Green Oatmeal

It's green! The sprouts are alive and it's warm and delicious.












1 cup rolled oats
2 tbs flax seeds, ground
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbs raisins

Mix dry ingredients together well and add 1 cup 120F water. Use more or less water to your taste.

Let it rest for 5 minutes or so. Add more warm water if needed.
Sprinkle 1/2 cup sprout salad on top and stir gently.

Eat. Enjoy your green day.

How to Store Leeks

This question has been bothering me for a while now. "How do I store leeks so they last longer than a couple of days before they start to get all dried up and while we're at it, so it's not an awkward 2 foot long vegetable taking up valuable real estate in my fridge?"

Today it dawned on me. Why not just store them the way I store all my other leafy greens?


I cut the root end off, cut the leek in half and chopped the halves in half long-ways.














Spread them out on a clean dish towel.

















Roll them up in the towel and stick them in a produce bag.














Actually, that is an old bread bag.














Produce is expensive and I HATE wasting food. This method keeps the leaves from touching each other, it keeps them an even moisture all over and it prevents contact with air and will keep your leeks fresh for a week or more and over time save a bundle of cold, hard cash on your grocery bill.

I wrapped these up with out washing and will wash them as I bring them out to use. Some people wash them first when using this method. If you do, make sure you dry them well, because overly wet spots will cause faster spoilage.

DIY Hair Shampoo and Body Wash Recipe Update

You may or may not know that I am No-Poo and have been since August of 2008.

I make this shampoo/bodywash for E.

Easy Homemade Castile Shampoo/Body-wash Updated, Less Oily Recipe

1.5 cups strong black tea
.5 cup castile soap
2 shots witch hazel
1/2 shot jojoba oil
1 tsp salt
10 drops geranium oil

Boil 4 tea bags in 2 cups water until the tea is very dark.
Let cool slightly and then pour off 1.5 cups into a glass container. I use my big pyrex measuring cup so I can measure the ingredients right into it and mix it up.
Add the rest of the ingredients except the scented oil and stir well. Let cool and pour off into a bottle.
Add scent.

Makes about 2 cups.

This product is thinner than commercial shampoo and it doesn't produce as much suds. The man has been using it as shampoo for about a year now and he says he likes it just fine. It turns a darker color with time, this is natural and will not affect the performance of the shampoo. Separation will occur, shake before using.

I've been tweaking the recipe, he said it was too oily so I doubled the witch hazel and halved the oil in this most recent batch.
I used black tea because I had some that I would never use otherwise. I told E the caffeine would "wake his scalp" and the antioxidants would "anti oxidize his hair".

Hey, it could happen :)

Let me know if you try this and tell me about your DIY beauty tricks and tips.

Create Less Waste By Keeping a Paperless Kitchen

I've lived so long with out paper towels that I had to click on this link to understand what the title meant:

How to Create A Paperless Kitchen

Paperless is very natural for me. Reading this article made me realize that it's important to share how I keep my successful, paperless kitchen with others. It's important for all of us to cut down on waste in any way we can.

I don't have babies or dogs so it's much easier for us, two grown ups who really aren't very messy and one 9yo boy (who is naturally messy but certainly not a toddler, if you know what I mean).

The best tips for a paperless kitchen:

1 Have an abundant amount of cloth towels of various sizes and absorbency.

2 Have the towels and napkins in very strategic locations around the house.

3 Encourage everyone to use them. Old habits die hard

The above along with the cooperation of all household members are absolutely necessary for paperless to work.


Here are the stations of the towels:

1 Basket of kitchen towels that sub for paper towels and for drying dishes, storing greens, etc.















2 Washcloths for the dishes (no disposable sponges, either).














I buy wash cloths at Big Lots. Usually 3 for a $1 more or less. They are a great all purpose wash, wipe, dab, dry, dust, polish or use as a tissue or napkin. I usually have more in the stack than shown in this photo, they are in the dryer now.


