Real Food Kitchen Tour: Granola Mom 4 God

Welcome to another edition of the Real Food Kitchen Tour. This week we’re featuring Jodi McKenna, from Granola Mom 4 God.

What’s a Real Foodie?

A “real foodie” is someone who cooks “traditional” food. We cook stuff from scratch using real ingredients, like raw milk, grass-fed beef, eggs from chickens that run around outdoors, whole grains, sourdough and yogurt starters, mineral-rich sea salt, and natural sweeteners like honey and real maple syrup.

We don’t use modern foods that are either fake, super-refined, or denatured. This includes modern vegetable oils like Crisco and margarine, soy milk, meat from factory farms, pasteurized milk from cows eating corn and soybeans, refined white flour, factory-made sweeteners like HFCS or even refined white sugar, or commercial yeast.

We believe in eating wholesome, nutrient-dense foods that come from nature. So we shop at farmer’s markets or buy direct from the farmer, or we grow food in our own backyards.

This Week’s Real Food Kitchen Tour: Jodi McKenna, Granola Mom 4 God

This week I’m featuring Jodi McKenna of the Granola Mom 4 God blog.

I was so touched by Jodi’s photos. Her kids are so darn cute! They are so blessed to have a mom like Jodi who cares enough to provide them with such a nourishing diet.

I’ve included Jodi’s comments below in quotes.  My comments follow (not in quotes).

“These guys are so important to me… and to think there are two more not shown here. I want to give them a solid foundation… good starting blocks that will carry them into their future. Meet Ezra (almost 5) and Asher (almost 7)!”

Blog Name: Granola Mom 4 God
Blog Author: Jodi McKenna
How Long Blogging: 4 years
Location: Indianapolis, IN
House or Apartment: House
Size of Kitchen: More than enough…
Things You Love About Your Kitchen: Sunlight, counter space for my compost bucket and ferments, a window over my sink, and that I can host “school” in our kitchen (considering I spend most of my time in here).  I love an odd quirk about my kitchen . . . the cabinets lack one finishing touch — glass!  This makes plates and ferments easy to reach.
Things You Would Change: Stainless steel sink; though gorgeous… a gentler countertop made of something recycled would be a bonus, gas stove with vent, desk for blogging and foodie ideas
Favorite Tools & Gadgets:  Vitamix, garlic press, garlic peeler, espresso machine, Cutco knives, ice cream maker, bamboo cutting board, Aqusana Water Filter, stainless steel pots/pans
Biggest Challenges Cooking Real Food:  I must be honest… I struggle mostly with my mind… being lazy.  I know that whole foods and living foods are what is best for my family…  but sometimes I wish a meal could be obtained through a drive through or from a box.  But then I read the ingredients, and that notion quickly fades.  My next biggest challenge is keeping my fermenting separated.  It isn’t uncommon for me to have kombucha, yogurt, kefir, water kefir, pickles, and kimchi growing somewhere… and in order to keep the bacteria happy…  they like to be left alone.  My last challenge is not eating too much of the good food!  It is a bit dense!
Current Family Favorite Meal: Roasted asparagus with Chaffin Family Orchards Olive Oil, a spritz of vinegar, and a dash of Celtic Sea Salt laying beside  Nourished Kitchen Paprika Chicken Nuggets,  some of  Cara’s fermented pickles,  and a touch of Kimchi.  All of this is followed by peanut butter cocoa raw milk ice cream!

Favorite Cookbooks: Nourishing Traditions, my meal plans from  Nourished Kitchen  and  Cara’s Grain-free Menu Plan, and allrecipes.com (with some tweaks!)

Here are some photos of Jodi’s kitchen:

“We have three boys and last year we were surprised with this little girl! On a side note, we weren’t supposed to have any children — goes to show you what whole foods can do for a body!.

I can’t wait to teach Naomi the ways of the kitchen. Often she and Ruth, our Rhodesian Ridgeback, keep me company while I am preparing dinner.”

Ruth and Naomi are so sweet! I love how Ruth is protecting her.

I hope you are teaching your boys the ways of the kitchen too! (I’m sure you are.) We need our future men to help us out with dinner and dishes! 🙂

“When I make a meal, I often think ahead of other meals. These are coconut flour pancakes.”

