Gluten-Free Pumpkin Poppers

This is one of those "only via the Internet" stories. A friend on Facebook posted about making these poppers, with a link to where she'd pinned the recipe on Pinterest. That, of course, had been pinned by several other people - I don't "do" Pinterest, so I couldn't quite trace the path. Not that it matters. Clicking on the pinned recipe took me to a blog that posted the recipe, which that blogger had gotten from someone *else's* blog... I took a look at it, and immediately adapted it in my head to be gluten-free. A few days later, I tried out my adaptation, and if I do say so myself, they're PERFECT! So, without further ado, here is a delicious, sugary recipe, adapted to be gluten-free and nourishing, if still a bit sugary!

Pumpkin Poppers

1/2 cup coconut flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. allspice

1/8 tsp. ground cloves

1/3 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup coconut palm sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3/4 cup pumpkin

1/2 cup milk, cream, or coconut milk

For Coating - optional

4oz butter or ghee, melted

2/3 cup turbinado sugar

2 tbsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 F and spray mini muffin tins with coconut oil spray.

Combine coconut flour, baking powder, salt, and spices in a bowl and whisk until combined.

In another bowl, mix coconut oil, coconut  sugar, egg, vanilla, pumpkin, and milk. Pour in flour mixture and mix until just combined. Fill mini muffin tins until almost full and bake 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of one muffin comes out clean. 

If using coating: Melt butter in small bowl.  Mix sugar and cinnamon in a separate small bowl. After poppers cool for a few minutes, dip them in the butter and roll them in the sugar mixture - either the whole popper, or just the top for a bit less sweet! 

Tweets from Weston A Price Conference 2011 (#wapfconf)

Thought some of you would enjoy reading these tidbits from the conference last weekend. For those of you who don't use Twitter, remember that it's short status updates of 140 characters or less, including links, usually, so there's a fair bit of shorthand used. The Tweets are displayed as the person's username, prefaced by the @ symbol, then their name. Mine, for example, is @geegeegee Gigi. People use "hashtags" to give you a way to search for related Tweets. The hashtag for this conference is #wapfconf, which is why each Tweet contains that in it.

Tweets from Weston A Price Conference 2011 (#wapfconf)

@geegeegee Gigi: IN DALLAS TAXI ZOOMING TOWARD THE #WAPFCONF!!!

@NourishedMama Jenny McGruther: Stephanie Seneff: be sure to eat plenty of dietary cholesterol, it's essential in all cellular functions avoid carbohydrates. #Wapfconf

@NourishingCook Kim Knoch: Soaking in a bath of epsom salts - great to get magnesium sulfate that may be deficient in our foods. #wapfconf

@geegeegee Gigi: Fantastic talk by Stephanie Seneff, PhD about the crucial role of cholesterol sulfate in the body #wapfconf

@geegeegee Gigi: #wapfconf lunch: grass-fed chili, tortilla chips fried in lard, coconut wraps with sour cream, guacamole, & chicken. http://twitpic.com/7d6h3x

@geegeegee Gigi: Gluten-Free Sourdough Baking Presentation!! #wapfconf

@chriskresser Chris Kresser: Duh. Better late than never, I guess.http://1.usa.gov/vI7DTM

@HlthyHappyEater Kelly Battaglia: Fallon: That's why God gave us vegetables ... as a vehicle for more butter. #WAPFconf

@geegeegee Gigi: #wapfconf BRAIN. FULL!! Bedtime now! All praise be unto the Marriott Bed! :-)

@NourishMD Dr. Sue & Angelle: Ever get confused by mainstream media message saying being a vegetarian or vegan is most healthy way to go? Check...http://fb.me/Kd5u6EX7

@PVNutritherapy Craig Fear: You don't see this everyday. #wapfconfhttp://fb.me/1p9mIjLDy (ed.: This was at breakfast!)

@WardehHarmon Wardeh Harmon: Bianci: aspartame breaks down in the body to mostly formaldehyde (embalming fluid). #wapfconf

@farmfoodblog Jill Nienhiser: Agave is the single biggest criminal fraud in the health food industry. Russ Bianchi at #wapfconf: (ed.: Worse than Con-Ola?!? I dunno...)

