Make Your Own Sauerkraut

Cabbage is very easy to grow in my garden. Cabbage likes cool weather and part shade, which is what I have in my garden. So at the end of the summer I usually have several heads of cabbage. I like eating cabbage in soups, salads, and cole slaw, but after a while you want something different. I've always loved sour foods like pickles, capers, olives and sauerkraut. So I decided to make my own sauerkraut. This recipe is very simple and only contains 2 ingredients: cabbage and salt. You can flavor your sauerkraut with other veggies (like carrots, peppers, etc.) and spices if you like, but that's optional.

Raw Fermented Sauerkraut
3-4 heads of cabbage (any kind works) shredded
2 T salt
2 glass quart canning jars with lids

Shred or cut your cabbage into fairly small shreds. Take a good handful of shredded cabbage and put that into one of your canning jars. Sprinkle the cabbage in the jar with a little bit of salt (keep in mind that you are only using 1 Tablespoon of salt for the whole quart jar of sauerkraut). With a wooden spoon mash the cabbage down over and over until it starts releasing water. Add another good handful of shredded cabbage into the jar and sprinkle with a little more salt. Again, take your wooden spoon and mash it around and pack it down so that you start to have a layer of water on the top of your cabbage. Keep this up until you've filled the entire jar with cabbage and salt. Make sure you have a layer of released water at the top of the jar. If there isn't a good layer of water on top, take that wooden spoon and mash the cabbage some more until you have enough. This recipe should fill 2 quart jars of saurkraut.

Put the lids on your jars but don't tighten them completely. Sit the jars on a kitchen towel or on a stack of newspaper (you'll see why later) and put them in a spot (do not refrigerate yet) where they can be undisturbed for about a week.  After a couple of days of sitting on your counter you'll notice that the jars are starting to ooze and liquid is squeezing out from under the lid. After about 5-7 days you'll notice the jars start to smell sour. This is when your sauerkraut is ready! You can eat it right away or refrigerate for months. (I still have some 6 month old jars in my fridge!)

NOTE: This is not shelf stable, so you will HAVE to refrigerate it if you want it to stay good.

Paleo Sprints - Tabata Workout

My Paleo Fitness Mantra: Walk every day, lift heavy things, sprint occasionally and play often!

I was recently talking to a friend about my exercise regime which includes almost exclusively low intensity cardio (walking and stationary biking) and strength training (yoga and weight lifting). When I thought about this more I realized that I'm not often adding sprints to my workout. I don't like sprints very much, and who does really? But most Paleo Gurus do suggests that occasional sprints are very beneficial to the body.

I had heard of the Tabata training method, but hadn't looked it up to see what it really entailed. So, today I Googled it and found this on the web:

Broccoli Soup

I love soup! As you can see from many of my past posts, I make soup quite often. This week I had a huge Costco sized bag of broccoli in my fridge that needed to be used. So I decided to give making broccoli soup a try. I really didn't have an inspiration recipe to start with this time; so I just threw some things in and gave it a shot. The result was so good I'll be making this again and again! I didn't make a creamy version this time, but I think I'll include some coconut milk next time for a nice change.

Broccoli Soup
1 Onion - diced
4 C chicken broth/stock
1 T chopped garlic (use less if you're not a huge garlic fan)
3 C Broccoli - chopped
1 t chili powder
1 t turmeric
salt and pepper to taste

In a saucepan over medium heat, brown onions. In the last minute or so of browning onions, add the garlic and spices and stir to combine. Add chicken broth and broccoli to saucepan, turn heat to low, cover and cook for about 15-20 minutes until broccoli is tender. With an immersion blender or in a blender, blend soup until smooth.

Paleo Anniversary

It's been one year since I started following the Paleo/Primal lifestyle! Happy Paleo-versary to me!

The whole thing started off as a 2 week experiment just to see if I could do it and to see how it made me feel. After the 2 weeks I didn't really miss anything I'd cut out of my diet and didn't miss any of the chronic cardio I used to do. So I just kept at it, taking it day by day, week by week always knowing that if I didn't want to continue I could go back to my old way of eating knowing that I gave it a good try.

