28 Day Food Challenge

I have to apologize for being a day late with this! We had a crazy weekend and I never did get this post written! This past week (week #3) was more about learning than doing for me. We talked about probiotics, how to make them at home and what they are besides just yogurt. I would really like to make water kefir when I can get a hold of a starter. I finally learned what kombucha is--it's a sort of fermented tea. That was exciting for me. We also talked about cultured dairy foods like yogurt but I have plenty on hand and did not need to make that last week. I was amazed to learn about the variety of cultured milk products. They are on my list of things to try soon.

We also talked about culturing vegetables to make them go farther and how the lactic acid fermentation increases their nutritional content. I'm very curious to try this process. Jenny at The Nourished Kitchen has an e-book on culturing food. Check it out.

Get Cultured: Probiotic Foods from a Nourished Kitchen.

Cheese making was also discussed last week. If you know anything about me, you know I LOVE my cheese! I had made a yogurt cheese a week or so ago but Jenny's recipe was slightly different. I think I'd like to try her's as well and see which way I like better. The ricotta cheese looks so easy I will have to try it soon. I was also excited to see the Dayton Metro Parks is having some classes on cheese making. I would love to participate in both of these! I think cheese making could be a fun new hobby! I love learning not only how to make healthier food for my family but how can you top yummy healthy food?! This is awesome!

The tail end of the week discussed nuts and seeds, beans and vegetables. I think I found out that I haven't been happy with my soaked beans because I wasn't soaking them long enough. This method recommends soaking for at least 12 hours and up to 48. I think I will try a longer soaking time and see how it goes. I also liked the encouragement on not eating your vegetables naked but instead with a healthy fat. It makes sense that some of their nutrients are fat soluble and therefore need to be eaten with a healthy fat. I think most of us crave them that way--they seem to be missing something without it. She also encouraged us to make our own salad dressing which I have been doing as I like the taste better and being in control of the ingredients.

I love this time of sharing with you what I'm learning. It helps solidify it in my brain as I haven't been able to be as active with it as I would have liked to be.