On Monday, January 31, 2011, the feds made these recommendations PDF (per New York Times which paraphrases as follows):

As the nation’s obesity crisis continues unabated, federal regulators on Monday issued their bluntest nutrition advice to date: drink water instead of sugary drinks like soda, fill your plate with fruits and vegetables and cut down on processed foods filled with sodium, fat or sugar.

More important, perhaps, the government told Americans, “Enjoy your food, but eat less.”

One day later, the enormous snack food industry announces that it has benighted February as “Snack Food Month”.

(rolling eyes)

As if they dont already spend vast quantities of money to sell enormous tonnage of snack foods into our children every day of the year.

As an antidote to this and a way to raise awareness of how toxic this non-food is, Roger Dorion and Kitchen Garden International has started a campaign called #20ate.

Here are some details from their site 20ate.org:

#20ate is a crowdsourced, open-source campaign to encourage people 1) to opt out of unhealthy, processed snack and junk foods for the #20ate days of February 2) opt in for real ones instead (which often cost less when made at home) and 3) to donate the money saved from #1 to a healthy food cause. Please see the oh-so-satisfying, meal-sized version (well-balanced, of course) for some ideas on how you can join the campaign and help our country’s good food movement to grow. Please use the #20ate hashtag and avatar/badge to show your support.

Here are 4 things you can do to help reclaim February for the good food cause:

1) Opt-out of Snack Food Month by not buying processed snack foods or junk foods for the month of February and opt-in for real foods which taste better, make you feel better and often cost less when you make them yourself. White bean hummus with home-made pita bread chips anyone? You say hummus, I say yummus!

Here are some links to some healthy snack resources that might inspire you:

9 healthy predinner snacks (Real Simple magazine)
Quick and healthy snack recipes (Eating Light magazine)
Healthy snacks 4 kids (Phy. Committee for Responsible Medicine)

2) Sing your participation in the 20ate campaign from the rooftops on twitter and facebook using the #20ate hashtag.

Here are some sample tweets or facebook statuses that might inspire some of your own:

• Did you know that the big food companies are calling Feb “National Snack Food Month?” #20ate Bite back here: http://20ate.org
• I’m opting out of National Snack Food Month and opting in for real food instead. How about you? #20ate http://20ate.org
• February=National Snack Food Month? Not in my house! #20ate http://20ate.org
• If February is National Snack Food Month, then March should be National (in the blank) Month! #20ate http://20ate.org
• National Snack Food Month? What’s up with that? Help me reclaim February for the good food cause. #20ate http://20ate.org
• I’m opting out of National Snack Food Month this February because I like my butt just the way it is. #20ate http://20ate.org

Be aware that your participation in the campaign may lead to snack food withdrawal symptoms such as the jerky jerk, twinkie twitch or oreoitis, but don’t fear: there’s a large twitter community on call to help.

Want to show the world you’re a #20ater (or is it #20eater?) in a more visual way? Grab the the #20ate badge/avatar here for use on your blog, twitter or facebook profile.

3) “Like” KGI’sFacebook fanpage to help us build our online presence. My pride is riding on this one: the freaking “cheese puff” fanpage has more fans than we do. That’s so wrong and in so many ways.

4) Donate some of your savings from #1 to a healthy & sustainable food cause you’ve always wanted to support. If you don’t have one, KGI would love to be your cause. We’re currently raising funds for coordination of “World Kitchen Garden Day” (August 28th), food gardeners’ answer to Snack Food Month.

My contribution to this will be today’s recipe for a very healthy snack indeed!

Sprouted Whole Wheat Crackers

Ingredients

• 3 cups sprouted whole wheat flour
• 1 cup dry corn masa
• 3/4 cup softened butter
• 1 1/3 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• salt
• rosemary
• montreal steak salt

Directions:

Preheat to 375 F.

Mix the dry ingredients, add the softened butter and incorporate until butter is fully mixed into flour. Add the milk and mix dough until stiff and not sticky.

Take a portion of the dough and roll out to about 1/8th thickness. Cut into squares and poke with a fork. Add salt and herbs if desired.

Put on a baking sheet and bake some 15-20 minutes until the desired color.

Enjoy!

