Amazing Pizza

 My mom came for church and lunch this Sunday. For lunch we decided to make individual pizzas because it would be quick, easy and we could all have what we wanted.  I had been dreaming about making this pizza for that last 24 hours, since I had gone grocery shopping and bought Kalmata olives, feta cheese and fresh mozzarella.  The entire time we were assembling the ingredients and pizza I could not stop saying how excited I was about the pizza I was making. I’m sure I was driving my mother crazy, thankfully she loves me and can tolerate my love for food.  The pizza above is mine.  For this one I started with a slice of Arnold’s 100 calorie whole wheat sandwich thins and topped it with: homemade pizza sauce (just thinned tomato paste, sprinkle of brown sugar and herbs), fresh parmesan cheese, fresh mozzarella cheese, feta cheese, sauteed baby portabella mushrooms, orange pepper, fresh garlic, and fresh basil. It was absolutly delicious! I had just read this article by some famous chef in a magazine about making good pizza and how you should’t overload it with toppings… well I’m not sure I agree. I love toppings and sauces and this hit the spot. Delicious!  My husband was not quite as adventurous. Pesto, feta, parmesean and basil-tomato chunks with fresh basil on top. Still quite tasty.

Mom was adventurous like me. That must be where I get my adventurous spirit from.

Having just a handful of fresh ingredients on hand can add up to numerous different combinations of meals. I’ve made 3 meals with almost all the same ingredients this week and every one has been totally different.

Quick and Easy Pasta Dinner

I had an awesome memorial day full of friends and food.  First I met up with two friends from college, we caught up and shopped all morning. Then we got lunch at Bertucci’s. I’d never been- it is very good. We shared a Margherita pizza which is tomato, fresh basil and fresh mozzarella. It comes with amazing rolls with dipping oil and italian salad.  Scrumptious! Then I went shopping at Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, and of course Wegman’s. I had never shopped Trader Joe’s and am definetly adding it to my list. It was awesome! It is like an organic Aldi. Good prices, low selection, high quality foods.  Needless to say by the time I reached home after all this, It was past our usual dinner time.   On my way home I thought over what I had bought and came up with this lovely idea:

Here’s How:

Artichoke Shells (or another whole grain or veggie pasta of your choice)

Cherry tomatoes- sliced up

baby portobello mushrooms (or mushroom of choice)

fresh baby spinach leaves

fresh basil- sliced

freshly grated parmesan cheese

Wegman’s basting oil (or olive oil with seasonings such as oregano, garlic, thyme…)

Boil pasta, drain then grate cheese over top and add veggies and a little oil, mix and eat!

15 minutes and dinner is served!

What’s good for you in this?

Tomato- their big claim to fame is their lycopene.  Lycopene is a powerful antioxidant which means it keeps you healthy and can help prevent/fight cancer.

Artichoke- The artichoke in this recipe is in the pasta. It is like a traditional veggie pasta but made with wheat and Jerusalem Artichoke. I’m not positive how much benefit you actually get from veggie, but it can’t be bad.  Artichokes are full of fiber and one of the most antioxidant rich vegetables. So I vote for eating them in any form you can get- fresh is always best though!

Mushrooms- I happened to have baby portabella (apparently a.k.a crimini)  mushrooms on hand. These guys, along with other types of mushrooms, are an excellent source of potassium, selenium, niacin and riboflavin.   These along with the several other nutrients found in mushrooms are good for cell reproduction and have antioxidant properties (selenium actually helps your body make it’s own antioxidants).  Interesting fact, most of their nutrients are not diminished by coking (unlike most veggies).

Spinach- You’ve got to eat your spinach! Seriously, it is so good for you!  I just learned tonight while reading  a vegetarian cookbook that spinach contains most of the nutrients found in meat- so especially if you are cutting back your meat intake (as we have) – you’ve got to eat your spinach!  I could go on for several hundred words about what is good for you in spinach-  I’ll spare you but to sum it up: It is anti-cancer, antioxidant, anti-inflamatory, and  helps bone strength.  Why would you not eat it?  My favorite way to eat spinach is in a salad topped with fruit and a sweet balsamic dressing. I eat it almost daily int he summer.  However, I try to sneak it in in places like this throughout the year as well.

Krispy PB Carob Goodies

While standing in the kitchen this evening my eyes happened upon peanut butter, Rice Krispies, and agave syrup.  I said aloud to my husband- “ooo! I just got a yummy idea!”  Five minutes later we were sampling a tasty treat.  Wa-la!

