Corn Mache, The Sustainable Green

March 16, 2017March 16, 2017 / Liesl Clark / 6 Comments

This is my favorite hardy green as it’s the first to pop up in the spring here in the Pacific Northwest. If you don’t know what corn mache (Valerianella locusta) is, Google it and you’ll find some people call it corn mache choux, mouse ears, or corn salad. It’s a super fancy French green, used in top restaurants, and yet it grows like crazy in my garden, self-seeding every year.

I just love the stuff: as a substitute for baby spinach, in salads, in stir-fry, and as a bed of greens beneath any kind of organic meat we have for dinner. It has a creamy, nutty, slightly floral taste, but is very mild, so putting something flavorful on it works well as it compliments strong flavorings.

Balsamic chicken thighs and asparagus on a bed of corn mache © Liesl Clark

We throw it in smoothies every morning this time of year. And I give it away to happy neighbors in the spring, who are hungry for anything green and fresh. Plant yourself a bed of corn mache, let a few go to seed, and next year you’ll thank yourself for the effort as this lovely little veggie, like arugula and jerusalem artichokes, will be come a perennial springtime friend.

It takes a little extra effort to wash as grit can get down inside. I just soak the little florets in a big bowl of water and submerge them before pulling them out. Seems to work just fine!

Paleo Sugar-Free Seed Crunch

March 13, 2017March 13, 2017 / Liesl Clark / 4 Comments

I fell in love with a delicious seed bar that’s sold down the hill in our local farm store. But they’re a bit pricey and come wrapped in plastic, and so my son and I worked together to figure out what’s in them, so we can make them at home.

Ours taste pretty much exactly like the bars at the store, but our little seed mix ends up just that, a mix that you can eat with a spoon. This deliciously healthy mix of seeds and berries is now a staple lunch item for our always-hungry teen!

Enjoy.

Paleo Sugar-Free Seed Crunch

2 Cups pumpkin seeds

1/3 Cup cacao nibs

1/2 Cup coconut butter

¼ Cup gogi berries

¼ Cup golden raisins or colored raisin mix

1/8 Cup almond flour

1/8-1/4 Cup cashews

3 dates (chopped up)

2 Tbsp sesame seeds

pinch of salt

Put everything in your Vitamix or similar kitchen gadget and let it rip on high until you have a meal-like consistency. Sometimes I have to take half of the mix out, half-way through, and do it in two batches. Throw the mix in a jar and it’ll keep for weeks!

Easy Scrappy Vegetable Broth

March 11, 2017March 11, 2017 / Liesl Clark / 3 Comments

Our kitchen compost container is full most days because we eat a lot of vegetables. Even though we give carrots, lettuce, broccoli etc. to our guinea pig, and many other kitchen scraps to our hens, I’m still amazed at how many veggie and fruit scraps still go into the compost pile. But then a discussion in our BuyNothing7 group (a group that challenges people to buy nothing for 7 days, or longer) got me thinking: Before I send my most scrappy vegetables to the compost pile, I should turn them into veggie broth.

I’m not talking about your big chunks of carrot (that go to the guinea pig) or whole cloves of garlic (which we use up ourselves.) I’m referring to the paper skin on the garlic (which has many uses), the ends of the carrots, the skins off my onions (which also have many uses) and the leaves and bitter hearts of my celery. Throw those scrappiest of scraps into a pot of boiling water, with a bay leaf, your favorite herbs, and a pinch of salt, let it simmer for an hour and you’ve rendered yourself some yummy broth to use as a base for a soup, in chili, or in any recipe that calls for broth.

Then, you can take your over-cooked vegetables, once you’ve filtered out the broth, and send those to the compost. Scrappy veggie broth in zero waste style!

Paleo Caesar Dressing (Whole30, too)

January 20, 2017 / Liesl Clark / 2 Comments

We use this salad dressing all the time. Before we took dairy out of our diet, we’d make our usual faux caesar dressing, using parmesan cheese to make it salty and a cheesy. But, with the substitution of lemon or lime, it doesn’t taste all that different! The key to this recipe is crushing your garlic. I have a crushing stone that I brought back from Nepal and use every day. But, using the side of a good thick chopping knife can do the trick or using your garlic press can work, too. Just be sure to keep in all the pulp.

