Contemporary Earth Mama

a look at giving

The recent passing of a long time friend's father had me sitting in a memorial service with hundreds of people celebrating his life.  With letters being read, adult children sharing their hearts and the pastor inviting all of us to join in being Kindness Ambassadors within our communities, these words and thoughts had my heart skipping faster than normal.

Every day I give.  I give because it makes me feel good and is always helpful to the person receiving.  There are moments when I feel I gave too much, though I have to admit the excitement of that minute for me is bigger than my energy screen and I will leave feeling like I overextended.  Still, I'd rather feel like I overextended versus underdelivered.  I give because I believe in universal reciprocity, and for as easy as it is to offer up support, solicited advice, time, energy, or love, it has always found its way back to me.  Whether it comes back in time given, money offered, love to my children, support for my business, a perennial for the backyard, a free banana at the coop...it always comes back, it just depends on how I look for it.

Good people doing good deeds renders good results.  Pretty simple.

Take a look at this article for a bit more on giving...I'm particularly interested in what Deepak Chopra has to say about this topic.

things i love

**solo paddle on a quiet lake

**baby loons

**rollerblading with my girl

**looking at new class potentials for my girl

**hitting up the thrift store today...score!

**strawberry season...it's been a good one

**cool night sleeping

**planning birthday parties for 4 year old Cheetah's (exciting photos of the celebration to come)

**perseverence

another simple salad, this one is gluten free

I said it just last week, simple summer salads are my saving grace as of late.  This one has proven to be a hit for everyone and I swear it's the bacon.

Gluten Free Pasta Salad with Bacon and Green Beans

1 bag GF fusilli pasta

5 slices thick bacon, cooked and chopped

1 1/2 cups fresh green beans ( or 1 bag frozen), cut in one inch pieces

1 c halved grape tomatoes

1/4 cup parmesan cheese, shredded

3T lemon juice

salt & pepper

2T olive oil.

3 T toasted pine nuts

Cook pasta and on last minute and a half, add the green beans for a quick blanch.  When done pull pasta and beans, pour into a strainer and run super cold water over them.

While pasta is cooking, warm cast iron skillet on med high heat and add pine nuts, toasting for 3-4 minutes.

In another bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, s & p, and olive oil.

Put pasta and beans into a large bowl and add tomatoes, bacon and parmesan, stirring to mix, then add the dressing, which is super light.  Sprinkle with toasted pine nuts.

It's such a great mix of simple flavors, and I love simple.  Enjoy!

 

black bean salad

Simple salads have been my saving grace during this humid start to summer.  They are easy to make, nutrient dense, and make for great and light lunches the next day.  Packing them along when needed is easily done by using a small mason jar ( which we use as drinking glasses around here), screw on a cover and you're good to go.  The salad I made for dinner last night, along with remnants of a cold GF pasta salad, fresh spinach salad, homemade balsamic vinaigrette, a bowl of fresh strawberries and chicken sausage was a colorful black bean salad.

Black Bean Salad

2 1/2 cups cooked and rinsed black beans

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 yellow bell pepper, chopped

1 1/2 cups corn kernels

1/4 cup loosely chopped cilantro

couple shakes of cumin

couple shakes of sea salt

squeeze a wedge of lime

stir it all together and you're done...this one gets better after it sits overnight in the fridge.  Serve cold.

Would love to attach a photo but my laptop and I aren't getting along right now...will put one up later!

What kind of summer salads are you enjoying?

beach days...

 
Today the beach fit in between a couple other errands made fun by this pitstop.  Enough time to romp, play, and feel the spray from the large waves from this windy day proved to be just what we all needed.

Other recent beach days up north resulted in meeting this gal right here...I must say she was a bit snappy ( no pun intended) as it appeared she had laid eggs as revealed by several stirred up "pits" in the road.

 What unusual critters have you stumbled upon on your beach days?

strawberry jam for everyone

Our day was supposed to be spent with friends, but when Fannie woke saying she didn't feel great and Sunny is now heading to the cabin this weekend with Nana and Papa, I figured a trip to the orchard for berry picking would suit us all well.  And it did.

Mr. Sun managed to stay tucked behind the clouds for most of our tasting picking time, and we found a way to keep Fannie from eating the berries out of our baskets as quickly as we tossed them in: let her be in charge of the wagon and gave her my water bottle and reminded her of how we pick berries at home to eat, and she was off.

