Cleaning the Kombucha

My kombucha has been left alone for a while ever since Gwen became ill.  While I did remove most of the vinegar and added fresh sweet tea, but this caused the yeast to build up.  I figured it was time to completely clean 2/4 of the containers and let it rebrew.  Below is my scoby hotel before cleaning.

While cleaning my scoby hotel.  I have quite a few scobies!

Completely cleaned and in fresh sweet tea.

 Below is my 2 gallon "mothership" kombucha continuous brew container after I removed my mothership scoby and scrubbed out the container.

 My mothership scoby after being cleaned and placed in fresh sweet tea.  This scoby is my largest and pride and joy.  I will be checking this brew in a week to see if it is ready for 2nd fermentation.  When you have such a large scoby, your kombucha brews much faster. 

Here is my mothership scoby below.  This scoby has been growing continuously for about 8 months.  

Below is my current kombucha set up.  From left to right: oolong tea kombucha, rooibos/black tea kombucha and my basic black tea kombucha.  My scoby hotel is on the second level.

And I am currently growing a few more smaller scobies to sell in my Etsy shop to help towards Lincs service dog equipment.

Cauliflower Couscous Recipe

Cauliflower rice and couscous have become very popular replacements for normal white/brown rice and wheat based couscous.  I love rice and really miss regular Moroccan couscous since going gluten free.  Here is my personal recipe for a low calorie, tasty and very filling cauliflower couscous.

Ingredients:

1/2-3/4 head of cauliflower
1 cup of low calorie chicken broth
1/2 onion diced
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp olive oil (or a different healthy oil)
Dash of salt
Dash of black pepper
Your choice of seasoning.

I used my small food processor for this batch.  If you are making a larger portion, please use a larger processor or split your cauliflower in smaller batches.  Sometimes if you put too much in at once, some of it doesn't get chopped up.

Before chopping up your cauliflower in your food processor, wash and chop it up into small enough chunks that fit in the processor.  Place the chunks into the processor and press the "chop" or "pulse" button a few times or until the cauliflower is chopped into small bits and looks like grain. Do not use the puree button.

Place your cauliflower into a large skillet on high medium and add in your diced onion, minced garlic, grape seed oil, salt and pepper and the chicken broth.

Allow your mixture to come to a boil and stir every few minutes.  When the liquid is gone, have a taste and cook until it is to the consistency you prefer.  Plate with some salmon or chicken and enjoy!

New Years in Chicago & Food!

Happy New Year! I can't believe 2015 is already here.  I now have to think about what year it is when dating something, ugh. So, my parents and I spent the New Years week in Chicago.  We had a great time! 

Linc did great!! He went to the glass conservatory at Garfield Park, the modern art museum to see the "David Bowie Is" exhibit, his first play at Steppenwolf Theatre, the Chicago history museum and to his first sit down restaurants. He was fabulous! He is understanding "under," his leave it superb. So far his training is going well. I had been a little nervous about taking him to a restaurant, especially a sit down, but he laid down and stayed there, no issues. Quite proud of my puppy, this trip was a huge step. He went everywhere with me, even did a whole day of shopping. 

The play we saw at Steppenwolf Theatre was called "Airline Highway." It was brilliant! I love going to live theatre.  The wonderful thing about seeing this play is that it was the premiere at Steppenwolf! It will now be debuting on broadway this coming spring.  It is very exciting to see a play before it hits the big time! 

Here is Linc sitting in front of a motif of David Bowie before we went into the museum. The exhibit was wonderful because it included a majority of his well known costumes.  My family is full of Bowie fans.  Chicago was the only US location this exhibit went to.  Other than here, it was shown in London.  We feel very special!

Linc with my dad standing in front of the fountain at the Chicago History Museum. It was a cold and rainy day.  We went and saw the "1968" exhibit before it ended.  It definitely reminded my parents of their childhoods.  There were some awesome parts of the exhibit, including Jimi Hendrix velvet jacket and one of his guitars, the other part was a full size Huey that was built for the exhibit from scraps! 

When we left for Chicago, it was barren and absolutely no snow.  When we arrived home, it was a winter wonderland! We have gotten at least 8" of snow.  The temperatures have also been under 10º F, mainly below zero.

Here are some of my recent meals:

2 Trader Joes Salmon Burgers with sumac on top along side some green cabbage cooked in chicken broth with diced onion and minced garlic

Green grapes and scrambled eggs

In other news, I joined Anytime Fitness! I picked up my key fob yesterday.  I am very excited to get started!  I have a fitness consultation on Tuesday.

Paleo Carrot Soup

Great for the cold days coming up.

Ingredients:

1 bag of baby carrots
1.5 large onion
3 cups chicken stock
3 packets of stevia
3 cloves of garlic
dash of cinnamon

Pour the 3 cups of chicken stock into a large pot and add the carrots, garlic cloves and a sliced large onion.  Bring the stock to a boil, add the stevia and cinnamon.  Cook the stock for 15-20 minutes on medium.  Test the softness of the carrots with a fork.  When the carrots are easily pierced with a fork, place the hot mixture in a blender and puree until all of the onion, carrots and garlic are evenly blended.

Serve hot or cold.

Weight Loss & Fermentation

Well, I have officially lost 50lbs since beginning this journey.  I honestly don't feel like I've worked very hard at all.  But, I am definitely feeling the differences.  I know I don't look too thrilled in the 50lb gone photo, but I was dealing with a migraine and just wanted to take a photo and get it done with. 

