Healthy Flaxseed Bran Muffin Recipe

This is the second time making these for the children. I had one delicious bite, but it's not on my diet plan. This was adapted from a Bob's Red Mill recipe. These muffins go fast.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour (I substitute 1/2 cup almond flour for wheat)
3/4 cup Flaxseed Meal
3/4 cup Oat Bran Cereal
1 cup Brown Sugar
2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt or less
2 peeled and shredded Apples
1/2 cup brown bananas
1/2 cup mashed sweet potatoes
3/4 cup Milk(I used coconut milk)
2 beaten Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla

Mix the first seven ingredients well in one bowl, and the remaining in another. Combine wet and dry until dry is moistened, spoon into cupcake pans and bake for about 12-15 minutes at 350 degrees. I accidentally cooked them at 425 degrees(forgot to change it) for 10 minutes, and they came out fine.

Note: These are very moist; a little chopped nuts would really round out the muffin - moist and crunchy. My children don't like nuts in their muffins, so I leave them out.

Make Your Own Platform Sofa

There were no directions with this image that I found online, but it looks very simple. The base is probably made from pine formed into boxes and stained. The cushions are foam wrapped with fabric. I've seen large foam pieces at sewing stores, and Walmart carries thick foam mattresses which can be customized. I just saw the decorative bamboo stalks in the corner at Target. A clever frugal furniture idea for a small place.

Here is another one with no instructions, but easy to make because of it's boxy design. This one is from HGTV and is actually a platform bed made to look like a sofa, or daybed. It can do double duty, and all you need is a standard mattress and cushions.

An interesting idea for the back of a sofa, a repurposed headboard. The least expensive way to make a platform would be to simply reuse the box spring on the floor without the rails(metal frame), and cover it with fabric, staple gunning it to the wood frame. If you take the original box spring fabric off, you may be able to stain the wood, and cover the rest with fabric. Two headboards drilled onto the long edge of a twin box spring could make an interesting sofa back. Add a mattress, cushions, and fitted sheets, and you've got a sofa. Image source.

Here's another design which can be altered by placing the headboard at the long side of the mattress for a sofa back. Simply construct a rectangular box which could be covered with foam padding, stapled to the wood, and then covered with a fabric. Little boxy arms be added in the same manner, all nailed to the platform. This could be free standing as well as a corner sofa. Image source(beam bed). Those legs are actually beams, and the headboard may be made from same.

This platform sofa uses over sized pillows.








Not a platform sofa, but I really liked the colors and style - good for inspiration.

Easy Wrap Skirt Tutorial for Children and Adults

I keep seeing people wearing these now! I wore these in the 70's and early 80's, and I am so happy to see them back. These can be customized for children or adults. This particular wrap skirt does not have a hole along the waist band to pass through an extra long string. You can add this if you want the skirt to wrap around more(wider length) to ensure it doesn't flip open with the wind. I wear a slip with mine for modesty. If you do have it wrap around more(one time and 3/4), you need this hole to run the string through to ensure the skirt doesn't fall down along the waist. All mine wrap around this way - about one time and 3/4.

You can also make them reversible.

Click here.

Organic Cosmetics Review

Usually, I buy Clinique's foundation because it doesn't break me out, and the color "Petal" is a perfect shade for me. Because of some health problems, I've decided it is best to give my largest organ(my skin) a break from chemicals. I did a bit of internet research and purchased Physicians Formula Organic tinted SPF 15 moisturizer in "Fair to Light" at Target. Amazingly, it moisturized my skin without breaking me out, and the shade is not bad. It's just the tiniest bit chalky, but I can warm it up with a little bronzer or blush. I tend to have a difficult facial shade to match with foundation - I am fair with freckles and a bit peachy/rosy.The foundation is called a "tint", but in my opinion it was much darker than a tint. I liked the way it spread easily and dried quickly with no oily residue. It's also quite a bit less expensive than Clinique.

From the Physician Formula's website:

Organic wear^® is the first ECOCERT^® Certified Organic Line of Makeup in the U.S.
Most Organic wear^® products are certified by ECOCERT^®, an internationally recognized guarantee that environmentally-friendly practices are upheld in all aspects of the product.

All Organic wear^® products are

100% Free of

• Harsh Chemicals
• Synthetic Preservatives
• Parabens
• Synthetic Fragrances
• Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO’s)
• Animal Cruelty

I had some trouble finding the full line of Physician's Formula Organics at Target, so if I want to try some of their other products, I'll probably have to order them online. I'd like to try their lipstick, called lip veil.

