I want to go on a walk, a LONG walk, otherwise known as El Camino de Santiago

So like a million other people I watched the movie "The Way" with Martin Sheen the other day. It was an excellent and beautifully portrayed movie about a father grieving the loss of an estranged son and his impulsive decision to walk the 800km Camino de Santiago a religious/spiritual pilgrimage across the top of northern Spain to finish the trek started by his son.who had tragically died trying to cross the Pyrenees on the first day out on his own pilgrimage.

After the movie ended I started thinking ... wow Northern Spain is beautiful ... it'd make a really neat vacation ... Martin Sheen's character was 71 and HE did it ... with no training ...albeit in a movie ... ponder ....I wonder if  I could do it? Ponder some more ... I CAN walk now ... I can even hike ... 2 miles anyway ... that's 5 km already .. on the flat, I could probably handle twice that without even thinking if I gave myself the time ... and I had good shoes ... with training I bet I could do even more! I could probably even handle hills if I took it slow ... I don't have to keep up with those fit young kids ... I have all the time in the world ... I could just start walking in the morning and stop at the closest refuge when my feet got too sore. Wouldn't take long to toughen up if you take it easy at the start. The Camino is a walk with a refuge in just about every village you cross and the villages are just a few km apart ... services are readily available, you aren't in the middle of the wilderness ... if things got real bad, help is close. The path is well maintained for the most part, it is well travelled and safe. All you need to carry is a change of clothes and a few sundries. To walk far, travel light! If you stay in the pilgrim's refuges along the way this trip is also very inexpensive, often a night's lodgings is 10 Euro's or less (by donation) ... private hostels are a little more but not much, maybe 15 Euro's. The cheaper lodging is however dormatory style, if you want a private room you'll have to pay more.

The el Camino is a VERY long walk (800km) but there are no timetables. The first day (if you start in France) is pretty tough and is in fact the hardest day of the entire walk (long and steep both up AND down a mountain) but you can actually skip it if you like and start in Spain, or you can break Day 1 into 2 part, stopping half way at a small refuge 8 km up the mountain called Orrison (reservations required). However, after the first day walking over the Pyrenees, the villages are relatively close together, the grade is more or less level and easy going ... the idea is to walk every day (with the occasional rest/sightseeing day) to your next night's lodgings. You can walk as far or as little as you like, this is YOUR camino, you do it your way! Stop and smell the roses, sight see along the way, have lunch in a little cafe in a picturesque village, have a picnic breakfast of fresh bread and cheese in a meadow by the trail, take a siesta nap in the grass beside a river, dine out and socialize with your fellow travellers at night in a local bar. Stop when you get tired, sleep in a bed at night or camp out under the stars. Heck you can even stay in a 5 star hotel in the major cities along the route if you want to pamper yourself ;)

I began to research the Camino to see what it was all about and I started to find myself planning it as if I were ACTUALLY going and not just a "what if" scenario  ... I figured out what backpack I'd take (under 700g) I found the sleeping bag I'd like (under 700g) I called my husband and told him of my plans and asked if it's something he'd be interested in doing, if not I was seriously considering doing this solo (Wow THAT'S out of character) Luckily this is something that is right up his alley, he was on board, if not as obsessed as I was, and I was rapidly becoming obsessed. When could we go? I wanted to go RIGHT AWAY but realized I'd need to work up to something this big, especially at my age, weight and fitness level (none) ok so next summer? Hmmm I wanted to go in May and hubby doesn't retire til summer .... fall? Could I wait til the following spring? Sigh ... ok ... I'll be 2 years older but on the other hand it gives me 2 years to start walking. Alrighty then, May 2014 it is ... unless I decide between now and then that 2 years is too long ... Then I'll aim for September 2013 ;)

Sooo last week I went out and bought a GOOD pair of mid height hiking boots. Some hiking sneakers and a lightweight pair or walking sandals. Time to decide what I want to wear on my feet and to break in whatever I decide to take. Right now I am waffling between light weight boots or heavy soled trekking shoes. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. The terrain on the path is quite varied from wooded paths to rocky hills to paved roads ... the last 100km is almost all paved and can be a killer without good shoes but you also want something with some support for the more rugged bits ... I think for the most part the walk is fairly flat but there are some rather steep ascents and declines along the way in between the flat bits so you should be prepared for just about anything ... and I am not sure a shoe is enough even though I am reluctant to go with a clunky boot. I'm hoping the decision will be made clearer with a lot of local hiking on varied terrain using both types of footwear for comparison ... but whatever I do take it will be something that FITS, is long enough so that my toes don't bump into the end on a steep decline (I'd rather keep my toenails), and is WELL worn in before I leave.

