Beet Kvass

I made some more beet kvass recently after reading that after you strain out the beets the kvass (pictured above) can be stored for long periods of time in a cool dark place and gets better tasting with age, which is good because I never really liked the taste of beet kvass when I made it before. Here I only put it on the windowsill to get a good look at the color. It's now in the fridge getting better.

Kefir Grains

Up close and personal with my kefir grains. This is what they look like after they've been strained out of the kefir and rinsed off. Now they're ready to have more milk poured on top and then sit out at room temperature for a couple days. 

Kombuchahhhhh

Look! I bottled some kombucha. I've started using these Ikea bottles instead of the Grolsh bottles because they seem to allow enough air out, a little at a time, so that they don't explode when I open them a week later. But it's sealed enough that they can continue to get fizzy, which I like. 

Fish head = Flavor

Last night I made some lentils and baked some whole trout in the oven. Doesn't it seem like a fish head would add some flavor? Well it was pretty good.
I just got a whole trout and some French lentils from Zupan's, stuffed the trout with some lemon slices and sprinkled sea salt and olive oil in there, wrapped it in foil and baked at 350 til cooked through. The lentils I put in a pan with twice as much water, salt, celery, carrots, oyster mushrooms, bay leaf, fish head and parsley and boiled it, then simmered til done with a lid half-assedly on there, adding more water if it got dry. At the end I added some spinach and got rid of that fish head.

Incredible eggs

This is one scrambled egg! 

It's a double yolk!

This week I got some great eggs from my raw milk pickup location and they are delicious. And they are gigantic. And so far 4 out of 5 have been double yolks. WHOA!

How the hell did I get sick?

Since I came down with a cold I've been experimenting with lots of supposed healing liquids....

First I tried a couple recipes from a book called "Jude's Herbal Home Remedies" which is not endorsed by the WAPF or anything but I found it at Goodwill and it looked like fun. The first one involved simmering 1 1/2 quarts of water with 1/2 cup of rice in it and then drinking the water. Jude says to flavor it with vanilla and sugar or cinnamon. I added a bunch of cinnamon since another concoction of hers says cinnamon is a stimulant that makes you sweat, which sounded like a good idea. The drink tastes OK but I didn't notice any relief from my symptoms (or excessive sweating).

I also made a drink with ginger, honey and raisins that you strain and then add juice from lemons and oranges. That was really tasty and soothing. I think I put too much honey in though because it tasted SUPER sweet. I had a stomachache later on, but it also might have been from the movie theater popcorn when I went to go see "Notorious," which was really good.

Then I made some chicken stock with a leftover carcass I had frozen and a big bag of chicken feet I bought from Abundant Life Farm. Now that's something that Sally would approve of! When it cooled it was very gelatinous from the cartilage in the feet (gross!) but that's a good thing because gelatin is supposedly really good for you and has been used as a successful treatment for a host of ailments. It turned out really good and I made the BEST chicken noodle soup with some homemade egg noodles!

The way I made it was to put all the chicken parts in a giant pot with three carrots, an onion and a bunch of celery, all chopped, and simmered it six hours. I added a bunch of parsley (not chopped) to the pot 10 minutes away from the end. That all got strained and skimmed of fat. For the noodles I mixed about 1 cup flour with 1 beaten egg and formed a smooth ball, adding more flour if it got sticky. I rolled it real thin and cut it into strips and added those to the broth along with salt and pepper once it was back on the stove and boiling.

Beet kvass

This week I made some beet kvass. It's supposed to be very cleansing and have "a favorable effect on disturbed cellular function." The way to make it is you take 3 beets and peel and chop them coarsely then place them in a 2 quart jar with 1/4 cup whey* and a tablespoon of salt. Then you fill the jar with water, put a lid on it and leave it out for 2 days, then move to refrigerator for storage. You can reuse the beets once more after it's been drunk.

*You can make whey by taking some raw milk or whole-milk buttermilk and letting it sit at room temperature 1-2 days until it visibly separates into white curds and yellowish whey. Then, according to Nourishing Traditions, the curds can be strained through cheesecloth and left to drain until it stops dripping, resulting in cream cheese. I tried this a while ago and it didn't taste much like cream cheese. A lot more sour and a little disappointing. Whey, however, is supposed to be great for joint elasticity! And you can make a drink of it that is equal parts whey and water with a little lemon juice. I haven't tried it yet but I have a lemon sitting on my counter just waiting to be squeezed into some whey and water.