All Recipes

Kefir Soda

June 27, 2011 By jenniepaige 17 Comments
water kefir after primary fermentThanks for checking back at Pure Homemaking, I hope you make yourself at home!

Many people are familiar with the increasingly popular pro-biotic beverage kefr but usually think of the diary version. Dairy kefir is fabulous and amazing beneficial to you, but what if you are looking for something a little light in flavor and texture and more appropriate for sipping on a hot summer day? You could also be looking for an alternative to the nasty poisonous cola type sodas that many American’s are hooked on? [Read more...]

Filed Under: Drinks, Kefir Tagged With: , , ,

A Tale of Two Sourdough Starters

June 10, 2011 By jenniepaige 7 Comments
3 sourdough starters

Many of you have read the very popular post I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the new information about soaking grains and how it is now recommended to avoid calcium containing soaking mediums. Well, finding out that information caused me to finally stop avoiding sourdough. I thought it would be so hard to get it going and then once I did so, I wasn’t sure how I was going to use it. I had sourdough worked up as being this level of real food cooking that I just wasn’t ready to tackle yet. I was happy with soaking my grains and had found some really great recipes that worked well for my family. I simply didn’t have room in my life for another fermented food project. I was already up to my ears in water and dairy kefir, and kombucha. I was good. Besides, what do you do with sourdough other than make bread right? Boy was I wrong! [Read more...]

Filed Under: Breads, Kefir, Random Stuff Tagged With: ,

Peanut Butter Granola Bars

May 27, 2011 By jenniepaige 7 Comments
Granola bars un-cut

These granola bars are to DIE for! And I’m not just saying that because I made them. My husband declared they were “the best granola bars I ever had”. They really are very good better than the expensive store variety. Plus they are way cheaper to make AND you know that they aren’t filled with junk like high fructose corn syrup which contains mercury half the time. These granola bars are a healthy snack, especially when you to soak your granola to break down the phytic acid content and make to make the grain more digestible. Even if you forgot to do the soak you can still benefit from a junk free snack that you can feel good about giving your family (and yourself!). [Read more...]

Filed Under: Snacks & Deserts Tagged With: , ,

Hollandaise Sauce

May 25, 2011 By jenniepaige 2 Comments
hollandaise sauce

Oh just think of freshly made Hollandaise sauce all over those spring asparagus you’ve been getting. Why not top it over your steak or chicken you just grilled up too? Why not, if made at home using healthy fats like grass-fed butter and local pastured eggs it’s very good for you! I LOVE real food. It’s so liberating once you know that you can enjoy the types of foods that you enjoy while not only not feeling bad about it, but good about it. Know that you are are doing your family a service by providing them with foods that build your body up right and keep them slim and healthy. Plus real food taste better. God gave us all these wonderful gifts of food for us to enjoy, not to mutilate into food like particles. So dig in and take part in the bounty of the season!  Oh, the freedom!

So, please let me share with you this really very simple sauce that can be prepared as in about 5 minutes. I just made it this past weekend in the time it took our grass-fed steaks to rest before we cut into them.  (This recipe is originally found on all recipes) [Read more...]

Filed Under: Condiments Tagged With:

Homemade Mayonnaise

May 25, 2011 By jenniepaige 1 Comment
Homemade Mayonnaise

Have you ever been getting ready to make chicken salad or anything else that requires you to use mayo but you found that you are out? Have you ever wondered what was really in mayo and wonder if you could just make your own but thought it was some sort of big deal to make it? Or are you tired of spending five-plus dollars on the “good” mayo and are looking for an alternative? Well, making your own mayonnaise just like a lot of condiments is really very easy! If you have some basic pantry essentials and a blender then you can make mayo. Oh, and about 5 minutes. You do need to clear out a good five minutes to whip this up. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Condiments Tagged With: ,

Pastured Egg Salad

May 22, 2011 By jenniepaige Leave a Comment
Egg Salad

Sometimes Egg Salad can be a bit too…well eggy. I love eggs but sometimes having a traditional Egg Salad is a bit much on the egg front. My husband isn’t a huge fan of egg salad but I do like it, so I had to come up with a compromise that we would both enjoy. So, for lunch yesterday I remembered that I had a dozen eggs already hard-boiled in the fridge ready to be used up and decided to give it a go. Even though I HATE peeling hard-boiled eggs! It’s especially tough when you have fresh eggs. The older they are the easier they break away from the shell when hard-boiled. Another tip is to chill them immediately after cooking them from what I’ve read and it does seem to make the process go by well. And as my seven-year old daughter pointed out, having nails helps peel the shell too-something I never have and she does. So, she asked to help me and she did a bang up job even if it was a bit slow.  (Have any egg peeling tips? Dish!) [Read more...]

