Archive for the ‘Homemaking’ Category

Nick and I had a funny conversation in the grocery store aisles the other day that I thought I would share with you.

He’s snatched a box of junk cereal off the shelf as we happened to be cruising by, and asked if we could get it.

After the “are you kidding me?” look, I asked him to look at the ingredients.

After noticing that something like three of the first five were forms of sugar, he quipped,

Well, I guess I could just go home and pour myself a bowl of sugar, and it would be about the same!

I was on my toes, though, and was quick to point out to him that even that didn’t get to the root of the problem.

“Sugar” is better than most of those alternatives, even if it’s not the best. You’d also have to add in artificial flavors, artificial colors, preservatives and other various chemicals.

When you get right down to it…

Ick!

I’m once again going to sing the praises of Hillbilly Creations…

Although her Etsy store usually has a cute market tote or two, and sometimes other fun things, my favorite things are all “customs” she’s created just for me.

In my last “batch” of sending her goodies to upcycle, she made an adorable purse for Jewel. (You can read the full review, and see photos of the rest of the lovely thing she made – HERE).

This time around I had a new challenge for her. I sent her a pair of Nick’s old camo cargo pants, and requested something a la the Market Tote that took advantage of the pants’ “coolness” in a lunch tote for Nick.

Wow! It’s everything I hoped for, and more… Look at all the cool stuff:

Cargo pockets as exterior pockets.

Pants waistband as shoulder strap.

Ankle zipper as bag closure.

And lined with an old pillowcase, for full upcycle flair!

This is not a sponsored, or even requested, blog post. I’m simply sharing the wonderful work of Hillbilly Creations. Oh, and by the way, Mrs. Davis is also the SAHM of a family who lost their home in a tornado a couple of years ago. Nice Christian family that you’ll help support!

Hard-boiled eggs are a really nifty little thing to have around.

A protein burst for cranky kids is as quick as “peel and eat”! Not to mention some of our favorite foods like egg-salad sandwiches and creamed egg on toast.

Every cook book, cooking show, or friend you talk to has a different trick to making great hard-boiled eggs.

I typically do them in my steamer, but I am thinking through everything I use that’s electricity-driven, wondering if there’s an alternative.

Could I make this more frugally on the gas stove?

How would I make this if there was no electricity?

Would this work with the antique wood-fire cookstove of my dreams?

So I thought it was timely when I stumbled across a link to the “Perfect Every Time Hard Boiled Egg” at Hallee the Homemaker (courtesy of her grandmother).

One interesting thing she says is

Add some salt to the water. This will keep the egg shells from sticking to the eggs.

Really? Why? How? Anyone know?

Anyhow, I gave it a try and…

And, naturally, something really urgent happened while waiting for the water to boil. So I had no idea how long ten minutes was. So they cooked too long.

So, this isn’t really a review of her method, since I can’t testify to the outcome… It’s really more of a realization of one more reason to appreciate cooking the eggs in the steamer.

Well, this has not been what one would call a raging success. And an expensive “learning experience”, to be sure.

I’ve been reading a lot lately about the advantages of Fermented Cod Liver Oil (FCLO) and Butter Oil for overall health, and specifically for dental health.

If you want to know what the heck I’m talking about, the Healthy Home Economist blog is a great place to start. You can read How I Healed My Child’s Cavity, then check out How to Get Your Child to Take Cod Liver Oil. The comments have treasure troves of great information, too!

It’s all based on the work of the late Dr. Weston Price (I’m reading his book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration right now). You can find lots of resources on the Weston A. Price Foundation website, including “Cod Liver Oil Basics and Recommendations“.

So I clicked on over to the Green Pasture website, and ordered a bottle of Butter Oil, as well as a bottle of this:

**NEW**BLUE ICE™ Emulsified Fermented Cod Liver Oil – Peppermint**KID TESTED**

Sounds good, right?

Not so much.

With shipping, nearly $100. And the verdict?

I mixed the Butter Oil and the Cod Liver Oil together in a little medicine cup.

Nick, Wolf and I can slug it down, shudder, take a drink of milk, and go on with our lives. Jewel and R.T. have alternated doing okay with it, and gagging and spitting.

I tried mixing it in a little yogurt. To me it tasted pretty good, adding mostly a minty tinge to the yogurt flavor. R.T. said he didn’t like it much, but drank it down. Let’s just say Jewel was quite opposed.

The best solution on which we eventually settled? Slug the supplements out of the cup, take a drink of nice cold milk, then the Littles each have a little bit of Nutella on a spoon.

Am I excited about that junk food addition? No. But I think the supplements are important enough to outweigh that little bit, plus I hope they will grow more accustomed to it over time.

