How to Make a $15 Chicken Pay

      Someone on FB posted a link to this article from Atlanta Magazine: New Poultry Group Plans to Ruffle Some Feathers. You can follow the link and read the article to see why I am one of those people who will gladly spend $5 a pound (or more) for a pasture raised chicken and $5 a dozen for farm eggs.  It's pure squeamishness.

      I have never been a huge fan of chicken, even in the days when I thought a boneless skinless chicken breast had virtue.  It just doesn't taste good to me.  I do, however, like roasted chicken with crispy skin or what I like to call "crock pot chicken".  I honestly think the difference is the bones and the skin. What we never knew back in the low fat 90s was that all the vitamins and minerals are in those parts.  When you cook just the protein, you lose taste and valuable nutrition.  And it just so happens that when you buy chicken from a farm, you generally have to take the whole bird.  If you want it in pieces or deboned and deskinned, you have to do that for yourself.  I never do.

     Now, $15 is a lot to spend on one 3 pound chicken, so I have a few things I do to my pretty pullet to make her pay her own way.

      First of all, she's dinner.
      To make roast chicken, I just wash the bird in cold water, dry it off, and rub it with either olive oil or butter.  I thickly slather on whatever herbs and spices I am feeling like that day.  Rubbed sage, thyme, pepper, and salt are easy and always taste good.  The trick is to pick out what you are going to put on the chicken before you get your hands dirty.  Mix the herbs in a small bowl--you need a good sized handful for a 3 pound chicken.  Make sure every surface is coated in  herbs.  If you have fresh herbs, that is even better.  You can even stick some in the cavity.  Then I thickly slice an onion (save the ends of the onion and the skins for later) and lay it on the bottom of my dutch oven or roaster and lay the chicken on top, breast side up.  I put my pot in a 300 degree oven (or less, not more) and let it cook for several hours.  If the skin is getting too dark, I stick the top on. Since the time it takes to cook is dependent on the size of the chicken, I check the temperature often by sticking a meat thermometer in the thick part of the breast.  When it gets past 160 I turn off the oven and start making my sides.  Another sure way to know your chicken is done is to grab one leg and give it a gentle tug.  If the joint gives way, it is done.


       Crock pot chicken is even easier.  I follow the exact same steps except I lay  the chicken on top of the sliced onions in my crock pot and surround it with carrots cut into inch sized chunks (or use baby carrots) and small potatoes (or big potatoes cut into chunks).  I save the carrot peels and ends with the onion scraps.  I throw a little salt on the veggies, put the lid on the pot and set it on low if  I am proactive enough to start in the morning or on high if I am just starting it in the afternoon.  By dinner it will be done.  If it cooked all day, the chicken will have started to fall apart and everything will be swimming in a pot of chicken broth.  If it hasn't reached that stage, give the leg a tug to see if it is cooked through. Crock pot chicken doesn't have the lovely crispy skin but the meat is moister than roasted, so it is a trade-off.

      After dinner is when the chicken discovers that I am not done with her yet.  She's got more to pay.  I take about 10 minutes to "devastate the carcass".  I don't know if that's really what it is, but that's what my granny once told me it was called.  And I think it's more interesting to stand there devastating the carcass than it is to just pick the bones.  I strip every bit of meat that is still on the bird and collect the leg and wing bones from the boys' plates (In our family, the boys prefer dark and the girls prefer white.  I can tell how well you know my family by whether or not you're laughing right now).  All the bones, cartilage, and leftover skin goes back in the pot with the broth and bits of onion that were left from cooking.  The leftover meat gets put in the fridge.  I add the vegetable scraps to the pot and/or carrots, onion, and celery from the fridge.  Celery leaves are great as are the veggies that got forgotten at the back of the crisper drawer.  I just cover the whole thing with water and set it on the stove or turn on the crock.  I let it come up to heat until it is simmering and then turn it way down low with the lid cracked.  And then I go to bed.

     The next morning I ladle off my wonderful, nutritious chicken broth, straining it into a large glass bowl and putting it in the fridge (after I have had a cup for breakfast).  Once I've removed most of the liquid from the pot, I cover the bones and veggie scraps with water and let it heat up again.  I'll continue to strain broth and add water every 12 hours or so until the bones are falling to pieces.  I'm not really sure how many quarts of broth I get this way, but it's a lot.  That $15 chicken gives up every bit of her minerals, collagen, and protein.

