We’re on our last week of the challenge to eat real food for 28 days! Are you still with me? Are you enjoying sourdough breads and wholesome natural yogurts? Are you celebrating wholesome, healthy fats in all their nutrient-dense glory? Now’s the time to sit back, relax and evaluate the week.
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 #4
We’ve gotten rid of the processed foods, bulked up on wholesome foods, celebrated wholesome fats, baked some bread, soaked some grains and learned how to serve vegetables properly. Week #4 will focus on wholesome animal foods: grass-finished meats, pasture-raised poultry, wild-caught fish, and mineral-rich stocks and broths. And, before the week’s out, you’ll learn to prepare some of the most nutrient-dense foods available: organ meats. So draw your breath now, and dive in.
28 Days of Real Food 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 (WON by Shelly of Epic Organic).
Share how Week #3 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:
another great week of learning. I just started rehydrating my water kefir grains and bought my oolong tea to accompany the kombucha mushroom shipped in this week. Woo Hoo!
My one frustration after baking loaf after loaf of sourdough is that I’m not getting a loaf that rises above about 3.5 inches. Can someone please share a recipe with me or give me some advice? I’ve been using only whole grain, no yeast, no sugar. I’d like to get a good rise with a 100% wholegrain bread. Is it possible? I’ve tried both rye and whole grain spelt starters 1:1 ratio of flour to water.
Help!
Well, this week we have been sick with a stomach virus, so we didn’t get as much accomplished as I would have liked. I am still letting my sauerkraut ferment, but the bittermelon didn’t turnout. I have yet to use my sourdough starter, as I am just feeling better! I made stocks, and couldn’t eat the chicken one. The chicken taste was too strong, which I chalk up to pregnancy and my hyperactive sense of smell. I will be cooking the beans and ham this coming week, and look forward to properly prepared beans. I am also going to soak the nuts I will be eating for snacks this week tomorrow. In a few weeks, when finances permit, I will be getting a yogurt starter, and hopefully kefir grains and a kombucha scoby. I had liver issues my last pregnancy which seemed to not have completely healed before this pregnancy, and I was told kombucha is excellent for that. I really look forward to this week as I have about 20 beef livers and 4 or 5 beef hearts that were given to me, and one grows tired of just liver and onions. I also have a pound of lamb liver. Any ideas?
The week went more slowly for me than the two previous…probably because we had company in town. I’m still waiting on cultures to really get started on kombucha and yogurt but am fermenting some ginger carrots right now! My new bean soaking method seems to be working so far…guess I don’t have much to report! LOL! Looking forward to the next weeks assignments…
Week #3 I tried making gf sourdough pancakes but the taste was awful (I baked a bread with the same starter last week and it too was awful) so I tossed the starter and will try again when we come back from vacation in a couple of weeks. Tried preserving lemons but could not get those darn lemons to stay below the juice so I had to toss those too. Made crispy nuts which were delicious and will be trying to make ricotta today. We slid back a little this weekend and ate out a couple of times and made some unhealthy choices. But we’re getting back on track today.
So I used Kimi’s sourdough pancake recipe this weekend instead of NT’s soaked pancakes because I was out of yogurt. WOW! They were so light and fluffy and easy to make. They cook in no time, so I don’t burn the outsides. That was my find of the week, honestly. That and the fact that I can get my husband to eat sourdough if I use it as pizza dough and pile homemade sauce and real cheese on top.
Had a rough week working overtime, but managed to get a few things done! Got yogurt and sourdough working, made some labneh and whey, which I’d done plenty before, soaked some beans, and late on the crispy nuts, but I have several kinds ready to soak/dry out – gonna do a huge batch and freeze them so I have them on hand already to go (and I’m thinking of doing that with beans too).
Sourdough pancakes…oh my goodness I have to make them – I am soooo sooo hungry for pancakes right now! LOL
I played a lot with my sour dough this week- pancakes, bread, king cake (ok, that was not exactly an NT recipe), and english muffins. I got some kefir grains from a friend and made some great fruit smoothies. My cabbage is sitting in the fridge waiting to get fermenting. I’m planning on a trip to the store soon for some beans and nuts to get soaking. Not a bad week- always room for improvement!
playing catch-up…
we do kefir all the time for morning smoothies. when I make kefir cheese, I save the whey and make fermented herbal teas (when I’m lucky, those teas turn into sodas!). “Full Moon Feast” has some lovely recipes for herbal sodas.
I keep trying to find fermented veggies that the rest of the family will eat. So far, pickled cukes are the only hit but I have tried beets, radishes, cabbage, kim chi, fruit salsas, tomato salsas (ok, that one was a hit too), carrots… Mostly to no avail and then I’m the one that has to eat it all.
We don’t eat gluten and we generally eat more on the paleo/primal side of things (limited grains). I have started, for kicks, a GF sourdough starter using a GF flour mix and some kefir. I suspect it might work nicely for flatbreads, dosas, etc.
I always soak nuts and seeds. Sometimes I toss sunflower seeds with ground dulse before I dehydrate them. I’ll toss walnuts with maple syrup, and almonds with turmeric. Lots of good trail mix type recipes in Cousens’ “Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine”.
Made a ham last night so we’ll be doing some sort of bean-ham soup thing later this week. Maybe more than one
Nothing beats ham bone broth!
Well, I am still running behind on the challenges, but continue to make progress. We are picking up our first raw milk tomorrow as our cow share program officially begins. Yeah! Also (I’m really excited about this!) I made a successful loaf of sourdough bread! We have also made sourdough pancakes and blueberry muffins. I did get to taste my friend’s kombucha, and I’m looking forward to getting a start from it soon. I have not yet started fermenting myself, but I just bought lemons and hope to get the Moroccan lemons started today or tomorrow. Thanks for your hard work getting the challenges together.
