Nourishing Traditions Recipes

November 2, 2002

My experience with any cookbook is that after I try a recipe the first time I

fool around with it to adjust it to my liking. Everyone has different tastes.

I make the stocks all the time, and I think they come out delicious. I like

to double the amount of celery, though. I also recommend always doing them

for the full amount of time listed, rather than the minimum. The chicken

coconut soup (drinkable from the mug version) is awesome from the recipe in

NT, not only in taste, but it whoops a cold's but quite quickly, as well as a

sore throat. The regular chicken soup, however, I found to my taste needed a

little more flavor. I find throwing a big chunk of butter and some olive oil

into a soup, some herbs and more salt, always make it good. I made lentil

soup with the beef stock, and it was the best lentil soup I ever had! I

didn't see a recipe for lentil soup in the book, but just for lentils cooked

by boiling away beef stock as if it were rice you were cooking. But I made

the traditional lentil soup, simmering in an hour in like a 2 to 1 or 3 to 1

water to lentil ratio, except I substituted beef stock for water. I added

onions. With butter and olive oil melted into this soup and some unrefined

sea salt all over it, it was to die for.

I've just started fermenting things. I made some saurkraut that I thought

came out pretty good. I'm not a saurkraut buff, and only had it once or

twice before, but I eat it pretty much every day, so it must be decent

On the other hand, I fermented some fish, and I think it tastes way too much

like pepper and lemon. Next time I'm going to use mainly whey and salt and

only add tiny amounts of flavoring if I add any.

I've had good success with the deserts. The almond cookies are very good,

and the coconut mousse pie is absolutely delicious. With only a half cup of

honey for a sweetener, and with the pie probaby being about 90% fat to buffer

the effect of the honey on your blood sugar, this is probably the healthiest

pie I've ever eaten, but also one of the best.

I made some of the buttercream icing, and it tasted great but didn't have

that great of a texture. That's because it is based on whipped egg whites

rather than confectionary sugar. I was making it for someone else's

birthday, so I didn't want to make it " wierd, " so to get the texture normal I

had to add _tons_ of confectionary sugar to it. Then I saw why the NT

version had a " wierd " texture. I guess we have to get used to the fact that

we can't perfectly reproduce every junk food we like in a healthy manner.

What specifically are you having problems with? It might be easier for

people to give you ideas or share experiences with if you talk about your

specific experiences.

Chris

In a message dated 11/2/02 12:48:13 AM Eastern Standard Time,

ellen_davin@... writes:

> I am still quite new to the Nourishing Traditions way of eating, and

> I like the principles explained in the book. However, I have been

> experimenting with recipes in the book, and I'm not having as much

> success as I hoped. Is it just me, or is it that maybe Sally is

> either not a great chef or doesn't provide enough explanation for the

> novice regarding these methods?

>

> I would love to hear which recipes members of the group would highly

> recommend! And, are there other good cookbooks based on these

> principles?

>

____

" What can one say of a soul, of a heart, filled with compassion? It is a

heart which burns with love for every creature: for human beings, birds, and

animals, for serpents and for demons. The thought of them and the sight of

them make the tears of the saint flow. And this immense and intense

compassion, which flows from the heart of the saints, makes them unable to

bear the sight of the smallest, most insignificant wound in any creature.

Thus they pray ceaselessly, with tears, even for animals, for enemies of the

truth, and for those who do them wrong. "

--Saint Isaac the Syrian

November 3, 2002

Ellen,

I think this is common with cookbook. I'm always fiddling around with

recipes, or creating my own based on what I have in the garden or freezer.

And when it comes to cooking dried beans, that seems to be tricky - I

remember a discussion some time ago on some list I belonged to on how to

cook dried beans, and one person said one thing and another person said

another different procedure worked for her. What recipes are you having

trouble with?

Kris

> I am still quite new to the Nourishing Traditions way of eating, and

> I like the principles explained in the book. However, I have been

> experimenting with recipes in the book, and I'm not having as much

> success as I hoped. Is it just me, or is it that maybe Sally is

> either not a great chef or doesn't provide enough explanation for the

> novice regarding these methods?

>

> I would love to hear which recipes members of the group would highly

> recommend! And, are there other good cookbooks based on these

> principles?

>

> Thanks!

