Real Food Resolutions

It's that time of year where almost everyone makes a new year's resolution, and I am no different.  I just wrote a post this morning about meditation and cleaning, two paths that I am endeavoring to take this year on 2011.

In the meantime, I have noticed that one of my favorite bloggers, Kimi over at The Nourishing Gourmet, is hosting a Nourishing Resolutions 2011 carnival today.  So here I am, making my real food resolution list.

Real Food Resolutions:

1. For vitamin K2: Make liver once a week, or serve natto. (Either way we will be having hard cheese and Kerrygold butter almost daily.)
2. For B vitamins: Make a Coconut Smoothie with nutritional yeast added to it at least once a week.  
3. For maintenance: Keep going and maintaining my current nourishing practices by making water kefir, making beet kvass, sprouting wheat for flour, soaking grains, soaking and dehydrating nuts, taking daily cod liver oil and butter oil, daily vitamin C and B complex, maca root, oregano oil, iodine from kelp, and a multivitamin.
4. Participate: Join in a real food carnival once a month.
5. Continue with my weight loss goal: Operation Lose Baby Weight.  (Based on Eat Fat, Lose Fat.)

This post is part of Nourishing Resolutions 2011 Carnival at The Nourishing Gourmet.

Coconut Citrus Fudge

Coconut Citrus Fudge

1 cup coconut butter

2-3 tablespoons raw honey

2 tablespoons coconut oil, gently melted

1 tablespoon orange, lemon, grapefruit or other citrus zest

1 teaspoon orange, lemon, grapefruit or other citrus extract (if using oil, use a few drops)

1. In a food processor pulse coconut butter and honey until combined.  Then with the processor running, add the coconut oil in a steady stream.  Add zest and extract or oil, and mix until combined.

2. On a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or wax paper, spoon mixture and form into a rectangle.  Press with your hands to make the thickness even, about 1/4 inch thick.  Chill for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

3. Remove from the fridge, and lift parchment or wax paper off the cookie sheet and transfer to a cutting board.  Cut into little squares or whatever bites you like.  

4. You can store these in the fridge, or even on the counter in an airtight container.  The coconut butter keeps it shape well, even at room temperature.  And this time of year our houses are on the cooler side.  Enjoy!

(Inspired by a review of Cooking to Heal by Kimi at The Nourishing Gourmet, I have made this "fudge" a few times.  It is very light, very nourishing, and kid-friendly.  My kids love it.  I have changed it a little, mostly to incorporate more coconut oil and achieve a smoother feel.)

Joyous Almond Cups

Whenever I make these peanut butter cups I always end up making these Almond Joy-esque cups as well.  I use the same mini cupcake pan, the same spot in the freezer to freeze the two layers, and we end up with two flavors of cups to choose from for a sweet, but nourishing treat.  This recipe is my version after being inspired, as usual, by a recipe from Kimi over at The Nourishing Gourmet.

Even more so than the peanut butter cups, these joyous almond cups have a lot of coconut oil incorporated into the recipe.  Coconut oil has many benefits.  Coconut oil has a lot saturated fat.  But don't fear.  This saturated fat is good for you.  Yes you read that right.  The saturated fat in coconut oil is comprised of medium chain fatty acids, 50% of which are the fatty acid lauric acid.  Medium chain fatty acids are more easily digested, reducing strain on the liver, pancreas, and digestive system.  Coconut oil benefits a sluggish thyroid by this same logic: it takes less energy to digest coconut oil, freeing up your thyroid to heal and function better.  Coconut oil helps with energy levels and weight loss.  Coconut oil heals you from the inside out.

So when you wonder why I go through all the trouble of researching coconut oil, finding different kinds of coconut oil, and then incorporating it into my diet despite my lack of love for it's flavor, this is why.  I feel better when I have it in my daily diet.  I know the science behind it and am more than happy to have it's help healing my body.

Now let's get back to the treat part.  I make these either with or without chopped almonds.  Sort in the vein of sometimes feeling like a nut...But when I do add the nuts I make sure they are from my soaked and dehydrated stash.  Soaking nuts overnight in salt water helps neutralize the naturally-occuring enzyme inhibitors present in most nuts.  Then dehydrating them returns them back to their crispy state.  The almonds I used in this recipe were soaked, dehydrated, and then toasted for 20 minutes at 300 degrees just to bring out their flavor a little before I chopped them and added them in.

