Buttermilk Ricotta

Hello Mudda...
Hello Fadda...
Here I have...
Homemade ricotta!

It's nice and creamy, and pretty cheap... and almost something you can do while you're asleep.

Thank you, thank you... *bows*. I promise I will not sing anything else in this post. Really.

But seriously, this cheese is all of the above - not to mention nice and tangy, infinitely variable and one heck of a good way to use up that part-carton of buttermilk hanging out in your fridge after a batch of biscuits or a red velvet cake like what we made for my grandma's birthday a few weekends ago. Plus, you can say you made your own cheese!!

Making any sort of cheese was something I never would have considered doing at home... ever. Rennet, enzymes, bacterial culture, aging? Yikes. But cultured buttermilk has the bacterial work done for you, and since it's a fresh cheese there's no wondering whether you can commandeer the basement for a year (or 6) - it took me about 2 hours start to finish, and most of that wasn't even active work - just draining time. Given the dynamics of my household, this Italian antipasto (or toast topper if you're my mom and stepdad) should have been a no-brainer long ago - but it took a post from Tigress in a Pickle to get my butt in gear and actually try.

Let me say, not only was I thrilled with the results - having attempted this with 1% buttermilk and 1% "regular" milk, I was not sure it would fully coagulate or give me the rich texture that makes homemade manicotti or lasagne so special. But it did, lo and behold, and while my mom was originally going to use it to fill leftover pasta sheets to make dinner over the weekend, after tasting some on Melba toast the day after it was made she commandeered it for her own. She found it richer, with a better character and texture than the storebought "extra-smooth" tubs we pick up each week, and appreciated that it could be that delicious with a lot less fat than the brand name (since the commercial "light" was a little lacking in both flavour and texture for them) and no gums or thickeners either.

So, if you have a few hours, some buttermilk, and a taste for delicious fresh cheese, try making this ricotta - you will not be disappointed!

Make Your Own Soynut Butter

I try to make whatever I do for others in the kitchen as allergy-free as possible, since (if I'm giving it to say, an office or seminar group) I never know who may want to try it and what their conditions may be. For clients with specific intolerances, I don't worry as much about non-relative cross contamination, but usually eggs and most dairy are off the menu simply due to cost. I can't eat eggs or cow dairy myself, so it's worthless for me to buy a whole dozen eggs or a litre of milk for a recipe  when I only need a small amount of either - usually in cases like that where it's imperative that they're included I borrow some from the family's store in the fridge.

One of the other things I use a lot of in my baking are "non-nut" butters (not that you'd be able to tell). While tahini is a bit too runny to stand on its own in something like the "3-ingredient peanut butter cookie" recipe, it functions perfectly well in cake and muffin batters and in small amounts for cookies and frostings. I more commonly use either Sunbutter or Soynut butter for applications needing the paste's "bulk", and given that Sunbutter is available in bulk at the Bulk Barn by me and Soynut butter isn't, the sunflower spread usually wins the day. But when it comes to my latest "pet project" for my nutrition gig - concocting protein, meal replacement and snack bars for clients who are too busy to prepare something or who are used to the "grab n' go" mentality - something with a little less sugar, salt and fat, something that I could control exactly what went into it, is more the order of the day. Thanks to Elise's Hungry Hungry Hippie post on making your own soynut butter, I don't have to shell out for a jar of it now and I get to use some of the fresh-roasted soynuts I just made for pennies!

A food processor or blender, your "nuts", some oil and some water are all you need to get started. Then, it's all up to the artiste in you! Try honey and cinnamon, or be all decadent with cocoa and brown sugar, or simply add a pinch of sea salt and a touch of sugar for au naturale.

Go Soynuts!

Are you a soynut lover? Crunchy, toasty and definitely with handful-to-mouth snackability, these protein rich toasted beans are the new "no-nut nut" on the block, and are a pretty big hit with the low-carb, high protein crowd, as well as parents who need something to tide their kids over from school through soccer / hockey / dance / swimming until dinner is ready that isn't packed full of sugar or preservatives. And with soy's natural high fibre and impressive isoflavone content (shown to help reduce the risk of certain cancers), a handful of them tossed onto a salad is a healthier option to croutons and a lower-fat swap for tree nuts. Since all beans are not only protein sources (as bioavailable as eggs or dairy are), but also complex carbohydrates, they keep you full and energized too.

Unfortunately, even though the beans themselves are plain and simple, many commercially available brands of soynuts are packed with oil, salt, sugar and occasionally allergens like dairy, wheat, egg whites and nuts. GMO status labelling is hit and miss on the packages, which is a concern for most of us who are trying to steer clear of the hormones and synthetic agents linked to problems with fertility and development, plus there are the hosts of doomsday soothsayers that link anything soy to any and all health problems under the sun (which, by the way, is not the case - much like the whole "wheat and gluten is evil" mentality, the problem is overprevalence of the hexane-adulterated, individual components of the raw ingredient in processed food, not the original food itself!). Not to mention, packages of soynuts are on the pricey side - at about $4.50 a pound for non-organic bags and even more for that seal of assurance, those $1 grab bags of chips seem like a much better value snack option for those on the go.

