Carrob (or chocolate) Chip Cookies

I made these cookies a few days ago. The word cookie, some may find misleading. They're not a typical desert. They're more of a breakfast bar, or a filling snack. They're lower in fat and sugar than most cookies. They're soft and dense rather than chewy or crispy. Dan and I really enjoy things like this, and I feel good about offering them to the kids when they're hungry between meals.

Here's the recipe:

mix well

1/2 c. oil*

1/2 c. honey

2 eggs

1 t. vanilla

mix in a separate bowl

2 1/3 c. whole wheat flour**

2 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

1 c. chopped nuts

3/4 c. carob chips or chocolate chips

***

Bake @ 350 for about 10 minutes

* When I made these last time, I doubled the batch and used 1/2 c. oil and 1 banana. You can use all or part pumpkin or apple sauce in place of the oil as well. They all work out very well to cut back on fats, and they taste great.

** You can use part white if you want to, or part oat flour, or measure scantly and add wheat germ or flax seed meal, almost anything works.

*** I added raw sunflower seeds to the mix as well.

By the way, if anyone has any good suggestions on how to use up raw sunflower seeds (or roasted, for that matter, since I can do that too) please let me know. I bought 50 lbs. of them about a year ago, shared with friends, and still have a 2/3 full five gallon bucket in the freezer (as well as a bucket of wheat germ). I admit I went a bit over board. Now I put them in and on everything! I'll show you the freezer, since I just cleaned and organized it.

Ummm...yep, "BAD" turkey waiting at the bottom. Since I watched Food, Inc, it may be waiting a L-O-N-G time. And ace hardware buckets...really food safe there...but any way, there ya have it!

Dan's Birthday Dinner

It was Dan's birthday on Friday, but we really didn't have time to celebrate, so we had a birthday dinner yesterday. I had LOTS of fun cooking for him, and made a huge mess of the kitchen! :)HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABE!! WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We had this wonderful salad with fresh lettuce, onion, pea pods and sliced beets from the garden and organic cucumbers and peppers. I made raspberry vinaigrette dressing with fresh picked raspberries. It as a great salad! I think I'm going to go get some more as soon as I'm done here.

I made two apple pies. There's about half a pie left, and the rest I think I'm wearing on my tummy! Unfortunately that's my fat collecting area. It's caused more than a few people to ask if I'm expecting, or when my baby is due. The REAL embarrassing moments are when touchy people actually pat my non-prego belly while asking! Ugh!

We also had potatoes that I grilled in foil with olive oil, basil, sea salt, pepper and Parmesan cheese and MEAT! Oh, I'm wearing the potatoes now too! They are my downfall!! I have an excuse: I'm Norwegian. Aren't potatoes a food group all their own?

Food, Inc.

OK, all I can say is that I watched Food, Inc. a few nights ago. I've had blogger's block ever since. I SO want to say something about the topic of the food we eat, but it just turns into this wild crazy rant, so I can't. But I can show you all what we ate for supper after I watched the film!

I was pretty disgusted with the thought of eating anything, so I thought of the least processed, most home grown and raised things I could, and we ended up with this fried rice.

organic brown rice, organic quinoa, home grown onions and pea pods, home raised eggs

It was delish, and even the kids liked it!

At this point, I'm done, because it's either that or rant insanely...

Thankfully, I believe there's a God in heaven who's eventually going to make sense of all this. Until then, God help us to live in a way that respects His creation and sustains this earth and the life on it.

Genesis 1:26 - 31

26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all[b] the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. 30 Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so. 31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.

I've been contemplating what God's idea was compared to what we've done.

OK, I ranted just a bit...;)

Eating the "Fruit" of our Labor

Gardening is something I didn't think I would like much. I know, that's probably surprising to some of you and sacrilege to others, but it's true all the same. Now, I can't imagine NOT gardening. It just feels "right" somehow. For one thing, it's very healthy. Your body benefits from it in so many ways. Good exercise and fresh air when you work in the garden, and good healthy, safe, nutrient packed food to eat - what could be better? Of course, I'm enjoying such a nice cool, bug free summer that it's easy for me to say I like it now. I guess we'll see what I think when the black flies are out full force some day?


It's especially fun right now, since we're eating some of the good stuff we've been working with all this time. It does require patience, however, and that's one thing I don't posses in great quantities. For instance, after planting seeds that say "10 days to germination" I am out there the next day and about 5 times a day after that willing the little seeds to grow. I'm almost ready to give up on them after 8 days, and actually mildly surprised to see the first tiny leaves peek out on the 10th or 12th day. How funny is that? I will say that because of this impatience, it is the most carefully tended and well watered patch of earth around - at least until the little ones show themselves! :)


Sweet basil ready for the spaghetti sauce for supper last night.

Spinach and beet greens ready for steaming (to be eaten with salt and butter). This will probably be about the last of the spinach, since it's beginning to bolt. Hopefully this fall I'll plant it again.

