Team Bettendorf in Missouri

Coconut Chicken Soup

I am moving my homestead blog over with my regular blog.  Join me there!!

So I was told by two friends that this soup is good.  I think we should try it.

1 quart chicken stock

1.5 cups coconut milk or 7oz creamed coconut.

1/4 teas dried chile flakes

1 teas freshly grated ginger

juice of one lemon

sea salt or fish sauce

several green onions (optional)

1 Tbsp finely chipped cilantro

First you boil the chicken stock.

Skim off any scum that floats to the top.

Time to add the rest.  Chile flakes, coconut, lemon juice and ginger.

We also chopped up the cilantro and green onions to add to the soup because I like both those flavors and thought it would taste better that way. :)

The food processor was faster than hand chopping.

Add everything.

Simmer for 15 minutes and ladle into bowls or mugs.  We added chicken because Jeff said you can't have just broth soup.

In the end this was not our favorite meal.  I think I expected too much from the soup.  I wanted it to be a  meal but Sally Fallon clearly says that it is a "good way to begin a big meal".  It is meant to be a soup course in a larger meal.  I don't know if I would have loved it if I had only had a mug of it as none of us was real fond of the coconutty taste paired with chicken but it was edible.  We probably will never make this again.

Good food, good meals.

My beans.  Jenna says they are red, white and blue beans.  We have Great Northern, Navy, Kidney and Black beans.  They were so yummy.  We added salt, garlic, cumin and tomato sauce before we cooked them.

Steel Head Trout, red rice and cabbage.

Recipe to follow.

Menu planner?

Have you guys seen this?

http://www.cookingtf.com/

It includes a menu mailer with everyhting broken down about when to start soaking grains, etc.  Great idea!!!

I do use commercial fish sauce.  The brand name is Tiparos Fish Sauce and we bought it at the regular grocery store in AZ.

Q&A

Finally!!  here goes!

CharityGrace, I have no thyroid so I do not have to worry about cruciferous vegetables.  I have not done much research on it.  I am not sure what it is in the veggies that make them contra-indicated for hypo people and whether or not fermenting would help in that regard.  Hmmmm….

 Heather, I have heard that ACV or lemon juice can be used in place of cultured milk but I don’t know the science behind it.

 AngelNavyWife, Do you know where you read about the connection between milk and oats?  I’ve never heard of that.  WAPF (www.westonaprice.org) says that milk is good with everything, of course. ;)

 Momma, I did some research and apparently steel cut oats are made by running oat groats through a grinder.  The nutrimill won’t work for this as it grinds too fine but if you read on this (http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/index.aspx#Nutrimill) page the Family Grain Mill does grind course enough for steel cut oats.  Wonder if I should investigate how many nutrients are lost when oats are ground and sit before being eaten.  LOL

Christina, see the whey tutorial below.  That is how I get my whey.  Either from kefir or milk.

Emily, I think we got the deep metal bowls at WalMart. The pot I use most often was purchased at IKEA.  It has a nice thick bottom and is the perfect size for us.  Those bowls are invaluable though.

 Michelle, we purchased the square Rubbermaid containers (we buy ours at Sam’s Club but Jeff says that link is a good deal) strictly for convenience.  We buy a lot of stuff in bulk and so we would either have stuff sitting around in plastic bags or big paper bags.  We also bought the 5 gallon buckets with the special lids (what are those called?) and we keep those out of the kitchen.  We just transfer 6 qts or so into the smaller container and keep that in the pantry.

 Nicole, it does taste a bit buttermilky.  I guess we are used to it.  Whey should not yield that taste.  It should be pretty mild with whey.

Momma, Kitchen staples…hmmmm.  I am sure they are the same things you have. J  Beans, a good variety, whatever suits Jeff's fancy and he brings home for us.  I’d love to have good red or brown rice all the time but I usually have basmati on hand.  Wheat berries.  Steel cut oats.  We used to have corn on hand to pop but we ran out and have not replaced them. Garlic, Onions, sea salt, freshly ground pepper, raw milk, kefir grains.  Those are some of the things I am lost without.

Gina, well, I would think it is probably separated for you already.  I think only takes 24-48 hours.  Mine always clearly looked like a cheese chunk and lots of whey.

Becky, Here is a whey tutorial:

http://www.homesteadblogger.com/teambettendorf/37195/

I thought Lee had one on her site but now I can’t find it!!

Salsa - pg 103

Assemble the ingredients:

4 med tomatoes

2 small onions

3/4 cup chopped chili

6-8 cloves of garlic (optional)

1 bunch cilantro chopped

1 teas dried oregano

juice of two lemons

1 Tbsp sea salt

4 Tbsp whey

1/4 filtered water

The tradition here is that Jenna and I make the salsa.  Here she is blanching the tomatoes for peeling.

