New Traditional Foods (NT) Thread - Page 3

[morsan]

Brisen-If your stock dries during night it's probably because the lid isn't tight-fitting enough. I have one that has a tiny hole which gets plugged up with grease after a couple of hours. Don't use a lid with edges that run on the inside of the pot.
Your pot should simmer at the lowest possible, but to the point where it's still too hot to touch the liquid.

Suseyblue-I'm getting real anxious to start making mead, cider and beer. It sounds so good. What book do you get your recipes from?

[nomadic_foolz]

Thanks for the info suseyblue. I can't wait to pick up some more chx and get some stock made. We're in the process of moving so I'm trying to keep things simple. Gotta get back to areobatic nurser.

[OceanMomma]

I saw one of the guys I know who keeps free range organic chooks today. He's one of the ones who bops them off when they stop laying. Well he has some corpses in the freezer that I can have to make stock out of. Here's hoping they're plucked already Does anyone know if stock freezes ?

[elainie]

Oh my, I'm coming to this thread late!

Toraji, yes I too am an annoying ex-vegan! It's been said ex's are the worst.

You can freeze stock nut I keep mine in huge mason jars in fridge.

In winter we put it in the garage as I tend to make a pretty hefty amount.

We use stock in lots of things (soups, sauces, cooking greens etc..) the best is to drink the broth after you've cooked hardy greens in it.
I feel it remineralizing my bones.

[Brisen]

I have a saurkraut question. I was just looking at wildfermentation.com, and Katz's instructions don't have the kraut in an airtight container. Is having it airtight important only if I'm making it in mason jars and won't be placing a weight on it? I don't think I'm up to making 5 cabbages worth of kraut quite yet -- I was planning on half a head.

[yoga]

Thanks for the advice on the stock, folks. I talked to some friends about it, too, and they thought the gas stove was a factor. I was going to try a crockpot, but I'd need a really huge one and I already have 2. So, I bought a 12-qt. stock pot yesterday and I'm going to buy an electric eye and see if that's better. I'll be making another stock this weekend.

brisen, I have a Solomon, too! Not too many folks naming their kids that these days.

[nomadic_foolz]

Brisen- Have you checked out the NT 'kraut recipe? My DH loves it and it only calls for 1 head.
Oceanmama- My sister told me a handy trick. Freeze stoin ice cube trays then transfer them to a baggie and you canuse as much or as little as you need.

[OceanMomma]

I'll go look out some icecube trays. I think we've only got one.

Elainie. I remember you saying that your children's bone structure was different since you stopped being vegan. Do you think, if you change their diet early enuf, you can correct their jaw & teeth development? How much of it is hiereditory ? The reason I ask is dd#2 has quite a small jaw & her teeth look like they are going to be very crowded when she gets bigger. She's been drinking raw milk & eating lots of raw butter & fish oil since about November & I am sure her teeth are spacing out & straightening a bit. She is only just 3 so it may not be that at all. She was vegan until she was nearly 2.

[DreamWeaver]

Hi!!
Have not been to MDC in ages and so glad to find this thread/tribe!

Trying to deal with this "new" way of eating and initally a lot of objections from dh- cld not digest meat, house stinks of animal fats, even baby dd stinks of animal fats, etc etc etc!! (yeah, we are ex-veggies)

oh well, I'm going to try kefir, but for now I'm using a lot of butter, bacon fat, yogurt, CLO, coconut milk..... soak all my nuts, try to make chicken stock as often as possible. Eat meat abt 3-4 times a week, any more often and dh will make noise again.... sighz

The baked goods recipes I've tried so far were terrible, urgh!! Hate to waste all those flour, and time, so now I'm baking with sprouted spelt flour (bought from my co-op)....

Anyway, just wanted to drop in, and hope I can contribute some time....

[Brookesmom]

I just found this thread! I first heard about Nourishing Traditions from some comments on the health boards here and have read almost everything on the westonaprice website. I've been trying to incorporate things from the westonaprice.org (com?) website into my cooking for several months now. I use the organic coconut oil (so awesome for popcorn) and have switched to whole unhomogenized organic milk (haven't had the guts to by raw yet, LOL). I love the alvarado street bakery sprouted breads and bagels... I want to make sauerkraut really soon too. How exciting!

Oh, about me, I was about 80% veg and only chicken/fish for almost 10 years. Upon getting pregnant I craved red meat like crazy and started eating buffalo, lamb and some beef again and we still do. I'm trying to stay with free range and organic/wild meat but like everyone says, those free range chickens are $$$. Still working on it.

** Can someone help me find the archived thread? I didn't see it under Finding Your Tribe Archives.

I want to make chicken broth SO badly... I think you've all inspired me.

Suseyblue, your blueberry ale, mead and ginger beer sound AWESOME. What book do you use? DH and I love microbrews and bottle fermented unpasteurized trappist ales. I have a bottle of mead in the fridge. I wonder if it has any benficial properties other than tastiness, LOL.

I will definitely be back to this thread!

[nomadic_foolz]

[Brisen]

Bread

I made some of the yeasted/soaked bread with fresh whole wheat flour. It was amazing! I used to make regular yeasted bread all the time, and I could never get the dough to a nice consistency. If it were dry enough to not stick to my hands, it was too thick/heavy/dry. This dough was amazing -- supple, moist, but it didn't stick to anything once I started kneading it. I soaked it in whey/water instead of buttermilk because I don't have any buttermilk and our milk budget is limited, I prefer making yogurt and thickening it up by removing some of the whey, and then using that for the baking. The bread turned out great also, my 4 yo keeps on asking for homemade bread for a "treat." I'm so glad with how this has turned out! I hope sourdoughing goes as well when I get around to it...

