First Friday of Lent!

Perhaps this might have been a bit too tasty for Lent, but it started out as an experiment so it really could have been penitential.
I present to you Tuna Melt Pizza!  Full of vegetables and lots of protein, and grain-free.
Wow...  Wait a minute, how did I make a crust for the above pizza without wheat?
Why, it's made of cauliflower!

Just check it out:  (as well as my new, favorite tool!)

Here we are mashing up the steamed cauliflower (one head).  See that tool?  Triple duty tonight!

Mixing in the olive oil (1/4 cup), cheddar cheese (1 cup), and 2 eggs.

Scooping and...

Spreading the cauliflower mixture on the stoneware (brushed lightly with olive oil-whatever was left in the measuring cup).

Baked at 350 for 30 minutes and then ready to top!

Random topping collected from around the house:  one tomato, one pepper, half a large purple onion, some really old green onions cleaned up...  

Three cans of tuna and some organic mayo (whatever was left in the jar, perhaps a 1/3 cup?).  

And of course, a whole ton of cheddar!  (Look at that really cool, mixing bowl!)

You can tell it was a hit, right?  Kids couldn't wait for me to take a picture before diving in. 

Yep, too delish for Lent...

Fresh Bread!

Oh. My. Gosh!   Experimented with No Knead, 100% Spelt bread today... AMAZING!
(OK.  I actually started it yesterday!)

Here is the recipe:

3 cups Spelt flour

1/2 teaspoon yeast

2 teaspoons salt

1-1 1/2 cups warm water

Step I

Get out your batter bowl!

1.  Combine flour, yeast and salt in bowl.  Whisk it up.

2.  Add warm water.

3.  Mix until shaggy ball forms. 

4.  Place in bowl and cover.  (Batter bowl with lid works great!)  Let it sit at room temperature for 8-18 hours.

Step II

Get out some parchment paper and your favorite 8in skillet.  (Here's my recommendation!)

1.  Line an 8in skillet or large shallow bowl with parchment paper.

2.  Work dough on lightly floured surface.  Knead 10-15 times.

3.  Shape into a ball and place on skillet.

4.  Loosely cover with plastic wrap.  (I just place the batter bowl lid on top!)  Let rise for 2 hours, or until doubled in size.

Step III

Get out your DCB or an oven-safe covered pot.

1.  About 30 minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to lowest position and place Deep Covered Baker with lid on the rack.

2.  Preheat to 500 degrees.

3.  Remove pot from oven and remove lid.

4.  Pick up dough by lifting parchment paper and lower it into the pot.

5.  Cover pot, place in oven.

6.  Lower oven temperature to 425 and bake 30 minutes.

7.  Remove lid and continue to bake 15 minutes until loaf in golden brown.

8.  Place on cooling rack and cool for at least 20 minutes.  (Yeah, right!  It's all gone within 20 minutes!)

Check out these pictures!

Fresh out of the oven.  (Notice everything out, ready to spread!)

Cooling ever so slowly...  COME ON!

Yep!  It tasted as great as it looked!  Crispy crust, soft and light inside.  Was it the DCB?  

We will be sure to try it again!

Soup's On!

Well, my experiment with making fresh, vegetable broth was a success, (See video below for helpful hints!  That isn't me.)

and so was "baking" veggie soup in the deep covered baker!

The fry cutter made short work of the potatoes and zucchini.  Then I added a can of diced tomatoes and one of beans, next came the four cups of my broth seasoned to taste, and then into the oven for an hour at 400.  Last but not least, I topped it off with freshly grated parmesan cheese!

Spelt vs Wheat

The best grain is spelt.  It is hot, rich, and powerful.  It is milder than other grains.  Eating it rectifies the flesh and provides proper blood.  It also creates a happy mind and puts joy in the human disposition.  In whatever way it is eaten, whether in bread or in other foods, it is good and easy to digest.  St. Hildegard of Bingen

Sounds good, right?  Well if you've been keeping up with the latest controversy over modern wheat, 

(Check out the video below for a brief introduction.)

you may be wondering if you can safely replace it with something similar.  

Spelt might be the answer!

Spelt is "legally" related to wheat, so that it must be labeled as such, but it's more like wheat's great, great, grandmother!  Check out some of the differences:

1) Gluten:  Spelt gluten is water soluble, wheat gluten is not.  Spelt gluten is degraded by heat, heat merely relaxes wheat gluten.  Spelt gluten is easy to digest, and that of the wheat is NOT!

