Homemade Jam: How to and Why I love it

I have been making jam with fresh picked berries for several years. Each year I do it I make more because we love it so much. We go to u-pick farms for strawberries in the spring and then blueberries in mid summer. As I said in an earlier post this week we picked about 14 pounds of organic strawberries for $2.25/lb. I think we ate about 4 pounds fresh on pancakes and for snacks, so I had about 10 pounds for jam.

Benefits of making jam at home:

1. Control of amount of sugar and what is going into the jam
2. Supports local farms
3. Less waste--use same jars year after year
4. Cost:  I spent about $1.50 per 8oz jar of jam 

•  I've been buying conventional (not organic) all fruit preserves at Kroger for $1.79 for 8 oz. To get it homemade, local, and organic would be a whole lot more.
• The only place you can get organic jam cheaper is in large quatities at Costco or maybe Trader Joe's and we don't have either. 

This homemade (local and organic is even better!) jam makes great gifts for teachers, friends, neighbors, and families. Another thing I love about having jam around is that it is very satisfying to have the pretty red or blue jars of fruit in the pantry. It is very rewarding to pull a jar of my own jam out of the pantry and serve it to my family:) 

What you need to make strawberry jam:

Berries. For the smallest batch you'll need about 2 quarts of berries which will yield 4-5 cups of jam. (If you want to make a bigger batch you can. I made 4 batches at once.)

Pomona's Fruit Pectin

This is an all natural pectin that can be found at your local natural food store like Earthfare, Wholefoods, etc. (or the amazon link provided) It is what makes the jam have the gel consistency without using gelatin or alternately using tons of sugar and cooking way down the old fashion way. It comes in a small box for somewhere around $3.00-$4.00. There are detailed instructions and recipes inside the box.

Jars. Jars come in cases at the grocery stores. You only need 4-5 cup or 2 pint jars but you have to buy them in a case. Consider this an investment as you'll be able to use the same jars for many years.

Lids and rims. The metal rims can be used many times but the flat lids have rubber seals and these need to be replaced every year. Get these near the jars at the grocery store.

Sugar. The amount depends on how much you want to use. I used 1 cup organic sugar per batch.

Water Bath Canner. Get from Target, Walmart or hardware stores. 

Misc. Canning supplies optional but very helpful. The funnel and tongs are a must.

The Process:

1. Wash, trim, and mash about 2 quarts of berries. You'll need 4 cups of mashed berries for one batch.

2. Sterilize the jars. Do this by boiling them in water for 10 minutes or cleaning them in high heat dishwasher. Leave them in the water or washer until needed so they stay warm. Consider how much time this step is going to take because getting a large pot of water to boil or a cycle in the wash take different amounts of time. When you have about 20 minutes left start the rest of the process.

3. Sterilize the lids and rims. Put them in small pot covered with water and boil for 10 minutes. Leave them in the pot until needed.

4. Open box of pectin. Directions clearly explain the following. It comes with 2 small pouches. The large one is the pectin that you add to the sugar and the small one is calcium powder.

5. First add the 2 teasponns of calcium to 1/2 water and stir well. Keep in the refrigerator until needed.

6. Measure proper amount of sugar in a bowl. The amount varies depending on your taste.

7. Measure 2 teaspoons of the pectin (large pouch) and add to the sugar. Stir well.

8. Place berries in large pot and add calcium water. Stir well. Bring to a boil. Add sugar and stir vigorously for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat.

9. Use a ladle and funnel to scoop hot jam into hot jars. Leave a half inch of space at top of jar. Wipe rims with wet cloth. Place lids on top. Screw down rims tight but not too tight. Usually I tighten as much as I can then go back a bit.

10. Use tongs to place jars in boiling water. They need to be fully submerged with about an inch of water on top. Boil for 5 mins (check instructions because you may need to add time depending on altitude.)

11. Remove from water with tongs and let cool. After a few minutes check that jars have sealed. I love hearing the little clicks as the lids are sucked down:) It's a sign of success! If they do not seal the first, remove lid and check that there is nothing on the rim blocking the seal and reboil for 5 minutes.

