This delicious recipe comes from my local co-op, PCC, here in Western Washington. It is a hearty salad that is really filling, and surprisingly easy to prepare. Even my husband, who has only met the likes of kale as a rubbery garnish on the side of his plate, thoroughly enjoys this salad.

Winter Greens (Vegan) Caesar Salad

Dressing:

1 c. Vegenaise (I really like this as much or more than mayonnaise. Be sure to get this specific brand though)

½ c. olive oil

¼ c. lemon juice (fresh always tastes better)

2 Tbs. (vegan) Worcestershire sauce

1-2 Tbs. minced garlic

1 Tbs. sherry vinegar

1.5-2 tsp. Dijon mustard

1.5-2 tsp ground black pepper

Place all ingredients in a bowl and whisk.

Salad:

1 bunch Chard

1 bunch Kale

Parmesan cheese, grated (omit if vegan)

Fresh ground pepper

Remove thick stems from both the kale and the chard (I remove the stem all the way up the leaf, using only the leaf). Chop greens into bite sized pieces (I like thin little ribbons). Grate Parmesan cheese on top, dress (with dressing), adorn with fresh black pepper and toss.

Enjoy!

My friends have been calling. They leave me messages “Hey, Alison, I haven’t heard from you since you got back. You don’t pick up the phone, you haven’t been on Facebook and I haven’t received a text in at least a week. Are you okay?”

The answer is NO I AM NOT OKAY! I am canning for crying out loud! I did something which can only be explained as maniacal.

It all started out so innocently. I signed up to buy two large boxes of tomatoes through my local bulk buy group. We go through a lot of canned tomatoes every year and I don’t want my family to be exposed to the bisphenol A (BPA) that the cans are lined with. So, after canning (in glass Mason jars) only one box last year, and running out mid-year, I thought I’d better get two for this year.

It was when I went to pick up the tomatoes at the farm stand where I started to dig my deep ditch. My friend Susan started pointing out the gorgeous Roma tomatoes, the golden peaches and the plums and Ginger Crisp apples that were all no spray, direct from the farmer and very affordable, just waiting to be taken home. It was worse than going to the animal shelter!

Long story short, I ended up with 6 boxes in my trunk, 3 of which were tomatoes.

Truth is, it’s not only about limiting exposure to BPA, it’s also about planning.

Canning our food in advance makes busy weeknight meals a breeze to whip up. It saves me time, money and is 100% healthier than anything I can purchase at the store. I control the salt, the sugar, the oil, everything. I know exactly what is in the food I am feeding my family.

Every winter without fail we lose power. Two years ago it was for 8 days. The winter after that we awoke on Christmas morning to no power. So if I freeze much I am always in jeopardy that we are going to lose that investment (of both time and money).

Time to get to work!

I bid my children goodnight and got to work. The first night I was up until midnight. The second night I was up until 1am. The third night I was again up until 1am.

It was at this point that one might start feeling a tad bit sorry for oneself. Unfortunately I had run out of not only jars but brains as well. I went to the store for more jars and ended up with…… It’s hard to tell you this……I’m actually a bit embarrassed at my outright idiocy.

I bought a whole salmon! Yes. I did. I bought MORE to can!

Back to it….
I’d like to stay awhile and tell you all about BPA and how we can buy all the BPA free plastic water bottles we want but the number one place we’re exposed to BPA is in canned foods (the aluminum cans have to be coated with plastic and yep, it’s plastic which contains BPA) but I can’t. I have more tomatoes staring at me, a box of peaches that needs to be dealt with and…… I pre-ordered ANOTHER 3 boxes of tomatoes to can next week! AHHHHHHHHH!

Check out this fabulous article at Environmental Working Group and
learn how to reduce your family’s exposure to bisphenol A (BPA)

This is the last muffin….

A few more on the plate would sure make for a prettier picture.

I think I may have eaten them with each meal of the day….

Muffins that Taste Like Donuts

This morning my mean kids hauled me out of bed at the crack of dawn, 8:00 am, and demanded food. The nerve!

