The Healthy Cooking Coach

Be careful what you ask for…You might get it!

Six years ago I took over teaching Whole Foods Cuisine, a five-week (20 hour) cooking class focused on wholesome, nourishing foods, for Southwest Institute of Healing Arts in Tempe (SWIHA for short). I taught it several times a year and we almost always had a waiting list. Students wanted a Whole Foods Cuisine II, so we added that a few years ago. The response was overwhelmingly positive so we added more sections.

The problem was….it was a cooking course and SWIHA didn’t have a kitchen for me to teach it in. I made it work for a couple of years in a very small kitchen. My students’ mantra became: “SWIHA should build a big kitchen for you to teach in.” I thought it was a good idea, but left it at that.

When one door closes, another one opens
We progressed to larger spaces over a couple of years’ time, but they still lacked some crucial features we wanted and they eventually became unavailable. When the last rented location closed in late November, 2009, KC Miller, the owner and founder of SWIHA, and her team of elves decided to remodel the building next door, making one of the rooms my kitchen/classroom.

Logistics, logistics, logistics
The problem was…the previous tenants, SWINA (Southwest Institute of Natural Aesthetics) wouldn’t be out of the building (and into their new location) until the end of December. That left only five weeks for the build out, for pricing and buying large and small equipment, unpacking, and setting up for the first scheduled  course for 2010, which was last night!. Tim, Linda, Earle, John, their team of elves (the work study students), and I, managed to pull it off, but just under the wire!

My part
I generated lists of “must haves” and “would be nice ifs.” I helped with brainstorming found a sponsor to help outfit the new kitchen. I’ve used Cuisinart products for more than 20 years. I’ve tested and written about them for magazine articles (and sent them tear sheets of the published pieces), mentioned them in my cookbooks (and sent them sample copies of the published books), and demoed them in cooking classes (so I wasn’t a stranger). I contacted Cuisinart in mid January to request sponsorship, including my belated Christmas wish list, and crossed my fingers that we could have my favorite appliances and pots within three weeks. 

Why Cuisinart?
As much as possible, I wanted my teaching kitchen to have the same kinds of pots and appliances I use at home, things that I know are efficient, effective, easy to operate, attractive, and durable. When students ask, “What kind of pots do you use?” “What kind of food processor do you recommend?” or “Which ice cream maker do you like best?” I wanted to be able to show rather than just tell. I’m also better at operating and fielding questions about equipment I’ve used extensively.

Elves at work
John installed four stoves, a dishwasher, several sinks, a hanging rack for pots, a white board, metro racks, and more. Earle found and helped assemble 8 work stations with burners, 8 long metal tables, and my prep table. Tim, our designated shopper was sent to buy a laundry list of kitchen equipment, from measuring utensils and mixing bowls to timers and trivets. How fun is that? Wouldn’t you love to  get paid to shop on company time? “Hi, What do you do for a living?” “I shop for kitchen equipment!” “Really? You're a professional shopper? Sweet! How’d you land that job??” Seriously, Tim does way more than shop. He’s the Education Specialist and Faculty Manager/Liason at SWIHA and he adds humor to situations that get too serious. He doesn’t get paid to shop everyday (at least I don't think he does!) and he’s not allowed to wear jeans to work.

Anyway, Tim did a great job shopping for me (and I thanked him repeatedly), especially when you consider that he had only a couple of days to do it (the kitchen wasn’t ready for us to go in and set up shop until Tuesday); he had to buy a gazillion things; and he didn’t have makes, models, or a catalog with color pictures in his hands to match the pictures in my head and he had to go to multiple stores.

I thought my lists were pretty specific, for most things:
8 sets of stainless steel measuring spoons (1/4 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon)
8 sets of stainless steel measuring cups (1/4 cup to 1 cup)
4 vegetable peelers with ergonomic (wide) handles (not the flimsy metal ones!)
6 (12-quart) stainless steel bowls--Photo right>><
6 (16-quart) stainless steel bowls
12 aluminum half sheet pans
24 (1-ounce) stainless steel sauce cups

For other things I was clearly less specific:
1 metal box grater
1 salad spinner
2 garlic presses
6 flexible rubber spatulas (small, medium, and large)
3 wire whisks (small, medium, and large)

Keepers
The day before the first class Tim was shopping. That night work study students and I were unpacking and washing tim’s finds of the day and my Cuisinart collection and figuring out where to store everything. Some of the items looked exactly like I expected. These were “keepers.” Others weren’t exactly what I was looking for; these went in the “go-back” pile.

Have you ever asked for something, been less than specific and had something show up that was…not what you expected? Hopefully you could laugh about it.

Make SMART requests
I know about SMART goals. I used them to manifest the Cuisinart appliances and pots for the new teaching kitchen and I've used them to achieve countless other goals. SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Attainable or Action Oriented, Realistic, and Time bound, which is what your goals must be if you want to hit your target. I just temporarily forgot about SMART requests. When I team-taught Wholistic Weight Management with my former husband, Don Matesz, at SWIHA teaching about SMART goal setting was part of the curriculum (and probably still is).

We taught students to create SMART body composition goals: decide what kind of body you want to create then get SMART about it. Don’t just say, “I want to lose weight.” Be specific. How many pounds, inches, or percentages of body fat do you want tolose, how will you go about doing that, and by when? If the results aren’t specific and measurable, you could take a sauna, go for a run, get a haircut, or go to the bathroom and lose weight, but it probably won’t be what you were looking to achieve.

Okay, back to the kitchen. The first salad spinner Tim bought was on the small side (meaning it was smaller than the ones I’m accustomed to using). I knew Tim had to make a run for more equipment the next day so I asked him to get a larger salad spinner. That was not SMART on my part. Kitchen requests, whether for food or tools, really need to be qualified, particularly if the person honoring the requests doesn’t know you or your needs very well.

Super-size that salad
When I arrived early the next day to set up and prep for the salad class, I found that Tim had picked up a larger salad spinner---not a little larger like I had envisioned---but a lot, lot larger….as in a super-size, 20 liter (80 cup capacity) industrial strength salad spinner! (Photo upper right corner of page.) I love salads, especially main dish salads with fish or meat in them. I planned to use a lot of salad greens in the class, but not that much! I was so glad Tim didn't yet get around to returning the super small salad spinner because we needed it for class.

The problem was…I wasn’t specific enough about the size and he wasn’t shopping for it in a typical kitchen shop, he went to a restaurant supply store that day where bigger means something completely different than in a department store.  So the salad spinner, novel looking as it was, went in the “go back” pile along with the rubber spatulas and whisks designed for similar-sized stock pots, which we didn’t have. I would have taken it out of the box for a spin, but we had too much else to do (like washing dishes, putting more tools away, and organizing ingredients for the eight recipes the 24 students would making in a couple of hours. I did sit on the box briefly. If was a little sturdier it would have doubled as a chair in a pinch. Overall, we had the most important tools so it wasn't a big deal that we were missing a few items. The students were so happy be in part two of the class they had enjoyed so much the previous year.

Here's what my students made last night:

• Broiled Chicken Salad with Blue Cheese, Cherries, Pears & Pecans
• Your Basic Green Salad with Yogurt Herb Dressing & Dairy Free Ranch Dressing
• Spice-Rubbed Steak, Sun-Dried Tomato & Green Salad with Roasted Onions, Avocado & Lemonette Dressing
• Parisian Style Potato Salad (attached)   
• Wild Alaskan Salmon Salad with  Black Pepper, Mango & Basil Balsamic Dressing
• The Everlasting Salad (attached)
• Beef Kafta Kabobs
• Teeccino, a roasted chicory root coffee alternative, with coconut milk and stevia

No coffee needed
The good news is…the class was a huge success, as usual. The recipes came out great. They had plenty of food. Everyone loved the combinations of flavors and textures and the ideas and strategies I  presented. Everyone was engaged and active. Those who had been in our previous kitchens, voted this their favorite classroom yet! We worked well as a team, no one got hurt, and the energy and enthusiasm in the room was high---enough to energize me until 12:30 am, which is why i don't drink coffee very often and when I do, I limit myself to one cup, always before noon, lest I pull an unwanted all-nighter.

