Keep it Real

Still talking broth.

So, I haven't blogged here for months.  You would think that when I did come back I'd have a different topic.  I don't.  It's still chicken bone broth.  It's been my routine for quite awhile to roast or crockpot one whole chicken every week.  We have it for dinner, eat the meat, and that night I toss all the scraps into the pot and make bone broth.  Every week.  We use this to drink in mugs, make soup with, cook rice or beans in, or whatever else I can get it into.

William has taken pretty well to this.  I try to get at least one mug a week into him.  Sometimes more. I've told him of the healing powers of broth and how it's an ancient food.  With his autism we've gone through quite a bit of different therapies to heal him. Getting broth into his body is just another step closer to good health. I just had to share this video we took this morning.  We had been stirring the broth and talking about it a bit and I asked if he'd like to make a video about broth.  That's all the prompting I gave him.  The rest came straight from him. :) Warms a real food mama's heart to listen to her kids talk of such things.

 

Shared on the Real Food Wednesday post.

Bone Broth ~ an amazing healer

I've been making bone broth for a while now, both with chicken bones and beef bones.  I usually use it up in soups, stews, cooking brown rice, or making egg drop soup.  Will has never been much (if at all) of a soup eater.  In fact he doesn't eat any liquid off of a spoon unless it's melted ice cream. ;)  I've been wanting to get a good gelatinous broth into him for quite sometime now.

A  few days ago both Will and Autumn came down with a little something.  Slight sore throats, very low grade fever, a little blood shot eyes, no appetite, and low energy.  In the grand scheme of illnesses - it was very very mild.  Right away I pulled out a quart of chicken broth from the freezer.  Warmed it up and put a good dose of celtic sea salt in it.  Then I served it to them in mugs.  Autumn drank hers right up - she's always been my 'hot soup' girl.  Will on the other hand is not a fan.  But I told him it tasted like Top Ramen soup - unfortunate memories of our SAD (standard american diet) days. I told him it was 'magical bone broth' and that it would help him to feel better.  To my surprise he sipped it down and declared that he liked it!  Hazza!  I managed to get about four little mugs into him in two days.  I had to do a lot of encouraging for him to finish it, but he did!

Both kids are better.  Will had a congested sounding cough in the middle of the night and after his first mug this morning it went away.  No fever, eyes are clearer, and he's going back to school today. Now, I can't say it's completely the broth, but I think it really really REALLY helped.  This will be on hand at all times through the fall and winter....

From the Weston A. Price Foundation ~ Why Broth is Beautiful

Make chicken stock in the crock pot.

Shared at Simple Lives Thursday.

Why I'm not canning tomatoes.

I LOVE summer tomatoes.  It's just not summer without them.  When I was a kid we used to go to the local pick your own farm and bring back huge boxes full of them.  My family wasn't one for preserving, so we just ate and ate and ate tomatoes until the season was over.  Then we waited until next summer.  That's seasonal eating at it's finest.

It's been a very strange summer season here.  My husband diligently planted tons of tomato seeds.  Caring for them for weeks in pots all over the house.  Then he loving and carefully planted them.  Then the cold came, and the rain, and the winds, and not enough heat.  We are barely getting a few precious cherry tomatoes and some heirlooms.  Not enough to preserve.  It's been frustrating to see all his hard work not really pay off.  Makes us appreciate our local farmers even more.  In fact one local farm lost everyone of their hundreds of tomato plants to blight.  Ugh.

Yesterday we were lucky enough to find a farm that has tomatoes.  A small local farm using mostly organic practices.  We bought a bushel of ripe tomatoes for 30 bucks.  I had been eager to can some to use through the winter.  But there are some issues with that. 

1) I've only canned a few times. It was quite a process and I don't have a huge pot or canning pot = extra expense.  So I'm not fully comfortable with the whole canning process.

2) All the talk of safety issues kind of freaks me out.  Botulism? Um, no thanks.

3) and then there's the whole BPA issue in the canning lids.  But BPA is one of the reasons I'm trying to get away from store bought canned tomatoes.

4) Pantry space is at a premium.  Home canned goods need a place to stay.

5) It's still warm here and the thought of babysitting can after can of hottness doesn't appeal to me.

