How about a delicious frozen twist to an old classic? I am sure many of you have enjoyed some delicious frozen custard this summer, so why not frozen pudding? This is best served right after the initial churning in the ice cream maker – kind of like a soft serve. I like to sweeten my tapioca with maple syrup and a little cinnamon. This extra little flavor adds a lot of dimension to this tasty frozen treat!

We are busy enjoying summer here on the homestead with a lot of out of town visitors. Hope everyone is having a great summer!

I love pickles and I love all kinds of pickles, from cucumbers and onions to turnips, and everything in between. Last year I made bread and butter refrigerator pickles, which we liked, but needed some improvement to the flavor. I meant to make more, and experiment with the methods, but didn’t get around to it, until a few weeks ago.

I had purchased a Master Vegetable Fermenter from Cultures for Health a few months ago, in hopes that I would have a lot of garden vegetables this year to culture into things like sauerkraut, pickles, curtido and gingered carrots. Since we are still a few weeks away from harvesting any of these goodies, because we got a late start, I thought I would buy some cucumbers at the Farmers Market and get practicing. During that same Farmers Market trip I also got some garlic scapes, and decided to throw some in the mix as well. Just for seasonal relativity, I made these pickles about a month ago, right as garlic scapes were beginning to show up at the markets.

The process to making lacto-fermented pickles is easy because there is no cooking and so canning process involved. This food preservation technique goes back to a time where there was no refrigeration. You use sea salt or whey brine to inhibit the growth of un-friendly bacteria, and mold, until enough lactic acid is produced to keep the vegetables preserved for many months. In the old days, people kept these stored in their cold root cellars along with other winter storage veggies. These days, most people store them in their refrigerator. There are added health benefits to preserving vegetables this way as well, since the lactobaccili which produce the lactic acid enhance digestibility through supporting the growth of healthy flora and enzymes in our gut.

As with any recipe, starting with the freshest ingredients possible is very important. I used a recipe for pickles from Nourishing Traditions, and enhanced it with the garlic scapes, fresh dill from the garden, pickling spices and added raw apple cider vinegar after fermentation, since we do like the vinegar flavor of store bought pickles. My next batch, I am going to try a bread and butter version. Remember it is important not to add these other components until after the fermentation process.

This original batch was a hit. We had friends over for dinner last week, and they brought with them raw milk and fermented pickles to contribute to the dinner (we love our friends!) and we had a pickle tasting. I am not sure if they were just being nice, but everyone agreed that my pickles were the best. Think I am going to make a batch for them the next time we visit them? You betcha!

INGREDIENTS:

6 cucumbers

6 garlic scapes, chopped

1 TBS of pickling spices

2 TBS of fresh dill

2 TBS sea salt (or 1 TBS of sea salt and 1 TBS of whey)

1 cup filtered water

water

¼ cup raw apple cider vinegar

METHOD:

Wash cucumbers and garlic scapes well and place in the vegetable fermenter (or a large, half gallon wide mouth mason jar). Combine remaining ingredients and pour over the cucumbers, adding more water if necessary to cover the vegetables. The top of the liquid should be at least 1 inch below the top of the jar. Cover tightly and keep at room temperature for 3-7 days and transfer to cold storage. Once the culturing is complete, add the apple cider vinegar and mix.

I have not made this recipe using the mason jar method, preferring the master vegetable fermenter method, which has a glass jar that includes an airlock set up which facilitates gas escaping your fermented vegetables while keeping air out. This allows you to make pickles, sauerkraut and other fermented vegetables while greatly reducing and usually eliminating the threat of mold.

NOTES (paraphrased from Cultures for Health): Do not remove the lid from the jar during the culturing process. Removing the lid could introduce bacteria which can cause mold or scum. Check your vegetables through the glass every day to check for signs of scum or mold. If any is present just scrape it off the top, and obviously do not eat any vegetables that have mold on them.

One of my latest kitchen experiments has been baking with a sourdough starter. I have been baking all our breads, pizza doughs, pastries, cookies, cakes, etc from scratch now for over 2 years. One of the many ways in which I vote for better food with my money daily. Not only is baking from scratch cheaper than buying, but most recipes whether bread, cake, or pretzels, three of the recipes I am going to share with you today, have under 10, and more often, under 5 ingredients, no preservatives, corn syrup, or weird chemicals. I challenge you to find that at your grocery store!

