The Healthy Cooking Coach

More Healthy Edible Gifts & Party Food

Looking for an easy recipe to bring to a holiday potluck, party, or gift exchange or something you can make for the people on your gift list? I’ve got just the recipe, actually many recipes, for you. I’ll post one below and additional ideas as well.

You can savor the season without spending a fortune. You can delight family, friends and co-workers with memorable, mouthwatering gifts made from inexpensive whole foods ingredients and give the gift of health. I make it a point to make and share healthy, edible gifts. I usually teach one or two cooking classes where I share some of my favorite recipes for this purpose. In it, I also share tips for wrapping, decorating, packing, freezing, and shipping your homemade delectables.

If you already own my award-winning book, The Garden of Eating: A Produce Dominated Diet & Cookbook, or my dessert book, The Ice Dream Cookbook: Dairy Free Ice Cream Alternatives with Gluten Free Cookies Compotes & Sauces, you may already know about some of the great recipes they contain that work for gifts for friends near and far away.

For ideas, check my previous healthy gift ideas posts for a list of recipes with links for some of the items listed.
http://www.thehealthycookingcoach.com/2009/10/healthy-edible-gifts-for-the-holidays.html
http://www.thehealthycookingcoach.com/2008/12/healthy-edible-gifts-from-the-hearth.html
http://www.thehealthycookingcoach.com/2010/11/healthy-edible-gift-ideas.html
http://www.thehealthycookingcoach.com/2010/12/last-minute-holiday-gift-ideas.html

I am also including a great recipe from another source, Mark Sisson of Mark’s Daily Apple, a paleo and primal diet and fitness blog. I own and have read Mark’s book, The Primal Blueprint. I’ve cooked from his cookbooks. I also led two cooking demonstrations last year at Mark’s PrimalCon2011, a weekend of primal education, fitness, fun, and camaraderie at a beach park in Southern California. I'm scheduled to teach there again in 2012. For details, click here.

I’ve made this recipe in a cooking class and I’ve shared it with friends who loved it. I plan to make and give more of it away for Christmas.

Say Yes to Nuts!
Nix nuts and seeds from your “no-no” list. Recent research has affirmed what your taste buds already knew: nuts are great for your health. How good? Findings from at least five epidemiological studies have concluded that consumption of one ounce of nuts at least five times a week may significantly reduce your risk of developing coronary artery disease. One ounce of nuts is roughly 1/4 cupful; this is equivalent to 2 tablespoons. Either one is an easy amount to squeeze into your diet five times a week or even once a day. That amounts to about 200 calories per serving. YOu don't need to eat a lot of them to reap their health benefits. There are many studies showing that eating

 Spicy Almonds

Prep: 15 minutes        Cooking: 20 minutes        Yield: 2 cups

One of the greatest things about nuts is that they are easy to transport, but sometimes, well, they’re just a little boring. Spice up your next snack mix with this recipe from Mark Sisson from his blog: Marks Daily Apple. Note the word of caution above about the energy density of nuts. Sometimes people go wild with them and wonder why their weight is going in the wrong direction.

I make the recipe as is except that I use a different kind of red pepper. You could ramp up the spice the second time around if you like more heat. You can double, triple, or quadruple this recipe. It ships well. It also looks great in a canning jar with holiday ribbon and a card.

Ingredients:
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt or garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I use ground chipotle, my favorite)
1/4 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoon olive oil (avocado oil also works)
2 cups of whole raw almonds, shelled (of course!)
1/2 to 1 tablespoon finely ground, unrefined sea salt (I use Celtic Sea Salt or Redmond Real Salt and only 1 teaspoonful)

1. Preheat oven to 300˚F. In a non-stick skillet heat the olive oil and spices over low heat for 3 or so minutes. 
2. Place the nuts in a bowl and pour oil mixture over the top, toss and stir. Add the sea salt and stir to evenly distribute.
3. Spread nuts into a single layer on a non-stick baking sheet and pop preheated oven for 15 minutes, shaking the tray about every 5 minutes to cook evenly. I add another 10 minutes to the baking time to get a better crunch and to toast the almonds throughout.
4. Remove from oven and transfer to a bowl. Let cool two hours. Store in an airtight container.

 

Ahhh, Homemade Applesauce

Now is a great time to take advantage of the season’s freshest apples. Look for varieties grown in your state, region, or bio region, from as close to home as possible. Your local farm stand or farmers’ market is one of the best places to shop for juicy, ripe, organic apples.

Have you had your apple today?
How many apples do you eat per week? An apple a day can keep a long list of problems at bay. Apples are a great source of vitamins, phytonutrients, and flavor. You can eat an apple out of your hand, add it to a green salad, a fruit salad, a smoothie, a freshly pressed green drink, a pumpkin, squash or carrot soup, a pot of oatmeal, a batch of muffins, and many other recipes.

Applesauce beyond belief
If youve never had homemade applesauce, youre in for a treat. Its thicker, darker, and more concentrated in flavor than bottled storebought varieties and sweet without the addition of refined sweeteners if you use the recipe I’ve posted below. Once you try it you’ll be disappointed by the blandness and watery texture of the stuff sold in stores.

Besides eating applesauce as a side or dessert, you can use it to make fruit roll ups, to replace some of the fat or oil in muffins, cookies, cakes, and quickbreads, or to moisten meatloaf.

Photo credit: Rachel Albert Copyright 2011©

Holiday gift ideas
If you canning equipment and experience, you could can applesauce and use it for holiday gifts. If not, you could make apple sauce, refrigerate it, and share it with family and friends who live nearby (reminding them to refrigerate it as soon as possible). Homemade fruit roll ups (described above) also make great holiday gifts.

If you like the applesauce recipe below, consider ordering a copy of The Garden of Eating and/or The Ice Dream Cookbook for yourself and additional copies for holiday gifts for the people you care about most. You'll find the applesauce recipe in both books and the dried apple chips and fruit roll ups in The Garden of Eating.

Chef Rachel is offering a holiday special between now and 12/31/11. Buy any 2 books and receive her Cooking With Whole Foods DVD (2-CD set) for FREE!  You pay $5.50 shipping on the FREE DVD. You pay only the shipping on the DVD. NOTE: Orders must be phoned into receive the Bonus Bundle.  Call 602-840-4556

Homemade Applesauce        
Prep: 30 minutes/ Cooking: 15 to 45 minutes/ Yield: about 6 cups; 8 servings
                   
Many of the cookie and bar recipes in The Ice Dream Cookbook call for apple sauce to add moisture without extra fat. Why make your own applesauce when you can buy it so readily? Homemade applesauce tastes better than anything from a can or bottle. It also costs less than organic, unsweetened apple sauce. You can sweeten it simply with apple juice or apple juice and stevia to make a satisfying snack, dessert, side dish, or baking ingredient.

Photo credit: Rachel Albert Copyright 2011©

Note: Try to make this during the fall and winter when you can get locally grown apples from an orchard, farmer’s market, or a natural foods store that supports local farmers.

If you must buy apples from out of state, select those grown as close to home as possible (from the U.S. if you live here, rather than imports from New Zealand). If you have the freezer space, make large batches, store in wide mouth jars, and freeze some for the months ahead, leaving at least 1-inch of space below the lip in the jar.
   
FYI: Use the timesaving variation below if you own a non-electric hand food mill (e.g., a Moulinex, Foley, Cuispro, Norpro, or other).

