Versatile Spicy Seasoning Mix

Every once in a while you stumble across a recipe "that works" and this spicy mix recipe works with just about everything you make with it. I make it up en masse and keep it in quart jars in my pantry for a quick meal or main dish addition.

Use this in any kind of soup as the only seasoning/finisher for flavor, in casseroles, in the rice cooker and as a chicken coating par excellence. Below is the basic seasoning mix and below that is the combination that I use for chicken coating aka spicy chicken coating and for rice as well. I will post more alterations as I think of them.

Basic Spicy Seasoning mix

1/4 cup Celtic or Himalayan salt (due to dampness Celtic salt may clump up the mix)

1/4 cup Sweet Paprika

1/4 cup Dried Oregano Leaves

1/4 cup Thyme Leaves (powdered is best)

2 T Garlic Powder

2 T Onion Powder

2T Black Pepper

1 T Chili Powder

1T Turmeric powder (provides that wonderful burnt orange color)

1/4 t or more of Cayenne Powder

Combine all ingredients in a quart jar and tightly cover till needed. When adding to soups you will get to know how much to use, eg. for a large crock pot of soup add several heaping Tablespoons of Spicy Seasoning Mix.

To use as a chicken coating mix

Grind 1/2 cup of raw sunflower seeds in the blender or clean coffee mill till powdered. Mix together with equal proportions of Spicy Seasoning Mix.

Place coconut on in the bottom of baking pan and melt in the oven. Coat damp chicken in the seasoning/sunflower seed mix and roll in melted coconut oil till all sides are covered with spicy mix and coconut oil.

Bake as usual.

For added zing I sometimes add a little more cayenne powder for a hotter flavor. My family loves it that way especially.

Add to Rice Cooker

To a pot of rice on the stove or in a rice cooker, add several tablespoons of spicy mix and a few tablespoons of coconut oil. Try adding some chopped ginger for variety. This combination adds a wonderful color and flavor! Cook as usual.

Enjoy!

@Living a Lifestyle of Learning daily

Enter to win an Excalibur dehydrator!

For all of you out there who are following my Daughter in law's blog give away on Keeperofthe home.org be sure to put your comments in on her blog for a chance to win her latest and greatest give away, a 9 tray Excalibur dehydrator-the Cadillac of dehydrator. All you have to do for a chance for an entry is to post a comment, a link to her site, follow her posts on twitter or join the forum. That's it. I had put the deluxe dehydrator on my Christmas list this year. Not for me but for my daughter. I know she would love it and use it a lot. May the best elf win!

Click here for the entry post on her blog and enter today!

Living a Lifestyle of Learning daily

It's a girl!  Lilah Beth Dyck, was born to Tim and Amy Dyck  in a record speed and determined to beat her midwife to the scene on last Sundays bright and sunny  morning, (May 24th at 11.57AM.)  She was 7 lbs and 13 oz. and  arrived in a record 40 min of official labor. She's absolutely beautiful in this grandma's opinion and as sweet as her name implies during this fragrant lilac season. The local newspaper wrote an article on the surprising suddenness of the birth. See the link below of the newspaper article. 

Langley times newspaper article





Cousin Abbies sweet response of delight.

Living a Lifestyle of Learning daily

Congratuations Phillip and Katie Bradrick!

We really, really wanted to go. The wedding was in Louisiana, a mere 3000 miles way. After calculating the cost of 6 people flying, car rentals, and hotels, it was prohibitive. Another way we thought. We'll drive! We mapped out the route, choose stopping points, calculated mileage, but still out of the question. There has got to be another way!.. and there was....well sort of. We did attend A wedding celebration and viewing at the Bryan family home complete with decorations, food and wedding favors. The wedding was viewed via video streaming and was next to the real thing. We were actually quite a rowdy group so it was probably good that we were not at the wedding. I'd say we were akin to a football crowd gathered around a TV on a Saturday afternoon, except that we were all dressed up (after all we were attending a wedding) So here are some of our pictures and the real wedding pictures of Phillip and Katies wedding pictures through the link below. Cheers!

click here!

For the real pictures of the wedding click here.

These are a few of my favorite things.. I mean... books

Homemaking

I just finished watching the Sound of music with my grandchildren so I guess that tune is just on my mind.  Also on my mind is the need to focus and clarify in a few urgent areas  in the next while. All of these books I highly recommend. 

Here goes! 

Nourishing Traditions:  The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats focuses on probiotics, soaked grains, raw dairy and grass fed beef. This is an excellent Kitchen Handbook.

To compliment and enhance the soaked grains portion of Nourishing Traditions, Sue Gregg cookbooks are awesome  She teaches and give recipes for  how to make overnight blender pancakes, muffins and other breakfast the cereal grain products. Click here for her website and info on all her other great cookbooks listed below.

