Twisted Tuesday 7 27 2010

If at first you don't succeed try, try again!

This has been a very hectic week for us. We have had some illness in the family and it has been very troubling to us. SO... this post is more what has not been twisting in our kitchen this week and how it has effected us or not effected us. You will have to read on to see!

I am very happy to say that one of our dear friends came by today. She had a look see at our little buck and came bearing unexpected presents of GOLD!!! Liquid gold that is! With the pro-biotic pearls that make all that gold right inside! We finally have some dairy Kefir grains!!!!!!! Woot! What a happy Tuesday morning :)

This week as i have been so concerned with my family I have been a total slacker.

I have not:

Soaked any grains
made any sourdough bread
made in bread at all
made any yogurt
made any cheese

In fact I have not made much of our food at all! All because our family was sick and I was a scatter brain and now we are paying the price. I was so delighted to tell my Nurse Practitioner that I had not had a migraine in months thank you very much. Well I broke that record after eating non grass fed meat that was certainly not organic either. I will NEVER do that again! I would rather starve and have blood sugar problems :'(

I also have not had any problems with irritable bowels since we switched to soaking our grains and eating primarily sourdough. Plus all the yogurt we make has been a huge help for sure epecially with some of us on antibiotics right now. But wait... I haven't been making yogurt and the last is gone and drum roll please, we have been eating store bought bread and deli food. We have been out and running so much for testing. In fact last night we ate at, eep! Wendy's! I know can you believe it? Arrrrrrrrrg! I don't do these things! I though it would be OK just once.

Oh dear me I will not be doing these things ever again! Just speaking for myself alone with the migraine that wouldn't quit and the cramping about like giving birth I will make the time. I will make a list instead of thinking about making that list next time I feel overwhelmed with our schedule.

In fact I will go make that list now! So I don't have to make it in the heat of the moment and put it off because I don't ever want to feel this way again!

Last but not least I find myself very dehydrated. I have been working on this all day and still the room is spinning as I sit here typing...good thing I don't need to see the keyboard. I certainly hope I don't have to many spelling errors. The more I try to think or concentrate the more it hurts :(

If I forget to post that list you make sure and keep me accountable! Who knows, it may help you start your own :) It will be going into my control journal with my other routines...why wasn't it there already? Hmmm.



Shared on the Tuesday Twister @ GNOWFGLINS
Shared on Two for Tuesdays Blog Hop Carnival
and Real food Wednesday 

Twisted Tuesday 7 20 2010

This week in our kitchen we have Made a wonderful ham! I got an old fashioned smoked ham from the gal at the market and we cooked it in the crock pot.

Method:

Put ham in crock pot before bed fill half up the side of the ham with water. Flip ham over in the morning enjoy anytime after 11pm Yumm!

NOTE obviously it was already cured and required no cooking or simple reheat but this was so delicious I had to share!

My first baked beans were the worlds best ever! That is really and truly saying something because I can't stand baked beans lol

Method:

Rinse and clean 1 cup beans. OR you can measure the broth described below and decide how much beans you can cook. Soak beans, I used Pinto, overnight (min 7 hours preferably at least 12 hours) In appropriate amount of water adding an acid (kombucha, why, buttermilk , vinegar) 1 T to each cup water.

If soaking on the stove bring to a good low simmer cover and turn off. If soaking in the crock pot turn on high for 1 hour then turn off. Skim of any scum, quickly so as not to lose heat though.

Next I took the rest of the big pieces of meat and the chucks of fatty material out of the juice in the crock pot. This left a lot of meat and some nice oils in the broth so I did not add anything to this but the ready to cook beans and I chopped up large onion. Add about 2 cups of brown sugar or drizzle in some grade B maple syrup or some molasses. Cook beans for a minimum of 12 hours.

We took this to the pot luck and we all enjoyed it so much and got so many compliments we decided to use the remaining juice to cook some more :) This time I added only the soaked beans and also some soaked rice. In fact I soaked the beans and rice together.

