Pie Crust 101

The holidays are in full swing and if there is one thing people eat a lot of around this time of year, its pies. Pies are delicious. Who doesn’t love pies? Our family makes a Swiss pear pie that is out of this world, and tonight, I am making turkey potpie with leftover turkey and vegetables from Christmas dinner. It was easy and delicious! I just sautéed up some veggies and turkey, threw in a little leftover gravy and chicken broth, made a pie crust and… STOP! Don’t run away so quickly…it’s just a piecrust. Making piecrusts often strikes fear in the hearts of many, when there is really no need to be afraid. They are quite easy to make. Nutritionally speaking, piecrusts are pretty caloric, but we can make a few minor tweaks to the recipe to make them a little healthier as well.

Now there are many different tricks and tips for making the perfect piecrust. My mother in-law uses vodka instead of water and using a food processor is also helpful, however, my rule of thumb for piecrust making is: use butter. Toss that Crisco in the garbage if you haven’t already because the news is out. Partially hydrogenated soybean oil is disgusting. Not only does it taste gross, (did you ever try eating it as a kid because it looked like ice cream?) but also it is a nutritional nightmare. Partially hydrogenated oils are loaded with trans fat. Trans fat increases your LDL cholesterol (the bad kind) and decreases HDL (the good kind). It also increases triglycerides in your blood and causes inflammation in the body. The saturated fat that is in butter doesn’t have all these nasty side effects.

Okay I hear you saying, “Crisco makes the flakiest crust”. I’ll buy it. Shortening has a wider melting range so it is able to stay in solid form while you are preparing and rolling out the crust. The pea size granules that are desired in piecrust baking will then melt in the oven, creating layers in the dough and a flakier crust. But the same effect can be achieved with butter if the butter is extra cold and the dough is not over mixed or kneaded. Vegans can also use coconut oil or palm oil instead of butter as long as it is kept cold prior to mixing it with the flour and water.

In the piecrust that I made tonight I substituted ½ of the all purpose flour with whole wheat pastry flour to give it a little more fiber, protein, and a nuttier flavor. It was delicious! What kinds of pies do you enjoy making? What are your secrets to make the flakiest pie crust?

(adding the ice cold butter in small cubes to the flour in the food processor)

(pulse the butter in the food processor until pea size granules are formed...do not over mix!)

(after adding just enough ice water the dough should clump together when squeezed like this)

(Form the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic. Now pop it in the fridge for about 1 hour.)

(I roll out my dough in between 2 sheets of plastic wrap. My home economics teacher taught me this in high school. There are a few good reasons: 1) no flour used to roll which can make the crust tough and also a WAY easier clean up. 2) the crust is very easy to transfer to the pie pan.)

(Aw...isn't it pretty?)

(Dinner time! Delicious and flaky pie crust!)

Brain Food

Today kind of sucked. It’s finals week and I’m tired and cranky. I have been studying all weekend and all day and I am officially over it. The only thing that keeps me going during times like this is sugar-laden treats and knowing that it will all be over soon. After dinner tonight I might have whipped up some chocolate chip cookies or eaten an entire Theo chocolate bar, but with all this studying and with the holidays around the corner I thought I would do something good for my brain and my body and make a dessert that wasn’t so sinful.

Tada! Date and Walnut Balls. These walnut balls are so delicious, try making them as one of your Christmas cookies this year, people wont even realize that they are good for you. They also make great lunch box treats for kids!

They are a variation on Cynthia Lair’s Date Pecan Bon Bons, I just substituted walnuts for pecans because walnuts are super high in omega 3 fatty acids. You brain loves omega 3s, 60% of it is made from them. I figured I could use all the help I could get tomorrow on my Food Science final! Wish me luck!

Don't they look delicious? They kinda remind me of the SNL skit with Alex Baldwin. If you don't know the one... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXSyzeVWueI

At Least the Chili Was a Winner

As the weather gets colder, football season takes over our little apartment. We are hard up on our luck though. I’m a Buffalo native so I haven’t been excited to watch since the early nineties. Now that we are living in Seattle, I have been giving the Seahawks a try to no avail. We aren’t that impressed on Saturdays either with the Cougs or the Huskies. Oh well, at least we can eat chili and that is what we are going to do today. Everyone has their “secret ingredient” when it comes to chili. Some people use chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, other use chocolate, cinnamon, or Guinness. These are all delicious ingredients, but you heard it here first, I am going to let you in on my secret ingredient. Beef. Okay I know that you are disappointed to hear that, you already knew beef, duh! Well read on…

Grass fed beef is definitely where it is at, and it is the ONLY kind of beef that we eat in our house. See, cows are grazers. They like to roam about in an open field and munch on grass and that is what they are meant to do. America eats a lot of beef, as I am sure you know, mostly in the form of a patty that they pick up at one drive through or another. In order to increase production to meet the needs of Americans, beef producers crammed bunches of cattle into a small spaces scattered throughout the Midwest and fed them corn, and lots of it. Why you ask? Well another thing that Americans eat a lot of is corn, what is another story in itself, but we have a lot of it. Also, it fattens cattle WAY faster than grass so they can go to slaughter in a matter of months, as supposed to years. The sad part to this story is that corn makes cows sick. Their multiple stomachs aren’t made to digest it, as it ferments in their bellies, giving them bloat and ulcers. Next come the antibiotics to keep their ulcers from becoming infected and making them sicker. Are you grossed out yet?

