On Raw Food Rehab I watched this cute video of Rawdawg Rory making his Sunflower Ranch dressing and knew I wanted to give it a try. I was not a big fan of ranch in my 'previous eating life', but I know that my husband enjoys foods that remind him of times before his wife took over the kitchen ;) so I made raw ranch for him.
I've enjoyed dipping fresh green beans and red peppers in it. It traveled well to my weekend workshop at school.
We've also had salads with these beautiful greens from the farmer's market. It's baby kale and purple mustard greens. I am searching my brain for the name of the farm...geez....
I asked hubby if he liked the ranch and he says not sure I can taste much over these bitter greens ;) and we laughed! They were bitter, but so good, both our salads bowls were emptied =)
This weekend we had family over to celebrate a birthday, I made a raw cobbler from Sweet Gratitude'sFruit Cobbler recipe.
mixing up the walnut date crust
I used a combination of local snow and red delicious antique apples, blueberries that I picked, and organic raspberries.
with the topping crumble on
all done and ready to eat. It was delish and nourishing, live desserts really are the best!
I made a cute design on the top ;)
I recently saw a different salt for my neti pot at the co-op and LOVE love love it. It seems so gentle and soothing compared to the previous one I had. This one is from Baraka. They also make beautiful pots, kind of wish I would have seen these before I bought mine...may have to upgrade sometime. (who wants a used neti pot? ;) Hey, why not they can be sanitized in the dishwasher! Baraka's pots are made in the US too.
the benefits of using the natural sea salt
I have been loving the neti since the day I tried it, I think it works wonders and has become a staple part of my morning routine. If you're just starting out it gets to be second nature how to tip, pour, etc. in no time. Do you all neti? What's your favorite pot and salt? Have you ever used any of the infused sea salts?
thought of the day:
“Teach this triple truth to all: A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity.” ~Buddha
The current issue of MaryJane's Farm came with an article on growing garlic. This topic was on my mental list of things to research. I had thought it was getting about time to put it in before the winter, but didn't know for sure. She says that she starts hers in the beginning of September/early fall. That's about the time the mag arrived, so we broke up some Tantre Farm garlic and planted them in the garden. We're looking forward to homegrown garlic and scapes if all goes well ;)
This next topic is not necessarily going to fall under a green umbrella, aside from the fact that we were using found material in our shed (that was there when we purchased the house). It will fall under the enjoying life part though! I've been wanting to get into hooping/hoop dance for a while. I've been inspired by The Happy Hoop to start and to make my own hoop. Dave was game and made me two actually with the hosing and connectors that we had. This is the link we used to know what to do.
measuring
We found colored gaffers tape at Dick Blick's and a roll of yellow electrical tape at Home Depot. I've only taped one so far and need to start practicing!
my first hoop ;)
I've still been getting lots of tomatoes from the garden and have been enjoying fresh pico, yum!
with Ani Phyo's Cashew Sour Kream and Chives. I've been using our frozen chives from this spring, turns out freezing chives like that works great!
That pretty leaf in the background is some Petrified Nature made by my talented cousin from a rhubarb leaf! We were given it as an anniversary gift and love it, it goes really well in our home. Right now it's holding some beautiful winter squash.
Watch these awesome girls rock the hoop in this video! You can read the blogpost it came from here.
Our Walk For Farm Animals was a couple of weekends ago now, Ann Arbor was the first city so you may still check out walks in your area. I did a bad job of taking any photos, but had a nice time and a lovely walk with new friends. Our lovely leader is heading to Farm Sanctuary this weekend with our money raised. A sincere thank you to my sponsors on behalf of the animals. We're planning to make next year the biggest and best yet from Ann Arbor! Michigan is the state to have been holding the walks the longest! Don't quote me, but I believe this next year will be celebrating 25 years of walking. Anyway just a couple of quick photos:
It was a beautiful day
On the same note, our library ordered this book that I had suggested. Did you know you can suggest material for your library? I have not gotten into it yet since my school reading has come first lately. There really are so many books....
On the menu today we have his and hers salads. We've been loving massaged kale around here! I made these with julienned FM kale massaged with flax oil, ume plum vinegar, and celtic sea salt. Added FM purple onion, our green beans, and raw pumpkin seeds.
His with raisins
Hers with our toms and avocado
It's a great time at the FM now with winter squash and apples ripe! We've been buying lots of onion, garlic, squash, greens, and apples.
This last week in apples were Red Delicious. I stopped by my favorite antiques apple growers to see what treats they had. Red Delicious was one of them. I politely said I don't really enjoy RD which she replied oh I enjoy them even less! (we're both talking the supermarket ones with the crazy thick skin and big crowns) I'm not sure what the modern day RD were bred for, in my humble opinion it isn't for the taste. She had brought a few apples for sampling that birds had already sampled themselves ;) I tasted an uneaten side and it was not at all like the RD in the store, very good actually! They came home with me and here's what they look like, not much resemblence to their modern day relatives.
