More from the cookbook club

Here are more good eats from the From Scratch Club cookbook reading adventure over at Goodreads. (Links to the club are in my previous post.)We've just finished up the quinoa week and are on to oats (and farro, for the non-gluten-free folks).

Pure muesli: I modified this based on the dried fruit and seeds I had on hand. This is delicious soaked in coconut milk kefir overnight. (For those of you concerned about phytic acid in oats, add a bit of kasha or sprouted buckwheat groats to the mix. The phytase will help neutralize the phytates.) This is vegan and gluten free, provided you use gluten-free oats.

Vanilla quinoa porridge: I made this one with dates instead of dried cranberries. (Again, I went with what I had.) This works well with soaked/sprouted quinoa if you like preparing it that way. This recipe is also vegan.

Fluffy buckwheat pancakes: Okay, I worked ahead a little on this one. But seriously, folks--fluffiest pancakes ever, all because of a whipped egg white. This is also really easy to make with traditionally-prepared buckwheat if you're into that. Sprout the buckwheat, dry it, then grind into flour yourself. Or, modify the recipe and soak the buckwheat and rice flour in yogurt overnight before mixing in the egg in the morning. (Ms. Krissoff offers an easy sub to make this vegan if you desire to make it that way. I prepared this without dairy, but with egg.)

Cooking the books with From Scratch Club

Have you ever been part of a book club? How about a cookbook club?  I realize I'm posting this a little late, but you still have plenty of time to join in with the From Scratch Club folks over at Goodreads. We're cooking from Whole Grains for a New Generation, by Liana Krissoff (author of my absolute favorite book on preserving, Canning for a New Generation). If you get a chance, join us!  Here are the photos of what I've made so far. (I have made more, but I keep forgetting my camera and/or it's nighttime when I remember. As evidenced here.)

Brown-rice and quick-pickled fennel onigiri

Blueberry-cornbread muffins, made with gluten-free flour (zero added sugar)

Chickpea flour crepes with quinoa and melted peppers (goat cheese excluded)

Valentine's foods to celebrate love

Valentine's Day is so cliché, yes? It's not my favorite holiday by any stretch of the imagination, but it is nice to have a day set aside to honor the loves of our lives, whether they be our romantic loves or not. We call it "Love Day" here because I like including non-romantic loves. (That, and it makes more sense to my kids who aren't so much up on cherubs intervening in erstwhile lovers' affairs.)

This Valentine's Day is a special one for me. It marks ten years since my husband proposed. I'd just flown down to Maryland for the long President's Day weekend. The Mister and I settled in and he got down on one knee... completely surprising me, despite our having talked of marriage for months. (I thought he'd wait a few more.) We were twenty then. I am reminded of many things we shared that weekend, not the least of which was the last major blizzard to run its way up the East Coast to New England. It dumped two feet of snow on Annapolis and another two plus in Boston (the place to which I was ostensibly returning a few days later). Instead of spending a chilly (but dry) weekend wandering through what is still one of our favorite towns, we spent that day trying to find any restaurant that was open. There was one--Acme--with open doors, and we had tomato soup.

Of course I spent several stressful days trying to get back to Boston after my flight was canceledd and the airport closed. I eventually got a ticket on the train and made it to South Station just as the blizzard met me. It was... a trip I don't want to repeat. Ever. But I'd happily spend that weekend over again.

This year we live two hours from where we spent that--and many other--college weekends. We have been married for almost eight years and have two wonderful kids. Our Valentine's Day will not be quite so romantic this year. No dinner out, no traipsing through two feet of snow in a charming old town. But it's still Love Day, and a nice round anniversary, so we'll be celebrating. Here, at home. With our children. Mostly likely with a toy dinosaur joining us at the table. And so, we will make it special.

Special can be as simple as a bowl of tomato soup on a snowy day, or as elaborate as filet mignon and lobster tail with a fancy dessert.  Our Valentine's Day will be somewhere in between.  I am going to make the macarons from Aran Goyoaga's book, Small Plates and Sweet Treats. They take time and love to make. (But, they are not difficult.) Beyond that I'm stepping back and my husband says we'll have a stress-free meal of fancy cheese, pâté, crudités, and fruit. (Um, well, the fruits and vegetables were my idea.) Most likely that meal will be on a big picnic blanket in the middle of our living room. While I love cooking for my family, sometimes it's just nice to relax. That is my husband's gift to me this Thursday, and honestly just being with him and my kids is enough. (But any man who will offer to bring his wife fancy cheese and meat is a winner.)