One of my lofty goals for the summer is to cook more with my kids. Since I have recently become a  Pioneer Woman addict and she highly recommended this recipe, I decided the kids and I would give the recipe  “Muffins that Taste Like Donuts” a try.

Who can resist a name like that anyway? Not only did it sound good, but the little blurb at the top claimed ”tastes like a donut but healthier.”  Add to this the fact that this was the easiest recipe ever and I was sold!

Now before my excitement gets the best of me let me just take a moment to clarify. The word “muffin” generally makes a person think they’re making a healthy choice. Please forgive me, I hate to be the Negative Nancy in the room, but I’ve got bad news to impart.

A muffin is basically just a cupcake without the sexy frosting. Yes, I know, having no frosting does make it a healthier choice, but it’s still cake.  And, if it’s been bought at the coffee shop, grocery store or comes in a box then it’s usually going to have more calories, sugar and sodium than any muffin you’d make at home. Don’t believe me? Just take a look at the nutrition facts of a Costco muffin. It’s astounding!

Back to the muffins!

Okay, so I understand that these muffins aren’t going to be the healthiest things we’ve ever consumed. After all they’re dipped in butter and rolled in sugar!  However, there’s potential for improvement here. We can make these babies glide instead of race through the blood stream. I want these to be a “muffin” instead of “cake.”

There are 3 steps to make just about any recipe that contains sugar and flour healthier:

1. Make it yourself (from scratch)!
2. Replace part or all of the all-purpose white flour with whole wheat pastry flour
3. Reduce sugar or replace part or all of the sugar

Number one doesn’t need further explanation. So let’s move on to #2.

*Whole wheat pastry flour is my secret ingredient in all quick breads, cookies, waffles, and pancake type of recipes. It doesn’t impart the strong earthy flavor that typical whole wheat does. It’s also not as heavy; and when you’re making any of the items listed above you don’t usually want a dense, firm texture. A light and moist texture is more palatable.

In the case of the donut muffins we substituted a little over half whole wheat pastry flour for the white flour. All purpose white flour is like no other. If you’re making a treat and you don’t want to compromise flavor or texture at all then you still have to have the majority of the flour you use be white (preferably organic). In the case of waffles and pancakes, and even certain types of cookies like oatmeal or chocolate chip, you can replace all of the all-purpose white flour with whole wheat pastry flour. The trick is to let the batter sit (refrigerated) for awhile (about an hour for cookies and about 10 minutes for waffles and pancakes) to let the moisture absorb and soften the flour.

On to item #3,  Reducing Sugar

I’ve tried all sorts of tricks to lessen the amount of sugar in my recipes and many have failed me miserably. Exhibit A: powdered sweet whey.

Can I tell you the truth? This is after serious research.  Are you ready? Nothing, absolutely nothing can truly replace white sugar. If you replace the sugar with anything else, Splenda (not a healthy choice), brown rice syrup, date puree, it will affect the outcome of whatever you are making. The question is always, “Can you live with that as your final product?”

In baking what I try to do instead of replacing is reducing. So many recipes call for way more sugar than is actually needed. Starting small is a sure way to achieve success. If a recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar reduce that by a couple of tablespoons. Slowly, over time you can (often) cut the amount of sugar in a recipe by half. Your taste buds will change and things will start to become too sweet.

Replacing Sugar

In the case of replacing I suggest xylitol or stevia (Use the kind of stevia that is not highly refined. It should still be brown like the leaves it comes from) for baking. Starting out you might want to just replace a couple of tablespoons with xylitol. Or you might want to eliminate two tablespoons of the sugar and then replace another two tablespoons. Don’t be afraid to experiment with it.

Just keep one thing in mind, compromises are always going to be made. It’s up to YOU to figure out what those compromises are for your family!

By the way, my kids loved their muffins! Paired with a hard boiled egg, some blueberries, and a glass of milk this made for a tasty and relatively healthy breakfast.

Muffins that Taste Like Donuts, Healthified!

