Eating gluten free is so easy at home that I do not even have to think about it. We just do not buy any gluten-containing foods. No worries about cross-contamination. Until I step outside.
One of the downers about celiac disease is that it appears to be permanent. Mr. D and I wonder if we will ever be able to travel without my food being more hassle than it is worth. Yes, I hear that Italy is the best place in the world to eat gluten free, but the language barriers freak me out. If I cannot get waiters in the U.S. to understand what I mean by taking whatever steps are necessary to prevent cross-contamination, am I likely to fare better by presenting a card with instructions in their language to that effect? Plus, there are places other than Italy where we would like to visit eventually.
Theoretical woes aside, this is a very practical conundrum. What does one eat on a road trip? Some restaurants - mostly ones called Chipotle, where all the food is gluten free except the tortillas - are OK for a filling, tasty meal without being too expensive. Alas, along the 500 miles between our home and where I grew up and the rest of my family lives, there are no Chipotle locations to be found. Even if there were, snacks help make a long drive more bearable.
To drink, we enjoy bringing along a jug of kombucha or some chilled brewed herbal tea lightly sweetened with a touch of honey - it's like juice, but without the truckload of fructose to poison you along the way. It's most refreshing. Oh, and stainless steel bottles of well-iced water, because most snack foods are salty enough that you will want it!
Food just takes some thinking ahead, and this goes for any healthy or reasonably frugal food on the road.
Honestly, the most difficult part is getting enough healthy fats. Excellent ideas include starchy fruits (think bananas and berries), store-bought gluten free crackers, grass-fed whole milk cheese, and Mr. D's favorite, homemade grass-fed beef jerky. Avocados would be a fabulous snack, too.
Oh, did I say homemade jerky from grass-fed beef? Yep. Healthy jerky in any flavor you can manage to put together, and even $5/lb. ground beef will end up making fantastic jerky for less money, probably, than cruddy jerky. It was my husband who made the jerky for a recent weekend trip, and his ideas were so delicious I just had to share. He invented all four of the combinations suggested below.
Jerky
Ingredients:
for each pound of ground beef:
1 T. unrefined salt
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. onion powder
lots of freshly ground black pepper
plus one of the following combinations, or invent your own:
- 2 T. gluten free soy sauce, 2 T. raw honey (warmed a little to facilitate mixing), a few pinches of ground cloves, and 1/4 t. ground cinnamon
- an additional 1/2 t. garlic powder, plus up to 1 T. each of dried rosemary, thyme, oregano, and basil; do not be shy with these!
- 1 1/2 T. gluten free soy sauce, even more black pepper, 1 t. paprika, and 1/2 t. red wine vinegar
- up to 1 T. ground cumin, 1 t. paprika, 1/4 t. mustard powder, and a little or a lot of chili powder
Method:
Mix ground beef and your flavor ingredients together thoroughly.
To make in a dehydrator: Spread no more than 1/4" thick on solid insert trays or parchment paper cut in the shape of your dehydrator trays. Using a dull utensil such as a butter knife, so as not to tear paper or damage trays, cut jerky into strips before it all hardens and becomes more difficult to cut. Dehydrate for at least six hours, but do check on it every hour after that and remove it as soon as it is not at all pink anymore but still soft. It will harden considerably as it cools.
To make in an oven: Spread no more than 1/4" thick on parchment paper or silicone baking sheets. Cut with a dull utensil. Put in the oven and turn it on to the lowest setting, ideally 150°F, and no greater than 200°. Check after 4-6 hours and take out while still soft.
Theoretically jerky does not need to be stored in the fridge, but I put it in there anyway just in case enough moisture might remain to make spoilage feasible. An airtight container is recommended as well.
While all of Mr. D's jerky was enjoyable, my favorite was definitely the version with Italian herbs that made the jerky taste like pizza. I was eating bite-size jerky atop crackers with bits of cheese, having what fun one can during a nine-hour drive. My least favorite was the cumin version, but I dislike almost anything spicy, and if you like spicy then you stand a good chance of enjoying it mightily.
What travel snacks do you like?
