Gypsy Forest

this day had cake

 

A grapefruit flavored cake inspired by this lovely recipe. I swapped the lemon parts for grapefruit parts, cut the sugar in half & added a 1/2 teaspoon of grapefruit oil. Topped with lightly sweetened vanilla bourbon whipped cream and blackberries. I know, I know..... blackberries are not in season or local right now for me. (however the citrus & eggs were!) And was it ever an amazing delicious treat. Seriously. I think cake like this on a Wednesday night is kind of like magic. 

With a face covered in whipped cream from licking off the beaters Luke said to me "mama, you just are the best cooker."

He's pretty much the sweetest thing ever.... that boy. Such a charmer.

I've got news tomorrow.... in the way of the big girl & I cutting off all our hair to donate.... big changes... my oh my. See you then.

 

hippie cookies that don't suck

I've made a lot of really awful hippie cookies.

The kind that taste like dusty oats and stick to the roof of your mouth. The ones that crumble to bits. Or the ones that come out as hard as little hockey pucks and end up as organic dog biscuits. And while I'm typically a go for the gusto, loads of butter, brown sugar & dark chocolate sort of cookie girl..... I've also wished to the hippie cookie fairies that I could maybe find a recipe that didn't, well, suck.

To be a true hippie cookie, it had to have no sugar. The kind of thing I could hand over to the kids first thing in the morning to tide them over while I cook up some eggs & greens. Or finish checking my email. I wanted some good wholesome stuff in it like nuts and dried fruit and oats. And the nuts had to be sneaky because my littlest kids are funny about those.

Inspired by a recipe in this book, I came up with these. They're more like barely sweet little banana muffin bites than cookies. They're moist, but don't crumble apart in the cookie jar. They're yummy. Wholesome. And the kids love them. Really. If your kids like nuts, feel free to add a handful in. If your hubby is not enlisted in the military and can eat hemp seeds, I think those would be good too. (I love hemp seeds. And yes, I think that's a stupid rule.)

 

 

Hippie Cookies {that don't suck}

3 large ripe bananas

1 TBSP vanilla

3 TBSP ground flax seeds

3 TBSP water

*optional, 1 TBSP chia seeds

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup almond butter (sneaky nuts)

 

2 cups rolled oats (not instant)

1/4 cup oat flour

1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut flakes

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

 

1/2 cup dried cherries (chopped a bit)

 

 

*Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mash ripe banana in a bowl or mixer & add vanilla to it. Melt coconut oil & almond butter in a small pan over low heat. Pour into banana mixture & stir well to combine.

*Mix flax seeds with water in a small bowl, set aside while you mix up the dry ingredients. (add chia seeds to flax, if using)

*Add oats, oat flour, coconut flakes, baking powder & salt to a bowl. Mix well.

*Stir up the flax mixture. It will be thick and sort of egg-ish. Add to bananas & mix well.

*Add the dry ingredients to the banana mixture. Mix well & let it sit for 5 minutes so the oats can absorb some of the liquid. 

* I chop up the dried cherries because I'm cheap frugal & it helps get a tart bite of cherry throughout the cookie. You don't have to chop them up though. Add the cherries & stir into the cookie batter.

*Lightly oil a cookie sheet with a bit of coconut oil to prevent sticking.

*Drop by Tablespoon onto prepared cookie sheet and bake 12-15 minutes, until the cookie just barely begins to brown. Rotate the cookie sheet halfway through for even cooking.

***details, details*** I used a lightly sweetened almond butter & my cherries had some sugar in them, so these are not totally sugar free. I wasn't stressed about this because it adds only a tiny amount of sugar to the recipe. If however you use an unsweetened almond butter, you may want to add 1 TBSP of honey to the melted oil/butter in the recipe. Raisins or dried cranberries would also be good in this. If you use gluten free oats & oat flour, these would be GF and they are also Vegan.

 

 

These are good warm or cool..... enjoy!

   

lemon cranberry scones

Here it is, the scone recipe~~

I made these at Christmas time inspired by this recipe. I switched things up a bit adding whole grain flour and a whole lot of other tweaks. I didn't mess much with the butter though. These babies have got a heaping ton of it.... and are they ever delicious.

