Salmon Croquettes with Coconut Mayonnaise July 15, 2008

This is a meal I highly recommend. Seth and I both loved it.

It’s not super quick to prepare (you have to chop various things, although the food processor does help some) but it’s very nutritious and not expensive to make since you’re using canned salmon, which is cheaper than fresh or frozen salmon.

Just be sure you are using WILD salmon. Not farmed! Alaskan salmon is wild, so if it says Alaskan, you can be sure it is wild.

For the homemade NT mayonnaise, I used the flavorless expeller-pressed coconut oil from Wilderness Family Naturals — not quite as good as raw, but you can’t taste the coconut oil at all.

This recipe is modified from a recipe in the New Basics cookbook.

1 can (about 15 ounces) wild salmon
3/4 cup dried (or toasted) bread crumbs (I stuck 4 pieces of frozen sprouted bread into the toaster oven — then pulsed them in the food processor)
1/2 cup homemade mayonnaise (I used the recipe for mayonnaise in Nourishing Traditions, only I substituted coconut oil for half of the olive oil)
1/2 cup chopped onion (about 1/2 of a large yellow or white onion)
1/4 cup minced yellow bell pepper (you can use red or orange bell pepper too — it’s about 1/2 of a medium sized bell pepper — I cut it up into big pieces then pulsed it in the food processor)
1/4 cup minced celery (about 1 stalk — cut into pieces and then pulse in food processor)
1/4 cup fresh parsley (I grow this so it was easy to get — just pulse in food processor)
1 egg (I used 1 egg plus one egg yolk — I figured, why not?)
2 tsp grated lemon zest (I didn’t have enough on hand so I used 1 tsp — still came out fine)
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce (you can get an organic additive-free variety at Whole Foods — I think it’s made by Annie’s)
6 drops of Tabasco (I forgot to put this in — still came out fine)
1/4 tsp salt (sea salt)
1/4 cup macadamia oil (found this at Whole Foods)
Extra coconut mayonnaise to serve

OK, yeah, that’s a lot of ingredients. Make the mayo ahead of time. Then chop/pulse all your various things (onion, celery, pepper, etc.) and set them out mise en place. Get your breadcrumbs all ready too (I toasted mine in my toaster oven — worked great!).

1. In a mixing bowl, combine half the salmon with 1/2 cup of the bread crumbs, along with all the other ingredients (except for the macadamia oil and the mayo to serve).

2. Mix it together with your hands and then mix in the rest of the salmon. Shape into patties that fit in the palm of your hand.

3. Roll the patties in the rest of the breadcrumbs. Set on a plate.

4. Heat 1/4 cup of macadamia oil in a cast iron skillet on medium heat. Cook the patties 3-4 minutes on each side, until brown and crispy.

5. Serve with coconut mayonnaise.

I found that they were not quite salty enough so I added some sea salt.

Serves 4, according to New Basics, but I kind of screwed up and some of my patties fell apart — so this recipe only served two.

Oh, and here’s a tip — cook only 4 patties at a time. Or fewer if you are using a small skillet. Add more oil as needed.

Otherwise your patties will be too close together and what happened to me will happen to you — they’ll break into a million pieces — no fun!.

Delicious with a green salad (we had red leaf lettuce from my garden, plus purslane, some sprouted mung beans and lentils, and chopped tomatoes, with red wine vinaigrette).

Baked Beans for Dinner July 6, 2008

Kate’s dinner: Leftover baked beans mixed with some organic grass-fed beef and beef liver.

I modifed the Nourishing Traditions baked beans recipe. I soaked the beans for 48 hours (just because I was busy and didn’t have time to make them sooner). I used chicken fat instead of butter and olive oil — just because that’s what I had on hand. Instead of water, I used homemade chicken stock to make the beans more nutrient dense. And I added ham hocks for extra flavor and nutrition.

She would have loved some sauerkraut with this dish — but I’m fresh out. I have a couple of quarts fermenting in the cupboard. I need to make more pickles soon, too. Kate loves pickles.

Pickled Purslane July 1, 2008

I was looking around the web for a recipe for purslane salad. I found purslane at the farmer’s market on Saturday and we have not gotten around to eating it yet — I want to make a salad tonight before it goes bad. I’m also serving grilled salmon and artichokes with melted butter.

Anyway, I happened to come across this recipe, which I think looks really yummy!

Of course, I would not make the recipe this way — I would use whey and sea salt, just like we make Nourishing Traditions dill pickles. I think I will try it. They’ve got to be super-nutritious. I’ll post my results and modified recipe.

Pickled Purslane

(from Joy of Pickling, by Linda Ziedrich)

1/2 lb. purslane stalks, cut to fit vertically in a pint jar
1 dill head
1 small fresh or dried chile pepper, split lengthwise (optional)
10 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
10 Tbsp. water
1 1/2 tsp. pickling salt
1 garlic clove, sliced
4 black peppercorns

Pack the purslane stalks vertically in a pint jar, slipping the dill head and chile pepper down the
side. In a nonreactive saucepan, bring to a boil the vinegar, water, salt, garlic, and peppercorns,
stirring to dissolve the salt. Pour the hot liquid over the purslane. Cover the jar with a
nonreactive cap.

Store the jar in the refrigerator for 1 week before eating the purslane. It will keep, refrigerated, for several months or longer. Yields 1 pint.

Photo credit

Potato Cheese May 31, 2008

It’s funny — when you’re single, sitting at home on a Saturday night is the worst thing you can imagine. And then you become a mom. And you’re always doing doing doing for everyone else. And the idea of having some time to yourself is so fabulous, you don’t care what night it is.

Seth announced that he had to go out to a business thing and I got so excited that I was going to get to stay home, put my feet up, and do my own thing. I don’t even have to cook dinner! I can eat cheese and some almond bread if I get hungry.

So I got Kate down (so easy, she goes down every night and every nap with no crying, no fussing) then I did the dishes, cleaned the kitchen, and watered my seedlings. Then I poured a glass of wine, dimmed the lights, and am now happily watching Oprah and House Hunters and Martha Stewart and Iron Chef America.

I’m also making “Potato Cheese”, a fermented potato dish (for Kate — we can’t eat potatoes on GAPS). I don’t like the name. Hopefully the recipe comes out better than the name.

I really like to try to serve fermented foods to Kate at at least one meal a day. Ideally, it would be every meal… but once a day is great. If I do more than that, all the better. She really loves sauerkraut and kefir and fermented yams and homemade lacto-fermented ketchup and dill pickles. Today she had some dill pickle relish in her tunafish for lunch, and this evening she had fermented yams with liver and ground beef stew for dinner.

Anyway, I got the Potato Cheese recipe from Nourishing Traditions. Well, it’s in Nourishing Traditions, but it was originally published in 1833, in a book called The American Frugal Housewife.

