eat at dixiebelle's

:: Confessions of a Preserving Addict ::

2012-02-27T10:53:00.001+11:00

I have been preserving in my Fowlers Vacola Simple Natural Preserving Unit for about 2 1/2 years now. However, I confess, I had been raised doing the 'open kettle method' and thought that was perfectly safe. (Open Kettle Method is hot jam or relish into hot jars and seal with a lid, without any boiling-water bath processing before storage). In our journey to being more prepared and growing our own, and wanting to preserve the abundance of fruit and tomatoes we have, I have learnt more and more about preserving. Though many still preserve using the open kettle method, I now understand why that technique is not recommended, especially for longer term storage. I started doing the boiling-water bath method instead, using a large stockpot and recycled jars. Unless you have a really tall pot (I didn't) this can limit the size of bottles used for preserving, as the water should cover the bottles during processing. Also, there is extra safety in using FV jars, as the clips that hold the lids on during processing, allow extra air to escape as they are heated. So, we decided to get the FV Simple Preserving unit, because I wanted to do bigger jars and be able to feel confident storing them for longer too. A Fowlers Vacola Unit is really just a large boiling-water bath container, and you can get electric or stove-top models. We liked the convenience and advantages of the electric model, it doesn't take up room on the stovetop, it is more 'automatic' and we have solar panels too (our stovetop is gas).

Another confession, I have become a preserving addict! We also bought a Fowlers Vacola Dehydrator, I am learning & practicising lacto-fermentation, would like to learn about smoking, as well as salami making and other charcuterie. I have also built quite a collection of Fowlers Vacola jars and equipment. Fowlers Vacola are an Australian company, and have been around since 1915. Therefore, you can often buy secondhand jars and equipment from op shops, markets, classifieds, online, garage sales, or if you are lucky, receive them from relatives! It is recommended that you use new rubber rings each time, which are inexpensive and easy to find. If buying secondhand, you must check carefully the rims and jars for cracks or chips, and the metal lids for rust or imperfections. If you happen to find something wrong, don't use the jars for preserving, but they could be a vase or other storage (or I use mine for kefir too). You can get plastic Snap On lids for using when you've opened a jar, but want to store it & it's contents in the fridge until you finish them. I have also invested in other utensils, like jar tongs (to lift hot jars safely), jar opener (to open the lids without damaging them), wide mouth funnels, fruit pusher stick, and really appreciate the manual or guidebook that came with it, 'The Secrets of Preserving'. We also set up shelving in our garage for storing all the jars, lids, utensils etc. We also cleared out the linen cupboard to store the jars of preserves, as it is a cool, accessible and a safe area. This is where our stockpile is, and happily, more and more of it is homegrown, home preserved food!

For relish/ chutney and jam (made with vinegar, or lemon juice) I feel OK using 'reclaimed' shop-bought jars, and boiling-water bathing them, often in a big stock pot. (I often give relish away, and we don't really eat jam, so give it away too if I ever make it, and I don't want to give away my FV jars, in case they don't come back! Plus I also like small amounts of relish and chutney open at a time, so you can use them up more quickly. You can buy smaller FV jars, of course, though I secretly covet the quilted Mason jars for relish and jams!) You can buy new lids, or 'pop' lids to fit the various sized shop-bought jars (ie. pasta sauce, salsa, pickled foods etc). For fruits and tomato passata, I only use my FV jars, and I add lemon juice or citric acid to any tomato passata/ sauce I make too. Another confession, it took me a while to feel confident in eating my own home preserved food, and would make sure I well-heated/ cooked any fruit (in a pie) or sauce (for pasta or in lasagna) after opening a jar! Now, we feel comfortable in the preserving we have done with high acidic produce, we are investing in a Pressure Canner, to be able to preserve vegetables and meat (which are low acid foods) safely too. I will be posting a Step-by-Step Guide to using a Fowlers Vacola Preserving unit, and FAQ, in the next couple of days!

:: Making Tomato Passata (Pasta Sauce) ::

2012-02-24T16:22:00.001+11:00

Here is my Step-by-Step Guide (with photos) of how I make Tomato Passata, or Tomato Pasta Sauce. It can be a variable process, and I am sure many of you do it a different way to me! For those who know very little about it, I hope this helps you to go forth and find what works for you, keeping food safety in mind. What does passata mean, I hear you ask? It comes from the Italian passata di pomodoro, which means it has been 'passed' through a sieve to remove seeds and lumps... passata is just tomato puree, but sounds better! You can use this straight away, but I make it in bigger batches for preserving in my Fowlers Vacola Preserving Unit. I love using homegrown, organic tomatoes, and homegrown herbs and garlic too, if I have them. The taste of homemade pasta sauce is great, you know what went into it, and you can preserve it to use all year long in non-BPA jars (if using Fowlers Vacola jars/ lids). It also feels satisfying to know that it is a skill I have, and one that I can pass on to my children. Not to mention the feeling I get when I see pantry shelves full of jars of homegrown, homemade pasta sauce!

Start with fresh, ripe tomatoes... organic and homegrown if you can. In my garden, the tomatoes don't always make it to that deep red 'ripe' stage before I pick them, because if I leave them til then, I often find them ruined by bugs! Of course, tomatoes don't ripen on the vines at the same time either, so I pick those that are red and almost ripe, and sit them on the kitchen benchtop until I can pick another batch in a couple of days time. That way, once I have a decent amount, ie. several kilos (4 to 5kg), I can do a big batch of pasta sauce, which is more efficient. If you are a purist and only want to use perfectly ripe, deep red, lush tomatoes in your sauce, good for you!

If I have the oven on (for other things), I roast the tomatoes. I find this heightens the flavours. I do not add oil when I am roasting tomatoes. I don't mind using a mix of fresh and roasted tomatoes in my sauce, depending on what I have ready when I notice I have a large amount of tomatoes building up! Putting the oven on in Summer means a hot house, and I prefer not to turn it on just for one thing anyways. (I have used my Solar Cooker for 'roasting tomatoes' too, but that 'stews' them, more than giving the caramelised flavours of roasting). I find with the roasted tomatoes, I can keep those in the fridge for a couple of days (or even freeze them) until I have another batch of ripe tomatoes ready. This makes it more efficient, as I can do less washing up, less time of having the slow cooker plugged in, and maximise the use of my Fowlers Vacola preserving unit!

How to seperate the tomato pulp you want, from the seeds and skin you don't. I have a Squeezo, which I did buy in from overseas. It is mostly all metal (just a rubber gasket & plastic on handle). You don't need to chop or peel the produce, which appealed to me. I find the Squeezo is easy to put together, easy to use, and relatively easy to clean and store. You do need to oil the drive shaft part before storing. The mesh sieve roll, or 'screen', part can be tricky to get tomato skin out of too, when cleaning it. I am glad I have it. Others have Moulis, passata machine, food processors, or just a sieve, a spoon and some hard yakka! The first photo of this post, shows you how I set it up on my table (it clamps on, and my kitchen benchtop doesn't have enough area to clamp to) with bowls to catch the tomato puree, and another to catch the skin/ seeds. I also have a few well placed paper towels to catch any drips. Wear an apron when you are doing this, by the way!

You add the tomatoes to the Squeezo hopper and start winding the handle, to make the drive shaft (ooh, 'Lost' flashback!) turn the scroll and push the tomato pulp out through the screen. As you keep 'squeezing', the skin and seeds continue along the scroll (not through the screen, or sieve part), and come out the other end into a bowl. I find it useful to scrape down the 'screen', usually using a spoon, but I had the back of my knife on hand when taking this photo! Just scrape it into the drain tray, and it slides down into the bowl below.

I use the wooden plunger to help press the tomatoes through the hopper and into the scroll/ screen.

I cut my tomatoes into halves or quarters to check for grubs or bad parts. I find it easier to chop them all and put them into a bowl, before I start the process of 'squeezing' in the Squeezo. You could put tomatoes in whole, of course, if you prefer. I find the little tomatoes, like cherry or red fig, are very resistant to grubs and disease, so they sometimes get thrown in whole.

Wa-la! The tomato pulp or puree slides down the drain tray into a bowl I place there. As the bowl fills, I take it and add the tomato puree to the slow cooker, then quickly replace the bowl under the Squeezos drain tray, before the next lot comes out of the Squeezo. A seperate bowl catches the seeds and skin, which can go into the compost (or bin, if you don't want your compost to make a wild tomato jungle of your backyard next Spring). Once all the tomato puree is in the slow cooker, it can be reduced/ cooked.

From pureed tomato to thick, rich tomato passata. I use my slow cooker, rather than in a pot on the stove-top, as I find it hard to get it to simmer on my stovetop, even with gas at the lowest settting. I also find I am not there to stir it enough and it can burn. To my 6 litre slow cooker full of tomato puree, I add several cloves of fresh, crushed garlic, a few basil leaves, and a tablespoon full of thyme. You can add salt to taste (I add about a tablespoon). I put the Slow Cooker on Low, and let it reduce for several hours, usually all day (8 to 12 hours) until it is thicker and rich in flavour. Once it is reduced, you can eat it straight away, or bottle & preserve it. (I also reduce it more to make 'pizza sauce'). Whatever doesn't fit into a bottle, I put that into the fridge, or I freeze it. As I am bottling the sauce, I add citric acid to each bottle (see below). You must boiling-water bathe jars of tomato passata before storing them. More about preserving in a Fowlers Vacola unit coming soon.

Tomatoes are considered a high acidic food in preserving terms, which means they are safe to process in a 'boiling water bath' (as opposed to having to 'pressure can' them, which is what low acid foods need to be preserved safely. Some more information about the two methods). However, tomatoes are borderline (being on the lower end of the 'high acid' foods, and some breeds not being as acidic as other) so, recommendations are to add lemon juice or citric acid to the jars of sauce before processing. This increases their acidity and therefore, the safety of the product being preserving. This is especially apt for a passata with some herbs and garlic added. The Fowlers Vacola 'Secrets of Preserving' guide book lists their recommendations as:

No. 20 sized jars (600mls) - add 2 teaspoons of lemon juice or 1/4 tsp of citric acid
No. 27 (900mls) or 31 (1000mls) sized jars - add 2 teaspoons of lemon juice or 1/2 tsp of citric acid
No. 36 (1250mls) sized jars - add 2 tbsp lemon juice or 1 tsp citric acid

I do not add more ingredients than a small amount of basic herbs and garlic to tomato passata I am processing in a 'boiling water bath'. For safety, when preserving pasta sauces with large amounts of vegetables (onion, capsicum, carrot, zucchini) or meat, they must be pressure canned. If you are making tomato sauce or 'ketcup', using a recommended recipe with vinegar in it, it can be boiling water bathed. You can always preserve tomato passata, and then when ready to use it, add the vegetables or meat then.

