Once again, apologies for the delay in postings. I got admonished yesterday by a loyal reader who apparently checks this blog every morning for updates and was very upset that it had been a week since I posted anything. I have a blog groupie! Awesome!
But the reason for my delay is also the topic of today's post... I was on the road for work. My job often has me traveling around in circles visiting college campuses. The problem, of course, is that in the midwest and south (my territory), most college campuses are not in major metropolitan areas. In fact, they are often in the middle of nowhere. So that often means that a very full day of work will consist of only 3 meetings, with a good hour and a half to two hours drive between them, and no downtime whatsoever (think car-campus-car-campus). That, coupled with the fact that I'm often driving through incredibly rural areas, also coupled with the fact that when I finally do get to a destination it's a college town and predictably filled with mainly college-town restaurant chains, makes following the Au Naturale diet very difficult. Or in the case of this most recent trip, downright impossible.
Now granted, maybe I should give myself some slack- this is my first trip of the year since committing to the Au Naturale lifestyle. But put yourself in my situation on my first day of the 3-day trip: when you have a 9:30am meeting that goes an hour and a half, followed by a 45 minute car ride, followed by a noon meeting, followed by an hour and a half drive, followed by a 3pm meeting.... when do you eat? And when you're hopping the state line between Wisconsin and Minnesota 3-4 times during that drive... where do you eat?
In my case, at McDonald's.
Terrible, I know. Can you think of a less Au Naturale choice? But it really was the only option. Sure, I could have had a salad. But trying to eat a salad while driving? That is a recipe for disaster. And by 2pm, when all I had for breakfast was a terrible luna bar-like thing from the "market" at my hotel (I had totally misjudged my prep time in the morning), I needed something majorly filling. So a double-cheeseburger and fries it was. Sigh.
This did cause me to reflect on something that I have increasing noticed as evident to maintaining a successful Au Naturale life: prep and foresight in food choices. For my next trip, I need to make sure to pack both healthy and slightly decadent treats to live in my rental car. But when it comes to the rushed meal in the middle of the day (and it will be rushed, and most likely eaten while driving), that's where I need to find a better solution. Up next: another three day trip in rural western Kentucky. Oh, loyal 2 or 3 readers: any suggestions?
As dramatic as I'm being, the whole trip wasn't a total loss. In a rare chance to stay in a metropolis during my travels, I spent two nights in Minneapolis and had a wonderful treat of being able to see some good friends who have moved there. One evening, my friend Sara and I hit up Bradstreet Craftshouse Restaurant , an inventive restaurant that specialize in craft cocktails (consulted by Violet Hour owners, for those in Chicago who know that bar) and great food. What especially pleased me about Bradstreet was their commitment to local and organic products in each of their dishes. As much as I talk about organic and preservative-free in my food choices, local and sustainable means a lot to me, too. Each menu item that contains a product, whether it be cheese, produce, or meat, from a local farmer lists the farm and a description of their business and practices. Satisfying to the stomach and my conscience. And the next day at the airport, I actually found a French Meadow Bakery & Cafe in the terminal, which offers organic and all-natural choices.
One of the fun things about traveling in rural areas is seeing first-hand the kinds of farms I am both trying to patronize and avoid. Stay tuned for a quick story about one of those....
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
Ew.
Fake blueberries abound in food products
http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-fake-blueberries-20110120,0,7536769.storyIt almost seems like more effort than just using the real ones, right? Way to turn one of the biggest superfoods on the planet to junk!
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Pita Bread! **Recipe Alert**
I wish I could wax poetic about why I decided to make my own pita bread. This time it was actually as simple as the fact that I saw a recipe for a nice chicken sandwich in pita that I wanted to have for lunch, and my new Au Naturale instincts said: "Make your own pita!" So, I did. Recipe below:
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups bread flour, plus more for sprinkling while kneading and rolling out dough
2 TSP salt
1 TBS sugar
2 TSP active dry yeast
2 TBS good olive oil
1 cup warm water (105-110 degrees)
Directions:
1) cut 8 8-inch squares of aluminum foil for baking pitas and set aside.
2) in a large bowl dissolve yeast and water. Mix in 1 cup flour with the salt and sugar. Add the oil.
3) Beat vigorously with a wooden spoon for three minutes, then stir in the rest of the flour 1/2 cup at a time.
4) The dough should be a rough, shaggy mass that will clean the sides of the bowl. If the dough is moist, add a small amount of additional flour.
5) Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for 6 minutes.
