Here comes the Cleanse!

I am excited to begin another month of Clean eating. It is a joy to shop for fresh vegetables and salmon. It is pleasurable to eat things that are not only delicious but nutritious. I am ready for kale and fresh juice and quinoa. These things have all become constant items in our fridge, but they rest beside stacks of cheese, sausuage, and chocolate pudding cups.

We are going to officially begin on Januray 2, although I plan to stop eating sugar & things this week. We have so much stuff in the cabinets & fridge that are not part of the Cleanse... it does seem wasteful just to throw it away when it won't hurt to have another ham sandwich for lunch tomorrow.

cinnamon rolls

I think these were the best cinnamon rolls I have ever baked. The dough was perfect the filling was perfect and then they baked perfectly, too. Even days later they were delicious. Without frosting, butter or decoration they were amazing. It is a plain & simple recipe that I have made dozens of times.

That is the mystery/delight/frustration of baking.

Roast Everything.

Crimini Mushrooms.

Soup: Carrots, Onion, Lemon, Garlic, Apple.

Lemon, Garlic, Onion. Always needed.

Fried Eggplant with Sea Salt & Honey

I ate this at Poppy in Seattle [Capitol Hill] and have never made it as home quite as delicious as it was that lovely night. The eggplant needs to be soaked in water so that it doesn't absorb the oil when you fry it. The size needs to be just right. You need to eat them when they are hot. They can be dusted with flour or chickpea flour before frying. Fried eggplant is pillow-soft. Salt & Honey is magic.

I made butter, is it better?

Constance, Cat & I took a cheese-making class. What I learned is that if you are going to spend the time making one dairy-based product, you may as well plan to make at least five dairy-based products because one thing will lead naturally to the next. So you get some probiotic cultures and add them to cream and let your kitchen's bacteria go to town in the jar. Pretty soon you have some cultured cream, which you could use like a sour cream/yogurt/creamy spread. But if you put a lid on that jar and shake it up [for a long time], or put the cream in your food processor [much easier], the fat will separate and you get cultured butter. What separates from the butter is... butttermilk!

smoothie with mango

This looks lovely - before it's blended. And then it goes all orange-brown-speckled. But it is still delicious and good for your soul. If you have sold your soul, it will be good for your brain. If you don't have a brain, you probably need all the help you can get - so try a nutritious smoothie.

MaCoRaKa Smoothie:
Fresh, sliced mango
Coconut water
Frozen raspberries - can use fresh, but the smoothie won't be as cold
Fresh kale leaves

Oh, and look - I got a new blender! Mine was about 11 years old and started going weeEEEEAAAIIIIHHHHHHAAAAEEEEEeeeee. I fear that our beloved juicer is headed down the same, sad path. Right now it's only going whrrrrrrrrreeeeeeee...uuuuuuuu....hhhhhh....eeeeee.

Pete asked me "what are these seed things that you keep throwing into my smoothies?" and I said "just raspberry seeds" and he was suspicious still and I said "they are just the seeds from the raspberries" and he still didn't believe me so I 'fessed up that they were POISON seeds! I think he thought I had brought back the Chia. And I would, but I keep forgetting about it. Like the wheat grass on the window sill.

Muffins Move In

I had a bad day. Nothing a few muffins couldn't fix. But we are trying to stay true to our 3-week cleanse and are half-way through it, so my baking has to be gluten-free, sugar-free.

I am perfecting the gluten-free, sugar-free, vegan muffin. These are 3 of my favorites. They are best served warm.

From the top: Buckwheat Apple, Quinoa-Blueberry, Apple-Carrot-Ginger-Lemon-Etc.

I learned a few more things this time around. For one, I used more applesauce than the original recipe suggests. It adds a moist texture of course, but a little more helps soften whatever type of flour is used too. The other thing I did differently was to gently fill the muffin cups with batter instead of patting it down and forming it into muffin shapes. I tried to let it remain light & airy and this totally changed the baked texture from a dense bread into a more cake-like muffin.

I adapted all 3 of these recipes from the Allergen-Free Baker's Handbook.

Want to know what's in them, non-specifically?

Buckwheat Apple Muffins:
canola oil, agave, unsweetened organic applesauce, vanilla, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, buckwheat, flax meal, xantham, baking soda, kosher salt, shredded apples

Quinoa-Blueberry Muffins:
organic quinoa flour, organic yellow corn flour, xantham, baking soda, kosher salt, canola oil, agave, vanilla, unsweetened organic applesauce, organic cider vinegar, cinnamon, cardamom, organic blueberries.

Etc Muffins:
organic brown rice flour, potato starch, tapioca flour, xantham, baking soda, kosher salt, organic quinoa flour, flax meal, sunflower seeds, lemon juice, shredded apple, shredded carrots, shredded golden beets, cinnamon, vanilla, agave, canola oil, honey, fresh ginger, lemon zest.

hummus

Hummus is easy to make if you have a food processor. You can use your blender I suppose.

