Feelin' Groovy!

"Slow down, you move too fast..."  How true.  The lyrics, of course, are taken from Simon & Garfunkel's 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy).  When the song was originally recorded in 1967, there was no such thing as the internet, cell phones, microwave ovens, and while McDonald's existed, their drive-thru service had not yet been born.  Things were still moving relatively fast in 1967, but no where near the speed of life that we see today.

We are constantly looking for ways to speed things up, to be more efficient, and to earn more money while spending less on necessities so that we can spend more on frivolities.  What are we doing to our quality of life - not the superficial, material quality but the emotional, physical, and spiritual quality - with these pursuits?  People are behind the wheel of their car while talking on the cell phone and eating that fast food meal that they picked up at the drive-thru.  I am all for multitasking, but that is just dangerous in more ways than one!

Today I have already spent quite a bit of time on 'slowing down.'  For almost a week, I have been working on making my own kefir.  Each morning, I have been straining raw milk to recover the kefir grains that have been soaking for the previous 24 hours.  The process of revitalizing the grains in order to produce kefir takes 5-7 days.  This morning started in similar fashion. 
My next project was to make my own peanut butter.  On Wednesday, I had purchased some raw peanuts at It's Only Natural and started soaking them in sea salt and filtered water.  After suitable soaking time, I transferred the peanuts to the dehydrator and started soaking the raw filberts (hazelnuts) that I had also gotten at I.O.N. with the peanuts (did you know that shelled, raw filberts float?).  When the filberts were done soaking, I added them to the dehydrator on a second tray.  I suppose that the difference in density between the peanuts and filberts is the reason, but both were completed drying yesterday.  I pulled out the food processor and loaded the peanuts into the bowl and stored the hazelnuts in a container for snacking.  Along with the peanuts, I added a Tbsp. of coconut oil and a dash of sea salt and turned on the processor.  Once the peanuts started to turn into a nice, creamy butter, I added a Tbsp. of raw honey and some flax seeds and let the processor run for another 30 seconds to mix it all well.
The third project of this morning was to transform two avocados, onion, green pepper, sea salt, lemon juice, and cayenne pepper into guacamole.  Only as I type this do I realize that I forgot to add cilantro to the mix.  No problem, though.  I can always add it later...
Fourth project - to make some more vegetable stock.  Actually, I was somewhat efficient on this project.  While dicing the onion green pepper for the guacamole, I also chopped the onion and green pepper for the stock.  I filled the Crock Pot with filtered water and turned it on while preheating the oven to roast the onion and green pepper.  To the roasting vegetables, I added some coconut oil and sea salt.  While they roasted, I coarsely chopped some cabbage, carrots, and celery and added them to the Crock Pot.
Time for clean-up!  With these projects, I certainly created a fair amount of dirty utensils so while the onion and green pepper roasted, I cleaned up.  Having just run a cycle, the dishwasher was full of clean dishes.  Rather than waste the electricity to have the dishwasher dry the dishes, we simply let them air dry before putting them away.  As the food processor parts would present a bit of a challenge for the dishwasher anyway, I decided to hand wash everything that I had used.


Out of all of these projects, the guacamole took the least amount of time from start to finish.  Had I been responsible for growing the ingredients, that would have been a different story.  The kefir project began almost a week ago and still isn't completed.  The peanut butter (and hazelnut) project(s) began on Wednesday and was completed today.  The vegetable stock project began today (aside from shopping for ingredients) and will be completed on Tuesday.  All of these things take time but the benefits far outweigh the time spent completing them.


To paraphrase the song, slow down, don't move so fast.

Rattle and Hum-mus

If you have known me for any length of time, you should realize that I make a lot of references to music - though looking back in this particular blog I only see a couple.  Of course, the title of this post - Rattle and Hum - is a reference to U2, though the post has absolutely nothing to do with the band.  It is a particularly fitting title, though.  The reason being that after a little rattling of some garbanzo beans and a few other ingredients in my food processor, I have made some hummus.