My other change has been my lipstick. I usually use Rimmel of London because they have fantastic shades for my skin tone, but I've switched to all natural Burt's Bees tinted lip balms, Lip Shimmers. I purchased raisin(more like dark pink) which goes one well, but like most lip balms, comes off easily. I still like it though, especially the way it moisturizes and tingles from the peppermint. It's a very fresh lipstick, and it was less than $5.00 at Walmart. I actually wanted something with more brown in it, but the raisin color is okay on me for summer. They do have some brown colors I like online: papaya and nutmeg, but I didn't see these at Wallyworld.

That's all I wear out of the house: a little foundation, lipstick, and some blush. I still need to purchase some organic blush.

As I was searching the Burt's Bees website for this post, I noticed that they sell a herbal deodorant with sage as the main ingredient. I've got tons of sage, more than I know what to do with, so now I've got another project - sage deodorant.

Burt's Bees Herbal Deodorant - ingredients: alcohol denat., water, salvia officinalis (sage) leaf extract, lavandula hybrida (lavandin) oil, citrus medica limonum (lemon) peel oil

Easy make at home ingredients. I've got the sage, lavender, and a lemon essential oil.

I already use Lafe's Deodorant Spray, but I love trying new things.


BTW, sage tea is nice...I'm drinking some with a little lemon balm and spearmint leaves fresh from my garden.

Also see: Budget Green (and Safe): Personal Care

Museum Field Trip

We did a museum field trip today to the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk, Virginia. It was free admission today. They have a nice ancient history and 16th-17th century European painting collection, enough to review many highlights of the Old and New Testaments in painting and sculpture. The Greek collection was a perfect complement to my son's readings on Greek myths this week.

We viewed several 16th-17th century paintings of saints : Saint Sebastian with the arrows, Saint Elizabeth, Saint Anthony of Padua, Saint Catherine, Saint Margaret, and a good many of Saint John the Baptist. There were some nice Albrecht Durer wood block etchings of the Jesus's life, paintings of Our Lady, and a small illuminated Book of Hours in the tiny medieval gallery.

We browsed a gallery of Dutch and Flemish paintings showing common everyday scenes with rich details near the end, as attention was waning.

There was a wonderful large painting of Lot(first painting above) and his daughter's fleeing the city of Sodom. We stood in front of this painting for quite a while because it was full of symbolism - lust, deceit, and lecherous folly vs. chastity, virtue, prudence and self-knowledge.

There was another lovely painting which sticks out in my mind, and that was the one of Mary and the baby Jesus surrounded by a garden wall (chastity/purity) where not even the angel enters. He hands her a lily from the other side.

It is a smaller museum, but has a decent collection of art and sculpture. It was a beautiful day, warm and sunny, nice enough to wander through the Victorian garden on our way out of the museum.

Ancient Greek Studies for Middle Elementary

Two new vintage ebooks my son is beginning tomorrow:

The Story of the Greek People By Eva March Tappan, 1909.

The Heroes, or, Greek Fairy Tales for my Children, by Charles Kingsley, 1914.


Both public domain ebooks are free to read and download at Google Books. We load our free ebooks onto a flash drive and then read them on a laptop.

I even got my three year old daughter to read a book online with me today. We read My Book House: In the Nursery by Olive Beaupré Millera, 1920 which has cute illustrations.

Hints and helps:

In order to print or save pictures to your computer, you'll need to switch to the HTML version at the site. Look to the bottom right sidebar. Make sure you right click on the image of the page, or you'll get the entire web page.

I had trouble downloading these books with dial-up, so I use a free download manager which works very well, even with dropped connections.

If you need to return to a main page, click on "review book", and then "about book".

The Edible Garden

We have lots of shade in the backyard; we are covered by a cooling canopy of oak trees. So it's a bit dry and difficult to grow vegetables, although we keep trying. Things are growing much better this year thanks to Sluggo (organic slug and snail repellent) which is working better than Diatomaceous Earth.


Here are few herbs and vegetables which are growing well in a small corner with partial sun:

Sage, oregano, mint, and lavender

Garbage can potatoes














Tire tomatoes











Apples













See more at From Seeds to Harvest carnival.

Grenadian Spice Cake Recipe

I've got some leftover limes from Cinco de Mayo, so besides limeade, I'm making a cake using the lime zest. This Grenadian Spice Cake looks very good, and it has a rating of five out of five stars at allrecipes.com.

