Picture Gallery

Over the past month I've been cooking a lot, and, yes, I've stuck to my new year's resolution and haven't bought any processed foods (besides the occasional box of whole wheat crackers for my son). In addition to not cooking with or eating processed foods at home, we also eat much less meat and fish. Once or twice a week I cook wild fish or grass-fed beef or pork. (we don't eat meat everyday since the cost for this type of meat is higher; this makes us appreciate the animal we consume more). Here are some dishes I've created over the last few weeks.

Grass-fed beef meatballs in marinara sauce

Wild halibut in sage brown butter sauce with risotto

Pasta in brown butter cheese sauce

Pasta salad with kidney beans, kale, and mushrooms

Potato soup with sauteed kale

Wild Pacific Cod fish taco with mango sauce

Fish taco from above with homemade salsa and guacamole

Wild salmon with local potatoes and swiss chard

Zucchini quiche, homemade crust

Another Busy Week of Cooking

I haven't posted in a few days because I've been cooking, of course!

Last night my second CSA box arrived with loads of fresh organic vegetables and fruits. I was so excited to start preparing delicious food that I couldn't sleep. My CSA box contained the most beautiful arugula, red leaf lettuce, baby spinach, rainbow chard, kale, sage, rosemary, oregano, red potatoes, and onions. Along with juicy blood oranges, tangelos, d'anjou pears, red pears, and lemons. For those of you who read a previous post about my first CSA box, you might remember that I was a little disappointed to receive a few items that traveled from distant farms. Well, I found a way online to make modifications to my order. Thus, this week I replaced a few distant items with more local pears and oranges. I also added fresh herbs that are grown in Duvall, WA.



Arugula and Blood Orange Salad

 

For lunch today I put my fresh ingredients to good use and made an arugula salad with blood oranges and balsamic vinegar. It was delicious, and I can't wait to make more fresh food. Earlier in the week I made pizza dough and used half the dough to make a pasture-fed beef sausage tomato based pizza. I now have enough dough left over for one more pizza and plan to top half the pizza this time with tomatoes, basil and pecorino romano and the other half with olive oil, fresh oregano, pecorino romano, and maybe a little arugula when it comes out. So excited!



  

Homemade Almond Milk



In addition to pizza dough and inspired by a friend, I also made homemade almond milk. It was so easy. Just soak the almonds for 48 hours, rinse, blend with water, and strain (I used a cheese cloth for straining). Voila! Almond milk! I used the milk for making oatmeal, and I used the crushed bits of almond/almond meal in pancakes. I have to say I loved the nutty addition to my pancakes.

I also made pate brisee for the first time this week. Basically, it's a basic crust for pie and quiche. I used mine for a caramelized onion and goat cheese quiche. I LOVE quiche, and it's on the menu for dinner again tonight (leftovers, that is).

  

Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Quiche



Pate Brisee



  

Eat well and be well. If you'd like any of these recipes, just leave me a comment, and I will post them. Thanks!



Say "NO" to Sugar-Free

You might be surprised by the title of this post, but after I explain it in context, I hope you agree.

This morning while I was preparing to shower at the gym, I glanced up at the Today Show on the television. They were discussing the calorie content of specific breakfast meals. In front of Hoda was a plate of three gigantic pancakes and a small glass carafe with about 1/4 cup of syrup in it. After explaining that this breakfast has over 650 calories and the syrup alone contains over 10 teaspoons of sugar, they suggested switching to sugar-free syrup. In the middle of the locker room, I blurted out, "Oh, please, just eat the real stuff!" Unfortunately, no one was around to hear me so I couldn't preach my beliefs about food to anyone. Americans, this is why we have a problem with obesity in the first place. We're replacing real foods with synthetic CRAP that trains us to eat MORE. Yes, you could have an unlimited supply of sugar-free syrup to go with your triple stack of gigantic pancakes, but that defeats the purpose. Let's GET BACK TO THE BASICS. Had I been invited to discuss food on the Today Show, I would've retrieved two more large plates, divided up the three huge pancakes amongst the three plates and poured a little REAL syrup over each one. Heck, I would've even thrown in a pad (1/2 T.) of REAL butter on each, with an 8 oz. glass of whole milk, and a cup of fresh berries. Now how's that for a breakfast under 650 calories.



