Sprouting - Quinoa

Sprouts are awesome little morsels ( or shoots? ) of yummy goodness, and since the world seems to be in a quinoa craze these past couple years...why not have quinoa sprouts? Below are the easy steps ( with pictures yay!) about how to sprout quinoa.


Things you'll need :

1. Quart size mason jar , with holes cut in the lid, a fancy sprouting lid, or (like i did) stockings.

2. 1 cup Organic Quinoa.

3. Unlimited Purified water

4. Largish bowl ( big enough to put the quart jar inside, on a tilt )

Also you may want a towel handy.


Step 1. Add quinoa to the jar, fill with water till all of the quinoa is submerged. Let set for 6 hours.

Step 2. Drain and Rinse quinoa, set in bowl, tilted so it can drain ( I suggest placing a towel under the jar to catch excess water.) 

Step 3. Rinse and Drain Quinoa 2 times a day for 2 days.

Step 4. After Final rinse, spread quinoa onto a cookie sheet  ( or large bowl? ) or rack..allow to dry before placing in a bag and refrigerating up to 2 weeks.

P.S  : It's best if you cook these ( or steam) for a bit before eating, just to kill any harmful bacteria.

Preserving the Harvest - Freezing

Freezing! 

 

Following up with my last post on Preserving the Harvest...today's post is about Freezing. 

Freezing is easy...but since the invention of  the Vacuum Sealer, it's gotten a lot better. 

Below are simple steps ( and helpful links) to freezing with a vacuum sealer. 

1. Choose your Fruit or Veggie and slice/prepare to freeze, to your liking. 

2. Select a freezer bag size that will hold the amount you wish to freeze, and start stuffing it with your produce. ( Don't over stuff! )

3. Now take your vacuum sealer and begin sealing. ( Follow your sealer's guide for this step.) 

4.  You should now have a tightly sealed bag of produce that's ready for the freezer. :) 

P.S for those of you who prefer not to use a vacuum sealer..follow steps 1-2 and freeze. 

You can get an affordable vacuum sealer here: 

 http://www.walmart.com/ip/FoodSaver-FreshSaver-Handheld-Vacuum-System/15777783

For Fun : 

Can you guess what's frozen in this bag? 

Preserving the Harvest - Canning

   Before we get to the actual info...some pretty canned goods we've ( my mom, my sister and I )  done :)

 It's late summer and those of you who garden ( or have bought a ton of produce lately) no doubt have an abundance of garden goodies, and of course you'll want to preserve them for the cold fall and winter months ahead. Today I'm going to start a series of posts I'm calling " Preserving the Harvest" and we're starting with canning.  Canning is a great and safe way to preserve foods. You can make pickles, jams and jellies, relishes, salsa, pasta sauces and a variety of other things. You can also can ( or even pickle some things..) beans, corn, tomatoes, tomato sauce ect. If your serious about canning you'll need equipment. If you want to just give it a shot..buy a small Canning Utensil set and some jars and lids. Ball ( a rather big name in canning, they make canning jars, utensil kits, books...I'm not sure what else..but give their website a look http://www.freshpreserving.com/ ) is a great brand to have if you can afford it...if not don't fret, there are other canning jars and kits available.

The usual process for canning ( when you don't need a pressure canner) Use a large pot with a rack in the bottom ( never use a pot without a rack, it will break your jars)  AKA " Water Bath Canning"

1. Boil jars for at least 10 minuets ( after they reach a good boil) to sterilize.

2. Keep the jars hot till ready to fill.

3. Prepare the food/mixture to can.  ( Salsa recipe ! )

4. Dip a little water from the hot pot of jars, into a small sauce pan and add your Lids ( not the rings, keep the rings to the side for quick use)

5. Depending on what veggies or foods or mixtures your canning , fill the jars with hot mixture or raw veggies.

6. Fill with hot liquid if you're canning raw veggies ( if using a recipe, see recipe for instructions )

7. Cap Jars.

8. Put the jars in the rack, get the water boiling, lower the rack into the water and boil for the time needed for your recipe.  ( when making pickles...you can skip this step. )

9. Remove Jars, wrap with towel or "jacket" allow to sit for 24 hours. test to make sure they are sealed.


Please Note that most veggies need to be Pressure canned.  ( Pressure Canner )


For Pressure Canning, follow steps 1-7 ( with veggies or recipe that calls for pressure canning) then follow your pressure canner's guide.

