Giveaway at Real Food Forager--Coupon to Use Towards Fermented Cod Liver Oil

A while back I talked about how taking cod liver oil helped Doozer to stop wheezing. She's still doing well with her lungs and we're quite happy about that.

Well, over at Real Food Forager they're having a giveaway for a $39 coupon to use towards the purchase of a bottle of emulsified fermented cod liver oil. Woo-hoo! That's something I could use. Fermented cod liver oil is so much better for you than the Nordic Natural stuff we're taking now. It's much more nutrient dense. And if I can get it for less due to winning a coupon, so much the better.

So run over to Real Food Forager and take a look-see. Maybe you'll decide to try for the prize. Best of luck!

A Post About Cherries...In Which I'll Probably Gross You Out

Mmmmm...

Cherries.

source

Besides the watermelon, is there any fruit more quintessentially summer than cherries? I was visiting my family this past week and I was very happy to learn there was a local orchard that was allowing common people to come in and glean their Bing cherries. My little sister and I jumped all over that, and in the course of two days and a total of about six hours we picked close to a hundred pounds of cherries, which we split between us.

These cherries came from a neglected orchard. My theory, and my sister agrees, is the orchard has been bought by developers, but because there are still empty lots surrounding the orchard they aren't going to the trouble of pulling the trees out until the land is needed. Oh well, we'll gladly take those cherries off their hands.

However, since the orchard is neglected we ran into a little problem.

source

Mmmmm....?

Cherry maggots.

Ah, yes, the reason cherries are sprayed so heavily. Organic ways do exist to control them, but they're usually not the favored way amongst commercial orchards. And even organic sprays still kill beneficial insects. I estimate that 20-25% of the crop was infected with worms.

So, how to deal with worms? The usual answer is to soak the cherries, forcing the maggots to exit the fruit in an attempt to prevent drowning. The downside to this is your fruit will taste very watery and not very sweet. So, in my case since I don't see the point of eating a watered-down version of cherries, this isn't a viable option. I intend to make some fruit-only jam from part of the crop, and it's essential for the fruit to be as sweet as possible for that to work.

I could sort the cherries. I actually started doing that. It's mind-numbing work, even with the TV in the background. I just couldn't do it. Horrible. You have you check each cherry for a wormhole, it just takes too long in my opinion. Also, since it takes so long many of the non-wormy cherries would have gone bad by the end.

Well, I could cut each cherry open to pit it, and also evict it's resident. This is a slightly better option, but I pitted cherries like this a year or so ago and it's a tedious process. Throw two kids into the mix and it's a recipe for cherry-stained walls, if you catch my drift.

Well.

I could not care about the worms.

Yech.

Hmm, why yech?

Hello, MAGGOT! You know, those writhing, slimy, white things that eat rotting, putrid, dead flesh. But, well, these maggots have been eating sweet cherries. They're made of cherries. Heck, they're even the same texture as cherries.

But, ew, guts. Maggot guts. Seriously? Well, yeah, actually. I eat all sorts of guts. I eat liver, heart, tongue, and would be willing to eat sweetbreads (pancreas or thymus gland), tripe (stomach), and more. I eat clams and oysters whole, and that includes guts. So what makes this so different? And if you eat hot dogs, baloney, and other such food, there's a good chance you're eating organs as well.

But, can I honestly eat a bug? Chances are you already have. Insect parts and rodent hairs are commonly found in food. One estimate is that the average American consumes one to two pounds of insects a year. And I'm sure most of it isn't on purpose.

So, are the cherries even worth it? In situations such as this I like to think of my pioneer ancestors. What would they do if presented with fifty pounds of cherries? I'm sure they would jump all over that. Then they discover that about ten pounds of the cherries contain maggots. I'm thinking they would still eat the cherries, and probably wouldn't fuss too much about eating some worms.

In case you haven't gleaned (pun!) the information yet, I am consciously eating wormy cherries. If you're wondering, they still taste the same.

If you happen to have wormy cherries, here's what you can do with them. My little sister is planning on canning hers. My mom did this when they had a bad maggot year. When you open the jar to eat the cherries you just skim the worms off the top and then serve. No harm no foul.