I guess I AM doing this ... it's kinda scary when I think about it too much ... hope I'm stubborn enough not to quit at the first sign of discomfort. I KNOW it will be the hardest thing I've ever done and I really am not sure I am strong willed enough to succeed ... that's part of the reason I want to try. I need to know. The Camino de Santiago is NOT an easy walk by virtue of it's length. It is doable by any age group and fitness level however as long as you pace yourself accordingly and have the time to take it slow. You can even do it in bits if you like ... 2 weeks a year if that's all the time you have, until you finish. I want to do it all in one go however. Age is not a barrier and many many people do this in their 60's and even 70's. I have read accounts by quite a few who have done this in their LATE 70's ... I'm still in my 50's, I should be able to do this. Most fit folks can do it in 5 weeks but I am not fit, nor am I young. I am giving myself 2 months and leaving the end date open in case it takes even longer but who knows maybe 5 weeks is doable even for me ... can I stand walking almost every day for 5 weeks ... for 2 months? Will my feet, legs, back hold out that long? Maybe ... we'll see ;)

This journey is a religious pilgrimage for many. I am not religious in any sense of the word, nor am I particularly spiritual, whatever that means. I am not doing this for those reasons. I am doing this because 3 years ago I could not walk more than 5 minutes without severe pain. I was grossly overweight, unfit and staring death in the face. Then I lost 100 pounds. I am still overweight but no longer grossly so. I am more fit but hardly FIT if you know what I mean. I can walk without discomfort now and a 2 mile hike is just a walk, I am neither particularly tired nor sore afterwards, I go home because it's time and I am done the trail ... I am not entirely sure where my limit is ... can I walk twice as far without trouble? Three times as far? What about hills? What about STEEP hills? Can I walk 8 km up the side of a mountain?  Can I walk another 8 km DOWN a mountain? These are the questions I want and need to have answered. THAT is why I want to go.

This is a journey to celebrate losing 100 pounds. To test my limits and my mettle. Three years ago a journey like this was out of the question, today it is possible. At the very least this gives me the excuse and inspiration I need to get out there and to get walking! Dare to Dream!

Root Vegetable Gratin

This would be great in the fall but I decided to make this today because I had some nice turnip and rutabaga that needed to be used up. Since root vegetables can vary in size just try to use approximately the same volume of each vegetable except maybe the potatoes ... you could go with a bit more of those if you like, using the others to add interest and to offset the taste of the potatoes. Basically you need enough to fill an 9x13 casserole dish or whatever sized dish you are using (scaling the sauce as needed) to about 3/4 full. You can use any combination of root vegetables you have on hand, I use all those listed but let your own taste and availability dictate what you use ... this recipe is flexible. I didn't have regular cream so I used 1 cup chicken broth, 1 cup half and half and an extra 1/4 whipping cream to make up the liquid volume and to simulate an 18% cream. You could probably just use half and half for this but I always like to stick as close top the original recipe as possible the first time I make anything.

I've now had a chance to taste this and I am pleased to report this is a winner :) The taste is a bit different from the ordinary but it went REALLY well with my herbed chicken breast ... so much so in fact I decided to make the allotted portion size a bit bigger than I initially thought. I reduced the servings from 8 to 5 thereby increasing the individual portions by almost 2. It was totally worth it although not exactly a low calorie side. Totally 4 forks yummy in my book.

UPDATE: Assuming an initial weight of 200g (about the size of a medium Russet potato) for most of the root vegetables except the carrot and parsnip (each about 100 g for a extra large carrot/parsnip ) this came to just under 300 calories per serving (based on 5 servings). I initially thought this would make 8 servings and I suppose it still could but I liked it so much  I found my initial serving to be too small ... of course I didn't have anything else to go with my chicken breast so I guess I needed a bit more in any case ... if you happened to also serve another side of veggies with your main ... say green beans, this could easily stretch to 8 servings at 186 calories per serving. Full nutritional details can be found here: Nutritional Details for Root vegetable Gratin

My entire meal of a herbed chicken breast sauteed in some olive oil/butter with a generous side of root vegetable gratin came in a slightly more than 600 calories. Not bad for a main dinner meal but I did get the impression that this could actually benefit from a little less fat, so next time I will use half and half instead of full coffee (18%) cream and I might even reduce the butter by half as well.

Definitely on my list to make again ... a bit of a different taste sensation but delicious none the less :)

Ingredients:

• 1 small Rutabaga, peeled
• 1 Celery Root, peeled
• 1 small Turnip, peeled
• 1 (or 2) large Russet Potato, washed, skin on
• 1 large Parsnip, peeled
• 1 large Carrots, peeled
• 2 tsp olive oil (extra virgin if you have it)
• 2 Tbsp Butter
• 3-5 Garlic cloves, minced (to taste - after making mine heavy on the garlic, I'd have to say, 5 was quite strong, so unless you are a big garlic fan, like I am, 2-3 might be more to your liking)
• 1 Tbsp Fresh Thyme, mince or 1 tsp dry
• 1.25 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup cream
• 2 tsp flour
• pinch salt, to taste

Directions:

