Our Undervalued Friends

April 26, 2016April 23, 2016 / makingofahome / 6 Comments

Oh, the dandelion. She is so often picked, sprayed and just plain despised by so many. What did this little lady ever do to deserve such harsh treatment? For in fact, it is her ability to pop up everywhere and withstand the harshest of treatment that makes her so wonderful!

Our little dandelion friends act as a detoxifier for our liver; are high in calcium, iron, magnesium, vitamin A and vitamin C; help tone the kidneys; and restore a general vitality to our bodies. It is for all of these reasons, that we try our best to harvest these beauties when we can and take advantage of all their undervalued greatness.

Last week the girls and I needed to clear our strawberry and asparagus bed of weeds, and there were lots of dandelions. So we picked and picked, trying our best to keep that lovely taproot intact. Then we rinsed those little gals a lot. (I think we ended up doing about 10-12 rinses to get all of the dirt off.) We then chopped up the roots, stems, crowns and some leaves and placed them in 1/2 gallon mason jars. Next we boiled apple cider vinegar and poured the boiling vinegar over the dandelions inside the mason jars. We placed the capped jars in a cabinet where they will stay for 3 weeks. After that time, we will strain the vinegar through a fine mesh strainer and refrigerate the vinegar for use over the next several months. This vinegar is great in salad dressings, but we also take shots of it when we feel a bit under the weather, or when we feel we need a pick-me-up.

***Important note: Because so many people spray dandelions with poisons chemicals, it is of the greatest importance that when picking dandelions to consume, you only do so in an area where you are assured they have not been spayed! I don’t even pick the dandelions around the perimeter of our property just in case a neighbor has sprayed their yard and some of those nasty chemicals may have leeched over the property line.

Elderberry Gelatin Parfait

January 13, 2016January 12, 2016 / makingofahome / 2 Comments

With winter now fully upon us, my family and I have found ourselves battling some stuffy noses and sore throats. We try to open up our mornings with a smoothie, and drink tea throughout the day, but I just began to feel that I needed to mix it up a bit and try something new in order to add an extra layer of immune support to our diet. Enter elderberries.

Elderberries act as a wonderful boost to the immune system, while also imparting a unique currant-like flavor to a dish. I have drunk tea infused with elderberries in the past, but again, I craved a change up of some sort. I got just that while at co-op a few weeks ago when a dear friend shared a fabulous lunch idea she often prepared for her children: elderberry gelatin. I just loved her idea because not only would this snack offer the immune support of elderberries, but also the unique health benefits of quality gelatin.

Well, this week I took my friend’s idea, ran with it, and crafted an elderberry gelatin parfait. I served it as “dessert” for dinner this week and my family gobbled it up. (Even my eldest daughter, who has a strange fear of gelatin (“I just don’t trust something that moves around like that on your spoon,” is her famous saying. :), gave the dish a whirl. I hope you and your family enjoy!

Elderberry Gelatin Parfait

Bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Once the water reaches a boil, turn off the heat, add 1/4 cup dried elderberries to the water, cover the pot and allow to steep for 15-25 (depending on how strong you would like the elderberry flavor).

While the berries are steeping, mix 4 tablespoons gelatin in 1 cup of cold water.

After the berries have steeped, strain out the berries using a fine mesh strainer. Then add 1/3 cup honey to the elderberry-infused water.

Slowly add the hot water-elderberry-honey mixture to the cold water-gelatin mixture, whisking continuously while doing so. Pour into a shallow dish and place in the refrigerator until set.

When it is time to serve, pour 1 cup heavy whipping cream in a bowl and beat until soft peaks form. Then cut the gelatin into small squares and alternate layers of gelatin and whipped cream in a small dish. 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.

“Let Food Be Thy Medicine” Smoothie

January 5, 2016January 4, 2016 / makingofahome / Leave a comment

Behind us now are those holiday parties and all the delicious goodies that pair so nicely with them, and my family is attempting to get back on track and return to nourishing our bodies as we know they should be.

Most days I make this smoothie for my girls and I, and it dawned on me this morning that I have never shared this recipe with all of you. It is a smoothie recipe I have tweaked over the past couple years as my knowledge of using food as medicine broadened. After a great deal of trail and error, we have found this smoothie meets our needs, while also leaving us with a smile on our face as we begin each day. It is packed with so much goodness, yet tastes great and has a consistency very similar to a milk shake (but with no dairy or sugar!).

This smoothie recipe is vegan and gluten free, and makes about 6 cups. I hope you enjoy!

