Cookbooks and Kombucha

This last week has been: well a little nuts. Computer problems, the A/C went out, and then the medication I am taking is sucking the life out of me. No A/C means minimal cooking, and computer problems mean that blogging goes on the back burner for awhile. I've also been dealing with writer's block- I think perfectionism is getting in my way. Hopefully, more frequent (but less wordy) posts will solve that problem.

I have used the downtime to go through the 3-4 Paleo cookbooks that all seem to have showed up at once in the last few weeks, and to stop obsessing over my Kombucha culture.

As it turns out, I think all the Kombucha wanted was a little privacy. I peeked in today, and Lo! The 30 days are up, the kombucha was giving off encouraging whiffs of vinegar, and best of all, there was a thin whitish film forming at the top of the pitcher. If left to its own devices, that film would eventually (theoretically) become the new kombucha mushroom.

I poured a little into a glass, and tested the pH as directed. The recipe officially become Kombucha when the pH is below 4, and I would estimate that mine has a pH of around 3. My little baby's all grown up! Now, all I have to do is transfer my starter solution into the gallon glass container I bought, and begin the process anew- this time with a larger volume of sugar and tea, so it  can really do its thing!

Oh: and yes, I tasted it. A wee bit vinegary, but awesome. I plan to add some ginger juice to whatever I have left over, after the transfer. We'll see if it gets bubbly- Yum!

I have managed to test some recipes- mainly focusing on the upcoming review of "The Food Lovers Make It Paleo." In the past, I have made a ton of their recipes, so this is just a refresher. After the crazy heat here earlier this week, the Jicama Tacos were just what the doctor ordered! The leftovers have stretched a few days, in taco salad form as well.  I've previously mentioned this cookbook: I couldn't have done my birthday or Thanksgiving last year without them. So if you want to read a tiny blurb, before the big review this weekend, you can check out my post here. Or if you want to check 'em out for yourself, give their website a look-see.

Kale chip recipe tomorrow. Pinkie-swear!

Cooking up a storm

Yes, there were a ton of pics that went with this! I got so obsessed with photo editing,I  fell into the dark world of Instagram et al. Then I realized I was taking days to just out this post up, and then I thought- well, while photos are great, I am procrastinating. Screw the photos. They know what they did.  So here this is: light on photos. But it's HERE. VICTORY!!

I have been going crazy with the new addition to our family: The Vitamix. This blender has been on heavy rotation. I am having to curb my usual slovenly "I'll just soak it" excuse, and have made a rule with the VM AND the Cuisinart that I have to wash everything out immediately. While it's irritating at the time, it makes life a heck of a lot easier.

So far, the Vitamix has pulverized multiple smoothies, blended coconut ice cream, coconut milk, apricots (for apricot chicken on Monday night!) and probably other things I can't remember. My fridge is filled with tiny containers with colorful pureed masterpieces nestled within.

So I was pretty confident when I decided to roast two bags of sunflower seeds and frappe my way to homemade sunbutter.

One thing: making nut or seed butter with the VM is more challenging than just throwing the stuff in and hitting a button. My blender would go for fifteen or twenty seconds, and then the "emergency overheat" feature would kick in. If you think this is annoying: well, you would be right. I was beginning to think my new Precious was defective. But: BEHOLD!!! For future reference, this is the magical VitaMix nut butter procedure:

"You should always start the machine on variable #1 and very quickly increase the center dial to #10 and then immediately flip the left switch from variable to HIGH. This operation should only take 3 seconds. If you are running the recipe on the variable low settings as you are describing below the machine overheats at about 15-20 seconds and shuts down.

Try making the recipe with the appropriate settings and you will see that the appliance will produce the most awesome almond, peanut, pecan, and cashew butter. For best results you should you no less than 4 ½ cups of raw nuts and 3 tablespoons of oil. Additionally, please make sure that you are using the tamper. "

So it has been written. So it shall be done.

The kombucha is just sort of sitting in the cabinet, looking inscrutable and completely unchanged. I am not sure what I am waiting for....although signs of cultures forming will be nice. I am thinking that as experiments go, I am way too impatient, and not quite forgetful enough.