You cook 4 pounds of potatoes (I baked mine), then peel them, then throw them in the food processor with 2 cups of kefir or piima milk (I’m using kefir). Let that sit out at room temperature in a bowl (covered with a dish towel) for 2 days. Then you strain it the same way you do when you strain the whey when making cheese. When done, transfer to an airtight container and put it in the fridge.

I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Fermented Yams May 22, 2008

A few of you have asked for this so here you go!

This recipe is from the Fermented Taro Root (also known as Poi) recipe in “Nourishing Traditions”. I couldn’t find taro root so I used yams. This makes a very yummy and super-nutritious baby food. It’s also really good as a side dish.

2 pounds yams (or sweet potatoes)
1 TBS sea salt
4 TBS whey (homemade whey from raw milk or yogurt — recipe on page 87 of “Nourishing Tradtions”)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Stab the yams with a fork. Stick them in the oven and bake for 2 hours or until soft. Let cool, then peel and mash with salt and whey (a sauerkraut pounder or meat tenderizer works great). Leave this mixture in a bowl and leave out at room temperature, covered with a dishtowel, for 24 hours. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Beet Greens for Lunch May 13, 2008

Kate and I just had the yummiest lunch! It’s fun now because we can eat together (she’s eating finger foods instead of purees — and she can eat pretty much everything — of course, we’re not eating any grains yet).

Anyway, I put some bacon grease in a pan, then threw in some of the leftover Chicken Cacciatore with the chicken stock and tomato sauce. I also tore up some beet greens from the garden. I thickened up the sauce with a little arrowroot, and we ate it. It was even better with the bacon grease and beet greens! Really delicious. I served it with the purple sauerkraut and goat yogurt cream cheese. We had cantaloupe for dessert.

I also just got the best call from my sister in Seattle.

Some background: She got her family on raw milk over the Christmas holidays. After she grilled me about it (”What’s this obsession you have with raw milk?”) and I gave her the summary of “The Untold Story of Milk” by Dr. Ron Schmid. (If you haven’t read that book, do so. It’s fantastic.) They now get raw milk delivered from a local farm. They also joined a local CSA for organic produce.

Then she read “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” a few weeks ago and decided that she wanted to buy half a cow. She told me she wanted to get her family off of all “CAFOs” (she pronounces it “kay-fos” — like “queso” with an F). CAFO stands for Confined Animal Feeding Operation.

Today she called and told me that she’s reading “Animal Vegetable Miracle”. She just got back from a trip to my mother’s in Dallas (related to our family emergency). She said she was so struck by how fake everything was — the tract homes and the fake food and the CAFO meat and milk everywhere. And Wal-Mart and McDonalds and malls full of clothes made by kids in sweatshops in third world countries. She said, “Everyone’s so alone and cut off.”

She said she got home from the trip and her husband had bought a new 42″ screen TV. They had discussed getting it before, and she had agreed to it. But when she stepped off the plane and saw that thing and the kids sitting in front of it eating their dinner (as they do every night), that was the last straw.

“That’s it,” she said. “No more TV with dinner. We’re doing family meals from now on.”

“Whoa,” I breathed. This from my sister who works 12-hour days and generally does not get home from work until 8 or 9 pm.

“Yep,” she said. “That’s it. We’re going to eat together every night. I can make some lentils and salmon and grow some vegetables in the garden. Actually before I left for this trip, the girls and I did all the planting — our spring vegetable garden is in.”

She then said something that really blew me away. She said that she’s decided that she wants to move her family to a farm and grow her own food. She wants to raise her kids in a way that is more aligned with nature. She doesn’t like the values her girls are growing up with. She wants a chance to give them a better “imprint” before they grow up and leave the nest.

She said (I’m paraphrasing), “I’m tired of all the fake shit. I want real food and a real life.”

This, from my sister. An executive at a major multinational corporation.

I almost squealed with delight. “Me too! Me too! Me too!” (Or as Seth, says, in a low Old Man River voice, “MEEEEEEEEEEEE TOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.”

I said, “Let’s do it together!”

She said, “Okay. I’ve been looking at properties. I just found two 10-acre parcels right next to each other.” She said her husband already told her he’d be willing to do it.

I said, “Now you know why I keep talking about wanting a farm with some chickens.”

She said, “I get it.”

Seth said he would be willing to do it, too. He doesn’t understand it — but he’s willing if it would make me happy. My sister said, “Make him read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle!”

She asked me what to do to help her kids eat healthier. I am going to order her a copy of “Nourishing Traditions” today.

She said her husband is going out of town for the weekend to go on a trip with friends. She said, “While he’s gone, I’m going through that kitchen and I’m going to get rid of all the CAFOs and processed fake food.”

It’s amazing how ideas from books and blogs and people can spread — isn’t it incredible how we impact each other so deeply? Funny thing is, it was my mom who first read “Animal Vegetable Miracle” last summer. Then I read it, now my sister.

How amazing would it be to live next to my sister and her family? How amazing would it be for the cousins to grow up as neighbors? Instead of having to fly a few times a year to see each other?

You know what I think? I think it is this family crisis that is bringing us closer together. It used to be that families — extended families — lived just down the road. You watched each other’s kids, looked out for each other when you were sick or going through a tough time. Now we are all so spread out and so cut off, like my sister said.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Why live far apart when we don’t have to?

I love my sister so much. She is truly one of the most amazing people I know. She’s intelligent and driven. But it’s more than that. She traveled all over Europe on her own, then got a PhD, built an award-winning modern home, had kids, became a successful executive, taught herself gourmet cooking. She can figure anything out — and when she decides to do something, she just does it. I love that in a person.

And I love and admire her.

I am so happy right now. And so excited for the future.

Gotta go do some things — need to wash dishes and shower and water my seedlings and figure out what I’m going to make for dinner — before Kate wakes up from her nap!

GAPS Diet: Day 15 May 11, 2008

I have been reading through the papers Dr. Cowan gave us, and reading the GAPS book.

It says that we can eat squash. So I’m going to pick up some at the market — a good substitute for potatoes or pasta. It says that we can eat lentils and white navy beans — but not in the beginning. I think we will wait a while on that.

It says that you can move through the stages as quickly as you are able to. Seth and I have stopped having diarrhea. And Seth says he is not feeling any gut pain.

So I think we are ready to progress to the next stage.

I am going to start giving Seth kefir — a tiny bit to start and more each day. I want him to get to the point where he can drink a few glasses a day. I’m also going to give him some clarified butter this week and see how he does with that. Dr. Campbell McBride says that it is very digestible for most people.

We’ll see how that goes. I’ll give him a little Hollandaise sauce with his eggs — see if he has any reactions.

After the clarified butter, we’ll try regular butter. If he is OK with that, we’ll wait a few days and then try a little cheddar cheese and see how he reacts.