Helpful Links!

http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/canning.aspx#axzz3B2bnvBiq

 http://www.simplycanning.com/

 http://www.freshpreserving.com/

 http://www.amazon.com/Canning-Preserving-Books/b?node=4207

ECO Friendly Cleaner Part 2 !

So I finally got down to business and made a great disinfectant! Last time I posted about a store bought all purpose cleaner, today I bring you a Rosemary disinfectant( that smells amazing!). Below is the recipe :)




                                   Rosemary Disinfectant.


1. 55-105 drops of Rosemary essential oil ( I used rosemary and mint oils)

2. 29-30oz of warm water.

3. Fresh sprig of Rosemary

Mix all ingredients in a bottle, shake well.  :) Enjoy.



Here's a great link with tons of recipes!
  http://www.growingupherbal.com/homemade-cleaner-recipe-roundup-42-diy-recipes-to-keep-your-home-naturally-clean/

Peach Plum Kale Veggie Juice Smoothie

* oh look shiny new picture ( actual photo this time!)


                          Peach Plum Kale Veggie Juice Smoothie Recipe



 1. 1 medium Peach peeled, pit removed, sliced in to small pieces.

2. 1 small-medium Plum sliced into small pieces.

3. 1/4 cup Organic Kale juice ( can be a kale veggie mix juice or just simple kale juice)

4. 1 cup lowfat or non fat milk or non-dairy milk ( for my vegan friends ( :  )

5. 1 5.3oz cup of Vanilla ( or berry flavor? ) yogurt. ( Try vegan yogurts too, I hear cocoanut yogurt is awesome )

6. 1 - 1 1/2 Tablespoon  Stevia






Pour the milk and kale juice into the blender, add fruit and yogurt and stevia. Blend.

I myself used a button combination of Puree, Chop, Blend, Aerate on high. Then switched to Low and used the Frappe button. 

P.S. This is effective for both normal Blenders and High Power Blenders

Healthy Living Tips

So this morning, I went out to our family Garden ( accompanied by my mother and sister) and we harvested Corn, Tomatoes, Hot and Sweet Banana Peppers, 1 Jalapeno Pepper, and some Green Onions. All organic of course. Which got me thinking...how many people eat veggies on a daily basis? How many of you pile more veggies than meat into your Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner plates? Vegetables are full of vitamins, and can be a great source of protein.  Here's a chart showing how much protein certain veggies contain compared to meats.

 

 With that said(and shown) I'll get started cleaning the veggies we harvested, they should make a great dinner. :)

P.S. anyone want to help silk corn??

ECO Friendly natural cleaner. Part 1.

So cleaning..everyone hates cleaning right? I suppose everyone hates those foul smelling harsh chemical filled cleaners too right? Today I'm reviewing an Eco Friendly natural all purpose cleaner....or so I thought. I had found this cleaner in the Dollar Isle in my local grocery store, seeing that it was "Eco Friendly" i got excited and bought it. I thought it'd be perfect to review.
 However after I got it home ( amazing that I did since the cap was no on right and it leaked in the bag) I began reading the ingredients. I was shocked or not so shocked ( I thought it may have been too good to be true)   The cleaner PowerHouse ECO Friendly Natural all-purpose cleaner was full of chemicals! The Pleasant scent? a Chemical. The only natural thing in the cleaner ( as far as I can tell) was the lemon oil and the water. However..I still tested it..( used with caution and kept a fan on to air out the bathroom in case) It worked well enough..great on Stainless Steel. If your not worried over a chemicals I'd suggest it. If not...wait for part 2 of this post for REAL natural cleaners.

P.S. This is not a Sponsored review or anything. This is simply to inform and state my own opinion. 

August

So it's officially August, and it's the last month of actual summer. It's bitter sweet for me, as I love summer and all the sun and fun things to do, all the interesting foods are available, herbs are growing , flowers blooming..it's great. However..Fall has it's good points, like it's not too hot, it's crisp and cool, and a whole crop of  winter squash and apples ( the first of Fall just seems to be dictated by apples). It's also may favorite time to shop. Anyway..now i"m craving apples.. so i'll just post a link to a yummy looking recipie from Cooking Light.com :
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/open-faced-turkey-sandwich-with-apple-havarti-10000000354464/

Have a lovely day :)