Fish Heads & Rice

One of our favorite lunches at home is what we call fish heads and rice.  We aren't actually eating fish heads.  It's just what we call sardines.  We try to eat them at least once a week.  Are you aware of how good they are nutritionally?

Sardines are so good for you!  

They promote heart and bone health, are packed with protein, and are one of the highest concentrated sources of omega 3 fatty acids.  I know several people who eat them straight out of the can for lunch on the go, but that's not for everyone.  It took me quite a bit of time to create the perfect recipe for a nice lunch when we're at home.

John loves rice.  He finds a way to incorporate it into several of our meals; even requesting I replace a different starch in my recipes with rice.  I used to be able to find an Asian Sesame Dressing in the local market, but like many of our favorite things to buy there, they stopped carrying it.  So then I had to research sesame dressings to be able to formulate my own recipe.  This dressing is the heart of the meal.  Without it, the rest is pretty bland and lackluster.

But lets really stop to think about rice for minute.  Most of the people I know are making instant rice or short grained white rice cooked in water.  This has got to be the fastest way to make a dish of rice that I do not want to eat unless you're serving it for breakfast with cinnamon, sugar, raisins, and almond milk!  Rice is very much like fresh mushrooms in the fact that they are ready to soak up so much flavor if you only give them a chance.  And unless you're making a large quantity of rice to make sushi - you shouldn't be using a rice cooker, in my opinion.  Rice is too easy to make to use a non multipurpose gadget.  And there is a plethora of rice types to choose from, that there has to be at least one you love.  Long grain, brown, wild, etc.  Try several types so you can get a feel for them and how the different ones would be better in particular recipes over another.  We usually stick to the sushi rice, it's pretty versatile.  However, there are occasions where a wild rice blend is preferable.

For two people, I use 3/4 cup of rice.  Figuring out how much fluid you need to properly cook the amount of grains you decide upon is super easy.  Simply double the measurement of your grains.  I fill up my 3/4 cup twice with my chosen fluid.  Depending on what I am serving with my rice will change what fluid I decide to use to cook the rice.  For this meal, I use vegetable broth.  Sometimes I use chicken broth or beef broth or turkey broth.  You get the idea.  But I pretty much never use water.  Sometimes, I will add a small pat of butter.  Again, it all depends on the rest of the meal.

Fish Heads & Rice

Serves 2

Total Time: 25 Minutes

Ingredients:

3/4 Cup Rice

1 1/2 Cups Vegetable Broth, measured out 3/4 cup at time

1 tea Sesame Oil

2 Cans Sardines

1 1/2 Tbl Rice Vinegar

1 Tbl Soy Sauce

1 tea Raw Sugar

2 tea Sesame Oil

1 Tbl Peanut Oil

1 Tbl Sesame Seeds

Set a dry pot over the burner and turn the heat to high.  Dump in the rice and toast the it for a couple minutes, gently swirling the rice in the pot a couple times.  Then, drizzle in a small amount of sesame oil and stir to coat the rice.  You only need enough oil to just barely coat the rice.  At this point, add 3/4 cup of vegetable broth.  It should come to a boil quickly.  Let it boil for a minute and then add the last 3/4 cup of broth.  Once it comes to a full boil, turn the heat to low.  Wait a minute and then cover the rice and set your timer to 15 minutes.

Now, start the dressing.  Combine the vinegar, sugar, and soy sauce in a small bowl.  Stir until the sugar is dissolved.  Add the oils.  

Open the sardines.  Depending on what brand you buy, you may need to remove the spines.  If you don't, they will be super hard and crunchy, and I'm not a fan of that texture in this dish.  Any other small bones are fine, you won't even notice that you've eaten them and they won't hurt you.  One can of sardines gets flaked into the bottom of a serving bowl.  Repeat the process into the second serving bowl.  When purchasing your sardines, go for the cans that have a smaller amount of fish in them as this will mean larger fish.  We typically buy the lightly smoked flavor, but packed in spring water or oil will also work.

Your timer should be about ready to beep at this point, and when it does you're going to turn off the burner the rice is on and remove the cover on the pot.  Give the rice a good stir and keep the pot over your hot burner even though you turned it off.

