February 2, 2014 by Cindy-just-living

Granola

When you have a Hippy Weekend, you must make some really good granola. This recipe made our Sunday morning healthy and tasty.

3 cups organic oats

1/3 cup wheat germ

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1/8 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup canola oil

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup molasses

1 teaspoon vanilla

2/3 cup organic raisins

1. preheat the oven to 325 and line a baking sheet with parchment

2. combine the oats, wheat germ, cinnamon, salt, and brown sugar in a medium bowl.

3. in a separate bowl, combine the honey, molasses, oil and vanilla. Pour over the oat mixture and stir until the oats are thoroughly coated.

4. spread the mixture on the baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.

5. remove the pan from the oven and stir the granola.

6. add the raisins

7. cool and store in an airtight container.

On this morning, we combined ours with some of our homemade yogurt and fresh strawberries.

(We thought that we might add some flax meal and substitute the molasses with sorghum. We may also decide to use other dried fruits)
Another Hippy Weekend Success!!!!!

February 2, 2014 by Cindy-just-living

Pickled Squash

One of our family favorites has become the pickled squash recipe. We have run low on our reserve stock so what better time to replenish the stock than on Hippy Weekend!

You will need:

6 to 8 yellow summer squash

6 or 7 onions

1/3 cup of canning or kosher salt.

* Cut the squash and onions into 1/8 inch slices

* Layer these in a large bowl with the salt.

* Put a layer of ice on the top and cover with a towel

* Allow these to stand for about 1 1/2 hours.

* Drain and rinse the squash and onions.

Combine in a saucepan:

3 cups distilled vinegar

2 cups sugar

2 tablespoons mustard seed

2 teaspoons turmeric

2 teaspoons celery seed

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon peppercorns.

Bring to a boil.

Add the squash and onions to the saucepan and return the mixture to a boil.

Pack hot into hot pint jars leaving 1/4 inch head space. Remove air bubbles. (we use a butter knife to move the contents around until the air bubbles are gone)

Clean the tops of the jars with a clean dry towel and seal with the lid and rings.

Process in a water bath for 10 minutes.

This made 7 pints!

Another Hippy Weekend Success!!!!!!!

January 25, 2014 by Cindy-just-living

Fat Free Pumpkin Bread

I keep a half bushel basket on top of my refrigerator for my root vegetables and squash. Yesterday, I realized that I had not looked in the basket for a while. So, I brought it down and found a pie pumpkin. I had bought several of these pumpkins this fall and this pumpkin had not been used over the holidays. I decided to cook the pumpkin overnight using my crock pot.

You can wash a pumpkin, use a fork to puncture some holes in the skin, and place the entire pumpkin in the crock pot for about 6 hours. However, my pumpkin was just a little too big for my crock pot; so, I cut my pumpkin into several pieces and placed it into the pot and allowed it to cook overnight.

This morning, I opened the crock pot and found a perfectly cooked pumpkin. I scooped the pumpkin away from the skin and put it in my blender to make it into a puree.

With the snow blowing outside, I decided to make some warm pumpkin bread.

I don’t know about any of you, but I have been trying to get my healthy diet back on track since the holiday. So, to make this bread fat free, I substituted flax meal and applesauce into a typical bread recipe.

Fat Free Pumpkin and Flax Bread

Mix together:

1/3 cup Apple Sauce

Sugar and applesauce

1 cup Sugar

Add 2 Tablespoons Flax Meal

1/3 cup Molasses

1/2 tsp each: nutmeg and cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Mix together:

1 2/3 cup flour

1 teaspoon soda

1/8 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

then add to the above mixture.

Pour the batter into a very lightly greased and floured pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour. Yummy!!

January 11, 2014 by Cindy-just-living

Zucchini Cakes

Many years ago I lived on a farm and had a large garden. I learned so much about gardening during that time. I loved the full flavor of the vegetables that we grew right out our back door. One year we had a bumper crop of zucchini. I fried, baked and grilled zucchini and I made zucchini bread and jam. To this day, my children talk about how tired they became of zucchini that year. I no longer live on that farm and I no longer have a garden but I do frequent the local farmers market. Well a few years ago, there must have been another bumper crop. Zucchini was abundant and cheap at the local farmers market. I couldn’t help myself. I bought more than I needed and so I soon found myself grating zucchini to be stored in the freezer for a later time. As I recently began sorting the freezer I realized I still had the abundant supply of grated zucchini. I remembered that one of the favored recipes I had used with the grated zucchini had been similar to potato cakes. So, we had zucchini cakes. They actually tasted so much better than I remembered. Perhaps because I didn’t have to eat zucchini on a daily basis. 🙂

I thought I would share the recipe.

Zucchini Cakes

2 cups grated zucchini

1 egg or (1 tablespoon flax meal with 1/2 teaspoon water)

1 small green pepper, finely chopped

1 medium onion, finely chopped

Flour , enough to make a wet dough.

1. Put zucchini, egg/flax meal, green pepper, and onion in a bowl. mix well using a spoon.

2. Add flour as you continue to mix until the mixture becomes a wet dough that can be formed into a patty.

3. Use a cooking spray, I use canola oil spray, your pan and on medium heat cook the patty until golden brown on both sides and cooked in the middle.

Enjoy