And peeling.

jI chopped the rest of the ingredients in the food processor.

Peeled tomatoes being chopped and placed in the bowl.

And after it is mixed we place it in the jars.

Let sit on the counter for 2 days. 

This is a fabulous recipe.  Almost everyone enjoys it and those that don't like it at first like it after it has been refrigerated for sometime.  The last time I made it it sat in the fridge for a month before we ate it.  When I remembered it was in there it was gobbled up.  I am hoping to make my own recipe soon.  I'll let you know how that goes.

Soaked Oats

Here you go Vicki.  This is how we do it. :)

We do 6 cups steel cut oats (actually just increased to 8 cups).  The rolled oats turn to mush.

Add 6 cups water and 12 Tbsp whey, yogurt, kefir or buttermilk.  One cup of oats would need 2 Tbsp whey.  In my pic you can see I used buttermilk.

Then mix it up and let it sit for 12-24 hours.  This is the next morning.  The oats have absorbed the water.  

Now add another 6 cups water and warm gently. Some oats always stick to the bottom so we keep the heat down to avoid burning.

 We eat ours with your choice of cranberries, peanut butter, honey, maple syrup and butter.  Big hit here in the Bettendorf home.

They ask for oats all the time.  We serve with a cup of raw milk, of course.

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Now I like the way Sally Fallon does it but I have found the oats are less crunchy in the morning if you add ALL the water the night before.  That way it doesn't absorb everything and stay dry.  If you like really runny oats you can make it in the crockpot and let it cook overnight.  So you would let them sit one night (or all day for 12 hours) and then turn on the crock pot the night before.  You will awaken to warm, yummy oats.

Q&A

Momma, yes, half the caraway for us.

Diane, Not sure about the bag of water.  I’ve only ever made saurkraut the NT way.

Motherearth, I don’t know why it would have bubbled over.  I always leave an inch and I have never even seen it expand.  Maybe next time try an inch and see if it works.

Anonymous, I’m not sure why your whey would have molded.  We have never had that problem.  We always leave the lid on and let the raw milk sit on the counter for a couple days.  Perhaps the towel allowed yeasties in?  We let it seperate and then dump into a towel sitting in a strainer.  After the whey has stopped dripping (a couple hours) then we tie up the towel and suspend over the bowl.

Margaret, NT is a bit misleading with the sauerkraut when they say that the liquid should cover the cabbage.  It shouldn’t exactly cover the cabbage but be moist.  I’ve never had exorbitant amounts of extra liquid in there.  If you push the cabbage down with a spoon is there liquid that comes to the top?  That is the best I ever got it and it worked just fine.

Pat, we do now live in MO as of 4 weeks ago.

Angela, Tortilla soup can be found HERE (http://www.recipezaar.com/4627)

All you ketchup people need to wait for the actual cook along date.  I posted the whole tutorial and made it so only *I* could see it (as I have done with the others that are coming up) but for some reason HSB wouldn’t take it.  So I tried again to post just one pic and leave it so you guys can see it.  It worked.  I’m not sure what will eventually work.  I have the original saved in Word and when I C&P to HSB it shows it there UNTIL I press Add New Entry.  Maybe I can trick it by adding a little bit at a time? ;)

Chas, working on the button issue.  I gotta kick Jeff.

I will post instructions for the sourdough starter on the 19^th along with the ketchup and mustard so you will have time to get it going before baking sourdough bread the next Monday.  You will need rye berries/flour, water, a large bowl and a towel to cover the top of the bowl.

Thanks again for playing everyone. I’m having a blast.  I’ve had a couple technical glitches that have kept me from getting some things up on time but I am hoping by loading them up early we can avoid that in the future. J

ketchup

Lactofermentation

Lactofermentation is not only a means of conserving foods but also a procedure for ennobling them, as proved by their taste and aroma.

Des Crudites Toute L'Annee

Nourishing Traditions - pg 92

Saurkraut

This is a favorite food here.  We eat it on bratwerst and salad and meat and oh...anything else we can think of.  My only problem is keeping us in saurkraut.  Someday I'll have one of these fermenting crocks.  And I'll make it by the 5 nd 10 liters.  Jillian is my official saurkraut helper.  It is kind of a tradition for us.  I chop the cabbage into manageable pieces and she feeds them into the machine. 

Ingredients:

One medium cabbage

1T caraway seeds

1T salt

4T whey

I used two smallish cabbages and I only like half the caraway.  The first time I made it it was too carawayish and I had no preconcieved notions because I had never had saurkraut prior.

