Chicken or Tuna Melt

 Chicken or tuna melt p. 175 BHG

Half of my family likes the tuna, half likes the chicken.

Mix everything according to the recipe instructions.

Dairy free method is written in at the bottom. Choosing which bread you use determines if it's gluten free. 

This is a great recipe to use up leftover sourdough bread or buns.

Load them up and put them under the broiler. 

DO NOT LEAVE the kitchen. They'll be done very quickly. 

Roasted Winter Veggies

...roasted veggies on a platter. Garnish with rosemary. Serve wither warm or at room temperature with Vinegrette. 

I made a simpler variation - skipping the garlic and beets. I added broccoli as well. And substituted 1/2 cucumber for the figs.

Chop veggies and store for later or use right away. Keep broccoli, cauliflower and onions in one group.

Carrots and yams can also be together. 

They cook for different lengths of time. 

Preheat oven to 425 F

Add avocado oil and salt to each group.

Whether in a ziplock or airtight container, shake it so things distribute evenly. 

Place on pans and bake according to groups mentioned.

The squash and carrots go in first, bake for 20-25 min. 

5 min later, add baking tray of brocoli, cauliflower and onions. They bake for 15-20 min.

Roast vegetables, tossing once, until brown and tender.

The kale is for garnish. Raw or parboiled is fine. I prefer mine par boiled.  I'd that's what you'd like, put a pot of water on the stove to boil. 

Now you have time to make this - 

Vinegrette:

Puree figs, vinegar, 2TB water, a pinch each of salt and pepper, and 2TB of oil in blender. 

(** I used 1/2 cucumber instead of figs)

Par boil Kale. Just let it turn color.takes about 2 minutes. Drain and add it to carrots- sweet potato tray while the other still roasts.

Veggies should be golden brown and tender. 

Since I par boiled the entire package of kale, I have a lot of extra. 

Here's the result:

Downside: There's not much taste -the veggies rely on the dressing for that. 

.

Dark Chocolate w nuts

1/2 c avocado oil

1 c unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 c granulated sweetener (pyure stevia or monkfruit mixed w erythritol)

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

Mix well in 2 c pyrex. Spoon onto nuts placed in ice cube trays.

Freeze 2 hrs. 

Pop them out and keep them in a ziolock or tupperware in the freezer until just before serving. 

Alternate shown here: spread chocolate onto glass baking dish (sprayed w avocado oil). Add nuts to the top. Freeze for 2 hrs. Loosen entire chocolate chunk and drop upside-down onto wooden cutting board. Chop into half dollar sized pieces. Store as mentioned above. 

Sourdough Part 2: Deanna's Class

 Sourdough Class by Deanna (February 2022)

STARTER FROM SCRATCH and instructions on FEEDING BELOW...

Advocacy

• “If I gave you a bag of flour and water, and you had nothing else to live on, you could live on that for a while, but eventually you would die. But, if you take that same bag of flour and water and bake it into bread, you could live indefinitely.” - Michael Pollan

• “Roman soldiers had only sourdough bread to get protein...Don’t eat whole grains if you don’t know how...Why look for other sources of food when sourdough gives you most of the nutrients in a balanced form?” - Jack Bezian

• A small study in Italy showed that some people with celiacs can eat long-fermented sourdough breads with no ill effects. Less than 1% of the population suffers from celiac disease but 29% report avoiding gluten. 

• Grains and beans that have been fermented or sprouted are easier for your body to digest. They make the vitamins and minerals “bioavailable” and neutralize the phytic acid which would otherwise rob your body of calcium and prevent zinc and magnesium absorption. It also increases the protein content.

• Book: Josey Baker Bread by Josey Baker

Basics 

• “Starter” is a live culture made of flour and water. Starters need to be fed 1-3x a week at room temperature or once a month-ish if kept in the fridge to stay happy. 

• A starter is “refreshed” 12-24 hours after it’s been fed. 

• “Dough” is essentially starter plus salt. 

• Important - you can’t turn dough back into starter so you always need to remember to reserve some starter for next time before beginning a recipe. 

• Some recipes specify what hydration your starter should be. “Hydration” refers to how thick your starter is. A starter that is 100% hydration is equal parts flour and water and will be like thick pancake batter. A 60% hydration has less water and is more like bread dough.

• Sourdough reacts with metal so avoid it if possible.

• Bread is done baking when it reaches 190’ internally for white or 200’ for whole wheat.