What I AM blessed with is freezer space!  I have a whole stand up freezer and a small chest freezer all to myself.  Yesterday I peeled and cooked down half the bushel of tomatoes.  I ended up with 7 quart jars full.  That whole process was enough to push me over to the side of not canning.

 

These jars are going into the freezer just like that.  I don't know enough about the BPA issue to know if it effects the tomato sauce even if it's not touching it and is frozen.  Anyway, I only have 7 of these quarts.

I decided to do a little digging on freezing tomatoes.  I stumbled on this blog post and thought - 'what the heck!  Why not?'  Makes sense to me.  Of course they won't be good in salads or sandwiches, but what preserved tomato is?  So I washed, dried, and set them on a cleared out shelf in my freezer.  When they are solid then I'll transfer to a bag.  I guess the coming cooking months will be the test as to whether or not this works well.  But it seems to have been tested by others.  When they defrost the skin peels off, chop and throw into whatever I'm making.  Genius!
 

 

I think I'll go back for another bushel.  I'd like to freezer more.  My herb garden is still growing so I'd also like to actually make a big pot of sauce to freeze into portions.  Grand, huh?

And check it out!  Looks like a delicious smelling vanilla candle, right?  Nope.  That's part of 30+ lbs of grass fed beef tallow that I'm rendering right now (another reason not to dive into canning at the moment). Last night I was admiring this jar of tallow since it's the only jar like this I have.  I've been wondering to myself where I got it.  My husband said, yeah it looks like a candle.  DUH!  of course, I must have washed out a candle jar a long time ago.  I've been using it in the kitchen for quite awhile now.  All the other jars are regular pint sized mason jars full of tallow.  If you pour it in hot, then the lids seal as they cool.  Tallow is shelf stable and will last for months in the pantry.

 
This post is part of Pennywise Platter at Nourishing Gourmet and Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade.

Delicious Chocolate Pudding

Sugar, Modified Food Starch, Cocoa Processed With Alkali, Disodium Phosphate (For Thickening), Contains less than 2% of Natural and Artificial Flavor, Salt, Tetrasodium Pyrophosphate (For Thickening), Mono- and Diglycerides (Prevent Foaming), Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 1, Artificial Color, Bha (Preservative).

If you've been reading this blog for any amount of time you would know that those 'ingredients' (and I use that term loosely) above are not the ingredients of my chocolate pudding. Once upon a time my pantry had stacks of boxes of different flavored pudding mixes with that same ingredient list.  Not a single one to be found in my current pantry.

So how did I end up with this delicious bowl of creamy chocolate pudding?

It could have been one of the many homemade cooked pudding recipes out there.  But it wasn't.  I go to great lengths to obtain fresh raw milk and I wanted to keep it raw. Cooking it to death wasn't what I was after.

Actually, I was inspired by this probiotic chocolate ice cream recipe from GNOWFGLINS. I've made it a couple times and really enjoy the flavor.  I brew a quart jar of raw milk kefir everyday.  I keep a half gallon jar in my fridge for the finished brew.  A half gallon is all I allow myself to keep.  If I start getting more than a half gallon then I know I'd better start using kefir in something.  This way I know we are always consuming kefir in some sort of food. 

It was starting to build up so I decided to strain some until it was the consistency of thick greek yogurt.  I was planning on making a fruit yogurt with it but then decided to try out an experimental chocolate pudding.

Ingredients:

1 cup of whole dates roughly chopped

3/4 cup of raw cream

1 whole avocado

1 1/4 cup kefir (that's been strained to thick yogurt consistency)

3 locally sourced pastured egg yolks

1 tablespoon vanilla

1/4 cup organic raw cacao powder - I use this one. 

*** A note about the ingredients - these are my ultimate healthy ingredients.  I understand that not everyone has access to these foods or would rather use substitutions.  Here is my best guess on good substitutions:***

dates - easy to find in the store, I don't think you'd need a sub.

raw cream - organic store bought heavy cream (not ultra pasturized) or whole canned organic  coconut milk

avocado - don't skip!

kefir - strain full fat organic store bought yogurt or use thick high quality greek yogurt

local eggs - if you can't get these from a trusted source, then DO NOT use store bought eggs raw. Leave them out. I only add them for the extra nutrition that pastured egg yolks give.  Maybe add in another 1/4 cup of cream or coconut milk to account for the extra liquid - depending on how thick you want your pudding.

cacao powder - again, highly nutritious but if you can't get this go ahead and use whatever cocoa powder you have.  You may need to adjust the amount, I think the one I use is quite strong and goes further than the average dutch processed cocoa.