Please read more about food safety when preserving, here:

:: Growing & Processing Luffas ::

2012-02-23T11:16:00.000+11:00

Note: this was originally posted in August 2010, on my Canberra blog, everyday eco in the ACT (which is no longer running) but wanted it to be on this blog, for when I (eventually) print the whole thing out.
Sometimes you just have to try something new and different, because you never know what the results might be! I like to think outside the box, and if there are good results, that is a bonus. The fun is in experimenting and working out ways to do things... even if what you've read says you probably shouldn't be able to do it. In the garden, pretty much everything is new to me, but the challenges of growing things that might not usually be associated with Canberra's climate and growing conditions... that's really doing something different!

The Luffa are tropical and subtropical vines that I admired from Rhonda and Molly's blogs, and figured I'd give it a go here in Cool/ Mountain Canberra anyways, as we loved the idea of having some homegrown loofah's to use. My alternative to disposable scrub sponges that I used to always use in the kitchen, has been crocheted dishcloths, and using plastic scrubbing brushes, that last longer but still go to landfill, or maybe, at least be recycled. But growing your own luffa's and processing them into loofah sponges with barely any effort and few resources... that appeals to me!

It is recommended to soak luffa seeds in water overnight, before planting them. Being cururbits, who don't take well to be transplanted (ie. seed grown in a small pot, then planted out into the ground when the seedling is bigger) the seeds are better to be planted directly in the ground, and in Canberra, that means after the last frost, so late Spring. Make mounds near your trellis, out of good quality soil, and put two seeds in each mound. If you put them in earlier, you could cover them if frost is forecast. I am also going to try using jiffy pots this year, and start them off in my mini greenhouse, and hopefully there will be minimal transplant shock, as jiffy pots go into the ground, with the seedling. If I try some worm juice applied after planting, that might help them settle in better too. More information on Gardenate about growing luffas.

Last year, the plant didn't do much for quite a while (perhaps it wasn't in a hot & sunny enough position?), but finally, after some good rain, the vine took off. It got quite vigorous and spread all over the trellis we had up (and the one behind it, waiting to be put up elsewhere), and even tried climbing up and over the fence. Then, at the end of Summer, it actually started putting female and male flowers on, and with the help of some lovely bees, we got some fruit starting! There were 5 luffa's, and though not as big as they might get in tropical areas, I was impressed! This year, I will try picking out the ends of the vine, once the runners get about 2 m, to encourage female flowers along the runners, and therefore, get more fruit (hey, it worked with my pumpkins last year) to be pollinated.

I let them grow and grow, even in Autumn they were still doing OK. In hotter places, you would leave them on the vine until they dry and go brown, but with the start of the frosts here, the vine died off and I picked them green. I put them on the laundry windowsill as that gets alot of sun and heat, but they took weeks to dry out properly. Maybe a safe, dry, sunny position outside might be better. Wait until they are very dry and it will be easier to dislodge the seeds and peel off the crackly skin. Then you can process them into usable, reusable, washable household items!

Take your dried luffa, and bang it gently to 'release' the seeds from the inner. It's OK if you crack the skin a bit while doing this... don't panic! You can hear the seeds shaking around inside.

Take the end off the luffa (there is a little disc on one end) and shake the seeds out onto a plate or into a container.

Than start 'peeling' the skin off, sort of cracking & peeling it as you would a hard boiled egg. It should come away from the inner sponge easily.

Keep going until it's all peeled. You can compost the peel.

Some of the loofahs came out fairly 'clean' and light in colour. Others that are 'stained' might need some sun bleaching, or others do use a dilute bleach solution to whiten them. Or, any particularly dirty or mouldy areas can be simply cut out of the sponge and composted, and the other sections used as sponge.

The light seed coating can be removed before you store the seed, by rubbing them between your fingers, or it may have fallen off already during the processing, or just don't worry about it.

Label and store the seed, to use to grow again the next season. Apparently they can be roasted and eaten, as you do get alot of seed out of them. Or even better, share them amongst your family, friends, neighbours, or even strangers, so they can experience the wonderful feeling of growing your own household sponges and doing something different!

:: The Chicken Diaries :: We Have An Egg ::

2012-02-22T11:19:00.004+11:00

The Bowhunter was so excited, he called me at work! We've been waiting for a few weeks, checking the nesting boxes, giving words of encouragement and lots of high protein treats. The oldest two chooks, Princess Layer and Spotty are about 23 to 24 weeks old now (Tweet Tweet was always 2 to 3 weeks younger) so we think it was one of them, and Spotty has been seen hanging around the nesting boxes before, so maybe her? It is small, but perfectly formed (though we haven't cracked it open yet) with just a trace of pink (blood) on it. It is exciting, but also, makes me ponder for a moment, that our chooks are 'coming of age' and how they feel about the changes going on in the bodies! Does a chook go 'what-in-the-heck?!' when she lays her first egg, or is it a natural experience and she feels all zen about it? I know, a little strange to think about it like that. Funny too, that The Bowhunter and I were more excited about it than the kids!

Spotty, Tweet Tweet and Princess

:: In Our Garden At The Moment :: Late Summer ::

2012-02-20T20:56:00.002+11:00

Gosh, I am busy! Not that much of it is in the garden really. I am mostly out there to harvest and let the chickens out, but then find myself back inside, chained to the kitchen! It is the peak season for all the good stuff to be ripening in the sunny weather and besides cooking it & eating it, there is preserving it too. I have been doing some actual gardening, though, clearing corn, loosening up the soil and mixing in 'mature' cow manure to one of the wicking worm beds for garlic. There are still some beetroots, a miserable cucumber and an overgrown zucchini in there, but that's OK, garlic goes OK with those, apparently! This year I am using garlic brought from The Lost Seed (Germidour and Italian White) and putting it into the wicking worm bed, hoping to have a better harvest this year. The first year I grew garlic from 'normal' garlic I got at the shop (it was probably organic, though?) and got a good harvest. Last year, I used 'normal' shop-bought garlic, but only got one or two tiny heads, but maybe because the garden bed was too shady or it was too wet. This year, I will be the Garlic Growing Goddess!!

Popcorn was reasonably successful, compared to the other corn, like Early Gem and Hawaiian. For starters, the Hawaiian didn't germinate or was eaten by birds before it even got the chance. They both grew tall and put on cobs quite OK, and maybe I didn't leave them long enough, but we didn't get big, yellow, juicy, plump corn cobs like I dreamed of. I could have left it longer, but bugs were starting to get into it, and I needed the space. The popcorn is now drying and it will be fun to try popping our own homegrown corn.

Beans are great fresh, but being used in stock and given away too, with Purple King Beans being the best growers this season. The Golden Nugget pumpkins have a fantastic flavour, great roasted or in mixed mash. Not such a good turn out from the potatoes so far, but still a few plants to dig up, maybe leaving them longer will help, but I think the garden bed they were in was too shady? Various varieties of zucchini are still coming in, but thankfully they have slowed a bit!

Oh, those naughty, stubborn, bossy chooks! No eggs yet. This is Spotty on the left (not her best angle) and Princess Layer is the Light Sussex on the right, she is the poser. Tweet-Tweet, who knows where she was, probably off demanding to be allowed up on us... it's not a sign of affection anymore, it is all about showing her dominance!

The Giant Russian Sunflowers are huge! Bloody birds love them, of course, so I harvested a heap of heads, and gave them to the chooks over the week. I netted the others, which seems to be working.

Tomatoes are becoming passata or pasta sauce, spicy tomato and chilli sauce, tomato relish and lacto-fermented stuff. For my pasta sauce, I roast the tomatoes if I happen to have the oven on, then usually keep them in the fridge for a day or two, whilst waiting for the next batch to be ripe. Then I will use the fresh and the roasted ones, put them through my Squeezo, and then into the slow cooker (with garlic, thyme, basil, salt, lemon juice or citric acid) for many hours to reduce them. Then the bottling takes place. I will post some more details on how I do all that soon.

I have my Autumn seeds out, and ordered a few more (of course I needed more!) like Broad Beans, Silverbeet, Kale and Mustard. I am just waiting for a spare moment to pot up the ones that can be transplanted. Once the garden beds are done with the Warm Season produce, then I will add some poo and loosen the soil a bit, to direct sow the others.

Here is some reality gardening, our front yard Hugelkultur beds. They are still going well, with various pumpkins and spaghetti vegetable growing in them at the moment. However, as you can see, we have still not gotten around to mulching the pathways between them (October 2010, people. That's when our PermaBlitz was, and the Hugelkultur were created)! Our 'whipper-snipper' (edge trimmer) is broken and our lawn mower is also on it's last legs. I am trying to ignore the weeds! I did finally get the mower out there today, but with the Summer afternoon storms we've been having, the weeds are gone crazy. Bit like me, actually.

:: Having Faith (That We Are On The Right Track) ::

2012-02-16T22:36:00.001+11:00

Hello people! Oh, boy, what a couple of weeks. Back to school for Miss M. Starting Preschool for Cheeky A. Stressful times for The Bowhunter at work. Head cold, exhaustion, and touch of cry-baby-itis for me. Well, whinge-itis, really. Just the usual whinging, all first world problems, like 'I've got too much produce and I have to preserve it all' or 'Where will we put my new food processor?" or 'My kids have too many toys and I need to sort them out'. I did have some actual anxiety and a sleepless night, after I went to see Nicole Foss talk last Monday night. You might know her as Stoneleigh, from The Automatic Earth or from here or here. What an engaging, intelligent, informed person, delivering a really awful message, but one of hope too, "Preparing the nation, your community and family for peak oil and deflation in the coming economic environment." I didn't really learn anything I didn't already know about the state of the world, but like reading Paul Gilding's The Great Disruption, it put the fire under me. Oh sh-ugar, that whole freak-out conversation played in my head. Stay or go? Sell & rent? When? How? Whaaa? I talked with The Bowhunter (my husband) a bit about it all. The conclusion (as always in these discussions) is to just keep faith in ourselves and our plans, and that what we are doing is THE best thing we can be. Make the most of what we have, and the opportunities we have now, and remind myself, that we are actually in a REALLY good position, as it is. The skills and knowledge we are gaining, the fairly frugal lifestyle, the investment in equipment, building a community network, only having one (albeit big) debt, both of us being employed, planning for the future, being aware of the changes going on, and looking out for our health and well-being this year. Things could change at any moment, so trying to also live in the moment and enjoy this wonderful life, is also important. Hope for the best, plan for the worst, and live each day like the blessing it is.

