Here are some recent delicious home-made paleo meals…
Veggie egg drop soup (made with Angel eggs!):
Spicy Turkey Meatballs:
Hearty Beef Stew:
Archive: January, 2012
More Paleo Food
Wednesday, January 25th, 2012Kombucha Tea
Monday, January 23rd, 2012In my health and nutrition reading, I have come across a lot of sources spouting the benefits of fermented foods, ranging from improving digestion and restoring gut flora to protecting your body from colon cancer and inflammatory bowel disease. I’ve even heard that they can improve your skin tone. This is no scientific blog, so feel free to research this on the many informational websites out there! Kombucha tea is a fermented drink that has long been used for all these conditions and more.
Luke’s mom has been brewing this “mushroom juice” for about 15 years, and her kids always thought it was gross and made fun of her for it. She looks great though, so everyone figured she must be doing something right! When I told her I was interested in starting to brew Kombucha, she gave me the next “mommy” mushroom when she harvested her batch, along with instructions. Basically, you need a starter mushroom, distilled water, a cup of sugar, and 6 tea bags- either green tea or black tea but not herbal.
First, brew the tea in the distilled water and add sugar:
Once the tea has cooled completely (if it’s warm, it can kill your mushroom!) put the tea and the mushroom in a large glass bowl or jar, covered with cloth, or in this case, the bowl’s cover but not completely sealed:
Wait 7-10 days. A new “baby” mushroom will grow on top of the “mommy” and the tea is ready to harvest.
Strain the tea into a glass pitcher (there will be stringy goo from the mushroom that you want to strain out) and refrigerate, enjoy over the next week!
Separate the mommy and baby mushrooms, then start a new batch with the baby (or two batches with the mommy and baby!)- it’s kind of like friendship bread where you use a bit of the last batch to start the next.
I used green tea, and it turned out sweet, and a little bit lemony. Over the course of the week as I drank it, it seemed to become more carbonated. Also, it has negligible amounts of alcohol in it from the fermentation process.
My Primal Kitchen
Sunday, January 22nd, 2012Here are a few things that are a part of a primal diet and lifestyle!
Backyard chicken eggs, freshly laid!
Tea
Crock pot- great for bone broth, stews, and all kinds of cooking!
Tea pot
Roasted turkey drumstick & colorful salad!
Andrew’s Birthday at Marakesh
Saturday, January 21st, 2012Last week we celebrated Andrew’s birthday by heading to Marakesh, a Moroccan restaurant with a belly dancing show. The food was good, but unfortunately this time the show was not very good. I wanted to test out the D3s though, because the restaurant is very dark- and that’s before they turned off the lights! The camera held up well, even up to 6400 ISO.
Exposure 0.167 sec (1/6)
Aperture f/2.8
Focal Length 62 mm
ISO Speed 2500
Exposure Bias -2/3 EV
Exposure 0.05 sec (1/20)
Aperture f/2.8
Focal Length 28 mm
ISO Speed 2500
Exposure Bias -2/3 EV
Exposure 0.033 sec (1/30)
Aperture f/1.4
Focal Length 50 mm
ISO Speed 3200
Exposure 0.033 sec (1/30)
Aperture f/1.4
Focal Length 50 mm
ISO Speed 2500
Exposure Bias -2/3 EV
Exposure 0.04 sec (1/25)
Aperture f/1.4
Focal Length 50 mm
ISO Speed 2500
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Exposure 0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture f/1.4
Focal Length 50 mm
ISO Speed 6400
Exposure Bias -2/3 EV
Exposure 0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture f/1.4
Focal Length 50 mm
ISO Speed 6400
Exposure Bias -2/3 EV
Exposure 0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture f/1.4
Focal Length 50 mm
ISO Speed 6400
Exposure Bias -2/3 EV
Alexa’s Birthday
Thursday, January 19th, 2012Alexa turned 12 last week, and we headed over to celebrate on Sunday afternoon. It has been a really interesting and awesome experience coming into Alexa and Kayla’s lives a few years ago as a stranger, and slowly (or quickly, in Kayla’s case) being welcomed as another aunt. I got to meet Jillian when she was first born, and now she is running around and playing- I just love seeing how they’ve grown! Alexa is really turning into a young lady with a lot of maturity… I remember how I thought and felt when I was her age. She has a lot of things to do and experience in the next bunch of years, and she has a good head on her to make the most of it!
Alexa is a great big sister to Jillian:
Jillian loves to play ball and has a little attitude!
Kayla’s Super Hermit Crab…
My Favorite Photos of 2011
Monday, January 16th, 2012I have delayed on writing this post because I didn’t even know where to start. 2011 was an amazing year- I was so busy all year, my niece was born, Luke and I tied the knot, we had an amazing trip to Alaska, my diet got an overhaul and we started Crossfit, got the Angels, girls’ nights grew by a few members, and so many other things big and small! These are in chronological order, not order of favorite or importance because I am just not up to the task of ranking… I am just choosing one(ish) per month. Without further ado…
January, 2011: Dave & Karen’s Engagement Ornament
February, 2011: Luke at the Manor, Valentines Day
March, 2011: Jessica Rabbit & Mr. Bojangles
April, 2011: Adriana Sailor
May, 2011: Erik & Meg’s Wedding
June, 2011: I was in the final throes of wedding planning at this point, so there are not very many photos in June! I had recently started eating a paleo diet though… Paleo Salmon-Zucchini Appetizers
July, 2011: THIS WAS THE HARDEST TO CHOOSE, so many amazing photos from the wedding week, day, and honeymoon! I decided to go for majestic here… Humpback Whales in Juneau, Alaska
August, 2011: I barely have anything for August, but that’s when we first got the Angels- not the best photography, but a happy memory! Free-Range Chickens
September, 2011: So many choices… Bill & Holly’s wedding, hurricane, Peter & the Twins at the Fortress, beauty shots of the Angels, that awesome Cicada exoskeleton, the Miss Philippines pageant… September was a busy month! I’m going to go with this photo of Kayla from the pageant… for some reason, my lens was all fuzzy that day and so I only shot a few photos with my camera, the rest on Luke’s dad’s camera. This is one of the few I got- all the stage lights were creating mad bokeh behind Kayla, who was totally entranced by the pageant (which Lara, of course, won!)
October, 2011: Lili & Sergey at the Nash Dancenter Fall Showcase
November, 2011: Tiny Mouse in a Shoe, a “tail” of survival!
November, 2011 BONUS! The Frelinghuysen Arboretum – Yellow
December, 2011: Sailor
December, 2011 BONUS! The First Angel Egg
Flickr Follower Favorites of 2011
Sunday, January 8th, 2012Time for the 2011 re-cap series! These are the photos that were favorites on Flickr for the year. Of course shots from earlier in the year have racked up more activity, but photos of Betty are always popular!
#10: Christmas in Minnesota- Sailor & Great Grandpa John
#9: Christmas in Minnesota – Sailor
#8: The Frelinghuysen Arboretum – Gillian
#7: Mother
#6: Calm Cats
#5: Dave’s Marriage Proposal Ornament for Karen
#4: Bird in the Snowy Branches
#3: Betty – 11 Months
#2: American Snow Storm – Mountain Lakes, NJ
#1: Betty the Rottweiler Loves the Snow!