6) Divide the dough into 8 pieces. i patted the dough in a circle and used a knife to cut it like a pie:
7) Roll into balls, dust lightly with flour, and cover with a damp tea towel. Let rest for 30 minutes
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups bread flour, plus more for sprinkling while kneading and rolling out dough
2 TSP salt
1 TBS sugar
2 TSP active dry yeast
2 TBS good olive oil
1 cup warm water (105-110 degrees)
Directions:
1) cut 8 8-inch squares of aluminum foil for baking pitas and set aside.
2) in a large bowl dissolve yeast and water. Mix in 1 cup flour with the salt and sugar. Add the oil.
3) Beat vigorously with a wooden spoon for three minutes, then stir in the rest of the flour 1/2 cup at a time.
4) The dough should be a rough, shaggy mass that will clean the sides of the bowl. If the dough is moist, add a small amount of additional flour.
5) Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for 6 minutes.
6) Divide the dough into 8 pieces. i patted the dough in a circle and used a knife to cut it like a pie:
7) Roll into balls, dust lightly with flour, and cover with a damp tea towel. Let rest for 30 minutes
pita dough balls
8) Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.
9) Use the palm of your hand to flatten each ball into a disk. Finish with a rolling pin, flattening the dough into a disk about 6" in diameter and 3/16" thick. (I don't expect you to use a ruler for the 3/16".. just make it thin.) Their thinness is more important than making them perfectly round.
note the lovely imperfection
10) Place each round on a square of foil, and carefully place 3 or 4 of the rounds directly on the oven rack. Bake for 5 to 8 minutes, or until they are puffed.
When you remove the breads from the oven, stack them up and wrap them in a large piece of foil. This will keep the dough soft while the tops fall, leaving a pocket in the center. Cut them in half (so you can fill the pocket) and serve warm or at room temperature, or let cool, wrap tightly in aluminum foil, place in a zipper bag, and freeze. Thaw frozen pitas before using (this only takes about 5 minutes at room temperature). To reheat, stack several in a pile, wrap with foil, and place in a 375 degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes.
Thanks to www.farmgirlfare.com for this recipe.
Some of the pitas didn't puff, which I understand to be because... sometimes they just don't. I froze those to make pita chips later. But beyond the chicken sandwich that inspired this kitchen experiment, I also found the pitas to be a great tortilla substitute when I made some completely Au Naturale black bean tacos with lettuce, carrot, freshly grated cheddar, and roasted tomatoes (as a substitute for salsa):
Bon Appetit!
The Commercial I Just Saw
...says that they are combining Philly Cream Cheese with Philly "natural" mozzarella to make a more "creamy" mozzarella. Based on what we learned about grocery store cream cheese in yesterday's post... ew?
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Adventures in Cream Cheese, Part I **Recipe Alert**
I love lox and bagels. So pretty much by default, I love cream cheese. I decided early on that a good, natural and organic cream cheese needed to be on my new food list.
I don't know why, but I was pretty amazed at how easy it is to make cream cheese. Literally, all you need is milk and a starter. That's it! I guess part of my surprise stemmed from looking at the ingredient list of my (formerly) favorite brand. Seeing how long it was, I thought this was going to be an impossible task:
skim milk, whey, sodium tripolyphosphate, sugar, pasteurized milk and cream, salt, artifical color, xanthan gum, potassium sorbate and calioum propionate as preservatives, carrageenan, cheese culture, sodium phosphate, artifical flavor, carob bean gum, vitamin A palmitate
If there is anyone reading this blog that can correctly identify more than 6 of those words, you win a cookie. And are apparently a scientist.
So I started to research. And realized that as few ingredients as cream cheese has, there are that many more ways to make it. After careful consideration, I picked two to try. I call them in my files "quick cream cheese recipe" and "longer cream cheese recipe". Original, I know.
This weekend I decided to try the quick recipe. This involves a little bit of cooking and a little bit of draining. And some creativity with suspending thermometers in mid-air.
Ingredients:
1 gallon whole milk
1 quart cultured buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pour milk and buttermilk into a large pan and suspend the thermometer in the milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the termperature reads 170 degrees.
Keep the mixture on the heat and the temperature of the milk between 170 and 175 degrees. After 30 minutes, the mixture should start to separate into curds (the lumps) and whey (the liquid).
(A warning on this part. Make sure the thermometer is hanging quite deep in the milk mixture, unlike mine, which is only partially in. As the curds rise, they cool, which made my temperature out of whack. In fact, my thermometer didn't register much higher than 150 before the temp began to drop. I found that strange, especially since the curds were forming as the instructions said. When I stuck the thermometer down lower, suddenly the temp shot up to 195. Oops.)
