back to basics

It’s been a few years now since I found myself brave enough to make yeast bread. It’s not difficult at all, but my mom has a hate/hate relationship with yeast, so I grew up thinking it would be fairly difficult to make a yeast bread. I really should have thought things through more, since my grandma used to bake all of her own bread. She would talk about going through 50 pounds of flour a week, just to make sandwiches for her family (back in the days where many people in this country actually worked manual labor).

I must say, that whether it’s bread or pizza dough, I am SO happy to be making these foods myself. I love the yeasty smell my home has after making the dough, and I love all of the different variations out there. This article contains two recipes, one for brioche and one for a basic honey white. So tasty!

Tomorrow I am pulling some pizza dough out of the freezer for our Super Bowl meal. I’m telling you, no frozen pizza or delivery is as good as making it yourself. I’ll post that recipe tomorrow!

If there’s ever a case for eating as few food products as possible, I think the peanut problems the US is going through right now makes the case. I know what you might be thinking, that there have been problems from produce as well…and to that I say that’s a good reason to buy local as much as you can!

Really, buying local, whether it’s produce or meat, is the best option you have. You have a chance to not only see where you food comes from, but to talk with the people who grow/raise it. And, it’s cheaper than you’d think.

Yes, if  you buy meat from a local farm (say 1/4 of a steer), your upfront payment is more, which means saving some money may be in order. But you’ll freeze everything, and in the end likely pay less per pound (or the equivalent) than if you’d bought all of that meat from the grocery store. Plus, you now know exactly what you’re getting, and there’s a lot less worry that your family will get sick.

And maybe it’s just my experience, but I’ve never heard of a salmonella or e. coli outbreak from food I’ve purchased from the farmer’s market. To really take advantage of seasonality, you could purchase a share in a CSA (community sponsored agriculture). You’ll get a weekly box of produce from a farm (some will allow you to add fresh eggs as well). You’ll have a chance to eat new foods, and you’ll really be eating seasonally based on what’s available…the way humans ate until about 100 years ago.

Don’t try to make all changes at once. I’ve been there, and it’s a little overwhelming. But, the more you try to buy foods from your area (or at least know the source), the better off your health will be, and the better for the world around you.

I started reading Fast Food Nation last night. It definitely brought back some memories (my first job was at McDonald’s when I was 16). It’s funny, because back then, I didn’t think twice when I was told I had to punch out, because we would get in trouble if I was on the clock past the time I was supposed to be…and yet I was suppossed to stay to finish my work, even if that was another hour or two after we closed.

I didn’t get paid for that time.

Apparently, that’s very common in the fast food industry, and there have been lawsuits over unpaid overtime wages. As a teen who wanted to prove I had a strong work ethic, it simply didn’t occur to me that I should speak up.

The thing is, in the US, those type of workplace “ethics” extend way beyond the fast food industry. I worked at a job that went back and forth between whether or not we should be hourly or salaried. They paid people for 8 hours a day, even if they worked more…but if you worked 9 hours (but could log Monday through Thursday, and then had to leave 1 hour early on Friday…you would only get paid 7 hours on Friday. It sucks, because people will put up with that when the job market isn’t strong. I worry now that more and more places will take advantage of their workers, because these people will be so happy to just have a job, and they won’t want to jeopardize that.

I don’t know what the solution is. I see so many things in our society that I would like to change, but other than changing my life, I’m not sure much is possible beyond that. I’ll have to keep thinking this over.

I’m sad. I looked at the ingredients list of my favorite blueberry scones (from Panera Bread), and they contain high fructose corn syrup, which means I can’t eat them anymore. Now, scones are not particularly difficult to make, but I did enjoy stopped for a scone every now and then.

Since my discovery, I’ve been thinking about whipping up a batch of scones. Instead of baking them all off this time, I’ll roll out the dough, cut the scones, and then freeze them. Freshly baked scones are the best, and it really only takes a little longer to bake frozen dough.

