A Day in the Kitchen: Fermenting, Baking, Grilling

Whenever possible, I like to spend a whole day (of part of a whole day) in the kitchen. I always have cooking projects I want to do—making snacks for the week, prepping for upcoming dinners, cooking a big pot of soup, that sort of thing—and having big chunks of time uninterrupted by my toddler or other bits of life is a beautiful thing.

So, this past Sunday, my mom hung out with my kid while I hung out in the kitchen, jamming to the Hugh Laurie station on Pandora.

First, I fermented.

I’d strained the whey out of some organic whole-milk yogurt. The first inspiration was to made Fearless Eating’s homemade ginger ale.

I had a bunch of leftover whey so I’m trying my hand at fermenting other things. Pictured is fermented orange juice (from Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions) with the ginger ale.

My kid loves the carrots in the bottom of the fancy pickle jars, so I thought I’d try to ferment carrots (recipe also from NT), one batch with rosemary and thyme and one with ginger.

I had a lot of kale from my garden, so I’m fermenting some of that from this blog post on lacto-fermented kale.

Then, I baked.

I was looking for something grain-free and snacky, to at once support and not support my kid’s current obsession with all things bread-y and cracker-y. I’ve had this recipe for herbed biscuits with coconut flour on my Pinterest for a long time. They came out wonderfully. My kid almost didn’t get any. When he did, he devoured them. Here’s the before and after:

Then, I blended and froze.

I’ve been wanting to make the Frozen Coconut Macadamia Bars from Mark’s Daily Apple since the post graced my inbox earlier this summer. I finally did. They are lovely and creamy and salty and perfect.

I also made gelatin gummy snacks.

Homemade jello’s a staple around here, so I didn’t think to take photos. I use Great Lakes Grass-Fed Gelatin, which I highly recommend!

This batch was a random blend of whatever fruity things were in my fridge: tangerine juice, black cherry juice, coconut water, and cold-brewed Mango Melange tea from Adagio.

I grilled dinner.

I also have no photos of me grilling, which is a shame. Salmon, cod-and-onions, burgers, zucchini, green tomatoes, and green bell peppers.

All in all, a success food day. Most of the products of the day are either long gone (biscuits and dinner), or not yet ready (the fermented things).

I look forward to sharing the results (success or failure) of my fermenting efforts.

What would you make if you had a whole day in the kitchen?

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