The Healthy Cooking Coach

Let the Bake Off Begin

One of my former cooking assistants, Calli Overstreet, who interned with me for a few months in the fall of 2009 hosted a Bake Off that took place over the weekend (Saturday, June 13, 2010). When She and I first met she was completing a bachelor of science in nutrition with a minor in communications at Arizona State University in Tempe.

The year before when Calli found me over the internet she said “You have my dream job! You’re doing what I want to do when I get out of school.” She wanted to write about food, teach cooking classes, speak to group, test products, develop recipes, and inspire people to eat healthier food.  

Calli interviewed me for a paper she was writing and then contacted me when she was ready to start her internship. During the time we worked together she assisted me with several classes and presentations, taped me making 5 recipes from my books, edited and uploaded the videos to YouTube, helped me improve my feedback cards for classes, and joined me on a restaurant review outing. 

Entrance requirements and prizes
The entry fee for the Bake off was modest: $10 per
recipe. Categories included cookies, cakes, brownies and bars, breads, and healthy. She planned to pool the entry fees with donations from the community to create the prizes: $100 per winning recipe, several kitchen tools, and ribbons. She also got donations from a few companies to raffle off prizes for the contestants, including a 1 hour massage, a haircut, and a $50 Kohl’s gift card along with a prize for the baker’s quiz. Each contestant received an apron embroidered with the name and date of the event. A small business donated the aprons.

Check out some of the competition. >>

The judges
Heidi Clouse graduated from Scottsdale Community College's culinary arts program in 2003 at the top of her class, started her own catering company; Blueberry Basil Catering Co., which she has successfully  run for seven years.
 
Shalene Barainca considers herself a certified food eater with 30 years of experience in eating yummy foods with expertise in desserts."You name it, I've tried it.  I am always on the look out of something different that will "wow" me. And when I find it, I will eat it."

More of the competition. >>

Mandy Scofield, the nutrition director at The Gainey Ranch Estate Club in Scottsdale, AZ, has a degree in nutrition communications and has worked extensively in food writing and restaurant reviewing. She teaches healthy cooking classes, counsels children and adults on healthy eating, and develops new recipes for Gainey Ranch residents.

Jan Wyler is the principal of New Horizon School of the Performing Arts, where the bake-off was held.

Judging criteria
Recipes were judged on presentation, taste, and recipe originality. They selected one recipe per category and one special award whose criteria was a mystery.

Event details
The event took place at New Horizon School ofPerforming Arts in Mesa. Contestants arrived between noon and 1 pm to check in, place servings of their recipes on the judges with a copy of the recipe and a card listing the name of the recipe. Remaining portions of the baked goods were placed on the contestant table for contestants and guests to sample after the judging.

Me with my context apron>>>

LJs pizza provided a complimentary lunch (pizza and a small salad bar). I knew I was unlikely to get what I wanted from the comp lunch, so I packed food from home: a baby green salad with vegetables from the farmers’ marke, topped with leftover grassfed rib eye, Basil-Balsamic Dressing (from my Garden of Eating Cookbook) and an apple.

The competition
The Bakeoff, the first of what Calli will be an annual event, attracted 20 entrants and 27 recipes. I specifically work street clothes (no chef coat, no chef pants, no chef clogs) to avoid drawing attention to myself. People might have seen my car in the parking lot with magnetic signs announcing my name and what I do for a living, but inside I would be just another face.

I was up against white flour, whole wheat flour, white sugar, (possibly margarine) and ….marshmallows! Some of the other entries included Chocolate Banana Bars, Bacardi Rum Cake, Good for You Chocolate Chip Cookies, Cheesecake, Ooey Gooey Cinnamon Rolls, Raspberry Filled Cupcakes, Ginger Snaps, Cake Pops, Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, Strawberry Rhubarb Muffins, Crunchy Oatmeal Bars, and Frosted Star Cookies. See photos above.

My entries
I entered three recipes (two from my most recent book, The Ice Dream Cookbook). My Favorite Macaroons dipped in dark chocolate, Gluten Free Date-Nut Chocolate Chip Blondies, and Calli’s Fruit Cocktail Cake.

