Nourishing Traditions Cookbook Giveaway

If you have been enjoying my fermenting recipes . . . now you can enjoy them a little bit more.

You already know that I like the Nourished Kitchen. 

I like fermenting.  I want you to like it too.

In fact, I highly recommend enrolling in the Get Cultured e-course. 

But you already knew that. 

I first started learning about fermentation from the Nourishing Traditions cookbook. 

And though I think this cookbook rocks, I think that the Get Cultured e-course would be more like a quarry than a rock in your kitchen.

However, I would still like you to have the book. 

So . . . . twofold blog post. 

• First, sign up for the Get Cultured e-course using the code sourpickles to receive $20 off!  This coupon is only valid until Monday.  (Classes start March 4th.)
• Secondly, win a copy of Nourishing Traditions! 

 

RULES
Please, please, please . . .do not put more than one entry per comment. I will be using www.random.org to pick the winners. Make sure you leave your email address in your comment.  All options are worth 1 entry.

(Mandatory) Read about The Nourished Kitchen e-course and tell me one thing that you would like to learn if you enrolled in it.

1. Become one of my fans through Google Connect if you aren't already! (It’s over there on your right . . . see all of the little people?)
2. Sign up to take The Nourished Kitchen e-course through my link and give yourself 10 entries.
3. Tweet, blog, email some friends, or Facebook about the giveaway and then come back and leave me the link or a copy of your email.  Do this as often as you like.  Spread the good bacteria!
4. Subscribe to my blog.

Remember, only #1 is mandatory. The rest of the entries are optional, but you MUST comment separately for each one.

The Fine Print: I will email you when you have won. You must respond within 48 hours.

Contest ends February 28, 2011 at Midnight

P.S.  This giveaway has nothing to do with The Nourished Kitchen . . . . Who knows?  I may send you my battered and loved recipe book or a new one. 

GOOT: Dinner For Your Foot

It’s got a funny name. 

But it will make your kids laugh.

Tell them you are baking dinner on their feet.  An Italian dinner.  A rich, garlic-filled, oily, Mediterranean dinner . . . on their feet.

Instead of savory smells wafting through the house, allow GOOT to simmer its way through their delicate skin to nourish that active and perhaps over stimulated immune system. 

As you stir the oil around their precious feet, watch them bubble with delight and . . . well . . . howl like a tea kettle at the silliness of mommy making dinner on their foot.

Like a Crockpot. 

Overnight.

GOOT.  What is it?  Someone posted a a recipe for on my old food co-op Yahoo group.  It’s a remedy.  It’s a salve.  It’s an ointment.  It’s homemade.  You can eat the ingredients.

I had to use it last night.

For him.  Not her.

He . . . my Mr. Smiley . . . wasn’t smiling.  He was coughing. 

It scared me.  I had to do something.  As usual . . . I resorted to the kitchen after a small nudge from the Lord saying, “Remember GOOT?”

Ahhh . . . yes, Lord.  Thank you, Lord.

GOOT.  A little garlic, a little olive oil, a little coconut oil.

It can be used for many things . . . here is what my notes say,

This multipurpose homemade ointment can be used on insect bites, Athlete’s Foot, sores inside the mouth, ear infections, Candida, parasites, bacteria and viruses.  When GOOT is rubbed into the skin, the raw garlic oil is transferred directly into the blood stream.

How did I use it last night?

I lathered GOOT all over Gabe’s feet and sealed it in with a pair of OLD socks.  Likewise, I massaged it into Gabe’s chest, since that is where the coughing resided.  His lungs.  His gasping lungs.  And allowed an old shirt to absorb the remaining oil that couldn’t possibly stay solid on his feverish body. 

I’m not saying GOOT is perfect.  I’m not saying it will cure your child’s cough.  All I’m saying is that it helped Gabe's.

His cough significantly dissipated.

He could sleep.  Peacefully.

GOOT

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons chopped garlic
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoons coconut oil

Directions:

• Peel garlic and chop finely if you are mixing by hand or with an immersion blender.  Since I used my Vitamix, I left the garlic cloves whole.

