One of the things I like most about being a Real Food-er is (virtually) meeting all the amazing people who make up this worldwide community of crunchy food fanatics. Many of them can be found blogging about their traditional-fooding lives, and most of them have been doing both of those things a lot longer than I have. Thankfully, they are around to teach me.
Whether about gardening or gadgets, farming or fermentation, pudding or politics, real food blogs are always buzzing with new things to learn, recipes to try, or interesting stories to read. So I thought it was time that I start sharing with my own readers what I discover from them.
Here’s what I’ve learned this week:
How to make your own ricotta cheese. And you don’t even need a fancy culture or any special tools, really! This tutorial from Laurel of Leaves actually looks pretty easy! I never would have thought one of my most favorite cheeses could be made at home with ingredients and equipment I already have in my kitchen. Can’t wait to try this out!
Lavender for pain relief. I loooove lavender. So soothing, and probably one of my favorite smells ever. But I didn’t know that it had medicinal properties to help alleviate muscle aches, cramping (including the period variety), and headaches! Check out seven uses for lavender oil you might not know about in this post from Gapalicious.
How to detox in a tub. Megh at Yolks, Kefir, and Gristle shares how she uses a daily therapeutic bath to help maintain her health. We don’t have room for a bathtub in our little hippie home, but we do have one sitting outside that PH saved from a bathroom remodel he did. It was going to be a water trough, but I think I just might turn it into an outdoor tub and start a detox bath ritual of my own!
Here’s what I Plan to Eat:
I recently started using the super-amazing online meal planning program, Plan to Eat. It’s the perfect way to gather up all those awesome recipes from all the blogs we read, and actually get them on the table — instead of just drooling over them online! So now on WILW, I’d like to share which ones I’ve grabbed from all you bloggers out there, and added to my meal planning menu. If you’re a member of Plan to Eat, you can simply “friend” me on there, and add the recipes I’ve uploaded directly to your own recipe book and meal calendar! So easy.
Here’s what I added to my recipe book this week (link to their spot in my PTE recipe book is the first one, followed by their blog link):
One-Pot Easy Chicken Dinner: Now that’s my kind of recipe. Easy. One pot to clean. Winner, winner, Chicken Dinner. Ruth’s Real Food shares this dish that’s not only suitable for GAPS Intro (stage 2) but also “for beginner cooks. It basically involves throwing everything in a pot and cooking.” Perfect!
Soaked Sunflower and Pumpkin Seed Crackers: These crackers would be perfect with soup or even your standard slices of cheese. I love the taste of both sunflower and pumpkin seeds, so I’m sure I’ll love this recipe from Food Farm Health!
Double Berry Applesauce: Blueberries, strawberries, and apples. Basically everything I miss about living in the Pacific Northwest. (Okay, okay, and friends and family of course!) This applesauce looks so amazing, I can barely stand it. Seriously. Go look at the pics at Mrs. Happy Homemaker. Even though the ingredients aren’t readily available here, I still plan on buying them in bulk/frozen at Costco to save a little, and then making a big batch and having jars of sauce for weeks! Or days. Let’s be honest.
Chocolate Bean Cupcakes (for breakfast): I’ll admit that eating chocolate-flavored beans doesn’t sound particularly appealing, but I’m convinced based off the recommendation from 16 Balls in the Air that their healthy, grain-free cupcakes are a delicious alternative treat. (Side note, the blog’s name is in reference to juggling the lives of the two moms who write it — each have four boys — do the math… get it? LOL!)
Banana Caramel Sticky Buns: Another grain-free treat that just had to go in the recipe book. Lydia from Divine Health likes to serve these to her family for breakfast every now and then, too. These satisfyingly sweet, yet nourishing and healthy buns are even GAPS-legal!
What have you learned lately from your favorite blogs? Any new recipes you plan on trying out?
Ahh thanks for the links! Those chocolate bean cupcakes look interesting. I’ve been experimenting with banana blueberry muffins for breakfast (grain-free) and so far my kids love them, though I think they could still use some work. My sister made some bean brownies a while back and they weren’t half bad, I think if I didn’t KNOW there were beans in them I wouldnt have even guessed.