I put the cabbage mixture in the mixing bowl of the Bosch with the whisk attachments and let it go for 5-8 minutes.  I detest the pounding the cabbage part.  It hurts my hands and makes my arms tired.  You can see the caraway (I use about half what the recipe calls for) and the salt.

After it has mixed for awhile and seems pretty wet I spoon it into jars.  The cabbage does get kinda frothy with the mixer method but if you let it sit for a minute the bubbles dissipate and it looks just like the stuff you might have pounded by hand.  Spooning into jars is really a big person job so I don't have pictures of my helper doing this.  Three jars of yummy Saurkraut.  This stuff is far better than store bought.

Cook Along Calendar

October 22 - Saurkraut

October 29 - Soaked Oats

Novermber 5 - Salsa

November 12 - Coconut Chicken Soup 

November 19 - Ketchup and Mustard

November 26 - Sourdough Bread

Any requests?  I am trying to get these done and uploaded before Jodi comes so we don't miss a beat in January. :)

Q&A

Kim, You got to see a woman mix 12 loaves worh of sourdough in a 5 gallon bucket and you didn't even bring pictures back?  That must have been amazing!! 

Robyn, Yes the pureeing was a definite no-no for next time.  I was really trying to embrace the recipe and like creamy soups.  It didn’t work. LOL  

Heather, the whey is added to nutralize the phytates found in grains and beans. 

Chas,  The code for the button.

See you Monday with saurkraut!!

Beans and Rice

This is an easy breakfast for when you might be in a hurry.  You have it cooking in the crockpot and just ladle it up or warm it in a pot.  About an hour before eating I added one can of green chilis (in my perfect world these will be fresh from my garden) and salt was already added before cooking.  I cooked up some rice.  It wasn't "good " rice as I only had white rice.  Diced up some tomatoes.  Add some cheese and you have a meal to rave about!! The next time I made it with some dark brownish rice and black beans it was even better.

Even my bean hater wanted some "bean juice" so it wasn't a loss for her either.  Everyone else loved it.

Soaked beans

For those that wanted soaked beans.  I couldn't leave you hanging.

Make sure you have all of your ingredients.

2 cups black beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, black eyed peas or white beans.

warm filtered water

2 T whey

4 cloves garlic

sea salt and pepper

Measuring in the beans.  Remember we double the recipe and sometimes quadruple. :)  I like to have alot of beans on hand because they make an easy breakfast or lunch.  Which I will show you later on in Healthy Meal Thursdays.

Beans are really fun and they feel good on your hands.

Everyone enjoys beans.  Don't forget to wash your hands before cooking.

Beans are an easy, non-messy meal to cook with kids.

When the beans are measured out you need to rinse them.  Unless of course you like grit in your meals. :)  Pick out any funky beans.  I like to dig my hands deep in the beans and mix them over and over eachother.  Like I said, everyone enjoys playing in beans.  Older kids can quite easily handle this job as well.  Little kids tend to get rambunctious and dump the beans.

Then back in the bowl to add water and whey.

I somehow lost the picture of the whey being poured in.  Make sure you cover your beans with 2-3 inches of water.  The beans will expand and absorb the water.  The last thing you want is to find your beans sprouting and unusable.  Make sure they stay completely covered.

Then the beans soak 12-24 hours.  Once again I lost a picture of the beans after soaking.  There WILL be foamies on top.  Dump the beans in the colander and rinse again.

Place in crockpot or stock pot and cover with water.  I add salt here...I think I added 1T to my beans.  I also add green chilis and usually garlic as well.  You must add the salt before cooking or you will have mighty bland beans.

Cook for 4-8 hours.  I let mine cook for 4 hours on high and then my crock pot automatically turned to "warm".  They stayed warmed all night and we had them for breakfast the next morning.  I will share that on  Healthy Meal Thursday.

Roman Lentil Soup

What you need:

3 med onions or 3 leeks

3 carrots

2 T butter

2T EVOO

2 q beef or chicken stock

2 c red or brown lentils (orange/red ones turn to mush)

Several sprigs of thyme

1/2 t dried peppercorns

1/4 lemon juice or whey

sea salt or fish sauce and pepper

piima cream (sour cream)

First you measure out the lentils.  Turns out that a bag of lentils is just about 2 cups.  How nice.

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Then we covered the lentils with water and left them to soak for 7 hours.  When we checked them 7 hours later all the water was gone!!  Who knew those little things would absorb so much.

I sauteed the onions and carrots for 30 minutes.  This smelled good.

Then it was time to add the chicken stock and lentils.  Here is the chicken stock I stole out of the roaster oven.  I am trying a new system with the stock.  I am leaving the bones in the roaster and adding more water each time I take some out.  My stock always is so strong.  I bet I can "milk" those bones for more quarts of stock.

