Grape Cordial

This year we have been blessed with a bumper harvest of grapes from our vines, and as our house operates as close to zero food waste as possible, it has meant a lot and I mean LOT of preserving.

My husband has started a huge batch of wine, I had already made grape jelly for the winter and we were still being inundated with grapes and the prospect of more ripening by the day. So we opted to make some grape cordial for the children to enjoy in the autumn sunshine and any extra could be frozen for over winter treats.

First we washed our grapes and put them into a large pan, now I didn't use a recipe or weigh my grapes as I had so many but as a general rule with cordials if you use 2 kilograms of grapes add 1 litre of water, approximately half fill the pan in proportion to the grapes. Bring to the boil and simmer for around 10 minutes using a masher to release all the juice from the grapes.

Leave this to infuse in the juices and cool for a little while then strain the mixture through a jelly bag, cheesecloth or muslin to ensure all pips and grape skins are removed. This will leave you with a dark purple liquid.

At this point it is best for you to taste your mixture to see how much sugar you will need to add. Our grapes are not dessert grapes so they are really quite sharp, usually with cordials I add half the amount of sugar to finished liquid product. This means if your strained liquid is 2 litres you may need to add 1 kilogram of sugar.

Return your grape juice to the pan and heat to dissolve the sugar, it is wise to add the sugar a little at a time so that you can stop when you find it sweet enough for your taste buds, this will also depend on how sweet your grapes are too. Bear in mind this is a cordial so it will appear a little syrupy and the mixture will need to be diluted with water to drink.

Once the sugar has dissolved you can bottle up in your sterilised bottles or decant into freezable bottles to store.

We have actually made three large batches of this cordial now, and stored many litres in the freezer for Christmas and the winter season. It can also be diluted with sparkling water or lemonade if you fancy a change from still juice. The children are looking forward to a glass with their dinner over the festive season.

A day in the life...

A few weeks ago some fellow home educators decided to live tweet their days, I had intended to join in but due to some technical difficulties didn't get round to it. Anyway I saved the photographs and I'm going to post here, I have been thinking of making it a regular feature... a bit like journal entries of things we have been getting up to, better late than never!

We decided to do a '30 days of yoga' challenge during January which was a very enjoyable and relaxing way of keeping active during the winter months and beyond. I have done yoga sporadically for a very long time and am hoping to make it a more frequent family pastime.

On the live tweet day our next activity was a local library visit to make good use of resources and a variety of new reading and studying material followed by a very frosty play in the park and obstacle course race. Lugging heavy bags of books about definitely keeps you warm.

After lunch and library book reading the children chose to study, completing some maths and science projects and a little anatomy practice. Recently we have been doing some on line science courses with the mystery science club which the children have found fascinating. This months project was Invisible forces -  forces, motion and magnetism. We have also been looking at Botany, prehistoric man and the great barrier reef to name just a few things.

Dinnertime that day consisted of home made bread and minestrone soup, the children love making bread and we have just finished watching Victorian Bakers which was a very interesting social history program and has inspired them to try and make different styles of bread in the future.

Our minestrone style soup  is very chunky and rustic looking but tastes amazing as most home made soups do and well worth making to warm you up on winter days.

That pretty much covers that particular day but we have no set timetable and every single day looks very different to the next day...what we study is entirely led by the children's interests and is a fascinating and exciting journey.

We have also taken the time at the end of January to complete the big garden bird watch for the RSPB and were very excited to see a gold crest right outside the window. The children also went ten pin bowling for the first time, which was great fun and I have added a short, funny clip of my son's very unusual bowling technique... one, two, three... star!

Sweet Chilli Sauce

I have had a lot of people ask about my homemade sweet chilli sauce recipe so I thought I would write a quick post about it here. We love this sauce and it is so simple to make in just a matter of minutes, definitely worth making yourself.

As you can see in the photograph, it's a beautiful colour and has an amazing taste, a mixture of hot and sweet, a real treat for the senses. The whole recipe from start to finish only takes about 15-20 minutes.

Ingredients

• 2-3 garlic cloves
• 2-3 red chilli peppers
• 200ml water
• 200ml apple cider vinegar
• 200g sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 2 level tablespoons cornflour

I usually de-seed my chilli peppers first and save the seeds for use later, then Put all the ingredients except the cornflour into either a food processor or use a hand blender on it until finely chopped and blended. We usually use 2 large chilli peppers and 2 large garlic cloves but this is all down to personal taste, If using smaller ones I sometimes add 3.

Next put it into a saucepan along with some of the chilli seeds, remember a lot of the heat comes from the seeds so add an amount you would be comfortable with, I usually add about half the seeds back in. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for a few minutes.

