Follow me on Twitter My journey with real food has been a long one. My mother did her best to feed us real food when I was growing up. I am thankful for that. When I had my own family I wanted to feed them well but I got caught up in the modern health foods. I bought packaged organic cookies. I paid extra money to buy organic ultra-pasteurized milk. Imagine my surprise when I found out that I was spending lots of money on inferior products. Foods better for my body were available locally at a reasonable price.
Month after month I attended the local Weston Price meetings finding out what real food is and how to fit it into my life. Turns out that eating real food is simple after all.
It took me years to figure out that my mother had been right all along.
Kelly the Kitchen Kop put together a class online that is packed full of information that took me years to figure out. You can listen to her class and then go back and listen again. Shortcut your learning with a condensed class. Real Food Rookie Class
The garden has had many butterflies this year.
Have you ever wanted to grow garlic yourself? A few years ago a friend told me that she grew garlic by planting some organic bulbs she bought from the grocery. I tried it and a few years later I still have garlic growing.
I planted the cloves in my asparagus patch so the tiller wouldn’t get them. Once before I bought a seed packet of garlic to plant but it disappeared. My theory is that since garlic growing looks so much like grass, I think it got ‘weeded’ out.
These cloves are small but flavorful. I harvested them late. Garlic is best harvested when the leaves begin to die down. The longer they stay in the ground the less protective layers of paper are left.
Give it a try. Or if have grown garlic in your garden, let us know about it.
Someone asked the question – “can I make sweet pickles wihout refined white sugar?”
In the book “Eat Fat, Lose Fat” by Sally Fallon, she has a recipe for Lacto-Fermented Sweet Pickles that calls for honey or maple syrup.
Lacto-Fermented Sweet Pickles
7 cups thinly sliced pickling cucumbers
1 cup thinly sliced mild onion
1 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup Homemade Whey
1 cup honey or maple syrup
3 T. sea salt
1-2 T. celery seeds
2 tsp. turmeric
1 T. yellow mustard seeds
In a lg. bowl, mix cucumbers with onions and place in a 2 qt – sized wide-mouthed mason jars, pressing down lightly with a pounder or meat hammer. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over cucumbers, adding more water if necessary to cover. Keep the top of the liquid 1 inch below the top of the jar. Cover tightly and keep at room temperature 2 days then refrigerate.
This year we tried all kinds of cucumbers soaked overnight in pickling lime. The pickles were very nice and crispy, crunchy. This seemed to work well with the lacto-fermenting.
Has anyone else tried soaking cucumbers in lime then lacto-fermenting?
For more real food information visit – Real Food Wednesday
One Jar at a Time.
Recipe for 1 pint jar of lacto-fermented dill relish.
1 cucumber, about 7 inches
1/4 cup onion, organic
1/4 cup green pepper, organic
1/2 tsp Real Salt
1/4 tsp mustard seed
1/4 tsp dill seed
1/4 tsp dill weed
1 Tblsp whey
1/8 tsp tumeric
Coarsely grate the cucumber, (for 1 jar I seeded it, the other jar I did not) chop the onion and the green pepper into tiny pieces. Stir in remaining ingredients, mix together. Spoon into a pint canning jar leaving 1/2 inch head room. This mixture will bubble up slightly (some more than others) meaning that the lacto-fermentation process is working. Put the lid on lightly. Leave out in the counter for 24 hours. Tighten lid to store in cool place (the fridge or celler)
I have found that the rubber seal on the canning lids keeps the air out of my lacto-fermented foods. When I store them with a non-airtight lid, they turn a darker color on top. With my saurkraut I just took a fork and romoved the top layer of kraut and ate the rest. Not at one sitting. Lacto-fermented foods are made to eat in small quantities.
For other interesting Real Food topics visit Kelly the Kitchen Kop for Real Food Wednesday.
The garden is producing lots of zucchini. 
We are eating zucchini for breakfast, lunch, and snack. One of our breakfast favorites is Zucchini Fritters.
4 eggs beaten
1 stick butter melted
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups grated zucchini
1 cup flour (freshly ground spelt)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 pinch of nutmeg (optional)
1 cup of cheese (I use mozzarella)
In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs and melted butter until blended. Add vanilla and the zucchini and mix. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. Last add the cheese. Fry on a pancake griddle on a low temperature to make sure the middle is fully cooked. This makes 12 thick fritters. The thickness will depend on the moisture of your zucchini. Add more or less flour for desired size.
These refridgerate or freeze well for future breakfasts. I let them cool on a rack then slip into a plastic or glass container to freeze. Then reheat in the toaster oven. Toast once from the refrigerator, twice for freezer.
Serve with real butter and real maple syrup.
I got this recipe from a realitive who makes it with Parmeasan Cheese and italian seasonings instead of Mozzarella and nutmeg.
For lots of other tasty recipies and information visit Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop
Goal: Lacto-Ferment Zucchini
This July my kitchen will be busy with the harvest from my garden. I have exchanged my old heat canning methods with lacto-fermentation. I like it better because I can preserve my veggies one jar at a time instead of a huge batch. When I would wait to get enough cucumbers to make a heat canned pickle batch, the first cucumber would start to go bad (a problem with a small garden).
Sauerkraut and Kraut slaw with peppers
Pickled Cucumbers dill or spicy
Now I looking for a recipe to lacto-ferment zucchini. Can anyone help? Have you lacto-fermented zucchini before? What other lacto-fermenting have you tried?
This post is part of Real Food Wednesday.
This summer we are again going through the book Sword Fighting by Karyn Henley. We memorize a weekly verse and have a daily reading of scripture and devotion. Each day has discussion questions and an activity. The discussion questions get the kids to really think about what God’s Word says and how it applies to life. 
I wasn’t sure what to call this tasty dessert. I refuse to buy those sponge like, chemical tasting, dessert rounds that are supposed to go with strawberries. So, I was thrilled to find a ‘real food’ substitute. Well, not exactly a substitute, my kids have never eaten one of those spongy dessert rounds so they don’t know what I am switching out (only my dh has any idea). This is a family favorite when the strawberry patch is ready for picking.
Shortbread
1 stick of butter
2 cups spelt flour, freshly ground
1/2 cup sucanat
1 tsp vanilla
Mix ingredients in the mixer until crumbly. Pour into 8×8 baking dish. Press down into the dish. Score lines and fork it.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
Put into a bowl and add strawberries and real whipped cream.
This post is part of Real Food Wednesday.
