GNOWFGLINS

Simple Lives Thursday #82

Wardeh — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 04:05:25 +0000

Announcement… please re-read the guidelines for submission (below) so you can be sure your post matches the spirit and theme of this blog hop. Please do not submit giveaway posts. Also, please remember to link your post to one of the host blogs!

The Simple Lives Thursday Blog Hop

Welcome to Simple Lives Thursday, a blog hop dedicated to simple living. “Consume less, produce more. ” So many topics fit: Gardening, raising animals, cooking from scratch, real food, natural cleaners, sewing, recycling, thrifting, a mindset of simplicity, saving a buck…

This blog hop is hosted by (for the time being, due to hosts taking breaks):

Featured Posts from Last Week’s Submissions

We really enjoy reading your posts each week! Featured post bloggers, please grab the badge above and display it on your site! Link it to one of the host blogs’ posts for the specific week that you were featured.

Here are our picks from last week’s submissions. Thanks to all who participated — it is always hard to choose!

1. How to Craft the Perfect In-Season Salad by Riddle Love. “A good salad doesn’t have to take years to assemble. We just need to know what makes a salad pleasing to the palate and eyes. In my opinion, there are four components (five for a meal salad) to accomplish this: sweet, salty, crunchy, and soft. For a meal salad, at “meaty” to that list. Use this rule of thumb and pair it with what you have to work with for the season and you’ve got yourself one beautiful, tasty, nutrient-dense treat.”

2. Cultured Citrus Marmalade by Natural Health and Prevention. “These are so good and a perfect topper for chicken or fish after you have cooked these meats, put into smoothies, or diced into cooked rice. They are also good eaten right out of the jar. We have had such a bounty of citrus — this is the perfect way to preserve them and keep (and even add to) their high nutrient value.”

3. I can’t knit. I can’t crochet. by Sweet Country Life. “I can recycle a sweater. Cut it into the shape of a hat. And sew it together like nobody’s business! And then put it on the head of this cutie-pie and call it a day. And you can too.”

Share Your Simple Lives Thursday Post

Bloggers, make a “Simple Lives Thursday” post on your own blog, then come back here to add your post to the linky box below the featured posts. If you don’t have a picture, feel free to download the Simple Lives Thursday banner (at top of post) and upload it using the script’s prompts (it is easy). Your post will appear on all host blogs!

Non-bloggers, feel free to add a comment here with any ideas or thoughts about simple living.

These are three simple guidelines for participation:

1. If linking real, traditional and simple recipes, please make sure all ingredients used are whole — such as whole grains, vegetables, legumes, meats, even sugar. In order to keep the integrity of “nourishing” food, we will delete any recipes that utilize processed, boxed foods. We are definitely not going to be ingredient policemen! But, please note that this is a hop hosted by advocates of the real, local and sustainable food movements.

2. Please link your posts back to one of the hosting blogs. This is a common blog hop courtesy. This link helps build the Simple Lives Thursday community by sending your readers to all of the other participants’ posts. We all end up sharing and learning from each other.

3. No giveaway or otherwise primarily advertising oriented posts. Keep your topics to fit our simple living theme of “consume less, produce more.” We will delete posts that don’t fit.

What will you share this week? We all look forward to your submissions!

If reading this via email, visit this post to see the list of linked blogs.

Video Q&A #3: Sourdough Starter, Feeding and Using

Wardeh — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:33:20 +0000

Welcome back to our Video Q&A series! Today’s question comes from Tami:

“I’ve seen your sourdough starter videos and have my own starter sitting on the counter now (started 8 days ago). It doesn’t take 12 hours to double, more like 3 to 5. Should I still wait the full 12 hours before feeding it again, even though it “falls” by that point? And I know you said “several weeks” for it to be ready. It smells good and sour now, will two weeks be enough? Thank you, and thanks for all the free resources! I really appreciate them!” — Tami

You’ll see my answer in the video above or below in the print notes.

By the way, you can learn how to make your own sourdough starter in our free video and instructions here.

1. Should she add another feeding?

You have to consider the starter’s behavior. If it is smelling sour and fresh and exhibiting normal sourdough starter behavior, there’s no need to add another feeding.

Normal behavior is: doming up, bubbling, then falling and producing hooch, all while smelling like a good old sourdough starter. By that I mean, it doesn’t smell bad or anything.

