Snowstorms and Maple Syrup

I love this time of year. Everything is covered in thick layers of snow, people seem nicer somehow, and we fill our days playing board games and drinking far too much honey-sweetened tea. We've had some wonderful snowstorms over the last few days that have left us with great mounds of white stuff to build snow forts in.

So, where does maple syrup fit into a paleo diet? It doesn't. Still, while we consider ourselves 'paleo' we also consider that our diets are allowed to be complimented by the occasional treat. There in comes the definition of 'treat' and 'occasional'. Treat, to us, is not fast food or any other nonfood. There is no joy for us in eating CAFO meat or empty sugars.

When we have a treat, we like to source good stuff that while not likely to contribute to our health, does contribute to the nonphysical stuff that can't be measured - family gatherings, emotions, memories, traditions, relationships with local farmers, or just filling the house with the smell of something divine while we play a board game. Then there's 'occasional'. Is eating something outside our normal, healthy diet every weekend occasional? Nope, that sounds pretty regular to me. We don't schedule these things, we're just mindful about not letting them start crossing the line from infrequent to predictable occurance.

So, on the first fluffy snowfall of the year, our family tradition dictates, maple syrup taffy in our family. We have delicious maple syrup that we buy from our friend, a local maple syrup farmer. When I say "delicious", what I really mean is that this maple syrup is above and beyond any I've tried before. It's wonderful - mineraly, subtly sweet, complex. Amazing stuff.

This year we roasted some brazil nuts in a little bit of ghee and sea salt and added them to the taffy. It was divine.

If you want to try it on your own, get yourself a large bowl of clean, fresh snow. Boil up maple syrup until a strip poured on the snow firms up immediately (if it just melts into the snow, it's not ready). Use chopsticks or something similar and wind the taffy around it. The more snow caught up in the taffy, the better. Yum!

Homemade Cream Cheese

Homemade cream cheese is so rewarding to make. It's easy, it's fast, it's pretty much 'zero' on the effort scale. Best of all, it's delicious. If you make your own yoghurt, just whip up some extra in your next batch for this recipe. If you don't make your own yoghurt, a good quality, organic, whole milk yoghurt is what you'll need to get. You should be able to find one that is not homogenized - buy that one.

It's nice to have a container of this cream cheese in your fridge. My kids like to come home from school and put a good size dollop on some celery or roll some up in a piece of meat. I just like to eat a spoonful whenever the desire so compels me.

Homemade Cream Cheese

• 1 litre of raw, pastured whole yoghurt
• cheesecloth
• sea salt

Place a sieve over a large bowl, line it with the cheesecloth (folder over a couple of times) and pour in your yoghurt. Allow to drain for a couple of hours on your countertop. After a couple of hours take a large wooden spoon (longer than the width of your bowl) and tie the cheesecloth to it tightly. Remove the sieve. Leave the yoghurt dangling above the bowl for about 6 more hours or overnight. 

You'll notice a clear liquid in the bottom of the bowl. This is the 'whey' that has separated from curd. Don't throw this away. You can put it in a jar and keep it for a couple of months. Use it to make cultured vegetables. 

When your yoghurt is done hanging about, give it a good squeeze and untie it. Scrape out the now cream cheese into a glass container, mix in a bit of sea salt to taste, and keep it covered in the fridge.  

There you have it - cream cheese without all of that chemical grossness.  In fact, what you have is a healthy cream cheese loaded with probiotic goodness. See, I told you it was easy!