Wild Violet Pops! Fun with Wild Eddibles

These pops are not only beautiful, delicious and fun to make, but they are supper nutritious. Spring time is the perfect time of year to get outside and put those weeds to good use. Violets are full of vitamins and have so many health benefits. My kids love collecting the violets, making these pops and we all love eating them. What a treat!

Wild Violet Pops

What you will need:

• 2 1/2 cup freshly picked violets without stems (separated)
• 5 cups boiling water
• Juice from 1 lemon
• 10 - 20 drops stevia or honey to taste
• 1 t vanilla
• ZOKU Quick Pop Mold

Directions:

Pour boiling water over 2 cups of violets in a glass bowl. Let sit covered for 6 - 8 hours to create an infusion. Stain the flowers out of the water. The water should be a pretty blue color now. Add the lemon and watch the magic happen. Then add your vanilla and sweetener to taste. Place the other 1/2 cup of violets in a glass of water. Using tweezers, take the wet violets out of the glass and place them on the insides of your ZOKU pop mold. They should stick to the side. Then place your stick in mold and you are ready to pour in your liquid. Watch it freeze in about 7 minutes and then enjoy this spring time treat. 

                                 

        

happy belated valentines day post!

A time for love, a time for sharing, and a time for sharing the love with those you love. I can't think of a better way to do all that then to get cooking together. We made these delicious grain free, almond cranberry upside down cakes for our valentines breakfast this year. Yummy!

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 John surprised me with these beauties. 

 He never forgets the golden rule for a cook.....taste, taste, taste.

Teaching his little brother why cooking is so much fun!

making gluten-free maple sugar cookies

Cookies are great, but making cookies with the two most loving Mothers and Grandmothers in the world is much, much sweeter. 

I hope you can share this recipe with someone you love.

Happy Holidays!

Gluten-Free Maple Sugar Cookies (mega Batch)

5 Cups Maple Sugar

2 cups butter

6 eggs 

1 T salt

1/4 cup vanilla

3 cups GF White Rice Flour

3 cups GF Potato Flour

3 cups GF Arowroot Flour

2 T xanthan gum

2 T baking powder

Preheat oven to 350° F. 

Line some  large baking sheets with parchment paper. 

Put dry ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk to thoroughly combine. 

Place sugar,butter, vanilla and eggs in another bowl and  mix. Beat on high until combined then add dry ingredients and beat on medium speed to combine.U

se a as much extra flour as you need to keep from sticking as you roll out and cut your shapes. 

Bake in preheated oven for about 15 minutes.

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And

our winter garden - first egg!

Winter is in the air and we are preparing for a cozy few months snuggled by the fire. But there is still lots to do outside and the garden is still a place of excitement and discovery for us. 

With the cold weather upon us, we were prepared not to expect our chickens to start laying eggs until spring yet each day  we check for that mysterious little miracle and what do you know........AN EGG!!!!!! You would have thought we won the lottery we were so excited. Jumping up and down, taking pictures. The neighbors must have had a laugh over us. Since then we have had an egg a day. And they are the best looking and tasting eggs!

And here is the little layer now....Stripy. We are pretty sure she is the one laying the eggs. 

One of the kids jobs is to clean the coop and feed the chickens. They give them yummy salads with all their favorite wild edibles each day. Probably why their eggs are so good. 

These chickens are well loved.

And this is the first egg! We split it five ways.

More new from the garden: We still have lots of Chinese radishes and beets which we make soup from...greens and all. 

The kids are great harvesters. Even Scout gets in the mix washing the veg. 

We harvested the last of the peppers. and put that into our soup as well.

 With these mini hoop houses we should be able to eat from the garden all winter. I have baby collards growing now and some chard and arugula too. Next on the list is to wrap the fig tree a bit to protect it from the cold. Well, that is what is going on in my little piece of earth. I hope you are finding ways to get out and enjoy your garden this winter. No matter what the weather, there is always something to be grateful for. 

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a halloween trick to treat the soul

 Trick: Treats don't have to be sinful if you use nourishing ingredients in place of the questionable ones.

With all the treats on Halloween that are bound to make you feel more dead then alive, here is one that will excite any age child or adult and make Halloween all treat with none of the guilt. This recipe is as fun and easy to make as it is to eat. And you can feel good about eating them ALL!

 I made a double batch so we could share with friends and family. They were a hit!

CHOCOLATE  CANDY

(Recipe adapted from Oat Meal With A Fork)

2 T. organic cocoa butter

2 T. organic coconut oil*

2 T. raw organic honey

1/2 c. organic cocoa powder

5-10 drops of liquid stevia

pinch of salt

1 t. vanilla extract

1/4 t cinnamon

chopped crispy almonds

Directions:
Melt all ingredients in a double boiler until combined. Pour into candy molds. Freeze for about 30 minutes. 

Thanks Aunt Pam for taking this family picture! 

Thanks Aunt Pam for capturing him getting his first treat.

Happy Halloween Everyone! 

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Favorite things Thursday