the real food revolution

Fast and Delicious Hot Cross Buns

2011-04-22T13:56:00.000-07:00

Good Friday always seems to sneak up on me, and with 4 kids and a non-profit to run I rarely have times these days for those lovely fermented slow rise bread recipes any more. Even most traditional hot cross buns recipes with the hour and a half rise time aren't fast enough.

This morning I combined a single rise bun recipe I love with about 3 different hot cross buns recipes to bring you this. Hot cross buns in about an hour.

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter
1 cup milk
1/2 cup water
4-5 cups flour (whole wheat, white, whatever you want. I used winter wheat this morning)
1 tbsp yeast
3 heaping tbsp of sugar (or evaporated cane juice)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice (Or add in equal amounts cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and ginger. You can't really have to much spice.)
Zest of one orange
Zest of one lemon
1/2 cup dried fruit (raisins, currants, cranberries, apricots, etc.)
2 jumbo eggs

for the crosses
1/3 cup of white flour
2 tbsp sugar
juice of half a lemon

glaze
eggwhite and 1 tbsp water.

In a saucepan melt the butter. Once melted before it browns add milk and water. Turn off burner. Test the temperature, you want it to be between 110 F and 120 F. Warm or cool as needed.

In a mixing bowl combine 2 cups flour, yeast, sugar, salt, spices, zest and dried fruit. Stir. (My kids like to take turns measuring and adding these ingredients. Also, I got the older ones to do the zesting for me.)

Separate one egg, save the white for the glaze. Add the yolk and the other egg. Add the butter, milk and water. Stir until smooth. Add the remaining flour in small amounts, knead when too stiff to stir. Keep adding flour until the dough is smooth and no longer sticky.

Break dough in half. Break both halves in half again. Break the quarters into 8ths and then the 18ths into 16ths. One more time, break them in half until you have 32 dough balls. Don't worry, they get bigger.

Pinch the dough balls together on the bottom so they're round. (I don't know why, it's how my mother did it so I must also. Kids like this part too.) Lay them out on a large greased baking sheet in rows of 4. It's okay if they are close together. Cover with a clean dishtowel and let rise. (about 30-45 minutes)

While the buns are rising you can make the mixture for the crosses. Now, most recipes say to use flour and water, my mother always used icing instead for the special factor. I'm compromising and its brilliant, if I do say so myself, and much more tasty than the traditional version.

Cross mixture
Stir together the flour and sugar. Add the lemon juice gradually, a little at a time and stir. Stop as soon as you have all the dry ingredients incorporated but while it's still really thick. Put the paste in an icing bag or piping tube. Don't worry if you don't have one. A plastic bag with a small hole cut in the corner will do. Just twist it like and icing bag on top so the paste doesn't squeeze out. Now we draw crosses. (wait until the buns have risen If your rows are fairly even you can just start at one side of the pan and draw a straight line across a row of buns. Do the next and all the way to the end. Then turn the pan and draw a line down the rows. You should have crosses. If not, do what you have to to make sure you do.

Glaze
Mix the egg white and the water. Use a pastry brush to brush over the buns. Be gentle around the paste crosses so you don't smear them. The glaze makes them shiny and golden on the outside.

Bake
Bake at 400F for 10-12 minutes.

Now the best part. Eat them as soon as they are cool enough to touch. Don't forget the butter. :)

Recipe of Love ~ Welcoming Children into the Kitchen

2010-04-01T05:20:00.000-07:00

How child-friendly is your kitchen?

By child-friendly, I am not referring to filling the cupboards full of toys, or hiding all the knives. I am talking about welcoming your children into the world of food preparation, and inviting them to be a part of all the sights and aromas.

So often, our culture relegates children to the "safe" play areas while adults hurriedly complete the now mundane tasks of making dinner. And yet, there are few things more natural and satisfying than slowing down and including children in the creative process of meal preparation.

Even very young children, three and four years old, can wash lettuce, dump pre-measured ingredients into a bowl, stir batter, and grease pans.

As they get a little older, teach them how to slice fruits or vegetables using knives, carefully stir hot things on the stove, roll out dough, and preheat the oven.

While all my children are welcome in the kitchen, each week one child is assigned specifically to be my helper, beginning around age seven. This is when they receive one on one instruction. I do not set aside extra time in my day to show them how to make one thing from a recipe. Instead, almost every weekday evening, they assist me in creating an entire meal, from start to finish.

This is an important point, because knowing how to make just one dish is quite different from the ability to prepare a full dinner. Seeing and being a part of the the process repeatedly, they slowly become accustomed to knowing how all the parts work together; that the roast needs to go in way ahead of time, when to begin steaming the vegetables, and allowing enough time for the rolls to rise.

Several things can be happening at once; food in the oven, food on the stove, food being chopped, stir the gravy, check the chicken, check the rice, whoops we're out of this ingredient so we'll have to use this instead, how about if we add this, don't you love the smell of this spice, how many 1/4 cups are in one cup, and on and on.

I admit, there are times that the goof-ups during the learning curve can be quite frustrating. Hang in there. It'll pay off, big time. At age nine, my oldest daughter was able to make full meals (for example; salad, roast chicken, rice, vegetables, and homemade bread) completely on her own. Believe me, this was beyond wonderful when I had a newborn baby to tend to.

There are some occasions when I just need to get something quickly accomplished (surprise guests coming!) and do not have the time, or patience, to include them every step of the way. When this happens, they are allowed to remain in the kitchen to watch if they keep quiet and keep their hands to themselves. Usually, I end up asking for their help anyways.

I encourage you to make your children's presence in the kitchen just a regular part of your life. You'll teach them quite a bit, sure. But you'll learn a lot more.

Cranberry Chutney

2009-12-23T14:10:00.001-08:00

Still have some cranberries? This is the other holiday recipe I look forward to all year long.

I crave the surprising blend of sweet and tart! It's a delicious addition to meat and fish, but my favorite way to eat is on a cracker with a bit of cream cheese. Get creative!

Cranberry Chutney

In a saucepan, simmer for 5 minutes:

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup minced onion
1 clove garlic, minced or crushed
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons vinegar
1/2 cup water

Then add:

1 1/2 cups cranberries

Simmer for another 15 minutes, or till thickened. I mash the cranberries a bit with a fork as they soften. Allow to cool.

This chutney will keep for up to six months in the fridge.

Cranberry Cake with Caramel Sauce

2009-12-21T09:03:00.000-08:00

This is one recipe in particular that has been a long-time family favorite, and something that I greatly anticipate making every Holiday season. It just wouldn't seem like Christmas without it.

It is made with fresh cranberries, their natural tartness a perfect contrast to the sweet caramel sauce. Even those who do not care for cranberries reach for a second piece of this dessert!

Cranberry Cake

3 Tablespoons butter
1 cup sugar (I only use 1/2 cup and prefer dehydrated cane juice crystals)
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup evaporated milk
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups fresh cranberries, chopped

Cream the butter and sugar. Stir in water, milk, flour, salt and soda. Mix well. Fold in the cranberries.

Pour into greased and floured 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 until golden brown. Serve with warm sauce.

Caramel Sauce

1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Place all ingredients except vanilla in a saucepan on low heat. Bring to boil and stir constantly. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Serve hot over cake.

Herb Bread

2009-12-08T06:23:00.000-08:00

My family loves bread and baked goods. I often find myself throwing together muffins or baking soda biscuits at the last minute to complement our dinner meal.

Last evening, I tried something new. It's a yeast bread, but by condensing to only one rise time it can be brought to the table in almost the amount of time as any 'quick bread' recipe.

It was a hit with everyone! It was soft and filling, the subtle herbs giving enough flavor that only butter was needed to top each slice. I love that you can tweak the herbs to include whatever you would like to fit your own tastes. This time, I happened to have fresh parsley and dried thyme on hand, so that's what I used.

I think that those little dried tomato pieces I've seen would be absolutely lovely as well. Or a bit of garlic and sage. The possibilities are endless!

I didn't have any soft butter and was too impatient to wait, so I used 2 Tablespoons natural shortening. It's non-hydrogenated, which is important to me. I still limit my usage of it, though.

The kind of flour you use in baking affects the nutrition the most. I prefer to use freshly milled soft white wheat. When I don't want to take the time to grind wheat berries (or the children are sleeping and I don't want to wake them with the loud mill) I use unbleached whole grain white flour.

Herb Bread

3 cups flour
3 1/2 teaspoons yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups warm water
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons or more fresh or dried herbs (parsley, thyme, rosemary, etc)

Mix together 2 cups of the flour, yeast and sugar. Stir in the salt, water, butter and herbs. Knead for several minutes. (I used an electric mixer) Add in the remaining cup of flour and knead by hand until smooth.

Place in a greased and warmed large bread pan. (I like to warm my bread pans for a minute in the oven, which helps the dough rise quickly even on chilly days.) Cover with a towel and let rise until double.

Bake at 375 for about 45 minutes. It should be well browned on top.

Now here's the hardest part... Let loaf cool on wire rack several minutes before slicing and eating!

Potato Leek Soup

2009-12-03T10:21:00.000-08:00

Up until a few months ago, I had never used leeks in my cooking recipes. Once I took the plunge, I have fallen in love with their subtle flavor.

Leeks look like over sized scallions, and in fact are in the same family to onions. They have a similar taste to onions, but are more delicate and don't overpower the other flavors in your recipe. Their nutritive value and support to healthy ovaries as well as cholesterol and blood sugar levels are just added bonuses.

Only the white and light green parts are used.

I love how they perfectly compliment the potatoes in this recipe to create a hearty but very simple meal.

Potato Leek Soup

3 leeks, cleaned and chopped
2 Tablespoons butter
4 cups chicken stock or broth
6-12 potatoes, diced (peel optional)
spices and seasonings to taste

Saute chopped leeks in butter, in a large pot. Cook on low heat for about 10 minutes , or until leeks are tender. Do not brown!

Add broth and potatoes, bring to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes or more, until potatoes are tender.

Using a potato masher, mash soup until creamy. Add salt, pepper, herbs and other seasonings to taste.

This leftover soup, if you are fortunate enough to have any, will taste even better the following day!

Garlic and Chili Green Beans-Not Green Bean Casserole Part 2

2009-11-20T14:01:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I ranted about the awfulness of green bean casserole and gave you a simple alternative. As promised, today I'll tell you what I'm doing with my green beans this Thanksgiving. This recipe was inspired by some really amazing green beans I had once in Vancouver at a Chinese restaurant that looked like this photo here. It's tasty, and simple.

Ingredients

1.5 lbs green beans, frozen or raw.

10 or more cloves garlic, minced.

2 tbsp toasted sesame oil (you can use regular oil if you don't have toasted sesame oil. It just provides another layer of flavor.)

1-2 tsp Sambal Oleak (chili paste) or 1 tsp dried chilies

1/4 cup broth chicken/turkey/vegetable or 1/4 cup water and a bouillon cube.

2 tbsp soy sauce

Method

You will need a large frying pan or wok, the bigger the better if you are making a lot of beans so they cook evenly. Heat the oil and garlic together in the bottom of the pan over medium heat. Both are very easy to burn so watch the temp. Stir frequently.

Once the garlic begins to caramelize and cook through add the chili paste. Saute a few minutes longer and add in the green beans.

You want to get the beans all coated in the oil and garlic so stir it around really well for a minute. Next add the broth. If your pan is hot enough this should steam up a bit and cook the beans while it loosens all the good stuff stuck to the bottom of the pan. Add the soy sauce as well, to taste. Remember, it's salty so don't over do it. Cover and cook, stirring frequently so all the beans cook at the same time. As soon as they are cooked through remove from heat and serve. They should be bright green, not gray.

This is really simple to make, and tastes amazing. Add strips of dried tofu, carrots, or bean sprouts and serve with brown rice for a really interesting main dish. My whole family loves this.

Enjoy.

The photo was taken by P.M.M. and is used under the terms of a Creative Content License.

Not Green Bean Casserole-Part 1

2009-11-19T14:12:00.000-08:00

Does anyone actually enjoy that sickly greenish grey concoction that takes up space on many tables in America on Thanksgiving day? I grew up in Canada, so I'm not used to it I'll admit. But why is it there if if doesn't taste good?

Don't get me wrong, I love green beans. They're one of my favorite foods.

The monstrosity known as green bean casserole however bears no resemblance to the vegetable I love. And I intend to rescue it from such shameful treatment and bring it back into the realm of tasty. Ready?

To begin with, nix the canned beans. Look, I understand that long ago, before refrigeration, people need to preserve their summer vegetables to keep them from going to waste, and to have something green to eat in the winter. And though they have less nutrients after the canning process, canned green beans are still better than no vegetables at all and scurvy. But it's the 21st century now. We have a choice. You can purchase them fresh and raw in November, or frozen at peak freshness. Either of these taste much better than the store bought canned version. (I say store bought because I've known some amazing canners in my lifetime and their canned green beans were tasty, crisp, flavorful, and usually also pickled and spicy. MMMM.)

So to rescue this traditional vegetable from mushy, nasty flavor hell we first need to start with fresh or frozen. Already the flavor will be improved 100%. Frozen is actually cheaper than canned these days. I can buy 1.5 lbs of frozen french green beans at Trader Joe's this month for $2. In fact, I just did. It would take at least 8-10 cans at $0.60 each to give me the same number of green beans.

Next, stop with the cans of onion soup! Please! Just back away from the green beans, put your can opener down. I will show you how to serve these.

Simple

Steam them, in a steamer, or pot, but only for a few minutes. Do this less than 10 minutes before you serve dinner. AS SOON as they turn a lovely shade of very bright green remove them from the heat. "I will never ever again eat gray green beans." Say it with me.

As soon as you take them from the heat add a generous amount of real butter to them, as well as sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Cover and keep warm. Serve as soon as you can. (Don't yell at me about the butter. You were going to put canned cream of onion soup on it. Besides, it's Thanksgiving. Also, secret, you can cut a bit of butter and add more salt, which brings out the flavor of the butter and no one will ever know. Since it's sea salt it's not quite as bad for you.)

If you really love those crunchy fried onion things that usually top the casserole, go ahead and sprinkle them on top of the beans just before serving. Personally, I would go with slivered almonds or peanuts to add crunch.

I PROMISE. If all you do is this you will have people saying over and over, "These green beans are really good. Wow, what did you do with them?"

They just taste good if you treat them right.

Now, since this is my go to method of serving green beans, I like to jazz it up a bit for Thanksgiving. Tomorrow I will tell you what I'm going to do with my green beans next week. Here it is.
Garlic and Chili Green Beans

photo by ccharmon Used under the terms of a Creative Commons License.

Just One

2009-11-17T15:10:00.001-08:00

I've been thinking for a long time about what it is that makes it hard for a person to lose weight.

Most of us know what we have to do. Eat less, exercise more, cut out foods that have more calories than nutrients, and we'll be able to lose and maintain a healthy weight. So why is it so hard for so many?

I think one of the main reasons is forgetfulness. We continue to think that an extra unnecessary little indulgence that we allow ourselves is the only one. (An extra cookie a day can lead to a 3-6 pound weight gain over the course of a year if we don't change something else.)

We have a cookie after lunch. Just one, as part of a balanced diet that's not bad. But mid afternoon we've forgotten all about the cookie as we eat, just one, handful of chips or popcorn. After dinner we have just one glass of wine or beer, with just one or two snacks, maybe a second helping of potatoes that we didn't really need.

All of these just one indulgences that we allow ourselves in the course of a day can add up to several hundred/thousand extra calories that our bodies don't really need. Just one store bought muffin with coffee is 400 calories. It would take an hour of flat out running to burn that much off.

The reason we don't take steps to change as well is because of this just one problem. Just one more day. I'll start eating right tomorrow.

Why do we think that the road to eating well is a long hard one that we must put off, all the while eating just one more candy after dinner?

We are bad at math, and bad at remembering.

I think I've figured out how to turn this just one mentality to an advantage. I got the idea from Alcoholics Anonymous. I've never been to an AA meeting so really I got the idea from the idea I have of AA from the way it's portrayed on TV.

Addicts have to take it one day at a time. If they look at the years and years stretching in front of them and try to face it without another drink it's overwhelming.

Well, we are essentially food addicts, creatures of habit, eating without thought usually. Let's use the same concept for ourselves shall we?

For just one day I will eat only what I need.
For just one day I will stop eating as soon as I'm not hungry.
For just one day I will taste my food and be thankful for every bite, noticing the flavor, smell and texture.
For just one day I will not snack after dinner, or lunch.
For just one day I will be thankful for the body I have, that works as well as it does, and will honor the gift by taking care of it.
For just one day I will move and stretch and enjoy being in my body.
For just one day I will feed my hungry senses with things that aren't food; fresh air, flowers, aromatic lotions, scented candles, etc.

I can do all this for just one day.

You can too.

The pretty cookies above were photographed by Sifu Renka. The photo is used under the terms of a Creative Commons License.

Mexican Bean Soup-(Not-Tortilla Soup)

2009-11-05T06:32:00.000-08:00

You know how sometimes those days happen? It's dinner time and you have no idea what to even start cooking. Maybe you had a plan, but forgot to defrost something. Or maybe you just looked at the clock and realized that people are hungry and it was your job to make something, but you completely forgot about it until now.

I had one of those nights recently. Desperation is the mother of invention, especially in the kitchen.

What I had; a family size can of re-fried beans, (I buy it on sale and break it out for bean and cheese burritos on occasion.) tomato sauce, condensed chicken broth packets, cheese, green onions, frozen corn. What I didn't have were tortillas, otherwise I would have made some burritos for dinner.

So it all became soup instead. Though I wasn't sure about it at first. I mixed the can of beans together in the pot, added the tomato sauce, water, a packet of chicken broth, and spices; ground cumin, a dash of chili sauce, cayenne, oregano, etc.

The beans were already seasoned so I didn't have to add much.

Once it was boiling and smooth I added the frozen corn, turned off the heat and served it with shredded cheese and sliced green onions.

Technically it's tortilla soup, and you can fry up strips of tortilla to put on top like croutons, but I didn't have tortillas, remember? So it was not-tortilla soup. My kids didn't know the difference and were actually delighted to get leftovers for lunch the next day.

The best part about this soup is that it adapts very well to whatever you have. You don't need a can of beans. Some leftover frijoles, black beans (leftovers from Volcanoes perhaps), chicken broth, etc can all be thrown together to make this soup. Or you could plan ahead and cook some pinto beans from dry. If you do, I recommend adding onions, garlic and salt to them as they cook.

The key ingredients are beans, tomato, broth, cumin, and cayenne.

You can add vegetables, such as celery or carrots, substitute cilantro for green onions. Squeeze a little lemon juice over the top. It's really all up to you isn't it? Because, after all, you're the cook.

PS. I'm making this for a potluck this weekend. Instead of putting in corn I plan to use hominy, which is like big corn kernels that are starchy instead of sweet. That should make it more hearty. But I'll need to add in the sweet another way, probably with a can of tomato paste.

Fall Flower-Apples and Cream Cheese

2009-11-03T18:17:00.000-08:00

For a very tasty and fun seasonal snack try this.

Cut one of those yummy red fall apples into slices.

Arrange them around a plate so they look like a flower.

In the center put a spoonful of whipped cream cheese, pumpkin flavored.

Add a dash of cinnamon and eat by dipping the apple slices in the cream cheese.

If your kids don't love it, great! That means more for you.

Enjoy.

A delightful way to use up zucchini

2009-10-17T10:18:00.000-07:00

We only planted two zucchini plants this summer, but we still had far more than we needed. This cookie recipe has been a big hit in our home. When made with whole grain flour and dehydrated cane juice crystals, its a fairly healthy snack. I wanted to try making it with honey or at least half the amount of sugar, but that experiment will have to wait.

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs, beaten
4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
dash salt
2 cups zucchini, grated
chocolate chips

Mix butter and sugar till fluffy. Beat in eggs. Mix in dry ingredients, then zucchini, and finally the chocolate chips. (I used about a cup of chips)

Place on greased cookie sheet, and bake about 10 to 12 minutes at 350.

They are a cake-like cookie, perfect for a filling afternoon snack!

Bites of summer

2009-10-01T09:58:00.000-07:00

For those of us in the Midwest, summer has faded into autumn. My basil is still green and beautiful despite the cooler temperatures, and the piles of tomatoes gathered from the gardens still beckon to be savored.

This calls for just 3 simple ingredients:

Mozzarella cheese
Tomato
Basil leaves

For added flavor, you may want olive or balsamic oil and a touch of sea salt and pepper.

The smaller, gourmet mozzarella balls are preferred. I also like to use grape or cherry tomatoes.

Layer the ingredients however you prefer. I like to make them into bite size portions, place them on a large platter, then drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt.

A simple and absolutely scrumptious burst of pure summer in your mouth!

When cooler temperatures hit, you can adapt a cozier version of this recipe by placing tomato and mozzarella on a slice of french bread, toasting briefly in the oven, then adding a fresh basil leaf before serving.

Favorite Recipe Links

2009-09-21T14:06:00.000-07:00

I have a lot of favorite recipes that I didn't write that are staples in my kitchen. I thought I'd start a link page here so you can find them too.

Hot Dog or Burger Buns I have not purchased store made hot dog buns since I found this recipe. It is so fast and easy, and tasty, not to mention inexpensive that I can't go back. To make it even less expensive put 1/3 powdered milk in the dry ingredients and change the water amount to 1 1/2 cups in place of the milk. Also, one tbsp of yeast is the same as one package, and the kind of yeast doesn't matter, my regular yeast works just fine.

Spent Grain Bread Since my husband has taken up home brewing as a hobby I've been wondering what to do with the spent grains. Could they be used? Then I came upon Leila's post and tried it. The bread is nice and moist, a little bit dense, and the spent grains give it a pleasant sour flavor, not unlike beer. I love it best in tuna sandwiches or with soup.

No Knead Bread This may be the best bread ever. Though it could be a little more sour in my opinion to make it perfect. The only thing it requires is time. It is simplicity itself. Always use cornmeal to coat it. It gives the bread a delightful crisp crust. The inside is moist and bubbly, and wonderful. Don't expect the bread to rise too much, it doesn't need to. Also, don't worry if it seems too sticky. It's not.

I will continue to add to this list as I find or remember more recipes. Be sure to check the link in the sidebar from time to time to see if it's updated.

Volcanoes

2009-08-26T07:24:00.000-07:00

I didn't invent this dish, my husband did. He did most of the cooking in his family as a teenager. Did I mention that he has 7 younger siblings? How to get kids to eat their beans and rice night after night.