Spinach Salad



On the bright side, this syrup fiasco inspired me to do a little "cooking" today. I have pizza dough rising and sliced sweet potatoes roasting in the oven, and I just finished eating a delicious spinach salad. For the salad, I used organic spinach with beautiful, dark green, thick leaves, fresh organic basil, local roasted hazelnuts, an organic local gala apple, goat cheese, lemon, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt and pepper. I like to call this salad: spinach salad with apples, goat cheese and roasted hazelnuts, dressed with a lemon basil balsamic vinaigrette.



Here are a few pictures of dishes I've prepared this week:



Broccoli Cheese and Rice Casserole

 



Thai Tofu with Cabbage and Parsnips



Lemon Pomegranate Scone and Latte

Now, I hope I've inspired you to get cooking with REAL food.

The Omnivore's Dilemma

"Getting Back to the Basics" started as a new year's resolution to feed my family only whole REAL foods. At the same time, I began reading The Omnivore's Dilemma, a book written by Michael Pollan; and soon after, I began getting back to the basics in a more powerful way. Not only was I changing what and how my family was eating, but I was also questioning where the food I was eating came from. Over the last 2 months I've been scrutinizing each food item I purchase and have had many "omnivore's dilemmas":

(1) to buy conventional produce, organic produce that came from Mexico, organic produce that traveled half way across the country, produce from the farmer's market, or produce through a CSA;
(2) to purchase a roasted chicken that was not treated humanely by my moral standards, organic free-range chicken that still may not be treated humanely, or pasture raised chicken from a local farm;
(3) to buy canned beans, organic canned beans, dried beans, organic dried beans, or dried beans in season from the farmer's market.

I've had a dilemma, like these, for every food item on my grocery list: milk, eggs, wheat flour, oats, soy milk, cheese, tomatoes, etc. And as I've been working my way through all of these dilemmas, I've deemed it necessary to understand where and how these foods are produced, cultivated, and/or processed. For when we understand how the food was brought into existence and to our dinner table, we can make better choices (which are defined by each of us based upon our morals) about which foods to eat. For instance, if I want to bake fresh bread using wheat flour, which type of wheat should I use (durum, emmer, red fife, winter wheat, etc.), which type of flour should I get (unbleached, bleached, cake, pastry, self-rising, etc), how much processing should the wheat undergo (e.g. white versus whole wheat flour), and finally which brand of flour should I purchase (i.e. should I buy a national brand or a local product).

Learning about wheat flour is just the beginning for me. I have much to learn about every food in order to feel comfortable with the food I buy. To be conscious of what we're eating is achieved more fully when we understand where the food came from and the energy cycle it takes part in. To be appreciative of what we're eating is developed when we attempt to prepare the food (and each of its ingredients) with our own hands. "A meal that is eaten in full consciousness of what it took to make it is worth preparing every now and again, if only as a way to remind us of the true costs of the things we take for granted."

My bucket list just got a lot longer!

My First CSA Box

Last night I received my first box of produce from Full Circle Farm in Carnation, WA. Since it's wintertime this farm partners with other organic farms to provide produce to its customers. I thought I'd try it out and for $35/standard size box it's comparable in cost and quality to shopping at the West Seattle Farmer's Market (I was there on Sunday and was able to do a cost comparison). Each standard box should feed 2 adults and 1 child for a week. I currently am scheduled to receive a box of produce every other week, and I may need to purchase a few additional items from the farmer's market the week I am not scheduled for a shipment. In my first box of produce I received (in order from most local to least local):

1 lb. of turnips, 3 apples, 3 pears, and 2 onions from Washington

1/2 lb. Cremini mushrooms from British Columbia (only 2 hours away)

4 oranges, 1 bunch of broccoli, 1 bunch of kale, 1 bunch of green leaf lettuce, and 1 bunch of spinach from California (up to 900 miles away)

1 cucumber from Mexico and 1 mango from Ecuador (I was surprised by these 2 items)