Join us
If you cook (or aspire to do it well), if want healthy food, if you want it taste great, but you don’t know where to start or how to create and sustain a cooking routine that fits your busy lifestyle, and you live in the Phoenix metro, consider enrolling in Whole Foods Cuisine I and Whole Foods Cuisine II at SWIHA. Click here for the schedule of classes and scroll down to the bottom of the page. You don’t have to be enrolled in any of SWIHAs other programs to participate. If you don’t live in Phoenix, AZ, you can still take my classes….on line. We’ll be launching the on-line version of WFCI later this month. Stay tuned for more details and visit SWIHA’s web site.

What are your dreams for 2010?
Are they written down? As SMART goals? If not, now's the time to get started. You could check out the book, Write It Down, Make it Happen: Knowing What You Want and Getting It by Henriette Ann Klauser, or Success Principles: How to Get From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be By jack Canfield. Consider hiring a life coach or a cooking coach (like me), to help you focus, brainstorm, fine tune your strategies, to cheer you on! 

Photo credits: Earle Duskey and Rachel Albert-Matesz, 2010

The Green Chocolatier

What do you get when you cross a high stress career a criminal defense lawyer, a penchant for promoting social justice and fighting for the little guy, a passion for cooking, baking, and chocolate, and a hunger for change?

The road to success
A detour (that turns out to be a right turn) down a new path paved with, not only good intentions but also, chocolate! Following his bliss, Shawn Askinosie is bringing joy to the rest of the chocolate eating world and to the small farmers he works with who receive higher than fair trade market prices for their beans. By giving them a Stake in The Outcome, a business philosophy founded by Jack Stack, plus 10% of net profits from the chocolate made from the beans grown on their farms, Shawn is able to get the best of the best beans. He also nows the name of every farmer who grows the beans that go into his bars.

Location, location, location
Springfield, Missouri might not sound like it the chocolate Mecca of the world, although it could very well be the chocolate Mecca of the Midwest or the U.S. Even more crucial though is the source of the ingredients (especially when there are so few in the end product); this makes a hill of a big difference. Shawn buys his beans directly from small farmers. He uses a single variety of beans in each bar and each one bears the name of the region from which the beans came: Soconusco, Mexico, Davao, Philipines, and San Jose Del tambo, Ecuador. 

Traceabilty
When you buy food directly from a farmer, you know more about the food, how and where it was grown, what went into it, how it was harvested and handled. This provides a greater level of accountability and a higher quality product. When I buy grassfed beef directly from a farmer I get single origin beef (meat from a single cow rather than from a collective meat bank that mixes meat from different cows and herds). The same is true for hand-made, small-batch, single-origin chocolate.

Shawn sought out farmers who were open to his input about how the beans are fermented and dried, which greatly affects the flavor of the end product. Buying anonymous beans from commodity brokers would not have allowed for this nor would it have created the distinctive flavor that each of his varietal bars posses. At the Askinosie Chocolate factory they even press their own cocoa butter.

From field to factory
Shawn chose the site for his factory, the construction methods and materials, as well as the heating, cooling, lighting, cleaning, packaging and shipping supplies with ecology in mind. We weighed the impact of every aspect of his operation on his immediate and global environment.

Another thing I love about this chocolate is that it's made from gluten-free ingredients in a gluten free facliity on on dedicated equipment that isn't use for anything else. So, this is celiac safe chocolate, for those of you who must follow a strict GF diet.

 Perfect packaging
I was so excited when my sample package arrived, shortly before Christmas. I immediately liked the exquisitely but tastefully decorated  brown paper packaging and  the literature printed on paper that had obviously been made from post consumer waste paper.

Each chocolate wrapper features an image of the bean varietal's lead farmer along with a "choc-o-lot" number (that’s the date it was made)¬¬––so much more interesting than an "expiration date"––along with information about Askinosie’s real people, real places business practices. Btw: you can compost the natural flex biodegradable bags that hold the delicious bars and recycle the outer wrapping.

Speaking of the bars, here’s what I tried:
Davao Dark Milk Chocolate Bar + Fleur de Sel Sea Salt.
I normally avoid milk chocolate because I find it sickeningly sweet. This bar had a subtle but distinct sweetness, a slight tang from the goat milk, caramely notes, and a touch of bitterness. Really nice. It contains 62% cocoa, goat’s milk powder, organic sugar, and a touch of Fluer de Sel sea salt.

70% San Jose Del Tambo, Ecuador Dark Chocolate Bar
This one had a distinctive fruity flavor and just the right amount of bitterness for me. Ingredients: 2% Asknosie Chocolate Cocoa Butter and 30% organic can sugar. That’s it!

75% Soconusco, Mexico Dark Chocolate Bar
This one was made from 1% Askinosie Chocolate Cocoa Butter and 25% organic cane sugar. This one had a robust, intensely deep, dark chocolaty flavor. You probably already know this, but in case you don’t, the higher the cocoa content, the more healthful polyphenols and the less sugar a bar contains.

77% Davao, Phillipines Dark Chocolate Bar
This one contains 1% Askinosie Chocolate Cocoa Butter and 23% organic cane sugar. This one has a flavor I can only describe as deep, dark, and earthy. If you find this one too bitter, simply snap off a square of the Askinosie Milk Chocolate bar and nibble a bite of the two together.That’s what I did.

Single Origin Natural Cocoa Powder
Shawn Askinosie has the only small batch chocolate factory in the U.S. making natural cocoa powder from Ecuadorian dark chocolate that’s unsweetened and non-alkalinzed. I tried it in one of my favorite Flourless Almond Butter Brownie recipes that I made for some friends. Really delicious.

Roasted Cocoa Nibs
These are roasted, coarsely cut cocoa beans. You can sprinkle them over just about anything (pudding, yogurt, salad, frozen desserts, chocolate mousse, etc) or mix them into baked goods (cookies, cakes, brownies, bars…). I sprinkled some over some of my homemade Ice Dream, over my Dark Chocolate Dipped Date Nut Truffles, and used some to replace chocolate chips in the brownies I mentioned above. Love the crunch!

The verdict
I liked all of the bars, the cocoa powder, and cocoa nibs. I made the five bars (15 ounces total) last for five or six weeks. For Most of my samplings I snapped of a little square of each of the five bars, eating about an ounce of chocolate at a time, sometimes less. The cocoa powder and nibs will last me even longer.

My rules for eating chocolate include:
Don’t eat it all in one place or all at one time.
Don’t eat it on an empty stomach
Eat it at the end of a protein- (meat) and produce-rich meal (veggies or veggies and fruit).
Eat it sitting down (at a table).
Chew slowly and savor each bite.
Eat only enough to feel satisfied but not stuffed.

You might win if you enter!
You can buy this chocolate from select stores or on ine at AskinosieChocolate.com
To be entered into the drawing for a chance to win two Askinosie Chocolate bars follow the rules outlined below.

Rules for entering
(Do both the following):

1. Visit the Askinosie Chocolate web site.
2. Tell me what you like best about the web site, the company, their bars, or which of their products you would like to try.
3. Leave a comment with this info at the bottom of this blog post.

