 box zwieback or ginger snap crumbs

Cream cheese and add 3/4 cups of sugar and eggs one at a time. Add vanilla. Pour into greased spring pan lined with zwieback on bottom. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Whip 1 pint sour cream 1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar and pour over cake. Return to same oven for another 10 minutes. Put in refrigerator for a least 3 hours and chill before serving.

Divine!!!

The original recipe says 2 hours chilling, but you will see in my pictures that 2 hours just does not set the cheesecake enough. Over night is what I usually do, but I was not on schedule yesterday and we could not wait any longer to dig in :).

Serve with strawberry sauce, or like us, plum sauce (that is actually supposed to be jam, but it did not set. Tastes fabulous!!)

Enjoy!!

Super Salad, Healing Wonder

The nights are getting longer, the days are getting a bit chillier.....I LOVE this time of year!!

Lots of opportunity for making "healing" foods :). Foods that nourish the body & the soul.

This is one of my favorite salads. It is raw, healthy, easy & quick to make, and tastes better the next day. So make a big bowl!

You will need:
red beets
carrots
parsley
fresh ginger
olive oil & apple cider vinegar
salt & pepper

You can determine your own ratio, but for this large salad I used 4 medium beets, and 6 large carrots. We like ginger, so I used about a 2 inch piece of fresh ginger cut small.

If you have a KitchenAid, grate the ginger and carrots. Transfer into a large bowl. Add ginger and chopped parsley. I usually just pour olive oil & vinegar over everything, add salt & pepper, and MIX!
You can make the sauce separately, if you wish.

This salad is crunchy, and is great as a side to pasta, or I just made it to along side of chicken curry.

It tastes even BETTER after it has soaked overnight. You can add feta cheese, mix it with salad greens, or even pour over pasta.

Enjoy!

GIVEAWAY!!! Pickle it!!!

I love fermented foods, especially sauerkraut. Fermented foods offer so many health benefits, they are yummy, and they extend the shelf life of veggies without having to can them.

I have tried various ways to ferment my own kraut. I even bought a beautiful stone crock must for making mounds & mounds of sauerkraut. Unfortunately, my crock does not come with a fitted top, so I had to improvise. Let me tell you the kraut story I will never live down:

One day, kept smelling "gas" in my kitchen. I live in an old house, built in 1950, so gas smells are always taken seriously. I called PG&E, and they had someone out within the hour to check. He came and smelled it too, but could not pinpoint a leak anywhere. After checking all the pipes and deeming the house safe, he left. I returned to the kitchen, and while walking into my pantry, I got a whiff again! I looked over,  and there stood my crock with kraut in it. I lifted the towel, and realized it was the benign, but smell culprit!

Now I have discovered  a fantastic, and non-smelly, way to make kraut. I love it because I do not have to worry about my kraut creeping out of the brine. All you need is a Mason Jar, and you can go from cabbage to kraut in 4-5 days! It also looks real cool, and fascinates little (and big) scientists, watching the bubbles as the concoction ferments!

I wanted to take a picture of our finished kraut, but this little bowl is all we had left when I went to take pictures. My kids ate it already. We are on our third batch.

 I was so excited to share this with you, I contacted Kayleigh, the fabulous owner of "Pickle-Biotic", and now you have a chance to win your own fermentation kit!! Just enter the Rafflecopter below!

You can find all kinds of cool recipes on Kayleigh's website. I just cut up the cabbage, pounded it into a 1/2 gallon Mason Jar, added the brine water, and 5 days later we have crispy kraut. I put my jar in a bowl to catch any overflow.


You know how much I love SIMPLE.


a Rafflecopter giveaway