Joyous Almond Cups

coconut base:

1/2 cup gently melted coconut oil

1/4 cup gently melted raw honey

1 1/4 cups unsweetened, shredded coconut

1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract

1/2 cup chopped almonds, preferably soaked and dehydrated, then toasted for 20 min. at 300 degrees

chocolate topping:

1/2 cup cocoa powder

3 tablespoons raw honey

3/4 cup coconut oil

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 teaspoon coffee liqueur

1. Make coconut base: Combine melted coconut oil and raw honey.  Whisk well to combine.  Add shredded coconut and almond extract.  

2. Using a small ice cream scoop, divide among 24 mini cupcake molds.  Sprinkle each one with a little of the chopped almonds, dividing evenly.  Place in the freezer on a level surface for 30 minutes to harden.  

3. In the meantime, make chocolate topping: combine cocoa powder, honey, and coconut oil in a glass bowl set over simmering water.  Whisk until coconut oil is almost completely smooth.  Remove from heat and continue whisking, adding vanilla and coffee liqueur.

4. Remove frozen coconut bases, and spoon a little of the chocolate topping on each cup.  Place back in the freezer for another 30 minutes until frozen and set.  

5. To remove, pop out with a spoon or butter knife immediately after removing from the freezer.  Store in the freezer, or else they will melt.  To eat, I like to remove from the freezer and let sit for a few minutes to soften.  Enjoy with cold, whole raw milk, yum!

My New Quest: Make My Own Candy for Christmas

I was at Trader Joe's today, one of my favorite places to go.  I had grand plans to buy some candies there to use for stocking stuffers.  I remembered from last year that there was a lot of variety.  So I was excited.  However, that did not pan out the way I wanted it to.

First of all, I could not find a single piece of chocolate without soy lecithin in it.  The reason I am avoiding soy is due to it's effect on hormone levels, not to mention it is usually genetically modified.  Then I looked at some jelly beans and cookies.  They contained soy flours, corn syrup, and soybean/sunflower/canola oils.  Is it so much to ask for foods made with recognizable ingredients?  I just want whole grain flour, butter, whole sugar, natural flavors.  Sheesh.

But then I remembered these chocolate macadamias sprinkled with sea salt from last year, which I have still not attempted.  But I did make peanut butter cups and coconut-chocolate mounds this year for Valentine's Day and they were wonderful.  I also have loved this coconut-orange fudge recipe.  At least I know I can make those from experience and try some new recipes too.  I can make a few kinds of candies and then put them in a cute package for each of our stockings.

I also have an excellent pair of shortbread recipes that I need to whip up.  It's a good thing I started sprouting some white wheat berries tonight.  I even found recipes for basic chocolate fudge, caramel corn, and these almond cookies!  Maybe something that looks similar to this Nature's Candy Box idea.  It really is worth it to me.  I'm going to do it, dammit!

I may even try to convert some of my old favorites into nourishing versions and see how it goes.  I really love these cookies, and these sugar cookies, and these peanut butter cup cookies, and these checkerboard cookies, and these mexican wedding cookies.  I want to have all of them again.  Wish me luck, I will be blogging my success!

Breakfast: Fried Egg, Bacon, Orange, Milk

In my previous post I mentioned that I haven't been losing weight the last few weeks. The recipes I have posted from Eat Fat, Lose Fat so far on k-land have been Phase 1 recipes, so today I am starting to post Phase 2 recipes.  Breakfast isn't so much a recipe as a list of foods.

Coconut Oil and FCLO (taken 20 minutes before breakfast): 2 tablespoons coconut oil taken in hot water and a squeeze of orange, and 2 capsules fermented cod liver oil.
Breakfast: 

• 1 fried egg
• 2 slices nitrate-free, pastured bacon (Trader Joe's carries uncured (nitrate-free) Niman Ranch (pastured) bacon for $4.69/12 oz.--it's the best deal I have found)
• 1/2 grapefruit w/ Coconut Sprinkles (I had a plain orange instead)
• one cup raw, whole milk

I was worried that I would be hungry and grouchy after eating less in the morning, but this has been a pretty good breakfast.  I wasn't feeling hungry until about noon, so that was a nice surprise.

