Beverage of Champions. And some soap.

I had been feeling a little under the weather this past weekend and so I guzzled a few rounds of my go-to 'imkindastartingtofeellikecrap' beverage. And I felt better. So, I thought I'd share.

I'm not really reinventing the wheel with this drink, it's our version of the classic hot toddy. But, we do take our beverages seriously in this house. Matt taught me the recipe (as he has educated me on most beverages that involve brown liquor), but I just tweak it a bit when I'm feeling sick.

It truly is one of the best drinks to have on a cold winter evening and it's as simple as it gets.

Sweet Pine Hot Toddy (serves 2)

Fill your kettle with water and put it on the stove.
Slice a lemon in half and juice one half into each mug.*
Drop a small spoonful of honey into each mug.*
Pour a little brandy or whiskey into each mug (or leave it out if you prefer).
Once water is boiling, pour into mugs and stir. Put a lemon slice in if you're feelin' fancy.
Serve.

*You might want more of these things in your toddy. I like mine more lemon-y and Matt prefers his a little bit sweeter. Use my proportions as a starting point.

If I'm feeling sick I always add cayenne to mine and might even steep some freshly grated ginger root after I pour the water.

Ah, yes, I did mention there would be some soap. I had to share a photo of the palmarosa soap I created a few weeks ago because I tried it out the other day. I am LOVING this soap. It has a very unique scent and isn't overly floral--it's like an herbal, clean, soft rose if you can imagine that. I colored it with rose clay and it turned out a wonderful muted pink. I only made a test batch this round, but expect to see it in the shop soon.

 Have a beautiful week!

It's All About the Beverages

What an awesomely full week it's been! Our friend Dan came to visit from Tucson and we had a great time making and eating food, doing outdoorsy stuff and just hanging out.

We miss you Dan (and thanks for leaving your almond flax butter behind).

And somehow, in between having fun with Dan and going to work, Matt and I managed to get all this done:

* 108 bars of soap made, cut and curing as we speak
* Wild mushrooms hunted and devoured in stroganoff, pizza, stir-fry and frittata
* 12 quarts of spicy dill pickles processed
* 2 quarts dill pickles fermenting on the counter
* 1 batch of gluten free peanut butter cookies baked (and mostly eaten)
* 11 half pints of blackberry jam processed
* 1 large blackberry milkshake consumed
* 1 batch of blackberry switchel made

Pretty excited about the above list. Really excited about the pickles.

gratuitous dill pickle photo

So, at this point, you might be wondering...What the hell is switchel?

I hadn't heard of it either until a berry switchel recipe appeared on Craftypod (one of my very favorite craft blogs) and then I found a recipe for a blackberry shrub (similar to switchel) in one of my preserving cook books. I made mine following the directions from Craftypod, but used blackberries, 1/3 c. honey and 1/4 c apple cider vinegar. I poured a bit over ice and topped with seltzer and a wedge of lime.

Delish.
Especially nice during the evening when you're sitting in your back yard watching your chickens.

Since I was so pleased with my switchel success, I made a rhubarb lime syrup for more beverage goodness. And it turned out great too.

Here's how I made it:
I took some rhubarb (a few pounds I think), cut it up and boiled it with a few cups of water on the stove.

I strained out the rhubarb mush and was left with about a 1/4 cup of rhubarb juice. I added just over a cup of lime juice to this and boiled it on the stove with some honey and agave nectar. I didn't measure, just kept adding until it tasted right to me.

 I served this syrup in the same manner as the blackberry switchel. And adding some tequila to this got a thumb's up from Matt.  Enjoy!

What yummy drinks have you been making this summer?

Give Your Dog a Bone

This is Lou. He's been the most amazing companion since I picked him up from the pound over 7 years ago.

Admittedly, there were a few rough patches at first. Like the time he jumped out of my car while I was driving at 40 mph (he was fine) or his penchant for taking giant craps in my backseat for the first month I had him. Turns out, he was really afraid to ride in a car.

