Pumpkin Chip Muffins: A recipe in progress

 Pumpkin Chip Muffins get a healthier make-over.

Pumpkin and chocolate are such a great combination, and I was thrilled when I found a delicious recipe for pumpkin chip muffins from www.tasteofhome.com. My boys devoured these sweet muffins. As I progressed in our real food journey, I loved the flavor of these muffins, but I hated the 2 cups of refined sugar and 3 cups of white flour. I started substituting better ingredients as I learned more and acquired the healthier ingredients. I started with fifty percent white flour and fifty percent whole wheat flour. I recently tried a new grain-freee pumpkin chip recipe with coconut flour, but my dear hubby was not a fan. Now I use a mixture of whole wheat flour and sprouted wheat flour. Some day I hope to be only using sprouted wheat, but I haven't experimented with that yet. I tried a few different brands of stevia for a portion of the sugar, but I thought they had a strange aftertaste. Then I moved to maple syrup and maple sugar. I've cut the amount of sugar in half, and now I use sucanat. Coconut oil is substituted for the canola oil. The muffins aren't quite as sweet with the current recipe, but they are still delicious, and all my guys gave them the seal of approval. They are an easy, portable breakfast for my husband who grabs breakfast to go. 

My Ingredients 

Expeller-pressed coconut oil

Pastured eggs, organic pumpkin, and sucanat

Homemade Baking Power- I found the simple recipe here. 

Prep: 10 min. Bake: 15 min. + cooling Yield: 27 servings

Ingredients

• 4 pastured eggs 
• 1 cup sucanat (rapadura, maple syrup, or other healthy sweetener)
• 1 can (15 oz.) solid-pack pumpkin 
• 1 - 1/2 cups expeller-pressed coconut oil 
• 1 - 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
• 1 - 1/2 cups sprouted whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt 
• 2 cups or 10 oz. of semisweet chocolate chips (I used Enjoy Life brand.) 

The cookie scoop makes filling the muffins neat and easy. 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

2. Pull eggs out of refrigerator. Melt coconut oil in small pan on low heat. In a large bowl, beat the eggs, sucanat, pumpkin, and oil until smooth. 

3. In a medium bowl, combine the flours, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. 

4. Gradually add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and mix well. 

5. Fold in chocolate chips. 

6. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. 

7. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. 

8. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack. 

Yield: About 27 muffins 

Mmm, now I want to make some more.

This post is linked back to Sunday School at Butter Believer and Monday Mania at the Healthy Home Economist. 

Raw milk to go

We recently spent a wonderful, sunny week in Florida, and as I planned for the trip, I realized that our real food diet wouldn't be easy while we traveled. If I truly value this healthy food, then why would I give my family fast food and junk for a week if I have the ability to plan ahead and I have access to a full kitchen at my destination? I challenged myself to research and think ahead so that we could continue with healthy foods as much as possible. A few problems presented themselves quickly.

• Locating real food: I've spent months figuring out how to find the most affordable sources for raw milk, grass-fed or pastured meats, and organic fruits and vegetables in my own area. How can I find raw milk in another state? 
• Transporting: Real food is often very perishable. What foods should I try to bring in my luggage on an airplane, and what should I buy at my destination? 
• Ingredients: Many of my real food recipes call for ingredients that I've prepared ahead (chicken stock, roasted chicken, soaked and dehydrated nuts, etc.) What recipes could I make at the hotel that don't require other steps to prepare the ingredients? 
• Snacks: I don't buy many snack foods for our regular routine at home, but I knew we would be spending a lot of time traveling or standing in lines. I wanted to be prepared with healthier snack options for my little boys to keep up moral and avoid meltdowns. What are the healthiest, portable, non-perishable snack options for little ones?
• Planning for our return: I usually pick up my raw milk, cheese, cream, and meats every two weeks. Our trip fell on my normal pick-up week, so upon our return we wouldn't have access to our normal source of real food for at least a week. Where could I find another source of raw milk in my area to fill in the gap? 

