domesticana

Coconut Bliss

Friends of ours recently introduced us to this awesome new treat: coconut milk-agave ice cream! I had completely given up hope of an alternatively sweetened ice cream at the grocery store. I need to do some experimenting, but I can't imagine some of their flavors would be hard to duplicate at home. Considering that my favorite one is Mint Galactica, which has sugar-sugar in the chocolate chips, I'd like to try making my own. I'll be sure to fill you in if I figure out a good recipe. For now, I'm just excited to be able to buy some ice cream that I feel good about feeding to Ella and Matt. If you can get it in your area, try a pint! It's so, so good.

Chocolate Dipped Cocount Macaroons - Gluten Free

Back in Seattle, the Whole Foods bakery macaroons were always one of my favorite special treats. They're crispy on the outside and fluffy and moist on the inside, and I would savor every last morsel. I missed them a lot after I moved. In the last year or two, as Matt's health has improved some and Ella has become more and more in tune with all the treats her friends get, I figured I needed to work on some cookie recipes with unrefined sugar. Okay, okay, so they're for me too... Cookies are just fun, and I was tired of living without them.

Muffins, cakes and breads are all fairly liquid-sugar friendly, and I find that maple syrup or honey actually improves their texture, but cookies are unforgiving. They want dry sugar. So, I decided to cut out as much as was palatable and go with an unrefined cane sugar.

My local Whole Foods sells both Sucanat and Rapadura in the grocery section, Sucanat seeming a little coarser to Rapadura's fine powder. But, in the bulk section, the stuff they label as Sucanat looks and tastes just like the Rapadura in the packaged, much pricier bag. The difference, for those of you interested, between either of these and say Evaporated Cane Juice or Turbinado is that the latter two are crystallized and separated from their molasses content in the final stage of processing. Retaining the molasses means you still get some Vitamin B6 and a handful of minerals—hey, it's something, right?

My other issue was chocolate, which I consider a vital cookie ingredient. No one manufactures chocolate with unrefined sweeteners, except Sunspire, and I'm not a fan. So, I decided to make my own. At one point last Christmas, I went so far as to put my home-sweetened chocolate into a pastry bag and squeeze out chips. My internal dialog went like this: "Wow, this is really time-consuming... Hmm, I bet this is totally unnecessary... I wonder what else I could be doing... Oh well, I might as well keep going since I'm already halfway done... Screw this, I'm just going to make chunks and call it good." I've learned to love chunks.

As a dark chocolate fiend from very early childhood (I used to sneak the 1oz. chunks of Baker's Chocolate my mom kept in our fridge), I like my chocolate pretty, um, dark. So, keep that in mind should you chose to try this recipe... One problem with unsweetened chocolate is that it can be gritty or chalky. I don't recommend the Trader's Joe's baking bar for this purpose. El Rey, Valrhona and Scharffen Berger are all pretty pricey but excellent, and Ghirardelli's good in a pinch. My new favorite is sold in the candy bar section of my local Whole Foods: Vintage Plantations 100% Dark. The price is comparable to Ghirardelli, but I prefer the flavor.

The two best things about these little coconut delicacies is that they're gluten free (for those with true allergies, you should check your chocolate, sugar and coconut sources just to be safe) and super-quick. It's a 20 - 30 minute recipe from start to finish with very minimal mess. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

For the macaroons:
2 1/2 cups coconut
1/2 cup sucanat (or other sugar)
2 large egg whites
1 tsp. vanilla
1 big pinch sea salt

For optional chocolate sauce:
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 tbsp. butter, cut into pieces
2+ tbsp. maple syrup

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 F with rack in center. Line baking sheet with parchment* and get out an ice cream scoop (or big spoon) and a cup of cold water. Set aside. Mix all ingredients together in a big bowl with your hands until completely combined. Clean your hands and then use your ice cream scoop to spoon 11/2 tablespoon sized rounds onto your baking sheet, about an inch apart. Dip the scoop/spoon in the water every few times so the mixture doesn't stick to your spoon. Since these don't spread out, you can fit them all on one sheet. When you're done scooping, use your fingers (again dipping in water occasionally) to press each ball into a firm shape. Bake for about 12 minutes until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack and store in a cookie jar, with wax paper in between stacks, or in an airtight container. They're never as good as the day you bake them!

