Focaccia Bread

I tried making gluten free focaccia for the first time last night.  I would say it is a little on the dense side, but pretty darn good; so I will go ahead and share it.  It would definitely make a good pizza crust.

Focaccia is fun because you can keep it pretty simple with just a little salt and herbs sprinkled on top or you can do it a little more “pizza” style and add some more substantive toppings.  This time we did it with sun dried tomatoes, kalamata olives and some chopped fresh rosemary sprigs.  It was pretty awesome.

Focaccia

Gluten Free Focaccia/Pizza Dough

In a small bowl mix together and set aside:

1/2 C warm water (110-115°)

2 1/2 tsp yeast

1/2 tsp sugar

In a large bowl combine:

1/2 C brown rice flour

1/2 C sorghum flour

1/4 C Garfava bean flour

3/4 C tapioca starch

1/2 tsp xanthan gum

1/2 tsp salt

In another small bowl mix together:

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp cider vinegar

Measure out:

1/4-1/2 C warm water (110-115°)

Add the yeast mixture and egg mixture to the flour mix and combine.  Slowly add more warm water until you get a wet but workable dough texture.  It will not be stretchy/springy like wheat dough!  Don’t worry if it’s on the wet/sticky side.  It should be.

Grease a cookie sheet or pizza pan and press out dough  so that it is about 1/2 inch thick.  Brush with a little olive oil (I bet reserved egg would work well for this too) and press your toppings into the dough.

Let rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes (until dough has about doubled.

Bake in a 400° oven for 20 minutes.

Buckwheat Pancakes with Warm Apple Compote

A couple Sundays ago, we woke up with just about nothing to eat in the house, but I did have a few gluten free flour varieties, exactly 2 eggs and a tiny bit of rice milk–just enough for a batch of pancakes.

Lately, I’ve been using a flour blend with quinoa flour, but I was almost out of it and it’s a bit expensive; so, I’m trying to use less of it.  Instead, I grabbed a bag of buckwheat flour.  Mmmmm, sweet, nutty buckwheat.

Buckwheat is great because, despite its confusing name, it is NOT related to wheat and is therefore gluten-free.  It is a pseudocereal that is actually grain rather than a grass or true cereal. Buckwheat seems like a sort of exotic thing here in the US, but it used to be incredibly common because it grows well in short seasons and poor soil; however, it became much less common after the invention of nitrogen fertilizer, which it doesn’t like.  This means it has to be grown without it.  This is a good thing for those of us who like to avoid things grown in petroleum-based fertilizers.

Buckwheat also has some helpful medicinal qualities:  in has a lower glycemic index than many other grains/starches which might make it a good choice for diabetics. It is also a higher protein grain and has heart healthy properties that may reduce cholesterol.  And it’s just a plain yummy.  I always think it has a sweet yeast bread taste.  Who doesn’t like that?

Anyhow, I adapted the following recipe from Joy of Cooking:

Buckwheat Pancakes

Combine in large bowl:

1/2 C buckwheat flour

1/2 C sorghum flour

1/2 C Tapioca flour

1 tsp salt

2 Tbs sugar

1 3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp xanthan gum (optional)

In separate bowl combine:

2 eggs, whisked

3 Tbs vegetable oil

1–1 1/4 C rice milk (milk of your choice)

Add liquid ingredients to dry and combine well.

Cook on medium  heat.  Makes about 12 pancakes.

Dustin gets the credit for coming up with the warm apple compote.  As I said, we did not have much in the house including syrup and when I mentioned this fact, Dustin, from the bedroom yelled, “warm apple compote!” as though startled from sleep.  I had exactly 2 McIntosh apples in the fruit bowl.  Brilliant.

Small confession:  I rarely measure anything when I cook; so, I am going to be a little less precise about how to make the compote, but here’s what I did.

Apple Compote

2-3 Apples, peeled, cored and sliced into medium small pieces

a few Tbs butter/margerine

a handful of brown sugar (maybe 1/4 C-ish)

A couple dashes of cinnamon

(I told you it wouldn’t be precise.)

