Simple Holiday-Spiced Steamer (with dairy-free option)

Here is a simple and delicious warm beverage to enjoy this holiday season. It's great any time of day, but it's perfect later in the day when you want to avoid stimulants like caffeine or chocolate. If you're making it for more that two, feel free to double or triple the recipe.

If you can't have dairy, this would be lovely with coconut milk.

Simple Holiday Spiced Steamer

Serves 2

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. raw milk or coconut milk
1 cinnamon stick
2 cardamom pods
4 cloves
4 allspice berries
1/4 t. vanilla extract
honey to taste

Directions:

1. Gather your spices and gently crush the cardamom pods. 
2. In a small saucepan, combine the spices and milk, and heat gently until warm but not hot enough to make your finger say "ouch!" (If you heat the raw milk past this point it kills the enzymes.)
3. Turn off the heat, and cover the pot. Let the spices infuse for about 5 minutes.
4. Uncover and add the vanilla and honey to taste. The milk may have developed a skin while infusing; feel free to remove it and discard. 
5. Pour the milk through a small strainer into mugs, and drink right away.

What's your favorite wintery-warm beverage?

This is part of Make Your Own Monday, Natural Living Monday, Modern Alternative Kitchen's Monday Link-Up, Real Food Wednesday, Healthy2Day Wednesday, Whole Foods Wednesday, Frugal Days Sustainable Ways, Allergy-Free Wednesday, Thank Your Body Thursday, Simple Lives Thursday, Pennywise Platter Thursday

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7 Unexpected Uses for the Humble Ice Cube Tray

If you want to learn more about delicious, nourishing, real food without the guilt trip for everything you're not doing right, hit that "like" button on the right, and subscribe to my posts by e-mail or reader feed so you don't miss anything. Thanks for stopping by!

Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice for a Strawberry Orange Julius

These babies are not just for ice anymore, folks. 

I love when a simple, inexpensive tool has so many uses.  Take the humble ice cube tray: it can help you preserve the harvest, prevent food waste, save you time, boost your family's nutrition, and make your tastebuds do a little happy dance!

Here are 7 unexpected ways you can put those ice cube trays to work in your real food kitchen:

How to Make an Awesome Smoothie

If you want to learn more about delicious, nourishing, real food without the guilt trip for everything you're not doing right, hit that "like" button on the right, and subscribe to my posts by e-mail or reader feed so you don't miss anything. Thanks for stopping by!

Strawberry, Banana & Peach Smoothie

I think my smoothie-making has reached new heights lately. My non-smoothie-loving husband has even been enjoying them, which is quite an accomplishment in my mind. I've finally found a method that produces a delicious smoothie every time. Want to know how?

Tips for Making Awesome Smoothies

 

1. Use frozen fruit. Using fresh fruit, or even a mixture of fresh and frozen, results in a thinner, more liquid smoothie. My favorites are strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and peaches. When those fruits are in season locally I buy a bunch at the farmer's market or u-pick farm and freeze them. (My next post at Modern Alternative Kitchen is on Lazy Freezing Techniques. Subscribe over there so you don't miss it!) Then I have enough for smoothies year-round!

You can freeze strawberries whole with tops for smoothies!

2. Banana is key. The creamy sweetness of a banana can't be beat! Next time you have some slightly over-ripe ones, cut them into chunks and throw them in the freezer. (You can sometimes find over-ripe bananas for a reduced price. This is an excellent use for them!)

3. Add greens...sparingly.  Greens such as spinach or kale add a lot of nutrition to your smoothie, provided they are lightly cooked first. See this post for how to prepare greens for smoothies (scroll down to the smoothie section), or do it the easy way: buy a bag of frozen spinach. Make sure you get the kind that is not all in one solid clump. Add a couple tablespoons to your smoothie right from the bag. They are already cooked before freezing, so you don't have to worry about the raw greens problem. Don't add too much, or the taste may be overpowering. Experiment and see what works best for you!

See the little green flecks?

