I don't want anyone to read this and think that you have to have a bunch of fancy tools to cook real food. People have been doing it for thousands of years with little more than a fire and a pot. That being said, however, there are some tools that make the real food life much easier. Also, some that are just totally cool. So today's quick list is actually two lists: the most useful appliances that we have and use now, and the appliances we hope to own someday. The second list, in my mind, is kind of real foods dream team. Ain't nothing on there cheap, baby... but I think they'll all be worth it!
Useful Appliances in my Kitchen:
1. Chest Freezer- Ours is not huge by any means (although it was too big to fit in the trunk or backseat of our sedan- a fact we found out a little too late!). We keep it on the porch, and even with it running 24/7, our electric bill is around $60/month, so I don't think it has a major impact. It is SO USEFUL to have a freezer full of ingredients ready for a quick meal that didn't come from the take out place down the road, or ready to eat frozen meals, or stocking up when someone shoots a deer or butchers a hog, or a million other things. I could not do what I do in the kitchen with the dinky little freezer on top of our fridge.
2. VitaMix- I definitely expected to get more use out of this than I do. Don't get me wrong: this is the best blender I've ever owned. But from all the promo videos we watched online, I expected this thing to blend smoothies, make soup, make ice cream, dice vegetables, knead batter, juice fruits & veggies, and do my dishes. Maybe not that last one, I guess. So, as long as you're aware that this is just a blender- a loud, high powered, self cleaning, really awesome blender- it becomes a useful tool to have. We bought a factory reconditioned model from the manufacturer (which looks like new and comes with a great warranty), which saved us a hundred dollars or so: https://secure.vitamix.com/Reconditioned-Blender-64-Ounce-5yr.aspx
3. Food Processor- I'll be honest in saying that I expected to do away with this by buying a VitaMix. I was disappointed to find that I really prefer keeping both of them, since they serve different purposes. My food processor is a $30 department store model that my dad bought a decade or so ago, and I don't push it, but it's great for small amounts of chopping nuts, veggies, etc.
4. Cast iron cookware- not really an appliance, but definitely a lifesaver! Non-toxic, lifetime lasting, easy clean-up... how could I not love it? We use our cast iron skillet daily for eggs in the morning, but also love baking cornbread in it in the oven, and all the things you would regularly use a skillet for. We've recently ordered a cast iron dutch oven, and hope that these two staple items will replace most of the clutter of pots and pans in our kitchen. Lodge is a great, American made brand: http://www.amazon.com/Lodge-Logic-10-Inch-Chefs-Skillet/dp/B00008GKDJ/ref=sr_1_4?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1358443916&sr=1-4&keywords=cast+iron+skillet
5. Dehydrator- ours is of the cheap, cracked but still working, hand-me-down variety, but still gets a lot of use in the fall making apple chips. See the next list for my future dehydrating plans when the budget allows for an upgrade!
6. Stockpot- Again, not really an appliance, but absolutely invaluable in the kitchen. I've never gotten into the habit of using a crockpot regularly (although I know people who couldn't live without theirs!), but I do make a big batch of soup on my stockpot weekly for us to have as quick meals the rest of the week. We also use it, believe it or not, to make stock (as the name would imply). We make a ton, then freeze it. I also use it for canning and boiling large amounts of water and popping popcorn and anything else I can think of. We got ours for $8 at a thrift and I have no idea of the brand, but it basically looks like this (only less shiny): http://www.amazon.com/Excelsteel-Quart-Stainless-Stockpot-Encapsulated/dp/B0030T1KR0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358443609&sr=8-1&keywords=stockpot
Now, for the fun part of the post!
The Dream Team:
1. Grain mill or VitaMix Dry Container- my goal is to grind our own grains. Actually, it is to sprout, dehydrate, and then grind our own grains, but I digress. I want to make my own flour that I can feel good about eating. A grain mill is ideal for this, of course, and I'd probably go with one that has good reviews, but isn't exorbitantly expensive (like this: http://www.amazon.com/WonderMill-Grain-Mill/dp/B000CPJKWC/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1358446483&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=nutri+mill ). However, my VitaMix blender has a dry blade container designed for grinding grains & mixing batter that I can buy to use with my existing machine for only $144. It can't grind as much flour at once as a grain mill could, but it takes up less space and costs less money. Sounds like a winner to me!
2. Excalibur Dehydrator- sigh. This is the king of all dehydrators. It's bigger, it's more efficient, it's SQUARE so it fits everywhere and everything fits in it, it's got the heat source in the back to ensure even dehydration, and... it's pretty. I dream of making my own fruit roll-ups, beef jerky, veggies chips, sprouted grains for flour, and a million other things. Some people drool over new cars... to each, his own. Check it out and drool with me: http://www.amazon.com/Excalibur-3926TW-Dehydrator-Timer-White/dp/B008OJZRIE/ref=sr_1_9?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1358446856&sr=1-9&keywords=excalibur+dehydrator.
