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Raw Honey

December 11th, 2011

Honey is a great alternative to sugar. I love it and have been using it for years. Whenever possible I buy local honey. Local food always tastes fresher to me plus it’s a simple way to give the environment a little extra TLC. Other than local or not-local, I admit that I never really gave honey much thought.

Until now.

Recently my youngest sister introduced to me to raw honey. I had no idea it could be so different from the honey I was buying at the grocery store.

For starters – raw honey is creamy, smooth and spreadable. It’s not runny at all. The highest quality is unheated and unfiltered. A fresh unopened jar usually has a layer of beeswax, pollen and propolis (made by bees to glue the materials of their hives together and for centuries has been used to treat ailments ranging from acne to osteoporosis and cancer) on the top. The honey is underneath and since it has never been heated or filtered, it’s full of enzymes that can aid in digestion, plus amino acids, vitamins and minerals. Yes, it’s definitely pricier than runny honey, but in my opinion, worth every penny.

Check out how thick raw honey is in this picture. Amazing. Rich sweetness. Yum!

Many consider raw honey to be a superfood. And for good reason. Here is just a brief list of some of the benefits that raw honey can bring.

* increase calcium absorption

* help arthritic joints

* natural and gentle laxative

* constipation and allergy relief

* when applied topically, can speed healing of tissues damaged by infection and trauma

* facial deep cleanser for acne and unwanted blemishes– mix with an equal amount of oatmeal, apply to the face and let it sit for 30 minutes before washing off

Delicious, health promoting and a facial cleanser? Sorry, runny honey, but you just can’t compete with your raw sister.

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Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

December 2nd, 2011

Thanksgiving was my first encounter with sugar in weeks. Now I find myself craving something sweet in the middle of the day or after dinner. Or both.

That’s the thing about sugar – it’s a slippery slope. A little bit can open the floodgates and leave you always wanting more.

Instead of reaching for something that comes in a box, I whipped up these subtly sweet cookies instead. They have just enough sweetness to satisfy without going overboard. That’s the cool thing about eating real food – your taste buds are so much more alert to flavor so a little bit goes a long way.

Ingredients:

3 cups gluten free rolled oats

2 eggs

½ cup coconut milk

½ cup sucanat

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

¾ cup raisins

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Grease cookie sheets

Pour 1.5 cups of rolled oats into blender and blend to create flour

Put wet ingredients into mixing bowl and mix well with spoon

Put dry ingredients except raisins into mixing bowl and mix with spoon

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well

Add raisins and combine

Scoop spoonfuls onto cookie sheet

Bake until cookies slightly harden – about 12 to 15 minutes

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Read more about Baking, Desserts, Sugar, Vegetarian / Vegan, Wheat Free
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Thanksgiving 2011 Recap

November 29th, 2011

Most of the loved ones that I celebrated Thanksgiving with this year.

As far as non-Jewish holidays go, Thanksgiving is my absolute-favorite – Passover will always trump Thanksgiving in my book. What I love most about Thanksgiving is how pure of a holiday it is – it’s not about presents or “stuff”. It’s about family, good food and laughter. Thanksgiving is an annual reminder to reevaluate our priorities and to remember what’s really important – what we should be thankful for.

The last few years my family has asked everyone joining us at dinner to write a note about what they are thankful for and place it in a big woven basket before dinner begins. Between dinner and dessert the notes get passed around the table and read out loud. There are no names on the notes so no one knows who wrote what. It’s a sweet, but quick way to commemorate the holiday and I really enjoy hearing the kind words that my relatives share.

I hope you had a very happy Thanksgiving!

Here’s some of the delicious gluten free (except for the rosemary bread) and dairy free food that we enjoyed this Thanksgiving. I am so lucky for so many reasons including having a family that is incredibly supportive of my dietary limitations – although this meal hardly felt limiting to anyone.

Local turkey

Quinoa with herbs and pomegranates

Roasted veggies

Asparagus with mustard glaze

Whole wheat rosemary bread (recipe below)

Dutch Oven Bread

Ingredients:

6 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon yeast (active dry)

3 teaspoon salt

3 cups warm water

3/4 – 1 cup honey

6 twigs package Rosemary, stems removed and leaves chopped

Directions:

Measure out yeast in a bowl and add warm water. Stir until yeast dissolves.

