Homemade French Onion Soup

A few weeks ago I made a meal using organic french onion soup, and I was advised to make sure I knew exactly what was in the soup because sometimes there were some little hidden ingredients that we don't need or want. So this time, I made my own! I'm going to be using it for the classic french onion soup dish some night this week for dinner, and I'm also going to use it for my grandma's french onion roast tomorrow night (I "splurged" on a grass fed chuck roast) - two birds, one stone =) I thought you might enjoy this recipe, its so easy! You pretty much spend about 20 minutes on it in the beginning and then let it do its thing the rest of the time.

French Onion Soup
4 Large Sweet/Vidalia Onions
6 cups organic beef broth
2 tbsp butter
3/4 cup red wine
1 tsp organic cane sugar
2 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
fresh ground pepper

Heat a pan on medium low and add butter
Slice onions very thin and add to the pan
Season with salt and pepper
Let the onions cook until translucent - about 15 minutes on the lower heat setting
Add 1 cup of beef broth and worcestershire sauce
Let the broth cook down with the onions until the onions appear brown in color
Add the rest of the broth and wine and bring to a boil for 5 minutes
Turn the heat down to low and cover
Let simmer as long as possible - the longer you can do this, the richer the flavor will be
Enjoy!

Lifting the veil

I never noticed, until recently, all the garbage that the food industries try to feed us - no pun intended (okay, maybe a little one). Now that I know more about how the production and processing companies work, I see these things all over the place. Things I'd never have seen before, but that I'm sensitive to now. Things that would make you believe what God provides just isn't good enough. Today I saw a vegetable wash that said "because rain just isn't enough!", a few days ago I saw some fruit with the phrase "giving nature a helping hand", a box of popsicle's I wanted to buy said "all natural" but when I looked at the ingredients it included all kinds of junk, like high fructose corn syrup. The supermarket is FULL of it - nothing less than false advertising more often than not, gross exaggeration at other times, and omission of facts others. I love Wegmans, so its hard for me to admit that theyre part of this game, but when I asked them today where their beef came from I was told they didn't know, other than it comes from Canada, USA, and Mexico. Great. You don't even know what country your meat is coming from?? The food industry wants to keep us from the truth, that their products are ALL about benefiting them and truly they could care less about what happens to you. I'm taking a hospitality class in college and one of the sentences in my reading today said, flat out, that the hospitality and tourism industry's goal is to "extract as much money from the customer as you can without losing him/her". This is what these people are TOLD to do when they earn their degree! And you had best believe they are so good at what they do! Their goal is to squeeze every cent out of you and hold on to every penny they possibly can - it doesn't matter what lies they tell you, so long as you add another figure to their profit. I will be one less person to buy into their gimmicks, I am going to put my faith, family, and health before putting chemicals into my body to simply save a buck. Don't be blinded by the lies, the truth is all around you - you just have to open your eyes.

Sawmill Gravy

This morning I made some of my homemade biscuits and sawmill gravy. I was going to post a picture until I realized the picture just really doesn't make it look very appetizing lol so just trust me on this - it's really good! Here's the recipe

Sawmill Gravy (my way)

4 pieces of organic bacon (I had to use up what was left of mine from before, but this can be easily omitted)
1/2 lb ground turkey
1 tablespoon honey
1 1/2 cups whole wheat (or 50/50) flour
1 tbspn organic butter
Kosher Salt
Pepper
Milk

Cook the bacon in a large pot until done, remove pieces and set aside on paper towel
Add the turkey to the hot pan (should still have some grease in it) - if you want to dump the bacon grease and use a healthier oil, you can definitely do so
Add the honey on top of the turkey while browning
Cut up the bacon into little bits and add to the browned turkey
Add the flour and mix until absorbed by the meat
Add butter and mix in as well
Add milk until meat is covered (make sure pan is on medium high heat)
Stir and wait for mix to boil, it will thicken
Add more milk, stir, wait for it to reach thickness again
continue to do this until you have a good "gravy" consistency
Season liberally with kosher salt and pepper
Serve over warm biscuits and enjoy :)

Zuppa Toscana

So I know this type of blog has been done not long ago by another poster, but I thought I'd post my version since this is a staple in my home. This is my version of Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana, I hope you enjoy it as much as we do! (Note: I think by now you should know that whenever I list an ingredient that it is organic ((like the onions and what not)) so I'm going to stop writing "organic" and "all natural" next to every single thing, I think youre smart enough to get the point!)

1 lb of ground turkey
1 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1 - 2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp celery salt
1 large or 2 small onions, minced
5 cloves of garlic, minced
4 large potatoes (I used russet), diced with skin on
4 pieces of organic bacon**
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
6 cups of chicken broth
2 - 3 cups of milk
2 cups of water
1 Bunch of Kale

In a pan fry up the bacon and set to drain on a towel
While the pan is hot add the diced garlic and onion and saute
Meanwhile, add water and chicken broth to a stock pot and bring to a boil
Add the onion/garlic mix to the pot, then add the diced potatoes and let the potatoes cook
Add the ground turkey, fennel, italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, and celery salt to the hot pan that the onions were in and brown
Once meat is cooked through, add to the stock pot
Pat the bacon completely dry (we don't want any extra fat/grease!!)
Chop into little bits and add to the soup
Chop up the kale (the more the better! I used the whole thing because I LOVE kale and its so good for you!)
Add the kale to stock pot and let it cook for about 15 - 20 minutes
Add the milk to the mix - your soup should be an off whiteish/pale yellow color, if it seems like its too yellow, add more milk!
Season with salt and pepper to taste - once you get the right amount of salt the soup really reaches its full potential!

