My Green Mouth

Yay for Mark Bittman!

2012-01-01T18:19:00.000-08:00

His NYTimes articles are just great. And this article--with a list of easy-to-make vegan recipes--is just particularly fantastic.

And now I have a recipe I definitely want to try on a cold night in January... Sweet Potato Stew.

My Plan For Christmas: Draft 2

2011-12-07T09:07:00.000-08:00

I don't know why, but I love the act of coming up with my plan for Christmas. My first draft is here. But I've had a chance to narrow and specify the plan a bit. Also, we just took a trip to Montreal. So in this second draft of the plan, there are crepes! And maple syrup!

Things to be prepared the day before:
* Deviled eggs
* Fruit salad and/or fruit plate
* Spicy dressing for potatas bravas
* 20-layer crepe cake, with a little apricot jam in some layers
* A plate of deli meats (prociutto, salami, sopressata)

Things to cook on Christmas morning:
* Figs or dates wrapped in bacon (they can be prepped the day before and baked that morning)
* Potatas bravas
* Gimme Lean vegan breakfast sausage
* Platter of bagels, cream cheese, tofu cream cheese, smoked salmon, tomato, and onion
* Warm, mulled cider
* Coffee, sweetened with maple syrup (something else from Montreal and totally delicious)

Beautiful Kale Salad (for Thanksgiving)

2011-11-20T08:57:00.000-08:00

I had the best kale salad a few months ago at Beauty & Essex, and I wondered if I could recreate it. The kale in the salad seemed so, so, so tender and mild, that I wondered if it was a young kale marketed specially to restaurants.

But it turns out the salad is remarkably easy to recreate, and it uses just standard kale found in the average grocery store.

Beautiful Kale Salad
Inspired by a salad served at Beauty & Essex.

1 large head of organic kale (flat leafed or purple)

1 large organic granny smith apple
3-4 slices of free-range thick-sliced bacon, cooked, chopped
1/3-1/2 cup of chopped honey-roasted nuts (preferably walnut or pecan)
1 lemon
a few tablespoons of organic, cold-pressed olive oil
some crumbled ricotta salata
salt and pepper

1) Cook the bacon so that it is crispy but not too crispy.
2) After washing and drying the apples and kale, cut the spines from the kale. Roll the kale leaves gently, then cut into thinner slices. Cut the apple into matchstick french fry sized pieces.
3) Toss the kale, apple, bacon, and chopped nuts together with the juice of 1 lemon and the olive oil.
4) Add salt and pepper if you like.
5) Top with crumbled ricotta salata.

Here is a picture of the Kale & Apple salad served from Beauty & Essex. The photo comes from an article by the NYPost.

My Plan For Christmas

2011-10-28T07:24:00.000-07:00

So, I'm slowly developing a plan for Christmas brunch. This year I'm thinking of a tapas style.

This is what I have so far:
* Gougeres (French Cheese Rolls)
* Figs or dates wrapped in bacon
* Potato puff pastry
* Cheesy polenta waffles
* Gimme Lean vegan breakfast sausage
* Poached pears
* Warm, mulled cider

I figure as I come up with ideas, I'll add them here to this post. Then come December, I'll have a whole list of possible recipes!

There is a God: Peanut Butter, Chocolate Chip, & Pretzel Cookies

2011-10-09T20:05:00.000-07:00

I've often been completely disappointed with most homemade peanut butter cookie recipes I've tried. They're never good enough. Usually they end up not peanut buttery enough. Even the flourless type ends up not being good enough for my palette, because to compensate for the lack of flour, they contain a decent percentage of sugar. And the sweetness slightly overwhelms the peanut butter flavor.

So, I've often thought about making a "slightly flourless" peanut butter cookie. Inherently, a regular peanut butter cookie recipe but with less flour, in order to make the peanut butter more prominent. But I know: To add the flour, I'd need to increase the moisture.

And that's what I did. And they turned out GREAT. First try!

Peanut Butter, Chocolate Chip, and Pretzel Cookies
These are remarkably similar to the cookies I just ate from Sigmund Pretzelshop, which makes me happy. The only thing is that their cookies were bigger in size and a little saltier. I think in the future, I might add a touch of salt to this recipe.

1/2 stick of butter (room temperature)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup peanut butter
2 T. honey
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 large egg
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup chocolate chips or chunks
6-7 large salted pretzel rods, crushed
Makes 20 chunky cookies.

1) Beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together.
2) Add the peanut butter, honey, and vanilla. Mix.
3) Add the egg. Mix.
4) Add the flour and baking soda. Mix.
5) Add the chocolate chips and crushed pretzel rods. Mix.
6) At this point, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
8) Butter the cookie sheets lightly. Roll the dough into balls, and place the balls about 2 inches apart. Gently, with your three middle fingers held together, press down into each ball just so that it is a little squashed.
9) Bake for 10 minutes.
10) Let cool 2 minutes. Then enjoy.

Pictures from the process:

Mmm, Cookies

2011-10-04T13:19:00.000-07:00

So the theme of this blog is eating with health and the environment in mind--buuuttt, lately all I want to do is make cookies!

Yesterday, I bought an amazing cookie from food vendors in Madison Square Park. It was a huge cookie: peanut butter, chocolate chip, and big pretzel pieces. I would have loved a few more pretzel pieces thrown in there, but even so, it was a fantastic cookie.

The vendor was Sigmund Pretzelshop, and they have a regular location on Avenue B.

I think my next cookie recipe experiment will be to mimic the flavors in this cookie but in the form of a bar: a blondie brownie, with peanut butter, chocolate chips, and lots of broken-up pieces of pretzels.

Here is an image of the "Wanko" cookie.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie with ZEST, Part Deux

2011-09-30T20:14:00.001-07:00

So for the last post, I came up with a cookie recipe. This recipe involved various stuff (nuts, orange zest) added to a base recipe I found online. The base recipe involved only 1 stick of butter and some milk, which was a little unusual.

The cookies were fantastic, flavorful, tender--buuutt, a day or so later, they turned dry and crumbly. They completely lost their pizazz.

So I decided to try the same flavors but with a different base cookie recipe--a more typical base recipe involving 2 sticks of butter. This time, here we are a few days later, and the cookies still have a fantastic texture, chewiness, and flavor. Hoorah!

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie with Orange Zest, Dried Cherries, and Walnuts
(An adaptation of a basic chocolate chip cookie recipe )

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 sticks of butter, room temperature

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1/2 cup fair-trade dutch-processed cocoa

1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (crunched by hand)
1/3 cup dried cherries (each ripped in half or chopped)
zest of 1 orange

1) Beat both sugars, butter, and vanilla in a mixing bowl until fluffy.
2) Add the eggs one at a time. Mix.
3) Add the cocoa, flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix.
4) Add in the chocolate chips, dried cherries, walnuts, and orange zest. Mix.
5) Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
6) Drop spoonfuls of dough onto the cookie sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake for about 9-11 minutes. Let cool on the cookie sheets before taking off the cookie sheets.

While my husband and I really love these, I already have Variation #3 in mind. A minor change, but I think it could be significant. This past variation had the right flavor and maintained its composure over time. But I think the dough was too thick (I think caused by the addition of the cocoa powder), so the cookies are more cake-like. I think if I diminished the flour to compensate for the addition of the cocoa powder, the cookies might have a touch more of the consistency I am going for.

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (up to 2 cups if the consistency of the dough needs it)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 sticks of butter, room temperature

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1/2 cup fair-trade dutch-processed cocoa

1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (crunched by hand)
1/3 cup dried cherries (each ripped in half or chopped)
zest of 1 large orange, or 2 regular sized oranges

Pictures from Variation #2

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie with ZEST!

2011-09-13T20:45:00.000-07:00

No pictures yet. I'm lazy and the kitchen is almost done ...

But I wanted to post this recipe so that I don't forget how I made it. Because it is friggin' fantastic. Sort of insane.

I recently had an amazing ice cream cookie sandwich made with chocolate cookies at a specialty chocolate shop here in Brooklyn. Tonight, I made these cookies. And then I went ahead and made an ice cream sandwich using two cookies and cherry vanilla ice cream ... My husband and I both agree that these ice cream sandwiches were actually better and more luxurious and more impressive than the ones sold at the fancy chocolate shop.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie with Orange Zest, Dried Cherries, and Walnuts
(An adaptation of this classic chocolate cookie recipe)

1 stick butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup fair-trade dutch-processed cocoa
1 & 1/2 cups flour
large handful of chocolate chips
large handful of dried cherries (each ripped in half or chopped)
large handful of walnuts (crunched by hand)
zest of 1 orange
1/4 cup milk
3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking powder (heaping)

1) Beat the sugar and butter in a mixing bowl until fluffy.
2) Add the vanilla and egg. Mix.
3) Add the cocoa, flour, chocolate chips, dried cherries, walnuts, and orange zest. Mix.
4) Add the milk. (Add a little more until the cookie dough is the right consistency.)
5) Add the salt and baking powder. Mix.
6) Chill for 15 minutes (up to 30 minutes if needed). During this time, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter the cookie sheets.
7) Drop spoonfuls of dough onto the cookie sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake for about 12-15 minutes. Let cool on the cookie sheets before taking off the cookie sheets.

Kitchen Nearly Completed--I Can't Wait to Cook!

2011-04-18T20:07:00.000-07:00

Soon soon soon, we will have a kitchen again. Not only that but a nice one, with doors on the cabinets-n-stuff.

Here is a draft of what I want to cook as soon as we have a kitchen:
* Homemade Lasagna
* Mediterranean Fish
* HUGE Quantities of Caramel Corn

Meantime, my husband and I have been pleasurably overdosing in take-out and instant foods. But as it turns out, there's a limit to the amount of frozen mac-n-cheez I actually want to eat. Huh, didn't know that. We've had to become somewhat inventive.

For example, today, desperately needing a healthy dose of green veggies, I found frozen creamed spinach in my grocery store. I microwaved it and spread it thick on multi-grain crackers. Sounds weird, but it was awesome. It would be great on crispy grilled Italian bread. I'm actually planning on eating it as a healthy-ish comfort food snack in the future, even after the kitchen is completed.

Hiatus

2011-04-01T06:44:00.000-07:00

Hola, so our kitchen is getting redone. Demolition starts in a couple days.

Hoorah!

But meantime it means I won't be doing much cooking. Researching is more likely. For example, I found this website today, treehugger, seems like a pretty awesome and varied source of information.

TTFN!

Cool Photo Summary

2011-03-20T21:47:00.000-07:00

So, I've been getting bzzzzzz-ay the last few weeks. Bachelorette party 1, bachelorette party 2, wedding 1. Not much time to blog. But still eating healthy. And when home, putting together those quick staples that, luckily, I can never get enough of! Miso soup, lentil soup (organic boxed), PBJ with organic PB and high fiber bread. I can eat PBJ three meals a day and still want more.

Still, even when busy, it's easy to fit in a quick article here or there. Especially articles with pictures ...

Like this great photo summary from Huffington Post called the 12 Things You Should Definitely Buy Organic. It's a great summary of toxins to watch out for in foods and household products. And, they use data from one of my all-time favorite organizations, EWG.

No-Think Health Tip #1

2011-03-16T20:48:00.000-07:00

So many ways to try to be healthy or healthier. Oy! The easiest way is the one we don't have to think about.

That's why I'm all for replacing brands of food I regularly buy with better/healthier versions. My brain doesn't have to think when I go to the store. And my brain likes it when I can think less about this stuff, and spend more time thinking about Criminal Minds and Sudoku.

No-Think Health Tip #1: Replace your pasta with healthier pasta.
There are now many brands of whole-grain pasta. Brands I've never heard of. The pasta aisle in my grocery store is suddenly an array of weird crappy ol' brands announcing their healthy versions. So I checked out the nutritional breakdown on their packages, and guess what I found? Some brands "whole grain" versions we're nearly the same as their "non-whole-grain" counterparts. Of course, corporate liars and corporate greed. Some brands say whole grain but really, they're just a teeny pinch of little whole grain, maybe some ground up cardboard added in, and not much more.

But there are some brands that offer better options. Next time you go to the grocery store, read your labels. Find the pasta brand at your grocery store that offers (1) fewer calories for the same serving size (grams) and (2) more grams of fiber.

For example, consider a common brand, Barilla.
Serving size: 56 grams
Whole grain: 180 calories, 6 grams of fiber
Regular: 200 calories, 2 grams of fiber
Now that shows a difference that is pretty awesome. Three times the amount of fiber in the whole grain version!

Here We Go!

2011-03-16T20:42:00.000-07:00

For a while now, I've been thinking about writing tiny blog posts. Sometimes I like reading blogs that are like "Top Tips for Shinier Teeth" or "5 Silliest Things to Say on a First Date." They're hilarious and a fun read.

So, I am going to try one of those type o' blog posts! Here we go!

Roasted Root Vegetables

2011-03-03T10:12:00.000-08:00

It's totally the time of the year to crave warm, baked starchy goodness. The nice thing about this recipe is that you get a wide variety of vitamins and types of vegetables. (Not just white potatoes)

When you cook this recipe for yourself, try to add in types of vegetables you might not eat as frequently along with the more common veggies (again, white potatoes are a pretty common food). Or think about throwing in types of vegetables that are different colors (and contain different minerals). With this recipe, you could easily add in cauliflower florettes, beets, turnips, celeriac root, fennel, or other dense vegetables.

Roasted Root Vegetables
I based what I did on this excellent and clear recipe from Wolfgang Puck. But I did a couple little things differently.

organic carrots
organic potatoes (Yukon)
organic parsnips
organic common sweet potatoes
organic Japanese sweet potatoes
organic cold-pressed olive oil
organic cold-pressed safflower oil
salt
pepper

1) Slice the vegetables into 1/2-inch thick slices.
2) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
3) Toss the vegetables in olive oil, safflower oil, salt, and pepper. Use just enough oil so that the vegetables are lightly coated.
4) Once you've tossed them, be sure to organize them so they all lay flat on baking sheet. I put them on three large cookie sheets. I used three because of the amount of vegetables I had. Use however many baking sheets you need so that all your vegetables lay flat on the baking sheet, single-layer. Avoid any piling or layering.
5) Cook for 45 minutes. Use a metal spatula to stir the vegetables every 15 minutes. Whenever you stir them, be sure to again have the vegetables lay in a flat array on the pan before returning to them to the oven.

Meaner, Greaner, Leaner
* Safflower oil. It's pretty cool. I'd never tried it before, but it's great when cooking foods for long periods at high temperatures. Also, recent studies show that it is high in linoleic acid, which is an essential fatty acid. But since these are recent studies, I don't want to suddenly act like safflower oil is some super-oil. Therefore, I bought a small bottle and mixed it in this recipe with olive oil, which I know helps lower or manage bad cholesterol and increase or support good cholesterol.

More Pictures from the Process

Borox: Not Green

2011-02-27T13:30:00.001-08:00

I love the movement on so many blogs and websites lately toward green cleaning supplies. I definitely have a few favorites I use at home. (Check out my blog on making homemade deodorant.)