3. Meat Grinder- this is more hubby's domain than mine, but I will gladly benefit from all the savings on ground beef & venison we can process ourselves. But mainly, I want one for the sausages. SAUSAGE. Mmm... If you have a good brand recommendation, feel free to share!
4. Ice Cream Maker- Not a necessity, and hubby thinks it will take up too much space. But it just sounds like so much fun to have in the summertime! Also, I think I'd get more ice cream in my diet if I knew I could have made from raw cream, local honey, and freshly ground vanilla beans whenever I wanted... that's a good goal, right? Right??
5. Berkey Water Filter- the only water filter I know that filters out heavy metals and toxic added chemicals, while still preserving the trace minerals in water that our bodies need. I'll take the big one, please: http://www.berkeyfilters.com/berkey-water-filters/systems/?gclid=CIa8uvqB8LQCFQWonQodXnIAxQ
What do you dream of in your kitchen? What tool can you not imagine living without? Share it with me, and who knows? Maybe I'll finally become a Kitchen Aid convert myself! ;)
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Thursday, January 10, 2013
How To: Prioritize a Grocery Budget
We all have them. Some more than others. Sometimes not as strongly defined as they should be. But the kind of priorites I'm talking about here are for one of the most basic, most woefully neglected categories of our life. I'm talking about food.
I've heard it said that the amounts of money Americans spend on food and health care have essentially reversed over the last century. We spend next to nothing on groceries compared to other expenses these days, but exorbitant amounts on health insurance and other health care costs. 100 years ago, most of an American family's budget went towards their food, but their hospital/doctor's bills were few and far between compared to ours. I do not believe this to be a coincidence. I prefer to put my money towards letting my food be my medicine, as Hippocrates put it, rather than eating cheaply and paying the piper down the road in the form of medications and hospitalization.
The Rules:
There are two main rules I follow when it comes to giving my "standard American diet" grocery budget a facelift. The first is that if the cost for a quality product is very comparable to the conventional product, or if I buy it so infrequently that it will not have long term effects on my wallet, then I buy the better item. A recent example that comes to mind is 79 cents/lb for conventionally grown (ie, pesticide covered) carrots at the grocery store, compared to $1.09/lb for organic. I was only buying one pound, so the extra thirty cents was definitely worth it for me. Conversely, when I ran out of baking powder earlier this week, I had a choice between paying a little over $1 for commercial baking powder versus paying $4.39 for aluminum free, organic (non genetically modified though it does contain some cornstarch!) baking powder. That's a huge price difference for just one small item on my grocery list. But, I only go through one to two containers of baking powder per year. Did I have an extra $3 this week to stock my pantry with one more quality ingredient for the year? Absolutely. So that's the basic principle of how my first rule works.
The second rule is where the following priorities list comes in. Simply put, I decide what foods I will not compromise on, put them in order of importance, and allocate my grocery money accordingly. You may not agree with the order of my personal list, but I urge you to get in the habit of knowing your priorities in this area of life. For us, this is how it goes:
1. Animal products. If you consume animal products in any form, they need to be high up on your list of foods to buy from good sources. You see, we are what we eat. And if we eat animal products, then we are most definitely what what we eat, eats. Read that again to make sure you've got it. If your hamburger roamed freely across green pastures in its past life, eating as much lovely grass as it desired, you are getting all the benefits of his healthy and happy lifestyle. If, however, your hamburger formerly lived in a tiny, confined stall with hundreds of other cows (whose stomachs are not actually built to digest grain at all!), being force fed genetically modified, pesticide covered, manure contaminated, antibiotic jam-packed corn and grain feed mixtures, then your stomach is not going to be any happier about it than his was. I believe the reason so many people fare better on a dairy-free or meat-free diet initially is because of the overwhelmingly poor quality of animal products in this country.
So how does this affect our budget? Mainly, we eat less meat. We learn to stretch a piece of meat across a couple meals, to supplement with beans and lentils and other protein sources, and to just make do with what we have. Specifically, we pay $8/gallon for local milk from happy, grass-fed cows, and limit ourselves to one gallon a week. We pay $6/lb for ground beef from the same farmers, and will occasionally splurge on some of their ground sausage for the same price. Unless they're having a sale, we buy 1 lb of meat a week from them. We also buy bones and other animal parts from their lovely pastured animals at a dirt cheap rate ($5 for a huge bag, usually) to make vats and vats of homemade stock, which makes meat free soups and stews a lot healthier and heartier. We also raise rabbits for meat, which we eat ourselves and also supply to friends from church, who in turn will surprise with a pastured chicken now and again. We will sometimes indulge in a 12 oz package of nitrate and antibiotic free bacon from Trader Joe's for $3.99 (about once a month or so, and it gets spread out across two meals).
