Move Over...

Sprouts

I am fortunate in this life to have friends who support me, love me and share with me the things they just know I'll have the most fun with.

A good friend Oak Crone, recently sent me an adventure kit for my birthday.. what is an adventure kit you ask? That is simply something you have never dared to do before but have always wanted to do, and you take the adventure. This is Sproutman's Sprout Bag, seeds and directions. Oak Crone sent me a whole bunch of seeds to try but I decided my first try with seeds would be the wheatgrass sprouting seeds. These come from Mountain Rose Herbs so we know they are organic and herbacide, pesticide free! Very Important to me!

Today was day one... so you will have to take a quick peek and wait to see what comes next
ready to peek?

Using one of those great recyclable containers from my nuts and berries, I put in the 4 ounces of wheatgrass sprouting seeds which according to the directions must soak in purified water overnight...so here they are just waiting for the next step

Tomorrows post will show the next step!

Here I Go Again... off on a new adventure

I have so many different kitchen adventures mostly quite easy and using raw foods and herbs, you sometimes ask me to share, so here they are!

Today is the beginning of many adventures that I hope will inspire you to move on course with the things you love to do. Whether it be in the kitchen or the garden... or anywhere for that matter.

Today's first adventure was to accomplish a snack that was healthy, easy to eat, and just as easy to make. I purchase nuts, seeds and dried fruits on a regular basis, so I went to the cupboard took out several of these and here they are ..
There are hazelnuts, raw pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries, dried blueberries, dried mulberries, raisins, raw pecan halves and raw hazelnuts. At first I thought a cup of each which is about what I used, some less ~ some more depending on what was left in the containers. I put them all into my large Pampered Chef measuring cup which I adore! Here they are all mixed together! I thought about little zip-loc styles bags, but I really don't like using them (and found out I hadn't replenished the ones my son left behind anyway, so I got out my old Tupperware stand-by snack cups, and midgets, the snack cups hold 1/2 cup of mix and the midgets hold 1/4 cup. These can provide me with a quick and nutritious snack whenever the "Snack Attack" comes at me

check out this http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/nut-and-seed-products/3085/2

It contains lots of information on the nutrition contained in nuts

What is important about Cranberries do you think?

Let me answer that.....

CRANBERRIES

The forecast for U.S. cranberry production in 2008 is 689 million pounds, up 5 percent from 2007 and slightly below 2006. Wisconsin is expected to lead all states in the production of cranberries, with 385 million pounds, followed by Massachusetts (190 million). New Jersey, Oregon and Washington are also expected to have substantial production, ranging from 15 million to 50 million pounds.

There are several theories as to the origin of the name 'cranberry.' One is that the open flowers look like the head of a crane; another is that cranes like to these sour berries.

Good, ripe cranberries will bounce. Bounceberry is another name for them

Small pockets of air inside the berry cause the cranberry to bounce. Air also causes berries to float in water.

Contrary to popular belief, cranberries do not grow in water. A perennial plant, cranberries grow on low-running vines in sandy bogs and marshes. Because cranberries float, some bogs are flooded when the fruit is ready for harvesting. Others are harvested using machines that resemble lawnmowers that "comb" fresh cranberries off the vines.

If you strung all the cranberries produced in North America in 2007, they would stretch from Boston to Los Angeles more than 565 times.

Native Americans pounded cranberries into a paste and mixed with dried meat, and called this mixture 'pemmican.'

One of the first references to cranberries was made in a letter written by Mahon Stacy to his brother in England dated April 26, 1680.

Cranberry juice was first made by American settlers in 1683.

American and Canadian sailors on long voyages knew they could eat cranberries to protect themselves from scurvy -- making them a cranberry counterpart to British 'limeys.'

The first cranberry sauce was marketed in 1912.

Americans consume some 400 million pounds of cranberries a year, 20 percent during Thanksgiving week.

Americans consume 5,062,500 gallons of jellied cranberry sauce every holiday season.

Jellied cranberry sauce (the log) is most preferred by consumers totaling 75% of overall cranberry sauce sales.

More than 94% of Thanksgiving dinners include cranberry sauce.

Cranberries are almost 90% water.

There are approximately 450 cranberries in a pound, 4,400 cranberries in one gallon of juice, 45,000 cranberries in a 100-pound barrel.

It takes about 200 cranberries to make one can of cranberry sauce.

The Cranberry was made the official state berry of Massachusetts in 1994

Some cranberry beds are over 100 years old and still producing.

About 95% of cranberries are processed into juice, sauce, dried, etc. Only about 5% are sold fresh.

In 1996, the worldwide cranberry harvest produced 40 cranberries for every person on the planet.

Honeybees are often used to pollinate cranberry crops, and are in fact more valuable in the performance of this task than they are in the production of honey.

John Lennon confirmed in a 1980 interview that he repeated the words Cranberry sauce at the end of the song Strawberry Fields Forever.

Cowberry, lingonberry, foxberry, mountain cranberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea). This is an uncultivated member of the cranberry family and is primarily used in northern Europe to make jams & preserves.
About 38,000 acres in Wisconsin, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon and Washington State account for most of the world's production of cranberries.
Most of the world's cranberries are cultivated on 37,000 acres in just five states: Massachusetts, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Oregon and Washington. Another 5,000 acres are cultivated in Provinces of British Columbia and Quebec Canada. Maine, Michigan and Minnesota also are experimenting with cranberry production.

Massachusetts is a leading producer of cranberries, with a crop of approximately 1.547 million barrels in 2001.

Of the approximately 1,000 cranberry growers in North America in 2001, 500 were in Massachusetts. Approximately 70 percent of these growers are small family farms with less than 20 acres of bog.
Cape Cod Cranberry Growers' Association www.cranberries.org
Over 110,000 metric tons of cranberries are produced in the U.S. each year. More than 1/3 of these are made into juice. Cranberries were first cultivated in Massachusetts around 1815. As of 2001, Wisconsin was the leading producer, followed by Massachusetts.
Found at: http://www.foodreference.com/html/fcranberries.html