Growing Sour

These are the newest creatures to find a home with our household... or so I hope. Yup, I'm trying my hand at sourdough. I've never done it before, but I guess there's a first time for everything, right? It's going to get it's first feeding tomorrow, and with luck I'll have a loaf of richly (hopefully very) tangy sourdough bread popping out onto this blog in a month or so. My only question is when it comes time to use the starter, what do I need to do? Just use it straight, bulk it up with flour and water and let it sit for 6 hours, or what?? I'm an active dry yeast girl... these wild things are confusing!!

Calcium - Rich, Low - Fat Meals

I'm lazy today, and would rather knit my friend's blanket tonight than come up with something witty to post (well, that and I didn't cook anything today...) but I do have plans for some birthday cake testing for Andrew, as well as some more biscotti, so stay tuned for that later. For now, I am continuing in my vein of calcium - rich foods (like Susan is on her blog) by sharing some delicious and lower-fat recipe links from Weight Watchers. Even if you don`t count POINTS or need to lose weight, the dishes look incredible and (if nothing else) will save you from any BBQ weekend guilt down the line.


Greek Spanakopita
Zucchini and Soy Cheese Pancakes
White Bean, Citrus and Salmon Salad
Bok Choy and Tofu Stir-Fry
Minestrone with Kale
Chicken, Black Bean and Corn Enchilada Casserole


As a (completely unrelated) side-note tonight, I`m having a serious craving for latkes and sour cream... neither of which I can eat! Damn that brain of mine!

Boning Up with Bread

Somehow, even though I have a gazillion things on the go at any given time (I'm like a mother without kids, go figure!), I felt this indescribable urge to bake this morning. Not something quick and simple, either... no, I wanted to bake bread. So bread was made, and even though it looks butt-ugly, it is probably the healthiest loaf of anything that will be in our house for a few months (until the veggies from the garden start rolling in!).

This was actually a simple bread to make (just like most pan loaves) and since I have no aversion to working with yeast (it seems to like me and my kitchen!) I had some fun playing around with the contents of the dough. What emerged, smelling way too awesome for it's own good, was a 100% whole-grain bread that was perfect for lunchtime sandwiches, a nutty, fibre-rich bread pudding or french toast, or anything you could imagine! It's got flaxseed, skim milk powder, wheat gluten and honey in it... what could be better?

This bread was also the vessel I chose to try out the latest ingredient on my pantry shelf: Potato Milk. This was new to me! I had heard of (and tasted) soy, rice and almond "milks", as well as seen hemp and oat milk for sale, but never milk from potatoes! The brand I used, English Bay, is advertised as being free of lactose, fat, protein, preservatives, soy, rice, gluten, and MSG. It's also a great source of calcium (25% of the RDA per cup), and vegan. The taste, I'll admit, is not something I would be willing to drink straight, but boy, does it make good bread! If you're interested in finding out more, the beverages are available at Loblaws, IGA, Save-on/Overwaitea, Safeway and Federated-Coop stores in Canada.

On the topic of non-dairy milks, I stumbled on this article while getting my hyperlinks and personally find it absolutely ridiculous, unfounded, and frankly offensive. Even if soy is naturally high in estrogen, it will not turn a male child into a little girl no more than eating steak will turn your daughter into a strapping man. I have no tolerance for intolerant people... and yes, I am a walking contradiction.

Anyway, this recipe is important for women especially, since it is high in calcium from the milks, whole wheat and flaxseed that it contains. Each slice, or 1/16th of the (fairly large) loaf has 3% of your RDA, and considering most people eat more than one slice at a time, it will help add up the benefits! I'm passing this on to Susan from FoodBlogga, who has osteoperosis and is running an awareness event (Beautiful Bones), because I'm at risk for it too and its prevention is something everyone should be aware of!

The fibre content of this bread is of course also very high - almost 4g per slice - and so I'm passing this onto Art of Cooking's event Eat Healthy, which is focusing this month on high-fibre foods!

