Guacamole

JB and I are trying the Whole30 thing. Not because we want to be on a diet or need to lose weight, but because I usually take on a crazy challenge every summer, just to see what will happen (last year was No Poo). We have been doing pretty well with our eating, but feeling kind of bummed because we miss our usual food (which wasn't really unhealthy to begin with, for the record). But then came a revolution: guacamole totally meets the standards of eating whole foods.

Let me just tell you, my guacamole recipe is pretty good. I'll admit it, I got it from my momma, but I've made some modifications in my technique. Here it is:

AB's Tastiest Guacamole

Don't be like me: Read the directions before you get started!

1 ripe avocado
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1 super-thin slice of red onion, chopped to smithereens
1 splash of lime juice (from about 1/2 a lime)
Kosher salt, to taste

First, cut open your avocado and make sure it's alright. Nothing causes more heartache than prepping the rest of your guac ingredients only to discover that your avocado is teh nast. If it's good, set it aside. (If it's bad, throw it on the compost heap and cry a little.) Chop up your garlic and your onion, and dump them in your guac bowl with the lime juice. I use a small oval Fiestaware baker. Use the back of a spoon to crush everything together. When you're satisfied with your seasonings, use the same spoon that you crunched with to scoop in the avocado. I recommend doing this in small pieces rather than large ones because it makes it easier to mix. Sprinkle kosher salt over the whole deal and mash it up with a fork until it reaches the desired consistency.

We used to eat this with yellow Santitas or Fritos Scoops (sigh), and I considered using veggies as the guac vehicle, but while I was at K-Rog, I spotted some endives. Now, don't go thinking we're all fancy or something because we eat endives. We don't. Or at least, we never have before today. But we will from now on because I've decided that endives are like nature's Scoops.

Arbitrary points for turkey-feather presentation!

Enjoy your guacamole!

Makin' Dough

I love homemade bread. Loooooove it. Despite the fact that my dad makes an entire side of beef for Christmas dinner every year, the part of our annual family meal that I look forward to the most is my grandmother's white and wheat rolls, slathered with butter, and even better over the following days as miniature roast beef sandwiches or toasted with honey.

However, bread baking is not a genetic predisposition. When I tried making my own rolls, they either didn't rise, or looked perfect after baking but had doughy centers. With my history of rather scarring bread baking experiences, I began to shy away from recipes that called for yeast, preferring to bake boring baking powder-risen recipes when bread was needed with a meal.

A couple of months ago, I decided to forget my failed attempts and learn to bake bread for real. I mean, there are plenty of people out there who can do it, so really, the only thing that was stopping me was me... and bad yeast. (Incidentally, my 2012 mantra will be "I can do whatever I want." But anyway.)

Here is what I have learned:

-Buy good yeast. I have never had any success whatsoever using yeast from packets. I buy the kind in a jar and keep it in the refrigerator. (A packet of yeast has 2¼ teaspoons in it, so if a recipe calls for a packet of yeast, there you go.)

-Proof the yeast by adding a tablespoon of sugar with the warm water and yeast. I do this even if the recipe doesn't call for it. Good yeast should form a thick head of foam during proofing.

-Always, always, always add the wet ingredients gradually. I have found that the amount of water it takes to get a good dough consistency varies with the weather, so a recipe may need more or less liquid than what is called for. Better to err on the side of not enough than too much. You can put more in, but you can't take it out!

-Knead for a full ten minutes. Some recipes call for more or less kneading time, but ten minutes has always given me good results.

Kneading builds muscles... unless you use the KitchenAid.

-Oil the dough bowl, then turn the dough in the bowl to coat with oil on all sides. This will keep it from sticking to the bowl, the plastic wrap cover, and later, your hands.

-Make a warm place to rise the dough by pouring boiling water into a pyrex pan on the lower rack of the oven. This helps to keep the dough from drying out. I leave the pan of water in the oven when I bake the bread, too. It seems to give the bread a better crust.

Boiling water pan with covered dough...

...after an hour's rise...

...and with pizza bites, formed and ready to bake.

-I also use the microwave to rise dough if the oven is in use. Ours is mounted over our oven, so it is usually pretty warm in there, but I put a mug of boiling water in with the dough for just in case purposes. This keeps the dough from drying out, too, eliminating the need to cover it during the second rise (which can mess up the shape).

-Rise and bake the bread until it looks right to you. If the recipe says rise until doubled, make sure that happens. Timing also seems to depend on the weather.

-Don't give up. When I had invested half an afternoon (or more), it was like a slap in the face when my bread didn't turn out. But it got better with practice.

The recipe used for the photos is this one, which I make all the time, using the methods described above. Because I can't leave anything alone, I used three cups of white flour and one cup of whole wheat flour for the batch I made tonight... gotta sneak a little healthiness in there when consuming large amounts of carbs!

JB with his pizza bites.

Happy bread baking!

Toasted Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

I did not think it would happen, but it did: I am sick of Halloween candy. The fact that my husband and I anticipated at least 160 trick-or-treaters and saw only six left us with a virtual ton of leftover candy beckoning to us from our Spiderman Halloween buckets. And I have eaten much, much more of it than I wish to admit. It has been delicious, but its sugary sweetness left me with a craving for a deeper, more satisfying dessert experience.

Such as homemade chocolate chip cookies.

Toasted coconut chocolate chip cookies, to be precise.