I asked him and he thinks he will do OK with butter and small amounts of cheese. He also thinks he does OK on kefir. He just can’t do milk or cream. I guess in time he will be able to drink milk and cream — but it could be a while.

We can also see how he does with some of the nut butters and ground nut flours. We can see how he reacts to peanut butter (homemade) and also bread made from homemade almond flour and coconut flour. I can also use this flour to make muffins, pies,

After we get through all of that, I want to see if he continues pain-free and has normal stools for at least a week. If so, we will move from the Introduction Diet to the Full Diet. There are no grains on the full diet, and no starches either.

But there are some recipes that look fun — pizza made with nut flour (without cheese unless it is tolerated).

Oh, and I noticed in the papers that I am supposed to be giving him liver twice a week. He hates liver. I have been giving him dessicated liver tablets… however I think we need to do more than that. So he agreed to start drinking the Pottenger Liver Cocktail in “Nourishing Traditions” twice a week (or more if I can make it more often). It’s basically tomato juice and calf’s liver. A very nutritious virgin Bloody Mary.

Scallops, Spaghetti Squash, and Starting GAPS April 26, 2008

I’m relaxing in our “outdoor living room” in the backyard with a glass of Viognier. Seth is putting the baby down. It was hot today, but now it’s pleasantly cool. I can smell someone barbecuing in the distance.

Tonight’s dinner will be easy. I got a dozen fresh scallops at the farmer’s market today. So fresh, they are still alive! They gave them to me in bags of salt water.

I’ll probably braise them in a little butter. Then we will have some kielbasa and sauerkraut, some spaghetti squash with butter, and a green salad with sliced apple.

Tomorrow night I will make pulled pork. I’ve never made it before but Rocky Canyon had a nice pork butt at the market today. I think I’ll soak it in brine overnight, then slow cook it in the crock pot all day.

Seth had his phone consultation with Dr. Cowan on Thursday (which also happened to be his birthday — Seth’s, not Dr. Cowan’s).

Dr. Cowan recommended the GAPS diet. I knew he was going to say that, but the biggest reason we did the consultation was to convince Seth. He needed to hear it from someone other than me. Better yet, a doctor. I’ve been trying to get him to do the GAPS diet for months. Of course, he just thought it was some wacky think I read on the internet.

The good news is, he’s willing to do it now.

Let me back up — the GAPS Diet was formulated by neurologist and nutritionist, Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride. GAPS stands for “Gut and Psychology Syndrome”. The idea is that most of the psychological disorders we have are due to digestive disorders. Click here for an overview of the book.

I’m excited because Seth has suffered from anxiety and depression for years. He has also had digestive problems since he was a kid. He said he can remember being constipated when he was a small child, and said the depression started when he was 17. And I have noticed that his anxiety/depression is always worse when he has intestinal pain. Whenever he gets really cranky or anxious, he always says his guts hurt.

Dr. Cowan mentioned a book called “The Second Brain”. Here’s an excerpt from an interview with the author that may shed some light on this for you:

Ever get a gut feeling about someone, or I anxious butterflies in your stomach? That’s because you have a second brain in your bowel, according to Michael Gershon, M.D., author of The Second Brain (HarperCollins, 1999), and a neurobiologist at New York’s Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. Gershon recently explained to Psychology Today how an independent network of over 100 billion neurons in the gut not only signals our bodies to stress but causes illness.

Q Why do we need a second brain?

A Most importantly, to control digestion. It also works with the immune system to protect us from hostile bacteria.

Q Does it use neurotransmitters?

A Actually, 95% of all serotonin in the body is in the gut, where it triggers digestion. Nerve cells in the gut also use serotonin to signal back to the brain. This information can train us not to eat certain foods by communicating pain, gas and other terrible feelings.

Q Does the brain in our heads influence the “second brain”?

A Yes. Butterflies in the stomach arise when the brain sends a message of anxiety to the gut, which sends messages back to the brain that it’s unhappy. But the gut can also work in isolation.

Q How does this brain influence irritable bowel syndrome (lBS), which many believe is a psychological problem?

A Irritable bowel syndrome, whose symptoms include abdominal pain accompanied by loose stool, affects 20% of Americans. But doctors often dismiss its severity, attributing IBS to psychoneurosis because they don’t know exactly what it is. I propose that the second brain is the cause. Antidepressants like SSRIs, when used in doses too low to treat depression, are effective immediately in IBS patients. Prozac takes weeks to kick in. This suggests that the drugs work not on the brains of people with IBS, but in the bowel. Source

Anyway… the idea is if you heal the digestive tract, you will alleviate mental/emotional disorders. Dr. Campbell McBride has had much success with this program in her practice in England where she has been reversing autism, ADD, etc. in children.

So here’s the plan:

He has to drink about a quart of bone broth a day, plus 4-8 ounces freshly juiced fruits and vegetables 3-5 times a day. I’m going to give it to him mixed with beet kvass at least twice a day.

In addition to that, he can have meats, fish, non-starchy vegetables, and fruit. No grains. No dairy. He also has to take cod liver oil and a couple of other supplements (including Dr. Campbell-McBride’s probiotic, BioKult, plus plenty of fermented foods (sauerkraut, homemade pickles, kefir soda pop, etc.).

After anywhere from a few days to a few weeks (depending on how it goes), we will start to introduce dairy foods — one at a time. Starting with ghee (clarified butter), then kefir, yogurt, etc. Not sure about the exact order — I have the list Dr. Cowan sent in my purse.

In a matter of weeks or months, we can start to introduce soaked beans, soaked grains, etc. Ultimately, Dr. Cowan says, Seth should eat a “Nourishing Traditions” diet.

Dr. Cowan says he thinks Seth can heal in a couple of months. But he said the longer he stays on the diet, the better, and that it can take up to two years.

I’m going to have to have a stock pot of broth going all the time. And I’m going to have to be juicing all the damn time too. And for any of you out there who have juiced, it is messy. You have to clean that thing every time you make juice.

But it’s okay. I’m just grateful he’s finally doing this. I just know this is going to help him!

So I guess we’re starting tomorrow…

Saved by a Scallion April 15, 2008

I decided to make smoked salmon frittata tonight. Frittata is an Italian quiche. It doesn’t have any crust — so no grains to soak.

I used the recipe from the “Barefoot Contessa” on the Food Network website. I just doubled the butter and instead of using goat cheese (I didn’t have any), I used NT cream cheese (homemade cream cheese — recipe from “Nourishing Traditions”).

It called for 3 scallions, which I knew I had gotten in the CSA box. this week. Not sure if they got thown out or what but they were not in the fridge.

I went out to the garden and lo and behold — the lone scallion I “accidentally” planted a couple of months ago — when I buried my kitchen scraps into the vegetable beds. I just pulled it out of the ground.

