Zukay Live Foods Giveaway! (ENDED)

I love fermented foods. Fermented foods contain beneficial probiotics, help the body to absorb nutrients, and improve digestion. I was really excited when Zukay Live Foods offered to send me some of their raw kvass drinks to try. Kvass is a fermented beverage traditionally made with beets, although other vegetables are often added for flavor variation.

Zukay Live Foods is one of those special companies. You know, the ones that actually do everything right. They use water that is chlorine- and fluoride-free. They use real Stevia in the leaf, not the processed stuff you get in stores. Most happily, they source their dry roots, herbs, and spices from Mountain Rose Herbs, who I rave about all the time as being the most trusted source of those ingredients.

These are the flavors I tried from Zukay.

Beet Kvass: This is the original, and I put off trying it until last, because it's the one I was most afraid of. You do not want to hear the story of what happened the first (and last) time I drank beet juice. Although it tasted a little saltier than the others, I ended up liking it a lot. As in, I would actually buy this one again. The fermentation process takes out the overwhelming beet-y flavor that I associate with the fresh-pressed beet juice I once had.

Beet Ginger Kvass: My favorite. The slightly tame beet flavor as described above, but with ginger. And I love ginger. It adds a slight bite but is sweet, too.

Super Root Kvass: I was hesitant on this one too because root flavors can be so heavy. The carrot really picked it up and gave it sweetness, so I liked it quite a bit.

Super Green Kvass: This ties for my other favorite. It tastes just like the fresh-pressed green juices that I occasionally get from Whole Foods. I love green drinks. This one is full of good stuff: cabbage, fennel, kale, spinach, and chard are just a few of the ingredients.

Veggie Medley Kvass: This was my least favorite. The number one ingredient in here is tomatoes, and the idea and taste of fermented tomatoes did not go over well with me. I can see how others would like it though, knowing how popular V-8 type juices are. I never liked V-8, but that's just me.

Zukay Live Foods is giving away a 6-pack of their kvass to one winner in the flavor(s) of their choosing ($24 value) AND they are giving away a free drink coupon to 10 runners-up. Additionally, anyone that "likes" Zukay Live Foods on Facebook and sends them a message with their home address can get a coupon book for $5.50 off of 7 bottles. They won't use your address for anything else - just the booklet!

The products in this giveaway are provided by Zukay Live Foods. Enter for your chance to win via the Rafflecopter below! Winner will be contacted by e-mail within 24 hours after the giveaway ends. If you do not respond within 48 hours, I will choose another winner. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

How to Make Ricotta Cheese

In my post last week, I extolled the simplicity of making cream cheese. Making ricotta cheese is just as easy, but the good news is you can use pasteurized milk (though raw milk is still preferred, if you can get it). It only takes about 45 minutes to make, but only 15 minutes of actual work time.

Ingredients:
3 c. whole milk
3 TBS. white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, or lemon juice
pinch of salt

Pour 3 cups of milk in a pot over medium heat and wait for the temperature to get to 185° F.

Remove the pot from the heat and add in the acid and salt. Give it a quick stir. The curds should separate from the whey almost immediately. If they do not, add more acid a tablespoon at a time until they do separate.

Dump the entire thing into a strainer lined with cheesecloth and over a large bowl. Pick up the corners of the cheesecloth and squeeze the liquid out of the cheese. Let it rest over the strainer for 30 minutes, then squeeze it again to ensure as much moisture is out as possible.

Store the ricotta cheese in an air-tight container in the refigerator for up to 3 days. Remember it's super fresh and has no preservatives!

Ricotta cheese is versatile in savory as well as sweet recipes. If you want to do something more interesting than lasagna, add ricotta to pancakes. With some cinnamon, it makes yummy, fluffy pancakes.

Printable: How to Make Ricotta Cheese

Recipe: Bavarian Cream Cake

The Bavarian Cream Cake is a traditional Easter dessert, although you don't see it too often anymore. Anything with lots of eggs, cream, and/or butter was common on Easter, as these ingredients were restricted during Lent. This is actually a healthy dessert: whole milk, heavy cream, and egg yolks - especially from grass-fed, pastured sources - are great sources of healthy fats, grass-fed gelatin is good for hair, skin, and nails, and there is very little sugar in this recipe. I use coconut sugar, which is high in vitamins and minerals.

Ingredients:
½ c. sugar
2 ½ tsp. gelatin
¼ tsp. salt
2 ½ c. milk
4 egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. heavy cream

In a saucepan mix the sugar, gelatin, salt, milk, and egg yolks. Let it sit for 5 minutes.

