baking
Sugar is a topic I could go on and on about (and sometimes I do). Taking sugar out of my diet has been the best thing I’ve ever done for my health. Period. And I see the same effect in anyone who undertakes the same challenge.
Take my detox participants, for instance. Last spring, they hated my guts for the first sugar-free week. But after that, they were true believers – full of energy and amazed at the lack of brain fog. I’m anticipating a similar response from those of you who sign up for September!
But it’s more than just white sugar. It’s brown sugar. It’s Sugar in the Raw. It’s corn syrup. It’s Sweet-n-Low. It’s Splenda.
This inevitably raises a torrent of questions:
- What about agave nectar?
- Which is a better choice, sugar or Splenda?
- I heard maple syrup is ok, is it?
Sure, I prefer natural sweeteners over processed. I eat tons of fruit and will use a bit of pure maple syrup any day over the white stuff. I abhor artificial sweeteners.
But that’s not the point. The point is, the more sweet stuff you taste, the more sweet stuff you’ll want. It’s an endless cycle. Breaking free means you’ll turn down the volume on your tastebuds. You’ll actually appreciate the sweet flavor of carrots and butternut squash instead having your tastebuds blown out by the top-volume sweet flavor of orange soda.
So why, oh why, would I agree to try and review NuNaturals stevia products?
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August 4th, 2010 | baking, recipe, Sugar, try new things | 44 Comments »
Last weekend I broke through a new cooking frontier. Well, baking to be exact. I’d never really wanted to make pretzels before, but then I got Kim Boyce’s cookbook, Good the Grain, and fell deeply and madly in love with her rye flour soft pretzel recipe.
I’m seriously happy I bought this book. Sure, I already have shelves overflowing with cookbooks but this is one I’d like to work my way through and follow meticulously. Most of the time I use recipes as suggestions but I’d be silly to mess with these carefully calibrated baking formulas. After all, I’ve struggled with using different whole grain flours and here she has it, all spelled out. Rye flour, amaranth flour, buckwheat flour, etc….there’s a chapter on each one. I imagine this makes my gluten-free friends very happy but it makes me happy too because now I can pounce all over the bulk section at our local co-op and buy all those flours I’ve never known what to do with!
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May 27th, 2010 | baking, book review | 18 Comments »
It’s Day 4 of the detox and most of our participants are really rockin’ and rollin’, cooking up fresh ingredients and feeling fab. It’s so cool to watch everyone trying new food and dedicating themselves to a program like this! Others are feeling headachy and gassy and that’s fine too, for now. Part of eating well is figuring out what’s right for your unique body. No matter what diet I’ve tried, I’ve always found a way of incorporating cookies, that’s for sure.
How would your body react if you cut down on sugar? Caffeine? Started eating more veggies and whole grains?
Personally, this is the first time I’ve gone without wheat in my diet. I have to say, it’s not terribly hard because I already eat a lot of brown rice and quinoa. But it definitely gives me a reason to prepare my own food after about a month where I was frequenting restaurants. Staying away from wheat in a restaurant is a lot harder than in my own kitchen!
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April 29th, 2010 | baking, detoxify, recipe, vegan, vegetarian | 14 Comments »
Beets were on sale last week, sending me into a tailspin of ideas. Beet burgers? Beet soup? Beet and millet croquettes? I roasted and peeled those bargain beets and stuck ‘em in the fridge while waiting for inspiration to strike.
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February 22nd, 2010 | baking, nutrition school, recipe, try new things, vegetarian | 16 Comments »
Pantry seems like the wrong word to use when I have food sharing space with extra toilet paper, cat food, the iron and old CDs in a hallway closet. I wish it were more like a big walk-in area lined with shelves full of non perishables. Organized by color. Ha!
Maybe in my next life. But regardless, pantry items refer to all that food you keep on hand in case you need it. (And all that stuff you bought that you forgot about that’s now covered in dust. And maybe a bag of chips that has 2 chips left and a jar you use for extra change. Whatever.)
What’s in your pantry?
