Banana Oat Muffins- Wheat, Soy, Milk and Egg free

Today we hosted a playgroup and I wanted to make some muffins that all the kids could eat- including Emma and another toddler who was allergic to egg and milk. So I got out the mini-muffin tin again and Claire helped me make these muffins. This recipe makes about 30 mini muffins. At the end of playgroup there were 3 left. I am not sure I would say they are the best, but the kids liked them and Emma could eat them as well.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup olive oil

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/3 cup oat flour

1/3 cup rice flour (or ommit the rice and make it 1 2/3 cups oats)
2 tsp Ener-G egg replacer (or 1 egg)
1/4 cup of water
2 tsp baking powder
2 bananas (ripe)
1/3 cups oatmeal (preferable not the quick cooking kind)


1. Beat the oil and sugar together.
2. Add the dry ingredients (except oats), mix using the blender
3. Add the water and the bananas, mix using the blender again
4. Add the oatmeal, stir.

Place about a tablespoon or so in each of the mini-muffin cups and bake at 350 until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean (about 15 minutes.... sorry I forgot to keep track of the time!)

Trying to get to a 1 trash bag a week... cloth diapers and hankies

This week was Claire's birthday and we of course had a birthday party for her. This time we did not use paper or plastic cups, silverware or tablecloths. It seemed silly to be doing cloth diapers and then going and buying $20 worth of of paper or plastic party wear when I had plenty of dishes and tablecloths to go around. I did also have some biodegradeable bowls I had left over from last year's party that we used for the chili and some cake. Since we are moving in a few months, it seemed silly not to use them. We emptied their contents and threw the bowls into the composter. In any case...not a single dish was broken. I did cheat and used juice boxes... I hesitated but then thought that they were less likely to spill those since 11 kids plus babies running around tend to spill things.

It has occured to us (Eric and I) how much of a convenience-centered, throw-away society we live in. Everything is disposable... diapers, dishes, napkins, mop heads, cleaning products... etc. We spend alot of money on those products just to save a few minutes of maintenance. And the landfills grow daily. Last fall, the girls and I took a tour of the local garbage dump and recycling center. If I remember correctly, 17 tractor trailers of garbage leave their facility DAILY. Our town is not that big.... So Eric and I are shooting for having 1 garbage bag a week.

Sadly, we failed this week. We'll try again next week. Between the birthday party, cleaning out our house to get it ready to sell and finally admitting that the kids' toy chairs were beyong repair, we ended up with at least 4 trash bags and the chairs on the side of the road. But we should not have more than 1 trash bag... we recycle, we compost, we use cloth diapers and wipes, and I try to buy our dry goods from the bulk bins and in doing so, reusing the containers. Still, we have never had just 1 trash bag a week.

This is where I am going to make a plug for both cloth diapers and hankerchiefs. I love both and they really aren't that gross. Lets talk about the hankies briefly... the girls love them since I found some very pretty ones on ebay and had some cute ones (hello kitty) from when I was a little girl. They carry them around with them all day and drop them in the hamper at night. I used to find nasty kleenexes all over the house and the dog would eat them and then I'd have to pooper scoop them. Now, I don't. They just get dumped into the wash. I don't bother ironing them. Also, they don't rip and leak or ooze. The contain the mess quite nicely. If you don't have any hankies, check them out on e-bay. They are usually $1 or so for 2-3 and about that much for shipping.

Cloth diapers.... many of my friends and family thought I was insane to try cloth diapering. The only way I talked Eric into it was using pure economics. I spent $400 for 2-3 years worth of diapering. I had to practically sign a contract stating that once I purchased the BumGenuis 2.0 diapers at $18 a piece, I would use them until potty training. Eric now wishes we had used them for all of the girls. He HAS done his share of the diaper laundry and does not hesitate to change a diaper. He tells any one that this is the way to go. First of all, it is much better for the environment... we don't use that much more water. We are billed on a 3 month cycle. I checked our water bill and for the 3 months prior to Emma's birth our usage was 12. The three months before that was 10. After that our usage has stayed in the 9-12 range. I am not sure exactly how much water that is, the number simply reflects changes in our meter. Now I use soap nuts (see my entry form earlier this month- but I LOVE them) and so I don't even put chemicals in the water.

