Curried Lemon Dressing

I am having fun coming up with ways to used my Indian Hot Lemons.  After making the Probiotic Rich Lemon Poppyseed Dressing, I wanted to make something with the Indian Hot Lemons.  You might be able to make this with a plain old preserved lemon or even just lemon juice but I’m sure it won’t be quite as awesome 🙂

Curried Lemon Dressing

• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup yogurt (I used filmjolk for mine)
• 1/2 a medium onion, chopped
• 1 Indian Hot Lemon, seeds removed, thinnly sliced peel and all
• 3 cloves garlic or 1 1/2 tsp fermented garlic paste
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)

In a food processor, add all ingredients and process until smooth

Of course my first thought is to use this on top a salad with chicken, golden raisins and walnuts. Yup, perfect.

Sauerrueben

If you like sauerkraut, you’ll love sauerrueben.  Sauerrueben is similar to sauerkraut instead you use shredded turnips instead of cabbage.  It has the most interesting tang to it and is quickly becoming one of my favorite ferments.  My love to serve it on top of various patties.  Salmon patties, hamburgers, turkey patties and sausage patties.  So good!

Sauerrueben

• 3 lbs turnips, trimmed, peeled and shredded
• 1 tbsp sea salt
• 4 tbsp whey (or an extra tbsp of sea salt)

Trim, peel and shred your turnips.  I like to use a food processor for the ease of it.  Dump the shredded turnips in a large bowl.  Add salt and whey if using and pound away with a wooden spoon or kraut pounder until they begin to release their juices.  Layer and pound into a quart sized mason jar.  Once all the turnip is in the jar, push down to submerge the solids under their juices.  You’ll want to make sure there is at least 1″ of head space to avoiding bubbling over.  Cover loosely and set in a warm place for about a week. Remove to cold storage.

I like to write the date I started my ferments on the top with a dry erase marker like this:

Part of Friday Food Flicks and Fight Back Friday

Grain Free Chicken Nuggets

Grain free chicken nuggets?  Is it even possible?  And if it is possible, it’s gotta taste horrible, right?

I’m so happy these turned out as good as they did.  My pickiest eater happily gobbled them down and declared them better than McDonald’s, which is a lot coming from him.

Grain Free Chicken Nuggets

• 2 lbs chicken thighs, bones removed and cut into nugget sized pieces (pastured chickens of course)
• 1/2 cup coconut flour (available here Green Polka Dot Box)
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 tsp salt (or to taste)
• 1/2 tsp ground pepper
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1 egg, beaten (from pastured hens)
• 1/4 cup palm oil, lard (from pastured pigs) or coconut oil (available here Green Polka Dot Box)

Heat oil in a cast iron skillet.  While oil is heating, toss chicken and egg together, coating well.  In a large bowl, mix coconut flour, paprika, salt and pepper.  Toss chicken in and coat well.  I like to use a tongs to really mix it up.  Place chicken pieces in oil, separating them, and brown well on both sides.  If you have a deep fryer, that would work well too.  

Probiotic Rich Lemon Poppyseed Dressing

I believe I just created the. best. salad dressing. ever.  Not exaggerating.  Perfect blend of sweetness, tartness and down right goodness.  I’m always on the look out for a good use for my preserved lemons and this is a great one.  Using a whole preserved lemon instead of just lemon juice adds a whole ‘nother level of awesomeness.  My batch even includes some lactofermented hot mustard.  No preserved lemons or lactofermented mustard?  No need to fret, you can easily substitute Dijon mustard and leave out the lemon.  It’s still super yummy.

Probiotic Rich Lemon Poppyseed Dressing

• 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup raw honey
• 4 tbsp lemon juice (from fermented lemons)
• 1 preserved lemon, cut into pieces small enough to blend (just leave out if you don’t have any or use the zest of 1 regular lemon)
• 1/4 of a small onion, diced
• 1 tsp fermented hot mustard (see below or sub regular Dijon style mustard if needed)
• sea salt to taste (I use about 1/4 tsp)

Place all ingredients in a quart sized mason jar and using an immersion blender, puree ingredients (you can use a blender but this is a much easier clean up).  