If desired, melt chocolate and butter, being careful not get any water (even a drop) in the melting chocolate (or it can seize or separate). You can do this in a double boiler (a bowl over a pot of simmering water--don't let the bowl touch the water), or in the microwave at 50% power for 2 minutes, stirring after 1 min. Stir until smooth and then add maple syrup to taste. Pick up your freshly cooled cookies and give 'em a good dunk. Yum!

* If you don't have parchment paper, leave this step out and just set them directly on the sheet.

Next up: Wholegrain Chocolate Chip Cookies (that actually taste good)!

Delicious Whole Grain Muffins

My good friend Heather gave me a recipe for banana muffins a few years ago, and I've been futzing with it and making them religiously ever since. We recently took a batch of them with fresh strawberries and bananas to Ella's school for her birthday celebration, and every single kid asked for seconds. One of my friends, someone who's committed to eating healthfully, said, "These can't possibly be good for you. They taste way too good." That's the only way I'm willing to eat healthfully, honey.

Ingredients
2 cups flour (1 cup whole wheat pastry flour & 1 cup whole spelt)
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
3 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup coconut oil (or veggie oil)
3/4 cup maple syrup
2 large mashed bananas
1/4-1/2 cup nuts

Optional Additions
You can throw tons of extras in these muffins, but I almost always add a tablespoon or two of flax meal and hemp nuts. Berries add a lot of moisture and make for delicious muffins. I usually add about 1/2 - 3/4 cup of sliced strawberries or blueberries. I don't recommend super-juicy berries if your making these vegan.

Preparation
First, I sift* the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl. If I'm adding flax or hemp seeds, I stir them into the dry ingredients. Then I use a large liquid measuring cup to melt the butter and oil together. I add the syrup and beaten eggs to the measuring cup, stir and then pour it into the dry ingredients bowl. Stir (or mix for a minute if prefer) until completely blended and then fold in mashed bananas, nuts berries and any other fun stuff. Pour generously into muffin tins (you want them to be full to get a good muffin top). Makes 12 standard muffins.

Bake for 20-25 mins at 350 (I bake them at 325 but that's just my wonky oven).

* Sifting is probably overkill, but I'm fussy like that.

To make these muffins vegan, use all coconut or vegetable oil and replace the eggs with 1 tablespoon vinegar, adding it right before you put the batter in the muffin tins.

Not picky

Try as I might, I can't seem to get my act together and get back on my blog wagon. I'll think of something I want to write about, start an entry and then get bogged down with my camera (which won't connect to my computer at the moment) or totally distracted with work or Ella or whatever else. So, I thought, why not try a meme. No one's tagged me or anything, but it seemed like a good, get-off-my-ass way to start. But then I couldn't find one. So, I decided to take Brooke's recent entry on food and use it as one. I don't think she'll mind.

As I was answering these questions, I realized how not picky I sound, but I don't think it's fair to pass myself off as someone who will happily eat anything. Anyone who knows me in real life can attest that I'm obsessed with good food, and I don't like to 'waste a meal' on junk. I like to make the distinction between picky and particular.

Here goes:

Butter on your corn or not?
Not if I'm making, but I never object to butter.

When it comes to mayonnaise:  Kraft, Best Foods, Miracle Whip, Nayonnaise?
Homemade or the organic stuff.

Potatoes, baked or mashed?
Mashed, but I like a good baker smothered in all the fixings too.

Pasta - do you sauce the whole pot or let everyone sauce their own?
Everyone sauces their own, but I don't mind when someone who knows what he/she is doing does it for me.

Artichokes are best served with mayonnaise, butter, lemon or nothing?
Artichokes are one of the few things I do not like. I'll eat them, but only out of boredom.

Pies or cobblers?
Do I really have to choose? I don't like cobblers pretending to be pies. I'd rather have all that extra crust on the bottom and sides. Pie crust is very important to me. It's practically sacred.

Corn tortillas or flour?
Either. Just bring on the beans!

Water, sparkling, with lemon, with lime, with cucumber, with nothing?
Anything but cucumber (I love it, but it makes me burp). I also love water with a little mint. Oh, and sparkling's always fun. No ice please.

Mimosa or Blood Mary?
Mimosas all the way. I just can't do vodka, and especially not in the morning or, god forbid, on an airplane.

Toast or english muffins?
Love them both.

Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier?
I am easy to please and pleased with any varietal in a nice bottle. Lately, I've been enjoying some oaky Chardonnays.

Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Zinfandel, Cab Franc?
Again, easy here. I usually go for Cabernet Saugvignon in this lot, but I like a good Zin and am usually up for an obscure varietal. Never been a big Merlot fan, and I swear it's not because of that movie.

Pinot?
To the detriment of my wallet, I love a good pinot.

Do you prefer whipped cream or ice cream with dessert?
The only time I'm not crazy about either of these things is when they're too sweet or paired together.

Chocolate or fruit?
No contest. Chocolate. The very, very dark kind.

Steak, chicken, pork, fish, tofu, tempeh, seitan, beans?
All of the above. I'm not that crazy about tofu, but I just ate some at a friend's house that was excellent—so I guess I'm can come around on that one. I love a nice, lean, bloody steak.

If you can't get fresh produce, do you use frozen or canned?
The only time I used canned is when I'm making chili, and sometimes I'll throw some frozen blueberries into my yogurt because I like they way they crunch. Otherwise, it's too easy to get fresh ingredients in Sonoma County.

Spice of choice - cumin, curry, oregano, chili flakes, taragon, marjoram?
Basil and rosemary. I could, and do, spend hours in my garden soaking up their scents.

Salt - iodized, kosher, sea?
Sea. I love fancy salts.

Braggs or soy sauce?
Tamari, but I'll use either of the above at a restaurant or friend's house.

Brown rice or white?
Either.

Peaches or nectarines?
Peaches. Nothing beats a ripe peach, warm from the sun and freshly plucked from the tree.

I know it's customary to tag other bloggers, but since this isn't a real meme I'll just leave it at this. Feel free to take it and roll with it—in my comments, on your blog or back with its creator.

Subliminal Advertising

It seems McDonald's is doing subliminal advertising now. I wonder if this will become the wave of the future (of if it's been going on for years unbeknownst to me) now that no one needs to watch commercials  anymore.

Chocolate Nib Bites

Another year with no Christmas tree, no decorations, no holiday cheeriness in our house. It's making me crave the comforts of the season, and it wouldn't be Christmas without cookies. I'm always looking for ways to make something chocolate-y without a lot of sugar, and these bite-size chocolate wonders are a big hit of cocoa goodness.

Ingredients:
4 oz. bittersweet or unsweetened chocolate*
1 stick (8tbsp.) unsalted butter
1/2 cup sucanat, rapadura or brown sugar
3 eggs
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup white spelt or all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup cacao nibs

Makes about 40 bite-size cookies.

Preheat the oven to 350° F, and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

I like to use my standing mixer bowl over a pot of boiling water to melt together  3 oz. of the chocolate and all of the butter. You can do it in a small saucepan over low heat as well. *If you use unsweetened chocolate, add a tablespoon or two of your unrefined sugar of choice. Let cool for about 10 minutes. If using small saucepan, transfer the chocolate mixture to a large mixing bowl. In the meantime, sift together the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder in another bowl, and set aside. Finely chop the reserved chocolate and set aside.

Whisk the eggs into the cooled chocolate mixture, and add the sugar. Mix well. With a wooden spoon, stir in the flour mixture until combined and fold in the cacao nibs, salt and the rest of the chocolate. The batter will be very thick.

Use a teaspoon to make round scoops, and use your hands to form batter into small balls. Place them about one-inch apart on the cookie sheet and put the whole thing in the fridge for about 10 minutes before baking (so they don't spread).

Bake for seven to ten minutes until the tops are just set. Let cool for a minute or two so you don't burn your tongue!

A few notes:
- Use good quality chocolate. I prefer Scharffen Berger, El Rey or Valrhorna. Ghirardelli will work. Specialty stores and Whole Foods often carry blocked chocolate and cocoa powder in bulk.
- Err on the side of raw in the middle--you won't regret it.

Omnivorous

I'm finally reading The Omnivore's Dilemma, and it's rocking me to the core. This huge convoluted mess of our American diet is so much bigger and more insidious than I ever thought possible, and part of me is feeling like there's nothing we can do to make any significant difference. It's just a giant web of interests from the corn farmers to the cattle ranchers to the synthetic foods developers to the legislators to the taxpayers to the poverty stricken. There's certainly not one or two avenues you can point to and say, "If we just fix this, people will stop getting cancer and diabetes and animals will stop being tortured and..." It's like saying, "No more war." Nothing is ever that simple.

