No-Knead Whole Wheat Bread Recipe

This time of year, I bake a lot of bread at work.  We have soup and bread two or three times a week for lunch, and I really like having the opportunity to make so much bread!

This is one of the top three most popular varieties (really top two...really top one).  I found it once upon a time when our mixer was broken and I was faced with making bread for 80 people by hand with my crushed and pitiful snowboarding wrist and brother-slammed-a-window-on-it-when-I-was-11 wrist.  The "no-knead" appealed to me.

I was very impressed by the slightly-chewy, fine-crumb texture of this bread that doesn't fall apart like a lot of whole wheat breads, and doesn't contain lots of sugar/honey and oil like the better-textured whole wheat breads usually do.

It slices thinly well, and keeps for several days in a sealed container or bag.

No-Knead Whole Wheat Bread
Makes 2 loaves

1 Tbsp. yeast

3 c. warm (not hot) water

1 Tbsp. sugar

1 Tbsp. vinegar

1 Tbsp. oil

2 1/2-3 c. all-purpose flour (I use white whole wheat)

3 c. whole wheat flour

1/2 Tbsp. salt

Raw sugar and kosher salt, for sprinkling

Combine the yeast, water, and sugar in a large bowl; let set for 5-10 minutes until the yeast starts to foam.  Add the vinegar, then the oil.  Then add the all-purpose flour. stirring well to combine after each cup.  Then add 1 c. whole wheat flour and the salt; stir well.  Stir in the remaining two cups of whole wheat flour and mix until everything is combined.  The dough will still be somewhat sticky.

Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.

Grease (generously) two loaf pans.  Divide the dough into two loaf shapes and arrange in pans.  I find it easiest to grease my hands for this job.  Cut a few shallow slits across the top of the loaves, then sprinkle lightly with the raw sugar and kosher salt.

Bake at 375 for 45-55 minutes until crusty and golden (and 195-200 degrees inside if you want to go that route).

Potassi-yum :o)

I had no choice but to entitle a post "Potassi-yum."  No choice.

This post goes through a day in the life of proper sodium and potassium consumption.  It was a day that both Zach and I had off, so we got to eat all of our healthy meals together.

Not pictured: the banana I had before Zach woke up, the green tea latte of which I had half in the morning and half in the afternoon, the tea with milk I had before lunch, the nutella-orange bostock we got after our walk to Pistacia Vera, the 14 walnut halves and 1 Tbsp. of raisins I had after we got back from the gym, or the snacks we had at a farewell open house for Zach's brother and his wife....but those were indeed counted toward my potassium/sodium (and fruit, and dairy, and total Calorie....) goals.

We started out the day with coffee on the porch.

It was a sunny but chilly day, but blankets helped. I didn't realize how cold it was until, after eating, I took a sip of my coffee and it was so cold it hurt my teeth.

This is what we ate:

It was a hash of caramelized onion and garlic, white potatoes, white beans, and lightly-sauteed spinach  With parsley.  Fried egg(s) on top and yogurt on the side.

Another view:

We should eat all of our meals outside; the pictures turn out much better.

After breakfast was when we took our walk to Pistacia Vera (two-ish miles away).  It was very crowded, so we walked quite a few blocks to an espresso bar/chocolatier.  When we were about a block away, we decided to go back to Pistacia Vera again, where we had espresso and our bostock, which was, to be honest, my least-favorite thing we have had from there.

I guess bostocks are pictured after all, just so that you know what they are.  I sure didn't know what a bostock was.  The one we had was brioche (possibly soaked in something alcoholic) with a layer of nutella on top, covered with what seemed to be an eggy-sugary-almondy goop, then baked/broiled.  Apparently there is also a soccer player somewhere named Bostock, because when I google-imaged the word, most of the pictures were soccer related.

We walked home, and eventually had lunch.  We had the acorn squash pictured first at the beginning of this post, and now a few more times:

It was baked, then stuffed with a mix of quinoa, white beans, fresh dill, diced green onions and red peppers, caramelized onions, golden raisins, and lemon juice 

On the side was a salad of sliced mushrooms (the last of my huge mushroom haul...sad), red peppers, onion, dill, toasted walnuts, and lemon juice. 

 Lemon juice (and vinegar) goes a long was in adding flavor while not adding sodium.  Chefs have been known to say that if you avoid processed foods, you can salt your food liberally and your sodium intake will be fine.  This is not true.  The recommended 2300 mg sodium/day is about one teaspoon.  The average shake of a salt-shaker is 1/16th of a teaspoon.

