Welcome to another edition of Tasty Traditions, a real food blog carnival!

What is a real food blog carnival? It is the time for Real Foodies to share their wisdom and creativity. For those of you not familiar with a carnival, it is a place for bloggers to link their posts on a particular subject – in this case, real food.  These posts can be Real Food Recipes, Book Reviews, Tips for Healthy Living, Giveaways (involving Real Food or neat kitchen gadgets), Video Tutorials or Green Living Solutions. Just about anything that would help others in their quest to return to traditional healthy living.

Don’t worry if you don’t have a blog, you can still join the fun! Simply post your recipe or tip in the comment section.

Rules to Participate:

1. If you are posting a recipe – Please only post REAL food recipes. That means no processed, fake ingredients like margarine – let’s keep it nourishing!

2. Please link the URL of your blog post NOT your homepage.

3. Show you are cultured by using your best blog carnival manners - Update your post with a link back to Tasty Traditions so others can enjoy the fun! For example – ” This post is part of: Tasty Traditions”

4. Speaking of sharing the fun – It would help me and others if you would share this post on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and any other social media sites you participate in – you will help increase exposure to traditional real food.

5. Leave a comment with a description of your link.

Having children at home, it seems as if someone is always wanting something to eat!

Oh, they eat very well at meals but, I think because we work outside so much in the hot weather, they are always hungry! I just can not seem to keep them full. Or, maybe it is because there are several teenage boys. But, then again, we have 2 girls still at home – one a teenager and one not.

Anyway, I guess the reason really doesn’t matter. The fact is, I am always in need of healthy snacks! In fact, we will often have a light supper since we have our main meal at midday and I will even use some of the following suggestions as a suppertime meal.

Here is my list of quick, healthy snacks:

1. Smoothies and Popsicles

Made from our raw milk, yogurt or kefir is the base for my smoothies. These are not only a healthy snack but a cultured healthy snack. Unlike the store-bought yogurt which is filled with sugar, the homemade version is filled with beneficial bacteria. The beneficial bacteria in cultured foods help feed the good bacteria in your gut and aid in digestion. Using my Bosch blender, I add to the yogurt or kefir, fruit (banana, strawberries …) and sweeten it with honey. Smoothies are especially good in the summertime!

I also make almost every morning, yogurt popsicles. I take these to the vineyard about 4pm and we have a refreshing snack. After working in the hot afternoon sun, everyone is hot and tired and they are a real pick-me-up. Yogurt popsicles and kefir popsicles are both easy and delicious!

You can even put yogurt into a small container and add fruit, honey and some nuts for a super quick snack. Simply add all the ingredients in layers in a small container and refrigerate until ready to serve.

To make kefir, you need kefir grains which are used over and over. To purchase kefir grains, I recommend my affiliate, Cultures for Health - I have been very pleased with their products and customer service. You can also purchase your yogurt starter from Cultures for Health or you can purchase plain yogurt with active cultures to start your own yogurt.

2. Cheese and Crackers

Another cultured food snack is easily made with cheese. We make our own cheeses using the raw milk Buttercup provides. This is often a light evening meal for us! A super quick cheese to make yourself is Mozzarella. Because it can be made in about 30 minutes, we make a lot of it to use up milk! If you make sourdough crackers you are doubling the benefits with two cultured foods! Another cracker which is good with cheese and very easy to make is Homemade Wheat Thins .

3. Vegetables

Keeping cut up vegetables in the refrigerator is another easy snack idea. My children especially enjoy carrot sticks and several of them like celery sticks. Add some peanut butter as a dip and they all want it! For a cultured variation, try Fermented Carrots which is also simple to prepare and feeds those healthy gut bacteria!

4. Bread and Butter

I don’t think any of the children have ever turned down a snack of homemade bread and butter! For a cultured variation, try your hand at sourdough bread – I love the twang of it! I have tried catching my own wild yeast as described in Nourishing Traditions, but have been more successful with purchased starter. I purchase my starter from Cultures for Health and have not been disappointed .

Don’t forget the butter! If you have never made your own homemade butter, I can’t tell you how easy it is and so light and fluffy – you are in for a treat!