But I've often wondered about a couple ingredients commonly seen in these "green" recipes for making your own cleaners. Anytime a recipe for a homemade "green" cleanser includes a store-bought manufactured product that is not labeled as green or ecologically safe ... well, you got to wonder.

One common ingredient in these online recipes that always made me raise an eyebrow was Borox.

Now, I just recently learned that my eyebrows were onto something. According to the Environmental Working Group, Borox is not the green clean alternative many have hoped it would be.

Check out EWG's blog on the topic. They very clearly describe the possible health effects of Borox, such as skin and eye irritation as well as hormone disruption. The blog also recommends lovely alternatives, such as vinegar and lemon juice.

Miso Soup

2011-02-22T07:04:00.000-08:00

I was over-hungry, you know? Kind of jittery-hunger, needing food NOW. But most quick foods would worsen the problem (quick foods = usually simple carbohydrates that turn into sugar in the blood, resulting in quick energy, inflammation, etc.).

I wanted something that would steady me, ground me, fill me up.

How had I forgotten about the miracle of miso soup? Thankfully, I remembered ...

Simple Miso Soup

1 T. organic cold-pressed oil (olive, vegetable, safflower)
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, diced
6 cups of water
1-2 vegetarian bouillon cubes (I used Rapunzel's vegan, organic bouillon)
organic non-GMO tofu, cubed (a half package, about 7 ounces)
4 diced organic scallions
organic non-GMO miso paste (follow instructions on your package)
1/2 t. dried parsley
1/2 t. dried basil
1/2 t. garlic-chili paste

1) On medium heat in a large pot, saute the onion in the oil until the onion is translucent and slightly browned. Add the garlic, and continue cooking until the garlic is also slightly browned.
2) Add the water, bouillon, garlic-chili paste, dried parsley, and dried basil. Allow this basic broth to simmer slightly, and be sure to mix until the bouillon has thoroughly dissolved.
3) Add the cubed tofu.
4) When you are ready to serve, add the miso paste. To do so, take out a cup of the broth and dissolve the miso paste in it, then add this back into the soup pot. Add the amount of paste as directed on the brand you have purchased for 4-6 cups of water. Do not boil the soup once you have added the miso paste.
5) Add the scallions, and you are ready to serve!

Meaner, Greener, Leaner!
* Miso soup is a great, healthy meal. Low in calorie, high in protein, and rather filling. Be careful about the sodium--no need to add salt to the broth as the bouillon and miso paste will both have sodium.
* In my opinion, the most important health choice you can make with this recipe is picking organic, non-GMO tofu. Genetically modified soy has many serious problems associated with it: (1) the planting of GMO soy crops is affecting the genetic diversity other soy crops, (2) companies like Montasanto are actually claiming ownership of crops with their genetic modifications, which means a non-GMO crop that was fertilized by GMO-seeds or spore carried by the wind can and has been argued in courts as "owned" by Montasanto. This creates a big problem for many farmers and is linked with increasing poverty and poor health in South America, and (3) GMO itself is being linked to health problems, such as sterility and birth defects.
* Check out these various websites for more information:
Say No to GMOs!
Millions Against Montasanto
Union of Concerned Scientists

Here is another picture from the process.

Two bowls of soup: one for me, one for my husband :-)

Saturday Night Mango Margaritas

2011-02-19T17:48:00.000-08:00

My husband and I went to Costa Rica in December. It was aaawwwwesommmee! We spent the last couple days of our trip on the Pacific coast. By two o'clock in the afternoon, the black sand beach was scorching. Lucky for us, there was a single restaurant on the beach ... with some small outdoor tables, a little shade, and some amazing mango margaritas.

I decided to recreate these tasty drinks for us to enjoy at home.

Mango Margaritas

I loosely followed this excellent recipe from Michael Chiarello.
-I used 2 large mangos to make the mango puree. Then I used half of that to make these two mango margaritas (about a cup and a half of mango puree). I like them extra mango-y, so it worked for me. I froze the remaining half of the mango puree for some future night.
-I also like a lot of lime juice. So, unlike the recipe, I didn't rim the glass with a lime wedge, instead I added a bunch of lime juice to the mix itself (about a half a lime's worth).
-Also, I chilled the tequila and the mango puree before mixing everything together, which resulted in a very smooth creamy blended drink. Just like in Costa Rica!

Meaner, Greener, Leaner!
* I bought some organic mangos for this recipe. But according to EWGs study of pesticides in various produce, they've found that there is a relatively low level of pesticides in non-organic mangos. Mangos are actually #5 on their "Clean Fifteen" list. Not bad! So organic or nonorganic mangos are good to go!
* To get the EWGs shopper's guide to produce, go here.

Here are more pictures from the process.

Brand-new blender pureeing the hell out of the mango, sugar, and water!

Voila!

When the World Stinks, Make Deodorant

2011-01-31T07:55:00.000-08:00

You know the whole: When life gives ynou lemons, make lemonade? Yeah, well, this week the world has been stinking a bit (see this ABC article about the USDA deregulation of GMOs, motherf**&$!!).

So, I decided, when the world stinks, make deodorant.

Homemade Coconut Deodorant
This recipe allows me to reuse a plastic container (no more tossing out used deodorant containers), use organic products I already have in my home, and make something I need with my own arm-power (instead of having it made in a factory with fossil fuels).

Ingredients
organic, cold-pressed coconut oil
baking soda
organic corn starch

There are a lot of recipes online--with slightly different proportions. So, it really depends on how much you want to make. I used 4 T of oil, and then I started out by mixing in 4 T of baking soda and 2 T of corn starch. I kept mixing in more (more than what I found online) until the deodorant was the consistency of thick cake batter. Once it cools to room temperature, it solidifies more.

Here are some links to various instructions, if you want to check out other's recipes:
* a recipe with just powder and starch from 1greengeneration
* a recipe similar to mine but with addition of essential oils from associated content
* a recipe with instructions for making deodorant the consistency that can be put into an empty deodorant stick from little house in the suburbs

TIPS & INFO
* My delightful neighbor gave me a sample of her homemade deodorant a few months ago, similar recipe, which I've been using. And I think that it is BETTER than store bought deodorants, natural deodorants, or salt deodorants. I find this recipe does a better job dealing with odor than any other deodorant I've ever used. And, I get to smell like coconut to boot!
* In general, the coconut oil will be more solid when it's cooler out and more liquid when it's warmer. Most recipes online need more soda and starch to be the thick consistency I like--you might find you need to add more to get the consistency you like as well.
* If the deodorant liquifies during warmer months, you can add more soda and starch if you like.

Here are more pictures from the process.

Ack! Busy .... But still enough time to sign a petition against Monsanto!

2011-01-24T07:46:00.000-08:00

So I've been working days, nights, and weekends ... this doesn't mean I'm not cooking or making sure to try to eat decently. But it does mean I don't have time to take photos-n-stuff.

In the past couple weeks, I tried to make split-pea soup for the first time. After 12 hours of cooking, the dehydrated split peas were still not fully rehydrated. So, I strained them out of the soup and ate the broth. Delicious, but nothing to write home about ...

And I recently made excellent mashed potatoes (with skins for the nutrients) and used organic vegetable broth and cumin instead of the traditional high-cholesterol options of milk or cream. Success! Super tasty! But no time to take photos, and I have no idea about the exact measurements, potato to broth ratio.

Anywho, even if your 2011 has started out with a bang like mine, then I urge you to still make time to sign this petition at Food Democracy Now!!!

Es muy importante. I mean, can you believe that this whole Monsanto fiasco/crappola is still going on and that they're still such a powerful malicious force in food? So, sign the petition to say "Hell No! Monsanto should not grow GMOs!" I want this corporate regime out of my belly! I like to think of my signature on this petition as a typed-out middle finger.

A Healthy Replacement for Brownies? Cherry Chocolate Baked Oatmeal

2011-01-07T21:49:00.001-08:00

I swear, when I first tried baked oatmeal, I never meant to be so smitten and stuck on it. But here I am, months later, still insanely enthralled! It's such a versatile recipe that I can play with it and turn it into a myriad of different flavors.

Unlike my earlier breakfast version, this version is for dessert. And my husband agrees with me: this cherry chocolate baked oatmeal is as good as a brownie, chocolate rice pudding, or chocolate cake. It's that good!

Sweet-n-Healthy Cherry Chocolate Baked Oatmeal
I posted an early version of this recipe. This version is for a smaller batch (I did not have enough oats in my cupboard for a full batch).

4 c. organic steel cut oats
1 c. organic bran flakes
1 T. yogurt
3 organic, free-range eggs
1/2 c. organic soy milk
1/2 c. organic milk
1/4 c. fair trade cocoa powder
3 T. organic maple syrup
3 T. organic agave nector
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/3 c. organic dried cherries, finely chopped (Michigan cherries!)
1/4 c. chocolate chips (not Nestle brand)

1) Put the oats, bran flakes, and yogurt in a large container or bowl. Completely cover with water and mix to combine the yogurt throughout. Cover the container with its top, a clean dishcloth, or plastic wrap. Let sit overnight.
2) Strain in a colander. Lightly with the back of a large spoon to be sure most of the excess water drains.
3) Beat the eggs and milk together. Stir the eggs and milk into the drained oats and bran flakes, along with the cinnamon, vanilla extract, maple syrup, agave, and cocoa powder. Then, stir in the dried cherries and chocolate chips.
4) Grease an 8 x 11 glass baking dish with coconut oil or vegetable oil. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
5) Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Bake for 35 minutes, at which point the baked oatmeal should be solid yet moist.
6) Allow to cool for a few minutes. Then, slice into about 20-24 squares and serve immediately. They're delicious for more than a week.

Meaner, Greener, Leaner!
* I mention the value of organic oats and soaking oats in my initial baked oatmeal post.
* Let's compare this to brownies. The traditional brownie recipe contains 2 sticks of butter, 4-6 eggs, 1-2 cups of white sugar, baker's chocolate, and a half cup of processed flour. This is to make a batch of brownies in only an 8 x 8 inch baking dish (approximately 16 servings). This cherry chocolate baked oatmeal recipe, by contrast, contains healthy oats, no butter (i.e. prime source of LDL/bad cholesterol), and half as many eggs. In addition, this recipe gets its sugar from pretty terrific sources and still only contains about half the sugar (this is when I calculate by including the full quantities of dried cherries and chocolate chips as if they are just sugar). And this recipe makes a lot more servings.
* Seriously, you gotta' try it!

Here are more pictures from the process.

I love the reflection off the mixing bowl. Double trouble. The mirage of sweetness and the real thing.

Hi! Time to Get Cooking!

2011-01-07T21:39:00.000-08:00

Just saying "Hi!" Back from vacation.

How was your vacation and holidays and time with family and candles and reindeer's bright noses? I hope it was good.

I got to spend my vacation eating delicious casado after casado and hanging around with these puppies. (One night I literally turned into a granny and stowed away leftover crusts off bread from dinner into a napkin in my bag to hand out to the town's pup population.

While I had a great time, it's nice to be back. Time to get cooking!

Candy Cane Beets (Big Plans ... To Be Continued)

2010-12-08T16:31:00.001-08:00

I had big plans! Pickle me up some striped beets ... so pretty! so festive! perfect for the holidays! They look like candy canes! ... Alrighty, I'll call 'em Candy Cane Beets. Such plans! And I thought I'd be able to fit in some pickling before going away on vacation.

Ha.

Ha.

HA!

Not to be. I'm putting them in a greenie bag. Have you heard of them? Like these or these. Wicked cool reusable bags that help your produce last longer. Less waste, less landfill, less rotten carbon emissions from shipping the food to the grocery store that just goes bad. Greenie bags are all good.

But while I will not have time to make my Candy Cane Beets before I go, I will show you what I plan to do when I return.

The Beets (photo courtesy of PBS)

Pretty right? Yup!

I had planned to roast some for immediate eating and them pickle the rest of the roasted ones, as per this wonderful recipe from Alton Brown, cuz I mean, you gotta love Alton Brown. You gotta, I'm sure you do.

So, if you're looking for an unusual and healthy recipe to bring to any holiday parties in the next couple weeks, I'd recommend these striped beets. Call 'em Candy Cane Beets, cuz they sure are sweet. And feel good eating them and feeding your loved ones a food so sweet and full of fiber, Vitamin C, iron, magnesium, potassium, and other nutrients.

Happy Holidays!

(Oh, and if you're a beet enthusiast like I am, you can also hang a single beet from the center of a doorway as a super-huge mistletoe, and kiss your beloved beneath the beet. HA!)

More postings when we return from our trip!

I'm Dreaming of a Green Kitchen: Holiday Gift Ideas

2010-12-07T06:27:00.000-08:00

For the holidays, I have a personal tradition where I try to make my loved ones gifts or purchase them some cool "green" toys or gizmos for their home. My feeling is: What could be better than receiving a gift that makes you feel light in spirit and ethical every day?

So, I've been researching different "green" products for the kitchen. I'm thinking I might be stuffing some stockings with "Green-Your-Kitchen" themed gifts.

I thought I'd share some of the products and research here. I'm not affiliated with any of these companies. These are just the options I've found and have been reading about. Several of them are pretty neat, and I got excited about the nifty green kitchen and home things that are coming out nowadays!

Reusable Grocery Bags
Recently, unsafe levels of lead have been found in some reusable shopping bags. From what I read, these were bags sold in stores, such as Wegman's, Publix, Winn-Dixie. But I have yet to find an article specifically stating all the stores.

Luckily, ChicoBag and RePete sell wonderful bags that have been tested and pass all tests. In addition, they are members of the Fair Labor Association and they are a Green American Approved Business. Heck, yeah! That's cool.

Reusable Produce Bags
Planet Green says Americans use over 1 billion plastic bags a minute, or about 60,000 every five seconds. Besides for the horrific damage these bags cause once they've been used and tossed (landfill, oceans, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch), these manufacturing of these bags requires enormous quantities of petroleum. Gack!

Also, as we learn more and more about the harmful toxins in plastic ... I just don't want my nubile pears and innocent apples rubbing up against a plastic bag for any length of time!

There are many sources of reusable bags. Ironically, some companies appear to be selling plastic bags that have not been tested for the quality of the plastic and/or are not made out of recycled plastic. What the H*LL! Ack!

So, I've found some reusable produce bags that I'm thinking about getting for my loved ones this holiday, such as

* Ecobags, organic cloth produce sacks. Classic!
* 3BBags (Beyond Belief Bags), mesh bags that I think are pretty cool because they've been tested AND if you send them back to the company, the company will recycle them. That's commitment! So these bags never end up in a landfill.
* Simple Family Living, organic cloth bags with non-toxic plastic window--These are useful for longer term storage of grains and pastas. And people can write over-and-over on the windows with grease pencil. Ooh, fancy!

And here are some sweet and simple instructions for sewing your own cloth produce bags from Mother Earth News. Gotta love a homemade produce bag!