As you can imagine, it took some work thinking through all these questions. I'll tackle these in a few different posts, and today I'll focus on the search for raw milk. First, I headed to www.realmilk.com, and I looked up Florida. I learned that Florida only allows people to sell raw milk for "pet consumption only." There are many different raw milk sources listed, and they are listed by town or county. We were heading to Orlando, and then we were taking a day trip to Clearwater early in the week. I ruled out the only source in Orlando very quickly. It's a co-op that ships their food from a farm in PA every two weeks. Wow, I was shocked at the prices! I guess it is really expensive to send the food that far, and I had a new-found gratitude for my home state. I wish the sources on the real milk site were organized on a state map because I don't know Florida well, and I was trying to figure out what towns and counties were close to Orlando or our travel route. I decided to focus on Tampa because we were going to drive through. I sent an email to Sarah from the Healthy Home Economist blog, and she sent me a list of natural food stores that sell raw milk in the Tampa area. Tampa is an hour and a half away from Orlando, so I had to plan a way to keep the milk cold during the trip. A soft, collapsible cooler from Trader Joe's and a blue ice fit the bill, and I packed them in my luggage for the trip.

We flew down to Orlando on a Saturday morning, but we weren't going to be in Tampa until Monday night. My family can finish a gallon of milk in two days, so I needed a temporary solution to get us to Monday. I remembered reading that people can bring milk on an airplane if they have a small child. I bought two Thermos before the trip, and I filled them with raw milk before we left. The milk lasted until we reached Orlando, so we didn't have to get the ultra-pasteurized milk in the airport. Score 1 for planning ahead! 

On Saturday night, I shopped for groceries at Whole Food's in Orlando, and I was excited to find some non-homogenized milk from grass-fed cows. I bought enough to last us until Monday. I filled our Thermos again for our day trip to Clearwater. As we drove back through Tampa, I called the natural foods store closest to the highway to check if they had raw milk in stock. We drove 20 minutes away from the highway, and I kept trying to assure myself that all this effort was worth it. The store only had 4 half-gallons of milk, so we bought all of them. Each half gallon cost more than a whole gallon from my local farmer in PA. I don't think we could afford to buy raw milk regularly if we lived in Florida. I know they have some direct buying clubs, so maybe the milk is more affordable if you get it from the farmer. We packed the milk in our cooler and headed back to the hotel. I was so proud of myself for finding raw milk in another state.

My boys went through the first half-gallon by Wednesday. I opened the second one, and there was so much cream on top that I couldn't seem to get the milk to pour out into my son's cup. I shook the container, and then tried again. The milk seemed lumpy, but I chalked it up to cream. At dinner, my son  refused to drink the milk. I assured him it was just full of cream, but when I tasted the milk I realized there was a problem. The milk was sour. :-( I felt sick pouring the whole half-gallon down the drain. When I opened the next two, they were also sour. Ugg. Fail. Three half-gallons of milk down the drain. (ETA: Further proof of my newbie status- Sarah just posted a long list of things to do with sour raw milk. Since we were vacationing, I didn't have many options, but if I have raw milk at home, I'll know what to do now.) My friend, who was vacationing with us, graciously offered my boys her skim milk. While I appreciated the offer, skim milk was not what I was working towards. On Thursday night, I sent my husband back to Whole Food's for the non-homogenized milk.  

