Food and Spirituality

    I used to post about food and recipes. Mostly healthy ones, but that was before we got all spiritual and became missionaries and now no longer care what we put in our mouths.

  Maybe i should run that last sentence by my husband before i post it.

  Maybe he might not agree.

  Maybe he would be right.

  Because one time i knew of someone who also believed that when you reached a certain level of holiness there were other things a person no longer cared about. I was quite astounded and amazed at such amounts of spiritual knowledge.  But my husband said that certain ideas are anything but spiritual because the closer he himself gets to God the more he enjoys those certain things.

  Maybe i should get back to talking about food and recipes.

  I truly thought before coming that perhaps we would be so thankful just for food, especially after seeing how simple Kenyan's diets are, that my man's love for cooking would get replaced with.....with.....well, i hadn't thought that far. Maybe his super spirituality would kick in? I also thought i would lose vast amounts of weight because we would no longer have access to rich foods. I was kind of hoping it would be that way and for a while it looked promising. I picked up a batch of amoebas (nasty parasitic type things from contaminated food and water) immediately upon arrival and spent a large portion of my time studying the back of the bathroom door. I lost my appetite and i figured i had finally hit upon the perfect diet plan. I imagined people oohing and awing over how thin we all had become. And spiritual.

  Lo and behold, as my body adjusted to Kenya, i realized that my appetite for sugary delights was once again increasing in a rather unholy way and my man had not developed spiritual gifts that took away his love for cooking. Or other things.

  Also, while our access to processed foods is somewhat limited here, at least if you don't want to pay obscene amounts of shillings, there are still ways to get fat. With like chocolate cake and peanut butter frosting. Mashed potatoes and gravy. Big bowls of homemade ice cream.

  So i realized, due especially to Marlin's family history of diabetes and heart issues, that we would
have to continue watching our sugars and heavy carbs without the benefit of super spirituality.

  So here's a recipe that we like. A lot. I tend to make these just for Marlin and i because peanut butter is not cheap in Kenya and neither are chick peas or honey. The children eat regular brownies made with sunflower oil and white sugar and flour. Sigh...and to think i would never have considered allowing that evil oil in our cooking and baking before. I do use ghee also but it's still expensive and i just can't justify using it in all our baking. And it seems this crew's stomach is a bottomless pit and it would be rather embarrassing to have the mission tell us to go back where we came from because it seems we have food issues.

  So Marlin continues to cook and i continue to think he looks mighty amazing in the kitchen. Something about the black apron, large knife, and a big smile.....

Come to mama

  And now for the recipe. Please don't harm your happiness and think that anything with beans is disgusting until you give it a try.

Flourless Chocolate Chip Chickpea Blondies with Sea Salt

YIELD: Makes 16

INGREDIENTS:

Nonstick cooking spray
1 (15 oz.) can chickpeas/garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup natural peanut butter, almond butter, or your favorite nut butter
1/3 cup pure maple syrup, honey or agave nectar (i use part stevia)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup + 2 Tbsp. semisweet chocolate chips
Sea salt, for sprinkling

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat an 8 × 8-inch pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a food processor, add all ingredients except chocolate chips. Process until batter is smooth. Fold in 1/3 cup chocolate chips and spread batter evenly in prepared pan with a buttered spatula. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons chocolate chips over top.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean and edges are very light brown.

Let cool completely on a wire rack. Sprinkle with sea salt and cut into 16 squares.

Enjoy!

TIPS
Adding an egg to the batter will make the bars more cake-like.
If you’re using chickpeas, make sure they’re peeled.
Feel free to get creative and add nuts, dried fruits, or anything else you like.

Granola Recipe

This is one of our favorite granola recipes, although i have a coconut almond one that i like even more, and my men prefer peanut butter granola. But it's this recipe that i use the most.

Mix: 5 cups oatmeal, 1 cup butter/oil, 1 cup brown sugar (i use sucanat)
Add: 2 beaten eggs
1 cup coconut
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup nuts (rarely add since it's not a "necessity" but it does add great flavor)
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup wheat germ (never add)
1/2 cup wheat bran (never add either.....hey, i only have so much time, i can't be throwing too many things in a recipe or i'd be spending all day in the kitchen. Besides, i'd rather spend my money on chocolate to reward the children for cleaning up their rooms. And myself for making granola)
Bake at 300 for one hour.

That's it. Simple and basic but very yummy, especially if you eat it with yogurt. Just be careful how big your portions are, since granola is VERY HIGH IN CARBS. Eating it with yogurt will help keep your portions small and eating it with chocolate will help even more. I know it's hard to believe, but if you eat granola with chocolate, you will eventually find yourself skipping the granola and just eating the chocolate. It's all good........whatevah' makes you happy.

