Chips are back on the menu!

Yes, I have been a bit too into putting the old reliables back into my diet in a paleo way.  In one day I made three paleo pumpkin pies and muffins and don't even like pumpkin pie!  I tried to make a pecan fig tart over and over without success and have some good bar cookies and freezer bars (they don't stay together at room temperature) for our munching, but nothing really shines yet as THE recipe to submit to the world.  Still working, tinkering...  Since I have a husband trying to stay on the zone and am trying to preserve my own sanity, my baking is going to be more limited in the future.  Baking within paleo and fruit sugar source restrictions is difficult to say the least.  There have been many delicious failures...

Today, I would like to promote veggies.  Plain and simple.  I have made two awesomely delicious veggie chips that I have to share.

Being a skeptic with any recipe that says it can replicate chips (yes, I have tried baked apple chips and they DID NOT warrant the name of chips; they were more like chewy apple jerky), you can imagine how thrilled I was to find I can make crispy chips out of my own oven!  Using nutritious non-tuber veggies!  Without frying!  And I can make them easily all by myself!  How awesome is that?!  Now you can too!


Kale Creations


I already spouted about how nutritious kale is in Kale Salad.  For example, it is labeled as a superfood for being so nutritious, so check it out.  One caveat: cooking veggies leads to some nutrient loss, so keep that in mind.  On the other hand, heat breaks cell walls making many nutrients more bioavailable to us during digestion.  So the take away message: eat your veggies both raw and cooked!

Kale Chippies (yes, you have to say it in your squeaky, high-pitched GIR voice)
Basically, I tried this recipe I found at Girl Gone Primal and just converted the oven temperature to Fahrenheit and added my go-to spice: garlic powder!  Never underestimate the power of garlic to take something good to the next level of deliciousness!


Cooking Time: Start to finish, less than a half an hour!

ingredients:
1 bunch of kale per diner (I used dinosaur kale because it has such great texture--like dinosaur skin!)
olive oil
salt
black pepper
garlic powder
any other spices your heart desires

Preheat your oven to 355.  Meanwhile, wash the crap out of your kale (unfortunately, farmers market kale is often teaming with life, so wash thoroughly!).  Tear the kale leaves off the thick part of the stalk in big chunks.  There is some shrinkage in the oven, so don't make them too small or they'll shrivel up and burn.  Discard the thick stalks (I have to find a recipe using them, I feel bad throwing them away!).  Dry your kale in a salad spinner or with paper towels.  Dinosaur kale is pretty awesome in that it repels water, so there isn't much water to wick away after washing.  Now, put your kale on a sheet pan or pans (preferably lined with Silpat, parchment, or foil) so that they aren't overly crowded (ideally one layer).  I was living on the edge and neglected to line my sheet pan or use two pans for two bunches of kale--such a rebel!--but since the other recipes mention these preventative measures, I should too even though mine was successful and without excessive cleanup.  Next, drizzle on the olive oil (don't glug, but try to get enough on there to coat once you toss it--remember fat is GOOD) and then sprinkle on the salt, pepper, garlic powder, and any other spices you desire.  Toss the leaves around with your hands to coat everybody equally.  Now, whack 'er in the oven for 10 minutes and check.  Remove to a plate any browned ones or firm ones that are chips.  Yes, they are actually chips!  Leave in any floppy, moist ones for another 5 minutes in the oven.  Repeat until all of your kale has magically transformed into CHIPS!

Crunch away on one of the most awesome and nutritious chips out there!

Eggplant?  Seriously?

Alton Brown from the epicly nerdlicious Food Network show Good Eats helped inspire this eggplant application.  His brilliant pressing strategy lets the eggplant soak in taste rather than become a mushy mess.  Eggplant is delicious and nutritious, so don't shy away from this purple peculiarity.

