Lentil and Kale Soup (Vegan or with Sausage) and Forgiveness Cooking

I practice  forgiveness cooking. I don't know if this is what anyone else calls it, but it means I rarely follow recipes, don't measure and discover as I go along. I normally think about what ingredients I have and what I want to make and plan the steps while I am driving or nursing a baby to sleep and then try it when it's time to cook.  So, a lot of my recipes are recreated with amounts that I remember using and most things can be altered to the cook's taste and what is on hand.

Lentil and Kale Soup

I love this soup and find it especially delicious with sausage, but it can easily be made without. When I was planning the recipe I planned to make it on a Friday and then add sausage to the leftovers to eat on Sunday.


1 bunch kale (stems removed and chopped)
1 medium onion, chopped
1-2 clove garlic minced
1 tsp olive oil
4 cups water, veg. broth or chicken broth
2 cups dry (any kind you have-french/beluga/mixed lentils*)
4 potatoes cute in cubes-skin on if organic  (optional)
salt
pepper
fresh grated Parmesan cheese
1-2 lbs sausage skin removed (chicken, pork, spicy, garlic and herb---whatever your preference)


In a heavy skillet cook sausage meat until cooked through 15 or so minutes, set aside.  While sausage is cooking, saute onion in olive oil in a large dutch oven for 5-7 minutes until translucent, add garlic and saute for 3-5 minutes. Next add rinsed lentils and potatoes. Cook for 5-10 minutes before adding broth.  Bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat and cover, allowing lentils to cook for 25-30 minutes. Next add the kale and sausage (if including).  Cover and allow to cook 15-20 more minutes until the kale is tender.  Feel free to add more water/broth if you prefer a more liquid soup.  season with salt and pepper.  Serve in bowls topped with a drizzle of olive oil or grated cheese and fresh bread with butter.


*ideally soaked overnight in water and a Tbs. cider vinegar, drained and rinsed

We paired it with Trader Joe's Zinfandel, a new wine we really enjoyed.

Lentil and Kale Soup, shown with sausage and potatoes. Yes, I know I need to remember to take more and better photos!

The Evolving Meal or Roast Chicken and Turnip Soup

One of my favorite and easiest meals is roast chicken*.  I put the chicken in with herbs and potatoes and let it cook to juicy goodness.  Sometimes I cook it all in the slow cooker if I have a busy evening or if I want very soft meat to use in quesadillas or chicken salad later in the week.  This week, my husband was coming down with a cold and I wanted to make a nourishing soup to keep us all healthy.  The soup could be adjusted to your own tastes and ingredients. I used what I had in the fridge and the result was excellent.

The recipes:

Roast Chicken with Potatoes and Onions

1 whole chicken
chicken giblets
3 or more whole  cloves of garlic to taste
1-3 sliced onions (varietal your choice)
4 or more diced potatoes (depending on size)
parmesean cheese
rosemary
pepper
thyme
lemon juice from one fresh lemon, zest as well if you like a lemony flavor

Preheat oven to 385 degrees. Place the chicken in a 9x12 pan, or dutch oven, or roaster...whatever you have. Sprinkle the chicken with pepper, lemon juice/zest, herbs and parmesean cheese.  Arrange the potatoes, giblets, onions and garlic around the chicken. I like to stuff some onions inside the chicken as well.  Place in heated over and cook uncovered for 2 hours or as appropriate for you size bird.  Meat thermometer should read 180 when done or the legs should pull off with ease.  1-2 time during cooking stir the potatoes and baste everything with the drippings from the chicken.  Serve with salad and bread. We've been on a big sour cream kick and add a dollop to the potatoes.  The garlic will be tender and sweet and perfect for spreading on bread.

Step 2:

Once the chicken has cooled remove all the meat and place aside for storage with all remaining vegetables.  You can choose to add drippings to this or just add to broth.  The chicken carcass, skin and any uneaten giblets can be placed in a slow cooker and covered with water. Depending on the size of you slow cooker start with 5 cups.  Cook for 15-35 hours on low.  Feel free to add any vegetable scraps, carrot tops, onion skins, bay leaves or peppercorns if you are so inclined.  Water may need to be added depending on how long you cook the broth.  

When the broth is finished (you can make perpetual broth  for a up to a week or you can choose to use it after a day) strain the solids and discard.  Set aside the remaining broth for your soup. 

Roast Chicken and Turnip Soup

1 sliced leek
2 minced garlic cloves
chicken meat
1 bunch kale
2 peeled and sliced kholrabi
3 peeled and sliced sweet turnips
1- 2 inch chunk of fresh ginger grated
3 cups chicken bone broth
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon kelp powder 
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbs olive oil

In a large dutch oven saute leeks in olive oil for 5-7 minutes over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute for 3-5 more minutes.  Add the ginger, turnips, kohlrabi and anything else you want to add such as carrots, celery or potatoes. Saute for 5-7 minutes.  Add the chicken meat and broth.Add nutritional yeast (flavor and B vitamins) and kelp powder (for iodine).  Simmer everything for 25-30 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve warm.    







