Brine-Pickled Swiss Chard Stems

Occasionally, you come across a cookbook that just speaks to you. It's like a good friend, coming over for a cup of tea and you just want to savor it, the presence, and take it in slowly. It just feels comfortable and right in your home, like it belongs there, or as if it's been there all along.

The first time I held The Nourished Kitchen: Farm-to-Table recipes for the Traditional Foods Lifestyle in my hands I knew it had found a permanent home and I had found a kindred spirit. This wasn't surprising considering that I already loved Jennifer's blog, Nourished Kitchen, and used recipes from her kitchen regularly. 

This cookbook focuses on all the things that I value in my home and kitchen. It focuses on traditional foods, recipes for wonderful home-cooking with emphasis on eating sustainably and in season. It is the book every follower of the "traditional food movement" has been waiting for since Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions changed and rocked our world (but less than rocked our palates....)

Every recipe I've tried so far has been amazing. And there are so many more I am excited to try! In case you can't tell from the from cover... this book has absolutely AMAZING photographs. It's a true work of art. It's a cookbook you'll want to proudly display not hide in a cupboard somewhere.

The book is organized by sections in a unique and appetizing way. Starting with vegetable dishes in the "from the garden", moving onto "from the pasture" where you learn to make simple cheeses and gourmet egg dishes. From there it takes you to the "range", the "waters", the "fields" and even foraging into the "wild".

Of course, being the fermentation addict that I am, I first turned to the "from the larder" section of the book to see what exciting recipes Jennifer had to offer. I was not disappointed! 'Fennel, kohlrabi and green apple relish'? I believe I will. 'Vanilla mint soda'? Um, yes. 

But one recipe in particular stood out to me. It's the one the I get to share with you here: Brine-pickled swiss chard stems. It was exciting because it was something I had previously never thought to use. Fermenting chard stems? That's cool! I'd used the greens in sauerkraut many times but never the stems. And they were really good, too! With all the spices this recipe called for you can't go wrong. It's like the holidays in a jar with a nice crunch. Not to mention it was just beautiful, too. We ate the stems by themselves, but we also chopped them up and used them like you would a relish as a spread or mixed in with other foods. Absolutely delicious! 

Want to give it a try? Jennifer graciously agreed to share the recipe with you all. So check it out! 

Shared with permission, the following excerpt is from The Nourished Kitchen: 

brine-pickled swiss chard stems

I use every bit of every vegetable when I can. Instead of throwing away Swiss chard stems, which can be tough, I prefer to pickle them. Mild on their own, the chard stems take on the flavor of the spices you add to your brine. I serve them as a side dish, as you would a cucumber pickle, or I finely chop them to

make a relish. Makes about 1 quart

1 pound Swiss chard stems

4 cups water

2 tablespoons finely ground

unrefined sea salt

1/4 cup Hot Pickling Spice (page 277)

2 bay leaves

Trim the stems of any bits of leaf still clinging to them. Cut the stems to a length to match the depth of your fermentation jar or crock, then arrange them tightly inside.

Heat the water in a saucepan until it reaches blood temperature

(98° to 100°F), so it feels neither hot nor cold when you touch it. Whisk the salt into the warm water until it dissolves, then stir in the pickling spice and bay leaves. Pour the liquid over your chard stems so that the stems are completely submerged in the brine. If the stems float, weigh them down with a glass weight or a sterilized stone.

Close the crock and allow the Swiss chard stems to ferment for 3 to 4 weeks. Taste them from time to time, and when they become sour enough for your liking, transfer them to the refrigerator where they should keep 6 months or longer.

sweet pickling spice

You can find pickling spice in the spice section of most well-stocked grocery stores, but I prefer to make my own, adjusting the spices to better suit the flavors in the recipe. Radishes, turnips, and beets benefit from sweet spices, while cucumbers and kohlrabi often benefit from hotter flavors.

Makes about 1/2 cup

2 tablespoons mustard seeds

2 tablespoons allspice

berries

2 tablespoons coriander seeds

2 tablespoons whole black

peppercorns

2 teaspoons whole cloves

1 teaspoon ground ginger

2 cinnamon sticks, broken up

into small pieces

2 dried bay leaves, crumbled

Spoon all the spices into a small mixing bowl, stir to combine, and store in an airtight container for up to 1 year.

