What The F*ck Can I Eat?

   Country Crock, Brummel and Brown, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, Becel, Earthbalance, and Parkay only to name a few. The list of imposter butters goes on and on. Well, I say “I can believe it’s not butter and margarines are massive crock of shhh.” In theory margarine is promising yet it misses the mark entirely. And we owe it all to history's legendary midget antagonist Sir Napoleon. Napoleon saw that both his poorer subjects and his navy would benefit from having easy access to a cheap butter substitute, so he offered a prize for anyone who could create an adequate replacement.[1] Thank you Napoleon!

   So, suffice it to say margarine has been around a freakishly long time. I’d like to point out renaissance margarine was made from beef tallow and when compared to its present day counterpart really wasn’t all that bad. 20th Century margarine is made by a process called hydrogenation. This is when a vegetable oil (liquid) goes through a chemical process where hydrogen is forced in by means of extreme heat and pressure. This turns the liquid oil into a solid TRANS FAT.  If that isn’t sci-fi enough the solid oil is then bleached, colored yellow to look like butter, deodorized and lastly flavored to taste like butter. Voila! Margarine is born.

   The mass appeal of spreadable margarine is its claim to lower cholesterol and help fight heart disease. This simply is not the case.  Research shows that trans fatty acids may tend to act more like other hardened fats (mostly saturated) in affecting cholesterol levels. The replacement of naturally occurring fatty acids with trans fatty acids can lower concentrations of high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) “good cholesterol” as well as increase low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) “bad cholesterol”. Trans fatty acids may also adversely affect platelet function, consequently predisposing to thrombosis (blood clotting in the blood vessels)[2] . I could take up pages and pages presenting research on the negatives effects of consuming margarine. Lucky for your eyes and my fingers I am not going to. However, here are some resources that are enlightening and frightening. Trans Fatty Acids: Are The Effects Marginal? and Why is Butter Better?

   This is my favorite part of  WTF can I eat! I, Katey, am here to tell you EAT butter. You have been purchasing a product that tries so hard to be butter because you in fact miss the crap out of the real deal. Now, before you get all Paula Deen on my ass, I am advocating butter use in moderation.  I am also advocating butter that is raw unpasteurized and from grass fed cows. If you can’t find that the next best is organic. Oh, man I just realized I need to do a whole post on butter, next time.  If you are lactose sensitive Ghee (clarified butter) is a great alternative. It is free of lactose and has an amazingly sweet grassy flavor.   Remember butter is your friend and will take you back. Even after you stabbed it in the back with a knife covered in margarine.  

 

 

 

 

** What are some classic recipes you would like to see made into healthier version? Leave ideas in comment area. THANKS!! **

 

[1] “Margarine.” www.Wikipedia.org

[1] Harmer, Brian. “Margarine is Bad, Butter is Good.”www.nz.com. 28 Sep.1994

Slurp On This!

 With a fridge full of squash halves and boredom with my standard way of preparing them. I decided to make a clean out the fridge soup. Soup is the perfect way to use up vegetables on their last leg.

Three Piece Squash and Apple Soup 

3/4 apple**

1 small  Japanese sweet potato

1/2 small  Kabocha squash

1/2 small  Butternut squash

1/2 small  Buttercup squash

1 small  roasted head of garlic (will only use half)

2 Tbsp. Melted coconut oil 

Knob of  butter or coconut oil**

1/2 small  yellow onion, chopped 

1/2  jalapeno pepper,chopped

3-4 C. water or high quality stock

2 pinches smoked sea salt

3 grinds cracked black pepper

1. Preheat Oven to 425
2. Cut Apple, Potato, and Squash into small chunks.Cut the top off the head of garlic to expose the cloves
3. Toss everything in coconut oil, put on cookie sheet. Roast until deliciously brown and caramelized
4. While apple and veg is roasting, sautee onion and jalapeno until onions become soft and transparent                                                                                                                   5. Add water or stock, jalapeno, onion, roasted garlic, salt, and pepper into a high speed blender. Whirl on high until well combined.
6.  Add roasted veg and apple, flip on high and blend until creamy

**Recipe Notes:
I used a honeycrisp apple but any sweet apple will do (honeycrisp, gala, fuji)
Leave in the jalapeno's ribs and seeds for a spicier soup
If you use butter please make sure it comes from happy grass fed cows!
You could also sub whole milk or  unsweetened almond milk for some of the liquid.This will result in a silkier mouth feel. If you like a thicker soup use less liquid. If you like a thinner soup add more!


Have fun with toppings. I am a texture and crunch fiend. So, I say the more toppings the better.

All of these would be great additions and would add to the complexity of flavor.

• Toasted Flaked coconut 
• Toasted pumpkin or sunflower seed
• Sliced green onion
• Crispy onions (made by shallow frying)
• Crumbled bacon 

HAPPY COOKING!!!