:: Eco Stories ::

2012-02-16T09:51:00.002+11:00

Reading and creativity are very important to me, and I have encouraged my children to use their imaginations, and express themselves. I also want them to feel that living more sustainably, and looking after the planet, is part of normal life and how we live is acceptable, or desirable even. There are not a lot of eco-friendly kids stories available, that show kids and families who are making changes to make a difference, so I wrote my own! Rhyming words naturally form when I am writing poetry, so I wrote the eco-stories that way, which I know is also an easy way to read to kids. I chose themes that I want to encourage my kids to learn about, and there are plenty more ideas too. If only my artistic husband could find time to finish illustrating them!

The idea for the Grumpkins came from a nickname my husband has for my daughter, who was going through a period of playing up and trying to blame it on others! My kids helped create the characters, what they look like, and helped choose scrap fabric and buttons, when I made actual Grumpkin softie dolls. The Grumpkins are two mischievious creatures who like to hang out in nature. They sleep in a bed of flowers and leaves, sing in the most beautiful voices, and eat lots of organic food. They might try to lead little kids astray, and sometimes forget to look after nature properly, but kids always know the right thing to do! You know if a Grumpkin is playing a trick on you, because you can hear them giggling in the bushes! Kids can see Grumpkins, but not grown up's. Grumpkins love nature and looking after the Earth, though sometimes they need a little reminding... but who better to do that than your kids!?!

Here are my eco stories written for my kids so far!

:: Gluten Free Vege Bake ::

2012-02-13T15:51:00.000+11:00

This is the vege bake I make all the time, and the whole family loves it (even Miss M, who isn’t fond of anything ‘green’ in her food!). It is not too cakey or dry, but has a lovely texture, soft and quiche-like. It is great served warm with a crisp green salad, or steamed green beans. It can be made ahead of time, I often make it the night before a work day. It can be made in muffin tins for a great picnic food, which tastes good eaten cold too! You can make it Gluten Free (GF) or not. We use Free Range (FR) eggs and bacon, and homegrown Organic vege’s, where possible. One of the best things is that you can use in-season produce, or whatever homegrown produce you have, esp. good for when you have an abundance of zucchini!

{Gluten Free} Vege Bake

Serves 4 as a main

Ingredients

1 leek or 1 large onion, peeled & diced
1 ½ cups FR rindless bacon or ham, chopped (about 8 shortcut bacon pieces, 4 middle rashers, or 4 to 6 slices of ham)
1 - 2 tbsp oil or butter
4 cups of vege’s (one, two, or any combination that you like, but these vege's work well, finely grated raw zucchini, carrot, sweet potato, pumpkin, and/or peas, finely chopped spinach, cooked corn kernels etc.)
6 FR eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup oil (I use Australian-grown Macadamia oil)
2 tsps GF baking powder
1 cup plain flour (Gluten Free, try Orgran brand, which has guar gum in it)

Optional

1/2 to 1 cup grated cheese, or crumbled fetta, or goats cheese
a tablespoon or so of chopped fresh herbs, like basil, thyme, oregano
1 to 2 cloves of crushed garlic (or try using a flavoured oil, for the oil portion above)
Tomato, sliced or halves to decorate the top

Method

Prepare a baking dish, by greasing and/ or use baking paper to line it. (I use either a 25cm x 25cm Ceramic dish, or 30cm x 20cm Pyrex dish).
Cook leek/ onion, and bacon in the oil/ butter, until onion is tender (can be done in microwave). Put into a large mixing bowl and allow to cool a bit.
Add the veges (and cheese, herbs or garlic, if using) and mix through.
Add lightly beaten eggs & oil, mix well, until combined.
Add the baking powder & mix through.
Add flour, mix until just combined.
Pour the mix into long pie dish, or square baking dish, and bake at 180 degrees C for about 40 to 50 minutes (more or less, dependng on your oven and what else you have in there at the same time!)
Serve with a salad, relish or pickles, and enjoy!
This vege bake can be frozen (in portions), and defrosts well.

:: Gluten Free Chocolate Zucchini Brownies ::

2012-02-11T10:22:00.003+11:00

It’s Summer, I’ve got a never ending supply of zucchini and squash from my garden to eat, but my kids don’t like anything ‘green’. This recipe is perfect for healthy snacks or dessert, they don’t even know it is healthy and you can't see anything 'green' in it. It can be made gluten free (GF), or not. You could also use macadamia or light olive oil, but coconut oil is good for you and adds a nice flavour.

{Gluten Free} Chocolate Zucchini Brownies

Ingredients

½ cup coconut oil
½ cup honey
2 free range eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups finely shredded/ grated zucchini (about 2 medium or 1 large zucchini), not squeezed
1½ tsp GF baking powder
1½ cups GF plain, ‘all-purpose’ flour
½ cup cocoa powder
½ cup rapadura sugar, or coconut-palm sugar

Optional

½ cup of fresh raspberries

Method

Pre-heat oven to moderate, about 180degreesC, or put your solar oven out in the sun for full exposure.
Grease and line a glass baking dish, 20cm x 20cm.
In a large mixing bowl, mix the coconut oil, honey and eggs until combined.
Add the grated zucchini and mix well.
Add the baking powder and mix well.
Add the flour, cocoa powder and sugar. Mix until combined.
If using raspberries, gently fold them into the mix now.
Pour into the prepared baking dish.
Bake until set, about 30 to 45 minutes in moderate oven, or 1 to 1 ½ hours in a hot solar oven. (This recipe is a fudgy cake texture, but will still spring back when lightly touched when it is done. Of course, you can also poke a skewer in, to check if it is cooked through).
Allow to cool before lifting from baking dish. Slice and feed to hungry children. You could ice it with a chocolate frosting for a special occasion, or serve warm with berry coulis and double cream as dessert!

Notes

I use Nuigini Organic Coconut Oil, which is organic and unrefined, as well as supporting vulnerable communities and farmers in Papua New Guinea. You could also use macadamia or light olive oil, but coconut oil is good for you and can handle the high temp's of baking.

I use local, raw honey, which can be warmed slightly, if is too thick to mix easily.

I have been experimenting with unrefined sugars, and rapadura is an unrefined, whole, cane sugar, full of its natural minerals. You could use brown sugar instead.

I use Orgran brand gluten free flour, which contains vegetable gum which helps with gluten free recipes.

:: Blackbird Pie ::

2012-02-09T15:23:00.001+11:00

Recently we went wild blackberry picking, and for some reason, everytime I think 'blackberry', I start singing 'Blackbird'. While I love the original by the Beatles, and the version by Dave Grohl of the Foofighters, I am imagining my voice as Sarah McLachan's as I sing it! Of course I sound absolutely nothing like her, and Miss M asks, 'Why do you keep singing that?'! Because it's a beautiful song, and we have been eating blackberries all week. Which was a problem, as when I finally found time to make a pie... I didn't have enough fresh berries left! I could use a jar of berries that I preserved, but they are special, as we may not find time to go picking again, and I only have 3 jars. But what I did have was frozen homegrown raspberries. So, Gluten Free Blackberry and Raspberry pie it was, and in the end, it could have done with double the amount of berries too. As you can see from the photos below, I did have a little fun, hand-cutting a bird from the leftover dough using a butter-knife, to decorate the pie!

:: Lacto-Fermented Salsa ::

2012-02-08T10:46:00.001+11:00

Since reading about Erica's success with Lacto-Fermented Salsa, and knowing how I love my own Chargrilled Salsa (diced chargrilled capsicum and chillies, diced tomato & red onion, chopped coriander, lime juice, tiny bit of palm or brown sugar, splash of olive oil), I knew when I started on my Lacto-Fermenting journey, that this is one thing I would have to try. Well, I couldn't stop eating it pre-fermented, as it has this amazing combination of fresh, salty, spicy, sweet and crunchy! Of course, after it had lacto-fermented, it was then extra healthy too. I didn't exactly follow her recipe (it is for large quantities), but fairly similiar, and I added chargrilled capsicum too. Erica had already told me to add extra salt (which I had done by accident anyways) and I used kefir whey. I also made it in my Pickl-It. Besides Erica's, there are a few recipes out there which are based on the Nourishing Traditions one, apparently, try here, here and here. I usually chargrill my capsicum (and onion & tomato, if you like) in 'strips', on the BBQ, but used my cast iron frypan this time. To make it easier to peel the roasted capsicum, put the pieces into a bowl and place a plate or lid on top to help them 'sweat', then peel when they are cool enough to handle. I also 'squashed' the diced tomato in a sieve over a bowl, to remove some of the juice, but this salsa did end up runny because of the whey anyways... I just drain it before serving. You could drink the juice if you are extra keen. It tastes great & is good for you, but with all that garlic & chilli, it could give unwanted digestive effects, with a gurgling tummy keeping you awake all night (ask me how I know!)

:: Wild Blackberries :: Adventures in Urban Gleaning ::

2012-02-06T09:10:00.001+11:00

I have been wanting to go berry picking for a couple of years now, and finally the day came this last weekend! Of course the idea of free blackberries appeals, but so did the adventure, the communing with nature, and not to mention, the free berries! Free. No money necessary. Food, in our bellies and in our cupboard, for nothing more than a couple of phone calls, and an hours hard yakka in the sun. We grow our own raspberries, they are sweet and can be used in so many ways, so being able to pick & eat wild blackberries was worth the effort. These blackberries are a big pest in the area we live in (as they are in many areas) and they get sprayed to kill them off. I called the local weed management department to find out where spraying had recently occurred, and where we were allowed to go. The very helpful fella gave me advice and location of a particular area that won't be sprayed, had easy access and was, in fact, fairly close to us, so no big mountain drive was needed (though that would have been nice too). All we needed was a free day, which unfortunately was the hottest day we've had in a while.