Add in flour, salt, honey and chopped Rosemary.

Stir ingredients until flour is all mixed in.

Let flour rise overnight.

Grease Dutch oven.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees with Dutch oven inside.

Put dough into Dutch oven and cook for 45 minutes. Take off lid and cook for 15 minutes.

To remove bread from Dutch oven, turn Dutch oven upside down.

Another shot of the bread because it was so delicious (so I heard).

Triple Chocolate Brownies (recipe by www.MyraKornfeld.com)

Triple Chocolate Brownies (recipe by www.MyraKornfeld.com)

Ingredients:

4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 ¼ cups natural sugar – maple or succanat

1 cup silken tofu

1/2 cup coconut oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3/4 cup sorghum flour

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Line an 8×8 inch baking pan with parchment paper.

Melt the semisweet chocolate and unsweetened chocolate together over a double boiler. Stir continually to prevent burning or hardening – about 5 minutes. Mix in the cocoa powder and remove the double boiler from the heat.

Blend together the sugar, tofu and coconut oil in a blender or food processor until smooth. Transfer to medium bowl, stir in the chocolate, then the flour, cayenne, baking powder and salt.

Pour the batter into the baking pan, making sure it spreads evenly. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 50 to 60 minutes, until slightly puffed. You’ll know it’s done if a toothpick inserted at the center comes out with some crumbs.

Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 2 hours before cutting into squares and serving.

Banana bread

Banana Bread

Ingredients:

2 cups almond flour

3 very ripe bananas

2 eggs

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup raw honey

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Grease loaf pan

Combine all ingredients in mixing bowl

Use electric mixer to blend ingredients almost thoroughly – I like it with a few banana chunks remaining

Pour batter into loaf pan and bake until top is brown – about 45 to 60 minutes

Allow loaf to cool for at least an hour before slicing and serving

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Slow Cooker Chili

October 7th, 2011

I probably should have checked the weather forecast before I went to the grocery store this week, but when the temperature seriously dropped last week, I couldn’t get the idea of making chili out of my mind. There are several quintessential meals when it comes to my favorite season and chili is definitely one of them.

Between working and studying for my comprehensive exams that are just around the corner (eeeek!), I haven’t been able to spend as much time in the kitchen as I like to. Preparing meals in large batches that will feed us for a few days at a time is the easiest, healthiest and most inexpensive way I can think of to get through these long days. Cause they sure are long!

Sure, leftovers get a little tedious, but it really doesn’t bother me or the future mister – especially when I consider the alternatives – take out or processed stuff. On a regular basis – neither option is very budget friendly or makes my body very happy.

So this batch of chili is going to last a couple of meals, which is good because it tastes awesome. I was hoping to have time to make some cornbread too, but I didn’t. Oh well. May be I’ll make a loaf tomorrow to dress up the leftovers.

Ingredients:

1.5 lbs grass-fed ground beef

1 onion, chopped

6 garlic cloves, chopped

1.5 cup black beans, cooked

8 ounces, sliced mushrooms

1 small head of cauliflower, chopped

1 large sweet potato, cut into ½’’ pieces

15 ounce can diced tomatoes

1 can tomato paste

1 cup vegetable or beef broth

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon cumin

1 tablespoon red chili powder

1 teaspoons oregano

1 teaspoons pepper

Olive oil

Directions:

Pour a little olive oil (1-2 tablespoons) into a large skillet. Add onions and garlic. When onions are transparent, add ground beef and cook completely.

Add all ingredients to slow cooker. Cook on low heat until potatoes are soft – about 5 hours. Contents will likely be almost overflowing in your slow cooker at first. Use a wooden spoon to mix things around as they start to cook down.

Serve with cooked dark leafy greens.

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Read more about Fall, Frugal Living, Meat, Recipes, Stress, Wheat Free
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Vegan Gluten Free Mac & Cheese Take 2

October 5th, 2011

A few months back my friends threw a mac & cheese and wine pairing theme party where I brought a super delicious vegan and gluten free dish for the competition. Even though it went over really well with the crowd, I never made it again… until this week.