Sour Cream

So you want to make your own sour cream, aye? O, you didn't know that? That's ok, i'm here to tell you that you want to make your own. Especially when you read the list of ingredients that are on the back of the average container of sour cream. I have been shocked....i mean, how many ingredients does it take to make sour cream? Well, it takes exactly two, and you don't even need a powdered culture from a specialty store, just two things from the grocery store (or homemade if you have a few cows lying around) and a few sophisticated pieces of ingredients. A bowl, some wash pins and a fuzz free cloth, such as an old clean t-shirt. Hey, in redneck country you learn to make do with what you have. Wally world is just too far away and all those electronic devices and people make hillbillies nervous. (Excuse me while i spit.......we had a spitting contest outside today and i almost hit Marlin's muck boots. Makes his heart feel fuzzy when i do stuff like that...happy to oblige)

So here's what you do. You may want to write this down so you don't forget. You take one cup of yogurt and one cup of buttermilk. Are you ready for this? You mix it together, take your cut up old (preferably a clean one if you have it) t-shirt, lay it over a bowl, pin it securely with your washpins and here's the hard part. You carefully pour your yogurt and buttermilk mixture into the t-shirt and let it sit overnight to let the whey drain out and voila! you've got sour cream. Yup, tastes just like the real thing. Things like that make me real happy, which makes for more saliva, which means i may yet beat my men at spitting contests.

Elderberry syrup and Prespray

I'm always looking for a new way to save a few pennies, what with all these gorgeous children that keep showing up around here. :) I have 2 different things for you to try, and i'm excited about both.

I do lots of laundry. Lots and lots and lots. I do clothing on Monday, sheets and towels on Tuesday, clothing again on Wednesday, Thursday i take the day off unless there are blankets that need washing, Friday i do clothing again and Saturday? You guessed it, clothing and towels. An average of 3-4 loads a day, which means going through a ton of laundry soap. So i started once again making my laundry soap which is simple and inexpensive and i think i like it. Once i took into account that i am doing some extremely dirty wash, i realized my homemade soap is working quite well. The recipe is simple. One bar of grated soap, ( i use Fels Naptha) 4 cups Borax and 2 cups washing soda. Sometimes i use part Biz to give an added boost, and i use about 1/4 cup per load of the soap, although the recipe says 2 T for large loads. I'm guessing they're talking about "normal" american families, not farmers, so i use more. But that's not the recipe i'm wanting to share. The recipe i'm excited to share with you is prespray. You see, i really hate soaking and scrubbing my dirty wash. I want to prespray and throw it into the wash. When you're doing literally hundreds of pieces of clothing a week, you don't have the time to hunker down over a washtub, laboriously hand scrubbing each shirt. However, prespray is expensive, and my wallet isn't exactly fat, so i started scouring the internet for options. First option didn't work, but today i hit on a gold mine. Equal parts of water, dish soap, and ammonia. That's it. Woo-hoo, join me while we do the laundry dance......i used Dawn, since that kind's really good for grease and i put it into an old spray bottle. I was simply amazed at how well it worked. Stuff like that makes me happy.... very, very happy.

Now for recipe #2. You know that really expensive elderberry syrup that you buy at the health food store that you take when you're fighting a cold or flu? Well guess what.......you can make it yourself. At home. So without further ado.........

ELDERBERRY SYRUP

1 cup fresh elderberries or 1/2 cup dried
1 cinnamon stick
5 cloves
1 T fresh ginger, grated
2 cup water
1 cup honey, raw

Bring first 5 ingredients to boil in saucepan and simmer til reduced to half, about 20 minutes. Strain and make sure to squash the berries to get all the yumminess out. Add honey, pour into small glass jar and store in fridge. It will last up to several weeks. Take a teaspoon daily as an insurance against the flu or colds and if you're fighting something, take up to 4 teaspoons. And really, if you feel like drinking the whole jar, it ain't gonna' hurt ya. So slurp it down and enjoy the cold weather.

