NOTE:  I wrote this post in 2015.  Even now I find many people who are not aware of this information, even though the World Health organization has declared Glyphosate probably carcinogenic.  Here's a more current link to Dr. Zach Bush's perspective on glyphosate and what it means to our bodies, our soil and the continuation of our life and health.

Most Important Health Information I've read.   (first written June, 2015)

I just finished reading the following blog post -- link below -- and it answered a lot of questions about commercial wheat in the United States.  Here's the bottom line:

Most Commercial wheat farmers in the United States douse their wheat fields with Round-up, 3 to 5 days prior to harvest.  That means that glyphosate, the active ingredient in round-up is in almost all commercial wheat.

Why is glyphosate bad?  Not only does it attack and kill specifically the good bacteria in our system, but it also disrupts the emzymes that assist us to detoxivy other toxic chemical with which we come in contact.

To more fully understand this information, please, PLEASE read the whole article.

http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/real-reason-for-toxic-wheat-its-not-gluten/

Ever since reading Wheat Belly by Dr. William Davis, I have followed a gluten free lifestyle, convinced that it was better for me.  And, I have more energy, a strong immune system (3 plus years without a cold or flu), and in general feel better. I have made it my business, literally to developed delicious, satisfyling, nutrient dense, and healthy alternative s to gluten products. 

However, I know lots of folks who are so tied into wheat products and/or feel they have no reactions to commercial wheat. and are thus reluctant to expend the energy that it takes to become gluten free.  One man told me that when I could offer him an alternative that was just like the bread he liked, he'd change.  New Cascadia Gluten Free Bakery in Portland, Or has done just that.  And I'm working on it in my business - Enjoy Grain Free.  I have gluten free coconut flour muffins that are better -- moist, delicious and healthy -- than their wheat counterparts.  Enjoy Grain Free Sandwich rounds  provide nutrient dense alternatives for sandwiches and hamburgers.  Now I have gluten free Bagels, and I'm working on gluten free sourdough.  There are 6 types of crackers including gluten free honey graham crackers, and nut free (no almond flour) honey graham crackers. 

Even if the wheat farmers stopped putting Round-up on their wheat fields, there are questions about the half-life of round-up.  Monsanto says it's between 30 and 60 days, but other studies and scientists say it remains in the soil, making it toxic for years.

Real food takes some pre-planning and that's taken me a while to get in rhythm with.  I'm one of those spontaneous, in the moment kinds of folks, so the idea of getting the chives, garlic, and green onions dehydrated and ready for when I'm making the cheese is a little daunting in itself.  Right now I have the green onions and have made green onion, black pepper and cayenne cream cheese.  Yesterday I found some chives at Our Little Market (a private co-op I belong to), so they are in the dehydrator and tonight we're going to chop garlic.

Sometimes I just want it done.  Fermenting is a process.  As I've learned and experimented I realize that the more I get in tune with this process, the more in tune I get with the flows of life.   Completing the current step your working with is a key. Then it's easier for me to figure out what the timing is for the next process.  Remember, watched pots never boil.  If there are dates I need to remember, I put it on my Droid3 calendar.  That's the one thing I'm always paying attention to.  

Kefir Steps:

You need grains for Kefir. The best thing is to have someone give you some.  You can buy them at Cultures for Health, or Culture Club 101 if you live in the LA area. That's where I got mine.  The grains (not seed grains) are a community of live microflora.  And they multiply like microscopic rabbits.  When I first brought home grains I had less than a quarter cup.  Right now I have about a quart (16 quarter cups) and I've given away a pint, and have some I separated for goats milk kefir.  

For a half gallon of raw milk you need at least 1/4 cup, and using a cup or a pint won't hurt, just give you stronger kefir faster.  

Step 1, Day 1.  Making Kefir. In a half gallon jar put 1/4 to 1 cup kefir grains and fill with raw milk.  

Step 2, Day 2.  After 24 hours, separate the liquid from the kefir grains.  I use a steamer to do the straining cause the little round holes in it are just right to separate the grains and yet let the solids of the milk go through. 