Showing posts with label preserving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label preserving. Show all posts
Friday, June 8, 2012
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Homemade Fermented Ketchup
The recipe below marked a major shift in the way I thought about cooking. Now my default assumption is to make things from scratch, and if I am buying a prepackaged "ingredient", I question whether I might be able to make it myself while saving money and making a higher quality product. Usually the answer is that I can! Before, I didn't think about having options beyond store brand vs. name brand. Ketchup was always super-sugary and nutritionally negligible. Yes, I was one of those kids that liked ketchup on everything, even though I despised tomato sauce.
I made this first because it sounded interesting and I am always looking for more things to eat lacto-fermented/probiotic, but I was ruined after the first taste. Now I cannot go back to store ketchup. It tastes awful to me in comparison. Even friends who are put off by some of the unfamiliar things that I eat (such as organ meats) have begged for this recipe.
Have you ever had leftovers or homemade goodies spoil? One of the easy-to-overlook differences between homemade and pre-processed foods is that home cooks do not normally add preservatives. Sometimes we forget that real food spoils, sometimes quicker than we anticipate. Lacto-fermentation has been used for thousands of years by regular people in low-tech settings to preserve foods, so it comes as no surprise how easy and effective it is. Fermentation also enhances the nutrient content of many foods. The basic idea is to set up a good environment for lactobacilli to flourish, add some lactobacilli directly or wait for wild microorganisms to take advantage of the setting, and then these bacteria produce natural preservatives, chiefly lactic acid. Many people think of alcoholic fermentation when they hear about fermenting something, and it is the same basic idea but uses different organisms that thrive under different conditions. Lacto-fermentation (also sometimes called salt pickling) results in only teensy bits of alcohol production, if any - well under 1% - so have no fear that ketchup will give you a buzz.
One note with ingredients: It is tricky to get tomato paste that isn't packed in endocrine disruptors, and endocrine disruptors are undesirable, especially if you consume them regularly - which you do if your food touches nearly any kind of plastic! Even BPA-free containers typically contain other similar compounds, so a non-reactive container such as glass is a much better way to go. I want to make ketchup in the future by cooking down tomato sauce to a ketchup-y consistency since it is easy to find affordable tomato sauce in glass jars, but so far I have only used tomato paste.
The fish sauce, allspice, and cloves in the recipe are very important for getting that distinctive ketchup flavor. I have used only cloves and that works well, but it is worth adding the others.
Ketchup
Adapted from this recipe.
Ingredients:
6 oz. tomato paste (the Bionaturae brand has tomato paste in glass jars)
1-2 T. liquid whey*
1 T. apple cider vinegar
2 T. blackstrap molasses
1 T. raw honey
1/2 t. unrefined salt
1/4 t. ground cinnamon
1/8 t. ground cloves
optional but encouraged: 2 T. fish sauce (made from anchovies and found in Asian markets - no, it isn't "fishy" or gross at all) and/or 1/8 t. ground allspice
any other seasonings you like: garlic powder, a little cayenne, a hint of mustard, etc.
Method:
Mix all ingredients together. Taste. If necessary, add more vinegar or sweetener and adjust the seasonings. Then add water gradually until the desired consistency is achieved; I end up adding about 1/3 cup.
Pour into a glass jar and screw on the lid. Leave out at room temperature for 2-4 days to allow the good microorganisms in the whey to ferment it slightly (which is not likely to change the taste in this recipe). Store in the refrigerator. I still have ketchup made from a huge batch last summer in my fridge right now - no mold, no grossness, and it still tastes great! I cannot guarantee that yours will last this long but I think you can expect at least a few months, unless you eat it before then.
*Whey: This is the probiotic "starter" to ferment your ketchup more easily and successfully. You can leave this out, but in that case I recommend refrigerating your ketchup immediately and using it up very quickly before it spoils. This is not powdered whey you can purchase but must be separated from yogurt or a similar probiotic dairy source. To obtain this, set some yogurt in a colander lined with a paper towel, thin dishcloth, or handkerchief. Place this over a bowl to collect the whey that drips out. Leave out for several hours or overnight. This should result in up to half the yogurt dripping out as whey, which will keep for several months in a lidded glass jar in the refrigerator, and the other half remaining in the colander and thickening to resemble cream cheese. This "cream cheese" is a good probiotic substitute for cream cheese, by the way, and lasts a couple of weeks if refrigerated.
