Why I Eat Butter

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I often tell people I am not afraid of butter, that it's a "good fat." Sometimes I get laughed at; I guess they think I'm joking. Even my husband, who has been on this real food journey right along side me, will sometimes say, "Are you sure it's ok to eat that much butter?"

Yes, I'm sure.

We in America have some serious misconceptions about fat. I don't want to go into too many details. It will just make me angry, and this blog is about the joy of real food, not the anger and sadness of industrial food.

My Butter Story

So I'll start here. I love butter.  My history with butter goes like this:

When I was little, my favorite snack was bread and butter. Not even toasted. I remember my grandma giving this to me quite often when I was at her house and suddenly needed a snack.

My mother instilled in me a pretty strong anti-margarine sentiment, for which I am grateful. Right on the money, mom! It tastes fake, it looks fake, it is fake, and whether it's made with hydrogenated oils or "heart healthy" vegetable oils, it's been processed into oblivion, is rancid (toxic!) and more closely resembles plastic than food.

Sorry, I got distracted. I am passionately opposed to margarine.

Fast forward to late high-school and much of college. I, like most other people, thought that butter was bad for me. As a dancer who spent much of life in a leotard in front of a mirror, I was very body-conscious and thought (so mistakenly!) that my worth had something to do with my weight and pants size. So I stopped eating butter. I taught myself to eat bread plain. No more bread and butter. Sad day for me!

Imagine my delight a few years ago when I started reading about how our bodies need fat, good, traditional fat, to function, to thrive! Since then I've been eating as much butter on my bread as I want.

And you know what? I haven't gotten fatter. In fact, I weigh less now (16 months after the birth of my son) than I did pre-pregnancy. All I've done is breastfeed him and eat butter, coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, and bacon grease with my food. (Ok I've exercised a little. But really, only a little.)

Butter: the Real Deal

And this is why I am not afraid of those fats: people have been eating them for a long, long time. Heart disease, cancer and diabetes were virtually unknown...until the last century or so.

When we started eating Crisco and margarine and soybean, canola, and cottonseed oils, we got sick. Of course other things about our diet were going down the tube then, too. But here's the deal - hydrogenated vegetable oil is heated to insanely high temps, deodorized to disguise its rancidity, and then boiled for many hours with hydrogen to turn it into a solid and extend its shelf life. The result is a highly processed food that we were never meant to eat.

Butter comes from cream. Which comes from a cow. All you need is a blender and some cream, and you can make your own butter in your own kitchen. You can leave it out of the fridge for quite a while (provided all the buttermilk has been removed) without it going bad. It remains solid at room temperature naturally. I don't know about you, but I feel a lot better about putting that time tested, delicious food into my body and my children's bodies than the alternative.

But how could this be?! Have we been lied to? Sadly, yes. 

Data has been skewed or ignored to "prove" that traditional saturated fats cause heart disease (the "lipid hypothesis"). I'm not going to list all the reasons butter is good for you here, because someone has already said it better than I could. Go read this article to learn more!

After you read it, go into your kitchen and toast yourself a piece of whole grain bread. Spread it heavily with butter. Then eat it, one drippy melty crunchy bite at a time. And try to tell yourself that it's good for you, because it is.

This post is part of Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade.

clam [and oyster] chowder

See that basket of clams? If only we lived near an ocean and had access to fresh, local clams and oysters. Instead, I'm making due with the canned variety. It's better than nothing, certainly!

Clam and oyster chowder. I was afraid to make this. But I did it anyway because I'm trying to get more seafood in our diet. Oysters are the best source of zinc you can find, far and above anything else! (See this article for more info on nutritional benefits of oysters.)

My first attempt at cooking with oysters (oyster casserole - basically baked mac & cheese with oysters) was a flop. Steven tolerated it, I simply picked out the oysters and fed them to Caedmon who ate them quite willingly. I had opened two cans of oysters for that recipe but after looking at them in all their gray-ness...I could only bear to put one can into the casserole.

