The Healthy Cooking Coach

Spice Crusted Salmon

Saved by salmon & sardines!
I’ve been a fan of fish since I was a child. I liked eating oil packed sardines eaten straight from the can, tuna salad sandwiches, and bagels with lox (Nova Scotia Salmon) and cream cheese. I remember several holidays in which my mother ordered half a side of smoked salmon from Hegg & Hegg Smoked Salmon from Oregon or Washington state. It was a favorite in omelets. By my early teens I liked Caesar salad (made with anchovies). These were among some of the healthiest foods I ate back then. For that (and for my mother’s wisdom in buying them) I am eternally grateful! Photo right from Wikipedia.com

I didn’t grow up eating three square meals a day or many vegetables. My mother bought some things considered “health foods”–– Roman Meal Bread, oatmeal, brown rice cakes, fresh and dried fruits, and carob candy bars. She also bought potato chips, bologna, margarine (by request because I didn’t like rock solid, unsalted butter taken straight from the fridge), boxed macaroni & cheese, TV dinners, Jell-O, Cool Whip, Pepperidge Farm cookies, canned fruit cocktail, artificially flavored fruit punch, Kool Aid (which I discovered at my friends’ houses), a cornucopia of sugar frosted cereals, and a long list of other abominations of the processed food industry. I shudder to think about how I would have fared had I not had regular infusions of oily deep ocean fish to fill in some of the nutritional gaps in my otherwise deficient diet.

I missed the boat
Unfortunately, I missed out on hundreds of possible fish meals during most of the time I lived in Seattle, Washington. At least eight of the 12 years I lived in the Pacific Northwest I followed vegan and near-vegan macrobiotic diets, which not only left out the fish course but also the eggs, meat, poultry, and dairy. My health suffered on those regimens regardless how many how diligent I was with food selection and preparation, how many times I chewed each mouthful, and how much I believed in that way of eating.

The paleo path to better health
In early 1997, after 12 years of mostly vegan diets interspersed with several 6- to 12-month periods of eating some animal products, my former husband and I still had signs of nutritional deficiencies, so we decided to follow a paleo diet modeled on hunter-gatherer or paleolithic food ways. We continued to eat generous amounts of fresh vegetables. We increased our fruit consumption, which the macrobiotic diet had limited, and added in lean, clean meat, eggs, and fish. We limited grains, beans and sweeteners to very infrequent use.

Dr. Price was right
In the 1930s, Dr. Weston A. Price, a dentist from Cleveland, Ohio, and his wife traveled around the world visiting primitive groups of people isolated from modern commerce and free of the diseases of civilization. Dr. Price visited Swiss in isolated mountain villages, Gaelics in the Outer Hebrides, Eskimos, Indians of North and South America, Melanesians and Polynesians, many African tribes, Australian Aborigines, and New Zealand Maori. He took thousands of photographs of people eating primitive diets, and of people of the same genetic stock who had switched to modern diets. He recorded what they ate and analyzed many of their foods. In 1936, Dr. Price published his findings in a landmark book, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration (republished by Keats in 1999).

Price examined many mouths looking for dental disorders and spoke with physicians knowledgeable about the natives’ general health. He found numerous people isolated from modern influences who had handsome faces, straight, decay-free teeth, and robust physiques. In some tribes, such as the Maori, Price had to look at 2000 teeth to find a single decayed or missing tooth. These people also appeared to have a high resistance to both infections and degenerative diseases.

Interrupted heredity
Price showed that most degenerative diseases are caused by what he called “interrupted heredity.” Originally people had healthy genes, but when eating deficient diets, their genes are not able to produce handsome development and robust health for lack of proper (building) materials.

Imagine you have a blueprint for a sturdy house, but only give the builder cheap, weak materials. No matter how hard he tries to make a sturdy house, in the end it will only be as good as the raw materials. This is how weak and sick bodies are created and how people who appear seemingly health can, over time, become increasingly ill.

Keys to health
All of the tribes Dr. Price studied ate omnivorous diets; some ate animal foods in large amounts (e.g., Inuits). When he studied the nutritional composition of their foods, Price concluded that their robust health resulted from high intakes of animal products rich in fat-soluble vitamins, special fat-soluble activators, water soluble vitamins, and essential minerals.

Health food from the sea
Dr. Price was particularly impressed with the physical and mental development and high immunity to degenerative diseases among coast-dwelling people who ate liberal amounts of seafood, the best source of iodide. He found natives all around the world were aware they needed foods from the sea to maintain health. When Dr. Price asked highland Peruvians why they went to great lengths to obtain fish eggs and kelp from coastal people, they told him it was necessary to maintain female fertility and prevent the “big neck” disease––i.e. goiter––often developed by white people.

To learn more about Dr. Weston A. Prices work, pick up a copy of The Garden of Eating: A Produce-Dominated Diet & Cookbook by Rachel Albert-Matesz (that’s me!) and Don Matesz. Much of the info above was excerpted from this book. You can also read more about the wisdom of paleo and primal diets on the Primal Wisdom blog. If your local library doesn’t carry The Garden of Eating, please help us spread the word by asking them to add it to their collection.

Safe seafood
Seafood is still a superfood, although we have to be more selective about the kinds we eat due to over fishing and problems with polluted waterways. Wild Alaskan salmon is one of the cleanest fish you can eat, far more nutritious than Atlantic or farmed salmon. My friend Kenny Aschbacher (know in Phoenix, AZ, and Albuquerque, NM, as The FishHugger) sells several varieties of sustainably harvested wild salmon from the Kodiac Islands, where he fishes commercially every summer. He sells his fish at farmers’ markets around the valley, to some local restaurants, and to individuals. If you’ve had salmon that tastes too strong for your liking, he has some mild-tasting varieties.
   
