Archive for October, 2011

Gluten and Sugar Free Brownies

I found this recipe, which I tweaked a little in a wonderful out of print cookbook, The Low Carb Gourmet by Karen Barnaby. You can make a half recipe in a 8” square pan as well. These were really good.

Ingredients

• 10 ounces organic cream cheese, at room temperature
• 16 tablespoons pastured/organic butter, at room temperature (2 sticks)
• 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
• Stevia liquid or powder to equal 1 cup of Sugar (I use 1 tablespoon powder)
• 4 large, organic and pastured eggs
• 2 teaspoons instant coffee granules
• 1 1/2 teaspoons organic vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure chocolate extract (optional)
• 1 1/2 cups almond meal (finely ground almonds – I make ours from crispy almonds)
• 6 tablespoons organic Dutch-processed cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoons Celtic sea salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Directions

1. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and Butter until smooth. Beat in the chocolate and sweetener. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time, scraping the bowl well after each addition. Add the coffee and extracts. Beat until combined.
2. In a medium bowl, mix the almond meal, cocoa, salt, and baking powder. Add to the chocolate mixture and beat well. Scrape into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
3. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the top is firm. Cool on a wire rack before cutting. Store, covered, in the refrigerator.
4. Per Brownie, if cut into 24 servings: Effective carbohydrates: 3 grams each.  Enjoy!

Read more, great Monday Mania posts here: http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/2011/10/monday-mania-10312011/

Read more, great Fat Tuesday posts here: http://realfoodforager.com/2011/10/fat-tuesday-november-1-2011/

Read more, great Real Food Wednesday posts here: http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2011/11/real-food-wednesday-1122011.html

Read more, great Simple Lives Thursday posts here: http://gnowfglins.com/2011/11/02/simple-lives-thursday-68/

Read more, great Fight Back Friday posts here: http://www.foodrenegade.com/fight-back-friday-november-4th/

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Fantastic Grassfed Barbecue

It’s been just over two years since I first started using Mr. Fishman’s previous book, Tender Grassfed Meat. I still use it all the time and every recipe I have tried has been wonderful. To me this shows an author who truly tests their recipes and takes the best ones for their book.

I was so excited to get this new book and see what new recipes there were to try.  Cooking grassfed meat is very different then cooking corn fed meat. It’s much better for us and for the animals and the taste is truly wonderful, but learning to cook it can be challenging at first. Once you learn the methods it’s easy but you do need to learn the differences.

This book is broken into three sections. The first section is an overview of the benefits of traditional foods and traditional barbecue methods. There have been article about how it’s unhealthy to barbecue meat, and this book gives you how to barbecue healthfully, using real food ingredients.

In the second section there’s a great section on barbecue cookers, equipment and fuel – I learned a lot from this one. How to use indirecting cooking and traditional barbecue flavors and ingredients. There’s also a section on types of grassfed and pastured meat, how to prepare and finding and using grassfed and healthy fats.

The third and largest section is the recipes and there are a lot. Recipes for broth, Beef, Bison, Lamb and Pork. Also a section on Baste, Raw Vegetable Condiments and two sections on side dishes, one of them specifically for low carb side dishes. I’ve made a few recipes so far, the Shashlik Shoulder Roast, Basil Lamb burgers and the Chimichurri Sauce. They were all delicious and there are many more recipes I plan to try.

This book is great for everyone who wants to barbecue healthfully. If you are eating Low carb, Paleo, Primal/ Real Food it’ll give you many, new healthful recipes for you and your family. Highly recommended!

Click the image below to take you to the Amazon page:

Read more, great Monday Mania posts here: http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/2011/10/monday-mania-10242011/

Read more, great Fat Tuesday posts here: http://realfoodforager.com/2011/10/fat-tuesday-october-25-2011/

Read more, great Real Food Wednesday posts here: http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2011/10/real-food-wednesday-10262011.html

Read more, great Simple Lives Thursday posts here: http://gnowfglins.com/2011/10/26/simple-lives-thursday-67/

Read more, great Pennywise Platter Thursday posts here: http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2011/10/pennywise-platter-thursday-1027.html

Sunday, October 16^th is World Food Day!

There will be rallies and events all over the U.S.  Find one near you here:

http://www.organicconsumers.org/monsanto/index.cfm

Some great stories in the news this week:

Gary Hirshberg, CEO of Stonyfield Farm, on fighting GMOs

“What people need to understand with GE, or genetically engineered, [aka GMO] crops is that the seeds are owned by chemical companies. When we sanction the unrestricted use of GE crops, we’re sanctioning the unrestricted use of these chemicals, which are already making us sick.

I’m hopeful. As I travel the country, I hear that people want freedom of choice. Eighty-seven percent of Americans say that genetically modified foods should be labeled and that they don’t want to buy GE crops and food grown from GE seeds. Consumers care, farmers care, even nonorganic farmers care because they don’t want to be told what kind of seeds to grow and they don’t want to pay the higher costs demanded by these companies.

Read more here:  http://newhope360.com/non-gmo/know-your-gmos-hidden-ingredients-safe-labels-and-taking-action

In Free Market, No GMO

Jan 222011

Think. Should farmers & consumers in Vermont have as many rights as those in Europe, Australia and New Zealand?

