German Dinner and Coconut Strawberry Smoothies May 16, 2008

Tonight we ate:

Rocky Canyon Bratwurst with Dijon Mustard
Homemade Lacto-Fermented Sauerkraut
Kale Sauteed in Chicken Fat and Butter
Chicken Broth

For lunch Seth had some sliced turkey breast and avocado. He was still hungry after that (not enough fat, I told him), so I offered to make him a smoothie.

The man who said he hated coconut oil willingly and happily drank 2 tablespoons of coconut oil, plus a cup of coconut milk.

Here’s the recipe:

A couple of handfuls organic strawberries
8-10 ounces coconut milk
2 raw egg yolks (pastured, preferably)
2 TBS coconut oil
1 banana
1 TBS raw honey

Put everything in blender and mix.

The best think about the coconut oil and coconut milk — Seth said it really filled him up. He didn’t even eat all of his dinner.

Coconut is also really good for the thyroid.

I think I’m going to start giving him smoothies as often as possible. An easy way to get good fat into him.

I had the same smoothie, only I added 4 TBS of raw cream and I omitted the honey. It was sweet enough for me as is.

Container Gardening May 16, 2008

I’ve got to do some gardening today. My tomato plants are getting big and I need to move them. I also need to move all the herbs out of the garden and into containers — so I will have more room for vegetables.

I’m almost ready to move my seedlings out, too. I need room in that vegetable bed.

I figure I can put all the herbs in containers. As well as some other plants — like the strawberries.

I have about 20 feet along the wall where I could put these containers. And I could easily string some drip irrigation — rigged up from the hose. I could put that on a timer so it gets watered once or twice a day.

Problem is, I don’t have enough containers. I don’t want anything fancy. This is not for show — this is for food production.

I was thinking I could build some out of wood. But that’s a lot of work — and it can get expensive.

Maybe recycle some plastic containers. That is, if I had a bunch of plastic containers. Where does one find old plastic containers?

Let me know if you’ve got any ideas. I’m feeling stumped and I need to move on this.

Charting Temperatures May 16, 2008

The day before yesterday, I started charting our temperatures using the new Lumiscope thermometer.

You take your temperature every three hours — around 9, 12 and 3. Then you take the average of those 3 numbers.

Me
Wednesday: 97.7
Thursday: 97.9

Seth
Wednesday: 96.5
Thursday: 96.7

Then you chart it on an Excel spreadsheet I downloaded from Dr. Rind’s website. He explains it all on the site.

It’s not difficult. And this is really the only way you can accurately check your metabolic/endocrine function.

Obviously Seth and I are both still chronically low (hypothyroid). No wonder we can’t lose weight! And no wonder I had trouble making enough breast milk.

I do want to restart breastfeeding but it may be a while before I am capable. From what I understand, this process takes months. I will ask Dr. Flechas about it on Tuesday.

Thai Dinner May 16, 2008

I made Thai food last night!

Tom Kha Gai soup — made with fish or chicken stock, lemongrass, coconut milk, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, lime, and shrimp.

It was delicious — and very easy to make.

Instead of sugar, I used honey. And I didn’t have any red chili sauce so I used cayenne pepper. I used my frozen Thai snapper fish stock. I used wild-caught shrimp that I found at Whole Foods — already peeled and deveined. It took just a minute to boil it — then you just throw it in the soup, along with some shiitake mushrooms, which I got at the farmer’s market.

I used to grow lemongrass (grows like a weed here) but I don’t have any now. You can buy it in a jar, though. Same with the galangal — I found them both at Whole Foods. I have a lime tree but it’s not a kaffir… I wish I had more room for fruit trees!

Seth, who has told me on more than one occasion that he does not like coconut milk, said, “Is this coconut milk? I like coconut milk.”

I also made yellow curry chicken. I left out the potatoes since we can’t have that, and of course we didn’t have rice. I got the curry premade. They sell a good brand (no additives) at Surfas. All I had to do was carve a whole chicken, throw it in with the curry paste and a little water, and season with fish sauce.

I will post the recipes once I perfect them.