I think mother nature has decided that a new ice age is a good idea and that its all gonna start this last January. we have a good 3 to 3.5 feet of snow on the ground here. Today we have yet another storm that will yield 2 more feet of snow. Then this Saturday we get another Nor’easter. This pattern of multi-foot storms several times a WEEK is meant to last for weeks to come.

We are very weary of the snow and the loads of money flying out of our checking account to the plow guy.

As you might imagine, holidays would be just grand during this time of misery but they all seem to have been used up last fall!

At this point the “Feast of the Echidna” sounds festive – too bad we dont observe it.

I am not usually the romantic type, by a long shot, but I am feeling a powerful hankering for SOME holiday to break up the endless snow days.

For this reason, I am considering more of a production for this year’s Valentine’s Day. Around here it will be a celebration of the love between family and will be kid oriented.

I am still working on what sorts of foods might be cheerful for a Valentine’s Day afternoon meal. I know I want to do it before the sun goes down and be more like a picnic inside sort of concept.

I think it will involve chocolate, red, maybe some cinnamon, maybe strawberries.

Stay tuned to see what we come up with and please leave a comment telling us what you do for Valentine’s Day!!

I am part Irish so I have always felt an affinity to St Patricks day. I like it as a mom because its a holiday in early cold spring when you really need it BUT its not all about candy!!

I adapted a traditional recipe from this European Cuisines site, it is quite delicious. This site will give you some background on this traditional bread!

Enjoy!

Whole Wheat Cheddar Cheese Kefir Irish Soda Bread

Ingredients:

• 4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup unbleached white flour
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 2-3 cups medium thickness kefir (amount depends on how dry your flour is!)
• 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

Directions:

Put all dry ingredients in large bowl and mix completely. Add 2 cups kefir and then mix with your hands. If it seems really dry add enough kefir (or milk if you run out of kefir) to make a wet “loose” dough.

Shape into mound on a baking sheet (I spray parchment with olive oil first.

Indent a line or an X on it to help with portions later.

Bake at 400 F for 45 minutes, until a tap on the bottom sounds hollow and it is lightly golden/tan on the top.

Take it out, let it cool a bit, enjoy!

I used ours with our Sous Vide Corned Beef as blogged here: St. Patricks day brisket – sous vide style.

Here is a shot of the bread, under some corned beef.

Have a lovely St Patrick’s day!

In an effort to increase the usage of less traditional ingredients in our house, to broaden the kid’s palates, I have been experimenting with buckwheat.

Common buckwheat, Fagopyrum esculentum, isnt actually a wheat, its a pseudocereal and is a non-grass broadleaf plant. Other pseudocereals that you may know are amaranth and quinoa.

Buckwheat originated in Southeast Asia around 6,000 BCE, it had spread to Europe in the middle neolithic era (4,000 BCE). It was and is still used a important component of some of the most beloved noodles and pasta throughout the ages, eg: soba (Japan), naengmyeon, makguksu and memil guksu (Korea), and pizzoccheri (Italy), a type of tagliatelli.

Europeans used buckwheat as a base “grain” for porridges and also as kasha by itself or used to stuff knishes and as the base batter for blintzes (blini).

IMPORTANT NUTRITIONAL ASPECTS OF BUCKWHEAT

Buckwheat is not a mono-purpose crop and has been used for medicinal purposes for a very long time (no surprise, something used this long and not adapted to making twinkies is bound to have some goodness).

Buckwheat contains a compound called D-chiro-inositol (DCI) which plays a role in what we call second messenger pathways in our metabolism relating to insulin and sugar metabolism. A deficiency in DCI has been implicated in insulin resistance (one of the pernicious aspects of Diabetes Type II). (See this reference Larner J., D-chiro-inositol–its functional role in insulin action and its deficit in insulin resistance, Int J Exp Diabetes Res. 2002;3(1):47-60).