Still crazy about salmon after all these years
Wild Alaskan Salmon is one of my favorite foods. Here’s a recipe I’ve made twice so far, once in January and again today. I pan fried the salmon in Ahuacatlan Avocado Oil that I got from a vendor at the Town & Country Farmers’ Market here in Phoenix. I’ll tell you more about the virtues of avocado oil in the next couple of weeks. You'll have a chance to enter to win a bottle of this oil as well. It’s a great all purpose oil rich in monounsaturated fatty acids and far safer for cooking and salad use than vegetable oils.

After a vigorous 2-hour hike at Cammelback Mountain with my friend Kristy, here’s what I ate as a combined lunch and dinner:

• A 5-ounce piece of Spice Crusted Wild Alaskan Salmon (recipe below)
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups locally grown (leftover) blanched vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and bell peppers) dressed with a tablespoon of light and toasted sesame oil mixed with a squeeze of fresh ginger juice
• 1 locally grown orange from McClendon's Select Citrus
•  1 to 1.5 ounces of outrageously delicious Askinosie San Jose Del Tambo 70% dark chocolate bar w/Crunchy Cocoa Nibs*
• about 1/3 cup Pralined Pumpkin Seeds  (recipe from The Ice Dream Cookbook, honey replaced with Swerve brand erythritol)
• 1 cup darkly brewed Teeccino (coffee alternative) with a few tablespoons of plain, unsweetened coconut milk and several drops of liquid vanilla stevia

* Note: A 1.5-ounce serving (half of 3-ounce bar) of this variety of Askinosie chocolate contains only 7 grams sugar. It also contains 5 grams fiber, 4 grams of protein, and 17 grams of good fat. It was so delicious!


Spice Crusted Salmon

Prep: 15 minutes    Cooking: 8 to 12 minutes    Yield: 4 servings

I found this recipe in Healing Foods: Cooking for Celiacs, Colitis, Crohn’s and IBS by Sandra Ramacher. Even if you don’t have digestive disorders, I highly recommend this cookbook. It has some amazing recipes. I've tried at least three of them so far and they've all been winners.

My notes: I doubled the amount of spices and sesame seeds to make enough to coat both sides of the salmon fillets. I cooked enough fish to allow for leftovers the next day and two pieces to freeze for future meals.

Ingredients:
1½ tablespoons whole dried coriander seeds*
1 tablespoon dried cumin seeds*
1 tablespoon sesame seeds* (I used black sesame seeds today; brown ones last time)
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
4 salmon fillets with skin on one side (I used FishHugger salmon)
1 egg white
Olive oil (I used 2 tablespoons avocado oil, which has a higher smoke point than olive oil; Spectrum Palm shortening, Tropical Traditions Palm Shortening, and  ghee also work well)

*seeds are only for advanced stage of the Specific Carbohydrate Diet and need to be crushed finely.

1. Heat a dry skillet; toast the coriander seeds and cumin seeds, stirring constantly until they become fragrant. Remove seeds. Repeat the process with the sesame seeds. Remove from heat, add to the spices, and crush with a mortar and pestle (or pulse on and off in a spice-dedicated coffee grinder).
2. Add the thyme, salt and black pepper.
3. Dip the skin side of the salmon fillets into the egg white. Then press into the spice mixture. (I dipped both sides of the fish into the egg and spice mixture, so I needed more coating.)
4. Brush the skillet with olive oil and bring to a high heat. (I oiled the pan more liberally)
5. Place the fillets with the seeded side onto the oil (start with the flesh side, then flip to the skin side for the pretties presentation).
6. Fry on high for two minutes.(I used medium high heat for about 3 minutes per side.) Turn the heat to low. Flip the fillets and cook on low for up to 8 minutes, depending on how well done you would like them.
7. Serve with our asparagus with hazelnut butter and sautéed Asian greens. (I served my favorite: blanched vegetables).

Source: Healing Foods: Cooking for Celiacs, Colitis, Crohn’s and IBS by Sandra Ramacher

The Perfect Foods Bar Giveaway

I’m not a big fan of protein bars or meal replacement bars. Most of them contain highly processed and artificial ingredients that I don’t want to eat or recommend:

• low quality protein made from soy protein
• refined sweeteners, such fructose, high fructose corn sweetener
• artificial sweeteners, such as aspartame, Splenda, or acesulfame K
• artificial flavorings and colorings (I want the flavor of real foods !)
• junk vegetable oils and/or hydrogenated fats or oils

Too sweet to eat
Most of the bars I’ve tried also taste too sweet for my tastes and very artificial with an unpleasant after taste. So I was skeptical about trying any of the new ones on the market. If I want a snack I usually go for toasted nuts, a piece of fresh fruit, fresh fruit with almond or peanut butter, homemade jerky, or something else. I recommend eating foods that spoil and eating them before they spoil. Real foods spoil. Preserved foods don't.These bars fall into that category. The company recommends storing them in the refrigerator. If you plan to take them on outings away from home, you may want to store them in the freezer, then stash them in an insulated tote if you don't plan to eat them before they thaw.

A better bar?
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, located in the Phoenix-Ahwatukee area in Phoenix, are very selective about what they eat and recommend to their practice members. Then a colleague of mine at Funktional Fitness a crossfit style fitness training studio in Gilbert, AZ, gave me one of the Peanut Butter flavored Perfect Foods bars to try. I liked the flavor of the bar, what was in it, and what wasn't in it.

Good, real food ingredients
The bar does not contain soy, gluten, and refined and synthetic sweeteners. It contains real food concentrates from land vegetables, sea vegetables, and fruits, along with nut and seed-based fats and oils, and honey. The bars taste sweet (sweeter than eating a piece of fruit) but the sweetness comes from a traditional and real foods: honey. If you’re not in the habit of eating bars or you limit concentrated sweeteners (even honey), I suggest having a tall glass of filtered water on hand to drink with the since it is more dry than a piece of fresh fruit.

