How to cut up your own organic free ranged dead chicken.

I’ve decided that I would like to do more videos and less writing.
Sure I would I want to share my random opinions but I’ve realized that I have some mad skills that I could be teaching.
I’m spending my life collecting skills that improve quality of life.
Many of them are very easy and anyone can do it. And Many of them also do not involve pig heads or chicken feet. I will warn you when those ones come up but I would like to invite you to set an intention for yourself to be cool with uncommon animal parts because they are so commonly thrown away.

So, here it is!

My first skill share, just for you, my beloved followers.
It’s only three and a half minutes long and will teach you how to cut up your own free range organic chicken.
Doing this makes ethical meat so affordable. And we all love meat that wasn’t raised in its own poop without a beak of its own to peck bugs with.
I’ll figure out how to put the video right on the page, but until then you’ll have to click the link…

How to cut up your own free ranged organic dead chicken.

Lying to my children about food.

One day I decided to stop lying to my children about what they were eating. I would always try to sneak in a little hemp hearts or cod liver oil or whatever my newest fad food was at the time. I started to wonder if this practice may have been hurting them more than helping. I thought about this deeply and realized that it didn’t feel honest and authentic to me. By lying about their food I was sending them the message that I didn’t trust them to want to nourish their bodies. I was also creating a relationship of distrust in such an intimate way. Food is something that we put inside our bodies. How could I be all gung-ho for food labelling yet not allow my children to know what they were eating?!?!? I’m amazed by my own level of narrow minded thinking but we grow and learn better, right?
Another thing I thought about was how powerful it is to associate what we eat and how we feel. I wasn’t allowing my children that opportunity to make the food/body connection because I assumed that I knew best. I assumed they wouldn’t want to do the best thing for themselves. That’s crazy talk (or thought). All humans want the best.
So, I swallowed my fear and clenched my butt a little, when I said ” there’s hearts and livers in that chili.” and “Yes, I added some raw egg to that”.
When I first started being honest they would often decline to eat because I had trained them that health foods were to be hidden and mistrusted. Things are much different now.
My oldest son was sure that he HATED kombucha because I didn’t tell him that I added into jellos and soups and other things, but once I started telling him, then he knew he liked kombucha and was more willing to try stuff. Everything, he was more open to trying everything!
We are actually coming to a place where the previously hidden ingredients are now prized treasures. My daughter often asks if something is good for her as she knows the value of it. My son looks up recipes for new healthy things to try. He can be heard saying such things into google search as “heallllthy marshhhhhhmalllllows.”. I believe that this honesty has improved our relationships (and our lives) in so many ways. I feel like I can openly talk about what I am fermenting and making with it and they are interested and happy to try it, most of the time. They are still human though and sometimes I wonder when I will have gone too far. The boys did try the authentic headcheese I made last week even after seeing the “ingredients”. 😀

Beautiful headcheese. I was told by a food historian, author, professor guy (Ken Albala) that I nailed it. It’s so exciting to take something that would otherwise be garbage and make food.

Happy Kombucha SCOBY. We don’t eat these. Yet.

Do you sneak foods into your kids?

What we ate today: nothing goes to waste.

Today I’m feeling especially motivated and passionate about these nutrient dense foods. And so I must make bay while the sun shines. When I’m like this I make “convenience” foods for later on so I can rest well-fed. Not only are these convenience foods nourishing, but so many of the most nutrient dense foods are very cheap or free! I froze small pieces of deer liver on a cookie sheet and then put it in a bag so I can take out a little a time to add to foods. My husband is not picky but does not like liver, yet can’t tell when small amounts are added to soups, stews and sauces. Liver has been free for us from many sources; my freezer is about a quarter full of liver and I’m so grateful. Chicken feet are another thing that can be obtained free and made into convenience foods. I pressure can broth. It makes a good breakfast or lunch with some added miso and egg yolk or veggies. Many farmers actually throw them chicken feet away. Chicken feet make the most rich stock you’ll ever taste! When refrigerated it is solid gelatin. Broth is extremely nourishing and healing, I add it to everything.
Other than adding liver to leftover soup, Today, I’m rendering lard and straining my vinegar of the fruit where it will continue to ferment another few weeks. You can make delicious, sweet smelling vinegar from fruit scraps and overripe bananas. I’m doing banana and pineapple, from pineapple skins which would normally be composted or thrown away. I’m also preparing to make a crock of kimchi tonight, so I’m glad to have the leftovers. Kimchi can be a convenience food as Kimchi and rice make a great snack or Meal. I find myself salivating when I think about it to the point that my mouth drips saliva. My neighbor Keirsten and I have been simultaneously enjoying our super spicy combined effort kimchi. Late at night we feast on kimchi with rice and organic butter. My husband and two year old son love it as well.

