Oils!

The dangers of canola and other hydrogenated oils are a heated (you'll get the joke in a minute!) subject these days. There is so much misinformation out there! Those big-wigs in the food industry use words like "low fat" and "no cholesterol" and "organic" to trick us into thinking certain things are healthy. Well, organic poison doesn't have cholesterol or fat in it either, and I'm not about to fry up some vegetables in that, catch my meaning?

Personally, I had never heard of a "canola" plant, so I checked into it. Turns out, "canola" is actually a made up word! This oil, which is deceivingly advertised as being good for us, is made from something called the rape seed, which doesn't sound particularly appetizing. Rape seed is a huge cash crop from Canada, hence the "can", and then they added the "ola" to signify the oil part. They don't include any words to let us know that the oil is heated to levels at which the molecules break down, causing it to become rancid, or the fact that this rancid flavor is masked by deodorizers. Hmm, how convenient!

• Canola depletes vitamin E.
• Canola increases the rigidity of membranes, which can trigger degenerative diseases.
• Because of canola's high sulfur content, it goes rancid easily, which can exacerbate allergies and compound problems for people with bronchial or asthmatic issues.
• Human studies reveal canola causes an increase in lung cancers.
• Canola can shorten lifespan of animals and lower platelet count.
• Daily canola consumption can raise your triglycerides over 40 percent.
• Canola oil molds quickly and also inhibits enzyme function.
• It opens the door for free radicals, undermining natural antioxidants, and can be linked to increased incidence of many diseases.
• Canola contains erucic acid, which is a fatty acid used to make lubricants, cosmetics, nylon, and polyester. Delicious!

So, keep your eyes peeled on your food labels! Canola and other bad oils (soybean, corn, peanut, sunflower, safflower, grapeseed) are hiding in so many packaged foods, since they are cheap to produce. Now that you know, you can make new choices that seem small, but that add up over a long period of time!

Moving on to more positive things, here are some good (great, even!) oils to use in your diet:

1. Olive oil! It is a source of mono-unsaturated fat, which lowers cholesterol and decreases blood pressure. It is anti-inflammatory, and has been linked to lower cancer risk. This is an oil that is on the delicate side and can break down when heated, causing free-radicals in the body (which cause cancer). Remember olive oil = cold use. Choose extra-virgin when using it for everything that doesn't involve spinning it at a high velocity (which can cause bitterness) like hand-whisked salad dressings, a dip for fresh bread, and garnishing soups. Choose a light-tasting version if using it for things like mayonnaise or hummus.

2. Coconut oil! This oil is safe at high temperatures because it is a saturated fat (like butter, lard, and tallow) which means you don't have to worry about free-radicals when it's heated. It's a great oil for sauteing and baking. Go for the "extra virgin" stuff, which is not processed and contains the most nutrition. It can be used in place of "vegetable" or "canola" in most any baking project (just melt it first), and replace butter 1:1, since the saturated fat content is the same. Just be aware that it does impart a slight 'coconut-y' flavor, which I find quite pleasant. Coconut oil is good for the brain, it helps you burn fat, it is naturally anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anto-inflammatory, and it is converted to energy quickly. It's also a natural lotion, sun-screen, and hair deep-conditioner. It is so wonderful that it deserves its own post, so until I get to it, here's a great one for your reference.

3. Avocado oil! This oil can be used at high-temperatures and low, and is full of wonderful fats. It is good for your heart, and contains vitamin E which is good for your hair and skin. It has a mild nutty flavor which is hardly noticeable, so it is great to use in applications where you want don't want the flavor to come through too much.

With your pantry stocked with the above-mentioned oils, you can take on any food project your heart desires, while knowing you are making the best choices for your health and the health of your family! Love!

Questions? Stephanie is at Glow Fitness on Tuesday and Thursday mornings (436 W Bakerview Road Suite 103 in Bellingham, WA). Come in to chat about food, nutrition, and take a yoga class while you're at it!

Sourdough!

I gotta tell ya, there is nothing quite as satisfying as the moment you slice into a loaf of bread that you have made with your own two hands. Except, of course, eating said bread. My jam (bread joke) is to listen to the band Bread while I bake bread, and it always turns out great!