Over twenty pounds of strawberries later, they caught a ride on the cows before heading across the street for some lunch.  I did recall on the way home, that buying this amount of berries at once means I I need a plan for using/preserving them fairly quickly, and I hadn't spent an ounce of time in that direction, SO my afternoon was spent making jam ( because I have so much time on my hands!).  Twelve jars of jam later, and we couldn't resist busting one open during dinner to taste the fresh soft texture of those ripe berries!

Some of you emailed with questions about my recipe.  Having typically made freezer jam in the past with grapes from our grapevine, I used the Pomona's Pectin recipe versus just boiling down the berries with a ton of sugar....not that I don't L.O.V.E. the taste of jam made with a ton of sugar, BUT, with the way we go through it, it's nice to have a no sugar style on hand!

I followed the Pomona's Pectin recipe for All Fruit Cooked Jam until the part about apple cider or juice concentrate.  I used lemonade, because I had it on hand and it's typically my thing to start a recipe before checking to make sure I have all the ingredients.  I didn't use any sugar at all and the result was a very mild jam that will be great for stirring into yogurt, pouring over ice cream, dipping waffles into, and for dabbing up with some angel food or pound cake.  We all loved it.

Then, my aunt called and said she's got some currant bushes ready for picking in the next couple weeks, so we'll steer into uncharted, but yummy territory.  We'll keep you posted.

All Fruit Cooked Jam

3 c mashed fruit

3 t. pectin

4 t. calcium water

1 c lemonade

mash all fruit in large bowl, stir in pectin and calcium water.  Heat lemonade over stovetop in sauce pan seperate of fruit.  Heat fruit over stovetop until it boils, then remove from heat, pour lemonade into it, stirring consistently to make sure the powders dissolve.  Once that is all mixed together, I pour into jars ready for canning, toss into boiling water for 5 minutes and wa-laa! 

If you've got a great jam recipe, I'd love to give it a try ( especially for currants!).

applesauce monday

Today I got to be Miss Nichi at Sweetwaters Childcare in Excelsior.  Sweetwaters is a pleasant and small Waldorf style, in home childcare program.  Fannie has had the opportunity to hang there a couple mornings towards the end of the school year and it's really quite lovely.

Pink white-washed walls, wood floors, wood ceilings, wooden bowls, tables, chairs, and toys simply adorn the open and natural lit room.  Sheepskins for resting on, quilts, blankets and pillows for heads and covering; playstands, handmade babies, silks, a barn, books, beeswax and crayoning, all available for the children.

With seven little children kittens, as they preferred to be called today, under my toes, we experienced quiet play, circle time, games, morning snack, outdoor play in the rain, reading to droopy eyes, an afternoon walk and more fun play indoors.  Morning snack was applesauce, and every child wanted to be a part of the cutting.  Small wooden cutting boards were passed out, along with butter knives, and in the middle of the table sat the large bowl of apples and the compost bowl.  I sat at the head of the table and really couldn't peel the apples fast enough for all the eager hands.  The youngest being Fannie, who delighted in the cutting (& tasting!), didn't leave that table for nearly thirty minutes as we talked about all things sweet as apples.  The smell of warm applesauce on the stove with a bit of cinnamon and agave nectar was enough to warm my bones on this wet and cool morning.

The real fun is that I get to be Miss Nichi for most Mondays this summer...can't wait to see what we'll adventure into next week!

How did you spend this rainy and dreary morning?

did someone say cheesecake?

If you know me well, then you know there are two ways to my heart ( in regards to food, anyway):

cheesecake+chocolate=my BFF's

Chocolate ( or carob, when I am pretending to eat chocolate and which, thankfully, I love just about as much as the real thing) is easier for me to come by.  Cheesecake is so cheesecakey, it takes forever, mine always split, though that never has anything to do with the fact that I could eat half a cake myself, and then there's the decision about what kind of cheesecake to make (or eat):  chocolate, berries, caramel, etc.  You've never seen a cheesecake recipe on here in the year plus I've been here because that's about how often I bake one.  Until now.

Let's give a round of applause to Pure Market Express for introducing me to raw food as I know it.  Chef Rebecca introduced her Chocolate Cheesecake to me on more than one occasion.  it was love at first site. 