The recipe called for three scallions — but I figured we could get away with one.

It came out great!

Genetically Modified Masa Harina March 18, 2008

Yensi cooked us some Guatemalan food for dinner. It was SO GOOD!

We had:

Chicken sauteed in butter with grilled onions and red bell pepper (I added some salsa on top)
Brown rice cooked with chicken broth, chopped carrots and red bell pepper
Black beans with avocado slices and a dollop of yogurt “cream cheese” (yogurt curds without the whey — I used this in place of sour cream)
Salad with red leaf lettuce, strawberries and blood oranges (all from our CSA box) with vinaigrette

We are drinking a very yummy biodynamic (organic) wine I found at Whole Foods called Côtes du Lubéron Blanc Château La Canorgue.

I put the dry black beans in a saucepan (with a lid) last night. I covered them with filtered water and added a couple of TBS of whey (homemade, from yogurt). They soaked for about 17 or 18 hours before she cooked them. We also soaked the rice all day.

Yensi wanted to make homemade tortillas, but we couldn’t find organic (non-GMO) masa harina. I called six stores!

Masa harina is basically pre-soaked corn meal. They soak it in lime water. This is the traditional method Yensi said they use in Guatemala. They soak the cornmeal (which they grind fresh) in lime water for two weeks.

Sally Fallon says in “Nourishing Traditions” that it’s best to make masa harina from scratch, because the masa harina you buy in the store is usually rancid (like most flour — it goes rancid quickly after grinding). Maybe we will get to that one day. In the meantime, the organic masa harina will have to do.

Yensi said has been been buying the Maseca brand of masa harina that she gets at her local store. Problem is, we looked it up and it’s not only not organic, but it is also genetically modified. They publicly denied that their products used genetically modified ingredients a few years back, but I know that is bullshit because they are owned by Archer Daniels Midland, makers of that shitty inedible “GE (genetically engineered) corn”.

I’m sure Maseca was a good company at one time, and they probably made good products. But big agribusiness corporations ruin everything they touch.

In the movie “King Corn” (see it if you haven’t), they tried to eat some of the genetically engineered corn they grew — they spit it out it was so bad. This corn is designed to be used for high fructose corn syrup. They make it by soaking the inedible corn in battery acid.

Yep, here we go:

Longstanding Mexican government regulation of corn supply and prices, support for small corn growers, and price subsidies for corn tortillas for Mexican consumers have been eliminated, all at the behest of Cargill, ADM, and ADM’s powerful Mexican partner, Gruma/Maseca. The end result of this globalization process is that small and medium-sized farmers, both North and South of the border, can’t make a living, while ADM and Cargill (and their preferred customers such as McDonald’s, Wal-Mart, Tyson, Smithfield) make a killing. Meanwhile, consumers, who have been promised that Free Trade would result in lower prices, are paying more for food every year. Corn tortillas, the main staple of the Mexican diet, have risen in price 300% since NAFTA came into effect.

Source

I was trying to explain to Yensi why the Maseca masa harina is bad. Try to explain “genetically modified” to someone for whom English is their second language. I basically said that not only is it not organic, but that the pesticide is actually INSIDE the corn. Not exactly true, and a very simplistic way of explaining it. I tried.

Anyway, I think we’re going to order the masa harina from the Bob’s Red Mill website — then we can have tortillas next week!

That was one of the best meals I’ve had in a while. Yensi is a fabulous cook!

And it was really wonderful to be able to just make the salad and not have to scurry around putting a whole meal together after I worked all day. Whew!

Yensi said she is going to put the leftover beans in the blender and then she will fry them in a skillet. Another Guatemalan specialty. I think we’ll have that Friday night with some ground beef tacos (we’ll use sprouted tortillas from Whole Foods since we can’t have homemade). Sounds great to me!

What’s for Dinner? March 17, 2008

I’m making:

Lasagna (made with organic grass-fed beef, tomato sauce, rice pasta, and freshly grated ricotta, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese)
Garden Cress, Tomato, and Fennel Salad (with oil and vinegar dressing)
Chocolate Ice Cream (made with Organic Pastures chocolate colostrum milk and raw pastured egg yolks)

I’m fairly new to this traditional foods way of eating. It’s much more time-intensive than packaged foods. But I feel so much better knowing that I am feeding my family real foods without preservatives and sugar and other additives.

Pasta is a quandary with traditional eating. The thing is, the Weston A. Price Foundation recommends that you soak all your grains. This is the way it was done in traditional cultures. The reason the grains are soaked is twofold: (1) it aids digestion and (2) it removes the anti-nutrients (phytates).

A diet high in unsoaked grains will cause nutrients to be blocked. It will also make digestion difficult — which also produces less absorption of nutrients.

According to “Nourishing Tradtions”, it is not absolutely necessary to soak rice because it is lower in phytates. It is better to soak, but if you don’t, it is not as bad for you.

So, rice pasta is acceptable! Sure, it would be better to soak the flour and make your own pasta — but if you can’t get around to that, use rice pasta instead of wheat. It’s better for you.

If you need a quick meal and haven’t soaked beans or other grains overnight, and have nothing in the freezer, you can always do rice pasta.

Sadly, there is a little sugar in this meal. The Organic Pastures chocolate colostrum is sweetened with sugar unfortunately. And the organic tomato sauce I bought has sugar in it. Why they need to add sugar, I have no clue. I’ll have to make my own from now on (I don’t know why I didn’t — it’s not hard at all).

What We Can Learn From Saving Trash February 15, 2008

I can’t stop thinking about the guy who saved his trash for a year.

I read about him a while back but it didn’t really gel with me until now. I guess because all of this stuff is cumulative. You do one thing and it leads to another and another. It’s actually become a hobby for me now. Okay, not just a hobby. An obsession. (But it’s a good obsession!)

I want to respond to his post on what he learned from saving his trash for a year:

1. The vast vast vast majority of trash comes from food packaging. Packaged food is less nutritious, on the whole, than fresh food. Packaged food, ounce for ounce, is often more expensive than fresh food. I’ve learned that making less trash, by consuming less packaged food actually makes me healthier and wealthier. I’m in the best shape of my life right now and I can see first hand that it is related to changes in my diet that have come from this project.

I have noticed that we have a lot less trash since I have been cooking traditional foods. We stopped eating most packaged foods thanks to Sally Fallon and the WAPF — for health reasons. Avoiding packaged foods also helps the environment.

Some examples:

I used to buy yogurt. Now I make filmjolk and kefir. Just add milk and leave it on the counter. No more plastic yogurt containers.

I used to buy iced tea and soda. Now I make kombucha and beet kvass. No more cans and bottles. I’m also starting to make kefir soda pop (more on that in a future post).

