Book Review: CLEAN SLATE: A COOKBOOK AND GUIDE

Let me start by saying that I love the concept of Clean Slate: A Cookbook and Guide.  It's how we cook here...less processed, more homemade, vegetable based, healthier eating.  The problem is we're not always good, I do a decent amount of deep frying...mmm French fries.  The Hubby is also having a hard time wrapping his head around meals without meat being a real meal and not just an appetizer.

 

 

This book starts with a bit of info on the how's, why's and importance of eating better.  It's just enough information to be helpful without being so much that you feel like you're getting a boring lecture on nutrition.  Included in part one, was a 3-day action plan.  Basically, the same three meals for three days.  The three recipes you need are written as three servings, which makes it easy to cook it all at one shot, and then your set for three days.  I thought about jumping right in and doing it, but I realized I should probably test drive some of these recipes first.

 

Now I am an adventurous cook.  I use a lot of spices and techniques that maybe the average home cook would not be interested in.  This book is not for weirdos like me, it's really set up for the regular home cook.  The recipes are pretty simple, most having ten or less ingredients.  While I don't normally have arugula or watercress, the pictures in here are so appealing, I may actually go out and buy some.  I had tofu sitting in the fridge and a whole wheat ciabatta loaf in the bread box, so I thought this grilled tofu recipe would be a good place to start.

 

The chimichurri recipe was easy.  I did substitute dried oregano for fresh since my oregano is currently hiding under a layer of snow outside.

 

While the tofu was marinating, I got to thinking that the super simple avocado and cucumber salad that made up the second part of this recipe was not grabbing me.  And I knew if the Hubby came home to tofu on toast for lunch, he'd say thank you and eat it; but, then he'd quietly make himself something else because this was not going to be enough food.  Plus, honestly, while I like tofu, the idea of eating it on grilled bread...well, I wasn't sold on it yet.

 

Well, guess what?  Everyone liked the finished product...although it did feel like it was missing a little something.  I know my version looks like way more chimichurri than the picture in the book, but there are a bunch of videos on youtube that correspond with the recipes in this book.  In that video, they pile it on, so I did too.

 

 

In lieu of the avocado and cucumber salad that went with this recipe, I tried out the salad that's part of the 3 day action plan. You start with a beet slaw, then mix it with arugula (I used romaine, since like I said, I never have arugula) and top it was sunflower seeds and avocado.  Honestly, I could have used a handful of dried cranberries for some sweetness, but this was a tasty and incredibly filling salad.  I used to think beets tasted like dirt.  This recipe changed my mind. 

 

None of us were super hungry come dinner time.  I guess a salad with more than romaine and a handful of random veggies can actually be filling!  Since the salad worked out so well, I figured I'd roll the dice with the 3 day action plan soup, carrot, spinach, and green bean soup with dill. 

 

This actually has a ton of carrots, but they sunk to the bottom, hence you can't see them in the picture.  This soup was so easy, completely vegetarian, and really good.  I never would have thought to make such a carrot and string bean heavy soup.  Especially with water and no stock.  Much like the salad, it was a surprisingly satisfying soup.  Full disclosure, I did make a small piece of London broil, sliced thin with some grilled bread and chimichurri on the side; but honestly, I didn't need it.

 

WOULD I BUY IT?  Yes, actually I would.  I like that it uses vegetables that I buy every week in a way that I would never think to do.  I also like that it includes recipes with vegetables that I don't normally buy like beets and watercress, and it shows you easy ways to incorporate them into your diet.  I am a white pasta and rice girl, so the amount of recipes in here with grains like quinoa and brown rice has inspired me to go out and actually buy some to try at home.  There are even quite a few juices and smoothies, all that look worth trying out.  I'll be pulling out my Juiceman Jr. for sure.  There are recipes with meat, but I like that the focus was showing people healthy, meatless options.

