Recap of Week 3
Here is how I did with Week Three's Goals:
- Make Nourished Kitchen's Beef Stock - I did make beef stock using this recipe. However, it did not turn out very rich. I am not sure what I did wrong. I roasted the bones first and followed all of the directions. The only thing I can think of is that I used too much water. Any suggestions?
- Find a Good Soaked Bread Recipe - I tried Inspired Homemaking's recipe for Soaked Whole Wheat Bread in the Bread Machine. It turned out pretty and the texture was nice. Not a favorite, of my children, though. I think they may like it better with a tad more honey and 50/50 mix of ww and white flour. This week I am going to try Jo-Lynne's (Musings of a Housewife) favorite recipe for Homemade Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread and Passionate Homemaking's Soaked Whole Grain Bread recipe. I will let you know how they turn out.
- Read Nina Planck's Real Food: What to Eat and Why
. I did read this and highly recommend it. Nina does a beautiful job making scientific nutrition concepts easy to understand. Her book is also full of lots of useful information which will help you in making food choices, planning meals, and making personal decisions about your nutrition. In addition, John and I watched Food, Inc. Enlightening and informative.
Some favorites from last week:
- Kitchen Stewardship's Granola Recipe - I made this on Saturday. I added some cinnamon, dried cranberries, flax meal, and pecans. So good! All of my kids love it.
- Kitchen Stewardship's Granola Bar Recipe - As Katie suggested, I used 1/2 cup of natural peanut butter in place of 1/2 cup of butter. I also added some chocolate chips. Huge hit with my kiddos. I packed them in lunches.
- Minneapolis Real Food Lover's Cottage Pie with Mashed Yams - I used rutabagas instead of yams. Delicious! No left overs.
- Transition to Raw Milk.
- Continue to look for a Homemade Sandwich Bread Recipe.
- Research Local Farms (Beef, Poultry, Dairy).
Hardboiled Eggs and Fruit
Kelly the Kitchen Kop's Soaked Baked Oatmeal
Tasty Eats at Home's Breakfast Tacos Made these this morning - So awesome!
Yogurt and Kitchen Stewardship's Granola Recipe
Kitchen Stewardship's The Best Pancakes Ever
Egg in the Hole
Lunch
Turkey and Swiss on Whole Wheat
Pasta Marinara
Tuna Salad
Almond or Sunflower Seed Butter with Banana Sandwich
Cheese Quesadillas
Side items: Apples with Kelly the Kitchen Kop's Easy Peanut Butter Dip, corn chips and salsa, veggies and hummus, fruit, cheese
Dinner
Cabbage and Sausage
Nourishing Day's Mexican Chicken Soup
Red Beans and Rice
Pioneer Woman's Spicy Shredded Pork
Hamburgers with Sweet Potato Fries
Musings of a Housewife's Tried and True Chicken Nuggets with Brown Basmati Rice and Veggies
*With our dinners, I usually try to serve a simple salad or another type of fresh veggie.
Check out what other bloggers are eating at I'm an Organizing Junkie.
How did your week go? Did you accomplish your goals? Did you learn/find anything you would like to share? I would love to hear from you!
To see all of the posts in this series go here!
16 comments:
Tara, with your stock, maybe you just didn't boil it down enough to see the jel-like consistency, but the good stuff is still in there. :) (Is that what you mean by it not being rich?)
Kelly
Very impressive. We are tryting to go natural too, but you are way ahead. I will try the granola bar recipe. :)
I'll have to try the granola recipe. Why are you transitioning to raw milk? Is it supposed to be healthier?
Lots of ideas! I am going to add your chicken soup recipe to my list!
Tara, I agree with Kelly; the longer you simmer a stock, the richer it becomes. Put it on the stove or leave it in your crockpot for another 12-24 hours. I also HIGHLY recommend Passionate Homaking's soaked bread recipe. I usually use yogurt thinned with water for the soak because that's what I have on hand. I also double the amount of salt she uses because I think the bread tastes "flat" otherwise. Enjoy your raw milk! We love it and will never go back!
Kelly, Thanks for the suggestion. I think you are right. I simmered it for about 12 hours, but did not boil it down long enough. Should I boil down and then simmer or the other way around?