I used to buy most of our vegetables from the grocery store. Now I buy most of it at the farmer’s market. They fill a plastic bin, which I carry home with me and then bring it back the following week. There are no plastic bags on any of the produce.

I’ve been making pickles, sauerkraut, and mayonnaise from scratch, reusing glass jars. I am going to learn how to make ketchup, salsa, naturally fermented soy sauce, and mustard. (By the way, ALL of these recipes are in Sally Fallon’s cookbook, “Nourishing Traditions”.)

Seth still likes fancy Italian mineral water. I’m looking into buying one of those seltzer makers. However, he is drinking a lot less since we started drinking kombucha.

We are also still buying distiled water. Soon we will buy a water filtration system and eliminate the need for this.

I still have to buy milk in plastic jugs. That is the way they come from Organic Pastures. It would be nice if they could someday go to a delivery service with reusable glass containers. Maybe I will write a letter to them to ask about the feasibility of this.

We are using less paper towels. A cloth rag works fine.

2. When I ask people to put prepared food in my own containers it disrupts their flow and makes them think. Some people like this. They enjoy the momentary distraction from monotony and the novelty of the experience. Others get pissed off. It makes they have to pay attention, it takes more energy. I don’t know what to do with this information yet I just know I’ve learned this.

I have noticed this, too, when I bring my cloth bags to stores like Target. I usually get a whiff of frustration. I’ve noticed it even when I don’t have a cloth bag and just tell them I don’t need a bag. They usually look at me like I’m crazy and try to foist a bag on me anyway.

I had to actually INSIST that I did not want a bag recently at Office Max. The guy REALLY wanted me to have that bag — even though I kept telling him I didn’t want one. “I’m trying to save the planet!” I said.

I have also had to stop people at Whole Foods from putting paper bags on my wine bottles so they don’t break in the cloth bags. “It’s fine!” I say, giving them back their bags. “I’ll be careful. I’m not going very far.”

3. Saving trash leads to increased consciousness of what I consume. I cannot purchase a single thing without wondering about all of the energy that went into manufacturing it, the resources use to ship, how far its component parts traveled until it was assembled, how far it then traveled to get to the store where I purchased it, the thousands of miles it may travel before finding its ultimate home in a pile of other unwanted manufactured souls.

I am thinking about this, too. If I have to buy foods and other products that come in packages, I would rather buy things that come in packages that can be composted.

Example: Buying detergent that comes in cardboard boxes (they can be composted) instead of plastic containers. This is an easy switch!

Another example: When I buy meat from Whole Foods it often (not always) comes wrapped in compostable paper. Unlike at Trader Joe’s where it is wrapped in plastic.

Another example: I am using my egg crates to start seeds. I can reuse them for this more than once — or compost them.

4. Recycling sucks. There, I said it. Of course recycling is a powerful first step in becoming more aware of what one consumes and it’s better to recreate something out of something than it is to gather up more raw materials to make something new. That said, recycling still sucks. It takes enormous amounts of energy and clean water to produce plastic bottles and containers, glass bottles and jars and cans of all kinds. It take enormous amounts of energy to collect these items at curbsides and ship them to recycling facilities. It take enormous energy to recycle items and ship them somewhere to be remanufactured. Almost all recyclable materials come from food or health and beauty products – both unnecessary items we have grown addicted to in our modern world. Less recycling also means fresher food. Health and beauty products is another conversation and I’m not sure we’re all ready for it yet :o)

I’m ready for it!

I stopped wearing deodorant. Corn starch (which comes in a cellulose bag) works GREAT!

Many of you know of my “no poo” experiment. I have been using Terressentials hair wash but after one of my readers (thanks, Rachel) suggested trying a little baking soda mixed with bentonite clay (I got some from Mountain Rose Herbs), I find that it works great on my hair. I’ve been using a little vinegar in my rinse.

I’ve stopped using moisturizer on my face; I use coconut oil now.

I’ve stopped using makeup (never really used much anyway — I put a little powder on on occasion). I just can’t be bothered.

I’ve stopped using tampons and now use the Diva cup and a natural sea sponge. Cloth pads and the Japanese toilet seat are next. (Shhh don’t tell Seth about the Japanese toilet seat.)

I’ve stopped using disposable diapers and now use cloth. Cloth wipes are next.

As for the recycling issue, I agree! If we can avoid buying these packaged foods and other products in the first place, that is the ideal scenario.

5. It doesn’t take much to make a big difference. If I can do this, someone else can do this. If two people reduce their consumption radically, 4 people can do it to, so can 8 people, 16 people, 32 people, and so on. Change is much easier and much more readily available than most of us are taught to think and lead to believe.

This is so true! It’s all the little things that add up. And if we all try to do little things, it will add up to making a big difference!

6. Trash sucks. 100 years ago most of the trash we produce now did not even exist. It did not even exist. Now it is at the center of a worldwide economic system that is lopsidedly built upon mass consumption to create huge profits for the few at the physical and environmental expense of the many many many. This makes me sad.

It makes me sad, too. Let’s change it!!!! If we stop buying it, they will have to stop selling it. The power really is in our hands.

7. Changing is fun, much more fun than it is stressful.

I agree!

People keep telling me that they are impressed that I am doing all of this stuff.

The truth: I can’t help it! It’s so much fun. It’s actually addictive.

8. Cleaning out food packaging takes time and is necessary to get rid of odors and to ensure bugs and rodents are not attracted to it.

I’d rather reuse glass jars and stick in the dishwasher. Or compost paper. I hate buying anything in plastic.

I also want to say this:

Blogging and the internet has really spurred me on in this endeavor. I have learned so much from people online — all the wonderful people on the Discussing NT Yahoo list and from blogs like Save Your Trash and These Days in French Life (just to name a couple).

Thanks, everyone. Let’s keep encouraging each other!

Beet Kvass February 4, 2008

I started a new batch of beet kvass over the weekend.

It’s easy to make. Just (coarsely) cut up 3 medium (or 2 large) beets, add 1/4 cup homemade whey (I will post this recipe soon, 1 tablespoon sea salt, and 2 quarts of filtered water. Stir and cover. Let sit on the counter for 2-4 days (depending on the temperature in your kitchen), then transfer to fridge.

Filled with vitamins (the lacto-fermentation actually increases the vitamins), enzymes, and probiotics! It’s sour-tasting, so not something you’d offer to guests — but it’s an extremely healthful morning tonic.

(Recipe from “Nourishing Traditions”; the recipe for whey is also in this book)

All-Day Beef Stew February 2, 2008

I am making All-Day Beef Stew from “Nourishing Traditions” for our Sunday night dinner. I am marinating 3 pounds of stew beef (grass-fed) in a cup of red wine in the bowl of my crock pot in the fridge.