I called the natural foods store, and I asked for a refund. They asked if I bought from the direct buying club or if the milk was the left-overs off the shelves. Then the store employee asked me to bring the containers in.  When I explained the situation, they were willing to give me a refund over the phone. I appreciated the refund, but I was so disappointed that all the planning and extra driving had resulted in my kids drinking pasteurized skim milk. The containers didn't have a "best by" date, and my guess is that people don't buy this expensive milk in the store very often.  More reasons to buy directly from the farmer if you can. My guess is that if raw milk was legal for human consumption in Florida, they would have to print a date on the bottle. If it was legal, then I could probably have found the milk in a closer store. Oh, to have raw milk vending machines like they do in Europe! I'm going to keep looking for raw milk when we travel, but I'm going to be suspicious of containers without dates if I can't ask the farmer when the milk was produced and bottled.
When we got home, I visited my local sparkly, new Whole Food's store for the first time. I was disappointed to see that they don't carry raw milk or non-homogenized milk. I needed milk to fill in the gap until I could pick it up from my farmer. I remembered that Martindale's, my local health food store, stocks raw milk, and I was surprised how affordable it was compared to Florida. Two gallons of delicious raw milk (with dates!) from my local store made me happy to be home.

This post is linked back to Sunday School at Butter Believer.

Welcome Spring: Sunny Day Chicken Curry

Curious George asked for a yellow daffodil for his room, and he inspired me to make a bouquet of flowers from our yard. Daffodils, forsythia, tulips, and hyacinth are blooming, and the warm sunshine is calling us outside. I'm realizing how much yard work needs to get done, and I'd rather be working outside than in the kitchen today. I'm grateful for left-over chicken curry in the freezer. I moved it into the refrigerator to defrost this morning, and it will be an easy dinner tonight. I did some batch cooking in February, and now it will pay off. All I have to do is heat up the curry and toast some coconut to sprinkle on top. The chicken curry is a delicious way to use my roast chicken and chicken broth. 

The Chicken Roast-off

My mom is an amazing cook, and she's always willing to try a new recipe. When I was growing up, my parents begged me to learn how to cook with my mom. Unfortunately, I was always too busy and uninterested. When I was in college, I got my first apartment with my friends, and I needed to do some basic cooking. I emptied a bag of rice into a cute jar, and then I threw the bag away. When I needed to cook rice with a meal, I sheepishly called my mom and asked, "How do you cook rice?" (Obviously, those were pre-Google days.) My cooking skills grew with practice, but I was still intimidated by large cuts of meat. I didn't know any recipes for them, and I wasn't sure what to do with the extra meat after the meal.
In 2008, I read an article in Guideposts Magazine about a young woman who used her grandmother's recipe to roast a whole chicken. I was very impressed, and I thought the recipe didn't look too hard. I acquired my first whole chicken, and I set about washing the bird and trying to get out the innards. My only problem was that I only noticed an opening on one end of the bird. The opening was so small that I could only get one finger in. How was I supposed to get the innards out? I tried as hard as I could, but I kept thinking, "There must be a better way to do this." How I laughed at myself when I realized a flap of skin was covering the larger opening! Chicken lesson #1: There are two openings in a chicken, and only one is big enough for the giblets. To my shame, I still didn't now what to do with the giblets, so I just threw them away.
I was watching Oprah one afternoon, and a chef named Cristina Ferrare was talking about roasted chicken. She suggested roasting two at once, and then you can dice up the chicken to use in other recipes. I started storing and freezing two cup portions of roasted chicken, and I tried them in several of her recipes. I haven't adapted the recipes for traditional cooking yet, but her pesto chicken recipe is one of my favorite ways to use homemade pesto.
When I entered Nourishing Traditions land, I realized that how the chicken is raised is important, and you can make wonderful, healthy chicken stock from the innards and bones. (I'll do a future post on making stock). I started buying pastured chickens from www.yourfamilycow.com, and then I roasted two birds at once, saved the extra meat for other meals, and then made broth with the bones. Unfortunately, my regular chicken supplier has run out for this season, and I'm looking for other sources of organic chickens. Out of convenience, I bought two "organic, free-range" chickens from Trader Joe's, and I was really disappointed when I read the fine print at home. The chickens are fed corn and soy, so I'll keep looking for another chicken supplier.
This week I found the Nourishing Traditions recipe for Roast Chicken. I decided to try it with one chicken, and then compare it to a chicken with my usual recipe called "Mo's Sunday Roast Chicken." I had some left-over gravy in the freezer, so I didn't try the gravy portion of the recipe.  Here are the results of my chicken roast-off.