Ingredients:
4 pounds sweet or tart-sweet apples (8 large to 12 medium), washed, cored, peeled, diced, one type:
    Gravenstein, Yellow Newton, Pink Lady, Ginger Gold, Early Gold, Braeburn, Gala, Fuji, Cortland, Macoun,     Jonathan, or Jonagold 
1 cup unsweetened apple juice or apple cider (do not use apple cider vinegar!)  
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, ginger or apple pie spice
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon unrefined sea salt, optional
¼ to ½ teaspoon pure stevia extract powder or 1/4 to 1 teaspoon clear stevia extract liquid (start with less; add more if needed), optional  

1. If using a pressure cooker, boil the juice down to reduce it to 1/2 cupful. Check it by pouring into a liquid measuring cup.
2. Combine all ingredients except stevia in a 6-quart stainless steel pressure cooker, a wide 3- to 4-quart saucepan, or a non-reactive Dutch oven.
3. To pressure cook: Lock the lid in place. Bring to full pressure, then reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 15 minutes.
4.  To boil: Cover and bring to boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to low. Simmer until tender and jammy, 45 to 60 minutes. If too watery, remove lid and simmer to thicken. 
5. For a coarse texture, mash the apples against the side of the pot with a wide wooden spoon or press and blend with a potato masher. For a smoother texture, purée the mixture in batches in a blender, Vita-Mix or a food processor fitted with a metal blade.
6. For either a smooth or coarse applesauce: For a sweeter taste, add the smallest amount of stevia listed above. Blend, taste, and repeat if needed.
7. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature. Transfer the sauce to wide mouth jars or glass bowls that have covers. Cover when cool, and refrigerate. When cold to the touch, freeze what you don’t plan to use within 2 or 3 weeks, leaving at least 1 inch of at the top of the jar.
8. Serve cold or at room temperature, or warm briefly in a heatproof bowl in a toaster oven, or use the bowl the bowl-on-a-rack method (Page 000).

3/4 cup: 152 calories, 36 grams carbohydrate (6 grams fiber), 1 gram fat, 21 milligrams calcium, 1 milligram sodium

Variations:

• Wash apples, but don’t peel or core. Remove stems and cut fruit into 1 1/2-inch pieces. Combine ingredients and cook as above. Transfer cooked apples and pan juices to a food mill fitted with a medium disk. Purée, leaving skin, seeds, and core behind. Now taste and add the optional sweetener.

• Change the spice: Omit ground spices from the recipe above,  then add one of the following

            4 (3-inch) pieces of cinnamon sticks
            2 to 3 pieces of star anise
            4 (1/2-inch thick) slices of fresh gingerroot
            or 4 whole cloves

        Cook as above. Remove and discard cinnamon, star anise, and ginger or cloves before puréeing the cooked         sauce. Photo credit: Rachel Albert Copyright 2011©

• Apple Apricot, Apple Peach, or Apple Cherry Sauce: Replace 1 pound of apples with pitted apricots, peaches, or sweet cherries.

Source: The Ice Dream Cookbook: Dairy-Free Ice Cream Alternatives with Gluten-Free Cookies, Compotes & Sauces by Rachel Albert (Planetary Press, 2008). To order, click here.

Remember Chef Rachel's holiday special between won't last forever. Between now and 12/31/11 you can buy any 2 books and receive her Cooking With Whole Foods DVD (2-CD set) for FREE!  You pay $5.50 shipping on the FREE DVD. You pay only the shipping on the DVD. NOTE: Orders must be phoned into receive the Bonus Bundle.  Call 602-840-4556

Cool Kitchen Tool: The Herb Keeper

How many times have you purchased or picked fresh herbs and watched them wilt, dry out, turn soggy, black, or mold before you could consume them? For years I’ve searched for the best way to extend the life of fresh herbs.

Been here, done this?
I tried standing them in a jar of water, like a bouquet, with and without a plastic bag on top. Perched precariously in an over-crowded refrigerator, the jar too easily tipped over. I left the herbs in their original packaging (a plastic box or bag) with and without a dry paper towel to absorb moisture. I wrapped them in a damp paper towel within a plastic bag, also tried a dry cotton kitchen towel, a cotton canvas bag, and, tossing the bundle of herbs into the crisper bin with other vegetables. The herbs absorbed odors from other foods, lost their fragile fragrances, or suffered a rough and untimely death.

I had less luck leaving fresh basil on the counter, although I have heard that it fares well that way. Perhaps because I keep my house fairly warm, even in the summer, herbs held like flowers at room temp wilt within a day or two, becoming unusable for anything other than brief entertainment for the cats. At one point, it seemed the best way to keep parsley, basil, cilantro, and other fresh herbs was to place them in a plastic bag lined with a dry, unbleached paper towel in the refrigerator.

A keeper
That was until I discovered The Herb Keeper©, a tall, lightweight, thick, plastic patent-pending product promising to keep herbs hydrated and fresh longer than my previous storage options. The long tube- shaped canister stores one to three bunches of fresh herbs at a time---parsley, cilantro, sage, oregano, thyme, and others--for up to three weeks in the refrigerator. Although I generally frown on plastic tools, this gadget won me over in early 2005 when I was introduced to it.

Basil in photo right after 6 days at room temp in the uncovered Herb Keeper with water in the bottom of the container.  

Photo credit: Rachel Albert © Copyright 2011

How it works
To use The Herb Keeper, add fresh water to the base on the continaer up to the fill line. Twist the top of the Herb Keeper onto to expose the base. Trim the ends of the herbs by one-half inch (as with fresh flowers) and place them in the Herb Keeper, immersing them in the water. Put the cap on top, store in the refrigerator, and change the water every three to four days. (The clear container allows you to see the herbs and monitor the water level.Do change the water ever few days and re-trim the stems a quarter of an inch.)

Although most herbs require refrigeration, basil and cilantro fare poorly in cold temperatures. Keep them on the counter. Simply, add cool water to the fill line and keep the herb-filled container on the counter without the black rubber lid.

Found it
At some point, maybe a few years ago, I filed the Herb Keeper away in a cabinet behind a stack of pots (that I do use) and forgot about it’s utility. Last week, after returning from the farmers’ market with a lovely, local bunch of basil, I decided to hoist it out of hiding and put it to use again. The previous week’s basil died prematurely standing in a cup of water, despite my trimming the stems so I wanted to see if the Herb Keeper would indeed keep it fresh at room temp…and it did!

I purchased this bunch of basil on Wednesday morning, May 25, 2011. I shot the picture this morning, after trimming the stems and changing the water for the second time, on May 30, 6 days later. I will probably make pesto or something else with it in the next few days. What other method would keep it so fresh looking for so long?

Photo credit: Rachel Albert © Copyright 2011

Asparagus keeper
The Herb Keeper does doubles as a storage unit for asparagus. Add a small amount of water to the base, remove the lid (most asparagus spears will stick out the top of the container), and refrigerate. The spears won’t dry out and will taste fresher for a few more days.

My verdict?
Buy it, you’ll like it. If you regularly buy and use parsley, basil, cilantro, and other fresh herbs, you want to extend their life and retain more flavor and texture until you can use them, this tool is worth investing in. It doesn’t cost much and you'll quickly recoup what you previously lost in wasted herbs.

Made by Progressive, The Herb Keeper retails for $12.99 ($10.49 + shippingon Amazon). Find it in kitchen shops and online here. Cuispro makes a similar Herb Keeper retails for $14 on Amazon.

Note: This article originally appeared in the May 2005 issue of The Herb Companion in the Cool Tools Column I used to write for them. I added a bit of text to the old version.

Got cabbage? Ttry Tracy’s Thai Cabbage Noodles

It’s one of those under-rated vegetables. No one’s built a campaign around it asking if you've got any. I don’t know of a national cabbage council so it may be a while before anyone's avidly promoting it in magazines, in TV commercials, or on t-shirts or billboards (not a bad idea for a shirt though!). It’s just not as popular milk and probably never will be. In fact, you may have forgotten it even exists outside of the occasional serving of coleslaw plunked on your plate at a picnic, potluck, or restaurant. I hadn’t prepared cabbage at home for a few months, then I happened upon a recipe that sounded great and tasted better than anything I’d made with it in a long time.

Cabbage revival?
I was recently reminded of just how delicious cabbage can taste cooked with enough fat. I follow Don Matesz’ blog, Primal Wisdom and his current Primal Eating on a Budget posts. Considering what a single restaurant meal can cost if you’re buying something other than fast food, his meals for less than $3 could solve a host of health and financial woes. Anyway, Don’s fiancée, Tracy, came up with a phenomenal sautéed Thai-inspired cabbage recipe that caught my attention. 

