Great Rewards

Homemade almond butter

Making your own almond butter is so easy. Buy almonds in bulk and you'll save tons of money compared to jars of almond butter. I like to add a little salt and maple syrup or honey, but that's totally optional. Enjoy some almond butter in a sandwich, with apples, or anywhere you'd use other nut or seed butters.

Raw almond butter

2 cups raw organic almonds
pinch of real salt, or to taste (optional)
1-2 tb maple syrup or honey, or to taste (optional)

Place almonds in food processor. Note: if you keep them frozen, thaw them first. Process in food processor, scraping down sides as needed. Once it gets past the floury stage and starts getting paste-like, add the salt and sweetener. Process until smooth and creamy. This usually takes about 10 minutes, then you have fresh raw almond butter to enjoy!

Homemade Sauerkraut

Making your own sauerkraut is SO easy! I wanted to make it for years but was scared. I tried to make it once a few years ago, wasn't the best recipe or procedure, and it got all moldy because I forgot about it. This recipe is pretty foolproof. According to Sally Fallon of Nourishing Traditions, to ensure consistently satisfactory results, you should add homemade whey (never use commercial concentrated whey or dried whey). Whey supplies lactobacilli and acts as an inoculant. Personally I've had great results whether I use whey or not, so that's totally up to you.

Ingredients:
1 head organic cabbage
1 TB real salt
4 TB homemade whey (optional)

Remove outer leaves of cabbage. Shred the cabbage, minus the core. I use they shredding disk in my food processor. You could shred by hand or slice really thin with a knife if you'd like. Place shredded cabbage in a big bowl. Toss with salt, and whey if you're using it. Pound it really good, you want to release the liquid. I usually start by pounding it with a potato masher, then I squeeze it really good with my hands (obviously wash them well first)...then I place a bowl or plate on top of the cabbage with weights on it and let it sit for a half hour or so to get more liquid out.
Like this:

Don't mind the tiny sliver of carrot that accidentally got mixed in from a batch with carrots =)

Take cabbage mixture and press it down into a sterilized quart jar. Use a wooden dowel or a rubber spatula to push it down really well so the liquid rises above the cabbage. The liquid must be above the cabbage, if it's not, keep pressing. If it really seams like your liquid won't rise anymore, you can add a little salt water (real salt with purified water). Put the lid on real tight. Leave jar at room temperature for atleast three days. I sometimes leave mine for up to 7 days. I usually taste it and see if I'd like it a little tangier. After the 3 days (or however long you let it ferment) put it in the fridge. It will last for a very long time. The beauty of fermented food is that if it goes bad, it's extremely obvious. It will smell so bad that nothing could make you want to eat it =)
The first batch of sauerkraut I made was SO exciting! After the fermenting time, I opened up the jar and took a bite. I kept yelling "I made sauerkraut!!!" The kids kind of thought I was nuts. They obviously just don't understand how expensive a jar of organic sauerkraut is! 

Raw Ranch Dressing

I love ranch dressing! I have not found an organic ranch dressing in the store that I actually liked. So a couple months ago I started making my own and I love it! It reminds me of my favorite ranch from a restaurant in California I used to work at. I compare all ranch dressings to that one!
Organic ingredients are always recommended.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup buttermilk (I always make ranch immediately after making butter. A friend gave me a recipe for using kefir instead too, which is pretty yummy, if you can get raw organic kefir, or make it yourself)
1 ts garlic chives (regular chives would work great too), chopped
1/2 ts dried parsley
1/2 ts dried dill
1/2 ts garlic powder
1/2 ts onion flakes or onion powder
Pinch of thyme
Pinch of good salt (celtic or real salt) or more to taste
1/8 ts ground pepper

Whisk all ingredients together and let it sit in the fridge for atleast a half hour before using. Use within a week.
Enjoy!