I had also heard that many people with gluten sensitivity (not Celiac) did better eating baked goods made from true fermented sourdough than baked goods leavened more commonly with yeast. I waited until our big move to experiment with sourdough, as once you have a starter, you have to feed and maintain it to keep it healthy and alive. So now, besides 2 dogs, a cat, 10 chickens, kefir – both dairy and water, kombucha, and yogurt, I have added sourdough culture to my feeding schedule! I can’t say with certainty if it is the sourdough or the spelt flour I have switched to that allows me to enjoy breads and the like without feeling like I have a hangover the next day. I still eat all of these things sparingly, although my dear husband, who is a major carb addict, seems to be enjoying his daily bread without any side affects. It took eating this kind of bread, for him to realize that he was having a bit of a problem with the other kinds.

Anyway, sourdough is extremely versatile, and not all sourdough starters are created equal. You can try to capture your own, or you can purchase one. I decided to start by purchasing one from Cultures for Health. Several weeks later, I got another one from Erik a friend who sells hand roasted coffee at our local farmers market. He traded me sourdough starter from Ischia, Italy and kombucha for some Viili culture. I think I got the better deal.

I started experimenting by baking bread from the book Baking with Sourdough by Sara Pitzer, from Storey Publishing and then tweaked it a bit, to make it more to our liking. After I figured that out, I started playing around with various herbed breads, which is how I came up with the Za’atar Spice Bread Ring.

After I had that under my belt, or better yet, in my stomach, I wanted to try something I had never heard of – Sourdough Chocolate Cake, from the same book, which I also tweaked. This cake was really fantastic and probably one of the best chocolate cakes I have ever had. We are not big cake eaters in this house, so I can affirm that it froze well, and also lasted in the fridge for about 2 weeks. I am sure you could have a lot of fun with this recipe, including making various kinds of icing. Roberto liked spreading nutella on his, and I enjoyed mine plain or sometimes with a schmear of almond butter.

Most recently I tried making Sourdough Pretzels, all the same ingredients (except honey in place of sugar) but tweaked the method a little bit to allow all the flour to ferment. The pretzels turned out being more like pretzel shaped bread, than actual pretzels. I got a lot of helpful suggestions on facebook like adding sparkling water or lemon juice for better rising. So I think I will have to try again. Although Roberto likes them, since he can grab one, kind of like a roll to have with meals, without needing to slice anything.

I have continued on experimenting with making sourdough spelt pizza dough, buckwheat pancakes and crepes, as well as muffins. The pizza dough, pancakes and crepes have become staples in our house (look for these recipes soon), while the muffins still need some work. But the wonderful thing is, each week I have to feed my starter, which means at least once a week I should bake something and so I am trying to keep creative. I have been yeast baking free for almost 3 months! I definitely encourage you

to try your hand at it too. If you would like to try and catch your own starter, my blogging buddy Michelle over at Big Black Dog has a great post about it!

I am going to share THREE recipes with you today. For one, I want to show you just how diverse sourdough is – it is not just for bread! And also because my mom is coming to visit for a few weeks, and my posting rate may be a bit slower these next few weeks – so I wanted to keep you busy while I on vacation!

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From Chicks to Chickpeas! Well I am finally back with a recipe. In fact I have many to share with you over the coming weeks. I have been cooking a lot since we moved. I mean it is hard not to when there is so much beautiful food available. However, as you can see from my most recent posts, I have been a little busy, and not really in front of my computer as much. Which is actually good in many respects. Also, I have so many other things to share with all of you, besides the food I am making, so sometimes it is hard to know what to post first! Ah, the life of a food blogger is so darn tough

We have obviously been very busy lately and due to that, it has been good to prepare some quick foods, that you can just grab a handful of when you make a mad dash back into the house from the garden for a forgotten item or two. This is one of those snacks – packed with protein, completely healthy, crunchy and delicious. Such a satisfying snack on so many levels. I have seen roasted chick peas out in the blogosphere many times before and have always sworn to myself make them soon. Recently I was inspired by Cook Local’s version which reminded me, I needed to make them!

I always tend to have soaked, partially cooked and then frozen chick peas in the freezer. They are one of my favorite beans, and basically as convenient as canned beans when prepared ahead like this. One of my tricks of making your own convenience foods, saving time and money, and the taste? About a million times better.

