Savory Zucchini Quick Bread

Oddly enough, I’m finding that it’s been hardest to find savory snack options that don’t contain refined sugars.  Sweet things are easy; you can use honey, molasses, maple syrup, or dates to sweeten a lot of things.  Dried fruit or a handful of nuts can be a great snack.  But when you’re craving something salty, your options are limited – especially if you’re trying to avoid salted nuts because you already eat too many nuts as it is.  Crackers, yeast breads, flat breads, etc, all can contain sugar. 

Desperate, I did a Google search for savory quick breads, and I found a few that really piqued my interest.  Among several really tasty looking options, I found this recipe for a savory summer squash bread.  It turned out to be ideal on a lot of levels.  Number one, there was no sugar in the recipe, so there was no need for substitutions.  Most of the ingredients are things I usually have on hand, and summer squash is generally easy to find.  I also found that this recipe could be tackled in clear steps, which was ideal.  I was in a crap-ton of pain the day I tried it, so I was able to pause a few times to rest on the floor before moving on to the next step.  (Oftentimes recipes are kind of time-sensitive, and you have to move efficiently through certain stages or everyone will die; those recipes tend to be stressful and painful for me, since I can’t stop and rest when I need to, and I end up pushing through till I’m half-delirious with pain.)

The original recipe called for only all-purpose flour, but I decided to use half all-purpose and half whole-wheat, because I’m a hippie wannabe but not experienced enough with whole-wheat flour to know if using it exclusively would ruin my life.

Three tasty savory mini-loaves.

I would warn you to be careful if you’re doing this in a single loaf pan.  I used three mini loaf pans, which makes me think that trying to use all the batter in one 9 x 5 pan would produce an ugly, bulging monstrosity.  The batter does rise a little bit, so use your brain skills. 

Savory Zucchini Quick Bread

¼ cup olive oil

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

¼ cup finely ground yellow cornmeal

2 tsp baking powder

1 ¼ tsp dried oregano

½ tsp salt (additional ¼ tsp for draining the squash, see note below)

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp ground black pepper

2 eggs

¾ cups butter milk*

2 cups (about 1 pound) shredded zucchini / summer squash**

2/3 cups finely crumbled feta cheese

* It’s always annoying to have such small quantities of buttermilk in a recipe, because you usually have to buy it in bigger packages.  I just put a bottom-full of white vinegar in the measuring cup and fill the rest up with milk, thus making my own buttermilk.

Shredded squash waiting to be squeezed in cheesecloth

**Shredded zucchini can be very moist, so I used a cheesecloth to squeeze as much of the liquid out of it as I could.  I sprinkled some salt on it and let the shredded squash sit for a few minutes before squeezing it.  I also cut the salt quantity for the batter down from ¾ tsp to ½ tsp, because I added this extra salt to the zucchini to extricate some of the fluid.  

Method:

Mix dry ingredients and set aside.

Mix eggs, buttermilk and olive oil in a separate bowl; whisk until smooth.

Use a rubber spatula to fold in the shredded & drained zucchini and the feta cheese into the egg mixture. 

Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir / fold until the flour becomes incorporated.  Don’t over mix.

Dump the batter into oiled / sprayed loaf pan or mini loaf pans (or muffin tins!), leveling out the batter and flattening.  Bake at 350° until golden brown or until toothpick comes out clean.  (About 30 min for mini-loaves, 60 min for full loaf, much less for muffins...) 

As always, I froze most of mine for later.  This bread is delicious and makes a great snack – lightly toasted is amazing!  I bring it to work and toast it in the toaster oven for a tiny bit of time.

Ropes & Stones

After only five visits, she gave up on me.

Actually, that might be putting it a little harshly.  She didn’t exactly “give up on me.”  She just said she was out of ideas and didn’t know how to help me, and that I could schedule more appointments, but all she could do was try to massage the knots out of my shoulder blades ~~ knots that she said were like ropes and stones buried beneath the skin of my upper back ~~ knots that didn’t go away after five weeks of physical therapy like she expected ~~ knots that bucked her off when she dug her elbows into them, throwing her off balance.

You may remember a recent post in which I wrote about the emotional roller coaster of searching for remedies for my chronic pain.  One thing I can say about this particular ride: at least it was short.  It took a year for the spine specialist to advise me to give up – actually, his words were “to throw your hands up,” and “get on with your life.”  At least this physical therapist only needed five weeks to realize she was in over her head. 