Aside from the moral dilemma that corn fed beef brings up, it is nutritionally, a nightmare. It is extremely high in saturated fat and causes inflammation in the body, one of the largest contributors to diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Grass fed beef, on the other hand is quite the opposite. It is extremely high in omega-3 fatty acids, which help to lessen inflammation, and lower in saturated fats.

In our house, we are lucky enough to have a rancher in the family. Jon’s dad raises grass fed beef so we get our meat from him. Don’t fret if you don’t know a rancher. Grass fed beef is popping up in all the quality grocery stores and if you visit your local farmer’s market, you are sure to find it. You will definitely pay a little extra for it, but the cows and your body will thank you!

To leave you tempted to eat some delicious and healthy grass fed beef, I have some photos of my homemade chili! Now for some football! Go Hawks!

Stuff the bird, not yourself!

Could it get any better? A day filled with family, friends, and delicious homemade food! You know what I am talking about! Thanksgiving! It’s tomorrow! Hooray! I have very fond memories of Thanksgiving Day in my house growing up. The smells, the tastes, the warmth, the laughter, and the games (I will beat you at Parcheesi some day, Mom!) are all part of the holiday for me.

There is of course, one uncomfortable thing about Thanksgiving. I am sure that you can relate. Sitting at the table, getting in one more bite of turkey because it is so delicious and that is what Thanksgiving is about, right? Eating until you keel over. What gives? This can’t be right. We are celebrating our thanks for the delicious bounty of food we are privileged enough to have…doesn’t that mean that we should appreciate it? How can you possibly appreciate your lovely thanksgiving dinner if you make yourself sick on it? Since when did this become a tradition?

Therefore I present to you, the Thanksgiving challenge. It’s about tuning in to your body. What we call in the nutrition world, listening to your hunger and satiety cues. It’s about eating enough, but not too much, and eating when you are hungry and not eating when you aren’t. Thanksgiving is a perfect time to practice listening to your hunger and satiety cues. It is easy to fill your plate to the brim with all the different options and favorite dishes. Try and be mindful of the fact that all that food on your plate is probably more than you need. Eat slowly and appreciate every bite and all the flavors. When your belly tells you it’s had enough, listen. Put down the fork people! You can always pick it up again later, if you are still hungry. Make it a new tradition to feel well nourished after your Thanksgiving dinner, not over nourished!

Enjoy this Thanksgiving by NOT eating too much. Think of it this way, more leftovers for turkey sandwiches the next day!

They're NOT so Gr-r-reat!

When you walk down the isle of a grocery store, I’m just guessing on this number, but probably two thirds of the packaged food in the store would be categorized as “kid food”. Frozen dinners, rainbow colored cereals, string cheese, and Lunchables are just some of the examples of food marketed specifically at children. Even baby food gets me a little bent out of shape. I get the convenience factor of it, but if people are cooking for their families, they can simply puree some of the simplest ingredient in their meal for their baby. When I used to work at Globus, a lovely Thai restaurant in Ketchum Idaho, people used to come in and ask for the kids menu. Globus didn’t have a kids menu, not to say that it was restaurant that was unfriendly towards children, but I think, rather the opposite. Children are worthy of eating the same foods that adults do and they should.

The shock of the parent ordering the meal usually escalated when I explained that most children really enjoyed the cucumber salad and our Rama dish. “Oh they’ll never eat that!” They would explain. And you know what? The child probably won’t if they keep hearing their parent say that. I could go on about this forever really, but my point is that children should be eating the same food that their parents do, that is how we teach our children to be healthy eaters. A child that will “only” eat chicken nuggets and macaroni is “only” eating that because that is what is offered to them. Every child goes through a phase of rejecting food. Foods must be tried again and again in order to be accepted.

Last night I had the pleasure of seeing Marion Nestle speak at the University of Washington. She spoke directly about the marketing toward children that the food industry is doing. The numbers are astonishing, Kellogg’s spent 21 million dollars last year in marketing Frosted Flakes alone! That is more money that Michelle Obama has to work with towards reducing childhood obesity. A professional term used in food marketing is the “pester factor”. A higher factor is good for the food industry because parents will buy that food simply to avoid a temper tantrum in the grocery store. Marketing food towards children is wrong and under minds the parents. Do not buy into the fact that these foods are made for your children. Packaged “kids foods” are high in sugar and fat, making them addicting and are a contributing factor to childhood obesity.