So, now that I have officially worn out my intro, I present thee with:

Wheaten Milk and Honey Bread
Makes 16 slices
1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1/3 cup warm water
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp nonfat dry milk (optional, but great for texture)
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tbsp vital wheat gluten
5 tbsp ground flaxseed

1. Whisk together yeast and water. Let stand 10 minutes.
2. Heat milk to just above body temperature, stir in salt, honey, and milk powder and let cool to lukewarm.
3. In a large mixing bowl (I use my stand mixer) whisk together flour, gluten and flaxseed.
4. Pour in yeast mixture and milk mixture and beat until a fairly smooth dough forms.
5. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 10-15 minutes, until elastic.
6. Place in an oiled bowl, cover and allow to rise in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours.
7. Preheat oven to 375F, grease a loaf pan.
8. Punch down dough, shape into a loaf and place into the pan, tucking ends under.
9. Cover and let rise again for 1 hour.
10. Brush the top of the loaf with milk and bake for 40 minutes, tenting with foil after 20.
11. Cool 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Note: Use fortified soy (or alternate) milk and soy milk powder if you do not consume dairy, and agave nectar for the honey if you are vegan. Sometimes, I add sesame or hemp seeds to the top of the loaf or dust it with flour for a decorative flare. For a sweeter bread, up the honey content to 1/3 cup and drop the water content to 1/2 cup.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 112.1
Total Fat: 1.7 g
Cholesterol: 0.2 mg
Sodium: 8.9 mg
Total Carbs: 20.6 g
Dietary Fiber: 3.8 g
Protein: 5.3 g

Baking for Brandy

No, not this brandy... this Brandy!! Yup, today I fired up the good old oven of mine (twice!) and made my dad's sweet yellow Labrador some cookies. And they weren't just any cookies either... they were biscotti!! She loves her cookies, so I figured that since biscotti are crunchy like her doggy biscuits I would try my hand at making those!

For a base recipe, I used an eggless formula that I've had in my recipe box for a while (many Christmases ago!) and modified it to make a savoury, puppy-friendly snack. The initial recipe was vegan, but since I don't know many vegan dogs I decided to play around with some bits and pieces of my pantry.

Basic Biscotti
Makes 42 Small Pieces
2 tbsp ground flax seed
1/3 cup hot water
1 1/3 cups flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cups sugar

1. Preheat oven to 375, place the rack in the upper third of the oven.
2. Whisk together the flaxseed and hot water, set aside.
3. Mix the flours, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
4. Seperately, beat together the oil, sugar and flaxseed slurry.
5. Add the dry ingredients and beat until well incorporated.
6. Divide the dough into 3 balls, knead each to smooth out.
7. Add extra ingredients at this point, keeping the consistency fairly sticky.
8. With floured hands, shape each ball into a 9" log, flattening slightly, and place on a lightly greased and floured cookie sheet.
9. Bake for 25 minutes in the upper third of the oven. Reposition the oven rack to the middle position.
10. With a sharp serated knife, cut each log into 14 slices.
11. Bake for 10 minutes, then flip and bake 5 to 7 minutes.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 53.4
Total Fat: 1.6 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 0.4 mg
Total Carbs: 9.0 g
Dietary Fiber: 0.6 g
Protein: 1.0 g

Here's what I did to make Brandy's biscotti:

• Swapped the whole wheat flour for rolled oats
• Added about 3 tbsp of dehydrated veggies, as well as 1 envelope each beef and chicken bouillon to the oil mixture
• Used olive oil
• Cut sugar to 1/4 cup
• Added 1/4 cup buttermilk powder
• Added 2 tbsp cheddar cheese powder
• Doubled the salt
• Added about 1/4 cup extra water

Basically, it was fun to play around with the different ingredients in a basic recipe. The result is perfectly edible for people too, I'm sure, but I don't think the puppy will give up her share any time soon!

Catching Up, Planning, and Packed Days Ahead!

