Flashback Friday with Heya Sparky!

My friend Lauren does an amazing blog called Heya Sparky. It's really great and you should all check it out. As part of her blog, she does a weekly post called "Flashback Fridays". Here she shares an old photo of herself and a story to go along with it. She has asked a few others to join in on the fun and "link up". Lauren, hopefully I am doing this right.

From Top Left, Clockwise: My Mom, My Brother, My Sister, My Niece and Me

I am the little on the left. This photo was taken the last time I lived in Pittsburgh, well Aliquippa, in the early 90s. My father grew up there and my parents decided for some crazy reason to leave sunny California to come back...who knows? My brother and sister, amidst their crazy lives ended up visiting at the same time once. So this is one of the photos of a visit I will never forget. It would be almost 10 years before my mom had all of her children in one place again, and she has never had all of her grandchildren in one place. My niece and I played and played and we were all a family together. Thanks for the marvelous life family, I wouldn't want any other crazy!

Thanks, Lauren this was fun!

Primal Apple Crisp

I mentioned previously that I was taking a trip into Primal land. If you don't know what that means then you can go here to check it out a bit. Basically, it is a theory that we should eat as our ancestors ate, our cavemen ancestors. Meaning a heavy reliance on meat and animal fats, no grains, legumes(beans), sugar, vegetable oils or potatoes. That is a very basic take on it, but if you are interested I encourage you to check out the website.

Friends of mine are also doing the Primal thing so I decided to make a dessert we could all enjoy. I was thinking that fruit dessert would be easiest, and decided to modify an apple crisp recipe. Below is what I make and I think it turned out pretty good. As I was making it I forgot that honey is an "acceptable" sweetener, so this is made without any additional sugar. However, if I made it again I would probably put honey on the apples, though it was sweet enough without it.

Primal Apple Crisp

Prep Time 30 mins : Bake Time 30 mins : Serves 12
Ingredients
8 Apples¹
1/2 Cup walnuts
1/2-1 Cup Raisins
1/2-1 Cup Craisins(Dried Cranberries)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons salt
nutmeg, optional
ginger, optional
cloves, optional

1/4 cup quinoa flakes²
1/2 cup coconut flour³
1 cup almond meal⁴

1/2 cup butter(1 stick)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Core and slice the apples. If you are particular about your apples then feel free to peel them as well.
2. Place the apples, walnuts, craisins and raisins in a bowl and toss them with whichever spices you have chosen to use, but with at least the cinnamon and salt. Set aside.

3. Combine quinoa flakes, coconut flour and almond meal in a bowl. Use a pastry blender to mix in 1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick).
4. Spread apple mixture into a 9x13 pan. Use remaining 1/4 cup butter by cutting into pads and distributing over the mixture. Spread topping mixture evenly over the apples.
5. Bake for 30 minutes or until apples are bubbling and topping is browned. Like any crisp, this too would be delicious with ice cream or whipped cream, though not necessarily primal.



Foodnotes
¹Often times apple dessert recipes call for granny smiths or special baking apples. Anytime I bake with apples I use whatever apple I want or is on sale. I am sure there are reasons for using specific apples, but I have never had issues with any of the ones I've tried. This time I used gala, pink lady and braeburn.
²I have only found out about this craziness of quinoa flakes, they had them in bulk at our food co-op. They are suppose to work very similarly to rolled oats and they substituted marvelously for this recipe.
³The coconut flour I found was Bob's Red Mill. I am sure you can find some online, though I got ours at our co-op. The package said it could be substituted for up to 1/3 of the flour in recipes. I used only it because I wasn't actually baking a cake or bread or anything that needed to rise in anyway.
⁴You can buy almond meal, it can get rather expensive sometimes. But my almond meal I made using my food processor. This recipe also had some walnuts in the "almond" meal.

Kill Your TV

...no really.

I am not a crazy anarchist, or even an extreme activist, but I have seen great benefits come from not having a television or mass amounts of media in my life recently.