(I did end up being grumpy, but that is more to do with my crazy morning.  I drove all over the place to get R somewhere and then to work, pick up my Azure Standard order that was a day late due to truck trouble, and pick up raw milk, all while getting M to and from school on time.  Argh!)

Dessert On Hand: Coconut Macaroons

When I was cheating last night, I decided to make some macaroons for the boys and me.  On my meal plan it says that I can have a macaroon after dinner, thought I forget which day.  After looking at the store I decided to make them.  I had saved my egg whites from when I made those coconut smoothies, so I was good to go.

I got the Macaroon recipe from my copy of Nourishing Traditions, a necessity in my kitchen.  Full of recipes, sources for hard-to-find items, breakdowns of fats, carbs, and proteins, meal ideas, and deatiled instructions for soaking, sprouting, culturing and lacto-fermenting, it's one of those books you will use forever.  It covers all the basics.  Now I just need to get my hands on the two volume set of Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child and I will be busy for a few years!

Nourishing Traditions is the book Sally Fallon and Dr. Mary Enig wrote before Eat Fat, Lose Fat.  The books share a few recipes, but I am glad to own both.  NT has hundreds of recipes and "how to"s, while Eat Fat, Lose Fat has practical meal plans and explanations of how to lose weight.  They complement each other.

A note on ingredients: 

• Always use grade B maple syrup.  It contains more trace minerals and nutrients.  Also make sure to get organic syrup, since conventional syrup is processed with formaldehyde.  
• Arrowroot powder is a handy item to use in place of cornstarch or white flour.  It thickens sauces without the phytic acid problem of flour, and replaces cornstarch that is most likely genetically modified. 
• Try to find pastured eggs in your area, asking the farmer if s/he uses soy in the feed for the chickens, and if the chickens spend their days outside in the sun.
• Vanilla can be wonderful, and I prefer bourbon vanilla from Trader Joe's.  It's cheap and has a fantastic flavor.  However, I did recently try my hand at homemade bourbon vanilla.  (It was easy!  And very cheap to make.)
• The cheapest dried, unsweetened coconut meat I have found is at Azure Standard, my online co-op choice.

Macaroons

makes 2 dozen

4 egg whites 

pinch of sea salt

2 tablespoons arrowroot powder

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups dried/desiccated coconut meat, finely cut

1.  Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

2.  Beat egg whites with salt in a clean bowl until they form stiff peaks.  Beat in the arrowroot and slowly beat in syrup and vanilla.  Fold in coconut gently.  

3.  Drop by spoonfuls onto parchment.  Bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes, until lightly browned.  Then reduce heat to 200 degrees and bake for about 60 minutes, or until completely dry and crisp.  Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Dinner: Red Lamb Curry, Watercress Endive Salad, Lacto-Fermented Sour Pickles, Raw Milk

Tonight's dinner was not only surprisingly delicious, but surprisingly easy to make.  When I read "curry" I imagined being in the kitchen for an hour chopping things and doing various steps.  Not so.  And I was so glad, because I am bone tired tonight.  I should mention that it really helped that I didn't need to go to the store for anything either, since I had planned ahead and bought all the ingredients last Sunday.

Coconut oil: 2 tablespoons taken in pomegranate white tea 20 minutes before dinner
Dinner:

• Leftover red meat curry: I used leftover lamb from Wednesday
• Watercress Endive Salad with Balsamic Dressing
• Lacto-fermented sauerkraut: I subbed Bubbie's pickles, since my kraut is still fermenting and Bubbie's uses lacto-fermentation
• Choice of Quick and Easy Beverage: I drank raw milk, but I could've done kefir or kvass

Watercress Endive Salad

serves 4

2 bunches watercress, stems removed

4 heads Belgium endive

1 head radicchio, or 1/4 head red cabbage, finely shredded

1 small red onion, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts

1/2 cup Balsamic Dressing

2 ounces blue cheese, crumbled

1.  Wash and dry watercress.  Remove outer leaves of endive and slice at 1/4-inch intervals.  In a large bowl, mix all ingredients except cheese with dressing and divide among 4 plates.  Sprinkle cheese over salad and serve with dressing.

