Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride recommends making your own homemade yogurt because the commercial stuff is inferior, with less active live cultures.  So, I’ve been experimenting with using organic Kefir with this wonderful locally made milk, from Trader’s Point Dairies here in Indiana.  It’s pasteurized (since raw milk will kill you/snark) but it is not homogenized, which is only a cosmetic, not a health concern.  Dr. Campbell-McBride says that the process to homogenize changes the fat molecules.  I suppose the body cannot recognize it in the changed form?

Anyway, I’ve decided that my homemade yogurt is like a box of chocolates…I never know what I’m going to get. 🙂  It’s either runny or lumpy….although I have to admit the times when it’s been more of a solid, I’ve added more Kefir to it, so maybe that’s the cause.

Homemade sauerkraut is totally under-rated.  The commercial stuff has this bitterness to it, but the homemade stuff doesn’t.  It has a kick to it, for sure.  The only problem is that you have to wait 5-7 days for it to ferment.

I’ve also tried fermenting carrots.  I thought I might get the sweet-and-sour thing….yeah, that didn’t work out so well…but they’re still edible.

There’s also a recipe for homemade ice cream, using real cream that’s also been fermented into sour cream, adding eggs, honey, and whatever ingredient you want…sounds delicious.

Dr. Campbell-McBride encourages certain ripe fruits on the diet–I’ve tried some, but still have strong reactions to them, so I’m back to ripe bananas (brown spots on the skin) and apples.  I mashed a ripe banana and threw it in the pan with the eggs in the morning, and oh.my.god, it was like eating pancakes! Yum…pancakes are something I’ve been missing.

I’ve been pretty good at sticking with the diet, although I have to admit I cheated last week…succumbing to the call of M&M’s.  But I’m still proud of myself for sticking to it.  I’ve now lost 20 pounds.  Amazing.

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Fort Wayne has free firewood, if anyone’s interested…you’ll have to drop by and pick it up yourself. 🙂  Just a little storm humor.  Geez, it still amazes me how powerful that storm was…I was walking home from the grocery this morning (haven’t been able to walk anywhere because of the heat), and there were trees with major damage on each of the six blocks I walked.  One guy passed by and said his friend’s car was demolished by a tree.  I don’t think insurance even covers that–nice out for them, eh?

Oh, and a minor correction–I don’t think the picture I linked to with the tree in the street was the actual one in front of the library.  I’m still not that familiar with the streets, not being that mobile.  I think the tree down was actually about a couple blocks over.  Anyway, wanted to clear that up.  Truth in reporting and all that 🙂

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