Here it is. I've changed it up a lot, and I don't apologize for it because in his version the only flavor came from the cumin butter, which meant that everyone needed a lot of it to enjoy their meal. I wanted less fat, etc, so I insist that the beans have flavor cooked into them. Also, olive oil. MMM.

Start with rice, white brown, sticky, leftover, it doesn't matter really. Heap it in a pile in the center of the plate. Smooch a hole in the center. This is your volcano.

Now, take some dark green stuff; parsley, cilantro, kale, broccoli, raw green beans, avocado, etc. Stick them in your rice mountain on the slopes. These are your trees.

You will also need some cooked black beans. These can come from a can, or you can cook them from dry in a crockpot or stockpot. Add cumin, lots of it, salt, pepper, oregano/thyme, I like a bit of creole seasoning as well. and some onion or garlic powder if you wish, but not too much, The main player here is the cumin. These are your lava rocks. Pile them on top of your volcano.

Now a little tomato or spaghetti sauce. Or hot sauce for the grown ups. Pour it over the beans. This is your lava.

Now the finisher. Take melted butter mixed with cumin, or olive oil, or a bit of both, and pour it over the whole pile. You don't need much. This is your volcano erupting. This part is what makes all the other flavors mix together into melt in your mouth goodness.

Let your kids build it, and demolish it. You'll be surprised how much they will eat. To this day I have a boy who insists that he doesn't like black beans, but he always eats his volcanoes. Go figure.

Summer Pizza

2009-08-06T08:28:00.000-07:00

The first time I had a "pizza" like this, I was attending one of those in-home parties for gourmet kitchen gadgets. It's a tasty appetizer or light meal, that can either be slightly sweet by topping with fruit, or a fun alternative to salad by topping with raw vegetables. I fell in love with the concept, and sought to adjust the ingredient list into something wholesome and nourishing.

Start with a plain baked crust, using my basic dough recipe. When the crust has cooled, spread "pizza sauce" over top. There are two different variations, depending on whether you are using fruit or vegetables.

For a vegetable pizza, use about 1/2 cup to 1 cup of sour cream with plain yogurt to taste. You can stir in salt and pepper, dill or other herbs if desired.

For a fruit pizza, mix a softened 8 oz block of cream cheese with vanilla yogurt. If using plain yogurt, also stir in a little sweetener, like honey, maple syrup, raw cane crystals, or xylitol.

Now comes the fun of garnishing with your fresh fixin's! Children especially enjoy decorating the pizza with sliced or minced fruit or vegetables.

Fruit ideas: kiwi, strawberry, banana, raspberry, blueberry, pineapple, mandarin oranges, etc.

Vegetable ideas: cucumber, sweet green or red peppers, broccoli, peas, carrot, spinach, etc.

~TamraGirl

Rainbow Bean Soup

2009-07-23T12:55:00.000-07:00

What do you do when your MIL asks you to bring dinner that evening, specifically soup, and you have very few grocery items in the house? Well, I invented Rainbow Bean Soup. That's what I did.

A quick look through my cupboards yielded beans, beans, and some more beans. I had no soup broth ready, very few vegetables, no meat, etc.

Here were my ingredients.

1/2 pound black beans

1/2 pound red beans

1 pound pinto beans

5 tbsp butter

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 onion-diced small

4 cloves garlic-crushed

Chicken bouillon

large handful of fresh sage leaves

salt

pepper

cumin

With so little advance warning I resorted to the quick soak method to prepare the beans.

I placed the beans into a stock pot. Then I brought it all to a boil and removed the pot from the heat. A few hours later they had swelled to full size. I drained the water, replaced it with fresh water, added some salt and simmered them for about half an hour until they were soft. Then I drained the water again and set the beans aside.

I had a big bag of fresh sage that the kids and I picked on one of our walks. [Aside: Sage grows wild around here, and rosemary is used in landscaping in many places, also we have wild pepper trees. For fun, and extra value, check foraging sites for the kinds of herbs that grow in your area and then keep your eyes out for opportunities to take advantage of this by harvesting them. It makes your food more interesting, as well as your walks.]

I wanted to keep the other flavors light to maximize the effect of the fresh sage, but we did need other flavors, beans are kind of boring on their own.

In the bottom of the stock pot I melted a bit of butter for flavor, added some olive oil as well, and sauteed a bunch of crushed garlic and the onion. Once the onion had begun to caramelize I added in the beans, enough water to cover, a few spoonfuls of bouillon, and brought it to a boil. I chopped the fresh sage leaves into small pieces and added them to the broth.

I turned the heat off and added, pepper salt and cumin to taste. Let it sit for a while before serving so that flavor of the sage can permeate the soup. If I had left it to boil there would have been too much heat and it would have killed some of the flavor.

That's it. It was a colorful, tasty soup that went really well with the salad and crusty bread that my MIL made.

image by vavau

My New Favorite Summer Beverage

2009-07-22T14:26:00.000-07:00

Have you ever tried sun tea? I hadn't. I didn't understand what difference it would make to brew tea in the hot sun for a few hours versus brewing it in the normal way.

Not coincidentally, I didn't much like iced tea either, unless it was sweetened. Last month on the way to a party my husband picked up a gallon of unsweetened iced tea from Trader Joe's. (Yes, we all know I love that store.) As I drank glass after glass I couldn't help commenting on how good it tasted, and how surprised I was that it didn't need a sweetener to be enjoyable.

This, apparently, is the difference between sun brewed iced tea and regular brewed iced tea, as my husband was quick to point out. Well, it's true. Brewing tea at a lower temperature in the sun releases the flavor of the tea leaves, but doesn't get hot enough to release the bitterness of the tannins as well.

Every few afternoons I put 4 of the large Lipton Iced Tea bags in a gallon glass jar and let it sit in the sun for a few hours on our patio. Once it's chilled it is a truly refreshing drink. And for a lot less than the Trader Joe's version. One $2 box makes approximately 5 gallons of iced tea.

May I also point out that it has no calories and many antioxidants as well?

The perfect everyday summer beverage for me. Aside from water of course.

Image by all things michigan

The Farmer's Garden

2009-07-08T10:37:00.000-07:00

Do you garden and grow more food than you can eat? Do you wish you could eat garden fresh produce without needing to garden?

Here's a cool solution for every one.

The Farmers Garden, where you can buy sell and trade locally grown backyard produce. It's free to register and post adds on the site and easy to browse adds to find others in your area with produce to sell. I'm hoping someone with a garden in my area will register soon. Maureen Farmer, the creator of this site, is a master gardener who built this site as practice while learning php. Thanks for the great idea and service Maureen.

Coconut & Lime Rice Pudding

2009-07-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

Usually when I think of rice pudding, I think of a comforting, wintertime food. Not so with this scrumptious take on an old favorite! The lime gives it just the right touch for a summertime treat.

Coconut milk is full of the healthy kind of fats, namely lauric acid, which is needed for brain development and strong bones, making this a particularly good recipe for children and pregnant or nursing mothers.

I used coconut milk for the entire milk amount. I love the subtle flavor, but if you want less of a coconut taste, just use regular milk for half. I have found that I prefer the refrigerated coconut milk that comes in a carton over the canned coconut milk, but either will work beautifully. I used the So Delicious brand.

Coconut & Lime Rice Pudding

1/3 cup white rice
3 1/4 cups milk
1/3 cup raw sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons lime zest

Soak rice in cold water for 30 minutes. Drain.
In a saucepan, bring milk, rice, sugar and salt to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer about 45 minutes, or till thick and creamy, stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat and stir in lime zest.

Serve warm or chilled.

Empty the Fridge Frittata

2009-06-28T12:48:00.000-07:00

It is so thrilling to be a part of the Real Food Revolution! My mind has been whirling with all the possible recipes and ideas to share here. Truly, the most difficult part is knowing where to begin, especially since I don't want to disappoint anyone's high hopes after Carrien's glowing introduction. *gulp*

So let's just start with a recipe that I have been making every week, shall we? It has the ease of a no-crust frittata, the moistness of quiche, all with the simplicity of an oven omelet.

I love this recipe for many reasons. It's easy, gluten free, very flexible, and can be made ahead. I often have moms and children over for brunch and its a cinch to whip up the night before, bake partway and then refrigerate till morning. Soon before our friends arrive, I bake it the rest of the way. There's no need to limit it to breakfast though, as it also makes a tasty dinner when paired with a soup or salad.

This is one of those recipes that is great for using up the little odds and ends that seem to gather in my fridge, like bits of meat, veggies, herbs and cheese.

Feel free to use less or more of any ingredient. Believe me, I really just throw this all together and it has always turned out delicious.

Empty the Fridge Frittata

Main ingredients

1 tablespoon butter
8 to 12 eggs
1/2 cup to 1 cup sour cream, yogurt, or milk
salt and pepper

Possible Additions

Cooked meat (optional) - bacon, ham, chicken, hamburger, sausage.. I've even used leftover roast beef
Fresh veggies - red or green pepper, spinach, zucchini, tomato, onion (raw or sauteed)..
Fresh herbs - basil, parsley
Cheese - sharp or mild cheddar, mont jack, feta...

Grease a pie dish generously with butter.
In a separate bowl, beat eggs and dairy. Season and stir in desired additions.
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes to 1 hour, depending on how many eggs you used, or till set.
Serve warm. This recipe is even delicious cold.

Introducing...

2009-06-23T15:49:00.000-07:00

I a super excited to announce that the real food revolution has a new writer. I'll still be here, writing as infrequently as ever. [cough] In addition Tamra will be adding her thoughts and considerable expertise on healthy eating, and preparing real food on a budget. I've already tried some of her recipes and can tell you they are worth checking out.

If we're lucky perhaps she'll also tell us how she taught her kids to cook so that they are now a big help to her in the kitchen.

So look forward to her contributions in the coming weeks. I'm expecting great things.

Tamra also blogs at tamragirl.com, Klaty.com, is landscaping and planting french style vegetable gardens in her story book looking house, tends to her goat farm, and is mother to 6 children.

Cookware Giveaway

2009-03-18T14:56:00.000-07:00

I was contacted by the PR people about this cookware giveaway. I thought I would let you all know in case you wanted to try and win some fancy new cookware. Just click the image to link over to the contest. Good Luck.

Baked Beans

2009-03-17T23:38:00.000-07:00

I make these baked beans that I think are pretty good. I brought them to a wedding reception a while ago, BBQ themed, and a lot of other people seem too as well. They aren't as sweet as most of the store bought varieties. I'm always trying to duplicate the beans they make at this little BBQ and smokehouse place in Vancouver called Memphis Blues Barbecue House. The best. beans. ever! Oh, and the BBQ is good too.

Whenever someone asks me for the recipe I respond, "Oh, I just use the basic baked beans recipe from the More-With-Less Cookbook. And then I put in less molasses, use tomato sauce instead of ketchup, way more mustard and I add BBQ sauce and extra onions. And I use the crock pot." Then they look at me blankly and repeat their question, "Could I have the recipe?"

Apparently I didn't really give it to them after all. Well here it is. I shall try to record all of the changes that make it my recipe. You're welcome Barb.

Baked Beans

2 lb Navy Beans

4 qts water

Put in the crock pot and turn on low over night. *

In the morning drain, saving liquid.

Add 1/2 cup molasses

1 15/16 oz can of tomato sauce

1/2 cup prepared mustard

1 cup BBQ Sauce (without High fructose corn syrup of course)

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

5-6 dashes hot chili sauce

1 tbsp salt

1 tsp fresh ground pepper

1 large onion, chopped fine

1 tbsp minced garlic

2 bay leaves

Enough bean liquid to cover.

Stir together. Put lid back on crock pot and let cook on low for at least 4 hours.

Serve when ready.

Beans are very forgiving. If you taste it and think it ought to be sweeter, add more molasses. If you want it more tart, add more vinegar. Etc. You can adjust at the end if you need to. So tweak it until it's the way you like it. And then everyone will be asking you for your recipe.

* You can actually skip this step and cook it all together from the start in the crock pot, it just takes longer to finish then when starting with cooked beans. And you may want to soak them first.

**************
My friend Atara uses the basic recipe, she bakes it in the oven as intended. She puts a small ham in the middle and puts sauerkraut all over the top as it bakes. It tastes amazing. The ham is so tender when it's done. And the sauerkraut really compliments the flavor. I keep meaning to try this with my recipe to see how it turns out. At least the part with the ham.

photo by rick

Best Rice Side Dish Ever!!!

2009-01-19T21:01:00.000-08:00

I invented this to go with a London Broil. I didn't have potatoes but I wanted something rich and flavorful to accompany the beef flavors. Here it is.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups jasmine rice

2 scant cups water

1/4 cup butter

1 medium onion

3 cloves garlic, crushed

salt

pepper

Method
Soak rice for half an hour or so in cold water. (You don't have to do this but it really improves the texture if you do.) Rinse several times in cold water until the rinse water runs clear.

Combine rice and water in a saucepan, (or rice cooker). Over high heat bring to a boil. Immediately turn down to low and cover. Let steam until all water is absorbed and rice is translucent.

Dice onion fine. In a heavy bottom frying pan or sauce pan, melt butter and add the onions. Cook over medium high heat, stirring often, until the onions start to caramelize. You can tell that they are doing this when they start to turn a golden brown color and smell amazing. Throw in the garlic. Saute a minute longer. Add the cooked rice, stir until combined. Add salt and pepper to taste. And serve.

This also tastes good the next day with leftover meat cut in pieces and added in when it's reheated.

Yam and Cranberry Spice Muffins

2008-11-29T14:57:00.000-08:00

One of the reasons my posting has been so infrequent of late is that I've been mulling over the usefulness of what I write. See, I don't usually work from a recipe. I just throw stuff in a pot until it tastes right, and that's not the easiest thing to reproduce for other readers.

But, it's the way I cook. So if you're here I'm just assuming that's what you like to read.

Take today for example. I had a roasted and peeled yam in the fridge. I had half a bag of fresh cranberries left over. I decided to make muffins.

Now, muffins are not rocket science. They are hard to render completely inedible, regardless of what you add, as long as you stick to some basic rules.

You need flour, baking powder, eggs, oil, and liquid, the rest is just details. I used to start with a recipe, and then alter it to work with what I have on hand. That helped me to get an idea of proportions. Now, I usually wing it with what I know.

Today, I started with 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour, in a mixing bowl.

I washed the cranberries and put them in a saucepan with just enough water to cover them. I added a glop of sugar probably 2 TBSP and a bit of cinnamon and nutmeg. I let that boil just long enough for the berries to burst and then turned it off and set it aside.

I wanted a pretty dense grainy sort of breakfast muffin. So while the cranberries were boiling I added one cup of rolled oats and two handfuls of millet. (yes, I measure by the handful, it's very scientific.) Then I added 2 tsp of baking soda and 1/4 tsp of salt. (given how the muffins turned out I think next time I would add 1 tsp of baking soda, instead of the second tsp of baking powder. They were a bit more dense than I would like and the soda would hopefully fix that. Let me know :) Then I added a lot of ground ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg. I several shakes, lets guess 1 tsp each. Or more if you want.

Then I mashed up the yam and added it to the flour mixture along with the cranberry sauce. Then I added two eggs. And then I added 1/4 cup molasses for sweetening, and 1 tbsp of oil.

It was still a bit too dry so I added 1/2 cup of yogurt as well, 1/4 cup at a time until it was right.

I baked them at 325 for about half an hour. And they were all gone less than a hour later.

This recipe made 1 dozen large muffins.

And that my friends is how to bake on the fly. If you've made muffins once or twice you know what the batter should look like. Just make sure you have:

a rising agent-Baking powder or soda, enough for the amount you have. My rule of thumb is one tsp per cup of flour or dried stuff, minimum.
A binding agent-the gluten in flour is binding to an extent, but with so much other stuff in it as well you need another binding agent, in this case, the eggs.
Oil-so the muffins aren't too dry. Again, because of the mashed yam in this I didn't need as much oil because the yam was moist enough.
Seasoning of some sort-salt, spices, vanilla extract, it depends on what else is in your muffin.
Sweetener-you can use sugar, honey, maple syrup, molasses, agave nectar, apple sauce, etc. You will adjust the amount of dry or wet ingredients depending on whether your sweetener is dry or wet. If it's dry, like sugar, you will need more liquid. If it's wet, you will need less of another type of liquid.
Some sort of liquid to get things to the right consistency. You could use water, if you want, but that's just boring. I like to use milk, blended fruit, yogurt, buttermilk (Really fluffy muffins with buttermilk) etc. Or you can add powdered milk to the dry ingredient and just add water for a cheaper alternative to milk.

And there you have all you need to try and use what you have in your kitchen already to make some muffins, transforming leftovers into something else entirely.

Good luck.

Get a big knife

2008-11-18T17:21:00.000-08:00

photo from viZZZual.com

Here's a really simple frugal food tip.

If you cut everything smaller, it goes farther.

If you cut smaller pieces of meat before you cook it it will stretch farther than large pieces without anyone really feeling deprived.

I cut dried fruit smaller when I make muesli. The flavor is more evenly distributed that way and it takes less fruit for the same result.

There's even science behind this. Remember high school chem when they told you that if you increase the surface area you increase the intensity of the chemical reaction? Same applies in the kitchen. Needless to say, I use my big chef's knife and cutting board every day.

The smaller you chop your onions the more flavor you get out of them in a dish, same with garlic.

Raisins can be chopped up smaller before putting them in baking. You can turn 1/2 cup of raisins into close to one whole cup just by cutting them into smaller pieces.

So go forth and chop smaller.

And share your frugal tips in the comments.

Greek Style Yogurt and Flavored Yogurt from Homemade-And Homemade Yogurt Cheese All in One Post!

2008-07-31T22:00:00.000-07:00

First let's talk about Greek Style yogurt. What is it exactly?

It' s a high fat content yogurt that is really creamy. Thankfully, making it is one of the simplest things ever. This is also how to thicken your yogurt that was a bit too runny.

Ingredients-
Plain yogurt made from whole milk.

Method.

Line a plastic colander with a clean cheese cloth. Place inside a large bowl. Pour the yogurt into the cheesecloth line colander. Pull all of the loose ends together and tie in a loose knot on the top, or use a clip or twist tie. If you can't close it up remove some of the yogurt and try again.

Put it in the fridge for a few hours. As it sits in the cheese cloth the whey, or liquid, will start to drain and the fat will remain in the cheese cloth. In a few hours you will have thicker creamier yogurt exactly like Greek style yogurt. If you leave it for a few days you will have yogurt cheese.

Do not discard the whey. Save it and use it as a substitute for buttermilk in any recipes you may have. You can also use it to start more yogurt.

The traditional way to sweeten Greek style yogurt is with honey which you can drizzle on top when serving, or stir in before hand. You can also add any other flavors you enjoy. Jam is a good way to add flavor to yogurt, or stir in fresh pureed fruit. And, you can freeze it and then you have it as frozen yogurt. What could be easier?

To flavor yogurt cheese. Add a bit of salt to taste and use as cream cheese or in dips. It tastes especially good with that Hungarian eggplant dip. What's it called...arghh! like Baba Ganoush but not. If you know what I'm talking about let me know?

I also like to chop up and add fresh herbs to it, like rosemary and basil and dill, with some fresh ground pepper, it tastes great on crackers and bagels, and as a dip for veggies, or plain on a pita with some hummus and olives. You'll find lots of ways to use it.

Now if you are really ambitious and want to try making fruit on the bottom yogurt like you buy it in the stores instead of stirring in flavor afterwards here is how.

You need to start with the fruit preserves. You can make this yourself by simmering fruit over a hot stove until it is a thick sauce, adding sugar or honey helps to thicken it. Or you can use a fruit preserve that is already made. Your own, or something you bought at the store.

Follow the instructions in Making Yogurt-How to make yogurt at Home.
When you get the containers ready for the warm milk, carefully pour some of the fruit preserve into the bottom of the containers. Try not to get it on the sides of the container. How much will depend on the container size, and how much flavor you like to add to your yogurt. I would say 1/2 to 1 inch high at the bottom of a quart jar. When your milk is ready to pour into the containers, slowly and carefully on top of the preserves. Be careful not to pour too quickly and stir the milk and fruit together. Place the caps on the jars, and carefully, so as not to disturb the layers, put it in your warm place and wait until it sets. Then pull it out and impress all of your friends with your stellar homemaking skillz. It looks pretty actually, and makes a good gift basket item. But it's just as easy I think to stir jam or preserves into plain yogurt just before you eat it.

What to do to "rescue" yogurt that doesn't turn out.

2008-06-30T18:25:00.000-07:00

Sometimes yogurt doesn't turn out.

You reach into the warm oven in the morning and instead of firm tangy yogurt you have warm milk. Oops. It happens to everyone once in a while.

Before you throw away all that milk, here are a few things to try to fix it.

The problem is always either temperature or culture.

If your culture is/was dead, nothing you can do will make your milk turn into yogurt. You need to get a new starter and begin again.

Usually though the problem is one of temperature and is easy to fix. If your yogurt didn't turn out, you either put the culture in when it was too hot and killed it, which isn't likely if you were using a thermometer carefully, or, that it cooled off too fast before the yogurt could thicken.

The latter is almost always the case, and is relatively simple to fix.

Put your yogurt back into a pot with a thermometer. Stand over it like a hawk and make sure to remove it from heat the instant the thermometer reads 110-115F. Any warmer an you will kill your culture. (If you have more that's not a problem, but if you are like me and use the last of your former batch to start the next one, you probably don't any more culture handy.)

Pour the warm again milk back into the storage containers and put it back in the warm oven. If you have a digital temperature control and can set the oven to 110F do so and leave it on. Check on the yogurt in 4 hours.

If you have an older oven, set it to the lowest possible setting, just when the light comes on, and turn it off once the light goes off. In two hours check the inside of the oven to see how warm it is. If it's starting to feel cool, turn it back on again for a few minutes to warm back up. Be sure to turn it off after a few minutes. You don't want to kill the culture or cook the yogurt.

Most times this will do the trick and closer attention to temperature will help your yogurt work the second time around. If it doesn't work get a new starter and use this batch as buttermilk in recipes. I wouldn't try it a third time.

If you find that your oven just doesn't stay warm enough long enough here are a few alternate ways to incubate yogurt.