Line a strainer with several layers of moistened cheesecloth and set it inside a large bowl. Then lift the curds from the milk mixture and lay them in the cheesecloth. Pour the remainder of the whey through the cheesecloth and save the whey for other recipes (buttermilk). Let curds drain at room temperature for 2 to 4 hours. You can also shorten the process by gathering up the sides of the cheesecloth and squeezing the liquid out of the ball of curds inside.
Remove the cheese from the cheesecloth and place in food processor with the salt. Blend until creamy. Store the cheese in small containers with tight fitting lids and refrigerate.
The cheese can also be frozen, thawed and then beaten again in blender until creamy.
I was thrilled! The cream cheese had the right texture and consistency. I was terribly eager to try it with some of my homemade rye, or homemade bagels which I will make either when the rye runs out or a brunch date compels me.
The next day when I just couldn't wait and had to scoop out just a touch for a taste test, I was, well, underwhelmed. Hold on, that was too nice. I was disgusted. It tasted, simply, like crap. I couldn't figure out what I did wrong. Did I overcook it? Did I let it drain too long?
However, I couldn't quite bear to throw it away. Don't ask me why. And I'm glad I didn't. Today, 4 days after making the cream cheese, I went back and tried it again. And you know what? It wasn't bad. Somehow it had improved. It is now tasty but not perfect, so I do plan to try the second recipe- saved of course as the "longer recipe", which involves no cooking. I will report on how that goes.
But... any thoughts on what may have gone wrong with this recipe? Overcooking? Not a good recipe in general? Or is it supposed to be that way, slowly improving with rest? I value your thoughts, oh 2 or 3 loyal readers.
I don't know why, but I was pretty amazed at how easy it is to make cream cheese. Literally, all you need is milk and a starter. That's it! I guess part of my surprise stemmed from looking at the ingredient list of my (formerly) favorite brand. Seeing how long it was, I thought this was going to be an impossible task:
skim milk, whey, sodium tripolyphosphate, sugar, pasteurized milk and cream, salt, artifical color, xanthan gum, potassium sorbate and calioum propionate as preservatives, carrageenan, cheese culture, sodium phosphate, artifical flavor, carob bean gum, vitamin A palmitate
If there is anyone reading this blog that can correctly identify more than 6 of those words, you win a cookie. And are apparently a scientist.
So I started to research. And realized that as few ingredients as cream cheese has, there are that many more ways to make it. After careful consideration, I picked two to try. I call them in my files "quick cream cheese recipe" and "longer cream cheese recipe". Original, I know.
This weekend I decided to try the quick recipe. This involves a little bit of cooking and a little bit of draining. And some creativity with suspending thermometers in mid-air.
Ingredients:
1 gallon whole milk
1 quart cultured buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pour milk and buttermilk into a large pan and suspend the thermometer in the milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the termperature reads 170 degrees.
note the ingenious use of kitchen twine, masking tape, and the handle of the microwave. My arts & crafts teacher would have been proud.
Keep the mixture on the heat and the temperature of the milk between 170 and 175 degrees. After 30 minutes, the mixture should start to separate into curds (the lumps) and whey (the liquid).
(A warning on this part. Make sure the thermometer is hanging quite deep in the milk mixture, unlike mine, which is only partially in. As the curds rise, they cool, which made my temperature out of whack. In fact, my thermometer didn't register much higher than 150 before the temp began to drop. I found that strange, especially since the curds were forming as the instructions said. When I stuck the thermometer down lower, suddenly the temp shot up to 195. Oops.)
Line a strainer with several layers of moistened cheesecloth and set it inside a large bowl. Then lift the curds from the milk mixture and lay them in the cheesecloth. Pour the remainder of the whey through the cheesecloth and save the whey for other recipes (buttermilk). Let curds drain at room temperature for 2 to 4 hours. You can also shorten the process by gathering up the sides of the cheesecloth and squeezing the liquid out of the ball of curds inside.
whey on the left, curds on the right
cheese draining
Remove the cheese from the cheesecloth and place in food processor with the salt. Blend until creamy. Store the cheese in small containers with tight fitting lids and refrigerate.
The cheese can also be frozen, thawed and then beaten again in blender until creamy.
I was thrilled! The cream cheese had the right texture and consistency. I was terribly eager to try it with some of my homemade rye, or homemade bagels which I will make either when the rye runs out or a brunch date compels me.
The next day when I just couldn't wait and had to scoop out just a touch for a taste test, I was, well, underwhelmed. Hold on, that was too nice. I was disgusted. It tasted, simply, like crap. I couldn't figure out what I did wrong. Did I overcook it? Did I let it drain too long?
