What I've been up to...

As I type this, I am taking a short break from making and canning a bunch of tomato sauce. I got a bushel from the farm stand (didn't pick myself this year since it's raining today) and then a few more quarts of my own when I got home. I know you're not supposed to mess with wet plants...but I couldn't let all of the beautiful red tomatoes go knowing I was making sauce!

My sauce recipe is really simple. I usually just clean and quarter the tomatoes (or maybe more pieces, if the tomatoes are huge like some of these) and then heat them for a bout 20 minutes. Then I process them through the foley food mill and simmer them for a while to thicken the sauce. I usually add a little salt then process in my water bath canner, according to the ball blue book. This way I can turn the sauce into whatever I need it to be when I need it.

Tomatoes from my garden! Finally, I am growing beautiful red tomatoes.
The pepper on top is one of my Sweet Chocolates.

I also got a dehydrator. I'm so excited.
It has helped so much with processing the harvest this year.

I've already made two batches of lacto-fermented salsa from Nourishing Traditions. I haven't had whey, so I doubled the salt. Makes the salsa a little salty for my taste, but Hubby loves it. And so does my boss. She bought a quart from me and added black beans and corn and said it was really good.

Swiss Chard all dried out for winter soups. I'm still a little scared to eat it fresh...

Zucchini shredded for some yummy bread. (Recipe coming soon!)
This entire food processor cup is filled, probably way too much, with zucchini
from one fruit. I got it from someone at work. Literally the size of a t-ball bat!

Meat marinating for jerky. I bought a large roast from the local butcher and sliced it up.

The rest of the roast was ground up and browned. This will be chili on Monday!

Food I've Made Photo Purge

Hopefully there will be recipes to follow-up with these!

Dehydrating veggie stock

Dehydrating spinach puree, to add to the veggie stock

Dog treats

rutabaga fries

browning beef for chili...beef I ground myself

hazelnut spread and butternut soup

homemade taco seasoning with pulled pork in cast iron skillet

sourdough starter, I started it myself!!

sourdough biscuits, just as flaky as storebought but without all the crap!

sourdough buns

sourdough crackers...should've pricked with a fork first

sourdough waffles with homemade jam and real whipped cream

Forever and a Day...

Yeah, I know it's been that long! Sorry. Life has been a little crazy and blogging just hasn't been a priority. But fear not, I have been gardening, planning meals and cooking...mostly.

Our very best friends who live less than a block away are moving to Australia at the end of July. Since we learned of this, we have been spending as much with them as possible. This unfortunately means that we've been eating out a lot. Plus we've had quite a few birthdays within our little group (and a few outside), so that didn't help. Both our bank account and the scale reflect this as you might guess. And to top it off, Kira told us she was pregnant! And she's leaving me! Ugh. But, she'll be back with her family, which is good for her. With her first child, who is now 7, she was here in the US and knew very few people aside from her husband and his immediate family. This made it hard, so I am very happy for her. I know her mom is over the moon :) But I'm still sad...

Other goings on:

• I had the birth control implant removed a little over a week ago. Hopefully this will help me in the weight loss area as well as just feeling better in general. I am going to start using the Fertility Awareness Method (FAM). After reading Taking Charge of Your Fertility I decided that it will be the way I go now. I want to get the chemicals out of me and try to find a natural rhythm. I've been on BC now for about 10 years. I first started using it to help with really painful cramping (I've passed out a few times from the pain), so I'm a little leery about that, but I'm hoping being a little more mature will help alleviate some of the issues I was having. We'll see! I am also not as opposed to getting pregnant now as when we were first married, or when my husband lost his job. So, if I don't get FAM down and we do get pregnant, I'll be okay with it.
• Hubby's job seems to be holding well and he's liking it more and more :)
• We got a puppy! 

This is Texas Bones. We adopted him from friends 

who had to give him up due to their daughter 

being highly allergic. We've known him since 

he was a puppy and love him very much :)

• The garden is going well. I have almost all of my two beds full, and have added two more beds which will hopefully get some more sunshine than the others do. I hope to get some pictures up this weekend.
• I got an apple tree! Our wonderful friends got me one for my birthday this year. Thanks guys!
• The weather has finally broken for good (I think) and I'm getting back into running. 
• I'm also going to try Atkins one more time and see if it will work long-term now that my hormones will be more level. I went on induction in October of last year and continued on it through Christmas and stopped losing at about 20lbs lost, 180lbs. The October previous to that, when I got the implant, I weighed in at 168...still not good. I haven't gone completely off the low-carb thing, I just haven't been as strict. I've enjoyed the occasional potato or bowl of ice cream since then. I've managed to gain a few pounds, so my starting weight this time is 183. I've also decided to that artificial sweeteners and I don't really get along. I know they aren't good for you, so I'm trying to cut them back. I'd much rather eat a little bit of honey than a bunch of Splenda. I also have some Stevia leaf, but you just can't put green leafy flecks in ice cream! So I'm going to try and cut out sweets more completely than I did last time. We'll see. I believe ultimately, I will end up bringing in a few natural sweeteners as well as whole wheat sourdough, beans and a few other higher-carb  yet nourishing foods. The good news is that I've learned to like a few more veggies :) Broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, turnips and rutabagas have all made their way into our diet permanently.

I know there's probably more, but I think that's it for now. Work is still REALLY busy, which means I don't have time to take a lunch somedays even, let alone blog. Then by the time I get home, the last thing I want to do is sit down in front of the computer again. I really enjoy being outside and I'm trying to do it more. I will also keep trying to update as often as I can.

Artisan Bread Giveaway

Visit the Kitchen Stewardship blog today to enter win your own copy of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day or Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Separate winners will be drawn for each book. I'm really hoping for the Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day.