The take away message here is: buckwheat, with it’s DCI, will mediate healthy sugar metabolism so that you do not become diabetic and possibly facilitate the reversal of diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

When PCOS (Polycystic ovary syndrome) patients were treated with DCI they found:

• lowered free and total testosterone
• lowered blood pressure
• increased insulin sensitivity
• corresponding improvement in glucose disposal
• increased frequency of ovulation
• source reference = Nestler JE, Jakubowicz DJ, Reamer P, Gunn RD, Allan G (1999). “Ovulatory and metabolic effects of D-chiro-inositol in the polycystic ovary syndrome”. N. Engl. J. Med. 340 (17): 1314–20
• source reference = Iuorno MJ, Jakubowicz DJ, Baillargeon JP, et al. (2002). “Effects of d-chiro-inositol in lean women with the polycystic ovary syndrome”. Endocrine practice 8 (6): 417–23

DCI can be found as a supplement but you should ALWAYS get your vitamins and minerals in foods because there are many co-factors and other functional molecules we havent the slightest clue about that will only be found in whole foods and not in purified fractions.

DCI sources are buckwheat (very high), carob, and fig leaf melons. I think buckwheat might be the easiest to slip into your diet!

I use gluten free Arrowhead Mills Organic Buckwheat flour although I doubt there is even GMO Buckwheat made yet. I dont know what sort of pesticide situation there is with buckwheat but as I have zero tolerance for farmers who use any pesticides I choose to vote for organic farmers and producers every time.

Again, I am using kefir in this recipe. For one, kefir is a demanding mistress! My grains convert milk into frothy kefir very quickly and, for the time being, I am using it for cooking to ease the family into exposure to these organisms. Another, I love experimenting and pushing recipes into new shapes, with kefir that is pretty easy to do.

I adapted the following recipe from the buckwheat pancake recipe in The Joy Of Cooking.

Organic Buckwheat Kefir pancakes with unsulfured molasses

Ingredients:

• 1/2 C organic whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 c organic buckwheat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon double acting baking powder (I use Bob’s Red Mill aluminum free powder)
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda (Again, I use Bob’s Red Mill aluminum free soda)
• 2 tablespoons sugar (I recommend leaving this out or adding honey to the liquid portion
• 3 1/4 cups medium thickness kefir
• 2 tablespoons melted butter

Directions:

Mix the dry ingredients together with a whisk. Add the kefir and melted butter and mix until JUST incorporated. It will then begin to slightly bubble as the kefir outgasses and the baking soda and baking powder begin to do their carbon dioxide chemistry.

Cook in a pan with medium low heat (change as per your preference) and serve.

I served it to the kids with honey and I used molasses on mine (seen here) because I always need iron.

I put together this recipe on a lark (a term you might use to describe most of my experimentation in the kitchen, light hearted with a chance of failure always but that being ok).

I call it Three Secrets Chicken because there are three ingredients in it that I think most people do not usually use with their chicken.

Those ingredients are:

• POM 100% Pomegranate juice
• homegrown kefir
• Maseca (Instant Corn Masa Mix)

Chicken can get to be such a drudge! With this recipe you get something new from a meat that might be boring to you. I do not like buying boneless and skinless chicken. The flavor is not in the meat (especially in the BigAg industrial chicken) but in the fat, bones, and skin. You can take the skin off after cooking if you have issues with it. Nibble the meat off the bone!

I think you will enjoy this recipe, do give it a try. If you do, let me know how it goes!

Three Secrets Chicken

Ingredients:

• 6 chicken thighs (bone in, skin on)
• 1 – 2 cups Maseca (Instant Corn Masa Mix)
• dried herb mix (up to you, I used a Montreal Steak Seasoning mix)
• pinch of salt, up to you
• 1-2 cups medium thick real Kefir
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced into strips
• 1/2 head of white cauliflower, cut into florets
• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 8 ounces POM 100% Pomegranate juice
• olive oil, enough to oil baking pan

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 F.

Oil the baking pan, sprinkle with some of salt and the herb mix, layer in sliced onion, red bell peppers and cauliflower.

Mix herbs into maseca in a bowl for dredging.

Dry thighs off, dip in kefir, dredge in maseca, put into baking pan.

Sprinkle with a little extra herb mix.

Pour POM pomegranate juice over or between chicken thighs (juice, if poured on chicken will turn it dark while baking, which is great!).

Bake in 400 F oven until thermometer inserted into flesh (without touching the bone) reaches 170 F.

Remove and allow to cool enough to eat!

I served it to the family with rice. The veggies are also served on the side.

Everyone enjoyed the various flavors and the moistness of this chicken. The maseca gives the chicken a crispy exterior that is much more flavorful than wheat flour would. The POM pomegranate juice added a delicious dimension of delicious tanginess to the chicken and the vegetables. The kefir seemed to help add some of that tanginess and also keep the meat moist.