Pesticide Cards
EWG, Environmental Working Group, is perhaps one of my all-time-favorite groups. They do mad research! One of the excellent results of their research is the EWG's Shoppers Guide to Pesticides in Produce. By going to the website, you can download the pdf. But EWG also often offers cards with this info that can go into your wallet or get attached to one of those nifty reusable grocery bags I noted above.

For the holidays, they are also offering a holiday gift bag full of wonderful "green" booty for donors ... with reusable grocery bags, reusable produce bags, an excellent canteen, a great book, the pesticide card and other shopping tips, and many other things.

Laundry Supplies
I've been curious for some time about these nifty inventions ... laundry balls. Either they allow you to not use soap or they make it so you don't have to use much soap. There are various options. The manufacturers say these work through various means, such as ions, ceramics, minerals, magnetics, oxidation reduction, or even infrared rays! Huh? Is this my laundry room or did I walk into the pages of a comic book?

It all seems too good to be true. Yet, considering the cost of good, eco-friendly detergent, I'm thinking it might be time to give these magical suckers a try. A few of them have a pretty good number of user reviews, such as:
* EcoLaundryBalls,
* Amazing Super Wash Ball, and
* WonderBall ... Real Goods is a company that has been around since the 1970s and sells a wide-array of green products. They've been selling these laundry balls since ... geez, I think I've been looking at them for about 10 years. So, I'm considering purchasing Wonderballs from their website (a Xmas gift for myself!).

Toilet Bowl Cleaners
Another product I've been eyeing for about 10 years from Real Goods is a Chem-Free Toilet Cleaner. The mineral magnets in these cleaners are supposed to clean bacteria and help get rid of stains.

Foam Soap Dispenser
So first off, please never use any soap or cleaner or product with triclosan. Why? Triclosan is an antibacterial agent, i.e. an antibiotic. The use of non-prescribed antibiotics is actually leading to the development of more resistant strains of bacteria. What? Yup. Sucks, right? The CDC has been asking people to avoid triclosan for years. In addition, there are more and more antibiotics in our water system, and this water pollution both contributes to the resistency of bacteria but also affects our health, plant health, and animal health overall. And in case you needed any other reason to STOP with the triclosan, a recent study is now showing a correlation between triclocan-soap use and allergies in children. Bluck! (Oh and triclosan levels in humans jumped 40% in two years according to the CDC.)

If you want a product to be sure you are rid of germs, the CDC recommends "alcohol hand rinses." But the CDC stands behind soap and water for 20 seconds. So, really soap and water are more than good enough.

Secondly, foam soap is actually particularly good because the foam has been shown to cling and cover your hands, resulting in a more effective wash. So foam soap is actually better in terms of dealing with germs than regular soap. The Deputy Director of the Healthy Schools Campaign likes foam soap, so why don't you?

Third, foam soap uses far less soap. Saves you a pretty penny. Results in far less carbon and waste from the manufacturing and shipping of soap. Results in far less soap getting washed down the drain and causing water pollution.

Fourth, refilling your soap dispensor and using less soap overall means less plastic use, exposure, and waste. Less plastic means less exposure to toxins, such as BPAs, that are in plastic.

So, I've been thinking about getting my friends
* a cool refillable foam dispenser and
* some nifty good-quality organic, fair-trade soap, too, like Dr. Bronners!

Canteens
Several years ago, I bought everyone in my family Klean Kanteens. At the time, they were one of the few manufacturers that could state that their canteens were BPA free. There are other BPA-free canteen manufacturers out there now, which is awesome. But all I can say is: I use my Klean Kanteen for day-to-day uses and while camping and hiking, and it's still in near perfect shape.

Oh, and here's a great list of ideas on how to further Green Your Holiday Kitchen at Enviroblog.

Happy Holidays to Everyone!
xo

This Just In: Baked Oatmeal RULES!

2010-11-30T16:41:00.000-08:00

Aww, shucks! I found out today that my recipe for baked oatmeal was a winner in the Institute for Integrative Nutrition's Thanksgiving recipe contest.

I won a cool cookbook, can't wait to read it.

Thanks to ya'all who took the time to vote.

Merciful bouquets!

Four Carrot Salad: Husband-Approved Salad #3!

2010-11-30T08:59:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I posted a husband-approved salad. The last one was the Pesto Edamame Salad, and that was all the way back in August! Well, in the meantime, I had a couple salad attempts that he didn't dig (unapproved), and then the weather turned cold. Once there's an autumn chill, we tend to eat warm veggie sides, not cold salads.

But last week, I made the four carrot salad for Thanksgiving. And the hubs gave it a serious thumbs up.

So now, finally, I have come up with HUSBAND-APPROVED SALAD #3. Hoorah. (Just 47 more to go on my 50 HUSBAND-APPROVED SALADS CHALLENGE).

Eat Your Fractals! (Thanksgiving Sides To-Go)

2010-11-25T06:06:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

So, I'm on my way out, onto the road, bringing with me a couple of side dishes for the big supper! I love trying out new and different foods. Grabbing the stuff I've never eaten before from the produce aisle is certainly a good way (for me) to make sure I eat my vegetables.

The first side dish: garlic roasted Romanesco cauliflower
This awesome cauliflower looks like fractals! I love it! Beautiful green florets, sweet, and in the shape of wicked cool fractals!

I used the recipe for garlic cauliflower from the Food Network. Alas, my oven must be a tad hotter than it should be, as the garlic burned some. I'll bring with me the cauliflower and not the overly browned garlic.

The second side dish: four carrot salad
... orange carrots, purple carrots, gold carrots, and yellow (satin!) carrots. Each have an variety of slightly different vitamins and minerals to offer, as well as a slightly different flavor (ranging from sweeter to slightly more celeric).

The recipe was exceptionally simple.
1) I sliced the organic carrots very, very thin.
2) I finely diced 1 medium shallot and added that to the carrots.
3) I finely diced 1/4 c. of dried cranberries and added those in, too.
4) I made a salad dressing with 3 T. dijon mustard, 1 T. garlic-chili sauce, 1/4 c. balsamic vinegar, 1/4 c. white wine vinegar, 1 T. organic sesame oil, 3 T. organic olive oil, 1 T. dried parsley flakes, 1 T. dried basil flakes, black pepper, and 2 T. Bragg Liquid Amino (used instead of plain old salt, this is a great healthful substitute with a lot of flavor).
5) I tossed together and let sit overnight.

Gobble, gobble!

Here are some pictures!

The Morning After: Baked Oatmeal

2010-11-14T17:36:00.000-08:00

(This is a great food for everyday buzz-buzz busy life and also for holiday guests! Which is why I posted a holiday version of this recipe in a ***CONTEST*** through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. Please go to this website and vote for my recipe every day!)

Got hunger? Got guests? Got a pregnant friend??? Give 'em baked oatmeal.

I've always loved oatmeal. But I don't like to cook it every day. Enter in the majestic and tasty solution: baked oatmeal. I'd never heard about baked oatmeal before last week, when my friend and fellow blogger (The Variegated Life) introduced me to the lovely food blog and site A Nourished Kitchen.

I slightly altered A Nourished Kitchen's recipe to suit my tastes in a few ways:
1) Less sugar
2) Bran flakes (for the fiber)
3) Less dried fruit, etc. (to decrease the sugar)
4) Less custard, i.e. less egg and milk mix (to decrease the cholesterol and to insure that the squares of baked oatmeal keep their form and are truly portable)

Baked Oatmeal
Grab it cold, it's good to go. Because this is so easy to make, so filling and tasty, and makes so much, it is a great recipe for the holidays when your home is full of guests. Filling and tasty. Loaded with whole grains to help get your body restarted, metabolism smoothed out, and blood sugar leveled!

Baked Oatmeal, Yogurt, Cinnamon, and Maple Syrup

5 c. organic steel cut oats
1 c. organic bran flakes
1-2 T. yogurt
1/3-1/2 c. prunes, finely chopped
4 organic, free-range eggs
1 c. organic milk
1/4 c. molasses
**for more flavor, add 1 tsp. vanilla or almond extract
**for more sweetness, add 1/2 c. more dried fruit (such as raisins) or sucanat sugar

1) Put the oats, bran flakes, and yogurt in a large container or bowl. Completely cover with water and mix to combine the yogurt throughout. Cover the container with its top, a clean dishcloth, or plastic wrap. Let sit overnight.
2) Strain in a colander. Lightly with the back of a large spoon to be sure most of the excess water drains.
3) Beat the eggs and milk together (along with the extracts or sugar, if you are using those). Stir the drained oats, chopped prunes, and molasses thoroughly into the egg and milk mix.
4) Grease a 9 x 11 glass baking dish with coconut oil or vegetable oil. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
5) Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until brown, solid yet moist. (While cooking, you might see liquid bubbling up in places. If so, the baked oatmeal is done when there is little liquid left to bubble.)
6) Allow to cool for a few minutes. This also lets the oats absorb any remaining moisture.
7) Slice into squares and serve immediately, with brown sugar, yogurt, milk or soy milk, fresh fruit, maple syrup, honey or jam!
8) Or allow to cool completely, store in the refrigerator, and eat later. Baked oatmeal can last about 1 week.

Serving Ideas
You can appeal to your guests' wide range of tastes and hankerings with this baked oatmeal, simply by putting out an assortment of simple additions and condiments. For example, baked oatmeal can be served with:
• brown sugar or sucanat,
• yogurt,
• warm milk or soy milk,
• fresh fruit,
• maple syrup,
• honey,
• jam,
• barley malt syrup,
• peanut butter or almond butter,
• agave nectar,
• sprinkling of cocoa powder or powdered sugar,
• applesauce,
and of course …
• leftover whole berry cranberry sauce!

Meaner, Greener, Leaner!
* Steel cut oats are good food. In Terry Walter's great book Clean Food, she notes how groats are the most nutritious form of oats, with steel cut oats coming in second. In other words, steel cut oats are a terrific source of vitamins and minerals.
* Nourished Kitchen says it best, I think:
"Baked oatmeal is both deeply nutritive and deeply satisfying. Steel cut oats are gently soaked overnight in water acidified by a touch of yogurt or fresh whey which helps to increase not only your body’s ability to better digest the grain, but also your body’s ability to better absorb its minerals. Oats are rich in minerals, including phosphorus, magnesium, manganese, iron and zinc, .... Moreover, oats are a rich source of B vitamins including folate – that critical nutrient which is vital to reproductive health and the proper development of babies growing within their mothers’ wombs."
* Nourished Kitchen and Terry Walters both recommend soaking oats in order to diminish the phytic acid. As Nourished Kitchen states:
".... but due to the effects of naturally occurring antinutrients found in whole grain, such as phytic acid, those minerals due your body little good unless oats are properly prepared as they are in this recipe."
But other sites dispute this. Some, such as The World's Healthiest Foods, suggest that there are low levels of phytic acid in oats, others suggest that the phytic acid in oats doesn't diminish much with soaking (as with other grains). One site, Rebuild the Blog, recommended adding a different type of grain into oats and soaking together as an aid to the breakdown of phytic acid. It is based on this advice that I chose to add the bran.
* This recipe makes a great breakfast, but it could be easily adapted to make a low-sugar, healthful desert option--an oat-y substitution to bread pudding!
Baked Chocolate and Cherry Oatmeal!
Just replace the prunes with 3/4 c. of dried chopped cherries, add 1 more c. of organic milk, add the extract and sucanat (as noted above), do not use the molasses, add 1/3 c. of fair-trade cocoa powder, and add 1/2 c. of fair-trade chocolate chunks.

Here are more pictures from the process.

Oats getting a soak!

Outta' the oven ...

And on my plate!

A Tad Tardy: Bloody Halloween Finger Cookies Without the Red #40

2010-11-07T16:12:00.000-08:00

Oops! I'm still getting the hang of this blogging thing, so this is a belated blog post about the Halloween recipe I tried.

I saw these on In Erika's Kitchen ...

(image from In Erika's Kitchen)

She used a great, clear recipe to make these wicked severed finger cookies from Shockingly Delicious. I checked around online, and there are a lot of variations for these awesome gruesome buttery fingers ... green-colored Frankenstein fingers, red-colored demonic digits, and werewolf claws with toasted coconut 'hair.'

AWESOME!

EXCEPT for one thing--Red #40 and Red #40 Lake, the dye used in most red food coloring and most red gels.

My friend over at Middle Aged Jock wrote a clear and succinct analysis of these food dyes, particularly about how they're banned in Europe. Yes, banned. There have been studies linking these colors to ADHD and lowered IQs in children. There's a lot of Internet debate about these dyes from a wide-range of sources. But I take it seriously when a group of countries chooses to ban something. Of course, in the United States, these dyes abound in all sorts of children's treats.

I wanted to come up with a replacement for the red gel that would be cheap, easy, and practical for busy parents and busy witches.

So, I slightly altered the recipe in one way:
* I did not use store-bought red gel.
* I mixed 1 T. dye-free red jam with 1/2 c. confectioner's sugar to create a bright red gel, free of added coloring. I happened to have lingonberry, but raspberry or strawberry would also work well.

Ta-da! Delicious! And I can rest assured that the health and IQs of any witches and warlocks who ate these cookies stayed a-okay.

Ribollita Soup: Tuscan Farm in a Bowl

2010-11-07T12:43:00.001-08:00

I first ate ribollita soup in a small, dingy restaurant in a corner of Florence. Here was a place where you sat, you were served on teeny tables shared with strangers, and you drank your wine from tiny plain glass cups. No pretension. Insanely brilliant food. At the time, my husband and I were visiting his extended Italian relatives. A few days after that awesome restaurant meal, we were treated to a large family reunion on the family farm. Every table top was covered with homemade food, and one of the foods served was this soup.

It is awesome.

It is full of vegetables. All types of vegetables. Including leafy greens. And yet the husband eats it. That is a little miracle.

Ribollita Soup (Vegetable & Bread Soup)
This is one of my all-time favorite soups. And in addition to being tasty, it's healthy. I mean really healthy. Do I sound astonished? Yes, I do. It's just this soup is so tasty and so healthy ... It's like a scientific breakthrough or something. Just try it, and you too will be agog, happy, and pleasantly full.

