A Long Time In Coming... Part 1

In 1989, Da and I bought a circa 1944, 750 sq. ft. cottage with the intention of living in the existing structure while we added on three bedrooms and a second bath. We did this rather than just buy land and build a new house, since in the county where we live, you can be your own general contractor and can be certified to do your own plumbing and electrical work if you are adding on to an existing structure.This would save us thousands and thousands of dollars, since we could do all of the work ourselves. So we bought the little cottage and started working on it.

As I have mentioned before, in the fall of 1989, Hurricane Hugo came for a visit and changed the face of our lives for years to come. The new construction was dried in, we had sheathing on the outer walls and plywood and tar paper on the roof. In normal inclement weather that would have been enough to keep the inside dry, but since we had 110 mph winds for hours, plus several tornadoes spawned by the hurricane tore across our property, so the roof and siding were easily compromised. The winds skinned off the sheathing, tar paper and much of the roof to the old and new structure and deposited it in the woods behind our house. This left the whole of the new construction and much of the vintage 1944 structure exposed to the deluge of rain that lasted for days after the winds had blown on up the east coast. Needless to say it was a disheartening mess. But we were young and really didn't have any idea of the scope of our dilemma. It is probably a good thing, since we might have gotten discouraged if we had been able to see how profoundly it would affect the next several years of our lives. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

 Ceiling down and water standing in the floor days after the hurricane. Circa 1989

The new construction was under water as well. Circa 1989

Things went from bad to worse for awhile. We had a lot of damage to the new structure, floor decking that warped, building materials and appliances that were stored in part of the new structure were a total loss... In the existing structure, all the sheet rock was soaked and began to slump off the walls. I spent the month after the hurricane shoveling ruined sheet rock and flooring out the windows into a duce and 1/2  dumper that was parked next to the house. My husband and brother-in-law, (God bless he and my sister-in-law for all their help, we couldn't have managed without them), started to get the structure under cover again as quickly as possible. Since there was a shortage of building materials due to all the damage done to the Charlotte area by the hurricane,  it was difficult to get supplies into the area and what did make it in was rationed. There was a limit to how many sheets of plywood you could buy, as well as other building materials, and there wasn't a tarp to be found for 100 miles in any direction! You had to be on the waiting list for plywood and many other building supplies, when you received your limit of materials, your name went to the bottom of the list and you began waiting again. Needless to say, getting the house closed in again was a slow process.

Shoveling wet sheet rock and debris from the collapse of ceilings and walls after days of rain on the exposed interior. It was a disheartening task but had to be done before work could begin inside.

N. my oldest son helping with the reconstruction.

E.M. helped too...

Winter was approaching and we still didn't have enough materials, (or money for that matter...), to get the house closed in. When the cold winds and rain started in December, the gables were still open and the wind howled through the house undeterred. We were living in the one room in the house that was mostly intact. We had a wool army blanket over the door to try to keep some of the cold out, and we had an old Benjamin Franklin stove in that room to heat and cook by. We punched a hole through the brick facing on the old coal burning fireplace and put in a terra cotta thimble to use as a vent access for the metal stove pipe. The chimney had been damaged in the hurricane so the draw wasn't good and it smoked like crazy, but at least it was drafty enough in the rest of the house for us not to die of smoke inhalation. As time passed and we began to get the basics under control, we got the chimney repaired and the stove smoked less. We used the old wood stove throughout the whole reconstruction process. Once we got power back on 6 months after the hurricane, we didn't have to rely on it for cooking anymore, but still used it for heat.


A couple of years later,  we finally got enough of the construction done to allow us to wrap the "to date" reconstruction debt into a new mortgage. With finished sheet rock in all the rooms and paint on some of the walls, we had a sense of relief and accomplishment for persevering through much hardship and endless late nights working on the house.

The master bedroom suite was part of the addition to the original 1944 structure. We designed it to have a vaulted ceiling and gable windows. There were two other bedrooms and another bath in the addition.

