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Food Philosophy, Recipes and Tutorials from NourishedKitchen.com
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Food Philosophy Food Philosophy (pg 8) Your Ingredients (pg 10) Teaching Your Kids to Appreciate Fruits and Vegetables (pg 15)
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Your Ingredients
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holesome ingredients are essential to the flavor and quality of your food. Indeed, the nutritional value of your meat, eggs, milk, vegetables and fruit actually changes depending on many factors. For instance, eggs from pasture-raised hens contain more omega-3 fatty acids than do eggs from industrial farms. Meat from grass-fed ruminants also contain more omega-3 fatty acids than the meat from their grain-fed counterparts. Some studies indicate that fruits and vegetables that are organically and locally grown are higher in nutrients and bioflavonoids than chemically-treated fruits and vegetables that have been trucked in from a long distance. If you don’t believe the nutritional benefits of properly raised animal foods and properly grown fruits and vegetables, you must consider the environmental cost of not choosing these foods. Feed lots pollute our waters. Pesticides contaminate our bodies, our soil and our water. You and your family deserve wholesome food, and you need the max nutrition available from the foods that you do choose.
Grains • • • • • • • •
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Grains should be whole or close to whole. Choose oat groats or steel cut oats, wheat berries, whole buckwheat, brown rice and quinoa etc. If you choose flour, choose whole meal flour. Grains should be organically grown. Grains should be locally grown if possible. If you don’t care for the heavy taste of whole wheat in your pastries and light breads, try using whole white wheat made white spring berries which tends to have a lighter flavor and texture. Grains contain anti-nutrients like phytic acid, so to maximize the bioavailability of their vitamins and minerals you must soak, sour or sprout all the grains and flours you use. There’s a whole world beyond wheat and rice, so take advantage of unusual varieties like quinoa, buckwheat, amaranth, millet, rye and other varieties.
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Legumes should be bought dried and in bulk as this will save you money. Cans from canned beans may leach heavy metals or bisphenol-A (a plastic) into your food. Legumes should be organically grown. Legumes should be locally grown if possible. Legumes, like grains, contain antinutrients called phytates so they must also be soaked, sprouted or fermented prior to cooking. Protein and iron from legumes is more bioavailable when cooked with meat, so add a little to your pot to maximize your nutrients. Enjoy a wide variety of legumes: there’s several kinds of lentils and there’s a huge variety of beans.
Soy •
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If you eat soy, only choose organically grown soy. Most soy is genetically modified and heavily sprayed. So, if you purchase a conventional soy product chances are that you are purchasing a genetically modified crop. Organic standards preclude the inclusion of genetically modified organisms. Purchase local organic soy if available. If you eat soy, do not use it as a mainstay of your diet as large quantities of soy have been linked to autoimmune diseases like thyroid disease. Stick with condiment-sized portions. Soy is extremely high in phytates and other anti-nutrients, so if you choose to eat it you must only eat fermented versions of soy like tempeh or miso. For what it’s worth, most tofus available in the grocery store are not fermented and should therefore be avoided. You should also avoid soy-based pseudofoods like soy milk, soy cheese, TVP, soy burgers and soy sausages. They are not real food.
Vegetables • • • •
Vegetables should be organically or sustainably grown. Vegetables should be grown locally and you should always choose a locally grown vegetable over a vegetable that has traveled a long distance. Choose fresh vegetables first, frozen vegetables second and canned vegetables dead last. Eat plenty of vegetables in their raw form. The enzymes are good
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philosophy
Legumes
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Maple-glazed Root Vegetables Sweetened by a touch of maple syrup and dripping with clarified butter, these root vegetables are as equally well-suited to the breakfast table as they are to the dinner table.
Ingredients 3 large carrots, peeled 3 large parsnips, peeled 2 tablespoons ghee or clarified butter 1 to 2 tablespoons grade B maple syrup dash unrefined sea salt
recipes
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Method
1. Julienne the peeled parsnips and carrots by cutting them into thin matchsticks no thicker than ¼-inch. 2. Melt the ghee in a skillet over medium heat. 3. Add the julienned carrots and parsnips to the melted ghee, and stir continuously over medium heat until the vegetables become slightly tender – or about 5 – 6 minutes. Note that some of the parsnips and carrots may become slightly caramelized. 4. Gently stir in the grade B maple syrup and season with a dash salt. Continue to stir the carrots and parsnips for about 1 to 2 minutes or until the vegetables are wellglazed by the maple syrup. 5. Serve warm.
YIELD: four to six servings
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How to Render Lard Despite its bad reputation, lard can be a truly wholesome and nourishing fat - particularly if the hogs have been pasture-raised with plenty of access to sunshine and fresh air. Lard itself is rich in monounsaturated fat (the same fat found in olive oil) and vitamin D.
What You Need • • • • • •
2 ½ pounds of pastured leaf lard or hog fat ½ cup filtered water heavy-bottomed stock pot fine mesh sieve 100% cotton cheesecloth 1 half-gallon mason jar or 2 quart-sized mason jars
How You Do It
tutorials
1. With a sharp knife, trim any blood spots or remaining meat from the lard. 2. Chop the fat into ½-inch cubes. 3. Add the chopped fat and the filtered water to a heavy bottomed stock pot and simmer over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. 4. After about 45 minutes to one hour, the water will evaporate, the fat will begin to melt and the cracklings – little bits of browned fat – will begin to float to the surface of the pot. Continue to gently stir the melted Eventually those cracklings will sink to the bottom of the stock pot, at that point you may remove your pot from the heat. 5. Line a fine mesh sieve with a 100% cotton cheesecloth and strain the melted fat, reserving the cracklings for another use (they’re quite nice salted and eaten as a snack or served in place of breadcrumbs in a gratin). 6. Pour the melted fat into mason jars and allow to cool. The melted fat will be golden-brown in color, but, when cooled, will appear a creamy white. YIELD: one-half gallon lard
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Photo by Dusty Demerson.
Your Ingredients
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n advocate for farm fresh foods and sustainable agriculture, I believe that food is something worthy of celebration. Alongside my husband, we’ve nurtured and grown our local foodshed – connecting small family farms with an eager customer base through our farmers market. Together we created and manage a lively, progressive farmers market in the heart of Colorado ski country that nourishes our community. With an unshakeable belief that everyone deserves access to high quality, nutrient-dense foods we’ve spearheaded programs that provide free food to low-income residents of our community and steadily supply our community’s foodbank with wholesome, sustainably grown local foods. Real food takes real work. And it’s worth it.
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