this side of heaven

Just to be on the safe side ...

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The other white meat

I was already eating a limited amount of pork in my diet. There are several reasons for this: the first, is that two years ago when I did my first detox, pork was one of the foods I could not eat at all. Apparently the pig does not contain sweat glands in its skin as other livestock do. Thus its meat and all its internal tissue has a greater degree of toxins stored in it than other livestock.

But the detox diet is a temporary measure. After a while, pork began slowing finding its way back into our diets again. But then I discovered that as a high- fat and slow- digesting meat, pork was not the optimum protein for me to eat for weight control. Okay ... strike two against the other white meat.

Then I started to learn about pork and parasites. From the USDA's Retail meat analyzed for parasites:

"A recently completed survey of meats for a common microscopic parasite found none in raw beef and poultry and a low level in pork."

Oh great, it only takes one to start a parasitic infection. Somehow I am not comforted.

From Common parasites threaten everyone:

“It is best to avoid pork altogether since tests show that pork parasites remain alive after the meat has been cooked to a char.”

From The Silent Killers:

"A doctor in Chicago put a piece of raw pork tissue under a microscope. It was loaded with living worms. Everything was moving, and all the samples were the same. Then he cut the pork, and charred in on the grill. He made it into charcoal and then put some of that under the microscope. The parasites were still moving."

From Dangerous parasites common among pig farmers:

"Dr. Mercola's Comment: Yet another confirmation from the literature documenting the wisdom of avoiding pork. They are scavenger animals, not fit for human consumption."

From The Dangers of Pork Eating Exposed:

"Have we not seen that a hog is nothing better than an animated mass of physical defilement? Few who have seen the animal will dispute that his filthiness is a most patent fact. How wise and sanitary, then, was the command of God to the ancient Jews: "It is unclean unto you. Ye shall not eat of their flesh nor touch their dead carcass."

"Although it may not be said that this law still exists, and is binding as a moral obligation, it is quite plain that the physical basis upon which the law is founded is as good today as at any previous period. Could it be proved that the hog had kept pace with advancing civilization, and had improved his habits, we might possibly feel more tolerance for him; but he is evidently just as unclean as ever, and just as unfit for food."

"Adam Clarke, when once requested to give thanks at a repast of which pork constituted a conspicuous part, used the following words: "Lord, bless this bread, these vegetables, and this fruit; and if thou canst bless under the gospel what thou didst curse under the law, bless this swine’s flesh."

Okay, I'm convinced. No more pork eating in this house. I already make my own Italian sausage and breakfast sausage out of ground turkey (more sausage recipes here). We love BBQ ribs, but will stick with beef ribs from now on. Next step: parasite cleanse. I know this one works because it is the one my daughter used when she was diagnosed with cervical dysplasia and wanted to treat it nutritionally before going under the knife.

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On mayonnaise

I have tried two different mayonnaise recipes. The first I found from Joy of Cooking; I didn’t even know you could make homemade mayonnaise when I discovered the recipe in Joy of Cooking. That mayonnaise turned out just fine; it was a little tedious making it with all the steps, but the flavor, texture, all that was wonderful.

Then my daughter, resourceful homemaker in her own right that she is, discovered Emeril’s one egg mayonnaise. It is a lot easier than the Joy of Cooking mayonnaise, turns out right every time as long as you don’t double the recipe, and tastes excellent, just as you would expect from an Emeril recipe. So if you have been scared to make your own mayonnaise, do try Emeril’s recipe.

The good thing about making your own mayonnaise, besides the freshness of it, is the ingredients. Store mayonnaise has lots of extra chemicals. Homemade mayonnaise only lasts a few days, store mayonnaise lasts forever, because of all the chemicals they put in it (yikes!). Plus, most store mayonnaise is made with vinegar, which gluten- intolerant people cannot have. Homemade mayonnaise is made with lemon juice.

But probably the biggest plus is the oil. Store mayonnaise is made with unspecified vegetable oil, but many vegetable oils are not good for you. My homemade mayonnaise is made with 100% organic extra virgin olive oil, high in omega 3 fatty acids and other stuff that God made which is good for your heart. I am really looking forward to my tuna salad for lunch today. :)

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Homemade sausage

I have been collecting sausage recipes to make my own sausage instead of buying from the supermarket. I would like control over what pork products go in the sausage I feed my family, or whether I use pork at all, or ground turkey instead. I would like control over things like fillers, and perservatives, and MSG. I have always made my own Italian sausage, so I know homemade sausage is easy. The trick is the recipes; getting the spices right. So far I have found:

Italian sausage (or Alton Brown’s Italian sausage);
breakfast sausage (thanks to Alton again);
and chorizo sausage.

I am still looking for a good German or Polish sausage; if anyone has a great recipe for that, please let me know!