2 organic onions, finely chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4-6 stalks organic celery, finely chopped
4-5 organic carrots, finely chopped
2 organic beef tomatoes, rough chopped
28 oz. organic crushed tomatoes (with basil, ideally)
4 cups of organic vegetable broth (or 4 cups of water and low-sodium vegetable bouillon cubes)
2+ cups of water, as needed
4 cups of cooked organic white beans (cannellini, ideally from dried beans)
about a thumb-length piece of dried kombu
a head of a chopped dark leafy greens (bok choy, kale, spinach, savoy cabbage, your choice)
1/3 c. grated Parmesan cheese
2 stale rolls (kaiser, ciabatta, or equivalent crusty bread), ripped into tiny pieces
1 T. dried basil
1 T. dried parsley
1 tsp. dried red pepper flakes
3 T. organic, cold-pressed olive oil

1) Use a big pot. A large kettle. A witch's caldron, if you have it!
2) Heat up the olive oil in the pot over a medium flame, then add the onions. Once they are slightly translucent, add the garlic. Be sure to stir so that the garlic doesn't burn until the onions and garlic and slightly brown.
3) Add the carrots and celery. Continue to cook on medium heat until browned and slightly cooked, stirring as needed.
4) Add the dried basil, parsley, and red pepper flakes. Turn off the heat and stir. Allow the dried herbs to absorb any remaining oil or moisture. If there is no moisture left, add a spoonful of water so that the dry herbs can rehydrate.
5) Turn the heat back on. Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, vegetable broth, white beans, and kombu. I like to let the soup cook in a slow boil for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. By doing so, the fresh tomatoes have a chance to break down, the broth and dried seasonings develop and meld, and the carrots and beans to fully cook. During this time, I add extra water as needed, as the broth boils down.
6) Taste the soup. Add black pepper if you want more spice.
7) Remove the kombu. Add the chopped greens, pieces of bread, and grated cheese. Cook about another 10 minutes, until the greens are completely cooked and the bread has pretty much dissolved to thicken the soup. Again, as the soup boils, it will evaporate, and so add extra water as needed.
8) Serve!

Meaner, Greener, Leaner!
* Dried beans! Using dried beans beans means:
--we use less plastic, metal, and energy from tin cans, packaging, and shipping.
--soaking and cooking the dried beans diminishes the bean's phytic acid.
--we take in less BPAs and expose the environment to fewer BPAs (BPAs can be found in the lining of tin cans).
--cooking the beans yourself means you can cook them with some dried rosemary or thyme, thereby developing the flavor of the beans, the soup, and anything you use the beans in.
--you take in fewer preservatives and salts (as used in your standard canned cooked beans).
* If you do need to use canned beans, please check the label for BPA-free cans. (Eden Foods, on their website, says that they use BPA-free cans.)
* I just started trying to use kombu, after reading about it in Terry Walter's wonderful book, Clean Food. Kombu is a type of kelp, known for its "umami" (ooh la la). It is can be used to develop flavorful broths, grains, and legumes. It is also known for its ability to break down acids in foods, thereby improving the digestibility of those foods.
* This soup is a low-fat, low-cholesterol highly flavorful and nutritious meal, full of a variety of vegetables and vitamins; and the beans are a great source of vegetable-based protein.

How to Cook Dried Beans
1) Place the beans in a pot and cover with water.
2) Soak overnight. (This should help diminish any aftereffects, like gas.)
3) Drain the water. Rinse the beans. Then add fresh water (1 c. of dried beans to 3 c. of water).
4) Add about an inch-long piece of kombu and any dried herbs you like.
5) Boil for about 45-60 minutes, or until the beans are tender. B sure to skim off any foam. (Another thing to help diminish beany aftereffects.)
6) Use what you need, and store the extra (when cooled) in the freezer for a later date.

Here are more pictures of the soup!

Soup with a halo of light!

What Are You Eating For Lunch? Tomatoes & Parmesan

2010-11-05T05:44:00.001-07:00

There's no recipe here today.

Knock, knock! Any recipe home? Nooo.

Just this simple and beautiful food. Sort of like bragging. Pretty much exactly like bragging.

Fresh orange organic tomatoes from the coop ...

Flavorful and tender. Look at those seeds!

Add some salt, black pepper, and thin peels of Parmesan cheese.

A whole plateful.

Peanut Butter Pie Obsession: Test 1, Test 2, Test 3 ...

2010-11-01T06:08:00.001-07:00

Sometime ago, I learned I love peanut butter pie. Adore it like a mother adores a child. Cherish it and try to hold the pie, in all its sweetness, close to my bosom. Dream and plan for it. Coo over it. Sing it lullabies!

And who wouldn't, really? Cookie crust, cream cheese, milk, peanut butter, powdered sugar, and whipped cream. Mmmmm.

Yeah ... well, I might adore peanut butter pie. But I'd prefer to be able to adore this special treat with less worry (about heart valves, build up, arteries, eeks!).

So, the problem is ... How to Make a Healthier Peanut Butter Pie?

Peanut-Butter Pie: An Understandable Obsession

This is my process so far:
Attempt #1: Traditional Recipe
A couple years ago I made my first peanut butter pie, using a very traditional recipe. I used Emeril Lagasse's 5-star Peanut Butter Pie recipe from the Food Network. And a standard graham-cracker pie crust (1.5 c. crushed graham crackers, 8 T. melted butter, 2-3 T. sugar, baked, etc.). It produces an awesome, traditional peanut butter pie. But sadly, one filled to the rim with dairy-based cholesterol.

Attempt #2: Homemade Yogurt Cream Cheese Substitution and Less Butter
Recently, I decided to play with the pie and the crust. For the crust, I wondered if I could make the graham-cracker pie crust with less butter and less sugar. I used 1.5 c crushed graham crackers, 5 T. butter, and no sugar. Bad move! It crumbled and cut very poorly!

For the pie filling, I substituted the cream cheese with homemade yogurt cream cheese. I put the plain unsweetened yogurt in a cheese cloth in the frig overnight to thicken into something more of a cream-cheese consistency. To compensate for the slight added tartness of yogurt (in comparison to the flavor of cream cheese), I also added 1 tsp. of vanilla extract. This worked! But it was a tad labor intensive. Also, I felt this pie lacked a certain zing.

Attempt #3: Homemade Yogurt Cream Cheese, Extra Layer for Flavor, Medium Amount of Butter
Just last week, I tried again. This worked great! For the crust, I used 1.5 c. crushed chocolate cookies, 6 T. butter, and 1 T. sugar. Still a little crumbly, but delicious! I prefer the chocolate, too.

For the filling, I tried again with the homemade yogurt cream-cheese substituting for cream cheese in the traditional recipe. But before adding the whipped cream, I took some of that initial filling (peanut butter, cream cheese, sugar, milk) and spread it as a thin layer in the bottom of the cooled pie crust. Then, I added whipped cream to the remainder of the filling and added this as the main filling. This did two things: (1) created a very peanut buttery layer in the pie and spiked the overall peanut butter flavor, (2) required much less whipped cream, a healthy bonus!

But still, overall, I wonder about the need to strain the yogurt to make a yogurt cream cheese substitute, and I'm still aware of all that cholesterol in the heavy cream for the whipped cream.

***

So, for now, my cravings for peanut butter pie have been sated. But next time ... and there will be a next time ... I have a few other possible plans.

Plan for Attempt #4:
I'd like to keep with the chocolate crust from trial #3. I'd also like to keep the peanut-butter punch of the intense extra layer. But I'd like to try to just use yogurt as a straight substitution for the cream cheese and nix the milk from the traditional recipe. This would mean I wouldn't have to worry about straining the yogurt with a cheese cloth.

Plan for Attempt #5:
I wonder if anyone has ever tried to basically make a thick peanut-butter pudding filling, the way one might when making a chocolate cream pie, for example. This would mean milk, cornstarch, peanut butter, and sugar. This sort of recipe would mean no cream cheese and whipped cream only for a little topping. So, I think this recipe could mean far lower cholesterol and fat levels in the pie.

Plan for Attempt #6:
I am unsure about this idea. I think I'll try a very small batch first. I once made an amazing dark chocolate mousse using tofu and melted dark chocolate. Same premise. This would have to be tofu, peanut butter, and perhaps melted white chocolate. A far lower fat and cholesterol content, and added soy protein to boot! Healthy, for sure! Would it satisfy a peanut butter pie craving? That is the question.

To be determined ...

Excelsior! Onward and upward! From fork to plate to mouth!

Attempt #3--Delicioso!

To Blog the Process? YES (Con't. Sunday Brunch with the Ladies: Pear and Fig Tart)

2010-10-28T18:57:00.000-07:00

I've debated whether or not I should post recipes that are in progress on this blog. You know what I mean? Recipes that I try and fall into "ehh" or "bleh" categories, or "really good but too much work" or "really good but too unhealthy!" categories. So, why not share the process here? After all, part of my goal in writing this blog was to force myself to write down the recipes as I work on them, so that I would not forget the ingredients in the future.

The Pear and Fig Tart falls into the "ehh" category. I made it a couple weeks ago, for the Sunday brunch-meets-clothing swap. I had just purchased a lovely large container of fresh figs, so I planned a very figgy menu, including Fig and Bacon Focaccia (with some Manchego Cheese) and this Pear and Fig Tart. The focaccia turned out brilliant, and one of my new all-time favorite flavor combinations! The tart on the hand was good, but not great. In the future, I think I would make it a bit differently.

Pear and Fig Tart: First Attempt
This was my first try. The pear was perfect. The fig was sweet, but monotonous in its sweetness. The crust, while having a wonderful flavor and texture, was far too thick, took up too much of each bite. In the future, I plan to make a similar crust, just less of it, and to use a lot of thinly-sliced pears ... Oh, and even though the flavor wasn't all I'd hoped for, the tart still came out looking like a star!

Crust
1 c. organic whole wheat all-purpose flour
1 c. organic spelt flour
11 T. cold butter
2 egg yolks
1/3 c. organic sucanat sugar
1/4 tsp. salt

Fruit and Glaze
6-8 fresh figs, sliced
6-8 organic seckle pears, thinly sliced (with the skins still on)
juice of 1/2 an orange
1 T. pumpkin beer
1 T. maple syrup
2 T. butter
1 T. granulated sugar

1) Mix the flours, sugar, and salt in a bowl.
2) Add the salt in little pieces and mix with a fork or with your hands until the texture of sand.
3) Add the egg yolks and knead with your hands until thoroughly blended.
4) Place the dough in a tart pan (8" or 9"), and spread out gently using your hands. Be sure the thickness of the crust is consistent.
5) Place the thin slices of fruit in a bowl and squeeze some juice from the orange over the slices. Toss.
6) Arrange the thinly-sliced fruit in overlapping concentric circles. At this point, begin preheating the oven at 375 degrees.
7) Sprinkle with the granulated sugar, and dot with butter.
8) Bake in the 375-degree oven for 30-40 minutes. Be sure crust is golden, but not overly brown.
9) Squeeze the rest of the juice from the half orange into the bowl with the remaining orange juice. Mix in the beer and maple syrup. Pour this over the warm tart.
10) Serve when cool!

Meaner, Greener, Leaner!
* There are many fruit tart recipes that included a layer of cheese or creme, which I avoided. So, this tart is far lower in cholesterol than those cheese-based or creme-based tarts.
* Most tart crust recipes call for 1/2-3/4 of a cup of sugar, but I personally find the whole wheat and spelt flour to be slightly sweet on its own. Then add in the fruit and light glaze! There's really no reason to have a sugar-heavy crust.
* NEXT TIME! It will be even better. Less crust means less flour and butter. More fruit means more tenderness to each bite and more vitamins and fiber. My plan for less crust and more fruit will mean a lower-calorie and lower-cholesterol tart with more flavor and nutrients.

Here are more pictures from the process.

Butter + orange + fruit = grace

Sunday Brunch (con't): Fig and Bacon Focaccia & Onion and Bell Pepper FocacciaRed

2010-10-16T19:55:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, I had some fine dames over for a great Sunday brunch-meets-clothing swap. And for the occasion, I broke out the yeast and made some slow-rising vittles. It was a great way to cook, and while the dough rose, I had gaps of time during which I could clean and get ready.

Specifically, I made focaccia, two types:
* Fig and Bacon Focaccia (with some Manchego Cheese)
* Onion and Red Bell Pepper Focaccia (with some Parmesan Cheese)

Classy, Classic Focaccia & Variations
I doubled this classic focaccia recipe in order to make my two variations. It was easy to prepare the toppings while the dough rose.

Classic Focaccia (single batch, which I doubled):
based on a recipe from "How to Bake" by Nick Malgieri
1 and 1/3 c. warm tap water (about 110 degrees)
1 envelope active dry yeast
5-6 T. organic olive oil
3 and 1/4 c. organic whole wheat all-purpose flour
2 t. salt

1) Whisk the water, yeast, and 3 T. of the oil together in a bowl.
2) In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour and salt. Once well mixed, add the yeast mixture and stir until the flour is evenly moistened (with a plastic spatula or wooden spoon).
3) Beat vigorously for 1 minute (by hand with your utensil, or with the bread paddle attachment to your mixer).
4) Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise until it is doubled in size, which will take about 1 hour.
5) Use your hands to spread 1 T. of the remaining oil onto a sheet pan. When the dough is fully risen, turn it out onto the oiled pan. Gently stretch the dough until it fills the sheet pan. NOTE: You may need to let the dough rest for a few moments before it is limber enough to stretch without ripping.
6) Put 1 T. of oil on the fully-stretched dough, and spread thoroughly over the dough with your hands, then cover in plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rise again until it is doubled in size in the pan, which should take about 1 more hour.
7) Use your fingers to gently create dimples in the dough. Then, add the prepared toppings--See the recipes for the toppings below. (If you want to create plain focaccia, drizzle with 1 more T. of oil and season with sea salt/course salt and pepper.)
8) Bake in the middle rack in a 450-degree oven for about 25 minutes, or until a lovely golden brown.
9) Serve immediately, or serve cold. Delicious either way!

Fig and Bacon Focaccia (with some Manchego Cheese)
7-9 fresh figs
3-4 thick-cut gooood bacon (I get Wellshire Farms)
Manchego cheese
sea salt
ground black pepper

1) While the focaccia dough is rising, cook the bacon until it is about 2/3 of the way cooked through. Dice into 1/8-inch pieces.
2) Thinly slice the figs.
3) Before putting the focaccia dough into the oven, evenly top with bacon and figs. (No need to add extra olive oil as when making a plain focaccia!) Add a little salt and a little ground pepper. Then, use a vegetable peeler to make thin peels of manchego to add to the top.
4) Bake following the directions for classic focaccia above.

Onion and Red Bell Pepper Focaccia (with some Parmesan Cheese)
1 large organic onion
1 large organic red bell pepper
1-2 T. butter
fresh rosemary (NOTE: Chop fine and add to the dough before the second rise)
Parmesan cheese
sea salt
ground black pepper

1) Thinly slice the onions and red bell peppers. (Use a mandoline if you have one!) Add the butter to a frying pan on medium heat. Once the butter is melted, add the onions and cook for a moment or two before adding the red bell peppers. Cook until the onions are translucent and the onions and red bell peppers are just starting to brown.
2) Before putting the focaccia dough into the oven, evenly top with the onions and bell peppers. Add a little salt and a little ground pepper. Then, use a vegetable peeler to make thin peels of Parmesan to add to the top.
3) Bake following the directions for classic focaccia above.