So for a few days I've had the contents of a can of oysters staring back at me from a glass jar in the fridge. (Should've chosen something opaque to store them in.)

But on Sunday night I boldly wrote "Clam Chowder" on my meal plan, with plans to "sneak" the oysters in there, too. And...it worked! I think it was actually delicious. Something about the fishy flavor permeating the whole dish made it ok. That and lots of bacon. Bacon - always nitrate-free - is sort of a special occasion food around here on our limited budget. But in this case it was definitely worth it.

I started with this recipe from Cheeseslave, and tweaked it a bit. Here's what I ended up with!

Clam and Oyster Chowder

ingredients:

1/2 lb nitrate-free bacon

One large yellow onion

2 large stalks celery

1/4 c. flour (sprouted would be preferred; I used all-purpose)

5 small carrots

2 lbs potatoes, peeled and diced

4 cups chicken stock

1 can oysters

1 can clams

2 cups cream or whole milk (preferably raw, grass-fed)

sea salt

freshly ground pepper

dried tarragon

nutmeg

fresh parsley

for serving: whole grain sourdough bread with grass-fed butter

method:

Fry the bacon until crisp in a dutch oven. Place on paper towels. Keep the grease in the pot. Meanwhile, chop the onion, celery, carrots, and potatoes. Cook the onions and celery in bacon grease until soft. Add the flour and stir to incorporate. Add the carrots, potatoes, and stock. Season with salt, pepper, tarragon, and nutmeg to taste. Bring to a boil, lower heat, and simmer, covered, until vegetables are tender. Meanwhile, drain and roughly chop the oysters. Drain the clams, pouring the liquid into the pot, and roughly chop the clams. When veggies are tender, add the clams, oysters, cream/milk, bacon, and chopped parsley to the pot. Simmer a few minutes to let the flavors meld. If it is not thick enough, stir a tablespoon or so of flour with a splash of water in a cup, and add to the pot. Simmer until it is the desired consistency. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve with warm/toasted sourdough and plenty of butter. :)

P.S. If you are not into baking sourdough bread and you live near a Trader Joe's, they sell 100% whole wheat sourdough for a very reasonable price!

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

Menu Plan Monday 2.21-2.27

As I write this, my little guy is stuffing his face full of this liver mousse. I made this last week, and I wasn't the biggest fan, but he loves it! I'm so glad he's eating it because liver is incredibly nutrient dense and a great food for growing babies as their iron stores begin to decrease.

Now to the topic at hand - menu planning!

The best tip I have for anyone who is trying to eat healthier and cook more from scratch is to plan your meals. In the couple of years of marriage before I planned our meals each week, even though I wasn't cooking very complicated meals and we didn't have a baby to take care of, we had meal crises more than a few times. I've been doing this fairly consistently for a couple years and it makes a world of difference. I never stick to the plan 100%, but just having the plan there makes our home run much smoother. Everybody's happy and there's food on the table. :)

Many of the techniques I use to get the most nutrition out of the food I cook as possible, though they are quite simple, require planning ahead. I write these preparatory steps right on the pad of paper I use for meal planning. That way I don't forget to think ahead to the next day's meals.

You can find special magnetic meal planning pads of paper for pretty cheap at places like Michael's. Mine is not just for meal planning - it's just a days of the week memo pad. I found that it helps me to be consistent if I have a special place to write my meal plan.

Breakfasts are generally fried/scrambled eggs with toast and cheese or french toast. We do best on a high protein breakfast. Sometimes we have healthy homemade muffins or coffeecake as a second course with our coffee tea. :) (Right now we're finishing up the last of some Banana Crunch Cake I made a few days ago - I'll be sure to get that recipe on here soon!)

Besides breakfast, I usually only cook one meal a day - lunches are usually leftovers, but on days that I work in the evening, I cook for lunch and we have leftovers for dinner.

I'll tell you more about my specific meal planning methods in a later post, but for now, this week's menu!