I've been meaning to make them again & re-photograph them because I'm not thrilled with the photos I'm sharing with you. But in the spirit of those last two posts, (here & here) I'm going to just let it be and share it like it is. And while I'd love to hang out & chat for a bit.... I've got a crazy road trip - running errands - picking up our oldest for the weekend sort of day ahead of me.... so I've gotta run. 

 

But seriously, you should make these scones this weekend.

 

 

Lemon Cranberry Scones

 1.5  cups fresh cranberries

 1/2  cup light brown sugar

 zest of 2 lemons  (meyer if you can find them)

 3  TBSP fresh lemon juice

 1  cup whole wheat pastry flour

 1.5  cups unbleached white flour

 1  TBSP baking powder

 1/2  teaspoon salt

 12  tablespoons chilled unsalted butter

 1  egg

 1/2  cup milk or half & half (I used milk)

 extra flour for rolling

 

  

Heat the oven to 400ºF and prepare two baking sheets by lining them with parchment paper or lightly coating with oil or butter.

Beat the egg & milk together, set aside. In the bowl of a food processor, chop the cranberries lightly & pour into a separate bowl. Add brown sugar, lemon zest & lemon juice to the cranberries.

Wipe out the food processor so it's nice & dry.Then add the flours, baking powder, and salt. Pulse once to mix. Cut the chilled butter into small pieces and add to the flour in the food processor. Process until fine and crumbly. Pour into the cranberry mixture bowl and gently combine. Stir in the beaten egg and milk. * the secret to really good scones is to not over-mix and leave little bits of butter in the batter*

Sprinkle the counter with flour, and dump the dough out on it. It will be very wet and sticky. Gently roll out, liberally flouring and cut into desired shapes. I did squares because it was easy. Use a spatula to gently lift the scones onto the pan. Bake until the edges are golden brown and the top is just barely beginning to brown. 15 minutes or so.

Makes 12 large scones.

  

 

EXTRA STUFF~~~~

*if your batter seems too moist to roll, you can add a little extra flour 1 TBSP at a time.... don't overdo it though, it will interfere with the tender bite of a good scone. You could also chill the dough for an hour or so.... if you're patient. Which I'm not.

*if you don't have or don't like cranberries, leave them out!

*if you happen to be a lemon addict.... add a 1/2 tsp of good quality lemon extract to the cranberry mixture and/or a bit of finely chopped candied lemon peel.

*I think ginger would pair nicely too. Some candied ginger on top and either fresh or ground dried ginger in the batter.

*I really have to go now before I think of something else....

  

The SCOBY Smuggler (but first the snow)

My parent's little Alaskan town is buried under 18+ feet of snow.

At first it was fun. Then it was crazy, and after that a little scary.

Buildings were buckling under the weight of all of it... and it just kept snowing! My mom barely made it home last week after meeting up with me in Seattle. "Steph, if you'd forgotten where you parked your car at the airport, you'd never find it!" Luckily mom hadn't parked there and dad was waiting for her plane to arrive. The idea of losing your car in a tiny gravel parking lot where it is still free to park at the airport made me giggle..... that is until (the ever creative yarn dyeing) Shelly posted this. See that first picture? Those are cars! And then this video started popping up an all my facebook pal's pages. And then it started raining. Making the avalanche threat a huge concern.

Cordova made CNN and NPR.

And when a state of emergency was called, the National Guard showed up. (You all know I love them!)

The whole town is taking time off work to volunteer, get things cleared and shoveled, feed crews of hungry people, pulling 12+ hour days and they get to the end of it and post on their facebook "we're getting this done, I love Cordova!"

This sweet little town where Joe & I met never ceases to amaze me. As the bookstore owner Kelly said in the video "Keep calm & shovel on." You people rock!

.................................................................................................

While my mom was traveling home to all of that excitement. I was kind of, sort of, maybe eluding airport people on the contents of my carry on.

I was trying to get this onto the plane:

 

 

A SCOBY.