Alternate Methods of Incubation for Yogurt

Alternate Methods of Incubation for Yogurt

2008-06-30T15:12:00.000-07:00

Here are a few variations in method for Making Yogurt. Using the oven is the easiest method for me. No mess, no fuss, no special equipment. But if your oven doesn't stay warm long enough to incubate yogurt you may want to try another method.

1.)You could use a cooler and hot water bottles or a heat packs. Put your yogurt jars in the cooler with the heat packs or water bottles. Close firmly. You can even put a thermometer in the cooler to help you monitor the temperature inside. This method would work well if you were camping as well and wanted to make yogurt. Or live somewhere without electricity.

2.) Speaking of camping and living without electricity...I've always been fascinated by this technique though I've not tried it. If you happen to have pack goats, which people have in South America I hear, and one of them is a milking goat, which would only make sense if they are accompanying you on a long trek, here is how you would make yogurt. At night, after milking the pack goat you would add culture to the still warm fresh milk, put it in a jar, put the jar in you sleeping bag at the foot and you body heat should keep it warm all night. In the morning you have yogurt for breakfast. One day I really want to try that one.

3.)I've successfully incubated yogurt in a sink full of warm water. Just make sure the jars are sealed tight. Use a thermometer and start with water slightly warmer than 110F because it will cool quickly. I used this method when I've had to run out of the house for a long time, usually over night, and for various reasons I started yogurt but didn't have time to finish it. The water incubates it long enough for the yogurt to set, and then continues to cool and eventually acts as a bit of refrigeration for the yogurt, keeping it fresh until I can return home and put it in the fridge. I also left the tiny window over my sink open so the water would cool at night. This wouldn't work in a heat wave however.

4.)You can purchase a yogurt maker. Most of these are a bucket lined with Styrofoam and a fancy label, but you can set them on you counter top and they do work. Others are fancier and have a heat source and places for bottles to rest. I don't personally think they are worth the expense but they may be helpful for some.

5.) My friend from Iran used to wrap her yogurt in a blanket and set it on her kitchen counter for the day. She probably still does.

I think you get the idea. Insulate, keep warm. If the oven method isn't working for you, you may find success with one of the other methods listed. Good luck.

Good Article

2008-06-22T16:26:00.000-07:00

I just read this the other day and I thought it said things very well.

Go have a read.

Natural Selection: How to Choose Healthy Snacks By Catherine Newman

Making Yogurt-How to make Yogurt at Home

2008-06-19T22:46:00.000-07:00

Okay, here's the thing you need to know about yogurt. It's really really easy. I tell you this at the beginning, before you read all about getting a thermometer and temperatures and bacterial process and all, because I was intimidated by yogurt for years. I would read the directions, in numerous books, and then put them down and relegate yogurt making to the someday when I have a lot of time to figure it out category in my head. I don't want you to do the same thing. So I'll say it again, making yogurt is simple.

Now, I'll probably be very long winded about making yogurt because I like to understand WHY things work. "Why mommy? Why?" I'm not that different from my 6 year old after all. "But why mommy? Why shouldn't I pee on my little sister in the bathtub? She's laughing."

Ahem.

Moving on.

Here's the other thing you need to know about yogurt. You will save a lot of money making it yourself. Say one gallon of milk is $3. One quart of good quality yogurt is usually $3-4 minimum. That means if you are buying yogurt you are paying $12-16 per gallon. If you make a gallon of yogurt guess how much it costs? That's right, $3, give or take the price of a gallon of milk. If you like yogurt, you really want to know how to make it yourself.

The first thing you will need is a pot large enough to hold the amount of yogurt you want to make. I don't recommend trying to do more than a gallon at a time. It takes too long to heat and burns on the bottom, and too long to cool. But you can start with less. You will have exactly as much yogurt as milk that you start with so you will need containers to hold them. My personal preference is glass mason jars. They seal nicely, don't leak, don't leech dioxins when they are warmed and look pretty. I went through a lot of plastic containers before I caught on. But you can use whatever you want. Really. It doesn't even need a lid. The picky among us may want a wire sieve, but that's completely optional.

So for you who like it laid out all neat and tidy instead of lost in the narrative, here's your list.

Equipment
Large Stock Pot or Sauce Pan (Heavy bottomed is best.)
Candy thermometer (Can be found in the baking section of every grocery store chain in North America I think. But I'll tell you what to do if you haven't got one too. Yogurt makers have been going by feel for centuries.)
Storage Containers
Wire Sieve
Whisk or spoon for stirring

(See that jar with a bit of yogurt in the bottom? That's
from my last batch, to use to start this one.)

Ingredients
Milk (Whole, Skim, and every thing in between. Personally I think whole milk tastes better and makes creamier yogurt, but low fat will work just as well.)
1 tbsp of your favorite brand of plain unsweetened yogurt, as long as it reads on the side, "Active bacterial cultures".

And please tell me that your favorite yogurt doesn't have gelatin or cornstarch in it, because those people who make that slop don't know how to make yogurt. Well, they probably do, but they're cheating you into thinking that it's creamier with additives. Anyway, you could go out and buy a yogurt starter like yo-gourmet or the like, but it's a whole lot simpler to just use some yogurt you already have. Their instructions are way to complex in my opinion, though that's how I started.

Yogurt is a simple bacterial process, just like bread. You introduce the bacteria to the milk, get it nice and cozy so that the bacteria thrive and they eat their way through all of the lactose and in turn give you yogurt. Before you get all grossed out by that, consider that you have a lot of bacteria and microorganisms in your body right now and you want the stuff in yogurt in you, because it's good for you, and then the bad bacteria has less space to run around and eventually almost moves out altogether complaining about over crowding. So that's why you need a little bit of yogurt from somewhere else. It already has live bacteria in it for you to add to the milk.

The rest is just all about temperature. You get the milk hot enough to pasteurize it so that the only thing alive in it is the bacteria you want to grow and nothing else. Then you get it cool enough to not kill the bacteria and then keep it warm enough that they stay active until they have spread through out the yogurt. Got that? Good. Here we go.

Method

Pour the milk into the pot. Set the heat beneath the pot to medium/medium high. (There are those who will tell you that you should put it on low and stir constantly to keep from burning but those people don't make yogurt that often I don't think. Higher heat warms it faster before the stuff on the bottom starts to stick and burn.) Put the thermometer in the milk, it should have a clip for the side of the pot, and stay close by stirring from time to time.

The hardest part about making yogurt is keeping the milk from burning. It takes so long to heat up that you have usually forgotten that you have anything on the stove and you have gone off to fold laundry or have a shower or something. If you get at all engrossed in movies, do not try to watch one while making yogurt. You will forget about it until it's boiling over the top and burnt on the bottom. Oh wait, that's just me? Never mind. Magazines are good. Yogurt making is a good time to read a magazine. On a chair or stool in the kitchen. Next to your milk. So you don't forget.

Watch your yogurt, stirring occasionally, until it reaches 180F, or 80C. If you have no thermometer, stand over it and watch until the outside edges are bubbling vigorously and there is a lot of steam coming off the milk.

Here's for the list people.

Method

Preheat oven to 110F. Or just set it on the lowest possible setting just when the light comes on, no more. Heat milk to 180F, 80C. Remove immediately from heat. Allow to cool to between 110-115F, about 54C. (Or if you have no thermometer, until you can hold your pinkie finger in the milk for a full 10 seconds without it burning.) Skim the skin off the top. Add the tbsp of yogurt. Stir together. Pour into storage containers. Place storage containers in the warmed oven. Turn the oven off. Wait 4 to 8 hours before opening. When the milk stays firm when the container is tilted remove from oven and place in fridge.

There you're done. That wasn't so hard was it?

Oh the sieve? That's for people who want a very smooth yogurt. You can pour the milk through it into the storage containers to catch any lumps.

NOTES:
I don't usually bother sterilizing my equipment. But I do try to get it very clean, rinsing in very hot water and soap just before I use it all. I don't want anything that isn't healthy bacteria growing in my milk.

Be sure to save a little bit of this batch of yogurt to use for starting your next batch.

For breakfast pair it with Muesli.

See also,

Alternate Methods of Incubation

How to "Rescue" Yogurt that Doesn't Turn Out

Greek Style Yogurt, and Making Yogurt Cheese

How to make Muesli

2008-06-16T12:21:00.000-07:00

Basic Muesli Recipe

5 cups rolled oats (Not instant)
1/2 cup sunflower seeds ( I haven't put these in in a while)
1/2 cup millet
1 cup chopped or slivered almonds
1 cup dried fruit, (anything you want, we like dried apples and raisins, cranberries, candied orange peels, or a berry mix.)
2 tsps cinnamon
2 tsps ground cardamom
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground nutmeg

(For an optional but absolutely wonderful ingredient addition, it does add a bit of sugar, chop up some crystallized ginger and add it in, mmm, mmm, good.)

Mix together and store in an airtight container or keep in a bag in the fridge. To serve add fresh plain yogurt, stir together and eat. (quantities depend on individual preference.) Or you can use it as a cereal with milk, soy milk, etc. The longer you let it sit, the softer it gets. You can add fresh fruit also; berries, kiwi, mangoes, whatever your imagination can come up with.

There are as many different ways to make muesli as there are people, you can add other grains, avoid sour ones, you can add more nuts, less nuts, different kinds of nuts, seeds, coconut, fruit, spices, etc. Experiment until you find one that your family loves.

Yogurt can get expensive to buy so I have a secret for you; it's super simple to make and way cheaper. I used to be afraid of it, and waited a long time to try, and then wondered why I had because it's so simple. Instructions for how to make yogurt coming soon.

Whole Grain Crockpot Porridge

2008-05-07T09:35:00.000-07:00

I've posted this before. (See Breakfast-When you need it now.) But Now I'm giving it it's own separate entry and title so you can find it easier. Enjoy.

1 cup whole oats-hulled
1 cup whole barley-hulled
1/2 cup millet
5-6-7 cups of water
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup dried fruit (Raisins, apples, cranberries, prunes, apricots, etc.)

Combine all ingredients in crock pot. Cook on low. feeds 4-5 hungry people. To keep the outside from getting crunchy you can put a bowl with the combined ingredients in it inside the crock pot. Fill the crock pot itself with water that goes about halfway up the outside of the bowl.

Turn on the crock pot just before you go to bed, and turn it off as soon as you wake up. Serve with milk or cream or yogurt, maple syrup, fresh berries, my husband likes to add brown sugar; whatever you like. The longer you sleep, the more water you need to add so it doesn't burn or dry out. Also, if you have leftovers, take them out of the crock pot right away and put them in something else so that they don't dry out from the residual heat.

It's great having breakfast ready when you get out of bed, and it smells good too.

Here's some reading material

2008-05-06T21:48:00.000-07:00

I found this article the other day while browsing around. It's an interesting read.

From Lab to Lunch: Chemicals they call food.

As I've been saying... ahem... not everything you can eat deserves the name food. Click over to find out why.

Lentil Shepherd's Pie

2008-04-30T11:13:00.000-07:00

This is one of my family's favorite dishes. It's frugal, tasty, healthy, and really easy to make.
You can easily adapt it for vegetarian diets by using vegetable bouillon instead of chicken and you can make it vegan if you skip the goat cheese and substitute margarine for butter in the potatoes.

Ingredients:

Topping

4-5 large potatoes
2 tbsp butter
2 tsp minced garlic
1/2-1/2 cup goat cheese (Optional)
salt
pepper
chicken broth to thin as needed.

Filling:
2 cups lentils (regular brown will do fine but I like to use french green lentils when I can find them.)
1 medium sized onion-diced or purreed
1 tbsp minced garlic
1-2 tbsp chicken bouillon or 1 cup chicken stock
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano/thyme
1 tsp basil
1 tsp madras curry powder (optional)
salt and pepper to taste.

1 tbsp cornstarch

Wash and rinse the lentils. Soak them in a pot for about half an hour in at least 4 cups of cold water before cooking them. (This helps them to "wake up" and get ready to srpout which starts to change carbs to protein and reduces enzyme inhibitors that make digestion difficult.)

Change water and bring water with lentils in it to a boil on the stove top. Turn down to simmer and cook until lentil are soft. Drain and set aside.

While the lentils are soaking and cooking, wash and dice potatoes. (I don't peel them because I like peels in my mashed potatoes and the peels are where all the minerals are. But I do chop them smaller before cooking so the peels are smaller.)

Place potatoes in large pot of boiling salted water and cook until they break apart when pierced with a fork. Drain water immediately and add the garlic, butter, goat cheese (Cheapest at Trader Joe's) and salt and pepper. Mash together. If the potatoes are too thick for you add chicken broth a little at a time until they are smooth. Set aside.

Heat a tbsp of olive oil in a large skillet and saute the onions until translucent. Add the garlic and stir for 30 seconds and then add the cooked lentils. Add bouillon and little bits of water, enough to form a gravy. Add spices and taste often until you are happy with the flavor.

Put the cornstarch in a cup and stir in 1/4 cup of cold water until combined. Slowly pour the cornstarch mixture into the lentils mixture, stirring quickly to avoid lumps. Once it is all combine cook at medium heat for about one minute until it thickens.

Place lentil mixture in a pie pan or baking dish. Carefully spread the mashed potatoes on top, leaving a hole in the center for venting. Use a fork to smooth the potatoes out and then dot with butter and place in the oven at 350. Bake until the potatoes form a golden crust on the top and then serve immediately.

The lentils taste really hearty and savory and the creamy potatoes with the goat cheese go with it perfectly. It will be hard to only have one helping.

Serving suggestions:

Serve with a mixed green salad and balsamic vinaigrette.

Variations:

Add mixed chopped vegetables to the lentil filling before baking.

Saint Patrick's Day Green Mashed Potatoes

2008-03-17T13:31:00.000-07:00

Here's a fun idea to serve with dinner for St. Patricks day tonight. As much fun as green beer and cupcakes can be, this way of turning your meal green using parsley actually adds more nutrients to the dish, rather than taking any away. Parsley is a very nutrient dense food, high in anti-oxidants.

Start with 6-8 medium sized potatoes. You can use any kind but I prefer red potatoes because I don't peel my potatoes and the red skins are usually less tough. (There are a lot of nutrients in the skin, vitamin C, folic Acid, minerals, and I like to keep those in the food instead of taking them out.)

Sea salt
2 tbsp olive oil (Extra virgin-it's green :)
6-8 cloves of garlic-minced
4-5 tbsp butter
1/4 to 1/2 cup milk (You can substitute broth for milk with nice results, but it's a little less creamy.)
one thick bunch of parsley
Fresh ground pepper
Goat cheese or cream cheese-Optional and more fatty, but very delicious. The goat cheese adds a nice sharp flavor and protein.

Dice the potatoes. I like to make the pieces pretty small so that the peel is cut up more and there aren't any big chunks in the mashed potatoes.

Place the diced potatoes in a pot and add cold water until it covers the potatoes. Add a generous splash of sea salt. Bring to a boil and simmer over medium heat until the potatoes are soft through and break apart when you stick a fork in them.

Remove them from heat and drain the water. You can save this salty potato water for use in soups and breads, it's full of minerals. Put the butter in the drained potatoes so it melts right away. (If you are using cheese now is the time to add it too.)

While the potatoes are cooking, in a heavy bottomed saucepan over medium low heat, saute the garlic in the olive oil. Be careful not to burn. Stop as soon as the garlic starts to give off a nutty aroma.

Wash the parsley. Coarsely chop the parsley, stems and all.

Place the parsley, olive oil and garlic mixture, and 1/4 cup of milk in a blender or food processor. Blend until the parsley is very small and the mixture is smooth.

Mash potatoes. If you are doing it by hand, mash them and then stir in the parsley and garlic mixture. If they need more liquid add more milk or broth. Add salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.

Your potatoes will turn out green.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

home made iced coffee, save money and use leftovers

2008-03-13T02:55:00.000-07:00

Every morning my husband wakes up, fills the french press with coffee and boils the water. He fills his travel mug and leaves for work leaving behind almost exactly one more cup of coffee. I don't drink coffee, can't stand the stuff. My husband won't reheat old coffee. So every day I was pouring money down the sink in the form of this wasted cup of coffee. Granted it is still cheaper than a trip to Starbucks every morning, but still. Waste not want not is a motto I was raised on. I started to freeze the stuff, thinking I'd find a use for it eventually, and then, I had a big duh moment.

My husband also likes the iced coffees that Starbucks offers, with the names like frappacino, for $2.50 a bottle. So one day I poured the leftover coffee into a jar. I used a salsa jar, you could use a recycled frappacino bottle from Starbucks. I added sugar (Organic evaporated cane juice actually) , I added cream. I put the lid on and shook it all together before putting it in the fridge. Then I slipped it into his lunch box the next day.

The result?

He tells me it tastes good. Almost exactly like the store bought version in fact. He's been taking it every day since and has been enjoying an iced coffee at lunch out of what was essentially waste before.

Easy Valentine's Treats

2008-02-13T15:39:00.000-08:00

Here's a quick and simple Valentine's day gift, and project with the kids.

Target has heart shaped ice cube trays on sale this month 3 for $1.

You can use any size ice cube tray container that has a pretty or interesting shape. The flexible trays are much easier to extract the finished chocolates from.

Take whatever chocolate you have on hand. Melt it in a double boiler. The key here is to not let the chocolate get too hot or it will become grainy. Keep it just warm enough to melt but no warmer. (If you don't have a double boiler, a metal or glass bowl set in a pot of water above a burner will work just as well.)

I am using 72% dark Belgian chocolate from Trader Joe's, approx $3/pound.

Chocolate chips would work too. This is by no means gourmet, but it's fun and tasty. I'd show you pictures but my battery died during this project so you'll have to use your imagination.

Spray your molds with a light cooking spray so the formed chocolates come out.

Here is where it gets fun. You can do whatever you like with this chocolate. You can add salt free butter and cream to make a ganache, which is softer. You can add flavors; peppermint extract, cinnamon, chai liqueur, Irish cream. The cheaper the chocolate, the funner it is to play with the flavors. Or, you can just melt the chocolate and use it plain.

Then, simply pour the melted chocolate mixture into the molds. Cool and pop out. Wrap individually in cellophane, you can put them in the tiny muffin cups for color, and tie with a ribbon and you have a lot of fun Valentine's to give away.

Fancy tips and tricks

First paint the inside of the molds with melted chocolate using a pastry brush or clean paint brush. Allow to cool.

Next fill the inside of the mold. I like to do a dark chocolate shell with a milk chocolate center. You can also use peanut butter (I would sweeten it if it's unsweetened), macadamia nut and cashew butter, whole nuts, white chocolate, strawberry preserves, or cream filling.

Cream filling is simple to make. Start with a few drops of your favorite flavoring in a bowl. Stir in powdered sugar until the desired thickness. The end, unless you want to add color.

I'm using the leftover cream cheese frosting from my birthday cake for filling some of them.

Once the chocolates are filled, put in the freezer so the centers get firm and then pour a final coat of melted chocolate over the outside to seal it.

Let set and then pop out of the molds.

I you want to get fancy you can do things like paint a picture in one color chocolate on the inside of the mold and then it will show when you pour a contrasting color in over top.

The easiest way to get fancy is to use regular chocolate and white chocolate pour the dark chocolate in first. Then add a dollop of white. With a toothpick quickly swirl, just once, inside the mold and then put it in the freezer. You'll have pretty swirls in the finished product. Don't over stir.

Finally, if using a paint brush seems like too much work for you, you can just make layers. Pour in a bit of chocolate, let set. Pour in a different flavor of chocolate, like milk chocolate, let set. Pour in a third layer of the first chocolate. You get it. It's simple but it impresses your kids.

Updated to add:

Hazelnut, how could I forget the magic of hazelnut spread. It make s great filling and you can even put it in and stuff a real hazelnut in the center for a truly gourmet effect.

Have fun.

Happy Valentine's Day

What, You're hungry again???!

2008-01-23T22:57:00.000-08:00

You know that feeling? The one you get when you are just thinking that maybe you'll have a minute to yourself after a long day of work, tending children, or both and you suddenly realize that people are hungry, yourself included, but didn't you just make lunch? Didn't we already deal with food today? Why do you have to be hungry again?

I sometimes feel this way about this blog. I love to write about food. I like to cook. But often I realize that it's way past time to post again and I'm still feeling like I just did that already, even if it's been several weeks. Sigh.

Well I don't know what's for dinner kids, sorry. I've been a bit swamped lately.

How about I send you over to someone else for a few meals? I just found The Cleaner Plate Club, and wow I like what I'm reading so far. So go over and take a gander. I'll be back soon.

*Thanks to mir for the link

It's the season..

2007-12-30T21:21:00.000-08:00

I know, It is the height of food season, and I haven't posted anything. I've been baking my mom's butter tarts, and making homemade chocolates, and kettle corn, and basically using the holiday season as an excuse to try new recipes since I am giving most of it away as gifts. And by gifts I mean little tokens to neighbors and friend's to let them know that we care about them via large doses of rum flavored chocolates in thrift store tins decorated with ribbon.

I tried making kettle corn for the first time this month using Rachel Ray's recipe. It was fast, simple, and tasted great. I added cinnamon and nutmeg to the sugar as a little flavor twist and we think it tasted quite yummy. Oh, and did I mention inexpensive? I would say though that if you do try this recipe you need to be sure to remove it from the heat the instant the popping slows down. Sugar burns fast we found out.

My snacking on baked goods has been kept to a minimum by insisting that I have to have tea to go with it. This meant that on Christmas day at the grandparent's, I finally ate my dessert a good hour after everyone else since I sat down to eat and found that the tea was all gone and had to brew some more, and keep them from clearing my plate while I waited. But in the end, I really enjoyed that dessert, and didn't really have the opportunity to eat more after since it was all already put away.

And in other news, in spite of a months worth of eating and baking, I dug out the fabulous red dress the other day for the first time this year while looking for party clothes and discovered, to my delight, that it fits again. In fact, the only place it's even a bit snug is in the chest. This is a tailored fitted dress so it's very unforgiving and it looked great. I was so happy and planning what shoes to wear with it when I realized that I couldn't wear it to the party because it's impossible to breast feed in and the Baby would be in attendance, for several hours and I didn't relish the idea of stripping naked in the bathroom in order to feed her. (Sigh. Must get a life soon and go out with just my husband somewhere that a fabulous dress won't be terribly out of place.) I'm honestly not sure I remember where it is that grownups go to have fun without children.