Making Kimchi (Korean Sauerkraut)

Like I stated in a previous post, I've been fermenting like crazy lately. I don't know why I didn't try it earlier. It's so easy, and soooo good for you! Unfortunately I haven't had time to post anything about it yet. So I felt really bad when my  husband looked at me with a pouty face last night and said "How come your kimchi hasn't made it onto your blog yet?" So I said, "It's not like you ever read my blog!" He says, "You don't know that!" So here we go, let's see if he reads it and notices the kimchi =) Hubbie was Seabee in the Navy when we met. Before we met, he was in Korea for 7 months. In Korea they serve kimchi with everything, so he has a great love for kimchi. I've looked at it in the store and thought anyone would be crazy to actually eat that stuff, seriously looked gross to me. I would occasionally (ok, maybe it was only twice in the ten years we've been married) buy some kimchi for him but I refused to try it. I come to find out that most traditional kimchi is made with fish sauce, shrimp, or squid, none of which I care to eat. So when I started on this fermenting kick a few months ago, I saw a recipe in Sally Fallon's "Nourishing Traditions" for kimchi. There wasn't anything fishy in it so I thought I would give it a try for my awesome husband. Though, I find nothing wrong with the recipe, he says it is NOTHING like anything he ever had in Korea. To be fair, he says it's super yummy, just not kimchi. So after doing some research into what makes "real" kimchi, I found that kimchi is a regional thing in Korea. It's made different depending on where you are in Korea and what you can find locally. So I'm thinking, "Great, how the heck am I supposed to make a kimchi he'll like when it's different all over the country!?!?" Well, I lucked out and found a Korean ladies website (http://www.maangchi.com) and I veganized her kimchi recipe and tweaked it and hubby loved it!!! He said it wasn't "exactly" right due to the lack of fish sauce (bleh) but he was totally ok with that because he hates fish sauce (go figure how he ate so much kimchi in Korea, if he hates fish sauce???). I put fish sauce in a Thai Coconut Soup once and he almost vomited due to the fishy taste (it seriously wasn't that bad, he's just dramatic...haha let's see if he's reading this). But, as a huge pat on my back, he said (regarding my kimchi) "I would be happy never having any other kimchi ever again as long as I can have this one!" =) I agree that it's really yummy. But it is strong and spicy. For the sake of co-workers, never eat before going into a meeting and for the sake of your spouse, never eat before bed!

This picture is my current batch that has only fermented for a day. It will get darker as it ferments longer.

Vegan Kimchi
This recipe calls for 8-10 pounds of Napa cabbage. This makes about a gallon of kimchi. The first time I made it I used one large Napa cabbage which was about 4 or 5 lbs and it made a half gallon. So you can cut this recipe in half or whatever and it still works great! Organic ingredients are always recommended.

10 lbs Napa Cabbage (give or take a lb or 2)
1 Daikon Radish, peal and julienne
1 bunch green onions, diced
1 cup diced onion
2 tb minced ginger
1 head of garlic (not one clove, on entire head, peal all cloves)
3 tb crushed red pepper flakes (you can use less to make less spicy, or use more for super spicy)
3 cups filtered water
1/2 cup white rice flour
1 cup salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup Braggs Liquid Aminos or organic soy sauce

Start by cutting up your cabbage. Cut off an inch or two on the core end and then slice length-wise into eighths (cut into quarters first and then cut each quarter in half). Slice into bite size pieces. Put all your cut up cabbage in a big basin or very large bowl, cover with cold water and soak for a few minutes. Drain. Toss with the 1 cup of salt. Let it sit for 90 minutes, tossing every 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, make a porridge to make your kimchi paste. Bring the 3 cups of water and 1/2 cup rice flour, well blended, to a light boil, just seeing bubbles rise, stirring often. Add 1/4 cup sugar and cook for another 5 minutes or so, until translucent. Set aside and let cool completely.

Once your porridge is cooled, place in a food processor the ginger, garlic, red pepper flakes, Braggs or soy sauce, and diced onion. Process and then mix into porridge in a big bowl. Toss in your daikon radish and green onions. Mix well and your kimchi paste is done.

Once your cabbage is done with the 90 minutes of salting, rinse 3 times to remove the salt.

Toss the cabbage with the kimchi paste and pack into glass jars pushing down with a wooden dowel or a rubber spatula to release any air and bring the liquid to the top. Leave atleast an inch head space, 2 inches would probably be better, it expands a lot. Place the lid on tightly and leave sitting at room temperature for 3 days. After the 3 days place in the refrigerator.

This is a time consuming recipe, but the actual hands on time really isn't that bad. Serve as a side dish or a small snack. I like to open the fridge and take a bite and then walk away, often =)

Enjoy!

Feels like forever...

We've had some good weather for hiking. Which usually means I'm lagging behind taking cool pictures =) I thought this hollowed out tree was really neat looking.

