What's going on in my kitchen today?

This is too funny.  I had to share it with all of my traditional foods and GREEN friends.

When I took a breath today and stepped back and looked at my kitchen, I laughed.  Look below and you will see why.

This is what went on in my kitchen today....

Butternut squash cut up and ready to freeze (chunks and fry shape) and 4 jars of Kimchi.

Butternut, Kimchi and Kombucha on it's 2nd Ferment.

Of course I saved the seeds from the Organic Butternut Squash to plant next year!

Water Kefir Brewing.

Becker's Farm Whole Chicken Cooking to make Chicken Stock and of course shredded chicken.

My beautiful Butternut Squash Soup, part of my new sort of GAPS life.

Beautiful Kimchi!  In 3 days I get to eat it!

I liked both pictures, couldn't decide which one I like better. :-)  Kimchi again.

So, by now you can figure out why I laughed so hard today when I stood back and looked at my kitchen, I had a lot going on!  But it is ohhhhh so worth it!!!

Keep Living Green,

How to make Ghee (butter oil, Indian clarified butter)

~This is a forgotten about post I wrote months ago.  :-) ~

I am needing butter oil.....NOW!  I am placing an order to buy butter oil from Green Pastures today.  But I need to start this in my 6 year old today and can't wait for the delivery of my butter oil.  So, luckily my local raw milk farmer had raw butter at the last milk delivery instead of raw cream.  Ironic huh'?  You know I believe that God takes care of us in small and big ways, and this is one of the small ways.

My 6 year old has a cavity.  GASP!  I know.  He eats healthy, doesn't eat sweets much and brushes his teeth daily (To be honest, I still brush his teeth daily.  He totally knows how to do it but I want excellent oral hygiene and this is how I know he is getting it).  Yet, we still have a cavity.  Hmmmm??

I remembered reading this a long time ago.  Sarah Pope, The Healthy Home Economist had actually healed her sons cavity.  So, this article was the first place I went to after the visit to the dentist this week.

So, in a nutshell she healed her sons cavity by changing 2 things.  Her son was already taking FCLO (fermented cod liver oil) every day, but he was not taking the butter oil with it like he should have been doing.  See my post "Why I Take FCLO" for more info on FCLO. So, she started making him take the butter oil each time he took his FCLO.  She also suggested that he change what he was putting on his morning 2 slices of toast.  He started putting raw honey and raw butter on his toast instead of the tahini and raw honey that he was eating every day.  In a nutshell, within 1 month....1 MONTH....that was when the dentist appointment had been pushed back to, due to various things in life that came up....the cavity was GONE!  The dentist was shocked.  So, in a nutshell, what we eat and what we are lacking in our bodies plays a major roll in our health from our hair down to our toenails.

I also read that directly applying the FCLO and butter oil to the cavity is another great idea.

So, as of today we are starting the same cavity adventure.  And I hope and pray that this will heal my sons cavity.  In time we will have our answer.

Back to Ghee.

Buy only TOP TOP quality butter to make ghee.  It has to be either local grass fed raw or low temp butter.  I get mine from my local RAW milk farmer Pasture's Delights (I appreciate you more than words can express Mark, Troy and Carrie).  If you do not have access to local grass fed butter you can buy Kerrygold butter.  Costco, EarthFare and Whole Foods Kerrygold butter.  Kerrygold butter is fantastic and is quite affordable (if you shop at Costco).  Click here to learn more about Kerrygold grass fed Irish butter.  If your butter is not yellow, it is not good high quality butter from cows who eat grass.  If it is white butter there is little to no nutrients and vitamins, at all.  You want beautiful yellow butter.  And sorry to say, but if you are buying organic butter and it it white, well......you guessed it, it is highly lacking in omega-3's and beta-carotene.  You have to read "The Untold Story of BUTTER" to truly understand what I am talking about.  I am also currently working on a butter post to take all of this further into detail.

Ghee is great for someone who has a dairy or butter allergy.  All the milk solids are removed, all the protein, casein and lactose are removed when you make Ghee (obviously the same goes for the butter oil from Green Pastures.  Ghee does not need to be refrigerated, you can keep it in your pantry for many months.  You can refrigerate it if you want but you don't need to.  Ghee has a high smoke point and you can use it for frying.  It is similar to coconut oil in this aspect.