About 3 months ago, I would check IMDb at least once a day. I am a film person, I went to university for it, and so it was quite an interest of mine. I wanted to be caught up on what movies had come out, who was working on this, who was being honored with awards and, yes, a little bit of who was dating who. For a few days I had been busy and for one reason or another hadn't gone onto the site. Then I thought, maybe I should see if I can not go on for longer, can I really do this? I think at the point when I really wanted to go to it and had to shut the computer and walk away, was when I realized I guess I was slightly addicted to it. Now, I am at a place where I could kind of care less. I actually hadn't realized that X-Men: First Class had come out until I saw an ad for it on Google. This was the first step in me understanding what role I want media playing in my life.

When Ben and I were in China, especially this last trip, we were on media overload. I basically slept, ate, watched television and exercised, while watching television. I was watching American Idol, like we had to get home from dinner so I could watch it. Now I understand this was partly because I was feeling incredibly isolated and wanting my own culture and interaction desperately. Either way, I had become accustom to watching television, which I hadn't had before. When I got back home, that feeling of being starving for community could be fulfilled by hanging out with anyone I ever knew, any time I could, leaving no time or longing for TV. We had a television in the living room that we used mostly for movies or gatherings. I decided I didn't want it taking up space anymore, and we chose to move it out of the living room. I was never a huge fan of television and aside from China, I hadn't watched television much since high school. But even with the level that I watched, getting rid of the TV was one of the best decisions I have made in recent history.

Recently, Ben and I were doing some moderate yard work. He looked at me and said something like I hate yard work, why did we buy a house? I responded that I didn't mind it so much. What else would we be doing? We both looked at each other and said watching TV? That was confirmation enough to me that living without a television was a good idea. I have so much extra time and so much less thought spent on media. I feel like I am going over to the dark side of hippy-ism by saying this, but my brain feels less cluttered. This combined with my listening primarily to NPR or our local station, WYEP, have made me rather unaware of what is going on in mainstream media. I have become ignorant to who the rising star is, what films to look for and, right, who is sleeping with who. This is an ignorance that I have been glad to accept, one that has made me a happier me.

I would encourage you to take some time away from your television and media. I have heard before that people do media fasts or have one day a week without media. I am sure that this could be effective. Though, I would prefer the extreme of turning all of the televisions into fish bowls.

How much television do you watch? Do you consume it via the interwebs? Have you tried to do a media fast or decrease your amount of watching?

Relapse

After all of my zeal and motivation, my excitement and perseverance, it's happened to me too. I have relapse into laziness. Well maybe not exactly laziness, but definitely not a regular exercise schedule and definitely not eating well. When I realized what was going on, I decided to take a step back and look at what happened. After some examination, I figured out why things had changed and set up ways to stop it from happening again.

Time

This is an easy one, one that we all share. Where does all the time go? It is also the springboard for everything else. When I started working at my new job, everything had to be consolidated. I went from having five days to fill, to one day. That was difficult. I don't understand how all of you full-timers do it. I really don't, let me take this space to applaud you for your amazingness. ::applause:: But when it comes down to it everyone knows that we all make time for the things we find important. If you really want to watch TV, then you stay up late and watch it. If you have to read your favorite blog, then you sacrifice your lunch hour. Why not do this for things better than TV, but don't stop reading blogs :)

Buddies

Can't possibly get up to run in the morning, run in the evening with a friend. Exercise buddies are the best. If you pick the right one, they help keep you on track. If not, they can become your ice cream buddy instead. You want to pick someone who you can stand up to and who can stand up to you. When you don't want to go, they do and vis versa. They need to be able to push you without it feeling like criticism. That usually means someone pretty close to you, like a best friend, but not always. Here is more on exercise buddies, specifically in the area of running.