Since we had to completely gut and redo the 1944 part of the house we took the opportunity to make some modifications. We reconfigured  a couple of small rooms to be a big open kitchen/dining/family area that echoed the look and feel of the bedroom addition. We vaulted the ceiling and put in skylights to add extra light and make the space feel bigger. In a way, the hurricane allowed us to have a much nicer design to the total house than we would have had otherwise.

E.M. was 6 months old and N. was 7 yrs. when Hugo hit in September of 1989. This photo was taken in April of 1991, E.M. was 3 yrs. and N. had just turned 10. They spent a lot of their early childhood living in a construction zone.

To celebrate our successes, my husband and I built a fire in the stove and settled back with a glass of wine to toast the closing of our refinance. We were feeling very merry, laughing and telling stories about the all that we had been through, when we heard a strange whooshing sound. Then we saw flames shooting out of the thimble around the stove pipe. To our dismay we realized that the chimney was on fire. I ran and snatched the kids from their dreams and tossed them over the fence to a neighbor, called 911 and then assisted my husband in carrying as many of our important belongings out of the house as we could safely grab, while we waited for the fire department to arrive.

The Franklin stove that we heated with and I cooked on for 6 months before we had electricity. By the time of this photo we were almost ready for paint, but it would be another 2 years before we had flooring. This photo was taken just before the fire.

We live in an unincorporated area, where there is a volunteer fire department. This was pre- GPS and it was dark, so the fire department had difficulty finding us. We could hear them driving around, sirens blasting, but they drove past us twice. After they passed our house the second time, I stood in the road and waved my arms as they whizzed by yet a third time. Meanwhile, our newly finished sheet rock was being covered in soot, and the flames were shooting up 15 feet or more above the top of the chimney, flickering and flashing wildly against the blue-black sky. When the fire truck drove by us the third time, my husband gave up hope of help and took matters into his own hands. He ran and got the extension ladder, grabbed a garden hose and shambled up the ladder in the dark to hose down the roof to keep it from catching fire, then he sprayed water down the chimney and eventually got the fire out. The fire department arrived as my husband was climbing down the ladder. The only thing they had left to do was set up some big fans to evacuate the smoke from the house.

Fortunately, there was no actual fire damage to the house, only the chimney was damaged. The soot on the walls was able to be cleaned off for the most part and with a couple of days of airing the house smelled normal again. We were very grateful that we didn't lose our house to a chimney fire after all the work we had done! But we would never be able to use our Franklin stove again. We had been told by the fire department, that spraying water on the fire in the chimney could have caused cracks to form that would make the chimney unsafe. So we sold our faithful old Ben Franklin stove, blocked up the thimble and for more than 20 years the fireplace brick was nothing more than a backdrop for plants, our floor standing brass candle sticks and some of the pottery we have collected from our travels. But all those years I dreamed about repairing the chimney, refacing the damaged brick facing and having a vintage wood stove in our sitting room again. I felt like our cottage with all of its quirky charm was missing something without the wood stove. But with all of the things still left to be done on the house, it was not a priority to spend money on a new chimney, so my dreams of having a functioning wood stove again were just that... dreams... That is until a year or so ago, when a gift from a friend opened up a new chapter in the story of Heart's Ease Cottage, and a renewed hope for me to one day have a functioning wood stove to warm the cottage and make it feel complete.

Please visit again and hear the rest of the story... Part 2 will be coming along shortly!

Quick Tasty Pickled Things

Yesterday was Sunday and a designated "kitchen day". I recently made a visit to may favorite oriental market and stocked up on a variety of fresh mushrooms, daikon radishes, and a sundry of the other beautiful produce they offer. I left with six bags of produce stuffed to the gills and a couple of bags of other things like hoisin sauce, green and jasmine tea, nori, hijiki and black tree fungus, all for $55! I definitely get the best bang for my food bucks when I can shop at this market.

With my stash of daikon and mushrooms taking up space in my cramped fridge, a kitchen day was in order. Since it was the weekend, my husband was able to help me out in the kitchen. We lit a fire in our "new to us" 1890's wood stove, put Baroque and before music on Pandora and spent a happy day preparing various goodies to have on hand in the fridge for this week. One of the things that we prepared was several variations on the theme of pickled daikon radishes. We also made a huge pot of mushroom stock, (which made the house smell wonderful), roasted oriental eggplant for making Baba Ghanouj, and filled the dehydrator with onion slices to dry, for the long term storage pantry.