I let the lentils and stock simmer for 30 minutes.  You can see the thyme sprigs floating on the left.

Now after I blended the soup it turned into something that looks like it came out the back end of a baby.  Not pleasant at all.  It was NOT visually appealing.  The taste did not follow the look but it wasn't very tasty.  It may have been the thyme.  It may have been the texture.  Maybe it was my bias toward the other lentil soup I make.  I mistakenly thought that since I liked the other lentil soup I would enjoy this as well. 

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So I tried to salvage it by adding cumin, cocoa and baby spinach.  It also needs ALOT of salt.

All in all I was not pleased and no one in the family was excited about this meal.  If you decide to try this please post a link in the comments here.  Maybe you know of other ways to doctor this meal up and make it yummy.  Post that info as well.

Thanks for cooking along with me. :)

Roman Lentil Soup

Vegetable protein...

is also important and is found in largest quantities in whole grains, seeds, beans, legumes, peas, nuts, etc.  Vegetable protein alone can not sustain healthy life because it does not contain enough of all the amino acids that are essential.

H. Leon Abrams - Your Body Is Your Best Doctor

Nourishign Traditions - pg 496

Roman Lentil Soup won.

Btw, HSB is not sending me notifications via e-mail when someone posts a comment.  I have it set to do that but it just won’t.  So if you post a comment in a later entry I am not likely to see it.  I try to look back 2 or 3 entries and see if there are more comments but I can’t patrol much farther than that.

Kristy has posted a GREAT tutorial on her blog to make Sourdough Bread.  I am super excited and I will be sitting under her tutelage during the next couple of her posts.  Thanks so much Kristy.  This will be great!  Sally Fallon says yeast breads are not so good due to the alcohol fermentation process that occurs so I am trying to switch us over to sourdough.

I converted a Betty Crocker Donut recipe to a NT style fritter.  I will post the results in the upcoming weeks.  It was yummy!!

Jeff also caught some fish in the river yesterday.  I made a fish stock.  Watch for that in November/December. 

I also made the BEST french fries tonight.  Everyone LOVED them and begged for more.  Look for that simple (yet time consuming) healthy snack.

Yogurt is also in the works as well as cream cheese.  I already have several tutorials for condiments put together and posted but I have not made them public.  Expect to see them in November or January.  I am thinking December may be reserved for side dishes appropriate for a big Christmas dinner.

So many recipes, so little time.

There is now a cook along button at my homeschoolblogger blog.  Jeff put it there and I’m not quite sure how to add one here so I am waiting on that.  Didn’t he do a fabulous job?

Q&A

Jen, I think that raw milk tastes sweeter.  I was not a big milk drinker, never liked it, until we started getting raw milk.  You can find more info at www.realmilk.com

Vicki, the reason the apples and peanut butter tided over your family so long is BECAUSE of the fat.  Fat, good fat, is healthy.  I found when I started feeding my family high quality foods they needed less of it.  If they are eating cheap/bad fats food they seem to be hungry all the time.

Apples and Peanut Butter

A simple yet yummy and healthy breakfast.  Apples, Organic Peanut Butter and Raw Milk.

We usually buy larger apples but these were on sale.  If you or your child is a protein type you may want to add a cup of broth or a hard boiled egg to this meal.  For us the milk and peanut butter are enough.

Why is chicken soup superior to...

all the things we have, even more relaxing than Tylenol?  It is becasue chicken soup has a natural ingredient that feeds, repairs and calms the mucous lining in the small intestine.

Hanna Kroeger - Ageless Remedies From Mother's Kitchen

Nourishing Traditions - pg 124

Beans and Lentil Soup are neck and neck.

Voting will close Friday night and Saturday I will post an ingredients list.  Monday we will cook again. :)   Thank you everyone for playing.  This is more fun than I thought it was going to be.

When you post on your blog please come back and post a comment here in the corresponding post for what you are making with a direct link to that entry.  In other words don't just insert a link to your blog.  Make sure the link will take the reader directly to your particular post about this subject. 

I like the idea of doing something useful with the marrow.  I thought I read in NT something about a beef marrow pate' but I can't find it now.  Anyone know what I am talking about?

I like the idea of using veggie scraps for broth and asking for turkey carcasses.  I have a big freezer perhaps I'll try this this year.  Suppose I could go door to door?  I'd love to have a bunch of turkey bones in my freezer!!

And yes the bones are so soft they pose no harm for the dog.  Of course we used to feed our dog raw chicken instead of dog food and those bones didn't hurt her either.  I think it is more the brittle cooked, but not boiled bones you need to worry about for poochie. :)