They’re rich in antioxidants and they contain 18 grams of whole food protein per bar. Each bar contains 18 grams of whole foods protein made from peanut butter and egg, milk, and rice protein. If you don’t tolerate casein, whey, or peanut butter, then this wouldn’t be the bar for you. Note: I’ve heard that the company is working on creating a line of bars using almond butter in place of peanut butter.

What about the PUFAs?
Although I’m not a fan of and usually avoid seed oils, most of the polyunsatured oils in the bars come from peanut butter (a whole food) and I think the benefits of these bars outweigh the drawbacks. Many people are going to buy bars for snacks to take to work, school, or when traveling, hiking, camping, cycling, running, or engaging in other sports. If you (and they) are avoiding other sources of polyunsaturated oils such as corn, soy, canola, sunflower, cottonseed, peanut, grapeseed, and generic “vegetable” oils, all margarines, shortening and all foods that contain it, deep fried foods, commercial salad dressings, and packaged baked goods made from vegetable oils or shortening, then I don’t think the PUFAs in these bars would create fatty acid imbalances or inflammation.

If you’re not already avoiding the hazardous oils I just mentioned, I encourage you to read more about the risk of consuming them (click here and scroll down to "Time for an oil change") and weed them out of your diet in favor of more stable and traditional fats and oils, such as real butter, ghee, clarified butter, virgin coconut and palm oil, avocado and olive oil, non-hydrogenated palm shortening, fat from meats (preferably pasture-raised), and occasional unrefined almond or sesame oil. You can also read more about how the processed oil industry created a propaganda campaign to discredit naturally saturated fats and promote refined vegetable oils and the effects of that in The Garden of Eating: A Produce Dominated Diet & Cookbook by Rachel Albert Matesz & Don Matesz.

So what’s in these bars?
The Perfect Foods Peanut Butter Bar contains the following ingredients:
Peanut Butter*, Raw Unheated Buddy Bee Honey*, Milk Protein, Egg Protein, Rice Protein, Dried Whole Food Powders (Sunflower Seed*, Sesame Seed*, Flax Seed*, Rice Bran*, Rose-Hip*, Orange*, Lemon*, Grapefruit*, Tomato*, Apple*, Bell Pepper, Papaya*, Mango*, Black Cherry, Cranberry, Fig, Alfalfa*, Celery*, Spinach*, Parsley*, Mint, Kelp*, Dulse*), Olive Oil*, Sunflower Seed Oil, Sesame Seed Oil*, Flax Seed Oil*, Pumpkin Seed Oil, Almond Oil, and Rice Bran Oil.

1 Peanut Butter Bar contains: 292 calories, 16 grams of fat (2.5 grams of saturated fat and 13.5 grams of polyunsatured fats), 26 total grams of carbohydrate (less 3 grams of fiber) with 17 total sugar grams, and 18 grams of protein, 95 mg of sodium. 520 milligrams of potassium (so it has a good potassium to sodium ratio).  * The asterisk denotes organic ingredients.

To see ingredients in The Perfect Foods Fruit & Nut Bar click here.
To see ingredients in The Perfect Foods Carob Chip Bar click here.
To see ingredients in The Perfect Foods Cranberry Crunch Bar click here.

What do they cost?
The bars run $2.39 each at whole foods, less than many of the bars on the market. On line from the company that makes them, they sell for $2.42 each (before shipping) if you buy them in boxes of 12 on line.

Would you like to try these bars?
You can if you enter the Perfect Foods Bar Giveway that starts today. Three lucky winners will each receive 4 bars.

Rules for entering
1) Leave a comment below telling me why you want to win a handful of bars or 2) Tell me why you like these bars.

To receive entries, spread the word about this giveaway by doing any of the following:
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 below
3) Subscribe to my blog (see link half to two-third of the way down the left side of this page), then leave a comment saying you did that 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, March 5th, 2010. You have 10 days to get your entries in, starting today, February 23rd, 2010.
Selection criteria: Random drawing

Gluten Free, Dairy Free Paleo Pumpkin Muffins

If you love or once loved pumpkin bread and muffins but you’re avoiding wheat, gluten, or grain, you’ll love this tasty remake of a classic recipe. I found a few recipes for Paleo Pumpkin Muffins on the PNW Fitness web site. They listed three versions of the muffins, two of which included agave nectar, which I’m not a fan of, and one that called for honey or maple syrup, which I do use in small amounts.

Muffin magic
The muffin pictures on their web site looked delicious. However, I noticed that one of them said that the muffin came out very soft and cakey but was improved by cutting it in half and tasting it. I read that as potentially too wet so I decided to add some arrowroot to the recipe even before trying their ratios. I made two test batches a couple of days apart just before Christmas, one with raisins and one without. I also made one batch with half as much honey and a little bit of stevia.

Time for an oil change
The key to turning out great muffins without using non-stick muffin pans is to liberally grease the tins with a semi saturated fat to grease the pan. Don’t even think about using vegetable oils. Why? Here’s and excerpt and answer from The Garden of Eating: A Produce Dominated Diet & Cookbook (Chapter 5: Fat Primer), written by my co-author, Don Matesz, a licensed acupuncturist, herbalist, nutrition professor, blogger, and paleo diet expert based in Phoenix, AZ:

    “Polyunsaturated oils are highly susceptible to rancidity from exposure to heat, light, and oxygen. They must be extracted without being heated, then refrigerated in dark bottles to prevent formation of highly toxic, sticky lipid peroxides, which are a lot like plastic. This is why boiled linseed (flaxseed) oil is still used as a varnish. After the boiled oil is applied to wood it reacts with oxygen in the air to produce a thick plastic coat.”

    Side note: I can attest to the varnishing power of linseed (flax) oil. In seventh and eight grade I played field hockey. My mom purchased the requisite can of it from the hardware store and I set to work applying several coats of it to my hockey stick. It did a fabulous job of sealing the stick. I also unwittingly varnished several glass baking pans in my early 20s when I cooked and baked with corn, sunflower, and safflower oil as per the macrobiotic recipes I followed. I shudder to see that many people still cook and bake with those unstable oils.