Take another small pot or skillet and put it over medium high heat.  Dump in your sesame seeds once the cooking vessel is hot.  Gently swirl the pot once in a while over the span of two or three minutes.  This is going to lightly toast the sesame seeds and add an element of depth to the dressing.  

Put half the rice in each bowl on top of the flaked sardines.  Then vigorously whisk the dressing to emulsify it.  Stir in the sesame seeds.  Drizzle half over each bowl of rice.  Stir it all up and enjoy!  We like this meal with a properly brewed cup of green tea, but that's a topic for another day.

If you make this recipe, snap a photo with #savoryeye!  I love seeing photos of food.

The Soaping Diaries - Book Review One

The Everything Soapmaking Book: 3rd Edition

I purchased two books when I decided I wanted to learn how to make natural soap, and this was one of them.  It took me some time between getting my books and actually making soap - but I am addicted to it now!

This book is the one I reference most.  Yes, it lacks nice images.  However, the other book I purchased is loaded with professional images and lacks a lot of content that I need.  This book is more comprehensive on topics such as cure time for varying processes, tools, and clean up procedures to considerations like how to package, putting together gift baskets, and why/when to consider selling product.  It even goes into using the knowledge you learn from the book to create your own recipes!

I by no means read this in order from chapter to chapter, though I did skim through it in order upon first receiving the book.  It is overwhelming that way!  I skip around to where the information I want is - there is a complete Table of Contents so you can easily find the information you want when you need it. 

I started out making cold process soap from a kit I purchased through Bramble Berry (which is the first supplier listed in the appendix for resources).  Then I moved on to Shower Steamers and Melt & Pour Soap.  I am getting ready to make more CP.  However, I am so happy for the Hot Process and Liquid Soap sections in this book since I really want to create liquid hand soap and body washes.  This book really does have everything you need to get started and stay going in the soaping hobby/business.

I'd say this is a must have for anyone interested in learning how to get started the right way.  The author even says to start small on your budget so that if it turns out you never want to make a second soap, you didn't end up investing a lot of money on something you won't ever do again.  Sage advice!

The Soaping Diaries

     Entry One : Monday, January 22, 2018

It was nearing the end of 2016 when my curiosity was piqued about the idea of making my own soap.  John and I had started veering towards a more natural lifestyle for a number of reasons that year.  Mainly due to how drastically we had to rethink the items we used in our home after bringing our boys into our family.

Let me elaborate.  Our boys are birds.  We are the proud parronts to a Platinum Lutino Cockatiel who we renamed Astraeus, and a Congo African Grey named Smokey.  Both of our boys are rescues.  

What most people are unaware of, is how highly sensitive birds are to toxins in the air.  Hence, taking a canary into the coal mines.  They breathe differently than mammals.  More efficiently than mammals.  But it leaves them more susceptible to dangerous inhalants.   Most aerosol items can kill a bird the size of Astraeus.  A single scratch in Teflon cookware can leach enough toxin into the air to kill a bird.  

We started to realize most, if not all, things that are dangerous to our boys are dangerous to us as well.  We just tolerate it slightly better than the typical family pets of dogs and cats.  (People are now coming to understand the dangers of some common household products around mans best friend.)  So I replaced cookware and I started making my own household cleaners as well as buying natural items that I could not make myself, like dish soap.  I also learned how to make my own laundry soap.  

I research and research.  I want to rid our life of all unnecessary chemicals and additives and hormones.  It's not only possible, it typically saves us money as well.

Soap.  We all need it and use it.  

It was when I started making laundry soap that I began to ruminate on soap in general.  To make laundry soap, you need soap.  And all the recipes I found and read about talked about what kind of soaps you would want to use.  Because, if you aren't looking to make laundry soap as an effort to rid your laundry of unnecessary chemicals, you probably were not looking into finding recipes on making it yourself.  So obviously, you would want to use soap that doesn't contain a lot of the things you are looking to rid your wash of!  Well, if I can buy soap that is pretty basic and without unwanted chemicals, then can't I just make it myself?  Then it would be more natural as well as handmade.  

