Updates

Sorry for the delay in posting dear readers, more health stuff cropped up that kept me from blogging and out of the kitchen. A few updates, the cashew graham cracker is coming next week when my flour provider Sunrise Flour Mill will be bringing some graham flour to the market. Sure, I could have gone and purchased it at Whole Foods but if I can buy local, I do. The same is true for the parsnips that make up the crispy parsnips, they haven’t quite come in yet to meet my standards so we wait, trust me the crispy parsnip recipe is worth it.

This week I am trying out whole wheat pastas to find one that meets my cravings for spaghetti (or pasketti in my house). Also check the comments for reports back on the cracker recipes and I finally discuss the chicken breast v. bison. Later this week read about the results on all the tomato roasting I have been doing and working them into a sauce for that whole wheat pasta.

Cheese of La Mancha

Earlier I talked about the increased calcium and protein in sheep's milk cheese. Given that here in Minneapolis we are lucky enough to have lots of cheese producers, I take for granted that artisinal sheep's cheese isn't found around every corner. I headed over to my local grocery which has a pretty awsome cheese counter very much in part to its cheesemonger Liz.  I asked her for a readily available sheep's milk cheese and she suggested Manchego. According to wikipedia "Manchego is produced in La Mancha and is made only from the whole milk of Manchega sheep. The rich, semi-firm product is aged in natural caves for three to six months, imparting a zest and exuberant flavor".  I find it great just eaten straight up or with the wonderful apples that are coming in with the fall.

1 ounce of Manchego packs 7 grams of protein, 30% of your daily calcium and 120 calories.  Not a food for those just starting out but if you are trying to get the all important protein and calcium into your diet with some great flavor its worth a shot.

I have marinated cheese before but hadn't made a crack at Manchego, here is a recipe I found that looks promising from grouprecipies.com.  I made a few adjustments to the recipe including correcting the authors misstatement that Manchego is goat cheese.  Simply cube the cheese with the rind on and  combine the remaining ingredients.  Mix the cheese with the marinade and allow to sit overnight.  Garnish with herbs and Viola! 
Adding some olives would also be wonderful. 

5 oz Manchego
1 garlic clove, sliced
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
3 tarragon sprigs, chopped
3 thyme sprigs, chopped
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
olive oil (extra-virgin, or otherwise)

Cracker Backer II

First, I have to say I am in love with my new Kitchen Aid.  Wow, to think I have been mixing by hand all this time.  Apparently some good deals can be had on refurbished models on Amazon.  Check it out if you have been lusting after one.  

My local flour miller was out of graham flour so we will have to save the cashew butter graham until next week.  This week I bring you olive oil crackers.  I based this recipe on a few different ones I found researching books and the web.  The formula is pretty flexible but in my tests I found the type of flour used did make the baking time vary but more on that later.  Olive oil and flax are a good source of good fats with flax bringing omega 3 to the party. 

A word on flour and oil for this recipe.  I used spelt, semolina, millet, and brown rice flour in various combination.   I was attempting to find a good balance of texture, protein and nutrition.  You could make these crackers entirely with whole wheat flour if you chose to.  You could also use a starch like tapioca or almond flour if you are trying to go gluten free.  The millet flour contains no gluten. You can find all of these at your local Whole Foods or co-op or at most megamarts.  The oil flavor really does come through so use good oil.  This is a good time to bust out a flavored oil you like as well.  I used both good olive oil and a blood orange infused avocado oil in my tests. 

A word on this whole recent surge in gluten free.  If you are worried about being gluten intollerant, do not diagnose yourself, go and see a medical professional.  Sorry, it's a bit of a rant, every celeb these days is magically gluten intolerant, its the new carb free it seems.  Nutrition on these is ball park given the size you choose to cut your crackers and what type of flour you choose to use.  It works out to be 1g of protein per cracker with 40 calories for a 10g cracker. 

You will need:

1 c spelt  flour
1/2 c millet flour
1/2 c semolina
1/4 c flax meal
1 T salt
1/4 c warm water
2 T olive oil
1 T apple cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 450

Mix flax and warm water together and let stand for at least 15 minutes.  It will look kind of like peanut butter when it is ready.  You can increase the amount of flax up to 1/2 cup by adding the additional flax meal to the dry ingredients. Once the flax has hydrated add your flours and salt and mix to combine.  Add all the wet ingredients and mix until the dough begins to look like gravel.  Need together to form a ball in the bowl and cover with a barely damp towel for 20 minutes to allow the ingredients to hydrate.  If your dough is not coming together add more water 1/2 tablespoon at a time.  If it is too sticky add more of your main flour.

