KEFIR CHEESE, MAKING BACON, BRINGING HOME CHICKS

Oh – and it’s delicious! Why isn’t everyone making this? I wonder if people are nervous it will be too complicated or it’ll turn out weird?

Let me dispel myths, simplify the process, and help give you confidence to do this thing because if you’ve not, you’re seriously missing out!

First, strain your kefir grains and put your kefir in a jar. Let it sit on the counter for another day or so until it separates.

Once the curds and whey separate, line a bowl with cheesecloth. Pour your curds and whey all into the bowl and hang the kefir filled cheesecloth above the bowl.

It’ll be super liquid-y — you just have to trust the process. It’ll drip a lot!

I hang mine at least overnight – sometimes more like 18 hours.

Here’s where it gets super cool – when you open your cheesecloth, you’ll have kefir cheese!

How simple is that?!? Be sure to salt it a bit because salt works as a preservative plus it makes it taste yummy.

Kefir cheese is a really good substitute for cream cheese on a bagel – that’s my favorite way to use it. It’s also good on scrambled eggs or even on roasted veggies.

And it’s crazy good for you.

Ready to give it a try?

Oh. – and the whey? It has a million and one uses but my favorite is to substitute the liquid in my fresh milled bread. It makes it so incredibly soft and tasty.

We’ve been making homemade bacon for years and years. We used to use a prepackaged cure that was super tasty but it had extra ingredients we weren’t super fond of.

Afterall, that’s part of making your own food, right? We get to choose our ingredients!

Then along came Hand Hewn Farm and their amazing bacon – and these old dogs learned a new trick!

Now we cure our bacon with salt (a good salt) and brown sugar or sucanat and that’s it! No nitrites or weird ingredients and we use a good, healthy salt.

You truly can make bacon that’s good for you!

In case you’re wondering, here are our basic instructions. Brine recipe courtesy of Hand Hewn Farm.

BRINE:

2-2.5% salt

1-2.5% brown sugar

0.3% black pepper (we omit the pepper because I’m allergic)

Weigh the meat in grams then calculate those percentages and spread them all over the bacon. After that, vacuum seal it and refrigerate for 7 days.

PROCESS:

After the bacon has been in the dry brine for 7 days, cold smoke it for 6-8 hours.

Slice and freeze what you won’t eat within a few days.

That’s it! So simple!

Oh! And it’s the exact same for ham.

Do you do your own meat curing?

I took a recipe that was kinda okay and spruced it up until it’s just about my favorite soup ever.

Quick note: we lean heavily carnivore in our eating so I doubled the meat in this recipe. The original recipe calls for just 2 quarts of meat.

Here’s my recipe:

PORK STEW

Makes 7 Quarts plus enough for a couple of dinners (I always make extra soup when I can soups so I don’t have to make another meal).

4-5 quarts pork, chunked (I used a couple of dark meat pork roasts and heaped a one gallon bowl with cubes)

2 quarts carrots, sliced

3 c. celery, chopped

5 c. onions, chopped

3 quarts potatoes, peeled & cubed

5 T salt

7 T Azure Standard Italian seasoning (its completely different from the store stuff – super savory but not overpowering)

2 T ranch dressing mix (again, I get mine from Azure Standard and it’s super yummy)

4-6 quarts broth or water (I always use homemade broth for flavor and nutrient density).

In a large stock pot (I used my five gallon one), brown pork cubes in butter or avocado oil. Make sure you don’t use too much oil.

Add carrots, celery, onions, & potatoes and continue to brown and cook slightly.

Add seasonings.

Add broth/water to cover. Bring to a boil and simmer for one hour. Pack stew into hot jars leaving 1 inch head space. Ladle boiling water or broth over, making sure not to go above 1” for headspace.

Process quarts for 90 minutes and pints for 75 minutes at 10 psi.

When I warm up this stew, I add some heavy whipping cream before serving – oh my word! Its delicious!

A coupe of notes about Azure Standard: I appreciate their spices and spice mixes so much – they are all excellent! Italian seasoning has always seemed a bit strong for me but theirs is absolutely perfectly blended. I also have made my own taco seasoning for as long as I can remember but I bought a small packet of theirs a few months back and we love it! Talk about convenience and it’s all whole food based – not a bunch of weird or crazy ingredients.

If you’re new to Azure, you can sign up with this link: https://www.azurestandard.com/?a_aid=1tgPd1lZHA

And use the code ALASKA15 to get 15% off your first order of $100 or more.

1. We give them magic water for at least one round. Then they get salt water with either Redmond salt or Baja Gold for the next couple of weeks. (Electrolytes and immune system booster)

*note: as you put each chick in the brooder, be sure to dip their beak in the water, then set them down at the water source. I know this can take awhile if you have multiple chicks but it’s important – especially if your chicks were sent in the mail.

The magic water recipe I use:

1 quart warm water

1 tablespoon ACV

1/8 cup honey

minced garlic

2. I mix their chick feed with yogurt. I usually make the yogurt for them but I had a couple of tubs from Alaska Range Dairy so I mixed those in for them this time around. (Probiotics)

3. We put down puppy pads only for the first week to let their legs get stronger. I change the puppy pads out at least once a day. After about a week, we will add pine shavings to their brooder which sure makes it easier to keep clean.

4. Of course they get heat – we just use a heat light. We don’t have a thermometer – we just watch how the chicks seem. If they huddle too much they need a little more heat. If they scatter or lay with their wings spread, it’s too warm.

So far, we’ve hatched 8 turkeys and 10 barnyard mix layers plus we picked up 50 freedom rangers from a friend. The incubator is full again and more chicks are on the way in May. What a blessing to grow our own meat and eggs!