A Reclaimed Wood Wall Art Roundup

Ever since I met {J} over at Twigs and Twine, 

she's kept me busy, busy, BUSY with more reclaimed wood orders.  

If you head over you can see my latest batch displayed.

Some are custom like this one and this one, but for the most part,

I get to just play.

From the next several pictures, it's obvious that I've been playing with

different fonts, different designs, and different colors.

I seriously have crafting ADD.

It's funny to go through my stash of supplies and remember which phase I was in at the time.

Scrapbooking.  Check.

Card making.  Check.

Jewelery making.  Check.

Quilting.  Check.

Vinyl.  Check.

Sewing Fabric Bags.  Check.

Sewing Maxi Skirts.  Check, check and still checking!

But now it's on to reclaimed wood.

For the most part it's pallet wood, but occationally

I will score some different pieces like a sheet of lovely beadboard and plywood.

And since none of these signs will be going up in my house,

I just put them in the best looking place for display for the pictures.

Hence, they are all taken in the same spot.

If you want a different setting... well use your own imagination.

So here's the round up.

First is a Bakery sign on beadboard.

I love the font.  It's the same one I used in my blog header.

Chalkboard hand lettering.

Again the process is the same as this one and this one.

I make the transparency, print it at Staples for $1,

take it home and set up my projector and start tracing.

I used to use contact paper and the Cricut, but I felt limited on what I could design.

The projector method takes longer for sure, but I have more artistic license.

There I go talking like I'm actually a real artist.

Nah.  Just a crafty girl who likes to play with power tools and paint.

Bonus is that I'm actually getting paid to craft.

That's never happened before and I'm savoring every moment.

I like playing with birds and have used them quite a bit in the past.

These are some new images I found and thought I would try them out.

This one is a throwback to this board I made at the beginning of the year.

Same image, totally different design and color.

Again more bird love.

I think it's fun that you can see part of the labeling on the wood.

It says product of Canada.

Kind of cool.

I love this word-art.  

I plan on doing something like this for my daughter for her room.

I just have to decide on the medium.

Haven't got that far yet.

Last was a quick piece that was super easy to paint.

I love it when pieces come together quickly with out much extra work.

I've wanted to  play with come kitchen images and have done a few in the past.

I definitely see some zinc letters in my future.

But for now... enjoy!

That's enough for one day.

Sheesh.  I'm tired.

Another day saving the planet using reclaimed wood

and making things a little more beautiful.

If I do say so myself.  ;)

Roasted Vegetable Stock

Market on the Move started back up again around here
and it's time to get back to canning.
I love vegetable stock and use it all the time.
It's a great way to incorporate more veggies into our meals
sneaky style, plus it adds great flavor in place of plain water.

I was looking around on the internet for different versions of stock
and came across a roasted version,
I've recently decided I like the flavor of roasted veggies.
Usually for dinner I will cut up a few different kinds of vegetables
into chunks, drizzle them with olive oil, and my favorite seasoning.
Then put it in the oven with the rack at the medium height, turn on the broiler,
then let bake for 7 minutes, stir, 7 minutes more, stir, 5 minutes, stir...
etc. until they are done to my liking.  It usually takes about 20 minutes.
Something about roasting boosts the flavor exponentially.

So I thought I would try roasting my veggies for the stock.
Let me just say that I will never go back.  So good!

So lets get started.

Roasted Vegetable Stock

Wash and chop the following:

1 pound carrots cut into 1 inch pieces
1 bunch celery cut into 1 inch pieces
3 medium onions cut into 1 inch pieces
2-3 bell peppers of your choice, I used green but red or yellow would be good too, cut into pieces
2 large tomatoes seeded and diced.

Place in oven on broil with the rack at medium height.
Roast for 7 minutes.  Remove and stir.
Roast for another 7 minutes, stir, repeat.
Roast for 5 minutes, stir, repeat.

When the veggies are done to your liking, remove from oven.

Put roasted veggies into a large stock pot and cover with water.

Add the following:

3 cloves garlic

3 bay leaves

1 tsp dry whole thyme

8 peppercorns

Stir and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 1-2 hours to reduce the stock.

Scoop a few cups at a time and place in your blender.  Puree.

Then pour through a strainer or cheesecloth to remove large chunks.

Don't discard the chunks.

I saved these and use them in my noodles for homemade chicken noodle soup, 

and replaced some of the liquid for the veggies in my wheat thin recipe for a veggie cracker.  

Very good!

You will have a lot of the chunky stuff, 

so put it in your cupcake tins to freeze individual portions.

When they are frozen, pop them out and put in ziplock bags to use later.

Easy, and nothing wasted.

Pour the strained stock into washed and prepared jars and attach lids and rings.

Remember to slightly heat the lids in simmering water to soften the rubber.

Put jars into a pressure canner.

Because there are more veggies than just tomatoes, you can't use a boiling water cannner.

Follow manufacturers instructions for pressure canning.