2. Oils/healthy fats. This is an extremely close second on the list. You will not see a bottle of canola or vegetable oil in my cabinets. When we started the switch to real foods, this was the first thing I threw out. Once or twice a year, I make a bulk order of organic, extra virgin, cold pressed olive oil and coconut oil. Yes, it costs more upfront. We budget for it, cringe at the total, try to keep hubby from hyperventilating, vow to use it sparingly, and then move on. After reading up on the smoke points of various oils, I tend to use coconut oil or butter for baking or frying, and save the olive oil for drizzling on top of any and everything we eat. We do buy Kerrygold grass-fed butter from Trader Joe's, which is $2.99 for an 8 oz package. I included that under animal products, but it does double duty as a healthy (yes, I said healthy) fat. Also, as my husband pronounces in plaintive tones, "it just makes everything taste so good." Smart guy, that husband of mine.
3. Supplements (homemade and otherwise). To be honest, I think that 99% of the time, supplements are overrated. We should be getting most of our nutrition from what we eat. There is one glaring exception for most of us real foodies on a budget. If you had a good old fashioned grandmother recommending home remedies for illness as a child, I'm sure you can guess what I'm going to say. Cod liver oil, my friends. Yum. Specifically, we invest a good amount of money in buying fermented cod liver oil. In the end, it's just cheaper and more realistic than consuming extreme amounts of wild caught seafood. And even if you can afford to get wild caught salmon shipped to you every day of the week (in which case, we should totally be friends, by the way), I still think you should take your cod liver oil.
4. Sweeteners. The first and always most important step here is just to use less. I mean it. Sugar is poison, and I don't think I'm exaggerating in the slightest to say that. Do I eat sugar sometimes? Yes. Do I love chewy brownies or vanilla ice cream over top hot apple pie as much as the next person? YES. Do I respond gratefully when someone blesses me with food they've cooked, even if it contains my entire week's worth of added sugar? Absolutely. But on average, I consume about 10g of added sugar a day. Pause to check the label on something in your fridge or pantry. That's not a lot. In fact, if I ate nearly any kind of processed food regularly, I could not stick to that number. The average American consumes 88 grams of added sugar per DAY, adding up to 150 lbs a year. Yikes! So, knock that number down however you can to start with. Then, let's talk more natural options. Honey, molasses (or sorghum syrup), maple syrup, coconut, palm, or date sugars, sucanat (or rapadura), and stevia are all valid options.
5. Organic Produce
6. Grains
7. Other
I've heard it said that the amounts of money Americans spend on food and health care have essentially reversed over the last century. We spend next to nothing on groceries compared to other expenses these days, but exorbitant amounts on health insurance and other health care costs. 100 years ago, most of an American family's budget went towards their food, but their hospital/doctor's bills were few and far between compared to ours. I do not believe this to be a coincidence. I prefer to put my money towards letting my food be my medicine, as Hippocrates put it, rather than eating cheaply and paying the piper down the road in the form of medications and hospitalization.
That being said, I'm married to a college student. I'll soon be quitting my job to stay home full-time with a brand new baby. We do not exactly have extra money pouring out of our every orifice (um... sorry for the unpleasant mental picture there). That's where prioritizing comes in. First, we make groceries a priority in our overall budget (at the expense of things like entertainment and new clothing), and then we set priorities within our grocery budget. That's what I'm sharing about today, and hopefully, it will inspire you to accomplish things with your grocery budget you never thought possible :).
The Rules:
There are two main rules I follow when it comes to giving my "standard American diet" grocery budget a facelift. The first is that if the cost for a quality product is very comparable to the conventional product, or if I buy it so infrequently that it will not have long term effects on my wallet, then I buy the better item. A recent example that comes to mind is 79 cents/lb for conventionally grown (ie, pesticide covered) carrots at the grocery store, compared to $1.09/lb for organic. I was only buying one pound, so the extra thirty cents was definitely worth it for me. Conversely, when I ran out of baking powder earlier this week, I had a choice between paying a little over $1 for commercial baking powder versus paying $4.39 for aluminum free, organic (non genetically modified though it does contain some cornstarch!) baking powder. That's a huge price difference for just one small item on my grocery list. But, I only go through one to two containers of baking powder per year. Did I have an extra $3 this week to stock my pantry with one more quality ingredient for the year? Absolutely. So that's the basic principle of how my first rule works.