1. Cut all vegetable into thin slices using a mandolin. Store in water after slicing to prevent oxidation.
2. Bring a large pot of well salted water to a boil and carefully add vegetables. Par boil for 3 minutes then remove and drain no need to rinse.
3. Add 2 tsp olive oil to the bottom of a 9x13" casserole and spread. This is not just to prevent sticking, it is a flavour component so I like to use the good stuff (extra virgin) then pour all the par boiled vegetables into the dish and gently even them out.
4. Next in a small saucepan melt butter and add minced garlic and slowly raise the temperature. Heat until the garlic JUST begins to sizzle then add flour and cook 30 seconds or so before adding cream to cool everything down. You don't want to brown the garlic.
5. Grate in a pinch of nutmeg and add another pinch of cayenne (to taste) and thyme and bring to a simmer and a pinch of salt to taste.
6. As soon as it simmers, remove from heat and pour over vegetables. Gently shake and tap the casserole on the counter to distribute the sauce throughout.
7. Grate a little real Parmesan cheese on top and loosely cover with foil
8. Bake @ 375' for 40 minutes then uncover, grate a little more Parmesan over to allow for slight browning of the cheese and bake UNCOVERED for another 20-30 minutes or until golden, bubbling and when tested with a paring knife all vegetables are tender. Times depend somewhat on the size of your casserole.
9. Let sit for 15-20 minutes to rest after taking out of the oven before serving.

Simple Pesto Sauce

I love pesto ... a couple Tbsp pesto on a serving of home made pasta is my idea of heaven. The only problem is the store bought pesto is REALLY expensive.  Now, I have NO idea if mine ended up any cheaper to make than the expensive store bought pesto, because I didn't do a price comparison of ingredients, but I can tell you this, mine tasted EXACTLY the same as the store brand, and nutritionally it was pretty close as well :) The only major difference was that my pesto was somewhat lower in sodium as I didn't add any extra salt in the recipe. I like to season things to taste on my plate and besides this really doesn't need any extra salt, it's delicious as is.

I always keep some in the freezer and whenever I need it,  I just thaw the pesto to room temperature, use what I need and then put the rest back in the freezer. A serving, appropriate for a single serving of pasta (85g dry weight) is about 2 Tbsp or 30g by weight and clocks in at 164 calories  with 112mg sodium and 16g fat ... even better, there are no ingredients you can't pronounce ;)

There are several ways you can throw this together ... you could go real old school and use a mortar and pestle but I took the easy way out and used my food processor. Depending on how large a batch you are making you can scale up anywhere from a small mini processor attachment on your immersion blender to a magic bullet or even a blender (although blenders are a bit finicky for a small volume thick paste) Basically anything that will pulverize and mince all your ingredients together into a think paste will do. It really isn't too important that this be perfect, a course chopped pesto will just look more rustic (artisan), but it will taste the same  and might even look better ;) Some purists even suggest mincing everything using a sharp knife for 20 minutes or so to get a fine even mince ... they even say the flavour is better done this way ... me? I go for easy and honestly don't see how the chopping method would affect the favour at all ... the texture maybe, but the flavour? No way.

I used a large bunch of fresh basil from my grocery store to make this.  The bundle weighed about 60g give or take and was about 2 cups when chopped and loosely packed into a measure cup. All measurements are approximate,  and you can scale this quite easily to make more servings. As written this recipe made about 16 Tbsp or 8 servings 

Ingredients:

• 60g Basil, Fresh (about 2 cups when chopped and loosely packed)
• 4 Garlic Cloves, whole  peeled
• 60g Pine Nuts (about 1/2 cup)
• 1/3 cup Olive Oil  (use the good stuff, extra virgin is great in this)
• 60g Parmesan Cheese, Grated (about 2 ounces)

Directions:

1. So the short of this is ... throw everything into the pulverizer of your choice (ie: food processor) and blend to a paste. Doesn't get any simpler than that.
2. If you think your pesto is too thick you can add a little more oil to thin it out a bit
3. Unless you are being exact for calorie counting purposes you don't have to obsess about exact measurements.
4. I suppose if you want to get fancy you can doctor this up any number of different ways but made using the above recipe, this is a very good imitation of the Olivieri Brand Pesto 

Pesto is one of those wonderful foods I can't do without, but it IS a calorie dense food, so for me, accurate measuring of ingredients and portions is essential for accurate tracking purposes.  It's something I really enjoy every now and again ... I am just really careful about portion size and I track it carefully ... but I DON'T skimp ... I will allow myself a FULL portion of pasta and a full serving of pesto to go with ... I'm just careful about measuring everything that goes onto my plate :)

For stuff like this, it helps to be a bit anal about tracking though ... just sayin ;)


Note: If you don't have Pine Nuts I've heard you can substitute almonds but I haven't tried that .. seems like it would work just fine though :)

Beef Stew with Red Wine

Just realized today is Friday and I only have 2 pre made meals to send down to the city to feed my kitchen challenged boys for the week. Time to kick things up a notch and get cracking ... so today I am making a slow cooker beef stew made with red wine and a loaf of Maple Seed Bread to go with :)

This is a rich hearty stew inspired by Beef Bourginon but I make it with our home made red wine (Valpolicella or Shiraz in case you're interested) The red wine helps give the gravy a wonderful flavour and I love this stew served up on a bed of garlic mashed potatoes or  alone, with a slice of rustic bread on the side. This also goes well on rice or a thick slice of toasted bread, and you can get as creative with the vegetables that you add to this, or not ;) I tend to like it as a simple stew, with just carrots and celery as the vegetable, but I just as often add small baby potatoes in the last 2 hours of cooking to make this more of a complete meal without all the fuss of cooking potatoes on the side. If the mood strikes, and I have some on hand, I might even throw in some fresh green beans and/or a can of corn, not only to make this an even more hearty nutritious  meal, but to stretch it and lower the calories per serving as well ;) I am doing that tonight in fact. You're the boss of your stew ... remember that!