Since half of my order still traveled quite a distance to get here, I will put in a special request to the farm (I'll ask for two orders of a local item in place of an item further south than CA.). If my request cannot be fulfilled, then I may postpone more orders through this farm until the spring months arrive and I can be assured most, if not all, of the produce will be provided by the farm itself. Despite my slight disappointment with the location of some of the partner farms, I am so far very impressed with taste. I just bit into my first orange and have not tasted a better orange since I moved to Washington over two years ago. The flavor was extremely concentrated, and although I know there's no fat in an orange, this orange had a smooth, creamy texture (3 pieces slipped right out of my hand as I picked them up). Because of the flavor and texture, I was completely satisfied after eating half the orange, and I saved the other half for my son when he awakes from his nap.

Buying Seasonally and Locally

Yesterday I went to the West Seattle Farmer's Market and picked up a few things, including winter squash, parsnips, frozen pitted cherries, roasted hazelnuts, grass-fed beef sausages, and raw beef bones for our dog. They had sold out of medium and large eggs by the time I arrived so I will have to pick some up next week to try. Afterwards I went to QFC to buy local Twin Brook Farm's milk, which comes in a glass jug and makes me wish I lived on a farm during the first half of the 20th century. I also grabbed some local organic yogurt and examined the produce section. I wanted to get a few fresh herbs that I could not find at the market. I found organic cilantro made in the USA; however, the other herbs I was looking for (basil, chives, and rosemary), despite being organic, were grown outside the USA. I knew I'd feel guilty for buying them since they'd traveled so far to get here, so I passed them up and made a reminder note that I need to start growing my own fresh herbs again. There were two food items I did buy that were not local or seasonal: organic bananas from Peru and a lemon (I'm not sure where it came from). From the time I entered QFC until I got home, my stress level was high. It sounds crazy to get stressed out over grocery shopping, but trying to buy seasonally at a supermarket is nearly impossible. So from now on, I'm going to do my best to avoid supermarkets. I know that these changes I'm making (to never buy processed foods, to eat locally and seasonally, to buy grass-fed meat) are difficult now, but soon they will become a habit that I will no longer have to think about. It's just like starting an exercise regimen,quitting smoking, or cutting up credit cards and paying for everything with cash. It's hard at first but over time, habits are formed and the actions become quite subconscious.

So today for lunch I made winter squash stew (pictured above). I caramelized onions, garlic, and the cubed winter squash in olive oil, and seasoned it with salt and pepper. I used the remnants of the onions, garlic, and squash (skins and ends) to make a broth by boiling them in a quart of water. I strained the broth, poured 2 cups of the strained broth into the caramelized vegetables, and added about 2 cups of garbanzo beans.

I also saved the squash seeds and roasted them with a little salt.

The Organic Lingo

If you read the labels found on items in the produce, meat, and dairy sections of a supermarket, you might be stumped about the different terminology. I know I was when I began my resolution to eat whole foods and started to think more about where my food came from. Be aware that "natural", "organic", "cage-free", "free range", etc. are simply marketing tools. My favorite marketing vocabulary that I recently noticed in a QFC advertisement for poultry was "vegetarian fed" (I actually laughed when I read this). Although "vegetarian fed" sounds healthy, the chickens may still be housed in feed lots eating mushed corn by the billions of bushels. These chickens may not even be consuming organic feed, but by putting a "vegetarian fed" label on it, many of us are fooled into believing this chicken is a lot better than a chicken without the same label.

All I can stress is that we need to do a little research on our food. Yesterday I spent several hours doing just that, and after a long discussion with my husband, I came up with a step-by-step process of changes we can make to our diet that will lead us to better health and a better environment:

Step 1: Eliminate all processed foods so our diet consists of only whole foods
Step 2: Reduce our consumption of animal products
Step 3: Make the switch to organic produce or, better yet, buy from a local farm/farmer's market (Don't worry about these small farms not having an "organic" label. Many small farms are doing more than what's required to get that "organic" label; they are practicing sustainable farming.)
Step 4: Make the switch to local dairy products that come from grass-fed animals

Step 5: Purchase wild seafood that is not endangered
Step 6: Start purchasing grass-fed meat from a local butcher

Achieving all these steps may be difficult (our family is still working on steps 3 through 6) so start small. Even if you just get through step 1, you're making a HUGE difference in your life; and if we all made it through step 1, we'd change the food industry for the better! Good luck, and if you're interested in grass-fed food, check out http://www.eatwild.com/.