    “In the industrial processes used to extract vegetable oils for sale in supermarkets, oils are exposed to enough heat, light, and oxygen to produce peroxides. These give the oils a bad taste and smell so they are bleached and deodorized before being put on the market or used to make synthetic fats (margarine and shortening).

    “Even if the oils were to survive industrial processing undamaged, they are typically packaged in clear bottles and stored in brightly lit groceries at room temperature. They are more or less rancid by the time someone takes them home. Then people at home usually store them at room temperature (why not, that’s what they do in the stores), and often use them for cooking. (If you want to see oil turn to plastic, brush a baking pan with safflower oil, then bake it at 350˚ F––you’ll have trouble getting the glue off the pan with any solvent).

    “Even if you get cold-pressed oils packaged in dark bottles and keep them refrigerated, as soon as you eat them conditions are correct for converting them to the pesky peroxides. Remember, your innards are always hot (98.6˚ F), and loaded with oxygen. What happens when peroxides get loose in your blood? Damage to arterial tissue and plaque.

    “That’s right––unsaturated oils are a large part of the plaque that blocks coronary arteries. Lipid expert Dr. Mary Enig, Ph.D., president of the Maryland Nutritionists Association says “The major fatty acids in the cholesterol esters in the atheroma blockages are unsaturated (74 percent of total fatty acids). Proportionally, there are, by far, many more polyunsaturates (41 percent) than saturates (26 percent) in these lesions.”
 
To learn more about healthy and unhealthy fats and oils and the myths we’ve been force fed by the processed food industries, pick up a copy of our book, The Garden of Eating: A Produce Dominated Diet & Cookbook. If you order it from our web site, you’ll receive a sample month of shopping lists to go with the sample weeks of recipes in the book.

Best for baking
I find I get best results with ghee (the Indian version of clarified butter) or palm shortening (look for Spectrum Shortening in natural foods stores or the health food section of Frys or Safeway stores or palm shortening online from Tropical Traditions). It's an ideal fat for replacing butter (if you’re lactose or casein intolerant), margarine (the health food store brands are still hazardous since they’re rich in polyunsaturated oils), conventional shortening (such as Crisco), and polyunsaturated vegetable oils.
Although I like cooking and baking with virgin coconut oil, I find palm shortening is better and keeping baked goods from sticking to pans.

And now for the recipe you've been waiting for
I made this recipe a third time using leftover mashed sweet potato. You can use a red garnet or jewel yam, a creamy white sweet potato, or beauregard sweet potato. They all belong to the same botanical family and are all sweet potatoes. The muffins taste great served at room temp or warmed in a toaster oven. Try them plain or with a spread of real, preferably pasture-raised butter, virgin coconut oil, or raw coconut butter.

Shopping for nut flour
Nut flours vary widely in quality and degree of milling. If you pulverize raw nuts in a Vita Mix or food processor, you’ll end up with a relatively coarse meal that will produce inconsistent and sometimes undesirable results in baked goods.

Picking the best brand of almond flour
Elana Amsterdam, author of The Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook, recommends against the Bob’s Red Mill brand almond flour (you can read about the recipes I tried from her book here). She also recommends against almond flour made from whole raw, unblanched almonds. Unblanched almonds have a more coarse texture and their bitter skins can add an unpleasant aftertaste; it also includes anti nutrients that can interfere with digestion and assimilation of the nutrients in the nuts.

Look for blanched almond flour
I think blanched almond flour has a better flavor and texture and the blanching process can help make it easier to digest the nut flour and assimilate more of the nutrients from it. Buying blanched almond flour in 5-pound bags online you will get a better price per pound than you would if you purchased it in 1- or 2-pound bags in natural foods stores or supermarkets. Nuts on Line is one of Elana’s favorite brands and one I’ve experimented with. I like about the freshness, flavor, and the fine consistency.

Chill it
Nut flours need to be stored in the refrigerator or freezer, something few natural foods stores have the shelf space to do. That means you may get rancid flour if you buy it in a store. However, if you buy from a company that grinds it fresh and keeps it stored in a cool or cold place, you will get a product that retains all the goodness and flavor you’re after.

Go Nuts On Line
Nuts On Line doesn’t use any chemicalories treatments in the process of transforming almonds into almond flour. 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. Besides almond flour, they also sell cashew flour, hazelnut flour, peanut flour, coconut flour, and a large assortment of other gluten free flours. They also sell a huge assortment of nuts, dried fruits, teas, coffees, chocolate, leavening and thickening agents, and other cooking and baking essentials. They offer prompt delivery. I’ve been happy with the products I’ve ordered from them. I've used it to make a handful of recipes from Elana's book, The Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook. I plan to experiment with their cashew flour next.

Paleo Pumpkin Muffins

Prep: 20 minutes    Cooking: 25 minutes        Yield: 8 muffins

Blogger and Caveman Food Master Elizabeth created this recipe that I found on the PNW Fitness web site. Use maple syrup in the recipe if you prefer less sweetness; use honey if you want it more sweet.