Now you have basic kefir and you have a choice to make.  Do you want to make kefir cream cheese or do you want to continue fermenting?  Continuing to ferment has its advantages, it increases the nutrition of the kefir, especially the folic acid and if you are going to make kefir drinks this is the way to go.  I'll discuss this more in another article. 

Today I'm focused on making cream cheese.  

Step 3, Day 2.  Strain the kefir so that you separate the milk solids from the whey.  Don't worry, you can use both products of the straining - the whey for fermenting and the milk solids for making the cheese.   

I use an 8-cup pyrex measuring cup and a 7.5 inch double mesh stainless steel strainer.  You want to line the strainer with cheese cloth (well really the best thing is butter muslin).  As a side note it is called butter muslin because it was a finely woven cloth that was used for wrapping butter. 

Double line your strainer and pour in the kefir. Cover and let drain.  I have a heavy hand-made pottery plate that just fits over the top.  Let it drain in the refrigerator overnight -- at least. If you need to, you can just leave it alone for a couple of days.  

Step 4, Day 3 or 4 -- Check your draining kefir.  Probably it will have stopped dripping.  But, the bottom of the cheese cloth will still be wet.  So now it needs to drain more.  To do this you'll need some kind of tall cylindrical container and a wooden spoon. Tie the ends of the cheese cloth around over the spoon and then use the spoon to suspend the cheese over the container.  The weight of the cheese will cause it to drip and dry out further.  Put it back in the refrigerator and let this drain for another day.  Pour your whey in a quart jar and date it.  Whey is good for about 4 months, and when you add new whey it renews the whole thing.  

Step 5, Day 4 or 5. Wrap in paper towels.  Untie the kefir milk solids and wrap in paper towels.  This will further dry out your cheese. It depends on how thick you want the cream cheese.  

Step 6, Day 4 or 5.  Making the Cheese. After several hours of letting the paper towels absorb additional dampness, dump into a stainless steel mixing bowl.  Mix with some cream.  I use a fork.  A danish dough hook works well, too.  And you can get them from Amazon. 

I end up with about 2 cups (give or take) of the kefir cheese and to start I add a half cup of raw cream.  Then I mix and see if it's the consistency I want.  Just keep adding cream until it's the perfect consistency.  What determines that?  You do!

You can add in chives, garlic, green onion, salt, black pepper and cayenne at any time in this process.  I usually wait till toward the end after I've achieved the consistency I want. 

This cheese is fabulous for appetizers on a gluten free sour dough baguette

The above quiche is dairy free, sugar free, wheat and grain free and crust less.  And it's still delicious.  More about how to make it later.  Here's why I made it. 

On Friday, July 1, I started Dr. Kellyann's Bone Broth diet.  I jumped in after someone I trust told me about it.  It requires 2 non-consecutive days of fasting on bone broth, and then the food is similar to Whole 30.  My first day was a fast day on bone broth (water and tea and coffee, too) because Friday's aren't as busy.  When I say I jumped in, I had not read the book, so I got it from the library -- and began to listen to the audio book during Friday.  The electronic version was checked out, but the audio was available.  

The short summary is that in addition to the two fasting days, I was signing up for 21 days of no sweets of any kind except fresh fruit in limited quantities, no dairy (and I eat dairy every day sometimes three times a day), no grains, gluten (I've been gluten free for 3 years) or psuedo grains (read quinoa), no legumes (much of what I bake is made with sprouted lentil flour.) Yes, a big, big change.  And, I knew a change was necessary.  This was supposed to jump start my system into major fat burning.  That's just what I wanted.

I know from previous fasts that the first 3 days are the hardest and those are behind me.  It's day 4 and so far, so good.  My energy seems to be okay for about 3/4 of the day, and then I just want to rest. The most difficult part of this is that one is supposed to eat 3 meals a day.  I usually only eat a snack around the middle of the day, and then a late and healthy dinner started out with my delicious lentil flour crackers, organic or raw cheese and guacamole on the side accompanied by a glass of wine.  Oh, did I mention for the next 21 days -- no alcohol either. 

So now I've had to start new habits.  Breakfast -- which means I have to rise earlier.  For 2 of the last 3 days I made scrambles.

