The Healthy Cooking Coach

Teriyaki Beef Short Ribs Revisited

I appreciate my readers, clients, and students
They often tell me about new books, products, restaurants, or practitioners that might be of interest to me and the people I serve. A few months ago one of my readers tipped me off to a new company, Coconut Secret, innovators of low-glycemic, gluten-free healthy foods. She wondered what I thought of their coconut-based sweeteners: coconut crystals and coconut sap.

I’ve dabbled with coconut palm sugar from EnerHealth Botanicals but I hadn’t heard of or tried coconut sap (the liquid version of coconut sugar). Coconut sap, coconut vinegar, and coconut aminos (a raw, lower sodium, gluten-free soy sauce alternative) intrigued me so I contacted the company to get samples. The only soy I regularly use in my diet is wheat-free tamari soy sauce. Finding something that tastes like but doesn’t contain soy could be a boon to my clients and students who have soy allergies and to those who want to remove all soy from their diets.

The queen of coconut
I’m already a dedicated fan and advocate of coconut oil, coconut butter, coconut milk, coconut cream, coconut flour, unsweetened coconut flakes, and coconut water. You’ll find tons of recipes calling for coconut milk in my Ice Dream Cookbook: Dairy-Free Ice Cream Alternatives with Gluten-Free Cookies, Compotes and Sauces, and many in The Garden of Eating: A Produce-Dominated Diet & Cookbook. You’ll find some on this site (use the search box on the left side of the page). As for coconut flour, check out my recent post on this with Calli's Fruit Cocktail Cake, and the article I wrote about baking with coconut flour in the April/May 2010 issue of Living Without Magazine. I’ll develop more recipes with it this year.

Coconut Aminos? What’s that?
It’s a soy-free seasoning sauce that you can use to replace soy sauce. It’s 100% organic, minimally processed, gluten-free, dairy-free, low-carb, low-cal, vegan, contains 65% less sodium than conventional soy sauce. It contains 17 amino acids (the building blocks of protein) and an abundance of vitamins, and minerals. One teaspoon contains only 5 calories, less than 1 gram of carbs, and only 113 milligrams of sodium. It has a refreshingly light soy-saucey taste.

How is it different from soy sauce?
Besides the fact that it’s soy-free, the Coconut Aminos product is made differently. Traditionally brewed soy sauce and tamari are made by soaking, cooking, and fermenting soy beans (with or without wheat) with koji spores (a kind of mold used to start the fermentation process). The best quality soy sauces are made from non-GMO soy, the cheapest are made from genetically modified soy and often contain MSG, artificial flavorings, colorings, and other additives.

Coconut Aminos is made from raw coconut tree sap, which exudes from coconut blossoms before they form into mature coconuts. This sap is blended with a sun dried, mineral-rich sea salt and aged, without the addition of a fermentation booster (so no mold, yeasts, or bacteria are added) or added water. It's aged for 45 to 60 days.

Coconut sap contains amino acids, minerals, vitamin C, B-vitamins. It has a neutral pH. (By comparison beans and grains have an acidic nature.) One tablespoon of fresh coconut sap contains an amazing 192 milligrams of potassium, as much as 1/2 a medium sweet potato, 1/3 cup of asparagus, 1/2 cup celery, or 1/4 cup cooked winter squash. 

Photo right: Rachel Albert, ©copyright 2010; Those are the Teriyaki Beef Short Ribs with blanched asparagus and pan juices.

It’s a great paleo or primal alternative to soy sauce, particularly if you’re looking to raise your potassium to sodium ratio (as we outline in The Garden of Eating and Dr. Loren Cordain espouses in his book, The Paleo Diet) and Mark Sisson recommends on his blog Mark's Daily Apple and in his book, The Primal Blueprint.

How does it taste?
OMG! I love this stuff. I served the Coconut Aminos with leftover sushi, a mini hamburger, blanched vegetables and sea vegetables, and preservative-free, dye-free sushi ginger pickles (the pickles you can buy at Whole Foods or Sprouts Market) for dinner one day this week (photo right). In the absence of wasabi, I stirred prepared mustard into the Coconut Aminos for dipping my sushi (try honey mustard or creamy white mustard if you have it). I also used Coconut Aminos in a remake of the Teriyaki Beef Short Rib recipe (below). Really nice.

Photo right: Rachel Albert, © copyright 2010. Dipping sauce not included in photo.

Coconut Nectar
Unlike agave nectar, which is produced in a fashion similar to high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), coconut nectar is literally tapped from the blossoms of the coconut tree. To read about how coconut tree blossoms are tapped for their sap, click here. (The sap is naturally sweet before anything is done to it whereas sap from a maple tree or from the agave plant are not immediately sweet and require long heating times to produce a sweet syrup. Did you know it takes 13 gallons of maple sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup?)

After tapping, the excess moisture from the sap is evaporated at a low temperature (that does not exceeding an average hot summer day in the tropics) for 1 hour. According to the company’s web site, “agave syrup is hydrolyzed at up to 140˚F for approximately 36 hours,” a much longer, more invasive procedure (with added enzymes) that turn the starchy agave bulb into high fructose syrup.

Whereas agave nectar has a fructose content of 90%, Coconut Nectar contains only 1.5% fructose with the remaining sugars in the form of sucrose (16%), and FOS, a prebiotic inulin that feeds the friendly flora in your intestines (82%). Coconut Nectar provides a sweet taste without the high fructose content or side effects of agave nectar, corn syrup, or HFCS. It’s a little thinner than honey but really delicious. I plan to try it in some kind of special treat recipe this weekend. Not sure what yet.

How does it taste?
Yummy I used Coconut Nectar to replace honey in a recipe for Teriyaki Beef Short Rib recipe (below) modified from The Complete Meat Cookbook that I made last weekend. I made the same recipe in May of 2009 using honey. I liked it just as much with the Coconut Nectar.

Photo right: Rachel Albert, © copyright 2010; the juicy fat on the ribs is a great source of omega 3s, CLA, and antioxidants! Yum!