Meaner, Greener, Leaner!
* I added a little spelt flour for part of the flour, as usual. I can't remember how much exactly, which is why I didn't note it here, but it worked great.
* The recipe is intended to be used in a smaller baking dish, but I prefer the larger sheet pan. That means that the focaccia is a tad thinner, and creates (in my mind) a better balance of carbohydrates and toppings ... so my guests and I aren't just filling up on refined carbs.
* The shaved cheese is great! First of all, I think it is in keeping with the principle of simple dishes, simple food. Second of all, it allows for the flavor of cheese without inundating the dish in a layer of dairy-based cholesterol.
* The bacon I use is a bit expensive, but it's worth it! It's family owned, and it's free of preservatives, nitrates, nitrites, and antibiotics. I use only a little, and I use it rarely. Saves my budget, saves the Earth, saves my heart valves. But dicing it small, as in this recipe, means I get a nice taste of savory bacon every couple bites, which is perfectamundo!

Here are more pictures from the process.

Here are a couple pictures of the focaccia with toppings before going into the oven.

Now, some pictures of the focaccia fresh from the oven ... pre-sliced.

Piles and piles o' slices of fresh focaccia!

Sunday Clothing Swap with the Ladies: Menu

2010-10-10T10:22:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, I had a few fine dames over to my house for a clothing swap. You know ... First, you and a few friends go through your closets and find those gently-used/good condition clothes you want to donate. Then, you all bring 'em over to a friend's house and find "new" things in each other's stuff. Lastly, all the extras get donated to a Goodwill or local church. It's a fun way to spend a day with friends!

For this past swap, I tried out a few new recipes! Fun.

The menu I came up with was very easy to prepare, with a nice mix of no-fuss items and a couple of foods made from scratch.

Here's the menu for the day.
(***indicates that I'll be posting the recipe here soon)
- Pear and Fig Tart*
- Onion and Red Bell Pepper Focaccia with Rosemary and Parmesan*
- Fig and Bacon Focaccia with Manchego*
- Fresh organic Empire apples picked by a friend who attended and who leased an apple tree from Little Dog Orchards (how cool is that? you can lease your own tree!)
- Hummus and organic carrots (store-bought)
- Crackers and cheese (store-bought)
- An assortment of olives (store-bought)
- Mimosas (hell, yeah)

In addition, I'm lucky enough to know Chef Deb, and she brought over some of her insanely amazing pumpkin cookies (large and small ones) and pumpkin pie cake (with pumpkin cream cheese frosting). Ohhh, mama! Her tasty baked treats can be ordered via her Etsy site; these treats and others can be ordered from Chef Deb's Pastry Shoppe site.

Don't they look delish?

A Little Snackeral: Homemade Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches

2010-10-05T18:59:00.000-07:00

I never really got America's love of the ice cream cookie sandwich. As a kid, I somtimes got one of those standard ones at the grocery store--you know, rectangular chocolate cookies in waxed paper. Pretty good as a kid on a hot summer day, slurping it up as the ice cream melts and begins to resemble fluff. They serve their purpose well, satisfying my occasional spontaneous sugar-craving-meets-nostalgia sort of needs, but they're nothing I'd ever plan to eat.

So, I never thought that much about ice cream cookie sandwiches. Until last week, when I made some chocolate chip cookies and happened to also buy brilliant Alden's Organic Chocolate Chocolate Chip ice cream (some of the best ice cream, if you can get it).

Chocolate-Chocolate-Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwich
Chocolate chip cookies, chocolate ice cream with chocolate chips. I can barely type this out without drooling a little over my chin and blouse. Insanely good. Who knew?

2 homemade chocolate chip cookies (I use the recipe from the back of the chocolate chip bag)
1 small scoop of slightly soft Alden's Organic Chocolate Chocolate Chip ice cream

Meaner, Greener, Leaner!
* Alden's is reasonably priced organic ice cream. Love it! Fewer pesticides or unnecessary antibiotics.
* When I made the standard chocolate chip cookie recipe, I used organic eggs (to avoid the unnecessary antibiotics and such), organic all-purpose flour, a little bit of organic spelt flour, and organic sucanat sugar (unrefined brown sugar). All good ways to decrease the pesticide use on farms, in our soil, and in our bodies.
* Funny thing. Normally, I like a bowl of ice cream for dessert. Or, alternately, a few cookies. But both my husband and I found that an ice cream cookie sandwich made with a little bit of ice cream and two small cookies was insanely tasty and insanely satisfying. So, it seems like a crazy splurge, yet we ended up with a smaller dessert portion than normal ... all in all, less cholesterol and fewer fats than if we'd had ice cream or cookies separately! Who'da'thunk'it!

One more picture just cause we finished all the cookies, so these pictures are all I have left ...

Tostones: Three Ways to Plantain Glory!

2010-09-24T09:39:00.000-07:00

Tostones, maduros, plantain chips, mofongo ... plantains are like the scheherazade of the vegetable kingdom. They can be made into savory main meals, sweet desserts, baked, boiled, fried, mashed ... endless possibilities.

Yet, somehow I've always managed to screw up cooking with plantains. I've tried. Many times years ago. Then, after many botched attempts, I put the plantain down.

So, when I saw the simple and direct tostone recipe on A Boulder Table, I felt a renewed sense of courage! I'll try it again! Tostones are truly simple to make. I'll get through my weird tostone block! This time with a partner, right there on my computer screen. She tried it! See! I can too.

The Trials and Tribulations, and Ultimately, Great Taste of Tostones
To get myself past my block, I decided to use A Boulder Table's recipe in two ways and try out a traditional tostone recipe--for a total of three ways to make tostones. I worked through my block, and now I have an awesome and easy tostone recipe! This recipe is part of the Taste & Create food blog recipe exchange.

green plantains
organic vegetable oil
salt
bowl of lukewarm salt water

1) Peel the plantains. This is the first step, and it's when I always begin to screw up. But this time I figured it out. (Why did it take me so long? Don't know). When plantains are green, they are more like potatoes. When they are yellow, they are more like bananas. So, green plantains need to be peeled like potatoes are peeled ... with a peeling knife.
2) I sliced the tostones three different ways: really thin (about 1/8 of an inch), thin and at an angle julienned (about 1/8-1/4 of an inch), slightly thicker and at an angle julienned (1/3 of an inch).
3) Batch 1: These were a little thinner than A Boulder Table's Tostones
I heated about 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan and started with the really thin slices (1/8-inch). I cooked them on medium heat, about 3 minutes per side, until brown. I put on them on paper towels to drain, and sprinkled them with salt while they were still hot.
4) Batch 2: These were a about as thin as A Boulder Table's Tostones
I add a little bit more oil to the pan and added the medium-thin slices (1/8-1/4 inch). I cooked them on medium heat, about 3 minutes per side, until brown. I put on them on paper towels to drain, and sprinkled them with salt while they were still hot.
5) Batch 3: These were the traditional tostones
While cooking batches 1 and 2, I'd soaked the traditional tostones (about 1/3 inch thick) in a bowl of lukewarm salt water. Once batches 1 and 2 were done, I drained these from the water, added a touch more oil to the pan, threw these in, and stood back (water pops on a hot oiled pan--ouch!). I cooked them on medium-low heat, about 4 minutes per side. Once pulled from the heat, I smashed them gently with the flat end of a meat tenderizer. Then, they go back into the hot pan for about 2-3 more minutes per side until golden brown. Again, when done, they go on some paper towels and get a light dusting of salt.

Meaner, Greener, Leaner!
* Okay, generally foods cooked in oils can be higher in fat. But with a touch of patience, I think they can be made a little healthier. How does the patience factor in? I need to have patience to actually allow the pan to heat up a touch before adding the plantains. This allows them to hit the hot pan instead of absorbing oil while the pan heats up. Also, I need to have patience to allow them to drain on the paper towels before eating them all!
* Organic oil, organic oil! I mentioned my love and reasoning to spend the extra $$ on organic oil in my first post.

Here are more pictures from the process.

My neighborhood is full of great padanderias and Latino restaurants. Normally, when I want tostones, I buy them and end up standing at the counter and wait while they cook. But since I was making my own, I picked myself up some nice treats at the panaderia as a snack while they tostones cooked.

All three styles together in one photo!

Batch 1--turned out more like plantain chips--thin, crispy, savory, yumness.

Batch 2 (via A Boulder Table)--good texture and flavor--an awesome & quick tostone recipe!

Batch 3 (traditional tostone recipe I got when visiting Puerto Rico)--delicious, a little more caramelization--a tried and true recipe for night's when I have the energy to cook them the traditional way

Go here www.tasteandcreate.com for more info about Taste & Create.

Check Out These Melons! (Watermelon & Lemon Granita)

2010-09-22T17:40:00.000-07:00

Mmm, watermelon. The Hub doesn't like watermelon, so I often find summer watermelons pass me by as I do not want to buy slices of watermelon on those awful Styrofoam grocery store plates wrapped in yards of plastic wrap.

But this year, I found mini-watermelon! How cute! I adore them. I bought two. One to eat plain as is, and one to play with. This is the recipe I came up with. I used the empty halves as bowls. Again, how cute! In the end, the husband dug this dessert and liked watermelon for the first time.

Watermelon & Lemonade Granita
Insanely cold and refreshing. With a texture like snow!

1 small organic watermelon
1 cup lemonade
1/2 a lime

1) Scoop out the watermelon, and pick out the black seeds.
2) Mash the watermelon with a potato masher or fork, or you can use a blender. (If you want really fine-textured granita, strain once you've finished mashing. I like chunks of frozen watermelon, so I did not strain.)
3) Add the lemonade. Squeeze in the juice of half a lime. Mix together.
4) Pour into a shallow metal container, such as a baking dish. Put in the freezer.
5) Check in every half hour or so, and use a fork to scrape into a texture like snow.
6) If you want to, serve in the emptied halves of the mini watermelon. Just be sure to slice off a little of the ends of each half to create a flat area on which the watermelon bowl can sit and stay balanced.

Meaner, Greener, Leaner!
* There's no need for extra added sugar. If you buy a nice organic lemonade, then it will probably be sweetened with agave. If you don't have lemonade, then you can make your own with the juice of one lemon, a two-thirds cup of water, and agave to taste (start with a teaspoon).
* There's no cooking! So the main energy used here is with the freezer.
* It's low in calories with tons of vitamin A and vitamin C. Check out the nutritional analysis of watermelon here.

Here are more pictures from the process.

My lovely green baby...

Nice watermelon flesh, firm but tender. I sliced little coins off the ends so my watermelon bowls would sit still in a balanced way.

Watermelon bowls almost complete!

The mixture after it's been frozen and scraped into granita...

A nice bowl of dessert!

A close-up.

Getting My Lazy Arse Some Dessert: Strawberries & Raw Sugar

2010-09-08T16:39:00.000-07:00

Some days are seriously lazy.

Lazier than my old orange hound.

But even on very lazy days, I have a very demanding sweet tooth.

So, if you are having a very lazy day, I recommend getting yourself some strawberries on a plate, along with a little pile of sugar and a dollop of fluffy cream.

Strawberries & Raw Sugar
Self-serve. Easy sweets.

No need for a step-by-step, just some organic strawberries, homemade whipped cream (or store bought), and raw sugar. I also had some pretty pink sugar crystals (leftover cake decorations).

Just pluck yourself a strawberry, dip in the cream, then roll in the sugar. Or mix up the combination: strawberry & sugar, strawberry & just cream, spoonful of cream dipped in sugar!

Pictures from the (eating) process.

This plate mimics the old TV dinner trays, but instead filled with some fresh fruit and extras. Four strawberries for me, and four for my hubby.

A bite, and a bit of both sugars ...

More, more, more!

Maple Syrup & Popcorn Everywhere, and I Want to Eat It All!

2010-09-08T16:15:00.000-07:00

Popcorn is in the air.
Maple syrup skies.

It must be something about September. Autumnal thoughts? Because I'm seeing some goo-oo-ood recipes out there for maple syrup and popcorn. (Or maybe after eating all mine, I just want to make some more.) In the last couple days, I found these two great-looking recipes, so I thought I'd share:

Joy the Baker
Maple Bacon Kettle Corn
Yes, bacon. Want some now.

Tinned Tomatoes & Rhubarb and Honey (via a recipe exchange)
Maple Pecan Popcorn (made entirely from maple syrup as a sugar source)

These are just fantastic. :-)

Homemade Maple Syrup & Cognac Caramel Corn

2010-09-01T12:25:00.001-07:00

Caramel corn!

Hooray!

I grew up on Cracker Jacks. I love-love-loved those boxes with the surprise inside. I was a child who loved caramel corn growing up in a family who loved caramel corn in a town with a caramel-corn loving history! At one point, my hometown actually had competing caramel corn stores. I thought it was normal to get a bunny sculpted out of caramel corn in my Easter basket. Green hard candy eyes. Red hard candy nose. And a tuft of tail easily broken off and munched on. I really had no idea how unusual that was until I moved to NYC. They can't be ordered online. So now, as a grown adult, once a year, you can find me on Easter Sunday, taking the last Greyhound bus from my hometown back to NYC with a cardboard box full of caramel corn rabbits carefully guarded in my lap.

As luck would have it, when I moved to NYC in 1997, one of the first people I ever met and became friends with also loves caramel corn! Walking along 5th Avenue, window shopping together, you can hear us whisper "Fiddle Faddle comes in toffee flavor" or "Crunch-n-Munch comes with cashews" the way other people in NYC talk about stocks and bonds or Dolce and Gabbana.

Her birthday and my birthday are just days apart. So, this year, I made us a birthday treat I knew we'd both love. (I could have eaten the whole batch alone, in a dark closet, where my husband couldn't find me ... but I didn't. Instead, I shared. My husband got some. My First NYC Friend got some. And sharing was fine. No, it was good. No, seriously, sharing was gooood.)

Homemade Maple Syrup & Cognac Caramel Corn
Just a little bit of maple syrup adds a hint of maple flavor without upsetting the delicate chemical structure of candy that you need for that crisp satisfying crunch.

3-3 1/2 c. popped unsalted organic corn
3/4 c. organic sucanat sugar (unrefined brown sugar)
1/3 c. organic maple syrup
1/4. c. refined white sugar
1/4 c. corn syrup
1 stick of butter
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
2 T. cognac, or dark beer, or 1 T. vanilla extract
a large bowl of ice water (good advice from Joy the Baker--it's for safety, just in case of sugar burns)

1) Put the popped corn on a baking sheet (cookie sheet or jelly roll pan). Get out two spatulas. Set aside.
2) Combine the sucanat (brown sugar), maple syrup, white sugar, corn syrup, butter, and salt in a pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat
3) Boil for 8 minutes, stirring constantly.
4) Turn the oven on to 250 degrees F.
5) Remove the caramel from heat. Add the baking soda and cognac (or flavoring) to the caramel. If you are using cognac or beer, be sure to keep your head away from the pot as you stir. The alcohol will nearly instantaneously evaporate, and you don't want that alcohol-steam in your eyes!
6) Pour caramel over the popcorn. Toss with the spatulas. Don't worry about coating perfectly.
7) Put the caramel corn in the oven for 1 hour. Toss with the spatulas every 15 minutes.
8) Allow to cool completely. (I lick the spatulas while I wait.) Then, dig in!

