Back To Basics

Well, now that the first week of January is well and truly behind us, I'm sure that the intensive drive behind all our New Year's resolutions is about as robust as the helium filled balloons still hanging around from my stepdad's birthday. At least mine are (more or less) out the window - I know enough to not bother making any pledges regarding my blogging (because really, that's just asking for failure, isn't it?) but I had vowed to get myself more organized personally. In essence, I really wanted to get my appointment book in order and updated (something I haven't done since October!), put away my Christmas gifts (errr... not yet), file all my schoolwork from the last three semesters (um, not that either... but I did catch up on the 2006 papers!) and if the planets aligned, get the 20 or so cookbooks in my room off my floor and into some sort of system (uh huh... still # 7 or 8 on the list!). So yeah, I fall into the category of the "nonstarters" when it comes to that kind of thing!

I guess I'm can say that for the past 7 or 8 years I've been lucky enough to have escaped making the most popular resolution out there - the one to eat healthier, lose weight, yadda yadda yadda. Yeah, you know that one, right? Don't get me wrong... I still aim every day to eat a healthy diet (it's not just a weight-loss or New Years thing... it's a forever thing!) including lots of fruit, veggies, limited processed and prepackaged stuff, and definitely cutting down on the salt that's in everything these days! I also aim to practice what I call "true healthcare" daily: focusing on staying healthy (i.e. caring for my health) as opposed to only treating the problems that arise (the traditional approach taken by the government and insurance agencies, or what I call the "sick-care system" in Canada). I truly believe that the government and insurance companies out there could be saving money if they subsidized things like healthy food, regular chiropractic and naturopathic appointments, even nutrition consultations and massage therapy for office workers - it has to be less expensive than the days of missed work and prescription refills they cover now!

So I figured that a good way to give both myself, and anyone else who needed it, a little bit of a resolution kick is to bring it right back to basics: the 1-2-3's of cooking a variety of whole grains (that we're all supposed to have more of, right?). Once the master recipes are at your grasp, they can be jazzed up a dozen different ways, from pilafs to salads to stuffings... the possibilities are endless!

Each ratio is for one serving, and makes approximately 1 cup cooked grains.

Spelt
1/3 cup spelt berries
1 cup water

Add grain to 1 cup salted, boiling water.
Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 172.0
Total Fat: 1.3 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 0.0 mg
Total Carbs: 43.7 g
Dietary Fiber: 7.9 g
Protein: 6.6 g

 
Millet
1 1/4 cups water
1/3 cup millet

Bring water to a boil, add salt to taste.
Add grain, cover and reduce heat to low.
Cook for 35-40 minutes.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 240.0
Total Fat: 2.6 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 0.0 mg
Total Carbs: 48.0 g
Dietary Fiber: 10.6 g
Protein: 8.0 g


Pearled Barley
1/3 cup pearled barley
1 cup water

Bring water to a boil and add salt to taste.
Add grains, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 50-60 minutes.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 211.0
Total Fat: 0.7 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 5.0 mg
Total Carbs: 46.6 g
Dietary Fiber: 9.4 g
Protein: 5.9 g


Quinoa
1/4 cup quinoa
3/4 cup water

Rinse quinoa in a fine strainer until water runs clear (not soapy-looking).
Bring water to a boil, add salt to taste.
Add grain, reduce heat to medium-low.
Cover and cook 20 minutes.
Let stand off the heat, covered, for 10 minutes.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 172.0
Total Fat: 2.8 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 1.0 mg
Total Carbs: 31.0 g
Dietary Fiber: 3.0 g
Protein: 6.0 g


Kamut
1 cup water
1/3 cup Kamut berries

Bring water to a boil and add salt to taste.
Add grains, cover and cook on low heat for 2 hours.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 213.0
Total Fat: 1.3 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 0.0 mg
Total Carbs: 42.6 g
Dietary Fiber: 5.3 g
Protein: 9.3 g


