Fatty Goodness and Fermented Fun
So I've been reading my way through Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions, the nutritional tome dedicated to the glories of butter, raw milk, organ meats, and fermented foods. Yum! Based on the work of Weston A. Price, Nourishing Traditions lauds traditional techniques (read: before industrialized food) and recipes such as yogurt, clabbered milk, bone broths, pickled vegetables, preserved meats, organ meats and wild game, and sweets that utilize whole natural sweeteners such as honey and maple syrup.
Some recipes are more appetizing than others, but I especially appreciate her use of fermented grains for baked goods. I've tried my hand at her buckwheat pancakes, for which you soak the buckwheat flour in yogurt overnight before combining with the other ingredients. The result is a spongy light delight, similar to the Ethiopian injera bread. I also attempted a yogurt-soaked spelt flour zucchini bread, but my bird brain left out the baking soda and the whole thing was a flop. Literally.
Those of you who follow this blog know that I'm a proponent of raw and vegetable based foods, but Sally Fallon has been inspiring me to incorporate more foods from the animal kingdom. So I've been enjoying a deviled egg accompaniment to my morning green smoothie, some rare steak with an arugula salad, or kale salad dressed in a traditional caesar.
The kale caesar idea I actually stole from Cafe Rouge in Berkeley. Fallon's caesar dressing has a few unnecessary ingredients such as wine vinegar and dijon mustard, but I thought this one from food.com was delicious. Sally Fallon-approved with the raw milk parmesan, raw egg yolk, and anchovies, but a little more simplified and with the added bonus of lemon zest to really perk things up. This dressing is creamy, zesty, and oh-so-garlicky. It would be good on just about anything, but combined with ultra-nutritious kale is divine!
Simply chiffonade your kale (I like using dino/lacinato because it lies a little more flat than the curly kind); first cut out the stems:
Then layer leaves on top of each other and roll up like a sleeping bag (a tiny green crunchy sleeping bag):
And slice into thin ribbons.
Combine dressing and kale in a bowl, working the kale a bit with your hands. Then garnish with whatever pleases you! Croutons, olives, cherry tomatoes, chicken, fish, just some ideas. The dressing is pretty well salted so no need to add another dusting of salt.
I topped mine with sliced olives!
My next animal food adventure will be baked turkey drumsticks. They're in my refrigerator as I type in a marinade of my own devising: a bunch of Bragg's amino acids (similar to soy sauce), some date syrup (I was out of honey), apple cider vinegar, 4-5 cloves minced garlic, a bunch of cracked pepper, oregano, thyme, red pepper flakes...I think that's everything. I didn't add salt because Bragg's is pretty sodium heavy.
Tomorrow I'll bake in a 350 oven for two hours, and hopefully enjoy feeling like a cavewoman as I rip my teeth into the outsized drumstick. I will also take Fallon's advice and eat it with some sauerkraut.
Though I've never claimed to be a vegan or even a vegetarian, I have idealized raw veganism as probably the most healthy way to eat. Over the past couple years, I've always attempted to eat as much raw plant food as possible, giving myself breaks for special or social occasions. The longest I've gone eating entirely raw vegan is about 2 or 2.5 weeks. While I appreciated the detoxifying effects and the "high" that I would get from eating that way, I always felt like something was missing. I broke that 2.5 week personal record by devouring a 2 lb carne asada burrito, so clearly my will power ain't all that.
Yet...the past couple weeks that I've been selectively including organic raw or lightly cooked animal products into my diet on a daily basis have been somewhat revelatory. No detoxifying highs, but I feel solid, grounded, and steady. Still eating lots of plant food but far less sugar and grains. My skin looks better than it has in a long time and my mood is stable, and the couple work-outs I was able to get in seemed much more effective. I know from a family history of hypo-glyecemia that I need to watch my sugar intake, but I didn't realize how much some healthy animal based fats and proteins would help to stabilize my blood sugar.
And yet...tonight I had my favorite raw dish of kim chee with avocado!
Yeah that picture could be more attractive, but hey we're talking about half-rotted food here.
