I've been gone a while. I'm still making fermented foods and sprouting. I want to add some recipes I found on the internet that I have used and been successful with. 

Pickled Beets  

Dilly Beans. I love these beans because they are spicy. If you don't like spicy, you might want to leave out the red chile pepper. 

Non toxic laundry

I have been on a 'mission' for the last three years, to get rid of toxic cleaning supplies in my house. It has been a bit harder than you would think. Sometimes you just want to turn to the quick toxic fix of commercial products. Essential oils have made the job much easier. 

This is my protocol for laundry: I use soap nuts with a cleansing blend essential oil on the muslin bag. Then I use these wool dryer balls that I made from 100% wool yarn. (So EASY) I add about 15 drops of lavender essential oils to the balls and throw them in the dryer with the wet clothes.  The scent in the balls lasts for several loads and my clothes smell heavenly. You can add any scent you want. If you have a static cling problem, just throw in a crunched up ball of aluminum foil for a few minutes. I only do this if they have static when I go to take them out.

Soap nuts are berries that grow on trees in India & Nepal.  They have large quantities of saponin in their shells, which acts as a natural, gentle detergent when it comes into contact with water. Without any chemicals, fragrances or dyes, they are safe and gentle enough for hand washing dedicates yet tough enough for regular laundry. They will leave your clothes soft, clean and fragrance free, eliminating the need for fabric softeners. You place four or five of the nuts in a muslin bag and throw them in the washer. I add 5 drops of a cleansing blend essential oil.  If there are stains on your clothes, you will want to pre-treat them. I will sometimes throw in a scoop of Biokleen Oxygen bleach if the load is "kid's" clothes or extra dirty work clothes.

Cleansing blend is a blend of essential oils whose components have been studied for their powerful abilities to remove harmful microorganisms. It is a great oil for air purification when diffused. I like the fresh clean smell my clothes have when I use it in the laundry. It's also great if I've left the clothes in the washer overnight and they've started to smell moldy. I throw some Cleansing blend in and do a quick rinse again and they are fresh and clean.

Sprouted wheat flour

In addition to sprouting small seeds for salads and sandwiches, I like to do sprouted wheat for flour and for wheat grass. I use the basic sprouting methods found here. But I use a much bigger container and a lot more seed.

Large bowl with sprouted wheat.

I fill my biggest bowl about 3/4 full of wheat, red or white, hard or soft. I put it in the sink and fill it with water. The chafe from the wheat will rise to the top as will any wheat that is broken or not sprout able. As I run the water over it, I stir it up with my hands to bring the wheat to the top and let it all get cleaned up. I take the stuff that rises to the top and throw it away. I let it rinse until the water runs clear. I drain off all of this water and then fill the bowl with filtered water and put the lid loosely on. Let it soak for 8-10 hours or overnight.  One it has soaked, strain off all the water. (I usually dump it into a large strainer and then rinse well with clean water) Put it back in the bowl and place the lid loosely on and rinse again in about 12 hours and then again 12 hours later. The wheat should have started to sprout and look like this.

Close up of sprouted wheat.

On the dehydrator

Now the wheat is ready to do: 1. dehydrate to make sprouted flour. or 2. prepare for wheat grass. 3. I also save a little of the sprouted wheat to make sprouted yeast bread. I'll post that recipe later. To dehydrate just scoop onto your dehydrating trays with teflex trays on them to keep the wheat from falling through. spread out evenly and stack trays until you have as many as you need. Turn the dehydrator on to 105 degrees. Dehydrate for about 24 hours or more depending on how moist your air is.

Once it is dry, grind into flour and store in the freezer.

Sprouting basics

The Why of Sprouting

The fundamental reason for sprouting is to increase the bio-availability of nutrients. Grains, nuts, beans, and seeds have protective compounds – phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors (or anti-enzymes) etc., in their hulls and coatings that 1) keep them from germinating, 2) help them store nutrients, and 3) protect them from insects and pathogens. A major function of phytic acid is to trap iron, zinc, magnesium and calcium. This is good for the seed, but not so good when your body needs to absorb those minerals. The enzymes that are inhibited by the anti-enzymes are the ones needed to break down nutrients into usable forms by the body (hence making them bio-available).
With the protection and support of these compounds, seeds can remain dormant yet viable for extended amounts of time, as long as they are stored properly and not exposed to water. Once seeds come in contact with water, at the optimum temperature, the phytic acid begins to break down, and the enzyme inhibitors are neutralized. This unlocks all of the needed enzymes and nutrition for the seed to germinate, develop, and mature into a healthy plant. When they are not soaked or sprouted, only a fraction of the nutrients are available.
We all know that whole foods are much more nutritious than processed foods. But, as we can see by this little bit of understanding, what is present is not necessarily available. The great news is that soaking/sprouting not only breaks down and neutralizes the compounds that are not digestible by the human GI tract, making vital minerals available, it also substantially increases the levels of vitamin complexes A, B, C and E. Necessary soaking times vary, but longer is generally better for most; ten minutes is not enough. The chart at the end of this article is a handy guide for soaking and sprouting times.