Melt butter in a small sauce pan, add the apples and saute for a few minutes.

Add the brown sugar and cinnamon.  At this point, I also added about a Tbs of water to thin it out a little.  Let it simmer for 2-3 minutes with the lid on and then it should be good to go!

No exaggeration:  This is shout-out-loud-at-the-table-oh-my-god-GOOD!

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Granola Bars

Here it is!  The first installment of this week’s recipe blitz.  Enjoy!

We eat a lot of peanut butter in this house.  Just sayin’.  I would also eat a lot of granola bars if they weren’t so expensive (especially for the gluten free variety) and so sweet.  So when we took a recent picnic excursion out of the city, I decided to try to to make my own healthier version.  Packed with protein, fiber and addictively yummy.

I may tweak this recipe a little more in the future, because they tend to get a little crumbly if they aren’t refrigerated, but it doesn’t matter too much since crumbs from these babies are just as good.

(side note:  if you aren’t gluten free, you can obviously just substitute regular oats.)

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Granola Bars

Heat oven to 350

Prepare 9 X 13 inch pan with with parchment paper

In a large bowl mix together:

2 Cups GF oats

1/4 C Almond meal flour (ground almonds)

1/2 C crushed nuts of choice

1/2 C golden raisins

In a large sauce pan combine and heat over medium heat (do not let it scorch!):

2/3 C peanut butter

1/3 C honey

2 tsp (GF) vanilla extract

When it is bubbling and smooth, add the oat/nut mix and stir until everything is evenly coated.  Then spread into prepared pan.  Don’t worry if it doesn’t spread to edges of the pan.  I like my granola bars a little thicker.

Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes.

Let cool and then cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours (I usually chill overnight)

When they are thoroughly chilled, lift the whole thing out of the pan, parchment paper and all and set on a cutting board.  Cut into bars and serve.  I usually just put the bars into an air-tight container and store in the refrigerator.

Does anyone else have some great granola bar recipes?  I’d love to try more.

Friends, Farms and a Recipe Blitz

Ahhhh, Mondays.  I usually loathe getting back into the routine on Mondays, but today I felt particularly refreshed and ready to tackle some projects after an amazing weekend.

On Saturday, we took the train to the end of the line to bicycle through the countryside to visit our wonderful friends Jon and Nikki on their fledgling permaculture farm in Dyer, IN.  It was great getting to see the progress they’ve made in just a few months including building a geodesic dome for year-round growing.

We’ve been longing to get out there to reconnect with the vision that got us here in the first place and finally on Sunday the rest of our Colorado crew, Jen and Jason, joined us in the first big reunion since we all set out on this joint venture.  It was glorious to come together, to dream big dreams, and realize that we’re ready to dive into the work to get us all there.  (More on the dream some other time.)

Most importantly we all got to enjoy some beautiful fall weather, camping, music, amazing garden food, trampoline joy and friends.  There’s no better way to start a new week.

So, to give myself a little bit of a challenge coming off of a fabulous weekend and to motivate me to write more and get working on developing more recipes, I’ve decided I am going to do a recipe blitz (not blintz…though that would be appropriate…and yummy…) this week.

The Challenge:  To post a new gluten free recipe every day the rest of this week!  That’s right, 4 days and 4 recipes.  This will be fun.  And delicious.  Are you drooling yet?

Why Cleaning Product Companies Think You Are Dumb: DIY Natural Cleaners

A friend of mine who works in the recycling field recently sent me this link for an article in BioCycle magazine about trace chemicals that make it to the earth’s water supply (and into our drinking water).  The reminder made more than a little paranoid about what we’re putting in our bodies!  It also made me redouble my efforts to ensure that I am not contributing to the problem.

