Challenge day 6 - Milling Sprouted Flour. I was a bit behind on this one as my wheat took a bit longer to sprout. It did sprout finally and I put it into my dehydrator at 95 degrees to dry and then the following day it was ground in the grain mill. The flour is beautiful. Some was used in delicious pancakes that you'll read about later, and the rest is in a container waiting for the next baking adventure.
Challenge day 7 - Was to evaluate that first week which I did here on the blog.
Challenge day 8 - Choosing Good Fats for High Heat Cooking. This is a tough one for me. I'm the usual grocery shopper who buys a bottle of canola oil (on the bad list) and olive oil and then I do love butter. I rarely saute things in fat, generally using some liquid like water or stock and a non-stick skillet. If a fat is used it's one of the above three and in a much smaller quantity then those Food Network chefs use. I did put coconut oil on the grocery list and will try that out next week. Getting into this new habit will truly be a stretch for me.
Challenge day 9 - Getting Rid of GMO's. Another tough one and not because I'm not concerned about them. Mostly it's because I'm a somewhat lazy shopper. I shop at a couple local stores for the bulk of our foods and it's just so easy to toss a package of frozen soy beans or a bottle of canola oil into the cart and not think about the source. Instead I'm thinking I'm buying a good veggie for us and a heart healthy oil. Now I need to think of both things and consider my choices a little more carefully. A good list was included in the challenge, so that will be a help with shopping.
Challenge day 10 - Fats to Eat Raw. We do mix up our own salad dressing most of the time with good olive oil and I am a big believer in butter so at least we already have that going for us. Flaxseed oil was also mentioned but I've not tried it. Still debating on adding that to the next grocery list.
Challenge day 11 - Bake Some Sourdough. I started a whole wheat starter from scratch last week. Because I'm starting from scratch and not a purchased starter it takes a bit longer so I'm behind here. At first things weren't looking too good. The starter wasn't bubbling or growing much at all. Finally on Friday, the starter took off which made me very happy. I don't know if it was just a slow starter (sorry, pun alert) or if it was because I threatened to throw it out and use a dried starter from the grocery store. Either way, it got moving and doubled in size overnight. We used it for pancakes this morning and I'll mix up a loaf of bread tomorrow for Monday baking. I'll let you know how that goes.
Challenge day 12 - Find Real Milk. This means raw milk which does freak some people out. I'm lucky that one of the stores I frequent carries it in pretty glass bottles. While I have no qualms about consuming it, I wonder if I would think differently if I had small children. I honestly don't know. At any rate, I actually hate milk and nothing makes me cringe more than watching someone drink a glass. Seriously, it gags me. Ok, the thing that makes me cringe more is when people drink the dregs of milk laden with soggy cereal crumbs out of the bowl. Eeek! I do use milk in cooking and barely a bit in my cereal to just dampen the edges. As a result or our small consumption my milk purchases lean towards the organic variety far more often then the raw kind. Though I must admit that the raw milk does taste better in cereal where you can actually taste it. I try to avoid tasting it though. What I do need to do when shopping this coming week is to see if they have buttermilk or butter or other dairy from raw milk. I confess I've never noticed nor actively looked for it.
Challenge day 13 - Enjoy a Food with Beneficial Bacteria. Yogurt is my go to food for this. Yes, I hate milk but butter, cheese and yogurt I do love. Weird but true. We don't buy antibacterial soaps for our home and it is a challenge at times to find them at mainstream stores. Keifer was also mentioned. I have no idea what this is. I've even looked it up and read descriptions but still, I don't have much of a clue. I think I need to see this to get it. It's not something I'm dying to try. I will look for naturally fermented pickles at the store though. I wonder if olives work too?
This was a fun week with some new foods for us that we enjoyed. It was also really challenging though because the whole what fats to eat really are taking me out of my cooking comfort zone. I wonder what next week will bring.
-- marcella
Marcella, your Day 13 really hit home with me, even though I'm not doing what you're doing with the challenge. I can't stand milk (it doesn't like me, either), but cheese, butter and yogurt are staples for me -- I love them!
Good luck with your challenge. :)
I remember the days when I used to hate the taste of milk too. I actually got myself over that by starting to drink keifer, which tastes like a tangier yogurt (it's much thinner than yogurt, and more like the texture of buttermilk). Now, I drink milk all the time (and craved it by the gallon this last pregnancy) - but it's not a cheap habit to get into! :) We pay over $16 a gallon at the store, or $10 at the farm. Still, just to "double check" if it was worth it for our family, we switched to pasturized organic milk for one day... we all came down with runny noses within an hour! :)
Thanks! It's been interesting that's for sure. It's sure gotten me thinking about what I am eating and what I could be eating better.
Hi Meg! I don't know if keifer is going to be for me. I cannot abide the yogurt that you drink. But we'll see, I'm willing to give things a try and see what happens. Interesting on the response your body had when you went from raw to processed milk. I wouldn't have expected something like that to happen, but it's good to know for sure what your body needs.
Eew ... I HATE the milk left in the cereal bowl (of course we don't really eat cereal here anyway, but it really squigs me out). I'm super excited aboutt his week with all the fermenting that'll be going on. It is, by far, my favorite thing about traditional foods. I bet your sourdough was off to a slower start perhaps, due to the ambient temperature of your home. If it's colder in your kitchen, the bacteria have a bit of a tougher time getting going, but it sounds like they're rocking now.