A FRIDGE FULL OF FOOD...

Cheesecake, Ancient Roman-style: Libum or Honey Cakes

 

Here in the Ozarks, we have an excellent local beekeeper:  Matt, who along with his family, own and run the Amish Country Store on Gretna Road in Branson (You can also mail/phone order by checking out their web site Amish Country Store, although, those of us who make the trip can tell you that there are a multitude of additional wonderful foods, ceramics, and furniture, on the shelves that make it worth your time to seek the store out in person the next time you're in Branson.) Next time you go, tell them "Glenna said Hi!"

 

Matt started beekeeping five years ago with one hive and a can-do eagerness. He's now an experienced beekeeper who maintains his hives as naturally and healthily (for the bees and for us) as possibly by eschewing the use of continuous wide spectrum antibiotics and winter feedings of commercial HFC mixes, instead using of a more bee-environmentally harmonious sugar water with lavender and peppermint mixture. His care has paid off in that he now manages fifty hives, which not only produce honey but help local farmers cross-pollinate crops.

This recipe for Libum or "honey cakes", dating back to 160 B.C. and written by Cato the Elder, Roman Statesman, is found in his book De Agri Cultura (translated: "On Farming"). Libum is the Roman version of cheesecake, used both as celebratory food and as sacrifices to the houseold spirits or gods.  It's a fun and appropriate choice to focus on honey, one of the oldest foods known to man. Revered for its antibacterial properties, it makes an excellent wound dressing and its composition from local pollens boost the immune systems of the honey-vores consuming it.

I have a couple of notes about the recipe. First: bay leaf.   I know it may sound like a funny choice since it's not usually associated with desserts in our present day culture, but don't leave it out. I was pleasantly surprised at how wonderful the bay smell while baking and what a subtle influence it was on the final taste. Not traditional to us, but a flavor I can only describe as "homey" or "cozy", and one that I think will become almost addictive to me with more use. I'll definitely be baking bread/dinner rolls on bay leaves in the future.

While these are called "cakes" the final texture is a cross between bread and cake. Not as light and fluffy as butter/sponge cake but not as chewy as bread. The ricotta gives a unique texture that is both soft and light while still warm but also denser when cooled. Not a texture we use a lot but a great experience for kids and adults alike.

Overall, this was a very fun recipe to make, eat, and think about culture and cooking from centuries ago. This would be a great Sunday School or Home School recipe to play with, easy for the kids to put together themselves and easy on the wallet, bringing kids closer to a tangible understanding of the reference to "honey cakes" in history, literature, and scripture. It will also definitely give them a better appreciation for  all the varieties of sweets we have available to us in our era!

More links to honey recipes

 Honey Curry Roasted Chicken-- OMG good! One of Gene's FAVORITE chicken recipes.

Honey, Cardamom, and Almond Rugelach -- One of my favorite cookies

Home-made Granola with Dried Fruit & Honey --Breakfast done right

Blood Orange & Lavender Muffins -- Summery goodness

Orange Olive Oil Cake with Honey -  Love this recipe! Whole food at its best.

 

Home-made Real Food V8 Juice, AKA: Vegetable Smoothie

Lately, more and more, I've become obsessed with  cooking from scratch and that includes finding real food clean eating recipes for my favorite packaged processed foods. Take V-8 for example.  I love it.  Plain tomato juice is boring to me but V-8 is complex and satisfying, not to mention gives me that "I've done something good for my body" high.

However, what I don't like is reading the can that lists the fake flavors, "modifiers", high sodium level, and what-nots in the ingredient list, as well as, the lack of fiber.  With a little research I was able to create my own version

My version is a little less tomato-y because I used more of an equivalency amongst the vegetables instead of the 85% tomato juice base of V-8 with the other veggies serving more as taste garnishes.  My version is also thicker, more of a veggie smoothie than a juice since I made it in the blender instead of a juicer.  No offense to those who juice, but I've always had a small problem with all the fiber that gets thrown away with the juicing process. It seems sort of....bass ackwards to eating clean and healthy foods.

