Miz Whimsy

“We live by faith; and if that faith be weak, trust God that weak faith is faith, and that weak faith is true faith… It’s not great faith that is essential to salvation but faith that links the soul to Christ, and that soul is, therefore, saved.” — Charles Spurgeon

Gluten Free Pancakes with flax    (Adapted from http://www.bobsredmill.com/recipes/how-to-make/gluten-free-flaxseed-pancakes/) Ingredients:          1/2 cup Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour     1/2 cup Golden Flaxseed Meal (or take whole flax seeds and grind the suckers up in a blender)     1 Tbsp Maple Syrup (or other sweetener of choice)     1 tsp Baking Powder     1/2 tsp Baking Soda     1/4 tsp Sea Salt     1 Egg     1 T dry chia seeds     1/2 cup Milk Optionals: frozen berries dark chocolate chunks Instructions:     Mix the dry ingredients in a medium bowl.  Add wet ingredients and let rest for 5-10 minutes. Slowly pour batter onto heated skillet coated with generous amount of oil or ghee. Cook on medium low until bubbles begin popping through the top of the batter; keep heat on medium low for 5 more minutes or until firm enough to survive flipping. Flip, allow to cook on the opposite side for 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat and top with ghee/sea salt,

Ghee has no power whatsoever but man, it tastes so good. (In other news, I have been getting walloped by this season’s totes mcgoats cold viruses. Red, yellow, black, and white, they’ll get Whimsy sick, alright.) Ghee is a type of clarified butter, yeah? It can be made from ordinary (organic/grassfed preferred) stick butter. What differentiates ghee from butter is that the butter is simmered until the milk proteins and stuff separate from the lovely, golden goodness and then the liquid gold is strained to leave a substance pretty darn close to being lactose free. Close. Very close. The foam simmer stage Anyway, I have been reading about this for months and could never find it in a grocery store (I found out two days ago that I was looking in the wrong place. It’s on the cooking aisle next to the coconut oil.) so I finally decided to make my own. Couldn’t be that hard, right?                                                   The straining stage  It totally isn’t!!! May

When I first began thinking about writing a weekly blog (please ignore the lack of update last Saturday. Dang those resolutions), I surfed across a website called Phylicia Delta. I have NO idea what I was looking for or why but I read the article that I read and went “huh, this girl loves Jesus and theology and is pretty much solid” and subscribed and have been meaning to go back and troll the archives but, well, sickness, time, ADD, squirrel, work, sleeping, you know…. stuff… trounced upon my good intentions and I forgot. So fast forward to like yesterday or Tuesday, or something, and I get an email from Phylicia about Christian Cosmo. Thought #1: Man. Maybe this is a drink recipe that’s different from other Pom Cosmos Thought #2: What makes a Christian Cosmo drink “Christian?” Thought #3: Hahahaha, I’m so funny Thought #4: And mature After gleefully snickering to myself for a goodly amount of time, I proceeded to read the (very obvious, okay, Whimsy) sub-heading: The Se

Ah, Apple Cider Vinegar. Where should I begin? You’re the cure-all (like bone broth).  Perhaps you don’t taste quite as good, but that’s probably ‘cos you're just misunderstood and people don't understand that it takes a refined palate to ingest and enjoy your go-go juice. You’ve been heralded as one who helps prevent diabetes and insulin resistance, promotes weight loss , whisks away acid reflux and heartburn , melts away warts . Among other things. Many, many other things (natural deodorant anyone? Anyone…? Well…). But dang, sister, those are some braggadocios claims, there. You’re brand isn’t pulling any punches either (Bragg. The spelling doesn’t fool anyone). But do you actually do what people claim you do? ~oOo~ I first heard about the wonders of Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) a year or so ago from my dear Older Sister (https://christinelife.wordpress.com). Warts, unsightly, disgusting, horrible, nasty little body invaders, have been a battle for me sinc

Beef Bone Broth. The natural successor to Chicken Bone Broth. For real broth-ers, right? A commentary. Well, basically a play-by-play.   The Stanky Leg 1 whole onion quartered with skins 2 lbs beef bones (roasted)  Skins of 1 red onion  2 carrots, chopped roughly  1 celery stick  Leaves from 1 celery heart  1/2 bunch (washed) parsley  2 chicken feet (I blanched them?)  2 bay leaves  A spattering of peppercorns (probably less than 1 teaspoon)  1 gallon water  There are peeps who are persuaded that too much plant matter can alter the flavor, so there’s that. There are peeps who argue for waiting until the last hour or so to put plant matter in. So, there’s that. But I’m experimenting. So there’s that. The Soak 2 T vinegar  2 lbs beef bones (all bone and marrow, baby)  2 chicken paws   I let the bones and paws soak in a cold vinegar bath for like 30 minutes.    The Blanch Still debatable as to whether its helpful or not. Used water from The Soak

I am, have always been, a haphazard person. For better or worse. I chronically neglect to read recipes in their entirety before thinking “Hey! That looks good!” and proceed with cooking until I reach that one….  Necessary… Ingredient… That I don’t…. Have…. Or, when I am desperate to try something but in order to make that something I need to make something else to go along with it and instead of it only taking like an hour it takes 3 but it was worth it in the end because I finally scratched that obsessive brain itch. Or how about this:  I’m in the middle of preparing a recipe and have a sudden curiosity of Why did they choose to do it this way? Does everyone do it this way? Well, yes it seems that they do, but why? They sort of give answers but not really, so is it important? And then there I go, chasing the white rabbit down that internet hole and mucking around for answers until I get irritated and give up. 
Well, thank goodness for my smart, go-to people who are cooks and c