3 Basket of cloth napkins by the main eating table within easy reach of at least two people siting at the table.














These "top shelf" cloths are used as napkins and for smaller drips at the table. For bigger messes there are more hearty towels in the middle basket and "company" napkins in the bottom (you notice there aren't many company napkins). I got ALL of those napkins at thrift stores, usually about 3 for a dollar. I keep my eyes open and buy them when I see pretty ones I like.

4 We don't use paper tissues (kleenex) either and everyone has a little pile of washcloths or hankies by their beds.















If you need a tissue and you aren't in your bedroom, go ahead and grab a napkin and when you are done with it just put it right in the laundry basket by the washer, thanks. Everyone also has a basket in their room for laundry.

Thanks for reading and please tell me your thoughts on a paperless kitchen! Be sure to read the article I linked it's got a lot of great tips.

The Fruity Trinity 3,2,1 Smoothie

Today's Smoothie!

















3 very ripe bananas
2 granny smith apples, chopped
1 orange (juice and pulp only)
1 head of celery
1 clove garlic
2 tbs flaxseed
2 tbs Renewme!
2 cups or more of water

Put it all in the blender and blend well.

This is a very creamy smoothie that utilizes the fruity trinity of banana, apple, orange. On the sweet side with just a hint of garlic.

I'm eating more raw garlic these days to try and help boost my immunity. The man had the flu or some kind of stomach bug but I will remain healthy.

So mote, it be.
:)

Today's Green Smoothie

Red lettuce and some kale (2 hands full total)
2 bananas
4oz raw cranberries
2 tbs flaxseed
RenewMe!
Water

Blend.














Kitteh



















I've still been drinking green smoothies, just not blogging about them. I need to get in the habit of posting the daily smoothie photos. I think it's a good exercise.
I like to have one every day. It makes me feel grounded. Like, no matter what else happens all day, at least I had my smoothie!

How Do I Store Green Leafy Vegetables So They Rot Less and Stay Fresh Longer?

I hate to spend good money on expensive organic greens only to have them turn to mush in the fridge.

This storage method is quick and easy and will keep lettuce, spinach, kale, collard, chard and other greens fresh in your fridge for days!

1. Separate and wash your leaves. Pat dry.
















2. Lay them out on a slightly damp kitchen towel one at a time and loosely roll them up. The idea is to have the leaves touching the towel but not each other.

















3. Keep rolling. Use another towel if you need to.






























4. Put rolled towel with leaves in a plastic bag and store in fridge. The leaves will stay dry so they don't rot and they will wick moisture from the towels as needed so they don't dry out.












It works even better if you use a zip-type bag and can get more air out.




Store your greens this way and you will save money and waste less food. I have had greens stay fresh up to a week (and longer) in the fridge using this method.

Almost Raw Vegan Lunch Ideas! Salad and Zucchini Chips

Dehydrating zucchini chips. These are very simple, just sliced zukes covered in soy sauce and a tbs or so of nutritional yeast. They are humming away in the big D right now at 125F Should be ready for after dinner snacking.
















My gorgeous salad contains microgreens, green onions, rainbow chard, zucchini, avocado, sauerkraut and a sprinkle of nutritional yeast.
















Ok, ok, nutritional yeast is not considered raw, I know. Neither is soy sauce. but hey, I'm doing my best.

I could be eating french fries and faux meat on bread, right?

Free Green Juice

I love free stuff!

When I was a tot and I would say to my mom, "I'm hungry!" She would tell me to go out in the yard and graze.

There were a lot of edibles out there, berries, apples, pears, more berries, plums, and those little pea pod things we called vetch. They have purple flowers and little pods with peas or seeds in side and they are delicious. When I was about 5, I told her I was running away from home and not to worry for I could live on vetch. She told me to take all of my things because if I would need them and if I left I could never come back. We tried to get all of my toys and clothes in to a suitcase but it wouldn't close and I couldn't carry it. I decided to stay home and maybe start getting rid of some stuff...

Anyway.





This morning after the boy was put on the bus i picked some




Before










(clockwise from top)
Nettle (with gloves on, thank you)
Mint
Thistle
Dandelion
Plantain (not the banana kind, the weed kind)
Mullein








In the blender with about 20 oz water and a tbs of ginger, blend and strain. I strained it through a fine sieve, then a cloth bag.
I was going to add some lemon juice but when i tasted it and it was nice and minty. No need.