Paleo Caesar Dressing

1/2 Cup Olive Oil

3 Cloves Garlic, crushed

Juice of half a lemon or lime

2 tsp Fish Sauce

2-3 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar, Fruit Scrap Vinegar (these are so easy to make at home!), or Apple Cider Vinegar

Put all ingredients into a mason jar stir or shake and you’re done! Save the excess in your jar for future salads. This should last you for the week or longer. I put my jar in the fridge and then take it out a half hour before eating so the olive oil can liquify.

My Whole30 Detox – First 15 Days

January 18, 2017January 19, 2017 / Liesl Clark / 12 Comments

Most of my friends and family now know I’ve been on a month-long Whole30 detox adventure. It’s been incredibly enlightening. What is Whole30? It’s a new way of eating, where you eliminate all sugars (yes, wine too,) grains, dairy, and legumes. The reasoning is to reset your body to burn fat for energy rather than sugar and carbs. If we burn only sugar and carbs, we’ll crave more sugar and carbs and store that fat. But it’s also a diet that reduces systemic inflammation. I’m finding I was suffering, for the past 2 years from joint pain because they were inflamed due to the foods I was eating (or drinking.)

I also cut caffeine out. Just to be me and up the ante a bit.

I can tell you that at Day 16 here, my hip and knee issues are getting much better. My overall joint pain is generally gone. I’m sleeping close to soundly. I feel stronger and healthier. But, my headaches are persisting. You can’t have everything right? Yet, I’m only in the middle of the experiment, so I’ll let you know more when we round the corner at the end of the month.

Many people ask me what I’ve been eating if so much is restricted from my diet. The answer is: a ton! And I have zero interest in snacking between meals because my meals are quite robust. I’ve photographed and logged every meal, including my general status each day, so although this might be way TMI I’m going to share it here anyway:

Day 1

Status: woke up with headache, sore on right side hip. Felt energized all day (my usual vibe.) Hiked/ran 4 miles. Getting tired at 7:30 p.m.

Breakfast: Curried Frittata

Lunch: Baby spinach salad with tuna, my homemade sesame garlic ginger sauce, sautéed crimini mushrooms in ghee, naturally fermented pickle, 2 pieces dried mango

Dinner: Roasted potatoes in olive oil and splash of rice vinegar, artichoke and ghee, guacamole

Day 2

Status: Didn’t sleep well because of someone snoring. Sciatica above right glute is hurting a lot. Otherwise good energy, no hunger or cravings. End of day feeling really really bloated. I don’t like this feeling, all the grease and meat. It’s not good for the environment to eat so much meat. Not good for my gut. Am going to create my own Whole30 diet that still follows all compliant food but doesn’t eat so much meat.

Breakfast: Banana and blueberries with homemade almond butter (raw almonds, fleur de sel, coconut oil)

This isn’t a totally compliant meal as the nuts won’t provide me with enough protein.

(I was told in a forum that this meal isn’t really all that Whole30-compliant. The ingredients are, but I need more protein. What is a vegetarian to do? I eat eggs, but am not excited about changing my lifestyle to include a ton of animal meats (other than fish) in my diet, as I’m looking for something that’s sustainable for our family long-term. I’ve been advised to add 3-4 eggs to the meal. Not sure I can do this X3 every day. Nine eggs per day will be tough.)

Lunch: Chili but with egg instead of beef. Delicious.

Best thing about this chili is that there’s cacao in it.

