Making Headlines

Inch by inch we are making our way to our goal. We are excited about our article in the Gettysburg Times. We're gaining momentum and we'd love to keep the ball rolling! Help us out, share and support this cause.

Read more about why this is important to us. 

DIY Cheese Crackers

 Having 4 growing boys can be a challenge when it comes to choosing good, healthy snacks. I have a hard time choosing what snacks to purchase at our grocery store because everything I pick up has some strange ingredients that I can't pronounce. Not to mention they can be expensive!
I did some looking up online, and here is what I came up with - wholewheat cheese crackers!

Wholewheat Cheese Crackers

1cup all purpose flour (I used whole wheat)

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground pepper

4 Tbsp cold butter cut small

8oz grated cheddar cheese

3-4 Tbsp water

Pulse everything in a food processor til dough is formed. Chill the dough for 20-30 min. Roll it out thin and cut it up. Poke holes with a toothpick. Bake in 350 degree preheated oven for 15-20 min.

Kagen cutting the cracker dough with a pizza cutter.

Like the irregular shapes? :)

They were gone in a few minutes!

-Junko

The Road Trip Dilemma: How will we solve it?

We were loaded into the car packed with healthy snacks and headed to New Orleans, Louisiana. As it got later, and we got hungrier, we faced a problem: where to eat? Mile after mile passed. Many signs popped up advertising chain restaurants. After a while the snacks weren't cutting it. Finally we were forced to stop at a place that left us loaded down and feeling sick for the rest of the ride. The service was sub-par, the atmosphere dismal, and I couldn't even tell you where it was located.

It struck me once again: don't we deserve more?

Our inspiration for a rest stop that restores was a result of this question.

The problem with many places along the highway is that every bite is generic. It could be so much more. A bite could contain flavors that were grown and cultivated within thirty miles of where you consume them. It certainly shouldn't make you feel uncomfortable for hours afterwards.  

Packing meals is wonderful, but then again, it's vacation isn't it? Sometimes all we want is to stop, prop up our feet and enjoy a guilt-free meal. This just isn't available to many people on the road.

A very few places have begun to set a higher bar, but hardly any are accessible to the weary traveler. If only one place could exemplify the value of a whole eating establishment along the highway, it could change so much. Everywhere and every day I find another person somewhere on his way to whole eating. People have begun to search but are barred in every direction by broken cuisine.

Change will have to start somewhere, and in many ways it has. It's amazing to see the way people are revolutionizing the way we eat everyday. This is often accomplished by simply going back to our roots. As we cull through the facts to find the truth, we can move forward.

I hope you'll join us in the journey!

-Cate


Come read, support and most importantly share our endeavor here. 

Support Our Kickstarter!

We are finally live! The Kickstarter Campaign we have been preparing for our whole food rest stop is launched. We need your support. You can read more about it here on our blog or go to our project and find more information.

We will not be funded without your support! Spread the good news.

How can you resist that face?

Skillet Focaccia Bread

Focaccia Bread:

• 2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast (1 packet)

• 2 tsp. sugar 

• 1/2 C warm water + another 1 1/2 C 

• 6 C bread flour OR 3 C all purpose & 3 C bread flour

• 1/2 tsp. salt

• 4 Tbsp. olive oil

Bread Topping: 

• 1/4 C olive oil

• 3-4 tsp. of your favorite herbs. (Ours include: rosemary, basil, oregano) 

• 1 tsp. each salt & pepper 

• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder 

Baking the Bread: 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In 1/2 cup warm water, gently combine yeast and sugar. Let it sit for a minute or two until the yeast becomes bubbly. 

Take your yeast mixture and, 1 1/2 cups warm water and 2 tablespoons oil and combine in a mixer with a dough hook. Slowly add your flour until you have a clean and barely sticky dough.

• If your dough is still too wet add more flour one tablespoon at a time.

• If your dough is too tight add more water one teaspoon at a time. 

On a lightly floured surface, knead your dough for 3-5 minutes then shape into a ball.  

Let your dough rise in a large, oiled bowl set in a warm place for 2 hours. For best results, cover the bowl with a damp towel. 

After it has risen, lightly punch the dough down. Douse your trusty skillet with a little olive oil and shape the dough into the pan. Press your finger lightly into the dough at 1 inch intervals creating small indentations all around. Let your dough rise an additional 25-30 minutes. 

Bake in oven at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Remove and coat your dough with the remaining olive oil. When this is done place bread back into the oven and bake for another 15-20 minutes or until it is crusty and golden brown. 

Mix your topping in a small bowl or cup and pour directly onto your bread. From there you can transfer to a serving platter or serve from your skillet. Enjoy!     

 Slice and serve with your favorite Italian meal! 

 Pictured: Eggplant Parmesan from scratch.

Pottery Pandemonium

It's been too long since we have posted anything. It's been an INSANELY busy 2 months. The arrival of spring has brought with it myriads of new projects as well as rather unpredictable weather.

What exactly has been going on here behind closed doors?

We have been trying new recipes, preparing the garden, taking hikes, doing school. The 12-13 of April was the 1000 Mug Sale and brought lots of business. 1000 Mug Sale? Not just a name, my friends, we actually made 1000 mugs.

 

Thousand Mug Sale

Finally, along with everything else . . . dun-duh-duh-duh . . . We are working vigorously through all the chaos to prepare and launch a Kickstarter for our green rest stop. We don't have it up YET but it is in the final stages of preparation. Get ready! It's going to be an insanely exciting next couple of months. We are so passionate about this idea and we are praying to see where God will take us with it.  