Ruth
Unfortunately, I haven’t yet tried to resurrect my poor, dessicated kombucha mother, but I did enjoy making sourdough bread. I think my starter died though. I made another loaf and it would have been fantastic except it didn’t rise. We still ate it, it was just very dense. I’ll be popping a few raisins in there later to get it going again.
I did take an evening to make soaked flour tortillas. We ended up with WAY more tortillas than my husband and I could eat, and they didn’t keep very well. So, we just left them out on the counter for another day to dry off then I cut them up and we had tortilla chips.
Hi Jenny -
I have been meaning to blog about this…but I am so behind on everything! I have also been gone all day long the last few days, so nothing much has gotten done at home. I just can’t get it all done…but, we have been eating well, and this week I am learning to make kombucha. Last week I made buttermilk. I have been wanting to do more with our raw milk, but I have to wait because we haven’t had fresh raw milk in a couple of months since our farm stops selling it during December – the end of Feb.
So I have been using some of our frozen raw milk, but it’s just not the same. The fat separates and gets into globules and then my son won’t drink it. He’ll eat it on cereal because he can’t tell if it’s got the sprouted granola on it. But I need to get busy and make some more yogurt with our last batch of frozen milk.
Next week when we start getting milk again and our side of grass-fed meat, I am planning to make jerky and various fermented dairy items. I have also been behind on eating vegetables (!) due to our busy schedule. I’m still eating all healthy fats though, as I’m running out the door, etc. I just need to keep on track. Again, Jenny, thanks for hosting this challenge and I apologize for not being more “blog” active.
It has been an interesting week. We made some goat cheese, lots of kefir, some sauerkraut, and lots of sourdough bread. I can’t wait to learn more about liver. I’m a liver lover, but my husband thinks he is not…
In sad news, our wonderful meat/dairy source is currently being investigated by the FDA. I do hope we don’t lose access to the farmer’s beautiful real food.
Wow. I wish I would have found out about this Real Food Challenge earlier! I sure would have liked to win the cultures.
I just posted my link, which I don’t see yet, so I just wanted to make sure I got in for the week. I have learned so much, I’m so glad to be taking part in this challenge!
We are still happy to be participating, not always the right things on the right days, but hitting everything at some point.
This was a fun week for me. I baked my first loaf of sourdough, gluten free with rice and oat flour, and my 3 year old LOVES it! Yay! Our kefir keeps on keepin’ on, and I have pulled out my kombucha scoby to recover from it’s hibernation.
The biggest thing that I am amazed at is how good I feel; I have been really focusing on eating nourishing fats, cultured dairy and no grains, and I feel like a new person. I have been struggling with post-partum depression since my second son was born (7 monhs ago), but nourishing myself has really made a huge difference in how I feel, physically and emotionally. I also must give credit to the fermented CLO I’ve started taking, but I really want to say thank you for the inspiration I neede to help myself feel better.
Jamie
week three was fun – made more goat milk kefir, still waiting in Beet Kvass to finish fermenting…soaked and made crispy almonds, made gluten free crackers with raw goat milk yogurt, made some more fresh mayo with duck egg yolk, olive oil, and garlic and lemon….hmmm what else…made goat milk ricotta
just made up a batch of sauerkraut with red and green cabbage, garlic, dill and watermelon radish….smells good already!
It’s been a tough week here, lots of sick people in the family. So, I wasn’t able to get all the things done that I’d hoped. I did get cultures for kefir and yogurt, which I plan to start later this evening. I soaked and cooked a couple of kinds of beans. I also bought organic beets to start a batch of beet kvass.
Blessings,
Catherine
Well, this week was somewhat better for me. The fermented beets and turnips that I made finally started to smell better lol. I have them the other day with some grass-fed German sausage that I got from my farmer; SO good! I also started the grapefruit marmalade from this web site. It seems to be coming along just fine, although it’s pretty thin. I also made the yogurt cheese. That was easy and very good.
Week 3 wasn’t too bad, but I didn’t get to everything. I’m already brewing kombucha, I just started water kefir, and dairy kefir will be next because I found someone willing to share extra grains. I appreciate the info on lacto-fermented veggies. That always sounded so intimidating before, but I’m trying lacto-fermented ketchup now. I’ve never had much luck making yogurt, but I decided to try again and see how that goes. I’m not really a fan of the yogurt cheese, but I have made good mozzarella. I did sign up for the local CSA again this year. We’re fortunate to have a freezer full of grass-fed beef already.
Week 3
More homework! one of my 2010 goals is to learn about one nutrition subject a week, so this course is definately keeping me on track.
-I can’t wait to make my own saurkraut!
-The beans/legumes article was a much-needed reminder to me to introduce more of these items into my diet.
-I ordered the book about curing tooth decay thru nutrition…amazing stuff!
I missed checking in on Monday, the computer went in for a check up, it needed it
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I’m ahead! I have an organically raised piggy in my freezer!
I also went ahead and took all the stuff that dh wouldn’t let me get rid of on week one, and it’s leaving this weekend.
While the comp. was in the shop, I had some testing done, and I’m allergic to a host of food additives plus some foods themselves so Hallejuiah! I can’t spell that right!kwim!
Thank you thank you, this is so helpful!
Sheila
Hi Jenny, I am a reporter from the biggest Brazilian newspaper, Folha de S.Paulo, and I’d like to send you some questions about your 28 day experience. Would you please send me your email, so we can do it in private? Thanks!