Just Beet It

Growing up, I hated beets. They had a funny flavor, worse texture, and stained everything on your plate. Of course, the beets that I was eating came out of a can, so they can hardly be called beets. It wasn’t until I was an adult, out on my own and sharing an organic produce box with my roommates, that I discovered beets could actually be cooked in a tasty way.

I still wouldn’t list beets as my favorite vegetable, however. And when I first read in Nourishing Traditions about Beet Kvass, I put that recipe on the “probably won’t try” list. But the more I read about the benefits of this tonic, the more I realized that I should probably make it part of my kitchen routine.

What are these benefits? Besides being a lacto-fermented beverage providing loads of probiotics for healthy intestine function, beet kvass is a rich source of vitamins and minerals, a natural multivitamin, if you will. Most importantly, it supports the liver, which is sadly much abused in our modern world. The liver is our primary cleansing organ, filtering out the toxins in our food and the chemicals we are exposed to in our everyday life. When the liver gets overburdened with toxins, the body responds by either storing the toxins, causing long-term problems, or they look for other methods of getting rid of those toxins, such as through the skin. Acne and eczema can both be results of an overtaxed digestive system.

I can tell that drinking beet kvass regularly helps with my skin issues. If I am feeling itchy, a glass of kvass will calm my system. When I was ill over the holidays, my blood tests showed that my liver enzymes were elevated, a sign that my liver function was impaired. As soon as I got home I started drinking beet kvass every day, and when I went back to the doctor for my follow-up, my liver enzymes had begun to drop, and a few weeks later all my tests were normal.

It may take awhile to get used to the taste of kvass if you are not a fan of beets.  Sally Fallon admits that “you wouldn’t serve it to guests.” But I’ve found that I don’t mind the taste when it is mixed with filtered water or fresh juice or kombucha. And you can also add in carrots or ginger with the beets to give a different flavor if you like. The recipe is very simple, but it is truly worth your time.

 

Beet Kvass

from Nourishing Traditions

2 medium beets

1 Tbsp. sea salt

1/4 c homemade whey* (or an extra Tbsp. of salt)

 

Peel and chop beets into one inch chunks. Don’t cut it too small, or the fermentation will occur too quickly and it will turn alcoholic. Place beets with salt and whey in a quart mason jar and fill jar with filtered water. Cover and let sit on counter at room temperature 2-3 days, then transfer to refrigerator.

Drink a few ounces each day, either straight or mixed with filtered water. When most of the liquid is gone, refill the jar with water and let sit out on the counter for another 2 days, After the second batch, discard beets and start again.

If the kvass gets thick and slightly syrupy, that is normal-it means you have a good batch! Just thin it out with filtered water when you drink it.

 

*Homemade whey provides a starter culture and can be made from yogurt fairly easily. Line a sieve with cheesecloth or a coffee filter and place over a bowl. Put one cup of yogurt (whole, plain, with active cultures and no fillers) into the sieve and allow to drain for several hours or overnight. You will end up with whey in the bowl, and the yogurt will have become thick like Greek yogurt or a soft cream cheese.

 

When Life Gives You Peppers, Stuff ‘Em

Our CSA program is quite handy. Every week we get a box of fresh organic fruits and veggies delivered to our door.  It helps us eat seasonally and locally, and actually simplifies my meal planning. This winter, with my bounty of beef and salmon in the freezer, squash in the garage, and various preserved veggies in the pantry, all I have to do is check the upcoming bin contents for the week, skim a few cookbooks, pull out the meat to thaw, and my week is good to go.

I try to work with whatever the box brings, but occasionally I make use of the ability to submit substitution requests. Green peppers are a vegetable that almost never make it into the house.  They are not a favorite of Jer’s stomach or my tastebuds. But through some technical difficulties on the website, we have had two weeks since the beginning of the year that brought us green peppers to consume, so I had to decide what to make with them.

My grandma used to love making stuffed green peppers. I remember her baking whole trays of them and then keeping them individually wrapped in the fridge for her late-night snacks. Grandma and I used to compete for who would get home the latest-her coming from a prayer meeting or healing conference, and me coming from a Bible study or church party I was running. My mom would wait up for both us, and then we would all sit around and chat, eating our preferred snacks.  Mine varied, involving toast or cereal, or a couple slices of cheese, or sometimes just an entire head of steamed broccoli with butter.  Sadly, even though grandma offered, I never ate her green peppers.