“Let Food Be Thy Medicine” Smoothie

1 can coconut milk

1/2 cup pineapple juice

1/4 lime juice

1 avocado

1 apple

1 cup fresh kale (firmly packed)

1 handful watercress

1 handful cilantro

1 strip dried Kombu (or seaweed of choice)

2 cups frozen berry mix (strawberries, blue berries, raspberries, black raspberries, blackberries)

2 tablespoons hemp seed hearts

1 teaspoon stevia

1 tablespoon bentonite clay (0ptional…Bentonite clay supplies a wealth of dietary nutrients, as well as acting as an expeller of toxins from the body.)

Place all ingredients in a blender and run until it reaches your desired consistency. (I have a Vitamix and it mixes up quite nicely. However, I have used a run-of-the-mill blender to make this smoothie and it works well too.)

Vegan Soap Recipe

October 2, 2015October 22, 2015 / makingofahome / 1 Comment

Friends, I am so very excited to share with you my vegan soap recipe today! It is a recipe I have been experimenting with for several months now, and at this point I am very happy with the way the soap is turning out. I also worked with Brazilian clay this go round, and I am thrilled with those results as well.

This soap recipe has been a gradual evolutionary project for me. When I began making soap many years ago, I used a melt-and-pour base to which I added essential oils, herbs, and other fun things. I then moved on to making my own cold-pressed soap using a combination of lard and coconut oil. My struggle with making this type of soap was that at times when I did not have access to lard from a pig in which I knew the farmers that raised it, I was using lard purchased from the grocery store. I had a hard time with this because I am so careful to consume (and feed my family) foods in which I feel confident in its raising/growing, and here I was, making soap that would go be lathered onto the largest organ of our bodies (our skin!) and I didn’t know where it came from. I started to seek an alternative for our family during those months when we did not have access to local lard, and this is the result of those efforts. I hope you enjoy!

Vegan Soap Recipe

5 cups distilled water

12 oz lye

12 cups organic unrefined coconut oil

Essential oils of your choosing (if desired)

Brazilian clay of your choosing (if desired)

*Before you get started, please know that making soap with lye can be very dangerous. You MUST be sure you are wearing proper gloves and eyewear at all times, and you must be in a well ventilated room! (I never, ever make soap when my children are awake. It is not worth the risk of having them underfoot in any way. I normally make soap very late at night after my household is asleep. I open all of the windows in the kitchen, turn on all of our ceiling fans, and then begin.)

Step 1: In a large stainless steel bowl, carefully stir the lye into the distilled water. Stir continuously until all the lye is dissolved. (This mixture can rise in temperature to almost 200 degrees, so again, proceed with caution.) Allow the lye-water mixture to cool to 75 degrees. This can often take several hours.

Step 2: Warm the coconut oil in a stock pot until it becomes liquid. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to 80-85 degrees.

Step 3: In a very slow and steady stream, carefully add the coconut oil to the lye-water mixture while stirring constantly. (I often have my husband help with this process. I slowly stir the lye-water mixture while my husband ladles in the coconut oil.)

Step 4: Once all the coconut oil has been added, I use an immersion blender to get the soap to reach trace phase (the consistency of a thick honey).

Optional Step: If adding essential oils, blend the oils in at this time. And if adding clay for coloring your soap: mix a tablespoon of clay with .25-.50 mL of your chosen essential oil. Partially mix the clay into the soap mixture so it streaks.

Step 5: Pour mixture into soap molds. Cover with plastic. I then place lots of old beach towels on top of the plastic wrap to help insulate the soap.

Step 6: Allow your soap to remain insulted for 3-4 days. Then remove the soap from the molds, cut the soap (if necessary), and place on a cooling rack.

Step 7: Allow your soap to cure on the cooling rack for at least 2 months before using.

A New Look

September 10, 2015September 9, 2015 / makingofahome / Leave a comment

With all of the change in my family lately, I have tried to take a step back and really look at my life a bit more carefully. Time goes by in a simple blink doesn’t it? And when I really stopped to think about it, I have been writing this blog for almost four years now. And when I looked at the format of this space, and the picture that was its backdrop, I realized the little girl peering into the water has grown up. And my other daughter, who was too tiny to even be found on the dock in the picture, is now just as tall as my oldest, and she cannot be found anywhere else but beside her sister.

So, in keeping with my mantra to try new things, I hope you like the new format of Making of a Home. And I thank each of you for visiting this space, which I have come to hold so dear to my heart.

Dietmeier Apple Pie

August 31, 2015September 2, 2015 / makingofahome / Leave a comment

Every time we gathered at my grandparent’s house in southwestern Wisconsin, homemade apple pie could be found at the center of the dessert table. (Yes, there was always a dessert table. It was amazing.) My grandma and grandpa took turns making this family favorite, but it always tasted the same: deliciously tart, yet creamy, with a hint of cinnamon underneath a crunchy sugar-layer. To me, this pie is the quintessential fall dessert, and now that we have made the first one of the season, it seems that fall is truly being ushered in.