**About the bacon: I have, thus far, not been able to locate any all natural/organic turkey bacon in my area. If you can, absolutely use it. So instead I opted for pork bacon, but it is all natural and without any preservatives, nitrites, or nitrates. The chemicals will do me far more harm than the organic pork will. If you have neither turkey nor pork bacon offered organically, by all means use the turkey bacon, as it is better for you in terms of health. Or you may of course omit it all together, the choice is yours :)

Breakfast Buttermilk Biscuits

Yesterday Marcus took me on a trip out to Amish Country in New York. We stopped at a lot of cute shops, had a delicious lunch at Essenhaus, an Amish Restaurant, and stopped at an Amish Country store. This place was pretty neat in that they sold a lot of things you might find in stores in bulk. Things like popcorn seeds, all the flavoring powders you could dream of, bulk cereal marshmallows and a few other things. While it was cool to walk around in, I didn't see much that I would buy - as hardly anything was organic. However, Marcus did find his long sought after Sorghum Molasses and requested biscuits for breakfast this morning. I had made buttermilk biscuits a hundred times before but not since I changed my lifestyle - so it was a challenge. And let me say, they turned out awesome! On my first try! I thought you all might enjoy this one too, so here ya go =)


Buttermilk Biscuits
2 Cups of Flour (Note: For my baking I have started using Hodgson Mill's all natural 50/50 flour as I find I like the lighter flavor in my baked goods)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 stick of cold organic butter
1/2 tsp grape seed oil for oiling your pan

Pre-heat oven to 450
Mix all the dry ingredients together
Cut the butter into small pieces and add to dry mix - mix butter in until you reach a meal like consistency (if you have a food processor, a few pulses should do it)
Add the buttermilk until just mixed (do not overmix! if you do your biscuits will not be as fluffy!)
Once combined roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and flatten to about 1/2 an inch thick
Cut the biscuits into circles. I used the open side of a glass (upside down). Once I cut out all the biscuits I combined the remainder of the dough and continued to do that until I only had enough for one more biscuit so I had shaped it
Lay biscuits down in your lightly oiled pan so that they are touching - For this part I recommend using a cake/pie pan or something with high walls, this makes the biscuits rise more
Bake for 12 minutes - try not to bake much less than this as the wheat flour adds a density that is offset but a little longer baking time
Once done remove from pan so the bottoms don't continue to bake - Marcus topped his with the Sorghum Molasses, I opted for Honey (yum!) but you can use anything you'd like.
Enjoy!

Name Change

So you probably have noticed the name change for the blog - sorry about the confusion. Sweet Simplicity is the name I am going to use for my bakery when I open it and I found it to be much more fitting for the way I see my mission in this organic journey. Different name, same game =)

A glance behind and looking ahead

It hasn't been very long since I posted my first blog about my decision to pursue a natural lifestyle - a day when my house was packed full of processed, enriched, starched, and genetically modified foods. I have been learning so much about what it means to live a nautral lifestyle in that time - I now know that to be natural is more than a decision to eat organically - I see that it means to go back to the roots of what we are about as human beings. This journey has truly brought me closer to the Lord in a more raw and natural way. Its helping me to see the beauty in life - a beauty untainted by the world and its chemical enhancements. And I'm actually doing it! Completely organic meals are becoming more and more common, its becoming easier to choose whole natural foods because I have simply ruled out everything else. Its amazing what you adapt to given the right mindset. Soon it will be spring and I will be moving on to greener pastures - right in my back yard! We are going to start growing some of our own fruits and veggies, just another step towards our goal of a self sustaining lifestyle. I hope to be a mommy someday soon, and I have already started researching and reading about ways to raise a child naturally and frugally. Marcus and I are attending a financial seminar now as well, which will help us both get on the same page as far as our finances go. I think soon we are going to sit down and make a five year plan - some real goals to try and work towards. This life is so exciting and promising, and I cannot wait to see where the Lord will take it. I pray that in everything we would glorify Him in this. Soon I will start posting the ways that I am trying to make our upcoming wedding (15 days!) a reflection of our lifestyle that we have chosen to pursue. I am also starting to experiment with recipes that I want to perfect so that I can finally start working towards my dream of owning a bakery and cafe - yes, an all natural bakery and cafe! =D Then in the fall we plan to buy a free range cow from a good friend of ours (the meat, that is)  and soon we also plan to start purchasing raw milk. I love this adventure and I'm so glad to have you on it - whoever you are, wherever you are reading this - I hope in some way I have inspired you thus far. Many blogs ahead, we've only just begun =)