i have a sister. she is kick ass. i don’t like to mess with her as her rough side is rough and deadly. i owe many lessons in my life that i didn’t have to experience to learn, to her. she has the back bone to have survived it all. she wears her scars proudly and humbly. one of her invaluable lessons was back in 2004. she came to our recently deceased mother’s house to visit my little family. we had made a recent move back to my mothers house from the bronx, the change was doing us good and we were on new family mode, nesting and all. it didn’t take my sister two seconds in the kitchen before she uttered these words “nichim! look at this mess! this is how you like to live? is this what you learned in NYC?!” (and this is my post where i admit i am not the cleanest one of all!) “hay sister, i am not as good as you in the cleaning department” i figured a little guilty building excuses would let me off the hook. it didn’t, it just got more guilt back at me “if mother could see her kitchen right now, she’d send you back to the bronx with all your mess!” we laughed, but she was right, mother would not have tolerated one bit of it, as much as she pampered me, my mother was by far one of the most clean organized virgos i have known. and her kitchen was her priced possession. on her next visit, sister showed up with a present, wrapped, with a bow, handed it to me with this encouraging words of wisdom “listen nichim, all you need is a psst pssst pssst! y ya! have it right here next to your sink and use it as soon as you see something that needs cleaning! now get to work!” my sister is the queen of words, she comes up with some hillarious things as well as being the dictionary of refranes chiapanecos. in my sister’s dictionary the definition for the pssst, pssst, pssst is:
psssst, pssst, pssst: noun /psit psit psit/ etymology: sister’s very own mexican vernacular. dated in the late 1990’s. 1. a recycable spray bottle filled with a mixture of clorox, amonia, terpentine, and just about any other cleaning supply found under her sink diluted with just a little water. 2. a cleaning solution that can clean anything, it can even dessintegrate the paint off your car. 3. the one thing her little sister needs to get some cleaning sense into her life!
it has taken me at least 3 years to pass my sister’s cleaning program. if you pan into my 2007 kitchen, though not spotless, next to the sink you will find my very own pssst pssst pssst made with healthy non-toxic and cheap ingredients that even my children can use! after some research and my own experiments, i came across this helpful little pocket book by raleigh briggs with a slew of great tips on how to make a home using all kinds of simple and earth empowering ingredients and materials. here is her recipe for an awesome all purpose spray cleaner.
1 teaspoon liquid castile soap (i used dr. bronners)
2 Tablespoons white vinegar
1 teaspoon borax
2 Cups hot water
1/4 each eycalyptus and lavender oils
3 drops tea tree oil
mix all ingredients together in a spray bottle.
raleigh suggests not to use this on windows, and to spray scrub and rinse. check her book out, it also give some awesome gardening, first aid and body care tips, she also has other interesting titles!
this goes out to my big sister! who still swears by her killer pssst pssst pssst!
Posted 2 months, 3 weeks ago at 5:36 pm. Add a comment
Recently, it dawn on me that this is what the old ladies in the Mercados (outdoor markets) were doing back home (San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico) on their Aguas Frescas stands selling Horchata. Sadly though, by the time I was a teenager a delicious and nutritious home made milk turned into a commercial store bought syrup with tons of corn syrup and who knows what else to mimic the delicious flavor of this Mexican Rice drink (and create a new epidemic of cavities, mine included).
Grains have been used for thousands of years as a drink in many forms, tea, atole, milk, fermented drinks. This has lead me to finally understand that, “when broke, buy a sack of grain!” Not only will you have drinks, but with this sack you have flour, numerous cereals, grain dishes, toasted grain dishes. My ancestors and probably yours too, would show you (go back to when you family was farming) that you either grew your grain or made sure you had something to trade for it.
Back to the liquids, since the recession hit the island we live in, and our work, I have been busy at work in the kitchen. I went from focusing on my regular penny saving strategies to how are we saving ten dollars here and there? Crazy but true, this is not a rececion folk, its another great depression (don’t be fooled). And so, the times call for drastic measures in the home front. So I digged back to my roots and I recalled that my Tzeltal family is able to survive with corn alone and wild edible plants (as does my grandfather) and my Polish ancestors could make delicious crackers with flour and water or with a little potato and yeast some awesome baggles; finally when I came to my Mexican roots what stands out is Horchata and Atole. There is nothing that can beat a cool refeshing glass of Horchata in the middle of a hot day or a warming mug of Atole in the cold mornings of San Cristobal. The triggered memories lead me to hone my grain milk making skills.
So this is what I’ve been doing:
1. I chose to buy a sack of rolled oats (I tried to get organic, most often bulk organics are so, so, so much cheaper, so its worth the search and the effort, local food coops are great in that regard). If a sack is to much, buy a few pounds at a time.
2. I researched the different things I could do with that grain.
3. I blend the grains dry in a regular strong blender to use as coarse flour or mixed cereal (Recipe below). I use left over breakfast oatmeal to make oat milk (Recipe below) or I soak oats over night, or for 20 minutes in hot water. I have use oat milk for smoothies, baking needs, as milk and thickener of soups, hot chocolate, ice-pops. With a grinder I make flour and use the flour for baking needs. Toss oats in honey and spread thin layers in a cookie sheet and bake for granola. I’ve also made granola bars.
4. I give thanks to the farmer and the world for this Grain!
5. I watch my family love the DIY (Do It Yourself) process and smile at the delicous versatility of oats.
Recipes:
Breakfast Cereal
In a powerful Kitchen blender blend to you preferred consistency as fine, coarse or in between as you like. I often find that the bigger chunks of rice and millet add a nice body to the cereal:
1/4 Cup of Rolled Oats
1/4 Cup of brown rice
1/4 Cup of Roasted Millet (Roasting or soaking Milled helps to alkaline the grain, which is otherwise pretty acidic, roasting works best for this recipe as well for tea)
1/4 Cup of your choice (barley, khasa, quinoa, amaranth)
Add 4 cups of cold water to a sauce pan and then pour your blended cereals to the pot, stir to disolve all clumps and then (VERY IMPORTANT) turn on the flame on med-low, stir for another 3 minutes while the water warms, and then be available to stir often to avoid burned settiment.
The cereal will be ready in about 20 to 25 min. You can have it as a sweet porrige with honey, berries, raisings, wheat germ, flax seed meel, for that extra energy boost or as a savory breakfast, i like to add salt, finely chopped ginger (add while cooking), scallions and cilantro.
When you have a few more minutes to spare, make larger batches and store in a sealed container. There is your ten dollar savings
Oat Milk
From Left over oatmeal:
I mainly just gage if i have about a cup of oatmeal, I just fill up my blender with cold water. Some times less if I want a creamier consistency.
For Flavor I like to add vanilla extract, cinamon powder, honey or sugar.
From soaked oats:
Soak over night 1/2 cup of oats on a glass gar o pot with 3 cups of water, bring the same amount of water to a boil, pour onto oats and let soak 20 minutes. If you are using quick oats it would be much faster.
Resources:
Most valuable book to our family: Healing with Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford, check your local library, they should have it save $30 dollars or if you can support the author.
I will return and talk about Atole as it diserves its very own entry.
Posted 1 year, 5 months ago at 9:16 pm. Add a comment