The How To
To sprout, you need to control a few basic things: Water, air circulation, temperature and light. There are some wonderful sprouting aids that can help you manage those details, and we will talk about them next. However, let’s start with the simplest method using a canning jar (or any kind of container really), a screen, (I use counted cross stitch plastic cut to the size of the ring.) a ring to hold the screen in place, and seed.

  

1. Pour the desired amount of seed or grain into a canning jar, attach screen and ring, and wash with fresh water. Pour out water.
2. Add water to the jar– roughly 3 times the amount of seed, and let sit. See chart for how long.
3. After the seeds have soaked, pour out the water (rinse again if you want). Prop up the jar at roughly a 45 degree angle so the water can continue to drain out and air can circulate in. (angle towards sink or put a bowl or plate underneath)
4. Twice a day, cover the seeds with water, swirl around, drain out water, and prop the jar back on its side.
5. Voilà! In a few days, your sprouts will be ready to eat!
Helpful Tips
• Use only untreated seeds, suitable for human consumption, and of course NON-GMO!
• Handle the seeds as little as possible.
• Sterilize all the equipment you use for sprouting.
• Use filtered water with no chlorine.
• After the initial soak, do not let the seeds sit in the water or they will begin to decay.
• Keep sprouts out of direct sunlight.
• Keep temperature at an ambient level, roughly 70-80oF.
• Store sprouts (not wet!) in refrigerator once they have reached the desired height.
• Grains and legumes benefit from soaking in acidulated water- add a small amount of whey, kefir, yogurt, lemon juice, etc. to the soaking water. Flours need a good soak like this too, unless they are already sprouted of course!

Places to get seeds and nuts to sprout:

www.azurestandard.com           

www.providentliving.org  wheat and beans

www.lifesprouts.com

www.greensmoothiegirl.com  You can get almonds through a group buy in October but they come in January. I facilitate this group buy for the Houston area.  If you are interested in being contacted concerning the order, please leave a message on the blog. 

The Gardens

The spinach after harvest. I think it's
done for the summer. 

A few days ago, I went out to my little square foot garden to harvest the spinach and kale. The spinach was just about ready to go to seed. I was hoping that I would be able to get a few more harvests out of it, but I think it's just about done for the summer.  I will plant more in the early fall for more awesome green smoothies. I planted my spinach and beets in the same garden this year. I have dill coming up everywhere from the plant that went to seed last year.  I just can't bear to take it all out. So it hangs around all the gardens.

The kale garden after harvesting.

The kale, on the other hand, will keep the whole summer if I keep it trimmed up and harvested.  I love kale for my green smoothies. It has lots of fiber in it to sweep all the toxin

One harvest

s out of the system just like a little broom. (Which reminds me, I need to sweep the kitchen). Kale is very high in beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, and rich in calcium. Kale is also a source of indole-3-carbinol, a chemical which boosts DNA repair in cells and appears to block the growth of cancer cells. I love growing kale. It is so pretty and is so rewarding to grow. Especially if you are a green smoothie lover, like me.

Full picture of the Mittleider garden. The pole beans
have almost reached the top of the posts.

We also built a Mittleider garden this year. I have used Mittleider weekly feed in my gardens for several years. But sometimes I fail to gather all the details of how it really should be done. That's why I have Roger. Once I get him spurred on, all the details get taken care of and his perfecting nature takes care of all the important things. He took special care to get everything just right. The soil is sawdust and sand. Seventy-five percent/25% mixed with the pre-plant mix so that the plants get all the nutrients that they need to get started. Then we add the weekly feed, of course, weekly. Unlike how I did it last year in the square foot gardens. TEE HEE.You only have to water once a day for 2 1/2 minutes. This keeps the weeds out as well as your water bill down. We are looking forward to lots of tomatoes this year so that I can bottle some. We planted 12 plants so that when they get ripe, I will have enough for at least a batch every couple of days. We also planted pickling cucumbers so that I can do some true fermented pickles this year. Last year I tried them but had to buy the cukes and I don't know how long they had been off the vine. They ended up getting moldy and mushy. I'm glad I only did a couple of bottles.  I'll let you know how they turn out this time. My mouth is watering all ready.

