Food Archives - Wholefully

Sprouting 101: How to Sprout Anything and Why You Should

April 24, 201851

The recipe was originally published in February 2013. It was retested with reader feedback, rephotographed, rewritten, and republished for your enjoyment in April 2018

Was anyone else really big into sprouting beans when you were a kid? I’m talking the whole put a bean on a damp paper towel inside of a zip-top bag kinda deal. I always loved doing that. I thought it was so much fun to see this little unassuming bean go from, well, a little unassuming bean into something alive and green. Once the beanstalk was a certain size, my parents would help me transfer the little dude into a pot with some soil and we’d continue to watch him grow.

Eventually, something more interesting would always come along (Sonic the Hedgehog! A new Ghostwriter episode! A movie where Devon Sawa shows his butt!) and my foray into horticulture would end. But fast forward to now, and my love of sprouting things comes in so handy in my kitchen!

I’ve been collecting your sprouting questions for a few months now, and we have a lot to cover in this post, so I’m going to dive right in!

What are the benefits of sprouting?

Sprouts are one of the easiest foods you can grow indoors. They require barely any space—if you can fit a Mason jar on your counter, then you have enough space. You don’t need any special equipment. And heck, you don’t even need a sunny window! Sprouts are a veggie that everyone can (and should) grow.

Aside from the fact that sprouts are an easy, cheap, and tasty vegetable anyone can grow, sprouting also has some real nutritional benefits. Sprouting legumes, grains, and seeds makes them much easier to digest by breaking down the anti-nutrients that are common in those foods. If you’ve ever had troubles digesting a particular grain or legume, I highly recommend trying it sprouted before writing it off all together. You might be pleasantly surprised that sprouted beans or grains don’t bother your body! In general, sprouting also increases the vitamin C and B content and the fiber! Sprouts rock.

Is it safe to sprout?

I know a lot of folks are worried about sprouting safety because there have been so many outbreaks of salmonella and e.coli associated with sprouts from the grocery store. Why is this the case? Well, the warm humid environment that sprouts grow in is also the prime climate for bacteria to spread. In large-scale commercial operations, it’s almost impossible to keep the environment clear from all types of pathogens.

But luckily for you, the chance of getting a food-borne illness with sprouts is greatly diminished when you sprout at home. You control the seeds you use (and if they’ve been tested to be free of salmonella and e.coli). You control if your sprouting jar is clean or not. You control how much air circulation your sprouts get. You control who touches the seeds (and if they wash their hands first). You control how long the sprouts stay in the jar before being rinsed.

Basically, I never buy sprouts from the store (or get sprouts out a restaurant), but I’ve been happily eating sprouts grown at home for a decade now without a lick of trouble. And if you’re still concerned, you can always cook your sprouts to put the final nail in the coffin of any leftover bacteria.

What can I sprout?

You can sprout almost any legume, seed, or nut. Everything from chickpeas to alfalfa to kale to onions to clover. There are a few exceptions—not because they won’t grow a sprout, but because the effort required to get it “right” isn’t really worth it or because they aren’t good for you.

Chia seeds, flax seeds, and other mucilaginous seeds (the ones that create the goo) are tricky to sprout properly. You definitely can do it, but I generally just avoid it because there are so many other seeds that are way easier to sprout.
Avoid sprouting kidney beans for raw eating. They contain a toxin that causes nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea in many folks. If you do choose to sprout kidney beans, make sure to boil the finished sprouts for at least 10 minutes before consuming.

Quinoa contains a high concentration of saponins, which in some folks causes a strong allergic reaction that makes them feel ill. Read the post »

How to Make Instant Pot Coconut Yogurt

April 17, 20187

The very first time I dabbled with the dairy-free lifestyle was back in 2014. When my daughter was born, she was pretty quickly diagnosed with a Milk and Soy Protein Intolerance (MSPI, for short), meaning that even the slightest bit of cheese or tofu eaten by me would come through my breastmilk and cause her incredible stomach upset. Thankfully, most babies grow out of MSPI relatively quickly—Juni was done with it by her six-month mark—and go on to happily eat grilled cheese sandwiches.

