Equipment {The Christmas List}

Dear Kate,

I know most college students have microwaves in their dorm rooms.  I get that they are allowed and quick and easy to use.  Yet, I have a problem with what they do to food.  Putting “making it taste bad” to the side for the moment, I want you to actually think about how the machine works.  “Micro” waves (radiation) are thrown around inside a box, penetrate the food, vibrates the moisture to heat it from the inside out.

There have been studies that have shown that it deteriorates the nutrients in breast milk (a food of nature) to the point that infants cannot thrive.  If it does this to one natural food, why wouldn’t it affect others.  Try an experiment with two small plants on your window sill (that one with a killer view).  Water one with plain tap water (even with all the yucky chlorine) and the other with tap water that was heated in the microwave, then cooled to room temp.  Guess what happens.

I know hot plates are not allowed, but what about an electric hot pot that is all one entity, much like an electric kettle? Besides, what college student isn’t a total rebel and has a toaster in their dorm? These electric hot pots are very cheap (under $20) and if bought at the right place, like Bed Bath and Beyond, you can return it if it peters out in the first semester.  Because they are plastic, I have a few reservations about how long they will last.  My version of these electric hot pots is my $80 electric pressure cooker that has warming and sautéing setting as well. This has a metal insert, so it will hold up much longer.

This simple appliance opens up a wide range of healthy options; Boil pasta, eggs, reheat left overs, simmer soup, hot breakfast cereal, steam vegetables.

Other items of importance;

A decent knife, because you will be cutting up a lot of vegetables for healthy meals

A cutting board, never use your “decent knife” on glass or it will soon be a “worthless knife.”

A cheese grater (as mentioned here)

A large spoon

A few containers for leftovers

An all in one bowl with lid and strainer, often called berry bowl

Once you are equipt with these few simple items, there will be a wide variety of recipes that can be adapted.

With Love,
Kara

Thanksgiving Pizza?

What a great holiday, food and family, the bomb.  We had a fun day in the kitchen, and a beautiful feast and an energizing sunset hike.  Now our fridge full of ingredients has turned to a fridge full of leftovers.  You know what I love to do with leftovers, right?

Use this yummy dough and top with Thanksgiving Day leftovers.  Any combination works turkey, potatoes, dressing, gravy, cranberry sauce, you can even top it with cheese because anything is good with cheese.  So when you get back from shopping, throw together a creative pizza pie.

Other great uses for leftovers;

Turkey Pot Pie

Turkey Barley Soup

Simple Turkey Brine

I swear by brining my thanksgiving turkey.  You can get fancy by adding a bunch of spices and herbs, but I just keep it simple with salt, sugar and water.  Alton Brown has a great Good Eat’s episode that got me started on brining my first turkey.  I have been impressed year after year with how tender, moist and flavorful it is.  If you get a more natural bird, it will not be saline injected, and therefore tends to have less flavor when not brined. 

Jenny at Nourished Kitchen is offering some incredibly useful online cooking classes for holiday cooking.  If you are like me, you are online trying to search for doable recipes that are made with quality and nourishing ingredients.  It is an overwhelming task to work your way through the mountains of holiday recipes to find just the right kind.  Take a look at what she is offering, and be sure to take advantage of the free thanksgiving mini lesson that is available now just for signing up for her newsletter.

1 1/2 cup kosher salt

1 cup sucanat

1.5 gallons pure water

ice

Boil salt and sugar in 2 quarts water until dissolved, ice down, put clean thawed turkey (well rinsed and giblet bag removed) in clean cooler (or pot or bucket if you have one that it will fit in.  Pour the brine and enough water to cover the turkey.  Find some plates and weight it down with cans so that it is completely submerged.  You can put it in the fridge if there is room, or keep it on ice.  I usually put the cooler outside and make sure there is plenty of ice.  Keep in the brine around 12 hours... at least 4, but not more than 24, it's flexible.

When ready to bake, remove and dry with paper towels.  Rub skin with butter or coconut oil.  For delicious gravy, stuff cavity with aromatics, but never stuffing.  If you have a roasting pan with a rack, that works good, otherwise you will have to get your oven rack dirty by placing the turkey directly on it with a sheet pan under it to catch the drippings.  Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, turn 180 degrees and bake another 15 minutes.  Lower temperature to 325 to finish.  Do not rely on the probes that come in the turkey, those are set to pop at 180.  Cook to 160, remove from oven, tent with foil and rest for 30 minutes before slicing.


links; Tuesday Twister, Real Food Wednesday

A Series for the College Student {Introduction}

Dear Kate,

           

I am right proud that my own baby sister is looking for some better food than cafeteria slop.  I know, being in a dorm room, you are very limited on space and have rules on cooking appliances.  Not to mention the broke, tiresome lifestyle of a college student.  I gotta say that eating well is going to require big effort.  Why do you think everyone eats at the campus cafeteria? It’s not because the food is outstanding, or that they love the extra pounds they gain each semester.