• 1-3/4 cup Flour- 1 cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour, 3/4 cup All Purpose Flour
• 1-1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1/2 teaspoons Salt
• 1/2 teaspoons Nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoons Cinnamon
• 1/3 cups Canola or Olive Oil
• 1/2 cups Organic Sugar (white) or substitute (see above)
• 1 whole Egg
• ¾ cups Milk

For the Topping:

• 1/4 cup Butter
• 1/3 cup Organic White Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Cinnamon

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon.

Combine oil, sugar, egg and milk. Add dry ingredients and stir only to combine.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a bowl. Combine the white sugar with the cinnamon in another bowl.

Shake muffins out while still hot. Dip muffins in butter, then into the sugar/cinnamon mix. Let cool.

Enjoy!

*Whole wheat pastry flour does not have much gluten in it so it should not be used in place of whole wheat or all-purpose white flour in recipes, such as bread, that contain yeast.

Whole wheat pastry flour is now readily available at most grocery stores. King Arthur is my brand of choice. You can also order it online

These cookies are one of my favorite ways to use up a bountiful harvest of blueberries! They’re like a fruit crisp in a cookie. Of course, I’ve tweaked this recipe to make it lower in calories, sugar and higher in fiber than the original. Enjoy!

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar, loosely packed
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups quick-cooking oats (regular work too)
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or half white flour and half wwpf)
1 to 2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 baking powder
1/2 to 1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and brown sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine oats, flour, cinnamon, salt baking soda and baking powder; gradually add to the creamed mixture. Stir in blueberries (gradually so you don’t have too many). Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto lightly greased, or parchment lined, baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks to cool. Yield: about 3 dozen

Ahhhh, fresh berries. They’re my favorite part of summer. I love to be in the middle of a field of berries, listening to the birds chatter, popping warm luscious berries in my mouth, just letting my mind wander. It’s a sensory delight; taste, touch, smell. It’s all good (except maybe the thorns!). 

It’s when I get the berries home that the real work begins. Jam is usually first on my list.  On a cold day in December nothing quite hits the spot like homemade bread, fresh out of the oven, piled high with homemade jam.

For years I made cooked jam, slaving over a hot stove in an oven of a house, so that I could give it away as gifts. After many years (and I mean many, I apparently have a thick skull), I realized that I had maybe given away three jars of jam the whole year and we were eating the rest. I decided tea towels would have to do as a hostess gift.

Not only did I realize that cooked jam was a whole lot more work than freezer jam, I also realized that I preferred the taste of freezer jam. The berries weren’t cooked. They were fresh and bright in color. The taste was reticent of an actual berry instead of a mushed up, cooked to extinction berry-like creature.

My major problem with most jam is that it is loaded with sugar. And I’m here to tell you that it just doesn’t have to be. I mean, we eat and enjoy fresh berries, right? They don’t generally need sugar to taste good, they’re good on their own.

And yes, I tried the pectin box that allowed the jam to be made with alternative sweeteners or juice. Still, it just didn’t turn out to my liking. It left the berries with a dull lifeless flavor.  I wanted to taste SUMMER in a jar. Is that asking too much?

Finally I found this pectin, Ball Instant Fruit Pectin and it’s now the only one I use. It’s relatively low in sugar, you can use alternate sweeteners if you like (which I haven’t tried, because it’s hard to get the consistency with alternative sweeteners and I refuse to feed my family chemicals, ahem, I mean artificial sweeteners) and it’s super easy. I mean seriously EASY.

Here are the steps for strawberry freezer jam. (You can use whatever kind of fruit you want.)

Wash berries. Even if you use organic strawberries, wash them, they grow low to the ground and are FILTHY!

Hull strawberries and cut into small pieces

Crush strawberries- I use my potato masher

In a separate bowl mix pectin with sugar (preferably organic)

Add strawberries to pectin and stir for 3 minutes

Ladle strawberry mixture into sterilized GLASS jars. Please, please, I am begging you, Do not use plastic containers to store your jam in. Plastic leaches, especially when it comes into contact with anything acidic, and you don’t want to feed your family toast with plastiscines (we’re going for toast with jam). Use straight sided glass jars (even old peanut butter jars with their original lid work great!) so they don’t swell and burst in the freezer.