     For lunch (or dinner) that day I make chicken soup.  I cook some rice to have in the soup, using some of the chicken broth instead of water.  I always cook rice this way because the nutrition in the broth is added to the rice (which doesn't have much nutrition on it's own).  A bowl of rice cooked in chicken broth with a big pat of grassfed butter is a great thing to hand to a child--they have no idea how many vitamins and minerals they are eating. They just think it tastes good.  So, to make the soup, I cut up half an onion (or the whole thing if it is small), 3-4 carrots, and 4-5 ribs of celery.  I save the veggie scraps in a baggie and stick it in the freezer for next time.  I saute the vegetables with butter, coconut oil, or lard in a soup pot until they're starting to soften.  This is the point where I add salt and pepper as well as whatever dry herbs I feel like.  Again, thyme and sage are a good choice. If I happen to have fresh herbs like parsley, I save that til the end.  Because my husband likes heat, I add about a quarter teaspoon of crushed red pepper. Meanwhile, I skim the fat cap off the broth that I strained that morning. There's no need to get every bit of the fat, I just don't want the soup to end up super greasy.When the veggies are tender I pour the chicken broth into the pot, and let it heat to a slow boil.   I turn down the heat, put the lid on, and let it simmer for a little while.  The leftover chicken gets chopped small and added to the pot after the veggies are soft.  Once the pot is heated through again, I will add extras if I have them: frozen peas and/or corn, fresh herbs or spinach cut into ribbons, a few drops of hot pepper sauce if it needs it.  Put some rice on the bottom of your bowl, ladle some soup on top, and that's meal #2.

      Of course, the bones just keep on giving.  Once each batch of broth has chilled in the fridge, I decide what to do with it.  Some of it gets consumed right then and there, as my coffee substitute.  One bowl stays in the fridge for one more day because I am going to make taco soup with it.  In that case, I leave the fat cap on, to help keep it fresh.  Another batch gets skimmed and put into mason jars and frozen for another day of soup or stew.  A lot of it gets frozen in ice cube trays.  Once it's frozen, I store the little cubes of broth in a big ziploc bag in my freezer.  Every time I make rice, I pull out some of those cubes of broth and throw them into the rice cooker.  If I am making something and I need to add water to the pot, I add a few cubes of broth instead.  If I'm making mashed potatoes and need to add liquid, I add broth.  Each time I add broth, it heightens the nutrient density of whatever I am making.

     Long after that chicken dinner is a distant memory, she will still be contributing her nutrition to our family.  I think I got my money's worth.

    

My Sources of Real Local Food

I think it's time for an edit on this post.  Many of my sources are the same but I need to add a few as well.  If you know of a great source for real food that I haven't found yet, please let me know in the comments.  

If you don't live in Georgia, you will probably not find this post super helpful.  However, I hope the heart of it is inspiring and that you decide to embark on your own quest for local sources of real food.  Check out these websites to help you in your search:

http://eatwild.com/index.html

 http://realmilk.com/where.html

When I first set out to try to source my family’s groceries locally, I wasn’t really sure what I was getting myself into.  I had just read The Omnivore’s Dilemma and I was in love with the idea of Polyface Farm as portrayed in that book (if you have not read it, do so as soon as possible).  There were so many reasons why I no longer wanted to feed myself and my family from Kroger (or even Whole Foods) but the task of figuring out where our meals might come from instead was a little daunting. 

Over the course of the last 18 months or so, I have developed the following list of sources.  Let me say up front that this list is fluid.  I'm always talking to people, searching the internet, and keeping my eyes peeled for small local producers of clean, whole food.  There are other sources that I no longer buy from, as well, for various reasons. 

Marietta Farmers Market:  This is where I started in my search for real, local food.  It was the first market I went to and I really feel like I hit the jackpot.  Local farmers and food vendors come on Saturdays from 9 until noon and set up stalls right in the town square.  It's a busy, bustling place through the growing season and in the winter it's much smaller but still has some great vendors.  Whenever I see a vendor that I am interested in, I try to ask questions and establish a relationship.  I want them to know me and I want to know them.  This market is a perfect setting for that.  The market is now open through the winter and even though it is smaller, I can still manage to do a good portion of my grocery shopping there every week.

