Dairy Free Ice Cream

May 28, 2013May 26, 2013 / makingofahome / Leave a comment

The littlest Fagan just celebrated her 4th birthday, and this soon-to-be-chef had been planning her party menu for months. At the top of her list was The Pioneer Womans’ Blackberry Chip Ice Cream. Well, unfortunately for my tiny girl, a few days before the big shebang, we were told by her new doctor to avoid dairy and refined sugar. Huh. This placed quite the damper on our birthday party edibles.

But never fear, dairy alternatives are here! While big sis was at school, my little chef and I transformed our kitchen into a recipe test kitchen. We tinkered away for a few days and came up with a fabulous dairy free, refined sugar free version of The Pioneer Woman’s ice cream.

I hope you enjoy this summer treat as much as we did!

Dairy Free Ice Cream

Put 1 cup blackberries (these can be fresh or frozen) and 1/2 local honey in a blender. Blend until smooth and set aside.

Pour 2 13.5 oz cans of coconut milk into an ice cream maker. Switch the ice cream maker on and allow to run for 3-5 minutes. To the coconut milk, add 1 teaspoon vanilla. Once the vanilla is incorporated, add the blackberry/honey mixture.

Allow the ice cream maker to run until you notice a creamy consistency begins to form. Then add 3 oz. dairy free chocolate chips (we used these). Run the ice cream maker until the chocolate chips are evenly distributed throughout the ice cream.

Store in an air tight container in the freezer until you are ready to eat. (I suggest taking the ice cream out of the freezer about 5 minutes before you intend to serve it because the coconut milk tends to freeze pretty solid.)

Enjoy!

*A note about all my recipes: I use all organic ingredients, local when available. I use non-homogenized milk, and all of the dairy we use is from animals raised on pasture. I also use oils that are non-GMO verified. All our meat is raised locally on organic feed, and our beef is grass-fed, grass-finished. All our spices and cane sugar are fair-trade certified and purchased through a cooperative.

Kicking Things Off

May 6, 2013 / makingofahome / 1 Comment

It’s official. The school garden at The Cathedral of St. Peter School is fully under way! Sunday afternoon, we hosted a School Garden Kick-Off Festival where students and their families were able to peruse the garden space, take a look at our fabulous garden sign (hand-crafted by my father-in-law and decorated by the students of St. Peters), and visit with some very special guests.

We were so very fortunate to be joined on Sunday by Father Beekman, who blessed the garden space; Andrea Hazzard of Hazzard Free Farm spoke with families about growing and cooking with grains; Dick Zander of Zander Nursery met with students and their parents to discuss how to grow the best tomatoes in town; and Chef Paul Sletten of Abreo and Social visited with guests to discuss cooking with fresh produce. It was truly a wonderful afternoon. The weather could not have been more beautiful, and we were so thankful for all of the families who came out to help ring in this exciting new program for our school.

The entire day left me feeling a great sense of gratitude for all the Earth provides, and how her beauty and bounty can truly bring people together for the greater good. I cannot wait to see what wonderful adventures await the students of St. Peters as we venture forth with this new endeavor.

Breaking Ground

April 30, 2013April 29, 2013 / makingofahome / 3 Comments

After much anticipation, last week we began work on our school garden! Today I am thrilled to take you on a quick tour of our progress thus far. So strap on your garden boots, here we go…

We have a bit of structural work to complete this week because we are hosting a “School Garden Kick-Off Festival” on Sunday, where there will be garden tours, local farmers and a chef…oh my! We then hope to get the kids planting next week. I cannot wait!

At This Moment

April 29, 2013 / makingofahome / 1 Comment

At this moment I am…

~thrilled by the fact that our first plants of the year are peeking out from beneath the soil.

~snuggling with my kindergartener before she heads off to school for the day.

~loading my van with garden tools for another day of work in the school garden at Cathedral of St. Peter School. More on this later this week 🙂

~checking out a fabulous blog another mama passed along to me. It is amazing!

~attempting to craft a plan for tonight’s dinner, knowing I will be out of the house most of the day today.

~making breakfast smoothies for the gals of our house: oranges, kale, sprouts, apples, strawberries and blackberries…yum.

~trying to squeeze in some time to work on a family photo book. The last one I made was from the beginning of the school year, and now we have less than a month of school left. Yikes!

~counting down those last few days til school’s out for summer.

~wishing you a wonderful week!

Corn Sausage Chowder

April 16, 2013April 13, 2013 / makingofahome / 1 Comment

It seems that this is going to be a recipe-type week here at Making of a Home. As we inch closer to the growing season, we have been eating lots of food from our larder, to make space for this year’s bounty. Last night I grabbed bell peppers, sweet corn and chicken stock from our deep freeze and came up with this recipe from those ingredients. This is a hearty soup that will put some meat on your bones during these damp, April-shower-filled days.

In a stock pot, heat 1/2 stick butter and 2 tablespoons flour over medium heat to make a roux. Stirring constantly, heat this mixture until it turns a rich caramel color.

Add 1 diced red pepper, 1 diced green pepper, and 1 diced yellow onion to the roux mixture. Cook the vegetables until the onions become translucent. Be sure to stir often, scraping all of the roux-goodness from the bottom of the pan while you stir.

While the veggies are cooking, cook 2 pounds ground sausage in a skillet. Once cooked, set aside.

Add 1 quart chicken stock, 2 cups whole milk, 1/2 cup cream, 1 tablespoon salt and 1/2 pepper to the vegetable mixture. Simmer, with the lid on, for 20 minutes.