Place in refrigerator overnight. You can store in the fridge if you’ll be using the jam right away but if you plan to eat your jam over time, place in the freezer for up to a year.

Note to all you cooked jam fanatics: I will be expecting a thank you note in the comment area below after you have whipped up a batch of this delectable toast topper without breaking a sweat.

This bread dough recipe is my favorite! It is originally from Cook’s Illustrated but I’ve adapted it to my own preferences over time. It’s tender, great for sandwiches, alongside your favorite soup, and slathered with butter and honey.

1 1/4 cups 7 grain hot cereal mix (I use Bob’s Red Mill 8 grain)

2 1/2 cups boiling water

3 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

4 Tbs. honey

4 Tbs. melted butter

2 1/2 tsp. instant yeast

1 Tbs. salt

1. Place cereal mix in bowl of standing mixer and pour boiling water over it; let stand, stirring occasionally, until mixture cools to about 100 degrees and resembles thick porridge, about 1 hour. Whisk flours in medium bowl.

2. Once grain mixture has cooled, add honey, melted butter and yeast and stir to combine. Attach bowl to standing mixer fitted with dough hook. With mixer running on low speed, add flours 1/2 cup at a time, and knead until ball forms and is no longer sticking to the side. Let dough rest, covered, for 20 minutes.

3. After 20 minutes, add salt and continue kneading with mixer for about 5 minutes. Transfer dough to floured work surface and knead until smooth. Grease the mixer bowl and place dough in greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and light towel and let rise in warm place until doubled. I have an electric oven so I turn on the oven light and put in my oven (this keeps the oven at about 90 degrees). On top of the fridge or in a gas oven both work as well.

4. After dough has doubled in size take out of bowl and shape into 2 standard sized loaves and put into greased pans. Once again, cover with plastic wrap and light towel and let rise in a warm location until doubled.

5. Cook at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes or until an instant read thermometer reaches 180 degrees.

6. Remove immediately from pans and cool on a wire rack.

I’ve talked about my staunch requisites compromises surrounding beef and chicken. However, the topic of pork came up in a readers comment the other day. So, let’s address The Pig.

First off, yes, I am aware that pigs wallow in their own filth. I started cogitating on the concept of what we eat in regards to feces (aka: Poop) and it became clear that if one were to try to stay away from anything that was grown in poop, one would have pretty slim pickings.

A vegetarian, you say? Nope, not even a vegetarian.

How about a vegan? Nope, wrong again.

Vegetables are best grown in dirt right?

Wrong! Tricked ya! They are best grown in manure. Bat guano (poop), worm castings (poop), cow manure (poop), chicken manure (poop). Yes, a little tree bark might be mixed in for good measure, but basically it’s all poop.

I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to spoil dinner.

Moving on…..

Over this past year I’ve done a lot of research regarding pigs. It all started after I’d read Michael Pollans Omnivores Dilemma. He spent a bit of time talking about how pigs are treated in the large factory farms and let’s just say the picture ain’t too pretty. Basically, in industrialized hog production farmers “dock” the pigs tails. Meaning they snip them off using a “pair of pliers and no anesthetic.” Why would they do such a thing? It’s simple, states Mr. Pollan “…in CAFO’s (huge factory farms), where ten’s of thousands of hogs spend their entire lives ignorant of earth or straw or sunshine, crowded together beneath a metal roof standing on metal slats suspended over a septic tank. It’s not surprising that an animal as intelligent as a pig would get depressed, and a depressed pig will allow his tail to be chewed to the point of infection. Since treating sick pigs is not economically efficient, these under performing production units are typically clubbed to death on the spot.” Which is again, not economically efficient.