My husband peeled the daikon radishes with a vegetable peeler, cut off the top and bottom, and then made three lengthwise cuts from end to end. He then cut the daikon to a length to fit just below the neck of a wide-mouth canning jar, the shorter piece will be turned into cubes and treated to a different brine than the long pieces. The long thin slices were then be cut into julienne strips. I have a Mandoline slicer, which I use a lot, especially for preparing vegetables for the dehydrator, but for the daikon, I like the hand cut julienne strips better. Once the strips were finished, and arranged in the jars, a brine was made to cover the radish strips. The brine consisted of: 1 cup of water, three to four cloves of smashed and slivered garlic, 1/2-3/4 tsp. sea salt,  1/2-3/4 cup agave, or 1 cup organic sugar, (make a simple syrup if using sugar), plus one cup of white vinegar, Braggs Apple Cider vinegar or whatever other vinegar you choose. Pour mixture over the daikon strips in the jar. I use a plastic wide mouth jar lid instead of the twp piece metal lid, since the daikon will gas a little during the pickling process and the plastic cap isn't as tight a fit as the canning lids, so the gasses can sneak out. If you don't have the plastic lids that is fine, just don't screw the two piece lid down tight so the gasses can escape. The jars will sit in the fridge for at least 3 days and then I can use them for adding to salads, for use in vegan sushi or for my favorite use, to be the sparkle in the Vietnamese-style spring rolls that I make to go along with vegan Pho... yum!

The cubed daikon will be treated in two different ways. I will put some of the cubes and in a jar with finely chopped red bell peppers add 6 garlic cubes smashed and slivered, then covered with seasoned rice wine vinegar, (I usually use Maruchan), which is more mellow than the white vinegar and allows the garlic flavor to take center stage. The rest of the daikon were layered in a jar with blanched cauliflower, blanched baby carrots, onion slices and Thai bird chiles, (I grow my own, but they can be found in most oriental markets during their season, or  you can use dried cayenne peppers soaked and split, or red pepper flakes). The brine was the same as for the daikon strips, except that I cut the sugar quantity in half. These also should be left in the fridge for at least three days before use, more if you want the Thai chiles to have time to impart well developed bite to the veggies. We add the cubes to salads, or eat them as a side dish or use as a condiment for flavoring steamed rice.

The veggies are packed tight in the jars. I layer them because I think it is pretty, but you could just mix them all together and then pack into jars. When I do this I also add halved Brussel sprouts which are quite tasty pickled!

When pouring in the cooled brine, be sure to gently tap the jar to dislodge air bubbles that get trapped between the veggies. If they are stubborn and won't come loose, I use a bamboo skewer to slide down between the veggies and knock the bubbles loose.

Left to right, front to back: pickled mixed veggies with bird chiles, daikon cubes in rice wine vinegar, and in the back, sweet and sour pickled daikon strips.

The pickled veggies are good to dress up every day food, or add a little sparkle to left overs. But the best reason for having these crunchy, tasty and easy to make pickled goodies in the fridge, is that it makes it possible to make some of our favorites like vegan sushi or Vietnamese spring rolls in short order. I cook up large batches of sushi rice, season it and freeze it in serving sized packages, (quart sized freezer bags). The rice can be thawed in a few minutes by immersing the tightly sealed, bag in hot water. While the rice is thawing I prepare the vegetables by cutting thin strips of cukes, thinly julienned carrots, mung bean sprouts, and avacado strips, or really whatever is in the fridge... red bell peppers, jicima, thin strips of celery, steamed asparagus... and of course I drain some of the daikon pickles and have everything ready and waiting to roll up in nori sheets by the time the rice is thawed. I will do a blog post on making sushi sometime soon. They are fun and easy, and cost pennies to make. I hope you will give the daikon pickles a try, and if you do, please stop by and let me know what you think and how you used them... I would love to hear what you came up with!

