Monday This & That

Angel Food Cupcakes Again

If you saw my Thursdays Tea post you found three delicious Gluten Free recipes.  One was for Lemon Angel Food Cupcakes which was featured on Gluten-Free Wednesdays BLOG last week.  I had never thought that it would be possible to make Angel Food cake into cupcakes but it worked wonderfully and this was the best Gluten-Free Angel Food cake I've made yet.

With just the two of us at home there was plenty of cupcakes to go around and then some so I got some strawberries and sliced them up and served them over the cupcakes which made the perfect round two desert from this batch of cupcakes.

I served it up in my vintage Syracuse China bowls.  This china company makes dishes used by restaurants.  Anyone remember the year(s) this pattern was vogue?



Gluten-Free Lemon Poppyseed Madeleines

2 large eggs
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1 teaspoon grated fresh, organic lemon peel
Pinch salt
1 cup gluten-free all purpose flour mix (plus 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum if needed)
1 3/4 cup melted butter, slightly cooled
Powdered sugar to dust Madeleines

Preheat oven o 375 degrees F

1. Generouly grease 2 standard madeleine pans with butter
2. Combine eggs and sugar in a large mixing bowl. With electric mixer beat on high until creamy for about 4 minutes
3. Add vanilla and lemon extracts, lemon peel and salt, beat to combine.
4. Gradually add gluten-free flour mix and beat just unil combined.
5. Slowly drizzle melted butter into the mixture while beaing until combined.
6. Spoon batter into prepared Madeleine molds until almost to the top.
7. Bake for 10-13 minutes or until tops are puffed and golden brown.
8. Invert he pans ono wire ricks and give them a hard tap to remove the cookies/cakes from the molds.
9. Serve warm dusted with a bit of confecioners' sugar.

Welcome to the Avoiding April Showers Giveaway Event. This event is hosted by Put A Little Umbrella In Your Drink, My Mommy's World, Taking Time For Mommy and And The Little Ones Too.
The Avoiding April Showers Giveaway Event is now live!  A ton of great things to win!!!  Click this Link to see what Grandma Farmer is giving away!

Food Recalls
A Grandma Farmer Editorial

I thought it was about time for me to take a look at the recent food recalls.  I found it very interesting that of the 15 food related recalls by the FDA so far in 2012 10 of them were for misbranding or mislabeling of product ingredients especially of not informing consumers of Allergy ingredients.  A Chicken Sausage product was recalled because there were foriegn objects in the meat.  Interesting, I wonder what that was.  Three products were actually recalled because they contained ingredients that had not been submitted for inspection.  Several of the products were 'ready-to-eat' products and there were beef, chicken and egg products recalled for Listeria, E-coli and Samonella.

It was the most recent recall that interested me the most.  It was for pink slime.  Yep, the 'meat' with the pink fat filler that has been soaked in Ammonia so that it doesn't get contaminated with bad stuff.  Well, guess what?  April 11th there was a recall of this product, dubbed Pink Slime, due to..........drum roll...........E-Coli.

I went to Wikipedia and looked up Ammonia.  A long and scientifically complicated article ensued.  Skimming past the formulas I picked out information on how Ammonia is a gas, it gives us a streak free shine, can be combined with other chemicals for various effects including the possibility of explosion.  Finally I read that if a person consumes to much Ammonia or has to much Ammonia build up in their system that it can cause Liver Dysfunction among other things.  I also found that, "Ammonia even at dilute concentrations is highly toxic to aquatic animals, and for this reason it is classified as dangerous for the environment.

I just wonder why then the FDA thinks it's okay to approve the use of Ammonia in food........


  The Sweet Shop Talk

Now here's a place to spend some time, especially on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday...... when lots of creative BLOGGERS post their craft ideas.
http://www.thesweettalkshop.com/2012/04/sweettalkin-sunday-link-party-14.html

Actually it looks like Lisa has a virtual Craft Party just about every day of the week.  I could just spend hours there!!!

Not only is LISA creative with crafts she's the one who created my header on my blog and the two buttons I have.

Genealogy 101
Grandma Farmer is researching and writing a series for her new blog www.footstepsbehindme.blogspot.com.  If you are interested in Genealogy but don't know where to start or have done some genealogy but are stagnent OR just want to put some fun challenges into your hobby join us at FOOTSTEPS.  You don't have to be 'family' to have fun o this site.

Visit us:

Mondays:  Genealogy 101
Tuesdays:  Family Trivia Day
Wednesdays:  Picture Wednesday
Thurdays:  Coming --  Tombstone Thursday
Fridays:  Genealogy Challenge Day


COOKING SPRAY -  Possible Source of Gluten Contamination

My DIL @ http://ForHimandMyFamily.blogspot.com first posted this for my eyes.  Homemade Cooking Spray: In a spray bottle combine 1 part oil (I like grapeseed) and 5 parts water. Shake before sraying. Thank you @Nature's Nurture! http://naturesnurtureblog.com/2012/04/03/tiny-tip-tuesday-homemade-cooking-spray

  PLEASE make sure the bottle you use is food grade, we have enough of all those nasty plactic chemicals in our bodies.  Or better yet go here and purchase a container meant for this type of application.