Turn the heat on and bring it to a boil. Continue to cook for about 15 minutes, stirring frequently, until the liquid reduces and thickens up a little. Immediately move the saucepan and set it in another large bowl full of ice water. Stir constantly for 2 minutes. Then, pour the liquid into a large bowl and stir in the vanilla. Press plastic wrap over the surface so the top doesn't get crusty. Put the bowl in the refrigerator for one hour.

Make whip cream from the heavy cream using a hand mixer or shaking it in a mason jar until it thickens up. Be careful not to do it too long or it will turn into butter! After one hour is up, fold the whipped cream into the bowl of thick cake cream.

Put a piece of plastic wrap into a 9" or 8" circle pan. Spread the cake cream inside, then place another piece of plastic wrap on top. Set it back in the fridge until it thickens up completely, about 2 hours.

When the cake is done, remove the top piece of plastic wrap. Put a plate over it and flip the cake out onto it, then peel off the bottom plastic wrap. You can eat the cake as it is, or you can decorate it. Toasted coconut not only makes it pretty, but it makes it extra yummy, too. Pour a couple cups of shredded coconut onto a baking sheet. Put it in a 200° F oven for about 5 minutes.

You can make the coconut look like grass by adding natural green food coloring. I use liquid chlorophyll.

Put several drops of liquid chlorophyll into a container with the toasted coconut and give it a good shake.

Now sprinkle the coconut over the cake. I also added my homemade marshmallows made in bunny molds to make it look festive.

Cut carefully and serve. Keep this cake stored in the fridge.

Although this cake is very simple to make, it's very rich and decadent. It's unlike any cake you've ever had.

Printable: Bavarian Cream Cake

Today's Co-op Order

I miraculously managed to spend under $200 at the Oklahoma Food Cooperative the month, which I haven't done in a very long time.

pastured pork shoulder roast
grass-fed ribeye steak
grass-fed cube steak
grass-fed beef stew meat
grass-fed oxtail
grass-fed ground beef
grass-fed beef liver
pastured non-GMO chicken livers
pastured non-GMO eggs
pastured chicken leg quarters
grass-fed butter
homemade hot pepper powders

I also bought my dog a bunch of chicken livers and chicken hearts.

The hot pepper powders are from High Tides & Green Fields. They grow organic, mostly heirloom peppers and then dry them to make their own gourmet chili powders. They are the best chili powders I've ever had, hands down. These aren't just your average chili powders from the spice rack at the grocery store; these taste real and fresh.

How to Make Cream Cheese

A couple of weeks ago I ordered too much raw milk and it started to sour, but this gave me the opportunity to make cream cheese for the first time. You cannot make cream cheese with any type of pasteurized milk; no exceptions! When pasteurized milk has soured, it is no longer safe for consumption and you need to throw it out. Raw milk is a living food. Raw, living foods do not rot; they culture or ferment.

I prefer homemade cream cheese because it's frugal and it's so darn easy. I have never seen a store-bought cream cheese that does not have unnecessary additives. Even organic cream cheeses contain locust bean gum, nonfat dry milk, and/or carrageenan.

All you need to make cream cheese is raw milk. Whether you have a little or a lot, it will work! I had a full gallon of milk, which makes a lot of cream cheese and whey.

Pour the milk into glass jars. I divided 1 gallon of milk into 3 half-gallon size mason jars. There needs to be room for air in the containers. Leave the jars on their side undisturbed for 1 to 4 days at room temperature. The fresher the milk is, the longer it will take to culture. If your milk has already started to sour, it can take as little as 24 hours before it's ready.

The cream cheese is ready when the milk turns into a runny yogurt consistency. That describes perfectly what it looks like, so it should be really obvious. Dump the "yogurt" into a strainer lined with cheesecloth and over a large bowl. Let the whey drip out for 2 to 4 hours. What's left at the top is cream cheese.

From one gallon of milk, I got about 1 ½ quarts of cream cheese and ½ gallon plus almost 1 pint of whey.

Don't throw out the whey! Use it in lacto-fermented recipes (like my Lacto-Fermented Jalapeño Rings), to replace milk or buttermilk in some recipes, or at the very least feed it to your plants or dogs!

Tip: You can also make cream cheese and whey from yogurt (raw or pasteurized!). Put plain yogurt over a strainer as described above and let it drain for 24 to 48 hours. This is actually called "yogurt cheese" and it does taste a little different from real cream cheese made from raw milk. But, it will work in a pinch and is a great substitute if you do not have access to raw milk!

Recipe: Sweet Potato & Jalapeño Stuffed Pretzel Balls

It took me a very long time to get this recipe just right. I thought the flavors were good so I really wanted to make it work. It's difficult to stuff pretzels and get them to hold their shape, so I made them into little balls which worked out great.