For more on the hazards of agave
http://www.glycemic.com/AgaveReport.htm
http://www.naturalnews.com/024892_fructose_food_health.html
Another Look at Agave Nectar (and why I don't recommend it)

Coconut Vinegar
This product, marketed by Coconut Secret, is 100% certified organic, raw, gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan, and it’s manufacturer claims it is “healthier than apple cider vinegar.” What makes this vinegar special? It could be that the coconut trees are grown in mineral-rich, volcanic soil, giving the vinegar a similarly high mineral content. To view the impressive chart comparing the vitamin, mineral, and amino acid content of the raw materials used to make both vinegars, fresh coconut sap vs. fresh apples, click here.

It could be the ingredients that go into it. Whereas some companies make coconut vinegar from coconut water, this particular company says they makes it from the coconut sap, which contains more vitamins, minerals, and amino acids than coconut water.

It could be the process by which it is made and how long it’s left to ferment. Coconut Vinegar marketed by Coconut Secret is aged and fermented 8 months to 1 year. According to the company’s literature, “Coconut-water based vinegar undergoes an ‘assisted” fermentation process ofonly 2 to 4 weeks, by adding as a fermentation starter, either apple cider vinegar or muscavado cane sugar to catalyze fermentation.”

How does it taste?
So far I’ve only used it in the Teriyaki Beef Short Rib recipe (below) and that came out great. I plan to try it in vinaigrette and maybe in sparkling mineral water with stevia for a tangy soda like drink. I’ll post more as I use more of it.

For a few recipes using Coconut Aminos, Coconut Nectar, Coconut Vinegar, click here:

Note: I'll post more recipes as I create them, so if you aren't already subscribed to my blog, now's a good time to do so. See the SUBSCRIBE BUTTON on the left side of this blog about 2/3 of the way down. You'll get an email update whenever I add new posts.

Photo right: Rachel Albert, © copyright 2010. Those are the 100% grassfed Teriyaki Beef Short Ribs from Kenny Ashbacher, the Fishhugger w/blanched broccoli and coleslaw. Really delicious!

Teriyaki Beef Short Ribs

Serves: 3 to 4 (figure 1 pound per person before cooking)

I found this recipe in The Grassfed Gourmet Cookbook: Healthy Cooking and Good Living with Pasture-Raised Foods by Shannon Hayes (Eating Fresh Publications). I’ve tried at least four of the recipes from the book and so far I’ve enjoyed them all.

This is the second time I’ve made this recipe using 100% grassfed beef short ribs. This time I used very meaty short ribs (cut from the vertebrae) from Kenny Aschbacher, aka The FishHugger, here in Phoenix, AZ. These were the meatiest, juiciest beef ribs I’ve made. They had plenty of visible fat and I didn’t trim any of it from the ribs. What are beef ribs without the fat?? Dry, dry, dry, which defies the whole purpose. If you live in Phoenix, get your orders in now. Kenny & Brenna leave for New Mexico in two weeks so there's not much time to stock your freezers before they leave for 6 months!

This recipe is adapted from a similar dish called “Korean-Style Oven-Browned Short Ribs” from Bruce Aidells and Denis Kelly’s excellent book, The Complete Meat Cookbook. It is easy to prepare and extremely flavorful. Leftover sauce (heat it to liquify) taste great spooned over steak and salad (my lunch today) or over blanched veggies with chicken.

This is a great recipe for those on a budget, requires minimum time preparation, and it’s kid-friendly. Waste not: Oh, once you’ve cooked the ribs, don’t discard the bones! Deposit them in a bag in the freezer. When the bag’s full, you can make a batch of my bone-building broth, which takes all of 15 minutes of hand-on time and yields delicious, nutritious, economical broth for soups, stews, sauces, and more.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup tamari soy sauce (I used Coconut Aminos)
1 tablespoon ground (dried) ginger
1/4 cup honey  (I used Coconut Nectar)
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives
3 cups water (I use filtered Multi-Pure water for all cooking, drinking, ice, and beverages)
2 tablespoons cider vinegar or rice vinegar (I used Coconut Vinegar)
1 head garlic, cloves peeled and left whole
3 pounds beef short ribs (could be up to 4 pounds); do not trim them! (I used FishHugger Grassfed ribs)
4 tablespoons unrefined sesame oil (I prefer Eden brand); I actually forgot this step on my recent batch

1. In a large Dutch oven or other large pot (deeper is better than more shallow so the ribs remain immersed as they cook), whisk together the tamari (or Coconut Aminos), ginger, honey (or Coconut Nectar), water, and vinegar (try Coconut Vinegar); add the whole cloves of garlic.
2. Add the short ribs. Bring the pot to boil over high heat, turn the heat to low, and simmer, covered, for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, or until the meat is fork-tender. If you start to run out of liquid, add 2/3 cup water. Remove the ribs and keep warm, but continue to allow the broth to simmer, uncovered on the stove. Note: I suggest you turn the heat to medium and cook the pan juices down to syrupy consistency and about 1 to 1/2 cup sin volume.
3. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 450˚F.
4. Place the ribs on a roasting pan, meat side up, and brush with sesame oil. Roast for 15 minutes, or until the edges become crispy. Serve in warmed shallow bowls with a few spoonfuls (or more!!) of broth (reduced pan juices) poured on top. Note: I made the sauce so thick that it looked like a glaze for the meat and the parboiled vegetables I spooned it over. If you skip the broiling step and simply spoon the reduced pan juices over the ribs, they'll still taste fantastic! That's what I did this time.
   
5. Reheat the leftovers in a heat-proof Pyrex or Corningware container or stainless steel baking pan in a toaster oven at 250˚to 300˚F for 10 to 15 minutes, until warm. The ribs and juices also freeze well.

Chef Rachel Visits The Urban Farm

What can you grow?
What can you grown on a third of an acre in the city? More than you think! On an 80x160 wide plot you can produce a ton of food per year in the Phoenix metro area, according to Greg Peterson of The Urban Farm. Greg shows people how to live a greener lifestyle from the ground up (and I mean that literally!).

Edible landscape
The Urban Farm is where he lives.It’s a third of an acre in central Phoenix. He’s lived and gardened there for 20 years. He got excited about seeing how we could our homes and the land around our homes fuel our lives, how we could sustain ourselves in the city.

Greg’s entire yard is edible from the flower garden to the bordering edges on the back and sides of his property, areas many people neglect or poorly utilize. He’s created something called weed walls, to keep out Burmuda grass. He composts yard wastes lasagna style, layering dry yard waste with manure. He has a flood irrigation system.