@farmfoodblog Jill Nienhiser: Agave twice as bad HFCS. Russ Bianchi at #wapfconf

@geegeegee Gigi: Ha!! @farmfoodblog: Corn is to nutrition what porn is to fine art. Bianchi at #wapfconf

@geegeegee Gigi: Agreed!! WHAT?!? RT @KitchenKop: WHAT?! @farmfoodblog: Blackstrap molasses is fairly carcinogenic. Bianchi @ #wapfconf

@geegeegee Gigi: NICE! RT@TotalLifestyle: There are 800 pounds of pastured butter being used at this conference!! Love!! #wapfconf

@scdkat Kathryn Garson: Lol @deniseminger has everyone laughing along while debunking the china study #wapfconf

@geegeegee Gigi: #wapfconf lunch: liverwurst, cheese, fruit, pork broth with veggies, cheesecake w date/almond crust. http://twitpic.com/7dju5p

@farmfoodblog Jill Nienhiser: It's hard to convince people your vegan diet is healthy when u look like u crawled out of a low budget zombie film. Minger #wapfconf

@wellfedhome Brenda Scott: Breast cancer is associated with plant oils in the China Study, particularly soybean oil, corn oil and cottonseed oil. #wapfconf

@wellfedhome Brenda Scott: "Animal protein is not associated with Western Diseases in any of the China Study data." -Minger #wapfconf

@EatNourishing Eat Nourishing: The china Study does not show clear association between cholesterol and heart disease. - from peer reviews of the book #wapfconf

@KitchenKop KitchenKop: WOW! Out of everything analyzed in China Study, wheat flour had the strongest assoc. with heart disease. RT@wellfedhome #WAPFConf

@wellfedhome Brenda Scott: He (Campbell) didn't share that most of his rats who "didn't get cancer" DIED before they had a chance to get cancer! #wapfconf Denise...

@geegeegee Gigi: It was shocking! @scdkat: Wow, @deniseminger just asked who has been a vegetarian, more than half the room put up a hand #wapfconf

@geegeegee Gigi: Ha! Commenter's coworker went veg after seeing Forks Over Knives, now goes to vending for poptarts 3xday because he's starving! #wapfconf

@geegeegee Gigi: China Study *actual data* shows breast cancer correlated with plant protein & veg oils. Veg is worst you can do! #wapfconf

@geegeegee Gigi: WRT previous tweet, wheat protein was very highest correlation with cancers. #wapfconf Denise Minger

@WardehHarmon Wardeh Harmon: Banquet menu. #wapfconf http://instagr.am/p/T5T5-/

@WardehHarmon Wardeh Harmon: PBS show to do a series on WAPF! #wapfconf

@KitchenKop KitchenKop: Michael Schmidt @ #wapfconf "Our message must break down barriers to open the dialogue, we can reach them!"

@NourishingCook Kim Knoch: Joe Mercola at #wapfconf the top 10 drug companies in fortune 500 make more than the other 490 companies combined

@realfoodhealth RealFoodWholeHealth: 90% of food budget by Americans spent on processed food, packaged in BPA. 57 GALLONS soda consumed each year per person #mercola #wapfconf

@RealFoodDevotee Monica Ford: 4 times more likely to die of legally prescribed drugs than a car wreck. #wapfconf #mercola #fb

@NourishingCook Kim Knoch: Mercola at #wapfconf - what is the #1 thing u can do to get healthy? Drink pure water (not soda)

@geegeegee Gigi: The apron I bought at the #wapfconf!! HA!! http://twitpic.com/7dp9fs

@cheeseslave CHEESESLAVE: Man boobs = moobs = soy boys #wapfconf

@NourishMD Dr. Sue & Angelle: Last year, Cochrane published the following bombshell conclusion: "Influenza vaccines have a modest effect in... http://fb.me/1rBvUBcII (ed.: “The review showed that reliable evidence on influenza vaccines is thin but there is evidence of widespread manipulation of conclusions and spurious notoriety of the studies.”)