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Mayonnaise success!

I made my very own first successful batch of mayonnaise! I am so excited, because I have tried this before, but this time it came out!!

The difference has to be the recipe and the method of preparation. I used the Blender Mayonnaise recipe from The New Joy of Cooking, page 72-23. I followed the instructions to the letter, and used my food processor, since I had just broken my blender jar a few days ago. I brought all the ingredients to room temperature before beginning, measured each ingredient in little dishes before starting, just like they do in the cooking shows, and read over the recipe several times. And followed the directions exactly. And it worked! Imagine that!

I used a combination of grapeseed oil and olive oil for the oil, but it is a little strong tasting, so next time I will use all grapeseed oil (which is a mild tasting oil) and see how that works. I guess most people use safflower oil or canola oil, but I am trying to avoid overloading on those Omega-6 fatty acids.

I ended up using the whole one cup of oil, instead of the 3/4 cup the recipe recommends to begin with, because I am used to a stiffer, supermarket mayonnaise. After tasting the mayonnaise, I did have to add the extra lemon juice, dijon mustard, and salt and pepper the recipe says may need to be added after tasting. The total amount of lemon juice I ended up using was the juice of one lemon, with the seeds and pulp filtered out, for the one cup of mayonnaise this recipe makes.

It is a wonder what they put in supermarket mayonnaise, because homemade mayonnaise only keeps 2 days in the refrigerator. Now I am off to make potato salad out of my homemade mayonnaise, for lunches this week!

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Homemade condiments

I am learning to make my own condiments at home, as everything in the supermarket has either MSG in it, in the form of soy sauce or other hidden additives; or is made with white distilled vinegar, which I cannot have since white vinegar is usually made from grain, and I have a gluten allergy; or is loaded with sugar, and we are trying to get the sugar out of our diets.

For the past few months I have been collecting recipes, but haven’t actually made anything yet. Now I am collecting ingredients, so that I can start making my own. Recipes I have so far:

mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, and salad dressings from Joy of Cooking;
worcestershire sauce from Emeril (no soy sauce or fish heads!);
barbeque sauce from Emeril (once I have the ketchup and worcester sauce);
salsa;
sugar free jams.

I have found Emeril to be a great source of recipes for homemade condiments -- he makes all his sauces and condiments from scratch. He has a lot more recipes posted on his website than I have linked to here.

I have the ingredients for the jam, and the mustard. I almost have all the ingredients for the worcestershire sauce. I am trying to figure out what to do about the mayonnaise, since vegetable oils are off my list of allowed foods. I suppose the only thing to do is to make a very small batch with olive oil, and another very small batch with coconut oil, and see which one tastes better. The ketchup and salsa will have to wait until later in the summer, when I have fresh tomatoes. The salad dressings will have to wait until I have mayonnaise. So, I hope to get some of this made this week, and post the results!

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Lamb braised in wine

Since lamb shanks were on sale this week at my organic grocer’s, I made Emeril’s lamb shanks braised in wine for our passover supper tonight. I suppose it wasn’t a proper passover supper, because I didn’t roast the lamb. I am still learning; this is about the second time in my life I have cooked lamb; so I hope to be more proficient at roasting by next passover. Oh, my, were Emeril’s lamb shanks wonderful. It was my first time making a recipe of Emeril’s, and my first time using Essence, LOL. It is amazing how much food that God made, and how little processed food, goes into Emeril’s recipes. I cooked the sauce down to concentrate the flavors, and have boned the leftover lamb. I am going to make a lamb stew this weekend out of the leftover lamb and sauce.

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Kitchen art and science

My new favorite cookbook isn't really a cookbook at all, it is a book that explains the science of cooking. I'm Just Here for the Food by Alton Brown (I love his show on the Food Network too) explains why, in order to have successful cooking, the cook must control three elements: salt, water, and heat. I love that he explains why this is so. I love that he breaks down the methods of cooking: braising, roasting, frying, etc. to explain how each method works with the food it is designed to cook.

Understanding the science of cooking makes one a better kitchen artist, I am convinced; just as understanding the science of design makes one a better visual artist. It frees me up from being a slave to recipes. I think this is important for homesteaders, because we can create delicious food from what's on hand. It makes us even less supermarket- dependent.

Alton Brown has another cookbook out, I'm Just Here for More Food; this one is about the science of baking. Ahhh! I don't have this one yet; I need to finish his first book first. But this is the one I am hoping will help me adapt my recipes to gluten-free, because once I understand how and why baking works, I can start fiddling with the ingredients to make successful gluten-free versions of family favorites. If these two books had been out when my daughters were still living at home, I would have taught them how to cook and bake from them, so that they could understand the science behind the kitchen arts. As it is, I will have to just put these on my gift lists for them.

