Apple Nut Bake

Apple Nut Bake
8 apples peeled and diced
100g of pecans - Activated
100g of Walnuts - Activated
300g of Almond meal
400g butter
5 TB of Honey


Put the apples in the base of a baking dish. Sprinkle chopped Pecans and walnuts over the top, Cover with Almond meal. Sprinkle chopped butter over the top, with drops of honey. Bake in the Oven on 180C for 45mins.

Yum!

Kefir Pancakes.

Ingredients
2 cups of Flour (grain of your choice)
1 1/2 cups of Milk Kefir
2tbs Baking powder
1/4 sweetener (your choice)
2 eggs
Extra Kefir, or Milk.

1. The night before combine your flour and your 1 1/2 cups of Kefir. Then leave in the fridge to soak over night.
2. After Soak, add all remaining ingredients, then enough extra Kefir or milk to make a nice batter constancy.
3. Pour and Fry your pancakes is a well grease pan with coconut oil or butter.
4 Serve and Enjoy!

*We enjoy ours with a berry reduction and Yoghurt, with a little coconut shaved over the top. Brings smiles all round.

For those of you that actually know my family, know that my husband has some very painful stomach issues. Over the years we have done a number of things that have really helped, like introducing probiotic foods, like kefir, kombucha, sour dough breads, fermented veggies and so on. However the stomach pain is still hanging on. So now we have decided it's time to take some more drastic steps to actually healing the gut. So after about a year of considering, pondering, researching, and planning, we have decided to take the plug and do the GAPS Diet. Now we are doing it not only for his health but also mine. I'm currently over weight and have been struggling with Gestation Diabetes with all my pregnancies, and we as a few other things. So I'm hoping that this time will be a healing time for us all. I would love to get my body in line/ order before having another baby. I dream of one day being able to have problem free pregnancy and birth. Also my husband and I are currently both studying natural Medicine. Ben is doing Herbal Medicine, and I am studying to be a Naturopath. For me I can see how the GAPS Diet would be helpful for a large number of people, so if it's something that I would proscribe I would like to have first hand experience with it. SO on my Cultures page I was asked if I was blogging about this experience and at the time I didn't really think about doing that. However as I think more about it I actually think blogging about the experience would be helpful to me and to other as we go along.

SO Yes I'm going to blog about it. If you would like to read about our personal journey with GAPS please following along on my personal blog, http://thejoyofthehome.blogspot.com.au/

Sally Fallons Sour Dough Recipe.

This Recipe makes 4-6 loaves.


2 Quarts (8 Cups) of sour dough Starter ( will add a recipe Later)13 Cups freshly Ground spelt, kamut, or hard wheat, (I used unbleached white flour)2 1/2 Tablespoons of sea salt/about 1 1/2 cups of Water.

Your started should be room temperature.

Place starter, salt, and 1 Cup of water into a large bowl and mix with a wooden spoon until the salt crystals have dissolved. Slowly Mix in the flour. Towards the end you will find it easier to mix with your hands. You may add the other 1/2 cup of water if the dough becomes too thick. It should be rather soft and easy to work. Knead by pulling and folding over, right in the bowl, for 10 to 15 minutes; or knead in batches in you food processor.

Without Pressing down the dough, cut or shape loaves into the desired shapes or place into 3 large well buttered loaf pans or 5-6 smaller loaf pans. Cut a few slits in the top of the dough, cover and let rise from 4 to 12 hours, depending on the temperature. Bake at 350F ( 180C degrees) for about an hour. Allow to cool before slicing.

The bread will keep up to a week without refrigeration.

* When I made this recipe I halved the mixture to make two big loaves.

** Recipe found in Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon.

Water Kefir - Recipe/ Instructions

Ingredients
1-2 Tbs of Water Kefir Grains
6 Table Spoons of Sugar, Raw, brown, molasses, Rapadura work well for propagation and healthy Grains
Water flitered
Dried Fruit, Sultana's work well
500mls to 1 litre Jar

Optional extras
a few slices of lemon
1/2 an egg shell- add calcium

1. Start by making a sugar water by mixing 3/4 a jar of water with you sugar, stir until dissolved
2. Once dissolved you then add you Grains, Dried fruit and the optional extra's if you wish.
3. Add Lid or cover with a cloth. Leave for 24 -48 hours, if you have problems with sugar you can leave for a bit longer, but you will get a more bitter taste.
4. you will know that your water Kefir is ready for drinking when you sultana's are floating on the top, when you remove the lid you may hear a hissing sound.
5. Remove sultana's and strain grains out and put aside for the next batch.
6. You are now ready to add flavour if you wish. Also start you next batch of water kefir fermenting.
7. Once you add you flavour you can leave to ferment for another day, or leave for a an hour, then drink.

