Homemade Pasta Sauce

Sorry for the lack of photos but I really wanted to get this recipe up.  I promised my friend and congo mate for this about a month ago.   Ooooops.

I don't measure anything when I make my sauce so this is approximates.  You can add or subtract to taste.

Ingredients:

- tomatoes..In the summer I use my own paste tomatoes.    I take about 15 and throw them in my Vitamix whole.  If it's not summer I buy a 16 oz can of organic whole tomatoes. and mash them with a potato masher.

-2 chopped shallots

-3 cloves of garlic chopped

-4 tbsp olive oil

-1/4 cup honey

-6 basil leaves chopped

-1/4 tsp Cheyenne pepper (in the summer I throw 1 jalapeno in the Vitamix along with the tomatoes)

salt, pepper, oregano, thyme,rosemary to taste

In sauce pan heat up oil.   Throw in a piece of onion, if it sizzles it's ready.   Throw in the rest of onion and garlic.  Saute until onions are softened up.   Add your tomatoes until boil.   Add honey, basil, cheyenne.   Bring to a simmer.    Add the rest of the ingredients.   You can serve it like that or you can cook it down.   I usually simmer mine on the lowest heat for 3 hours.  The longer you simmer the thicker and sweeter it gets.  It's so yummy.   

You can use it for everything.  We use it for pasta, pizza, lasagna and I freeze it.

Here's my Lasagna featuring my yummy sauce. There's a layer of eggplant (from my garden) in the Lasagna.

Meditation Monday 8-15-11

Each Monday I will post an inspirational quote, a mantra or short guided meditation for you to start your week out positive.

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 "Experience is not what happens to a man, it is what a man does with what happens to him." ~ Aldous Huxley

~

Peppermint Essential Oil

Peppermint (Mentha × piperita) essential oil is really a great oil to have on hand for it's many uses.  

We use it a lot in the summer for ants.   We use it in two ways.    First, we take a spray bottle fill it with water and add about 10 drops of the EO.   We use this to spray around the perimeter of all the rooms, in the doorways and window sills.   On the rare occasion that we get ants in the house we spray them and the area and wipe up.   They flee fast when it's sprayed around them.      Second, we put a drop of the Peppermint EO in our steam mop.  Our house smells fresh and it helps keep the ants away.

Other uses for peppermint eo:
Use for flavoring in baking
Use for flavoring in coffee or hot chocolate.
Use a drop in water to settle an upset belly.
Smell directly from bottle or make a steam bath for nasal congestion.
Dilute in olive oil and rub into your temples for headaches.

Garden 2011

 I really love having a garden.  It's been such a learning experience and once I figure one thing out there seems to be a new mystery to solve.   I think my next post will be about what I learned about tomatoes.

Here's my spaghetti squash plant.  I thought I would try that in a pot.   So far only one fruit on it.  I'm thinking it's getting to much shade.   I did hand pollinate and still just this one squash.

 Here is a mix of goodies.  Marigolds, Lemon Balm, Parsley and a Cantaloupe.

 Watermelons are doing fantastic.  This is my first year that they have done this well.   So far I have 3 bowling ball size fruits and about 10 golf ball sized fruits.  I also have one eggplant in the same box.

 My only surviving pumpkin plant.  I had a white pumpkin, sugar pumpkins and Cinderella pumpkins.  They were doing fantastic, until the vine borers DESTROYED them.   I seemed to be able to save this one though.  I just noticed another baby growing so maybe I'll get two jack o lantern pumpkins for the kids!

 My favorite fruit ever is cantaloupe, which is a good thing because I thought this was a honeydew plant. As you can see it's not so I have 4 cantaloupe plants that are producing LOTS of fruit.   If you have any ideas of what I can do with cantaloupe let me know!

 Butternut squash are doing great also.  I planted to many of those too, however that I will freeze to use in mac and cheese through the winter and in other dishes.
Isn't she pretty.   I'm hoping to get some Echinacea tattoos soon.

 Tomato plants.....I can't even look at them.  So depressing.   That will be another post.

So besides the pumpkin thing and my tomato saga (which will hopefully end on a good note) I would call my garden another success.   I can't wait to start again next year.  In the meantime I'm going to try some cold weather crops this month and talk DH into a hydroponic tower for lettuce.

The tale of two oils....

I make my own infused oils to use in my formulations.  The oils must solar infuse for at least 3 months to satisfy my wants in an oil.  Anything over 3 months is a bonus.     The more it infuses the more healing properties in the oil.   Here is a photo of the oil I use for our diaper rash salve.

 It's a beautiful golden color.  It works beautifully, is rich and healing.   I love it.
Although, that is wonderful, with a little patience you get something that is breathtaking.    It has a rich, green hue.  The smell is stronger, but not offensive.  It's my already awesome oil pumped up a few notches.  Here it is.  One year in the making. 

Meditation Monday 8-01-11

Each Monday I will post an inspirational quote, a mantra or short guided meditation for you to start your week out positive.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 And may we ever have joy and gratitude in our hearts that the great Creator of all things, in His Love for us, has placed the herbs in the fields for His healing.- Edward Bach

Long time no post....

I took a bit of a vacation.  As you can see I haven't posted here since November!!!!   That's about to change.  I'm about done with school and I'm finally getting use to my husbands new work schedule.  It only took over a year.    I'm ready to move forward and devote more time to Aromatics and Herbs.

So, here's a little catch up.   My garden is awesome this year but I'm so bad at photographing it.  I really need to get out and take some pictures even though half of it is gone now.    We got so many cukes.   I'll be posting a tute on the fridge pickles I made.    I had to rip up most of my squash/pumpkin plants.  The vine boarers got them big time.   I had a huge cinderella pumpkin too.  A borer made it's way into it.   I save it though and will take some pictures because it really is interesting.    Tomatoes are doing great but had some animal eat most of them.  I think I corrected that problem with some coffee grinds.  This was the first year our grape vine had grapes.  That has been a learning experience.  Next year we will need to net them.  The birds ate all 50 bunches.    Potatoes are awesome and we've been eating those.    I really just adore having a garden.

I started selling some food items again though the name "Back to Bliss Bake Shop."   I've been trying to figure out what direction I want to go with that and I believe I'm just going to stick to selling a limited amount of goods though Universal Mama. 

Kids are having a great summer.  We've been doing a lot of traveling around locally.   I feel like we are never home.   I love making positive memories for family.

I think that's about all for now.  Check back soon!

Peace and Love,
Heather