Our afternoon was spent on about and hour or so at the open house and two or so hours at the gym.  At home, we (I) cooked up supper:

Sauteed asparagus, mushrooms, and diced chicken with garlic, green onions, and more dill.  Served over more quinoa (for Zach.  I wasn't very hungry and I didn't want to waste stomach space on the less-potassiumy foods).  

Avocado and lemon on the side, along with apple slices.

And that was our food for the day!  Stay tuned for more potassium goodness.

Potassium

I have done a few food experiments over the years, especially when I was in school studying various diets for my Medical Nutrition Therapy class.  I would do them for two weeks so that I would be able to better advise patients who must follow those diets.  I did vegetarian, I did vegan, I did gluten free, I did dairy free, I did allergen free, I did the DASH diet, I did low sodium, I did liquid (I only did that one for one week), I did diabetic (as in tracking my carbs, fats, and proteins), I did low residue (which, if you look at it, goes against everything you believe to be true), etc., etc.  


I did NOT do pureed foods and thickened liquids.  Gross.

Anyway, recently I have had two dietary goals: get enough dairy and fruit every day.  Those are the areas I have the most trouble (I may have written this before, I can't remember).  I know I have written about Supertracker.  Supertracker has a feature where you can track how you've done on various things, viewing graphs that show the history of the physical activities you have logged, the various nutrients, etc.  

This is my potassium log, from February 1 until now:

Ouch.

For those that don't know, potassium helps to balance excessive sodium in the bloodstream.  It does other things, too, but this is a big focus for us Americans who tend to consume too much sodium.


Speaking of consuming too much sodium:

That green line is so very low on the sodium chart, and so very high on the potassium one.  Sigh.  Keep in mind that during the days that these charts represent, I was eating very healthfully: very few processed foods, very little added salt or condiments (other than hot sauce, and even that was limited), lots of fresh vegetables and fruits and legumes and all the things you should be eating.  Even with all this, there were only 11 days (out of 52) where I properly limited my sodium, and 10 where I had enough potassium....and that includes the last four days where I hit both goals because I was really trying to.

So, as I was looking at my fancy graphs, I noticed my upsetting potassium and sodium trends and decided to have another of my two week food goal plan things.  I am four days in, and so far I have met the goals every day.

But boy, this is the hardest one I've done yet.

It's not that there aren't a lot of foods that have potassium.  There are, and those are foods that I typically eat several of on most days.  It's just that you need so much potassium.  4,700 mg/day.  To give you a little perspective, a banana--the food that everyone knows has potassium--has just around 422 mg, or 12% of your daily requirement.  That's nothing.

Bananas are dumb.

Thankfully, there are many foods that have much more potassium that bananas.  Here are two good sources for reading about foods high in potassium.

http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20721159,00.html

http://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/food-sources-of-potassium.php


For these four days now, I have been eating lots of spinach, mushrooms, sweet/regular potatoes, bananas, avocados, winter squash, dried apricots, white beans, etc.  This is all well and good until I realized that my trends for vitamins C, D and E were suffering.  Sigh.  Just can't win.  One thing that makes me very happy is that dairy contains a decent amount of potassium.  Woohoo, two birds with one stone! :o)

My next several posts (or at least one) will be about potassium-y foods, what I have been eating, and maybe even a little more of this exciting information!  Keep reading!

Sweet Potato Collard Soup and a Rainy Day Playlist

Today is a cozy day at the RIC; people doing work and Perspectives homework in the dining room on a rainy, grey day.  I started some soup from a bunch of ingredients that needed to be used and listened to my current favorite playlist of songs by my "friends" while it cooked.

Sweet Potato Collard Soup

2 tsp. unsalted butter
2 Tbsp. oil
1 medium onion, diced
3 Tbsp. ginger, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 Tbsp. ground cumin
1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. smoked paprika
8 c. peeled, cubed sweet potatoes
12 c. water
1/2 Tbsp. salt
1 Tbsp. oil
1 lb. fresh collards, chopped (or  frozen, thawed and drained)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 Tbsp. ground fennel
1 1/4 c. brown rice, cooked
3 bratwurst, raw

Heat butter and oil in bottom of medium soup pot.  Add onion, ginger, and garlic.  Cook, stirring frequently, until golden-brown.  You may need to add a little water to keep them from sticking.  Add cumin, cinnamon, pepper, and paprika and sauté for 2 minutes, again adding water if needed.  Add sweet potatoes, water, and salt.  Bring to a boil, then simmer, covered, until potatoes are soft, about 25-30 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining Tbsp. oil in a large skillet; add collards.  Saute until they start to soften.  Add salt and fennel, and water, if needed, so that there is a thin layer (1/4 inch) on bottom of skillet.  Add bratwurst to pan; cover and cook five minutes.  Flip bratwurst and cook another five minutes.