Until now, anyways. What if I told you that you can make your own, preservative / oil / salt / sugar / dairy / egg / nut free snackable soy (or any bean) nuts, for pennies? In fact, when I costed out this recipe with the organic, non-GMO raw soybeans I used, the whole thing - 2 1/2 cups or 10 servings - was forty-five cents. Yes. The same amount in soynuts from the bulk food store (not certified organic or anything free, nor the most expensive variety out there) runs you $2.50. Plus, when you make your own, you have unlimited potential in terms of flavour - try honey and garlic, or salt and vinegar, or even wasabi!

Really, what more could you ask for? Maybe tomorrow's treat - a perfect use for these fresh-roasted goodies!

Three Rice Muffins

One of the perks of being a baker who also happens to have degrees in nutrition is that pretty much whatever I churn out of my kitchen and bring somewhere is pounced upon and devoured without folks fretting that their pants are going to immediately shrink a size. Granted, most of the time that's a correct assumption for them to make - I do try to make the "everyday" type of goodies I bring somewhere lower in the "naughty" things like sugar or butter. But since finishing my holistic degree back in August I've really been developing a love for working with those who, like me, are faced with a life living with food allergies and intolerances. On my end the saga came on suddenly and completely - while as a child and young teen I could (and would) eat almost anything (except caraway and fresh fennel), by age 20 I had a list of "don't pass the lips" foods: all dairy, eggs, meat, oily/fatty foods like avocado and olives, nuts, coconut, wheat, and alcohol.

 

Needless to say it was quite the learning curve for me, and my passion became making that hill a little less steep for the others around me. What better way than to start with food - and not just any food, but a homemade snack created from easily found, relatively inexpensive and Canadian inspired ingredients? That's exactly where these gluten free muffins came from. Adapted from "A Taste of Minnesota Blueberry Wild Rice Muffins" on VegWeb, these were a huge hit with the new boss and clinic staffers thanks to their delicate yet chewy texture from bursts of wild rice and dried cranberries, mild sweetness and moist crumb.

 

Layered (Any) Holiday Bars

Ah, holidays. Love them or hate them, there's no getting away from the year-round slew of "special occasion" marketing we've come to! Kicked off with tomorrow's fest - Valentine's Day - our senses get bombarded with opportunities to celebrate - St. Patty's Day, Easter, Victoria Day... all the way through to Thanksgiving, Christmukkanzaa and finally New Year's Eve. Then we get to do it all again!

But after all the commercial smoke and mirrors have had their say, if you're taking part in any event, you know somebody's going to be doing the grunt work of entertaining. If it's your turn to woo a prospective (or current) lover this year, or if there's a Cupid-bashing party on your horizon, you know there's going to be food in the mix somewhere. Preferably something sweet. And chocolatey. I mean, chocolate is the ultimate aphrodisiac.

But it's not the only one. Oh, no. In fact, there are hosts of things you can classify as promoting a more active love life - and for most of them, that perception is firmly rooted in science. Take oysters for example. Get a half-dozen at the raw bar and you're pumping yourself with over twice your daily need for testosterone-boosting zinc. Asparagus with a luscious, creamy Hollandaise? Energy boosting B vitamins, libido enhancing vitamin E and choline, which improves sensation. Even foods not classically considered amorous in nature - think celery, garlic, or mustard - are sexual health-promoting in nature.

Although I didn't intend these bars, made with the sweet-tart combination of orange and cranberry on a thick, chocolate cookie crust, to be an overly romantic treat, but it turns out that the vitamin C in both fruits is quite the charmer of the nutrient world. In particular, vitamin C helps maintain the health of the reproductive organs and promotes blood flow, which I don't need to tell you can help you out in a big way!

By the way, these are also delicious additions to the Christmas buffet table or BBQ spread!

Layered Holiday Bars
Serves 12
275g (just over 1/2 box) Oreo cookie crumbs
3 tbsp butter, melted
3 tbsp orange juice
2 egg whites
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp tapioca starch
pinch ground ginger
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup orange juice
1 tsp vanilla
zest of 1 orange
1/4 cup prepared cranberry sauce

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a 9" square pan with parchment.
2. Mix cookie crumbs, butter, orange juice and cocoa in a small bowl until well combined. Press into the bottom of the pan and bake for 10 minutes.
3. In another bowl, whisk together the egg whites and sugar until combined.
4. Add the tapioca starch, ginger and baking powder, mixing until lumps are gone.
5. Stir in the orange juice, vanilla and orange zest.
6. Pour over the baked crust.
7. Bake for 20 minutes.
8. Spread cranberry sauce over the orange layer.
9. Bake 10 minutes longer.
10. Refrigerate to set before serving.

Amount Per Serving

Calories: 177.1

Total Fat: 8.0 g
Cholesterol: 7.6 mg
Sodium: 150.6 mg
Total Carbs: 25.0 g

Dietary Fiber: 1.3 g

Protein: 2.0 g