Stretchy Dough! (Homemade Play Clay)

I decided to give myself the week off from cooking.  Greg had the week off, and so did I, for the most part.  That gave me time to putter around the kitchen and enjoy the time with my family.  Although, I still spent a good portion of my time in the kitchen.  A.J. and I did our usual art project on Tuesday, and this week it was to make stretchy dough.  It's very similar to play dough, but without the salt.  It's consistency is much closer to bread dough (very close to the biscuits I made the day before from the Tassajara Bread Book), so young children love to poke, pound, and squeeze it!  This is one of the many projects in First Art: Art Experiences for Toddlers and Twos.  This book has helped me immensely with finding art projects that are suitable for someone A.J.'s age.  I have no imagination when it comes to art (it still boggles my mind that I was placed in gifted art classes as a young child), and these projects come with suggestions for what the child can learn/do in addition to just having fun with it.  Although, play is a child's work anyway.

This has been one of our most fun projects to date!

The ingredients are very simple.

1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp. food coloring (optional, but A.J. really loved this part)
2 cups flour

(No salt needed - I took this picture before I really read the ingredient list! I couldn't decide if we should make a variation of this dough called "Fruity Dough" which does require salt.)

You also need various "tools" that the child can poke or otherwise manipulate the dough.  We used chopsticks, straws, popsicle sticks, spoons, a rolling pin, yogurt containers, and toothpicks, but the possibilities are only limited by your imagination.

Once you've got all your ingredients together and your child ready, you can mix together the water and oil, and let them stir the two.  Since A.J. is only 19 months, I put him in a learning tower, so he's at the right height and I don't have to worry about him falling.  If you're not familiar, a learning tower is a fabulous tool that is often used in Waldorf schools and homes.  They allow you to incorporate your child into the process of cooking/baking and other similar activities safely.  They are good for children 18 months - 6 years.


Once you have the oil and water stirred together, your child may get a little off course, as A.J. did, and grab the rolling pin and try to stir the mixture with that!  It's all good though, as art (and everything) for toddlers and twos is about exploration, and not doing things "right" or the finished product.  It's all about the process.








Next, you can add in your food coloring and stir that together.  Once that is mixed, you can slowly add in the flour.  Your child can be stirring the entire time you are doing this.  A.J. loves to stir!









Once you have the flour mixed in, it's time to play!
Poke the dough with the myriad tools you have, or roll it out with a rolling pin, or whatever else your child wants to do.  The dough is very oily, so you might consider putting a tablecloth under it, if you are using your kitchen table as a work space.

This dough does not hold it's shape well, so it's not for major sculpting projects.

After several minutes of exploration, I could tell A.J. wanted to get down from his learning tower, and so we moved the dough to his wooden table, and continued our exploration until A.J. looked at me and said, "Playdough.  Playdough.  Playdough." and walked over to where we keep two little containers of Play dough that he got as a party favor this month.  The frustrated mother in me wanted to say, "No.  We're playing with the stretchy dough that we just made, and I carefully planned to make last night.  Our homemade dough is better, anyway.  Don't you know?"  Fortunately, I put the kaibosh on that control freak mom, and pulled out the containers of play dough.  Aidan played with that, while I played with the stretchy dough.  Aidan eventually came back to the stretchy dough.

Once finished, I put the leftover dough in a large yogurt container, and put it in the fridge for use on another day!

Two "yummy" bath recipes

I did subtitle this blog "One Yoga Mama's Journey Through Ayurveda, Waldorf Based Cooking, and Other 'Weird' Kitchen Experiments" for a reason.  Many of the things I whip up in the kitchen are inedible...and not for the reasons you're thinking.  I often make art projects and supplies for my son, and I also make "yummy" bath products.  This week I made two different recipes that I wanted to share.

1) The Bliss Bath - Adapted from Spa Bliss: Heavenly Ideas for Chilling Out.

1 tablespoon sweet almond oil
3 drops rose essential oil
3 drops orange or mandarin essential oil
2 drop geranium oil

Blend the ingredients together and add to your bath water.  Soak for 20 minutes to bliss out fully!

 Sweet almond oil is prized for its high fatty acid content that appears to be close to the skin's own sebum, and is a lovely oil to use for massage. 

2) Goat's milk bath - Adapted from The Green Beauty Guide

1 cup condensed goat's milk
2 tablespoons honey
2 drops vanilla extract
4 drops lavender essential oil.