I agree that cooking in bulk helps so much to make life more manageable, especially with a bigger family.

“I love my Vitamix!!!! I use this workhorse probably 3 times a day!!”

“It all happens right here… this room is the hub of activity.”

I love this photo. When kids go away to school, homes become so empty. I love that you have all your littles close by.

“This cookbook, along with Jordan Rubin’s The Maker’s Diet, changed our life! They are both WELL used!”

This is Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon-Morell, in case you don’t recognize it.

“My boys love pickles… and I love feeding them healthy bacteria. Win-win situation.”

Those pickles look so delicious!

“We eat a lot of fruit, veggies, and eggs on the GAPS diet… this 5-gallon bucket makes trips to the compost tumbler less frequent.”

Jodi, I want to know which compost tumbler you have. I am planning to buy one and I want to know which one is the best. Please leave a comment!

“I loved this kitchen the moment I saw it on the MLS listing sheet last summer. It is bright and has a lot of counter space — which is helpful for a family of 6. The peninsula allows the kids to help me ferment and chop vegetables. What I didn’t realize until we moved in is that our cabinets lack glass. However, this has proven handy as I can reach my ferments and plates without opening the cabinets!

I love that I have a window over my kitchen sink. I spend a lot of time over this sink, and it allows me to watch my kiddos play!”

I’m envious that you can watch your kids play in the backyard. I’m adding this to my new home wishlist.

“Due to the large amount of fruits and vegetables that we eat… and all of the baby food that I make… my tiny counter-top compost bucket doesn’t always contain the kitchen scraps. To remedy this, we placed a 5-gallon bucket directly outside the sliding glass door. This saves on trips out to the compost tumbler.”

This is so smart! I have the same problem with having too many scraps for a small compost bucket. Do you have any problems with raccoons or other pests? (I guess not, since you’re still doing it…)

“Some of my favorite things are nestled in this corner… my Cutco knives given to us as a wedding present, the red binder that contains all of Cara and Jenny’s menu plans, and my compost bucket(s).”

“And this… this houses our food. These green tubs bring our organic and mostly local food to our door each week. For the longest time I refused to have my food delivered… but with 4 kids it has made organic granola life easier! Plus, ordering from Green Bean Delivery helps me to stay in budget each week. I love that we have a chance to support local farmers, especially if I don’t have a chance to run out to the Farmer’s Market.”

“The coat closet hides some very important things… like 5 gallons of raw local honey and another 5 gallons of Tropical Traditions coconut oil.”

I love your creativity! When there’s a will, there’s a way!

“This is the garden…  it isn’t doing as well this year…  but it had been dormant for who knows how long before we moved in. We added new soil and are building up a compost pile to enrich the soil. The asparagus, onions, garlic and strawberries are doing fabulous…  everything else isn’t so happy!”

You might try adding some animal manure to the mix. It works for me! (Just don’t add it on a hot day. If it’s hot, you can add it in the cool of the evening, or mix well with compost before adding — this way it won’t burn your plants.)

Check Out the Previous Real Food Kitchen Tour Posts

Real Food Kitchen Tour: Real Food Devotee
Real Food Kitchen Tour: Real Food Forager
Real Food Kitchen Tour: The Leftover Queen
Real Food Kitchen Tour: Health Home & Happiness

Let Us Tour Your Kitchen

Are you a real foodie? Do you have a kitchen that you’d like to see featured on CHEESESLAVE?

Please email me at annmarie AT realfoodmedia dot com. Either send me a link to a Flickr set or email me your photos (minimum of 5, but more is better). Note: Please send me LARGE photos. Minimum 610 width. If they’re too small, I can’t use them.

Oh, and please send the answers to the above questions (at the very top of this post).

As much as I’d love to include all the photos I receive, I can’t guarantee that I will use your photos in the series. I’m looking for creative, good quality photos.

Some ideas for photos:

• Show us what’s in your fridge or what’s fermenting on your counter
• Take some snaps of some of your favorite kitchen gadgets, or show us how you organize your spices
• Got backyard chickens? Send some pics!
• How about a lovely herb garden?
• Kids or pets are always cute!
• Try to include at least one photo of yourself, ideally in your kitchen

And no, you don’t have to have a blog to be included in the tour.