 I think I may have had something similar to this before. I’m pretty sure it was made with powdered sugar and corn syrup though.

So to make it I just poured some rice krispies into a bowl (maybe 1 1/2cups)  then softened about 1/4 or so of a cup of peanut butter in the microwave. I poured the gooey PB over the cereal and gave a hearty squirt of agave syrup over it all (maybe 1/8 cup.. probably less).  I mixed it all up and pressed into a baking dish. Put it in the freezer for a few minutes then began devouring it.  I had bought some carob chips for my best friend who has gone mostly vegan for health reasons. I had tried carob powder before and liked it but had never tired the chips in a recipe (plain, they don’t taste so good).  I melted a handful of the carob chips in the microwave and spread it over the rice krispies and it tasted pretty good together. So there ya go, a moderately healthy, super easy, vegan dessert.  I will admit they don’t stay together as well as a normal rice krispy treat, but if I had froze them longer they probably would have.  Also maybe using a little honey with the agave would help them be stickier.

What is healthy for you in this?

Agave-  a low glycemic and natural sweetener.  It is sweeter tasting than sugar so you can make things sweet using less. Also most importantly it is a naturally occurring form of sugar so it ha s a low glycemic index. That means it won’t make your blood sugar spike. Constant blood sugar spikes are bad for your body and can cause diabetes and heart problems.  So always keep an on how much sugar you are eating, whether it is natural or not- you don’t want too much at a time. Be kind to your body and your future self. The things we eat now really will affect how we age.

Carob- Wow, I had no idea. Listen to this:  Carob is naturally sweet. Anyone who has tasted unsweetened cocoa can tell you it is disgusting! Carob on the other hand is apparently sweet- naturally- it does not need to be processed and refined and have sugar and milk and such added to make it taste good.  It is made into chips using things like malted barley and palm kernel oil. No chemicals or sugar added.  It also can be used to stop diarrhea in children, it is caffeine free, it aids digestion, is high is calcium and vitamin E and it has anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties.  All the amazing things God has given us naturally in this world and how good they are for us- never ceases to amaze me! Our creator is so awesome!     OK, so carob does not taste exactly like chocolate but I may have to start using it more often.   Here is a picture of a carob pod. The carob powder is made from the peas of the pod.

Peanut Butter- In small amounts a great source of energy and protein!  Unfortunately I used JIFF, but natural peanut butter is pretty tasty too and much much healthier!  I love to make peanut butter at Whole Foods- they have the machine where you can just flip a switch and it grinds the peanuts into butter right there- to tasty and fresh!

Blueberry Bran Muffins

My husband and I are about to go to TN for our 4th wedding anniversary. We went there on our honeymoon and are going back to the same family run cabin company. We plan to do quite a bit of hiking while we are there.  I have been busy baking, making, and preparing snacks and such for the trip.  Today I made blueberry bran muffins. I found a basic recipe off allrecipies.com(http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/B-Muffins/Detail.aspx) and made it my own.  In my opinion they are the tastiest muffins I have whipped up in a quite a while.  These little guys will be part of a nutrient rich breakfast or make an excellent energy snack while on the trail.

 Here is the approximate recipe.  (You should know better than to expect a precise recipie out of me).  I’m sure any mixture of flour would work fine. I use a coffee grinder to grind up things like steel cut oats, rolled oats, wheat berries ect.. to get most of my flours. If you want to use wheat bran and wheat flour I’m sure it would turn out well.  Our diets often consist of too much wheat, so I like to use a variety nut, seed and various grain flours to get more and different nutrients.  For example amaranth is a really good source of protein.  Oat bran provides soluble fiber while wheat bran provides insoluble fiber- both important. If you only use white wheat flour in your kitchen you are missing out on a plethora of nutrients. Break outside the box and open your horizons! I’m sure you won’t regret it and your body will thank you!

1 cup milk (I used part milk part vanilla coconut milk)

1/2 wheat bran

1/4 cup spelt flour

1/4 amaranth flour

1/2 oat flour

1/2 oat bran

3/4 c. whole wheat flour

1 egg

1/4 raw cane sugar

1/8 cup agave

1/3 cup sunflower oil

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 Blueberries

Mix everything together. Divide into muffin cups. Bake at 400* 15-20 min.

Enjoy!

