i love fermented foods!!

i have taken a long break from them because after eating sauerkraut/pickles/umeboshi/kim chi/pickled garlic or some other fermented foods almost daily my doctor said the high concentration of salt was dehydrating me & may have contributed to my chronic migraines (which are mostly menstrual, but i certainly don’t want to tempt the fates by not taking proper care of myself no matter what time of the month it is). i haven’t had kim chi since then, & that’s probably the saddest thing (a bagel with a little earth balance spread & kim chi is the most delicious thing in the world, fyi).

tonight, though, i had this extra beet sitting around & i just could not think of what to do with it. i’ve already made frozen beet cubes for smoothies (1-2 beets in the blender with a ton of water, frozen in ice cube trays & saved long-term in a freezer bag along with my kale cubes — this is my favorite way to sneak veggies into my smoothies! carrot cubes next probably). i’ve already used them in lots of different recipes in cooking. i have yet to bake with them. i have yet to make borscht this winter, i’m really overdue…but i only had one beet left!

so i took one of my old empty jam jars, i peeled & grated my raw beet. i used the smallest, finest option on my grater because i decided to make a savory, fermented spread for sandwiches. once i had it all grated up i put it into the jar & added all the fixin’s. i eyeballed it & did a lot of taste testing, but i will give you approximate measurements:

1-2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

2 tbsp salt

1-2 pinches of crushed red pepper

1 tbsp finely chopped garlic

1 tsp black pepper

then i filled the remainder of the jar with water, put the cap on & found a nice place out of direct light to let it ferment in. someday i will have a cupboard in my house just for fermenting foods, but right now it’s just sitting next to my mugs & tea. it tastes pretty good already — we’ll see how it tastes in a week or two :p

Eating food and buying bras has been the highlight of my weekend. I had today off because of parent teacher conferences (I was in meetings with parents ALL DAY on Saturday). Mikhail took me to brunch at champs and we went grocery shopping and suddenly my mood has turned around. I love being in love and sharing a delicious meal together. There is nothing better!

today for brunch i had a pumpernickel bagel

with toffuti better than cream cheese spread,

tomato slices,

mixed greens from my greenhouse

& a shit ton of old bay seasoning, which turned out to be a great idea

IT WAS AMAZING

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 fourteen-ounce can tomato sauce (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons fresh chopped rosemary (about 4 sprigs worth)

preheat the oven to 400. lightly grease a baking sheet. 

mix dry ingredients.

mix wet ingredients.

mix wet ingredients & dry ingredients together.

knead dough on clean surface that has been lightly sprinkled with flour.

separate into 2 balls & roll them out. slice like a pizza, into 6 pieces each. or into a whole bunch of tiny triangles if you want mini scones. or use cookie cutters to make fun shapes. if you want thicker, pull-apart scones you can place one triangle on top of another. they bake together nicely & then you have a really nice middle to put spreads on…if you’re into that kind of thing.

bake 14-16 minutes or until the tops are firm.

these go really well with earth balance or toffuti “better than cream cheese” spread (i like making a garden vegetable spread with toffuti, roasted red peppers, garlic, onions & carrots)! also delicious plain.