Chicken Tetrazini

This is a recipe from my SIL Kristen. I have modified it to include pasta I made by soaking the dough overnight to reduce phytic acid. I also added some herbaceous goodness to the sauce with basil and marjoram at the suggestion of my friend G. It came together very nicely when I made it for lunch yesterday.

I also see that this recipe is nothing like the "Chicken Tetrazini" in my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. Who knows what that is all about? So, full disclaimer: I don't know if this is really Chicken Tetrazini, but that's what I call it. Enjoy!

Chicken Tetrazini

8 oz. soaked or sprouted pasta (I used durum wheat berries ground up for my pasta)
3 cups cooked chicken, cubed
3 cups homemade chicken broth/stock
½ cup parmesan cheese, grated
½ cup Cheddar cheese, grated (I used raw, grass-fed)
1 cup milk or cream
5 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons sprouted flour
1 teaspoon sea salt
pepper to taste
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram

1. Preheat oven to 350. Cook pasta until tender and drain. In a large saucepan, melt butter and gradually whisk in flour to make a roux. Gradually stir in broth, whisking continuously. Add milk and parmesan cheese, stirring with a wooden spoon until all cheese is melted. Cook over medium heat until mixture bubbles and thickens.
2. Season with salt and pepper, basil and marjoram. Add chicken and pasta into saucepan and combine. Pour into buttered 9x13 pan. Sprinkle grated cheddar cheese over top. Bake for about 30 minutes, until cheese has melted and begins to brown.

Basic Brownies

These brownies have such a nice flavor. I can't really describe it, but it reminds me of Cadbury chocolate or something. At any rate, they are easy and yummy. I just sprouted some wheat berries a few days ago and yesterday dehydrated them and ground them up to use for flour. Soooo worth it to make treats :)

Basic Brownies
from my friends Taryn and Corey

2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, roughly chopped
8 T. (1 stick) unsalted grass-fed butter (I used Kerrygold)
1 cup rapadura/sucanat/palm sugar
2 pastured eggs
½ cup sprouted flour (I used soft white wheat)
pinch sea salt
½ tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Butter and line with buttered parchment paper an 8-inch square pan. Set aside.
Combine chocolate and butter in a saucepan over very low heat, stirring occasionally. When just melted, remove from heat and continue stirring until smooth. Transfer mixture to a bowl and stir in sugar. Beat in eggs on at a time. Gently fold in flour, salt and vanilla.
Pour into prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake 20-25, or until barely set in the middle. Cool on a rack completely before refrigerating for at least 4 hours, wrapped. Then remove and cut into even squares. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Basic Rich Crackers

These are the basic crackers I make on a pretty regular basis for our family. They are made with four simple ingredients: butter, yogurt, flour, and salt. You combine, cover and soak overnight, then roll them out in the morning, cut and bake them. Simple as that, and you get all the benefit of whole foods, properly prepared.

To start with, freshly ground flour that has been soaked to rid it of phytic acid is very healthy. Not to mention the vitamin K2 from the butter if it is grass-fed, and the probiotics found in good quality whole milk yogurt. Even the salt is beneficial if you choose a high quality salt full of trace minerals, such as Celtic sea salt.

I like to use Kerrygold Irish Butter from Trader Joe's because it is the best price I have found. I also get my yogurt from Trader Joe's, or I make my own from whole raw milk. I haven't tried it yet, but since I have milk kefir around, I wonder if I could use that in place of the yogurt in this recipe.

They are delicious with raw cheese and organ meat sausage (like Braunschweiger, yum!). But enjoyed all by themselves they are still lovely. They are very similar to Cheez-its I think.