5. Nuts

This can be tricky because to be as nutritious as possible, the nuts should be soaked. I say tricky, because although it is easy, it does take a bit of preparation and time. You can see “How to Soak and Dehydrate Nuts” for more info on the how-to’s of it but basically, this process helps neutralize the phytic acid. Phytic acid is an anti-nutrient which is in the bran of all grains and husks and shells of nuts and seeds.

Once soaked, the nuts are an easy snack filled with protein, minerals and fiber. For a special treat, homemade trail mix is always a crowd pleaser – for my crowd anyway!

Your Turn

This is a quick list of healthy homemade snacks that I like to keep on hand. How about you – what are your keep-on-hand snacks?

Leave a comment and share your homemade snack ideas!

It is that time of year again – time to de-bud the vineyard. We have prepared for planting and planted 5 new acres but now it is time to take care of the older vines.

You might wonder what de-budding means – and, I can’t wait to show and tell you!

The trunk of the vines should be clean and free of any green shoots. These green shoots (or suckers) take energy from the vine to grow, produce and ripen fruit. We want all the energy to be focused on the part of the vine which runs on the wire horizontal to the ground called the cordon. Each vine should have two arms, one coming from each side of the trunk and growing  along the cordon wire.

Since we had such severe freezes as the vines were budding out and to some degree the vines sustained damage, they are putting out an exceptional amount of suckers this year! Unlike the first picture, before de-budding the vineyard, you could not see underneath the rows to the far side of the vineyard there was so many suckers!

De-budding can be done chemically with a chemical called paraquat which is very dangerous if inhaled. Since we do not have a tractor with a cab (to protect the one spraying from breathing in the chemical) and since we purposefully use as few chemicals as possible, we de-bud by hand. In the picture below you can see a vine before being de-budded.

This is the same vine after being de-budded (all the suckers pulled off) and the shoots coming off the cordon have been tucked into the wires above. This tucking encourages the vines to grow up in a controlled manner. Especially with our Montepulciano vines, canopy management is extremely important to have healthy vines.

You might wonder what happens to all the shoots we pull off. We gather a bunch of them up to take home! As you can see, everyone helps gather handfuls to pile on the cart – even our 4 yr old!

We take these home to the cows each day at lunchtime and again in the evening.

The cows hear us coming and if they are not already waiting by the fence licking their lips, they come running from the pasture!

Normally, they are very well mannered and mooooo a thank you! But sometimes, they are so engrossed with getting the biggest shoots, they just butt each other out of the way to get to the vines!

What a life!

Welcome to another edition of Tasty Traditions, a real food blog carnival!

What is a real food blog carnival? It is the time for Real Foodies to share their wisdom and creativity. For those of you not familiar with a carnival, it is a place for bloggers to link their posts on a particular subject – in this case, real food.  These posts can be Real Food Recipes, Book Reviews, Tips for Healthy Living, Giveaways (involving Real Food or neat kitchen gadgets), Video Tutorials or Green Living Solutions. Just about anything that would help others in their quest to return to traditional healthy living.

Don’t worry if you don’t have a blog, you can still join the fun! Simply post your recipe or tip in the comment section.

Rules to Participate:

1. If you are posting a recipe – Please only post REAL food recipes. That means no processed, fake ingredients like margarine – let’s keep it nourishing!

2. Please link the URL of your blog post NOT your homepage.

3. Show you are cultured by using your best blog carnival manners - Update your post with a link back to Tasty Traditions so others can enjoy the fun! For example – ” This post is part of: Tasty Traditions”

4. Speaking of sharing the fun – It would help me and others if you would share this post on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and any other social media sites you participate in – you will help increase exposure to traditional real food.

5. Leave a comment with a description of your link.

How many time have you heard the saying, “waste not, want not”?

Our family saying is, “use it up, wear it out, make do or do without”.

Actually, it is my husband’s saying!

I am the one who loves to shop – for bargains of course!

But, I do hold to the basic idea of being good stewards and not wasting.

Some people are frugal because they have to be. Some are frugal because it is their nature. Others don’t like to waste but want to make the most of what they have.

Whatever your motivation, culturing foods can help you in a frugal simple lifestyle in several ways:

• Most cultured foods are actually higher in nutrients than the original food.
• Culturing  prevent food waste by extending the shelf life
• Culturing your own yogurt and cheese can save you lots of money
• Culturing garden produce is a great way to put up your harvest without the effort of canning and/or freezing.