I found that I loved the food, felt fuller for longer while eating smaller portions and was losing weight without really feeling like I was missing out on anything. If I went to a special event, I'd eat what was served without feeling guilty, because I knew the next day I'd go right back to eating the "real" paleo food I'd been eating before without feeling like I'd "fallen off the wagon". I believe in the 80/20 rule, which states that if you eat food that's good for you 80% of the time, the other 20% of what you eat won't really hurt you. That rule gives me the freedom to choose what I want to eat rather than feeling like I "can't" eat certain foods. I'm also pretty sure that any time I eat food that I don't prepare, whether that's eating out or eating packaged foods, I'm eating things that aren't on my list of "real" foods. But I don't stress about it since I have the 80/20 rule. I also feel pretty crummy after eating non-paleo foods these days. So I've found that my 20% has probably dropped to 5% over the course of the year because I don't really want to eat non-paleo foods. They just don't look very appetizing to me any more, and I'm pretty sure they will make me feel bad later.

I love the fitness regime of the Paleo lifestyle: Walk a lot, lift heavy things and play often. I can do that and have fun at the same time! I still do yoga at the gym, I hike with my friend Kate every week and lift some weights and ride the stationary bike in between. I never really liked those aerobics classes and don't miss them at all! But walking and yoga are an integral part of my life and I can't see myself ever giving that up!

I've enjoyed this paleo journey and don't see myself going back to the Standard American Diet. I feel like I have more energy now and feel like I'm eating real food. I'm having fun coming up with new paleo recipes to eat and share and never feel like I'm missing out on any foods. And to top it all off, I've lost 20 lbs in the past year! I now weigh less than I did in college and can fit into the dress I wore to my Junior Prom!

Picture on the left is from college. Picture on right is from a photo booth about a week ago.



I've been lucky enough to avoid food related illnesses. I've never been diabetic (although I was borderline during my first pregnancy), I've never had high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or high triglycerides and I've never been obese. But I believe the paleo lifestyle has helped me reach the best health I've ever had. I feel fit, and I feel healthy, and I would love others to give Paleo a try! Give it 2 weeks...and you may never go back. 

Meet the Cavegirls

Cavegirls Debbie, Beth, Angie, Stephanie and Kate

Head on over to Northwest Cavegirls to meet my partners in crime. We are cooking up some yummy paleo/primal treats, posting our weekly meal plans, talking about our exercise routines, reviewing products and places that are paleo friendly, talking about the science and medicine behind the paleo lifestyle,  and much more. You don't want to miss out on a single post!



Valentine's Day Chocolate Covered Cherries

What would Valentine's Day be without a little chocolate? In my house growing up we would always get one of those heart shaped chocolate sampler boxes on Valentines day from one family member or another.  But now, I want the really good chocolate rather than the cheap stuff in those heart shaped boxes from the grocery store. This year I decided to make dark chocolate covered Bing Cherries in the same manner that I made peanut butter cups for Christmas.

Dark Chocolate Covered Bing Cherries
about a dozen dried Bing Cherries From Trader Joe's
2 Trader Joe's 72% Dark Chocolate candy bars broken into bits

Melt chocolate in a microwave safe bowl for 30 second intervals stirring between each interval until chocolate is melted. Using a candy mold, place a bit of melted dark chocolate in each cup, placed a dried Bing Cherry inside then cover them with more dark chocolate. Pop them in the fridge to harden, then voila, you have Chocolate Covered Cherries for Valentine's Day! Enjoy.

Coconut Flour Pancakes

I love my Almond Flour Pancake recipe. But when Sunday morning arrived,  I went to the pantry to gather my ingredients to make pancakes only to find I was out of Almond Flour! What do you make pancakes from when you're out of almond flour, you ask? Why, Coconut flour of course!

Now, coconut flour is an entirely different beast from Almond Flour or regular wheat flour, for that matter. Coconut flour is very thirsty and requires a large amount of liquid to have the right consistency and not be too dry. But once you understand the liquid to dry ratio you need, coconut flour can be a very tasty and cost effective flour for Paleo/Primal baking.

What are the benefits of coconut flour? Well, I'm glad you asked!