Basic Rich Crackers

1 cup plain, whole milk yogurt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3 1/2 cups freshly ground whole grain flour (I have used spelt and whole red winter wheat, both with good success)
2 teaspoons sea salt

1. Cream yogurt and butter together. Add flour and salt and stir to combine.
2. Cover with a towel and a plate, find a warm place to soak 12-24 hours (or overnight).
3. After the soaking period, preheat oven to 400 degrees.
4. At this point you can add any herbs, cheeses, or spices to your dough you might like to try. I have only attempted cracked pepper and parmesan cheese, but it was delicious! The possibilities are endless, but the crackers are truly delicious all on their own. Don't feel you need this step, it is optional.
5. Use white flour, sprouted flour, or arrowroot powder (because each of these options have no phytic acid) to roll your dough out very thin. Use a pastry or pizza cutter to cut dough into small squares or rectangles.
6. Place onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. You can put the crackers fairly close to each other, they do not spread. You can prick with a fork, but I have not seen much of a need for it.
7. Bake 8-12 minutes, checking every minute or so after 8 minutes have gone by to make sure they do not overbrown. You know the crackers are done when they are slightly brown on the edges and the middles of the crackers look drier.
8. Remove from baking sheet to cooling racks immediately, but be gentle so they do not break. Enjoy!

Mini-egg Brownies (Sophia Gathering Version)

Mini-egg Brownies

16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, cut into ¼-inch pieces
4 large eggs
2 cups rapadura
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup sprouted flour
one bag Cadbury mini-eggs

Set a rack in the middle level of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat and add the chocolate. Let stand 2 minutes, and then whisk smooth. If all the chocolate has not melted, return to very low heat and stir constantly until the chocolate melts.
In a large bowl, use a rubber spatula to stir one egg into one cup of the rapadura. Make sure any lumps in the sugar are dissolved. Add the remaining eggs, one at a time, stirring each in with the rubber spatula in the same way. Stir in the other cup of rapadura, then the vanilla and salt. Stir in the chocolate mixture.
Finally, fold in the flour, then 2 cups of the mini-eggs.
Prepare a 9x13x2 pan by buttering it and then lining it with parchment paper and buttering the parchment paper at the very last. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with an offset spatula. Scatter the remaining mini-eggs over the top of the batter.
Bake for about 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick or a small knife inserted into the center emerges clean. Cool completely on a rack.
Wrap and refrigerate the pan so that the cake solidifies completely, at least 4 hours but overnight is best. This also makes the cake easier to cut.
Transfer the whole cake to a cutting board and slide a long knife or spatula under it to loosen the paper, and then pull it away. Use a ruler to mark, and then cut the cake into 2-inch squares.
For up to several days, store the brownies between sheets of parchment or wax paper in a tin or plastic container with a tight-fitting cover. Freeze for longer storage. If you plan to keep the brownies for any length of time, it is better to wrap them individually.

Ann Arbor's Finest Molasses Crinkles

I made these tonight, and even though they are more likely enjoyed in the fall I am sure they will disappear quickly from the cookie jar.

Quick notes: grass-fed butter gives you vitamin k2, sprouted flour reduces phytic acid, rapadura is whole cane sugar with all the vitamins and minerals found in the plant.

Ann Arbor’s Finest Molasses Crinkles

from The M Den in Ann Arbor

¾ cup (1½ sticks) butter, softened (I used Kerrygold, it is grass-fed)
1 cup packed brown sugar (I used rapadura)
¼ cup molasses (I used unsulphured)
1 egg
2¼ cup sifted flour (I used sprouted flour)
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
½ tsp. cloves
¼ tsp. salt
½ cup granulated sugar, for dipping (I used rapadura)

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add molasses and egg; combine. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to the mixing bowl and blend well. Remove bowl and chill for at least 2 hours and up to overnight. (I skipped the chilling, and just scooped directly onto the cookie sheet with a small ice cream scoop.)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Remove dough from fridge and roll into 1-inch balls. Put sugar into a shallow bowl and dips the tops of the balls in. (I just sprinkled the rapadura on top.) Place on parchment-lined baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes. Enjoy! Go Blue!

Vanilla-Maple Ice Cream

I have a really basic ice cream recipe that I use: 1 cup milk, 1 cup cream, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla. I like it because you can just change the vanilla for whatever flavor you like and it works. If I am being fancy I love to do mint leaves, crush them into the sweetener to infuse, add the milk and cream and let sit in the fridge for a few hours. Then strain and freeze in an ice cream maker. Plus, this recipe is easy to remember and makes the ratio clear for basic ice cream.

