How about a Nourishing Traditions meal planning thread? - Page 3

[yitlan]

For kefir soda, scroll half way down this page:
http://www.mothering.com/discussions...ght=kefir+soda

It's basically water, juice/ginger/fruit, sugar and kefir powder or grains. A natural carbonation occurs making it "soda."

[motheresa]

Five-grain cereal

Here's the cereal recipe. The five grains are spelt, barley, kamut, rye, and oat. I get the whole grains, mix equal amounts together, and soak them 24 hrs in whey/water. After rinsing really well, I dry them for about 45 minutes in my dehydrater. This short dry time allows me to flake them rather effortlessly without resulting in a lot of powder. Then, back into the dehydrater they go for another couple of hours to finish drying. I keep the setting at around 100 degreees. At this point they are bagged and stored in the fridge until I need them. When I make this, I make a whole lot at a time so it lasts a while. When I want cereal I simply bring salt water to a boil, add the cereal and raisins, cover and reduce the heat to low for about 45 minutes. I usually do cereal on Mondays so I will start it as soon as I get up so it's ready @ our normal breakfast time. Here's how it's served. A dollop of raw butter in the bowl, then the cereal, a sprinkle of cinnamon, a spoonful of raw honey in the center, a good splash of raw milk, and crumbled walnuts (NT-style) on top. YUMMMM!! I hear my two-year old munchie waking up so I gotta go, but I will post my smoothie recipe later.

[motheresa]

Originally Posted by mama_nomad

Yeah I am very new to it and I know that to try and be NT all the way would turn me off, so i have a good friend who is my NT mentor who helps me out when I have questions and I have also "hired" her to make a few things for me since she is doing it anyway she might as well make double and hook me up!! So she provides me with cream cheese and kraut (ps somebody said that they buy their kraut but store-bought kraut isn't really "alive" is it like the home made stuff?)

This is how we've incorporated so far: We already ate plently of grass-fed or free range meat and OG veggies so that was easy.

The biggest step, and the one that makes me feel the best, is to make broth. So I do that about one a week-- chicken stock (sometimes beef). I use it for so many things-- first we drink a cup of it when it's done, then I sort out the meat and make a tamale pie, or enchiladas. I also sort out the veggies and my baby loves munching the super soft carrots; I also take the really small scraps of meat and veggies, add a little broth and process it and make baby food. finaly I give the super soft bones and a little of the organ meat to the cat. i feel like i am caring for everyone in the family with just one chicken and some cheap vegetables--very satisfying. Finally I take the fat from the top of the stock once it's congealed and save it to cook with for my DD who is allegric to milk (milk protein not lactose-intolerant)--I don't know if that is very NT but it makes her food taste great. then I cook with the stock and that makes everything taste wonderful!

We drink a glass of raw milk and beet kvass everyday, take cod liver oil, and Dh and I use plenty of raw butter on our food. also we eat bacon and eggs and sprouted bagels for bfast b/c it gives us energy.

I am okay with that for now, slowly i plan to incorporate more but we are very happy with the results and our decision to start embracing NT ideas.

Love this thread!!

What Hibou said about incoporating things gradually is soooooo true. I'm definitely not in bondage to the stuff I do. Moves, new babys, etc. always puts a hiccup in my schedule, sometimes for longer than I'd like, but things eventually get to "normal" and we pick back up. It is definitely worth it though when I see how healthy my kids are!

[Hibou]

Originally Posted by vegmom

Can you share this recipe with us? I have a few livers in my freezer and they have been sitting there for a while because my kids will not eat liver.

I just mixed the ground beef with a cooked chicken liver. I haven't made another batch yet with the raw beef liver. I think I will try that next week. My plan is to add about 1/2 lb. liver to 1 lb ground beef. Then, just season your meat with salt and pepper, spices (like garlic, chili powder, cumin, cayenne) and if you like your jerky sweet you can add some maple syrup. I never really measure- I just sort of throw spices in, and I'm pretty generous with them. Anyways, load it into your jerky gun and squeeze strips onto the dehydrator trays. Dry for about 3-6 hrs. If you don't have a gun, you could make really thin patties and dry them in the oven at 150 on drying racks.

If you try it, let me know how it works out! I'll post my results too.

And what about fermented veggies...do your kids like them?

motheresa, it's great to have you here! Thanks for sharing your cereal recipe.
My baby is crazy about fermented veggies, but my oldest not so much. Where I miss on the fermented veggies with him, I try to make up a little with juice kefir and cultured dairy.

[motheresa]

Smoothie recipe

Hibou, which veggies does your baby like?
Also, here are some general questions: Has anyone fed their baby raw liver as described in the baby section of NT? Also, has anyone made the kvass (not the beet, but the other)?