To receive bonus entries, spread the word about this giveaway
    (select as many of the following as you like):
    1.  Watch one of my YouTube videos and leave a comment about it below
    2.  Subscribe to my YouTube page and leave a comment about that below
    3.  Subscribe to my blog (see link halfway down this page on the left), then leave a comment below
    4.  Publicize the giveaway, then leave a comment about what you did, for example
            a) Tweet about the giveaway with a link to my blog
            b) blog about the giveaway
            c) announce the giveaway on Facebook and send me a link
            d) mention the giveaway to your family and friends
            e) come up with your own creative idea
    5. Do any or all of the above; just be sure to post a separate comment below for each action you take

Deadline: Minight, February 13th, 2010. (I mistakenly posted it as January in my newsletter!)
Selection criteria: Random drawing

And the winner is

The winner of this month’s Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook Giveaway is Melissa Wood of Queen Creek, AZ.

I appreciate everyone who participated by posting comments on my blog and telling family, friends, and associates about the giveway through email, newsletters, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and other avenues.

February’s Giveaways
In February you’ll have the chance to enter you name in the drawings for two great products: Askinosie Chocolate and Perfect Foods Bars.

 Askinosie Chocolate
I first read about it on the Nourishing Days blog last summer. I found a post Shannon Stronger wrote about this amazing chocolate in January of 2009. I would have tried it (and told you about it) sooner but I didn’t see it in the places where I usually shop and it was early summer here in Phoenix. I didn’t want to pay for overnight shipping to ensure the chocolate would arrive safely (and solidly) in our triple digit weather.

Finally, in December I received a sampling of 5 Askinosie Chocolate bars, plus 2 for giving away on my blog. I’m still nibbling on the bars (an ounce a day at most). I’ll tell you more about this unusual company and their delicious chocolate next week, including how you can enter your name for a chance to win two of their bars. Here’s the short scoop.

This isn’t just any chocolate. This Fair Trade, hand-made, award-winning artisan chocolate is produced in a small, family owned, gluten-free facility and made in small batches using a few simple ingredients. Nothing artificial here. The owners control every step of the manufacturing from bean to beautifully packaged bar. They have environmentally sound business practices that extend far beyond just recycling. And their chocolate tastes like nothing I’ve ever had. So delicious. You have to try it.

Perfect Foods Bars
I’m not a big fan of bars. Most of the ones I’ve seen contain highly processed and artificial ingredients, low quality protein, refined sweeteners, artificial flavorings, junk oils, etc. Most taste too sweet to me and very artificial with an unpleasant after taste. I’d seen the Perfect Foods Bars at my chiropractor’s office for at least a year. I know Dr. Jason and Dr. Elissa at Living in Line Chiropractic are very selective about what they buy and eat and what products they endorse. Then a colleague at Funktional Fitness in Gilbert, AZ, gave me a Peanut Butter flavored Perfect Foods bars to try.

The ingredient list impressed me enough that I ate it….and liked it. The bars are made from easily recognizable ingredients. They’re soy-free, gluten-free, and free of refined and synthetic sweeteners. They’re sweet but the sweetness comes from real foods. They’re rich in antioxidants and they contain 18 grams of whole food protein per bar.

I’ll tell you more about them in a couple of weeks, including how you can enter your name for a chance to win a 6-pack of Perfect Foods Bars.

 

Lean, Clean Meat & Another Cookbook Giveaway

Recently I’ve met more people who are concerned about the quality of their food, where it came from, what’s been done to it since it was picked or slaughtered, what’s in it, and how that affects their health and the environment. They’ve seen Supersize Me, Fast Food Nation, Food Inc, Fresh: The Movie, Food Matters, or some other movie that made them more aware of the problems with our current system of food production and distribution or they’ve read The Omnivore’s Dilemna.

The myth
Although books such as Diet for A New America, Skinny Bitch (Btw: I don't recommend either of these books!), and others like it give the impression that the solution to our health and environmental ills is to go vegetarian or vegan, there’s another side to the story and a far more sustainable solution you won’t hear from radical environmentalists and vegan extremists. They myth is that we have only two options: continue eating a steady diet of factory farmed animal products or to give up eating animal products.

The solution
If you ask me, a saner solution is to continue to eat eggs, poultry, and meat, to buy as much of it as possible directly from small farmers, and to make as much of the meat you eat come from 100% grass fed or pasture-raised animals. You would also be wise to base the rest of your diet of fresh and dried vegetables, fruits, nuts, and other healthy fat and oil sources.

What the vegetarians don’t tell you
It is entirely possible to find lean, clean, humanely raised and eco-friendly animal products raised on pasture. According to the American Grassfed Association, a network of approximately 400 farmers humanely raising cattle on grass from pastures (not grain and without feedlots, hormones, or antibiotic laced feed) you can find grass-fed products in every region of the U.S., in co-ops, health food stores and, in some chain natural foods stores and supermarkets.

Moving existing cattle from feedlots to pasture land and managing the herds using intensive, rotational grazing can actually build fertile soil by pumping carbon into the ground. It can lead to a healthier, more nutritious human diet, a reduction in deadly E. coli, elimination of feedlots, an increase in wildlife habitats, generous savings in energy, a virtual elimination of pesticides and chemical fertilizers on farm lands, elimination of catastrophic flooding, and a dramatic reduction in global warming gases.

Mother Earth knows best
“It is not unrealistic to expect that we as a nation could convert millions of acres of ravaged industrial grain fields (plus millions of acres of land in federal conservation programs that cannot currently be used for grazing) to permanent pastures and see no decline in beef and dairy production in the bargain” says Richard Manning, author of eight books, including Rewilding the West: Restoring Prarie Landscape and Against The Grain: How Agriculture Has Hijacked Civilization.

Manning’s article, “The Amazing Benefits of Grass-fed Meat” appeared in the April/May 2009 issue of Mother Earth News. Manning explains why it is actually more environmentally sound to raise cattle on grassland that it is to grow grain fields. “A conventionally farmed corn or soybean field is a source of global warming gases, but a permanent pasture is a pump that pushes carbon back into the soil where it increases fertility. Even though we harvest meat from the pastures each year, still the soil grows richer and holds more carbon. We get all these benefits thanks to solar energy, plant photosynthesis and natural cycles of grasslands and grazing animals.” Meat also requires less energy (fuel) to process and make ready to eat than grain or beans.

If this all sounds too unbelievable to be true or you simply want to learn more about the benefits of supporting farmers who produce pasture-raised animal products, you can click here to read Manning’s article in full and check out The Garden of Eating: A Produce Dominated Diet & Cookbook.

So how does it taste
Sometimes people ask me how it tastes. The wonder how it differs from conventional supermarket meat. I have a couple of different answers. It can be difficult to describe but I do my best.

My first answer is that “it tastes like itself. Just as kale tastes like kale, not like spinach, and Kabocha squash tastes like Kabocha squash, not like acorn or butternut.” But that can sound vague. My second answer is this: “Grass-fed beef doesn’t taste like flat, flavorless, feedlot beef. It tastes better—the way beef is supposed to taste, they way it used to taste before factory
farming. Like vegetables, it tastes like the soil upon which it grows, enhanced by the particular plants the animal eats.”

My friend’s Kenny Aschbacher, known as the Fish Hugger around here, sustainably harvests wild salmon from the Kodiak Islands during the summer and sells it at farners' markets along with 100% pasture raised beef from his family’s farm in Socorro, New Mexico. He says the flavor of grassfed meat depends on the breed of cattle, the kind of grass they’re raised on (including whether or not they’re given hay), the age at which they are slaughtered, and how the meat is handled (for example, whether dry aged or not, and if so how long).