On Wednesday I made my trip down to Deerfield Farm to get my raw milk.  On the way home I decided to stop in to It's Only Natural and pick up some other things that I had run out of along with a sprouting jar.  Actually, I had planned to pick up just the strainer lid, but the only size they had didn't fit the mason jars I already own, so for only a couple of dollars more I got the complete set - a quart size mason jar with a variety of strainer lids.  Sprouting seeds or grain involves a 3-8 hour soak (depending on the variety of grain/seed) followed by several rinse and aerate periods.  The sprouting lid is designed to make this an extremely easy - though still relatively lengthy - process.  Simply add you grain or seed to the jar, fill with filtered water, and screw on the lid.  Allow for the required time to pass - not an exact science here, but a good rule of thumb is that larger grains/seeds need a longer soak - and invert the jar to drain the liquid.  Because the lid is perforated, there is no need to remove the lid or to employ a separate strainer to catch the seeds.  The kit I bought has three lids with varying sizes of perforations to accommodate a wide variety of seeds - from tiny quinoa and sesame seeds up to monstrous garbanzo beans - without worry of losing them through the mesh.  After draining, simply rinse the seeds with fresh, filtered water.  Drain the rinse water and lay the jar on an angle to allow for excess water to slowly drain and air to circulate.  To accomplish this, I simply took a bowl from my cabinet and placed the jar in it so that the jar lays at about a 30 degree angle with the top lower than the base. 

Here is a picture of my sprouting jar that is currently being used to sprout some wheat berries.  I soaked them all day yesterday.  They are already starting to sprout, so I will probably get the Cuisinart out later today and grind them into flour.

The garbanzo beans soaked for about 8 hours and were ready to use yesterday.  I could have waited longer to allow for larger sprouts, but that wasn't the goal.  The simple act of sprouting adds considerably to the nutritional value of our grains and seeds.  Depending on the intended use, the sprouts can be allowed to grow larger or used at the first sign of sprouting.  As my intent was to make hummus, there was no need to allow for more growth.  After giving the beans a final rinse, I set to peeling them - a process that would likely have been made easier had I let the sprouts grow a bit more.  Just like peanuts in a shell, garbanzo beans have a 'skin' that can be removed.  While it is edible, it is not entirely palatable.  Having learned from a previous attempt at making hummus, I decided to remove the hulls for this attempt.  It took me a little while, but I got the job done in fairly good time.  After peeling them, I set the beans to cook.  Brought to a boil and reduced to a simmer, I let the beans simmer for about two hours.
Once done, I drained the beans and allowed them to cool a bit before adding them to the food processor.  I gave them a pulse or two - causing the 'rattle' - and then added my seasonings; some sea salt, toasted sesame oil (less than 1/4 tsp.), some garlic, some flax seeds, and some lemon juice.  I ran the processor for a minute, scraped down the bowl, ran it again and ended up with the 'hum'-mus.  It came out wonderfully.  My only complaint is that I should have been a little more generous with the seasonings as it is a little bland.  Easily corrected for the next batch.
Oh, and I didn't peel all of the beans.  Instead, I kept out a couple to see if I might grow my own!  The sprouting beans are currently sitting in a bowl on my kitchen counter awaiting planting.  I think that I will plant them indoors until they are a little more established.

I already mentioned today's goal of grinding the wheat berries into flour.  I might go one step further and make some crackers to use with my hummus!

Adventures in Food Processing - the good kind.

OK, so the title should read "My First Adventure in Food Processing."  In a previous post, Quinoa for breakfast, I mentioned that I had gotten a food processor.  Today, I decided that it was time to give it a whirl.  One thing that strikes me as odd is that 'processed food' is one of the problems we have with our American diet, yet using a food processor can actually be beneficial.  There is a difference, however, in the way we 'process' foods at home and the way packaged foods are processed by the conglomerates for quick sale and long shelf life.  The term 'processing' includes every method of food preparation from churning butter (which can be done with a mason jar and a marble!) to creating high fructose corn syrup or partially hydrogenated vegetable oil.  The bottom line is that not all processing is bad.

