Apple Pie-itas

Do you ever just throw something together really quickly and it turns out amazingly yummy? I love it when that happens! Look what I did with a few simple ingredients today to satisfy my sweet tooth…

I’m really trying to cut sugar out of my diet. But, it’s really, really hard. Today, I had a really bad craving for something sweet and fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) I didn’t have any junky sweets laying around. We very rarely do, although on occasion I do buy my hubby cookies or there is leftover birthday cake.

My daughter had just made a quesadilla for lunch, and I started thinking about those fried cinnamon things from Taco Bell. I don’t really like them…they kind of remind me of pork rinds with cinnamon or maybe what fried paper towels would be like if you sprinkled them with cinnamon and sugar. Gross, either way you look at it.

I got an idea to fry up a tortilla in some butter and sprinkle some cinnamon sugar on top. Impromptu oreja de elefante. Then I got the idea to spread some homemade applesauce on that and drizzled a tiny bit of half n half (I’m unfortunately out of raw cream at the moment or that would have been even better!). I rolled it up and tooka bite and WOW was that good. Really satisfied my sweet tooth!

It could have been healthier…homemade tortilla instead of store-bought, sucanat or raw sugar instead of white, and raw cream instead of pasteurized half n half, but I think it was still infinitely more healthy than an apple pie from Mc Death’s.  Honestly, it kind of tasted like one…but better! I will be making these again with more healthy ingredients next time, but I’m glad I found a way to make something delicious, inexpensive, quick, and with minimal heat added to my kitchen on this hot, sunny day!

I quick took a picture before it was gone...click on the picture for an up close and delicious look!

APPLE PIE-ITAS


INGREDIENTS:

• 1 soft tortilla
• 1 Tb butter (or other healthy, traditional fat) for frying  I think coconut oil would be awesome!
• 1 tsp (more or less to taste) cinnamon sugar, or combine your favorite sugar and cinnamon
• 1-2 Tbs unsweetened or lightly sweetened applesauce
• drizzle of raw cream
• a bit more cinnamon sugar to sprinkle on top, if desired

Makes 1 serving

METHOD:

Melt fat in cast iron skillet, add tortilla and coat well in melted fat. Flip over to coat other side, then fry each side until slightly crispy (you need to be able to roll it up). Remove from pan, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Spread applesauce on top, drizzle with cream and stir it around a bit until combined. Roll tortilla, sprinkle with more cinnamon sugar, if desired. Eat. Would also be good topped with fresh raw whipped cream, raw vanilla ice cream, yogurt or kefir!

What’s For Supper Wednesday: Tostadas de Alba

Quick, tasty and fresh...just what I love in meal!
Click on the picture for a closer look

In an effort to be more consistent with my blogging, I’m going to try to post on Wednesdays what we’re having for supper.  PLEASE feel free to leave a comment and share what you’re eating too! I love to see what other people are cooking!

And so, for the very first What’s For Supper Wednesday post, I’ll share the Mexican-y thing I whipped up that got an enthusiastic thumbs up from my toughest critic…My Husband...

I wasn’t sure what to call this dish…I guess they’re Tostadas, so for  the lack of a better name, I’ll call them Tostadas de Alba…which is a very loose translation of my first name. I love artistic license…

Supper needed to be quick and easy, and what can be easier than tortillas with something on them? I fried some ground beef and lightly seasoned it with a different blend of spices than what I usually use ( a homemade taco seasoning), which was what the Husband liked. He said he likes taco seasoning, but then ends up burping it all night. Come to think of it, so do I…and I unfortunately remember a bad night after eating too much taco salad while I was pregnant with my son. I didn’t eat anything Mexican for a long time after that. 

The tortillas were fried crispy in butter, topped with refried beans, meat, sharp cheddar cheese (if only I had some queso blanco….) and pico de gallo. The result was absolutely delicious! I just threw this together, so measurements are approximate…and feel free to substitute peppers…we’re not a spicy kind of family so it’s very mild, but I think I would have actually liked a bit more kick. My tastebuds are getting wild in their old age…

TOSTADAS DE ALBA

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp paprika
generous shake or two of Miss Tink’s House Seasoning
salt, as desired
refried beans of your choice
flour tortillas
butter or other traditional fat for frying
shredded cheese 

PICO DE GALLO INGREDIENTS:

I made this with what I had on hand so it’s not necessarily “authentic.” It sure was tasty though!

