Blogiversary!

So, guess what!? I missed the anniversary of my first blog post! I can't believe I did that! I knew it was coming & was planning to whip up a special post to mark the occasion....

Wait a sec! Did I say "I can't believe I did that!"??? I'm such a liar! Of course I can believe I missed it! Truth is I'm like that a lot! Life seem to be this crazy fast merry-go-round lately & I'm sometimes lucky I can remember my name! Sheesh!

Oh, I know! I have another really good excuse for forgetting! It was my sisters birthday & I was busy getting ready for her party that day! (Nov 9th, if you must know!)

Here's a few snaps of the food we celebrated with:

Local Organic Fuyu Persimmons (grown with care by Kanan's grandpa), crackers with Chevre & home made jams & marmalades & an authentic Spanish "Tortilla Espanola" (Potato omelette)

The Paella is about half way done, still too much liquid...

Isn't that just yummy looking, and pretty too!

It's Saffron rice, with chicken, sausage, shrimp, peas & a garnish of red peppers

So, back to my blogiversary....I'd planned on a sort of "before & after", a year of blogging & the differences in my life during this year...

We are still:

• (mostly) Eating Nourishing food (raw milk, pastured & grass-fed meats, organic produce)
• Making stock on a regular basis & use it more liberally in everyday cooking
• Soak & sprout legumes, grains & nuts (I try to keep a stock of crispy pecans for baking)

We've added and maintained a few more things:

• Sprout grains & grind fresh flour for my baking
• Make sprouted whole grain breads on a pretty regular basis, hardly ever buy it
• Make & Drink Kombucha & Water Kefirs
• Raw Milk: yogurt, sour cream & buttermilk
• Only use farm fresh eggs from HFF (no soy in their organic feed at all!)
• Make a point to buy grass fed beef, lamb & milk fed heritage breed pork & wild caught/sustainable fish
• I bought Coconut Oil & have incorporated it into several thing I make pretty regularly (Popcorn, baking, sautéing...). Recently I bought Coconut Ghee from Green Pastures (a combo of Grass-fed butter Ghee & EV coconut oil - it's DEE-lightful!
• For butter I use Kerrygold almost exclusively, the exception is that for baking I use Trader Joe's unsalted, it's about half the cost & I feel what's so special about the Kerrygold is the flavor, I feel that is sorta lost in translation when you use it in baked goods....so the TJ's butter is a compromise, it's not organic or grass fed, but at least it's rBst free....
• I made my own lard from milk fed pork fat - amazing! I also keep my bacon grease & use whenever appropriate - about 90% really good bacon

We tried but really haven't liked:

• homemade lacto-ferments: I tried a bunch early on & didn't like them, kept in fridge to see if they'd taste better after time - NOPE
• raw cream cheese, it was sour-ish & too loose to use in most recipes, just feel like it's too labor intensive to be worth it.
• raw milk kefir, I made it very regularly in the beginning, but found I only used it for baking, soaking & smoothies. I did not enjoy it plain; sweetened was good, but not super fast & easy... so I never did that enough to stick with it....I find the buttermilk gets used more frequently for baking & is a simpler process....I still have the grains, maybe I'll try it again & see if I can find a way to make it work better for us....

Haven't tried & not sure we will:

• Organ meats - not entirely true!! I did buy a beef heart (from HFF) & some really great grass fed stew meat from Whole Foods & ground that up to make my own ground beef. That is really tasty & I feel good knowing I'm able to 'handle' it. The boys don't really know about it, so don't say anything! ;)

Still need to work on or implement:

• taking CLO - I bought Green Pastures' fermented CLO capsules, but haven't started taking them yet! What a dork!
• adding more coconut oil to diet
• oil pulling on a regular basis
• exercise of some sort!

So there you have it, a brief review of our progress or lack there of... next year's comparison should be interesting! ;) I sense change in the air in the year to come....Stay tuned...

The Quest - Part 2 - ramblings on change....

Ok, so tonight on our drive home, my DH was on the phone with his mom who lives in CO.  She is elderly & has problems getting around, so she's having to be very reliant on others to 'meet her needs'... to bring her groceries, for example.  This has been going on for quite some time & I finally had had enough!  I swear if I have to hear her say she's OUT of TP one more time!...

So as soon as we got home I went to the website of the grocery store that I know is near her house & created an order for her online for delivery tomorrow.   Problem solved. Right? ;)

Well, yes, immediate problem solved.  BUT (you knew there'd be a 'but', right!?)

