Olive Oil Protects Against Stroke →

New evidence for the importance of polyunsaturated fats! And a “Mediterranean Diet.”

More Craft Brewers Are Switching to Cans →

Canned beer is viewed by some craft brew fans as inferior to bottled beer, McCabe said. But that reflects perception, and not reality, he and other brewers say.

One complaint is that cans supposedly add a metallic taste to beer. But that view may be linked to people drinking beer directly from a can, which reduces the drinker’s sense of smell of the beer’s aroma and thus affects the taste, McCabe said.

If possible, drinkers should pour the can of beer into a glass, he said. McCabe acknowledged that most people aren’t used to that.

“You don’t typically see people take a tall boy of Pabst and pour it out,” said McCabe.

Also, beer cans use a coating to eliminate metallic flavors, according to the website craft cans.com, which touts canned craft beer.

I wonder what’s in that coating? Not that it would stop me from a good craft brew in a can…

Did you eat like this today? →

Recently the USDA released some welcome changes in the food pyramid. The details of the new guidelines are found in an 112 page document released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Here at Raising Wellness, we’re plumbing the depths of the new food guidelines to pick out the most interesting data on how we’re eating, and what it says about us.

How to make a spicy homemade stock

Rather than saving the secret ingredient to the end, here’s the answer to “How to make a spicy homemade stock”…throw in a jalapeno. That’s it.

(Photo attribution: From Flickr user JeffreyW under a creative commons license.)

Now, about that stock.

Whenever we make whole chickens, we like to make a homemade chicken stock to save for later use, or for a soup in which to use our leftover chicken. (Homemade chicken noodle or vegetable soup is appropriate all year around as far as I’m concerned.)

Roasted chicken bones that are cleaned make an excellent stock base, as I discovered after reading the Joy of Cooking.

So, this recipe is primary adapted from Rombauer and Becker’s tome on gourmet kitchen cooking. Actually, just forget the word recipe, because if you need to cook with things measured out this post will probably frustrate you.

But, generally here’s how we do it.

  • Get a large pot.
  • Put in the chicken bones, cleaned of almost all skin and leftover meat, preferably with a fork and knife, not your dog’s tongue. You can use more than just the legs and the wings. Throw the rest of the body in there too. (If you’re going to use the raw neck and the giblets, you’re going to want to boil them for a minute in a separate pot before throwing them into your main stock pot.)
  • Throw in the cooked chicken carcass. Fill up the pot with tap water about 2/3 full.
  • Throw in your stock ingredients.
  • Heat on medium-high until it boils. Boil it a couple of minutes. Then turn down to simmer.
  • Let the stock sit for about 3 to 4 hours on simmer, cover off, until about one-third to one-half of the liquid evaporates.
  • Turn off the burner and let it cool down a bit.
  • Get a slotted spoon and spoon out your big stock ingredients.
  • Get a cheese cloth and pour the remainder of the stock into a container you can freeze, or refrigerate. (If you’re going to refrigerate, you should probably use it within 2 to 3 days.) Use the cheese cloth as a filter to catch the remaining stock chunks that you can.

There are procedures for clarifying the stock to help get the fat out. But frankly I don’t use them for light stocks. We typically make huge pots of thick soup which don’t require a delicate consistency. Plus, we don’t have that aversion to fat that our culture’s health care experts have drilled into all of us based on the faulty lipid hypothesis of heart disease.

When you finally are ready to use the stock, you’re probably going to skim some of the fat off the top. Unless, your stock is so fatty you can’t separate it very well. In which case, get ready for one rich soup!

You can add it to any recipe that you’d like that calls for chicken stock.

What are some stock ingredients that we like to use in addition to the chicken parts? Here are a couple. Mix and match as you see fit, and if you have them available.

  • Onions quartered
  • Garlic (as much as you want)
  • Raw celery stalk (as much as you want)
  • Carrots (peeled and left whole, try two or three)
  • Mushrooms (might darken the stock depending on number and type)
  • Tomatoes (use the ones that are going bad, and half them)
  • Citrus fruits (grape fruit, lemon, and oranges)
  • Whole peppercorns
  • Salt (sea salt works great, but perhaps save it for the end to salt to taste)
  • Fresh mint (only use if you want to have mint flavored soup)
  • Any fresh spice you want, really

And yes, you can add one jalapeno, which will give your dish a spicy bite, which is perfect for Latin/Mediterranean inspired soups in the summertime.

Farmers' Markets in Oakland County MI - 2011 →

A list of local Farmers’ Markets in Oakland County for 2011.

Is Extreme Couponing Worth It? 3 Reasons To Stop Clipping →

Extreme couponing in order to buy food. It’s grocery shopping’s equivalent of ordering off the dollar menu.

Organic pancakes in a can, and going green

I’m breaking some long radio silence after Food Network got me thinking about, well, food. Pancakes from a can, actually. Think spray cheese, but rather than spraying cheese, it sprays pancake batter, in any fun shape you want, straight on the griddle.

And it’s organic.

Organic pancakes in a can.

(Creative commons picture from here.)

Okay, so complete admission: I haven’t read the can label and I haven’t bought the product. Nor tasted it. (It actually looks pretty yummy, in the same way movie theater butter looks yummy.) But that’s not going to stop me from ragging on the idea just a bit.