It's such an amazing thing to purchase your food hours after it's been harvested.
I picked up raw granola that I've been wanting to for a while this week too at the FM. You can read about the Detroit Zen Center, students and monks at the center run Living Zen Organics with some fabulous foods and a cafe in Hamtramck. This granola is delish, I really enjoy the cashews in it, and their kale salad is so so good!
A poetry snack for the day =)
'Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language. Do not now look for the answers. They cannot now be given to you because you could not live them. It is a question of experiencing everything. At present you need to live the question. Perhaps you will gradually, without even noticing it, find yourself experiencing the answer, some distant day.' ~Rainer Maria Rilke
'The only journey is the one within.' ~Rainer Maria Rilke
So I have a lot of items to blog about that have been going on. I had the opportunity to see FoodMatters, attended the MI Raw Eco Fest, walked in the Walk for Farm Animals, and of course doing lots of fun things around the homestead ;) I seem to be more productive with smaller posts so I'll break then up. I've also been getting into the swing of school and studying again. I'm enjoying it so far and it's great to meet lots of nice new people.
We stopped into Whole Foods last night looking for a bag of potting soil. I lost Dave in the store and that usually means he's gone to get a piece of pizza or cup of coffee, so when I finally found him he did indeed have a cup o joe, a bag (that wasn't ours) full of stuff and grin on his face. He was given this bag of goodies at the coffee counter! WF is celebrating their 30th birthday this month. A fun fact from their website 'Whole Foods Market opens with 19 employees, some of whom are still team members as of 2010.' That's pretty cool. So Happy Birthday Whole Foods and thanks for the goodies!
We hardly ever use paper towels (like this roll can last us over a year at least). Everything will be put to good use for sure.
So for lunch yesterday I put together a soup. I've been wanting to harvest some of our leeks in the garden so out I went. There were lots of green beans, toms, and red peppers waiting. I brought in our first leeks (yes they are small ;) and a few carrots too.
(sorry for the unsharp photo)
I'd love a long mild fall to continue to eat out of the garden. I will usually make a pot of soup at some point during the weekend, this is what yesterday's looked like, and boy was it good =)
Recipe:
ingredients from the garden- 3 carrots (chopped), handful of small leeks (trimmed and sliced), green beans (snapped), one split tomato (chopped)
ingredients from the FM- purple onion (a few slices), 3 large garlic cloves (diced), lots of bok choi (white parts chopped, greens cut into ribbons), 3 small purple potatoes (cubed), large handful curly parsley (minced)
ingredients from the pantry/refrigerator- 1 T lemon juice, 1 T South River Azuki Bean miso, 1 tsp celtic sea salt, veggie broth ( I used what we had left about 2 cups), couple stalks of celery with it's greens chopped, black pepper
2-3 cups filtered water
*Lightly saute your carrots, onion, garlic, leeks, and celery in olive oil
*Add the broth, water, potatoes, beans, tomato and bring to a simmer until potatoes are cooked how you like them. Part way through potatoes cooking add your bok choi.
*Turn the heat off and let cool a minute or two, then scoop out about a 1/2 cup of broth, to the broth stir in your miso until incorporated. You can then add this back to the soup (always be careful not to boil miso). Add the lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine everything, stir in your parsley before serving. Enjoy!
Last night we finally ordered our apple trees for the spring! We decided on Cox's Orange Pippin (btw sorry for the misspelling of Pippin in the last post!) and Grime's Golden, both are organic. I'm so excited =D
What's everyone's favorite apple variety? Have you been able to enjoy an antique apple before?
On another note we saw The Town on Friday and I loved it. It's funny how I really can enjoy a movie about things that I would not condone in reality. Do you think that's a bad thing? It's kind of how I feel about boxing movies, I love to watch them, but I don't like to see people have their brains and nervous systems take that abuse in reality. On the other hand inbetween studying this weekend I watched The Wedding Date and a cheesy Lifetime movie of which I'd seen them both before! In a romantic movie mood much? ;) ? I guess I'm pretty much up for most movies ;)
I'm having this wonderful infatuation with antique apples. How can you not, look at this lovely!
This is a pippen grown non-cert organically in our county. If you shop the A2 FM look for Salem Orchard and Vineyard. They also have delicious concord grapes, yes they have seeds ;)
I've been working on this visualization of our apple orchard =) We will have baked, gluten free donuts and also raw dehydrated ones and pumpkins and squash and greens and goats (for living) oh my!