So there you have it. 2 recipes for my special blog friends, even if you almost never leave comments. ;)

Grape Pie

I needed more to do, you know. Cooking 3 meals a day, doing piles of laundry, trying to homeschool around cow surgery, chasing and eternally training twins, cleaning filthy floors,.....on and on, always feeling like i'm 10 steps behind. So i decided to make grape pie. That's right, grape pie. The kind where you hand squeeze each grape and then cook it, not to mention the dreaded pie crusts. What, you may ask, possessed me to do such a thing? Well, i'm a servant at heart, tender and kind, knowing that my beloved father loves nothing more than a good pie. Not buying it? Alright, you win. I made it as much for myself as for my father, although i DID also make it for him. I figured i'm already knee deep in grape juice, so i might as well throw myself over the edge. All i have to say is, the pie is worth it. Every slobbery, grapey bite. O my, o my, i just died and went to grape heaven. Here's the recipe if you want to join me. I dare you. Make that a double dare.



Concord Grape Pie I


Original Recipe Yield 1 - 9 inch pie

Ingredients

* 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
* 5 cups Concord grapes
* 1 1/4 cups white sugar
* 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
* 1 pinch salt
* 3/4 teaspoon lemon juice
* 1 1/2 tablespoons butter

Directions

1. Wash grapes, and remove the skins. Save the skins. Place grape pulp in a large saucepan; mash a few at the bottom to release their juice. Cook over medium low heat until grapes come to a full boil. Remove pulp from heat, and press through a food mill to remove seeds. Combine pulp and skins in a large bowl. Stir in lemon juice.
2. In a separate bowl, mix sugar, flour, and salt. Stir into grape mixture. Pour filling into pastry crust, and dot with butter or margarine. Cover with second pastry shell. Flute edges, and cut little slits in the top crust for steam to escape.
3. Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 45 to 50 minutes, or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in top crust. Cool.

No Bake Chocolate Coconut Energy bars and Homemade Lotion

Servings: 16
Preparation Time: 25 minutes

* 1 cup raw sunflower seeds
* 1 cup raw pecans
* 4 tablespoons Coconut Oil
* 1/2 cup coconut flour
* 4 tablespoons honey or enough to sweeten
* 3/4 cup raisins
* 1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
* 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
* Dried, shredded coconut

Chocolate Sauce Ingredients:

* 4 tablespoons coconut oil
* 8 tablespoons cocoa powder
* 2-3 tablespoons honey

Grind up 1 cup of sunflower seeds and the cup of pecans in food processor or coffee grinder and pour into bowl. Add coconut oil, coconut flour, honey, raisins, vanilla flavoring, 1/2 cup sunflower seeds and mix all together. Pour into square casserole dish and press mixture down firmly.

Sauce:

In small saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons coconut oil and mix in cocoa and honey until thickened. Pour chocolate sauce on top and sprinkle with shredded coconut. Refrigerate for about 25-35 minutes. Cut up into squares and enjoy!


These are really good. I did add several T melted butter and some sea salt to the recipe, since i thought it was a bit dry. I also think a thin layer of raspberry jam between the chocolate and bar would be delish. My family loved them, with the exception of Emily, since she hates raisins in recipes. I decided it's time for me to stop dancing around whining children and their hatred of raisins in anything yummy. See? I'm one tough mama. I have allowed them to pick the raisins out in the past, but that's stopping. Today!! Especially since it will come to a screeching halt anyway if big daddy sees them picking anything out of anything.

And now a question. I want to make homemade lotion. I'm tired of paying insane prices for high quality lotion and i feel it's important to use high quality. Simply for the fact that it sits on your skin and gets completely absorbed into your system. I'm not near as strict with soap since you wash it off, but it bugs me everytime i put garbage lotion on my skin. However, depending on my budget for the moment, i can't bring myself to pay the price for the good stuff, so i buy the cheap stuff and hate every smear of it. So i need recipes. I would like to use coconut oil, olive oil, sweet almond oil and anything else that is good for the skin. Anyone that gives me a winning recipe can come out and hang out with me for a day. Seriously, it wouldn't be that bad. You might even have fun. And if nothing else, my family will give you something to talk about. :)

Cookies anyone?

To comfort my readers for their disappointment with my "secret" here is a recipe that will make your day shine brighter. Unless you're hoping to lose weight.

Peanutbutter chocolate chip cookies - the gluten free kind

1 cup sugar (i used sucanat)
1 cup peanutbutter
1 large egg
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips
Mix, bake and eat. (I forgot to write the rest of the recipe, but you can figure it out. Bake at 350 til barely done, blah, blah)

Seriously people, why you would ever need to use white flour to make chocolate chip cookies again is beyond me. These are killer good. When Marlin's eyes rolled to the back of his head i knew it was one of 2 things. He either just had a heart attack or these cookies were blog worthy. Turns out they were blog worthy. I took them to Ohio to some not gluten free people and lets just say they were practically licking the container. So there you have it. Some comfort food for you since you have discovered that i'm actually not pregnant. Why does EVERYONE assume any secrets i have would automatically include my womb?