If you are trying to find real food for you child, look no further than whole foods simply prepared, that your whole family can enjoy together. Let’s face it, do you really want a cartoon character telling you what to feed you child?

Parents: for strategies on feeding you child I highly recommend looking at the work of Ellyn Satter. Here is the link to her website: http://www.ellynsatter.com/

Just Loafin Around

Want to have a sandwich? A veggie burger? How about a nice crusty loaf with some bean soup? Bread is an essential part of the American diet, and, despite the stigma surrounding it, it can be a part of a healthy diet too.

There are a couple things when it comes to selecting bread in the grocery store. Most of us are pretty savvy to the fact that we want to choose things that are made from whole grains. Whole grains have fiber, vitamins and minerals, and help keep blood sugar balanced. Bear in mind that bread is often made from a mixture of whole and refined flours, the higher the percentage of whole grains the mix, the better. Also realize that wheat flour is not whole-wheat flour, so when you read this on the ingredient list it really means white flour.

Look to the list of ingredients and avoid items with high fructose corn syrup. Also be mindful that loaves with evaporated cane juice listed as the second ingredient might not be the best choice as that they are high in sugar. Sugar is not a necessary ingredient in bread and I have had many tasty store bought loaves that do not include it at all! One brand that I really like is Food for Life. They make sprouted grain bread that is 100% whole grains and has no added sugar. Also sprouting grains makes them easier to digest, and might be a good option for someone who has a hard time with whole-wheat flour.

Another thing that I like to do in the grocery store is buy the local bakery bread. It is expensive, but if you buy a nice artisan loaf, the ingredients are usually very basic such as whole-wheat flour, water, salt, and yeast. If you are in the Seattle area you have got to try Essential Baking Company’s Pain du George. It is made with 100% whole-wheat flour and is light, fluffy and deliciously crusty! (Plus, George is my dad’s name so I like it!)

As I just mentioned, artisan bread has very few ingredients and is relatively easy to make. I also just recently acquired a sourdough starter and have just begun the experimentation process of learning how to bake with it.

Sourdough starter is actually wild yeast. You use it instead of commercial yeast that comes in the little packets. It gives the bread a delicious sour flavor and also adds some lovely probiotics to your loaf. Honestly since I am not an expert on bread baking (yet!) I can’t say much except give it a try. You house will smell amazing and seriously who doesn’t love freshly baked bread. To inspire you I will leave you with some photos of my first sourdough loaf! (Recognize the beautiful Le Creuset you gave us for our wedding, Emily?)

(My starter, thank you to Karen Jurgenson's grandma Wilma! This one is 90 years old!)

(Proofing process)

(Final product!)

Grocery Gal Gets Canny

I never thought I would “can” anything. I mean, isn’t that something grandmothers do? But, after a magnificent trip to Quillisascut farm school, I learned how to preserve. Suddenly canning was cool.

With the local food movement in full swing, preserving is becoming important to sustainability and eating local. Rather than buy peaches from Australia in the winter that taste like how you feel after a cross continental plane ride, why not capture them in the peak of their freshness and flavor and preserve them for the long winter months to come? That way we can enjoy nutritious and delicious foods that came from our local farms year round! It’s economical, healthy, sustainable, and an important part of our food culture…brilliant!

After a wonderful week at farm school, learning about honeybees, milking goats, making cheese, fabricating ducks, baking bread, and harvesting and preserving fruits and vegetables I was truly inspired! On the way home, I visited a neighboring organic orchard and purchased 20 pounds of peaches and nectarines. I arrived home late that night, stumbled into my apartment, exhausted from the long week of hard work and plopped the box of fruit on my kitchen table and went to bed. The next morning I woke up, opened the box and began to cry. “What was I thinking?!”

Trying to keep my cool, I rounded up jars and lids from the Goodwill (great place for inexpensive canning jars!) and my neighbor and recruited her to help me begin the process. We chopped 12 cups of nectarines and made a delicious jam. I couldn’t be happier, 2 hours of chatting with a friend, some sticky hands, and I have delicious jam that is lightly sweetened, naturally with honey.

Due to the significant dent the jam made in my stone fruit surplus and the amount that I have eaten fresh over the past 3 days, I now have just short of 30 peaches remaining. My mother-in-law and I are baking pies tomorrow and I plan on freezing the rest for smoothies.

I highly recommend giving canning and preserving a try, if you don’t already. It’s easy, fun, and an important skill to learn and pass down for future generations. Ball and Kerr jars are good choices and their rings and caps are interchangeable. Make sure that you follow a recipe and correct procedures for food safety!

What do you like to preserve? What are your favorite recipes and resources?