Blog Hops this post is linked to:
Clever Chicks Blog Hop #25 
Monday's Homestead Barn Hop #102
Busy Bee's 8th Thursday Blog Hop
The Country Home Blog Hop #58 
Farm Girl Friday #100
Farm Girl Blog Fest #24

Daring to Dream

 I was reading blog entries on my blog feed recently, when I ran across  this blog post by Rachael at  thealisokitchen.com. It made me think back to the days when I was just starting out on my adult life and dreaming about what I wanted my future to hold. I was working as a hairdresser in Blacksburg, Virginia where my family landed after my dad retired from the military. I was 20, living on my own, working hard and dreaming of the day when I could have my own little piece of the Appalachian Mountains, where I could live a simple life, bake bread, raise animals and grow my own food. At that moment in my life I was very far from attaining my dreams, since I lived alone in a tiny little trailer in a college town trailer park, worked 12 hours a day standing on a cement floor, cutting hair, and had little practical experience in doing any of the things I was dreaming my future would hold... but living with your dreams for awhile before you try to make them come true is not a bad thing.. time and experience will help to clarify what you really want. There were many lessons I needed learn while I was waiting to find the piece of land and make my dreams come true.

While I was working, saving and dreaming, something happened to change the course of my life... I found my soul mate. My dreams needed to be blended in with his dreams, to become "our" dreams... We met in the late 70's during a terrible recession, and jobs were not easy come by, so we both joined the military. Since traveling the world was something we both had on our Bucket List, this was a way for us to get started. We lived in the Philippines for 3 years and it was during this time that we would learn many of the life lessons that we would need for our big dream to come true. Living in a third world country taught us much about living a simple life. It changed us, and matured our dreams, it also gave us time to equip ourselves with the skills necessary to make our dream of self sufficiency a reality. We studied and practiced on a small scale, growing plants in pots on our stoop, or in an on base community garden plot, reading everything that the base library had on organic gardening, and animal husbandry. I improved my baking skills, and learned to cook meals over a 8" charcoal burner. I watched our Philipino friends as they lived out their simple, self sufficient lives and tried to take back with me the valuable lessons I learned from them.

Bath Time! Merlyn my close friend and I bathing my son. Philippines Circa 1982.

    Our three years in the Philippines were well spent and upon our return to the states we tried to go back to the mountains of Virginia to apply what we had learned, but that wasn't to be... there was no work to be had in the area where we wanted to live, so we had to look elsewhere. My husband was offered a job in Charlotte, NC and we bought a little house in a residential area in the city. One of the first things we did when we had settled into the house, was to start veggies from seed in a sunny window and dig up the front flower bed and plant zucchini, tomatoes, herbs and flowers.

Spring garden planted in the front flower bed. Circa 1984

Zucchini and pink petunias, front flower bed. Petunias are supposed to deter squash bugs... it seemed to work, we had no bug problems at all. Circa 1984

 Over the course of the 5 years we lived in that house, we terraced our steep back yard into 3 levels, formed up raised vegetable beds, built a 3 bin composting system and rabbit cages, laid brick paths and created a permanent herb garden on one side of the house.

Growing our food in a terraced garden on our steeply sloped back yard. The compost bins and rabbit cages are on the flood plane below the garden. Photo circa 1986

My husband laying a brick path through the herb garden with recycled bricks.

  We put our newly learned skills to good use in the yard and the house and the gardens were much improved by our efforts, but it was time to move on. My brother was living in a small community 35 miles south of Charlotte. So we found a little fixer-upper cottage on an acre of land and moved to Waxhaw to be closer to my brother, who was terminally ill. By then, we had two boys, one who was 7 and an infant of 4 months. We were planning on adding on to the house, living in the old part while building the new addition. All was going as planned and the addition was "dried in", (which means it was under a roof and protected from the elements), or so we thought... Then 18 days later Hurricane Hugo blew in and destroyed all of our hard work. We spent the next several years trying to get back on our feet.Our recovery took time, but we kept plugging away. Our boys grew and the house was eventually finished.

