Imagine

I thought I would leave you a gift at the door step of my blog today.

I know we have all heard this song before but I can never listen to it without being fully conscious and present. The lyrics pull me into a state of mind unlike any song and that deep place inside me, dark and mysterious as a the waters surrounding Avalon, really gets the message of the song through. Some musicians are more than just musicians, they border on prophetic, and John Lennon is a master of lyrical prophesy.

I found myself singing this last night as I did the dishes after dinner. Singing during the dishes is a ritual of mine - dishes themselves are a sacred ritual, a daily meditation. As the Amish say "Dishes are never a chore." Sing this song the next time you're rubbing, sloshing, soaping and rinsing. Just as burning sage clears the space before a magickal rite, doing the dishes clears the space for our nutritional ritual circle.

Blessings

Psst! For a special geek treat go here and listen to Scott Bakula (aka Sam Becket, aka Captain Archer)'s version of Imagine set to clips from Enterprise. Ohhhh...Scott Bakula *swoons slightly*

Canning

"I feel like if I know how to can. I can take care of my family." - Quote from a dear friend of mine.



I've been canning recently! It's my first year of canning! Whoo-hoo!







The tomatoes and tomitillos really came int his year so I've been canning away, I have 3/4 gallon worth of salsa still to put up and the tomatoes are still producing of course :)







This to me feels like true security. A gift I give to my family all year. I can't wait for winter soups stocked with garden grown veggies. Yum!



Do you can, if so what are you putting up these harvest days?

Dairy Recipes

Eating dairy products can be so problematic. First most dairy comes from animals who are tortured and abused, second they are made with things that are not good for us, such as hymogenized milk, non-fat milk powder, dyes, and preservatives.

So the option, as I see it, for those wishing to still include dairy in their diet is to make your own dairy products from either fresh farm milk or a company you can trust like Struass creamery. Here are some of my favorite recipes:

Custard

4 cups milk
6 large eggs
2/3 cup agave nectur

1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla
Directions
1. Heat the milk until hot.
2. Whisk the eggs until smooth. Combine the eggs and the milk.
3. Add the agave, salt, and vanilla and stir until dissolved.
4. For a smoother custard, pour the mixture through a strainer. Stir again.
5. Pour the custard into custard dishes, a casserole dish, or a pie shell.
6. Bake at 325 until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. In individual servings, that should be about 30 minutes. In a single dish, about 60 minutes.
7. Cool before serving.
Traditionally, custards are served with caramel sauce. Sliced strawberries or fresh blueberries also work well with custard.

Condensed Sweetened Milk

6 cups whole milk
1 cup sucanot

Heat milk and sucanot in a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat. When the sucanot is dissolved, raise the heat to medium-high and hold between a simmer and a boil, stirring occasionally, for about 1 hour. Be sure the milk doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. The milk will thicken, turn beige, and darken to light tan. Strain into a bowl and cool. The "condensed" milk will have reduced to 4 1/2 cups. It will keep several weeks, covered, in the refrigerator.


Sour Cream

I N G R E D I E N T S
1 cup cream
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup buttermilk

I N S T R U C T I O N S
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl over warm water. Raise the temperature of the mixture to (68 degrees to 70 degrees F) and let it stand for 12 to 24 hours or until it is sufficiently sour and thick enough to cling firmly to a spoon. Keep in the refrigerator until you want to use it. For a richer heavier sour cream combine 2 cups of pasteurized heavy cream with 5 tablespoons of cultured buttermilk and incubate as before. For better texture refrigerate for 24 hours before serving.

Homemade Icecream

I love icecream - LOVE IT! But it's so hard to find good icecream. Even if I get Strauss which is cruelty-free, non-hymogenized, it still has sugar - bleh! I've wanted an old fashion, handcrank icecream maker for years now but priced at over $200 - well, I just haven't been able to make it THAT much of a priority.

So, ta da, I figured out a way to make it myself! I start with a stainless steal pot or bowl. I mix something creamy like coconut milk or equal parts raw cream and raw milk. Then I add one raw egg. Whisk it all up.

Then I like to sing a song about the greatness of icecream.

Then I add about a 1/2 cup agave nectur (less if I'm using coconut milk). Then I add fixens like cocao nibs, raw chocolate, nuts, fruit, dates, whatever. A teaspoon of salt, a big dash of vanilla extract and if I'm using coconut milk I also add a dash of lime juice.

I place it in the freezer and stir every 45 minutes until it's icecreamy. Then I eat it (oh, that's the best part!!) It will get harder the longer it sits in the freezer so I let it thaw a bit every day, rescoope and churn it with a spoon, then pop it back in the freezer.

Yum!

Corn Bread Muffins!

Yesterday we got some nice baking done. A loaf of spelt bread and corn bread muffins. A teething Ronan would have us not do any more! LOL








Our yummy muffin secrets include using organic ingredients, and farm fresh ranch eggs as bright as the sun!