Now that it’s cooling off outside I find myself starting to crave heartier meals – like brown rice noodles in a thick and creamy sauce! For example. This time around, I had a better idea of what the sauce would look and taste like so I felt more comfortable making a few tweaks. I also threw in some veggies so that I wasn’t just eating a bowl of pasta. Not that there’s anything wrong with that every now and then, but I like to add something with color any chance I get. A colorful plate means a variety of health-promoting nutrients!

Here is my slightly modified recipe. It tasted just as good and I didn’t need the oil. It cost very little to make and fed my fiancé and I for the better part of the week. Even though he loves his dairy, he’s a big fan of this one. I have a feeling it won’t be another six months before this is in our bellies again!

Ingredients:

16 ounces brown rice pasta

1 head broccoli, chopped into bite size pieces

1 head Swiss chard, stems removed, leaves chopped

Cheese Sauce:

¾ cups unsweetened coconut milk

1 cup nutritional yeast

½ cup GF tamari/soy sauce

12 ounce extra-firm organic tofu

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon paprika

3 tablespoons mustard

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cook pasta according to directions on package. When noodles have about 3 minutes left to cook, add broccoli to pot with brown rice noodles and boiling water. Stir in broccoli.

Just before you are ready to strain the pasta and broccoli, add the Swiss chard. As soon as it is wilted, strain pasta and vegetables. Rinse with cold water. Set aside.

Add cheese sauce ingredients to blender and process until smooth.

Mix the pasta and sauce in large pot and pour into casserole dish.

Bake until the top of the pasta looks slightly brown and crispy – approximately 15 minutes.

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Rosh Hashanah 2011

October 1st, 2011

Growing up in New York, school was always closed on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Little did I know that this was not common practice in other school districts and communities across the country. Since leaving New York in 2008, when it comes to Jewish holidays, life is served on a silver spoon a lot less often. But that’s ok. I think I’ve gotten the hang of it.

This year I didn’t have a lot of spare time to prepare a special meal on top of all my other commitments. Still, it was important to me to do something for Rosh Hashanah other than attending services at a local synagogue.

I invited some friends over and mostly stuck to recipes that I’ve made before and felt comfortable with. I skipped the hors d’œuvres and pre-dinner munchies and whipped up a few batches of cookies and banana bread during study breaks. This chicken recipe called for four ingredients and I’ve made it countless times before. I made a big batch of quinoa and threw in some spices. Of course there was the traditional plate of sliced apples and honey; apples for health, fall and the myth of creation and honey for sweet wishes in the New Year.

I read an article about traditional foods served on Rosh Hashanah and learned that eating carrots sliced into the shape of coins represents prosperity. Well that seemed easy enough to add to my Rosh Hashanah menu. I threw them in a pan with green beans from the Farmer’s market and came up with a sauce that complimented the sauce used for the chicken.

Dinner is served!

While it didn’t take days to prepare and I didn’t roll and matzah balls, I think this was a pretty good meal to celebrate the New Year and still manage to stay on top of my other responsibilities while keeping my stress levels to a healthy level. Finding balance can be tricky, but I’m proud that the New Year is off to a great start!

Ingredients:

Juice from 1 lime

2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Equal parts:

Green beans trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

Carrots: Cut lengthwise into 1/2 inch pieces

A head of kale, stems removed, leaves coarsely chopped

1 small onion, chopped

Directions:

Add small amount of water to sauté onions. Once transparent add green beans and carrots. Cook al dente. Green beans and carrots should be slightly tender on the outside and crunchy on the inside.

While vegetables are on the stove, combine sauce ingredients in mixing bowl.

Once vegetables are cooked, drain extra water. Toss in lime ginger sauce. Serve warm or room temperature.

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Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread

September 28th, 2011

Tonight begins the Jewish New Year. If you celebrate, Shana tova! If you don’t, then Happy Wednesday!

Ryan and I are attending services tonight, but tomorrow night our friends will be joining us for dinner. I am very excited to celebrate our first holiday in our new home! Although my “free time” is extremely limited these days, taking the time to celebrate holidays and special occasions by getting together with friends and family and break bread is a huge priority.