However, I couldn't quite bear to throw it away. Don't ask me why. And I'm glad I didn't. Today, 4 days after making the cream cheese, I went back and tried it again. And you know what? It wasn't bad. Somehow it had improved. It is now tasty but not perfect, so I do plan to try the second recipe- saved of course as the "longer recipe", which involves no cooking. I will report on how that goes.
But... any thoughts on what may have gone wrong with this recipe? Overcooking? Not a good recipe in general? Or is it supposed to be that way, slowly improving with rest? I value your thoughts, oh 2 or 3 loyal readers.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
My New Breakfast Obsession
1 slice homemade rye bread, toasted
1 tablespoon almond butter (freshly ground, of course)
1 banana, sliced
Directions: put together and enjoy.
Only two words can describe this: yu-um.
Doesn't sound like a lot? The combination of whole grains, protein and starch (the good-for-you kind) kept me full for 3 hours. And did I mention: yu-um?
1 tablespoon almond butter (freshly ground, of course)
1 banana, sliced
Directions: put together and enjoy.
Only two words can describe this: yu-um.
Doesn't sound like a lot? The combination of whole grains, protein and starch (the good-for-you kind) kept me full for 3 hours. And did I mention: yu-um?
Monday, January 17, 2011
Why, Oh Rye? (and some important points) **Recipe Alert**
Sorry, that was a lame attempt at a witty title.
But really- rye bread! How delicious! I was tired of having to ration out my last frozen loaf of wheat so decided to take matters into my own hands. But for fun I wanted to try something different as I've been reading quite a bit about the benefits of other whole grains, such as rye and pumpernickel. (Check out information here and, well, any place you can find nutritional info.) Considering I prefer rye, guess what got the first test run.
The recipe itself is pretty easy. A first time breadmaker, I think I nailed it despite worrying that my dough was too wet. It may have been, but I've also read that rye dough tends to be stickier than others. So... we'll see. But if you're afraid to try it yourself- don't be! The smell filling your home is worth every minute of baking.
A note though-- call it some introspection-- before the recipe:
The other day I was telling someone about this blog and my Au Naturale quest as it came up in conversation. As has occurred other times I've mentioned the blog, my quest prompted a bunch of questions-- What are you doing? Why are you doing it? etc., etc.
These questions from this particular person, however, seemed a bit more cynical. "So you're going organic?" Well, it's more than that, I explained, with the quick 5-sentence summary of the full Au-Naturale goal. My response was followed (with a disclaimer that he wasn't trying to discount what I am doing) by, "What exactly is your definition of organic?" and "How do you feel this is better for you?"
As I've said from the start, this is more than just picking from the organic aisle of the produce section. This is more than just grabbing a package that says "organic" or "natural ingredients" on it. The way we, as a society, make our food has changed dramatically in the past 75 years, and not in a good way. For me, this is not about embracing a fad but going back to the way humans are supposed to eat. So this is about something much bigger, eliminating anything and everything that doesn't come directly from nature, and either he didn't hear it or I didn't explain it well enough.
The next day I went to my local Dominicks to pick up some staples and decided to make a quick detour to the bread aisle. I grabbed a packaged loaf of beefsteak rye bread and looked at the ingredient list. Below is what I saw:
You should have seen the look on a random guy's face as he walked past me taking a picture of a loaf of bread.
You can't really read the ingredients, but you can tell that there are so many that it stretches across the loaf and even goes so far that it gets cut off by the twist-tie holding it closed. There's got to be, what, over 20 ingredients there? More? Guess how many ingredients my rye bread has.
Eight.
So what's the difference between a loaf of bread that needs 20 ingredients and one that needs only 8? Chemicals. Chemicals that don't belong in our bodies. Chemicals that aren't necessary to the making of the actual bread itself. The difference is that the beefsteak has to be able to live longer on the shelf, both in your supermarket and at home. It needs an anti-mold element for that. It needs yet another ingredient to protect its color as it sits and ages. And because it has to be protected from the elements in the factory in which it was created, such as rat droppings and the odd worker who rubbed their nose before touching it, it needs one or two more ingredients for that. No company wants their name associated with yet another salmonella recall.
And I say: who needs it?
I know that of course there is only so much that even I can control when making bread, or anything for that matter, at home. The organic flour I bought had to go through a factory somewhere, too. I am fully aware that to really and truly live the complete Au Naturale lifestyle, I need to pick up and move to a farm and eat only what I can grow on my land. But in lieu of doing that, I just know that I don't need 20 extra ingredients/chemicals that just simply shouldn't be there.
A final note (and thank you for sticking with me on my soapbox). The doubter that brought about these questions was not convinced. And that's fine. The one thing I plan to not do with my personal quest is to prosthelytize and judge others for not doing the same thing as me. If he wants a slice of that beefsteak rye, that's his prerogative and I will not judge him for it. Truly, I believe, to each their own.