Well, he got over his fears and he has been pretty much been the best dog a girl could hope for since then.

Recently, he's been a real trooper with our new kitten Stu taking residence here so when we ran out of dog biscuits the other day, I thought I should make him his favorite homemade biscuits. Sure, making your own biscuits is a little more hassle than buying a box of bones at the store, but at this point you probably realize that I enjoy the hassle of making my own stuff.

 And Lou loves these biscuits. And, well, I love him.

Lou's Favorite Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits
4c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c-3/4 c. peanut butter (we most always have chunky pb in the house, so that's what I use)
about 2c. warm water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the flour, peanut butter and water in a bowl until it comes together to form a ball. Add  more flour or water if needed.

Flour a flat surface and roll out dough. Keep adding a little more flour if the dough seems sticky. Use cookie cutters to cut out biscuits.

Put them on greased  cookie sheets and bake until biscuits seem crispy. Once they are sufficiently crispy, turn off oven, but leave biscuits inside on cookie sheet until completely cooled (they will turn nice and crunchy this way).

This recipe makes about 100 small to medium size biscuits. Feel free to freeze half of the dough if you don't want to make them all at once.

Okay, now go and give your dog a bone. Or, in this case, a homemade biscuit.

Make It Yourself : Granola

So, a few weeks ago I wrote about making my own yogurt. Well, I have been making it every week since because it is SO easy and SO good. Seriously, you need to make it. Like Today. And what goes better with a jar of homemade yogurt than a jar of homemade granola? Um, pretty much nothing.

So, let's get our granola on.

I have made my own granola in the past, but never consistently. Lately, I have got into the routine of mixing up a batch as I am making my yogurt for the week. It takes about 20 min. to throw together and tastes leaps and bounds better than what is in the store. Cheaper as well. And it makes your house smell amazing as it is baking and you get to eat warm granola from the pan.

And I know what you might be thinking... everyone and their grandma has a good granola recipe. But this one is my favorite and it is, oh, so good. Give it a try.

My recipe is loosely based on Heidi Swanson's recipe found in her cookbook Super Natural Cooking. The orange zest she uses is delish! Don't omit it! I mean, don't run out to the store just for an orange, but it does give the granola great flavor. Check out her website as well for a treasure trove of awesome vegetarian recipes and gorgeous food photography. I've made this recipe and this recipe many times over and they're freakin' amazing.

Okay, on to the granola.

Note: Feel free to mix and match with your nuts and fruit and adjust amounts to your liking. I tend to use whatever I have in the kitchen and just eyeball the amounts.

 My Favorite Granola

4c. rolled oats ( I never use the quick cooking type)
Big ol' handful unsweetened shredded coconut
Big ol' handful raw almonds
Smaller handful raw sunflower seeds
Grated zest of 1 orange (tangerine could be nice too)
1/2 c. maple syrup ( I used honey once and didn't like it as much as the maple syrup)
1/2 c. oil
1 tsp. vanilla
Handful dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

Combine the oats, nuts, zest, maple syrup, oil and vanilla in bowl. Mix until everything looks evenly coated. Don't add your dried fruit here or they will turn out to be hard little pellets by the end of baking.

Divide mixture between two baking sheets ( I usually need a large and a small one for this amount) and pop it into the oven.

Stir every 10 minutes or so until it is golden brown. Watch the edges of the pan because that's where the granola tends to burn. I try to find an activity that keeps me in the kitchen otherwise I forget about it and it, inevitably, burns. So, grab a book or some knitting and it should be done in about 40 minutes.

Cool. Stir in dried cranberries. Store in a jar or a Ziploc bag. Eat with milk, yogurt or by the handful while you're standing in your kitchen (me).

Revel in your homemade awesomeness.

Back To Work

We've been home about a week and a half from our trip and we're back in the thick of it. Work. School. Business stuff. Home stuff. Garden stuff. Lifey stuff.

