Tiny Homes!

Tiny Houses are my new obsession. I am convinced that immediately following my graduation- I am going to move somewhere remote (ish) and build myself a tiny house to live in- then while living in the tiny house work a full time job and save up to build my own not-so-tiny, tiny house. Or something...

So the Tiny House movement is gaining speed for good reason. People are building their own home, for very little money and little impact on the earth. They are cheap to heat, to build and to live in. What could be more perfect?

The design I've focused on as a builders house (one to live in for a few years while I build my dream house) is a small one bedroom house (like pictured above). The main floor is the kitchen and living space, with a ladder to the loft area- then a small room in the back complete with sink, toilet and shower. Versions of this house are famously pulled by a regular 4x4 truck! Absolutely insane, no? But surely an option if you don't want to waste money renting for a few years.

There are free blue prints for these buildings everywhere- Notably I've been looking at the Tubleweed Building Co.


While I'm living in this house- I want to build a small cottage to live in. Nothing spectacular- maybe an extra bedroom or two for guests or the eventual child I may or may not want in the future, a big kitchen (my only priority), nice bathroom 1.5 bathrooms would be nice and gardens everywhere!

My dream home looks a little like this.

Alternative building materiels

I have discovered a wealth of knowledge on the internets about alternative building materials. I learned about bamboo a few weeks ago when I posted that blog- but did you know you could build houses out of corn cob? straw bales? cement? mud!?

All of this is ever so interesting, right? When ever I thought of alternative buildings I thought like rainforest, or the mud huts from thousands of years ago. But apparently- behind the building boom in the suburbs, the process of building weird, but efficient and green homes, is expanding.

For instance- using recycled tires both in the construction and the landscaping of your home is more helpful than I thought. Shredded tires provide help with drainage and structure while whole tires (IMHO) make adorable planters.


The method that has most struck me is straw bale house design. Its fascinating! Not only do you not see the straw, because its inside the walls, but it cuts down dramatically on your heating and cooling bills by providing necessary insulation to the whole home- without using the manufactured shit thats giving people cancer.

Cure all

When you're sick with no signs of getting better. Theres only one thing to do. Make chicken soup!

We had about 4 boneless/skinless chicken breasts in the freezer from the last time I made soup and I've had the itch to make something yummy and healthy.


Free range chicken broth (yuppy aisle) - About $3
I picked up the usual mirepoix of veggies (Would have cost about $10, and had tons of leftovers) However since I've been spending less time at home, and more at the dorm- they would've gone bad before I had a chance to cook them.

Instead I saw, in the produce section- a prepackaged "Soup Greens" mix containing some carrots, celery, onion, parsnips and turnip with a fresh sprig of both tyme and basil. This cost only 4$. Super fun, right?

I chopped all these up and threw them in the crock pot (Midnight) with the quart of chicken stock and the frozen chicken breasts and let them cook overnight.

I woke up this morning for work and the soup smelled fantastic- I added about 2 cups of water because it cooked down a lot in 6 hours. I also removed the cooked chicken breasts and shredded the meat before returning them to the pot (It was overcooked, but fine when shredded, and you don't give a damn).

A ton of chicken soup for under 7 dollars is definitely a good deal- and I feel even better knowing exactly every ingredient in the soup.

The magical fruit.

Okay- so dried beans are super cheap right; but who eats them? You can buy a pound of your favorite beans on the cheap and they store forever in your freezer. You can also make a whole pot of beans and feed your family for a week (if the world ended). When I was living at my Grams' house for a few years, we would spend most of our time in the kitchen telling stories. When she was growing up (In the 30's) she lived on a farm and was one of 13 children. Money was really tight and just getting food on the table was a huge problem for her parents. She would tell me what made them survive through the depression and other hard times was beans. Her mother could make a huge pot of beans and leave it on the stove simmering for days.

