Recipe: Scallops in Parmesan and White Wine Sauce with Wild Mushroom Couscous

I LOVE seafood!  Unfortunately no one else in my household will even go near it, so I don't cook it often. Recently I've been craving scallops, but I wanted to try something a bit different than my standard pan seared go-to. My original vision for this recipe was a robust homemade wild mushroom couscous, but hey folks I'm busy, so I cheated. I am going to give you my recipe for couscous, but I'm also going to tell you that Near East sells a version in a box that is just delicious! 

Wild Mushroom Couscous

Ingredients 
1 cup couscous 
1 palmful dried diced porcini mushrooms 
2 cups water
1 tablespoon olive oil or butter
Pinch of salt 
1 clove garlic

Directions
Boil two cups of water with dried porcinis, salt, and 1 teaspoon olive oil or butter. Remove from heat and pour over couscous in a medium mixing bowl. Cover with plastic wrap; after five minutes, remove wrap, fluff with a fork, and set aside. 


Scallops in Parmesan & White Sauce

Ingredients
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup white wine
2 teaspoons grated Parmesan cheese
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (optional)
salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 pound bay scallops


Directions
1) Heat butter and olive oil in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir white wine, Parmesan cheese, garlic, and parsley into hot oil and butter. Cook and stir until parsley is tender and wilted, 3 to 5 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper.

2) Increase heat to medium-high and add scallops to sauce; cook until scallops just become opaque, 3 to 4 minutes.

3) Divide couscous onto serving plates and top each serving with scallops in sauce. Sprinkle each portion with 1 teaspoon Parmesan cheese and a pinch of fresh parsley.


ENJOY!!

Green Living: Citrus Infused Vinegar

So, I promise that eventually I will start taking photos as I work on my recipes and hippie projects and share them here. I know that will be much more interesting and visually appealing.  :)

Anyway...

I love cleaning with vinegar. My current uses for and immense love of vinegar truly deserves its own post, which I will get to eventually, so today we will just talk about my current hippie vinegar project.

I LOVE my spray bottle of vinegar. It's a recycled standard size Windex bottle, so it holds a good bit. I go through an entire bottle in about 2 weeks. I clean floors, counters, sinks, toilets, showers and pretty much everything else in my home with it. I have, in the past, used the same spray bottle in the shower to condition my hair.

The one and only problem I can see with vinegar is that my husband despises the smell. Every time I clean I have to hear about how gross the vinegar smells. I tried adding a few drops of essential oil to my bottle, but as you can imagine, it made my cleaner have a bit of an oily film.  A few weeks ago I set out on a mission to figure out some way to improve the smell of the vinegar. What I came across were several websites suggesting you infuse the vinegar with fresh orange. I was intrigued, so I decided to give it a shot.

This project takes a bit of patience, but what I found is that the pay off is worth the wait.  My cleaner now smells citrusy fresh, and even Daddy Nev gives it "2 thumbs up I guess."  Haha!  Here's how to make your own citrus infused vinegar!

Supplies

Empty spray bottle
1 Quart size Mason jar with ring and lid
1 large orange or 4-5 lemons
2 cups distilled white vinegar

Instructions

1. Peel an orange or 4-5 lemons and place the peel only into the empty Mason jar.
2. Fill the remaining space in the Mason jar with distilled white vinegar
3. Seal the Mason jar and forget about it for 2 weeks
4. At the end of 2 weeks strain the citrus peel out of the vinegar.
5. Fill your spray bottle with 50/50, citrus infused vinegar and water
6. Clean, clean, clean and enjoy the citrus smell that permeates your home!
7. Enjoy a break from the bellyaching about how smelly vinegar is!

 I can't say enough good things about this vinegar. It has all the amazing cleaning power I love and a smell my family can live with!  I hope you will give this a try and let me know what you think!  I have personally made the orange scent, but not the lemon, and I'm anxious to give it a try!

Enjoy!

Recipe: Healthy Hearty Soup

It's a cold and rainy Sunday in Georgia, so I decided it would be a perfect day to throw together a big pot of soup. Here's my perfect idea of a good, hearty soup for a chilly day! Pair it up with some cornbread or piping hot whole grain bread with butter, and let me know what you think.