Yesterday, I decided that I was finally going to bake some cookies that did not have leftover Reese's peanut butter cups in them. I was longing for a cookie that was both chewy and crispy, dense but not overly fluffy. I found this recipe for chocolate chip cookies over at the smitten kitchen (my very favorite food blog of all time). I ransacked the baking cupboard in search of nuts, but only came up with a bag of coconut flakes. Unaltered, I find coconut flakes to be a little on the sweet, chewy side, and I was going for crunchy...

...so I toasted them.

That nasty looking concoction at top right is my simmer pot, which was brewing a spicy blend of orange rinds, a cinnamon stick, four cardamom pods, and eight whole cloves.

I subbed the coconut for the nuts called for in the sk recipe.

Goooolden browwwn cookie perfection!

To try this at home: First, toast 1 1/2 cups of coconut flakes in a skillet over medium heat. Stir the coconut frequently until it begins to brown, then constantly until it looks like the second coconut picture above. Then, follow the directions in the original recipe, but substitute the coconut flakes for the nuts. Or keep the nuts and the coconut flakes, which I will be doing next time. Another substitution I made: these cookies demand serious chocolate, so I used Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chips.

Mmm... cookies, milk, and SEC football on ESPN3.

The No Poo Experiment and a Black Tea Rinse for Hair

It's Saturday, the day of the week when I take care of the time-consuming activities that just can't be completed on a busy weekday, like cleaning out the fridge, baking bread, and updating my budget.

Today, I'll also be clarifying my hair by doing a no-poo wash (1 tsp baking soda in 1.5 cups water, gradually massaged into the scalp) with a black tea rinse.

I arrived at this method after several unsuccessful attempts at going totally no-poo, beginning back in June after reading this article on Apartment Therapy's Re-Nest website. I have many theories about chemicals in beauty products, but my main motivation was that I wanted to see if I could live without my shampoo and conditioner. Other motivation for no-poo included claims of increased volume and body, decreased oil-production (I have VERY oily skin), and increased time between washes.

My first no-poo experiment worked relatively well for a couple of weeks, but I noticed that my ends were getting pretty dry, so while on vacation in New Hampshire, I switched back to regular shampoo and conditioner for a few days both as a cure for the frizzy ends and for travel convenience.

I tried again in August and succeeded for an entire month, no-pooing my hair every other day and wearing my hair up on the off-days. At the end of the month, I began to have crazy dandruff. I had never had a problem with a flaky scalp before, so I got a little freaked out. A quick Google search revealed that tea tree oil mixed into the bs solution could help, but I found that it mostly made my hair smell like tea tree oil. I switched to Head and Shoulders for a while, then back to Herbal Essence's Hydralicious Featherweight Shampoo and Conditioner, which I used before this experiment with no trouble. After about a week, my dandruff disappeared.

On the no-poo forums, I read many horror stories about going back to regular shampoo after no-poo, but I experienced no ill effects, except for buildup, which was typical before I tried no-poo. I have very fine type 1b hair, and I find that buildup from shampoo and products happens pretty quickly, leaving me with dull, lifeless locks. Hence the solution I am blogging about today: a once per week bs no-poo with a black tea rinse.

I still wash my hair with the HE shampoo and conditioner combo during the week, but on Saturdays, I clarify with bs/black tea. During my extended no-poo time, I used an acv rinse, but found that the scent clung to my porous hair no matter how much I rinsed. One day I had some leftover raspberry black tea, so I tried that, and I don't plan on going back to the acv. My hair is softer, shinier, and better smelling than it ever was with the acv.

So, on Saturdays, I brew some black tea in my ingenuiTEA. I use about a teaspoon of tea leaves and a cup and a half of boiling water, and then I let it sit until it's cool. I strain it into a plastic cup (not glass - too dangerous for the shower), and rinse my hair with the tea and then water after washing with the baking soda. It works great!

French Oven Beef Stew

School has been back in session for a month, and I have to admit, starting the school year in a new district has been challenging in ways that I did not imagine, specifically on the home front. During the summer, I spend hours browsing the internet searching for new recipes and many more hours concocting them in my kitchen, but lately, my internet searches have been limited to lesson plans and instructional materials for the middle school Language Arts and Literature classes I am teaching this year. Being a displaced New Englander, most of my old standbys for weeknight dinners are better during cold weather, so it was with a thankful heart that I welcomed Tropical Storm Lee and its cold front this weekend! It has been the perfect time to snuggle up in our house and think of recipes that will be easy to make for the fall, which led me to rediscover a recipe for French Oven Beef stew that can be made in a crock pot or dutch oven (by my husband on his day off!). I spent this evening cooking ahead, and now our freezer contains a gallon bag of French Oven Beef Stew mix, ready to go.

French Oven Beef Stew

(from one of my mom's friends)

1.5 lbs stew beef, cubed

1 large onion, chopped

3 stalks celery, sliced

4 medium carrots, sliced

1.5 cups tomato juice (I use three 5.5 oz cans of V8)

⅓ cup tapioca

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp salt

¼ tsp pepper (or to taste)

½ tsp basil

4 medium red potatoes, cubed in bite sized pieces

This can be made to freeze, as I did, and then put into the crock pot for four hours on high or eight hours on low, stirring occasionally.

To bake, combine all but potatoes in a 2½ quart casserole or dutch oven. Cover. Bake at 325° for 3½ hours. Put potatoes in for the last hour. Stir occasionally.

My beef stew, ready to go into the freezer.

I hope that you enjoy this recipe as much as we do!