If you notice off smells, it could mean the starter is going too long without food, and adding a feeding to break up the long 12-hour span would be helpful. This tends to happen in very hot weather, not normal room temperature conditions.

2. When can she use the starter?

It sounds like you can use it right now! It is doubling in size after each feeding and seems to have been doing so for a few days. You want to see it doing this for three feedings in a row. Then go ahead and use it in pancakes, waffles, english muffins or other free recipes here on the blog. When you’re ready to graduate (and what fun that is), you can grab our Sourdough A to Z eBook or try out the Sourdough eCourse.

I’d suggest letting the starter mature more before using it in a full-on bread recipe. Keep up with regular twice daily feedings, keeping the starter at room temperature. After a few more weeks, it will be strong enough to put it in the fridge for a week or two — if you want to take a break from it, that is.

Do you have other advice for Tami? Please share!

Like my weekly free videos? Please use the buttons below to share this video with others. And subscribe to the GNOWFGLINS Channel on YouTube — you can give this or any other video a thumbs-up!

Simple Lives Thursday #81

Wardeh — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:37:55 +0000

The Simple Lives Thursday Blog Hop

This blog hop is hosted by (for the time being, due to hosts taking breaks):

Featured Posts from Last Week’s Submissions

Here are our picks from last week’s submissions. Thanks to all who participated — it is always hard to choose!

1. How to Rescue (Refurbish) a Cast Iron Skillet by Frugal by Choice, Cheap by Necessity. This is a great picture tutorial on getting rid of rust on cast iron skillets. Bookmark or pin it for a later resource.

2. Herbal Multivitamin Tincture by Modern Alternative Mama.
Kate shares a recipe for an herbal alternative to a vitamin supplement.

3. Herbs for cooking: Dill by The Simple Life Journal. “From the Garden to the Kitchen to the Pot of Stew”

Share Your Simple Lives Thursday Post

Non-bloggers, feel free to add a comment here with any ideas or thoughts about simple living.

These are three simple guidelines for participation:

3. No giveaway or otherwise primarily advertising oriented posts. Keep your topics to fit our simple living theme of “consume less, produce more.” We will delete posts that don’t fit.

What will you share this week? We all look forward to your submissions!

If reading this via email, visit this post to see the list of linked blogs.

Homemade, Real Food Macaroni and Cheese

Wardeh — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:52:04 +0000

About two weeks ago, my 11-year old son Mikah asked, “Mom, what’s mac and cheese?”

11 years old and he doesn’t know about mac and cheese? That’s part good and part bad.

The good — he doesn’t know about the K-word mac and cheese.

The bad? He didn’t know about homemade, real food macaroni cheese, which is a thousand times better.

(Actually, he has had real macaroni and cheese — but he was too young to remember it.)

I knew what I must do. Macaroni and cheese was going back on the menu — real food style.

Homemade, Real Food Macaroni and Cheese

1 pound brown rice noodles of your favorite shape — I like the Tinkyada brand
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup cream or whole milk
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
4 organic, grass-fed, nitrate-free hot dogs (like these from Applegate Farms — optional)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
sea salt* (optional)

Boil the noodles in salty water according to the package directions. Tinkyada pasta takes 15 to 18 minutes to cook, which is longer than other noodles, but they have a great texture and hold up well, so I like them best. Drain, then rinse in cold water to stop cooking. Set aside.

Cut the hot dogs in half lengthwise, then cut in 1/4″ slices.

In a medium pot over medium-low heat, melt butter. Add cream, cheese, and hot dog pieces. Stir constantly while cheese is melting. Add noodles. Let all warm thoroughly. Add pepper and additional salt (if needed*). Stir, then serve.

No need to say enjoy — you will.

*The noodles are salty if boiled in salty water. The cheese is salty. The butter is salty (if salted butter). And the hot dogs are salty. So…. additional salt is not usually necessary.

Have you made or enjoyed real food macaroni and cheese? How do you make yours?

I’m sharing this recipe with Simple Lives Thursday and Pennywise Platter Thursday.

Take this Grain Prep Quiz

Wardeh — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:05:47 +0000

I’m preparing for this Friday’s free webinar — ABCs of Grain Preparation — and I thought it would be fun to give you all a quiz. I want to know what you know and find out what you don’t! Not for any devious purposes, I promise.