The second rule is where the following priorities list comes in. Simply put, I decide what foods I will not compromise on, put them in order of importance, and allocate my grocery money accordingly. You may not agree with the order of my personal list, but I urge you to get in the habit of knowing your priorities in this area of life. For us, this is how it goes:
1. Animal products. If you consume animal products in any form, they need to be high up on your list of foods to buy from good sources. You see, we are what we eat. And if we eat animal products, then we are most definitely what what we eat, eats. Read that again to make sure you've got it. If your hamburger roamed freely across green pastures in its past life, eating as much lovely grass as it desired, you are getting all the benefits of his healthy and happy lifestyle. If, however, your hamburger formerly lived in a tiny, confined stall with hundreds of other cows (whose stomachs are not actually built to digest grain at all!), being force fed genetically modified, pesticide covered, manure contaminated, antibiotic jam-packed corn and grain feed mixtures, then your stomach is not going to be any happier about it than his was. I believe the reason so many people fare better on a dairy-free or meat-free diet initially is because of the overwhelmingly poor quality of animal products in this country.
So how does this affect our budget? Mainly, we eat less meat. We learn to stretch a piece of meat across a couple meals, to supplement with beans and lentils and other protein sources, and to just make do with what we have. Specifically, we pay $8/gallon for local milk from happy, grass-fed cows, and limit ourselves to one gallon a week. We pay $6/lb for ground beef from the same farmers, and will occasionally splurge on some of their ground sausage for the same price. Unless they're having a sale, we buy 1 lb of meat a week from them. We also buy bones and other animal parts from their lovely pastured animals at a dirt cheap rate ($5 for a huge bag, usually) to make vats and vats of homemade stock, which makes meat free soups and stews a lot healthier and heartier. We also raise rabbits for meat, which we eat ourselves and also supply to friends from church, who in turn will surprise with a pastured chicken now and again. We will sometimes indulge in a 12 oz package of nitrate and antibiotic free bacon from Trader Joe's for $3.99 (about once a month or so, and it gets spread out across two meals).
2. Oils/healthy fats. This is an extremely close second on the list. You will not see a bottle of canola or vegetable oil in my cabinets. When we started the switch to real foods, this was the first thing I threw out. Once or twice a year, I make a bulk order of organic, extra virgin, cold pressed olive oil and coconut oil. Yes, it costs more upfront. We budget for it, cringe at the total, try to keep hubby from hyperventilating, vow to use it sparingly, and then move on. After reading up on the smoke points of various oils, I tend to use coconut oil or butter for baking or frying, and save the olive oil for drizzling on top of any and everything we eat. We do buy Kerrygold grass-fed butter from Trader Joe's, which is $2.99 for an 8 oz package. I included that under animal products, but it does double duty as a healthy (yes, I said healthy) fat. Also, as my husband pronounces in plaintive tones, "it just makes everything taste so good." Smart guy, that husband of mine.
3. Supplements (homemade and otherwise). To be honest, I think that 99% of the time, supplements are overrated. We should be getting most of our nutrition from what we eat. There is one glaring exception for most of us real foodies on a budget. If you had a good old fashioned grandmother recommending home remedies for illness as a child, I'm sure you can guess what I'm going to say. Cod liver oil, my friends. Yum. Specifically, we invest a good amount of money in buying fermented cod liver oil. In the end, it's just cheaper and more realistic than consuming extreme amounts of wild caught seafood. And even if you can afford to get wild caught salmon shipped to you every day of the week (in which case, we should totally be friends, by the way), I still think you should take your cod liver oil.
4. Sweeteners. The first and always most important step here is just to use less. I mean it. Sugar is poison, and I don't think I'm exaggerating in the slightest to say that. Do I eat sugar sometimes? Yes. Do I love chewy brownies or vanilla ice cream over top hot apple pie as much as the next person? YES. Do I respond gratefully when someone blesses me with food they've cooked, even if it contains my entire week's worth of added sugar? Absolutely. But on average, I consume about 10g of added sugar a day. Pause to check the label on something in your fridge or pantry. That's not a lot. In fact, if I ate nearly any kind of processed food regularly, I could not stick to that number. The average American consumes 88 grams of added sugar per DAY, adding up to 150 lbs a year. Yikes! So, knock that number down however you can to start with. Then, let's talk more natural options. Honey, molasses (or sorghum syrup), maple syrup, coconut, palm, or date sugars, sucanat (or rapadura), and stevia are all valid options.
5. Organic Produce
6. Grains
7. Other
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
A Day in the Life: Small Victories
Alright. So here it goes. As promised, an honest, look at a day in the life of a very pregnant real foodie. So, without further ado, I present a
non-normal, but still fairly typical day in my little life:
Monday
Morning: As is fast becoming my weekday habit, I sleep
in as late as possible before work. Today, I sleepily judge that I'm clean
enough to do without a shower today, and exchange that luxury for an extra 15
minutes snoozing. When I'm finally dressed (inexplicably all in black), I spoon
some yogurt in a cup, slop granola on top, kiss hubby goodbye, and head to work.