The Macaroons I modeled (maybe years ago) on Jenni’s Macaroons, a Jewish delicacy sold in canisters in natural foods stores. I liked the purity of ingredients: honey, unsweetened flaked coconut, and egg whites; however, found them way too sweet for my tastes. I analyzed the nutrition label for protein, carbs, and fat, figured out approximately how much of each ingredient they probably used, cut the honey back by more than 50%, supplemented with a minute amount of stevia, and tinkered with the recipe until I hit on something that I and my cooking students and friends loved. One of my cooking students gave me the idea of drizzling melted unsweetened or dark chocolate over the macaroons after they cooled.

The inspiration for the blondie recipe came from award-winning blogger and author David Lebovitz’ book, The Perfect Scoop. I replaced white flour with gluten free grain and nut flours, brown sugar with soaked and pureed dates, replace sugar with honey and stevia, and made a few other changes.

The prototype for the Fruit Cocktail Cake came from Calli who asked if I could improve her family’s favorite cake recipe in the Spring of 2009. I replaced cake flour with a combination of a gluten free flour blend and coconut flour, the sugar with honey, and the milk with coconut milk, added more eggs, etc. The result, after five or six tries, was a raved about recipe that worked with eggs and without that I used in a coconut flour article for the March/April 2010 issue of  Living Without Magazine. In retrospect, I would have plated this recipe for the contest the way I did for the photo for my blog last year. I honestly didn't give the whole issue of plating much thought. I will next time I enter a Bake Off for sure!

 And the winner is….
I found the suspense intense. I sipped my cold cammomile tea and waited for the judges decisions. I didn’t enter anything in the bread category, so that was out. As they announced the winner for each category I entered, I felt I twinge of disappointment (of course I saw what I was up against: huge amounts of seductive sugary sweetened delicacies, many of them frosted with cream cheese or marshmallow cream).

The feeling abated as soon they announced the special award for a recipe that stood out in taste, originality, great tips (I always put those in the side bars or head notes of my recipes), and presentation. I knew moments before I heard my name that I WON!! My Favorite Macaroon recipe won! I let out a squeal of delight and took the stage to receive my ribbon, say a few words about my recipe, and have my photo taken.

The last time I recall received any ribbons for winning were during the brief time I belonged to a Toastmaster’s group here in Phoenix (maybe two and a half years ago) and in my preteen years when I entered and placed in several horse shows. The next best part for me was after the event when one of the judges came up to me and told me how much she  loved my macaroon recipe. She’s diabetic and she told me how thrilled to see that I used stevia in my recipe. She could make them at home and eat them without the problems she would have when she ate sugar-laden conventional desserts.

I look forward to the next bakeoff and the next opportunity to wow people with food made from simple, wholesome, and nourishing ingredients. You can find the recipe for the macaroons here.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why Cuisinart?
As much as possible, I wanted my teaching kitchen to have the same kinds of pots and appliances I use at home, things that I know are efficient, effective, easy to operate, attractive, and durable. When students ask, “What kind of ______ do you use?”  I wanted to be able to show ( some of the tools I use at home) rather than just tell.

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

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

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

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

Make SMART requests
I know about SMART goals. I used them to manifest the Cuisinart appliances and pots for the new teaching kitchen and I've used them to achieve countless other goals. SMART are Specific, Measurable, Attainable or Action Oriented, Realistic, and Time bound. I temporarily forgot about SMART requests.

The first salad spinner Tim bought was on the small side. I knew Tim had to make a run for more equipment the next day so I asked him to get a larger salad spinner. That was not SMART (it was missing a specific and measurable component).

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

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

Here's what my students made last night:

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

No coffee needed
The good news is…the class was a huge success, as usual. The recipes came out great. They had plenty of food. Everyone loved the combinations of flavors and textures and the ideas and strategies I  presented. Everyone was engaged and active. Those who had been in our previous kitchens, voted this their favorite classroom yet! We worked well as a team, no one got hurt, and the energy and enthusiasm in the room was high---enough to energize me until 12:30 am.

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

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

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