Wholefoods cooking

Main Dishes

Meals in Minutes

Soups and Muffins

Lunches and Snacks

and more

Homeschooling Titles

Upgrade: 10 Secrets to the Best Education for Your Child

One of the best books on Homeschool principles and philosophy  

Kevin Swanson believes that a successful education is achieved when a child is prepared to make maximal use of his God-given talents and abilities in the accomplishment of the child's calling. With great passion, he writes a series of 10 principles for achieving the best education for our children in his new book Upgrade: 10 Secrets to the Best Education for Your Child Swanson's list of "10 Time-Tested Secrets for a
Successful Education" are:

1. The preeminence of character
2. Quality one-on-one instruction
3. The principle of protection
4. The principle of individuality
5. The routing in relationships
6. The principle of doing the basics well
7. The principle of life integration
8. Maintaining the honor and mystique of learning
9. Build on the right foundation
10. The principle of wise, sequential progression
This may be added to my all time favorite list for great Homeschool visionary books.

Current events or financial preparation

Crash Proof: How to Profit From the Coming Economic Collapse (Lynn Sonberg Books)

If you feel insecure at all of the current economic climate this book may just get you out of the "panic of the inevitable" and motivate you into action. The first several chapters are how we got ourselves in this mess and the last 1/3 of the book  tells you how to equip yourselves and how to even profit from the crash.  What I found most interesting was that Larry Burkett predicted this very crash and the exact reasons for it 25 years ago in The Coming Economic Earthquake Too bad he is no longer with us on earth as I think he deserves an "I told you so."  Read Crashproof and pass it on!

PS Watch some of his you tube videos. Start here on Dr. Mercolas site and then follow more Peter Schiff videos on Youtube. 

Great Myths of the Great depression

Wasn't the great depression just an accident, non preventable, inevitable? You have been taught that all your life in the media and through modern day politically correct textbooks. The great depression was a necessary correction in the market but exasperated and deeply prolonged by President Roosevelt due to various stimulus packages that stymied the economy. Doesn't that sound remarkably like today's political philosophies? This is a short but gripping revelation as to very real possibility of history repeating itself.  Available through our book selling division of our business on Amazon.com (go to the used listings  and see our book name "GrandmaToAbby") but you will have to pay $4.00 shipping in addition to the book price.  If you email me and purchase through Paypal I will not charge you shipping at all! I want you and your whole family- especially your teenagers-to read this book!

What is your favorite books on your passionate topics?  I am always looking for a good read and recommended books!

Living a Lifestyle of Learning daily!

We're Back from our Mexican Rivera Cruise!

What a great time we had. We got to see my aunt and uncle and cousins in in San Diego, whom I have not seen in a long time! (about 35 years for my cousin) We foolishly did not get any pictures! Then we toured the USS Midway aircraft carrier in San Diego Bay and quickly boarded the Elation cruise ship bound for the coast of Baja California! Quite surely my titles will not end up in line with the pictures so I will have list them ahead of the pictures.

1 Statue of Bob Hope (in the middle, in case you couldn't tell)

2 Elvis, my sweetie for taking me on this great trip! 

3 A magnificent full sail ship taking off just as we were about to start sailing. 

4. Formal night dinner 

5. First excursion trip on the shores of Mexico

6.This rock formation is one of the most photographed spots in Mexico and is the location for "Pirates of the Caribbean." It is the furthest most tip of the Baja Peninsula. 

7. On the excursion tour ship

8. Still more of the beautiful spots on the point. I wanted to get out and sit on that beach!

9. us in a popular restaurant with an amazing scenic view

10 The cruise ship in the distance

11  One of the many towel animals greeting us as we returned after dinner

12 We visited the bars during the day when we could see the magnificence of the decor 

13 At the La Boufador blow hole site over looking the churning waters 

14 Ah, wonderful, fresh, sweet coconut milk right from the shell and the many almost aggressive sellers in the background!

                                                                                         

20 Great Reasons to Homeschool

This may be a little small to read so if you actually cannot read it go to this link, scroll down to the color version and it will be large enough to read. (for some reason I could not get the image larger)  In fact, once you are at the source, go ahead and  pass the image on in your blog or emails. You will be participating in something called "viral advertising!" 

Go for it Jim! 

Enjoy!

PS Notice I changed the title to- 20 Great Reasons TO Homeschool. For those of us who already do educate at home these are familiar reasons. For those that do not (yet) these are just extra tidbit reasons in addition to the real intent of home discipleship because we all know none of us started homeschooling so our kids so they could wear their pajamas to school or so they could sleep in on rainy days! Some days are hard but I would NEVER have it any other way!

Living a lifestyle of learning daily!

Good cheap food!