Mine may not look so pretty, but it’s definitely full of awesome ingredients that allow me to make new recipes fairly easily. And I have food on hand to create a healthy meal or batch of muffins anytime.
However you organize your pantry (or don’t) what matters most is what’s in it. Do you have ingredients on hand to whip up a quick meal? Are you able to vary your dishes with an array of condiments? This stuff is key to eating healthy. Without easy food in the house, you are practically begging the delivery guy to come over.
So, what should you have on hand? Here’s a starter list:
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February 3rd, 2010 | baking, beans, frugal living, groceries | 10 Comments »
There’s no other way to say this. I LOVE COOKIES! And I never get tired of figuring out new ways to make my cookies healthy – so healthy that you can eat them for breakfast. (Of course, if you’ve been reading long enough you know this. I mean, I’ve posted about healthy cookies so many times before it’s just getting silly. Like these, these and these.)
When I say “healthy enough to eat for breakfast” I don’t just mean I threw a little whole wheat flour in there. Yes, they’ve got whole grains. But they also have vegetables and fruit for nutritional value and flavor. And protein! And best of all – no added sugar. Because I personally cannot deal with sugar first thing in the morning. These are something you can grab on your way out the door and feel really, really good about.
They’re my best yet. Nutty, full of nutrients, easy and with a classic cookie texture. Man, are you gonna be surprised when you read what’s in them! Mark my words – one of these days I’m coming out with a cookbook called Cookies For Breakfast. Until then…
Autumn Breakfast Cookies
2 cups rolled oats (not instant)
1 cup pistachios
1 cup roasted winter squash puree (I used delicata, pumpkin would be great. These are naturally sweet!)
1 15 oz. can pinto beans
1 egg
1/2 cup organic butter, melted
1/2 Tbl. salt
1 tsp. maple extract (the yummy smell without the sugar)
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1 cup dried cranberries (these come already sweetened, the only sugar in this recipe. try to find cranberries sweetened with apple juice!)
Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease cookie sheets.
1. In food processor, pulse oats and nuts to a powder one at a time. Transfer to large bowl.
2. Combine all other ingredients except cranberries to food processor and blend. Add to oat mixture.
3. Mix well. Fold in cranberries until evenly distributed.
4. Form into walnut sized balls and press flat with a fork on cookie sheets.
5. Bake for 25 minutes. Makes 3 dozen.
What breakfast food makes you feel good all morning long? I remember when Dunkin Donuts coffee/bagel combo was my morning routine. (Low fat veggie cream cheese being the ‘healthy pick.’) Oh boy. If cookies aren’t your style but you want to eat well in the mornings, there are lots of options. Email me and I’ll see if I can give you some good ideas. This is important stuff! michelle@findyourbalancehealth.com
This post is part of Kitchen Stewardship’s Octoberfest of Superfoods. Like this recipe? Help a sista out and tweet about it or review on StumbleUpon. There’s good karma coming back at you!
October 29th, 2009 | baking, beans, recipe, Sugar, vegetarian, winter | 23 Comments »
Cream the sugar and butter. Add eggs. Sift flour. Classic cookie recipe, right?
Well, screw that.
Let me start off by introducing you to a little known whole grain called teff. Best known for its starring role in the Ethiopian injera bread, teff is an incredibly nutritious grain that’s high in fiber and iron. Would you believe it’s also a good source of calcium? Wowza. And it’s super yummy. You can use whole teff grains or its flour, which I’ve only ever seen available through Bob’s Red Mill. (Thanks, Bob.)
So why would you ever make white flour cookies again when you have about 30 whole grain flour choices: spelt, rye, teff, etc.? Well. Sometimes you just gotta enjoy some beautiful traditional butter cookies. That’s ok, you know.
But for the other 90% of the time, why not make snack time a little less devastating to your thighs? And while you’re at it, why not use up some of that extra winter squash?
That’s right, you heard me. This is a recipe that maximize nutritional value so you can enjoy your cookies through and through, even the next day when you realize you ate them all. Whatever! They’re like, good for you!