Carlton Farms: This dairy farm is operated by an extended family out in Rockmart.  They produce beautiful raw milk (labeled “pet milk” in accordance with Ga law) from Jersey cows.  Chad Carlton has a refrigerated truck that he drives around the metro Atlanta area on Wednesdays and Thursdays.  He sells milk, cream, eggs, cheese, meat, nuts, honey, and produce.  The items that don’t come directly from Carlton Farms he sources from other farms in the area.  I fill out his online order form every Tuesday and meet him on Thursday afternoons behind the Mt. Paran Church on Allgood Rd in Marietta.  He has many other drop-off points listed on his website.

Jackson Lowe Farm : I met Adam and Mecca Lowe at the Marietta Market, too.  When you talk to the farmers and buy their produce, you start to get a sense of who you really want to give your money to.  I really like to give my money to the Lowes.  They're a young couple who are farming family land and are determined to do it the right way.  They grow a lot of different vegetables, some of which I never cooked or ate before.  They focus on lots of greens and “southern” type veggies. Every year I buy a share of their harvest up front.  Often referred to as Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), this arrangement allows the farmer to judge the demand for his produce and plan accordingly.  The wonderful thing about buying a farm share is that every week you get a big box of produce.  The challenging thing about buying a farm share is that every week you get a big box of produce.  You don't get to pick and choose which veggies you want and you often get more than you expected.  I have loved and struggled with my CSA box for the last two years.  That weekly box has forced me to feed my family more veg, to learn to preserve the abundance, and to cook unfamiliar vegetables.  Now I can cook kohlrabi, rutabaga, and braising greens.  In the summer I can tomatoes and in the fall I ferment cabbage.  It is an amazing experience that I intend to repeat this year.
Melody Lane Co-Op: This buying co-op sources real food from local farms and from the internet.  They do a weekly group buy from Carlton Farms and farm shares from Moss Hill Farm.  By participating in their group buys on the internet and from other producers I save shipping, hassle, and leg work.  I buy wild Alaskan salmon, high quality olive oil, coconut products, cod liver oil...and the list goes on.

Mother Earth Meats:  Melody Lane Co-op buys from this farmer in Tennessee every 3 months or so.    He drives his truck to Atlanta and I buy chicken, beef, and pork when my freezer is running low.  My favorite thing to buy from him is his “Druck’s Raw Cheddar”.  It’s fabulous.  I buy pounds of the stuff and put it in my freezer. 

Burns Best Farm:  This is another small farmer I met at the Marietta Market.  Mike is an IT guy that decided to chuck corporate life and start a farm.  His farm is up in Ringgold and he and his wife raise pork, beef, chickens (broilers and layers) and produce.  Their eggs have the brightest yolks and the best flavor of any that I have had.  My husband can tell instantly when I buy eggs from someone else—and he always complains.  For the last two years I have bought a half cow from them.  It was a huge leap that I really agonized over but it turned out to be a great deal.  The beef is delicious and we are able to get it butchered to my specifications.  Mike doesn’t update his webpage very often but you can find them on Facebook.  Denise lets me know when she is coming down to our area and will bring me eggs and whole chickens if I need them.  They recently started a pork and chicken CSA (you preorder the animals and they raise and process them for you).
Pine Street Market:  This is a local charcuterie that I found at the Marietta Market, although you can also buy from their store in Atlanta or online.  PSM uses pastured, humane pork from Gum Creek Farm and old world techniques to make the best cured meats I have found. Honestly, I won't buy bacon from anyone else anymore.  My son is addicted to PSM kielbasa and this is where I get my Easter ham.

http://eatwild.com/products/georgia.html:  This website is a great place to start when you are looking for local food in Georgia. 

One thing that I have learned about sourcing local food is that it is a very much like a treasure hunt.  Week to week and month to month, it is a process and an adventure.  I don’t buy the same things from the same place every time.  I am always thinking about what I want my family to eat and what is available from which source.  Because our food comes from small scale, artisanal producers, it is usually not uniform, very rarely shrink wrapped, and the appearance and flavors often change.  I am completely happy with that.  My connection and participation in the economy and ecology of rural Northern Georgia is reaffirmed with my grocery budget and the meals I serve my family. 