The Bowhunter and I had gloves, boots, long pants, long sleeved shirts, hats & sunscreen. Thanks to some great advice from fellow Urban Homesteading Club members, we had some helpful techniques. I put our small buckets (old honey buckets) on ties (old fabric belts) so we could hang them around our neck, allowing two hands to pick & hold back branches. I also took a plank of wood to be able to penetrate the edges a bit more, and somehow, it also made me feel 'safer' like I wasn't standing directly on any snakes! You could see areas where other people had perhaps done the same thing, or maybe just trampled around in their big boots, which is what The Bowhunter did! For the kids, who at 6 and 4, weren't likely to do any picking, I had their camp chairs, little backpacks with books and toys, snacks & drinks, and The Bowhunter had tied their safety whistles to them too, just in case! We didn't pick very far from where we set them up in the shade anyways. They still had long pants, and boots on, because we weren't sure how far we would have to walk off the beaten track. In the end, there was a dirt road to walk along and find good picking spots.

The only problem, besides the occasional thorn spiking through a glove and into a finger, was the late start. We didn't get to the area until 10am, and it was already heating up by then, esp. when wearing boots and long pants! I would have liked to get out there a couple of hours earlier, but due to The Bowhunter having worked into the night, and sleeping in (well, it was a Sunday, who can blame him anyways, esp. with the ridiculous hours he's been working lately!). Plus, having completely ignored the list I'd left on the bench when I'd gone to work the day before, I was left to organise all the gear, and the kids too. Such is life, and still, we weren't disappointed by the amount of berries we did pick during the hour we spent there. When we got there, there was already some people picking, then others came and went while we were there too. There were loads and loads of accessible berry patches, we were not at all concerned about having to 'share' the area. It did, in fact, feel better that others were there, like somehow 6 other people doing it, meant we were in the right place, or picking the right thing!!

There were a lot of unripe berries still, and the first patch I picked was low to the ground and mostly small berries. It wasn't until I moved to an area near The Bowhunter, and found a tall bush, with massive berries on it, and it was much easier to pick! We picked about 3kg (I weighed them), which have now been eaten fresh (with double cream),a container awaiting pie making, and 2 large and 1 small Fowlers Vacola jars were preserved. Now, if I had more berries (and perhaps we will go out again, maybe without the kids and earlier too) I would make berry sauce, maybe blackberry wine, and freeze some too.

After we picked and got sweaty, then picked some more, and the kids finally got bored and over it, we got out of our sweaty clothes and went to a local swimming and picnic area for lunch and a splash, which was lovely! Then home to sort and preserve the berries, and enjoy the rewards of our hardwork gleaning. Now we know what we are doing, next year we'll arrange babysitting and get an early start, or try to go on an overcast day.

How about you? Have you been 'gleaning' lately? What have you picked? What tips would you offer? Would you feel safe picking & eating 'wild' berries?

:: Slow Living :: January 2012 ::

2012-02-01T21:58:00.002+11:00

Christine has started a wonderful monthly journal, or challenge if you will, at her blog, Slow Living Essentials, called SLOW LIVING - Month by Month 2012. I am going to participate, because it will help me reflect on the positive things I am doing each month, when sometimes I feel overwhelmed or frustrated that I am not achieving anything. I also like being part of a supportive online community and getting to read what other like-minded people are up to. Plus, I like Christine & her blog! I admired those who did Sharon Astyk's Independence Days challenge, though I never participated, but I think this is a great way for me to write blog posts, covering all the great things we are up to!

Slow Living - January 2012

NOURISH: The Year of Eating Nutritiously is off to a good start, experimenting with less refined sugars like rapadura and coconut sugar, making savoury crackers from scratch, consuming more coconut oil & going back to butter, learning the art of lacto-fermentation, perfecting water kefir and milk kefir, sticking with gluten free again, and now looking into making our own stock and lard. We are eating from the garden too, like the Chocolate & Zucchini Brownie above. My husband and I decided to only eat free range/ pastured and organic meat this year. In January, I used up last years preserved relishes and salsas too.

PREPARE: We finally got back to putting our grab bags together, and bought some more survival/ emergency gear while it was on sale. My husband has been for a Bowhunters Association 3D practice last weekend, and met a man who might be able to arrange some feral goat hunting. We then realised we'd better consider how we will store/ preserve any game meat we have, as well as the stocks/ lard mentioned above. Buying a chest freezer means a big outlay, as well as ongoing costs, and risks, but investing in a pressure canner, and using FV jars we already have, is the decision we made. In the mean time, I've preserved pickled beetroot, zucchini pickles, peach slices, dessert fillings, apricot relish, dehydrated apricots, and frozen grated zuchini too.

REDUCE: Hmm, we continue on our No More Stuff Challenge, though not necessarily doing so great with that one (see buying survival gear, above!). I am decluttering the kids toys at the moment, to donate them. I did some solar cooking, so that reduced energy consumption a bit.

GREEN: I bought more Bubbylon Goats Milk soap, op shopped for clothes & kitchenwares, continue growing organically, creating & using our own compost, plus continue buying fresh produce, some dairy, eggs & meat from our local Farmers Outlet Store.

GROW: We have a lot In Our Garden at The Moment, and in January, the apricot, plum and nectarine trees were harvested, plus zucchini, beans, corn, tomatoes, pumpkin, raspberries, onions and beetroot too. Our chickens continue to grow too, and we are hoping they'll start laying soon too.

CREATE: I started another crochet dishcloth, to keep my skills up! The kids and I made some paint & button canvas pictures for the kids bedrooms in this school holidays. We also did box craft, a pirate ship for A, and a caravan for Miss M's teddies & critters. I have also been debating upgrading to a Compact System Camera now our little point & shoot stopped working (motor has gone, apparently) as I'd love to take better photos and be able to use different lenses, yet I don't really have the time to learn how to be a better photographer anyways! It was a relief that Mum lent us her camera, as I missed taking photos of the kids and the garden! This is a bit sad, but I've also been having fun Pinning stuff & playing around a bit on Polyvore.

DISCOVER: I tried to work my way through a massive stack of library books, but had to return a heap, including Barbara Kingsolver's Poisonwood Bible (story too sad) and Slow Death by Rubberduck, as I then got stuck in a book I had bought, Real Food by Nina Planck. I have borrowed Nourishing Traditions (the bible of 'traditional' food, I guess) from the library and have it on request again, but I am also learning a lot from some great nourishing food blogs too.

ENHANCE: We hosted the Urban Homesteading Club in January. My husband went to a Community Fire Unit practice, of which he is the Team Leader. I wrote another article for HerCanberra (not published yet) about Backyard Chickens.

ENJOY: It's been school holidays, and plenty of great times hanging out with the kids, making the most of staying in our PJ's and not being scheduled in for anything much, playing lego, doing craft and cooking, and on hot days, them playing in the splash pool, and me reading in the hammock. It is really nice when it has been a sunny day, and Daddy joins us outside after he finishes work, and we all hang out with the chickens, in the garden and talk and laugh together, having a BBQ and eating outside as the kids ask to do. Joy!

:: Solar Cooking Adventures :: More About Cooking Using Sunlight ::

2012-01-31T16:12:00.000+11:00

In between the rainy weather we've had again this Summer season, there has been some lovely hot, sunny days, and as I have been on annual leave, plenty of time for solar cooking adventures! So, I thought I should do another post about solar cooking for anyone who is interested (and here is the first one I did). I had always wanted to build our own solar oven, using recycled materials and being proud of our resourcefulness and ingenuity. Meanwhile, back in reality, my time-and-skills-poor husband and I bought a Sun Cook Solar Oven after seeing the recommendation by Tricia on her blog. I also had emailed with Heather, so felt happy buying from her business, as she is a smart, dedicated eco-woman! Being able to use this solar oven as a solar dehydrator also appealed, and being able to take it camping (one day) seemed like a good idea too. In the mean time, it is such a good feeling to cook a cake, vege bake or 'roast' some tomatoes for sauce without turning the oven on! Yesterday I cooked a Zucchini & Chocolate Brownie, as shown above.

At the time we were looking for an alternative cooking source, to reduce energy bills, and as a back-up for heating water/ food in an emergency/ power outage (besides gas BBQ, with a back-up gas bottle, from the outdoor heater we have but never use!) We had been looking into a Cob Oven, which uses fuel cells (you can get eco-friendly fuel cells) so you can cook no matter what the weather. However, that means you have to keep buying fuel cells, and also, you have the danger of something very hot & 'burning' (though it is contained) to contend with, if say, you are out camping. Of course, the solar oven can reach temperatures of 170*C or more, and there can be steam that escapes as you open the door. (Cooking safety applies to solar ovens as it would with any appliance)! We do live in an area that gets good sunshine most of the year, and general cooking/ reducing energy usage was what we particularly wanted, so we decided to go with a solar cooker/ oven. If the power was out, but the weather was OK, we could heat water & cook with a solar oven. Another positive is that you can use it as a dehydrator too.

What have we cooked so far? Well, I should say me, because my husband hasn't cooked in it, though I am sure he could! I have done several cakes, brownies, vege bakes, some beans & rice, roasted tomatoes for passata, and a casserole. I have not done any dehydrating in it yet. Things generally take longer to cook than in a normal oven, as the temperature doesn't get as high, with the average being 120*C for me, the highest was 170*C! You could get it higher, but I guess when a stinking hot day is forecast (above 35*C), I haven't been keen on cooking or having to go out to attend to it! The solar oven is easy enough to set up, esp. as this year I have been using a small outdoor table, keeping it up off the ground, making it easy to reposition as the earth moves. It is quite easy to clean, you can wipe out any spills, and just remember to leave the lid open for a while to dry up any condensation, after you've finished cooking. It stores well in our garage on a shelf, everything fits within it. I can lift and carry it, but it is a little hefty.

This is the second year we've had it, but as with last year, the weather has seen a lot of cloudy, and rainy, days (La Nina effect). I am always happy for some rain on my garden, don't get me wrong, but it just means less time available for solar cooking. You can cook on overcast days apparently, but lately, the overcast days have actually meant rain here, so I have cooked inside in the oven (or not baked) instead of risking having to go out in & bring the whole lot in, if it decided to rain. And of course, the days that are sunny are the ones I am going to work (last year), or have other plans! If I wanted to cook a slow-cooked dish, like a soup or casserole, I think it would be OK to leave it out cooking in the sun, without it burning or being ruined, for a few hours. However, I just haven't tried that theory out yet, and don't have the experience to know if things would burn. You can certainly get a browning effect on some things, but not a crusty/ crispy effect, as condensation can build up inside when cooking without lids, and the temperature just doesn't get that high. I have also found I need to go outside and reposition it slightly to get maximum exposure, so haven't cooked in it unless I am going to be home. You don't have to constantly be out there checking, but it is just like any new appliance or method of cooking... you have to spend time getting used to it, following the guide book or manual, and experimenting.