You may be wondering about the title of this post.  The truth is, like most people out there I’ve always used commercially available household cleaners.  They are all there at the grocery store in neat little rows.  So easy to toss in the cart.  After all, who doesn’t want to spend less time scrubbing the tub?  But then it hit me:  we default to these products because of clever marketing, not because they actually clean better.  Now, I’m not anti-marketing, but I AM anti-not-thinking-for-oneself.

With a little thought, here’s what I concluded:

1.  If all of those cleaners contain warning labels not to ingest the chemicals, petroleum, fragrances, antibiotics, etc. that are in them, why would I drink water that has been contaminated with them?

2.  Basic household products like baking soda and white distilled vinegar can do the same things (I think even better sometimes) without the expense or the chemical exposure.

3.  It’s kind of fun and thrifty to start making your own natural household cleaners.  Why should I spend my hard-earned pennies supporting petrochemical production, when I can make my own cleaners for next to nothing?

The Science of Baking Soda and Vinegar

Remember the second grade science experiment  where you had to build a volcano, fill it with baking soda and then watch in delighted horror when someone added distilled vinegar?  It turns out that chemical reaction is useful for thinking about the chemical cleaning properties of these two ingredients.

Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is slightly alkaline without being caustic, which makes it useful for neutralizing acids (such as for indigestion or in partnership with vinegar) and is a more gentle choice for cleaning than most other chemicals out there.  It is great for deodorizing and gently exfoliating surfaces (including skin) as well as boosting the cleaning power of soaps/detergents.

White Distilled Vinegar is an acid which makes it great for dissolving mineral deposits, disinfecting surfacing, getting rid of mildew.  Don’t be put off by the smell.  I promise: you and your house will not smell permanently of pickles.  The smell dissipates as it dries.

DIY Natural Cleaners

There are countless recipes out there for cleaning solutions using things like baking soda, vinegar, borax, tee tree oil.  Here are a few of my personal favorites.

• All-Purpose Cleaner

Fill an old spray bottle with a solution of water and white distilled vinegar.  I like about 3 C water to 1 C Vinegar for most basic jobs, but a stronger solution is better if you want to use it to disinfect.

• Furniture Polish

For unvarnished make a solution of:  2 tsp olive oil & 2tsp lemon juice on a  dry cotton cloth.  Work into the wood. (You just need a very small amount)

• Laundry Boosters

This is an especially great approach if you cloth diaper like we do.  Add baking soda to the WASH cycle for a natural detergent booster, whitener and disinfectant.  Add white distilled vinegar to the RINSE cycle for a natural fabric softener. (Tip: use a fabric softener ball.)  This is also a great way to keep from getting soap build up in your clothes, linens and especially things like towels or wash clothes that are used with soap.

• Shampoo and Conditioner

I plan to write another post about personal hygiene products, but while we’re on the baking soda and vinegar kick, I thought I’d include it here.  Baking soda is great for washing your hair (and body).  It’s a fairly gentle exfolient, cuts through grease and rinses clean; however, because it does change the pH of hair, it’s best if you also use a solution of vinegar and water to rinse your hair to restore the pH.  Vinegar works great as a conditioner replacement.   Baking soda can start to dry out your hair if you give it this treatment too often, however.  I’d use this method if you’ve got a particularly tough case of scalp build up.

• Tub, Tile and Grout Cleaning

Make a paste out of baking soda and work it in for really stubborn stains.  Rinse with vinegar solution.  You can also just use the vinegar solution for your everyday tub wipe down.  This will help prevent the formation of mildew and soap scum.

• Surface Disinfectant

Just use full strength vinegar to wipe down surfaces.  Let air dry.

Tip:  If you miss the fragrances of your old products just add a few drops of essential plant oils such as orange or lavender.

What are your favorite cleaning “recipes”?

Composting Tips for the Urban Dweller

Want an easy way to reduce your carbon footprint, reduce landfill waste and create a magic elixir for your garden, house plants or container plantation?–then compost your vegetable food scraps.  It’s easy and you can do it anywhere, even if you are an urban apartment dweller.