For different varieties try adding different types of nuts and berries. One suggestion is using banana, pumpkin or apple with  spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves for added antioxidants and flavor! Get creative and enjoy!

Local Restaurant Review: Cristina’s Cafe

As you know if you read New Year; New Way of Eating we are trying to eat more organic, local, natural foods.  I mentioned the website Localharvest.com on which you can search for local restaurants, farmers markets, farms, Community Supported Agriculture programs etc… Well I found a place called Cristina’s Cafe that is a “Virginia Green Certified Restaurant” located in Strasburg, VA.  They are a green business and make great effort to serve locally produced and fair trade food and drink. They also donate food scraps to local pig farmers, use solar heating, green cleaning products and even have their own little garden behind the restaurant!  My husband and I decided to make it a date and give it a try.  Cristina’s Cafe is set along route 11 in the historic district of Strasburg alongside several cute shops and boutiques.

The day we went was a snowy day and the restaurant was mostly empty, but had a very homey relaxed feel.  When you first walk in there are some couches that make a relaxed reading area, along with some local crafts for sale, a bakery display (all baked goods are made in house), a fridge display of the local craft beers they sell, and a small section of pamphlets on local activities and green awareness papers.  The walls are decorated with local art, which is for sale. Every inch of this place seems to support the local community.  They even have a stage on which local musicians perform on weekends. During the spring, summer and fall, the parking lot is a farmers market free to local farmers and craftsmen to sell their goods.  Meat is purchased from Blue Ridge Meats in Front Royal, potato chips are from Route 11 Chips in Mount Jackson, and produce is from a handful of local farms.

I ordered a sandwich called “Wendy’s Favorite” which is ciabatta bread with refried black beans, avocado, and chipotle mayo.   My husband got something called “The Hangover Cure” which is biscuits and gravy, and roasted breakfast potatoes.  The restaurant is open 7-4 weekdays during which time they serve breakfast and lunch.  On weekends they are open 8-4 for breakfast/lunch then 6-9 for dinner and music. Anytime my husband can eat breakfast food, he is happy so he enjoyed his meal very much.  My sandwich was to die for! It was a bit messy, having all soft ingredients, but I feel the messier the better when it comes to good food. This was no exception, the combination of the slightly salty beans, with the creamy avocado and slight kick from the chipotle mayo- was just a perfect combination.  It was served with a pickle and Route 11 potato chips.  What a satisfyingly delicious meal! I can’t wait to go back!  Total cost of lunch for two came to about $15.  We made it home without any of their delicious looking baked goods, but let me tell you- that took some strong will power.

In short, we had a delicious meal that we could afford and feel good about.

Check out their website for more details: Cristina’s Cafe

I didn’t get a picture of the breakfast meal, but here is half my sandwich. I got too excited when it came and dug right in.  I hope you find yourself there soon!

Whole Wheat and Seed Crackers

These babies are chock-full of seeds and whole grains providing a tasty and filling snack with a healthy dose of useful nutrients!

My husband LOVES to eat bread and crackers. I could probably get him to eat anything if I put it either on bread or a cracker.  I’ve already found and used a great recipe for homemade whole wheat bread but was looking for a homemade whole grain cracker recipe to supply my husband’s cracker crave with a healthier alternative to store bought.  I’m not certain this is the perfect recipe yet but it is at least a good starting point from which  may branch off of in the future.  I found the recipe online- it was actually in the LA times using a recipe adapted from the book “Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor.” Might be a good book to check out.

Ingredients:

1/4 hulled sunflower seeds (plain- no salt)

1/4 cup hulled pupkin seeds

1/4 cup flax seeds (red or golden)

1/2 cup natural sesame seeds (tan in color) – I found in bulk section of Whole Foods

2 cups Whole Wheat Flour or Rye Flour (or combination)  I used Whole Wheat but want to purchase some rye flour and try it! Rye has some great health benefits!

3/4 tsp salt

2 tbs honey or agave syrup (I used brown rice syrup)

2 1/2 tbs vegetable oil

1 egg

First use a blender or coffee grinder or nut mill might work to grind sunflower, pumpkin, and flax seeds into fine powder- not too long or you’ll have seed butter- which could be fun another time! Recommended to grind flax separately it takes a different length of time to grind.

Then mix everything (except egg) together in a bowl and mix until a dough- should not be sticky.

Knead dough on a lightly floured surface for 30 seconds to be sure thoroughly mixed. Texture should be tacky but not sticky- add more flour if it is sticky.