If you aren't canning cherries this year, like me, then all the other options usually keep the worm inside. I'm not water bath canning because it's not my favorite thing to do. Instead I'm going to convert a large part of my cherries into jam and (shh!) use the inversion method to seal the jars. Throwing them into the blender before jamming should obliterate the worms so I don't have to see them and make a smooth jam. Yum.

Another way of cherry preservation is dehydration. Both of my dehydrators are full of whole pitted cherries. When they're done they'll make great snacks for the kids, and the worm will be invisible due to being dried out too. Bug jerky.

And our last method of saving our cherries is freezing after pitting. These cherries are specifically saved for smoothies. Since they'll be blended there's no chance of running into a whole worm.

But what's the point of saving all these cherries if I can't bring myself to eat them when the time comes? Making sure I can eat wormy cherries is a priority. To accomplish this task I've been eating my fresh cherries. Without checking for worms. I've learned that telling myself "There isn't a worm, there isn't a worm," doesn't work very well. There ARE worms, and it's just a matter of time until I ran into one. Instead I would chant in my head, "You're eating a worm, and that's okay. Just like oysters, just smaller." Ta-da! Mission accomplished, I'm now eating worms. Even The Hubby is on board with this, especially when he saw how much work it took to process the harvest even without worrying for worms.

Have I convinced you to eat wormy cherries? No? Don't worry, I won't be offering my cherry jam to anyone. I'll have plenty of blackberry jam later in the season and I love to share.

Have you decided that eating worms is no big deal? Then come on over and have some pie. Extra protein at no extra cost.

---------------------------------------------------------

This post has been shared on Simple Lives Thursday.

Dream Interpretation Needed--Inquire Within

Okay, my dream was much too weird not to commit to the internet. If you feel like trying for an interpretation, have at it!

We start with The Hubby and I wanting to go on a date. He picked Ultimate Frisbee as our activity. I had some prior arrangements I had to cancel so he went ahead of me to meet up with "the guys" while I took care of things. He was going rendezvous with the posse at a bar (why?!?).

After The Hubby left I canceled all my appointments. I then ran into my older sister and asked her to help me put together an outfit. She agreed to that. Also at this time I realized that my older sister was the real author of the "Harry Potter" series and I stared at her in amazement.

Before going off to get dressed I had to call the bar to check up on The Hubby. Apparently the apparatus used for calls was not a telephone, it was a very long, green garden hose. I talked to the bar owner and he told me that the crew had already headed off to the field to play Ultimate Frisbee.

I then got dressed, which is always a huge ordeal in my dreams for some reason. Nothing ever looks right. I finally put on a large frothy skirt and a top and called it good. I was barefoot (I've been doing that a lot in real life).

Then my sister, the kids, and I went on our adventure to find The Hubby. The field ended up being halfway across Portland and we either walked or took buses the whole way. The field was all brown with a chain link fence going partway around it. My dad was there but The Hubby wasn't in sight.

The Hubby soon came limping up, hopping, really. He had hurt his leg badly. My dad was admonishing him for getting hurt and I walked to The Hubby, had him stand behind me, wrap his arms around my neck, and I hauled him off the field. We can do this because The Hubby is an inch taller and 25 lbs lighter than me. I remember the dead grass of the field being very uncomfortable on my feet.

After depositing The Hubby on the sidelines I walked over to the chain link fence. There was a small secluded area on the edge of the field with short trees and longer green grass. I noticed one of our juvenile hens there with two eggs. One egg was full-sized and the other was a "pee-wee" egg of a new layer. I was excited to see our chicks were old enough to lay now, but the chicken started pecking at the eggs so I hurried around the fence to stop the hen.

The Hubby asked me what I was up to and I told him, so he came with me, walking pretty well, and I planned on giving the eggs to him for safe keeping. Very close to the nest was another nest of a wild bird. There were three eggs in it and each egg was about six inches long and 2 inches in diameter, very long and thin. Our hens had pecked them open and they were oozing everywhere.

