Nourish Your Children

Growing Garlic

Aug 122010

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.

Lacto-Fermented Sweet Pickles

Lacto-fermented, Recipes, Weston Price 3 Responses »

Aug 112010

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

Lacto-Fermented Dill Relish

Gardening, Lacto-fermented, Recipes, Weston Price 6 Responses »

Jul 212010

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.

Zucchini Fritters

Breakfast, Recipes No Responses »

Jul 142010

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

Kitchen Goals for July 2010

Gardening, Lacto-fermented, Nutrition, Sauerkraut, Uncategorized, Weston Price 2 Responses »

Jul 062010

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 Peppers

Pickled Cucumbers dill or spicy

Tomato Ketchup

Sweet BBQ Sauce

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.

Summer Devotions

Character Training, Faith, Family 1 Response »

Jul 012010

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.

Character Training

Strawberry Shortbread

Recipes, Snacks No Responses »

Jun 232010

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.

Wordless Wednesday

Family 1 Response »

May 262010

Secret to Less Weeds

Gardening 3 Responses »

May 262010

Do you love gardening, but can’t seem to keep up with all of the weeds?

A few years ago, someone suggested mulching with cardboard. So I gave it a try.

I planted my plants. Here in this picture you see newly planted zucchini.

Then I took cardboard boxes and layed them down on the dirt around the plants. I put bricks or wood on the cardboard to hold them down until we mowed our grass. (we never spray the grass so I always have organic mulch) Then I put the grass down on top of the cardboard. Then I wet the whole thing down. The water helps keep the grass from blowing away. I have heard that worms love the cardboard cover. I didn’t ask a worm myself but they do seem to be happy in my garden. haha And I have lots of them.

My husband is getting some more boxes today. Often a grocery store will have lots of extra boxes they are happy to give away. I am going to overlap the boxes for full coverage. In a few weeks I will be able to see where I have cardboard and where I didn’t put it down.

Cardboard helped me a great deal in the garden. The weeding was much less. I have a nice grass carpet to walk between the rows and plants.

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday

Asparagus Omelet

Breakfast, Kefir, Nutrition, Recipes, Weston Price No Responses »

May 192010

The asparagus is ready in my garden! I have been anticipating this all winter. Asparagus really livens up the eggs we love to eat. Mostly me, I eat eggs almost every day for breakfast. I feel better when I do. The kids get tired of eggs every day so I have other real food options for them, Soaked Granola, Soaked Pancakes, Kefir smoothies, Cinnamon Swirl Sourdough, and Sourdough treats.

Asparagus Omelet

1 egg, beaten with 1 T. cream

1 stalk fresh asparagus, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 slice of cheese

Butter

Stir fry the asparagus in 1 tsp of butter. I use a cast iron skillet. When the asparagus is crisp tender, pour the beaten egg over the top. When the eggs is set on the bottom, flip it over, add cheese to 1/2, fold over and serve. 1 omelet.

This post is part of Real Food Wednesdays