Eggplant is a nightshade (NOTE: I will discuss at more length in a future post), which means it isn't the best if you are avoiding inflammation and is not quite tasty if you are a cat indulging upon human dinner left out on the counter momentarily unattended (yes, she threw up--but no, it didn't deter her from another counter scavenger hunt later that night, damn cat).  Nutrition wise, eggplant has a good amount of fiber, potassium, manganese, and B vitamins.  It is filled with antioxidants that provide a protective role in our bodies from damaging oxidative reactions.  One such phytonutrient antioxidant in eggplant protects the lipids in our brain cell membranes.  Another one in high quantity is chlorogenic acid which has been found to have anti-cancer, antiviral, anti-microbial, and anti-LDL cholesterol functions.  Bottom line: surprise, surprise, veggies are good for you!

Here is a great method of preparation which serves as a stepping stone to other inventive culinary creations!

Eggplant Chippies
Eggplant takes a little more preparation than kale, but there is a delicious reward for your diligence.  


Time Required: at least 2 hours of pressing, then it is fast and done in 15 minutes.  You can also prepare the eggplant ahead of time and use them for dinner that night--especially if you can give those babies a flip and change their towels half way through the day.  

ingredients:
one regular-sized eggplant per diner
salt
olive oil

Slice the eggplant into half inch thick...slices (I hate repeating myself) and lay one layer on sheet pans lined with pet hair-free tea towels or doubled paper towels.  Sprinkle with salt (don't coat).  Then, top with a tea towel or another doubled paper towel sheet.  Place another sheet pan on top and weigh it down using whatever you have handy that is heavy (i.e. cast iron pans, cans, your cat).  Let them press for 1 hour.  Afterwards, come back and replace the now damp towels, flip the eggplant, sprinkle with salt, and replace the heavies for more pressing.  Repeat as many times as desired/you have the patience for.  Once ready to cook, rinse the eggplant to get off the salt (don't worry, there is still some inside, but not too much, hence the "don't coat" warning above--believe me, I have been there).  Dry with paper towels/pet hair-free tea towels and lay in one layer on the bare sheet pan (use two pans if you can't fit them all).  Don't line the sheet pan this time because we are headed for the broiler and lining can't take the heat, baby.  Drizzle olive oil on your eggplant and you're going to have to be a little liberal since those suckers are sponges.  Turn your broiler on to Low and place the sheet pan on the highest rack.  Prop the door open at its broiler location (why is that again? perhaps for morons like me who like to close the door and forgetaboutit to the point of burnage?).  Check in five minutes for browning, and if you have it, flip.  If not, wait til you do.  Once both sides are browned, you are done!  Salt or spice to taste.

Serving Suggestions:

Neapolitan with Meat Sauce: One incredibly tasty way to serve these is as little Neapolitans with Basic Meat Sauce.  Just assemble your little Leaning Tower and create a tasty moat surrounding with the excess (mine was not suitable for pictures--even the sauce in my pic looks more bloody than tomatoey, unfortunately).   NOTE: this serving style will lose the crispiness of the eggplant, but their roasted sweetness really hits the meat sauce out of the park!

Dunkin' Style: You can avoid the mushiness of the first application if you serve the chips on the side of the meat sauce and use them to dip, as my husband did during our feast.  Yes, my husband is brilliant, but mine was more architecturally pleasing ;)

Neapolitan with Roasted Portobellos, Roasted Red Peppers, Pesto, Fresh Basil, and Fresh Mozzarella (sorry, I am off the cheese for awhile, so no pics of this one): When I used to indulge more on cheese, I replicated a layered deli item from Whole Foods.  After paying over $10 for this tasty dish, I decided to make it myself instead.  Just broil the eggplant using my recipe, broil portobellos the same way (no need to salt and press them first, just follow the broiling method after drizzling in olive oil and sprinkling with salt), then create a tasty stack of layered mushroom slathered in pesto, topped with roasted red pepper (roast yourself or buy in the jar, but check to make sure it is paleo--no citric acid, soy, wheat, or grain products allowed!), topped with fresh basil, topped with eggplant, and finally topped with fresh mozzarella cheese.  Broil or microwave the Neapolitan to melt the cheese before serving/gorging upon.  Um, yum!