Its cracker making time.  Divide the dough into thirds.  The easiest way to do this is to use a silicone baking mat, if you don't have one you can use parchment paper or plastic wrap.   Place your dough on the mat or parchment and dust your your rolling pin with semolina.  If you are using parchment paper place a second piece of paper on top of your dough to prevent sticking and omit flouring your pin.  Work the dough until it is at least 1/8 inch in thickness.  What this works out to is work the dough until you think it is thin enough then roll over it a few more times.  See the photo notes for details.  At this point you can use a cutter and make cute shaps or simly randomly break your dough up and place on  one of the pieces of parchment and bake.  The jury is out on whether docking these crackers makes a lick of difference.  I think it improves texture by keeping the cracker flat, tasters didn't notice. 

Bake your crackers for 10 minutes in the middle rack of your oven at 450.  I have a convection oven so I lowered my temp to 400. Ovens vary, so check after 8 minutes as your mileage may vary.  Crackers are done when they are golden and crispy. 

Variations on the theme:

In batch two I used semolina as my main flour and augmented with brown rice and millet flour.  As an oil I used a blood orange infused avacado oil.  I used a smoked salt for half of the salt content.  These changes resulted in a cracker that was more crisp than the first version and cooked more quickly, in my oven it was only 8 minutes. 

You can add seeds as I did in batch one or add whatever kind of flavoring you might like, like tandori spice or garlic.

Preliminary tasters said that batch one was a good basic cracker but they really liked the orange flavor of batch two.  They would have also like more salt, smoked or otherwise on top of the cracker.

Photo Notes:

 Silicone mat and rolling pin

Work the dough in thirds

Parchment meets dough

Thanks for the recipe wherever you are

One of my most go to cookbooks is the All Around the World cookbook by Sheila Lukins, who died today. Thank you for great Feijoada recipe wherever you are. The recipe is below, its not WLS friendly but I will work on making it so. I began making it over 10 years ago when we would have Brasilian Saturday Night Special at my house, this dish is often considered the national dish of Brasil and is oft served with rice. The meats here are good suggestions but it can be whatever kind pig you want to put in the pot.

Rio's Feijoada from  All Around the World by Sheila Lukins

1 1/2 lbs of dried black beans rinsed and soaked in water overnight to cover
1 pork knuckle ( I use a ham hock for this)
8 oz of slab bacon cut into 1/2 inch pieces
8 oz Keilbasa (I substitute what ever looks good in the sausage case at my butcher)
8 oz Spicey franks (was never really sure what she was getting at here so just used whatever spicy pork sausage looked good)
8 oz uncooked sausages like bratwurst (you can see a theme here)
12 oz lightly smoked ham in 2 thick slices
1 to 1 1/2 lbs of boneless pork chops
4 medium onions
1 lb pork belly
1 orange
3 bay leaves
course ground black pepper to taste
4 T olive oil
8 cloves of garlic
1 large bell pepper diced

Drain and rinse the beans and add into a heavy bottomed dutch oven or casserole with the meat half the onion the orange bay and black pepper.

Cover with water by 1 inch. Bring to a boil skimming foam as needed. Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered until beans are tender and meat is cooked. About 1 1/2 hours.

While the beans are cooking saute the pepper and onion in oil with the garlic for about 10 minutes. Set aside.

When the beans are tender remove about 1 cup and puree. Sheila calls for the food processor here but I always use a blender or go after them in the pot with my trusty potato masher.

Add the onion mixture and serve

Kitchen Gadgetry or Hells yes, I am getting a Kitchen Aid for my birthday!!

Mr Wilson was bouncing various ideas for birthday gifts off of me the other day, would I like a season ticket to the opera or how about a Kitchenaid. I have only had the heart to pet the mixer of all stand mixers at various cookware stores but now, I will have my very own 33 lbs of mixerificness in pearl grey on my doorstep this Thursday, Happy Birthday to me. I was going to do crackers today but I think I will wait until the machine gets here. So crackers on Friday folks!


Friday's cracker recipes:
Cashew Butter Graham
Olive Oil Cracker

As a note, cashews are actually not nuts but seeds, a droop more precisely that grows beneath the cashew apple. Cashew butter can be substituted ounce for ounce with butter and provides more nutrition with fewer calories from saturated fat and more protein than butter. It also provides some iron and zinc.

To market to market to buy a fat PARSNIP??

What can I say, I am lucky. I live in an area up to it's ears in farmers markets. From May to October nary a day goes by without a market. I enjoy watching as the seasons progress and noticing the changes as the asparagus comes and goes and the tomatoes come on the scene. Soon it will be pumpkins and gourds and here in Minnesota it's apples. A little bit of trivia, the much loved Honey Crisp apple, you have Minnesota to thank for it.