From the day we moved in to our new apartment in the city, Dustin has been anxious to start composting and we finally put together a system that I think will work.   Previous to this move we’d mostly lived in apartments and it seemed impossible to try it–after all, composting is what you do when you have a back yard.  But it turns out that composting your vegetable food scraps is something that you can do anywhere, even if you are an urban apartment dweller.  We did attempt to “compost” at our last residence (a house in the burbs), but it mostly turned into a slow-rotting pile of scraps that we spent more time chasing the dog out of than actually getting to use for gardening. Having renewed my commitment to composting in an apartment, I vow to do it “right” this time!

While we do happen to have a bit of a yard space and therefore opted to go with an outdoor compost set up, there are ways to set up an indoor system too.  What follows are a few composting basics and some tips for setting up a system that can work whatever your living situation.

Composting Tips for the Urban Dweller

Outdoor Composting:  I think the hardest part of the whole process is simply choosing what kind of container you will use for your compost.  The wooden bin with chicken wire is the old standby, especially if you think you’ll be staying put, but for many apartment dwellers, a more portable system is better.

You will need:

1.  Small trash barrels (2) (with lids that will stay securely on).  Either plastic or metal will do.

2.  A drill with a 1/4″ bit to drill holes in the bottom, rim and sides  of the barrel for ventilation

3. Compost Ingredients (see below)

This is the system that we went with (sorry for the picture quality!):

Drilling 1/4" holes

About Worm Compost (Vermiculture):  This is a fascinating and useful approach to composting if an indoor system is your only choice (or if you just want to try it!).  Having not tried it myself, I will not describe the process in detail, but the set up is similar.  One of the greatest things about this set up is that it takes up very little space.  You can even keep it under your kitchen sink for quick access when creating vegetable scraps.

You will need:

1.  A medium to large plastic box/bin with a secure lid.

2.  A drill with a 1/4″ bit to drill holes for ventilation.

3. Shredded newspaper for worm bedding

4.  Red worms in a small amount of soil (from a fellow worm composter or online purveyor)

5.  Compost ingredients (see below)

Compost Ingredients:

The key to composting is making sure you have the right balance of four ingredients:

1.  GREEN Stuff–This is your vegetable food scraps, grass clippings (if you have them), weeds or other plant greenery.

2.  BROWN Stuff–Dead leaves, wood chips/mulch

3.  WATER–Just a little bit.  You don’t want to much or you’ll get stinky compost.  Just about as damp as a wrung out sponge should be about right.

4.  Air–Ventilation will help prevent stink and turning the pile will help get the “greens” and “browns” mixed.

Special Tips:

1.  Make sure you have a closed system with a secure lid.  You don’t want to attract rodents!

2.  Don’t let things get stinky unless you want the neighbors to complain.  If you’ve got stinky compost and/or flies, you probably need more Brown stuff.

3.  Remember to keep meat, dairy, and greasy stuff out of the compost.  Stick to fruit, veggies, coffee grounds, tea bags, etc.

4.  We buried our bin down into the ground a couple inches.  We thought this would help deter rodents and keep it from tipping over in gusty wind if it isn’t weighted down.

With a little bit of patience, you’ll soon have rich compost for your plants and you can feel good about recycling your garbage into something that sustain the planet.

Check out these resources for further information, troubleshooting, and composting ideas.

Environmental Protection Agency

University of Illinois Extension

Within Reach: Train Travel for a New Century

Confession time: I’m struggling with our decision to give up our car.  I don’t have any regrets about doing so, but let’s face it–despite my desire to be, I’m not the most pious human being and learning to change my thinking and habits about travel have been quite an adjustment.  The truth is, I’m already longing to be out of the city in wilder places again.  (As it turns out, to my surprise, I’m a bit of a country girl…and the city ain’t singin’ my song.)  This is why we jumped at the opportunity to get out of the city for a day by train to visit the Indiana Dunes.  It was then that I had what I’m calling a “conversion experience”:  I fell in love with train travel.

