All Purpose Stain Spray
1/4 cup castille soap (or other veg. based soap)
1/4 cup glycerin
2 tablespoons Borax
10 drops peppermint or tea tree essential oil
1 3/4 cup water
Combine in a spray bottle. Spray and wash!
Friday, October 30, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Organic or Not Organic that is the Question
Orgnic Foods, Genetically modified (GM) foods, Genetically modified animals and the MOST HORRIFING Cloning amimals for food.
Why go organic? Organic foods are grown without synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides. Organic foods are not genetically modified. Organic foods are grown in soil that is nurtured, not treated... which means top soil, groundwater, rivers, lakes, streams, watersheds, fish & wildlife, and people are not compromised. Healthy food grows in healthy soil. You can often taste the organic difference!
Typically, genetically modified foods are transgenic plant products: soybean, corn, canola, and cotton seed oil, but animal products have been developed. Genetic engineering begins with the identification and isolation of a gene which expresses a desirable trait, with the aid of restriction enzymes. Then a recipient plant or animal is selected, and the gene is inserted and incorporated into its genome through a vector such as agrobacterium, through a gene gun shooting an elemental particle covered in plasmid DNA, electroporation, or a virus. Once part of the recipient, the newly inserted gene becomes part of the genome of the recipient and is regulated in the same way as its other genes.
Why go organic? Organic foods are grown without synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides. Organic foods are not genetically modified. Organic foods are grown in soil that is nurtured, not treated... which means top soil, groundwater, rivers, lakes, streams, watersheds, fish & wildlife, and people are not compromised. Healthy food grows in healthy soil. You can often taste the organic difference!
Typically, genetically modified foods are transgenic plant products: soybean, corn, canola, and cotton seed oil, but animal products have been developed. Genetic engineering begins with the identification and isolation of a gene which expresses a desirable trait, with the aid of restriction enzymes. Then a recipient plant or animal is selected, and the gene is inserted and incorporated into its genome through a vector such as agrobacterium, through a gene gun shooting an elemental particle covered in plasmid DNA, electroporation, or a virus. Once part of the recipient, the newly inserted gene becomes part of the genome of the recipient and is regulated in the same way as its other genes.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Know your Eggs
What does 'pasture-raised' mean and how is it different from 'cage-free' or 'free-range'? And are pasture-raised eggs worth it?
First off, terms like 'free-range' and 'cage-free' don't always mean what people think (and hope) they mean. In fact, because there is very little regulation for these words, they basically have no meaning whatsoever. Cage-free is simply that the chickens aren't raised in battery cages but that doesn't mean they aren't stuffed into huge houses with forty thousand other chickens, leading only a slightly less miserable life than if they were in cages. And free-range chickens do have access to the outdoors, but it does not mean that they are actually using it.
Right now, the term 'pasture-raised' isn't very regulated either. In general, it refers to a system where the chickens are grazed outdoors in movable shelters and are fed organic feed, free of hormones and antibiotics. Pastured chickens are allowed to be chickens: scratch in the dirt, eat bugs, take dust baths. It's a fairly new term and until someone comes along to exploit it, it's the one I trust the most.
Of course there are farmers who use all these terms in the spirit in which they are intended, which brings me to my point: find a good farmer you can trust and pay what you can for their products. The American Pastured Poultry Producers website will help you find a farmer in your area.
The question 'are pasture-raised eggs worth it?' is a tricky one. It depends of course on your ability to pay that much for them but even more, it depends on what you value. I buy from a local couple in my area, because I 1. can see the chickens from my car, 2 know what they are fed, 3. know that the eggs are just days old and have not been trucked 300 mile to get to the local supper market and because in the matrix of my life, they hit high marks in all the areas that matter most to me: taste, living lightly, stewardship, connection, beauty.
In a more perfect world, everyone would be eating pasture-raised eggs and not just those who are wealthy and can afford them. For more information on the confusion around cage-free, free-range and other terms, check out this article from Mother Earth News.
Food, Inc
First off, terms like 'free-range' and 'cage-free' don't always mean what people think (and hope) they mean. In fact, because there is very little regulation for these words, they basically have no meaning whatsoever. Cage-free is simply that the chickens aren't raised in battery cages but that doesn't mean they aren't stuffed into huge houses with forty thousand other chickens, leading only a slightly less miserable life than if they were in cages. And free-range chickens do have access to the outdoors, but it does not mean that they are actually using it.
Right now, the term 'pasture-raised' isn't very regulated either. In general, it refers to a system where the chickens are grazed outdoors in movable shelters and are fed organic feed, free of hormones and antibiotics. Pastured chickens are allowed to be chickens: scratch in the dirt, eat bugs, take dust baths. It's a fairly new term and until someone comes along to exploit it, it's the one I trust the most.
Of course there are farmers who use all these terms in the spirit in which they are intended, which brings me to my point: find a good farmer you can trust and pay what you can for their products. The American Pastured Poultry Producers website will help you find a farmer in your area.
