Chicken Salad

Eating fresh whole foods is so satisfying.  Not only do I know that there are no preservatives, chemicals, or manipulation of my food when I prepare it freshly, it just tastes better!  In my last blog, I wrote about putting a whole chicken in the crockpot last night in order to make broth in preparation for Thanksgiving.  Well this morning I found myself with a whole chicken along with that broth.

What to do?  What to do?  I considered BBQ chicken, and I considered a casserole, but we have had both of those kinds of items recently so I decided to try to find a way to make a fresh chicken salad for sandwiches.  And since my family usually only eats the white meat of the chicken, having all these thighs and legs was a bit of a problem.

Chicken salad it was!  After removing all the meat I could from the bones, I added the following to it:
2 Stalks of organic celery - chopped
2 organic green onions cut small
1 smashed ripe avocado
2 Tablespoons of lime juice
A bunch of Cilantro.. some was frozen, some fresh, and some dried. (I love Cilantro)
Salt and Pepper
Some celery salt and some onion salt
About 1/2 cup of homemade yogurt
About 1/4 cup of mayonnaise

It was delicious!  We had sandwiches made on fresh homemade whole wheat bread.

I enjoyed the crunch of the celery and the "guacamole" style flavor of the chicken salad.  I might even add more avocado and more lime next time.  I like to stay away from mayonnaise as often as possible but needed some to make the right consistency of chicken salad.

I think some crisp bacon might have been good chopped in it and a slice of fresh tomato would have been great too, if I had any.  What else would you add?

In the Kitchen - Preparing for Thanksgiving

I am hosting Thanksgiving this year for my family.  I have done it countless times before...  it never bothers me to prepare a mass quantity of wonderful food to eat, or clean the house before hand, or entertain everyone, but this year is different.  Since my husband and I have adopted a completely different eating style from the rest of my family, I sense a dilemma on the horizon.  Many of my family say "don't make any of that healthy crap"... oh my goodness... I cannot prepare our favorite pies with corn syrup, I just can't.  I can't use cans of Campbells soup in the green bean casserole, nor can I serve traditional pie crust made with Crisco.  These are just some ingredients I will not be cooking with this year.

Now how do I cook the same traditional foods but in a healthier manner?  Very carefully.  Here is our traditional Thanksgiving meal, as handed down through the generations.  We always eat the same foods.  Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet candied potatoes, green bean casserole, jello salad, breads, gravy, pumpkin pie & pecan pie.  But, of course, in the spirit of our societal need to overeat at holiday times, there is always a few more dishes on the table as the whim dictates. 

I have tried to vary from this "prescribed feast" in the years past, only to get complaints about taking away tradition.  That was back when I cooked in the traditional manner with processed foods but just tried to substitute something like pumpkin cheesecake for pumpkin pie.  Now I do want you to know that overall my family is polite about it.. my adult children complain out loud but the rest of them just show their dislike by picking at non-traditional foods.  I can tell though. 

After much much thought about the menu this Thanksgiving, I am pretty sure what I will be doing to maintain tradition for my family while keeping with my values for healthier food choices.  Here are the plans.

Turkey - EASY - put a quality turkey in the roaster oven... that won't change, except maybe the quality of the turkey.  I always baste  mine with butter and I will still do that, except we have moved to butter without added hormone or organic butter. 

Stuffing - This will be a bit trickier because I only use wheat bread now and they may taste that unless I use lots of fresh herbs and good chicken broth.  They will get stuffing made from all my "reject" loaves of wheat bread from the last 8 weeks.  Every loaf that did not turn out right was placed in the deep freeze so that I could cube it and make it into stuffing.  I think that will work.  The herbs will be fresh and dried, depending on what is available from the windowsill garden, and the celery and onion will be organic.  The chicken broth will be homemade.  I bought a whole chicken and put it in the crockpot overnight last night in a bath of whey.  Once it was done this morning, I strained all solids from it, cooled it, removed the top layer of fat and put the rest of the resultant broth in the freezer.  I used a big gallon sized ziplock freezer bag because I know I will need a lot next week for the gravy, potatoes, and stuffing!  It looks pretty good and will be of much higher quality and tastier than store bought processed broth in a can.  I am kind of proud of it! 

For the gravy, it will be traditional except for substituting sprouted freshly ground whole wheat flour for their pasty white processed bleached flour.   I don't think they will mind that.

Rolls and bread?  I am hoping to be inspired with a really good quick bread recipe, maybe banana bread or re-trying the pumpkin banana bread recipe that went bad on me a couple of weeks ago.   Plus I will try to create some wheat rolls with my trusty wheat bread recipe.  Those should be good enough.