But I don’t like cabbage
Even if you don’t think you like it, I encourage you to give this recipe a try! I made it yesterday, had some of the leftovers today, and will have more tomorrow, freezing the last portion for a future meal. It has a slightly sweet taste (really!), not like honey or maple syrup, but a subtle, satisfying sweetness. The onions and the fat help. (I used to cook cabbage with far less fat and the flavor seriously suffered.)

Cooking with economy in mind
Cabbage is a bargain food. I picked up a large, dense head of cabbage at a local farmers’ market for a dollar. The recipe called for half a head of cabbage and produced four generous servings (a heaping cup each in size). Even with half a bell pepper, an onion, some olive oil, bacon fat,  and a few seasonings it came out to about 37 cents per serving. I thought the leftovers tasted just as delicious the second day heated briefly in a heatproof custard cup in my Cuisinart Convection Toaster Oven.

What’s in it for you?
A member of the cruciferous family, this hardy vegetable grows well in most climates. It’s a good source of potassium, vitamin C, and fiber and makes a contribution to  your daily calcium, iron, thiamine, fotate, manganese, and phosphorus requirements, and has a low calorie density (a good reason to be generous with the fat you add to it).

Cancer protection on your plate
Cabbage also contains indoles, a class of phytonutrients associated with a decreased risk of breast, colon, and prostate cancer. These nutrients boost the production of enzymes that inhibit the formation of malignant tissue, block carcinogens from causing mutations in your DNA, neutralize the effects of excess estrogen, and protect your cells from free radical damage.

What’s not in it for you?
Although many sites and sources erroneously state that cabbage and many other vegetables a good source of vitamin A, that’s a bit inaccurate. Vitamin A is only found in animal source foods. Cabbage contains pro-vitamin A (aka betacarotene), which some people can convert into vitamin A; however, the same and the conversion rate can be appallingly low for humans. According to at least one study, 47 percent of Women Genetically Incapable of Getting Adequate Vitamin A From Plants. To read more about the vegetarian fallacy that beta carotene is equivalent to vitamin A and to check out the references, click here.

In The Garden of Eating, the paleo diet book I co-authored with paleo and primal diet expert Don Matesz, Don’s perusals of nutrition literature pointed to research indicating that at least 45 percent of adult men and women do not efficiently convert carotenes to vitamin A (retinol), making dietary retinol, found only in animal products, an essential nutrient for these folks. But, I digress. I really want to sell you on the benefits of eating more vegetables overall and more cabbage in particular.

Tracy’s Thai Cabbage Noodles

Prep: 15 minutes 
Cooking: less than 15 minutes  
Yield: 4 to 5 servings

This recipe is actually grain-free. Cabbage, cut into ribbons, bears a slight resemblance to noodles. If you follow a paleo, primal, low-starch, low-carb, grain-free, or gluten-free diet, or looking for some new vegetagble recipes, don't be shy. Give this recipe a try.

Thanks go to holistic health practitioner Tracy Minton of Barefoot Acupuncture in Phoenix, AZ, for this delicious recipe posted on the Primal Wisdom blog. It's worth making again for company. To get the noodle-like effect, Tracy cut the onion and cabbage in half along the axis, then sliced them perpendicular to the axis, making ribbon-like pieces about 1/4-inch in width. 

Ingredients:
1 onion, sliced into thin ribbons
1/2 cabbage, sliced in ribbons (use only the ribbon-like slices from outer layers, about 1/4 of cabbage; I used the entire half a head)
1/2 sweet red pepper, cut into thin slices crosswise

2 tablespoons olive oil (avocado oil also works)
1/8 teaspoon salt (I used 1/4 teaspoon since I didn’t have kelp flakes)
2 to 3 teaspoons kelp flakes (optional); I didn’t have any so I left this out
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 tablespoons bacon fat (or palm shortening or more olive oil)
1 teaspoon chili-garlic sauce

1. Slice the onion, cabbage, and bell pepper, and set aside in separate bowls.
2. Heat the oil in a wok or heavy 10 to 12-inch skillet. Before it gets very hot, add the onion, sea salt, and optional kelp flakes (you can get them from Larch Hanson's Maine Seaweed Company).  Stir and cook until tender, translucent, and wilted, then add the turmeric, cabbage, and bell pepper. 
3. 3. Add the bacon fat (if you have some, or substitute palm shortening, more olive oil or avocado oil).  Stir, then add a few tablespoons of boiling water, cover, let it come to a steam, then Cook for about 10 to 12 minutes, until wilted and tender, stirring periodically. Add the chili-garlic sauce, stir, remove from heat (do not leave the lid on) and serve.
4. 4. Refrigerate leftovers and serve at room temperature or heat for 5 minutes in a heatproof dish in a toaster oven at 300 to 350˚F before serving.

Source: Primal Wisdom Blog December 14-17, 2010

Healthy Edible Gift Ideas

I prefer making rather than buying gifts over the holidays and throughout the year. No one asks where I bought the gift. They don’t want the receipt and they never ask about returning the gift. Sometimes they ask for the recipe if I don’t include it with the goodies. I save money, avoid standing in long lines, and have the satisfaction of knowing the recipient will rarely ever receive the same gift from someone else.

Although many of the recipes I show people how to make throughout the year work as gifts, I rarely have time in each class to suggest this. Each year, if I can, I teach a class focused on making and sharing delicious food over the holidays. Sometimes I lead it in the late summer or early fall (think Christmas in July or August for those who might want to plan far ahead). This year I opted to do it the weekend before Thanksgiving.

This year I called it Healthy Edible Gifts from the Hearth and held it at SWIHA (Southwest Institute of  Healing Arts in Tempe), where I teach two five-week whole foods (think natural foods rather than the chain that goes by the same name) cooking courses throughout the year along with some afternoon classes, and two online cooking courses.

My aim was to show people how to savor the season without spending a fortune by making healthy food gifts from inexpensive, whole foods ingredients. I shared wheat-free, gluten-free, dairy-free recipes free of refined sugar. Since we made it a hands-on class, I did most of my work ahead of time: shopping, planning, and setting up work stations for the class. My students did most of the work in class, after I gave them an overview of the recipes, techniques, and ingredients.

Here’s what they made for gift giving:
Moroccan Barbecue Spice Mix
Moroccan Barbecue Sauce
Cranberry-Apricot Chutney with Chipotle
Poppy Seed Pineapple Drizzle & Dressing
My Favorite Macaroond Dipped in Dark Chocolate      
Naturally Sweetened Dark-Chocolate-Dipped Date Nut “Truffles”
Homemade Apple Sauce                          

Here’s what they made to go with the spice rub and sauces above:
Moroccan BBQ Spiced Wild Alaskan Salmon
Vanilla Omelet with Cinnamon to go with the Cranberry Apricot Chutney

Here’s what I made ahead and gave them samples of to take home:     
Homemade Beef Jerky
Fruit Rollups/Fruit Leather
Dried Apple Chips

Here’s what my assistant and I made to round out the meal:
A crisp, colorful green salad (to go with the salad dressing they made)
Roasted onions, baby turnips, and sweet bell peppers (to enhance the salad)

Once they were sitting down, enjoying their meal, I walked them through planning,  wrapping, decorating, packing, freezing, and shipping tips.

The morning after
Here’s what I had for brunch the day after the class. I love leftovers and cooking classes give me plenty of delicious things to work into meals at home. It’s one of the great benefits of doing what I do.

If you’re looking for more ideas for gifts you can make and share with family and friends, check out the two posts below from 2008 and 2009. Consider getting copies of my books, The Garden of Eating and The Ice Dream Cookbook, to give as gifts and to use yourself for making edible gifts for others. The books have been hugely popular with conventional eaters, people into natural foods, whole foods, real foods, slow foods, paleo and primal diets, wheat-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, low-carb, moderate-carb, and high-carb diets, the Zone, Crossfit, and other ways of eating. My mid December of this year (20101), I hope to have my first set of cooking dvds ready for sale.