We ran into an additional bit of a challenge as we got to the last third of the bottle or so of the FCLO. Apparently I had not shaken it up well enough at each use, and it had separated. According to Green Pasture, this is normal, and the remaining product is still good quality. But that remainder is much more solid than what we had been using, and the texture was not appreciated by my crew.

I decided I could try to do better…

Foe my next order I selected the blend of Butter Oil and Cod Liver Oil, in two different formulations – capsules, and Chocolate Creme flavored gel. This order (with shipping), was over $100. Ack!

This is where I start getting really frustrated with their dosing information, but I’ll get to that in a moment.

The capsules are obviously the most palatable choice – but only for the adults. The poor kids are just learning to swallow pills, and these babies are pretty big – and you’d have to take a lot of them.

Speaking of having to take a lot of them, there’s the price factor. Wow, they charge a lot for putting the stuff in capsules!

• The blend gel costs about $0.51 per serving (based on their serving size, the one bottle price, and not counting shipping).
• The capsules? Over $0.78 per serving based on the same factors. Half again as much — AND their serving size is mysteriously not the same as the gel!
• Increasing from two to three+ capsules to get to that same dosage raises the cost to a whopping $1.17+ per serving. (And read on to see why you probably need to take eight capsules, costing $5.75!)

But I digress…

The kids can’t take the capsules.

So, chocolate sounds yummy, right?

No.

Remember that TV commercial for air freshener?

A wet dog walks in. The actress wrinkles up her nose and announces that it smells like a wet dog.

Then she sprays “the leading air freshener”, sniffs, and wrinkles up her nose again.

She announces that now it smells like a wet dog in a pine forest, since that band only tries to cover up odors (rather than actually removing them).

This is kind of like that…

This used to taste like nasty fish.

Now it tastes like a nasty fish dipped in chocolate.

Yeah. Eeeew.

So now I have some leftover Peppermint FCLO that is separated and unpalatable. And I have essentially the whole bottle of Chocolate CLO/Butter Oil Blend that’s just disgusting.

But the stuff is way too expensive to throw away. And I have come to believe it’s way too important to our health (especially given our kids’ dental issues) to give up.

Now what?

Luckily, Nick came up with a way to get the Chocolate blend down, although it does involve more junk:

Chocolate chips, chewed up, then spoon the supplement in on top, and swallow quickly before the supplement gets a chance to touch your tongue. Munch on a few more chocolate chips for good measure.

Just be careful not to smell the stuff, as that will definitely ruin your whole day. (Wolf says it reminds him of catfish food).

And let’s talk about dosing.

The Green Pasture products’ dosing recommendations don’t line up exactly with the ones from the Weston A. Price foundation, which is not too surprising.

What troubles me is that the Green Pasture doses aren’t consistent among themselves.

• The FCLO suggests a dose of 3/4 teaspoon.
• The Butter Oil suggests a dose of 1/2 teaspoon.
• The blend (which is 2/3 FCLO and and 1/3 Butter Oil), suggests a dose of 1/2 teaspoon! So 3/4 + 1/2 + gel = 1/2?
• And the capsules, even more inexplicably, contain that same blend, and list the suggested dose as “2 capsules (750 mg each)”. First of all, mg is weight, and tsp is volume, so there’s no direct conversion. But the FCLO lists an equivalency of 3.5g (3500 mg), and the Butter Oil 2.5g (2500 mg) – so based on those you would need 3 1/3 capsules just to reach the 1/2 tsp. blend dosage (as noted in my cost analysis above), and 8 capsules to get the full doses of each product by their individual listings.

Hmm.

I guess we’ll try some of the other options… The non-emulsified FCLO has a smaller dose, so that might be easier, for instance.

I’m just scared to try other flavors, now. It’s such a big investment in something with the potential to be so… so…

I had so much fun making jam that I felt confident in making the leap when one of the ladies I shop with often at our local Farmer’s Market said she was taking pre-orders for her figs.

I got two gallons of the lovely things, which she said would be about nine pounds.

Wolf suggested fig preserves, which was a treat he remembered his grandmother making. After much debate – since I had no idea what I was doing – I settled on this Judy’s Fig Preserves recipe. Mostly just because the lemons sounded good.

After washing and removing stems, the first real step is to pour the sugar over them and let it sit there and “stew” overnight. Since I don’t have a stockpot or anything similarly large, I ended up using my new (huge!) pressure canner (pot part only).

I wasn’t sure how much that was really going to accomplish. But what do I know?

In the morning there was definite evidence that there had been THINGS going on. So we proceeded to the actual cooking.

We cooked, and cooked, and cooked…

Was it the pot? The wrong temperature setting?

It seemed to take a long, long time to get to the point where the figs were even beginning to turn transparent. The 2-3 hours listed in the recipe was not even close.