P.S. I would like to clarify that all ingredients used in my recipes are organic and of the best quality. I don't like to reference each ingredient as organic this, organic that because I feel it is a tad redundant and kinda snobby sounding.

Here's To You California , You Saucy Minx

Steamed Broccoli with A Killer Tahini Sauce

I know, I know, steamed and broccoli are two words that makes us cringe when seen put together. In all honesty this recipe is about the sauce. This sauce could make a shoe taste amazing. When a sauce is flavorful I tend to simply prepare the veg. Steaming vegetables makes for the perfect canvas.

I have to give a shout out to Dharmas Restaurant in Santa Cruz, California, they make the most ridiculous tahini sauce. I have been pinning for it ever since I moved from California to Vancouver (B.C.). So, I finally broke down and created my own.

Tahini Sauce 

1/2 cup Tahini

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2- 3/4 cup cups water ( I used less water because I like a thick luscious sauce)

2 tablespoons barley miso (optional)**

1 teaspoons toasted cumin seed, ground

1/2- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1 clove garlic

1 small knob of ginger (peeled)

A squeeze of honey or very small pinch of stevia

1/2 teaspoon tamari

1/4 teaspoon smoked sea salt (can use reg. sea salt)

1. Toast cumin in a dry skillet until it perfumes your nose

2.  Toss everything in blender, Whirl on high until well combined 

3. Steam Broccoli 

4. Serve it up and enjoy!!

**If you omit the miso use less water. The miso adds thickness to the sauce. 

This sauce is outstanding over sweet potatoes or grains like brown rice or quinoa.

P.S.  My camera glitched out on me while I was trying to take a picture of the finished dish. Be back up and running soon. 

Old Dogs Can Learn New Tricks!

   Bitter, Sour, Salty, Sweet four words I could use to sum up my last relationship but I digress. These words are used to describe the flavors, which are at the core of everything we eat. Time and time again I come cross people who say they can’t cook. This simply is not true; yes some people have the innate ability to dive in there and intuitively put an amazing dish together; truth is anyone can cook. All it takes is knowing the building blocks of flavors and being properly armed with tricks to fix mistakes that occur when the kitchen starts eating you alive. Whole books have been dedicated to flavor profiling. I’m going to give my quick and dirty version.                                                                                              

  Bitter ingredients are like the red headed step-child under appreciated, and without him you would have no one to out shine. Bitters are used primarily to stimulate the appetite and enhance its three other siblings sour, salty and sweet. Some examples would be escarole, dandelion greens, uncured olives, and citrus peel. It can be added at the beginning of cooking for an understated oomph or at the end to really lend a hand to a dish.

   If you have ever heard a cook or have seen a recipe call for “acid” this is the sour component.  It is used to brighten flavors and cut richness or fattiness. If a recipe seems to coat the tongue with fat or its flavors aren’t standing out acid should be used. Citrus juice and vinegars are two commonly used sour ingredients. Be light handed, you can always add more but you can’t subtract.                                                          

  Ohhh salt, it is the staple on every counter-top and table,the king of the kitchen. It can make or break your cooking experience. Salt is the steroid for food. It makes any ugly ducking a beautiful swan. For instance, an avocado without salt has a subtle flavor. Add salt and WHAM the essence of the avocado comes out. If the recipe you’re making seems flat it probably needs salt.  There are so many different salts on the market smoked salts, sea salts, grey salts. However, bacon, tamari, or pickled vegetables can sometimes be used as the salty element.

  Sweet, the bow that ties up a recipe into a neat little package. It balances and rounds out the other flavors. Sweetness is the detail in a dish that is rarely detectable, but if it wasn’t present you would know.  Honey, molasses, fruits, carrots, maple syrup, and cooked onion can all be used to add sweetness to a dish.  

So, where does this leave you in terms of cooking? Well, the goal is achieve a balance between these four flavors. Here is a helpful guide to use when things just aren’t coming together..

• Too spicy? Add some sweetness
• Too sweet? Add some sour
• Too sour? Add sweet
• Too bland? Add salt
• Too salty? Add sour or sweet
• Just needs a certain something? Add acid
• Needs more depth? Start with salt
• Too harsh?  Add a touch of sweetness

And ALWAYS TASTE AS YOU GO!

What The F*ck Can I Eat?

   We are bombarded by new nutritional information constantly this is a beautiful but also very frustrating thing. I think we all at some time or another have reached a breaking point and were left thinking,what the f*ck can I eat then. Everything seems bad for you one second, good for you another and then the always opportunistic, hell with all this healthy eating rubbish kicks in and you stick to your tried and allegedly true ways of eating. Well not anymore!

