We’re half-way finished with the challenge: you’ve tackled the pantry, stocked up on wholesome food, learned to properly prepare grains and wholesome fats and even started to source good, fresh raw milk if you hadn’t already done so. So, sit back and evaluate the week. If you blog, share a link to your post (or posts) below so we can check them out and give you some support. If you don’t, make sure to check in by commenting.
Did you miss an assignment or a day?
If you joined the challenge late, missed your email or assignment, get caught up by checking out the challenge’s archives.
Coming up on Week #3
Week three is all about my very favorite subject when it comes to traditional foods: fermentation! You’ll learn the basics of lactic-acid fermentation including how to ferment vegetables, dairy products and how to produce naturally effervescent beverages that are a great substitute for sodas and other soft drinks.
Real Food Challenge Prizes:
Remember, to be eligible to win these prizes you must check in every week to share your progress – where you succeeded and where you struggled.
- 2 Participants will receive a 1-year Subscription to Nourished Kitchen’s Recipe Cards by Mail checkout the current giveaway..
- 1 Participant will receive a Real Food Ingredient Guide by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.
- 1 Participant will receive a culture kit containing water kefir grains, dairy kefir grains and a kombucha mother courtesy of Cultures for Health (see their listing on the resources page)
- 1 Participant will receive a free registration for the Fundamentals of Traditional Foods class at Gnowfglins.
Share how Week #2 Went for You:
If you blog, share a link (or two or three) outlining how you handled this week’s challenges. What proved difficult, what proved easy? What did you learn, what did you already know? And, of course, what are you eating on your real food journey? If you don’t blog, just share your experiences in the comments here:
This past week was a cinch for me
I’ve been drinking raw milk for 4 years now, and I already include all manner of nourishing fats in my diet. My sourdough and yogurt starters finally came so I am working on those (yay!), signed the comment petition against the USDA.
I am excited to try my hand at making sauerkraut this upcoming week. I actually now have a good supplier of raw sauerkraut made with celtic sea salt at my local health food store, but it will be quite cheaper for me to make, so I have my head of cabbage ready
Mmmmm I love fermented foods 
Aaand, link is up, even though I’m going back to work for the first time in about two weeks and hosted a dinner party tonight. I included such wonderful traditional foods as whole pastured chicken, liver, and pastured butter.
Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!
Here’s a link to my Week 2 Recap!
http://www.epicorganic.net/2010/02/14/real-food-challenge-week-2/
Already had a great source direct from a local farm for goat milk, cheese and yogurt – but also made my own ricotta.
Also – finally tried making mayo with olive oil, a duck yolk, garlic, lemon, sea salt, a dash of apple vinegar cider….amazing – so much better taste wise and health wise than the store organic canola oil based one….and way cheaper – plus I feel much better about the source of fat.
Watched two youtube videos that finally gave me the courage to try it with a food processor – hand whisking had failed for me and I was reluctant to waste any more of my pastured eggs….
A fun challenge – now trying to soak and make crispy almonds from real raw almonds…hard to find in California sadly enough -
This past week was great! (It helped having food in the house!) We’ve been alternating soaked oatmeal and smoothies for breakfast. My husband much preferrs the smoothies. I also made for him the cheesecake that was featured on the WAPF 2009 conference menu site. He started to panic a bit when I told him I was using WAPF guidelines to make the cake (he loves cheesecake and doesn’t want it messed with), but he LOVED it (I did too, and I don’t normally care for cheesecake).
I was very skeptical about the 3-day sourdough bread preparation. I really wasn’t sure if it would be worth it (especially since I can’t use rye flour.) When the porridge section came up I just used a flour/oats mix instead. By the time baking day rolled around the dough was starting to smell pretty funky. My husband complains the starter smells like rotten beer (it smells just fine, fermenty, but fine) but the finished dough had me worried. It didn’t rise very well (that was my fault, I let it rise in a bowl instead of the baking pan) but it tasted AMAZING. It was light, and MOIST (omg was it moist!) and didn’t last a day! I can already tell I’m going to need to get more large mixing bowls and set up a schedule to make a couple of these loaves a week. I imagine they will freeze very well too.
Definitely the bread was a high point for me. We made chili and fixed lentils and rediscovered our love for steak. (The husband gives ground beef dirty looks now whenever we pass by) I can’t wait until week 3, fermenting vegetables is one of my favorite things to do!
