more on breakfast...

Several times now I have thought of taking a photo of our breakfast *porridge*. I wanted to share how in the past the majority of us here would get stomach aches and not feel full quickly after eating oatmeal for breakfast. About 5 years ago I bought the cookbook (gold mine) Nourishing Traditions when we had a local Weston A. Price group.
When the oats soak overnight they become easier to digest for several reasons stated in the cookbook.
I would love to put them on here but will paraphrase because of the length of them-
**All grains contain phytic acid in the outer layer or bran. Untreated phytic acid can combine with calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and especially zinc in the intestinal tract and block their absorption.
**soaking allows enzymes, lactobacilli and other helpful organisms to break down and neutralize phytic acid.

Nourishing Traditions recipe for Breakfast Porridge-
1 cup oats, rolled or cracked
1 cup warm filtered water plus 2 Tablespoons whey, yoghurt, kefir or buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup filtered water

For highest assimilation porridge should be soaked overnight or even longer. Once soaked, oatmeal cooks up in less than 5 minutes. (those with milk allergies can use lemon juice or vinegar instead of whey, yogurt, kefir, or buttermilk)
Mix oats with warm water mixture, cover and leave in a warm place for at least 7 hours and as long as 24 hours. When ready to eat bring 1 cup of water to boil with sea salt. add soaked oats, reduce heat, cover and simmer several minutes. Serve with plenty of butter or cream and a natural sweetener like sucanat, date sugar, maple sugar, or maple syrup.

My variation of above recipe-

dump desired amount of oats in a bowl
cover oats with warm water (preferably filtered)
add in yogurt or lemon juice
stir and cover til morning

cover the bottom of a pan with water and bring to a boil
add in soaked oats, stir and lower heat
stir til they turn slightly opaque
add in butter, evaporated cane sugar, maple syrup, or organic brown sugar
other optional additions-
ground flax seeds, cinnamon, fruit, raisins

BTW...butter is one of the factors to help a person not to feel hungry so soon after- this link has many of the benefits of butter. I haven't read all of the other stuff on there thoroughly so I am not in any way trying to sell any products but do endorse butter.
You can see from Sophie's bowl what she thinks of this way of making oatmeal. She wouldn't touch the stuff before this past year; when I showed her how creamy it is. This is one of the easiest ways to make breakfast for me....I sleep better at night knowing breakfast is being prepared and will be a snap to make in the morning.
I know I am cheesy.
If you try it, share back here the different variation you used to inspire the rest of us. :o)
Lori

Having the sewing room upstairs is still taking some getting used to. Before I would be able to sew in moments. You know, when you can just pop in the room in between when the hamburger is cooking for dinner or you have a load of clothes in the dryer. Well, now it is a concentrated effort which is a lot for me. lol!
I am still having fun with that large piece of fabric that looks like kids drew zoo animal scenes all over it. There are a couple other animal skirts in my etsy shop where this one is headed tonight.
I made a new Bible cover for one of my dear friends at church using this European scene fabric. It is a tapestry from the furniture store that I got a bunch of fabrics to re-purpose almost two years ago. So this will be the happy home for the Bible in it's new Bible cover.

This particular piece had scenes overlapping each other. I find it very difficult to cut into a piece like that because picking one almost makes the other unusable. Well, anyway I like how it turned out and know she will love it. The fringe on it is one of my favorites. I may use up what is left for a fun shabby chic kind of style pillow for my livingroom.

Let me tell you that livingroom definitely needs some kind of help and a new pillow would be a good start.Everything in there is pretty colored but it is mainly three colors. boring...but that is another post.

Happy weekend to you!

easy breakfast idea...

Some mornings are just crazy so we make finger foods to snack on instead of a sit down type meal.
Instead of toppings everything is included in the egg dip you coat the bread in.

Hannah has been making this at our house.
She starts the griddle heating up with butter melting on it while she cut a piece of bread into three strips.
In the egg wash goes-
eggs from our chickens
rice milk
brown sugar
real maple syrup (if I have any at the time)
cinnamon

cook til brown on both sides and pile em up on a plate for kids to devour.
easy breakfast.

Reclaiming...

This is the summer of reclaiming my home.
Seriously.
There is a lot of hard work to be done. After the divorce and all of the life transition that come along with that, we just hung on for the ride.
Now that we are landing on our feet a bit and schooling for all of us is done for the summer I am hitting this house hard.

Plan of attack-(this week)
shampoo livingroom and family room carpets.

These carpets are low pile berber in a cream color. Well.....the cream hasn't been cream for awhile but in the livingroom it is now. woohoo...two days worth of work.
There is something about persevering through hard work and adversity-even if it is a head strong shampooer. LOL!

To get that carpet done I had to work through:
5 children in and out
make meals
the ding dong shampooer trying to spit out all of the soapy water onto the carpet-so I got to play mechanic too

But I did it! Feels good too. I am moving onto the family room tomorrow.
With the livingroom floor all spit spot I am thinking of prettying things to do in there and dreaming about big, summer colored throw pillows on my couches.

But making things is the fun part so I have to get through the hard work first. We have to have an incentive right?

Phase 1 almost complete!. ahhhhhhhhh.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a hot one here so I may switch the fix it up to scrubbing white deck pickets instead of the family room carpet, so the kids and I can set up the pool. It's refreshing to see this house shaping up into the beauty that she is supposed to be. She was built in 1906. I think she is partly victorian because of some of the woodwork on the outside and the pretty banister inside.

I have been also day dreaming about exterior paint colors. The original paint color was a light peach, by the time we bought the house it was a barn red color. I am thinking of painting the exterior a butterscotch color with window trim cream and doors & shutters barn red. Not sure if that will look too fall-ish though.
comments on houses you have seen with that color scheme?

How are your summer fix-it-up projects coming along?

Fresh Squeezed!...

Randi over at ihavetosay has opened a fabric store on Etsy.
It's her Grand Opening...
She has some of the cutest fabrics over there...take a peek!

Ants!...

H.E.L.P.

We have an apple box for the recycling in our laundry room. We wash out the cans very well...but yet...(gulp) they have found us.

ANTS....sigh

If one spot was not enough I have also found a melted sucker in our dining room under the toy cupboard that has/had ants.

There isn't anything left for them to keep coming back to, but yet they do.
anyone have a home remedy that detours them once the delicacy that they have sought out has been found and cleaned?

I have fun plans for this summer..not being the ant guard ready to pounce at the slightest movement from the floor.

field trip...

My family and couple of my friends and their children who homeschool went on a field trip through a local watershed and fish hatchery this week to celebrate the end of the school year. Yippee!
fish hatchery
Tessa taking a picture of my group from where her group was on the trail. confused yet?
yet another reminder of the huge storm last December. This tree's rootball was around 20 feet across.
My favorite picture of the day. I sure love that girl's eye for nature.
Have a great weekend!