Real Food Kitchen Tour: Gutsy

by Ann Marie Michaels on August 14, 2012

Welcome to another edition of the Real Food Kitchen Tour. This week we’re featuring Caroline Lunger, author of Gutsy.

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: Gutsy

This week we travel to Minnesota to tour the kitchen of Caroline Lunger, author of Gutsy.

Caroline is only 18 years old and a ball of fire! Not to mention adorable.

We’re so excited to have her join the Real Food Media blog network. I know she’s going to do big things!

With a name like Gutsy (isn’t that so cute!?), can you expect anything less?

Blog Name: Gutsy
Blog Author: Caroline Lunger
Location: Minnesota (Twin Cities suburb)
How Long Blogging: 5 months
House or Apartment: House
Size of Kitchen: 15 x 17 feet (main kitchen area)
Things You Love About Your Kitchen: I love our huge island. I usually take up the whole thing when I have the chance! The large deep copper sink is amazing plus the little side one on the island is handy. I LOVE my new fermenting/dehydrating room off to the side of the kitchen! Oh, and our fridge and freezers are great because they can pack in so much. But sometimes things get forgotten in there!
Things You Would Change: I can’t complain really because I have a beautiful spacious kitchen to work in. But If I could change something, it would be to have more natural lighting. I love the light, it makes me happier and taking pictures is much easier. I am constantly moving around the windows to find good lightning for my food pictures!
Favorite Tools & Gadgets: How can I possible choose one! Here are my top kitchen helpers that make cooking real food possible. My Vitamix blender (we use it for juice, soup, nut butters, flours…and the list goes son), cast iron pan (we use ours every day, it never leaves the stove top!), gallon glass jars (holds kefir, ferments, dry goods, soaks nuts), ice cream maker (we love coconut milk ice-cream for breakfast!), crockpot (leave it and go do your things), muslin or nut milk bag (we strain the pulp out of juice, hang cheese) mini spatulas (love that it can get into small places), ice cube trays (used to freeze tallow, pumpkin, squash, bone broth, smoothies, avocados) fermented veggie smoosher (It looks like a long smooth lemon juicer. I use the rounded end to push down on the top of the ferments to keep them covered in juice), 5 gallon crock (It rotates between fermented veggies and kombucha), Excalibur dehydrator (nuts, crackers, cookies, and fruit rollups!)
Biggest Challenges Cooking Real Food: I love to do big projects in the kitchen and make a mess! Though I have to remember that I live with 5 other people and I have to share the kitchen. Time and preparation isn’t so much of a problem anymore because we have gotten into a routine. Oh, and this may sound silly but getting fresh water! We currently don’t have an in-kitchen filtered water system so we go back and fourth to our grocery store to fill up 10 gallons of RO water every 2 days…we just can’t decide on what system to get!
Current Family Favorite Meal: Wild salmon bellies with sea salt! I know this is not really a full meal, but it sure can be just by itself! They are so buttery and yum! We get them from the local fisherman who goes to Alaska and brings them back to the Minneapolis farmers markets. They are actually the little bellies of the salmon with the fin and all. You just stick them in the oven until they are crisp. My mouth is watering just thinking of them!
Favorite Cookbooks: Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods, Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats, and food blogs or course!

Welcome to my real food Gutsy kitchen! This is pretty much the favorite spot of the house and you can always find something interesting going on in here. I use this big counter space everyday and I am so thankful for it. On the left top is the steamer oven, which is right above the oven. We always keep a teapot on the stove along with 1 or 2 cast iron skillets. The crock-pot is usually going with broth. Behind the stove range is some black pepper, sea salt, and olive oil.

Top left: fancy plates, air popcorn popper, Le Creuset enamel red stockpot, kitchen napkins. Bottom Right: green enamel stockpot, 14 cup Cuisinart.

I love our big sink because I can clean so many dishes at once. We always have some kind of plants or herbs on the windowsill. We can never bear to throw away our roses so we are constantly hanging them above the window.