Balsamic Dressing

makes 3/4 cup

1 teaspoon grainy Dijon-style mustard

2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, or Mary's Oil Blend

2 teaspoons expeller-pressed flax oil

1.  Shake all ingredients in a small plastic container with a lid.  It's a lot easier than whisking :D

Leftover Red Meat Curry

2 tablespoons lard or Mary's Oil Blend

2 cups leftover beef or lamb, cut into 1/4-inch pieces

1 can whole coconut milk

2 cups beef stock

1 teaspoon red curry paste

1-inch piece ginger, peeled and chopped

juice of 1 lemon or 2 limes

1 teaspoon coconut or maple sugar (coconut sugar is sometimes called palm sugar)

1 teaspoon sea salt

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves

1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into strips

1 cup Chinese peas, ends removed and cut on an angle into 1/2-inch pieces (I used sugar snap peas, I couldn't find Chinese peas)

1. Warm lard in a large pot over medium heat.  Add meat and saute, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes, or until meat has browned. 

2.  Add remaining ingredients and simmer until vegetables are tender (it took about 10-15 minutes).

(Cross-posted.)

First Hiccup

You may notice that I never posted dinner on Friday.  That's because I was about to make the Lamb Curry last night when M came out of my room and said that there were ants all over my bed.  It was most unfortunately true.  Blaaahhhh!!  We have had ants bombarding our house for a week now.  They win not win this war, haha!  But I digress.

So needless to say, I spent dinnertime cleaning up ants with a vacuum and doing several loads of laundry.  But do not fear, gentle reader, I improvised a dinner that passed muster with Eat Fat, Lose Fat.  I made eggs and bacon and put them on a sprouted hamburger bun with raw cheese, had a glass of raw milk and called it good.

As far as today goes, I ate the same breakfast and lunch as yesterday.  Coconut Smoothie and milk in the morning, and Hazelnuts, Cheese, Fruit, Kvass, and Kefir for lunch.  Although today I opted for organic strawberries instead of the apple.  So there you go, it's a Real Food Miracle!

Breakfast: Coconut Smoothie

Coconut oil and Fermented Cod Liver Oil: 2 tablespoons coconut oil taken in tangerine ginger tea, and 2 capsules FCLO

Breakfast: Coconut Smoothie, and Raw Milk

I really enjoyed breakfast this morning.  The smoothie was smooth and slightly sweet, and not very coconutty.  It is a great quick breakfast.  I even drank it in the car like people on the go do.

Coconut Smoothie

1 ripe banana
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup coconut milk
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Blend all ingredients together in a blender.  Enjoy!

(Cross-posted.)

Dinner: Leg of Lamb w/ Root Vegetable, Coconut Corn Soup, Sauerkraut and Raw Milk

Coconut Oil: 2 tablespoons taken in tangerine ginger tea
Dinner: 

• Leg of Lamb with Root Vegetables: carrots, turnips, new potatoes
• Leftover Coconut Corn Soup
• Sauerkraut (mine isn't ready because it's still fermenting, so I am subbing lacto-fermented pickles)
• Raw Milk or Coconut Milk Tonic (I am having raw milk)

I just put my leg of lamb into a broth of white wine and water herbed with several teaspoons of dried thyme and dried rosemary, several cloves of unpeeled garlic, and several bay leaves.  It is going to braise for 3 hours and then I will add my root vegetables for another hour.  Therefore: 4 hour leg of lamb.  

I looked at the recipe in Eat Fat, Lose Fat and sort of combined it with this recipe for 4-Hour Lamb I saw from Ina Garten when I was watching Barefoot Contessa a few weeks ago.  I did that because Ina's recipe uses a Dutch oven to braise the meat over a long period of time, and that sounds delicious.   She also browns it first before putting it in the oven.  I will post the hybrid recipe I used.  Someday I will try the book version, it sounds good too.

A note about ingredients: I found the best price for lamb at Whole Foods, where a leg of lamb was on sale for $4.99/lb.  I always buy Kerrygold butter from Trader Joe's, because they have the best price.  Kerrygold is the cheapest grass-fed butter I can find around here.  Sea salt is much better for you than iodized salt which has additives.  Most of my root vegetables are organic, which I buy in bulk on Azure Standard.  You can do your own searching in your area, but make sure you know where your food comes from.