The Value of Food

This past Sunday as I was rolling out what seemed like an endless amount of dough for fresh pasta, I started thinking more about our relationship with food. If everyone, including our children, spent a day in Great Great Grandma's kitchen (or with me rolling out pasta by hand to feed a family of 12), I think we'd all have a greater appreciation for REAL food and become more disgusted with what so many of us actually call food. In addition to spending a day in Great Great Grandma's kitchen, I think we should all spend a day volunteering on a farm. If we understand more about where our food comes from and how much labor is necessary to produce quality food, I think we'd value food more.

I have always valued the flavor of freshly made pasta and croissants, but I didn't recognize the effort that went into making such delicious food. I am thankful that I can walk into The French Bakery whenever I have a craving and pick up a fresh chocolate croissant. My homemade croissants were good but nothing like those from The French Bakery. It'd take me a lot of time and patience to get them just right, and I'm not sure I'm up for that task since I can coneniently pick one up from the bakery whenever I want. Although I cherished every bite of the croissant prior to making them myself, I now can not put a price to a croissant. $2.55...that's nothing! and that's what I've been paying for a croissant for the past 6 months when The French Bakery opened its doors in downtown Bellevue. For the convenience of having a fresh croissant of such perfection, I'd pay a lot more than that. 

Unfortunately, how we currently measure the value of food is solely by price. $1.99/lb for ground beef and $0.79/lb for oranges...that's a steal if you aren't aware of how they're produced. So how do we train ourselves to get away from the mentality that cost is the primary driving force for our food purchases? I think a day with Great Great Grandma and a day on the farm would do the trick.

Homemade Pasta and Croissants

I haven't blogged all weekend long because I was busy making homemade dough for pasta and croissants. I started the dough for the croissants on Friday. Saturday afternoon I made the dough for the pasta, and I baked off a test batch of croissants Saturday evening. Sunday we had a big family party where I served the homemade pasta and croissants. Here was our Sunday dinner menu:

Course 1 - sauteed cauliflower with red pepper flakes and Pecorino Romano

Course 2 - roasted red pepper and tomato bisque, served with rosemary olive oil bread

Course 3 - mixed greens with balsamic vinegar

Course 4 - shrimp pesto flat pasta

Course 5 - strawberry cream cheese and chocolate croissants

Course 6 - Zoka espresso

The most time consuming task of preparing this meal was making the dough for both the croissants and pasta. Making the croissant dough requires a lot of rest and chilling time over 24 hours but does not require as much hard labor as the pasta dough.

 




Layers of croissant dough before rolling out



Croissant Dough - After forming the dough in a mixing bowl, I allowed it to rest and chill. Then I took room temperature butter and a little flour and mixed together. I formed a 6X6" square of butter and then chilled it. After chilling both dough and butter, the butter is place on the rolled out dough and the edges of the dough folded over. The dough is rolled out, folded like a letter, rolled out again, folded like a letter again, and then chilled. This is repeated to created the layers of the croissant as seen in the picture. After the dough rests overnight it's rolled out to 1/8" thickness and cut into single servings. I filled the croissants with either 60% dark chocolate or a mixture of strawberry jam and a sweetened cream cheese (cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and egg). The croissants were rolled or folded up, brushed with egg wash (I forgot this step when making the test batch and you can see the difference.), and baked at 425*F for about 20 minutes.     

Test batch without egg wash

 

 

Strawberry Cream Cheese
Croissant



Thin rectangles of pasta



Pasta Dough - The dough was simple to make and contained a few ingredients, primarily flour and tons of egg yolks. The hardest part was rolling out the dough, which is probably why they invented machines to do this part. I was rolling dough for almost 2 hours to make enough pasta for the 12 people at our dinner party. You must roll out the dough so thinly you can almost see through it. I cut my pasta into large rectangles about 2X4" and then boiled them for 2-3 minutes.