@farmfoodblog Jill Nienhiser: I've learned so much I don't know anything anymore. Matt Stone @180degreehealth #wapfconf

@KitchenKop KitchenKop: Matt Stone: best predictor of future weight gain is dieting. #wapfconf

@WardehHarmon Wardeh Harmon: Stone: Myth: restrict calories to lose weight. It doesn't work in the long term. #wapfconf

@NourishingCook Kim Knoch: RT @realfoodhealth: mcbride: plants r there to cleanse us not nourish us. a #vegan diet is a fasting diet, u might as well starve #wapfconf

@NourishingCook Kim Knoch: Mark McAfee #wapfconf - Raw milk - the weapon of mass nutrition

@WardehHarmon Wardeh Harmon: 0 deaths from raw milk in the last 37 years. 17 dead from pasteurized milk. #rawmilk #wapfconf

@geegeegee Gigi: Yum! Why, oh why, did I skip this?!? RT@WardehHarmon: Sunday dinner. #wapfconf http://instagr.am/p/UGZoq/

@geegeegee Gigi: Okay. All packed & showered & alarm set for 6am. Say a lil prayer that the gallon jug of maple syrup stays intact in my luggage!! #wapfconf

@geegeegee Gigi: Looking at the families in McD's & thinking about the adorable #wapfconf children singing "Don't Believe the Junk Food Man!"

@ChaffinOrchards Chris Kerston: Amish Farmer Amos Miller just made a joke about google - Only at # wapfconf

@wellfedhome Brenda Scott: In the 1960s there were 640,000 dairy farms in the US. Now there are 3,000. #WAPFconf

@wellfedhome Brenda Scott: 3% of the dairy farms produce the majority of the milk in the US. #WAPFconf

@HlthyHappyEater Kelly Battaglia: Human health and biological farming practices are inextricably linked. -Jerry Brunetti #wapfconf

@HlthyHappyEater Kelly Battaglia: People are overwhelmingly deficient in dairy fat vitamins. Eat butter, whole fat milk, cream from grass-fed cows. -Jerry Brunetti #wapfconf

@evolutionarypsy Emily Deans, M.D.; History of solvent exposure increases risk of Parkinson's 6-fold in twin study http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ana.22629/abstract

@NicholeSawatzky: Fun stuff regarding the #wapfconf social media activityhttp://www.holistickid.com/top-10-tweets-of-wise-traditions-2011/

Taking Stock

Bone broths - otherwise known as stocks - are one of the most nutritious and healing substances on the planet, not to mention *delicious* and the foundation of most cuisine. My wonderful cousin provided me with some packages of meaty soup bones from her brother (also my wonderful cousin, natch!) and I made stock from them. The journey of this particular batch of stock seemed noteworthy, so I've written about it.

- One day, I took the soup bone package out of the freezer and put the wrapped package on a plate in the fridge to thaw slowly and safely.

- A couple (few?) days later, I got out the thawed bones & rinsed them off. I oiled the roasting pan with coconut oil, threw in the soup bones and a couple of onions, quartered, and roasted them in the oven for about 30m or so, flipping them over halfway through. I dumped all into a stock pot, covered with water, added a few herbs (thyme, rosemary, ??), and a couple of good splashes of raw apple cider vinegar, and let it all simmer overnight. The vinegar is important to help the stock leach the good minerals from the bones and make them available to your body.

- The next morning, I turned it off & let it cool. Later that day, I strained it through a colander & pulled out the meat pieces and set them aside (in a container in the fridge). I strained the stock through a mesh strainer & put the bowl into the fridge for the fat to congeal. The bones went to the very happy dogs!

- The next day (or so, LOL) I fished the congealed fat off the top, and decanted the stock into pint jars. Labelled, and back into the fridge they went. (I saved the fat & added it to the dogs' food that night.)

- Another day, I put 1 1/2 pints of stock into a pot, added the reserved meat, some salt, and called it soup. However, the meat was way too dry to eat, so I ended up just drinking the stock, and put the meat back into the fridge.

- Another day, I put the meat, broken up into little pieces, into the rice cooker. I added a very small onion, chopped; 3/4 cup short grain brown rice; 2 cups beef broth; 1/4 cup water. Threw in some salt & herbs, and set it to cooking. When it was done, I thawed a couple cups of frozen peas under running water, put them in a bowl, and dumped the rice on top. To this mix I added a few T butter. We had a little bit of this left over, so into the fridge it went.

