Summer Crockpot Recipe

August always seems to be the time that I begin to lose my passion for cooking on the grill. Maybe it is the sun going down earlier or the crisp air during my morning runs, but something shifts for me and I begin to find myself wanting to be in the kitchen cooking more. Then the afternoon sun and warmth smacks me back to reality and there I am with no dinner plan since I cannot imagine turning on the oven in this heat!

To the rescue comes the crockpot. When I think crockpot, I think winter storms and my house smelling amazing. However I looked at her differently this summer when I realized all that could be cooked in it with barely any heat or energy...not to mention coming home to a dinner while I'm beaching it for the day!

My favorite way to make organic chicken drumsticks is in the crockpot. They are cooked throughout evenly and retain moisture that is sometimes lost when baking legs in the oven. My mom always made them simple as to really savor the taste of the chicken rather than the seasoning.  My kids LOVE these and always ask for 2nds!

6-7 organic drumsticks/legs

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp paprika

Place all drumsticks in crockpot. Evenly cover the chicken w spices listed above. Turn crockpot to High for 4-5 hours. Turn off and let cool for 10 mins before serving, enjoy!

Bees!

I've been embracing technology lately and not feeling so old. Sort of. Anyway I hope with my upgraded phone I find blogging easier because I'm finding the time to blog difficult!! 

Anyway this image has been floating around and I find the picture itself well illustrated so thought I would repost. I also look at these herbs and flowers as critical items to have in my garden to help foster the bee development. We need to help them all we can until the government takes a stand against Monasto. We must do better. We can do better. We need to prioritize our health, environment above all else. 

Plant away!!

Anniversary Adventures!

It As mentioned here on this blog before, my husband and I are celebrating 10 years of marriage bliss...ha!  We've had our tough times and we've also had so many incredible times together. One of the things I think I do well is plan out our travel for the year, every January 1st. Some people like to set personal fitness goals but to help me get out of the winter slump, I like to plan financial and travel goad for the year on that morning. 

This year I included a continuation of my plan from 2014 to finish out our 10 adventures for the year. What do you give someone for an anniversary who could have whatever he really wanted, within reason of course. So instead I identified 10 adventures we had always talked about doing but had for one reason or another not found the time yet for. 

Here we are for #7!  We've always wanted to take a hot air balloon ride in NH so that's exactly, almost, what we did. It was a tethered balloon which I much prefer, especially after going up. 

It was a fun ride and we even caught the sunset. And my frugality came into play a little. I found this hot air balloon ride festival that was $15/person w no age restrictions for the little ones instead of $200-350/person. So for $60 and a few festival rides we had an incredibly memorable night. 

On to adventure #8!!

Coconut Whipped Cream!

Summer. Strawberries. Nothing is sweeter than going out to the fields to collect your own bounty of natures finest dessert. This year I combined my daughters birthday party with strawberry picking to have a simple, almost homemade party.  

I made reservations at a local farm where they have hay rides, a playground, farm animals and a large flower nursery. I kept the party pretty simple as in years past I go all out for a party, stressing myself and its all over as fast as a wedding. So this year, I made homemade dairy free cupcakes, brownie bites and some yummy SUPER easy dairy and gluten free take homes for the kids. Nothing says Summer more than simple and taking your time. 

Since my hubs and I are on a paleo challenge for 21 days I thought I would try to whip up some coconut cream whipped cream for dessert tonight!  This is how I did it:

1- Trader Joe's Coconut Cream (chilled overnight in the fridge)

1/2 teaspoon or to taste organic vanilla extract 

In a large chilled (I put in the freezer for 3 hours), put vanilla in. Then slowly pour in half the container of coconut cream. Turn on hand mixer to slow and mix for 1 minute. Slowly add the rest of the cream and turn up mixer to medium. Continue musing until thickens and is the consistency of whipped cream!  

Enjoy on top of a freshly picked bowl of berries!!

Xoxo,

Em 

Starting Out - 5 Easy Ways to Begin Homesteading

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." - Lao Tzu

Have you been thinking about incorporating clean, real eating into your diet?  Making a birthday present for your best friend, but do not know where to start?  Every journey really does begin with that single step and it also requires your intention to change your current cycle and habits towards a new one.  I'm pretty sure no one ever woke up in their Frete sheets and thought you know, today is the day, I'm going to toss all my luxury away and go be Laura Ingalls and live off the land.  I find myself examining my decisions regularly and making small adjustments towards a self-sufficient lifestyle.  Not everything can be changed over night and we've been conditioned to comforts that reduce our stress in certain areas.  Here are 5 small steps to start you on your journey to becoming a homesteader:

1 - Eat and Buy Local - My husband is never going to allow me to have chickens where we live right now, so I've adjusted my expectations of how to have fresh, local eggs on a regular basis.  I sought out a woman in town whose husband tolerates her love for her chickens and buy eggs from her.  My kids come along to see the ladies and we all have a great time chatting about who pecked who this week....and then walk away with our fresh dozen.  Less stress, more local goodness.

