Yogurt "Cream Cheese"

We eat a lot of cream cheese, and I mean a lot.

Since it is such a big part of our every day diet, I wanted it to be as healthy as possible so I decided to make it myself. It is unbelievable how simple this is. Here is what you need: 

1 quart organic whole milk yogurt

A bowl

Cheese cloth 

Some string

I scalded the cheese-cloth in boiling water after cutting it to the size I wanted. Lay the cheese-cloth in the bowl and dump in the yogurt. Gather up the sides and tie with the string, then hand the yogurt over the bowl. I used the knob of one of my kitchen cabinets. 

After 24 hours, this is what it looks like:

Add a little sea salt and mix gently, do not use a food processor to mix, a fork will do.

Use as you would regular cream cheese.

If you want an idea of what to use all that left over whey in, see the Mayo recipe.

Lacto-fermented Mayonnaise

This is a recipe from Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon.

Ingredients:

1 pastured whole egg, at room temperature

1 egg yolk, at room temperature

1 teaspoon Dijon-type mustard

1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon whey

¾ – 1 cup extra virgin olive oil

Generous pinch sea salt

Mix the egg, egg yolk, mustard, lemon juice, whey and sea salt.  Blend for 30 seconds. I used a hand blender but you could use your food processor.

Add the olive oil very slowly! Drizzle it to a very thin stream, do not pour it in! I only needed 3/4 of olive oil. Add more if needed.

Taste to see if you want more sea salt and lemon juice.

If you added the whey, set the mayonnaise on the counter, covered, for 7 hours, and then refrigerate.  It needs this time to activate the lacto-fermentation.  It should keep for several months in the refrigerator.  Without whey, use the mayonnaise up within 2 weeks. 

What I used some of my Mayo for; Salmon Salad

I used some left over broiled salmon, pull off the skin:

Break it into very small pieces 

Add mayo and seasonings to taste, I like to add minced onion, dill, salt and pepper.

Top some sprouted bread with baby greens and your delicious salad, yummy!

Lamb Stuffed Acorn Squash

We love Winter Squash, but we mostly stick with Spagetti and Butternut Squash. I ventured out a little and decided to use Acorn which I have only prepared a couple of times. I saw a stuffed Acorn squash recipe recently but I didn't take the time to see what they stuffed it with, I just thought the picture looked delicious. I choose to stuff it with lamb because I could season it with spices I thought would be complementary with the Acorn squash, it was!

Ingredients:

2 Acorn Squash

1 pound ground lamb

1 large onion, finely chopped

2 tbsp organic worchestershire sauce 

1 tsp sea salt, plus a little.

1 tsp cinnamon 

1 tsp cardamom 

1/2 tsp nutmeg, plus a little.

1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1/2 tsp chili pepper flakes

Cut squash in half from top to bottom, scoop out the seeds and season with a little sea salt and nutmeg. 

Mix the lamb with the rest of the ingredients and stuff in the acorn halves.

Place in baking pan, I used aluminum foil to "cup" them so they would sit up straight.

Bake in a 375 degree F oven until the lamb registers 155 degrees F, approximately 1 hour.

These were delicious, but I revisited this recipe and made the following changes:

1. I roasted the halves cut side down for 40 minutes in 375 degree oven.

2. While the halves were roasting, I browned the onions in a little coconut oil, added the meat and seasonings plus 1 tsp of Garam Marsala and browned the meat throughly. Lastly, I turned the heat down to low and put a lid on the pan until the acorn squash was done.

3. Once the squash was cooked, carefully scoop out as much flesh as you can without destroying the shell (you will not remove all of the squash because the shell is very thin).

4. Mix the flesh with the meat mixture and refill the the shells.

5. Top with goat cheese and place in the oven on broil until the cheese is browned a little.

This tastes even better than the original and is a lot simpler.

Pressure Cooked Pork Roast

For those of you considering a pressure cooker purchase, get one it's worth it. For those of you who already have one stashed away somewhere, dig it out and start using it again. Lastly, for those of you who regularly use it, keep up the good work and share your recipes! 