Meaner, Greener, Leaner!
* I usually try to avoid corn syrup, but what can you do? Candy requires what candy requires. And when adding a different sugar source, like sucanat or maple syrup, I definitely want the solid and reliable standard crystalline structure of a little corn syrup to be the backbone of the recipe. So, for candy recipes, I compromise. I use whatever alternative sugar sources that I can, but then I'm sure to use some the standard sugar sources so that the candy turns out great in the end.
* Putting the caramel corn in the oven is helpful. It helps the caramel finishing crystallizing nicely (in my opinion), and it coats the corn evenly while keeping the corn crispy. But since the caramel corn will be in there for a while, there's no need to pre-heat the oven. I just turn it on a moment or two before the caramel corn goes in.
* Popcorn, on its own, is a superbly healthy treat. We air pop ours. That means about 32 calories and 1.2 grams of fiber per cup. Not bad! Low in calories, high in fiber. Caramel corn (obviously) has a lot more calories, but it also still has all that healthy fiber. And splitting this batch of caramel corn was a great way to make sure I didn't eat up the whole batch. (Yes, I am a caramel corn addict.) Here's more info about the nutritional value of popcorn.

Here are more pictures from the process.

Excellent treat!

Ready to get started!

Bubble bubble toil and trouble!

A close up ...

Blueberry Streusel Coffeecake

2010-08-17T07:04:00.000-07:00

What's better than streusel topping? I can't think of anything. I can eat streusel topping on its own. My husband could bribe me to watch baseball with streusel topping (if he only knew). When I make it for a dessert, I always make a little extra so I can sneakily eat spoonfuls on the sly.

So, it was with great excitement that I saw "Grandma's Blueberry Streusel Coffeecake" on Always Eat on the Good China. First off, she's got several recipes with streusel!!! I like this lady! Second of all, I can always tell when I'm working with a solid, time-tested recipe, because it holds up to my ingredients switcharoos. This recipe is part of the Taste & Create food blog recipe exchange.

Blueberry Streusel Coffeecake
Mouth watering yet?

Cake:
2 cups unbleached organic spelt flour
2/3 cup organic sucanat sugar (unrefined brown sugar)
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
grated lemon peel (most, save some for the streusel)
4 T. melted butter
2 organic free-range eggs, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/4 cup water
2 cups blueberries

Streusel:
1 cup organic whole wheat flour
3/4 cup sucanat sugar
1/4 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
4-5 T. room-temperature butter
1/4 cup organic oats

1) Begin the cake. Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon peel, and salt in a large mixing bowl.
2) Whisk together the eggs, butter, yogurt, water, and vanilla in a second bowl.
3) Then, begin the streusel in a third bowl. In this third bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, oats, and chopped-up pieces of butter. Use a fork or your hands to blend these ingredients together.
4) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
5) Mix together the wet and dry cake ingredients (the first and second bowls). Then, gently fold in the blueberries.
6) Pour the blueberry cake batter into a 9 x 9 pan or an 8 x 11 pan, prepared with coconut oil or butter.
7) Scatter the streusel on top.
8) Bake 35-40 minutes. Check the cake with a toothpicks. If it comes up clear of cake batter, then you're good to go! If not, turn off the oven and leave in for another 10-15 minutes.
9) Serve with a dollop of Greek yogurt, fresh blueberries, and a drizzle of maple syrup!

Meaner, Greener, Leaner!
* I dig non-wheat flours. I don't want all of American agriculture to be cows, pigs, corn, and wheat. I believe my purchase of non-wheat flours, such as spelt, is like a vote in the grocery store. More diversification on the farm field and in our gullet is healthy for everyone all around.
* In addition, spelt is higher in protein than your average flour. A cake with protein in it? Yuh-huh! So, using spelt flour turns a simple carbohydrate cake into a more complex carbohydrate, which my body will take longer to break down. More nutrients and good for stable blood-sugar levels!
* In comparison to standard bleached, white flours and sugars, I have found that spelt flour tends to need/absorb more moisture and sucanut sugar tends to creat more moisture when heated. Together, they are a perfect combination!
* I don't believe in pre-heating the oven before I begin making a multi-step dish. While I want the oven warm before sliding in the cake, I don't want to use all that gas and electricity the *whole* time I'm measuring ingredients. What a waste! So, I pre-heat the oven a few steps before the end of the recipe. Here's a nice and brief article about avoiding pre-heating your oven for a variety of recipes.
* In addition, with stable recipes such as quick-breads and cakes that rely on baking soda and baking powder, I have often tried the approach of turning off the oven and leaving in a nearly-done-but-not-quite baked good for about 10 more minutes. The oven is warm enough to finish cooking the baked goodie. No problemo!

Here are more pictures from the process.

Hello, dry ingredients! I'd like to introduce you to my little friend...

... lemon rind!

... and a few hundred of my little buddies, blueberries!

All set for that recently preheated oven (small mess in the background!).

Good on its own ...

... and with some Greek strained yogurt on top!

Go here www.tasteandcreate.com for more info about Taste & Create.

Pesto Edamame Salad: Husband-Approved Salad #2

2010-08-08T09:46:00.001-07:00

I played a little word association game with The Husband today. It went something like this:

Me: Giants .................... Hub: Jets
Me: coffee ..................... Hub: more
Me: cat .......................... Hub: dog
Me: vegetables .............. Hub: minerals
Me: eating vegetables ... Hub: puking up vegetables

Well, if that doesn't just say it all!

So I'm continuing with my personal challenge of coming up with 50 HUSBAND SALADS! We're onto HUSBAND-APPROVED SALAD #2!

Pesto Edamame Salad
I'd recently made a pesto penne with chicken and edamame, which we both really loved. So, I decided to adapt that recipe into a salad. I served the salad with some goat cheese. But this would also be good with thin slices of parmesan, toasted walnuts or pine nuts, or tossed with salad greens. We had it as a side to a salmon entree for a lovely dinner.

1 bag of shelled non-GMO edamame
2 medium-large organic green bell peppers
1 large organic shallot
a handful of heirloom cherry tomatoes
1 organic lemon
a bundle of fresh basil (fully washed of all the dirt and grit)
1 T. organic olive oil
1 tsp. garlic chili sauce
salt and pepper

1) Follow the directions on the edamame bag to cook the soy beans. Then cool.
2) Finely chop the green bell peppers, shallot, and tomatoes. Add to the bowl of soy beans.
3) Rip the basil leaves by hand. Add to the bowl of veggies.
4) Now, time to season! Pour the olive oil onto the veggies. Squeeze the juice from the lemon over the veggies. Add the chili peppers, salt, and pepper. Toss together.

Meaner, Greener, Leaner!
* My husband dislikes most vegetables, but he loves lima beans, kidney beans, and such. Edamame is wonderful for anyone who likes beans, as it offers a fairly familiar texture and flavor, but a much better nutritional balance. Edamame has tons of protein, vitamin C, iron, calcium, and fiber, and they're low in calories. Check out the nutritional breakdown edamame for more info.
* By making my own simple salad dressing with olive oil, lemon juice, and seasoning, we avoid trans fats and unnecessary corn syrup that are common with store-bought bottles of salad dressing.
* I like to buy non-GMO edamame. If you ever watched Food, Inc., then you remember the whole section about Monsanto's control over GMO soybeans. Big Brother. Disgusting corporate behavior. For more info, here's an article from Ecosalon, and another article about Monsanto suing farmers for saving seeds from Organicconsumers.

Here are more pictures from the process.

Freshly cooked edamame. Que adorable!

Why hello there, Mr. and Mrs. Green Pepper, fresh from the bath!

The pale lavender veins in shallots are gorgeous to look at up close. Lovely enough for a tattoo ... hmmm.

I Love A Good Challenge--Want to Give Me One?

2010-07-25T12:19:00.000-07:00

I love a good challenge!

Maybe I watched too many MacGyver episodes as a kid. Maybe I view my kitchen as a cutting-edge laboratory. Maybe this is my way of being an astronaut, a scientist, and a magician all at once.

I don't know why. But I'm a challenge addict. Easy = boring. Challenges = fun!
I don't know what it is about piling my plate high with "to-do" tasks that gets my brain going and my blood flowing, it just does.

#1: I've already given myself the The 25 Husband-Approved Salads Challenge. (Wondering if I'll allow certain things like pasta salad ... hmmm ... seems like cheating.)

#2: This fall, I'm thinkin' I might give myself The Pancake Challenge. After trying Dragon Musing's excellent pancake recipe, I suddenly had loads of ideas for different pancake recipes. Something I'd definitely like to try once it gets cooler.

#3: But the challenge I'm MOST keen about, MOST excited would be the one I've just come up with (of course) ... The Leaner, Greener, Meaner Challenge from Friends. I was thinking how much fun it would be for friends to give me their recipes to try to adapt into a healthier or greener versions. Is that obnoxious of me? I hope not.

So would you help me out? Give me a challenge? I'm willing to get my hands dirty and make my taste buds giggle. Pick your favorite comfort food, your favorite overall recipe, a recipe you would make more often if it was healthier, or Aunt Betty's Artery-Clogging-Casserole recipe ... and I'll see if there's any thing I could come up with to make it healthier AND make it taste as close as possible to the original.

If you have a recipe you think would be fun to contribute to my goofy challenge, please post or e-mail me.

xoxo

I WANT PANCAKES!

2010-07-19T06:54:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting ... waiting ... morning church bells ringing, computer chair sticky, husband asleep.

Oh, how I want pancakes, I want to eat them right now!

But, you see, I'm waiting for my pancakes to rise. "Rise"? Yes, rise. These are wicked cool pancakes. Made with yeast. My husband and I will be dining on pancakes for Sunday supper.

This recipe is part of the Taste & Create food blog recipe exchange, and I got to try out a nifty recipe from Dragon Musings, a blog I'd been checking out and admire. And I decided to try her pancake recipe. I mean, how could I resist? "Sultanas"--what the hell are those? But they sound sultry. Pancakes made with yeast, not quick rising like your usual pancake recipe. I don't know if it's more common to make pancakes with yeast in Australia, but I think it's nifty.

So, right now I'm waiting ... for my pancake batter to rise in the frig.

Overnight Pancakes
Dragon Musings recipe was awesome. "Sultanas," as it turns out, are a type of raisin. Which I thought I had in my pantry. But found I did not, a bit too late. So, instead of the sultanas/raisins, I added in some of my favorite pancake ingredients, to see how they'll meld with the yeast-based dough. It turned out awesome. After tasting these cakes, I can tell you, I plan to use this recipe again, and with raisins next time! Yum.

1 and 1/2 cups unbleached organic wheat flour
1/2 cup organic spelt flour (or other non-wheat)
1/2 cup bran flakes
1/4 cup oats
2 T. raw sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 package dried yeast
1 tsp. (or more) grated organic orange rind
1 T. molasses
1/4 melted butter
1 organic, free-range egg
1 and 1/2 cups warm organic milk

1) In a mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients: flour, bran flakes, oats, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and yeast.
2) Then, add the moist ingredients: orange rind, molasses, butter, egg, and milk. Stir gently until well blended.
3) Cover and store in the frig overnight, or for about 12 hours.
4) When you are ready, cook the batter in a buttered skillet, as you would with normal pancakes. (NOTE: My batter was a tad too thick once I took it out of the frig, so I added about a half cup of water to the batter. Turned out perfect, light pancakes that held their form through cooking and flipping.)

Now that I've tried this recipe once, I can't wait until next time. Somehow thinking of pancakes with yeast completely alters my perception of pancakes. How about rose water and pistachio pancakes? Or Chai and raisin pancakes? I believe I'll be trying Dragon Musing's pancake recipe again soon!

Meaner, Greener, Leaner!
* Whenever I'm making something fairly sturdy, like pancakes, I try to blend the types of flour I use. I'd like to avoid using only wheat. Other types of flours bring more to the table and my gut: spelt has got protein, bran flakes have fiber, and the combination will help create a more complex carbohydrate. So, my body will register the pancake not as sugar, but as a longer lasting energy.
* For a portion of the sweetener, I used a wee bit o' molasses. Molasses has got that deep color, deep flavor, and iron!
* It's hot here in Brooklyn. Hot and humid. (Bluck!) So, doing a recipe that requires such little cooking and use of a heat source is a perfect way to conserve energy and keep from frying in our little apartment.

Here are more pictures from the process.

Those alluring orange rinds peeking out from the dry ingredients...

Now, adding in the liquids ...

Just some pictures of pretty fruit, bound for the fruit salad!

MMMMMmmm, more please!

Go here www.tasteandcreate.com for more info about Taste & Create.

The Husband Salad Challenge (#1)

2010-07-18T08:21:00.000-07:00

The Husband is a picky eater. He dislikes most vegetables.

He says "Nope" to tomatoes.

"Nope" to cucumbers.

"Nope" to green beans.

"Nope" to most green leafy things, squashes, root vegetables (like beets), snap peas, cabbage, and most everything else that goes from the ground to your mouth.

This poses a real problem, a real predicament. When we met, I was more vegetarian, and he basically lived on bologna-white bread sandwiches. We've had a long time to try to come up with a middle ground. Over the years, this difference between us has actually helped me articulate the way I view eating in clearer, more distinct ways. For example, I don't think of "vegetables" as a category unto themselves. I have subcategories ...

I think of four types of vegetables:
* SUGAR--Carbohydrate veggies, such as corn, potatoes, green peas, lima beans, and many legumes. I called these "sugar."
* "REAL"--Vitamin and mineral veggies, such as tomatoes, kale, spinach, pumpkin. I call these "real vegetables."
* FAT--Then there are the veggies I call "fats," such as olives and avocados.
* PROTEIN--Some veggies also have a decent amount of protein in them, such as black beans, chick peas, and lentils. I generally use these as sources of protein when I cook.

The Husband and I have conversations like this:
Hub: I'm feeling sluggish. What should I eat?
Me: Maybe you should eat some vegetables.
Hub: What are you talking about? I've been eating vegetables all weekend! (His head in the frig, he points to a bowl of leftover boiled lima beans and then holds out a bag of corn chips.)
Me: Those aren't vegetables. Those are sugar!

Of course, there's overlap amongst my veggie subcategories. Often certain veggies are dual-role veggies, meaning that they might also be high in sugar and protein. Or high in sugar and vitamins. And so on. I try to prioritize eating "real veggies" in order to get more vitamins and minerals into my diet, and try to limit my consumption of veggies that are pretty much just plain ol' sugar.

I thought I'd give myself the challenge of coming up with 100 HUSBAND SALADS. But that's just impossible. So, for now, I'm going to give myself a challenge that will only take one lifetime to complete--coming up with 50 HUSBAND SALADS. Still an impossible number, but just hard enough to make it a real challenge and keep me intrigued.

Husband-Approved!: Corn and Potato Salad
Here is a new husband salad I came up with. He loved it. Notice how it's mainly my husband's favorite vegetables (sugar). Cest la vie! What can you do? Except to insure that a few other types of veggies are in here, also. For example, this salad has some real vegetables (tomatoes) and some fat/protein (avocado). I also used a little red onion and cilantro to open up the range of his taste buds. (I'm plotting my path for future salads!)