So, what did I 'process' in my Cuisinart?  Today I made some almond butter - like peanut butter, but with almonds.  First, I had to properly prepare the raw almonds.  This involves first soaking the almonds for 24 hours in a solution of sea salt and filtered water.  Next, drying the almonds in either my oven or food dehydrator which can take up to two days.  I had actually done this last week when I first got the food processor.  Almond butter was one of the things that I really wanted to use the food processor for so I simply prepared more almonds than I would normally do for simple snacking.
Give whatever excuse you want to insert here, I only got around to taking my prepared almonds one step further to convert it to almond butter.  Whatever the cause of my delay, it is finally done.  Today I made some almond butter!  I can't believe how simple it was.  Take a look at the average jar of  peanut butter to see what ingredients are included and you might be hard-pressed to believe that you can make it at home (more on this later in this post - keep reading).
My almond butter consists of nothing more than soaked and dried almonds, some sea salt, a little olive oil, and flax seeds (I love to add flax seeds to almost everything that I make).  That's it!  I started by adding the almonds to the processor bowl and giving them a couple of quick pulses.  I then let the Cuisinart run steady for a couple of minutes.  The result was a fairly dry, granular paste.  After scraping down the bowl to get the particles that stuck out of the reach of the blades, I turned the processor back on.  This time I added a little bit of olive oil.  Again, I stopped the blades and scraped down the bowl.  The paste had taken on a much more creamy texture at this point.  Once more, I set the blades spinning and added the flax seeds.  I basically let the processor run this time just to incorporate the flax seeds uniformly.  Except for the clean-up, I was done (and the clean-up didn't even take that long).    I scooped the almond butter into a small mason jar and set to cleaning the equipment.  The almond butter should keep in the jar for up to 30 days on the shelf - longer in the refrigerator.  Given the quantity that I made, I will have no problem consuming my almond butter well within the 30 days.  Mind you, I don't eat a lot of nut butter.  Because I know where and how this was made and more importantly what all - ALL - of the four ingredients are, I will have no problem increasing my intake of nut butter.  In fact, for lunch today, I spread about two teaspoons of my newly made almond butter onto a couple of stalks of celery accompanied by a banana and handful of raisins.

Earlier, I mentioned the ingredients of peanut butter.  Well one example of a nameless brand of peanut butter that is sitting on my shelf includes:  Peanuts, Peanut Oil (so far, so good), Corn Syrup! (at least it isn't high fructose corn syrup), and Hydrogenated Rapeseed and Cottonseed Oils.  Notably, this particular brand does not include any preservatives, but the Use By date is 02/19/2011 - only slightly less than a year from now.  OK, so if there are no official preservatives, why is the shelf life so long?  In one word, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil.  OK, you got me.  That is actually four words.  Both hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils are extremely detrimental to health but are widely used in our processed foods.  It is also notable that this particular brand of peanut butter also only has four ingredients.  The difference between this and my homemade almond butter - both made with four ingredients - is the quality of the ingredients.  The order of ingredients on the label indicates which ingredients are more prevalent.  The first ingredient is used in the largest quantity; the last is used in the smallest quantity.  The caveat is that we do not know in what ratio the ingredients are present.  Does the first ingredient make up 90% of the recipe or only 10%?  We simply cannot tell.
A comparison of my almond butter to the store-bought peanut butter looks like this:

• Mine
• Almonds
• Flax seeds
• Olive Oil
• Sea salt (used to prepare the almonds - not added to the mix)
• Theirs
• Peanuts
• Peanut oil
• Corn syrup
• Hydrogenated rapeseed and cottonseed oil (so, does this count as two ingredients?)