2) Enzyme inhibitor:  Spelt, with its hard outer hull, has no need of one.  Wheat, having no hull, needs an inhibitor to fight off pests.  It is because of this inhibitor, and other enzymes, that it is recommended that you soak wheat, or even sprout it, before baking with it in order to make its nutrients more available.  

3) Nutrition:  To sum it up, spelt beats out wheat!

4) AND: Spelt supposedly has the perfect glycemic index!  

In case you're interested, here's some more info.

Now I want to share one of my favorite, EASY recipes using spelt.

This biscuit recipe makes the absolute best pan/deep dish pizza crust!  (My husband is from Chicago.  He says it's authentic.)  Very few ingredients are needed, as well as very little time, and it's very easy to make, especially with my pastry blender.  

Ta da!

When making the biscuit crust in the pan or deep dish, brush the cookware first with olive oil, pre bake the crust, (about 12 minutes) and then add your favorite toppings and bake again!  (Yes, that's my favorite pan in the foreground!)

Bon Appetit!

 

Hildegard's Cookie recipe!

So who's this Hildegard?  Some great aunt of mine?  No.  She's a Catholic saint who had a lifetime of visions covering topics of theology, music and... MEDICINE!  Her medicine disappeared shortly after her death, resurfaced hundreds of years later in Germany, and was introduced to Americans more than 20 years ago with the publication of the book, Hildegard of Bingen's Medicine by Doctors Gottfried Hertzka and Wighard Strehlow.  Unfortunately, that was about it.

I loved this book when I first read it back in the early 90's.  I was in graduate school at the time studying John Paul II's Anthropology, as well as keeping up with my reading in natural medicine on the side.  This saint came along as somewhat of a synthesis of all that interested me!  (OK.  Maybe not everything.)

Fast forward to 2013:  This book needs to be updated.  The context in which the authors present her medicine involves an antiquated view of nutrition that was popular about three decades ago!  Not a thousand years ago, during the period in which she lived.

OK, so where are these cookies?

St. Hildegard is definitely what we would call a proponent of holistic health.  She places a lot of emphasis on one's mental and spiritual state and how they relate to health.  For example, she has a list of "happy" foods.  Yes, mood and mental state can apparently be influenced by food, and perhaps even intelligence?

So into the kitchen with Hildegard's recipe for nerve cookies.  We paid special attention to the warning:
Don't give the children too many, or they may outsmart their teacher.  Yeah right!  The 12+ dozen we made almost lasted two whole days!  Anyway, while we are waiting for the intelligence to kick in, here is the recipe (and pictures!):

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups butter

3 cups Rapadura/coconut sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 teaspoons baking powder

6 cups spelt flour

2 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon

2 1/4 teaspoons nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cloves

Cream butter and sugar.
Add eggs.
Combine dry ingredients.
Add to creamed mixture.

Place on stoneware with small scoop.

Press flat with the bottom of a bowl or glass.

Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes.
Cool for a few minutes and place on cooling racks.

Hide them and use only as directly, 3-5 a day!

Don't Forget to Feed Your Skin!

Today I woke up and immediately decided that I had had enough of my dry skin.  I had patches of stuff on the back of my hands that felt like sandpaper!  (It had come on suddenly due to the weather.)  Anyway, coconut oil wasn't quite cutting it, so much to the excitement of my eldest daughter, the aspiring herbalist, I announced first thing this morning that today we would attempt to make lotion bars!    Sandalwood and Ylang Ylang scented!

We have been making an effort to make sure that everything we put on our skin is edible due to the fact that it's absorbed into your bloodstream within minutes.  Check out this website if you have any concern about the beauty or personal care products you use.  It's an eye-opener!

Here we are using the brownie pan for molds with paper baking cups.

The small scoop is great for quickly transferring the liquid lotion mix into the pan before it hardens and also useful for measuring the amount in each bar (the small scoop holds a tablespoon).  By the way, my eldest son is responsible for the music score you hear in the background!

Here you go!  And my chapped hands are on the mend!

The Trouble with Sweet Potatoes

Here's an extra little hint (I discovered it while making the Pakistani Kima which called for about four sweet potatoes.):  When working with raw sweet potatoes, it helps to have something with which to EASILY cut them.  I hate cutting raw sweet potatoes because it's REALLY HARD!  (I usually just bake them whole:  wash, rub with coconut oil, place on the stoneware and bake at 350 degrees for about 90 minutes.)  This time though, I pulled out my mandoline!  Only had to cut the potatoes in half once and slicing was done in no time!  Yay!  (This means that we will most likely have this dish again!)