Whilst I am glad we invested in a solar oven, I just wish I had more time to experiment and put the energy into using it. You can do so many things in it, that would then save you energy usage and keep the house cool in hot weather, like cooking tomatoes for passata, slow cooking beans, and dehydrating fruit. As with anything, if you have a good set up which makes it easy to use, and you create a habit of using it, it's worthwhile. If you have any questions, just ask, or check out Tricia's posts about using hers too.

:: The Chicken Diaries :: 18 to 20 Weeks Old ::

2012-01-27T16:51:00.000+11:00

I have not written about the chickens since the roosters went to live on the farm, before Christmas. Now the three girls are growing up, and we are hoping they'll start a-laying anytime soon. I noticed the wood shavings in one of the nesting boxes was hollowed out a bit, and I've seen Spotty checking that area out a few times... but who knows, maybe she was just lost, and the wood shavings were moved during a tussle or something! Princess Layer and Spotty, the older two, have quite red combs and wattles, so I believe that is a good sign they are mature enough to start. Tweet Tweet, who is two weeks younger (maybe three) are still small and pink. They all have lovely fluffy bums though, as you can see from the photo above! Man, chickens are hard to photograph... I need to give them treats and then take photos whilst they are standing still!

:: The Joys of Preserving ::

2012-01-23T10:46:00.001+11:00

This is article I wrote for HerCanberra about growing, harvesting and preserving your own, and I thought it was a good time of year to share it here! I didn't grow these peaches, but bought them at a good price because I finally got my head around the idea that I don't *have* to rely on what comes out of my garden to do preserving! I can buy produce, esp. if there is in-season, local, organic and affordable produce available. I know this year I haven't put enough effort into growing chillies and capsicums again, so I will be heading to the farmers market to stock up one of these weekends when my tomatoes are in abundance, so I can make salsa.

As you can see, I am having fun making my own groovy labels this year (just using Word, and a cute owl stamp I have), as in previous years I have just used plain stickers with handwriting. There are so many awesome labels out there, but these are easy, don't use a lot of ink and I can customise them. I have been using lines from songs, but with the internet playing up, I haven't been able to Google the actual lyrics of any songs, so I just made it up to suit my preserves

:: In Our Garden at the Moment :: Mid Summer ::

2012-01-21T15:56:00.001+11:00

I borrowed my Mum's camera (exact same one as ours) and am using my husband's work mobile broadband, but I thought it was a good time to do a post about the garden, seen as it is in full swing at this time of year! We are harvesting Golden Nugget pumpkins already, they grow so quickly, but I recall they don't have a lot of flesh in them. Do you like my $2 op shop basket too? I do... makes me feel like some sort of glamorous garden goddess, out doing the harvesting!

The bees are doing their thing! The big yellow zuchini and squash flowers must be so delicious for them.

First attempt at growing edamame/ soy beans, but a few got eaten as seedlings, though a couple of them are doing OK. Just a little slow...

Our first year of growing corn, and a couple of weeks ago I noticed the 'browning' silks, so pulled the husk back to see if they were ready but the kernels were all white. Today they seem more yellow and little bugs were getting in where I pulled it back so I harvested this cob. Will try to leave the others for a bit longer, esp. as we have cobs in the fridge from our local farmers market outlet store already!

Tomatoes are coming in! The Red Fig (a spontaneous purchase from the Diggers Club range at Bunnings) in the top photo (with spiders web in front) and my favourites, the Black Russian, only one has ripened so far and it had a grub in it! There are also Camp Joy Cherry tomatoes and Roma San Marzano's ripening, and the others are covered in green fruit still.

The Giant Russian sunflowers are huge! I am not growing them for ourselves this year, but for the chooks... who will probably turn their noses up at having the get the seeds off the heads themselves!

We don't seem to have as many pumpkins on the vines this year so far, but I have now pinched the tips and have noticed more female flowers coming on... may need to go and hand pollinate too!

Asparagus. I've had asparagus seeds for a couple of years now, but never bothered to grow any, as I was told they take so long, you are best to buy 2 yr old crowns to plant. Well, we hadn't gotten around to organising a specific garden bed for asparagus yet, so didn't get to do it that way either. This year I threw some seeds in pots when I was potting up everything else and they did OK, so thought why not throw them in the garden bed near the clothes lines that I was wanting to make into a perenial garden bed. They seem to be doing just fine and even if it takes two or more years to start harvesting, well that's better than my effort at buying crowns & planting them anyways!

Mint that was from a fellow UHCer, but I am not quite sure which kind. We have an abundance of zuchini and squash coming in, plus some purple king beans and rattlesnake beans now too. I just pulled up a few beetroots, and pickled two big jars worth. The apricots have finished, the plums are being attacked by birds and driedfruit beetle, the nectarines were ruined by some sort of moth, then driedfruit beetle, which brought in brown mold as well! The raspberries has stopped as it's been hotter & drier for a few weeks, but hopefully they will start again in Autumn. Soon we'll have loads of tomatoes, but very few chillies and probably no capsicums. We've got a few culinary herbs too. Generally, the garden is productive and happy!

:: The 'Good Feeling' Drinks :: Water Kefir & Milk Kefir ::

2012-01-19T07:27:00.000+11:00

Life is great! I am on holidays for another couple of weeks, we’ve just hosted The Urban Homesteading Club, my little boy is about to turn 4, we are ready for back to school, and altogether I am feeling fairly relaxed and on top of things. I think the change in our diet has already had a positive effect on my attitude… the extra B vitamins, the extra good fats, the satisfaction of actually doing exercise (whilst watching past episodes of Glee!) AND of course, the feeling of making positive changes. Yes, I’ve been trying to have time to read (so many good books), hang out with the kids, hang out with the chooks and not over schedule us this holidays, so that helps. But we have also been eating more free range & organic eggs, organic pasture-raised butter, organic & grass-fed beef, whole milk (goat, or organic, where possible), and reducing our processed food consumption. I am cooking with coconut oil (raw, virgin, organic) and I take a spoonful of it each day. I have been totally gluten free again (like my Coeliac husband). We are all drinking filtered water, reducing our sugar intake, and best of all, have been drinking both water kefir, and milk kefir, (pronounced keh-fear) which translates to mean "Good Feeling"!

What is Kefir?

Some of you might not know what kefir is! I had heard of it on Julie's blog and in reading Wild Fermentation but only recently looked into it more. It is a lacto-fermented drink, full of good properties to help your health in many ways, but for us, we particularly wanted to improve our GI health and strengthen our immunity. The milk one is sort of like a yoghurt drink, but they apparently have way more good bacterias and yeasts than yoghurt does. The kefirs are fermented from ‘grains’ (which are like crystals or granules, not an actual grain, they are gluten free) using a growing medium. You brew/ ferment the drinks by ‘feeding’ the grains, either with sugar-water (non-chlorinated, non-fluoridated) for the water kefir, or with milk sugars from fresh milk, for the milk kefir. The sugars are consumed by the colonies, so you are not consuming any sugar. The grains also pre-digest the lactose and protein in the milk too, making milk kefir products easier to digest, apparently.

How Do You Make Kefir?

You can make them at home just using glass jars, strainers and mesh fabric cover or lids (no fancy equipment needed). I am using Fowlers Vacola preserving jars, because that is what I had. I bought stainless steel tea strainers, though many use plastic or nylon ones. You may be able to source kefir grains from someone you know, or buy from a website or eBay. (Australians can check out Cultures Alive, or Tumbletree). In a bit of a mix-up, I ended up with two batches of each kefir grains sent to me in the end from both these companies, but to reduce my confusion, I have now combined the water kefir grains from the two different companies together, and then the milk kefir grains together in a different batch (my husband didn’t think that was very scientific!).

Basic Milk Kefir Instructions

Place the grains in a clean (not-warm-or-hot) jar. (I use the jars that have been washed by the dishwasher overnight, so are cool by the morning).
Add 1 cup of milk for every 1 tablespoons worth of grains. I use milk straight from the fridge.
Put a lid on, or use a mesh/ muslin cover, if you prefer.
They stay on your kitchen bench, in a position that is warm but not too hot, and no direct sunlight. (I wrap a teatowel around mine).
Each day you strain the grains out and put them into a clean glass jar with new milk. (You may need to leave them more or less than 24 hours, depending on the warmth and health of your grains. In Summer, I have found 12 hours means a good bodied kefir, and not too sour).
The strained liquids can be drunk straight up, or used in smoothies.
You can also make a thicker 'kefir cheese' product, which is like yoghurt, sour cream or cream cheese. Pour the strained milk kefir into a coffee filter (or layers of muslin), which is held inside a sieve, and put them over a bowl, which will catch the whey as it seperates from the 'cheese'. Leave the bowl & sieve in the fridge until the desired thickness/ dryness is reached (overnight is OK).
You can use kefir or the kefir cheese/ yoghurt in cooking, like naan bread, cakes, but I believe that heat destroys the good stuff though.
You can second ferment milk kefir, which I tried once using lemon rind, which was nice enough. I have also tried adding vanilla bean to the fermenting milk kefir, for a lovely flavour, which then makes a really great kefir yoghurt/ cheese too!

Basic Water Kefir Instructions

In a clean (not-warm-or-hot) jar, add a cup of filtered or Spring water, and 1 tablespoon of sugar (raw, rapadura, palm sugar, castor) and stir to dissolve.
Then add about 1 tablespoons worth of grains.
Put a lid on (they don't need to breathe, but you can use a mesh or muslin cover apparently, without problem).
They stay on your kitchen bench, or in a position that is warm but not too hot, and no direct sunlight.
Each day (more or less than 24 hours, depending on the warmth and health of your grains) you strain the grains out and put them into a clean glass jar with new sugar-water.
You can experiment with flavours in a second ferment, or use any excess grains you have grown to try experimenting with flavours, but it is a good idea to keep a basic plain sugar-water kefir ferment alive at the same time.
One of the companies I bought from said there was no need to add anything else other than sugar-water, but some recipes use dried fruit (no sulphur), dried egg shell or coral, molasses and bicarb. I have so far found that the water kefir grains are multiplying when I use only fresh sugar-water each day, and a pinch of bicarb about once a week. This must be providing them with enough minerals and nutrition to grow their colonies!

What is Second Fermenting?