Variation

Hot Pickling Spice: Make the Sweet Pickling Spice, then stir in 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 year.

In addition to allowing me to share this wonderful recipe Jennifer McGruther would also be happy to give one lucky reader their very own copy of The Nourished Kitchen! So if you would like a chance to win this wonderful book enter below.

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How to Make Coconut Flour Pancakes (Gluten free, Grain free, Paleo)

Be sure and check out our GIVEAWAY while you're here.

Whether or not you are on a grain-free diet, you will love these pancakes. Brian doesn't typically like the flavor of coconut, but even he loved these. The recipe is from one of my favorite grain-free cookbooks, Cooking with Coconut Oil by Elizabeth Nyland. The author blogs at GuiltyKitchen.com where she shares healthy living tips and writes about her Paleo lifestyle. Her book is beautiful and contains lots of wonderful gluten-free and grain-free recipes, including new twists on old favorites. 

These pancakes are really, really good. And, what's even better, they are very filling and very nourishing. I also loved how easy they are to make. Even Little Owl can help me make them (and actually help... rather than, you know... what two year olds normally do in the kitchen...). ;) Every recipe I've tried from this book so far has been simple to make and delicious. There are a few ingredients for this recipe in particular that I didn't have on hand in my kitchen (hemp hearts and flax seeds) but they were very easy to find online or at my local health food store. 

If you haven't already, I highly recommend checking out both Nyland's book, Cooking with Coconut Oil and her blog. Whether or not your family is grain-free makes no difference, you will love the recipes in this book. There are pictures for almost every recipe, too, which I find really helpful since I am a very visual person... but you don't want to look through this book when you're hungry! :)

Now, without further ado... the recipe you all came here to see:

Coconut Pancakes 

from Cooking with Coconut Oil by Elizabeth Nyland

Yield: 18 pancakes

• 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted (where I buy)
• 1/4 cup nut butter (such as almond, cashew, or macadamia)
• 2 tbsp honey or maple syrup (optional)
• 4 pastured eggs
• 1 tbs pure vanilla extract (make your own!)
• 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 3 tbs coconut flour (where I buy)
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp ground golden flax (I buy whole and grind my own so it's fresh)
• 1 tbsp hemp hearts (where to find) 
• 3 tbsp mini chocolate chips (optional) (where to find)
• Coconut oil (for frying; optional) 

1. In a large bowl, mix the coconut oil and nut butter until smooth. Mix in honey or syrup if using. 
2. Beat in the eggs one at a time until combined completely.
3. Whisk in the vanilla extract and apple cider vinegar and set aside.
4. In a separate bowl, mix the coconut flour, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, flax, hemp hearts, and chocolate chips, if using.
5. Place a nonstick or cast-iron pan on the stove and heat on medium-low (preheat it for a good few minutes). Melt the coconut oil in the pan if using. When the pan is hot, mix the wet ingredients with the dry and drop by spoonful into the pan. 
6. Cook each pancake until bubbles form and pop. Flip pancake over and cook until done, about 2 to 3 minutes total per cake. Serve immediately or cool and freeze on baking trays. 

Want to know where I buy QUALITY COCONUT products?

Feeling lucky? Enter to win a copy of Cooking with Coconut Oil below! Thanks so much to Elizabeth Nyland and her publisher for hosting this giveaway! So excited for one of you to get to own this awesome book, too! <3

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Fermented by Jill Ciciarelli (A Review and Giveaway)

Be sure and check out our GIVEAWAY while you're here.

Ten years ago basically no one I knew even had heard the word "fermentation". Today, not only are there books upon books published on the subject, but more and more people are trying their hands at simple ferments like sauerkraut, salsa or sourdough. 

But, even though more people are familiar with fermentation at least a little bit, it's still a very new skill for most people. Having a helping hand to guide along those first few steps is oh-so-helpful. For myself, that helping hand came in the form of Wardee Harmon's Idiot's Guide to Fermentation which I absolutely love. 

But one thing I have come to realize the more I interact with fermentation newbies and teach classes locally is that there are so many families now a days who aren't consuming items that are regular eaten at my house-- namely fermented grains and dairy. 