From allrecieps.com

INGREDIENTS

* 1 3/4 cups cornmeal
* 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
* 4 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 cup white sugar
* 2 cups buttermilk
* 2 eggs
* 1/4 cup vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Lightly grease or line 12 muffin cups.
2. In a large bowl, mix together cornmeal, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. In a separate bowl, combine buttermilk, eggs and vegetable oil; beat well. Pour buttermilk mixture into flour mixture; stir until blended. Pour batter into prepared muffin cups.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Heart and Home

We've been spending a magickal few days as a family. On Valentine's Day I stitched Nykki a pink felt horse, stuffed with pinto beans sporting wool hair while he was at school.





Seth presented me with a fairy address book from our local book store as my Valentine's gift. He did such a wonderful job at hiding it from me. Money has been tight so we agreed no gifts this year. Then I dropped him off at work that day and during his break he ran all the way across town to the book store to buy it, and then run all the way back to work on time! I couldn't believe it! He hid it in his pants when I came to get him from work (we share a car btw) and I never suspected a thing! What a wonderful surprise!

While Seth got our seed babies in their spring bed.....



....I made us a V-day supper of acorn squash and heart shaped yams (I used a cookie cutter).



Hope you had a nice holiday!

Brightest Blessings of Imbolc!

The Heavenly Mother as Brigid walked the snow covered fields last night as we slept warm in our beds - blessing beads and cloth as she went. You may have noticed her footprints in the new fallen snow.

We started the festivites yesterday by creating a beautiful center piece for our table.




We rolled salt dough into bee hives.




We then put these on a pie pan and inserted some local, palm oil candles. Then we adorned it with rosemary from the front garden. Simple and beautiful.





Nykki and I then got to making the making dinner.



We made Brigid bread which was a modified recipe of the Brigid bread from Circle Round (we used spelt instead of wheat and rosemary instead of basil).


We also made the Sunshine soup from Circle Round and modified it by adding some of our locally harvested mushrooms from this season.




It's warm rich color reminds us that spring is near!

Some light candles, some warm soup and fresh baked bread are complimented by a yummy green salad with raw cheese, cucmbers and tomatoes.




We woke up to a snow covered scene. The forest around us looks as though Brigid dusted it with large clumps of powdered sugar as she passed by.




This morning we ate a hearty Imbolc breakfast. We started by juicing the blood oranges that my Mommy sent us :) I love my mom! She is so thoughtful! The bright red color was the perfect enlivining way to start out our snow frosted day!




We stacked up the peels seeing how high we get them.




We ate Brigid bread and drank raw milk along with our blood red juice.



Next we painted with the pulp on water color paper!









Here's mine



May the cloak of Brigid blanket you in it's shine and warmth. Tuck down near your hearth and rest, for spring is right around the corner. Blessed Be!

Homemade Holidays!

Baking cookies. It reminds me of my childhood. Every year I looked forward to the day we would bake Christmas cookies. Debi would store them in a big tin and I would sneek bites of santa's feet as I passed through the kitchen. This year at a thrift shop I found the exact same style cookie cutters I had as a child. It made this years cookie making extra cozy.

Here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS

* 2 3/4 cups white spelt flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 cup organic butter, softened (soy butter works too)
* 3/4 cup agave necture
* 1 organic, cage-free egg (or 1/4 cup egg replacer)
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract


DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and agave until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and place onto ungreased cookie sheets. (for cookie cutters place dough in fridge for 1 - 2 hours, then roll and cut)
3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.





Also on the homemade list are Star Babies. I'm making these as gifts. They're super sweet and full of love!

Pennsylvania Bars Hormone-Free Milk Labels

Pennsylvania Bars Hormone-Free Milk Labels

* By Mark Scolforo
Associated Press, November 14, 2007
Straight to the Source

from STLtoday.com

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Pennsylvania is stopping dairies from stamping milk containers with hormone-free labels in a precedent-setting decision being closely watched by the industry.

Synthetic hormones have been used to improve milk production in cows for more than a decade. The chemical has not been detected in milk, so there is no way to test for its use, but a growing number of retailers have been selling and promoting hormone-free products in response to consumer demand.

State Agriculture Secretary Dennis C. Wolff said advertising one brand of milk as free from artificial hormones implies that competitors' milk is not safe, and it often comes with what he said is an unjustified higher price.

"It's kind of like a nuclear arms race," Wolff said. "One dairy does it and the next tries to outdo them. It's absolutely crazy."

Agricultural regulators in New Jersey and Ohio are considering following suit, the latest battle in a long dispute over whether injecting cows with bovine growth hormone affects milk.

Effective Jan. 1, dairies selling milk in Pennsylvania, the nation's fifth-largest dairy state, will be banned from advertising on milk containers that their product comes from cows that have never been treated with rBST, or recombinant bovine somatotropin.

Full Story: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/stories.nsf/sto...
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