Instructions:

In the blender add the cup of chopped dates, cream, and avocado.  Process until smooth. You may need to stop and scrap the sides and stir it around to keep the blender moving. It'll be a thick mixture.  I added as little liquid as possible to keep it a thick pudding consistency.  Add the kefir, egg yolks, vanilla and cocoa and continue to process.  Stop and mix as needed.  You can add more cream if you want a thinner pudding.  Stop when you've reached a nice smooth thick pudding consistency.  Chill.

After it's had a chance to set and chill - Wow! It has an amazing thick pudding texture. And so yummy!  I'm not gonna lie, it does have a bite of sour and more of a unsweetened dark chocolate taste.  This is from the kefir and the only sweetening coming from the dates.  I wanted to keep the sugar low, but if you'd like it sweeter feel free to add raw honey, sucanat, or whatever sweetener you are comfortable with.

Mmmm... a chocolate pudding I can feel good about.  Oh, and wouldn't it be amazing with some whipped raw cream on top?

Happy to share with Tuesday Twister and Real Food Wednesday.

Lacto Fermented Hummus

I had soaked and cooked up a bunch of organic chickpeas the other day. A couple of days later I looked at them in the fridge and thought - hummus! I didn't have tahini, but I did have some sesame oil. 

I started by pureeing the chickpeas - of course they were dry (not from a can) so they needed some liquid added during the puree. I'm always trying to incorporate the extra whey that's always around, so I just started adding whey during the pureeing. To this I mixed in olive oil, sesame oil, lemon juice, lime juice, lots of fresh pressed garlic, cumin, sea salt, and some chili flakes. Sorry, no measurements - taste, adjust, taste again. Keep going until you taste and say, 'oh wow! that's yummy!' LOL!

At this point I'm remembering my lacto fermented bean dip made of pinto beans from NT. Same thing, right? Pureed beans, whey, salt, spices... I put it all in an old pickle jar and let it sit out on the counter for 2-3 days.

The jar is a bit big and there was about 4-5 inches of air space at the top. It has a tight fitting lid. 

Turns out that it was a good thing I had that extra room. Here it is after two days on the counter. It certainly did bubble up and expand! I'm sure I added at least a half cup of whey to this mixture as I was pureeing it. I put it in the fridge yesterday and did have one small taste of it. A wonderful flavor with just a touch of that lacto fermented bite. Hope some of you can try this out! Today I sliced up some cucumbers and bell peppers from yesterday's farmers market trip.  Put a bowl of hummus out with the veggies and we all dipped away! It was yummy!

 
Shared at The Healthy Home Economist, Monday Mania and Whole Foods for the Holidays. 

Protein Power!!

I'm really excited about this class!  As someone who needs a lot of protein (don't we all), this class is right up my alley. 

Learn how to find, buy, prepare, and enjoy nutrient dense protein power foods!  I make a small commission when you sign up through this link - so what are you waiting for??? ;)

Surf and Turf class

Probiotic Rich Dinners

I recently tried out the the Nourishing Traditions recipe for lacto fermented cherry chutney.  It has a nice salty sweet flavor and I thought it might be a good fit with a mild fish like mahi mahi.  I was right!  This fish was lightly cooked in cultured butter, sea salt, pepper, and fresh parsley and rosemary.  The salad is topped with my earlier mentioned kombucha dressing.  Delish!

By now it's easy to see that once you have some lacto fermented vegetables, fruits, and condiments on hand, it is so easy to add them quickly to any meal! 

Unfortunately, I'm still working on the kids accepting the fermented foods.  This is a perfect example - look at that fresh plate of vegetables and a hard boiled pastured egg.  A little bowl of ranch dressing that I made with raw soft cheese for dipping on the side.  He normally would eat the bottled ranch dressing.  I thought this was a good substitute.  Obviously not.  He took one teeny tiny bite and wouldn't touch it again. Sigh....

