Yet another reason to eat less meat! (as if I needed one)

There’s a great article in the NY Times about the environmental implications of the meat industry. Eating grains rather than grain-fed animals would reduce pollution, feed more people, and cost less. It would also help to eliminate the overcrowding and inhumane conditions at many cattle ranches and pig farms and reduce the need for antibiotic injections for livestock. Overall it’s a much more sustainable way of eating.

I have been a vegetarian for almost 10 years now, and normally I don’t bother trying to convince other people to go vegetarian. First, it’s rude and annoying and no one wants to hear it, and second, you’ll probably never be able to convince someone to change their whole diet. They have to decide that for themselves.

But this article is really well written, so maybe I’ll be annoying just this one time and send it to my meat eating friends. After all, the moral of the story is just that eating LESS meat would be helpful both for the environment, and for the general public. Anyone who’s already buying organic milk and produce or looking for cage-free eggs might actually be open to this idea and start to make small changes to their diet. Baby steps, right?

If I want sugar, I’ll have some candy, thank you very much.

I’ve been trying to find yogurts sweetened with fruit juice rather than sugar, and it’s harder than you’d think! Even Stonyfield farms yogurts, and other organic yogurts, usually just put organic sugar in their products and call it a day. I eat a lot of yogurt and dairy in general, mostly for the protein but also because I love it.

So I was walking around in my local health food store (the Harvest market in Cambridge) and came upon this Liberte brand yogurt from Quebec. Actually they spell it yogourt. Crazy Canadians. But it is actually sweetened with fruit juice, and interestingly, it advertised “six grains” in their fruit yogurt cups, including buckwheat, rice, barley, rye, and oats. They had basically said, “we see your fruit juice, and raise you some whole grains.”

Also, they had the typical strawberry and blueberry varieties, but also pear flavored yogurt, which I have never seen before. I didn’t really know what pear flavored yogurt would be like, but it was a new and intriguing idea to me. Of course I took the bait and bought some.

This is kind of like when I bought some celery flavored soda once because I had trouble envisioning what exactly a celery flavored beverage would taste like. I even had trouble remembering what celery tasted like at all, while I was pondering it in the deli. I cracked the can, had a sip, and thought, “oh yes, this is exactly what celery tastes like. I am drinking celery.” And I wasn’t really sure if I was comfortable with that concept at the time, but now at least I can say that I have had celery soda.

Anyway, this yogurt is very good, but a little disappointing. The yogurt itself is very rich, considering how low in fat it is. And it’s not too sweet, just sweet enough to dull the pure tanginess of plain yogurt. The fruit flavor is really subtle, but I actually thought that was a good compromise compared to other brands, which can get really syrupy and too sweet. However, the whole grains that I was so excited about are pretty sparse: there are a few grains of barley and rice here and there but not as much as I had hoped. Oh well. I’ll probably just dump some granola in it anyway.

The difference in nutritional values between this yogurt and others (I’m using Stonyfield Farms peach yogurt for comparison) isn’t exactly striking, but it’s there. Liberte has 23g carbs, with 18 from sugar. Stonyfield fruit on the bottom has 25g carbs with 23 from sugar. Liberte also has less sodium (90mg compared with 120 in the Stonyfield), and slightly more iron, vitamin A, and vitamin C. Overall, especially since the yogurt tastes better and the cost is similar between the two, the Liberte seems like a better option.

I don’t need sugar to be hiding in my food. If I want some sugar, it’s not hard to find. There’s a vending machine down the hall and I have a soft spot for reese’s peanut butter cups. Mmm…. But until then, fruit will do just fine.

too… many… recipes…. can’t… choose… >superman kryptonite voice<

So my bread came out ok, but the type of bread I really love is the super hippy, whole grain, no white flour, ultra dense, clear out your intestines bread. I usually buy Alvarado Street Bakery Bread, especially the “California Style Complete Protein” bread, which has sprouted wheat berries and sprouted lentils, and soybeans and all kinds of other crunchy granola things that make me salivate in the supermarket.

I want to make bread like this. I thought maybe going to the Bob’s Red Mill website would help, since I have basically bought out their selection of wheat, bran, flaxseed meal, etc from my local supermarket in order to make said whole grain bread. But there are just too many recipes! I did a search for “breads” and there were about 1000 recipes. I cannot deal with these unlimited options! I am paralyzed with indecision at the sight of them. So I’m going to have to either alter the recipe I have and wing it or find something else to guide me.

But anyway, looking at the ingredients of the whole grain breads I  love so dearly, they talk about sprouting wheat and soybeans and lentils…. everything sprouted. So what does that even mean?, I thought to myself. Well, Google knows all, so off I went.

It turns out that this is something you can do at home, but it does take some time. Normally whenever instructions include the words “2 to 3 days before” or “overnight” I get ADD and drop the recipe like a hot potato, moving on to something with more instant gratification. But I think with this, there’s no getting around it. It takes a while. It’s almost like waiting for grass to grow…. wait. No, it’s exactly like that.

But some kind people have put up good tutorials: Chile Chew’s blog has a great set of instructions for sprouting wheat berries. I especially like the part about pouring the wheat in a natural breeze. haha… too bad I live in the city. Although apparently a fan would do. I can just image Alex coming in the room while I’m attentively pouring things into a large bowl in front of a fan. “Um, WTF.” This one also has good directions, and I think that’s an actual sprouter bowl thingy in the picture, but it looks almost like a salad spinner. I bet you could use that instead…There’s even a website called sprouting.com which has all kinds of equipment and supplies for making your own sprouts, and gives directions for home sprouting in a jar. I also found a great bread baking blog called the Fresh Loaf, which has some basic instructions on adapting bread recipes, and a picture of a great looking sprouted wheat bread that’s really inspiring. I have been lusting after Peter Rhinehart’s whole grain bread book, and I think this has pushed me over the edge to actually buy it.

