• Showing posts with label Natural Living. Show all posts

    Sunset at the Pond

    Friday, April 24, 2015


    ~
    We have been out and about. 
    Engaged with the great explore of this here new world of ours. 
    This spring we have marvelled at all the new discoveries in nature. 
    Texas has given us a refreshing exhale after our ‘few’ gentle winter months. 
    Frogs, chirping,
    blossoms and new shades of ever expanding greenery.
    Fresh-warming air with longer evenings. 

    We seem to be spending many of our sunsets at the neighbourhood pond. 
    Barefoot, buckets and nets.
    and a great many moments embraced by God’s goodness. 
    ~




     

    The Kitchen: Trim Healthy Mama Pumpkin Muffins (sugar & grain free)

    Thursday, April 3, 2014

     
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    Before we leave the kitchen can I share a little goodness that has been a nice companion to my mid-day coffee oasis.
    I have mentioned here before that I have been sugar free for this whole pregnancy! This has been such a gift, my energy has been stable, my moods even and I have gained only a healthy amount of weight. I believe these benefits have come because I have been sugar free. One of the main recourses that have helped guide this journey is the Trim Healthy Mama approach. I have made many of the desert and baking recipes from this book, I have liked many of them but this one really hit the spot with my cravings... pumpkin... who knew you could crave that?
    These muffins have a lovely yellow colour that leads in the memory of spring,
    yet the aromas of pumpkin and spice fill your home with the warmth still needed in these northern woods.
    I 'mostly' fallowed the Easy Peazy Cinnamon Muffin recipe on pg#262, I made the pumpkin version from pg.# 264. I adapted the sweetener amount from 12 tsp. down to 5 tsp., and I added 1/2 cup crushed walnuts. I also mixed half flax meal with half almond flour.
    Easy Peazy Pumpkin Muffins (S-Snack)
    Wet Directions
    Into blender put 5 eggs.
    3/4 cup and 1 Tbs. water
    3 Tbs. oil (coconut)
    1 tsp. vanilla
    1/3 cup pumpkin puree
    Blend well for 20 seconds.
    Dry Directions
    2 cups golden flax meal ( I used 1 cup flax meal and 1 cup almond flour)
    1 tsp. baking powder and 1 tsp. baking soda
    2 tsp. cinnamon
    1 tsp. each of nutmeg and allspice
    12 tsp. Truvia (I used only 5 tsp.)
    Mix your wet and dry ingredients. Let mixture sit for five minutes on counter top. Place in greased muffin pan and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.
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    Pumpkin Whipped Topping
    For the topping I combined a few ideas for a icing-whip
    In a mixing bowl place
    8 oz. Light cream cheese
    1/3 cup pumpkin puree
    1/2 tsp. vanilla
    2 tsp truvia (or to personal taste)
    Whip together until fluffy
    add and gently whip in
    1/2 cup non-fat Greek yogurt
    Cover the cooled muffins with this topping, and for a dramatic and tasteful flourish I sprinkled with a little cinnamon sweetener (truvia and cinnamon mixed like cinnamon sugar)
     
    This recipe is clean nutrition, healthy and very satisfying!
    Enjoy
    ~


    Herbal Viral Syrup

    Thursday, November 28, 2013

     
     
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    It comes to this family with force, five coughing, dripping, flushed, cranky kids. It often heralds it's arrival sometime during the darkest parts of night, you know that restless cry that wakes a reluctant parent  and soothing a little-one will be the fallowing mission of mid-night.
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    And if any of you mama's treat the common winter ills naturally you will know the wild expense of the smallest bottle. The last cold our family had, we were travelling, so I bought a bottle from a natural food store, it took two bottles of this remedy to get all five kiddos back to health. Thirty dollars my friends, for one simple cold!
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    Once the snowflakes start falling I prepare a  winters worth of herbal remedy. It works for nearly all symptoms, fever, coughing, sneezing, earaches, runny or goopy nose, sore throat, restlessness, immunity builder. It works, and my kids love it, like candy like it. If one of the babies see it in the fridge they will bring it to me and plead for some 'tandy'. It is easy to make, and affordable, two canning jars worth cost me ten dollars. 
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     I had the pleasure of using some of the herbs I harvested this spring from our woods, which saved some in cost, but most herbs for this recipe is less than half a cups worth, which keeps costs affordable even if the loose herbs are purchased from a health food store.
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    My children love being involved, Marion did most of the work (while I took pictures) she said after a slow-dramatic inhale that it smelt like winter, she associates the smell of this recipe with the coming of winter.
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    Herbal Viral Syrup