OH! And if you’re keeping your ferments in the oven with the light on… remember to take them OUT before you pre-heat to bake anything! Thankfully, though a tad baked on the bottom, the sourdough starter survived.
I made a gluten-free sour dough bread this week which did not turn out well. It didn’t rise and the crust was hard as a rock though the inside texture was not bad. I think I may have over-fermented the starter as it tasted very strong, sour and “yeasty” for lack of a better word. It was like beer gone bad. I had trouble getting the starter going and read somewhere that raisins might work, so on the fourth day I added raisins which got it bubbling within a few hours. I’m not sure where I went wrong but I will try again later this week.
I am behind on many of the challenges as I am overwhelmed with all of the food prep and research involved. However, we have not relied on too many packaged foods -crackers still being a tough one for me to replace. I have still not sprouted grains and raw milk is not an option as we live in Ontario and raw milk is illegal. Still working on sourcing grass-fed meats and dairy products and have come up with some possible options.
I am enjoying the challenge very much but it is a lot of work! I’m sure as time goes on I will find a certain rhythm and things will become second nature. Hopefully because I can’t see us going back to eating the way we were.
My Mom and I have done well. This diet is familiar to me, so I am mainly having fun remembering why we do what we do, and bringing my mom in on it (making things for her since she is overwhelmed at the thought of learning how to do everything food-wise differently after a full day of work). I know I need to increase my coconut oil usage to lose quite a bit of weight that has crept on in the last year or so. I’ll be working on that, as well as keeping up with the challenge.
Well, my sourdough starter is almost ready. It smells a bit like raisins. I want to make just a whole wheat sour dough, and look forward to doing that. I already have a great, inexpensive source for raw milk ($3/gallon). We are out right now, and will be making the 2 hour drive soon to get more. The butter I make from this is wonderful, and I need the whey to make some fermented drinks out of ginger! I am in the process of making sauerkraut and fermenting bitter melon. The bitter melon doesn’t seem to be working, but the kraut is coming along beautifully. This week, I also made lard, chicken stock from the feet, and beef stock. Everything looks great, and will be used this week. Of course, I bought myself a fair trade chocolate bar. Dark chocolate with lavender. Yum.
Week 2 was ok: We joined a cow share in the fall so have been enjoying raw milk for a while now. Unfortunately we still have to get some “store” milk to have enough, due to the cost. Haven’t made my sourdough bread yet as my starter’s had a slow start, but maybe I’ll do a test loaf in the next couple of days. My grain never sprouted from the first week (I tried barley- maybe this isn’t a good sprouting grain?) so I just put it in some soup and enjoyed it that way instead! And for fats- I was already used to using ghee but usually saved it for my Indian cooking. This week I used it in place of butter and olive oil (my usual go to combo even for high heat cooking) in a roasted cauliflower dish which turned out great, so guess I’ll be doing more of that now. My big obstacle for the week: Valentines Day- I made some baklava for my husband and couldn’t find any non-sugar recipes, so I did cheat for that (suppose the dough was also a no, no) And now I’m trying to figure out a strategy for getting the loads of candy back out of here that my kids came home with from school!
Week 2
Biggest challenge was the statement to cooking with Olive oil is a no-no. That is not consistent with some advice I read a couple of years ago, so now I’ve got to double-check all my sources. This is a great blog with lots of helpful info!
Well. I have about a pound of unbleached flour left, but I add that into my own ground wheat. DH is all about money, so I am stuck using what I have here, but we already eat very clean, I was so shocked at the back of my cupboards in week one, there is stuff in there I haven’t used in YEARS so it isn’t very hard to toss that old junk out (like corn syrup, cornstarch, can you believe it was stale . . )
I have tried begging and buying starter but again, fail. I already mentioned I won’t be starting my own due to the mold in this house, but Lord willing, we’ll be buying our own home so it’s only a matter of time. I love baking our bread and sourdough is on my challenge list. I’ll just have to wait, is all. I picked up my piggy, this afternoon. Organically grown, antibiotic free, local piggy. The butcher called this afternoon, and once again, I’ve put the word out about finding a raw milk source (illegal where I live) so, we are doing the BEST we can, but I thank you, for the challenge, because it is forcing me to look at stuff and I was beginning to become a little complacent . . .
Cannot wait to learn about fermenting vegg. My mom used to make the best pickles and learned to can and everything from her, but she’s been gone a long time now so I need to learn again!