Just as Pollan points out, pigs are intelligent creatures. Pigs are considered as smart as a dog, if not more-so. They are animals that need other pigs around for social company, and for fattening (competition). They get lonely and when a member of their family goes missing they make it well known that they feel terrible. I had a friend who raised pigs and sold them at the county fair. The first year she did it she came back without one of her two pigs. The other pig that was left cried and yelled and hollered about it for days.

Anyway, that brings me to one of my “food values.” Ultimately, I care how my food is raised. This includes pigs. If it’s lived a good life, been treated fairly and humanely I’m totally okay with eating it. However, I don’t want a thinking, feeling being tortured for my benefit.

That is why when I do buy pork it’s from a farmer’s market or a local source. I talk with the farmer about how they raise their pigs, what they feed them, how they’re butchered. I let them know that I care. Because, every time I ask, and every time I buy, I’m voting with my dollars. And even if it doesn’t seem to count now, I know that over time, as more people ask and vote, it will impact the way, we as a nation eat.

Before you go……

I do want to make one thing clear. I am NOT eating pig hooves. (I would say EVER, but I don’t want to jinx myself. At some point I may be in a remote village in Uganda, with pig hooves being proudly placed before me, and I may find myself compromising, yet again.) I don’t care if a pig is organic, fed only tulips, whatever. It would have to be raised upside-down for me to even consider eating a hoof. Blech!

The last couple of posts have been about beef, specifically buying beef and my extremely stringent standards compromises surrounding that choice.

Well today I was at the grocery store with the sole intent of purchasing roasted chicken. I had perused the add, read about how this particular chicken (Draper Valley) was born and bred in WA with all sorts of love and care and blappity, blappity, blap. I have a really hard time bringing myself to spend the big bucks to buy a free-range, organic chicken. I feel like I might as well buy fresh fish or crab, or quite possibly even lobster (definitely NOT local =]. It’s not about the price, it’s also about how they are raised. Being a chicken owner myself I do not believe that chickens held in huge warehouses and fed organic feed and offered a door to a tiny outdoor lawn (that they never use) makes for a healthy chicken. It also does not talk me into spending those big bucks.

Anyway, back to the story. I was at the store and had this green ad (no, literally, it was green) and the picture of the farmers who owned this chicken I wanted to buy were pictured right there on the ad. They looked like nice people. They looked like they wouldn’t hurt a chicken. I was sold!

That’s when I got to the actual chickens. Here is where my conundrum started. They had two types of roasted chickens on the sign. One was a dollar more and “all natural.” The other was the one pictured in the ad, a dollar less and did not say “all natural.” So, I asked. “Um,” pointing to the ad “What exactly is the difference between the chicken in this ad and the “all natural” chicken that costs a dollar more?” The nice lady at the self check-out stand bustled over to where the “ad” chickens were hidden and brought them to me. “See, this is the chicken in the ad. What you’ve got there is an “all natural” chicken.” Hmm, well that explains it! I see, one is featured in the ad as all natural, and this one is labeled “all natural” and they are both from the same farm and…..I’m still confused. Check-out lady, ever helpful, went on to point out that the dollar more chicken clearly stated on the label “all natural” and the other one did not.

By this time my children were leaning on the self check-out thing and the computer was yelling at me and I thought “I will do anything to get out of here!” At which point I said “I’ll take that one.” Which one did I choose? Well let’s just say the grocery got their extra dollar.

I have two criteria for the beef I buy. I prefer it to be local and grass fed. It doesn’t need to be organic and they can label it “natural” all they want. I’m still not sold unless it meets my two criteria.

Well, okay, let’s just say, exceptions have been made….

Since local, grass fed beef is the only beef I’ll buy I’m always on the look out for a deal. I could just buy a side of beef but that’s more than we can use up in a year and I’m decidedly picky about the cuts I use. So, the other day we got a line on a country butcher who was having a great 4th of July sale on (what we thought) was grass fed beef. We put the kids in the car and off we went.