Remember, including moderately sweet flavors like winter squash and small amounts of pure maple syrup in your diet is an excellent way to curb rabid sugar cravings.
Almond Acorn Squash Teff Cookies
The name really says it all. This recipe was inspired by the peanut butter cookie recipe on the side of Bob’s Teff Flour bag. Try that one, too!
1 1/2 cups teff flour
1/2 cup roasted acorn squash puree
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 cup almond butter
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Preheat oven to 350F. Combine all ingredients in mixing bowl and blend well. Roll walnut sized balls of dough and place on ungreased cookie sheets. Using a fork, press down into tops of each ball to flatten. Bake for 13 minutes.
Like this recipe? Help a sista out and tweet about it or review on StumbleUpon. There’s good karma coming back at you!
This post is part of Real Food Wednesdays.
October 13th, 2009 | baking, recipe, try new things | 15 Comments »
Hey there! Do you realize there’s only a few days left to sign up for Small Group Wellness Coaching? This phone-based group is open to anyone, anywhere. Get support to get healthy – sign up now!
Ah, New England in the fall. It’s that rare window of beautiful days before cruel winter leans in with a smirk and says, “Thanks, I’ll take it from here.”
New Englanders look at the gorgeous blue sky and leaves barely tinged with orange and we long to soak up the last bits of sun. Then we all have the same idea: Apple picking! Orchards become overrun with children sucking down cider donuts every weekend until the trees are bare. And I wonder…are these apples organic?
Whether your apples come from the U-PICK orchard or the local supermarket, I bet you have a few in your house right now. Maybe more than I few. I had a whole big bag. What’s a girl to do?
Butternut Apple Bread (pictured above)
This bread is delicious and moist! Sucanat is a very unrefined form of sugar – it still contains its molasses. Don’t be fooled by “Sugar in the Raw” or brown sugar – that stuff is much more refined, similar to white sugar.
For topping:
1 Tbl. whole wheat flour
3 Tbl. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 Tbl. butter, softened
For bread:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose white flour
3/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. ground allspice
3 cups butternut puree*
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup Sucanat
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
*Wash a medium sized butternut squash and cut lengthwise. Remove seeds. Roast with flat side down, in a baking pan with 1/4″ water for 1 hour at 400 degrees. Remove from oven when skin is soft and easy pierced with a fork. Discard stem. Everything else goes in the food processor. Pulse until pureed.
For the topping: Blend together ingredients in a small bowl with your fingertips until mixture becomes pebbly.
Put a rack in the middle of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter two 9 X 5 inch loaf pans.
Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and allspice into a large bowl. Then add butternut puree, butter, Sucanat, and eggs. Stir until well combined. Fold in apples. Divide batter between loaf pans. Sprinkle half of topping evenly over each loaf. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of bread comes out clean, about 60 minutes.
Cool loves in pans on a rack for 45 minutes, then turn out onto rack and cool for another hour.
Hearts o’ Apples
These hearts are best when the apples are sliced thin and the jam is spread thick.
For the crust:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 Tbl. ground flax seed
1 Tbl. Sucanat
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1/2-3/4 cup very cold water
For the filling:
1-2 apples, peeled, cored and sliced super thin
2 Tbl. Sucanat
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
6-8 tsp. jam or jelly, any flavor you like
spray-able oil (like Pam, though I hate Pam)
In a large bowl, combine flour, Sucanat and salt. Add the butter, 1 large pat at a time. Using two knives, cut the butter into the flour until the dough is crumbly.
In a measuring cup, combine vinegar with water. Add to the flour mixture slowly, mixing it in with a fork until the dough holds together when pinched. Add up to another 1/4 cup water if needed.
Create a ball with the dough and knead a few times. Flatten the ball a bit and refrigerate for 30 minutes. On a clean, floured surface, roll out refrigerated dough to 1/4″ thick. Use a butter knife to create 4 heart shapes in the dough, about 8″ in height. Gather scraps of dough together, roll out again, and cut 2 more hearts. Place on lightly greased baking sheets.
