real food breakfast date...

There's a lot of love going on in my kitchen lately, all stemming from a new Sunday morning tradition (going strong for two weeks now): breakfast date!  Since our diet has changed we desperately miss our breakfast outings to a local restaurant where my favorite thing to order was either a bacon waffle (yes, bacon in the batter!) or a 'special skillet'.  

This is basically the same idea once everything is mixed together, but the breakfast we've been making at home tastes even better and the ingredients are far better for us.  When people find out that we've changed our diet they usually ask one of two questions, "what do you eat?" or "aren't you hungry?".  I imagine they think we saute a chicken breast in water and place it with care over dry greens (puke), but that couldn't be further from the nourishing, whole food truth!  In fact we eat exactly like we've always eaten...except way better! 

Eating healthy isn't, for me, at all about cutting calories and watching my fat intake.  The only thing I've 'cut' from my diet is excess sugar and processed foods.  We barely go out to eat, which isn't exactly convenient, but at home we're eating the best foods ever and lovingly preparing them with fresh, whole, organic ingredients.

  

I assume most restaurants use vegetable oils for frying because it's cheap (can we please go back to the days of lard?).  High heat and vegetable oils do not mix as they are extremely unstable.  In fact all processed polyunsaturated fats (even expeller-pressed oils found in 'healthy' organic foods) are toxic and lead to so many of the health problems and diseases prevalent in our society.  If you change one thing in your diet, change your fats!  For more information on the damage caused by replacing animal fats with vegetable oils and the history of fats in our country read The Oiling of America written by Mary Enig, Phd and Sally Fallon... 

(excerpt): Because polyunsaturates are highly subject to rancidity, they increase the body's need for vitamin E and other antioxidants. Excess consumption of vegetable oils is especially damaging to the reproductive organs and the lungs—both of which are sites for huge increases in cancer in the US. In test animals, diets high in polyunsaturates from vegetable oils inhibit the ability to learn, especially under conditions of stress; they are toxic to the liver; they compromise the integrity of the immune system; they depress the mental and physical growth of infants; they increase levels of uric acid in the blood; they cause abnormal fatty acid profiles in the adipose tissues; they have been linked to mental decline and chromosomal damage; they accelerate aging. Excess consumption of polyunsaturates is associated with increasing rates of cancer, heart disease and weight gain; excess use of commercial vegetable oils interferes with the production of prostaglandins leading to an array of complaints ranging from autoimmune disease to PMS. Disruption of prostaglandin production leads to an increased tendency to form blood clots, and hence myocardial infarction, which has reached epidemic levels in America.

<sup>So basically...fertility, lung cancer, growth, intelligence, wrinkles, weight-gain, clogged arteries, arthritis and pms.  That's what jumps out at me.  Yum, yum extra yum!  I'll take some coconut oil, thank you very much, with a side of organic butter, preferably raw.  And some pastured, organic eggs, raw cheese, nitrate-free organic meat, organic potatoes and sour cream...and call it breakfast!

Here's our routine:
  
I wash and peel potatoes, shred them in my rotary slicer by Nutra-Ease, fill my cast iron skillet with coconut oil and fry until they're golden brown.</sup>  

 

^{In the meantime, Mr. Humble starts some nitrate-free, organic Chorizo (Nieman Ranch) sauteing (or I'll throw some uncured organic bacon in the oven) fills his pan with coconut oil and butter, whisks three of the best eggs money can buy and cooks them on low heat, adding our meat, raw jalapeno pepper jack and organic veggies after the eggs are set...and then makes another.}

^{Then we top everything with spinach, avocado, organic salsa and homemade sour cream (homemade cultured foods are good for healing the gut!) and have a long, leisurely breakfast looking into eachother's eyes (ah! but really just shoving food into our mouths and going on and on about how this is the best breakfast we've ever had and how happy we are at this very moment)}

Easy Homemade Sour Cream:

The easiest way to make sour cream at home, without buying a culture, is to buy some raw heavy cream (I can get Organic Pastures brand locally) and either a homemade or good quality yogurt (I like St. Benoit brand) or Kefir (Organic Pastures now makes a raw Kefir for around $5). 

I've also tried making sour cream with pasteurized heavy cream, but have only had good results with Strauss Creamery brand...the Clover brand ended up being too thin and runny (as seen in the opening pic).  Sometimes for a larger batch I'll use one pint raw cream and one pint Strauss and it turns out thick and beautiful every time.  I guarantee this will be the best sour cream you've ever had in your life!  I can't even eat store-bought anymore!
 

Humble Kitchen Sour Cream  

1 pint Heavy Cream (preferrably raw, always organic)

4 Tbsp Kefir or Yogurt (homemade or good quality store-bought)

*Pour cream into a mason jar, add kefir or yogurt and stir with a non-metal spoon.  Cover with a coffee filter secured with a rubber band and allow to culture for 18-24 hours in a warm spot (70-80 degrees).  Place in fridge to cool.

We use our homemade sour cream for breakfast, mixed with avocado in guacamole, mixed into salsa, stirred into soup, in smoothies, over sweet potatoes...almost every meal!

*For more information on cultured foods and how to make them at home please refer to Cultures For Health