For a great preserved lemon recipe go to http://nourishedkitchen.com/morrocan-preserved-lemons/

I love my immersion blender.  This baby is almost 10 yrs old and going strong.

Lactofermented Hot Mustard

• 2 jars of ground mustard, 1.75 oz each (or you can ground whole mustard
• whey

Slowly mix in whey until the mustard is at the consistency desired. Loosely cover and let set at room temperature for about 3 days.  Remove to cold storage.

Part of Homestead Barn Hop, Fat Tuesday Probiotic Food Challenge

Indian Spiced Cauliflower

It’s Ferment Friday again!

So the Indian Spiced Carrots were so good I had to apply that thought to cauliflower.  I’ve had the image of golden colored cauliflower in my head and having had cauliflower curry in the past, I knew this combo would be smashing.  I did change up the spices a bit simply because I didn’t have fenugreek on hand and am too impatient to wait for some to come in the mail (it’s not at an local grocery stores).  Normally I don’t use spice mixes but prefer to mix my own but this curry powder had all the spices I wanted.  Adjust the amount of cayenne to taste or leave it out completely.  In my batch, I used 1/4 cup of carrot ginger kvass as a starter instead of whey.

Indian Spiced Cauliflower, makes 2 quarts

• 1 small head of cauliflower, cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tsp cayenne
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 3 cloves garlic, smashed
• 2 tbsp sea salt
• 1/4 cup whey, veggie starter or an additional tbsp of salt
• filtered water

In a 1/2 gallon mason jar, layer cauliflower, spices and salt, gently pressing cauliflower in.  Pour whey over the top and fill jar with filtered water.  Cover tightly and shake to disperse spices and dissolve salt.  Loosen cover and let set at room temp for 3-5 days. I like to tighten the lid on the last day of fermentation to seal in a little effervescence.  Nothing more fun than fizzy vegetables!

Part of Fight Back Friday and Friday Food Flicks and Traditional Tuesday and Fat Tuesday and Probiotic Food Challenge

Peanut Sauce Stir Fry

Do you have a go to recipe that you make when you can’t think of anything else you want?  When I was growing up it was stir fry.  We ate stir fry a lot and now that I’m a mom myself, I see why my mom made it so much.  I love meals that take one, maybe 2 pots and that’s it.  Something you can just open the fridge and think, “What vegetables need to be used before they go bad?” or if you want quick and easy clean up you can use a mixture of frozen veggies.  I also love meals where the focus can be vegetables and it’s one of the easiest ways to get the picky kids to eat their veggies.  At least that’s my experience.

The main character in this stir fry recipe is the Peanut Sauce.  Feel free to mix and match meats and veggies to suit your family and what needs to be used from your fridge.

Peanut Sauce

• 1/3 cup natural peanut butter (I prefer brands that contain only peanuts and salt)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• Juice from 1 lemon
• 2 tbsp tamari (gluten free fermented soy sauce, one of the only soy products I will use)
• 1 tsp honey
• 1/3 cup chicken broth or water
• cayenne pepper to taste

In a small sauce pan, whisk together all ingredients and gently heat enough to blend ingredients well.

Stir Fry

• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 2 lbs chicken pieces from pastured birds (I like bone in and skin on)
• 1 onion, sliced thinly
• 1″piece of ginger, grated
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 tbsp sesame seeds
• 1 large carrot, julienned
• 2 cups broccoli florets
• 1/4 cup crushed peanuts
• 4 cups shirataki noodles or rice

In a wok or over-sized cast iron skillet, melt coconut oil and saute chicken until it is cooked through.  Remove chicken from pan and cover to keep warm.  Saute sesame seeds, cloves and onions in the wok.  When onions are transparent, add carrots and broccoli.  Cook until broccoli is bright green and still slightly crispy.  Add chicken and top with peanut sauce and crushed peanuts.  Serve on top of shirataki noodles or rice.

