Thursday, September 26, 2013

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream For...Grass Fed Ice Cream!

Yum!
Have you ever had grass fed ice cream? I didn't even know that existed until a couple weeks ago when I went with my roommate Leila (above) to Moo Thru in Remington, VA (www.moothru.com). Moo Thru is a walk up/drive thru that sells not only ice cream, which is reason enough to go, but also fresh milk in glass bottles from the owner's grass fed cows. I'm not joking when I say it was some of the best ice cream I have ever had, especially for the price.


Now, I'm not saying that you should go out and eat a gallon of ice cream and call it a day, but every now and again it's nice to treat yourself. When Leila and I went, there was already a line so I am sure that they ran out of a few flavors, but even still they had a pretty decent sized selection. The one Leila's holding above is actually the cone I ordered-2 scoops of blackberry in a freshly made waffle cone. It was a HUGE amount of ice cream!
This is actually a pretty small line for this place

When you go, be prepared to wait just a little bit, but trust me when I say it is well worth the wait. Just be prepared to get in trouble with your fiance if you go without him and don't bring him any home (sorry honey).


Friday, September 20, 2013

Fermentation Friday!

Does anybody know what this thing is? Anyone? I'll give you a hint, it has something to do with the other things on the table...

Cultures for Health Booth at Ancestral Health Symposium



If you guessed fermentation crock you're right! You get a cookie! Ok you don't get a cookie, cookies are bad for you (unless you can find a low carb cookie). But you can have a pickle that has been made by our very own Dr. Moghissi in a crock just like this one. She bought her crock from the Cultures for Health (http://www.culturesforhealth.com/) booth at AHS this year.

Say cheese Dr. Moghissi!

Pickles and other fermented foods are actually pretty good for you, they help with digestion and they also help balance good bacteria in your gut. Dr. Moghissi made her first batch last week, and this afternoon she shared her recipe with me...

You will need:
Fermentation Crock (Dr. Moghissi uses a gallon sized crock)
A couple cloves of garlic, smashed (for me, the more the merrier, but its completely up to you)
Dill
2 bags of black tea-tea has tannin (part of the makeup of the leaves) in it which keeps your pickles crunchy!
Salt Water-you will need 3 tablespoons of salt per quart of water
Cucumbers

So, now that you have your ingredients together, throw your cucumbers, garlic, dill, tea bags into the crock. Fill the crock with the salted water (so your pickles don't get mold) up to about an inch above the cucumbers so they are submerged.

Bubbles at the top mean that your pickles are fermenting!
There are weights that come with the crocks that you will need to weigh the pickles down so they don't float to the top of the water. Cover with the lid and let it ferment, checking on it every once in a while. Five days or so later, your pickles will be ready! Happy Eating! *Crunch Crunch*

Be ready to fend off your family (or staff members) for these crunchy delights.

Monday, September 16, 2013

Welcome to our first attempt at blogging!

For those of you that do not know, the Ancestral Health Symposium is a three day long convention where people from all over the country get together to talk about living like our ancestors did, which is the premise behind the Paleo lifestyle. Dr. Moghissi and I went to the one this year in Atlanta, where we heard three days worth of speakers talk about every topic under the sun. I came to the conclusion that though it may be extremely difficult for me to give up everything required to be a true follower of the Paleo lifestyle, I agree with the major premise that our food should be locally sourced and sustainable, and that grains are not the best for us health wise. 

Keeping that in mind, I decided that as a practice, we should start up a blog to share our thoughts, successes, failures, adventures and anything else that we can think of to not only help us, but to also help our patients, friend, family, etc. with their quest for a healthier lifestyle.

So, look forward to lots of recipe attempts and reviews, trips to the farmers market, and interesting articles in your future.


Enjoy!

A.K.