Time to start my adventure with Fermented Foods

Why fermented foods?

There has been much talk about probiotics and gut health as a way for us to prevent infection and build a stronger immune system. I was prescribed probiotics by my doctor after a very nasty gastric bug. There are many ways to get probiotics and the most natural way is through fermented foods and drink.

How to start?

I bought a "fermenter" from Happy Kombucha, a great company where you can buy everything from sourdough starters, to Kefir granules, apple cider vinegar with the mother.

Quoted from their blog:-

Fermented Vegetables: Simple, Delicious and Rich in Probiotics!

"Fermentation can also add nutritional value to whatever you ferment. The bacteria produce B vitamins, omega-3 fatty acids, and digestive enzymes not present before fermentation. During fermentation, good bacteria also helps predigest all the vitamins and nutrients in the vegetables themselves, making them more bioavailable to the body. The health payoff of this nutrient boost can be huge."

Tutorials and recipes

I've also discovered a fabulous blogger/youtuber, Lisa from Farmhouse on Boone who has a magical way of sharing her cooking tips, plus much more including how to sew. Going back to traditional ways such as cooking from scratch, renovating their farmhouse, creating a "handmade home". I've been watching her YouTube videos today on fermenting, so have put some cucumbers that arrived in my Riverford box this week, in my fermenter.

I'm also intrigued by the Instant Pot that I've been seeing pop-up on my feeds whilst surfing, a safe pressure cooker that may be much easier for my mum to use, so I've watch those videos today too.

My journey has begun, I can try after day 3 to see if sour enough, perhaps leave a little longer. I'm planning on buying some jalepenos chillis to ferment them, then it's time for sauerkraut which I absolutely love.

Ingredient supplier

The next thing to make after the basics is some Kimchi, but that will need a couple more ingredients, before I can make a batch.
Last time I bought my ingredients from Sous Chef, they have an amazing variety of ingredients, they also do a Kimchi Kit, which has everything you will need including the jar. It tastes so much better when it is freshly made.

Once the fermenting is underway, I've got a bowl of plums to turn into something scrummy, some jam, chutney and maybe some plum sauce. Preserving is great fun and fills the kitchen with amazing aromas, unless its chutney, which I cook when my husband isn't around, he can't stand the strong vinegary smell.

Roll on the season of mellow fruitfulness, I love it.

Read More

Why do I crave fresh juice? Geocaching here we come!

My poor Sage juicer has been sat unused for a few months, today though, I craved fresh fruit/veg juice for my breakfast.I decided to follow my craving and grabbed the following organic veg and fruit that came in my Riverford order before Christmas:-

Ingredients

2 small apples
1 small pear
1-inch fresh root ginger
2 sticks celery
1/2 cucumber
2 small carrots

I've got a great centrifugal juicer, so it extracts most of the juice and leaves very little waste. It produced a pint of juice, slightly sweet but very hydrating, full of vitamins and minerals to give me a boost and prevent any bugs.

I've also treated myself to the Liver Rescue hardback book by the Medical Medium. I've been following him on Instagram and started reading the free introduction on my Kindle app, it was advertised as "Medical Medium Liver Rescue: Answers to Eczema, Psoriasis, Diabetes, Strep, Acne, Gout, Bloating, Gallstones, Adrenal Stress, Fatigue, Fatty Liver, Weight Issues, SIBO & Autoimmune Disease". This makes so much sense that our Liver's are the hidden organ that we don't care for, but impacts on every other organ in our body, so I'm going to start seeing if it makes a difference.

When you want to get outdoors and see the countryside, it's important to have the right footware, so I bought some Karrimor hiking boots. We have decided to start getting out in the fresh air and going geocaching again. A great way and excuse to have fun in the outdoors, see great scenery and find hidden treasure. If you are looking at ways to get the family outdoors, it's worth investigating and you don't need a proper GPS, but a phone with the app will work well (just remember to take a charger to run in the car to keep the battery topped up). Another trick, mark the location where you leave the car before you start off on a trek, you may need to navigate back later.

Read More

Turkey Pitta kebabs with Tashi sauce (Cypriot style)

When it's so hot, you don't fancy cooking over a hot stove, perhaps the BBQ is calling you. This is a quick and very easy dinner to make. Perhaps you are having a BBQ and would like something different to serve that's simple to prepare ahead and guests can serve themselves.

Basically, you need pitta bread or flatbread, meat or sausages to chuck on the BBQ (or halloumi for vegetarians), the salad and some Tashi sauce.

As we now focus on turkey and chicken in our family, I've adapted the original recipe to use turkey steaks. You can use any meat suitable to be barbecued, even sausages work well and are great for the kids.

Whilst my husband was in Cyprus, they used white cabbage in their salads instead of lettuce and we love the difference. He has created his own sesame sauce (fondly known as Tashi sauce in our family), it is slightly different to the normal Tahini Salata as it contains Greek yoghurt, but is really scrummy).

