Culinary Treasures Organic Bone Broth Chicken by Bay Valley Foods

I saw a new product at my local Costco and was excited to try it. But one of the ingredients is "organic chicken flavor" which can be almost anything. Catchment ingredients like that can be a disaster for people with food allergies.  I was discussing this with my kids when another shopper stopped her shopping to listen. I'd said I might call the company to find out the source of the ingredient. She said she wanted to know, too, and she was enjoying learning more about food ingredients and "Hey, you should have a blog!" 

So I figured in case she ever searched it, I'd post my findings here.  Well, anonymous fellow shopper, here's the scoop...

I searched for "Culinary Treasures" but could not find contact information.  Then I searched for the distributor "Bay Valley Foods".  I called them to get information about the ingredient listed as "organic chicken flavor". After several days and 3 phone calls I got the useless answer: it's proprietary AND if I wanted to play a guessing game with each of my allergies via multiple people of unknown knowledge, I might hear back about what the product does NOT contain, not that I'd trust the answer because the person I'm talking to wouldn't know what it DOES contain.  The pleasant representative who did such a poor job listening spent their time interrupting me and telling me how rosy this process was.

The end result: this product is a non starter for people with allergies. I'm so disappointed in this product that looked promising.  They're selling an Organic product to a health-conscience target group and playing unacceptable games with our health.

Good thing Costco has a good return policy. Back you go Culinary Treasures Bone Broth!

Chocolate-Free, Dairy-Free Chocolate Milkshake

I invented this "Chocolate Milkshake" that contains neither chocolate or milk when I was feeling envious of a regular chocolate milkshake.  We think it is surprisingly good.

Ingredients:
2 frozen bananas
3 T Peanut Butter Powder
2 T Carob Powder
Ice/Water to right consistency and to dilute intensity of other flavors (I think I use about 1 cup of ice cubes and 1/4 c water, but really never paid enough attention)

Blend and enjoy!

Fractal Cauliflower

This cauliflower was so much fun to grow!  I got a bunch of starts at what I'll call a "Squirrel Sale" at a local nursery - a squirrel had munched on many starts in each 6-pack so they were super cheap and I bought a lot.  More survived than anticipated, so we've been eating A LOT of cauliflower.  Some was the usual type that is white with a usual cauliflower form.  This one we affectionately called the Fractal Cauliflower.  It was so beautiful!

In addition to growing cauliflower for the heads, I also like to eat the leaves.  I typically will de-stem the leaf and then stir fry it.  My favorite accompaniment to the greens is crimini mushrooms with salt, pepper and olive oil.  The heads we've enjoyed steamed and roasted.  My mom took some home to make a soup out of.

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After posting this, a friend commented that it is Broccoli Romanesco.  I can see both Cauliflower Romanesco and Broccoli Romanesco on line.  I suspect they are the same thing, don't you?  Since it is such a pale green, who knows what to call it!

Canned 3 Exhausting Batches of Black Beans

In one day, I canned 3 batches of black beans using the quick soak method.  Given my schedule with school drop offs and pick ups, it was way too much since I can't leave the canner unattended.  I was good about rim wiping and tightening bands - in fact, too good about the latter.  While I had zero lid failures, one jar did break in the pressure canner.  Note to self: not THAT tight.

Canning Garbanzo Beans

I've canned a variety of things in my life and been meaning to try canning beans.  I was recently motivated to buy a bulk order of 25 pound bags of beans to reduce the likelihood of contamination when the big bags were broken down into smaller salable units.  I got a bag each of black beans, great northern beans, and garbanzo.  Now, having 75 pounds of dry beans, I figured it was time to can them!

I followed the direction on National Center for Home Food Preservation Website.  I'd also read a number of critiques of this recipe, so I was aware of some issues to tweak.  Specifically, the recipe doesn't clearly state how many beans to add relative to water to each jar, just saying to fill the jars with beans and liquid.  Not good, as many a canner has canned bean mush blocks by overfilling with beans.  Some people suggested only half full with beans and the rest with liquid.  Others suggested slightly different amounts.  Here is what I did.  In terms of consistency, it turned out great, so I want to reproduce it.

The recipe says that 5 pounds of beans will do 7 quarts of canned beans.  So not true!  But 5 pounds of garbanzo beans is the amount I boiled for 2 minutes and then let them soak for 6 hours.  (I was going for the quick soak method, but then got delayed longer than expected in getting back to them.)  I had to add more water a few times and there was no room to move in my 8 quart stock pot, so I knew I was in trouble.

I drained the water, rinsed, put in new water and boiled the beans for another 30 minutes, as instructed.  When the beans were done, they looked about the size of properly rehydrated cooked beans but probably not 100%.  In each quart jar, I put in 1/2 tsp of sea salt.  7 quarts I filled 2/3 full of beans and the rest with water from both the cooking liquid and from a separate pan of hot water that I had ready.  7 quarts is 1 canner load, so while those processed the required 90 minutes at a minimum of 11 pounds of pressure, I put the other beans into 5 quart jars.  They ended up about half full, which seemed like a good experiment.  I topped them off with cooking liquid and hot water as well.  But some of these were intense on the cooking liquid and others on the hot water.

When the first load was done, I turned off the heat and let it cool in the canner for about an hour (about 30 minutes would have done it, but life intervened).  I pulled those out, added more water to the canner and put in the next load.

Some of the rings on the first batch were VERY loose, so I retightened them to loosely finger tight.

When the second load had processed for 90 minutes, I had DH lift that hot and heavy pot off the burner and we left it overnight to cool.  (I wasn't going to wait up for it to depressurize enough for me to take the jars out.)

The results:
Load 1) 7 quarts filled 2/3 full resulted in about a perfect fill level at the end of processing.  1 of 7 seals didn't take.  I don't know why exactly.  That one is in the fridge.
Load 2) 5 quarts filled 1/2 full resulted in under-filled jars with more liquid than necessary.  2 of 5 jars didn't seal.  I believe this is because I didn't tighten the bands while the jars were still hot (remember, I went to bed).

Visually shuffling around the beans, I believe that 5 pounds of these garbanzos made about 11 properly-filled quarts of beans.  Next time, I'd estimate a proper canner load of 7 quarts would start with about 3.25 pounds of beans, or slightly less if I want to be 100% sure that I don't have too many.  If, like this time, the beans are well soaked and nearly full size, I'd go with the jars being 2/3 full of beans.  I liked the 1/2 tsp sea salt.  Also, either screw those lids on SUPER tight at the beginning, or plan on being there to take them out of the canner to retighten the lids when they come out of the canner still hot.

And a note on the water - the jars that were heavy on cooking liquid and light on the added water (the ones from the bottom of the pot of prepared beans) ended up with dark cooking liquid that wasn't pretty in the finished jars and mild (not not offensive as I've seen in some store-bought beans) bean sludge at the bottom.  Next time, I'd go light on the cooking liquid in each jar and lean toward using more fresh water on those last few jars.

So, of my 75 pounds, I've canned 5 and a friend took 1 pound.  I have a mere 69 pounds more to deal with!

Gluten-Free, Grain-Free, Egg-Free, Dairy-Free Bread

Using the Grain-Free GF Flour Blend I just posted, I use it in my bread machine to bake a "Large Loaf (1.5 pound)" .  And in my new bread machine I use the "Gluten Free" setting.

1.5 cups water
2 Tbs olive oil
1.5 tsp salt
2 Tbs sugar
4 cups GF flour blend
1 tsp guar gum
1/4 tsp gelatin
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

Rachel

Grain-Free Gluten Free Flour Blend

Here is the flour blend I use to make yeast bread, quick breads, cookies, cupcakes, etc.  It is my all-purpose baking flour since I'm allergic to almost all grains.  I blend it ahead of time using a whisk to get it evenly distributed, then I store it until I use it.  I do it by weight with a scale so I don't know the cup measurements but here it is:

Potato Starch 24 oz
Gar/Fava Bean Flour 13 oz
Tapioca Flour 5 oz
Coconut Flour 2 oz (I like the lightly sweet scent this adds)
Mesquite Flour 1 oz (I like the slightly chocolatey scent this adds and the color)

Sometimes I used to also add one of these GRAINS, but I no longer do:
Amaranth Flour 2 oz
OR Wild Rice Flour 2 oz

When all the eaters are able to use nuts, sometimes I'll use about 2/3 volume of this GF flour in recipes and the remaining 1/3 volume I'll use almond meal.  I've done this in yeast breads, quick breads, cookies and cupcakes.

I hope someone finds this useful!

Hot Fudge Sauce that is SOOOO good!

Long time, no post!  Today I made this hot fudge sauce.  I did it as directed except it didn't seem chocolatey enough, so I added 2 Tablespoons of cocoa powder.  And when it was done, I blended it in the pan with a stick blender until it was super smooth.  It was SOOOO good!
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Ingredients

• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 4 (1 ounce) squares semisweet chocolate
• 2 tablespoons butter (no substitutes)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a heavy saucepan, combine the milk, chocolate and butter. Cook and stir over medium-low heat until chocolate is melted. Remove from the heat; stir in vanilla.

Sign the Petition for Corn Allergy Alert

Please consider signing the petition for getting the FDA to require disclosure of corn on the primary allergen list.  It hides under so many names: natural flavors, citric acid, ascorbic acid, tocopherols, maltodextrin, etc.

Finally got a canner!

I finally found a used canner!  On Thursday I went to an  estate sale and found a stainless steel stock pot that didn't list the size on the bottom but looked larger than my largest (8 qt) stock pot.  I bought it for $3.75.  When I got it home it indeed is taller than my other stock pot.  I measured the volume at 12 quarts!  Yippee!  It seems tall enough that I'd be able to do more than the pints that I can fit in my stock pot.  Then...  while surfing on Craig's List I found someone local selling a canner and canning jars.  After emailing back and forth with a young woman, I went to look at it on Saturday.  I thought I was going for a pressure canner, so I was beside myself with excitement!  When I got there, I discovered that the woman was selling her mom's boiling water bath canner (for a cut of the price) and didn't know a BWB from a pressure canner.  I was disappointed, but since I didn't have an big canner with rack and such, I bought the BWB canner (fits 7 quart jars at a time) plus 101 jars (mostly quarts), some lids, some accessories for $75.  It wasn't the screaming deal I was hoping for but it's decent.  Around here those jars would be $1-$1.50 each in the thrift shop, so not bad.  It is good that I got more jars, because I just used the last of mine for storing various gluten-free flours in.  I'd still been using these large canisters back from my gluten-days but it just didn't make sense.  Instead of 1-3 types of flour, now I use about 9, so the smaller containers make more sense.  Anyway, now I'm set for quarts!

And I figure I'll use that 12 quart stock pot for some of the canning cooking (like big batches of applesauce), then process the jars in the BWB canner.  Now I just need a bigger kitchen to hold all the big pots!

Gluten Free Buttermilk Pancakes

This morning I made a new recipe of GF Pancakes with amaranth flour and wild rice flour that I ground in my Vita-Mix.  It was delicious.  To quote DH, "Yum!"  I've been looking for a flour blend that I can use without rice, corn, soy or sorghum and this worked out nicely.  Of course it is also egg-free since that is a must for me.  It could be made dairy free by substituting 1 cup of soured milk substitute  (e.g. 1 cup almond milk/rice milk/soy milk with 1 T vinegar or lemon juice) as described here.  

This is the recipe:

1/4 c gar/fava flour

1/4 c potato starch

1/4 c tapioca flour

1/8 c wild rice flour

1/8 c amaranth flour

4 t baking powder (GF, corn-free)

1 t baking soda

2 t sugar

1 t salt

1/2 c apple sauce (I used thick, homemade apple sauce)

1 c buttermilk (if you use thin applesauce, consider using plain yogurt instead)

2 t vanilla
2 T olive oil

Mix the dry ingredients together.  Add the wet ingredients and stir until just blended.  Cook over medium heat on a lightly oiled non-stick pan.  Just like other pancakes, turn when the bubbles in the batter stop popping.  Cook the other side.  Serve warm plain, with maple syrup, or with other favorite topping.

Parsley Pesto

Hi to all my loyal fans!  I wanted you both to know that I tried my Fabulous Pesto tonight with the herbs I had on hand and it turned out great.  My basil in the garden had not been happy about some 30's-ish lows last month, so I only had a tad of that for my pesto.  I had a bit of cilantro and TONS of parsley.  It was vibrantly green and yummy on our bean thread pasta.  By the time you put parmesan, pine nuts and garlic on anything it would taste great.

Fresh Mint Tea - How hard can it be? A dumb blond joke.

So there is this blond who wants a recipe for making ice...  I think the joke went something like that.  Well here's another joke along those lines, but it is for real.  I've got fresh mint growing in a pot (I'm smart enough to use a pot) on the patio.  Every time I try to make sun tea or boiled tea with the fresh mint (combo of peppermint and spearmint) it ends up really bitter.  Adding honey doesn't mask the bitterness.  Honestly, how hard can it be to make fresh mint tea?  What on earth am I doing wrong?  Should I be using leaves only?  I can't believe that it really has to be dried first to taste good, but I haven't tried drying it yet.  Advice?  Trader Joe's mint tea ingredients reads: Peppermint leaves.  Can't be too tough.

Navy Bean Pilaf

Source: My brain!  I was trying to recall the taste of Near East Lentil Pilaf and this recipe came to me as a complete thought yesterday.  How weird is that?  I wrote it down and made it today.  Unlike many of my bean dish experiments, this was really good!

1/2 c dried beans - I used Navy.  Soaked overnight - ok, I soaked them nearly 24 hrs by the time I got around to them.  Drained/rinsed.
1/2 c wild rice
2 c water
1/2 t onion powder
1/2 t onion flakes
1/4 t salt
1/8 t black pepper
1 carrot, grated REALLY fine

Cook in a saucepan, simmering until all water is absorbed.
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I love leftovers, so next time I'll make 2-4 times this recipe and try it in the crockpot on low for 8 hours.

What to do with that Halloween pumpkin?

Ok, I admit it.  Halloween isn't even here yet and I'm already fantasizing about how to chop up and eat our pumpkins.  In the bad old days before I knew that one was supposed to bake with those white pumpkins and that the jack-o-lanterns were bred for decor, I recall cooking them, pureeing them and using them for pie.  Anyone else do this with their jack-o-lantern pumpkins?  How about just pureeing it and eating it like squash?  What about the little pumpkins?  Or roasting them with other veggies like one would winter squash?  (I found this image at http://www.mguhlin.org/2009/10/costume-hunting-shuffle-like-zombie.html - it isn't my own work, although I wish it were!)

Quote on Food

I was reading the book, Sprouts: The Miracle Food and ran across this quote attributed to "Norman Walker at 108 years of age."

"The great Law of Life is Replenishment.  If we do not eat, we die.  Just as surely, if we do not eat the kind of food which will nourish the body constructively, we not only die prematurely, but we suffer along the way."

So applicable to Celiac Disease and many ailments that plague modern societies.

Mortality Risk in Celiac Disease

Eeee gads!  I ran across a JAMA article that I just have to blog about.  Here it is.  Seems like intestinal inflammation is a bad thing to have!  Heal that gut.

Pounds of powdered sugar

Since my Celiac Disease has caused me to be allergic to corn as well, making icing with powdered sugar has been a challenge.  Allergy Grocer used to carry a corn-free version before they collapsed with the Great Recession.  After their demise, I bought a coffee bean grinder on the advice of my friends at GFCFrecipes to grind granulated sugar into powdered.  It works, but the frosting is still grittier than it would be with commercially prepared stuff.  And since my coffee grinder gives dire warnings about only doing 1/4 cup at a time and only two cycles per 5 minutes, it seems to take me a week to grind a couple pounds of powdered sugar.  I'd heard that Trader Joe's carried a corn-free variety, but when I asked last spring I was told it was "seasonal".  Seasonal?  Do people only make frosting at Christmas?  Aren't there birthdays requiring cupcakes all year round?  Since I bring DS's cupcakes to school for all kids' birthdays so he'll have a GF option, we seem to go through a lot of cupcakes. 

So, why am I posting now?  Well, today DS, DD, and I were strolling through Trader Joe's when what should I spy?  CORN-FREE POWDERED SUGAR!!!  Yippeee!  Apparently, 'tis the season!  We gleefully loaded up the cart with all 15 packages they had!  So if you need this product, check out Trader Joe's NOW!  Well, not my Trader Joe's now, since they're out, but you get my meaning. 

Fabulous Pesto

Last night I made the basic pesto recipe from The Moosewood Cookbook
3 cups packed fresh basil leaves
3 to 4 large cloves of garlic (I used elephant garlic)
1/3 cup pine nuts (I used more!)
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup parmesan
Blend it all up in the food processor and toss desired amount with hot gluten-free pasta.  I used bean thread noodles (basically just mung beans and potato starch).  It was SOOOOO good.  Unfortunately, it used up most of my basil from the garden.  What to do?  I don't think I can plant more now.  Doesn't basil hate the cold?  Should I give it a try?

Elegant Eggless Omelet

My favorite gluten-free recipe site and GF community is GFCFrecipes yahoo group.  From their archives, I tried the recipe for Elegant Eggless Omelet, modified.  http://www.recipecircus.com/recipes/Writermom77/Eggless/Elegant_Eggless_Omelet.html

* 3/4 cup gf high protein flour blend (I used 1/4 each of tapioca starch, potato starch and gar/fava flour)
* 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
* 1 teaspoon baking powder (1/4 t baking soda, 1/2 t cream of tartar, 1/4 t potato starch)
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 pinch ground turmeric

* 1 cup milk, (rice, soy, almond) (I actually used cow's milk)
* 1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil (I used olive oil)


The link has the full directions, but to summarize you cook them one at a time in a skillet like a pancake.  Before serving them, I stuffed them with melted cheese and avocado.  4 year old DS declared them "yummy".  Even the baby liked her dairy-free (sub'd water) version.