If it sounds like I’m totally discouraged and depressed, I’m really not.  While the pain can be frustrating and debilitating at times, I’ve really pretty much gotten used to it.  I mean, it’s been there every day for twenty years or so.  Continuing to live with it is far from the worst thing that could happen. 

Anyway.  That’s my update.  If you ever need to borrow a rope, I always keep a few on hand in my shoulder blade region.  Just need to figure out how to get them out…

Homemade Granola!

When I was living in Southwest China, I was sick like two-thirds of the time.  Between bacteria and spices, my stomach was almost always unhappy in some way.  Breakfasts of granola and yogurt turned out to be a small sort of savior.  I figured out how to make my own granola out of ingredients I could find in Chinese markets.  My oven was literally about nine inches wide, so instead of toasting the granola in the oven, I used a large wok (frying pan).  

After returning to the States, I had to tweak my “recipe” a little, but I have continued to enjoy this breakfast just about every day.  In fact, I love it so much, and eat it so often, that I sometimes get miffed when I have to meet someone for bagels or go to a diner for breakfast. 

I always used brown sugar and honey to make my granola.  But when I decided to give up refined sugars, I considered using molasses in some way.  Everything I read about molasses is positive – it’s high in nutrients, and is a great natural, raw sweetener.  Brown sugar is considered by many to be unrefined, but I thought I’d try my granola "molasses style" to see if I could make this tasty, healthy breakfast any tastier and healthier. 

 

Granola is very easily tweaked, so go nuts changing around the proportions and ingredients. 

Molasses Granola:

2/3 cup oil

2/3 cup molasses

1/3 cup honey

2 lb rolled oats

1 – 3 cups of various nuts, dried fruit, seeds to suit your fancy. 

(I like to use raw pumpkin seeds, raw sunflower seeds, and raw slivered almonds.  I avoid using dried fruit simply because I don’t like the chewiness mixed in with the crunchiness.  You can always add dried or fresh fruit when you eat it anyway.)

Put the oil, molasses and honey in a large frying pan / wok.  Heat on medium to high heat until it starts getting a little bubbly. 

Add oats and stir until coated.  Lower heat to the lowest possible.

Add nuts, seeds, etc, and continue to stir the mixture for about 20 – 30 minutes.  It’s important to keep the granola moving in the pan to allow everything equal access to the heat and to avoid burning.  This is tedious.  The closer you get to 30 minutes, the toastier and crispier your granola will be.  (I usually quit after 20 to 25 minutes, because this is a super painful process for my back.)

Remove from heat and let cool – stirring every 5 or 10 minutes so it doesn’t all harden together.  Transfer into pretty airtight containers (glass jars, zipper bags, or a resealable container).  All of the ingredients have a long shelf life, so this stuff keeps for a long time. 

Serve with milk or yogurt.  (I like to eat mine with my homemade yogurt which is quite tangy and goes really well with the sweetness of the granola.)

Non-Molasses Version:

My original recipe contained

2/3 cup oil

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 lb oats

1 – 3 cups of various nuts, dried fruit, and/or seeds. 

Banana – Sweet Potato – Chocolate Pudding

Ever have one of those days when you arrive home after a painful and exhausting day at work with little energy to fix a meal and only a random assortment of foods in the fridge?  Well, it happens to me all the time.  But for once, I resisted the temptation to find take-out on the way home, and I improvised with the contents of my fridge.

For dinner I had boiled eggs.  I figured it would be easier to clean up afterwards if I cooked them in their shells. 

“Dessert” was really part of the meal.  It was sweet, for sure, but you can’t shake your head disapprovingly at these nutrient rich ingredients.  I had a baked sweet potato, some bananas, and a cupboard full of baking necessities.  Here’s what I did:

Banana – Sweet Potato – Chocolate Pudding:

1 baked sweet potato – peeled and diced.

1 (or more) banana

a tiny bit of milk

4 Tbs cocoa powder

I whipped everything together in the food processor, added the cocoa powder toward the end, and waited till it gave me a nice pudding-like consistency. 

Who says you can’t have dessert for supper?

Energy: An Unrealistic Luxury

Very seldom do moments of inspiration and energy coincide with opportunities to get things done around the house.  In the morning as I go through my routine preparing to head off to work, I notice that the bathroom sink needs to be cleaned or the beans in the cupboard rearranged.  I make a mental note to do the work when I get home, but at the end of the day I am drained and want only to lie on the floor and listen to Elliott Smith until bedtime.  Another day passes and the sink is still dirty and the cupboard in chaos. 

