Wellness | Health Guidance | Nourishing Foods
I turned 38 yesterday. It’s not a hallmark birthday in any way but I witnessed a humorous interpretation of “Dance of Doom” from the Lego Ninjago Movie performed by 3-7 year olds wearing giftwrap, and spent a couple days with my family down the beautiful …
Fermented Turnips I did this recipe in a 1 Liter Kilner swing top canning jar but you can adjust proportions to your liking. Fermenting lids and weights are helpful but you can do this with stainless steel, plastic lids or a swing top like this …
No Sugar, Chocolate, Nut-free, Keto-Cycling
Yields 1x 8″ round cake, 2x 5″ round cakes or 16 cupcakes.
This cake was first introduced to me in Scotland and served up by a lanky Swedish man. I’m fairly certain the originator of the recipe was Nigella Lawson though, at least she is who I consulted for years in making it. It evolved over the years as I became more and more intolerant to wheat and then grains and sugars and I have to say this version is just as good as that first. If you can abide sugars go ahead and use 1 1/2 to 2 cups coconut sugar, but you may need to adjust the coconut flour a little. I call this cake flourless because as it’s made with Guinness it isn’t really grain free. Nor is it Paleo or Keto, but as Guinness has about 8-10 carbs per 12oz bottle that does add to the total carb intake. Let’s be real though, with only a cup in the recipe you are really only looking at an additional 0.5 carbohydrates per serving. No biggie, as long as you can handle grain. I normally cannot but I have found that my tolerance is much better when grains are fermented as in a beer or in sourdough bread or sprouted grains. So tread safely and know yourself but if you think you can handle it then this baby is WELL worth your effort. It makes a dense cake that I love best frozen, frosting and all. If you want it more dense and fudgy; I find the best trick is to turn up the heat a bit after you’ve whipped in the eggs thoroughly and let the batter “cook” a wee bit before pouring in the pan. Or you could just pour in that whole bottle of Guinness. Hey, for a beer it is pretty amazingly healthy. It is full of prebiotic fiber and it is high in iron and relatively low in calories. Don’t believe me? Read this. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Preheat the oven to 350ºF/180°C, and butter and line an 8 inch cheesecake pan with parchment paper. I love these pans because I can pop out the bottom, place it on the parchment paper and slice around it with a sharp knife for the perfectly lined pan. I cut the parchment for the sides a bit taller so I can “overfill” the pan and get the cake a bit taller.
Pour the Guinness into a large wide pan and then add the butter. Heat until melted then whisk in the cocoa and sugar.
Whisk in the milk kefir and then crack the eggs in one at a time, whisking them in vigorously.
Add the vanilla and whisk in the baking soda.
Last of all sift in the pea protein or arrowroot followed by coconut flour.
Pour the cake batter into the buttered and lined pan and bake for 45 minutes to an hour or 40 minutes for two smaller pans like the one shown. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack. I will sometimes pull it out of the pan and pop it in the freezer for a stint to make frosting easier.
While it is cooling, we deal with the icing. Whip the cream cheese until smooth. Add the vanilla, stevia and allulose and whip to combine.
Now if you are using kefir cream you will want to carefully add it in a bit at a time to keep the consistency smooth. You can get away with a cup as opposed to the heavy or whipping cream. If you whip it too hard it will curdle because it is already cultured to thickness and is just a step from becoming a lovely cheese and whey.
If using heavy cream, add it in slowly and whip until you have a light but spreadable consistency. I will sometimes need to fold it in with a spatula. Whipping cream can behave a bit differently and it is best to whip it to soft peaks first and then combine it slowly.
You can choose to make this dairy free by coconut cream and coconut butter together but as it is not very Irish to do so I have not tried it. I would recommend beating 1 cup coconut cream with 1/4-1/2 cup coconut butter and adding the vanilla and sweetener and whipping until combined.
Spread the icing over the top of the cake only so it resembles the head of a freshly poured pint of Guinness.