4-Hour Leg of Lamb

by K

1 small leg of lamb
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) melted butter
sea salt and pepper to taste

1 bottle (750 mL) dry white wine (I used Sauvignon Blanc)

2 cups water

15 sprigs fresh thyme, or a palmful of dried thyme

15 sprigs fresh rosemary, or a palmful of dried rosemary

6 bay leaves

2 heads of garlic, broken up into cloves, unpeeled

4-6 carrots, peeled, cut into large sticks

2-3 turnips, quartered

6 new potatoes, cut in half or quartered

1 onion, sliced

3-4 cups beef stock

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Place Dutch oven over medium heat until hot.  Meanwhile, rub leg of lamb with 1/4 cup melted butter (reserve other 1/2 cup) and season generously with salt and pepper.  Sear in hot Dutch oven on all sides until browned all over.  Remove leg of lamb and set on a plate.  

2.  Add entire bottle of wine and water to the Dutch oven, scraping all the browned bits up with a wooden spoon or spatula.  Add thyme, rosemary, bay leaves, and garlic to the liquid.  Place leg of lamb back into the Dutch oven, cover with a lid and place in the oven.

3.  Cook, covered, for four hours.

4.  Meanwhile, peel and chop vegetables.  Put onto a roasting pan or jelly roll pan lined with parchment. Brush or drizzle with remaining 1/2 cup melted butter, season with salt and pepper, and put in the oven on a rack underneath the Dutch oven during the final hour of the four hours of cooking.

5.  In a saucepan, reduce 4 cups of beef stock down to 1 or 2 cups of stock.  This way it will be concentrated down to add later to the sauce.

6.  Remove Dutch oven from oven and remove lid.  Remove leg of lamb from the Dutch oven, set on a plate, and cover with foil.  Check vegetables to see if they are tender.  If they are, remove them from the oven and cover with foil as well.  If not, let them roast a little longer while you make the sauce.

7. Add reduced beef stock to the Dutch oven, over medium high heat on the stove.  Bring liquid in the Dutch oven to a rapid boil, reducing down to one cup or so.  Season with salt to taste.  Serve over lamb and vegetables.

(Cross-posted.)

Breakfast: Soaked Oatmeal w/ Raw Milk

Coconut Oil and Fermented Cod Liver Oil: 2 tablespoons coconut oil taken in tangerine ginger tea and two capsules of FCLO, taken 20 minutes before breakfast


Breakfast: Soaked Oatmeal with butter, maple syrup, and Coconut Sprinkles, one cup of whole raw milk


Breakfast was surprisingly good this morning.  I have made soaked oatmeal before, and I like it fine but it isn't usually my favorite.  I prefer eggs and bacon to grains in the morning.  But I was very pleasantly surprised by this particular bowl of oatmeal.  I usually don't add butter to my oatmeal but it was a welcome addition indeed.  The buttery, mapley smoothness was punctuated by the crunchiness of the coconut sprinkles.  No kidding, this is my new favorite way to have oatmeal.

It was also nice to have a warm breakfast after waking up with cramps and a baby who was feeling a little...grumpy.  I have been feeling pretty good the last couple of days on the new food regimen.  I like having my meals planned out for me, and I like trying new things.  Tonight I am trying lamb for the first time.  And last night I had blue cheese salad which I am really trying to like!

Soaked Oatmeal with Butter, Maple Syrup, and Coconut Sprinkles

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup warm water

2 tablespoons whey, lemon juice, or yogurt

• Combine oats, warm water and whey in a glass bowl, cover with a towel and let soak overnight or 24 hours.

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 cup filtered water

• Transfer soaked oatmeal to a saucepan, add sea salt and water and bring to a boil.  Then lower to a simmer for 1-2 minutes, until oatmeal thickens.

1-2 tablespoons butter (or coconut oil)

2-4 tablespoons maple syrup (or other wholesome sweetener like Rapadura, Sucanat, honey, maple sugar, date sugar, palm sugar, etc.)

sprinkling of Coconut Sprinkles

• Scoop oatmeal into bowls and add butter, wholesome sweetener, and coconut sprinkles.  I also added a little raw milk from my cup to thin it out a little.  Enjoy!

