Feeding The Family

Tropicana Orange Juice Drink with Stevia

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:14:25 -0600

Tropicana has a new orange juice beverage that is sweetened with stevia. Check out Trop50 at the Tropicana website. It contains 42% orange juice (not from concentrate). This reduces the sugar content to 10 g per 8 fl. oz. (regular Tropicana orange juice has 22 g). This may be a good way to reduce your (or your family's) sugar and calorie intake without giving up orange juice completely.

Tomato Mug

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 12:40:31 -0600

One of my recent products at Zazzle.com. This image is also available on a postcard and a mousepad.

Tomato Mug by CityFarmer
Make custom printed coffee mugs On zazzle
More Color Mugs

Backyard Farmer

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 11:20:43 -0600

With a large garden, several fruit trees, and numerous fruit bushes, I like to think of my backyard as a small farm. I hope to produce plenty of food for the family, and someday I may have enough to sell at a Farmer's Market. But ... how can I sell at a Farmer's Market unless I'm a farmer? Well, that's what I am. I'm a backyard farmer!

If you have a small farm in your backyard, let people know with this shirt! It is available in a variety of colors and styles, including men's and women's styles.

Backyard Farmer by CityFarmer
Get tshirts on Zazzle
See more Hobbies T-Shirts

Brighten your morning with this mug

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 13:51:41 -0600

Add a little color to your morning with this mug!

Yellow Flower Mug by CityFarmer
Make a customizable travel mug On zazzle.com
See other Color Mugs

Dairy-Free and Sugar-Free Pumpkin Pie

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 12:18:32 -0600

This year, we are following a low-carb diet, so I needed to update my pumpkin pie recipe. I used xylitol and stevia in place of the sugar, and it turned out great!

3 eggs
1/2 cup xylitol
1/2 tsp. stevia extract powder
1 13.5 fl. oz. can coconut milk
1 15 oz. can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)
1/2 Tbsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
pinch of ground cloves
1 partially baked 10-inch pie shell or a deep 9-inch pie shell

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In bowl of electric mixer, combine eggs, xylitol, and stevia. Mix until smooth. Stir in the coconut milk, pumpkin puree, and vanilla extract. Add the salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves and mix.

Pour mixture into pie shell. Bake the pie until set, approximately 1 hour. Cool the pie to room temperature. Serve.

I used a whole wheat pie crust I had in the freezer, but I'd recommend using a low-carb crust instead. This makes a little more than will fit in a standard 9-inch pie crust. I poured the extra in a custard cup and baked it separately.

Single Serve Teeccino

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 20:43:47 -0600

If you're not familiar with Teeccino, it is an herbal coffee that is available in 10 different flavors. It contains no coffee or caffeine. It is called "herbal coffee" because it has a flavor similar to coffee, and it can be brewed the same way as coffee. Even though it contains no coffee, it is called herbal coffee, just like herbal tea contains no actual tea.

It comes ground in bags or cans (although it seems like they are discontinuing the cans). You can put it in your coffee maker and brew a pot, but what about the single-serve coffee makers, such as Keurig or Senseo machines? I have made it in both types, and it works well. You will need to buy some additional accessories, though.

For the Keurig, I use the My K-Cup reusable filter. I put one tablespoon of Teeccino in the filter and place it in the Keurig brewer. You can adjust the amount, of course, to make it stronger or weaker depending on your personal preference. For pod brewers like the Senseo, I use the Perfect Pod Maker. Again, I put one tablespoon of Teeccino in each pod. For the Senseo brewer, it may work better in the double pod holder.

Zevia found at Lakewinds!

Fri, 30 May 2008 17:38:20 -0600

I'm thrilled! When I was at Lakewinds in Chanhassen today, I saw that they have all four flavors of Zevia on the shelf! (Well, they were apparently sold out of the Ginger Root Beer, but they had a spot for it.) If you are in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota and are interested in trying Zevia, you can now buy it locally.

Zevia is "The Natural Alternative to Diet Soda". It uses stevia, which currently can only be sold as a dietary supplement in the US (although that may change in the near future). All four flavors (Cola, Twist (lemon lime), Orange, and Ginger Root Beer) are all natural. Zevia contains no sugar or artificial sweeteners. Best of all, it tastes great, especially the Ginger Root Beer.