Process jars: 30 minutes for pints, 35 minutes for quarts at 10 pounds of pressure.

Let pressure come down naturally.

Remove from canner and let sit on a wire rack for 24 hours to cool and allow the jars to finish sealing.

Once the jars are done, lable, and add to your pantry.

Did you know that you can remove the rings after the jars are sealed?

The lid keeps everything protected, and you can re-use the rings on another jar.

Sometime I forget to remove the rings, but either way is OK.

Roasted Vegetable stock.

So good.

Need some ideas on how to use it:

Use it place of some of the liquid in Garden Breadsticks.

Use it in place of all or part of water making chili, stew, or other soups.

Use it to replace all or part of the water when cooking rice or pasta.

Use in place for all or part of the water in Artisan Pizza Dough.

Or in Artisan Cheesey Bread Sticks.

Or in Artisan Bread.

Really, you can use it just about anywhere to replace the water in a recipe.

Instant flavor and nutritional boost!

Yummm....

Happy Valentines Day with a little Pallet Love

Happy Valentine's Day!  

I wanted to share a little Love from me to you with one of my latest Pallet Wood projects.  

Remember this board that I did at the beginning of the year.  It will always be one of my favorite projects, even it if was a lot of work and is super heavy. 

The color combination and fonts used worked perfectly together.  

Sometimes I think I'm pretty creative, but for this one, it was all the customer.  

But since I now have the transparency with this image on it, I've used it again and again and again.

Actually this design has become my bread and butter.  

And if you know me well enough, the pun was intended.  

I have made many, many pieces just like this one.  

But rather than take pictures of the same design over and over again, 

I will just show you this one.

Sometimes I will use the apple cider vinegar to darken up the wood before painting.  

This time I didn't and kept the whole thing au natural.

I have also had a few customers ask for one that is white washed, with black or brown letters.

Sorry I didn't take any photos, but I can guarantee I will be making more of them.

So here's to a Happy Valentines Day!

Love you!

Soaked Homemade Grape Nuts Cereal

Generally in my house Breakfast consists of either 

Buckwheat Waffles, or eggs and toast, or cereal.  

Usually Cereal when I'm feeling lazy or have too much going on.  

Which unfortunately happens more often than I'd like to admit.  

I know you are fixing crepes, quiche, muffins, 

puffy oven pancakes, etc. etc. each morning 

but alas for us those are saved for weekends when I have more time.

So when I decided I didn't want to buy boxed cereal anymore, 

I started searching for other kinds of cereal 

I could make from scratch at home 

that would be much better nutritionally for my family.

I've been making granola for a while, but haven't posted my new favorite yet.  

That will come later this week.  

Today I thought I'd share a wonderful recipe that uses my two favorite ingredients.  

Whole Grain and Milk Kefir.  

It's fairly easy to make, just a little extra time so plan ahead.

Here's my milk Kefir grains freshly strained and ready for the next batch.

I love these little guys!

My milk Kefir always goes in a Mason Jar.  

Usually in the fridge for a few days to let the grains do their job.  

If I need more Milk Kefir faster, the jar goes under the counter in the cupboard for 24 hours.  

They work faster when they are warmer.  

Hmmm... Kind of like me.

Maybe that's why I live in Arizona.

Here's the Recipe:

Soaked HomeMade Grape Nuts Cereal

3 1/2 cups of fresh ground whole grain flour

(I usually mix the grains, soft white wheat, hard white wheat, buckwheat, hard red wheat, etc.)

2 cups milk Kefir

1/2 cup raw sugar

1 tsp soda

1/2 tsp sea salt

We go through cereal pretty fast so I doubled the recipe, but this is for one batch.

Mix the fresh ground flour and 1 1/2 cups milk Kefir until well moistened.

Cover and let sit on the counter for 12-24 hours or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

To the soaked mixture add remaining 1/2 cup milk Kefir, raw sugar, soda and sea salt.

Mix well.  It will be a soft runny dough like mass.  Don't worry.

Prepare a large cookie sheet with cooking spray.  I use Coconut Oil Spray.

Pour batter on to cookie sheet and spread out to an even thickness.

Bake for 30 minutes and check it.  If the sides start to brown, remove the pan and gently break up the dough and turn it over for even baking.

Continue for another 30 minutes or until browned to your liking.

If it's still too soft, bake a little more, or break up the pieces and put them in your dehydrator for a couple of hours to completely dry.

In a blender or food processor, place no more than 1/2 to 1 cup chunks of the batter and pulse to break up the pieces to the desired size.  It doesn't take too long. 20 seconds or so.

Store in an airtight container.

I like mine topped with blueberries.  These were frozen from last summer's harvest.

Still perfectly yummy!

Pour some whole or raw milk and enjoy!

So good!

Perfectly Wonderful Sprouted Whole Grain Bread

Let's get back to basics.

Bread.

It's my life. My weakness. My world.

I'm constantly trying new recipes and since I make bread about every 5 days,

I make a TON of bread.