That's it. I have got to lower my food budget! As always the cheapest food is closest to the ground, or closer to its source or growth. No packaging, no instructions on how to prepare and is not in bright colorful eye catching boxes in the mid level shelf at your favorite store. 

My low to the ground food products come in clear plastic bags from my favorite bulk and health supply store Azure Standard. Nevertheless, for all of us some packaged processed food slips in now and then. This is the taming I need to do. As my whole focus in the last year or so has been to go lower, going raw fits that intent but some cooked foods are OK. Such as a nice warm bowl of quinoa with raw almond milk, currants and a little raw honey. Here are healthy, nourishing foods you can always find at a good, low price consumed raw, sprouted or even cooked. 

• No matter what store
• No matter what season
• No matter if you don’t clip coupons.

eggs   bananas carrots corn broccoli lettuce cabbage celery potatoes sweet potatoes   onions can of wild Alaska salmon natural peanut butter yogurt

oatmeal   home made bread   home ground flour   corn meal   quinoa   brown rice   beans   lentils   pasta   spaghetti sauce   sunflower seeds   popcorn (not        microwaved)   string cheese   clover seeds for  sprouting

Living a Lifestyle of Learning daily

Natural minty toothpaste

Mix together:

~2 Tablespoons of Coconut Oil (You can purchase this from  this from Mountain Rose Herbs - $121 for a 5-gallon bucket.) Use more for a creamier consistancy

~3 Tablespoons of Baking Soda

~5 drops Peppermint Essential oil

~5 drops Spearmint Essential Oil

~a pinch of Stevia powder

I have used baking soda to brush my teeth before (and felt a bit like a martyr because the taste was less-than-desirable), but this was incredible! I am so thrilled at how well it turned out! The coconut oil gives it a creamy consistency, and holds the Baking Soda together, while the Stevia and essential oils gives it a yummy flavor. (I chose to use part Spearmint instead of all Peppermint because the Spearmint doesn’t have that “hot” mouth feel that Peppermint does. This is important to little people!) Note: I feel safe allowing these essential oils to be used in a situation where they could possibly be ingested because 1) the amounts are so small, and 2) both Spearmint and Peppermint essential oils are on the FDA’s GRAS (generally recognized as safe) list.

It doesn’t have that foamy effect that commercial toothpaste has, but I actually appreciate that - it doesn’t get the bathroom sink so dirty, and it doesn’t gag pregnant woman like the foamy kind does. I was amazed at how well it turned out, but the best part was how quick it was to mix together. It literally took less than five minutes including the time it took to gather the oils from another room. Our stores change brands of toothpaste so quickly, that I couldn’t have picked out toothpaste in the store as quickly as that because of reading labels. We mixed it in a tiny wide mouth half-pint canning jar, and just dip dry toothbrushes in it. Don’t get grossed out… remember coconut oil is anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal, so it will even keep the toothbrushes more sanitary.

 Living a Lifestyle of Learning daily

Walnut Pate-Delicious

I am starting to organize my life into daily and weekly food preparations that set me up for easier and less panic at the last minutes dinner ideas. One such raw and ready food that I can make ahead is walnut pate. I have tested this out on a few on my friends and it passed with flying colors. 

Taste develops over time just like discipline habits. Our taste can get reconditioned and pressed into the habit of good taste but this is not one of these.   I do like to pass it on a few of my discerning friends who all in different places in their raw and natural food journey.  Walnut Pate may is even a starter food  if you want to impress your skeptical neighbor. (or mother in law)

Soaking helps prepare the nuts for better digestibility so I soak the nuts over night. (Saturday night) Sunday night I start preparing for the week. I make a batch of walnut pate and sunflower pate (see tomorrow's post) and I am set for salad toppers, dips, fillings for wraps and sandwich spread for the week.

This recipe comes directly out the the book, Raw Food Made Easy For 1 or 2 People by Jennifer Cornbleet. There are many books at the library to check out but this one I would buy. It supplies many good basic and easy recipes for starter and maintenance foods in the raw food exploration diet.



Walnut Pate
1 cup soaked walnuts
1 Tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon tamari (fermented soy sauce)
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
dash salt
1 Tablespoon minced parsley
1 Tablespoon minced onion

Place walnuts, lemon juice, olive oil, tamari, garlic powder, and salt in a food processor, fitted with the S blade and process into a paste. Stop occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.  Transfer to  small mixing bowl. Stir in the parsley and onion and mix well. (I put all the the above ingredients into the food processor for a smooth paste. ) Store in a sealed jar and will keep for five days. 

It will probably be gone before that.  Enjoy!

Now it's your turn.
Did you try it?
What do you think?....a little more salt?
What did you use it on?

Living a Lifestyle of Learning daily.