Tummy Luv

Kim, of The Inadvertent Farmer,  shared the most amazing Hummus recipe which incorporates almond butter and curry.  Back in the day, I used almond butter instead of peanut butter… that is until the store from which I found said butter closed – a sad day. Kim’s  recipe. . .

3 cups cooked garbanzo beans (chick peas) or 2 cans

1/4 Cup of the cooking liquid from the beans

1/2 Cup Tahini (sesame seed paste)

3 cloves garlic peeled (I often use more but I’m a garlicky girl!)

1/4 Cup + 1 TBSP lemon juice

3 TBSP Water

3/4 tsp sea salt (adjust to your taste)

1/2 Cup Almond butter (I make mine out of raw almonds in the Vita-Mix)

2 tsp Curry powder
Put it all in a blender and blend till smooth!

(If you leave out the almond butter and curry you can have plain hummus, but what fun is that?)

Serve to your kids with carrots, peppers, broccoli or celery to dip…what a perfectly healthy and easy snack!

And just for fun try different flavors, like hummus with spinach, or feta cheese, or my all time favorite…roasted red and yellow peppers.  Oh my!

Almond butter had slipped my mind until I read Kim’s recipe.  She makes her own almond butter – oh how I would love to do the same!  The hunt was on. . .  Kim, correct me here – from what I have read online, one needs to blanch the almonds first to remove the skins, which can lend a bitter taste to the butter.  The easy blanch is place almonds in a bowl, cover with boiling water, sit for one minute, drain & rinse with cold water, pat dry and slip off skins.

Making said butter appears to require more than just my mini food processor (great for making ramp pesto) – what I am reading says that it will burn this little one out quickly – can anyone confirm or refute that statement?  Some say not to use the blender at it does not produce a smooth butter and another says a blender is fine.  Basically you place the nuts (work in batches) in the blender/processor and process til smooth.  The almond butter I bought in the store was just slightly crunchy; ever so slight.

Does anyone have experience with this?

Breezy

Two Frog Home's Window Quilt

Yes it is May (time flies, eh?), the furnace is shut down, and most blankets have been stored away.  Kathie’s post over at Two Frog Home has reminded me that in a few months, the cold weather will return.  The Ward House is an older home that can, even with replacement windows, have drafty moments.  Window quilts are a great answer to helping with the drafts AND using up those worn out flannel pajama pants that I hate to throw away (great fabric to reuse)!

Draft dodgers for the door bases is another must > I do not have a link for this…just yet.  So if you have a great idea or a pattern, please share!

Being instead of doing

This fits into an earlier post about what things cost.  Things being anything you want it to be – yes I used the word while trying to define ‘it’.  =P  Things can be material items, a job, a mindset, an idea, an action, etc.  You get the picture.  The original content can be found here.  May we be less doing and more being.

Have you ever admired a successful person? What was it that you admired? Was it their fame? Their lifestyle? Their accomplishments?

Society teaches us that to be successful, we must achieve-we, must “do” something to earn it. We are taught to work hard to be “successful”. And to show our success we buy things – material “things” that prove our success “status”. When we focus on earning success we become “Human Doings”.

Human Doings overload themselves with long lists of goals, objectives and “to do” lists. They become emotionally drained as they spread themselves too thin. Worse yet, they are unavailable to respond to the emotional needs of those around them because they have so little left to give. Just as a hand becomes calloused to toughen sensitive skin, so does a human doing become insensitive to “feeling” the emotions of those around him.

“Human Beings” consciously chooses to slow down, prioritize and maintain balance. They understand the risk of getting too over responsible to their success at the cost of becoming insensitive, distant and emotionally unavailable. They make a decision to stay in touch with those they love by setting up boundaries that prevent them from becoming a slave to their goals.

After yesterday’s posting about weeds, I took out my camera and began documenting the kinds of ‘weeds’ I have growing in my side iris/lilly soon-to-be-lettuce garden.  Dandelion and chickweed were the easiest ones to identify.  Am working to identify the others, see if they are good eatin!

Carrots, radishes and taters, Oh my!

It has been an interesting week.  Schools were closed on Monday as the shooter was still ‘at large’ so I stayed home with them.  It is amazing on how many chores ones thinks they can get done with an unexpected day off – NOT!  =)  We hung out with my doing some cooking/baking/knitting and the girls reading and surfing the web.  Late that afternoon Matt, the tractor guy, came and disc’d the garden.  It looks sooo good!!  Even the new ground was in great shape.  So Monday evening we planted 8 rows of potatoes; four white and four purple cadillac (the meat is not purple, just the skins).  In between the potatoes, I planted onions (white, yellow & purple).  Then we broadcast seeded the carrots and radishes together.  All of this is in my little book, to which I do not have access at the moment.  The rains started yesterday and will probably continue through the weekend.  Not a heavy, washing away dirt rain but a gentle, misting type – great for the garden!

I had considered planting partial shade loving plants in our front yard; however, since the girls enjoy playing in the front yard and we have taken over most of the back yard with the other garden, I believe these greens may be limited to what can be grown in the front flower beds.  Perhaps lettuces and spinach?

