Rachel's Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Chocolate Chip Cookies are one of my complete weaknesses. I can take or leave cake, pie, donuts, and most goo balls people bring to parties, but a quality chocolate chip cookie is the darling of the sugar universe in my mind.  Placing a royal crown on the chocolate chip cookie, means it needs to be one of the five things that I bake REALLY FAST and REALLY WELL.  I wish I could wave a magic "cookie wand" and just hand this recipe out to everyone, but no, you have to know "how" to make these, and once you know "how", you are ready for cookie EUPHORIA.

A little History
Now, before I go into the "how", I have to explain a little bit of the history behind coconut oil in my baking. Over ten years ago, I read The Miracle of Coconut Oil, and completely bought into how great coconut oil was for you, however, cooking with it was OUT OF THE QUESTION.  (can anyone say ALOHA chicken?)

And have you tried to take a spoonful of coconut oil?? Takes me straight back to the bulimia days-no thank you. Super gag. The only place I felt coconut oil may fit into our lives was in my baking ( I literally tried to exist on 7 baking recipes our first 12 years of marriage, not a big baker). And that's where it got placed. My mind will take some "healthy factoid", and then try to fit it into our busy and tasty lifestyle. Some things get tossed. Others fit later in life. Coconut oil was one that took up immediate residency in my limited baking repertoire. (Coconut oil is normally solid at room temperature, so I keep it above my refrigerator.)

 A Little History Part 2

Part 2 of a Little History is my spelt flour fixation. The first couple of years we were married, Mark was having running nose and itchy eyes at night. He swore I was putting on perfume at night, and I swore I was not that kind of girl. I got my hands on Eat Right for Your Type, and discovered that type O blood is very sensitive to wheat. We switched to spelt flour for a try, and his allergy symptoms disappeared. WOW, that was easy…..until we had FIVE kids, and suddenly those little bags of Bobs Spelt  for $5 a bag weren't helping me. I needed bulk spelt flour and was not sure where to get it. (I only needed serious bulk when we decided we weren't an "Ezekiel Bread" kind of family any more, and Mark wanted me to start baking bread-ouch).

 Come to find out, a grain grinder pays for itself in a few months of grinding, and then you start to really get that flour down to cheap cheap cheap. AzureStandard.com is a co-op that probably delivers within five miles of your house if you are within the USA, and that's when freshly ground flour became easy for our family. Having said ALL THAT, just use whatever flour you use. The flour probably does not change the flavor that much.

 So, when my recipe says "freshly ground spelt"….you know the whole enchilada.

FINALLY…the recipe

Rachel's Cookies
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. molasses
1/2 c. melted organic coconut oil
2 eggs
1.5 cups sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 TBSP. vanilla

Put in the first two ingredients and begin whipping all of these ingredients on high. They should change from a dark color to a light caramel color as you literally whip on high for 3 minutes.

Fold in
4 cups freshly ground spelt flour
1 cup nuts (any kind)
1 cup semi-sweet high quality chocolate chips

Bake in a convection oven: 300 degrees for 10 minutes
I use a small ice cream scooper to scoop these onto the tray so that they are more uniform. If they are "thick", close to the end of baking, I squash them down flat with my spatula.

ENJOY!!

Birds and Feeders -My Take

"Best-1" Hummingbird Feeder

A couple of Finches on my new Aspect Goldfinch Feeder

I get so totally obsessive with the bird feeders, that I wear myself out by the end of the summer. Last summer, I took a sabbatical from my feeders altogether. But after our visit to Israel, that longing for amazing flora, fauna, AND birds came back…so I'm at it again. Thankfully, I have a couple of years under my belt with feeders, and we have a great feed store that has local wild bird supplies.

I was just talking to my mom, and her one complaint about a feeder was the "messiness" of them. I have four feeders (ok, so now you know), and they rank from neat and tidy to extremely messy. Neat and tidy-the "Best-1" hummingbird feeder. It's like an upside down jar with a plastic base for the hummingbirds to feed. 

The original "Best-1" feeder was a quart sized jar, which was frustrating for me the first year I used it. Who has SO MANY hummingbirds that they go through 32 ounces of sugar water in 3-7 days? You are supposed to clean and refresh the sugar water once to twice a week, so I made tons of sugar water, did not swap it out often enough, and ended up with ants and black mold in my feeder. Finally, I put it in the dishwasher, and hid it in the back of a cabinet-chalking it up to the fact that hummingbirds "weren't my thang".  

This year, I found the EIGHT OUNCE (not 32) "Best-1" feeder. It's super cheap, and I have instant boiling water at my sink, so making the sugar water is easy for me. The ration is 1/4 cup sugar to 1 cup water. I just fill a mason jar (small) 1/4 full of sugar,and then a little boiling water to get the sugar melted, then the rest of the way with water. I pour some of this into the feeder, and keep the rest of this (labelled), in the fridge. Ahh, the smallness of it, and the light weight make this one a keeper!  I tried the beautiful glass feeders, but the hummers did not seem to like them as much and they leaked…. Hummingbirds are fun to watch, and there is no seed on the ground when they finish. It's a tiny bird, tiny cheap feeder, and cheap food. If you will notice in my hummingbird photo, I have a plant in the yard that the hummingbirds naturally love, so I put my shepherds crook right in the middle of that planting.