   This is the first installment in a series of posts titled What The F*ck Can I Eat. They will be dedicated to tearing apart and demystifying all of our favorite shame based foods or classic recipes. What I write here is NOT the end all be all of eating because I am hardly a guru.  However, this is a good jumping off point for those wanting to make a change.  At some point you will damning me to hell because I am  "taking away" that one beloved food you can not imagine your world without; only to later have you singing my praises because I will leave you with a healthier more nutrient dense alternative.But don't let my need to be a deity confuse you. I know some things are damn good because they are oh so naughty, Bearnaise sauce being one of them, bacon another. I'm proposing balance people!! FYI the whole bacon trend is on its way out in culinary world so impress your friends and get hip to the new fad ingredients. Believe it or not ancient whole grains is one of them (ie. farro, quinoa ,millet). 

  So, in honor of Valentines Day, today's food is........CHOCOLATE shocking, I know! It hurts to have to do this to you, it really does because I ,too, love chocolatey goodness. I have been known to seek out and destroy people's(my ex landlords) secret stashes; to later realize that the bar I just inhaled was indeed from France and there was no way of my replacing it. So I get the whole desperate times call for desperate measures bit. But when you do have your head on straight and chocolate radar isn't in full effect, there is a healthier way to choose and even prepare your own chocolate. 

    

   Now, all chocolate is not created equal. There has been a lot of hoopla about dark chocolate and its antioxidant qualities. In my opinion that whole craze gave way to people justifying all chocolate all the time. When in all actuality your standard chocolate bar, even dark chocolate, is not that much of a nutritional power house. Most cocoa used to make chocolate has been taken from is raw state where it is referred to as cacao and has been heated and or roasted. It also undergoes dutch processing where alkaline salts are used to improve texture and flavor and give certain chocolates their distinct flavor, like Hersheys for example. All of these steps reduce the concentration of flavanols and weaken its high antioxidant value. Leaving the levels of active nutrients and health benefits greatly lowered. Not to mention dutch processed chocolate creates caffeine by a complicated chemical reaction (any chemists in the building?), and therefore can be a contributing factor along with the added sugar to adrenal fatigue.  

   

   So, what the f*ck can you eat? Well,there are great organic, raw, unprocessed chocolate brands on the market.These kinds of chocolate are still in CACAO form and are rich in minerals and chocked full of antioxidants. Some of my fav brands are Lulus ,Zimt , and if your not feeling like chocolate in bar form Hail Merry has some awesome chocolate desserts.  

   

    If you're feeling really ambitious you can make your own home made chocolate. My girl Maria over at Bountiful Body has a great recipe for Everyday Chocolate. I made my version, which is very similar, at Christmas and turned it into bark loaded with pistachios and cranberries. Can you think of anything better than customized chocolate ( the answer is NO!). I promise you this type of chocolate tastes just as good. I don't joke about flavor. Now, go get that chocolate and find someone sweet to share it with.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Its Mine All Mine...

    Recipes, who doesn’t want to be the master mind behind creating something delicious, or want to be the hit of the party and impress all the mere mortals that brought the canned dip and chips. When can one actually claim a recipe as being their own? Well, almost all recipes are variations of someone else's brilliant discovery that happened long ago. But there is a way to properly rip someone off. A recipe can be touted as yours after making at least THREE changes to either ingredients and/or cooking method. Could it be any simpler?

   This magic number can be a comfort to the aforementioned dip bringer. The timid cook can feel more at ease and let go of the stress associated with being in the kitchen when they have a base recipe to work off of. And after just a mere 3 changes even a dipper can feel like a bona fide chef with a recipe to call their very own. Cooking is about letting go, being playful; now baking that’s a whole different ball game. Sometimes your food is a flop, sometimes it is sheer mouth bliss (bliss sauce recipe to come!).  So like Frankie says RELAX.

   Side note >> I won’t be posting any recipes until my camera is up and running. I feel obligated to all the foodies to post with photographs. Nothing is worse than opening a cook book and seeing page after page of recipes and no eye candy. Same goes for blogs in my opinion. So sit tight there coming I promise. Now get out there and get cookin’!

Can you identify the “that’s what she said” part of this post? Is that so 2008/09?  Are we over that saying? Ah-well, old habits die hard.

The Little Blog That Could

 The blog world has pouted its lips, batted its eyes and flirted with me for months now and I have decided to take it home and give it the old college try. So let’s hope it has warm hands and makes me forget about its millions of other lovers. 

  Here is a little about me without giving it all away. I love food, adore food, would marry food if it wasn’t for that falling under some category of creepy fetish that ends in -philia. Well, perhaps I should be more specific I love healthy food; ah damn I did it dropped the H bomb; and I’m going to put the nail in the coffin by saying HEALTHY FOOD CAN/DOES TASTE GOOD.  I went to culinary school have been both classically and unconventionally trained (raw, vegan) so I’ve been around both blocks and neither one comes out a clear winner for reasons that will be discussed throughout this blog. My hope is to shed some light on this continuous tug of war between health and great tasting food. I hope to be a source of yummy recipes mixed with completely unrelated rants, rambles and other crumbs that are left in this melon sized noggin at the end of the day.

   So stayed tuned and keep coming back for more.