Second, the chlorine and absorbent materials they put in disposables aren't that healthy. Studies have shown that they contain dioxin which in much higher dosages is a known carcinongen. You can buy some that are chlorine free. My friend uses 7th Generation ones and they don't leak for her little girl. We used 1/2 a pack when we traveled to Belgium for the airplane ride and they worked really well. I still prefered the cloth diapers, though.

I like the cloth diapers because I can adjust the absorbency. First, you should know that I use what are called Pocket Diapers. The outside is made of a waterproofed polyester and the inside is made of a micro fleece. (Not very biodegradable- I know- but at least I'll only throw away 24- and one of my siblings will probably use them for their kids before that happens). The fleece is great since it lets the urine through to be absorbed by the insert, but at the same times prevents it from coming into contact with the babies bottom. They fasten with velcro, but have a pocket in which you stuff an absorbent insert. I have hemp and micro terry inserts. At night, I use 2 inserts. The double stuffed diaper is bulky, but Emma doesn't seem to mind since she is only sleeping. She actually doesn't seem to mind at all since she walks around the house before going to bed. With just one insert the diapers last about 3-4 hours. The key to keeping that absorbency is to wash them with the smallest amount of detergent or even better, using the soapnuts. Once they have detergent build-up, they leak. Sometimes adding a water softener (like Calgon) to the wash helps, but I have not had to do this since I started using the soapnuts. Did I say I loved Soap Nuts!?!

As for the grossness factor... I can't be the judge of your tolerance... but I presume you do wipe your baby's bottom, and so in a way are already handling the BMs. Once Emma started to eat solids (and stopped eating Soy, Wheat and Milk products) I was able to shake the BMs into the toilet. There were many months when this was not possible... and everything went into the wash. I wash the diapers 2x, once on cold and then once on hot. My washing machine is no worse for the wear. I use gloves and then wash my hands with the gloves still on to clean them. I wash my hands again, just to be sure. At some point you need to separate the insert from the rest of the diaper. I used to do it as soon as I took it off of her, but now I just do the separating in front of the laundry machine.

Another thing, I bought one size fits all diapers that fit 8lbs-35lbs. For a while, when Emma was still a newborn, Claire wore them at night (as an almost 3 year old that weighed about 31lbs) . So both my kids, 2 years 9 months apart, used the same diapers at the same time. I didn't need to worry about sizes or running to the store. As long as I do diaper laundry every 2-3 days, we have diapers.

You can find out more about cloth diapers and read reviews on different brands at http://www.diaperpin.com/. I bought the BumGenuis 2.0 from http://www.cottonbabies.com/. They made the adjustment from disposable to cloth really easy. I have since checked and they have made a 3.0 version, which is almost identical but has some minor improvements that seem to be more helpful for boys than girls (they added a waterproof strip on the top of the inside so that ther would be no leaks coming out the top- we have never had that issue). Some people swear by Fuzzi Bunz or Happy Heinys. I didn't want those since I don't want to buy multiple sizes. Now, I think I could handle most cloth diapering systems (including pre-folds, which is what most of us think of typically when we say "cloth diapers"). Though Prefolds are by far the cheapest diapering option, I still think $400 for 2-3 years of diapering isn't at all bad!

Here are some early pics of Emma in her BumGenius diapers... she was about 3-4 weeks old and maybe 9-10lbs. These are the green ones, but we also have pink, yellow and blue.

Below are some pictures I took of Emma today, wearing the same diaper... in pink. She is now 15 months old and just under 21lbs. She is on the move!

Homemade Chicken/ Turkey Nuggets

Saturday, I decided to try my hand at homemade nuggets in the hopes of getting Emma to eat some meat. She liked Ian's allergy-free chicken nuggets, but they are super expensive (almost $5 for 16 tiny things) and I am trying to have the girls eat the same things. So, I decided to make my own so that all my kids could eat them. Also, I am trying to avoid buying too many processed foods. Making them myself also allows me to control the ingredients and use organic and/or locally grown meat and remove corn syrup. Also, I could use olive oil instead of a soy oil blend, since Emma doesn't tolerate soy, at all.