That is why when I came across Jill Ciciarelli's book Fermented: A Four Season Approach to Paleo Probiotic Foods I was delighted. Here was a GORGEOUS book that I could happily recommend to folks who were new to fermenting, that didn't contain a bunch of recipes they would never use because their diet was more along the "Paleo" spectrum. 

But not only does this book focus on Paleo-only ferments, it has a bunch of wonderful inspirational recipes. And the photographs in this book? Stunning. It's a piece of art. 

I also like the Ciciarelli took in her book by dividing her recipes by season. As a real foodie, who lives on an eco-village, eating in season is something that is very important to me and that I strive to help others understand the importance of. And Ciciarelli makes it so easy you don't even have to think about it. 

So, whether you are new to fermentation, have been fermenting for decades, whether your diet is strictly Paleo or not, there is something for EVERYONE in this wonderful book. 

Check out Fermented by Jill Ciciarelli on Amazon!

Or, if you are feeling lucky, enter the GIVEAWAY below. Best of luck! 

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Toddler by Jennifer Margulis (A Review and Giveaway!)

There are plenty of books available to new parents, with more advice than you could possibly know what to do with. (Photo source) There are also plenty of books on being a new parent that act like a nice friend who comes along and says, "It's okay, you're normal, I do that too. New babies make us do strange things." 

But once you get past the baby stage, forget it. There are a lot of books on how to potty train, how to get your toddler to stop undressing in public, how to this, how to that. But no books on the toddler stage that exist just to make you feel normal.

Maybe the idea is that either once your kid is a toddler you already have this kid-raising thing figured out, or maybe it's that once you get to the toddler stage, it's too late.... There's no advice for you. But, still, it would be nice to have a friend just come along and tell you you're normal, right? 

Enter, Toddler: Real-Life Stories of Those Fickle, Irrational, Urgent, Tiny People We Love by Jennifer Margulis. This book is a collection of stories from parents either just like us or not so like us who are simply existing with their tiny people. It's a wonderful conglomeration of stories that will make you laugh, cry, and comfort you by letting you know that you're just like everyone else--and so is your toddler.

I seriously could not put this book down, while at the same time I didn't want to finish it because I didn't want it to end! I wish the stories went on and on. Brian would make fun of me that whenever we would (FINALLY!) get our toddler to bed, I would want to read a book about other peoples' toddlers! And yes, maybe that sounds crazy, but it was so comforting to read others' experiences and the stories really helped me put things in perspective. 

Read what others have to say about "Toddler."

For any anyone who has experienced the tribulations and triumphs of toddlerhood, I highly recommend this book. It would make a wonderful shower gift or "birth day" gift for any mother. Get yourself or someone you love a copy, or if you're feeling lucky, enter the giveaway below! A very special thanks to Jennifer Margulis for providing copies of this wonderful book to TWO lucky readers. Best of luck!

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If this books sounds interesting, or you've ready it and already loved it, be sure and check out these other wonderful books by Jennifer Margulis. Click the image to read about them:

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The Resilient Gardener by Carol Deppe

The Resilient Gardener: Food Production and Self-Reliance in Uncertain Times by Carol Deppe is one of the best gardening "how-to" books that I have ever read. Along with Steve Soloman's Gardening West of the Cascades, Deppe's book is a must have for any gardener in the Pacific Northwest. 

But while Soloman's book is only of passing interest to those gardening outside of this bio-region, Deppe's work has much to recommend it to a wider audience. She combines philosophical insight with the taste of a gourmet chef and a dash of prepper paranoia for good measure. Deppe has her Ph.D. in biology from Harvard and she knows her plants. 

The book focuses what she believes are the three plants (plus eggs) that will get us through hard times (whether they be from a job loss or a societal collapse). For each of the three (potatoes, beans, and corn) she gives detailed instructions and general principles about all aspects of growing, storing, consuming and propagating. Deppe includes recipes that take into account the intrinsic qualities of the produce and bring out the best flavors. She has totally revolutionized my relationship with duck eggs and I am excited to try more of her ideas out in the kitchen.

The most interesting sections of The Resilient Gardener come in the form of Deppe's meditations on diet, climate change, gardener-plant relations and personal anecdotes. She has much to offer the casual gardener on a general level and her writing is engaging, if at times a bit acid and strongly opinionated.