Divide dough into 3 pieces and roll out one on a floured surface- flip frequently so it does not stick to surface.  Roll it out until it is almost paper thin- as thin as you want your cracker to be- think about Wheat Thins.   Then use a knife or pizza cutter to slice dough into the shape you want your crackers to be. A large, flat kitchen knife worked well for me, cutting long lengths at a time.

Transfer onto a baking pan that is layered in either parchment paper (this is different than waxed paper! I learned that the hard way a few weeks ago… fail)  or a silicone baking mat.  (I have 2 very nice baking mats, thanks to my mom, and they worked very well!)  So you lay them out on the parchment or baking mat and they can be very close to each other because they won’t rise or anything.

Next the recipe said to mix an egg with a 1/2 cup of water, to brush the crackers with before sprinkling with white sesame seeds.  I used just a little bit of water.  Then sprinkle with sesame seed (white or black). I also then sprinkled with sea salt.  You could get creative at this step and sprinkle garlic or basil, or chili powder… endless possibilities.  Then bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes (rotating baking sheets if baking more than one at a time every ten minutes). Allow crackers to cool on baking sheet, this will help them crisp up.  If when they are cool they do not snap when you break it- put it back in a hot oven for a few more minutes.

That’s it! Pretty easy- but all that cutting and brushing and sprinkling was time consuming, I’d say it would be much faster with 2 sets of hands!  I plan on making my eggplant hummus this weekend to go with these. Yum!

What is Good for you in these crackers? Wow if you have arthritis, asthma, are going through menopause or worry about bone or prostate heath- read below: seeds are something you really want to incorporate into your diet!

Flaxseed: A super seed! It has high levels of Omega 3 which are good for anti-inflamation to help conditions such as migraines, asthma, and arthritis and helps your bone density and health.  These Omega 3′s also help reduce the risk of colon cancer, prostate cancer, and heart disease. It helps lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels and helps menopausal women and their hormone balances and hot flashes.  Flaxseed is also very high in magnesium (which I’ve learned plays an important role in your natural energy and stamina) and dietary fiber.  So sprinkle this on your cereal, add it to bread, yogurt or eat it plain, but we all could use some more flaxseed in our diet!

Pumpkin Seed: These are great for all of us, but especially men as their levels of zinc, carotenoids  and omega 3′s help prevent some prostate problems. Again those helpful Omega 3s also help with lowering cholesterol and with bone density. Pumpkin seeds are also a great source for protein, manganese, magnesium, and iron.

Sesame Seeds are a great source of minerals. They are high in copper, calcium, manganese, magnesium, iron, zinc, and others.  They also contain their own special substances which help lower cholesterol and prevent high blood pressure: sesamin and sesamolin.  All these fantastic nutrients results in a plethora of health benefits ranging from protection form colon cancer to helping menopausal women sleep better. Here are some: supports heart and respiratory health, bone health, prevents the blood vessel spasm that triggers migraines.

Sunflower Seeds are super high in vitamin E and B1. Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant that protects cell membrane and brain cells.  The magnesium  helps reduce asthma and arthritis by preventing inflammation and helps prevent heart disease. It also helps women with menopause symptoms such as hot flashes and reduce risk of colon cancer.

Wow a lot of these seeds have similar characteristics. It’s great to know our bodies are getting beefed up from several different sources to fight these common ailments.

* All information was taken from either my brain or WHFoods.com (that stands for World’s Healthiest Foods