This whole thing reminds me of growing some little bean sprouts in damp paper towels in biology class in junior high. I guess it’s basically the same thing… minus the awful preteens.

Anyway, just when I thought I was all stocked up on hippy stuff, now I realize that I need much much more hippy stuff so I can sprout things. Damn it.

What else can I pulverize?

I’m obsessed with my food processor lately. I have an 11 cup Cuisinart, and I am madly in love with it. You might catch me whispering sweet nothings to it while I’m making hummus and saving myself lots of money. I was given this as a gift from my parents for xmas one year. It might be the best money they’ve ever spent on a gift for me.

Anything in paste form, or pureed or chopped — damn straight, I’m going to make it myself.

For hummus, I use a 15oz can of chickpeas, the juice of 1 lemon, one clove of garlic, 2 or 3 tablespoons of tahini, and some olive oil added slowly until it’s the right consistency.

I’ve also made different flavors of hummus by adding kalamata olives, roasted red pepper, artichoke hearts, roasted garlic, chipotle peppers, etc… You really can’t mess up hummus.

I’ve also made baba ghanouj: Roast an eggplant at 450 degrees (sliced in half lengthwise) until it starts to get blackened on the top, throw in a bulb of garlic wrapped in aluminum foil too while you’re at it. Drain as much water from the eggplant as possible, and puree it with some olive oil, tahini, and lemon juice. Very similar to hummus, but so delicious. You can get a whole dinner out of these two recipes: throw in some whole wheat pita bread and a mixed green salad and you’re set. Add some goat cheese or yogurt on the side and you’ve got a complete meal.

One last food processor recipe, and I’ll stop with the Cuisinart love-fest for the day: the sofrito from Daisy Cooks! on PBS. This is a chopped mixture of garlic, onion, pepper, and cilantro that you can use in so many dishes for flavoring. I used plain jalapeno peppers, in place of the ajices dulces, since I like a little more heat. I made a batch of this and stored it in a tupperware container in my refrigerator. It kept for a couple weeks, and since I used it almost every day, none of it went to waste. Throw a couple tablespoons of this magical stuff in a pan with a little oil whenever you saute some veggies or make a stew or soup. It really adds a nice flavor and it’s so much easier than trying to get cilantro to keep from wilting in your refrigerator. Plus you won’t have to bother peeling and chopping garlic each time you cook! This stuff calls for 16-20 cloves! I remember thinking, “The entire world is going to smell my breath after this” but it’s actually a good amount of garlic, I promise!

Anyway, try it. You’ll want to keep some in your fridge at all times. Alright, I’m going to go hug my food processor again — it looks lonely! I’m coming, my pretty!

Why I can’t ever be on a low carb diet.

I just like bread way too much. Sorry dudes but bread and pasta are two things that I cannot part with. Here’s the multigrain bread — all done! Seriously, I might never buy bread again. Usually I’m willing to open my wallet and close my eyes as soon as a product says “whole grain” or “flax” or “soy” on it. It’s a weakness. I’m working on it. In the meanwhile, maybe I’ll learn to make some things for myself. The hippie-flax-grain bread companies may notice their profits plummeting in the coming weeks without my business. Sorry, bread people!

I’d definitely recommend this recipe. Using the 10-grain or 7-grain hot cereal for the whole grain component was easy — I only had to spend my money on one product, which I really appreciated.

The bread is chewy and fluffy, and is nice and crusty on the outside. It would be great with soup or toasted. Maybe too crusty for sandwiches though… although it would be great with some cheese or peanut butter spread on top.

The thought of peanut butter and raisins on this bread has just claimed my full and complete attention. Kbye!!!

You mean I can have cookies for breakfast???

One of my favorite cooking shows is Healthy Appetite on the Food Network. This is one of the only shows that specializes in healthy food. Ellie Krieger, the host, always incorporates healthier fats and whole grains in her dishes and eliminates as much sugar as possible, even from baked goods.

A great example is the BreakfastCookies that were featured on today’s show. These great cookies incorporate bran flakes and oats, whole wheat flour, and use only 1/2 cup white flour and 3 tablespoons of white sugar. I bet you could even use honey instead if you wanted to get rid of all the white sugar. She also uses baby food, pureed carrots, which I never would have thought of, but it’s so smart! If you don’t want to buy premade baby food, you could puree your own carrots and store them in a jar for quick access.

This works great for other things as well. I have a jar of pureed ginger that works wonders whenever I want to add ginger to cakes, cookies, or even stir fry sauces. No more dealing with peeling ginger while my veggies burn or having to get rid of the stringy remains. Just puree all of it and then throw in spoonfuls as you need it. It really makes me wonder why I ever bothered to mince or grate it.

I’ve got a multigrain bread rising right now, and it’s actually my first attempt at multigrain bread, so we’ll see how it goes! I’m using this recipe from epicurious.com. I love it because it has so few ingredients. The only change I’m making is to use one third rye flour instead of all white flour. I ran out of whole wheat flour, damn it, but otherwise I would have used that. From the reviews, it sounds like using a 50/50 mixture of whole wheat and regular would work perfectly well, but I’d go ahead and use all whole wheat and add a couple tablespoons of extra wheat gluten to make sure it rose enough. I’ll update with the results soon!

So unrefined.

In this blog, I’ll be writing about Real Food. Simple, vegetarian food with fresh ingredients, whole grains, and lots of nutrients. Baked goods reinvented to include whole wheat and grains and less sugar. Meat dishes reinvented to be veggie-friendly. Reviews of recipes and other food sites. You name it. As long as it’s unrefined, I’m there.