Amaranth
1 1/4 cups cold water
6 1/2 tbsp (2/5 cup) amaranth

Whisk together water and amaranth in a pot. Add salt to taste.
Bring to boil, then reduce heat and cover.
Simmer 25 minutes.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 253.0
Total Fat: 4.7 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 13.3 mg
Total Carbs: 45.3 g
Dietary Fiber: 9.3 g
Protein: 10.6 g


Buckwheat Groats
1 1/4 cups water
6 1/2 tbsp (2/5 cup) buckwheat groats

Bring water to a boil, add salt to taste.
Add grain, reduce heat and cover.
Simmer 15 minutes

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 200.0
Total Fat: 2.0 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 0.0 mg
Total Carbs: 41.6 g
Dietary Fiber: 6.5 g
Protein: 7.8 g

One Last Thing!

You can't say I didn't try to stop the madness! Even though my baking endeavours a few days ago worked to suck up some of the leftover egg nog we had kicking around the fridge, I left about 3/4 of a cup in the carton in the off chance that my stepbrother might get a hankering for it later on in the week. Well, the week's over, and the carton was still untouched, so fair game for me, I say! Who can blame me? I needed to get all baked out before school starts again next week and I'll barely have time to breathe, let alone bake!

I settled on a recipe for a simple, one-bowl cake of Brazilian origin called Nega Maluca as my inspiration and base recipe. The name can be translated as “Crazy Black Woman” - and with the black cocoa powder and coffee in it, it just may dye your mouth black if you aren't careful! I jazzed up the traditional recipe I had (which is made with buckwheat flour and cornstarch) by adding chia seed gel for some extra "binding power" and (of course) eggnog for flavour and moisture. It took a while to bake through, and it was still very fudgey and dense when I cut into it, but after all was said and done I think it was worth every agonizing minute that I could smell it baking!

I brought the cut squares along with me to my chiropractor's office, where not only the staff but a few of the other waiting room occupants dove right in! Yeah, the description of it being mouth dying... those Brazilians aren't kidding!

Egg Nog-Laced Nega Maluca Cake

Serves 12

2 tbsp chia seed

¼ cup hot water

1 cup flour
1 cup buckwheat flour
½ cup cocoa
1 tbsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
2 tbsp instant coffee granules
½ cup whole milk
½ cup egg nog
2/3 cup Demerara sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 tbsp honey (preferably buckwheat)
1 tbsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350F, grease a 9" pan.
2. Whisk together the chia seed and hot water, let stand 10 minutes.
3. Whisk together the flours, cocoa, baking powder, salt and coffee in a bowl.
4. Combine the whole milk and egg nog in a saucepot or microwave safe bowl, bring to just below a simmer (it should be almost too hot to touch).
5. Add the hot mixture to the dry ingredients, followed by the sugar, oil, honey, vanilla and chia seed mixture. Beat with a spatula or wooden spoon about 1 minute.
6. Bake for 30 minutes. Cool completely in the pan before turning out.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 214.5
Total Fat: 8.7 g
Cholesterol: 6.0 mg
Sodium: 19.7 mg
Total Carbs: 33.2 g
Dietary Fiber: 3.3 g
Protein: 4.1 g

You Know... Before it Goes Bad...

Something rather unique to my family happened this past Christmas season - we overbought egg nog. This doesn't really sound like news, I know, but considering that the last two years we couldn't keep it in the house it's weird! Actually, overbuying anything never seems to be a problem here. If anything, we underbuy and then some poor suck has to drive out to the grocery store to pick up the missing item. The case in point usually tends to be concerning vegetables, like this week:

• My mom and I bought 5 heads of iceberg, 1 big box of baby spinach and 3 heads of leaf lettuce on Saturday.
• Yesterday was Tuesday. We were out of lettuce. Yeah, I know - take into account that the majority of that was consumed solely by my mother and I.
• Last night featured an emergency grocery run to WalMart (only place open after my sister's riding class!).
• We now have 2 (well, 1 1/2) more heads of iceberg and the same amount of leaf. This does not bode well.