Add the kernels from 4 ears of sweet corn, the cooked sausage from earlier, and 8 ounces shredded Monterey jack cheese. Simmer uncovered for 45 minutes to one hour.

Garnish the chowder with a dollop of sour cream if you desire. Enjoy!

Grandpa Dit’s Molasses Cookies with a Twist

April 15, 2013September 1, 2015 / makingofahome / 2 Comments

I don’t know about you, but I can’t quite think of anything better on a Monday morning than cookies. So today, I bring you another of my Grandpa Dit’s recipes: Molasses Cookies.

(I just love showing pictures of my Grandpa’s recipe box…Doesn’t it just look like the type of recipe box a man would have…Made out of steel, splattered with rust marks? Love it 🙂 ) I played around a bit with his recipe, to sub out the shortening he called for, with a combination of butter and coconut oil. After some experimentation, and trial and error, I’ve come up with what I think is a really tasty molasses cookie that is bit different than the traditional molasses-filled treat.

Grandpa Dit’s Molasses Cookies

Step 1. Cream together the following with an electric mixer:

1/4 cup softened butter

1/3 cup coconut oil

1 cup sugar

Step 2. Once creamed, add:

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

Step 3. Continuing with the electric mixer, add:

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 cup molasses

Step 4. Using a wooden spoon, mix in:

2 cups all-purpuse flour

3/4 cups rolled oats

Step 5. Using a cookie scoop, drop the cookie dough on a greased cookie sheet. Then use the back of a tablespoon and make a depression in each dropped cookie. Sprinkle with sugar.

Step 6. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 10 minutes. Enjoy!

Join Me

April 10, 2013April 8, 2013 / makingofahome / Leave a comment

If you are looking for something to do this evening, join me at the Rockford Holistic Moms Network Meeting tonight at Just Goods in Rockford at 7 PM. I will be presenting at tonight’s meeting, and I would love to see some of you there! At tonight’s meeting, I will be discussing the ways in which my family has tried to create a “Suburban Homestead” of sorts, and how we try to create a means of food security for our family. It is sure to be a wonderful night. For more detailed information, visit our chapter Facebook page.

Holistic Moms Network is “a non-profit organization connecting parents who are interested in holistic health and green living. We encourage moms to trust their instincts, parent from the heart, use their innate sense of what is best for their children, live in balance with the Earth, and learn about the pros and cons of all healthcare and parenting options.

No matter where you are on your parenting or holistic living journey, you are welcome at HMN! We are a diverse and open-minded community, a place where your choices are respected and where you can learn and become informed! “

I hope to see you there!

Spring Break Baby

April 8, 2013 / makingofahome / 2 Comments

We just wrapped up Spring Break, and what an adventure it was. We first traveled to Madison, Wisconsin where we visited with family, celebrated and gave thanks over yummy food, and even squeezed in a bit of pool time. We then ventured back to the Northwoods for some quiet time with my husband’s grandparents. Nature in all her glory surrounded us up there. We were lucky enough to see a bald eagle and many, many, many deer. Oh my.

We returned home to lawns completely cleared of snow, a garden in desperate need of some TLC, and four whole days of break remaining! So, we strapped on our new garden boots and set to work. I had forgotten how much I missed being outside…just “in” it…you know. It was just fabulous.

I hope this Monday has been wonderful for all of you so far, and may you all have a lovely week!

Just Go With It

March 27, 2013March 25, 2013 / makingofahome / 3 Comments

Yes, it is March 27th. Yes, it is Spring. Yes, we are completely snow-covered and freezing. I’ve decided I need to move to the positive of this situation instead of dwelling on the negative. So, woolens it is. Why not sit under a quilt, with a mug of steaming hot coffee and crochet with a bit of lovely wool. And that’s just what I did.

The yarn is from this farm in Wisconsin. They can be found at the weekly farmers’ market in Madison, and they normally have their yarn for sale at their booth. (If you have never visited the Dane County Farmers’ Market, you must go! It is absolutely amazing…no matter the season…it’s year round and awesome!)

This is me embracing the frigid March temps. I’m just going with it.

Al Naturale

March 26, 2013September 2, 2015 / makingofahome / 4 Comments

Another of my favorite days is right around the corner. Sure, it is snowing outside as I write this, and the temperature last night dipped well below freezing, but no matter. Easter is just a few short days away.

Our house is always abustle with baking and crafts at this time of year, but our most favorite of all activities we find ourselves immersed in is dyeing those lovely little Easter eggs. For the second year now, we have opted to use natural dyeing agents to dye our eggs, and let me tell you…If you have never dyed eggs this way, you must try it! The entire process leads to a day full of fun, and this year we were even glad to find ourselves in our toasty kitchen from all that steam the pots were kicking off. I mean it was twenty-five degrees outside. Oh my.

There are many resources out there with a bunch of great ideas for natural dyeing agents. The book we used this year was Keeping Chickens: All You Need to Know to Care for a Happy, Healthy Flock by Ashley English.

One recommendation I would give is to try to find organic white eggs to use with these natural dyeing agents. These are sometimes difficult to find, as it took me driving to three different stores before I could find some, but it is well worth it. Last year we dyed organic brown eggs and the colors did not pop as much as they did this year.

Just to give you a frame of reference, starting with the yellow egg and moving clockwise…yellow (turmeric), violet (cranberries), brown (coffee grounds), pink (beets), bluish violet (blueberries and blackberries).