Tomorrow morning I’ll take it out and add 4 cups of beef stock, some peeled tomatoes, a bit of tomato paste, and some spices. Then I’ll let it cook all day.

I made the beef stock (my first time making beef stock) with roasted oxtails and marrow bones which simmered in the crock pot for two whole days. I can’t believe I’ve lived this long and have never made beef stock before.

After I let the beef stock cool overnight in the fridge, I scraped the fat off the top and put it in a container. We can use that later for cooking. Maybe I’ll use it to make homemade French fries.

That will make 3 dishes I can make out of one package of marrow bones:

Marrow on toast (which we ate last week with leftover Chicken and White Bean Chili)
Beef Stew (the bones made the stock)
French Fries (cooked with the fat from the stock)

It’s amazing how far food goes when you know how to cook it.

I’m so fascinated at how much I am learning from this one cookbook. Kombucha and marrow bones and kefir and chicken stock and curds and whey… so many things I have learned.

I have two nannies now (Alla and Yensi) and one housekeeper (Carla). Alla, who is Russian, who comes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Yensi, from Guatemala, is here Tuesdays and Thursdays. Carla, our housekeeper, comes every Monday. She is from Honduras.

All three women, on separate occasions, have expressed amazement that I cook the way their mothers and grandmothers used to cook in their native lands.

Alla was stunned when she realized that I was making kombucha — what she calls “mushroom tea”. “Oh my god!” she said. “I drank this all my life in Russia!” Same with the kefir. “We drank it every day. We used to put it in our hair.”

Yensi pointed to the kefir that I was straining into curds and whey (I use the whey for Kate’s baby formula, for homemade mayonnaise, for beet kvass, for sauerkraut, etc.). She said, “We make cheese like this in Guatemala! And we always make this soup,” she said, pointing to the beef stock.

She also said that her whole life in Guatemala, she always drank raw milk, never pasteurized. (Did I mention that she has perfect teeth?)

Carla, too, said her family always boiled bones in Honduras. “We use the chicken necks, too,” she said, smiling.

But back to tomorrow’s beef stew…

At the end of the day, you add some sliced carrots and potatoes to the stew. I might add some parsnips too, which the recipe doesn’t call for. And fresh parsley from my garden. Whatever we don’t eat, I’ll freeze. It will make a good meal on a night that I don’t feel like cooking. And great lunches for Kate.

And we might eat the last few pieces of the sourdough spelt bread I baked last week — which I froze. That will be yummy slathered with raw butter.

Time to bake another loaf…

By the way, speaking of homemade sourdough bread. Once you’ve tasted this bread, you can never go back to storebought. It’s that good.

Homemade Sourdough January 20, 2008

I have been feeding my new pet for a week. With fresh (so fresh it’s frozen) whole grain rye flour (organic, naturally) and warm distilled water. It’s been bubbling and growing happily in its gallon glass jar in the corner of the kitchen.

So today — I decided it was stable enough, and I fed it one last time and then mixed it into a dough. Using the recipe from “Nourishing Traditions”, I used spelt flour (whole grain, organic, also frozen — to retain freshness). I kneaded it for a good 15-20 minutes. Then I poured it into a Le Creuset stoneware loaf pan, slashed it with a knife, and let it rest in a warm oven.

Within about 5 hours, it had doubled in size! It looked like a proper loaf of bread, albeit unbaked.

By then it was 8:30 pm, and we had already given up and ordered take-out sushi (I had sashimi and ONE piece of sushi — since I’m low-carbing).

So I punched it down again and put it back to bed.

I’ll bake it in the morning.

I’m really excited! How silly to be so excited over a loaf of bread. But it’s more than that. There is something so comforting about baking real sourdough bread. It takes you back to your ancestors. This is the way people have been doing it for centuries.

I hope it tastes good. I’ll eat one slice only — since I’m low-carbing. I’ve decided to allow myself bread once a week. That’s reasonable! If it slows my weight loss, so be it. I may get hit by a bus tomorrow, and I want to eat some bread before that happens.

And yes, I’m going to put LOTS of butter on it. Or some good raw cheese. I just bought 3 French varieties from Whole Foods. And maybe some honey (a tiny bit — since I’m low-carbing). RAW honey, mais bien sur.

UPDATE: My sourdough bread came out great!

I know, there’s a big hole in the bottom. That’s because when I took it out of the loaf pan, some of it got stuck to the bottom.

I made it with spelt, so it’s denser than the typical loaf. We are used to that, though, since we love German pumpernickel and rye breads. I loved the sour, nutty flavor of my bread. It was so delicious slathered with butter. It would be good, too with cheese or liverwurst (and more butter).

I was good and only ate once slice. I promptly sliced it and stuck it in the freezer. I’ll have another piece next week.

Nourishing Traditions December 14, 2007

I just got an email from a friend of mine. She’s from Turkey, but living in America. She has a baby boy — I met her in my mother’s group.

She writes:

“I’ve been reading Nourishing Traditions and smiling all the time: This lady is telling almost everything I knew from my mom and grandma!! Except some recipes it is the healthy Turkish way of good eating, waoww !! Thank you for mentioning it, there is so much about it I would like to talk with you.

I was making my own yogurt, yogurt drinks, kefir and cream cheese for some time already but this week I got inspired and started to make BOZA, a fermented drink which I was craving for… I will also order Kombucha starter and also offer it to Adam, I hope he will like it. When my aunt was pregnant with my cousin she started to drink Kombucha every day and after her son was born when he was 8-9 months old we gave it to him too. I can’t wait!!”

Funny because I knew Ebru and I shared a lot of the same opinions about food and health. Whenever I saw her, she was always feeding her baby boy fresh vegetables and fruits. And of course he is so healthy.

It’s a shame that so many of our traditions have been lost. So many mothers are serving processed foods like Kraft Macaroni & Cheese.

I am now making bone broths and homemade cream cheese and whey and sauerkraut. And I’m about to start brewing my own kombucha too. I ordered the scoby from GEM Cultures and it is due to arrive after the holiday. Seth and I have been drinking kombucha for the past couple of months. We don’t miss Diet Coke at all!

Broth, sugar, and healthy people with no cavities November 30, 2007

It was a grey day in LA. Rainy and cold and dreary. This kind of weather is so rare in LA, so when it happens, it's kind of fun. Like a snow day or a blackout.

I had soaked some oatmeal last night, so this morning I got to wake up to coffee and a bowl of comforting oatmeal with raisins and maple syrup garnished with a little raw milk.

For lunch I used some of the turkey stock (from the turkey carcass) and leftover turkey from Thanksgiving, added a few carrots, some parsley and sea salt, and made the most delicious, comforting soup for Seth and Alla and myself.

Tonight after dinner I was reading my new friend Louisa’s blog. Even though she lives in the French Alps, I found her online because she and I are into all the same stuff health- and food-wise. Weston Price, raw milk, etc.