Like I said earlier, I am frugal because I want to be good steward and don’t want to waste. For example, unless a ziplock bag had meat or bone broth in it, I wash it out and reuse it. Not because ziplock bags are so expensive (I buy the store brand anyway!) but because they can easily be reused 2, 3, 4 and sometimes even more times before getting holes in them.

Much of what we throw away can actually be used and in fact, would never have been thrown away if economic situations were different – you might starve! So, here are some ideas to make the most of items from your cultured kitchen.

1. Whey

If you make your own yogurt, kefir or cheese, you will have whey. For yogurt and kefir, the whey is the liquid which settles out and is at the top of your jar. In cheese, the whey is the liquid left after the cheese is completed. Both types of whey are filled with vitamins and minerals and are very nutritious.

• Whey is a great starter for vegetable ferments like sauerkraut and fermented carrots. Once your vegetables are prepared, put several tablespoons of whey in to give the good bacteria a start.
• Whey can be used to make a natural electrolyte drink. My daughter-in-law makes a drink using lemon juice to flavor and honey to sweeten – chilled it is very refreshing.
• Whey can also be used in place of water to cook your vegetables and in baking. My family like all vegetables (carrots, potatoes, squash …) cooked in whey BUT not green beans. Don’t ask me why but it gives a funny taste to the beans!
• Whey is filled with vitamins and minerals and can be used to water your plants giving them a natural boost.

2. Kefir Grains

Kefir grains are filled with probiotics! Remember, kefir is like yogurt on steroids – yogurt normally has 3 – 5 strains of beneficial bacteria while kefir can have 30 – 50 strains! For recipes see Making Kefir and Making Yogurt.

If you make kefir on a daily basis and your grains are healthy, they will be multiplying! What do you do with the extra? Don’t throw them out …

• Give them away – ask people you know if they would like them. check with friends on Facebook, put an add on your local craigslist.
• Kefir grains,while tart, taste good – eat the extra.
• Add kefir grains to your kefir smoothie -they blend up and you (and your children) will never know they are there.
• Feed extra kefir grains to your pets – they need probiotics too! When Buttercup (our family milk cow) has mastitis, we feed her kefir – she loves it.

3. Kombucha Scoby

Like kefir grains, the kombucha scoby grows and multiplies. Being full of probiotics you do not want to waste them! Unlike kefir grains, I must admit, I have not been brave enough to try eating them but I have seen a recipe somewhere for kombucha scoby jerky!

For recipes, see Kombucha which is the method I started with when first beginning to make Kombucha and the Continuous Brew Kombucha which is the method I use now.

Other things to do with extra kombucha scoby include:

• Give them away – ask friends personally or on Facebook or put an add of craigslist.
• Feed them to your pets – Buttercup slurps them up
• Put extra in your compost to encourage a good growing environment for the bacteria and soil for your garden.

Yippee! The EIFS on our ICF barn is now compete!

It looks as though I am speaking in code doesn’t it with all the acronyms!

Here is the code:

• EIFS = exterior insulation finishing system – It is like a synthetic stucco only more durable.
• ICF = insulated concrete forms – They snap together like big legos and are used for their insulation value.

When I shared weekly the updates on the ICF filter house and the ICF greenhouse, each week was a progression of steps. So, I thought for the barn, I would just post pictures that had been taken throughout the process.

Here is how the barn looked after finishing the ICF walls, filling them with concrete and having the roof put on:

As you can see in the first picture of the post, it now looks quite a bit different! It is amazing how much more finished it looks with the EIFS covering the insulated concrete forms and the trim in place!

The barn was different from the filter house and greenhouse because the walls were 16 ft. tall! So, to reach the upper levels, John and the boys put together pump jacks. Pump jacks are attached to two 2″ x 4″ pieces of wood that have been nailed together. As you can see from the picture, the pump jacks go all the way to the top of the barn.

At ground level, the wood of the pump jacks is slightly dug into the ground providing stability. At the top of the barn, the pump jacks were secured with metal bracing that were actually pieces to be used in the greenhouse for bracing and shelving! The length of walk boards used totaled 30 ft. long so each of the long sides of the barn were done in two separate steps. Using our portable cement mixer to mix, the first coat of cement and fiberglass mesh were applied to the section being done in one day.