For more great gift ideas, click here and here

If you’re interested in cooking classes in the Phoenix metro area, click here to see the list of upcoming classes I’m teaching. If you’d like to give a gift certificate for a group or private cooking class, cooking party, kitchen coaching, or healthy shopping tour for someone on your list, please contact me by email (see my contact info under my photo, upper right side of page). 

What are you doing about your drinking water?

The water you dispense from your tap may be hazardous to your health. Thanks to modern waste disposal, faulty agricultural and industrial practices, and modern disinfection methods our drinking water may be more like poison than nectar. According to a report sponsored by Ralph Nader, more than 2,110 contaminants have been identified in the U.S. drinking water supplies, yet less than 100 are regulated by the EPA.

The chlorination conundrum
Heralded as one of the major disease preventing achievements of the 20th century, chlorination of public water supplies has eliminated water-borne diseases, such as typhoid fever, cholera and dysentery. It has also brought with it risks for a whole new set of diseases.

Once water is chlorinated, the chlorine combines with organic and non-organic pollutants to form more potent substances. When chlorine comes in contact with decaying vegetation, herbicides and pesticides, it forms new and more deadly, carcinogenic compounds including trihalomethanes (THMs) and other endocrine disrupters linked to hormonal, behavioral, reproductive, and developmental disorders, chronic fatigue, weakened reflexes, damage to the immune system, senility, lower IQs, cancer, atherosclerosis, heart attack and stroke.

“Trihalomethanes are linked to more than 10,000 cases of urinary bladder and rectal cancer each year, according to an analysis of more than a dozen peer-reviewed, published, epidemiological studies (Morris, et. al. 1992). Other contaminants in America's tap water including pesticides, radioactivity, Giardia, E. Coli, and lead, take a certain but less easily quantified toll on the health of millions more Americans.”
Source: Environmental Working Group.
http://www.ewg.org/node/7655

“During 1994-1995, the most recent two-year period for which federal data are available, more than 45 million people drank water from public water supplies that failed to meet at least one, and often several, federal health standards. Not surprisingly, major outbreaks of waterborne disease continue long after Cryptosporidium in the drinking water of Milwaukee killed more than 100 people and made 400,000 seriously ill in 1993.

"More recently, outbreaks of waterborne disease have occurred elsewhere in the U.S., including a little publicized major outbreak in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1994. The most likely culprit, again, is Cryptosporidium.  But because the fecal-borne parasite is not regulated and is thus not routinely tested for by the local water utility or public health officials, it has been difficult to identify the specific water contaminant responsible for the outbreak.”Source: Environmental Working Group.

Is your tap water safe?
According to experts from the Centers for Disease Control, nearly one million people get sick each year from drinking water, and almost one thousand of these people die from it.Federal drinking water standards are weak, poorly enforced, and do not account for multiple contaminants in a single glass of water. They are set as if people are exposed to one contaminant at a time, which is not the case. Source: Environmental Working Group.

There are so many issues that need to be addressed. Bottom line: city and state governments don’t have the funding to clean up our water supply. But even your could exceed all state and federal regulations, the water could still become contaminated with lead, asbestos, trihalomethanes, polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and other pollutants as it travels through miles of pipes to reach your home. For this reason, millions of people are looking for alternatives to drinking tap water.

Is bottled water any better?
Bottled water isn’t necessarily any better than tap water. “In fact, many times bottled water is tap water,” says Michael Blanding, an award-winning freelance writer for AlterNet.org. Roughly 40% of bottled water actually comes from municipal water supplies, not pristine springs. The industry is dominated by three companies, who together control more than half the market: Coca-Cola, which produces Dasani; Pepsi, which produces Aquafina; and Nestle, which produces several “local” brands, including Poland Spring, Arrowhead, Deer Park, Ozarka, and Calistoga. Both Coke and Pepsi exclusively use tap water for their sources; Nestle uses tap water in some brands.

Photo credit right: Wikipedia

According to a four-year scientific study conducted by the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in which they tested more than 1,000 bottles of 103 brands of water, one-third of the waters tested contained levels of contamination that exceeded allowable limits, including synthetic organic chemicals, bacteria, and arsenic.

Bottled water is a largely unregulated industry. According to the NRDC, "Even when bottled waters are covered by the FDA's rules, they are subject to less rigorous testing and purity standards than those [that] apply to city tap water." For example, tap water is not allowed to contain any E. coli or fecal coliform, but bottled water is allowed some contamination.

The price of the illusion
According to some estimates, 100 billion dollars are spent worldwide on bottled water each year. The average U.S. citizen spends $400 a year on bottled water. Are you one of them? Do you keep your bottled water in your car? Did you stop to think about the extreme temperatures the bottles went through before you bought them? They're in the back of unrefrigerated trucks, warehouses, and loading docks. Do you leave the bottles in your car or garage? Those bottles releases toxic, cancer-causing plasticizers into the water. The more heat they are exposed to, the more chemicals leach into your water. A home drinking water filtration system paired with tainless steel water bottles represents a more ecological and economical solution.

Bottled water: an environmental disaster
Every second 1500 water bottles end up as garbage and 86% of them are never recycled. They end up in rivers, lakes, streams, landfills, and on beaches. They pollute water and destroy wildlife habitat. Manufacturing bottles to meet demand in the U.S. uses up more than 1.5 million barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel 100,000 cars per year. Worldwide approximately 2.7 million tons of plastic are used to bottle water every year. Less than 14% of these bottles are recycled. Those that are recycled are often shipped to China, using more oil. If the bottles are burned in waste disposal sites, as they frequently are, they release more carbon dioxide into the air. It's a lose, lose proposition.

A sustainable solution
The best solution is to invest in a reliable, durable, economical, independently certified point-of-use, home drinking water filtration system. That's what I did almost 25 years ago. I used a Multi Pure Drinking Water System to filter my water for cooking, drinking, ice, beverages, and feeding pets. I enjoy great tasting pure water, conveniently dispensed from my kitchen tap for pennies per gallon. I've shared this solution with friends, clients, colleagues, and cooking students for 24 years. You don’t have to own your own home to use one. Multi Pure makes counter top models for renters and under the counter models for home owners. The systems are independently certified by NSF International under standards 42 (for aesthetic effects) and stardard 53 (for health effects) to reduce one of the widest range of contaminants of concern to health. They come with an unconditional 90-day money back guarantee, 1 year warranty on all connectors, and a lifetime warranty on the housing.

Exploring your options
Pour through pitchers? Faucet mount filters? Reverse Osmosis? Distillation units? Solid carbon block? How do you compare the different technologies? How important is certification? What are the upfront costs? What does the system cost to maintain? Are the filters easy to change? Does the product come with a warranty? If so, how long does it last? What should you buy? What fits your needs?

If you’re ready to save money, ready to stop buying bottled water, lugging jugs, and drinking from plastic containers, if you want better, safer, cleaner water, I can help. Check out my distributor page here.

Contact me through the email link under my picture on the upper right hand corner of this blog. I would be happy to discuss the options and help you compare different systems. I’ll send you the Top 10 Questions to Ask Before Buying a Water Filtration Device. If you purchase a home drinking water filtration system through me I can offer you wholesale pricing and a special gift: 2 stainless steel water bottles with totes or a free shower filter. For more information, click here.

Photo Credits: Multi Pure Corporation

Economical Eggs

If you want to improve the nutritional value of your diet and economize at the same time, consider eating more eggs. They’re super nutritious, delicious, versatile, and relatively inexpensive. Eggs contain a protein of such high value that its the standard against which all other proteins are measured. 

Eggs are rich in potassium, phosphorus, folic acid, pantothenic acid, vitamin B12, biotin, thiamine, niacin, the fat soluble vitamins A, D and E, the amino acid methionine, and, in some cases, omega-3 essential fatty acids (EPA and DHA) if the chickens receive the raw materials to make them.