4. Start with just a little liquid, and add more as necessary. I use whole raw milk in my smoothies. Full-fat coconut milk is a good alternative if you can't tolerate dairy. I start with just a little, which I add after I put the fruit into the blender. Then when the blender gets stuck because it needs more liquid, I stream more milk in through the top while it's running.  I add just enough to get it going.

5. Season your smoothie. I like to add a pinch of salt, a splash of vanilla extract, and sometimes a little honey if it's too tart. It's amazing what a difference it makes in enhancing the flavor. Don't forget to taste it before you pour it out to see if it needs anything.

6. Use plain, full-fat yogurt. This goes a long way in making the smoothie satisfying. Greek yogurt guarantees an even thicker product, but make sure you buy full-fat! I can only find full-fat Greek yogurt at the health food store.

7. Include coconut oil.  I love the subtle flavor that coconut oil adds, and it's a healthy fat. Read more about it here. In the past I've melted it first, but lately I just throw it in solid. As long as you follow the next tip, it will be okay.

8. Blend it thoroughly. It's no fun to run into chunks of un-blended fruit. Don't be shy, let that blender do it's thing until you're sure it's all blended! This also makes the smoothie....frothy. Frothy is good.

Strawberry Orange Julius

If you're afraid to make a smoothie without a recipe, you can find recipes all over the internet. Use your judgement and use only real ingredients! And if you want to try something a little different, try my Strawberry Orange Julius. It's a refreshing treat any time of year!

What's your favorite smoothie? Share your smoothie-making tips in the comments!

This is part of: Hearth and Soul Blog Hop, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Whole Foods Wednesday, Healthy2Day Wednesday, Real Food Wednesday. Keep it Real Thursday, the seasonal recipe round up for berries at Gnowfglins, Monday Mania

Rhubarb Water Kefir: What Squirt is Trying to Be

Trying to kick the pop habit? How about a nice cold glass of Rhubarb Water Kefir?

Huh?

I'm telling you, it's way better than any pop you've ever had. My husband, who is generally wary of fermented beverages, said "This is what Squirt is trying to be!"

It's the first fermented beverage he's actually been enthusiastic about. I crave kombucha. He just wishes we had orange juice. But this stuff was a different story!

So what in the world is it?

I was inspired by a recipe featured on the Gnowfglins Seasonal Recipe Round-Up for Rhubarbade. (Thanks for the inspiration, Laurie of Common Sense Homesteading!) Her recipe says to puree some rhubarb and strain it, so you are left with what is essentially rhubarb juice. Then you add some water and the sweetener of your choice - she chose stevia for a healthy sugar-free version. She said her family liked it, even though they don't normally like rhubarb, and that it tastes a little like apples. I thought that sounded pretty good, and I had some rhubarb in the freezer from last year, so I thought I'd give it a go. But then, being the traditional foodie that I am, I thought, Hey, could I make it....fermented?

 The answer is yes. And if you already make water kefir, it's as easy as adding the rhubarb juice to a finished batch of water kefir and leaving it on the counter for another day or two to get fizzy. (I also added a splash of lemon juice. Yum.) The result is a tangy, slightly sweet, extremely refreshing beverage, perfect for this hot weather we've been having!

If you don't already make water kefir, I highly recommend it. If you're clueless, here's a quick primer on this wonderful beverage:

According to Cultures For Health (where I bought my water kefir grains):

"Kefir consists of lactic acid bacteria and yeast existing in a symbiotic relationship. The benefits are similar to those of milk kefir (aka dairy kefir) but the average person will be able to consume larger amounts of it due to it's water base."

If you are now saying "What is milk kefir?" Here is a helpful description from the same source:

"Milk kefir grains are live active cultures consisting of yeast and bacteria which exist in a symbiotic relationship. Adding the kefir grains to fresh milk yields a probiotic drink within 24 to 48 hours."

Both of these beverages, milk kefir and water kefir, are probiotic, which means they are good for the gut, AKA the digestive system. Most of us these days have comprimised digestive systems due to the Standard American Diet, antibiotics, the birth control pill, vaccines, and other environmental factors. A compromised gut can lead to allergies, nutrient deficiencies, and out-of-whack hormones, among other things. So drink (and eat) up those probiotics, people!

