Om nom nom. Raw chocolate pie. Live coconut cashew whipped “cream”. Nut crust. I made two. There are lots of good recipes out there for vegan raw cream pies. Fear not the Irish moss. Yeah, it’s seaweed, but this is miles beyond any cooked cows mill pudding pie. With this in the fridge you can eat a million vegetables.
Replacing old elastic on a headlamp.
Homemade cleaning supplies
Watching the amaryllis grow
Sometimes It’s best to have someone else cook and do the dishes. Coppa Cafe in flagstaff is is a great place. The location is understated but very convenient and super cute inside. The food was wonderful – hard cooked eggs on my salad were perfectly done, which is very important to me. So many eggs out there are boiled into a rubbery ball with a green chalky yolk. I am an egg snob.
The folks at Coppa Cafe were not at all snippy about me asking what could be made without meat, which was refreshing. They outlined what changes they could make on most menu items. Its a real bacon culture out there these days! The meat did look high quality and they do use a local source for beef.
My americano- yum!
Niçoise salad – hold the brunchy bacon
Baked eggs with a tomato sauce
Parsnip soup with rose, Meyer lemon, and olive olive. So fancy and delicious!
Molten lava cake – didn’t get a shot before we dug in. Delicious!
Taking these photos today has affirmed my New Years resolution to slow down and take time to get the best photo I can with the darn phone. I want to do it justice…
I’ve been under the weather for a week now. I’ve been trying to load up on healing foods.
Heat up juice
Carrot
Apple
Beet
Fresh garlic
Fresh ginger root
Fresh turmeric root
This morning I also had a fresh young coconut banana blueberry smoothie.
We save the pulp from the juice and make a corn bread with about equal parts corn meal and juice pulp plus some salt and baking powder. Goes well with black bean green chili soup.
In the fall I pick tiny plums from old neglected plum trees from around downtown. This fall I had a bag that I just stuck in the freezer to do something with later. Then, while cleaning the freezer I accidentally left these plums out and they thawed. Since I have a little cough I decided to do something easy with them to enjoy and celebrate with later. Plum brandy! I have loads plum sauce put up already. I’ll soak the plums in brandy for a while then mash the plums with the brandy and soak some more over the course of several weeks and then strain through a very fine cloth. I use a ‘nut milk bag’. I did this last year with both gin and brandy and gave it out and took it as a camp warm up on backpacking trips. No sugar just the plums and liquor. Amazing and fruity!
I just made my first 5 gallons of marmalade. 54 oranges and 8 pounds of honey! Someone mentioned trying a smaller batch first and they were probably right, but I feel like that’s doing things twice. My recipe was an experiment so I’ll not outline it step by step. There are other marmalade chefs out there who are more organized than me. I used only honey to sweeten it and I used orange juice for half the water. Just as my first cheese making was, the marmalade pitted me against my dark side, taking forever to cook and not setting up just as I’d have liked. But in the end it was a triumph, tasting awesome on toast. I think it will be a good sauce base for stir fry, too.
That’s the finished product in the jar
Just made a great new salve. The philosophy for this one is very waxy to seal and protect for winter. i collected the pinion pine sap. A friend made some comfrey extract olive oil for me.
I like to try something new each time. No recipe, just figure out a good ratio between the basic oil vs wax mix. Then I just test it. By the end I’m really moisturized and shiny!
Grating the beeswax is the worst!
I save containers all year. Friends donate them or return them from last year for a refill.
Here’s this years ingredient list.
Put it in a pot and melt on low heat.
Then test it and adjust the oil or wax.
Pour into clean containers.
This is my favorite chappy yet. Strong pinion, with notes of orange and cedar!
stigmastylepistil 