Combos

I have had the pleasure of being able to ride my bike to work. It has been a time effective way for me to exercise, get to work and have some time to myself. Try to think of ways that you can combine different activities in your schedule. Maybe you too can bike to work, it is really awesome. Maybe you can take the bus, which usually causes you to walk more than driving. If you have to drive to work, park as far away as possible and walk to your building. You know those people you see on lunch break, wearing business clothes and tennis shoes. Become one of them. If you have an hour break, it doesn't take an hour to eat. Or even a half hour. Join a co-worker or two and walk around your building or a few blocks during lunch. See if your boss will let you replace your desk with one of these:

If you can't get away with that, ask if you can switch out your desk chair for a stability ball. Here are some super easy "exercises"/stretches to do at your desk. You can even try walking to the grocery store or farmer's market when you are only picking a few things up. Take advantage of the great summer weather and get outdoors.

Plan

You can read all over the interwebs that meal plans are cost effective, help you lose weight and waste less food. I believe wholeheartedly that this is true, but that doesn't make it any easier to actually do. When I do have a chance to plan, one "meal" that I feel gets lost in planning is snacks. I don't think that snacks are horrible, and I think it is unreasonable for you to think that you will never snack again in your life. Situations happen, especially the mid-afternoon my-brain-is-melting-into-the-keyboard-ooo-cookies. I try my hardest to pack a snack. Usually this consists of some almonds and a mix of other nuts we have in the house. Sometimes it will be a piece of fruit or craisins. I have recently started doing a Primal thing and anticipating my craving for crunchy chip/cracker type things, I got roasted seaweed snacks. If you are a fan of seaweed or sushi, these are simply nori-like sheets that are salted and, in my opinion, super tasty.
Also, when you are planning, have back ups for your back-ups. Remember that time when your friend told you their hard drive crashed and they lost everything? And you responded with, well don't you have an external drive? Yeah, but I hadn't backed it up recently. I am not going to lie, I love schedules and plans. I find it really fun to figure out timing and writing up menus and making lists. But sometimes you forget your list, or the avocados are way too expensive. This is when you need a back up. Have some extra meal ideas that take less time in case you had to stay late at work and the chips and salsa dinner is calling you when you get home. When you do have time to make dinner, make extras. Then package them in lunch sized containers. I have leftovers for lunch everyday, it's so much more satisfying than say a sandwich.

I realized that I also have to be patient with myself...again. While getting back into habits and routines that you once had, times can be difficult. I know what I use to be able to do and in my mind I should still be able to do it. But you have to realize that you aren't going to be able to go from where you are now to where you were. It is going to take time...again. The positive side is that you know you can get there. You know you are strong enough, you're good enough, you're smart enough, and doggone it, people like you!

Anybody have any other advice to get things rolling again after a relapse?

Fermentation Update

I posted earlier about my new venture into fermented foods. I put the glass jars on top of one of our kitchen cabinets so that I wouldn't look at it everyday and mess with it. Which was a rather good idea because I totally forgot about them after a while. When the month had passed we pulled them down and found some interesting things.

First, the sauerkraut has shifted. Apparently I hadn't pressed it down enough, because it expanded above the liquid level. This made me nervous, but there didn't appear to be any mold on the top. There were little stripes of white, but they didn't look like mold. The carrots also had some white that settled at the bottom which I couldn't remember if it was there before or not.

At the time Ben and I were both really sick and so we decided to wait until our immune systems had recovered before putting potentially harmful food into our bodies. A couple weeks later I got around to remembering that the fermented foods existed. We happen to be sitting down with some friends and asked them what they thought of their condition. We decided to open them up and see how they smelled. The sauerkraut was very strong smelling, but not unexpected. The carrots smelled like carrot wine, or at least what I think it would smell like. It was very interesting. Ben and I decided to each try a little bit of the sauerkraut and see if we'd die through the night.

::suspense:: We didn't die! We also didn't feel ill which would be a lot more likely.The sauerkraut taste was everything I imagined and more; definitely the best sauerkraut I have ever had.

About a week later we tried the carrots. When I went to the presentation, it was explained that they would be like carrot sticks. This is not what I they were like, at least not the carrot sticks I think of. They became entirely mushy once you try to remove them from the jar. They are also incredibly strong in flavor, and that's coming from someone who likes strong flavors. I am not sure if we let them go for too long or if I cut them is too small of pieces, but we won't be making them again. Right now I am trying to come up with an idea for how to use them in a recipe or something. I am thinking of trying to make a kimchi and adding them to that.