 
 

Creamy Creaminess

I was fortunate enough to find a source of local, pastured, raw cream at a great price.  So I bought a gallon and a half!  At this point I was also out of raw milk that I make my kefir with.  So I decided to try out some kefir cream.  To a quart of raw cream I added two tablespoons of kefir grains and let that sit for 24-36 hours.  Strained it and put it back in the fridge.  After it was completely chilled I had this:

 

Look how thick and creamy that is!  The taste is very mild, like a sour cream or yogurt.  I haven't decided what to do with it yet, but I'm thinking it will be several things.  Used as sour cream, made into a creamy dressing, on top of fruit, ect.  Before I did this I had googled 'kefir cream' and came up with nearly nothing. I'm wondering if people don't do this often?  Maybe because raw cream is harder to come by and if people do then they use it for butter or ice cream.  I'm also wondering about making cheese out of raw cream. Is there whey in the cream? Can you add cultures and rennet to straight cream and get some type of cheese? I guess if I can get more I'll experiment with this.

Creamy rice pudding.  This is definitely a treat!  Here's how I made this.  Soak 1 cup of short grain brown rice in warm water and a bit of ACV for 24 hours.  Strain and rinse.  Cook the rice in a can of organic full fat coconut milk, the inside scrapings of a vanilla bean and 1/4 cup of raw honey.  I had to cook this a long time and add water several times to keep it liquid enough to cook down.  It ended up kind of caramelizing into a thick brown consistency.  Once the rice was done enough I mixed up 3 pastured eggs, 1/2 cup of cream and cinnamon.  Mix this well and slowly drizzle into the cooked rice stirring it in as you pour.  Keep the rice on low heat and continue to cook and stir until it is fully combined and creamy.  Pour into individual dishes (I used four ramekins) and chill throughly.  Yum!!

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kops site!  

Soaked Spice cake with a Nutty Raisin topping

Raw milk kefir has been part of my life for exactly a year now.  I've kept a constant supply going and always find a way to use it.  Occasionally I'll drink a glass plain, but other than that, it's made into smoothies, cheese, dressings, baked goods, ect.  There is about a quart brewing all the time.  I strive to have no more than a half gallon on hand at a time.  If it gets to be more than that, then that means we are not consuming enough.  

I found myself with some extra kefir so I decided to soak some whole wheat flour and oats in it for some type of baked good. You'll lose some of the probiotic benefits by baking with the kefir, but it is still highly nutritious.  What resulted was a delicious, lightly sweet, moist cake.  I almost want to call it a 'coffee cake'.  It would make a nice brunch addition or to bring to a gathering.

 

The night before you want to bake the cake mix together the flour, oats, and kefir.  Stir well to make sure all the oats and flour are wet.  Cover and leave in a warm spot in your kitchen.  The soaking process will reduce the phytic acid and make the nutrients more available.

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups oats

2 cups kefir

The next day preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13 baking dish with butter or coconut oil.  In a big bowl mash a ripe banana and mix in the eggs, molasses, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger.  Mix with a whisk until all ingredients are fully incorporated.  Then add the soaked flour mixture all at once.  Mix with a wooden spoon until all you can see are lumps of dough.  At this point it's better to put down the spoon and use a clean hand to squish all the dough pieces.  You want to make sure no lumps from the soaking dough are left.  Once it's well mixed pour it into the baking dish.

1 ripe mashed banana

2 large pastured eggs

1/2 cup unsulfured molasses

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

This topping makes the cake!  Mix all the ingredients together and spread evenly over the unbaked cake.

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup organic raisins 

1/4 cup melted butter

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla 

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 35 minutes or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean.  It smells amazing baking in the oven! ;)

** I thought this delightful cake was wonderful and had just the right amount of sweetness.  My husband on the other hand felt it wasn't sweet enough.  If you would like a sweeter cake feel free to add a cup of any natural sweetener you choose to the mix.**

I would love to hear from any of you who might try this recipe!  Let me know how it turns out for you. 

This post is part of 'Fight Back Friday' at Food Renegade and Monday Mania at The Healthy Home Economist.

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.