Day 2- Arugula, cauliflower, green onion, tomato seasoned with graham marsala, pink salt and pepper with dulce flakes on top.  Blueberries on the side.

Day 3 - quick scramble with bacon,  eggs, asparagus and some greens, blueberries.

Day 4- I really wanted something different for this day, and discovered I had a quart of my chicken and greens soup - Chicken bone broth, kale, spinach, arugula, cilantro and dandelion greens, with zucchini squash, green onion, garlic, chicken meat, spiced with cumin, lemongrass, coriander, pink salt just sitting the the fridge.  So I pulled it out, heated it up, and decided to poach some eggs in it. 

Normally, I always crack eggs separately and then put them in my mixtures.  It's a system I worked out when ages ago I got a bad egg.  Rarely happens, maybe one in over a thousand (remember I use over 100 eggs a week).  It has happened though and I worked out a system to not spoil everything by cracking the 1 in a 1000 egg into my bowl.  But, this morning I was in a hurry.  So many things I wanted to accomplish, so I just cracked the egg into the pot of hot soup, and you guessed it, that 1 in a thousand egg popped up, not reeking smelly bad, but looking like it wasn't far away.  So I threw out the soup and began again.  You can bet I won't forego cracking each egg separately again. 

With the soup no longer an option, I poached a couple eggs in chicken bone broth with chopped fresh spinach thrown in.  And you guessed it -- blueberries on the side.  I have a really large box of blueberries that I got at the La Canada Farmers market from Nicholas Organic Farms.  Yummy, Yummy. 

I needed something I could grab and go.  This was all taking way to long.  Then, I had an idea.  In her book Dr. KellyAnn has a recipe for crust less quiche.  It's just eggs, asparagus and spices cooked in a pie plate.  Sometimes as a private chef I made single portion crust-less quiche for my clients.  I started playing with the recipe in my head, and realized that instead of milk and cream -- one could use chicken stock.  So, I made the crust-less quiche above. Really I made several so I could keep them in the fridge and grab one when I was in a hurry.  Mine included broccoli, bell pepper, maui onion, and crimini mushroom sprinkled with graham marsala,  crumbled bacon and sliced mushroom on top.

Okay, I want to get this post up, but a little later I'll do a post with complete instructions on how to make individual crust-less quiche. 

It's a huge mountain, much too overwhelming to climb!!!

Lately I've been receiving encouragements to get back to my writing, both from internal guidance and externally from the universe around me.  One of the excuses or stalls I put in the way of restarting is not what to write but rather where to start. "There is just too much to write about and I've left it too long."  At least that's what I tell myself. 

When there's a mountain of whatever kind (in this case just way too much of many differing interests and explorations) I think many of us tend to get stalled.  The mountain of what I might write about  looms large made up of my many journeys over the past year.  All right it was more than a year.  Yes, I've been absent for a long time.  And the longer I delay, the higher the mountain. 

What makes up this mountain?  A friend invited me to take a monthly essential oils class over the last 12 months. That has led to much time spent indulging in the joy of out-of-class study about the healing effects of the many oils.  It is a great feeling when something I've learned helps both myself and others. And so I keep at it. 

Then, there was the deep desire to learn to make the kind of artisinal breads made by New Cascadia Traditional Bakery that I wrote about on this blog. As a way of pushing myself, I scheduled classes to teach, because that always makes me dive deeper into a subject.  Again, developing classes takes time.  In April I taught a gluten free baking class including how to make gluten-free sourdoughs starters, mock rye bread, French style sourdough baguettes, and gluten free bagels. There's tons to write about here. 

Another consuming factor in my life is my business which is both my passion and how I support my many interests.  I  have a gluten free cottage baking business and I've been taking on new clients and finding ways to support both old and new clients.  At a local doctors encouragement I took on some private chef clients with food developed to the doctors specifications (traditional foods a la Weston A Price).  Every week I create a menu for them.  All of these interests push me to the edges of my knowledge and learning and that's what I love about my life. And yet, it does makes for a full plate or looked at another way, a feast every day. 

As you can see, there's plenty to write about.  It's just where to begin.

To climb a mountain, take the first step.  Then the next. And the next. 