   During all that time we worked very hard to establish the "bones" of our gardens and enrich and amend the soil. We sowed and harvested, built outbuildings and barns to house our goats, chickens and rabbits, and planted fruit trees, berry bushes and strawberries. Somewhere along the way we realized that we were not going to have a homestead in the mountains, instead we already had a homestead in the Piedmont!  Our dream of having a homestead and living a "self-sufficient" lifestyle had come true, but it happened over time and progressed naturally, developing and changing with the needs and interests of our family.

When the kids were too old for their playport, we turned it into a goat barn. Circa 2006

Mouse and Sweet two of our young dairy herd. Circa 2006

My youngest working on the second barn. Circa 2007

E.M. milking "Jelly" on a stanchion that he designed and built himself. Circa 2007

Sisters Izzy and Sunny having breakfast. Circa 2007

E.M. with the girls... he was happiest when he was outside working in the gardens or hanging with his animals. Circa 2006

Comice pears. The pear trees and our apple trees are trained as espaliered trees to most efficiently use our limited space.

This plum tree was one of two standard sized "sentinels" that stood at the opening to our vegetable garden. Both had to be cut down due to a freak accident while we were living in Costa Rica... I still grieve their passing.

   It is important to dare to dream, to follow your heart and live life with direction and purpose, but it is also important to realize that life is an organic process and there is only so much we can do to influence the outcome. We can work hard to shape our dreams into reality, but life will add its own twists and turns and in the end you may not end up where you expected... Our journey has been full of twists and turns and we have enough stories to fill several volumes. I may not have ended up where I hoped to, but I am delighted at the way things turned out!

This young pullet was one of 6o birds we kept in the Taj Mahal ( a three run multi-roomed hen house that my youngest son and husband built. It had three roomy hen rooms, three nice long runs and a "hospital" for birds that might need extra attention, there was also a foyer with a fridge for the eggs and equipment storage Sorry..we never took any good photos of the Taj)

Our youngest son had an egg selling business that he ran as part of his home schooling. He kept the books, managed the flocks, collected and prepared his eggs for sale and sold all the eggs the hens could lay. He did this from the time he was 6 until after he was out of high school. He had a waiting list of people who wanted to buy his eggs... so as a household, we ate the culls, those that were too small or too large, misshaped etc. since the rest of the eggs were claimed by his faithful customers.

We ground our own wheat and made six loaves at a time to feed the household. I still grind my wheat, but now that the boys aren't at home anymore I don't have to bake 6 loaves at a time!

Snap Dragons in the rose bed bloom cheerfully all summer long

    So, I've talked about my dreams... what about yours? Leave an comment. I would love to hear about what you are doing to make your dreams come true! Thanks for dropping by!

Blog Hops that this post is linked to:
Clever Chicks Blog Hop#24
Frugally Sustainable Sustainable Ways Blog Hop #66
Monday's Homestead Barn Hop #101 
Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop #99

Secret to a Great Smoothie

I was never very fond of smoothies, at least not the ones that were commercially available at smoothie bars or in restaurants. I tried my hand at them at home, but I wasn't crazy about them either. They just tasted like fruit, ice and water, not very appealing really... Then one day, I found the secret ingredient that changed my opinion of smoothies forever...bananas. Not just any ol' run of the counter top, room temperature banana, but a frozen banana that will turn mere fruit into creamy, frosty, deliciousness...

So, I was hooked on smoothies. I began to fill my freezer with bananas to make them with. But the bananas didn't keep very well in the freezer. After a week or so, they would start to turn brown and take on a bitter aftertaste. I was only able to freeze about a weeks worth of bananas at a time. But my busy life often distracted me from the banana freezing schedule and I would open the freezer with anticipation, only to be disappointed when I discovered we were out of frozen bananas... sigh...