How often can you safely consume eggs?
As often as you like. Three, four, five, or six times a week, although I like more variety so I don't eat them every day. I do eat them several (about three to five) times a week and I never toss out the yolks (the most nutrient-dense part!) You can read more about the benefits of eggs and egg yolks in my book, The Garden of Eating: A Produce-Dominated Diet and Cookbook.

While it is commonly, but erroneously, believed that eating cholesterol rich foods will elevate serum cholesterol, numerous studies have shown this belief to be false.  The famous Framingham Heart Study found that dietary cholesterol has no influence on serum cholesterol.  In fact, in the Archives of Internal Medicine in 1992, the director of that study, Dr. William Castelli wrote “In Framingham, Mass., the more saturated fat one ate, the more cholesterol one ate, the more calories one ate, the lower the person’s serum cholesterol....”

Cholesterol is essential for your brain, eyes, nervous system, and many other organs and systems in your body. A healthy brain contains generous amounts of cholesterol. If don’t eat enough of it, your body will manufacture it or try go without and then be unable to make the hormones it requires, as sometimes happens to people who follow vegan diets.

Although many organizations caution against eating more than three eggs per week, there is absolutely no scientific justification for such restriction.  Researchers have noted an inverse relationship between egg consumption and death from heart disease.  A 1996 analysis of world wide of egg consumption found that France, Spain, and Japan all have a high per capita consumption of eggs the lowest rates of death from heart disease!  For more about egg and cholesterol myths, check out Thincs (The Internatitional Association of Cholesterol Skeptics) and the Cholesterol and Health Blog, which counters the misinformation we've been fed about cholesterol and health.

Banish the bars
Protein bars have become increasingly popular over the past 10 years. People use them to replace meals and snacks. However, you pay a lot of money for the concentrated calories they provide and you miss out on the benefits of eating real, fresh, whole foods. Even if pass on the bars that contain fructose, high fructose corn syrup, refined white sugar, artificial sweeteners, hydrogenated oils, artificial colorings and flavorings, and chemical names and numbers, you’ll be paying a lot for the packaged product.  Many of the health food store versions still contain highly processed ingredients and have a composition more like a candy bar than a wholesome meal. The bars made from dried fruits pack a hefty dose of concentrated carbohydrates.

Better alternatives
You’d be better off nutritionally and financially choosing unrefined whole foods for snacks and mini meals. For the cost of one protein bar, you could buy a dozen eggs. For the cost of two protein bars, you could buy a dozen pasture-raised or organic, free-range eggs and some fresh fruit, which would provide more snacks or mini-meals than a processed, packaged meal replacement bar. Whole foods require more chewing, increasing your feeling of satiety and reducing the likelihood of overeating. How long does a glorified candy bar really satisfy anyone?

What can you do with the eggs?
Hard boil them and turn them into Deviled Eggs ( I call Angeled Eggs, since the other name makes them sound so evil!) or egg salad, or slice and add them to a salad with fish, chicken, or meat. The eggs go well with sliced celery, jicama, leftover blanched vegetables, or wrapped in lettuce leaves and secured with a toothpick. Hard boiled eggs also taste delicious dipped into herbed sea salt or sea vegetable flakes or topped with hot sauce or salsa, accompanied by celery, jicama sticks, or cherry or grape tomatoes.

For a more substantial sit down meal, consider an omelet, scrambled, fried, or poached eggs. Of these, scrambled eggs and omelets travel best. I’ve packed them for breakfast with sautéed, blanched, or stir fried vegetables from the night before and a piece of fruit and enjoyed them served at room temperature when I’ve had to eat breakfast away from home.

Plan ahead
If you hard boil a dozen or more eggs on the weekend, you can set yourself and your family members up for several easy meals or healthy snacks.

I figure 3 to 4 eggs per person for a main meal (eating 2 or 3 times a day). If you eat 3 times a day and include something starchy in the meal, 2 eggs per person might be enough. If you’re physically active and eat only twice a day, you’ll need some additional protein source, such as meat or sausage, to go with your eggs. I figure 1 to 3 eggs per person for a snack, depending upon what you plan to serve them. Sometimes I serve eggs along with another protein (bacon, sausage, leftover chicken, turkey, beef, lamb, or fish).

Easy assembly
Last Friday, I had a few ounces of leftover steak tartare for dinner with a a couple of Angeled Eggs, a crisp green salad (the veggies were washed in advance), and a fresh, ripe pear with some toasted pecans. I had the meal ready in mere minutes. I didn’t have to cook a thing because I’d boiled a dozen eggs several days before.

This morning I turned 4 hard boiled eggs into a curried egg salad garnished with raw bell pepper and served them with leftover steamed carrots and broccoli, Chebe (manioc/cassava-based, gluten-free, grain-free) Bread Sticks, and applesauce I made last week, all served with a cup of Teecchino (roasted chicory root coffee alternative) with coconut milk and stevia.

This meal was easy to assemble, delicious, and satisfying. While the frozen Chebe dough baked in the toaster oven, the veggies and eggs came to room temp.  I seasoned ground chicken for tonight's Kafta Kabobs to go with leftover roasted Brussels sprouts and Poached Pears with Raisins, Turkish Dried Apricots and toasted pecans).

Do you really know how to boil an egg?
You may think that anyone can boil an egg; however, my experience has been that most people overcook the eggs, which creates a greenish hue around the outside of the yolk, making them more difficult to digest and more likely to cause sulfurous smelling flatulence. Eggs cooked more lightly retain more of their essential fatty acids (such as EPA and DHA found in pasture raised eggs, free range eggs from chickens that run around in a garden, yard or on a farm and have access to bugs, worms, and grubs, and commercial eggs labeld EPA-or DHA-rich eggs from chickens fed a special diet).

How perfectly boil eggs
When I was growing up I used to hard boil eggs….for 30 minutes. I had no idea that I could have accomplished what I wanted cooking the eggs for 1/20th to 1/60th of the time. Now I know that the eggs only need to boil for 30 to 60 seconds. Try this method. I think you’ll be amazed at the difference.

Perfectly Hard-Boiled Eggs
Prep: 5 minutes/ Cooking: 1 minute (plus 25 minutes to rest)/ Yield: 12 eggs
               
Most people boil eggs far too long, resulting in dry, greenish tinged, difficult-to-digest yolks. This recipe is easy, only the instructions are long. You’ll learn it by heart after a few tries. Consider preparing 1 dozen or even two dozen eggs on the weekend to set you up for easy meals and snacks during the week.

Ingredients:

• Filtered water
• 12 medium to large free-range chicken or duck eggs, rinsed
• 4 to 6 ice cubes
• Ground black pepper, lemon pepper or hot sauce, optional

1. Arrange eggs in a 2-quart saucepan. Cover with 1 to 1 1/2 inches of cold water. Cover pot and bring to a rolling boil over medium heat. Cook 30 to 60 seconds. (That’s right, SECONDS!) Remove from heat, and allow eggs to rest in covered pot for 15 minutes. 
2. Drain, and cover eggs with ice water for 10 minutes, then drain and refrigerate them in the shell. Or, tap lightly and peel, or roll eggs between your palms to free shells and skin.
3. Refrigerate peeled eggs in tightly covered container. A wide mouth Mason jar or Pyrex container works well. Use peeled eggs within 1 week, unpeeled eggs within 10 days.

 
2 medium chicken eggs: 128 calories,12 g protein, 2 g carbohydrate, 8 g fat, 44 mg calcium, 110 mg sodium
2 large chicken eggs: 146 calories, 12 g protein, 2 g carbohydrate,10 g fat, 50 mg calcium, 126 mg sodium

 Angeled Eggs/Deviled Eggs

Prep: 20 minutes/ Cooking: 20 to 30 minutes/ Yield: 6 delicious eggs   Serves: 2-3
       
Angled....deviled, what’s the difference? Deviled sounds so much less inviting and puts the eggs in such an unfavorable light. There’s nothing evil about these eggs, especially if you’re using locally grown pasture-raised or at least EPA/DHA-rich eggs from a health food store and mayonnaise that doesn’t contain refined vegetable oils (soy, safflower, sunflower, canola, or generice vegetable oil) or hydrogenated oils. For the richest, smokiest flavor, use bittersweet (not hot) smoked paprika.