Anyway, it was so cool to read that she was feeding her family bone broth today too.

http://quatrepattes.wordpress.com/2007/11/30/comfort-for-a-little-one/

Kate LOVES broth. Absolutely loves it. I feed it to her with a little liver pate mixed in. She likes squash, but she LOVES broth. She can't lap it up fast enough.

This afternoon I made zucchini bread from the “Nourishing Traditions” cookbook. It came out great. Very moist. Maybe a tiny bit too sweet (I added extra maple syrup and uncalled for Rapadura). Next time I'll make it a little less sweet. I might make some other adjustments as well.

I have to say though… I think my taste buds are changing. I don't want sweets as much anymore. I used to eat 2-3 chocolate chip cookies almost every night. I used to crave chocolate and sweets. Now I really don't. I can go days, weeks, months even — and I don't care about eating sweets at all. Every once in a while I will have a chocolate chip cookie before bed (I got the kind that are frozen but it's all-natural ingredients). I can only eat one. Even then, it feels like a tad too much.

Sweets just taste TOO sweet for me now. That Halloween party where I had the Bluebonnet Cafe cupcake — it made me dizzy and kind of nauseous. And I only ate half! And I used to be able to devour those cupcakes.

I know part of it is the fact that I am not eating sugar. I don't know the last time I ate real sugar. I've only been eating stevia, maple syrup, raw honey, agave nectar (which I found out I'm not supposed to be eating) and Rapadura.

I think part of it might also have to do with the amount of fat I am eating now. Good fats. Butter, coconut oil, whole milk, eggs. I am satiated. I don't crave anything. I wonder if part of the reason people crave sweets is because they need more fat.

I'm struck by that statistic I read today — that breast milk is over 50% fat and loaded with cholesterol. If fat and cholesterol are bad for you, then why is breast milk — the epitome of health food for humans — loaded with it?

And then you read Weston Price's book (I'm halfway through) and all these people from around the world are eating diets of 50% or more of saturated fat. And they are the healthiest people on the planet. No degenerative diseases. No cancer. No heart disease. No diabetes or arthritis. No obesity. Very, very few cavities. They had no need for doctors or dentists.

What did they eat? Different things, depending on where they lived. The Eskimos ate differently than the people living in the Swiss Alps or African tribes. But overall they all ate a very similar diet — a lot of saturated fat, some vegetables, lots of meat, fish and/or dairy, and occasionally whole grains. Zero refined flour or sugar.

The people in the Swiss Alps for example, lived on raw milk, cheese, butter, whole grain rye bread, some vegetables, and, once a week they had meat. These people had almost no cavities. And no degenerative diseases. Am I repeating myself? I can't help it. It's just astounding to me! Can you imagine never having to see a doctor or dentist?

So interesting… I read that book about babies and sleep (”Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child” by Dr. Weissbluth) and it says that sleep begets sleep. In other words, the more you help your baby get his or her rest, the better and more he will sleep. Likewise, it's eat fat to lose fat. Eat more fat and you will want to eat less and you will lose fat. Counter-intuitive, eh?

I'm watching “What Not to Wear”. They're making over a Rastafarian hippie with dreadlocks that look like really long turds. When I was in the hospital with Kate, I watched this a few times while I was nursing her. It reminds me of that special time. It was so wonderful being in the hospital with our perfect baby, so in awe of and in love with her.

I can't believe how big she's gotten over the past several months. She's so alert and curious and she's crawling and babbling and she even did her first sign the other day. Monkey. You make the sign by scratching under your arms like a monkey.

She also waves now — hi and goodbye. Not consistently — but when she does it, it is clear that she knows what she is doing.

It's so fun cuddling with her and nuzzling and kissing those cheeks, that belly, those toes. She's such a delectable baby. And it's fun learning about who she is. She has a strong personality. Independent, unflappable, curious, determined. And she definitely has a good sense of humor. That's obvious already. Very bright, too. It's interesting to me that their personalities emerge so early.

Time for some milk and then bed.

Sunrise, sunset November 28, 2007

I had to go to the dentist this afternoon (they are putting in a crown on the crownless root canal tooth I had worked on before Kate was born). Driving home from downtown around 4:30 pm, I got to see the most spectacular sunset.

OK not the most spectacular, because every sunset is spectacular. In its own way. Like every snowflake is spectacular. Like every dog. Every cat. Every human being.

Anyway, it was gorgeous and beautiful and breathtaking. I kept trying to focus on driving but all I really wanted to do was breathe in this incredible sunset.

Suddenly it struck me that the majority (like 90%) of the cars were coming in the opposite direction. The majority of people on the road WERE MISSING THIS SUNSET. It then occurred to me that all these people make this commute every day and they all miss the sunset. Not only that, but they miss the sunrise too.

All these people, working so hard, swimming upstream. And a few of us lucky (I don't really believe in luck) bastards get to swim downstream… happily driving west, toward the ocean, marveling at the splendor of the divine.

And to think it was going to the dentist that allowed me to witness this. Clouds with silver linings.

I too miss the sunrise and sunset most days — not because I'm stuck in a car going the wrong way — but because our house doesn't have a view.

I decided right then that our next house will have a view of at least sunrise and/or sunset. Heck, why not both? Maybe we'll have sunrise in one room or on one patio — with our morning coffee — and sunset on a deck or in a den. Ahh, doesn't that sound fantastic?

Yes, yes it does. And I have experienced enough times in my life the reality of visualization creating manifestations. I have done it so many times. I know it works. So I'm going to create our next house. It's going to be huge and rambling and modern and elegant. With alternative energy and a gourmet kitchen and filtered water and showers and unbelievable gardens and a salt water swimming pool.

Fun to think about. Happy where I am and eager for more, as Abe says.

Tonight I made the most delicious salad — the “High Enzyme Salad” from the Nourishing Traditions cookbook. Sprouted sunflower seeds, grated carrots and raw cheddar cheese, chopped cucumber, red bell pepper and zucchini (I added that last one) on a bed of greens with a vinaigrette dressing. I forgot the avocado and green onion — oh well.

We had that and shrimp sauteed in lemon butter sauce along with some ceviche I got from Rawesome. Along with some Gewurtztraminer from Roshambo that didn't taste peppery and spicy like most Gewurtzes — it was like honey. Nice with this meal.

Went and checked on the baby. Nothing sweeter than a little chubs all tucked in and sleeping soundly. I held her hand and she grunted and tossed.

I can hear Seth snoring now in the bedroom. Life is good.

I enjoy my life so much these days. Washing and drying cloth diapers, folding them and putting them away next to the changing table. Making the homemade formula in the blender, filling glass bottles and lining them up in the fridge. Making chicken stock and baby food puree, storing it in ice trays — butternut squash, zucchini, carrots, apple sauce, papaya, cantaloupe, and chicken liver pate. Lots to do but it is all enjoyable.