Monday: clam chowder with sourdough bread

prep: soak beans, soak rice

Tuesday: pot of black/pinto beans, mexican rice, guacamole, chips, salsa

Wednesday: open face salmon melts on sourdough

prep: thaw steak

Thursday: grass-fed steak, roasted potatoes, salad

Friday: Quiche

Saturday: Sabbath - leftovers

prep: soak pancake batter

Sunday: pumpkin sausage pasta (leftovers from the freezer) for lunch, sourdough pancakes for dinner

Keep your eyes out for my delicious and frugal recipes for beans and rice this week!

This is part of Menu Plan Monday at Organizing Junkie.

Shallot-Cranberry Chicken Salad with Homemade Mayonnaise

[My brother-in-law is going to love this post. He is an enthusiastic mayonnaise hater. Sorry man.]

I went through a phase of disliking mayonnaise because I thought it was bad for me. Turns out, it is, if it's made with rancid vegetable oils and all sorts of other chemicals (which it always is, even if it's labeled "organic" or "with olive oil").

But I have to admit, mayonnaise does something that no other substance can do. Those years of substituting plain yogurt for the mayo in my tuna salad were a dark time, though I tried to deny it. I'm so glad that's over!

Now I'm at a new place with this yellowish creamy stuff: I know that if I make it myself with pastured egg yolks and olive oil it will be nourishing and delicious, but I can't always do that. So, I sometimes buy organic (sadly, still with soybean oil) Trader Joe's mayo, but my goal is to make my own.

Making your own mayonnaise sounds daunting and complicated. Like it's going to take a LOT of time. But every time I do it I think, "Wow, that was easier than I thought it would be!"

If you are thinking, "Doesn't homemade mayonnaise contain raw eggs? I'm not eating raw eggs!" then I recommend reading this post at Kelly the Kitchen Kop to calm your nerves. It DOES matter where you get your eggs and how they are raised. You can read more about that, and why eggs are a superfood, here.

I used this recipe, but I substituted gently melted coconut oil for 1/3 of the

olive oil, in hopes that it would not have TOO strong of an olive oil flavor. The hardest part is pouring the oil in slowly, but the whole process still took less than five minutes. So if you have five minutes, you can do this! It is important to have all your ingredients at room temperature. I think that is part of what has kept me from doing this in the past - forgetting to take the eggs out of the fridge ahead of time. But yesterday I remembered, and this mayo turned out great!

This sounds silly, but I'm always amazed that it

actually looks like mayonnaise when you're done. See? Thick and delicious.

I will admit, it has a pretty strong flavor on its own. But in this chicken salad, it works perfectly. We also love it in tuna salad, egg salad, and potato salad.

Here are some tips for success when it comes to making your own mayo:

1. plan ahead! take your eggs out of the fridge an hour or so before making.

2. pour slowly, but don't stress out about it.

3. turn your food processor or blender to LOW as you pour to avoid excessive splashing.

4. wear an apron!

5. don't plan to use it right away. that way you can ferment it (like Wardeh recommends). Also, if it's a little runny, you can refrigerate (with or without fermenting first) to firm it up a bit.

6. tell your husband that, yes, the mayo is supposed to be sitting out on the counter, or he may, like mine, think he's doing us a favor by putting it in the fridge. :)

Now put that mayo to good use in this delectable chicken salad. Again, this is more of a basic method than a recipe. Eyeball it, substitute what you have on hand, and have fun!

Shallot Cranberry Chicken Salad

ingredients:

leftover cooked chicken from roast chicken or chicken stock

a few stalks chopped celery

1-2 finely chopped shallots

a few dollops homemade mayonnaise

a few squirts dijon mustard

a spoonful of homemade jam (I used blueberry-orange)

a handful of dried cranberries

a sprinkle of dried coconut

a handful of sunflower seeds

seasonings: sea salt, freshly ground pepper, basil, tarragon

method:

mix it all together. taste. adjust. eat on bread, in a pita, on crackers, or, like I did, over a bed of greens drizzled with olive oil. wait for your husband or roommate or kids to say "wow, this is amazing!" Unless they hate mayonnaise like someone I know. ;)