One of my mentors. Elaina Luther at Culture Club 101 always says it's all about the food.  And another of my teachers, Julia Cameron of The Artist Way fame, says to write about where you are right now, to just begin with now.  And so that's what I'm doing. This post is my first step.

Right Now - Yesterday and Today, I started the 21 Day Bone Broth Diet.  And in the next post I'll write about that.  But right now, I have to get to the Farmers market before all the fabulous greens I want are already purchased by the early birds.  Remember, Enjoy, -- your day, your life, this moment, this second.

Check out all my products here.

Let me repeat myself.  Here in Portland, I've found gluten free artisan breads that equal any of the delicious country and artisan breads made with gluten.  Where?  New Cascadia Traditional Bakery.  I first heard of them at the Ground Breaker gastropub, then went searching online.  First I purchased one of their Rustic Baguettes (pictured above from my visit to their cafe) at Whole Foods.  It was delicious -- just the thing to pile high with pastured butter and serve with a healthy warming soup.  The crust was crisp and chewy and the bread light and airy.  

A couple days ago my friend Charlotte and I visited their cafe for lunch.  I had ham and grilled cheese on their Honey Gold bread with vegetable soup on the side.  The soup came with two wonderful slices of their baguette.  I was in heaven.   We also had a sampling of their deserts, a fabulous cookie with a cream filing, chocolate chip expresso cookie, an a peanut butter cream confection.  The peanut butter cream was Charlotte's favorite and mine was the chocolate chip espresso cookie.   We are going for a second visit before I leave. The owner, Chris, was kind enough to take time from a clearly busy schedule to speak with me.  He also gave me one of their bagels -- amazing.  If you are visiiting Portland or better yet, live in Portland, visit New Cascadia cafe or get their awesome breads at Whole Foods or New Seasons.

One warning, they are addicting.

When I say Gluten Free Beer in California, most die-hard beer drinkers look at me as if I'm crazy.  When I googled gluten free beer in Portland, Or, I found a whole brewery dedicated to it -- so dedicated that they've opened a 100% gluten free Gastropub right next to their brewery.  Ground Breaker Brewing (recently changing their name from Harvester) proudly proclaims that no gluten or gluten containing ingredients have darkened their door. The beers are delicious -- to my way of tasting. What I sampled of thei food was tasty and inviting enough to entice me for a second visit.  

Ground Breaker Brewing is located at Lincoln and 7th street SE.  The gastropub is small and unassuming.  They have 5 year-round offerings and 3 temporary pours.  The best part is that if you are a Libra like me and can't make up your mind what you want, they have a tasting flight that gives you 4 choices all lined up in tasting glasses and equaling a pint. 

Of course, I ordered the flight.  Every one of them was delicious and my favorite of the year-round offerings was the Dark Ale (38 IBU, 5.5% ABV) roasted chestnuts and lentils give this beer a roast flavor and aroma with hints of chocolate and dark fruits.  It is a 2014 Great American Beer Festival Gold Medal Winner. 

Of the seasonal offerings one caught my eye as what I call a healing beer.  When I was taking home beer brewing classes, I found and read a book called Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers: The Secrets of Ancient Fermentation by Stephen Harold Buhner.  I used to pore through that book wanting to create so many of the ancient beers.  For several months it was one of those books I kept near me, opening and reading at different points, having fun with the element of surprise as where I'd landed in the moment.

When I ordered a second flight, I ordered two of that one -- Cancellation Turmeric (30IBU, 5.6% ABV) Ale brewed with meyer lemon juice, milk thistle, goji berries roasted dandelion root, burdock root, and turmeric.  OMG is was delicious and I'm hopeful we are going back there for dinner and more of that wonderful beer.  While this was my favorite of the seasonal beers, there was not one I didn't like.  Each had a distinctive flavor and I found the taste descriptions were accurate.