Dinner: Chicken thighs with onion and olives, grilled eggplant, and cauliflower carrot parsnip puree

Day 3

Status: Feel like merde. Food is really greasy and it’s getting me down. Last night’s chicken had a lot of grease in it. One thigh and I was really full. This is more meat than I’ve eaten in years, and, well, after dinner I felt really bloated and went to bed feeling generally rotten, like how you feel after eating rich food. I slept pretty well, but felt that headache coming on throughout the night. Now, it’s a full-fledged migraine because I had to make my son’s breakfast and lunch, take him to school, feed the chickens, start the fire (we only heat with wood), get my daughter off to the bus, and I still hadn’t eaten. Suffice it to say, that vice grip on my head was so aggressive I knew I was going to start vomiting (this is the way my body deals with extreme pain — I have a history of getting migraines.) So, I quickly ate a banana, two dates and about 3 tablespoons of homemade almond butter because, frankly, the thought of eating a couple of eggs was going to make me hurl. Fingers crossed the vice eases its grip on my head. Is this too much animal meat for a non-meat eater? I’m going to try to stick with the eggs-mostly approach, with some fish and the very occasional addition of chicken. But yesterday felt like way too much: more food and fats than I generally eat in a day, so maybe I need to moderate a bit?

Meal 1: 3 Tablespoons almond butter, 1 banana, 2 dates

Meal 2: Sautéed kale greens and 2 poached eggs, with carrot parsnip cauli puree.

Meal 3: Thai green curry with shrimp on cauli rice.

Status: Tonight was the premier of our film, and friends came over with champagne. Wasn’t tempted at all.

Day 4

Status: Remnants of yesterday’s headache, but not terrible. Have lots of energy. Feel pretty good, but also feel that I could use some more sleep. And, umm, in the department of “signs that one could be undergoing deflammation” (that’s my silly word for the opposite of inflammation) — my ring is falling off my finger. My hands look so much better. They were definitely looking on the sausage-y side of things, so this fast deflammation is a real surprise. I’m not chalking it up to weight loss, just loss of inflammation in my extremities.

Meal 1: Sautéed kale greens and 2 poached eggs, with carrot parsnip cauli puree, and a pickle.

Meal 2: Leftover chicken thighs, cauli-carrot-parsnip puree, grilled eggplant

Meal 3: Chili (as above)

Day 5

Status: Feeling pretty good. Definitely tired in the morning when waking up to make Finn’s lunch and get him to school.

Meal 1: 2 Hard boiled eggs, 2 chicken sausages, small handful raw pistachio nuts, 2 dates, detox dandelion tea

Meal 2: This is some seriously yummy porridge!!

Oat-free nut based porridge with apples

Meal 3: Baked Salmon, Roasted veggies (potato, turnip, beets, sweet potato) and homemade ketchup. Daughter loves the ketchup so much, she’s eating it by the spoonful.

Day 6

Status: My hip & knee still ache deeply when I sleep. A pillow between legs helps. BUT, when I get up, I don’t have the aches and creeks and stiffness in my joints! And the knee feels good.

Meal 1: Nut “oatmeal” (see above) and 2 soft boiled eggs.

Meal 2: Awesome pesto with cauli rice and turkey bacon.

This vegan pesto is to die for.

Meal 3: Delicious shrimp scampi on zucchini noodles.

Status: I feel good. Have never cooked so much in my life, but I’m making the time for it and am learning so much. The alternatives to what I’m used to eating are still just as delicious and much more healthy. Zucchini noodles, yum. Cauliflower rice, yum. Homemade ketchup, yum. Vegan pesto, yum. Didn’t work out today but energy level is good.

Day 7

Status: Feel great!

Meal 1: Sweet potato avocado toast with fried eggs, green onion, tomato, onions, and cashews.

Meal 2: Spinach Ceasar (with my vegan faux Ceasar dressing), guacamole, smoked turkey slices, pickle.

Meal 3: Asian Stir fry with egg “tofu” (leftovers of cauli rice, mushrooms, zucchini, red pepper, garlic, ginger, onion. And coconut aminos for flavor. Really really good!

Day 8

Status: Feeling good. My back hurts from standing much of the day yesterday, cooking! Heart rate goes up after eating! Is my metabolism kickstarting?

Meal 1: Soft boiled eggs, raw red bell pepper, avocado, green olives, macadamia nuts.

Meal 2: Baked potato with carmelized onions, sautéed mushrooms and garlic, topped with cilantro and green onion on a bed of spinach with faux Ceasar dressing. Two chicken sausages.