Blend the ingredients well and use immediately to create a soothing, deeply moisturizing bath.  You can use whole cow's milk or condensed cow's milk.  Use organic, if available.

These baths are both wonderful for this time of year when vata is high, so skin is drier than usual.  My skin gets very dry in the winter, but I still crave hot baths to warm up my body.  These baths help to negate some of the effects of the hot bath on dry skin.  Baths also lower the stress hormone, cortisol, in the body, and are wonderful to help induce sleep.  So, slip into one of these baths after a stressful day this winter, and then slip into a deep, winter's slumber.

Eating Bird Food!

I love experimenting with new foods.  (I guess you've figured that out already if you've been reading this blog.)  I've been meaning to try out millet for some time.  I became interested in millet when A.J.'s teacher first told me the Waldorf concept of a "grain a day."  I went home and researched it a little, and found that according to the Waldorf Kindergarten Snack Book, children should have specific grains on certain days of the week:

Sunday (Sun): Wheat
Monday (Moon):  Rice
Tuesday (Mars):  Barley
Wednesday (Mercury);  Millet
Thursday (Jupiter):  Rye
Friday (Venus):  Oats
Saturday (Saturn):  Corn

Part of the reason that this is done is because there is a belief that there is a connection between the grains and their cosmic origins.  Also, and in my opinion, more importantly, is that this helps establish a rhythm in the home for the children.  The days of the week are fairly meaningless to young children, but they can easily ascertain the rhythm of the week based on a pattern.

Millet is really a fascinating grain and is currently growing in popularity in the United States.  I didn't realize it until I saw it in the store, that I had seen it before...in bird food.  It's the main ingredient in some bird seed mixes!  It's technically not a grain, but is often classified that way.  It is a seed, and doesn't contain any gluten, so it's great for people that need gluten free diets.  It's very common in areas of the world where staples like wheat and rice do not grow well.  Like oatmeal, it's excellent for the heart and can lower cholesterol and heart disease.

After deciding that I wanted to experiment, I went in search of recipes, and had very little luck finding them.  So, I decided to make a porridge with the millet similar to my steel cut oats porridge.  When A.J. was first born, I had trouble finding time to cook breakfast (and, well...anything really).  I was desperately trying to not let the quality of my diet go downhill, since I was breastfeeding, and I stumbled up on the cookbook, Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cook Book.  Inside the book, there was a recipe for steel cut oats in the crock pot!  I had never thought of that before, and was thrilled to try it out and it was delicious and super easy!  I tried a variation for millet.

Millet Porridge in the Crock Pot

1 cup millet 
2 cups almond milk
2 cups water
1 tsp. cinnamon


Rinse the millet and remove any debris.  Add the millet, almond milk, water, and cinnamon into the crock pot.  Cook on low overnight (or for at least 8 hours).  You can also add any dried fruit of your choice.  Serve with a sweetener of your choice (agave nectar, maple syrup, etc.).


I added some dried apples to the crockpot with the rest of the ingredients.  I believe that is in compliance with Ayurveda since I read that some dried fruits are okay to eat with other foods.

Bottom line: A.J. loved it!  I liked it, and, even Greg liked it.  He is my toughest critic, but he ate a large bowl of it (the large amount of maple syrup he added probably helped).

Not weird at all!

Okay.  It didn't take me long to stray away from my Ayurveda experiment, but I had such fun making these that I couldn't resist sharing.  I put a lot of love and joy into these jars of lemon curd, and for some odd reason, just feel incredibly joyful looking at these tiny little jars.  I made one for each of the librarians that work in my department.  I'm a little late with my gift this year, because I was originally going to make mini loaves of cranberry orange bread, but after two batches came out poorly, I decided to ditch that idea.  Then I had an epiphany when I was looking through some Cooking Light issues and saw a recipe for lemon curd.  I have been dying to use up the baby food jars that I have been saving.  Even though I made a lot of A.J.'s food and bought a lot of Happy Baby organic frozen food, I still had at least 50 jars of food.  They were very convenient when Greg and I went out for dinner with A.J. or were otherwise out and about. 

It is super easy to make this recipe.  I don't think you could get it wrong, and it didn't take much time at all.  Even though the lemon curd will only last about a week in the fridge, you can freeze it and defrost it when needed.