>

> Ellen

>

November 4, 2002

You need to use celtic sea salt otherwise your foods will taste salty. Even

then things will taste a little salty at first however after several years of

this diet you will find yourself adding more and more salt. Leaving things a

day or so longer generally isn't a problem. Not sure about your pantry. The

ticket is a cooler, constant temperature. If the temperature is fluctuating

your foods will spoil more rapidly. Sounds like your sprouted grain may have

been rancid. I had the same problem one time. Put a lid on your pancakes

while they cook. Also, are you using a cast iron pan or a heavy stainless

pan? It takes older style cookware to have successes with older style

cooking. When I first started I tried soaking with white flour and ended up

with glue. I finally invested in a grain grinder and starting buying whole

grain in 25 - 50 pound bags and it made a world of difference. I go through

grains fairly rapidly as I sprout them for my chickens, turkeys and ducks.

Umm...the eggs and meat are delicious! Sounds like you're just having the

same kinds of problems we all had when we got started. The important thing

is to start with top quality ingredients like the salt, yogurt, organic

produce, etc. And initially always have a back up plan. You can count on a

ton of flops at first (thank goodness for dogs, cats, chickens, etc) and kids

that will never forget your flops!

November 4, 2002

In a message dated 11/4/02 1:58:26 AM Eastern Standard Time,

ellen_davin@... writes:

> 3. I haven't had success with the cream cheese yet.

> Maybe it is better cultured -- I think I just tried

> with raw milk. Any tips?

From my experience, and from others I've talked to, the cream cheese has to

hang for 20-24 hours, rather than the several NT implies. She writes just to

let it hang till it stops dripping, but that's kind of vague. I always use

raw milk, and let it sit for 3-4 days. The cream cheese from the batch has

improved in texture very much over the last week in the fridge. Is it not

separating at all, or are you just not able to get a good-tasting

good-textured cream cheese out of it?

> 5. The pancakes didn't work for me; tasted strongly

> of baking soda. It may have been my fault -- I can't

> recall, but I think I might have used raw milk or

> uncultured buttermilk. If you vouch for them, I'll

> try again.

The pancakes are the best I've ever had, in my opinion, and even my mom loves

them, and she thinks everything else I do is pretty wierd. Make sure if you

use buttermilk that it's really cultured, b/c the stuff in the store is

usually pasteurized after culturing. I always use plain yogurt. I let them

soak for the full 24 hours. They came out best in the summer, so I think I

might start putting them in a cooler with light on inside or something to

raise the temp a little bit. If they tasted like baking soda, maybe you just

put too much baking soda in?

> 7. The breakfast porridge was really salty -- can't

> remember if I liked it otherwise.

What did you soak the oats in? I always use yogurt, b/c it adds a little

creaminess to it. The last couple times I've used a half-and-half whey and

yogurt combo, which has also worked fine. I suppose you must have soaked in

something too salty or added salt to it?

Good luck Ellen,

Chris

____

" What can one say of a soul, of a heart, filled with compassion? It is a

heart which burns with love for every creature: for human beings, birds, and

animals, for serpents and for demons. The thought of them and the sight of

them make the tears of the saint flow. And this immense and intense

compassion, which flows from the heart of the saints, makes them unable to

bear the sight of the smallest, most insignificant wound in any creature.

Thus they pray ceaselessly, with tears, even for animals, for enemies of the

truth, and for those who do them wrong. "

--Saint Isaac the Syrian

November 4, 2002

In a message dated 11/4/02 3:13:54 AM Eastern Standard Time,

BrenRuble@... writes:

> I finally invested in a grain grinder and starting buying whole

> grain in 25 - 50 pound bags and it made a world of difference.

Btw, if you dont' have a grain grinder-- like me-- you could try a coffee

grinder. It's kind of a pain, b/c you have to sift and regrind several

times, but it only takes about 10 minutes to do two cups. I feel much better

grinding my own hard red winter wheat. I dont' know if it is b/c it is

freshly ground or the variety of wheat it is, but I notice the difference in

how I feel.

Chris

____

" What can one say of a soul, of a heart, filled with compassion? It is a

heart which burns with love for every creature: for human beings, birds, and

animals, for serpents and for demons. The thought of them and the sight of

them make the tears of the saint flow. And this immense and intense

compassion, which flows from the heart of the saints, makes them unable to

bear the sight of the smallest, most insignificant wound in any creature.