Feels like forever since I've posted and in reality it's only been two weeks! We've had birthdays, broken arms, everyday swim lessons for two weeks, everyday soccer camp for a week, the start of the baseball season, not to mention everyday stuff like trying to finish school for the school year, cooking, cleaning, housebreaking the puppy (NOT going well), and researching puppy training after said puppy broke the above mentioned arm....sigh. That reminds me to mention that vitamin C is not only good for when you're sick, but it's good to help aid in any healing in your body, including broken bones. Honestly, we've been lucky. With four kids, we've only had two broken arms, and they were both the same kid. Eek...reaching around to knock on every piece of wood I can find.

I have had no time to type new recipes unfortunately, though I have tons of pictures of them =) Not to mention I've been a fermenting fool! I have found the greatness and ease of fermenting and I can't stop fermenting everything! I think I have a problem, and my refrigerator would have to agree. Even though I've admitted I have a problem, I still couldn't stop myself from buying a head of organic cabbage at the grocery store a few days ago. I mean, come on, they don't always carry organic cabbage, I HAD to buy it right? Not only have I made sauerkraut, but I've also made a vegetarian kimchi (Korean sauerkraut, hubby was in Korea in the Navy), fermented salsa, different sauerkraut blends: cabbage carrot onion garlic, and cabbage jalapeno onion, and spicy sauerkraut with red pepper flakes, and cabbage onion garlic. I think that might be it. But, see, I really need to stop for awhile, my refrigerator can't handle any more jars! But you can look forward to some information and recipes on fermenting in the future!

As for tonight, for dinner I'm making Baked Chicken Parm Casserole Yum Yum! I'm trying it with a gluten free stuffing mix for the topping this time. I'm also about to whip up some Granola Bars. And...if I have time I want to try a raw date bar recipe I conjured up in my head...Hopefully it works!

Layered bean dip

I sometimes wonder if I"m part Mexican...I'm not...but I still wonder. I could eat Mexican food every.single.day. Seriously. Luckily my family loves it too....though they would not be cool with every day, but a couple times a week seems to work for everyone (with a secret stash of chips and salsa on hand for me). Here's a great bean dip that's wonderful for parties, or movie nights, or "dips for dinner" night, ha. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
2 cups organic pinto or black beans, cooked
2 cloves organic garlic
1/2 organic onion
1/2 ts good salt, or to taste
1/2 ts garlic powder
Handful cilantro
Toppings: (any or all)
1 cup shredded organic cheddar cheese
1/2 cup organic sour cream
1 bunch green onions, diced
1 tomato diced
sliced black olives

Process in a food processor: beans, garlic, onion, salt, garlic powder, and cilantro. Spoon mixture into a serving bowl. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top. Spread a layer of sour cream on top of cheese if desired. Sprinkle green onions, tomatoes, and olives on the very top. Bake for about 5-10 minutes at 350 degrees to warm through and melt cheese. Serve with organic tortilla chips!

Chickens in the Spring

Our chickens have been loving the warm weather so I took the opportunity to take some nice pictures of them outside. If you remember from a previous post, we have some "top hat" chickens with feathers on top of their heads. They have grown into some of the funniest looking chickens ever...and oh SO friendly! They follow us around and ask to get pet. Granted if you're holding the chickens scrap bucket walking across the yard, it IS a bit disturbing to see 30 chickens following you. I mean, I KNOW they are harmless (well they are now that our attack rooster is no longer) but it's kinda creepy!

This is "Don King"

This is the sweetest and prettiest chicken I have EVER seen. I don't think I've ever seen her eyes. She has feathers on her feet too. If you hold her, she doesn't want you to put her down. Such a sweetie.

A Rhode Island Red. She actually looks silly to me without feathers on her head!

This picture is deceiving. This one is actually the smallest most petite chicken I've ever seen.

This one was actually really hard to get a picture of because she is SO friendly. I'd crouch down to take a picture and she would come right up in my face. I needed a macro lens for her, haha.

