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Archive for March, 2007

Flu

Posted in Uncategorized on March 27, 2007 | 7 Comments »

Just so you don’t think I’ve fallen off the face of the earth, I just got over the flu (or something similar).

Here’s the little nugget of wisdom I picked up during this sickness.

If there is only one person in the house who is concerned about healthy eating,  when that one person gets sick, the household diet goes to pot.

For instance, my wife actually went out and bought some pasteurized, homogenized, thoroughly killed milk at the store. I’ve noticed that this commercial “milk” is as much like real milk as a Chicken McNugget is like real chicken – which is to say not at all. I say if you can’t have the real thing, why have anything at all.

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Savory Cheese Biscuits

Posted in baking, recipes on March 20, 2007 | 2 Comments »

cheesebiscuits.jpgI was inspired to make these biscuits by Buttermilk Biscuits with Goat Cheese and Chive from Simply Recipes. I didn’t have the ingredients on hand that the author did, so I improvised.

  • 1 1/2 cups freshly ground soft white wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup freshly ground barley flour
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 2/3 cup buttermilk
  • 4oz grated cheese (I used a sharp cheddar)
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon

Combine wheat and barley flour with nutmeg, garlic powder, and tarragon. Cut in butter with a pastry blender. Stir in grated cheese. Make a well in the center and pour in the buttermilk. Stir until just mixed and then squash together by hand into a ball. Let sit a room temperature for 12-24 hours.

Flatten dough a bit and sprinkle baking powder, baking soda, and salt over the top. Knead gently into the dough 10 times.

Roll out into a circle and cut into 8 pieces like you would a pie. Or you can use a biscuit cutter. Brush with buttermilk. Let rest for 10 minutes.

Bake at 425 degrees for 12-14 minutes.

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Macaroni and Cheese

Posted in cooking, recipes on March 17, 2007 | 3 Comments »

macaroni.jpgThe cupboards and refrigerator were getting low and I didn’t have anything planned. I was just an inch away from throwing up my hands and taking the kids out to eat (Shari was out of town). But I thought I would give a quick look at my favorite recipe site, harvesteating.com.

I came across a macaroni and cheese recipe and my kids watched it with me. In the video, when Chef Keith Snow tells you to throw out that old boxed junk and make this, both kids loudly cried “NO dad, don’t do it!” That did it. I had to make it now.

Let’s just say that I found it to be delicious and my son proclaimed it to be equal with the boxed stuff (which is high praise indeed). My daughter told me it was icky, but ate most of it anyway (she’s a bit obstinate).

I cut Keith’s recipe short and just went with pasta (Tinkyada brown rice pasta) and the Mornay sauce straight up with some grated Parmesan on top. I made the Mornay sauce with some raw colby made by a local farmer. The nutmeg is a nice touch. Next time when I’m not pressed for time I’ll try the whole recipe, but the simplified version was very good indeed.

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Meatballs

Posted in cooking, recipes on March 16, 2007 | 2 Comments »

meatballs.jpgThis recipe was an accident. I usually make meatballs from the Betty Crocker cookbook. This time I made a few minor tweaks (the addition of some spices and herbs) and then made a rather nice blunder. I left out the egg. The whole family liked these better than the meatballs with eggs.

  • 1lb ground beef
  • 1/2 cup dry whole grain bread crumbs (I use my leftover bread)
  • 1/4 cup of milk
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon soy sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon allspice
  • 1 teaspoon rubbed sage
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Mix it all up and roll into 1 inch diameter balls. Put in glass baking dishes spaced about half an inch apart and bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes.

UPDATE (4/18/2007):  I tried a variation on this last night. I swapped out the sage for 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon ginger (ala a Swedish meatball recipe I was looking at). I liked these better.

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Beef and Brocolli

Posted in cooking, recipes on March 15, 2007 | 1 Comment »

beefandbrocolli.jpgThis is my own recipe based on my experience cooking several Chinese dishes from various cookbooks.

  • 1lb thinly sliced beef (I used sirloin)
  • 2 sprigs of fresh broccoli (including the stems)
  • 1 teaspoon of minced fresh ginger
  • 4 cloves of garlic minced
  • peanut oil

Marinade:

  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons arrowroot powder
  • 2 tablespoons rice wine

Sauce:

  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon arrowroot powder
  • 1 tablespoon rice wine
  • 1/4 cup of chicken or beef stock
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil

Mix marinade ingredients and stir into sliced beef. Let stand for at least 20 minutes.

Mix sauce ingredients and set aside.