Pinch the edges of each heart all the way around to create a ridge. This will keep your jelly from slipping off the side! With a butter knife on a slight angle, gently score these edges to secure in place.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Slice your apples and spread jam in each crust. Place apple slices on both sides of the heart, slightly overlapping. Spray with a bit of oil to keep the apples from drying out. Sprinkle with Sucanat. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
Baked Apple Explosion
This is my version of baked apples. Because all but 2 of them exploded in the oven! Who cares? I mixed ‘em up in a bowl and served as a pudding.
6 apples, washed and cored
Filling options: maple syrup, raisins, cinnamon, banana slices, peanut butter, jelly, or anything your heart desires
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
To core the apples, use a melon baller to scoop out stem and down to the core a little at a time. Or, use a paring knife to make a hole in the top of the apple and dig out about 2″ of the core, including seeds.
Fill apples and place in a baking dish with 1/4″ water. Cover with foil. Bake for 30-40 minutes. If they don’t explode, great! If they do scrape the contents of the pan into a bowl and mix to create a lovely dairy-free pudding.
Apple Cider Water Kefir
Since apple cider has a fermented taste to it, I decided to try apples in my water kefir. For this batch I used white sugar with a drop of blackstrap molasses, and one peeled apple. It tasted just like apple cider! Wanna try? Check out details on water kefir here.
So what’s up with that saying anyway – “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”? Is that a general reminder to eat fresh produce? Or is there something in particular about apples we’re talking about here, like the vitamin C or fiber? Other than that, apples are just a lot of natural sugar. But they do make for a fun baking ingredient. Happy fall!
This post is part of Real Food Wednesdays.
September 29th, 2009 | baking, recipe | 12 Comments »
This weekend was really something else. It started Saturday morning at 4:45am. Why so early, you ask? Well, based on the weekend bus schedule, this was the only way to make it to Boston’s South End for my call time.
Sounds fancy, doesn’t it?
The shoot Saturday morning is for a documentary called Lemonade. It’s about people who were laid off from jobs in advertising and went on to do something new and awesome. Even though it meant skipping a day of school at IIN, I knew this was the perfect way to come full circle and celebrate the changes in my career. (However, I was super sad to miss Deepak Chopra at IIN!)
Here’s a photo from the shoot…those are my little feet visible from under the screen:
After the shoot, Max and I went to brunch before I had to leave for New York and try to catch the remainder of my class weekend. But something happened…first of all it was gorgeous and sunny…second of all after going through a nervous morning on camera I really wanted a bloody mary! By the time we ate on the patio at Stephi’s on Tremont and had drinks, I was feeling awesome. And there was no way I wanted to spend the rest of the day on the bus!
So I didn’t! Instead, Max and I strolled around Boston and took a nap in the Public Garden as the swan boats drifted by. We did a little shopping on Newbury St. and finally came home and watched Pineapple Express. Ahhhhhhhh… sometimes you just have to do what feels right, y’know?
What’s it like for you to break the rules and do what feels right?
Anyway, today was more about cleaning and grocery shopping and I decided to try baking something delicious and healthy. After pouring over a few cookbooks, I came up with these fantastic muffins. With very little sugar, these are a snack I can feel good about. (They were inspired by Veganomicon’s Jelly Donut Cupcakes. But these use a banana batter that isn’t vegan at all!
The idea was that a dollop of jelly on top of the batter would sink in during cooking, leaving a jelly-filled treat. Here’s what they looked like before baking:
After baking, some of the jelly did in fact sink into place. Kind of cool, but I preferred the way the other muffins looked (pictured above) when the jelly just sunk halfway. See, when it did the jelly donut thing it just didn’t come out so pretty:
And then for some of them, it was just a hot mess:
So ultimately I’d say, use jelly that isn’t too dense. Or maybe just use the parts without big fruit chunks. This way the jelly will just settle on top. And of course, the quality of the jelly will determine the sugar content of this recipe. You could find some nice naturally sweetened jelly, or use whatever you have on hand.