Easy Tasty Veggie Soup

I have to give credit to my friend Lesley for this meal idea. She wrote about this soup on her blog a few months ago and I've been making it about once a week all winter! It is easy to put together and cooks up in about 30 minutes. A lot of times (when I'm making any soup) I make it early in the day and let it sit on the stove for the afternoon. Chopping the veggies ahead of time will make it go even faster. The soup is very versatile, but the main ingredient is the bag of Bob's Red Mill Vegi Soup Mix which contains split yellow, red and green peas, lentils, barley, and alphabet pasta. This meal is a huge hit with my kids and is something I serve to other kids and families who may not be used to eating our style of food.


Ingredients:
2 cups vegi soup mix
1 onion finely chopped
1 carrot finely chopped
2 ribs celery finely chopped
4 cloves garlic finely chopped
2 cubes veggie bouillon plus 8 cups water (equivalent to 8 cups veggie broth plus extra water)
1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke
salt and pepper to taste


Saute onion, garlic, celery, and carrots for about 5 minutes or until they get soft. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook for 20 mins.


Optional:
You can add a handful of chopped greens (kale, collards, spinach) the last few minutes of cooking. Potatoes are also good in this soup but you'll need to add extra water. Canned tomato paste goes well also. Daniel made it into a curried soup by adding Indian spices and you can also make it more Italian flavored by adding basil, oregano, rosemary, etc. The options of what you can do with this little bag of soup are endless.

The bag is on sale at Kroger right now. Usually it is around $4.50 but it was going for around $3 the last time I was in there so I bought all of them!

New Recipes

I got this cookbook Appetite for Reduction

for Christmas. The author, Isa Chandra Moskowitz, has several other great vegan cookbooks but this one focused on dishes with healthier ingredients. She has cut out most oil, processed foods, and sugar. She uses whole fresh foods.

A lot of the recipes are spicy and a little too flavorful for my kids. The girls love bland food--plain sandwiches with no mustard or mayo and salad with no dressing! I might be making some of the recipes for just the grown ups because everything looks yummy to me.

The first thing I tried was this balsamic viniagrette recipe that I'll share. It is EXCELLENT. I love the use of cashews to make it creamy.

1/4 cup cashews (soaked in half cup water for at least an hour preferably overnight)
2 tablespoons chopped shallot
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
1 teaspoon agave nectar
3/4 teaspoons salt
a few pinches of fresh pepper

Put cashews and shallots in food processor and pulse to chop. Then add the rest of the ingredients and blend for 5 minutes scraping down the sides often. Transfer to sealable container and chill. Makes 1 cup dressing.

Sorry no pictures. We ate it too fast...

Surprised by squash

I have been working on a few squash recipes this week. I am amazed at how much you can do with squash! It can be put in almost any thing -- stir fry, pizza, soup, and my two new favorites, bread and pot pie.

I have adapted my old zucchini bread recipe and I now call it squash bread. The last batch I made actually had 3 kinds of squash mixed together since I had half a zucchini left from the day before, then I added a medium yellow squash, then half a trombone squash.

First I will share the basic recipe that I have adapted from several different cookbooks. You can modify the recipe several ways without changing the flavor very much. To reduce the sugar just leave out half. You can use 1/2 wheat flour and 1/2 white flour and substitute coco powder for 1/2 cup flour to give it a chocolate flavor. Add a handful of chocolate chips for more of a treat. You can leave out a 1/2 cup of oil without substituting the applesauce and it still comes out great although a little dry. We put earth balance (margarine) on it anyway so I like to decrease the oil. I made the muffins above with 2/3 the sugar and 1/2 the oil last night. I sprinkled a little powdered sugar on top and brought them to share with some friends and they were a hit.

3 tablespoons of ground flax seeds
1/2 cup water
1 cup canola oil or half cup oil and 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tablespoon white vinegar
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups grated zucchini
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup raisins

Mix the flax seeds and water and whisk for a minute then set aside. Mix oil, sugar, and vanilla, then add flax mix, and squash.

