I pulled this grain-free granola (from the Paleo Parents' "Eat Like A Dinosaur") out of the oven a few minutes ago. It is a cool day outside, spitting rain, and the smell of cinnamon is taking over the house.
I am so grateful that there is a growing community of grain-free humans sharing about food. Rainy day baking has been one of my favorite comforts for years. It's great to be able to keep with that habit as I work to improve my family's health.
The business of Summer is, for me, a balancing act between preserving the abundance of fruits and vegetables that come up during this short season and enjoying the warm sunny weather with my family.
Saturday I put up two gallons of garlic scapes to ferment into pickles. I took yesterday off, albeit unintentionally, to sit by the neighbor's kiddie pool and comfort my over-tired three year old.
Today I have put a half-flat of strawberries in the freezer, and am getting ready to pit six pounds of cherries, also for the freezer.
In years past I put as much fruit into jams as I could manage. I still have two lonely jars from last year (one blackberry, one apricot) waiting for somebody who still eats toast to enjoy them. It is a bit of a welcome relief to realize I'll be taking the easy route this year. Fermenting into pickles, freezing, and dehydrating seem to be the best way to preserve the harvests without adding tons of sugar or depleting nutrients with heat. They are also far less labor intensive than traditional jams, jellies, and pickles.
What about you? Do you save your local harvests? What are your favorite methods?
We're continuing to settle in to our new space here, and finding it even easier to keep with our primal habits.
We have two close neighbors with kids. One family is gluten-free, the other newly gluten and dairy free. We've been enjoying bonfires and I've shared my paleo treats with eager and grateful mouths.
The local farmer's markets are getting busier with garlic scapes and strawberries bursting onto the scene. The sun is shining for at least an hour or two most days, and we're starting to leave the windows open at night. Why, last night we even got the kids to bed before ten.
I am curious how my commitment to doing for others will evolve in this new space. So far, my love of sharing nutritious food is being well-recieved for the first time.
Keeping a home that is twice as big as our last one still has me a little in the weeds, but I keep following the advice of Margaret Cho's mother: "Just clean little bit every day, and soon whole house is clean!"
My mid-day scramble and cuppa have made their way into my belly (oh, how I have waited for the garlic scapes! They add such joy to my scrambles!) and the sun is starting to peek out. The birds are singing in the trees, reminding me of my childhood in a rambling suburbia. Today I'll take a few more steps in my journey and see what I can see, love what I can love, and share what I can share.
Well, the past month has been a whirlwind. The kids were quite sick at the time of Little's birthday. Not due to treats, but due to half-naked playing in the rain and mud one afternoon.
Then at approximately the same time we found an amazing house for rent, enrolled Big in kindergarten, and I got my first tattoo in fifteen years. We move this weekend, the house is walking distance to the schoolhouse and the restaurant, and my arm is healing up nicely.
I'm sure I will be posting more as we settle into summer, but for now I'll continue to be focused on the here and now.
I was filled with a sense of accomplishment last night as I poured mustard and turnip greens into a pot coated with sizzling bacon fat. This was the last food I would fix for my youngest's third birthday feast. After a long day in the kitchen punctuated by caring for my oldest's first cold in a year, I felt no guilt from the knowlege that they were for my pleasure more than enyone elses.
The distinct taste of greens sprinkled with pepper vinegar has been a welcome comfort food since my childhood days. Not only could I enjoy some at our oft-visited Furr's cafeteria, but it was also a staple at my Grandmother's table. I hope to give my kids the gift of healthy comfort food addictons.
Normally we in America are addicted to unhealthy foods- though the term food hardly describes the stuff of pop tarts and fast food culture. Since adopting a Primal food base I am coming to embrace the healthier addictions I once shunned in place of convenience foods and treats.
Like so many others, I am recovering from a deranged relationship with food. I am becoming aware that a shift is settling in. My dreams used to be laced with french fries, ice creams, chocolate candies and muffins. This morning, however, as I chased the memories of dreams and conciousness flooded in, there was a new presence. Greens and cabbages, krauts and kim chee in all forms and variations. I was making them, plating them, and stood in awe as a seemingly endless buffet of silver platters and serving dishes stretched before me.
So how happy was I when I went to make a couple of over-hard eggs and noticed a ramiken on leftover greens?
Oh so very happy. Everything that's good is better as a frittata. Now, on to the continuing saga of keeping the home of two little mess-makers fit for human habitation.
With the kids, I mean. This morning Big asked for a green salad with carrots, broccoli raab, and viniagrette. Sure, there was leftover coconut flour pancakes being eaten while I prepped the salad, but that's a far cry better than his years-long habit of starting the day whining for a cookie.
Tomorrow is Little's third birthday and I'll be making a blueberry coffee cake (grain free, of course) and a host of other favorites, like fruit salad, beet salad, and slow roasted chicken legs.
I am excited to celebrate a birthday without an excessive sugar/carb load. Usually at least one member of the family ends up with a cold or some other illness after a celebration of sweets. This year should be different.
