Eternal Hippies A Year Homemade and Beyond

As part of my goals for January, I have uploaded my first video to You Tube. No narration, just raw video of our drive on the road to Kings Mountain Campground. This was actually our, as a couple, second camping trip. Joe has been camping his whole life and could teach classes in the subject. Our first was two weeks earlier where we traveled and camped from Myrtle Beach, SC all the way up to Sebago, Maine with one overnight stop at Kiptopeke State Park in Virginia and a three days stop in Wompatuck State Park in Massachusetts. In Sebago we stayed at a private campground in nearby Standish called, Friends and Family Campground . On the way back we stopped in Maryland eastern shore at a private campground called Holiday Park Campground and finally treated ourselves to a one night stay at a motel in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia before heading home. That was over a 10 day trip. Since then we bought a bigger tent and have camped at Myrtle Beach State Park and over the holida...

Soaking Flour As one of my goals for January, I have been reading the book, “Nourishing Traditions,” by Sally Fallon Morrell . Soaking, fermenting, sprouting were all so foreign to me until I started this journey to healthy, homemade living. Sally writes about soaking flours to reduce anti-nutrients such as phytic acid. This improves the digestibility and absorption of minerals considerably. Helpful link: https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/video-thursday-how-to-soak-flour-for/ So over the weekend I decided to make Sally Fallon Morrell’s recipe on page 484 of Nourishing Traditions, Buttermilk Biscuits. The recipe calls for 3 ½ cups of freshly ground spelt flour. As of this date, I don’t have a grinder for grains. I do have a coffee grinder that I can use for softer grinds like sprouted/dehydrated buckwheat and oat groats. But when I tried to grind spouted/dehydrated wheat berries, the little coffee grinder just wasn’t up to the task. A grain grinder is on my wish list. ...

I just reactivated my twitter account and going down memory lane with the pictures I had posted. It was during my juicing time. I posted pics of the first time I made shampoo, lip balm, etc. Oh, I have learned a lot since then. I am looking forward to blogging these recipes and more experiences doing homemade for a year, and beyond. I still make my own shampoo, dish washing liquid, laundry detergent and cleaning products. But haven't played darts in awhile.

Just ate an orange. Yum! In fact, I brought an orange, an apple and a banana to enjoy during the 9 hour work day. I don't go to lunch, just snack when no one is around. It can be difficult because where I work there is an upscale restaurant, a huge kitchen and function rooms so the smell of food lingers all day. Some days I feel sick to my stomach hungry and it effects my habit of ordering out. I used to take a lunch break and my place for work offers employees one free meal a shift. But the food is rich and decadent. My first year here I gained 50 pounds! Then when I started juicing, it was a challenge to be smelling all this food and to sip a spinach juice. I just gave up and stayed behind my desk and endured. The aromas still reach my lobby desk and some days all I want to do is walk out. The temptation to over indulge when I got home is extreme. Among my many tasks and besides answering the phones, I make and update the menus, dining feature sheets and special food labels f...

The last two Mondays I have attempted to plan out the meals for that week. Last week I stuck to the plan about 60% of the time. A person can plan for tuna salad all day long, but when it's cold outside, something hot sounds better. So tuna salad turned into soup and grilled cheese sandwich. Like last night, I was planning chicken salad, but that turned into uncured beef hot dogs and garden salad. From here out I am going to blog my meal plans to see how well I stick to it. So for tonight, Wednesday, spaghetti bake is on the menu. But already I'm concerned. I only brought the ground bison (it was on manager's special at Kroger for $2.50!) out of the freezer this morning. I don't own a microwave so a quick thaw is out. Side note on microwave ovens, I haven't used one in four years and don't miss it. Hopefully the meat will be thawed enough in the fridge to use when I get home. I've made spaghetti sauce from scratch many times, but this evening I'm go...

So last Monday I started sprouting some mung beans to go with dinner later in the week. It takes longer for them to be ready. 1/4 cup mung beans went into a wide mouth mason jar with about 1/2 cup filtered water to rinse. After rinsing, I soaked them in filtered water for 8 hours, then drained the beans and put the mason jar on my wooden rack.  Every 12 hours or so I add water, swish them and then drain. Couldn't be simpler. The plan is to use them in stir-fry either Thursday or Friday for dinner. Mung beans need to be de-hulled before using them to cook. I've seen people use a salad spinner but I haven't much luck using one. I usually put my colander in a bigger bowl and fill both with water and the beans. I swish the beans/water around gently letting the hulls naturally come off. Because the mung beans are relatively big (compared to broccoli sprouts) it is easy to separate the sprouts from the hulls. The key is to be gentle..gentle. After the sprouts are separated ...

Last Thursday, in order to have the pancakes we enjoy on Sunday, I started making my sprouted buckwheat flour. The process does take a few days, but it is so worth the effort. Plus I find it to be enjoyable. I buy my bulk organic buckwheat groats at our local health food store. Thursday morning- Rinsed buckwheat groats and set them in a half gallon mason jar to soak in filtered water for 30 minutes. Groats don't take as long to soak as other sprouts. After soaking, drained them, put a screen lid on the jar then tilted the jar so any moisture can drain. I have a wooden cookbook holder that I use to hold my sprouting jars. My lids look like this: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/152066924892213540/,  But I've also used cheesecloth and a mason jar ring. The main reason is to keep what you are sprouting inside the jar and bugs out. I keep my draining rack in a dark spot in my kitchen where the temperature staying constant. Thursday evening- Poured about a cup of filtered ...