Homemade Play Dough

When the weather isn't ideal for playing outside, play dough is a good alternative :) I do not buy play dough anymore- not after getting a recipe from a homeschooling friend of mine in Louisiana! This play dough is soft, long-lasting and edible (although I wouldn't recommend it!).

The play dough in the picture is over a month old and shows no signs of age, no drying and is as pliable as the day I made it. My daughter likes to add colors to her play dough- this batch started out a cream color and very quickly became a dark green/black!

To make this wonderful sculpting medium, you will need:

1 c flour

1/2 c table salt
2 t cream of tartar
1 c water
1 T cooking oil

Combine all ingredients in a skillet and heat on medium-high heat.

Stir constantly until mixture pulls away from pan and can be formed into a ball.

Turn out onto counter top or cutting board and let it cool a bit, then kneed it until it reaches desired consistency- this won't take more than a minute or two.

You can add essential oils, food coloring, sparkles, etc. anything that might tickle your fancy!

Make sure to store your play dough in an air-tight bag or container to prolong its life.

Enjoy a breather and a cup of tea while the kids use their imaginations :)

A Few of My Favorite Things...

One of my goals as a mother and wife is to serve my family good, nutritious food. Not the processed boxed food that is filled with chemicals and carcinogenic preservatives that is passed off as food in most stores, but the real, wholesome foods that God intended us to eat! That goal is not so easy to achieve in this highly-processed world we live in today.

I have been able to get my grocery shopping down to just a few stores, as I do not want to waste my food money on gas for the car! Other than picking up our raw milk at a local co-op, I do most of my shopping within a few miles of our home!

What I buy and where:

I try to buy local whenever I can. This is usually possible for meat and fresh vegetables- for these items, I have a local butcher and various fruit and veggie stands that are in close proximity to our home! Buying local produce and meats not only guarantees the freshness of those products but also gives you an opportunity to really get to know the farmers who sell them.

Salt- It may be a surprise to you, unless you regularly shop at Target, but I find my Real Salt in the spice section there! It is also priced very affordable, compared to the local health food stores. I still purchase coarse sea salt by mail order from http://www.bulkfoods.com/ . Bulk foods also has a large variety of raw nuts and organic items.

Lunch meats/bacon- Target also carries Applegate brand bacon and hot dogs. I buy these, as they are uncured and have no preservatives (nitrates and nitrites, which have been linked to cancer in lab rats). The meat is also hormone-free and pastured. Hormel also carries a nitrate/nitrite free line of lunch meats and bacon, but the quality of the meat is questionable, and I only buy this on occasion.

Sugar- I only buy organic, unprocessed sugar. Walmart is the cheapest source for unprocessed, organic sugar that I have found. I get Florida Crystals, which is nothing more than evaporated cane juice. It has a richer taste than processed white sugar and more nutrition to boot!

Stock Ingredients- I make my own stocks (chicken, turkey, beef and fish). The bones used to make stocks can be found at local butchers, but I have also found them at local ethnic grocery stores. Fish parts can be found cheaply at local seafood shops or at your neighbor's house, if he happens to be an avid fisherman!

Grains- Grains for bread and cereal can be bought through Bread Becker's co-ops. Just check for your local co-op on their website! I have also bought grains in bulk at our local health food store. Health food stores, such as Whole Foods, have a bulk buyer that can help you get a discount for buying large quantities! I just get a big bag and split it with friends :)

Although you won't be able to get everything locally, it is a good place to start. With gas prices and shipping costs skyrocketing, I for one am trying to find more affordable ways to feed my family nutritious meals that don't cost an arm and a leg! Let me know where you like to shop for your next meal...

Homemade French Roast Chicken

When I think of French cooking, I naturally think of lots of butter and juicy flavor. This recipe is no exception! I learned how to make this from Julia Child's cookbook ( I checked out Vol. 1 twice), and have since made it hundreds of times. It is one meal that my kids thoroughly enjoy and can be paired with anything from baked potatoes to cream cheese and spinach!





First, you will need a good quality chicken. I usually get mine from a local butcher, but you can also buy them direct from local farms.

In addition to a chicken, you will need:
1 large onion, roughly chopped
3 large carrot, roughly chopped
about 1/2 stick unsalted butter (1/4 cup)
sea salt

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.
Pat the chicken dry, then coat it generously with about half the butter. Salt the inside of the chicken with sea salt. Place the chicken in a heavy-duty pan (I used a large cast iron skillet) on its back. Lightly salt the outside with sea salt.