One more thing! I'm trying my hand at Fallon's Fermented French Lentils, soaked in warm water and whey overnight, and then cooked. Here they are a-soakin'.
Maybe I'll eat the fermented lentils with kim chee and a turkey thigh? I could get used to this cavewoman thing.
Some recipes are more appetizing than others, but I especially appreciate her use of fermented grains for baked goods. I've tried my hand at her buckwheat pancakes, for which you soak the buckwheat flour in yogurt overnight before combining with the other ingredients. The result is a spongy light delight, similar to the Ethiopian injera bread. I also attempted a yogurt-soaked spelt flour zucchini bread, but my bird brain left out the baking soda and the whole thing was a flop. Literally.
Those of you who follow this blog know that I'm a proponent of raw and vegetable based foods, but Sally Fallon has been inspiring me to incorporate more foods from the animal kingdom. So I've been enjoying a deviled egg accompaniment to my morning green smoothie, some rare steak with an arugula salad, or kale salad dressed in a traditional caesar.
The kale caesar idea I actually stole from Cafe Rouge in Berkeley. Fallon's caesar dressing has a few unnecessary ingredients such as wine vinegar and dijon mustard, but I thought this one from food.com was delicious. Sally Fallon-approved with the raw milk parmesan, raw egg yolk, and anchovies, but a little more simplified and with the added bonus of lemon zest to really perk things up. This dressing is creamy, zesty, and oh-so-garlicky. It would be good on just about anything, but combined with ultra-nutritious kale is divine!
Simply chiffonade your kale (I like using dino/lacinato because it lies a little more flat than the curly kind); first cut out the stems:
Then layer leaves on top of each other and roll up like a sleeping bag (a tiny green crunchy sleeping bag):
And slice into thin ribbons.
Combine dressing and kale in a bowl, working the kale a bit with your hands. Then garnish with whatever pleases you! Croutons, olives, cherry tomatoes, chicken, fish, just some ideas. The dressing is pretty well salted so no need to add another dusting of salt.
I topped mine with sliced olives!
My next animal food adventure will be baked turkey drumsticks. They're in my refrigerator as I type in a marinade of my own devising: a bunch of Bragg's amino acids (similar to soy sauce), some date syrup (I was out of honey), apple cider vinegar, 4-5 cloves minced garlic, a bunch of cracked pepper, oregano, thyme, red pepper flakes...I think that's everything. I didn't add salt because Bragg's is pretty sodium heavy.
Tomorrow I'll bake in a 350 oven for two hours, and hopefully enjoy feeling like a cavewoman as I rip my teeth into the outsized drumstick. I will also take Fallon's advice and eat it with some sauerkraut.
Though I've never claimed to be a vegan or even a vegetarian, I have idealized raw veganism as probably the most healthy way to eat. Over the past couple years, I've always attempted to eat as much raw plant food as possible, giving myself breaks for special or social occasions. The longest I've gone eating entirely raw vegan is about 2 or 2.5 weeks. While I appreciated the detoxifying effects and the "high" that I would get from eating that way, I always felt like something was missing. I broke that 2.5 week personal record by devouring a 2 lb carne asada burrito, so clearly my will power ain't all that.
Yet...the past couple weeks that I've been selectively including organic raw or lightly cooked animal products into my diet on a daily basis have been somewhat revelatory. No detoxifying highs, but I feel solid, grounded, and steady. Still eating lots of plant food but far less sugar and grains. My skin looks better than it has in a long time and my mood is stable, and the couple work-outs I was able to get in seemed much more effective. I know from a family history of hypo-glyecemia that I need to watch my sugar intake, but I didn't realize how much some healthy animal based fats and proteins would help to stabilize my blood sugar.
And yet...tonight I had my favorite raw dish of kim chee with avocado!
Yeah that picture could be more attractive, but hey we're talking about half-rotted food here.
One more thing! I'm trying my hand at Fallon's Fermented French Lentils, soaked in warm water and whey overnight, and then cooked. Here they are a-soakin'.
Maybe I'll eat the fermented lentils with kim chee and a turkey thigh? I could get used to this cavewoman thing.
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