So I figured out by trial and error the best way to get quantities of bananas in the freezer with very little fuss and virtually no waste from bananas that went brown and bitter. I purchase organic bananas in quantity, 6 or more large bunches at a time and let them ripen out on the counter. For optimal sweetness, you want your bananas to ripen thoroughly. I let mine get very speckled, just one step shy of a banana bread banana, but not to the point of being squishy. If they are too soft they will be difficult to get into the bags to freeze.
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** This is an important part of the process...always peel your bananas before you freeze them!** A friend of mine took my suggestion and froze some bananas for smoothies for the kids one summer. A few days later I got a call from her asking me what the trick was for getting the peels off the frozen bananas so she could use them... I said, peeling them before they went in the freezer was the trick... she didn't think that was funny.   Once the bananas are ripe, set aside a few minutes to process them and get them into the freezer all at once. I like to have all the items necessary for the process close at hand, so that the peeled bananas are not exposed to the air for very long. I have found that using a Seal-a-Meal vacuum sealer is the optimal way to package bananas for the freezer. The thick plastic Seal-a-Meal bags help protect the fruit and the vacuum sealing eliminates browning due to oxidization. Depending on the size of the banana I break them into 2 or 3 pieces, (usually 2, that way I know that 2 pieces equals 1 banana when it is smoothie making time). I put 6-8 bananas in a bag, depending on the size of the bananas and pack them in tightly.

I date the bags so that I know which bananas to use first, since when I am about half way through my supply of bananas, I get more and start the ripening process,so there could be bananas from different dates in the freezer at one time. I make the bag large enough to accommodate 6-8 bananas tightly packed , leaving 2-3 inches of extra bag to be used when sealing the bag. ** I always reuse my Seal-a-Meal bags, since they are kind of expensive. I use them 2 or three times for bananas, washing and drying them carefully each time I empty a bag. The bag will hold less bananas per use, since you have to cut the bag open and then leave a few inches for sealing the next time it is used. When after they are too small for storing bananas, I use them for other things like leftovers, etc.**   
The open edge of the bag goes into the channel of the Seal-a-Meal. The bag needs to be smooth so that there are no wrinkles that could cause it not to seal properly.

 Lock down the handle on the right side and press the seal button. The vacuum will evacuate the air. Once all the air is removed from the bag and it is drawn up tight against the bananas, the heat strip will come on and heat seal the bag. At this point there should be no room between bananas and the whole bag should feel solid, with no wiggle room. When the bag is opened for use, I cut as close as possible to the strip where it was heat sealed, so the bag can be used again. Once opened I put the Seal-a-Meal bag inside a gallon sized freezer Ziploc-style bag, with the top folded over and all the air pressed out of the bags to prevent undue exposure to the air.

Place the bananas in the freezer, being sure to put the most recent bags on the bottom. So that the oldest bananas get used first.

If you don't have a Seal-a-Meal, you can store bananas in freezer bags.I use quart sized bags, put the bananas in tightly, seal all but an inch of the zip seal and then press out as much air as possible, and then quickly press the last inch of zip seal closed with a finger while keeping the air out with my other hand.. Then I put two of the quart sized bags in a recycled Gallon Ziploc-style bag, to give them a second layer of protection.

I know that sounds like a lot of trouble, but it really takes far less time to do than it does to talk about it! The really nice thing is that when properly sealed, the bananas will last for months in the freezer and be just as sweet and nice as the day they were put in the freezer!

Now on to the good part... here are a few of my recipes for some simple, yet delicious smoothies!

This recipe is a summertime favorite. I freeze fruits that come out of our garden all summer so that I can pick and choose which fruits to go in it. This is great for making popsicles as well.

                       Whatever You've Got Fruit Smoothie

Makes a blender full which will serve 3-4 or will serve two and make a couple of trays of popsicles
2 bananas
1 handful frozen strawberries2 handfuls frozen mangoes or peaches
1 handful frozen or fresh blueberries, blackberries or cherries
enough fruit juice to make smoothie the desired consisitency 1 1/2- 2 cups. I use unsweetened pineapple juice or 100% fruit juice,(cranberry, cherry berry, pomegranate).

In blender put bananas, and mangoes and enough juice to blend, (start with 1/2 cup), once that is pretty well blended, add the rest of the fruit. Pour the juice through the hole in the lid and pulse to get the blender to chew through the fruit chunks. Continue to add juice until the blender has blended the berries into the bananas and mango and the blender is churning the mixture without any trouble. How much liquid you add is up to you, make it as thick or as thin as you desire. This is a great kid pleaser. The nice thing is that it is a great way to get more fruit into their diet with no complaint.