I strongly recommend this book to all gardeners, whether novice or expert, and if you garden in the Pacific Northwest and don't read this book I don't know what your doing with your life. If your at all interested in personal resilience or anarchy this book is also well worth your time.

Deppe has a personal website where she sells seed specifically adapted to our bio-region, blogs and curates Taoist parables, you should check it out at www.caroldeppe.com. I am looking forward to her next book coming out this fall titled The Tao of Gardening.

Get yourself a copy of Deppe's books on Amazon 

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Radical Homemakers

Every once in a while you stumble upon a book, or film, or piece of art that just completely stops you in your tracks. It speaks to you in such a way that makes you feel completely validated in where you are at in your life, and gives you that little push of courage to keep going. That you are on the right track. 

See it on Amazon.

Shannon Hayes' book, "Radical Homemakers" is just such a book.

I haven't read a book in a long time (perhaps ever...) that spoke to me SO much. I had to be careful reading it at coffee shops because it meant so much to me to have my life choices and priorities validated that I would actually start to tear up. 

I read it slowly because I felt like finishing it would mean saying goodbye to a wonderful chapter in a relationship with a good friend. But, I keep it on a shelf in my room that is easy to access and reread sections of it whenever I am feeling discouraged or doubting my life choices.

"Radical Homemakers" is about people like me. And you. And any of those of us who are striving to find a different way of living. A way that doesn't involve going to a job you hate from 9-5 to pay for a house you are rarely in and two cars you don't own.

It's about those of us who want to tread lightly on the planet, raise our children to love love over competition and fierce independence, and who are changing the world one home-canned good at a time. 

Or at least we are trying. 

This book redefines the meaning of "homemaker" in its historical context, reclaiming it for good. Haye's interviews "homemakers" who are young, old, married, single, divorced, religious, non-religious, and everything in-between. She relays their stories and what they are doing and why. It looks different for each and every story.

But Hayes unites the common threads.

I highly recommend this book. Even if your life goals aren't to master canning or sewing (I can't sew to save my life) this book is about so much more than that. It's about becoming aware of the choices we make and how they affect so much more than just ourselves, and even our families. Hayes speaks to our whole culture  in a way that encourages reflection and as well as action. 

Learn more about Radical Homemakers here.

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Feeling lucky? Enter to win your own copy of RADICAL HOMEMAKERS below! (A big thank you to Shannon Hayes herself for provided a copy of her masterpiece to one lucky reader!)

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Beyond Bacon (Book Review)

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I am a huge fan of bacon. (From pastured, humanely-raised, healthy, traditionally-processed, non-CAFO hogs of course....)

But, I am also a huge fan of "waste not, want not" and economical food spending. So in the past few years my family has bought into both "pig-shares" and "cow-shares", where we split the cost of one animal amongst several families. This works out wonderfully for our pocket book, but....

The problem with buying "shares" of meat...

When we first got our pig share several years ago I remember enjoying bacon and sausage at breakfast for about two months straight... and then realizing that I still had a freezer full of meat left that (if I was being honest with myself) I really had NO IDEA how to cook....

Because, after all, no matter how hard pig farmers might try... they will never get JUST bacon and sausage from a pig.

That's where the Paleo Parents come to the rescue. They recently wrote a book, Beyond Bacon: Paleo Recipes that Respect the Whole Hog that I REALLY wish I had had for my kitchen starting about two years ago... (Better late then never, though, right?)

Paleo Parents to the rescue...

See it on Amazon.

This book is awesome on so many levels. It harkens back to an older, less-rushed, less pre-packaged, less wasteful time. A time when people used to know their butchers, if not the animals they ate. A time when people used to prepare food from scratch, not because it was "hip" but because there weren't other options....

This book helps us relearn some of the culinary skills that our grandparents knew, but our mothers and fathers took for granted. It helps us to relearn how to respect the whole animal. And not simply because we don't want to waste food... but because there are actually many, many, MANY delicious recipes we can make.

What's not to love...

This book covers everything from tail to snout and everything in-between. It provides easy to follow recipes with simple to source ingredients and simply stunning, mouth-watering food photography. Each recipe I have tried from this book so far has been amazing. 

The book starts with an explanation of why you should buy pastured pork and an in-depth examination of the fact that pig meat (and fat!) are actually good for us when they come from healthy animals. Even if you know all of this information already, this book is a great refresher course.

