FERMENTED SUNFLOWER SEED CHEEZE: trying something new

sunflower seed cheeze

Posted on August 17, 2013 | Leave a comment | Edit

Two nights ago, I set a sunflower cheeze to ferment (I usually do cashew cheezes, but I wanted to try something a little different – I mean, the stuff I add in is usually going to be the same no matter what I am making)

Instead of grinding the sunflower seeds into powder, the way I used to do, I soaked them overnight.

In the morning, I added salt and put it all into the Cuisinart, reduced it to mush, and then put it in a nutmilk bag, set it in a colander on a bowl with a jar full of water as a weight on top.  (All of these things are different from my usual sunflower seed recipe)

I set it in the corner of the kitchen, and waited for 2 days. Tonight I opened it up and, although it tasted okay, something was missing.  I went ahead and added in the garlic and onion and oil-cured kalamata olives, and prepared to let it set up in the refrigerator. Then I checked, and my body memory doesn’t have me putting in the probiotics. Should I or not? I decided to add probiotics at that point, and I am glad that I did. I put the first cheeze round in the food processor with a capful of probiotics, and, when I took it out, I could smell the difference! 

So, now, I have decided to leave these very blended cheezes out one more night, and then put them in the refrigerator for another day. 

One is just the garlic, onion, olive version, and the other one was going to be coated with dill, but the dill got mixed in when I added the probiotics. I am expecting good results, regardless.

PRETTY SMART RAW FOOD IDEAS NEW HOME, for now

I am publishing posts here right now because, for some reason, Wordpress does not show my homepage, where you can see my blog in its entirety, and won’t respond when I ask where my homepage has gone. 

My Wordpress blog still exists – you can still read the pages I have on it when you go to the homepage URL  for Pretty Smart Raw Food Ideas --  you just cannot see my posts, and if you want to access posts, you have to search for keywords (for example: kale, cheeze, or beets), and you have to keep at it to find what you are looking for.  

As a result, I am going to begin talking about things that I have on that blog and  either linking to the blog, to keep it active, or re-publishing here, as I learn how to use this new platform.

Thank you for your understanding and patience.

NUTRI-BULLET - My New Kitchen Gadget: I Think This Might Be Love!

I have just received my Nutri-Bullet, and I was pleasantly surprised by what came in the box.

Since I had not seen , either in the ads or in the packing materials, what I was going to get, I will explain here what I was happy to find in my box:

I was really expecting to get the base, a blade assembly, and a jar/cup.  
Instead, my Nutri-Bullet came with 2 small cups (about 1 to 1-1/2 C), 
1 larger jar/cup (maybe 2 C), and two different blades. (The extractor blade of the blades looks like a regular blender blade. The milling blade looks like the blade on my Magic Bullet that I use for grinding nuts and seeds into powder/flour)).  Two lids also came with the package.

This Nutri-Bullet is a good bit larger than my Magic Bullet, but it still fits on the same shelf where I use my Magic Bullet on (good thing – kitchen space is at a premium here).

In the box, there was also a Nutri-Bullet User Guide and Recipe Book, which contains warnings against over-filling the Nutri-Bullet cups (they mean it – most of the complaints in on-line reviews come because the users filled the cup too high, and, so, experienced leakage). This User Guide is also very specific about how to clean the Nutri-Bullet (I looked all over my kitchen, but I could not find the dishwasher, so I will just clean this thing the old-fashioned way, with the dishwashers which are attached at the ends of my arms). The User Guide and Recipe Book contains nice quite a few nice recipes, as well as suggestions for how to use the Nutri-Bullet to start a nutrition-rich lifestyle.

I’ve already made 
CUCUMBER/WATERMELON JUICE

1/2 small baby watermelon

2  cucumbers

Optional: juice of 1 lime  (I didn’t put this in mine simply because there were no limes hiding in my refrigerator when I wanted to inaugurate the Nutri-Bullet).

The noise is not so bad – I’m used to the noise  of a Magic Bullet, a blender, a VitaMix, and a Champion juicer, so … noise is a relative thing.

You might wonder why I wanted this Nutri-Bullet: I have a VitaMix that stopped working promptly on the day after the warranty expired (okay, that might have been my fault, and VitaMix assures me they can fix it, but… I saw the  Nutri-Bullet, and thought I would check it out before I sink the money into a VitaMix  repair, so I took a little off the top of the rent money and ordered my Nutri-Bullet)

The only complaints I have with this product, so far, are:

• It doesn’t come with a listing of what you’re getting, so, as you unpack the box, you find all these things, and then you have to carefully read  about 1/3 of the way into the User Guide and Recipe Book to find references the extractor blade and the milling blade
• The product information erroneously calls the “blender type” blade an extractor blade: It doesn’t extract anything. It  pulverizes (for want of a better word) whatever you put in there, making a fiber-rich smoothie, soup, or whatever you are up to. There is no extraction – extraction happens with juicers where the juice comes out in a rich liquid, and then there is pulp left over from the vegetable.

At this point, I will still give my Nutri-Bullet a 5-star rating. I bought it after having read quite a few positive ratings and a goodly number or low-star ratings).  

08/08/13 CSA SHARE: What we got

I guess I am in the process of  moving, so...

Today's share held:

- scallions (1 bunch)

- batavian lettuce (2 heads)

- swiss chard (1 bunch)

- cucumbers (4 pieces)

- eggplant (1 piece) or green frying peppers (3-4 pieces)

- garlic (1 piece)

- cherry tomatoes (.5 lb) or tomato (1-2 pieces)

I already have onions and scallions, ,so I traded for another garlic head. Otherwise, I took what was in the box. I have recently learned that chard has a spinach-y taste. I am going to make something with chard, or else dehydrate it, or both - this bunch is really big.

Those cucumbers are really big! 

I got a pretty tomato.

We'll see. I'll let you know