The process of doing this REALLY made it clear to me just how much my attitude towards food & grocery shopping has changed over the last 6 months or so... really more in the last 3 months, actually.  Right about when I starting blogging, and finding all these wonderfully informative blogs is when I really began my transformation.  

I used to shop at Costco & Vons primarily, I used to buy soda every time I went!  I would occasionally shop for specific things at Trader Joe's, but that was about the extent of my 'grocery world'.   I used to cook a lot from scratch, being a trained chef, I tend to want to do it myself properly & use good ingredients... but boy, do I have a whole new perspective on that as well!

Now I'm on the verge of canceling my Costco membership, I rarely step in Vons and when I do, it usually involves an organic produce purchase & using the ATM! ;)  After much research, I'm about to place my first order with Azure Standard for grains & other staples (even though I have to drive about 30 minutes on a Tuesday night to pick up my order!  Thus I'm trying to only order quarterly...)   I can't wait until 2/3 when I can pick up my gynormous order of grains, beans, seeds, eggs, raw cheeses, Pectin (for my Jam),  raw honey, organic cane sugar, and seeds for my garden!!!

I buy a few things regularly on Amazon, they carry a huge variety of Organic snack items as well as grains & seeds... I do "Subscribe&Save" so I can get an extra 15% off, can choose how often I want that item, get free shipping on everything & I can still cancel anytime.  The things I usually buy from Amazon are:

• Organic Agave Nectar - Madhava (2-46 oz. jugs for $18)
• Organic Maple Syrup (although I have since discovered that Trader Joe's price is better, although I can't remember if it's Organic) - B Grade is $44 for 2-32 oz. jugs & A Grade is $20 for 1-32 oz. jug
• Scarpetta Pasta Sauces (not organic, but simply the yummiest store bought sauces I've ever tried (they are about $4-5 each (and only come in 4 packs), but the Tuscan Vodka Sauce is mind blowing!)
• Izze Juices in small cans (this is our portable, away from home replacement for soda)
• Organic Coffee, I have tried a couple different ones, but recently stumbled across one that sounds really great!  It's called Larry's Beans Fair Trade Frenchy French Roast, it's Whole Bean of course & is about $40 for 5 pounds, that's about $8/lb.!!  A little less than the Starbucks 2/5 lb. bag I usually buy at Costco, and it's NOT Starbucks!   ;)
• Organic Jerky (Golden Valley Natural) - haven't tried it yet...
• Organic Light-on-the-Sugar Oatmeal (Dr. McDougall's Right Foods)

(Now, before you judge anything on that list, please keep in mind that we both work full-time & my DS is almost 13 and packs a lunch everyday for school, no cafeteria junk for him anymore!)

I've been frantically searching for a CSA delivery or pick up, but so far the best thing I've found is SPUD.  However, I live just on the border of LA County, but IN Ventura County, so SPUD won't deliver all the way to my house.  Of course, being the tenacious & determined gal that I am, I have figured out work-around, but it becomes complicated.  I have to 'use' a friend for her address & then coordinate a meeting or a pick up at her house every 2 weeks.  It's d0-able, but hardly the convenient organic produce delivery I am dreaming of....

Today I discovered Tierra Miguel Farms, the farms itself is 120 miles away, all the way in No. San Diego County, but they have pick up points as close as 30 minutes away from me, so I'm looking into that.  I'd much rather support a local CSA, but the only one I can find is not organic, so it seems like a lot of $$ for not as many nutrients...?

As in my Milk Post, I described that I've completely switched the family to Raw Milk & Cream - Organic Pastures also sells meat & really truly RAW Almonds (did you know that a new law passed that makes all Almonds be Flash Steam Pasteurized??!!!  and did you know that they are still allowed to label them as "raw"??!!! - aren't you horrified?)  Anyway, from the raw milk, I make Kephir, from the cream, I make Sour Cream pretty regularly (it is SO good) & am hoping to get in the habit of making my own butter on a regular basis.

I've been trying some different bread recipes over the past several months, and although a few have been good, I still haven't really found what I'm looking for.  But my hope it to be making bread from Soaked and/or Sprouted rains on a regular basis & giving/selling it to friends & co-workers as well as feeding my own family, of course!  My DH's boss is begging for me to make & sell her bread!  I guess I'd better get started! ;)