I have toyed with the Artisan Bread recipe myself. I like it, but I hate the room it takes up in my fridge! And especially since I'm not really eating bread at the moment. But, I've thought about it a little more and realized that I should still be using it. I can make the dough and freeze it in small portions to use for my pizza dough or to make just a few buns for Hubby. That way I can just pull them out to thaw in the morning and bake fresh for dinner.

The Artisan dough also lends itself to soaking overnight very easily. Katie at Kitchen Stewardship also addressed this issue in her post that says:

Can You Soak Artisan Bread?

You knew I’d ask that question, right? I think that was my initial hang-up with the method; I was just getting into soaking and sourdough, and I didn’t want to take a potential step backward in nutrition, even if it was easier. (If you haven’t been around KS lately, catch up on the soaking grains research.)

Jen at the Leftover Queen mentioned that she successfully soaked the olive oil bread recipe, so I jumped in to try to soak the master whole wheat recipe. The results were a bit sticky and an expected *fail*, but the reviews at the table last night included, “Mmmm, this is really good bread!” from the in-laws, so I guess it worked out alright!

Go sign up now for your own copy of the book!

Adventures with Kefir

Today's Real Food Challenge was "Get your bacteria". What better reason is there for me to jump headfirst into water kefir? I can't think of one, though I've been thinking up enough excuses to put it off this long. I still haven't resolved the issue of sugar content in the final product, but I think I'm okay with that now. I know that the good in this product will outweigh the bad. I'm off to let my water sit to get the chlorine out, and then I'll wake up the little guys!

Between the water kefir and the SodaStream I just ordered (yeah!) I'm hoping to kick the store-bought soda out the door! Wish me luck :)

Real Food Challenge

I have just joined the Real Food Challenge at The Nourished Kitchen. Go over and check it out. Challenge yourself if you want!

Each day, for the entire month of February, you’ll receive an assignment that will help you learn about the principles of a nourishing diet including the importance of grass-finished and pastured meats, wholesome fats, sprouted and soured grains and probiotic foods.

I'll be blogging about my escapades into this...hopefully I won't have to eat liver!! :)

Adventures with Cauliflower Soup

Yes, you read that correctly, cauliflower soup. I myself was skeptical, but I'm expanding my horizons, and I'm glad that I did!! The original recipe came from Pioneer Woman. Thanks for the inspiration :)

Unfortunately, everyone liked the soup so much I didn't get a chance to take a picture. But it was delicious. I used ham stock and put in a little bit of ham I had in the freezer from the holidays. I omitted the salt as a result of that. So good! Have I said that yet :)

6 servings. 6 carbs per serving!

Ingredients

1/2	stick butter
1/2	onion
1/2	carrot
1	stalk celery
1	cauliflower head (or two if they are small. You can also use frozen.)
2	T parsley
2	quarts stock (chicken, ham, veggie or beef will work)
1 1/2	cup whipping cream
2	t salt
1	c sour cream

Directions

1. Cut up cauliflower, celery and carrot into bit sized pieces. Place in roasting pan and roast at 375 for about a 1/2 hour. (This step isn't completely necessary, but I think it makes it tastier!)
   
   
2. Melt butter in soup pot or a dutch over. Add diced onion and cook for a few minutes (I added garlic too!). Add roasted veggies and parsley. Stir to combine.
   
   
3. Cover and cook on very low for 15 minutes.
   
   
4. Pour in stock, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer.
   
   
5. Ladle about 1/2 of the soup into a blender or food processor and blend. Return to soup.
   
   
6. Add cream and simmer on low for a few minutes. Check seasoning and add salt and pepper as necessary.
   
   
7. Just before serving, place the sour cream in a serving bowl or soup tureen. Add 2-3 ladles of soup and mix with sour cream. Pour in remaining soup and stir.
   
   
8. Serve immediately.
   

Read more: http://caloriecount.about.com/cauliflower-soup-recipe-r314516#ixzz0d6s60JCP

The good fats

This is a really great post from Nourishing Days regarding good fats versus bad fats. Most interesting I think are the charts, which show an undeniable correlation between the use of margarine and the increase in hear disease. Please check it out!

Huge, but Easy Step Towards a Nourishing Diet: Stick with Traditional Fats, Part One.

A little political

I usually don't delve into politics here, but this does a little.

I was listening to NPR yesterday and there was someone on there speaking about the healthcare debate. Dr. Atul Gawande equated what needs to happen to healthcare to now what happened with food last century. You can read a transcript or listen to the interview here, so I won't go into it too much.

However, his premise was basically that at the turn of last century, food prices were very high and about 40% of Americans' incomes went to food. As a result, the government tried to lower food costs through various methods and succeeded.

And now we're dealing with healthcare costs on a similar level. He believes the government needs to fix healthcare in the same way, with various small steps rather than one big overhaul. And I'm not necessarily disagreeing with that. My concern is that we don't address really what the change in food production did.

Food can be very cheap in the U.S. now, but is the cheap food really worth the money we pay for it? We changed the way food was produced and got rid of the "inefficient" lower-yield small farmers and eventually went to mega farms reliant on pesticides and fertilizers. Is this really a better way to produce the food for the nation? I don't think so.

Also, is there possibly some correlation between us being able to get cheap food that is less nourishing and more crap-filled (and yes, I'm sure that's a technical term) and our nation being less healthy and having higher healthcare costs? The healthcare and insurance systems are way out of whack, I'm not denying that, but we as a nation are a lot less healthy in general than we were a century ago. We might live longer, but we are much more reliant on meds to keep us going than we were then.

I believe there is a correlation, a big one. I don't have facts and figures to back it up, this is just my opinion. I think this is something that is gravely overlooked and this interview I think really brought it to the forefront, even if inadvertently.

Any thought?