This post is part of Tuesday Twister at Gnowfglins and Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

a simple candle-lit date and a hummus recipe

friday night was “parents night out” at the seminary. That means that some generous people spend their night watching your kids for free while you go on a date! So we dropped Caedmon off and had a simple and frugal date-at-home: a candle-lit Mediterranean feast.

while we were eating I couldn’t stop thinking about how we should recreate this meal again in the future - over and over and over. it was that good. It was so delicious and EASY. And with everything prepared ahead of time, all we had to do was put it on the table, light the candles, and enjoy each other’s company. Here was our menu:

simple date-at-home for two :
sourdough pocket bread from Wardeh’s e-course
homemade hummus (method follows)
feta cheese and olives from a local deli
sangria (this was a gift - and we were grateful!) with organic apples and oranges
salty-sweet chocolate with walnuts

(sorry there are no pictures of this feast! i'm not in "you've-started-a-blog-take-a-picture-of-anything-that-could-become-a-post"mode yet.)

the sourdough pocket bread was a HUGE success. It did take quite a bit of preparation (it gets THREE rises!), but the flavor and texture are incredible. And most of the prep time is inactive - you just have to be around all day to check on your dough. Steven couldn’t believe that it was 100% whole wheat. If you are interested in capturing wild yeasts in your OWN kitchen to leaven your own bread and help with digestibility of grains, I highly recommend this e-course!

the hummus is simple to prepare and is SO much cheaper than buying it in those little containers from the store. if you prepare it using dry beans instead of canned, this is a seriously frugal food (especially if you buy chickpeas in bulk like we do!)

I have to credit my mother-in-law for teaching me how to make hummus without a recipe (thanks!). what follows is a basic method - I just eyeball it and taste it until I’ve got it right. It’s a little different every time - and I like it that way. Here’s how you do it:

Easy [chick]peas-y Homemade Hummus

yield : about 4 cups

equipment needed : food processor

ingredients :
dried chickpeas (a couple cups or so)
apple cider vinegar
olive oil
tahini (ground sesame seed paste)
a lemon (or two)
minced/pressed garlic
salt and freshly ground pepper
optional seasonings - get creative! this time I used cumin, sumac, paprika, fresh parsley, and fresh dill

instructions :
1. Soak a couple cups of dried (rinsed) chickpeas in water with a splash of apple cider vinegar 8-24 hours. (This helps you digest them better!)
2. Drain the water off, add fresh filtered water, and bring to a boil. Once they are really boiling, skim off the foam (those are indigestible compounds), add some salt, lower the heat, and cook until tender. This will take a few hours - be patient!
3. When they are done, let them cool slightly, and use a slotted spoon to fish them out of the liquid and put them in your food processor. (It is important to save the cooking liquid. If you think it’s easier, you can strain them with a bowl underneath to catch the liquid, but that dirties a colander AND a bowl, instead of just a slotted spoon.)
4. To the food processor add a couple drizzles of olive oil, a few spoonfuls of tahini (don’t overdo it or your hummus will taste bitter), the juice of one lemon, a couple cloves of garlic put through a press or minced, and your seasonings of choice. Process until smooth. Add some cooking liquid if it is too thick. Taste and add more of whatever you think it needs, and process again to incorporate.
5. To serve, pour into a bowl and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sumac.

Now light some candles, dip your pita in the hummus (don't forget the feta and olives!), and enjoy the fruits of your labor and the company of those you share your meal with.

update: I'm linking this to Simple Lives Thursday.

Breakfast Brownies

Oh how I love local restaurants that use local food. One of my faves is The Biscuit, an adorable little breakfast and lunch place a few blocks away from us. Granola pancakes with house-made granola, Chicken Apple Hash with sharp cheddar cheese, Chorizo Omelette with locally made chorizo...and OH the potatoes! Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside...and though I usually choose the whole-grain toast, I have to admit that the biscuits are out of this world. Obviously.