                       Almond Milk Shake

This serves one, but can be doubled and will still easily fit in the blender
1 large frozen banana or 1 1/2 bananas if small
1 large Medjool date, pitted and soaked in small amount of almond milk, (just enough to cover it)
1/2-3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk.
Optional:  dash of cinnamon.

Place the bananas, almond milk soaked date(plus soaking liquid), and 1/2 cup of almond milk in the blender. Blend until all the pieces of banana and date are blended into a thick shake, at this point add optional ingredients if desired. Add more almond milk if you desire a smoothie that isn't quite so thick.
It thick and sweet and in my opinion tastes better than a milk shake. It is virtually guilt free, since it is made with fruit and unsweetened almond milk, so there is no dairy, or sweetener in it.

The next smoothie is my mid afternoon pick-me up. It has raw cacao which helps with leveling of blood sugar and is a good source of magnesium, as well as PEA the  "feel good" neurotransmitter, Tryptophan and Serotonin. Raw cacao is beneficial to the cardiovascular system, antioxidants in the raw cacao have been clinically proven to literally dissolve plaque built up in the arteries which helps in reversing heart disease and causes naturally lower blood pressure.  I also add Maca, the Peruvian "superfood", which increases energy, endurance and stamina and has 27 trace minerals including Selenium. It is instrumental in helping the body to regulate hormonal processes. It can be used to treat hormonal dysfunctions caused by menopause in women and andropause in men. It really helps to reduce my hot flashes, but I am careful to have this mid-afternoon, since it has a stimulating effect and can interfere with sleep if consumed too late. All that said, it is yummy and chocolaty, with a slightly nutty flavor. And like the other almond shake is raw, vegan, and pretty much guilt free.

                         Healthy, Raw, Chocolate Almond Shake

Blender will accommodate ingredients to serve two so this can easily be doubled
1-1 1/2 bananas
3/4 to 1 cup almond milk ( more or less to obtain desired thickness)
1 rounded tsp. organic raw cacao powder
1/2 tsp. organic Maca
Optional: splash of Monin Hazelnut  flavoring syrup
Place 3/4 cup almond milk in blender, add other all ingredients and blend until smooth. Add  more almond milk to obtain desired thickness.


Blog Hops This post is linked to:
http://www.growingpatch.com/blog-hop/
Homestead Barn Hop #100 
HomeAcre Hop#8 
Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop#97
Farmgirl BlogFest #22
Clever Chicks Blog Hop #23
Sustainable Suburbia
Country Homemaker Blog Hop #56
Hearthfelt Hopes Blog Hop#1
Frugally Sustainable Blog Hop#66 

Making "Raw" Sauerkraut

My family is of European blood, (my maiden name was Wilson...), so sauerkraut was a staple in the larder and on the table when I was growing up. My grandmother grew cabbage, huge headed Dutch Flat cabbages, to make sauerkraut in the fall. It was a messy, somewhat stinky process, but I loved being part of the process and seeing the jars of kraut lined up on the shelves, alongside the green beans, pickled beets and chow chow. My grandmother didn't like caraway so we didn't have that in the kraut, and it had a mighty strong, tart flavor, to the uninitiated, but it was one of my childhood comfort foods, alongside Spaatzle and pickled beets.

Today, I do hot water bath can some sauerkraut, for my emergency pantry, but I have found that there is a more nutritious, flavorful variety of kraut that can be made for every day consumption. Raw sauerkraut is good for the "gut", it provides a balanced amount of flora to the intestines. It is a great source of pro-biotic bacteria, but unlike yogurt is not a dairy product, and doesn't have to be refrigerated. Being a vegan, I don't eat dairy, so I need another source of pro-biotic bacteria, sauerkraut fits the bill nicely.