Mix dry ingredients together then add to the wet ingredients. Add nuts, raisins, etc. last.

Bake at 350. This makes 2 loaves or 2 muffin tins or one 9x13 pan.The recipe doubles easily.



Next, I adapted this pot pie recipe from Joy of Cooking. I was excited because the original recipe included winter squash and did not involve mixing flour into the base. You simply saute the veggies of your choice individually. Then mix them together with salt and pepper and pour into baking dish. Then cover the veggies with broth. While that is baking, mix drop biscuit recipe to spread on top. Easiest pot pie I've found and it tastes fantastic. Here's the link for a simple biscuit recipe that I love. If you want more details about the pot pie recipe just let me know. I don't want to type it up unless I know someone will want it:)



I was able to use up a lot of squash this week with those two recipes and also summer squash soup. The girls are not big fans of squash although Arianna doesn't mind it as much. Everyone loves it in the bread, though. Have I said enough about squash bread to make you want to try it:)

Friday harvest and recipe

• 3 lbs potatoes
• 2.5 lbs collards
• 3 lbs bok choi
• .75 lb turnips
• 1.5 lbs turnip greens
• .75 lb radish
• 1.25 lb swiss chard
• 1 lb kale
• .75 lb little bok choi
• 14 oz lettuce
• 1.75 lb bunching onions

Here is a recipe for a Greens, Tomatoes, and chick peas dish I pulled and modified from Joy of Cooking (my all time favorite cook book.) Rachel Ray also has a similar recipe. It is quick (30 mins) and easy. Spinach is probably the best--you can even use frozen. I use whatever greens we have available. The spices may be unfamiliar but we use them a lot for Indian dishes. You can get them at an Indian grocery or on Amazon.

1 onion
1 can crushed tomatoes (can used diced also)
3 tsp. coriander
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp.  Garam Masala 7oz
1/4 tsp. turmeric
1 can chickpeas, rinsed
1 tsp of salt (or to taste)
1 bunch of greens rinsed and chopped or 1 pack of frozen spinach

Heat onion in oil or water until soft. Stir in tomatoes, coriander, cumin, garam masala, turmeric and salt. Cook for 3 mins. Stir in Chickpeas and greens and cook 10 minutes or until the greens are as soft as you like!

Serve over any grain like rice, basmati or jasmine is perfect but we just use brown most of the time. I've also served this with quinoa. I usually double the recipe also.

Winter Greens

We have a few things growing in the garden right now. I am amazed at how little sun gets to the back yard during this season. Either I forgot, or just never noticed, that the winter sun is so low in the sky that we hardly get any sun. We have also had tons of rain this season and everything is soaked, always. Most things we planted in the late summer are doing well though.

Here are the collards, some cabbage and brussels sprouts.

Chard, onions, and garlic.

Dino Kale--my favorite.

We are proud of the broccoli this year. It is the best we've ever grown with nice thick, tight heads. The broccoli fresh from the garden has an unbeatable flavor. It is another one of my favorites.

 

 

The cabbage is still growing. We haven't harvested any yet. We are waiting to see how big it will get. This is another crop that is growing better this year.

 

 

This is a new bed down in the bottom of the yard with some chinese cabbage that we bought as starts from a local nursery.

 

We love our broccoli:)

You can see from some of the pictures that we've put up our row covers again. It has only dropped below freezing one night but we are covering the plants some nights even when it is not freezing just to keep them warm.

Daniel is still making and applying gallons of compost tea every week. Ellen and Arianna are usually out there helping him mix and pour. If anyone wants a more detailed list of ingredients or directions for compost tea let us know.

Vegan Tofu Spinach Lasagna

I found a new recipe for veggie lasagna. This one from is from  The Vegan Table (by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. © Fair Winds Press 2009). This lasagna turns out beautiful and it is very versatile. I change the recipe a little every time depending on what veggies I have in the fridge and in the garden that I want to use. I usually saute onions and mushrooms and add that in one of the layers. I also like to use roasted eggplant in another layer. In addition, I use 1 large bunch of fresh greens from the garden (kale, chard, or collards) instead of frozen. One other thing I do is add a hefty sprinkle of nutritional yeast to the tofu mix. The recipe says to put tofu in blender and process until smooth, but I don't like to dirty extra equipment so I just mash it up with a fork and it turns out fine.