2 - Make Your Own Food - May sound simple and straight forward, but there are so many options for pre-packed/made food that many people have lost the tradition of making food as a family.  With work schedules being hectic and kids schedules dominating so many homes (not mine!), there leaves little time in the evening to prepare foods together. If you find yourself in this situation, take some time on the weekends to make a large batch of food for the next few days.  It will help relieve your stress and leave you with many good meals that can just be warmed up.  More posts on my batch cooking & short cuts to come soon!

3 - Grow Food - Herbs and Garlic are easy ways to start growing your own food.  Adding fresh herbs into any meal will give you some extra nutrients and extra yummy goodness.  In the spring/summer time, look for ideas of container gardening or use an Earth Box to get started.  These containers are my favorite as they provide the right blend of soil, fertilizer and a cover to allow maximum growth for your veggies.  The color of the container can blend into your porch or deck making your veggies a nice vegetation addition!

4 - Mason Jars - Enough said.  I love them so much, it could be seen as an obsession.  I'm not sure if it is because of the hours and hours of Little House on the Prairie I watched as a child, but I can never have enough.  I check out yard sales both online and physical to add to my collection and enjoy them for everything from a morning cup of coffee, storing rice, beans and popcorn kernels, to my evening glass of wine.  They are so useful and look so good.

5 - Read, read, read!  Here are a few books that I read to help me get started on my homesteading journey:

• The Backyard Homestead
• The Weekend Homesteader
• Made From Scratch

5.1 - One more...Learn/Find a Craft to Make - Find something that you enjoy making from scratch and start doing it!  I enjoy crocheting....but realized knitting is not for me.  Try a few things and do not settle.  If what you are working on does not put you into that meditative state in which you lose track of time, then it is not for you.  I also enjoy sewing freestyle...but not from a pattern.  I love being creative and not following directions.  When making with my hands, I listen to my inner self for guidance and use that as my guiding light. 

Each day is a new opportunity to integrate small changes (adjustments) into your life (practice)...it is kind of like yoga. Accept where you are today and go (GROW) from there!

xoxo

Waking

My body has a natural ability to wake before the sun does - every day.  It is really quite a remarkable relationship I have with my brain and body where I can be absolutely exhausted at the end of the day and say to myself, ok, it is time to rest, but I need to be up at 5am to work on blah ditty blah.  Like clock work, I wake at 4:59, reach for my phone to check the time, and realize I've done it once again.

However, there are some days, like this morning, that I wake early with no set purpose or agenda, except to enjoy the stillness of my house to become grounded in my day and clear out the administrative tasks I must complete before the rest of the house wakes.  I remember as a child always wanting to wake early but being told it was too early and go back to bed.  My inner child no longer has those restrictions so I honor my inner clock and wake when my body is ready.  I have such clarity at this hour about dreams to finish, tasks to be done and thank you notes I have to write.  I'm so grateful that my body is works this way so I can have the time to focus on what I need to complete before the 3 wee ones wake and need to have their demands met.  So today, I write.

Since my house is so quiet on these mornings and usually is a symphony of 5 talkative personalities, I've found time to read.  Wow, for a mom with 3 kids that is quite a statement.  Recently I finished reading The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown a guide to wholehearted living.  My "new" yoga instructor (because I feel in my heart I will only ever have 1 true yoga instructor in Rebecca Pacheco) quoted the book in a recent class.  Which paragraph he quoted exactly I still cannot remember.  I have a terrible memory for that type of recalling, always have, probably always will.  But the overall gist of what he said about resilience and the body's ability to be resilient even in the most difficult times, inspired me to Amazon Prime that book right over to me!  

As I read the entire book, cover to cover in less than a week (which again, for this busy mama is amazing), I felt as if someone had been watching over me in the past 10 years documenting everything I have been through on my personal journey into her book.  She uses 10 pillars as her guideposts of living a wholehearted life and for the first time, I finally felt connected to way I've been trying to live, and now do, and what I have been trying to express to my friends about the ways in which I've shifted my thoughts around compassion, connection and courage.  Balancing the 3 Cs creates a life of wholehearted living, no doubt about it.  But getting to that point, is not as easy as flipping a switch.  The painstaking journey of recognizing things that get in the way, letting go of perfectionism and realizing that shame, fear, and vulnerability drive so many of our actions unconsciously is a journey that we must endure to become truly living with our whole body.