(The pie recipe is the same as my peach pie recipe that I shared here, and I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as you did the last.)

Dietmeier Apple Pie

I make my own crust (recipe found here). Place the crust in a pie plate (I love using this Stoneware pie plate because it does not burn the crust, and it looks great table side.) Then I fill the crust with tart sliced apples.

Add about 10 tiny dollops of butter on top of the apples. Then create a mixture of 1 cup sugar, 4 tablespoons flour and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Scoop this mixture over the apples and butter so the entire pie is coated. Then add just a touch (about 1/4 cup) of water to the pie. (Just sprinkle it over the top of the sugar mixture. This creates a delicious custard-like consistency when it bakes. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes and then reduce the heat to 325 degrees and bake for an additional for 45 minutes. Allow to rest at least 30 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Zucchini Bread with No Refined Sugar

August 24, 2015August 22, 2015 / makingofahome / 1 Comment

I have been playing around with local honey yet again (as I did in this post), and I am happy to say I have worked out a delicious, ambrosial zucchini bread made with no refined sugar. A while back I shared with you that I discovered my grandpa’s old recipe box and, tucked beneath oh so many recipe cards, I found one card explaining how to replace refined sugar with honey in baking recipes. Ever since this card’s discovery, I enjoy playing around with recipes to try to make them free of any type of refined sugars. Sometimes the recipes work great, other times, not so much. But I am happy to share with you today a recipe in which the sugar-replacement worked, and I think it’s pretty darn tasty! I hope you enjoy.

Zucchini Bread with No Refined Sugar

In a medium bowl, mix together:

1 3/4 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Set this dry mixture aside. Then in a large bowl, whisk together:

1 1/4 cups honey (I love using this great measuring cup when baking with honey because it allows me to use honey, but not have the sticky mess that normally results when doing so.)

1/2 cup canola oil

2 eggs

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 to 1 1/2 cup(s) grated zucchini

Next, mix the dry mixture into the wet mixture. Pour into a greased loaf pan. (For baked goods like breads and muffins I love using the Pampered Chef Stoneware because the yummies not only bake up great, but it allows for toxin-free baking and the pieces are made in America. For this recipe, I use this Stoneware Loaf Pan.) Bake in a 325 degree oven for about one hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

*Honey tends to burn faster than refined sugar. For this reason, your bread may brown on the top before the inside is fully cooked. If you notice this happening, simply cover the top of the bread with foil and then continue to bake. This will help to prevent further browning on the bread’s top.

Enjoy!

Mom’s Summer Cucumber Salad

August 19, 2015August 17, 2015 / makingofahome / Leave a comment

From the time my mom was given her diagnoses, her constant mantra was, “Please make sure you continue to tell our stories.” It was so very important to her that the stories of our family remain alive in our hearts and continue to be told and retold, even after she was no longer with us. During one of my vigils by my mom’s bedside, I assured her that I would indeed continue to tell her stories. I assured her I would not only share them with my girls, but with anyone and everyone who would listen. Because it is in our sharing of stories that I believe we truly get to know one another, and strengthen the bond that brings us all together in this great big world of ours. And to be honest with you, so many of my memories and stories seem to revolve around the sharing of food while sitting at a table with those we hold dear to us. I have loved sharing my family’s food stories in the past in this blog space, and it is my absolute pleasure to continue. Today I am thrilled to share with you the story of my mom’s summer cucumber salad.

While growing up, when the days seemed to stretch on forever, my sister and I felt compelled to stay outside all day long, riding bikes all over our neighborhood. It wasn’t until the sky began to turn rosey in the west that we would finally venture home, red-faced and exhausted. We would walk into the house, greeted by a cool blast from the air-conditioner, and find my mom setting the table in the kitchen. On these types of hot nights, instead of heating up the kitchen with lots of pots and pans on the stove and in the oven, my mom would always have a series of cool, fresh dishes waiting for us. My very favorite of these dishes was my mom’s cucumber salad. It was always so cool and creamy, yet tangy and fresh. It just tastes like summer.

Mom’s Summer Cucumber Salad

4-6 medium cucumbers

1 white onion

1 cup sour cream

¼ cup apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon dill weed

salt and pepper to taste

Whisk together the sour cream, apple cider vinegar, dill weed, salt and pepper. Thinly slice the cucumbers and onions. (I use a mandoline to accomplish this task because it leaves you with thin, consistently-cut produce.) Pour the sour cream/vinegar mixture over the cucumbers and onions. Mix until combined. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Enjoy!