I’ve always thought that trains were useful and had a sort of nostalgic longing for the days when the Inter-urban connected the small mid-western cities where I grew up, with the larger metropolis areas where I wished to escape.  Since that was not the case, I mostly viewed trains as an efficient means for freight transport and for slowing my commute (by car) through town.  Until our recent move to Chicago, I had never experienced, first hand, the usefulness of train travel.  I’m not talking about subway or “EL” travel.  In a large city, that’s just the way you do things:  avoid the traffic, parking and general headache of having a car.  I’m talking train travel–regionally and nationally.  Now there’s something Joe Biden and I could talk about!

Train Travel for a New Century

In a world where our oil future is less certain, I am convinced that regional and national rail will be the solution to passenger travel as it was for freight travel in the 1980s (the last time oil got really expensive) and with fewer people who can afford to continue driving, we will have the critical mass necessary to support such a system.  (Of course there will be other challenges to overcome besides travel–not to mention the fact that going without a car in most cities and towns in this country is almost impossible at present either because of safety, zoning/design, geography, etc., but that’s another discussion!)

Why Train Travel is the Bees Knees

There are many reasons to love train travel.  Here are a few that stood out to me on our trip (in no particular order):

1.  Not DRIVING–I know, this is a bit obvious, but seriously–we were not stuck in traffic with other harried drivers.  No one cut us off or gave anyone the finger.  We arrived at our destination relaxed and excited.

2.  Spending time with the people you love–River hates, I mean HATES being confined in a car seat.  You’d think we were torturing by putting him in the car by the way he cries until he’s lost his voice and is too exhausted to go on. (This is only a slight exaggeration.)  By contrast,  on the train he can sit on my lap, look out the windows, talk about what we see, play games.  Since no one is driving, we can all give each other undivided attention.  And as they say:  time flies when you’re having fun.

3.  Being good to Mama Earth–getting to enjoy nature with far less environmental impact than if all the people on the train each drove a car to their destination.

4.  Everything is within reach–as I mentioned, it’s been difficult to feel like we have the same access to the kinds of outdoor spaces that nourished our spirits in the past; so the best part of train travel for me is realizing that everything is still within our reach.  If we can build up the train infrastructure and expand rail transport across the country, I get giddy thinking of all the places we could go!

Spiced Rustic Apple Cake

Yesterday was Dustin’s birthday!  I was particularly inspired this year.  Last year we sort of just missed it.  I’m thinking this has something to do with the fact that we had newborn in the house–perhaps we were just a wee bit distracted.  But I have no excuses this year and the cool autumn air has arrived, just begging me to get baking.

However, since Dustin doesn’t like birthday cake and I’m gluten free, I had to get creative.   And because we’ve already spent our grocery budget for the week, the other parameter I set for myself was that I had to be able to make his birthday dinner and cake from ingredients I already had on hand.

Dinner was easy thanks to the abundance of farmers market produce still left in the refrigerator.  Unfortunately, the cake proved to be more challenging than I expected because I was out of most of my flour stash.  I did have several farmers market apples; however, and with some creative flour combos, I came up with an amazing dessert.

Spiced Rustic Apple Cake

Preheat oven to 350

Grease 9 inch round pan

• Thinly slice:

3-4 Macintosh apples (or any good baking apple)

• Combine in a large mixing bowl:

1/2 C Almond Flour

1/2 C Tapioca Flour

1/2 C Millet Flour

1/2 tsp xanthan gum (optional)

3/4 C brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger powder

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

• In another bowl combine:

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 C olive oil or other vegetable oil

3/4 C rice milk (or any milk should work)

1 tsp vanilla extract

• Add liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until well combined.
• Fold apples into the batter.  Tip:  hold on to about 12 slices to lay on top for a decorative look, or go totally rustic and mix them all in.
• Bake about 1 hour (55-65 minutes)

The best part about this cake is that you can change up just about anything and it will still be amazing.  Substitute any type of flour, sugar, milk you have on hand!