The only way I can even imagine our sorry state of affairs will ever improve is if we educate ourselves as to how sorry it really is. Most of us just don't know the half of it, and if we did, well, maybe we'd be able to look to the future and figure out how to fix it.

Perhaps this stuff isn't news to you, but I didn't realize that...

Corn and soybeans are the two super-crops in the processed food industry, and they are in practically everything we eat. Almost all of the synthetic ingredients in our processed foods are derived from corn, and most of the animals we eat are fed predominately corn.

Fertilizers and pesticides are made from fossil fuels, and when we started using them, we essentially changed from an agriculture based on solar power to one based on oil. Simply using the sun's energy, we weren't able to grow nearly the same amount of corn per acre, year after year on the same plot of land.

Between the fossil fuels used to make the pesticides and fertilizers, to harvest and dry the crops, and to drive the tractors and trucks to transport the corn, it takes about 50 gallons of oil per acre of corn.

These fertilizers and pesticides (not to mention Genetically Modified seeds) are enabling farmers to yield up to 220 bushels of corn on one acre of land. In the 1920s (before the advent of all of these things), farmers yielded about 20 bushels per acre.

Add to that the legislation that has essentially forced farmers to plant more and more corn per acre despite the fact that they're going further and further in the hole every year. Naturally, the legislation is backed by major corporations like Cargill (the company who makes almost all of the world's corn derivative chemicals like dextrose, citric and lactic acid, glucose, fructose and maltodextrin, ethanol, sorbitol, mannitol, xanthan gum, modified and unmodified starches, MSG, high fructose corn syrup---WOW--did you know they all come from corn?).

Then on to the beef industry...

Did you know that cows are now hurtled from 80 to 1,100 pounds in a mere 14 to 16 months time? Grass certainly doesn't pack on the pounds that quickly, but when you stuff them full of corn, protein and fat supplements and a ton of drugs, anything is possible.

Cattle can rarely live on the diet they are given in feedlots for more than 150 days. Their bodies are just not made to be eating anything but grasses and legumes. Between 15 to 30 percent of the cows at feedlot slaughterhouses have abscessed livers. Within some feedlot pens, the numbers can be closer to 70%. The list of common ailments in feedlot cows is endless. Drugs are the only thing keeping them alive.

An average steer eats 25 pounds of corn a day (mixed with seven pounds of other junk), to gain about 4 pounds a day. Over the course of his life, he will have consumed the equivalent of 35 gallons of oil, which is almost a full barrel.

The manure from feedlots is so toxic it can't be put back on crops because the wastes contain not only excess nitrogen and phosphorus but also heavy metals and hormone residues that could kill the plants.

This toxic manure covers the ground and fills the air (in the form of dust) where these cattle stand and eat and sleep. Their bodies are covered in it, inside and out, and they certainly aren't given a bath before being slaughtered.

************************

Pulled directly from Michael Pollan's book, these factoids are just a drop in the bucket of what I've learned so far, and I've only read 100 pages.

Between reading this book and having recently watched An Inconvenient Truth (Al Gore's global warming documentary) and Why We Fight (the film about the military-industrial complex), I'm absolutely overwhelmed, but it feels good to know and understand how these things work and are all tied together. I'm more motivated than ever to just keep learning.

Locally Grown

One of the most important contributing factors in our decision to move to Sebastopol was access to and abundance of great food. Living near San Francisco is an added bonus, but Sonoma County has more than its fair share of terrific restaurants, farmer's markets and opportunities to eat locally, in every sense of the word.

Pocket Farm, a blog that I love love love, has a summer challenge to eat one meal a week solely from local ingredients, and although I have failed to chronicle my meals since our move, I'm constantly impressed by how often my entire meal consists of things grown and harvested within 20 miles of my home. That's California for you, I guess.

A few months ago, I read this exchange between Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, and John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods. Pollan traces four meals back to their sources in his book, and one of the meals comes from food purchased at Whole Foods Market. From that experience, he apparently railed on the world's biggest natural foods market, and the CEO took the time to carefully refute some of Pollan's claims and hear his call to action. Their entire correspondence is posted on John Mackey's blog, and it's well worth the read.