1 roma tomato, diced
1/4 cup onion, diced
1/4 c green pepper, diced
1-2 tbs hot yellow pepper, minced
1 tbs fresh lime juice
1/8 tsp ground coriander
salt to taste

METHOD:

Make the pico de gallo first so the flavors can blend nicely while you’re cooking the rest of the dish. Combine the vegetables, lime juice and seasonings and set aside.

Brown ground beef, season with Miss Tink’s while cooking. When cooked, add coriander, paprika and more salt/Miss Tink’s as desired.

Heat refried beans. Meanwhile, melt butter or other fat in skillet and fry tortillas on both sides until crispy. Layer beans, meat, and cheese, waiting a bit for the cheese to melt slightly before topping with pico de gallo. Makes about 3 to 5 tostadas, depending on how generously you top them.

CHEF’S NOTES:

This was super easy to make and really tasted good! I would have preferred to use fresh cilantro, however I didn’t have any on hand…and the Husband doesn’t like as much cilantro as I do anyway. The hot yellow pepper I used wasn’t very hot at all, so if you like spicy, adjust accordingly. It also would have been good with some Mexican crema, sour cream, or homemade ranch dressing…but it was still delicious without it! The different seasoning on the meat was a delightful change from the plain old taco seasoning I usually use. I will definitely be making this again.

I LOVE MY BIG BERKEY! Look at What We DON’T Drink Anymore!

photo from morethanalive.com

I love, love, love my Big Berkey! I’m not getting paid one cent to rave about it, either…I just love it that much! 

Today, I cleaned the black filtering elements in my Big Berkey, and I thought I’d show you what we’re NOT drinking anymore. It’s completely disgusting, seriously. I don’t know what it is…and honestly, I’m not sure I WANT to know. But I’m very happy that my family and I are not ingesting it, whatever it is. Take a look…I wish I had a better camera, because this picture does not fully capture the essense of the nasty that it is  in real life.

There you have it, folks…just one of many reasons I love my Big Berkey. I ordered mine from MoreThanAlive.com and have really been happy with the product and their service. I’d like to encourage you to check it out…especially if you live in my town…our water is so nasty. I don’t even want to shower in it…yuck! Berkey makes showerhead filters too…I definitely want to get one for our shower!

Music to a Real Foodie Wife’s Ears: “I Feel Like Crap”

Yes, you read that right…my husband recently said that to me and I couldn’t have been more happy to hear it. Why? Because it reinforces why I do what I do and shows my husband that I’m not such a lunatic after all. What am I talking about, you ask? Read on…

For the last week almost, we’ve been busy getting ready for Number Two’s high school graduation. This meant cleaning house, moving furniture, shopping…busy busy busy.  And if you don’t plan ahead (something I’m not exactly wonderful at…) you end up eating stuff you shouldn’t…and wouldn’t normally. Even though I was feeling like a brand new person, after recently beginning treatment for low thyroid, I had months of cleaning and organizing that I was behind on and that took center stage. I didn’t bake or soak or otherwise prepare anything that would necessarily be called “real foodish”. Honestly, I don’t even really remember cooking. I know we ate…but what, who knows!

My father-in-law came from Arizona and stayed with us, and following tradition, treated us to supper one night. We ordered two giant take-out pizzas from a local pizza joint…and I mean GIANT. The leftovers ended up being breakfast and lunch at least twice! We had brats and hot dogs on commercially baked, white buns, potato chips, fried chicken from a local grocery store, and prepackaged coleslaw. Sodas. Capri Sun drink pouches. Cake...don't forget the cake...at least two of them were homemade by my mother-in-law, but one was a commercially prepared cake loaded with buttercream icing and lovely food coloring. It really looked neat though. And ice cream…mmmmm….I just love ice cream…and honestly, I didn’t care that it had red 40 in it, it was that yummy!

This is my handsome second-oldest stepson. This young man will soon be serving our country and protecting our freedoms as a United States Marine and we are very incredibly proud of him! That's that cake I was talking about there...

The graduate wanted a taco bar for his open house, and I bought pre-cooked and seasoned taco filling from GFS for far less than I could make it, even buying cheap meat…I didn’t look at the ingredient list, on purpose! Canned nacho cheese sauce…I would never buy that…for one, I don’t like pepper-flavored cheese, and for two, canned cheese is not necessarily food, I don’t think. Shredded iceberg lettuce has minimal nutritional value, and commercially prepared tortillas are laden with hydrogenated fats. There were, at least, brown rice and sesame tortilla chips and fresh veggies.

