Every Saturday I'm at the La Canada Farmers Market for eggs and cauliflower for my gluten free pizza crusts and crackers. Today I had a pleasant surprise. Cherries. Oh how I love cherries. Growing up we had two trees in my yard. I still have the root of one of them that my father refinished after the tree died. It's the start of the Spring harvest here in California. Cinco de Mayo, already a day of celebration, is giving me another reasopn to celebrate today. I'm doing my own private celebration for the many wonderful things that are starting to... Continue reading

Einkorn is thought to be the original wheat, the wheat that changed little over thousands of years, and it is making a comeback. Wheat Belly, by Dr. William Davis, details the current toxicity of all commercial wheat and researches how it came to be the source of so many diseases. In the same book he speaks of Einkorn, the original wheat, soon to be available at To Your Health Sprouted Flour. Celebrating it's availability, I'm sharing my 200 year old recipe for homemade country biscuits, probably first made with a wheat like Einkorn. Continue reading

Start with Enjoy, Pizza Crusts Ingredients: organically grown cauliflower from local farmers, organic sprouted lentil flour, raw milk parmesan cheese, pastured eggs, Himalayan crystal salt, organic oregano, organic granulated garlic, organic minced onion, cold-pressed California olive oil Continue reading

Several weeks ago one of my clients that I cook for, asked me to make lentil stew. I said I would and then realized that I didn't know much about Lentils. I grew up in the Appalachian mountains where beans were a staple and I loved them. Great northerns, navy beans, dried lima (butter) beans and especially pintos were on the menu every week. To me there was nothing better than "soup beans" meaning pinto beans cooked in pork "fatback". And yes, all our beans were soaked overnight before cooking. At the time, I didn't know why or that it... Continue reading

Gluten Free, Grain Free - Rosemary Almond Meal Muffins, delicious by themselves. Use the leftovers as bread crumbs in stuffed CocoZelle Zucchini Continue reading

Zucchini, Zucchini and more Zucchini. Right now I have tons in my garden -- so of them growing to epic proportions. Last night I made stuffed zuchini. Recipes abound for tons of luscious ways to fix zucchini. What's yours? Continue reading

Happy 4th of July. Right now I'm rendering pork fat in the oven, so I have lard to cook in. It's so much healthier (contrary to what we've been taught) than any of the vegetable oils except maybe olive oil, though, and this is the funny part, it is stored less as fat in the body than vegetable oil. And pigs that get to be out in the sun and open, store Vitamin D much more efficiently than anything else. So pork and pork fat from pastured pigs is the best source of vitamin D. Found about how to render... Continue reading

Real Food Symposium Early Bird has been extended to April 22. You can still sign up for all the amazing workshops (home beer brewing, cheese making, kombucha brewing, GAPS Style Cooking) and the presentations (art of beekeeping, sharing the secret of raw milk, GAPS Diet) for $95.00 through April 22. This includes the "real" food lunch and all the delicious food samples throughout the day. Continue reading

The Third Annual Real Food Symposium is coming up on May 6 in Pasadena. A combo of speakers and amazing real food making workshops, delicious real food lunch and amazing raffle prices, this one food event you don't want to miss. Continue reading

I'm in the process of making Kefir cream cheese. It goes very fast in my house - and last week I catered a 1-year celebration breakfast for my networking group - Pasadena Networking Connections, and they finished it off - as well as the Quiche, sprouted wheat muffins and raw milk yogurt with raw honey. All this real food takes some pre-planning and that's taken me a while to get in rhythm with. I'm one of those spontaneous, in the moment kinds of folks, so the idea of getting the chives, garlic, and green onions dehydrated and ready for when... Continue reading

Are you knowingly or unknowingly waging war on your inner microbial environment? Microbial cultures are essential to life's processes, such as digestion and immunity. Are you taking actions that create internal genocide or are you taking the steps to replenish your immune system on a daily basis? Continue reading

Ever since I read Pottenger's Cats, I've been aware that raw meat is much better for cats, especially grass fed and finished raw meat. However, it's expensive. Until I found myself with a kitty that had a virus in his gums and had trouble eating, I just let the knowledge lie dormant. But my kitty, Friendly, was wasting away. Once nicknamed Stout Kitty, he was now Skinny Kitty. With the help of a wholistic Vet Dr. Deborah Smith at Hastings Ranch Animal Hospital, laser treatments, chinese herbs and the raw food I've been feeding him, he's well on his way... Continue reading