I don't pack a lunch because my husband has the day off from school for
Veteran's Day, so he will come meet me for lunch and bring something from home
to eat.
Mid-morning: Heat some water in the work microwave, toss
in some cinnamon and a black tea chai tea bag for a pick-me-up
Lunch: When hubby comes, he's forgetten to bring lunch.
So we head out to our eternal back-up plan: the local grocery co-op/health food
store. Thankfully, the hot bar today includes tomato, vegetable, & chicken
soup (made with organic ingredients, so it doesn't feel like too much a of a
compromise). That, with a hearty nuts and seeds whole wheat roll, makes for a decent
$5 lunch out. I also buy a cup of black coffee as a treat for the afternoon (don't worry: I
always mix in at least a quarter cup decaf to keep down caffeine for the baby).
I also drink less than a third of the cup in a day, and save the rest for
later.
Evening: Home by 6, which is lovely.
Hubby is home the whole evening, too, which is even lovelier. I am SO much more
productive when he is there. I'm starving, so I grab some kale and pre-cooked
chickpeas from the fridge, throw them in the cast iron with some olive oil and
garlic, cook until it looks tasty, squeeze on some fresh lemon juice, and
devour. Then we get down to business: tackling the closets in the name of
minimalism. Or, more accurately, tackling the enormous piles of clothes
scattered around our bedroom in the name of minimalism. We successfully divide
clothes into three piles (I'll let you guess who contributed most to
which pile): clothes we actually wear now, clothes I will actually wear again
when not pregnant, and clothes we are getting rid of. I'm happy to report that
the third pile was the largest by far.
We also did some dishes, bagged and froze
the pot of chicken stock hubby made that afternoon, emptied the dehydrator of apple
slices and bagged them, and also filled a large box with unnecessary kitchen
items to give away or throw away. Mondays are also usually my soup night, so I
made enough cheeseburger veggie soup (recipe below) for hubby's dinner that
night and my work lunches the rest of the week. I even sorted the soup into
appropriate sized storage containers in the fridge, and washed the pot
immediately. We are cracking down on the dishes in our house! For dessert, I
enjoyed a huge glass of raw chocolate milk (and even used it to wash down my
fermented cod liver oil!). Then I laid out my work clothes for the week, packed
my lunch bag, mixed up a few jars of rice and essential oils to infuse for
scented sachet Christmas gifts, drank a big cup of pregnancy tea, and cuddled up
to hubby for Bible reading and bedtime (before 10:00!).
I won't lie- I feel REALLY good posting all that. After
months of answering "curled up in the fetal position and watched Doctor Who on
the the laptop" when hubby asked what I did before he got home that evening, I
love feeling like I've accomplished something. I'll take victories where and however I can get them,
and so, dear reader, should you.
Cheeseburger Veggie Soup (a blessed invention by Kate of
modernalternativemama.com):
Note: I usually make couple meals a week that take more time, and in this case, more expensive ingredients. I'm okay with that because they'll comprise lunches, snacks, or leftover dinners for the rest of the week. This is simply what works for us right now, so take it or leave it depending on your own time frame, and budget. :)
1 lb of grass-fed ground beef (I mean it! I strongly recommend abstaining from meat until you can afford the real stuff.) (also, can sub. venison if it's handy)
1/2 onion, diced
3-6 cups of homemade stock (we usually have chicken stock on hand, but the original recipe calls for beef, and we will often mix in some water to make our stock supplies last longer)
2 tbsp arrowroot powder
2-4 organic potatoes, diced (hubby likes his soups heavy on potatoes, and we get them free
from the farm he works on).
1 cup whatever vegetables you have on hand (broccoli, spinach, carrots, etc. We've also made this with just potatoes before)
1 tsp dry mustard powder, if available
just under 1 cup of grass-fed milk
up to 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
1. Brown ground beef and onions
2. Add stock, veggies, mustard powder, salt & pepper to taste
3. Simmer (low to medium, depending on your burner) for 40 min or so
4. Mix cold milk and arrowroot powder, add to soup
5. Add your cheese
6. Let cool, and enjoy!
(For us, this soup costs just under $10 to make in total, mainly due to the $6/lb local meat we buy. However, we get about 10 servings out of the meal, and it is extremely nutrient dense if you've used good homemade stock from pastured poultry. Less than $1/serving works for us! Costs will obviously vary based on where you source your ingredients. As mentioned before, we get a lot of free organic vegetables because hubby works on a farm. I know that is not everyone's situation, and truthfully, if we had to buy all the vegetables out of pocket, we'd probably get organic potatoes and buy conventional for the onion and other veggies. For more on judging grocery budget priorities, click here).