In other good news, I think I am finally thinking like a thin person. I'm not counting calories or feeling guilty about certain foods, I'm just eating sensibly and spending most of my effort trying to get as much healthy food into my family and myself as possible. I try to move because it feels good and my body tells me when I've gone too long without it and my muscles get tight. And I stop when I'm no longer hungry, and have treats in frequently but habitually ritualized, as with the tea thing. I'm not focused on weight loss, or gain, but every so often I look in the mirror and think, "Wow, I look pretty good." (And now you all think I'm a narcissist, but I'm not.) I don't use a scale. I can tell by the way my pants fit if I'm losing or gaining and the measures that keep things steady are mostly instinct now, as are the healthy eating habits. (I can't serve a meal and call it done without a vegetable for instance.)

So, I guess there is a pay off at the end of all that hard work and relearning after all. Make healthy behaviours habits and add habits gradually and one day it will seem like magic, like the weight came off all by itself. If I can do it....I know you can do it too.

Making the Most Of Pantry Basics-Recap

2007-12-17T10:13:00.000-08:00

Since we're heading into the Holidays and I am shopping again instead of getting by on what's in my pantry, my meals these days don't fit the guidelines I set out for this little series. And so I've decided to end it for now.

Here is a cost analysis for the 5 days.

Day 1-$6.80 or $1.70/person

Day 2-$5.30 or $1.33/person

Day 3-$5.82 or $1.46/person

Day 4-$5.89 or $1.47/person

Day 5-$6.28 or $1.57/person

That's way less than $2 a day.

Cost per person for 5 whole days? $7.53

Spread that out over a month and it's just over $45/person.

It CAN be done.

Happy Festival of Fried Foods

2007-12-12T16:12:00.001-08:00

Yes, I know I haven't posted this past week, and I'm still not done with the week of pantry basics, but we've been celebrating Hanukkah over here. And while latkes are definitely frugal, one of my granny's favorite stories to tell before she died was all about how she didn't know what to make for dinner and only had one egg in the house and so she made latkes (potato pancakes) and every one had plenty to eat, they may not count as healthy for most people. My mother in law made some this past week though, we called them leftover latkes, and she put lentils and chicken and grated zucchini in them too and they were really good, and fairly healthy as well.

I roasted that $5 turkey I told you about last night, and I now have leftovers to last several days. Hello turkey soup, and pie, and sandwiches.

One night, while trying to think of a way to use my dry goods, and honor the fried food tradition I decided to make samosas. I used a package of spring roll wrappers that I had stashed in my freezer and combined the fillings in these two recipes.

samosa recipe how to make samosas

lentil samosas

I didn't use mango powder though, or carrots because I didn't have either of those. Next time I will roast some of the panch phoran mix seeds and add them to the filling too. I think it will taste even better.

These were a total hit. My husband asked me how long he's have to wait before I made more, my kids ate them, the Girl needed encouragement to finish the filling but she finished it, and even the neighbor kid had some with us for lunch the next day and liked them.

Right now I have two stocks going, one for turkey, one for chicken. We are having shepherd's pie from Turkey leftovers tonight, and so much soup in the weeks to come. I'll get back to you soon with an authentic, only from basics day soon.

Pantry Basics-Day Five and a Bonus section on beans and gas

2007-12-04T13:51:00.000-08:00

Well yesterday was another pantry day.

Breakfast was crock pot porridge again.

Lunch was quinoa and lentils again. I mad ethem the night before so the Gh could tak ethem for lunch as well.

I was excited to find some ground beef in the freezer that I had overlooked. If memory serves I stocked up on ground sirloin when it was $1.99.lb. This was about 1 pound of meat. The kids wanted noodles so I cooked up about 1 pound of noodles I got at Big Lot's for $2.50 for 3 pounds.

I added two cans of Hunt's tomato sauce, also Big Lot's $.69.can, and the GH actually seasoned it because I had to feed the very cranky baby.

I defrosted a frozen loaf of the free cheese bread. (I wrap it in foil shiny side out and put it in a warm oven, 250F or so for at least half an hour. Be sure to flip it over in the middle. It comes out all warm and moist and has that fresh baked feel.)

And we had salad made from half, or less, of the red leaf lettuce I bought at the Farmer's Market last week, some organic cauliflower($.87/lb), and some sprouts. I estimate the cost of the salad to be around $1.20 or less.

We had more than half of the sauce left over and I plan to add some beans and turn it into sloppy joe's later this week.

Sauce $3.40 halved $1.70
Noddles $.83
Salad $1.20
Bread-free

Total cost for dinner $3.73

I was excited about the ground beef but after a week of eating vegetarian, well, and a stomach bug this weekend that kept me from eating much of anything courtesy of my sick baby, I felt distinctly uncomfortable with all that meat in my belly last night. I was getting used to the lighter cleaner feeling that comes without it.

***********
Now onto a very serious question. One of you, and I won't say who because I'm nice like that, has indicated that you are concerned about the amount of beans I am eating because of gas issues. I thought that might be a question for more than one person so here goes.

If you find beans make you gassy, there are a few possibilities. The most likely is that the beans you are eating were not soaked first before cooking. All seeds, and beans are seeds, have in them enzyme inhibitors. These keep them from sprouting when conditions are too dry and unfavorable, they also make beans hard to digest and make it hard to absorb nutrients. Soaking changes all of this. It convinces the seed to wake up, thus removing the enzyme inhibitors turning the carbohydrate into protein and making the whole thing more digestible. For more detail go to this article that I wrote here. If you've not been soaking your beans over night before cooking them and you find you feel uncomfortably gassy after eating them, try soaking them. This may eliminate the problem.

I don't find that beans cause any extra gassiness, I get more from too much meat. But perhaps I don't notice that much because I also eat a lot of cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and spinach and those can cause gas too.

The second thing to consider is whether or not you are eating those beans with red meat. I find this combination often leads to excessive gas, but I don't usually blame the beans, I blame the steak or BBQ or hamburger personally. Try eating them without meat though and see if that makes a difference.

Last, for now, I know people who swear by Beano and other digestive enzymes. Beano you put on you first bite and it helps your stomach to break down the enzymes, and others you take before your meal, like papaya enzymes. Also, other things to try are drinking juice only before you eat, not after the meal as it's easier to digest on an empty stomach than full and helps the rest of the food along. Stick to water after you start eating. Wine on the other hand makes digestion easier. This is why I try to eat salad first as well. The vegetables digest better on an empty stomach and keep things moving for the other foods. There is something to be said for the whole European idea of single foods served in individual courses in an order that is meant to aid digestion.

I hope that some of those help y'all. Anyone else know something I missed? Add it to the comments.

Fun with Food-Get 'em to eat sprouts

2007-11-30T13:26:00.000-08:00

I tell my kids that we're going to have bird's nests for lunch. Just drizzle dressing over the top.

Alternates for egg shaped foods include: almonds, grapes, brazil nuts, peanuts, etc.

The best way to get children excited about eating something is to involve them in the process. If they get to see it as a seed, and then help to rinse it and watch it grow, they are invested in enjoying that first taste. Even if they don't like it their first time, you're not likely to have to force them to take a bite. And remember, the more exposures to a food a child has, the more open they are to trying it.

Be a good eating example for your children. If they see you obviously enjoying something, and reaching for it first, they'll imitate you. Serve it with an enthusiastic smile and the expectation that they will like it, and chances are that they will.

Directions for sprouting can be found here. The same instructions work for nuts or seeds, though seeds should be grown for a few days longer, rinsing at least twice a day.

The end of Nablopomo

2007-11-30T12:10:00.001-08:00

Well, this is post 30. Pantry basics will continue in a few days but tonight we are going to the in-laws for Shabbat, and staying until Sunday because my MIL's Birthday is tomorrow, so I won't be cooking, or at least, not from my pantry. I'm taking with me some salvaged bread and a pastry that I kept and froze for today. Oh, and a present. (Must stop blogging and finish present.)

Pantry Basics will pick up in a few days when I'm back at my pantry.

Today's lunch will be leftover rice, and leftover black beans from earlier this week.

I will give you a meal I made last week, and really liked.

I bought a wild rice mix at Big Lot's a while bag for $.70. I didn't realize it was parboiled and covered in a nasty boxed sauce powder. So I put it in a strainer and washed off all of the seasoning, but kept the dried onions. I put in in the bottom of the crock pot. I added one can of chickpeas and stirred them together. On top I put one gigantic chicken leg that I bought for $.49/pound, with the skin removed. You could use two regular chicken legs. Atop the chicken I put salt and pepper and thyme and spread this olive tapenade that we got at Trader Joe's that we didn't really like a whole lot as a tapenade. I added a tiny amount of water, about 1/2 cup and put the lid on to let it cook for 5 hours. This is the kind of crock pot recipe you want to do while at home, because the rice can burn if you leave it an extra hour or two and if you add more water, you just end up with mush. Once the chicken was cooked, I pulled the meat off the bone stirred it in with the rice and chickpeas, kept the bones for broth, and served it with a salad.

We had a dinner guest that night and there was enough for all of us, and it tasted really great.

Chicken-$.50
Rice-$.70
chickpeas-$.69
tapenade-$.50 (I used about 1/4 of a $2 jar.)
Green Salad-$1

Total cost of meal-$3.39

Pantry Basics-Day Four and Gleaning Freegan Style

2007-11-29T12:37:00.000-08:00

I'll tell you what we ate today and how much it cost in a minute. First I'm going to tell you all about how I came to have all of these gigantic loaves of artisan bread on my table. It will make more sense perhaps if you go and read this post by No Impact Man called Teach a Man to Dumpster Dive, and Feed Him for Life. Be sure and watch the video too.

The idea of salvaged foods is hardly new to me. I shop at salvage grocery stores, I glean wild growing things, and I used to know people who collected salvage food, which is a euphemism for perfectly good food that would otherwise be tossed in a dumpster, and distribute it through food banks and shelters.

Last night I was walking the baby, and trying to get her to sleep with her cranky cold and happened to be walking past the front of Paniera (which is this great bakery restaurant chain) a little while after they closed. I saw a kid cart 4 gigantic bags to the dumpster and toss them in. Only they didn't look like garbage, they looked like bread. So I went a little bit closer and saw that there were two more bags sitting next to the door. So I asked him. "Is that bread?"

"Yeah."

I eyed the loaves through the double layer of clear plastic bags encasing them.

"Is there anything wrong with it? Is it edible?"

"Oh yeah it's fine, we throw out bread at least three nights a week because it's a day old."

"Do you have to throw it out? Like, will you get into trouble if you don't?"

"No. We used to have someone come and pick it up. But lots of times he doesn't come."

"Well, I'll take it." I said.

And then I tried to pick up a bag of bread to carry home on the stroller and almost broke my back. It was really heavy. There was no way I could get it home.

So I grabbed a smaller bag of pastries and told him I'd be back.

I walked the 6 blocks back to our house and told the GH to grab the car and head over to get some bread. By the time he got there the place was locked up and there were no bags so he checked the dumpster and found a large bag of bread, sealed of course, sitting right on top. So he grabbed it and brought it home.

Those brown loaves in the middle are $8 loaves of bread. They are larger than a newborn, heavier too. Those baguettes are all whole wheat. This bread is made without preservatives and all of the unhealthy additives in most grocery store loaves, which is why they throw it out every few days. Think about how long bread sits on the shelves at the grocery store. Paniera is an artisan bakery that makes top quality stuff. I now have over $100 worth of gourmet bread that was baked fresh yesterday morning in my house. I put as much as would fit in the freezer. We're eating some before it goes bad, and the rest will go to family, friends, and whomever else wants it. The thing is, there were 5 other bags of food that were tossed last night, by that one store. The mind boggles to think of how much food is wasted every day across this nation.

I'm going to do some research and see if there is a place near by that would be willing to distribute it if we were to pick it up, like a Food Bank. Now I wonder what's in the trash behind the grocery store.

Okay today's menu.

Scrambled eggs-We get a dozen large for $1.19 at Trader Joe's. I used 5. $0.50
Whole grain toast-free
butter-$0.30
persimmons-free
apples-$0.70
bananas-$0.39

Breakfast $1.89

Snack-Yogurt with nectarine jam mixed in, about 1 tsp per bowl. $0.60

Lunch

Peanut Butter on thick slabs of bread with spinach and oranges on the side. (That combination is on purpose. The vitamin C in the oranges helps the body absorb the iron and nutrients in the spinach.) After I shot this picture I decided to add sliced bananas on top of the peanut butter.

Bread-free
Peanut butter-$0.40
Spinach leaves-$0.30
1 orange-$0.10
1 banana-$0.15

Total cost of lunch $0.80

For dinner I made corn tortillas, without a tortilla maker. I don't recommend it. It's time consuming and the tortillas don't hold together very well. This is my third attempt and they still aren't turning out well. I'm keeping my eyes open for a thrift store tortilla press, but no luck so far. When I consider that I can get 100 tortillas for less than 5 dollars around here and the bag of flour was about $3, this is one item that I'm not sure is worth it to make at home. Though it did taste wonderful.

I soaked black beans over night and then cooked them all day in the crockpot with onion, garlic, cumin, salt, pepper, habanero sauce, and oregano.

I removed about half of the beans from the pot with a slotted spoon, sliced some mini peppers I found hanging out at the back of the fridge, and added the leftover corn from last night, sprouts, yogurt, instead of sour cream, and salsa. We had vegetarian tacos, and used up leftovers at the same time.

16 corn tortillas-$0.50
black beans cooked from dried-$0.50
yogurt-$.20
sprouts-$0.30
corn-already added up last night
peppers$0.80?
Salsa-$0.30

Total cost of dinner $2.60

Total cost for the day $5.89

Pantry Basics-Day Three

2007-11-28T23:13:00.000-08:00

This morning we had porridge again.

1/2 cup hulled oats-$0.25
1/2 cup hulled barley-$0.20
1/2 cup millet$0.25
1 apple-At $0.57/pound about $0.40?
cinnamon-negligible

yogurt-Well it costs me less than a dollar a quart for the milk and we usually use about half a quart a day so, I'm gonna guess $.45
Breakfast $1.55

Lunch was leftovers from yesterday with some more rice and yogurt. (In India it's called curd rice.)
Let's say the one cup of rice and yogurt was an extra $1. Even though I'm positive it was less than that.

We had plans to go to a friend's house for dinner, and I was really excited not to cook today. But they had to cancel at the last minute so I was scrambling for a dinner that didn't involve soaking and cooking beans all day. I found some cans of baked beans that we had stockpiled earlier when they were on sale for $.69/can. Dinner was two cans of baked beans, more corn pone, only the GH added a can of corn kernels to it that cost $.59 and they tasted even yummier, bringing the total cost up to $1.09. Our vegetable was fresh sprouts. $.20

Total cost of dinner $2.67

Total cost of food for the day. $5.22

You may wonder what the baby's eating. I take most of our food, like the beans before I've added seasoning or the rice, and run it through a little hand operated baby food grinder. She likes yogurt and mashed up fruit too. And I flash steam green stuff to grind and feed her.

I was going to make bread tomorrow, but I suddenly have more artisan style whole grain and fancy bread options than I have storage space. More on that later.

Also, in the interests of full disclosure, the GH feels pained when he feels that his children aren't getting enough fresh fruit and vegetables so he went out today and purchased the sale items at our indoor farmer's market store, called Henry's. The banana's were $.39/lb, as were the organic rolled oats, so he stocked up on those big time so I can make muesli again. He got some apples at $.77/lbs and two bags of spinach for $3, and 20 oranges for $2. So the kids also had a banana each and an orange each today. Add $.60 to that total to accurately reflect snacking.

Honestly, it takes longer to write about what i cook each day than it does to actually do it, so please don't think it's a lot of work. The key is just to plan ahead. Think about tomorrow today.

Pantry Basics-Day Two

2007-11-27T22:50:00.000-08:00

Breakfast this morning was crock pot porridge. I added an apple to the basic recipe. We also had yogurt and some really nice persimmons that the GH brought home from his parent's house. I guess they came from a neighbor.

I totally forgot that I had to think about lunch, since we don't have any easy protein, like cheese or peanut butter on hand. I cooked up some quinoa in chicken broth and while that was cooking I fast boiled some brown lentils. When both were cooked I drained the lentils and stirred them into the quinoa with salt, pepper, and ground cumin.

1/2 cups quinoa $0.50
chicken broth-made from leftover chicken
3/4 cup lentils $0.40

It tastes especially good with my husband's own special blend of apple cider vinegar, with a dash of cayenne, salt, ground mustard, minced fresh garlic, thyme, oregano, and a little bit of sugar drizzled over the top. He makes it a jarful at a time and we just keep eating it. Apple cider vinegar is supposed to be good for colds and metabolism as well as digestion. Cayenne has health and immunity boosting abilities and has been shown to help in weight loss. Oregano is an anti-bacterial, okay it's good for you, and delicious. You get the idea.

apple cider vinegar-$0.70/jar we used less than a quarter of it.

Cost of lunch $1

Before leaving for the library I put some black eyed peas, 3 cups, in the crock pot with water and salt.
On the way home we passed the farmer's market and I needed something green and fresh. (The sprouts I started won't be ready until tomorrow at the earliest.) I spent $4 and came home with a shopping bag full of kale and lettuce and 5 limes.

Tonight for dinner I tried to recreate something my friend from India gave me once, I think I came pretty close.

I started with a spice blend called Panch Phoran. You can get it at Cost Plus, or in bulk at an Indian grocery store. It's a spice blend containing mustard, cumin, fennel, nigella and fenugreek seeds.

1 tbsp vegetable oil-negligible
1 tbsp panch phoran- $0.30
1/2 onion, chopped fine $0.20
1 tsp minced garlic-$0.05
6-7 cups cooked black eyed peas $1.50

Heat the oil in a skillet and roast the spices for two or three minutes. Add the onion and saute until translucent. Add the garlic. Continue stirring and cooking until the onions are cooked through. Add the beans and fry about 5 minutes more. Serve with rice, and yogurt. (My friend also added a lot of chili which made this really spicy. I didn't this time because I wanted the kids to eat it.)

I chopped up a few stalks of kale and tossed them with apple cider vinegar, honey and olive oil. My kids asked for seconds. I guess that starving them continues to work. :)

Two kale stalks $0.20
1 1/2 cups rice-$0.40
1/4 cup homemade yogurt $0.15

Total cost for dinner $2.80

Lunch and dinner for 4 $3.80

I'm too tired to figure out breakfast today. Baby's teething and has a cold, Maybe tomorrow I'll have the energy to do a cost analysis on our porridge.

Making meals with dry goods and pantry basics-A week, or more, of pantry scraping

2007-11-26T22:28:00.001-08:00

It's going to be a tight month for us, really tight. The GH's line work has always been affected by season, and this year more than usual. (That means it's been a while since we've seen a paycheck and it may be even longer before one appears. Such is the lot of the self-employed. Especially when some clients don't pay on time. Sigh.) Plus there are two little girls with birthdays in December, and lots of holiday related things. I'll be hand making a lot of gifts from materials I already have stashed, I already have some gifts tucked away. And, I'm spending as little as possible on groceries. I've been talking a lot lately about how little you have to spend to eat real food that's good for you. Now it's time to put my money, or lack of it, where my mouth is. Literally.

A quick look through my kitchen give me this list of things to work with:
Quinoa
lentils-red and green lots
10 pounds jasmine rice
5 pounds red rice
1 pounds black rice
1-2 pounds sticky rice
1 bag dry black beans
1/2 back pinto beans
lots of tiny little white beans
1 pound of black eyed peas
whole oats
barley
millet
a huge bag of textured vegetable protein (Made with soy flour)
cornmeal
whole wheat flour
white flour
fresh ground flour
wheat berries
3 sweet potatoes
4 onions
condiments and crushed garlic
chicken broth
rice stick
spring roll wrappers
maseca-Flour for corn tortillas
alfalfa seeds
zesty salad mix sprouting seeds
almonds
One 12 pound turkey in the freezer. Purchased for $5 on sale.
Several chicken legs, $0.49/lb. I have a rain check for more when I run out.
2 whole chickens (These were free because we butchered them ourselves for the GH's parents when they stopped laying. They are old and tough and will take some unusual measures to render edible.)
Frozen edamame
frozen green beans
frozen cranberries
2 eggs
2 quarts of yogurt
half a large box of powdered skim milk
frozen seafood stock
stockpiled baking items, chocolate chips, nuts, icing, etc.
molasses
almost out of honey
a little bit of sugar
a lot of tea
1 loaf of bread
maple syrup
canola oil
and many condiments and spices.

I still have a few apples left, I stocked up when they went on sale for $0.57/pound a few weeks ago.

Still growing in my pots,
garlic chives
oregano
parsley
basil
galangaal
mint (Not thriving)

As you can see, I do have quite a lot stockpiled that I can work with. I am going to try and not buy anything fresh and see how long I can go this way. I will eventually need to get honey for bread. And I can't imagine I'll be able to avoid buying eggs for long. I'll be making a sourdough starter so I don't need to worry when I run out of yeast. I really wish we weren't out of peanut butter. I read that you can make yogurt out of powdered milk and no one can tell the difference, but I haven't tried it yet. I'll be testing that out when we run out of yogurt.

So, are you wondering what we ate today?

Lunch was rice with an egg stirred in toward the end of cooking. We call it yellow rice. And edamame, (Soy beans). The kids ate it. It all depends on the sauce. I let them dip it in kecap manis. I suppose starving them helps too. And by starving them I mean feeding them yogurt for breakfast, and sprouted almonds, and dates, and apples, and toast.

For dinner I bought something. I spent $1 on a ham hock to make navy bean soup. Actually I spent $3 for 3 because that's how they were packaged. I'll put the other 2 in the freezer for another time.

Ingredients
1 lb dried navy beans (These were free actually, my friend gave them to me when she moved away, but for the sake of conversation...) shall we say $1?
ham hock $1
one onion $0.40

Soak the beans for several hours, then put in the crock pot with the ham hock and a lot of water. Cook on low overnight. At lunch time or so, chop the onion and add it to the crock pot along with 2 tsp minced garlic and some bay leaves. An hour before serving I fished the bones out with a slotted spoon, picked the meat off and added it back into the soup. I'm deciding if there is another broth in the bones still, I think there might be. At the end I also added salt, pepper, old bay spice, thyme, parsley, etc.

So the soup cost $2.40. There is more than half left, which I put in the freezer for another day,

Cost of main course $1.20

To go with it I made Indian Corn Pone, following the recipe in the More with Less cookbook.

