A Little Dirty, A little Weird..





First, the dirty bit...
Missing Goat organic jam is now down town Vancouver at the Dirty Apron.
This store makes me ache to live in one of the brick lofts above them, have my gourmet lunch delivered daily, and take a cooking class in the evening with friends and great wine.
visit them here:  Dirty Apron 

Now...things I eat that are weird...Just because I felt like sharing



Popcorn...not weird at all...


..but I don't add butter or salt.  I dip in in French's mustard.
Let me tell you, zero calories and a whole lotta flavour!
Try this!  You can eat a giant bowl and not be upset with yourself.


Chia Pudding.
Yes, I eat chia pet pudding.
I love chia pet pudding.


I blame Gramma Janis for this.  
She sent me a recipe and that started my now daily must have bowl of ...well, seed pudding.
I had a huge bag of it that got on one of those random runs to Costco with my sister to see what all the Costco fuss is about.  This is all I came home with.
Chia is so good for you - Google it and see.
It's totally weird to eat - like tapioca..but stranger.
But, I tell you this...


...when you add maple syrup and a bit of vanilla then you have a treat that is still super good for you!
I use coconut water but you can use almond milk or real milk - 3/4 cup
1/4 cup chia seed - pour them in the liquid
let it soak for 30 minutes - whisking every 5 minutes or so.  It will thicken up.
add 1/8 cup pure maple syrup - or more if you like
1 tsp pure vanilla, blend and eat.

you can add fresh fruits, use any juice you like instead of milk, add cinnamon, agave or honey.
It's January..I'm still trying to be healthy.
Though..

I also made real vanilla pudding for my girl who was not well this week.  
Not weird at all, but I thought I should end on a good note.

Hodge Podge...


My friend Kim Christie took this photo of me and my girl.
This will make me smile the rest of my life.
My new friend Barbara over at Hodge Podge posted a lovely interview about us today.
Thank you Barbara!

A Very Long Tail...



We're all looking for something tasty to eat these days.


...and since I've eaten this for lunch every day this week...
I thought it was time for something new and hopefully tasty.
Antioxidant Fudge!
I know, it sounds bad already.



But what is really bad is not this coconut oil mixed with almond butter.
It's what happened last night when I went to toss the onion peels in the compost bin 
outside the dining room door.


What is really bad is not the added cocoa powder, vanilla, agave and sea salt.
Its the giant rat that threw the onion peels back at me when they landed on his head in my compost bin.


These toasted almonds were bloody fabulous compared that same rat charging at me and 
running straight in to my house.
He was huge.  It could have been a cat.
I was of course on top of the dining room table clinging to the chandelier screaming.


Spreading this fudge out and tossing it in the freezer for an hour was a breeze compared to my husband chasing the rat around the dining room with a spatula.  
Seriously - was he going to flip him over!


The rat was forced back out the door and after a day of sanitizing my home, I ate antioxidant fudge.


Peep is still looking for her fix.

The Fudge is actually really good.  Very very rich, so you may want to half this batch.
It's from Super Foods Cookbook:

Raw Chocolate Almond Fudge
1 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup almond butter
1 cup cocoa powder - the best you can buy!
3/4 cup agave - it called for 1 cup, but this was plenty sweet enough
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon - I left this out but a pinch of cayenne might be fabulous!
1/2 cup almonds - I roasted my slightly so they would be crunchy

Mix is all together till very smooth, add your nuts and scrape in to a glass casserole dish.
It will form any shape you want as it's thick.  I made it about 3/4 inch thick.
Place in the freezer for 2 hours, then remove, cut and place in a container in the fridge.
It says for one week in the fridge or 1 month in the freezer.

On The Farm Today...



My chickens have finished their annual moult. 
Poor girls were positively naked.
But the feathers are back, which means...


...so are the eggs.


There was lots of jam on the farm today, but it all left.
Gourmet Warehouse, Lepp Market, Organic Acres on Main Street, Pane e Formaggio on 10th, and Antony & Sons here in South Surrey.

Wrapping ...or Actually Rolling it Up..


Yesterday, I had a wrap with spouts.
The Sprouts I grew.
What did I learn...that I didn't get a big enough sprout grower.


Day 2


Day 3


Day 4
This is the day I ate the alfalfa on the left.
So good, so fresh and worth the few seconds a day of rinsing.


The peas are taking their own sweet time, but I've been snacking on handfuls and they are really good.
But I've always liked these kind of foods.

 As for the yoghurt...


I got so full of myself thinking how easy this was, that I completely botched a huge batch on the weekend.
I had a lot of warm milk after 11 hours.
I didn't pay attention to my temperatures and I killed the bacteria.
I was over-multitasking.


But I tried again and again with different milks and starters.
I paid close attention and had success.
Heat 1 litre of milk to 180 f  
Let cool to 75 f 
(Let it cool by itself as using ice water cools the milk too fast and your yoghurt is not as smooth - I learnt this the hard way)
Mix your starter (pre-measured with instructions on the package) or add a few tablespoons of store bought yoghurt into a small bowl with about 1/4 cup of the cooled milk.
Mix well, pour into the large pot of milk and stir well.
Pour into clean jars and add the lids - I use my canning jars.
I let mine sit for 11 hours in the 110 degree dehydrator.
I did this at night, so it was ready in the morning, or you could do the reverse.


I found a starter in the health food store, so used that.  It has all the good bacteria needed
 as well as probiotics.  Now that I have the yoghurt made, I can just keep using it as the starter.
I also tried using store bought yoghurt as the starter.  If you do this, buy a brand that has live cultures - it will say on the side.

Results:
The  health food starter has way more tang.  Which seems to be a good thing as it means there is more cultures present.
The store bought yoghurt version is almost like thick cream.  Very little tang - but good for the kids!?
I also used 2% and whole milk.
The 2% has a lot of whey floating on the top and the whole milk had none.


This was fun.  It's like making butter.  Interesting, but not always necessary.
I love teaching my wee girl about making foods.
She was so obsessed with the sprouts and how fast they grew.
Her extreme interest also made her eat them.
Yeah!
This little lady was glad to see me wrap up yoghurt week today.
She sat there patiently on my counter while did the final testing.
Then I took her, the dog and the chickens out for a walk.

DIY - Yoghurt & Sprouts...


Day 3 of 2013 and I'm attempting two things I've always wanted to try...


...growing my own sprouts and making home-made yoghurt.
If I post about sandals and socks next week, come to the farm and slap me.


I have broccoli sprouts and alfalfa seeds.
They needed to soak for 6 hours.


Don't you hate when you set out to do something only to find there is a 6 hour delay.
It's like I'm in the Denver airport.


Pea shoots.  


Another soaker.


Yoghurt seemed easy enough.
Surely I could get this made today.
Heat milk to 185 then cool to 160...


Add 5 grams of yoghurt starter (found at the health food store)


Pour into jars


Place in your dehydrator to keep warm at 115 degrees.
Add lids
then...oh damn.
Leave for 3 - 11 hours.
I checked at 3 hours...I had luke-warm milk.
So I'll see you all tomorrow morning with some results.