On our kitchen table we always have a big bowl of fresh fruit for on the run. The hutch on the left is where we keep our appliances. My favorite current cookbooks are always found stacked on the wine cart on the right.

Fried duck eggs in butter and fresh organic berries that we picked at a farm.

Making chicken stock with local chicken backs and chicken feet!

On the left drawer under the stove is where we keep our pots and pans. On the right top, we keep our measuring cups, rolling pins, and spatulas. Under that, are 2 drawers where we keep our glass containers and some jars.

My dad surprised me a few weeks ago and told me that I could have the old stuff/cleaning room and turn it into a fermenting room! Whoohoo! I love my dad and my new fermenting room. I keep kefir on the top shelf. On the second shelf is kombucha and water kefir. On the third shelf is an assortment of fermented veggies and flavored kombucha’s. On the fourth and fifth shelf are more fermented veggies. On the side shelves in the ball jars are dried fruits, veggies, beef jerky, and a whole shelf for fruit rollups…I have gone a little crazy on those! On the other side of my tiny room, I have our Excalibur dehydrator and 5 gallon crock set up.

Left top: Kim chi, asparagus, caraway/celery seed kraut, asparagus, mixed veggie (cauliflower, carrots, green beans), and garlic. Left Bottom: spicy Kim chi, mixed veggie, asparagus, beet/ginger/red cabbage kraut, caraway/celery seed kraut, and garlic.

Making ahead of time in big batches and freezing is a lifesaver on the GAPS diet. We have fresh picked frozen strawberries and raspberries, frozen avocado, coconut milk/pineapple smoothie in the ice cube trays, egg whites, coconut fluff, whole orange puree, and sockeye salmon.

This is the outside of your fridge…doesn’t really look like a fridge, but it is pretty. On the sides behind the glass doors we keep bowls and plates. I always use the little handy sink on the island.

To save space inside, we set up an extra shelf in our garage next to the sauna to keep all our glass bottles. We go through waves where we have a lot or we almost run out, depending on the season. Right now we have a lot empty. I guess I need to make some pickles or more fermented veggies!

Usually I just hang my kefir cheese on a cabinet knob like this with twine and muslin. Behind it is our very old, but still useable drying rack. Do you see the 2 bottles and 1 jar of homemade magnesium oil? The spray bottle is food grade hydrogen peroxide to wipe down the counters with. And of course more drying roses!

Kim chi in my 5 gallon crock.

Check Out the Previous Real Food Kitchen Tour Posts

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 Questions 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.

Photo credit: A warm welcome Project365(3) Day 10 by Keith Williamson, on Flickr and photos by Memories by Michelle
Disclosure: cmp.ly/4 and cmp.ly/5

{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }

maggie @ say yes to salad August 14, 2012 at 6:39 AM

Oh my gosh, this is an amazing kitchen! And I saw Gutsy’s pic and I was like “wow she looks so young!” – and then read she was 18

Love the canning – I have been meaning to learn (my grammie used to do it, and she actually has an incredibly talented caretaker who knows how too – she’s always giving me stuff she grows out in her gigantic garden).

The kitchen is so beautiful – I’m starring this as inspiration (having my kitchen redone soon).

caroline August 14, 2012 at 11:23 AM: Hello Maggie,

You are so lucky to have a granny to teach you and be an example for you. I befriended a lady at my farmers market who sells ferments (she actually introduced me to Nourishing Traditions and real food!). I was intrigued and I asked If I would “apprentice” with her. I happily helped her in her little kitchen and pounded and chopped cabbage until my hands hurt! haha Its amazing what and a little help from the “experienced” can tach us! Canning and fermenting is a passed down art that needs to be taught to kids of all ages..hmm if only I could get into schools and teach them

I still love to clip out pictures for when I move out and have my own (little) kitchen someday I hope you have fun remodeling your kitchen!

