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Me with my boys in the room which is our cooking, eating, playing, sitting, reading and colouring space!
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The big boy is Rob, my husband and twin flame. We’ve been together since 2008. He followed me to Italy a few months after we started our courtship and we’ve rarely been apart since. He’s washer-upper, sous chef #2, chief taster and the love of my life.
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The little boy you’ve seen here before. He’s Gabriel, our 6 year-old son. He was born after doctor’s told us I’d never conceive naturally (which I didn’t believe) at home in water. He’s a bundle of joy, my greatest teacher, and has replaced Rob as sous chef #1.
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These two are the only people that I’ve been able to share my culinary creations with over the last two and a half months. I am so grateful they are in my life. And I’m grateful I can share with you here, even if it is only virtually (for now…) 🙂

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Soda bread anyone? Here’s my latest version: wholegrain, ancient grain – this time baked in a tin. And it’s nutrient-dense, by that I mean the flour has been given time to soak in the sour milk, removing the phytic acid that stops you digesting all the minerals.
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Soda bread, made in this way, is this month’s #ancestralcookup. You can use any flour you like – wholemeal, white, wheat, gluten-free…whatever you can find, whatever your body loves. You can use whatever ‘milk’ you like – kefir, soured, oat, barley…whatever works for you.
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I’d love to have you cook along and enjoy the super-delicious outcome. Link to the recipe is in my profile.

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There’s pizza in my story today; this one! It’s wholegrain spelt sourdough topped with onions, lardo and herbs from the garden. My hubby made me smile by telling me it was the best pizza he’d ever tasted 🙂
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Check out the story to watch it coming to life. My dough is mixed by a pro and we shoot it into a super hot oven using our new pizza-professional toy!

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Very often the thing that stumps us as home sourdough bakers, in our quest to make brilliant bread, is our ambient temperature. The bacteria harnessed in sourdough breads and starters work well at warm temperatures and if we keep our … Read More

When you make bread kvass this is your starter – left over rye sourdough. I made my first lot of this fermented drink around 2 months ago and am still using the same bread I started with.
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When it’s ready (i.e. sour enough for me), I drain the fermented liquid and decant it into a swing-top bottle to fizz up in a second ferment, then I remake a sugar/water solution to add the bread back into.
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I think this re-using of bread could go on indefinitely, like water kefir or milk kefir grains do. (And now I’m wondering if somewhere, someone has decade old bits of rye bread that they are still using in kvass?!!)
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I often flavour my swing-top bottle second ferment with fresh mint from the garden. Sometimes, I’ll add a few raisins to get it really bubbly.

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You do not need to make sourdough in order to get the all the benefits of fermented grains. Here’s farro monococco (‘little’ spelt – the grains are tiny!) which I soaked, sprouted and blended. I added a little sourdough starter before I whizzed them up; this is optional, if you don’t have it you could use kefir (milk or water), whey or nothing. Leave the mix at room temp to ferment.
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From there you can use it in many ways. Get a pan really hot and make it into pancakes. Add some water and make a porridge. Pour it into a greased baking tray and oven yourself a flat bread.
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We’re having this bubbly spelt as pancakes tonight, along with eggs and some fresh asparagus.

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I drink a cup of freshly-ground green coffee most mornings.
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It began when my hubby started roasting his own coffee. I was sad I couldn’t join in…there was no way; I just cannot handle ‘normal’ coffee. Despite being, according to 23andme, a fast caffeine metaboliser, I literally do not sleep after having coffee and it makes me feels shaky. There’s more to roasted coffee than just caffeine, me thinks.
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And then I heard @bengreenfieldfitness talking about green coffee. So I tried grinding then steeping the beans. I liked it. I felt good. My sleep didn’t seem affected.
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I’ve honed it a lot since them. I use organic, arabica beans. They are lower in caffeine than varieties such as robusta and also not as hard (I’ve broken a few grinders on this adventure!) I boil then simmer 2 tsp of the ground beans for 10 minutes.
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I drink it mainly for pleasure. I have read that the harder you roast a coffee the higher the caffeine is. I have also read that green coffee has other compounds in it that help mitigate any caffeine. I do know there are many anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds in the green stuff!
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My hubby still roasts his own beans, in our cast iron pan. I can’t convert him ;-).

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I have tried baking a lot of different scones. Hands down soda bread scones are my favourite. The dense texture and particular flavour of soda bread lends itself amazingly to these little bundles of treat.
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Want to cook them along with me this month? It’s easy. You can do them wheat, ancient grain, spelt, gluten-free – whatever flour you like. You can use raw dairy like I did here, or one of the many milk alternatives out there.
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The template recipe is linked to in my profile – it’s the Ancestral Cook Up for this month; ‘nutrient-dense soda bread’. It’ll walk you through what you need to do.
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And I’d recommend topping them with coconut oil and peanut butter. Sometimes it’s just darn necessary!

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This is lardo. It’s back fat from a pig that’s been cured in salt, rosemary and other goodies. It is soft and buttery in texture. And absolutely delicious.
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When we lived in Cornwall in the UK, we got pig fat from a local Cornish farmer and we rendered it down into spreadable lard ourselves. Lard is great to cook in or even slather on bread.
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But lardo is like it’s super-refined cousin. The word I’d use is divine. Just as it is. Sliced thinly, wrapping an almond. Or a date.
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This lardo comes from the farm up the hill. I am so grateful to those who do the work of raising animals sanely; who look after the animal, the soil, our planet so I can eat, create with and share what nature gives. Thank you.

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Here is the inside of the milk kefir-leavened spelt loaf. It has a beautifully open crumb considering it’s 100% wholegrain and the only ‘yeast’ is from kefir.
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Although this loaf doesn’t need a sourdough starter, it does need a warm place to do its thing. I keep it at 29C (84F) for almost 2 days. I do this thanks to a DIY proofing box my husband made for me. .
I’ve almost finished writing an article on how to make an at-home proofing box. I’ll link it here when I’ve posted it. In the meantime, there is an article on my site now walking you through how to create a sourdough starter. You’ll find a link on my profile.
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And, when I’ve got some more raw milk, I’ll make this one again and document the steps.

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