2 ears of cooked corn
1 large cooked organic red potato
1 organic plum tomato
1 organic avocado
about 1/8 of an organic red onion
1 tsp. garlic chili sauce (which, you already know, I love!)
organic cilantro
salt and pepper
1/2 organic lime

1) Make sure the cooked corn and potato are cool. Carefully slice the corn kernels off the cobs.
2) Dice the potato, tomato, and red onion.
3) Chop the cilantro (as much or as little as you like).
4) Mix the corn, potato, tomato, and red onion in a bowl with the garlic chili sauce, cilantro, salt, pepper, and lime juice.
5) When you are ready to serve the salad, dice some of the avocado and top the salad with fresh avocado.

Meaner, Greener, Leaner!
* We went camping. Lately, I make sure to throw a few more potatoes and ears of corn on the fire the last night we camp. Then, I bring the veggies back home to eat. So, this salad didn't require any use of our stove at all! And the corn and potatoes were extra tasty, being fire-roasted and all.
* By topping the salad with avocado, you can avoid wasting avocado. This salad made 4 side servings. We ate it as a side salad for two different dinners during the week. If I'd added all the avocado, it would have gone brown and mushy by the second dinner.
* No need for an oily salad dressing. The veggies are fresh and moist. So, a little lime juice does it up just fine.
* The Hub hates tomatoes. I've started dicing them very small. In the end, I like the texture of the finely-diced tomato, and he's more interested in eating the combo as the tomato blends in.

Here are more pictures from the process.

Freshly tossed salad ...

A close up on all those colors ...

When making something new for The Husband, I like to give the new dish a "Grand Entrance." I.e. brand-new salad accompanied with an old favorite--grilled cheese with rustic bread, provolone, and cheddar ... With the grilled cheese in these photos, you can see, most of the cheese oozed out in a delicious gooey mess!

Hot Fun in the Summertime: Part 2 & Finale--Dinner Is Served

2010-07-01T08:21:00.000-07:00

So, I've got cold, crisp pickled radishes and chocolate pudding. What the? How will I ever put together a romantic combination from these things?

Simple.

Perfect.

Summer night dinner ...

A cheese platter, nice thinly-sliced bread, an assortment of high-flavor additions (including the pickled radishes), a green salad, and pudding for dessert at the end--as if what we'd eaten so far wasn't enough!

Part 2: The Chill Supper, Romantic Dinner for Two

2-3 types of cheese, thinly sliced (organic cheese if you can)
2 types of bakery bread, thinly sliced (or crackers)
assorted tasties: organic pickled radishes, pickled jalapenos, good olives, a jar of organic pesto, good mustard
1 organic mango, thinly sliced
some organic strawberries

I make a little green salad, which we eat as an appetizer. Then, I simply put all the rest of these lovely things out on a platter, and we enjoy a happy blend of flavors as our entree for the evening: manchego cheese and mango, goat cheese with black olive and sliced jalapeno, cheddar and pickled radishes, pesto and cheddar, etc. etc. etc. Deeelightful.

Then, we finish the meal with our little espresso cups of chocolate pudding.

Even more delightful.

Then, my husband tells me how lucky he is. Then, I beam. Then, we sit on our couch right next to each other enjoying the teensiest breeze and feeling our little surface of the Earth cool down for the evening.

It's a good night!

Meaner, Greener, Leaner!
* Cheese platter means no cooking, no use of carbon sources to heat up food or cool down the apartment. And the pickled radishes and pudding required very little stove time as well.
* The foods are fresh. An array of colors, which means an array of vitamins and minerals. By thinly slicing the cheese, I've tried to keep my animal fat to a minimum. Because I used a decent amount of dark and semi-sweet chocolate in the pudding, small servings still pack a whallop of flavor without loading up our bodies with tons of sugar.
* The bread is local. Many of the ingredients are organic. While I can't afford for everything to be organic, I try my best.

Here are more pictures of the cheese platter meal, altogether.

Hot Fun in the Summertime: Part 1--Homemade Chocolate Pudding

2010-06-29T11:23:00.000-07:00

Well, the summer is upon us like a cat on a mouse. With global warming, I have begun to feel like I am a rotisserie chicken turning on the spit-like axis of the Earth, roasting from the fire of the sun.

The last few years, I've begun to seriously cultivate fun and flavorful cold or chilled dinner ideas that require little to no cooking. I mean, why use electricity to heat up the apartment then use more electricity to cool it down?

With the weather forecasters declaring a series of 90-degree days followed by 80-degree days (which in Brooklyn always turn into more 90-degree days), I decided to try a new cool recipe this past weekend.

So here's the first step to this week's "cool romantic dinner for two."

Part 1: Homemade Chocolate Pudding
Hell, yes! Chocolate, a hint of coffee in a perfectly cool, creamy form. And I made a whole bunch of it, which means my hubby and I can get some of this cold chocolatey homemade pudding into our bellies to cool down at any time! (Feel free to cut the recipe in half. This makes a huge amount of puddin'.)

1/2 cup organic granulated sugar
4 T. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. salt
2 organic eggs
6 oz. chopped or shaved chocolate (eating chocolate, fair trade)
4 cups organic milk
2 tsp. instant coffee granules
2 tsp. vanilla extract
My recipe is an adaptation of a classic recipe from the superb Ms. Betty Crocker!

1) In a large pot, mix the sugar, cornstarch, salt, and eggs together thoroughly.
2) Slowly whisk in the milk.
3) Whisk in the instant coffee.
4) Add the chocolate. I used about 2 oz. bittersweet, 2 oz. milk chocolate, and 2 oz. dark chocolate. If you use unsweetened chocolate, double the sugar. But I use regular eating chocolate. And I believe a blend makes the flavor deeper and more multi-faceted.
5) Cook on a low or medium heat until the mixture boils, stirring constantly. Boil for 2 minutes.
6) Whisk in the vanilla extract.
7) Take off the heat, allow to cool. Once cool, put into glasses or a container to store in the refrigerator.

Meaner, Greener, Leaner!
* This recipe needs almost no heat to cook! Hoorah!
* Just like with the pickled radishes, let the food cool on the counter before putting it in the frig.
* Homemade dessert is way better than store-bought dessert. It's organic. It's made exactly how I like it. And there's no wasteful packaging or disposable containers that have to be tossed into the landfill.

Here are more pictures from the process.

Eggs in a pot with some sugar and cornstarch, simple and gorgeous ...

Now with milk, chocolate, instant coffee. Hell, yes!

The espresso cups are ready for their pudding homage to Ms. Crocker!

When pudding gets thick and juuuust right, you can make these neat swirly lines and designs with the whisk.

Voila! With some sliced strawberries. Now me and my hubby just need some spoons. Num, num, nummmmm.

I Lost the Battle, Then Won the War: Pickled Radishes

2010-06-25T21:16:00.000-07:00

My nemesis! My nightmare. The thing that makes me go "bluh."

I think radishes are disgusting, horrible things! They're like little red round vermin of the Earth! They grow in any garden with little encouragement. They bite your tongue with a fieriness that overtakes the flavor of other foods, in salads and slaws. But I'm a believer in eating everything from the Earth. Especially if it's in season and can be found local. So, I'm tackling my red nemesis with some brine! Bring it on, plump red demons! I plan to win this battle of the palate.

Battle #1: Pickled Radishes with Chili Peppers and Bay Leaves
I merged a few recipes into one. I went online and read several blogs, as well as the Food Network Website. Some sites said to use vinegar and sugar, with a touch of salt. Some comments said this was too sweet and to make a more formal brine with vinegar, sugar, and water (again a touch of salt). Some sites included peppercorns, bay leaves, etc.

So, as my first attempt, I tried 3/4 cup rice wine vinegar, 3/4 cup water, 4 T organic agave, 2 T kosher salt, 3 dried chili peppers, and 4 dried bay leaves.

And you know what! My nemesis won this battle--when I opened the jar to eat the pickled radishes, they smelled like butt! They tasted like nothing, with a dirty sock aroma/aftertaste.

But I would not be beaten. I tried again. I got rid of the bay leaves and went for the harder ammunition.

Battle #2: Pickled Radishes with Chili Peppers
This is the battle that won the war! The pickled radishes came out like sweet, powerful vixens! An immediate sweet flavor, followed by a great wallop of tartness, with a good crisp pickled crunch and still with a touch of their natural pepperyness.

organic radishes (a pound or about 2-3 bunches)
1 cup red wine vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
2 T kosher salt
3 dried chili peppers

1) Wash and thinly slice the radishes.
2) In a bowl, mix together the vinegar, sugar, and salt until the sugar and salt dissolve.
3) Put the slices radishes into a clean glass jar.
4) Pour the pickling brine over the sliced radishes in the jar.
5) Slide the dried chili peppers into the jar.
6) Put the cap on the jar. Then, put in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

Meaner, Greener, Leaner!
* This recipe needs no cooking. That means no electricity or gas used to create heat!! Hoorah!
* A new local, organic, seasonal food to eat! That's good for my body (no pesticides) and good for the Earth (low carbon emissions).

Here are more pictures from the process.

Starting with a nice clean bell jar ...

Freshly scrubbed evil ...

Remember how I said I hate radishes? "They all ran after the farmer's wife. She cut off their tails with a carving knife."

So as it turns out, radishes are breathtakingly beautiful. And actually very very tasty when pickled! I spent the day eating these, and I plan to eat a bunch more tomorrow!

Laughing at Sandra Lee is Cathartic and Good for the Soul

2010-06-16T14:27:00.000-07:00

Normally I vote democrat ... but Andrew Cuomo is dating Sandra Lee?

Gack!

I'm gonna have to look over all my voting options this upcoming election.

This headline brings an especially huge evil grin to my face: Cuomo's Mom Trashes His GF Sandra Lee's Lasagna. Mama Cuomo don't like it!

Apparently Sandra's recipe uses cottage cheese instead of ricotta. I have nothing against this. Cottage cheese has more protein. It has a lot less calories and fat than if you use whole milk ricotta. But it doesn't have that much fewer calories or grams of fat if you've been using low-fat ricotta (low-fat ricotta has about 30 more calories and 3 more grams of fat per cup than 4% cottage cheese, so if you use 2 cups for a small lasagna or 6 servings, then that's a difference of 10 calories per serving).

Also, apparently, she uses canned tomato soup instead of tomato sauce. Now, that gets me peeved. Why?? Soup, sauce. It all comes in a can. So her choice isn't due to convenience. If you want condensed tomatoey goodness, use tomato paste. The only reason to use tomato soup is if you actually want less real tomato and more corn syrup in your lasagna!

But still, it's not so much about her recipe. It's more about her. What is it about her? There's really nothing wrong with her. There's actually a lot of stuff to admire. I admit: If I ever met her at a party, I'd compliment her on her success and on her appreciation and obvious love of her grandma. I bet she'd be a lot of fun to chat with. Lots of fun at a party. Nonetheless, as soon as I see her on TV, I start to giggle and squirm.

I guess it's all a matter of degree and awareness:
Degree
It's not just that she uses packaged foods. Noo! It's that she uses TONS of packaged foods, calls it healthy, serves it to kids (on her show), and comes up with atrocious egregious wasteful combinations of packaged foods in completely unnecessary ways (so many examples, but here she is cooking with baby food).
Awareness
It's not just that some of her recipes are absurd, silly, weird, and gack-a-licious. Noo! I'm cool with that. Frost ice cream to look like a baked potato! That's cool. Just at some point, I want to see a flicker of awareness of what you're selling to your audience. That you know this food probably doesn't taste great. That you know this kind of cooking is just to be silly and foolish. That's it's all just for fun.

I can stand behind fun. I can't stand behind peddling corn-syrup-chemical-preservative-crap for fun.

I guess Cuomo picked a person perfect as a running mate, oops, I mean date. They both seem like ultimate politicians. Each in their own ways. And, of course, I'm sure he loves the way she says the word "COCK-tail."

The aforementioned ice cream made to look like a baked potato

Cool, Cruel Summer: Bananarama Bread (with Butter)

2010-06-10T09:04:00.001-07:00

Summer: beautiful and hot. I love it. Yet, when I see summer coming round the corner, I begin plotting ... I'm on the look out for cooler days on which I can still bake. I come up with a list of "What I Must Bake" before the heat hits. The list is like a survival guide. Foods I need to taste one more time between now and autumn.

Will Monday night be cool enough? Thursday evening? Please, God, give me one or two more cool days so I can bake up the last of the cool weather treats!

That is how I talk to myself throughout the spring. And this year, banana bread made it to the top of my list of things to bake on one of the last cool days of spring. YUM!

Banana Bread, with Butter
This recipe is for a super high-fiber, low-fat, and low-processed sugar banana bread that is absolutely scrumptious. I feel completely fine about slathering butter or butter substitutes onto a slice of this, ... or several slices.

2 1/2 cups unbleached organic wheat flour
1/2 cup bran flakes
1/2 cup ground flax seeds
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
4 T. maple syrup
1 T. molasses
3 eggs
1 T. organic vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
5-6 smashed ripe organic bananas (about 2 cups or even more)
1 cup organic raisins
1/2 cup chopped organic walnuts
Some maple sugar if you have it!

1) In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, bran flakes, ground flax seeds, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon.
2) In a separate bowl, mix together the maple syrup, molasses, eggs, oil, vanilla extract, and bananas.
3) Fold the flour mixture into the wet mixture. Carefully mix. Then, add the raisins and walnuts.
4) Split the batter between two loaf pans. This will make about 2 small loaves. Be sure the loaf pans have been greased. (I use organic coconut oil. You could use organic vegetable oil or butter.)
5) This is the time to use the maple sugar if you got it! Sprinkle liberally over the top of the batter in each loaf pan.
6) Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. At this time, check using a toothpick to see how wet the batter is. If the batter is very wet, leave in for another 10 minutes. If the batter is slightly wet, turn off the oven and leave in for another 10 minutes. And listen to Bananarama while you bake!
7) Cool the loaves for 5-10 minutes. Then unmold. Slice. Serve with fresh creamy butter! (Or butter spread!)

Meaner, Greener, Leaner!
* This recipe doesn't need much sugar--there's already so much natural sugar in the bananas and raisins. If you're watching your sugar intake, do not add the raisins (dried fruit contains a lot of fructose).
* This bread is filling and healthy--lots of fiber, vitamins from the bananas, and some protein from the nuts.
* Instead of butter (bad), use organic butter spread, like Earth Balance. It's got a ton of Omegas!
* Freeze bananas that have gone too soft instead of tossing them. On average, Americans throw away a pound of food per day per American! (NYTimes) Where does it go? Mostly into plastic garbage bags and landfills, where the food will sit in the garbage bags for billions of years. Don't do it! When a banana darkens, freeze it. Over time, you'll have enough to make this delicious bread. Take 'em out of the freezer to sit on your counter for a few hours. Cut off the ends, then squeeze the ripe defrosted bananas right out of their skins! It's fun.