Shopping for Mayo: The best tasting brand I’ve found with the simplest ingredients is Follow Your Heart Grapeseed Oil Veganaise. It contains trace amounts of soy protein, which I usually avoid, but this one doesn’t taste beany, doesn’t cause disgestive distress, and contains better ingredients than the other bottled mayos I’ve seed in natural foods stores that are made from refined, polyunsatured oils. If you avoid even trace amounts of soy protein, look for Omega 3 Mayo in natural foods stores or make your own.

Note: If you want to make your own mayo, use extra virgin avocado oil with or without a little flax oil for a more mild flavor than you’d get using olive oil. You can also find recipes on line for making mayo from bacon fat or rendered (preferably grass-fed) beef tallow. I haven’t tried them yet, but I plan to soon. Double this recipe if desired, particularly if cooking for two or more people.

Ingredients:

• 6 Hard-Boiled Eggs (see previous recipes for special tips)
• 1 to 1 1 teaspoons prepared mustard (white or yellow mustard) or 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric, optional (antioxidant)
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper or ground chipotlé (smoked dried jalapeno)
• 1 tablespoon finely minced (thoroughly washed) fresh chives, parsley, tarragon or chervil or 1 teaspoon dried, crumbled herbs
• 1/4 cup minced sweet white onion or scallion or 2 teaspoons minced shallots, optional
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice, seasoned rice vinegar or organic apple cider vinegar, optional
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons Grapeseed Oil Vegenaise or Homemade Mayonnaise*
• Paprika or bittersweet smoked paprika, to dust egg halves

1. Peel eggs and slice in half lengthwise. Add yolks to a medium bowl with remaining ingredients (except paprika). Mix and mash into a coarse cream with a fork or potato masher.
2. Portion and spoon heaping teaspoon-size balls of yolk mixture into the egg white halves, then evenly divide any remaining mixture. Dust with paprika.
3. Cover in a glass or Pyrex container and refrigerate. Use within 3 days.  

Variations:

• For wet mustard substitute 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard. For a spicy kick, double the pepper.
• Egg Salad (serves 2): Mash whites with yolks and seasonings. Serve on toasted gluten-free bread or breadsticks (such as Chebe Bread) with lettuce or baby greens, cucumber, bell pepper, celery, and grated carrot or whatever colorful veggies you have on hand. For roll-ups, wrap tablespoon sized portions of egg salad in lettuce leaves and secure with toothpicks. Or serve egg salad stuffed into cored cherry or roma tomatoe.

Healthy Edible Gifts for the Holidays

Delight everyone on your gift list with homemade sweet and savory treats that are both delicious and healthy. It's not too early to start thinking about holiday gift giving.

Love the holidays but not the gluttony of shopping,over-spending, over-eating and waste? You can avoid the malls by making mouth-watering consumables from simple, wholesome ingredients. Photo credit right unknown>>>

Great gift ideas for the holidays
Each year, I make a selection of offerings from my Favorite’s List (list below). This year, I’m publishing my list here, so you can start thinking about and planning what to make. The recipes can be found in both of my cookbooks, The Garden of Eating: A Produce-Dominated Diet & Cookbook and my dessert book, The Ice Dream Cookbook: Dairy Free Ice Cream Alternatives with Gluten Free Cookies, Compotes & Sauces. Some can be found on this blog using the category links on the left.

Photo credit right Julie Ann Elefante ©2008

These recipes are budget-friendly, allergy-friendly, and diet-friendly, so they can satisfy a wide range of tastes, preferences, and dietary needs.

No returns or exchanges!
Those who receive my gifts never ask how to return or exchange them. They don’t add to the landfills or complain about gaining unwanted weight. Many feel relieved not to receive another gadget, knick-knack, or gooey tray of fudge. They appreciate the healthfulness, uniqueness, and thought that went into the gift and many re-use the containers. Photo right Chef Rachel ©2009

What else can you do to be thrifty?
Save and re-use ribbons, gift bags, and wrapping paper. Create collage-cards from photographs, pictures clipped from magazines, and cards from previous holidays. You will you save paperr and have fun making custom cards. Best of all, everyone will appreciate the thought that went into their one-of-a-kind creations.

Planning tips
You can make some items weeks or months ahead. Fruit roll-ups, beef or bison jerky, and dried apple chips keep for more than a year at room temperature, longer in the freezer. Mixtures of whole spice seeds keep for months; freshly powdered spice rubs taste best made within two to four weeks gift giving. (They’ll stay fresh longer if vacuum sealed.)

You can prepare these perishable ahead: homemade cookies, breads, muffins, peanut sauce, applesauce, barbecue sauce, chutney, and nut butter-based dips ––if you properly pack and freeze them to retain freshness and flavor.

How to bag it
You can pack your treasures in half-pint, pint and quart canning jars, redecorated salad dressing bottles, plant-based cellulose bags with silver or gold twist ties, or gift boxes lined with foil and parchment paper. Use plastic bags for bread and anything else that must be kept airtight but won’t easily fit in jars. Make fun and pretty gift and instruction cards that include credit for the book and author whose recipe you use, then attach them with festive ribbons.

When you pack cookies or breads in zippered bags, separate each layer with pieces of unbleached parchment paper and place a piece of unbleached paper towel inside the top and bottom of the bag to absorb moisture. Insert the end of a straw two or three inches into the bag; zip the bag closed to meet the straw; exhale the air from your lungs, then inhale deeply through the straw to suck the air out of the bag. Pinch the straw shut, then pull it out and zip the bag closed to prevent freezer burn. Now you can stash it in the freezer.

Photo credit right Chef Rachel (me!) ©2008

No bag deal: Just jar it!
Stash perishable liquid items in wide-mouth canning jars even if you don’t can. Use a wide-mouth funnel to fill the jars. Do not fill  beyond the lip in the jar and leave 1 1/2-inchs of headroom for expansion in freezing. Allow warm items to cool slightly, uncovered, at room temp, then refrigerate. When food reaches refrigerator temperature, cover tightly (vacuum seal if desired), and freeze.

A Tilia Food Saver® with accessory attachments allow you to seal food in canning jars. It removes air from containers and seals in freshness, flavor, fragrances, and nutrients,  prevents freezer burn and keeps food fresh up to five times longer than conventional containers or plastic wrap. Look for them in my Amazon store or use the links above.

Photo credit right Chef Rachel (me!) ©2008

Decorate jars with ribbons and pretty fabric cut into circles with pinking shears (make the fabric cut outs 2-inches wider than  jar tops). Place pieces of fabric on top of vacuum sealed jars before screwing on the metal bands.

SPECIAL NOTE: Vacuum sealing does not replace refrigeration, freezing, or canning. Food can still spoil. Let your gift recipients know which gifts need to be stored in the refrigerator or freezer.

Five tips to keep your food in ship shape

1. Tightly seal jars and containers. Vacuum seal if possible. Slip jars into zip-locking bags, leaving air in the bag for cushioning. Wrap each jar with bubble wrap.
2. Choose a sturdy box.  Cushion jars with wadded up newspaper, cornstarch or styrofoaf peanuts, popcorn, or more bubble wrap.
3. When shipping multiple items, place heavy stuff in the bottom of the box and allow plenty of space and cushioning between the objects.
4. To prevent shifting, shake the box down, then add more stuffing as needed.
5. To reduce shipping costs, ship refrigerated or frozen items in separate boxes from non-perishables.

How to ship perishables
Buy dry ice in supermarkets in 5-pound plastic bags. One bag will keep the contents of an 18-cube box (18x18x18) cold for 24 hours. Take it to your local UPS store with refrigerated or frozen food gifts and have them pack it properly and ship it next day air.

Photo credit right Chef Rachel (me!) ©2007

Labeling tips
Use waterproof markers and large, bold print for ship to and return address labels on the outside of your boxes. Secure labels with clear shipping tape. Label “PERISHABLE” and ship the fastest method possible.