Brown the chicken on each side for 5-7 minutes each (on back, then on sides). Baste the chicken in-between with the remaining butter and a basting brush. I find that a large spoon, placed in the bottom side of the chicken is a good way to turn it without tearing the skin.

When the chicken has browned on all sides, keep it on its side. Add the chopped veggies and reduce the oven temp to 350 degrees. By this time, there should be enough butter and drippings in the pan to use for basting. Baste the chicken again before closing oven.

After adding the veggies, baste the chicken every 15 minutes for the remainder of the cooking time. Flip the chicken to its other side half-way through. Roll the bird onto its back about five minutes at the end.

One good way of checking to see if your chicken is fully cooked is to cut the skin between the breast and the leg. If the juices are golden, it is cooked. If the juices are pink, put your bird back into the oven for 10 minutes intervals until the pink is gone.

My bird was a little over 5 lbs, and I let it cook (total time) for 1hr 30minutes. You can adjust this according to the weight.

The veggies in the basting juices are delicious, and add flavor to the chicken, also! Use them as a garnish for the meat. You can also throw some baking potatoes into the oven when your bird has about an hour left to cook. I use a cast iron skillet with a lid to bake my potatoes, after having coated them with coconut oil and salt.

Another great side would be cream cheese and spinach! Just cook a bag of frozen spinach according to package directions, then drain most of water. Add 4-6 oz cream cheese (cubed) to spinach, then season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. This is my favorite way to eat spinach!

Make sure you save your chicken carcass for making stock! Here's a video to show you how :)
I don't usually brown the bones before throwing them in the stock pot, and I incorporate the drippings from the iron skillet in my stock- Yummy!

Homemade Artisan Sourdough Bread

I love sourdough bread. The slighly sour taste mixed with hot melted butter is heaven to my taste buds. Since starting a sourdough starter over a year ago, I have been trying to perfect this artisan loaf. I have to say, it has the best texture and crust of any I have tried! Real artisan sourdough is often cooked in a brick oven in a terracotta dish, but I believe this version is perfect for the everyday chef.

This is my sourdough starter. It is in its second year of living in my refrigerator, and it has worked hard for me. I have made sourdough bagels, sourdough pancakes, and sourdough bread, all from this one magical, bubbly mess! You will need at least 1/2 c of starter for this recipe.

These are the only two vessels needed for making this sourdough. The glass bowl is for mixing, and the round casserole dish (with a lid) is needed for baking.

The first mixture is the most important part of this recipe. If you don't get the texture right, your bread could fall flat! For this mixture, you will need:

1/2 c sourdough starter (I sometimes throw in a bit more)

3 c flour- this time, I used 1 1/2 c unbleached and 1 1/2 c spelt. The more whole grain flour, the denser your bread will be. I find that the 50-50 ratio makes a great loaf.

1 t sea salt

1 1/2 c water

Mix everything in a glass bowl. If the mixture is runny, add more flour. The dough should be firm but wet, as in the picture above.

Since the dough will need to sit out for a long period of time, start the dough with respect to the meal with which you will eat it. For a lunch loaf, start the dough around 5pm the night before. For a dinner loaf, start it around 10pm the night before.

Next comes the waiting... as with many traditionally-made foods, sourdough requires a long fermentation. I let it sit on my counter, covered with a wet towel, for 12 to 15 hours. The timing all depends on the temperature of your home. Since it's been fairly warm in my home lately, I let my dough ferment for 13 hours. The picture shows how much it has risen overnight.

When your dough is ready, you need to "flip" it. I call it this because it is kind of like flipping pancakes :) Get your hands really floury, and sprinkle the top with a few pinches of flour, then flip it from the side to the center of the bowl. I usually turn the bowl 2 or 3 times while I'm flipping to make sure I get it all unstuck from the bowl.

 

When you have flipped your dough, turn it out on a lightly floured surface while you clean and grease the bowl. This picture shows my dough after having been flipped and back in the glass bowl. I coated my bowl generously with virgin coconut oil.

Re-cover the dough with a wet cloth and let it sit for the second rise. This rise could range anywhere from 2 to 4 hours. Today, mine took 2.5 hrs.

Here's my dough, ready for baking! If you let the dough go too long, you might see large bubbles coming to the surface and popping. If this happens, don't fret- just get that loaf in the oven pronto!

To bake your sourdough, preheat the oven and the lidded baking dish to 450 degrees F. I have tried baking at a lower temp, but the crust just isn't the same! When oven and baking dish are heated, carefully remove the lid and pour in your dough. You may need to use your hands or a stiff spatula to help the dough along. Cut some 1" slits in the top of the dough with some kitchen scissors and replace the lid.