This post was entered into the “Grow Your Own” roundup, created by Andrea’s Recipes and hosted this month by House of Annie.

I recently got a starter batch of kefir grains from Wardeh at Gnowfglins. She too has her own herd of dairy goats and also works hard to give her loved ones whole and wholesome foods.

Her kefir grains have been amazing, quite vigorous, and the kefir delicious!

What is kefir?

Kefir grains are a combination of bacteria and yeasts in a matrix of proteins, lipids, and sugars. This symbiotic matrix forms “grains” that resemble cauliflower. Many different bacteria and yeasts are found in the kefir grains, which are a complex and highly variable community of micro-organisms termed probiotics.

How to pronounce “kefir”:

It is NOT “Keeee-fer”

its “Kuh-fear”

I have made my own goat buttermilk in the past and have been struck how much like buttermilk kefir can be (except for the yeast smell). For this reason, I immediately thought of using kefir in baking and breads. I have yet to make a bread with kefir but I do plan on it.

Today I am sharing a recipe for whole wheat kefir crumpets that I made up and found to turn out to be quite excellent.

I recommend buying crumpet rings if you want to make the proper size. I didnt have rings and I could not find biscuit or cookie cutters anywhere (mysteries abound here).

Instead, I used, the horrors, canning jar rings because I just could NOT wait until the budget allowed to order crumpet rings.

Whether you use the proper crumpet rings or any other sort, be sure they are well greased and well heated in your pan before using. This helps the crumpet batter to not stick to the rings, they will pop right out.

If you do not have real kefir (alive, made at home, not the sterile stuff in the store), use real cultured buttermilk in its place.

Whole Wheat Kefir Crumpets

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
• 1/2 c unbleached bread flour
• 1 cup warm water + 1/4 cup warm water if needed to adjust
• 1 cup medium thick kefir (or buttermilk)
• 2 pks or 4 1/2 tsps yeast
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt

Directions:
To 3/4 cup whole wheat flour add 1 cup warm water and yeast, mix and proof until fluffy, about 20 minutes or so, do not let it over-proof (would smell alcoholic).

Add 1 cup medium thickness kefir (or buttermilk), remaining flour, baking soda, salt, to the foamy yeast/flour base and then mix well. 

Add 1/4 c water as needed to make medium thin batter.

Spray rings with non-stick spray or oil them. 

Heat rings in medium hot pan with some oil.

Add batter to rings until about 1/3 full.

Cook until dry bubbles on top, watching for any burning.

Flip, remove rings, cook until light brown or golden.

Allow to cool.

Slice in half and toast interior.

Slather with butter and load up with delicious jam or preserves or many be clotted cream!

Enjoy!

A fact of life with kids and school these days – Snack Must Be Provided For Snack Time.

Week after week I have to find a snack that the kids will eat but which is not nasty like cheezits or chips or other sorts of candy.

Sometimes they go in with cheese, other times homemade saltines, some times homemade bread.

The little ones had half a day today and were quite adamant about wanting cookies so I decided to make some cookies that I would not feel guilty (well not TOO guilty) about letting them eat. These will also last for a few days as snacks.

I ground my own whole wheat flour for this recipe. It would be better for us if the berries had been pre-sprouted (like you see in this post – Making Sprouted Whole Wheat Flour) but I went ahead with unsprouted ones. Sprouting substantially inactivated phytic acid in the flour.

Ok, without further delay, please enjoy these healthy snacks!

Crunchy Hippy Fresh Ground Whole Wheat Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup white granular sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup whole wheat flour (Freshly ground from fresh whole wheat berries)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 cup semi-sweet bakers chocolate, broken/shaved into chunks
• 1 cup dried cranberries

 
Directions:

Set oven to 375 F

Using your wheat grinder or a dry jar on your Vita-Mix, grind your wheat berries until well ground, measure 1 cup and put into bowl. Next, grind 1 1/4 c oats, put in with ground wheat. Mix in baking powder, baking soda, salt, add dried cranberries.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, put butter, and white and brown sugar. Cream until fluffy. (2-3 mins?) Add 1 egg and your vanilla, mix well.

Sift in the dry ingredients slowly. Add chocolate shavings.

