My Latest Obsessions and a Yummy Summer Recipe

So it's almost summer, or so the calendar says, though the weather isn't even hinting at it. I think I may forgo the garden this year as it seems it's going to be another short growing season again (last year was only 2 months instead of the normal 4 we usually get). For one thing, my garden boxes are a royal disaster, all full of sweet grass. For another thing, I bought and planted a bunch of stuff last year and got next to nothing for it. Tons of work and expense for no reward. No thanks. That sort of frustrates the self-sufficiency project.

I'm intrigued by this new show called "Extreme Couponing" where people spend like 60 hours a week clipping coupons so they can go on massive shopping trips to buy 5,000 each of four different non-related items (i.e. toothpaste, sausage, arch supports, and spaghetti sauce) because they have: coupons, store coupons, manufacturer's coupons, double coupons, and a deal with the devil. After an all day trip to Kroger, they load up their U-Haul and schlep their loot home where they methodically stock it on shelves into their new bunkers they've built to store it all. Oh yeah, and they get it all for free. 

I'll admit I am a little jealous that they are able to accomplish this amazing feat. I can barely use a single coupon correctly. I would hopeless at a magnum opus such as this. Which is just as well because I have nowhere to put all that junk anyway. And most of it is junk, too. Most of it is processed foods, chemical cleaners, and other stuff I don't use. I don't see a lot of extreme couponing for organic produce or sustainably raised meat. I don't see extreme couponing for natural cleaning agents (may I have 2,000 gallons of vinegar and 65 boxes of Arm & Hammer, please?). 

And yet somehow, now when I do find a sale or use a coupon (correctly) somehow I feel guilty for having to pay for it at all...or not making money back for taking it off the store's hands. Because, come on! It's ridiculous to feel guilty about that!  I just don't have the extreme couponing super power.

So I need to find ways I can make a difference. I am interested in buying healthy foods and products for less. I am interested in putting healthier meals in front of my family. I am interested in having a smaller footprint (and I'm not into foot binding). I also am very interested in learning to do for myself, in being as far off grid as I can, and in preserving the old ways. 

So far, I have learned to:

• Care for and milk a goat
• Grow at least one successful garden
• Pressed apples to make cider
• Learned to can using a steam bath (my pressure canner scares me...I have yet to try that one)
• Make my own natural cleaning agents
• Keep chickens 
• Heat my home with wood

I think there is more...but that's all I can remember now.

I also try to buy as much local as I can and buy products that will have a long life and come with little to no packaging. Oh yea....and just buy less (unless it's shoes or books, which I mostly buy used anyway).

Several years ago I participated in a fresh produce co-op that was run by a local Christian homeschooling family we met through Boy Scouts. It was awesome! For like $29 every two weeks we got a huge banana box of fresh organic produce grown predominantly on the West Coast. The co-op ended for winter and we enrolled our kids back in school and it seems that group was a figment of my imagination as no one seems to remember it but me. And that's really a bummer because I really really want to do that again. 

I also have wanted to get in on Azure Standard. Let's face it, we all need to start stocking up on our the-whole-world's-going-to-heck-in-a-handbasket stockpile, right? I have a dear friend whom I jokingly refer to as a militant survivalist (which is more truth than joke.....but only in the best way possible) who sends me links from time to time regarding how much food, water, and supplies I should be stockpiling for a family my size.....you know....in my bunker. I'm on it.....slowly. I do want to store up staples (mostly because I'm laze and hate having to decide between buying at the overpriced local grocery or taking the time and using the gas to go to town frequently). I am not very good at planning ahead and buying a lot at a time. You'd think I'd be better at it living out there, but I guess I'm not far enough away from town to have developed that skill. I completely refuse to buy cheese here, though. It's like $9 a brick. John and a friend had a whole comedy routine worked about my reaction to seeing that price for the first time. 

So my goals for now are:

• To start buying from Azure
• To figure out how to make the gallons of coconut or nut milks my son uses instead of dairy
• To get into a cow-share (I've nearly done this)
• To set up my kitchen in a way that makes room for storing large amounts of staples and using them efficiently
• To raise my own beef (and maybe lamb if I like it...)
• To slowly add to my collection of non-electronic household goods. (Have you seen the Lehman's catalog? It rocks!)
• Find and buy a wood burning kitchen stove for a reasonable price 
• To get chickens again....and maybe turkeys (yumm!)
• Be organized enough to cook more items from scratch and rely less on canned goods (even organic canned goods)
• Change our diet to include more healthy fats and better overall nutrition

What are you doing to lower your bills, be more green, or get off grid? What cool old craft or skill have you learned? How are you simplifying your life? Doing more with less? I'd love to hear your stories.

I'll leave you with this yummy summer salad recipe I've been enjoying lately.

Summer Berry Salad

Organic mixed baby greens

1 pint strawberries washed, hulled, and sliced

1 pint raspberries

1 cucumber, diced

1-2 tomatoes, diced

1 cup jicama, diced

1/3 cup slivered or sliced almonds reserved for garnish.

Strawberry Dressing

1 pint strawberries, hulled

light olive oil 

balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper

To make the dressing, put all the strawberries in your blender, place the lid on the blender but allow a way to pour oil in slowly. Turn on the blender and begin adding the oil slowly until you create an emulsion. Add a tablespoon or so of balsamic vinegar to taste. Add a little salt (1/2 tsp or so) and some ground pepper. Pour over your salad just before serving and garnish with about 1/3 cup slivered or sliced almonds.

Enjoy!

The Yummiest Oatmeal Raisin Cookies EVAH!

So it's Saturday and we worked on cleaning the kids' room all morning (yes it took all morning...it was THAT BAD). And now Quinnypants has a friend over so I thought it would be divine to have warm cookies and milk. Is that ever a bad idea?

Oatmeal raisin is my favorite but I was out of brown sugar. I remembered my friend Ginny told me she made brown sugar from mixing molasses and white sugar recently. This really intrigued me and since I was out of brown sugar anyway, it was the perfect opportunity to give it a try.

She thought that the ratio was about four parts white sugar to one part molasses. I tried two cups white sugar to a half cup molasses and it was a bit too wet, I thought, so I added in another cup of sugar. That looked perfect. It's darker than store bought brown sugar, and since I used unsulphured molasses, it also tastes a lot stronger.

The recipe I use is the classic Quaker recipe for Vanishing Oatmeal Cookies...but of course I change it a bit. So here's what I did this time.

3/4 cup freshly churned butter :)
1/4 cup organic extra virgin coconut oil
1 cup brown sugar mix
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon organic Singing Dog Vanilla (you should try this if you haven't yet, it's divine!)
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon (I use Red Ape ground casia cinnamon from Sumatra :)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3 cups old fashioned rolled oats (the big flakes are the best)
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup regular raisins

Heat oven to 350 F.
Beat together butter, coconut oil, and sugars until creamy.
Add in the eggs and vanilla, beat well.
Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt; mix well.
Stir in oats and raisins, mix well.
Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto an aluminum baking sheet covered with unbleached parchment paper.
Bake 10 to 12 minutes (mine baked for 13) until the edges appear to be a bit dry. You can't judge by color because the molasses makes them pretty dark.  Let sit in the pan one minute before transferring to a wire rack for cooling.
Eat warm with fresh milk!

I'm telling you these are craaaazy good! Enjoy!