 

The pictures are just stunning and the recipes are doable for everyone from novices to seasoned cooks.  Seasoned cooks might think these recipes are too basic, but I think that's the point.  If these recipes were complicated, people who aren't having success at healthy eating wouldn't try it.  This book is a great starting point.  What did I like best?  I was impressed at how beyond full I felt after eating these vegetable based dishes.  Certainly, if you thought a vegetarian diet could not possibly be filling, this book could change your mind.

 

I received a free copy of this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review.  There was no obligation to give a positive review, and if you read my blog, you know I'm a tell-it-like it is kind of girl.  I mean what I say and say what I mean, that holds true for my review.

Homemade Wild Yeast Ginger Beer

 

I don't like buying soda.  Too much sugar and too much crap in it.  The Hubby could drink it all day everyday.  But since I do the grocery shopping, we don't have soda in the house very often.  We only have it if we're getting take out.  I know...he's so deprived, blah blah.

 

So I decided to start making ginger beer...ginger ale...I don't know exactly the difference is.  What I do know is that it's incredibly easy to make and tastes a million times better than store bought stuff.  I use a recipe from Sandor Katz who is a huge proponent for the consumption of fermented foods.  I'll blog about his new book, The Art of Fermentation: An In-Depth Exploration of Essential Concepts and Processes from around the World eventually because it is a fascinating read.  But back to the point.

 

For the Ginger Bug

1. I put a cup of filtered water into a mason jar.  I let it sit over night so the chlorine and what not will evaporate out.  I don't know if that's necessary, or if it works, but it's what I do.
2. Then I add a two teaspoons of sugar and ground up fresh ginger.  (I threw a bunch of ginger in the food processor, skins and all, ground it up and keep in the fridge.)
3. The I stir it up, or put a lid on the jar and shake it, which I think works better.
4. Everyday I add another teaspoon of ginger and sugar and shake.  Keep the jar covered with a cloth so you can let air and natural, wild yeasts in but dust and fruit flies out.
5. My mom leaves hers in her warm garage and it starts to bubble in a day or two.  I leave mine in my kitchen and it takes three days to a week.  It won't look like the picture above, I just shook the jar before I took that pic.  But if you stick your ear on the jar, you will hear the bubbling.
    

 

Now to Make Ginger Ale



1. Once your Ginger Bug is bubbling, strain the liquid for the ginger and squeeze the ginger to get all the liquid out.
2. Then boil about 2 liters of water (technically 8.45 liters) with the ginger you saved (if you want it more gingery, use more ginger...duh), plus sugar.  Now, most recipes say use a cup of sugar.  That was too sweet for me and a half cup wasn't sweet enough.  Three quarter cup was perfect for us.  I read somewhere that the yeast continue to eat the sugar, so in the end you still wind up consuming much less sugar than what you put in.  Let this boil for 15 minutes, then let it cool down to room temperature.
3. Now there's a big debate on what type of bottle to use and I am always trying to stay away from plastic, but in the end, I didn't want to risk exploding glass bottles, so I went with plastic.  Pour the cooled down mixture into the washed and dried out 2 liter soda bottle, along with your saved ginger bug and the juice of 2 lemons. 
4. Close the cap very tightly and leave it in a cool spot undisturbed.  Depending on how strong your ginger bug is, you'll start feeling your bottle go from squishy to hard in about two weeks.  Once the bottle is rock hard, you should be able to drink it.  I've left it in there for well over three weeks and the fizz you get is crazy.  Obviously, refrigerate before you drink it...no one likes warm soda...