What you need...
Butter (raw grass fed, low temp grass fed, or Kerrygold) I used 8oz raw grass fed
Glass Pyrex bowl
Slotted spoon
Coffee filter or cheesecloth
Funnel
Glass jar to store ghee in

Bring butter to a boil, over medium heat (no higher), in a glass Pyrex bowl, on top of your stove (yes Pryex is safe to do this with.).  After the melted butter begins to boil wait until the entire surface area of the melted butter is covered with a white foam and you are still seeing little bubbles in the butter.  Once the entire surface of the butter is covered in the white foam, use a slotted spoon to remove as much of the white foam that you can.  Place foam in an additional small bowl and set aside.  Reduce heat (I went medium low), allowing the butter to simmer for an additional 10-15 minutes.  When the butter is completely clear, and you can see the milk solids on the bottom begin to slightly brown,  your ghee is ready to separate.  Turn off your heat.

Starting to boil.

The foam that you scrape off.

Place a funnel in a glass jar with a coffee filter or cheese cloth inside the funnel.  Carefully pour your butter into the funnel.  DO NOT scrape the milk solid or the butter into the funnel!  Leave the milk solids in the bottom of the Pyrex bowl and discard.  Allow the butter to drip through the funnel until the coffee filter no longer has any butter in it.  I let mine set for 10 minutes just so I got all of the butter out of the funnel.  You don't want to waste 1 drop!  Now you have ghee!

Milk solids left in the bottom of bowl.  Don't scrape the bowl!

Beautiful. Isn't?

It is recommended that you take 1/2 tsp butter oil (ghee) when you take your 1-1 1/2 tsp of fermented cod liver daily.  Take them together at the same time. 

Ghee also tastes WONDERFUL drizzled over your homemade popcorn, popped in coconut oil.  ;-)

Sarah puts her butter oil into gelatin capsules, immediately after straining, that you can buy at a health food store.  I am going to just use one of our clean syringes that came with my fermented cod liver oil and shoot it in the back of our tongues.  This will require placing our glass jar of homemade ghee in warm water and allow it to return to liquid.  This will also depend on what temperature you maintain your home.  We keep ours fairly cool, thus the solid state of the ghee.

There you go!

I will post back later to update you on my sons cavity, or hopefully lack there of.

Note:
The reason why I am still ordering butter oil from Green Pasture's is due to the way they make their butter oil.  They use a process that still allows the butter oil to remain raw called centrifuge.  Which means more nutrients for my family.  It majorly depresses me that I "cooked" our raw butter, but that was the highest quality of butter we have in the house and want this cavity gone yesterday. 

Update:  To date my kids will not take the butter oil from Green Pasture's.  They refuse.  So, I sold it to a friend.  Now, when I can get them to take the butter oil, it is my homemade ghee.  Some days I can't even get them to take the ghee, so they get a piece of toast slathered in butter or a heaping teaspoon in their hot soaked oatmeal for breakfast.

Update:  And we are now alternating back and forth between Green Pasture's FCLO and doTERRA's IQ Mega.  Two great products in my mind.  I will write about the IQ Mega in the future.

To watch the full video from Sarah on how to make Ghee, The Healthy Home Economist, click here.  And please read Sarah's blog.  It is full of amazing and profound knowledge (some controversial but I can take it. lol).

Sourdough English Muffins from Five Little Homesteaders

This needs to be filed in a safe location for future use, thought my blog would be a great place.  :-)

Five Little Homesteaders: Pantry Revamp: Sourdough English Muffins: This recipe for  sourdough english muffins  is part of the Pantry Revamp series here on Five Little Homesteaders.  To read more about it, ch...

Keep trying to live green, 

My Facial Routine

One of the most common questions I get is "what do you use to wash your face?"  I always laugh and tell them that they can find the ingredients in their kitchens.