Filed Under: Lunch Tagged With: ,

An Intro to Dairy Kefir

May 16, 2011 By jenniepaige Leave a Comment
Kefir for Dummies-A guest post I did at another blog

So I have this very good friend named Lisa and she has undergone a VERY dramatic food conversion over the past couple of years. Most of the changing has taken place over the past several months and I am amazed at her enthusiasm and conviction that she has about it. I remember the first time I took her to Whole Foods right before she got married   ( about 4 years ago I think) and bought some organic meat. She didn’t understand why I would pay more for meat and what the benefits where. Well, we just placed our third joint purchase for half a grass-fed cow and are entering our third year as CSA members at our local farm.  I must say that I have enjoyed watching her family grow and the steps that she has made to provide her family with the most healthful food that she can. I feel the sense of pride that she got when she made her first soaked grain granola. I LOVE it, it makes me happy. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Dairy Products, Drinks, Homemade Dairy Products, Kefir, Random Stuff

What’s on Your Plate Tonight?

May 15, 2011 By jenniepaige 9 Comments

Tonight (provided the weather holds out) we are grilling up a few grass-fed Delmonico and Porterhouse steaks. We are serving it with some left-over mashed potatoes that my lovely husband made last night, and a fresh salad. I got many of the ingredients for the salad including the lettuce in my CSA share this week, and I can’t wait to use it up! I just made up this yummy dressing to top the salad with:

1/4 cup good balsamic vinegar
3/4 cups cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
few squirts lemon juice
2ish tsp. Dijon mustard
dried herbs to taste:
basil, thyme, rosemary
pinch of sea salt, dried onion, and freshly ground pepper
1 crushed garlic clove
1 tsp. raw honey

Put in a jar or salad dressing carafe and shake well. Best if made at least an hour in advance so the flavors can mix together.

Thank you Plus Other Good Stuff for the inspiration for the dressing!

Oh and I forgot to add that we will be drinking Kefir soda to go with it! I have three different flavors all ready to go. We have ginger-ale, cream soda, and grape! YUM!

Filed Under: Condiments, Random Stuff Tagged With: ,

Chicken Nuggets

May 15, 2011 By jenniepaige 6 Comments
Chicken Nuggets

Many of you might remember my article that I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the dangers of eating conventional chicken nuggets. I specifically broke down all of the ingredients in McDonald’s nuggets, but sadly they are not alone. The junk that I mentioned that was in them is not just in nuggets, but can be found in many pre-packaged food-like substances.

So in order to avoid all of the junk while still allowing my children to eat the foods that they like, I came up with a healthy version of chicken nuggets. And guess what? It’s easy too! Who knew? What I suggest doing is to make a large batch of this and freeze them so you can have a healthy meal on hand when you feel yourself giving into the drive-though temptation that we have all felt. Serve them with some raw carrots or celery sticks for some added crunch. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Chicken, Lunch Tagged With: , ,

Liberating French Fries

May 10, 2011 By jenniepaige 4 Comments

I had a hankering for french fries this past weekend. Like I HAD to have them. And I’m not even a big french fry person-I am SO picky about french fries. They must be thin, crispy and light feeling. Not burnt and not chewy-gross! I also try to avoid any kind that you can get through a drive-through, and I have never seen any advertised in a restaurant that says they were cooked in a HEALTHY oil.  The affordable frozen pre-made variety are always only so-so and usually have nasty things in them like trans-fat, msg, etc. So, I generally just don’t eat them.

But we were grilling up some fantastic grass-fed cheeseburgers this weekend and I told my husband that I MUST have french fries. I think I was tempted originally by a recipe over at The Cheese Slave and decided that I had to give it a try. We have made french fries that were fried in olive oil before and baked in the oven but they never compared to that boardwalk fries taste I was going for.  So I decided to give french fries fried in grass-fed tallow a go. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Lunch, On the Side, Side Dishes, Snacks & Deserts Tagged With: , , , , ,
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