Here's my smoothie recipe. First, I sprout a mixture of buckwheat, oat, sesame, pumpkin, and sunflower seeds (soaked for 8-ish hours, sprouted for 36-ish hours). The longer they sprout, the stronger the taste--mine are pretty mild. I have one of these Vitamix blenders which I love since it holds more volume and has the equivalent of a small lawn mower engine in it! Anyway, here's the order that I go when making it. Sprouts first, one avocado, a generous spoonful of almond butter, 1/4 cup freshly ground flaxseed, 2 spoonfuls hemp seed oil, 2 scoops Acai powder, cup or so of frozen cranberries, several frozen strawberries, 4 cups freshly pressed OJ, 1 cup kefir, 1 1/2 cup raw milk yogurt, and two frozen cubes of raw cream (if I have it), blended together (or blendered, as my 6 yr old says!). If I need a wakeup boost, I add a couple tablespoons of raw organic chocolate. I do not give this to the children as it sort of has a caffeine effect which they do not need. Let me say, this is a stick-to-your-ribs meal. We breakfast on these smoothies Tues-Friday. I will alter ingredients to parallel availability. I may use blueberries or peaches (frozen) in place of strawberries or juiced apple, pineapple, celery in place of OJ. This also gives some variety. Well, my eyes are crossing so off to bed...

[rype]

Thank you everyone in this thread! I have been switching to a NT diet and it's been so easy for some reason. I feel like I'm cheating some how! I am very lucky that there is a raw milk source here.

I have a very silly question. What is cream? What's the differnce between cream and whole milk? Is cream the fat that rises to the top? I feel like I should be able to make butter from whole raw milk.

So far I've make some quinoa grain drink and am afraid to drink it! Ilet it ferment too, long and I know it's going to be alcohol-y.

[motheresa]

Hey Rype, cream is the fat portion of the milk. It also contains most of the nutrients especially if the source is a grass-fed cow. Whole milk is simply milk without any of the cream removed. Sometimes the milk I get is almost half cream which is wonderful!! Butter can only be made with the cream portion of the milk so the only problem with making your own butter is you are left with basically skim milk (which you could make mozzerella with) and buttermilk (in this case it would not be cultured) which is the remainder of the cream portion once the butter is taken. Also, the yield is so small in comparison to what you start out with. I pay $7/gal for my milk and if I used a gallon to make butter with, my yield would only be the equivalent of a stick of butter. My farmer makes a little bit of butter which he sells, but it's simply not cost effective since no one would pay $32 for a pound of butter. As it is he charges $3.50 for about 1 1/2 sticks. Hope that helps. As far a the quinoa thing, let me know how that turns out. I'd probably taste it as long as the smell was not off.

[Hibou]

Originally Posted by motheresa

Hibou, which veggies does your baby like?

Sorry I am way late answering this. I had subbed, but wasn't getting the emails.
Anyways, ds's favorite fermented veggie food is kimchi (he calls it kim-kim). We just made 2 L this morning. He was standing at the bowl pounding it with a mallet and eating it off his fingers. I make it with asian cabbage (pretty much whatever's available; suey choy is nice, or nappa cabbage), grated carrots, onions, ginger, and garlic. Sometimes a little chili pepper. I measured my salt. I used a little less than a Tbsp.

He also likes ginger carrots (just grated carrots, ginger, garlic, and salt); and mixed salt-brine pickles (just random veggies packed into a salty-brine in a jar). He loved the salsa, but seems to be reacting to tomatoes, so we've had to nix that recently.

I should mention (I posted this on the NT thread in the main nutrition forum) that I made the raw liver-ground beef jerky, and it turned out well, so if you are looking for a way to eat your raw meat (and organ meat!) the jerky is a pretty palatable way to go.

rype: have you asked your milk supplier if he will sell cream? I pay $5/gal for milk, and $8/qt for cream. When I make butter, I get about a pint of butter per qt of cream, which means that my butter costs $8/lb approx. I use the buttermilk for baking. If you can get cream, this approach would be more cost effective.

[rype]

Originally Posted by Hibou

rype: have you asked your milk supplier if he will sell cream?

Thanks Hibou! I don't know why I didn't think of that. Asking nicely, huh...

I love to make muffins with soaked grains now! It's amazing how light a whole wheat muffin can be. I had no idea!

[chasmyn]

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[Oregonicmama]

i keep subing to this thread and never getting any messages! I am seriously missing out!!

I have some questions. I made yogurt today and it is about the consistency of milk. I used yogourmet powdered culture. It really didn't thicken at all. DId I do something wrong? I brought the milk up to 180 then let cool to 110, added culture poured into cups and incubated in warm oven for 4+ hours. I know it will be thinner than commercial yogurt, but is this too thin?