Mash sweet potatoes slightly using a masher, whisk (what I used), or immersion blender.  Set bratwurst aside and add collard mixture and brown rice to sweet potatoes.  Rinse the frying pan, then use it to brown the bratwurst on two sides.  Remove from heat and allow bratwurst to set for five minutes before cutting into small pieces.  Add to soup.

Makes twelve 1 1/3 c. servings.  One serving contains 227 Calories, 1 c. vegetables, 1/2 oz. protein, 1 tsp. oils, 37 empty Calories, 3 g. saturated fat, and 680 mg. sodium, according to Supertracker.


If I hadn't had the bratwurst and cooked brown rice on hand, I would have added 3/4 c. red lentils, 1/2 c. uncooked brown rice and an extra cup or two of water to the sweet potatoes at the beginning, cooking until rice is soft before mashing the potatoes and adding the collards.

Granola Recipe

This is the lower-fat granola recipe that I use.  The higher-fat granolas made with lots of oil and sugar have a more tender crunch to them; this one is a little crisper.  It is still not low fat, but at least it has a much more reasonable amount of calories than a lot of homemade granolas do.

A serving is 1/2 cup and is 241 Calories*.  If you keep track of the balance of your diet (I use https://www.supertracker.usda.gov/) it provides 1 oz. of whole grains, 1/4 c. fruit, 1/2 oz. protein, and 1 tsp. oils (from the nuts).  It actually provides those things even if you don't keep track of what you eat.


Granola

8 c. Old Fashioned Oats
2 c. Raw Nuts/Seeds (for this batch, I used 1/2 c. slivered almonds, 1 c. (minus 1 Tbsp) sunflower seeds, 1 Tbsp. sesame seeds, and 1/2 c. pumpkin seeds)
1 1/2 Tbsp. Cinnamon
1 Tbsp. Ground Ginger
1 1/2 c. Brown Sugar
1/2 c. Water
1 Tbsp. Vanilla
2 c. Dried Fruit (I used 1/2 c. golden raisins, 1/2 c. dried cherries, and 1 c. chopped dates)

Preheat oven to 275 degrees.
Mix together the oats, nuts/seeds, and spices.

Heat together brown sugar and water in small saucepan over medium-high until sugar dissolves.  Cool slightly, stir in vanilla, then pour over oat mixture.  Mix well until the sugar mixture evenly coats everything.
Spread onto sheet pans (it will probably take 2-3 cookie sheets) in a thin layer.

Put in oven and bake for 15 minutes.  Stir well.  Bake another 15 minutes.  Stir well again.  Repeat until granola has been baked for 1 hour and is slightly browned and crunchy.

It's hard to tell from these pictures, but the uncooked granola looks darker brown and wet.  Finished granola is golden and evenly dry/crispy/crumbly.  If in doubt over whether it is done, remove a small amount from the pan and allow it to cool, then taste it.  If it's still too chewy, put it in the oven a little longer.

 Add dried fruits; stir.

Allow granola to cool completely, then put in an airtight container for storage.  Some people like to put it in the refrigerator, but mine has never gone bad on me yet.

Now, eat! 

I don't particularly like cereal, but I'm trying to get more dairy into my life.  Here is how I like cereal when I do eat it: pour a few shredded wheat biscuits into a bowl, then a little granola, then a little raisin bran, and then top it off with some cheerios and milk.


*The recipe I used to use was the Crunchy Granola recipe in the More with Less cookbook.  Per half-cup serving, that granola had 333 Calories, 1 oz. whole grains, 1 1/2 oz. protein, and a whopping 3 tsp. oils.

Thai Meal!

We had a neighbor over for dinner mid-January, and made a Thai meal:

Chicken legs with a garlic-fish sauce glaze.

Som Thaam (green papaya salad), one of my favorites. 
A slaw with a spicy sweet-sour-fish saucey dressing and little nuggets of roasted peanuts.

Laap.  A salad made from ground meat (pork loin in this case), green onions,
cilantro, and fresh mint, seasoned with lime juice, fish sauce, and brown rice powder.

Cucumbers, mint, and basil



Sticky Rice Bundles wrapped in bamboo leaves.

Mushroom Sticky Rice Bundles in Bamboo Leaves
Makes 10

10 Dried Bamboo Leaves
1/4 c. Oil
6 Green onions, chopped
6 oz. Mushrooms, diced
1/4 c. Water Chestnuts, chopped
1/2 Tbsp. Soy Sauce
2 Small Chillies, seeded and finely chopped
1 tsp. Sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp. Cilantro, chopped
2 c. White Glutinous (Sweet) Rice, washed and well drained
1 Tbsp. Soy Sauce
1/2 tsp. Black Pepper

Soak the bamboo leaves, either overnight in cold water or in for 10 minutes in boiling water, until soft.  Drain.