Now, the thing about real sourdough bread (no commercial yeast!) that makes it so special, is the starter, or "mother". This is basically a mixture of flour and water that has been colonized by airborne bacteria (that lactobacillus that is so good for our gut) and yeast. The yeasts break down the flour into sugars and carbon dioxide which create leavening, and the bacteria ferment those sugars to make acid, which creates the delicious "sour" flavor. Flour and water mixed together doesn't sound too glamorous, unless you imagine that flour and water being mixed together for the first time generations ago, being "fed" lovingly over the years (the bacteria and yeast need an ongoing supply of sugar to stay alive), and being passed down from one mother to her daughter and to her daughter over the course of 90 years. "Wilma", my sourdough starter, was the name of my chef instructor's great-grandmother, and has blessed me with countless numbers of beautiful loaves. I love the idea that she has been around so long, feeding loved ones bread and pancakes for years. She's a little piece of history! And I refer to her as if she is alive, because she is. The longer a starter is used and fed, the stronger the good bacteria and yeast become, innoculating the starter against bad bacteria, like mold. Wilma is so strong, she is pretty much immortal. I have neglected her (inadvertently) for months in the fridge, and she always comes back strong and bubbly after one feeding!

In present times, when it comes to baking, reaching for that jar of "active dry yeast" feels so natural. However, when we leaven our baked goods with this processed yeast (a 'modern' invention, considering that old-fashioned bread-making has been around for thousands of years), we are skipping over a very valuable process. This process is - you guessed it - fermentation! By allowing the bread to ferment slowly, the proteins in the flour are being broken down. Fermentation is effectively a form of pre-digestion. Is it a coincidence that instances of gluten-intolerance are rising along with the ommission of the fermentation process? I think not. There have been studies, and I've heard some personal accounts, of people with gluten intolerance having no ill effects from bread that was made the long way.

Yes, again, food that is worth eating always takes longer to make. I reserve my sourdough bread-making for the weekend, after having fed Wilma for a few days to get her good and active. Many bakers love formulas, and if you're a formula person, the rule for feeding is to weigh the existing starter, and create a mixture of flour and water that is equal to that weight. So, if I have 100 grams of starter, I would make a mixture that is 50 grams flour and 50 grams water, and add that to the starter. This does cause the volume of starter to grow very quickly, so you may start having to eat a lot of sourdough pancakes. If you're not a formula person (me), I just look at Wilma, make a mixture of flour and water that is no larger than she is, and feed this to her twice a day for 3 or 4 days before I want to make bread. She lives in the fridge the rest of the time, where she lies "sleeping" in the cold, and only needs to be fed once a week. Don't have an heirloom starter from someone's great-grandmother? Maybe you can be someone's "Wilma" by starting your own starter today! Mix some flour and water together, keep it alive by feeding it from time to time, and in 90 years, your great-grandchildren could be making their own bread from your starter! Amazing! And it's easy! Read this, and in 5 days, you'll be ready to bake your first loaf!

When your starter is ready for baking, it will look bubbly, active, and "fizzy":

Gather the following ingredients:
1. Organically-grown all-purpose or bread flour (once you have your rhythm, you can start experimenting with other types of flour)
2. Filtered water
3. Lots of time. I make bread on days that are focused around home, where I can do small pockets of work and occupy the waiting time by running errands nearby or walking the dog. The actual mixing of the bread takes only 10-15 minutes, so just structure your day so you can mix the bread, do something else for a couple of hours, shape the bread, run errands for a couple hours, then come home and bake.

For the formula people, an easy method that I have found to figure out your measurements for baking a loaf is the "1-2-3" method:

1. Weigh your active sourdough starter.
2. Multiply that weight by 2 - this will be the weight of the water you'll add.
3. Multiply the original weight now by 3 - this will be the weight of the flour you'll add.
4. The amount of salt will be 2% of the flour weight.

