Keep it Real

On my counter

Have I ever mentioned how much I love to grow things?  I do.  I love it.  Always have.  Doesn't matter what it is - animals, plants, babies, food, anything living.  I've always had a fascination with anything living and changing.  'Indoor gardening' has fit in with that fascination quite well.

Here's what I have going at the moment.  From left to right.  

A half gallon of raw goat milk. This milk went straight from goat to cheese. No refrigeration, no heating.  Just bring it home warm and add the mesophilic culture and rennet.  Sits out until it has formed almost like jello, then I strain it through cheesecloth to separate the whey from the cheese.  It's really good and similar to cream cheese.  Fresh raw cheese!

The next half gallon jar is kombucha.  I've had this mother culture since last summer.  Over the winter I let it go months and months and ended up with a kombucha vinegar - which I really liked to use in dressings and as a soaking medium.  I didn't like the taste of kombucha so letting it turn to vinegar worked well for me.  Well, recently I decided to try it again and have found I like it better!  So I've been brewing it once a week and drinking a small glass every day.

The jar next to it is a second fermentation of water kefir.  I added a juiced orange (along with the pulp) and some fresh ginger pieces.  I've been playing around with different flavors and this one smells pretty good!  I'll strain it today or tomorrow and see how it tastes.

Ginger carrots - this is my first time trying this recipe.  Grated organic carrots, grated fresh ginger, whey, and sea salt. Mixed together and packed in a jar.  Let sit at room temp for a few days to ferment. They smell really good and I'm excited to try this.  Can you believe that I'm still eating vegetable ferments from last summer's harvest?  I'm the only one in the house that eats it and it's lasted me this long. Still tastes good!

Next to that is a new brew of water kefir.  When I started the second fermentation of the previous batch, I started a new one brewing.  These grains grow quickly!  I had to take some out and store them in the fridge.  I let it brew for a week to be sure the sugar is mostly eaten up.

And on the end I have pinto beans sprouting.  First I soaked them in whey and warm water for more than 12 hours.  Then I drained and rinsed them in a colander.  I keep them in this over a plate with a towel over the whole thing.  I rinse them twice a day.  They now have little sprouts coming out.  I think today I'll cook them in some of the bone broth I have left from the other day.  Then I'll either use them in a dish right away or freeze them in batches for later use.

On the liver front - still not satisfied with giving up on the liver pate.  So yesterday I made a batch of sourdough crepes and filled them with the pate, an herbed yogurt dressing and some lato fermented kraut.  Rolled them up and put in the fridge for easy grabbing.  I had two of them and they were tolerable!  I think it will help when I don't have to SEE the pate (which looks like something I wouldn't want to eat) and has melded flavors with the dressing and kraut.  Yeah, I'm stubborn.

 

I made liver pate this morning out of the chicken livers. I sliced a thin piece of sourdough bread, spread some yogurt cheese on it, then topped it with the pate. Ugh. No go. I simply hate the taste of liver. I smothered it with lacto fermented kraut. Now I can get it down. Guess I'll have to make lots more kraut. I've got three containers of pate in the fridge. :(

this little chicken piggy....

Ah! Chicken feet!  I love chickens.  I love to watch them do their chicken thing.  I love to watch them scratch and peck in the dirt.  I didn't ever think I'd love to see their feet, skinned and dismembered lying around my kitchen.  My love of all foodie things nourishing to the body has led me on the path to more unconventional (for the typical American) ingredients.  Check out this post from Nourished Kitchen on chicken feet.

Yesterday we were fortunate enough to pick up 15 little pastured chickens freshly butchered. Yes, they were tiny!  The farmer kept apologizing for the smallness of the birds, but I was totally fine with it since I use so much of the chicken, from the meat to the bones for broth.  They averaged about 2.5 lbs a piece.  Here are two that fit into my crock pot.  I'm curious as to how much meat I'll actually get off of these birds.  Together they are about 4 lbs.

 

I put them breast side down in some beer.   Then I topped them with sea salt, pepper, parsley, carrots, onions, and garlic.  Don't they look cute?!  It's making my house smell quite yummy on this rainy day.

 

I requested the feet and organs to come along with the chickens.  So I got me a bag of chicken feet! 

This morning I asked William to go out to the garage fridge and get me that bag of feet.  I was expecting him to to say, 'No way! That's gross'.  But he didn't.  He just obediently went and fetched me the bag.  He asked why we had chicken feet and I said that we were going to have chicken feet for dinner.  He just sighed and said, 'Well...Ok.'  With a tone that was so resigned to the fact that there was no way of getting out of the weirdness I serve up to these people living here.  I laughed, told him I was kidding and hugged him.

 

First I thought that I might cook a big pot of chicken foot broth.  Then I decided that I would rather freeze them and just throw a couple feet at a time in each batch of broth that I make.  So I neatly laid them out on a tray of freezer paper.  I'm not really super brave.  I never touched a foot.  I used tongs.

 

Bert and Ernie were thoroughly impressed.

 

Not being one to pass up a good opportunity, I grabbed one of the bigger feet and chased the screaming kids around the house with a floppy skinned foot.  Good times.  Then I put the tray into the freezer. Once frozen I can throw them all in a bag and easily grab a couple at a time for nutritious broth.  Never a dull moment in my kitchen! ;)

It's not hard to make your own.

Even after a year of diving into traditional real foods, I'm still amazed at what I can create on my own. We as a society are so programmed to search out products that are already made for us.  So when I started looking at the ingredients on salad dressings I was appalled to find that not one out there was suitable for my new diet.  