Garden on the porch
He has container gardens on the porch (various sized vessels that many of his plants, from peppers to herbs, call home). Even if you don’t have a yard, if you have a porch you can grow herbs, fruits, and some vegetables, depending upon the amount of space and which direction it faces.

Veg out
Greg grows leeks, cabbage, collards, broccoli, pea pods, sunchokes, carrots, yams, Armenian cucumbers, peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, tepary beans, grape leaves, many different salad greens, basil, tarragon, parsley, and many other vegetables.

The fruit of the land
Greg has more than 60 fruit trees on his 1/3 of an acre. He grows apples, lemons, oranges, peaches, loquats, figs, apricots, mulberries, Asian pears, limequats, cherries, peaches, and mesquite. For a single fruit, like the peach, he has different varieties of trees that bear fruit at different times of the year. The fruits don’t all come to fruition at the same time, so he can enjoy different flavors throughout the year. On any given month Greg gets 30 to 50% of his diet from his property. He can literally harvest breakfast or a good part of dinner.

Chickens in the city
He has chickens, they’re his pets. So he eats the eggs but not the chickens. He gets eggs all year round. They also produce fertilizer and eat vegetable scraps. He has written a small book to teach others how they can raise chickens in the city and produce delicious eggs to feed their families.

Shower in the sun, how fun!
Greg has an outdoor shower that uses city water. The water from it that goes down the drain becomes gray water and goes into the mulch pit and the landscape. He also has an outdoor kitchen with a couple of sinks so he can rinse his garden goodies and cook them on the grill without having to go inside for prep and a rain water harvesting tank that collects rain off the roof for use on the non-edible landscape.

Planting with nature
Rather than seeds in rows, as many gardeners do, Greg scatters the seeds over a given part of his yard in a style popularized by Masanobu Fukuoka, author of One Straw Revolution: An Introduction to Natural Farming, a book I heard about years ago when I was into macrobiotics.

Here’s what reviewers have to say about the book
“With no plowing, weeding, fertilizers, external compost, pruning or chemicals, his minimalist approach reduces labor time to a fifth of more conventional practices. Yet his success in yields is comparable to more resource-intensive methods…The method is now being widely adopted to vegetate arid areas….” –New Internationalist --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Power up with the sun
Greg has cut his power bill in half with energy saving measures that improve efficiency. From solar panels, skylights, and ceiling fans to low ceilings, stay cool tile floors and from properly placed trees and blinds (for shade), he’s put systems in place that people can look at and say, “I can do that!” Greg has three different kinds of solar panels. The photovoltaic cells make electricity; the thermal panels make hot water; and the experimental air heating system. He has a block box on the roof and when the box gets hot it blows air into the house in the wintertime.

Cut your utility bills in half
Over a 10 year period Greg has cut his power bill down from $133 a month to on average $41. Some months he has a $7 electric bill! And that’s in Phoenix, Arizona, in a 2000 square foot home with and air conditioning an evaporative cooler and a far infrared sauna big enough for two!

I cooked from Greg’s garden
A few weeks ago I visited Greg’s Urban Garden, harvested a bunch of vegetables, and cooked up several dishes the next night to share with Greg and some of his friends and acquaintances at the Creative Living Fellowship here in Phoenix. I saved the oranges, collards, and eggs to eat at home.

Here’s what I made and served
Roasted Carrots with Fresh Fennel
Blanched Sunchokes, Pea Pods & Sweet Peppers with Almond-Herb Dip
Roasted Silver Dollar Sweet Potatoes with Cinnamon (using yams)
Dark-Chocolate Dipped Date Nut Truffles* (ingredients not from Greg’s garden)

* Note: The ingredients for the truffles included unsweetened baker’s chocolate (from the supermarket), Date Coconut Rolls from Sphinx Date Ranch in downtown Scottsdale, AZ (they do ship by mail for those who live out of state), and pecans, almonds, pine nuts, and unsweetened flaked coconut from Sprouts Market.

Here’s a very short video giving an overview of the harvest and what I made for the dinner. Unfortunately most of the people in attendance didn’t realize it was a potluck so the offerings were sparse beyond what I brought and the salad Greg made and the only protein dish present was a small tray of shrimp, which I did sample, and a lima bean dish, which I passed on. I was glad I’d had an apple, some Crispy Pecans, and homemade beef jerky in the early afternoon.

After the potluck, which included my dishes and handful of others, I gave a brief presentation about how to make healthy convenience food and "How to Turn Your Refrigerator Into A Healthy Salad Bar & Gourmet Deli."The people who attended the event were very enthused about the foods I made, surprised that healthy food could taste so good, and many of them sampled vegetables they'd never eaten, such as sunchokes (that I blanched), date-coconut rolls (that I used to make my truffles), and limequats and edible flowers, which Greg had in his salad. I had fun, got people thinking more about what they eat and where it comes from, met interesting people, and sold a few books in the process.

The Creative Living Fellowship goes solar
Greg facilitated the process of getting solar panels for the roof of Creative Living Fellowship, a Religious Science church teaching New Thought principles in a welcoming community in Phoenix, AZ. The panels will produce 70% of the energy used by the facility, which is probably about 22,000 square feet.

To view Greg's T-Shirts and read about the story behind them, click here

Eco living expert for hire
Greg leads tours of his Urban Farm, speaks to groups, leads sustainable living classes, writes for Edible Phoenix and Phoenix Magazine, writes posts for Your Guide to Green, his weekly email newsletter and his blog, and consults with individuals who want help with designing edible landscape.

Check Out Greg's books
Greg has created a unique series of mini-books designed for our busy, fast-paced lives. The series, called The Urban Farm's Simple Sustainability Series, features palm-size, concise, single topic, well-researched mini books that each explore a different aspect of living a green (sustainable) lifestyle. Each 3.5” by 5” sized book is written in an engaging and inspirational way.The focus is guilt-free, action-oriented and upbeat information you can begin to apply immediately.

Greg’s Simple Sustainability Series includes the following books:
My Ordinary Extraordinary Yard
Fowl Play: Your Guide to Keeping Chickens in The City
How Green Am I? Environmental Audit
Grow Wherever You Go, Discover Where Your Garden Lives

To learn more about and/or buy the books click here

And the winners are...