The first ingredient list on both is expected, the mainstay of the nut butter had better be the nuts.  I didn't measure the quantity of almonds that I used, but the resulting almond butter resulted in a little less than 8 ounces.  It almost, but didn't quite, fill a small mason jar. 
The second ingredient for mine is flax seeds; theirs is peanut oil.  Both peanuts and almonds have oil in them.  Adding oil to the recipe is not entirely necessary.  If added, it certainly does not need to be in a large quantity.  However, given the third and fourth ingredients of their product, I am grateful that peanut oil is listed second.  In my case, I added about 2 tablespoons of flax seeds.
Third comes the olive oil for mine and the corn syrup for theirs.  Corn syrup is sugar.  How much sugar is present in their peanut butter?  Well, a 2 tablespoon serving - according to the nutrition facts on the label - includes 7g of carbohydrates, 3g of which is listed as sugars.  How much sugar is in mine?  Well, I didn't do the math yet and I can't read the label - oh wait, there is no label to read!  I'll get back to you on the amount of sugar per serving but it is more important to recognize the source.  Mine has only naturally occurring sugars - no processed sugars.  Theirs has sugar derived from corn.  Sure, it may be natural, but it is not being used as intended by nature.
The fourth and final ingredient of mine is the sea salt; theirs is more oil - hydrogenated oil, no less.  The sea salt was used in the solution to soak the almonds.  While I didn't rinse the almonds after soaking, most of the salt would have been drained off before dehydrating.  It was about two teaspoons of sea salt added to 2 pints of water.  I truly believe that salt has been somewhat vilified.  It has been blamed for a lot of medical problems.  The fact is that our body needs salt to function and that salt works synergistic with potassium.  Rather than avoiding salt we should really be more concerned with a good balance of salt with potassium.  Excess of either is just as problematic as the absence of either.  We need both and we need them in equal portions.  They included a second (and/or third) oil to theirs.  On top of that, they made it worse through hydrogenation.  Hydrogenating oil produces trans fat.  While the quantity is low enough per serving that the FDA allows them to list the amount of trans fat a 0 (zero), it is still there.  Trans fat is one of the worst things that you could put into your body and it should be avoided entirely.

After watching (and posting) about Food, Inc. I was a friend suggested that I also watch Killer at Large.  Today, I took in a double-feature thanks to Netflix and my Wii of both Killer at Large and Super Size Me.  I had watched the latter several years ago, but I felt it was time for a refresher.  While both have a similar focus - obesity - they are somewhat different in scope.  I recommend watching both of them, though the latter is not quite as family friendly due to language and some commentary while the former certainly has some disturbing images.

Quinoa for breakfast

A cold, dreary, wet weather day - no, not a 'dark and stormy night' - seemed the perfect setting for a nice, hot breakfast.  You know what?  It was!

As planned, I used quinoa to make a hot 'cereal' for breakfast.  I used about 1/2 cup of quinoa that I had set to soak last night and added some raisins, 1 tsp. of raw honey, about 1 Tbsp. of ground cinnamon, and 1 tsp. of organic maple syrup.  The maple syrup was an afterthought.  Next time that I make this I will probably use either a little more honey OR a little more maple syrup but not both.  I also did as I planned and added one serving of VidaCell.  Without adding any flavor (VidaCell is relatively flavorless), the VidaCell served as a thickening agent for the cereal in addition to adding to the nutrition profile.
It was a great way to start the day!

I forgot to mention in my last post that I now have a food processor - I guess that I was too excited about the quinoa!  I am also really happy to have this, though.  One thing that I really want to do is to make my own flour and dough.  Cutting out all bleached flour and any product that uses it as an ingredient really cuts down on a wide variety of foods!  One way to add some foods back into my diet but still avoid bleached flour is to make my own versions.
Timing is indeed everything.  Through one of my various online activities, I had earned enough points to redeem for a $50.00 amazon.com gift card.  It came in the mail today.  I promptly signed on to amazon.com, entered the gift card code, and went shopping.  I ordered some wheat berries, rye berries, and some buckwheat.  Once my order arrives, I plan to soak, sprout, dehydrate, and mill some of my own flour!
I also want use the food processor to make some almond and/or peanut butter and hummus.  I really have some reading to do, though, because I really don't know everything that this thing can do.  I do know that it is going to help me and my family eat a whole lot healthier!