Modern-Day Apothecary

My kitchen is more of a science lab & pharmacy these days, rather than a traditional kitchen, and I have named myself the apothecary who runs it.

It is an adventure & experience just looking around at all the things. I could give tours.

• sourdough starter growing & fermenting in used glass jars

• droppers of tinctures and homeopathy

• alfalfa sprouts growing in a mason jar

• bags of chicken carcasses and bones

• large jugs of golden liquid (homemade bone broth)

• loaves of fresh baked bread cooling on the stove

• containers of kefir juice fermenting on the counter

• raw dough proofing on the counter

• tupperware containers of discarded produce in the freezer, waiting for the compost

• a sundry of supplements, probiotics & protein shakes

• frozen chicken feet from our farm

• many jars of spices and seeds

• essential oils and homemade cleaning supplies

• bottles of freshly juices fruits and vegetables

Food is medicine. And your kitchen can be a mini, modern-day apothecary.

Even with a family of 6, we do not keep a lot of food in the pantry or freezer because we mainly want to eat fresh food that we prepare. And you can only keep so much fresh food at one time.

Keeping this motley crew well-fed is no joke. We made some diet changes several months ago, so Sunday has become a major meal prep day.

Here are a few meal prep tips and routines:

- I learned to make sourdough bread with Einkorn flour (thanks to my mom and my girlfriend Katie). It’s the only bread we eat now and has a lot of gut health benefits. (See recipe book I use here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0804186472/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_omK8FbD9TASXY and read more about the bread in a former post: https://www.allllthethings.com/post/einkorn-sourdough-bread)

- I bake fresh, organic whole chickens from an Amish farm, which gives us a good supply of lean protein for the week and I use the carcass and bones for homemade bone broth. (Read more about DIY bone broth here: https://www.allllthethings.com/post/just-bones-water)

- We make a lot of Basmati or Jasmine rice in the Instant Pot, cooking it with our bone broth instead of water.

- My aunt got us hooked on kefir juice, which is kefir grains added to any bottle of 100% fruit juice, which causes it to ferment and has many gut health benefits. The fermentation process greatly lowers the natural sugar content as well.

- We make curry every Sunday night, which is a good way to use up all the vegetables in the fridge. I throw in whatever veggies I need to get rid of, and I make enough to have some leftovers for the week. Here’s the yellow curry paste I use: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000EICISA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_ewK8FbJJZSVZN?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

- We are also blessed by my beautiful chef friend @the_heirloom_chef who prepares meals (mainly vegetarian) for us during the week to keep our veggie intake high.

I will continue to share more meal prep tips as we continue our journey. Blessings on yours.

xoxo, Leah