I made this first because it sounded interesting and I am always looking for more things to eat lacto-fermented/probiotic, but I was ruined after the first taste. Now I cannot go back to store ketchup. It tastes awful to me in comparison. Even friends who are put off by some of the unfamiliar things that I eat (such as organ meats) have begged for this recipe.
Have you ever had leftovers or homemade goodies spoil? One of the easy-to-overlook differences between homemade and pre-processed foods is that home cooks do not normally add preservatives. Sometimes we forget that real food spoils, sometimes quicker than we anticipate. Lacto-fermentation has been used for thousands of years by regular people in low-tech settings to preserve foods, so it comes as no surprise how easy and effective it is. Fermentation also enhances the nutrient content of many foods. The basic idea is to set up a good environment for lactobacilli to flourish, add some lactobacilli directly or wait for wild microorganisms to take advantage of the setting, and then these bacteria produce natural preservatives, chiefly lactic acid. Many people think of alcoholic fermentation when they hear about fermenting something, and it is the same basic idea but uses different organisms that thrive under different conditions. Lacto-fermentation (also sometimes called salt pickling) results in only teensy bits of alcohol production, if any - well under 1% - so have no fear that ketchup will give you a buzz.
One note with ingredients: It is tricky to get tomato paste that isn't packed in endocrine disruptors, and endocrine disruptors are undesirable, especially if you consume them regularly - which you do if your food touches nearly any kind of plastic! Even BPA-free containers typically contain other similar compounds, so a non-reactive container such as glass is a much better way to go. I want to make ketchup in the future by cooking down tomato sauce to a ketchup-y consistency since it is easy to find affordable tomato sauce in glass jars, but so far I have only used tomato paste.
The fish sauce, allspice, and cloves in the recipe are very important for getting that distinctive ketchup flavor. I have used only cloves and that works well, but it is worth adding the others.
Ketchup
Adapted from this recipe.
Ingredients:
6 oz. tomato paste (the Bionaturae brand has tomato paste in glass jars)
1-2 T. liquid whey*
1 T. apple cider vinegar
2 T. blackstrap molasses
1 T. raw honey
1/2 t. unrefined salt
1/4 t. ground cinnamon
1/8 t. ground cloves
optional but encouraged: 2 T. fish sauce (made from anchovies and found in Asian markets - no, it isn't "fishy" or gross at all) and/or 1/8 t. ground allspice
any other seasonings you like: garlic powder, a little cayenne, a hint of mustard, etc.
Method:
Mix all ingredients together. Taste. If necessary, add more vinegar or sweetener and adjust the seasonings. Then add water gradually until the desired consistency is achieved; I end up adding about 1/3 cup.
Pour into a glass jar and screw on the lid. Leave out at room temperature for 2-4 days to allow the good microorganisms in the whey to ferment it slightly (which is not likely to change the taste in this recipe). Store in the refrigerator. I still have ketchup made from a huge batch last summer in my fridge right now - no mold, no grossness, and it still tastes great! I cannot guarantee that yours will last this long but I think you can expect at least a few months, unless you eat it before then.
*Whey: This is the probiotic "starter" to ferment your ketchup more easily and successfully. You can leave this out, but in that case I recommend refrigerating your ketchup immediately and using it up very quickly before it spoils. This is not powdered whey you can purchase but must be separated from yogurt or a similar probiotic dairy source. To obtain this, set some yogurt in a colander lined with a paper towel, thin dishcloth, or handkerchief. Place this over a bowl to collect the whey that drips out. Leave out for several hours or overnight. This should result in up to half the yogurt dripping out as whey, which will keep for several months in a lidded glass jar in the refrigerator, and the other half remaining in the colander and thickening to resemble cream cheese. This "cream cheese" is a good probiotic substitute for cream cheese, by the way, and lasts a couple of weeks if refrigerated.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Strawberries!
The other day my husband and I spotted strawberries on sale for $.75/lb. Around here I never see strawberries for less than $3/lb. but $5/lb. is probably typical. Thrilled, my husband loaded up four flats of strawberries that came to 32 lbs.