                                           Making Raw Sauerkraut 

Equipment needed:

Food processor
1/2 gallon mason jar
Sharp knife
Measuring spoons
Wooden mallot
4 oz. mason jelly jar



Ingredients
4+ pounds cabbage, shredded
2 carrots, peeled and grated
2 apples, peeled and grated
4 tsp unrefined salt
1 tsp caraway seeds (optional)

Directions
Save 2 large cabbage leaves from head.
1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl except for the 2 cabbage leaves.
2. Pound or massage for 15 minutes or until there is plenty of juice.
3. Pack a 64 oz mason jar 3/4 full.
4. Cover with cabbage leaves and weigh down.
5. Let sit at room temperature for 5 to 10 days.
If vegetables get slimy or turn brown, throw them out. If any white yeast develops on top, scrape
it off; it is not harmful, but tastes unpleasant.

Combine the shredded cabbage, apple, carrot, salt and caraway seed in a large bowl.

With a large, long handled, wooden mallot, (I got mine at a Latin grocery store, it is a chocloate stirrer), or a heavy potato masher, pound the ingredients to break the cabbage down and release the juices. You should pound the cabbage mixture vigorously, scraping and moving the cabbage around to make sure that you get to all the cabbage equally. Close to the end of the process take both hands and squeeze the cabbage mixture to expel juices that may be left in the cabbage.

My husband volunteered to do the mashing for me

You will know when you are done mashing when you place the palm of your hand down firmly on the cabbage mixture and the liquid flows over the top of your hand.

Once the cabbage is ready, take cabbage mixture by the handful and put it in the 1/2 gallon jar. Pack it in tightly with your fist. Continue to do this until the jar is 3/4 full of packed cabbage mix.

When Jar is 3/4 full pour in some of the juice from the bowl to stand 1 inch above the packed cabbage.

 At this point it is time to take the reserved outer leaves of the cabbage and position them on top of the packed cabbage in the jar. Press them down firmly to force out any air that may be trapped between the leaves and the packed cabbage and to cause the juices to flow over the top of the cabbage leaves until they are covered.

Take small 4 oz. mason jar and place it in the mouth of the 1/2 gallon jar. If you don't have a 4 oz. jelly jar then another jar will do, but you must be very careful to choose a jar that will fit loosely into the 1/2 gallon jar, leaving room on the sides so that the smaller jar does not become stuck in the neck of the 1/2 gallon jar. It also must not stick up above the top of the jar or this lid might not fit on when you go to screw it on. If you can't find a jar that will fit, a sealed ziploc sandwich bag full of small glass marbles will do the trick as well. Press down to force liquid up the sides of the smaller jar, but not over the top.

Place lids on the jar and tighten. Put the jar a plastic container, (I used a plastic shoe box sized storage container, but a recycled salad container or even a mixing bowl will serve),  to keep the juice from getting on the counter should it bubble out during the fermentation process.

This photo shows two jars of Kraut. The recipe only makes one jar of Kraut, but I doubled the recipe for my own use so this photo shows two jars.

Leave the sauerkraut to ferment undisturbed for 5 -10 days. I usually go the full 10 days to allow ample time for the cabbage to completely ferment and the flavor to develop.

I refrigerate after the fermentation process, just to be sure the kraut doesn't go bad, but if the kraut is kept covered with juice and something  heavy is sitting on it to keep kraut submerged, then it could be left out, unrefrigerated. As was done in days gone by. Let your own sensibilities help you to choose whether or not you refrigerate the sauerkraut when it is done. Spoilage would be indicated by browning, foaming and a foul smell.

Most of the time I just eat the sauerkraut as a side dish to my meals, but it is great to top a tossed vegetable salad, or on a Reuben sandwich. This is a definite keeper for anyone on a vegan or raw diet, since it is both a probiotic and a raw food.  If you try this recipe, stop back by and comment and tell me what you think of it and what recipes you used it in. I would be delighted to hear from you!

Blog Hops This is Linked to:
Clever Chicks Blog Hop#22
Homestead Barn Hop #99
HomeAcre Hop#7 
Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop #97 
Farmgirl Blog Fest #21
Sustainable Suburbia.net Sustainable-Living-Blogs
Growingpatch.com/blog-hop/ 
The Country Homemaker Hop #55
The Busy Bee's 5th Thursday Blog Hop
Clever Chick Blog Hop # 23
Homestead Barn Hop #100 
Hearthfelt Hopes #1

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