Flavours
Flavours that we have tried and like.
Vanilla = homemade creaming soda.
Mandarine/orange peel = Fanta like flavour
Lemon Juice or peel = Homemade lemonade
Ginger= ginger beer
Grape juice, = a delicious refreshing drink.
Add Vanilla, cinnamon and lime juice for a cola "like" flavour.
Any Fruit that you can get your hands on should work, Berries are great and really refreshing.

# recommend only using organic sugar, and fruit products that come into contact with the grains.

Have Fun and Enjoy your Water Kefir. Christina

Making Kombucha

~DIRECTIONS FOR KOMBUCHA TEA~
1 litre boiling water
2 – 3 tea bags
1/4 - 1/3 cup of sugar
100 ml starter tea (previous brew of kombucha tea)
Piece of Kombucha mushroom from previous brew

1. Boil a litre of water in a stainless steel pot - no aluminum. No Microwaves. You can boil for 10 minutes to remove the chlorine if your filter does not remove chlorine.

2. Add 1/4 - 1/3 cup sugar and mix until dissolved. NO metal utensils. Metal, even rings on hands should NEVER touch the kombucha. We use a wooden spoon.

3.Add 2-3 tea bags and steep and cool to room temp. Remove bags.

4. Place kombucha and 100 ml starter tea (your culture will be floating in the starter tea) in glass jar - plastic may leach into tea so only use glass.

5.Pour tea you made into jar but leave about 1-2 inches room for tea to "breathe" while brewing.

6. Cover with the cotton cloth and secure with rubber band (to keep fruit flies out) & cover with cotton towel to keep light out. Place in pantry or on counter (just not in direct sun) and do not disturb!

7.Optimum temperature 23 to 30 deg. Will start to die over 35 deg.

8. Start tasting after 4-5 days (you can use a straw) and let it brew until your preferred taste. The longer you brew, the more acidic/vinegary it gets. When you see bubbles at the top of the liquid, it should be just right, nice and tart and sparkling. Ours takes about 5-8 days, although it can take up to 10 and even longer in cooler months. For Diabetes brew 14 days. In the warmer months it does not take as long.

9. Remove the mushroom and the baby mushroom (new mushroom) which may have attached itself to the first. Bottle or drink. Start all over again!You can store in fridge to slow further fermentation after the brew is done. Even though the mushrooms are out, it will still continue to ferment slowly and develop dead yeast cell strings.

10. Add your flavourings fruit berries, for Jams, juices, for sweet ice tea drinks. You can also add ginger and spices and make a more savour flavour. Try and few things and see what appeals to you. This stage is called the second ferment, and you can leave it for 6 hours - a few days.

# I do suggest starting slowly with Kombucha consumption, it's a detoxify drink and if you drink to much at once you will have some bathroom issues. Also drink with plenty of water.

## There is a lot information that suggests not drinking while pregnant or breastfeed. I advise that you do your own research, and then make an informed choice. If you do choose to drink while breastfeeding and pregnancy, and you are not a regular drinker before, I would recommend starting with small amounts, even adding water, very slowly increasing over a long period of time, until your body has adjusted. So listen to your body, and follow it's lead.

Vanilla Bean Birthday Cake - GAPS Friendly

Well I have finally found my camera cord, so here as promised is the pictures from my Bean cake, that we enjoyed so much for my daughters birthday.

Recipe
3 cups of white navy beans.
9 Tbles of coconut oil
1 cup + 2tbls of honey
6 eggs
2 Tbles of Vanilla, I used my homemade vanilla essence.
3/4 tsp of good quality salt.
1 tsp of baking soda. Aluminum free.

Mix all ingredients together in a blender or food processor, until well combined. Pour into a with greased cake pan. Bake for 40-45 mins on 180C, or a little longer if not quite set.

I served mine with Yoghurt mixed with kvass to make it pink, drizzled over the top, and then covered with berries. :0)

So here is it again with the birthday girl :0)

Now I didn't get think this fabulous idea up on my own, I found the recipe on Modern Alternative Mama blog http://www.modernalternativemama.com/blog/2011/2/10/recipe-collection-white-bean-vanilla-cake.html Go check it out, has lots of great recipes that you can try. :0)