I really wanted to use Ras el Hanout – translated to mean “head of the shop” – as in the best spices, to spice half of the roasted chickpeas. I hadn’t used my mortar and pestle in a while, and really was looking forward to toasting all the aromatic spices beforehand in my cast iron skillet. This is my version of aromatherapy. So I dry fried my Ras el Hanout, and then added some coriander, cumin and blood orange salt from D’Italia to create my spice mix for batch one.

The second batch, I was looking for something a little more Southwestern. I absolutely adore the Mexican mole spice and lime coconut salt from The Spice and Tea Exchange. So decided to combine them and add in a little Calabrese hot pepper powder that I got from Sausage Debauchery.

Both versions turned out really well, and in the end I actually mixed the two up, and they complimented each other beautifully. So if you are looking for a quick, delicious and satisfying snack that packs a crunch AND that you can spice up any way you like, this is the treat for you!

INGREDIENTS:

4 cups al dente cooked chickpeas
3 TBS olive oil
Salt and seasonings of your choice

Ras el Hanout Spiced Chickpeas

2 heaping tsp of Ras el Hanout spice mix
1 TBS ground coriander
1 TBS ground cumin
blood orange sea salt to taste

Mexican Mole Spiced Chickpeas

2 TBS Mexican mole spice mix
¼ tsp Calabrese hot pepper powder
Lime coconut salt to taste

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 400 F. In a large bowl, mix chickpeas with olive oil to coat then mix with spices.
Spread spiced chickpeas in a single layer on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and roast for 30-35 minutes, stirring once or twice, until the chickpeas are golden brown! Enjoy!

I love Dark Mole – it is one of those sauces that captures the imagination and has an almost mystical quality to it– chock full of colorful, luxurious and delicious spices, chilies and chocolate. Whenever I see it on a menu, I can’t resist ordering it. I have never made it before, and it has been on my kitchen “to do” list for a long while. A series of events happened that made this the perfect time to make Mole, my way. This is not a traditional Mole, made by a Mexican Matriarch, but I do feel it encompasses the flavors and spirit of the dish.

As I said, this dish was inspired by several things – a recent shipment of samples from my foodie friend Justin, at Marx Foods (these guys are awesome!) of various dried chilies that we will be giving away on The Foodie Blogroll soon. I used two mild varieties – Mulato and Pasilla Negro. The Mulato is described as having a chocolate and licorice flavor, which I thought would go well in the Mole. The Pasilla Negro said it was “good in moles” on the package, so I trusted the Marx Foodies on that one.

This dish was also inspired by a chocolate bar I bought for the trip from Florida to Vermont. On road trips, we always like to treat ourselves to some dark chocolate. This time I chose Dagoba’s Xocolatl bar – dark chocolate with cocoa nibs, chilies and cinnamon. It was wonderful on its own, a perfect pick me up during a long day of driving. As I was eating the chocolate, I knew it was destined to be cooked with – as it was not very sweet (which is the way I like my chocolate) and full of the flavors described on the package.

I also wanted to use some Calabrian pepper powder, I received as a recent sample from Scott at The Sausage Debauchery for a giveaway on The Foodie Blogroll last month, that I hadn’t had a chance to cook with yet. This hot pepper powder is very reminiscent of hot smoked paprika. It is a gorgeous bright deep orange, and smells wonderful. A little goes a long way though, and I didn’t need much to add a kick to the dish. I also used some Mexican Mole Seasoning that I got at the Saint Augustine Spice and Tea Exchange. A store I frequented in Saint Augustine when we lived there, and that I am very thankful has a website, so I can continue to order their amazing, top quality spices.

I was very pleased with the result of my first attempt at Mole. The sauce had a lot of depth, and all the flavors really complemented each other in a cohesive unit. Not bad for the first time!

The leftovers make amazing quesadillas with some cheddar cheese and plain yogurt on top, or you could put some of the sauce over your morning eggs (fried or poached) for some Mole Eggs.

This is definitely a diverse sauce that can be used to turn the ordinary into something extraordinary. I love that this recipe makes enough for either 4 people, or several meals for 2, making this not only tasty, but cost effective, which is always a bonus. Especially because sauces like this taste doubly better the next day and your efforts in the kitchen can be extended to several meals.