One step at a time!
I don't know about the rest of you, but I get overwhelmed sometimes, reading
about or even witnessing the lives of other homemakers. If I'm being honest, I
feel that way most of the time. Then I realized... do people feel this way about
me? If you saw my life solely through the statuses I post on Facebook or
comments on blogs, would you throw your hands in the air and say, "I give up!
There's too many things I should be doing, and I don't know where to start, and
I'm exhausted already, and just give me a chocolate bar already??"
I hope not. I post my
triumphs, not to rub them in the face of someone who had a failure today, but
because I am genuinely excited that I finally accomplished "it!" Let's be
honest... I'm usually excited that I accomplished "it" (even if it is just the
week old pile of laundry) because I've failed at "it" so many times before.
We're all in the same boat, with multiple items on our "to do" lists that go
days or weeks or months without being crossed off. No matter where we are in our
journey towards eating real food, keeping an orderly home, or just surviving
life in a post-modern world, we are all taking baby steps. And if there was one
reason I could say that I write, it's in the hope that I can show you that
despite all my failings, I manage, and perhaps inspire to try something hard or
new or scary in your own life. One step at a time is the battle cry, my friends.
On that note, I thought it might be useful to
share an honest look at a day or two in the life of a very pregnant real foodie (with
a full time, outside the home job, no less). It's nothing earth shattering or
Nobel Prize worthy, but I feel I've finally reached the point in this pregnancy
where I have some sort of workable balance. I'm still not baking a loaf of
homemade soaked bread every day, but I am eating and working and cleaning and
smiling and barely ever throwing up. And it is oh so very good.
I'll start the updates
tomorrow... see you then!
Monday, April 30, 2012
Playing Hooky (sort of)
It is a Monday morning, and I am sipping mango kombucha, eating sweet potato muffins, and typing a blog post. Well, more accurately, I am now chewing the last bite of sweet potato muffin (singular), as hubby and I have eaten an entire basket full of muffins since 10:00 last night. Yeah, we're muffin people. What can I say?
But I've digressed. My original point is that this is far from my normal Monday morning routine. You see, the ol' homestead is generally pretty hectic these days. For those of you who don't know, my husband is a full-time college student. He's also a full-time husband. And a full-time hobby homesteader on our sweet little rental property. And a part-time farm hand on a local organic farm And a part-time butcher for a major grocery store chain (I use the term lightly... "butcher" brings up visions of entire cows being herded into a tiny, bloody room with a small man and a large knife, while in actuality these days, they just present the man with a sizable portion of already processed meat, which he then cuts into smaller pieces of meat and sells. not quite as thrilling as the other, I know). Anyway, the point is: hubby is a busy man. A handsome, handsome busy man that occasionally wears overalls and melts my little Southern heart :). And since he is in school, I work full-time for a national insurance company (while we count down the days until he graduates next May, and I become a stay-at-home-wife. then babies. lots of babies.).
In the mean-time, though, I work your typical 8:30-5:30 office job, sitting on my bum, glued to a computer screen. And he goes to a college that often involves taking far-off field trips to heritage pig farms and lumber mills (jealous? I am). This means that mornings are a wee bit crazy around here and do not normally afford me the luxury of sitting around sipping tea and blogging. But today, mercifully, I am sick. Not sick enough to be utterly miserable, but enough to be rather contagious to the other non-sick people in my office. Just sick enough to still be in my pajamas, and not feel bad about it. And since my sweet potato muffins are nourishing my tired, aching, body, I thought I would share them with you. So without further ado, I present:
There are three main components to this simple equation. But they're all super flexible, so you can make these little bits of scrumptious however you please. I made the recipe up on the spot, so my feelings won't be hurt if you tweak it at all :).
1. Flour
I used a mixture of oat flour, almond flour, and white whole wheat since I had just a little bit of each lying around. You could easily make this grain-free by using almond flour for the whole recipe. Whatever flours you choose, you'll want to mix about a cup and a half in a bowl with a teaspoon of baking soda, a teaspoon of baking powder, and a tiny pinch of salt. Some flax would not go amiss here, but I completely forgot about it in the heat of the "I need something warm and sweet and soft RIGHT NOW" moment. You have those moments, too, right?
2. Spices
I'm obsessed with ginger. You'll learn this quickly. I also used cinnamon and nutmeg in this batch. If you are less lazy than I was last night, grind up some cloves and toss them in as well. Whisk these in with the flour mixture.