[TigerTail]

omg, i posted the books, where did it go?
uh, mad about mead? homebrewer's recipe guide? dang it, the books aren't stacked right here like when i POSTED them the first time (maybe it was too controversial & got deleted, lol)... anyway, i only have a sec, but i put the bag full of wild blueberries in the pomegranate/boysenberry juice beer today, & it tastes like beer! wow! i couldn't believe it. definately quicker than mead or cider (i haven't done the ginger beer yet, i've had my hands full with baby sleep issues lately. but i'm gonna try to get the ginger bug started soon to work on my koji, i just got two 3 gallon carboys! and i had my batch of kraut the other night in a hungarian dish, it was quite tasty.)

suse

[Worldshakerz]

It's really cool to hear all the different projects everyone is doing. So far I just have the Nourishing Traditions book and I'm loving it. The next book I want to get is Wild Fermentation! Hopefully we can get it in the next few weeks.

Recently: I made my first two quarts of cortido. Good stuff, I like the spice. I also added apples to a different batch of regular sauerkraut and that's yummy too. And I just made my first quart of ginger carrots...those are for my mom for mother's day. Soaking right now is my dough for banana bread, and dough for my first whole grain crackers. And some apple slices are in the dehydrator now as another mother's day gift...my mom's been requesting apple chips for a while now. Oh yeah, I made some NT blueberry muffins but I didn't have vanilla extract so they taste more like bread than muffins...not bad with butter and a little raw honey on it though.

Kombucha drinkers: how long do you all brew yours for? Do you leave any sweetness or do you like yours really sour? I've been experimenting with it...wondering what everyone else likes.

And speaking of chicken stock, mine is simmering away. I put fennel stalks in it instead of celery, I think it's going to taste yummy. It sure smells great right now!

Has anyone made the piima milk from NT? How does it taste?

April

[Brisen]

Originally Posted by Chaka Falls

brisen, I have a Solomon, too! Not too many folks naming their kids that these days.

No, he's the only one we've met so far. I really liked the name Saul before he was born, but of course people usually try to name their kids after a positive role model if they're using a famous name. (I somehow, though, managed to miss realizing that Solomon had all those wives and concubines...) I thought I would shorten his name to Sol to sound like Saul, but I don't, if anything I lengthen it -- Solly-olly-oooooooolomon! if I'm calling for him, that kind of thing.

So we have Darwin who, when he is introduced to someone, is often asked about his theory, and Solomon, who is usually called wise when we tell someone his name. I would love the name Dell for a girl, but then I realized that there's the computer company called Dell... one of our kids should get to have a more inconspicuous name!

[Elzabet]

Wow! An NT/WAP thread! Hi! I haven't had a chance to read the whole thing yet but has stock been discussed already? I have problems with my beef stock gelling properly. I had the same problem with the chicken until I added more wings to it. Any ideas on what else to add to my beef stock? I can't find hooves anyplace!

[OceanMomma]

Do you know anyone with horses ? Someone suggested to me I should get the hoof trimmings off the horse next time he gets shoed & boil them up. The only caution I would suggest is if the horses are drenched chemically. I know the chemical drenches in the farm supply place say they have a 60 day meat withholding period on them I have no idea how this would effect their hooves tho'

Worldsharkerz - I Kombucha. I've only just gotten into it. Mine goes fizzy & is sort of sweet & sour. I'm ISO a bigger vessel to make it in as we can drink the whole lot way before the next brew is ready.

My missions for this week are to scour the antique stores in town for old pottery/glass/enamel containers for fermenting things in. I also got my hands on probably a quart of organic raw whey I am going to do stuff with.

[Lou]

HI all- joining in late, but I'm loving this thread! so many of the things discussed in here resonate with what I've been trying to do, and I'm gonna have to look into NT. Never heard of it before this-
Suseyblue- awesome projects you have going!! woo hoo! I connect with that 'druid' energy you got. When I have something bubbling or fermenting I feel in touch with our ancestors and with mother earth.
The biggest thing I got from this discussion is using real fresh yeast- not the store-bought-- makes sense. My dh brought me some sourdough starter, but I have yet to use it.
ANy suggestions where to start with homemade kefir? We love kefir but can't afford the habit- making our own would be the best way, eh?

[Lou]

also wanted to add in regard to freezing stock- we made a big batch the other day and froze some in tupperware and most in big ol' glass jars- cooled it down beforehand, allowed an inch of room, yet it cracked on us, every one of those big ol' glass jars! our beautiful organic chicken stock with roasted veggies!
those jars were from thrift shops and really old- i wonder if they made glass jars differently in the days before freezing was commonplace? any experience with that?

when we make chicken stock, we split it up and freeze the breasts, thighs, etc and put the carcass with a good amount of meat on it in the stockpot. works best for us, economically.

[farmer mama]

Hi all, I have a question for you guys. I like to save my weekly veggie trimmings, water from steamed vegs, chicken bones, etc for my weekly stock making, my question is... how do you all keep this kind of stuff, fridge or freezer? I keep it in the fridge in my stock pot but it takes up a lot of space. Does anyone do it differently? Right now I am going to make the whey and cream cheese out of buttermilk from NT, so I can have whey to start doing some lacto-fermented veggies know that my garden is starting to produce. Hi Lou! Too bad about the jars. About kefir, you use special kefir "grains" to make it, I think another person on this thread makes it.