Bacon and Egg Cups

I love easy meals and they’re even better when they are healthy too.  This is one of my favorite quickly thrown together meal that everyone loves.  Our hens are finally earning their keep and putting out more eggs than my family can consume so I’m always looking for creative ways to use up my eggs and save on my grocery bill.  It’s a good thing we know that eggs are actually good for you and we don’t need to be scared to eat them.  Eggs from chickens raised on pastured are high in choline, vitamin A and D, omega 3’s, B vitamins and much more.  Pastured eggs have less cholesterol than their counterparts but please don’t be afraid of cholesterol.  Read more about the fallacy of the Lipid Hypothesis here:  Myths and Truths About Cholesterol.

Bacon and Egg Cups serves 6 (2 eggs cups per person)

• 12 pieces of bacon (nitrate free from pigs on pasture)
• 12 eggs from hens on pasture
• optional toppings: spinach, feta cheese or any other cheese.

Preheat oven to 375F.  Grease a muffin tin using bacon fat, butter or ghee.  Line each cup with a slice of bacon and crack one egg in to each cup.  If desired, add shredded cheese, spinach or fresh herbs. My favorite is spinach and feta cheese (bottom right corner).  Bake for about 15 mins or until eggs are set.  

Part of Fresh Bites Friday

Cream of Broccoli Soup

Obviously broccoli is not in season this time year so if you can’t get fresh, frozen will do. I was in the mood for Cream of Carrot Soup when I saw a pretty head of broccoli in the fridge that needed to be used soon.  I like broccoli, I like soup so why not Cream of Broccoli soup.  In this recipe, I use my fermented garlic paste which I add to the individual cups along with sour cream so you are getting some probiotic goodies with each cup.

According to nutritiondata.self.com, broccoli has no saturated fats and no cholesterol.  You can easily remedy that by adding sour cream because we all know many vitamins are best used by the body when they are accompanied with fat.  Mmm, fat.  Silly nutritiondata.self.com!  Someone should let them know saturated fat is good for them.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

• 1 medium head of broccoli, chopped up stalk and all.
• 1 quart chicken stock (fresh made from a pastured bird is best!)
• 1 tsp garlic paste or 2 cloves garlic, minced
• salt to taste
• sour cream to taste (or cultured cream using piima, kefir or yogurt cultures)

In a medium sized sauce pan, add stock and broccoli.  Bring to a boil, turn down and let simmer until broccoli is tender, about 10 mins.  Using an immersion blender, puree soup to a smooth consistency.  Add salt to taste.  In each bowl stir in a spoonful of sour cream and about 1/4 tsp of garlic paste.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy and my 11 yo says.

Part of Sunday Night Soup Night

Carrot Ginger Kvass

I’ve made beet kvass before and suffered through drinking it because it was good for me. This is coming from someone who normally likes beets.  I don’t know what got in to me to try making carrot kvass but maybe it’ll be friendlier to my taste buds.  Ginger of course just seems natural with carrots.  I made 3 different kinds in order to experiment. One with whey, one with no whey, and one with the carrot just scrubbed not peeled.  I actually forgot to peel it before I put it in the food processor, lol!  I figure it probably has extra good soil bacteria.
I gave it a try yesterday night and was pleasantly surprised. I actually liked it. I added a few drops of stevia to sweeten but even without the stevia it was palatable.  It’s not something I would drink for the sheer enjoyment of it but since it’s good for me, I can enjoy it.  I decided to try a second fermentation with added juice and now it’s very good.

Carrot Ginger Kvass (makes a little under 1 qt)

• 3 medium organic carrots, peeled and chopped finely
• 1″ piece of ginger, chopped
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tbsp whey (substitute 1 more tsp of sea salt if not using whey)
• Water to cover
• Stevia to taste (added after fermenting)

Place carrots in a quart sized mason jar.  Add salt, whey and water.  Cover tightly and shake to dissolve salt.  Loosen cover and let set at room temperature 3-5 days.  Strain out carrot solids, squeezing out the juice.  Refrigerate.  Save solids for baking or soups.  Reserve some liquid and use in place of whey to inoculate future batches.

