Sunday, January 18, 2009

Mimetic Nut Bread / Pain de Mîme aux Noix

In this recipe I used ground walnuts, it gives the bread a wilder/earthy taste. As usual the recipe is for a small loaf; if you wish to make a regular size loaf of bread, just double the quantities (same thing for the previous recipes).

Pour cette recette, j'ai utilisé des noix moulues, elles donnent au pain un goût un peu sauvage. Comme d'habitude cette recette est pour un petit pain; si vous souhaitez faire un pain de taille normale (dans un moule à cake), il vous suffit juste de doubler les quantités (même chose pour les recettes précédentes).

Ingredients (1 cup/tasse = 250 ml; 1 tsp/cac = 5 ml):
  • 1/2 cup almond meal (you can easily make your own in an electric coffee grinder) / 1/2 tasse de poudre d'amandes (vous pouvez facilement faire la vôtre avec un moulin à café électrique)
  • 1/2 cup ground walnuts / 1/2 tasse de noix moulues
  • 1 cup cooked and cooled brown basmati rice (leftovers work fine) / 1 tasse de riz brun basmati cuit et refroidi (les restes d'un repas feront également l'affaire)
  • 1/2 cup chestnut flour / 1/2 tasse de farine de chataîgne
  • 2 eggs / 2 oeufs
  • 1 to 1 1/2 tsp maple or agave syrup / 1 à 1 1/2 càc de sirop d'érable ou d'agave
  • 1/2 tsp gluten free baking powder / 1/2 càc de levure sans gluten
  • 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar / 1/2 càc de vinaigre de cidre
  • 1/8 tsp salt / 1/8 càc de sel
  • Water or nut milk if necessary / Eau de source ou lait végétal si nécessaire

Preheat the oven at 375F/160C. In a bowl mix all the dry ingredients: brown rice, nut meals, chestnut flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat the eggs. Then add the maple or agave syrup and the vinegar. Mix well. Incorporate the wet mix into the dry mix and stir well. If the batter is to dry, add a little bit of water or nut milk. The batter should be thick but not runny. Pour into an oiled baking pan and bake for 45-50 minutes. Wait for the bread to cool down before removal from the pan and slicing the bread. Enjoy ;)!

Préchauffez le four à 160C/375F. Dans un récipient, mélangez tous les ingredients secs: riz brun, poudres de noix, farine de chataîgne, levure chimique et sel. Dans un autre récipient, battez les oeufs. Ajoutez le sirop d'érable ou d'agave et le vinaigre aux oeufs battus. Incorporez le mélange liquide au mélange sec et remuez bien. Si la pâte est trop sèche, ajoutez un petit peu d'eau ou de lait végétal. La pâte doit être épaisse mais pas liquide. Versez-la dans un moule huilé et mettez à cuire au four pendant 45-50 minutes. Attendez que le pain refroidisse avant de le démouler et de le couper en tranches. Regalez-vous ;)!

Saturday, January 17, 2009

An Interesting Fact about Sunflower Oil

"The Russian Academy of Science found that sunflower oil... 1 tablesp. of oil when swilled in the mouth for 15-20 minutes, activates the salivary glands and stimulates enzyme release. Toxins from the circulatory and lymphatic systems are also released, via the oral salivary glands. The oil should not be swallowed. Empty the mouth by spitting. This simple procedure has the remarkable benefit of helping the body detoxify; it has relieving and healing effects on a wide range of conditions and can be used regularly, by anyone wishing to keep their immune system working well. "

http://www.herbsarespecial.com.au/free-sprout-information/sunflower.html

Thursday, January 15, 2009

COUNTRY GREEN Eco-Friendly Lunch Bag


For this lunch bag, I used a vintage liberty-like cotton fabric. It's one of those fabrics I brought back from France. It's at least 30 years old: I can remember seeing it during my childhood.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Our Kitchen Garden / Notre Potager

This dwarf rose is lightly fragrant (which is rare for a hybrid dwarf rose). It's the first flower to bloom our garden. Since it's a hybrid, I don't use it for medicinal purpose except for infused oils.

Cette rose miniature a un léger parfum (ce qui est rare pour les rosiers nains hybrides). C'est la première fleur à fleurir dans notre jardin. Comme c'est une variété hybride, je ne l'utilise pas pour mes préparations médicinales, à l'exception de mes huiles infusées.


A colorful patchwork of (clockwise) 'violetta' pac choy, 'purple peacock' broccoli, 'bull's blood' beet, 'albino' beet and 'carnival' carrot mix (starting to germinate). I love the flavor of beet leaves, I think they taste even better than swiss chard.

Un patchwork coloré de (dans le sens des aiguilles d'une montre) pac choy 'violetta', broccoli 'purple peacock', betterave 'bull's blood', betterave 'albinos' et un mélange de graines de carottes 'carnival/carnaval' (qui commencent tout juste à germiner). J'aime la saveur des feuilles de betteraves, je trouve qu'elles ont meilleur goût que celles des bettes/blettes à cardes.