You could just as easily subsitute regular wheat flour instead of oat flour and feel free to add veggies to the meat puree. The concept behind homemade nuggets is rather simple: puree the raw meat in the food processor, add a few spices (and veggies if you so desire) make little balls out of the puree. Then dip the pureed meat balls in flour, then egg, then flour. Fry in a sauce pan with 1 1/2 cups or so of oil. Nuggets are just glorified meatballs that are fried and tend to be made with chicken or turkey rather than beef.

This time, I used ground turkey and oat flour, so they were slightly darker. I also added a raw carrot. Claire and Emma liked them but Caroline refused to eat them. This is rather atypical of Caroline- she is usually the easiest kid to feed, but she wasn't feeling 100%. Also, she doesn't typically eat that many chicken nuggets since she eats lunch at school. Claire has them once a week at least, so I really wanted to make them healthier for her.

Once they are cooked, you could freeze them... I would have, but they are all gone. To freeze them you could place them on a cookie sheet, cover them with wax paper and stick it in the freezer for an hour or so and them place them in a bag or other storage container.

Ingredients:

2 boneless skinless chicken breast (or about 1 lb of ground turkey, chopped pork, etc)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp EACH of parsley and oregano,
1/4 tsp Each of Pepper and onion powder
1/4 vegetable of choice (carrots, broccoli, etc)- This is optional, but a good way to sneak some veggies.

2 Eggs- beaten (to dip)
1 cup or so of flour (I used Oat flour, but you could mix oat and rice and/ or add some corn meal for texture)
about 1 1/2 cups of oil

1. Heat oil in a heavy duty skillet or sauce pan on medium-high heat while preparing the nuggets.

2. Cube meat (chicken, turkey or pork)- skip this if you already have ground meat

3. Place meat, spices and vegetable (if using) into a food processor and blend until it is a fine paste.

4. Place the flour on a large plate and the eggs in a small bowl, ready to work with.

5. Roll the chicken/ turkey/ meat paste into 30 or so small balls (smaller than golf balls- the smaller the easier they are for a toddler)

6. Roll the chicken balls into the flour, then the egg and then the flour again. Press the ball down to make a nugget. Repeat with the rest of the chicken/meat paste.

7. Test the oil to see if it is ready. To do this, sprinkle a bit of flour into the oil. If it bubbles quickly and right away, the oil is ready. Place as many of the little balls as possible into the pan. Fry until the bottoms are golden and then turn and fry again. Each side will t ake about 4-5 minutes.

8. Remove the nuggets from the oil and place them on a towel lined plate.

9. Enjoy. They are great with some homemade ketchup!

Emma's Oat Pancakes (wheat, milk and soy free)

I am sure its hard to be a toddler, looking at your big sisters digging into a stack of Daddy's homemade pancakes and not being able to eat some because of food allergies/ intolerances. So, Eric came up with a pancake recipe for Emma. Since she does not have celiac's, she can tolerate oats.... this is a small recipe, it makes about 5 silver dollar sized toddler pancakes.

3 Tablespoons Rice Milk (I am sure regular milk or soy would work if you weren't allergic)
3 Tablespoons Oat Flour*
1/4 tsp Baking POwder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp sugar
little dash of salt
1/2 egg replacer (Ener-G)- though if need be 1/2 egg would work as well. We still have a huge box since she initially tested slightly positive for egg allergy. If you were making scrambled eggs, you could use part of that- then mix it in with the milk.

1. Mix dry ingredients
2. Add the milk
3. Let sit for 5 minutes
4. Cook as you would other pancakes

These pancakes aren't super light and flufffy and have a slightly nutty flavor... but they pass the toddler test! And they are among the limited amounts of non-fruit food items that go into Emma's mouth!

* I found that buying the oat flour from the bulk bins tends to be much cheaper than the fancy packaged kind in the organic/ gluten free section. That is the same for most specialty flours. In order to save on packaging and to get the amount I need, I have been buying lots of things in the bulk dry foods section: raisins, chocolate chips, dried currants, oats and quick oats. Wegman's section is in the organic food area and most everything is organic... which is a bonus. I also found a natural health food store that sells similar dry goods in bulk. You could bring your containers back and reuse them. Some stores have paper bags that are available and you could compost those.

