Whole Foods Friday - Sweet Roasted Corn Salad

This is the perfect summer salad - from my sister over at Whole Foods on a Budget.  So, hop on over to her blog and check out this easy, yummy summer salad recipe!

Orange-aid in the Pickl-it Part 2

This orange-aid came out delicious and took just 36 hours to brew.  I now have it in the fridge to enjoy over the next week.  I do recommend taking it in small doses with food to start with if your body is not familiar with this form of probiotic.

But this is a great way to enjoy orange "soda" naturally!  It does get tart over time, so you can always add 1/2-1 cup of sucanat to the jar for a sweeter soda.  

See the full recipe HERE.

Cultured Monday! Orange-ade in the Pickl-it!

We have had an over abundance of oranges the past few weeks, so I decided to mix up another batch of cultured orange-aide, but this time in my pickl-it jar.  I'm so curious to see how this comes out and will be sure to post up dates!

When using the pickl-it jars, you do not have to use whey as a starter.  Most ferments are just the item to be fermented and a salt brine.  This is because the pickl-it has a special air-lock to help keep the ferment anaerobic.

I was not sure about not putting any starter in my orange-aid, so I use about 1/4 cup of the liquid from my cultured white peaches.  I'm sure that will get things culturing just great!

My cultured orange-aide:

*2 1/2 cups fresh squeezed orange juice
*1 cup sucant
*1/3 cup starter from cultured white peach
*1 gallon of water

Place all in a 5L pickl-it jar.  Allow to sit for 1-3 days.  The longer it sits, the tarter and stronger it will get.

Mine must have risen a lot during the night!  It is bubbling away this morning.  This is after about 18 hours of fermentation time.

(Featured on the Healthy Home Economist, Homestead Revival, GNOWFLGINS, The Nourishing Gourmet, Food Renegade)

Whole Foods Friday - Homemade Cherry Vanilla Pops

*3 cups pitted cherries (fresh or frozen)

*2 cups whole milk yogurt

*1-2 T raw honey

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.  Pour into popsicle molds.  This should make more than one batch, depending on the size of your molds.

Stainless Steel Popsicle Mold

It's summer!!!  And, time to introduce my 2 year old son to some homemade popsicles.  I found this popsicle maker on amazon and am fairly please with it.  The one draw back is that you still have to use wooden popsicle sticks, as it does not come with it's own sticks (as the picture on amazon makes it appear to).

But, it's a better option than using plastic molds and I am hoping to get lots of enjoyment out of the set.  Be sure to check back tomorrow for my cherry vanilla popsicle recipe!

What kind of popsicle molds do you use in your home?

Sneak Peak For Cookbook Release Later This Year...

My sister Christy, over at Whole Foods on a Budget, and I will be releasing a cookbook later this year. We are currently in the midst of the photo shoot for the project and are excited to share this sneak peak with you!  Please take a moment to hop over to Whole Foods on a Budget to read more!

An Excellent Cherry Pitter

Yup it's summer!  And one thing we love in this house is cherries!  I love cherries, but I usually dread the thought of de-pitting my cherries.  In the past it has been a painfully slow and messy job and has deterred me from buying all the cherries I would like to buy.

But, a few weeks ago, I was thumbing through the Lehman's Catalog (love all the fun things in there!) and found this cherry pitter.  At first, I was a bit put off by the price, but finally decided to order it and give it a try.

I'm so glad that I did!  I was able to whip through a few pounds of cherries in no time.  It did take a little getting used to, and it was a little loud, but it worked quite well.  By the end, I was able to just pour the cherries into the hopper rather than doing them one at a time.  It also has a decent splash guard so my area was kept quite clean.   And NO PINK HANDS!  Yay!

As far as I could tell, it got all the pits out.  I have not yet eaten all the cherries I pitted, but the ones that I sampled were pit free.

**UPDATE - There were a few missed pits; 2 that I found in about 3 pounds of cherries.  I'm still happy with the pitter.  Even professionally pitted cherries end up with a few pits, so this pitter is a keeper for me.**

(Featured on GNOWFGLINS, The Nourishing Gourmet)

Cultured Mondays - Cucumber Pickles with Garlic

It's Cultured Mondays again!  What do you have fermenting in your home today?  I love using all my fermented items as condiments and snacks throughout the day.  Right now we are enjoying my cultured carrots, zucchini and radish pickles, green beans, and white peaches.