After pulling over for both fresh strawberries and raspberries, we arrived, smudged in red, at the butcher’s door. It was on a country road, with a huge driveway, a few houses and not a cow in sight. I walked in first greeting the friendly butcher with a stunning raspberry seeds-in-my-teeth grin. It’s amazing he didn’t just hand over the beef then and there. Especially since my husband and kids were still outside in search of a cow.

I asked him about the beef he was selling. Where did it come from and was it grass fed? He said no it wasn’t grass fed. Now, I could have turned around then and there and walked out the door. However, my “local” criteria was still on the board. Pictured on the wall were proud pictures of 4-H kids with their prize winning cows at the local county fair. That was where his beef came from.

I thought about my choices for a minute. Here I was, in the middle of nowhere, in a sour economy, with a man who supported his family by supporting local farmers. His business was neat and tidy, he was clean, and his house was just out back. Nothing special, but he was making a decent living for his family. The beef that he was buying wasn’t rock bottom cheap because it came from 4-H kids, on the other hand, it was probably more expensive because of that very same fact (my 4-H friends growing up made good money off of their cow and pigs at the state county fair). It was grown on local family farms where the farmers couldn’t afford to give antibiotics to their cattle unless they were really really sick, and yes, maybe the cow got grains for breakfast, but likely it also got put out to pasture for lunch and dinner.

So, did I buy the beef? Yes, I bought a lot of it. Steaks and hamburgers, and even some hot dogs for the kids.

We all have to ask ourselves what is really important when feeding our families. It’s not a question that I can answer for anyone but myself. It’s what I call “Food Values.” What’s most important to you? Is it the use of petroleum getting it to your plate? Is it the way the animal was raised and who it was raised by? Is it what it was fed? Does it matter how it was killed? How it was hung? What was done to the meat? Whatever your food values are be open to asking the questions. It’s okay to be confused and it’s okay to get it wrong. It’s a process and if you ask the questions, the answers will come over time and it will become easier. I promise.

Now, where are my husband and kids?

I grew up with a dad that’s allergic to basically every protein but beef, pork and eggs. Yep, that’s right, no fowl, wild game, seafood of any kind or beans. This left my poor mother with the choice of making two different dinners or all of us eating a lot of pork and beef. As a mother myself, I can see why she chose option II much of the time.

Unfortunately, beef has never been appealing to me. I just don’t care for the flavor. Pork is okay, but again, not something I relish. As a teenager I read all about how cow and pigs were raised for slaughter. That their conditions were inhumane and how they were killed and processed. Of course, this put the proverbial nail in the coffin. I began bringing tofu salads to school for lunch. At one point I even brought enough for all of my friends in hopes they’d turn over a new leaf and join the crowd. Oh, did I mention I grew up in Alaska? Not exactly the vegetarian capital of the west.

Over the years I’ve tried being a vegetarian and just steering clear of beef and pork. This did not bode well for my carnivorous, steak loving husband or visits from my parents. Luck came my way though in the form of grass fed beef. GFB has come back onto the scene. What do I mean “Back onto the scene?” Isn’t it a new creation? Funny you ask. My dad (who is in his mid-seventies) and I were having a discussion about beef and cattle and the way it’s raised. He was telling me how he remembers grain fed beef coming into popularity. It was so tender and marbled and juicy that people would pay big bucks for it! Forget the whole idea of raising your own cattle in the pasture out back, get these cows some grain!

Now, it’s the flip side. We pay big bucks for grass fed beef. It’s sustainable, better for the environment, better for the animal, and ultimately better for the consumers health (grass fed beef has the wonderful benefit of being full of those hard to find Omega 3 essential fats).

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m NOT talking about organic beef. Organic beef just means that the GRAINS that the cows were fed were organic. A step in the right direction, yes, but cows are ruminant animals. They have two stomachs which are meant for digesting grass. Over time they become sick when fed only grain. This in turn is why the humongous feed lots also include such preventative measures as antibiotics in their feed (smaller cattle ranchers cannot afford such luxuries). For in-depth detail regarding the raising of cattle for the American consumer read Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma.

part II coming tomorrow….