Wasn’t life grand back when you came home hungry, peeked into the fridge and pulled out a container of Mom’s chili for dinner?  The reality of being an adult is that you are going to be responsible for fixing your own chili from here on out.  Sad?  Kind of, but it puts you in the position to make healthier, tastier chili too.

 Your first assignment is cheese.  Good quality would mean you are looking for ingredients like whole milk, cultures, salt and rennet not skim milk, emulsifiers such as sodium phosphate, potassium phosphate, anti caking agents such as cellulose powder (which means you’ll need to grate your own) and calcium sulfate and coloring (cheese is not orange).  The best quality would be raw and made with pastured milk.  Try the farmers market near you or a bus trip to Trader’s Joes will have you covered.

The right cheese adds great nutrition and substance to a meal or snack. The texture gives interest to keep things tasty and the fat is important for vitamin absorption.  Eat with fruit, melt on vegetables, a slice of bread, rice or noodles. 

With Love,

Kara

Garden Journal 2010 {Peppers}

I planted a variety of peppers this year and they are very happy right now.  The sweet peppers seemed to grow well in the spring, but by the time they put on fruit, it would get scorched by they sun.  The hot peppers slowed down in the summer and came back full throttle in September.  These mature plants took off with new blossoms and now we are harvesting a whole lot of peppers.  I even transplanted a few volunteer pepper plants that are just starting to set peppers.

My jalapeño plant is on its second year and though it produces abundantly, the fruit doesn’t grow very large.  I think it gets too much shade or maybe phosphorus.  I have also been disappointed in my plants I grew from seed, they are small, light in color and thin walled.  So strange as they are planted right along side the thriving volunteers and nursery –bought plants.  I also have a huge gold bell pepper plant that did NOTHING this summer, but has quite a few really nice green fruits right now.  Hoping to enjoy those before the frost.

The banana peppers have gotten spicier than they were in May.  It makes it harder to use them up because the kids can’t handle too much heat.  I need to find poblanos next year, those have always been my favorite pepper.  Any other recommendations?

For dinner tonight, we are making good use for some of those peppers in fajitas.  Right now I have the venison marinading, got to make room in the deep freeze, Dad is bringing more at Thanksgiving!

4 garlic cloves, minced
1 banana pepper, finely chopped
1 teaspoon freshly ground cumin seeds
1 large handful fresh cilantro, leaves and stems, finely chopped
salt and pepper
1 lime, juiced and zested
1 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
1/4 cup olive oil

Thinly slice 1 pound meat. Place in marinade and refrigerate at least 1 hour. Saute a mix of  peppers and onions. Brown meat on high heat for 2 minutes. Serve in warm tortillas with lettuce, salsa, cheese and guacamole.

links; Simple Lives Thursday, Things I love Thursday, Pennywise Platter

My Big Fat Foodie Life

Really enjoyed getting out and picking up some new ideas at a gardening class this morning as my melons, cukes and bean are being consumed by aphids. Yes, my life revolves around food and why shouldn't it? Join me at I Heart Mesa, where I dish my ideas on growing, preparing, learning about, buying, eating, preserving and storing FOOD!


links; Pennywise Platter, Simple Lives Thursday

Raspberries Drizzled with Chocolate

Most days, a piece of fruit does the trick for the role of dessert after dinner.  If I have been eating well, I am without sugar craving and am more satisfied this way.  When the holiday's hit, I usually like something stronger for dessert.  Sugar is an addictive substance.  If you, or your children don't like fruit in general, there is too much sugar in your diet.  Fruit should taste sweet, which is a highly desirable attribute in food.  When one over indulges with the potent sugars that are in processed foods, the taste buds become less sensitive to the delicate sweetness of whole foods.

This dessert is somewhat of a transition, it bridges the gap between too much and feeling deprived.  When a bowl of raspberries doesn't sound so great to your sweet tooth, raspberries drizzled with chocolate surely does...without going over the top.  Guilt free.

I like Trader Joe's Pound Plus 72% dark Belgian Chocolate.  You can play around with the amounts depending on where your sweet tooth lies.  This will make a drizzle that sets up as a brittle drizzle, the same texture and hardness of the original chocolate bar.  If you like yours to be more pliable like a ganache, add 1 tablespoon of cream to the melted chocolate.