I brought this to a potluck where we were the only non-meat eaters and it was a big hit. Everyone loved it (especially my kids who ask for it often) and a few people asked me, "What makes it taste so cheesy?" They didn't realize that the white stuff in the middle was tofu.  Don't be nervous about making this veggie dish--you are going to love it!

Vegan Tofu Spinach Lasagna

INGREDIENTS
1/2 to 1 pound (225 to 455 g) lasagna noodles
2 packages (10 ounces, or 280 g, each) frozen, chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 package (16 ounces, or 455 g) firm tofu (not silken)
1 tablespoon (13 g) granulated sugar (optional)
1/4 cup (60 ml) nondairy milk (such as rice, oat, soy, almond, or hazelnut), or as needed
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder or 2 peeled garlic cloves
Juice from 1/2 lemon (about 2 tablespoons [30 ml])
2 tablespoons (5 g) minced fresh basil (about 20 leaves)
1 teaspoon (6 g) salt (or to taste)
4 to 6 cups (980 to 1470 g) tomato or pasta sauce of your choice
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F; (180 degrees C, or gas mark 4).
Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions or use "no-boil" lasagna noodles. Drain and set aside.
Squeeze as much water from spinach as possible and set aside. (If using fresh spinach, blanch first.)
Place tofu, sugar (if using), milk, garlic powder, lemon juice, basil and salt in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. The tofu "ricotta" should be creamy but still have body.
Transfer to large-size bowl, and stir in spinach. Continue tasting until you get amount of salt just right.
Cover bottom of 9 x 13-inch (23 x 33 cm) baking dish with a thin layer of tomato sauce, then a layer of noodles (use about one-third of noodles). Follow with half the tofu filling. Continue in the same order, using half the remaining tomato sauce and noodles, and all remaining tofu filling. End with remaining noodles, covered by remaining tomato sauce. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until hot and bubbling.
SERVING SUGGESTIONS AND VARIATIONS
Add meatless meat crumbles to your tomato sauce for more texture and body. For more cheesiness, add shredded nondairy mozzarella cheese to each layer.
This recipe is also great for making stuffed shells. To do so, stuff pasta shells with the tofu ricotta from this recipe, place them in a baking dish, pour on tomato sauce and bake in a 350 degrees F (180 degrees C, or gas mark 4) oven for 20 to 30 minutes.

Read more: http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/recipes/vegan-tofu-spinach-lasagna#ixzz0WwVIQb0F

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More reasons for a Plant-based diet

William Kruidenier posted an article on his blog a few days ago about cancer and a plant-based diet. The article that he is talking about explains that there are highly respected doctors who believe that a plant-based diet can stop and reverse cancer along with many other diseases that we are facing today. I do a lot of reading on blogs and veggie websites that point out the many benefits of a vegan diet, but it is not often that information like this is published in the mainstream media. You can read his blog entry here.

If you want to take five minutes to read the full article on the Huffington Post, here is the link for the article by Kathy Freston A Cure for Cancer? Eating a Plant-Based Diet. You can find her other article on transitioning to a plant-based diet from that link also.

A Dog Party

Ellen wanted to have a potluck/sleepover party to celebrate her birthday this year. We invited our group of friends to come over Friday night. They all brought vegan side dishes to go along with the big pot of chili that I made for dinner. (I had separate dog bone shaped pb and js, tings, and fruit for the kids.)