Meal 3: Speck, chopped salad of jicama, romaine, onion, potato, cilantro, green onion and a little leftover potato.

Day 9

Status: Woke up a bit late for a 7:55 ferry. Not enough time to eat much. Long day, then until a 2:00 lunch, with only a slight hunger headache.

Meal 1: Soft boiled eggs, banana.

Meal 2: Tuna, sweet red pepper, radish, pickle, jicama, dates, homemade almond butter.

Meal 3: Dungeness crab, ghee, green beans, homemade mayo, clementine.

Day 10

Status: Slept well. Had the Natural Calm magnesium drink last night and I think it helped. But, woke up with a headache, so took meds.

Meal 1: Poached eggs on bed of sautéed kale and sautéed mushrooms with marjoram. Awesome!

Meal 2: Chicken tenders dredged in coconut flour and pinch of salt. Pan fry it in coconut oil. Place in a bowl on a bed of baby spinach with a great dressing for this dish: Coconut milk, olive oil and green thai curry paste, whisked together. Garnish with enoki mushrooms, sliced Italian plum tomatoes. Unbelievably good, altogether!

Meal 3: Pete is gone now, so I just made oven baked sweet potato fries with the kids and they loved them. We also had sliced raw veggies: avocado, radish, celery and some macadamia nuts. I threw in some prosciutto to get some protein.

Day 11

Status: Sleeping soundly, except for the fact that my hip and knee ache at night. Get up to take ibuprofen. Taking Magnesium.

Meal 1: Sautéed kale and garlic with poached eggs and marjoram mushrooms.

Meal 2: Sweet potato fries (leftover), baby spinach and parsley with green thai dressing, coconut floured pan seared chicken tenders.

Meal 3: Poached salmon, fried green plantains with mango avocado salsa

Day 12

Status: The pain in my hip and knee at night (and day) is diminishing! I went on a load-bearing hike yesterday which was intensive, but didn’t hurt my knee. At night I didn’t wake from the pain as often, but my muscles are seizing up, which shows a lack of calcium. The magnesium binds to calcium and now that I’m not eating dairy I may not be getting enough calcium. Have been eating dark greens but still not quite enough?

Meal 1: Sautéed garlic kale with poached eggs on top. Sliced tomatoes.

Meal 2: Mango salsa with sliced turkey, deviled eggs (with homemade mayo), jicama.

Meal 3: Asparagus, avocado, basil salad and chicken apple sausages.

Day 13

Meal 1: Scrambled eggs with my parsley pesto and baby spinach, all together in a salad.

Meal 2: The asparagus salad from Day 12 with prosciutto on top.

Meal 3: Baby zucchini, onion and marjoram sautéed into scrambled eggs. With sliced avocado on top. So good!

Day 14

Status: Small headache upon waking. What is causing these? My jaw feels like it was clenched as I slept. Otherwise, my body feels good. Not too much pain in my knee and hip as I slept, but I did take 600 mg of ibuprofen before bed.

Meal 1: Pumpkin custard (a bit bland)

Meal 2: Sliced smoked turkey, roasted potatoes, baby spinach, green beans.

Meal 3: Coconut floured chicken sautéed in red palm oil. Morels and garlic sautéed in ghee, roasted veggies, and faux cesar salad.

Day 15

Status: Felt really energized most of the day (collected wood in the forest with Finn and went on a 3 mile walk to pick up Cleo at her friend’s house,) but feeling a little bit down. It’s hard to just cook all of this just for myself.

Meal 1: pumpkin custard (see above) with ghee sautéed nuts and raw homemade Lara bar bits for sweetener (dates, cacao, hazlenuts, almonds, sea salt whirred in the Vitamix.)

Meal 2: Roasted veggies, salad, smoked salmon lox.

Meal 3: Roasted red pepper zoodles and 2 chicken sausages.

So, there you have it! Fifteen days of Whole30 under my belt and the meals therein.