As my awesome husband did most of the washing, sorting, and leaf-cutting-offing, I bandied about doing random things with strawberries. I sliced and dried as many as would fit in our dehydrator:
This resulted in a jar of strawberry candy. It tastes just like strawberry fruit snacks, which brings me to a point about sweet fruits: They are not vegetables. When I say that most fruits are desserts, I am not exaggerating. I mean that they are on a line with my homemade ice cream - somewhat nutritious but with a non-negligible amount of sugar.
Yes, there are vitamins, minerals, enzymes, soluble fiber, and other good things in fruits. There is also a truckload of fructose. Humans have been breeding fruits to be super-sweet for a very long time; paleo fruit was more like crabapples than red delicious apples.
Obviously we still eat fruit, so do not take me as being anti-fruit. It's just that we should moderate our intake of it, not pile on tons of fruit in a vain effort to improve our health. We probably eat about five servings of fruit per week apiece. I typically eat mine in smoothie form.
I got some great ideas from this old post from Simple Bites. I froze four quart jars of strawberries in simple syrup, flavoring one with vanilla beans and another with my homemade lime peel extract.
Most of the rest I flash froze. I had visions of canning pie filling and jam, until I realized that 1) we have a half-eaten, year-old jar of strawberry jam in the refrigerator, so it's not as if we are jam eaters, and 2) we can just make pie with previously frozen berries and then I do not have to decide now how many pies we are likely to eat this year.
Oh, and I used to be confused when I heard talk of flash freezing. It sounded like freezing something really fast but I could never think of how that was accomplished. As it turns out, flash freezing means first freezing the items individually until the outside is frozen enough that they will not stick together. Then it is time to put them all in a container in the freezer to finish freezing. This way your strawberries, for instance, do not freeze into one giant ice brick of strawberries that requires thawing all of them when you want to use a few. Once flash frozen, you should be able to take out as many or as little as you like and leave the rest in the freezer.
Finally, one of our two cats found that she likes strawberries for another reason. Cute little Matilda has claimed herself a spot:
Do you have as much fun with incredible deals on food as I do? What are your favorite ways to eat strawberries?
 |
| Our kitchen table à la strawberries. |
As my awesome husband did most of the washing, sorting, and leaf-cutting-offing, I bandied about doing random things with strawberries. I sliced and dried as many as would fit in our dehydrator:
 |
| Yum. Mr. D loves this. |
This resulted in a jar of strawberry candy. It tastes just like strawberry fruit snacks, which brings me to a point about sweet fruits: They are not vegetables. When I say that most fruits are desserts, I am not exaggerating. I mean that they are on a line with my homemade ice cream - somewhat nutritious but with a non-negligible amount of sugar.
Obviously we still eat fruit, so do not take me as being anti-fruit. It's just that we should moderate our intake of it, not pile on tons of fruit in a vain effort to improve our health. We probably eat about five servings of fruit per week apiece. I typically eat mine in smoothie form.
 |
| This 20-quart stockpot was overflowing with berries! |
I got some great ideas from this old post from Simple Bites. I froze four quart jars of strawberries in simple syrup, flavoring one with vanilla beans and another with my homemade lime peel extract.
Most of the rest I flash froze. I had visions of canning pie filling and jam, until I realized that 1) we have a half-eaten, year-old jar of strawberry jam in the refrigerator, so it's not as if we are jam eaters, and 2) we can just make pie with previously frozen berries and then I do not have to decide now how many pies we are likely to eat this year.
Oh, and I used to be confused when I heard talk of flash freezing. It sounded like freezing something really fast but I could never think of how that was accomplished. As it turns out, flash freezing means first freezing the items individually until the outside is frozen enough that they will not stick together. Then it is time to put them all in a container in the freezer to finish freezing. This way your strawberries, for instance, do not freeze into one giant ice brick of strawberries that requires thawing all of them when you want to use a few. Once flash frozen, you should be able to take out as many or as little as you like and leave the rest in the freezer.
 |
| Our huge freezer with things like bones, stock, and flour in it. |
This post is part of Pennywise Platter and Hearth and Soul Blog Hop.
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