Colorful Fresh Veggie Salad "Recipe"

After several months of enjoying Dad's homegrown lettuce, my salads are currently much more colorful!

These Colorful Fresh Veggie Salads always start with a base of chopped Cucumber and Tomato...

...and are dressed with Olive Oil, Balsamic Vinegar, and Salt.



But as you can see from the first photo, you can get as colorful as you wish. That salad included Red Cabbage and Yellow Crookneck Summer Squash. Yum!

What would you add to a fresh veggie salad? I'd love to hear!

June 2023 Recap

June 2023:

Have I mentioned I got to do a test-knit for Reywa Fibers with their lovely 100% yak-down yarn? This sweater design by Meli Alness puts all the detail into the sleeves, starting with bobbles wherever the knitter feels like adding them!

Meanwhile, Dad and I got out sailing for the first time in 2 years! I made a video of that day (and the books that helped inspire it) here:

https://youtu.be/GnaqelBQU7g

Father's Day (in a previous post) also included this little one's first try on her mamma's old tricycle!

Our long, northern days make great sun-tea! (When the wildfire smoke isn't too thick for the sun to shine through...) Get my "recipe" on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/G4T0iNKdAJ0

Flowers and vegetables are in season!

June also begins herb-harvest season for tea year-round. 

Short video of chamomile harvest here: https://youtube.com/shorts/2oFLM68UmdI?feature=share

It was fun to pull out the old Etch-a-Sketch for a long day in the car with Maren and kids...



...and great to see my youngest foster-brother again (at his daughter's graduation, mentioned in the previous post). Ninh was 10 when I was born and loved carrying me around!

Don't forget our June birthday!

And... the test-knit of Reywa Fibers' Chiaki Sweater is complete! The last step of embroidering the sleeves at will was so fun!

Find the pattern and yarn here (both on sale through the end of July!): 
https://www.reywafibers.com/shop-patterns/chiaki-sweater

Time for another page in the nature-journal to help me focus in on God's beautiful creation!

And our carpenters came back to get more siding on!



Dad is currently painting more siding since the lumberyard did not order enough to finish our garage, and the manufacturer meanwhile quite making our smooth version of this product. Thankfully they had a double-wide product that could be ripped in half and painted. But it is a huge project for Dad who was already in the middle of many others...

From Basil to Nut-Free Pesto

For years Elsa had to be on an Autoimmune Protocol [AIP] diet to lower inflammation and food sensitivities. During that time, we learned that nuts are not needed to make delicious pesto!

Simply start with organically grown basil, which is so easy to grow in your own garden! Combine all the following ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. Then use as you would any pesto.

~ I like a thin layer on my tortilla before making a wrap.
~ For flavorful chicken strips, toss chicken tenderloins in pesto before grilling.
~ Tell me your favorite use for pesto in the comments. I can use more ideas!

Pesto (AIP)
www.beyondthebite4life.com

4 cups basil
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt
3 T olive oil
1/4 cup canned artichokes, drained
1 T lemon juice

Makes about 1 cup pesto. Lasts some weeks in refrigerator. Freeze extra pesto in blocks in muffin tins, pop out when solid and freeze until you need another block out for use.

See a short video demo HERE.

Thirst-Quenching Lemon-Water

Are we drinking enough water?

Let me re-phrase that...

Are we staying hydrated?!

Did you know that drinking too much plain water can actually work against cell hydration by stripping your body of the needed minerals?

We've all heard about drinking 8 cups of water a day. But even that is not enough for all the detoxing we are working on around here. So we have to make sure we are getting enough minerals to optimize our hydration.

One way we do that is by drinking salted lemon-water! [Lemon juice is helpful in so many ways... including detoxification.]

Watch this short video for the explanation and recipe: Thirst-Quenching Lemon-Water

Another way to replenish the body while hydrating is through coconut water. My sister and nephew recently introduced us to this delicious treat! [below photo by Maren]

When Bugs are Going Round

What do you do when you know you've been exposed to a bug?

For years now, our family keeps these on hand for such times:

And thanks to Dr. Z. of the Natural Living Family, our go-to immune boosting recipe is:

- 1 tsp Coconut Oil

- 1/4 tsp Cinnamon 

- 1 tsp (or less) raw Honey

- Salt

- 1 drop immune boosting essential oil blend

- 1 packet Liposomal Vitamin C

Mix together and eat up to 4 times daily if ill. Yum!

Regarding the essential oil blend:

The Natural Living Family makes their own with equal parts of lemon, orange, cinnamon, clove, eucalyptus, and rosemary EOs

Just for Fun!

Even though my posts (and life) have been heavier of late, there are always joys to be found walking through each day with our good Shepherd.

One treat I often enjoy these chilly days (yes, we have snow on the ground now!) is my own version of hot-chocolate... half cocoa / half maca. What is that? You can find this nutrient-dense, powdered "superfood" at this link: https://www.vitacost.com/navitas-organics-maca-gelatinized  It reminds me a bit of peanut-butter. 