Other suggestions:
The sky is the limit.  You have a great base for many flavors and applications.  For instance, try them as Eggplant Parmesan if you eat cheese or want to indulge.  I bet they would be damn tasty sprinkled with parmesan before broiling!  You can also just snack on them as chips.  I know I have, and I didn't feel once ounce of guilt!

Kale Chips
Easy and Addictive Eggplant "Chips"

Smashing Pumpkins

Pumpkins and all types of squashes abound right now during the fall harvest and in the spirit of  Halloween.  I have tried to tackle squash as a savory dish on multiple occasions, but I have never been crazy about the outcome.  There is just something so sweet about most squash that they beg for sweet applications.  Even wrapping squash cubes in bacon didn't win me over, which is insane because bacon is supposed to make everything better.  Well, I give in.  I'm not trying to fit a round squash into a square hole anymore.  I am going to use it as its sweetness begs: for dessert!

Scrumptious Squash

Squash is very nutritious for obvious reasons: it's a brightly colored vegetable (well, botanically speaking it's a fruit).  Bright color means beta carotene (think carrots), which has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.  As an anti-inflammatory, beta carotene helps reduce the symptoms of asthma and arthritis.  Beta carotene also deters plague formation by keeping cholesterol from oxidizing and building up on the walls of blood vessels; thus, it protects against heart disease.  It also protects us against cancer, especially colon cancer (which is further aided by squash's folate and fiber content).  Furthermore, beta carotene plays a role in blood sugar regulation, thereby protecting against diabetes and insulin resistance.  Squash is also high in fiber, aiding our digestive inner workings.  The Vitamin C, manganese, folate, and potassium content in squash is also quite respectable.  Bottom line, it's nutritious!

Squash is a perfect paleo food for getting sweetness out of your food, not adding it to your food.  According to its single listing on the international table, pumpkin's glycemic index value is 75, which is a little high (higher than 50 is considered high glycemic), but being a watery, fibrous plant, it has a low, low glycemic load of 3 (I have seen various numbers for different winter squash, but all less than 10).  Remember, when we last talked about blood sugar, we defined these terms.  Glycemic index is how fast a food is broken down into glucose, which raises your blood sugar, and since pure glucose is 100, we try to avoid foods higher than 50 on that scale.  However, we can't dismiss glycemic load, which takes into account the percentage of carbohydrate in the food that is responsible for the spike.  In pumpkins, it is low (less than 10 is considered low glycemic load, 20 or more is high).  Squash fall into the same category as watermelons (a relative) that, while sweet, have so much water and/or fiber that their glycemic load is negligible.

This inherent, but not dangerous sweetness is something we can enhance with flavor compliments like apple and banana.  I find it gratifying to add sweeteners that contribute to the flavor, not just add sweetness.  They also add their own host of vitamins and minerals, which trumps honey, agave, and traditional sugars any day.  Period.

Main Reference: The World's Healthiest Foods

Preparation S

First off, you can buy canned pumpkin, but it is really simple to make your own and so much better for you and the environment if you rely less upon processed foods.  When choosing squash, go for the sweetest you can find.  Sweet varieties include the sugar or pie pumpkin (small jack-o-lanturn type), kabocha squash, butternut squash, acorn squash, Hubbard squash, calabaza squash, buttercup squash, or the oddly named sweet potato squash.

Roasting a squash is really easy.  Check out Elana's Pantry's step by step guide for pictures and more details, but here is the gist: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  In the meantime, wash the squash and cut it in half (this is tricky with hard rinds, so be careful and use a big, heavy knife!).  Scoop out the fibrous, seedy innards and try to fish out the seeds to dry and roast, if you are up to the challenge.  Place the cut halves face down in a baking dish with 1/4 inch of water in the bottom.  Roast for 30 minutes and give them a check.  You are looking for fork-tender flesh all the way to the rind.  If you got it, great--allow to cool and then scoop out the roasted squash with a spoon.  Why a spoon?  Because it'll 'urt more.  [sorry, couldn't resist lapsing into my Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves recital :)]

Now you have your roasted squash!  What can you do with it?  Bake muffins!