We’ve found that the water kefir after the first ferment is a little sour (though my husband likes it) so we mix the strained water kefir liquid with preservative-free juice and second-ferment it on the bench top (allowing the good stuff in the liquid to keep feeding and growing, even though the main grains are not in there anymore). This produces a nicer flavoured, not sweet, fizzy drink. With second fermenting, make sure the juice you use is preservative-free, any fruit or rinds are organic, and dried fruits are sulphur-free. Otherwise you may be inhibiting the fermentation process. We’ve had such good growth from the water kefir grains (if they get enough minerals from the food, the colonies keep growing) that I now have the basic water kefir fermenting at all times, but have started some flavoured first-ferments too, like ginger and lemon. You can second ferment the milk kefir, using flavours or lemon rind and letting it sit for longer on the benchtop.

Excess Grains/ Preserving Grains

I found the water kefir grains started multiplying quickly, and now the milk kefir grains are growing too. Apparently, you can swallow/ eat the grains, feed them to your pets or compost, or you can share them around. Perhaps try preserving some by freezing/ fridging or even dehydrating them, so you will always have a source, esp. if your main ones die for some reason. I haven't tried preserving any (see links below for how to do that), but we have been adding some to our second ferment water kefirs and then I drink them! If you need to go away, or want a break from kefir, you can put them in the fridge in some sugar-water or fresh milk, and this keeps them alive, without growing, apparently!

Warnings & Tips

I am not an expert on this! Please do your own research, but here are some things I have learnt.

There are always food safety concerns in lacto-fermenting, so use clean equipment, wash your hands and if in doubt, throw it out... go by appearance & smell (it smells a little sour, but only like sour cream, really).
The kefirs don't like heat, which can destroy them. You can apparently warm the milk to get them culturing faster in Winter, but no hot jars.
Limit the amount of metal they come in contact with (it can 'leach' into the kefirs over time & be toxic to your health). Stainless Steel is apparently not as 'reactive' as other metals.
In regards to lids or covers for your jars for first ferment, some people say to use a lid, whilst others say they use a breatheable cover (mesh fabric, muslin, coffee filter) to keep out bugs & flies. They don't need to 'breathe', but carbonation will occur, so you don't want anything to explode! If you have Pickl-Its or brewing airlock equipment, you could use those. (If you want them bubbles to stay in during second fermentation, you can apparently use a good quality bottle with a swing-top lid, like Grolsch).
Don't use water that contains fluoride or chlorine, which inhibit the fermenting & growth of the kefir grains. We have a water purifier but it doesn't remove fluoride, so we have been using Spring water, but hope to put our own rainwater in our water purifier to use that.
You can’t go too crazy overindulging in kefirs at the start, apparently, because you can feel unwell from any toxins being released into your body when the good bacterias knock out the bad ones! We haven’t really had that, as we took it slow.
There is also a certain low percentage of alcohol that can be produced, esp. with the second ferments, but I am researching that more, so I can feel safe giving it to the kids.

Milk kefir on the left, and Water Kefir on the right. I am using Fowlers Vacola jars with Snap On FV lids.

The water kefir grains are clear-ish grains, which may float, esp. as the kefir becomes bubbly as it ferments.

I started by using rapadura sugar, which gave the water kefir a brown tint, but have been using raw sugar and it has become much lighter, as in the photo above.

Here is the milk kefir after it has been fermenting on the bench top for about 24 hours. It can become quite curdled, as in the whey and curds seperate. You can pour the whey off and use it in lacto-fermenting or other cooking. I shake it gently back together, as it makes straining the grains easier if the milk kefir liquid is more liquid.

Here is the strained milk kefir (left), in the middle is a tall jar which had second-ferment water kefir (I put any second-ferments in tall jars so I know which is which!), and some milk kefir being strained through a coffee filter & sieve/ strainer to make a kefir 'cheese', which is like sour cream or a tart cream cheese.

More information

I am very new to this, so please check these links below for more information. There is a lot of information about kefir out there, some of it conflicting or overwhelming! I bought the Cultured Food Life book by Donna Schwenk, which covers milk kefir, kombucha, sprouted flours and LF vegetables. She has information about kefir on her website.

More information about Kefirs can be found here:

I Love Water Kefir (Facebook page)

Cultures for Health

Nourished Kitchen

How to Make Coconut Milk Kefir

:: Kitchen Machines :: Goods & Bads ::

2012-01-18T17:22:00.000+11:00

So, this is The Year of Eating Nutritiously for my family and I, taking on small projects and challenges as we can, gradually eating less processed foods, more real foods, and cooking more of our food from scratch. At the start of last year I tried to focus on improving my health, but instead of dropping anything to make time to see doctors/ specialists, and take on new diets and exercise regimes, I just tried to squeeze it all in on top of my already full schedule. A few things led to my husband, The Bowhunter, and I both feeling burnt out, but it did teach us a lesson about ourselves and our limitations. I know there are things we could be *should be* focusing on now, but if we can improve our health and energy levels, everything else will be easier, and we will in turn, actually be supporting the planet and be better prepared by being fitter and more resilient. I also realise that if I want to learn more about real, nurturing foods, and also start cooking more from scratch this year, I can’t just expect to do that without either sacrificing something else, or finding a way to make it as easy and time-saving as possible. That’s why The Bowhunter and I started looking into kitchen appliances (and we quickly went from considering a basic stand mixer, to the all-singing-all-dancing Thermomix or Kenwood Cooking Chef varieties), even though it goes against our principles of being prepared for the energy descent, and learning skills. Yes, even basic cooking skills are important, in amongst gardening, preserving, crocheting, bowhunting, and all the other skills we are trying to learn!

Of course, I love to cook, and make a lot of our food from scratch already, but there are things I want to learn and perfect (and teach my kids) like making custard from scratch, or gluten free pasta by hand etc. In other areas of our life, we have made efforts to acquire and use equipment that is hand powered or highly energy efficient. Now, in saying that, we still have a dishwasher, a toaster, sewing machines, a washing machine and a car. By no means are we eco-saints or peak-oil-prepper experts! There are plenty of ways we could be doing better in this regard, but it felt weird to be considering an expensive kitchen machine (both the Thermomix and Kenwood Cooking Chef cost almost $2000) that might save time and my energy, but that would require power to use. I remember when I first heard about the Thermomix several years ago, and a women (whom I admired and was further along the eco-prepper journey than me at that point) remarked that it wouldn’t be useful at TEOTWAWKI. That was the first time I had heard that term (and had to Google it!) but it made sense. However, in the scheme of everyday life that my family and I currently live, it seems ridiculous to avoid buying something that could help us out, just because at some point in the future there may be nothing to run it on!

Convenience. *sigh* Convenience, it is such a nice sounding word, but often can have disdain and a touch of ugliness attached to it in the world of this blogger. Is it wrong to desire and like convenience? How much convenience is OK? What is worth sacrificing for the sake of convenience? And for this discussion, if I have the convenience, how much more can I achieve for the sake of our health? A kitchen machine can save time, mess, and my sanity. Maybe… maybe not as much as I dream about. Maybe it’s like Erica says in her post, Hope in a Bottle, but really, I don’t expect miracles. Initially, learning how to use either of these machines, and adapt recipes to them will take time, especially for someone like me, a kitchen rebel who treats recipes like a one-night-stand. Not even that. I barely get the recipe into bed before I discard it and move onto the next hot & happening dish. I like to do my own thing. I like to see my food, taste my food, add what pleases me, leave out what I consider too heavy on food miles, or not in season. Why do I even bother checking out recipes and cook books? I guess they inspire me, tantalise me, sometimes I even promise to stick to them, but in reality, I just never do. It’s a curse, and a virtue at the same time. Could a kitchen machine and I really commit to a full and faithful relationship? Would it be one more thing I buy, but never have the time to fully explore and take full advantage of? Or worse, what if I find myself so enthralled by the convenience and time saving aspects, I forget how to use my tastebuds and eyes to cook, and what if the love was lost from the food I serve my family? (OK, that’s a little melodramatic, I got carried away!)

A kitchen machine may in fact, allow me to serve more food with love to my family. I currently use a whisk, a grater, a good set of Furi knives, Scanpan and cast iron cookware, Pyrex glassware, a few other bits & bobs, and my imagination, when cooking. I do have several appliances, though, that save me time and my own energy, that haven’t stolen the love from my cooking! For example, my little food processor, Oskar, has done me well the last few years, despite my husband’s misgivings about buying a small and low powered appliance (he wanted the hefty thing I thought I’d struggle to get out of the cupboard!) but maybe that’s because he knows how I cook! I do tend to push my appliances to the limit of their capabilities. If we justify and can afford some sort of kitchen machine in the end, it will definitely be worthwhile investing in the most power and quality that we can. And one that can either do everything, or be adapted as we go along in this nutritious-eating-journey, like pasta or grinder attachments. These will allow me the time, but also the ease, of making more of our foods from scratch. From whole foods, without additives to keep things fresh or separate, without extra packaging, without all that darn sugar! To make our own gluten free flour and mince whole cuts of meat. To expand my repertoire and actually eat things we usually don’t, like sauces, custards, ice cream, but those made from real ingredients, and using our own eggs or raw milk (when we can source it).

Another advantage of these kitchen appliances, is that they replace a whole swag of appliances taking up room in your kitchen cupboards. I don’t have that many to replace anyways, though one that I do use occasionally is an air-popping popcorn appliance, which apparently neither of the $2000 machines do anyways! I tell you, a good sort out and declutter of my kitchen cupboards would produce some space. The Bowhunter doesn’t like all-in-one appliances, because he thinks they never perform the job as well as that of what an individual appliance, specifically designed to perform a task. Plus, he thinks if one part of it goes, you’ve then lost the use of the others until you can get it fixed or end up having to replace it. Spending almost $2000, you’d not want to be replacing anything anytime soon. Both the fancy appliances we considered come with warranties, by the way and the backing of years of quality performance. But oh, boy, that almost $2000 (more for the Kenwood Cooking Chef, when you want to buy more attachments for it, but hey, at least it can be ‘upgraded’ or added to) is a big chunk of money. Honestly, we *could* afford to buy it, but the reason we have savings is because we don’t buy stuff! We work hard, we live fairly frugally, and we do without, because we like having savings in our bank (building society, actually) in case of emergency, like the car breaking down, I get sick and can’t work, or my husband loses his job etc. Whilst I am sure we would not regret owning a Thermomix or Kenwood Cooking Chef, we may regret not being able to fix the car or pay the mortage! If I was working more, we’d be able to justify the need and the expense, but as it is, I am actually going to find myself with a bit more time this year (with both kids in school at the same time, for 9 ½ hours each week). Time that I can be cooking and creating, maybe even flirting with cookbooks and acquainting myself with lovely ingredients, like lard, and falling in love with butter again.