There is a thought post gastric bypass that you will begin to crave healthier foods. Samuel T. Stanley talks about this and his journey in the Atlantic Monthly. While I agree with him that the brain is really not rewiring itself, in my case my body is tapping my brain on the shoulder reminding it what happens when we eat more than half a slice of pizza. I still indulge in a few potato chips but I listen to my body and stop at a few. That is the gift of WLS, you have to listen to your body as it is screaming in your ear.

With all of this healthy food around how could I not want to eat it. Removing the demon squash from the equation I have always liked veggies and have loved cooking. So last weekend I headed off to the Mill City Farmers Market for inspiration and contemplation.

First and foremost I was stunned by the tomatoes. Beefsteak and Green Zebra, they were everywhere. Then the corn, just picked and sweet and tender enough to entice the on the cob disliking Mr. Wilson into wanting another ear. First stop at the market is for sustenance. A single organic egg omelet with market fresh produce provided by Phil of Black Cat Natural foods. Filled with local veg and goat cheese it packs a pleasant punch of flavor as well as calcium and protein. Speaking of cheese. I headed down to Shepard's Way Farms to pick up some cheese. Now I understand if you live outside where I live you unlikely to come all this way for their cheese, which you should, its fantastic. My point is that Shepard's Way makes wonderful sheep's milk cheeses. A note about sheep's milk. Sheep's milk while it is slightly higher in fat than cows milk packs a wallop in the calcium category with nearly 2/3 more calcium than cows milk. In addition it also has more protein. I picked up their garlic sheep cheese spread and enjoyed it later with friends. The cheese is full flavored and with the addition of garlic a little dab will do you. Check out your local market and give sheep milk cheese a try. As always, eat responsibly.

But what about the parsnip? Stay tuned for that later this week as we explore Hanger Steak with Crispy Roast Parsnip.

Recipe for today:

Marinated Summer Cherry Tomatoes

Tomatoes are a good source of all kinds of goodness but try to buy them fresh and keep them unrefrigerated as once they get into the chill chest there flavor decreases and their texture suffers.

You will need:
1 lb of cherry tomatoes sliced or pierced with a fork
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar or red wine vineger
2 cloves of garlic
large handful of basil chopped plus 10 large leaves
2 tablespoons of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
whiz the entirety minus the cherry tomato up in a blender and add with the tomatoes to a bowl. If you choose to guild the lily you can add bocconcini, tiny balls of mozzarella to the mix.
Let the mixture stand on the counter for at least 2 hours or overnight in the fridge and add torn basil leaves just before serving and adjust salt and pepper if needed.

Things in the works and Click here.

Sorry dear reader for the delay in posts, eye surgery tends to slow a girl down in the kitchen. My lovely mother Connie came to visit to take care of me and as all moms do, she cooked for me and Mr Wilson while she was here. I should say that my mom is perhaps not like your average mom unless like my mom, your mom was a chef, working in kitchens for over 20 years. Mom is nearly 70 and after a glorious 2 weeks of retirement, still gets up every morning to make the biscuits at a local fast food place in her small town.

My mom and public television chefs are truly the foundation of my foodie nature. Mom, who grew up on a farm, was always encouraging us to try new things and by things I mean new foods. While the neighbor kids were having macaroni and cheese from a box it was lasagna with 4 cheeses and stir fry at our house, which for the early 80's in central South Dakota was pretty experimental. There were 7 people to feed for dinner at minimum which might explain even my comfort in making dinner for a crowd. She still cooks in quantity however and after WLS, I find it a little humorous to see how much she makes for Mr. Wilson and myself.
Steaks on Tuesday night became hash and biscuits on Wednesday. As you can see mom is still adjusting to my life after WLS. I now own a biscuit cutter and mom has learned that whole wheat is the way to go.
Enough nostalgia, onto a food related topic. Let me talk briefly about my love of the coffee drink and Click. I have my coffee drink order down to a science. I am a grande non fat decaf 2 pump 2 Splenda mocha kind of girl. Yes, I do get endless shit for ordering this drink, from friends and Batista's alike. Enter Click. I won't go on extolling the endless virtues of Click, I will leave that to Melting Mama but I will say that for someone who greatly dislikes protein drinks, this is one I can say I will drink willingly. It tastes not like protein powder but coffee. Woot!! If you are looking for a quick protein boost or for my non WLS readers a breakfast in a cup, give it a whirl. To the folks at Click though, perhaps a decaf version for those of us who avoid the buzzy stuff?

Upcoming this week we have another cracker recipe and a chicken breast vs. bison smack down.