The next day, the color coat was applied then the scaffolding was taken down and moved to the next section to be done.

The biggest difference came when the wall changed from the grey cement color to the pale yellow of the EIFS! As you can tell, it was a messy job!

But, on the front side of the barn, the pump jacks could not be stabilized because of the concrete pad. So, ladder jacks were used. I can tell you from watching John and the boys, they are not as stable as pump jacks. When one person walked, everyone steadied themselves – you can see our son in the center of the picture below holding on to the edge of the metal trim!

Personally, my feet are made to be on the ground! I did get on the pump jacks just to prove I could do it, but as soon as that was done, I was down!

Afraid of heights? Guilty!

The light brown trim is 1/2 inch styrofoam board, cut to size and covered with the EIFS – the first coat with the fiberglass mesh embedded into the cement and the next day the color coat applied.

Once the EIFS dried, the trim was cemented into place and held for a few minutes until it was secure.

We are all glad the barn project is finished and we like the way it looks.

Now, on to de-budding the vineyard!

Welcome to another edition of Tasty Traditions, a real food blog carnival!

What is a real food blog carnival? It is the time for Real Foodies to share their wisdom and creativity. For those of you not familiar with a carnival, it is a place for bloggers to link their posts on a particular subject – in this case, real food.  These posts can be Real Food Recipes, Book Reviews, Tips for Healthy Living, Giveaways (involving Real Food or neat kitchen gadgets), Video Tutorials or Green Living Solutions. Just about anything that would help others in their quest to return to traditional healthy living.

Don’t worry if you don’t have a blog, you can still join the fun! Simply post your recipe or tip in the comment section.

Rules to Participate:

1. If you are posting a recipe – Please only post REAL food recipes. That means no processed, fake ingredients like margarine – let’s keep it nourishing!

2. Please link the URL of your blog post NOT your homepage.

3. Show you are cultured by using your best blog carnival manners - Update your post with a link back to Tasty Traditions so others can enjoy the fun! For example – ” This post is part of: Tasty Traditions”

4. Speaking of sharing the fun – It would help me and others if you would share this post on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and any other social media sites you participate in – you will help increase exposure to traditional real food.

5. Leave a comment with a description of your link.

To celebrate becoming Texans for good (hopefully, anyway) we had a shrimp boil.

When we moved from Alabama to west Texas to begin the vineyard, we put our house on the market – just in time for the housing crash. It took over 5 years for our Alabama home to sell!  So, it was definitely time to party!

What better way to celebrate than with a shrimp boil? While shrimp boils are very common on the Gulf coast, for some reason, there are just not that many of them in west Texas! Our oldest daughter and her husband, after bringing shrimp back from a vacation to the Texas coast, have had quite a few and the following recipe is from them. He had worked out the proportions for the various ingredients so, all I had to do was tell him how many people I wanted to feed and viola – he provided the recipe!

In the following shrimp boil recipe, I give the proportions for 25, 100 or 200 people. For our celebration, we expected around 110 people and ended up with 100 attending. Whether you are serving a large crowd or just a small gathering, a shrimp boil is a meal that lends itself to minimal work the day of your event. Most of the work is done before hand with cutting and chopping the meat and vegetables.

After the shrimp boil is cooked, drain the water and empty the contents of the pot onto a table covered with a plastic tablecloth for a fun and casual buffet or to keep things a bit more civilized, place the contents into serving containers. For our shrimp boil, I used the large aluminum containers that are disposable. Serve the shrimp boil alone or add coleslaw, rice, rolls …

Before giving the shrimp boil recipe, there are a couple of important points to be made. First, be sure to purchase shrimp in the shell and de-veined. I know it sounds crazy, but even though you are boiling it in a pot of water, the shrimp will dry out and not taste as good if you use pre-shelled ones. Also, since we were cooking such large quantities, we used 10 gallons stock pots over propane burners. Be sure to allow plenty of time for the water to boil- it took about 30 minutes.

Shrimp Boil Recipe – Serve 25, 100 or 200!