A bit more about BPA in plastics....

Not to sound alarmist... but yesterday, Eric mentioned to one of our neighbors (who happens to have a PhD in chemistry) that we were concerned about plastics and asked if all the hype was true. He gave Eric a brief description of the history and to sum it all up... it is true and it is scary. He added that the plastics also emit these chemicals into the air and atmosphere. Studies have shown that seals living in the poles (north and south) have higher concentrations of it. I then decided to check it out on Wikipedia, if you'd like I've linked the article.

Here is the article...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_A


To summurize it briefly and (without plagiarizing!)
Studies in laboratory animals have linked variying levels of Bisphenol A (BPA) to the following conditions:

Permanent changes to genital tract
Changes in breast tissue that predispose cells to hormones and carcinogens
30% increase in prostate mass
Signs of early puberty
Decline in testicular testosterone
Breast cells predisposed to cancer
Prostate cells more sensitive to hormones and cancer
Insulin resistance
Decreased maternal behavior
Damage to eggs and chromosomes
Hyperactivity
Reversal of normal sex difference in brain structure

BPA is in many things, many of which are not food related, such as polyesters and PVC and is used as an antioxidant in food and cosmetics. BPA has been known to leach out of the plastic lining in some canned goods and from polycarbonate plastic containers after they have been used to contain high-temperature and highly acidic foods or cleaned with harsh detergents. First of all, I didn't realize that some cans are lined with plastic! One way to identify whether or not there is BPA in your plastic is to look at the recycle code at the bottom. Generally those labeled 2, 4 and 5 are considered safe. Those with 1,3,6 and 7 are not, 7 being the one that typically has the highest levels of BPA.

But here is another scary statistic: those people found with the highest concentrations... scarily enough are bottle fed infants as they consume most of their formula by way of plastic bottles that contain BPA. Liquid Formula cans are among the types of cans lined with plastics that leach BPA. Some infants consuming the liquid formulas can get up to 13 µg/kg/day, doses that in animals have been shown to have some of the effects listed above. If you use formula to feed your baby, try to avoid using the canned liquid kind and use glass bottles or ones that are BPA free.

Of all of this is in the wikipedia article. Again, only animal studies have been done, so this information isn't conclusive... but we decided that it really wasn't worth the chance to wait until scientists figure it all out. They have known since the 193os that BPA has had effects on the female reproductive system. They called it an "estrogen receptor antagonist". In any cases there also links to it in regards to cancer.

We have already gotten rid of most of our plastic food related items, as much as we can (the thermos sippy cups have plastic lids, though they are BPA free) and I think I'll be checking into wax paper as an alternate to Saran Wrap.

One more note: Some other dangerous chemicals commonly found in plastics, mostly vinyl and PVC, are called phthalates. (That "New" car smell... those are phthalates leaking into the air). Researchers have found that many baby care products contain certain phthalates that may lead to developmental and reproductive toxicity in infants. Such baby care products include soaps and lotions and shampoos. Additionally soft vinyl toys also contain phthalates (add that to the recent "Made in China" scare...) Again, a wikipedia article discusses this and you could google it and find out more for yourself. I think I will be a wiser consumer from now on, less plastic will come into our house and some things will just not make the next move.

A second thought: After re-reading this post, I thought it sounded a bit soap-boxish. I can't imagine life totally without plastic- I'd have no computer, vaccuum, refridgerator (and all other house-hold appliances for that matter). I still think though that we need to be aware of what we are putting into the environment and into our bodies. I am going to be a wiser consumer when it comes to food and body products and the containers they comes in. I am still in shock after having read that article. I didn't realize to what extent it already had been studied and how these chemicals are in so many things. I probably won't be posting too many posts like this one (not a very happy blog!!)... but I just had to talk about it since it was so surprising to me.

