Can I please have a dairy cow?

I made butter! 

and buttermilk (well, ok that's just a byproduct of making butter :)  

It's been so interesting to make simple things like this.  I had no idea how easy it would be, cream blended = butter...... seriously.  When I was a kid we made butter in a jar, that was a lot of shaking... it was fun, but I do remember that it took forever.  Well now I have a food processor, and that worked a whole lot faster.  I found a great link for inspiration with some awesome pictures to show the process.  Then I used the sweet butter method found in Sally Fallon's book, Nourishing Traditions.  Soggy and I tried some of the butter on our toast this morning.... it was really yummy!  Now I have to find a good recipe for buttermilk pancakes  :)      

Oh my yum granola bars!

Using Katie's Granola Bar recipe from Kitchen Stewardship, I made these delicious granola bars.  I opted to use 1/2 cup peanut butter in place of 1/2 c of the butter.  I also added about 1/4 cup dark coco powder and 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips, and 3/4 cup honey instead of 1 cup.  They are chewy and chocolatey.... a total hit!  Today I plan on tackling cheese crackers.  I'll let you guys know how that goes!

Another try at Sandwich bread

The last recipe was a bit dense so I tried a recipe from Bread Beckers. Ideally this would be made with freshly milled flour, I'll tackle that another day.  It turned out much fluffier than the last recipe I tried but it tasted a little yeasty to me.  Yummy though.

Baking Breakfast

Today I have been stocking the freezer with breakfast goodies and I thought I would share the recipes :)

Whole Wheat Fig Muffins

I used all white whole wheat flour, and coconut oil instead of canola, and I omitted the oat topping.

Lemon-Raspberry Muffins

Using coconut oil in place of canola and all white whole wheat flour

Sorta Scones with Chocolate chips

Honey whole-wheat sandwich bread

I don't have a bread maker but the comments below the post are full of tips to bake this bread without out.  I placed the yeast and melted honey into the measuring cup of water and allowed it to poof up for about 5 minutes, meanwhile I mixed the flour and salt with my kitchen aid.  Then using the dough hook I added the oil and wet ingredients to the flour and let the mixer beat away at it till it was smooth and elastic (about 6 minutes or so).  I let that rise in an oiled and towel covered bowl for about an hour and a half, then punched it down and placed it into my loaf pan to rise for about 45 minutes.  Then I baked it at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.  YUM!  It sliced super easy. 

Happy Valentines Day

Ganache...

Cream and chocolate = Amazing!

I love taking a freshly baked cake 

and mixing it with the ganache.  It just seems like something you'd never do :) 

I made a  Chocolate Sour Cream Cake with a few changes- coconut oil instead of shortening, unbleached white whole wheat flour, plain yogurt instead of sour cream and dark coco powder.  

I then followed these instructions for the prep. 

This mixture is very easy to mold into whatever shape you'd like.  

I placed the cake in the freezer for about an hour and then topped it with the remaining ganache.  While it was in the refrigerator setting up I made the; 

Whipped Cream

1 cup whipping cream, whipped to stiff peak consistency

3 TB powdered sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

The strawberries are simply sliced and placed on top.  I also sprinkled the whipped cream with chopped almonds.  This is one of my favorite desserts, and was wonderful to share with good friends this valentines day.  

I was super surprised by my very sweet valentine with some garden starting goodies and a gift card to my favorite crafting indulgence :)  That man knows me so well!  

For Remembrance of Bruce Anthony Gabriel

Sweet boy, you were with us for 15 days.... it was enough to make a huge impact on your Auntie's heart.  I made 15 hats to give to your NICU, I prayed for each one of the babies these hats will go to. 

One of your mommy's friends made a couple of hats too.

And your Great Grandma made 20!!

We love and miss you so very much Bruce! 

Wonderful things we ate this week :)

I have been learning a TON about whole foods and I have several goals this month.  One has been to try new recipes and modify some of my favorites to incorporate whole foods.  

We enjoyed the ease and awesome flavor of Cilantro Lime Chicken with Salsa Verde (one of the freezer meals I made last month), served with steamed baby spinach and Colonial Oatmeal Bread.

I also made some yummy and filling (but too spicy for the kids)...

Taco Soup
2 cups Taco chicken stock ;
(left over from another recipe- place in a crock pot on high for 4 hours; 1 lb chicken thighs, 1 can diced green chilies, 1/2 packet trader joes taco seasoning, and water to cover the chicken.  I used the chicken for enchiladas and took the remaining broth and threw it in the freezer)
1 cup cooked diced chicken (I used the leftover grilled chicken)
1 1/2 cups cooked black beans

1 cup cooked brown rice (leftover from the batch of rice)

Simmer in the crock pot for about 4 hours on high and serve with chopped fresh cilantro, green onions, and a scoop of plain yogurt.

Homemade Granola Bars- I made mine with Bob's Red Mill Muesli  in place of the oats.  Yum!

Blueberry Raspberry Oat Grain Muffins -based off of this recipe, I used coconut oil instead of canola, white whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose, 1/2 cup of honey instead of brown sugar, a mixture of blueberries and raspberries, I also used 1/4 cup of yogurt whey and milk to equal the 1 1/2 cups of buttermilk.

Pistachio Chai Muffins I didn't have any pistachios so I called mine vanilla chai muffins :)

Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes- I used applesauce instead of bananas and made half with blueberries and the other half with chocolate, they were moist and easy to cook, nice and fluffy too!

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries
-12 washed and dried fresh strawberries
mix
-1 cup chocolate chips, melted
-1 tsp coconut oil
Dip strawberries in the chocolate and place on waxed paper,
finely chop
-2 TB almonds
sprinkle on the chocolate covered strawberries

Place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or until chocolate is hardened.

Enjoy!

Colonial Williamsburg

I wanted to share some of our pictures from Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia.  It was so much fun! 

Soggy has read the American Girl Felicity series and since it is all about Colonial Williamsburg and it's so close.... how could we not take advantage of such a wonderful teaching opportunity.  I can't even tell you how much we learned.  The shops with the actual tradesmen and women were my favorite.  

Soggy at the back door of the Governor's Palace.  

The kids really enjoyed the hedge maze at the Governor's Palace.  

I loved watching this man make wool and cotton yarn.  He also told me all about how they make it now.  Such a contrast.  I would love to learn how to spin my own wool.... but I think my husband would think I was crazy if I bought a spinning wheel!  

Soggy loved taking pictures... here is one at the shoemaker's shop.

Petting the sheep.

Such a beautiful place!  We certainly enjoyed being there without the crowds since this is the off season.  It was wonderful watch Soggy see literature in action.  We will definitely do so again.... hopefully she starts reading The Adventure's of Tintin next.  Let's travel the world!