It sort of looks like a weird thick dense piece of lunch meat. A SCOBY {symbiotic culture of bacteria & yeasts} is used to make Kombucha. At my friend's ceremony, a towel covered jar was on the counter hiding a huge SCOBY in it. When I sort of freaked and said "woah, that is one huge SCOBY!!" I was gifted with a big slice of it to take home. Isn't that the coolest wedding favor ever? {Thank you Kathy!}

After the ceremony I got to know Kathy (the groom's mom) a little more and she's one of those people that you just love right away. An amazing caring, giving, beautiful sort of person. By the time I said goodbye to everyone, I was determined to carry that SCOBY around the city with my mom the next few days and most certainly get it home.

I drained the tea off of it and triple bagged it for it's journey. Tucking it in between pajama pants in my suitcase. As I went through security I thought for sure I would have some explaining to do. As the luggage pieces went through, I pulled the SCOBY suitcase down beside me. A few pieces were being rescanned so I gently pushed my suitcase next to a bench nearby. Fingers crossed. Hoping they wouldn't randomly search through it. And they didn't.

Yeah!!

Last night I started my first batch of well traveled Kombucha. It will be a fun memory every time I drink a glass of it.

{as a disclaimer, I completely support & understand the purpose of TSA. I was not bringing a liquid or gel onto the plane or breaking any rules... though I am totally grateful for not having to explain the strange item in the plastic bag!}

 

in the thick of it......

In the kitchen at this moment:

 

*ten pounds of organic peppers from our farm waiting to be sliced & diced and frozen, the last of the season in December! (which I bought for one dollar a pound!)

 

*the beginnings of tea for rehydrating a kombucha scoby (wish me luck!)

 

*this book & the beginning of simple farmer cheese on the stove with local goat's milk

 

*sourdough starter waiting to be fed & turned into loaves of bread which we have been loving devouring... recipe soon!

 

*an empty basket that has held a bounty of local citrus (gifted to us) grapefruits, navels, satsumas, meyer lemons and clementines.... amazing!

 

*a box with a fungus! shiitake mushrooms that we'll soon be growing right there on the counter.... a gift from my mama

 

*an empty bottle of one year old homemade barolo (red wine) I see a realio-trulio wine cellar in our someday house.....

 

Is your kitchen bustling? Are you trying anything new? Do share.

 

{ps ~ Nourished Kitchen is having a super end of the year sale.... 30% off classes, menus & e-books. I shared a little about them here, follow a link on the right and enter the code : SUPERSALE if you're interested~}

 

soups on

The weather just shifted again here from a balmy 78 to a chilly 48.

Last night when Joe came home we actually had to turn the ac on to cut the thick humidity in the air. During the night a cold front rolled through and this morning had us all in slippers and sweaters and my poor cucumber plants were less than amused at the sudden temperature change. That's winter in the south, shorts one day and sweaters the next. It will go back and forth like this for the next few months.

The cold fronts always come in with at least a good rain and if we're lucky a thunderstorm. I do love a thunderstorm. The cold gray days make getting caught up on house stuff easy and by early afternoon I always start thinking about soup.

Soup was made for blustery damp days.

If someone were to ask me to list my most favorite of things, soup would be near the top of the list. With coffee, beer and chocolate. ~ahem. Sophie recently interviewed me for a zine (magazine) her homeschool reading & writing group is pulling together. "What's your favorite food?" she asked. I thought about a few things.... fancy stuff like sushi. But the truth is, I could eat soup every day and never tire of it. Soup it is. {which is followed by red salmon, the Alaskan in me never strays far}.

 

 

 

When you've made soup for awhile you have ideas, not recipes. You have flavors that call to each other and go together well. 

lime, cumin, chicken, cilantro, chipotle

curry, coconut milk, sweet potatoes, chard

pumpkin, sausage, kale, white beans

tomatoes, basil, white wine

onions & garlic, always lots of onions and garlic.....

Soup is a manifestation of life in this moment. Pulling together things in the fridge. Leftovers. Beautiful vegetables from our farm. Or perhaps our humble suburban garden. It's hard to mess it up. Creativity rules and if you can go with the flow each soup is unique in its own way. A little of this and some of that. Presented in the center of the table and filling up bowls and tummies. It's easy to love.

