sweet

Honey Harvest from Kinfolk


Really enjoyed this today, among other quiet activities with the boys in the unseasonal warmth.

french press almond milk

image via immerwaschen (good source of raw food recipes in general)


Ingredients

• water for soaking
• 1 cup raw almonds 
• 4 cups water 
• pinch of sea salt 
• .25 cup agave (optional) 
• flavor options: 1 tsp pure vanilla extract (or contents of a vanilla bean), 2 Tbsp raw cacao nibs or unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 tsp cinnamon & dash of nutmeg

Prep

• Soak almonds in water, if you can, for eight hours (ideal); they're more easily digested when soaked first. An hour is better than none! (I put them to soak right before bed.)
• Drain. Rinse until water runs clear.
• Blend soaked almonds with 4 cups water, on high, while trying not to lust after a VitaMix. I use our immersion blender.
• If you prefer a smooth texture, as we do, strain out the almond "grounds." Some use cheesecloth or a nut milk bag. I've opted for using our french press: effective & simple to clean. 
• Strain milk into sterile glass container with airtight lid (mason jar works well). The first press will be white & creamy. The second press (if you choose to) will be more skim, so I like to blend the two presses together.
• Add pinch of sea salt and sweetener of choice and stir and/or re-blend. Adjust to taste. 
• Yields around 3 cups; lasts 2-3 days chilled.
• Almond pulp can be dried & ground again to become almond meal, flour or nut butter.

blackberry creamsicles

image via onenjen (I was too excited to think of a photo first)

So simple & so delish! We're also doing peach creamsicles.

Ingredients

• 2 quarts blackberries
• 2 quarts heavy cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Prep

• Puree blackberries to a pulp. (Optionally remove seeds by straining pulp through a sieve.)
• Whip cream with vanilla extract until stiff peaks form.
• Fold puree into whipped cream.
• Pour into popsicles molds & freeze

summer berry sorbet

shown with mum's shortcake

Some recipes give instructions to cook the berries down before mashing & freezing. Our whole goal was to eat more raw food so we skipped that step.

Sorbet

• .5 cup strawberries
• 3 cups raspberries
• .5 cup mulberries
• .5 cup water

• whipping cream
• vanilla extract

Prep

• Throw all berries into food processor & blend into puree. Add water & optional .25 cup sugar (if raspberries are especially tart). 
• Pulse to blend & pour into freezer-safe container. Freeze 12 hrs.
• Thaw 30 minutes at room temp or 2 hrs in fridge before attempting to scoop.
• Whip cream with vanilla extract to top.

Shortcake (adapted from this one)

• 2 cups flour
• 4 tsp baking powder
• .75 tsp salt
• .3 cups raw sugar
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 2 Tbsp shortening (can sub coconut cream)
• .75 cup half & half
• melted butter to brush shortcakes

Prep

• Heat oven 400 F.
• In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt & sugar. Cut in butter & shortening/coconut cream. Mix in half-&-half. 
• Drop by large spoonfuls onto a baking sheet. Brush with melted butter & sprinkle with sugar. Bake 15 minutes or until brown.
• Cool and eat!

fresh herb slaw

image via Etsy

Slaw

• 1 head cabbage, shredded
• 5 carrots, peeled & shredded
• .5-1 cup diced vidalia or red onion
• creamy dressing, well blended

Dressing

• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 2 Tbsp + 1 tsp vinegar (white, sushi, you pick)
• .5 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Tbsp flax seed oil (or sesame)
• .5 cup heavy cream
• fresh dill, basil, rosemary & parsley (I went heavy on the dill)
• salt to taste

CSA feasting

Canning & Freezing

• various sorts of pesto
• dill pickles
• creamy dill dressing
• southern slaw (recipe to follow)
• salsa
• raspberry yogurt pops

Referring to

• Nursing Mother's Herbal
• Putting Food By
• Nourishing Traditions

agenda

image, via so wabi sabi.