If you're interested in getting into water kefir, which I prefer to dairy kefir, personally (I couldn't get into the whole fizzy milk thing...), I recommend you watch this video by Katie at Kitchen Stewardship, where she shows you just how easy and fast it is! And then hop on over to Cultures for Health and take the plunge (no, they didn't give me any money to say that, but wouldn't that be nice?)! They send you very helpful instructions and are available for troubleshooting. Really, you can do this!

Here is the "recipe", if you can call it that!

Rhubarb Water Kefir

Ingredients:
3 c. cultured water kefir

1 c. rhubarb liquid, made by pureeing and straining fresh or frozen rhubarb

a splash of lemon juice

Directions:

Combine in a quart jar, and close tightly. Leave at room temperature 1-2 days until it reaches desired level of carbonation. Transfer to refrigerator. Serve over ice and toss out the pop!

Do you make water kefir? What's your favorite way to flavor it?

This is part of Real Food Wednesday,  Simple Lives Thursday, and the Gnowfglins Seasonal Recipe Round-up.

 

Strawberry Orange Julius

I had a craving for that dreamcicle-like flavor of an Orange Julius from my childhood. [Apparently Orange Julius is still around, but I haven't seen one in a long time. Then again I don't go to shopping malls often.] I'm not sure what is so magical about the orange-vanilla combination, but this smoothie-of-a-bygone-era certainly left an impact on my childhood. And how could it not, when it's loaded with so many healthful ingredients?

Here are the ingredients of the Original Orange Julius from the company's website:

Flavor Enhancer: Modified Whey Solids, Maltodextrin, Egg White Solids, Sugar, Karaya Gum, Natural & Artificial Flavors, Corn Syrup Solids, Guar Gum, Modified Food Starch, Dipotassium Phosphate, Xanthan Gum, Standardized with Dextrose.
Orange Juice
Orange Julius Sweetener:  High fructose corn syrup, water, citric acid, sodium benzoate.
Ew. Gross. So how about a healthy, made at home version? Can it be done? Yes, it can. I started with this recipe. In an attempt to get even more vitamin C into our bodies (we were fighting colds at the time), I decided to make a strawberry version. I used whole strawberries - tops and all - that I picked and froze myself. Some blenders might not be able to handle the whole frozen strawberries, in which case it would be fine to use sliced ones. If they are in season, you're welcome to use fresh ones, but your smoothie won't be quite as thick and creamy. (I like a smoothie that requires a spoon, if you know what I mean.) Note: I'm not a huge fan of juice as a regular part of the diet, but I do think that freshly squeezed juice has its place in a balanced diet. Fresh juice from organic oranges would be ideal here, but in this busy and exhausted season of my pregnant life, last time I made this I decided to compromise and buy some organic orange juice. It is important to buy organic juice, because if the fruit is sprayed with pesticides the juice has a much higher concentration of them than if you were just eating fruit. Also, orange juice apparently has some nasty chemicals designed to keep the flavor consistent no matter what season or where it's coming from. (They don't put them on the label because somewhere down the line before being chemically altered, they came from oranges. Supposedly.) I'm hoping they leave those out of the organic stuff... Actually Good-for-You Strawberry Orange Julius Ingredients: 1 cup of freshly squeezed orange juice, or organic store-bought orange juice 1 cup of frozen strawberries 3/4 c. plain yogurt 1/2 t. vanilla raw milk, to thin to desired consistency honey to taste (perhaps about a teaspoon) Method: A few hours (or days) before you want to make your smoothie, freeze 1/2 cup of the orange juice in an ice cube tray. Combine all ingredients in the blender, using the frozen juice cubes and the remaining 1/2 c. of orange juice. Taste and add more honey or vanilla if you want. Mmmmm good. The toddler likes it too...and check out that bedhead! I recommend Tilty Sippy Cups with Smoothie lids for mess-free smoothie enjoyment!
This is part of Real Food Wednesday, Pennywise Platter Thursday, and Simple Lives Thursday.