Have I been known to eat cookies for dinner? Yes.
Does that mean I don't have higher aspirations for myself and my health? Not at all.
Enter
Modern Alternative Mama.
Her name is Kate and she is a stay-at-home mom who has taken an alternative approach to healthy cooking and baking. As in, she uses REAL ingredients. I'm particularly intrigued with the idea of baking with sprouted flour and spelt flour.
Kate's blog is
Modern Alternative Mama and she's recently written four ebooks on healthier,
real cooking and baking.
Real Food Basics
This cookbook, Kate's first, is full of the down home favorites we all grew up with and enjoy. Fried chicken, meatballs, sausage gravy, and buttermilk pancakes. Desserts such as chocolate chip cookies and vanilla ice cream are also included.
I made the
Biscuits with
spelt flour and buttermilk and they were pretty near perfect. Use really cold butter (I grated mine into the flour straight from the freezer) and drizzle some honey on top after they came out of the oven. I ate biscuits, and biscuits alone, for dinner that night.
Spelt Flour Biscuits
makes 12-15 biscuits
2 cups spelt flour (I found it in the organic bins at the local chain store. You could substitute whole-wheat or ww pastry, I'm sure, though I haven't tried it.)
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt (Kate's recipe calls for 1 t., but I used salted butter so I cut back.)
4 T. cold (frozen) butter, grated
1 cup buttermilk
Extra flour for rolling and dusting
In a mixing bowl combine the flour, baking soda, and salt well. Add in the grated butter and mix with a fork. You should have plenty of little chunks of butter in the dough. Add the buttermilk, a little at a time, until well incorporated and it forms into a dough.
Roll out onto a floured board until about 1/2"-3/4" thick. Use a biscuit cutter, or an upside glass, to cut out biscuits. When cutting, do not twist the cutter. Just press it down and back up. This is one of the secrets to fluffy biscuits. Bake at 400* for 12-15 minutes on an ungreased cookie sheet.
On a Sunday morning, I tried the
Buttermilk Pancakes. I didn't have sprouted flour, so I used whole wheat pastry flour. I also tossed in some thawed (frozen) blueberries. They were moist, delicious and just sweet enough with maple syrup drizzled over the top. I've already made these 3 times in two weeks!
I've always wanted to be someone who makes her own
Tomato Sauce. Unfortunately, here in Alaska we don't have a ton of access to fresh, inexpensive tomatoes, especially in winter. I used canned, and I recommend it as a convenient alternative to fresh. This is a tasty, basic marinara recipe that can be adapted in many ways. Kate suggests adding meatballs, but I added different types of sauteed vegetables in an effort to up my veggie-consumption. I also threw this sauce in the blender, once cooked and cooled, to puree it to the perfect consistency.
To go with the Tomato Sauce?
Pizza Dough! I've recently started making my own dough and I can see this being one that I go back to again and again.
This is just a sample of the recipes in the book. I plan to continue cooking my way through it and I also appreciated the food preparation tips and healthy shopping guide that Kate includes in
Real Food Basics. I love learning more about what I
should be eating because it inspires me to try just a little bit harder when it comes to healthy eating.
Real Food Basics is just that: basic recipes for someone looking to cook real, healthy food. Kate explains her rational for ingredient choice as well, but even if you don't choose to use raw dairy, sprout your own grains, or make your own chicken stock, you can still use her recipes! They are easily adapted to every family's tastes and preferences.
NOW the fun part!
Kate wants to giveaway a copy of Real Food Basics to one of my readers! All you have to do to enter is:
Leave a comment telling me about a step you're trying to make toward a healthier lifestyle.
All I'm requiring for an entry is the comment, but I'd more than appreciate if you'd become a follower of
Kristin's kNook and also check out the specifics of the
Real Food Basics eBook here on Modern Alternative Mama.
If you'd like to order your own copy of
Real Food Basics,
you can do so here. Enter this code for a special 25% off discount:
BASIC25.
The giveaway ends on December 10th. The winner will then be announced on Sunday, December 11th.
*Linking this up to Mingle Monday!