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Update: Alton Brown has his own wacky website; and here is his recipe for breakfast sausage! Looks yummy, my dh and I were talking just last weekend about trying to find a good breakfast sausage recipe, so we could make sausage for ourselves out of ground turkey just as we do Italian sausage. Alton has posted his Italian sausage recipe too.

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Cottage cheese

In from the garden for a moment for a drink of water. There is nothing like smelling the sweet earth to lift your spirits! So I thought I would add to my belated food blogging Friday theme I have going on today. I have never tried making my own cottage cheese, but David Lebovitz waxes rapturous about the homemade version the French make. HereÂ’s his simple recipe. I will have to try it.

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Healthy thin mints

Okay, I am going out to garden, but after I pass on this great bit of yeomanÂ’s service done by Heidi at 101 Cookbooks. You know the Thin Mints that the Girl Scouts sell? The third top selling cookie in the U.S., behind Oreos and Chips Ahoy? She loves Thin Mints, but noticed that the ingredients have changed over the years - she sold them as a Girl Scout when she was a girl. TodayÂ’s Thin Mints have trans fats and chemicals in them; in years gone by they had recognizable ingredients like flour, sugar, butter, and chocolate. She has been working for two years to develop a Thin Mint recipe, that tastes like the Girl ScoutsÂ’ Thin Mints, but made with real ingredients, real food, that you could make at home. She just posted it on her blog. She uses all organic ingredients, too. Maybe by this time next year I can build on her contribution and post the gluten-free version, LOL.

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Update: Oh my gosh! And we have not so healthy, but at least homemade, Samoas! I bet we could work on these to make them a little healthier! It seems like Friday food blogging is happening after all, only on Saturday, LOL.

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Potato water

Last night I cooked some cut up potatoes in a little water to have with dinner. Normally I like to roast them, but didnÂ’t have enough time for roasting last night. When the potatoes were done, I strained the water they were cooked in and saved it. I use potato water instead of plain water for the water called for in bread dough. Besides preserving the nutrients from the potato which have leached out into the water, it adds to the breadÂ’s flavor and texture in an indefinable way. It takes the bread to the next level. Of course, it can be used for casserole, soup or bean recipes, too. Waste not, want not!

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I almost forgot ... today is food blogging Friday!

How could I forget that? So much to report this week ... check out the Front Porch, it is loaded with yummy recipes from nearly all the contributers but me! For myself, I am so pleased with the gluten-free bread that I made this week, that I am making it again this weekend. My new gluten-free cookbook came in the mail yesterday (Cooking Gluten-Free!), and there is a trouble shooting section in it for baked goods, so I am thinking I can improve the basic sorghum bread recipe (there might be some high altitude issues) and possibly even fix my pumpkin spice cake that turned out disastrously last week!

But for all you non-gluten-free people out there, I posted my lovely whole wheat honey bread which I made for my family for 20 years before I discovered I was gluten intolerant. If you can have wheat, this bread is wonderful.

The Amateur Gourmet made chicken with 40 cloves of garlic, and apple cobbler, both of which are supposed to be scrumptious. This is the dish to have if you feel a cold coming on; the garlic will wipe it out before it gets going. The only drawback is that it needs cognac, something I never have in the pantry. But Emeril made something with cognac in it this week ... it was braised duck with wine (Emeril is my new favorite show). I could complicate things and go try to find cognac, or I could simplify things and do without, or improvise. I love to cook, and if I am going to cook I want to do the best I can, but my dining room table is no five star restaurant, and one of my pet peeves is needing to use unusual or expensive ingredients for a dish to be considered good, or gourmet. How about gourmet with usual and affordable ingredients? That is what I am going for. The chef who puts out that cookbook will make a fortune.

Kayln is making Janet's mustard chicken with spicy rice. I already have a great mustard chicken recipe, but that spicy rice looks fantastic, and rice is something I can have! My preference is for brown rice, which is allowed on the detox diet, while white rice is not.

Mighty Foods is highlighting the lucious ruby red grapefruit which is in season right now. Grapefruit is a no no on the detox diet, because there is something in the grapefruit which inhibits some liver function. But the detox diet is only for 11 days, that is the beauty of it! When I am finished with it, I think I will definitely try the broiled grapefruit, maybe with a little honey or rapadura instead of brown sugar, and the spinach salad with citrus vinaigrette. Yum!

Speaking of wonderful spring salads in which veggies are combined with fruits, Stephen has posted what looks like an absolutely awesome green bean and sweet onion salad with persimmons and preserved lemons. Wow! This thing is loaded with out of the ordinary ingredients (see previous rant), but they are all food that God made, like persimmons and blood oranges, and all produce that should be available right now in local markets. I have been seeing persimmons since Christmas at Wild Oats, and didnÂ’t have a clue what to make with them. I think this will have to go on my spring Sunday dinners master list.