What are you having on Valentine's Day? Is special a bowl of soup? A fancy meal out? Buttered popcorn? (Don't judge. Sometimes popcorn is just the thing.)

Links, 6 February 2013

This weekend I'm running a race for the first time in ten years or so. I know, I said that last year around this time. (And then I ripped up my ankle and was in a boot for almost two months.) This time around I'm being a little more careful; knock on wood I'll be good to go on Sunday morning. I cheated the injury monster once, though. Last weekend I was out for my Saturday run and stopped paying attention to the [icy] sidewalk. I did a nice face plant on the pavement, which thankfully did not actually involve my face. My knees are scraped up and my mittens in shreds, but I otherwise made out with a bruised ego.

Running is my "me" time. Staying at home with the kids I don't get a lot of it, to be honest. I just finished reading Born to Run this last week; while I think ultra-running requires a special kind of crazy I can see how the simultaneous camaraderie of being with others of your "tribe" and the solitude of being in the woods would be appealing. (I still think running until you are almost guaranteed to vomit on your shoes is nuts. And this coming from someone who has done a marathon.)

This week I've got a few links for you. Sadly, no recipes yet. I'm in the midst of a couple of projects that require my full attention and don't make for a lot of time for creativity in the kitchen.

Have you ever made your own coconut milk? I know there are plenty of recipes floating around out there for  'milk' from dried coconut, but this one gives you the freshest coconut milk you'll ever taste outside southeast Asia. If you're tired of seeking out BPA-free cans and avoiding guar gum (which I don't personally worry about), have at it. All you need is coconut, water, and a blender.

We finally tried out flax "focaccia" last week. I've seen people link to the recipe, with very good reviews. While we're not low-carb, I tend to keep baked goods on the less refined side of things. This recipe is mostly flax and eggs. I use olive oil and honey for the oil and sweetener. (Bonus: It's nut-free.)

Speaking of nut-free, Stacy and Matt over at Paleo Parents have a great substitute for almond flour in grain-free baked goods: sunflower flour!  As an extra bonus, sunflower seeds are quite a bit less expensive than almonds or other nuts and are easily found at your local grocery store.

Finally, a great website for all you history and food nerds out there: The Food Timeline chronicles food history from just about the beginning until now, with articles on just about anything you could possibly wonder about. Medieval foods? Prohibition-era cuisine? When your favorite dish came into fashion? It's there. Enjoy!

Just a teeny little pseudo-grain

The above title is what happens when you have kids and PBS. Someday, someday, my brain will work properly again. In the meantime, please forgive me for the Sesame Street reference.

Moving on!  Just before Christmas I was contacted by the publisher of Quinoa Revolution, who asked if I'd be willing to take a look at the new release. In the interest of full disclosure, I did receive a copy courtesy of the nice folks at Pintail Books.*  I have finally had time to work my way through a few of the recipes and feel comfortable giving my opinion to you.

For those of you who peruse the cookbook section for the photos and design, you'll not be disappointed in Quinoa Revolution. The colors are gorgeous and the photos appealing. There is so much excellent food photography out there, really, but these do not disappoint. The book's layout lends itself well to note-taking as well, with margins that are plenty large. (I find this important, as I'm a bit of a scribbler.)

The recipes are, I think, innovative. It would be easy to slip into quinoa-as-gimmick territory when writing a book about a single ingredient. The authors, Patricia Green and Carolyn Hemming, avoid gimmickry by creating dishes such as individual quinoa meatloaves. The meatloaves were my favorite of the recipes I tried, despite being a little nervous that the quinoa would feel too much like a filler. Ultimately the flavor and texture were lovely, and all I needed to accompany them in a meal was a nice green salad. Unfortunately, I didn't get a good pic of the meatloaves before they were gone. To be completely honest, the only photo I got of the recipes I tried was of the Indian-infused quinoa. (It was delicious, by the way. We served it with some lamb curry.)

I also made a couple of baked goods that turned out nicely--the cherry lavender cake and the chai chocolate chip muffins. I heartily recommend both the muffins and cake on texture and taste. Actually, the dish I most wish I'd have remembered to photograph was the cherry cake. It presents well, and would be perfect for a casual dinner with friends--perhaps served with a little vanilla ice cream and a cup of Early Grey. (Even my husband, who is generally not a fan of quinoa flour, enjoyed them.)  All of the baked treats are relatively low sugar and could easily be modified to include no refined sugar at all.