Here is what I do every day of my life.  :-)

Facial Cleanser (a.k.a. OCM (oil cleansing method))  A friend of mine wrote a great post about it and she got me started a long time ago (Thanks Mackenzie!) The original recipe used Castor Oil, but there is some new research that makes me uneasy about Castor Oil.  So, when I have used up my Castor Oil I will be switching to Avocado Oil.  :-)

2 Ingredients:
Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Avocado Oil* (see list below to choose the best oil for your skin)
(I use a 1 oz measuring shot glass I bought at Walmart a long time ago)

Depending on your skin type (*refer to list below to choose the best oil for your skin), this is what you do.....
For dry skin use 1 part avocado oil to 3 parts extra virgin olive oil
For oily skin use 3 parts avocado oil to 1 part extra virgin olive oil
For normal skin use equal parts of each oil.  This is what I use.

I bought a cool 4 oz cobalt blue glass bottle with a glass dropper that stores inside the glass bottle and serves as the lid.  I love it.  I bought mine at Whole Foods but you can also find them here.  This is AromaTools website, I LOVE this website and use it all of the time for my doTERRA biz.  

You can add essential oils here at this step, if you are storing the oil in a glass bottle (no plastic with essential oils!).  There are a million things you can do with essential oils here.  For example, if you want a good facial cleanser you can add peppermint or melaleuca.  The list goes on and on...skin tightening....pore reducer....extra hydration....anti-aging, etc etc.  And of course if you know me, you know that doTERRA essential oils are the ONLY essential oils I will use in or on my body.  Want to learn more about doTERRA go here.

I prefer to use this in the shower.  Place a nickel size amount in the palm of your hand (before you get your hands really wet) rub between your hands to warm the oils, then apply all over your face, eyelids and neck (before you get your face wet).  Continue massaging and rubbing the oils into your skin for a minute, concentrating on any problem areas.  Get your wash cloth really wet with really hot water, but don't scald yourself.  Lay the washcloth on your face and just stand there for a minute, letting the heat from the wash cloth push the oils into your open pores.  Then flip the washcloth over and wipe the oil away, rinse your wash cloth and repeat until you feel like all of the oil is gone from your face.

Now, I will tell you, from where you are starting in your life, switching to OCM will be a road easily traveled or it may be one filled with potholes.  Meaning...when I switched to OCM I had a few small breakouts, but I kept going.  Now, I have the clearest skin I have ever had in my life (and people actually comment on it, which is pretty cool) -minus one time a month where I occasionally develop a pimple or two-somethings seem unavoidable, right?  :-)  On the other hand I have heard of people REALLY breaking out with acne.  But please try to stick to it.  It may take months to clean out your pores completely.  Or sad to say, OCM just might not work for everyone, every time.  But give it a try and let me know what you think.  


My Facial Moisturizer
Organic virgin coconut oil.  Truly, I prefer Tropical Traditions Gold Label brand.  I like the company and I like their products.  But my second in command is Costco's Organic Carrington Farms coconut oil.  That's it!!  Rub a little dab in the palm of your hand and apply over your face, eyelids and neck.


My Eye Makeup Remover
Organic virgin coconut oil.  I use organic cotton makeup pads (you can buy them at Whole Foods and EarthFare), put a little dab of coconut oil on the makeup pad and work it in all over your eyelids.  A friend of mine says it makes her eyes a little cloudy feeling afterwards, so I would recommend gently wiping your eyes with a wet washcloth and/or using eye drops to clean out anything left behind in your eyes.

If you need a reminder of how AWESOME coconut oil is click here.  

*Oil choices if you do not want to use Avocado oil or have other skin conditions....
Almond Oil (sweet) - Softens, soothes and reconditions
Avocado Oil - Rich in essential fatty acids (EFAs) and Vitamins A, B1, B2, D, and E;
good for those with psoriasis, eczema
Borage Seed Oil - Reduces inflammation and calms skin, promotes blood flow, good for eczema, acne, and rosacea
Grapeseed Oil – Absorbs easily and is non-allergenic. Good for those with skin sensitivities (I have to research more here, I thought Grapeseed had a bad rap.....??)
Hazelnut Oil – Astringent, good for oily skin
Hemp Seed Oil - Nutrition for your skin – antioxidant, protein and mineral-rich. Contains Vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B6, C, D, and E
DIY Organic Beauty Recipes by Heather Dessinger


Keep Trying to Live GREEN my Friends!