Here are the ingredients for Kraft's Ranch dressing:  WATER, SOYBEAN OIL, SUGAR, GARLIC JUICE, BUTTERMILK, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF SALT, MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, WHEY, PHOSPHORIC ACID, MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE, EGG WHITES, VINEGAR, XANTHAN GUM, CITRIC ACID, POLYSORBATE 60, SPICE, NATURAL FLAVOR, ENZYMES, WITH SODIUM LACTATE, NATAMYCIN, AND CALCIUM DISODIUM EDTA AS PRESERVATIVES. CONTAINS: MILK, EGG.

It really isn't hard to make your own salad dressing.  I whipped this up in under five minutes without a recipe.  I just started throwing things together and kept tasting until I liked what I had.  Here's what went into it: milk kefir, fresh parmesan, fresh basil, fresh garlic, sea salt, raw honey, dried dill, pastured egg yolk, 1/2 an avocado, tumeric, and dried parsley.  It's absolutely delicious and I call it 'Green Goddess'. ;)

Here's the lunch I made with it.  Green salad topped with canned wild salmon, avocado, and green goddess dressing. With a side of sourdough english muffins topped with homemade raw chevre cheese. This is a lunch that I felt good serving my husband.  I had a much smaller version without the bread and cheese.

 

I'm still after the perfect loaf of sourdough bread.  It's not that there aren't good recipes out there. The e-course lesson this week has a great tutorial on sourdough bread.  I followed it, but still ended up with a dense, flat disc.  I put 10 minutes of kneading energy into these loaves along with hours of waiting time.  Do you really think I'm going to toss this??  Heck no!

 

I transformed them into croutons.  Cut the disc into cubes, toss with parmesan cheese, sea salt, garlic powder, italian seasoning, and olive oil.  Bake until crisp.  Wonderful on salads!
  

 

 

Tuesday Twister

Happy Tuesday Twister!  Here are a few things that have been happening in my kitchen this week.

Now that farmers market season is here, every Saturday is shopping day.  This week we went downtown to the big market because they have one of the largest varieties at the moment.  Here's a short video of what we brought home:

This spinach quiche turned out amazing!!!  I used the pie crust recipe from cheeseslaves blog.  I really think the tallow made a huge difference.  It's that a beautiful dinner?

 

Granola!  I am loving my new excalibur dehydrator.  It is a bit noisy for my taste, so I just set it up in our front room away from our main living room and kitchen area.  This granola could not be easier!  In a gallon jar I put chopped raw nuts (walnuts, pecans, almonds), oats, raw pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, and some whey.  Fill the jar with filtered water and let it soak for 12 to 24 hours.  After the soaking I drain it into a colander and gently rinse it - I like to rinse off the extra starch from the oats.  Then I go about mixing in whatever I would like and have on hand.  This batch has melted coconut oil, pureed dates, organic raisins, juice sweetened dried cranberries, unsweetened coconut flakes, cinnamon, and a bit if sea salt.  Then I spread it out onto the dehydrator trays and dry for 24 hours.  It's so good!

This morning - I often like to play a game with myself called, 'How many nutrient dense foods can I fit in one meal?'.  Breakfast is one of my favorites to do this with.  Check it out - raw cheese, spinach, pastured egg, whey, coconut oil, sea salt, and lacto fermented red cabbage.  Oh my!  Look how it turned out!  I couldn't resist topping it with some homemade raw sour cream.  This literally took me less than 5 minutes to make. Oh, and I preceded this meal with a small glass of kombucha. 

 

 
    

I also made chevre this week using Wardeh's method from the GNOWFGLINS e-course.  It turned out very good!  Mild, creamy, and a great stand in for cream cheese.  I've gotten so much out of this course - it's been amazing!  Enrollment is opening up again and if you sign up through me I make a small commission! Score! ;)
 

Today's eats

Wake up: 2 cups of coffee with raw goat milk

10:30 am breakfast (later than usual) a pastured egg mixed with a bit of whey scrambled in coconut oil topped with raw jack cheese on this almond bread. I subbed in honey for the agave in the recipe.  Turned out pretty good!  I'd make it again.  It keeps well in the fridge and slices easy, good toasted.  All this with a side of fermented red cabbage.

1:30 pm lunch - canned wild salmon mixed with lacto fermented mayo.  An experimental recipe of sprouted chickpea hummus - yum!  With a side of carrots and cucumber.  I actually could only eat half of all this.

 

5pm - sugar free cinnamon dolce latte, whole milk

7pm dinner - chicken bone broth soup. onions, cabbage, carrots, yams, chicken.  Along with one scrambled egg with organic salsa.

Through the day I also took my vitamins, had several big glasses of water, and 2 fermented cod liver oil gummy fish.

Then I made these muffins.  I altered the recipe a bit - used 1 1/2 cups of almond flour and a half cup of ground flax meal and shredded apple instead of carrot.  They came out delicious!! I know because I took a small bite off of one.

So my nighttime snack is about a half cup of raw goats milk yogurt and the other half of my lunch.

And here's how I ended the day -

a cup of chocolate flavored yerba mate, a half glass of milk kefir, a cup of air popped popcorn, frozen blueberries, and some kale chips.

My goal was just the hot tea and some kefir. I find it incredibly difficult not to snack at night. boo.

2 fermented cod liver oil gummy fish and mint yerba mate hot tea

apple with almond butter

wine

homemade spanish rice (brown rice, black beans (all soaked, sprouted), corn, red peppers. Shredded pork, cheese, avocado, cilantro
some chopped dates.

30 minute walk

sugar free cinnamon dolce latte, whole milk - venti

canned wild salmon mixed with lacto fermented mayo on a salad of spring greens, cucumber, carrot and fermented red cabbage.

Wake up - coffee with raw goat milk

Breakfast - one pastured egg mixed with a bit of whey and sea salt, cooked in coconut oil and topped with raw cheese. Fermented kraut.