That is ultimately what brought this kitchen-machine-dream undone. At the moment, with our lovely little camera (miss you, Sony Cybershot) not working and needing a replacement (having photos of my kids and our adventures is a priority for me, one I would forego for food & shelter, obviously, if it came down to that) we are considering taking the next step up, from a point & shoot, to a Compact System Camera. OK, again, this will take a little chunk from the savings, but one we think is worth it. Funny, really, considering that eating is far more important than taking photos! The way I see it, for the money that a fangle-dangle-kitchen-machine would cost, we could have a great camera and upgrade to a great food processor (or even just add a mandoline to my kitchen toolbox), and have the best of both worlds, without draining our savings big time. I can whip up good looking real food, making the most of what I already have, build on my skills and knowledge AND take better photos to show you all!

:: These Days ::

2012-01-12T16:39:00.000+11:00

:: The Art of Lacto-Fermentation ::

2012-01-08T09:54:00.000+11:00

Hello all, did I say I wasn't going to go on & on about my new-found passion and our Year of Eating Nutritiously? I won't, I promise, this is still an urban homesteading/ prepping/ save-the-planet type blog... just add a cup or so of traditional & nourising food to the mix. Besides, instead of researching new cameras (and therefore updating you with garden or chook photos), I have been researching kitchen appliances instead (I am thinking my old whisk, grater, mini-food-processor and breadmaker may not keep up with my enthusiasm for more cooking from scratch!). I have also been learning about and practising new 'cooking' skills... one of them, a major one, is lacto-fermention.

I first became intrigued about this last year when reading Sharon Astyk's Independence Days and the section on lacto-fermentation for preserving the harvest. This led me to read Wild Fermentation, which was so educational and inspiring. I had also read about it on blogs like Towards Sustainability, but I guess back then, I never thought it was something I would be into/ have time for/ need to do. Some of you are wondering where have I been, hiding under a sterilised stack of processed food? (Pretty much!) Others who are reading this will be looking out from their own sterilised stack and thinking, what in the world is this lacto-fermentation business? Yoghurt is an example of a common lacto-fermented food, as well as cheese, sour cream, sourdough bread. Most of you will have heard of sauerkraut too (though like me, may never have actually tasted it!) There are loads of other foods & cultures who are into this method of food preservation & enhancement. It's just one of those replaced and forgotten nourishing habits that happily, you can all start doing too.

Here are some great links if you'd like to do some more reading about lacto-fermentation:

Fermentation 101 - What You need to Know (Nourished Kitchen)
Benefits of Lacto-fermentation (The Nourishing Gourmet)
Fermented Food for Beginners - Lacto-fermented Vegetables (Nourishing Days)
What is Lacto-fermentation? (Pickl-It)
Fermented & Raw (Food Renegade)

Vegetables - kimchi, sauerkraut, cucumber pickles, dilly beans
Condiments - salsa, ketchup, dressings, mayonaise, sweet chilli sauce
Beverages - kefir, water kefir, kombucha
Other - yoghurt, sour cream, sourdough

These are the the foods I am planning on creating and enjoying, and maybe more if I really get into it. Maybe less, if I find there are things I don't like! I've got to tell you, though, it's a tricky thing this lacto-fermenting. You've probably got to knock the years of food safety concerns and expiry-date-mania from your head to start off with. Then there is the Am-I-doing-it-right? virginal jitters. Even if you think you've managed to pull it off and lacto-fermented something, there is still the trepidation in consuming your bubbly, sour, just-sat-on-the-kitchen-bench-(without refrigeration!!!!)-for-several-days food item. I think there should be a hotline number for new lacto-fermenters to call and ask all your dumb questions, and get someone to sniff it for you over the phone! I am thinking some classes or a mentor would definitely help me out. I've had several attempts at lacto-fermenting now and I am feeling like a failure.

1. Sauerkraut that didn't - stirred on by Sandor Ellix Katz's passion in Wild Fermentation, I hastened a ceramic casserole dish, plate and weighted dish together and shredded, pounded and brined (narrowly avoiding using iodised salt) a cabbage. I waited, I pondered, I sniffed, I thought I saw bubbling, I saw white scum, I Googled, I skimmed, I waited, I aired the house, I tasted, I threw it out. How could I make sauerkraut when I've never even tasted it? I had no idea what this cabbage mix was supposed to become. I bought a jar of real lacto-fermented cabbage (with juniper berries), and ahh, hmm... I didn't like it that much!

2. Next up, Kimchi! Sharon Astyk & her family love kimchi, therefore I will love it too. I reasoned that if I added spices & other vege's to cabbage, I will like the taste of it better. And I did. I am pretty sure it lacto-fermented safely and correctly (I had bought a Pickl-It system by then). It tasted spicy, crunchy and because I knew it was good for me, I ate a reasonable amount of it the first night. Maybe about a cups worth, which might have been a cup too much. Without going into any gory details, I had a very upset tummy the next day. This isn't anything too unusual for me, but I became paranoid that the cause of it was my poor lacto-fermenting technique. I threw it out (and my Facebook friends will know the story there!) and felt like a failure... again. It didn't occur to me that eating that much spicy cabbage & vege's might have given me the GI issue! Hmm, I'll never know.

3. After reading recipes like Erica's, I'd been hankering to eat LF salsa, and to try LF cucumber pickles. I felt ready to try again, but didn't have any tomatoes, capsicum, chillies or cucumbers ready yet. I did have beans. Quite a few purple king beans from when we came from our trip... they needed to be used up, so dilly beans seemed like a logical way to try LFing again. I found a recipe, but I was stuck... last time with the kimchi, I used some bottled 'organic' water that had come frozen in our delivered organic vege box. (We have a new water purifier, which removes chlorine but not fluoride). So I used some of the remaining bottled water, but maybe one of them wasn't all organic, but some tapwater in it instead. Can you guess the punchline... the dilly beans didn't dilly. Oh, the dill & garlic smelt great, but they didn't bubble. Must have been the water, or maybe the garlic with all it's antibacterial properties??

4. This brings me to my most recent attempt, which was LF Fruit Chutney. I had a heap of apricots, so why not. I used some whey I had from making kefir cheese (using a bottle of bought kefir drink, mind you, not something I made... that is my next challenge!) and it all went swimmingly... except that I didn't like the taste of the 'raw' spices. It's not a complete failure, I cooked the batch & hot water bottled it as a Spicy Fruit Chutney, which my husband really liked.

What will I lacto-ferment next, I hear you all ask? I am turning my hand to making kefir this week, with both water kefir grains, and milk kefir grains, arriving here in the next couple of days. I loved the taste & texture of the kefir I bought from a health food store, so I feel more confident in it. It is something I can get the kids to consume, I can make into other things, and it is fairly foolproof... maybe! I have the Cultured Food Life book by Donna Schwenk, and she is right into kefir. What can possibly go wrong??!!

:: Turning Over a New Leaf ::

2012-01-05T15:45:00.000+11:00

I am all gung-ho about our new eating habits, but not too gung-ho... just enough to keep momentum and motivation. It is the busy season for gardening and preserving here at the moment too. We are harvesting apricots, raspberries and some plums, as well as zuchini, beans, beetroot, herbs and even pumpkins already. I am making relish and dried apricots, using zuchini in everything, and preparing for a whopper tomato haul soon! I am still really a beginner with preserving (this will be our third season), too, so I am rechecking instructions and remembering my know-how as I go along. I love learning though, and absorbing information about topics that I am interested in and passionate about. I love experimenting and seeing what works... and what doesn't. I am really trying not to take on too many new things at once, and deciding where to start is a bit overwhelming too. I want to heal my body & nurture my family, but getting stressed out isn't going to help!

This 'traditional eating' movement is big, and there are some great blogs, books and recipes out there. Some of it is information I've read before, but had been fairly transient in my brain cells, labelled 'something I will do one day', and promptly returned to the universal library from where it came. OK, so some ideas stuck, like butter is good, coconut oil is good, lacto-fermentation is good, and sugar is bad, processed is bad etc. Now I am searching those shelves, thinking 'I know I read about that somewhere'! But anyways, I have come across some great resources that I am tapping into (while waiting for my books to arrive, Real Food by Nina Planck, and from the library, Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon). I am enjoying gleaning information from these blogs/ websites:

The Nourishing Gourmet

The Nourished Kitchen

Food Renegade

Plan to Eat

Nourishing Days

North West Edible Life

Simple Bites

From Scratch Club

The Nourishing Cook

Thank you for those who have given me information & support on my eatatdixiebelles Facebook page. If you have any links or book recommendations, I appreciate those too! PLUS, in case you think this blog is just going to be all about The Year of Eating Nutritiously, it isn't... I was going to do a In Our Garden at the Moment post and a Chicken Diaries, but our camera broke!

:: The Year of Eating Nutritiously ::

2012-01-01T14:56:00.000+11:00

It's that time of year again, isn't it. I am reading great blog posts summing up the year that was, or laying out plans for the year to be, but I am resisting making New Years Resolutions, or commiting to any big challenges. What we will be doing is eating more real food... in fact, 2012 will be the Year of Eating Nutritiously in this family! The Year of Real Food... increasing our awareness, changing our habits, continuing on with the changes we've been making in 2011. There are loads of things (in the garden, in our home, to our bodies, for the planet, to be prepared) we could be improving, changing, finishing and paying attention to. However, I believe these changes we are making and focusing on, in regards to what we eat, will affect all the others. I believe that eating more wholesome foods (even more than we do already) and feeling differently about eating, will increase my energy, reduce my ongoing health issues, improve my mental health and general manner too! I'm about half way through my life (all things going well, I hope to have at least another 36 years) and it is more than time to be living a healthy, happy and content life. To get out of bed in the morning, instead of complaining about my stiff neck and shoulders, being unable to breathe through my congested nose, my stomach churning, my skin inflammed and itchy, and feeling sluggish and grumpy... to feel energised and be able to truly live with the gratitude I have in my heart, through my whole body!