The Best Thing to Do With a Beef Shank

When I started buying grassfed beef about a year ago, I discovered that the cuts I was used to buying and preparing were now way too expensive for my budget.  I love beef (and so does everyone in my family) but there was no way we were going to be eating $25/lb steaks on any kind of regular basis.  So I started looking at Whole Food’s selection of grassfed beef according to price rather than cut.  I noticed something called a “shank” that went for 5 or 6 bucks a pound.  So I bought some.  I had never cooked shank before and was unsure what to do with it, but in the spirit of the revolution, I decided to figure it out.  It is now one of my favorite parts of the cow and we eat beef shank usually once a week.

Beef shanks are slices of the cow’s shin.  If bone-in (you always want it bone in!), there is always a nice piece of marrow bone surrounded by some meat.  Now, since shank comes from the leg, it is well used, tough muscle and needs to be cooked “low and slow”.   There are a few really awesome things about shank, beyond its reasonable price.  First of all, that chunk of marrow bone that it comes with is magic.  You get all the nutrition and flavor from the bone and the marrow as you braise the shank.  Second of all, I have come to the realization that muscle meat that was worked hard during the cow’s life and then cooked slow in liquid afterward, ends up being just as flavorful (if not more) as the most pricey filet. 

So, here is one of my favorite things to do with a beef shank (or two).  This dish is delicious, chock full of nutrition, and inexpensive.

Beef shanks (you can use just one if your budget is thin or splurge and get two)

1-2 Tbsp of good fat (I usually use tallow but lard, coconut oil and butter all work well.  I have used bacon drippings before and the bacon-y flavor added a very subtle deliciousness to the dish).

Salt and pepper (I use pink Himalayan salt)

Splash of vinegar (I like apple cider)

2 (or more) cloves of garlic, minced

1 large onion, chopped

2-3 carrots, cut into chunks

2 cups diced tomatoes

Any other veggies you have in your fridge that you would like to use up

Sour cream (I culture Piima cream—it’s my favorite)

Water

Choose shanks that have lots of meat on them but also a good chunk of marrow in the bone.  Season the shanks on both sides with salt and pepper. 

In a dutch oven or heavy pot, heat up the fat and then place the shanks in the hot fat, allowing them to brown on both sides.  Add the onion, garlic, and carrots as the meat is browning and allow them to begin to soften in the fat for 5 minutes or so.

Add the vinegar and tomatoes.  Cover with water and put the lid on the pot.  Let it heat up but  just before it boils, turn the heat down to a simmer.  Let the shanks and veggies simmer for two or three hours.  When the carrots are soft and the meat has fallen off the bone, add in other vegetables (or not).   Green and yellow squash, broccoli, or greens are all good.  I also love this dish with nothing added—experiment and see what your family likes best.

When all the veggies are nicely cooked (but not mushy), use two forks to shred the meat.  Take out the bones, making sure that the marrow has fallen out and is somewhere in the liquid (knock it against the side of the pot or poke it with your spoon to get it to fall out).  If you can find it and break it up into smaller pieces, everyone will have a chance to get some…if not, just keep your fingers crossed that it ends up in your bowl!   Serve in soup bowls with a dollop of cultured sour cream to give it a probiotic kick and extra richness.

Kitchen Revolution

A revolution is not necessarily an organized or methodical process.  It can be messy, with fits and starts and sometimes retreats.  My personal kitchen revolution has not followed a straight path.  Almost a year into it, I can look back and see how I might have proceeded differently had I known then what I know now.  Ultimately, my revolution has been my own experience and has followed the path of the knowledge and understanding that was given to me at each step along the way. 

If I was giving advice to someone just starting this journey toward real food, I would first of all tell them that it is about taking small steps, not leaping off a cliff.  There is so much to learn, to consider, and to do, that it cannot be accomplished quickly or easily.  It has to be a process, where layers are built as you learn and grow.

One of these days I will write about the twisting and turning path that my revolution has taken.  For today, I am going to focus on how I would have done it, had I known then what I know now.

For a step by step process, check out Kurt Harris' Archevore.  This 12 step list is straightforward and simple.  Go down the list in order, over time.  Don't do all the steps at once.  Dr. Harris gives a thorough explanation for the rationale for each step on his blog, so I won't repeat them here. Just click his links and read.

