Perfect Brown Rice - How to

Most of you (regular readers/friends) know that my family had to make some changes in our diet.  We have several food intolerance, sensitivities, and allergies.  Yes, each of those have different symptoms and reactions!

My son, reason one for dietary changes is his health

Lets face it white rice is pretty to look at, it taste good, and its quick to make!  But we don't eat it anymore :( and had to make the change to brown rice.  One reason was due to my son and I are both borderline diabetic, meaning our sugar index is very high.

When it comes to rice labels the packaging can be deceiving!.  According to the box the only difference is brown rice has 3 grams more fiber and 1 gram of fat. While white rice  has no fat.

However, consider this interesting fact:  People become diabetic because our organs produced enough insulin designed in its lifetime (about 100 years) but it is being used within 20-40 years.  Research shows its due to over consumption of white rice/ white flour!!  White rice, once digested, the blood sugar levels boost high and insulin has to be released to control the blood sugar levels.  However, when brown rice is eaten, it digest slowly with the fiber layer on top and it gradually release sugar, so blood sugar levels stay normal.

When I first made brown rice I treated it like white rice, the results were disastrous! Soggy, sticky mush!!  Totally gross.  Then I learned from my Mexican friend how they make rice at the restaurants.  They don't boil it!!  You sautee it.  Here's how:

You'll need:

1 cup brown rice
2 cups liquid (liquid is water, some kind of broth, or for Mexican rice add a can of stewed tomatoes)
2 tbl favorite oil (olive or coconut is good)
spices ( I add about 5 cloves and two pinches of coriander, this is a good combo for just about any dish)

• Rinse the rice (its a pain, but it washes off the starch and cleans it
• Heat your sautee pan to high, add your favorite oil
• once this heats add the rice, stir it around.  It will start to brown and make a slight pop sound
• add your spices, stir
• add your liquid (it will steam and instantly boil, be careful)
• cover, turn down to simmer for 45 minutes.

Fluffy Brown Rice

 Serve with.....anything!!

Wenatchee Wineries - 2013

Great Friends * Delicious Wine *Beautiful Scenery

That sums up our summer of 2013  winery tour vacation!  Nothing is better than relaxing with friends, sipping wine and looking out at beautiful scenery surrounded by the sounds of birds and the smells of blossoms in the air.

If you've been to Wenatchee you know there are a lot of wineries in the area!!  However, many of them are indoor tasting rooms without views, some are in industrial areas or in warehouses, as we discovered last year.  This year we knew we wanted to just sit back, relax outdoors with our friends in a "winery" sitting, while being able to bring our own cheese, meats and chocolates and stay for awhile.  Below are three of our favorite wineries that are worth a visit.

Silvara Vineyard

This one is my favorite, and the first winery we go to every year.  Sitting on a hill top looking over the Wenatchee River and the valley beyond. The view here is the best!  A beautiful lodge-style tasting room - with plenty of room to cozy up to the fireplace in the cooler months.  Or sit outdoors under a shady umbrella and enjoy the view. 

Silvara Winery - Leavenworth, WA

Enjoying the view at Silvara Winery

Silvara Winery - Lodge Style Tasting Room

Silvara Winery is located at 77 Stage Road in Leavenworth.  Visit their website for hours, details and view their photo gallery.

Icicle Ridge Winery

Off the beaten path and along the Wenatchee River you'll find Icicle Ridge Winery, a log-cabin style tasting room with great views of the pear orchard and a large pond.  This is one of our stops every year for its relaxing atmosphere and laid back country feel.  

Icicle Ridge Winery - Peshastin, WA

Log Cabin Style Tasting Room

Icicle Ridge is located at 8977 North Road in Peshastin.  Visit their website for more information, photos and more.

Saint Laurent Winery

This is a must go to winery in Malaga, just outside of Wenatchee.  Excellent wine, large grape vineyard, ponds and they have games to play on the lawn!!  

It is with a sad heart I tell you the owners are closing this winery on September 1, 2013.  I understand they sold the name to a business in Seattle, it is my hope they will re-open this tasting room, so keep checking back at their website - or here, if I hear anything I will update this post!! 

Saint Laurent Winery - Malaga, WA

Tasting Room - Lawn for games!

BEST WINE

Beautiful Grounds at Saint Laurent Winery

Ponds

Saint Laurent is currently located at 4147 Hamlin Road in Malaga.  Keep checking their website for more information regarding their pending retirement. 

Do you have a favorite winery in the Wenatchee area?  Comment & share!!  Hope you enjoy your next Wenatchee Winery Tour!! 