Ingredients

To serve 200:

• 30 bags seasoning ( I used Zatarain’s)
• 50 lbs red potatoes
• 10 bags baby carrots
• 5 large bags of small corn on the cob (frozen)
• 10 bell peppers
• 5 bunches celery
• 15  jalapenos
• 1 – 5 habanero pepper
• 50 lbs shrimp
• 50 lbs sausage

To serve 100:

• 15 bags seasoning ( I used Zatarain’s)
• 25 lbs red potatoes
• 5 bags baby carrots
• 3 large bags of small corn on the cob (frozen)
• 5 bell peppers
• 3 bunches celery
• 5 – 7  jalapenos
• 1 – 2 habanero pepper
• 25 lbs shrimp
• 25 lbs sausage

To serve 25:

• 7 bags seasoning ( I used Zatarain’s)
• 13 lbs red potatoes
• 3 bags baby carrots
• 3 large bags of small corn on the cob (frozen)
• 3 bell peppers
• 1 bunches celery
• 2 – 3  jalapenos
• 1/2 habanero pepper
• 13 lbs shrimp
• 13 lbs sausage

Preparation

Keeping everything separate:

• Wash and cut potatoes in large chunks
• Wash and cut celery and bell peppers in large slices
• Slice jalapenos
• Slice sausage into 3/4″ – 1″slices

Cooking

Total cooking time is 60 minutes after the water boils and you begin adding the ingredients.

• Bring water to a boil.
• Place seasoning bags in a mesh bag or cheesecloth.
• Add potatoes and seasoning bags.
• Wait 10 minutes.
• Add carrots, corn and sausage.
• Wait 10 minutes.
• Add bell peppers, celery, jalapenos and habaneros.
• Wait 5 – 10 minutes.
• Add shrimp.
• Wait 30 minutes.
• To serve, drain the water and dump the shrimp boil onto a table with a plastic tablecloth or place in serving dish – allow everyone to help themselves!

Enjoy!

How many times have you heard, “Laughter is the best medicine”?

Many think it is a biblical quote. While the actual quote is not found in the Bible, the origin of laughter as the best medicine is found in Proverbs 17:22 -

A joyful heart is good medicine,

But a broken spirit dries up the bones.

Movies and videos are one source of laughter for our family. It never ceases to amaze me how our children can see a movie one time and memorize the lines – from that one viewing! A favorite game played while doing vineyard work is the movie line game. While I am not very good at it, it is fun to listen to the children bounce from one line to another playing off the previous comment.

Last night, we were at a friends’ house for dinner and YouTube videos came up in the conversation. It was hilarious to watch several of the videos that each of our families found funny. So, I thought I would share a few with you.

The following video was introduced to our family by a friend a month or so ago. It is a spoof on a television talk show in which the host is interviewing a Canadian Border Patrol Agent. It is definitely the children’s favorite and watching them re-enact the lines to fit the occasion is almost funnier than the video!

This video was new for us last night and is a radio talk show in which a caller asks for help in having deer crossings moved to less populated areas – after all, they seem to be on very busy roads or highways. Deer should be encouraged to cross in less busy areas!

The last video is a spoof on the interview question for the Miss USA delegates. The question being asked is whether or not math should be taught in schools. As you will see, this is a most difficult question!

Remember, whether you need a laugh or not, laughter is good medicine!

Welcome to another edition of Tasty Traditions, a real food blog carnival!

What is a real food blog carnival? It is the time for Real Foodies to share their wisdom and creativity. For those of you not familiar with a carnival, it is a place for bloggers to link their posts on a particular subject – in this case, real food.  These posts can be Real Food Recipes, Book Reviews, Tips for Healthy Living, Giveaways (involving Real Food or neat kitchen gadgets), Video Tutorials or Green Living Solutions. Just about anything that would help others in their quest to return to traditional healthy living.

Don’t worry if you don’t have a blog, you can still join the fun! Simply post your recipe or tip in the comment section.

Rules to Participate:

1. If you are posting a recipe – Please only post REAL food recipes. That means no processed, fake ingredients like margarine – let’s keep it nourishing!

2. Please link the URL of your blog post NOT your homepage.

3. Show you are cultured by using your best blog carnival manners - Update your post with a link back to Tasty Traditions so others can enjoy the fun! For example – ” This post is part of: Tasty Traditions”

4. Speaking of sharing the fun – It would help me and others if you would share this post on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and any other social media sites you participate in – you will help increase exposure to traditional real food.

5. Leave a comment with a description of your link.