S o we have three winners in the Perfect Foods Bar Giveaway:
* Ari Anderson of www.TheFrugallyRichLife.com
* Tammy Botitta of Phoenix, AZ (one of my former cooking students)
* a woman named Nicole from I don't know where, yet

Stay tuned for the next giveaway!
Next week I'll tell you how you can enter to win a bottle of avocado oil, one of my now favorite oils to cook with. In April I will be giving away the book, The Junge Effect by Daphne Miller, MD, as soon as I start reading that. If you hear of books related to gluten free cooking, paleo or primal diet and nutrition, paleo or practically paleo foods and food products, or natural personal care and eco-friendly cleaning products that you think I would be interested in learning about, please let me know.

Crossfit is Fun

I had heard about Crossfit. It is popular in the paleo- and primal-diet community. Don Matesz (my co-author of The Garden of Eating: A Produce-Dominated Diet & Cookbook) had read about it, and he occasionally sent me emails about Crossfit facilities around the U.S. that recommended our book. I had watched videos showing women performing fitness feats that I aspired to do eventually.

The hesitation
I had some trepidation about trying Crossfit because I’m currently working to rehabilitate from athletic injuries I sustained in college--injuries I had not sought care for at the time. Then I incurred a slew of back injuries in my 20’s and 30’s. The resulting musculoskeletal imbalances have caused problems for me for years, despite therapies I’ve sought. I’ve made enormous progress over the past three and a half months with special  stretching and strengthening exercises I’ve been doing (more on this another day), and I don’t want to do anything that  could set me back.

Walking is where it’s at
I’ve been an avid walker for most of my life. I’ve walked 3 to 6 hours a week for decades and have done stretching or light yoga 3 to 5 times a week for many years. I also hike and swim laps periodically. I’ve mostly avoided weight training over the past decade because it seemed to aggravate my existing imbalances, leading to pain, muscle spasms, or, worse, recurrent injuries that made it hard to do my daily activities, much less exercise.

A new opportunity
Late last year my friend, Don, suggested I contact the local Crossfit studios around the valley; he sent me links to a couple of them. Since they advocate a paleo diet, and that’s my specialty, he thought I  might find a receptive new audience for the products and services I offer.

Last week, I had a fruitful meeting with Coach Tiffany Divebliss of Crossfit Scottsdale. We set dates for a class I’ll be leading for their members and for my first one-on-one Crossfit workout. Tiffany wanted me to be on a par with her clients so I could relate to what they do and so I have a taste of what Crossfit is all about.

What is Crossfit
The premise behind Crossfit is that exercise should be functional (it should make you better at real life activities); it should be performed at high intensity (that produces the best results in the shortest time); and it should be constantly varied (that way it’s never boring, always challenging, and your body receives the stimulation it requires to continually get stronger).

Infinitely adjustable
Although Crossfit is the principal strength and conditioning program for many police academies and tactical operations teams, military special operations units, champion martial artists, and hundreds of other elite and professional athletes worldwide, it’s also practiced by recreational skiers, mountain bikers, teenagers, housewives, people recovering from heart disease, and countless others. It can be scaled to anyone’s needs and abilities.

Crossfit fun
According to the Crossfit Scottsdale website, “The mindset at the start of each workout is to be stronger, move faster, more efficiently, with better form than ever. This is why even after years of training CrossFit style, scores and times in workouts continue to drop and athletes continue to improve. It’s hard, fun, exciting, challenging, and will push you to be your absolute best!”

I did it!
Yesterday I met with Coach Tiffany Divebliss. I filled out a release form, filled her in on what I currently do for fitness, what I’ve done in the past, and what limitations I currently have. She listened to my concerns, took my workout and injury history into account, and helped me scale the workout to my abilities, reminding me that I know my body best and know what I can and can’t do.

Next she walked me through the Baseline workout, something everyone goes through initially, and then revisits periodically to gauge his or her progress. We went through each of the movements, so I knew what to expect and could warm up before my timed workout. Then she set the clock.

The photos on the right show me going through the exercises. TIffany took them after I ran through the timed workout listed below. It would have been too distracting during the workout, where she was focused on me and the clock.

Here’s what I did in 7 minutes and 57 seconds:

• a 500 meter row
• 40 air squats
• 30 modified sit ups (crunches)
• 20 push ups from my knees (girl style)
• 10 pull ups with a green stretchy band for support

What a rush!
OMG! I loved it. I worked out and breathed harder and got my heart rate up higher than I have in a long time. I did things I hadn’t previously been able to do, such as push ups and pull ups. The modifications for the push ups and the stretchy bands allowed me to actually DO pull ups and do them more comfortably than the ways I had tried in the past.

By the end of the workout my legs felt like jelly (a cool sensation if you ask me), and I had the most amazing rush of feel-good hormones! It brought back memories of running stadium stairs and training on the ergometer in college when I was on an intramural rowing team in Seattle, WA. I remember how high I used to feel after some of those workouts. My first Crossfit workout brought back those blissful feelings and gave me a better understanding of how and why people get hooked on Crossfit.

The morning after
When I woke up yesterday and stretched my arms overhead, I could feel a hint of soreness in my shoulders and triceps. When I stand up or go up and down my stairs, I'm reminded that I worked out hard yesterday. I’m amazed that an 8 minute workout (plus about 5 or 6 minutes of warming up, doing the same motions but more slowly) could produce the benefits that used to take many times longer to achieve with machines and free weights in a gym. I can see how 1-hour Crossfit classes could deliver the kind of results many people spend many hours trying to achieve with conventional cardio and weights.

Hooked on Crossfit
If I lived closer to Crossfit Scottsdale, I could see myself joining. In the meantime, I plan to take a beginner level class later this month and incorporate some of their principles and exercises (such as air squats and bent knee pushups) into the training I’m currently doing at home. I’m pondering the possibility of getting a chinning bar for one of the doorways in my townhouse, stretchy bands to help me do assisted chin ups, and a small box to stand on (so I can reach the bar).

Here's a more rigorous group Crossfit workout (I went more slowly, scaled to my needs).

Check it out
If you’re looking for a way to get into great shape in less time, to make working out more fun, and to look and feel great (besides adopting a paleo or practically paleo diet), check out Crossfit. They have studios around the world.If you live in or near Scottsdale, check out Crossfit Scottsdale.