You know, I have always been interested in nutrition and thought myself pretty aware of good food habits, of real food, and of food as medicine. Food, cooking & feeding my family are big parts of my life, and with a Coeliac husband who eats Gluten Free, and various dalliances with Dairy Free over the years, I spend a fair chunk of my time thinking & creating & planning around food. I advocate SOLE food, we grow some of our own organic produce, we try to source local/ organic and Fair Trade foods, we appreciate and are willing to spend time and effort on good food. For the most part, we eat well, we eat healthy, and we eat great tasting food. The downfalls are the convenience items I rely on, being a part-time working mother, such as packaged snacks (cookies, crackers, school items) and the 'treats' we allow ourselves to have because we work & live hard everyday (like occasional lollies or ice cream). The 'may as well' or the 'this will make me feel better' eating is the problem here... comfort eating in amongst the healthy eating. The mental resilience needs changing & supporting, as much as what we actually put in our mouths. I think that building mental resilience and the will, or self control, will only increase as we become healthier and nurtured!

The plan is to:

learn more and increase my awareness about 'traditional' foods
enjoy real food, with our treat foods being good for us too
cook and bake more from scratch (gluten free, low refined sugar, using good oils and fats)
create my own 'cookbook' of tried and tested basic recipes which can be adapted seasonally/ locally, so I have a go-to folder of recipes on hand
not stress myself out trying to be pure or perfect, or only-from-scratch all the time... and build the mental resilience by nurturing our bodies

Santa didn't bring me Nourishing Traditions like I thought he was, but I can borrow it from the library (currently no. 11 on the request list) or perhaps from a fellow UHCer, as I want to read it and research more. In the mean time, I bought a book they don't have at the library called Real Food by Nina Planck. I have a couple of decades of 'marketed nutrition information' to hammer out of my brain! You know, the stuff that you've been led to believe about what is healthy or a healthier choice, by those with invested interests, based on the research that suited them. Over the last couple of years, I have been slowly rejecting the data I had stored away as to what constituted healthy eating, along with all the other food awareness I've consumed! Now, I may be a little cynical, but I am not the only one. There are loads of people eating to the beat of this traditional drum! I am not an expert, and not planning on becoming one, just becoming more informed and not afraid of real food. I enjoy eating butter, I enjoy eating meat & some meat fat, I love vegetables & herbs, I love using homegrown produce, I know how to cook gluten free, I enjoy sourcing organic & pasture-raised foods, and want to experiment with cooking more from scratch. That is what makes me happy, and hopefully will make me healthier... and my family too.

While they aren't a huge part of our diet anyway, I feel sugar and processed foods need to learn their place again. I am not ready to go cold-turkey on sugar (obvious refined & high sugar foods can go, we don't eat those very often anyways) but I will start finding/ using alternatives, like honey, that we like and I can cook with. I reduce the sugar in recipes when I am cooking as it is, this is just taking the next step. I also know there will be times we crack open a box of GF crackers, or packet of GF biscuits, and I am OK with this. I do currently make gluten free cakes, muffins, and cookies quite regularly, but I just need to get a routine or habit about it. Cheeky A starts Preschool this year (and Miss M is in Year 1), so there will be a couple of days I'll have some kid-free hours. No pressure on myself, of course, because him starting preschool will take additional time & energy in itself. I also want to practice using our solar oven more, or making no-bake snacks, for hot weather when having the oven on isn't practical. Beyond crackers, I'd like to try making corn tortillas and other flatbreads, maybe even GF pasta at some point too. Breakfast cereal will be another challenge!

We eat organic meat most of the time, and have started eating game meats (in preparation for when The Bowhunter, my husband, actually starts bringing home rabbit, maybe even goat). I want to practice cooking these items well, in a few different ways. I also started cooking with lard last year, but didn't find time to source organic fat to render myself. I went back to cooking/ baking with olive oil and coconut oil, as well as starting to eat butter again too (we stopped while on a Dairy Free diet for my little boy). Making lard is something I am interested in doing this year, along with making my own stocks. It's all easy enough to do, I've done it before, it is just that convenience factor I guess that has stopped me. While Cheeky A (almost 4) and I will continue drinking goats milk, eating goats cheese and hopefully we can source goats milk yoghurt, too (making our own is further down the track). We'd like to try The Bowhunter and Miss M with raw cows milk, but they will keep having good ol' pasteurised organic milk and cheese where possible.

I am hoping we will start having eggs from our 3 chookies soon too, and perhaps we will get another chook at point-of-lay. If we have enough eggs, and the desire to eat them, I would like to learn & then perfect my own mayonaise, creamy salad dressings and custards. These are things we just don't eat that much normally, so I've never bought them on a regular basis, but if it suits & it's healthy, I would incorporate them. I have also been learning & starting to practice lacto-fermentation in 2011, so want to expand on that, with kefir, kombucha, pickles, salsa and yoghurt, perhaps GF sourdough bread too, at some point. We bought a benchtop water purifier while we were away, and water-filter drinking bottles for The Bowhunter and myself too.

Gosh, this is turning into a long post... that's what happens when I don't post for 10 days, go away on holiday, and have a whole heap of ideas busting out in my head. I feel better for getting it out here, though! Anyways, while there is a lot for me to think about, research and change in our eating for 2012, there is a lot we already do. There is no rush, there is no 'challenge', just a desire to be healthier and to nurture my family and myself better. Once we can start doing that, there will be energy for other projects and desires we have, and to handle any coming global issues or crises. I hope you will join me along the way and continue giving good advice, for those who already do eat more 'traditional' foods and have experiences to share... oh, and recipes!!

:: Wishes ::

2011-12-21T10:32:00.002+11:00

Thank you for those who have read this blog over the last year, who've given feedback and support, and who have put up with me. I've enjoyed reading and hearing about your adventures too. I always say that this blogging community I've become a part of means so much to me... to have that connection with like-minded folk, that can be hard to find in the real world. I am so blessed in the life and opportunities I have, to share it with my wonderful husband and delightful kids, and be surrounded by amazing family and friends. I hope you all have a safe and happy Festive Season. I am looking forward to blogging, and reading your blogs & comments in the new year.

:: From Scratch ::

2011-12-18T20:21:00.000+11:00

Because I am just *so* organised & relaxed about Christmas (!) I have been thinking these last few weeks about the New Year, and maybe, maybe, a challenge or focus I'd like to take on in 2012. Well, just because the Mayans couldn't plan that far, doesn't mean I can't! But for those who've read this blog for a while (and I congratulate you for making it this far, I'd shake your hand if I could!) would know I am anti-challenge. Just on a personal level, I am not against challenges or pledges in general... it's just that I take on too much as it is, I am challenging myself every day in many ways, and tend to over do it. My husband and I burnt ourselves out earlier this year. I'd like to think we've learnt our lesson! However, I have been reading and learning more about nutrition lately (it's always been a passion of mine) and challenging some assumptions I had. I know I'm a bit slow, but I am interested in Nourishing Traditions (which Santa is bringing me for Christmas!) and have been finding good information on various blogs like The Nourishing Gourmet, Cultured Food Life and a variety of articles or posts too. This is something that's been in my brain for a few years now, and rather than see it as a challenge, it will be more of a slow & steady lifestyle change!

What I am thinking is not as full-on as my SOLE Food Challenge idea, which proved to be too much, perhaps because I was trying to take on too much as well as having dietary restrictions or adjustments. My husband is Coeliac (gluten free), and my 3 yr old son and I are both low casein/ dairy (we go OK on goats milk and goats milk cheese, some yoghurt, plus have reintroduced butter recently). Even though I do most of our meals from scratch, and regularly bake gluten free (muffins, cakes, cupcakes, slices, pastry, biscuits etc.), there are certain convenience items I've come to rely on. I want to ditch the packaged, convenience, probably not very healthy food items, and try making my own from scratch. Better (and not that hard) versions of biscuits, crackers, corn tortillas, pizza bases and flat breads. I also want to add custards, desserts, sauces and dressings to my repertoire, which include good fats BUT mostly, to make the most of the fresh eggs our chickens will hopefully soon be providing! Lacto-fermentation is something I've been experimenting with on & off over the last few months, since reading about it in Sharon Astyk's Independence Days, and would like to do non-Easiyo-sachet yoghurt (we've been buying Jalna again lately), vege ferments like kimchi, as well as try kefir, kombucha and things like that. Making my own lard and stock is something I'd like to do, and more cooking meat on the bone, and using up all parts of an animal.

I think I need to go totally Gluten Free again too, because of ongoing health issues with my skin, GI system, sinuses and general mood! It will be easier for all the family to be gluten free, and for the recipes I will work on creating and perfecting to all be gluten free. This means there are some products that will be challenging to make myself, like pasta and sourdough bread. Currently we make our own bread in a breadmaker using regular Laucke flours (which are Australian grown & processed) but they do have a fantastic GF bread mix... really, I am not sure if I can do it better than that. Yes, I'd like to make GF sourdough bread for the family, but for everyday bread, I think using the breadmaker and GF bread mix is my best bet. In terms of pasta, we eat San Remo GF pasta, which is great and is one GF pasta I find I can cook in advance & it reheats really well. For the days I work, I make the dinner the previous night and it is often pasta. I am not sure making my own GF pasta is going to happen, but I am trying to find suitable Aussie GF bought pasta, as the San Remo comes from Italy!

While I do still want to source as much as a I can locally, and avoid stupormarkets wherever possible, I am realistic about this. We will continue to grow our own, buy from the local farmers outlet store, and farmers markets, and hopefully be able to shop online for GF grains & flours, but I can see there will still be supermarket purchases and convenience items at times. I don't want to stress myself out trying to do this, it will be a slow change over and adapting a new set of habits... like freezing slices (Zuchini & Chocolate Brownie, Coconut & Banana slice) for when cookies run out. Lately I have been trying to incorporate local olive oils into baking, but have also been using FT coconut oil for a few months now, because of it's nutritional properties. Using honey instead of refined cane sugar. While I find time to perfect my rendering skills, I will buy lard from the butcher or supermarket. Pasta and GF sourdough might be way down on the list of recipes/ skills to learn and practice!

It's about health and nutrition, but also reducing packaging and 'food kilometres'. It's about awareness and education, but also taste and fun too. There are so many 'challenges' I'd like to take (100 Days of Real Food, Ethical Clothing Pledge, I Quit Sugar) or things I could focus on (finally getting some Be Prepared stuff finished! Argh!) but this is what my body and that of my family are telling me we need to do. I am not going to go crazy about it, really, just do a little more cooking from scratch and try learning some extra cooking & nurturing skills. Surely that is a good way to start the new year! How about you, got any new years resolutions or plans in the making? Do you think you could change some eating habits? Got any recipes and links for me?! Maybe not taking on anything extra is your plan?