I was very frustrated with our chickens and went to pick up the intact eggs. All in all there was a normal chicken egg, the pee-wee egg, and a rather large green duck egg. After passing the Eggs to The Hubby I went to look at the broken eggs to see if I could tell what type of bird it was. I started to pick up one of the eggs and it started throbbing. Each egg had a large chick in it, but they weren't quite ready to hatch yet. I cleaned the shells and whites off the chicks and they started breathing, so I decided it was my mission to keep them alive.

I was suddenly at my parents' house with the chicks, and I was trying to find a place to clean them up. They were getting stronger which was encouraging, but I wanted them clean and warm before I fed them. I went into the kitchen where my mom was preparing dinner, my dad was hanging out talking to her. I put two of the chicks on the counter next to the sink, then I turned around with the third chick to find a towel. When I got back to the first two chicks my mother had chopped their heads off and deposited the bodies into the sink. I was very upset with her and shouted, "Why did you do that?!?" She answered, "I thought they were for dinner," but didn't apologize.

And, that is the end of my dream. Any takers for interpretations? I'll give you five cows.*

*Five imaginary cows, very cute.

Succeeding with Traditional Foods...One Menu at a Time

Edited: I've added this to Simple Lives Thursday, so here's a lovely banner to look at. Also, check out GNOWFGLINS, they're pretty amazing over there.

---------------------------------------------------------

As previously stated we're slowly transitioning to a Traditional Foods Diet. Yes, it's capitalized. All diets are in caps nowadays, doncha know. But eating in a traditional way can be very time consuming. It is slow food at its most lethargic. All grains must be soaked, sprouted, or soured before use. All beans must be soaked or sprouted. Dairy should ideally be fermented. Many vegetables should be fermented. Bone broths should be cooked for 48-72 hours.

Who has time for all this? Having been born as a Sidetrack Home Executive I just don't have the memory for anything. As the saying goes, if it weren't screwed on I would lose my head. I forget things nearly instantaneously. So how am I supposed to keep track of everything I need to do to feed my family this way?

Yesterday I sat down and wrote out a two week (plus two days to finish this week) menu. I am not a menu lady. I've always just created dishes from what's in my fridge. The hardest part for me was trying to think of what to eat. So taking a hint from the book "Simplicity Parenting" I assigned each day what would best be described as a theme. My themes were ingredients used. Some people use cuisine as their themes. So here's my week:

Sunday: Typical Sunday meal (meat, potatoes, vegetables, maybe dessert)
Monday: Pasta
Tuesday: Bread/Potatoes
Wednesday: Beans
Thursday: Rice
Friday: Soup
Saturday: Casserole

This made thinking of meals much easier for me. I can look at my theme and think of a recipe that fits that day. It also welcomes a lot of crossover. For example, we love dahl in our home. Dahl could work for my rice day or my bean day. Chicken noodle soup could be soup or pasta. Also, since we still love our vegetarian food these themes can easily accommodate both styles of eating.

I then broke down the recipe and noted what needed to be prepped ahead of time. Working with my dahl recipe I would prefer to soak my rice and sprout my lentils. If I wanted to make flat bread from scratch I would need to plan to use sprouted flour, soak my flour, or use a sourdough starter. If I wanted to use stock to cook my lentils I need to be sure to have that on hand.

I wrote out my menu on a calendar. Okay, it wasn't an actual calendar, it was just a sheet of paper split into thirds and then eighths. I wrote each meal into the appropriate day. Then I figured out what needed advanced prepping and how far in advance to start it. I noted on the correct day when to start preparations. The theory is before I go to bed I can quickly look at my plan and take care of those things that need some TLC.

This also helps with shopping. I'm able to look to my freezer, pantry, and garden and see what I have on hand. Since I'm only doing two weeks at a time I can generally predict what my garden will have ready for me. Also, I relegate a lot of our produce to side dishes, so in case things ripen sooner or later I can just move those around.

So here's my menu. Sorry for the horrible format, if I knew how to put a table in here I would.

