If you get inspired to get the cookbook I wrote about in my last post...and if you decide to tackle some of the fermented veggies (sauerkraut, kimchi) or make your own homemade mayonnaise (wonderful recipe), you'll find you need to make whey for the recipes...you know, that clear, watery stuff that separates from yogurt. This is not to be confused with powdered whey--that won't work.
The book tells you how to do it--straining it through cheesecloth, which essentially makes a sort of cream cheese from the yogurt part. The whey you keep in the fridge to use for the recipes. (By the way, we like to use whole milk yogurt. It makes the cream cheese richer--and now I feel free to enjoy it after reading the cookbook!)
But there are all sorts of things you can do with the yogurt-cream-cheese. One of our favorites is to blend to taste onion powder, garlic powder, dried parsley, and a bit of salt with it to make a veggie or cracker dip that tastes just like ranch dressing.
You can also add honey and cinnamon for a sweet bagel spread or apple dip. Yum! Or spread it on a whole wheat tortilla, add a banana and roll it up for a quick, nutritious snack for the kids.
You can add creamed horseradish and thin it a bit with milk for a tasty condiment for roast beef. (Or spread it on your roast beef sandwich!)
Yogurt cream cheese is healthy and full of probiotics that pack a nutritional punch for your family's health.
A must-have cookbook
I am something of a cookbook junkie, and the last thing I really need is another cookbook. After all, with the zillions of recipes available on the internet, who needs another cookbook? I did...this one: Nourishing Traditions.
The whole idea author Sally Fallon puts forth here is that throughout history and in cultures around the world, truly nutritious foods and their preparation have been lost in our 'modern' diets, to the great damaging of our health. I love her subtitle: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats. Some of the challenges include things like butter is good for you! And, whole milk is better for you than low-fat. Personally, I've always wondered why God would send us wonderful things like butter, cream and eggs and then tell us that they're bad for us! It's what we've done to them in our industrialization and mass food production that's bad.
She talks about a key preparation needful for grains, nuts, and seeds, that of pre-soaking to break down the phytates on their outsides. This inhibits the full absorption of minerals, etc. I've adopted this practice, presoaking our breakfast grains or dinner beans before cooking, and honestly, we can really tell a difference in their digestibility.
And something I've really appreciated learning is about the critical importance of probiotics and enzymes being present in our foods. I now happily make lacto-fermented Kimchi regularly (you'll have to look it up in the book!) and am eager to try her version of sauerkraut.
There's a large section at the beginning devoted to explanation of fats, carbs, vitamins, minerals, food allergies, etc. Each page of recipes also contains a sidebar loaded with relevant information. The more I read the more astounded I am at how far we've come from what God intended our food to be. The book is quite an education, and I'd highly recommend it if you're looking to improve your family's health.
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