The Garden of Eating Cookbook Giveaway
How would you like to learn the benefits of grass-fed animal products, fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats, of eating a diet that is vegetable rich but not vegetarian, to entice your family and friends with delicious meals and snacks, to learn how to easily consume 3 to 5 USDA servings of produce per meal, how to stock, organize, and outfit your kitchen for success, turn your refrigerator into a healthy salad bar and gourmet eatery, expand you repertoire with 250 family-friendly recipes, 4 weeks of sample menus, prep lists, chef secrets, and 40 special occasion menus to get you going?

The Garden of Eating: A Produce Dominated Diet & Cookbook written by me (Rachel Albert-Matesz) and my co-author, Don Matesz, will show you how to do all of this.

U.S. Wellness Meats, a producer of grassfed meats, is sponsoring a giveaway of my book. I'll tell you more about their products later this week. CLICK HERE to enter for your chance to win a copy of this award-winning 592-page cookbook, resource book, and kitchen guide. Entry deadline, Feb. 5th, 2010.

Btw: You must be a resident of the United States.

For my sample meatball and barbecue sauce recipe and to learn more about the book, click here:

To view sample recipes and to order The Garden of Eating, click here

Cooking to Heal Digestive Disorders & Promote Health

With all the recipes I have in my cookbooks, I still enjoy trying recipes from other sources: cookbooks, magazine articles, blog posts, and links that some of my friends send me. It keeps my cooking fresh and gives me ideas for new recipes and combinations of ingredients and techniques I haven’t thought of.

This past November I spent four days in the Salt Lake City Utah area with one of my former cooking assistants who now practices Naturopathic Medicine with her husband and another ND at Healing Solutions Pediatric Center in Sandy Utah. They use a holistic approach to prevent and treat chronic diseases, childhood developmental disorders, neurologically imbalances, and other conditions.

Photo credit: Rachel Albert Matesz © 2009

A holistic approach to healing
They work with a lot of parents whose children have developmental disorders and chronic diseases, such as Autism, Asthma, Allergies, ADHD, Cerebral Palsy, Asperger’s, PDD-NOS, etc. Rather than use psychotropic or immune suppressive drugs to alter neurotransmitter/hormonal levels and neurological function, combined with behavior modification techniques, the Naturopathic doctors at Healing Solutions use a more holistic approach to correcting the imbalances by supporting each individual body to come into balance.

The Two-Day Cooking Intensive
Dr. Mary, Dr. Humpherey’s and I led a two-day cooking intensive to help parents learn how to practice several well-known therapeutic diets that have helped developmentally and nutritionally-challenged children heal and function at a higher level. We focused on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD), The GF/CF Diet (gluten-free, casein-free diet), and the The Anti-Candida Diet.

To learn more about a holistic approach to treating your child’s health problems, upcoming cooking classes, cooking intensives, healthy shopping tours, and other services offered by Healing Pediatrics staff in the Sandy, Draper, and Salt Lake City, UT area, you can visit the Healing Pediatrics web site.

A new way to cook
If you have Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, IBS, celiac disease, diverticulitis, aor other digestive conditions, changing the way you cook and eat can improve the way you feel and function in a profound way. Very few conventional doctors are aware of the healing power of food. As a result, they rarely prescribe the kind of dietary changes that are required to reduce inflammation, heal the gut lining, and promote healthy digestion, assimilation, and elimination.

In preparation for the cooking intensive I checked out several cookbooks from the library (don’t overlook this source when you’re searching for new books and recipes; if you like the book, then you can buy it with confidence knowing you’ll actually use it).

Here are a couple of recipes I found, prepared, and liked from Eat Well Feel Well: Meals to Help Manage Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, IBS, celiac disease, diverticulitis, and other digestive conditions by Kendall Conrad (ClarksonPotter Publishers, New York, 2006) The book contains More than 150 Delicious Specific Carbohydrate Diet-Compliant recipes. I found the recipes easy to follow. I found the instructions clear and concise; you don’t need to be a chef to produce great results. Check out this book if you want to learn more about cooking for the SCD diet.

For a holiday meal in December I served the Mashed Roasted Carrots with Cumin and Orange and The Moroccan Cauliflower with Curried Deviled Eggs and Ham, from Trader Joes. I would make the carrot and cauliflower dish again. If I made the curried eggs I would cut the amount of spices way back. I thought the ham was way too sweet for my tastes, although I’m glad I tried it because I hadn’t had ham in decades.

Mashed Roasted Carrot with Cumin and Orange
Prep: 20 minutes    Cooking: 1 hour, unattended        Yield: 4 servings

This deep. Rich orange puree is a great substitute for mashed potatoes and, if you ask me, has even more flavor. The roasted garlic butter adds even more rich, sweet flavor. Serve with a variety of Moroccan or Middle Eastern-inspired dishes.

My notes: I made a few adjustments in the recipe below. You’ll see my comments in parentheses below. The cooked carrot puree reminded me of sweet potatoes, really sweet, almost dessert like! Made me think of making a carrot pie filling some time.

Ingredients:
2 pounds carrots, peeled, trimmed, and cut into 2-inch pieces
8 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1/4 cup olive oil (avocado oil and extra-virgin coconut oil also work)
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 tablespon grated orange zest
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste (I used Redmond Real Salt, an unrefined sea salt)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1. Preheat the oven to 400˚F.
2. In a roasting pan, toss the carrots with the garlic, oil, cumin, zest, salt, and pepper.
3. Roast for 1 hour, until very tender. Drain any excess oil from the carrots and transfer them to a food process (fitted with a metal blade). Squeeze the garlic out of its skin into the food processor and add 1 tablespoon butter. Pulse to a chunky puree. This can be made 2 days in advance and stored in a covered container in the refrigerator. (Better yet, make a bigger batch, then serve it two or three days in a row with different side dishes).
4. Cut the remaining 2 tablespoons butter into 6 slices and top each serving with a slice (I skipped this last step since I used a mix of butter and olive oil to roast the carrots and I refrained from pouring off the olive oil after roasting).

Variations:

• * If you follow a casein free diet, you could replace 1/4 cup olive oil with 1/4 cup ghee or extra-virgin coconut oil, then skip the step where she says to pour off the olive oil; just puree the carrots and garlic with the ghee left in the pan. Then, omit the added butter at the table. You could sprinkle chopped, roasted pecans on top for a rich, crunchy garnish.
• * Try this recipe with red garnet or jewel yams. Choose ones that are small in diameter, not any larger than your hand can wrap around otherwise they’re likely to be dry and mealy textured.

Source: Eat Well Feel Well: Meals to Help Manage Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, IBS, celiac disease, diverticulitis, and other digestive conditions by Kendall Conrad (ClarksonPotter Publishers, New York, 2006) with foreward by Elaine Gotschall, M.Sc., author of Breaking the Vicious Cycle.


Moroccan Cauliflower
Prep: 20 minutes    Cooking: 15 minutes        Yield: 4 to 6 sevings

The deep red color of paprika seeps into the cauliflower, which is kept whole, making for a beautiful presenation. The cumin and cinnamon add a wonderful flavor to this vegetable side dish. This is great alongside Moroccan Chicken Stew with Cashews, Saffron, and Currants (page 110 of Eat Well Feel Well: Meals to Help Manage Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, IBS, celiac disease, diverticulitis, and other digestive conditions).

Ingredients:

• 1 medium head cauliflower
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon salt (I used Redmond Real Salt, an unrefined sea salt)
• 1/3 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

1. Trim the stalk of the cauliflower to the base, keeping the pretty green leaves intact. Set in a large pot with half an inch of water in it. Cover, set over medium heat, and bring to a simmer. Steam until tender, 10 to 12 minutes
2. Meanwhile, in a small sauté pan over medium-low heat, lightly toast the paprika, cumin, and cinnamon for 2 to 4 minutes, until fragrant. Remove from the heat and whisk in the oil, juice, garlic, salt, and pepper.
3. Transfer the cauliflower to a platter and pour the spiced oil over the top. Sprinkle with the parsley and serve.