So how's that for easy?  Some notes:

• You can buy commercial yeasts, but I'm cheap, and I like the idea of using naturally available wild yeasts that are in the air.
• You can buy special glass bottles meant for bottling beer.  I don't know...the idea of glass shattering and bottles exploding doesn't do it for me.  Plus ying and yang over here are happy to have soda whenever possible, so I already have a handful of used soda bottles laying around waiting to be repurposed, so I just use them. 
• Some people sterilize everything.  I do not.  I've been making ginger beer for over six months, and we've survived.  Knock on wood.  Reading The The Art of Fermentation has made me less anal about sterilization.  But that's certainly your call.
• It might seem like your ginger bug will never bubble, but it will, be patient.  If you put your ear on top of the jar as if it's a sea shell and your trying to hear the ocean, you will hear the popping, bubbling sound...like Rice Krispies...after a few days.
• It might seem like your soda bottle will never get hard, but be patient.  It will in time.  Sometimes it takes longer than others.  I make one bottle every week so we always have some available and ready to drink.
• I did try using 2 cups of water when I started my ginger bug.  I was able to keep it going for a month or two, but then I got a film of thin, white mold.  I tried scraping it off but it came back right away so I threw it out.  Now I just do a cup at a time.

I'm no expert on making ginger beer, but feel free to ask if you have any questions.

Homemade Pickled Cherry Tomatoes

I am not a fan of cherry tomatoes. I only grew three cherry tomato plants this year, and I still spend and enormous amount of time harvesting those tomatoes.  It's annoying.  I told the Peanut and the Hubby, for whom I am growing these tomatoes, that they are in charge of harvesting them.  So far, that hasn't panned out.  I told them no more next year, they complained.  Blah.  We'll see.

 

In the meantime, I have 5 million cherry tomatoes from just three plants.  I've been slow roasting them in the toaster oven, because I'm too lazy to turn on the oven.  And then I throw them in a mason jar with olive oil.  But this is like a freaking all day process!  Yeeesh.

 

Then as I was perusing the web, I came across Pretty Prudent.  When they say their recipe for pickled cherry tomatoes are the best and the easiest, they aren't kidding.

 

Their site is super pretty, with lovely pictures and a more detailed description so I would definitely recommend checking out their page and the full recipe there at Pretty Prudent Pickled Tomato Recipe

My slightly less labor intensive, semi following the directions, half recipe version involved boiling:

 3/4 cup apple cider vinegar

3/4 cup filtered water

1 TBS kosher salt

1 TBS white granulated sugar

3 garlic cloves, sliced

a pinch of coriander powder

6 peppercorns

 

I let it cool down, which is not something I normally do when pickling.  I 'm going to maybe try it again with the liquid boiling hot...anyway...

I did not poke holes in my tomatoes as per the recipe because I'm too lazy to do all that.  I just cleaned and washed them and threw them into a pint sized mason jar.  Then I poured the brine on the tomatoes...it covered about a half pint worth as you can see.  I didn't use a sterilized anything, but I'd bet both the lid and jar were recently in the dishwasher.  Use you're own discretion, or FDA guidelines, for what should and shouldn't be carefully sterilized.

As you can see, super easy, and seriously good.  I don't know what you're supposed to eat these with, but I like to have a few while I'm wasting electricity standing in front of the open fridge deciding what to make for dinner. 

Homemade Fermented Sriracha

I came across a sriracha recipe on the America's Test Kitchen Feed website which inspired me to make sriracha.  But then I got to thinking about how they tend to ultra-Americanize ethnic food, so perhaps I should look elsewhere for a recipe.  That's when I came across Viet World Kitchen and  their Sriracha Chile Sauce Recipe.   As I am now facinated and somewhat obsessed with fermented foods, I had to try it out.  The green jar is made from jalepenos (it looks greener in real life) and the other two are Thai chilies.  I didn't mean for them to come out traffic light colored, but it's kinda funny.  Well, to me anyway.

 

 

I normally just post links, but I've noticed every time I just post a link, something changes and then you can never find it again.  But I also don't want to be accused of copyright infringement or whatever.  So, I would recommend going to the Viet World Kitchen site.  They have a whole background story on the making of this sauce, plus a fresh, non-fermented version.  The also have a boat-load of other amazing sounding recipes with pictures...much better, more professional looking pictures than mine...

