Rice paper wraps = Leftover Heaven

wraps with baby greens, roasted bell pepper, sprouted lentils, and fermented cauliflower

How did I not know about these before?? Now that I've become friendly with my local Asian grocer, I can finally ask, "What is this?" And boy have I learned a lot!  When I used to see rice paper wrappers, they looked like too much work for me. I assumed getting these plasticy looking sheets into an edible form must involve soaking, cooking, steaming, or some other processing. Not so!

1. Dip the rice paper sheet in water for about 5 seconds, then brush the sheet over a tea towel to remove excess water.
2. Lay the sheet, still rigid, on a plate or cutting board. The sheet will absorb the water and soften in the time it takes to fill it.
3. Pile your fillings  near one side and roll up like an egg roll, blintz, or burrito.

translucent wrap with wild mushrooms, wakame, and homemade kimchi-kraut

Make Tri-colored Freezer Pops with Disposable Popsicle Sticks

Today I want to teach you how to do two things: 
A. Make striped posicles, which are just more fun for kids and adults.
B. Get craft sticks right in the middle if the homemade pops.

Why would you want to use craft sticks?

• Maybe you lost the sticks that came with your ice pop molds.
• Maybe you don't have ice pop molds.
• Maybe you want to make a lot of popsicles.
• Maybe you want to share your homemade pops without worrying about the sticks being returned.

You will need:
- Juice, or another liquid like flavored yogurt or chocolate milk -preferably 3 colors/flavors
- Ice pop molds or small cups
- Clean, un-died craft sticks or tongue depressors

How to Make Kosher Dill Pickles

I'd like to tell you about the method I use to make naturally fermented cucumber pickles. The same technique can be used for many different fruits and vegetables by varying the spices and the time. If you read no further, this is what you need to know:

 A. Use an appropriate amount of salt. Too little and unwanted molds and bacteria can develop and the cucumbers will become soft. Too much and you will retard the growth of good yeasts and bacteria, the pickling will take an unnecessarily long time, be unpalatably salty, and the cucumbers could get too sour, or too soft before they're ever really tasty.
B. Keep everything submerged. As long as your cucumbers (or other veggies) are safely deep in the brine, you can skim off whatever scum forms on top.

[More Than] 10 Ways to Use Preserved Lemons

I made preserved lemons after coming across this video from DietEasily. The whole series is excellent!

I started selling some of the fermented foods I've been making (see current selection HERE). The pickles and Sauerkraut are flying off the shelf (ok, more like trickling of the half-shelf in my refrigerator.) But no one seems interested in these gorgeous organic preserved lemons I have! My friends want to know, "What do you do with them?" Well, I shall tell you!

There are three basic ways to use the preserved lemon:
A. Whole - Slice it, cut it in chunks, chop it, blend it. The whole thing is edible.
B. Just the rind - When I want a more subtle sparkle where the lemon will be eaten raw, I use my thumb to scrape off the pulp and the pith. Then I usually slice the rind into thin slivers.
C. Juice - The lemons are usually packed in lemon juice, which becomes salty and mildly fermented. To keep the lemons for as long as possible (without mold) they must stay submerged in this wonderful elixir or salt water. But there is usually some to spare.

I encourage you to use them raw as much as possible, in order to preserve all the beneficial microorganisms. Preserved lemons can replace lemon juice and salt in a recipe.

Disappearing Kohlrabi

This gets gobbled up so quickly it doesn't always make it to the table!

• 2-4 kohlrabi bulbs/heads/roots (what do you call them?)
• Paprika (sweet, smoked, spicy, whatever you like... I used fresh gourd sweet and smoked)
• Garlic powder
• Sea salt
• Olive oil
• Dijon mustard

1. Peel kohlrabi, cube, and remove woody part around the point.
2. Season generously with all the other ingredients.
3. Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet.
4. Bake around 200 C/390 F until they start getting golden brown, about 20 minutes, then turn off oven and leave in until they are soft.

You may also enjoy "Kohl Slaw" Kohlrabi Salad.

Probiotic Soda Recipes

Probiotic soda made from water kefir is an excellent way to stay hydrated and nourished all day!

If you missed my post What is Water Kefir? you probably want to check that out. Today I want to tell you how to make flavored soda from water kefir. In this post I will refer to the water kefir (a.k.a. tibicos) SCOBY as "grains." This term refers to the look of them, as in "grains of sand", they are in no way grains like wheat, barley, oats, rye, or spelt.



If you're starting from scratch, you will need to acquire water kefir grains. I ordered my grains from Keysands, which sells dehydrated and live grains. They have excellent, friendly customer service, so email them if you have questions. Follow their instructions to re-hydrate or revive your grains.
Now that you have a healthy batch of grains... Lets get started!