Source: Eat Well Feel Well: Meals to Help Manage Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, IBS, celiac disease, diverticulitis, and other digestive conditions by Kendall Conrad (ClarksonPotter Publishers, New York, 2006) with foreward by Elaine Gotschall, M.Sc., author of Breaking the Vicious Cycle.

Cocoa Banana Date Nut Smoothie

Late last week one of my colleagues, Chef Candy Lesher, called me from Cooking Studio AZ in tempe and told me she was going to be on Channel 10 Monday morning doing a segment on healthy cooking for kids. She offered me the chance to be on the show with her, making one of the three recipes. She and I had planned to lead a series of three kids classes last summer but they didn’t fill so we never go the chance to show the kids (and their parents) how delicious healthy food can be. Here was our opportunity to get people excited about signing up for this years series of kids classes. For more info on them, check out the Cooking Studio AZ calendar. You can sign up to receive their newsletter.

My early morning date
So on Monday morning I arrived at Cooking Studio AZ located inside Sunwest Appliance Distributing in Tempe, AZ (home to a Viking show room kitchen with some of the most powerful and beautiful stoves I’ve ever used), at 7:45 am. I had a big batch of my Cocoa Banana Date Nut Smoothie already made and ready for sampling along with the ingredients to whip up a fresh batch during my 2-minute spot, after Candy made two of her recipes.

Better than cake batter!
The kids and adults on the set loved the smoothie, made from water, banana, chocolate egg white protein, nut butter (I used peanut butter in one batch, almond butter in the other), vanilla, cinnamon, and ice. When Cory McClosky, the host of the show tried a sip, his eyes widened. He said, “it tastes like liquid cake batter. Absolutely delicious, really impressive!” Deborah, Candy’s assistant, thought it reminded her of Reese's peanut butter cups! The kids though it tasted like liquid candy. When asked if they would make it at home or ask their parents to make it for breakfast or a snack, they said, YES! Here's the link to the segment in case I can't get the video to show up below.

I think the unsweetened egg white protein contributed to the cake batter-like-flavor. Whey protein would also work. Since the protein powder I used was unsweetened, I added fresh, locally grown medjool dates (generously donated to me by Sphinx Date Ranch in downtown Scottsdale, AZ) for additional sweetness and thickness. If you’re using sweetened protein powder, taste it before adding dates and then go slowly to avoid oversweetening the shake.

Looking for a great date?
I visited the Sphinx Date Ranch last Friday afternoon in preparation for a cooking class on dates scheduled for the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix on Tuesday, January 19th. Their marketing and PR guy found out about the class on Facebook after the PR person for Desert Botanical Gardens made a post about the class. As a result I picked up some delicious dates to use in my class, on tv, and for some other presentations and I discovered a new place to get dates and other dried fruits for my classes.

Dates sub for sugar
I frequently use dates to replace white or brown sugar in recipes. I have slightly different techniques depending upon the recipe. In a smoothie I just add soft, pitted dates and blend. You can find more specifics about using dates in cookies, brownies, and bars in my Ice Dream Cookbook.

What’s so great about dates?
Dates are a great source of potassium. They’re virtually fat free, sodium free, and a significant source of B-complex vitamins, magnesium, iron, and fiber. A 100 gram portion (5 to 6 medium dates) provides 248 milligrams of potassium (7% of the Daily Value), 31 grams of carbohydrate (10% of DV), 3 grams of fiber (14% of DV), 4% of the DV for magnesium,  and 2% of the DV for calcium, iron, riboflavin, niacin, folate, phosphorus, pantothenic acid, and vitamin B-6. All this for only 248 calories.  Not that you have to use that many dates in one serving. In a smoothie I might use 1 or 2 small to medium dates, or slightly more or larger dates for people accustomed to sweeter tastes.

The starring recipes
Here’s What I made on air. Next time I’ll aim to post a notice on my blog in advance or email you (if you’re on my newsletter list) to let you know when I’ll be on local TV.

More date recipes and videos
If you want to watch me make my Dark Chocolate-Dipped Date Nut Truffles, in which the only sweetener is dates, check out my YouTube Channel for the video (you can subscribe to receive updates when I post new videos). You can find the recipe and video link together on my blog here:

I’ll  post more date recipes after my date class. If you’re in Phoenix, you can hear me speak about the Whole Foods Philosophy and whole foods cooking at The career fair at the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts in Tempe on Saturday, January 23rd from 11:30 to 12:15.

Better Balanced Cocoa Banana-Nut Smoothie
Prep: 10 minutes/ Yield: 1 1/2 to 2 cups    Serves: 1 as a meal; 1-2 as a snack
                                               
When I was a kid, my mother used to make a creamy banana Julius using bananas, 2% milk, non-fat milk powder, sugar, vanilla, and ice. This recipe reminds of that drink, only it’s thicker and contains more protein and healthy fats. It’s substantial and nutritious enough to make a quick, blood sugar balancing meal on the go. For a kid-size snack split it between two people or themos bottles.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 to 1/2 cup cool or cold filtered water, or as needed to blend
• 1 (1-ounce) scoop unsweetened vanilla or chocolate egg white protein or unsweetened plain whey protein (I use Jay Robb brand)
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon apple pie spice, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon or cardamom 
• 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons roasted, unsalted, unsweetened almond, cashew or non-hydrogenated peanut butter
• 1 (8- to 9-inch) ripe or over-ripe banana, sliced or 3/4 to 1 cup sliced, frozen banana
• 2 to 3 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder (reduce by 1/2 if using chocolate protein)
• 3 to 6 ice cubes for a frosty texture, optional
• 1/16th to 1/8 teaspoon stevia extract powder or liquid or 1 to 2 soft, pitted dates

1. Combine the first 7 ingredients (water through cocoa powder) in a blender or Vita-Mix in the order listed. Cover and process until smooth, stopping to scrape sides with a spatula. Add ice for a frostier texture.
2. Taste. For a sweeter taste, add 1/16 teaspoon stevia extract powder or liquid or 1 soft pitted date. Blend and taste and repeat if needed.
3. Pour into a 12- to 16-ounce glass and serve immediately or freeze briefly or chill in a thermos and use witin 12 hours.  

1 serving without dates: 406 calories, 31 g protein, 38 g carbohydrate (9 g fiber), 15 g fat, 130 mg calcium, 261 mg sodium

Variations:

• For 45 additional calories, add 1 teaspoon flax oil or additional 1/2 tablespoon almond or peanut butter or 1/8 cup (2 tablespoons) unsweetened canned coconut milk.
•  I large date adds about 66 calories; a small date, about 25 calories.
• Better Balanced Banana-Coconut Smoothie: Replace nut butter with 1/4 cup unsweetened, sulfite-free, premium (full fat) coconut milk, such as Thai Kitchen or Whole Foods Brand.

Source: The Garden of Eating: A Produce Dominated Diet & Cookbook by Rachel Albert-Matesz & Don Matesz (Planetary Press, 2004). You'll find more great recipes to download on the page about the Book.

Gluten Free Almond Flour Scones

If you’ve been following my blog you’ve read about The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook by Elana Amsterdam and the many recipes I’ve made from it. I debated between making her Tropical Chocolate Chip Cookies and her Chocolate Chip Scones. The scones had a sweetness rating of medium, so I chose them.

The photo on the right was taken by a professional photographer who, no doubt, worked with a food stylist. The picture of the two half batches I made don't look as pretty, for the reason you'll read about below. Still they taste great! Photo credit: Annabelle Breakey.”