For people like me, that cook by "touch" or "soul" (aka hate doing math), here is what you do: Pour some starter into the bowl of your stand mixer. Add what looks like an equal amount of flour, and a large pinch of salt. Start mixing with the dough hook. If the mixture comes together after a few minutes and feels like the moisture content is right, then go with it. If it's too dry, add some water. If it's too wet, add some flour. Lick a little of it off your finger, and see if you like the salt level. Add more as desired. This is the fun way, if you ask me. It allows you to experiment with different levels of moisture and the results of your bread-making are always a surprise! As you practice more and more, the surprises tend to start getting better.

My favorite texture of bread has resulted from dough that is nicely moist without being sticky, and that cleans the bowl while being mixed. 10 minutes of mixing on a low setting usually get the gluten developed enough for a nice, chewy and tender crumb.

When your dough is mixed, form it into a ball (wet your hands slightly to make it easy to handle) and place into a bowl that has been coated with olive or coconut oil. Cover this with a kitchen towel and place in a warm spot until doubled in size, 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Turn it out onto a floured counter, use your fingers to deflate it slightly, and form it into the desired shape. I always make mini-baguettes, since I don't have any fancy bread-making baskets and it's easy to use kitchen towels to prop it up while it does its second rise. Just place it on a floured pan, and sprinkle it generously with flour to prevent the towels from sticking. This second rise will take another 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

When it has doubled in size again, remove the towels, slash it a few times with a razor, and place it in a 450-degree oven. I am lucky enough to have a clay cloche, which creates an optimal level of moisture inside of it and contributes to a beautiful crust. If you don't have a cloche, don't fret - just put a small pan of water inside the oven so there is some moisture to assist the caramelization of the crust. Or don't do either of those things and your bread will still be delicious, just a little more pale and not as robust-tasting on the outside. It usually bakes for 30-40 minutes total, and will sound hollow when you tap on the bottom when it's finished.

Be sure to let the finished bread rest for at least an hour before cutting it!

Questions? Comments? Stories? Please share!

Fermented Mustard

There is something inexplicably satisfying about making your own condiments. Well, I guess actually it is explainable: they taste better and they are better for you. I love looking in my fridge and seeing mason jars with handwritten labels, instead of plastic bottles with brand names. It's so nice knowing exactly what's in my food! Always store your food in glass containers (no more plastics)!

The addition of whey (homemade from fermented milk) gives the mustard a longer shelf life, and also gives it those probiotics that we can never have too many of! Since I haven't documented my whey-making yet, here's a good reference for the time being. Plus, the fermentation helps break down the phytic acid that's present in the seeds!

It's very simple. Gather these ingredients:

1 cup whole mustard seeds
⅔ cup water
¼ cup raw apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons raw honey or maple syrup
¼ cup whey
2 tablespoons sea salt
juice from 1 organic lemon
4 cloves organic garlic, crushed

Of course you can omit the whey if you just want to get on with the mustard. It won't last quite as long and it won't be "alive", and there will still be some phytic acid, but it's still better than store-bought!

In a spice grinder, grind approximate 1/4 of the mustard seeds. I used yellow seeds, which are milder than brown, but you could use a combination of the two or all brown which will give you a sharper mustard. Combine in a 2-pint mason jar with the remaining ingredients. It will seem like there's too much liquid, but don't worry: the seeds will absorb it over the next few days. Cover tightly and transfer to a dark cabinet for three-four days. If you choose to leave out the whey, just skip the 3-day fermentation process in the cabinet and allow to sit in the fridge for a few days before eating.

That's it! Put it in the fridge to stop the fermentation process, and you have beautiful, grainy, mustard perfect for slathering on a sandwich, using in salad dressings, or as an accompaniment to your favorite meat.

Fermented Veggies/Beet Kvass

Kvass. "Kv" is a sound most of our mouths don't know how to make, which is no excuse not to be putting the stuff that the word represents in your mouth, you know what I mean? Beet kvass is the liquid that results from fermenting beets in a salt brine, which is the way that you ferment all the other fermentable vegetables. The process, called lacto-fermentation, is the way they preserved food before the invention of refrigeration. It basically allows the bacteria already present on the vegetable to proliferate, preserving the vegetable and creating helpful enzymes and antibiotic substances. It also enhances the digestibility of the vegetable and increases its vitamin levels! It infuses the intestine with friendly bacteria that contribute to a healthier immune system and decreases digestive-related problems. I know someone who, when experiencing heartburn, takes a swig of some fermented vegetable brine, and it goes away immediately! (It's me.) Oh, and I forgot to mention that the "pickles" that result are delicious!

