Probiotic Rich Lunches

Moving onto probiotic foods at lunch time.  Here is a fresh herb soft raw cheese.  Again, I used various chopped fresh herbs from my garden, fresh pressed garlic, and some sea salt.  Very delicious!  I actually put the smaller jar in the freezer to save for some chilly months when fresh cheese and herbs aren't so bountiful.

I used the cheese in this pita sandwich.  Homemade sourdough pita bread, spinach from my garden, hard boiled pastured egg, raw cheese and a side of fermented spicy pickles.  Perfect lunch.

 

Here's another nutrient dense lunch - dark greens and various vegetables freshly picked from my garden, raw cheddar cheese (store bought), cold pastured chicken, and homemade ranch dressing.  This is made from raw milk kefir cheese, raw cream, and spices.  Yum!

 

Tis the season for lots of greens and salads, so here is another salad dressing idea with probiotic benefits. I've been drinking quite a bit of home brewed kombucha lately.  I let some of it ferment for a long time to get 'kombucha vinegar'.  Then I mix the vinegar with organic olive oil, fresh herbs and salt and pepper. Instant healthy salad dressing!

    

Don't forget that you can add lacto fermented vegetables to almost any meal.  And they last a really long time!  Now is the best time to start fermenting some in season produce.  I'm still eating stuff from last summer.  Fresh salads aren't always available so fermented veggies are a great way to get those good bacteria in during the cooler months.

This post is part of Wardeh's 'Probiotics at Every Meal' lunch post and 'Pennywise Platter Thursday' at Nourishing Gourmet.

Comments

[Shannon]

Yum. We just finished our first 1/2 gallon of pickles for the year. Good thing our garden has tons of cucumber blossoms. I am finding that salad dressings are a great vehicle for probiotics in the summer, too.

[Sara]

Everything looks delicious! Have you frozen your herb cheese before? How does it thaw? I would love to freeze mine, too, but worry about the consistency when it thaws.

[Tara]

Sara, I have not froze and defrosted the cheese before. I did freeze several half pints of plain soft cheese, but have not yet defrosted them. I'm thinking that with the soft cheeses the texture would be fine. If anything, a quick stir and maybe some added raw milk to get it smooth again? I'll update on the blog once I defrost some. I was going to wait till the later months when raw milk is not so available to defrost it, but now I'm thinking I should try one to see how it goes before deciding to put up more.

[Susan B]

I took a cheese making class and they told us that soft cheeses defrosted fine with out any change in character. It's the harder cheeses that tend to become more crumbly when frozen.

[Wardeh @ GNOWFGLINS]

It all looks so good, and I love that you're using your herbs. Great idea to use the vinegar-y kombucha in salad dressing. Tell me about the sourdough pitas... did you use a regular bread dough or a special recipe?

[Tara]

Susan - thanks for the info!

Wardeh - I used the recipe and directions from here:http://heartlandrenaissance.com/2010/07/whole-wheat-sourdough-pita/

It was the first time I tried pitas. I think I rolled them too thin - they never fully puffed up. Only in certain spots. Also, I had to bake mine much longer. I'll try it again sometime maybe with some different techniques.

[Wardeh @ GNOWFGLINS]

Rolling too thin or rolling too much leads to not puffing up fully. They really look good, so you must have done allright. :)