I’ll share the rest of my recipes after I make them tomorrow, but today I took a study break and made this chocolate chunk banana bread. I had 3 bananas that were a day or two away from spoiling so I thought I’d try to turn them into dessert instead of putting them in the freezer for green smoothies. I debated between turning the batter into cookies or a loaf of bread. End of the story is that I’m very happy I decided on banana bread.

Ingredients:

3 very ripe bananas – should be pretty easy to mash them with a fork

2 cups almond flour

1 cup teff flour

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/2 cup sucanat

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate from chocolate bar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Grease loaf pan – I used a Pyrex 9 x 5 loaf pan

Peel bananas and place in medium mixing bowl and mash with fork

Add remaining wet ingredients and mix well

Add flour, sucanat, cinnamon and baking soda. Use electric mixer to combine well.

Fold in chocolate chips with a spoon.

Pour batter into loaf pan and put into oven. Bake until top is firm and brown on the edges – about 40 minutes.

Store any leftover in refrigerator.

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Homemade Pad Thai (GF)

September 25th, 2011

Growing up my family almost always ordered Chinese takeout for dinner on Sunday nights. Another family always came over and the 12 of us (yes, they also had 4 kids) would end the weekend together. The majority of my meals were homemade growing up, but Sunday nights were special.

Even though I’ve been living away from home for several years, I still associate Sunday nights with ordering takeout. This isn’t a weekly tradition anymore, but a few years ago it was. These days I rarely eat food that I don’t prepare myself, especially since moving to Cincinnati, but last weekend I was out of town for my cousin’s wedding. I landed at the Cincinnati airport at 7:30pm on Sunday and still had a 30 minute drive before even getting home. I knew we didn’t have anything fresh to eat in the house and I didn’t want to start grocery shopping at 8pm.

Instead, I ordered my favorite takeout meal – pad thai – and picked it up on the way home.

I’ve always loved pad thai, but never tried making it at home. It always seemed too complicated – something that I could never do as well myself as the Thai restaurant I was ordering from.

This weekend, I decided it was time to try pad thai for myself. It was actually pretty easy. And I actually knew what I was eating. It was damn good too. Oh and instead of just noodles, tofu and sauce, like how it’s served in restaurants, my pad Thai had loads of vegetables too! And all the ingredients I used were gluten free. If you’re gluten free, make sure the rice noodles, soy sauce, fish sauce and broth (if not homemade) are labeled gluten free.

Ingredients: (4-6 people)

1 box of Pad Thai rice noodles – I used Annie’s Chun’s (GF)

1 container extra firm organic tofu, cut into 1 inch cubes

1 head broccoli, florets chopped

5-6 baby Portobello mushrooms, sliced

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

Sesame oil or extra virgin olive oil

2 eggs, whisked

2 handfuls shredded carrots

1 cup sprouts

optional: handful or 2 of spinach

Sauce:

Juice from 2 limes

4 tablespoons fish sauce

6 tablespoons broth (vegetable, beef, chicken)

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

Garnish:

3 scallions

couple of handfuls roasted peanuts, chopped

optional: 1 lime wedge per plate/bowl

Directions:

Cook rice noodles according to box directions. Set aside.

Pour 1 tablespoon of oil in a large skillet. Add garlic and onions. Cook on high heat for 5 minutes.

Add tofu and broccoli. Add more oil if necessary.

Once broccoli is tender, add spinach, sauce ingredients and noodles. Mix well.

Once noodles are warm, pour into serving dish. Garnish with peanuts, scallions and lime wedges.

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Cranberry Chocolate Cookies

September 24th, 2011

Whenever I go to the grocery store I always try to make sure it’s somewhat recently after I’ve eaten. For me, grocery shopping on an empty stomach often results in purchases that were never on my shopping list – typically items that can usually be eaten right out of the box. Ok, lets call a spade a spade here – they’re processed!

In moderation, a little processed food here and there isn’t the end of the world. And of course some processed foods are better than others. Reading the ingredient list is the best way to really know what it is what you’re really eating. The marketing ploys on the front like “made with whole grains” can often be a load of BS.