Have a blessed week, I have work to do . . .
Sheila
What a busy week! I have baked so many loaves of sourdough in search of a perfect rise that I’m now putting it outside to freeze because I’m running out of room. Geez – I hope I can soon bake something I feel good about giving away! It does taste good so I’m encouraged.
I sprouted wheat grain and read about a “bread” recipe that called for grinding the grain in a food processor, forming it into a ball and cooking in a crockpot until the outside was dark brown and crunchy. Well…it was interesting. And, I’m learning that with enough butter anything tastes pretty good!
Just ordered yogurt, kombucha and water kefir cultures and this afternoon my new pressure canner was delivered to the door. I wanted to try to make kvass out of some of that bread but I’m not sure about bottling it and could use some tips. I love my drinks fizzy!
I have been buying raw milk. I love the taste. I never could drink the other stuff. Can’t say I’m still not a little nervous about it, though. Seems so easy for e coli or salmonella to creep into the process. Can anyone point me to some research or info on the matter?
Another good week – can’t wait for the fermentation assignments!
Deb
I don’t have time for a blog post today, and this week has been a bit difficult due to illness; but I did get some “good fats” to replace the not so good ones. I ordered water kefir grains, and my dh has Kombucha culturing. I plan to make a sourdough starter tomorrow and try my hand at baking a loaf of sprouted grain bread. I’m researching a source for raw milk as well.
Thanks so much!
Catherine
I’m so excited for the new prizes added, and I am very excited to be a part of this, I have learned so much already!! Munching on quinola salad right now, trying to finish my blog post and get it listed. Congrats everyone for making it halfway!
This week wasn’t as productive for me as last week. I baked with my sourdough a little. I tried exchanging butter or coconut oil for all the vegetable oil in my recipes and that went very well. My kefir is starting to taste better although it still looks nothing like some of the pictures I see online. I’m hoping to get some pointers this week with the kefir.
Overall, I’m paying more attention to everything that enters my family’s mouths. Thanks for the challenge!
This past week went well. Luckily we’re already in the habit of using good fats in our cooking so that had me feeling good about my progress. I’m super excited to get my sourdough baking going…I’ve had no luck making starters from scratch…something about being in my area, I’ve heard its a common problem! Hopefully next month I’ll have the $ saved up to order a variety of cultures and get crackin’!
Now that I’m getting raw milk on a regular basis I’m really looking forward to all the “cultured” talk we’ll be having next week… 
We just drank our last bottled Kombucha and I’m determined to start making that myself as well…we love that stuff around here. Oh, and thanks for the information on dark chocolates…we’re big fans and it’s nice to have a better idea of where/who we should be buying it from! Looking forward to the new week and learning some new skills!
This has been a very interesting and inspiring challenge. This weeks focus on fats has me reevaluating my use of olive oil and butter (the fats I use) in the kitchen. I already give my son raw milk, and I try to drink it when I can afford it. Kefir is a staple in our house (made with organic, non-homogenized milk), and we have our kombucha scoby in the fridge, waiting for some love. I am inspired to try sprouting grain for flour for my son and husband, but have been slacking with travel and two small kids! Also, the gluten-free thing makes it all a bit more daunting.
Most excitingly, we just picked up our new pantry, so the first step (which I have been looking forward to the most) is almost at hand! Yay!
Slowly but surely I am on my way. Baked some sourdough pancakes sunday and started to build my starter a few days ago to bake some rye bread today. Looking forward to that one. The water kefir grains arrived yesterday so I have some water kefir brewing. I have been checking for GMO’s for over a year now so got that installed and it’s much easier here living in Germany with that. However I have to check when going to the Commissary. I am more aware now what goes home with me. Thanks for another great week of more awareness.
We’re having a great time! Sourdough is fabulous, liver (always a favorite of mine but not something my husband has liked before) is divine, kefir was a revelation, and I can’t wait to do more fermenting! We’ve not been perfect, but this challenge has definitely pushed us towards much greater consistency.
I wasn’t completely ready for some of the challenges this week, but have begun getting prepared to move ahead. I did continue trying more soaked grain recipes, and got my sourdough culture started. I haven’t made bread, but hope to later this week. I have made sourdough pancakes and this morning I’m trying sourdough muffins. So… progress.