NOTE if your beans are more than a year old, for example you may have food storage built up. Beans can last for a long time but sometimes they get difficult to cook after a time and remain overly firm. Simply add a teaspoon or so of baking soda while they cook.

ALSO my mother always keeps hot water in a kettle or pot handy when cooking beans in case they need more water. I had plenty in mine but make sure you always add hot water or you cool the whole thing and it takes about an hour and a half to heat back up to cooking temperature. 1 ½ hours longer cooking = :(

ONE more thing :) There was a lot of juices left so we used a slotted spoon the first time but it was amazing anyway! I had never cooked it before and none of my friends are scratch cooks. Not like this anyway or not with the baked beans so I was up to my own devices. I could have used 3 cups or so had I n=known. The leftover juice was still awesome and the beans add rice were great in it. It was thick and sweet and oh so yummy! I added about 1 ½ cups beans and about ¾ or so cup of rice to the second batch.

I wish I had a picture! Maybe I can find one similar online :) This is NOT a can of baked beans! Not even a Dr. up can of baked beans lol the recipes got were something like: can pork and beans brown sugar and catchup. Tops with cheese. Eww!

This post is also part of Fight Back Friday's Blog Hop!
Pennywise Platter Thursday @ The Nourishing Gourmet
Twisted Tuesday Blog Hop @ GNOWFGLINS

At times I find that post can be shared long after it has been written as was this one. Sometimes it fits well in more than one link up or blog hop! I try to acknowledge all of them :) There really are some great blogs our there! Check them out for yourself! We are going to be adding some of our own Linky Love here @ Sustainability as well! Don't have a blog? Thats OK share with us in the comment section! Have fun with it!

Twisted Tuesday!

For our 'Twisted Tuesday" We will be sharing with each other what has come about, been tried, tested or created in our kitchens during the past week. Please leave comments in the comment section below and we will have great fun with this. I will also Figure out how to get Mr. Linky working so we can have some linky love! I love it! lol

Today DD9 whipped up yet another cake. She loves cake what can I say? ( gramma says she has to stop making her eat cake! lol )This time she made a basic chocolate cake and wanted to use her newfound love of coconut milk for the frosting.

So the little all star gets on line and finds a recipe for Coconut Milk Frosting! Yay DD9! I am, as always, impressed by her.

Now this recipe is WAY to much so I scaled it down for her and she went to it. It was fabulous! It was not quite working out in the bowl so we decided to try it in the blender. When all was said and done she had a wonderful frosting that was not overly coconut flavored and to be honest quite good minus the slivers of wooden spoon... ( my fault can you believe it! sorry honey!)

So I went to whip up some more only to discover that she had used the last of the butter and although I am in the process of making butter today it has been a particularly tough batch of goat butter and is not ready, sigh. So I twisted!

This is hands down the most amazing frosting I have ever had! ( and i hate coconut and always thought I was allergic till I found out it was only the fake flakes )

Our Coconut Milk Frosting:

5-7 tablespoons of coconut milk
1/2 cup of coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon almond ? (optional)

I did not add the 4 specs of salt or the almond and this was still amazing. We drizzled it on the cut cooled but still warm cake and let it soak in a little and permeate the cake and it is fluffy and moist and I wish I had my camera for you!


This frosting would also be wonderful on Wardeh's spice cake that she shared on her twister blog today! GNOWFGLINS Foundation
Gods Natural Organic Whole Foods Grown Locally IN Season
Is an amazing blog and resource! Her eCourse in the fundamentals of whole foods preparation is now a "pay as you can" course. The 13 lessons are each amazing with printouts, pictures and how to videos. Very straight forward and simple, traditionally prepared foods that are healthful to our bodies. Join me as we twist our way through this eCourse and I will see you next Twisted Tuesday to here about your kitchen excitement!

What have you Twisted up in your kitchen this week?