Cookbooks make great gifts
If you’ve enjoyed my cookbooks, cooking classes, cooking demos, and blog post, consider buying copies of The Garden of Eating and The Ice Dream Cookbook to give to your health-conscious family members, friends, neighbors, and co-workers. Incidentally, people who don’t have food allergies or intolerances have thoroughly enjoyed these cookbooks and the recipes made from them.

Healthy Edible Gift Ideas from The Garden of Eating
Spicy Peanut Sauce
Cashew-Dill or Cashew Macadamia Dill Dip
 Poppy Seed Pineapple Drizzle
Moroccan BBQ Spice Mix
Moroccan BBQ Sauce
Better Barbecue Sauce (doubles as red sauce for anything)
My Favorite Macaroons
Better Than Store-bought Apple Sauce
Fruit Roll Ups
Cranberry-Apple Compote
Dark Chocolate Dipped Date Nut Truffles
Apple-Apricot Compote
Homemade Beef & Bison Jerky
Dried Apple Chips

Healthy Edible Gift Ideas from The Ice Dream Cookbook
Sesame Seed & Pumpkin Seed Pralines
Cashew, Almond & Pecan Pralines
 Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Blondies
Gluten-Free Better Brownies
Dark Chocolate Dipped Date Nut Truffles
Better Than Store-bought Apple Sauce
Gluten-Free Banana Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Gluten-Free Chocolate Cookies
Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
Gluten-Free Pumpkin Spice Cookies
Gluten-Free Gingerbread Cookies 
Gluten-Free Graham Crackers
Cranberry-Apple Compote
Apple-Apricot Compote
Karly’s Carob Sauce & Karly’s Chocolate Sauce

Money Saving Tips for Your Food Budget

When it comes to buying and cooking chicken, there are so many ways to save money.

Good, better, and best
Although pasture-raised chickens are the best bet nutritionally and ecologically, not everyone can afford to buy it or to eat this kind of poultry exclusively. I consider certified organic or local, antibiotic-free, free range the next best bet in my book (The Garden of Eating), but again, this may not be in your budget now or as a weekly expenditure.

That's dark meat chicken there: a meaty chicken back and a small thigh. The back from a cut up fryer has a fair amount of meat on it. It's not to be wasted.

I’m all for local, organic, and grass-fed and I’m also practical. If you don’t have the income to eat that way or do it it 100%, then you make the best choices within the confines of your current economical situation. I think it’s more important to eat a protein- and produce-rich diet, even if it’s not 50% or even 100% organic, local, or pasture-raised. So, with that in mind, check out the tips below. If you have tips I haven’t thought of, let me know by posting your comments below.

1) Stock up on your favorite cuts or parts when they go on sale
Check out the weekly ad specials that show up in your mail box. Here in Phoenix, AZ, Sprouts Market, Sunflower Market, Frys, Safeway, and Food City offer weekly specials on so many food. You can find poultry, meat, fresh vegetables, and fruits at prices even people on very limited budgets can afford.

2) Buy more dark meat poultry
For the cost of boneless skinless chicken breasts, you can usually buy two to four times as much dark meat chicken. Yes, it’s higher in fat, but fat’s not bad. We need fat in our diets. It increases satiety at meals, makes the meat more moist, and means you don’t have to add oil to it in cooking. Besides, dark meat poultry (thighs and drumsticks) contains more iron and zinc than breast meat so it gives you a nutritional boost for your buck that you don’t get from white meat chicken.

3) Buy more bone-in poultry
I know a lot of people like buying boneless, skinless chicken. I’ll admit that I buy it sometimes (usually when it’s on a sale or I need it for a particular recipe), but I don’t buy it all the time. Bone in poultry costs less than boneless. Sure the boneless breast halves and strips are easy to handle, but it’s not that much harder or more time consuming to cook bone pieces. Baked, roasted, or grilled chicken thighs or drumsticks take very little hands-on prep and yield delicious meals.

4) Make bone broth
Buying chicken on the bone provides the main ingredient you need for making Bone Building Broth (recipe below), a more nutritious alternative to those cartons of preservative-free chicken broth sold in natural foods stores and the health food aisle of supermarkets. You can cook the bones all day or overnight in a slow cooker (aka Crock Pot®) Strain it, cool it, bottle it (I use wide mouth quart and pint canning jars), label it, refrigerate it, then freeze it once it’s cold. If you go through a quart of this broth (technically stock) every week and use home made, you can save $150 to $200 a year.

To learn about the Benefits of homemade Bone Broth click here and here.

You don’t have to make bone broth every week. I make it about once a month. In the meantime, you can stash the bones in bags in the freezer (I use leftover, meaning previously used and rinsed, zip-top bags for this). Take the bones out and cook them when you want, when it fits your schedule. It takes less than 10 minutes to assemble and get the pot cooking. You can make it big batches in a large stock pot or slow cooker. Figure about 30 minutes total for assembling, straining, pouring into jars, labeling, and sealing the pine and quart jars with screw on lids. I like to vacuum seal the broth in wide mouth canning jars using a Tilia Food Saver, but you don’t absolutely have to vacuum seal. Remember to leave an inch of space below the lip in the jar.

5) Cook a chicken or two
Serve the chicken the first night, as is with whatever seasonings you put on it before cooking whatever or condiments you like. Cook two or three chickens at a time if you have a big family so you’re sure to have leftovers. You can chill then freeze some of the meat after stripping it off the bones.

If you don’t like eating the same meal the next day, transform the chicken into a new dish the next day. After cooking the meat, freeze what you don’t plan to consume within three days. That's curried chicken salad in process>>>

You can turn a single roast chicken into multiple meals with different seasonings and condiments, particularly if you make the chicken fairly plain the first time around. Think curried chicken salad, chicken waldorf, Cobb Salad, chicken over green salad with vinaigrette or avocado and salsa, Shredded chicken in chili, chicken in lettuce wraps with Thai flavored condiments, stir fried veggies with chicken and peanut sauce added at the last minute, chicken, chicken tacos, chicken burritos or enchiladas (if you eat tortillas) and so on. Note: These same strategies apply to cooking chicken breast meat, whether you bake, roast, grill, or poach it.

6) Cook ahead and in quantity
Whatever chicken parts you cook, cook with multiple meals in mind. This is the key to having great food on hand when hunger strikes. Leftover chicken provide the perfect addition to pack lunches, easy to assemble dinners, even breakfast. Serve it as is or slice, dice, shred, or chop it. Dress it up, sauce it, toss it, and season it with different condiments or accentuate it with different side dishes to add variety to your meals.

There are so many ways to make tradeoffs that pay off. Let me know if this posts gives you new ideas to save time and money.

Basic Bone-Building Broth

Total hands-on: 20 to 30 minutes/ Cooking: 10 to 20 hours /Yield: 4 quarts

I save all the bones from boning and cooking chicken, turkey, beef, bison, venison, and pork––even if we’ve  nibbled on them. I separate meat bones from poultry bones in recycled bags in the freezer. When I have enough, I make a thick, milky, gelatinous, mineral-rich broth. I read that a cup of bone stock/broth may contain as much calcium as a glass of milk. Because I make mine so thick, it probably contains more. I use it to make sautéed greens, Better Brussels Sprouts, Better Barbecue Sauce, Lean & Creamy Dressings, stir-fried vegetables, gravy, soup, and stews (see index for recipes).

Note: Sea vegetables add trace minerals, including iodine and chelate heavy metals (including mercury) and radioactive isotopes from your body. I start cooking this in the morning or after lunch or supper, and let it to cook all day or night. If you’re only cooking bones from breast parts, the broth won’t turn milky, but it will still be delicious.