I really struggle sometimes, when it comes to preparing food for others. On one hand, I know certain foods really are not healthy for you…but on the other, do I “waste” expensive, healthier foods on people who don’t particularly care what they eat? I feel guilty, but my main focus when it comes to food is my family. And so I do my best to feed my family foods that I know are healthy and nutritious, and when it comes to feeding others, I revert back to the SAD most people are used to (that’s Standard American Diet…no surprise the acronym for that is SAD!!) unless I can afford to do otherwise.

Yesterday, my husband told me he felt like crap all day at work. Couldn’t concentrate or think clearly…tired, and generally feeling yucky. I felt bad that he felt bad, but secretly I was pleased in the sense that the benefits of the changes I’ve made in our diet aren’t just  “all in my head”. My husband feels better…we all feel better, for eating, at the very least, less processed foods and chemicals.

So, tonight, I enjoyed preparing some “real” food for a change. I must admit I enjoyed the convenience of the last several days, but at the expense of our health and well being…well, it’s definitely not a long-term habit I want to pick up again. As we enjoyed our supper tonight of ground turkey burger patties topped with sour cream, soaked and seasoned brown rice, buttery mixed veggies and fresh sliced tomatoes (with a lovely sprinkling of that heavenly pink Himalayan salt on mine….Oh. My. Word.), every cell in my body seemed to be giving me a standing ovation. It tasted lovely and was deeply satisfying. Plus, I know my husband will feel better tomorrow and that makes me very happy indeed.

Attempted Homicide Biscuits

Have you heard people refer to white flour as White Death Flour? That’s how I’ve come to think of it…but, my family is still rather fond of that stuff.  They eat what’s in the house…and since I’m in charge of all things food, well, they don’t eat a lot of stuff made with that White Death Flour – at least not at home.  And, truth be told, every now and again I get a hankerin’ for some biscuits or tortillas or a nice, thick hunk of white bread fresh out of the oven and kissed with butter.

I made biscuits the other night. Killer biscuits, to be exact. When that descriptor went through my mind, I immediately thought of White Death Flour…BUT, I reasoned, since these biscuits were made from scratch and had raw milk, coconut oil and butter in them…well, they were at least healthier than biscuit mix or those refrigerated cans of dough.  They couldn’t really be classified as killers, could they? Wouldn’t it just be more like attempted murder?

Whatever helps me sleep at night, right?

Strict Real Foodies are probably cringing as they read this. The ones that have banished white flour and sugar completely from their diet…and honestly, I wish I could say that’s where I’m at! I have to emphasize here the Real part of Real Foodie, for me anyway, also includes “being real” about my budget, my time, and my family…and sometimes, well, sometimes we eat stuff I really don’t want to. My family eats what I cook because they’re hungry and their choices are eat that or make your own meal. Which they would, probably, if we had ramen noodles, frozen pizza and blue boxes of mac ‘n cheese in the house.

BUT…making a meal that no one but myself will eat defeats the purpose, too. I certainly don’t have room in my budget for throwing out food, nor do I want to – that is not good stewardship of God’s blessings.  So, I compromise on occasion…and make a loaf of white bread, or pizza dough, or tortillas, or biscuits. We’re still eating healthier versions of store-bought foods, and sometimes that’s just the best we can do. As long as the majority of the time we’re eating better (or the best!) foods, we’re still coming out ahead.

Check out the killer biscuits I made:

Right before baking...click on the pic to see it bigger and you can see the layers

You know that nice looking chunk of dough up there in the first picture? Apparently, there was so much rise on  that biscuit it toppled over!  I think If I had cut them wider, say 6 biscuits instead of 9, they wouldn't have fallen over like they did. But the flaky layers are very evident!

When I was still at home, we loved "flakies" - those refrigerated biscuits with the flaky layers.  I won't buy them now, no matter how cheap they are. They just taste gross to me. Besides, I can make my own flakies  (:

It's all in the technique, the cut and the fat: Don't overwork it while mixing, then FOLD the dough over on itself 5-6 times, don't knead it like the recipes usually say. You can see evidence of the folding in this biscuit. For higher rise on biscuits, USE A SHARP KNIFE OR BISCUIT CUTTER. The right side of this biscuit was the edge of the dough, the left side was cut with a Cutco bread knife...ubersharp! I don't make round biscuits anymore but squares because a knife is sharper than a glass dipped in flour and I get much taller biscuits that way. Sometimes I trim off the edges of the dough and have darned near perfect biscuits. And the fat secret? Most recipes say cut in the fat until it resembles cornmeal, but you actually need small chunks of fat to improve rise and flakiness. You need to leave some pea-sized chunks of fat in the flour. Also make sure the fat is COLD. I also use a baking stone and preheat it in the oven while making the biscuits.