INGREDIENTS:

4 chicken drumsticks
olive oil
salt & pepper
1 1/2 TBS Mexican mole seasoning – fresh pepper, chocolate, cumin, coriander, chili pepper, garlic, onion, salt, etc. From The Spice and Tea Exchange
½ tsp Calabrian Hot pepper
1 tsp cinnamon
6 sticks Dagoba Xocolatl bar, melted
1 dried mulato chili (chocolate/licorice, mild)– reconstituted and scraped – reserve about 1 cup of water used to reconstitute.
1 dried pasilla negro chili (Good in moles) – reconstituted and scraped
juice of one lemon
1 cup strained tomatoes
5 carrots, chopped
4 small onions, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, sliced

METHOD:

Wash the drumsticks while the chilies are reconstituting in hot water (this takes about 10-15 minutes for them to soften). In a bowl drizzle olive oil over the chicken and sprinkle spices over top. Add the chili flesh and massage everything into the chicken. Then add the lemon juice and stir all together. Let marinate in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

Preheat the oven to 300F. In a dutch oven, drizzle olive oil and brown chicken on all sides. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in a double boiler, and pour over chicken. Add the reserved chili water, and strained tomatoes to the bowl the chicken was marinading in. Whisk together and pour over the chicken, de-glazing the pan. Add the potatoes, carrots, onions and garlic, then stir the whole pot. Place the lid on the pot, and cook in the oven for 3 hours. After the 2nd hour, reduce heat to 200 F. Check for liquid every 45 minutes, and add water if necessary.

Serve on top of sprouted tortillas. Serves 2 – with leftovers for 4 small sprouted corn tortilla Quesadillas and 2 servings of Mole Eggs.

Here is a quick little treat for you all, and trust me, when I say it is a treat – one that is not only delicious, but healthy and perfect for outdoor party weather! I wouldn’t leave you hanging with anything less than super yummy.

This will be my last post for a week or so – we are migrating to Vermont any day now, and although I will have internet access, it will be quick and sporadic. Then as soon as we get there, we have to get a garden started! I am sorry that I haven’t been around the bloggy world much these past weeks to see everyone’s delicious creations, but I have been up to my ears in boxes, with a quick day off to celebrate 2 years of wedded bliss, yesterday!

Anyway, this dish was inspired by two things – one, my ever-present leftover using principles and two, my desire to bring something to a party I knew I could eat. This is the cumulative efforts of pairing delicious raw goat cheese with soaked raw nuts, both of which were leftovers.

I love canapes, crostini, bruschetta and the like, but when I indulge in these generally bready things, I pay for it later. So I figured why not make canapes with potatoes that needed to be used up – which I could enjoy absolutely guilt free! I topped these delicious roasted potato rounds with a raw cashew, raw goat cheese basil pesto, with some sun dried tomatoes mixed in for POP.

These are so good, my extremely picky cat, Nimue, actually went up on the counter to eat the leftovers I had saved for my mom (sorry, mom!).

These were seriously easy to make and ended up looking great and party worthy! I will certainly be making them often this summer for backyard barbecues, parties and potlucks! Hope some of you can join us up at our place in Vermont! But be prepared to get your hands dirty!

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I love nuts, they are one of the best snacks – quick and satisfying as well as full of nutritional benefits since they are absolutely packed with protein, good fats, vitamins and minerals. They are the perfect snack food, one that will keep you going and quell that craving for something crunchy and salty. Now that is what I call a good snack!

I always like to have a variety of raw nuts in my pantry – my favorites are almonds and cashews. After they have been soaked, you can dehydrate them in the oven (or if you are lucky enough to have a dehydrator!) and mix them with your favorite salts and spices to make your own version of spiced nuts. You can also leave some of them as is (storing them in the refrigerator), to put into smoothies. I like to soak enough for both options. To learn more about the benefits of soaking nuts (as well as legumes and grains), check out this link

Spiced nuts are great for munching on straight out of your hand, serving as a snack for guests, sprinkling on your salads, etc.

Not only does soaking nuts increase their health benefits, but the texture and taste is even better. It could also be less allergenic, based on recent events in my own life. This is not confirmed, but only what I experienced.  I was the recent guinea pig. I have always had an aversion to walnuts, for some reason. But Roberto grew up eating walnuts (they are part of the traditional Sardinian diet) and so we decided to try some. I soaked them, as I know that soaking nuts increases their nutritional profile, by allowing you to be able to utilize more of the vitamins and minerals, since soaking breaks down the enzyme inhibitors. I mixed these soaked walnuts with some soaked almonds. Then I drained and towel dried them, and mixed both nuts with olive oil, sea salt, pepper, and dried rosemary (basically the spices that were left in the bag from my favorite Trader Joe’s spiced Macona Almonds – waste not, want not…). I spread them out on a tray and cooked them in a 200 F oven for about 15 minutes – shaking the tray every 5-10 minutes.