What do you say? Will you answer these 5 questions for me? Less than 3 minutes, tops. Don’t go researching to find the answers. Just answer what you think, and on Friday at the free webinar, we’ll talk about the right answers.

Please use the sharing buttons at left to invite family and friends to take this quiz, too! The more, the merrier.

So… how do you think you did? Please share in the comments!

You’re Invited!

Please come to this Friday’s free webinar: ABCs of Grain Preparation. We’re meeting at 1 pm Pacific on Friday, February 3, 2012.

We’ll talk about all the methods of grain preparation, clearing up any confusion about what methods to use when, which methods are most effective, why you should do them, and how each one works. Plus, I’ll be dispelling the myth that any of them are hard to do.

Click here to register or get more info.

If you can’t make it, please register so you can see the replay. Whether you make it or not, all who register get access to the exclusive replay plus a summary booklet to take home.

And, invite your friends and family to come to the free webinar, too! You can use the sharing buttons to the left of this post.

Video Q&A #2: Thicker Kefir?

Wardeh — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:22:53 +0000

Welcome back to our Video Q&A series! Today’s question comes from Chrissy:

“Can you tell me how to make thick kefir?” — Chrissy

You’ll see my answer in the video above or below in the print notes. There are two ways to get thicker kefir.

By the way, you can learn how to make kefir in my unlimited online classes or Cultured Dairy and Basic Cheese eBook. We make regular old kefir, plus go beyond with kefir cream, kefir ice cream and kefir cheese balls.

You can get dairy kefir starter cultures here.

Method #1: Let it ferment longer.

Like all cultured dairy, kefir gets thicker the longer it ferments. The beneficial organisms produce acids and these acids thicken or “curdle” the milk. So let it go longer! It will eventually turn into curds and whey — you probably don’t want to go that far.

I let my kefir ferment 2 to 3 days in the winter, and 18 to 24 hours in the summer. Warmer temperatures speed up the process.

Some people don’t care for this kefir, even though it is thicker. This is because in addition to thickening more, it also gets more sour (and more alcohol is produced).

That’s why method #2 is a good option, too!

Method #2: Drip it through cheesecloth.

Take your day-old or so, mild-tasting and thinner kefir and drip it through cheesecloth. Don’t use holey cheesecloth from the grocery store; use 2 layers of 90-count cheesecloth, or use a pillow-case weight cotton cloth.

Just a couple of hours of dripping will yield a thicker kefir. If you drip for a day, you’ll have kefir cheese. Choose a time frame that suits the consistency you want.

Do you know of other ways to get thicker kefir?

Like my weekly free videos? Please use the buttons below to share this video with others. And subscribe to the GNOWFGLINS Channel on YouTube — you can give this or any other video a thumbs-up!

Simple Lives Thursday #80

Wardeh — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:47:48 +0000

The Simple Lives Thursday Blog Hop

This blog hop is hosted by (for the time being, due to hosts taking breaks):

Featured Posts from Last Week’s Submissions

Here are our picks from last week’s submissions. Thanks to all who participated — it is always hard to choose!

1. New to Food Preserving – Start Here by Common Sense Homesteading. A great resource on different methods of food preservation and concerns about the tattler (BPA Free) lids.

2. Is it Genetics or Lifestyle? by Ruth’s Real Food. Terry Wahl’s work is always worth watching, and this short clip helps remind us that the daily choices we make have a huge impact on our health.

3. Garlic Sesame Naan: a soaked whole grain recipe by plus other good stuff. Who doesn’t love naan?! This recipe looks fantastic and we are excited to try it!

Share Your Simple Lives Thursday Post

Non-bloggers, feel free to add a comment here with any ideas or thoughts about simple living.

These are three simple guidelines for participation:

3. No giveaway away or otherwise primarily advertising oriented posts. Keep your topics to fit our simple living theme of “consume less, produce more.” We will delete posts that don’t fit.

What will you share this week? We all look forward to your submissions!

If reading this via email, visit this post to see the list of linked blogs.

The Privilege of Home Dairying and Culturing

Wardeh — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:55:31 +0000

Learning to culture my own homemade dairy foods has been one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done. The flavors are beyond delicious, the health benefits greater than anything you can buy at a regular store, and the experience of learning the skills profoundly revealing.

I’m grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to learn to milk both goats and cows and then to turn the delicious, God-given food into sour cream, buttermilk, yogurt, kefir (especially kefir!), cultured butter, and a bunch of delicious cheeses.