Depending on your appetite, you will need for each person:-

• large appetite = 2 pittas, 
• small appetite = 1 pitta each.

Start by making the Tashi sauce, this will then have time for the flavours to develop. It can be made ahead and kept in the fridge.

Start to marinate the meat.

Then create the salad and pop it in a sealable tub in the fridge.

Pitta bread (gluten-free is great) or Flatbread

Turkey kebab (makes 4 pittas)

Turkey steaks (1 for each pitta)

2 tbsp olive oil

Juice half a lemon

1 tsp dried oregano

Pop all ingredients into a resealable bag and mix around, pop in the fridge until ready to cook.

Tashi sauce

1 garlic clove - crushed

2 tbsp tahini (sesame paste)

Juice of 1 lemon

4 tbsp greek yoghurt

a pinch Maldon salt

Place the garlic and sesame paste in a bowl and mix, add the lemon juice and continue mixing. There is a strange chemical reaction and the sesame paste gets very thick, keep stirring until thoroughly mixed, add the greek yoghurt and salt, stir until combined. Check seasoning. Cover and pop in the fridge.

Greek Kebab Salad

1/4 small white cabbage, finely sliced

2 large tomatoes, cut into small chunks.

1/2 cucumber, remove the seeds (see tip) and then chopped into small chunks

2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley

1/2 red onion, finely sliced

A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Mix all the ingredients together, cover and pop in the fridge.

Assembling the kebabs

When you are ready to start cooking, just pop the meat on the BBQ or in a non-stick frying pan. Warm up the pittas (check instructions on the packet).

I normally slice the meat into strips once cooked, pile this onto a serving plate, then everyone can help themselves.

Hold the hot pitta in a clean tea towel and using a small sharp knife, slit down one long edge. Open out the pitta to make sure it can be filled.

Take one pitta, open the pocket and add the turkey steak (one steak's worth of slices). Spoon over a couple of tablespoons of the Tashi sauce, then fill the rest of the pitta with a large handful of the salad.

Serve and enjoy.

Tip - if you need to deseed a cucumber (it's the seeds that can cause indigestion), simply slice the cucumber in half, then using a teaspoon, scrape out the seeds. I loosen the edge of the trench first, then scoop out the middle. This also gets rid of a lot of the water too.

Read More

Tuna Salad

Tuna Salad (serves 2)

2 oz cooked and cold Seeds of Change Semi-wholewheat Tortiglioni

2 handfuls of salad leaves with beetroot shreds

Half an avocado

2 inch chunk cucumber

1 large tomato

1/3 tin tuna fish in spring water

Extra virgin olive oil

Organic cider vinegar

Freshly ground pepper

Method

While the pasta was cooking (yes I do add a little salt to the water, it is better than salting later), I started preparing the rest of the ingredients. I find that cucumber can make some people a little gassy, my solution is to peel the cucumber, then slice horizontally through the middle of the chunk and using a teaspoon, scrape out the fleshy seedy centre. Then cut the cucumber into small cubes.

Remove the avocado from the skin, again use a dessert or tablespoon to push between the skin and the flesh to remove the edible part. Again cut into small chunks.

I like to assemble the salad on each plate as I prepare, then sprinkle over a few drops of olive oil, plus a couple of drops of cider vinegar, toss on the plate.

Add the tuna to the plate and flake and fluff gently. If you like you can add 1 teaspoon of mayonnaise to the tuna and lightly mix.

When the pasta is cooked (yes, it will be a little more chewy than the normal type, but much more tasty), drain the pasta, return to the pan and immediately run cold water over the pasta for about 1 minutes, strain and you have cold pasta.

Add pasta to the plate and serve. You may like to grind some black pepper over the salad before serving, but that is personal preference.

Read More

Middle Eastern Tabbouleh Salad

Ingredients

8 oz (225 g) cracked wheat (bulghar) (available from health food shops)

2 oz (50 g) parsley, finely chopped

8 spring onions, finely chopped (including the green parts)

4 tablespoons lemon juice

2 large beef tomatoes, about 1 lb (450 g)

4 inches (10 cm) cucumber, very finely chopped

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

salt and freshly milled black pepper

Start off by measuring the cracked wheat into a bowl. Cover it with plenty of cold water and leave for approximately 20 minutes or until the grains soften and lose their crunchiness (which means, of course, you'll have to bite a few to find out how they're going).

Then have ready a large sieve. When the cracked wheat has softened, pour the contents of the bowl into the sieve, drain well to extract as much water as possible. Shake the wheat into a deep bowl and stir in the parsley and spring onions followed by the lemon juice and 1½ teaspoons of salt to combine thoroughly.

Meanwhile, finely chop the tomatoes quite small and add to the bowl containing the wheat. Next, add the cucumber and olive oil to the salad and mix to combine everything. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Pasted from <http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/middle-eastern-tabbouleh-salad,731,RC.html>

Read More