But this post is about Breakfast Brownies. Yes! Brownies for breakfast! When I saw these at The Biscuit in the bakery case, I was shocked and amazed and in love with them. Hearty, oatey, fudgey, chock-full of dried cherries and apricots. Just the right amount of sweet.

But we are on a seminary budget, which means we rarely eat out. Which means if I want a Breakfast Brownie more than once a year or so, I have to figure out a way to make it myself.

So that is what I did. I rummaged around the internet looking for a recipe that might slightly resemble these unique treats, and did not find much. So I took what I could get, and modified it heavily. I used whole grain flour that has been soaked overnight with the oats in yogurt - a process that helps break down and make use of the minerals present in the grains. I also used unrefined sugar, pastured butter and eggs, and unrefined sea salt. I still wouldn't recommend eating these for breakfast every day, but if you are looking for a nourishing, rich, hearty, chocolately treat for breakfast or anytime...this is it.

So here's the recipe. Don't forget to start them the day before you want to eat them!

Breakfast Brownies

ingredients:

1-1/4 c. rolled oats

3/4 c. whole wheat flour (amazingly, I've gotten the best results with traditional red whole wheat)

1/2 c. yogurt

1 c. butter, divided

1 c. sucanat (unrefined sugar)

1/4 c. honey

4 eggs

1 T. vanilla extract

3/4 c. cocoa powder

1 t. baking powder (aluminum free)

1 t. unrefined salt (such as Real Salt or celtic sea salt)

1 t. instant coffee or espresso powder

1 c. dark chocolate chips

1 c. chopped walnuts/pecans

1 c. dried fruit - tart cherries, apricots (chopped), cranberries, or something else!

Directions:

1. In a stand mixer, combine oats, flour, yogurt, and 1/2 c. butter. Make sure everything is evenly moistened. Let soak overnight, at least 7 hours.

2. Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x13 pan. Melt 1/2 c. butter in a saucepan over low heat. Add sucanat and honey and stir. Heat until bubbling, then remove from heat and stir. Whisk in the cocoa, baking powder, salt, instant coffee, and vanilla.

3. Add the eggs to the soaked flour & oat mixture and mix thoroughly. Then add the contents of the saucepan. Mix just until thoroughly combined.

4. Stir in chocolate chips, nuts, and dried fruit.

5. Spread into 9x13 pan. Check after 25 minutes, and bake until the center feels firm (Do not over bake or they will be crumbly).

They make a great gift, too!

 

other variations...

I also think they would be great with some dried blueberries mixed in there [update: I tried it with dried blueberries and loved it...but the hubby didn't.]...and it might be fun to try them as muffins! You could also try it in a smaller pan to get a thicker brownie (perhaps a round cake pan cut into wedges?); then it would be more like The Biscuit's version. :) In that case, I'm sure it would take a bit longer to bake. Experiment - have fun!

This is part of "Is Your Flour Wet?" a free eBook put together by many Real Bloggers, full of soaked, sprouted, and sourdough whole grain recipes. Download it here!

What's your favorite treat to have for breakfast?

the beginning.

everyone has a blog. so there’s no real reason that I need to have one, too.

except this: if I can bless just one person through this medium, it will be worth it.

I have a passion for food - real food. not what you see on the grocery store shelves or in the fast food chains, but bread you make from scratch in your own kitchen, juicy peaches you pick yourself at a local farm, heirloom tomatoes from your own backyard, grass-fed beef from the farmer down the road.

this love of mine is not about guilt or exclusivity or snobbery. it’s about the goodness of life. about taking care of what we’ve been given (our world, our bodies, our families), and sharing what we have with those around us.

who am I? my name is Joanna. I am wife to Steven, a language-learning, art-making, deep-thinking, humor-loving seminarian. I am mom to Caedmon, a dancing, drumming, cuddling, real-food-eating toddler. I am a homemaker, a dance teacher, a choreographer, and a lover of homemade, natural things.

I hope what I write will be a blessing to someone.

so here we go!