Vegan Parsley Pesto

January 14, 2017January 14, 2017 / Liesl Clark / 5 Comments

It was January 12th, the ground was frozen solid, and I harvested parsley from my garden! If this hardy herb can withstand 26 degree temps, then that’s a green I want in my body. Parsley provides so many nutritional benefits, including vitamin A, vitamin K, vitamin C, vitamin E, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, pantothenic acid, choline, folates, calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorous, potassium, zinc, and copper, to name a few.

A January harvest of deep greens. © Liesl Clark

Here’s a quick and easy recipe for parsley pesto that goes well with myriad dishes, and it’s perfect for a Whole30 diet. It’s quickly becoming my go-to sauce for most dishes. I’ve used it on Mexican food, Italian foods, and as my savory sauce to throw on eggs in the morning.

Scrambled eggs and baby spinach with parsley pesto. Fried bananas, too! © Liesl Clark

The dish, above, all mixed together. © Liesl Clark

Parsley Pesto

1 Large bunch of parsley

5 Cloves garlic

2 Serrano peppers, roasted. (I roast them right over the stove and then sweat them in a paper bag.) Remove the seeds.

Juice of half a lemon

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 Cup olive oil

Throw it all in your Vitamix, Cuisinart, or blender and blend until almost smooth.

Green goodness. © Liesl Clark

I put it on poached salmon the other night and it was so delicious!

Mango avocado salsa with fried green plantains and poached salmon. I used 3 sauces to try with this dish: parsley pesto, homemade ketchup, and homemade mayo. The pesto was the tastiest! © Liesl Clark

Garlic Kale Poached Eggs, My Whole30 Go-To Breakfast

January 13, 2017 / Liesl Clark / 6 Comments

Poached eggs over a bed of sautéed kale with garlic has become our staple breakfast. Now that the chickens are finally laying (3 months without fresh eggs has been painful), we’re thrilled to share with you this delicious nutritious breakfast for wholesome foods seeking people.

Garlic Kale Poached Eggs with Sliced Avocado and Parsnip, Cauliflower, Carrot Mash. © Liesl Clark

I’m on Day 12 of my first Whole30 adventure, feeling great, and this breakfast is fast, simple, uses 90% of its ingredients from my own land, and doesn’t dirty any pans. What’s not to love? Let me explain.

Garlic Kale Poached Eggs (Serves 2)

2 Tablespoons coconut oil, olive oil, or ghee

4-5 cloves garlic, chopped

2 teaspoons red pepper flakes

1 bunch kale, chopped

pinch or 3 of sea salt

4 fresh eggs

Here are the ingredients for one serving. © Liesl Clark

Put oil in a cast iron skillet or your best non-teflon skillet over medium high heat. When the oil is heated, add the garlic and sauté until just starting to become golden. Add red pepper flakes and stir around for a few seconds. Then add the kale and continuously stir fry it until it has reduced by half. You’ll know when the kale feels cooked through. Sprinkle the sea salt on top.

This is what your “poached” and steamed eggs will look like when they’re done. © Liesl Clark

Add the eggs on top, without scrambling them or breaking the yolks. Quickly put a top on your skillet, to seal in the steam. Let everything cook for 1 minute, then turn your heat off. Within 3-4 minutes, your eggs will be poached. Lift the cover off and your eggs should be lightly poached on their bed of deep greens!

Covering your eggs to steam, and turning the heat off underneath is the key to this dish. © Liesl Clark

Serve this with sliced tomatoes or sliced avocado, or any veggies that look great in the fridge. We often sauté crimini mushrooms in ghee with a teaspoon of marjoram and a pinch of sea salt as a favorite side veg.

Garlic Kale Poached Eggs with Marjoram Mushrooms © Liesl Clark

Your skillet, after making the garlic kale poached eggs, will be nicely oiled and the kale/eggs are easily removed from the pan with a spatula. Simply wipe your skillet with a kitchen rag and your skillet is ready for the next meal!

My Whole30 Detox Month – Day 10

January 12, 2017January 12, 2017 / Liesl Clark / 21 Comments

I’m a Whole30 experimenter. If you haven’t heard of Whole30, you will, eventually. It’s a paleo regime aimed at detoxing your body and switching over your carb and sugar-burning engine to a fat burning one. I have to say, I was a little skeptical at first, especially since I’m doing this with likely less grease than most, but here I am on day 10 and it’s been an eye-opener.