1.5 ounces dark chocolate

12 ounces organic raspberries

Slowly melt chocolate over low heat, stirring frequently.  Carefully wash raspberries in a bowl of water and dry with paper towels.  Place raspberries on silpat or parchment and drizzle with melted chocolate.  Place in refrigerator 15 minutes, but no longer than 6 hours.  We get 4-5 serving from this, but use your own judgement.

links; Tuesday Twister, Tempt My Tummy, Tasty Tuesday, Top Ten Tuesday, Hearth and Soul Hop,  Whole Food for the Holiday's

Pear Butter

After my recent post on preserving pears, I learned that I had not nearly exhausted the possibilities.  I ended up dehydrating more to grind up for a crumbly topping on oatmeal and muffins.  I canned loads of pear sauce and I had my first attempt with pear butter.  This stuff was worth making just to enjoy the smell that wafted through the house.  I never wanted it to be done simmering!

It ended up cooking down to about half, I canned 8 half pints in a water bath, just as you would regular jam.  As long as you have a good blender, you don’t even need to peel the pears.  I loved how it was super sweet without too much sweetener added, unlike common jam.  AND, no pectin requiredJ

10 pounds bartlett pears, cored

1 cup white grape juice

2 inches fresh ginger, quartered

1 cup lemon juice

1 cup sucanat

1 cup honey

½ teaspoon all spice

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 tablespoon lemon zest

Simmer pears in white grape juice until very soft (20 minutes).  Puree very finely (I used my vitamix).  Place pear sauce, ginger,  lemon juice, sweeteners, all spice, cardamom and nutmeg in crock pot or other deep pot to simmer for 12 or more hours.  Tent with tinfoil, or position lid to keep the splatters in, but allowing steam out. When first setting the temperature, stir every 20 minutes.  Once a low simmer is holding, stirring is unnecessary.  After 12 hours, check the viscosity.  Take a spoonful out and drop it on a plate.  If liquid pools around it, it needs to simmer longer.  Once the dollop stays set, without pooling juice, it is done.  Pull out the 4 pieces of ginger, mix in vanilla and lemon zest and bottle up!  Makes about 8 half-pint’s.

Great on toast, waffles, pancakes, biscuits, in muffins, on top of pastries, yogurt, oatmeal or ice cream.

links; Pennywise Platter, Simple Lives Thursday, Frugal Friday, Fight Back Friday, Grocery Cart Challenge

Partly-Sprouted Puff Pastry

Who new such a fancy treat could be so attainable in any ol’ kitchen?  I have been sad that Trader Joe’s no longer carries their all butter puff pastry. Other health food stores ask a steep price, while regular grocers only carry the hydrogenated types.  I always assumed it to be too complicated to make myself.  Although it turned out great my first try, it was after my second that I found my groove and decided this was a recipe to be made again and again.

I adapted this recipe for Peter Reinhart’s "Laminated Dough" in his cookbook Artisan Breads Everyday, which is a GREAT read.  Recently I made a double batch and have a nice stack in my freezer for quick dinners and desserts.  I canned some apple pie filling this fall, which means SUPER fast and easy apple turnovers!

¾ cup milk

¼ cup yogurt or kefir

½ cup water

2 tablespoons butter

2 ½ cups sprouted or whole grain flour

2 cups white flour (plus more for texture and rolling)

¼ cup honey

1 tablespoons yeast

Mix all ingredients in mixer with dough hook for 1 minute.  Add more white flour as necessary.  Dough should be very sticky, but not batter like. Knead an additional 1 minute.  Place dough in oiled bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight and up to 2 days.

Butter Block:  Just before removing dough from the fridge, cut up 1 ½ cups cold butter into ¼ inch pieces.  Whisk with 2 tablespoons sprouted flour, scraping down the sides as needed to make a smooth paste.  Form into a 6 inch square about ½ inch thick, smooth the top and square the corners.  Envelope in plastic wrap and refrigerate until needed.

Roll dough into a rectangle that is just wider than the 6 inch butter block and twice as long dusting the counter with white flour as needed.  Place butter block on one half of the rectangle and fold the other half over to encase.  Seal the edges by pinching all around the sides.  Rest in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. 

After rest time, roll dough to a large rectangle about 16 by 9 inches taking care to keep the butter inside the dough.  Fold dough into thirds, rest in refrigerator and repeat 2 more times.