Please keep us in your prayers as we juggle our current business, the launching of our new project as well as the continued home-schooling of the boys.

Thanks for reading!

On a hike!

Croissants in the making and the final product.

Gardening Projects.

Some plain old fun!

Upcycled Art Class

Every Wednesday we gather with our close friends for art class. When they are here there are a total of 9 boys darting around the house. It can get slightly chaotic!
This week's project was Upcycled Art. We laid out a myriad of supplies and let the kids go wild.

If you want to try this with your kids (or if you are feeling creative!) here are some good material ideas that worked for us!

• Toilet paper and paper towel holders
• Old plastic fruit baskets
• Plastic Bottles 
• Cans (Don't stick your hands inside; they're sharp!)
• Wire
• Bottle caps 
• Glass jars
• Cardboard
• The odds and ends left over from other crafts
• Rubberbands
• Popsicle sticks
• Egg cartons

Anything else that you can't use but don't want to throw out can become art! The boys got very creative.  

You will also need:

• Hot glue gun
• Scissors 
• Pliers 

The finished products!

Superb Skillet Corn Bread

A perfect side dish for many meals, corn bread is quick and easy to make if you know how. We like to eat it with our chile or soup but it goes well with so many things! Here's our favorite recipe. Enjoy! 

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 C Yellow Corn Meal
• 2 C Flour
• 1/2 C Sugar
• 6 tsp Baking Powder
• 2 tsp Salt
• 2 Eggs
• 2 C Milk
• 1/2 C Melted Butter (1 stick) 

Optional Ingredients for an Added Twist:

• Rosemary
• Cumin
• Hot Chiles

DIRECTIONS: 

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. 

Prepare a 10.5 inch cast iron skillet, grease well (we use coconut oil!). If you don't have a skillet, a medium casserole dish will work as well.

In a large bowl mix together the corn meal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. 

Set aside. 

Lightly beat both eggs in a small bowl. Add the two cups of milk and melted butter to the beaten eggs and stir until they are well blended. 

Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients. Mix well until all lumps are gone and the batter is smooth but not too thick. 

Bake on the top oven rack for 25 minutes or until gold brown. 

Makes enough for 10-12 servings. 

A Small Word On the Amazing Skillet:

Due to its versatility, the skillet is a favorite in our kitchen. It has been a favorite in millions of kitchens for hundreds and hundreds of years. It can go from the stove top right into the oven and then onto the table. The wonder of a cast iron skillet is its ability to seep dietary iron into the food that is cooked within. The iron in cornbread is increased by 28% when baked in cast iron. 

Every kitchen needs a good black skillet!   

Other Skillet favorites: 

• Focaccia Bread
• Eggs and Bacon
• Upside Down Cake 

Start Your Day the Citrus Way

Start Your Day the Citrus Way

Here at the Lion Potter our mornings go something like this. Slowly but surely everyone rolls out of bed. It shouldn’t really be that difficult to wake up to “breakfast is served!” but a morning is still a morning after all. We gather around the table and acclimate to the day over coffee and eggs. Usually no one is loud. Hopefully, no one is rowdy.

We are all familiar with the hardship of morning. Wake up wrong and the whole day is shot. Someone mentions we “woke up on the wrong side of the bed” and our attitude for the rest of the day has been shifted that way as well.

Sometimes that veil of grogginess from the morning lasts all day. Many days we’re ready for a nap by noon. Unfortunately, there is no fix-all solution. From our kitchen to yours, however, we send a little wisdom for your ante-meridiem. This method will at least improve your chances of a more productive day. It certainly will aid the journey to a healthy, grateful body.

The not-so-confidential secret?

 Lemon juice.

How do we use it? 

Juice half of a lemon into your favorite morning mug and add boiling water. It may be a little sour but it sure will make you sweet!

Why does it help? 

There are enzymes from your stomach and enzymes from your liver, both spinning opposite directions. When they meet, they create friction, which in turn produces energy. The enzymes in fresh lemon juice spin the same way as the enzymes from your liver. This helps increase friction and ultimately provides your body with more energy.

Other helpful benefits of lemon water? 

It is a natural detox. Take lemon water in the morning to flush out your system and get your gears in order. (Okay, we don’t have gears but it does wonders on your liver!) 

Some added wisdom: 

If you are looking to cleanse with lemon juice a better alternative to boiled tap water is steamed distilled water. Imagine a person coming in to bail the water out of your basement but their bucket is already a third of the way full. The job would go much quicker with an empty bucket! The same goes for your body. If you use the steamed distilled or “hungry” water, it works like an empty bucket, bailing out the toxins inside.   

A little side note for any history lovers:

 Ever heard the rather derogatory term “Limeys” referring to the British? It first came from sailors in the Royal Navy who would drink watered down limejuice in their rum (called “grog”) to prevent scurvy. It didn’t help them much, however, since the citrus has to be fresh to protect against the foul disease. Although the right idea of using citrus was around for a while, it wasn’t until the chairman of the Royal Navy’s “Sick and Hurt Board”, Gilbert Blane, implemented the use of fresh citrus that the health of sailors notably increased. This health advantage may have helped them win the battle of Trafalgar. Just drinking fresh lemon juice may have altered the course of history, imagine what it can do for your day!