* As much as possible I use all organic ingredients and pastured meat, chicken, eggs and dairy products.

Smoked Ham Cabbage

I was thinking about this recipe for a week or two before I decided to try it. It was pretty simple and turned out delicious.

1 lb smoked Ham cubes
1 yellow onion chopped
1 head cabbage shredded
5 carrots diced
salt and pepper
1 tbs lard or other fat of choice

In a large heavy pot ( I used a 4 quart dutch oven) melt lard over medium heat. I use lard rendered from pastured bacon from Brick Farm Market in NJ that I freeze.  After the lard is melted add the onion and saute til translucent, about 5-7 minutes.  Next add the ham cubes.   I buy mine from Your Family Farmer in PA. Cook them through about 10 minutes depending on how large they are.  Next add the carrots and cook for 2 minutes. Finally add the shredded cabbage and cook covered on medium for about 30-45 minutes, until cabbage becomes translucent. Stir occasionally and season with salt and pepper to taste.  We ate this as a side for dinner, but it could be a good lunch meal or a dinner with salad and some hearty bread and butter. 

How is it with two?

I get this question a lot now that I’ve had my second child.  Most often from moms pregnant with their second, looking for some ray of hope that having a baby and a toddler could somehow be less difficult than being pregnant and having a toddler.  Fortunately, I can give them that, because for me, it is. 

I was a miserable pregnant woman.  My first pregnancy I was extremely morning sick with daily vomiting, food aversions, endless stomach issues, and general misery.  It got better as I was into my second trimester, but I never was a woman who loved being pregnant. I had SPD; body aches, and weight gain, all the normal things pushed to the limits. I was overjoyed to be growing a life, and in awe that my body knew how to do it, but I have always had body issues and struggled with my weight, so pregnancy was hard both physically and mentally. 

My second daughter’s birth was amazing and I felt greatly relieved to no longer be pregnant.  After a couple of months of healing and building back some basic strength, I was able to start exercising again and felt the high of being an individual with an autonomous body. (I say this loosely as I was still exclusively breastfeeding and had two children on me all day long, but when I can put them to bed and have just me, or I can go for a walk and feel the freedom and strength of my body again, I feel a deep sense of satisfaction.) 

While pregnant, I was gearing up for years of sleeplessness with a new baby. Our first didn’t sleep fully through the night (without waking to nurse) until she was about 18 months old.  With my first, I didn’t get more than a few hours at a time fro at least the first six months.  It was hard, really hard to be so sleep deprived.  She was a strong willed child. She amazed me with her will and the fever pitch of discomfort and anger she could reach when I tried all the suggestions from the endless sleep books I read to try and “train” her.  In the end, her hyperventilating tears and my poor heart couldn’t take it and we found our own rhythm and path.  Since 18 months she slept fully through the night without any problems, until my last trimester of pregnancy when she decided to aggressively self potty train, waking in the night so not to pee in her diaper as well as waking up afraid that there would be no place for her when the new baby arrived.

When the new baby arrived, she calmed down, and saw that we all still love her and her place in our family is secure.  She still wakes us more than the baby, as she has decided she needs to tell me when she wakes to use the bathroom, something she didn’t do for a year of independent bathroom trips in the night.  Or she needs her pj’s snapped at 3 in the morning, or lately, there are bears in her room.  I know all of this is her still adjusting to having a sibling. She is pretty good about telling me when she is jealous and that she needs “mommy time”.  “Mommy, put my sister to sleep, I need mommy time” is one of her common requests. 

Her sister is one of the babies I read about and didn’t believe existed.  A baby, who slept 4 and 5 hour stretches in the night at 4 weeks old, who routinely doesn’t wake at all now at 4 months, who falls asleep mostly on her own, and wakes up happy. She fusses minimally, smiles endlessly, goes a long for the ride, and is generally a fat and happy baby. 

If I’d had her first, I would probably not believe the parents who say their child doesn’t sleep or still HAS to nurse multiple times a night after 6 months. They must just not be doing something right.  I know there were parents who thought this about me when I said it just wasn’t working the first time around.  Having lived it, I know that isn’t the case.  

Having two daughters so different from one another makes it clear to me on a personal level that children are just different.  They need different things. 

I’ve wondered if because this is our second round, maybe we just know what to do and so she’s fallen in line much easier. Yes, in part this must be true, our family schedule was set for children and this influenced her schedule from the beginning. I was also more conscious of not rushing to her at every little noise the way I did with my first.  But, then again, my first’s noises were different and grew in intensity much quicker.  Her whole temperament was different.  She is an amazingly strong willed and intense little girl.  She was walking before her first birthday, speaking in paragraphs by her second, self potty trained shortly after, doesn’t let me forget a thing, and loves to run, jump, play, climb and be fully in everything.  When she was an infant she used to ball her hands up and shake her head and turn red when she was frustrated. She didn’t cry, she just wanted something so intensely and that was how she expressed it. My husband and I would stare in amazement and say, “is this normal? Do babies do this?” Well, yes. Ours did. 