Heres a recipe she made for me a few times, and I've even made camping once. The pot of beans I made got me and my boyfriend through three nights of camping in the catskills mountains without anything else. It was fantastic. But again- anything cooked over a fire in the middle of nowhere is fantastic by definition, right?

I used canned beans (Had no time to soak regular beans) So I wasn't being as economical as you should be, but then again I was surviving outside in the fall for the fun of it. By the way, in the Catskills at night (Well, after the sun passes the mountains) the temp shoots to below freezing. Beans keep you warm and full- and I really didn't notice an excess of gas- I would have run out of the tent in the middle of the night in horror if I began to hear farts.

Okay- so after that dainty statement- how 'bout a dinner recipe?

I took 4 big potatoes and diced them pretty big, threw them into the bot with a little oil and put in 3 cans of different beans. If I can remember right I used kidney, black and chick peas. All sorts of seasoning I brought with me.
Chili powder
garlic & onion powder
about 3 cups of water


We let it roast over the fire for about an hour, covered it when we were done and locked it in my car so the bears wouldn't come.

Bears are dangerous mkay.

Lentils

Lentis

For legumes- what other can beat lentils?

They lower cholesterol, are high in fiber, help manage diabetes, full of vitamins and minerals, high protein and virtually zero fat. The perfect food? I think so.

I found this recipe ages ago on allrecipes.com (My favorite recipe source) and I had to share it with the Space Hippy blog. It is perfect in the crock-pot-- and as submitted by Grace and Mae, I couldn't write a better recipe.

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

* 2 onions, chopped
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
* 6 cups water
* 1 cup red lentils
* 1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
* 1 (19 ounce) can cannellini beans
* 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
* 1/2 cup diced carrots
* 1/2 cup chopped celery
* 1 teaspoon garam masala
* 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1 tablespoon olive oil


DIRECTIONS

1. In large pot saute; the onions, garlic, and ginger in a little olive oil for about 5 minutes.
2. Add the water, lentils, chick peas, white kidney beans, diced tomatoes, carrots, celery, garam masala, cardamom, cayenne pepper and cumin. Bring to a boil for a few minutes then simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or longer, until the lentils are soft.
3. Puree half the soup in a food processor or blender. Return the pureed soup to the pot, stir and enjoy!

I always skip pureeing half the soup- because by the time its ready, my mouth has been watering for an hour and I can't wait to dig in.

The only changes I can make are to make it work for the crock-pot.

I usually just throw the onions, garlic and ginger (ha. when I have ginger) into the crock pot with a little oil on high while I chop the rest of the veggies. Then I add everything, cover and forget about it. Or at least try to forget about it- it smells damn good!

Pellet Stoves

Pellet stoves are one of my favorite sources of heat.

Money?
The initial investment is kinda big, but not when you consider what home heating systems (that burn fossil fuels) cost. For about a grand (if you install it yourself) you can buy yourself a nice system. The people I know who do have a pellet stove use it as a secondary heating source. They use the pellet stove to heat the house- and oil or propane for hot water. Their energy bills make me jealous.

What do they burn?
Recycled saw dust pellets that, due to the efficient production process and considering the cheap material its made of- pellets are quite cheap. Another good thing about them is that they don't produce much smoke and as a result are the best solid-fuel burning products for heating that produce the least emissions. No petroleum products! Also, I've seen a bunch of signs in exeter and kingston by people's homes selling wood pellets cheap... Families who run wood shops have an excess of saw dust and instead of throwing it in the landfill- they recycle. Support local families!
They can burn all sorts of stuff- I heard about corn pellets being pretty good too.


They are easy to clean.
Since pretty much everything burns, there is very little soot left over. I've you've ever had to deal with cleaning out a chiminie or old fashioned wood stove, you know the pain in the ass it can be. I had the pleasure to house sit for a family who (besides having a tiny beautiful house right on a lake) had a nice little wood-stove. Man did that thing crank in the middle of winter. Within an hour (At medium setting) it had this 8 room house (including upstairs) sizzlin' hot. Clean up was super easy- After burning a few pounds of pelets, there was barely a cup of soot (Which I heard would burn down a little more if I left it)
The course of the weekend I went through half of a bag of fuel (At around $4/bag) and the weather was in the teens all weekend with snow and wind storms. Yes, "when I grow up" I will have a pellet stove in my home.