I am going to focus on his first four steps because in my mind, they overlap and can become a first step in your kitchen revolution.  I am going to add my own step, as well, switching to raw dairy.  If I were starting all over, I would focus on these things.  I would not try to do everything at once, but would implement the easiest changes first and work toward the more difficult ones.  I would be forgiving and gentle with myself and not expect perfection, just progress.

The first step is to eliminate sugar and flour.  When you do this, you will have to eliminate all processed foods.  Get rid of the boxed meals, pasta, bread, cookies, crackers, bars, cereal. Last summer I cleaned out my pantry, literally throwing away two thirds of the food in it.  Ultimately, I threw away most of that last third, but that was part of the process.  Throw away all the snack foods.  If it comes in a package or a box, get rid of it.  There were certain things that I threw in the trash and certain things that we ate but I did not replace.  You could approach the process either way. 

This was huge for my family.  My kids were horrified.  I had many conversations with my eight year old about why we were changing our diet.  I explained why sugar and wheat were bad for our bodies and we agreed that on Saturdays he could choose to have a treat.  My husband took the change a little better than my son, but only outwardly.  Since I have always been the one who grocery shops and cooks in our house, he eats what I buy and prepare.  He will go to the store and get the kinds of snacks that are banned from my kitchen but he keeps them at his office or stashed in his little hiding place on the top shelf of the pantry.  He has agreed to not to eat them in front of the kids. 

It seemed like a major hurdle to figure out what to give my kids for snacks.  I struggled with this idea until it occurred to me that I was making it more complicated than it had to be.  I have always kept a big bowl of fruit on the kitchen table and carrots and celery in the crisper drawer.  I also buy cheese, sausage, and ham.  There is plenty of water and milk to drink.  They don't have to eat something made of flour and a sugary drink to have a snack. We had some whining and pouting for a week or so.  I ignored it and eventually it went away.  Now, my kids take for granted their choices for a snack...and the truth is, I have noticed that they snack less.  That is probably a healthy development.

At this point in the process I began to feel more energy and I lost 15 pounds effortlessly. 

The next step is to learn to use natural fats.  This step can be done at the same time as eliminating sugar and flour.  You can replace the lost sugar and flour calories with calories from good fat.  Don't be afraid to eat fat.  It will make you feel good and it won't make you fat.  Understanding the truth about fat was a huge step for me.  The moment that I realized that the assumptions I had held about saturated fat were dead wrong was an epiphany for me.  I was reading Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes and the light bulb went on.  I realized that I had been lied to and misled.  I understood that my poor health was a consequence of bad information.  I was so angry, I threw the book across the room. 

Buy butter.  Get some coconut oil.  Use either or both of these to cook with and on your vegetables.  I originally bought my coconut oil from Whole Foods but have since started to buy it in bulk on the internet.  I buy the unrefined, virgin coconut oil that has a light coconut flavor.  If you don't like the taste of coconut, you can buy the refined kind that is flavorless.  I have read that it is just as good. 

You can also reserve the fat from bacon.  Just pour it from the pan that you cooked the bacon in and save it in the fridge for the next time you need some fat to cook with.  You can strain it through a coffee filter if you want.  Eggs are especially delicious cooked in bacon grease. 

I have since moved on to render my own lard from fatback bought from a local farmer, but this is not necessary.  I cooked for a long time just using butter, coconut oil, and reserved bacon grease. 

I read Eat Fat Lose Fat by Enig and Fallon and started eating a teaspoon of coconut oil before each meal.  It sounds a little gross but it is actually not bad.  When I started this habit, I noticed some amazing transformations.  My energy levels soared, my libido bounced back, my periods settled down, and I felt happy for no reason.  There is something magic about coconut oil.  It contains medium chain fats which are not processed by your body in the same way as other fats.  It gets converted directly into energy and has several different anti-microbial compounds.  It makes me feel good. 

The third step is to eliminate gluten grains.  Hopefully you have already done this by eliminating flour.  But now tighten it up.  Don't let gluten touch your lips, ever.  I am convinced that years of eating "healthy whole wheat" in the form of whole wheat bread and pasta has destroyed the lining of my gut and is the root of my depressed thyroid.  Gluten is a protein in wheat and other grains that is difficult to digest and causes a whole host of problems.  It turns out that if you are exposed to gluten, even a tiny bit, it takes 6 to 9 months for your body's inflammatory response to settle back down.  And gluten is hidden in everything.  It's in soup, sauces, added to packaged foods, even added to bread--which already has it, of course!