Coat the bottom of a saute pan (a wok would be nice, but use what you have) with the peanut oil. Heat to medium-high. When the oil is hot add the ginger and garlic and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Pour in the beef and marinade and stir-fry until brown. Add the broccoli and continue stirring for 2 minutes. Make a well in the center and pour in the sauce. Stir for another couple minutes until broccoli is just becoming tender. Salt to taste.

Serve with brown rice.

UPDATE (9/15/2007): The original was way too salty. I have changed the recipe above to be less salty.

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Dried Pineapple

Posted in drying, sweets on March 13, 2007 | Leave a Comment »

pineapples.jpgMy family’s favorite dried food is pineapple (next to sprouted wheat cookies of course). They’re like eating candy. I can fit about 2 pineapples in my dehydrator. I just slice them up and throw them in without any doctoring whatsoever.

Unlike the variety you buy in stores, these don’t have any added sugar, have been dried at a low  105 degrees so they still have most of the enzymes, and they are delicious. They don’t last long in our house.

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Body For Life Update

Posted in exercise on March 7, 2007 | 2 Comments »

benchpress.jpgShari and I have been following the Body for Life program for about 9 weeks now and have about 3 left for our first cycle (see previous post).

At first the workouts just really slammed me. I was extremely sore and exhausted for several days after each workout. Over the course of 9 weeks I’ve built up a lot of stamina. In fact, I actually feel good after the workouts now. Contrary to what most people hope for with a workout program, I have actually gained about 5-7lbs, but most of that weight has been muscle. I’ve been careful to make sure and eat enough food to actually grow those muscles.

One of my goals was to be able to do a chin-up by the end of the 12 weeks. Last week was the first time I was able to do so and managed to do 6 in one set. On Monday I managed to dead-lift 195lbs for 6 reps.

I try to vary my workouts to keep my body from getting in a rut. My workouts look something like (following the standard set and rep scheme of Body for Life):

  • dead-lifts; hamstring curls; calf raises; hanging knee raises
  • dead-lifts; straight leg dead-lifts; calf raises; crunches
  • dips; bent-over rows; overhead presses; curls; triceps extensions
  • chin-ups; bench press; upright row; curls; triceps extensions

For cardio work I ski on a Nordic Track machine for 20 minutes while watching Hogan’s Heroes. And I almost forgot, 20 minutes of Tai Chi every morning.

If I keep at it I may be in decent shape by the time I’m 42…

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Nourishing News

Posted in Uncategorized on March 6, 2007 | Leave a Comment »

For those of you who read my blog through an RSS feed reader, I have added a new feature in the side panel. Nourishing News is a collection of recent articles from around the net that I find interesting and practical.

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Dead Starter

Posted in baking, bread on March 6, 2007 | 1 Comment »

Alas, my starter did not succeed. I don’t know what happened, but I will be trying a new one next week. My guess is that my kitchen was not warm enough. I’ll be using my toaster oven as a proof box next time. I’ll have to skip it this week as I’ll be gone skiing at Caberfae.

Nevertheless, I did make bread this week using a recipe I found on the discussingnt group (hat tip to Shelly in Tasmania) using a vinegar soak and commercial yeast with a small amount of baking soda. The bread turned out well and my wife and son like it better than my previous bread. It makes a nice sandwich bread. Nonetheless I consider commercial yeast a stop-gap measure. Natural leavening not only makes the bread more nutritious, but adds a lot more character to the bread.

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New Starter

Posted in baking, bread, fermentation on March 1, 2007 | 2 Comments »

starter.jpgI was informed the other day (not the first time either) that my bread is too sour. This even though a great deal of the sour is reduced by my judicious use of the acid removing properties of baking soda. I asked Shari why she thought it was too sour since she does like some sourdough breads. She said it was too sharp. Yes, it is somewhat reminiscent of lemon flavored bread.

I have occasionally succeeded in making less sour bread by feeding my starter a lot and refrigerating the bread dough and things, but I finally decided to try culturing a new starter. I received Peter Reinhart‘s Crust and Crumb for Christmas, so I set about to follow his directions for a mild starter. The key for a mild starter is to have a very firm starter, more like bread dough. My starters in the past have all been more like pancake batter.

My old starter was cultured with rye flour from a bag – non-organic. Peter recommends using organic flour for at least the initial batch of starter since more yeasts and bacteria live on the surface of organic grains. This starter is made with my home ground wheat instead of rye.

I was really impressed when after 48 hours it was already doubling in size! This could be the best thing to happen to my bread yet. (The tape is the height it was when I put it in the cup.) By Sunday it should be tripling.

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