Because here’s the thing: there’s organic, as in: “this product was not made with chemicals so good intentioned moms and dads feel good about it;” and there’s a greener organic, as in “yes, this product is kinda manufactured (which gives people jobs), but not made with chemicals (which is good for the soil and the animals that live on the soil) and to the best of our ability, we’re trying to limit the waste associated with the commerce around this product.”

So, where do your pancakes fit in? Is organic in a can better than non-organic made from scratch?

Because I’ve got a pretty killer pancake batter recipe that will probably yield me ten times the amount of pancakes that the canned pancakes will offer, with a fraction of the waste. Free range eggs, hormone-free milk, organic flour and sugar, and whatever you want to add are optional. (The kind of source is optional that is…you still need the milk and eggs, etc.)

And yes, pancakes in a can are always, always going to be faster than fresh batter. But practice just a little bit, and with the right griddle you can have 12 palm sized pancakes in fifteen minutes or less.

And no pressurized steel can to throw away. Or recycle.

So here’s that basic batter recipe:

Dry ingredients:

1 cup flour (I like whole wheat pastry flour, or half unbleached plus half whole wheat)

1 tbs. of baking powder

1 tbs. of sugar

1/2 tsp. of salt

1/2 tsp. of baking soda

Wet ingredients

1 cup of milk (use yogurt for super fluffy pancakes, but makes less batter)

1 egg (beaten)

1 tbs. of oil

Mix dry ingredients together. Mix wet ingredients in separate bowl. Combine, and mix sparingly.

Then add 1 to 2 cups of whatever your heart desires. Try thinly sliced bananas and chocolate chips, or fresh or frozen strawberries or blueberries, or thinly sliced apples (covered in sugar and cinnamon and soften in the oven first if you want to get fancy), or chopped pecans, or chopped walnuts.

The more you add (within reason), the farther your batter is going to go.

If you want more than 12 palm sized pancakes, just double or triple the recipe.

Seasoning fish with lime for people who don’t like fish

If your fish experience has largely been limited to breaded white fish, lemon wedges, and a squeeze bottle of tartar sauce, then frankly, I don’t blame you for hating fish.

(Mahi Mahi in an iron skillet: picture under a creative commons license from Naotake Murayama with original photo here.)

But you before you give up on our friends from the sea, let me school you on a few easy ways you might be able to expand your appreciation for the other, other white meat.

Everything that makes fish sticks from the freezer convenient is available in fresh or frozen fillets you prepare yourself. You just have to plan ahead a little bit.

First, if you’re not a fishy fish flavor lover, then I recommend sticking with white fish. But let’s trade up from that cod or Pollock and try out tilapia (fresh caught) or mahi mahi.

Buy them frozen if you want, but make sure you either thaw them in the fridge, or give yourself an extra 20 minutes before you’re ready to marinade to thaw them in some warm water. Just toss them in the water with the plastic freeze wrap still around them. Increase the water temperature if they’re not thawing fast enough, but keep in mind you don’t want them to cook in the hot water in the plastic.

While they’re thawing it’s time to get your lime marinade ready. And please use limes, as it’s going to give it a sweet citrus flavor that won’t remind you of the overcooked Lenten fish fries of your youth.

Now, at this point I want you to forget about a specific recipe. Forget about how much of this or that.

Just look for some or all of the following in your house and pull it out.

  • Fresh limes
  • Olive oil
  • Red onion, sweet onion, or shallots
  • Garlic gloves
  • Fresh ginger root
  • Cumin
  • Turmeric (will give it a yellow color, just be aware)
  • Fresh cilantro
  • Salt
  • Coconut shavings

Depending on how much fish you have, squeeze the juice of one or two limes into a bowl. Add one to two tables spoons of olive oil, and then just start making stuff up.

If you want throw in a clove of garlic, throw in a clove of garlic, but crush it first.

If you want throw in some finely graded onion of whatever variety, then do it.

Then just start adding in whatever of the above ingredients you have on hand. Just don’t overdo it with the salt, and make sure you finely grade the ginger. You can stick with lime and garlic. Or you can include them all.

Mix the ingredients in a bowl, then transfer the marinade to a dish that’s big enough to fit your fish. Throw in your fish, spoon the chunky ingredients to the top of the fish, and then let it sit for 15 minutes or so.

Cook by following the directions on the fish package. I like to throw a little bit of butter into the pan before cooking. Mahi mahi tends to be thicker so it will cook longer than tilapia (which barely has to cook at all it’s so thin and delicate.) The fish is done when it flakes all the way through with a fork. If you’ve added coconut, make sure some it get’s brown and crunchy as it will add sweetness to the fish.

Fish in lime marinade is well complemented by any kind of Tex-Mex food (rice and beans, black beans, etc) and green vegetable with a stalk, like broccoli or asparagus.

Just say no to fish sticks.

Good reads from a real food mom →

I am just an amateur food blogger. But @nourishedmama has some solid ideas on some real food recipes and how to go about making the switch from convenience foods to real foods. Find her on the Twitter link above, and get reading. I recommend her resources page.

Only bad cooks blame the equipment. I can make almost any dish in my restaurants on four crummy electric burners with a regular oven—as can just about anyone else who cares to.

— Mario Batali, as quoted in “Is a Small Kitchen an Excuse for Bad Cooking or Not Cooking at All?”