Thus they pray ceaselessly, with tears, even for animals, for enemies of the

truth, and for those who do them wrong. "

--Saint Isaac the Syrian

November 6, 2002

In a message dated 11/6/02 1:04:43 AM Eastern Standard Time,

ellen_davin@... writes:

> Ellen replies: It separated fine -- it just didn't

> taste good or get a good texture. (It just occurred

> to me -- I always make butter with the cream from our

> raw milk, so I was started with " skimmed " milk. Is

> that my problem? Should I start with milk that has

> cream to make cream cheese? Duh?)

Ick! Well, I guess the taste difference amounts to the difference between

cream cheese and " fat-free " cream cheese. I havne't even seen a " fat-free "

variety in the store, so I imagine it must be gross! Lol! I'd try using

regular milk and see how it works out. Fortunately, I can just buy separated

cream. Skim milk doesn't have much use if you don't have pigs around. I

imagine if you started a worm bin you could feed them small amounts.

>

> Ellen replies:

> I measured the baking soda correctly. I believe it is

> possible that because I didn't use cultured buttermilk

> there was no other real flavor to overpower the baking

> soda. I'll try again based on your recommendation,

> thanks!

Also, are you topping them with syrup or anything? They really are a snack

and have to be topped with maple syrup or honey or something... _but_ I've

used leftovers more or less as " bread " and just put some butter on them and

they tasted fine to me. But since they don't have any sugar, they might pose

a problem to normal tastes without syrup. I think it's possible what your

culturing them in is the problem though, so I'd try it again. Remember to

use homemade cultured buttermilk. I almost bought some Gaerlick Farms

" cultured " buttermilk in the store, before I realized it was pasteurized

after it was cultured!

>

> Ellen replies:

> I soaked the oats in water mixed with whey, as

> directed. The recipe called for added salt, and I

> used the amount called for. But, it wasn't celtic sea

> salt -- I didn't have it yet (now I do). Would that

> make a difference?

>

Unless you have a different edition than me, one of us is making it wrong. I

think what might be happening is you are soaking them in the salt that is

required _after_ you soak them. However, I've been forgetting to add the

salt in the last 10 times-- was doing it from memory and just remembered

about it now!-- and it's worked fine. It's totally unnecessary except it

gets the water boiling a little faster and adds some minerals to your

breakfast. Try the celtic, if you still don't like it, you might just have

an overly sensitive taste for salt. Just leave the salt out. I soak mine in

an equal amount of water to oats, with two tablespoons of yogurt per cup of

warm water. Then I boil them in an additional, equal, amount of water the

next morning, just adding some stevia, cinamin, nutmeg, etc.

>

> Thanks, Chris!

>

> Ellen

Your welcome! Hope some of the suggestions work out.

Chris

November 6, 2002

hey, ellen and all--

> 2. Many times, the book calls for leaving something

> out for a certain number of hours or days. <snip>

> Not enough room in the fridge for all this!)<

i don't know if someone has already answered this, but here's my

response to (part of) your concern:

i attended a 4-day conference to which i took my jar of pickled

ginger. the hotel room didn't have a fridge, so it sat out for those

4 days and did perfectly fine. on occasion, i don't have enough room

in the fridge for all the LF goodies --even with the jars turned on

their side-- so the pickled ginger sits out on the kitchen

counter...sometimes for wks at a time. all to no ill effect. (and i

live in the south, and we keep it quite warm here.)

i don't know that i would try this with *all* of my LF goodies.

> 7. The breakfast porridge was really salty -- can't remember if I

liked it otherwise. <

when i first started " NT-ing " , the porridge was my first recipe, and

my first time for using salt in 20 yrs. so, yes, it tasted extremely

salty at first. i've gradually increased my salt intake, and now i'm

quite liberal in its use. just cut back and increase gradually.

hth--

allene

November 11, 2002

With regard to problems making cream cheese, Ellen wrote: It

separated fine -- it just didn't taste good or get a good texture.

