kefir bread

Yesterday I discovered that you can make bread with kefir! So I mixed some unbleached white flour with enough kefir to make a doughy ball, added salt and kneaded til it was an elastic ball. Then I left it in a bowl covered with plastic wrap all night and most of today. The cultures in the dough made it rise like yeast bread. Tonight I made some coconut chicken soup but before that I formed the dough into naan-style flat rounds and let them proof on a baking sheet covered in plastic wrap. They cooked up pretty nice at 400 degrees in about 15 minutes, although it tasted nothing like naan. More like some kind of sourdough flatbread, but pretty good! Maybe next time I'll see if it will bake nicely in loaf form...

Yam Pie is good

Yam pie turned out pretty good despite my initial doubts about its ability to invert onto a plate.

I used some sushi rice that I had in the cupboard even though the recipe I based this off of said to use regular white rice AND even though neither types of refined rice are really endorsed by the WAPF. But you could make it with brown rice no prob.

Here's the recipe:

2 T. olive oil, divided
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 leek, diced and soaked in water 5 min.
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups rice
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted
2 t. tumeric
2 t. cumin
salt and pepper
1 yam, sliced into 1/4-inch slices

Heat oil in an oven-proof pan, add red pepper, leeks and garlic and cook 2 min. Add rice, almonds, spices, cook 1 min. Transfer to a bowl. Heat remaining olive oil in the same pan, layer sweet potato slices in concentric circles. Spoon rice mixture on top of that. Pour 4 1/2 cups boiling water over it. Bake 20 minutes at 350, covered. Bake another 10 minutes uncovered. Let sit 15 minutes. Invert onto a plate (it will happen!).

I served it with...

Purple cabbage cooked in bacon fat!

This was easy and delicious AND pretty. First I cooked some nice Carlton Farm bacon in the pan and left the fat in there. Then I sauteed some shredded cabbage and sliced green onions, adding salt, pepper, dried oregano and lime juice as it cooked. Then I sprinkled the cooked bacon on top right before eating it. Soooooo good.

Kefir in a cup!

This is what I usually have for breakfast: kefir in a cup! Along with some buttery toast. Right now I've got "Killer Dave's" flourless sprouted wheat bread in the freezer. It keeps longer in there and toasts up just the same as not-frozen bread. The butter I like to use is the only one I've been able to find at any grocery store that's from pasture-fed cows: Organic Valley "Pasture Butter."

SOOooooup

Right now I'm working on some simple soup made with chicken stock I had in the freezer, carrots and cabbage. Not much to it but it sounded good and I didn't feel like going to the store for more ingredients. I've been keeping frozen chicken stock in cube form (freezing it in ice cube trays first) for when I need just a little. Good idea! I'm sure Martha Stewart or someone came up with that one first. Along with the soup I'm making some tuna melts with fancy Italian tuna packed in olive oil and raw milk cheddar. Plus I have some fermented pickles ready!

bone marrow dinner

This dinner is going to be so good I have to write about it right now!

-Roasted beets chopped and tossed with parsley, ricotta salata, toasted pine nuts, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper

-Roasted bone marrow on some toasted buttered baguette

is this yogurt?

I ordered some chicken hearts, livers, feet and smoked pig jowels from Abundant Life farm today. YUM!! Picking it up next Tuesday. Finally decided to take care of that milk that's supposed to have separated but never did. It was more like yogurt. It actually tastes pretty good so I strained it and put it in the fridge and I'll guess I'll be having yogurt for the next couple days.

Been eating out the last couple of days: Wong's King (best Chinese food in Portland!) on Monday, Beaulaland (local organic beef!) on Tuesday and Cassidy's (best late night happy hour!) on Wednesday, where I had chicken fried pork belly with polenta after the Blazer's game.

Tonight I made some coconut curry noodle soup with the last of a batch of pork stock I made last week. I just added some canned curry paste and coconut milk along with some vegetables. Good shit!

Higgins bar

Went with Mom to Higgins' bar last night for dinner and had some of their delicious pate terrine! Pretty reasonable prices considering how good their food is.