Image from Allrecipes.com

Update: This was very good, a bit plain for children, definitely a good tea or coffee cake. My tween son loved it, but my preschool daughter was looking for something more. It had a nice hint of lime, but I'd have rather had a stronger lime flavor. If I make this again I'll add lime juice and more zest.

Simple Baked Macaroni and Cheese Recipe

Tonight I am making something the children will like, homemade macaroni and cheese. I didn't have a car today, so I had to make do with what I had on hand. My substitutions and additions are in bold.

Ingredients:

* 1 (16 ounce) package elbow macaroni(egg noodles)
* 1/2 cup evaporated milk(dried milk and water, and a bit of whole milk)
* 2 eggs
* 1 (8 ounce) container sour cream(ricotta cheese)
* 1 teaspoon seasoning salt
* 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
* 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
* 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
* 1 tablespoon butter(canola oil)
My additions: a few squirts of homemade catchup, onion powder, garlic salt, and seasoned stuffing bread on top with more cheese.

See rest of recipe here.

I'd add a picture, but my camera needs charging. It's still cooking, but a little taste of the cheese sauce tells me this will be really good!

Update: Very tasty, but definitely needs the sour creme for a creamier texture. I probably should have added more milk and oil. This recipe needs very little bake time as it can dry out quickly.

Hygiene Hypothesis: Are We Too "Clean" for Our Own Good?

Interesting medical college article, especially if you suffer from an autoimmune disease. Click here. If this hypothesis is true, a little dirt and germs as a child could be beneficial.

"Increased hygiene and a lack of exposure to various microorganisms may be affecting the immune systems of many populations - particularly in highly developed countries like the US - to the degree that individuals are losing their bodily ability to fight off certain diseases.

That's the essence of the 'hygiene hypothesis', a fairly new school of thought that argues that rising incidence of asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis and perhaps several other diseases may be, at least in part, the result of lifestyle and environmental changes that have made us too 'clean' for our own good."

May is the Month for Lilacs

The New Century Third Reader, The Lilac, 1899.

Lessons with Plants, 1907

Modern Prose and Poetry for Secondary Schools, Warble for Lilac Time, 1914

HT to Elena for her post, Lilacs.

Free Homeschool Stuff: Art Projects for Children

A few favorites from the Art for Kids blog:

Maud Lewis Cat Painting

Tinted and Shaded Circles

Marker Drawing

Click on titles to go to projects.

Cute Wrap Skirts for Spring and Summer

I received my wrap skirts today from Thailand via ebay, and I love them! I had a pair of wrap shorts in the early 80's which were very similar. They fit very well, and will continue to fit when I lose this dern extra 25 pounds(two sizes smaller). One of the skirts is reversible. I also got a free gift of pretty pair of neutral Thai shell dangle earrings. Low light for these pictures, sorry. I was trying to figure out what was in my hair in the first picture...dirty mirror. Note to self - clean mirror! Click to enlarge pictures.

Not a bad price(less $14.00 at auction per skirt) even with shipping, and it arrived quickly. I clicked through Bigcrumbs.com for a little extra discount, and ebay gave me back some ebay bucks. Discover card is giving back 5% on clothing this month as well. I'm hoping that ebay purchases count for this.

K-Mart is having a sale on cotton sleeveless tops for $4.00(I'm wearing one), so I'll have to go back to purchase a few matching tops for these skirts. I'm also sporting a new wedding ring in silver. I outgrew my original gold one, and they were 70% off at K-Mart. I got a new band for $19.99.

Skirts were purchased from Nepal Silk on ebay. The reversible one at top is made from silk Saris, so soft, and beautiful fabric. The others are cotton Batiks. All need to be hand washed. They fit small - extra large( true to U.S. sizes). They sell some plus sizes as well - cute sun dresses. I like the kimono style because it covers chubby shoulders and arms(giggle).

Look at the fabric on this one...it's the same style as the first one at top. I also saw a pink one which was beautiful. I love the feel of Sari material, and it works so well at keeping you cool. When I lose a little weight I'll wear my top tucked it, or wear a shorter top length to show off the skirt's waist.



I just discovered that you can wear this wrap as a sun dress, criss-crossed in the back and front. If I were skinnier, I could wrap it around to the back. I had to hold it for the picture. I can still wear it tied around the front, without the criss-cross, as a bathing suit cover-up. They have longer wrap skirts which would make a cute longer sun dress. What a versatile piece of clothing!

