Recipes: Today’s Chocolate Fix (and one Vanilla)

I cannot eat cocoa. It’s one of those things that give me the itchies (or hives, if I eat a lot of it). But, I want to provide readers with lots of great recipes to fuel Primal families!

Primal Chocolate Cream Pie

http://www.thespunkycoconut.com/2011/04/banana-chocolate-cream-pie-oh-my-dairy.html –>     Thanks to The Spunky Coconut!

Primal Chocolate Pudding

It’s quick and easy. I have made various versions of chocolate pudding based on avocado (or eggs), and my kids do like it.

http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/decadent-chocolate-fix–>

White Chocolate

My 7 year old prefers vanilla. I’ve made him a pudding similar to the chocolate pudding above, but made sure to make it sweet and vanilla. Despite the green color, he loved it. Be sure to get a perfectly ripe and mild avocado for this!

Dumping the Task List

I met Patty Lennon at a Mindful Mothering conference a few months ago. She handed me her card when we met. Mom Gets a Life. Huh. Interested.

We sat next to each other–she took notes on her laptop and I noticed that she had some sort of system for making purposeful use out of the conference presentations toward her blogging, perhaps her own personal life–it seemed she might be putting items on her calendar or to do list, or something. Not to mention she was tweeting, I think. Anyway, it turns out we had some great conversations and lunch. I only wished we’d been able to connect some more. It felt we had more to talk about. I’ve been waiting for my right moment to look at her website, Mom Gets A Life –>. Today I did and I’m excited that Patty has practical suggestions to bring us some clarity and simplicity. I posted my own comment on Patty’s post, “Dump Your Massive Task List: A 30-Day Challenge!–>!

I need a record of my comment on her page, so here it is:

Patty:
I am revving into a new cycle and have tons of energy and feel like I’m gaining some clarity. I’m a driven person and willing to throw out old ideas, so this is working well for me. I am reading The 4-Hour Work Week and gleaning ideas from that to apply to my ways of working at home. Yesterday someone who is launching her own career into coaching people into finding their own passions (kind of like you, in a sense), was telling me how she thinks the most useful approach is managing all of this by “mindful scheduling.” Then last night as I was reading “4-Hour” I was receiving this message about “working from priorities” and letting the rest go (elimination). Today I am feeling these are opposites and I am embracing the work-from-priorities advice. The key piece is elimination, which it seems like your post above is leading to. I can’t say I’m going to run out and make my list of 1,000 things, but I can definitely see the power in it (maybe I will later?). Right now, I’m easily casting things to the wind, so I think right now the steam has been generated to propel me. I’ll give a concrete example: I keep volunteering for more on the Parent Association of our school. I want to follow through with things I’ve already volunteered for, but I’m going to find ways of working more efficiently, not harder (right from 4-Hour, of course). I’m responsible for taking notes at the PA meetings and I have the task I’ve been avoiding which is to type them up. So, today I’m going to tackle it, but I’m going to put them into a format which is much more simplified and focused on the PA group action items, but I’m going to leave out the fluff–no use being a reporter on everything everyone said in the meeting. Just action items. And, I’ll present the “notes” and clearly state that this is the level of note taking I’m willing to sustain. If someone wants to do more work on the notes, they may have at it! Yea, Me! (By the way, it was such good fortune to meet you in NY at the MOM Mindful Mothering conference. That was a great day and I’d wished we had more time to connect there.

I’m on facebook. Email me if you can’t find me. I’m friends with Families for Conscious Living and my blog-FB page is “Hearth and Gnome .com”

I think that the magic behind this massive exercise is the consciousness it would bring to what we’re doing. I’m not convinced yet, but in the Brain of Rachel, these things don’t go away easily. What do you think? Is anyone going to be taking on this challenge?

I will say, I am most definitely ready to dump some tasks. I have to go handle the simplification of my job as Parent Association note-taker. If you don’t know where else to start, why not try Patty’s 30-day challenge?

Recipe: Cherry Mocha

One of my old recipes which I posted on Food.com (it was Recipezaar.com, back in 2004) is still hanging around and a few people still stumble into it and enjoy it. It’s not something my hubby will be enjoying this next couple of weeks while he’s on his “juice fast” Reboot Challenge v.2, but he sure does like this drink. I usually pull the recipe back out when he is low-carbing (or would that be spelled “carbbing”?). I personally have been questing after my own perfect cup of masala chai during this Minnesota winter. There’s nothing like a hot cup of something creamy and sweet on a cold winter’s night. So, I give you this Low-Carb Cherry Mocha –> (my version is on Food.com which gives serving nutritional info, or you can see the same recipe below).

To make a more natural version, I recommend for the sweetener a mixture of: Continue reading

Erik’s 2nd “Juice Fast”

Several months ago my hubby decided to try a different king of weigh-loss diet. He watched the documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead and as a result, endured a 14-day liquids-only “juice fast” like the Reboot. We purchased a juicer and I did a lot of work sourcing fresh produce from farmers markets (this coincided with harvest season in Minnesota, so it worked out well). But, it was a ton of work for me and we decided we didn’t love owning a juicer and we returned it to the seller.