Coconut Flour Crepes

This is one recipe that we love, using our faithful coconut flour. It's very versatile, able to be made into a dessert with whipped cream and fresh fruit, or stuffed with ham, eggs, and cheese. We've done both and both are wonderful.

Coconut flour crepes

2 eggs
2 T butter, melted
stevia (10 drops)
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. salt
2 T coconut flour (sifted)
small pinch nutmeg and cinnamon
1/3 cup milk

Whisk eggs, butter, stevia, vanilla, and salt together. Mix coconut flour and spices together. Add milk and incorporate wet mixture. Or you can do it the easy way and throw everything in your blender. That's what i do and it works fabulously without all the sifting and incorporating bondage. It will make a thin batter but have no fear, that's how crepes are. Get a non-stick pan hot with some kind of oil, i usually use coconut oil or ghee, since butter burns. Carefully pour some batter and flip after several minutes. You'll flop the first several but that makes great tasting for the twins hanging over the edge of the counter, but never for the mother of course. She has the maturity to wait until supper, depending on what you actually call "supper."

If you are making these for ham and eggs or some other kind of cream sauce, you'll want to omit the stevia and spices. Unless you're weird and like eating cinnamon with your eggs. We drink hot chocolate with cayenne in it, does that make us weird? I think we were weird long before we did that......

These crepes are also awesome with peanutbutter, bananas and honey. With a glass of raw milk of course. The raw milk helps to fill up the corners of the boys stomachs. I'm telling you, these boys of ours can eat!! I sat in amazement tonight as Eric ate close to 6 coconut flour muffins tonight for supper. They were smeared with great gobs of peanutbutter (of course!), sticky with honey and drenched in milk. All the way to the top of the bowl. Each bowl, full to the top. The last several he had with hot chocolate poured over. Marlin wasn't home for supper. What? We're weird and i'm not ashamed to say i made them muffins for supper. No meat, no veggies, just muffins. Marlin will be proud of me.....i think.......maybe i should quick go make them eat some raw carrots or liver. Look at it this way. I could've fed them hotdogs, full of nitrites and who knows what, (i love hotdogs, yum, they're almost like candy to me) placed in a white flour roll, squirted with high fructose ketchup, giving him little to no nutrition. But instead i chose to give him healthy muffins, made with organic coconut flour, lots of pastured eggs and sweetened with raw honey. I would've fed them hotdogs but i don't have any. Eric said tonight he's going to eat until he's full because he's tired of everyone making him go play before he's full. Tortured life he leads, aye? And he's skinny as a rail. Life's not fair.

Yeah, i think we don't have a choice but to move to a farm so we can afford to feed this gang.

Grain Free Granola

1 cup pumpkin seeds
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup coconut flakes
1/2-1 cup nuts
1/2 cup honey, warmed
pinch of salt
2 t. cinnamon
1/2 T vanilla
1 cup dried fruit
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a large baking sheet. Mix all ingredients EXCEPT dried fruit. Bake 30 minutes, stirring every so often and watching to make sure it doesn't burn. Remove from oven and add dried fruit. Hide in closet and eat frantically, hoping the children won't find you. I'm telling you, this granola is GOOD!!!

Unfortunately, this stuff is expensive to make, so i limit the children's intake. Which isn't hard seeing they HATE raisins in food. :) That could be a problem for me, since this stuff can make you fat. Uh-oh, maybe there's a reason i'm the only one in this marriage not losing weight.........

Granola? Anyone?

Day 3

Day 3 of being grain free. At least for Marlin and Josh. The rest of us only got serious yesterday. I'm so amazed at how Josh handles it. Very casually and totally accepting that he can't have any bread, pasta, etc. Of course none of us are eating it at home, but he still has a great attitude. Emily on the other hand, gets in a bad mood just at the thought. For some reason it stresses her out when we do something out of the ordinary. She's been that way since small, routine is everything to her.
I can't help but think that this grain free experience is so good for our children. A great way to teach them self discipline and self denial. And even greater is the mama learning it. I think as mothers we tend to excuse eating issues in ourselves, after all, we kind of think we deserve that extra cookie. Subconsciously, of course. I deny my flesh on a daily basis just based on the fact that i am giving 24/7 to a large brood of children, so GIMME' MY CHOCOLATE!!!!!! And breads, sugar, you name it.
So our diet so far this week? Lots of kefir smoothies, eggs and cheese, egg nog, soup, roasted chicken with daikons and carrots, steamed broccoli, salads, a few very ripe bananas, a few apples, and grain free crackers. Yup, you can actually make grain free crackers. I modified a recipe yesterday and was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. Sometimes you just want something that crunches like wheat and this fulfills that. We also talked about going dairy free, at least straight milk, but at this point we're keeping dairy in. I'm focusing on kefir and yogurt, but i'm not sure i'm ready to take the plunge and go without dairy, especially since i'm not convinced it's necessary for our family.
And for those of you who want to have your cake (or crackers) and eat it too, here's the recipe for the crackers.