 

 

Lunch time soup this week consisted of coconut curry broth, leftover cilantro lime broiled salmon, chard and summer squash. Topped with sesame seeds, fresh cilantro, green onions & a spicy red hot curry sauce. All the veggies were local and in season (except the green onions).

Tonight's soup is kale, white beans & potatoes in homemade chicken stock. (with garlic & onions, always!) This afternoon while making soup I chopped kale and potatoes and talked with a five year old boy who asked "do you love when I help you make soup?"

And I told him "why yes, yes I do.

 

this week {2}

 

 

 

The big kids helped me cut up and de-seed nearly twenty pounds of those kumquats!

We made 4 pints of candied kumquats and 5 pints of marmalade. We stirred and laughed and listened to music until midnight getting it finished up. The marmalade is delicious! I can't wait to share some with Joe (who is due home tonight!)

The candied kumquats are a variation of a recipe from this lovely book. I made a simple syrup and infused it with fresh ginger slices, vanilla bean and cardamom seeds. It should be ready for a first taste around Solstice! Perhaps spooned over ice cream for a solstice dessert?

{In completely unrelated news, I just reworked the favorite books section above and added some of our favorite chapter books and some holiday/seasonal sections.... do take a peek and see if there is something to add to your library list~}

  

Meet Stella + A granola bar recipe

So I did it.

I finally gave in to food peer pressure and bought a darn food processor. After a year (a whole year!) of hoping I would find a used one after my little 2 cup mini one bit the dust, I bought this. It's refurbished, and was about $50 (oomph, I know) and I love her. It's the first real food processor I've ever owned. Crazy, right? After making several batches of granola bars and pesto, I have decided such a workhorse needs a name. I mean, since we're friends and all. Doesn't she look like a Stella?

 

 

So Stella & I made some fantastic granola bars, and we wanted to share one of the recipes here with you. The first two batches were raw bars fashioned after the incredibly yummy and expensive lara bars. I found the idea here. We tweaked the recipe to make a bigger batch and use what we had on hand. The third batch was based on this yummy recipe, which won the kids over for sure.

 

 

 

 

 

They are delicious! So very good really. Wrapped in wax paper, we take them on our journeys for when we're in need of a wholesome snack. Which is somehow quite often. The "lara" bars are grain free and held together the best. Even on a recent kayak trip. I'm sharing the cranberry almond recipe here with you, which ironically enough are the only ones I didn't photograph! Oops. But they look just like the first bar pictured with a dried cranberry colored hue. I think they would be awesome with a bit of ginger in them, but my people don't all like ginger as much as their mama. (and once I have the cashew coconut recipe perfected I'll share that one too, yum.) Can we call them granola bars if they have no oats? Snack bars? I'm not sure... maybe we could name them after Stella? Oh, that might be getting just a bit carried away... but seriously, I will not miss my meager attempts of making pesto in a blender.

 

Cranberry Almond Bars

1 cup raw almonds

3/4 cup dates (whole dates, chopped into quarters)

3/4 cup dried cranberries

1 TBSP raw honey

1/2 - 1 tsp water (if needed)

 

Pulse the almonds in the food processor until they are a course flour consistency. Pour into a bowl and set aside. Next, pulse the dates and cranberries until they stick together in a uniform ball shape. Add the honey and 1/2 tsp water. Pulse until combined. Add the nuts and pulse until the whole thing sticks together and looks sort of like the above picture. If the mixture seems dry you can a few more drops of water. The mixture will be very thick. Using oil on your hands, press into a buttered or oiled (I used coconut oil) 8 inch square pan. Chill for a few hours & slice into 2x4 inch bars. We store ours in the fridge.

 

PS - A big hello to any newbies stopping in from that last post, my goodness did it get an awful lot of visitors!

 

nourishing

  

   

A few weeks back we were all feeling a little unbalanced around here. There were a number of random symptoms scattered between us. Tired, achy, headaches, insomnia and some tummy troubles. Nothing major, mind you, but certainly enough to catch the mama's attention and make her say hmmmmm.