I really think apples are so amazing. Did you know that if you plant the seeds that are inside one apple you will get all different trees from the parent apple? A really interesting documentary by Michael Pollan based on his book The Botany of Desire is so thought provoking, and a great lesson on apple history too. It plays on PBS so you can check their schedule. I fell asleep for the marijuana part, go figure ;) so I'm wanting to watch again too.
back to more apple lovin pictures! On the left are snow apples and the right are the pippens. I love the pippens, the snow apples are delicious too, a little more tart. Both types are firm and juicy. Is it not so cool that these apples are from trees that were planted in the 1930s? My gratitude to that Johnny Appleseed.
my loot
getting organized for storing
We're ordering two antique trees for the spring (now's the time to order them, I was too late last year) for our yard. I've gotten one tree decided on and still working on the other variety. It will be a few years before they bear fruit, it will be so worth waiting for! They'll be coming from Trees of Antiquity. Can you tell I'm excited!?! =)
Something that has been bearing fruit in the garden is our heirloom tomato plants. I haven't decided if these are Black Krim or Cherokee Purples. I had planted both seeds and then moved the seedlings around. Anyone able to tell for me? I'm leaning toward Black Krim, they are SO delicious and beautiful.
here's his bottom
we've also been eating our garden carrots =) Plants are just so amazing, it's really so fun to plant teeny tiny seeds and then see how they grow into amazing greens, veggies, and fruits.
Last night I stayed up and finished watching Crazy Sexy Cancer (sorry if anyone is waiting for it, it's going back to the library today!)
This link is for the trailor on her you tube channel, I couldn't seem to embed it.
Kris Carr is just amazing, that's not even the word for her, she's more than that, she's the rockstar healing junkie! I was lucky to meet her and hear her talk last month. She's a radiant, smart, kind, and loving wellness warrior. She signed my Grandma's crazy sexy cancer tips book and we took a photo with her which ended up being a goof and was a video, ha. It's on my Mom's camera, I'll see if I can get it to work anyway ;) If you get a chance to see her, do it. You can also check out her sweet holistic social network Crazy Sexy Life.
If you watch Kris' latest vlog about decluttering this is on the same note. We've painted the walls, doors, trim, taken out carpet, layed a cork floor, hung repurposed curtains, installed a ceiling fan in our cute little office. It looks beautiful and is a nice calm room, but then came time to decide what to bring back in...here's the decluttering issue...all that's made it so far is our desk with laptop, small wicker drawer unit and my salt candle. I've tucked our scanner and printer on a rolling end table in the closet and out of sight, but that's where I've stopped and been stuck. I don't want much in the room, but I want it to be functional with just what we need. We don't have much 'clutter' at all, but figuring our what to do with our CD collection, etc. is what's hanging me up. In the meantime I'm enjoying the space in the glow of my salt lamp.
"Those who cherish a beautiful vision, a lofty ideal in their hearts, will one day realize it. "
Hey all, hope you're staying warm and cuddly somewhere. I've been chilly today since being at school, I am not used to being in air conditioning like that, brrr, it's making me want to curl up and finish my latest read The Girl with Glass Feet =) Anyway the weather has been gorgeous, so much breezy fresh air and lots of pretty clouds. It was very windy this weekend, I had pulled three of our basil plants, which are still rocking along great, out of the garden and potted them to bring inside for the winter. I'm hoping for fresh homegrown basil all year! I'll have to find them their favorite spot in the house. After I had potted them I left them set in the back yard for a day or so and they got a little beat up from the 60 mph wind whipping around the house woops. I picked them up and said some nice things to them...here's hoping they recover. So maybe you want to bring in some herbs for the winter too if you live where you get a winter. I'm no expert, but now seems like a good time.
This weekend I'm walking in Farm Sanctuary's Walk for Farm Animals. This will be my first year and the 21st for the Ann Arbor walk! This year's spokesperson is Bob Harper who those of us who watch the Biggest Loser know as one of the trainers, I was pretty excited to hear that he eats a plant based diet and also that he was going to lend his celebrity to the cause.
I have a fundraising page if you're inclined to donate to the cause, email me (my email is in the top right) and I can send you the link. THANKS to those of you who have already sponsored. I am excited to be helping an organization that does such wonderful work that I'm passionate about. This year for my birthday I asked for a donation to Farm Sanctuary instead of a gift. Honestly the few things that I'd like are really wants and not needs, so I think this is a better use of money. My parents made a very kind donation for my birthday. I plan to visit the sanctuary and it's lovely animals someday.
If you're interested in walking you can look here for the list of walks by state.
Today I have a friendly reminder to oil your wooden cutting boards. I unfortunately let mine get really dry sometimes, so I thought I'd give you a reminder in case you do the same ;) It sort of reminds me of the front of Martha Stewart Living where she has a whole calendar with suggestions of tasks to complete that time of year. It's been a long time since I've read her magazine or watched her show, but she was such an inspiration for me to begin cooking from scratch and getting back to the basics with household things and do it yourself projects, I was so infatuated with her! Back in my younger college days I used to actually skip class and walk home when there was something on her show that I didn't want to miss!
Here are our boards rehydrating
What's everyone reading? Any good book recommendations?
Don't forget to smile today as much as you can =D Smile at the computer, laugh, it feels good right?
“Because of your smile, you make life more beautiful.”