We have a tradition of making a pinata for every birthday party. I posted instructions here last year on how to make a pinata with kids. I got this year's design from a picture of a puppy pinata online. The girls and I started on it about 2 weeks ago and worked on it a little bit every few days until Friday morning. The girls wanted it to look like our dog Blue and I think it came out pretty nice! Ellen said next time she wants to make a simple pinata so that we don't have to destroy something that we love:)
The kids played dress up, watched the movie Hotel for Dogs, played in the dark on the trampoline with glow sticks, and stayed up late. Most of the kids/families left between 10-11pm. We only had one sleep over. They've been playing quietly all morning.

I love having parties mostly because I know how much the kids enjoy it. They have the best time with all their friends over. There are toys everywhere and I've washed a ton of dishes, but it is all worth it to see those big smiles on Ellen's and Arianna's the entire time.

Another harvest and other summer fun

I like to use the blog as my gardening journal. Here is what we harvested this weekend. It is always a fun challenge to figure out the best ways to eat/cook all these veggies. Not sure what I'm going to do yet, but we'll probably have pizza, stew, stir fry, and salsa throughout the week.
Gardening is not the only thing we've been doing in recent weeks. We spent a day on the river in downtown Columbia...
These are the traditional rock jumping pictures. Remember the ones from last summer?

We've also been going to the free Saturday night concerts in downtown Columbia. They are always fun. We bring a quilt, picnic, frisbee, and books. Frisbee throwing is a lot harder than it looks. I'm not much better than the girls, but we all have fun trying. We usually stay until it gets dark. The bands are not always great but sometimes we get to hear really good musicians. I haven't been bringing my camera but the one time I did the only picture was this one that Ellen took of Daniel and me. We are nice and hot since it is probably 9o something degrees (remember these are evening concerts!). Not a great picture of me but we were having fun.

Peppers

I couldn't help but take a picture of this beautiful bowl of peppers we harvested from the garden last week. I made them into pepper relish last night and put up 4 pints for winter. I think it is going to be very hot relish since I used tons of those little thai peppers that you can see in the bowl. Those things are soooo hot!

some favorite recipes of the summer

I ran across this summer squash soup recipe from the fatfreevegan blog while looking for new things to do with all the yellow summer squash. I tried it the other day and it was delicious and very quick and easy. Basically you just saute onions and garlic add equal parts squash and potato and a few spices and boil till tender. Then puree it all. Click on the link for the full recipe and try it--you will not believe how good it is until you do.

I served it with one of my other favorite recipes for drop biscuits. This is a great recipe because it only has 5 ingredients, there is no kneading or rolling out, and they only cook for 8 minutes. You might be able to find the recipe online but I got it out of my cookbook called The Joy of Vegan Baking. These is by far the best biscuit recipe I've found. My biscuits always turned out hard and small but these drop biscuits are great every time.
1 2/3 c flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 c non dairy milk
1/3 c canola oil or melted nondairy butter
extra melted butter for brushing top of biscuits about 2 minutes before removing from oven.

Heat oven to 475 and grease a baking sheet
mix flour, baking powder, and salt. Add milk and oil and stir until just combined and moistened. It will be very thick and sticky. Use 2 spoons--one to pick up a walnut size ball of batter and another spoon to scrape off and drop on the baking sheet. Bake until bottoms are golden brown about 8 mins. Brush tops with melted butter a few minutes before taking out.

Zucchini Bread is another thing I make at least once a week. I love this recipe because it has flax seeds as an egg substitute, and I substitute apple sauce for the oil and leave out about a quarter of the sugar. Obviously changing those two things decreases the amount of fat and calories but the sweet bread still turns out scrumptious. I use up about 1 large or 2 medium size zucchini and even add a small yellow squash sometimes. Don't get me wrong though, I don't believe in hiding these veggies and disguising them in our food. Everyone knows exactly what they are eating and although lots of people (especially kids) look at me like I'm crazy when I offer them zucchini bread, most people come back for a second helping! This recipe also came from the Joy of Vegan Baking but I altered it a bit. We eat it for breakfast, lunch and/or dinner.