Sunday: sliced beef tongue, mashed turnips and potatoes
Prep work: Save half the tongue for later in the week, freeze tongue simmering stock, soak black beans, soak cashews

Monday: mac 'n' cheeze with nutritional yeast/cashew cheeze sauce, steamed broccoli
Prep work: double the sauce, save half, thaw pumpkin, sprout previously soaked black beans, soak lentils

Tuesday: baked potatoes with all the fixin's, including the leftover cheeze sauce
Prep Work: sprout lentils and black beans, soak cornbread batter

Wednesday: black bean chili with roasted poblano peppers, cornbread
Prep Work: soak black beans, sprout lentils, prepare lacto-fermented salsa, soak rice

Thursday: pumpkin dahl served over rice, cumin carrots
Prep Work: sprout black beans, make sourdough bread if feeling ambitious

Friday: tongue stew using leftover stock, bread
Prep Work: continue salsa, thaw beef heart, soak rice, sprout black beans

Saturday: black bean and rice enchiladas served with LF salsa, salad
Prep Work: none!

Sunday: half a heart, stuffed, served with gravy, roasted root veggies
Prep Work: soak pinto beans, soak mung beans, save rest of heart for later

Monday: goulash made with TVP*, corn
Prep Work: sprout pinto and mung beans, soak or sour pizza dough

Tuesday: pizza, Greek-style green beans
Prep Work: sprout mung and pinto beans, soak cornbread batter, start a crock pot of bone stock

Wednesday: baked pinto beans, cornbread
Prep Work: sprout mung beans, soak rice, continue stock, thaw some liver

Thursday: heart stir fry over liver rice, miso soup with nori
Prep Work: stock, soak or sour bread if ambitious

Friday: Split pea soup with bacon, bread
Prep Work: soak rice, make yogurt

Saturday: chicken poppy seed casserole modified to keep yogurt alive, served over rice with salad or another green
Prep Work: None, haven't planned that far in advance yet.

----------------------------------------------------

A few more loose ends and then I'll post this mammoth. I usually don't do side dishes, I am the queen of one-pot meals. I'm trying to rectify this, so if the menu seems skimpy to you, sorry. Also, I'm not planning for lunches or breakfasts. Breakfast is easy, lunch can be leftovers or sandwiches.

I want to incorporate a baking day into all of this so that I'm not attempting to make all my bread right before the meal. I also want to start making my own Traditional Foods approved pasta, this recipe for sourdough noodles should do the trick nicely. Since I love to hoard my eggs for breakfast or smoothies I'll probably use flax meal for my eggs as outlined in this recipe.

Feel free to steal my menu, I hope it helps you out. And if my family is wondering how I'm going to modify The Chicken Poppy Seed Casserole, well, this is what I had in mind. I was thinking of poaching the chicken to keep it moist, then warming the sauce separately, using yogurt instead of sour cream. Combine the sauce with the chicken. Then I was going to add the buttery cracker/poppy seed combo sprinkled on top.

Okay! Time to put this behemoth to rest. Goodnight, Buffalo Gals.

*Disclaimer: I've noticed a lot of new traffic to this post. Welcome! I wanted to explain the presence of TVP on my menu. I know that TVP is basically a frankenfood, but I have quite a bit left over from my vegan days and I hate to waste food. Also, The Hubby rather likes it, so I feel eating it once or twice a month is perfectly fine for our family.

Let's Get Ready to Rumble!

It was my birfday recently (happy day!) and I received my usual money from family this year. Instead of just sticking it in the bank like I normally do I decided to blow all of it. And then some, the "then some" being part of our tax return.

I bought a dress form. And it looks like it's going to be a good one. Do you wanna see?

Okay, here's a sneak peek.

What, no real picture? Well, she hasn't arrived yet. I'm supposed to get her on the 12th, and let's hope she's not broken or anything because then I'll cry. But look at the shape on her!

source

She has a shapely bust! And real hips! And a belly! And a terrific tush! I think she reflects a real person rather well. The only thing I'm a bit sad about is her armhole shape is not what I would like it to be. It's supposed to be more triangular, like the form on the left:

Source. Actually, a great source, I love this website.