What wild edibles do you eat? Please tell me!


After

Tuesday Morning Smoothie and Wild Edibles Discovery in the Back Yard

1 handful of red leaf lettuce woot!
1 leaf curly kale
1 RIPE banana
1 RIPE kiwi
5 RIPE strawberries
2 tbs gr flax
1 tbs each e3live, RenewMe!
20 oz water
blend







Did I tell you the dryer got fixed? I think I will use the lines anyway. Use the dryer for some stuff and put most of it on the line

That screened porch we have is the best thing ever. There are tons of bugs here because we are literally right on the lake. That little 10x14 screened in box off the side of the house is AWESOME! We can leave the door open to get breezes and to let the cat in and out without a swarm of various flying insects coming in. The cat can sit out there and watch the birds right close up and they are both safe. It's a great place to hang laundry and to a fabulous area to grow plants! No deer is gonna eat my 'maters, no how! I love my little garden room.

I strained my shoulder taking out my aggressions gardening. Maybe we should get a heavy bag... I found some kind of grape.































I cut the apple tree branches away from it so it can get more water and sunlight.














I see little tiny green grapes growing on it so I am very hopeful. This summer we should be having apples, cherries, plums, walnuts and now grapes growing wild in the yard. Oh, and nettles. I think our grocery bill should go down which is good, right?

Ok, I am gonna go rest my neck in bed for a while. It feels better than it did yesterday but not 100%. I hope to get some mat time in this evening if I'm feeling better. boo

Salad From My Garden

Red Chard and Red Sails Lettuce



The leaves are actually quite small, that is a 10" glass mixing bowl.

I grew them.

Jucie Feast Late Afternoon Snack! Hot Stuff, Baby!

2 head celery, chopped
a big hunk of ginger, peeled
12 drops tulsi tea
1 tbs lemon juice















It's clearing out my sinuses, yeah!

My New Dryer and More Egg Free Challenge!

Energy saving, green, good for the environment vegan and freegan
















It's solar powered and really quiet. It dries 4 loads in about 3 hours on a sunny day so it saves time. It's a space saver, that's for sure, what with being outside and all. Downside? It's not gonna work in the rain.


This is the heavy duty area where I dry over sized stuff like rugs













Hey, as long as I don't have to WASH them by hand, I don't care, are you with me?

When is that belt coming? I don't know.

I got the free package of Teese that I "won" by sending a recipe to Compassion over Killing.
Um, what's the word? I don't like it very much. It tastes like plastic and doesn't melt at all. I put it under the broiler, no melt. But, it was free and I don't want to complain, so Thanks, Noelle, you are awesome! I hope you like the egg free breakfast recipe! The rest of you click and go, commit to 30 days of egg free! You can save the lives of chickens and reduce your cholesterol, too!

Raw Food Snacking Happens! Raw Banana Avocado Pudding

Whole food goodness and sweet, delicious raw food nutrition at it's simple best


















Banana Avocado Pudding
1 avocado
2 bananas
2 tsp lemon juice
Serves 2
Peel the bananas, cut the avo and remove the seed and scoop out the meat. Cut them both into pieces in a bowl mash them together with a fork.
if you like, add vanilla and nutmeg or cinnamon
The lemon juice prevents it from turning brown right away. If you are making this to eat immediately, you can leave out the lemon juice.

Works as breakfast, snack, lunch, Sunday brunch buffet or even dessert!

Super quick to make, no equipment necessary.

RAW! Wild Green Mint Smoothie w Home Grown Lettuce Chard

A beautiful breakfast smoothe that I made from greens that I grew and wild greens from the yard.

I used some verbena, some mint, some lettuce and red chard















A big red juicy strawberry






























The juice and pulp of one orange (my new reamer from a yard sale this weekend, yay!, $2!)

one banananana















A chopped zuke















Ground flaxseed, Renew me and E3AFA
















20 oz o' water, or less, if you want a thicker smoothie, and BLEND!!