3. The Sweet
We have no white sugar in our home. My plan was to make these with real maple syrup (organic grade B dark, please & thank you), which is absolutely out of this world delicious with sweet potatoes, but we were out. So I made do with our local raw wildflower honey (also out of this world delicious, by the way!) and some good, strong molasses. But the main source of delectable sweetness is, of course, the lovely sweet tater itself. I boiled it on low for about 20 minutes, then mashed it up with a dash of honey and molasses, splashed a bit of raw milk in it (the jug was almost empty, and I wanted to use it up). Mix this into the dry ingredients bowl until you have good wet, muffin consistency. Pour into a muffin tin, or muffin cups, or eat some raw batter (there's no egg, so no worries!). Bake at 350 degrees until you can prick it with a toothpick and the toothpick comes out clean. This took me 17 minutes, which drove hubby up the wall ("Why not 15 minutes? Or 20 minutes?"). But 17 minutes works for me, and it may vary slightly for you.
Scrumptious. Enjoy with your favorite cup of tea. I served rooibos tropica (basically red tea with citrusy and coconut undertones). Tell me what you drank and I'll try it next time :).
But I've digressed. My original point is that this is far from my normal Monday morning routine. You see, the ol' homestead is generally pretty hectic these days. For those of you who don't know, my husband is a full-time college student. He's also a full-time husband. And a full-time hobby homesteader on our sweet little rental property. And a part-time farm hand on a local organic farm And a part-time butcher for a major grocery store chain (I use the term lightly... "butcher" brings up visions of entire cows being herded into a tiny, bloody room with a small man and a large knife, while in actuality these days, they just present the man with a sizable portion of already processed meat, which he then cuts into smaller pieces of meat and sells. not quite as thrilling as the other, I know). Anyway, the point is: hubby is a busy man. A handsome, handsome busy man that occasionally wears overalls and melts my little Southern heart :). And since he is in school, I work full-time for a national insurance company (while we count down the days until he graduates next May, and I become a stay-at-home-wife. then babies. lots of babies.).
In the mean-time, though, I work your typical 8:30-5:30 office job, sitting on my bum, glued to a computer screen. And he goes to a college that often involves taking far-off field trips to heritage pig farms and lumber mills (jealous? I am). This means that mornings are a wee bit crazy around here and do not normally afford me the luxury of sitting around sipping tea and blogging. But today, mercifully, I am sick. Not sick enough to be utterly miserable, but enough to be rather contagious to the other non-sick people in my office. Just sick enough to still be in my pajamas, and not feel bad about it. And since my sweet potato muffins are nourishing my tired, aching, body, I thought I would share them with you. So without further ado, I present:
Sweet Potato Scrumptiousness:
1. Flour
I used a mixture of oat flour, almond flour, and white whole wheat since I had just a little bit of each lying around. You could easily make this grain-free by using almond flour for the whole recipe. Whatever flours you choose, you'll want to mix about a cup and a half in a bowl with a teaspoon of baking soda, a teaspoon of baking powder, and a tiny pinch of salt. Some flax would not go amiss here, but I completely forgot about it in the heat of the "I need something warm and sweet and soft RIGHT NOW" moment. You have those moments, too, right?
2. Spices
I'm obsessed with ginger. You'll learn this quickly. I also used cinnamon and nutmeg in this batch. If you are less lazy than I was last night, grind up some cloves and toss them in as well. Whisk these in with the flour mixture.
3. The Sweet
We have no white sugar in our home. My plan was to make these with real maple syrup (organic grade B dark, please & thank you), which is absolutely out of this world delicious with sweet potatoes, but we were out. So I made do with our local raw wildflower honey (also out of this world delicious, by the way!) and some good, strong molasses. But the main source of delectable sweetness is, of course, the lovely sweet tater itself. I boiled it on low for about 20 minutes, then mashed it up with a dash of honey and molasses, splashed a bit of raw milk in it (the jug was almost empty, and I wanted to use it up). Mix this into the dry ingredients bowl until you have good wet, muffin consistency. Pour into a muffin tin, or muffin cups, or eat some raw batter (there's no egg, so no worries!). Bake at 350 degrees until you can prick it with a toothpick and the toothpick comes out clean. This took me 17 minutes, which drove hubby up the wall ("Why not 15 minutes? Or 20 minutes?"). But 17 minutes works for me, and it may vary slightly for you.
The recipe (feel free to print, pin, link, or distribute, but link back if you could!):
Scrumptious. Enjoy with your favorite cup of tea. I served rooibos tropica (basically red tea with citrusy and coconut undertones). Tell me what you drank and I'll try it next time :).
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Bienvenue!