This is our first potato experiment: I used a pink potato that I got from the farmers market and which was starting to germinate. I thought it would be a pity not to give this potato the opportunity to fully express itself ;). I'm not a big fan of potatoes which are nightshades, therefore I try not to eat some very often . Yet I must admit that organic potatoes have a superior taste and texture than non organic ones (it's like night and day). I will wait for the plant to bloom to harvest our first NEW potatoes...
Voici notre premiere experience avec la pomme de terre: j'ai utilisé une patate rose que j'avais acheté au marché et qui commençait à germiner. Je me suis dit qu'il serait dommage de ne pas donner à cette patate l'occasion de s'exprimer pleinement ;). Je ne suis pas une grande fan de patates qui des solanacées (la famille de la belladonne et autres plantes toxiques), de ce fait j'évite d'en manger trop souvent. Cependant je dois bien admettre que les patates bio ont un goût et une texture superieurs à leur cousines non bio (c'est le jour et la nuit). Je vais attendre que la plante commence à fleurir avant de récolter nos premières pommes de terre nouvelles...

Robert Shapiro on "Growing Your Own Food"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THGK4eS05Eg

Friday, January 09, 2009

Eco-Friendly Lunch Bags


I have lots of fabrics at home, some of them I brought back from France. When I was still working in the fashion and textile industry, I used to buy fabrics just because they were pretty. I thought I could always figure something to make out of them.

Sewing projects for yourself (or should I say your wardrobe), your interior and friends or family are always fun. But sometimes you just wish to do something that counts. Something that doesn't harm the environment.

It is often in the poorest countries that people are the most creative. They take something that would be considered junk for other people and with a few tools, a little craftsmanship and some imagination, they give it a second life.

I love the whole creative process and especially thinking outside of the box. Experimenting with non-conformist ideas, transforming, customizing, even ill-treating a fabric (only if necessary) to make something new, personal and beautiful in its own way.

I don't like waste...Especially when it's harmful to the environment. That's why I decided to recycle some of my fabrics and turn them into snack/lunch bags. The difference is that paper bags are often used once then thrown in the trash and put to recycle. People often forget that paper comes from trees. And the whole paper recycling process uses a lot of energy, therefore it's not very eco-friendly.
My fabric lunch bags on the other hand are washable, reusable, durable, biodegradable thus eco-friendly. I plan on making tote bags and shopping bags with the same fabrics. I also make Textile Scrap Yarns ;).


Wednesday, January 07, 2009

A Container Garden

Though I grew up in a townhouse with a little garden, I didn't really do any gardening. Of course my mom grew a few fruiting trees and edibles like tomato & lettuce in the summer but other than that nothing really extensive. The funny thing is that even though she had (and still has) some farmers on her side of the family, she doesn't really have a green thumb.

I guess it's only when I started to awaken to herbal medicine and the organic movement that I started bringing home potted herbs and sunflowers. When I moved to the US, I had no garden anymore and that made me very sad and depressed. So I decided to conquer the empty porch with potted plants. I have learned a lot on my own and with the help of a few books and I made some mistakes too but, overall, I think I'm doing pretty well with gardening.

Container gardening has its advantages: nearly no weeding and very little pest control. Plus there's little chance that a disease would spread to all the plants. And there's not a lot of watering needed either. Now if there's one thing I've learned it's that plants and trees grow proportionally to the space they have for their roots to spread...The size of the container you choose makes a big difference: you can either end up with decent size vegetables or dwarf ones. I find that "half wine barrel" sized containers are the best for growing normal size vegetables (and I grow organic, which means that my veggies should be smaller that the ones from the grocery store...No miracle grow!) and are very good for root veggies like beets and carrots as well as plants for the brassica family (kales, collards, broccolis...) which need some space.

As your plants grow, especially if you grow edibles, you may need to feed them (through the soil) with compost, worm castings or natural plant foods like liquid kelp.

Smaller containers are better for flowers, aromatic and medicinal herbs. For cut-and-come again greens and edible weeds, I prefer either rectangular window box container or round containers with a little depth. If you wish to grow fruits in containers, choose some berries (usually easier to grow and prolific) otherwise dwarf fruit trees, but the roots need to be trimmed every 3 to 5 years. If you can't find a dwarf variety, remember that by choosing a small (about 14 in. in diameter or more if you wish) container, your tree will grow proportionally to the size of the container, therefore it'll become a dwarf tree...But to do so, choose either a very young tree (1 or 2 years old) or a bareroot tree (which is usually cheaper because it hasn't grown yet).

I choose to grow organic, heirloom, medicinal, unusual, hard to find and forgotten plants. These includes my favorite edibles and herbs as well as stuff you don't normally find in grocery stores or at the farmers market. I try to stay away from hybrids, but once in a while I find a variety that seems worth growing so I sometimes bend my rules.

Happy gardening ;).

New Year, New Cream(s)

In everything I do, I try to be as close and true to Nature as I can be.

I'm currently going through a rewilding and ancestral phase that would be too hard to explain here because it's mostly something I feel in my heart & soul...Sometimes there are just NO words. I'm also studying, rediscovering and remembering a few things.

Anyway, after the Wise Woman products, I thought it was time to please the Wild Women too with a line of creams herbally infused with ethically wildcrafted herbs. Some of these herbs are carefully picked by me since there are local herbs and are not easy to find.

I'm pleased to introduce my Ancient Forest Cream, infused with Western Evergreens' trimmings such as Douglas Fir, Siskiyou Cedar, Western Juniper and Redwood. The formulation is slightly different than for my other creams: I added organic virgin coconut oil (for more details see my listing).

There will be more wild items soon...;)
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