I don't buy stew meat. I prefer to get some chuck or blade roasts on sale which I use for a variety of beef dishes from stews to ground beef. It's cheaper than some cuts and has a nice fat marbling which lends itself to making delicious stews. I just never know what I am getting when I buy generic stew beef but if you trust your butcher then go ahead, it might save you a few minutes prep time. I'm just kind of picky when it comes to the quality of meat I buy. The only thing I recommend when trimming is to carefully remove any silver skin you find in the roast. It's a lot tougher to cut with your knife than regular fat, so it's a pretty simple procedure to skim the interface between the tougher layer and the meat to remove it. As far as the rest of the fat ... I get rid of the larger more obvious bits but some fat is good so I don't obsess about getting it all. That type of fat adds flavour and most of it melts away during cooking anyway, leaving tender succulent cubes of stewed beef.

This made 8 generous servings and each serving (one soup bowl full) was about 450 calories. with 15g fat and 4g fiber Complete nutritional details here Beef Stew with Red Wine made with all optional ingredients shown.

Ingredients:

• 1 kg Beef chuck/blade roast (I buy slightly larger roasts and usually end up with roughly 1 Kg of stew meat when done trimming excess fat and sliver skin. Today I used a cross rib roast cause that's what I had in the freezer)
• 2 medium cooking onions (diced) or 1 large jumbo onion 
• 2 Tbsp fat or oil ( if I have it I'll use some bacon fat, lard or a garlic infused regular olive oil, not extra virgin you want something that can handle a bit of heat)
• 3 Tbsp All purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 3-4 cloves garlic or garlic puree
• 1 cup red wine (whatever you have on hand for DRINKING don't use cooking wine)
• 3 cup beef broth (I use my own salt free beef broth but a carton of bought broth is fine)
• 3-6 medium carrots, roughly chopped into 1"pieces - how many you add depends on the size of your carrots how much meat you have in the stew and your personal preference, so start with three and eyeball it after you add them. If it looks a little skimpy add more ;)
• 3-4 Celery stalks rough chopped into 1/2" pieces, again, I start with 3 large stalks and go up from there as needed
• 1/2 tsp dry thyme leaves, OR 3-4 sprigs of fresh if you have it
• 1/2 tsp rosemary leaves, OR a couple sprigs of fresh rosemary if you have it
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 Tbsp tomato paste (I sometimes add 2 Tbsp (personal preference) ... you might like to look for a tube of tomato paste at the grocery store instead of going to the trouble of opening one of those small cans ... tubes are much more convenient and keep forever in the fridge. I made the switch a while back and I love it ... no more wasted tomato paste when all I need is a Tbsp)
• 1 Tbsp Better Than *Beef* Bouillon (optional)
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce (I actually don't measure this just a shake or two from the bottle)
• 15 baby potatoes, halved (optional)
• Green Beans (optional)
• Canned corn (optional)
• Salt and black pepper to taste - Since I use a lot of home made non processed broths etc in my cooking and my home made items are made without added sodium the amounts I might need could be quite different from what you need ... a good cook always tastes her recipes before serving and seasons accordingly ... I am assuming you are a good cook ;) This recipe does benefit from a generous portion of pepper however, the last time I made this I added about 1/2 tsp of each.

Directions: 

1. Trim roast into 1" cubes if needed, discard any excess fat and silver skin
2. In a heavy bottomed dutch oven add 1 Tbsp fat or oil of your choice and brown half the cubed beef (about 500g) over medium high heat. Keep meat moving to brown all sides and prevent burning. When edges get a bit of criminalisation remove meat and reserve.
3. Repeat with another Tbsp oil and the rest of the beef cubes. When done remove from pot and reserve.
4. Into the now empty pot add butter and the onions and sweat onions until they just begin to brown. Add garlic and flour and cook a minute or two just to remove the raw taste in the flour. Take care not to burn the garlic.
5. Add 1 cup of wine to the onion/flour mixture and stir well
6. Add beef broth (approx 3 cups or a 1L carton) and again stir well to get all the bits off the bottom of the dutch oven
7. This is where I begin the transfer to my slow cooker but you can just continue in the dutch oven if you like and use the oven to finish the dish (set at 250-300'F) I don't like to finish this on the stove top because no matter how careful I am, I always burn the bottom ;)
8. Place beef with any juices in your slow cooker crockpot
9. Pour onion/flour/broth mixture over the meat rinsing the pot with a little water to get all the tasty bits.
10. Add rough chopped carrots and celery, Beef bouillon (if using), Worcestershire Sauce, and Tomato paste
11. Add Bay leaf and any fresh or dry herbs (if using fresh herbs you might like to tie them tightly into a bundle for easy removal later but I tend to just throw them in and fish out the stalks after the stew is done )
12. Season with salt and pepper
13. If you want to add potatoes to the stew, add them during the last 2 hours of cooking.
14. I generally cook this covered for 6-8 hours on the high setting or until the beef is tender and beginning to fall apart.