My go-to breakfast: Poached eggs over garlic kale saute with ghee sauteed crimini mushrooms and marjoram. (Recipe in upcoming post!) ©Liesl Clark

Do Without. Let’s get the restrictions over with: Whole30 requires that you give up, for 30 days, all forms of sugar (except fruit), dairy, grains, and legumes (this last one kills me, because that’s been our major source of protein for years.) They also prohibit you from jumping on a scale. I figured that wasn’t going to be enough of a boot camp for me, so I threw caffeine onto the contraband pile. Day 3 was the biggest migraine I’ve had in years. My daughter’s grumpy face when I try to take her picture is how my head-in-a-vice-grip felt all day. Truth be told, Pete had to give me a dexamethasone, to prevent me from heading to the hospital for an i.v.

©Liesl Clark

The thing is, it’s all it’s cracked up to be. How do I feel day 10? Pretty damn great. I’m sleeping better than I have in years, my aches (which likely comes from inflammation) in my joints has disappeared, and a knee and hip injury that I’ve been dealing with for 2 years is feeling a bit better. I’m likely losing weight, but who knows? There’s a lot of fat in this diet, more than I’ve ever eaten on a daily basis, so I could be the only person to have ever gained weight on a Whole30 month-long experiment. But this isn’t necessarily about weight. I decided to do this to address my insomnia, pain in my right knee and hip, and my migraines.

Whole30 meals: So, what do Whole30 peeps eat, you ask? Protein (eggs, fish, meat of all kinds), veggies, nuts and fruits. There’s no snacking. So, at each meal you can eat as much as you want. After a few days, you lose the desire to snack as the meals are very satisfying, high in fat. Coconut in every form is used as much as possible. Avocados, too.

Prosciutto with oven baked sweet potato fries (amazingly delicious at Nomnom Paleo), slices of avocado, radish and celery and a few macadamia nuts. ©Liesl Clark

But here’s the thing: It ain’t really paleo. Full disclosure here, I haven’t actually bought the book (part of my ethic of buying no commercial propaganda when trying out a lifestyle change. Luckily, everything you need is available online. If it seems to resonate with me as a generally worth-while change in my world-view, I’ll buy the book!) So, I don’t know the extent of their paleo claims. But, if you watch my friend, Tina’s TED talk, you’ll come to learn that Paleolithic peoples didn’t really eat as much meat as these paleo diets propose.

Meat and potato gut bomb? Well, it was good. Baked potato on a bed of baby spinach with caramelized onions and mushrooms with chicken apple sausages. ©Liesl Clark

In our nearly 10 years of archaeological climbing expeditions in Nepal, we recover the bones of ancient people out of high cliff caves and then the teeth go to Tina’s lab where she not only extracts DNA from them so we can learn much about the people’s origins and genetic makeup, but she also studies their dental calculus (the plaque) and determines much about their diet.

Tina Warinner is able to discern so much about ancient diets from studying the dental calculus (plaque) of early people. This is a human skull recovered from the caves of Mebrak, Nepal, dating back 2,300 years. ©Liesl Clark

Tina has looked closely at the dental plaque of early peoples and she can state as fact that meat was not a huge part of most paleo diets. It would have been a big protein source on occasion for humans who had access to meat, but nuts, berries, and wild vegetative matter, fruit, and especially legumes primarily made up their diet.

Maybe a Tad Too Much Meat: I’m fascinated by what is involved in taking dairy and grains and sugar out of my diet. So far, my sense is that the elimination of all sugars is probably the best thing I’ve done in years. (And, I think removing the caffeine has been great for me, too.) But as a mostly vegetarian, I’m struggling with the meat equation in this diet, because I know any meat Paleolithic peoples would’ve eaten was extremely lean. Today’s market meat is bred for fat. (Eat local chicken in Nepal and it tastes like wild pheasant.) I know what a toll meat production takes on our environment, and I also believe that plant-based diets are the most healthy diets we can have. I look forward to introducing beans and lentils back into my diet as my main source of protein while being restrictive on the wheat, especially GMO grains and flours.

