Alison Kay

I am extending the #ancestralcookup to cover the whole of April. If you want to join in, it’s a beef and barley stew, and there are tonnes of options for you to use what you can get hold of in your part of the world.
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The template recipe is linked in my profile here. Check that out, cook it up and then post a pic and let me know how your version turned out. It’s a fun way for both me and you to feel part of a community of awesome homecooks who love nutrient-dense foods.
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We are lunching on it again today. Because I really love crunch, I got my 6-year old to be in charge of frying up chucks of my sourdough bread in lard to top it. It was yum!

This is the view from my kitchen window. We found this place to live about 4 weeks before the corona lockdown in Italy. Before that, because of an unforeseeable disaster, we were without a home for 2 months. I am so, so grateful we found this place before everything shut. And I feel so, so blessed that I can see green, trees, hills and birds whenever I want.

Breakfast is the one meal we don’t usually eat together as a family. Both my hubby and I practise intermittent fasting: I go from 6pm until 10am not eating and he does 6pm till 11.30am. There’s no way my little boy can do that, so he usually eats earlier. Habits are good to break and Sundays we usually have a ‘special’ breakfast together.
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Today it was fermented spelt porridge. I soaked the spelt berries for 24 hours with some whey, then let them sprout. When they had tails, I blended them with a little more whey. I then left them overnight to ferment. We cooked them up with this morning. My hubby added goat kefir, apple and soaked/dehydrated walnuts. My son had banana, miso (yes, I know, with banana – he’s bonkers :-)) and cashews. I had ground flax seed, walnuts, miso and a spoon of peanut butter. We all added copious coconut oil.
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Eating together, consciously, makes the start of a special day even specialer. Easter love to everyone who got (and didn’t get!) this far into my ramblings!

I made cheese with our #rawgoatmilk! It was delicious on some home-made bread for supper.

Yes, they’re banana skins! Cool, weird, amazing, hey? I’m making #bananaskinvinegar. It’s tucked away nicely now in my fermenting nook; going to be there a couple of months, I think. Thank you @mark_diacono for the idea. I used honey, not maple syrup. And @soilassociation I’m carrying on saving my skins to make the banana skin curry soon.

There is still time for you to join me in the #ancestralcookup. We are making beef and barley stew together! At mine, we are enjoying it again for lunch – with home-made soda bread, goat’s butter and some sauerkraut. Check out the link in my bio for all the details of how to join in – I’d love to cook with you 🙂

What I had in the fridge: Left-over roast chicken, left-over kale, half a packet of mushrooms and a red onion. What I did: Lightly fried some garlic and capers in olive oil, before adding thyme (try this, the smell will floor you, so beautiful). I then chopped the onion and mushrooms and added them. When they were golden, I shredded the chicken and popped that in too, stirring well. Whilst that was happening, I cooked some millet in chicken stock made from the same chicken. We ate it drizzled with lots of extra olive oil 🙂

We usually travel into Florence to get our flour – wholegrain local spelt. Not being able to do that, we’re relying on the amazing ladies at the local health food store. They’ve only had semi-integrale (partially wholegrain) spelt recently, so my #sourdough loaves have been a bit whiter. I love not slashing them and seeing where they want to burst out 😉

This is the nicest tea I have ever tasted. And, not being a coffee drinker, I have downed a lot of tea. It’s made from the shells of cacao beans. It literally tastes like chocolate. It has no caffeine. It makes me feel soft. It makes me feel special. It makes me feel calm. And those things are gold. Happy afternoon everyone.

A couple of people have asked me how the cook up works. I’m chuffed (which means very pleased in English slang!) as it’s the first one and I wasn’t sure who’d want to join in 🙂 So here it is put simply. A community cook up that you can do in your own time with your own twist. Then come share the meal here so we can all see what you’ve been doing inside the (in my opinion) most beautiful room of your 4 walls. Come join in, if you fancy!

Author: Alison Kay