Crazy, right? So when we found ourselves at the tail end of the holiday season with 3/4 of the only carton we bought (and nobody exactly first in line to gulp it down), I found myself with an ingredient that I was itching to use. Normally "special occasion" groceries are off limits to my baking (especially things like butter), but here it was whispering the possibilities: cake... muffins... ice cream... bread. But the fun-killer of rational thought popped up with the annoying truth: nobody will eat cake, or cookies, or ice cream.

True.

But muffins I can pawn off readily enough it seems. And - bonus - there was a rather black banana on the counter, and some cream cheese in the fridge that I knew worked well as a butter swap in a couple other cake-y type applications!

Nana - Nog Muffins
Makes 8
1/2 cup (1.7 oz) flour
2 tbsp (0.6 oz) whole wheat flour
3 tbsp (1 oz) vanilla custard powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
3 3/4 tbsp (2 oz) low-fat (not fat free) cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 tbsp (0.7 oz) low-fat margarine
7 tbsp (3 oz) sugar
1 banana, mashed
1/2 tbsp vanilla
1/4 cup egg nog
1/4 cup (1.5 oz) white chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 400F, grease 9 muffin cups with nonstick spray (I don't reccommend lining them - they stick).
2. In a small bowl, whisk together flours, custard powder, baking powder, nutmeg and salt. Set aside.
3. In a medium-large bowl, cream cream cheese, margarine and sugar.
4. Add banana and vanilla, beat well to combine.
5. Stir in half the flour mixture, followed by the egg nog.
6. Add the remaining flour mixture and white chocolate chips mixing well.
7. Bake for 17-18 minutes.
8. Cool 5 minutes in the tins before turning out and cooling completely.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 157.9
Total Fat: 3.6 g
Cholesterol: 6.0 mg
Sodium: 74.9 mg
Total Carbs: 29.4 g
Dietary Fiber: 0.8 g
Protein: 2.8 g
 
Come to think of it, I mused as the muffins cooled, my mom was going to need some more bread to take to work! Hmm, egg nog... holidays... Challah and cranberries maybe? I even had a way to ensure the basic enriched loaf I chose from my mom's copy of Bread Book by Susan Wright as a base recipe stayed nice and moist, without giving my mom a butter-laden guilt complex. I had one last jar of my roasted apple butter in the fridge, and it really was pushing it's "use-by" date too. What better swap to do?

It worked even better than I thought, really... the bittersweet apple butter tempered the sugary egg nog and lent it's touch of spice to the other ingredients I added to the dough, particularly the dried cranberries. After I told my mom her new loaf was in the works, I watched my mom eye it for a good 4 hours or so before she came to find me to ask "so, can I have a piece of this?". No, mom... you are forbidden from eating your own bread ;-)! It's a good thing I opted to do a second bready offering for her (after remembering she'd be on a business trip for two weeks, where toting along a whole loaf is a bit much) because I think I've hit a winner!

Double - Egg Snog Bread
Serves 20
2 cups flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp aniseseed, crushed lightly
1 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tbsp ground flaxseed

1 cup eggnog, warmed

3 tbsp brown sugar

1/4 cup apple butter

2 egg yolks

1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 egg white, for glazing

1. In the bowl of a standing mixer, combine flours, yeast, salt, aniseseed, nutmeg, cinnamon and ground flaxseed, whisking well.
2. In another bowl, beat together eggnog, brown sugar, apple butter, and egg yolks.
3. With the mixer running, add the liquids to the flour mixture and mix to form a smooth, soft dough - about 7 minutes.
4. Add the cranberries and knead well to incorporate, about 3 minutes longer.
5. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and shape into a rough ball. Cover and let rest 30 minutes.
6. Shape dough into an oblong loaf and place on a lined baking sheet.
7. Cover and allow to rise 1 - 1 1/2 hours, until doubled.
8. Preheat oven to 350F.
9. Brush the reserved egg white over the loaf.
10. Bake for 25 minutes, then cover with foil and bake a further 20 minutes, until hollow-sounding when tapped.