So I bought a couple books on Amazon.  When they arrived, I was overwhelmed with what I read.  I needed to take so many things into consideration!  I needed to have the proper tools and space to make soap.  Can I do this in my home as a parront?  I set the books aside.  Time went by.  Substantial amounts of time.

I'm a creative.  This whole soap making thing sounded too fun to pass over.  It was nagging at me daily; this idea that I could be a natural chemist and make something good.  (Alright, I really fancied the term alchemist over chemist!  But lets consider the outcome and the century....no, maybe alchemist is realistic.  Handmade natural soap could be considered gold!)  I get giddy at the mere thought of the words apothecary and alchemy.  And in a way, the chemical reactions, even though explainable, seem to be magical all the same.  

So I started more research into soap making.  As longs as I took the proper precautions, I could make soap in my home.  So I started collecting the necessary tools and ingredients.   It took too much time for someone as impatient as myself.  But I'm proud to say that I did it.  

I made a two pound recipe of cold process soap on October 31, 2017.  It took five weeks to cure.  I tested its pH in secret.  What if I'd failed?

I was ecstatic and elated and every other positive word in the dictionary.  I was full of pride.  My soap was pH neutral and perfect for use!  I did it.  And I needed to do it again.  I was hooked.

I gave away bars of my soap as holiday gifts.  Then I decided I needed to make shower steamers.  You can make them and use them the next day.  I tried melt and pour soap, also able to use the next day.  After a few batches of shower steamers and another batch of the same cold process recipe, I am waiting on the final shipment of supplies/ingredients to make bath bombs.  They are going to be decedent.  

Since I am 100% passionate about this hobby, I am starting The Soaping Diaries.  I will share this journey and the knowledge I gain along the way.  I hope you'll follow along!

A Little Bit of This

As I mentioned before, I am trying to become more of a naturalist.  That is, I want to make a lot of my own household things and reduce the amount of waste I add to the earth.  After all, my faith is that I honor and celebrate the earth and her seasons so I don't want to be a person that is adding to the negative impact on our planet.

August 20 was National Honey Bee Day, and so I think it's appropriate to tell you about a new product I stumbled onto called Bees Wrap!  It's taking natural resources that are sustainably produced and replacing the plastic wrap, Press and Seal, and some Ziplock Bags in your kitchen.  It's washable, reusable, and compostable.  Beeswax is naturally antibacterial and will keep your food fresh.  John just talked me into making them ourselves and I'm excited to take this on as a couples project.

I finally found a crockpot at the local thrift store, so I am looking forward to getting into making my own soap very soon!  I made liquid hand soap from handmade bar soap that I had picked up at a local festival.  You can purchase natural bar soaps at any market and use it to make liquid hand soap and laundry soap.  The first batch of laundry soap I made was with Ivory original.  It's inexpensive and pretty straightforward.  Making your own soaps will save you money, and I find it to be a lot fun.  Basically, anytime I can feel like an alchemist, I'm having a blast!  Making the liquid hand soap and laundry soap was also easy.  Making homemade soap from scratch will be a little bit more of a process, but I am excited to get started.  I will also be making my own toothpaste!

Do me a favor, and if you decide to make your own toothpaste as well, do NOT add essential oils to it.  Essential Oils should NEVER be added to anything you ingest or put in your mouth.  If you want particular flavoring, use fresh ground spices.  Most likely the spices you choose are good for oral health.  I will be using cinnamon and clove in mine.

Are there things you have changed about your lifestyle to be more natural and more friendly toward the environment?  Are there any details you would like for me to share (I know I kept things pretty general here)?  Let me know!

New Age Freedom

Last month, I posted a status update on Facebook about how much I enjoy the spike in the popularity of witchcraft and how it makes it much easier for me to find what I need online.  I included a line about what a shame it is that people of varying religious beliefs took so long to realize that witchcraft is not the "devils work."

There are many misconceptions floating around about what witchcraft is or is not.  Hollywood made up stories to sell movie magic and twisted much of the symbology into something evil for its cause.  Unfortunately, with the widespread reach of Hollywood, these fictions have been set into the mindset of most people who oppose religious freedom and tolerance to become thought of as fact.  This is just one of many reasons people abhor and fear the thought of witchcraft.