The European Union (EU) countries implemented mandatory labeling requirements for genetically engineered soy and corn. By the end of 1998, nearly all the grocery chains and fast food restaurants in the EU had eliminated genetically engineered ingredients from their products.

Australian and New Zealand food manufacturers must label all processed food products that contain GMO (genetically engineered, or biotech) ingredients. As a result of this labeling requirement, Australia’s largest food conglomerate, Goodman Fielder, eliminated GMO from its product line. Other manufacturers and grocery chains are following suit.

In Vermont, however, we have a new governor who killed the 2000 GMO labelling act when he was a Senator. “…A measure mandating labels on genetically modified seeds and food, liability for the purveyors of the technology and registration of the location of transgenic crops with town clerks flew through the Senate Agriculture Committee. But its good fortunes ended in the Finance Committee. Democratic Sen. Peter Shumlin voted with Republicans to table the bill.”

“Shumlin told Sen. Cheryl Rivers (D), then chair of the Agriculture Committee, that he was “unwilling to support a bill requiring labeling of genetically modified foods because the Democrats had already lost the contributions of pharmaceutical companies, and he was not willing to sacrifice contributions from the food industry,” according to the Rutland Herald.

Read more here:  http://senatorwagner.com/2011/01/in-free-market-no-gmo/

Buy  No GMO t-shirts

This is the winning t-shirt from the contest sponsored by the Institute for Responsible Technology, 25% of the proceed go to them and it’s on sale until 10/11 for only $10.00 – I thought it was a great design!

http://www.threadless.com/product/3228/GMOS_OMG/

And one from Moms for Safe Food too!  This is the Men’s T – there are women’s too.

They say:

My husband came up with a great slogan and I made them up for café press. We are not making any money on these, just selling them at Café Press’s base price.

I just like them (we all have one) and wanted to offer them to others.

Link:

http://www.cafepress.com/momsforsafefood

So many good things in the news this week! 🙂

Read more, great Monday Mania posts here: http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/2011/10/monday-mania-10102011/

Read more, great Fat Tuesday posts here: http://realfoodforager.com/2011/10/fat-tuesday-october-11-2011/

Read more, great Real Food Wednesday posts here: http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2011/10/real-food-wednesday-10122011.html

Read more, great Simples Lives Thursday posts here: http://gnowfglins.com/2011/10/12/simple-lives-thursday-65/

Read more, great Pennywise Platter posts here: http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2011/10/pennywise-platter-thursday-1013.html

Read more, great Fight Back Friday posts here: http://www.foodrenegade.com/fight-back-friday-october-14th/

Easy Thai Curry Recipe

We love Thai food and I can make a pretty good Indian Curry but wasn’t having much luck with Thai curry until I found Mae Ploy brand curry pastes in our local Asian Market. They are inexpensive, $2.50 or so each and each container will make many curries as you only need a tablespoon or two if you like it really spicy.

They come in many varieties, Yellow, Panang, Green, Red and Massaman and are all natural. The ingredients in the Panang – one of our favorites – is: Dried red chillie, Lemongrass, Shallot, Salt, Garlic, Galangal, Mung beans, Shrimp paste, Kaffir lime peel, Coriander seeds, Cumin, Pepper

All the other varieties have similar ingredients.

You can make a super easy curry dinner. I just pour one can of Organic Coconut milk into a bowl and add one tablespoon of curry paste and whisk for a few minutes until blended.

Then I take a large sauté pan, and in 1 tablespoon or so of coconut oil I sauté whatever vegetables I have on hand. Onion, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, eggplant – any vegetable will work.  If you are using meat or chicken you can sauté it before the veggies to get it cooked, put it on a plate and then start the veggies. If you are using fish or beans or leftover cooked meat,  cook the veggies first and then add. I will sometimes add frozen shrimp as they’ll cook really fast.

So, once your veggies are partially cooked pour in the coconut milk/curry paste mixture and add  your cooked meat/raw fish/frozen shrimp/cooked beans – whatever you’re using and let it simmer until done, usually around 10-20 minutes.

Serve with organic brown rice if you’re eating grain. I just have mine with a heaping tablespoon of organic Greek yogurt on the side. Delicious!

Amazon carries the brand, a link is below, but if you have an Asian store near you, you can buy many varieties and they are very inexpensive. Stock up on Coconut Milk there as well. Enjoy!

Read more, great Monday Mania Posts here: http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/2011/10/monday-mania-1032011/

Read more, great Fat Tuesday posts here: http://realfoodforager.com/2011/10/fat-tuesday-october-4-2011/

Read more, great Real Food Wednesday posts here: http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2011/10/real-food-wednesday-1052011.html

Read more, great Simple Lives Thursday posts: http://gnowfglins.com/2011/10/06/simple-lives-thursday-64/

Read more, great Pennywise Platter Thursday posts here: http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2011/10/pennywise-platter-thursday-106.html

Read more, great Fight Back Friday posts here: http://www.foodrenegade.com/fight-back-friday-october-7th/