Once you understand how it works and feel comfortable using a pressure cooker you will be amazed at how quickly you can get a great meal on the table.

Ok, now for the night before last's dinner.

Recipe: 

1 1/2 lb pork roast

Herbs de Provence (a herb mix used in France made up of marjoram, thyme, savory, basil, rosemary, sage, fennel seeds and lavender)

Sea salt

Fresh milled black pepper

Oil (I used Palm)

Fill the pressure cooker with 1 to 2 inches of water, put in the rack and steamer basket, then bring the water to a boil.

Place the roast (fat side up) in a heat-proof dish that will fit into your steamer basket.

Place the lid on and make sure the release valve is closed. Bring up to full pressure then cook for 25 minutes.

Remove from heat and open the vent to release the steam. Remove the roast.

Coat the top of the roast with Herb de Provence, sea salt and pepper.

Heat up oil in a heavy bottomed pan and brown the fat side coated with herbs until crispy.

Once the top is browned to your satisfaction you are done.

Kale Chips

Before

After

Ingredients-

Kale
Olive oil
Sea salt
Pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Wash kale and pat dry. Strip off stems from leaves and break into bite-sized pieces. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle on salt and pepper then toss to evenly distribute. Bake on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet in a single layer for 10 - 15 minutes until crispy.

Almond Milk

For all of you Almond Milk lovers out there, here is how you can make your own.

Ingredients

1 cup of raw, soaked almonds

4 cups of water

Easy huh?

First place the almonds into a container, just cover with water and put a lid over the container and leave for 24 hours out on a counter.

Next, place the soaked almonds into a blender and add 4 cups of water.

Blend thoroughly.

Line a bowl with a piece of muslin or use a nut milk bag (if you have one you probably already know how to make this). Pour the contents of the blender into the lined bowl.

Strain out the milk.

Squeeze out as much milk as possible.

Looks good.

This is what is left over, I made cookies from the left over meal. They weren't very good so I won't share that recipe. Once I get it perfected I will post it.

Approximately 4 one cup servings

Just in case you were wondering

Carbs: 1.3 grams

Fat: 3 grams

Protein 1.3 grams

Fiber: .7 grams

Minerals: Manganese, Magnesium 

Walking The Talk

I love talking about eating good food and I enjoy teaching others how to do it. While the great majority of what I eat fits my definition of "good", I still eat some not so good items.

Well in the spirit of trying to identify all of the hurdles (or most of them) that occur when trying to eat "good" foods I have decided that I will try not eat anything that does not fit the criteria already established. Criteria: it has to be real (ie. chicken, not chicken nuggets, chicken flavored, etc...), it has to be unprocessed or minimally processed (ie. honey, maple syrup, oatmeal, brown rice, potatoes, not honey/maple flavored, flavored oatmeal cereal, white rice, potato chips, etc...). Maple syrup does receive processing, it is originally sap from a tree which has been boiled down into syrup, that is processing, but it is a far cry from maple-flavored pancake syrup. Please note that if I do use maple syrup, I probably don't use it more than 1-2 times per month and I won't use more than a tsp at a time, it is just about pure carbohydrate. Lastly, it has to be good for you, meaning nutritious, something that builds you up and not tear you down. Not a whole lot of criteria, but it is very encompassing.

Food is a very touchy subject, and without parameters I know I have the tendency to touch any and all of it, much to my detriment. I dearly want all of us to live an abundant life that our Lord speaks of in John 10:10. Too many of us are not living abundantly, but are being robbed of health and vitality by the choices that we make. I want to help in this area by providing a map, a road map to help you navigate through the minefield of bad food choices.

The Bible is full of food metaphors, Ps 34:8 says "Taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed are all who trust in Him". The Lord is good indeed, He has provided us with so much that is good for us and good to us. Let's choose what builds us up and turn our backs on what ever tears us down.