Tonight I have sliced up onions and carrots to experiment with.  I am going to try to ferment these veggies via lacto-fermentation.  I hopefully did this correctly and won't kill anyone.  Wish me luck!

Buch

I have become a little obsessed with brewing kombucha.  It is a wonderful drink!  I have three different kinds of teas brewing, black, rooibos vanilla and oolong.

I did receive my other cloth covers for my 2.5 gallon and other 1 gallon continuous brews.

This is my newest experiment in brewing, Moroccan Mint.  I love the tea itself, we'll see how it turns out.  The base of Moroccan Mint is green tea, this is the only green tea I like.

I also now have a 2 gallon batch kombucha brewing.  it is made with my favorite rooibos vanilla tea.  I am seeing if there is a difference in flavor between the batch brew and the continuous brew.

Here is some of my kombucha with some Bolthouse berry juice added for second fermentation.  This is how it looks after second fermentation and refrigeration. 

I enjoyed some lobster tails broiled with sumac on them.  Sumac is my new favorite spice! This was sooo good!

Here is another version of my hopdoddy lamb burger.  Instead of using buns, I decided to try it with 2 toasted Rudi's small plain tortillas.

Yummy!!!

I found these awesome hotdogs at Trader Joe's! They are uncured and taste amazing!

This was my dinner tonight.  There is 5.2oz of grilled salmon on the bottom, underneath the grilled vegetables.  The grilled salmon and veggies are from Whole Foods.  The tortilla is a large Rudi's tortilla that I toasted.

For lunch and dinner tomorrow, I have a turkey breast in the crock pot with mushrooms and green onions.  That should be good! I haven't made a roasted turkey breast for a few weeks. 

Kombucha & 47.2lbs gone!

I thought I would start off with a wonderful quote from Dr. Seuss.

As I have mentioned before, I have started to brew my own kombucha.  Honestly, the process is quite addicting (in a good way). I had 3 gallon sized jars that I have been using to brew with.  But, I wanted something larger for my continuous brew.  I decided to buy a glass 2.5 gallon water dispenser.  It arrived today! I immediately put my two gallons of my continuous black tea brews in and made more to top it off.  I am extremely excited about having a much larger amount brewing all the time! I will still be using the 1gallon dispensers to brew more adventurous teas.  My basic two are black and rooibos vanilla.  Below on the left is my new 2.5g next to my rooibos 1g. So exciting!! I try to drink my homemade kombucha (16oz) a few times a week.  It has really made a difference when it comes to my digestion and ibs.  I love it!

In other news, I had to go a buy some new shirts! All of my old shirts are either too big or too big with holes in them.  Below is a recent photo of me wearing a new shirt from Old Navy.  I'm extremely excited that I am now able to shop in a "normal" store and no longer need plus size stores.

Here are some meals I've been eating.  Below is roasted cauliflower and Trader Joe's GF Battered Halibut (1.5 servings). The halibut is wonderful, but is a treat food and should only be eaten every so often. Moderation!

I also tried something new this week.  I made cucumber pasta! I used some of my home canned GF marinara sauce that I canned in August.  Not bad! Surprisingly very filling! I will be making this again.

In other news, my baby boy Mac has turned 8!!! I can't believe my puppy is 8 years old! Here he is waiting for the release command to enjoy a treat at the local dog bakery The Canine Crunchery.

We took home a small cake for him to enjoy the next day, which was his birthday, 04/05/14. Yes, Mac was born on 04/05/06.  How funny is that? This little carob cake was definitely enjoyed!

My nutritionist Sally has also posted a new healthy recipe on her blog Twellman Nutrition. I made it yesterday, but with grilled chicken tenders and it was a huge hit with my parents! I definitely suggest trying it!

Meals, Mine & the Dogs

I am basically 44lbs down since I restarted this journey! I feel awesome! Granted, I was ill with a horrific cough last week, but fresh ginger, lemon and tea have been my best friends! Perfect for a cold. 

You should check out my nutritionist Sally Twellman's Blog! Great recipes and advice!

Turkey cutlets broiled with cabbage, carrots and leeks.  Color is the key when you eat your vegetables! Always goes for the colorful ones.

Home made gluten free lemon pepper pollock (broiled).  It wasn't as tasty as other lemon pepper fish meals I have eaten.  I believe it may be because I left out the butter.  I try very hard not to consume very much dairy as I am on the brink of lactose intolerance. 

 Boiling duck eggs! New protein source!  I can request them at our local feed store.  My friend Hillary also has a sister who raises organic duck eggs! So tempting! They are huge compared to chicken eggs! Also, much cheaper than quail eggs.

 Boiling normal chicken eggs.  i eat these for breakfast and snacks. 

Trader Joe's Gluten Free battered Halibut (baked) with roasted cauliflower (a non-paleo meal).  This battered fish is a treat and I'll only eat it every couple of weeks.  It is very tasty though! No need to fry it, just bake!

 My own version of a Hopdoddy lamb burger with a fried sunny side up egg and avocado.  No bun.  I had their lamb burger with a gluten free bun when I visited my brother in Austin last month.  It was awesome and very easy to make at home.

 Onto the dogs' meals.  Indie & Mac ate beef tongue and Gwen ate ground beef

Beef heart for the boys and Stella & Chewy beef pattie for Gwen (she wasn't thrilled). I ran out of the Blue Ridge Beef for Gwen and had to substitute something.  I have learned not to feed it to her. Plus, it's ugly compared to the fresh, unprocessed Blue Ridge Beef in the photo above.

 Here is my beautiful baby boy Mac on our walk yesterday evening. Mac turns 8 on April 5th! I can't believe we've been together for so long!