Green cleaning supplies

I first heard about Lemi Shine about a year ago when I was interviewed by Kim Laurie and her husband Don on Culinary Confessions in Scottsdale, AZ. If you’re info food, cooking, or dining out out and you live in the greater Phoenix area, check out their radio show.

Green clean
I’ve been using eco-friendly cleaning products for more than 20 years and I still like trying new products to see if they beat the ones I’m currently using. After hearing Kim expound on the benefits of Lemi Shine, I contacted the company about getting their products, and tried them in my home. I’ve now been using them for about six months. I’m happy with the results and the purity of the products.

What I’ve tried
I’ve tried Lemi Shine, Lemi Shine MC Machine Clean, Lemi Shine Rinse, EnviroPet Plus: Advanced Enzyme Formula, and ReMi (short for reverses mistakes) Stain & Odor Remover.

Hard H20, hard on dishes
If you have hard water (we do in Arizona), you’ve probably wondered how to get rid of the hard water spots and film (from excess calcium, lime, iron, and other minerals) that build up on glasses and dishes an on the inside of the dishwasher itself.

I choose not to use the supermarket dish washing products that contain harsh chemicals that pollute indoor air and waterways, and harm wildlife, so I was interested to see how Lemi Shine would work on the hard water deposits on my dishes. True to the company’s claims, it cleaned and deodorized the dishwasher and brightened my dishware. No more dingy looking plates and classes.

The first time you use Lemi Shine you need to run the dishwasher without any dishes. This removes the hard mineral deposits inside the machine and help it run better when you run subsequent loads of dirty dishes with Lemi Shine.

Washing your dishwasher
If your dishwasher has a lot of buildup from months or years of use, you may want to get Lemi Shine MC Machine Clean. Used on a regular basis it prevents hard water mineral buildup, which improves the life and performance of your dishwasher.

Spotless treatment
Lemi Shine also makes a spot-free rinse formula you can add to the liquid rinse agent dispenser in your dishwasher once a month. It prevents etching on glasses and leaves dishes sparkling clean. I liked this also made a difference.

Pet stains disappear
Enviro-Pet Plus can be used on carpets, upholstery, rugs, clothing, furniture, bedding, tile, plastic, vinyl, concrete, and all other water safe surfaces. My cats are basically tidy creatures so I wondered what I would use this product on, besides the litter box. Then I found one. My lovely long-haired cat, Sophie, regularly throws up hairballs (usually in the middle of the night, thank you). She makes enough noise doing it (in the bedroom or hallway) to wake me so I can immediately turn on the light, clean it up, and avoid inadvertently stepping on the slimy thing during on a trek to the bathroom in the wee hours .

Enviro-Pet Plus has taken care of the odor and the residue the hairballs would otherwise leave on the carpet (yeah!). I give Sophie a Hairball Remedy that contains omega-3-6-9 oils and vitamin E but I must not be giving it to her often enough because she continues to barf up hairballs about once a month. At least I know I can clean it up easily. If you know another remedy for preventing hairballs in cats, let me know. She already eats a great all-meat (grain-free) diet. My short haired kitten has no hairballs at this time (knock on the fake wood of my desk!).

Reverse your mistakes
Don’t you wish you could reverse mistakes in your life with a spray bottle and damp cloth? Big credit card bills, just spray and wipe away. Overdraft fees from the bank, just spritz, whoosh, and they're gone. Accidentally open your car door into someone else's car door? Well, maybe you can't erase your mistakes in those instances, but maybe you can where cleaning is concerned. ReMi Stain & Odor Remover is designed to remove stains on carpets, upholstery, furniture, laundry, in your automobile, and in restrooms.

I didn’t have much luck with this product on clothes soiled with bacon grease, olive oil, vinaigrette, etc. The problem, I discovered, was that I didn’t follow the directions 100%. (I know, I know! I usually do follow product instructions just as I recommend following recipe instructions, at least until you have the skill and knowledge to make modifications with a high degree of confidence that they will turn out they way you want or the recipe creator intended.)

 Package instructions say to apply ReMi to stained areas and allow to absorb for 5 minutes, and then launder as usual. I applied it before tossing the clothes in the wash where the sat for 3 to 6 days before washing. I’m getting a second bottle later this week to test again. This time, I’ll spray the stains 5 to 10 minutes (as the company’s customer service rep suggested) before tossing them in the machine.

Septic system solutions
If you have a septic system, check out their Septic Pro Treatment.

What I like
Unlike many supermarket cleaners, Lemi Shine products are phosphate-free, so they won’t pollute groundwater or upset the natural PH of soil. They’re free of caustic chemicals, noxious smelling perfumes, and bleach and they’re safe for septic systems. They come in recyclable containers that are made from 100% recycled material.

Lemi Shine is made from real fruit acids, natural citrus oils, and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda).

Lemi Shine Rinse is made from purified water, real fruit acids, biodegradable surfactants, and natural dye. The product isn’t dyed a color; it’s almost clear so you won’t find any strange blue or green dyes in the product.

Enviro-Pet Plus and ReMi contains purified water, natural enzymes, biodegradable surfactants and frangrance. No harsh chemicals, solvents, or bleach.

For more info on these products check the EnviroCon Technology web site. You can buy their products in many retails stores (check their web site for a Store Locator).They offer free shipping on orders of $50 or more.

What do you use?
If you have eco-friendly cleaning products (or personal care products or gluten free natural foods) you like, drop me an email and let me know the name of the products, how long you've used them, and what you like about them. Maybe I'll review them on my blog.

My Interview of The Natural Cancer Girl

I met Diane Paradise through National Speaker’s Association. Our paths crossed again when we attended a social media class led by our entrepreneurial friend Elmas Vincent.

Diane, a 15-year, four-time cancer survivor, has dedicated her life to encouraging, educating, and empowering others to be their own cancer superheroes.

Diane’s wake up call
Being told she had an incurable cancer left her wondering how she could create a quality life for herself. After dissatisfaction with conventional chemotherapy and radiation she turned to Naturopathic medicine and integrative health care because it allowed her to maintain a quality of life the other treatments did not.

In 2001 with a diagnosis of stage 3 incurable lymphoma, Diane decided to look into the natural options. When she brought these options to her doctor to discuss them he told her. “you’ll be dead in 12 weeks” with a finger pointed in her face.

Those six words ended up being medicine she needed to hear. “You know it was the best thing,” says Diane. “If anyone tells me I can’t do something, I say, Watch me!”

