Healthy Snacks

Here it is Mom!

My mom told me about Sprouted wheat candy that she used to make and really liked.  I couldn't for the life of me remember eating anything like that when I was a kid but I set about to make up a recipe using her ideas.  The funny thing is, I still don't remember the time or place or anything about this sprouted wheat candy when I was a kid but as soon as I tasted it I remembered the taste very well, like it was yesterday. 
  Well,  I ground up my sprouted wheat, blended in some sucanat, molasses, sunflower seeds, lots of ground flax, vanilla and salt.  I also added raisins.  I wish I could have added nuts but I didn't have any when I made the bars so I added them on top after I coated them.
I spread the mixture onto a pan, cut it up into bars and froze it in the freezer (I discovered that they don't freeze hard, which is perfect).
Later, I removed them from the freezer and carob coated them with malt sweetened carob chips.  My kids love them.
They are healthy and it makes for good hiking snacks, town trip lunches, or a healthy dessert after a meal at home. They need to be kept cool!

Sorry the pictures are bit fuzzy.  I wasn't taking my time. 

What is going on?

My kids have not been sick in a very long time.  I was beginning to feel like perhaps we had passed the baby stage and the kids just didn't get sick much anymore.  Well,  then this week hit.  It actually started with my husband who came down with a cold.  He couldn't understand it because usually he is the last one ever sick and this time nobody around him at home, work or church were sick, just him.  His cold progressed to fevers and chills and time off of work.  Next, Ziggy came down with the same thing and alternated between fevers and chills and a stuffy head.  Then it was C's turn, same thing.  But, as Art and Ziggy seemed to get better, C's fever got worse and he developed a sore throat.

Up to this point J. and I had held out and were the only happy, healthy ones.  Later though, J. developed a seriously soar throat and I chalked it up as "his turn".  Well, he never came down with the cold or a fever but he stopped eating because it hurt too much.  I had already gone to the clinic for C who had been complaining of abdominal pain and through a blood test it was confirmed that it was not appendicitis.  Good.  This time though, was off to emergency room as the clinics were all closed.  Strep throat for both C and J.  Ugh!

Back home again, with my bag of antibiotics in hand, thinking "good, it will all be over in a day".  Ha!
In the middle of the night Ziggy woke up crying that his ear hurt so bad.  Yep!  clear sign of ear infection.  I gave him a dose of his brothers antibiotics, put some ear drops in his ear that are suppose to relieve pain and gave him some Ibuprofin.  Not good enough!  The crying and pain in the ear continued and so I made a hot compress, and put it to his ear, then made a hot foot bath to decongest his upper body.  He was soon fine and able to go back to bed and sleep the rest of the night.  Good!  This should all be over in the morning.

No such luck.  Ziggy's one eye is so puffy and red this morning that it looks like he has pink eye or an infection of some sort in his eye.  Not only that, he has a big round puffy spot in one arm pit that looks like hives but he says it doesn't itch at all.  He looks terrible. Back to the clinic this morning for some antibiotics for him too.
 
J.  seems to be fine now again, and although he had strep throat, he has avoided the cold.  C. is some better too but still coughing like crazy.  Art is dragging himself to work everyday but seems to be slowly getting better.  Ziggy is the one I'm still puzzling over.  It has been some week!  What happened to my healthy kids?

I'm fine so far!! :0)

:0)

Sprouted Wheat bread

Ok,  I made sprouted wheat bread again today.  And, today it turned out absolutely beautiful. 

Here is what I did:

I sprouted 8 1/2 c. dry wheat by putting it in a big bowl and soaking it for about 16 hours.

Then, I drained off the water, rinsed the wheat berries, drained them again and then let them sit in the bowl without water until they sprouted a very tiny little white sprout that you can hardly see.

I measured 5 1/2 c. sprouted wheat berries into my food processor and 3 T. gluten flour.

Grind it up while you get the yeast ready.  

I put 1 T. yeast in a cup with 1/3 c. water,

1 T. honey

1 t. salt

and 1/4 c, oil

When the yeast is activated a bit I pour it slowly over my grinding wheat berries and continue grinding until I have a fairly smooth dough.  

Then I take it and put it in my Kitchen aid bread mixer and let it mix with the dough hook for about 5 minutes to beat the gluten a bit.

I put it in a bowl in the oven at 150 degrees and let it rise until double in size.

I took it out and kneaded it into a loaf and put it in a pan and back into the oven to rise again.

When it was risen to a beautiful fluffy loaf I turned on the oven to 350 degrees and baked it for 35 or 40 minutes.

I couldn't help trying it soon after.  It was delicious and fluffy!  Won't last long around here I'm sure.

Ta da!  Made without flour except 3 T. of gluten.

Out of the Kitchen of Me.

I don't know what got into me but I felt like experimenting with my sprouts.  Today I made sprouted wheat bread.  Well,  It rose nicely and all but when I put it in the oven, it flopped.  Oh well.  I think next time I will let it rise in the oven and when it is just right, turn the heat on to bake instead of moving it about.
Anyway,  I got some more wheat sprouting soon so I'll try again.
Then I made crackers out of sprouted wheat bread, sprouted lentils, and cooked brown rice.  Of course there is garlic and onion pwd., salt and some vegetable oil as well.  They taste very nice and the first batch I made, I thought that Art would enjoy them when he came home.  A little while later I asked J.  to fill the dishwasher and when I came back in the kitchen they were half ate up.  Ugh!!
I made another batch and since it is supper time now, they are all munching away on them again.
I also made a tabbouleh type salad with garbanzos, lentil spouts, onions tomatoes, lettuce and a coconut, ginger dressing.  Then of course we needed veggies and that's where the asparagus comes in.
I don't usually cook a lot and spend as little time as possible in the kitchen but apparently I felt like it today.  Wish you were here to help me eat it. 