But that six months sans dairy really helped teach me something about my own body—it really functions better when I’m off the cow juice. Ever since I stopped eating dairy for Juni’s sake, I’ve been very careful to limit my own intake—and that meant I started experimenting with dairy-free alternatives to my favorite dairy products. That’s how I discovered the amazing versatility of cashew cream. And that’s why I started making my own dairy-free coconut milk yogurt in my Instant Pot.

Making yogurt in the Instant Pot (dairy-free or otherwise) is so incredibly fool-proof. If you’ve ever been intimidated by making your own yogurt before, the Instant Pot is your answer. It makes it so hands off and so simple—it’s honestly almost easier than just going to the store to buy premade coconut milk yogurt.

And my gosh, can you save some serious cash by making your own yogurt at home—especially the dairy-free stuff. At our local grocery store, a five-ounce cup of coconut milk yogurt runs about $1.99. You can make an entire quart—32 ounces worth—of coconut milk yogurt in the Instant Pot for less than $4. It’d cost you $12.74 to buy that much pre-made! And when you go through as much yogurt as we do, that adds up fast.

Another (huge) added benefit: you can control everything about your yogurt—the thickness, the tanginess, and most importantly to me, the probiotic levels. Most store-bought yogurts are barely fermented at all—some sources say that yogurt from the store can be fermented for as little as one hour! One hour does not get you much healthy bacteria, but you know what does? Using your Instant Pot to ferment for 24 hours or more. Yogurt that is fermented for 24 hours has more healthy probiotics per cup than any over-the-counter probiotic pill—we’re talking billions of good guys helping to keep your gut happy! And it’s way more delicious than popping a pill. Read the post »

3 Methods for Perfect, Easy-to-Peel Hard Boiled Eggs

March 26, 201834

This tutorial was originally published in July 2012. It was retested with reader feedback, rephotographed, rewritten, and republished for your enjoyment in March 2018.

Hard boiled eggs (or as they are called in our house, HBEs) are one of my favorite foods on the planet. They are portable, delicious, and packed full of healthy fat, protein, and just the right amount of calories to keep hunger at bay. They are just perfect when sprinkled with a little bit of flaky sea salt and a crack of fresh black pepper. Drool.

Another factor that make HBEs my go-to snack: we always have fresh eggs available thanks to our flock of 10 hens. When the fridge is bare, there are always eggs to count on! I make up about a dozen hard-boiled eggs per week, stick them within easy grasp in my fridge, and snack on them all week long.

I get asked all the time how to make perfect hard boiled eggs, and after years of actually boiling them (you know, because the name literally tells you to boil them), I started experimenting with other methods and now have three fool-proof non-boiling methods that result in perfectly cooked, easy-to-peel hard-boiled eggs every single time. Boiling, of course, works. But getting the timing and temperature right is tricky—I much prefer one of the other methods below.

Before I dig into the three methods, I want to talk through some frequently asked hard boiled egg questions. You’re going to rock HBEs after this post, I promise!

How do I make sure my eggs are easy-to-peel?

There is nothing quite as satisfying as an easy-to-peel hard boiled egg, and nothing quite as frustrating as one that is hard-to-peel. All three of the methods I list below make for pretty darn easy-to-peel eggs, but if you want to 100% make sure your peel just sliiidddeeesss offf, the key is to use older and cold eggs. Read the post »

All About the Specific Carbohydrate Diet: What It Is and Why I’m On It

March 22, 20187

A huge part of my treatment protcol for healing Lyme disease has been therapeutic diets. I always knew that diet was an important part of our total health picture, but I didn’t quite realize that the food we eat (or don’t eat) can literally be medicine until I had a group of health care professionals who were interested in treating my specific case of Lyme with (among other things) dietary changes.

