Grocery Store WARS! Coming to a Grocery Store near YOU!

You've just gotta watch this. It's too hokey not too, (and you know I love hokey things.) I'll never be able to look at a stalk of broccoli in quite the same way.



Now I am not so much in to "Organic" as I am a believer in an (UN)common sense when it comes to gardening. NO herbicides and NO pesticides. This is how we grew our food for generations. Connect with your local (Un)common sense farmer.

'Nuf said.

Soaked and Poached Oatmeal for Breakfast!

First the why...
I am trying out a more nutrient dense diet, trying to improve my health and that of our family.

I have been searching the internet, and reading books like "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon; which I highly recommend, although I have this one caviat. I do not subscribe to everything that is in the book (I rarely do.) Most of it seems sound.

So, on to the recipe...
I was looking for a soaked oatmeal that we could put together the night before and wake up to a nutritious, hot, breakfast for our family of six. Our experiences with crockpot oatmeal were not good. Apparently our crockpot cooks to quickly, even on low, for this type of recipe. It always turned out too dry, and when I tried to compensate, it was too wet. Never just right. This time our experiment turned out "Just Right!" (you get the Three Little Bears analogy, right? I'm sooooooo clever ;-) We poached it instead!

Here is our recipe:

Step 1: Soaking the day before
3 cups old fashioned or scottish oats
Water to cover by 1 inch
1 Tbl. Lime Juice (because we were out of both lemons and whey)
Combine in a large bowl, and soak for at least 12 hours. Longer is fine, up to 24 hours. Cover bowl with a tea towl (to keep out any teansie weinsie fruit flies) and let sit on your counter.

Step 2: Night before eating
Drain the oatmeal. Place in a greased (coconut oil is preferred) crockpot. Cover with fresh water to cover by one inch. Place on WARM setting, and let cook overnight. 12 - 14 hours is great. We just started it about 8:00 at night, cause we were thinking about it, and didn't want to forget to start it.

Next morning dish it up with whatever fixin's you want, or have on hand. We like 100% Maple Syrup and cinnamon. Say it with me now: "EASY!" Sometime I'm gonna try some soaked raisins (in rum!) just for the fun of it. NO I don't plan on serving it to the kids. I might be a lunatic, but I'm not crazy!

Budget Friendly Tip: Pickle Jars for Bulk Purchases

First of all I have a family of six. Not super large, but super small, either. For my family; it JUST RIGHT!

I've always been interested in cost savings of bulk purchasing, but I couldn't justify the additional purchase for the storage containers. It would take too much longer to depreciate their cost. So for years I've been on the lookout for FREE storage containers that would also appeal to my "use and reuse" mentality (THANK YOU to my mother and my grandmother!)

Anyway, I've finally found it! Jars that are glass, so easily cleaned for reuse, and large enough for my bulk purchases, hence the "use and reuse" mentality.

Pickle Jars!

I know! I'm brilliant!

Now before I loose you completely with the whole "duh factor" let me tell you that these are not the normal mildly large pickle jars. These are the rooten tootenest, "dang they're perfect" pickle jars. Whoot, Whoot for pickle jars! Have I got ya?

I am not a commercial writer for this brand of pickles. And I don't even advocate this particular brand. Quite simply put, I love their jars, they are glass, inexpensive, and my kids will eat the pickles. They're you have it. Did I mention that one of my children actually eats pickles a lot? If I put the suggestion into his head (and why would I?) he'd eat them with breakfast, lunch and dinner plus snacks. I don't want him to have that much sodium, but he would, if I let him.

So back to the Pickle JAR. It is large (2 quarts + 8 oz.) and here is a picture of it...

From Drop Box

You eat the pickles, soak it in hot water to remove the label, and wash and dry it thoroughly. LABEL it with the contents you will have in it. And, viola! You have this marvelous storage container for your bulk items. Easy Peasy, and FREE! Plus you save even more money because you won't be disposing of it in your garbage.