(Cross-posted.)

Dinner: Baked Chicken w/ Coconut Peanut Sauce, Salad, Green Beans, Pickles, and Kefir

Wow, that's quite the title.


Coconut Oil: taken 20 minutes before dinner, in pomegranate white tea


Dinner: 

• Mesclun Salad with Balsamic Dressing
• Baked Chicken with Coconut Peanut Sauce
• Green Beans fried in coconut oil
• Kimchi (homemade or purchased)--(I couldn't do it!  I had Bubbie's pickles instead, they are also lacto-fermented)
• choice of Quick and Easy Beverage--I chose kefir

By the time I made it to dinner today I realized how much I don't like making three meals a day.  But no problem, I will just eat the leftovers for a day or two and then move on to the next "day" of menu items.  R goes a little crazy eating the same thing over and over, but I love it.  Simplicity, less work?  Hooray!

Mesclun Salad

4 cups mesclun salad (baby lettuce)

1 tablespoon toasted pine nuts

1/2 cup Balsamic Dressing

2 ounces blue cheese

4 croutons (I omitted them)

Balsamic Dressing

1 teaspoon smooth or grainy Dijon-style mustard

2 Tablespoons plus one teaspoon balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil or Mary's Oil Blend

2 teaspoon expeller-pressed flax oil

sea salt and pepper to taste

1.  Mix mustard and vinegar in a bowl.  Add oil in a steady stream, whisking until the dressing is well-mixed and emulsified.  

Baked Chicken

1 whole chicken, including head and feet if possible

1 tablespoon melted butter (I just rubbed room temperature butter on the chicken)

sea salt and pepper to taste

1 3/4 cups Coconut Peanut Sauce

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cut up chicken, reserving back, feet, head and wings for chicken stock. Place breasts, thighs, and drumsticks, skin side up, in a roasting pan or Dutch oven.  Brush with butter and season with salt and pepper.  Bake for 2 hours or until golden brown.

Coconut Peanut Sauce

6 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped

2-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped

1 large bunch of cilantro, chopped

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon Asian hot chili oil (I couldn't find it, so I omitted; plus the boys don't like it spicy)

3/4 cup natural peanut butter

3/8 cup naturally fermented soy sauce

3 tablespoon rice or coconut vinegar

1/2 can whole coconut milk

1. Place garlic, ginger, and cilantro in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped.  Add all remaining ingredients and pulse until well-blended.  To warm sauce, place in a medium bowl set in a pan of hot water over very low heat.

(Cross-posted)

Lunch: Coconut Corn Soup, crackers and cheese, spritzer

Coconut oil: 2 tablespoons taken 20 minutes before lunch, in tangerine ginger herbal tea

Lunch: 

• Coconut Corn Soup
• whole grain (soaked) crackers or Coconut Crackers, with raw cheese
• spritzer or purchased kombucha

Coconut Corn Soup is simmering away on my stove right now, in my new Le Creuset Dutch oven no less!  I got this recipe from Eat Fat, Lose Fat by Dr. Mary Enig and Sally Fallon. This soup is part of the two week meal plan I am following from the book, as part of my Operation Lose Baby Weight project I started this morning.

I made crackers a couple of weeks ago, so I am using the soaked spelt version I made then.  When I run out I will try the Coconut Crackers recipe from the book.

I am going to drink spritzer with grapefruit juice in it today.  I was really digging my half a grapefruit from breakfast, so I'll use a little more of it for my lunch drink.  The citrus juice aids in digestion.

Coconut Corn Soup

1 can whole coconut milk

4 cups chicken stock

28-ounce can fire-roasted tomatoes

kernels from 4 ears of corn

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

sea salt and pepper to taste

1. Combine all the ingredients in a large pot or Dutch oven and bring to a simmer.  Simmer for 10 minutes.  Serve.

Basic Rich Crackers

1 cup plain, whole milk yogurt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

3 1/2 cups freshly ground whole grain flour (I have used spelt and whole red winter wheat, both with good success)

2 teaspoons sea salt

1. Cream yogurt and butter together. Add flour and salt and stir to combine.

2. Cover with a towel and a plate, find a warm place to soak 12-24 hours (or overnight).

3. After the soaking period, preheat oven to 400 degrees.

4. At this point you can add any herbs, cheeses, or spices to your dough you might like to try. I have only attempted cracked pepper and parmesan cheese, but it was delicious! The possibilities are endless, but the crackers are truly delicious all on their own. Don't feel you need this step, it is optional.

