I’m super excited about this guest post -slash- guest video! From the beautiful and inspiring blog Keep it Real, Tara and her son, Will, videoed themselves making Baked Custard from Nourishing Traditions. My whole family watched the video last night, each of us with big grins. Will is an amazing kid, and Tara is a patient, talented, and loving mom! Below the video, Tara shares more about Will’s autism, her children, her life, and their real food journey.
My name is Tara and I am married with three children. They are 16, 12, and 9. While I’ve always had interest in healthy food and cooking, it wasn’t until this past summer that I dove into the ‘nourishing traditions’ style cooking – adding fermented dairy and vegetables, soaking grains, making bone broth, seeking out raw milk and pastured animal products and cutting out vegetable oils. I have loved every one of these changes and my husband is encouraging of it all (even if his taste for the more sour foods is still developing).
My children have done fairly well – as well as can be expected being as they were not born into this diet. I don’t have the advantage of training them from an early age with these foods. My oldest son has an interest in health and nutrition and is very much a people pleaser – so he will pretty much eat anything I put on his plate. There have been very few things that he’s turned away. I even make him kefir smoothies that he takes to school with him and he lets his friends taste them. Of course they turn their nose up at the sour taste, but I am happy that now they’ve heard of kefir!
My 12 year old daughter is MUCH pickier. I’ve wanted to bang my head against the wall more than once in dealing with her food tastes. BUT, I have to remember to be grateful for the foods that she does prefer like raw milk, hard boiled pastured eggs, all meats, and most soups and stews I make. When I get frustrated that she won’t touch the more sour foods and shies away from fruits and vegetables, I just have to remember to be patient with her.
Our youngest son, Will (9), was diagnosed with autism when he was younger. At nearly five years old he still couldn’t put together a functioning sentence and had many behaviors and sensory issues, including food. Through years of intensive behavioral therapy, diet intervention, biomedical intervention and lots of love and patience, he is the boy you will see on the video. Will also has the most physical issues out of my kids. He gets sick more often, has seasonal asthma, and digestive issues. His diet is far from perfect and where I would want it to be. I use every opportunity I can to teach him about real food and get it into his body. Whether it’s preparing a recipe with him or sneaking a more nourishing food into his meals (like pureed liver into his grass fed hamburger), I am constantly trying to steer him on that path.
Just today I had a small victory. I’ve been making sourdough bread for the past month or so. He kept rejecting it, but I kept serving it to him. The other night he ate a piece toasted with butter, but I thought it might have been a fluke. The true test is with a sandwich (which he LOVES). Today I made him a peanut butter and jelly (organic, natural, no added oils or HFCS) sandwich with thinly sliced whole wheat sourdough bread (it soaks for 24 hours). Half way through he exclaimed, ‘This is amazing!’ Halleluiah!
When we go to our rented barn to milk the goats and collect the eggs we always cheer for our real food. I make it a celebration each time. When I get him to take a few sips of milk (he’s not a fan) I always tell him to say ‘thanks lexi and tessa’! Those are the goat’s names. When he eats an egg I tell him that Pickles, his favorite chicken, laid that special for him and isn’t it good and wonderful. Thanks, Pickles! If nothing else my kids WILL know where their food comes from and I will do my best to teach them what I can for the time left that I have them.
Thank you, Tara! Will is an amazing boy. Please thank him for sharing the baked custard video with us, and tell him that I and my family are very proud of him!
About Tara
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This is truly inspiring!…thank you so much for posting it, Wardeh…and thank you, Tara, for sharing your life with us.
I loved this! How inspirational. Will is adorable. What a testimony for nourishing foods.
What an awesome example of family ties! Will is certainly going to have many fond memories of his family and their love for him.
Thanks so much for sharing this. It was great fun to watch and Will is adorable. I think it is amazing what nourishing foods can do for children.
I’m going to make this as a surprise for my girls today after watching your video. It looks much easier than I thought.
I was so encouraged by this, my son is 6 and also has Autism. This gives me a lot of hope! I am doing the ecourse and this way of cooking is very new to me and so I am excited about the possibilities!