3 tablespoons of ground flaxseeds or 4 1/2 teaspoons of Ener-G egg replacer
1/2 cup water
1 cup canola oil or half cup oil and 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tablespoon white vinegar
2 cups sugar (I use 1 to 1/2 cups per batch)
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups grated zucchini (I mix yellow and green squash)
3 cups flour (I use 2 white 1 whole wheat)
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup raisins

Heat oven to 325 and grease 2 loaf pans or muffin tins. I like to double the recipe and bake them in two 9x13 inch baking dishes.

Combine flaxseeds and water in medium bowl. Use a mixer or blender or mix with whisk really fast for 2 minutes. Whip until thick and creamy. Add oil, sugar and vinegar and combine. Stir in zucchini and vanilla. In separate bowl sift (I never do but should because we bite into little balls of bitterness every once in while) flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add nuts and raisins if using. Stir dry mix into wet until just combined. Pour into baking dishes. Bake 60-70 mins for standard loaves, 30-45 mins for muffins or 9x13 dish. Check for doneness by inserting toothpicks.

Garden update and pesto recipe

The girls and I went to Navarre Beach, Florida last week and met up with lots of my extended family. There were 18 people in 5 families from 4 different states--Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and South Carolina. Daniel is teaching 2 summer session classes so he couldn't join us. When we got back on Friday I was amazed by the growth of the garden.

We are bringing in lots of squash and zucchini. What's funny about our summer squash plants is we planted 8 of them thinking there would be 4 yellow and 4 zucchini. Now that the plants are producing fruits we have realized that we actually have 6 yellow squash and 2 zucchini. Even funnier is that Daniel and I don't even really like yellow squash! I can eat a few but if you've ever grown squash before you know how much squash you get from one plant--tons! We like zucchini better since I can make zucchini bread with it.

We have brought in about 4 pounds of cucumbers and I am trying to wait for a few more so I can make pickles. Anna, what recipe did you use last year when you made them?

The bush beans are exploding with flowers and small beans and we should have our first harvest of those this weekend or sooner. Daniel also brings in a handful of potatoes every few days. He does most of the harvesting in the mornings on his way to work (before I get up).

The basil has really taken off. I made the first harvest last Saturday bringing in about 12 cups of washed and packed leaves. I made 3 cups/jars of pesto and sent the rest of the basil home with mom. I took the picture below this morning. I should be able to bring in plenty more over the next few weeks.
I am including my favorite pesto recipe. Most people, stores, and restaurants make it with cheese. I have found a great recipe in my Mediterranean Vegan Cookbook that is called poor man's pesto. I have modified it a little by adding nutritional yeast. This is the first year I have added that ingredient and I'm really happy with the rich and full flavor it has. I use walnuts instead of pine nuts since I always have walnuts and pine nuts are expensive. We put pesto on everything. It's great on pasta, toast, veggie sandwiches (especially with portobello), burgers, potatoes, pizza, etc. I make several batches at once and freeze what we can't use in a week.

3 cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves
6 tablespoons pine nuts or walnuts
2 to 4 cloves garlic
3/4 tsp cours sea salt or to taste
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 to 4 tablespoons nutritional yeast or to taste (optional)

Combine everything in food processor except oil. Blend until ingredients are finely chopped. Add oil and blend until smooth and creamy.

Thanksgiving Highlights

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with lots of family and food.
On Wednesday we all went to see a local production of the Nutcracker. It was a great way to start the holiday season. Later that afternoon William drove down to spend Thanksgiving at our house. We loved having him here.

We cooked lots of food and shared lots of SILKNOG!
We had blueberry waffles for breakfast which the girls helped mix. Thanks to William for bringing the waffle iron and fixings!
I cooked a big dinner...my biggest dinner yet. The menu was all vegan and included Tofurky, gravy, mashed potatoes with roasted garlic, sweet potato casserole with ricemallow, stuffing, broccoli slaw salad, curry dish by William, rolls, cranberry sauce and my first ever homemade apple pie and brownies. It was all served on the china from Daniel's grandmother. This is the first time we've used it.

We did lots of reading together. The girls read to us...William read to the girls...Daniel read to the girls...Ellen read by herself.