The first therapeutic diet I went on back in September 2017 was the Autoimmune Protocol (or AIP for short). I didn’t have a Lyme diagnosis yet, and the prevailing theory at the time was that I was fighting an autoimmune thyroid disorder. While I was waiting for test results, I took things into my own hands and decided to start eating an autoimmune diet. My thyroid wasn’t the issue—a raging Lyme infection was—but in the end, the dietary changes I made were right in line with the changes most Lyme-literate medical doctors prescribe.

I stayed on the AIP for about three months, and then, right around Christmas 2017, I had a pretty nasty Lyme flare-up that sparked my naturopath to recommend a change in my treatment protocol. She recommended I change diets from AIP to the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (or SCD for short). I’ve been on SCD since January 11, 2018.

Since this is primarily a food website, I figured it was high time I explain to you guys what the SCD is, what it’s like being on it, and what I’ve figured out about it. Let’s dig in!

So what exactly is SCD?

The Specific Carbohydrate Diet is a short-term (most folks are on it for a few years, but not lifelong) therapeutic diet that was originally designed to cure intestinal bowel disorders like Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis. It was originally designed by Dr. Sidney V. Haas, but popularized by the mother of one of his patients, a medical researcher named Elaine Gottschall. She devoted her entire life to investigating and advocating for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet after it cured her daughter of severe Ulcerative Colitis. She quite literally wrote the book on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet.

If you want to know more about the science of the diet, you can read this here—it’s way too complicated for me to dive in here—but the basic idea is pretty simple: certain kinds of carbohydrates are not able to be fully digested by everyone’s bodies. Not everyone can digest complex carbohydrates well. When we have undigested carbohydrates in our gut, we’re overfeeding the bad bacteria and yeast in our intestinal tract. Feeding these bad guys dinner triggers a vicious cycle of excess toxins, acids, and gasses living in our guts, which causes irritation and disease.

How does it work?

Simple: you remove the foods that feed the bad bacteria and yeast. And this means any kind of complex carbohydrate: grains of all kinds, sugar, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and most dairy products (see a full list of legal/illegal foods here).

By giving your gut a break from complex carbs, your gut flora begins to stabilize and the body begins to heal. It’s not a quick process, but it’s effective and 100% natural.

Um, Cass, you don’t have intestinal bowel disesase—so why are you on this?

True. I don’t have UC or Crohn’s, but you know what I do have? A rampant bacterial infection—Lyme (and it’s co-infections). And the whole idea behind SCD is to stop feeding the bad bacteria living your body. We’re starving out the Lyme. It’s not commonplace to treat Lyme with SCD, but it is common for Lyme to be treated with a strict paleo diet (no grains, no sugars, no legumes, no dairy). The SCD is just taking the standard dietary treatment for Lyme a step further by eliminating all complex carbohydrates. Read the post »

4 Soup and Salad Mason Jar Lunch Combos

January 4, 20186

Let me introduce you to my all-time favorite office lunch—the soup and salad Mason jar lunch combo. When I was working in an office, I brought this exactly pairing—one Mason jar with soup and one Mason jar with salad—for lunch so often that it kinda became a thing with my coworkers. I started a bit of an office wide revolution.

Why is this combo (and these containers) so trend-worthy? Lots of reasons! This is the perfect amount of food to make for a filling, nutritious lunch. Mason jars are food-safe, sturdy, and incredibly affordably (these hexagon beauties I found on clearance at my local hardware store for $1.76 for a four-pack). Mason jars are the perfect vehicle for heating up soup in the break room microwave (just remove the metal lid and cover loosely with a paper towel, stir, and eat!).

Get the recipes »

How to Make Roasted Garlic

May 23, 201711

The tutorial was originally published in June 2012. It was rewritten and rephotographed with reader feedback in May 2017. Enjoy!

If you’ve never roasted a head of garlic, you are seriously missing out. It’s nothing like the spicy and aggressive (although totally delicious) flavor you get from raw garlic.