This is Manuka. She's our miracle chicken. We had 6 chicks we hatched last spring. They were actually way overdue (kind of like my kids, haha). They had gone past the 21 day incubation and we had no chicks. We had a big power outage part way through their incubation and we assumed they weren't going to hatch. at all. So at 5 days overdue we had to go out of town for two days. When we came back there were 2 chicks in the incubator! I freaked out and was running around screaming that we had to make a "home" for them and get them out. Over the next couple days we ended up with 6 total chicks. Over the summer they were let outside into a little fenced area. Our dog was completely obsessed with them. This is a dog who never cared about chickens before but something about these 6 made her crazy. They got a little bigger and were released into the coop. Not long later one disappeared. Then we found one half dead laying behind the coop with the dog over her licking her. We weren't sure if she had done it or found her and was licking her to nurse her. A couple days later as I'm finishing up the dinner dishes, my oldest boy comes running inside yelling that the dog bit the head off a chick. He had witnessed a headless chick fly out of the coop and the dog jump out behind it chasing it. Needless to say we weren't so happy about that. She was only allowed out supervised after that. But she did occasionally get let out by a kid or run up in the woods so we would lose track of her. With 4 kids the dog isn't always a priority. She ended up getting 2 more of the chicks. The one above was the last of that group of chicks. We protected her like crazy. I always called her Honey. She was so friendly. She had lost all her "friends" so we were her new friends. She followed us everywhere and would come running if she saw us come out of the house. Since she was our Miracle Chick, I changed her name to Manuka (manuka honey is a special kind of honey from New Zealand that has healing properties). She is still very friendly!

Homemade Graham Crackers

I am on a quest to not buy packaged food anymore...so expect some great recipes coming your way! Homemade is always better, with less ingredients, better quality ingredients, and no preservatives. I've been anti-packaged foods for awhile but due to the munchkins I would still buy some snacks. In an effort to not do that anymore, I am trying out all sorts of recipes to replace the beloved snacks my kids love. These graham crackers are pretty yummy. They don't have the exact consistency of store bought crackers but they taste great. I also like that depending on how long you cook them they can be crunchy or soft. They taste like cookies when soft! Yum! You can use these to snack on, for smores, or for sweet dips. I generally always double the recipe below. As written it makes approximately 2 dozen depending on what size you cut them. I usually only make them about 2 or 3 inches long.


Homemade Graham Crackers

Ingredients:
 1 1/4 cups organic whole wheat flour (plus some for dusting your rolling surface)
1 1/2 ts organic ground cinnamon
1/2 ts baking soda
1/2 ts good salt
2 TB cold butter,organic, cut into small pieces
2 organic egg whites, divided
6 TB organic brown sugar
2 TB honey
1 TB organic vanilla extract
3 TB organic sucanat or other organic cane sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. My oven heats unevenly so I do one baking sheet at a time. If you have a more reliable oven you can do more than one baking sheet at a time.

In a food processor, mix together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and butter. Process until it's fine meal consistency. If you don't have a food processor you can mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl and work the butter in with your fingers. In a medium bowl, whisk together 1 egg white, brown sugar, honey and vanilla. Add this to flour mixture and stir until a sticky dough forms. I find I need to get my hands in there to get all the flour incorporated.



Turn half of the dough out onto a very well floured surface and roll out into a 10-inch square (it will be thin). Cut into 12 rectangles and transfer to the prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 1 inch apart. Repeat process with remaining dough and second prepared baking sheet if doing two at a time. Otherwise wait until after baking first batch.


Brush crackers with remaining egg white. Note that when I double the recipe I still only need one egg white to brush the tops. Sprinkle with the sucanat or cane sugar, or a mix of cinnamon and sugar. Bake for 10-12 minutes. My oven does them perfectly at 11 minutes, 9 minutes if I want them soft. They are usually done when you can smell them. They won't harden until cooled.


Repeat with the rest of the dough.

First 5k

Last Saturday I spontaneously decided to run a 5k. The night before hubby started talking about it and decided he wanted to do it. I hadn't signed up for it because I didn't feel ready...but then hubby who has barely ran in the last year suddenly decided to do it, so that was a challenge, I had to do it. Though I did walk some of it, I finished it, and beat my previous time for 3 miles at home by almost 5 minutes. Of course hubby beat me by 3 minutes. But of course he was in some pain afterwards. That has only encouraged him to start running more. As for me, it has given me a goal of a time to beat, and to be able to run the whole thing. My internal battle with running continues and I am determined to beat it. At the very latest, I will be running another 5k in July, and I WILL run the whole thing =) I took a week off from running this last week but I am back to it tomorrow. Anything is possible when you put your mind to it. A friend told me to "just keep running". And that is what I will do!