Ingredients:
1½ cup – almond flour (613 calories); I used Nuts On Line Blanched Almond Flour
1/3 cup arrowroot; this was my addition; tapioca starch might work (152 calories)
1 teaspoon – non aluminum baking powder
1 teaspoon – baking soda
1½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice or apple pie spice (5 calories)
1/8 teaspoon – salt; I used finely ground Redmond Real Salt
1/2 cup raisins, optional; this was my substitution for chopped cranberries (246 calories)

3 large – whole eggs (215 calories)
3/4 cup – canned pumpkin; I used mashed, baked butternut squash (60 calories)
1/4 to 1/3 cup maple syrup or honey depending upon your sweet tooth (208 to 240 calories)

1. Liberally grease 8 muffin tins with ghee, palm shortening, or virgin coconut oil. If you have empty muffin tins you will need to fill them half way up the sides with water to prevent warping during baking. Be careful when removing the pan from the oven to avoid getting burned by the hot water!
2. Combine the almond flour, arrowroot, baking powder, baking soda, spice, sea salt, and optional raisins in a medium bowl. Whisk the eggs in another bowl or the workbowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade or in a blender. Add the pumpkin or squash and maple syrup or honey. Mix to combine. Add the dry ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined.
3. Pour mix into the 6 tins.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 25 minutes on the middle rack in the oven until muffins pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
5. Allow muffins to cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes, then run a knife around the sides and invert over a cooling rack. When cool, cover and store at room temperature for up to 3 days or refrigerate for longer storage. They also freeze well.My note: To moisten and bring back that fresh made taste, you can wrap a muffin in a white cotton or linen towel. Place it on a steamer basket or rack over boiling water, cover the pot, and steam for 3 minutes, then serve.

Calories for entire recipe: 1499          Calories per muffin: 187

Note: Maple syrup has a lower carb and calorie count per tablespoon compared to honey.

Low Carb, Dairy Free Chocolate Ice Cream Alternative

Belated Happy Valentine's Day!
I thank all of you who posted comments on my blog to enter the drawing for a chance to win two Askinosie Chocolate bars. I also owe a big thanks to Shawn Askinosie of Askinosie Chocolate for providing the bars for the giveaway (plus three more for me to replace the two I am giving away; now I can try some of the other flavors that intrigued me and tell you about them).

One lucky winner
On Saturday I drew the name of the lucky winner of the giveaway. Brandae Filla of Lewisburg, Ohio. She won two delicious fair-trade, single origin, handmade, artisan chocolate bars from Askinosie Chocolate, made in the chocolate Mecca of the Midwest: Springfield, MIssouri. She’ll receive one super dark bar and one (goat) milk chocolate bar next week.

 Valentine’s Day treat
I wanted to celebrate Valentine's Day with something chocolate that was also low-carb. I decided to take one of the chocolate Ice Dream recipes from my Ice Dream Cookbook and make a few modifications to make it completely sugar-free (and honey-free). I wanted to see how well a new alternative sweetener would work and make the recipes suitable for people who are following low-carb diets, candida diets, and other diets that restrict even unrefined sweeteners, such as honey.

I replaced the honey in my original recipe with Swerve brand erythritol, a non-caloric sugar alternative, rather than honey. Click here to learn more about this sweetener. I supplemented the sweetness of that with clear stevia extract liquid (less bitter and easier to measure than pure stevia extract powder). I replace 4 ounces of bittersweet dark chocolate with 3 ounces of unsweetened baker’s chocolate. I added 1 teaspoon of coffee flavoring extract and 1 1/4 teaspoons of Sensuous Spice Blend (formerly sold as Tantric Spice Mix) from Chakra 4 Herb and Tea House in Phoenix, AZ (in the Town & Country Plaza near Trader Joe's). The blend contains cinnamon, damiana root, shatavari, maca root, cardamom, ginger, korean ginseng, cumin, and coriander. You could leave out the spice blend or substitute cinnamon. If you omit the coffee flavoring it will still taste great.

I made the base for the dessert on Saturday afternoon, poured it into a couple of wide mouth jars and stashed it in the refrigerator. I took out a serving and enjoyed it as pudding last night. YUM!  Once chilled this Ice Dream Base (or batter) is actually thick enough to serve as pudding (if you don’t have an ice cream maker or you don’t want to wait) but fluffs up to a higher volume when churned in an ice cream maker, which I did on Sunday morning when I was preparing brunch and extra food for the first few days of the week. The frozen version made a delicious dessert sprinkled with Askinosie Cocoa Nibs. Now I have several more single serving portions stashed in the freezer for future treats. Btw: I didn't detect any unpleasant aftertaste or gritty texture from the erythritol. Xylitol sometimes does that, so that's why I didn't use it this time.

Too cold for ice cream? Try pudding!
If you can’t imagine eating frozen dessert right now because you’re surrounded by snow, you can still make this recipe. Once it chills to a thick puddingy texture, you can serve it as is and you’ll still enjoy the delicious creamy taste and texture. Although I don’t like to eat a lot of cold foods during the winter, it's not that cold here in Arizona, right now. It’s warm enough right now (high of 70 degrees F in the afternoon) for me to go out in a short sleeve shirt and pants with a light sweater and the temps are in the low 40s at night. So I'm indulging in a few servings of my homemade frozen dessert this week.

To every season churn, churn, churn
I own a Cuisinart 1-1/2-Quart Automatic Ice Cream Maker with sealed in coolant. It’s a great appliance: lightweight, easy to operate, and durable. But my freezer is usually too full of meat, bone broth, lemon juice, leftovers, and other foods that I can’t find room to pre-freeze an ice cream maker canister. So, I usually use my Cuisinart ICE-50BC Supreme Ice Cream Maker, a fully automatic 1-1/2-quart frozen yogurt, sorbet, and ice cream maker with built in refrigerant. All I have to do to use it is plug it in and turn it on. No ice to add and no canister to pre-freeze. I do need to leave it in the same place for at least 24 hours prior to using it, otherwise it won’t freeze the ice cream mixture.  Cuisinart also makes an ice cream maker that allows you to churn two flavors at the same time. Click here to see the Cuisinart ICE-40 Flavor Duo Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker.

Low Carb Dark Chocolate Ice Dream   

Hands-on: 30 minutes/Churning: 20 to 35 minutes/Yield: 4 1/2 to 5 cups; 8 servings   
                                       
Unsweetened baker’s chocolate adds a rich flavor and silky smooth texture that you don’t get with unsweetened cocoa powder. To counter the higher fat content of the chocolate, I use lite (reduced fat) coconut milk. Actually I just made a 50:50 dilution of full fat (premium) coconut milk and water. The result is a rich chocolate flavor that’s so smooth your guests might not even suspect that you used coconut milk for the base.