• Blend garlic, olive oil, and coconut into a paste.

• Store in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.  Apply when necessary on aforementioned ailments.  You can still use your GOOT after two weeks, it just won’t be as potent.

Remember . . . this recipe is not a medical opinion or advice from a medical practitioner.  I simply have used this recipe and it has been effective in our household.

See what other Foodies have made this week over at The Food Renegade.

Elementary Round Up

Sigh.  I’m late.  A week late. 

But we’ve had sickness.  And more sickness.  I’m not sure why, or how, or where it came from. 

It was surprising.  That is for sure. 

We’ve done school, but in odd places.

Mostly, we’ve figuratively traveled to China.  And had a blast.  Complete with a tea party. 

I’d love to share more.

However, it is a nice day and my first grader is playing outside.  His delightful sounds are beckoning me to join him.

And so I must.

What did you do these past 3 weeks since our last link up?

Well . . . I was going to provide a link for you . . . but Mr. Linky says I didn’t pay for it . . . but I did.

Soooooooooooooo  . . . . leave your link in the comments.  Thanks!

Must Have Refrigerator Item: Apricot Butter

There is something intensely gratifying about fermenting food. 

It’s a habit for me.  A healthy addiction, you might say. 

One day . . . I went a little wild.  I wanted to grow as many organisms as I could.  And I did.

See that Mason Jar with the brown stuff in it?  It’s good.  It’s good for you.  And by fermenting this certain little brown dried fruit you . . . . um . . .  don’t get the “toots.” (Not that I ever “toot.”)

Was that TMI?

Ready for this fermented must-have?

Probiotic Apricot Butter

(compliments of the Nourished Kitchen)

Ingredients

• 2 cups dried unsulphured apricots
• 1/2 tsp unrefined sea salt
• 3 tbsps fresh whey, divided
• 1/4 cup raw honey
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp powdered ginger

Directions

• Cover apricots in hot water and jealously watch them soak in that luxurious hot bath (can you tell what I would like to do with a good book?)

• Drain and process in a Vitamix or other food processor with sea salt and two tablespoons fresh whey until smooth.

• I know . . . it looks concerning.  But trust me – it’s good for your gut!  Kids will want to dive into these formerly bathing beauties!

• Transfer creamy apricots into the confining Mason Jar and cover with remaining whey.

• Allow said contents to nap for two days (lucky) covered, while you busily live life around resting apricots. 

• When it’s time to wake the apricots up, slide them back into the Vitamix along with honey, cinnamon, and ginger.

• Process until smooth.  Spoon into a clean Mason Jar and place this tasty concoction in your fridge.  It will be good for 6-8 weeks.

Recently, we finished our probiotic apricot butter by lathering it on some sprouted Holy Homemade Crackers. 

Divine.  Seriously.  God knew what He was doing when He gave someone the inspiration to start fermenting foods.  And I’m thankful how simple recipes like this are improving my resistance to infection (slowly but surely). 

If you have been enjoying my fermenting recipes . . . you can thank Jenny over at the Nourished Kitchen.  If you really want to start fermenting foods in your kitchen, then I highly recommend enrolling in the Get Cultured e-course.  Use the code sourpickles to receive $20 off!  Classes start March 4th.

Pneumonia

She stares up at me with those deep, twinkling blue eyes.

I hold her in my left arm while my right arm wills itself to hold the mask up to her face.

She grabs it like it’s a microphone.

And she sings.

And she laughs.

And she bats those long eyelashes.  The same eyelashes her daddy has.

While she sings, moist air flows into her lungs . . . prying them open like a crowbar.  Opening her chest with the same motion I slide her pink gingham curtains each morning. 

The whole family joins in the concert. . . brothers dance a jig to the tune of Jesus Loves Me.

Every toy becomes a music instrument.

The nebulizer our base. 

We exist to entertain her.  To will her lungs to clear up.  To beat her temperature down with our Melissa and Doug hammer.

Because we love her.

Now that the scare is over . . . I can tell you. I can process.  I can write. 

I met pneumonia.  And I don’t like it.  Especially when it preys on my children.