In the area of fats, I was already using good fats. I did need to make some changes in which ones are used for higher heats. I am glad to be made more aware of that. I have also been on the lookout for GMO’s for some time.
The area I’m, behind in is fermentation. However, I have a friend who is doing a Kombucha sp?)SCOBY now, and she will trade with me for the sourdough. I also want to try your recipe for Moroccan lemons this week. Yummy! I also want to try the water kefir, but will have to wait until next week to order.
Thanks for the challenges! I’m enjoying the group effort, including the Facebook pages.
Using the good fats is something we’ve already been doing, yet I’m lookinf forward to adding some new ones like coconut oil. I’m still reading up on fermentation and learning to do some of it. This SCOBY/kefir stuff seeems interesting. I am overwhelmed by all the new stuff to do and try. Little steps at a time I guess.
Jenny,
I haven’t written before this. I’ve been a little overwhelmed by the steep learning curve, but I know once I have things figured out, it will be second nature. I want to tell you how much I appreciate your beautiful website and all that you are doing to help all of us learn this way of eating.
My dentist recently discovered unusual tooth decay (post-menopause), so that sent me on a mission to figure out what was going on. I learned about the work of Weston Price and your website, which has been a blessing. When I drank my first cup of raw milk, I felt so amazingly nourished – it was a beautiful feeling.
I don’t have grandchildren yet, but I’m excited to know that I will be able to help my son and daughter have healthy babies!
By the way, in regards to chocolate, I recently learned about a new company in Ecquador that is the first 100% cacao co-op owned chocolate maker. It’s http://www.Kallari.com and it’s delicious!
Thanks so much!
Holleyc
This week has been interesting. I’ve had several steps foward as well as a couple backward. I’ve been trying to keep up with my kombucha, but it’s taking forever for the baby to grow to full size. I assume that it’s because of the cold weather. My house is kept around 65-68 degrees right now. I have attempted to ferment beets and turnips, (recipe from this site), and I thought that they smelled horrible after the 3 days. They’ve been sitting for a couple more days now and the smell seems to have chilled out a bit, so maybe it just needs time. I love raw milk, however it’s really hard to come by in my area
So, I have tried more fermenting this week but I also slipped a little bit and went out to eat a couple of times, (plus a few pieces of chocolate on Valentine’s Day). Here’s to next week!
This week was great. I’ve been buying raw milk for almost a year now, so that was a no-brainer. Though due to car trouble I couldn’t get down to the dairy to buy it this week. We had to make due with what we could get close by. Needless to say, we got most of our dairy from raw cheese and yogurt. My starter turned out beautifully for the first time and I’ve made two wonderful loaves of bread. The guidelines for raw and cooking fats we’ve been following for a long time. As a bonus this week I made fudge using natural sweeteners and whole food ingredients for Valentine’s Day. A very good week. Looking forward to trying my hand at kombucha this week.
I’m behind on posting for last week b/c I’ve had a sick child, but I’ve been reading and following along. I appreciate the gmo info and the source for grassfed ghee. The ghee I brought from the store just wasn’t that tasty. The week was easier than last. I’m already pretty good with fats, but I do love to roast asparagus with olive oil. Any suggestions for a tasty alternative fat there? We only buy real milk from the farm, so we’re good there – it’s raw, non-homogenized, organic, creamy, from grass-fed cows – delicious! We switched about a year ago so my lactose-intolerant son can now drink milk. It’s been a lifesaver because he literally went from failure-to-thrive to the 50th percentile in about 6 months! I’m still working on the sourdough starter so haven’t baked a loaf yet. I already brew kombucha regularly, but I just got some water kefir grains and haven’t had much luck with them yet.
Last week went really well for me. I made wonderful pickles, preserved lemons and grapefruit, kombucha and kefir. We had lots of wonderful raw milk and even when I went away to NYC for a few days I was pretty proud and amazed that I was able to find great Traditional or very close to traditional choices. Beautiful cheeses and a lovely dinner at an NYC eatery called Craft.
Halfway through the third week now. I’m very excited and inspired by all of you. Thank you to everyone who shares their experiences.
I’m both behind and ahead because I’m slow about the bread, as I just started reading a book about bread, and I want to get past the background before I try one of the recipes! But I did make a loaf of my regular whole wheat this week! I haven’t tried the yogurt yet, either, but I HAVE done kimchi and sauerkraut, so I’m ahead when it comes to fermentation! Whee!