You Couldn’t Pay Me Enough

I want to share with you a passage from a book we recently got — Greg Judy’s No-Risk Ranching. He expresses why I’m glad my children are growing up doing farm chores — and things I even feel about myself getting this experience as an adult!

“Our family moved to Missouri in 1966, mainly to escape the long cold winters. My Dad sold the dairy cows shortly thereafter and went to work in town. He kept one cow for the family milk needs. I used to watch in amazement how my dad blasted the milk streams into the bucket with his powerful hands and with such great rhythm. When I reached seven years of age I asked him one night if I could try milking the cow. From that point on, I had the job until I moved away from home after high school!

I remember the freezing mornings, how the back of your fingers and hands would freeze as you tried to get done as fast as possible. The cow was always kicking at biting flies, and runny manure-laden tails would smack you in the face while you tried to milk in the hot summer months. After milking, I let the milk cow’s calf have half of one hind teat. You had to wrestle the calf away from the cow before turning the cow out to grass. As the calf grew it got to be quite a chore. You grabbed him by an ear and the tail and with a lot of momentum because the calf always outweighed you. He was never ready to leave.

After the milking, I would strain the milk through a fine cloth to remove any debris. I remember my grade school principal telling me that it was unsafe to drink the raw milk; we were supposedly at risk of contracting all kinds of diseases! I asked him what he drank while he was growing up? I never heard any more from him about unsafe milk. It was an extremely satisfying feeling to head to the house with a bucket full of fresh milk for the family. The cow was always ready to go back to grazing. The calf was full. The barn cats had a little milk. And I usually poured a little out for the meat hogs on the way to the house. Life was good.

As a youngster, there were times when I was milking the cow that I would have rather have been doing about anything else. But guess what? You couldn’t pay me enough to give up that experience now. It taught me responsibility, a work ethic, and a daily job that had to be done twice a day by me or it would not get done. I know this is not possible, but it would be fantastic if every kid had some type of chores with an animal every day.” –Greg Judy, No-Risk Ranching

He didn’t go into it (and I don’t know him to ask him), but I like to think that his mom (or sisters?) probably took that milk and created all sorts of nutritious cultured dairy foods out of it, giving their family another “I wouldn’t trade it for the world” growing up experience.

Important Virtues Nurtured on the Farm

Joann S. Grohman, author of Keeping a Family Cow, shares the importance of farming and dairying in recent history:

“The dairy cow doesn’t ask for much but she asks every day. People who are creating wealth with a cow either are hard working and reliable or they get that way in a hurry. The fine farms of Europe, England, New England and much of the United States were all established thanks to the wealth derived from cows. … It is certainly no coincidence that such a large number of our finest American statesmen were born on farms. Important virtues are nurtured on the farm, including a graphic understanding of the relationship between working and eating.” –Joann S. Grohman, Keeping a Family Cow

How fortunate we are that even today — in the midst of a society that is vastly raised on boxed non-foods and has no relationship to the farm whatsoever — we can still learn to milk dairy animals or make our own homemade cultured dairy… or even both!

Whether you’re doing it all yourself, or taking a trip to the farm each week for your weekly cow or goat share, you and your children are getting a marvelous and unparalleled education. You’re working hard, reaping the rewards, learning how it is all done, most importantly, seeing God’s hand in it all — from how the animals feast on His grass, to how we and assorted farm animals feast on the abundant milk, and finally to how we make beautiful, delicious and healthy cultured dairy foods.

I Am Grateful

I couldn’t be happier about what my family is doing and learning, and I’m just about positive you share the same feelings about the traditions you’re keeping or learning in your home.

Please share in the comments about your “farm life” — whether you live it or you support it, I want to hear your experiences!

A year ago, I taught almost everything I learned about cultured dairy and cheese in the online Cultured Dairy and Basic Cheese eCourse. That class is always on and always available to members of GNOWFGLINS eCourse. (I’m sorry, but it doesn’t give milking instructions… just loads of things to do with the milk and cream!)

But while online videos and lessons and forum support prove to be very popular and helpful, others just want something they can take home and study independently. That’s why we compile all the print lessons of each class into stand-alone, single-download, independent-study eBooks. We did this to create the Fundamentals eBook and then the Sourdough A to Z eBook.