"Emma's AlphaTots Recipe"- AKA -How to Sneak Vegetables into Your Toddler

As many of you probably know, my youngest, Emma is Wheat, Milk and Soy intolerant. I suspected the milk protein allergy from the time she was 3 or 4 months old, but we did not find out until she was over one that the wheat and especially soy bothered her so much. These ingredients caused reflux and a host of intestinal woes. As a result she has some food aversions and would be happy to live off of fruits, Ian's Alphatot potatoes and rice cakes. Fruits are great, but without much other bulk, tend to have a certain affect. But she loves, loves, loves her Ian's Alphatots (basically, potato fries shaped as alphabet letters and cooked and processed on equipment that prevents the cross contamination of allergens such as wheat, soy, dairy and eggs). Potatoes are a great food, they have carbohydrates and starch and more potassium than a banana and almost have the RDA of Vitamin C. However in the hopes of diversifying her diet and salvaging my grogery bill, I came up with an easy recipe to make them myself. (Besides it kills me to have her eat so much processed foods, especially since all they are, are potatoes!)

I have an cast iron alphabet cookie pan made (for shortbread cookies), but if you don't have one, you could use a mini muffin tin and fill them half-way.

Note: The goal is to make a thick puree, one that would stick to the back of a spoon without dripping. The thickness you are aiming for is that of mashed potatoes, which is what they are. Using the food processor makes them velvety smooth and adding other vegetables add color and nutrition. If your child loves mashed potatoes, you could stop here. I often put carrots or squash in my mashed potatoes, especially now that we can't use milk since they add flavor.

Preparation:

Pre-heat your oven to 350

oil/ grease your mini muffin tin or alphabet cookie pan.

Ingredients:

2-3 potatoes, chopped

1 cup of any vegetable, chopped. I used a butternut squash that I had roasted in the oven to make soup the day before.... but you could use any vegetable cooked or raw.

1. Boil the potatoes and the vegetable (if not yet cooked)

2. Once the potatoes are cooked, remove them from the water and place them in a food processor, along with the vegetable.

3. Add just enough of the water from the cooking process to help make it smooth, about 1/4 cup, maybe even less. It depends on the kind of potatoes and vegetable you use - so add a little at a time.

4. Spoon the smooth puree of vegetables, (it should be rather thick, like mashed potatoes) into the mini muffin tin or other pan. Fill the mini muffin pan only halfway.

5. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or until brown.

6. Let them cool 5 minutes in the pan and them place them on a cookie rack.

Voila!

If you want one of those alphabet cookie pans, you can get them for about $25 on Amazon.com.

Rubber Boots and Pants

I have high energy kids... (I think had we had a calm child Eric might have had to question paternity), but towards the middle and end of winter we get some serious cabin fever. Last week, the only "warmer" days were rainy and wet. But we went outside at least 3-4 times each day to jump in puddles. And I realized that many kids here in the US don't have rubber pants. Talking with a few moms at the indoor playground (another life saver), I realized that some kids don't have rain boots either. Most do have snow boots, but not rain boots. So here is my plug for rain boots and pants.

I was born in Belgium, which despite being at the same lattitude as New Foundland, is much more temperate than the northeast US thanks to the Gulf Stream. So, it rains more, snows less. The climate is more similar to that of the middle atlantic states. Growing up we always had rubber boots and rubber pants. Playing in the rain is lots of fun. My kids love it and I love the fact that they don't ruin their clothes (or at least create another whole load of laundry each time they go outside- despite my new found love of soap nuts). Target sells cute rubber boots, so do LLBean and Landsend, both of these stores also sell the rubber pants from 2T and up, though only LL Bean sells the infant sizes.

The great thing is that they last forever and are easily passed down and around. All my girls have worn a pair of orange rubber boots that my mother had for my siblings and I. My mother still has rain pants at her house in case we forget ours or someone comes with a child, without snowpants.

Soap Nuts!!

I finally got my order of soap nuts today. When I was in Belgium, I saw a news clip about them and also read an article. They intrigued me since I was cloth diapering Emma and with three kids I do a lot of laundry. Soap nuts are dried fruit, much like figs, that come from the Chinese Soapberry Tree (Sapindus Mukorossi) and are a natural laundry detergent. They contain saponin, a natural cleaner used for thousands of years to clean clothes.