Oh, and the dip with the crackers that you see here is a recipe that I got off of Barbara's blog- 

http://wildflowermorningrecipes.blogspot.com/

Very yummy, Barbara, thank you!!

Let your little light shine.

I feel so burdened for our community here.  So many people who are so independent.  They want nothing to do with God.  After the big earthquake in Japan,  my heart could just burst.  If only they would let me tell them, there is a God who loves them.  It would only take our dam at the South end of town to burst and half our town would also be washed away.  We live up here for a reason and I try to make as much contact with people outside of our church as I can, always hoping for an opportunity to Share Jesus.
 

We must let our little lights shine!!!

Sprouts, microgreens, and planting a garden.

Ok,  I am so anxious for spring!  I know that when spring comes, it usually comes very quickly up here.  So, since my neighbour told me that she always starts planting her garden in the last week of April, I've been thinking about gardening.  J and I planted tomato seeds and cucumber, basil and some flowers today.  I can't wait to see the little shoots coming up. 
Another thing we planted as an experiment was a whole tray of fenugreke seeds.  I would like to eat them as microgreens.  Apparently they are super good for you.  Then we planted a tray of Fennel seeds.  I read that the baby plants taste a bit like licorice and it tastes to nice in a salad.  I guess we'll find out.

I am also on a sprouting kick.  I have been reading about how good for you sprouts are and how high their nutritional value is.  So,  we are sprouting seeds, grains and legumes.

The big bowl has wheat berries in it.  I learned that bread made from whole wheat flour actually spikes the blood sugar and so the body has to produce extra insulin and stores up the sugars as fat.   Seeing that I don't need anymore fat, I learned that sprouted wheat bread doesn't do that.  It acts more like a slow release for you blood sugar and the sugars get used up for energy instead.  Spelt bread is also good and brown rice bread.  I'm learning lots aren't I?  :0)

The plate with the cover has fenugreke seeds, the big jar with the brown has lentils, the next has alfalfa, and the next has mung beans.  The little jar has fennel.

Obviously they are all in the first stage of the sprouting procedure. 

Here is a not so great picture of a very yummy dish I made with sprouted lentils.  It was a bit spice but so very very delicious.  I used shreaded coconut, sauteed onions and garlic, french cut string beans, sprouted lentils and chicken style seasoning, and finally Masalla mara seasoning.  Oh,  Love curry!  Good with plain yogurt and rice!

 

Today we had spring rolls made with rice noodles, chinese gluten, and mungbean sprouts.  The boys loved every bit of it.

Alfalfa spout sandwiches are a big hit with them too.  Funny,  I hated sprouts when I was a kid.  My kids can't get enough of them.  :0)

Homeschool group

We have a new homeschool group that has started since we have moved to this end of town.  It has been a lot of fun for the kids.  The group meets every Thursday at the Wildlife preserve behind our house.  I love it because the boys and I can walk there whenever we want to. 

Here is one of our friends that we meet  on our walk everytime.  This Elk loves people.  I guess he was bottle fed as a baby and loves the personal attention.

Hey,  You want a close up?

Can I eat your camera?

At the homeschool group, learning our facts about swans.  They should be coming home very soon.  We are getting ready for the Swan festival.

Making paper mache' swans.

The Show is on Again

Even as I write, the last glimmering, dancing lights are flitting across the sky.  It was an absolutely spectacular show tonight.  I don't think I've seen them this beautiful until now.  It is -25 C. but I had to go outside and snap picture.  Unfortunately the camera is just not doing it justice.  It seems that I see such a beautiful arrangement of colour and lights and by the time my camera is done taking the picture it has danced off to some new and improved arrangement and I can't capture that one either. 
Here are some of the pictures that turned out not too bad. 

First they started off low in the sky and brilliant with colour.

Then they started breaking up and swirling up into ribbons of light.

Then they began to curl and and uncurl and literally run and dance across the sky.

Here are some that just burst from the original line of light.

And so they continued for about an hour.

I hope I'm not boring you all with this.  It is so hard to capture in words the beauty that I saw this night.  Wish you were all here with me, standing in the cold.  At least we could chatter our teeth in unison.  :0)

This morning's sky

We have a fair bit of Northern lights all winter long.  Some are beautiful and some are just there.  But Art woke me up this morning because the sky was lit up in all directions with brilliance.  It is too bad I don't know enough about my camera to get really good pictures and also I didn't want to stand outside so pictures were taken through the window.  Also,  I didn't use a tripod so with the time lapse thingy I tend to shake a bit and the pictures came out fuzzy.  Oh, well!  You get the idea of what we were seeing this morning.  Wish there was more colour but not this morning.  Maybe another time.  Enjoy.

The red in this next picture is actually reflections from light of the fireplace in the house.