Showing posts with label organic seeds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label organic seeds. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

a dash of this, a dash of that

Happy Wednesday!

        Happy Thanksgiving eve to all my American friends. All the delicious posts that are popping up around the sphere are making me drool! As we have already celebrated Thanksgiving in Canada, I'm looking forward to using some of those recipes at Christmas time.

So, are you guys loving my erratic blogging these days? Me neither. I'm up to my ears with paperwork and such for my school application and it requires my utmost attention so the blog is lower on the priority list right now. I've almost got everything together and thanks to a great friend (you know who you are!!!), I'm feeling confident with my entry. I've been on the phone everyday making sure all the paperwork is going to get to the school on time. Seriously, this has been such a thorn in my side. Who knew it would take so much effort to get your grades from university. Lesson learned.

Now that it's getting colder out, much colder, it's time to winterize the garden. I haven't done a lot but I need to get on it soon before it really gets to be winter around here. They are calling for one of the worst winters in 55 years in my neck of the woods!! Considering we have already had snow, they may be right! I harvested some broad beans and dried out the seeds so I can plant them next season. 




 Beautiful color!

 Even the cat's were intrigued. Nemo from afar..

 Oddie from up close:)

Do you harvest seeds for next years crop? 
I harvested these beans,cilantro seeds, and some butternut squash seeds.




Are you excited for citrus season? I love all citrus so I am pretty excited to dig in.

 Mmm so juicy and sweet!

 itty bitty!

 I saw organic mandarins last year but they were so expensive. This year they are almost the same price as the regular mandarins!! Love that!

Now for some breakie. I am toast girl. I LOVE my sprouted Silver Hills bread with almond butter but I know variety is important. So, I used a different base for my nut butter topping.

 Apples and dates!




Toppings! Shredded coconut, chia seeds, and almond butter. So, so good!

What have you changed around in your breakie lately?

Now for something warming! It's crazy cold in my house right now as we need to get the gas fireplace fixed...still! Of course we decide to switch fireplaces during the coldest winter. Good plan! That also means fireplace companies are booked for days in advance and so we have to wait until Friday to have a guy come out and look at it. Let's hope for the best!

I was drooling at Angela' blog on her Thanksgiving ideas post and saw a soup recipe that I wanted to try. Holiday Soup For The Soul sounded like the perfect soup to unthaw to.

 I was out of quinoa so I used a wild rice blend

That's a whale of a zucchini, hey? It's from my uncles garden and I'll be eating from it for a year:)
The greens I used were collards as I didn't have spinach on hand.




Mmm..thick and chunky!! Perfecto!

I am handing my application in on Friday and then I'm getting immersed in all things Christmas!! So excited!!

Are you getting ready for the holiday season already or is it still too early to be bringing out the tinsel and lights? 

Have a wonderful night everyone!!




Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Giveaway winner plus my bet winnings!

Happy Wednesday Everyone!


I am feeling PUMPED! I got up early to hit the gym with the hubby. I forgot how invigorating it is to complete your workout before the craziness of the day. I feel like I started my day off with an accomplishment. Just knowing that I don't have to fight with all the after work gym goers is a benefit in and of itself:) I will be going in the morning most days during the week from now on....yay! Do you workout in the morning? I highly recommend it!

Okay so now onto the winner of Meghan Telpner's 5 Days Healing With Everyday Superfoods! The winner is KATIE of lilveggiepatch. Yay! Katie can you please email me from your current email address and I'll forward it onto Meghan. My email is in my profile:)

Staying with the winnings theme...I won a bet! I bet that the hubby couldn't NOT spend any more money on his 1966 Chevy truck. I won because I found a receipt that he forgot to tell me about..lol! So, that meant a sweet afternoon at my local health food stores. I know I didn't go for the shoes but I'm not really in shopping mecca right now so I took this chance to try a few things that I haven't tried yet from the coop.

First up, Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap.

I've heard such good things about this stuff that I decided this would be one of my to-try items. I got the Eucalyptus-Hemp variety. There were so many varities I didn't know which one to try. I'm really stoked to try it out and the coop had it on sale so I was able to get the big bottle. Score! Do you use this stuff? Do you use it for other uses besides cleaning?