Amount Per Serving

Calories: 119.6

Total Fat: 2.0 g
Cholesterol: 28.4 mg
Sodium: 12.4 mg
Total Carbs: 22.3 g
Dietary Fiber: 1.5 g
Protein: 3.6 g

This sweet treat is also my addition to Bread Baking Day #26: Birthday Party! hosted at Life's a Feast.

A Couple More Cookies

You have to love how disorganized I can be! Since I'm in the middle of trying to get out of one of my college courses right now (or at least switch it to one that doesnt run from 6:30-9:30 at night! I'll make this preamble short and sweet, which is particularly easy today because both the cookies I've got to share with you are inventions of much more creative bloggers than I!

These first cookies are rich, spicy and (dare I say it) fairly nutritious morsels I ever so slightly adapted from Baking Bites way back in October. Not really chocolatey, but at the same time unable to be defined as anything but, they get their chew and dense texture from canned pumpkin and brown sugar. The cookies don't spread too much, so be sure to press them down a bit after portioning onto the sheets.

Pumpkin Spice Fudge Cookies
Makes 20
1 cup Nutri Flour Blend (or white whole wheat flour)
7 tbsp cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 cup Earth Balance (or butter), at room temperature
1/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup pumpkin puree

1 tbsp vanilla extract

2/3 cup mini chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line or lightly spray a baking sheet.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and spice.
3. Melt the butter in a medium bowl in the microwave.
4. Whisk in sugars, then pumpkin puree and vanilla, until smooth.
5. Add flour mixture and stir until just combined into a slightly stiff dough. Fold in chocolate chips.
6. Bake 10 minutes, or until set.
7. Cool on sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Amount Per Serving

Calories: 120.1

Total Fat: 4.4 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 40.5 mg
Total Carbs: 20.9 g
Dietary Fiber: 1.8 g
Protein: 1.7 g

As one of the tapas offerings for Christmas Eve dinner this year, I knew I had to try these cracker-like nut and cocoa wafers that I found on Julie Van Rosendaal's blog (aka Dinner With Julie). Not too sweet (almost bitter, in fact, from the walnuts, olive oil and dark cocoa), with a tart fruity edge from my addition of both dried cranberries and red wine, I figured they would be a perfect pairing for the evening's wine, cheese and dried fruit platters. I'm glad to say I was right! They stayed front and centre the whole evening, and though they are definitely an "adult" cookie (the kids in attendance gave them a wide berth), the adults didn't seem to mind in the least.

Nutty Cocoa and Craisin Crisps
Makes 20
1 1/3 cups flour
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
1/4 cup finely chopped pecans
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup dark cocoa
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp ground flaxseed
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup red wine

1. Preheat oven to 400F, line 3-4 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone.
2. In a bowl, combine flour, nuts, cranberries, cocoa, sugar, flaxseed, baking powder and salt.
3. Add olive oil, water and wine. Mix well, until thoroughly combined.
4. Between two sheets of parchment, roll walnut-sized balls of dough into very thin sheets.
5. Transfer carefully to the prepared sheets and peel off the parchment.
6. Bake 9-10 minutes, until firm. Cool 20 minutes on the sheets before moving.
7. Store in an airtight container.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 117.2
Total Fat: 7.9 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 0.7 mg
Total Carbs: 10.8 g
Dietary Fiber: 1.1 g
Protein: 1.6 g

Baking Under the Influence

So, how was everyone's year-end celebration last night? Hopefully you didn't drink or dance too much, because while the loaf I've got to show you today is probably good hangover food (hair-of-the-dog as it were, you'll see!) putting the whole thing together requires both a bit of forethought as well as a bit of motor control! Even posessing both those qualities, it was an interesting experience trying to knead almost an equal amount of "filling" ingredients to the dough! Luckily the presoak of the mixture (as indicated by Susan when she first made her version) helped a lot, as did (I'm sure) the fumes from all the Grand Marnier they were laced with!