1 cup corn meal $0.15 (I got the large bag at Big Lot's for $2.)
1/2 tsp salt-negligible
1 tsp baking powder-negligible

2 tbsp fat-I used canola oil $0.10
3/4 cup powdered milk $0.25
1/2 cup water.

Stir together in order and let sit for a bit so the cornmeal has a chance to soften. Using a table spoon drop spoonfuls into a hot greased skillet and flatten with a spatula. Flip when the bottom is golden and cook until both sides are golden. Serve immediately.

So, the side dish with extra protein cost $0.50.

We also had some fresh springs of parsley for the vegetable. Free from the planter.

Total cost of dinner for 4 people $1.90

Except for the cornmeal, I'm basing this on regular prices, not sales. Imagine if I got it on sale.

Cinnamon Sticks are a Fun Snack

2007-11-25T23:28:00.000-08:00

Are your kids bugging you for dessert, again? Are you wandering around your kitchen feeling snacky and wanting to put something in your mouth but you're not really hungry? Have you ever tried a cinnamon bark?

Cinnamon sticks are those things that usually come as a garnish for fancy apple cider or hot chocolate drinks. What they are made of is rolled up cinnamon bark. It's the same substance that you have ground up in a jar in your spice cupboard. Cinnamon is just the bark from a particular tree.

So, if you like cinnamon, try taking one of these little sticks or whole pieces and chewing on it for a while. It tastes good, and has the added benefit of regulating your metabolism. This in turn helps to curb your cravings, as well as the really strong flavor. The calories in cinnamon bark are negligible so it's a great thing to have on hand if you are trying to curb a snack addiction too.

My kids think I'm so generous when I let them have a whole cinnamon stick to themselves!

How to Make Soup Broth

2007-11-24T18:12:00.000-08:00

One of the simplest ways to make the most of your meat dishes, and leftovers, is to turn it all into soup. But I don't want to assume that everyone knows how to do this so I'll lay it out step by step.

Take the bones from your meal, be they turkey, chicken, ham, or beef, or even shrimp shells or fish heads. Save the drippings from when you roast and bake as well. (Pour the fat off, or skim it off once it cools.) Put them in a large stockpot, or crock pot. Cover with water.

Simmer on low heat for at least 8 hours. If you are using a stock pot make sure you add more water every few hours so it doesn't dry out and burn. The longer you simmer, the stronger the flavor in your soup stock.

Once the broth is to your liking, remove it from heat and pour into another pot or bowl through a strainer. Once the bones have cooled a little, you can sort through them for meat scraps and add them to the broth. You'd be surprised how much meat can be there.

Discard the bones and use the broth in you favorite soup recipe. Add chopped vegetables, potatoes, meat, rice, beans, barley, whatever you have in the fridge that should be used soon.

TIP: When making soup add things according to their cooking time. If you add dry beans and carrots at the same time, the carrots will be mush long before the beans are cooked through. Wait to add the carrots until the beans are almost all the way cooked. The same goes for everything else.

Variations: To give your broth more flavor, you can add a quartered onion, crushed garlic cloves, chopped celery, crushed chilies, shrimp shells, whatever you want, and add it to the stock when you are cooking it. This adds more flavor. Keep in mind that you will discard these with the bones.

Vegetable soup: Use onions, celery, carrots, turnips, leeks, etc., to make broth. You can puree them all together after in a blender to make a really tasty creamy vegetable soup, or drain and keep the broth only.

Trader Joe's vs Big Lot's, the face off continues

2007-11-23T21:30:00.000-08:00

My hubby and I have a little running competition going. I find the best deals I can at Big Lot's and through the fliers. He then likes to try and prove how much cheaper it is at Trader Joe's.

The last time I was at Big Lot's I picked up a bag of Ghirardelli's chocolate chips for $2.50. I figured I could stock up for baking, and I found some nuts for 3$ a bag which are normally $6.
Now, I know that Big Lot's is a salvage store so the nuts weren't likely to be fresh, but I figured it would work out fine for baking.

The first thing the GH says when he sees them on the counter, "How come you got those there? Their cheaper at Trader Joe's, and better quality."

The next time he comes home with a larger bag of chocolate chips, milk and dark chocolate that he paid $1.69 a bag for, each. The nuts were more though.

I guess you could call that a tie. But the Trader Joe's Chocolate chips taste better, and so do the nuts.

Shepherd's Pie From Turkey Leftovers

2007-11-22T18:39:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm tired, and stuffed. Here is a reprint of last year's leftover solution.

While I'm thinking about it, here's the simplest ever remake of turkey dinner leftovers. Take leftover turkey and gravy and combine, add leftover vegetables, and spices that you like, garlic, salt, pepper, herbs, red pepper, hot sauce, Mrs. Dash, turmeric even if you like, whatever tastes good, put in a baking dish, spread the leftover mashed potatoes on top. Sprinkle with your favorite cheese and bake in the oven until the top browns. There you have turkey shepherd's pie, which even leftovers hater's will eat, because it's a new dish.

You can even assemble this as you are cleaning up from the feast. Then tomorrow, when the last thing you want to do is start cooking, you can just pop it into the oven and make a salad and use up the leftover rolls. :)

We always go for a walk after our big turkey meal. Before dessert. It keeps you from feeling quite so comatose in the evening.

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-21T20:45:00.000-08:00

We have already finished the first leg of our Turkey binge. Tomorrow will be another.

There is a tradition in the Jewish calender before Passover of gathering food and making sure that all of the poor in the community have enough to celebrate the feast also. In our family we tend to go out and find them and bring them home for dinner. In years past we've had a couple who were expecting their first baby and living out of their car join us, and the generous outpouring of our friends on that day made it possible for them to stay in a motel for several months before and after the birth of their little baby. We almost always have a large, multicultural gathering, some people who have never celebrated thanksgiving before, and the Menu is usually eclectic and exotic. I'm looking forward to Indian food tomorrow.

I hope your gatherings with family and friends are full of joy and gratitude.

I wish you all peace.

A cool gift idea

2007-11-20T22:07:00.000-08:00

Am I the only one freaked out by all the new info on polyurethanes leaching from plastic bottles. From what I''ve read, if the little number on the bottom of the bottle is a 1, 2, 3. 6, or 7, you could be getting dangerous cancer and birth defect causing chemicals from your bottled water, and water bottle, yes, even the Nalgenes. So I when to check my bottle that was supposed to be this great okay to drink from plastic and guess what. It's slowly poisoning me after all.

That's why I'm finally making the switch to metal. I LOVE the water bottles made by SIGG. They are so pretty. They have cool designs. They're made in Switzerland, not China.

Every one needs to drink water right? Why not out of a personalized bottle that is virtually indestructible and will last for year and years, provided they don't lose it. (The only way I know to break the things is to put them in the freezer with water in them, even if you only fill them halfway and leave the lid off. That's how I destroyed my husband's bottle. The one he's had longer than he's known me. The one that he has carried with him on every single trip he's ever taken to South East Asia. Basically I destroyed all of his souvenirs of almost a decade by wrecking that thing. Gulp.)

But he's getting a new one. I'm telling our family who ask to get us all one of these this year. And people on my list may just find something similar in their box as well.

So, DRINK MORE WATER.

ps. If you can't afford a cool little bottle. You could always
just use a glass jar with a screw top lid, or a glass bottle, which is what I am currently using. Just don't drop it by accident.

How to Revive wilted lettuce

2007-11-19T23:13:00.000-08:00

I just have time for a quick tip today.

Sometimes salad greens and herbs start to wilt before we have a chance to use them. Often, if you submerge them in a bowl of ice water for a little while they become crisp again and ready to use.

(This doesn't work for greens that are very wilted. I usually chop those up in the blender and add them to soups and sauces.)

Gluten Free Pie Crust and and Spiced Apple Tart

2007-11-18T23:39:00.000-08:00

My mom invented this crust recipe for my SIL who is gluten intolerant. It works for cheesecakes and pumpkin pies, but my favorite is this Apple Tart recipe.

Crust

1 1/2 cups ground nuts (I usually just grind pecans in the blender, or almonds.)

1/4 cup sugar

3 tbsp melted butter

Combine ingredients and press into pie shell. Add filling and bake.

Spiced Apple Tart Filling

3-4 Medium Apples

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cardamom

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground cloves

Peel and slice the apples thin. Combine the rest of the ingredients and toss into the apples until evenly coated. Put apples in pie shell and bake in the oven at 350F for approximately 20 minutes or until apples are soft and crust is browned. If the crust starts to brown before the apples cook, cover it with tinfoil and bake until done.

Then eat it warm with ice cream. MMMMMM!

A Cure for Ignorance?

2007-11-17T20:56:00.000-08:00

Now that we're finished with turkey a la Carrien, I want to go back to the discussion generated by this post from last week, No Money, No Problem.

There were some great comments and ideas so check them out.

This comment from Michelle Smiles has been rattling around in my brain since then.

I will say that I think some of the issue, especially for those in the lower income brackets, is often lack of knowledge. They don't know HOW to eat well. They don't know how to bake their own bread, cook dried beans, use fresh produce in dishes their children will actually eat. Their parents often fed them mac & cheese and twinkies so that is all they know. I used to work in a women's shelter and would have loved to have had someone come in and teach the ladies those things - nutrition on a budget. (And the staff - working at a shelter pays poorly and often the staff doesn't know how to do those things either.)

One of the things I am trying to do with this blog is be the kind of resource that will help with this problem. I'm learning as I go to make that easier for people. I'm trying to keep posts shorter now, and clearly labeled for content and categories so that it will be easier for people to find what they are looking for, and the information they need. Any helpful suggestions would be most appreciated.

I've tried volunteering for WIC to teach moms some frugal and healthy tricks but the combination of my lack of Spanish and scheduling has kept something like that from happening so far.

What I was thinking today was to take it a step further this holiday season. Many of us donate to food banks and the like to help out those less fortunate. Lots of the stuff that is donated isn't all that great nutritionally because it's mostly dry goods, and processed snacks because they don't go bad. A lot of times, people wouldn't know what to do with wheat berries or dry beans that I would most want to give, so here's what I'm thinking. I want all of you to tell me your favorite, most accessible frugal and healthy cookbook. And you favorite recipe in it. Let's get a list going. And then how about if each of us bought one, or two, or three, (sometimes these books are only a few dollars on Amazon), and included them in our food donation. We could even bookmark a favorite recipe and include all of the needed ingredients and package it all together so that whoever got it could make it right away. Or, if you can't afford a book, what about compiling the ingredients for one healthy recipe and slipping the recipe in with the package written out by hand with a note?

That's what I plan to do this year anyway.

So, here are two of my favorite frugal books. Two of you already mentioned More With Less, which is a very comprehensive resource. Amazon's best price right now is $9.

For moms of younger children, my absolute favorite is this very thick tome called super baby food. It has everything. How to make healthy food fun for kids, how to make baby food, how to decorate birthday cakes, how to make bread, how to make yogurt, how to make sprouts, how to make play dough. If you can only give one book to mothers of small children, I highly recommend this one. It's worth every penny. And right now you can get a copy for just over $5.

So, now it's your turn.

Black Rice Pudding with Mangoes and Thai Iced Tea

2007-11-16T14:41:00.000-08:00

Okay, I'm kind of embarrassed to admit this, but Thai iced tea is really not good for you. It's got artificial colors in it. And if you drink it the way they do in Thailand, you mix it with sweetened condensed milk and drink it over ice. The north American version is slightly better, you have it with half and half, or whole milk. But don't by any means think this drink is good for you, or that you should have it every day. I have it a few times a year, when we make fancy Thai meal.
end disclaimer.

Thai Iced Tea

For Thai Iced tea:

Thai iced tea mix

sweetened condensed milk

Brew the tea in boiling water for at least 10 minutes to get really strong flavor. Pour it through a fine mesh strainer to remove all of the leaves. Let it cool and then set it in the fridge to chill. Serve over ice with sweetened condensed milk to taste, stir together and drink. If you want to use cream instead it's fun to pour it in on top of the tea and let it sit in layers until your guests stir it together. The Thai iced tea you get in restaurants is usually 1/3 cream.

For an appetizer:

shrimp crackers

These little crackers are raw and you have to fry them yourself in oil before serving. Their puffy and have a nice texture, and again shouldn't be eaten all the time, just on special occasions.

For dessert: Black Rice pudding with mango

purple sticky rice/ or black glutinous rice

fresh ginger

palm or brown sugar

coconut milk 240mL

coconut cream 120mL

diced mango

Preparation:

Rinse and drain the rice. Put 1 cup rice in a heavy saucepan with 2 1/2 cups of water and 1 tbsp finely chopped ginger. Bring to a boil. Cover, and lower the heat simmer for about 40 minutes, or until the rice is soft.

Stir in 3/4 cup of palm sugar, or brown sugar if you can't find palm sugar, and 1 cup of coconut milk. Simmer another 10 minutes. Cool to room temp and serve with diced mango and a drizzle of coconut cream over the top. Serves 4 unless you're like me and use tiny bowls.

This concludes the menu for Thai Turkey dinner. Our own favorite family turkey dinner. I hope you enjoy it.

Thai Spring Roll Salad with Peanut Sauce Dressing

2007-11-15T22:54:00.000-08:00

This is the salad to go with the Thai Turkey Dinner. The shopping list is here in yesterday's post.

But here it is again so you don't have to go looking.

1 pound large prawns-peeled

Napa Cabbage

Green leaf lettuce

Mung bean sprouts

carrots

mint

cilantro

Thai Basil

For the dressing,

1/2 cup natural chunky peanut butter

1 tbsp peanut oil

1/4 cup onion, finely diced

1 1/2 tsp fresh ginger, minced

1 garlic clove, diced

1 tbsp fish sauce

3/4 cup Chicken stock

1 tsp Red Curry Paste

1 1/2 tbsp hoisin sauce

8-12 limes, juiced

Preparation:

It's best to make the dressing ahead, it refrigerates quite well for a day or two and only needs to be returned to room temperature to pour.

Heat the oil in a saucepan over high heat. Saute the onion, ginger and garlic for 1 minute until soft.

Add the fish sauce, chicken stock, curry paste, hoisin sauce and lime juice. Simmer on medium heat until the chicken stock is warm. Turn off the heat and whisk in the peanut butter until it is melted. You only want the peanut butter to be warm enough to mix, you don't want to cook or it will turn into a greasy lump. Learn from my mistake, don't do this.

You want it to be thin enough to pour so if it is still too thick whisk in some more water or broth. It with thicken when cool, but pour again when brought back to room temperature.

For the salad:

Rough cut the cabbage, tear the butter leaf lettuce. and shred the carrot. Add the bean sprouts, and leaves from the basil, mint, and cilantro. You can't really over do the fresh herbs, they are what makes this salad so very interesting.

As I mentioned yesterday, you will flash cook the prawns in the turkey gravy and let cool. (If you aren't making Thai turkey, you can substitute tom yum paste, red curry, tamarind water, and kecap manis for a shrimp marinade.) When you are ready to serve the salad scatter the prawns on top and either serve with dressing on the side, or stir it all in before serving. That is all. Prepare to listen to every one enjoy their salad.

Tomorrow, dessert of black rice pudding, and how to make Thai iced tea.

Thai Turkey Dinner-Shopping list, turkey recipe, pineapple fried rice recipe

2007-11-14T20:01:00.000-08:00

As promised, here is part one of how to make a Thai Turkey Dinner. I started with the complete shopping list, and found some of the more exotic items for you online. So I've done all the hard work. :) Below the shopping list is the Turkey recipe and order of preparation for the rest of the meal.

You will need:

For the Turkey

one small turkey- less than 10 lbs is best, for a larger bird you will want to marinate an extra 24 hours but the flavor still won't be as intense.

*Tom Yum paste

lemon grass (Lots, 10 stalks or so)

kaffir lime leaves

galangaal root

Thai red chili

(the lime leaves, galangaal, and chili are all in this handy little fresh mailer package from Amazon, with extra lemon grass. I didn't even know you could get this until today.)

tamarind paste

toasted sesame oil

fish sauce

brown sugar

garlic cloves

For the salad:

Napa Cabbage

1 pound large prawns-peeled

Green leaf lettuce

Mung bean sprouts

carrots

mint

cilantro

Thai Basil

For the dressing,

12 oz natural chunky peanut butter

peanut oil

onion

fresh ginger

1 garlic clove (You already have this for the turkey)

fish sauce (You already have this for the Turkey)

Chicken stock

Red Curry Paste

hoisin sauce

8-12 limes

For the Rice:

brown jasmine rice

dried wood ear mushrooms

green onions

For the rice variation:

1 onion

4 garlic cloves

1 pineapple

For Thai Iced tea:

Thai iced tea mix

sweetened condensed milk

For an appetizer:

shrimp crackers

For dessert: Black Rice pudding with mango

purple sticky rice/ or black rice

fresh ginger

palm or brown sugar

coconut milk 240mL

coconut cream 120mL

diced mango

To make the Turkey:

If frozen thaw in time to marinate for a day before hand.

Make tamarind water:
Put 3-4 tbsp dried tamarind pulp in a bowl and add 1/2 cup of hot water. Let it it soak for about 20 minutes, stir it to break up the lumps. When the pulp is soft strain it through a fine sieve, keeping the liquid. Press on the pulp to get out all of the liquid. Keep the water, toss the pulp.

To the tamarind water add

2 cups tom yum paste

1/3 cup sesame oil

1/2 cup fish sauce

1/2 cup brown sugar or kecap manis

Stir together. This is your marinade.

Put the turkey in a large pot, or clean plastic bag and pour the marinade in. Marinate over night and longer the larger your turkey is. Turn often.

On the day off, follow the instructions for length of cooking based on size of bird. Place the turkey breast down in a large roasting pan. We always roast birds with the breast down so the the juices run into instead of out of the breast and keep it moist. (Trick from my grandma). Inside stuff crushed garlic cloves, kaffir limes leaves, lots of sliced lemon grass, sliced galangaal root, and whole Thai chilies. This is all for flavor, you won't eat any of it.
Pour all of the marinade into the pan as well, don't worry if the bird sits in it a little, that's good. I don't generally baste at all, but with this one we baste once about half way through cooking and keep it tented with foil the rest of the time until 20 minutes or so before we take it out. Cook it on the lowest possible heat, say 250, until it is cooked all the way through, usually 3-4 hours. (Think slow cooker.) Another grandma trick, the turkey is done when you can shake hands with it. The leg moves easily when you try to move it. This turkey will not dry out if you over cook it a bit, so err on the side of done.

Once the turkey is cooked remove it from the oven and place on a board. Tent it with the foil and let it rest. This turkey usually falls apart it's so moist and doesn't usually need to be carved, but you can try. There should be a lot of drippings in the bottom which is great. You will need it for other things.

Brown rice with Wood ear mushrooms

Now start cooking your rice. This takes a while so be ready to go as soon as the Turkey is done, or steal some drippings while it's still in the oven. Break up the wood ear mushrooms into small pieces and add to the dry rice. Then cook the rice according to package directions, but one third of your liquid will be the drippings from the turkey. More if you like really intense flavor.

Slice the green onions and stir into the rice when it is done. Garnish with some fresh cilantro and serve. This is the easy version and it's tasty.

Pineapple fried rice variation

For a variation that is fun turn this into a variation of pineapple fried rice. Cut a pineapple in half and hollow out the shells. Cube the pineapple flesh.

In a wok over high heat stir fry 1 chopped onion until it's soft. Add 4 minced garlic cloves, and stir fry for half a minute then throw in the pineapple and rice from the cooker, as prepared above. Add salt and pepper to taste, and fish sauce with a bit of sugar if it's too dry. Stir in the sliced green onions and cilantro leaves and serve the rice in the hollowed out pineapple shells.

Preparing the prawns for the salad and making gravy

You will want to make gravy from the remaining turkey drippings while the rice is cooking.

In a heavy saucepan, simmer the drippings. In a bowl stir together 1/4 cup of cornstarch and one cup of cold water until the cornstarch is fully dissolved. As you pour the cornstarch mixture into the drippings, use your other hands to rapidly stir them together with a whisk. Pour slowly, stir like crazy, until it's all combined and smooth. Continue stirring until it starts to bubble. As soon the gravy is bubbling, throw the raw prawns into the pan for 2-3 minutes until they turn bright red. Fish them out with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Let them chill and keep them in the fridge until it's time to serve the salad. These will go with the salad, which I'll tell you how to make tomorrow. The sauce for the salad can be prepared ahead of time and refrigerated. The salad greens can also be partially assembled in the morning, or whenever you like on the day of.

*(I just spent a loong time trying to find online the Tom Yum paste that we use that doesn't have shrimp or msg in it. However, I can't remember the brand name and I don't have a jar in the fridge right now. The one on Amazon, I have used before and it tastes right, but it has MSG in it too. You could grab the basic ingredients, Lemon grass, onion garlic, galangaal, lime leaves, Thai red chilies, red curry paste, and blend them all in a mortar and pestle, or food processor and fry them in oil and then store in a jar in the fridge. )

More with Less Cookbook is Still in Print

2007-11-13T09:40:00.000-08:00

So I did a little search and here it is. The More With Less Cookbook is still available on Amazon. There is a lot of good stuff in there for you to look at, hundreds of recipes and lots of information as well. You may never come back here again. No, come back, I didn't mean that.....but this book is a great resource, just saying.

Thai Turkey Dinner

2007-11-12T21:57:00.000-08:00

Four years ago I had just given birth to my daughter and spent most of the holidays laying on the couch and watching other people take care of my house, and kitchen. The Genius Husband, who is a fabulous cook, and quite the foodie commandeered the preparation of the tiny turkey I had procured earlier. What followed was the best tasting, and most unique turkey dinner I had ever had. It tasted so good that our new menu for Thai Turkey has become a yearly event. If you are bored with turkey, or never really liked it much to begin with, and you are cooking for people who won't hang you for mixing it up a little bit, you'll like this. I will be posting recipes to go with this menu for the next few days, starting with the turkey and a shopping list. You'll need an Asian supply store.

The Menu

Thai turkey, turkey marinated and roasted in Thai seasonings until they caramelize.

Spring roll and prawn salad

Brown rice and mushroom pilaf

Black rice pudding with mangoes for dessert

When you eat turkey several times in a few short weeks, this is a refreshing variation on an old, old, theme.

**********
Those of you who mentioned more for less haven't been sneaking glances at my reading pile have you? I've got an original copy that I inherited from the GH's grandmother this summer that I'm perusing. I grew up in the large shadow cast by this book, and my Mennonite grandma. Now I finally have my own copy.

