What’s Santa getting at your house ?

Health Holiday Goodies

For the first time in many years, I have been making holiday treats, giving them to friends and clients. Yes, I have eaten a few as well. Do I feel guilty or do I feel as if I am leading my friends down the sugary road to somewhere bad ? No. There are many many ways to indulge in some holiday cheer. I use nuts, honey, stevia, coconut oil, really good raw cacao, all organic of course.

The internet abounds with recipes and ideas galore! I owe a tip of the hat to Wardeh of GNOWGFLINS for her egg nog recipe which of course I have changed up a bit. Thanks to her commenters, too, who added their own taste.

Egg Nog
raw, real, no sugar, lacto fermented

4 cups of milk ( raw and fresh is best. I used 3 c. raw cow’s milk, 1 cup of heavy cream. You could use goats’ milk, coconut milk, make your own almond milk…)
8 yolks from eggs from pasture raised chickens ( I used 7 as some of the eggs were pretty large) ( As I have commented many times on this blog, when your eggs are fresh, local, from the pasture, there is no problem with eating the yolks raw. The chemistry of the whites is such that they are better for you when cooked)
stevia to taste ( I used the liquid kind and used 3 dropperfuls)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp or so of freshly grated nutmeg
2 T. whey

Combine and mix in your blender. This filled one quart jar and one pint jar with a bit for the cook to taste. Let sit on the counter overnight or 24 hours. Shake well and pour into a beautiful glass. Go ahead and top with whipped cream and/or add a spoonful of alcohol ( rum, whiskey, some sort of liqueur)

Leave for Santa or not. I like to think the old guy might be ready for something lighter so I plan to offer him some fresh made juice. I recently made some for my cooking service, http://healthalchemykitchen.com ( called moving into winter juice, if you Santa Cruz folks would like to order some) I combined, in the blender, purified water, a Mutsu apple, 2 kiwis, 3 stalks of celery, a small amount of peeled celery root, and about an inch knob of ginger. Blend until liquified, strain, and drink.

I found a lovely cookie recipe in the cookbook, Sweet and Natural, by Meredith McCarty. Of course, I switched some things around.

Linzertorte Cookies

2 c. nuts, soaked, then lightly toasted and as finely ground as you can get them. ( I used purchased almond meal) ( can use almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts)
1 c. oatmeal, finely ground
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. sea salt ( I probably used a bit more, I didn’t measure!)
1/2 c. melted butter or coconut oil
1 egg
2 T. water
3 droppers of liquid stevia ( or if you want 1/4. cup honey)
1 tsp. orange zest
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. fruit sweetened jam ( raspberry is traditional, I also used ginger jam – NOT fruit sweetened but oh so yummy.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment or brush with oil.

Mix dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk wet ingredients together and add to dry. The dough is not very wet but you should be able to form balls easily. Roll into 1 1/2 in. ( ish) balls. Transfer to baking sheet. Flatten a bit and press thumb in middle. You make have to fix some cracks and form what looks like the caldera of a volcano. Fill indentations with jam.

Bake until golden, 15 to 20 minutes.

Ho, Ho, Ho!! Enjoy a peaceful moment with a healthy beverage and some guilt free cookies . If Santa is lucky, there will be some left for him. Don’t forget the carrots for the reindeer.

Pie Day around the world and the Internet

Happy #Pieday!

I am not sure when it started but a few well known food bloggers had a conversation about pie and soon #pieday was created. It is a  day for food bloggers, food lovers, cooks and chefs to make a pie, take a picture of it, post it on Facebook, Twitter, write a blog post about it. I can’t imagine very many people in our culture anyway who don’t like pie. This event has become a pretty big phenomenon. If you use either Facebook or Twitter I encourage you to go and explore the huge world of pie. Go here for the Facebook event page. Go to twitter and do a search using #pieday ( the “hashtag” is what enables you to see ALL the tweets that have to do with pieday)

I love savory pie. And I have been craving meat, so I created a savory Carnivore Cottage Pie. I wish I could give credit to the blogger from whom I got the crust recipe but the link is long gone. so, thank you, faceless Paleo diet practitioner. The crust is the only part I really have a recipe for. It would have been better had I had a recipe for the rest as I forgot to put some eggs into the filling which would have held it together nicely. Instead, it fell out of the lovely crust. Tasted good, yes, but not so pretty for a photo! As with all my recipes, improvisation is the name of the game and this could have almost infinite combinations of ingredients.

Carnivore Cottage Pie

crust:
5 c.organic almond meal/flour
4 T. cold organic butter, cut into small pieces
2 organic eggs ( please use ones from pastured chickens)
1 tsp. salt

filling:
I used a small onion and a couple cloves of garlic which I sauteed in some leftover bacon fat. Use what oil/butter combination you prefer. I added about 3/4 lb. of turkey sausage, and a couple big handfuls of beet greens, salt, pepper, some Penzey’s Summer in Paris seasoning. This is a good time to use leftover veggies. I had thought of putting mushrooms in, but forgot!

Place almond meal and salt into the food processor.  Pulse in the pieces of butter. Add eggs and mix until it comes into a ball. Dump onto a piece of parchment paper, wrap, and cool in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or so. This dough is pretty fragile before baking. Divide into two balls and roll carefully into circles for your pie pan. I used a deep dish baking dish and pushed the dough carefully up the sides.I put a few slices of pork pate over the dough and sort of spread it around.  Add the cooked filling which you have mixed with a couple of eggs. Cover with the other rolled out crust and gently press the edges together.

Bake at 350º in the center of the oven for about 30 minutes. Yummy!

This post is also part of Traditional Tuesdays and Real Food Wednesdays blog hops. Hop on over and check out the other posts.

A new venture for For Life! Personal Chef Services

Community Feast!

The more deeply I have pursued my own personal growth and my career as a personal chef, I have discovered such a need for community. There have been studies which show that having community is one of the elements of having a long healthy life. I have been part of a spiritual community for many years which has become my family and my deepest friends. I belong to a couple of online personal chef communities which gives me information and support, recipes and helpful tips. There have been gatherings in “real” life and those connections have also become deep and important to me.  There is a community of people who support the same ideas I have about nutrition, the political side of food, and cooking, both on line and in everyday life. I work alone, I live alone, and I am always looking for places where I feel comfortable gathering with my peers.

Some of my friends and colleagues and I have decided to do more to create that food community, that gathering of peers to celebrate our good fortune and blessings here in Santa Cruz County, the bounty of good food here, and people who are passionate about what we eat and where it comes from. Together with my friend Noelle Noli, Craig Lane from Health Alchemy Nutritional Services, and the good folks from Santa Cruz Local Foods, I am organizing a dinner.

This event will take place June 17, 2011 at the Masonic Temple in Santa Cruz, starting at 5:30 PM. We will have a socializing time, then dinner will be served family style ( a chance to sit with new friends), followed by some brief speaking, dessert, and some networking time.

We believe in eating seasonally, organically, using local and ethically produced products.

I am excited about the chance to work with these people and to create an absolutely delicious beautiful meal and an opportunity for people to get together and explore our connections. I hope you are too!

our menu:

Flax breads and flavored ghees
Wildcrafted herb and flower salad with several kinds of salad dressing
Sauteed Greens
Beef Ribs or Tempeh with Cherry Chipotle Glaze
Chia pudding Trifle with fresh berries and Lavender whipped cream
probiotic sodas, water

Cost: $40 per adult, $20 for children
Tickets available through PayPal ( account # charitydas)

prices

adult $40.00 child $20.00 child under 8 $0.00

more information , charitydas@me.com