blue-ing

our first basket! (this year)

Last week our family received the first CSA basket of the year!  (CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, find out more by clicking HERE.) This is our fifth year of participating in such a program.  We love it so much; it's wonderful to get a chance to have all of this fresh, local, seasonal produce.  I love that we're helping to support a local farmer.  And it's great to be encouraged to try new things - I am very much a one of getting stuck in a rut as far as which foods I buy.

We will receive a weekly basket of goodies throughout the growing season - roughly from June through September/October.  The amount of produce in each week's basket varies according to the season (for example, although this week's basket was plentiful, the fullest basket is yet to come).

Our first basket included:  two heads of lettuce, broccoli, pod peas, a ton of Walla Walla onions, a green pepper radishes, beet greens, kale, and Swiss chard.  Bounty!  We're so thankful to be able to do this again. 

To nourishment,

kombucha finger gelatin

A wonderful thing has happened: I have discovered a beautiful marriage between the super-beverage, kombucha, and the super-food gelatin.

Did you know that gelatin is a super-food?  It is - real gelatin, that is.  (HERE is an article about it, but there is a lot of information out there if you decide to go looking.)  I'm not talking about the technicolor stuff shelved in your grocery store's pudding aisle.  Stay away from that artificial junk.  Made from the connective tissues of healthy animals, the best gelatin is from grass-fed cows.   Great Lakes Gelatin and Bernard Jensen are good places to buy real, healthy gelatin.

I've read a few different recipes for kombucha gelatin, and I didn't like the idea of heating the kombucha.  After all, heating fermented foods damages the microorganisms which provide those healthful benefits.  But then  Kimi from The Nourishing Gourmet posted her recipe for Kombucha "Jello" which didn't place the kombucha into the heat at all - bingo!

This finger gelatin recipe is based off of The Nourishing Gourmet's wonderful idea.  You can use kombucha purchased at a store or home-brewed stuff.  I used blackberry and chose to strain the fermented berries out.  The kids really enjoyed this; even my sole son who doesn't care for kombucha said "This is good!"  I'm so pleased to have a fun way to serve such nourishing stuff to my family.


Kombucha Finger Gelatin
1/4 cup cold water
6 teaspoons gelatin
2-4 Tablespoons honey (depending on how sweet/tart your kombucha is)
2 cups flavored kombucha

In a medium saucepan, add water then sprinkle gelatin over it.  Let this rest 5 minutes.   After 5 minutes, stir in your honey and turn the heat to medium.  Stir and heat for several minutes, allowing the gelatin to dissolve completely.  Make certain it is dissolved - trust me, you do not want a gritty result.

Remove from heat.  At this point you can stir the kombucha into the mixture, or transfer everything to a glass bowl to combine.  Stir well, then pour into an 8x8 or 9x9 glass pan.  Refrigerate, then cut and serve.

Enjoy!

Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil Winner!

How fun to begin this week by announcing the winner of my very first blog giveaway!  I appreciate each and every one of you who stopped by.  I hope that this product will be a blessing to the winner, as it has been to my family.  

Even if you didn't win, I encourage you to give coconut oil a try.  It's so versatile, and I just love to use it on my skin...although my favorite thing to do with coconut oil is to make candy!

And now it is my pleasure to announce the winner of the Tropical Traditions Gold Label Coconut Oil Giveaway for the Sweetness in the Small Stuff blog.  

The winner is....

Emily Dicks!

Congratulations, Emily!    I will be contacting you soon.

Have a great week, everyone!

my go-to coconut flour recipes

Coconut flour and I have had a tumultuous relationship.  I love the idea, but the reality of flavor and texture has sometimes left me wanting.  Coconut flour is wonderfully nutritious, low-carb and a great source of both fiber and protein.  It's a wonderful gluten-free option, and it avoids some of the issues associated with consuming large amounts of almond flour.  The texture is different, however, and coconut flour is a bit temperamental - so I don't recommend substituting it for other flours, at least not without careful planning.

I very rarely develop recipes; I prefer to let other people do that work for me!  But in hopes of keeping my youngest son grain-free for as long as possible (at the very least until 18 or 24 months), I've been looking into coconut flour ideas lately.  And because this is my blog, I thought I'd share some of our favorites.

Coconut flour is pricey, but for most recipes a little goes quite a long way.  So you're using considerably less than with other flours.  I'm talking 1/4-1/2 cup for most recipes.  Pretty economical.

Something else to remember is that coconut flour needs a lot of eggs.  If you're planning to experiment much with this stuff, you might want to stock up.

Alright, without further ado, my current go-to coconut flour recipes:

Cinnamon Bun Muffins from Comfy Belly.  We love this recipe!  It's especially handy to mix them up just after dinner - then enjoy them the next morning for breakfast, ready-made.  This recipe is sweet, spiced, and tender.  I enjoy them best when I've added a shake or two of cinnamon and nutmeg to the batter before filling the muffin pan.  Delicious.

Coconut Flour Waffles from Health, Home & Happiness.  We enjoy them with pureed pumpkin stirred into the batter, and a sprinkle of cinnamon.  I appreciate waffles because they're fairly quick to mix up, and then they're cooking while do other breakfasty things - such as cooking the eggs.

This Pancake Mix from Andrea Fabry of Handpicked Nation.  The link is to a list of real food gift ideas.  Sroll down the page and you'll see a recipe for coconut flour pancake mix.  I've been messing with coconut pancakes for several years now, and this is by far my favorite!  It may be the extra egg, possibly the addition of vanilla, but they're far superior to the other ones I've tried.  Easier to turn with a great flavor and texture.  Coconut flour pancakes can be very tricky, and I was so pleased to come across this gem.

Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Muffins by Cheeseslave.  In a word, ohmywordIlovethesesomuch!  Savory, cheesy, flavored with bacon (I've also used sausage crumbles).   So, so good!

Banana Chocolate Chip Coconut Flour Bread by Chocolate and Carrots.  A very nice basic banana bread.  Let it cool before you slice!

Coconut-Lemon Meltaway Cookies by Addicted to Veggies.   I am a big lover of (almost) all things lemon, and these are a lovely springtime cookie.  I don't use agave nectar in my kitchen, so I replaced that with honey.  The honey I had on hand was a delicious but rather heavy orange blossom variety.  I suspect these cookies would've been lighter and even more "melty" if I'd used a lighter flavored honey, or even agave.  Still, very nice.

Maple Pecan Cupcakes from Riddlelove.   Alright, people.  I love pecans.  I mean, I really love them.  But I made this recipe on a day when I didn't have a pecan in the house, and I didn't have time to make the icing either.  The cupcakes were still awesome.  Try them.  Now.  Just do it.

Assuming you have coconut flour, of course.

That about covers it; my current favorites when it comes to coconut flour.  Coconut is amazing stuff.  The more I learn about it, the more I'm astounded by it.   Finding more ways to work it into my family's diet is a definite goal of mine.   Happy eating!

pickle me too

fermenting dilly beans

Coming soon: how fermenting foods at home is easy, traditional, and a hugely beneficial to one's health!