- See what you think about this Sicilian Stew Kent made on Saturday. It had the most delicious blend of fresh summer flavors that actually went well with the unseasonably cool August weekend we had here in Michigan. He even made it with a sore back – what a guy!
- Friday I made homemade pizzas and tried using the newer recipe at this pizza crust post – we all LOVED it! There’s an unexpected ingredient that gives it a great flavor, and it gets a nice little crisp on the edges, too.
- Here’s another recipe I played around with over the weekend: strawberry ice cream. I wanted to see if it was just as good without the two different steps (it called for soaking the strawberries ahead of time), and I actually liked this simpler version better, so I posted my revisions. Chocolate still holds top spot for me, but this recipe is coming in for a close second…
- The more I learn, the more I’m convinced that information found in posts like this great one from Shannon are dead on: Why Grains May Not Be Necessary for a Nourishing Diet. (Now if I can just keep doing better and better about avoiding them. These days that is fairly easy for me, other days not so much…)
- Happy Monday everyone! Be sure to let me know what’s on your mind in the comments – I love hearing from you and read every single comment, even though lately I haven’t been able to reply to each one. (I’ll keep trying, though, especially if you ask me a question.)
Kylie Thomas says
Egg drop soup is great for a quick, carb free lunch. Another one of my favourites is tuna salad, made from a can of tuna. I like mine mixed in with chopped home made fermented pickles, sliced red onion and/or scallions, fresh slices tomato, and lots of home made mayo, sea salt and pepper. Yum! Omlettes are also good, cold left over meat.. in fact any left overs from dinner!
KitchenKop says
Kara, this is a tough one, isn’t it?!
I just looked on my school lunches post (https://kellythekitchenkop.com/2008/02/school-lunches-healthy-alternatives.html) for ideas and found mostly grains.
Here are some without grains: hard-boiled eggs, dried fruit, crispy nuts, ham or turkey roll-ups, smoothies, cheese, celery & pb……….. does anyone have more ideas?!
***If I get enough good ideas, I’ll combine them into a post!
Kara says
Kelly, do you have ideas on quick lunches that don’t involve grains? I find that on days when I’m home with my toddler are the hardest for me to avoid grains. It’s so quick and easy to whip up some mac and cheese, a pb&j, grilled cheese, etc. We do leftovers sometimes but don’t always have them around. Thanks!
Naomi Snider says
I have also frozen my milk. I found it’s important to shake it well to blend the cream with the milk before freezing. When I didn’t do this the milk separated badly. With pre-freeze shaking, there usually are a few little chunks in the thawed milk, but I can’t tell they’re in there when I drink it. But I love milk so much, and that’s probably why I don’t notice. I have had to cut my milk drinking way back and pretty much limit it to kefir because of the carbs (diabetic), but somewhere in “Nourishing Traditions” I read that kefir is a much-needed food for diabetics, so I do drink some kefir each day. That stuff seems to keep forever!
Naomi
Kylie Thomas says
I also freeze my raw milk. I freeze mine in pint sized containers, and pull them out as necessary. Sometimes the consistancy of milk that has been frozen, then thawed, is different then fresh raw milk, it gets little ‘chunkies’ in it. I don’t really enjoy drinking it straight when it’s like this, so instead, use the milk for culturing, and it turns out great! But then other times, the milk’s consistancy is fine, just like fresh milk. I haven’t yet worked out why its sometimes one, and sometimes the other. Either way, freezing milk works great for me.
Soli says
Christine, I am going to try that tonight!
Christine Kennedy says
If you put one tblsp. of kefir into a half gallon of each jar of milk, that is supposed to help it last longer. You won’t taste the kefir, but the little creatures in the kefir will help the milk stay fresher, longer.
Local Nourishment says
I freeze my raw milk. I have a large family and buy five gallons every two weeks (it never lasts long enough, next CSA season I’m upping it to six or seven.) Two go in the fridge and the rest in the freezer. We pull one out about every two days and let it defrost in the back of the fridge. Sometimes it would separate a little (not cream floating, but little pieces of curd) but I found if I shake it from time to time as it defrosts, this doesn’t happen.
Kelly, I went to see Julie and Julia again, this time with hubby. He agrees it’s a “date movie” and not a “chick flick.”
KitchenKop says
I do know that Ann Marie/Cheeseslave.com does freeze her raw milk with no problems! 🙂
Shannon says
As far as making raw milk last longer – culture it! Yogurt and kefir last much longer than milk does. This is usually not a problem, but if we have too much milk I make a batch of yogurt or kefir to make sure to catch the milk before it sours. Also you can use soured milk in baked goods as buttermilk or even in smoothies. It won’t make you sick like bad pasteurized milk.
Thanks for the link, Kelly!
Lisa Imerman says
What we do is we have a fridge in the basement that we keep set at about 37-38 degrees (instead of at 40 degrees F) and we keep the milk in there until we are ready to use it and then we bring it up to the main fridge. The cold chain is important, so if you keep it all in your main fridge where the door is opened a lot, etc., it will go bad faster. Also, this time of year we have had milk go bad sooner and/or taste bitter, for several weeks our milk was bad or went bad very fast. Farmer found out it was a combination of the fact that the weather was allowing the plants that can take less water (hadn’t had much rain) were flourishing and the grasses weren’t so the cows were eating a lot of clover which can make the milk bitter also since his Aritificial insemination of the cows didn’t take this last time, he had brought in a bull near the end of mating season and so he didn’t know for sure when cows were due to birth and so sometimes he didn’t stop milking them before they delivered and apparently that can make the milk bitter or go off faster.
So, it could be a combination of things. I also notice sometimes the milk at the top of the jug gets smelly and if you pour the milk into a cup and then smell it, it is ok. The jug just smells from the cream at the top that sticks to it going off.
Some people freeze milk, but I never had. Maybe Kelly has other suggestions. You can also let the soured milk sit and separate into curds and whey and then use the whey for soaking, etc. You can mix the curds with salt and spices and make a spread, or mix it with fruit and a natural sweetener and make a yogurt like snack. I am not a big fan of soured milk myself, so I use it to cook with where i need buttermilk, etc.
Soli says
Kelly, I have a quick question for you. Do you know any way to make raw milk last longer? I can’t go out and buy it weekly due to the fact that where I get this one is a bit out of the way. Sometimes it lasts two weeks, sometimes not. I also have a cup or two of one that’s no longer good for drinking but don’t want to just toss it. Already made sourdough bread yesterday with some.