Heat 2 Tbsp of the oil in a frying pan or wok; cook green onions and mushrooms over high heat for 2-3 minutes.  Stir in water chestnuts, soy sauce, chilli, sugar, and cilantro.  Allow to cool.

Bring 1 1/2 c. water to a simmer.  Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a saucepan, add the rice, and stir for two minutes, or until coated.  Stir in 1/4 c. of the hot water over low heat until it is all absorbed.  Repeat until all the water has been added; this should take 10-20 minutes.  Add the soy sauce and season with pepper.

Fold one end of a bamboo leaf on the diagonal to form a cone.  Hold securely in one hand and spoon in 2 Tbsp. of rice.  Make an indent in the rice, add 1 Tbsp. of mushroom filling, then top with another tablespoon of rice.  Fold the other end of the bamboo leaf over to enclose the filling, then secure with a toothpick.  Tight tightly with kitchen string.  Repeat with the remaining ingredients.

Put the rice parcels in a single layer inside a bamboo steamer (or other steamer, or a colander suspended over a pot of simmering water and covered tightly).  Cover with lid and sit over a wok/pot half filled with simmering water.  Steam for 1 1/2 hours, or until the rice is tender, adding more boiling water to the wok as needed.  Serve hot.


Then you peel off the bamboo and eat glorious, mushroom-y, soy-y sticky rice!  Here is a link to a recipe for other kinds of sticky rice pockets, with a video showing how to fill them, which may be helpful.

I adapted this recipe from The Essential Rice Cookbook.




Two Salads and a Sandwich

I either need to stop cooking so often or start making blog posts more often.  I think the second one sounds better.  SOOOOOO far behind in my blurry phone food pictures.


I recently made a trip to the fruit and nut store and got a bunch of ingredients for granola (post/recipe coming soon) so that Zach can have granola and yogurt for breakfast again after a long, long drought.  I remembered my long-unvisited love for walnuts, bought some, and have been putting them in various salads, etc. lately.

The salad in this picture looks pretty much like just spinach; thankfully I remembered to write down what was in it so I wouldn't just be guessing.

 

 

Spinach salad with gala apple (a REALLY good one that I got from Sanfillipo Produce), chopped Calamata olives and capers, manager's special "Spicy Asian" chicken breast, diced avocado, raw walnuts, lemon juice, and kosher salt.

 

 

Another recent trip to Sanfillipo's got me 10 lbs. mushrooms, 8 lbs. strawberries, 5 avocados, 2 bunches green onions, 1.75 lbs. arugula, and 2 red bell peppers for $15.  And it just so happens that I had bought 2 lbs. mushrooms on manager's special at Kroger not twenty minutes before going to Sanfillipo's.  12 lbs. of mushrooms is a lot.

 

(This is only about 5-6 lbs of mushrooms)

 I had sautéed mushrooms and zucchini for lunch that day, sautéed, garlicky green beans and mushrooms in whole-wheat tortillas with hoisin sauce and Sriracha for dinner that night, sautéed mushrooms, green beans, asparagus, and yellow bell peppers (which I think might be the ultimate combo of sautéed vegetables) with dinner last night, and the following salad for lunch today:

 

 

 

I started by roasting some cauliflower (a manager's special, of course, from like two months ago...I'm glad cauliflower keeps so well!): two heads cut into flowerets, tossed in 1 tsp. canola oil, curry powder, smoked paprika, and 1/2 tsp. kosher salt, roasted on parchment paper at 400 degrees until they were browned as much as I wanted them to be (10-15 minutes?).

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, I assembled the rest of the salad and medium-boiled an egg.

 

 

Arugula, spinach, corn (thawed), mushrooms, cucumber, onion.

 

I added the cauliflower and egg, dressed it with lemon juice and kosher salt, and ate it.....gooooooooooooooooood.

 

 

Last night for dinner, along with the brilliant sautéed vegetable medley, we had pork bocadillos (I say "bocadillo" instead of "sandwich," because they were inspired by the sandwiches made for us by last year's Spain team, and I say "pork" instead of whatever pork is in Spanish, because I don't know what pork is in Spanish off the top of my head).

 

 

 

A whole wheat bun, buttered and toasted.  On the bottom bun: mayonnaise, leaf lettuce, sweet pickled jalapenos, sliced tomatoes, and thinly sliced pork loin marinated in garlic, oregano, coriander, salt, red wine vinegar, and olive oil (then pan-fried).  Sometimes I add a fried egg.

 

 

 

On the top bun was more mayonnaise, sliced cucumber, mustard, and Sriracha.

 

 

 

Mmmmmmmm.