Healthy Popsicles - Sugar, Dairy and Dye Free

We have been looking EVERYWHERE for a completely healthy Popsicle with out fake sugar, refined sugar, dairy, preservatives and dyes. I have to tell you, they DON'T exist, commercially anyway.

 I bought the healthiest all fruit (strawberry) Popsicle that I could find in the Health section of Fred Meyer.  I then let my boy only eat only 1/2 at a time, which is not satisfying at all - poor little guy.  The problem is they were not a "perfect" solution so then I bought this handy little Popsicle mold at my local Fred Meyer store.  I decided I would chop up one of the Strawberry Popsicle and divide it among the four molds adding home made lemon aid over the top, below is the result.

Strawberry - Lemon Aid Popsicle

1 Box of Healthy Choice All Fruit Popsicle

2 lemons (squeezed)

2 cups filtered water

1 scoop pure Stevia

Chop up one All Fruit Popsicle, place the pieces in Popsicle mold.  

Mix together lemon juice, water and stevia. -taste and adjust

according to your personal preferences- 

Pour this mixture over the chopped fruit Popsicle.  

Freeze.  Enjoy.

As an alternative to purchasing All Fruit Popsicle, 

the next time I made these I chopped up frozen strawberry's

and then followed the same instructions.

Someone in my car group told me I could add yogurt for an even different flavor - and look!!  I have such smart friends :).  I have tried this style with both goat yogurt and coconut yogurt.   

Fresh Fruit and Yogurt Popsicle

Goat yogurt (or coconut yogurt)

**Fresh Blackberry's (or other fresh fruit)

1 scoop Stevia

In a blender, mix together your fresh fruit, 

Stevia and about 1/4 cup of your choice yogurt.

Place a spoon full of Yogurt into each

Popsicle mold, then pour a small amount of

blended fruit, alternate those two ingredients until

the molds are full.  Freeze.  Enjoy.

Thanks for joining us.  Please send me your home made, healthy Popsicle recipes!!

**I realized today, this photo and recipe was with Blackberry's not strawberry's although any fresh fruit will work.

Jalapeno Mayonnaise

Char's Jalapeno Mayo

 Jalapeno Mayo

1 cup mayonnaise

2 jalapenos (seeded)

1/2 bunch cilantro

Juice from a slice of lime

2 teaspoons Agave (honey or rice syrup will work also)

1 tbls mixture of cumin, chili powder and oregano

dash of salt

I  put everything in the blender and blend till smooth (mixture will be green and slightly runny.)  This is great on sandwiches, scrambled eggs or as a dip.  If you make this, please share what you like it on!!

Enjoy!!

Gluten Free All Purpose Flour Mix - the secrets

Charlotte & Kyle, 2012 Crystal Lodge -  Mt. Rainer

When we first found out that my son and I could not eat Wheat or Gluten (honestly at first I wondered how we would live)  I thought all I had to do was convert my favorite recipes by simply exchanging wheat flour for rice flour, boy was I wrong!!  You cannot simply take your favorite bread recipe and exchange gluten free flour for regular white flour.  Gluten is exactly what is "sounds" like...GLUE.  Without it bread turns out like crackers.  With the price of gluten free mixes, its not cheap to make mistakes and toss it in the garbage.

So I turned to the internet for gluten free recipes.  That wasn't much better, considering some people like to publish without TASTING!!   Oh, I better insert here that we are not just gluten free, we are also dairy, soy, and sugar free!!  Which adds more failure to our list!!

I couldn't just give up, after all I have to feed my family.  Not just "feed" them bland food, but offer food that is beautiful to look at and taste equally delicious.  Foods that we miss like pizza, cookies, cake, etc..

Solved!!  I am going to share with you the flour combination that will produce perfect, delicious breads. 

• 6 cups rice flour (white is good, brown is healthier)
• 3 cups tapioca flour
• 1 1/2 cups potato starch
• 1 tbl salt
• 2 tbl xanthum gum

Whisk all ingredients together, transfer to an airtight storage container.  This is my alternative "All Purpose Flour" and is used anytime I upload a recipe that calls for Chars flour mix.


NOTE:  I  know some of you cant have Tapioca and Potato flour/starch so here is an alternative mixture.  BTW, if I know YOU  are coming over I will replace the above combination with the below combo instead :)

• 2 cups arrowroot powder
• 1 cup millet flour
• 1/2 cup brown rice flour
• 1/2 cup corn starch
• 4 tsp xanthan gum

ENJOY!!

Dont Perch On My Birdhouse!

The Nesting Box - Charlotte Sherman

I've been making birdhouses for over 18 years, I've taken many Ornithology classes over the years and have participated in The Cornell Lab of Ornithology's "Project Feeder Watch."