And with that, I bring you Caraway Rye Bread. I used as many organic ingredients as possible and whole wheat all-purpose flour instead of white.
But really- rye bread! How delicious! I was tired of having to ration out my last frozen loaf of wheat so decided to take matters into my own hands. But for fun I wanted to try something different as I've been reading quite a bit about the benefits of other whole grains, such as rye and pumpernickel. (Check out information here and, well, any place you can find nutritional info.) Considering I prefer rye, guess what got the first test run.
The recipe itself is pretty easy. A first time breadmaker, I think I nailed it despite worrying that my dough was too wet. It may have been, but I've also read that rye dough tends to be stickier than others. So... we'll see. But if you're afraid to try it yourself- don't be! The smell filling your home is worth every minute of baking.
A note though-- call it some introspection-- before the recipe:
The other day I was telling someone about this blog and my Au Naturale quest as it came up in conversation. As has occurred other times I've mentioned the blog, my quest prompted a bunch of questions-- What are you doing? Why are you doing it? etc., etc.
These questions from this particular person, however, seemed a bit more cynical. "So you're going organic?" Well, it's more than that, I explained, with the quick 5-sentence summary of the full Au-Naturale goal. My response was followed (with a disclaimer that he wasn't trying to discount what I am doing) by, "What exactly is your definition of organic?" and "How do you feel this is better for you?"
As I've said from the start, this is more than just picking from the organic aisle of the produce section. This is more than just grabbing a package that says "organic" or "natural ingredients" on it. The way we, as a society, make our food has changed dramatically in the past 75 years, and not in a good way. For me, this is not about embracing a fad but going back to the way humans are supposed to eat. So this is about something much bigger, eliminating anything and everything that doesn't come directly from nature, and either he didn't hear it or I didn't explain it well enough.
The next day I went to my local Dominicks to pick up some staples and decided to make a quick detour to the bread aisle. I grabbed a packaged loaf of beefsteak rye bread and looked at the ingredient list. Below is what I saw:
You can't really read the ingredients, but you can tell that there are so many that it stretches across the loaf and even goes so far that it gets cut off by the twist-tie holding it closed. There's got to be, what, over 20 ingredients there? More? Guess how many ingredients my rye bread has.
Eight.
So what's the difference between a loaf of bread that needs 20 ingredients and one that needs only 8? Chemicals. Chemicals that don't belong in our bodies. Chemicals that aren't necessary to the making of the actual bread itself. The difference is that the beefsteak has to be able to live longer on the shelf, both in your supermarket and at home. It needs an anti-mold element for that. It needs yet another ingredient to protect its color as it sits and ages. And because it has to be protected from the elements in the factory in which it was created, such as rat droppings and the odd worker who rubbed their nose before touching it, it needs one or two more ingredients for that. No company wants their name associated with yet another salmonella recall.
And I say: who needs it?
I know that of course there is only so much that even I can control when making bread, or anything for that matter, at home. The organic flour I bought had to go through a factory somewhere, too. I am fully aware that to really and truly live the complete Au Naturale lifestyle, I need to pick up and move to a farm and eat only what I can grow on my land. But in lieu of doing that, I just know that I don't need 20 extra ingredients/chemicals that just simply shouldn't be there.
A final note (and thank you for sticking with me on my soapbox). The doubter that brought about these questions was not convinced. And that's fine. The one thing I plan to not do with my personal quest is to prosthelytize and judge others for not doing the same thing as me. If he wants a slice of that beefsteak rye, that's his prerogative and I will not judge him for it. Truly, I believe, to each their own.
And with that, I bring you Caraway Rye Bread. I used as many organic ingredients as possible and whole wheat all-purpose flour instead of white.
Ingredients
Directions
1. In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water.
2. Add brown sugar, caraway, oil, salt and remaining water; mix well. Stir in rye flour and 1 cup all-purpose flour; beat until smooth. Add enough remaining all-purpose flour to form a soft dough.
3. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes.
4. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. It will look like this:
5. Punch dough down; .Shape into a rectangular cube and place into a greased 9 in. loaf pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes.
6. Bake at 375 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.
alternate option for #5: Punch dough down; divide in half. Roll each half into a ball, place in two greased 8-in. round cake pans. Flatten balls to a 6-in. diameter. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes
The alternate was part of the original recipe, but a) I prefer my bread in loaf form rather than round form, and b) some have said it doesn't rise as high when you split into two loaves. Try it either way. Enjoy, and tell me what you think!
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