The writing in Quinoa Revolution is helpful. As I've written before, I feel more strongly about writing than I do about photographs. I have a hard time enjoying a cookbook if it doesn't have useful information and technique. Not to worry. Green's and Hemming's book has a wealth of information about preparing quinoa, different types of the pseudo-grain, and even techniques for sprouting. (Yes, there are several recipes for sprouted quinoa in the book.)

I would caution gluten-free readers that not all of the recipes are wheat free. That said, I modified a couple of recipes quite easily to make them gluten-free. And to be fair, the vast majority of the recipes in Quinoa Revolution are gluten-free to begin with. (In fact, I plan on making some of the soups and stews over the next few months of chilly weather.)  All in all, Quinoa Revolutionis a lovely book. If you eat quinoa regularly and are running out of ideas--instead, eating it in place of rice--I do encourage you to take a look at this publication.  If you're on the fence but curious about quinoa, this book is a good place to start.

*Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this cookbook. All opinions are my own and candid. I do not and will not take compensation in exchange for favorable reviews. 

My Christmas present

Did I mention already that my other half got me a lovely, brand-spanking-new carbon steel paella pan for Christmas? And this book on skill-based endurance training. Call me one happy lady.  This weekend I made an inaugural batch of paella to break in the pan. Although any stovetop pan over twelve inches is a little cumbersome in our small apartment kitchen, the paella was a success.  (No pizza delivery here.)

I would like to add that apartment ranges are never big enough for anything I want to make. And the burners, being cheap, are terrible. I've burnt out I think three or four now that we've been here a few years. It's not the poor range's fault, though. I really do cook more than your average apartment dweller, I think. Some day I'll have the oven/range combo of my dreams. Or separate ones. Or... Well, I'll have to be independently wealthy before my dream kitchen happens. That, or I'll sleep on a college-quality IKEA futon mattress forever. One or the other, really. My husband will regret ever encouraging my cooking habit. (I hope not. He's pretty well fed, and he cooks dinner at least once a week himself.)

But the pan. It's the perfect size for four people as a main dish, or more as part of a spread. I used chicken, homemade stock, and assorted vegetables this time. I believe next I'll actually use the oven to cook the paella (horrors!) just because I won't have to rotate it over two elements  that way. And I'll use Spanish chorizo and shellfish. Oh- and you get lovely crusty paella bits at the bottom of the pan. My favorite.

What sort of paella would you make? Mixed? Vegetable only? Seafood? The possibilities are endless!

Ready, set, unplug!

Ostensibly this is a food blog. I know this. But in order to cook, review books, and otherwise function as a normal adult human being sometimes something has to give. Turns out my kids have to function, too, and plopping them in front of an episode of even Wild Kratts in order for me to make dinner on Tuesday night turns into more television, and more, and suddenly that blasted machine is on far more than I ever wanted.

So this weekend begins a television fast in my home. The goal is one week right now. I want longer; my darling husband is sweating the NFL playoffs. Which, incidentally, I don't care about at all. Our intention is to drop cable when we move to California. We'd do it now, but it's actually included in our rent so whether we want to pay for it or not doesn't really matter. In California we plan on using Netflix exclusively, and probably not streaming. So there. (My husband doesn't know that he'll like not having the television on yet. But it'll happen.)

Last year in March we went 30 days without television. It was both frustrating and fantastic. No more eating dinner while watching a movie. No more noise. Much more music in the form of CDs and Pandora. More playing, better sleep. More, ahem, adult time. Better relationships. And then we turned the television back on with the intention of watching just a show here and there. And now we have a line-up for any particular evening (Tuesday: NCIS and NCIS:LA, Thursday: Big Bang Theory and Elementary). I kind of hate it. But I'm going to miss Thursdays. I won't lie to you.

Will you join me? It's just one week. Seven days. 168 hours.  And by no television I don't mean watch a show on your laptop. That doesn't count. By all means, watch television nonstop when the week is over.  The easiest way to remove temptation is to find a place to store your t.v. We unplugged it last time, and moved it to the closet. Unfortunately living in an apartment there's not a ton of space to store a random hunk of technology. This time, we're covering it. In the photo I've used a tablecloth. You can use a lightweight quilt or unused drapery. (Just for the love of all things safe, unplug it first.)

What say you--are you in?