No Money? No Problem *Update

2007-11-11T22:28:00.000-08:00

***I've added on to this subject over here. I have an idea that I think might help. Check out A Cure for Ignorance?

Every so often I get comments from people that have one recurring theme. They tell me all about how little money they have to spend on food per month, the stretched budget, the cost of fresh produce and conclude that they are just too poor to eat healthy. I think this is a lousy excuse.

You may not be able to afford the $6 a bottle pure fresh squeezed pomegranate juice, but that's hardly an excuse to buy Kool-aid. You may not be able to afford top quality steaks and organic free range chicken, but you don't have to eat potato chips and candy just because they're cheap.

Nowhere else in the world are the poor so overweight, and so undernourished. There is an epidemic of over eating in the US, but very little of what is eaten is real food. Take for example peasant food in eastern Africa. It centers around teff, a highly nutritious hardy grain, and lentils, full of fiber and protein. In addition to this are locally available vegetables. All other things being equal, I would venture that a person eating this diet would be a good deal healthier than the North American peasant diet of mac and cheese and Twinkies.

In India the poor live on lentils, beans and Basmati rice, yogurt, cabbage, spinach, and soft cheese. If there is more money they also eat flat bread made with butter and flour. Their candies and desserts often have lentils ground up and mixed in with them. Even though it's fatty, it's still healthier than here.

The world over people exist solely on rice and beans, vegetables, and the occasional meat dish. This, modern science tells us, is the best way for our bodies to eat.

Now, take a look at your local stores. Bulk grains and beans are about the lowest priced things at the store. Making anything at home from scratch and raw ingredients is cheaper and healthier than buying it pre-made. Now if we consider that the produce in season is usually $1 or less per pound, and that your average family size bag of chips is 1-2 dollars it seems to me that if you can afford to buy junk food, you can afford to eat vegetables. (Of course, this means you have to let go of the idea of eating strawberries year round in exchange for leeks and cabbage, not perhaps as exciting, but excellent nutrition.) If you can afford to buy Mac and cheese, you can afford to eat beans and rice. If you can afford to buy Kool-aid you can drink water and herbal tea instead. Going further, if you can afford to buy milk a few times a month, you can afford to make your own yogurt. If you can afford to buy breakfast cereal, you can afford to purchase the ingredients to make muesli and granola. If you can afford to buy loaves of bread, you can afford to purchase whole wheat flour and make your own. One bag of whole wheat flour costs less than a standard loaf of bread, and makes 10-20 loaves. Then, if you purchase a grain grinder and pay for wheat berries in bulk and grind it fresh, about $0.25/lb you can pay for that grinder in about a year with the money you've saved on bread.

Seed for sprouting is very inexpensive. One package of organic seeds is less than $3 and produces crop after crop of healthy nutritious sprouts. Sprouts are one of the most densely nutritious things you can eat. They are easy to make, with simple homemade equipment and only take a few days. People with limited means have little excuse for not having adequate nutrition when sprouting is such a simple means to add value to your diet.

Instead of focusing on what you can't afford to buy, spend your energy imagining what you can purchase, and what you can make. The need for frugality is rather an opportunity for creativity than an excuse to spend what extra you have available on things that have no nutritional value at all. And yes, every one deserves a treat from time to time. If you can't afford to purchase high quality treats, consider making your own from scratch. This is cheaper and makes for lovely memories for your family as well.

Help with menu planning

2007-11-10T14:27:00.000-08:00

I've been looking at the free menus over at savingdinner.com. They look really great, If figuring out what to make for dinner every night is a chore, and finding recipes and coordinating shopping lists is a headache, you may really enjoy this service.

Their are many menus to choose from including crockpot, low carb, heart healthy, gluten free, frugal, low fat and sodium, and vegetarian. Leanne truly is the dinner diva it seems and what I've seen are really excellent ideas and healthy menus. The cost for a year is minimal enough that I'm tempted to sign up myself, and I like menu planning.

Make Fresh Salsa at Home

2007-11-09T11:54:00.000-08:00

There are probably as many salsa recipes as there are salsa lovers and there are no hard and fast rules as to how to make it. Salsa is after all the Spanish word for sauce, and there are lots of different ways to make sauce. This recipe is a fairly standard staple of the Baja peninsula and sticks to the main ideas of salsa, which is to use what you have on hand. All of the ingredients in this salsa can be grown locally my own kitchen garden. Or traded for something from my neighbor’s tree.

Ingredients

Fresh tomatoes
Garlic bulbs
Green onion
Cilantro
Chili peppers
Lime juice

The way to make this varies depending on what you like the most. If you want it spicy, add more chili, if you love the taste of cilantro and lime the most, add more of them. I usually use about one chili pepper for 8 tomatoes, 3 bulbs of garlic, 4 green onions, one handful of cilantro, and the juice of one lime. There are two options for preparation as well. If you like your salsa runny you can just throw all of the ingredients into the blender or food processor and you are done, almost instant salsa. If you are like my husband and don’t like it runny but don’t like it too chunky you have some chopping to do.

Dice the tomatoes. A very sharp knife helps this process. Crush the garlic and chop the green onion and the chili as fine as you can. You can use only the cilantro leaves or chop the stems as well. Add the lime juice and let it sit in the fridge for 15 minutes or more to let all of the flavors mix together. Enjoy with tortilla chips, on burritos and tacos, and in been dip.

Favorite Foods

2007-11-08T20:14:00.000-08:00

Indulge me, I have to post today, but I don't have time to upload the pictures to go with the recipe I had planned to share. I was feeling a little bit homesick, like cold snowy Canada homesick, homemade cookies and grandma's chicken dinner homesick. I'm planning on making my mom's butter tarts this year for the first time. Because they're my favorite holiday recipe and I want to share it with my kids. One bite transports me to every new year in my memory.

So I want to hear from you. What's your favorite holiday food. What evokes memories of people living and passed, and the warm memories of families together.

I've already told you mine, add to that baked apples over a winter fire.

I'm fascinated by the way food speaks to our hearts as well as our stomachs, how certain scents feel like home, or take us to far away exotic places, or bring back memories of a special occasion.

Tea, make it a part of your diet, and your holiday treats

2007-11-07T23:14:00.000-08:00

My mother's family is Irish, my dad's, British and Irish. I come from a long line of tea drinkers, a looong line. My mother used to have travel tea cups that coordinated with her wardrobe. If anything happens in her family it's accompanied by the brewing of a strong pot of tea and sitting down at the table. My father's parents like to take their tea very seriously, cream first, then tea, always with the silver, never pour the cream from the carton, always from the pretty cream pitcher. You get the idea.

The reason I bring it up is that tea can be a big help to those who want to curb some automatic eating habits. For example, my grandparents always have tea after dinner, with dessert. There is something about a hot cup of tea that makes people slow down, and pay attention, and eat less. There is something about waiting for the water to boil, and the tea to brew, before sitting down with a pretty plate of dessert that keeps me anyway from gorging myself.

The prospect of the combination keeps me from sneaking extra before hand, and keeps me from sneaking extra after. If I'm thinking about a hot cup of tea and the perfect little cookie, or piece of pie, it actually stops me from tasting it before hand and helps me to keep sweets for only that occasion. Good china helps to create that sense of occasion, as does an uncluttered pretty table. By creating these moments with our food, the atmosphere, the heightened awareness, we can bring ourselves out of the habit of eating at random, grazing while standing, and into a ritualistic enjoyment of our food that keeps us from over eating or mindless snacking. I find that the more I plan what I am going to eat, the more attention I give to menus and shopping and preparation, the less I eat. It's a strange paradox, but anticipation works to keep me from eating on the go or the first moment I feel hungry because I want to wait to enjoy the meal I have planned. This goes for planned snack food too.

So as the holiday season moves closer and those once a year treats start appearing on your table, and sometimes around your middle try this. When someone gives you a box of chocolates, don't open it up and pass it around just yet, or leave it sitting on a credenza so you can pop one in your mouth every time you have occasion to pass. Put it away in a drawer, or cupboard, and save it for after a meal. Brew a steaming cup of tea, the choices are endless you'll find one you like, and put on or two little tastes on pretty plates. Eat slowly, savor the tea, your family and friends around you, and enjoy those treats. And then put them away again, until you have another occasion to enjoy a cup of tea. Or ask for gourmet tea blends, or coffee if you don't like tea, instead of baked treats and chocolates. And enjoy savoring this almost guilt free indulgence year round.

For a middle of the day visit with family, take another tip from the British and add to your tea, sandwiches, and other finger foods that have some protein in them and are good for you to balance out the sugar. Plan to eat more lightly at supper to make up for it.

Here are some of my favorite homemade blends:

Lavender Earl Grey

1 cup hood quality Earl Grey Blend loose tea

2 tsp lavender flowers

Combine and store in an airtight jar. To brew, pour boiling water into a pot with the tea. About 1 tbsp to 1-2 cups water.

Ginger and Fennel Roiboos

This tea is wonderful on a chilly night. The fennel seed is naturally sweet so I find it doesn't need any thing extra. Roiboos (South African red tea) is very high in antioxidants, one of the highest sources in the world.

4-5 slices ginger root

1 tbsp fennel seeds

4 whole cloves

1/4 cup roiboos leaves

Combine, keep in fridge unless the ginger you are using is dried. I fresh cut the ginger before each brewing and keep the rest together in a jar.

Steep in hot water for at least 5 minutes before serving. Try this with dates and mandarin oranges, two winter delights that are fun to eat and set the table with. And perhaps one chocolate truffle too once in a while.

With indulgences like these in store, it almost makes me look forward to colder weather.

Lasagna

2007-11-06T18:57:00.000-08:00

Lasagna is one of those great dishes that over delivers every time. Put in a little bit of work in the afternoon, and come dinner times you have this bubbly delicious feast that makes every one happy. I like to serve lasagna when we're entertaining because, unlike most of the things I cook, it doesn't involve any last minute rushing around. I can prepare it in the morning, or the night before, and just slip it into the oven before our guests arrive. A quick salad is all I need to put together before we can sit down to eat, and I'm free to spend time with people instead of running around in the kitchen.

This version of the classic that I made last night is my favorite by far. There was no time to take a picture, it was eaten too quickly, so enjoy.

Ingredients

One box lasagna noodles

2 large spicy sausages (I used Cajun style andouille, but I'm sure spicy Italian would work out just fine.)

1 tsp minced garlic

2 15 oz cans Trader Joe's Organic tomato sauce

2 tbsp basil pesto

1 1/2 tsp honey

basil flakes

balsamic vinegar

fresh ground pepper

32 oz small curd cottage cheese

2-3 cups grated mozzarella

Fill a large pot with cold water and set it on the stove top to boil. Add about 1 tbsp course sea salt.

If the sausage is raw, start by squeezing it out of it's tube and into a cast iron skillet. If it is cooked, chop it up and throw it into a blender. Pulse on grind until it's cut into tiny pieces. Then add it to the skillet. Once the sausage is cooked, or warmed through, drain any fat. Add the garlic and stir for a minute. Add the tomato sauce, pesto, honey, a quick dash of basil and a splash or two of vinegar. Simmer together for 15-30 minutes so that the flavors have time to blend together. Don't forget the fresh ground pepper as well. Now, taste your sauce. If it needs salt, or anything else, add it now. I like for the flavors in lasagna sauce to be more intense because all of that cheese can make it bland sometimes.

While the sauce is simmering, add the lasagna noodles to the boiling water, one at a time so they don't stick together. Stir gently until the noodles are soft but still firm, drain water and begin immediately to layer lasagna.

In a 9x113 baking pan lay out 3 whole noodles on the bottom of the pan. Spread a thin layer of sauce over the noodles. Stir the cottage cheese and then spread a thin layer above the sauce. Place another three noodles over the cottage cheese and continue in the same fashion, first sauce then cottage cheese followed by noodles. On the top layer, spread the remaining sauce and then sprinkle the mozzarella cheese over the whole pan.

Bake in an oven at 375 F for about 45 minutes or until the cheese on top bubbles and browns. Serve with your favorite sides, especially Caesar salad.

Homemade Bread

2007-11-05T11:53:00.000-08:00

Stephanie put me in touch with this wonderful looking blog a while back. It's really fun to read, and I bet the recipes taste good too. These people take bread seriously.

The thing about homemade bread is, no matter what the recipe, you are unlikely to encounter nearly as many additives as in standard store bought loaves. I've not seen a bread recipe that calls for corn syrup, but it's in every whole wheat loaf I look at at my local store. If you make your own bread with whole grains that makes it even better.

Once you get in the habit of making bread, like everything else, it's not really that hard, or time consuming. I have this really nifty, really expensive mixer that actually can knead bread. Since I started making bread once a week, I often don't even bother getting it out. It takes about the same amount of time to mix it by hand as it does to get the mixer out of the cupboard, and then wash it and put it away afterwards. So take a look. I plan to try the whole grain recipe soon.

Soak Your Nuts: Healthier Protein with Sprouted Seeds

2007-11-04T21:34:00.000-08:00

I wrote this article a while back as an assignment for a whole foods supplier. Only they never paid me, or got back to me, or published it, and I think they never actually launched the web portal I was writing for. So I'm publishing it here for the benefit of you my dear readers, and because I don't want them to publish it any more after being so unprofessional. I have of course edited out all references to said company and their products for obvious reasons. I actually tried this with almonds they were really good, I liked the texture. so here you go

Soak Your Nuts: Healthier Protein with Sprouted Seeds

Most everyone knows that nuts are good for you. They are an excellent protein alternative for those who are trying to eat less meat and they are packed full of nutrients and heart healthy monounsaturated fats that our bodies need. One of nature’s power foods, certain varieties of raw nuts are high in vitamin E, folic acid, calcium, copper, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, and zinc, to name just a few. Nuts are also packed with protein and extremely portable. They are a staple energy food that humans have relied on for thousands of years. So the next time you are looking to increase the nutrient content of your breakfast, snack food, salad, health drink or even dinner, raw nuts should be one of the first things you think of. But how can you know if you are getting all of the touted benefits of raw nuts from what you may find available on your grocery store shelves? Did you know that it’s possible to make this natural super food even better?

Sadly most of the “raw” nuts sold in North American stores are far from fresh, and far from raw. A standard practice in the shelling of Brazil nuts for example is to soak them in water for 1-2 days and then boil them for 5 minutes to soften the shell which makes machine or hand cracking easier. The heat from the boiling kills the nut and by the time it has reached grocery store shelves it is not only no longer alive and no longer raw, it can be full of rancid oils as well, which are toxic for your body.

Raw nuts are as much a living food as salad greens or sprouts. Nuts are seeds. The whole food goodness that makes them such a wonderful addition to your diet is because of their properties as viable seed. For a seed, or nut, to be viable it must, given the proper conditions, be able to sprout and grow into another plant. To find nuts that are fresh and alive, search for nuts that are advertised for sprouting, or purchase local varieties, the kind sold in small batches at farmer’s markets. That way you can ask how the nuts are processed. I once bought 3 pounds of organic in the shell walnuts for $5 at a stone soup festival in the park. Failing that, buy nuts in the shell, and shell them while you watch TV at night, or while you’re talking on the phone.

Sprouting is a mini miracle when it comes to boosting the health benefits of seeds, nuts and grain. When a seed is soaked and begins to sprout it wakes up, in a manner of speaking, and releases the nutrients that are locked inside. Dormant seeds have in them something called enzyme inhibitors, which stop enzyme reactions. This keeps them from going bad longer, or sprouting in unfavorable conditions, but it also makes them difficult to digest. Once a seed is sprouted the enzyme inhibitors are gone and the nutrients are readily available as well as the beneficial enzymes. Sprouted seeds also increase in protein while decreasing in carbohydrates as the seed uses the carbohydrate energy stored inside to grow. Soaking also breaks down the glutens and hard to digest proteins into smaller and easier to digest components. Sprouted nuts become even more delicious and good for you than raw nuts. Sprouted peanuts are especially addictive.

Sprouting is a very simple process and has such great health benefits that it is worth trying.

Here is a simple sprouting method that can be done with readily available items from your own kitchen.

Equipment: Begin with a glass jar and a clean tea towel or cheesecloth. It’s a good idea to sterilize these first in boiling water with a bit of food safe hydrogen peroxide, or grape fruit seed extract.

Step 1) Rinse and Soak Place nuts in the jar and fill it with water. Only use enough nuts to fill about 1/3 of the jar. Sprouts need room to grow. Rinse the nuts two or three times and drain with a colander. Once the nuts are rinsed fill the remainder of the jar with cool clean water. Tie the tea towel or cheesecloth over the top of the jar with an elastic band, or piece of string, or a canning jar ring. Keep the jar out of direct sunlight and allow the nuts to soak. Most nuts should soak for 4-12 hours before draining. Do not soak them for too long or they will rot instead of sprout

Step 2) Drain After 12 hours drain the water. You can prop the jar at an angle upside down to allow all of the water to drain completely. The towel or cheesecloth will hold your sprouts inside. Once the nuts have soaked they are already awake and free of enzyme inhibitors. You can eat them now, or you can allow them to sprout longer. You should taste your sprouts every time you rinse them so you know what way you like them.

Step 3) Rinse If you choose to let them sprout longer, rinse and drain every 8 hours or so. Unlike some types of seeds, sprouted nuts will not develop a long shoot. They swell rather than sprout and only produce a little bulge at one end rather than a root.

Sprouted nuts can be eaten all by themselves as a snack food, or they can be added to salads, stir fried, and included in many other recipes.

Specific information on sprouting nuts was gleaned from The Sprout People article Sprouting 101 (http://www.sproutpeople.com/grow/sprouting.html) and from Thomas E. Billings’ article Sprouting: A Brief Overview (http://www.living-foods.com/articles/sprouting.html)

Information on Brazil nut processing is from Thomas E. Billings’ excellent article entitled WHAT A RAW-FOODER SHOULD KNOW ABOUT NUTS (http://www.living-foods.com/articles/nuts.html)

Thai Style Curried Tuna with Soba Noodles

2007-11-03T23:47:00.000-07:00

You know, the right combination of ingredients can turn the most basic of things into something interesting. Take for instance the lowly can of tuna. I love tuna, and tuna salad, and tuna melts, but sometimes it’s fun to do something completely different with it. Take a little jaunt to the Asian foods section of your grocery store, or go a little farther to an Asian supermarket and you will find everything you need for this tasty variation.

Ingredients

1 Can tuna

1 tsp Thai Green Curry

1 tbsp toasted sesame oil

2 cloves of garlic, sliced

2 limes

Kecap Manis (Dark sweet soy sauce)

Soy sauce

Coconut milk

2 packages of fresh soba noodles

In a cast iron skillet heat the sesame oil. Add the green curry and stir for a few minutes until it starts to sizzle. Drop the garlic in and stir fry until it starts to smell really good, about one minute. Add the tuna and continue to stir. Once the tuna started to brown a little bit, squeeze the juice of one lime into the pan to deglaze.

Add about 1 tbsp of the Kecap Manis and a splash of soy sauce. Stir until warm and then add 1 tbsp of the coconut milk. Into the same pan, gently add the Soba noodles and let them warm a little, as they warm they will soften and be easier to stir. I love Soba noodles, they are made from barley flour which contains 2-3 times the same protein as an equal quantity of rice and is often higher in minerals such as potassium and calcium as well.

If you want it wetter you can add more coconut milk and lime juice, curry etc. Add more of the kecap manis to sweeten if it's too spicy, less if you like a little heat. Once the noodles are warm it is ready to serve.

***Add some strips of red pepper and baby corn and sliced green onions if you'd like some vegetables in the dish just before you add the noodles.

Roasted Yam and Onion Soup

2007-11-02T16:50:00.000-07:00

I made this recipe for Roasted Yam and Onion Soup the other day and it was FANTASTIC! I could have eaten bowl full after bowl full all night long.

I roasted the onions along with the yams, and then sliced them and sauteed per instructions. And I didn't add any cream or milk, it didn't need it at all. The only drawback to this soup is that it has no protein in it at all. So I would have it as a first course in a larger meal and pair it with roast chicken or well, anything really, it's so yummy.

I like that it makes use of winter vegetables also.

nablopomo, I need your help..

2007-10-31T22:30:00.001-07:00

I keep writing down things I want to post here, and I have tons of pictures in my files of recipes that I want to share, and ideas I had, but I've noticed they aren't actually getting here. Perhaps it's my perfectionism that's keeping me from doing it right away. So, this month I am posting every single day. Or I'm going to try at least and who cares if it's on the right day, or a summer recipe, right?

I'm also going to take this time to repost some things I've had up before, but with more specific categories and directions, so they are more user friendly.

If there is anything you'd like to see, let me know.

So check back often, because I've got a lot of backed up stuff to write about.

What to do for a child with a weight problem

2007-10-08T16:45:00.000-07:00

I was talking this weekend to a dad who was concerned about his little 3 year old girl being too big for her age, And by big, we mean fat. Granted she's got some extra on her, as do many kids these days, but she's pretty and tall for her age too and she doesn't look like she's in danger yet.

Anyway, he was talking about taking away her plate and limiting how much she eats, and my response was, don't watch how much she eats, watch what she eats. She will not develop a complex if you just make sure the food she eats all the time is good healthy food.

I was all impressed with myself and my wisdom, or ability to coin a phrase anyway, so I'm passing it along.

The only thing I watch to see how much my children eat is sugar, and crackers near to a meal time. I give them small portions of those and let them have all the fruit, vegetables and whole grain foods they want, oh and beans. My kids are so skinny that the pants in their height fall off their little waists. My 3 year old still fits into a pair of jeans I bought her when she was a baby, they look like capris now. Only I know that they have a tag that reads 6 months on the inside. So, it works for my bottomless pit children anyway.

Edible Construction

2007-10-01T23:14:00.001-07:00

We do this for Sukkot, the holiday of booth building. The kids get to build their own out of graham crackers and icing and candy. The green licorice is a nice substitute for leaves. You could adapt this for Christmas or whatever else you want.

My children can't believe I'm letting them handle all this sugar, but it's a holiday, and I am not a grinch.
The object of course is to figure out how to pile as much candy as you possibly can onto you booth, because you will get to eat it all. After dinner.

You will need,

Graham crackers

Candy (licorice tape, colored balls, whatever you want really)

Icing.

I don't usually bother with making royal icing with the egg whites. It is the strongest by far but this recipe works just fine, tastes better, and holds things together well enough to look at for a while before eating.