• Use fresh flour if possible for maximum nutrition.

• Discarded starter can be saved in the fridge and used in the waffles recipe.

Method - Refresh starter 12-24 hours before baking. Mix dough. Let sit for 30 minutes or knead for 5 min. Stretch and fold 10x, rest 30 min. Repeat 3-4 times. Rise. Shape. Rise. Bake. Cool.  

(Notes: Rising times vary widely from 2-12 hours. Temperature and desired sourness will determine rising times. Dough rises faster when it’s warm. Dough is more sour the longer it rises. You may pick one of the rising times to have the dough in the fridge overnight (that will not make it more sour - unless you leave it in there for 3 days which is still totally fine). Do what is most convenient for you. Times really don’t matter a lot though. Your bread will still turn out as long as you leave it long enough - probably a minimum total of 6 hours between the two rises when on the counter or 2-3 hours on the counter and 10 hours in the fridge.)

STARTER FROM SCRATCH- 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup whole wheat (ww) flour. Mix and let sit loosely covered at room temperature for 2 days. Compost all but 1 TB. Add 1/2 cup water to the 1 TB starter. Mix well. Add 1/2 cup ww flour. Mix well. Loosely cover and ignore for 2 days. Repeat for 2 weeks, composting down to 1 TB and feeding it every 2-3 days. Then start baking.

Feed Me! - Get the starter from the fridge. Pour the dark liquid (hootch) off if desired. Mix at least 1 TB of starter with 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup flour. Let sit on the counter loosely covered for 12-24 hours. Return to the fridge or use it in a recipe. If you’re storing starter in the fridge, you may want to feed it for two days before using it in bread. If your starter gets way too stinky and you’re worried about it, pour off the hooch and when feeding, substitute 1 TB pineapple juice for some of the water. Or simply feed it for 3 days in a row with water and flour and it should become happy again.

Sourdough Part 1: Supplies

I have a neighbor who offered last summer to help anyone who wanted to start making sourdough bread. And I'm ready. So here we go.....

The following few posts will give you many ideas. Take a few, look at them all, add your own ideas - please teach me what works for you if you have time. 

Step One - get your supplies

Filtered water (I use my fridge filtered water)

Unbleached Bread Flour (25# bag of turkey white flour from Costco is best deal nearby for me)

There are some tools that assist in the process and make it fun as well. I ordered some and then returned them. But maybe you'll like the proofing baskets and razor blades. 

Whatever you decide to do, know this - sourdough is finicky and you can lose the natural fermentation height of the bread easily and be baking bricks instead of bread if you're not careful.

Sourdough Waffles (sugar free, diary free)

These are a staple now: 

Sourdough Waffles

Your refreshed sourdough should have a few bubbles. Be sure to avoid metal spoons, measuring cups and bowls.

Don't use all you've got. Measure out what you need and always keep at least 2 T of the starter. 

I'm doing a half batch today (I do 2 full eggs and an egg white for my 2 1/2 eggs).

I have used the Lakanto sugar free maple syrup in the past. It works well. But 1-2 tsp of monk fruit liquid will also do the trick. 

Add the oil, salt and sweetener w the eggs and Sourdough start. Mix until just blended. 

Plug in your Waffles iron and spray it w non-stick spray.

Mix up the baking soda and water in a different cup. Add that now. 

It will double in size. 

Immediately place the first batch into the hot waffle iron. 

It is normal for the waffle mix to fall again after the initial fluffiness which was rhe result of the baking soda and Sourdough mixing.  

This half batch makes 11 (square waffles).

I like to add nut butter, coconut milk, and berries. 

Christmas Coconut Peaks

 

Christmas Coconut Peaks

1/4 c butter

2 c powdered sugar

1/4 c evaporated milk

3 c coconut

6 oz milk chocolate chips

2 tsp oil

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir repeatedly until it becomes a golden color, making sure not to burn it. To this gradually stir in the milk, sugar and coconut. Cook just until the mixture is combined.

Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls on parchment or waxed paper.

Cool to lukewarm, then shape into peaks. Refrigerate until stiff.

Melt chocolate with oil in microwave safe bowl in 30 second increments. Stir until smooth and shiny.

Dip the bottom of each peak into the melted chocolate. Leave firm up on sheet. Place in a covered bowl and keep refrigerated. 

see www.justapinch.com/recipes/dessert/candy/christmas-coconut-peaks.html