The next favorite feeder is the Goldfinch Feeder. Nyjer seed is the seed of choice for these birds. Make sure they (goldfinches), are in native to your area, and prepare to wait a couple of weeks before you get your first bird. Goldfinches love coneflowers (Echinacea), so you can plant a couple near your feeder, but the best part is you won't be getting doves, crows, squirrels (i've never gotten squirrels on this feeder), and other undesirable, messy, big birds. Also, the seed does not need to be "cracked", they just consume the seed when they poke their beak through the wire. As you can see by the photo, I'm starting to get some (finally). My finch feeder has been hanging in that spot for about a week and a half. Well…not exactly in that spot. I've moved it four times. But in the general vicinity-

If you are going to get normal bird food-just a big bag of mixed seed, get ready for mess, and squirrels. For some reason, I finally got the right balance this summer. I got a four foot long "crook" with a hook on two ends and hung my "general" feeder from the crook and hung the crook on a branch that was not too near other branches. The thing is so tall and long, the squirrels seem to instinctively know, they will never be able to get to this feeder, so they just eat feeder "droppings" underneath. I've bought several "squirrel proof" feeders, but this little trick has worked better than any of the squirrel proof feeders, and I found a lovely extra large capacity general feeder (again from the Aspects brand), that is gorgeous, and now squirrel proof with my long "string". I originally thought of string or wire, but then the feed store (always so handy with answers), had this crook thing in several sizes-all under $10 each, which I will save that in not feeding squirrels for one summer.

My final feeder is a one foot square platform tray. I also have this hanging from a Shepherds Crook (just happened to have these on hand), and every bird in the area comes for a daily feeding frenzy. It's the messiest, yet most filled with life and quickly (only wait 5 minutes after hanging this one up, and you will have birds. Once I run out of my Costco bag of birdseed, I will probably put this one in storage, but for now, watching 20 doves try to crowd onto the platform and the Shepherds Crook almost crash to the ground is amazingly entertaining for our five kids, so we live in a sort of bird paradise/Spring jungle party state of mind, and I like it.

Gardening-I think I can, I think I can

I am admittedly, a horrible gardener. Every year I plant tomato plants, and hope for the best. Last year, was the best crop I have ever gotten-one amazingly beautiful tomato-deep red. Until this year, I did not know when to plant, what to plant, how to plant. I would see plants for sale, and plop them in the dirt. Mark made me a garden last year. It's amazing. It is elevated beds with rocks around them to sit on, and paths between them so that I can reach the plants. It has the drip irrigation system, which the plants seems to love, and I have a couple of rolling bin composters.

I have planted twice now, and last year, I got so many cucumbers, that I was able to make 10 jars of pickles. (Someone later told me cucumbers are supposed to be the easiest to grow-thanks a lot)

I was extremely zealous and planted 60 heads of lettuce over the winter. Our rock squirrel ate every leaf. The couple of kale I planted, he ate as well-leaving us about three leaves. Hmm, I will not be frustrated.

When in Israel, all of the amazing flowers, birds, trees, fruit trees, bee hives, blew wind into my "gardening" sail again. As soon as we overcame the flu (little goodbye gift from the airline fairy), I started zealously planting. The above photo is a hibiscus I found at Burns Nursery. I got 4 of them, the only 4 they had of this variegated color.

Everywhere we go, I pick up one more tomato plant. The last place was a bee festival, (yes, we are dorks), and someone was selling heirloom tomatoes. I have four tomato plants, all different sizes, and he said it's good to plant them at different times and stages, so that you get a continual harvest-accidentally got that right. Also, he said to bury the tomato plant 3 inches deeper than the main stalk?? I'm trying it on the plant I got from him. This year, I went to gardeners supply.com to get "professional" tomato cages. Last year, the cheap ones seemed to be too small when all was said and done.

This year, after planting each plant, I made up a gallon jug of water with a tablespoon of unsulphured molasses in it. I poured it on the flowers around the pool and on a couple of things in the garden. I've done this in years' past -not consistently, but when I've done it, my fruit trees have done very well. I happened to have a bunch of molasses, so thought I would give the plants a little hello gift. WOW WOW WOW-the flowers have doubled in size, the arrangements are going crazy, and it has peaked my interest in molasses. So, I found a recipe for homemade fertilizer which consists of Alfalfa Meal-1 cup, Epsom Salts-1 cup, 3 TBSP. of Molasses, and four gallons of water. Let the recipe sit overnight, then water your plants with it. I admit, I have not done this yet, but the Epsom Salts are supposed to help produce AMAZING tomatoes, so I will be fertilizing my tomatoes this year-a first.

We composted last year, and my garden has awesome earthworms this year-which has encouraged me to compost again. I got cute "little" com posters, but my garden is a little bit big for them, they don't turn enough to cover the whole thing, so we will be getting larger com posters when I see them at Costco again. My fingers are crossed, there may be some green in my thumbs after all!!

