Cilantro...The New Love of My Life

Last week I got my copy of From Scratch by Shaye Elliott of The Elliott Homestead. I bought it on sale from Amazon for just under $16 and, let me tell you, it is worth every penny of it! And I have only made one thing from it!!
Shaye's type of cooking is plain and simple, all from scratch, good for you food. There are no exotic ingredients, nothing weird. You can pronounce everything and find it all locally, probably in your own pantry. It does, however, require just a teensy bit more time than most people are probably used to, at least in the beginning.

This type of food is most beneficial to our bodies when as much of each component is made from scratch as possible. For example, chicken stock. Yes, you can buy it at the store pretty cheaply but then that is exactly what you get cheap, unappetizing food. Store bought stock isn't going to nourish your body the way your own homemade stock will. Why? Because food manufacturers have(?) to put in all kinds of preservatives, additives, colorings etc. in order to make a product that can sit on the shelves for years without ever decomposing. If it can last that long in a package, imagine what it will be doing in your intestines! So you want to make as many of the ingredients yourself as you possibly can.

The recipe I made for lunch today was Chicken Soup with Coconut and Cilantro. Oh my word, it was sooooo good. I never knew I liked cilantro until today. The smell is just so fresh and the taste...Oh!

This recipe actually started yesterday with some chicken stock making. This is an extremely easy thing to do but it does take a little bit of time. First, you want to get you a good chicken. I didn't use my own because my hens are more valuable to me for their eggs than for their meat. Plus I haven't ordered my "meat" chickens yet:) So I used a pastured chicken from the store. Yes it is more expensive but I won't compromise on meat for my family. So I cut the chicken up. This is a bit more tricky than I thought it would be. Hubby is going to have to sharpen my knife after I sawed through the bones! There are supposed to be joints you cut through but I never found 'em. So you cut up the whole chicken and put it in the crock pot (put in the neck and gizzards too) along with a couple of cut up carrots, celery and onion. Add 8-12 cups of water, depending on the size of your crock pot. You want it to be about 1 1/2 inches from the rim. Add in 1/4-1/2 c. apple cider vinegar and then put the lid on it. Cook on high until it starts to boil then turn it down to low. Let it cook for 12-24 hours. Once your house is smelling so good that you can't stand it, turn off the crock pot and get to separating the good stuff in there. Put all the meat in one bowl and all the cooked down veggies, bones and skin in another. Feel free to give the veggie/bone bowl to your pets. The bones have softened from the long cook and they are no longer dangerous. I gave mine to our pig and I have never seen her focused on eating in all the time we have had her!

Next, you need to strain the liquid to get out any other bits and pieces. You will need a fine mesh strainer or use come cheesecloth in a colander to strain it all out. Put the broth into a couple of containers and put in the fridge. You want the fat to thicken up on top of the broth so that it can be skimmed off. Once it is skimmed off, you can portion your broth and freeze it or put it into canning jars and can it. Here is a great tutorial for canning broth.

Once, the meat is cool enough to handle, remove it from the rest of the bones and skin. Shred the meat and portion it out however you need to. I just put a bit in the fridge to make the soup I mentioned above and then put a couple of cups into some freezer bags for future meals. Helpful hint, freeze the bags flat so that you can stack them once frozen to save space in the freezer.

Okay, now that you have some liquid chicken "gold" put up and some shredded chicken set aside, it is time to make this nummy soup!

Into a stockpot, put 3 1/2 cups chicken stock, 1 can full fat organic coconut milk, about a teaspoon fresh grated ginger (buy a root, keep in the freezer, grate as needed. Trust me on this!), 1/4 tsp of red pepper flakes, 1 tsp. liquid aminos (like soy sauce but better for you), 1/2 - 1 tbsp. sweetener (such as raw honey or sucanat. NOT SPLENDA!!!)1 cup shredded cooked chicken and 1 cup egg noodles. Bring all of it to a boil then turn down the heat and let it simmer until the noodles are cooked al dente. You will need to salt the soup so check it now and add what you need. Serve with chopped cilantro (do NOT leave that out!) and some chopped green onions. This recipe made enough for 3 big bowls of soup and you can double it if needed.
(I tweaked this recipe a little so it isn't exactly what is in the cookbook)

Try it. Soon. By the cookbook. Now. That's all.
 

Duluth Trading Company-A Review

My husband is hard on clothes. Really hard. Not that he tries to be, he just is. Even though he has an office job during the day, nights and weekends are spent building stuff. His 2 current projects are putting a railing around our deck and remodeling the back of our house. He sticks nails, hammers, pliers, pencils and anything else he walks around with in his pants pockets. This is not so great on the pants (not to mention my washing machine!) Plus he has to do a lot of squatting and bending over and, for a guy, sometimes things get, well, pinched. Please don't make me go into more detail on the pinching!
We were watching tv a few months ago and a commercial came on for Duluth Trading Ballroom Jeans...They aren't talking about dressy jeans you wear dancing. Nope, they are referring to testicle room. Not being a guy, I didn't get why this subject is so important. Jeans are jeans, right? Well, hubby needed more jeans so I decided to buy him some Ballroom Jeans just because it makes me giggle every time I say it. Let me just tell you that they were his favorite present under the Christmas tree. He loves them. He says that he can squat down without having to "reposition" anything and there is no pain involved. They are also made in what seems to me to be a very sturdy way. The seams are nice and strong and the material is of a good strong weight. The sizing seems to be pretty true also. These jeans are highly recommended by me but, most importantly, by the hubby who now has...ballroom. Yep, I had to go there. Sorry...