Having had just eaten before I arrived, I only ordered an appetizer of Scallops and Pork Belly (ocean scallops, pork belly braised in Dark Ale, fennel salad). It made me want to come back for dinner.  There were so many things on their menu that sounded delicious.  But the one I have to try is the Chicken and Cheddar Dumplings soup.  One of my favorites from childhood was chicken and dumplings.  Now that I am gluten free, that's one of the recipes I want to re-create for the cookbook I'm writing.    The Cubano sandwich, and the roasted lamb sandwich also attracted my attention.  They have a Burger night on Tuesday nights, and there's a grass-fed burger on the regular menu.  For Vegetarians there's the roasted delicata squash sandwich which cranberry-red onion marmalade.  Just writing this makes my mouth water. 

I realize that being in Portland is like a renewal of my passion for real food, for creating gluten free, and uncorrupted real food and traditional recipes that everyone can follow.  And, yes, I'm writing on my cookbook -- Enjoy Fun Food Again.  Thank you Portland, Oregon.

I arrived in Portland, on Saturday around 11.  I'm visiting my best friend, Charlotte, helping her celebrate signing with Folio Lit for her new novel.  To me Portland is a mecca for real food.  One of the things I love to do is go out for lunch or dinner. Because I refuse to eat highly processed food, MSG, wheat, canola oil, soy tainted eggs, commercially farmed meats and mono-farmed vegetables (organic or not) it's very difficult to find a place to eat in Los Angeles and especially in Pasadena. Most restaurants corrupt their food with canola oil or gluten filled condiments as well as having limited or no gluten-free, grain free options. I'll talk more about the problems and dangers of canola oil, but for now, I'm in too much ecstasy for that. 

We had a late lunch at Dick's Kitchen.  Their special was Wild Boar burgers and OMG they were delicious.  That's what Charlotte and I both had, but she had hers with air-baked Yam fries and I had air baked traditional potato fries. When I asked if there were any gluten additives in the aioli the waitress said no, and immediately picked up on my gluten free interest and asked me if I wanted a gluten free bun with my burger.  The whole focus of Dick's is on healthy and humanely raised food.  On his web site he says, When you eat with us, you’re eating a naturally anti-inflammatory, nutrient-dense meal of high quality proteins and plenty of vegetables, which helps reverse the impact of our modern diet and helps control many conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, and other metabolic disorders.

Richard Satnick (AKA Dick), I salute you.. I've eaten in two of his locations (in this and 2 earlier visits) a total of 3 times (this was my second visit to the Belmont location) and never been disappointed.  I actually met Dick at the Alphabet location on my last visit.  Even if he hadn't commented so favorably on my Honey Grahams, I'd be writing about his refreshing, innovative and healthy approach to delicious dining. After many searches for something I'd be willing to eat when I go out in SOCAL, sometimes annoying my friends to the point they'd rather leave me home, it is such a pleasure to be able to order somewhat freely from a menu.

Of course, there are so many more options in the Portland area.  Huffington Post recently put it at the top of their 5 cities to visit in 2015 and called it a Foodie Haven.  I'll be continuing to write about my Portland Food Adventures. 

I love hamburgers, cheese burgers, bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches, toast with butter.  There was a time in my food explorations that I thought I'd have to give them up.  Then I discovered that what was unhealthy about the beef and bacon was how the animals were raised -- who wants to eat meat pumped up with antibiotics, hormones and steroids?  This was in 2010, so for a while I was a happy camper. 

Then I read Wheat Belly and Grain Brain, and realized how toxic commercial wheat was and that I wanted that out of my diet.  The difference it's made will probably be the subject of another blog.  I even started a business making gluten and grain free delicious baked products -- called Enjoy Grain Free. So for a while now I've been attempting to make what I felt was a delicious and workable (meaning not falling apart) sandwich and hamburger bun.  Yes, I've seen the recipe in Against All Grain made with soaked cashews, almond and coconut flour.  It is a delicious alternative. But I have a lot of clients who have problems with nuts.  So my goal was to create a bun that had no nuts in it.  And, in addition to eggs, I needed something to hold it together.  I've searched the internet for binders -- ruling out the obvious flax and chia seeds because of the levels of phytic acid. 

Then one day I stumbled across a recipe for butternut squash flatbread at the Empowered Sustenance blog and she was using Great Lakes grassfed gelatin for a binder.  Immediately I knew it would work in my recipe too.  Thank you Lauren.  By the way, the recipe for the butternut squash flatbread is delicious. 