I never had much gratitude for anything in my life before starting to practice yoga and gardening, two activities that bring my soul so close to the earth it sometimes makes me cry.  Growing up, we were always fighting an uphill battle of keeping the lights and heat on, that we never took the time to be grateful and thankful for what we did have.  And we had so much, but it was never enough - or I was taught to think that way.  The emptiness that I felt when I arrived at college was unimaginable.  But I remember being so thankful that day when I moved in that I no longer had to feel sadness constantly.  It was a very long car ride to Boston that September day, but I distinctly remember feeling a sense of relief that my life was about to begin.  And it did.  Yoga became a necessary pillar in my life and the act of forgiveness, gratefulness and resilience made me cry, laugh and smile every practice for years.

And so whether you are already living a wholehearted life or know that you need to be, I encourage you to read the book and begin the journey.  It will awaken you to a place you never knew you were not before and a place you never want to return.  Be grateful.  Be alive.  Awaken.

Emily's Spaghetti Squash Favorite!

Spaghetti Squash is one of the best veggies to easily replace pasta in your diet.  Whether you are on the Paleo diet, eating gluten free, or just looking to reduce your consumption of pasta, Spaghetti Squash is one of the easiest substitutes!

 

 

It can be made in a variety of ways to meet your liking or recipe.  I'm going to share with you my tried and true, dinner party favorite as you know that we all need one stand by dish that not everyone else makes! Even my vegetarian friends love this dish and I either remove the grass fed ground meat and substitute tofu, or just remove the protein for them completely.  If you are creative in the kitchen, using this recipe as your base and building from there is encouraged and leave your comments below with your favorite variation!

 

This past weekend I ran out of my summer CSA crushed tomatoes in the freezer.  I make a huge batch over the summer and freeze them for later winter use.  Sadly, the supply is out and it is only January!  I will definitely be stocking up this summer and posting the easy, crockpot crushed tomato recipe I follow....but I digress.  So I ran out of tomatoes, went to my favorite grocer and they were out of crushed tomatoes in a box.  I'm not a fan of the taste of crushed tomatoes in a can so I hopped over to the produce section and picked up some organic roma tomatoes to make my own.

 

 

While the tomatoes were cooking in the crockpot, I turned on the oven to bake the squash.  While the squash was in the oven, I cut up the onions and sautéed them with the grass fed ground beef from Walden Local Meat.   

 

 

While the meat was going, I started shredding the Vermont Cheddar and Parm in separate containers.  Ikea makes these awesome shedders that go right into a container - and they come in a 2 pack!  At some point I sipped a glass of my favorite wine and kept cooking.  The result was a beautiful full dish of delish squash and happy New Englanders who dug us out of 30+" of snow.  It was a wonderful evening with delightful conversation about all the musings around us.  Below is a plated picture and recipe - bon appetite!

 

 Emily's Spaghetti Squash Favorite!

 

2 lbs. ground meat

1 onion/shallots

1 large box crushed tomatoes

2 cloves garlic - crushed

 

8 oz Vermont white cheddar cheese - shredded

2 oz or taste parm cheese - shredded

8 oz Breakstone's sour cream

 

2 medium sized spaghetti squashed

 

1 - Preheat oven to 400.  Wash squash and place in casserole dish to be baked in oven.  Pierce the squash like you would a potato so the pressure is released while cooking. I usually make 3-4 long knife cuts in the squash.  Bake for 40 minutes, rotate 1/2 way through.  Once done, wait to cool and then cut the squash in half.  Scoop out the seeds and then pull the squash apart with a fork.

 

2 - Chop onion and add ground meat to be sautéed.  The grass fed beef typically does not need any additional fat, but if you want to do the onion first, add EVOO to sauté.   Cook until meat is browned and then add garlic and tomatoes.  Continue to simmer while you wait for the spaghetti squash to finish.

 

3 -Shred the cheddar and parm in 2 separate containers as later the layers are done separately. 

 

4 - Layering time! Bottom to Top:

1/2 the Squash

1/2 Meat

1/2 of the sour cream

1/4 of the cheddar

 

Repeat 1x, except use all the remaining cheddar and sprinkle on the parm cheese as the last layer. 

 

5 - Bake for 30 minutes on 400, until the cheese has melted and begins to slightly brown - if you like it that way ;)

 

6 - Take out of the oven and let it rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.  This will give it a moment to gel and get the table set!

 

Enjoy!  I hope it sounds like a fun recipe because it is and once you make it once it will become your go to when you have all the ingredients.  Even non-veggie lovers have 2nds!

 

Em