I see many places where people talk about eating grains that have been properly prepared to make them more digestible...but I choose not to eat them at all.  I have read that soaking and sprouting grain makes them better but still not optimal.  I stick to "safe starches" (as explained by The Perfect Health Diet) like potatoes, sweet potatoes, and sometimes white rice (which I cook with bone broth instead of water). 

Every Sunday I take communion at church but I bring my own little gluten free rice cracker and pass the plate of wheat crackers on to the next person.  It's my belief that it is the act of eating that is the communion, not which cracker I eat.

The fourth step is to eliminate grain and seed derived oils.  You have already done this when you switched to natural fats but now become militant about it.   Get rid of all bottled oils, margarine, and imitation butter spreads.  Throw away the salad dressing, mayonnaise, and other oil based products in your fridge.  All of them are made with seed oils (usually soybean oil).  Polyunsaturated seed oils (canola, corn, soy, safflower, cottonseed, vegetable) are unnatural, rancid, and turn to trans fats in your body.  Olive oil is a good fat but since most olive oils that you buy in the grocery store are cut with inferior oils, you have to be really careful about what kind you buy.  In any case, don't cook with olive oil.  When you eliminate these oils from your diet, you will once again discover that you cannot eat packaged foods since they almost always have soybean oil in them.  All fast foods and most restaurant foods are off the menu since they are cooked with seed oils.  We still eat in restaurants every once in awhile but we NEVER eat fast food anymore.  This has certainly been a good thing for our budget. 

Make your own salad dressing using good olive oil and vinegar.  Choose a nice vinegar like balsamic or wine to make the dressing special.  Combine the oil and vinegar in a jar, at a ratio of 2 to 1.  Add some finely chopped garlic and salt and pepper.  Shake well.  You can also add finely grated parmesan cheese, onion, or any herbs that taste good.   Make your own mayonnaise with egg yolks and olive oil.  Use your homemade mayo as a base for a creamy, ranch style dressing.

At this point, your kitchen has been completely changed and you are probably feeling some amazing effects from having eliminated many modern toxins and incorporated many healthy, real foods.  Archevore goes on to list other steps that you will want to incorporate as you continue down the road. 

I would add one more thing to change at this point, especially if you have young children.  Switch to raw dairy.  Go to realmilk.com and search for sources of raw dairy in your area.  Different states have different laws about how and where raw milk can be sold.  This website will give you lots of information about why you should only give your kids raw milk and it will also give you sources for raw milk in your area.  You can also go to the Weston A. Price Foundation website and look for your local chapter.  Contact the chapter leader and ask where to find raw milk.


Here are some great sources of help for making the transition to real food:

Nourished Kitchen
Kelly the Kitchen Kop
Weston A. Price Dietary Guidelines
The Perfect Health Diet

Answering Deena's Questions

This morning I got a facebook message from my old friend, Deena.  She had stumbled onto this blog (probably through a FB post, I am sure) and asked me:

Lauren, I happened on your blog today and am very interested in what you are doing to get and keep your family healthy and happy. Can you share more with me about your daily menus and meals? How do you balance life with the extra time and effort it takes to eat this way? Hope you are all doing well....Love Deena

So, I have to say that this question from someone I care about is EXACTLY why I created this blog.  I had to drop everything and answer her questions. 

She wonders about how I balance my life with all the extra time and effort Real Food requires…and I think she has touched on the most amazing and magical part of my kitchen revolution.  A year ago I was exhausted and spent by 3pm.  I struggled to cook for my family and often lost the fight, falling back on frozen pizza and boxed mac and cheese just because it was easy.  These days I spend hours in the kitchen, making everything from scratch, culturing dairy and veggies, brewing kombucha, making butter…plus every week I travel around to source all my local ingredients from several farms as well as visiting 4 different stores.  There is no “one stop shop” for me.  How did it happen that I now have the energy and desire to go to such lengths to feed my family in the most labor intensive way possible?  And why would I want to?