Ingredients for Pretzels:
1 pkg. (2 ¼ tsp.) yeast
1 tsp. honey
½ c. warm water
½ c. milk
3 c. whole wheat flour
2 TBS. baking soda

Ingredients for Filling:
2 TBS. coconut oil
2 TBS. whole wheat flour
½ c. milk
½ c. cheddar cheese
½ c. sweet potato puree
1 jalapeño
¼ tsp. salt
¹/₈ tsp. pepper
¼ tsp. paprika
¼ tsp. chili powder

If you are grinding your own flour, you will need about 2 cups of wheat berries.

Put the yeast and honey in a bowl with warm water and let it sit for 10 minutes until it gets foamy.

Mix in the milk and whole wheat flour (the baking soda will come later). Knead it a couple of times so it makes a nice tight dough ball. Put it in a large bowl, cover it with a towel, and let the dough rise for 2 hours.

Make the filling while the dough is rising.

Melt the coconut oil in a small saucepan. Add in the whole wheat flour to make a roux. Stir in the milk until there are no clumps left from the roux. Then, stir in grated cheddar cheese. When the sauce gets thick, turn off the heat.

Add the sweet potatoe puree, a chopped jalapeño, and the spices.

When the dough has risen, pour it out onto a floured surface. Pinch off small balls of dough, roll them out, put some filling in the center, and pinch the sides back together. Be careful not to overfill them; if they start to squeeze out they will have a good chance of exploding later. I got about 12 pretzels, but you may get more or less depending on size.

Boil a large pot of water. When the water starts boiling, add 2 tablespoons of baking soda; be careful as it will boil up more for a minute. Take 1 or 2 pretzel balls and put them in the water for 30 seconds, then immediately remove to a baking sheet. This baking soda bath is what will give the pretzels that nice brown color when it bakes, and differentiates it from just any baked bread product that happens to have filling.

Once all the pretzels are on the baking sheet, sprinkle them with coarse salt (I use pink Himalayan salt). Bake them in a preheated 400° F oven for 20 minutes.

 

Eat up! These are really good; my sister-in-law will vouch for me, she got most of them. ;) If you experiment with different fillings, let me know what you come up with!

 

Printable: Sweet Potato & Jalapeño Stuffed Pretzel Balls

The Milk Cure 2013 - After

My 10 day milk fast is over! Here's how I did.

Days 1 through 5 I drank only milk. I was drinking 3 to 4 pints a day, which is not a lot. I'm thin, so I get full pretty fast. I lost 5 pounds in 5 days. Day 3 was the worst day as far as being hungry. It was a Sunday, and I was bored, which I'm sure didn't help. I was cranky and ended up going to bed super early because all I wanted to do was eat.

Days 4 and 5, I had a lot of anxiety. Let me back up. I have a rather severe mitral valve prolapse, which is a heart defect. One of the side effects of an MVP is severe anxiety. Two very important minerals for people with an MVP to get are magnesium and CoQ10. I could tell on days 4 and 5 that I was not getting enough. Although I still believe raw milk is a complete food, that does not mean it has a ton of every vitamin and mineral. And, as I said, I was drinking so little.

Starting on day 6, I decided to eat my daily chicken livers again, as well as take my fermented cod liver oil and butter oil. I also ate "normal" dinners, although I ate smaller portions than usual. I still drank milk for breakfast and lunch, which kept me full until then. I continued this for a few days, and then it was probably day 9 when I went back to having normal meals again.

Although I technically only made it through 5 days of a milk fast, I consider it a success. I learned a lot. I learned how to listen to my body. I know, better than before, what I need and when to get it. There is no one size fits all for detoxes. It's okay if you couldn't go for 10 days, and it's okay if you want to go more than 10 days. The important thing is to make sure you're taking care of yourself.

I also learned how to be hungry again. We get used to eating at the slightest sign of hunger, but we shouldn't. We're not starving. When you're hungry, you will appreciate and genuinely enjoy your next meal, and you'll also be more willing to try new foods.

I do think that I'll do a milk or some other kind of fast again sometime, but probably for no more than 3 days.

That was my experience... How was yours?

Recipe: Shepherd's Pie

There are many ways to make shepherd's pie. It's a fairly easy concept: meat with sauce and topped with potatoes in some form.You have never really had shepherd's pie until you've had it like this. The Guinness, red wine, and broth combine to give it a wonderful flavor. Happy St. Patrick's Day indeed!