Now he wants to do another juice fast, because of course he lost weight on the first time. But, without a juicer, what should he do? Well, I compiled a list of nutritious liquids that he could use.  Continue reading

Recipe: Simple, fresh, Horseradish Cream

Aaagh. I would love to have some horseradish sauce with my beef pot roast tonight. Alas, allergies.

Horseradish is often sold prepared in vinegar. Since I’m allergic to yeast, hence vinegar, I found the fresh root at my local co-op grocer, The Wedge (I couldn’t believe it was that easy!). I Googled and noted that Continue reading

Recipe: Rachel’s Chuck Roast

My January 2012 project is reading The 4-Hour Workweek and culminating all my food knowledge into a very simple plan. Instead of my pattern over the past 13 years to add variety and optimal nutrition, I am now looking at choice-optimal (limiting choices and decision making) so that I have time for other things. This pot roast is easy and I’ll probably make it every-other week.

This Chuck Roast is prepare ahead and my whole family loves it. This past time I was in heaven eating it with the Horseradish Cream.

Rachel’s Chuck Roast

beef chuck roast (approx 5 lbs.)
coarse salt (I use Redmond Real Salt Kosher)
coarse/fresh ground black pepper
1 large yellow or white onion, coarsely chopped
1 large ripe tomato, chopped or a can of diced tomatoes in juice
6 regular cloves of garlic, (Easy tip: Use peeled garlic or 1/2 of a large clove of “Elephant garlic” sliced thinly)
water
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce, or Soy Sauce (see Tips)–I no longer add this because I am allergic to yeast.
1+ tsp. sweet paprika (not smoked)

Optional: Potatoes, celery, carrots (Rachel loves turnips, but NOT in this dish!)

Allow meat to sit at room temp half hour before cooking it. You don’t want any almost-frozen spots in the meat. You want it to be on it’s way to getting warm so that it doesn’t suck all the heat out of the skillet too quickly.

Continue reading

Safer mattresses

Restwell Mattresses, Minnesota made: Dedicated to using safe, sustainable, quality materials, Restwell responsibly sources most components from the US, primarily from the Midwest. All of these materials are non-toxic and inherently resistant to flame, so you’re not sleeping on chemicals. Working with us to include the healthiest options possible, Restwell developed our natural latex mattress, comprised of a 100% botanically-derived latex core—made from the sap of rubber trees—and wrapped in certified organic cotton and wool.

You may also want to sign up for e-newsletters from Lifekind for sale notices.

You may also want to check IKEA for their natural rubber mattresses.

Newsflash! Honeyville Almond Flour 20% Off!

Honeyville is running their biggest sale ever: 20% off your entire order. And, the shipping is only $4.95. Which means it’s time for you to try some almond flour! I’ll be posting recipes for almond flour, including Gnome Muffins.

The sale runs thru Tuesday, January 17th, 2012 at 6:00PM PST (that’s 8pm for those of us in Minnesota).

Now, I want to encourage you to sign up for the Honeyville e-newsletter. That’s how you’re going to know about the sales in the future and get the code. They usually only send emails out when there’s a sale.

Please go ahead and sign up. If for some reason you just don’t want to, then send me an email at rachel@hearthANDgnome.com and I’ll send you the code.

Be sure to buy Blanched Almond Flour. Last time I ordered, I bought 25 pounds!

Let me know how this goes for you! Feedback, people!  When you’re almond flour arrives at your door, come back and post here or contact me so that I will make sure you have a recipe or two to try out.

Rachel

Deals: The public library

It’s fairly obvious, right? Your local public library is a great deal.

I’m throwing this up on the blog just as a little reminder to you, dear readers (in every sense), to become a power-user of your public library!

How do I get it done?

I utilize the online ordering feature for my library. I request books to be held for me. I get notified via email and then I go pick them up! This saves me time and trouble when I’m going to the library with or without children.

So, how can you remember to do this on a regular basis? Continue reading

Warmth: Buying the Balaclavas

As the Kindergarten teachers say, King Winter has returned from his vacation. The chill motivates me to finally purchase those Merino wool balaclavas for the kids. I am pleased to see that a local merchant has now added the balaclavas to her inventory and the price, as well as shipping, is lower than Green Mountain Organics. Visit Dr. Ester’s Flowering Child to order wool unders. I was recommended to this balaclava by our Kindergarten teacher and I several children were wearing them this morning.

I took a tour of Icebreaker.com today in order to see why wool? and why Merino wool in particular? They have beautiful videos. The simple technical answers make sense. I have a couple of Icebreaker shirts and the Womens Bodyfit 260 Legless baselayer short pants. I love them all: they are soft and have the qualities as advertised.

I was particularly impressed with the flammability test of wool against synthetics. I’d much rather put my children into Merino wool!