They're wicked cute!
They can look like anything from a super modern firebox to an old school pot belly stove. They are nice and small so they can just hang out in a corner as part of the room's decor. Also, the glow emitting from the window wasn't super bright, but it negated the need for the lights to be on. Great for relaxing with your favorite person. These arn't your great grandma's wood stoves. They are built state of the art to provide the best efficiency- and you really will get what you pay for.

So overall, pellet stoves are cheap, environmentally friendly and wicked easy to use. Personally, I think more people should have them.

I wonder if my teacher is even reading this crap...

Baby Foods

Making your own baby food with the Crock pot

A co-worker of mine just had a baby last week and I was inspired to do some research on another use for my favorite kitchen gadget, the crock-pot.

Since she went on maternity leave a few weeks ago I've been looking around the internets for some recipes of home made baby food I can make her. Money is tight all around, and she has mentioned serveral times she wanted to try to raise her child more healthfully than she we raised but that she couldn't afford to buy organic baby for for the kid's every meal.

At first I didn't believe all the recipes. All of them were so simple. Fresh or frozen vegetables and a little water and thats it. When sealed in a jar (preferably using canning methods) your homemade (and organic if you so wish) baby food can have a comparable shelf life to the gerber-type baby foods without the price or preservatives. (Almost 90 cents for one little jar) Instead you can buy fresh or frozen veggies in bulk and whip up a whole batch of your (or baby's) favorite.

I tried a few recipes and here are my favorites.
I eyeballed all the water additions- just what seemed enough to splash in there- The veggies will let a lot of water out, and when you blend you can just add more to make the baby food thinner. Its better to err on the side of less water (Just make sure you don't burn them!)

Yellow squash rocked for texture. I used about 1/3 cup of water to a big bag of frozen squash and left it in the crock pot for a few hours. I can't really remember how long because my brain is a little friend from doing 7 batches of baby food in a 30 hour period. Next time I plan to write down my start and finish times (duh). I figure about 4 or 5 hours on high did the trick. I just checked on them about every hour until they were nice and tender. Then I dumped the cooked veggies into my blender and buzzed away. This batch would have filled about 30 jars, but I served a lot of it as a side dish to my clients at work.

Runners up:
Carrots- Just as nice- I recommend adding some sugar and maybe some pineapple juice for a nice sweet twist.

Sweet Potatoes Fresh - Again, I ended up having this for dinner instead of canning- but it works both ways. I made the baby food and it was so good that I threw some brown sugar in it and a layer of marshmallows on top, popped it in the oven for 20 minutes and viola... heaven. :-)

Green beans (I tried frozen, not fresh) I found they had more of a texture, but not completely unpleasant. The color was fantastic. Could double as a nice, yummy (and healthy?) fake Halloween vomit. Yum.

I also tried it with fresh fruits and discovered not only a new baby food recipe- but the most amazing ice cream topping ever. And mind you- no preservatives, additives or extra sugar- oh and its incredibly cheap.

Use any of your favorite fruits or fruit combinations and a little water- follow the same method as vegetables. Just keep in mind, the softer the fruit, the quicker it will cook. So strawberries won't be taking anywhere near as long as apples.

The most amazing thing I've ever cooked.

1lb fresh strawberries diced relatively small.
A few stalks of fresh rhubarb diced small
A few teaspoons of real lemon juice
A cup or two of sugar (depending on how sweet you want it)
A cup or two of water (Add this last, when everything is soft and soupy for easier dissolution)

Cook it in the crock pot until tender and use a stick blender (immersion blender) if you have it and run it through a bit. I prefer this recipe not purred, but then again, I'm not an infant.