The girls slept in the playroom so Grandaddy could have their room. Like always, Max finds a cozy spot on Arianna's sleeping bag!

On Friday we drove to Mountain CityTN to spend the weekend with my mom, BB, brother and his family. We met them at Hawksnest ski mountain for snow tubing. It was a blast. Sadly, my camera is having issues since the rechargable battery is dying and I haven't replaced it yet. I only got a few pics with my mom's camera. Maybe I'll post them later. Besides tubing we went to see the festival of lights and the christmas celebration in Blowing Rock, NC. Saturday most of us spent the day snuggled around the fire in the cabin. The cousins played in the hot tub on the deck and the dads took the kids on a very long hike up the mountian. We returned home today. As always we were sad to say goodbye to family but happy to be home. I'm sure you can relate!

Happy Halloween

Our homeschool Coop had a halloween party today. We all brought food, games, decorations, and treats to share. Ellen and Arianna have been so excited about it all week. I am happy to be a part of this wonderful group of families. Everyone is very friendly and willing to help out. There were about 35 kids involved and their ages ranged from 2-16. The games included spider ring toss, musical chairs (Ellen's favorite), pin the wart on the witch, pumpkin painting, guess the weight of the pumpkin and a few more I can't think of. I love seeing all the kids dressed up and playing together. They love it!

A close up of the butterfly and fairy

Pumpkin painting

The food! I wanted to get a shot of my spider web cake. It looks pretty doesn't it?! Well, when I cut into it I realized that it wasn't cooked all the way through and a little gewy on the inside!!! It didn't matter too much since there wasn't any egg, but I was disappointed. I baked this same cake (decorated differently) for Daniel's birthday last week and it came out awesome. Oh well, at least it made the table look festive. It did get eaten so I guess it wasn't terrible.


Daniel and I worked together on the costumes this year. We used some pieces out of our dress up area for Arianna's and I just painted her face and sewed new elastic on her wings. Ellen's was a little more challenging since we didn't have the kind of butterfly wings we needed:) So Daniel took apart some of our old wings (for some reason we have tons of wings), reshaped them into a new form, and taped them together. He also helped her make the antenae out of pipe cleaners, puff balls and a black head band. Then I took Ellen to Hobby Lobby to pick out fabric for the wings. She fell in love with this rainbow chiffon and so I went to work. I have a new love for my old sewing machine so it was a pleasure to work on this project. (BTW, I've had that machine for years. It was used when we got it and even though it came with the manual I never actually took the time to read it so I was having lots of problems. I almost threw the machine out the window a few times after the bobbin got stuck. Anyway, I'll post more about my new love for my sewing machine later.) I painted faces and braided hair just to add to the look.



Ellen is in the writing class with other 6-12 year olds. Here they are getting ready to read their stories aloud. We skipped science, critical thinking and recorder today for the party.

Kale salad

The same friend who first shared the Adai recipe with me told me this trick to making raw kale taste really good. I promise, it really does. Just try it and I think you'll agree. Just a few years ago I despised dark leafy greens. I can remember specifically because when I was pregnant my midwife would ask me every time we met if I was eating them. They are so good for you and she was serious about me getting enough. I was not eating nearly as much then as I do now. I wish I would have had this recipe:)

My favorite kind of kale is lacinato or dinasour but any kind will work. You simply rinse the leaves and put them in a bowl. Then you pour a dash of salad oil (I use canola but I'm sure olive would work), balsamic vinegar, and the key ingredient is the umboshi plum vinegar. (You might have to find it at a health food store or international grocery. I can get it at Earth Fare.) I don't have exact measurements because it will depend on your taste for how vinegary or oily you like your salads. We like them really vinegary so I add more. You just need enough to massage the leaves with. I know it sounds crazy but that's how it was described to me. You rub the leaves with this dressing. The green leaves will get darker and you can let them sit for a few minutes but they will be ready to eat once they are covered with dressing, dark in color and completely massaged:) They have a rich nutty flavor and I am addicted to them!