- Today, I took the little bit of leftover rice, meat, & peas, and put them in a pot with another jar (pint) of the original stock, hotted it up, added ample salt and a couple T of butter, and called it soup. This time, the soup was good!

- I still have two pints of beef stock in the fridge for future use. A long way from just one package of soup bones!

100% Rye "Biscuits"

So I got this recipe for Soaked Whole Grain Buttermilk Biscuits, and decided to try them. Husband misses such things, and he was on his way home. As with most things I cook, I used the recipe as a starting place, and made a lot of changes.

Friday night I went to the store for buttermilk, but was horrified at what they put in it. I remembered that in the absence of buttermilk, you could "clabber" milk with lemon juice or vinegar, both of which I had at home, so I bought a quart of whole, organic milk. (A so-so choice. Read about healthy milk choices here.) I came home and opened Joy of Cooking, checked substitutions, and found they suggest yogurt as a buttermilk replacement. I guess the clabbered milk substitution was from the previous edition of Joy of Cooking (I have both, LOL). Anyway, I had some homemade raw milk yogurt on hand, so I used that instead of clabbered milk. I also didn't have any whole wheat flour in the freezer, but I did have some stone ground rye flour, so I used that. Since I was using rye flour, I added some caraway seeds and rosemary to the dough. The rest of the method I followed. I did roll the dough out and cut them out with a biscuit cutter that was my Mom's - maybe even my grandmother's. Using that made me happy, but I'm sure the biscuits would be just as good made as drop biscuits, as recommended in the original recipe.

Ingredients:
2 ½ cups stone-ground rye flour
½ cup cold butter
1 T caraway seeds
1 T dried rosemary
1 cup buttermilk or yogurt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon unrefined sea salt

Method:
Measure the whole grain flour into a bowl or better, into the bowl of a food processor or mixer. Add the cold butter, cut into chunks. Cut the butter into the flour, using two knives, or mix with the food processor or mixer  until the mixture resembles the texture of cornmeal. Mix in the caraway seeds and rosemary. Stir in the buttermilk or yogurt to form a thick dough. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap, and allow to sit on your counter overnight.

In the morning, preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
Once the oven is preheated, knead baking soda and unrefined sea salt into the dough.

Flour your hands and gently form the biscuits either by rolling them out and cutting them out with a biscuit cutter, or drop them straight from the mixing bowl onto a baking sheet or preheated baking stone.

Bake the biscuits at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for about fifteen minutes, or until they puff up and become a golden brown color. I used a Pampered Chef baking stone, and I think I baked the rye biscuits for 20 minutes. They didn't really puff up, but I don't know if that is the heaviness of the rye, or if I should have used more baking soda. I will try using a skosh more baking soda next time.

Use a spatula to transfer the biscuits to a rack to cool slightly, then slather with pastured butter, and enjoy!

Homemade Dill Pickles

One of the cornerstones of Traditional Food is homemade fermented foods. On Ash Wednesday, I finally took the plunge and made some dill pickles. It couldn't be easier! Today I tasted them when I transferred them to the fridge, and guess what? They tasted like pickles! Amazing!

Photo tutorial of this recipe can be found here.

I followed the recipe in Nourishing Traditions, and did it thus:

3 English cucumbers (these are the long, skinny ones - unwaxed, smaller seeds, don't need peeling)
2T mustard seeds
4T snipped fresh dill
2T sea salt
1/2 cup whey (Here's how to get whey)
4 pint-sized, wide mouth mason jars with lids. I bought mine in the grocery store next to the vinegars.

Unwrap and wash off the cucumbers. Cut off & discard the ends. Slice the cucumbers at 1/4 inch intervals. Distribute them among the 4 jars. I had a few left over that I just put in a container in the fridge to eat raw. (They are great with yogurt dip!) Add 1 1/2 teaspoons (1/2 Tablespoon) sea salt to each jar. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons (1/2 Tablespoon) mustard seeds to each jar. Add 1 Tablespoon (or so) snipped fresh dill to each jar. Add 2 Tablespoons whey to each jar. Top each one up with 1 cup filtered water. Add more water if needed to cover your cucumber slices. Put the lids on, and let the pickles sit on the counter for two days. After two days, transfer them to the refrigerator. You can eat them then, but I expect they will improve with age. Exciting!