First of all, I have to say that as I have changed my diet, my vitality and energy has increased.  I saw a jump in my energy and a decrease in brain fog and fatigue when I cut out processed carbs and especially wheat (and I lost weight, which made me feel better, too).  When I started eating large amounts of saturated fat (coconut oil, butter, cream, lard) I felt an amazing lift in my mood and energy.  All of a sudden the negative cloud I had lived under for many years lifted.  Life became easier and more joyful. When I read Eat Fat Lose Fat by Fallon and Enig, I started eating a tablespoon of coconut oil every morning (don’t knock it until you’ve tried it) and I almost immediately felt better. I think the addition of saturated fat made such a difference to my vitality and brain function.  I learned first hand how important natural saturated fat is to our bodies, especially our brains.

Here is what our family typically eats:

For breakfast, Latas drinks coffee with grass fed cream and I have tea (I cut out coffee when I realized that it could be contributing to my low thyroid and adrenal function).  I cook 2 or 3 sausages or a pound of bacon (both pastured, of course) that I get from Burns Best Farm.  I usually cook them in my cast iron skillet under the broiler and if I am making bacon, I am sure to save the grease in a mason jar (strain it through a cheese cloth) so I can cook with it another time.  The kids drink raw milk from Carlton Farms and for a treat I might whisk two raw egg yolks (also from Burns) into the milk, add a splash of cream and maple syrup (Grade B from whole foods), vanilla and cinnamon.   Another option might be to give them half organic orange juice (from Trader Joes) and half grass fed cream (from Johnston Dairy).  Here’s a little secret:  I always splash a little whey into whatever they are drinking to give them a little probiotic kick.  Don’t tell them, please!  I drain the whey off the yogurt I make. Anna also eats fruit and sometimes raw cheddar (From Carlton Farms) in the morning.  I eat the homemade yogurt that I make from Johnston milk.  Latas takes two hardboiled eggs with him in the car when he leaves for work.

For lunch I pack Anna slices of ham or an uncured hot dog (from Trader Joes) and homemade, fermented ketchup.  Sometimes she gets some chicken if I have just made bone broth with a whole bird rather than a carcass.  She also gets fruit and/or carrots in her lunch box and a chunk of raw cheddar.  Isaac is homeschooled, so we usually eat leftovers from the night before for lunch.  I also like to make a big salad for each of us with the greens we get from our CSA with Lee and Gordon Greens.  I generally put a hardboiled egg and raw cheddar in it along with whatever veggies I have.  I always throw in a tablespoon of fermented carrots.  I make a basic olive oil and balsamic dressing that is super easy and yummy. Isaac drinks raw milk and I drink water.

Butter Butter Butter

I told myself that when spring came around and the local cows started noshing on the new green grass, that I would buy some pastured cream and try to make some butter.  I read in Nutrition and Physical Degeneration how the isolated alpine Swiss celebrated the milk at this time in the year as sacred.  Butter made from spring milk is full of Weston Price's Activator X. 

Spring is here in Georgia and I have noticed lately that our milk has turned from white to beige as the cows eat the lovely green grass.  The new grass is so full of carotenoids that the milk gets a little yellow with it.  And apparently, butter and cheese made with this milk will be yellow as well.  This past winter I was buying butter made from local, grass fed milk but since the cows were eating hay, the butter was white. 

So, I got myself a gallon of cream (not raw, but vat pasteurized from a local grass fed dairy, Johnston Family Farms.) and I started making butter.

First, I made sweet cream butter, meaning that I just used the fresh cream and did not culture it.  I poured about a pint of cream into my Kitchen Aid mixer and used the whisk attachment.  It takes a lot of high speed whisking to finally get to the butter.  It also spatters quite a bit.  Note to self:  try using the food processor next time.  You know you've gotten there when the cream starts to clump and separate from the liquid.  I drained off the liquid (buttermilk) with my mesh strainer.  Tiny globs of butter made it through the mesh. Note to self: strain it through a cloth next time.  Then I poured about a half a cup of ice cold water into the bowl and mixed again.  And strained again. And again.  This is called "washing" the butter.  You want to keep at it until the strained water is clear. This process helps preserve the butter.  It won't go rancid as quickly if it has all the milk solids washed out.  I added some salt as I worked it. Salt helps to preserve the butter, as well. I didn't really measure; I just sprinkled it on as I went.

I turned the big glob of butter out on to my big cutting board and worked it with my plastic spatula until I couldn't squeeze out any more water.  It was a lovely, creamy yellow.  Fresh butter is amazing--light and sweet.  I could almost taste the fresh green grass.