Green bean casserole... usually it is several cans of green beans mixed with cream of mushroom soup, cheddar cheese and those little cans of french onions.  I have some fresh frozen green beans..  I can substitute a cup of sour cream for the mushroom soup with a little extra seasoning, and I can buy a good quality cheese to put in it.... but WHAT AM I GOING TO DO ABOUT THOSE LITTLE FRIED ONIONS?  I have not begun to think about that yet so maybe I should do a quick google search and try to make my own.  (what a nightmare... I will let you know how that turns out ... I am sure it will be akin to producing my own Cheetos).  Nevertheless, I am sure I will "ruin" the green bean casserole for all of them.  One year I used fresh green beans and they hated it.... they would rather have had the canned mushy ones.  (shaking my head)

Sweet potatoes?  Our family makes them with corn syrup, butter, and brown sugar.  I think I can recreate this a bit with brown rice syrup, organic raw sugar, and of course the butter.  They have to get gooey, soft and sweet for my family.

Pies?  I shared a source for a pie recipe a few days ago.  I will be trying the Pecan Pie recipe that I found without corn syrup and I purchased the pecans today so I have enough time to sprout and dehydrate them before next week.  The crust will be made with fresh ground sprouted Spelt and Palm Shortening.  This should produce a light colored crust for them that is tasty and flaky.   The pumpkin pie will be made with pumpkin that I baked and froze a few weeks ago..  you remember, the one that exploded in my kitchen?  I will have to remember to drain the extra liquid from that pumpkin puree once it is thawed or I will have pumpkin soup in a crust.  And the whipped cream?  Fresh... whipped with my new KitchenAid from heavy cream and vanilla right before serving the pie!!

I think we will have a bit of fresh fruit salad instead of jello and may still have my sis bring some jello salad with her so that others can enjoy it.

Needless to say, I am a little anxious about this meal.  I have not perfected cooking yet with all these new techniques and ingredients so I will have to say a prayer and be thoroughly prepared as the time comes closer and closer.  I will keep you posted on the outcome and in the planning process.  If you have any pointers for me, feel free to pass them on.  I will need all the help I can get. 

What changes are you making this holiday season in order to eat healthier??  And is your family embracing them or fighting you tooth and nail?

Health - Dangers of Diet Soda, Aspartame, and other artificial sweeteners

Artificial Sweeteners - just stop eating diet foods and drinks for a week and see what your body tells you.

I used to drink lots of Diet Coke... LOVED the stuff!  I always joked about saving the calories for the meal so I could eat more.  Then I became enlightened...  I actually started listening to my body only when it became a "train wreck" and I was desperate for a change.  One of the things I started to research was the effect of artificial sweeteners on our body and health.

It is no wonder that I suffered from bladder infections, fluid retention, headaches, fatigue, frequent illnesses, reflux, and a host of other issues.  I don't entirely blame the Diet Coke habit but I certainly know now that it took its toll.

Artificial sweeteners are made of chemicals.  Straight up!  They were developed in laboratories from substances that humans should not ingest.  They were discovered to be sweet and then added to our foods to meet the needs of people who wanted a low calorie alternative to their favorite foods and drinks and they have been wreaking havoc on our health ever since! 

Artificial sweeteners are not only in our diet drinks.  They are in the foods we eat as well, especially the so-called-diet foods.  But here is some irony for you.  Artificial sweeteners cause increase appetite and weight gain.  No wonder we diet like crazy and can't lose those extra pounds!

Here is a list of artificial sweeteners to watch for on the labels of your foods and drinks:

Mannitol
Glycerol
Acesulfame potassium
Aspartame
Cyclamate
Isomalt
Sorbitol
Saccharin
Sucralose
Alitame
Thaumatin
Neohesperidine dihydrochalcone
Maltitol
Lactitol
Xylitol
Erythritol

Just for your own education, read this article by Dr. Mercola on the dangers of Aspartame and why it works against your body and can destroy your health.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/11/07/aspartame-causes-blood-cancer.aspx?e_cid=20121107_DNL_art_1

Remember that all foods derived from natural sources are good for you... but moderation is key.  A balanced and diverse diet in conjunction with the avoidance of processed foods and chemical additives will serve your body to achieve ultimate health.  It is possible to age gracefully and live long enough to plague your great grandchildren (or enrich their lives).  That is my plan. 