If this goes on long enough, the little tasks accumulate.  Each moment in the apartment I am haunted by the mocking sneers of tasks undone.  Weren’t you going to take out the compost?  Shouldn’t you have dusted the sills?  Look at all the crumbs under the toaster! 

Some things I have learned.  One of them is this: Energy is an unrealistic luxury in a life of chronic pain.  Sometimes you just have to do stuff anyway.  Other times you need to let yourself off the hook.

I’ve found that some tasks around the house really only take a few minutes, and if I can just get them started despite the pain and lethargy I feel, they get done rather quickly.  I can wipe down the bathroom sink in a minute or so.  Once it’s clean, it no longer taunts me with accusations.  I feel a load lift from my shoulders.  Wiping down the kitchen counters and stovetop after washing the dishes keeps that voice silent.  I can vacuum while the clothes are in the washer, in such a small apartment that takes only a few minutes.

Other times, I’m just too discouraged, in too much pain, or too tired to do much more than brush my teeth before bed.  On those days, the dust and grime accumulate.  Sometimes I have the presence of mind to talk back to the heckling dust bunnies; sometimes it’s okay to leave work undone for another day.  Other days I let it get to me; I let it make me feel inferior to the women with spotless houses – like I am fundamentally flawed and weak – like there is no point in trying – like I’ll never be able to keep a nice house – like I ought to have a cleaning lady but can’t afford one – like I’m doomed to live in squalor forever.

Two days ago I scrubbed the toilet.  Today I took out the spray bottle and cleaned up the sink.  For now my head is above water. 

Ginger Honey Tea: The Beverage that Bites Back

I caught a cold from my germ-bag nephew, who rarely fails to pass on some kind of bug to me during our visits.  It was a perfect opportunity to pamper myself with orange juice, chicken soup, and one of my favorite things in the universe:  Ginger Tea.

I’ve actually never made this from scratch before.  When I lived in Southwest China, there was a restaurant that would brew up a pot for a few dollars.  At some point, I found a crystallized mix that worked rather well, but it was very sugary and left an uncomfortable sensation on my teeth.  So, this week, I decided to try to make of this glorious beverage from fresh ginger. 

Here’s how I did it; I bet you could play with the proportions quite a bit.

Ginger Honey Tea

1 – 2 fresh ginger roots; shredded, or finely chopped.

4 to 6 cups water

Honey

In medium saucepan, bring the water to a rapid boil and add the chopped ginger.  Return to boil before turning the heat off.  Let it sit and steep for a while.  I let it steep for 10 or 15 minutes. 

Pour into glass jars or teapot, being careful to strain out the chunks of ginger.  Add as much honey as you want, aiming for the desired sweetness.  I think I ended up using like 10 teaspoons.  It might take a lot. 

You can now drink as much as you like, or save it for later in the fridge.  You may find it packs more punch than you like, so feel free to add water to tone it down.  You can also add some hot milk to make a sort of Ginger Latte.  Lemon may go really well with it too.  The sky is the limit.  Play around with as many options as you want.

Quitter Chronicles #5: The Cleanse

 Ok, so the cleanse didn’t work out like I expected.

I had grand plans for this.  Initially, I wanted to go several days without any food at all, drinking only water, and letting all the icky stuff get flushed out of my system.  Then I would gradually start phasing in foods.  I would start with only fruits and vegetables, slowly adding starches, oils, dairy and meat.  The final stage of the process would be (after a few weeks) to begin eating sweet stuff again, but sweet stuff sweetened with natural raw sweeteners. 

On August 24, I ate my normal breakfast and lunch, but I skipped dinner.   I had every intention of going without food for at least five days before beginning to phase in simple stuff.  But on the evening of the 25^th, I caved.  I woke up in the middle of the night feeling super jittery and faint.  It seemed weird that I would wake up from slumber only to pass out.  After this happened a few times, I finally got up and stuffed my face with a handful of almonds, some cheddar cheese, and a spoonful of peanut butter. 

Boy was I glad I’d taken the preliminary steps of cleaning out my pantry of sugary stuff, because I guarantee you I would have gone for banana bread or something.  

So, at this point, it seemed silly and perhaps reckless to try to do an extended fast.  Instead of fretting about giving up on the harsh cleanse plan, I just began my refined-sugar free life on August 25.  I had eggs for breakfast that morning, and some tea with honey.