New Year; New Way of Eating

This was not an official New Year’s resolution, but it happened to take place around the New  Year:  In our house, we are changing the way we eat. We are trying to avoid pesticides, chemicals, genetically modified foods, antibiotics, growth hormones and preservatives as much as possible.  It all started with a desire to de-tox our bodies and to get my body healthier to combat allergy and other health issues.  As we learned more about this, we also learned more about the food we eat and where it comes from, how it is produced and how it affects our bodies. I have always known portions of what I have learned, but it is becoming more important and meaningful as I learn more.  It is truly a testament to God’s amazing creation that our bodies are able to stay alive and function as long as they do with all the awful junk we put into our bodies nowadays.  And yet we wonder why we have so many health problems.  We don’t take care of ourselves and treat everything with a pill and expect all our troubles to go away without any effort of our own.  Well, I’m sorry but that’s not how we were created.  Did God put a pharmacy in the Garden of Eden? No, He gave us endless supplies of healthy nutritious fruits, vegetables, grains and animals (which by the way were not mass produced in an unhealthy condition or on a diet of antibiotics, hormones, corn, soybeans and other junk that is not found in a pasture.)  While I do agree that God has given us abilities to create medicines to help us, we have gone pill crazy.   I personally believe that if we ate a diet of foods raised naturally- without adding manmade chemicals, pesticides, etc..  we would be a million times healthier.  I can’t say that this is what I am doing- I enjoy processed foods too, but I am really trying to cut out a large portion of this junk from my life.  I recently read a book called Food Rules: an Eater’s Manual and it is so funny (and true) that we need to be told things like- eat food that is food, then in further detail that it is not food if it arrived through a window or is called that same thing in every language.  Also it discusses that we shouldn’t eat foods that our great grandmother wouldn’t recognize or that you wouldn’t normally keep in your home pantry.   While I didn’t agree with everything in this book, it had some good points that shows us what a sad state our culture is in when it comes to food.  If you want to learn more about where the food you eat comes from and how food affects your life, I would recommend watching Food Inc. and Food Matters- both interesting documentaries which can be viewed instantly on Netflix.  I would like to watch more documentaries like these but have not found the time to watch them yet.

I have been loving the last few weeks with this diet change.  There is a good bit of effort put into it, but I believe that the output is incredibly worth it. Cost was a big concern for us when we started this diet. You should all know by now that I am very frugal and love getting as much as I can for my money. We typically only spend $50 a week on groceries and I am proud to say that I have continued to successfully stick to within $10 of this on our new diet. We are considering changing this amount, but I have proven that it is possible on just the $50. Here are a few changes we have made that maybe you would be interested in trying yourself:

Buying Local Eggs: We are currently buying our eggs from a little place called Brown Stone Ranch whose chickens are free range and fed a supplement of cocofeed. Cocofeed is made naturally from coconuts and is high in fiber and protein.  This is en excellent alternative to feeding chickens soy which we get all too much of in our diets already. Soy is too high in polyunsaturated fats and almost all soy in America is genetically modified with pesticides in the seed itself.  This farm had the best raising practices and price around- only $3 a doz.  That is equivalent or cheaper than organic eggs at the grocery store!

They are so pretty!

Buying Organic- as much as possible- WOW! I have been amazed by organic produce!  I always kinda thought “eh, organic it is such a trendy thing and it just cost so much more, I can wash most of the pesticides off right?”  Wrong!  I’ve learned that non-organic crops are sprayed chemical fertilizers that will make the plant grow- instead of nurturing the soil by crop rotation or natural fertilizers.  So non-organic crops will grow with all those chemicals but at the cost of the product having less nutrients and more chemicals.  Organic produce is raised in soil that is fertilized naturally without chemicals and responsible farming practices and is therefore able to produce plants with more nutrients.  When we thought about it this way, it seemed worth at least trying organics. It may cost more but you are getting more nutrients and less chemicals.   Like I said, I have really been amazed- organic produce tastes so much better -and it’s better for you!  In some cases, I have found organic for cheaper than non-organic! I also have found that in stores like Whole Foods (who I always thought of as being expensive) you can often get organic produce cheaper than at places like Martins because there is the consumer demand for it. That’s for produce, not sure about the stuff on the shelves.  My Mom suggested that Whole Foods likely has their own farms and/or they have more buying power because they are buying organic in larger quantity.  So while it is a bit of a drive to get to the closest Whole Foods, we have been going to N. Va every other weekend on grocery adventures. We have fun, get to be together, and often get to visit with my parents so for us it is worth the gas and time.  Also places like Wegman’s have great variety of fresh produce and organics along with great prices on store brand shelf products.

Juicing- We found a juicer at Aldie for $35! What a deal!  Now it isn’t the most awesome juicer in the world, but we would never spend $800 plus on a juicer anyways, so this works for us.  Juicing fruits and vegetables gives you the nutrients of those foods (minus the fiber) in a form that your body can digest easily.  The nutrients can be in your bloodstream within 15 minutes of drinking it! Talk about a natural energy boost!  It’s also a great way to get nutrients from foods you don’t want to eat.  Just juice it, stick a straw in the back of your mouth and drink as quickly as possible! Back to the benefit of organic- before we bought organic apples- we tried juicing with regular apples.  One whole non-organic apple gave us maybe 1/4 c of juice- which didn’t taste very good – and was full of pesticides because we didn’t skin and seed it (which you should do when juicing non-organic produce) Then we got organic apples- I juiced just a half of an apple and got like 1/2 cup of delicious juice! I was so surprised at how good it tasted!