These biscuits not only looked beautiful (in spite of some oddly-shaped ones) but tasted  absolutely divine! If  I'm gonna die from eating white flour, this is the way to go...

No self-respecting biscuit would be caught dead dressed in anything but real, honest to goodness butter...at least not at MY house!

I debated on whether or not to include this recipe, since the "best" results (as far as rise goes, anyway) come from using White Death Flour. But, since I started out on this Real Food journey in baby steps, switching from canned biscuits or biscuit mix to making them from scratch, for example, I decided maybe someone else who is in that same place would like this recipe. I usually make these now with half whole wheat flour...and am journeying into the world of soaked grains...but I still fall back to this recipe when the urge for Death by Biscuit hits.

KILLER BISCUITS

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 c flour
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 4 tsp aluminum-free baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 c traditional fat (coconut oil, lard, butter or combination)
• 2/3 c milk (raw, whole fat, or buttermilk will work wonderfully)

METHOD:

Preheat your oven to 450, throw in your baking stone to preheat if using one. Mix dry ingredients, cut in fat with a pastry blender until it resembles coarse crumbs, making sure to have some pea-sized chunks. Add milk and stir gently with a fork just until moistened and the dough will follow the fork around the bowl. Turn out onto lightly floured surface and gently pat into a ball, then press out and fold the dough over onto itself 5 or 6 times. I usually try to shape it into a square or rectangle during this process to eliminate handling it too much before cutting. Using a SHARP knife or biscuit cutter, cut out your biscuits. Place on stone or baking sheet and bake 10-12 minutes, until golden brown.

CHEF'S NOTES: 

It takes practice to get good at doing anything, and baking and cooking are no exceptions. Especially when learning to cook from scratch or learning traditional methods of preparing food...so give yourself some grace if they don't turn out perfectly the first time. Sometimes it's your flour, sometimes it's how you worked the dough, sometimes it's the weather (seriously...humidity will jack up a baking day, trust me!). I've been working on biscuits for over a year now and believe me, I've had some flops. But when they do turn out oh man, there's just nothing like a good homemade biscuit!

The Perfectionist Kitchen...Grace Under Fire

I wish this was my kitchen, but it's from
www.remodelingmyspace.com

Do you struggle with perfectionism? I always believed perfectionists live in those House Beautiful centerfolds, have perfectly behaved families, and never have a hair out of place. Then I discovered that I was one. And believe me, House Beautiful couldn't be paid enough to photograph my home, my family is not perfectly behaved, and I often have hairs out of place...in fact, it's almost noon as I type this on a cloudy Saturday morning, I'm still in my PJ's, and my hair is stylishly coiffed in a frightful Why-Yes-I-DID-Just-Roll-Out-Of-Bed 'do.

And yet, I'm busy working in my kitchen...the room that currently looks like a scale model of a nuclear testing ground. I've made sourdough pancakes, fed my starter, mixed up some healthy(ish..it's not soaked) granola that is currently infusing my home with the most delightful aroma of oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, honey, butter and coconut ( you can find the recipe here, at Kitchen Stewardship!), and I just started some dough in my breadmaker to make the bratwurst buns we need for tomorrow's outing to a local park to hunt for mushrooms and just enjoy spending the day together. I'm very happy that my 16 year old stepson will be joining us...it will help make for a wonderful Mother's Day!

I'm taking a coffee break...enjoying some freshly ground Starbucks House Blend, sweetened slightly with sucanat and lavishly lightened with some raw cream from local, happy, organically grass-fed cows. Mmmmm...

So, back to the perfectionist kitchen oxymoron...I've learned that "perfectionist" doesn't always mean one does things perfectly and always "has it together". In fact, it can mean just the opposite, because the inability to do something perfectly paralyzes the perfectionist, and nothing gets done. 

I had a long day yesterday...not enough sleep, I've started babysitting for a three year old girl so I toted two three year olds around with me on grocery/errand day (wow...that's a challenge!), came home, made homemade pizza (thank God for 5-Minute pizza crust...), tried to make some sourdough English muffins (emphasis on TRIED. I don't want to talk about that one.), had a daughter who chose to lose out on allowance rather than do her dishes...and I just didn't have the energy to do them, even though starting the day off with a clean kitchen is so much more inviting and efficient. So, I went to bed. And got some rest, which I really, really needed. I wasn't too worried about the dishes running off in the middle of the night, or someone breaking in and stealing them....or washing them for me (now that would be wonderful, though...)

I did neaten the mess up before bed...sounds kind of odd but you know what I mean...stack the dishes, wipe up some crumbs, little things that only took a few seconds and not much energy. 