Ingredients (for a large batch):
3 to 4 pounds poultry raw or cooked bones, from whole carcasses, fryer parts, backs, necks, or wings     of chicken, turkey, duck, guinea fowl, game hens, etc.
3 tablespoons lemon juice, organic red wine vinegar or raw apple cider vinegar
2 bay leaves and/or 2 to 3 (5-inch) pieces kelp, kombu or alaria sea vegetable
12 peppercorns, optional
1 teaspoon each dried rosemary and thyme, optional
1 large onion, quartered
1 large carrot, quartered, optional
5 to 6 quarts filtered water, or slightly more as needed to amply cover bones

1. Combine ingredients in 8-quart stockpot. Add water to cover bones. Cover and bring to full rolling boil over medium heat. Reduce to medium-low to keep broth gently bubbling. Skim off foam that rises to surface during first 30 minutes.
2. Simmer 10 to 14 hours, or until broth appears milky. Add more water if needed to keep bones covered. To add more nutrients, mash with potato masher after 8 hours.
3. Uncover and simmer 1 hour longer, or until reduced to 4 quarts. Remove bones with large slotted spoon or pour through colander over extra-large bowl. Return broth to pot and place in sink filled with several inches of ice water. Cool for 30 minutes.
4. Strain and ladle into 1-quart Mason jars or freezer containers allowing 1 inch of head space in each container. Label, date, and refrigerate. Broth will thicken as it cools.
5. Skim off and discard fat layer before using or freezing broth. You can freeze some of the broth in ice cube trays and transfer to larger freezer containers. Use refrigerated broth within 10 days. Use frozen broth within 9 months.

Nutrition breakdown not available

Variations:

*  Slow Cooker Version: Combine all ingredients, except water, in 5- to 6-quart slow cooker. Add water to within 1 inch of top. Cover and cook on HIGH for 2 to 3 hours, if possible, then reduce heat to LOW and continue to cook for 8 to 10 hours.

Source for recipe: The Garden of Eating: A Produce—Dominated Diet & Cookbook
© Copyright 2004, Rachel Albert-Matesz

Cooking with Economy Cuts, part 2

In a previous post about Healthy Eating on a Budget and cooking with economy cuts, I suggested buying and cooking more roasts. If you haven’t cooked many roasts you might conjure up visions of waiting hours for your dinner to cook. Not so! Many a roast will be done in 1 to 1 1/2 hours. 

Cook ahead
I like to do all or most of my cooking in the morning. That simplifies my day and allows me to pull out food when I need it, whether I am dining at home or packing a meal to go. Whatever my schedule for the day, I know I have food ready when I need it. I also like to cook with multiple means in mind, so cooking a larger cut of meat, such as a 2 to 3 pound roast means I will have great leftovers (planned-overs) for future meals.

Cook with multiple meals in mind
I usually plan to serve the meat 2 or 3 days in a row. Whatever I don’t think will get eaten in that time, I freeze in single or double portions, in heatproof Pyrex or Corning Ware containers with lids, or wide-mouth pint-size canning jars. I label them with wide masking tape and Sharpie markers, and then I stash them in the refrigerator. Once the containers feel cold to the touch, I transfer some of them to the freezer

Homemade convenience food
I transfer containers of leftover meat from the freezer to the refrigerator a day or so before I need them.  I can serve them close to room temp without reheating, in hot weather, if I don’t want to wait to heat the meat, or if I want to slice and serve it over a salad. Or, I can remove the lid and place the heatproof container in my Cuisinart convection toaster oven and heat for 10 to 12 minutes at 250˚F or 300˚F.

The How to Cook Everything Book
For the recipe below I consulted Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything. I started with his recipe for Roast Pork with Garlic and Rosemary. I doubled the amount of seasonings (rosemary, red pepper, sweetener, and garlic) as indicated below. I replaced sugar with dried coconut palm sugar, cayenne with ground chipotlé pepper powder, and I used dried powdered rosemary rather than fresh (I dry rosemary myself, then powder it). I prefer grinding dried rosemary needles rather than leaving them whole, where they get stuck between teeth and sometimes look more like lawn rakings than herbs. The powdered herb spreads more easily over foods, whether I’m making a roast or roasting vegetables. Other than those few changes, I followed the instructions as written.

For tips for drying and powdering fresh rosemary, click here.

Meals made easy
The roast pork cooked in 1 and 1/4 hours. Just before I popped it into the oven, I also seasoned a pan of cut of chicken fryer parts. Both of them cooked at the same time. This provided the meat for the other meal of the day for three days with several portions for the freezer. 

While the meats cooked, I prepared vegetables with three days in mind. I made sautéed kale with onions and herbs and blanched broccoli with carrots. To round out each meal I planned to rinse and slice fresh fruit, topping or serving it with crispy toasted nuts or creamy raw coconut butter.

I find eating a moderate to low-carb produce- and protein-rich diet is so much easier to plan and cook for than my previous plans that required foods with long soaking and or cooking times, such as whole grains or starchy vegetables.  Doing IF (Intermittent Fasting) and eating only two times a a day further simplifies shopping, cooking, and eating so I don’t have to spend as much time in the kitchen or at the table, which gives me more time and energy for other things.

To read about IF (intermittent fasting), check out Eat, Stop, Eat, and Lean Gains  and this site.

Back to the roast
After letting the pork roast rest for 10 minutes, I sliced it thinly and divided it between 8 containers, spooning some of the reduced pan juices over each portion. After refrigerating, I froze 5 of the containers, that left me set for protein for 1 of my 2 daily meals for the next 3 days.

Roast Pork with Garlic and Rosemary

Time: 1-1/2 to 2 hours, largely unattended        Yield: 6 or more servings

Bittman suggests you serve this with very light side dishes; to me that means non-starchy vegetables prepared or serve with a bit of butter, olive oil, or homemade salad dressing, and fresh fruit for dessert. He says,” this is the kind of dish that drives you wild and makes you eat more than you want to.” I didn’t have that problem. I felt easily satisfied with a modest portion.

He suggests that “If you want a more garlicky flavor, cut a clove of garlic into thin slivers and, using a thin-bladed knife, insert them into the roast all over. You can do this a day or two in advance; if you do, rub the roast all over with salt, too, and keep refrigerated, covered loosely with a towel or piece of waxed paper. “

Note: The recipe below contain twice as much of the seasonings as Bittman's original recipe from his book, How to Cook Everything.

Ingredients:
finely ground sea salt and black pepper (I used 1 teaspoon of each)
2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary leaves or 1 teaspoon dried (I powdered it and doubled it)
1/4 teaspon cayenne, optional (I used 1/2 teaspoon ground chipotlé)
1 tablespoon sugar (I used coconut palm sugar and doubled it)
1 teaspoon minced garlic (I doubled it)
1 (3- to 4-pound pork loin roast, bone in or 1 (2- to 3-pound boneless roast, or a similar size pork loin roast
1 1/2 cups dry white wine or stock, approximately (I used wine)
1 tabelspoon butter, optional (I used extra virgin olive oil and doubled it)

 

1. Preheat the oven to 450˚F.  Mix a liberal amount of salt and pepper together with the rosemary, cayenne, sugar, and garlic, and rub it all over the roast (I figured about 1 teaspoon of each).  Place the meat in a roasting pan (use a rack if the roast is boneless, but don’t bother if the bone is still in) and put in the over. Roast, undisturbed, for 15 minutes.

2. Open the oven and pour about ½ cup of wind or stock over the roast; lower the heat to 325˚F. Continue to roast, adding about ¼ cups of liquid every 15 minutes or so.  If the liquid accumulates on the bottom of the pay, use it to baste; if not, add more.

3. Start checking the roast after 1 and 1/4 hours of total cooking time (it’s likely to take about 1 and 1/2 hours).  When it is done—an instant-read thermometer will register 145˚ to 150˚F—remove it to a warm  latter.

4.  Put the roasting pan on the stove over 1 or 2 burners set to medium-high. If there is a great deal of liquid in it, reduce it to about 3/4 cup, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to release any brown bits that have accumulated.  If the pan is dry, add 1 cup of liquid and follow the same process. Note: If the pan is not suitable for the range top, scrape the juices into a saucepan. When the sauce has reduced some, stir in the butter if you like, slice the roast, and serve it with the sauce. (I cooked the sauce down to about 3/4 cup.)