GRAIN FREE CRACKERS

1 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 cup flax seeds
1/4 cup butter, melted (this was my addition, felt like it needed fat)
1 cup asiago/parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 cup water
Grind seeds until fine and add rest of ingredients. Place on a parchment lined pan and press out in a thin layer and score. Bake at 325 degrees for about 35 minutes. I baked mine a bit longer since they weren't as thin as they should've been and took longer to bake.

I'm looking forward to saturday morning breakfast. I will be trying almond flour pancakes, a special treat since almond flour is SO expensive. I know that having a little treat like that once in a while will go far in encouraging ourselves to stick with it.

Oh, and you know the part where i said it's good for mothers to deny themselves with food? Especially chocolate? If your husband brings you home a Rapunzel organic chocolate bar with hazelnuts, you need to eat it. Seriously. It will enhance your marriage.

Black beans and multiplication

First of all, thanks to all of you who leave comments. Every time i consider shutting my blog down, someone either comments something encouraging or sends me a personal email. That, and the fact that Marlin says i'm supposed to keep on blogging for now.

A couple reviews. Remember that black bean chocolate cake that almost had this house lifting off it's foundations from the gas fumes? Weeellll, i tried it again last night, the right way, and it was a success. Rich, moist, and nary a bean taste in it. I served it to some guinea pigs we call friends, ;), and they seemed to enjoy it, although i couldn't help but wonder if they had any "aftereffects", if you know what i mean. Here's the recipe, if you care to try it.

BLACK BEAN CHOCOLATE CAKE

In blender combine:
1 1/4 cup black beans, rinsed
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
6 T. cocoa
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda

In bowl, whip til smooth:
1/2 cup honey
7 T butter
Add 2 eggs and whip til smooth
Pour butter mixture into blender and blend with bean mixture til well blended.
Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes.
Serve with side of Beano.

Actually, i've had far worse side effects with chili. The only side effect i had was a bloated feeling, and that might have had more to do with eating 2 cupcakes while making them (need to check the product), a cupcake after supper (need to check the frosting) and a few while serving company. (make sure they're still edible) Yeah, that was the problem, not the beans. In all seriousness, i will definitely be making this cake again, since i love having yummy recipes that don't use flour and white sugar.

Onto another review that has nothing to do with food. It has to do with math and multiplying. I came across "TimesTales" the other week and was sold quickly on the product, since who doesn't like a fun way to do not fun things. Eric was working on his multiplication and i was feeling a bit stressed, since i also want to finish division before we end the school year. But while he understood the concept, memorizing 3x4 isn't high on his priority list, not that he had a choice, but you know how it goes. Along comes TimesTales and within a couple lessons he has almost all the upper times tables memorized, which means he automatically has simple division down also. Check it out, it's worth it.

And now it's time for breakfast. I'm thinking black bean chocolate cake........

Italian Wedding Soup

Marlin brought me home a big paper bag of beef bones from the butcher this past weekend. We simmered the bones in water and onions, (not sure what else he threw in there)all day Friday, and i now have lovely beef stock in my freezer. Rich and full of minerals and all for only $13. Actually, Marlin thought that was expensive, but i would have paid that much in the store for crud broth in that amount. So tonight i made Italian Wedding soup, in honor of our upcoming anniversary and the fond memories of 14 years ago. Well, i could've made it in honor of our anniversary and wedding. Mennonites don't eat italian food at their weddings. I'm not sure if they would really feel married with a bowl of spaghetti at the wedding feast instead of mashed potatoes and ham. On my wedding day? What food? Yeah, ok, back to soup. It was yummy and delicious and Marlin loved it. I didn't. I don't know why because the flavor was wonderful, but i was more in the mood for chocolate cake, and beef broth and kale don't cut it when all a woman wants is chocolate. But for all of you who have your issues dealt with in regards to chocolate, here's the recipe.