You could dress this up with fresh berries (in season), Cherry Sauce, Blueberry Sauce, or homemade Caramel Sauce (see the Ice Dream Cookbook for recipes). For a more chocolatey flavor and crunch, garnish with roasted cocoa nibs (aka cacao nibs) or mix them in near the end of churning. 

Notes: To make your own lite coconut milk for less money, simply mix 1 1/2 cups of premium, full fat coconut milk with 1 1/2 cups filtered water for the recipe below. Refrigerate any unused coconut milk and use it up within 5 days or freeze in ice cube trays. For a thicker pudding, if you don't plan to churn this mixture in an ice cream maker, you might want to increase the gelatin to 1 tablespoon.
      
Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup cool or cold filtered water
• 2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin or 3/4 teaspoon agar agar powder if you’re vegetarian (do not use agar agar flakes; the amount and procedure for them doesn't work here)
• 1/4 cup erythritol (click here or click here to buy), additional 1 to 2 tablespoons if desired (I used Swerve brand for this recipe)
• 1/2 teaspoon clear stevia extract liquid
  
• 1/8 teaspoon finely ground, unrefined sea salt (I use Celtic  Sea Salt or Redmond Real Salt)
• 1 1/4 teaspoons Sensuous Spice Mix or ground cinnamon
• 3 cups unsweetened, preservative-free lite (reduced fat) coconut milk, divided, or 1 1/2 cups full fat unsweetened coconut milk + 1 1/2 cups water
• 3 ounces unsweetened baker's chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or alcohol-free vanilla flavoring
• 1 teaspoon coffee flavoring, optional
• 2 tablespoons light or dark rum, optional

 

1. Add 1/3 cup water to a small saucepan. Slowly sprinkle with gelatin or agar agar powder. Let stand for 2 minutes until it softens and dry spots disappear. Warm over medium-low heat, without stirring, until gelatin or agar agar dissolves. Scrape the mixture into a blender, Vita-Mix, or food processor. Cover and blend until smooth. Add the honey, stevia, and sea salt. Blend.
2. Bring 1 cup of coconut milk to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat. Add chocolate and stir until smooth. Add this to the gelatin mixture. Blend until smooth. Add the spice mix or cinnamon, remaining 2 cups coconut milk, vanilla, snf optional coffee flavoring. Blend. For a sweeter taste, add an additional 1/8 teaspoon stevia and/or 1 tablespoon erythritol. Blend, taste, and repeat if needed.
3. Pour into one or more wide mouth jars. Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, until thick like pudding, before churning.
4. Scrape the chilled custard into the canister of your ice cream maker. Add the optional rum. Churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
5. Serve immediately or spoon into several 8- to 16-ounce freezer-safe containers. Cover and freeze for 3 or more hours for a firmer texture.
6. Soften solidly frozen dessert by placing it in the refrigerator for 30 to 45 minutes or on the counter for 15 to 30 minutes before serving.

1 serving: sorry, no nutrition breakdown for this; I need to find a Mac-friendly nutrition analysis software program to replace the one I used to have that stopped working after I upgraded my computer operating system several years ago

Variations:

*     Dark Chocolate Honey Ice Dream: Replace erythritol with 1/4 cup honey +/- an additional 2 to 3  tablespoons if needed.

*    Dark Chocolate Cocoa Nib Crunch Ice Dream: Add 1/2 cup cocoa nibs (aka cacao nibs) when Ice Dream reaches the soft-serve stage. Run the machine for 1 or 2 more minutes. Try Askinosie Cocoa Nibs.

*    Dark Chocolate Orange Ice Dream: Replace rum with orange liqueur above; add the finely grated zest of 1 orange if desired. 

Source: Recipe modified from The Ice Dream Cookbook: Dairy-Free Ice Cream Alternatives with Gluten Free Cookies, Compotes & Sauces by Rachel Albert Matesz. To order, click here.

For more sample recipes, check the category pages on the left under Dessert, Fruit Dessert, and Frozen Dessert. Here are some of my favorite ice cream makers. Buy an extra canister if you get the 1 1/2 quart automatic ice cream maker and you want to be able to make two batches on the same day.

Dry it, You’ll Like It: Homemade Jerky

Real food
Are you looking for a nutrient-dense, high protein, grain-free, gluten-free, sugar-free, low carb, preservative-free snack or the perfect food for quick meals on the go? Forget protein bars and powdered shake mixes. There’s a better, more wholesome option available that won’t leave you with an unpleastant aftertaste.

Traditional food
Drying is the oldest means of preserving food. Prior to refrigerators and modern freezers, drying made meat available during lean times and for travel. Today dried meat still makes a convenient snack at home, at work, at school, or on the road. Whether you’re hiking, backpacking, or cycling, traveling, catching a flight out of town, or heading out for an afternoon full of errands, or an all day workshop, jerky makes a great, lightweight snack or mini-meal.  You can pair it with an apple, a pear, or a cup or two of grapes, and a handful of toasted or soaked, Crispy Nuts or with a crisp green salad or raw or blanched veggies with a side of guacamole or some other dip for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Choose wisely
Although commercial jerky is widely available, it’s usually made from factory-farmed beef (that’s actually the most innocuous part of it) and it’s cured with one or more forms of sugar, an excessive amount of salt, then laced with MSG, artificial colorings and flavorings, and hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fat, which undermine your health. If you make it yourself you choose hormone free, locally grown, or 100% grassfed meat, depending upon your budget.