Then we had a problem of not knowing when to “say when”. When most of the figs are mostly translucent, is that it? Or are you really trying to get all of the figs all the way?

At some point – something like 6-8 hours later – we stopped cooking it. I canned as much as I could do in a single batch in my water bath canner (5 pints and 2 half pints, since I ran out of pint jars), then put the rest (2 1/2 more half pints!) in the fridge for immediate use. (So we also got a greater yield than the recipe suggested)

The preserves are, overall, a success.

They do have a bit of a strong, bitter taste. I attribute this to overcooking, but Wolf pointed out it could simply be the character of the particular figs we had. He says it does largely resemble what he remembers from his grandmother’s kitchen.

This post was shared at the fun Titus Twosdays Linkup:

Still working on my list of 12 DIY Projects to Try in 2011. Here’s the tally so far:

• January – Sew a Blind Hem
• February – Homemade Chai Tea
• March – Homemade Hamburger Buns
• April – Plant a garden for food
• May – Freezer Jam
• And for June… Canning Jam

My original list said I was going to make Plum Jam, which is still on the list (since it’s Wolf’s favorite)… BUT I decided to do Blueberry Jam for this first batch, for a couple of reasons.

First, it seemed like it would make a better comparison (“apples to apples”) with the Blueberry Freezer Jam from last month.

And second, I came across some lovely, locally grown, organic blueberries at the local Farmers’ Market. So far, I haven’t seen any plums in meaningful quantifies.

So, we began…

First, smash up the lovely berries, and cook them up with the sugar and pectin.

I was originally a little concerned about this step, since I’ve read and watched a number of things referring to ways to test the jam and see if it is done. But with the Ball Pectin, they offered reassurance that you only had to follow the recipe – including cooking times – and all would be well.

Then, once it’s jam, just ladle it into jars and let it boil in the water bath for a few minutes.

After resting for 24 hours, all the lids were sealed. Victory!

Freezer jam definitely has a “fresher” taste to it – more like eating freshly-picked blueberries on your toast. Which has its advantages.

Cooked, canned jam, on the other hand, is really a “true jam” – more sweet, more syrupy – not that it’s thin like syrup, but the texture is definitely different. This, too, has its place.

The verdict?

It’s not apples to apples, after all. I like them both, differently.

I have been wanting to try Palm Oil for a while now, after reading about it more and more on the natural / whole food and cooking blogs I enjoy. It was perfect timing when my good friends at Tropical Traditions offered to send me a jar to review!

Here’s what I got:

Virgin Palm Oil – Organic – 32 oz. – 1 quart

(Clicking that link above will take you to their product page, which has a ton of information about Palm Oil in general, and the benefits of it, as well as their particular variety and processing information).

For many of their products, they have numerous recipes on the website, but not so many for this one.

Although I had a few specific ideas in mind, we did also try it out in our usual bread recipe, as well.

The bread came out with a gorgeous yellow color, and it had a distinct flavor to it as well… I joked that it tasted like a palm tree, but I meant it in a good way. LOL!

We did the same thing with pizza crust. It (of course) had the same beautiful, rich color. In that context, the taste was totally lost in the spices and excitement.

I have yet to try the thing I was most excited about… The Popcorn that Wardeh from GNOWFGLINS demonstrates in her video:

Want to try it? Tropical Traditions has a free gift for you through their Referral Program:

If you are a new customer, as an As For My House reader you will receive a complimentary copy of the book Virgin Coconut Oil: How it has changed people’s lives and how it can change yours! by Brian and Marianita Shilhavy with your order. This book is filled with testimonies and research showing how healthy coconut oil is, and it also includes over 85 recipes showing how one can incorporate coconut into their diet.

Just select “Referred by a friend” when asked, and in the box that says “How did you hear of us?” enter my Sponsor ID number: 5689476.

…and be sure to come back and share your results!
.

As you watch the program, it does have some earmarks of being made much earlier in the filmmakers’ careers, such as less money for staging, less smooth editing, and that funny camera man in the background of some of the shots…

But the material it presents is still engaging and useful. Many people will probably also enjoy Serene’s “whimsical and entertaining style”, although personally it wasn’t my favorite.

With a keen awareness of the situation, Franklin Springs continue to offer the DVD for sale, but they have it priced at only $9.95. Thanks, guys!

I would have preferred a few more specifics and recipes be included, especially since her cookbook is out of print and not as inexpensive or easy to get as one might wish.

Serene has some great background information on the consequences of unhealthy eating, and some vivid metaphors to help folks understand why things need to change. Then she offers some good overarching principles for eating better, and strategies for incorporating more raw foods (the “secret” to health!) into your diet.

