Beautiful, Delicious, and Brutal

The blessings of this weekend were many. Saturday morning I arose to a gorgeous sunrise. Simply amazing to take in and so incredibly time sensitive. I caught a glimpse of the sky, ran around trying to find my camera taking apparatus, ran outside and it had already changed colors. I got this picture, went inside, put my camera away, and looked back out the window and it was completely different. God is so creative. 

I finally got some bubbly kombucha!

Breakfast delight: crusty bread, pesto, liverwurst,
farm fresh egg, & tomato!

I was having a fabulous morning drinking my bubbly kombucha, eating amazing breakfast sandwiches and doing some baking. Then I decided to make it outside to do the chores and realized that we have another issue with chickens being massacred. Except this time, it's not the whole flock all at once. This weekend both mornings I noticed just one dead chicken carcass in the pen. It appears that the deaths are happening in the early morning time, because when I get to them, the bodies are still pretty warm. This varmit is also leaving the carcass versus the massacres we've had in the past, they just take everything. I'm not sure what it is, but I'm thinking possibly a hawk? Just because the most of the carcass is still there and it's only getting one at a time. Any thoughts friends? 

Homemade Mayo Success

I was helping my mom craft up some deviled eggs for tonight's social gathering and decided to give homemade mayonnaise a try again. Last time I tried this feat it resulted in a runny mess that tasted really good but was more of a mayo flavored sauce than thick creamy mayo. Today I tried again and I experienced success! The trick is definitely to add the oil as slow as humanly possible.

1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
Beat together in food processor. I used a smaller processor this time that definitely helped to make sure the contents actually touched the blade.

Add: 2 T. Lemon juice
1/2 t. Salt, Blend

Slowly add while the machine is running 1 cup oil blend. I used 1/2 olive oil, 1/2 grapeseed oil. I think that coconut oil would also be good.


We made the deviled egg filling by adding out mayo, mustard, hot sauce, paprika and black pepper to the yolks. I also did a curry filling by using mayo with curry powder and garlic powder. Pretty tasty with our farm fresh eggs!

Waiting for kraut

Earlier this week I got upset because I could not get into the home preserved jar of sauerkraut. I went to the fridge, took the jar out, and realized why it was still in there. Because I couldn't open the freakin jar. It was super frustrating to be unable to budge the metal clamp that keeps the glass lid on. I literally thought I was going to break my fingers trying to pry it off. So yesterday when I was at the farm I enlisted the help of my father and I finally got into the jar of sauerkraut! It was so worth the effort and wait.

I ate sauerkraut for breakfast this morning. I added it to my potatoes and onions for a nice addition to my morning eggs. Wonderful. Lately I've been loving my turmeric and paprika spices on my breakfast skillet so that is why my picture is quite yellow. A nice thick piece of raw cheddar goes on top for a fine breakfast feast!

 

Field Trip

I went on a FABULOUS field trip recently. It was a gorgeous day to get in my car and take a two hour trip to soak in the sun along the way and experience a whole new category of destination getaway. For some time now I have been wanting to visit a farm that I found online that specializes in what I would call real food. There were beef cattle grazing the pasture right beside the sheep. Additionally, there were chickens in the same pasture that are allowed to range near their chicken tractor that is moved daily. In a more distant pasture there were the dairy cattle, though not being milked at this time of year. This farm was a beautiful system of healthy animals working together with the land to produce clean, healthy, real food. You see what makes this real food in my mind is the fact that these animals are never fed what they weren't created to eat. They were created to eat grasses and their bodies remain healthy when they consume this natural diet.

I came home with several products from my field trip to JaKo, Inc. Some of the most exciting products included yogurt and kefir. While I was in the farm store selecting my products another customer asked me what kefir was. Although I've had it before it's a little difficult to explain, but I told him it was like a more liquid yogurt. Tangy like yogurt but not quite the same consistency. When I got home I decided to do my own official taste test to see what the differences really are. I assumed they tasted the same, and boy are they different! It's still quite difficult to explain but I would almost say that yogurt is sweeter than kefir. Kefir has a definite sourlike tang. They are made with similar cultures but definitely different. I will just have to recommend that you try them both to determine the difference. However, they were both outstanding. I love to have smoothies as meals made with these products.

I was also equally excited for these eggs that I truly knew to be free range eggs. I saw the chickens in the field ranging like they should be. Chickens also were created to forage eating grass, bugs, and whatever else they find. I eat eggs almost everyday in some way, shape, or form. Today it was on top of spaghetti squash sauteed with onion, garlic, venison, carrot mixture. Pretty great with a bit of pesto on top.

If you're ever near Hutchinson, Kansas you must stop and visit JaKo,Inc. This farm family is doing it right and taking an active part in creating quality real food for you and me to eat!

Epic Brunch!

I really love working out in the morning for a number of reasons:

• It wakes me up.
• It gets my body and all its necessary functions going in the morning.
• It jump-starts my metabolism.
• It makes me extra hungry.
• It makes my breakfast sooooo much tastier.

Although my breakfast/brunch today didn't need any help making it tasty, the Billy Blank Tae-Bo workout I did before it made it taste even that much better. I love having a beautiful giant breakfast to start my day. This one is going to keep me satisfied for so long as well because it has plenty of protein with the carbohydrates and even some really great healthy fat! 

I dined on the most amazing sweet potato hash with fresh poached eggs and avocado! This was the first time I've ever made real poached eggs and they were so great! My favorite breakfast food growing up was definitely poached eggs on toast but we used one of those handy microwave poached egg contraptions that really just produces a  microwaved egg. Definitely not poached and ooey gooey runny yolk of a poached egg. We also used to make Velveeta cheese sauce to put on top. Gasp!

This right here is 10 billion times tastier and better for you. Yum Yum Yum.

Quality Breakfast

I've been trying to be intentional lately about eating an adequate amount of protein daily and staying away from gluten and excess grains in my diet. Most of this has stemmed from my reading a lot about the Paleo lifestyle. I've been reading a ton from this site, Wellness Mama. The more I read and the success stories that are told are simply blowing my mind. Although I feel like a giant Grain Science traitor contemplating giving up most grains, I've already found that decreasing my consumption of them has already contributed to my overall health. More of this discussion in the future.

Here's a beautiful picture of what I have been dining on for breakfast this week. It contains a great amount of protein and good fats to fuel my day!

Local, natural eggs with bright colored yolks

Quinoa

Garlic

Avocado

Spinach

Homemade salsa 

Quality cheese

I splurged and bought this $8 chunk of cheese this weekend at the farmers' market. It's a new cheese for the Jason Weibe cheese-makers and it's super sharp. It's also fabulous!

It was perfect on top of my scrambled eggs and swiss chard for breakfast Sunday!

Beautiful Breakfast

I was going through my pictures and realized that I never posted this fabulous picture of my breakfast a week or so ago. It is simply too pretty to ignore any longer. I believe I had this the day after discussing with a friend how she liked to eat eggs with jam and toast. I went ahead and tried the eggs on the jam and toast just like Brie does. It was an excellent breakfast any way you eat it.