Reply

Jennifer @ 20 something allergies and counting...down August 14, 2012 at 7:21 AM

Caroline, I vote we have a Real Food Media conference at your house!

I love how far you have come with fermented foods and other gut healthy foods in such a short time. Many people have been doing this for years and are still struggling mightily with it. You are doing everything right in my book lil mama!

caroline August 14, 2012 at 11:08 AM: Hi Jennifer!

Haha, that would be fun! My health forced me to just dive right into fermenting and cooking to heal my gut. I finished school a semester early, so I decide to dedicate all my time to healing my body. This helped a lot! It is hard to make fermented veggies when you are always busy..I can’t say my mom ever has time to make them, so I give all you moms HUGE credit for doing this for your family!

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Bethany August 14, 2012 at 9:09 AM

Caroline,
You are so blessed to have a family that can help you with the resources you need to get well. Please don’t forget that as you continue on in your journey and help others. We are fighting for our lives at my house to get healthy and find the finances to do it.
You are a “Gutsy”, beautiful person-so glad I get the opportunity to read your blog and learn from you.

caroline August 14, 2012 at 11:12 AM: Hi Bethany!

I completely understand that lots of real foodies and/GAPS people don’t have the resources. I teach kombucha/kefir cheese/and fermented veggie classes in my kitchen because I feel like we have been blessed with a beautiful kitchen, so why not share! I also help some friends out with making ferments, dehydrating things, and watetr kefir, because I have the time and resources. I try my best to share my resources Thanks for reminding me! I hope you keep reading my blog, because I have a lot to share.

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Emily @ Butter Believer August 14, 2012 at 11:36 AM

Holy WOW that kitchen is not only amazingly beautiful, but amazingly stocked up! It’s like real food heaven! And Caroline. Could you be any cuter?! I love how passionate and dedicated you are to your journey. Ann Marie is right, you are definitely destined to do big things!

caroline August 14, 2012 at 12:05 PM: Emily!! I like how you put it “it’s like real food heaven!”. I kind of took over my once “semi-healthy” kitchen and transformed it. I used to have 1 shelf for all my food, but once I started cooking for my family and teaching them more, I proved to them that real food is really the best. How could they argue with eating bacon/eggs/butter everyday without feeling even a little guilty.

My family is so supportive of my dream and they want me to heal, so they keep me going. Even when I feel discouraged when I am sick, they remind me that my struggles will teach other people. I think I am so passionate because I have gone through so much in life already, and people need to know that real food can HEAL!!

Thanks

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lisa August 14, 2012 at 1:33 PM

Caroline, my 18 year old daughter and I have loved reading some of your blog articles! We are from MN and would love to join a class in your kitchen. Do you teach these regularly? Love your enthusiasm for real food!!

caroline August 14, 2012 at 2:11 PM: Hi Lisa! I am so glad you and your daughter have liked my blog..I love doing it! I don’t usually have a schedule for classes. I found that is is easier to let you pick the day and time, and then you can invite more people along who are interested or I find other people who can do it at the same time I would love to have you come over for a class! What kinds of foods are you interested in making?

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Charlotte August 15, 2012 at 1:34 AM

Yay for Caroline! and what a gorgeous kitchen. I really enjoy her blog articles and it was fun to read/see all about her kitchen here. My daughter (who is 15 and is on GAPs more by coercion than choice) said ‘she’s only 18 and she CHOSE to do GAPs?!’ It’s good for her to realise it’s not just us ‘crazy’ mums who are choosing this diet for health and healing.

caroline August 15, 2012 at 7:58 PM: Charlotte, haha YES I actually wanted to do GAPS. At first I had no support. My family watched me with their mouths dropped as I gnawed on bones. I offered them some, but they just said…”no thats ok, you enjoy!” I think i scared them at first, until my mom and older sister saw how great I started to look and feel and so they started as well. It is so much easier when the family or at least 1/2 the family does GAPS together. I am actually helping a few friends my age with the GAPS diet. If people see your improvement they will want to do what you are doing!