He’s so dang cute!!! How about if he just moves in with me. He seems more agreeable about Real Food that my kids! LOL.
Kelly
Thank you Wardeh for sharing Tara and Will with all of us. My son is 13 and has Asperger’s Syndrome (low on the spectrum of autism). We just discovered this a few month’s ago (although, looking back…he has always had it). I had just started Nourishing Traditions and am now a “Lifer”! With God, ALL things are possible. We are now drinking raw, pasture-fed cow’s milk and enjoying all pasture-fed meats. I’m still struggling with dairy fermentation but this video has given me hope. My family LOVES custard! You made it look easy Tara & Will! Thank you! This post is truly inspiring!
.-= Tammy´s last blog post… Raw Milk Symposium =-.
I love it !!! Will is wonderful, my family are now fans of Will’s cooking show . . .
It’s so wonderful to see and hear about other families on their journey toward traditional foods.
Thanks for allowing us to join you in your kitchen.
~Jami
With low-functioning autistic son (Loren 17yrs)
Wardeh and Tara—Thank you for sharing this video! The custard looks amazing, and I loved seeing how Tara and Will put it all together. I have two scouting sons, one who’s a Wolf Cub Scout (but almost a Bear, like Will) and one who’s in Webelos. They will love watching a fellow scout at work in the kitchen!
Love,
Sonya
Thank you all so much for your kind words!! They have truly blessed my day and I will be sure to pass it all on to William.
.-= Tara´s last blog post… =-.
I’d also like to give credit to that fun song on the end of the video. It’s by my new favorite band ‘Rabbit!’ and the song is called ‘Recipe for Love’ on the Connect the Dots album. The whole album is amazing and on constant repeat in my car.
.-= Tara´s last blog post… =-.
Tara – I LOVE that song at the end! Thank you very, very much for sharing your life with us!
Tara,
I was so touched by your gentle mothering and training. What a wonderful example you set for all. Thank you, yes, for sharing your amazing video production! Will is a very special young fellow, and I can see the love in his eyes, too! I am happy you mentioned about the song, too, for I was going to ask about it!
Martha
And Wardeh………….Thank YOU too!!
Loved it!!
My son (9) Loves cooking too– he would LOVE to be recorded– great idea!!!
What a delightful video and family! Thank you for sharing this. I’ve made that custard, and agree, it is very yummy…especially if you can wait for it to cool. I’ve used maple syrup instead of honey and that was great too.
Hi Wardeh (thanks for sharing this great video and story!) and Tara,
I was really excited to see this post. It’s very inspiring – great to see families working and cooking together, and learning about food and how it nourishes our bodies. Tara, your son is absolutely precious and I am thinking my son would love to meet him someday (he’s 9 also and loves to dress up too). It’s really a neat coincidence that we live in the same geographical area and I love how things like this bring people together.
This was wonderful! Thanks so much!
-Raine
.-= Raine Saunders´s last blog post… Savory Bread Made With Sundried Tomatoes and Ground Almonds – Egg and Flour Free! =-.
The video was excellent and we are inspired to try the recipe. I watched with my 10 children this morning and they want Will to come over and make it with us. My daughter thinks Will is lucky to be so young and already have his own cooking show. Thank you, Tara, for taking the time to put together the video demonstration. Thanks, William, for inspiring other kids to cook. Great Job!
Connie
theprairiemom.com
What a sweet boy! And he has such beautiful eyes–I’m jealous! Thanks for sharing.
I was so impressed with Will and his desire to cook – He is a precious boy and has a wonderful family that encourages him in every way.. The custard really looked good.
What a cute little guy, and he made such a delicious-looking custard. I wish I had some. Maybe he would come and cook for me.
.-= Marly´s last blog post… Converting Milk Kefir Grains =-.
Your video warms my heart. How blessed your family is to have you!
I am a fan too of Will’s cooking show! Thank you for sharing. It certainly made cooking flan look do-able! (I agree, it is his eyes that hook you!)
.-= Christy´s last blog post… Quick Cooking Tip =-.
Awesome…and so simple:)