Category Archives: recipe

recipe sick

no chicken noodle soup- vegan recipe

:: When you are sick in this household you get the “get well soon!” mug full of hot lemon water and our favorite comfort food soup- “no chicken noodle,” since we don’t eat chicken around here. I found the mug thrifting with my sister and loved the bright cheery look to it, perfect to uplift a sick little girl.

  Ingredients:
a block of extra firm tofu
1 cup celery
1 cup carrots
1 medium onion finely chopped
5 cloves garlic finely chopped
2 cups vegetable broth
2 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons tamari sauce
1 1/2 tablespoon trader joe’s “21 seasoning salute” spice blend
1 1/2 cup cannellini beans
wide rice noodles

:: Bake the tofu while preparing the rest of the soup. I rinse the block, press out the liquid with towels, cut into small pieces, marinate in tamari sauce, then spread the tofu on a baking sheet. Cook at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, flip the pieces then cook for another 20-30 minutes. Set baked tofu aside to add to soup at the end of the simmering process.

:: In your soup pan sweat the onions and garlic in a little bit of the vegetable broth to avoid sticking, add the carrots and celery, sauté for about 5 minutes. Add the broth and water, bring to an almost boil, then turn the heat down to a simmer. Simmer for about half an hour/45 minutes until the celery and carrots are tender. Add the tamari sauce, spice blend, beans, and tofu and let simmer for about 5 minutes. Cook the noodles according to package instructions in a separate pot. We add the noodles separately to our bowls, then add the soup over the noodles, the noodles tend to get squishy if they cook in the soup pot with the soup.

:: This soup always hits the spot when we are under the weather!
“That’s all,”
Lisa

recipe snow soy

spicy hot chocolate

This chili powder and cinnamon hot chocolate is sure to warm you up !!!! So if you are experiencing cold, snow, and stereotypical winter weather give this a try.

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons cocoa powder or 3 oz bittersweet chocolate  + 1-2 tablespoons sugar (to taste)
           - OR- 3 tablespoons instant hot chocolate mix
1 tablespoon chocolate syrup
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 pinch chili powder
1/4 cup soy milk or milk
3/4 boiling water or hot milk

How to:

Put cocoa, syrup, cinnamon, chili, and 1/4 cup milk into large mug. Add boiling water or hot milk. Stir.

*Instead of the 1/4 cup milk or water add coffee.

“That’s all,”
  Lisa

homemade gifts little ladies recipe

marsupials, hummus, cheese crackers, and friends

Not only was the weather beautiful today, but we had a lovely day with friends (and night because one is staying over). Lots of crafting, cooking, and playing!

Crafting- this marsupial monster mama had a baby! The baby loves to be carried in her mama’s pocket and go everywhere with her.
* Marsupial monster was made for Araina and will be put into her Spring basket this weekend.

Now for the cooking- I love cooking for my friends when they visit, here’s what I made to share today-

HUMMUS (recipe from here)
-Sooooo tasty and simple to make!

1 can garbanzo beans (chick peas)
juice of 1 lemon
1 garlic clove
1/3 cup chopped parsley
pinch or two of salt
2-4 tbs. good quality extra virgin olive oil

Put all of the ingredients, except the olive oil,  in a food processor. Pulse and slowly add olive oil until you get the consistency you prefer. I only used about 2 tbs. olive oil, I like it a little on the dryer side.

CHEESE CRACKERS (adapted from here)
If you are a fan of baked cheese……RUN to your kitchen right now and bake these! They are so delicious and I can’t stop making them! These are the reason I could never be vegan!