ITALIAN WEDDING SOUP

1 small onion, diced fine
4 large garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley (used dried and just guessed)
2 eggs, beaten
2 big pinches of salt
black pepper
2 T parmesan
2 T bread crumbs (just guessed)
1 1/2 lbs. ground beef (i used part venison, part pork)

Mix together all ingredients except for beef. Add beef to bowl and gently mix ingredients into the beef. Don't squish or you're asking for tough meatballs, and no one wants tough meatballs!! (and exactly how do tough meatballs taste? don't ask me, i told you i'm not italian)
Set aside while you heat the stock and trim greens.

SOUP

3 quarts chicken or beef stock
1 large bunch kale or spinach, chopped into bite sized pieces

Pour chicken or beef stock into soup pot over medium-high heat. Bring stock to boil and then reduce heat to simmer. Meanwhile, prepare your greens. Once your stock is at a gentle simmer, gently drop walnut sized meatballs into broth and then gently stir. Very gently. Not worried about toughness this time, just worried about no meatballs at all. Simmer meatballs for about 5 minutes and then GENTLY stir in greens and large pinch of salt if needed. Simmer for an additional 10-15 minutes.

Serve with freshly grated parmesan.

We also butchered 2 hogs this weekend, so i now have a freezer full of wonderful pork sausage and scrapple. Bacon is on the way and the hams are brining at this very moment. I seriously hope my man knows what he's doing, but if not, i'll love him anyway. He's worth it.

Fried chicken anyone?

A pack of boneless, skinless chicken breast and a realization that i was missing an ingredient that i needed for my recipe. Only an hour til supper.......so i decided to make two (not just one, i like driving myself crazy)different recipes of chicken fingers. Actually, i made one kind and they didn't look very impressive, so i made another batch. That's probably a big reason i only now finished up cleaning up my house at 9:00. That and the fact that the children were playing business, which meant 3 different business locations scattered throughout the downstairs, much paper money, and an incredible amount of "stuff." They had to clean up but you know how that goes.
This is the recipe i ended up using. Well, kind of since i combined two, but they turned out great and tasted even better with a honey mustard sauce that Marlin whipped up. Did i ever mention that he's a fine cook? Nananananana......too bad, i married him first.

CHICKEN FINGERS
A pile of chicken breasts, around 3, sliced into thin strips or pieces, depending if you want fingers or popcorn chicken
3/4 cup whole wheat flour (i used sprouted, ain't i healthy..)
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. onion powder
3/4 - 1 cup buttermilk (just wanted to add that i used homemade so that everyone feels inferior)
Soak chicken breasts in buttermilk for at least 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile, mix together flour and spices and add 1/4 cup buttermilk, stir lightly. Now you will want to take those buttermilk soaked chicken pieces and roll them in the flour mixture. The flour mixture with the buttermilk added is what makes those yummy little flakes of crunchiness after they're fried. Oh, you will also want a sturdy pan for frying, such as a cast iron. Put a great big gob of lard or coconut oil in til you have about an inch of oil. Get that popping hot and if you're really professional you can monitor the temp with a little temp thingy, but that's only for people who are insecure, or else a really good cook like Marlin. I just wing it, since those little burnt edges add personality. So now you take your breaded chicken (still with me?) and carefully place them in the hot oil and fry on either side til golden brown. Or dark brown, depending on how distracted you get. Take them out and voila', you've got yourself chicken fingers. I have discovered that i tend to way over fry mine out of fear of undercooked chicken. Marlin says most people do that, so tonight i took most of them out while a beautiful golden brown and the insides were nice and tender. I suppose you could also bake them.
I served them with parmesan potato wedges and steamed broccoli. Unfortunately, Marlin and Eric are both struggling with sore throat, so they politely choked down the scratchy chicken and then Marlin fell asleep at the table while drinking his tea. It was one of those romantic moments you dream of while dating. 7 children screeching in the background, a kitchen covered in grease, a wife with pink eye, and a sleeping man. At this rate, baby #8 might be a while in the future......

Chai Tea

A dear friend sent me this chai recipe and i can assure you that it's worth making. DEEELICIOUS!!!!!!!!


2 c water
4 black tea bags
1/4 c honey
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cinnamon stick (I used a scant 1/4 tsp ground)
5 whole cloves
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 pinch ground nutmeg
2 cups milk

In a saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add tea, honey, vanilla and spices; simmer for 5 min.
Pour in milk. Heat through.

MMMMMmmmmmmm!!!!!

A great tea to make these early mornings a little special when just the oldest kids are up doing school, or after the kids are off to school. Something to help make that painful transition out of bed a little less painful. Oh, to be a morning person......

Peanut butter breakfast cake and wife saving husbands..........