NOTE: If the gravy seems too thin when done it is easy to thicken this up by adding a Tbsp or two of instant potato flakes. I always like to keep some on hand just for something like this ... we never actually have instant potatoes as a side  ;) Another tip to thicken the gravy is to add some Chia Seeds and I often do some combination of both chia and potato flakes. Chia seeds have no flavour themselves so they take on the flavour of whatever you add them to and they form a suspension gel with the liquid that does a great job to thicken any sauce. Once they gel you would never know they were there and they also add a nice fiber kick  I never knew much about chia seeds before but they are marvelously versatile little critters and they rapidly became a staple item for my pantry once I figured out what they were and how to use them ... great in smoothies too ;) In case you are wondering,  I don't generally bother with a cornstarch or flour slurry any more, cornstarch sauces don't re heat up well (great initially but too clumpy when reheated) and while there is nothing wrong with a flour slurry per se I just like the potato/chia method better.

Maple Walnut Brownie

A bit of a change from your regular chocolate fudgy style brownies. I just made these following the original recipe but I will be redoing these at some point in the future with a few substitutions to make them both lower in calories, fat and sugar but with added fiber and nutrition as well ;)

I have not yet tasted these beyond a few crumbs that managed to separate themselves from the main brownie tray but those crumbs were delicious and I plan to save enough calories on my plate, to have one of these for dessert tonight. The rest will be frozen to be shipped off to the city with my hubby on Sunday. I am so lucky to have an outlet for all my more decadent creations.

The brownies, made exactly following the original recipe listed below are exactly 163 calories for a 1" square, that's using an 8x8" baking pan and making 16 brownies per pan. I also made a simple glaze for these which added about 60 calories per brownie but you really don't need it. These are good all on their own. All together including the glaze these are about 223 calories which isn't too bad for a dessert item. Omitting the glaze and making this by replacing 1/3 of the butter (2 Tbsp butter) with 2 Tbsp Chia Gel (google it) drops the calories to 150 per square with little to no discernible difference either in taste or texture of the final product.

Ingredients:

• 1.25 cups All Purpose Flour (150g)
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• 6 Tbsp Butter (or 1/4 cup butter and 2 Tbsp Chia Gel)
• 3/4 cup Brown Sugar, lightly packed ** - see note
• 1/3 cup real maple syrup
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 tsp maple extract
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

1. In a small bowl whisk the dry ingredients together and reserve
2. In a small saucepan add the butter and brown sugar and melt over low heat until butter is melted and sugar dissolved. Do not over heat, once the butter is melted you are good to continue.
3. Remove from heat and stir in the syrup; Allow mixture to cool slightly (to lukewarm) then break the eggs one at a time into the butter/sugar mixture mixing well after each addition.
4. Add maple extract to the butter sugar mixture and stir to combine.
5. Pout butter mixture into the dry ingredients; Add chopped walnuts and stir with a spatula to blend well. Do not over mix you do not want to beat air into the batter, just stir to combine then pour into prepared 8x8" baking pan. (I like to grease my pans then line the bottom with a bit of parchment to fit the pan which I also grease. This makes getting the brownies out of the pan when done a LOT easier.) 
6. Bake in a preheated oven at 350'F for 25-30 minutes until done. The top of the brownie should be lightly golden and the brownie should JUST be separating from the sides of the pan.
7. Cool on a rack for 30 minutes before removing from pan or attempting to cut.
8. I like to use a pizza cutter to cut my brownies into squares it seems to work a lot better than a knife but in any event brownies are a lot easier to cut when they are FULLY cool, so wait ;)

The original recipe calls for a maple  glaze poured onto the top of the brownie once cool. To make the glaze mix together n a small bowl; 1 cup icing sugar,  2 Tbsp maple syrup and 1 Tbsp Cream (and maybe a tsp or two more if needed). I had to add a tiny bit more (maybe 1/2 Tbsp) cream to make this nicely pourable but still thick enough that it sets up after it dries, use caution adding the extra cream, as it doesn't take much to overdo it. Drizzle glaze over brownies after they are fully cool either before or after slicing.

** I rarely substitute artificial sugar for real sugar, since I find the taste or texture often suffers and I don't think the calories saved is worth the effort or disappointment in the final product. I don't like to *settle* just for the sake of calories but if you want to, I would only replace up to half the sugar and use caution, many brown sugar substitutes are a LOT sweeter than the real deal and if added measure for measure will ruin your baking, and even if they say you can measure like real sugar I'd still reduce the volume if using artificial ... they lie for convenience. At some point in the future I may experiment and I will post here to pass on any results.