These are the debates going on in my head, knowing what the archaeological and sustainability communities have to say about “paleo” diets. I’m a forager at heart and my sense is that if we eat what’s abundant around us, growing in the very ecosystem and climate where we live, than those are the organic foods that are going to be best for us. But, for now, I’m letting eggs and mostly white meat enter my digestive tract to see if the protein and high fats can help me with my lack of wheat, sugar, and dairy. So far, it is. I have no hunger between meals. And the physical changes are mostly for the better.

Homemade almond butter (recipe coming soon!) sliced bananas and blueberries.

Over the course of this month, I’ll be posting my thoughts on this diet, my own experience, and some of my own recipes that I’ve cobbled and know will be staples on our simplefoods menu in the future.

Have you tried Whole30? How was your experience and have you incorporated much of what you’ve learned about your body’s reaction to dairy, wheat, sugar and legumes into your everyday life?

Breakfast Nut Bars

December 4, 2016December 17, 2016 / Liesl Clark / 9 Comments

We were hungry for something new at breakfast-time, and my mostly-vegetarian family just loves nuts. Inspired by Our Paleo Life, we were able to come up with a recipe that is better than any Kind Bar we’ve bought. These nut bars are perfection, and have become a family breakfast or snack-time staple. This recipe, like all my recipes, is meant to be played with, to suit your palate and what’s in your cupboards:

Use any combination of the following nuts, to reach a total of about 6 cups:

Almonds

Walnuts

Pecans

Pumpkin Seeds

Hazelnuts

Chop nuts into smaller sizes, so you have pieces of nuts that’ll stick together well in a bar.

Add:

1/2 Cup Flax Seeds

1/2 Cup Toasted Coconut

1/2 Cup Rolled Oats

1/2 Teaspoon Sea Salt (I use a Fleur de Sel)

1/4 Cup Cacao

1/4 – 1/2 Cup Agave

1/2 Cut Raisins

1/2 Cup Peanut Butter

3-4 Tablespoons Molasses

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Mix everything together in a bowl and place the mixture into a glass baking dish lined with parchment paper that comes up the sides.

Place in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. Press the mixture down with your overlapped parchment when you pull it out of the oven, to compress the bar mixture. Pull out the square mixture with the parchment paper sides and place on a wire rack to let it cool for 30 minutes. Press your large square again when your mixture has cooled and then turn the whole thing over and place on another square of parchment so the bottom is facing up.

Cut your nut mixture into bars and wrap individually for snacks!

33 Eggshell Reuses

October 28, 2016October 28, 2016 / Liesl Clark / 9 Comments

In the heart of the summer, our chickens lay a dozen eggs for us a day. For a family of 4 with 14 hens, we go through a lot of eggs. Here are a few reuses for those hardy shells.

1) Garden Fertilizer/Compost: Throw your shells in your compost or yard waste bin if your municipal recyclers allow kitchen scraps in there. Try to crumble them as they’ll decompose more easily if you do. They add calcium and other minerals to your garden soil. I use a stone mortar and pestle by the composter to crush them. Some people even put them in the blender.

2) Worm Food: Our worm bin worms love egg shells. Truly. I find their eggs inside eggshell clusters.

3) Garden Pest Deterrent: Crush and spread them around your favorite plants. Some slugs, snails and cutworms just don’t like them so they won’t “cross the line.”

4) Pot Drainage: Crumble them up and add them to the bottom of potted plants that need drainage. Tomatoes and eggplants will love the added calcium to deter end rot.

5) Chicken Egg Hardener: If your chickens are laying eggs with soft shells feed them some…..eggshells. I know that sounds gross, but it helps give them a dose of calcium and the girls love it. Be sure to crush the shells. Chickens go on the shape of things for foraging so if they get used to eating egg-shaped goodies they’ll start eating their (gasp) own eggs.

6) Eggshell Candles: Yes! They’re beautiful and easy to make.

7) Homemade Space Geodes: These are really cool to make with the kids and they even glow in the dark.