5. Use white flour, sprouted flour, or arrowroot powder (because each of these options have no phytic acid) to roll your dough out very thin. Use a pastry or pizza cutter to cut dough into small squares or rectangles.

6. Place onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. You can put the crackers fairly close to each other, they do not spread. You can prick with a fork, but I have not seen much of a need for it.

7. Bake 8-12 minutes, checking every minute or so after 8 minutes have gone by to make sure they do not overbrown. You know the crackers are done when they are slightly brown on the edges and the middles of the crackers look drier.

8. Remove from baking sheet to cooling racks immediately, but be gentle so they do not break. Enjoy!

Spritzer

sparkling water

juice from 1 lime, 1/2 lemon OR 1/4 grapefruit

pinch salt

1. Add juice and salt to a glass of water.  Stir to combine.

(Cross-posted.)

Ready, Set, Go!

Coconut oil: taken 20 min. before breakfast in pomegranate white tea, along with two capsules of high vitamin cod liver oil

Breakfast:

• two eggs fried in butter or coconut oil
• one piece of whole grain (sprouted) toast with butter or coconut oil
• half a grapefruit with coconut sprinkles
• one cup of whole raw milk or coconut milk tonic

I am sitting here eating my grapefruit with Coconut Sprinkles, having already finished my eggs, toast, and milk. But before I ate anything I took my two tablespoons of coconut oil.

As you will recall, one of the methods of this weight loss plan is to take two tablespoons of coconut oil 20 minutes before each meal. If I was braver I would have just taken them off the spoon, but I am a squeamish sort. I took the author's recommendation from Eat Fat, Lose Fat and drank my coconut oil. I have a pomegranate white tea that I like, so I used that pink concoction as a vehicle for my coconut oil this morning before I shuttled M off to preschool.

I woke up this morning looking and feeling different. I can tell that it is the right time for me to take on this weight loss goal. I feel energized. I feel capable. I am excited. In fact, I had a good omen as I made the eggs this morning: one of them came out as a double yolk. That's never happened to me before. I think it is significant that my first breakfast became a little bit magical.

I have struggled for years to gain a healthy relationship with my body and my body image. As many of you readers know, I was raised by abusive parents. My dad sexually abused me, which has really done a number on my sexuality. I have steadily gained healthier ways of seeing myself. My mom, being a severe emotional abuser, criticized how I looked and what I ate as I grew up. So I have also struggled with how I see food as an enemy or an ally.

I am to a place where I simply see food as food. I am noticing how fast or slow I eat, and why. I am noticing my connection to food in terms of it's history. It is becoming sacred and cleansing to understand my food and where it came from, and then lovingly prepare it for me and my family.

Well, I must be off to Trader Joe's to get some corn and other produce for the rest of the day's recipes. Up next for lunch: Coconut Corn Soup, raw cheese and crackers, and spritzer or purchased kombucha

Still Preparing: Mary's Oil Blend

I have never made this blend, but Eat Fat, Lose Fat calls for it in several recipes. I understand that this oil blend doesn't burn as easily as pure coconut oil during cooking. You can also use it in salads and to make mayonnaise.

Mary's Oil Blend

1 cup coconut oil, gently melted

1 cup expeller-pressed or cold-pressed sesame oil

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1. Mix all together in a glass jar, cover tightly, and store at room temperature.

(Cross-posted.)

Preparing for Monday: Coconut Sprinkles

According to Eat Fat, Lose Fat coconut sprinkles can be used on desserts, salads, and curries. It looks pretty easy, too. I am going to try it on my grapefruit on Monday morning's breakfast.

Coconut Sprinkles

2 cups unsweetened desiccated coconut

1/2 cup maple syrup

1. Mix coconut and maple syrup together, spread out on a baking sheet, and dry out at a low temperature in the oven: 200 degrees or so.

2. Break up with hands and store at room temperature in an airtight container.

(Cross-posted)