My favorites are apple juice and papaya juice (which is really good for digestion)

Whole Grains- My cabinet is full of mason jars of whole grains, beans, and white flour alternatives and it makes me so happy.  Whole grains offer a plethora of nutrients that white flour just can’t compete with.  I’ve been making home made bread and it is delicious!

Plant based protein- We often think the only way to get protein is from animals- we couldnt be more wrong. Whole grains and vegetables all contain protein. The protein you get from sources such as whole grains, lentils, beans, seeds, nuts, and vegetables are eaiser for your body to digest than animal protein.

Buying naturally raised, local meats- We still want to eat meat, but have never been big meat eaters.  However we will probably be eating even less now with our commitment to eating meat that has not been mass produced or overdosed in hormones and antibiotics.  Using the website localharvest.com I have connected with several local farms which produce meats and vegetables naturally.  I have more research to do to decide on which farm we will buy from- depending on the specifics of how their meat and produce is raised and the cost.  This week we are buying our first meat of the new year and I am purchasing it from Holy Cow Delivery.  They sell locally raised and produced meats and dairy products which do not contain growth hormones or antibiotics.  I also really enjoy buying local products because it supports small business and local farmers.

www.localharvest.com

www.HolyCowDelivery.com – You can also pick up products at the Winchester Farmers Market on Boscowen (That is what I am doing to avoid delivery fee)

Sprouting-  I am so exited to be learning about sprouting!  Did you know that if you take a grain and cook it- you only get a portion of that grain’s potential nutrients and energy?  Imagine how a seed can grow into a large plant- well if you take a seed and sprout it- it awakens that energy.  When a seed sprouts it begins producing more vitamins and minerals  to feed the plant it will grow into- when we eat a sprout- we get those nutrients and they are easier for our body to digest! A wheat berry that has been sprouted for 3 days has 300 times the vitamin E as the dry seed! Isn’t that amazing??  Again, this is God given nutrient- I feel so blessed to be given such awesome food by my creator!  As I type this I am munching on some sunflower and sesame seed sprouts.  They are light, crunchy and nutty.  Yum!  Also great in salads and apparently you can juice them, but I haven’t tried that yet.

I havent had the time to blog about all the tasty creations that have been happening in my kitchen lately but I have nabbed a few snapshots and I’m going to share those below, move cursor over pict. to see what it is:

Our New Official Birthday Cake:

My 26th birthday is on the horizon.  Every year my husband and I get together with my best friend  and her husband on New Years Eve to celebrate Christmas, the New Year and of course, my birthday!  Often my best friend, a genuinely talented baker, makes me a cake but this year I made my own.  You can check out her blog @ thecaramelcookie.com

I checked out The Cake Book by Tish Boyle from the library a few weeks ago in search of the perfect cake recipe.  I finally decided on the “Brooklyn Blackout Cake”.   Described as “a really moist chocolaty cake with a fudgy pudding filling, dark chocolate frosting and lots of chocolate crumbs covering the whole thing.” You should know by now I’m not all that into following recipes, so baking is not my forte, but I followed this recipe to the T and it turned out beautifully.  I’m really not sure if I can wait until tonight to dig into this cake… we’ll see.   Here are the basics of this adventure.

The night before I made the cake, we made the pudding filling because it needed to have time to chill.  My husband helped and actually did most of this part himself.  The pudding had 4 egg yolks, 2tbs cornstarch, 2/3 cup sugar, 3 oz semisweet chocolate, 2/3 cup heavy cream and 1 tsp vanilla extract.  Cornstarch amazes me, the way it can make liquids so think. I’m sure the 4 egg yolks helped too!  Fist we beat the egg, cornstarch and 1/8 tsp of salt.

Then heat  1 cup water and heavy cream to a boil on the stove.  Pour half of the cream mixture into the bowl of egg yolk and cornstarch, whisk together then pour back into saucepan on stove with the rest of the cream.  This is so that the egg mixture mixes in with the hot mixture without becoming like scrambled eggs.  Bring back to a boil (stirring continuously), remove from heat and mix in chocolate.

Last, stir in the vanilla, pour into a bowl, cover and chill in fridge for at least 2 hours.  Give it a good taste test before you put it away though, it is yummy!