8) Spring Flower Vase: These look quite beautiful with hyacinths held in an egg cup. I only have one chicken that lays white eggs, but seeing these makes me want to save all those white shells.

9) Organic Seedling Starter Pots: Just plant your seeds inside the shell (with potting soil too, of course you dummy), put the shell inside your cardboard egg carton, fill all the other egg carton cups up and you can plant the whole thing in your garden.

10) Egg Shell Succulent Planters: Make a lovely mini succulent garden using your egg shells and the carton, too.

11) Sidewalk Chalk: Big sticks of sidewalk chalk are easy to make and you can use a toilet paper tube roll as your mold and just peel it off.

12) Science Eggsperiments: Here are 10 cool science-y experiments for your child to try with eggs. Fun!

13) Calcium Supplement: Skip the pills and simply bake your shells at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. Let them cool and grind them to a fine powder. Add your supplement (a teaspoon or less) to your favorite smoothie or juice once a day.

14) Pet Calcium Supplement: Do the same as above but just add the powder to their food.

15) Egg Shell Mosaics: You can make beautiful mosaics with Easter egg shells or from ones you dye just for this project.

16) Drain Cleaner: Occasionally send a few crushed-up egg shells down the drain. They can help keep it unclogged by their abrasive action.

17) Egg Shell Decor: Getting in the Easter spirit? Try this idea of hanging your egg shells from a tree as a pretty accent.

18) Instant Bandaid: This one’s my favorite. Technically, you’re using the inner membrane of the shell. Tear a bandaid-size piece of it from your egg shell and place it over your ow-ie. By overlapping the 2 ends together, they stick and will stop the bleeding, too. Love it.

19) Vanilla Custard Pots: Serve up your vanilla custard in natural egg shells.

20) Egg Shell Frame: Make a cool modpodge picture frame with egg shells.

21) Christmas Ornaments: If you blow your eggs out you can turn the shells into pretty ornaments.

22) Abrasive Cleaner: Crush them to a coarse texture and use them to scrub down your pots.

23) De-Bitter Your Coffee: If your coffee is too bitter, add finely crushed egg shell powder to your coffee filter and your joe will taste smoother and sweeter.

24) Bird Food: Add some crushed shells to your bird seed mix. The birds need calcium, too.

25) Garbage Disposal Drain Cleaner: Feed some to your garbage disposal. They are an eggsellent cleaner and sharpener for it.

26) Soup Stock Booster: Add egg shells to your soup stock when boiling it. The nutrients can’t hurt.

27) Garden Walkway Addition: I add crushed shells to a garden path made of white gravel and sea shells. The egg shells just blend right in and hopefully deter the slugs, feed the birds, amend the soil, etc, etc. I guess I like walking on egg shells.

28) Stain Remover: According to Apartment Therapy crushed egg shells can help remove stains in your sink, on your tea pot and from other kitchen or household items.

29) Laundry Whitener: Some say that if you toss some shells in a mesh bag in your laundry, the gray tint to your whites will disappear.

30) Sensory Play: Egg shells make great sensory play items for your toddler.

31) Eggshell Toothpaste: That just about says it all — follow the directions in the link. My daughter and I are going to make some this weekend.

32) Cute Halloween Ghost Decoration: They hang like wind chimes but look like little ghosts on the breeze.

33) Try the Walking on Eggs Experiment: Want to make eggs into eggshells fast? Try this! No, seriously, this experiment conducted by a 6-year-old is a pictorial essay worth checking out.

Now that you’ve reused your egg shells so nicely, what to do with those egg cartons?!

Pioneering The Simple Life

Healthy Living in Fragile Environments

Recipes

Corn Mache, The Sustainable Green

Paleo Sugar-Free Seed Crunch

Easy Scrappy Vegetable Broth

Paleo Caesar Dressing (Whole30, too)

My Whole30 Detox – First 15 Days

Vegan Parsley Pesto

Garlic Kale Poached Eggs, My Whole30 Go-To Breakfast

My Whole30 Detox Month – Day 10

Breakfast Nut Bars

33 Eggshell Reuses