(It just occurred to me -- I always make butter with the cream from

our raw milk, so I was started with " skimmed " milk. Is that my

problem? Should I start with milk that has cream to make cream

cheese? Duh?)

replied: Ick! Well, I guess the taste difference amounts to

the difference between cream cheese and " fat-free " cream cheese. I

havne't even seen a " fat-free " variety in the store, so I imagine it

must be gross! Lol! I'd try using regular milk and see how it works

out. Fortunately, I can just buy separated cream. Skim milk doesn't

have much use if you don't have pigs around. I imagine if you started

a worm bin you could feed them small amounts.

Ellen responds: So, I guess you are saying that if I make

butter with the cream from my milk, that what remains is unfit to

use? I can see where it would mess up cream cheese making (as I

said, duh!), but as to all uses (barring feeding pigs), that puzzles

me. So much so that I asked the nutritionist that introduced my to

NT. She said that it should be fine. She said that as long as you

are eating the butter as well, you are eating the whole food. I'd be

really interested to hear others' comments on this. (I also culture

the buttermilk -- what remains from the cream after making butter.

Any problem there?) And, if I don't skim the cream from my raw milk,

how do you blend it so that it is incorporated, not just setting on

the top?

Thanks again,

Ellen

November 20, 2002

Hi, I just joined this group and was reading through the archives

about the NT cookbook, since finding other people using this was one

reason I sought this group out. I found it amusing that the things

that gave some people trouble are the ones that worked for me. We

make Dutch Baby Pancakes about 3x a week, I just don't add the cup of

water that's called for. I also had the banana bread turn out. I

make mayonnaise at least once a month and it turns out great. I am

still making out family favorites all the time though like spagetti,

tacos, stir fry, etc. I guess I just make sure the ingredients are

more in line with NT. I would like to make more of the recipes in

the book, I'm just not always up to trying something new. I have had

a hard time with some of the recipes also. I made the cream cheese

cinnamon roll type things and they were just sort of awful and I

actually had a lot of trouble with the buttermilk biscuits, the

amount of buttermilk called for to soak them just doesn't seem like

enough. They were so dry, I just didn't know how to alter the recipe

to make it better. We had the chicken rice soup the other day and it

was so awesome and it was so easy to make, that one is going to be a

regular for this winter. Well, I'm just glad to find this list and

hope it inspires me to eat better. Oh, we get raw milk from our

neighbor and I found that sour cream turns out if the milk is heated

first, otherwise it's just smelly and separates and is nothing like

sour cream.

Michele

> Hi, and thanks for the responses! It is good to hear

> that I shouldn't give up on the recipes. It's kind of

> frustrating -- many of the recipes take days of

> anticipation, so the failures seem bigger somehow.

>

> To give you an idea of what I'm having trouble with

> regarding the Nourishing Traditions recipes, I'll get

> specific (as best I can remember).

November 20, 2002

In a message dated 11/20/02 12:29:15 AM Eastern Standard Time,

jrowley8@... writes:

> I made the cream cheese

> cinnamon roll type things and they were just sort of awful

I liked the cream cheese breakfast pastries, but was disappointed with them

because I was expecting them to be like the butterscotch curls I grew up

eating. I think the problem with this and some other recipes is there is no

baking powder called for. When I made waffle for the first time a week ago,

the recipe that served six actually made 3 waffles that were twice as dense

as they should be. I think how things rise might depend on a lot of things,

what kind of wheat being used, temperature, how well it soured (temperature

also involved), etc, and my situation needs baking powder. In any case, the

pastries it just might have been they aren't _supposed_ to be like my

butterscotch curls, however, I'm going to try to make them that way by adding

baking powder and putting them in muffin pans rather than non-rise on a

cookie sheet.

Chris

November 20, 2002

In a message dated 11/20/02 10:32:48 AM Eastern Standard Time, jc137@...

writes:

> The cream cheese pastries are meant (and are, if I remember) to be like the

> Jewish pastry " rugalach " --the pastry should be kind of dense, not flaky and

> light like a croissant.

>

Right, but they are very similar in the recipe to butterscotch curls my

grandmother always made. The main difference is the curls come out

bisquit-like. So I'm going to try to adjust the recipe to make an

NT-compatible butterscotch curl ;-)

November 20, 2002

The cream cheese pastries are meant (and are, if I remember) to be like the

Jewish pastry " rugalach " --the pastry should be kind of dense, not flaky and

light like a croissant.

----- Original Message -----

From: ChrisMasterjohn@...

Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2002 6:38 AM

Subject: Re: Re: Nourishing Traditions Recipes