AND, now I know exactly what is going into my scones, and how much of it. I mean, the Panera scones had both sugar and high fructose corn syrup. I use about 2 tablespoons of sugar in the entire batch when I make them, so why do they need to use multiple types of sweeteners?

It’s really getting difficult to make any food choices, regardless of where you make your purchases. Unless you know the farmer who is growing or raising the food, it’s really tough to know what you’re getting.

It’s all rather depressing. I can’t help but wonder how much longer we are going to live like this. With the economy in the state that it’s in, many people struggle to purchase any food, let alone be in a position where they can search out healthy food.

I learned a lesson. I saw an episode of America’s Test Kitchen yesterday, in which they made French onion soup. Now, the caramelized onions and triple deglazing looked fantastic, so I decided I would make it for lunch today.

In the summer, I try to purchase the produce that looks good, and design my cooking around it. I really should be doing the same thing in the winter. This recipe calls for 6 large yellow onions, or 4 pounds of onions. My store only had small yellow onions and large white onions. So I decided to buy 2 white onions and a big bag of the little yellow onions.

I start chopping onions and realize the white onions are bad. Both of them. Most of the small onions are green in the middle, so they are old too. I’m getting annoyed at how many onions I’m peeling…I can chop onions quickly, but peeling just gets messy, especially when you have a small workspace and cutting board.

Now I’m swearing up a storm and yelling at myself for picking a dish before checking on the quality of the ingredients. Then I reminded myself that these onions all looked fine, and I made the decision not to go to another store to look for large yellow onions.

The onions are now in the oven and are giving off a scent so powerful that my eyes are watering! Once the are caramelized, it will all be worth it, but until then I will be sniffling and blinking much more than usual.

Oh well, the end product should be worth it. It’s an extremely cold day, and nothing is more satisfying than a warm, rich bowl of soup. And soup topped with a crouton and cheese? Now that is perfection.

I just ordered this book. I’ve heard great things about it, and I’ve wanted to read it for awhile now. Since I’m wrapping up The Omnivore’s Dilemma, I’m due for a new food book. I’m especially interested in Fast Food Nation, because I am in the 1 of 4 people whose first job was at McDonald’s. I worked there the summer of my 16th year, and after that experience I could safely say that I would never eat a fast food breakfast or salad again.

Wait…salad? You see, I worked the breakfast shift, which included prepping the store for the day. I stocked everything, brewed the tea for ice tea, and made the salads for the day. I’m dating myself here, but that’s back when all that was offered was a chef salad and garden salad. The cut up meat was in bins in the fridge, the hard-boiled eggs were in another bin, basically all I had to do was assemble. It didn’t matter if the lettuce was browning, the vegetables slimey, it all still went into the salads. Yuck.

It took longer for me to give up the regular menu items (big macs, cheeseburgers, etc). It was Supersize Me that convinced me of that, especially the end. Seeing that food sit out at room temperature and never grow mold…that did the trick for me. I just started to think, if bacteria don’t want this “food,” what on earth is it doing to my insides?

Slowly, that mindset went beyond fast food. Think of all of the foods lining supermarket shelves… now think of the foods in your supermarket’s bakery. Former coworkers conducted an experiment in which they left a few remaining birthday cupcakes out on their desks. One year later, those cupcakes hadn’t grown mold, though they were hard as rocks. Those tiny cakes were made with vegetable shortening, a trans-fat. Bacteria didn’t want it, and they are much less discriminating, so why should I eat it?

It can be tough to avoid these foods all of the time. People bring them to parties, and frankly, some of these bad foods just taste good. But when you look at the food, just think to yourself, if bacteria won’t eat it, do you really want to?

I was remarkably headache-free during my two week challenge. The past two days I have consumed a few snacks from the natural foods aisle. You would think these wouldn’t be too bad for you. Whether it’s from the snacks, decreased sugar in my diet, or simply not drinking as much coffee yesterday (it tasted bitter) or today (weak), I have a headache that I can’t shake.

