Boiling Chestnuts

I know I told ya'll I was going to roast the chestnuts I foraged for in my 'hood... but since I didn't have a pan big enough to lay them all even & flat in the oven, I decided to try and just boil them in some spring water. (This project was NOT a fail either! It's SOooooo Delicious. YAY!)

ALL YOU NEED:

• chestnuts
• a knife
• water
• a pot

What I read and have been told numerous times is that chestnuts can explode while cooking. I've been told this same thing about sweet potatoes and never seen it happen... but I decided the chestnuts seem more like a bomb.

STEP ONE: Take a sharp knife and draw a lil' X on each chestnut to keep it from exploding. This also makes it way easy to peel open after they are done cooking!

STEP TWO: Dump all your X'ed chestnuts into boiling water. Let them boil for about 20 minutes.

STEP THREE: Peel open at the X and eat dat' yellow-ish nut on the inside. It's GOOD! Make sure you dont eat the funked out rotten gray ones (or at least I didn't cause they smell sour and bad).

It's so good, I ate them all at once. I couldnt stop!!! I felt like a f'en squirrel. :)

I have to go back to that tree and see if there's more...

xoxoxox

DIY: Natural & Non Toxic Wood Oil

BEFORE :

Here is my kitchen counter (made of unfinished hickory wood planks) before applying my wood oil recipe...

In order to prevent alot of staining plus possible mold and mildew growth on the unfinished wood, especially during the summer months I decided to 'stain' or oil the wood with a natural recipe - one that was 100% non toxic, that would not out gas, and would be safe for those people who are sensitive to the chemicals in commonly toxic wood finishes.

SUPPLIES :

• Bees Wax
• Walnut Oil
• S alt
• Apple Cider Vinegar
  

• Knife
• Stirring Spoon
• Pot to cook it in
• Rag, sponge or some type of tool to rub the oil into the surface

The first thing I had to do was cut a portion of the bees wax off, which luckily my friend Gabi gave me the awesome tip to heat up the knife first then cut into it "like buttah"...
Mine was super thick so, I had to re-heat it a few times until about 1/4 of the pound of wax broke and I had the perfect piece to add to my recipe.

NOTE: I recommend using bees wax and not a white food grade wax because of the coloring when it dries, and general coloring added to the recipe. Bees wax is also easier to work with and has a good smell!
ADD TO THE POT:

2-3 cups Walnut Oil, 1/2 cup Salt, chunk of Bees Wax, teaspoon of Apple Cider Vinegar... And bring to a boil till the wax is fully melted into the mixture and stir occasionally.

This is totally experimental amounts - if you add alot of wax the mixture will become so wax-y that it will be too thick a coating on the wood... if anyone has 'buffing tips' for a more wax heavy mixture please share!

After the wax is melted, rub it into the wood while warm...
Rub the wax in a buffing fashion, and be sure to not drip too much or lay it on thicker in various places... when using a mixture with wax you do have to be conscience of layering it evenly.
Looks awesome and smells edible.... but it could use a little extra buffing ---> so i am looking for suggestions of what would be a good material or tool to use for buffing this kitchen counter?
In the meantime, I LOVE it!!! I love it so much I can't stop putting that stuff on everything wood around the house. :) The bathroom floor is next!!!

Kiss This HOuse BEAutiFUL!
Xoxoxo

DIY: Little (Gourd) Birdhouse In My Soul

YAY! My organic gourds I grew last summer are finally drying out! At first I thought it might be a total fail project cause they were molding so much (part of the natural drying process) and I didn't have enough vinegar on hand to wipe them down. I decided to wing it nature style 100% and stuck them outside to dry on their own - rain, snow and sun. While a few got a lil' soggy when the snow melted - a bunch are nearly bone dry so I went ahead and started to play around with turning them into cute birdhouses!
First thing I had to do was learn to punch a hole into the side carefully without damaging the gourd... of course I just went ahead and used my voodoo magic powers to blow a freakin' hole right into the thing, so powerful a blast it blew all the seeds and scum right out without me having to get a single finger dirty.
Just kidding.

Actually I used a relatively sharp knife to stick into the center of the hole I wanted to make and then slowly twisted in in full circles.
After twisting it in enough circles to create a hole large enough to get some leverage I used the knife to widen and smooth the edges of the hole.
Once the hole was about the right size, I shook out any extra seeds or goop left on the inside. The super dry ones only had dry seeds falling out - but a few of my iffy ones I was trying to save had some moist gunk... it kinda stunk but i put my fingers in anyway and pulled it out. (Like halloween pumpkin carving but smells different).
I ended up doing about 5 birdhouses and two bowl shaped containers so far - but before I decide whether I want to decorate them(wood burning tool? natural paints?), I want to let them dry out some more by the wood stove during this next cold snowy week. I also want to do two bat houses with the others still needing to dry. :) Bats eat mosquitoes!
Oh, I really love them, bunchie bunches alot. XoXo

Hot Rocks to Warm Ya' Body!