Today must:

• dry herbs, some hanging & some spread on a screen
• brew sun tea
• pick mulberries before the birds eat them all
• let Elijah get purple-faced with berry-eating

grow.eat.repeat.

images via cubits, & underwood gardens

There are many tasks that elude me. Some are from a lack of knowledge/discipline, others a lack of interest/will to follow through or persevere. Garden planning is one of those where I have great interest, no knowledge or will to persevere. Thus we only ever grow herbs, dreaming of following handbooks like The Winter Harvest. I was convincing myself that this spring would be the year: when the babe would have turned into a boy who loves digging in the dirt with mama, when we would become urban homesteaders. Thwarted by the reality of an early spring arrival (whose bump is growing at an alarming rate), this will not be the year. Maybe I will finally commit to a CSA.

key lime-cream pie

via Sugar Pixie

Inspired by Golubka, we're trying some raw food dessert recipes around here!


Lime Cream

• 1 cup coconut cream
• juice and zest of 1 1/2 limes (or lemons)
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 cup light agave nectar

Combine all the ingredients in a blender (preferably high speed) until smooth. Before serving, chill in the refrigerator until the mixture thickens.

Almond Crust

• 2 cups almond flour OR 2 cups whole almonds, finely ground
• 1/4 cup agave nectar
• 1/2 cup coconut oil

In a bowl, mix all the ingredients thoroughly. 3 inch tart shells with removable bottoms work best for this. If yours don't have a removable base, line the shells with plastic wrap and evenly distribute the almond mixture by pushing it into shape. Chill in the refrigerator for 30-40 minutes (the coconut oil will harden and keep the crusts together). After making sure that the crusts have hardened, carefully remove them from the tart shells. Keep refrigerated or frozen.

Miniature Tart Assembly
Assemble right before serving. Otherwise, keep the shells, cream, and berries separate to avoid a soggy crust. Spoon the lime cream into the crust and arrange the fresh blackberries on top in any way you prefer. Garnish with lime zest.

baby smoothie

His fav food right now, as chewing is very uncomfortable while the emerging top teeth stab down onto the bottom ones for the first time. He mostly loves learning to drink the smoothie from a tiny mason jar, proportional to his mouth size & thus less disastrously messy.


Ingredients

• 2 mangoes, chopped
• 3 bananas
• 6 organic/free range egg yolks (yes raw, but only if you trust your farm)
• 25-28 oz plain organic raw milk yogurt
• vanilla extract to taste

Preparation

• blend all ingredients until smooth
• serve chilled
• makes more than a quart, so we all drink it for breakfast a couple days in a row

cardamon ice cream

via Sassy Radish

Inspired by this recipe from Golubka, we figured out that we can make this with no ice cream maker! (My hatred for kitchen clutter keeps me from that & a breadmaker.) Homemade ice cream is so easy to make with just a freezer & some patience. That's the hard part.


Cardamon Ice Cream

• 2 cups coconut cream
• 1 cup coconut water
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1 cup cashews, pistachios or almonds
• 9 dates
• 8-10 cardamom pods - crushed, green shell discarded
• 2 vanilla beans - both seeds and pods

In a high speed blender, combine all the ingredients until smooth. Stick in the freezer & stir when you think about it a couple of times a day (I aim for 3).

clean it out: gazpacho

So.many.carbs!
After a week filled with bagel breakfasts & potato side dishes, my innards are begging for fresh, raw edibles: salsa, pesto, smoothies, bruschetta, sushi, unsalted nuts & seeds, gazpacho, dried fruit, gallons of water with cucumber or lime.


Until I unpack the camera, this will have to suffice.

My idea of gazpacho is zesty in flavor, creamy in texture, chilly in temperature & containing enough red ingredients to prevent the puree from looking like someone just blew their biscuits.


Ingredients ( for 10 servings)

• 3 ripe tomatoes, coarsely chopped
• 3 cups cold water
• 1.5 large cucumbers, peeled, coarsely chopped
• 1.5 large onions (red or vidalia are milder), peeled, coarsely chopped
• 1.5 red bell peppers, coarsely chopped
• 3/4 cup dry white wine
• 6 T tomato paste
• 3 T Sherry wine vinegar or red wine vinegar
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped

Preparation

Puree first 10 ingredients in blender in batches. Optionally strain soup through sieve, pressing on solids with back of spoon. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and chill until cold. (Can be made 1 day ahead.) Ladle soup into bowls. Serve, passing bowls of extra onion, cucumber, tomato and bell pepper separately. Also lovely topped with fresh cilantro or peach salsa!

sweet & spicy salsa

Very satisfying atop (leftover) steak fajitas, quesadillas or eaten with a spoon.