The Veggie Evangelist posts salmon chowder and caraway corned beef (St. Patty's day is around the corner), plus beet ice cream for dessert. Hey, they make sugar out of beets, so it isn't so crazy! Plus, it is loaded with bioflavonoids and antioxidants! Plus, beets are one of the foods I am supposed to have a daily serving of on my detox diet! Okay, ice cream doesn't count -- all sugars are forbidden for 11 days -- but afterwards, what a great way to get in your daily serving of deep red, purple, and blue fruits and vegetables!

If you have food blogged this Friday, be sure to e-mail me so I can link to you!

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Whole wheat honey bread

I was posting this recipe over at ChristineÂ’s Kitchen for my children. I will probably never make it again, but they will want it for their families, and I thought some of you might too. This wonderful bread has a story behind it -- scroll to the end of the recipe.

1/2 T active dry yeast
1-1/2 c warm water
1/3 c honey
1/4 c butter, melted
1/2 T salt
6-1/4 c whole wheat flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water and honey. Whisk in 1/4 c of the flour and let rest 10 minutes. Add butter, salt, and remaining flour, mixing well. Turn the dough out on a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Place the dough in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover with a clean, damp towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled. Punch dough down, cover and let rise again until doubled. Punch dough down and divide in half. Shape into loaves and brush tops with melted butter. Cover and let rise in pans until doubled. Bake in a 400 oven about 30-35 minutes until done. Makes 2 loaves.

This is the bread I made every other day while my children were still living at home, for our daily bread. It is the best whole wheat bread I have ever had. The recipe is from my Pioneer Girls leader when I was a little girl. She taught us to make bread one day in her homestead kitchen. I must have been 10 years old at the time. This was her recipe, and it was the bread she had been making for her family for 30 years before that day, and that was nearly 40 years ago. This wonderful Christian lady had a great impact on my life, and she is probably the reason I turned out to be a homeschooling homesteader myself.

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Yummy food blogging Friday

Welcome to another action-packed episode of yummy food blogging Friday in honor of the Front Porch's Homestead Kitchen Friday! If you food blogged this week, post in the comments, send me e-mail, in other words, let me know! I will  update this post will all your yummy recipes!

The amateur gourmet is making braised short ribs with pumpkin orzo. How many of you have made orzo? I never have. The pureed pumpkin with the spices might be just fine by itself served as a side, with brown rice cooked in chicken broth as another side. The braised short ribs look wonderful.

Kalyn serves comfort food from her aunt, and shares with her friendÂ’s children: chicken penne casserole with slow roasted asparagus or roasted broccoli with garlic and a green salad. Yum, and I bet kids love this dish! I should make this when Zane and the kids come for dinner next. I can get penne made of rice flour from Wild Oats.

Stephen makes acorn squash stuffed with orzo, sausage and peppers. The recipe calls for sweet italian sausage; here is my homemade italian sausage, which I would of course use if I were making this. (Hmmm, I have one more acorn squash on the shelf from our garden last summer, looking lonely; it would be just enough for my sweet dh and me ...) Add a green saladand you have a complete meal. The pics are mouth watering! Does everyone cook with orzo as a commonplace matter of course, and I missed the memo?

I present this recipe from the meathenge as an example of not being able to get much further from the Jewish dietary restrictions than this: pork braised in milk. He claims it is wonderful! Maybe serve it with the wednesday chef's stick pot rice with yogurt and spices, and veggie venture's steamed broccoli rabe, being a vegetable now playing in supermarkets everywhere, and also one of the good detox veggies for helping your liver deal with the whole pork and milk thing. The veggie venturist is going to be linking to dishes starring broccoli rabe all month, so if you have any great ones, send them in!

I posted a hodge podge the past week at Christine's Kitchen. I didnÂ’t do much cooking this week, frankly, which is why I make a double batch of everything when I do cook. The extra goes in the freezer, and when I have a week of being overwhelmed, I don't have to think about dinner, I can just reheat from the freezer. So we had beef chili, Emeril's southern greens, being more ways to use the good liver detox greens, and a pumpkin spice cake which did not turn out, with cream cheese frosting which did turn out marvelously yummy (low-sugar version to be posted soon). If anyone can help me fix my pumpkin spice cake, I would appreciate it. I am an experienced baker, but woefully newbie-ish when it comes to gluten-free. Try making it with wheat flour if you can eat wheat, and see if it turns out. That will tell me whether or not it was the gluten-free flour mix that ruined it. The recipe looked great, so I am confused.

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Update: Amey at Circle Z shares how she makes oatmeal porridge for her family for breakfast; it sounds wonderful with plenty of milk, cinnamon, honey, and butter. Yum!

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