Can I make my milk kefir grains into juice kefir grains? How long can they live in the fridge in closed jars full of milk? I really want to make apple juice kefir and kefir soda! The cream soda sounds so yummy!

bit by bit we are incorporating more NT stuff into our lives. I have been soaking all our grains and flours and fermenting the beans. Eating way more protien and adding more butter and coconut oil to the diet. Hoping to add CLO soon. We all feel so much healthier. I can see such a difference between my 15 month old who has been fed NT style and my 4 year old who was raised veggie. DD2 is way healthier, she practically glows. I wish I knew then what i know now. But dd1 loves the nt diet, especially the coconut oil. I have to keep it on the top shelf or she will get into it and snack on it. I am so glad to have found this thread.

[yitlan]

Originally Posted by Oregonicmama

I made yogurt today and it is about the consistency of milk. I used yogourmet powdered culture. It really didn't thicken at all. DId I do something wrong? I brought the milk up to 180 then let cool to 110, added culture poured into cups and incubated in warm oven for 4+ hours. I know it will be thinner than commercial yogurt, but is this too thin?

Culture it longer. Four hours isn't enough in my opinion. I don't use powder, but if my starter was old/weak, I've had to do it 24 to get it thick. But I always have to do at least 7. Also, be sure it's not being bumped or moved at all, as that can lengthen the time.

Originally Posted by Oregonicmama

Can I make my milk kefir grains into juice kefir grains? How long can they live in the fridge in closed jars full of milk? I really want to make apple juice kefir and kefir soda! The cream soda sounds so yummy!

Yes. But they won't grow any more. So have dedicated juice grains. Grains can live awhile in kefir in the fridge, but it might take a bit to reactivate them when you try to make kefir again. Use a smaller amount of milk and change it out until it's setting up in 24 hours or so.

[Oregonicmama]

i ended up putting the yogurt in the fridge after about 6 hours of incubating and this morning it was just right! now i just hope we use it fast enough, i made a whole gallon.

About the kefir grains...should I reactibvate them with milk before making them water grains? What do i do to them to make them water grains? do I need to wean them?

[yitlan]

Originally Posted by Oregonicmama

About the kefir grains...should I reactibvate them with milk before making them water grains? What do i do to them to make them water grains? do I need to wean them?

I have a thread on this somewhere and no one had experience to share! So I ventured forward and hoped for the best. First, I did make sure they were active milk grains and made at least one kefir batch. Then I put them in a cup of water with some sugar (rapadura in my case, as that's the sugar I'll be using for my sodas). I did that for a few days at a time for a few times. I just wasn't sure what I was doing. It never seemed to really fizz or anything. Finally, I got tired of waiting and made a batch of soda. I left them in longer than I do with powder b/c I was worried. And it turned slightly fizzy! In fact, it was a touch alcoholic in smell, so I probably didn't need to leave them in much longer. So...that's my milk to water grains saga!

[chasmyn]

Originally Posted by mama_nomad

After that Washington dairy e-coli scare (still not convinced on the accuracy of that claim),

Good, don't be. I'm told by my raw milk guy that it was in fact traced back to a petting zoo. There were kids that had the e coli that didn't even drink the raw milk.

[Hibou]

re kefir: it is very adaptable!! I made my juice kefir by simply rinsing a few milk kefir grains in water then putting them in juice. I've been using the same juice kefir grain for many months now, and it still cultures just fine. Occasionally I put them in water if we are going out of town, and they reactivate in juice just fine. Have you checked out Dom's yet?http://users.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefirpage.html

re Yogurt: if you want raw milk yogurt, you can skip the first step, and just warm it to 108-112 then add the starter and incubate. Also, now that you've done one batch, you can just use a Tbsp or so for starter in your next batch.

[vermontana]

Subbing

[Vaquitita]

subbing

[~Shanna~]

HI ladies,
I've been lurking on this thread, fascinated. I'm planning on getting the book from my library this weekend, but I wondered if anyone cared to share their version of why it's important to soak grains and ferment beans? I've hung out some on the Healing the Gut thread, and they're big on it too for digestability.

Anyone have any bare-bones instructions on soaking grains and fermenting beans? I'm inspired and want to get started before I can get to the library

[mom2zsel]

Originally Posted by Shanna4000

Anyone have any bare-bones instructions on soaking grains and fermenting beans? I'm inspired and want to get started before I can get to the library

http://www.alpharubicon.com/primitiv...oodstorell.htm

I found this last week when I was waiting for my book! It gives a brief explaination on and a few tips on soaking oats and rice. I followed it with success. I am sure there are better links, but here is a start-HTH,