Millet – potatoes patties

I found this recipe several years ago on one of vegetarian forum

We need:

• 2 cups millet
• water
•  about 2 lb potatoes
• 2 onions
• little wholemeal flour (you can also use bread crumbs)
• salt
• pepper
• oil

Rinse millet in cold water (using mesh strainer). Put into a pot, pour 4 cups water and cook slowly until grain will be soft and you will not see water in a pot. Boil the potatoes and puree, chop onions and saute. Combine all ingredients together, add a little oil, salt and pepper. Shape into patties and coat in flour. Bake at 350 F until golden brown on both sides. Of course you can fry, add the herbs and spices – whatever You like.

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Whole rye sourdough bread recipe

Bread baking  is not very complicated, but at the beginning may cause some problems. The basis is sourdough. Of course you can bake bread with yeast (faster), although it is worth try a sourdough bread: a healthier, tastier, longer stays fresh.

At the beginning you need sourdough:

Pour handful (can be more) of rye flour into perfectly clean jar (I use to rinse jar with hot water before). Add lukewarm good quality water  (can be boiled), mix well using wooden spoon (consistency of cream). After 12 hours, stir again. After next 12 hours, add handful of rye flour, water and mix. Repeat for several days.

For example:

•  7.00 a.m. – add some whole rye flour, water and stir

•  7.00 p.m. – stir
• 7.00 a.m. next day – add some whole rye flour, water and mix
• 7.00 p.m. – stir etc.

Repeat these steps for the next days to receive a sourdough starter in the appropriate quantity.

After several days sourdough should have apple cider vinegar smell, but not necessarily. If it isn’t stinky, should be OK. The optimum temperature for wild yeast production is 77-86 degrees F. I use paper towel to cover jars with sourdough (protects against dust). You can keep your sourdough starter in the refrigerator up to 7 days without “feeding”.

My sourdough will be 5 years in a couple months:-) Obviously, I treat my starter well 🙂

Whole dark rye flour

You need handful (or more) of flour

Ready to use sourdough starter

Sourdough starter

When Your starter is ready You can bake sourdough bread. For years I use a recipe for bread I found on the polish forum for vegetarian and vegan families.

You need:

• about 1.5 cups of starter (because mine is mature and strong, I use about 1 cup)

• add a cup of flour, a little warm water, stir (consistency of mud) and leave for several hours to rise (you can leave for night).

Note: Always leave some starter for the next bread baking (add flour, water, stir and put to the refrigerator)

1 cup of rye flour

1 cup of sourdough starter

Mix starter and flour

Add some water

Stir

Leave for a couple hours in warm place (it should rise)

After couple hours add:

• 3 cups flour
• lukewarm water (You need mud consistency)

• approximately 2 flat teaspoons of salt (I use 1 teaspoon)
• olive oil

• whatever You like: black cumin, pumpkin or sunflower seeds, raisins, honey, caraway seeds etc.

Ingredients

Bread starter, honey, salt, olive oil

I added some water

and sunflower seeds

Yummy

Put bread into a mold and set aside to rise

White sourdough wheat bread and whole rye sourdough bread

White bread

Rye bread

Rye bread

White bread

Set aside to rise. Bake at 392 F for one hour (in the meantime spray water over your bread). I also spray bread with water before baking (It should help prevent crust breaking). White wheat always rises like crazy, bread with wholemeal flour is heavier, so it is generally smaller.

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Ghee

Ghee is made by first making butter, and then clarifying it. Ghee has therapeutic properties (unique among other saturated fats) and has a very long shelf life. Clarified butter balances the hormonal system, accelerates wound healing and gastrointestinal inflammatory conditions such as ulcers or colitis. Often recommended to patients with lactose intolerance. According to Ayurveda, it is also the best fat for cooking. Dr. Rudolph Ballentine believes that the clarified butter, containing butyric acid, exhibits antiviral and anticancer properties (the acid in the body increases levels of interferon-a natural antiviral substance). For the preparation of ghee, it is better to use organic  butter because the milk fat containes pesticide residues in food for cows). My ghee, unfortunately I did with regular butter. I recommend anyway, because I still think that better than refined oils, or regular  butter for frying. Freshly made ghee is a nice, slightly nutty flavor.