Healthy Hearty Soup

 

Prep Time: 25 minutes 
Cook Time: 2 -2.5 hours

Yield: 12 servings

Ingredients
1/4 cup Yellow Lentils
1/4 cup Green Lentils
1/4 cup Barley
1/4 cup Brown Rice
1/2 cup Whole Wheat Mini Pasta (I used alphabet pasta.  Choose your favorite)
1/8 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
1/2 teaspoon Onion Powder
1 cube Beef Bouillon (optional)
8-10 cups Water 
2-14 oz cans Petite Diced Tomatoes
1 cup chopped Carrots
1 cup chopped Cabbage
1 cup chopped Celery
1 pound Grass Fed Organic Ground Beef (optional)

Instructions

1. In a large soup pan bring 8 cups of water to a boil. Add all of the dry grain/pasta ingredients (lentils, barley, brown rice, pasta) and all of the spices (cayenne pepper, garlic powder, salt, black pepper, onion powder, bouillon). Simmer for 1 hour. 
2. While your dry ingredients and pasta are simmering peel and dice carrots and celery, and chop the cabbage. Set these to the side, and in a skillet brown your ground beef. Drain the fat off of the beef and set aside.
3. After the soup pot has simmered for 1 hour add the carrots and cabbage. Simmer for 20 minutes.  Add tomatoes, celery and ground beef and simmer for an additional 25 minutes. 
4. At this point your soup should be done, but test your vegetables for doneness (we like them a little on the crispy side as opposed to mushy), and feel free to play around with the spices.  Continue to simmer until it tastes just perfect for you and your family

Note: If you make this soup without the salt, bouillon and ground beef it makes an *amazing* heart healthy meal!

Enjoy!

Recipe: Whole Wheat Chocolate Coconut Banana Pancakes

I have been trying for months to develop the perfect healthy pancakes that my children will actually eat and BEHOLD...here it is. These pancakes are so amazingly delicious. They are good plain. They are good buttered. They are good with syrup. They are good with whipped cream.  They are GOOD, people!

Whole Wheat Chocolate Coconut Banana Pancakes

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Yield: makes about 12 pancakes

Ingredients

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup brown sugar

3 large ripe bananas, mashed

1 cup milk (I used organic whole cows milk)

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 egg

2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted

3/4 cup dark chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup shredded coconut (I used unsweetened organic)

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. In medium mixing bowl, mash the bananas and add the milk, vanilla, egg and melted coconut oil. Whisk to combine. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Stir until a smooth batter forms, but be sure not to over mix. Stir in the chocolate chips and coconut, and allow the batter to sit five minutes.
2. While the batter rests heat a skillet or grill on medium heat. Using a 1/3 cup measure, spoon batter into rounds and cook until bubbles form on top – about 2-3 minutes. Flip and cook for a minute or two more. Repeat with remaining batter. Serve hot with butter, syrup, whipped cream or nothing at all! 

Note: If you are not used to cooking with whole wheat flour just be aware that this batter will te very thick.  That's just how you want it to be.

Enjoy!!! 

Adventures in Hippie Laundry Detergent

Many months ago I got the idea in my head to make laundry detergent. As is the case with most things, it took me a while to convert that idea into action. I spent quite a bit of time doing research on "The Google" and trying to decide on the perfect recipe. I wasn't too crazy about the idea of a powdered detergent, so I himhawed around (that's what we say in the south about procrastinators...bless their hearts) about actually doing it. Also, I liked the smell of my Tide Sport with Febreeze. I wasn't overly anxious to actually give it up.

In November of last year I noticed that my son had a little dry patch of skin on his ankle. It was small, about the size of a pencil eraser. I put lotions on it after his bath and it went away. We did several rounds of it coming and going like that, and I thought it was just a simple case of dry skin...no big deal. Well, in January the dry patch came back. This time it grew. It grew and it grew until it had snaked up his leg and developed into an ugly rash behind his knee. Now there we were with what I was sure was eczema. I did what any GOOD hippie would do and I switched him to an organic bath wash and started slathering him down with coconut oil.  NO. It got worse.  Daddy Nev, disapproving of all things hippie, looked on disapprovingly as the rash spread up his trunk, down his arms and into his hairline. When we took them to the pediatrician for their vaccinations (which were late, and another story for another day) we brought it up with the doctor. She agreed that it was eczema and gave us some cream with a name I can't pronounce, and it cleared the rash right up.

In the midst of all this I decided it was time to sacrifice my Tide and Bounty, and look for an alternative that would be 1) gentle on my son's skin and 2) inexpensive. I came across a blog called My Merry Messy Life and I decided to use her recipe for liquid laundry detergent. Since my son was having skin issues I ordered the Dr. Bronner's Baby Mild Castile Soap instead of one of the scented varieties.

So, here is the Laundry Detergent Recipe.

Since the primary reason for making the detergent was the eczema, I opted to skip the Borax and go with baking soda.

