Quick Greenhouse Pic

(My greenhouse is just bursting with life!!)

(I've begun starting seeds using "soil blockers")

(The radishes are delicious but spicy, and my broccoli plant is getting huge)

Recipe: Raw, No-Bake, Agave PB Oat Cashew Etc Balls

This recipe doesn't really have a name since I just made it up, but these little treats taste AWESOME and you can make them with whatever nuts/berries/additives you have on hand. I'm going to share it with you and I hope you like it, because it is super easy to make in a vehicle, very healthy (as long as you don't eat the whole batch in one sitting!), and you don't need an oven or a stove. Just a mixing bowl, a spoon, and maybe a fridge or a cooler to help them harden. They are delicious, though, straight out of the mixing bowl, which is how I am eating them, without refrigeration. These are guaranteed to become my new, perfect, on-the-road snack treats.

These are basically little gooey peanut butter balls - only better - because they don't use white sugar... I instead used "Wholesome Sweeteners" brand Organic Blue Agave, which is an agave plant-based sweetener that is sweeter than honey, but very low on the glycemic index (making it safe for diabetics or anyone watching their sugar intake). These really aren't very sweet because I only used 1 Tbl. of Agave in my batch. Feel free to use a little more if you want them sweeter.

Mix together:

1/2 cup (heaping) chunky peanut butter (refrigerated natural kind)
1 Tbl. Agave Nectar (add another little bit if you want the end result to be a little sweeter)
a good handful of quick-oats (I think I sprinkled in a little extra)
a heaping scoop of chocolate protein powder
2 Tbl. chopped cashews (raw, unsalted)
1 Tbl. shredded coconut
a dash of cinnamon
1 cap-full of real vanilla (not that imitation stuff)
1 Tbl. water (or a little dash more if needed)

The mixture should be thick and kind of sticky. Is it too wet? Add some more oats, some ground flax seed, some wheat germ, or something else that is dry. Is it too dry? Just add a little more water. I wouldn't add more agave nectar, though, if it's too dry because then the whole batch might end up way too sweet.

Re-mix and then use your hands to roll it into tiny balls (I think my batch made 14) and either start eating them or put them in the fridge to let them harden a bit.

The cool thing about this recipe is the fact that it doesn't make a whole bunch - just enough to satisfy a little sweet tooth. You can also add dried cherries, chocolate chips, sunflower seeds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, goji berries, raisins, sesame seeds, basically whatever you've got on hand that you think would be delicious in a peanut butter ball. Don't have agave nectar? Try it with a little maple syrup, honey, or black-strap molasses instead. Mmm. Happy Snacking.

Morel Mushroom Hunting!!

It was an absolutely PERFECT day outside today.... I spent ALL of it just wandering around in the woods by myself, smelling little flowers, listening to woodpeckers, swatting at buzzing bees, watching squirrels, and admiring every little living aspect of nature that I found. I have lived here basically my entire life and I feel as though I am now just finally starting to appreciate the tiny things that make this area what it is.

Today was my very 1st successful Morel mushroom hunting day of 2009!! They all blended in really well with the leaves, so sometimes I would just stop to sit down on the ground for several minutes and look around until I spotted one. Every time I found one was pretty exciting...

I pinched each one off at the base, leaving a little bit of the stem behind so that perhaps more Morels will appear back in the same spot. I collected them in a mesh-type orange bag so that they would stay fresh while I was picking and also so the spores would fall back on the ground to eventually create more.

After I was done picking them for the day, I cut them all in half, lengthwise, and soaked them in salt water to kill off anything bad.. and tomorrow I'm gonna fry myself up some mushrooms and go out lookin' for more!

Here, instead of telling you more about it, I will just let you re-live this beautiful day with me, in photos:

My 1st two morel discoveries:

In case you aren't familiar with the difference between a real Morel and fake one, the stem on a real Morel is actually connected to the base of the mushroom:

Fake Morels (aka: caps) are just that - Caps that can be plucked right off ! (the base of the shroom isn't connected to the stem). The caps I found also weren't as dark of a color, and they were shorter & fatter:

The biggest Morel I found was also the last one that I found. It was 3 inches tall and I can't wait to eat it :)

The final count of a long day's hunt is... 18!!! I'm gonna fry 'em up for a yummy lunch tomorrow:

Sprouting Seeds

Sprouting inside a van is actually EASY and sprouts are very nutritious. I don't have any going right now, but I really ought to. I will have to add that to my to-do list. I was browsing around the other day and even discovered that Two Knives Katie recently wrote about sprouting in her van. She took some great photos and wrote a really informative post about it. I love sprouts....

Several sites for sprouting seeds!

1. SproutPeople.com - Great Site! Sells hemp bags and an "Easy Sprout" for van-friendly growing

2. HomeGrown.org - Sprouting 101

3. Sprouting.com - Info, products, & good pricing on organic seeds

4. How to Sprout Seeds In a Jar