I honestly cannot believe that I haven't posted anything since Thursday, and that even Thursday's post was a half-hearted attempt - without even a recipe! I'm trying to do better, honest, but the problem is that I am at a loss for material right now... simply put, I haven't made a dang thing in the past week. Instead, I've been putting my hands to use knitting a blanket for my best friend Heather, who only used to be a 10 minute walk away from me during the hazy, lazy days of highschool. Now, she's way away in Kingston, but with luck I'll have her super-soft gift ready for her by the time the cold weather hits! So that's my excuse for the lack of foodage on here, and by the looks of things, it's probably not going to be a whole lot better this summer (especially if I keep forgetting my camera everywhere I go!).


With luck, though, I'll have some fun reports and photos for everyone over the next few months, since Andrew and I are planning some very exciting events for us this summer! We actually spent most of today making some serious plans for our first-ever vacation as a couple, down to Niagara Falls, as well as setting out some dates for our customary anniversary / Andrew's birthday Blue Jays baseball game and dinner (and there will definitely be a post for this), as well as plans for our yearly jaunt to the CNE. We're even hoping to take my little sister out on a trip to Canada's Wonderland! Between all those trips and celebrations (not even counting anyone else's birthdays, Canada Day, my Chinatown trip with my dad or Father's Day!) there is pretty much no extra room for any other major projects!

The mention of Niagara Falls actually brings me to a question I had for any Canadian readers who frequently (or occasionally) shop for groceries cross-border... given my dietary restrictions (can't have caffeine, alcohol, meats, dairy, egg yolks, oils, nuts or essentially anything high in oil / fat content) what should I keep an eye out for when we hop over the border?? I know there are a lot more "fat-free / diet" foods available state-side, but if there's anything in particular I'd be glad to know of it!

I'll be sure to take my camera for the trip at any rate: so far we've planned the border crossing as well as trips to the Ripley's museum, Skywheel, MGM and Hershey's stores, Clifton Hill, Rainforest Cafe, and the Butterfly Conservatory. We're also planning a trip on the Maid of the Mist (my mom requested "drowned rat" photos of the two of us). As far as vacation nosh goes, it'll be pretty boring for any readers - sushi, subs, salads and cereal will more than likely be standard fare for us. However, if anything changes, I'll be doing some reporting afterwards!

The planning doesn't stop with the summer, either! I've even started thinking about things to make as gifts for Christmastime - 7 months away - because I have this insane craving to make (of all things) candy! I'm definitely going to do marshmallows and fudge, and I'm thinking of a sesame seed brittle of some kind too... but that's too far away to plan! My online agenda at RememberTheMilk (a very useful site, by the way) is bursting at the seams already haha.

For now, though, I'm content to do my final report on my Great Oatmeal Cookie Search. Yes, dear readers, I think I have found a recipe that I am content to offer at the bakery, albeit only on a seasonal basis, and I will even share it with you! You'll notice they are very similar to the last oatmeal cookies I made, but I played around with the spicing and the base, making them very distinctly Autumnal in nature. They're even lower in fat and higher in antioxidants than the original, due to the addition of pumpkin puree in place of some of the oil, and cranberries along with the raisins. I suppose you could use these as breakfast food, but make them bigger - the yield I'm giving is for two - to three - bite cookies. Also, these don't flatten as they bake, which I learned on the first batch and you can see in the top photo - squash 'em to the thinness you want before you put them in the oven!

Harvest Oatmeal Cookies
Makes 18
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg replacer, prepared
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 cup Kamut flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 cups quick (not instant) oats
1/4 cup raisins, soaked and drained
1/4 cup dried cranberries, soaked and drained

1. Preheat oven to 350F, grease 2 cookie sheets.
2. Whisk together oil, pumpkin, sugars, egg replacer, vanilla and maple syrup.
3. In another bowl, whisk all remaining ingredients but raisins and cranberries.
4. Add dry ingredients to the wet mix, stirring to blend.
5. Fold in the dried fruit.
6. Drop spoonfuls on the prepared sheets and flatten slightly with wet fingertips.
7. Bake 10 minutes, cool 5 minutes on sheets, then remove to a rack to cool completely.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 113.4
Total Fat: 3.6 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 77.7 mg
Total Carbs: 19.4 g
Dietary Fiber: 1.8 g
Protein: 2.1 g