Just a few final notes now that I have had the pleasure of tasting this. The brownie was more cake like than fudgy and when cool quite dense ... IN A GOOD WAY. They were moist not too sweet and the maple flavour was noticeable yet subtle. I really really enjoyed this and I suspect my gang will as well when I send them back down to the city on Sunday. The 16 squares were quite generous in proportion and I'd even probably be satisfied with a slightly smaller square on days where there isn't as much room on MyPlate ... maybe cut this into 5 on one side and 4 on the other to give you 20 servings instead of 16 ... I enjoyed the glaze and though I initially thought it would be too much (overkill), it complimented and finished the brownie off quite nicely, in fact. ** 2 thumbs up**

Common Food Myths Dispelled

I've learned a lot on my weight loss journey and no one piece of knowledge stands out for me as THE most important lesson except this ... EDUCATE yourself. There are a lot of commonly held beliefs out there that have no basis in fact AT ALL but people believe them because someone they trust, told them so ... because someone told THEM ... I just came across the following list/slideshow and while I am not usually impressed by these so called myth buster slide shows, THIS one is different. Every single slide/myth has been fact checked and represents something I have learned or relearned during my own weight loss journey and ALL, are things I consider important and incorporate every single day into my own daily diet plan.

I WAS going to put up a post today on the benefits and pleasure of using REAL food in your diet as opposed to tasteless unsatisfying fake or heavily modified diet food but this slide show changed my mind. There was just too much good advice in there for me not to post it. Dieting should not be about denying yourself the pleasure of real, good food .. it should be about learning to identify real food as opposed to manufactured food and how to eat those real foods, which can sometimes be calorie dense, and still maintain or lose weight safely.  If you follow the advice and tips on these 2 list/slideshow links, you will be half way there. NOTE: The slideshow link contains most, but not all of the same myths debunked as in the first link, they are just in a slideshow format with captions.

Common Food Myths Dispelled

OR

25 Common Food Myths Slideshow

Hope you enjoy!

English Muffins

I get a lot of pleasure by being able to make some of the things I used to buy regularly at the grocery store. One of those things is ... English Muffins. Now don't get me wrong. There is nothing seriously wrong with store bought muffins although admittedly I never actually examined their ingredient list, and of course there is something to be said for convenience ... BUT ... being able to recreate a good fresh home made English Muffin with melting butter oozing into every one of what should be numerous nooks and crannies is an experience everyone should have, at least once in their lifetime. I have tried several recipes with various levels of success and failure but the one listed below gave me the  best result for the type of muffin I was looking for ... lightly toasted on top and bottom with a dense somewhat spongy interior that toasted up nicely. These were also not your average bready muffins either, like some store bought pretenders are, but holey wonders with large and small pockets just waiting for you to fill with butter and/or your favorite spread. Luckily it's a LOT easier than you'd think as well! If you can make pancakes ... you can make English Muffins! Yum!

The only caveat I have is that you need at least one piece of special equipment ... an English Muffin *ring* or maybe several ... the good news is, an empty and clean tuna can with the top and bottom removed, will do just fine, as would a smooth round METAL cookie/biscuit cutter about 3" in diameter, although I did go to the effort to buy muffin rings at a kitchen specialty store ... cost about $5 for 4 rings.

On to the recipe!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup non fat powdered milk (do not substitute liquid milk for the water in this recipe, you must use powdered milk ... it's science, trust me, you want the goodness that you get in the powder without any added liquid and using milk volume for volume, in place of the water just doesn't work ... think of the dry milk as concentrated goodness and you need it concentrated for this recipe to work.)
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt (divided - see directions)
• 1 Tbsp shortening
• 1 cup HOT water
• 1 envelope (2.25 tsp) active dry yeast
• 1/3 cup warm water
• 2 cups all purpose flour, sifted ( or up to 50% whole grain whole wheat flour in place of the all purpose flour to make these a little healthier)
• Non stick vegetable spray (this is important I tried greasing with butter once and all I got was a mess)

Directions:

1. In a small bowl combine the dry milk powder with 1 Tbsp sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, and shortening. Pour in HOT water and stir until the sugar and salt are dissolved and shortening is melted. Set aside and let cool until just slightly warm. While this mixture is cooling you can proof your yeast.
2. In a small cup measure combine the dry yeast with a pinch (1/8 tsp) of sugar. Pour in 1/3 cup lukewarm water ... slightly warm to the touch will do you don't want it too hot or it will kill the yeast. Set aside to proof the yeast. In about 5-10 minutes you should start to see the mixture begin to froth. If it doesn't, your yeast is no good, get some fresh and try again ;)
3. Add the proofed yeast mixture to the cooled dry milk mixture. Add the sifted flour and beat thoroughly with a wooden spoon (why wooden? I have NO idea) The batter should be quite thick but still appear to be slightly *pourable* kind of like a really thick pancake batter.
4. Cover the bowl and set aside in a warm draft free spot for 30 minutes to rest. 
5. Meanwhile, preheat a griddle, or in my case a large FLAT non stick high sided pan with lid (my chicken frying pan works nicely but an electric frying pan would be perfect) to 300' F
6. After the half hour resting period add the remaining 1/2 tsp salt and beat thoroughly to combine.
7. Grease the insides of the metal ring(s) well with NON STICK VEGETABLE SPRAY ... (I tried butter and shortening once and both time the batter stuck to the rings like glue but for some reason PAM works perfectly and my muffins slid right off)
8. Place rings on the (dry ungreased) griddle and spoon 2 large spoonfuls of batter into each ring. Smudge the batter a bit to try and fill the ring but don't worry too much it will flatten out a bit as it cooks and odd shaped muffins are a conversation piece. A neat trick, if you have one, is to use an ice cream scoop ... the kind with a mechanical squeeze handle and a slider that helps eject the batter into the ring but like I said using a spoon with maybe a second one to tease the thick batter into the ring works just as well. The batter should be just below the top of the ring or about 1/2" thick, it will rise slightly as it cooks.
9. Cover with a pot lid or cookie sheet and cook for 5-6 minutes or until crisp and golden brown then flip and do the other side. When you flip the muffin, the ring might fall off. That's ok it's already done it's job, in fact I generally remove mine even before I flip, as I find it just gets in the way otherwise. It should just slide right off ... if you used Pam like I told you to ;)
10. Cover the pan again and cook until the second side is done (5-6 minutes) then remove from heat and let cool on a rack. ***SEE NOTE BELOW***
11. Split with a fork to serve or store in a tightly sealed plastic bag once completely cooled until needed. Freezes well. Makes 7-8 muffins.depending on how large you make them but mine tend to be big so I only get 7. 

NOTE: I generally use half whole wheat flour in my muffins (unlike the recipe listed above) to make them a little healthier and doing so, each muffin works out to about 175 calories each with about 2g of fiber, based on getting 7 muffins out of this recipe instead of 8 ... if you get 8 muffins they are about 153 calories per muffin.  If using all white flour I imagine the calories would be similar for each type but you would not get the added fiber that whole wheat gives you.


NOTE** Ok I am updating this recipe a bit. I am not sure what's up with my stove but it always seems to cook hot and these browned up much faster than they should have today. I have one of those solid element stoves that take forever to heat up OR cool down so I just cooked my last batch of muffins til they looked about the right colour (about 3 minutes per side) then put them on a rack placed on a cookie sheet to raise them up off the surface, and finished them for 15 minutes in a pre-heated oven set at 350'. Seemed to work, so if your muffins brown so quickly on the outside that you think the insides might not have had the chance to cooked all the way through, you can try doing what I did. Guess I don't have this recipe perfected completely but in the end it all worked out. I'd recommend storing these in the fridge until needed.

Perfect straight from the toaster with butter or maybe a dab of peanut butter ;)

My Grandmother's Bean Soup

This soup recipe is something my grandmother made at least once every couple weeks or so. It is rustic German/Hungarian fare, the kind of soup the wives would serve their farmer husbands after a long day's work in the field. If memory serves she would use any number of different hams in this depending on what she had on hand ... cottage roll, smoked ham , etc but I pretty much always make this with a simple old fashioned smoked ham, the kind you find cut in half and vacuum sealed in a heavy plastic wrap. This soup is hearty, VERY high in fiber and absolutely the best on a cool fall or winter day and it makes for a filling main course. 


I have seen many different ham and bean based soups online but never one quite like this and trust me, this recipe is worth trying even if you don't usually like a bean soup. I can pretty much guarantee it will be a new taste experience and in my opinion one well worth the experiment. My husband usually hates pea/bean soups primarily for their texture but also their taste, however he loves this soup in spite of his general bias. 


I have changed her original recipe somewhat both to modernize it, personalize it and to be more precise. Most of my grandmother's recipes were done more by *feel* than by exact measure so that last one was kind of important especially if you want to accurately track this for calorie counting purposes ;) So while this isn't "exactly" like her original recipe it faithfully recreates it so anyone can get the same results and I usually point out any changes I made to the original recipe, and why, in the description. I hope you enjoy it :)


Ingredients:

• 1 cup white navy beans
• 1/2 cup lentils, any color (optional but recommended, I use a blend of red and green lentils (no idea why, I just usually have them on hand) about 1/4 c each, lentils were not in the original recipe but I like their addition)
• 3 cups water
• 1 old fashioned half ham (they vary in weight but about 600-800g is good)
• 6 cups stock ( my grandmother would probably just have used all water but I think using stock takes this from just good to out of this world. In the past I would use a mix of chicken stock and water but these days I use all stock, whatever I have on hand, chicken, vegetable, ham ... I use my homemade stock but bought is fine as well ... about 2 cartons ... I'd recommend chicken or vegetable, you can top up with water as needed)
• 1 large (jumbo) or 2 medium onions
• garlic 3-4 cloves (to taste)
• 1 tsp salt (optional depending on whether you use sodium free stocks or not, plus bouillon is sometimes salty ... reserve salt to the end and taste soup before adding)
• 5 large carrots
• 3 Tbsp butter ( traditionally my grandmother would use lard or bacon fat for this and if I have it I do use bacon grease for superior results but any semi hard fat will do and in the absence of bacon fat butter is a good substitute)
• 3 Tbsp Flour ( I used to use 2 Tbsp each of butter and flour but my Tbsp were always heaping so when I modified the recipe to reflect exact measurements,  I just changed the amount from 2 to 3 Tbsp to reflect that, you can just eyeball the amounts, no need to exact measure if you aren't strict calorie counting  )
• 3 Tbsp Paprika (like above I believe the original recipe specified 2 Tbsp but 3 works well and is a major flavour component for this soup. I recommend Hungarian Paprika)
• 1 cup water (or as needed)
• 1 Tbsp Better Than Bouillon Paste (chicken, vegetable or ham flavor) as needed (optional to taste)
• 1 kg bag of broad or extra broad EGG noodles ... you want a noodle that can stand up in this soup and no egg or no yolk noodles just aren't strong enough to do the job ... this is hearty peasant fare and it requires a hearty noodle ... trust me, I tried a non egg noodle once and I regretted it ... they broke up into tiny bits in the soup and were basically just mush ... awful.

Directions:

1. Soak the beans and lentils overnight (or for several hours) in a large dutch oven style pot in 3 cups water. They can soak up a lot of water so you can add more as needed. Do not discard this water after the soaking is ended just add to it as directed below. If you forget to soak the beans overnight you can start early in the morning or just add some extra simmer time for the soup  ... the beans just take awhile to soften up ... and to lose their gassy properties ;)  Pre soaking just helps with that, it's not a biggie if you forget.
2. Add ham with juices to the beans and water
3. Add broth enough to cover the ham up to 6 cups ( I don't generally measure this, I just use a 1 liter jar (which is about 3 cups per jar) or two of my home made stock either chicken or ham) I just use enough to cover the ham and add more stock or water as needed to maintain the level while simmering.
4. Add onion (roughly chopped in quarters) and minced or pureed garlic (I use my own roasted/pureed garlic that I always have on hand in the fridge but you can buy handy tubes at the store as well)
5.  Simmer 3-4 hours ... I don't actually time this, I just simmer this until supper time but I usually start before lunch. I am not sure if a long simmer is even needed much beyond softening and degassing the beans I just do it because that's the way I've always done it ... and my soup always tastes delicious ... course it might taste delicious even with a shorter simmer time ... who knows ...
6. About an hour and a half before serving I like to remove the meat to a plate (reserve for later) and use my immersion blender to puree the beans and onions. This makes the soup rich and thick, if you don't want it quite as thick you can strain out a few of the beans (maybe half) if you do not have an immersion blender just smash some beans against the side of the pot to puree them a bit or you can strain them all out (this will yield a thinner but still delicious soup. I generally just blend the whole lot, it makes for a more flavourful rich hearty soup and makes this soup a VERY good source of fiber.
7. Add the sliced carrots at this point and cook until carrots are soft. If you like you can use 1 small bag of baby carrots instead of the 5 raw field carrots.
8. While the carrots are cooking prepare your roue. In a small saucepan melt butter (or other fat) over medium heat. Add flour and paprika and cook a minute or two to remove the 'raw' taste. It should look like a thick paste. Slowly (and carefully) add water, stirring constantly until you have a thick but pourable roue and slowly stir in to soup to thicken. Rinse all the roue into the pot with some extra rinses of the roue pot with water ;) 
9. Just before serving. Place the ham front side down on a cutting board and slicing down from the top following the contour of the ham, to remove the tough outside rind. Then slice and chop the remaining meat into small soup appropriate bite sized pieces and return the meat to the soup pot.
10. Taste and adjust seasoning with either salt or chicken/ham/vegetable "Better than Bouillon" paste.
11. In the meantime prepare 1 bag of extra broad or broad EGG noodles according to package directions. Strain noodles and add to soup.
12. Serve. 

This makes a LOT of soup maybe 16 bowls. We typically have at least 2 bowls when this is served as a main course however so this would easily feed 8 people but more might be stretching it unless you added an accompaniment like maybe a fresh loaf of bread and cheese on the side. Each bowl (1 cup) has roughly 215 calories (depending on how much meat you used of course but the amount given was roughly for an 800g ham) and over 5g of fiber plus the beans and lentils are a good source of iron :) It freezes fairly well, although perhaps better without the noodles added, so if you plan to freeze this perhaps pass the noodles on the side for individual diners to add to their bowls as their own preferences dictate then freeze the remaining soup noodle free for later. 


You may need to thin the soup after it thaws with a little chicken broth or water, as it tends to thicken up even more as it sits. I'd recommend re heating this slowly in either the microwave or on the stove before you add any extra stock/water though since heating does thin this a bit, especially if you have used home made stock as opposed to store bought, as the home made stock is sometimes a bit more gelatinous and thick when cold and the soup can appear deceivingly thick until heated through.


Like I said this is a staple soup around our house and it is perhaps the most requested soup as well. Definitely worth the effort. Nose runningly delicious on a cold winter day. Have some tissue handy ;)