Now that I'm on the Real Food way of eating and preparing,

I sprout every batch of whole grains.

It is a little more time consuming, but not difficult.

I usually have a batch of grain at one point or another nearly every day of the week.

I just put a fresh batch of grain in to soak this morning.

It will soak for 24 hours.

Then I drain it and leave it in the container for another 24-36 hours to sprout.

Then in the dehydrator to dry for about 8-12 hours, usually overnight.

This means my grain is ready to be ground into flour in the morning which is when

I like to make bread.  

Usually while I'm getting the kids ready for school.

And since this recipe is whole grain it is fairly quick to make, 

no double rise, like normal white bread.

I can have fresh bread coming out right about the time 

the youngest kiddos are ready to walk out the door.  

Let me just say that I love the smell of fresh baked bread.

I better.  I make it all the time.

So this is my new favorite.

It is a remake of a King Arthur Flour recipe that you can see here.

But of course I "Shell-i-fied" the recipe to make it suit my tastes better.

I tried making their version and it just didn't work for me. 

Honestly I'm not sure why.

But here's my version.

Sprouted Whole Grain Bread

I soak 10 cups of grain for each batch.  It gives me enough for bread and a few cups leftover for other uses like waffles, cookies, tortillas, crackers, etc.. etc...

Here's my blend of grain:

3 cups hard red wheat

2 cups soft white wheat

3 cups hard white wheat

1 cup buckwheat groats

1 cup kamut

Place grain in large container and cover with water.

I know this next picture is a little gross, 

but I discovered another benefit to soaking and sprouting your grain.  

Let's face it. 

Grains get bugs.  

In a perfect world, 

I'd have a huge walk in freezer and refrigerator to keep all my grains in.  

I do have them in the house in a cool dark room, 

but inevitably the little buggers get in there.  

Some people would through out the whole 25 lb bag of grain.  

I don't have that luxury, 

or they would just grind it all up and 

never know they were getting a little added protein in their food.  

Not the ideal.  

So when I started soaking the grains, 

I realized the huge added benefit.  

I can fill my container all the way up.  

Swish my hand inside the grain a bit 

to loosen up the grains and allow all the buggers to float to the top.  

Pour off the top.  

Bye Bye Buggers!  

Awesome!

Let the grain sit drained and covered for another 24-36 hours to let the berries sprout. 

It's ok if you forget and let them get longer tails.  

I actually like the end result better than just the little nubs in the picture below, 

but I wouldn't have known that had I not been sprouting on a weekly basis.  

Put it on dehydrator trays.  

I had to cover my trays with parchment paper 

because the holes are too big and the wheat berries would fall through.

Dry in the dehydrator for 8-12 hours.  I usually let mine go overnight.

They need to be completely dry or they will gum up your grain grinder.

I cannot be held responsible for messing up your grain grinder.

Grind the grain as usual.

Now that's done, let's make Bread!

In a Bosch or Blend-tec mixer combine the following:

(if you're using a Kitchen-Aid, you will need to 1/2 the recipe)

5 1/3 cups warm water (if its comfortable for you, it will be for the yeast)

(Optional: if you have some tomato juice, I sometimes reduce the water to 4 cups and add 1 1/3 cups tomato juice.  The acidity of the tomato helps calm down the grainy-ness of the whole grain and makes it more,... well just better.)

1 cup applesauce or oil

1 cup raw sugar

1/4 cup molasses

2 Tbsp sea salt

2 Tbsp dough enhancer

2 Tbsp vital gluten

5-6 cups fresh ground sprouted flour

4 Tbsp yeast

Mix for about 30 seconds to 1 minute.

Cover and let the mixture sponge for about 10 minutes.

Uncover the mixer and on speed 1, slowly add more whole grain flour.

As the dough starts holding together, I add about 3 cups unbleached white flour.

I wish I could be a purist, 

but unfortunately I have yet to find the perfect 100% whole wheat recipe that doesn't fall flat.

When the dough cleans the sides of the bowl, 

cover, increase the speed to 2 and let knead for 10 minutes.

Prepare the loaf pans with non-stick spray.  

Coconut oil spray is my favorite.

Put a little olive oil on the counter and on your hands when the kneading is done.

Turn out the dough and separate into 4 balls of dough.

Shape into loaves and place in bread pans.

Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until about 1 inch above the rim of the pan.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

When the oven is ready, uncover the loaves and place in oven.

Turn heat down to 325 degrees and let bake 35-37 minutes depending on your oven.

I have found that sprouted wheat tends to be 

a little more moist than traditional wheat flour 

so I bake my sprouted loaves longer to make sure they aren't dough-y in the middle.

When they are done baking, remove from oven and let cool on wire racks.

Slice a little piece of heaven, or store in airtight bags or containers.

My favorite is a fresh slice of homemade bread and real butter!

Mmmm.... is it lunch time yet?

By the way, this is perfect sandwich bread.  

Not too crumbly and holds up well for my kiddo's lunches every day.

Enjoy!