    1 cup Alder-Berries

    1 cup Rose Hips

    1/4 cup Chickweed

    1/4 cup Dandelion Leaf

    1/4 cup Devils Club

    1/4 cup Sorel

    1/4 cup Bedstraw & Yarrow

    1/4 cup Echinacea Flower

    1/4 cup Echinacea Root

    1/4 cup Astragals Root

    1/4 cup Chamomile Flower

    1/4 cup Elecampane

    1/8 cup Fresh Ginger, peeled and diced

    1/8 cup Cloves

    A few fresh sprigs of Rosemary

    Ten Cinnamon Sticks or 1/8 cup powdered Cinnamon

    Mix all the above ingredients together.

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     Pour into a sauce pan, cover three times the herbs with water.
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    Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer off the majority of water.
     It will turn dark, once the herbs have expanded and the water level is half the size of the herbs (this will take around 4-6 hours, the longer you simmer the more nutrients  will seep from the herbs) remove the herbs from the heat, let cool.
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     Strain the herbs from the liquid, I use a milk bag but cheese cloth works just as well. Make sure all the little pieces of herbs have been strained out of the liquid. When the liquid is clear of herb particles put back in a cleaned sauce pan, add a shot of whisky or vodka and two cups of honey, bring back to a boil so you simmer off the alcohol, and the honey is dissolved. You may add more or less honey if you prefer, you need enough for a preservative  which works alongside the alcohol, and too add a pleasant taste for your children.  Put in a clean jar, label and place in the fridge. I give a tsp 4-5 times a day to my four years and younger kids and a TBSP 4-5 times a day for my older ones.  This recipe has always lasted me six months before going bad.
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    This recipe is safe for little children, I have seen how quickly my children recover from an illness when taking this recipe compared to battling a cold without.
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    Enjoy
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    Living Apothecary

    Tuesday, July 9, 2013

     
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    Last evening’s wooded stroll on earthy paths was walking a living apothecary

    Such abundance

    It must be the way the rains have fallen soaking each seeds to life or its cool moist holding back a bloom

    The forest floor has exhaled together
    Giving life

    Early we headed to the woods, gentle in care, we foraged a winters worth of health.

    Bedstraw

    Chickweed

    Horsetail

    Lungwort

    Stinging Nettle

    Plantain

    Prairie Rose

    Sheep Sorrel

    Yarrow
    As the sun sailed direct above we laid our harvest out to dry by summer’s warmth.

    This year I took to a new herbal, I contemplated this manual for some time; near the close of this school year I figured this teaching mama could use a little gift to herself.  There is always some wisdom to gather when reading the words of mastery. Beverly Gray has given me a gift through her writing’s in The Boreal Herbal. This one speaks the ways of my woods, right down our lane over the hills and into the fields that we call home. It tells of the plants that make a carpet lush and bountiful around these parts, healing gifts.

    Gracious and Generous.

    ~
     
     






    

    Lip Love

    Wednesday, January 16, 2013


     
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    Winter has a way with our lips - her chill cuts and blisters. With a lot of lips and a lot of little people who can never remember where they left their balm, I realized I needed to find an economic way of keeping my families lips all a- luster.   

    It was easy


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    Two & Half cup oil. I used
    Olive
    Coconut
    Almond
    Vitamin E
    Jojoba
    A generous quarter cup of beeswax.
    Gently warm the oils and beeswax until the beeswax melts. The add a bit essential oil to give a scent.
    While warm pour into container.
    Let cool until the oils have hardened.
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    The day I made this all my kids lips were cracked and parched, with a day of application all their lips are healed.

    Looks like our lips will be in good smucking order for the rest of this winter!
    ~


     

    Soap

    Friday, September 14, 2012


     
     
     

     

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    Ingredients sat hopefully in wait

    For courage to build.

    A lesson was given in my Mother’s kitchen

    A quite home with a visiting sister

    Lended the opportunity for some heritage crafting

    Lavender scented silky smooth

    The joy of accomplishment.
    ~