Modifications I made
I made half the batch with the recommended chopped, bittersweet dark chocolate (chopped more finely than in the picture on the right; these turned out to be my favorite) and half the batch with raisins. I added 3/4 teaspoon of pie spice to each  half batch. I used honey in place of agave nectar. To find out why, read my post on Another Look at Agave Nectar. I used coconut oil to replace grapeseed oil. If it’s the coconut oil is hard, melt it in a saucepan over low heat and allow it to cool before mixing it with the eggs (to avoid curdling them) and the almond flour, otherwise your scones will spread and look more like cookies. If you use palm shortening, a great alternative to vegetable oil, margarine, butter (if you’re severely lactose intolerant), or conventional shortening, you need to beat the eggs, shortening, and liquid sweetener in the food processor or in a bowl with an electric mixer before adding to the almond flour mixture.

I followed the rest of the recipe as written. You can find Spectrum All Vegetable Shortening (made from mechanically pressed organic palm oil) on the baking aisle of natural foods stores or the health food aisle of supermarkets. It's very reasonably priced in stores (much more expensive on Amazon), has a mild, almost undetectable flavor, works well in sweet and savory recipes, and has ome of the same health and culinary benefits of coconut oil. I also like Tropical Traditions Palm Shortening (also made from non hydrogenated palm oil), which you can purchase in larger buckets for economy and efficiency.

The result
16 delicious gluten-free, grain-free, flourless, naturally sweetened small scones (mine came out more flat like cookie because I didn’t wait long enough for the coconut oil to cool after melting so the batter spread more). I like the way the chopped, bittersweet dark chocolate spreads throughout the cookies moreso than the larger chunks of raisins in the variation I created. If I use raisins again, I’ll chop them coarsely. The scones have a smooth consistency and soft texture. I think some people might think they actually contain (grain) flour, meaning you might fool a few skeptics. Remember (see my previous post) that almond meal that contains almond skins will not produce the same results. You need blanched almond flour for Elana’s recipes.

They tasted sweet enough to pass as cookies for me. I don't think the scones needed any less sweetener. Each contains 3/4 of a teaspoon of liquid sweetener and 1 tablespoon of chopped dark chocolate (or raisins). Two small scones with a cup of hot tea or Teeccino made a great dessert for me. If you try them, tell me what you think. You could experiment with dried cranberries, currants, chopped dried cherries, or a combination of one of those with dark chocolate.

You could win a copy of this great cookbook!
If you’d like to be entered into the drawing for a chance to win a copy of The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook, then  click here for rules and to enter. Enter before midnight, January 15th.

Here is another one of Elana’s delicious recipes reprinted with permission from her publisher. I'm impressed and I plan to continue trying sweet and savory recipes from her book.

Chocolate Chip Scones            Sweetness: medium
Prep: 20 minutes or less    Cooking: 12 to 17 minutes    Yield: 16 scones 

In college, I used to pretend chocolate chip scones were a breakfast food instead of a dessert, devouring one nearly every morning. Using agave nectar to lower the glycemic index of this scone makes my unique categorization less of a stretch. Rich in antioxidants and low in sugar, organic dark chocolate makes these decadent-looking scones a healthy indulgence.

2 1/2 cups blanched almond flour (I used Nuts On Line brand)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt (I used Redmond Real Salt)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup grapeseed oil (I used Tropical Traditions melted extra-virgin coconut oil)
1/4 cup agave nectar (I used honey)
2 large eggs
1 cup coarsely chopped dark chocolate (73% cacao; I used Trader Joe’s gluten-free dark chocolate)

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, salt, and baking soda. In a medium bowl, whisk together the grapeseed oil, agave nectar, and eggs.
3. Stir the wet ingredients into the almond flour mixture until thoroughly combined, then fold in the chocolate. Drop the batter, in scant 1/4 cups 2 inches apart, onto the prepared baking sheets.
4. Bake for 12 to 17 minutes, until golden brown or a toothpick inserted into the center of a scone comes out clean. Let the scones cool for 30 minutes on the baking sheets, then serve.
5. “Reprinted with permission from The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook: Breakfasts, Entrées, and More. Copyright © 2009 by Elana Amsterdam, Celestial Arts, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, Berkeley, CA. Photo credit: Annabelle Breakey.”

Enter to Win a Copy of The Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook

Do you cook wheat-free, gluten-free, soy-free, or dairy-free or aspire to? Are you tired of making recipes that don't turn out? Are you trying to show your family and friends that gluten free recipe really can taste great? Do you  want more recipes for delicious and healthy entrees, side dishes, and desserts that fit your health and fitness needs? 

Here's your chance to enter to win a copy of The Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook by Elana Amsterdam. You can read my previous post about this book and check out some of the pictures to learn more about this new book.

This is my first blog giveaway and I plan to host them regularly. I need your help spreading the word. Who do you know that enjoys cooking, has an interest in health and some or all of the cooking categories listed above? I've listed ways that you can help me promote this giveaway, get the word out about my blog, and increase your chances of winning below.

Rules for entering
(select one or both the following):
1) View the table of contents for The Almond Flour Cookbook in My Amazon Store, tell me which recipe you most want to make, and include the Amazon link TOC in a comment below
2) Leave a comment below with a link to your favorite on-line almond flour recipe.

To receive bonus entries, spread the word about this giveaway
(select as many of the following as you like):

1) Watch one of my YouTube videos and leave a comment about it below
2) Subscribe to my YouTube page, then leave a comment about that below2) Subscribe to my YouTube page, then leave a comment about that below
3) Subscribe to my blog (see link halfway down this page on the left), then leave a comment below
4) Publicize the giveaway, then come back to my blog and leave a comment about what you did, for example
    a) Tweet about the giveaway with a link to my blog
    b) blog about the giveaway
    c) announce the giveaway on Facebook and send me a link
    d) mention the giveaway to your family and friends
    e) come up with your own creative idea
5) do any or all of the above; just be sure to post a separate comment below for each action

Deadline
Minight, January 15th, 2010.

Selection criteria
Winner will be selected by random drawing and announced on this blog. It could be you!

The Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook

Do you have food allergies, gluten intolerance, Celiac Disease, an autoimmune disorder, digestive problems, leaky gut? Do you have a child with ADD, ADHD, autism or Asperger’s Syndrome? Do you follow GF/CF Diet (gluten-free, casein-free diet), SCD (Specific Carbohydrate Diet), (SCD), paleo diet, or primal diet, or generally limit or avoid grains?

The gluten-free baker's challenge
Have you tried gluten-free bake mixes, commercial gluten-free baked goods, gluten-free flour blends, or tried modifying your favorite recipes to make them gluten-free? If so, you know the challenge of creating the flavor, texture, appearance, and mouth feel you’ve come to expect in recipes.

Gluten-free chemistry
No single grain-based flour can replicate the texture or flavor of flour made from wheat. Most gluten-free cookies, cakes, pie crusts, breads, and crackers required a fairly exacting combination of at least three different gluten-free flours to get the right consistency and texture. Even then a recipe might require multiple tests to come out just right.

Elana Amsterdam to the rescue
I found visited Elana Amsterdam’s blog, Elana's Pantry sometime in 2008. I perused it, book marked it, and eventually made a fabulous almond butter brownie recipe from it that my friend Heather raved about. When Elana’s new book came out, The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook, I knew I wanted to review it.

A new way to bake
What makes her book different from other gluten-free books is that the recipes don’t contain any grains or beans. They don’t rely on rice flour, sorghum flour, tapioca, potato starch, quinoa, amaranth, soy, garbanzo, fava, or any other grain or bean flours. Instead they rely on blanched almond flour (not the same as almond meal, trust me and the author). Made from 100% pure blanched almonds with no additional ingredients added, this flour is higher in protein and lower in carbs than grain-based flours and lends an exceptional texture to baked goods.