The dough, unsurprisingly, does not rise a whole lot at all, and since it's a sourdough your rising times will vary. Mine's a pretty lazy starter (no doubt because I don't use it very much!) but the dough is so stiff that even conventional yeast won't cause it to "double" like your standard white loaf. The result, though, is not a leaden brick (like I feared), but rather a loaf that slices into nice hearty slabs perfect for soaking up runny honey and even jam from a certain generous friend!

Susan's bread looks a heck of a lot different (read: prettier) than mine, but the method of mixing is essentially the same - I had to increase the "dough" ingredients proportionately to the amount of stuff I wanted to cram in, but the ratios were the same (I was good and weighed them!). I also went whole-hog and scoured out my pantry for "bits" when I was making cookies, and so that's how I came up with the mixture of cereal, prunes, dates, cranberries, raisins and sunflower seeds! When I was trying to get all of the stuff into the tiny amount of dough at first, I was thinking this is never going to work, but really, persistence and good elbow grease pays off in this case! Not a single raisin nor grain of quinoa escaped the loaf once it was shaped, and when we cut into it the next day it looked almost like a stained-glass window... an insane amount of treasures wrapped up in a neat little package!

I like that the dough itself is not sweet, since all the fruit inside adds plenty of it's natural sugars and texture. I would say that this is really the type of "catch-all" loaf that you could add any sort of dried fruits, grains or nuts to that happened to be lying around in the pantry, but of course you can also make it fancy with one or two selections! The liqueur for soaking is also optional - I did it for flavour (ooh boy, was it flavour!) but if you don't have Grand Marnier on hand, red wine would be great, or even a fruit juice if you don't drink at all. Heck, even water will work - the key is to soak the filling. You really don't want to burn the fruit, or break a tooth on a seed or grain!

Since I missed the New Year's edition of YeastSpotting, I'm sending this to next week's roundup!! Thanks Susan!

Slightly Soused Seeded Sourdough

Makes 1 large loaf, 20 slices

170 g "Sunrise Blend" cereal (or other whole grain, long cooking cereal like steel cut oats)

85 g raw sunflower seeds

140 g chopped prunes

56 g dried cranberries

56 g raisins

56 g diced dates

118 mL Grand Marnier

130 g "old" starter

80 g rye flour

55 mL warm water

250 g flour

93 g whole wheat flour

20 g gluten flour

5 g fine salt

25 g brown sugar

290 mL warm water

1. In a medium bowl, combine cereal, sunflower seeds, prunes, cranberries, raisins and dates.
2. Pour Grand Marnier over the mixture and stir gently to cover the mixture.
3. Cover loosely and let stand overnight.
4. In a large bowl, combine starter, rye flour and 55 mL warm water. Let stand 4 hours.
5. In another bowl combine flour, whole wheat flour, gluten flour, salt and sugar, whisking well.
6. Add the flour mixture and remaining water to the starter mixture, adding water if necessary.
7. Mix well to form a pliable, slightly soft dough.
8. Turn out onto a floured board and knead (or use a dough hook) for 12-15 minutes, until elastic and smooth.
9. Place into an oiled bowl, cover and allow to rest 2 hours.
10. Turn dough out onto a floured board and pat into a flat rectangle.
11. Drain any remaining liqueur (there shouldn't be any) from the soaked mixture and discard.
12. Spread the soaked mixture evenly over the dough and fold in (using letter/book-type folding like for puff pastry) until evenly incorporated. It will take quite a bit of work as there's almost as much stuff as dough, but work at it!
13. Shape dough into a squat oval. Place on parchment or silicone-lined baking sheets, cover loosely and allow to rise 3-4 hours, until puffed.
14. Preheat the oven to 425F and place a pan of hot water on the lowest rack or floor of the oven.
15. Place in the oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 400F.
16. Bake 10 minutes, then remove the pan of water and continue baking for 25 further minutes.
17. Turn oven off, crack the door and allow to sit inside 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack and cooling completely.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 212.8
Total Fat: 3.0 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 33.3 mg
Total Carbs: 40.0 g
Dietary Fiber: 4.7 g
Protein: 6.5 g