But now that I am taking refined sugar out of the family diet and using organic raw dairy, I need to tweak it a little. As far as natural sweeteners go, I think sorghum, molasses and maple syrup will work well since they are already liquid and will blend easily. I may try rapadura and letting it dissolve into the cream and milk before freezing. I cannot think of which sweetener to try with my mint ice cream though. I will experiment and let you know what works best. A list of nourishing sweeteners is here.

I ordered some raw cream along with my raw milk this week, both are full of vitamin k2. And I have a lovely grade B maple syrup I buy from Amazon in my fridge for pancakes. The combination of maple and vanilla seemed like a good place to start for my first nourishing ice cream venture. Let me tell you, this vanilla-maple ice cream is soooo good!

Oh, and I found that both of my ice cream makers (yes, I got two for Christmas one year: this one and this one) can hold a larger size than this recipe, so a recipe and a half is the perfect size. Enjoy!

Vanilla-Maple Ice Cream

1 1/2 cups raw cream
1 1/2 cups raw whole milk
3/4 cup organic maple syrup (grade A will be lighter, grade B more robust/vitamin-rich)
1-2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Mix ingredients together well and pour into an ice cream maker to freeze. It should take about 20 minutes if your bowl is properly frozen. It will look like soft serve ice cream. Immediately transfer to a container and place in freezer to ripen for the next day or so. Serve with a piece of vitamin k2-rich shortbread cookie!

Healthy Shortbread (not kidding!)

I found two shortbread recipes over the holidays that I wanted to try, but since they used alternative sweeteners and sprouted wheat flour I chickened out when baking for family and friends. Now that I am making it for me and the boyz (R, M, and E) at home, I feel more confident to try it out. Plus, that jumbleberry pie from a few days ago turned out wonderfully.

First I tried The Nourishing Gourmet's Scottish Shortbread Cookies recipe. Then I tried Cheeseslave's Sprouted Flour Shortbread Cookies with Grass-fed Butter recipe. Below are my versions of each.

Scottish Shortbread Cookies

1 cup plus two tablespoons of sprouted wheat flour
2 tablespoons arrowroot powder
1/4 cup of maple sugar
1/2 cup of cold butter
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Set out an 8 by 8 pan.

In a medium sized bowl combine the flour, arrowroot powder, sugar, and salt. Whisk a little to remove any lumps. Cut the butter into small pieces and then “cut” into the flour mixture using a pastry cutter. Do this until the dough resembles small crumbs.

Using your hands gently start forming this mixture into a ball. At first it will be really crumbly, but keep gathering it together and gently kneading it together. It should form a ball within a minute or two. If it absolutely will not stick together, you can sprinkle a little water over it.

Press evenly into the ungreased pan.

Then cut the shortbread into desired amount of squares.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the dough is set and the sides browning just very slightly. Remove from the oven. Recut lines in warm pan. Let cool completely in the pan, then remove.

Classic Round Shortbread

1 3/4 cups sprouted wheat flour
1/4 cup rice flour
2/3 cup palm sugar
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
8 ounces unsalted grass-fed butter, unsalted, cold

1. Set oven rack to middle. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Add flour and arrowroot powder, all but 1 tablespoon sugar (reserve for sprinkling), and salt to mixing bowl. Mix at low speed until combined.
3. Cut very cold butter into 1/2-inch cubes.
4. Add butter cubes to flour mixture. Mix on low speed until the dough looks like wet crumbs. All the butter should be mixed in thoroughly.
5. Press crumbly dough into glass pie pan. Use your fingers, and then the bottom of a glass to press down on the surface and make it smooth and level.
6. Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees and place shortbread in oven.
7. Bake 20 minutes.
8. Remove pan from oven. Let cool for 5 minutes.
9. Set a 2-inch biscuit cutter in the center of the shortbread. Press down hard. Pull up, leaving the center circular piece intact.
10. Using a sharp knife, cut the outer ring into 16 equally sized wedges.
11. Using a skewer or other pointy-tipped implement, poke holes in the top in a decorative pattern.
12. Return shortbread to oven and continue to bake until golden, about 40 minutes longer. You may want to put an extra cookie sheet underneath to catch the butter dripping.
13. Remove from oven and sprinkle shortbread evenly with reserved 1 tablespoon sugar. Let cool for at least 15 minutes.
14. Cut at scored marks into wedges. Let cool for at least an hour.