They have a crazy label hey? So much text on there! I love that it is fair trade, vegan, and organic. Dare I say trifecta? Sorry, I'll stop with the fancy words:)

Anyone want to take a guess at what are in these jars? And yes they are all legal lol! Okay I'll tell you. The illegal-looking contents is actually organic raspberry leaf. Check out the link as Mountain Rose Herbs gives a good description of its medicinal properties. I find that it helps with cramping during my time of the month. I also just love its flavor-mild flavor somewhat similar to green tea and no caffeine! The green powder is organic stevia. I've heard that stevia is the best sweetner to use because it has no calories, no carbs, does not promote tooth decay, does not trigger a rise in blood sugar, and does not feed yeast or other microorganisms. If that wasn't enough, it contains vitamin A, C, and thiamine. It also contains the minerals chromium, cobalt, magnesium, manganese, selenium, and silicon. This stuff is super sweet so you don't need to use too much of it. If a recipe calls for 1 cup regular sugar then you only need to use 1 1/2 -2 tablespoons of stevia. It sounds like the dream sweetener to me. I will have to see how it performs in recipes before I put my other sweeteners to the back of the cupboard. Have you had any experience with stevia good or bad? The last jar is the adaptogen, maca or "Peruvian Ginseng." I've already read a lot about this root vegetable and it has got me intrigued to say the least. I was happy to find that my Vega Whole Health Optimizer already has Macasure added to it. Thank you Brendan:) I don't want to say too much about it now (you can read about maca in the links:) as I'm dedicating my next weeks posts to the power of adaptogens. So stay tuned!

These little red powerhouses are so good. Goji Berries are another wonderful superfood that I can only afford to buy once and awhile. The nutrients that goji's supply is really quite amazing, from their high antioxidant properties, 30 essential and trace elements, to their 19 essential amino acids, these berries deliver! When I had my first taste I didn't really like the flavor but now I can't get enough! PS I saved a couple of berries because I read that the plants are pretty easy to grow. My mom has planted the seeds so we shall see how it goes:)



Sprouts baby! Its the name of the game..are you on board yet? I have tried brocolli, alfalfa, mung bean, lentil, and chickpea sprouts. They are all fabulous and the crunch they provide to any dish really is so great! Check out my post on sprouts to learn more (or Bitt's post). I already have my red clover and daikon radish sprouts going. I love tasting new flavor of anything so I can't wait until they are ready:)

Next up is some chai yerba mate tea. My Mom grew up in Paraguay and this was their drink of choice. It is native to South America and has many health benefits :
  • Immune boosting
  • cleanse and detox the blood
  • tone the nervous system
  • restore youthful hair color
  • combat fatigue
  • control the appetite
  • eliminate insomnia
Yerba contains vitamin A, B1, B2, B-complex, C, and E among many others. Minerals such as calcium, magnesium,and potassium are also abundant. Chorophyll is also present.

I looked forward to summers as a kid because this was when I could try the yerba with lemonade. Now, my family doesn't drink it with a tea bag they use something called a bambilla which is a a stainless straw that has a screen at the end so you won't suck up the leaves. The yerba (leaves) are placed inside a gourd that is actually a carved out bull's horn then hot water is poured over top. My mom still have the this traditional set-up but you can buy small wood or ceramic ones too. This is a very social drink for my family as you basically sit around and chat while drinking the mate.

That's my gramps with the gourd and bombilla. And yep that's me..lol!
I actually don't own a bombilla so I drank my chai yerba mate just like tea. This flavor combination is awesome. I will definitely be buying it again.



Last but not least...SEEDS! I was so excited to find a lot of local seeds most of which are heritage and organic.I picked up some spinach from West Coast Seeds and two different salad mixes plus a heritage tomato variety from Sunshine Farm.


I picked up some greens from Laird Creek Organic Seeds which are produced right here in Nelson. Love it!

I picked up a dark carrot and tomato variety. Purple carrots and tomatoes here I come:) I picked up some holy basil or tulsi from another local grower but I forgot to write down the name.

Last but not least, three varieties of kale! Kale is so easy to grow and it keeps o producing into the fall. These are for my green smoothie and kale chip fix.

I'm going to start the seeds today with the soil that I have left over from work plus some compost. My building has a compost so I'm going to make some good use of it:)

I also did a little foraging. Nothing crazy but I did pick up this liver cleansing weed...

Yes, the glorious dandelion is very good for you. Just make sure you forage in an area that is not sprayed. I plan on doing some more foraging but I have to read up more on the plants in my area because some plants have poisonous cousins so don't want to get them confused. Luckily dandelions are pretty recognizable. Besides being an aid to the liver, dandelions support digestion, reduce swelling and inflammation, and helps treat jaundice, edema, and gout.

Here is my stash ready to go into my salad. I even used the blossoms- only the yellow flowers because the green part at the end is pretty bitter.

Here are the greens and blossoms in my salad from last night. I was pretty generous with the greens so their somewhat bitter taste was pretty dominant. I will cut down a bit next time. I tried some greens in my smoothie today and I could taste the bitter taste at all. If you have dandelions in your hood give them a try. My coop sells the greens for over $4 a bunch so why not get them for free!


Have a wonderful rest of the day!