Adai Indian Recipe (lentil crepes)

We have served this dish for a few friends and passed the recipe out as well. It is such a tasty change to have every once in a while. You should be able to find all of these ingredients at your local Indian grocery.

Adai

5 cups Idly Rice

2 cups yellow split peas
1/2 cup toor dal (split pigeon pea)
3/4 cup urud dal (split black grams)

1 tsp asafoetic powder
8 green chilis
8 red chilis (1 tsp red chili powder) or as hot as you like
1/2 tsp tumeric powder
5 twigs curry fresh leaves (can substitute with cilantro)
2 onions

In separate bowls, wash and soak rice and beans for at least 3 hours (overnight is fine)

First blend beans and rice slowly adding water to make paste. We were told to blend beans so that they are more course than the rice. So we blend the beans and rice separately then stir them together in a big bowl. Next add the rest of the ingredients except for curry (or cilantro) and onion. This will store in the refrigerator and it will begin to ferment which is good. Depending on your tastes you can save it for a long time.

Before cooking add onion and curry leaves. To cook just ladle a small amount of the mix into a hot skillet and spread it thin like a pancake. Salt it. Then flip it when it's brown. Showmethecurry.com
has a great how-to video with detailed instructions on how to make this dish. I haven't watched it lately so hopefully it's not different from what I described:) That is a great website for indian recipes so you could spend a lot of time browsing.

Meals from the garden (and pics)

Portobello mushroom sandwich with pesto creamcheese spread (got this idea from vegetarian times magazine), potato salad

Acorn squash stuffed with sweet apple, peach, raisin filling (from Joy of Cooking book), garlic mashed potatoes (with broccoli thrown in right at the end while mashing), salad with garden fresh tomatoes

Black eyed peas and rice with fresh pepper salsa, salad, bread

Eggplant parmesan with nutritional yeast cheesy sauce (from The Farm Vegetarian cookbook), spaghetti squash, green beans

Veggie plate with leftover black eyed peas, green beans, garlic and rosemary roasted potatoes, cornbread and salad

We keep fresh cucumbers in the fridge (refrigerator pickles) to eat with lunch and/or dinner. I also made a batch of fig newtons from the figs from our yard. This was the first time I've cooked with figs. I found the recipe online and modified it a little. They tasted just like the store bought ones only better:).

I took a picture of the stuffed acorn squash because I thought it was so pretty. We got 3 from the garden this week and should get at least 3 more soon. The vine borer did some major damage to these plants.


This is a picture of the yard long green beans. I planted the seeds not even knowing how long they would grow. I have been amazed since I've never seen anything like them before. Some of the longer ones measured about 24 inches! I just cut them up and serve them like regular green beans. The skin is a little tougher but they are still really good. We also have regular pole beans that are still producing. The bean crop was awesome this year.
The beautiful eggplant--I love the deep purple color. These plants have done really well. I've made several dishes of eggplant parmesan because it is a big hit at our house. I also make babaganoush to have served with fresh bread, chips or on sandwiches. The corn in this picture was one of our best. The corn was one of the crops that did not do so well. A lack of nutrition in the soil is the main problem but also inconsistent watering didn't help. They are very picky. We pulled them all up a few weeks ago and only got a few ears from all plants.
These are the hot peppers. Very fun to have around. We thought we would be making a lot more salsa this time of year but we haven't gotten as many tomatoes as planned. So I just cut up the peppers and serve them pretty regularly with meals.


I don't have a picture of the potatoes but we have been harvested them for the past month. I told someone the other day that I feel like the guy on Forest Gump who talks about all the ways to make shrimp. I've made roasted potato wedges, baked potato slices, fried potatoes cubed and shoestring, traditional mayo potato salad, vinegar potato salad, mashed potatoes. We eat them for breakfast lunch and dinner in all kinds of ways!

When mom was here last week she took the girls out and cut tons of fresh flowers from the yard. They made this beautiful arrangement. We have lots of the red zinnias in the yard so we've been bringing those in and keep them in vases around the house. This vase has sunflowers, lantana, zinnias, crape myrtle flowers, and then greenery from our bushes.