Real Food Kitchen Tour: The Sprouting Seed

Welcome to another edition of the Real Food Kitchen Tour. This week, we travel to Dallas, Texas to tour the kitchen of Allison Jordan of the blog, The Sprouting Seed.

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: The Sprouting Seed

Hi, I’m Allison and I blog at The Sprouting Seed. I earned my B.S. in Nutritional Science and got my start as a nutritionist and breastfeeding counselor at WIC. While I fought to encourage healthy fats, nutrient-dense foods and breastfeeding, I was also required to tell people about the dangers of raw milk!

This was before I moved half way across the world to live in Central Europe, where I learned about real food, vibrant health, and traditional methods of food preparation. I visited traditional “real food” farms and befriended old ladies who taught me to love fermented veggies, farm fresh eggs, and pastured hens. I ate butter the color of gold, produce fresh from the fields, and I never felt better.

I’m back in the good ol’ USA now, trying to retain those values I learned 3000 miles away. I started The Sprouting Seed as a way to help me process my journey and all that I’ve been learning.

Blog Name: The Sprouting Seed
Blog Author: Allison Jordan
Location: Dallas, Texas
How Long Blogging: 6 months
House or Apartment: House
Things You Love About Your Kitchen: I love the natural light in my kitchen—it always feels bright and cheery. I think that’s why the party always ends up in the kitchen—or maybe it’s the food that draws people in. I also love our chalkboard wall. I write our weekly menu on it and love notes for my husband; I also love to draw and doodle.
Things You Would Change: I would love more cabinet and counter space. It feels a little tight now and then.
Favorite Tools & Gadgets: The food processor has been a surprising favorite. It’s like having a sous chef! I also love our cast iron skillet and my husband is pretty proud of our espresso machine. Ok, I know dishtowels are neither tool nor gadget, but I love mine! I have a lot of vintage, colorful towels that make the space feel more playful.
Biggest Challenges Cooking Real Food: Lack of space. Since we don’t have a pantry or much counter space, it’s hard to purchase in bulk. Thankfully we live within walking distance to an organic market, which makes for a nice outing with my little one.
Current Family Favorite Meal: Oh, that’s tough. We eat a lot of fresh veggies with homemade dips like babaganoush. I love it because it is so easy! As for a meal though, I have to say roasted chicken with fresh basil aioli, sautéed kale, and mashed sweet potatoes. We are also crazy for any dish with fresh, pastured eggs. And butter. We love anything with butter.
Favorite Cookbooks: I find most of my inspiration online these days, but I continually go back to [easyazon-link asin=”B000WE4HYO” locale=”us”]The Classic Italian Cookbook[/easyazon-link]; the art of Italian cooking and the Italian art of eating.It has been a family favorite and the recipes are easily adapted to use “real food” ingredients.

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 cheeseslave 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.