Pecan Pie - no corn syrup/no grain option

With Thanksgiving approaching rapidly, I am sure many of you are considering your meal.  If you are like me, you may not be so anxious to eat the marshmallows on the potatoes or the pecan pie made with corn syrup.  I have been struggling planning this big feast of a meal for my extended family because I want to limit the processed foods, feed them things they like, but also keep it as healthy as possible!  Most of my family does not worry about the foods they eat.. not at all like we do in our house.  Many do not pay attention to organic options or even understand what a GMO food is.

It will be a dilemma to feed us all within a budget and please everyone on that day!  My first concern was for the pies.  Crazy as that sounds, if there are no pecan and pumpkin pies here when they all come over, it could get ugly!!  But I have NEVER made a pecan pie without a bunch of high fructose corn syrup to make the filling.  Then I found this recipe and I will definitely try it for Thanksgiving!  I thought if I shared it with you early, you would also have time to use it in your holiday tradition!

I love that there is an option for a grain-free crust as well.  So many people are turning away from grains ...  most do not have Celiac disease or a true reaction to the gluten but they are struggling with the way their body feels after eating wheat and bread products.

You can sure try this gluten-free pie crust as a good alternative.  I am going to bake my pies with a Spelt flour and Palm shortening crust.. it is what is used to bake the Happles pies you see in the frozen section of the grocery store.  Spelt and palm shortening will make a white pie crust and my family will like the traditional look. Wheat flour, as you know, produces food that is a little darker.

Just a note here:  When you sprout wheat or spelt by soaking, you release the phytic acids that are keeping it from germinating and cause the seed to change internally.  Then by grounding those seeds fresh right before you use them in your baked goods, you will probably not have the same gut reactions you are currently having from eating wheat products.  Now this is NOT TRUE for true Celiac Disease sufferers - they have a sort of allergy to Gluten and that cannot be sprouted or soaked out of wheat!  But if you are like me and get a belly ache from breads, try the sprouting and grinding method and see what that does for your gut!  You may not have to eliminate wheat from your diet.



Check out this website for a wonderful pie recipe:  http://deliciouslyorganic.net/?s=pecan+pie

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Bread Pudding

When life gives you ruined hopeless pumpkin bread, make bread pudding!

That is my new motto.

And that is exactly what I did yesterday.  After totally ruining a loaf of pumpkin bread by NOT STRAINING MY pureed pumpkin (even though Sue told me to strain it - I forgot..), I was left with a doughy undercooked gooey loaf (I use that word loosely to describe the pudding I was left with).  It was tasty though.  The flavors were definitely there even though it did not cook well.

So last night I looked for a bread pudding recipe.  I have never made bread pudding before but figured it might just fix this bread problem I had and pumpkin bread pudding kind of sounded good.

I took this recipe and cut up the soggy pumpkin bread into it.  I left out about 1/2 cup of the milk the recipe called for, figuring that since the bread was not exactly dry, it would not soak up as much of the liquid.  I also deleted the butter for the same reason!  I was right and this recipe is wonderful.  EVERYONE in my house is eating Pumpkin Bread Pudding and loving it!  We put ice cream on it too...  mmmmm... enjoy!

Bread Pudding II

Submitted By: ELLENMARIE Photo By: raha Prep Time: 30 Minutes Cook Time: 45 Minutes Ready In: 1 Hour 15 Minutes Servings: 12

"This lightly spiced, extra thick bread pudding really hits home. We suggest using a rich egg bread or a moist white loaf in this recipe"

Ingredients:

6 slices day-old bread 2 tablespoons butter, melted 1/2 cup raisins (optional) 4 eggs, beaten

2 cups milk 3/4 cup white sugar 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2.	Break bread into small pieces into an 8 inch square baking pan. Drizzle melted butter or margarine over bread. If desired, sprinkle with raisins.
3.	In a medium mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Beat until well mixed. Pour over bread, and lightly push down with a fork until bread is covered and soaking up the egg mixture.
4.	Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly tapped.

DIY - I am making my own Essential Oils tonight

I was at the store looking at scent infused oils and essential oils and the price of them was pretty prohibitive...  and since I want to experiment with lotions, shampoos, and other personal care items, I wanted the ability to make them smell good!  So today I researched making my own essential oils.

While high quality essential oils are produced using steam or distillation, it is possible to create an oil at home.  I have a little crockpot that is used for dips and things (or should I say "unused" and in the cupboard), so I am devoting it to infusing oils. 