Honey Homemade Cough Syrup

You may not believe it, but not everything that comes out of my kitchen tastes horrible, but this horrible tasting homemade cough syrup is THE BOMB! Kim from the worship team (thank you FOREVER Kim!), has a croupy son, and has dealt with coughing, coughing, and more coughing, so she finally found this recipe for cough syrup, and it really does work.

I got this recipe about one year ago, the same time frame that Aline came from Brazil to work for us. We've had two bouts of sickness-both involving coughing, since she's been here, the latest being the flu (did you know you cough during the flu?? ), and both times, Aline has taken the homemade Cough Syrup recipe, and single handedly refused the illness and the cough.

I was downing it myself when I got the flu on Saturday, and by Saturday night, we were able to go to church. There's still a little "weakness", but the cough has mainly come and go-And you really do need all of this hype in order to "swallow", but it's WORTH it! I promise! Tonight, Michael was coughing every 3 minutes, and I instantly made up some syrup, took it into him, made him drink it…and peace has pervaded our home.

Honey Cough Syrup
**1/4 tsp. cayenne
1/4 tsp. ginger
1 TBSP. organic Cider Vinegar
1 TBSP. local Raw Honey
1 TBSP. warm water

**just a pinch of cayenne for young children

Homemade Ginger Ale

A very windy road has led me to the place of making my own ginger ale. It's one of my least favorite items to make, but the outcome is so well worth the process, that I do it. 

A few years ago, I asked my dad (General Practitioner), what should someone FIRST drink or eat after the throw-up virus and he said Ginger Ale. So, I went to the store and got a six pack of ginger ale and kept it in my pantry for emergencies....and it did help tremendously! After every illness, we start to sip ginger ale and it seems to give a major boost.

One day, I read the ingredients on the back of the can, and lucky me, I can't leave good enough alone, so I begin the process of making my own.

If you do not have it, Sally Fallon's book on the Unpolitically Correct Guide to Eating, has been my guide for all things fermented, and like most fermented "foods", this cookbook is to be "sipped" over many years, not gulped...the ginger ale being a good case in point.

To make my ginger ale, I use some serious equipment and  need to be in the right frame of mind. It only has about 4 ingredients, but each one has special features. Ginger, for instance, must be peeled and grated. Just peeling the ginger takes me about 45 minutes. I break off the off shoots and peel those and try to work around the "knobbies". Just the amazing fragrance that I get to smell while peeling helps to encourage me on. My goal is 3 cups of grated ginger, so after I peel these, I put them through a food processor with the grating disk. If you don't have a food processor, add another half hour or so for grating the ginger.

The second ingredient is fresh squeezed lime juice. Thankfully, my MIL gave me a citrus juicer for Christmas one year-an appliance I was not sure I would use, but one that has come in handy, ESPECIALLY for my ginger ale project. The last limes I bought were small and hard, but thankfully I got three dozen, so I get 2 cups of juice out of them, which is how much I need.

The third ingredients is whey. Whey is an ingredient you will need for all fermented things (pretty much), and it's the liquid that floats on top of yogurt when you open the cup. I make kefir, so every once in a while I will let it ferment too long and get a ton of whey floating on the top. I try to make a point to get 1 cup of this set aside and labelled in the fridge for when I am in the fermenting mood.

You will also need 2 teaspoons of sea salt.  Sally Fallon's recipe calls for sugar, but I don't like mine sweet up front. What I am making right now is a "base" of ginger ale. I will only use one or two tablespoons of my "base" and add sparkling water plus stevia when I need ginger ale.  At this point I have a heap of ginger, lime juice, salt, and whey and I add about a quart or two of water to this mix and stir it really well.

Get out 8 wide mouthed quart jars and a wide mouth funnel. Pour the mixture evenly into all the jars and fill the rest of the way with purified water. Put your lids on tightly and let sit for 2 days. You will start to see bubble float to the top of the jars and they are ready to refrigerate.

The third appliance I have for the ginger ale is my Soda Stream. You certainly don't have to have this, but we drink so much ginger ale, that I was running to the store just for bubbly water, so when we found the Soda Stream it was a lifesaver. We just pour (through a strainer) a couple of tablespoons of the giner mix into a glass, fill half full with carbonated water, add a stevia packet or two, and enjoy the most amazing effervescent drink ever. 

The good news is, the 8 jars of Ginger Ale base last about 6 months. The second part of the good news is if any one does happen to have a hurt tummy, throw up, or just feel a little "off", usually one glass of ginger ale sets them upright again. I got the throw up virus a couple of years ago, and the trick is to take a little sip, wait 30 minutes or so, and if you can keep down that sip, take several more. The ginger ale helped me feel SO good SO fast, that I made the mental note to always have it on hand no matter how difficult the task-and it has paid off many times over.

Blogging Test 1.2.3

testing, testing, ...1..2..3.....I guess it's time to start blogging again...I went through a little stint there for a few years. Usually, we have a baby, and we are in the baby funk for about 3 months and then life smooths out. Of course, this time, even at the six month point, my tongue was dragging. Truth be known, the last baby took a couple of years adjustment...maybe three.  

Baby is now almost five, and it's time to lose the baby weight and enjoy raising the kids.