 

Pesto Sauce



Pesto Sauce - I made pesto sauce in the food processor by adding 6 c. fresh basil leaves, 1.5 c. olive oil, black pepper, 4 cloves of garlic, and 1.5 c. Pecorino Romano cheese. (Note: These measurements have already been tripled so as to make enough for 12 servings of pasta.)

Shrimp pesto pasta and mixed green salad



 I also cooked up some shrimp in the pesto mixture and topped the pasta with the shrimp pesto sauce. I served the pasta with mixed greens and grape tomatoes tossed in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. 







Cheesy Risotto and Lemon Pomegranate Scones

As the week progressed and my refrigerator became barer, it became increasingly difficult to put together dishes for lunch and dinner. However, yesterday I was successful at creating an excellent lunch of mixed greens with cheesy risotto. The cheesy risotto was prepared by first sauteing onions and garlic in a little olive oil and butter. While the onions and garlic were cooking, I added a cup of Italian style rice to the rice cooker. (Yes, you can make a risotto style dish in the rice cooker. The rice cooker is a lifesaver when you have a needy toddler attached to your hip and don't want to risk burning the two of you by stirring rice continuously over a hot stove for an hour.) I then added 3 cups of homemade chicken broth that I keep in the freezer and defrost when needed. Lastly, I stirred in the caramelized onions and garlic along with a cup of freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese. After the rice cooker gave its signature "beep, beep, beep" (i.e. "I'm done!") signal, I plated the risotto, grated a little more cheese on top, and served it with a side of mixed greens drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Later that afternoon while my son was napping, I managed to test out a variation of my scone recipe. This time I added lemon zest and pomegranates to the batter. The taste was amazing (almost all 5 scones were devoured by the time we went to bed), but I'm still working on the texture. Although I used less heavy cream this time, the scones still did not crumble like I had hoped, so next time I will try baking them at a lower temperature. Here is the recipe I have been playing around with for those of you that are interested (they are still better than any scone you can buy). I cut this recipe in half and it still makes 5 small scones.

3 c. flour

1/2 c. sugar

2 T. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

2 c. heavy cream (less if using fruit with high water content)

2 c. fruit, nuts, seeds, etc.

I have been baking them at 350*F for about 30 minutes, but may try reducing the heat and cooking longer to see how that might affect the texture.

Isn't it amazing how so few ingredients can taste so good!!!

America's Obesity Problem Solved

I was taking a walk around the block this afternoon with my son and dog and peered into a neighbors open garage. Amongst all the rubbish, as clear as day, was a huge, OLD, yet still functioning refrigerator. That's when I had an epiphany and realized I can easily solve our nation's epidemic with obesity. All we need to do is downsize our refrigerators! For God's sake, unless you're feeding a family of 10 or more, I think one refrigerator would suffice. Agree?

Now you might be wondering what evidence do I have that would support this theory, and I'll leave you with a few simple points to ponder:

1) French Women Don't Get Fat

2) The size of a European refrigerator

Enough said! America's Obesity Problem Solved.

VS.

Inspiration from Thailand

For lunch today I made a Thai inspired fish and rice dish. I started by chopping onions, celery, and sweet peppers (I was too lazy to peel the garlic today) and added these vegetables to a hot wok with sesame and olive oil. I sprinkled a little salt to the veggies and let them slow cook on medium low while I prepped the fish.

I rinsed the tilapia in cold water and seasoned with salt, pepper, fresh lemon juice, ground ginger, Thai fish sauce, red pepper flakes, and crushed peanuts.

(I would have preferred to use a lime if I had one. The rest of the lemon slice was added to the cooking veggies.)

I then placed the tilapia over the cooking veggies and let slow cook. Just before the fish was done, I sprinkled chopped fresh cilantro on top. I plated the fish and veggie mixture over brown rice and topped with more red pepper flakes, crushed peanuts, and fresh cilantro.

Sensory Stimulation: Simply Color

Sensory Stimulation: Color and Memories

 If you haven't noticed the color of my blog page is the most beautiful shade of brown. This is the same color of most of my clothing and the primary color of my wedding decor. It is also the color of dark chocolate and a perfectly pulled espresso. I dedicate the color of my page to these wonderful pleasures.