The method is so simple, and the preparation takes hardly any time at all. It is the WAITING that is the hard part, as these can take between 1 and two weeks depending on how warm it is.

Well, we're not getting any younger so let's get started!

First, make your brine by combining:

1 tablespoon salt (this salt is really great) and
2 cups filtered water (or water that has been sitting out for 12 or more hours, so the chlorine evaporates)

Heat the water and the salt until the salt completely dissolves. I make an 8-times batch (so it's 8 Tbsp of salt to 16 cups water) and keep a big jug of it on hand so that it is even easier next time I want to preserve some veggies.

Prepare your vegetables (please use organic, they have more nutrients) by cutting them free of their stems and cutting them into bite-size chunks. I left the radishes whole as they are already bite-sized.

Place them in their jars. Notice I used a much larger jar for the beets, so I could have plenty of the liquid to drink once they're done fermenting.

Some recipes for fermented vegetables call for the addition of whey. You can choose to use whey that you have made yourself (commercial stuff isn't quite the same), or you can leave it out. It acts as an innoculent by supplying lactobacilli and getting the fermentation process started a bit faster, but I have found that the process has worked for me just fine without it.

It's important that the vegetables are totally submerged, as exposure to oxygen will allow bad stuff to grow (MOLD). So you can put a clean glass on the top of the jars for that purpose. Cover the jars with a coffee filter or paper towel and a rubber band, and put them in a cabinet that usually stays closed, since the process works best in the dark.

Aaaand nine days later, here we are.

Take off the coffee filter, and see if there is any mold on the beets themselves. Often it will grow on whatever you were using to keep the veggies submerged, which is fine. If it looks a bit grey, even if it's on some of the top vegetables, you are probably fine just throwing away the pieces that have mold.

If there is blue or green mold, chances are your batch went bad. Just to confirm, give your beets a little sniff. If you are sickened by the idea of eating them because it just smells WRONG, trust your nose!! If you smell it and you think "hm, that smells kind of different but I'm not repulsed" then your "pickles" are most likely fine. Another warning sign that you should toss them and give it another go is if your veggies are soft and soggy. Ones that have been fermented properly will have a nice crispiness to them, that gets even crispier when they are cold. Again, trust your instincts. Don't eat them if the smell makes you gag. This mold is fine:

Your veggies and kvass will have a slightly salty, slightly tangy flavor to them, one that if unfamiliar might make the reptile part of your brain that just knows that something is healthy go, "MM!"

Strain the liquid from the beets, and put them in a jar that is the right size to hold them. Cover with enough liquid so they are submerged (they should be stored this way to stay fresh). Once you've eaten all the beets, you'll have that much more kvass to drink. Put the rest of your kvass in its own jar. Have a shot with every meal, and you will notice it working almost right away! Next time you have a bout of indigestion, have a little swig, or a couple chunks of beets, and they will work wonders. Use the kvass as the "vinegar" in salad dressings. Add some sparkling water for a refreshing spritzer (or some champagne?).

Cost-wise, this is a no-brainer. I used 3 organic beets ($2.50), 2 quarts water (free), and 4 Tbsp (aka 1/4 cup) of salt (maybe $1) and got 2 quarts (ish) of kvass + the fermented vegetables themselves. That makes my kvass approximately 1/2 a cent per ounce. If you see it sold in the stores, you'll pay somewhere in the ballpark of $4.99 for a 12-oz bottle, which for us only cost $0.66!

Oh, and let's not forget our radishes. They look different from when we started, as all their color leeched into the water. Not to worry! They are crispy and delicious too! What a great garnish for a salad!

Let's talk about eggs + Easy Mayonnaise

Mayo-naise. I love it. I could eat it by the spoonful.