How about muffins sweetened only by a mere 3 tablespoons of apple juice and 2 bananas?  Is that not awesome?!

Pumpkin Chai Spiced Muffins
Like sipping a steaming, hot mug of chai, these muffins will delight your senses.  
Cooking Time: about 45minutes start to finish
Quantity: more than a dozen, so I have to bake in two batches!

Wet Ingredients:
1 c roasted pumpkin (see above to prepare)
2 over-ripe bananas, break each into 3-4 chunks

1 T vanilla

3 eggs

3 T apple juice

Dry Ingredients:

1.5 c almond flour

1/2 c coconut flour

1 t baking soda
2 t cream of tartar
2 t Ceylon cinnamon
1/2 a nutmeg, grated
3/4 t ground ginger
3/4 t ground cloves
1 t salt

First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and prepare your muffin tins/cups.  I have had success with using cut squares of parchment (see pic in my last muffin recipe) in the cups as makeshift (read: cheap) muffin cups, but they are really annoying to keep in place while trying to dish in the batter.  If you are really into baking, you can splurge on silicon muffin cups at $13 for 6, which then need no fussing or even a muffin tin (they can bake on a cookie sheet!).  I just got mine and am so enamored with them!  Or go ahead and trust your nonstick muffin tin one more time.  These things just tend to fail after a few uses, but go ahead and live on the edge if you must.  Just be sure to grease liberally with coconut oil and don't tell me I didn't warn you if they stick.

Okay, now that you have your oven cranking, muffin tins/cups prepped, and ingredients assembled, let's make muffins!  Add the coconut flour and cream of tartar to a sifter (or food processor) and sift into a large bowl (or whirl in your food processor to combine, then add to your bowl).  Sifting the coconut flour and cream of tartar ensures none of those annoying clumps that are so difficult to mix out.  Skip this and you'll be squashing beads of coconut flour and cream of tartar for the next five minutes, seriously.  Next, add the remaining dry ingredients to the bowl and mix throughly.  Then, add all the wet ingredients to a food processor and pulse until you break up the banana and squash.  Scrape down the sides, then, let 'er whirl for a minute to lighten the color a bit and puree everything evenly (you might need another scraping and whirl to accomplish this).  Give your wet ingredients a final whirl to aerate them (you should see bubbles when you lift the lid) and add them to the dry ingredients.  Mix to evenly incorporate.  

Dish your batter into muffin tins/cups and bake for 25 minutes, then check for any wetness on the top, giggliness, or too light a top color--if present, give them 5 more minutes, then retest.  Mine took around 30 minutes and their tops just started to turn a more golden brown with stray spills looking a bit burnt.  After finished, remove and cool on a rack (note: don't try to get muffins out of their cups (parchment or silicone) until after they have cooled).  Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator with some paper towels underneath and above them to soak up excess moisture.  They'll last a good few days if you can resist them!

Apple of My Eye

UPDATE: Whole Foods has Ceylon Cinnamon sold by Frontier Brand in a shaker bottle for about $6.  I checked New Leaf and Staff of Life, but no go at either store.  




It is apple season!  That means fresh apples abounding and ready to pick!  Growing up on the east coast, apple picking was always an autumn tradition.  I have fond memories of piling the whole family complete with grandparents in the car and eating ourselves sick on apples because, of course, you have to try each variety and "oooh this apple looks perfect for eating..." We all went home with tummy-aches and mom baked and baked for weeks to come with the bounty.  There is nothing like a house filled with the sweet aroma of cinnamon and apples baking in the oven.  THAT is autumn.  But eating paleo-style makes these baked apple goodies a thing of the past--or does it?  Check back for a baked goods recipe I am tinkering with that isn't quite ready for publishing yet.  For now, let's talk apples.  