Verdict:

Sauerkraut will definitely happen again, I have been enjoying it a whole bunch. Carrots might happen again, but maybe using this recipe instead.

Is anyone else going to try it? Or have you fermented foods before?

CHICKENS!

I have always been a city girl. I love going camping in the woods, but rural areas kind of give me the heebee geebees. That is why we bought a house in the city and I went to college in the city, I just love "the city". Recently though I have been having these incredible urges to just want to do manual labor. I started having these thoughts that maybe I was wrong and what I really desire is to be a farmer. Which seems crazy because I don't have any experience with handling animals. I have barely ever been on a farm or really seen even a chicken in real life. But I do have a longing to reconnect with my food.

I am not exactly sure when I first had the thought that I wanted chickens. It was somewhere after deciding that I not only really liked eggs, but, more importantly, felt it was okay to eat them. This thought, like most, grew into an idea, and then slowly became a reality. It started with looking up the local laws and regulations. I thought that this would be easy, I guess I forgot I live in Pittsburgh. Then I had to actually do research into what type of chickens, how big of a space they would need and what type of coop I would want to build. I started with going to a friend who also has chickens and asking him for advice. Gleaming knowledge from him and the people he referred me to made me confident that this was something I could actually do.

The Basics

Chickens are one of the easiest "farm" or livestock animals to have. The reason that urban backyard chickens are popular is because you can actually have them in an urban environment, they don't require much care or space. (though more space than some factories would have you believe)

Local Laws & Regulations
We live in a society, and world, filled with rules and restrictions. The first step towards owning chickens is understanding what you can and cannot do. Some cities/towns/boroughs have general laws, others are very specific. One law here in Pittsburgh says we are not allowed "fowl at large". Sometimes it is very difficult to figure out what your specific legal boundaries are and when you do it might still be difficult to get the right permits. Two of the best online compilations of chickens law are City Chicken and Chicken L.O.R.E. But do some of your own research as well.

Also, though it usually isn't part of the law, you should really talk to your neighbors, at least the immediate ones. They might be just as clueless about chickens as you were. You can help to quell some of their potential fears and concerns, and share your newfound poultry knowledge.


Space & Housing

I have seen some pretty creative ways people have housed chickens in small areas, but here are some things to think about.

Coop
The henhouse is where your chickens will sleep at night. The coop needs to be completely sealed and protected. At night chickens enter an almost trance-like state and will not be able to protect themselves or even run away from predator.  For the coop you want at least 2-3 ft² per chicken. You also have to have a "roost". This can be anything that resembles a branch. The chickens actually roost at night, they sleep on the branch.

Fenced Area or Run
In most cities, you can't have your chickens just wondering around and you don't want them to be. Depending on the chicken and if they will be supervised while out, will help determine what kind of fence or run you need to create. Sometimes also clipping the chickens wings, which is completely harmless to them, can make it possible for you to have a shorter fence. The chickens we have are really docile and haven't flew over the 3 ft. fence we have, yet. For a proper run, you should have at least 4-5 ft² per chicken.

When you've determined that you have enough space in your backyard to house a coop and a run, you need to decide how you are going to get them. You can purchase already built coops or you can make them yourself. You can pay thousands of dollars or you can build something with all scrap.There are plans everywhere for coops, search online until you find one you like and is equivalent to your skill level :) If you want to go the pre-made way, the Eglu is supposed to be rather cool, but expensive.


Breed
Once you've figured out that you can legally have chickens and have physical space for them, you need to find which breed is the best for you. What are you looking to get out of this? Eggs or a pretty pet?

The Sultan chicken on the left is going to produce much fewer eggs than say a Rhode Island, because they were breed for their looks not their eggs. Also, you need to think of what environment you are in. Some breeds are more hearty while others require cooler temperatures.

You also need to decide if you are going to raise the chicks or get laying (grown) hens. Since we received our chickens at a year old I have no real experience here. I have heard that chicks are really cute, but can also be work. There are also specific laws about buying chicks vs. chickens. Most of the people I know ordered their chicks online, which seems really ridiculous. To learn about raising chicks, go here.