Next, the book examines different techniques used in the recipes including how to stuff your own sausages and render lard. Again, these are kitchen techniques that have been lost to all but most contemporary cooks, but they are not hard. And with the Paleo Parents as your guide, you are sure to succeed. 

Next, the recipes. When I first got my copy of Beyond Bacon I remember being completely blown away. The recipes in this book are incredible, gourmet and creative, yet accessible to even the newest cook. (Did you say, "Salted Caramel Bacon Sauce?! Yes. PLEASE.)

Suffice it to say, with this book in my hands I am beyond excited about buying a "pig share" because there are so many more recipes I want to try out! No more leaving the freezer full (sans bacon and sausage, of course...). I will confidently use each and every bit of pig we get.

Learn more about Beyond Bacon here!

Feeling lucky? Enter the GIVEAWAY for your own copy of this awesome book below. A big thank you to Paleo Parents for providing a book to one lucky reader. (Note: available to U.S residents only.)

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See it on Amazon.

Have kiddos with gluten sensitivities? Or simply looking for health food and snack options? Be sure and check out Paleo Parents other book, Eat Like a Dinosaur: Recipe & Guidebook for Gluten-free Kids

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Like 

The Art of Fermentation (Review and Giveaway)

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Sandor Ellix Katz has changed my life. Katz is a fermentation genius who has made it his life's work to spread the joys, wonders, and art of fermentation to people all around the world. His first book, Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods contained recipes and step-by-step instructions for how to ferment. His second work is something entirely different.

Buy it on Amazon.

Katz has written a veritable tome of fermentation knowledge. Katz's most recent book, The Art of Fermentation: An In-Depth Exploration of Essential Concepts and Processes from around the World is a chef d'oeuvre if ever such a thing existed. 

Katz has written the most comprehensive work on fermentation ever published.

In 2013 this work was on the New York Times bestseller list, as well as winning the James Beard Foundation Book Award for Reference and Scholarship. Scholarship is an excellent word choice. Not only is this book about an art, but this book is itself a work of art. Katz has spent decades studying fermentation and he relates his wisdom in an approachable, absolutely fascinating, and digestible manner. 

I am convinced that no one alive knows as much about fermentation as Sandor Ellix Katz. This book will take your understanding of the science, history, and cultural importance of fermentation to a whole new level. I had absolute no idea just how fascinating the history of fermentation across cultures could be until reading this book.

This book has a little bit of everything. It is a science, history, anthropology, and cooking lesson all rolled into one. What this book doesn't have, interestingly enough, is recipes. Yes, it contains some recipes, but that is not the primary purpose of this work. In truth, this book helps you understand how recipes, in many ways are a new invention, while fermentation has been around for thousands of years. 

This is the book for anyone interested in truly understanding fermentation. The Art of Fermentation is essentially your reference guide, dictionary, and fermentation encyclopedia all rolled into one. It is, after all, just a few pages shy of FIVE HUNDRED pages. And it weighs a ton. And it has beautiful illustrations and a cover jacket to boot. Some times I just sit and stare at it, that's how much I love it.

Just joking on that last part. (Or maybe I'm not...)

All that to say, this book is absolutely, stunningly, mind-blowing-ly amazing. If you are at all interested in fermentation, I cannot more highly recommend having a copy in your home so you can reference it whenever you have questions. It is like having your own, personal fermentation genius to talk to whenever you need. 

Read what others are saying about this book.

Or, if you are feeling lucky, enter to win the GIVEAWAY below. A big thank you to Sandor Elliz Katx and Chelsea Green Publishing for providing a copy of this book to giveaway to one lucky reader. Good luck!

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Further Recommended Reading

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The Complete Idiot's Guide to Fermenting Foods by Wardeh Harmon is a book I would recommend to anyone seriously interested in fermentation. It has hundreds of recipes for fermenting everything from fruit, dairy, grains, meat, vegetables, beer, wine, natural sodas and more. It makes an excellent addition to any fermenters kitchen whether they are an experienced veteran or a newbie.

Buy it on Amazon.

Real Food Fermentation by Alex Lewin is the perfect introduction to fermentation. This book contains some of the most gorgeous pictures of fermented food I have ever seen. It contains a great variety of recipes with step-by-step directions and a pinch of science, history, and cultural information to boot.






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