A couple weekends ago, I went apple picking with my husband and our friends at Swanton Pacific Ranch.  We found an organic U-pick apple orchard complete with cash box for your purchase on the honor system.  The rows and rows of trees were ours for the picking, and we alone were partaking despite it being a sunny, warm mid-Sunday afternoon.  The experience of being out there with the trees, bees, and birds made it so much more special than an orchard complete with hay ride and petting zoo.  Nice that families can partake in picking their own fruit and produce, but we were glad to escape the spectacle it has become.  

An Apple a Day...


Apples are a healthy fruit.  They are low glycemic foods (check back for a post on that topic soon!).  They are also one of Barry Sear's 100 Zone Foods for their control over blood sugar and high fiber content, especially the soluble fiber pectin, which lowers insulin secretion, slows the release of sugar into the bloodstream, and lowers cholesterol levels, according to his book The Top 100 Zone Foods.  Sears also mentions their role in preventing/reducing the risk of cancer.  A thorough summary of studies on the health benefits of apples from the Nutrition Journal shows even more benefits.  

Here are some of the conclusions they make: 

Based on these epidemiological studies, it appears that apples may play a large role in reducing the risk of a wide variety of chronic disease and maintaining a healthy lifestyle in general. Of the papers reviewed, apples were most consistently associated with reduced risk of cancer, heart disease, asthma, and type II diabetes when compared to other fruits and vegetables and other sources of flavonoids. Apple consumption was also positively associated with increased lung function and increased weight loss. Partially because of such strong epidemiological evidence supporting the health benefits in apples, there is increasing research using animal and in vitro models that attempts to more clearly explain these health benefits.

Many of the health benefits stem from the fact that apples are high in antioxidants, especially flavonoids, which have strong antioxidant properties.  What does this mean?  


Oxidative reactions are a part of your body's natural biochemistry and vital to many functions, such as the breakdown of glucose for energy.  Despite their importance, they are also implicated in many diseases and cancer due to the production of damaging free radicals (when is anything ever all or none?).  Oxidative chemical reactions take place in your body that pull electrons from one molecule to another and produce free radicals in the process.  Free radicals are molecules, atoms, and ions with a screw loose.  They have unpaired electrons, which makes them unstable, as if they are playing with half a deck.  While some have biological functions, other free radicals wander aimlessly and bump into other substances, which leads to jumpy little electrons being exchanged.  When electron-jumping happens to vital substances like DNA, it creates mutations, which can lead to cancer.  Free radicals are also implicated in the aging process and liver and lung damage in conjunction with alcohol and smoking.  


Antioxidants are the good guys: they hold free radicals so they can't do any damage.  Antioxidants are also martyrs, sacrificing themselves to oxidative reactions so no free radicals are produced.  They are essential to keep those free radicals in check.  Antioxidant-rich foods are vital in your diet to keep you healthy.   So an apple a day really can keep the doctor away, if it is a part of a healthy, balanced paleo-style diet!


Now back to oxidation--that's what is going on when cut apples turn brown.  Exposure to the air oxidizes iron-containing chemicals in apple flesh, turning the color brown.  The enzyme responsible for the reaction is the same that helps create melatonin in our own skin so that we tan when exposed to sunlight.  Go figure!  To prevent browning, you can cut apples underwater (so the enzymes don't get exposed to air).  However, I am not sure if browning is only delayed until they surface and inevitably get exposed to air.  Cooking apples also denatures the enzymes, avoiding browning.  Finally, you can add citrus juice to cut apples, which lowers the pH to slow the enzymes and which contains Vitamin C, an antioxidant.  And so we go full circle--back to antioxidants!  (However, the antioxidants in apples don't stop their apple from browning--anyone know why?)  


What makes cinnamon special...and dangerous?