In a saucepan heat the butter (normally I do with 2 lb – This way I don’t need to do more often), bring to boil, then reduce the heat. Butter is slightly bubbling. After some time on the surface of the foam begins to accumulate. Smart books say to collect foam, I follow the advice of my friend and I leave the foam (this is easier anyway for me). After some time, most of the scum sinks to the bottom of the pot. When the butter stops bubbling, turn off heat (I have electric oven) and wait a little. Then using a dense mesh and cheese cloth I shed to clean and dry the jar (it’s important that the jar was dry, otherwise the mold can grow). When completely cool, turn off the jar. When I do two jars I usually a hold one in the refrigerator, the other on the kitchen counter. Currently, my ghee (all poured into a large jar) is at room temperature and is doing well.

Side effects: because it’s tasty, easy to overdose – make your bottom growing wide 😉

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Millet

Millet is one of the healthiest and oldest grain in the world. Came from Asia 7000 years ago.

This is about what Paul Pitchfrod wrote about millet in his book “Healing with whole foods”:

“Healing properties:

Cooling thermal nature; sweet and salty flavor, diuretic; strengthens the kidney; beneficial to stomach and spleen – pancreas; buildts the yin fluids; moistness dryness; alkalizing – balances over-acid conditions; sweetens breath by retarding bacterial growths in mouth; high amino acid (protein) profile and rich silicon content; helps prevent miscarriage; anti – fungal; one of the best grains for those with Candida albicans overgrowth.

Also useful for diarrhea (roast millet before cooking), vomiting (millet soup or congee), indigestion, and diabetes. Soothes morning sickness – eat millet soup or congee regularly. Millet is known as “queen of the grains.” Due to its alkali – forming nature millet is often cooked with little or no salt. Sprouted millet can be used for digestive stagnation caused by undigested starch , for checking lactation, and other applications similar to sprouted .

Caution: millet is not recommended for those with signs  of very weak digestive functions such a consistently watery stools.

Cooked millet:

• 1 cup millet, soaked
• 3 cups water
• A few grains sea salt

Place millet and salt in a pot of water. Cover. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Simmer 30 minuter or   pressure cook 20 minutes.

Variations: Toast millet in a little oil before cooking. For softer millet, add more water.”

I really recommend Paul Pitchford’s book and millet. This book will help you heal your body. There are plenty of easy and healthy recipes.

Millet

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Tuesday

Yesterday I had a terrible day. I felt horribly, I had a fever, headache, I slept for many hours, and today is better, although I have nausea after Singulair.

Because I feel much better than yesterday so I give a recipe for crackers, which I got from a friend (she in turn found it on interesting website).

Pumpkin seed crackers

• 1 c unsalted pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds

• 1 tsp sea salt

• 3 cloves garlic, peeled

• 1 c sesame seeds, hulled

• up to 1/4 c water

Put pumpkin seeds, salt, and garlic in food processor and whir for 2-3 minutes until the seeds are a dense flour.  Add the sesame seeds and pulse to mix.  Slowly add in the water, a couple of tablespoons at a time, until the seeds clump together in a ball.  Remove and kneed a couple of times to further mix.  Spread the mixture on a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet, then place another piece on top and roll flat to 1/4 inch with a rolling pin.    Remove the top sheet and mark with a knife the size of the crackers.  I bake it on the bottom sheet of parchment paper, but you don’t have to.  Bake for 15-20 minutes at 325F or until golden brown.  Allow to cool and then break into pieces.  Sometimes the outside pieces turn brown before the center and I just remove them and put the rest back in the oven.

http://www.healthhomehappy.com/2010/09/grain-free-crackers-made-with-sesame-and-sunflower-seeds.html

My changes: omitted the garlic, salt and water. I added dates (6-8), two handfuls of raisins. I used sunflower seeds
Both versions are very tasty.

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Health

Health is a very interesting topic to me, mainly because I am not quite healthy (yet) and I know many people who have serious health problems. I read a lot about this and try to improve my health, physical condition. Besides fall is coming…You know…viruses, bacterias etc. Some time ago I bought a book: “The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia: A Comprehensive Resource for Healthy Eating”, by  Rebecca Wood.

There are some information from book cover:

THE COMPLETE AND AUTHORITATIVE RESOURCE FOR HEALTHY EATING-
from Acorn to Zucchini, Aduki beans to the tropical Zapote fruit—The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia shows you howto select, prepare, store, and use medicinally morethan 1,000 familiar and unusual foods. Americans are becoming increasingly aware that food quality determines our health, and many cultures have long understood that food is often the best medicine for what ails us.