What is Water Kefir?

It is my great pleasure to introduce you to my new friend Tibicos, AKA Tibi, Sugar Kefir, Water Kefir, Japanese Water Chrystals, California Bees, Beer Seeds, and more. In past posts I've written about kefir, usually a yogurt-like drink made from milk, and kombucha, a fermented tea drink. Water kefir uses a similar process to make a unique fermented beverage full of probiotic goodness. Dispite the name, water kefir is a different organism from dairy kefir. 

What is Water Kefir Soda?
When sugar water is cultured with the water kefir SCOBY, the resulting liquid can be bottled with other flavors to become a slightly fizzy natural soda. It has tiny gentle bubbles like natural champagne  as opposed to the big bubbles that are artificially pumped into commercial soda pop.

How does it taste and smell?
I mix mine with juice, tea, ginger, vanilla sugar, or whatever else I want it to taste like. I would describe the taste as slightly sweet, earthy, and yeasty. The longer is ferments, the less sweet and more yeasty or sour it might taste. Eventually it will taste a little alcoholic or vinegary (though I've never had any that long.) Kelly compares it to a mild wine cooler.

Too Easy Chocolate Chip Peach Cake

I don't bake much. It just doesn't get my creative juices flowing quite like stringing together a healthy, balanced, and economical meal that most of my family might eat. But when I ask a friend if there's something I can do to help, I mean it. And if the response is that I should bring cake... Well by golly, I'll bake a cake! Here's the thing, my one go-to easy cake is the Apple Sauce Cake recipe given to me by the same person to whose house I would be bringing the cake! 

Special Helpers in the Kitchen - Guest Post

In honor of Autism Awareness Month, I invited author and mother of four (including a 10 year old boy with Autistic Spectrum Disorder and an 8 year old daughter born with Down's syndrome) to share her experience cooking with special needs kids. Deborah teaches cooking classes in her home to mothers and children with mild special needs. Check out Deborah's amazing, powerful, and insightful new memoir A Brief Moment in Time, published by ASD Publushing Co, New York, available where ebooks are sold.

Cooking can be hectic, messy and stressful. A brief loss of focus or minor slip up can lead to overly-spiced and over-cooked food, or blood and burns. Because adding children to that mix is quite often a ‘no no’ for many mothers, children are missing out on grasping the tools of a fundamental life skill.  

Photo from Nicole Mays

Cooking time with mum gives children an opportunity to learn about the different food groups and the importance of health, safety, and hygiene during preparation.  Furthermore, whilst we live in an environment where the consumption of processed food is more appealing than spending time preparing fresh food from scratch, we have a responsibility to teach our children how to make the correct culinary choices.

As a mother of four children, two of whom have special needs, finding the patience as well as the time to teach my children is no easy task.  Yet making the effort has taught me that cooking with children who have special needs is just as effective as a therapy session.  

How is this so?  I am certainly not a professional in the medical field with little expertise in the different techniques used when working with children with disabilities.  However, what I do have is a very specific skill set when preparing food.  This skill set is managed by rules and regulations that ensure safe food management and consumption.  Children with communication, coordination and attention difficulties thrive on rules and boundaries because they help guide them on how to behave.  By learning to cook using this skill set, they become more confident and focused by being able to reap the almost immediate benefits from their efforts by enjoying the food they have prepared.

Photo from Nicole Mays

It still amazes me that my 10 year old son, who has Autistic Spectrum Disorder and thereby has trouble focusing on a given task and trouble with hand eye coordination is able to egg, bread and fry chicken, under my watchful eye of course, with absolute precision. 

Below are my top 5 tips for cooking with all children:

1.  Allocate a 30 minute time slot for cooking:

  

For the first few sessions outlining a start and finish time will help the concept feel more manageable to you.  Also your child, who may have difficulty starting a new activity due to concentration issues, will be more inclined to participate knowing that this activity has a start and end time.

Basic Sauerkraut - How it all began

The first food I purposely fermented was a plain sauerkraut. Just cabbage and salt. I didn't like it at first, but my 1.5 and 6 year old boys were big fans. Then either my taste matured or the kraut matured after another month in my fridge, and suddenly I couldn't get enough!

I apologize if you can’t run across the street to the local veggie stand/quickie mart and pick up a cabbage for about 50 US cents a pound. I know; we’re blessed. In your case, buying the cabbage might be the hardest part of the recipe. Honest, the rest is that easy.

picture taken from my window

You will need:

• ceramic crock or jar(s)
• cabbage
• non-iodized salt
• any other fruits, veggies, seaweed, or spices you want to add like:
  onions, apples, carrots, juniper berries, wakame, ginger, garlic...