Ingredients:

• Plain goat yogurt
• Fine sea salt
• Black pepper
• Fresh dill (dry is ok too, just a little different taste)
• Garlic powder

Tools:

• Cheese cloth
• Small mesh strainer

Directions:

1. Pour yogurt into a bowl
2. Add salt, pepper, dill and garlic to taste
3. Cut the cheese cloth into a shape that overlaps 3-4 times and fits into the strainer
4. Pour yogurt mixture into the strainer on top of the cheese cloth
5. Place strainer over a bowl and place in the refrigerator for at least a day, but up to 3 days.  The water in the yogurt will strain out and leave you with a thick, spreadable cheese.
6. Remove from strainer, peel cheese cloth off cheese. Place on a dish and smooth out the top to remove the marks from the cheese cloth
7. Serve with crackers or veggies

My little guy is almost 10 months old and finally cutting his first tooth.  I’ve been cautious about introducing foods that may trigger an allergy and hadn’t found a teething product with ingredients I liked.  And making foods from scratch is always healthier so I whipped up a test batch and my very picky eater loved them!

Spices are optional and you can add more or less of any of the listed.

Ingredients

• 2 cups brown rice flour
• 1/2 cup millet flour
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 4 Tablespoons unsweetened applesauce or apple baby food
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon cloves
• dash of nutmeg

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees
2. Place parchment paper on baking sheet
3. Combine all ingredients until moist–may need to add a few more teaspoons of maple syrup.  Mix will be grainy and not stick together well
4. Dump mix onto a Silpat or other non-stick surface and combine  mix further by hand
5. Mold 2-3 tablespoons of mix into the size sticks you’d like-they should be very dense
6. Cut off sides to make sticks a little cleaner looking, but not necessary
7. Place pieces on prepared baking sheet
8. Bake for 35-40 minutes on top rack
9. Turn off oven and let cool in oven for an hour
10. Store in air-tight container for up to 2 weeks or place in freezer.

www.eatwild.com is a site that connects you with farmers that sell grass-fed and grass-finished meats, pastured animals and heritage breeds in your area.  Many of these farmers also offer their meats via mail.

Meat from animals that are pastured are higher in omega-3′s and lower in fat.  They don’t need anibiotics because they’re not jammed into feed lots living in their own feces and without grass (what most of these animals are supposed to eat!)  The benefits go on and on. 

I’ll give a shout out to my favorite beef family River Run Farms in South Carolina.  You can find them at farmers markets in Charleston, Mt. Pleasant, and Columbia, or they welcome you to come to the farm. Give them a call.

River Run Farms, The Olivers: Ray, Nancy, Les and Page, 187 River Run Drive, Vance SC  29163. (803) 492-9878. E-mail: riverrunfarms@live.com.

My parents have a small farm in rural South Carolina where we spend our Thanksgiving. At one time, this was a full working farm. My parents don’t live there full time now, so they just let things grow that are already there. I’m lucky that there are tons of things that don’t need tending –just me to pop in a few times a year to harvest.

Last year I picked a few prickly pear fruits and took them home to experiment. I ended up making sorbet that was amazing. I peeled the fruit, threw it in a blender and strained the seeds out of the juice. Added lemon juice and some agave syrup for a hot pink frozen dessert.

This year I got lazy. I peeled, blended and strained but didn’t feel like making the effort to stir the concoction every 5 minutes to make sorbet (I don’t have an ice cream maker, I was using the ol’ toss it in the freezer and stir every 15 minutes for 2 hours method). Instead I poured the prickly pear fruit juice into ice cube trays for later use.

Today was deemed a good day for later use! I popped 3 ice cubes of juice in to a glass. Added a squirt of agave syrup, a splash of lime juice and topped it off with seltzer water. What a fantastic, refreshing drink!

The picture below is of the prickly pear in May.  All those flowers become dark purple fruits by Thanksgiving.

If you’re looking for gluten-free, be sure to substitute tamari for the soy sauce and check the ingredients in the corn starch (or leave out the corn starch, I don’t think it really needs it!)

SWEET AND SOUR BOK CHOY

2 tbsp. olive oil
1 head bok choy, washed, trimmed, & cut into 1″ pieces
1/4 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. minced fresh ginger root
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1 sliced sweet onion (I used half of a red onion)
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1/4 c. red wine vinegar

Heat oil in large skillet, add bok choy and onion. Cook and stir over high heat 1 minute. Blend sugar, vinegar and ginger; add to skillet. Mix well. Cover and steam 1 minute. Combine soy sauce and cornstarch with 1/2 cup water. Add to skillet. Cook and stir until thickened. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

The only negative I found was that to make this, I had to dirty up a lot of dishes–grater for turnips, mixer bowl, pan for bacon, pot to cook turnips, mixing bowl, pyrex dish.

Oh, I also forgot to add the sugar to the turnip water and it all tasted great without it.

Turnip Souffle
INGREDIENTS
2 pounds turnips, peeled and sliced (about 12 small turnips)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (can substitute brown rice or millet flour)
2/3 cup milk (can substitute goat milk or unsweetened almond or rice milk)
4 eggs, separated
4 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled (be sure to buy preservative-free bacon!)