Cultured Dairy and Basic Cheese eBook — Now Available

I’m pleased to share that our third eBook — the Cultured Dairy and Basic Cheese eBook — is out and available. Ready to learn simple, delicious, healthy cultured dairy recipes? Now you can!

Our newest eBook contains all 18 print lessons of the online class, teaching you how to make your own sour cream, yogurt, kefir, cultured butter, buttermilk, basic cheeses and more! If you’re not into videos, membership, or forum interaction but want to learn how to culture dairy easily at home — this eBook is for you.

Lots of members like the eBooks to save time downloading and organizing single lesson print materials. Plus, members get a discount on our eBooks.

Click here for a sample chapter.

Just to be clear: You do not need your own cow to make use of this eBook. You do not even have to have raw milk. I cover all your options inside.

Bonus: “Easy Sourdough” Booklet + Video

For a limited time, you get a bonus with any eBook purchase — the “Easy Sourdough” booklet and video. These bonuses are available with memberships and menu plan subscriptions, too.

Don’t forget to share about your “farm life” — whether you live it or you support it, I want to hear your experiences!

I’ve shared this post with Simple Lives Thursday.

Nachos, from Scratch. Oh, Yeah.

Wardeh — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:02:32 +0000

We often eat lunch with my friend Jami and her kids on our days in town. I try to bring something to contribute, while she always provides a nourishing main dish. We love making a stop for good food, fellowship, and rest, especially on our long errand days.

Jami loves nachos. She’s eaten them all her life, especially the take-out kind. As a stay-at-home mom eating real foods, she figured she had to find a way to keep eating them — at home and healthy. So she did.

We were playing a game during one visit, and nachos came up, and of course we all said how much we wanted to eat them. Jami said she’d make them for us soon, and I said we should make them using the best tortilla chips ever (my specialty).

And this week, we did! They were awesome. The video above shows how we did it. After editing, it is only a minute long, so even if you’re not usually a video watcher, I think you can fit this one in.

Here are some quick print instructions.

How to Make Nachos

Start with sourdough crepes and fry them according to these instructions: The Best Homemade Tortilla Chips. Ever.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Carefully spread out chips on in a single layer on a baking tray. Then add a second layer of chips, filling up all the holes in the first layer. Jami says to do this so every chip gets toppings on it, and no toppings fall through. It really worked!

We topped with shredded cheese (we used some of my homemade cheddar), green onions, seasoned beef, salsa (dripped out so it is not so wet), and more shredded cheese. And a sprinkling of green onions on top for color — another of Jami’s tips to make these nachos better than your average homemade nachos.

Use whatever toppings you’ve got — we often use refried beans, diced onions, sliced olives… whatever you’ve got. Load them up!

Bake until cheese is bubbly and golden. Serve! Or, let them cool just a bit and then top with cultured dairy, like sour cream or soft raw cheese. Probiotic nachos.

Do you make homemade nachos? What are your favorite toppings?

Like my weekly free videos? Please use the buttons below to share this video with others. And subscribe to the GNOWFGLINS Channel on YouTube — you can give this or any other video a thumbs-up!

This post is shared with Simple Lives Thursday, Pennywise Platter Thursday, and Fight Back Friday.

Simple Lives Thursday #79

Wardeh — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:21:46 +0000

The Simple Lives Thursday Blog Hop

This blog hop is hosted by (for the time being, due to hosts taking breaks):

Featured Posts from Last Week’s Submissions

Here are our picks from last week’s submissions. Thanks to all who participated — it is always hard to choose!

1. Homestead Decor: DIY Chicken Wire Frame by Prairie Homestead. A totally cute rustic re-do for an old frame!

2. Trusting a Plan… or how to make needle felted coasters by A Seed Inspired. Not only a tutorial on how to make needle felted coasters, but lovely insights into how God leads us according to His plan.

3. Planning to Preserve in the Coming Year – Part 1 of 3 by Foy Update. Foy shares her preserving plans for this coming year and encouragment for others to do the same.

Share Your Simple Lives Thursday Post

Non-bloggers, feel free to add a comment here with any ideas or thoughts about simple living.

These are three simple guidelines for participation:

3. No giveaway away or otherwise primarily advertising oriented posts. Keep your topics to fit our simple living theme of “consume less, produce more.” We will delete posts that don’t fit.

What will you share this week? We all look forward to your submissions!

If reading this via email, visit this post to see the list of linked blogs.