The next day I made the cakes.  This is how much I am not a cake baker- I had to specially buy round cake pans and borrow a cake carrier to make this!   To make the cake you grease and flour the cake pans and preheat the oven to 350*

Then sift together 1 and 1/2 cups flour, 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 tsp salt and 1 1/2 tsp of both baking soda and baking powder.   Then add 2 cups white sugar and blend together.

In a separate bowl, whisk together 2 large eggs plus an additional egg yolk with 1 cup buttermilk, 1/2 cup unsalted butter, and 2 tsp vanilla extract.

Slowly beat eggs mixture into the dry mixture about 1 minute. Then add one cup of hot coffee, mix just enough to blend together.  Before pouring into pans, mix by hand a few times to ensure bottom of the bowl has been mixed. I do not like coffee at all and was nervous about adding the coffee to the cake batter. But I know that it works really well with dark chocolate, bringing out a rich dark chocolate taste.  Tasting the final product you would never know it had coffee in it.  I am very proud of myself for following this part of the recipe, it was difficult, but worth it.  :)

Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes then scrape around edges of the pan with a butter knife to loosen before flipping out onto a wire rack. The best way to do this is to put the rack on top of the cake pan, then holding firmly, flip rack and cake pan together.  Tap all over the bottom of the cake pan to encourage the cake to come out smoothly.   Allow cakes to cool completely.  We left them overnight and finished this project the next day.

The next step is to cut the 2 cakes into 4 thinner cakes by using a long serrated knife to cut in half.  If you mess up on one it’s ok because you need one cake half to use for crumbles and snacking anyways!  Place one cake half on the tray or carrier you plan to keep the cake in.  Remove pudding from the fridge, whisking till smooth gooey and ready to be spread.

Plop half of the pudding mixture onto the cake half and smooth out.

Then carefully, I used a plate to help, place another cake layer and place on top covering with the rest of the pudding.

Place a 3rd layer on top of this and get ready to frost!

I made the frosting before I started the layering process, but here if how it’s done.  Using some kind of double boiler concoction (I don’t have one, but a skillet over a pot of simmering water worked just fine!) melt 4 ounces of unsweetened bakers chocolate.

Warning: Do not taste unsweetened chocolate, it is a scary thing.  Wonderful when properly added to a recipe, but scary by itself.  I can’t help but wonder how humans figured out that when added with other things, this stuff would taste good. Must have been divine intervention.

Next, allow melted chocolate to cool a bit while you beat 11 tablespoon of unsalted butter until creamy. Next add 1 and 2/3 cup confectioners sugar, beat 2 minutes (it will eventually blend together, keep beating!)  Next beat in 2 tsp vanilla extract and the melted chocolate.

Then spread the frosting onto the cake.

Last, place half of the left over cake layer into a food processor or blender to create the cake crumbles for the outside.  Press crumbs lightly into cake sides and sprinkle on top.  Reward your hard work by eating the rest of the left over cake layer while scraping the bottoms of the pudding and frosting bowl.  Ah! Pure bliss!

Mmm Mmmm MMMmm I can hardly wait to eat it!

What is good for you in this cake?

CHOCOLATE!  Dark chocolate has a healthy dose of antioxidants. However when combined with milk, we don’t absorb as much of them, so since this cake has milk… and I’ll probably wash it down with milk… it’s not the best form of chocolate, but I am all for dark chocolate in any form and it’s my birthday- so I think I have the right to believe that this cake is very good for me and all who eat it!

Creamy Dreamy Potato Soup

I had been craving potatoes for a while.  I don’t usually keep white potatoes in the house because they aren’t healthiest food.  (especially the ways I like to eat them).  But when I saw this 10 lb bag on sale at Aldi for $1.98, I couldn’t resist.

I decided my first potato adventure would be cream of potato soup.  I scanned through the allrecipies.com app on my phone for different recipes, took the best ideas from a  few different places and got busy.

First I scrubbed the potatoes then boiled them with the skins on.  When the potatoes were fairly soft I drained and peeled the skin of only about 1/4 of the potatoes.  The skin is where the good stuff is and I have nothing against it as long as it is clean.

I threw 2 small onions in the food processor and sautéed that in some butter in a large pot.  I added the potatoes and a can of chicken broth and heated this until it was all hot.