The second time around, I used my food processor with the dough blade.  It didn't spatter but it also required more stopping and scraping the sides.  I think I prefer using the stand mixer.  Washing and working the butter to remove the milk solids is a bit tedious.  This time, I kept the butter in a bowl as I worked it with my spatula.  I think they used to use a paddle for this job and I could see how my spatula was not an efficient size or shape for the job..  As I worked the butter against the side of the bowl, a little pool of water would form at the bottom and I just tipped it out as I went.  This was an easier and neater method than working it on my cutting board. 

I wrapped the balls of butter in some wax paper, put them in a freezer bag and put it in the freezer.  Butter is supposed to stay good in the freezer for 6 months. 

The third time I made butter, I used cream that I had cultured.  I couldn't find any buttermilk or sour cream in the store that had active, live cultures, so I decided to use my piima culture.  I've been using piima to make sour cream and it has a lovely, mild taste.  I figured it would make good butter.  I used the stand mixer and after just a few minutes the buttermilk separated.  I washed it a little but the butter seemed light and airy, it didn't get thick like fresh cream had.  I decided to whip it for awhile longer...and ended up with very light, whipped butter.  I am not sure if I made a mistake or if this is what the piima culture did to my butter.  I ended up putting it into mason jars and storing it in the fridge--it'll be lovely on veggies and rice but probably not great to cook with.   I am going to try piima again...I'll edit this post if my results are any different.

I bought another gallon of cream this weekend...so I'll continue butter making for a little while, at least.  I am not sure that it is worth the time to make this a regular part of my Real Food Revolution...I can buy good butter (Kerrygold) from Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, and even Costco.  It's pricey but not unreasonable.  But for the time being, butter making is fun and interesting.  And I am excited about stocking my freezer with locally sourced Activator X.

The Consequence of Pizza Twice a Day

On Saturday we had a birthday party for Isaac.  He turned 9 on March 20th but that week was a little hectic so we decided to celebrate a week late.  We held the party at Isaac and Anna's taekwondo school and as a part of the price, they brought in pizza and juice pouch drinks for the kids.  And then we had cake (not homemade, just a standard ice cream cake bought from a local store).  That evening was Parent's Night Out at the tkd school and Isaac and Anna attended that, as well (Latas and I were so exhausted from the day that we did not actually go "out"...but the break was very welcome).  At Parent's Night Out, they were fed MORE pizza, MORE sugary drinks, and all kinds of junk snacks.  For my kids, it was a day for the SAD (Standard American Diet).

It's been almost a year since my kids have eaten like this.  Even before my kitchen revolution began it was highly unusual for them to get TWO junk food meals in a day.  When I was planning the party, I struggled with the idea of so much gargage going into my children but I just could not see myself having the time or energy to go to the lengths it would have taken to upgrade the food.  I figured that one day of junk out of 365 days of Real Food was not such a bad compromise.  And they had a good breakfast...surely it wouldn't hurt.

Since I started my Real Food Revolution, Isaac and Anna's health and wellness have noticeably improved.  Isaac, who has always been generally very healthy and resistant to most of the bugs that pass through, now has apples in his cheeks and a consistently cheerful attitude that we saw just glimpses of before.  Anna, who has struggled from birth with her own involved health problems, has improved in her resistance.  I am sure that some people might want to explain to me that the upswing in their health may not have anything to do with raw dairy, fermented cod liver oil, and elimination of wheat from their diets...but I believe it does.  And until you show me evidence to the contrary, I will trust my gut, my eyes, and my experience.

So, Saturday came and went.  We all went to bed Saturday night, exhausted from a full day.  And we woke up Sunday morning to find that Anna was running a fever and Isaac was pale and pasty with dark circles under his eyes.  I am sure they were both sick because they were exposed at some point to a bug that decided to take root...and I am also sure that this bug was able to take root because of the garbage they poured into their bodies throughout the day on Saturday.  We are ALL being exposed to all kinds of bugs every day...so what determines whether we will succumb?  Our immune systems, of course!  And our immune system is built from our gut, nourished or deadened by what we put in it. 

So, what is the consequence of pizza twice a day (or any kind of trash food, for that matter)?  Lowered immunity, sick kids, and a spoiled Sunday.  In fact, Anna ran that fever until Tuesday morning.  It's Friday today and she is still not quite herself.

My take-away?  A compromise in my children's diet is a compromise in their health.  It isn't worth it.