Busy, but good.

Matt's been making serious progress on his canoe. It's incredible. He's incredible. Really.

I've been busy with Sweet Pine and obsessing over our garden. Love the garden.

This here Pac Choi was our first harvest! So tasty.

I'm pretty darn impressed with all the stuff we've done in the short amount of time we've been home. I'm crossing item after item off my epic to-do lists. That feels good.

Here is one thing I crossed off recently.
Make Yogurt.


I have wanted make my own yogurt for a long time and finally did it! It was easy as pie. And the yogurt tasted delicious.

I followed this recipe from this inspiring blog. If you're curious, I used the 'cooler method' she describes in her recipe to insulate and a tablespoon of Brown Cow yogurt as my starter culture.

homemade yogurt + maple syrup from WI = heaven

We also had time to can a few jars of corn relish. We had some friends over the other night for dinner and everyone brought sweet corn, so we had lots of leftovers.

We used the basic recipe from the book Put Em' Up. I just bought this book and am really excited about it. Tons of great recipes for drying, canning, freezing and preserving food. We changed the original recipe liberally because we didn't have most of the ingredients. No surprises there.

So, here is our recipe. Enjoy.

Sweet Pine Corn Relish
Makes about 3 pints

Ingredients:
6 ears corn, shucked
1 1/2 c. cider vinegar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 T. whole yellow mustard seeds
1/2 T. salt
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
6 small dried hot chilies

Boil corn for 5 minutes or so. Drain. Cut off kernels. Combine vinegar, sugar, mustard seeds, salt and chilies. Bring to a boil. Add the onion, garlic, bell pepper, and corn. Simmer for 5 minutes. Ladle into clean canning jars. Cover solids with 1/4 inch of liquid and use the boiling water method for sealing. Let jars sit for 2 weeks before eating.

Eat Your Lavender

Holy crap it’s been a busy week. But, I still managed to make a batch of lavender soap, which turned out just lovely. I’ll post pics of it soon. I heart lavender in a big way and always have stashes of it in the house.  It just makes me happy.

I already use lavender in soap or products I put on my body (like in this post or this post), but I tend not to use it as much in food.  Lavender in food ?! ! What the junk??! Okay, I hear you…for some folks, lavender in food is not at all appealing and I get that. I don’t really enjoy roses/rosewater in food because I feel like I’m eating perfume. Yep, just can't do it. But, for me, lavender is another story entirely. I find it adds just a hint of can’t put your finger on it flavor if it’s used in moderation.  Key word here: moderation. Lavender can easily overpower something, so use it sparingly.

A really simple recipe to ease into if you want to start exploring lavender in food is lavender lemonade. I made a batch last night and it was delicious.  A perfect little spring drink. And, it would probably be tasty with some vodka in it. Just sayin'.

Here’s how I made it:

1) Boil 2 c. of water. Turn off heat and add 1 T of dried lavender buds. Let steep for about 20 min.

2) While that’s happening, juice about 6 lemons into a pitcher.

3) Once the lavender is done steeping, stir in about ½ c. sugar (or agave or honey or whatever sweetener you like).

4) Combine the lavender tea with the lemon juice and add cold water until the strength tastes right to you.

5) Adjust sugar if you need to. Pour over ice and enjoy the herbal goodness.

  

Here are some other edibles I want to make that use lavender:

Lavender honey and here’s a great video on how to make it yourself.

Crackers and fruit would taste amazing with this recipe.

Make my own Herbes de Provence and sprinkle it over roast chicken (my fave) or give away as gifts.

Add a little lavender to my favorite lemon curd recipe. I like to eat lemon curd stirred into yogurt, on top of cheesecake or straight out of the jar with a spoon while I'm standing in my kitchen. Be warned, lemon curd is like my own personal form of crack and might become yours too. It's damn good.

So, give it a go. Add a little lavender to your life. I know I'm going to try!  

What other things do you like to add lavender to?