Grandma isn’t here to give me her recipe, but I remembered the basics-seasoned ground beef, cooked rice, sauteed onions, all baked in the pepper with some parmesan cheese on top.  I used some leftover quinoa and added homemade salsa to the beef. It was pretty good. Then on the second green pepper delivery, Jer looked at our box and came up with a tastier version, which ended up being grain-free and full of good fats. He still had to take some digestive enzymes, and I didn’t finish my green pepper, but the filling was delicious. Next time you get some peppers, you should try it out.

Jer’s Stuffed Peppers

This can be adapted for as many people as you need-the proportions below are for each pepper.

One sweet pepper-green, or my favorite, yellow

olive oil

1/4 lb ground beef

1-2 Tbls finely diced onion

1 Tbls salsa

half an avocado, diced

1/4 c cheese , small dice (we like Tillamook from Oregon, because the cows spend some time on pasture, so the nutrient content is higher, but it is still economical)

Slice pepper in half and clean out stem and ribs. Brush lightly with oil and roast in oven for 20 mins at 400 degrees.  While it cooks, saute ground beef and onions. When beef is cooked through and onions are soft, add salsa, and any additional seasonings you would like-salt, pepper, garlic, hot sauce, etc.  When peppers are ready, remove from oven and turn on broiler. Mix cheese and avocado into the beef, then stuff filling into the peppers. Broil for 3-5 minutes until cheese is melted.  Serve with addtional salsa and cortido.

 

Van Der Memes

I think I watched about one episodes of Dawson’s Creek… but this is just too funny.

 

The Way We Were

The wonderful husband did me the greatest favor yesterday of moving all our blog posts from our old server here to the new one on wordpress. Our old server was only serving spam, so here we are. It was quite a trip reading the early entries of a year ago. While I was already working on my sourdough starter I had just barely begun to research natural health information and hadn’t even heard of Weston A Price. In one of my recipe posts I actually talked about how to make a muffin lowfat, something I shudder at now. These days I am always looking for more ways to get more good fats (and the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K) into my diet, to help my skin and blood sugar.

2010 was definitely a year of learning and growing in the kitchen. Here’s just a quick list of some of the changes:

From yeast breads to natural sourdough

All purpose flour to whole wheat, sprouted wheat and sprouted spelt

Quick recipes to soaked baked goods to increase nutrition

Found sources for pastured eggs and grass-fed meat, even buying a quarter cow (and the freezer to hold it!)

Started rendering lard and using coconut oil

Learned how to can and preserve our organic produce

Dabbled in our own bit of backyard gardening

Learned how to make cultured vegetables and other fermented foods

Stopped buying toxic beauty products and started making my own

I’m really looking forward to expanding my traditional cooking skills this year, now that I have a solid foundation. I’ve been trying out more fermented foods, and want to start making my own kombucha soon. While this way of eating is a little more work, it’s a lot of fun for me to learn and experiment, and there is a deep satisfaction in knowing that I am providing wonderful healthy food for my family. Ultimately I hope to look back on these early years and chuckle at my newbie mistakes and rejoice in the legacy of health that we have created.

 

2011: A Year of Health

It’s that resolution-filled time of year again. All over the blogosphere folks are listing out their goals, and of course one of the top resolutions out there is to lose weight.  Of particular note are several real food bloggers who are running challenges that would/could be beneficial to me, such as reducing sugar intake, eliminating caffeine, and even working through Sally Fallon and Mary Enig’s great book Eat Fat Lose Fat (I’ve read it, and highly recommend). All of these are great ideas, and I’ve signed up for newsletters and notifications for many of them.  I’m looking forward to receiving the tips and recipes and such.

But right now, with coming out of a tough year physically, punctuated by my hospital stint over the holidays, I just can’t put weight loss down as my number one goal. Oh, I’d love to lose weight and get slim and trim. But I know that my body isn’t ready. Healing is my goal for this year-healing the allergies, eczema, fatigue, and other little things that have been stealing my everyday vitality. My body isn’t going to relax and lose the excess weight until it feels like it has all the nutrients it needs, so instead of calorie restriction and intense workouts, I am focusing on traditional foods, getting adequate rest, and taking care of my skin. Eating more fat and reducing sugar and caffeine are certainly part of that plan, but I’m going to try not to judge my progress by the number on the scale but instead on the amount of energy I have when I wake up in the morning.

Hopefully, as I heal and gain strength internally, the effects will show externally, and the weight loss will simply come as a function of reducing inflammation, eating healthy food, and having more energy. And really, my goal is to end 2011 with a little extra weight in the form of a baby, so a healthy system has got to be my focus more than fitting some social standard of acceptable weight. I know that I have the tools I need to move forward in my real food-fueled health journey. I truly believe that with everything I have learned over the past year, 2011 will be a year of health, vitality, and hopefully, babymaking!