You can find a complete list of breeds and their various characteristics here.

Care
When you finally get your chickens, coop and run, you'll want to know what to do with them. The chickens need to be let out in the morning. They will roam around and graze, mostly just eating and pooping. Because of the poop, you will need to hose things down. Depending on what method you use  for litter, you can clean the coop every 1-2 weeks or 1-2 times a year. This is the Deep Litter Method. As it gets dark, they will naturally go back into the coop and settle onto the roost. You need to close and secure the coop. Sometimes they need a little encouragement with returning to the coop. If we know we are not going to be home by sundown we put them back in their coop early to avoid any danger. They also need water, especially on hot days like we have had recently, and food, though the amount they consume will vary depending on how much they've grazed or been given treats. You also need to be aware and watch for their health. Here is a little guide to some basic issues.

Links
Urban Farm Store - They have some great resources, I would also highly recommend their book "A Chicken in Every Yard" it is really easy to read and super informative.

Backyard Chickens - A wonderful online resource with pretty much everything you can think of.


All that is left to do is enjoy the eggs and the entertainment your flock brings. I can watch scratch-scratch-peck for hours. And how large and delicious the eggs will be!


This is in no way a comprehensive guide to chickens, but it is at least enough to get you started thinking about it. Do you have chickens or advice to give? I love hearing chicken stories!

Baked (Fried) Green Tomatoes

I don't really remember this movie, because I saw it so long ago. But I am pretty sure I really liked it.

Tomato season is soon upon us, and if you check out your local farmer's markets it has probably already hit. I was lucky enough a couple of weeks ago to find some beautiful green tomatoes. I was unable to resist their color. The classic fried green tomatoes is what I decided to make, but I wanted to see if I could make them tasty if they were baked. The result was pretty delicious, without the dripping oil.

Look at that amazing green

Baked Green Tomatoes

Prep Time 10 min : Cook Time 30 min : Servings 10

Ingredients:

Breading¹
1/2 Cup Cornmeal
1/2 Cup Unseasoned Breadcrumbs
1/4 Cup Unbleached Flour
Hot Paprika
Salt
Pepper

Buttermilk
6 Green Tomatoes

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Slice the tops off of the tomatoes and continue to slice, crosswise, down the fruit.²
2. Combine the breading ingredients in a shallow bowl and mix well.
3. Place the buttermilk in a bowl, I usually start with a little bit (1/2 Cup) then add more when I need it.
4. Set up the breading train. Don't worry about keeping you fingers clean, your efforts will be futile.
5. Start with the buttermilk on both sides and then the breading.
6. Spray or grease a baking sheet. Place breaded slices on the sheet and the sheet into oven. Bake for 15 minutes. Flip the slices over and bake for another 15 minutes.
7. They should be golden brown and delicious. Serve immediately with homemade ranch dressing, because they are the best piping hot.

Foodnotes
¹This isn't a precise measurement. It will depend on how well you bread each slice and how much they want to hold. You may need to add some more to the mix.
²One of the great things about green tomatoes is that they are firm and super easy to cut. You can use all those extra little tops and bottoms in a green tomato salsa.

The Great Outdoors - Trekking through the Desert

We are lucky enough to have a friend who is temporarily living in Phoenix. He has an apartment and so we planned a trip there to take advantage of the opportunity. We planned to start in Phoenix and stay there for a few days before driving up to Las Vegas. If I would have went back to Phoenix two years ago, we would have spent our time hanging out, going to a movie, eating tons of Mexican food and maybe sitting by the pool. But my lifestyle has changed. I wanted to get outside and do things, hike, climb, etc. I wanted to soak up as much Vitamin D as I could and work for it. Most people would look at this as a good change, and I do to, but that doesn't mean that lifestyle changes are any easier.