Here are more pictures from the process.

Bananas from the freezer. Pretty frost on 'em! (Strangely, bananas, even with frost, look like naughty bits.)

Scrape the bowl clean ...

Almost ready for the oven ...

Don't want to forget the last thing ... super-cool maple sugar!!!

Awww! So cute. So pretty. It's like baby's first picture. Look at the perfect little raisins and pretty brown crust.

And a close up ...

Mouth salivating. Melty butter spread. Want more. Must eat now!

Late Breaking News: Kleenex Destroys the Universe

2010-06-01T05:55:00.001-07:00

What the f^&%! Seriously, Kleenex?

Have you seen this? Scourge of the Earth. Kleenex Hand Towels.

First of all, normally I dig the CDC. But in this case, I don't care. I bet the guidelines for using paper towels or an electronic air dryer are intended for people working in hospitals and schools, but even if the CDC meant this for homes, I. just. don't. care. It's completely idiotic. Yeah, germs in the home are the real threat. Sure. Not oil spills or human trafficking or war. Hand towels, now there's something we can all be frightened of together. Hoo-rah.

Second of all, the single-use towels are made out of 100% virgin fiber. Yup, nothing recycled here. And the Kleenex company blames that on you, the consumer ("Because of the superior softness consumers expect from KLEENEX^® Brand, KLEENEX^® Brand Hand Towels are made with 100 percent virgin fiber.")

Third of all, do we really want our home bathrooms to turn into public restrooms? Do we, the American public, actually feel safer and more at ease about health and hygiene in public bathrooms? Perhaps because of the uniformity of public bathrooms ... Afterall, uniformity was supposedly a big reason why Americans grew to trust the quality of McDonald's back in the day. But public bathrooms? Gack!

Fourth of all, don't we all use our hand towels after we've washed our hands just to wipe off the little bit of generally clean water left on our hands?

I gack all over your new product, Kleenex. How's that for hygienic?

Small Joys: Potato and Zucchini Pancakes

2010-05-11T15:11:00.000-07:00

Potato Pancakes ...

They're cooking on my stove right now.

I made them healthier ... 1/3 grated zucchini & 2/3 grated potato (the zucchini lowers the overall calories and adds an array of vitamins and minerals). This makes me happy too, because it means I can eat with greed and abandon! Without a care!

Oh, pretty little potato pancakes. How I love you!

Small Joys: Potato and Zucchini Pancakes
I always think potato pancakes are a lot of work. But even with my paltry plastic grater, they are so quick.

2 large organic potatoes (such as Yukon gold)
1 medium organic zucchini
1 medium-small organic onion
2-3 organic eggs
1/4 cup of bread crumbs or matzo meal
salt and pepper
organic oil
Greek strained yogurt

1) Grate the potatoes, zucchini, and onion into a bowl.
2) Put the grated vegetables into a clean cloth, and twist in order to get out as much liquid as possible. (See the photos below!)
3) Crack two eggs in a bowl and beat with a fork. Add the drained grated vegetables, bread crumbs, and salt and pepper. Mix the "batter" thoroughly.
4) Drizzle some oil to a non-stick pan. Not a lot. Just a thin, thin layer of oil--just enough to saute the pancakes. Heat on a medium flame.
5) Scoop the batter onto the heated pan. Quickly flatten the scoops of batter to form flat, thin pancakes.
6) Cook about 10 minutes on each side until a nice deep golden brown.
7) Drain on paper towels. This recipe makes about 15 pancakes.
8) Serve with yogurt!

Meaner, Greener, Leaner!
* I use a non-stick pan so that I can use less oil. But the manufacture of non-stick pans causes a lot of havoc, toxins released into the environment from the factories, etc. I don't think I'd buy another one. But since I've had mine for a long time--well before I knew about the problems with non-stick--I continue to use it. In the future, when it comes time to get a new one, I plan on getting a cast-iron skillet instead.
* I use cloth kitchen towels to drain the extra liquid. Over time, they get stained and dim; they're no longer as pretty white as when I first got them. But they're machine washable, clean, and reusable.
* There's a lovely array of protein sources in this meal--from the veggies, eggs, and the yogurt. No need for meat! These potato pancakes make for a complete meal.

Check out the nutritional information on zucchini and potatoes.
About 124 g of zucchini: 20 calories, lots of Vit C, some Vit A, and even some protein.
About 138 g of potato: 128 calories, lots of Vit C, some iron, fiber, and protein.

Here are more pictures from the process.

Pretty veggies on their own "beach towel" ...

The beginning of twisting out the liquid. I squeezed out about about a cup or so ...

I love pretty brown organic eggs. Look at those babies' freckles!

Sizzlin' up in far less oil than the average recipe would say you need. Speckles of green and earth brown ...

Beautiful pancakes got a nice tan ...

My husband and I ate them all! All 15 pancakes, and now we're happy and full!

This Game is Called: What Could I Cram Up That Commercial's A**?

2010-05-11T07:30:00.000-07:00

Grr. Commercials. So dumb.

The dumb commercials take up my brain energy by making me have to constantly argue with them in order to just defend my mental turf of intelligence and reality.

I end up finding myself just looking at the tv and mumbling over and over:

Up yours.

My husband is worried, and he should be.

I mean ... I'm sure no one out there, no one I know, the average person in the world, would actually think it wise to dump out all their bad soaps and cleansers and replace them with green soaps and cleansers. Because we all know that either through use or through throwing them out, the toxins in the standard soaps and cleansers will make their way into our water supply or fill up our landfills. Right? We all know this. So, the most efficient and green thing would be to use up the bad guys and then buy the good guys.

But the commercials show happy, bouncy people bringing boxes of standards cleansers (presumably full or partially full bottles) out to the curb. Waste, waste, waste!

Stupid commercials. Acting as if they're green. But portraying a vapid, wasteful message. Making me worried about the masses out there, you know the ones ... the ones who voted for Voldemort or demand to see birth certificates ad nauseum. That's what really grinds my gears. (Just like Peter Griffin in Family Guy.)

Guacamole, You Saved My Life!

2010-04-25T18:17:00.000-07:00

Late night. Overtime. Work = force x distance. Labor. I'm chasing the dragon of deadlines. Got too much to do! I'm wasting away, here at the computer. Unable to stand upright, I crawl on hands and knees to the kitchen, hoping for nourishment. But the kitchen is a mirage of food. Everything requires work, work, work. Payment in blood. There's nothing here to feed me, easily, quickly, before my body turns to dust.

What will I do to save myself? To save my husband? (He's obviously also at risk of perishing, sunk onto the floor from hours of playing Liberty City.)

The magic of guacamole answers my pleas!

Easiest Guacamole Ever
Yes, there are more complicated guacamole recipes out there, and they're delicious. But this magical fruit doesn't need much to become a filling, flavorful, healthy, and green meal.

2 organic avocados (3 if you want to keep some guacamole for burritos tomorrow night)
1/2 organic lime (1 whole lime if you use 3 avocados)
1 teaspoon garlic-chili sauce
1/8 teaspoon salt
black pepper

1) Cut avocados in half. Get rid of the pits. (Watch out for your thumbs.) And scoop the delicious green flesh into a bowl.
2) Squeeze the lime, then cut in half. (This will help you get more juice.) Squeeze the juice onto the avocados.
3) Toss in the remaining ingredients: garlic-chili sauce, salt, black pepper.
4) Cut with a fork and knife until in chunks, then mash with the fork until your desired consistency. (We like ours thick and a little chunky.)
5) Serve with organic tortilla chips!

Easy to make. Check!
Organic goodness--low levels of pesticides for you and for the Earth. Check!
Full of protein, monounsaturated fats (good fats), and no cholesterol. Check!
(Extra for another easy meal tomorrow night. Check!)

Meaner, leaner, greaner!
* Lower the calories and increase the fiber by overcooking green peas until they're mushy, then mashing with a potato masher, and adding (when cool) to the guacamole. It's tasty!
* Instead of the garlic-chili sauce, use organic salsa. No pesticides, and this will add tomatoes and onions to the guacamole.
* The thing I like about the garlic-chili sauce is that it lasts forever in the frig. So, I'm pretty much always ready to make this guacamole, as long as I've got two avocados. It lasts and lasts, which means you never throw it away (no waste going to the landfill). You can also use dried chili flakes (red pepper flakes) or hot sauce.
* Avocados are nature's little food storage units. Ripen them on the counter, then put them in the frig to halt the process. They stay good in the frig for several days.
* A teeny, itty-bitty bit of plastic wrap and a container that seals will keep your finished guacamole good until the next night.

Check out the nutritional information on avocados.

Coming soon!
THE SEQUEL: Guacamole Saves My Life Again, in Burrito Form!

Here are more pictures from the process.

Where Is Your Kitchen, Anyway? (And Where Have Your Hands Been, Mister?)

2010-04-22T09:49:00.001-07:00

A few years ago I used to watch the Food Network ALL THE TIME. See, we were sort of getting it magically, for free. My husband and I moved into an apartment, and a few months later, all of a sudden, we were getting the Food Network. So I watched it constantly, trying to cram in as much food-lore as possible before Big Brother found out. I dosed out on food tv.

And while I learned some nifty things (how to slice and dice in super chique ways) ...

I also heard some seriously stupid advice being given ... like this:

FANCY PANTS CHEF: So then you take your soup while it's piping hot and pour into your storage containers and put immediately in the frig. You wouldn't want any bacteria getting into your "fancy-pants-chef-soup," would you? And this will keep the flavors fresh!

ME: What??? Well, aren't you a genius. NOT.

I mean are we so worried about bacteria nowadays? Where is your kitchen? Where have your hands been? Have you been cooking in Dr. Horrible's Secret Chem Lab? In the mole-man's underground lair?

Putting super hot foods into a plastic container. Bad. Heating the plastic releases toxins.

Putting super hot foods into the frig. Bad. It takes a lot of electrical energy to remove heat energy and make something cold. Adding hot foods to your frig warms up your frig's average temperature; and it can stay warm for hours, using up lots of extra electricity as it works to combat the heat. Meantime, the rest of your food has sat in a slightly warmer environment. Gack.

So, please, let us all collectively diss the Fancy Pants Chef who gives stupid advice! Wait for the hot steaming food to completely cool down to room temperature. Then, package in a plastic container (if you really want). But I say, leave the food in the cooled metal pot, and put in the frig.

I mean ... unless you like sour milk and green eggs and ham.

HAPPY 40th EARTH DAY! Chomp!

2009-04-20T19:49:00.000-07:00

As the first post, I couldn't decide what recipe to share. SO MANY CHOICES. SO MUCH TO EAT. WANTED IT TO BE EARTH-DAY-EY.

In the end, I chose something green. Literally green.

Since I wanted this blog to be about eating green and healthy ... with lots of recipes that accomplish both goals (green and healthy) in easy, tasty ways ... well, a literally green recipe seemed like a good way to begin.

Crispy Green Beans and Shallots
When I was a kid, red wine vinegar was "fancy" vinegar, and apple cider or white vinegar were the "everyday vinegars." Nowadays, red wine vinegar is the B*st*rd child of the vinegar world, compared to King Balsamic. With this recipe, I disagree.

1 pound of organic green beans
2-3 organic shallots
1 tablespoon organic olive oil
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
a few pitted cure black olives
red pepper flakes

1) Prep the food: Wash the green beans and cut off the ends. Chop the shallots. Dice the black olives.
2) Bring a covered pot of water to boil. When boiling, drop in green beans and place cover slightly on--to trap in heat energy, but not overboil. You will probably be able to turn down the heat and still keep the beans boiling.
3) Boil 4 minutes and drain.
4) In a large and deep pan, bring the olive oil to a medium heat. Add the shallots. Stir occasionally until translucent and a little brown on the edges.
5) Add the red pepper flakes (how many depends on how much fire you can tolerate in your mouth!). Stir so that they are heated into the oil, flavoring the oil.
6) Throw in the green beans and black olives.
7) When done, add the vinegar.

You got the organic oil. Check!
You got the veggie goodness. Low in calories. High in fiber and nutrients. Check!
You have minimized the sodium; dicing a lil' bit of olives spreads their flavor throughout so you don't have to use a lot and you don't have to use any extra salt. Check!
You minimized the energy used by covering the pot. Check!
And you got the tons of flavor from the shallots, olives, pepper, and vinegar.

Meaner, leaner, greaner!
* Get the green beans at a local green market. Buying locally means the beans are fresher and, as a result, will probably still contain more of their nutrients. Also, buying locally means you're lowering your carbon footprint.
* Call me crazy, but I don't think our fats should contain pesticides. Sometimes it's too expensive to buy everything organic, but not oils! Our brain and nerve cells are covered in a lipid, myelin sheath (FAT). I don't want pesticides going to my nerve cells!
* This makes a great meal with some brown rice. Most brown rice offers you some protein, but some varieties offer you lots of protein. So, check the packages for the different types of brown rice in your grocery store to find the type with the highest protein levels. Or, toss in some toasted walnuts or sesame seeds. A meal with no meat ... good for your heart and good for the Earth.
* Use a teaspoon of lemon juice from an organic lemon instead of the vinegar if it's easier or cheaper for you.

Check out the nutritional facts about green beans:
http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2341/2

Coming Soon!
This weekend, I'm in the mood to make homemade rhubarb pie with fresh rhubarb from the Food Coop or possibly homemade pesto, spinach, goat cheese pizza (more green!).

Here are more pictures from the process.

4/22/10

Second Post - Cats

2009-04-11T15:19:00.000-07:00

Here are a group of Cat and Kitten musings:

Nature breaks through the eyes of the cat.
- Irish proverb

Life with a cat is in certain ways a one-sided proposition. Cats are not educable; humans are. Moreover, cats know this. If you are not willing to humor them, you might as well stick to dogs.
- Terry Teachout

The Cat. He walked by himself, and all places were alike to him.
- Rudyard Kipling

Cats, no less liquid than their shadows,
Offer no angles to the wind.
They slip, diminished,
Neat, through loopholes
Less than themselves.
- A. S. J. Tessimond

Of all God's creatures there is only one that cannot be made the slave of the lash. That one is the cat. If man could be crossed with the cat, it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat.
- Mark Twain

A cat that catches mice does not meow.
- Chinese proverb

When I play with my cat, who knows whether she is not amusing herself with me more than I with her.
- Montaigne

First Blog Post

2009-03-03T11:59:00.000-08:00

Learn interesting new things and stuff by reading this internet blog! Here are some quotes the internet provided about life:

Living well and beautifully and justly are all one thing.
- Socrates

Life is a flower of which love is the honey.
- Victor Hugo

Life is like a chariot-wheel that ever rolls along.
Anacreon

One life; a little gem of time between two eternities; no second chance for us forevermore.
- Carlyle

For this I see, that we, all we that live,
Are but vain shadows, unsubstantial dreams.
- Sophocles