Ingredients for Meat:
1 lb. ground lamb or ground beef
1 lg. onion
1 lg. carrot
2 cloves garlic
4 TBS. butter, divided
1 c. Guinness
½ c. red wine
1 c. beef broth
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper
¼ tsp. ginger
¹/₃ c. whole wheat flour

Ingredients for Mashed Potatoes:
1 ½ lb. potatoes
¼ c. butter
5 TBS. milk
½ tsp. salt
parsley, to garnish

Chop the onion and carrot and put them in a large skillet with 2 tablespoons of butter. Sweat them out until they are almost done (onions are done when they turn clear). Move the vegetables to a bowl and set aside.

Add the other 2 tablespoons of butter to the skillet and brown the ground lamb or ground beef. Throw in 2 cloves of chopped garlic when the meat is almost done.

Stir the onion and carrot back into the skillet. Pour in the Guinness, red wine, and beef broth. It has to be Guinness. If it's not Guinness, just please don't tell me about it. My heart couldn't take it.

Add in the salt, pepper, ginger, and whole wheat flour. The flour will help to thicken it.

Bring the liquid to a boil and then turn it down to a simmer. Let it simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the liquid reduces and thickens into a sauce. At this point, you can add in one cup of frozen peas. This is more traditional, but I don't like peas. They're mushy.

Set the meat aside and make the mashed potatoes.

Peel and chop 1 ½ pounds of Russet or Yukon Gold potatoes.

Put the potatoes in a large pot with water and bring it to a boil. Continue to boil for about 10 minutes, until the pieces are soft.

Drain the water and put the potatoes in a large bowl with the butter, milk, and salt. Mash with a hand mixer or a potato masher.

Spread the meat in a nice even layer in a casserole dish. It will fit an 8x8" baking dish nicely, or you can use mini cocettes like these.

Spread the mashed potatoes over the meat mixture. If you're ambitious, you can put the mashed potatoes in a pastry bag with a large tip and pipe it just like frosting.

Bake the shepherd's pie(s) in a 350° F oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until they are heated through. Sprinkle chopped parsley over the top and serve hot.

This recipe serves 4. The leftovers are just as good. Enjoy!

Printable: Shepherd's Pie

VIDEO: How to Eat Liver

I thought it would be fun to make a video about the importance of liver and how to consume it. I'm not a model or an actress, but I did my best. I think I got my point across and I hope you enjoy! If anything, watch it to see a special guest appearance by my dog, Chief. He thinks he's a star and he could really use the ego boost. :)

 

Here is the link to the desiccated liver I was talking about: Radiant Life. However, it is probably going to be much cheaper if you can find a source of local, pastured, grass-fed beef or chicken liver.

Shared at Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways and Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

Recipe: Dark Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes with Mint Buttercream

I have all kinds of ideas for St. Patrick's Day recipes. This is the sweet one I picked, and I've got a savory one coming next week. I just knew I had to use Guinness. When I lived in Belfast, Guinness was everywhere. There are many things that remind me of Northern Ireland to this day, and one of them will always be Guinness. And I know my friends in Northern Ireland would take that as a compliment!

Ingredients for Cupcakes:
1 c. whole wheat flour
¼ c. cocoa powder
½ c. sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
½ c. butter
2 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate
1 egg
½ c. Guinness

Ingredients for Frosting:
2 c. powdered sugar
1 c. butter
½ tsp. mint extract
natural green food coloring (optional)

Grind one cup of wheat berries for fresh flour, if you have a grain mill.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, and salt.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter and unsweetened baking chocolate over low heat. I used 100% chocolate, but you can use something lighter if desired.

As soon as the ingredients are melted, remove the saucepan from heat. Temper an egg as follows: Whisk the egg in a small bowl. Slowly stir in a few tablespoons of chocolate sauce into the egg so the egg gets used to the heat and doesn't scramble. Then, pour the egg mixture into the saucepan. Add in the Guinness as well.

Mix the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients. Pour the batter into 12 cupcakes liners, about ¾ of the way full.

Bake in a preheated 350° F oven for 15-18 minutes, until a knife inserted comes out clean. Remove and let them cool completely.

Make the frosting while the cupcakes are cooling.

Cream together the powdered sugar and butter. I use a food processor to keep the mess contained, but you can use a hand mixer.

Add in the mint extract and natural green food coloring. My little secret is that I use liquid chlorophyll for green. I have heard of people pureeing spinach or other vegetables, but liquid chlorophyll is much easier than messing with all that. Chlorophyll is what makes plants green, so it's natural and it's tasteless. You can get a small bottle in the supplement section of most health food stores.

Frost the cupcakes! This is my favorite part.

One more just because they're so pretty...

My sister-in-law said these tasted like "the cupcake, whole food version of a mint Oreo." Sounds just like St. Patrick's Day to me!!

Printable: Dark Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes with Mint Buttercream