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=524037

Once I put the lemon curd in jars, I made up a little card to attach to the lemon curd describing the healing properties of lemon.  I love to add tags like this to food gifts to let people know about the healing qualities of foods.  I believe in the power of people's thoughts and that when people know how their food heals their body it is more effective.  I deeply believe that food, especially that which is made with love, is the best medicine.

This is what the label says:

"In traditional medicine, the lemon is widely known for its healing powers and is used in many different ways. They contain unique flavonoid compounds that have antioxidant and anti-cancer properties.  Lemons are an excellent source of vitamin C, one of the most important antioxidants in nature.  The vitamin C in lemons helps reduce cholesterol and prevents heart disease. It is also helpful for those with rheumatism and arthritis, and many other ailments."

I will add the Word document that contains the label once I figure out how to do it in Blogger.

Cream of Buckwheat - Ayurveda Style!

Okay, so this week was probably not the best week to start a blog, with Christmas coming and all.  But I have had a lot of extra kapha lately (which translates to inertia for me), and I got really excited about this project.  So, I decided to jump on it while I was excited rather than risk the possibility of it not coming to fruition due to inertia.

For those of you that are following my blog (thanks again to the three of you!) that may not be aware of what Ayurveda is, this is my favorite dosha quiz and a good site for general information on the basics of Ayurveda.  It's my favorite because the quiz gives your dosha results in terms of mind and body.  Instead of just giving you one dominant dosha for your body and mind, it breaks the results down into 2 columns and then lists the doshas in order of dominance.  Last time I took it, I was shocked to realize that I had a Vata body (not the shocking part) and a Pitta mind.  That's the first time I've ever had a Pitta anything, but that explains why I've been angry a lot lately.

Anyway, I decided to start small since Christmas is coming up and also that's what the Ayurveda Cooking for Self Healing Book suggests anyway.  I decided to start our Monday morning off with a little Cream of Buckwheat - Ayurveda style.  I decided to do a slight variation on the "Creamed Wheat Porridge."  The recipe calls for Cream of Wheat, but I decided to try Cream of Buckwheat instead.  As Greg said, "Otay!"

Buckwheat is a bit of a misnomer, as it's not actually wheat.  It is actually a fruit seed that is related to rhubarb and sorrel, and not a grain.  So, people that are sensitive to gluten or need a gluten free diet can tolerate this well.  While A.J.'s eczema is pretty much cleared up, I always keep in the back of my mind that gluten is one of the possible agents that exacerbate eczema.  So, I try to vary our diet a lot so that there isn't a lot of gluten.  Moderation is the key in many things in life. 

Creamed Buckwheat Porridge:
1/4 c. ghee
1/2 c. cream of buckwheat
2 cups water
1/4 tsp. ground cardamom


Heat a pot on a medium heat and add the ghee.  Next add the creamed buckwheat, stirring it constantly until lightly brown and fragrant.  Pour in the water and stir vigorously until lumps are dissolved and the porridge is soft.  Add the cardamom.  Turn the heat to simmer and cover until ready to serve.  Serve with milk and sweetener, if desired.

I also made the breakfast tea that is good for all dosha types.  I have had this before though, since it was in Yoga Journal a few months ago.  I love it!  The fresh ginger is a bit of a pain to grate every morning though.  I'm going to experiment with some ground ginger to see what that affect is.  It didn't come out that great this morning, because as I was waiting for the water to boil, A.J. came over and said, "Up! I see.  I see."  So, I picked him up, so he could watch me cook, and realized very quickly he had a poopie diaper.  I decided that I had better rush the tea making and turned the burner up to the highest possible setting.  It quickly came to a boil, and I added the spices, and then it quickly boiled over!  That's how cooking usually goes in this house! 

Breakfast tea:


1/2 tsp fresh ginger, grated (I use my zester)
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 generous pinch of cardamom
1 cup water


Boil the water and add the spices.  Cover, turn off the heat and allow to sit for a few minutes before serving.

The Bottom Line: The tea was fine, although not quite like I remembered and A.J. didn't get any diaper rash.
The Cream of buckwheat had a bit too much ghee in it for my taste.  My mouth felt oily afterward.  Aidan ate it okay.  I didn't add the milk that the recipe suggested, and added agave nectar as a sweetener.  

I'm not sure this followed the ayurvedic principles, since buckwheat is actually a fruit.  One of the main principles is that you should always eat fruit alone, since "many fruits create a sour and indigestible 'wine' in the stomach when mixed with other foods."  I don't think that was the case with the buckwheat, but I am definitely no expert.