Now, it’s not an awful headache, I can still function. Then again, I’ve often been forced to function while having a migraine, so I suppose my threshold for pain when it comes to headaches is quite high.

What I can say is that I believe this will serve as a nice motivator to continue to try to make the best choices possible when it comes to the food I eat. That doesn’t mean I’ll never eat dessert, it means I need to continue the path of making my own desserts (so I know what’s in them) and most of my own food.

As my two week challenge draws to a close, I want to take a moment to think about what I’ve gotten from this experience. The most important aspect is that I really can make some quick meals, eat them without feeling rushed, and clean up the kitchen in an hour’s time. I think my problem to this point has been in feeling the need to create more extravagant meals when I cook; not necessarily things that are impressive, but definitely things that are time consuming.

Searching out some quick-cooking was important to this. The peeled and deveined frozen shrimp are now a freezer staple in my house. I’m able to make a 1 portion meal using this protein. Individually wrapped chicken breasts are also important. They store well in the freezer and are easy to thaw in water. One of these is about 2 portions for me, so they work great for utilizing leftovers in salads or sandwiches.

And yet…I’ve had some odd cravings near the end of the challenge. First there was the mad cheeseburger craving. Granted, it was late at night and I was getting hungry before bed, and our temperatures had been sub zero for days, so craving a grilled burger (a summer food) probably wasn’t all that strange. The following day, however, I wanted a hotdog with kraft macaroni and cheese. Talk about wanting processed food! Again, since I only eat hotdogs once or twice a year, and only eat them grilled, I’m guessing what I was really craving was summer.

No idea as to why I wanted macaroni and cheese out of the box, though. It’s not even a traditional comfort food for me, as I started eating that in college.

This challenge has definitely yielded some unforseen results. As my grill is covered in snow, I doubt I will be having any burgers anytime soon, but that’s okay. Because I could not feed my craving, I have realized I’m willing to wait for the real deal.

And that’s a good outcome of the challenge.

In an effort to get more “true” whole grains into my diet, I’ve been wanting to try wheatberries for awhile now. When I say true whole grains, I mean actually eating grains, not grains that have been ground or refined into flour. I don’t think they are all that “whole” anymore.

Basically, wheatberries are what are ground down into whole wheat flour. They are also delicious in their “before” capacity. All you have to do is cook them in simmering water for 45-60 minutes, then serve. I made this salad: http://cookingwithina.com/2009/01/16/wheatberry-salad/

It’s really quite delicious, and it’s better the longer it sits. I adore balsamic vinegar, and it really melds nicely with the fresh chopped vegetables in this salad. I think a scoop of this salad would be particularly lovely incorporated into a larger green salad, as well.

This salad is also great to make mid-way through the week when you’re trying to use up vegetables, cooked or raw - just chop them up and toss them in. Because the salad is best served at room temperature, I think it would be wonderful at picnics, though you may need a more adventurous croud to try it. I think I will take this to a family event to see how it’s received. My family is picky and from a meat and potatoes background, so it should be interesting!

This weekend, I think I’m going to make demi-glace. It’s a rich French sauce that few people make from scratch anymore (I think a lot of chefs even buy it) because it’s so labor-intensive and time-consuming, but I’ve always wanted to try it. Plus, I have a piece of venison in my freezer that I need to make, and I found an interesting-looking recipe that requires demi-glace.

I’m not a big venison fan, but I come from a family of hunters. I promised my dad I would try it again (this was back in September, I think), and I’ve been searching for a recipe ever since. It’s been 10 years since I last venison, when I had the brainiac idea to make a venison & broccoli stir-fry.

Who knew that broccoli could taste like venison?

If you’re guessing the dish was atrocious, you would be right. But, my skills in the kitchen a lot better now than they were 10 years ago, so perhaps I can make this dish tasty.

Now I just have to find a nice demi-glace recipe. Something tells me I will have to break out Julia’s book for this one.