Another wonderful homegrown, wild foraged greens smoothie!

Nettles Cooking on an Open Gas Flame...

Peppers in a Pot with Tulips














Pelicans paddling on pristine, picturesque Klamath Lake














Nettles and Leeks slowly simmering on the stove for soup supper















I put on my garden gloves and a long sleeve shirt, grabbed my garden clippers and large colander and stepped out in the yard. I snipped off the tops of about 7 plants ranging between 2 and 4 feet tall. I took them inside to the sink, with gloves still on and washed them with hot water, pulling the leaves off of the tough stems. I composted the stems this time, but I will juice them in the future. With gloves still on, I chopped the leaves with my big rocking cleaver. I love that thing.
They are now cooking in a pot with some leeks. They smell wonderful and taste really green and good. I will add potatoes to the pot later this afternoon.

I think we are gonna eat a lot of nettles this summer. I don't remember ever being stung by them and I want to touch them just to see what it's like. I can wait, though.

Today's question is:

Do you eat any wild edibles? Please tell me about it!

Green Mint Smoothie

Fresh, delicious and creamy. This smoothie tastes utterly decadent.

1/2 cup fresh mint
2 cups oat milk
5 pitted dates
1/4 tsp vanilla

Blend, blend, blend

Pour in your favorite smoothie glass and pamper yourself with the green goodness.

Rambing Vegan Recipes into the Ether... and Vegan Laundry Alternative Adventures

For breakfast Sunday I made a delicious smoothie from the meat and juice of one young coconut, 1 very ripe banana, collard and kale and celery, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, and E3live Renew Me.

After that I made a big jar of salsa, put up some sauerkraut, some vegan parm sprinkle, and baked some cornbread since the boy likes it so much.

Corn Bread

1 cup oat milk
2 tbs vinegar
1 tsp salt
mix in a cup and let set while you mix dry ingredients

In a large bowl

2 cups flour
1/4 cup corn meal
3 tbs sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

Mix well with a whisk and add oat milk mixture. Stir all with a spoon or your hands until well mixed, don't over mix.

Put in greased pan. For a loaf pan cook it for 1 hour at 350F or a 9 x 13" pan cook it for 45 minutes, at 350F.

Dinner was a casserole made of white potatoes, sweet potatoes, collard greens and eggplant. All sliced thin and layered then I made a sauce with some seed cheese a tomato, some other spices, I don't remember, water. Blended it all up and poured it over the casserole, baked it at 400F for about three hours. Too long. but it was still pretty good.
















The Money Shot














Red leaf lettuce salad with tomato and pepper salad, apple pear salsa, brine pickle, sweet potato and collard casserole, mashed cauliflower and cornbread on the side. mmm...

Mashed Cauliflower














One head of cauliflower, steamed

Whip it up food processor, or mash by hand, with some of the steaming water, salt and pepper. Put in an oven proof lidded dish and bake for 2 hours or more at 400F. Serve hot with some vegan buttery spread for a real treat.

On the Laundry Front:

I did a bunch of laundry (video linky!) yesterday. I can't decide what I like better, doing little bits every day or letting it all build up and doing it all one or two days a week. They both have their merits. I am still using the laundry soap I mix up here at home, 1 part shredded bar soap and 2 parts Borax, and it's working great! I buy soap ends at Night Fire Natural Foods. The soap is made by a local company and are vegan, no beeswax, except some are made from goat milk. I pick the ends that aren't the color that the goat milk ones are and I feel pretty good about that. I don't think I can get much closer to vegan at this price. $1.69 a pound compared to $3.19 a bar for Dr Bronners. Until I find something better than that, here I am.
I am glad to be off of the commercial laundry soap train and away from the bleach, dyes and fragrances. I quit using fabric softener, too and it seems to be ok. No one is complaining about rough clothes.
If I feel the need for something to be softer or scented, like bath towels, I put about a tablespoon of some cheap 99c store conditioner on an old wash cloth and toss it in the dryer with the wet laundry. It softens fabrics and the scent isn't so strong that it gives me a headache the way commercial fabric softener does. I try to find the ones with very few ingredients, a light scent and of course, no animal products. Right now I'm using White Rain, the smell of which reminds me of high school... White Rain products are cheap and vegan. Not healthy, but cheap and vegan.