Buy a bottle designed for this application here:
https://www.azurestandard.com/shop/product/3321/

Azure Standard is a GREAT company set up like a Food Coop!  We've been purchasing food and other things from them for well over a year.

Creating Next Weeks Menu

Creating a menu for one or two people is a challenge. Some of us are elderly, some are single and loving it, some have empty nests after cooking for 4, 6, 8 or more.

For me I meet a couple of those criteria. We had a large family that hung around for quite some time and suddenly left kind of all at the same time. Additionally I took care of three of my grandchildren for a time which cushioned the blow.

As you know cooking for one or two can be..........well...........rather uneventful. There is just something different about sitting down to a table a happy, busy voices all trying to tell tales of their day all at once to the small section of the table alone or with one other person. Don't get me wrong, I love my husband and I love having him with me. I want to please him with my meals and yet deal with my issue of being gluten-intollerant at the same time.

At any rate, I want to share with you how I go about creating meals for the two of us when we

• Don't want a ton of left-overs (I swear we could eat for a week on some recipes)
• Don't want to throw away a lot of food because you just don't use the whole bag of veggies, etc
• Do want to create healthy yet taste foods that makes a person want to eat
• Can't afford to always eat out or buy convience food

We do work with leftovers...........

When cooking for one or two there is aways left-overs. What can you do to work with those creatively? We purchased some glass one serving dishes with lids. I have an issue with using to much plastic but not only for the planet. I just don't think using a lot of plastic is good for a person, especially if you heat up things in a microwave. The plastic has to get into the food. So I prefer the glass.

If I cooking a meal that I know I'm going to have left-overs I'll have the bowls ready. I will put one serving the the bowl, label the top with what is in it and rewarming directions and put it in the freezer or refrigerator. My husband works 4 days a week. He takes four of these bowls to work with him every week and uses them for lunches. I will keep some of them for my lunches and we're set. Neither of us will get caught missing a meal because we didn't have time to go buy lunch or just didn't want to round something up for one person.

This plan also works well if you are caring for elderly parents. Do you have parents living alone or just the two of them and you notice they aren't eating well? Why not make this plan, label each meal with day, etc. Create a written plan for them to follow and check up with them to make sure they are following the plan.

How I plan my menus...................

I have studied alternative medicine, our food as medicine and more for a good many years. This gives me a head start and I plan to start sharing some of this with you in the weeks ahead so that you can make informed choices for your families. My peditrican appreciated my approach of family self care until and when he was needed for things that were above and beyond my ability. He actually was a wonderful physician who spoiled me for others who didn't/don't understand and/or appreciate my approach. Actually what I had learned was the ebb and flow of the old paths and I followed them well.

When I approach my meal plan there are several things I will take in account.

I can't afford to eat entirely organic on our limited budget. When I can garden it is a big help and grow all my produce orgnically. We raise our own beef, goat (chevon and milk) and chicken (meat and eggs) using organic grains only when necessary preferring grass for feed. This is a luxoury that we can count on for now but know there will come a time when that won't be available to us. I'm hoping by then, since I've been proving food for my children and their families from our excess that some of them will, in turn, provide that for us when we are no longer capable.

When I can't raise something myself I choose which items that I know would be the worst as far as the amount of pesticides and herbicides used on the product and purchase the worst offending to buy organic. This means that all root crops will be purchased organic, as well as greens and cole crops plus apples and a few others like citrus fruits that I'm going to be using the peel on.

PORTION SIZES

We have learned that we eat to large of portions. Actually, what needs to be learned is to scale the portion sizes to the age of the person and the amount of exercise that he/she does. When we worked harder as we gardened a four acre market garden, cared for a herd of goats, dairy cows, beef cows, and a moderate flock of sheep we needed larger portions and even then I think we ate to much as evidenced buy our extra pounds. Now that we've scaled back on physical labor we've scaled way back on portion sizes and have be shedding those extra pounds.

Additionally we eat much to large portions of meat compared to vegetables and then finally fruits. If our plates are comprised of primarily a highly nutritious form of protein (about 3 ounces) and about twice that amount of some good vegetables (low in carbohydrates as potatoes and starch) our meal is fairly complete. We reserve fruits to snacks and desserts.

Planning Meals Wisely.................

My primary plan for wise meal planning is choosing main dishes and sides that use some of the same ingredients so I'm being a good steward of the Lord God's provisions. Do I have to buy a bag of Organic Baby Spinach that I know I won't use up if I'm only planning one dish for the whole bag? No I plan on other dishes that I will make so that the bag is completely used up.

I plan parishable vegetables wisely also. I buy some celery and chop it up and freeze it. Same with peppers, onions and even mushrooms. That way I'm not throwing away a bunch of vegetables for going bad (although my laying hens do enjoy that). I have found that if I take my menu that is carefully planned on Friday, do my shopping and then do my meal prep for all those meals on Saturday that I not only save time on daily meal preperations but reduce my food budget at the same time.