DIRECTIONS
1. Cook bacon, set aside. Grease 11-in. x 7-in. x 2-in. glass baking dish, set aside. 

2. Place turnips, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and sugar in a saucepan; cover with water. Cover and cook until turnips are tender, about 20 minutes; drain well and mash.  Set aside.

3. In another saucepan, melt butter; stir in the flour and remaining salt until smooth. Add milk; bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Beat egg yolks in a small bowl; gradually stir in 1/2 cup hot milk mixture. Return all to pan; cook and stir for 1 minute. Stir in turnips; remove from the heat. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form; fold into batter.

4. Spoon batter into a greased glass baking dish. Sprinkle with bacon. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown.

This is a great Fall soup, freezes well, and is even better the day after you make it–the spice sets in.  You can also water this down more with coconut milk if you prefer it thinner.  And if you have leftovers, it tastes great as sauce on top of chicken. 

Pumpkin Coconut Bisque

2 tablespoons butter (or ghee or olive oil)
1 cup chopped onion
3 garlic gloves, minced
3 cups canned solid pack pumpkin
2 cups chicken broth
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

1 1 /2 cups (about) canned unsweetened coconut milk

1. Melt butter in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add onion and garlic. Sauté until golden, about 10 minutes. Add pumpkin, broth, sugar, allspice and crushed red pepper. Bring to boil. Reduce heat. Cover and simmer until flavors blend, about 30 minutes.
2. Working in batches, puree soup in blender until smooth. Return soup to pot (or better yet, use an immersion blender and do the whole pot at one time.)  Bring soup to simmer, thinning with coconut milk to desired consistency. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill. Rewarm soup before continuing.) Ladle soup into bowls. Optional: Sprinkle with nutmeg. 
   

I finished the box off with the cookie recipe and have resolved to never buy them again.  They taste fine but my family doesn’t need any extra chemicals.  All future raisins will be specially marked non-sulfite/sulfate and organic. 

Beware of any dried fruits: prunes, craisins, cranberries, apples, pineapple…they sell everything as a dried fruit snack these days.  Check the packaging-if it doesn’t specifically say that the fruit has not been treated, there’s a good bet that you’re getting preservatives with your “healthy” snack. 

Wegman’s carries their own line and Whole Foods has some options.  Check with your local health food store.  Even if you’re not allergic to sulfites, tell the staff at the store that you are–they take you more seriously and will be more helpful in finding what you need. 

Also, those small boxes of raisins may be a convenient snack for your little one, but I encourage you to buy in bulk and split the raisins up into reusable containers to give as snacks.  Snack packaging is a waste in the production, shipping and finally that it ends up in the dump (even if you recycle the packaging, it takes energy to make that box into something else.)

Here’s the recipe that I used for the kale.  I don’t add quite that much sugar and I add a tad more mustard–well, I really don’t measure anything and it always comes out tasting fabulous.  Kale is still in season in the South–try it today!

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 small onion diced
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
4 teaspoons sugar
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups Chicken broth
4 cups stemmed, rinsed, torn Kale
salt/pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Saute onions and garlic in olive oil until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add mustard, sugar, vinegar, and chicken stock, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
2. Stir in the kale, cover, and cook 10 minutes until wilted and kale begins to soften.
3. Salt and pepper to taste (I don’t think it needs either!)

The ingredients are all natural, there are no artificial sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup or even everyone’s new favorite Splenda (mmm, would you like some chlorine with your sugar?)  The soda can not say it’s sweetened with Stevia because our wonderful government says that it can’t be marketed as a sweetener in the US–mostly because NutraSweet, Splenda and Equal would disappear instantly if that was allowed.  So the drinks are marketed as a health supplement.  I guess Coca-cola should be marketed as an anti-health drink.  I digress.  Back to the Zevia.

Two thumbs up for the Cola flavor.  I even had a self-proclaimed Diet Coke addict try it and she said it was do-able and gave her the caffeine fix she needed in the morning.  I thought it was perfect!  I didn’t get that terrible fuzzy feeling on my teeth that I get when I drink a regular Coke.  I’ll be purchasing more of this for myself and to give samples to clients.

The lemon/lime and orange flavors were so/so.  I would give them 3 out of 5 stars.  The in ital flavor was OK, but there was a distinct Stevia after taste.  I would prefer my homemade soda to these even if mine have a few calories from the actual fruit.  These could use a little more fiddling to get the flavor right.  My mother, on the other hand, LOVES them.  I almost didn’t get to try these flavors because she was drinking them so quickly.  I know what to keep on hand when she visits! 

There is a fourth flavor that I didn’t try but will seek out the next time I’m at Earth Fare: Root beer.  I have high-hopes for this one! 

I also think the company could easily add a ginger-ale.  I would be singing high praises to them if they could get the flavor right.  I would also hand them to every client as a great drink to keep handy for sick kids or anyone that may have an upset stomach. 

Locate a store near you that sells Zevia here.