While this is simmering put the 2 level tablespoons of cornflour into a cup and mix with 2 tablespoons of cold water. Remove the pan from the heat temporarily and whisk in your cornflour mixture. This will help to thicken the sauce slightly and allow the chilli pieces to float in suspension throughout your sauce.

Return to the heat and simmer for a further few minutes, whisking continuously to help the cornflour to thicken.

All that's left to do is add to a sterilized bottle or jar and leave to cool... the sauce thickens more as it cools a bit like jam does.

This sauce can be used as a dipping sauce or on anything you choose, we love it so much I even add it to my salads and baked potatoes. It will keep for quite a while, although it's usually eaten quite quickly here. Everything seems to taste so much better if it's homemade... Do be careful though to wash your hands after preparing chilli peppers and try not to touch any sensitive parts like your eyes.

Why not have a go yourself and enjoy...

Homemade Granola

I have been wanting to make our own granola for a while now but kept putting it off for one reason or another, finally last month I took the plunge and loved it so much found myself wishing I had done it years ago. I wanted to make it wheat and sugar free, still be tasty and very heavy on the nuts, seeds and dried fruit. I went through a process of picking out which nuts and seeds would have the best health benefits for our family and gave the recipe a go.

First things first start mixing the main ingredients, I have used 400g of oats and 150g of honey this may seem like a lot but I have been making up a batch to last the week. I have chosen to use coconut oil in the recipe due to it's health benefits and lovely toasted coconut taste in the finished granola, melt about 75g of the oil and brush some on the baking tray  and pour the rest into the oats.

After mixing well, spread onto the baking tray or dish... the recipe needs to cook for about 25 to 30 minutes at 180 degrees centigrade but it will need stirring every 10 minutes to ensure even cooking. I usually put the nuts and seeds in half way through cooking while I am stirring as I don't like them too toasted.

I have used about 100g of mixed seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, linseed/flax and sesame) and about 75g of mixed chopped nuts (brazil, almonds etc) and mixed them in to the granola after the first 10 minutes although it could all be done at the start to save time.

After it has finished cooking leave it to cool completely it will crisp up... at this point stir in about 75g of your chosen dried fruit. We have found the honey to be sweet enough without any other sugar. Once it has cooled it can be stored in a jar to keep it fresh.

This is absolutely delicious, such an easy recipe to make and really simple to customise to include your favourite things. Perfect for breakfast with milk, with yoghurt or just out of the jar as a snack.

Natural Update

This is my 100th post and I would like to take a second and thank everyone for reading my blog, the counter at the bottom of the page stands at over 46,000 visitors. I would also like to thank the many websites around the world that have featured our crafts, and all of you who have been inspired and have inspired me in return. Thank-you again, the children and I have some exciting crafts lined up and we will be sharing here soon.

As so many of you have asked how we are getting on with the natural cleaning and cutting out the chemicals I thought I would give you a quick update.

We are still using and loving the soap nuts, (these are dried berries not nuts) it has been over a year now this is my original post, in fact we still haven't got through the 1 kilo bag we purchased, this cost around £10 delivered to our door with a bottle of free essential oil and has lasted more than a year. There are 300 grams left, and not buying washing powder and fabric softener has saved us a lot of money and decreased the amount of household waste we throw out. I also love the fact that you can add the essential oil of your choice to the washing, I have been adding lavender to the bedding wash to enhance good sleep and citronella to the wash when there are lots of biting insects about. No harsh washing chemicals have also meant no itching and sneezing.

All general purpose kitchen cleaners, window and floor cleaners have been replaced by white vinegar, bicarbonate of soda, lemon juice and essential oils which we make up ourselves. I really haven't noticed any difference in the cleaning ability, it just smells far more natural. We are still loving the home made toothpaste too.

The natural crystal deodorant is absolutely still being used, I bought it in July last year for about £5. I am just as happy with it as I was then, no armpit smell at all. My husband was so impressed he now uses it and there is still over half a stick left, so definitely a good money saving purchase there.

Another money saver for me has been the purchase of a menstrual cup, initially expensive but it pays for itself after a few months and it can last for years. I have been using one for quite a few years now and can honestly say I have never felt so free and comfortable during a period, so this has eliminated the need for any sanitary protection.

I have stopped using shop bought moisturisers and now use either pure coconut oil or a block of shea butter, both of which smell incredible and and make my skin feel amazing. So no more nasty chemicals absorbed through the skin. I have also stopped using hair conditioner, oils to stop frizz and all the other stuff we tend to put on ourselves after washing our hair, I now add a little coconut oil to my hands and work it on the tips of my hair.  One thing I have noticed, bizarrely, is the condition and softness of my hair has vastly improved.