Attempt #1
I warmed up 2 cups of water in a saucepan on medium high heat. When the water was almost boiling I poured in the super washing soda and then the baking soda. I started stirring, and as I stirred the concoction in the boiler turned into sort of a Play-Doh consistency. Eventually I had almost no water left and nothing was dissolving. It was a mess. Yuck. Thankfully I screwed it up before I added the castile soap. I trashed that mess and washed my pan.

Attempt #2
I warmed up 2 cups of water in a saucepan on medium high heat. When the water was almost boiling I poured in the super washing soda and stirred until it was dissolved. I then measured out my baking soda and poured it in the pan. It IMMEDIATELY hardened into rock hard lumps and would not dissolve no matter what I did. Another bombed attempt. I trashed that mess and washed my pan.

Attempt #3
I warmed up FOUR cups of water in a saucepan on medium high heat. When the water was almost boiling I poured in the super washing soda and stirred until it was dissolved. I then measured out my baking soda and poured it little by little into the pan WHILE stirring constantly.  I added about 1 TBSP at a time and made sure it was fully dissolved before adding more.  This time it all dissolved perfectly! I added the castile soap, stirred it up and then poured it in my bucket of water. Now, the recipe called for 2 gallons of water, but I only used 1 gallon. Honestly, I only had one gallon jug, so the decision to make it more concentrated was borne mainly out of necessity. However, it worked out just fine. The 4 cups of solution from my pan with the 1 gallon of water allowed me to fill an empty one gallon vinegar jug and 2 small glass jars. I gave the glass jars to my parents so they could serve as my guinea pigs. :)

Review
I could not be more thrilled with how this detergent turned out and how it works!  Since it's a bit more concentrated than the original recipe intended I use 2.5 TBSP per load instead of 1/3 cup.  To make things easier I just took a Sharpie marker and made a line on a very small cup that I wasn't using for anything else to mark the 2.5 TBSP I need for each load.

My clothes are stain-free. I still have to pre-treat some of those particularly icky toddler stains with OxyClean spray (that stuff is not hippie approved, but totally the bomb), but I've found myself using MUCH less, and my clothes are amazingly clean.  Keep in mind that we're talking about 2.5 TBSP of detergent!

Perhaps the biggest surprise to this detergent is that when the clothes finish drying they are 100% completely free of any static and they are soft as butter. This is not something I had anticipated, but when I washed the first load I decided to see how it would work all on its own, and left out fabric softener, dryer sheets, dryer balls, etc. I swear, I just don't need any of those things anymore, and keep in mind that we're dealing with cold weather clothing and bed clothes.  I'm washing tons of fleece, flannel and blankets. Zero static. Amazingly soft!

Now let's talk about the BEST part...the cost!

1 box of Super Washing Soda (55 oz.) = $2.89
4 lb box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda = $2.25
1 gallon of Dr. Bronner’s Castile Soap (128 oz.) = $54.98

To make one gallon (remember I made mine concentrated) of the detergent you use:
Super Washing Soda (you get 13.75 uses out of one box) = $.21 a batch
Baking Soda (you get 16 uses out of one box) = $.14 a batch
Dr. Bronner’s Castile Soap (you get 21 uses out of one gallon) = $2.62

I will wash 102 loads of laundry with my gallon of hippie laundry detergent. That gallon cost me $2.97.  The gallon. It cost less than $3!!!  That's right around 3 cents per load.

Do me and yourself a huge favor and try this detergent!  Don't forget to let me know what you think!

Nah, I'm not Catholic

This time of year I find myself saying this often.

Yes, I observe Lent.
No, I am not Catholic.

During our time together you will come to learn that I don't have a whole lot of use for organized religion. I believe in God, and I am a very spiritual person. I have been sorely disappointed in the past by the people who subscribe to organized religion, and it made me jaded, so I put my faith in God and I base my spiritual beliefs off of a personal relationship...just me and the Big HT (that's Holy Trinity for the unwashed heathens reading this :P).

In my early twenties I was very involved in church. I was a good Southern Baptist church girl. I sang in the choir. I went to Bible study. I volunteered in the nursery. As I grew older and figured myself out I realized that church just wasn't my thing. I couldn't handle being judged, and I couldn't handle the picking and choosing of which passages in the Bible were "valid" and could be used as ammo to hate others. I was done with religion, but I was not done with God.

I try to be a good person and I love with what I like to call "reckless abandon." I try to love the way I think that Jesus would want me to. I fall short because I am human, but I do try. I don't beat people over the head with my religion and I NEVER use my beliefs to bash another person. No. I don't fit into the mold of organized religion.

So anyway...back to Lent. In 2003 I first read about Lent. Since I have been a Baptist all my life it wasn't something I had really been exposed to. I read about the practice of focusing 40 days on my relationship with God, and putting the mindfulness back into a life that is full of auto-pilot. That first year I gave up salt. I love salt. That year we had planted tomatoes on our back deck, and since it was a late Easter we had tomatoes ripen before Lent was over. I ate my first tomatoes that year without salt and they were disgusting. Haha!  I made it, though.

