May 14, 2011
Fennel Soup
The original recipe (my version is as follows) can be found in the book Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon (check your local library!)
Half of the ingredients came from my garden (marked by *)
1 fennel bulb, with most of the greens*
4 small onions, with greens*
some Red Palm oil (enough to cover the bottom of the stock pot)
2-1/2 quarts beef stock
3 cloves of garlic*
6 medium red potatoes, cut in eighths
salt and pepper to taste
fennel fronds for garnish*
coconut cream (optional)
Cut the fennel into 1-2″ pieces and slice the onion. Cook them in the palm oil on medium heat. Add stock, bring to a boil and skim if there is substantial foam (I didn’t have any). Add potatoes and garlic. Simmer covered until the potatoes are soft, about 1/2 hour.
Puree soup in Vita-Mix (or hand-held blender). Season to taste and garnish with fennel fronds. Serve with cream.
January 31, 2011
Vita-mix pesto
I originally learned to make pesto using the recipe in the Vita-mix cookbook (a Vita-mix is I high-power blender, seen in the picture above). I read more about it in a book titled Pesto, and found that it’s not a science in the least. So now I make it like this…
1-2 cups of herbs – whatever is available! Basil is thought of first, parsley is a good filler, use about 1/4 cup with basil. I’ve used a mixture of Cilantro and Parsley, and my sister’s favorite is basil with a couple Tablespoons of Rosemary. You can also add other greens (lettuce, chard, etc) as filler, particularly when using very strong tasting herbs that need to be mellowed (cilantro, Rosemary, etc.) Oregano is a wonderful addition to Basil pesto.
1 cup of nuts. Pine nuts are traditional, and work best because of their high oil content. Walnuts (my personal favorite) are a close second for the same reason. You can also use pecans, almonds, or any other nuts, really. Just be aware that ‘crispy nuts’ (roasted or Nourishing Traditions recipe) will be chunky, rather than adding to the creaminess of the sauce.
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese or sesame seeds. The seeds are a great substitute for Parmesan cheese (ground in a coffee grinder, you can use it just like the powdered cheese – for pesto, you can use whole seeds). The only difference we’ve noticed in the pesto is that when we use real cheese, we don’t add as much salt as we do with the seeds.
Garlic to taste! The batch pictured above uses 3-4 cloves of a native variety. It was SO good!
A couple Tablespoons of lemon juice (optional because I often forget!)
Place all of the above ingredients into the Vita-mix, roughly in order (greens first, nuts next, everything else after that). Pour olive oil over that until you can see that it’s made it way to the bottom (about 1/2 cup, maybe?). Put the black part of the lid on, leaving off the clear part so you can continue to add oil. Start the Vita-mix on Variable 1 and slowly turn up to about five. Add olive oil as needed to keep things moving. When it’s moving nicely, you can stop adding for a thicker consistency, but I usually add more if we’re not planning on using it as a spread (thinner is better for uses like pasta sauce). Continue blending on a medium Variable speed until it looks good to you! (some people like it creamier than others).
July 28, 2010
Mom and Dad’s date~fruit and vegetable platter
Semi-straightforward, but a creative way to serve fresh fruits and vegetables nonetheless! a fancy arrangement is perfect for datenight, but children also love more whimsical “pictures” (try making a clown face or flower garden!).
May 6, 2010
Sourdough Cinnamon bread
I usually do this right before bed, then bake it in the morning so it’s fresh for breakfast.
Begin with a basic batch of bread dough, at which point it would be ready to be formed into a loaf.
Wet your hands and the countertop any time the dough starts sticking to them.
Begin to flatten the dough, using you hands.
Flip the dough over and continue to flatten and stretch the dough into a squarish shape.
Keep flipping, flattening and stretching the dough until it’s about 1/4″ thick. Flipping periodically seems to help keep the dough smooth and without holes.
Cover the dough with a layer of honey to taste (I put as thin a layer as possible without tearing the dough badly), leaving about an inch of the edge farthest from you “clean”.
Sprinkle cinnamon (lots!) over the honey.
Gently roll the dough away from you little by little. Take your time!
Seal the roll with the inch of clean dough that you left and quickly and carefully transfer it to the pan.
Ta da! 
This is what it looks like in the morning after rising all night.
Caring for your sourdough starter
The Basics:
Feed your starter 7-24 hours before you want to use it to make bread. This activates the bacteria. You can also feed your sourdough just to keep it healthy if you don’t make bread often. It’s a good idea to feed it at least once a week. If you leave it alone longer, just be sure to feed it twice before making it, allowing 7-24 hours between feedings. Starters have been known to last 3 months or more without being fed, so long as they receive a little TLC when being “brought back”.
Generally, you’ll want to feed the sourdough this way:
one part starter
one part flour
one part water
Depending on the type of flour you’re using, the amount of time since you fed last, and other variables, these measurements may be off. You can also feed the sourdough with much less flour, especially if your starter is getting too large. Just add the amount of flour you’d like to the starter, stir it in a bit and add water to make it the consistency of pancake batter.
Some things to remember
*Don’t over-feed your starter (if you have 1 cup of starter, never add more than 1 cup of flour)
*keep your starter soupy–it should look like pancake batter
*be gentle–if you over-stir your starter it will get to glutenous and elastic
*the starter will naturally separate and may turn any shade of brown or black. This is normal. If it turns pink, though, you have bad bacteria. It’s a good idea to dispose of pink starter altogether, though some say it’s possible to use a bit of the bad stuff to start a new batch of good stuff.
*again, black’s ok, pink, not so much.
Please comment and let me know if this is clear. I’d be more than happy to answer any questions! If you know something about sourdough starter that I haven’t mentioned, please comment–I might just edit it into this post (with due thanks, of course)!
Jordan
riahjoy