By the way ~ I made the soaked, baked oatmeal this morning. So yummy!
La Dolce Vita, Thanks so much! I have found that making little weekly goals has really helped. Having something to focus on helps me from getting overwhelmed or sidetracked.
You will love the granola bars. They are delicious!
Lindsay,
Thanks for the suggestions. Now I can't wait to try that bread recipe. Did you use the dough enhancer she suggests or something else? I will probably double the salt, as well. We are loving the raw milk, as well!
Christy,
You will love the granola bar recipe. Just be sure to save some for your kids!:)
As for raw milk ~ it was something I have been considering (and researching) for a while. Kelly the Kitchen Kop has some great info. that will explain it. Here is the link:
http://kellythekitchenkop.com/category/raw-milk
Let me know if you have any other ?s and I will try and help or direct you to someone who can.
Thanks for linking to my recipe! And good luck on your quest for a bread your family enjoys; I've found that a standby bread recipe is kind of like chili, every family has their own favorite!
Tara,
I use my own "dough enhancer"--that's a good question, and I'm glad you noticed! A lot of dough enhancers use soy, and I even used to use soy lecithin when I first started baking bread. But now I try to avoid soy as much as possible, and I don't know which dough enhancers use non-GMO soy and which do. So I read on another blog (can't remember which one!) that you can use a pinch of citric acid, a sprinkle of ginger and 2-4 Tbls of vital wheat gluten to make a nice, light whole-grain loaf. Another trick I have (that I learned from Lindsay of Passionate Homemaking) is to let the bread rise in the oven. I don't have trouble with it rising in the summer, but we keep our house a little cooler in the winter. So I grease up a glass bowl with some butter or coconut oil and turn the oven onto "warm"; place the bread dough in the bowl and put in the oven. When the oven is preheated, turn in off and let the dough just rise in the warm oven. Then I grease up the pans, punch the dough down and shape into loaves, let the oven preheat to warm again, and put it back in for the second rise. When the bread is risen, just turn the oven on to 350 and let it bake!
I also noticed that soaked bread recipes don't get as brown all over the bread as a traditional recipe does. (I baked "regular" bread for about two years before discovering the soaked method.) Another friend who has tried the recipe commented on this fact too, so just know that when the bread is nicely browned on top and sounds hollow, it is done! Let us know how it turns out :)
Emily, Absolutely! My oldest daughter and I really liked this recipe, so I want to make the adjustments I mentioned to see if my younger kiddos will like it a bit more. It is such an easy recipe that I would love for it to be "the one". Thanks so much!
Lindsay, Thanks so much for all of the wonderful advice. I can't wait to get started. I just have to pick up some citric acid. Where would I find that?
I've had trouble getting the kids (and the husband, for that matter) to go beyond the 50% whole wheat/50% white when I make it too, so do share when you find your solution:)
I've been getting our milk, eggs, and meat from the same group we do a farm share through in the summer. They have a 4 season buying club that I opted into. I've also ordered through Winter Harvest on the Farm To City site. Let me know if you want links to any of them. And I'll probably question you about what farms you come up with as well!
Kind of feel like making granola bars now...
I can't wait to try out a few of these recipes! Olivia loves, loves oatmeal and my husband loves spicy pork. Thanks so much for sharing! We're trying to get healthier too and are considering raw milk...just haven't taken the leap yet.
Here's a simple bread recipe I use. I have found that the texture turns out a lot better with a finely ground whole wheat.
Soak overnight 2.5 cups flour in 1 cup water and 1 to 2 T. apple cider vinegar.
Next morning place dough in bread machine and add:
2 t. yeast
2 T. melted butter
2 T. sugar or honey
1 t. salt
1/2 C. flour
Let bread machine knead bread. Shape and place in greased bread pan. Rise to double (I usually set the bread pan in a cake pan filled with warm water). Bake 30 minutes at 350.
Upon Our Hearts, Thanks so much for sharing your bread recipe. I have included it in my week 5 post. Can't wait to try it! I hope Olivia enjoys the oatmeal and your husband loves the pork. Have a great week!
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