Since reading this exchange in late May, I have been impressed with the obvious care and commitment on the part of Whole Foods to make more of an effort to promote local options, and have been so pleased to personally notice a good deal of change in my local store over the summer. New signage and chalkboard art call out local farms' produce, fliers are available about the importance of eating locally and even the paper grocery bags list local farmers who sell their produce at that particular store. It's exciting to see that kind of change so quickly, and I'm amazed that such a giant company could so immediately implement such a worthwhile campaign.

If you get a chance, check out this Bill Maher interview with Pollan on Amazon Fish Bowl. (Scroll down on the page to watch.)

Chocolate Beet Bundt Cake

Last year for Ella's birthday, we had several guests with different food allergies, and it all came down to making a cake with no wheat, dairy or refined sugar. I searched online for vegan cake recipes and modified a few to come up with something that met all my requirements and is super-quick and simple. I used a bundt pan to give it that extra moist, rich texture and to take away from the fact that I couldn't come up with any decent frosting. The result is surprisingly decadent and delicious.

Then at Christmas when Matt and I had our little getaway in Sebastopol, we stopped in the East West Café for brunch, and I noticed they had a chocolate beet cake in the dessert case. I immediately thought of my vegan cake recipe and the onslaught of beets in our CSA box. Beets are so naturally sweet and the principle is similar to carrot cakes. Adding them means you can add a little less syrup and still have a yummy treat.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups white spelt flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2  cup maple syrup (use 1 1/4 cup syrup if omitting beets)
1 cup+ beets (boiled, peeled and grated)*
3/4 cups vegetable oil (for a non-vegan alternative, use 1/2 cup butter & 1/4 cup oil)
1 1/2 cup water
3 tsp. vanilla
3/4 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. apple cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 350**, and grease bundt pan. Sift spelt flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt together 3 times. (If you choose to use all-purpose flour, you only need to sift once and could possibly even get away with stirring the drying ingredients really well.)

In a separate bowl, combine syrup, oil, water, vanilla and beets. Stir liquid ingredients into dry ingredients. Add vinegar, stir, and immediately pour batter into bundt pan. Place on center rack of oven, and bake for 25 - 35 mins. Check for doneness after 20 mins. Cool in pan on a wire rack until you can flip it onto a cake plate without hurting yourself.

Serve with whipped cream and fresh berries.

* I have only tried this with cooked beets, but I'm sure you could grate them raw for a more carrot-cake like texture. Cooking them first makes them practically dissolve into the cake.

** Previously with our electric oven, I used a 375 degree oven for 25 minutes. Now with a gas oven, I use a 350 degree oven for about the same amount of time. Don't be afraid to tinker with the time and temp.

Summer Pasta

My new favorite summertime pasta goes something like this:

• Put water on stove to boil, first thing.
• Cook up some sausage or roast chicken or some sort of other meat--it's got to have meat in our house, but you could certainly leave it out. Sausage is nice with this dish. Cut three or four sausages into 1/2 inch pieces and cook covered on med-high heat with a few tablespoons of water. About 10-15 minutes. Check for doneness periodically. If done before everything else, just leave it in the pan, off the heat and covered, until you're ready for it.
• Chop 5 or 6 cloves of garlic and whatever other veggies you've got on hand. The other night it was carrots, chard, snap peas, tomatoes and zucchini. Mushrooms would've been good too, but I forgot them.
• Add a pound of pasta to the boiling water. Add a couple pinches of salt and cover.
• Stir pasta several times keeping the lid on the pot in between stirrings.*
• Heat skillet with a few glugs of olive oil, about 4 tablespoons.
• Sauté garlic and slowly add veggies in order of longest-to-cook (this time it was carrots then snap peas then zucchini then chard then tomatoes--I like 'em fresh).
• Remove pasta from heat when done to your liking, add a cup of cold water, and drain all but a cup or so of the pasta water.
• Dump pasta in large bowl and add a drizzle or two of olive oil and a handful of shredded cheese (parmesan, gruyere, grana, whatever) and stir.
• Add all the veggies, meat and reserved pasta water and combine.
• Crumble a little goat cheese or feta and crack some pepper on top.
• Serve with some crusty bread or a salad.

Serves 6 or a family of 3 twice. Leftovers are tasty cold...

* Cooks Illustrated, one of my favorite cooking magazines, described this oil-free pasta cooking method as their tried-and-true, and I think it works very nicely.