UPDATE: The Zevia blog has information about this, along with quotes from two emails I sent them!

Single serve coffee - links

Mon, 12 May 2008 15:35:49 -0600

Some links I have found:

Online stores that sell coffee pods

Other links

Perfect Pod Maker - make your own coffee pods
Single Serve Coffee - a blog about single serve coffee

Get a single-serve coffee maker for almost free

Sat, 10 May 2008 21:02:08 -0600

Go to www.sharesenseo.com and take the survey. You may qualify for a free Senseo® Coffee Pod System. (You have to pay $15 S&H.) According to the website, you will receive a Senseo® Coffee Pod System, a bag of coffee pods, a coffee pod canister, five $20-off coupons for the Senseo® Coffee Machine (to give to your friends and family), and a coupon for $1 off any Sara Lee frozen dessert.

I suspect they are doing this for two reasons:

Increase the number of coffee pod buyers
Sell more through word-of-mouth advertising (that's what the $20 coupons are for)

If you've been wanting to try a coffee pod system, this may be a good way to go.

Blog Update

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:24:12 -0600

I have moved this blog to the Movable Type 4.01 software. Hopefully everything still works.

Hot Cocoa with agave nectar

Sun, 23 Dec 2007 18:53:07 -0600

For each cup (8 fl. oz.) of milk (dairy or non-dairy -- I used oat), add:

1 Tbsp. cocoa
1 Tbsp. agave nectar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Heat while stirring. I used the Cocomotion hot chocolate maker by Mr. Coffee.

Garden Catalogs

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 17:26:31 -0600

It's almost December, and that means it is time for ...

GARDEN CATALOGS!!!!

I've received three catalogs this week.

Totally Tomatoes - As the name suggests, they have a lot of varieties of tomatoes. They also have a good selection of peppers.
Gurney's - They sell a wide variety of products, including seeds, annual plants, trees, shrubs, and other perennials. I've had good results with plants from Gurney's in the past.
High Mowing Organic Seeds - A wide selection of certified organic seeds.

I'm looking forward to browsing through these catalogs!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 10:09:39 -0600

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm taking a short break from cooking, but I'll be back at it soon.

If you're still looking for recipes, here are a few:

Dairy Free Pumpkin Pie (Currently the most popular page on this blog)
Cranberry Orange Relish
Pumpkin Muffins, if you need a break from pie
An interesting recipe from the Google Executive Chef in San Francisco: Buttercup Squash Soufflé (I have not tried this, but it sounds good!)

Abbreviations that don't quite work

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 13:47:57 -0600

I recently bought a small succulent plant from Lowe's. However, it isn't immediately clear from the receipt that this was a plant:

Fall: Cleaning and Planning

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 18:52:08 -0600

Fall brings overnight frost, which marks the end of the gardening season. As most vegetables are annuals, it is time to clean up the garden and start preparations for next year. I made good use of my new tractor this year. As I took tomato cages out of the ground, I put them in the cart that I had behind the tractor for easy transport back to the garage. Then, I went over the remaining plants with the mower to chop them up before getting the tiller out. That made it much easier to till everything under. There were no long vines to wrap around the tines of the tiller. One pass with the tiller is all it took.

I also took some time to look around the rest of the yard. Some of the fruit trees will need some pruning early next year. I also need to build trellises for the raspberries. I have some space in the raspberry row for a few more raspberry plants, or maybe some blackberries.

I don't have room for any more fruit trees (at least not without taking the elm tree out). I will be adding one more blueberry bush next spring. I also have a place for another row of small bushes, but it is somewhat shaded by the neighbor's maple trees.

I've done some searching, and it seems that plants in the Ribes genus will tolerate some shade, and may actually prefer it in some cases. This genus includes gooseberries and currants. The hardy kiwi appears to tolerate shade as well, but I think I may stick with the gooseberries and currants. I should have enough room to plant several different varieties. I planted one gooseberry this spring, and it has done very well. The rabbits don't seem to bother it. I assume they don't like the thorns. (I think I could use a few more plants with built-in defenses like that!)

I haven't decided on any particular varieties yet. If anyone has any favorites of either currants (any color) or gooseberries, feel free to mention them in the comments. :)