I don't know about you but i just can't get excited about leftover oatmeal for breakfast but i really don't want to waste 2-3 cups of sticky, gooey oatmeal. Enter this recipe.

Peanut Butter Bars with Leftover Oatmeal

2 cups leftover oatmeal, cold and slimy is fine

1/2 cup butter, softened (coconut oil is also yum)

1 cup sweetener…sugar, sucanat, etc….(or honey- if you half the amount, and it doesn’t get the batter too moist)

1 egg

1 cup whole grain flour…wheat, spelt, etc….(Yes, these work with rice flour if you need!)(maybe a bit of extra flour if you used honey to sweeten)

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/3 cup peanut butter (we like this better doubled)

1 tsp. vanilla

Cream butter, sweetener and eggs in a bowl. Add oats and other ingredients; mix well. Spread into greased 9×13″ baking pan. Bake at 350′ for 10-15 minutes. Cool on wire rack; cut into bars. Yield 18(small) servings.

I made it for the first time for breakfast and it was delicious! I used rice flour and it did get mushy when you added milk, but I'm guessing it would stay together much better if you used whole wheat flour, i just didn't have any ground. However, the flavor was wonderful and it was perfect eating it straight out of the pan. The kids were impressed that they could eat cake for breakfast and i was impressed that i could get rid of some ooey-gooey oatmeal. (you can buy gluten free oatmeal if you wish)

For all of those who are wondering why i'm using rice flour, i have my reasons. For one, i have several gluten free friends, so i like to try out recipes that they can eat. For another, i like that we're not eating wheat all the time. Your chances of becoming gluten intolerant are much higher when you eat wheat consistently, although if you soak your wheat it's not as big of a deal. However, i get sick of soaking every blessed thing and actually prefer using coconut flour since i can whip up a dessert a lot faster than Sally Fallon can. While she's waiting for her wheat to properly soak, i'm on my second helping of cake. And to be brutally honest, we have definitely let some of our food standards slip a bit since we moved. I think it's the peer pressure......... :)I also have had a harder time with this pregnancy, simply feeling more exhausted and weary, so my man steps in and forbids me to make hamburger buns, etc. He buys them and i thank him gratefully. My obsessive side would make me a slave, but he frees me from that bondage and goes grocery shopping. It's amazing how a husband can save a wife from herself, but that's another whole post. Did i ever mention on here that i love my husband? Okay, i'll stop before i make everyone jealous. If you need me, i'll be on the front porch, drinking a cup of coffee and gazing at my beautiful Juniata county view.

Healthy and cheap hair conditioner

We have some very hard water at this house and it makes for some frizzy nasty hair. Eric asked me the other day why his hair feels stiff after washing it instead of soft. It turns out that the water softener isn't working here and even if it was, it's not made to handle the amount of water we go through. So i did some research on vinegar rinses on hair, since i have used it before but missed the yummy smell of commercial conditioner. But even commercial conditioner doesn't work the best so to the computer i went and voila! i found a recipe that leaves my hair soft and healthy. Unfortunately it doesn't leave it smelling delicious enough to eat, but right now i just want hair without 50 million frizzes everywhere. The best part is that while it's extremely healthy for your hair, it's also very inexpensive to make and that's almost as important as healthy in my book. So here's what i used.

2 T cider vinegar
herbs of choice (i used a handful of dried nettles for dry scalp, you can use sage to darken gray hair, chamomile to lighten blond and the list goes on....)
about 2 cups boiling water

Bring water to boil in small saucepan. Add herbs and vinegar, cover and allow to steep for at least 15 minutes. (take pan off heat)If you want a stronger infusion, add more herbs, cover and simmer on stove for 15 minutes. Turn heat off and allow to steep for 30 minutes.
Allow infusion to cool. Strain and use the same day or refrigerate for later use. You can also use some essential oils to make it smell good, just be sure not to get in eyes. (if you actually needed me to tell you that i would encourage you to not play with essential oils at all :)
Rinse with fresh water, or for extra conditioning benefits leave it in and towel dry. The vinegar scent will disappear as your hair dries, unless you have super smelling powers like certain people i know. Ahem......then i can't guarantee the lack of smell.

I was extremely pleased with how this left my hair, soft and frizz free. Or at least i had only 20 million frizzes instead of 50, and i didn't have to shell out some precious money to pay for something you flush down the drain. Speaking of which, anyone know of something to use besides toilet paper? Just kidding, just kidding.....

