Bangers, Mash, and a Baby Leprechaun

Well, I guess St. Patty's Day is officially over... we just had leftover Bangers and Mash with eggs for breakfast; yum. I love March 17th every year because it is a joyful challenge for me to find something green in my wardrobe. Emilou didn't have a problem with that! She was a little leprechaun for the day. Our "Bangers" went POP! and BANG! on the grill last night; one of the first days of Daylight Savings, we pretended it was summer. But of course we drank a good dark beer! And we actually had a happy baby for at least half of dinner, yes.

March 17 Menu:
BBQed Bangers (pork sausage)
Mash (mashed potatoes with plenty of butter)
Sauted green cabbage
Grilled onions
Served with Murphy's stout

Too bad Emily doesn't eat solid foods yet...

Successful First-Attempts

Well, it seems that it has been a while since I've written! I have been busy cooking!

When I was working it was not unusual for us to have crock-pot soups more than once a week, easy meals for working people. But now that I am very pregnant and have a lot of beautiful time on my hands, I have been venturing into new worlds of new recipes...

I have had four very successful first-attempts in the past month!

1~ Potato skins with cheddar cheese and bacon
The Joy of Cooking has a great recipe for these. It took me two whole years of serving these at the restaurant I worked at before I made them myself. They always looked appetizing, but I was turned away by the fact that they were deep-fried twice and microwaved once before being served. No thanks! We were in for a delicious surprise when I finally made them.

2~ Meatloaf
I can't say this word without thinking of The Brady Bunch! But seriously, it is really good and a very economical dish for a crowd of people. (Nourishing Traditions recipe). Toby says yes to leftover meatloaf sandwiches. Next time I am going to make chile with the leftovers.

3~ Eggplant Parmigiana
Okay, so this picture is not too great, but the dish sure was. Again, I got the recipe from the The Joy of Cooking. Eggplants were from the farmer's market- yum!

4~ Stuffed Peppers
Thanks to Matt and Dulcie for the garden-peppers. They were stuffed with ground beef, rice, onion, chicken stock, spices, pine nuts, and topped with cheese- You really can't go wrong! A successful Nourishing Traditions recipe.

Maybe next time I will venture into a new cookbook!! I just can't seem to get enough of those two.

Baby Weinert is a lucky one! So is Toby.

Happy Experimenting!

i love summer. . .

Blackberry pie

BBQ's in the backyard

Beaches

Bo-Bo's in the sun

Happy Summer

Well hello. I knew it had been a long time since I'd done a post; however, I did not realize it had been 4 whole months. !! Needless to say, I've been busy nourishing away...

Look at what I've been nourishing for the past 7 months!

A baby in my belly

Along with a baby comes the natural desire to make a nest for me and my husband. Check out the cool blanket I sewed for our (huge) bed. (8' x 8' feet!) I have never sewed more than a simple pillowcase; this was a huge adventure for me!-- It worked!

Painting was done in the beginning of summer... We both sure love to swim

Hopefully I will post again soon!

Happy Summer!

How to make Kombucha

People are always asking me how to make kombucha... I have written out the directions on random scraps of paper just one-too-many-times! Finally, I realized I should post it on my blog. Easy as that!

What you will need:
-12 cups water
-1 cup white sugar
-4 black tea bags (preferably organic; non-organic is high in flouride)
-1/2 cup kombucha liquid (from previous batch or store-bought)
-1 kombucha "mama"
- big glass bowl with wide opening (do not wash bowl with soap, just hot water and white vinegar if needed).
-masking tape
-a cloth towel

Note: BLACK tea and WHITE sugar give the highest amount of glucuronic acid (potent detoxifying substance). Remember that the fermentation "eats up" all of the tea and sugar, so it's nothing like drinking a sweetened iced tea!

Directions:
-Boil water. Dissolve sugar.

-Add tea bags. Let cool (until pretty cool), then remove tea bags.

-Add 1/2 cup kombucha liquid and mama. When you place the mama in the bowl of liquid, it will float to the middle/bottom; that's fine.

-Place tape in a criss-cross over top of bowl, then place cloth over that.

-Let set (out of fridge and sun) for 7-10 days. You will know the kombcuha is ready when it doesn't taste sweet anymore. It will be sour (sometimes even fizzy) with no taste of tea.

-Pour it into bottles. I use old Grolsch or Fischer beer bottles (they have the wire-held-cork-tops which help with the carbonation, unlike jars).

-This is when you can flavor your kombucha, which is really fun to experiment with. Add chopped up fruit or juice (you don't need much of either).

-Leave out of fridge for 3-5 days, to let it get fizzy/ carbonated.

-Store it in the fridge until you drink it, otherwise it will become too carbonated.

-Enjoy this easy and fun adventure of kombucha making!

filmjolk!

filmjolk
and
fresh raw milk

I have discovered a new food!!

An absolutely wonderful thing called filmjolk (there is supposed to be an umlaut over the "o"). It is a Swedish sour milk, sometimes referred to as "fils milk." I made it this week, the same way I make yogurt- see my blog post from August 29, 2009.

The reason I love it so much is because it is like yogurt (in that it is fermented/cultured and therefore full of good bacteria and enzymes, and it's super easy to digest- unlike straight milk for some people), but it is not sour at all! -I am used to pretty sour tasting yogurt right now, because I always seem to add too much culture when I'm making my yogurt!

I will tell the story of how I got this filmjolk culture:
Last Saturday morning my mom and I went over to La Selva Beach, just south of Santa Cruz, to the home of a very sweet family (I only remember the women's name, Ellen). Their 2-acre backyard is filled with vegi's, fruit trees, chickens, and a cow named Ginger -Right in the heart of La Selva Beach! It was SO beautiful to see.

We were there to pick up 3-1/2 gallons of raw milk, fresh from Ginger that morning. We also delighted in sampling some of Ellen's raw cheeses (mainly cheddar and blue). On our way out the door Ellen handed us a jar of her fils milk. What a gift we were receiving! Now I want to try more fermented milks, like laban from the Middle East, koumiss from Russia, or dahi from India. Filmjolk is just the beginning for me. . .

Here's to exploring foods which are unfamiliar to us!

Isn't food beautiful?

1- Two new sauerkrauts: Green cabbage with carrot and jalepeno; Purple and green cabbage with carrot, garlic, and crushed red pepper. (+ salt + whey)

2- My most successful loaf of San Francisco Sourdough... although it still won't rise enough!

3- Dinner One- Baked chicken with rosemary and garlic, brussel sprouts fried in onion and butter, mashed rutabegas with butter

4- Dinner Two- Roasted sweet potato, carrot, beets, and garlic, black beans and buttery quinoa, green salad with parsley and dandelion greens

5- Dinner Three- Not pictured but worth mentioning: Lamb tongue with pink beans, red and white quinoa with butter, vegi stir-fry with lots of garlic!