The journey with Naturopathic medicine taught her what she needed to know to get and stay healthy with the disease. She learned how to improve her diet: how to eat more whole foods, what to eliminate from her diet, and how to make healthier choices when dining out. "My social life was a big part of my life. At first I had no idea how I could eat with my friends and stick to my healing diet," says Diane. "It was the holistic nurse who taught me how to eat within my nutritional means."

Diane also learned that it wasn’t just her food choices that were making her sick; it was also the environment she grew up in. She was a sickly child and was exposed to high levels of copper from the treated lumber her father used in his woodworking shop. It was her ND who discovered that her copper levels where three times higher than normal and the link between that and the type of lymphoma she developed.

Finding your ah-ha in life's uh-ohs moments
Diane’s aha moment was when she realized that toxicity came in many forms: stress, work, chemicals, toxic food, and even certain people. “So often when I coach, I hear and see the negative impact that certain people have on my clients and their healing process. During our time together my job is to help them recognize the toxic relationships and determine how to change them. It’s interesting to see how people’s health improves when they remove the toxic influences in all areas of their lives.”

Diane cancer’s recurred in 2005 and then again in 2008. She has journeyed the last two years with active cancer and remains faithful to the holistic lifestyle and naturopathic medicine. If you saw her you would never guess that she has or has had cancer.

Passing it on
Diane now shares what she has learned with others and inspires people to take an active part in their own healing process. She speaks to groups (hence the connection to National Speakers Association where I first met her) and offers her services as a life coach to help people remove the toxicity in their lives so that they don’t have to go through what she is going through and has been through.

The hero lies in you!
Diane is starting a non-profit organization to educate the general public about the power of Naturopathic medicine and holistic living for cancer care. Her long term goal is to provide funding for those who can’t afford natural treatments. She has created her courage-based comic book superhero, Natural Cancer Girl, to convey her message of hope and strength for others. “I think the whole idea of the superhero is really about being empowered on this journey instead of just letting it happen to you and being a victim of the disease.”

Discoveries in alternative medicine
Diane was interviewed for a PBS special called “Discoveries in Alternative Medicine.” The segment, produced by the American Health Journal in California, aired for the first time on April 22, 2009, in Orange County, California. Diane, who is the former spokesperson for the New York Association of Naturopathic Physicians, has appeared on several radio shows and in newspaper articles, including The New York Times. Food photos: Rachel Albert-Matesz, 2010 & Sandy Dawson

Diane hosts her own radio show on WeB9CancerTalk on Blog Talk Radio. You can find out about her speaking engagements, services, and story by visiting her website and her blog.

The cure is the kitchen
Diane attributes a great deal of her recovery to improving her diet. Toward that end she wanted to share what she’s learned about diet with others. After Diane’s friend Sandy listened the radio show where Diane interviewed me (Chef Rachel) about what I do, about my book, The Garden of Eating, and how to eat a Produce-Dominated Diet, she approached Diane about having a cooking party with a group of friends in one of their homes.

You made it easier
“When people think about changing their diet and lifestyle it can seem daunting,” says Diane. “You showed us how easy that change can be just by implementing certain routines in our weekly schedules, such as shopping twice a week and cleaning and prepping all or most of the vegetables at once.”

Diane and Sandy liked my motto,“Shop ahead, chop ahead, and cook ahead so you always have healthy food on hand when hunger strikes!”

Bonus points
Diane says,“It was a bonus to learn proper knife skills and how to cut things like bell peppers in short order. The hit of the party was the Creamy Carrot Soup with coconut milk and ginger. One of the guests exclaimed, ‘I don’t like cooked carrots.’ Two bowls of soup later she was a fan."

Diane, who is normally not a salmon fan says, “I loved the dish Rachel made with grilled salmon  bellies.” Teeccino was another big hit. “I don’t normally drink coffee and I love it. It was also great to discover coconut milk as an alternative to milk and cream. That was a big deal for me because I can’t eat dairy. The chocolate Dipped Date Nut Truffles you left me with were also amazing.”

Photo right: Diane Paradise (left), Chef Rachel (me! center), Sandy Dawson (right). Photo credit: Diane's husband, Jeff.

Here’s what we made (most of recipes can be found in The Garden of Eating: A Produce-Dominated Diet & Cookbook:

• Creamy Carrot Soup with Coconut Milk & Ginger
• Grilled Cumin & Mustard Rubbed Steak
• Grilled Mustard Rubbed Salmon Bellies
• Roasted Onion, Sweet Pepper & Spring Green Salad with Sun-Dried Tomatoes & Lemonette Dressing
• Fennel & Sea Salted Brown Rice Crisps
• Apple Apricot Compote with Nutmeg Ice Dream & Chocolate Sauce
• Teeccino Herbal Coffee Alternative with dairy free milk alternatives (recipe below)

Both Sandy and Diane have since made several of the recipes from the party. Sandy made the Creamy Carrot Soup and brought it to work for people to try. Diane made the soup, baked Fennel & Sea Salted Brown Rice Crisps, Lemonette Dressing, and Roasted Vegetable Salad. She plans to make the spice rubbed steak for company this weekend.

Both Diane and Sandy have received emails from participants thanking the two for inviting them for having me (Chef Rachel) in to show them how to make healthy foods taste great. One of them exclaimed, “It’s exciting to learn about eating healthy and living a whole foods lifestyle from someone who’s doing it.”

Rachel's Recipe for Brewing Teeccino Herbal Coffee

What is Teeccino Herbal Coffee?
Teecino, a caffeine-free coffee alternative, looks like coffee, but is made from herbs, roasted chicory root, carob, dates, and nuts that are roasted and ground. It looks and cooks like coffee but contains no coffee beans or caffeine. It contains 3 grams of carbohydrate and 1 gram of fiber per cup for a total of 15 calories. It provides 65 milligrams of potassium to give your body a natural energy lift, and 365 milligrams of inulin to enhance your digestion and improve elimination.

Some people use this product to wean themselves off of coffee. The Teeccino web site offers a painless method to help you kick the coffee habit: blend Teeccino with your regular coffee and gradually increase the amount over a period of two to three weeks while reducing the amount of coffee grinds. I have recommended something similar for many years using roasted chicory root and roasted dandelion root, available in 1-pound bags from Frontier Co-operative.