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Dina-Marie @ Dimes2Vines August 15, 2012 at 7:33 AM

Caroline, you have an amazing family and kitchen!! How beautiful! Thanks for sharing it with us. I love your fermenting room, but have to admit that I am a bit envious It is such a blessing that you have found out about healing your gut so early! You are an encouragement to us all.

caroline August 15, 2012 at 8:00 PM: Thanks Dina. Yes my fermenting/dehydrating room is my favorite too. I even brew my kombucha in there. I love to show people how I have things configured, because I feel like it gives people an inspiration to do GAPS themselves. My gut is still messy, but I am never going to give up! Thanks so much for reading!

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Rosyjo August 15, 2012 at 8:26 AM

Caroline, you must be such a blessing to your family! I know my 17 year old daughter is to me in all the ways she helps out. And your fermenting ‘room’! So cool! Your kitchen is beautiful but all the real foods add to the beauty of it that much more. Somehow packaged frozen dinners wouldn’t look the same there! I really think that is true for all the kitchens that have been featured. Real kitchens with ‘real food’ and real nourishing things going on just makes them all the more inviting no matter how grand or humble they are. This is real ‘BH&G’! Your kitchen and what you are doing are beautiful. And you are too. May you completely heal and help the rest of the world! Thanks for sharing. Love your roses too!

caroline August 15, 2012 at 8:04 PM: Rosyjo, Ohh your comments are so sweet! I loved reading it! When I moved 2 years ago, my kitchen did not look so good. We still had a lot of healthy junk food, though once my heath started to plummet, my family changed their ways completely for me and we stocked up on all Real Food! I agree that kitchens look better with real food! I love my roses too It makes my house and kitchen look like a real home. I too hope my gut heals soon!

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Elizabeth Ours August 15, 2012 at 11:44 AM

WOW! What a kitchen! That is Gorgeous . . . and so productive! How inspiring! And Gutsy is ADORABLE!!!

I feel absolutely INSPIRED!

caroline August 15, 2012 at 7:55 PM: Elizabeth! I smiled big when I saw that I inspired you ! Thanks for reading and saying hi!

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Amy B. August 20, 2012 at 9:36 AM

SO. JEALOUS.
When can I move in?!

What a gorgeous house, and made even more beautiful by all those colorful things fermenting away! Health in a jar!

You’re a firecracker, girl! Kudos to you for learning about all these vital foods at such a young age — and for sharing what you’ve learned with your family and so many friends. You know what they say: If I’d known then what I know now…

I agree with the others — your “fermentation room” is great! Almost like a tiny science lab, with all sorts of wonderful reactions happening and a kind of culinary alchemy where the end product is way more than the sum of its parts.

caroline August 20, 2012 at 7:32 PM: Thanks Amy for your nice comments! I like how you put it that my fermenting room is like a “science lab”. It sure is! I have things exploding and bubbling over in there ALL the time. Just yesterday my pickles leaked all over (I filled them up too much!) I also took out a bottle of pineapple water kefir that was fermenting and I opened it. It fermented so much that my whole body flew back when i opened it *POP!! and I lost 1/2 the water kefir..oh well, now i know for next time!

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cat @ NeoHomesteading.com August 24, 2012 at 5:53 PM

That is possibly the biggest, prettiest kitchen I have ever seen.

victoriaco September 12, 2012 at 3:12 PM

Caroline,
Love your kitchen and your precious love of life. If it’s possible, install some skylights in your kitchen for more light sources… they are awesome. I have them in several rooms and they make all the difference in the world!
I love your recipes because they are simple! I don’t do “complicated”.
Looking forward to more of your yummy food…

Rachel November 17, 2012 at 1:49 PM

I love your kitchen!!!

Real Food Kitchen Tour: Gutsy

What’s a Real Foodie?

This Week’s Real Food Kitchen Tour: Gutsy

Check Out the Previous Real Food Kitchen Tour Posts

Let Us Tour Your Kitchen

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