Nourishing Traditions' Roast Chicken 

The Nourishing Tradition's chicken was moist with great crunchy skin. I've never turned a chicken over half-way through cooking, and it really did make a difference. The caramelized onions on the bottom of the pan were amazing and flavorful. My family does not prefer large amounts of garlic, so I only added one head of garlic instead of two. I didn't peel the garlic, and I wish I had. The peels were slimy, and it wasn't always easy to pop out the cloves. If I make this recipe again, I'll probably just add a few peeled or chopped cloves. The meat was tender, but I didn't think it had much flavor. 

Mo's Sunday Roast Chicken

The chicken with my regular recipe is moist and the skin has delicious flavors from lemon and Herbes de Provence. The skin on the top is crunchy, but the skin on the bottom of the bird is wet and limp. I think I'll try turning over the bird the next time.  I love the roasted sweetness and zesty flavors in the potatoes, celery, onions, and carrots. 

Bottom Line: Even though the Nourishing Tradition's chicken was crispy and the onions were incredible, I'm planning on sticking with my regular recipe in the future. I love the Herbes de Provence and lemon flavors in the skin and vegetables. 

Mo's Sunday Roast Chicken

Ingredients: 

• 1 large fryer chicken, 4-5 lbs. 
• 1 Tblsp. Herbes de Provence
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 lemon
• 1/2 c. olive oil (I used grass-fed butter)
• 1 teaspoon salt (I used 3/4 tsp. sea salt)
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 5 carrots, cut in half
• 6-8 red potatoes
• 1 onion, cut in eighths
• 5 stalks celery, cut in half 

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Wash chicken; remove innards. Pat dry inside and out. Mix herbs, garlic, juice of 1/2 lemon, oil, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Rub chicken inside with remaining half of lemon and sprinkling of salt and pepper. Rub chicken outside with some of the herb-lemon-oil mixture. Place chicken in a large roasting pan. Truss the bird, or just tie the legs with kitchen twine. Toss vegetables in remaining herb-lemon-oil mixture. Set aside to marinate. Roast chicken for 20 minutes. Remove vegetables from marinade and add to roasting pan. Continue to roast chicken with vegetables for about one hour, or until done. Baste with pan juices every 20 minutes. 

From Guideposts Magazine, October 2008, page 22. 

Slow Food at its Most Awesome Yumminess

Blood Orange Beef Stew with Butternut Squash

For someone new to traditional foods, I faced a bit of a sticker shock when I started buying organic vegetables and grass-fed meats. Of course they are healthier, but wow, how they've changed our monthly food budget. One of my strategies for stretching our dollars is buying the least expensive cuts of meat. I've been roasting whole chickens and trying to find good ways to prepare stew meat and chuck roasts. 

I've made beef stew two other times this winter, and I was disappointed both times.  I attempted the Nourishing Traditions recipe for All-day Beef Stew, but I had to make so many changes that I didn't give it a fair try. Instead of marinating the meat overnight, I only had time to marinate it in red wine for a couple of hours. I still need to get a cast iron dutch oven, and I tried to use my crock pot instead. I didn't have time to get the food in the crock-pot until lunch time, so I had to cook it on high. The recipe says to add the vegetables for the last hour. This is not true for a crock pot! The vegetables were still hard after 2 hours. Dinner ended up delayed...again. The stew had good flavor, but the meat was not very tender. 

Since stew meat is affordable, I was determined to find a recipe that worked. I was going to try the All-day stew recipe again, and I even remembered to put the meat in the fridge to thaw a few days ago. Yesterday I was on Pinterest, and I noticed a recipe for blood orange beef stew with butternut squash. Pinterest did not steer me wrong! I've never had blood oranges before, and I'm in love with the color. The juice is a beautiful dark magenta. I used two ceramic casserole dishes with lids, and it worked perfectly. The meat is fall apart tender, and the vegetables were very soft. I loved expanding beyond the traditional winter vegetables of potatoes, carrots, and celery. Curious George said it was, "spicy," and I loved the balanced combinations of flavors--not too sweet, citrusy, or spicy. My littlest one summed it up by saying, "Nummy!" 