I would venture a guess that anyone who reads my blog is probably interested in this topic, and unless you’re already well down the road of raw food, you’re likely to get some useful tips from this pleasant little encounter.

BUY IT!

Order it directly from Franklin Springs: Rejuvenate with Serene DVD for only $9.95, or as part of the Above Rubies combo pack including (her mother!) Nancy Campbell’s DVD The Family Meal Table.

WIN IT!

One lucky As For My House reader will win their own copy of Rejuvenate with Serene!

Make sure to leave your email address with each comment. (Used only to contact the winner. If your email is entered in the form it will be saved for me but not displayed).

1. Leave a comment here sharing where you are on your journey to healthy eating – whether you are just finding out about it and want to get started, or whether you’re already growing your own food and cooking from scratch full-time!

Extra Entries (leave separate comments for each).

Once you have completed #1, you can earn additional entries by doing any or all of the following.

2. Become a Facebook Fan of Franklin Springs Family Media.

3. Subscribe to As For My House in your favorite feed reader, or by email. (Current subscribers count, too!)

4. and 5. Post this giveaway to your Facebook wall (leave your Facebook name), or Tweet about it (and leave the link)! Each may be done daily for extra entries.

6. enter the Amazing Grace CD Giveaway, then leave a comment here letting me know you did.

In additon to these, there are MANY more ways to earn extra entries. You know, all the usual stuff like sharing on Facebook, Tweeting, and so on? Just click over to our Giveaway Policy page for all the details!

BE QUICK!! This giveaway ends 6/20/2011 at 11:59pm (Central), or more likely some time the following morning when I log in again. (If you can still leave a comment, you can still enter).

The winner will be chosen using random.org and announced on the blog, as well as contacted by email. Winner must respond within 48 hours, or a new winner will be selected. Your DVD will ship directly from Franklin Springs.

*** Comments are now closed. Look for the winner to be announced soon in a separate post. ***

Still working on my list of 12 DIY Projects to Try in 2011. Here’s the tally so far:

• January – Sew a Blind Hem
• February – Homemade Chai Tea
• March – Homemade Hamburger Buns
• April – Plant a garden for food
• And here’s May – Freezer Jam!

Jewel and I found some blueberries at the Farmer’s Market last week, and decided it was time to give this a try.

(This image is not mine, but rather was borrowed from an interesting blueberry article on the Projo Fitness Blog, about which I know nothing else)

First we had to go out for supplies – pectin, and some jars and lids (since the only canning jars I’ve scrounged second-hand so far are big ones). We went ahead and bought cute “quilted glass” jars typical for jam.

Things were literally as easy as 1, 2, 3.

1. Mash the blueberries

2. Stir them together with pectin and sugar, and

3. Spoon into jars.

Since we used the Instant Pectin there was no cooking, nor any “canning” processing.

We got just over two jars’ worth of jam from the recipe, so we put the two full ones in the freezer and ate up the remainder!

There’s Jewel with our creation at the top of the post… Sorry for the squint, it’s pretty sunny here right now…

I’m working on the “31 Days to Clean” challenge hosted by Joyful Mothering (click the picture above to read all about it). You can revisit my Week 1 post, if you missed it…

Week 2 I didn’t ever seem to get on track, after thinking too much about Monday’s reading.

The lesson was one I had learned back in the self-employed business world, about making a short and prioritized list before you go to bed, then using that as your agenda the next day.

It’s true that it has great value in the business world. And certainly I think there are lessons we can take from in into our parenting and homemaking life… Prioritizing is tough, and important, after all.

But it’s just not as simple as that. Our job is really much more dynamic, and thus in many ways harder and more stressful, than a “business” job.

I know there are things that happen, but typically if you have a Shareholders Meeting scheduled for Monday at 3 pm, then that’s what you can count on.

My plan to grocery shop on Monday afternoon, however, can easily be shoved aside for a variety of urgent matters, ranging from taking an ill child to the doctor, to waiting for the plumber to come fix the leak that sprung under the sink, to being caught up in a fun homeschool science experiment that takes far longer than expected, to staying home in bed with an ill child (there’s that ill child again!), and on and on…

What we do is tough, and we should recognize that.

Sometimes that #1 “important” thing may not get done. But maybe I can knock off #3, as well as what would have been #10 and #11 had they even been on the list, while waiting around for the doctor. And that’s a tremendous accomplishment.

Anyhow, this has strayed far afield from the 31 Day Challenge, and is not exactly an earth-shattering revelation. Somehow, though, once I got off track from doing the challenge, I never managed to get back on.

I am going to get back in the saddle and keep working though this, because I think it is very valuable. I do not think I’m going to try to double up on exercises and “catch up”… although I’ll play that by ear, since it would be nice to be back in sync with the Challenge posts on Joyful Mothering.

Onward…