Today I have my cucumber pickles culturing.  I loosely followed Wardeh Hammond's recipe in The Complete Idiot's Guide to Fermenting Foods.  I did not follow the exact measurements, but just used what I had on hand.

I added a bunch of pickling cucumbers (and 2 large cucumbers cut into chunks), 1 head of garlic (cloves smashed a little), 1/2 tsp of black tea leaves, 1 large bunch of dill, and a 3.5% salt brine to my new 5L pickl-it jar.  I'm going to let these brew 3-7 days and see how I like them!  As you can see, even with the glass weights, I still have a few floaters, but I'm not too worried since they are in a pickl-it jar.

(Featured on Healthy Home Economist, The Homestead Revival)

Whole Foods Friday - Our Breakfast Menu

Before I start this post, I want to be clear:  I LOVE my grains!  We eat all kinds in this house; soft wheat, kamut, spelt, rye, barley, teff, amaranth, and oats.  But, I have been wanting to cut back a little on our grain consumption, so I came up with a Monday-Friday grain free breakfast Menu.

It's really easy!

Monday, Wednesday, Friday, we have breakfast shakes.  I put all kinds of things in our shakes.  Here are some ideas:

*yogurt
*raw milk
*EFA oil blend
*green's mix (mine includes alfalfa, wheat grass, beet root, spirulina, cholorella, and spinach)
*bananas
*strawberries
*blueberries
*apricots
*raspberries
*colostrum powder (when we are under the weather)
*whey protein
*avacado
*chia seeds
*pumpkin seeds
*sunflower seeds
*cultured fruits I have made
*cultured ginger root
*lettuce or other salad greens
*coconut milk
*coconut concentrate
*coco powder
*Sealogica

It's really amazing what you can hide in a shake.  My toddler eats them with us and it's a great way to get some super nutrition into him.

Tuesdays and Thursdays are my omelette days.  I like to add various veggies to our eggs such as onion, swiss chard, zucchini, and mushrooms.  Sometimes I will add cheese and some turkey bacon or chicken sausage.

Saturday and Sunday are our grain breakfasts.  I love making pancakes, or sourdough breakfast cake, or fruit cobblers.  They are perfect for the weekends.

I would love to hear any other grain free breakfast ideas!

Edible Playdough

I had my first attempt at making play-dough for my 2 year old recently.  In my spare time (yeah, right!), I have had a few seconds to look for non-toxic play-dough. There are a few out there, but they are so expensive, so I decided to make my own edible version.  It came out well, but, I would like to find a recipe down the road that is not so sweet.  Here is what I did:

*1 1/2 -2 cups of peanut butter (smooth)
*2 cups powdered sugar
*1/2-3/4 cup honey

Mix the three ingredients together in a bowl.  I have ranges because not all peanut butter and honey has the same consistency.  Start with the smaller measurements, then add more as needed until you reach the desire consistency.

My son had a ball playing with his play-dough.  I pulled out all kinds of cookie cutters, pie crust cutters, and some springerle cookie molds (you can read more about these HERE.)

These are from William Sonoma and are the best!

Some Springerle forms I have

Do any of you have a version that is not so sweet or any other fun edible play-dough recipe?

Sealogica on Sale!!

Due to some legalities, I am not able to do free samples, but I have had so much interest, that I am offering a steep discount for those who want to try a bottle or three pack.

I have the sale price posted and it will last until midnight on Friday, the 15th.  You can order with paypal and the buy now button is just to the right.

Sale ends Friday, so this is a great time to try this amazing product!!

Sealogica Free Samples

I have been quite excited at all the interest in Sealogica.  I am thrilled to have the opportunity to offer this raw, whole food, which is an excellent source of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and so much more!

If I have enough interest, I am going to offer free samples with a small shipping fee.  So, if you are interested in trying Sealogica, please leave a comment in the next few days, as I will be making a decision by the end of the week.

Thank you!