I don't wash my hair with shampoo but that is another entry...

Vegan Eggplant Noodle Casserole

Yet again, I have made dinner.













The casserole is elbow macaroni, dried eggplant slices, a lovely tomato sauce I made, ground vegan seitan sausage and bread crumbs on top. Bake two hours at 350F, covered, take the lid off and let it brown up then serve immediately.
The salad is red lettuce and spinach with some sesame dressing I threw together. sesame, olive oil, water, ACV and oregano.
The things that look like Dolmas are actually collard leaves* I put about a tablespoon of seitan sausage in each one, rolled them up and baked with a table spoon of water in a small covered casserole at 350 for about half an hour. Very simple and very impressive, IMO. I would serve these at a party as an appetizer. I would. You can't prove that I wouldn't :)

I bought this book at Goodwill and have been brushing up my non-existent yoga skills.





























I had the boy take a photo but it came out blurry. That is the fish pose, Matsyasana.
From the book:

Benefits of Matsyasana: The fish stretches the spine and at the same time expands and opens the chest. It helps to regulate the four parathyroid glands in the neck. These endocrine glands control the levels of calcium in the blood. Calcium strengthens bones and teeth. It is also important for the contraction of muscles and the clotting of blood. Matsyasana corrects rounded shoulders, increases lung capacity and helps with breathing problems, relieves stress and regulates moods, increases prana** in the neck, shoulders, lungs stomach and spleen and energizes the parathyroid glands and tones the pituitary.


I find that yoga really does regulate my mood. Since I released all that weight, I have noticed that my periods affect me more than they used to. Or at least I notice it more. I gain 5 lbs every month for a week. WTF is that about. Anyway. If I am in a pissy mood, doing some poses can really change my attitude.

You might also notice I cleaned up my sidebar. I had some affiliate links but since they have been there I haven't made a dime so, bye bye useless clutter!



Footnotes:

* collard leaves are a FANTASTIC substitute for grape leaves. I got four rolls out of one large leaf. Go Collard Greens! Speaking of collard greens and greens in general. I was in line at the supermarket last Thursday, with my usual cart full of nothing but veges. The cashiers LOVE me! (not) I actually had one goth looking chick cashier say, "Oh, no! You again!" hehe. I still get a thrill out of striking dread and terror in the hearts of people. I don't think that will ever fade. Anyway there was a weird lady in front of me in line. She was buying washcloths and sweatpants and wearing very red lipstick and very blue eyeshadow. Sort of your teapot type, ya know, short and stout. She turned back to me and asked me something about some fast food restaurant in the area. I smiled and said that I hadn't the slightest idea about any fast food restaurants. I didn't go on after that, just "Sorry, I really don't know." She then started gazing into my cart. Pointing at the huge bundle of collard greens she said (wrinkle nose) "What is THAT?" Again, I smiled and said, "That is collard." She said "COLLARD? I never heard of THAT!" I said, smiling, of course, "Well, it's a leafy green. You can eat it in salad like lettuce or steam it and eat it like you would spinach." Then it was her turn at the reg and she didn't like the price on any of the stuff she chose so she left with nothing. Strange lady. Then the cashier. They dread me because nothing I buy has a barcode and they have to either know the code or look it up or CALL SOMEONE in the produce department. Fun. The young cashier was a tall blond, corn-fed type looking boy about 18 years old. He did not know what a daikon, a rutabaga, a parsnip or a turnip was. His explanation "My parents just don't buy these kinds of vegetables!" I smiled and didn't say anything to that. And this is the extent of my contact with people outside of my family here is Klamath Falls, Oregon. It ain't easy being green in Klamtucky, I tell you.

**Prana is a Sanskrit word literally meaning 'life-force' the invisible bio-energy or vital energy that keeps the body alive and maintains a state of good health. It's all about creating balance to open psychic awareness, and the nature of reality and one's place in it.