We decided to take a hiatus from wheat for a month. We started taking some b vitamins, probiotics, and drinking green smoothies. I began reading about GAPS, Gluten Free and Traditional diets. To be honest, I became so overwhelmed with everything I was reading I sort of felt like we could eat nothing or that we could never afford to eat the way I was reading about. You know those moments when you read too much and over-think everything? It was something like that. As I pondered the idea of going completely grain free and read everything I could find via google search I came across this. Reading through that list was like looking around at my family. The common symptoms of mild grain intolerance seemed to be right here in my house. 

So what to do now?

Having read and reread this book, I was familiar with the practices of traditional cooking, and we already eat a whole foods based diet. What I needed was a way to easily incorporate traditional cooking into our meals. That's when I came across these menu plans. Each week a lovely menu of nourishing foods arrives in my inbox. All the meals have substitutions to accommodate grain free, gluten free, dairy free and GAPS diets. The menu focuses on seasonal food, quality proteins, good fats, and soaked, sprouted, or soured grains. All written by a mama feeding her own family and living on a budget. I am completely smitten with my subscription. Truly.

 

  

In the last month we've been eating more fermented foods, making our own sauerkraut, sourdough, rich bone stocks, and culturing our yogurt for a full 24 hours. Last night I served my family the most delicious chicken cacciatore we have ever eaten and we're making pumpkin curry soup tonight for the third time this month! We've slowly added wheat back in smaller amounts and almost always soaked or soured. I can honestly say that we all feel better. Our minds are clearer, our bodies feel good and everyone is getting a good night's sleep.

We are by no means purists. Our goal is to follow a traditional diet about 80 percent of the time. For me this gives us some freedom and flexibility to be actively involved in our community food culture. For example, my kids ate several pieces of Halloween candy before they decided to give the rest to the sugar sprite, we all ate (burritos) out for dinner when we made the long road trip to pick up the big boy from school and we've no plan of giving up occasional treats like chocolate chip cookies and zucchini cake. For the most part though, these little changes and tweaks are getting easier and well worth the extra effort and planning.

After a month and a half of getting these menus I emailed a heartfelt thank you to Jenny of Nourished Kitchen and told her I planned to share the wealth of information she has to offer here with you. My hope is that any of you struggling with similar issues might also find healing and balance through food.

 

 

I really believe in what Jenny is doing over at Nourished Kitchen and have decided to add a list of links to her classes and menu plans on my sidebar for you to explore if you so choose. If you're new to traditional foods and want to learn the basics the How to Cook Real Food series would be a good place to start, or if you're interested in the health benefits of fermented foods and want to expand your knowledge, Get Cultured looks very good. With the holidays coming up I am looking forward to exploring the Healthy Holidays series next and of course if you need nourishing inspiration in planning your meals the Menu Plans are truly worth every penny. The classes are full of beautiful pictures, videos and delicious recipes! You can visit any of those links to get class schedules and specific details about the offerings of each. She also offers any of the classes a la carte if you just want to take one or two. A well categorized offering of free recipes is available here and I enjoy reading her newsletter as well.

Jenny has generously offered a 25% off coupon to all Gypsy Forest readers with the code GYPSY25. It's good through the end of November and can be used on any of her classes or menu plans. (Thank you Jenny!)

Wishing you all Nourishment and Good Health

 

Good to the last drop

The weather cooled for just about a week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We turned off the ac, opened up the windows and the whole house drank in the glorious fresh air. We ate, played and sipped our wine out of doors and remembered what it was like to love the sun. The hot is slowly creeping back in and reaching 90 during the day but that little taste of southern fall and winter weather to come left a smile in my heart.

September is always a  l-o-n-g  month to get through.... still so hot and my northern heart gets all confused at the lack of red leaves and crisp air. A mantra rolls around in my head "almost....almost...." and I feel like the little engine that could just nearing the top of the hill.... I think I can.

Kayaking. Picnics. Knitting. Oh, have I ever missed you. Soon dear friends, soon!

Until then, I will be grateful for the little taste of goodness to come and keep on keeping on. That week of lovely weather was savored like a perfect soup, good to the very last drop.

 

{Coconut Lentil Soup with curry brown butter & Gluten Free Olive Bread}