Do it yourself   
If you want the jerky done right, you may have to make it yourself. It’s easy to do if you have a food dehydrator, a large cutting board, and a good, sharp knife. Although you can make jerky in the oven with meat racks, it’s messier this way, you’ll need a lot of baking trays with racks to elevate the meat to allow for air circulation, and the process will have your oven running for 12 to 16 hours. A dehydrator uses less energy than your oven and allows for more efficient drying because of the built-in fan.

Buying a dehydrator
If you don’t already have a dehydrator, I recommend looking for one with adjustable temperature settings so you can control how hot the food gets while it’s drying. Twenty years ago I started out with a Snackmaster Dehydrator. I got it when I had a regular column, called The Dieter’s Workshop, in a magazine called Fit, which has since gone out of business. I reviewed products and offered diet tips and the company sent me a demo model to test and write about. The appliance lasted for 10 years, then it started coming apart at the seams along the bottom. I got another one from the company and that one lasted almost as long. American Harvest has since improved the design of their deshydrators, so they're even more durable and efficient. Here's the latest Snackmaster.

Equipment upgrade
About two and a half years ago I got an Excaliber Dehydrator, which has much larger trays that are square, rather than round, allowing for more efficient use of space. This sturdy machine can dry more food at one time. It has temperature settings ranging from 95 to 155 degrees F. Rather than take it out and put it away, since it’s bulky, I leave out, ready for use. If you don’t have room in the kitchen, consider parking it a spare bedroom, laundry, room, or garage, or a corner of your living room or dining room, as a last resort. I have the Excalibur model with 9 trays but Excalibur also make a 5 tray model.

Dry ahead
You can make jerky in large batches once a month, once every two or three months, or once or twice a year, depending upon the size of your dehydrator, how many people you’re cooking for, and your level of ambition with the project. When I lived in the midwest, I would sometimes make several batches of jerky per week, several weeks in a row, and store the bulk in the freezer (I had a chest freezer in the basement then so freezer space was a non-issue). That allowed me to make once or twice year and have enough to give as gifts over the holidays one year.

Last weekend I dried 6 pounds of meat. Hands-on time was less than 1 hour. That yielded 3 quarts of jerky. I could have dried twice as much, I had so much room in my Excalibur Dehydrator. Next week I might try making salmon jerky from salmon bellies I got from my friends Kenny & Brenna Aschbacher, The FishHuggers,in Phoenix. They sell wild Alaskan salmon, 100% grassfed beef, lamb, and other fabulous foods at farmers' markets and to restaurants around the valley. Kenny sold jerky last year. If he finds someone to make it for him commercially, he'll do it again.

Jerky will travel
Properly dried jerky will keep at room temperature for 1 to 2 months. In the absence of preservatives, or if improperly dried, jerky can start to spoil or turn moldy, particularly in hot or damp weather. When traveling in warm or muggy weather, keep jerky in a cooler or near an ice bag. Refrigerated jerky will last for a year, easily. Frozen jerky will last for several years, if tightly packed to prevent freezer burn. Unrefrigerated jerky will be fine out of the fridge on short trips.

Change it up
You can vary the kind of meat (from beef to bison and from venison to deer, or elk, bear, or emu). You can vary the herbs, spices, and salty seasonings (sea salt, tamari soy sauce, or even Thai fish sauce) or omit the seasonings and salt altogether. You can use meat cut as steak, roast, or even ground beef. For recipes, seasoning tips, and more, pick up a copy of my book, The Garden of Eating: A Produce Dominated Diet & Cookbook (Planetary Press, 2004). The material above and below was loosely excerpted from this book.

Give the gift of jerky
Jerky makes a great gift any time of year: for birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, Chanukah, graduation, housewarming, Valentines’ Day, a wedding or baby shower gift, or to say “thank you,” to someone. It may be one of the most remembered gifts given.

Junk-free jerky, can you buy it?
Yes, you can. If you don't have a food dehydrator and you don't see one in your immediate future, you can buy good, clean, junk-free jerky made from 100% grassfed beef on line from U.S. Wellness Meats. (It will cost more than homemade, though, and you won't be able to find as many flavor options this way.) You can read more about it on their web site. Tell them Chef Rachel sent you.

Basic Beef, Bison & Venison Jerky Strips

Prep: 30 minutes/ Drying: 10 to 16 hours/Yield: 8 ounces/1 quart

The flavor and nutritional value of homemade jerky surpasses anything you can buy in stores. Invest in a food dehydrator if you plant to make jerky regularly. A dehydrator uses less energy than an oven and allows you to try more meat at one time.  Two pounds of fresh meat will shrink down to half a pound when dried.

Note: For efficiency, you can ask your butcher to cut steaks or boneless round or loin roasts into paper-thin slices. Freeze venison or other wild game meats at 0˚ F for at least 30 days before drying to kill any potential parasites. Make a double or triple batch if space and time permit.

* Note: You don’t absolutely have to trim off the visible fat. Particularly if you’re using grassfed meat, you may want to leave the fat on the meat (it’s a great source of antioxidants and tasty too), then plan to refrigerate or consume the fattier pieces more quickly than the leaner ones.   

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds boneless beef, bison or venison steak or roast, trimmed of visible fat*: eye of round, strip steak, round tip, tenderloin, sirloin, flank, or sandwich steak
• 2 teaspoons lemon pepper or 1/2 teaspoon ground chipotlé
• 1/2 to 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme, sage, or finely ground rosemary, optional
• 1 teaspoon finely ground unrefined sea salt or 2 tablespoons tamari soy sauce, optional