Gluten free peanut butter brownies

"No man has yet hated his own flesh, but loveth and cherisheth it." I've just proven that Bible verse true. With a pan of peanut butter chocolate chunk brownies. The best part? They're gluten free! You don't need flour, whole wheat or white, to make a pan of delicious brownies. This recipe calls for 6 simple ingredients and some self control. Here's the recipe.

Peanut Butter Brownies

16 oz. peanut butter (can also use almond butter)
1 cup agave nectar (i used part honey and part maple syrup)
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup chocolate chunks

Mix nut butter, agave and eggs til creamy. Add salt and baking soda, being careful to not over mix. Add chocolate by hand. Bake at 325 degrees for around 35 minutes.

A tall glass of milk, a warm brownie, and happy kids. A recipe for success. And trust me, after the kind of morning we had, we needed all of the above.

Tomato, Onion, and Cheese Sandwich

A summertime favorite in our house. A piece of bread, toasted to a golden brown, followed by an application of mayo. I am using a healthy mayo that i'm not real crazy about right now, so i actually use half sour cream and half mayo. You then lay a couple slices of cheese on top. Whatever kind you have in your fridge, no need to be gourmet. A couple slices of juicy garden fresh tomatoes, a layer of very thinly sliced sweet onion and last but definitely not least, a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Slice in half and ahhh, summer goodness. Basically a tomato sandwich kicked up a notch, and yeah, don't eat it before a big night out. You will have onion breath. On the other hand, maybe it would be a good way to find out who's the real friend in your life.

Tuna Taco Salad

It's the day before a big weekend, i have a million and one things to do, the kids are hungry and i realize i'm out of bread. So i search the cupboards for something....anything. And then i spy the taco shells. But all my hamburger is frozen and the last thing i feel like doing is splattering up my nicely cleaned stove and spending the next 30 minutes frying a hunk of frozen meat. And then i remember that i have a can of albacore (tuna) in the pantry and somewhere, in the dark recesses of my mind i remember hearing about tuna taco salad. Sure enough, it does exist and i print out a recipe to follow. Kind of. I don't have salsa to mix with sour cream so i use a tomato instead. Sprinkle it with cumin, salt and pepper, add finely chopped onion and voila! Oh, don't forget the tuna. Put a layer of salad greens in the bottom of your oven crisped taco shell and top with tuna salad. It was delicious and the kids loved it. Except for Eric. Tuna just isn't the same as peanut butter and honey. He needs to loosen up and live a little but that's a job for his wife. :)

I was delighted to finally find a tuna that doesn't contain "vegetable broth." Vegetable broth means lots of soy and unless you want strange things growing out of strange places, i would stay away from soy as much as possible. Bumblebee sells a tuna (they call it albacore) and the ingredients are tuna, water, salt and something called pyrophosphate. And no, i'm not going to find out what that is. I can only do so much. You can buy organic tuna but it's a little pricey and you have to look at a health food store. This Bumblebee brand is very, very mild, which i like, but it is a bit more expensive than the regular.

I used to hate tuna. We never had it at home but my mom would make mackerel soup and it was plain nasty (God bless her). She never bothered to get rid of the skin and little bones and the result was enough to traumatize me for a very long time. In my mind, canned fish was canned fish. Eventually i grew up and discovered that i love tuna. Especially fresh tuna, but unless we inherit some serious money, that will be reserved for special occasions.

Almond cookies......mmmmmmmmmm

Craving a cookie but you can't have gluten and you don't feel like spending $5 for 3 cookies? Here's a recipe for you that was a success with both gluten free and non gluten free people around here. Frankly, it's just as good unbaked as baked but it's not a "cookie" then, it's just cookie dough and you can't really tell people that you're bringing cookie dough for dessert. Although i have some friends that would understand. ;)

This recipe is actually from Nourishing Traditions and in case you didn't read the previous paragraph, it's delicious.

Almond cookies

1 1/2 cups almonds
1/2 cup butter, softened, or coconut oil (i used coconut oil for the dairy intolerant friends)
1 cup arrowroot or 7/8 cup bulgur flour
1/2 cup Rapadura (can use raw sugar)
1/2 tsp. sea salt
grated rind of 1 lemon (skipped)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. almond extract
Place almonds in food processer and process to a fine meal. Add remaining ingredients, and process until well blended. Form dough into walnut sized balls and place on buttered cookie sheets. May press whole almond into each. Bake at 300 degrees for about 20 minutes. After 5 minutes in the oven, press cookies lightly with fork. Let cool completely before removing to an airtight container.

(Can also use 1 1/2 cups pecans in place of almonds. Reduce butter or coconut oil by 1/8 cup and omit almond extract. I personally have only used the pecans and we all loved them)