Now, since mayonnaise is made up of so few ingredients (eggs and oil, and seasonings), I would say it's pretty important that those ingredients be of fantastic quality!

Books could be written on eggs and oil alone, so we'll just concentrate on eggs for today. Read about oil here! In the meantime, just promise me you'll never ever use canola oil ever again.

Eggs from happy, healthy chickens that are allowed to eat the right food and have space to live, are (obviously) healthier for us! Their omega-3's and omega-6's are balanced, instead of commercial eggs, which have ratios of omega-6 that are way too high (too many omega-6's and not enough omega-3's cause cancer and other inflammatory disease). With healthy eggs, there is hardly any reason to worry about salmonella! Buying eggs from a small farm instead of at the grocery store probably means they weren't washed with harmful chemicals, which strip eggs' natural protection (in many other countries they don't refrigerate their eggs because they leave in tact this natural protective layer).

There are so many terms that marketers use to make eggs sound better than they really are. Don't fall for them! The only eggs that you should be eating will have the words "PASTURE RAISED" on the box. "Cage free", "Free Range", and "Vegetarian Fed" might sound good, but are very misleading.

"Cage free" only means that the chickens were not in cages. They can still be confined in very close quarters inside a building where they are standing in their own feces and can barely move. They have little or no access to the outdoors.
"Free Range" means that the chickens were allowed “access” to the outside. So unfortunately, this means that chickens are crammed in large warehouses that have a small door on one end that opens to a few feet of outside dirt space. Most of the chickens never even know that door exists and couldn’t get there even if they wanted to.
"Vegetarian Fed", is the most misleading. Chickens, being carnivores, need access to bugs and insects. When they are "vegetarian fed", they were raised completely on industrialized feed (probably GMO) and NEVER allowed outside. Yucky (and sad).

"Pasture Raised" means exactly that. Chickens live outdoors with freedom to walk around, dig for insects, bask in the sun, and lay eggs that reflect their balanced lives. We are what we eat, right? So are chickens, and if we are going to eat their eggs, we better hope they were healthy and happy. If you compare a pastured egg yolk to a commercial egg yolk, you'll notice the healthy chicken's egg yolk is much brighter yellow, sometimes even orange. This reflects the chicken's nutrition! Pasture eggs have two-thirds more vitamin A, twice as many omega-3 fats, three times as much vitamin E and seven times more beta carotene!!

So, in short, buy eggs at your local farmer's market. Ask the farmer what their chickens eat. Ask if they use chemicals to clean their eggs. You might even try searching on craigslist for fresh eggs from people who have backyard chickens and can't eat all their eggs. It's worth it. Yes, you'll pay $6 or $7 instead of $3 for the "organic" eggs at the store (or the $1.50 on the ones with no fancy words - don't), but think of those extra few dollars as saving you SO MUCH future money on healthcare. Chemotherapy is pretty pricey, from what I hear.

I find it very interesting to read the label of the "best" mayonnaise on the market:

"America's #1 Mayonnaise is made with real*, simple ingredients: eggs, oil and vinegar. [Brand name] products are made with cage-free eggs.**"
Funny that they forgot to mention the sugar, calcium disodium EDTA, and "natural flavorings" (whatever those are?). There is an asterisk next to the word "real" which leads me nowhere, but I can assume that if the word "real" needs be defined, it doesn't mean what we think it means. The double asterisk after "cage-free eggs" directs me to a statement that only 50% of the eggs that they use are "cage-free"... So if they're bragging about that 50% (now that we know what it means), god only knows where the other 50% came from.

Great. So we're on the same page about our eggs. Good thing they're good eggs, because in this application, we will be enjoying them raw! The addition of the lemon juice increases their acidity also, so there is even less chance of contracting salmonella.