Ingredients

Icing sugar, lots

1/4 lb butter

water less than 1/2 a cup

paper plates

Cream together butter and sugar, add enough sugar so that the mixture is very dry. Slowly add a little bit of water until it reaches the consistency of a thick paste. If it's too thin, add more icing sugar. (This is very scientific.)

Then you can put it in ziplock bags and cut a little piece of the corner off to make and icing bag. Kids can squeeze their own icing out and use it to cement together the graham crackers into little boxes. For younger kids you can give them a small scoop of icing on their plate and they can dip the candies into it before gluing them to the sides top floor, whatever.

This is a lot of fun, you will want to jump in and make one yourself, and of course if you tell them that they can eat it after dinner for several days, they are less likely to gorge themselves all in one night. Mine don't ask for candy again for a looong time. They usually feel ill, which is fine with me, it may help them learn moderation.

Are animal fats unhealthy?

2007-09-22T22:52:00.000-07:00

Rose has asked about toxins in animal fats. She has heard that you should avoid consuming them because that's where any toxins would be stored. I still haven't had time to find out about this, but I always thought it was the gizzards that would have that problem.

Of course with clean animals, raised organically, it probably wouldn't matter, but we can't always be certain about that.

Does anyone else know or can direct me to a source?

All I have to contribute to the discussion is this quote,

Between 1910 and 1980 many changes took place to the kinds and amounts of fats and oils that people ate...Fats and oils (shortening, margarine, refined salad and cooking oils) account for 57%, dairy products account for 7%, and meat, poultry, and fish account for 31% of the total increase in our fat consumption. The average intake of trans-fatty acids in hydrogenated products rose from zero in 1910 to close to 10% of all fats we consume today... Our use of butter declined to 1/5 of its 1910 level, while our use of margarine increases 9 times. The use of lard went down to about 1/5 of its former level, while the use of vegetable shortenings almost doubled in the same time span...Our annual consumption of sugar rose from 15 pounds per person in 1815 to about 90 pounds in 1910, about 120 pounds in 1980 and about 135 pounds today. Cholesterol intake from foods has remained essentially constant during the last 70 years... consumption of linoleic acid (18:2w6) increased by 170%. The consumption of w3s (LNA, EPA, DHA) decreased to 1/6 of its level in 1850, while w6 (LA, AA) consumption doubled during that time, resulting in widespread w3 deficiency and serious w3:w6 imbalance. Udo Erasmus Fats the Heal, Fats that Kill

chorizo, now with chicken

2007-09-22T22:37:00.000-07:00

"Don't ask, just eat it."

I was sitting in a friend's RV near the beach in San Diego. He was making us breakfast. Chorizo and eggs, and warm flour tortillas. Chorizo is a spicy Mexican sausage that he squeezed from it's skin and cooked up like farmers sausage along with the eggs. It's a favorite breakfast in these parts. But you REALLY don't want to know what's in it. I have heard murmured references to rat droppings voiced around however.

Eating such tasty food, and having a cross cultural experience should be exciting, but perhaps not that exciting. That's what the folks at Trader Joe's seem to think. They have come out with their own version of Chorizo. It's made from chicken, tastes like the real thing, and you can enjoy it without worrying about the rat droppings. So go and try some today. Add eggs and soft warm tortillas and pretend you're on a beach somewhere warm watching the sun rise. At least, that's what I'd do.

Supersize it-American portions sizes are out of control

2007-09-16T21:59:00.001-07:00

Indulge me a bit while I rant about portion sizes. Last week was at the store still at 6pm when we like to eat dinner. (Using my coupon to buy 20 lbs of chicken at $0.49 a lb if you must know, and I'm going back tomorrow for another 40lbs and then I won't have to buy chicken for at least two months I expect, maybe longer. I shop the sales and then stock up, it's cheaper.) Anyway, I was feeling very behind and needed to think about dinner for the kids and I. Between the grocery store and home on the route that we walk is a Wendy's, and a Boston Market. (The cheapest thing would have been to turn around and walk back into the store to purchase one of their rotisserie chickens for $6 or so. But I didn't feel like dragging my children all the way to the back of the store and then go through the checkout all over again. But I digress. I went for Boston Market. I figured home style meals with fresh ingredients and things like green beans and mashed potatoes on the menu was a better option than cheeseburgers.

I bought 1/2 of a rotisserie chicken and two sides. While I waited for them to dish up my order I happened to glance at the menu and realized that I had just ordered from the individual meals menu. I worried about there being enough for dinner. Well, when I brought it home and put it all on one of my large serving dishes it filled the dish quite nicely. There was enough food there for me and my children and I still have some leftover chicken in my fridge that we didn't eat.

Which leads to my conclusion, as mentioned in the title.

My in-laws are sometimes this way about dessert. I say I can bring some brownies or make some cookies and they respond, "Okay, we'll get some ice cream and make some fudge sauce too so that there is enough for everyone." Granted there are many teenage boys at that house but I didn't know that dessert came in meal sized portions. It seems to my way of thinking that dessert is for taste and that two cookies or one large brownie is plenty.

Portion sizes are out of control, and so are waistlines, in direct proportion I'll venture. Why are we so afraid of being hungry? We've all done it. We stand in line at a fast food restaurant and we place our order, and then we think to ourselves, "Oh I'll just get some fries too in case I'm still hungry after the burger." Of course we eat all of the fries too, even though we weren't really hungry after all. Healthy eating experts say that we should only eat until we stop feeling hungry, not until we feel stuffed. Most of us don't feel satisfied enough to stop at not hungry. We have trained ourselves and our bodies to need to feel full before it clicks that we are finished eating. Friends, this is MESSED UP! It has to stop.

So I offer a few ideas that help me to rearrange my thinking and how I feel about how much I'm eating. I slip back into this pattern of eating from time to time and these usually work for me.

1.) Remind yourself that it's only one meal, there will be more. So you think you have room to stuff another little bit into your body before you're finished lunch. Dinner is only 5 hours away or so. You don't feel hungry right now, and you don't feel heavy, you can last 5 hours until you eat again. THIS IS NOT YOUR LAST MEAL EVER! YOU WILL BE HUNGRY AGAIN, AND YOU WILL EAT AGAIN! It's that simple. Stop acting like you need to stock up for later or your body will too and you will start to look like a refrigerator.

2.) This is stolen directly from French Women Don't Get Fat (see side bar) ask yourself if you can be satisfied with half of what's on your plate. Put the other half in a doggy bag if you are out or discard it. I've read about people pouring salt all over their leftovers so they aren't tempted to keep eating. I just ask them to take it away as soon as I'm done and take the rest home for later, or for my kids. (I hate to waste food.)

3.) Use a smaller plate. You will eat less and feel satisfied. Or put your food artfully in the very center of the plate and be sure to leave a wide margin around the perimeter.

4.) Use tiny pretty dishes for dessert. This works amazingly well. I have some lovely little bowls that I use for dessert. One tiny scoop of ice cream and a cookie or piece of fruit and it is full. It takes me just as long to eat as a large bowl because I unconsciously go slower and savor it more. My children are learning along with me that desert is just a taste of something yummy as a finish to a meal, not a meal in itself. It's now completely normal for me to eat just a little bit, instead of a giant bowl. I do the same for my husband. If he wants more he can get more later, but when I get dessert for him I give him a small portion. I've noticed since I started that he goes back for seconds less and less frequently, and so now I make it a point to offer to get things for him and I give him what I think is a reasonable portion.

5.) What's your hurry? Eating is not a race. Slow down and enjoy your food. You will feel satisfied sooner with less, simply because you were mindful of your meal. If you have a toddler, most of whom are notoriously slow eaters, try one day matching your eating speed to theirs, just to change your perception and reset your habits. You will find you're not as hungry as you thought.

6.) When you are finished eating get up and do something else to signal to yourself that the meal is definitely over. Brush your teeth, clear the table, have a cup of tea, whatever works for you. This will keep you from continuing to eat when it's time to stop.

Try doing these for a month or two and you will be surprised to find out how much food you were eating that your body didn't really need. You'll feel lighter, have more energy, and your clothes may even fit better. Go on give it a try, and then come back and tell me how it worked.

Rosh Hashanna Dish

2007-09-12T15:06:00.000-07:00

If you celebrate Rosh Hashanna, you're probably Jewish, but you may also be wondering what can I do with carrots and honey again this year that will taste good. If that is the case go and check out my recipe for Honey Ginger Glazed Carrots.

If your don't keep Rosh Hashanna check it out anyway, because it's tasty.

And in case you are wondering Rosh Hashanna is the feast day that celebrates the religious New Year, the creation of the world and ushers in the 10 days of Awe, among other things.

Making Biscuits the Old Fashioned Frugal Way

2007-09-11T12:31:00.000-07:00

(First for my British readers, sorry I don't mean cookies, I mean the scone dumpling type things that we here in the New World refer to as biscuits.)

Have you ever saved the fat from your cooking to make somethings else? Bacon drippings to cook eggs in for days, beef fat, chicken drippings? Not that long ago oil was too expensive for most people to buy and so they gleaned the fat the they used to cook from what they already had on hand. My mom did this while I was young and today I am going to pass this on to you.

Like all of my recipes, this one started as something else entirely. A few days before this I roasted a chicken in a crockpot. I made a rack out of potatoes, so what I really did was put a few potatoes underneath the chicken in the pot so that it wouldn't sit in the drippings. I put the chicken on top of them and rubbed it with butter and sea salt and ground pepper and fresh rosemary leaves. I was quite pleased with how it turned out, it was very tender and it actually turned a nice golden color. I cooked it on low for several hours. When it was ready there was all of this really ice broth in the bottom of the crockpot, and the butter and fat had been rendered as well. I chose not to make gravy and instead returned the uneaten chicken to the pot with some more water and cooked it overnight to make more broth. Then I strained the broth and picked all the meat from the bones. At this point I ladled all of the fat that I could skim from the top of the broth into a small bowl that I put in the fridge. Don't worry if you get some broth mixed in as well, it will separate after it cools.

Then I made soup.

I added all the leftovers I had in my fridge. I had corn and brown beans and some chicken and basil sausage that I sliced and browned and added at the end. There was barley in there as well. And it lasted for two meals. For the first we had leftover bread from something else to go with the soup. Two days later I pulled it out again to serve for dinner and also pulled out the skimmed fat.

I put about 2 1/2 cups of flour in the bowl, 2 tsp baking powder and a pinch or two of salt. I stirred it all together and added the fat from the bowl it comes out easily in one piece and cut it in like you would lard. until it was all evenly distributed. It comes out looking coarse and grainy but my picture of that is really dark. Those little bits in the fat are rosemary leaves from the chicken which added a really nice layer of flavor.

See how there is broth left at the bottom of the bowl, I just put that back in the soup.

Then I added about one cup of warm water. Only add it a little bit at a time until it looks like this. If you add it all at once you may end up with too much and a wet dough.

Then I shaped then with my fingers on a nonstick pan and cooked them at 350 for about half an hour, shorter if you make yours smaller than mine.

And there you have it, a better tasting less expensive way to make biscuits.

Summer Wrap Up

2007-09-01T10:38:00.000-07:00

Wow, where did the summer go, and where did I go? It's already September and that little happy face has been up here quite long enough. I spent most of the month in the pool with my little people who impress me daily with how well they can swim compared to the beginning of summer. I have been taking advantage of it to get some exercise in this very uncomfortable heat wave you may have heard about. I can't swim because I have to keep people from drowning and hold a baby, but I can jog from one end of the pool to the other, and do leg lifts and jumping jacks in the water while holding the baby and it's a pretty good workout, and the bonus is that I don't feel all hot an sweaty while doing it.

I've also been at some very yummy and impressive food get togethers and I was really going to tell you all about it, but....it was summer ya know. And I'm a perfectionist I wanted to do it in order with pictures so I never ended up doing it at all. (Banging forehead with hammer._

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So I have this little problem that I run into from time to time. I start thinking that there are so many other food blogs out there, and so many other people who have been at this longer than I and who do a great job that i wonder why I bother. I realize that this is silly, and that the more people who talk about healthy food the more people will hear it, and that different voices are needed to get the message out, but I do feel discouraged every so often. Instead, I've decided that when I find something really cool I get to tell y'all about it and be happy that I'm not a lonely voice in the wilderness. Okay, enough of the narcissistic babbling, on to food.

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Do you know how to revive wilted lettuce and other greens? Lots of times lettuce will go limp before we can use it, but it's not rotten or dry yet. I put it in a bowl of cold water and put it back into the fridge for a while, usually that's all it takes for it to get nice and crispy again, and then I use it right away.

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I have some posts up at my hub page like How to make Red Bean Popsicles at Home and Honey Ginger Glazed Carrots
Make Frozen Yogurt at Home sugar free of course
Thai Salad Rolls
Tom Yum Kung Thai lime and shrimp soup
and my favorite new cookie invention Delicious Almond Coconut and Jam Cookies

So you have something to read.

Peanut Butter Happy Face

2007-08-09T01:18:00.001-07:00

This only takes a few minutes to do, and your kids will love it. I used sprouted grain bread, Trader Joe's Organic Chunky Peanut Butter, and raisins.

You can mix it up and use whatever you want. Why shouldn't lunch be fun?

Honey, Lime, Mint and Basil Salad

2007-08-08T00:18:00.000-07:00

The boy had seconds, and then thirds, and then fourths of this salad, which I think tells you all you need to know about how it tastes.

I used green and red leaf lettuce. The two heads I bought at the farmer's market 3 weeks ago are still crisp, yay for buying it fresh cut.

I tore it and added basil, and mint, and a spicy red and green mint variety that I picked up, but you could stick to regular mint if that's all you have.

Here is the dressing.

Equal parts honey, fresh lime juice, and olive oil. Add one or two twists of fresh ground pepper and shake it up before pouring on the salad and tossing together.

This is a variation on the dressing I usually use for bitter greens like cabbage, arugula, and kale.

What Real Food Means to Me

2007-08-02T03:38:00.000-07:00

Since the title of this blog is the real food revolution, I obviously have a few opinions on the subject. I was asked to write a post describing what real food means to me by these people here.

Real food can be defined many ways. For some it may mean home grown and cooked from scratch. For others it may be something attached to a nostalgic memory or event that had food involved. Though I do tend to think of real food in those terms I think its gets a bit more basic for me in the end. Real food to me is mostly about ingredients, while to a lesser extent about process.

In my opinion brownies should only ever have chocolate, sugar, butter flour and baking powder in them, unless you want to throw in caramel or fudge chunks, chili peppers, or something else that adds flavor and interest to the basic recipe. We live in a culture were boxes of mass produced snack foods call to us from grocery store shelves and announce in big bold print with exclamation points "Made with REAL chocolate!" Only it's also got "Canola Oil, Palm Oil, Nonfat Milk, Soybean Oil, Corn Syrup, Fructose, Whey, Salt, Modified Cornstarch, Gellan Gum, Sodium Citrate, Soy Lecithin, Natural And Artificial Flavors, Guar Gum, Xanthan Gum, Propylene Glycol Monoesters, Mono- And Diglycerides, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, and Potassium Sorbate (Preservative)." I don't even know what some of those things are.

It shocks me that people ever buy this stuff, it just doesn't taste the way brownies should taste. It tastes sickeningly sweet without any of the fine counterpoint that real butter and chocolate bring to each other and the lovely slightly crisp slightly chewy texture of a real brownie.

Real food is made from real ingredients, not manufactured additives. Real food uses fresh, delicious, simple ingredients and combines those to make something wonderful. Some of the best meals I have ever enjoyed are from the combination of 5 basic ingredients or less, but it is the freshness, the quality, and the treatment of those ingredients that creates a wonderful gastronomical experience. Simplicity in ingredients can be combined with simplicity of preparation, or elaborate and detailed preparations that create something truly special. Cake can be a flat sheet with delicious icing smoothed on top with a butter knife. It may not look like much, but it tastes delicious. That same cake can be arranged in layers and covered with elaborate icing and delicate sugar roses and become the center piece for an event, but what makes it real to me is the ingredients used to make it, not the way it looks.

A few shrimp can be arranged artfully on a skewer atop a carefully made risotto, or the same basic ingredient can be piled high on a plate with corn on the cob and French bread, drenched in buttery sauce. Both are experiences of real food, both memorable in their own way.

Real food is local, and unique, specialties made from the bounty of each region and passed on from generation to generation as an art that makes the act of survival in this place we find ourselves living pleasurable. It has the wisdom of our ancestors in it, and is our heritage.

Real food is made with pride, with an eye to quality and freshness. Real food is what we find the world over when people are in touch with their environment, their food sources, and their kitchens.

I started this blog because I was appalled at how little real food is available where I live. In the grocery stores and fast food chains that abound as I wander the aisles and look for nutritious and delicious things to feed my family, I am constantly disappointed by what I find. This has driven me to write about it, and learn more, to seek out local sources of produce, to start my own garden, and to even try to figure out how to make my own artisan sourdough. It is an exciting and fulfilling journey, and I'm glad that you all have joined me on it.

Thanks.

Stuff I've been doing

2007-07-27T00:30:00.000-07:00

I hinted that I was working on something a while back and so I am ready to unveil my brand new project. It is very new and still needs some tweaking, but you can check out my food column for hubpages at http://hubpages.com/profile/carrien. I will be adding a lot of articles there over the next few months and getting a little more specific about some things than I do here, like Shopping for Strawberries and Storing Strawberries and an Easy Strawberry Dessert Recipe.

Here is a pick of my boy eating breakfast.

To find out How to Make Perfect Whole Wheat Blueberry Pancakes click on the link.

Trifle Inspired Fruit Salad

2007-07-17T22:08:00.000-07:00

I made this pretty dish on the weekend and the whole time I was wishing I had a camera so that I could show it to you. But I didn't. We did however buy one today, so you can expect illustrated posts in the days to come.

Ingredients

cherries-pitted and sliced in half

nectarines-cut into pieces

green grapes-halved

red grapes-halved

Strawberries-sliced or quartered

Mango-cut into pieces

Blueberries

1 quart plain yogurt

cinnamon

In a clear glass trifle dish layer the fruit as follows.

Cherries then a scoop or two of yogurt. Sprinkle cinnamon on the yogurt.

Next the nectarines. Then more yogurt and cinnamon.

Continue in this fashion with an eye to alternating colors until all the fruit and yogurt is in the bowl. I served this for dinner one night with cheese toast. (Cheddar and Jack on sourdough.) This would be great for a brunch with French toast, or a light lunch, or even dessert.

Variations: You can use whatever fruit you want that is in season, except for citrus which will cause the yogurt to curdle.

Light summer meal, sweet salad, bread, and cheese

2007-07-11T20:05:00.000-07:00

Several leaves of organic red leaf lettuce and green leaf lettuce-torn into medium sized pieces $0.25

2/3 cup of finely sliced organic purple cabbage. $0.05

1/2 organic cucumber quartered and sliced. $0.25

2 sprigs organic flat leaf parsley from patio herb garden-only the leaves. Free

One large nectarine cut into chunks $0.75

1/2 cup almonds-toasted thanks to Genoa's comment

less than 1/4 cup of Annie's Low-Fat Raspberry Vinaigrette $0.30

Combine in a salad bowl. Total cost $1.60

Serve with slices of crusty artisan sourdough made with whole wheat organic flour $1.00

Add some slices of cheese $0.50

Cold water with a twist of lime $0.10

And some grapes for dessert. $0.40

Cost for entire meal $3.60

That's what we had for dinner tonight after walking all the way to and from the farmer's market yesterday.

Foraging, Seed Collecting, Bulk buying and Dollar Store Bargains

2007-07-09T00:50:00.001-07:00

Here are a few inexpensive and somewhat unconventional methods of getting real food on the table.

The first is foraging. That is going for walks and picking up for free what nature provides. The most obvious is wild berry picking, almost every green area in north has some form of
native edible species. Rose hips, saskatoons, black berries, fiddle heads, mushrooms (Be careful), dandelion greens (Still considered a delicacy in many places. The first time I ate them was at a fancy restaurant in a salad.) and everyone who has a lawn has those growing, they are good for you and free as a bonus. Here in CA we have avocado groves and oranges and lemons and limes and pomegranates. It's criminal to take fruit from someones trees, but ground fall is legally fair game. My father in law takes an empty backpack with him when he goes for walks near his home and comes back with avocados, oranges, and loquats that he spotted while walking. He's also made friends with some other neighbors and gets himself lettuce and picking privileges on some of their trees. When I lived in Kelowna I would wander through the orchards and take home fallen apples and those were the best tasting apples I've ever had.
I found this handy list a while back when my children found mushrooms and wanted to know if they were edible. It's a list of dozens of foraging and ethnobotany sites.

Second is the fact that bulk buying is cheaper and that whole grains are healthier. Ordering in bulk on line and getting your own grain grinder to make flour can save you a lot of money in the long run, and you never run out of flour. Or if you live in the grain belt take a short trip to your local farmer or grain elevator and find out if you can purchase it there. Let your fingers do the walking. My in-laws, when Y2K was in the air even got an electric grinder that could be converted to run off of a bicycle in case they ever didn't have electricity. There are also several things that don't require a mill that are cheaper in bulk. Information on storage, use, and sources of bulk foods is readily available. I liked this place the rest of the site was fun to read as well, and this.

I forgot to mention community gardens last time. There are several cities that allow public land, to be used as garden for urban dwellers. You usually have to apply for a plot and wait for one to be assigned. Also, when gardening in colder climates with shorter growing seasons you can start your seeds inside which is cheaper than buying bedding plants. Also learning how to harvest seeds in the fall keeps you from needing to purchase seeds more than once, and you can trade them for other varieties as well. This is also very political as big seed companies are making seeds that only produce one season so that growers need to buy seeds every year and are lobbying governments to make seed harvesting and exchanging illegal in an attempt to make the world dependent on them for food and drive prices up. Harvesting and trading seeds these days amounts to a political protest.

The last thing that I'd like to mention today for those who can't afford to buy fresh produce is to check the clearance bins at your local Whole Foods type store or fruit stand. You will usually find things that are about to turn and haven't yet, they'll be organic and good quality but overripe or soft and need to be used right away and so they'll be deeply discounted. My children love it when I find strawberries on clearance, they almost always become popsicles and smoothies. Bags of tomatoes become homemade tomato sauce and soup, apples turn into pie and sauce, peaches can be eaten write away and then cut and frozen or canned. Mushy peppers are roasted peeled and pureed for adding to soups and sauces. Potatoes become soup, Much can also be done with a food dehydrator, and one that works without heat is better because more nutrients are left alive.