Okay, I admit it I stopped writing this post to devour one of the buns as it came out of the oven -- with pastured butter, and bacon.  OMG, they are amazing! 

Because if the same phytic acid issue, I use only sprouted flours from To Your Health Sprouted Flour Company.  They grind your flours when you order, so they are always fresh.  You can find them in whole foods, but I always prefer to order directly from their web site -- as there is much more variety available.  You can order here.

Lentil Flour Hamburger and Sandwich Buns

Dry Ingredients: 

2 cups sprouted lentil flour    Buy Here.

1/3 cup coconut flour sifted   Buy Here.

2 teaspoons powdered or crushed rosemary   1 TBL 

2 teaspoons granulated garlic     1 TBL  

2 TBL gelatin   4 TBL  from Great Lakes Gelatin

1.5 tbl Himalayan crystal salt   3 TBL  San Francisco Salt company

1.5 tea soda   3 teaspoons

 
Wet Ingredients:

1/3 cup coconut oil 

6 eggs  

1.5 tbl apple cider vinegar 

2  cups riced and steamed cauliflower   

Step 1:  Preheat Oven to 350.

Step 2:  Combine Lentil flour, sifted coconut flour, rosemary, garlic, gelatin, salt and soda together  (Note: you can use a food processor, or whisk them together in a mixing bowl)

Step 3:  Beat eggs, coconut oil and apple cider vinegar together in stand mixer on low.

Step 4:  Add in cauliflower and mix. 

Step 5:  Add in dry ingredients, still on low speed until everything is mixed.  Then put on medium high for about 30 seconds or until fully combined.

Step 6:  Prepare a baking sheet covered with parchment paper so the buns don't stick.

Step 7:  Wet your hands and take out enough dough to form a tennis ball sized ball.  Put it on the baking sheet and pat it out.

Step 8:  This should make 6 buns.  Put in the oven for about 30 minutes. 

Step 9:  Let cool and enjoy. 

It's Christmas Eve Morning and I've delivered all my orders for gluten and grain free goodies.  Now there's time for my other passions -- working on my cook book and blog are high on that list.  My best friend Charlotte Dixon over at www.CharlotteRainsDixon.com texted me suggesting I might like to put up a christmas cookie recipe. 

Here's one with a different twist on an old favorite.  It's an almond flour chocolate chip cookie recipe to which I've added orange and cinnamon. 

Orange Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Almond Flour Cookies

Dry Ingredients

3 cups blanched almond flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sea salt
1 tbl Cinnamon
1 tbl orange zest (optional)

 Wet Ingredients

 2 eggs
1/2 tbl vanilla
1 tsp organic orange extract
1/2 cup raw honey

Oil

1/2 cup coconut oil

Chocolate Chips

1.5 cups 65% or higher dark chocolate (Look for chips without soy lethicin in the ingredients.) Sun Spire makes one -- it's the bag labeled 65% Cacao.  Also you can find them at Tropical Traditions, and on Amazon. 

Step 1:  Preheat oven to 375

Step 2:  Combine dry ingredients in a medium sized mixing bowl.  I use the hand mixer on low to make sure all the dry ingredients are well mixed. This will need to be the larger bowl, since you will be pouring the wet ingredients into it to mix with the dry.

Step 3:  In a small mixing bowl, beat eggs, honey, vanilla extract, orange extract with a hand mixer or wire whisk.

Step 4:  Pour wet ingredients (except the oil) into dry and beat with hand mixer until well combined.

Step 5:  If necessary, melt coconut oil and pour this into the already mixed batter.  Continue to mix until combined. 

Step 6:  Mix in chocolate Chips.

Step 7:  On a parchment lined baking sheet, drop tablespoon sized balls of cookie dough.  With the back of the spoon mash them down if you want a flatter cookie. The dough will not flatten out by itself.

Step 8:  Bake for about 15 minutes, depending on your oven.  Keep a close watch on them and when they start to turn golden brown test for firmness.  If still really soft continue to bake for one or two minutes. 

Step 9:  Let cool and serve.

If you ENJOY these, let me know.