Free Old Fashioned Gardening Magazines

I found this over at Google books, The Garden Magazine. There are many editions from 1905 - 1920's. See this main page at bottom right to view other editions. These books are downloadable and in public domain. A tip for printing or saving pages, select HMTL mode on side bar at link.

Old Fashioned Victorian Gardens

All from vintage gardening books:

A nice list of Victorian flowers

and

Victorian Flower Garden Designs

and

Features and Equipment of the Victorian Garden, of interest - Garden paths or walks - how to build, How to make a Hot Bed, Fruit Gardens, Garden Manures, and Potting mixes in the Victorian era.

Popular shrubs: Azalea, Holly, Hydrangea, Rose, Lilac, Forsythia, Andromeda, Barberry, Peony, and Quince.

Flowers: Delphinium, Aster, Alyssum, Chrysanthemum, Tulip, Pansy, Violet, Lavender, Daylily, Hosta, and Yarrow. Crinum lilies AKA: cemetery lilies are coming back in style.

And of course all types of ferns were popular.

I tried to find modern designs for small Victorian gardens, but they were loose interpretations, very modern(almost Zen-like) with lots of concrete patios. They should appear all natural, but somewhat controlled. They used loose and wild plantings within controlled boundaries, a bit of like a cottage garden, but more formal and tidy. The pathways were typically loose materials, not concrete or hard surfaces(unless main walkway). I'll keep looking, but artist renditions are always a good source.

Here's one in London:

Found a good one thanks to Homeliving: Explore the Victorian Garden: find resources, history and information about gardening in the 19th century.

Other resources:

Old Fashioned Living: The Garden Path, a long list of plant and garden information.

Here's one under construction in Britain - notice the sharp contained boundaries which will house plants that overflow giving the illusion of naturalized planting areas.



"There is a distinct atmosphere connected with those simple one-path gardens that is most delightful. It lies not only in the gravel paths and the stiff, box-borders, but in the fragrant old-fashioned flowers that were grown promiscuously inside the trim line of box."(Garden Ornaments, 1916) This sums up Victorian gardens to a tee, and I think I feel most comfortable with this sort of garden - ordered chaos.

Free Homeschool Stuff: Online Courses and Education

A nice listing of free online courses and education as well as an informational video on how to use these resources.

Includes: Business OpenCourseWare, Technology OpenCoursWare, Science OpenCourseWare, and Liberal Arts OpenCourseWare.

Homemade Ketchup

Tonight I decided to make my own ketchup. We are almost out, so after we finished a bottle Kurtz Ketchup, I thought I'd just make a copy-cat recipe from the ingredients on the back of the bottles minus the corn syrup. I also checked around the web for other recipes to see how people were making their ketchup. Most recipes were pretty much the same. The main ingredients are tomato paste, sugar(sweetener), vinegar, onion powder, salt, and spices. Instead of using a recipe, I just experimented with these ingredients by keeping an eye on the texture and adding spices to taste.

You certainly can make ketchup with diced tomatoes, but next time I'll wait to get some tomato paste! It's taking a long time to thicken up; I've got it cooking on low, and added some corn starch. The taste is really good, just too thin.

Here's what I can remember using for a large batch:

- Two cans of tomato sauce, one can of diced tomatoes, and one can of seasoned diced tomatoes
- 1/2 cup sugar, and a big pour of dark molasses
- 3/4 - 1 cup vinegar
- A little water(a mistake, needs less liquids!)
- Various shakes and pours to taste of onion powder, Italian seasoning, cardamon, celery salt, tarragon, salt, coriander, and garlic.
- A few sprays of canola oil
- A little corn starch to thicken which got blobby on me.

I used the blender to liquefy the tomatoes and combine everything, now I'm waiting for it to thicken up on the stove. I think I may need to get some tomato paste tomorrow to fix it.

Here's a formal recipe: Hillbilly Housewife Homemade Ketchup recipe

Is it worth it? Maybe, if you use the paste, or you have a lot of tomatoes to use up. I think it takes a lot of them to make a good thick paste. The benefits are a product free of artificial ingredients and high fructose corn syrup, made to taste, adjustable for sugars and salts.

You can also just purchase organic or Kosher ketchup which is free of artificial ingredients and high fructose corn syrup. Not all organic ketchups are free from high fructose corn syrup. Ketchups like Muir Glen, Trader Joe's(spicey), Annie's, and all Kosher are sugar based.These ketchups are about $3.50 a bottle and up.

See more entries at this week's Make It From Scratch Carnival.