Have you ever tried this trick? You can put dry rocks on top your heater, radiator or wood stove and get them nice and warm (or burning raging hot)... then you can stick them either in your pockets, over your heart to warm your blood stream, or the most special place in your cold cold COLD BED! I like to put mine on the wood stove and get them so hot that I have to wrap them in a few layers of fabric, then I shove it under the covers in my bed and wait 5 or 10 minutes before getting in. This makes the transition to cold sheets in the winter 100 x's more bearable!! I snuggle up with those hot rocks and put them on my belly.

PS ::: Make sure your rocks are not wet and fresh from a stream, if they get too hot they could explode! Let them dry out first. :)

xoxo

Lara Bar, A Gluten Free Snack

It's pretty rare I find a gluten free snack I like, and this is because most gluten free food inventions are not healthy. I am just not a fan of junk food which makes my diet double freaky to most people - no gluten AND no junk... what do I eat? Lara Bars. They totally rock my glutenless world!
So here's a review of these 100 proof healthy yum yums:

1. Lemon Bar - mmmmm, this one is lemon flavored in that delicious way that traditional lemon squares are, you know those super unhealthy ones with powdered sugar, gooey lemon and wheat crust underneath. Lara Lemon Bars totally take the place of old school lemon squares, they just got the boot.

2. Pecan Pie - this is pure goodness and with only 3 ingredients, the go to favorite that isn't too sweet, but has rich subtle flavor. Now since my mom is cajun and cooked the best pecan pies ever known to humankind I can not say this is anything like that...but it is still dang good. It's like your favorite shirt, shoes or pillow. Comfort food.

3. Apple Pie - my first ever Lara Bar experience, which could be why it's my favorite. Also I am a huge fan of cinnamon and this baby has got bunches of it, plus is super apple-y without being gross. It's not apple flavored like a Jolly Rancher or Nerds, it's wholesome goodness that tastes yummy yet totally real.

4. Cherry Pie - Wowsers, this one is intense. You absolutely must be in the mood for strong decadent cherries to go with this one, but when it's right it's mmmmmmm. It's high class, power punched and shoot it's gluten free.

There are tons of flavors, so more reviews to come.....

DIY: Making Natural Non Toxic Dye

This week I have been spending a good deal of time in the kitchen, cooking up natural dyes. I am actually surprised that after 7 years of art in college I had never learned to make paints, toxic or non toxic. But after reading an awesome post on Crafting a Green World about how to make your own milk paint, I got to thinking even deeper into how to make pigments since the colored pigment can be as toxic as the binder. What I found out was a creative revelation that I can not stop cooking up! My personal criteria for creating pigment/dye is this:
* It can not be toxic in any way, even if the substance is natural.
* It has to be in abundance and easily gathered in nature (don't ever take so much that the plant can't survive or make seeds.)
I totally hit the jack pot when I walked outside to find that my landlady next door has a plum tree with a gazillion plums that had already fallen to the ground and were being eaten by bugs, rotting, fermenting, gushy ect......
My dye experiment begins....

I began by skinning the plums and using only the dark burgundy red skins - I left the fruit for the wild critters, and kept the seeds and planted them - in hopes to grow some of my own plum trees.

The supplies you'll need to make your own fabric dye are as follows: water (filtered or spring is best) salt or vinegar, spare pot not used for cooking, something to measure with if you like to get things exact.

I used salt as a dye fixative, since I was using fruit, but if you are making your dye from flowers, leaves, plants etc - then it is suggested to use vinegar.

The recipe I found was SALT: 1/2 CUP SALT TO 8 CUPS COLD WATER, VINEGAR: 4 PARTS COLD WATER TO 1 PART VINEGAR.

I simmered my fabric in the salt fixative for approx. 1 hour, then rinsed and rung out - before putting the fabric in the dye.

Once the fabric had the fix in it, I went ahead and dumped the plum skins in some fresh water and simmered those for a while. It was so amazing how red and beautiful the water turned right away...

I strained out the skins and returned the dye to the pot and then start dipping the locally woven organic cotton into the plum dye! How freakin' awesome, cause it started turning almost hot pink right away and stuck right to the fabric.Then I let the fabric simmer lightly in the dye for a richer color for about an hour, all steamy, hot and sooooo pretty!

I allowed the fabric to sit in the dye overnight to make sure it had the darkest outcome possible since when it is rinsed and dried the color will be alot lighter.

I hung it to dry in the sun, until the rain came and I moved it to this window....

Isn't it pretty in pink? All that from a couple discarded plums! Yay! It's really easier then it looks and the whole process was so relaxing and fun. There are fantastic lists of natural stuff you can use for dye in just about every cool shade of color you can imagine. Go to http://www.pioneerthinking.com/ for a complete list of plants, berries, nuts and bark that can make a rainbow of fun, safe colors. Plus get more detailed instructions-a simple google search for "make your own natural dye" turns up tons of recipes for a wide variety of colors.