Optional Second Ferment
I found doing an optional second ferment makes it much tastier and effervescent. Once you’ve strained the kvass, pour into flip top bottles or a mason jar, about 2/3 full.  Add juice to top it off.  Seal tightly and leave at room temp for another 8-12 hours.  Remove to cold storage.  I made one with apple and one with carrot juice.  Both are great.

Part of Food Renegade’s Fight Back Friday and Real Food Forager’s Probiotic Food Challenge and Fat Tuesday, and Friday Food Flicks.

How I Cleared Up My Skin

I don’t wear makeup. Do you? Not that I have anything against makeup, at least natural ones. I just like the feel of my skin as it is. And you know what else?  I love my skin!  Something I’ve not always been able to say.  In fact as a teenager and until just recently, I downright hated my skin.  If you look closely at any of the pictures I’ve posted of myself, you’ll see scars.  Yup, acne scares.  I had acne sumfin’ fierce! I remember it first showed up around age 10 and I thought it would never go away.  How did I turn that around finally?  Maybe it’s with age but I find it quite coincidental that my skin improved incredibly once I made serious changes to my diet and washing habits.  Here is what I did to clear up my skin.  Best part, no expensive creams and cleansers.  It’s all super cheap!

First off, get off grains!  I read this article by Dr. Mercola and thought why not give it a try.  I already knew I had a gluten sensitivity and saw a significant improvement after removing wheat from my diet but maybe removing all grains would truly fix it.  Um yeah, it did and fast.  It’s the first thing I tell people who ask about acne.  Get rid of the grains!  Here is the article I read that convinced me http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/03/28/Simple-Ways-to-Stop-Acne-Naturally.aspx  While you’re at it, get off sugar too. I find when I have a break down and eat too much sugar and huge zit follows close behind.

Secondly, stop washing your face twice a day.  Would you believe I wash my face every 2-3 days and I don’t use soap?  Eeek!  Did I admit that on the world wide web?  Stripping your face of oils just makes your  body scream, “Make more oil!”  And that is what it does.  It’s hard and it takes a good week or two for your face to adjust but it’s worth it.  I went from super, sop-my-face-with-towels, oily skin to normal skin.  Love it!  While washing every 2-3 days isn’t for everyone, try limiting it to just at night to get the grime/make up off (if you wear it) and use a gentle natural cleanser.

Third, I wash my face with baking soda. That’s it.  I was digging through my mom’s vast collection of face cleansing potions and ran across an expensive scrub that’s first ingredient was Sodium Bicarbonate, aka baking soda.  Baking soda is abrasive making it an excellent scrub so you don’t want to use it more than a couple times a week.  I already use it to wash may hair (may do a post about that some day) and thought why not my face too.  Simply wet your face, scoop about 1/2 tsp worth of baking soda into your hand and gently rub your face.  Rinse immediately, rinse well.  If you let it set too long if may irritate your skin.

Fourth, I wash my face once or twice a week with oil.  Yes, oil.  Like this http://www.theoilcleansingmethod.com/  Depending on your skin type, mix your oil mixture as they recommend.  I use a mixture of 1 part castor oil to 3 parts olive oil.  In the shower seems the best time to do this. First I pour a generous amount in my hand and gently work the oil into my skin.  I let the hot water run over my face and work the oil in.  I’ll use a wash cloth to gently wipe off any excess oil.

Lastly, I moisturize with coconut oil.  Though recently I found a wonderful lotion from Green Pastures that contains shea butter, coconut oil and ferment cod liver oil and I love it!  Good stuff!  No affiliation, I just love it.  I try to use that daily or when my skin feels dry or tight.

Now I still don’t have the best skin ever (found a little zit this morning) but if you saw me at my worst, you’ll know I’ve come a loooong way.  I do still get a pimple here and there but no more painful outbreaks and it’s just one not fifty and I have not had one cystic pimple since going gluten free.  I truly hope that all I’ve learned about skin care will help my children.  So far so good.  My 11 yo has yet to have a zit and has a beautiful complexion!

Part of Food Renegade’s Fight Back Friday