After final rest, roll out dough to final thickness, depending on the recipe.  I like to roll out to ½ inch thick, cut into large squares and freeze between sheets of parchment.  The dough can always be rolled thinner once thawed.  This pastry should be risen slightly before baked at 400 degrees until golden brown, approximately 7 minutes.

links; Real Food Wednesday, Hearth and Soul Hop, Top Ten Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday, Tempt My Tummy, Whole Foods for the Holiday's

6 Tips For Your Real-Food Journey

It has been many years since I have put the boxes aside and  enveloped a whole food repertoire of skills, recipes and creativity.  I can bring back some thoughts and feelings of those early days, but much is gone and much has changed.  It is an exciting time, one of the many reasons I love teaching classes!  Witnessing that rapid learning and zeal for food is euphoric.

It never occurred to me that people might be reading my blog and NOT making the recipes.   Kami, from Birth with Confidence is helping me out on this one.  There are so many obstacles, it is no wonder many people grab a box of cereal in the morning instead of embarking on a recipe for granola with 14 ingredients, half you have never heard of and 10 plus steps that take almost 2 days to carry out.  Yikes!  I am scaring you away.  On with Kami's tips to bring you back;

1. Read, Read, and then Read some more! There is nothing more powerful than knowledge. Learn about food. Learn about its origins, where it comes from, why we eat it, how it's made. Learn about your body - how it functions and how food affects it positively or negatively. Read anything and everything you can get your hands on about whole, real food. The more you read and learn, the easier it will be to make changes. The changes will come naturally as you learn. If you are trying to make changes without really knowing or understanding deeply why you're making them, it is likely that the changes will not last. However, if you have a foundation of knowledge and understand why you are on your journey to whole foods, you changes will become a lifestyle. Learning also makes changing easier. It isn't hard to stop eating processed food once you understand how truly detrimental it is to your health.

2. Find replacements. Don't learn about how bad sugar is for you and say that you will never eat sugar again. Although that is a wonderful goal, it is probably one that is easily broken by cravings or stress. Instead, find replacements. Instead of white sugar, convert to using honey or maple syrup. Instead of making a cake mix out of a box, try making one from scratch using
whole grains and natural sweeteners. You can still enjoy many, many things while eating only whole foods. Once you've found replacements, you'll realize you really aren't missing out on anything after all. You might even be surprised to find that your whole food meals/treats taste even better because you know deep down that they're better for your body.

3. Commit to change. Do you want to dive into whole foods? Commit to doing so. Commit to ridding your life of anything artificial or detrimental to your health. Make a commitment, and keep it. That's all there is to it. Make the decision.

4. Be daring. Buy new things - branch out. Never heard of kamut, amaranth, sucanat? I hadn't heard of them either. In fact, I read blogs that used those foreign terms for a good 6 months to a year before I ever bought any of those "strange" ingredients. Now those ingredients are staples in my house. Try new things - you'll find that most of the time, you'll love them and wonder why you've been missing out all this time!

5. Don't get discouraged. Moving to whole foods is a journey. It takes time and it takes dedication. We live in a world of processed foods. It is not easy to go against the grain, so to speak. It's not easy to make choices that are different than 99% of Americans. But making choices is not always easy and moving to whole foods is a choice that, hard as it may seem, will bless your life abundantly. Take baby steps - pick one thing you want to change and focus on that thing for a week or a month. Then, move onto the next thing. Or if you're more stubborn, do it all at once (I did!). However you do it, remember why you're changing and remember that you are not alone. Many people are realizing more and more that food, made and prepared the way God intended it, is critical to our health and wellness. Enjoy the journey because soon you'll look back and think "It wasn't that hard, after all."

6. Realize that while you may feel you're paying more for "real food," it is a much better investment. You are investing in yourself - your health, your vitality, your life! Those who eat diets of whole foods and avoid processed foods are healthier and experience less disease than those who eat a diet high in processed foods. You may spend more on your groceries than your friends and neighbors, but it doesn't have to break the bank. There are many ways you can save money. Some quick examples are: buying in bulk, making things from scratch (homemade  granola vs. store-bought), meal planning, eating the best quality of meat sparingly, etc. You also may tweak your budget so that, say for example, you spend more on groceries but you go without cable or expensive cell phones. Or, perhaps you eat out less than your family and friends. However you choose to balance your budget, know that eating a diet of whole foods can be done, even on a tight budget.

If you missed it, last week Kami shared an incredible recipe of her own creation; Roasted Vegetables and Garlic Quinoa.

links; Works For Me Wednesday, What's Cookin Wednesday, Real Food Wednesday, Simple Lives Thursday, Things I Love Thursday