Then I put about half of this into the food processor and it turned into a really thick and tasty mashed potato substance.  I added it back into the pot and heated through, adding more broth because it was too thick.  Then I added some thyme and a bit of basil and oregano. Once this was all heated through I added about a cup and a half or so of heavy whipping cream along with about a cup of shredded sharp cheddar cheese.  I would have added more, but that’s all we had. So I also shredded some mozzarella string cheese and added that to the mix.  It worked but more cheddar would have been better.

I also cooked up some turkey bacon on the George Forman Grill and crumbled that in at the last minute.  Overall this soup turned out very well.  I am glad we decided to not puree the entire soup, resulting in potato chunks in a creamy base.  I think real bacon would have tasted better, but the turkey bacon worked.

What is good for you in the soup?

Potatoes: Vitamin C- not as much a fruits and veggies, but still a decent amount (about 27 mg or 45% of your daily need).  Potassium- potatoes actually contain higher amounts of potassium than bananas!  Vitamin B6- helps the body to convert carbohydrates and protein into energy (probably a good things since potatoes are high in carbs!) Fiber- you have to keep the skins on for this one!  I didn’t think about this while I was making the soup, but if I had saved some of the water from when I boiled the potatoes, and added some of it to the soup- this would have added more nutrients because you loose some nutrients when you boil potatoes.  The Idaho Potato Commission recommends saving potato boiling water to use in making gravies to retain more of those good nutrients.  Also, leaving the skins on and steaming rather than boiling gets you more of those nutrients as well.

Thyme: Strong antiseptic and antibiotic that is rich in antioxidants, vitamin C and iron.  I also just learned that herbalists use it to treat bronchitis! When I was first typing this entry (5 weeks ago- oops, forgot to post!) I was half way through an 8 week episode of bronchitis.  When I learned this I started making a tea with dried thyme and honey.  I did help my cough some.

Pumpkin Butter- Spreadable Pumpkin Pie

A while back I went pie pumpkin picking at one of my favorite pick your own farms in my area.  I love going here because it supports family farming and small business, their produce is cheaper and more natural than the grocery store, and I get to pick it right off the plant- so it is about as fresh as it gets! Plus the view is to die for:

This particular day I had a Groupon for the value of $30 that I paid just $15 for to use at this farm.  I was very excited because that is an awesome deal.  By the way if you want to join Groupon, it is a daily offer for your area for a small business.  They just e-mail you the offer each morning and if you interested you can buy it- if not- just delete the e-mail.

OK moving back to pumpkin butter-  So I picked two pie pumpkins on the beautiful fall morning that I visited the farm.  One became my Autumn Spice Soup and the other I used to make this delicious pumpkin butter.

I also used one store bought pie pumpkin and an orange fall squash.

I washed and sliced the pumpkins/squash in half and roasted in the oven until they were soft:about 45 minutes on 425*.

I pureed the softened pumpkin and put it in a big crock pot. Then added all the good fall spices along with a hearty helping of brown sugar.  Now that I have learned that allspice is actually its own unique ingredient, I decided I would purchase it.

I then stirred it up and let it cook on high for about 5 or 6 hours.  It turned from a bright orange into a dark carmel brown.  I was sick the weekend I made this, so I didn’t have the energy to do anything with it after it cooked so I let it cool and put it in the fridge for a few days.  One evening after school I felt motivated enough to can it, so I broke out the canner and got all the water boiling while I heated the pumpkin butter on the stove.

You can see from this picture how much its consistency and color is like a carmel.

Once the jars, lids and pumpkin butter were sterilized and hot, I started filling the jars with this oooey gooey goodness.

I then processed the jars in a boiling water bath for at least 40.  Apparently the USDA does not recommend home canning of pumpkin butter because it is so thick that processing cannot properly heat through to kill bacteria to the level necessary for leave it on the shelf canning.  I canned it, but am keeping it in my fridge.  I also canned in half pint jars and cooked it to smithereens in the crock pot and again on the stove. So I feel comfortable they would be okay on the shelf, but since I want to use these as Christmas presents and don’t want to kill anyone- they are living in my fridge.

What is good for you in this pumpkin butter?

Pumpkin:  Pumpkin flesh or pulp whichever is less gross sounding, has lots of great nutrients.  It is super rich in beta carotene which of course helps keep your eyes healthy, but also your skin and immune system (some makeups contain pumpkin because of this).  Beta Carotene is also a free radical fighter (to help fight against disease and cancer.  Also high in potassium, magnesium, iron, fiber and vitamin C.

All of beautiful fall spices are very healthy for you as well and have been discussed previously.

Eat, Enjoy and stay healthy!