New and traditional foods

As a family, we've made pretty dramatic diet changes over the last 7 or 8 years.  Gone are the processed, packaged foods and sugary snacks and drinks.  In their place, a bounty of whole foods (much of it locally sourced or homegrown), fills our fridge, freezer and pantry.  I'm not one to subscribe to a single dogmatic approach to eating, as I don't believe that ONE way is right for everyone.  That said, the teachings of Dr. Weston A. Price really resonate with me and as I read from the Nourishing Traditions cookbook over the last few years (and this winter, researched the Weston A. Price site),  so much of this wisdom just *fit* and felt right to me. 

I've struggled with a few long term health issues that were seemingly random, but I now know them to be fully connected to diet.  I'd been through all the obligatory medical tests (for YEARS) and had seen specialists for each one of them.  Each wanted to treat the condition that related to their discipline of medicine and send me on my way to see other specialists for the other issues.  Not ONE physician connected any of the dots (which at this point, I was beginning to believe were connected).

   Onwards!  Since adapting a largely traditional diet (in an effort to take charge of my health and the health of my family), most of my health conditions have completely disappeared.  The conditions that remain are slowly fading into remission in the order that they appeared.   That's proof enough for me, so onwards we go delving deeper into a traditional diet.   

Learning to cook in new ways with new ingredients is like starting all over again in the kitchen.  I'm not going at it with a militant attitude - I'm trying to ENJOY what I'm learning and take it slowly.  

Recently, this meal of falafel was a huge hit!  I'd soaked the chickpeas for several days and proceeded to whip up a delicious meal that pleased everyone in the family.  It was filling and highly nourishing thanks to the soaking which prepared the chickpeas for easy digestion. I was quite sceptical about it - it was awfully "different" from anything I'd ever cooked, but isn't that a good thing?  To try new things and add more diversity to our diets?

I've been very conscious of dietary fats and am ensuring to source the absolutely highest quality, nutritious fats I can find.   Here's bit of beef tallow from a fully grass finished cow (such a lovely glow) and we have our home rendered lard, too.  We buy pastured butter in ~ oh, how I long for a dairy cow... (John, are you reading this?).  Coconut oil makes a daily appearance.

Anyways - just a bit of rambling today...  it's been food on my mind for some time as we navigate our way through these slow changes...  The garden will play heavily into these changes as we plan our plantings and prepare to preserve the bounty in new and different ways which will bring greater nutrition to the table.  Happy eating, friends :)