Morning: Eggs (2 minutes- the children made their own.)
-Rendering lard. This will take all day of watching the temp and then straining out “crispins” when it is done hours later. This will give me about six months worth of high quality, inexpensive, versatile fat. I’ll use it in everything with combination of organic butter and coconut oil. Lard helps even out the cost of fats as it is SO cheap. The fat cost me $15, which is actually more than I usually pay. You can even acquire it for free if you look around.
-Fruit vinegars. (5 minutes prep time)

Lunch: leftover beef barley (sprouted) soup with egg yolk and sauerkraut. (3 minutes prep time)
-Water kefir to drink

Afternoon: Coconut flour/Arrowroot flour muffins. I’m using sour cherries from Grandma and Grandpa’s.
-Strain, feed and second ferment milk kefir (5 minutes prep time, the microbes work 24 hrs a day!)

Supper: Leftover chicken that we butchered this summer with
vegetables And sprouted rice. (5 minutes prep time)

Evening Snack: Muffins that I made in the afternoon and sour cherry kefir smoothies (5 minute prep time)

What We Ate Today: Comfort and Warmth.

Morning, a chicken stew for breakfast, why not? Before even coffee I put on onions and carrots to sautée in Butter for an hour on low while I stumble around drinking my room temperature mineral water, kefir then coffee. The children ate some soaked steel cut oats leftover from the last “What we ate today.”. After the vegetables were soft I added two quart sized jars of homemade bone broth, a few spoons of arrowroot to thicken, garlic, dried celery leaves, real salt and dried parsley. The children each had two or three bowls of soup. I’m really noticing it now how easily they accept and take to real food. It wasn’t always that way. Now the oldest wakes up with a hunger for sauerkraut. The others ask for miso in their soup and the baby devours bowls of spicy kimchi. Chaz had a stomach ache today and blamed it on not having eaten anything fermented. They feel it in their bodies now and when they eat something like candy or white bread, they feel how it hurts them.
For supper I’ve started the chicken recipe boiling in a sauce that promises to be sticky, thick and delicious. Children swoon around it as it boils. The two older children visiting asked if they could stay for supper. I was thrilled but not sure how they would take to my real food, ferments and all. So supper… It goes great, they eat it up even the rice with lard (I ran out of butter). They ask for seconds of the fermented cherry “soda”. And we talked about food. The oldest child said that she didn’t know what was good for her… I even got to talk about microbes.

Morning:
-Leftover soaked steel cut oats (1 min prep)
-chicken stew (10 minutes or less prep.)

Afternoon:
-Almond milk and skinned almonds for almond flour and tamari almonds (1/2 hour prep time) Documented in this blog.
-more chicken stew from the morning (the time it takes to scoop out stew and put in a bowl).
-Canned Pears (canning and fermenting like mad during the summer abundance pays off)
-nourishing carrot cake with coconut Whipped topping (20 min. Prep)

Evening: this glaze chicken with something I made mindlessly: Rice soaked in second fermented kefir that was made with coconut and coffee beans. (20 min. Prep)
-Sauerkraut
-Leftover Hamburger and peas with curry
-Cherry almond and peach spice water kefir soothed the soda cravings of many. (bottling time 10 minutes)

Wow. Documenting what we eat has been powerful for me. It gives me a complete picture, helps me plan for the next days and makes me more aware. Thank you for being a part of it.