Store shortbread cookies in an airtight container for up to 7 days.

Homemade Jumbleberry Pie

I finally bit the bullet and committed to make a completely nourishing pie. In honor of R's birthday yesterday, complete with rapadura for sugar and sprouted wheat flour for white flour, the pie was a hit among the entire family, even those not avoiding sugar or white flour. I also used grass-fed butter and organic frozen berries from Trader Joe's.

I say this is a nourishing pie because if you buy grass-fed butter it is full of vitamin K2. You can google vitamin K2 and get a lot of information about it, but I like these two links here (basic K2 info) and here (list of vitamin K2-rich foods).

The rapadura is full of nutrients because it is the only form of sugar processed without ever being separated from the molasses. It is considered a whole food.

Sprouted flour is neutralized of it's phytic acid, so you can absorb all the good trace elements in the grain like calcium, magnesium, etc. You can buy sprouted flour, make your own, or ask me to show you and we will have a sprouting party. You do need a dehydrator and a grain mill if you want to make your own. (Basically you soak wheat berries overnight in mason jars with sprouting lids or screens, then drain and rinse a few times a day until the sprouts are showing in the wheat berries. Then you dehydrate at a low setting (95 degrees or so) for 8-12 hours. Then grind in a wheat grinder.)

Berries, being full of antioxidants and also pesticide-free and GMO-free if bought organic, are just plain delicious.

Double Pie Crust
adapted from Cheeseslave's recipe

3 cups sprouted wheat flour
3 and 1/4 sticks (26 Tablespoons) of grass-fed butter, cut into small pieces, very cold, preferably straight from the fridge
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 Tablespoons rapadura (or Sucanat, maple sugar, palm sugar)
3/4 cup ice water

1. Make pie dough: Mix flour, salt and sugar with a whisk in a bowl to sift.
2. Take butter out of the fridge and sprinkle small pieces over flour mixture. Using a combination of a pastry cutter and your hands (or just your hands), cut in the butter until the crumbs are between the size of peas and olives. Add ice water a little at a time, blending with your hands, until the dough comes together.
3. Lay out two pieces of plastic wrap and put half of your pie dough on each. Using your hands under the plastic wrap, form each pile into a ball, then flatten and wrap up in the plastic wrap. Put in the fridge for 30 minutes. You can also make this ahead of time and store in the freezer for a few days, moving it into the fridge for a few hours when you are ready to use it.
4. Make pie filling:

Jumbleberry Pie Filling

Mix together:
5 cups of berries--I eyeballed equal amounts of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries
3/4 cup rapadura (or Sucanat, maple sugar, palm sugar)
1/3 cup sprouted wheat flour
2 tsp. lemon zest (optional) (I forgot this)

Continue with pie assembly:
5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. When ready to roll out, pull ONE flattened ball out of fridge and roll on a lightly floured surface with a rolling pin. Have your pie dish ready so you can properly estimate how large to roll your dough. When dough round is the right size, use your rolling pin to move it by rolling your dough around the rolling pin like a scroll and gently transferring it to unroll over the dish. Ease it into the dish and press down flush.
6. Pour filling into pie. Set aside.
7. Take out remaining ball of pie dough from fridge. Roll out on a floured surface, not as big as the last round since it only needs to be on top of the pie. Transfer over to filled pie. Press edges together with fingers. Cut excess off of edges of pie with a sharp knife. Press edges again with a fork, dipped in a little flour if sticking to pie dough edge. Poke decorative holes into top of pie with sharp knife. Brush entire top of pie with whole milk. Sprinkle with coarse sugar (I used a little turbinado sugar I am trying to get rid of; you could use rapadura, but it would look darker). Cover edges with foil to prevent over-browning.
8. Bake for 25-50 minutes, longer for frozen berries. Then remove foil and let bake completely uncovered for another 20-30 minutes or so until the pie looks perfectly brown. Cool on a wire rack.
(Serve with real whipped cream sweetened with rapadura, or homemade vanilla ice cream made with raw milk and raw cream. Yum!!!)