1. Meat is easiest to slice when partially frozen. If using fresh or toally thawed meat, place in the freezer for 1 to 3 hours before slicing. Using a sharp knife, cut meat across the grain into 1/4- to 3/8-inch thick slices. (Cut a boneless roast into 1/2- to 1-inch wide pieces, then cut into thinner strips.) Thinner slices yield crunchier jerky; thicker slices produce chewier jerky. 
2. Arrange meat in a single layer on pie plates, platters, or an oblong glass pan. Mix seasonings, sprinkle over meat, and toss to coat. If time permits, cover meat with parchment paper or another pie plate and refrigerate for 4 to 8 hours to allow flavors to penetrate. This step is optional.
3.     Oven drying: Preheat oven to 140˚ F. Line 2 to 4 cookie sheets or roasting pans with aluminum foil folded up at the corners to catch drips and top with a roasting rack. Arrange meat without overlapping. Hold oven door ajar with a wooden spoon. Dry for 10 to 14 hours or until a test piece is slightly brittle when bent. Turn meat after the first 6 to 8 hours. For crispier jerky, dry until a test piece splinters when bent.
4.     Food dehydrator: Arrange meat without overlapping, on as many trays as needed. Dry at 145˚ F for 10 to 14 hours. Paleo purists may wish to dry the meat for a longer period of time at a lower temperature.
5. Pat off beads of oil with unbleached paper towel. Cool and store in sealed jars, cellulose or wax paper bags, or heavy zip-locking freezer bags. Label and date. This will keep for at least 1 to 2 months at room temperature, 3 or more months in the refrigerator, and indefinitely in the freezer.

1-ounce made without salt or tamari: 123 calories, 23 g protein, 1 g carbohydrate, 3 g fat, 3 mg calcium, 51 mg sodium (280 with salt)

Variations:

• You'll find other flavoring options for jerky, including recipes for making ground beef jerky, in The Garden of Eating: A Produce-Dominated Diet & Cookbook.
  

Recipe source: The Garden of Eating: A Produce Dominated Diet & Cookbook by Rachel Albert-Matesz & Don Matesz (Planetary Press, 2004).
 

Low Carb Shepherd's Pie

If you follow a paleo or primal diet, a low-carb or low-starch diet, or the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (aka SCD), you may be wondering how to recreate some of your favorite comfort food recipes, particularly during the winter when you want a change from stir fries, grilled, roasted, or broiled fish or meat served with a salad, a side of cooked leafy greens or soup.

For many people, comfort food means bread, pasta, potatoes, or casseroles made from one of these foods (think mac & cheese or lasagna). If you’re following one of the ways of eating listed above, you can still make a satisfying facsimile of some of your old favorites using vegetables to replace the grain or potatoes. Cauliflower is a popular low-carb stand-in for potatoes. Perhaps you’ve tried cauliflower (faux) mashed potatoes (not an exact replica of the original, but a tasty alternative) or cauliflower pizza (the cauliflower forms the crust in this one but you do need cheese to make it work).

Photo right: Rachel Albert Matesz, 2010

I tried this recipe (below) from Recipes for The Specific Carbohydrate Diet: The Grain-Free, Lactose-Free, Sugar-Free Solution to IBD, Celiac Disease, Autism, Cystic Fibrosis, and Other Health Conditions (Healthy Living Cookbooks) by Raman Prasad in December. I found it easy to assemble. I made two pans of it. I gave one pan to couple I know who regularly help me with taste-testing (they loved it!). I  froze some of the portions from the pan I kept. I heated my leftovers in a toaster  oven (much better for health and for your health than using a microwave). The casserole didn’t freeze as well as I would have liked. If you’re thinking of making extra portions to freeze, I suggest you wait to add the cheese until you defrost and heat the leftovers. I thought the dish paired well with a crisp green salad with a piece of fresh fruit for dessert.

Shepherd’s Pie

Cooking time: 30 to 40 minutes, most of it unattended    Yield:  6 to 8 servings.

This recipe is a two-step process, which, when combined, tastes delicious! It is an attempt to create a traditional English dish without the traditional English ingredients.

Note: If you don’t eat cheese you could add 1 or 2 extra tablespoons of butter, olive oil, or avocado oil (the latter is very mild, trust me) to the cauliflower when you blend it. If you don’t tolerate even trace amounts of casein in butter, replace it with ghee (basically clarified butter) or one of the oils previously listed.

Ingredients
1 1/2 tablespoons (23 ml) olive oil, divided
1 pound (455 g) ground beef
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
10 spring onions, finely chopped
2 tablespoons (30 ml) lime juice
1 medium-size cauliflower, cut into florets
2 tablespoons (28 g) butter
3/4 cup (90 g) grated Cheddar cheese
Parsley leaves, for garnish (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F (170 C, or gas mark 3). Grease an ovenproof baking dish with 1/2 tablespoon (8 ml) of the olive oil.
2. In a stove top pan, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil and sauté the ground beef for 1 to 2 minutes.
3. Add the cumin powder, salt, and pepper and cook over low heat until the ground beef is cooked through, another 15 to 20 minutes.
4. Add the spring onions to the mixture and stir for about 2 minutes, or until they soften slightly. Remove the pan from the stove, and mix in the lime juice. Place the mixture in the ovenproof baking dish.
5. Meanwhile, steam the cauliflower florets until tender. Puree or blend the cauliflower with the butter in a food processor until smooth. Then spread it evenly on top of the cooked ground beef. Add the grated cheese on top.
6. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Garnish with parsley leaves, if desired.

Note:  The key here is not to let the beef dry out too much on the stovetop. As an alternative, you can add the cheese to the cauliflower when you blend it, instead of layering it on top.

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’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 ______ do you use?”  I wanted to be able to show ( some of the tools I use at home) rather than just tell.

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.

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 are Specific, Measurable, Attainable or Action Oriented, Realistic, and Time bound. I temporarily forgot about SMART requests.

The first salad spinner Tim bought was on the small side. 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 (it was missing a specific and measurable component).

Super-size that salad
When I arrived early the next day to set up for class, I found I had gotten what I asked for: a bigger salad spinner, a super-size, 20 liter (80 cup capacity) industrial strength salad spinner! (Photo upper right corner of page.) I love salads  and planned to use a lot of salad greens in the class, but not that much! So, we made the small spinner work!

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 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. 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.

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 launch 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