So this week I went to the grocery store right before lunchtime and came home with one of my favorite special treats – Puffins. Whoops. My favorite is the peanut butter variety. They’re my reward when I get through another chapter of reading. I worked hard. I deserve a special treat, right? Well, I went through that box really fast. But they were my pat on the back, my incentive to keep on truckin’. Even though they’re gluten free and most of the ingredients are reasonable, my stomach was a little less than thrilled with my impromptu purchase.

Anyway, the Puffins are gone. And I refuse to replenish my supply. Puffins have been banned from my home! There I said it!

Instead I came up with this sweet treat. Real ingredients. Less processed stuff.

Ingredients: (makes 2 dozen cookies)

3 cups almond flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 cup sucanat

1 teasoon salt

2 eggs

1/4 cup honey

1 cup dried cranberries (unsweetened)

3.5 ounces dark chocolate

optional: 1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Combine almond flour, baking soda, salt, and sucanat in large mixing bowl.

Add vanilla, honey and eggs.

Use electric mixer to combine dough thoroughly

Stir in dried cranberries and dark chocolate

Grease baking sheets

Use your hands to roll dough into balls – about 1 inch diameter

Place balls of dough on baking sheet and lightly press to slightly flatten

Bake until cookies are brown on edges – about 25 minutes

Cool for a few minutes. Use spatula to transfer cookies to cooling rack.

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Celebrating Birthdays with Steak

September 20th, 2011

My fiancé’s birthday was yesterday. I’ve heard of people celebrating their birthday for the entire week or month of their actual day of birth. While I honestly can admit that this is not a concept I can relate to personally, I do think it is important to celebrate life whenever possible, and that definitely includes birthdays.

That doesn’t mean the celebration has to be big or expensive. For me, it’s important to celebrate by doing something that I wouldn’t necessarily do on just any day. I know some people that always take the day off from work. Others go to a fancy restaurant for dinner. For Ryan, he celebrated by leaving work “early”, which meant getting home around 6pm. I finished my workday around the same time and prepared Ryan’s favorite dinner to celebrate – flank steak – local, grass-fed, antibiotic and hormone-free. We ate in the dining room, which we never do unless we are entertaining.

To go with the steak, I made a spicy plum salsa sauce, southern-style greens and simply steamed broccoli. For dessert I made chewy chocolate chip cookies so that Ryan and I could enjoy them together. To make dessert a little different for Ryan I took a few spoon-fulls of his favorite ice cream from the freezer, smashed it between two cookies and popped it back in the freezer for a somewhat homemade ice cream cookie sandwich. Sure, it’s not your typical birthday cake or cupcake, but then again, I guess I’m not very typical either.

How do you celebrate birthdays? Do you have a special birthday meal or dessert?

Flank Steak Marinade

Ingredients:

16 ounces flank steak

1/4 cup gluten free soy sauce

1/4 cup gluten free Worcestershire sauce

1 small onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/4 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon paprika

1 tablespoon ketchup

Juice from 1 lemon

Directions:

Mix all ingredients except flank steak in large baking dish or Pyrex container

Add flank steak. Use spoon to cover meat with marinade.

Cover and put in refrigerator for two to five hours.

Heat grill and cook meat evenly on both sides.

Slice and serve.

Plum Salsa – Adapted from Better Homes & Gardens – it goes well as a “sauce” or a salsa dip.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon gluten free soy sauce

1 tablespoon honey

2 plums, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

1 jalapeno, chopped

Grapeseed oil

Directions:

Dribble a little grape seed oil in a medium skillet and apply medium heat.

Add onions and jalapeno and cook for about 5 minutes.

Add plums, soy sauce and honey.

Cook until plums are tender and onions are transparent – about 10 minutes.

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Read more about Eating Local, Meat, Recipes, Wheat Free
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Raw Honey

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Thanksgiving 2011 Recap

Slow Cooker Chili

Vegan Gluten Free Mac & Cheese Take 2

Rosh Hashanah 2011

Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread

Homemade Pad Thai (GF)

Cranberry Chocolate Cookies

Celebrating Birthdays with Steak

penina bareket

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