Archive | July, 2009

Lovely Linkage – Happy 4th of July!

By on July 4, 2009 in natural & green

Picture 4Have a happy 4th of July! Here are few highlights I wanted to share with you all.

Food Preservation Classes – Vancouver, WA
I wanted to let all my local readers know that my aunt, Molly, is teaching another set of food preservation classes this month (July 16 & 23 and then again on August 1) and thoroughly covering the topics of canning, freezing and drying of fruits and vegetables. You will be supplied with a hands on demonstration, and a great packet of information to take home with you. It is an excellent class if you are interested in saving money and preserving local foods for the year. For more information, check out her website here.

Natural Living Articles for your enjoyment:

How to Make Soda Pop from Kefir Grains – I love this! What a great alternative to the sugar filled drinks available on the market and for a refreshing summer drink.
Study Finds Cheeseburgers More Nutritious than Baby Food - another reason to make your own homemade baby food! Not only is it far more nutritious, it is also far more frugal and you know exactly what is going in it.
How Much Sugar Are You Really Consuming?- Stephanie shares an very insightful website that gives visual comparison of some popular food items with how many sugar cubes they contain.
Raw Berry Freezer Jam - Kimi shares how to make freezer jam sweetened with honey. I found that using rapadura/sucanat is my personal favorite for sweetening jam (as honey tends to be a little powerful), but we love Pamona’s for a natural pectin. I am looking forward to making blackberry jam later on this year with the free blackberries that grow around our house.

Food, Inc – the Movie – There has been a lot of talk lately about this documentary that highlights the current problems with our food industry. How much do you really know about the process of bringing food to your table? It looks fascinating! Kimi talks about it here as well as Kelly shares her thoughts here. Check out the trailer here. Here is a crazy quote that Kelly passed on from the film:

“We’re spending less on food than anyone in history, only about 9% of our income, cheaper than anyone else in the world.  So we’ve got lots of cheap and abundant food, but…it’s making us fat, we have this tremendous problem with obesity and Type II Diabetes, and as it turns out, cheap food has many many hidden costs.”

For the Garden:
Homemade Fertilizer Recipe – Frugal Granola shares a all natural fertilizer for your garden with nettles! I am making a batch of this today for my container garden!
Natural Weed Killer Recipe – Another awesome natural method for the garden.

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Homemade Coconut Oil Mayonnaise

By on July 3, 2009 in recipes & kitchen tips
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This picture was taken immediately after making this batch. It actually thickens to a nice fluffy consistency as it cools in the refrigerator!

I have been on the quest to find a nutritious alternative to the store bought versions of mayonnaise that come filled with soybean or canola oil, two genetically modified ingredients that are best to be avoided. Read more about GMO’s here. I have tried a few different homemade varieties and have shared them here in the past, but either they tasted too strongly of olive oil or else they used evaporated milk. Enter…coconut oil!

A combination of olive oil and coconut oil is the perfect balance to providing a high quality and nutritious mayonnaise. (Read more about these healthy oils here.) Can you believe it? Mayonnaise can actually be healthy for you! We love mayo at our house on everything from deviled eggs, sandwiches, hamburgers, etc. This recipe is a good balance of coconut oil and olive oil in flavor. It is quite delicious! The coconut oil adds just a slight sweetness to it and yet not overpowering when balanced with the olive oil. Using all coconut oil resulted in a solid substance that was overly sweet and coconut tasting, but this recipe was prefect for us and stayed nice and fluffy throughout its duration in the fridge.  I love making my own condiments as I know what goes in it without any additives or unnatural preservatives! Plus it is the frugal way to stretch your budget.

1 whole egg (fresh, free range eggs from the farm are preferred)
2 egg yolks
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/4-1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/3 cup extra virgin coconut oil (melted if solid)
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Combine the eggs, mustard, lemon juice, salt and white pepper in your blender or food processor. Then with the blender or food processor running on a low speed, start adding your oils very slowly. Start out with drops and then work up to about a 1/16 inch stream. It takes a good 5 minutes to accomplish this, but the end result is worth it! Continue blending until all the oil is incorporated.

Makes about 1 1/2 cups. Please in your refrigerator to thicken. Store in an airtight container for up to two weeks. You can add 1 Tablespoon of whey to preserve it for about a month and provide those good fermenting nutrients.

Note: If you do not like the flavor of coconut oil, choose an expeller pressed/refined version. This is flavorless and still healthy, although not as beneficial for your body as the cold-pressed, unrefined versions. I love Mountain Rose Herbs coconut oil, and they sell both varieties. Another good alternative is sesame oil, although again not as nutritious as coconut oil.

Recipe is adapted slightly from Tropical Traditions.

P.S. Looks like I am not the only one thinking about and experimenting with homemade mayo lately. Check out Kelly the Kitchen Kop’s healthy recipe here.

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And we’re back!

By on July 1, 2009 in news & updates

We had a simply delightful time at the beach with my side of the family, but we are glad to be back! Here are a few pictures from our trip. It was beautiful weather but we had lots of wind, as you can tell. We also got some cute family photos that we will have to share later…
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