Her sister hasn’t even a whisper of this behavior.  She fusses for very specific reasons: she’s hungry, she’s hurt, she wants attention or she’s tired.  Other than that she is happy. She loves to coo and talk and observe.  She loves to give big open baby kisses and try to eat any of our body parts she happens to grab.  I am so curious how she’ll be as a toddler and what kind of stories she’ll tell us.

So, for me, having two is going very well.  Having a baby is a lot of work, no matter how “easy” the baby is, but I’ve discovered there are definitely easier baby temperaments and babies that require more patience and sacrifice from their parents. 

For all parents out there struggling with children that aren’t sleeping or are high needs, do all that you can to create consistency, boundaries, routines, give them endless love and then know that your doing the best you can and your child is just being who they need to be.  I can’t say one is better than the other.  Each child comes with her own gifts and challenges. Of course, it is easier now to have a baby who sleeps. If I was as sleep derived as before and trying to manage two high intensity children right now, this post might be very different, but I learned a lot from my first daughter and we shared many special, albeit sometimes delirious quiet moments in the dead of the night.  I might even miss some of that with my second, now that it is a distant memory. 

Natural Body Care

I've made a few product switches over the past few years I wanted to share.


Moisturizer:  I've used organic sunflower oil for to moisturize my skin the last few years and a few months ago I started to use if for my face as well.  It leaves my skin very soft. I have had problems with break-outs and contact dermatitis on my face in the past and have experienced no problems using this. I was a little worried about using oil, but it has been great.  For the body I sometimes scent the oil with orange or lavender.  I've used unscented sunflower oil on my daughter since birth. It helped with cradle cap and when she gets diaper rash during teething.

Baking Soda:  I haven't bought exfoliator in years. I use baking soda on my face and body as well as my teeth.

Salt or Sugar scrub: For a luxurious body exfoliator I make a salt or sugar scrub with sunflower oil and essential.

I am working towards making my own deodorant and laundry detergent. I haven't gotten there yet but I've found some good recipes you can find on my Pinterest site.

Valentine's Day Treat- Nourished Kitchen's Coconut Cake

I've been wanting to make this cake for a long time and Valentine's Day was the perfect opportunity. I found the recipe very easy to follow with minimal steps and nothing complicated.  It was my first time baking with coconut flour and I wasn't sure what to expect.  The flavor was definitely different than previous coconut desserts that I had, more subtle.  The cake is very dense and filling, owing a bit to the rich and fibrous quality of the coconut flour.  I did add unsweetened raw shredded coconut to the frosting for texture.  I am a bit of a sweet tooth, so in the future I think I will sweeten the frosting with a bit more honey or a dash of maple syrup. Overall, the cake is delicious and very pretty.


View the recipe and further information here:

http://nourishedkitchen.com/coconut-flour-cake/

The Dirty Life

A Memoir of farming, food and love by Kristin Kimball.

I loved this book.  I have a crush on Essex Farm and the food they are raising.  The memoir entered in and woke up a part of me that fell asleep years ago. The part of me that used to pick beans in the garden, mow acres of our Georgian pasture, race our horses Smoke and Nugget through the pasture and along the trails of Hard Labor Creek State Park.  I feel most alive and invigorated striding up a mountain path, swimming in the ocean or using my body to work on the land, lifting, digging, pulling, running, cultivating. As a dance/movement therapist I am aware of the importance of our connection to nature and the devastating impact it has on us as human beings to be separate from the natural rhythm of life.  In my own life it is an awareness that ebbs and flows as the demands of daily life build. 

Kimball brought all that back with life, vigor, and love.  Her own journey, from a NYC writer to a sustainable farmer and wife, was well written and inspiring.  She portrays the stark contrast between cerebral city life and the hardships and fulfillment of life lived in close contact with nature very astutely. Her description of farm life was at once idyllic and harsh, bringing in the reality of grueling work, death. loss, and a tether to the farm that cannot be escaped.  One of the best aspects of the book was her descriptions of the undeniable superiority of organic, unprocessed, fresh food.  My mouth watered throughout the book for the food she described. My only complaint was that it ended too quickly.  It felt like a race at the end and I wanted to know more.  I was very happy to find an NPR segment about the farm and her book, as well as a blog (http://www.kristinkimball.com/blog/) that reads much like the book.  Farm tour dates are also listed... I see a trip in my future.

There were so many ideas in her book that I am inspired to adopt and incorporate into my own life.  The most pertinent that I am starting with included:  sourcing local grass-fed milk and butter from jersey cows,  trying farm fresh scrapple, growing beans and herbs and creating my own sourdough starter for bread.

For now I will start with my own little patch of earth. The first ever garden to call our very own will be planted this Spring.  Eventually I want to find a farm where I can go and work/volunteer to be closer to the miracle of growing food, where my body can be taxed in the process of sustaining life, and where I can be in a community of farmers. With a small one at home and minimal childcare, I don't see that happening just yet, but I have it on the list.