A can of chickpeas / garbanzo beans
Tahini [sesame paste]
Lemon Juice
Olive Oil
Water
Salt

Now, I like to use roasted lemons for the lemon juice. I really like to use roasted Meyer Lemons.
I use an organic, cold-pressed, extra virgin olive oil. You can taste the difference. This dip is raw and cold so the flavor of the oil you use will be there. Use clean, cold, filtered water. I use Kosher salt and sometimes a flake, grey sea salt.
I also add some additional flavors like roasted garlic [I like to use fresh, local garlic from my farmer's market. It is spicy and mild at the same time], black pepper, cayenne pepper, perhaps a little dried basil.
Put everything in the food processor and whip it up until it is as smooth or not-smooth as you prefer. If the chickpeas still feel grainy/chunky and the dip seems dry - just add a few tablespoons of water until it is the right consistency for you. I like my hummus to be be smooth, but hold it's shape on the end of carrot stick. I taste the hummus a million times while I'm making it before adding any each of the seasonings.

other things to avoid... plus lamb

we are also avoiding all dairy, bananas, oranges, carbonated beverages, pork, corn, bell peppers, potatoes, strawberries...

what else?

Just for 3 weeks. Since this isn't a medical emergency, we are eating in a way that still makes us happy and satisfied. And without caffiene and sugar I am sleeping SO MUCH BETTER. I think I have some other iron/blood/adrenal issues that need to be worked out, but the leafy greens & no-sugar help.

Friday night I made us Rack of Lamb. I had never done this before. It was DELICIOUS. It was everything I hoped it would be. It was so easy. Part of the delicious-ness was due to the fact that I purchased said Rack of Lamb from Whole Foods where the meat & seafood is organic and raised by elves in an enchanted land with harp music and rainbows. Was it expensive? A bit. $18/lb. And you have this tiny little piece of meat in the fridge, and then the oven, and then on your plate and it looks like you are going to have to order pizza after dinner. But then you make roasted asparagus and saffron quinoa and serve a little homemade, spicy hummus with the lamb and WOW.  And now that I think about it, it was cheaper than Chinese delivery. Not that I don't love me some Kung Pao.
Kung Pao pizza.... [with Ranch, CMB?]

For the lamb recipe I consulted the King of All Things in the Kitchen: James Peterson. I have his new cookbook Kitchen Simple. Buy this book. Every single word on every single page is useful, deliberate, and intelligent. The photos are lovely. There are no recipes for guava-encrusted-Russian-octopus-tapas. So if you are looking for this recipe you are out of luck. If you have never made rack of lamb and are just like me thinking "I can do this, but How do I do this?" then you are looking at the right book.
Put it in a small roasting pan. Put salt on it. Put pepper on it. Put it in the oven for 25 minutes. Take it out of the oven. Put foil on it. Let it sit there for 15 minutes. Eat it.  Listen to Pete say things like "you know, I think I prefer Rack of Lamb [from Whole Foods] over Lamb Chops [from Costco]." Oh really? Amazing! Would you also prefer to drive a Mercedes instead of your work van?

Morning Juice

This is what our morning juice is usually made of. Use organic fruits & vegetables whenever possible.

* pineapple
* apples
* carrots
* ginger root
* lemon
* kale
* celery

Smoothie with Peaches

I bought a box of peaches and waited until they were completely juicy and ripe. And then I cut them up and put them in the freezer! Why? For smoothie time, of course.

* 2 cups of unsweetened vanilla almond milk
* 2 handfuls of frozen peaches
* 2 leaves of kale
* 1 c of fresh blueberries or raspberries
* a shake of cinnamon and/or cardamom

Cleanse Again!

Last Monday we started the Cleanse again - based on the book Clean. It's the same thing that we did last January. Constance is doing it again, too. The past few months e have been eating too much pizza, Chinese food, cheese & crackers, & chocolate chip cookies and washing it all down with wine and strawberry-lemonade. It has been mostly dinner and weekends that do us in.

Since January, Pete & I have still been drinking nutritious smoothies & fresh juice in the morning. And nearly every weekday we both have salads for lunch. So going back to the the Clean way of eating is not that difficult. We are avoiding sugar, gluten, eggs, processed foods, caffiene, alcohol, red meat, peanuts... I think I've had salmon at least 10 times in a row. And a truckload of quinoa. And a chicken.

I thought of something smart to do. I chopped up two giant bags of fruit & vegetables and put them in the fridge for our morning juice. I make juice when Pete gets up for work, before 6am, with one eye open so it's helpful to not have to use a sharp knife and peel a pineapple at this time. So much easier!

I also spend an evening preparing as many things as I can for our dinners. I get the stove going and make  large pots of quinoa and brown rice. Both of these things are quick to reheat and hold their texture & flavor remarkably well.

Quinoa with saffron, cinnamon sticks, cloves & garlic.

I think I Canned

Now that we have had over 80 hours of official summer weather, the produce is finally ripe and delicious. I have started with fruit and jams and want to try some different sauces and purees next.