Kefir

  Water and Milk Kefir

You will need kefir grains to do kefir. I purchased mine from ebay(milk) and www.lifetimekefir.com (water). Look for someone who has extra.  The are prolific and anyone who is already doing kefir will have some to share soon, if not currently. I will share mine, when I have enough to split.

Water kefir fermenting with
coffee filter for top

Water Kefir

1 wide mouth mason jar

1 coffee filter

1 quart of filtered water almost to the top of the mason jar

1/3 c. organic sugar. (regular white sugar is also fine to use but do not use honey or artificial sweeteners)

Use the metal screw on ring part of the top to hold the coffee filter down.  The second best would be a cloth for top.

Step 1: add water and sugar in jar.

It is much easier to boil the water first so that the sugar can dissolve in the hot water but do not put the kefir grains in hot water at any time or they will die.

Step 2: Add the grains and seal the jar.

Add the grains when the water is cool or room temperature and seal the coffee filter on the jar and let it sit 48 hours so that it can ferment and create the water kefir.  After 48 hours, taste test it.  If its too sweet, let it go another day. They can ferment up to 5 days. 

Step 3: strain water kefir

When the water kefir is cultured to your liking, you can strain out the grains, and how you can drink the water kefir.

Step 4: Rinse and repeat.

Rinse the grains well with room temperature water and repeat the process using the grains.

I drink this with a little flavored stevia or with fruit juice. 

Milk Kefir

2-4 T. kefir grains

Kefir Grains after straining from milk kefir

4-5 cups milk  (I prefer raw milk, but pasteurized works, too.)

Place grains and milk in a jar. Loosely put the lid on to allow for gas to escape. Leave on the counter at room temperature.  Watch to see the whey separate.  Can take 8-24 hours.  The longer it sits the more fermented it will be.  It is most mild after 8 hours. Do not ferment for more than 3 days. (If you do, drain off the kefir and throw away but save the grains and start again)

Separate the grains from the kefir. The grains should have grown by about 1/3. 

Place grains in a clean jar. 

Place the grains in more milk and start the process again. Or place them in a small amount of milk and put them in the fridge.  Make sure they are fed at least every week if kept in the fridge. It will take longer for the kefir to ferment if the grains have been in the fridge. I only put them in the fridge if I’m going on vacation. 

Put about 3 c. milk for 3 TBS grains.

Kefir Shake

1 to 1 ½ c. kefir milk

1 banana

Sweetener if desired.  I often put in 1-2 T. coconut sugar or a little stevia

1 ½ c. frozen strawberries.

Blend until mixture is smooth.

Sauer Kraut

This is my husbands favorite snack when he comes home from work.  He is also very proud of the fact that he can make his own. He did crack my nice big Tupperware bowl while he was doing it. The fun thing about Sauer Kraut is that you can get your frustrations out. I plan to plant a lot of cabbage in my garden this fall so that we can make a lot of this recipe.

Sauer Kraut

2 ¼ lbs finely sliced or shredded cabbage

1 TBS ground or fine salt.  (Himalayan Crystal Salt is what I use)

½ t. caraway seeds (optional) I did not use this in mine.

Place cabbage in a sturdy, large bowl. Sprinkle salt over the top of it. Pound with a meat tenderizer or I use a hammer handle that is new that I only use for this purpose.  Pound and massage the salt into the cabbage until you see a nice brine in the bottom of the bowl.  I place a plate over the cabbage and cover with a towel. Then put weight on the plate and let sit for a couple of hours.

Put the cabbage into a clean, sterile fido jar and pack in tightly. I pound it in with the hammer handle. You will see the brine begin to cover the top of the cabbage.  Fill to the neck of the jar. Make sure that the brine completely covers the cabbage. Seal the jar and place in a dark room. Let sit at least 4 days. More time is better. It will stay on the shelf for years if unopened. Refrigerate after opening. Will stay good in the fridge for several months.