Equipment:
1 wide-mouth mason jar
Immersion blender

Ingredients:
3 large pastured egg yolks (if using small eggs, add an extra yolk)
1 1/4 cup light olive oil
Juice of 1 (organic) lemon
1/2 tsp salt

Separate your eggs, and put the yolks in the mason jar. Save/freeze the whites for another time. I made a double batch, as you can see from the photos. Add the lemon juice and the salt. Dump in the entire amount of oil. Stick the immersion blender to the bottom of the jar, and start blending. Watch it emulsify before your very eyes! Slowly move the blender up toward the top of the jar until all the oil has been incorporated. Taste. If it needs more salt, add more salt. If it needs to be thinned out, add a tablespoon of water and mix. That's it! Cancer-free mayonnaise! You can double the recipe like I did, just remember that since there are no preservatives, only make as much mayo as you can eat in a week!

Sprouted Lentils!

Lego my legume, you know what I mean? I don't. But for reals, legumes are known for being great sources of protein and fiber, which is true! They are full of potassium, calcium, zinc, niacin and vitamin K! They are also known for being hard to digest, causing, how you say... flatulence. This unattractive, smelly side effect is totally avoidable! Remember when we made almond milk and learned about phytic acid? Well, lentils are another one of those things that need a little bit of special attention before they are eaten. It's not much, and it's worth it. No one wants to sleep next to someone that has eaten unsprouted lentils for dinner!

An interesting way to think of sprouted legumes, nuts, grains, and seeds is that once their nutrients have been unlocked and the sprout appears, your body is able to digest it in much the way it digests a vegetable. Vegetables have live enzymes that are vital for your digestive process!

To sprout our lentils (this can be done with pretty much any dried bean):
1. Place them in a jar with clean water (the water should be at least double the height of the lentils) and put them, covered with a coffee filter, in a dark cabinet. *Note: After sprouting, you will have approximately double the amount that there was when they were dry. If you want a cup of sprouted lentils, start with a 1/2 cup of dried.
2. On the second day, drain the water, rinse the lentils, and return the jar (they should no longer be submerged in water) to its cabinet.
3. By day 3, you should see little tails coming out of the lentils. (If you're doing this in winter when it is cooler, it might take an additional day of rinsing).
4. Done! Eat them in salads, lightly steam them for a side dish or as the "meat" in tacos, or make them into a delicious soup!

Day 1:

Day 2:

Day 3:

Please ask any questions and share your experiences!

Almond Milk

Just the other day I says to myself, I says: "Hm, I'm really in the mood for some tricalcium phosphate, xanthan gum, potassium citrate, sunflower lecithin, vitamin a palmitate, ergocalciferol, and some dl-alpha tocopherol acetate!" Oh wait, no I didn't. I just wanted some almond milk, and that is what they put in the stuff at the store. Come on!

While it can't be denied that organic almonds are a touch on the expensive side, I'd say avoiding all that weird stuff mentioned above is worth the extra cost, yes?

Something interesting to know about almonds (all nuts for that matter, as well as legumes, seeds, and grains) is that they have what is called phytic acid, which can block your body's ability to absorb calcium, zinc, magnesium, iron and copper. It also inhibits certain enzymes from doing their jobs. Phytic acid is a lot of the reason that grain sensitivity is so prevalent in our society - because we are not preparing our grains (and legumes and nuts) properly. Read more about phytic acid here.

How do you prepare them properly, you ask? The answer is by soaking and/or sprouting them. Soaking them greatly reduces the level of phytic acid, whereas sprouting activates the nutrients stored inside of the seed (nut, grain, legume) that is meant to help it germinate when it's planted in the ground, thereby making those nutrients available for our bodies to use. We will be soaking our almonds, not sprouting them. For an example of sprouting, see the post on sprouted lentils.

1. Place 1-2 cups almonds in a bowl of water, and let soak overnight. (The more nuts you use, the thicker the milk will be).
2. Peel the almonds, if desired. This part is really fun, as the nut just slips out of its skin!
3. Drain the almonds from their soaking water and place with 4 cups of fresh water in a blender. Blend for a minute or so depending on the power of your blender, until the nuts and water are homogenous. Do this in 2 batches if necessary.
4. Place pulp in a cheesecloth-lined strainer over a bowl. Squeeze to release all the milk. (Save the remaining pulp for a future baking project).
5. Add a touch of vanilla extract, if desired.

That's it! It took no time at all and you'll be so glad you skipped all those chemicals. Also, the price of making your own is pretty comparable to the store-bought stuff.