I thought I was done and then I remembered that I have whole wheat egg noodles in my cupboard that I paid $0.40 for at family sized bag Big Lots. Most of the stuff at the dollar store and Big Lots is crap, but not all of it so it's worth stopping by to look for things. Take your label reading skills with you and practice saying no firmly before taking your children along. Explain to them what you are looking for and why. They can turn out to be good at spotting things worth getting and you are teaching them valuable skills as well. And no matter how cheap it is don't buy Kool-Aide unless you need an inexpensive die for yarn or crafts.

For more ideas on life on a budget including meals here are a couple of places I visit often. Meridith at Like Merchant Ships had a cooking contest a while ago with another blogger on how cheaply they could make dinner. They called it the Iron Chef Mom. She also has a frugal blogroll that links to several others doing the same. The New Homemaker has articles covering every home related subject including gardening, cooking, and making ends meet. They have just published a recipe book of crock pot cookery as well for only $7.95.

Navajo Fry Bread

2007-07-09T00:01:00.000-07:00

I got this recipe directly from the women at the boarding school at the Navajo Nation.

6 cups flour (White Whole Wheat)

6 tsp baking powder

Approx. 1--2 cups warm water

Mix together flour and baking powder. Slowly add water a bit at a time until you have a workable dough, not sticky, just pliable. Using a 1/4 or 1/3 cup measure scoop out a ball of dough and roll it until smooth. Continue until all the dough is formed into small balls. Cover the dough and let sit for 20 minutes. Fill a large frying pan with canola or vegetable oil about one inch deep. Heat the oil over medium heat. While the oil is heating take up a ball of dough and gently flatten it between the palms of your hands. Holding it between the heel of your hands flip it back and forth across the heel of one hand and then the other, turning it continuously until it has stretched out into a larger circle. (Think small pizza crust. If this proves too hard you can use a roller but you will lose some of the lightness and be careful not to roll it too thin.) Once the oil is hot slide the stretched fry bread into the pan. It will rise in the pan and get bubbly, once the bottom is firm and a bit golden flip it and cook the other side. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with kosher salt immediately after it's cooked. Continue until all the bread is cooked. Once you get good at tossing you can get the next few done while the first are cooking and have them ready. The oil can be poured out into a jar and reused for other batches.

Serve topped with these beans, shredded lettuce, and shredded cheese. These are great for serving large crowds, very inexpensive to make and filling.

Handmade

2007-07-08T12:35:00.000-07:00

When societies were largely agrarian and most people lived in a rural setting getting real food was no problem at all, except for drought and flood and infestations of course. The point being that at one point the entire occupation of mankind was largely to do with food production and most of it was produced at home. While that is largely impossible these days there are still some ideas that can be reclaimed to fit real food into a modern setting while on a budget.

For starters, everything can be made from scratch. It's not all that hard for most items once you try it a few times and become good at it. If you try the first time and decide that that was just far too time intensive and difficult and give up, you aren't giving yourself the time to get better. When I was a newlywed we traveled to the Navajo Nations Reserve with a relief organization just before Christmas. We took food and coal and individually gift wrapped stuffed animals for every child at a boarding school there. The Navajo Nation is the largest and poorest reservation in the US. They largely still live in traditional round houses with dirt floor and wood fires. Anyway they fed us lunch one day. It was a simple meal of Navajo fry bread with pinto beans and cheese and lettuce on top. It was amazing, I feel in love with it and I begged for the recipe. They of course all looked at me strangely and said, "You crazy woman we don't have a recipe we learned from our mothers who learned from their grandmother's who learned from their grandmother's. We can't just write it down, but we'll show you how." Maybe they just looked like they were saying that in their head, but they did let me join them in the kitchen and watch.

The dough is pretty simple, but the way they flopped it between the heels of their hands to make these perfect circles that were thinner in the center than at the edge was not so simple. I tried, I tried again, I was terrible. I finally got one to look sort of right. They were flipping out a piece every 30 seconds I think while I struggled to get the feel of it. I tried again when we came home. The first batch was a total flop, the second barely better. Every few months I would pull out the, now lost, grease stained scrap of paper that I had scribbled the proportions on and tried again. One day a few years back I made a batch of fry bread and suddenly realized that I had finished the whole thing in very little time. In my excitement I called my husband at work to tell him, thus confirming for him for life that he did in fact marry a total nerd. Of all of the things I have tried, that was one of the hardest, but now if I have a large group of friends coming over for dinner I can baked up this bean recipe in the crock pot at a total cost of $3 for the beans onion, garlic and tomato. I can make up the fry bread just before people arrive and grate cheese and cut lettuce. Total cost $6 for flour, oil, lettuce, and cheese, and 15-30 of our closest friends are stuffed and happy and excited about the interesting food as well. For dessert I can just make some more and sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on them.

We all know that baking from scratch is cheaper, and usually better, We just have a hard time fitting it into our days because we're so busy. I know some people who have a baking day and do all of their baking for the week on that day. Mine is Friday. There are others who not only plan their meals but set aside three hours one day to prep all of the meals for the entire week, thus eliminating chopping and measuring from their daily schedule. My mom has done something like this for years. When I was getting ready for the baby's arrival I put together crock pot recipes and combined all of the ingredients ahead of time and froze them so all I had to do was put the combined ingredients into the crock pot in the morning and dinner would take care of itself.

I said I'd tell you what I do if I want to spend less on food so here it is. We eat soup, stew, lentils, rice, and beans. I make powdered milk biscuits (And channel Garrison Keillor the whole time I'm doing it) to supplement the simple meal of Lentil Barley Soup and salad. We eat porridge for breakfast, instead of commercial cereal. We eat eggs and toast for dinner. Basically we eat peasant food, and it's amazingly good for us.

2007-07-05T14:03:00.000-07:00

I love it when my internet service is down. I use the time in productive and creative ways and never once run over to the computer to check and see if I can access my mail yet, not once. NOT! But I have service again, you probably didn't even notice I was gone, and guess what I saw all over the place when it came back.

THIS!

Think how rich I could be right now if I had trademarked Real Food. Their idea of real food is only slightly divergent from mine and it looks like it could be fun. Except for the part where I mostly dislike mayonnaise so Helman's isn't likely to have approached me as a sponsor.

More on Real Food on a budget coming, I hope, later today.

A pause to clarify and dig a little deeper

2007-06-29T11:23:00.000-07:00

The tests on pesticides were done in the US regarding US produce and produce imported to the US. So Kate in Spain, I don't know if it applies to the produce you buy or not. I understand that Europe has become more stringent about pesticide use so it may not be an issue.

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Dear people on a food budget of $50/week or less for a family. The time has come to embrace cabbage, and rice, and lentils and beans. Really, cabbage is a very inexpensive vegetable, even in Canada. It is a very good source of a lot of nutrients especially if you mix up the colors. For inspiration as to how to prepare the cheapest vegetables at the store, often the most nutrient dense as well, such as cabbage, turnips, beets, chard, kale, and parsley we can look to the recipes of northern Europe. For example, coleslaw. I promise that you can make these things taste good and I will try to write down some of these recipes soon.

Lentils are very inexpensive, rice can be bought in 10lb bags at Asian stores for less than $15 and lasts for months. So are beans. Lentils can be cooked and used as a ground beef substitute or to stretch your ground beef farther. They are actually a lot healthier than meat. As are beans and rice which are a complete protein together and significantly less expensive. People in our culture today seem to think that meat is necessary every day when that's far from the case.

I'm not just pretending to know about this. A many years back when the GH was between jobs I was standing in line at the food bank. I was trying to make healthy meals out of the random weird things that were donated, I spent less than $20 a month on food to supplement that. Honestly, because I have an obsessively well stocked pantry I had a lot of staples to deplete before we ran out. Guess what was in there. That's right, beans and rice, and lentils, and whole oats and barley. So I have been there. Personally I would rather make sure that my family gets their antioxidants and fiber and complex carbohydrate than chicken and steak. I'm that convinced that it's important for their health.

Produce on a budget, the real food guide to cheap fruits and vegetables

2007-06-28T09:51:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting here looking at the flyer for our local farmer's market store, called Henry's. It's not really a farmer's market, but most of the produce is local, and they have an extensive supplement section and bulk foods and spices section as well. This week mangoes are 3 for $1, seedless water melons are two for $5, green and red seedless grapes are 87 cents/lb. So are peaches, vine ripe tomatoes and potatoes. Twelve ounces of berries are $3. Granted, it's summer, and I live in California where a lot of food is grown, but fruits and vegetables are by far one of the least expensive parts of our diet. When you consider that they are at least half of our diet, this saves us a lot of money. The typical dinner plate should be 1/2 salad or vegetables, 1/4 meat or other protein, and 1/4 carbohydrate/starch. One serving of meat is 4oz. That means it should fit into the palm of your hand. Most Americans eat too much meat, which isn't good for us. Simply adjusting to more salad and less steak can drastically reduce your food spending per month and drastically improve your long term health.

I take $20 a week when I go to the Farmer's market. (The real one, not Henry's.) I buy from the local organic producers. I get fresh quality, I get what's in season, and that $20 worth of produce usually lasts more than one week. I usually spend another $10 or so on fruit that I can't find at the Farmer's market.

So here are some tips for saving money on fruits and vegetables.

Only purchase what's in season. When it's in season you can also buy more than you need and preserve it, canned, frozen or dried, to enjoy it into other season's as well. Fifty years ago people still ate according to the seasons. There were cookbooks devoted to the preparation of seasonal produce. Why do you think the French invented onion soup? They had to eat something in the winter and onions keep a long time. Apart from preserves, berries were only eaten during the summer, squash and apples in the fall, potatoes, leeks, onions and other root vegetables throughout the winter, baby greens in the spring. My husbands brought into our marriage a cookbook from a monastery in France called the 4 seasons. It's a collection of vegetarian recipes all tailored to the seasonal availability of produce. (It also contains my favorite recipes for custard and pears flambe. (I've got a little project I working on that may be helpful in this respect too. I can't say any more than that because it's still in the works but I'll keep you posted.)
Buy local, go to farmer's market's, join a food co-op or direct market organic delivery service if there are any in your area. Here are some places to start looking. Food coops are groups of people who organize to purchase direct from the growers at bulk prices and then split up the orders between themselves. They usually require a onetime membership fee, less than $30usually, and depending on the size you may have to take one day a week or month to join your fellow co-opers and divide up the orders to take home. They are easier to find in urban areas. Some are so well organized that you can order what you want online, the order is prepared for you and once a week you can pick it up at a home nearby. (How I miss Vancouver.)
Organic food is usually more expensive. When I'm on a budget I will limit my organic purchases to those things that tests have shown often have large quantities of pesticides on them still when they reach the shelves. Or I'll skip them altogether. The 10 most contaminated foods are:strawberries, green bell peppers, red bell peppers, spinach, cherries (US), peaches, cantaloupe (Mexican), celery, apples, apricots, green beans, grapes (Chilean), and cucumbers. For the entire study and alternative foods go here.
Join a gleaner's club. Lot's of people have trees that produce fruit but don't have the motivation to harvest it. Gleaner's clubs gain permission to harvest the fruit themselves. Most of the time they donate it to food banks but you can keep some of it yourself. Or, just ask that next door neighbor with the cherry tree if they mind if you pick their cherries for them.
Of course, no discussion of cost effective produce can forget to mention growing your own. Depending on where you live, how long of a growing season, and what it costs to water, growing your own vegetables can save you lots of money leaving your budget free to purchase what you can't grow. You can even plant your own fruit bearing trees, ask your local gardening expert what grows best in your area. Even if you don't live somewhere with dirt of your own to plan a garden in, there are a lot of things that can grow in containers on apartment balconies, front steps, etc. I live in a ground floor apartment with a concrete patio. This year I took one of the kids wooden toy boxes that was falling apart and they never use, reinforced it with a few screws and filled it with gravel, pine cones and potting soil. Right now I have tomatoes, oregano, and basil growing in it. In another container I have planted lettuce seeds, and in another I have mint, in another cilantro, and in another rosemary. Here is a handy guide to container gardening. The added bonus of growing your own food is that your children can be much more excited to try it when they've watched it grow.
The last thing I'd like to mention is an idea Rose had in this post. She concluded that the most cost effective way to have fresh nutritious produce in the winter was to sprout seeds in her kitchen. Seeds for sprouting can be found anywhere, even the Target garden section. Here is an online source for purchasing a sprouting starter kit. That $40 will provide everything you need to start and last up to a year. Sprouts taste good raw and can also be sauteed, stir fried, baked into breads and casseroles and provide a lot of protein and nutrients. The quick guide to sprouting is to soak seeds in a jar for 8 hours keeping them in a dark place. You can tie a piece of cheese cloth across the top of the jar if you have no strainers in order to drain the water. Continue to keep the jar in a dark place and rinse with clean water at least twice a day. In about three days you have sprouts and you can eat them.

I'm sure more of you have great ideas for combining economy and fresh food. Please share in the comments so we can all learn from each other.

Does real food cost more?

2007-06-25T00:32:00.000-07:00

While I was mulling over the topic of budget considerations when it comes to real food I received a lovely email from Rose asking questions on that very topic.

But, I do wonder how much your wonderful diet ends up costing you. (And I know, I know, we would all save a lot of money on doctor bills if we all ate well!) But really, I wonder what the ballpark food budget is for your family, because when I hear you mention Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, I immediately think ‘Expensive!’

I want to eat much, much better even than we are eating now, even with me cooking all of our food from scratch. But it seems I am always caught between the four variables of nutrition, taste, cost, and convenience. Something has got to go.

Since she's probably not the only one with similar questions, I thought I'd answer her here. She also shared with me post that involved some very creative solutions that she has already come up with and she said I could share it with you, so I'll do so a bit later.

So, I quickly went through and added up everything that we spent at a grocery store over the month of April. (Because I had those records handy.) Since I only had totals, not receipts, those numbers indicate everything we would have spent on food, toilet paper, detergents, toothpaste and whatever else. Also, I realized that we threw a very big party for the Genius Husband's birthday in April for a large group of people and I know we spent close to $100 on that alone. S0 the total for April was $544.67. Subtract $100 for party expenses and it's just over $400 to feed a family of 4 for a month and keep their hair, teeth, butts and house clean as well. Oh, and diapers for 3 short people and quarters for laundry ($10/week) should be figured in there as well.

For some of you this will be quite high, for a lot of others this will be fairly low. I chose April because it is a pretty good representation of what happens when we're not counting pennies. On penny counting months I can bring our grocery bill way down with a few simple adjustments that I'll share later.

I don't have a Whole Foods near where I live. Jimbo's is our local equivalent. Yes, it's very expensive to shop there. It's lovely to shop there because they have already done the work of label reading so most of what they stock is good for you food, though you still have to think. Organic Evaporated Cane Juice is still sugar after all, even though it's less processed. You know what? I rarely ever shop there. When I do go it's for a very specific item, usually on sale, though not always. I window shop at their deli for inspiration, sometimes purchasing one thing and then going home to figure out how to make it myself. That's how I learned about Avocado Pie. I bought a piece, read the ingredients list and experimented at home. Jimbo's is for things I can't find elsewhere, like millet in bulk, and black lentils.

Okay, now let's talk about my favorite store, Trader Joe's. I shop there all the time because the prices are so good. I can buy a dozen local brown eggs for 99 cents. I can get hormone free milk and cheese for less than I can buy regular milk and cheese at a national chain grocery store. I can get bars of single origin organic dark chocolate for less than 2 dollars. In fact they have a 10 pound bar of Belgian dark chocolate that they sell for $20. That's a lot of chocolate. The price for crackers, cereal, sauces, cookies and most every thing else is the same or less than grocery store prices and they all have real food ingredients. TJ's is the only place where I can purchase a very nice organic Italian wine for $3/bottle. (Tommolo Montepulcian0 d'Abruzzo bottled by Chiusa Grande if you go looking.) They also sell pretty big bottles of pure Maple syrup for $7. I can buy a loaf of sprouted grain bread for just over $2. (Remember higher fiber bread is more filling, you don't need to eat as much.) If you are going to purchase really high quality meat and gourmet foods you can also find them there and pay more for them, but not as much as you would at a gourmet foods place. There are some things we get at Trader Joe's that are treats, special foods for special occasions. They cost more than getting the regular version would at a store, but we think it's worth it. These are things like ice cream, which we only eat once a week so it lasts a while, apple smoked nitrate free bacon, we only have bacon once a month or less, fancy cheeses, which are still not that expensive compared to other places, and chocolate, alcohol, etc. If you are going to purchase prepackaged food, their's is better for the same amount of money.

Okay, enough about TJ's because not everyone is lucky enough to have one nearby.

Now, to address the 4 things that Rose very neatly summarized that she feels a tension between; nutrition, taste, cost, and convenience. In my opinion food that tastes better is a natural by product of eating foods that have more nutrition in them or are at least less processed, (cookies made with real butter always taste better than cookies made from margarine don't they?) and that the two go hand in hand. This may not be your experience in which case I respectfully suggest that perhaps you haven't yet had enough experience of real food.

Looming largest are the issues of cost and convenience and how do you get good tasting and nutritious food without sacrificing either of those? Well the truth is both of these things have to give a little from time to time, it can be a bit of a lifestyle adjustment if you need to stay within budget, but it doesn't have to be extreme. (My mother made the tiniest little food budget stretch far enough to feed us and many guests as well without resorting to KD in a box and it tasted good and was real food.)

Tomorrow I will talk about how to get Whole Foods quality without paying too much for it.

Amazing Bean Salad

2007-06-22T00:29:00.000-07:00

I just made this salad tonight for the first time and it's incredible.

Warm Garbanzo Bean Salad

1/2 medium yellow onion chopped very fine

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp whole cumin seeds

15 oz/1can garbanzo beans

Heat 2 tbsp Canola oil in a skillet on medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and cumin and cook until translucent 3-5 minutes. Add the beans and heat until warm through, about 3 minutes. Add the juice of 2 limes and cook for 1 minutes longer. Remove from heat and add salt and pepper, 2 handfuls of cilantro leaves, and a splash or two chili oil. Eat warm. So good.

Homemade chili oil is just olive oil that is sealed in a jar with chili peppers long enough for the flavor to get into the oil.

I am writing what will probably be a series of posts on how to eat real food on a limited budget. I will be posting it very soon.

Kellogg's commits to raising nutrition of kids food

2007-06-20T22:52:00.000-07:00

I read this article with great interest the other day. Kellogg's the world's leading cereal producer has caved to public pressure and will be upgrading the nutrition standards of the cereals that it advertises to children under the age of 12. It will be revising the caloric content and salt and sugar content of it's cereals. While I applaud this development and agree that it's a good thing for lobbyists to push for a healthier food standard, I can't help wondering about a lot of issues the article raised for me.

The first thought of course was that they could meet those guidelines just by making the portion sizes smaller, which doesn't change anything but the label.

The other thing that it had me wondering however was why is it necessary to control advertising to children? Why is it the responsibility of the food producers to make kids food healthier instead of the responsibility of parents to make informed choices as consumers? Aren't parents the ones who purchase the breakfast cereal, and aren't they able to say no and explain to their children why they are making that choice?

Perhaps I don't understand because I don't let my kids watch commercial television most of the time. If they want Dora, I'll rent the DVD. They don't watch TV unless I'm there with them. Is Shrek really more of an influence for some children than their parents are? I doubt it but I want to hear your opinion about all of this.

The Saga Continues

2007-06-19T10:53:00.000-07:00

It's time for an update on the weight loss plan I suppose. Well, the last time I weighed myself I was around 145lbs. I rarely weigh myself, I don't own a scale. But this week I pulled some snug pre-pregnant pants out of the closet and they fit once more. I am about 15 lbs away from the goal weight I had in January. I don't quite understand why my pants are fitting already when I'm still so far off, but I'm not complaining. I still have a bit of fat on my belly, but my hipbones have re-emerged once more so we're not that far away.

So, in the interest of full disclosure, here's how much I've been sticking to my plan.

Curtailing the snacking has been partially successful. I still have snacks but they are usually fruit these days. I only end up snacking about once a day.
I'm still eating while standing from time to time. I've learned something interesting though. I've been really aware of my posture since I gave birth because I don't want to turn into a hunchbacked old woman. When I sit up straight I pay attention to my food better, I eat slower and I'm generally more aware of what I'm eating.
I was doing really well with not eating while doing something else until recently. I've once or twice eaten my breakfast at the computer just this week.
My portion sizes are under control. I use a smaller plate, and I put my food in the middle of the plate being sure to leave a border around the outside. I find this rule of thumb handy,
Exercise every day. Well...my treadmill sits there gathering dust because it's in my bedroom where the baby sleeps, and I usually don't want to risk waking her when I have time to exercise, bad planning on my part. Here's what I've really been doing. When I take my children to the playground, I walk around while they're playing. I just keep walking and walking until they're ready to go home. (Unless one of my friends is there, then I usually stand around and talk to them instead.) I dance around with the baby when ever hits of the 80's is playing on my husband's i-tunes, which seems to be often these days. Why 80's? I have no idea, but we both think it's fun. I walked 2 miles for a fund raiser and raised almost $1000. I bench press the baby too, 10 reps at a time, she's getting heavier in direct proportion to my workout needs. I sit her on my belly against my raised legs and do crunches to play peekaboo. (I hold her so she doesn't fall.) I carry her everywhere. I walk to do all of my errands. I'm rarely breaking a sweat, unless it's really hot out, but it must be working a little since I'm smaller. I am stretching.
I'm eating leftover salad for lunch and after dinner.
I am still eating dessert a few times a week and squares of dark chocolate, but I'm not eating large portions, and I'm eating less challah bread too.

So, that doesn't look as bad as I thought it would when I decided to confess but I think the real reason I'm losing weight is because I eat the way I tell you I do, all the time. My breakfast is homemade meusli with homemade yogurt every day except Saturday. I really do eat salad everyday, and I don't eat junk food, hardly ever. The last Saturday snacking binge I was on included seasoned pecans and dried tamarind. (I know, I should really cut back.)

So there you have it, it's not that hard, and most of the battle is won when I'm finished shopping, the choices made there make the choices at home easier.

As I've been saying

2007-06-19T10:40:00.000-07:00

I found this article via this post at Gastrokid. If you are not yet convinced of how important it can be to read labels and avoid additives in your food, this article may help you out. It includes a detailed breakdown of some common food additives and why they might not be that good for you. It's a handy reference.