Category Archives: Recipes
How to make cooking oil, butter and lard..
I made lard for the first time last fall. We bought our yearly half a pig and saved the fat and rendered it in to Lard. I am hooked on cooking and baking with Lard. It was easy and inexpensive to make. Lactose free butter is very expensive here. I think it will be worth trying to make home made butter with this recipe. I will let you know later how it turned out.
How to make Pumpkin puree
Pumpkin Puree is not available in Sweden. I have been searching on the web how to make it for years. I am lactose intolerant, which makes it difficult to make pumpkin pie, because the recipe requires evaporated milk. I have found a recipe to make evaporated milk with lactose free milk, which I will post later. I can’t wait to try this.
https://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/pumpkin-puree-recipe-zmrz1209zmar
blue berry preserves and dehydration
It is blue berry season here. This has been the year of the berry. I was so tickled to find these recipes that I had to share them with all of you.
Why your Bread might not be rising?
I had said that I would like to learn how to make bread. My husband is the bread baker in our household. I have collected recipes for sour dough starter. >I have found some great sour dough recipes (pizza dough, bagels, English muffins..).
I found this article on why my dough might not be rising. I hope it helps you like it has me.
Sourdough-starter
http://kitchenlifeskills.blogspot.ie/2012/06/sourdough-starter.html
I am still struggling with baking bread. I am determined not to give up. I plan to try making another sourdough starter. I found this recipe which sound easier than the one I had before. It takes less ingredients to feed it each week.
What to do with all those green tomatoes?
When one has a great tomato harvest, you need as many recipes to preserve it. I found this great page giving you a multiple options for those green tomatoes. I wanted to post it so I could use it later. Posting it is like bookmarking it for me. I hope you like them as much as I do. http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/green-tomato-recipes-zl0z1410zsie.aspx?newsletter=1&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=RF%20eNews&utm_campaign=10.27.14%20RFSR%20eNews#axzz3HYXQD5zH
Benefits of bone broth to your health
I have cooked from scratch all of my life, but with that said I have used short cuts over the last 20 years. I have bought Chili con Carne, Moussaka, Stroganoff… mixes as a base to make my own. I have bought dried gravy packets instead of making my gravy. I thought it was more convenient. I have bought cubed bouillon, because until recently I did not know how to properly make bone broth. If you think about it, most of those things don’t save that much time in preparing the meal you are cooking, except making your own bouillon. Then I learned about all the harmful ingredients inside these products are and have stopped using them.
I read about using herbs and spices for their health benefits and nutritional value. I learned about probiotic foods that aid your digestion and immune system…. We eat parboiled rice, high fiber bread, fish, nuts, lots of fruit and vegetables trying to eat a health conscious diet. I really thought that we were eating healthy. Then I began reading about Organic vs GMO’s. The more I read it was a no brainer to start an organic garden.
I have often wondered why our conventional diets do not meet our daily nutritional needs. I really have been against eating vitamin supplements to get my daily nutritional requirements as much as possible. I would rather get it from my diet and the original source. Recent articles that I have read have answered that question for me. Conventional farming has stripped the soil of nutrients and the food grown in it and live stock feed lacks the nutritional value. Thus we have to supplements what is lacking in our diet. The sales of these products are a multi billion dollar business. Is is any wonder why obesity has become so wide-spread? People are eating more because their bodies are craving nutrients that aren’t in their diet. They are eating the wrong diet and are often unaware of it.
Grass fed and free range animals and organically grown food have higher nutritional value. This information has only strengthen my resolve to continue reading and learning to return to the diet of 100 years ago. Lard, bone broth, quinoa and couscous just to name a few foods if they are organically grown are a better way to eat. Vitamins and supplements for the most part become obsolete.
Here is a recent article from Mother Earth News taking up the issue of traditional food movement and highlighting the nutritional value of Bone broth. I hope you find this as interesting as I have when I read it. I who am borderline for osteoporosis have started making my bone broth from now on.
Food politics of today make no sense to me. Why is it that processed food is cheaper than traditional foods? Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Macaroni and cheese mix is cheaper than making it from scratch. A frozen whole chicken is more expensive than buying frozen cut up chicken thighs. Wouldn’t you think it would be the other way around? I have seen a change in Sweden’s grocery stores, which I have found alarming. Today’s markets have huge frozen precooked food section, frozen dinners and package mixes which you didn’t exist here 10 years ago much less 30 years ago. I am glad to see that trend is starting to reverse because the demand for organic fresh traditional food is on the rise. Just giving you some food for thought.
Bone broth recipe
Bones from poultry, fish, shellfish shells, beef, lamb reminients from meals can be used to make broth. You can freeze these carcasses, until you have time to boil them.
Lay the bones in cold water with 2 tablespoons per quart of vinegar (apple cider- , red-, white-, rice and balsamic vinegar and even lemon juice). Combine bones, water and vinegar in a pot and let it stand for 30 minutes to 1 hours. This helps the vinegar or citric acid leach out the nutrients from the bone. Then bring the pot to a boil remove any scum that rises to the top. I season it to my taste. Reduce the heat to a simmer (6-48 hrs chicken, 12-72 for beef). To reduce cooking time smash or cut the bone. A crock pot is excellent way to make bone broth. If desired, add vegetables scraps in the last 1/2 hour. Strain through a cheesecloth lined colander or sieve. Discard bones and vegetables.
The broth will gel which has important nutritional component. Broth may be frozen for a month or kept in fridge for about 5 days.
Honey
sliceofheaveninsweden 