The end result of roasted garlic a mild, nutty, sweet, creamy paste that is excellent mixed in with pasta, mashed potatoes, and even just spread on a warm slice of crusty bread. One of my favorite meals is a head of roasted garlic, a baguette, a bunch of grapes, and a glass of wine. Yum! Let’s get to roasting.

Step 1: Pick the right garlic.

The key to good roasted garlic is picking a good head for roasting. You want to find a head that is relatively flat on the bottom so it sits level while roasting.
Read the post »

Cast Iron 101: How to Use, Clean, and Love Your Cast Iron Cookware

January 31, 2017272

I’m in a committed relationship with my cast iron skillet. We’ve been together longer than my husband and I have. My skillet never lets me down, is incredibly versatile, and will grow old with me if I take care of her (not dissimilar from my husband). If you told me today that I could only have one item in my kitchen to cook with for the rest of my life, it would be my 10-inch cast iron skillet.

I haven’t been shy about my love of cast iron, and every time I write about my cast iron cookware, I get lots of requests for a primer on how to cook with cast iron. People are scared of it! And I’m here today to tell you that the water is fine. Come on in and fall in love with cast iron cookware.

I think folks are intimidated by cooking with cast iron because they believe there are so many “rules” that you have to follow to keep from ruining your skillet. THIS IS COMPLETELY FALSE. There are things that you should avoid doing to keep your skillet in top shape, but the glorious thing about cast iron cookware is that it can come back from almost anything. Literally, people have found rusted cast iron skillets in landfills before, sandblasted them clean (seriously), seasoned them, and happily used them to make their eggs the next morning. You are not going to ruin your skillet. I promise.

Anywho, I’m here to make you feel comfortable with cast iron. We’re going to cover both unenameled (the regular black skillets you are used to) and enameled cast iron (like the fancy colorful Dutch ovens you see).

If you don’t have time to (or don’t want to) read 5,000 words about skillets, then here is the long and short of it:

Cooking with cast iron rocks because you (eventually) get a chemical-free, non-stick surface on a über versatile piece of cookware. You can do everything you want to do in your kitchen with one (maybe two) pieces of cast iron.
Cleaning cast iron cookware takes all of 30 seconds, and if you take care of it, cast iron never needs to be “seasoned,” and will last for generations.
Heirloom quality cast iron cookware isn’t expensive. You can start with the piece I recommend (a 10-inch skillet from Lodge) for less than $20 new—and much cheaper if you find it at an antique store or flea market—and it’ll be around longer than you will.

Read the post »

How to Bulk Cook Quinoa and Freeze It For Easy Meals

January 24, 201713

How to Bulk Cook Quinoa and Freeze it For Later

This post is brought to you by a Wholefully partner

Guys, I am super pumped today to be partnering up with one of my favorite natural foods brands, Bob’s Red Mill, to bring you one of my favorite healthy meal prep tricks—cooking quinoa in bulk in the oven and then freezing it for super easy breezy meals later on.

I’ve been on the quinoa train for years now because I love that it’s a plant-based source of complete protein, super easy to cook, and delicious enough that it doesn’t really need extra butter or salt or flavoring. If you follow a gluten-free diet, quinoa has got to be in your repertoire. It’s one of my favorite gluten-free grains! Quinoa is awesome as the base to grain bowls (like this one) or cold grain salads (like this one) or even casseroles (like this one). Quinoa, for the win!

Quinoa cooks up pretty quickly on the stove (about 15 minutes), but I’m all about saving minutes where I can, so, pretty frequently, I actually bulk cook quinoa and freeze it as part of my meal prep. The key to cooking quinoa in bulk? Do it in the oven!

It sounds weird, but it turns out perfect every. single. time. And the only limitations to how much you do at once are the size of your casserole dish and the size of your oven. I promise, oven quinoa is the fluffiest, softest quinoa you’ve ever made—and it’s almost entirely hands-off.

Then, once the quinoa is cool, you freeze it flat in zip-top freezer bags for easy meals. Let me show you exactly how to do it! I promise you’ll never go back to cooking quinoa the regular way after you try this.Read the post »