What I’ve Learned Wednesday: Links From Real Food Blogland 8/10/11

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 inspiring 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:

 

• You can make a facial toner out of vinegar, and it doesn’t have to smell awful. Mindy over at The Purposed Heart came up with one pretty awesome Hippie Hack of her own! She shows us how to use her waaay brilliant idea of lavender-infused vinegar to help even skin tone, minimize pore size, and regulate oiliness. I first will need to get my hands on some lavender, but I am totally adding this to my hippie-happy skin care routine.

• I can actually use our watermelon rinds for people food, instead of giving them all to Goatie. I was super stoked to discover Attainable Sustainable this week, because the author, Kris, is a fellow real food blogger living in Hawaii! How amazing is that?! Anyway, she recently shared a recipe for turning watermelon rinds into a tasty relish. What a cool idea! Kinda makes me wonder what other things we typically toss out that can be used up in the kitchen.

• There’s a much easier way to make bacon — skip the skillet! You can bake bacon in a glass dish in the oven, without having to turn or tend to it! Whaaat?! I discovered this idea plus many more in this veritable treasure trove of grain-free breakfast ideas from Nourished and Nurtured. Cannot wait to try this!

• Traditional soy sauce is made, in part, by allowing soy bean cakes to sit and grow mold for a while. Gross!! But… I do not say this in an attempt to dissuade you from consuming soy sauce. When (and only when) soy is properly fermented, it is a healthy, traditional food. This enlightening how-to from Penniless Parenting teaches how to make moldy, salty, tasty and healthful soy sauce at home — so you can skip both the chemically-processed and expensive traditional kinds you find in the store.

• I might actually be able to stomach eating liver, and cook it myself. When I hear the word “paté,” my mind immediately translates it into “a dish I couldn’t possibly cook.” But when I looked at this recipe from Real Food Freaks, I somehow became convinced that this was something I could actually tackle. Not only that, but the author, Jen, seems to share my lifelong fear for the weird slimy organ, and vouches that this recipe is actually tasty. Garlic, scallions, rice wine, lime juice, herbs and tons of butter… yeah I think that might be enough to make liver tolerable!

• The existence of carrot…flour?  Wow, that one’s definitely new to me! Yolks, Kefir, and Gristle explains how you can turn the pulp from juicing carrots into usable, bakeable flour. It can be used much in the same way as coconut flour, and is a great alternative for those avoiding grains. Plus, if you’re already going to be juicing carrots anyway, it’s pretty much free! (At least that is part of how I plan on rationalizing the purchase of a juicer with PH. It produces free food! Pretty sound logic, right? Right?!)

 

What have you learned lately from your favorite blogs?