Witchcraft is a practice, not a religion.  I know several people of varying religions who are also practicing witches.  Jewish, Christian, Pagan, Catholic, Atheist - all of these groups, and more, contain practicing witches.

If you enjoy the uses of essential oils, natural remedies, the use of herbs, incense and candles, etc, you are dabbling in witchcraft (black salve for drawing out splinters, stingers, spider venom, etc).  If you eat particular foods for their healing properties, you are dabbling in witchcraft.  In example: 12 almonds provides the relief of 2 Tylenol.  These are some of the things that would have condemned you as a witch in times mostly forgotten.  These are some of the things that healers, shamans, medicine women, etc were known for and revered for.  Mostly knowledge of properties that were beneficial to our needs as a community or even individually.

With the wider acceptance of many things the majority of the country has kept oppressed until recently, we are able to be more open about our practices and beliefs.  There are several companies pushing wares such as essential oils and DIY ways for a natural home and lifestyle.  Popularity for these traditions has grown exponentially over a handful of years.  These are not new.  These are things that were, until recently, hidden from the general public because they were frowned upon so much so that people were murdered for knowing and practicing them.

I am happy the world is finally more accepting of these traditions as commonplace and good.  This is a great time to be a witch, where everything you need is at your fingertips and there is much less fear and shame in practicing.  We are moving forward.  But please remember where this knowledge came from, especially if you have never had the intention of calling yourself a witch.

Maybe this can be your first step into freedom, acceptance, and respect for what others believe and practice.

It is time we all stop attempting to force others to believe as we do.  It is time to forget our hate and time to stop spreading our hate and fear.  It is time to learn truths.  It is time we stop to be kind and helpful to each other no matter what the circumstance.

As Close As It Gets

Recently, I have started to get as close to natural as I can.  As a Kitchen Witch, it is almost embarrassing that I haven't done this sooner!

Sometime in the last year, I went through my kitchen and dumped anything containing high fructose corn syrup.  I cried as I found that included my tonic water.  For those of you following along and just getting to know me, I am a huge fan of gin & tonic and gimlets.  I immediately started researching tonics and looking for a brand I could drink.  Enter Fever Tree!  Fever Tree sources the highest quality ingredients and doesn't add in anything artificial.  There are no preservatives, no colors, no corn syrup of any kind!  They offer several varieties, and just looking at their website now so I could link it up for your convenience, I see they have a new tonic that I have not yet tried.  You can taste the difference very easily, no matter what you are mixing it with.  I can never drink a hum drum tonic brand again now that I have tasted the awesomeness of Fever Tree Tonic.  I can purchase a limited variety at my local Giant and Wegmans.  It is over a full dollar cheaper at Wegmans.  If you can't find any Fever Tree at your local market, you can order from Amazon.  I am also going to take a moment and let you know that Bluecoat Gin is also amazing with its clean and crisp profile and comes in a beautiful blue bottle.  Bluecoat is made and bottled right here in Philadelphia, PA.  No matter which variety of Fever Tree Tonic you chose to indulge, mixing it with Bluecoat Gin is a perfect combination.  Hendrick's Gin is another of my favorites, however, with its rose petal and cucumber infusion, it can be a little too sweet with some varieties of Fever Tree Tonic, like the Elderflower Tonic.  I have yet to again purchase Magellan Gin, as it is difficult to find in PA.  But that is really the only other gin I drink.  Magellan Gin is a lovely hue of blue as it is infused with iris, so again, it may only work well with the regular Indian Tonic by Fever Tree.

I also started making things from scratch, such as household cleaners, laundry soap, etc.  I am getting ready to make my own toothpaste and soaps.  One of the blogs I found for recipes that I like is Wellness Mamma.  She links the ingredients to where you can order them online, if you can't find somewhere local to purchase from.  I enjoy this blog for the recipes and what's behind the recipes.  She's done a lot of homework and links resources, so I don't have to do the initial hard research.  Of course, there are some things I still look into further before trying, we all have to think for ourselves.

Let me know what you think about Fever Tree!  Have you tried it before?  Are you going to try it after reading this post?  

Do you make anything from scratch?  What is your favorite item to make from scratch for your home?

Don't forget to check the other pages - post updates don't work when I update them!