Tonight we have started a small batch of Rosemary essential oil.  I love the scent of rosemary and wanted to buy some the other day but did not.  But I DO have some growing in the windowsill.  So tonight we started almost 1/4 ounce of Rosemary (it was actually about equivalent to 2 Tablespoons) in almost 1 cup of olive oil in the little crockpot.

I think I am going to try some different methods and different scents.  I have herbs growing on the windowsill and some mint outside in the garden.  I will have vanilla bean coming in the mail to try and I want to try some of the citrus ..  grapefruit, orange, lemon, lime... the rinds will be thrown away anyway so I might as well use them.

Here is the information I found... when making these essential oils at home, they will not have the same potency, purity, or therapeutic aromatherapy effects as those commercially produced.  The oils I am making are best used in personal care products or candles and should not be eaten.  Here are 6 possible methods for making your own essential oils at home.


Method #1
Place plant material into a crock pot filled with distilled water. Cook on low for 24 hours. Leave crock pot open and allow it to sit for a week. Collect the oil off the surface of the water and put it into a dark, glass container. Cover with a piece of cloth and allow it to sit for a week to evaporate off any extra water. It will last for about 12 months.

Method #2
Place ground up plant material in a cotton or linen bag. Tie it shut and place it in a pot of distilled water. Bring water to a boil and simmer slowly for 24 hours. Collect the oil off the surface of the water (you may have to squeeze the bag) and put it into a dark, glass container. Cover with a piece of cloth and allow it to sit for a week to evaporate off any extra water. It will last for about 12 months.

Method #3
Half-fill a large glass bottle with olive oil (or almond, jojoba, or rapeseed). Cram as much plant material as possible into the bottle. Cap it and let it sit in a cool, dark place for 24 hours. Shake it. After three days strain it through cheese cloth and put liquid in a dark, glass container. (If scent is not strong enough add more plant material and repeat process.) It will last for about 6 months.

Method #4
Stir 1/2 ounce of plant material into 2 cups olive oil (or almond, jojoba, or rapeseed). Cook in crock pot on low for about 6 hours. Strain the mixture with unbleached cheese cloth and put liquid in a dark, glass container. It will last for about 6 months.

Method #5
Place 1 Tablespoon ground up plant material, 1/2 cup of olive oil (or almond, jojoba, or rapeseed), and 1/2 teaspoon of white vinegar into a small bottle (cap on). Put it in a warm place (sunny window) for three weeks. Shake it well twice a day. Strain the mixture with unbleached cheese cloth and put liquid in a dark, glass container. It will last for about 6 months.

Method #6
Soak plant material in a bottle of rubbing alcohol for two weeks (cap on). Pour it out into a wide container. Allow alcohol to evaporate. Collect the oil left in the container and put it into a dark, glass container. It will last for about 6 months. Please note that this method should NOT be consumed.

DIY - Homemade Vanilla Extract

So easy!  Why haven't I thought to look for this before?  I just stumbled upon it last night and I am so excited!

I use a lot of vanilla extract in cooking and struggle at the grocery store deciding between the cheap or expensive vanilla... generally choosing something that looks like quality in between.  Even then the little bottle goes quickly and I am back to the store.  I always wondered why some was so cheap and some SO HIGH!  Now I think I know but I don't have to pay the premium price for the good stuff anymore!  I am on the hunt for vanilla beans now!  If I find some locally I will share where they are but if I have to order on line, I need to know if any of you want to have me order some for you too... when we buy in larger and larger quantities, we will save money per bean so if you are in town, message me if you also want to buy vanilla beans with me...  but message fast.  I am impatient and will have some on my counter very soon.

DIY Homemade VANILLA EXTRACT

What You Need

• 1 cup vodka
• 3 vanilla beans
• A glass jar with a snug-fitting lid
• A knife

1. Use a knife to split the vanilla beans open lengthwise, stopping one inch from the end of each bean.
2. Place the cut beans in a glass container, and cover with vodka.
3. Make sure the beans are completely submerged. Push down any that aren't.
4. Secure the lid; and store in a cool, dark place.
5. Allow the extract to develop for at least two months before using, shaking at least once a week.

Tips:

1. To replenish your supply of extract, just add more vodka to the bottle from time to time. The original beans will retain their flavor for years.
2. Homemade vanilla extract makes a great gift. Package some up in small bottles, and decorate them with your own label.
3. Online vendors often have the best price for vanilla beans.

Some of the recipes I saw called for developing your vanilla for up to 6 months so I assume the longer you develop it, the more flavor you will achieve.  I can't wait to get this started!  Leave a comment if you want vanilla beans when I order.  It only takes 3 and a cup of vodka!