Bunnies

On our trip to visit my family and help my grandparents put in their garden, we picked up 4 Californian bunnies. We got 2 bucks and 2 does, and plan to begin breeding them in November. They're almost 3 months old now, and cute as can be. They're probably about half the size they'll be at maturity now - about 5 lbs. We've almost finished setting up the rabbit barn the way we want it, and it feels so good to have that accomplished. The kids have named them all; Ruby, Marshmallow, Rudy and Munchie. They're fun pets, but that's not entirely the point. We hope by late winter to be eating some delicious, organic, natural, humanely raised, disease free rabbit! Here are the lucky breeding stock in all their wiggly nosed cuteness!

The Girls

The Boys

Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats

This past weekend, after the conference, we went to Heidi's Mini Acres to see her goats and ask questions. We decided that we will probably be getting 2 bred does early this winter. These are some of the Jr. Does she has now that will be ready for breeding in the fall/winter (photos "stolen" from her site). They would kid sometime next March or April, I believe.

Aren't they sweet? We saw her MANY kids, born this month. They are the cutest little babies! They're usually around 2 lbs. but one sweet little runt was only half a lb!

I'm really looking forward to this experience. I've got a lot to do so we can welcome them home with style this winter. I've got a bunch of clearing to do for the fence, and posts to pound in (hopefully by my self). Dan will help me stretch the fence after I'm ready. I've also got 2 pens inside the barn, a hay rack and a milking stand to help build. And hay, feed and minerals to find and purchase. Also hoof trimmers and dis budding iron, and probably a plethora of other things that I haven't thought of yet. If I keep going, I'll be overwhelmed again. I keep telling myself, "One step at a time!" After 5 years of debating the pros and cons of goat ownership, it's really about time! I can't wait for that wonderful, all natural, organic, fresh milk to be mine! Yogurt, cheese, kefir, here I come!! ...I think.

Right now, our little homestead is rich in one thing...EGGS! They're coming out our ears...or at least our fridge! I could use an idea for something really delicious, rich and absolutely sinnful to make that would use a LOT of these eggs! I think this weekend I'm going to try my hand at my first home made angel food cake. Not exactly rich and sinnful (more like angelic), but something I've been wanting to try for a while. Maybe the rich and delicious suggestions should use the yolks. I'll have a dozen of them to find use for after making the cake, I think.

Grinding Your Own Grain for Fresh Bulgars, Meals and Flours

Hi all! I thought I'd share some pictures of my grain mill attachment at work. I have a professional series Kitchen Aid mixer with the grain mill attachment. It works wonderfully. I grind my own wheat, soy, rice, quinoa, barley, corn, flax, rye...any grain I want to cook or bake with. I grind an ice cream pail size bucket of wheat, rye and corn at a time and keep it in the freezer. This helps ensure that the vitamins and minerals are still in the grain when I use it.


wheat berries in the mill

fresh ground wheat

It takes about 20 minutes to fill the bucket with fresh flour.

We'll be heading out on a vacation soon, and I'm taking a vacation from the computer as well! Please check back the beginning of April. I hope to post some fun family vacation pictures.

We've received Hattie's butterfly house, and in April I hope to order the Painted Lady larva. I'll be sharing some pictures of that project as well. Hopefully you'll be able to participate virtually in this project!

Molly has stated that she intends to raise some praying mantises. I'm still thinking about that, but we'll probably end up with some eventually. It does seem like a truly fascinating project.

A Word About Gluten Free Cooking

I wanted to put up this link for my gluten free friends. I'm really into the whole grains, and thankful that I don't have any food sensitivities to deal with here at my house. I can not imagine all that I would have to change if I were in their shoes. Just about everything about the way we eat, I guess. The Gluten Free Girl would be one of my starting points, for sure. She and her chef husband make eating gluten free into an adventure of the best kind! It's also one of the only (in fact the only so far) places I've found recipes that aren't entirely based on pricey mixes.
Deanna and Renee, I admire what you're doing for your families. You two are a couple of my favorite moms! Hang in there! My prayers go up for you! Through Christ you can do all things! About Shauna James Ahern, author of Gluten-Free Girl .

Homemade Bread and Fresh Churned Butter!

Today the kids and I baked bread (honey whole wheat) and made fresh butter! It was so much fun to watch their faces as the butter began to form and float in the butter milk. I wish I'd have been thinking of this blog when I was doing the project. I hope to have step by step photos if we do this again. We decided to make butter because we had been reading Little House in the Big Woods, by Laure Ingalls Wilder. When I was a girl my mother did the same thing with us. I have warn memories of time spent with Mom as she read through the entire set of Little House books, as well as the James Herriot series. Not until I was grown did I realize how much editing Mom must have done with those Herriot stories to make wholesome reading for us!
We make at least 4 loaves of bread each week, and I haven't bought a store loaf for about 3 months now. I'm pretty sure I'm saving money this way, but it's well worth it even if I'm not. I love making bread! There's just something about it...maybe it's the way I feel connected to the pioneer women of our country, or the good feeling I have providing something wholesome and satisfying for my family, or the comfort I find in the process. I LOVE touching dough. Kneading, rolling, and shaping is so relaxing to me. I plan to add some recipes and photos of bread baking soon, and possibly I'll also document some butter churning. Have a great weekend!