Chit Chat

Sort of a boring post today.  I know not everyone can afford "organic" groceries anymore, but wanted to share some things.

 I have been reading the ingredients on the black eyed peas in stores here, and we cannot buy "organic" canned in any of the stores in the area.  

The non-organic cans of these beans contains an ingredient I was not familiar with - diosodium EDTA.

I did some searching on google (I know it's not the best resource), but I did find this information.  I am reading it is mostly used in cosmetics.  Anyway, I found organic black eye peas do exist, but I have to order them online.

Organic canned black eyed peas do not contain the Diosodium EDTA.  In the brand we found, it contains Kombu Seaweed.

By the way, you can buy these dried, and soak and bake them yourself. I am looking into that variety as well.  I found another "dip" recipe that calls for black eyed peas to try, but I think we love the last one we found (in moderation with other healthy foods).

The holidays usually involve a lot of cookie baking, candy making and other comfort food making.  One is the traditional "Chex Mix" recipe that most people love.  Over the years, we stopped buying the three Chex cereals, and my Mom (when she was with us) started making it with just Crispix cereal.

It was Mom's favorite holiday treat to eat.  I have found a way to make it, but with organic/non-gmo ingredients.

The cereal we used this past Christmas, was Cascadian Farm multi-grain squares.  By the way, of course we could not find this in any stores in the area either.  I had to order it.  It was about as expensive as Crispix cereal is, but with no shipping cost.  It's a once a year treat, so I did order it to try.  By the way, it was kid tested too, and we all agree it was a good swap. 

I buy a non-gmo nut mix, which is also hard to find, but I can buy them in an area store.  There are no added bad oils in these deluxe mixed nuts.  Many nuts sold in stores have bad (unhealthy) oils added to them, and most people don't read the labels, because they think it's just "nuts" in the container.

And finally, you can now buy organic/non-gmo pretzels in stores.  They are sold in many stores here actually. 

That brings us to the last ingredient - garlic bagel chips, rye chips, or rye bagel chips.  You cannot find them organic anywhere, but you can bake your own sourdough rye bagels and make your own bagel chips if you prefer to add them.

As for the seasoning, I make my own onion powder, garlic powder, and our own homemade seasoned salt.  You can

 make your own butter as well, but we buy organic.

I have a question for sourdough bread bakers. . .

Do you have a recipe for sourdough rye bagels?    Is there such a thing?  Or can you direct me to a resource that has a recipe?  I have been looking online and have not been able to find a recipe.   I have not located a recipe book with such a recipe either, and our stores do not sell a sourdough rye bagel.  Or even just a rye bagel recipe maybe?  I don't mean a rye bread recipe either.  A bagel recipe.  Crazy request, but I thought I would ask here first.

We have a friend who is a sourdough baker, and she is just now experimenting with rye.  I may be visiting her for a sample yet.  We are just exploring more on the bread department of our diet.  She has offered me a sourdough starter, and I just might take her up on the offer.

As for more boring news, we took down the outside Christmas lights yesterday.  The weather is very warm this weekend, but rain is in the forecast for the entire day Sunday.  We have been talking about taking our tree down this weekend as well, and packing up the Christmas decorations.  I hope to be back with a more interesting blog spot next time.  Have a great weekend.  Enjoy the joy in every moment.

Chit Chat © December 2024 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

New Cookie Recipe Tried ~ Homemade Body Wash

 

I know there is one more holiday approaching, but I hope you all had a very nice Christmas.  Our Christmas week is typically full of celebrations - our youngest's birthday, Christmas Day, and our Wedding Anniversary.  A lot to celebrate in one week for sure.

My husband only got Christmas day off of work this year.  It seems the kids also had to work the same days. 

Our weather is taking a turn for warmer temperatures, and tomorrow they expect it to be around 60°F here.  Crazy for sure.  However, it is the perfect weather to take down all of the outside Christmas lights.  I would love to keep them up for New Year's Eve, but the weather will turn right back to very cold temperatures by next weekend.

It's the perfect weather to work on outdoor projects, but the best weather days are during the week.  The home repair list is dwindling, but it's still lingering ha ha! 

Two of the kids are house shopping, and we are trying to help, but it's not a great time to buy right now.

I have been seeing a lot of cardinals here lately.  I do need to clean my windows ha ha!  Next time I will go outside to snap a photo.

We made one batch of our traditional butter cut out cookies (gave most of them to others), and one batch of a new einkorn recipe from Jovial recipes - Peanut Butter Blossoms.  They contain einkorn flour (no white flour), but they do contain granulated sugar and brown sugar.  I used the Hershey kisses, but these went to work with my husband for a treat.  We kept just a few for us.  They are very good.  Next time I will try breaking up an organic white chocolate or dark chocolate bar, and use those in place of the kiss candy.  I got 43 cookies using my small pampered chef scoop.

We also baked a healthier version of "chex mix" and have already given half of it away (one kiddo loves it).  We all love it, so I'll have a post on that soon.  It's a treat only at Christmas and New Year's Eve for us.

I'm still staying on track with my fitness, and otherwise healthy meals despite the holidays and cookies.  I have a few new salad recipes to try soon, and we are focusing on the freezer and pantry for the next month.  Other than buying  fresh vegetables and fruits, it should be a fun monthly meal plan.

I mixed up a new recipe to try - homemade body wash.  Winter brings dry skin, and I wanted to give it a try.  We do typically only use goat's milk soap, but this may help a bit more.   I'm only making a small amount to make sure I am not allergic to any of the ingredients.  I'll update on it after using it for a while.

In other news . . .

I was washing dishes, and saw something jumping around out in the yard.  It was this cat, and he/she (most likely a he by the coloring), was pouncing on something.  I had to laugh.  It was out hunting for food, and caught it.  I've see it hanging around before, but it's been weeks since I've seen it.  I could not get a close enough photo to see if it was a catch and release (tipped ear) cat.

I have not been watching he morning or evening news, so I really don't know what's going on in the "real" world lately.  I have spent more time sipping herbal tea and reading, and a few minutes of easy crochet work.  Once the weather turns cold again, I will check my yarn stash and start a new lap afghan.  I may have enough to donate by next winter (not enough time this year with home repairs/purging/cleaning, and re-organizing (but so worth it).

I have finally opened my new planner and started filling it in already.  Which reminded me about how people spend their entire day looking forward to the end of the day, or end of the week, instead of embracing the moments as they are in real time.  Don't forget to find joy in the present moments, as you can't get that time back.

Do you do anything "fun" to embrace a moment or moments in your day?  Sit outside and watch the birds?  Watch the sunrise or sunset?  Plant a new plant indoors?  I would love to hear your winter activities or plans.  

I was gifted a new planter container last May (gulp), and have yet to fill it.  I had planned to try and bring in Thai basil, but that failed.  Rosemary is very difficult for me to winterize indoors, so I'm looking into maybe another herbal plant.

I have not yet found any local line dancing, but we are continuously seeking out activities for us this winter.  If anything, we'll get some evening walks in.

New Cookie Recipe Tried ~ Homemade Body Wash © December 2024 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart