Baking bread is one of those things that sounds so intimidating at first.  When I mention I’ve been baking bread at the weekend, I inevitably get reactions like “Wow, you know how to do that?” or “You must have a lot of free time.”

Au contraire.

I’m a bit obsessed with baking, and especially with baking bread.  I truly believe that cooking more is the key to good health.  Have you ever looked at the side of a packaged bread wrapper?  There are a whole bunch of ingredients, including lots of unpronounceable chemicals (never a good sign).  You know what’s in my bread?  Flour, water, yeast, salt, and sometimes olive oil.  That’s it.

Then there’s another element to bread baking, the intangible stuff.  It’s comforting. It’s satisfying. It’s such a sense of accomplishment. It smells amazing.  You can even use breadbaking as meditation.

I believe in healthy living.  I eat kale.  I do yoga.  I make herbal remedies.  I’ve detoxed my beauty routine.  I try to live in a way that will let me live for a long time.

I also love to bake.  I love chocolate.  And food, in general.  I don’t believe in “dieting”.  I don’t believe in low-fat or eating fake sugar.  I think a nice hot toddy will cure many ailments.

The thing is – to me, these two philosophies make perfect sense together.

Being healthy is so much more than what you eat.  It’s having a balanced approach to life where your lifestyle, relationships, career, creativity, exercise, and of course your food, all support you reaching your goals.

And my perfect blend of lifestyle elements includes baking, eating and sharing the occasional indulgent treat.

Enter: the Creme de Menthe bar.  When I’m in need of an intense chocolate hit, this is it.  A rich, dense, fudgy brownie layer topped with cooling, minty buttercream, and a drizzle of bitter chocolate.  Oh, I’m in love.

To be enjoyed in moderation.

Creme de Menthe is that bright green, super sweet and minty liqueur which is used in our house for two things: making these brownies, and for spiking cups of hot chocolate (yum!).  If you prefer not to have alcohol, just use some peppermint extract in the frosting instead.

Pay no attention to the photo for presentation.  I got so carried away wanting to eat a brownie that I rushed through the photo taking process and got sloppy.  I suggest cutting these bars into thin strips because the flavor is so rich.  Also, make sure to wipe off your knife between cuts, to avoid crumbs stuck into the pretty green frosting.  Or just eat the crumbs.  That works too.

Creme de Menthe Bars

9 in x 13 in pan.  Makes approximately 36 brownies.

Brownie:

200 g. (7 oz) bittersweet baking chocolate (70% cocoa)

250 g. (8 oz) salted butter

80 g. (2/3 cup) unsweetened cocoa powder

65 g. (1/2 c.) plain white flour

1 tsp. baking powder

350 g. (1.5 cups) sugar

4 eggs

Mint Frosting:

1.5 cups (170 g) powdered (icing) sugar, sifted

2.5 Tb. butter, soft

1 Tb. creme de menthe

Drizzle:

1 oz. unsweetened or bittersweet chocolate

1 Tb. butter

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180c / 275F.  Line your baking pan greaseproof paper (or just grease the pan well).

Melt 200g. dark chocolate and 250 g. butter in a double boiler, bain marie, or a bowl over a pot of boiling water.  Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

In a mixing bowl, combine cocoa, flour, sugar and baking powder.  Add the 4 eggs and mix well.

Now pour in the melted chocolate mixture, stirring well and scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally.  This batter is super glossy and shiny!

Pour batter into prepared pan.  Bake for 25-35 minutes until the center barely jiggles when you shake the pan (a toothpick inserted in the center will still have a moist crumb on it – you want the brownies to be fudgy in the center!)

Let the brownies cool in the pan.

Frosting – In a bowl, combine the icing sugar, creme de menthe and soft butter.  Beat vigorously until it looks smooth and creamy like icing!  Spread onto the cooled brownies.

Drizzle – Again in a double boiler, melt the chocolate and butter.  Drizzle in thin lines across the top of the mint icing.

Let the icing harden in the fridge, and then slice with a thin, sharp knife, wiping the blade between cuts.

I like to store these brownies in the fridge so the icing remains firm.

What’s your coffee weakness?   I am a sucker for seasonality.  I’m talking about those fancy seasonal drinks at coffee shops, and the limited edition bottles of coffee creamer in the grocery stores.  Especially if that seasonal flavor is Pumpkin Spice (read: pumpkin pie in a glass).

There are a couple of problems with this craving for drinkable pumpkin pie goodness in my coffee:

1.  I prefer homemade coffee.  Mainly because coffee shops are really expensive.  Also, I like to drink coffee while in my PJs.  (And because I don’t know what goes into the drinks … artificially flavored syrups, zillions of calories, and who knows what else.)

2.  Flavored liquid coffee creamer doesn’t exist in the UK!  (I know!  Tragic.)

But even if you can find pumpkin spice coffee creamer in your local store – have you read the ingredients on the bottle?  It’s not made from cream.  Especially in the pumpkin spice version – there are lots of unpronounceable things, artificial flavors and tons of sugar.  It doesn’t really fit my food philosophy.

Fortunately (well, out of desperation), I came up with a solution.  Homemade pumpkin spice coffee creamer.  Made from REAL food – like cream, milk, maple syrup, and of course, pumpkin!  Just try not to drink it straight from the jar – save some for your coffee.

Making coffee creamer is quick and easy.  You could make a double batch on the weekend and it would last throughout the week in the fridge.

While testing this recipe, I wanted to do a side-by-side comparison of store-bought creamer to my homemade version to refine the taste.  Much like the vanilla extract experiment, tasting the storebought coffee creamer was absolutely disgusting!

While it is yummy in coffee, the taste of the creamer alone is so intensely strong and chemical-pumpkin flavored.  It really put me off.

Whereas, when you taste this homemade version, it is like drinking creamy liquid pumpkin pie.  It’s THAT good!

(If you want to drink a whole glass of it, I suggest making it with all milk, and serving it as an alternative to hot chocolate, maybe with whipped cream on the top.  YUM!)

Ready to make some? Here we go!

Note: I usually drink my coffee unsweetened, so I didn’t put very much maple syrup in this version.  You can increase the amount to taste.

Homemade Pumpkin Spice Coffee Creamer

Makes 1 cup

1 cup half and half (or, 1/2 c. whole milk, 1/2 c. single cream)

3 Tb. pumpkin

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ginger

dash of cloves

dash of nutmeg

2 Tb. maple syrup (or more, to taste)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Method:

In a pan on the stove, combine all ingredients.  Heat over medium-low until milk is steaming, whisking frequently.  (You don’t want to boil the milk! Just get it steaming.  If it does accidentally boil it, you can still use it, it just changes the flavor a bit.)

Optional: Pour through a fine mesh strainer into your pouring container, to remove any bits.  This makes your coffee smoother.

Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

To use:  Just pour into coffee instead of milk!

What’s your favorite coffee creamer flavor? I think I’ll tackle Gingerbread next!

The cult of kale … are you in?  Do you munch on kale chips and extol the virtues of green smoothies for breakfast?

Or do you have no idea what I’m talking about?

Don’t worry, I didn’t until earlier this year.  And then suddenly, kale was everywhere!

For those not in-the-know, kale is a leafy, green vegetable, related to collard greens or a more wild form of cabbage.  Until the end of the Middle Ages, kale was one of the most common vegetables in Europe, and arrived in the USA in the 1800s.

My friend Laurie once requested that I write about some “vintage vegetables”.  And kale fits that profile – a veggie that was used for centuries, then forgotten about until it’s reappearance in recent years (and some good marketing – kale even has its own website!)

This leafy green is worth a try – it’s packed with nutrients, really versatile, and best of all – doesn’t turn into a pile of mush when cooked like spinach!

And get this, I’ve even started eating it… for breakfast!  (Ok, only sometimes.  I’m not that virtuous.)

Why would I want to eat kale?

Kale is absolutely packed with nutrients.  It lasts a long time in the refrigerator (much more than those bags of spinach which seems to go off within 2 days!)  And it’s a wintery vegetable, so you can find it almost year-round at the farmers market (if you’re also into the locavore movement!)

Kale is rich in magnesium, calcium and beta carotene and Vitamins C, K and A.  Apparently it also contains sulforaphane which is purported to have anti-cancer properties.  And it has lots of fiber.

Basically, eat kale, it’s good for you.  If you’re going to eat veggies, make them count!

So how do I find it?

Kale is actually really easy to find, once you know what you’re looking for.  There are tons of varieties, from green to black leaves, smooth to curly.  I commonly see curly kale sold in pre-cut bags, or you can buy individual leafs of kale and tear it up yourself.  Recently I started experimenting with a dark kale called cavolo nero (the one in the picture).  Yum.

How do I use kale?

Steam or boil kale for a few minutes until tender (you want to retain some crunch!).  Serve it sprinkled with some olive oil (and I like to add a bit of tamari soy sauce too).  It’s also great in stir-fries.  You can hide it in pesto.  Or speaking of internet cult recipes, bake it into kale chips (gorgeous tutorial here!)

I’ve even started having it for breakfast with a poached egg on toast.

Greens? For breakfast?

This issue warrants a post in itself, but basically, YES!  If cooked greens aren’t your thing, you could try them in a green smoothie (which doesn’t work for me in wintery, cold England … but maybe next summer.)

After a breakfast of greens, you’ll feel like a smug healthy person.  And you’ll probably find your mood is more stable and you have more energy (especially if you have them with some healthy fat and protein, like an egg.)

So let’s get on with it then.  Here’s my current favorite breakfast.  Poached egg and kale on toast.  Yum.

I could make this recipe a lot more fancy & complicated (sauteeing the kale with onions and garlic or in a broth) – but this is my breakfast.  It needs to be quick.  And I can make this dish in about 5 minutes once the water is boiling.

Poached Egg and Kale on Toast

 You need:

Egg

A slice of bread

Kale

Vinegar

Olive oil, salt, pepper (& soy sauce, optional)

Method:

Short version – blanch the kale, make a piece of toast, poach or fry an egg.  Put the toast on a plate, top with egg and kale, drizzle with oil and season.  Done!

Detailed version:

Boil the kettle.  While that’s boiling, rinse and dry the kale.  Rip it up into bits with your fingers, avoiding the woody stem.  (Or chop the whole thing, as you prefer).  Put it in a pan on the stove.

Once the water is boiling, pour the water over the kale.  Turn on the burner to medium heat and let it cook for about 2 minutes, until the kale goes bright green.

Pour it all into a mixing bowl on the side and let it sit (water & all … the kale still cooks & keeps warm this way).

Fill the pan half-full with boiling water from the kettle.  Add a teaspoon of vinegar.  Bring it back to a boil.

Put the bread in the toaster and start toasting!

Now poach the egg (you can always fry the egg if this is too much trouble!).  Break the egg into a glass or ladle.  With a spoon, swirl the water in the pan to make a little tornado.  Now drop the egg from the glass into the center of the tornado.  Don’t touch it!  Wait 2 min 30 seconds.  Using the spoon, remove the egg from the water.

Put the toast on a plate.  Strain the kale and put it on the plate.  Put the egg on the toast.  Drizzle with a nice glug of olive oil.  Add pepper to taste (and soy sauce on the kale, if you like).  Bon appetit!

Are you in the cult of kale? Have you ever eaten it for breakfast?  I’m in need of some new kale recipes, so share your favorites!

My kitchen just doesn’t feel homey unless I have several edible ‘experiements’ brewing and bubbling on the countertop.

Currently I’m making sloe gin and chocolate liqueur for Christmas gifts (oops, sorry everyone, you know what you’ll be getting this year…), as well as some echinachea tincture for winter colds.  But these are all infused alcohols, so they’re quick to prepare and not much of a culinary challenge.  Speaking of infused alcohols – have you made any of these projects yet?  Really, they are So Easy, and your friends will be impressed!

Projects get more interesting when live bacteria and yeast join the fun.  You might remember making sourdough bread or super veg.  These super traditional projects require catching friendly bacteria or yeast from the air and getting them to do the hard work for you!

This project is in the more advanced category.  Although it’s really easy to make, it might frighten small children when left on the counter.  (Actually, small children will probably think it’s really cool – it’s the other adults you might frighten away!).

Kombucha is one of those specialty drinks you find in health food stores and yoga studios.  It’s based on black tea which is fermented so it becomes fizzy and tart.  It’s really tasty, and some people think it does amazing things for detoxifying the body and improving your digestive system (think: inexpensive, drinkable probiotics.)

But what hooked me was the fact that you need a floating colony of bacteria to start the process (known as a mother, a mushroom or a SCOBY) … it looked so weird I just had to try it myself!

A colony of what?

Kombucha is made by yeast and bacteria consuming sugar and fermenting tea into a delicious, fizzy drink.  To get started, you have to get a colony of the right kind of bacteria and yeasts.  This colony is called either a ‘mother’, a ‘mushroom’ or a SCOBY (symbiotic colony of bacteria & yeast!).  It’s like a science experiment in a jar … that actually tastes good!

What does a kombucha mother / mushroom / SCOBY look like?

Kind of like a round piece of chicken, with brown strings hanging off the bottom.  Yeah, it’s not nice.  If you really want to see, there are some pictures here.

Where do I get a kombucha mother / mushroom / SCOBY?

The best place to get one is from a friend!  After every couple of batches of kombucha, you’ll see a new mother growing on the top of the jar.  So you can just give it to a friend to start their own batch (what a gift!)

I bought my kombucha mother over the internet in a starter kit.  Just google for “buy kombucha mushroom” and lots of results will come up.

How does kombucha taste?

It tastes slightly like tea, but also slightly sweet and tart.  It’s really refreshing, especially in hot weather.

Lots of people also mix it with some fruit cordial or fruit syrup to make flavored kombucha.  (Always add the flavorings to the finished kombucha – never while it’s brewing, as you don’t want to interfere with the bacteria.)

How do I make kombucha?

The process of making kombucha is easy.

Brew some regular black tea.  Sweeten with white sugar and let it cool to room temperature.  (Don’t worry, the bacteria eat the sugar so the end product isn’t very sweet.)

Add the kombucha ‘mother’ and some kombucha from a previous batch to get it started.

Let it sit at room temperature for 5-10 days, until it tastes good to you (the longer you let it sit, the less sweet it will taste.)

Remove ‘mother’ and some kombucha (for your next batch!)  Pour kombucha into bottles and refrigerate.

If you’re going to make kombucha I recommend getting detailed instructions online or from one of the books I use: Nourishing Traditions or Wild Fermentation.

What health foods are you curious about?  What product would you love an inexpensive, natural alternative for?  Let me know and I might feature it on the blog! 

PS: have you signed up for The Sleep Experiement yet? It starts next week!

If you have any digestive issues or want to boost your immune system, here’s a solution you might not have considered.

Eat some Super Veg every day.  What is Super Veg? It’s my own name for lacto-fermented vegetables, a very traditional process of preserving vegetables for the winter and also enhancing their nutritional value.

Any type of fermentation, whether it’s sourdough bread or yogurt, involves encouraging the growth of friendly organisms to help preserve the food, improve the flavor and, often, add health benefits for you too.

Ok, I admit I changed the name of these veggies because the familiar name has a bad reputation.  Depending on your background, you might know them as German sauerkraut, French choucroute, or Korean kimchi.  Wait, don’t run away!  I HATE sauerkraut too.  At least I always thought I did.  That’s until I started fermenting my own with a blend of veggies and seasonings.  The soggy, vinegary cabbage which comes in cans bears no resemblance at all to yummy Super Veg.  I promise!

Fermented veggies are very vintage

Throughout history, people have fermented veggies as a method of preservation.  Apparently in the 1770′s, the explorer Captain Cook stocked his ship with 60 barrels of sauerkraut to prevent scurvy among the crew.   Traditionally, Koreans eat kimchi with every meal, while Northern Europeans eat sauerkraut regularly – providing much needed help to the digestion and nutrients during the long winters!

For us, this means that making Super Veg is really flexible and easy.  After all, our great-great-grandmothers didn’t have access to obscure ingredients, temperature controlled environments and precise scales.  So you can relax about the process of making super veg and just experiment with it!

The health benefits of fermented vegetables

Adding more fermented vegetables to your diet makes the vegetables more digestible, preserves their nutrients and gives you lots of good bacteria in your digestive system.

No need to buy expensive, brand-name probiotic yogurts or supplements … just get your probiotics through these veggies!

Some people think that eating fermented veg like this improves your digestion, strengthens your immune system,  increases nutrient absorption and acts as an antioxidant.

As with all diet changes, my suggestion is just to try it yourself!   It only takes a few days to make a batch of super veg, then add it to your diet for a few weeks and see how you feel.

If you want to read more about the history, health benefits and how to make fermented foods, I recommend reading Wild Fermentation and Nourishing Traditions.

How to ferment vegetables

The basic process involves finely shredding veggies (usually containing some cabbage, but it doesn’t have to!), adding some seasonings and salt, possibly adding some whey (to introduce good bacteria), packing it in a big jar, and letting it ferment.  Fermenting involves leaving it at room temperature for a few days to get the bacteria started.  Then, just start eating it, and store the jar in the fridge.  That’s it!

You can prepare a big batch of Super Veg in 30 minutes, which will give you enough to last for weeks!

What does Super Veg taste like?

These fermented veggies have a rich, tangy, slightly sour taste.  You might not be used to the taste at first, because we don’t have these types of foods in our modern diets.  But after a few servings, I started absolutely loving the flavor and complexity of these veggies.  Yum!

The taste is not at all vinegary, because there’s no vinegar in the recipe!  The veggies still have a nice crunch too.  Experiment with veggie combinations that you like.  I like adding carrots and ginger because it makes the veggies a bit sweeter than cabbage alone.

Super Veg

Experiment with the vegetables you use – you might want purple cabbage, radishes, different greens, onions … whatever you like to eat!

You need:

1 head cabbage, shredded

2-3 carrots, shredded

1 Tb. fresh grated ginger

3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

A few shakes of dried chili flakes

1 Tb. sea salt

4 Tb. whey (if available, or strain some yogurt to get it!)

A big, wide mouthed jar to fit the veggies with a little room at the top – very clean.

Another thinner jar, or sturdy drinking glass, which can fit inside the wide-mouthed jar lid – very clean.

Method:

In a large bowl, mix the cabbage, carrots, ginger, garlic and a dash of chili flakes.

Add salt and whey, stir to blend throughout veggies.  Let it sit for 5-10 minutes to soften a bit.

With a wooden spoon, start pounding the veggies in the bowl.  This is going to crush them and start to release their juices.  Pound the veggies for 3-5 minutes.

You’ll start to see some liquid in the bottom of the bowl.

Pack the veggies firmly into the large jar.  Really press them in there with your clean hands or a wooden spoon.  Liquid will start rising up above the veggies when you press on them.

Once all of the veggies are packed in, add the thinner jar/glass and push down.  Ideally you want the liquid to cover the top of the veggies.  (if it doesn’t right away, just proceed and check it again tomorrow.  The veggies will continue to release juice.  Mine is bright pink in the picture below because I used both purple and green cabbage.)

Cover with a cloth to keep out dust, and let sit at room temperature for 3-4 days.  Check it every day to make sure the liquid is covering the veggies.  If not, press down on the inner jar to release more liquid.

After 3-4 days, taste the veggies.  They should be getting nice and tangy.  Place the jar in your refrigerator. (Or if you have a small fridge like me, I transfer them into smaller jars and put in the fridge).

Try eating a few spoonfuls of the veggies before every meal, or 1/2 cup of veggies every day.  As with introducing any fermented food, start slowly because it might speed up your digestive system!

Are you brave enough to get over your fear of sauerkraut and try these veggies? Let me know how it goes!!

Sloe berries are one of those wild fruits which every British person can identify, and which no American has ever heard of.

“Oh, are you sure they’re not blueberries?” was my mom’s comment when she saw them.

There’s no mistaking sloes for blueberries once you taste them.  Sloes are the most astringent thing I’ve ever tasted.  One nibble and your mouth goes dry.  Ick.

Even so, sloes make the most delicious liqueur when mixed with gin.  And it’s So Easy to make.  OK, I know I say that a lot, but infused alcohols are super duper simple.  Just add the sloes and sugar to gin, and leave them to soak for a few months.  That’s it!  You CAN do this.  And even if you’re not a gin fan yourself, what about bottles of homemade sloe gin for gifts?  There’s Christmas sorted.

What are sloes?

Sloes (Prunus spinosa) are also known as blackthorn because of the big spiny branches.  Sloes grow in a big bush and are found in almost every British hedgerow. (US translation: instead of fences, the British countryside has big hedges which divide different fields and corral animals.  Hedgerows are everywhere.)

If you’re in the UK or northern Europe, it should be pretty easy to find sloes.  The internet tells me that sloes have also been naturalized into the Northeastern USA (New England and Mid-Atlantic areas).  I’ve never seen them myself.  If you live in the USA and have seen sloes growing, let me know in the comments!

How to pick sloes?

Very carefully.  Sloe bushes are covered in thorns, so it’s a delicate process.   Fortunately, sloes are so abundant it shouldn’t take long to collect enough for gin.  The best time to pick sloes is after the first frost (apparently the fruit is sweeter and the skin is thinner.)  You can also pop the bag of sloes into the freezer overnight before making gin.  This bursts the skin and speeds up the gin making process.

How many sloes do I need?

To make sloe gin, you fill a container half full with sloes, add an equal weight in sugar, and then fill the bottle with gin.  So, either use your bottle of gin (and pour some off), or use another glass container.

The beauty of these kind of traditional ‘recipes’ is that you just work with what you have!  There aren’t any set rules.

Ack, I picked too many!  What else can I do with sloes?

Mrs. Beeton gives recipes for sloe wine and sloe & apple jelly.  I’m always curious to see if there are any traditional health benefits, so I also checked my trusty Culpeper book (written in the 1600s!).  He says that sloes are “binding, cooling and dry” which helps stop nosebleeds, excessive periods, and eases any gut/intestinal pain.  He recommends drinking a tea from the berries, which must taste horrible!  At any rate, sloes aren’t used for health purposes anymore – so let’s just enjoy the gin!

How to make Sloe Gin

sloe berries (ideally picked after the first frost, approx. October)

granulated sugar

inexpensive gin

glass container (the sloes should fill half of the container)

The short recipe: fill a glass bottle half full with sloes.  Add the same amount of sugar.  Fill with gin.  Shake occasionally.  After 3 months the gin will be bright pink.  Strain off the gin and put into cute bottles.  Drink.

The details:

• Put the sloes in the freezer overnight to burst the skins.  (Most people say you should prick the skin of each sloe with a needle to break the skin, but this seems like hard work … so I just put them in the freezer.)
• WRITE DOWN THE QUANTITIES YOU USE on a label and stick it to the jar.  Why?  So you can learn from your recipe next year.  I didn’t write down quantities for the first 2 years, and now I have no idea what made one vintage much tastier than the other!  So write it down, you’ll thank me later.
• Measure your sloes (either by weight or in cups).  Fill the container half full with sloes.
• Add an equal amount of sugar.
• Fill the rest of the container with gin.
• Shake the bottle gently to start to dissolve the sugar.
• Shake the bottle once a day, or when you think of it, to continue to dissolve the sugar.  Normally it completely dissolves within 1 week.
• Store the sloe gin for 2-3 months, shaking occasionally.  You can also taste the gin every few weeks and add more sugar if needed.  Over time, your gin will become bright pink!
• Strain out the sloes and place the gin into it’s final bottles.
• Start to drink right away – or save it for the future.  Like most liqueurs, the flavor develops over time, so putting a couple bottles away for next year is a good idea.

How to drink sloe gin?

Straight up as an aperitif, over ice, in a gin & tonic … or maybe in a sloe-gin martini (with a twist of lemon!).

Want to try making some other liqueurs?  How about making winter warmer rum, or this chocolate temptation liqueur.  Yum.

Have you ever made sloe gin or another ‘hedgerow liqueur’? Share your tips below!

Sharing a meal with friends should be a fun, relaxing experience.  

I love food. I love to cook. I love to share food with friends and try foods when I travel.  For me, it’s one of the essential pleasures of life.

As a teenager, I was extremely strict about my food intake (thank you, 16 years of dance lessons and a body-image obsessed group of friends.)  At low points, I was miserable.  I remember standing in the university cafeteria and actually crying one day because I felt guilty about eating any of the food options.

With that in mind, I’m going to share with you 3 simple, time-tested rules for how to improve your diet.  I think Grandma would approve.

3 vintage inspired rules to improve your diet

1.  Drink more water.  

Notice what you drink during the day.  4 cups of coffee (with milk & sugar, please!).  Cans of diet soda.  Juice? Wine?  

The one thing you can do RIGHT NOW, today, to improve your diet is to start drinking more water.  

Why? Because people often confuse hunger & thirst.  Drink more water and you might find that you’re hungry less often.  At the very least you’ll be hydrated and less cranky, your skin and digestion will improve, and your body will be able to flush out toxins better.  And, even better, it’s free!  In fact, by drinking more water you might find you drink less of the other stuff too.  

2.  Cook more.

This is my mission in life – to get people to cook food for themselves more!  I wrote all about why you should cook more here.  But in short, even if you decide to cook pizza, curry and fish & chips, if you’re making meals from scratch, it’s STILL going to be healthier, and taste better, than what you can buy.

3.  Ask if Grandma would recognize it.

This is really Michael Pollan’s rule, not mine, but it fits so well with the Vintage Savoir Faire philosophy.  It’s easy to remember and apply.

When you’re about to buy something, ask yourself – would my Great Grandma recognize this as food?  And it doesn’t really have to be your Great Grandma.  If you’re about to eat a mango, it could be your imaginary tropical Great Grandma.

The point is – would someone from 100 years ago recognize this item as actual food?

If they would, it’s probably good to eat.  If it’s packaged in 3 layers of brightly colored packaging, covered with miraculous health benefits and contains ingredients you can’t pronounce – it’s not food.  Not real food.  So don’t eat it.

Or eat less of it.  Really, this is a lifestyle change. You can’t change everything at once.  But try to eat less of this fake food and more Grandma-approved food.

Have you tried any of these simple rules for eating better?  Let us know what works for you in the comments!

This tip is so simple but makes your homemade yogurt even more amazing.

First of all, I think it’s amazing to make yogurt.  Or maybe I’m just a science geek.  But I can’t get over the transformation of warming milk, stirring in a tablespoon of yogurt starter, letting it sit overnight – et voila! Yogurt.  If you haven’t made yogurt before, go do that now!

I’ve been making my own yogurt for over a year now.  But it always turns out really thin.  Which hasn’t bothered me too much if I eat if over homemade granola or with some fruit compote.  But it’s not always the picture-perfect yogurt you might serve to company.  (Does anyone serve yogurt to company?  Well, I will now that I can make thick, creamy Greek yogurt!)

The secret to making thick Greek yogurt?  You have to strain your homemade yogurt.

Straining is easy, just use some cheesecloth and a strainer over a bowl.  The liquid (whey) drips into the bowl and you’re left with a cheesecloth full of thick, creamy yogurt.  It’s a bit messy, but oh-so-tasty.

So that’s it.  No step by step tutorial required.  Just make yogurt, strain it, chill and eat.

I like to eat my yogurt with walnuts and honey, like in the picture above.  Yum!

But what is this “whey” stuff in the bowl?

At the end of the straining process, you’ll have a bunch of liquid whey.  Yes, just like the stuff Little Miss Muffet ate.  Whey is a bi-product when you turn milk into cheese, and it’s also a component of yogurt.

It turns out you can do a lot of stuff with whey … including making lacto-fermented sauerkrauts and other vegetables (for lots, lots more on this subject, read  Nourishing Traditions), making ricotta cheese (I’m going to try this one!), adding it to bread dough, and just drinking it (I’m not ready for that one yet!).

How do I store whey?

I put the liquid whey in a clean jar in the refrigerator - clearly labeled!  The whey should last for 3-6 months.  As with any traditional ingredient like this, trust your senses.  Always look and smell ingredients before using them to make sure they’re in good condition!  I’ve had my first jar of whey for one month, and have been using it without a problem.

If you make your own yogurt, try straining it next time – you’ll love the results!  And if you have any experience using whey, let us know in the  comments.

I know I am supposed to posting more recipes from my big weekend extravaganza of homegrown produce.  But I got distracted by cookie baking.

This happens a lot to me.

I just love baking.  Especially baking cookies.  Cookies are so quick & easy, there are so many varieties, they make the house smell amazing, and they’re one of my favorite comfort foods.  So it doesn’t take much of an excuse to break out the mixing bowl and start making cookies.  The ‘excuse’ this time was a good one – some very good friends have just moved down the road from us and needed a housewarming gift.  One batch of cookies coming up!

Snickerdoodles are a classic American cookie.  They are soft and chewy, with a buttery, vanilla-y cookie and a crisp outside where they’re rolled in cinnamon sugar.   My UK friends were a bit disappointed to learn that despite the name, these cookies do not contain Snickers candy bars … but they managed to eat the entire batch within a day or two anyway!

I found the basic snickerdoodle recipe in my reprint of Betty Crocker’s 1963 classic ‘cooky book’.  This book has special significance for me because both my grandmother and my mother have (much older) copies of this book.  My mother bought me a reprint of this book for Christmas one year, complete with handwritten notes about which recipes are “good” and which are “excellent!!”.

Clearly, we are a cookie crazy family.

Snickerdoodles are great with a cup of tea.  I haven’t had much luck freezing them though, so eat them within a few days.  (Not like these cookies which I like to eat straight from the freezer.)   If you don’t want to make a whole batch, you can freeze some of the dough to  bake later.  Just form a log out of the dough, wrap well in freezer paper and plastic wrap and freeze.

And in case you’re curious, my mother’s notation by the Snickerdoodle recipe in the cookbook is “Very Good”.  Underlined too!  A definite must-bake.

Snickerdoodles

adapted from Betty Crocker Cooky Book (1963)

You need:

1 cup salted butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 3/4 c. white flour

2 tsp. cream of tartar

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. vanilla

2 Tb. white sugar + 2 tsp. cinnamon for coating

How to:

Preheat oven to 400F (200C).

Cream butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar together until fluffy.  Add vanilla.  Add eggs one at a time, mixing well.  Entire mixture should be light and fluffy looking.

Add flour, cream of tartar and baking soda stirring until well incorporated.

In a separate bowl combine 2 Tb. white sugar and 2 tsp. cinnamon.

Take a spoonful of dough and roll it between your hands to make a ball.  Roll the ball in the cinnamon sugar until well coated.  Place on a cookie sheet leaving about 2 inches of space between dough balls to allow room to spread.

Bake each cookie sheet for 8-10 minutes until the cookies are lightly golden and slightly firm to the touch.  The centers of the cookies will puff while cooking, but then flatten out when they are ready.

Eat within 3 days of making for the best flavor!

Makes approximately 36 cookies.

You know when you’re in a fancy food shop and you find the most precious, gorgeous little bottle of something which would add such a magical finishing touch to your recipes?

Then you turn the bottle over and have a little heart attack from the price tag.  And you think “$15 for sugar?!? I could make that!”

One of the best things about learning to make stuff yourself is that most of the time – you CAN make that.

A perfect example of this happened recently.  Knowing that I’m crazy about food, my lovely French friend sent me this delicious little bottle of violet infused sugar from Toulouse.

A perfect gift for me.  The color! The smell!  It feels really special and luxurious, something I wouldn’t buy for myself but which I’ll love to use in the kitchen.

And it got me thinking – I could make that (if I had violets!).  In fact, infused sugars are really easy to make.  Just mix together ingredients, store in an air-tight container for several weeks, then sift before using.  If you are planning ahead for holiday gifts, this would be a great project to start now – then just package and give to your foodie friends in December (along with a bottle of homemade vanilla extract).

How to use infused sugars

• Add to your coffee instead of regular sugar
• As a fancy rim on your cocktail glass – pour some sugar on a plate, then simply moisten the rim of the glass (with lemon or water) and dip into the sugar.
• Sprinkle on the top of creme brulee, then heat to melt
• Sprinkle on the top of delicate shortbread or butter cookies
• Sprinkle on fresh fruit, yogurt or crepes
• Sprinkle on hot buttered toast (for grown-up versions of cinnamon sugar toast!)
• Add herbal-infused sugars to your face cleanser for a customized facial scrub

 How to make infused sugars

Making infused sugar is easy.  Put regular white granulated sugar in an airtight container (jar or plastic zipper bag).  Add some of your flavoring.  Seal and let sit for several weeks, shaking occasionally if you remember.  Sift out the pieces of flavoring before using.  If you’re repackaging for gift-giving, I often sift-out things like petals – but would leave in a few larger flavoring items like vanilla pods or whole spices to indicate the flavor.

For every 1/2 cup of sugar, I add 2-3 Tablespoons of flavoring.  Here I’m making rose sugar, lavender sugar and star anise sugar (which I think will be great on holiday shortbread!)

If you’re looking for other holiday gift ideas to start now, you could try making some winter warmer rum.

What flavors of infused sugar would you love to have? Let me know in the comments, and I might give it a try!

I have not left the kitchen for the past two weekends.  Ok I understand that this is not everyone’s cup of tea – but for me, they were the perfect unscheduled weekends.  Free time to create, play and use up all of the late summer produce.

I started off making plums in brandy and plum jam.  I’ve also been making kimchi, chicken stock, zucchini bread, mango chutney, apple pear butter and some amazing face cleanser … recipes all to come soon!

While I love zucchini bread, there’s only so much room in our freezer to store extra loaves.  [Note: if you are British, zucchini means courgette.  And yes, zucchini bread is delicious. I even taste-tested it on some skeptical Brits and got a typically reserved British response that it was "quite nice", which in American means "that's awesome!"]  So I started looking for zucchini recipes and came across this recipe for zucchini pickles.

Pickles. Yum. I would love to make big kosher dill pickles and delicate French cornichons.  But I don’t have cucumbers, I have zucchini.  So zucchini pickles I made.

I can’t improve on this recipe so I’ll just provide you with the link to Judy’s Zucchini Pickles so you can make them yourself.  I started eating them after 1 week and the flavor keeps improving.  If you’ve never made pickles before this is an easy starting recipe – just pour the finished pickles into a sterilized jar and store in the refrigerator.  I think you’ll find them “quite nice.”

Sumac by damozeljane on flickr

What do you think of when you hear ‘sumac’?  I think: “Isn’t that similar to poison ivy?”

But clearly I’m mistaken.

Always on the lookout for great recipes for foraged food, I came across the website First Ways which is all about ”urban foraging and other wilderness adventures”. FirstWays’ creator Rebecca Lerner recently found her neighbor cutting down sumac plants and decided to save them for cooking.  Apparently the berries can be dried and ground like black pepper – this I have to try!

With Rebecca’s permission I have reposted her article here.  If you’d like more urban foraging, check out her experiments making Blackberry Mead.

Also, for more foraging, check out my nettle pesto, elderberry cordial, and daisy salve.

How (and why) to eat Sumac

by Rebecca Lerner

When you say you’re going to eat sumac, people often respond with worry. “That’s poisonous!” they say. They are thinking of poison sumac, which is related but looks very different. Poison sumac has smooth leaves and spaced out white berries, while edible sumac has tightly clumped red ones and jagged, toothy leaves (as above). The species pictured is an edible one, Rhus typhina, known as staghorn sumac. It was growing in direct sunlight near my apartment on a shrub that was 10 feet tall with a fuzzy stalk. (Well, sort of like Britney circa 2001, it was more than a shrub, but not quite a tree).

I took that photo of a sumac fruit a couple days ago. This afternoon, the tree/shrub was gone.

I was out walking my dog, Petunia, when I saw a neighbor cutting down the landscaping outside his house. I (politely) intercepted. He pointed me to the debris pile and I was able to dig out the fruit before they ended up in the city’s yard-waste collection bin, fortunately. My plan is to do what Middle Eastern chefs do and dry the berries, and then grind them up into a spice powder that lasts all year without refrigeration. I could then sprinkle it on rice, hummus, kebabs, etc. Sumac tastes slightly sour, tart and citrus-like, very similar to a lemon.

Sumac is native to the Mediterranean. It now grows here in the States — often as an ornamental — in the northern and middle parts of the country from coast to coast. Sumac contains calcium, potassium, magnesium, citric acid and antioxidants, according to this plant physiology study conducted by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Sumac bark is useful medicinally as an astringent tea for anti-diarrhea purposes. It’s also antibacterial. You can read more about medicinal applications here.

Another thing you could do with sumac fruit: Make a lemonade substitute by immersing the berries in cold water, rubbing them to release the juice, and then leaving them for several hours to soak and infuse into the water. Then strain and drink it. You could freeze the liquid in ice cube trays and use it year-round like lemon juice. “Wildman” Steve Brill’s Wild Vegan Cookbook offers several interesting recipes for sumac concentrate.

Want to try making your own vanilla extract?

It’s super simple and the results are just as good as store-bought – maybe even better!

Earlier this year I tried turning an unwanted bottle of vodka into vanilla extract.  As a baker, I go through a lot of vanilla extract, and it’s not cheap.  I was skeptical about making my own though.  Would it taste as good?  Would it be as strong?  Vanilla extract is so expensive, there must be some secret to it, right?

Oh, I just love when handmade projects turn out so much better than their store bought counterparts!

So rather than just showing you my homemade version, I thought I’d do a proper comparison with store-bought.

I picked up this 100ml bottle of nice vanilla extract at my local supermarket for £4.99 (about $8).   It’s sitting beside the 300ml bottle of my homemade vanilla extract.

PRICE

In terms of cost, making my own vanilla extract definitely wins out.  Vodka is cheap (probably about £1.50 per 100ml), and while vanilla beans are expensive they will make a lot of extract (plus other cooking projects!).   I bought a pack of 2 vanilla beans for £4 … and it has already made three times the amount of vanilla extract – and I plan to keep topping it with more vodka as I use it up.  I would imagine I can get at least 500ml of vanilla extract from those beans.

APPEARANCE

Comparing the color, the store bought extract is slightly darker than my homemade version.

The store-bought version is also slightly thicker than my homemade version.  That’s because they included sugar in the store bought vanilla extract.

Ingredients in the store bought version are Vanilla Bean Extract (Water, 35% strength Alcohol), Sugar.

Ingredients in my version are Vodka (29.5% strength) and 2 vanilla beans.

I didn’t include any sugar in my homemade version because I mainly use the vanilla extract in sugary baked goods.

TASTE & SCENT

But really the cost and appearance don’t matter – it’s all about the taste!

The store-bought smelled like regular vanilla extract – a strong alcohol scent and something slightly pungent about it.

My homemade vanilla extra smelled like – pure vanilla!  It smelled a lot sweeter and more ‘pure’ than the store-bought version.  It was a strong, but smooth, vanilla scent.

Since I’m a little biased, I also had Zak do a blind testing of the two extracts.  I thought for sure he would pick the store-bought one, simply because it looked darker & richer.  His verdict? The store bought version was thicker, but smelled bitter.  The homemade version smelled like he wanted to eat it!

Then as a final test I thought I’d taste them (well, they were already poured into glasses…).  I don’t recommend doing this!  Tasting commercial vanilla extract is really REALLY strong and tastes horrible!  On the other hand, the homemade version tasted like vanilla.  Still not very drinkable as-is, but you could easily add some sugar to the homemade version and create a vanilla liqueur.  Yum.

The Verdict

I’m never buying vanilla extract again.  Seriously, making your own vanilla extract is So Easy and the flavor is much more smooth.  

Homemade vanilla extract would also be a great holiday gift to start now in preparation for December.  Buy a big bottle of vodka and some vanilla beans and start them soaking now.  Then in December just transfer to pretty bottles and add a handwritten label.  Perfect gift for the foodie in your life!

If you want to try making your own vanilla extract, read how I made it here.

My recent weekend visit to Toulouse reminded me of how the French have got it right with food.

In my experience living in France, the French seem to eat better, and have a healthier relationship with food than we do in the US or the UK.  There are lots of reasons for this, and most of it is cultural.  In France, everyone cooks.  It’s normal to cook.  It’s not a fancy, specialist skill, or something you save for the weekends.  I’ve written before about why you should learn to cook, and I really believe this is one of the biggest things you can do to improve your health.

It’s also inspiring to cook in France, because good, fresh ingredients are so readily available.  Sure the hypermarches are invading, but most French people have access to a weekly local market for produce.

It’s also a cultural thing to be interested in your food: where it comes from, how it’s prepared, sharing it with friends.  I think if people in the US and UK spent as much time thinking about, buying, preparing and eating meals as the French do, we’d soon demand better quality and availability of good food.  We often seem to hung up on calorie counts and feeling guilty about eating – rather than enjoying the process of nourishing our bodies.

The French attitude towards food IS Vintage Savoir Faire.  It’s combining the old methods with new technologies, using whole ingredients and making things yourself, enjoying simple pleasures like a good meal with friends.

Just LOOK at this bouquet garnis we found in a market.  I was astounded.  Compare that to the little 1-inch muslin ball of dried herbs we use in the UK.  I rest my case.

PS.  I often get asked how I learn to do all of the projects on my blog – and one way is my bookshelf crammed with vintage knowledge!  I’ve just added a recommended resources page which lists book that I personally own & use all the time.  I’ll keep adding more books about food, beauty, remedies & creativity over time.   I hope they can be as helpful & inspirational for you as they are for me!