Form golf ball sized dough balls with your hands.

Put on greased parchment on cookie sheets.

Bake your first batch about 15 minutes. If you want them wetter, cook next batch less, crispier cook them longer.

[This recipe was inspired by this one but added quite a lot more crunchy hippy cred *winks*)

We have been enjoying christmas here, lots of baking.

My mother gave me a Kitchenaid stand mixer and we have been using it for a few initial recipes.

One of them is a cheesecake we have baking in the oven as I type.

Another is a recipe I whipped together on the fly for a tasty NUT FREE granola, hope you enjoy it!

I used dried cranberries, dried cherries, dried medjool dates, and dried papaya.

Its super delicious, give it a try!

Christmas Granola

Ingredients:

• 3 cups quick cooking oats
• 1/2 c honey
• 1/2 c maple syrup
• 1/2 c oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pumpkin spice
• 1 1/2 c dried fruit, cut up to small pieces

Directions:

Preheat oven to 250 F.

Mix oats, honey, maple syrup, oil, salt, pumpkin spice until well mixed.

Onto foil lined cookie sheets, spread mix and put into oven for one hour.

Pull from oven every 15 minutes and mix well.

After one hour, turn oven up to 350 F and toast until it is a color you like (ours is golden to light brown).

Remove from oven and cool to slightly warm.

Add dried fruits, mix, store in baggie.

Enjoy!

In a fit of poorly guided frugality, I bought some ground turkey recently.

I have to mention that turkey is not my favorite food for one serious reason – if I eat roasted turkey two days in a row I become violently ill, an eruptive experience that is accompanied by unforgiving and deeply disturbing hallucinations.

Trust me that I am not exaggerating, I promise.

Early in our marriage, I warned my husband of my failing. He heard me, understood it on some vague level, promptly forgot.

One thanksgiving we celebrated at home with a turkey and then traveled the next day to relatives where we had more turkey. What followed put the fear of god into all my poor new relatives and made for an interesting story for all, except for me of course.

Ok, back to present day. The ground turkey lured me in with its low price and pink color.

It seduced me.

It lurked in my refrigerator for a day and then I threw myself at it, determined to do something to it that was:

• different
• not so turkey-ish
• not dry as such fatless flesh is bound to be
• frugal

What follows is what I came up with. It passed the taste testing of the family. It is certainly not haute cuisine and its only marginally good for you. It is filling and relatively inexpensive and also different (should you family be both adventurous and bored).

When a gravy is added, the outer “croute” (biscuit) softens and becomes very much like a dumpling layer – making this more like baked turkey dumplings, if you like.

If you make it, let me know how it came out!

Turkey en Croute (Baked Turkey Dumplings)

Ingredients

• Meatballs
• 2 pounds ground turkey
• 2 eggs (we use homegrown)
• 1/2 sleeve whole wheat saltines, crushed
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon Bell’s Seasoning
• 1 tablespoon Montreal Steak seasoning (salt & pepper & red peppers)
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh herbs (sage, rosemary, thyme)
• 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese
• Prepared biscuit mix (like biscuick), enough to cover
• milk, enough for biscuit milk plus extra to loosen mix
• Sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Directions

Mix all the meatball ingredients well. Form golf ball sized balls. Saute in a small amount of oil.

Take meatballs out of pan when browned (but not fully cooked) and put aside to cool.

Turn on oven to 450 F (the temperature requested by biscuit directions)

Make up enough biscuit mix, made extra thin to allow coating of meat balls.

Coat each meatball with a layer of biscuit mix.

Bake the turkey dumplings until the outer biscuit layer is golden brown.

While the meat balls are baking make your sauce.

In the pan that you browned your meatballs is a layer of brown bits called “fond” which you will now use as the delicious base to your sauce.

Over medium heat, add the water and scrub up the brown bits. Add the butter, allow to melt. Add the milk. Bring to a light simmer. Pull from the heat and allow to cool a bit. Add sour cream to taste, enough to make it a thick rich sauce. Do not add the sour cream until the sauce has cooled a bit.

When you pour this sauce over the meatballs, as I mentioned before, the biscuit softens and becomes much more like a dumpling layer over the meat ball, quite moist.

If you want to add extra fat and flavor, put dollops of sour cream directly on the balls.

Enjoy!

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