White Chocolate Macadamia Lara(ish) Bar ~ A Recipe for Travel

We're a' hittin' the road and we need us some vittles.  Lara Bars are a favorite, but the nuts aren't soaked and they cost an arm and a leg.  Also, I wanted a new flavor.  Enter the White Chocolate Macadamia Cookie Dough Bar.  We crispify the nuts by soakin' 'em in water for several hours, then in to the dehydrator they go until they're, well, crispy.  The soaking process neutralizes the phytic acid, making it more digestable.  Don't have white chocolate or macadamias on hand?  Throw in some raisins, dried cherries or cranberries, or whatever happens to tickle yer fancy instead.  Normally, homemade Lara Bar recipes will tell you to encase them in plastic wrap, which is something I avoid because of it's many toxins and hormone disruptors.  Instead, mine were wrapped in unbleached parchment paper, tied up in cute little bows made of baking twine, and placed in a glass container with a lid.  Will I always present them in such a cute manner?  Probably not. But they were being introduced to the family for the first time and for the kids (just like their mother), cute packaging makes them giddy, so this helped them go over much smoother.  As far as the taste goes... everyone gobbled them right up!  Yee-haw!  I'm going to take the cowboy boots off now.  They're having an effect on my writing.

Raw White Chocolate Macadamia Cookie Dough Bars

Makes 10-12 bars

• 1 1/2 cups cashews
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or if you make your own and happen to run out but still have those beans in the jar like I did, go ahead and stick a whole vanilla bean in there.)
• 1 cup dates, pitted
• 1/3 cup macadamia nuts
• 1/4 cup white chocolate chips

1. Put cashews, cinnamon, and vanilla in food processor.  Turn it on and add 1 date at a time until they're all blended.  Add the macadamias and chocolate chips and pulse just to chop them a little bit.
2. Form dough into bars, balls, or squish them into a pan to cut bars out of them.  Chill or freeze.  Take them out when you're ready to stuff them into lunch boxes, an ice chest, or just to throw one down the hatch right away.

Enjoy!

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I'm sharing this at Monday Mania, Barn Hop, Traditional Tuesdays, Real Food Wednesday, Pennywise Platter, Simple Lives Thursday, Fresh Bites Friday.

Garlic in the Ground

It felt amazing to have the energy (and the stomach) to get my hands in the ground again.  The sun was bright, the air was crisp, and oak leaves crunched under our feet.  We absorbed the season with great delight.

We might not have a massive fall crop underway (this year), but now we have two beds of garlic.

What a wonder that when we unearth the many bulbs in the summer, I'll have a little babe strapped to me.  That makes my heart skip a beat.

This morning wasn't just about planting garlic.  Questions and conversations sprouted as we quietly dug, seeded, and covered.  Ponderings of little people had space to be voiced and talked about.  Small hands touched the seeds that will produce, in time, bulbs that will be pulled up and used to nourish growing bodies.  Those hands will practice braiding as we prepare the garlic to dry.  Fine motor skills will be honed, and I look forward to what will be talked about as we braid those garlic heads in the summer.  

Dear God, thank you for garlic.

I'm sharing this at Simple Lives Thursday, Farm Girl Friday, Gratituesday.

In the Kitchen ~ Thinking On My Feet

When we first set out on our real food journey six years ago, there was a serious learning curb.  I was used to serving standard meals, like what you'd order at a sit-down restaurant.  You know, a main course, side dish and soup or salad.  The thing is, when you pretty much only buy one-ingredient foods, there is a lot of prep that goes into those meals.  It took a (long) while, but I came to the realization that real, fresh food already tastes so rich and flavorful compared to anything processed, that you just don't have to fancy it up for everyday meals.

There was also much more creativity flowing in the kitchen once I stopped allowing myself to buy breads. Of course making bread takes time, but it does save a lot of money and the flavor and nutrition is truly superior compared to store-bought.  Besides, baking true sourdough breads neutralizes the gluten, making for happy tummies.

A real food kitchen keeps me on my toes and my mind active.  The other afternoon I was making a double batch of sourdough English muffins and the hungry kids (who were also ready for a break from studies) made sure to remind me it was lunch time.  English muffins alone weren't going to be the heartiest of meals.  I had some leftover hot dogs (made from organic, grass-fed cows, of course) from a BBQ.  So?  I wrapped some English muffin dough around each one, grilled it on the skillet, and the children were absolutely tickled by their sourdough pigs in a blankets (that took me three minutes to make).

Eating in-season also stretches the imagination and keeps creative juices flowing.  I might have an over-abundance of zucchinis now, but in the coming winter months when I'm hankering for a warm bowl of Potage Bonne Femme (a favorite creamy veggie soup of ours from Nourishing Traditions), How will I get the zucchini?  By making zucchini chips.

Just slice the zucchini in about 1/2 inch pieces and dehydrate at 104º (to keep the enzymes alive) until they're crisp.

They also make tasty chips for dipping in things like hummus or baba ghanoush.

Crafting foods in a traditional kitchen honestly felt overwhelming at first.  So many seasonal rhythms and helpful tricks have been forgotten over the years as most families went for take-out or packaged meals for a good 50 years now and stopped passing down such timeless homemaking wisdom.  It has become a pleasure to dig deep and unearth such wisdom and to even add a few techniques to the trade.  It has become a passion to pass down what I learn to my kids, knowing their learning curb will be so much smaller.  I can't wait to see what they come up with as they create in their own kitchens, building from the foundation laid for them.  

Food is so much fun.  I just love to play with it, don't you?  What's going on in that kitchen of yours?

I'm sharing this at Monday Mania, Barn Hop, Gratituesday.