So they are hypoallergenic and natural and 100% biodegradable. They are sustainable and suport rural economies and prevent the logging of the soapberry trees.

But do they work? How much do they cost?

Yes, they work. I just did my first load and I showed no mercy. The load I washed was the girls clothes. Tomatoes, markers, mud, general grey stuff on the sleeves. The tomato stains were not all gone, but they never are using my regular detergent. I have to say that they worked at least as well as Tide Clear, which is what I was using before. I am now reusing the first 2 soap nuts in a dishtowel and big wash.

How to use:

For a hot/ warm wash: place 2 soapnuts in the little bag they provided and pop in the wash.
For a cold wash: use 4 (but then they can be re-used 3-4 times)

They are safe in HE as well as regular machines. They don't really produce any suds.

You can check out more at http://www.maggiespureland.com/. That is where I purchased them.
There is supposedly a lot more you can do with them.

Now for the cost: a big bag supposedly for 200 loads, cost $34.99 and I paid $7.47 shipping- so I paid $42.46. (About 21 cents a load) The Tide Clear I usually buy costs $12.99 and they advertise it does 64 loads and that is about 20 cents a load. So the cost, including shipping is on par with what I currently use. The question remains whether I will truly get 200 loads and if I ever truly get 64 loads. I will try to keep track of the number of loads I do. Also, no need for softeners... the clothes came out beautifully!

Anyway, here are pictures of the soap nuts and some of the stains they took out:

This is how the soap nuts arrived. There was a big cotton bag to keep them all in and a smaller one in which you place them before you pop them in the wash.

Two friendly little soap nuts.

Caroline's grungy turtleneck- notice the dirt, pencil and marker marks on the sleeves.

Caroline's Turtleneck- after a warm wash with soap nuts. She has had this turtleneck for 2 years, so there were very light stains on the sleeves before hand.

Claire's shirt, notice the tomato and marker spots.

Claire's shirt -after a warm wash with soap nuts.

To Do Away with Plastics! But What About Sippy Cups?

Recently, in the news there have been articles about the dangers of polycarbonate plastics, commonly used for children's sippy cups, bottles, etc. The chemical in question is called bisphenol A and supposedly affects the reproductive organs. We decided we really didn't need the medical community to confirm it for us. If it turns out bisphenol A is harmless, we would be no worse off if we threw away (recycled) our plasticware. But if it isn't...

Anyway, the girls were fighting over the plastic stuff we had, it was used, beaten up and took up way too much cupboard space. So, we eliminated it all. I already had a nice set of pyrex storage containers we liked and the older girls just started using the regular plates we used. I had some juice glasses that had roosters on them that was just the right size for them. I did go out and buy more pyrex storage dishes.

For kitchen utensils, we use mostly wooden spoons and spatulas. I also have some stainless steel laddles and spatulas.

That left Emma, still very prone (and fond of) throwing things onto the floor and proclaiming "Uh Oh!". Porcelain plates aren't really an option right now. So I found stainless steel food preparation bowls. The ones I found (at Wegmans) had a soft plastic lid, so they could be used for storage and transportation as well. I tend to wash the lids by hand. I also use our small wooden cutting boards as plates. Eric is going to try to make her some more. You could also go to a camping store and look for a few stainless steel plates.

That still left the problem that arises when she drinks. Glass wasn't an option for everyday use. At the table, she likes to drink out of a juice glass too, but I have to help her. I searched ebay and craigslists for vintage cups, hoping to find something in silver, pewter, stainless steel, etc. Finally, I found these THERMOS sippy cups. At Target, in the camping section. The reviews were mixed... they claimed that they leaked and the inserts were hard to clean. They are expensive.

I like them. They are more sanitary, they keep her Elecare (hypoallergenic formula) cooler and therefore less likely to harbor bacteria when we are out an about. The inserts are two pieced and you just need to take them apart to clean them. They leak a bit if you don't push the little nozzle in fully, mostly when you shake the formula. They are expensive, about $15 a piece and I bought two. But considering Emma seems to be sensitive to many things, I thought it a wise decision. $30 is cheaper than in vitro treatments 30 years from now when she wants to have a baby and can't. Again, that is probably an over reaction...