Historically, cinnamon was a highly valued spice referenced in the Old Testament and sought by Europe when expeditions were sent to find a shortcut to Asia.  Barry Sears, Zone Diet founder, puts cinnamon on his list of The Top 100 Zone Foods, despite it being a spice.  His reasoning?  Cinnamon imparts a sweetness that can substitute for sugar and has a slew of healthy benefits: it stimulates the efficiency of insulin so you need less to get the same effect and it may play a role in lowering blood pressure.  While scientific evidence supporting these claims is a bit spotty, there is promise that future research will uncover more concrete health benefits.  

There are three major types of cinnamon.  True cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum, Cinnamomum zeylanicum, or Ceylon Cinnamon) is the inner bark of small evergreen native to Sri Lanka.  Cinnamon is also the name of spices made from the bark of Cassia trees (Cassia Cinnamon) and Cinnamomum burmannii (Indonesian Cinnamon), both native to areas in Southern Asia, India, and Indonesia.  In many countries only true cinnamon may go by the name cinnamon, but guess where that is NOT the case?  Yes, the good ol' US of A!  Read on.


Cassia Cinnamon may be something to avoid because 1.) it isn't true cinnamon and 2.) it contains a high quantity of a toxic chemical called coumarin, which when taken in high dosages, can lead to liver and kidney damage.  Sounds great, huh?  Luckily, if you exceed the safe dosage infrequently, your body has time to repair the damage.  For example, eating cinnamon buns hasn't killed you yet (although the wheat may certainly be damaging your gut!).  However, in those with an already compromised liver or kidneys or who regularly consume toxic dosages, high dosage of Cassia Cinnamon may be harmful.  What is high dosage?  Just one teaspoon of Cassia Cinnamon contains more of this chemical than deemed safe by tolerable daily intake levels for smaller individuals (say children); thus, moderation in Cassia Cinnamon intake is strongly suggested.  By contrast, Ceylon Cinnamon has very little of this chemical and is deemed safe.  


The bad news: it seems that most of what we call "ground cinnamon" is really Cassia!  The US has NO laws governing this distinction.  The FDA banned using coumarin as a food additive in 1954, so it understands the danger of this chemical, but has NO requirement for cinnamon contents in food.  While Germany has banned Cassia importation because of its coumarin levels, the US continues to use it for its strong cinnamon flavor.  Great!  


What can you do?  Don't freak out (unlike me--finding this out really made me mad!)  If you often use cinnamon often or in high quantity or have kids or anyone with liver/kidney problems in your household, perhaps it is best to switch out your stash now.  Find out what kind of cinnamon is in that ground cinnamon before you buy it.  If you can't tell, don't buy it.  Looks like Whole Foods sells Ceylon Cinnamon in a shaker from Frontier brand (at least on their website).  I will have to check out New Leaf next time I go.  Stick form may be the real thing in some stores, but look for light tan, thin, brittle, inner bark sticks rolled like cigars for true cinnamon, while Cassia uses thicker, harder bark layers and looks like a dark, reddish brown scroll shape (see pictures on wikipedia).  Ground Ceylon Cinnamon looks to be selling at around $20-35 a pound through online spice retailers, who say that lasts up to 2 years in an airtight jar.  Or just buy the sticks or quillings (broken pieces when sticks are cut) and grind them yourself since true cinnamon is brittle enough to be ground in a coffee or spice grinder.    




Okay, enough with the nerdiness and freaking out over cinnamon!  Here is an incredibly simple apple preparation that is a great snack or carb for a balanced meal (i.e. one of my favorite breakfast accompaniments to eggs)!

Ceylon Cinnamon Dusted Apple Slices
Spicy and sweet, these apple slices fragrantly announce autumn.  
Zone Blocks: 1 apple is 2 blocks


one apple
Ceylon Cinnamon (true cinnamon--NOT toxic Cassia!)


Cut the apple into thin slices (I like to leave mine round).  Dust with cinnamon on one side, flip, and dust with cinnamon on the other side--or just toss once you first dust the top to get your desired coating.  


Enjoy! 

Cinnamon
Cinnamon