See, however, that my dress form has the body shape of the Lefty Lady. Fabulous. I think I'll survive. Or succeed! Because, guys, listen. I'm getting ready to design my pattern line. Remember me talking about that? Yeah, I think it's time to actually work on it, for realz. And buying my Lady is the first step in that.

I had to make a hard choice between this form and the plus-sized form. I bought a size 10. From what I've read I can fit to my size 10 Lady and then grade the pattern up two sizes and down two sizes, so that will cover 6, 8, 10, 12, and 14. However, I really want to buy that plus-size form because I want to provide a large range of sizes. But that can wait a bit. Unless all of you, dear readers, want to chip in and buy me the plus-size form in a size 20. And then a size 4 would be nice, since I'm taking orders.

So, here we go. And I'm really anxious about it, which has been manifesting itself it weird dreams involving Project Runway and Tim Gunn hating me and never making it on time for judging and everything I made looks like bad 90's fashion. This makes me hope that real life is more forgiving than my Dreamworld Project Runway.

Are you all ready for this ride? Good. Because it'll probably be crazy bumpy and we might see some wildlife. Hopefully it will be fun.

Gratitude

I talked earlier about our evolution away from vegetarianism, but then I started thinking and I didn't want to leave you guys thinking that I totally despise the vegetarian way of life.

To start my ode to vegetarianism I must start back to my wedding. The Hubby and I started our married life together an decided that waiting a year before trying for a baby was the best course of action. So I'm sure you can imagine our dismay when we discovered that, oops! I was pregnant four months after nuptials.

At first we were very mad with God. We were being careful and this is what he saddled with us! The nerve. So we prayed. And prayed. And then we were excited. We were going to have a baby! Our little family was wrapped in happiness.

I lost the baby at just a few weeks. And then we were mad at God again. Why give us a baby, force us to accept it, and then take it? It made no sense! But we agreed that since we were ready to have that baby with joy then we were ready to start earnestly trying for our children.

So we tried. And tried. And lost another sweet child. And still we kept at it. For nearly two years. It was a crazy time. Now I don't feel the anxiety about it, because, hello, I have kids now. But I remember feeling like I was never going to have biological children. We made plans to save money for adoption. We discussed the option of invitro fertilization. And so much spontaneity was sucked out of our marriage because we were trying for just the right time to make everything work. It was exhausting.

Totally unrelated to the babymaking The Hubby and I went on a quick herbal cleanse. We also went nearly vegan to help The Hubby with his cholesterol.

Within two months I was pregnant, and that was BuggaBoo. I really feel that my body was so junked up with stuff that I needed to do the cleanse and then eat a clean diet to prepare myself to carry a baby. My family has a history of hormonal disturbances, the most prominent is my mother has polycystic ovarian syndrome, or PCOS. I have many of the same symptoms. I feel that getting off CAFO meats and diary helped to control the amount of hormones in my body leading to successful ovulation and implantation. Fabulous!

So to the best of my knowledge and feelings, if I had not gone vegetarian I would not have my children.

I have other, less important reasons to be grateful. So let's touch on them rapidly.

I can now bake without eggs or milk or butter. This is great when I want to whip something up and only have pantry supplies.

My cooking experience increased. I can now think beyond meat/potato/vegetable or casseroles. Yum!

I was introduced to a deeper realm of natural living which led to my research on midwifery. This in turn led to my wonderful experiences with the prenatal care and birth of my children.

Vegetarianism is still a large part of my life and I don't think that will ever change. I'm not really the carnivorous type, although I do enjoy some meat binges. And eating plants is very satisfying. I am thankful for the experience I've had with being vegetarian and vegan, I've learned a lot and grew some more.

Well, That's One Way of Putting It...

(The scene unfolds with BuggaBoo watching me change Doozer's diaper...)

BuggaBoo: Mommy, why are you changer her diaper?

Me: Well, why do you think?

BuggaBoo: Because her is wet?

Me: Yep!

BuggaBoo: Why are you putting on a new diaper?

Me: Well, because I want to catch more pee, and whenever I don't put on a diaper I suffer the consequences.

BuggaBoo: Or the poopequences.