As you can see we have managed to get rid of loads of the chemicals from our daily lives and I am still working on more and will let you know how it goes. Not only have we saved a lot of money... I mean...How many of you can say you have done your entire family's washing for less than £10 for more than a year or less than £5 for deodorant for two people?... but we also feel much better, no sneezing or itching and I am happy that everything we now use is a change for the better for us. I may be adding some of our natural recipes here now and again if anyone is interested.

Home made Toothpaste

Trying to get rid of as many chemicals as possible from our daily life has led me to give home made toothpaste a go. I researched many recipes online, searching for all the pros and cons, looking for the simplest ingredients with the most benefits and found this one works best for us.

These are the four ingredients I have gone with, most of the recipes I have seen start with equal amounts of bicarbonate of soda and coconut oil. so, if you use one tablespoon of coconut oil you will need one tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda and mix together. Bicarbonate of soda is also used in conventional toothpaste for the cleaning abilities it has and coconut oil, from what I have read, is anti bacterial, anti fungal and has some tooth and gum benefits.

This is what it looks like after mixing, at this point we added a teaspoon of ground xylitol to make it slightly sweeter but this is optional really and either a few drops of peppermint oil or extract of peppermint. Some recipes use stevia instead of xylitol, both come naturally from plants and both have some benefits. This makes a firm toothpaste and the consistency depends a lot on the temperature in the house due to the coconut oil.

Then store, at first I used the little pots you can see above as I only made up a small amount but having decided we really like it and intend to keep using it I have now made it in a larger quantity so it is being stored in a small mason/kilner jar. Due to sensory problems I have never really liked the way conventional toothpaste foams up in your mouth and this home made toothpaste doesn't foam at all. I have also found the taste mellows slightly after the first day, it was a little zingy the first day I made it.

** If you have been thinking about doing something similar, I would recommend researching both the ingredients in conventional toothpaste and the many home made recipes out there.

Blackcurrant ice cream

   I'm not one for really complicated recipes, I know they are much loved by food connoisseurs, but speaking as a busy mum the simpler the better for me, especially if I only have a few minutes spare to wow the kids.

   We have been making good use of the blackcurrants from the bush in our garden, which always has a very large crop every year. This is one of the many things we have made from our harvest.
 

  We used about 250g of blackcurrants, after washing and preparing they were liquidized with 3 tablespoons of juice (any type can be used apple, orange, or we have even used squash once) and sieve to get rid of any larger bits.

    Then you need to add icing sugar, how much is up to your taste. Blackcurrants are not very sweet so we added about 75g and stirred it in well. If you are using a sweeter fruit, you can use less icing sugar or none at all.

    Now for the creamy piece. we have used about 300ml of cream, and whipped it until it was quite firm.

    Then add the blackcurrant mixture to the cream and stir it in. The colour you get after this is amazing.

All that is left to do now is tip your mixture into a freezable tub, cover with cling film and put into the freezer.  It takes a few hours to freeze in my freezer but I have a big industrial thing, so keep checking it. I prefer to get it out when it's just scoop-able, or you could get it out half an hour before you want to eat it.

   My kids really love making this, I have to say I do too, it tastes incredible, and it is so simple and adaptable. My son loves this and he doesn't even like blackcurrants! He also said that this was his favourite ice cream.

   We have recently been thinking up some really exotic recipes using these same basic guidelines. The measurements here are just a rough guide as we tend to just throw it all in. Why not give it a try, see what flavours you can think of...

We made butter...

   We have just had a hectic three weeks, with three birthdays and a wedding anniversary, we've been a little run off our feet. Things are now settling down a little though, and we have been enjoying the program escape in time. It is about life on a Victorian farm, and how modern families would cope with the work challenges.

    My son has been watching this program and at the moment there is a little spark of interest which I'm hoping will grow into a big research project. This is the way things usually work for him, it happened with the Romans, something sparked his interest then for a couple of months it was his big passion. We read every book we could find, did Internet research, watched documentaries, played games, made mosaics etc. At the end of this history session he had retained a lot of information and had a lot of fun.

     So at the moment I find myself trying to 'fan the flames' so to speak, hoping that our next history project will be about the Victorians. In the 'escape in time'  farm program one of the tasks was to make butter, so we thought we would give it a try ourselves. It is very simple all you need is a jar which you fill with cream to about a third full and shake it.... a lot!

      This works best if the cream has been at room temperature for an hour, it takes about 10 minutes to turn into butter, you then need to separate the butter from the buttermilk. The butter needs to be rinsed and squeezed to get rid of all the buttermilk and can be lightly salted if you choose to.

       The children loved making butter, especially the taste and we have now made it several times. I would highly recommend giving it a go... in the interest of education of course. If you would like a more detailed guide on making butter you can find one here.