One last thing that is very important. We take advantage of seasonal produce. More on that later.

Now it's time to share this next weeks menu, I'll share more basics as the weeks go on........

Saturday:  Grilled Pork Chops, Potato Salad, Spicy Carrot Coins (some of the kids are coming and they'll bring other things.

Sunday: Spinach Mushroom Pasta, Steak, L/O Spicy Carrot Coins

Monday: Grilled Chicken, Pear Salsa, Asparagus, Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Tuesday: Spinach Pasta Pie, Peas & Carrots

Wednesday: Bourbon Chicken, Coconut Baked Brown Rice, Snap Peas

Thursday: Asparagus Pasta n Salmon, Roasted Zuchinni, Carrots and Brocolli

Friday: Hamburgers (Mike will have a bun and I will not), Sweet Potato Fries for me and regular fries for Mike (I bake these from scratch), Super Salad

This Weeks Menu

Here is my menu.  Now it's time to check my cupboards and make my grocery list.  Watch for some great recipes coming up!

Saturday:  Chicken Ala King over Angel Biscuits

Sunday: Grilled Steak, Baked Potatoes, Lemon Tarragon Asparagus

Monday:  Cheese Steak Calzones, Spinach Salad

Tuesday:  Spaghatti Squash with Beef Marinara (Spaghatti Sauce with beef), Super Salad

Wednesday: Beef Liver from grass-fed beef,  Green Beans, Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Thursday: Salmon Cakes, Wild Rice Casserole, Brocolli and Carrots

Friday:  Lentil Chili and Cornbread

Beef Bone Broth or Stock

It's realitively easy to make your own broth or stock and so much better for you because you control the sodium and you can make it even more healthy than anything in a box or can.  Your bone broth freezes easily for almost immediate use.

You start with some good bones.  Shank or knuckle bones from good grass-fed, naturally raise beef is a MUST.  This day I used some Beef Short Ribs as I was out of the other.  From our NATURALLY RAISED, GRASS-FED BEEF of course.

Since I used the Short Ribs I took the time to braise them (brown on both sides in hot skillet with 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter or just coconut oil).  Place the meat bones, 1 quartered organic onion (yellow preferred but I only had a red one that day), 3 organic carrots, washed (no need to peel) and broken into pieces, 3-5 organic garlic cloves, peeled, handful parsley and 2-3 bay leaves in a STAINLESS STEEL stock pot with 1-2 gallons of water.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat,  simmer for one hour.

After simmering one hour remove the meat only, cool, remove meat from bones, add 2 tablespoons pure organic apple cider vinegar to the pot along with the bones.  Cover and simmer for 10-12 hours on low.  The vinegar will actually add the benefit of drawing much of the calcium from the bones directly into the broth resulting in a calcium rich broth.  At this point you can add salt and pepper to taste and any other herbs you might like to add.

Now you are going to drain the broth though a collander over another STAINLESS STEEL stock pot and let drain for a few minutes.  I then allow some cooling of the broth by adding the pot to a sink of ice water then I put it in the refrigerator to totally cool.

Once cold you will see that the fat is at the top of the pot.  You can now drain again and remove that extra fat from the broth.

You are now ready to bag.  I use labeled zip lock bags, a 2 cup measure, and a large jelly roll or cookie sheet pan.

Two cups of broth go into each bag.

The bags are then laid flat on the cookie sheet of folded over like mine, depending on how you want to store them.  I fold mine because I then store them in the door section of my freezer.  If they are laid perfectly flat they will stack nicely in  your freezer.

I use Beef Broth in recipes but also as a drink when I'm not feeling well or have been accidently 'Glutened' (got some glutten accidently).

Menu for Saturday through Next Friday

We get paid on Friday so I make my menus like this assuming I'm shopping on Friday.  This also allows me to prep all the veggies and other things for the week on Saturday.

Saturday:  Lamb Shephards Pie, Lime Dessert

Sunday:  Country Roast Chicken and Apple Pie

Monday: Salmon, Wild Rice Blend (I use Lundberg), Roasted Brocolli with Carrots

Tuesday:  Beef Stroganoff, Peas

Wednesday:  Beef Stew, Muffins

Thursday: Tuna Casserole

Friday:  Pizza

Creamed Soup Base

1 cup dry milk powder
1 cup white rice flour
2 tablespoons dried minced onions
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons GF powdered soup base (Chicken/Vegetable)

Combine all ingredients and mix well.  Store in an air tight container.  This mix is the equivalent of 8-9 cans of soup.

CREAM OF CHICKEN SOUP:  In a small saucepan, blend 4 tablespoons of base with 1/4 cup cold water.  Add 1 cup hot water (or chicken stock) and cook over medium heat, stirring until the soup thickens.

CREAM OF MUSHROOM SOUP:  Follow the instructions for Cream of Chicken Soup using the liquid from one 4-oz can of mushroom bits and pieces as part of the water (reserving the mushrooms).  After the soup thickens, add the mushrooms.