Oh wait! My road to tacky isn't over yet. Nope. Hubby got Buck Naked Underwear from Duluth Trading too! If you haven't seen this commercial, you are truly missing out. I hate commercials and always fast forward through them but this caught my eye. It shows a man in "regular underwear" with his crotch in a vise (I really never thought I would ever use the word "crotch" on my blog!) The announcer tells us that this is how wearing regular underwear feels. The next scene shows the same man running wild and free (and by free, I mean naked but he has a little flag over the "parts") while the announcer tells us this is how it feels to wear Duluth Trading's Buck Naked Underwear. The tagline is "No Sweat, No Stink, No Pinch". Honestly, how can you NOT laugh at that??? Well, hubby got some for Christmas (yes, we are practical gift givers) and he adores them. He probably would not want me to express that here but we're all friends, right? Like his jeans, hubby is tough on underwear. I don't how he does it but he is always ripping the waist band off. Poor thing has no rear end to hold up his pants so he is constantly tugging them upward. Hence, the waist band gets a workout. This Buck Naked Underwear has a reinforced waistband to handle all that tugging and apparently the fit is really good. Hubby does not get excited about much but good fitting underwear makes him real happy. I will warn you, they are a bit pricey. But isn't anything of quality? I paid $22.50 for a pair before Christmas. He loved them so I bought more while they were on sale for $15 each if you bought 2 or more. I will wait for another sale and stock up.
The orders were sent out quickly and I received everything in good condition. The website is super easy to navigate and it's funny, too. I am a sucker for humor. I would highly recommend this company and the 2 products we have tried so far. Plus, some of the customer testimonials are hilarious! I actually went to different products just to read what other people wrote. I found one from a guy in the same city I do my grocery shopping. How's that for a small world?

Cash Wallet-Product Review

So, any Dave Ramsey fans out there? Then this is the system for you. I haven't followed Mr. Ramsey but I have read lots of blogs from people who do. I do, however, love to pay cash for as much as possible. We don't use credit cards so we have only a choice of cash or debit card. Cash is much safer for me because I have been known to "forget" to enter debit card transactions into my accounting software which leads to less money than I think or the dreaded overdraft fee. So cash it is. Now, if you were to look at my wallet a few days ago you would have seen numerous bank envelopes spilling out. I had a different envelope, filled with cash, for the various things I pay with cash. My wallet had a hard time closing sometimes and, once when I was in the grocery store checkout line, I reached for my wallet and every thing spilled out onto the floor. Not cool.

A few months back, I was perusing a blog and she had a link to an Etsy shop for a cash wallet
system. I clicked on it and instantly fell in love with what was offered.

This lady uses laminated cloth to make her wallets so you can just wipe them off if they get grungy. The fabrics she uses are so cute, too. Inside the zippered wallet is a set of plastic tabbed dividers. You can put any category you want on them. They are roomy enough to carry not only your divided cash but I also have room for my driver's license, debit card, store discount cards, gift cards AND the matching change purse that you can buy separately! I.Love.It!!!!
I like that I no longer have to carry my regular wallet with me which was a bit bulky for my taste. This is streamlined and I only carry what I need.

The price was really good, too. $18 for the wallet and $7 for the change purse. I think I had them in my possession in about 10 days from when I ordered them so she ships them out pretty quickly. Remember, these are handmade, one of a kind items. It may be too late to order any for Christmas gifts but, really you could gift (or keep) these at any time of the year! Here is the link to her shop.

Redmond Earthpaste-Product Review

Awhile back, I ordered the Healthy Living ebook bundle. Along with the ebooks, I also got some free samples of some products. One of those products is Redmond's Earthpaste. This toothpaste is quite different from what you would find at the grocery store.



First of all, the ingredients aren't all chemically sounding. They are: Purified water, food grade Redmond clay, xylitol, peppermint essential oil (in the peppermint flavored one), menthol, redmond RealSalt, tea tree oil. That's it. I like that. I can pronounce and spell every ingredient! Notice there is no flouride. There has been a lot of research done about the need for flouride in toothpaste and, those in the health world, have raised real questions about its need and safety.
Another (big) difference is the fact that this toothpaste does not produce foam. I will tell you right now, that's the biggest thing I am trying to get past. I have had foaming toothpaste for many years. This stuff does not foam. It is also clay colored so, when you spit, it is brown. That takes a little getting used to.

All in all, I think I like the stuff. My teeth feel clean, my breath is fresh and I don't have any toothpaste stains on my shirt. Please tell me I am not the only one who constantly dribbles foamy toothpaste all over my chin and shirt. Please?

The taste is very mild. No, it doesn't feel gritty or anything. It comes in 3 flavors; peppermint, cinnamon and wintergreen. I have only tried the cinnamon one so far and it is tasty. Oh yeah, you can swallow this stuff without having to call poison control. Not that you would want to but it is nice to know that there is nothing in it that can hurt you. Bonus if you have small kids. You don't have to buy children's toothpaste and adult toothpaste. Everyone can use this.

I use Redmond RealSalt in the kitchen and I like the quality of their products. I give this one a thumbs up.