Cherry Crisp

July 20, 2015July 27, 2015 / makingofahome / 1 Comment

Last week my girls and I, along with my sister, ventured to my in-law’s home and spent the afternoon tangled up in branches and brambles. It was picking’ time! By the time the day was done, we ended up with two giant bowls of tart cherries and black raspberries. Simply marvelous!

The black raspberries quickly became freezer jam, with the help of my six and eight-year old sous chefs. And the cherries, well, the cherries ended up going into an absolutely amazing cherry tart. I don’t often like to toot my own horn, but friends, it was good. Very good. Let me share the recipe…

Cherry Crisp

6 cups pitted tart cherries (This measurement was taken AFTER the cherries were pitted.)

1 cup local honey

2 T Non-GMO corn starch

Mix these ingredients in a large bowl and pour them into a 9×9 baking dish. (I use this baking dish because then I can serve the crisp table-side and it looks as good as it tastes.)

2 cups oats

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 stick cold butter cut into cubes

Mix all these ingredients together in a large bowl (such as one of these sustainably harvested bamboo bowls) using a pastry blender. Pour the crumbled mixture onto the cherry mixture.

Bake at 375 degrees for one hour. Allow 20 minutes to cool before serving. Enjoy!

Culinary Inspirations

June 22, 2015September 1, 2015 / makingofahome / 2 Comments

Just to give some forewarning, today’s post is going to be Monday-ish. You know how Mondays are? It’s the day when you wake up and have a million thoughts, plans and lists going all at the same time–that’s this post. Monday-ish.

So, here we go…Give me a good book and an even better piece of produce and I am a happy camper. Last week, I reached for two of my favorite books and some of my favorite spring-time produce, and I was off. I have often talked about this book before in past posts, but Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver is a book that will change your world. Not only is it a beautifully crafted piece about Kingsolver and her family’s journey toward eating locally, but it is also filled with the most delicious recipes! I looked out my kitchen window to find our strawberry and rhubarb bed was overflowing with goodness, so I knew this was the book I needed. I went with one of my favorite recipes in that book: the strawberry rhubarb crisp. This recipe is a family favorite, using very little refined sugar, and I love cooking it up in my small stoneware baker because I can cook in it and serve from it. This time, I chose to dish up this gooey creation in our nourish soup bowls, which I thought looked just lovely because of the matching color profiles. The other reason I have so many of these bowls on hand is because $2 of every bowl is donated to Feeding America.

Also growing in our strawberry and rhubarb bed is asparagus. We didn’t have a great crop of asparagus this year, so we supplemented our own with some from the farmers’ market. I tried a new recipe, pistachio-crusted asparagus with feta vinaigrette, from Ashley English’s Handmade Gatherings to showcase this delicious perennial. It was absolutely divine. In fact, every recipe I have tried from this book has been a crowd pleaser.

Now you may have noticed that when discussing the strawberry rhubarb crisp, I mentioned (and linked to) a few of my favorite kitchen essentials. Please understand, it is not my intention to lure you to my blog with discussions of holistic living and sustainability and then try to sell you something. Instead, I would love to share some of the kitchen items I use every day, because they help to make my life easier. My hope is that in sharing this information, I can also help to make your meal preparation easier.

The other reason in sharing this information with you is to provide a means to contribute to my family financially. After 3 years of debate, I have decided to leave teaching for good and homeschool my daughters. I have wanted to homeschool ever since my eldest went off to kindergarten, but always held back because homeschooling was just too very far outside the box at that time in my life. But as I mentioned last week, I need to do what I believe is best for my family, and for us, homeschooling is where it’s at 🙂 I have never beed more sure of a decision in my life, but the fact of the matter is that there will be a gap in our income. I have worked (or maybe I should say dabbled) as an independent consultant with Pampered Chef for over five years, and I believe it’s business model is one that is keeping with my family’s belief structure. It is based in Illinois (where we live), many of the products are made in the U.S., they provide funding to Feeding America and the American Cancer Society, and they allow women and men to work from home and put their families first. So, from time to time, I will share some products that I use, and it is up to you whether or not you would like to link to them and find out more information. I hope you understand my reasoning in doing this.

Well, if you have followed me through to this point, you have made it thought my Monday stream-of-conciousness post. Books. Produce. Recipes. Pampered Chef. Homeschooling. Lots of Action.

I wish you all a wonderful week, in which you can work through all those thoughts, follow through on all those plans, and check off all those items on your lists. Happy Monday, friends.