real food swap*

Remember back in May when I posted about the real food swap that some friends and I started? Well, we are still going strong and meeting up every month to swap wonderful, real food goodness! Here are a few photos from our swap today - I think it might have been the best one yet! 

 

 

These were my offerings - dark chocolate sauce, espresso stout brewed by my hubby, mint, chocolate-mint and vanilla extracts and chai tea concentrate.



spicy canned beans, my offerings from the photo above, beeswax candles, raw beeswax, and tangerines!

spice mixes, beautiful glass decanters, cinnamon extract and caramel!

Some of our lovely swappers. This is my friend's gorgeous new kitchen in her home that they recently remodeled. I now have serious kitchen envy.

Applesauce, purees (pumpkin or squash, I believe) glass jugs/growlers, and pickles!

Yogurt starter, soap, toffee, hand knit dishcloths, homemade vapor rub, mustard and jams and jellies!

Bulk spices - turmeric, celery seed, mustard seed and more caramel sauce!

There was even more that I didn't get a pic of. Letterpress goodies (I got the cutest beer coasters to include in my mama's Christmas gift basket!), sausage and bacon, rye and sourdough bread, pizza dough and homemade Nutella!
I posted a pic of all the amazing stuff I brought home with me on my Instagram page - I am inspirederika over there if you would like to come take a peek!

Now we are starting to plan the swaps for next year - I simply cannot wait to see what the new year has in store for The Treasure Valley Real Foodies!
 

inspired mama miscellany*

He found this guitar in the closet in my studio and serenaded us all weekend.

Our real foodie group had it's second food swap today. I took oregano plants that I thinned from my herb garden, kombucha SCOBYs, and sets of cotton "unpaper" towels. I brought home freshly baked ciabatta and rye bread, plum butter, strawberries, cherries, plum seeds and recipe cards with cute little bicycles on them. 

Oh, and I made another embellished tank! Hoorah!



water kefir*welcome to my living kitchen

 This is the newest addition to my fermenting kitchen - water kefir.

(Those jars in the background have kombucha in them and that one on the right has four (!!) SCOBYs in it, each approximately 1 inch thick. If you are local and need a kombucha starter, hit me up!)

 This is what water kefir grains look like. Little gelatinous pearls.

 





 Making water kefir is pretty simple. And quick! Mine was ready to bottle in just 48 hours. The first thing you will need to get started are the grains. If you have a friend who makes kefir they can probably share with you because just like my SCOBYs above kefir grains also multiply each time you use them. If you can't find them through a friend you can order them from various places online. Cultures for Health is always a good source for such things.

 

Here is the process I followed ::

I filled my glass jar with 5 cups of warm, filtered water (just warm enough to dissolve the other ingredients).

Then I added 1/3 cup raw sugar and 1 tsp unsulphered, organic molasses. I also added 1 tsp of baking soda as I read that the minerals are good for the grains and it can also result in a fizzier kefir.

Stir with a wooden spoon until everything is dissolved.

Pour your grains into the mixture once it is room temp - you will need 1/3-1/2 cup of grains.

after a day or so little carbonation bubbles would float to the top of my jar when I moved it. On day 2 it was very fizzy.

 

I bottled and flavored it much like I do my kombucha. I added some pineapple juice that I had on hand and will let it sit out at room temperature for a couple days before I refrigerate and drink it.

 

Then I mixed up more water and started a brand hew batch. This time I am going to add vanilla and try to replicate cream soda! I will keep you all posted on how it turns out, friends!

 

sourdough*not just another farmette pet

I successfully made a sourdough starter a few weeks ago. I have stirred it daily and fed it weekly. I lovingly clean it's jar twice a week and change the organic cotton cover whenever needed. It kinda-sorta sounds like caring for a little pet, right?

 

I tried baking bread with my meticulously maintained starter but it did not turn out. I also made pizza dough. Eh, it was okay, but it could be way better. I am going to do some tweaking to make it closer to perfect this weekend.

 

The one thing I have been making regularly with delicious results are sourdough pancakes.  Lovely batter is started right before we go to bed and finished up while the coffee brews in the morning and then cooked to golden perfection in coconut oil.

 

Our batter is a pretty pale orange thanks to the spelt flour and fresh eggs from our backyard coop!



Plate full of glorious real food breakfast!

We serve them with pats of grass fed butter and homemade strawberry-rhubarb jam that has been warmed up.

You can find the recipe that I have been using here ::

traditional sourdough pancakes

And here are instructions to make your own sourdough pet, er, starter ::

how to make a sourdough starter

and one more good link ::

working with sourdough - tips and tricks

 

Oh, and if you have a wonderful sourdough bread recipe to share pretty please leave me a comment and I will love you forever! Thanks friends! xx 



real foodies*start a swap!

 A few weeks ago I posted in a local natural family group on facebook asking if anyone had kefir grains to share or to trade for a kombucha scoby. I ended up finding milk kefir grains and I traded two kombucha starters for a giant bunch of beautiful rhubarb and the tastiest homemade elderberry jelly as a result of that post. I then had a big, bright light bulb moment - what if we met up regularly with all of our homemade real food and starters and produce and such and had a big swap?

I mentioned my idea in the same facebook group and there was a lot of interest. So The Treasure Valley Real Foodies was born. Of course this idea isn't new and real food swaps are actually becoming quite popular! Here is how ours came to be... 

 

The first step was to start a facebook group and invite all the local real food lovers and ask them to invite all their friends. Within a couple days there were 50 members. Next I offered to host the first swap in my home and put up a poll with some tentative dates so everyone could vote for the day that worked best for most. Once the date was settled I created a facebook event and invited everyone in the group. When each member RSVP'd to the event they would post a list of what they would be bringing to swap and what they were in search of. We decided to include a few non-food items in our swaps like organic soap, wool yarn, recipe cards and paper goods and other handmade things.

 



 



In typical Inspired Mama fashion I completely forgot about my camera while everyone was here for the swap, dang it! But above is a photo of the lovely items I ended up with - several plants (mint, parsley, lettuce, hen and chicks, wonderberry, and a tiny apricot tree!), a fresh baked whole wheat loaf and some handmade recipe cards. I also got some bundles of dried sage and catnip for tea.

 

Other items that were swapped ::

*eggs

*natural elk burger and sausage

*sourdough starters with care instructions and recipes

*an oak tree

*canned jelly

*kombucha scobys

*hand dyed wool yarn

*soap

*letterpress items

*milk kefir grains

* herb filled dream pillows

 

We each explained and identified what we had to contribute and when it was time to trade it was a lot of "Hey! I would love this! Can I trade you for a pound of burger or a bar of organic soap?" There was no set value for the swap items, we all just worked out our own little deals and everyone left happy with bags full of goodies.

 

As the season progresses we will have plenty of backyard produce and canned goods to add to our swaps. We have decided to meet once a month for now but may meet every other week when our gardens are in full bloom.

 

Do you have a similar food swap in your community? If so I would love to hear all about it! And if you are inspired to start your own local swap please let me know that too! And next time I attend a food swap I will make sure to take lots and lots of photos...