Funny, I was at Rawesome today, doing my shopping. James, the owner, greeted me with an enthusiastic, “Hello!” I was thinking about him as I shopped, thinking about how happy he always seems. He's passionate (just ask him about the politics around raw milk or raw almonds in California and you'll see how passionate he is). But it's not an angry passion. It's a joyful vitality. Something so many people are missing. There is nothing about him that seems depressed or repressed. He is real. He is vital.

And I was thinking about him and how much he must love his job. He gets to bring good, raw, organic food to the people. Food you can't find at Ralph's. You seriously can't. I can't get pastured eggs at Ralph's or Trader Joe's or even Whole Food's. Rawesome is it.

And he is supporting farmers. It's got to feel good to know that the chicken lady has customers for her pastured eggs. She's making money, and people are getting good food.

Anyway, that is how I feel about being a mom. I don't mind washing cloth diapers. I don't mind spending hours researching nutrition and scouting out the healthiest foods and taking the time to prepare them the old-fashioned ways — instead of just throwing something in the microwave. Like James at Rawesome, I feel like what I am doing is important. I am needed. And I am passionate about this. It makes me want to get out of bed in the morning.

And there's something so comforting and warm about a home with a big basket full of fresh organic fruits on the kitchen counter, a stockpot of chicken or beef stock simmering, a fridge full of fresh raw milk and pastured eggs. I know that I am helping my family become healthier.

I know, the results aren't in yet. We've only been doing this for a few months. We did cure Kate's cradle cap and Seth lost a few pounds… but I predict we will see bigger results in the long term.

In the meantime, I'm just happy.

Happy where I am and eager for more.

Isn't that how little kids look at life? Maybe that's why they spend so much time laughing and tickling each other and rolling in grass and making mud pies and snorting milk out of their noses.

Maybe we should all do more of that. All of that. And watch more sunsets.

Nina Planck, Pickles & Sauerkraut November 4, 2007

A short interview with food writer, Nina Planck:

I'm going to buy her book.

We are going to the farmer's market today in Hollywood. I want to find a good local source for organic pastured eggs, plus I want to buy some pickling cucumbers to make my own pickles. At the Weston Price chapter meeting last week, we had a fermented foods potluck and our chapter leader brought pickles she had canned herself. They were the BEST pickles I ever tasted!!! I did a taste test with hers against Bubbe's Pickles. There was no comparison. The Bubbe's Pickles were really rubbery and tasted weird. The homemade pickles were crunchy, tart and delicious. Like no storebought pickles I've ever tasted.

She said that she got the recipe from a book called “Joy of Pickling”. She also said that grape leaves are the secret. When asked where she gets her fresh grape leaves, she said that you can get them at the farmer's market from certain vendors. They don't advertise — you have to ask.

On the National Center for Food Preservation website, it says:

Grape leaves contain a substance that inhibits the enzymes that make pickles soft. However, removing the blossom ends (the source of undesirable enzymes) will make the addition of grape leaves unnecessary

Interesting! I will have to try that and see if it actually works. A lot easier than finding organic grape leaves.

Other than the addition of grape leaves, she used the recipe from Sally Fallon's “Nourishing Traditions”:

4-5 organic pickling cucumbers
1 TBS mustard seeds
2 TBS fresh organic dill
1 TBS sea salt
4 TBS homemade whey
1 cup filtered water

All you do is wash the cucumbers and put everything in a wide-mouth mason jar, add filtered water as necessary — liquid should be at least one inch from the top of the jar. Cover and let sit unrefridgerated for 3 days — then move to fridge.

Nourishing Traditions says it takes 3 days a month to make pickles but my chapter leader said it takes a month for pickles and at least a week for sauerkraut. I'm going to start my sauerkraut today, and if I get the stuff for pickles, I'll start them too.

Not incidentally, it is important to use real homemade whey. Lots of people make pickles with just salt or with vinegar.

“Regular” pickles are soaked in vinegar and sealed in sterile jars via a hot-water bath. The vinegar, heat and resulting vacuum seal kill off potentially dangerous bacteria and keep the contents safe against new growth. Those who enjoy working under pressure can also preserve produce — minus the vinegar — in a pressure canner. The pressure causes mass germicide by bringing the container's temperature above the boiling point.

(From http://www.sevendaysvt.com/food/food-features/2007/totally-pickled.html)

It is much better to make “lacto-fermeted” pickles and sauerkraut with real homemade whey (the recipe for making whey and cream cheese is also in Nourishing Traditions — you can also search my blog; I posted it). Homemade whey (*not* whey powder from health food stores) made from yogurt or raw milk contains probiotics which not only aid digestion and promote immunity, they also, amazingly, INCREASE the vitamins in food.

I think fermentation with salt (regardless of whey) increases vitamins, but I think using the whey includes the live cultures which are good for the gut and promote immunity (the “good” bacteria that kill of the “bad” bacteria in your intestines).

Here are some excerpts from an article about the benefits of fermenting foods:

The process probably first arose as a way to preserve foods. In the 18th century, the English explorer Captain Cook loaded 60 barrels of sauerkraut onto his ship for a 27-month voyage, and not one sailor came down with scurvy, an ascorbic acid (vitamin C) deficiency in which the muscles become weak and the gums turn soft and spongy. It turns out that fermentation increases cabbage's already naturally high content of vitamin C.

The primary benefit of fermentation comes from nutrients created by the active bacteria. For example, bacteria in the gut regularly synthesize vitamin K, which is important for blood clotting. When milk is fermented, lactic acid bacteria synthesize folate, an important B vitamin, and the lactobacilli also produce healthy short-chain fatty acids, essential for immune-system function.

“These nutrients promote the health of the entire digestive system,” says Richard Sarnat, M.D., co-author of The Life Bridge: The Way to Longevity With Probiotic Nutrients. “It's the process of fermentation that unlocks all these wonderful nutrients.”

Perhaps the greatest advantage of fermentation comes from those foods that are “alive”–that is, foods that are still teeming with the lactic-acid bacteria that fermented them in the first place. Heating cultured food kills these bacteria.

“Live-culture foods are the true probiotics,” explains Fallon. Probiotic bacteria are those that have a positive effect on the body. For example, women who suffered from recurrent candidal vaginitis had three times fewer infections during the six months they ate daily portions of live-culture yogurt, according to a study in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Researchers at the Juntendo University School of Medicine in Japan found that subjects who drank fermented milk for three weeks had a significant increase in natural immune cell activity that lasted three weeks after they stopped consumption. And a study in the British Journal of Nutrition found that goat's milk fermented with a special strain of lactobacillus increased antioxidant activity.

(From http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0NAH/is_4_34/ai_114783531)