So, take the cheesecake craving I recently found myself one, and these growing right under my nose, and I found myself between a rock and a hard place with the viable option being to make myself a strawberry cheesecake.  I stumbled around online, found a recipe and changed it up for a couple of reasons:  1) my blender died again and I'm waiting for a replacement or the secret fantasy of a Vita-Mix landing on my front step, and 2)it had way too much agave nectar in it, which I find SOOO sweet.  Once I dove in, I had a blast making changes and finding a way to make this cheesecake one my family would all approve of.

If your children are like mine and end up with itchy spots and unidentifiable rashes all over their bodies after the random consumption of gluten or dairy, then you'll be psyched about this gluten & dairy free recipe!

Lemon Cheesecake with Strawberry Topping:

Makes 8 small servings.

Almond Meal Crust:

1 c Almond meal
1/2 c Dates ( I have them at room temp, cut out middle and quarter before putting them in to Magic Bullet)
1 T. Brown Rice Syrup
Water
pinch of sea salt

I did the above with the dates, adding water as needed, which ended up being closer to 1/4 cup.  Pour them into a bowl with the almond meal and brown rice syrup.  Mash it all up with a wooden spoon and press into a pie plate.  Put in fridge while preparing the filling.

Filling:

1 1/2 c Cashews
juice of 3 lemons ( about 1/2 cup)
1/4 c soft coconut oil
1/4 c brown rice syrup

1 t. vanilla + 2 T. water

I blended this all quite successfully in the Magic Bullet, but a food processor or Vita-Mix would work so much better.  When smooth ( be sure to taste it, it's SO good), pour on top of the Almond Meal Crust and smooth with the back of a spatula, then take that spatula and scoop out the remaining filling and guide that baby directly to your mouth, like the spatula AND the rim of the bullet clean before popping the pie plate back into the fridge.

Topping:

I took about a dozen strawberries from the garden, rinsed them and cut into quarters. A quick pulse of the blender/processor/bullet is all you need to get some juice out of these while allowing them to stay chunky.  This gets poured over the top and the whole gig gets put back into the fridge. 

The cheesecake is still sort of warm (room tempish) at this point, so prep this in the morning so it has all day to harden up a bit, which it does.

This cheesecake had everyone excited at the dinner table (and it CAN be had for breakfast the next morning as should most good desserts!)

 

 

 

 

a garden just for her

When we planted our family garden last year, Sunny insisted on her own plot, which happened upon a random patch of grass near the stick fort.  With no help from Grown-Ups, she dug, planted and watered, though haphazardly, and soon excitedly pointed out the green sprouts of peas and beans.

This year, after planting the family garden, she again insisted upon her own plot, which happened upon Mud Hill.  As some of you know, Mud Hill is a spot in our yard that was left behind as we work bit by bit to re-landscape.  It was a spot that doesn't grow any grass and is only about sixteen square feet in size.  It is a spot we dig into when in need of black dirt for some other gardening project and is also the preferred digging and pouring spot for the necessary mud play that takes place around here.  I am certain there are neighbors who think it unnecessary when there are such entertainment models as video games, but my girls...they play in the dirt.  And I love it.

So, she dug and planted and up came green bean sprouts, then a fence, then a walking path, then string to hold the fence together and to keep the bunnies out ( never mind the large gaps in the said string and fencing).  As the dirt in our yard tends to be hard, she allowed me to help a bit over the weekend.  We worked the soil, pulled out rocks and grass and prepared the garden space for more seeds.  It soon saw carrot, cucumber and basil seeds, and was put all in place before a friend ::thanks, Nikki!:: offered three extra tomato plants, two of which found homes in this cozy little garden.

And every day, she waters, checks the soil, does a little digging here and there and mostly comes in the house to be sent directly to the bathtub or back out to the hose.  And every day, she grows more independent, more in love with earth, more in love with who provided us this earth to walk on, and more in love with the idea of eating what she herself has grown....and I consider it one of those moments when I have succeeded as a parent.

new collar for Campbell

(Photo taken by Sunny, age 6 AND 3/4)

Sunny came out of her quiet time this afternoon with a custom finger knitted collar for her beloved pup.  Above is Campbell modeling her new duds ::rather excitedly if I don't say so myself.  Complete with a spot for her tags to hang and a loop in which the leash clips in to, the two of them proudly demonstrated how they could walk together ( to the aforementioned co-op) by going outside to run around the house.

That is pure love.