I didn't exactly follow their recipe, but here's my lazy-person's take on it:

Fermented Sriracha Sauce

¾ pounds chilies

2 cloves garlic

1 ¼ teaspoons kosher salt

 1 tablespoon light brown sugar

1/4 cup white vinegar

 1. Grind everything but the vinegar in a food processor, then dump it in a mason jar.  Cover it with a dish cloth to allow in the wild yeasts, but to prevent bugs and dust from getting in.  After a few days it'll start to bubble a little.  Not ginger bug kind of bubble, but small bubbles.

2. Once you notice bubbles, combine with the vinegar and bring it to a boil.  Then simmer it for 5 minutes.  Use a immersion blender to puree.  I didn't strain it like they advised, it seemed like more work than I was willing to do.

3.  When it came to room temperature, I put it in a jar and let it sit a few days before trying it.  The green was hot, the yellow pretty hot, the red...jeez...hot doesn't describe it.

See...easy and good.  Definitely check out Viet World Kitchen for the original, more accurate and detailed version.

And Finally the Cow Cake

Going with the barnyard theme, we made a cow cake. Not willing to buy special candy for the eyes and stuff, I just did everything with icing. Chocolate box cake. And store bought icing. Ugh. Again, whatever. It's certainly not as elaborate as the cakes my mom made, but still cute.

 

 

Wanna Make a Tie Dye Rainbow Cake?

So, I'm in the process of closing up shop at my other blog, Surviving Single Motherhood.  But there are crafty and cute posts I'd like to keep, so I'm reposting them here.  Don't worry, I am not bombarding this site with old posts, just a handful of cool ones.

 

And speaking of cool, how freakin cool is this. I am all about baking. I've greatly improved on my bread and cookie baking abilities since I originally wrote this post.  But if you want a layered cake or a fresh baked pie...I am your girl. But never did I think to do this! I'm loving it!

Thanks to ohdeedoh for linking this site, the omnomicon where Aleta walks you through the process. Apparently there's some secret Weight Watchers method for baking that uses Sprite Zero in lieu of the regular boxed mix add ins. I think I'll take the traditional route as I never have soda in my house.

 

I also saw some links in people's comments that weren't so tie dyed, but layered cakes doing the ROYGBIV thing. But as much as I live to bake a layered cake, seven layers is a bit much. I like the tie dyed look better. I have yet to do this with the Peanut, but it's definitely on the short list of things to do on a rainy day.

Clay Pot Cooking

I picked up this clay pot cooker from freecyle. OMG, it's amazing!

On my first attempt to use it I soaked for for way longer than the 10 minutes they recommend. Then I put a whole chicken rubbed w/ 21 Seasoning Salute from Trader Joe's and some butter, threw it on top of some potatoes and carrots. Then it goes in a cold oven set to 425 for an hour. I think I left it in for closer to an hour and a half. I took the lid off (holy crap was there a lot of liquid in there) and let it sit for ten minutes to crisp up the skin. I make an amazing roast chicken, but this was easily the juiciest, most amazing chicken I ever made.

I've also done a beef stew (I shouldn't have added any stock, it wound up boiling over, hence the stains on the bottom) and a rump roast. Both were awesome!

When I first got it, I was searching for recipes online. There's a lot of variance in temperatures and times. What I will say is don't stress it. This is like slow cooker cooking, but faster. Probably a great solution for those of us who forget to plug in the slow cooker and come home to cold food...not that I ever do that...

Soak it. Dump the stuff in. Put it in the oven. Turn it on and go about your day. So far everything I've put in has been fully cooked in 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Temperature...I've been sticking with 425 and that's been working for me. It has an enamel coating inside, which makes clean up easy. I would definitely recommend picking up one of these.

Dandelion Jelly?

I found this on Apartment Therapy today. Dandelion Jelly courtesy of Yummy Supper.

I have to make this. I noticed my Wow! That's so cool! I have to do that! List is getting ridiculously long....a girl can dream of being productive, can't I?