I really wanted to learn to love walnuts, so I was eating a handful of these mixed (walnut and almond) nuts everyday – either as a snack, or on salads. By the fourth day I wasn’t feeling right. I felt like I had no strength in my hands, and I was more tired than usual. On that day, I decided to pick the walnuts out, and just eat a handful of those, in another attempt to try to like them. Within minutes I started to sneeze, then, my mouth, tongue and lips were starting to itch, and soon my eyes started to get a bit puffy. I was having an allergic reaction! If it hadn’t been for the soaking, I am guessing that the reaction likely would have been much worse! So my taking the extra time to soak my nuts, grains and legumes really paid off and probably saved me a trip to the ER!

But really, taking a little extra time (and you really don’t have to do anything – they are doing all the work!) to soak your nuts before eating them makes them much more beneficial, easier to digest and the perfect texture to go in smoothies. If you bake them in the oven, with spices, then you have a whole other great use for them! This is a great way to treat your nuts, and your body!

Disclaimer:  I am not a dietitian or health care professional. My posts reflect my own personal experience. You should always consult a doctor before making any changes to your diet and exercise routine.

It is no secret that I love to eat seasonally and that I am a big fan and customer of my local farmer’s market. Last spring I showed you how to make this really nice dinner that showcases the bounty of spring. When you eat more seasonally it is fun to see now how much you really look forward to certain foods during the year. For example fresh English peas in the pod. These little beauties are like the heralds of spring. Just their very color is indicative of the season – beautiful spring green. I felt this meal was so invoking of Spring, that it was worth posting again, now that spring is in full flourish – and also because I really want to win some grassfed steaks!

So this is my entry for the Clean Your Plate Challenge over on Nourished Kitchen . This month’s addition is Grassfed Steaks !

We have been trying to eat as seasonally as possible for the past two years, which can be a challenge depending on where you live. Sometimes it doesn’t seem like we have been doing it for this long, because I am still learning more traditional cooking techniques and adding more and more real food to my kitchen repertoire. This past month for example, I have been eliminating processed sugar and white flour from our diet. When we move to Vermont in 2 weeks, these things will no longer have a place in my kitchen. This way of eating will always be a work in progress, but I feel the pluses completely outweigh the minuses, both in health and taste. That is one other thing I am looking forward to with our upcoming move – even more access to local and pasture raised meat and dairy foods!

As I have mentioned before, Roberto and I are very active people. We enjoy activities like archery, martial arts and weight lifting, among other things. With an increased activity lifestyle over the past year, it has come an increased need for good quality protein and food. I feel like this way of eating has given me not only increased physical energy, but also mental energy, and more balanced emotions.

I paired this beautiful grassfed skirt steak with local fingerling potatoes – another spring veggie.  I really loved the combination of these three components – steak, potatoes and fresh English peas.

I also got some inspiration from my fresh herbs out on the porch. I have always wanted to make a chimmichuri sauce – its vibrant green color and fresh taste is very attractive to me on so many levels, and it just felt like it would go great with this meal.

Chimmichuri is typically made with fresh cilantro or parsley as the main herb, but I don’t have either of them growing. So I used what I did have – basil and oregano. I threw these herbs together with extra virgin olive oil, citrus champagne vinegar and a few other spices to make a fabulous tangy and herbal sauce for the steak.

I pan roasted the fingerling potatoes by throwing them in a large pan with olive oil, salt and pepper and cooking until they were browned on all sides. I then thew them in the oven at 425 F for 20 minutes, and tossed them with fresh chives when they came out of the oven. I sautéed the peas with olive oil and 3 cloves of garlic.

It was a wonderful meal full of the fresh flavors of spring!

Chimmichuri

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup fresh basil leaves
¼ cup fresh oregano leaves
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup citrus champagne vinegar
3 cloves of garlic
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 TBS sumac
salt to taste

METHOD:

Throw it all in a food processor or blender and blend until it becomes a sauce and serve it with the steak and potatoes.