My late night surprise!

This is whate greeted me at 10pm Friday night when hubby and I came home from a wine tasting night at the school. 

When I left at 7pm my sour dough was bubbling happily, about 1/2 way up the side of the 2 litre (2 quart) jar...but 3 hours later (and only 48 hours since I began the starter) it had erupted all over the kitchen counter! It seems our very warm winter days in the tropics will be yielding very fast culturing. 

Once I had cleaned up the bench, I salvaged what I could of the starter and used half to knead some bread dough for the next day, and the other half I put in a clean jar and fed more rye flour.

The following morning I had a sour dough focaccia bread ready to bake....

...which was YUM! 

We enjoyed it with fresh Quark cheese I had bought that day at the health food store in town. 

It's 44 hours since the bubbling over of the starter, and already the little I saved to begin a new batch of sour dough starter is bubbling near the top of the jar again! This time I'm on top of things and will knead it tonight into a loaf for tomorrow's lunch. At this rate I'll have fresh sour dough bread every second day - just perfect! 

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Remember I decided to make my own buttermilk? It worked!!

Only 18 hours after I started I had a thick layer of 'creme fraiche' on top of the new buttermilk. It smelt wonderful, and today I used 3/4 of it to make buttermilk scones, and the rest I have used to culture the next batch of buttermilk. 

Can you see the thick layer of 'creme fraiche' on top?

This weekend I also made a double batch of fresh chicken stock. Half was used last night in my Chicken and Lemon Pilaf, and the rest will be used tonight for a big pot of Chicken Noodle soup. We still have a little bit of sour dough Foccacia to eat with it.

I am really encouraged by the amount of money we are not spending - all due to making as much of my own food items as possible. It means that when I do need grocery items I can purchase the best quality organic available in our small town. 

How are you going with your own dietary overhaul? What things would you like to learn about to help you along the path of healthy, nutritous meals? 

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In the next few days I am going to show you how to make a really beautiful baked breakfast using freshly juiced apples, and organic oats. It's so nice you can also serve it for dessert with cream or custard. :-)

Healthy Hugs

Jenny

xx

A whole lot of culture in the kitchen!

Are you constantly amazed at how easy it is to make various items that you would normally purchase at the grocery store?

With a number of cultured foods on my 'to-make' list I was googling for a wider range of methods, and along the way I came across THIS method for making my own buttermilk. 

Fortunately I could buy the proper buttermilk here in town so I followed the method and left my own buttermilk to culture over the following 24 hours...

It's only another 6 hours until it's ready and already I have creme fraiche sitting on top of the buttermilk. Very exciting, this is! :-)

Last night I also prepared for breakfast, bread, and morning tea. I soaked my tapioca in a coconut milk/water mix, started a new batch of sour dough mother, soaked my nuts in whey and water, soaked my flours in buttermilk, as well as starting my buttermilk culture...

To  make the yummy tapioca breakfast cereal I had today you first need to rinse 1/2 cup of tapioca (sago) under running water, 

 then soak the grains in 1 cup of organic coconut cream and 1 cup of filtered water overnight.

Next morning bring it all to the boil on the stove, then drop to a very low simmer. Stir constantly for around 15 minutes until all the grains become translucent...

Put aside to cool.

In a bowl add a mixture of fruits, nuts and seeds - any choice you like. I used the pecans I had soaked last night (after rinsing), a grated apple, blueberries, and freshly ground flaxseeds (linseeds). 

Add this to the cooled tapioca along with 3 tablespoons organic natural yoghurt, and a splash of maple syrup or honey.

Delish!! This will serve 3-4 people, and is even lovelier the next day after it has 'set'.

The basic recipe is from Cyndi O'Meara's book...

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After soaking my flour in buttermilk overnight I decided to experiment with baking it into a cake. I added some butter, eggs, mashed banana, dates, and muscovarda sugar. Silly me, though, I forgot the bi-carb (baking) soda! This prevented the cake from rising.

I scattered the remaining soaked pecans and some organic cocao nibs on top and baked in a slow oven for 55  minutes.

Even though it did not rise as a regular cake would, it still tasted wonderful - it is very moist, and more like a loaf than a cake.

Never mind, cooking good food is all about experimentation. So far I'm thrilled with what I am learning about soaking, culturing, and fermentation, and how much better the food tastes.

Tonight I have Osso Bucco cooking slowly and the smell is amazing through the house. Wish you could come for dinner. You'd be most welcome! :-)

Healthy Hugs

Jenny

xx