Why are bone broths so much better for your joints than joint supplements. In Part 2 of this book review of Deep Nutrition by Dr. Catherine Shanahan, you'll find the scientific answer to the above question. Continue reading

What do you do with Chard? Simple answer, saute it, steam it, put it in soup, and mix baby leaves in salads. For the more exotic recipes, read on. Continue reading

Stock making is the basis of most classical cooking and it's a mainstay in many health diets like Paleo, Gaps, and traditional nutrient dense cooking. How do you make great stock? Start with grass fed and grass finished beef and bones, and go from there. Step by Step Instructions with some photos. Continue reading

Okay, I just made the most delicious beef stew or beef noodle soup -- well, I'm not sure what to call it, but it's so good that I'm having a second bowl. And now fulfilled and satisfied beyond words or even sounds, I'll tell you all about it. It started with my beef bone broth. I'm in the process of putting up a post and recipe for making your own beef stock. 2 to 4 cups beef stock/bone broth 1/4 cup chopped onion 1 to 2 medium cloves of garlic chopped fine 1 tsp to I TBL chopped fresh ginger... Continue reading

Huh? You are making what? I'm making Yogurt Mother. Well, really I'm replenishing my villi yogurt mother, which is the culture I use for my raw milk yogurt. Like any good culture, it needs to be fed -- usually every week. What do you feed a yogurt mother culture, you might be asking? You need to feed it milk & cream that has been heated to 180 degrees -- the best milk you can get -- though it doesn't need to be raw cause you're going to heat it anyway. Straus Family Dairy's milk and cream is grass-fed pasturized milk... Continue reading

Book Review: Deep Nutrition - Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food by Catherine Shanahan, MD and Luke Shanahan presents a scientific, and medical view of nutrition and what's been missing in our current diets and ones of the recent past. In just one aspect, the authors explore how our current diets are making us age at a much faster pace than our ancestors and what we are doing to our bone density and structure as a result of our so-called modern approaches to food. Continue reading

I belong to a weekly private buying club/market that features delicious real food at close to wholesale prices. This past week there were several kinds of fish including mahi mahi. I didn't grow up where there was a lot of fish or fishing, so up until the last few years fish were always a mystery to me. The first fish I learned to cook with any facility was salmon. Now, I've added Mahi Mahi to the list. The first time I cooked it I just peppered it a bit and put it in a pan with butter with the heat... Continue reading

Strained Yogurt for Yogurt Cheese Yogurt cheese with garlic and chives served with fresh veggies Last night I dropped in on the Culture Club 101 Yogurt making class with Monica Ford, I've had the privildege to be in this class before and it's one of my favorites. Monica, the founder of Real Food Devotee and also an actor, is the perfect teacher - articulate, charming, fun, and very, very knowledgeable. Monica learned to make yogurt from a Polish grandmother (in Poland) and brought back the Viili culture to the states (many years ago) in a cold cream jar. Participants in... Continue reading

I was invited to a pot luck dinner last night and had to think about what to take. I have arugula growing in my back yard, but that's the only thing that made it through the frost and wind we've had this winter. I wanted to include it but wanted more variety in my greens so I used a bag of organic herb salad mix from Trader Joes. The honeyed goat cheese (also from TJ's) that was in the cheese drawer inspired me to pull some beet kraut I'd made (fermented with cloves and allspice) and some cauliflower/fennel kraut (also... Continue reading

Crispy Almonds Almond Butter Kefir Cream Cheese Continue reading

1 cup Crispy Almonds 1 TBL Coconut Oil 1tsp Celtic Sea Salt or Himalayan Crystal Salt Blend/grind in a food processor until they begin to release their oil. This may take a bit of time, just be patient. Once they begin to release their own oil, a way to boost their nutrition value is to add some fabulous organic, extra virgin, expellar pressed coconut oil and a bit of healthy salt. Keep blending until you get it the consistency you want. If you need to, you can add a bit more coconut oil. Note: Always salt to your own tastes.... Continue reading

Healthy Sinful Raw Cacao (Chocolate) Candy Strawberries, Blueberries and Cream Continue reading