So, I find myself facing the day, and the mess, early this morning after taking my daughter to a Girl Scout function for the day ("I'll do the dishes tomorrow, mom..."). I know that I want to get these things accomplished today:

• make granola
• make granola bars
• make buns for our picnic lunch Sunday
• move Little Mister's toys up into his new room
• catch up on laundry
• clean up the kitchen, including mopping the floor

A To-Do list is always a little like shopping for clothes for me...I take a big pile of garments into the dressing room, spend forever in there trying them on, then come out with one or two that I like. I know I will not, realistically, be able to get all that done today. So, I have to decide...do I clean the kitchen first? It's tempting, since it is usually easier to work on clean, uncluttered surfaces...but then I'll have to clean the kitchen twice. I don't like to do it once, why make myself do it twice? Do I do laundry first? Well, I could start some, but my stepson beat me to the washer and honestly, I feel a bit ADD today, I'm not sure I could remember to stay on top of it! 

My choices then, are, get the kitchen in Perfect Order and then start cooking....or do nothing. Yep, that's how my mind works...all or nothing, most of the time. If I can't do it perfectly, then I just don't do it. It's something I've struggled to overcome for years. So, today, I decided to do something completely different and allow myself to consider a third option: start cooking anyway, in spite of the less-than-perfect conditions. And to remember to give myself some grace...I'm a very real person, I don't have it all together, I can't actually be perfect.

It was a stretch...I had to keep stopping myself from switching over to Clean Up The Kitchen Perfectly First mode, but I was able to get some things going...now my kitchen looks really bad! See, you won't find this in an issue of Better Homes and Gardens, I'm sure...

...kind of looks like squirrels were cooking in there. Highly distractable squirrels who have had one too many cups of coffee...

But, I can take some comfort in knowing I will only be cleaning it once today. And if I can get myself away from this computer, I just might be able to get more than I thought accomplished. 

Beating perfectionism, one baby step at a time...and making some darned good granola in the process...that's my day today...what habits or tendencies do you have that hinder you in the kitchen? How are you overcoming them?

Blueberry Bliss: Whole Wheat Pancakes with Blueberry Compote

I woke up  wanting pancakes, and after perusing my latest copy of Woman’s Day this morning, I had a plan – pancakes with blueberry compote (pg 182 of the May 2011 issue or you can click here for a slide show presentation of the article “How to Make Pancakes”).  Of course, since I’ve basically eschewed White Death Flour, I make 100% whole wheat pancakes now. I decided to look for a new recipe since I’d just been adapting my normal pancake recipe by substituting whole wheat flour. I found this delicious recipe at AllRecipes.com and made a couple adaptations to suit our real-food lifestyle…

Whole Wheat (Blueberry) Pancakes

I left the blueberries out of the pancakes and made Blueberry Compote instead…recipe follows the pancake recipe

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 1/4 c whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp baking powder (aluminum-free)
• 1 egg (pastured)
• 1 c milk (raw)(+ up to 1/4 cup more if needed)
• 1/2 tsp salt (sea)
• 1 tbs artificial sweetner raw sugar
• 1 tbs melted coconut oil (no oil called for in original recipe)
• 1/2 c blueberries

METHOD:

Sift together the flour and baking powder (I’m too “efficient” for that…just mix them together well!), set aside. Beat together the egg, milk, salt and sugar in a bowl. Stir in flour until just moistened, add coconut oil and blueberries and stir to incorporate.

Cook pancakes on a hot griddle or cast iron skillet. The most important part of making great pancakes is PATIENCE! You simply MUST wait until it’s the right time to flip them…when the top is bubbly and the edges look dry, then it’s time to flip. It’s hard, I know…I’m still guilty of premature pancake flipping from time to time…I don’t like to wait…

Serve with your favorite pancake toppings…might I suggest:

Organic, pastured butter made from raw cream and this fabulously easy and delicious Blueberry Compote recipe with a drizzle of fresh, raw cream…

BLUEBERRY COMPOTE

The link above will take you to Woman’s Day magazine’s website, where you’ll find a slideshow showing how to make perfect pancakes. This recipe is on step 4 of the slide show, or on pg 182 of the May 2011 issue of Woman’s Day

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 c frozen (or ideally, fresh organic) blueberries
• 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 2 tbs raw sugar (I actually used less and it was still delicious…adjust for your taste)

METHOD:

In a small saucepan, combine all ingredients and simmer, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened and syrupy, 5 to 6 minutes

Bon appetit!