Camelback Mountain - The Railing of Doom

After climbing up some nice sized steps and weaving a path along the edge of the mountain, this was what awaited us. The rock was so steep and smooth that they decided to put up railings to help people get through this section of the trail. This was where I had my first freak out of the trip. My hands were too sweaty and I didn't trust my feet to hold. I tried to just boulder up it without using the railing, but it wasn't working. I was scared that I would get to a certain point and then not be able to go up or down and resolve to just live my life on the middle of this rock. I kept thinking, this is silly, there's a railing, it should be the easy part, but it wasn't. I was setting up a mental block on getting up this part of the trail. I was thinking about it too much rather than just going, doing. I watched as person after person passed me and climbed up to the top. At some point the Jillian kicked in and started yelling "Are you going to let that dog show you up?" I stopped thinking about it and climbed up. It was still really scary and I was thinking about what would happen on the way back down, but I stood at the top with some satisfaction.

South Mountain - Just a pile of Rocks

South Mountain was much more of your average hiking trail. There wasn't any even mild bouldering and aside from the gradient, it wasn't much work. (We even did some trail running to help liven things up.) When we reached one of the peaks we saw this strange pile of rocks. We decided it was an ebenezer. Ebenezer is translated to "stone of help". We all picked up rocks and told God what we were thankful for. Where we had felt his presence and his help in our lives. Then we added our stones to the pile. It was a really awesome moment. It might have just been a pile of rocks that were moved away from the trail, but we made it an ebenezer. We saw God in it.

Right before the rocks was an old stone sacrificing table. We used it too.

There was definitely something spiritual happening up on that mountain.

Red Rock - It Doesn't End With Me Getting to the Top of the Mountain

Red Rock is one of the most beautiful natural areas of it's kind, especially that I have physically been at. The rock is literally red in areas from the iron deposits and it has created one of the greatest climbing areas in the country. There are all different levels of hiking/climbing, from strolling through the desert and admiring the beautiful colors to lead climbing up a rock face. We settled somewhere in between. There was some bouldering and some "difficult" hiking. There was no definitive path, just kind of finding your way up the mountain. To date this rock has pushed me farther past my comfort levels than most other things.(Especially if I qualify that with things in this country that don't have to do with cross-cultural experiences) There were multiple freak out moments, much more significant than Camelback. This was mostly because falling was much farther at Red Rock. There was a lot of "I can't do this. I can't do this" in the crazy girl voice.

In the end, I didn't get to the top. I didn't conquer the rock. I didn't look it in the eyes and tell it I wasn't scared, because I was scared. But I did go farther than I thought I could. I still pushed myself past points I didn't know I could be pushed. I very rarely have moments where I can physically see "cliches" in my life. Usually I just know that they exist in the world. (In fact the cynical person in me can't believe I am even writing this, especially using these words. But I am so I am trying to get over it.) But for me Red Rock that day was about not always reaching big goals, but pushing past limits you set up for yourself, most of which end up being subconscious. I might not have made it to the top, but I tried my hardest and I got farther than I was expecting. I showed myself that if I can push to this point, maybe next time I can push to the top.


I don't know what exactly I am trying to say with all this. You don't always reach the end, but that doesn't mean you've failed. You can find God and His presence in many places, even when you're not looking. Little freak outs along the way can be good for you, they sober you into appreciation and recognition. Arizona and Nevada are really beautiful country and you should go there. I'm not sure, but it was a great trip. I feel like I changed a bit and therefore it was worth sharing with you. I hope at least someone enjoyed it, it was for you.

...And we're back.

So it's true the hiatus was rather large, but so much has been happening...and I have been really busy...and I got a job...and, yeah I just stopped blogging. Sorry. But I'm back now.

I have what I think are rather fun posts to share. Including...

CHICKENS!
We got chickens! I am super, crazy excited about this and want to share why it's wonderful and you should do it too! Chickens!

Recipes
Though there wasn't much response to the Recipe of the Week poll, I love cooking too much to not share it on the blog.

The Great Outdoors - Trekking through the Desert
On our recent trip to the American Southwest, we spent most of the time outdoors in the beautiful desert.


...and hopefully much more.

Thank you for your patience and stay tuned!