Make your own Dishwasher Detergent

The other day, as I knew I was running out of dishwasher detergent, I decided to see if I could find one that may be more environmentally friendly and cheaper. It is amazing what you can find on the internet! It is really easy to make (took about 1 minute) and works rather well. You may have to play around with the amount of salt and borax based on how hard your water is.

First, I put white vinegar in the Jet Dry dispenser.

Ingredients:
1 cup Washing Soda (Baking Soda found in a large box in the laundry section)
1 cup Borax (also in the laundry section)
1/4 cup Salt

Mix all the ingredients together. Keep in a storage container and use as you would your regular powder dish detergent. I use an old formula can and its scoop.

FYI: Washing Soda and Borax have plenty of other household cleaning uses. More to come.

Claire's Ketchup

Claire and I made ketchup yesterday morning. We were almost out and frankly, there is a lot of corn syrup in commercial ketchup. I thought that instead of baking, something Claire loves to do, we'd try our hand at something she eats alot of. It is february and I don't have a garden right now. To make it truly local and sustainable, it would have to be July and I'd have to have a surplus of tomato plants. Since I usually only have 3 or 4 tomato plants, that doesn't usually happen. That bigger garden will have to wait until Eric retires from the Army. So, I did the next best thing; I bought a can of Wegmans Food You Feel Good About Tomato Puree and started with that. I had a hard time finding a recipe online. I finally found one on epicurious.com, but it needed quite a bit of tweeking. Still the whole process didn't take very long- maybe 20 minutes. The ketchup then sat and cooled while we headed off to the library.

RECIPE:

1 28-oz can of pureed whole tomatoes
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tbsp of olive oil
1 tbsp of tomato paste
2/3 cup of brown sugar (you can make it a little less, I didn't pack or level it)
1/4- 1/3 cup of cider vinegar
Spices:
about 1 1/2 tsp salt, all spice, dry mustard, celery seed, pepper (you can add more or less to taste... this is an approximate guess- Claire helped!)


1. Cook the chopped onions over medium heat in olive oil until soften (5-8 minutes)
2. Add the pureed tomatoes, tomato paste, cider vinegar, sugar and spices.
3. let everything simmer for about an hour. (less if you need to go somewhere, but longer will let the flavors develop. Don't forget to stir occasionally)
4. Turn the heat off and let it cool.
5. Blend. Either put several batches into a blender or if you have one, use an immersion blender.

You can refrigerate this for about 3 weeks. If you have more than you'll eat in that time and you don't want to give some to the neighbors, I suggest canning it. Since it is acidic, you can just buy a few small glass canning jars and lids, sterilize them (either boil them or have them go through the dishwasher) and then place them in boiling water for 15-20 minutes to seal them.

Making your own butter

Butter is not hard to make, especially if you have a stand alone mixer.

I buy milk from a local farm that delivers. It is not organic but the cows are not given the bovine growth hormone. I bought a quart of heavy cream from them.

Ingredients:
4 cups or so of heavy cream that is not ultra pasteurized
1/2 tsp (or so) of salt

Before you start: Fill a bowl with water and place in the refridgerator.

1. Place the cream in the bowl of the mixer and use either the wisk or plastic beater.
2. Beat the cream into whipped cream and continue beating it as it becomes stiffer and stiffer whipped cream. At one point the cream will seize and collapse and you will hear a sloshing sound. You will see bits of butter floating in buttermilk, and a few seconds later, a glob of yellowish butter will separate from milky buttermilk. It took about 15-20 minutes in my machine.
3. Drain the buttermilk. Please keep it- it is great fresh buttermilk and will be great in any pancake or waffle recipe!
4. Add 1/2 cup of the ice cold water. Beat again. Drain. Repeat this 3-4 times until the water comes out clear.
5. Add the 1/2 tsp of salt. (Omit if making unsalted butter)
6. Using a kitchen towel (or a paper towel), squeeze out the rest of the water. I used a smooth kitchen towel (you can also use a flour sack).
7. Store the butter. It made somewhere between 3/4 and a pound of butter.

I did this with my girls and one of their friends. They had a great time and played between checking if the whipped cream had become butter.