Dinner Omelets

Yesterday we had the most spectacular, super-easy lunch.  We made this one skillet, delicious meat and vegetable dish, Pakistani Kima, but we had left overs-this recipe mades A LOT!  Unfortunately, it was not exactly enough for the next meal of the day.  But I was not going to let that fact deter me from getting out of making dinner!  Three ingredients saved my evening:  Butter, eggs and cheese.  We'll just let the following pictures speak for themselves.  (BTW:  My eldest daughter was the photographer!)

 Butter and the original dish from lunch.

 A dozen eggs whipped up in the Batter Bowl; there's the cheese.

 Covered and cooking until firm in my gorgeous, most favorite pan in the world!

YUM!  Even the little kids liked it!

You can try this with almost any kind of left-overs or combinations.  It's a great, healthy shortcut!

Crockpot Crazy!

I recently rediscovered my crockpot.  I had received it as a wedding gift, and it came with a recipe book, and I only liked one or two recipes, so it stayed in hibernation for quite a while.

Then, on day, while perusing Pinterest, I came across "the easiest crockpot dinner ever" (or something like that) and I had to try it.  So I dug out my crockpot, made it and it was a hit!  Then I had an inspiration, what if I kept the basics:  a bag of frozen chicken breasts and a brick of cream cheese, and changed up the rest:  different sauce, different veggies and seasonings?  Bingo!  It worked!  You just serve it up with organic quinoa or rice and you're done!  No more recipes.  Pure simplicity; healthy and easy...IF you remembered to get it started before lunch!

But what if you didn't remember?  Well, that's what happened to me yesterday and it brought about a great discovery!  Another product has now seen the light of day in my kitchen, one I've had ownership of for about 6 years!  Now, a lot of you, when you hear that it is a Pampered Chef Deep Covered Baker will say:  "Oh!  The Magic Pot!  I use it in the microwave all the time, dinners in less than 30 minutes, blah, blah, blah..."  But I don't have a microwave.  By choice.  

Anyway, back to the Ah-ha! moment:  So I did an experiment.  My daughter had told me there was still a bag of chicken in the freezer, but it was actually a bag of salmon!  That was going to have to be it.  I certainly wasn't going to make an unplanned shopping trip-didn't have the time.  I scooped up a few tablespoons of coconut oil and popped it into the baker, put the frozen fish on top, (four large pieces) which immediately formed a rock solid bond with the stoneware, (uh oh!) dumped a jar of curry sauce on top and added two chopped onions.  Popped the baker with the near frozen bottom into the oven, and baked it at 350 for what was meant to be an hour, but unfortunately turned into two hours due to all my other duties.  Guess what?  IT WAS A COMPLETE SUCCESS!  In other words, I had just found a short cut to crock pot cooking!  Yes, it is a "Magic Pot" even without the microwave.

Chili is next!

Here is what I like to call my Crockpot Kit (I guess it would work well with the DCB too!), as well as a shopping list:

Tools:
Garlic Press: for fresh garlic-add at the last minute!
Can Strainer: for canned items, like beans and tomatoes
Food Chopper: for onions!
French Fry CutterFrench fry cutter:  Oh my gosh!  This is great for quickly cutting up potatoes, squash, zucchini; cute little bite-sized cubes, and reduces the cooking time!
Salad Chopper: for cutting up meat right in the pot after it's been cooked!
Smooth-edge Can Opener:  I know most of you probably have a can opener, but if you are ever in the market for a new one, this one is the best!

If you'd be interested in ordering any of these tools please contact me. 

Shopping list:
-bag of frozen chicken breasts or tenderloins
-bags of frozen spinach, organic corn, peas, veggie mixes...
-fresh onions, garlic, potatoes, squash, cauliflower, etc.
-Cans (or better yet, jars) of tomato products, beans (it you didn't have time to soak them)
-Jars of your favorite sauces, or learn to make your own and freeze.
-Quinoa or rice if you are gluten free, or pasta if you're not.
-Broth, tomato soup for stews!
-Seasonings!  Remember, avoid products with corn, soy, canola oil (most likely GMOs) and wheat if you're gluten-free.  My favorite is Chili Lime Rub!

What's This All About?

Welcome to my blog!

I'm about being busy, but wanting to provide SAFE and HEALTHY meals for my large family.  I'm about making wise purchases, saving time and simplicity.  Nutrition and food prep is NOT a full-time career for me.  I have to squeeze it in among the prayers, chores and studying, and yes, even the play.  It can be a temptation to eat out, to buy ready-made, processed foods, to forget the vegetables that should go with the meal because it takes too much time to prepare a salad.  Yep, been there, done that (still do-still fighting the battle!)

My older children are learning from me.  I've made the stupid choices.  I want something better for them and their future families...