REBECCA WOOD, a nationally known whole foods authority, is just the person to bring this wealth of knowledge together in one volume. Since 1970, she has been teaching whole foods cook­ery to thousands across North America and Europe. An educational consultant to the natural foods industry for the last seventeen years, she also co-founded and directed the East-West Center in Boulder, Colorado, and runs the Be Nourished Cooking School. Her most recent book, The Splendid Grain, won both a James Beard Award and a Julia Child/IACP Award.

THE UNIQUE FEATURES OF THE NEW WHOLE FOODS ENCYCLOPEDIA INCLUDE:

• Tips on how to heal with Ayurveda, Western nutrition, and traditional Chinese medicine
• A complete index, organized so readers can research treatments by ailment as well as the food itself
• Line drawings illustrating unusual foods so readers can recognize them in stores O A glossary of medical terms
• A list of resources for hard-to-find foods .
• A fully cross-referenced format, with sidebar recipes throughout

This cough syrup is an absolute hit in my house:

• 2 cups boiling water
• 3 tablespoons dried thyme
• 1 cup honey

Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove from the heat. Add thyme, cover, and seep until cool. Strain. Stir in ! cup honey. Store in a covered glass jar, refrigerated, for several months. (One teaspoon taken every hour will relive a cough).

I do not know if you can reduce the amount of honey without loss for health benefits, then you also probably need to reduce the amount of water. Generally works, tested on my family, even in the past few days. Dominik looked quite miserable on Saturday morning, he had such a deep cough, but one day later he was better. This is easy to do, probably it is cheaper than the commercial  and has no preservatives or artificial colors. Generally recommended.

Picture from http://www.simply-natural.biz/rebecca-wood-whole-foods.php

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Time for cleaning

I think kids generally do not like to clean up. However, if they want to do something, we should let them to do it even  if we will do it better.

Clean up, clean up.
Everybody let’s clean up.
Clean up, clean up.
Put your things away.
(x4)

Clean up! Clean up! Clean up! Put your things away.
Pick up your toys.
Pick up your books.
Pick up your shoes.
Put your things away.

Clean up, clean up.
Everybody let’s clean up.
Clean up, clean up.
Put your things away.
(x2)

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Scones

I like to bake, so sometimes bake something tasty (not always healthy).

• 1 3/4 cups (245 grams) all purpose flour (I used whole wheat i a little all purpose)
• 1/3 cup (65 grams) granulated white sugar (I used brown)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (I didn’t use)
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup (113 grams) (1 stick) unsalted butter (cold and cut into small pieces)
• 3/4 cup (60 grams) old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1/3 cup (40 grams) dried  cranberries or cherries (raisins or currants)
• Zest of one lemon or orange
• 2/3 cup (160 ml) buttermilk ( I used plain kefir)

Egg Wash:

• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon milk or cream ( I didnt use egg, I used soy milk)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl place the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder and whisk to combine.  Add the butter and using two knives or a pastry blender cut in the butter until it resembles coarse crumbs.  Add the rolled oats, dried cranberries and zest.  Mix until combined. Stir in the buttermilk (adding more buttermilk if necessary) and mix just until the dough comes together.

Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead the dough four or five times and then pat, or roll, the dough into a circle that is 7 inches (18 cm) round and about 11/2 inches (3.75 cm) thick.  Cut this circle into 8 triangular sections.  Place the scones on the prepared baking sheet.  Make an egg wash of one beaten egg mixed with 1 tablespoon milk or cream and brush the tops of the scones with this mixture.

Bake for about 15 – 18 minutes or until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.   Remove from oven and then turn your broiler on high.  Sift confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar heavily over the tops of the scones and place them under the broiler.  Broil for just a few seconds, turning the pan as necessary, until the sugar has melted and turns golden brown.  Make sure to watch the scones carefully as the sugar will burn very quickly. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Makes 8 scones. ( http://www.joyofbaking.com/CranberryOatScones.html )

Scones

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Soooooo good :-)

Quinoa and broccoli

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Almost* vegan brownie

* Accidentally I used non-vegan chocolate chips

Ingredients

• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (I used 1 cup white, 1 1/2 cups whole wheat)
• 2 cups white sugar (I used 1 cup agave nectar and 2 tbl of brown sugar)
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I added 3/4 cups of chocolate)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt (I didn’t use)
• 1 cup water (I used soy milk)
• 1 cup vegetable oil (I used 1/4)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Pour in water, vegetable oil and vanilla; mix until well blended. Spread evenly in a 9×13 inch baking pan.
3. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until the top is no longer shiny. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting into squares. (http://allrecipes.com)

My brownie wasn’t very gooey, but tasted excellent with cup of coffee.

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