Why, good evening! Thanks for stopping by. Pull up a chair, and pour yourself a cup of hot tea (not warm. hot. that's important). If you've stumbled across this, I suppose you're probably interested in homemaking and homesteading. Or the real foods revolution. Or sustainable agriculture. Or living in the South. Or Reformed theology. Or pictures of puppies. Or babies. Actually, those are just the things I'm interested in, and I'm not entirely sure that I'll even be blogging about the last few. But if you are interested in those things, welcome. And rock on.
To introduce myself, I am Sarai. A Christian, a wife, a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a homemaker, a poet, and a tea-drinker. Oldest of three for most of my life, raised in the suburban south, nourished on both C. S. Lewis and Star Wars. To mercifully pass over the monotonous and rebellious years, and pick up at the age of 18, I packed up and left the sultry antique town I grew up in for the halls of a (quite literally) ivy-covered university in New England, sure I'd never return. But, praise God that the best laid plans of mice and men "gang aft agley," as the poet says. The summer after my freshmen year of college, I came home and ran into a boy. A boy who once saved me from bullies on a playground at the age of 5. A strange farmer boy raised by missionaries that infuriated me with his calm assurance in his beliefs, and his uncanny ability to see through my arrogance and into my little lost soul. And so it was that this boy invited me to a home church, and I ran into Someone else. Technically, I suppose that He ran into me (if it's happened to you, then you know what I'm talking about, and it is glorious).
That's the short version. The even shorter version is this: "A man's heart plans his way; But the LORD directs his steps" (Proverbs 16:9). My heart planned a long life of academia, a brilliant career, mindless political activism, vegetarianism, independence, and the joys of being single and single-minded. My God planned something better. And that, friends, is how I've found myself in a teeny town in eastern North Carolina, learning to feed two people on a student's salary while my husband (and yes, this is the self-same farmer boy from above) gets a degree in sustainable agriculture. We rent a small house in this small town and don't have much time or money, but we try to live as simply, naturally, and humbly as we can with what we're given.
So, why I am writing? I'm writing because my life is 180 degrees from where it was 3 years ago. I never would have believed that my life's ambition would be to be a housewife. I never would have imagined myself baking all our breads, growing yogurt in mason jars in my oven, helping my sweet hubby butcher fuzzy rabbits, and praying for the day when I'll be homeschooling 6 or 7 kids. But God is gracious, and His design always prevails. If you are like me, and find yourself in a role you were not exactly born into, then welcome! We can learn together. I'm so blessed to have a husband who knows what a man really should be, a church that teaches who God really is, and friends that show me what a Christian life really looks like. I'm grateful for the women whose blogs are helping my on my journey, and I'm excited to share what I'm learning. It's nice to have you along for the ride. :)
To introduce myself, I am Sarai. A Christian, a wife, a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a homemaker, a poet, and a tea-drinker. Oldest of three for most of my life, raised in the suburban south, nourished on both C. S. Lewis and Star Wars. To mercifully pass over the monotonous and rebellious years, and pick up at the age of 18, I packed up and left the sultry antique town I grew up in for the halls of a (quite literally) ivy-covered university in New England, sure I'd never return. But, praise God that the best laid plans of mice and men "gang aft agley," as the poet says. The summer after my freshmen year of college, I came home and ran into a boy. A boy who once saved me from bullies on a playground at the age of 5. A strange farmer boy raised by missionaries that infuriated me with his calm assurance in his beliefs, and his uncanny ability to see through my arrogance and into my little lost soul. And so it was that this boy invited me to a home church, and I ran into Someone else. Technically, I suppose that He ran into me (if it's happened to you, then you know what I'm talking about, and it is glorious).
That's the short version. The even shorter version is this: "A man's heart plans his way; But the LORD directs his steps" (Proverbs 16:9). My heart planned a long life of academia, a brilliant career, mindless political activism, vegetarianism, independence, and the joys of being single and single-minded. My God planned something better. And that, friends, is how I've found myself in a teeny town in eastern North Carolina, learning to feed two people on a student's salary while my husband (and yes, this is the self-same farmer boy from above) gets a degree in sustainable agriculture. We rent a small house in this small town and don't have much time or money, but we try to live as simply, naturally, and humbly as we can with what we're given.
So, why I am writing? I'm writing because my life is 180 degrees from where it was 3 years ago. I never would have believed that my life's ambition would be to be a housewife. I never would have imagined myself baking all our breads, growing yogurt in mason jars in my oven, helping my sweet hubby butcher fuzzy rabbits, and praying for the day when I'll be homeschooling 6 or 7 kids. But God is gracious, and His design always prevails. If you are like me, and find yourself in a role you were not exactly born into, then welcome! We can learn together. I'm so blessed to have a husband who knows what a man really should be, a church that teaches who God really is, and friends that show me what a Christian life really looks like. I'm grateful for the women whose blogs are helping my on my journey, and I'm excited to share what I'm learning. It's nice to have you along for the ride. :)
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