After that year I went through some really significant life changes, and I didn't observe Lent again until 2009. In 2009 I decided to give up alcohol. By that time in my life I had become what I called a "regular" drinker.  There were other, more honest ways to describe the habit I had developed, but that's another blog for another day. 2009 was the year that Lent probably saved my life. I made it 9 days without alcohol, and I realized then I had a problem. After 2009 I again had a period of several years where I didn't observe Lent. I was giving up alcohol for good, and that took all of my focus and attention. In 2012 I was pregnant and I decided to give up all eating out. That was crazy, right?  Well, I did it and it was amazing. I benefited so much from avoiding all that restaurant and fast food crap and spent the last few weeks of my pregnancy super healthy!

Here are the reasons I observe Lent...

1) It really allows me to refocus and recenter. It's crazy how giving up just one thing can make you so mindful of so many other things. This year I gave up processed food, and every time I reach for something to eat or even get hungry I am mindful of the things I can not have. That makes me immediately grateful for what I can have. It's an automatic reset.

2) It helps me to remember what my needs are, versus my wants.

3) It helps me to confront my weaknesses.

4) It is a stark reminder that ALL relationships go through seasons of trial and deprivation as well as seasons of joy.

Life tests me every day, and it is full of challenges and temptation. My patience and my resolve are tested constantly. Lent is a chance for me to take control of one small variable in my life for a period of 46 days and commit that one thing to God. I can take that want and desire for that particular thing and lay it down at the feet of the One who laid down everything for me. 

Topic Roundup

Ladies and gentlemen, I am opinionated.  I think it is important that I make that known now at the beginning of our time together. I was talking earlier with Daddy Nev and he asked me what I planned on blogging about.  Hmmm.....everything!!

So, here's a round-up of all the topics you can expect to see from me (I can't be held responsible for the video gaming stuff you see on the other side of the site, LOL).

• Gentle Parenting
• Following instinct
• The CIO (cry-it-out) and WIO (wait-it-out) methods 
• Car Seat safety
• Circumcision
• Circumcision regret
• Vaccines
• No-Poo hair care
• Green living
• Homemade cleaning products
• Homemade scrubs/lotions/soaps
• Cooking and recipes for grown-ups and kids
• Strategies for handling picky eaters
• Parenting humor
• Kid crafts
• Product reviews
• Breastfeeding
• Formula Feeding
• Television
• Movies
• Sports
• Hollywood entertainment
• Random rants
• ...and whatever I am forgetting

I plan to talk about anything and everything!   I know Daddy Nev also plans to tackle a full range of topics, and just be warned...we don't always agree. Ahhh, well...that's what makes us fun.

Cheesy Introduction Post!

It is hard to know where to start with this first post.  I've written so many blogs that I was almost certain no one would ever care to read, or would be read by very few, but this one is different because this is the one that I hope will be ready, AND will make people want to come back and read more.

As you've read, I consider myself a hippie at this point in my life. I did NOT start out this way. Many years, many trials and many tribulations led me to the day in my life that I woke up and realized I wanted to be a mom. Going into all of that is too much now, but we'll get there one day.

Let's just start with a humble and cheesy introduction.

I am a thirty-something year old mother of twins, a boy and a girl. They will be two in just a couple months.  They are a delight...a joy...a blessing.  They are happy, playful, delightful. They are loud, fast and SMART. Daddy Nev and I never sit still for very long these days. *smile*

When we were first married we talked a lot about the kind of parents we wanted to be. As I progressed through my pregnancy we talked a big game about discipline, time-outs, spankings, crying-it-out, vaccines...on and on. Our view of child-rearing and parenting was very mainstream until the day we laid eyes on our babies.  I immediately knew I would never let them cry alone and I would never raise my hand to them. I found that I had an instinct when it came to my children and in almost every situation I seemed to know what was best, and I had a great peace when I followed my instinct instead of the instructions I read in a book. It seems every parenting book contradicted the one before it anyway!

That is how it all began, and everything else has just sort of evolved from that point. I have talked so much about beginning this blog, and I'm so glad I finally did it. I hope that I can hold your interest. I hope I can entertain you, and that you will keep coming back. I plan to use this forum to share things I have learned, ponder things I am still trying to figure out and give a window into the crazy and chaotic life of a mother of multiples. Oh, I'm also a working mother, and my husband is a stay-at-home-dad. We'll talk about that from time to time as well since that's what the blog is really all about.  :)