You might have noticed that the recipes I post here are sorted seasonally. There's good reason for this, not only is it different, but my family eats seasonally. It's that simple. Of course some recipes will fall into a grey area and will be posted in the season I more often make them during or I'll double post it- so if you're looking for a recipe like chili, you'll probably find it in Autumn or Winter, or both. I also include some medicinal recipes and information in this section because we believe that food is medicine and medicine can be food.

Notes

Grains, nuts and legumes

You'll notice that in just about every recipe that includes one of the above, I specify soaked, sprouted or crispy.  The reason for this process is to neutralize phytic acid that makes the food difficult to digest and affects mineral absorption. Many also notice that beans don't have quite as flatulant an effect when sprouted or soaked prior to cooking and some who have sensitivities to some nuts do not have the same reaction when consuming crispy nuts. Crispy nuts are coined from the book Nourishing Traditions in which the author, Sally Fallon, gives instruction for soaking and then dehydrating.


Pastured, grass fed and free range

I mean all of these terms int  he most literal sense. The diet of the animal is just as important as the diet we eat. Some animals just weren't built to eat corn and soy and all animals benefit from time spent out in the sunshine on fresh grass with plenty of elbow room. This very much increases the nutritional value of the animal foods we consume.


Butter, ghee, coconut oil, bacon drippings, lard, etc.

Believe it or not, these are the good guys. Well, olive oil as well but I don't cook with it, I save it for salad dressings and herbal preparations. Now, the animal fats- this is where the sun and grass and elbow room really plays a role in nutrition. When an a pig or chicken spends most of its daytime hours out int he sun, those yolks and that lard become rich in vitamin D. This is just an example, you wouldn't believe how wonderful butter from a pastured cow is!


Liver

Liver truly is the nutrient dense, super food is was touted as years ago. When sourced from pastured animals, it should be integrated into the diet however possible. I manage this by mincing or pureeing the liver and mixing it into ground meat dishes. I can get away with adding more if it's a heavily spiced dish. Poultry livers are too good to mix in and hide but I've done that as well.


Sea salt

It's important to know that not all salt is created equally, and just as important to know the differences. True, unrefined sea salt should never be white. With that simple rule, it's easy determine what's real and what isn't at the grocery store. Here's a snipit on sodium from the article Seaweed is an Everyday Miracle by Susun Weed- "Sodium is not to blame for high blood pressure. Sodium chloride may be. Table salt may be. But table salt contains sugar, aluminum salts, and several other agents as well as sodium chloride. This is an unnatural salt solution and one that creates cardiovascular stress. The naturally occurring sodium in seaweeds (and garden weeds) bathes the inner being with rich salty nourishment, like the amniotic fluid of our original home. This sodium relieves tension in blood vessels made brittle by immersion in the wrong saline solution, table salt. (Note that commercial sea salt is usually as full of free flowing agents and other addenda as commercial table salt. Real evaporated seawater salt is pinkish in color. As usual, if it’s white, you can’t trust it.)"