Where to find Teecccino Herbal Coffee
 Look for it on the coffee and tea aisles of natural foods stores, the health foods section of supermarkets, and online. It comes in 8.5 once and 1 pound cans, 1-pound bags, and a sample-size envelope in a variety of flavors: Original, Vanilla Nut, Hazelnut, Almond Amaretto, Java, Mocha, and Chocolate Mint. The company also makes a Maya Caffé, Maya Chia, and Maya Chocolate Herbal Coffee, which includes roasted ramon nuts for a robust dark roast coffee flavor. 

How to store Teeccino Herbal Coffee
Store Teeccino grinds at room temperature. Teeccino won't go stale at room temperature like coffee because it doesn't contain coffee oils. Just replace the plastic cap on the can after using it, and it will last for at least 2 years. Note: Brewed Teeccino can last up to five days in the refrigerator making it easy to drink iced Teeccino in the summer.

Does Teeccino contain any gluten? 
Although Teeccino contains barley, an independent laboratory at the University of Nebraska that specializes in gluten testing found no detectable levels of gluten in Teeccino. Although gluten is present in barley, it most likely does not extract out of the barley using conventional coffee brewing techniques. Gluten is not extracted by boiling water although it can be extracted using ethanol alcohol, which of course is not present in Teeccino. The company regularly has Teeccino tested at the University of Nebraska’s Allergy Testing lab where it has had no detectible levels of gluten found at 10PPM. 

To view the lab report click here

Better brewing
Although each can of Teeccino Herbal Coffee comes with complete brewing instructions, I recommend that you disregard the instructions on the package. Brewing the product in a drip coffee makers, French press pot, or espresso machine produces to a weak beverage and increases the cost per cup. You still need to measure out the amount of Teeccino Herbal Coffee you use with my method, only the brewing method changes.

I find I get the best flavor and strongest brew and my students and friends like this beverage best when it is brewed using one of the following methods:
1) Brewed for at least 20 minutes in an electric or stove-top percolator with or without a coffee filter. If you use a filter make sure it is made from unbleached paper or use an eco-friendly permanent Gold filter.
2) Wrapped in cheesecloth, tied with kitchen twine or un-waxed dental floss, placed in a pot of filtered water, brought to boil, then covered and simmered over medium-low heat for 20 to 30 minutes.

Note: After the initial brewing, I made a second pot using the same grinds but only half as much water. The two batches can be mixed together if you like. Refrigerate leftover brewed Teeccino, then reheat portions as desired. It will keep for at least a week in the refrigerator with no loss of flavor or nutritional value.

Adjust quantities of Teeccino to your own preference
Just as with coffee, some people like it strong while others prefer it weaker. Experiment by making several cups of Teeccino at different strengths to find the amount that you like best. Use a ratio of  2 to 3 teaspoons of Teeccino herbal coffee alternative per cup of water. If the batch you make tastes too strong, simply dilute it with additional water.

Serve Teeccino anyway you enjoy coffee.
Try it black or with milk, non-dairy milk, coconut milk, or half-and-half if that’s how you normally like your coffee. Taste the Teeccino before you add any sweetener. It has a naturally slightly sweet flavor from dates and figs, so you may not need additional sweetener. Instead of sugar, try honey, or for a calorie-free herbal sweetener, try a stevia tablet or a few drops of plain or flavored stevia extract liquid (vanilla and vanilla creme are my favorites).

Teeccino info and recipe excerpted from The Ice Dream Cookbook: Dairy-Free Ice Cream Alternatives with Gluten Free Cookies, Compotes & Sauces by Rachel Albert-Matesz (Planetary Press, 2008).

If I had a nickname as a child it would have been Betty Baker

Betty Baker
My mother never gave me a nickname (because she didn’t like her own!). But if she had, I think it would have been Betty (as in Crocker, you know, the cake mixes). As a child prodigy baker, I logged many hours making desserts.

I didn’t learn how to cook. No one taught me how to bake bread, roast vegetables, toss a salad, mix up a vinaigrette, cook a chicken, grill a steak, or steam vegetables. I eventually learned how to boil and scramble eggs, cook hamburger patties, make tuna and egg salad sandwiches, Mac & cheese and pizza from a box, but the main focus was on the sugary stuff. Photo credit: Rachel Albert-Matesz 2009

I’m not alone
Ask your girl friends about their earliest memories of cooking. Most will recount adventures making cookies, cakes, brownies, pies, and pastries. That seems as common a trend now as it was 30 or 40 years ago.

When I was a kid
I first helped my mother make cookies in first grade. We started with Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies then Quaker Oatmeal Cookies. I remember the duplex we lived in at the time. I remember my mother placing a teaspoon in each of my hands, standing behind me, holding my hands, teaching me the motion of scraping the dough off of one spoon using the other spoon, so the dough would drop onto the cookies sheet. I remember sneaking raw cookie dough when she went outside to get more logs for the fireplace. Photo credit: Rachel Albert-Matesz 2009

Lasting impressions
I still remember the first and last names of a handful of my mother’s friends who taught me how to make desserts. I remember which recipes each person showed me how to make, from Rice Krispy Marshmallow Treats, Snickerdoodles, and Brownies to Mississippi Mud Pie, Fudge Marble Cake, Poppy Seed Pineapple Bundt Cake, French Crullers, and French Apple Crisp—dishes I’ve not made in decades.

The queen of desserts
By sixth grade my mother allowed me to bake anytime I wanted. I didn’t need permission or to be supervised. In seventh grade, my French teacher taught me and the rest of the French club students how to make crepes, beignets (french doughnuts), and cream puffs after school. I practiced making them at home. I remember in my mid teens baking banana and zucchini bread from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, by Marion Cunningham, and making half whole wheat versions of these and many goodies (I thought that was healthier back then). Photo credit right:  Julie Ann Elefante, 2008

When my mother had company coming or wanted to thank a neighbor for doing something for her, it was my job to make dessert. On rainy days, or when I was bored or lonely (we lived 30 minutes outside the city limits in a small town in New Mexico, so I didn’t have many playmates during some of those years), I pulled out cookbooks and baked. When I had friends over, I would often teach them how to bake cookies. Neither of us foresaw my future career in the culinary arts.

Excerpt above taken from The Ice Dream Cookbook: Dairy-Free Ice Cream Alternatives with Gluten Free Cookies, Compotes & Sauces by Rachel Albert-Matesz (Planetary Press, 2008).   