The only downside of this recipe is that it is SLOW food. I started around two in the afternoon, and we didn't sit down to eat until 8pm. (I did feed the little ones a big snack at 5 to prevent a mutiny.) My goal was to get the stew in the oven by 3:30pm, and it took me another hour and a half. It was a gorgeous spring day, and we didn't get outside to play until dusk. I did cook three pounds of meat, and the recipe only calls for two, so that took longer to prepare. Still, grating orange peels, juicing oranges, and searing the meat takes a long time. I'm so glad the amazing flavor made it worth it. I'm also excited to have enough left-over to freeze for another meal. 

 

Recipe from ciaoflorentina.com

Blood Orange Beef Stew with Butternut Squash Recipe
( serves 4 )

• 1/4 c olive oil
• 1 small onion -diced
• 5 large garlic cloves -whole
• 2 lb organic Chuck Roast -cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes
• 2 lb organic Butternut Squash cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes
• 4 blood oranges
• 1 large carrot or 2 smaller ones -sliced into 1/2 inch rounds
• 6 thyme sprigs
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes + more to taste
• 3 whole cloves
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper -freshly grated
• 1 1/2 tbs balsamic vinegar
• 2 bay leaves
• nut meg -freshly grated
• 1/4 c Italian parsley -chopped
• 3 tbs all purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp sweet paprika
• 3 cups water -filtered

1. Mix the flour and paprika together in a plastic bag. Season the beef with the sea salt and black pepper and transfer them to the plastic bag. Toss everything together to coat.

2. Heat up 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a cast iron dutch oven over medium flame. Add the garlic cloves and sear until golden on both sides. Transfer to a bowl. Shake any excess flour from the beef and sear each cube for a couple of minutes until golden brown at the edges. Work in batches so you don’t overcrowd the pot and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil in between batches if necessary. Transfer them all to the bowl with the garlic and cover with plastic wrap to keep warm.

3. Add one more tablespoon of olive oil to the pot and saute the onion with a pinch of sea salt until translucent. Add the red pepper flakes and cook one more minute.

4. Meanwhile save two strips of orange peel from the blood oranges and zest the rest and reserve. Squeeze 1 cup of juice from the oranges and add it to the pot together with the balsamic vinegar. Using a silicone spatula make sure to scrape all the brown bits from the bottom. Add the bay leaf, cloves, thyme sprigs and orange peels and allow to simmer for 3 minutes.

5. Add the beef cubes with all the juices and the garlic back to the pot and stir to combine. Add the water and bring to a simmer. Cover with a tight lid and transfer to a 350 F degrees oven. Let it cook for 2 hours.

6. Add the butternut squash and carrots to the pot, give it a good stir, cover tightly with the lid and let cook in the oven for an additional 45 minutes or until the meat and vegetables are tender.
Discard the bay leaf and thyme sprigs and gently stir in 1/2 teaspoon of the reserved orange zest. Serve hot sprinkled with the parsley and a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg and bruschetta.

Tip: Use chuck roast whenever making beef stew, it is one of the most flavorful cuts and the best for cooking slowly in some liquid.

This post is linked back to Sunday School at Butter Believer. 

Why raw milk?

Graphic from http://www.naturalnews.com/035130_raw_milk_infographic_pasteurized.html

What is a healthy diet?

I just found a great article on a website called The Nourishing Cook. She has a summary of the Weston A. Price Foundation's recommendations for a healthy diet. I learned a lot reading through the list, and I was surprised by the last item about not using a microwave. News to me. I've still got a long way to go before our diet lines up with all these guidelines. There is also a great discussion that helps to clear up confusion about healthy fats. This article is an informative introduction to traditional cooking.