The question 'are pasture-raised eggs worth it?' is a tricky one. It depends of course on your ability to pay that much for them but even more, it depends on what you value. I buy from a local couple in my area, because I 1. can see the chickens from my car, 2 know what they are fed, 3. know that the eggs are just days old and have not been trucked 300 mile to get to the local supper market and because in the matrix of my life, they hit high marks in all the areas that matter most to me: taste, living lightly, stewardship, connection, beauty.
In a more perfect world, everyone would be eating pasture-raised eggs and not just those who are wealthy and can afford them. For more information on the confusion around cage-free, free-range and other terms, check out this article from Mother Earth News.
Food, Inc
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Berry Berry Blueberry
Blueberry Buckle **(See topping at the end of this recipe)**
Ingredients
1 ten-inch round cake or 2 six-inch round cakes
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
5 cups wild or cultivated blueberries
Directions
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a springform baking pan, and dust with flour, tapping out excess. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce mixer speed to low, and add egg and vanilla, beating until fully combined.
Add reserved flour mixture, alternating with the milk, a little of each at a time, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Remove from mixer. Gently fold in blueberries.
Pour batter into prepared pan; sprinkle streusel topping over cake. Bake until cake tester comes out batter-free, 60 to 70 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Remove from pan; cool for 15 minutes before serving
Topping
Ingredients
Makes enough for 1 ten-inch cake or 2 six-inch cakes
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
Directions
In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Using a pastry blender or fork, cut in the butter until fine crumbs form.
Using hands, squeeze together most of the mixture to form large clumps. The topping can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 6 months.
Blueberry Pudding **(Sauce at the end of recipe)**
1 pint of dry blueberries
4T butter
1 egg
3/4 c milk
1 1/2 c flour
1 c sugar
1 t. cream of tartar
(I use a 2 coffee cans for the mold)
4-quart pot
Wash and drain toe blueberries. Generously grease the inside of the cans and plastic lids with butter. I a small bowl beat the eggs; stir in the milk and baking soda. In a larger bowl mix flour, sugar, and cream of tartar; work in the butter with your fingers or two forks, until the mixture is coarse. Stir the wet liquid into the flour mixture until it is all moist. Stir in the blueberries; take care not to crush them. Pour blueberry batter into the molds (cans) and cover with lids. Set the containers in the pot and fill 2/3 full with boiling water. Cover the pot with a lid and simmer for 1 1/2 hours or longer. As long as there is water in your pot the pudding will not over cook.
Sauce for Blueberry Pudding
1 c sugar
3 T butter
Pinch of salt
ground nutmeg 1/2 pinch
2 T Rose water or Lemon extract
2 C water
Direction
Simmer the sugar in water until it begins to thicken into syrup, about 10 minutes. Remove from hear and stir in remaining ingredients. Slice pudding and drizzle warm sauce over the slice.
Ingredients
1 ten-inch round cake or 2 six-inch round cakes
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
5 cups wild or cultivated blueberries
Directions
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a springform baking pan, and dust with flour, tapping out excess. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce mixer speed to low, and add egg and vanilla, beating until fully combined.
Add reserved flour mixture, alternating with the milk, a little of each at a time, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Remove from mixer. Gently fold in blueberries.
Pour batter into prepared pan; sprinkle streusel topping over cake. Bake until cake tester comes out batter-free, 60 to 70 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Remove from pan; cool for 15 minutes before serving
Topping
Ingredients
Makes enough for 1 ten-inch cake or 2 six-inch cakes
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
Directions
In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Using a pastry blender or fork, cut in the butter until fine crumbs form.
Using hands, squeeze together most of the mixture to form large clumps. The topping can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 6 months.
Blueberry Pudding **(Sauce at the end of recipe)**
1 pint of dry blueberries
4T butter
1 egg
3/4 c milk
1 1/2 c flour
1 c sugar
1 t. cream of tartar
(I use a 2 coffee cans for the mold)
4-quart pot
Wash and drain toe blueberries. Generously grease the inside of the cans and plastic lids with butter. I a small bowl beat the eggs; stir in the milk and baking soda. In a larger bowl mix flour, sugar, and cream of tartar; work in the butter with your fingers or two forks, until the mixture is coarse. Stir the wet liquid into the flour mixture until it is all moist. Stir in the blueberries; take care not to crush them. Pour blueberry batter into the molds (cans) and cover with lids. Set the containers in the pot and fill 2/3 full with boiling water. Cover the pot with a lid and simmer for 1 1/2 hours or longer. As long as there is water in your pot the pudding will not over cook.
Sauce for Blueberry Pudding
1 c sugar
3 T butter
Pinch of salt
ground nutmeg 1/2 pinch
2 T Rose water or Lemon extract
2 C water
Direction
Simmer the sugar in water until it begins to thicken into syrup, about 10 minutes. Remove from hear and stir in remaining ingredients. Slice pudding and drizzle warm sauce over the slice.
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