Fabulous features
Before I tell you about how to choose the best brand of almond flour, let me tell you more about this amazing book and then how you can enter win a copy of it (below).

This 7x8-inch soft cover book is populated inside and out with stunning, mouth-watering photographs, engaging head notes featuring appetizing descriptions, serving tips,and notes about ingredients. It contains clear and concise directions and a diverse collection of recipes from breakfast dishes, breads, and crackers to entrees and savory pies, and from pastries, pie crusts, and cakes to cupcakes, cookies, and bars. In the final section you’ll find toppings. including a gorgeous fluffy, marshmallowy frosting that looks like something you’d find in gourmet magazines, plus syrups, and sauces.

The small trim size makes it easy to work with in the kitchen, propped open in an acrylic book holder. You could even take it shopping with you. It answers the basic questions you’re likely to have about working with almond flour and the other ingredients called for in the recipes.

Another unique feature of The Almond Flour Cookbook is the notation by each dessert about the sweetness, ranking it LOW, MEDIUM, OR HIGH. I like this because many dessert recipes I find in books, magazines, and on line use far more sweetener than I like to use and taste too intensely sweet for me. With coded recipes readers can select recipes that fit their preferences. If you plan to bake for people who tend toward super sweet treats, you can select recipes rated HIGH on the sweetness scale.

I like that The Almond Flour Cookbook contains more than just desserts. Recipes for fish, poultry, eggs, and vegetables make for an interesting and intriguing read and enough recipes to keep you from getting tired of almond flour. Many of the recipes are dairy free. Some contain goat cheese rather than cow's milk cheese.

Almond inspiration
I’ve never been wild about eggplant and yet the photo and description of Elana’s Eggplant Parmesan made me want to give the recipe a try. I quickly made a list of no less than 16 recipes I wanted to make from the book. So far I've made seven of them, which is more than I usually make from a book I review and I'm not done yet!

Here’s what I’ve made and shared with friends so far. I marked my favorites with an asterisk:

• Olive-Rosemary Bread (made twice)*
• Cod Picata Paprika*
• Cheddar Cheese Crackers*
• Ginger Macadamia Brownies (made twice)*
• Sesame Crackers
• Savory Vegetable Quiche
• Pear Crisp (made twice; once with pears, once with apples)

Almond meal is not the same as almond flour
In the front of the book the author explains the difference between meal or flour made from whole almonds and flour made from blanched almonds. She says her recipes will not work with unblanched almond flour, in fact, they will be miserable failures, so I do not recommend even trying unblanched. Photo right: Rachel Albert Matesz © 2010

I got the distinction but thought I could save money by making my own blanched almond flour using blanched almonds. Bob’s Red Mill blanched almond flour cost $15 a pound at a natural foods store near me and $10.50 a bag at a supermarket near by but blanched almonds only cost $5.49 a pound.

Oh nuts!
I gave the blanched almonds a whirl in the food processor (I think the Vita Mix would have worked better). I think it clumped up too much and that’s where I ran into difficulty. The first time I made Elana’s Ginger Macadamia Brownies, the lumps of nut meal failed to get evenly distributed in the bowl when mixed with a wire whisk (I think the food processor would have worked better for mixing the batter). The batter never thickened. Instead it overflowed the pan and remained horribly under baked (and indeible) except for the burnt edges. My mistake! The first time I made her Pear Crisp using my homemade blanched almond flour, it took longer to bake than the suggested time, never really crisped up, and didn’t look like the version in the picture. Another oops! (Yes I do have them.)

Back to the book
After a little more reading I found out that if I purchased blanched almond flour on line I could get it for half or less than half of the retail price including shipping. It’s still expensive compared to grain-based flour, but it’s packed with protein and flavor and free of common allergens so I think it’s worth the cost. When I remade the brownies with one of  the brands of almond flour Elana recommended, they came out great and everyone I shared them with was impressed and amazed to hear that they didn’t contain any grain.

Picking the best brand of almond flour
Elana recommends buying blanched almond flour on-line, where you get a better price per pound
buying it in 5-pound bags. She recommends the following brands: Honeyville, Nuts online, and Lucy’s Kitchen Shop. I’ve tried Honeyville and Nuts on Line and love the freshness, flavor, and consistency of their products. The companies offered prompt delivery. Their almond flours do not go through any chemical treatments. The only process that occurs, other than milling is a hot water bath used in the blanching process to remove the skins from the almonds. Photo right: Rachel Albert Matesz © 2010 What not to buy
Elana recommends against using the blanched almond flour made Bob’s Red Mill. She says it yields poor, runny results when used in her recipes and that compared to other almond flours it has a very coarse texture. (It sounds comparable to my experiments making my own blanched almond flour.)

My results
The Savory Vegetable Quiche came our gorgeous and delicious even with my homemade blanched almond flour. Will try another time with store bought almond flour thought.

Sesame Crackers were a huge hit with everyone I shared them with. One of my taste testers is still talking about those crackers a month later! I made the Cheddar Cheese Crackers late last week and haven’t had a chance to share them with friends. I thought they went well with both soup and salad.

Olive-Rosemary Bread has got to be my favorite so far. It challenged me the first time around because I didn’t have the unusual 7x3-inch bread pan size she calls for. I poured the batter into one 3 1/2 x6-inch mini loaf pan, placed it a larger baking tray to catch any drips (a good thing since and it overflowed the pan!). Still it tasted fantastic, even the odd shaped part that rippled over the edge, and it sliced beautifully without crumbling.The second time I used two mini loaf pans. If you do this, cut bak on the baking time and check the bread at 20, 25, and 30 minutes to avoid over cooking.

Ginger Macadamia Brownies, when made with store bought blanched almond flour instead of homemade, came out great and the people I shared them with wanted more. Photo right: Rachel Albert Matesz © 2010

Pear Crisp, which I made with apples the second time, didn’t look as pretty as the picture in the book and didn't win any wows among the people I shared it with even though I followed the recipe to a T, except that I replaced agave nectar with honey and grapeseed oil with extra-virgin coconut oil. (I did that for all of the recipes I tried from her cookbook and blog.) Changing the type of liquid sweetener and oil shouldn’t make a difference in the texture. I’ve done that in countless recipes without any problem.

One of my friends agreed with me that the nutmeg flavor was too strong and bitter. If you make that recipe, I suggest replacing nutmeg with apple pie spice, pumpkin pie spice, or cinnamon, which I did the second time.

The Cod Picata Paprika, also featured on Elana’s blog, had a marvelous mix of flavors and textures. I loved the combination of almond meal, sea salt, and smoke paprika in the crust paired with the lemon, olive, parsley, and chicken stock sauce utilizing the crispy scrapings from the skillet. I served it over a crisp green salad. Photo right: Rachel Albert-Matesz ©2010

Thumbs up
I think this book provides a great introduction to gluten-free and grain-free cooking and baking. You don’t need to buy as many specialty ingredients to make the recipes either. You probably have many of the ingredients already: baking soda, baking powder, sea salt, olive oil, roasted almond butter, eggs, cinnamon, vanilla.

Modifications
If you follow a Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD), you’ll want to replace agave nectar with honey (you can do that even if you don’t follow that diet) and avoid recipes that call for arrowroot, a starch that’s off limits on that particular healing diet.

In recipes that calls for grapeseed oil, I recommend using unrefined or extra-virgin avocado oil, extra-virgin coconut oil, butter or melted butter, or palm shortening to avoid excess omega 6 polyunsaturated oils. Although grade seed oil is touted as having a high smoke point it is much higher in PUFAs than olive oil, which has a low smoke point. From all I have read, to reduce inflammation in your body and diseases associated with it, it’s wise to limit or avoid all oils high in PUFAs. Occasional use of grape seed oil won’t kill you but the other fat and oils sources I’ve listed are more stable at room temp, when heated, and when metabolized in the body.

