Juli Ford

apples...part four...applesauce

This was such a fun day for me.  I got really nostalgic about doing this as a kid with my mom and my brother.  When we went apple picking last week-end, I called my mom to see if she still had our old food mill but it was apparently long gone.  So I went on a search for one and it was not easy to find!  Of course, you can make applesauce without a food mill.  But I couldn't imagine doing it any other way.  So we ended up at Charlie's Hardware (doesn't that just crack you up?) where we finally found our Foley Food Mill and it was love at first turn for all of us.

Our recipe was ...apples.  Oh, and a little bit of cinnamon, of course.  Delicious!

dragon bread

We celebrated our first Michaelmas yesterday (there are so many ways to celebrate this autumn festival and I like the overview given here at the Parenting Passageway blog).  We chose to focus on the strength of defeating the dragon by making dragon bread and telling a fire-breathing dragon story from our Earthschooling curriculum. 

The children loved making these (apparently we have been doing a lot of quick-bread type muffin making lately and I didn't realize how much they had missed making "the kind of dough you can play with").  They spent tons of time rolling, pulling, patting, and stretching these dragons into being and they adored adding all the spikes (slivered almonds) and teeth (sunflower seeds) to make the dragons "scary".

I won't bother posting the recipe because I actually didn't really like it (it worked well for shaping but didn't taste terrific without a lot of butter and/or honey).  Just a basic bread dough recipe(we generally use half white, half wheat) will do if you want to give it a try.  Fun. Fun. Fun!

apples...part two...muffins

We love the following recipe which we have adapted a bit from one given to us in our Waldorf parent-child class.  The original recipe was for zucchini muffins but it can be easily used for carrot or apple muffins as well.

Apple Muffins

1 c. organic white flour
1 c. organic whole wheat pastry flour
1 c. rolled oats
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 tsp cinnamon (we use less cinnamon with zucchini or carrot muffins)
1/2 c. honey or sucanat
2 eggs (or use 1/2 c applesauce instead)
1 1/2 c. milk (or oat,soy or rice milk)
5 Tbsp oil
1-2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups grated apples (we used about 3 good size apples)

Sift dry ingredients together (add oats without sifting). Mix wet ingredients in a separate bowl.  Mix wet and dry ingredients together and then stir in the apples.  Bake at 350 degrees.  This makes a LOT of muffins so plan to freeze or share some or cut the recipe in half if you don't want so many.  This usually makes about 18 regular muffins plus anywhere from 10-20 mini muffins as well.  Bake minis for about 10-12 minutes and regular for about 18 minutes.

apples ...part one...the picking

Did the whole world go apple picking at CN Smith Farm in Bridgewater this week-end?  I think so.  There were a crazy amount of people there and we picked a sort of ridiculous amount of apples.  I just couldn't help myself.  I mean, HONEYCRISP!!! So, stay tuned.  We have a lot of apple work to do around here.  Let the apple fun begin!

raw zucchini pesto "pasta"

This is just my kind of non-recipe recipe.  Sorry for those of you who like to be more specific but this is all I've got for you on what I threw together for dinner one night this week. For me.  I wish I could say Rod and the kids were right in there with me devouring this but....ah....not yet.

Raw Zucchini Pesto Pasta
-Grate up a raw zucchini
-Throw in the blender or food processor- a bunch of basil, a drizzle of olive oil, a garlic clove and a pinch of salt
-Toss the pesto over the shredded zucchini and throw some tomatoes on there too
-Enjoy!

mother daughter yoga retreat...part four...the food, oh, the food

edible flowers

the best beet soup EVER

color color color yum yum yum

a plateful of yummy vegan goodness.  Just one more reason to find your way to Sky Meadow Retreat.

green smoothie

Here is my current favorite.  

Green Smoothie

2 cups cold filtered water
1 banana
a big handful of frozen strawberries
a big handful of frozen mangoes
2 good handfuls of collard greens (just wash and remove stem from middle of leaves)
1 shot frozen wheatgrass
2 rounded tbsp rice protein (I like Nutribiotics Vanilla)
1 tbsp almond butter
1 tbsp ground flax seed
1-3  tsp bee pollen

Blend together until smooth.  You can use a vitamix for this to get a smoother result but I just put it in the blender and I actually like all those little bits of greens in there.  Yum!!

The wheatgrass didn't make it into the photo but it definately makes it into my smoothies.  I am also really enjoying the bee pollen and I miss it if I don't have it.

By the way my vegan experiment is going great (ok- those of you who want to be picky can say the bee pollen isn't vegan but it is ok with me).  It will be a month this week-end and I honestly can't remember the last time I felt this great (of course daily yoga is a huge part of that I am sure).  These green smoothies are really essential for me.  Rod still looks at me like I am crazy but (shhhhh don't tell anyone) he has agreed to go to a raw vegan restaurant in Boston with me this week!  Check back here and I will be sure to let you know how it goes!