This is a recipe I have been anticipating for a couple of years now. There are a couple ways to do this. I would consider this the trickier but as I have yet to try the other method we will go with it. Let’s call …
(Paleo, Keto maintenance, Vegan) Hullo! Here we are with the chocolate again! I know what you’re thinking… this lady likes her chocolate. Well, yes I do. I am not ashamed. I like it dark and bittersweet and most store bought chocolates under 72% used to …
Recently I was up in Washington visiting one of my oldest friends. No, she’s not old. Well she’s my age so that’s debatable I guess. We were best friends in High School and have this eerily coincidental relationship. No mind reading but we used to show up to school in the same outfit without planning and we were on swim team and lacrosse team together. When we were apart for years at a time there was always a thread of similarity in our life circumstances. We didn’t get into trouble in school really but if we had she would have been the brains and I the crazy. Not that I don’t have brains. But I would say I definitely favored showing the crazy. She would quietly suggest “wouldn’t it be weird/funny/____” you know… and I would be off like a shot climbing walls or leaping people like a nut job. Because it was fun and I enjoyed the shock most of our antics gave people. Frankly, I enjoyed (and still do) small and well placed bouts of social awkwardness. I was the girl who would slowly start using your utensils at dinner to see what you’d do. It was a little insensitive. But the part I really enjoyed was seeing what people were like when they were caught with their guard down. Because in that moment you saw someone’s heart. Or their gut. However you wish to look at it. You see a person when they let down their guard. I guess I still do this but in a more redeemed fashion. I believe in just being myself and people can take it or leave it. I have found really good friends really quickly that way. Which is good, because I have moved around a lot. I think if you just show yourself you may get rejected by people who care a lot about what others think, but you find some real gems. It’s possible this is how I have accumulated so many INTJ friends in a world where they are one of the rarest types. I think it’s great and it sparks joy so I’ll keep it, thank you.
Anyway back to food! And kimchi. Gaaaaaah 🤤
My friend handed me a bag of gochugaru, which is a Korean spice I haven’t been willing to drive out to an Asian store (I like grocery shopping mind you, just not with three little kids and a jam packed schedule). My shopping is done in 20 minute speed trips between one appointment and school pickups thank you very much… because my kids (or I should say my girls) so take after their mother that they think any store with a long aisle is an opportunity to race. 🤦🏻♀️
So “M” (yes that’s intentional for you Bond fans) handed me some gochugaru because I have been making my kimchi with everything from jalapeños to cayenne to Hungarian and smoked paprika.
The grocery store had daikon radish in as well so I decided to make up a batch of pretty standard kimchi, minus the fish sauce. I love fermenting… but this is not a particular ferment I like to take part in if I can help it. Thank you Michael Pollan for your wonderful book. It ruined this Asian staple for me forever. Lol.
Ingredients:
Method:
[lt_recipe name=”Simple Vegan Kimchi” servings=”20″ prep_time=”1H” total_time=”7 DAYS” difficulty=”Intermediate” summary=”A basic yet flavorful kimchi recipe. This is a great ferment to do when you are starting out as it is basically fullproof despite the appearance of being complicated.” print=”yes” image=”https://www.brennamay.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/img_6266-300×300.jpg” ingredients=”1 Napa Cabbage, quartered and chopped;1/2 onion, quartered;1 bunch green onions, chopped into 1 inch pieces;2-3 inch piece of ginger;3 Tbsp Kosher Salt, divided;3-4 carrots, peeled and rinsed;1 daikon radish (about 1 cup sliced);1 red pepper, quartered and sliced (red retains its color better);1 large green apple, diced;1 Tbsp Coconut Aminos;1/4 cup water (to puree apple, ginger & onion);2 Tbsp gochugaru ;Gallon jar with or without airlock or a 2 quart jar (I use a giant pickle jar for this);fermenting weight(s)” ]Sanitize a large 68oz jar or two roughly 2 liter jars and fermenting weights in the oven at 180º for 5 minutes.;Wash and quarter your cabbage lengthwise, then chop to desired length. Thicker is more authentic (about 1 inch), but I chopped mine to about a half inch. Place in a large bowl, toss with 2 Tablespoons kosher salt and set aside for at least 30 minutes to an hour for it to begin to ferment.;;Slice the peppers in quarters and then quarter inch slices, set aside.;Slice the radish in rounds and set aside.;Peel and slice the carrots in rounds or sticks and set aside. ;Half the onion and quarter it, reserving for the blender. ;Chop the tops off the green onions/scallions and cut off the whites. Reserve the whites for the paste and chop the greens in one inch sections.;Roughly chop the apple so the blender can handle it.;Chop the Ginger a bit and combine with the apple, onion scallion whites, gochugaru and 1 Tbsp kosher salt in the blender with the water and coconut aminos. Blend until smooth. ;Rinse the cabbage, drain and then add all the ingredients to the large bowl and toss together.;Carefully scoop the mixture into the sanitized jars and beat down with a wooden spoon or french rolling pin until you have at least 2″ space at the top. There is an actual tool for this but as I try my best to be minimalist I use what I have. Now don’t freak out! You don’t need brine for this one as it ferments better in it’s own juices and the salt. Really. Set the fermenting weights or a ziplock full of water (sealed) and close the lid. ;Leave for a week or so. Enjoy with EVERYTHING. [/lt_recipe]