Find my recipe in the description of this short video: Favorite Hot Drink: Hot Maca-Cocoa

And while I'm sharing video links, here's one just for fun, full of sweet memories with Aunt Dorothy: Music Therapy with Down's Syndrome

If you haven't "met" her before:
Aunt Dorothy was a gift to our family as well as to countless others who knew and loved her!

Dorothy never spoke more than a few words in all her life, but music was always a communication point between us. Dorothy loved harmony - sparkling and voicing her joy when my sisters and I split into harmony from unison singing. Dorothy disliked dissonance - getting predictably agitated and loud when around unsettling music such as the 20th century Bartok pieces I practiced during college days.

Dorothy loved to dance with music. We could just start humming a tune, grab her hands, and go. Even singing hymns at church would get her grooving!

Even in her last week of life [in 2017] she lay in her wheelchair by my piano soaking up music. When nearly unresponsive in her last last day on earth, the voice of the Hospice chaplain singing a hymn brought a slight acknowledgement. My sisters and I sang to her again as we all gathered around in her last hour, and our brother-in-law led us in the Doxology as Dorothy entered heaven, where she now has the joy of taking part in the best music ever - praising her Savior!

This video [linked above] shows one of the times Dorothy took an active part in music. Even in her 50's, she loved sitting in my lap at the piano and "riding" my hands while I played. But here you can hear her one-note rhythm inspiring an improvised duet.

Recorded February 2013

Garlic Kale Chips Recipe

Watch a 30-second video of this recipe on my personal YouTube channel by clicking HERE.

Garlic Kale Chips

Preheat oven to 375.

Rip 12 cups of kale into roughly 2 inch pieces.

Toss with:

  - 2 Tbls melted coconut oil

  - 1 tsp garlic powder

  - Salt

Spread on 2 large baking sheets.

Bake 10 minutes.

Stir.

Bake 5 minutes or until a chewy-crisp, stirring again if needed.

Enjoy straight out of the oven, or freeze for future use!

And while you're at it, marvel at the intricate design our Creator put into one leaf of kale!

Apples Again

The Red Baron tree is empty, but we keep using these delicious, early apples in several ways.



I've set up the apple peeler/corer/slicer three times now to fill the dehydrator, which produces about a gallon of dried apples each time.



Watch my process in 30 seconds by clicking here!

A dash of cinnamon makes this treat extra-special.

The dried apple slices last all year in a glass jar (if we don't eat them up first!)

Baked apples taste like autumn!

I made so many last time that we have another dessert ready in the freezer.

And don't forget Apple Crisp! Or, in our case, a grain-free crumble added the last 20 minutes of baking.

Elsa's Stuffed Zucchini Recipe

It is still zucchini season!

This ubiquitous garden produce often gets a bad rap. Maybe because if you grow any, you get more than you can use!

But our family has several ways to enjoy this summer staple. Most commonly, we slice it thinly and stir-fry in a little sesame oil - sometimes with sliced onions. [We used to love the moisture it gave to chocolate cake when shredded.] And last year Elsa developed her own delicious version of stuffed zucchini, which I made again last week. [Read on for her recipe.]

Having used up last year's crop of garlic last month, I had the new experience of working with moist garlic, fresh from Dad's garden.

▪︎ Stuffed Zucchini

Brown on stove:

1 lb ground beef

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 tsp. salt

1 medium-large zucchini:

Discard seeds; scoop out flesh and save, leaving only 1/4 inch thick shell; chop saved zucchini, add to burger, and cook a couple minutes

Add:

1 T. oregano

1 tsp. basil

1 tsp. salt

1 large garlic clove, minced

1/2 cup tomato sauce

Place mixture in zucchini shell. 

Bake at 375° for 45 minutes in 9"x13" pan with 1/8" water

Chewy Nutter Butter Cookies

 

Chewy Nutter Butter Cookies
(gluten-free, dairy-free, grain-free, egg-free, nut-free)

1 c. coconut flour
1 c. tigernut flour
1 c. shredded coconut
2 T. gelatin
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

1 c. coconut oil, melted
1/4 + 1/8 tsp Sweet Leaf liquid stevia
2 tsp vanilla extract

Optional:
1 c. craisins
1/4 c. orange zest

Mix dry. Add wet. With electric mixer
add water slowly, starting with 1/8 c.
- only until dough sticks together
when squeezed into a ball.

Press small balls on baking sheet and
criss-cross with fork tines.
Bake 8-10 min. at 350 degrees.

September Harvest 2020

Along with bags of peppers in the freezer and many quarts of canned and frozen tomatoes, we spent two afternoons this month getting purple fingers from elderberries.

The frozen berries are now ready for another year 

of snacks for Elsa - the only one in the family who 

has developed a taste for this health-packed berry.

Then came the beets. To add variety to our beet preparation (usually steamed in cubes or baked whole), I started peeling, cubing, and roasting them tossed with olive oil and salt. Fresh beets take over an hour at 400 degrees to roast to our liking.

The fascinating lines exposed on a peeled beet make me want to add it to my nature journal.

Applesauce and baked apples have already fed us well from just the windfalls of our Red Baron tree.