Banana Strawberry Jelly Muffins
2 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. sea salt
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup whole-milk, plain organic yogurt
2 eggs
2 Tbl. coconut oil
Zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Strawberry jelly
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. If using silicone bakeware, no need to grease the pan. Otherwise, you could grease and use paper cupcake liners if you like.
2. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a big bowl.
3. In blender (or whisk in a bowl) combine bananas, yogurt, eggs, oil, lemon zest and vanilla. Add to flour mixture and mix until just blended.
3. Spoon batter into prepared muffin pan. Do not overfill, keep batter below the top edge.
4. Carefully place a heaping teaspoon of jelly on top of each muffin. I learned that neatness counts.
5. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool on racks.
July 12th, 2009 | baking, Boston, happiness, recipe | 16 Comments »
Have you decided on a recipe to enter into the Mom’s Real Food Recipe Carnival yet?
The recipe I am sharing with you today definitely is not a family recipe whatsoever, so it’s good that I already shared my mom’s Eggplant Parmigiana! In fact I’m not sure I ever had pitas growing up. They were sort of outlandish in an Italian family. We had plenty of bread and pasta but this particular configuration of flour and olive oil never took place.
So, for the past few weeks we’ve been eating a LOT of chickpeas in order to test hummus recipes and such. (Later this week I will post about Sunday Cooking Club and all of this month’s fabulous garbanzo recipes.) With so much hummus in the house it occurred to me that we really needed some pitas. I remembered seeing Vered’s homemade pita and thought…hey, I can do that!
Well…haha…not so fast. I started with a very basic pita recipe that called for Instant Yeast. But I’m not much of a bread baker. I thought yeast was…yeast. I picked some up at the store in those red packets my mom always had. This was a big ol’ PITA FAIL. Apparently I got Active Dry Yeast which needs to be activated in warm water or something. It’s actually not active at all otherwise. Confusing! It should be called “In-Active Dry Yeast.”
Next try went a whole lot better. I found the Instant stuff and this made all the difference. Rise, dough, rise! And it did. We thoroughly enjoyed our fluffy warm pitas with homemade hummus and cucumber slices one day, sprouts and swiss chard the next. They were so, so much better than store bought pitas. If you have a few hours and want to impress your family and friends (and yourself!), give these suckers a try.
Whole wheat pitas
adapted from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman
3 cups whole wheat bread flour (plus more for flouring countertop)
3 Tbl. olive oil
2 tsp. instant yeast
2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 cup water
1-2 Tbl. melted butter (optional, but seriously, go for it!)
1. In food processor, combine flour, oil, yeast, salt and sugar. Turn machine on and add 1 cup of water through feed tube.
2. Process for about 30 seconds until dough forms a ball. You might need to add a little bit more water to help it along but you don’t want the dough too wet or sticky, just slightly so.
3. Turn dough onto floured surface and knead for a few seconds to create a ball. Place in a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for 2 hours or until it has doubled in size.
4. Split dough into 8 equal smaller balls by dividing in half, then each piece in half, then each of those in half again. Let rest for at least 20 minutes, covered with plastic wrap or a towel.
5. Roll each ball out with a rolling pin until it looks like a pita. By this I mean it isn’t too thick and it isn’t too thin. Go for less than 1/4″ thickness, but more than 1/8″. Let dough disks rest for another 20 minutes.
6. You can bake on cookie sheets at 350 degrees or cook on the stovetop in a heavy skillet. Cook on first side for 2-4 minutes, then flip and cook another 2-4 minutes. The goal is for each pita to puff up at some point during the cooking process, creating the ‘pocket’ inside. If they don’t rise they are still good to eat but you won’t be able to cut them in half and stuff ‘em.
7. Brush pita tops with melted butter. Enjoy!
Now that this month’s Cooking Club is over I can get off this hummus kick but I still have a lot of leftover chickpeas in the house. What to do? Look forward to more recipes this week using everyone’s favorite legume! Then I’m going to start experimenting with raw foods as we look forward to June’s (Un)Cooking Club. Join us!
May 4th, 2009 | baking, beans, recipe, Sunday Cooking Club, vegetarian | 18 Comments »