To learn about why I think honey is preferable to agave nectar, click here for my recent blog post.

To enter to win a copy of The Almond Flour Cookbook, check back in a couple of days when I post the rules and requirements for rules and requirements. If you haven't already subscribed to receive updates on my blog, click the button  for that halfway down this page on the left side.

Olive-Rosemary Bread       

Makes 1 loaf (about 12 slices)

To make a great base for hors d’oeuvres, cut this loaf into thin slices, spread on a baking sheet, and toast in the oven at 350°F for 5 to 10 minutes. The resulting crackers are great with goat cheese, drizzled with a good cold-pressed olive oil, or spread with fig tapenade (find the recipe on my blog).

• 3/4 cup creamy roasted almond butter, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon agave nectar (I suggest using honey)
• 1/4 cup blanched almond flour
• 1/4 cup arrowroot powder
• 1/2 teaspoon (finely ground) sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup kalamata olives, pitted and finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary*

* Note: I used 1 teaspoon dried rosemary powdered in a spice-dedicated coffee grinder. I get fresh rosemary from friends and cooking students, air dry it, then powder it and it's fresher and brighter green than anything I've seenin stores. Click  here for drying and storage tips.

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 7 by 3-inch loaf pan with grapeseed oil (I use coconut oil, ghee, or palm shortening) and dust with almond flour.
2.  In a large bowl, mix the almond butter and olive oil with a handheld mixer until smooth, then blend in the eggs and agave nectar (or honey).
3. In a medium bowl, combine the almond flour, arrowroot powder, salt, and baking soda. Blend the almond flour mixture into the wet ingredients until thoroughly combined, then fold in the olives and rosemary. Pour the batter into the loaf pan.
4. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes on the bottom rack of the oven, until a knife inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Let the bread cool in the pan for 1 hour, then serve. 
5. Note: Reduce baking time if using two 3 1/2 x6-inch mini loaf pans. Check bread at 20, 25, and 30 minutes.

“Reprinted with permission from The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook: Breakfasts, Entrées, and More. Copyright © 2009 by Elana Amsterdam, Celestial Arts, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, Berkeley, CA. Photo credit: Annabelle Breakey.”

Another Look at Agave Nectar

People often ask me about agave nectar. They wonder if I use it, if I like it, and what I think of it. If they see me use honey in cooking classes, they wonder why I’m not using agave nectar. If they’ve seen my Ice Dream Cookbook they notice that the recipes list both honey and agave nectar as options. This usually leads to more questions.

Then vs. now
In the first edition of The Ice Dream Cookbook, I included agave nectar as an optional sweetener. Based on information that has since come to light, I can no longer endorse its use in my recipes.

Vendors tout agave nectar as a low-glycemic sweetener leading consumers to believe that it can be used freely without side effects. People like that agave syrup dissolves readily into hot and cold liquids and that it doesn’t crystallize over time (like honey), making it easier to pour and measure. Some people prefer the bland, indistinct, consistent flavor of agave compared to the more pronounced flavor of honey.

I was aware that agave’s low-glycemic index came from its high fructose (82%), low glucose (8%) composition and that consuming large amounts of any free (unbound) fructose isolated from its whole food components was undesirable. Still, I decided to suggest it as an alternative to honey for strict vegans who avoid honey because it is an animal (bee) product.

The glycemic index in context
The glycemic index measures how fast the sugars from a given food enter the blood stream. Agave nectar has been advertised as having a glycemic index between 11 and 32, depending on whether glucose or white bread is used as the standard. Honey usually has a glycemic index of 55 or 83, depending upon the reference used. However, the glycemic index of a sweetener has less relevance than the type and total load of carbohydrate you ingest. Agave’s high fructose content gives it a low glycemic index, but at a cost.

The new sweetener on the block
Like many people, I didn’t know enough about agave. It was relatively new and there wasn’t much third party information available about how it was made and how it differed from the rustic agave juice traditionally harvested on a small scale in Mexico.

Another name for high fructose corn syrup
It turns out that agave nectar (code name for agave syrup—nectar sounds so much more natural, doesn’t it?) and high-fructose corn syrup are made in a similar fashion. Agave syrup is produced from the starch of the agave plant just as high-fructose corn syrup is manufactured from the starch of corn. When the agave plant is 7 to 10 years old, the leaves are cut off revealing the core of the plant which is called the “pina”. When harvested, the pina resembles a giant pineapple and can weigh 50 to 100 pounds. To make nectar, the sap is extracted from the pina; it is filtered and then heated at a low temperature along with enzymes that reduce the carbohydrates into simple sugars—mostly fructose with a small amount of glucose.

The dark side of free fructose
The human body is unable to readily use isolated fructose for energy, so it rapidly transforms the fructose into triglycerides (fat in the blood). Consuming large amounts of isolated fructose can lead to high triglycerides and/or excess body fat. Modern agave nectar (syrup) contains higher levels of free synthetic fructose than most varieties of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS).

The downside of agave
Although agave nectar does not stimulate the pancrease to release insulin, over time, due it its high fructose content, it can lead to the same problems that a high carbohydrate and/or high sugar diet creates: insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, increased triglycerides, systemic inflammation, heart disease, obesity, and other diseases  of modern civilization.

Sweet revision
In revising The Ice Dream Cookbook in preparation for creating an e-book vand a reprint of the hard copy sometime in 2010, I have removed agave nectar from the recipes. If you follow a strict vegan diet, consider using sorghum syrup (lighter sorghum has a milder flavor than dark, molasses-flavored sorghum) or slightly more maple syrup. Sorghum syrup is widely available in the midwest. If you don’t live there, you’ll probably have to order it on line.

To learn more about agave's drawbacks
To read more about the problems with agave nectar, refer to an article on the The Weston A Price Website entitled “Worse Than We Thought: The Lowdown on High Fructose Corn Syrup and Agave ‘Nectar’”.

Special thanks
My editor, Marilyn Glidewell, and my dear friend, Don Matesz, helped me with the revisions of the agave text in preparation for the revised edition of my book and the forthcoming e-book.

Replacing agave with honey is easy
If a recipe calls for 1 cup of agave nectar, you can replace it with an equal amount ofmild flavor, use a light colored honey rather than a dark brown honey. Clover, citrus, and cat’s claw honey will taste more mild than buckwheat or mesquite honey.

In some recipes I cut the sweetener back for a less sugary, less sweet flavor. For example, in this amazing gluten-free, grain-free, flourless Chocolate Chip Brownie recipe from Elana’s pantry, the recipe called for 1 1/4 cups honey or agave nectar. My friend Heather sent me the recipe and said she made it using only 1 cup honey and it came out fabulous. I followed her suggestion, loved it, and have since made it a few times and shared it with people into natural foods, people into paleo diet, the Zone diet, and people accustomed to conventional brownies made with sugar and white flour and they all enjoyed the recipe.

Why I use two sweeteners together
My preference with most desserts is to use a combination of honey and stevia or honey, stevia, and dried dates to reduce the total amount of sugar calories. Although I think honey is preferable to and healthier than agave nectar, high fructose corn syrup, cane juice or refined sugar, it still provides calories without significant amounts of macro or micronutrients; so I strive to use as little of it as possible while still creating a pleasant flavor, texture, and eating experience.

You can see a similar but lower sugar grain-free, gluten-free Flourless Brownie recipe from The Spunky Coconut blog that uses honey combined with stevia (the ideal). I made this recipe and thought it came out great! You’ll see dozens of examples of how to do this in my Ice Dream Cookbook along with the chart in the front of the book that walks you through converting recipes from sugar to stevia and from other liquid sweeteners to a mix of honey and stevia.