1 1/2c. sharp cheddar cheese- the sharper the better
4 tbs unsalted butter
3/4 cup flour
1/2 t salt
1 tbs half and half
2-4 pinches of cayenne powder, depending on how spicy you want them

In a food processor, add the cheese, flour, and salt. Cut the butter into 4 pieces and add to ingredients. Pulse ingredients until you get coarse crumbs. Add the half and half and process until the dough forms into a ball. This takes about 10 seconds. I didn’t think a ball was even possible with such a little amount of liquid, but trust me it is. Form the dough into a log, wrap in parchment, and chill in the refrigerator for an hour up to a day (or freezer for 20 minutes).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out dough into desired thickness. Cut into squares or use small cutters to form fun shapes. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.   Bake for 10-14 minutes until golden.

And of course you get 4 little girls together (and a cutie patootie 2yo brother) and there’s lots of playing going on! Playing in the ditch water was a highlight of the day; don’t let the short sleeves fool you, the water was COLD and the high today was in the upper 50′s! Maili and Fauna didn’t seem to notice though, they were splashing around and loved getting soaked. See the cute hair clips in Fauna’s hair? The  owl was made by Fauna and Veda (Maili’s sister) and a little purple monster was made by Veda. Fauna wears them proudly!

HA! Araina refused to go into that cold water,  she preferred to teeter on the edge!

Another great day planned for tomorrow…..a St. Patrick’s Day party! Toodles!

health herb herbs homemade gifts recipe seeds

winter sunflower and oats soak/scrub

Heather, from Shivaya Naturals, is doing a wonderful series called “We Deserve This;” reminding mamas to take the time for solitude and nurturing ourselves. I felt the need to contribute a recipe for this purpose and also provide a great recipe for relieving dry itchy skin with ingredients found in the kitchen cupboard- sunflowers, oatmeal, nutmeg, cinnamon, and vitamin E oil. The combination of oatmeal and the oil from ground-up sunflower seeds and vitamin E is a great way to relieve dry skin on these dehydrating winter days; the cinnamon and nutmeg are a little extra punch for circulation and aromatherapy to awaken the senses.

oats, sunflowers and cinnamon

you need:
1/4 cup shelled, raw sunflower seeds
1/4 cup oatmeal
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vitamin E oil

to do:
1. Grind the seeds and the oats in a food processor or coffee grinder. Grind until you have a consistency of whole-wheat flour.
2. Add the spices and vitamin E; mix well.
3. Store in an airtight container until ready to use. This makes about 4 ounces, which is enough for one bath. Pour the mixture into a warm bath. If you don’t want particles to clean up following the bath, you can place this in a muslin/cotton sachet to float in the water.
4. I like to use this as a scrub too when taking showers. Scrub this onto your skin like you would a salt or sugar scrub; then rinse with warm water.

winter sunflower soak

Take time for yourselves mamas and remember to breath.

Recipe altered a bit from Janice Cox’s Natural Beauty from the Garden.

recipe

peanut butter chocolate kiss cookies

I hide my head in shame with this recipe, but I don’t think I’d be a very good blogger if I didn’t share this recipe with those who don’t mind sugar from time to time.  If you crave peanut butter and chocolate, this is the recipe to make!

peanut butter chocolate kiss

What you need:
1/3 c confectioner’s sugar
1/3 c brown sugar
1/3 c white sugar
1/4 c flour
1 c peanut butter
1 egg
18-20 chocolate kisses

How too:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine sugars, flour and peanut butter.
3. Whisk egg in separate bowl, then add to peanut butter and sugar mixture. Stir until everything is wet.
4. Shape into 1 inch balls and place onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes, take out of oven and push a chocolate kiss into the center of each cookie.

* I like them best when they are just cooled down and the chocolate kiss is still soft from the heat of the cookie. WARNING- you can’t eat just one and you will want to bake another batch!

Another little note- I won the Best Uschooling Award and I am so honored because I was up against some great blogger friends with great sites- Stephanie at Ordinary Life Magic  and Sherry at Living and Learning (check out their great sites, if you haven’t already). Thank you all who voted for me and helped me win this honor! Woo hoo, and great blogger friend Jessica at Foursquare Schoolhouse also won an award!