Bake 30 minutes with the lid ON.

After 30 minutes, remove the lid and bake for an additional 15 minutes with the lid OFF.

 

Here's what you will pull out of the oven! A crusty loaf fit for a French boulangerie. It is fantastic with a large dollop of butter or dipped in your favorite seasoned olive oil! Artisan quality, and oh so delicious!

Here's a cross section of the bread to show you the fluffy goodness you'll find under that crispy crust! My kids ate the other half... If you are not satisfied with the rise of this loaf, you can always use 100% unbleached flour for an amazingly fluffy bread.

This post was shared on Monday Mania at the Healthy Home Economist

Homemade Pumpkin Pie

What a wonderful time of year for pumpkin! Halloween is just around the corner, and pumpkins are on sale in every store... Our local Publix had their "pie pumpkins" on special last week, so we indulged :)





I made this pie last year, and it was so yummy it called for a repeat performance! Last year I used a regular pie crust, but this year I've paired it with a homemade graham cracker crust- 100% from scratch! Here's a wonderful desert for any holiday dinner:

Homemade Graham Crust:
7-9 Homemade grahams
1/4 c melted butter

Mix and press into an 8" x 11" glass pan

Bake at 350F for 15 minutes.

Pumpkin filling:
1 3/4 c roasted pumpkin (cut in half, discard seeds and bake at 325F for 1 hour on cookie sheet. Scoop out soft parts and discard the skin.)
3/4 c honey
3 eggs
1/2 t each: ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon
1/2 t salt
12 oz milk

Mix everything in a blender until smooth, then pour into prepared crust.

Bake at 325F for about an hour or until center is set.

Enjoy a piece of this pie with plenty of fresh whipped cream- trust me, they are meant for each other!

"Homemade" Egg Comparison

I am so excited... last week, I posted a rant about store-bought eggs. I have been waiting very im-patiently for my RIR hens to lay their first eggs. Just a few days later, my daughter's hen, Panini, gave me what I was waiting for! And, was I impressed! Just look at how a free-range egg compares to one of those store-bought, organic, all-vegetarian-diet eggs!! :


















Honestly, there is no comparison. The organic, store-bought egg had a pretty good shell, and the white was clear, but look at that yolk! As I stated in my rant, the yolk should be more on the orange side of yellow. This chicken was nutritionally deficient, and laid an inferior egg.

















Drum roll, please!... And here is our Panini's free-range egg! Look at the quality yolk. The orange yolk tells us that Panini ate plenty of nice, juicy bugs and any other critters she found in the yard (including a snake!). Once again, chickens are NOT vegetarian. They need a quality, balanced diet to lay quality eggs like this one!



















Wow, have you ever seen scrambled eggs this yellow from a batch of store-bought eggs?? They are also the most delicious eggs I have ever tasted :)

If you can't keep your own chickens, contact a local farmer to get free-range eggs. I found my ex-egg provider on Craig's List! Take a tour of their farm and make sure the chickens are getting access to open areas and not penned up in a dirty coop. If the farmer raises them the right way, he will be more than willing to open his farm for a private tour.

This post shared on Monday Mania

Homemade, Non-Greasy, Bug Repellent

I have gotten so tired of mosquitoes this year! The rainy season has been upon us for months, and I see no end to it in the near future... although the constant buzz of sprayer airplanes is overhead, we are still plagued by mosquitoes every time we open the door! Unfortunately, their favorite place to hide is on our front porch :(

I have attempted to make homemade bug repellent a few times, but it never worked out. I used olive oil as my base every time, and it was messy and sticky! As with some commercial repellents, having sticky, greasy skin while outside is not the ideal situation. Every time I used my homemade olive oil blend, I came back inside with sand, dirt and various other organic material stuck to me in a slimy mess... not any more!

The solution to my dilemma was witch hazel! Witch hazel is a natural astringent, so it is soothing for the skin, non-greasy and quickly absorbed. It also has a very mild scent- kind of like graham crackers :)

For my homemade formula, for every 1/2 cup of witch hazel, I add:

25 drops cedar wood essential oil
15 drops citronella essential oil
10 drops eucalyptus essential oil
10 drops tea tree oil
a drizzle of neem oil (to your discretion, as this really alters the nice, herbal scent. Neem oil tends to smell like a fart.)

Mix everything in a mister bottle and spray liberally on exposed skin before going outside.

Be sure to shake before each use! You'll be amazed at the effectiveness of this homemade herbal bug repellent, and no grease :)