Tuesday was spent working both jobs and then yesterday I hung out at home, fixed dinner, read and hung out with my chillins.  Today I work both jobs and then will be off all weekend (yes, still work on Friday).  As I read my schedule in print I am reminded of an article I read in Causabon’s book about the cost of our ‘lifestyle’ and it has made me think; is my family really benefiting from my working both jobs?  The 2nd income helps to feed our technology addiction (cell phones and DSL) and when the girls have a field trip or need project supplies.  What is the cost of my not being at home on those evenings?  It sounds like a topic for a good family discussion.  =)

Chilling reads

Kathie, at Two Frog Home, has read all 117 of HR 875 and sums the bill up nicely here.  I also follow Casaubon’s book and Sharon had an interesting view on the same bill.

In the chilling read categorie we have The Age of Stupid from Climate Progress and Reading, ‘riting, ‘rithmetic, and moral reasoning from Casaubon’s Book.  The post from Casaubon’s Book I have personally witnessed on the local school system.  It is chilling.  Virginia has the Standard’s of Learning (SOLs – accurate name), part of the no child left behind mandate.  The school’s funding is based on those scores and if teachers want to keep their jobs, the classes must average a certain SOL average.  Teachers ‘teach’ to pass the test, notto  relay important information/knowledge/concepts.  *shivers*  I cannot say which I find more scary!

My posts have been infrequent and perhaps too thought provoking.  Nothing like a good shake in the boots to realize that homesteading is more than the ‘in’ thing to do; it is a matter of survival; to teach my kids how to live in a world that will be less hospitable than it is now, less technology based. Here in lies the challenge.  What about my grandchildren?

We all know there are more scary things than what I have posted.  It is just too mind boggling.  Can we save overload??  I think I need a cup of tea.

New Garden space & adapting

This weekend was busy with Ronnie’s birthday on Saturday and our outdoor frenzy on Sunday: we relocated the compost pile, planted two pear and two blueberry bushes, transplanted red raspberries from various parts in the yard, fixed the grape arbors and cleared out a slew of forsythias.  These forsythia had taken over about 8 foot of yard!  While cleaning out these bushes, I somehow contracted poison ivy.  Now in the past boiling broom sage has produced a lovely, see through brown liquid that is fantastic for drying this stuff out.  Well. . . . boiling it this eve did not produce this result and I am trying to figure out what I did wrong…  Has anyone else used this before?  Any other home remedies that work?  The web has a slew from white vinegar (which I am going to try) to banana peels and miracle whip!

Now for the odds n ends.  I am taking Sharon‘s class, Adapting in Place, and this week’s discussion is on water.  What to do if the power goes out and we are left to our own devices for water.  Aaron, who is co-teaching this class, posted this link for a Slow sand filter.  Sharon’s assessment protocols can be found at the oil drum.

I stumbled upon this blog and thought the parallels to be very interesting – and scary!

This post was thrown together.  Today was a very odd day; it felt as if I were trying to think through a thick fog. *bleck*  Hope it clears up for tomorrow as I bartend and may be out late.  Time for bed.

Nite ya’ll!  =)

Croissants

The Grist Mill purchases its breakfast pastry’s from a bakery in Staunton.  Over lunch, Ronnie and I were talking about my baking those pastries here.  Hmmm.  Croissants and scones are the usual fare.  Scones are fairly easy and could be whipped up in no time.  Croissants are another matter.  There are several articles online about how to make croissants ranging from those that look like canned biscuits to the buttery, flakey ones that I have tasted from a French bakery – these would be the ones to make.  After speaking with one of the managers, we would not be allowed to make pastries for the Inn as we are not FDA approved.  *rolls eyes*  How ’bout we just make sure that cottage industries die before they get started?  Anyway, while I am here, thought I would post a few pix of our wood cook stove biscuits.  These puppies are about 3 inches in diameter and 1-1.5 inches thick.

Oh and Riana with Those Days in French Life talks about food storage in her March 1st post including oilcloth sandwich bags.  From here I Googled and found this article on how to make oilcloth.  Seems simple enough.  When I am ready to try, I’ll post the outcome.  =)

Root crops & classes

Something I had not really thought of before that Throwback posted on Simple, Green, Frugal Co-op – growing root crops to feed not only the human family, but the dog and our up-coming chickens and maybe rabbits.  I am used to the spring/summer gardening with fall/winter gardening being something very new and outside the box!  I do not work at the restaurant tonite so this will be my project – planning a fall/winter garden while waiting for the washer to finish.

Participating in Causabon’s Book’s Adapting in place class has me kind of snowed at the moment.  I have taken online classes before (university of phoenix) but used Outlook Express to keep the class organized.  I may need to do that there, which means I cannot read during slow times at work.  Yahoo Groups is the not the best at organization. *bleck*

Cool articles I don’t want to forget and that you may find interesting:

• meal planning
• what I want to b when I grow up

The dance begins

I arrived home from work this eve to discover that Ronnie has completed the cook stove installation – there were grey/clear puffies coming from the chimney.  The wood cook stove is operational!  Whoo Hoo!  I wont get to cook on it tonite though as we are due to be in Roanoke later this eve.  I apologize for the dark picture; the flash on my camera has died.  =(

Oh, and on another trip to town, I found this – what a great idea!

I did it!

I realize this is elementary to most of you and for some reason it filled me with such satisfaction I just had to share.

Several weeks ago I asked about how my boiled down chicken broth in a jar should look – it appeared to be all gelatenous.  Well, last nite I made some white chili with navy beans and used my gleatenous chicken broth (it liquifies with heat) and made the most awesome chili.  There were no leftovers!  Means I did good with dinner; however, back to the lunch dilema.  Ho hum.  =)