Times have changed
The way I cook and bake now (and have for the past 20 years) has changed dramatically and the frequency with which I eat sweetened treats as declined. I put far more energy into preparing eggs, fish, poultry, meat, and vegetables than sweets. When I do make desserts they have a very different composition than they used to. Fruit is usually the star ingredient (think poached, baked, or stewed fruit, or crisp) or at least a supporting character (e.g., fresh fruit sauce served over coconut milk ice cream). I use different sweeteners, higher quality fats and oils, and when I use flour, it’s gluten free. Photo credit right: Stacy Maxwell, one of my former cooking students, 2008

Cracking the coconut flour code
In December of 2008, one of my cooking students gave me a 5-pound bag of coconut flour (in frustration) and asked me if I could come up with recipes using it. Several months later the editor of Living Without Magazine assigned me a recipe article on baking with coconut flour. I was eager to explore the baking properties of coconut flour and this assignment was just the nudge I needed to get going on it.

I still enjoy playing in the kitchen, only now I get paid for it (at least some of the time) and I can write off the supplies or get companies to send me samples to use to develop new recipes. Edible office supplies are my all-time favorite. I created half a dozen winning recipes for the magazine. In fact the article just hit the news stands. You can pick up the April/May 2010 issue of Living Without Magazine in natural foods stores or at some chain bookstores or visit the web site: www.LivingWithout.com to purchase a copy or subscribe.

For my birthday
In January, when I turned 40-something, I had a special dinner with friends: one of my best friends, Heather Wolcott, and her husband, Jeff, and my friends Kenny and Brenna and their three kids.

Kenny and Brenna made grassfed beef and wild salmon tacos, guacamole, salsa, and honey sweetened lemonade with fizzy water from their Soda Stream soda maker. (I too have one of those machines and you can click the link on right side of this page above the Vita Mix banner.) Heather made two different coleslaws. I made (what else?) the cake (Calli’s Fruit Cocktail Cake from my coconut flour article adventures) and Ice Dream (not ice cream but dairy-free, coconut milk-based, honey & stevia sweetened Nutmeg Ice Dream, a variation on the basic Vanilla Ice Dream here).

Photo credit: Rachel Albert-Matesz 2009

The funny thing was that by the time we got to the dessert course, I had very little interest in eating it and it just didn’t hold much appeal. I was way more interested in and satisfied by the meat and vegetable side dishes and the freshly made lemonade. Not to worry. My seven dining companions were more than happy to help polish off the extra portions.

Here’s the recipe. For more coconut flour recipes and tips for modifying your favorite recipes to include this high-protein, high-fiber, low-carb, hypoallergenic flour, check out my article on page 42 of the April/May 2010 issue of Living Without Magazine in natural foods stores or at some chain bookstores or visit the web site: www.LivingWithout.com to purchase a copy or subscribe.

Photo credit: Rachel Albert-Matesz 2009

Calli’s Coconut Fruit Cocktail Cake     
Hands-on: 30 minutes/   Cooking: 30 minutes/ Yield: 9 squares
       
One of my former cooking assistants, Calli Overstreet, gave me her family’s favorite cake recipe and asked if I could improve it. I replaced cake flour with a combination of gluten free flour blend and coconut flour, the sugar with honey, and the milk with non-dairy milk. The result, after five tries, was a raved about recipe that worked with eggs and without.

To make your own gluten free flour blend: Combine 1/2 cup white rice flour, 1/4 cup tapioca starch/flour, and 1/4 cup organic cornstarch or potato starch. Store extra flour in a sealed jar at room temperature. If you buy a gluten free flour blend, look for one that does not contain bean flour.

Dry ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose gluten free flour blend (see notes above)
1/3 cup coconut flour, fluffed with a fork and sifted before measuring
1/3 cup unsweetened flaked coconut (pulverize in blender if mixture is not finely flaked)
1/2 cup raisins
1 teaspoon non-aluminum baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon finely ground unrefined sea salt
1/2 teaspoon guar gum or xanthan gum

Wet ingredients:
1/2 cup honey (preferably raw, unfiltered, local honey)
8-ounce can crushed pineapple in 100% real fruit juice or fruit cocktail (do not drain)
2 medium to large eggs, at room temp (see variations below)

Hot Caramel Topping:
3/4 cup full fat coconut milk or 1 1/2 cup lite coconut milk, or plain, unsweetened almond milk
1 stick butter or 1/2 cup virgin coconut oil or Palm shortening (Spectrum or Tropic Traditions brand)
1/2 cup honey (preferably raw, unfiltered, local honey)
1/8 teaspoon finely ground unrefined sea salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or alcohol-free vanilla flavoring

1 medium orange, cut into very thin slices for garnish

1. Position the oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350˚ F. Generously grease an 8- or 9-inch square baking pan or 9-inch round cake pan.
2. Lightly spoon the flours into a measuring cup and level with a knife. Add remaining dry ingredients, whisk well, and set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the honey, crushed pinapple and eggs. Stir in dry ingredients until combined, scraping the bowl to mix in all the flour. Fold in raisins.
4. Pour into the prepared baking pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake in a preheated oven until firm and slightly golden on top and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes.
5.  Prepare the sauce by combining coconut milk, butter, honey, and sea salt in a 1 1/2 to 2-quart pot and bringing to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and boil until the sauce reduces to 1 cup and becomes thick and caramelized. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. (If you prepare the sauce ahead, allow to cool, then cover, and refrigerate in a heatproof Pyrex bowl. Reheat gently in a toaster oven at 225˚F until warm and runny.)
6. To assemble cake, run a knife around the edges of the pan and turn the cake onto a large plate or platter. Poke holes all over with a skewer or chopstick. Pour sauce over cake. Garnish with orange slices, and serve. Cover leftovers; refrigerate after 3 days if you still have any left.

Variation:

• For an Egg-free Fruit Cocktail Cake: Replace 2 eggs with 3 tablespoons applesauce (added to wet ingredients) + 1 teaspoon baking powder (added to dry ingredients), and 1 1/2 teaspoons Energ Foods Egg Replacer mixed with 2 tablespoons water (added when you combine the wet and dry ingredients).
• For a double batch: Double the recipe and use a 13x9x2 pan.