Last night was another cooking bonanza: I am out of my funk, but it's still hot here, so SG was assigned to make hamburgers outside on the grill, and I made Paleo Burger Buns, cranked out hand cut sweet potato fries, came up with a recipe for macadamia pesto pretty much on the fly (the one I linked is similar: I cut out the cheese and doubled the macadamias, as well as adding a little more olive oil to part of the batch to make it "drizzley"), and sliced up some veggies to go with.  My mandoline either needs to be sharpened, or it just doesn't like sweet potatoes, because trying to use the fry-slicing feature was a nightmare. I just ended up slicing them by hand.  I see now why frozen fries were such a popular convenience food.

This has been an interesting week, food-wise: I am spending a LOT of time on FastPaleo, which even has an app, and also discovered something I have been searching for forever: Eat Your Books. It's a fantastic resource for keeping track of recipes- I have so many Primal/Paleo cookbooks now, and can't for the life of me remember the source of recipes anymore. Was it on the web? Did I save it to Pinterest, and if so, to which board? If it's in a book, which book? I desperately wanted to make my cookbook collection searchable- by recipe title, or main ingredient, course, whatever. And this seems to be a really seamless way of doing all of that: it pulls indexes from books, magazines, and blogs, plus you can add your own recipes.  AND it seems to have indexes, cover photos, and info for all the recent Primal/Paleo cookbook offerings on the market. Wooohoo! I used a coupon code to get the first three months free. I tried a few codes before I found one that worked: if you want to try it out, you can send me an email here or PM me on Facebook (Maybe throw me a "like" on there, if you haven't already ;) and I'll hook you up. Cheers!

Something's Brewing!

Special delivery!

OK! I am back. I have a big, flipping bruise from the IV that covers the entire back of my right hand, but am otherwise, relatively undamaged. Hooray!

So: Kombucha.

I got a freebie SCOBY (Symbiotic Colony Of Bacteria and Yeast- yum) from Cultures For Health the other day. I have been considering making this stuff for awhile- I did like the bottled stuff I got, but that could really add up, and I am all about getting experimental in the kitchen. Making my own kombucha seemed like an intriguing thing to try.

When my SCOBY and other kombucha-making accoutrements arrived, the dehydrated SCOBY looked like- well. Nothing, really. Maybe a large, flat, potato chip? It was brownish and circular, wrapped in a cellophane bag and sealed up. Not much thicker than a piece of paper. Supposedly, it will take 30 days to do its thing and make a batch.

You can juuust see the SCOBY there, at the bottom.

So I dutifully followed the directions: brewed oolong tea, added sugar, and let it cool. (In theory, the sugar will be mostly consumed by the SCOBY during the culturing process) The sugar was extracted from the back of my cupboard- it dates back to pre-paleo days, so...three years ago? It was hard as a rock. I had to chisel at it to get enough to add.  Once cooled, I added white vinegar, and then the SCOBY.

A few days have passed, and it is looking hopeful. The SCOBY is lying peacefully on the bottom of the container, and is about 10 times thicker than it was, and kind of spongey in appearance: it resembles nothing so much as a slim pancake. It has taken up residence in the warm cupboard between the stove top and the fridge, and seems pretty happy in there so far. SG has asked about it- evidently, he thought I had forgotten about it. He seems to enjoy calling it "the chupacabra".

So now, I need to wait for it to work its magic. I was actually contacted by someone at Cultures For Health with info and troubleshooting ideas, which was really cool! We'll have to see how it turns out. I eventually want to try it with alternative sweeteners: I have honey and maple sugar lined up for this, but I was concerned about killing my only SCOBY. Once it reproduces, I should be able to try out a few new things.

I just got back from a massive Trader Joe's run, and am in cooking mode. Tomorrow's going to see some heavy kitchen use- I want to make Paleo Burger Buns (Found on FastPaleo, via Grokette's Primal Musings), to go with burgers and sweet potato fries for tomorrow's dinner. Also in the works, another batch of cheesy kale chips- I am experimenting with a new recipe, so that will be fun. I'll post it if it turns out the way I think it will. I also want to make some Sunbutter and whatever else strikes my fancy.

OMG, the kitchen is going to be thrashed! Worth it, though. ;)