One of the very first lessons I learned is NEVER put a perch on a birdhouse!!  Only predator birds use the perch.... WARNING:  The following paragraph contains graphic information:

           They steal and eat the eggs, or they steal the babies, carry 
           them to a puddle and drown and eat them.

 So next point is to consider the entrance hole size.  Most native song birds use a 1-1/2" diameter opening and it keeps out more aggressive non-native birds like house sparrows and starlings. Some birds can use an even smaller opening. It's good to know which species you want to attract, then research the minimum opening size the species requires.

Birds need a certain amount of floor space inside the house so the hatchlings have room to grow. For smaller songbirds like wrens, chickadees, titmice and nuthatches, 4" x 4" is usually fine. Larger birds need more floor space. The height of the entrance is also important, it should be between 4 and 5 inches.  

Each house should be checked for ventilation, proper drainage, the use of non-toxic materials and be able to open them for once a year cleaning. 

One year I was doing an Art Show in Arizona, another vendor was there selling birdhouses, she had perches, no way to clean them out AND she thought it was "cute" to paint the inside!!!  As people stopped and asked me why mine didn't have perches - I had a huge crowd around me - I noticed several people checking their bags and returning birdhouses to the other vendor....I however, sold out all my inventory. 

Log Cabin Birdhouse

Today the only birdhouses that I continue to make are the cabin style’s. I make them to be used outdoors, however almost everyone displays them in their home.  They are ventilated, and have removable screws either on the side or bottom for easy clean out.

• Log Cabin, approx 9x9, $ 165.00 plus shipping/handling
• Rock Cabin, approx 9x9, $165.00 plus shipping/handling
• Lighthouse, approx 7x18, $145 plus shipping/handling
• Shingle Cabin, approx 7x9,$105.00 plus shipping/handling

Rock Cabin - Birdhouse

Shingle Cabin - Birdhouse

Charlotte & Stew Sherman - Thanks for visiting my page today

Apple Pie - or is it?

The other day my son told me he wanted Apple Pie.  It was such a sad moment because  I feel so badly that there are so many foods he cant have and apples are one of them.  In that moment of looking into his big eyes I said "ok, I'll make you an apple pie" ---WHAT!!??  How was I going to do that?

Years ago I remembered a friend of mine (Lori Standifird) had made a mock apple pie from zucchini, at the time I wondered why would anyone do that.  So I went to work, I found my favorite apple pie recipe and made some adjustments to it.  The following recipe is gluten, wheat, sugar and apple free.

Kyle's Mock Apple Pie

1 box Gluten Free Pantry - perfect pie crust

5 zucchini's (less if they are big)

2 tbls lemon juice

1 pinch salt

1 1/4 cups Coconut Secret Crystals (brown sugar replacement)

2 tsp cinnamon 

1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1 pinch Stevia

1 pinch nutmeg

3 tbls all-purpose glueten free flour

coconut oil (for dots of butter replacement)

First follow the manufactures instructions to make 2 pie crusts, put in the frig as you prepare the rest of this recipe.

Peel the zucchini, cut into quarters lenghwise, then remove the seeds (I used a grapefruit spoon to remove the seeds), then cut into bite size "apple" looking pieces.  Toss them with the lemon juice and salt.  Next you'll saute them in a frying pan till tender-crisp.

In a seperate bowl, mix together the coconut crystals, cinnamon, cream of tartar, nutmeg and flour.  Add this mixture to the cooked zucchini and mix well.  It will be a little runny at this point, but its ok.

Prepare your 9inch pie crust and add the zucchini mixture.  Dot with coconut oil and place the upper crust on top - I dont like that much crust, so I "dot" the top of my pie with crust.  

Bake at 400 degrees F for 40 minutes or until it appears to be golden brown.

Kyle's Mock Apple Pie - 6/5/13

While it was cooking my whole house smelled just like apple pie!!  I placed the cooked pie on a wire rack and allowed it to cool slightly.  Once it cooled for five minutes I took a small bite....OMG its DELISH!!!  Lets see what Kyle thinks after school.....

Approved!!

Kyle gave it the thumbs up!!  Shhhhh, no one tell  him its not REAL apples!  After my husband had been home for a few minutes, he noticed the pie on the counter and sliced himself up a piece.  I told him it was a new recipe and I asked if he liked it.  He said he "likes my other recipe better, but this one is pretty good."  About a half hour later I told him the little secret, he didn't believe me!!

IDEA:  Top warm pie with Rice Cream (Ice Cream replacement) and its a complete treat!  

Enjoy