Ingredients 

• 3 heirloom tomatoes
• 3 leeks
• 3 sweet peppers
• 1 peach
• juice of 1 lime
• firm squeeze Sriracha (chili based hot sauce)
• handful of cherries (added after tasting made my lips burn)

Preparation

• chop or dice ingredients (depending on how chunky you prefer), mix well
• if you like it soupy, throw half in the blender & stir in the chunky half before serving

juicing for joint pain

Last night was the first volleyball game I've played since getting pregnant with Elijah, so a year & a half. It was fun, but I've never been this achy before especially in my knees (sports injuries from high school). I've taken GCM for years, which is very helpful to take the edge off. Over July 4th weekend I was given our first juicer, from Mama Dompe! We were discussing homeopathic ways of dealing with joint pain, which I am experiencing more now than ever before. From time to time, I will post recipes that seem to treat symptoms most effectively. For joints, this is a fav:

  

Joint Pain Relief Juice – Omega 3 Greens

2 cups of spinach or broccoli florets
2 cups of parsley
2 inch slice of ginger root
1 apple or 1/4 pineapple
handful of blueberries

Wash all produce thoroughly. Remove apple stem or slice pineapple in half, then quarters, then eighths. Juice the green vegetables and ginger first followed by the apple/pineapple/berries, this will help flush the green juice out through the juicer. Broccoli, kale and parsley are all good plant sources of omega 3 and also contain vitamin C. These greens can be bitter so the fruit helps to sweeten things and add more vitamin C.

when you can't eat: juice

One unfortunate side-effect of illness is being unable to eat. You're laying there hungry but not really in the mood for food, or maybe not even keeping food down, & knowing that without fuel your body will heal slower & slower. I've been sick twice since Elijah was born, & both times I've worried that my milk supply would wane or dry up altogether. One very refreshing alternative to eating, that doesn't feed the virus with processed sugary sports drinks, is to juice. Sip it slowly, dilute if it's too thick to enjoy, & add ginger if you're feeling queasy! 

My current favorite is:

4 carrots
2 apples
2 inch slice of ginger root
10 oz. coconut water

Juicing is also a gentle way to detox, & there's an entry about making it a Juice Feast (not a fast) that really encouraged me recently. Bottoms up, folks.

a bottomless pit: food philosophy

 photo of our table compliments of Maya Lee

Before I get too carried away with recipes, I'd like to give you a little background on our kitchen. We take great strides to eat local, fresh, and in season. We use non-toxic (and usually homemade) cleaners to take care of spills and bring our own bags to carry things home in. We grow, can, pickle and try to only eat out when we can't make it better at home. We believe in eating well, not simply to decrease our impact on the environment, but primarily to fuel our bodies with the highest possible quality of food.

What we choose to eat is often considered an unusually organic, traditional foods diet. Rather than try to convince or take sides about food, I like to offer the resources that led me to the diet we embrace. Initially I read The Maker's Diet in tandem with looking up Old Testament references about the food & cleanliness customs of the ancient Hebrew people. From there, Nourishing Traditions has been very helpful in deciding how to prepare foods in a deliberate manner while looking to include as many varieties as are in-season & reasonable for our lifestyle. To give you an idea of the philosophy, this link is a helpful introduction.

We drink raw milk from a local farm that we trust, unpasteurized-unhomogenized-

full fat. In VA you have to own a share in a herd to legally obtain raw milk (so it's from your own cow, on paper). A Campaign for Real Milk has a list of farms you can contact, state-by-state. From raw milk I make kefir (strong yogurt that's great for the digestive system) & ricotta to put in quiche (with farm eggs, spinach, etc) or lasagna (with farm beef). I freeze the whey in ice cube trays to add to smoothies or baby food as needed. I also add whey instead of water to the sourdough bread we make from a liquid starter someone gave me a while back. 

In terms of online recipes & natural food recommendations, we often reference 101 Cookbooks for vegetarian & gluten-free recipes (anyone whose friend or relative has Celiac disease, show your love by doing research) & My New Roots, a holistic nutritionist & CNM who posts amazing recipes full of really healthy ingredients that almost feels like cheating. I totally changed my shopping list after reading a few of her suggestions, & the Smooth Criminal Chocolate Mousse Tart is next as far as I'm concerned.