Blueberries in lavendar-honey syrup. I marinated the blueberries in lavendar and added the honey to the boiling syrup. They are fragrant and delicately flavored.






 Bing cherries in brandy. I think these will be delicious on ice cream, crepes, waffles, a spoon. These were simple to make and I plan to do many more jars of them while we have an abundance of cherries at the market. I used a fairly high-quality brandy. They would be good with cognac I think, too.

 Simple dill pickles. I have never made pickles before so I just followed the recipe and used the Ball dill pickle mix. If they are good 6 weeks from now and there are still cucumbers in the store I'll make some more.

Peaches. Peeled and waiting to be spiced.

 Peaches in a vanilla bean-cinnamon-star anise syrup. I added a scraped vanilla bean to the syrup with the peaches. The cinnamon sticks & star anise were added to the hot jars after the fruit was packed.

 Raspberry-Basil-Balsamic Jam. A basic raspberry jam with chopped, fresh basil and some vinegar added. It is still sweet.

Strawberry-Jalapeno-Tequila Jam. The tequila adds a nice flavor without tasting or smelling of alcohol. I used Patron. The jalapenos add a nice heat at the end without making the jam "hot."

 Strawberry No-Sugar jam. I sweetened this with just a few teaspoons of stevia powder. It is still tart.

 Strawberry-Raspberry-Jalapeno jam. I only added about 1/3 c of jalapenos to this batch of jam. It has just a tiny amount of heat & pepper flavor.

 Blueberries marinating in sugar & lavendar.

Strawberries waiting to be jammed.

Eat Outside

the steak [again]

Penn Cove Mussels

These are local mussels. They are $2.99 lb and so it's best just to buy the giant bag. There were probably a pound of broken ones inside, but that's how it goes.
I like to give them a good wash, pull out the beards and then slowly steam them open. I experimented with these and put them in a giant roasting pan with a spicy tomato sauce and then just put them in the oven until they opened. It took a lot longer to cook them this way then it does with a strong, direct heat [like a grill, or a pan on the stove] - but I thought that they were delicious and worth the wait.

peach cobbler

I had all of these big, juicy peaches that were perfectly ripe.

I wanted to make a peach cobbler.

So I peeled them. And sliced them.

And I made the cobbler topping.

Actually I made a double recipe of the topping.

Because it's my favorite part.

That was a mistake.

It didn't bake all the way through.

And it was just raw biscuit dough on top.

ick.

So I baked it some more.

and some more

and some more

And then it still wasn't good enough.

damn!

Sandwiches!

I made some rather tastey sandwiches for our beach picnic yesterday. I like sandwiches as much as I like salads: just a little, and with very specific requirements. I do not like mayo or mustard or relish or most condiments. I do not like onions or sliced tomatoes. This is why I don't eat sandwiches. But when I can make them myself excactly the way I know that I will enjoy eating them, it's fun for me.

These are all on ciabatta bread, which I toasted using the fancy "bagel" setting on my toaster so it only toasts the inside. I like to smear a little cream cheese on while the bread is still warm. I bought some delicious meat from DD Meats [our local butcher]: pastrami, turkey pastrami, buffalo turkey, black pepper turkey, and garlic herb turkey. I also used Muenster cheese, champagne cheese, and mozzarella cheese in different combinations. To one sandwich I added some fresh Rainier cherry slices. I really like fruit with meat & cheese and this was a little jucier than apple slices and different from a cranberry jam.

D'oh!

Bread dough is a beautiful thing. I love it from start to finish. Just a few ingredients, found in some form all over the world: flour, water, salt - and voila. Add eggs. Add cream. Add butter. Add yeast or baking powder. Add sugar or cardamom or ginger or poppy seeds. Bake it, fry it, boil it.

I have been making bread for many, many years. I am still trying for the perfect white bread, the perfect whole wheat bread [I'm pretty close on this one], and now quinoa bread.

One of my most favorite childhood memories is also one of my first food memories. In Mrs. Bloom's 1st grade class [it was 1980], she gave us the most extraordinary project for the day. Throughout the day we passed around an old-fashioned, glass jar butter-churner and turned a metal crank that slowly turned cream & salt into butter. Someone's mommy was there mixing up a bowl of bread dough that poofed up magically before it was gently transported to the giant oven in the school cafeteria. That afternoon we walked single file down the hall to see the bread come out of the oven.  It was perfectly browned, delicately shaped and looked just like the illustrations of bread in my storybooks. Back in our classroom seats, we were each given a slice of fresh, warm bread, a little scoop of our well-earned butter, and a spoonfull of Mrs. Bloom's homemade strawberry jam - surprise! I can still taste it. I dream of it. I am so thankful for Mrs. Bloom.

Brocolette, Kalamata Olives, Red Bell Peppers

olive oil, S&P. Roasted.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes

olive oil, kosher salt, black pepper, cinnamon, red chili flakes