I've also found that my V-8 Vegetable Smoothie isn't just for drinking with breakfast or as an afternoon snack.  Simmered on the stove for about 20 minutes, it became a perfect marinara over pasta.  It also gave the chili I made the other night a nicely rounded complexity when it replaced the 2 cups of tomatoes or salsa I usually add.  Served in a soup bowl with a dollop of sour cream? Gazpacho. This freezes well too, simply pour extras into a freezer baggie to be used (best cooked after frozen)) as marinara or recipe add-ins later.  The possibilities are endless.

Chicken Chow Mein: Better For You Than Mom's--Sorry Mom!

Chicken Chow Mein (my Mom's) was my childhood favorite.  We each got to request our dinner and cake for our birthday and Chicken Chow Mein was always my menu. 

Now....there's a funny family story about our cake choices as kids.  My "cake" was always my Nannie's banana bread. My brother Kenneth's choice was always Angel Food Cake with NO frosting, dad's choice was pie, and at the moment it escapes me what my other siblings' (Suzanne and Carl) choices were. I'll have get them to comment to remind me.

Nothing funny, right?  Here's the punchline. Our Mom was a cake decorator.  After making cakes for every kid in town (and us getting all the mistakes and leftovers all the time), and even telling us she'd make us any kind/design we wanted no matter how involved, we were so burned out on cake we all denied our Mom the pleasure of making our birthday cakes. Were we brats, or what?  Yes!  (Laughing) What Mom on the planet has to put up with kids who cry "Please, Mom, please! Don't make us eat cake for our birthdays! Please!"  Brats. We were cake-spoiled brats!

My Mom's Chow Mein, was great and I asked for it every year. It was also healthy. Except...when I started making it as an adult I realized that for a dish with lots of vegetables there was very little color:  water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, baby corn, and bean sprouts, are all pretty boring looking.  To dress up the aesthetic and the vitamin content, I've included many more colorful vegetables in my version.

I don't think we're safe anymore

"Working Towards Whole Wheat" Bread

I call this my "Working Towards Whole Wheat" bread because it's got some whole wheat in it but it's still "white" enough to please the non-whole wheat fans like kids...or Gene.  :-)  Personally, I love whole wheat bread, pancakes,etc. Love the sweeter, toothier texture, but not everyone does. This is a nice compromise. A little whole wheat, a lotta white wheat, and a hidden fiber dose of Benefiber that no one can taste. And then it's an easy transition to a little more whole wheat every couple of weeks and a little less white flour.  Sometimes healthier eating habits are more about compromise than starting cold turkey eating the things we know we're supposed to while whining in our hearts that we want the old ways.  Tastebuds can be retrained.

Artisan Egg Bread Topped with Freshly Roasted Garlic on Steakhouse Night at Home

Juicy Filet Mignon wrapped in bacon, baked sweet potato, a nice deeply rich cabernet, and hot out of the oven home-made bread smeared with soft butter and heaped with sweet roasted garlic, all served on nice linens with pretty stemware--night out at a restaurant? Nope, night in at home. 

 For great recipes and the full explanation behind the method, I highly recommend this book and its sequel Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day (whole grained recipes). I was given these books as gifts (Thanks, Ann!) and they've quickly become two of my favorites. For years, I kept angel biscuit dough in the fridge so we could have fresh bread with dinner every night and/or kept frozen dinner roll dough in the freezer for the same reason. One of the things I like most about this book and its concepts are being able to make a week's worth of dough at one time and just pull off as much as I want to bake at one time, whether it's a small loaf or several dinner rolls. 

There is something so homey, cozy, and comforting about the smell and taste of warm fresh home-made bread that nourishes like nothing else. The ultimate topping? To me, that's a  little olive oil or butter, and either bitingly fresh minced garlic or its smooth and suave cousin, the sweet and mellow roasted garlic.  Directions for roasting garlic follow the bread recipe--such and easy thing to do while waiting for bread dough to rise! The reward is VERY worth it, and a plus side is the leftover garlic freezes beautifully to be used as needed in other recipes.

Celebrating James' Birthday with Auntie Miranda's Grapefruit Cake

(Photo below: James demonstrating his "Dexter knife skills".)

 

After tweeting one night that grapefruit-flavored cake sounded "awful", as usually happens with my crazy family of foodies, the decision was made that we had to make it, bake it, and try it.  Auntie Miranda volunteered her time and James volunteered his birthday--win/win!

After reading through several recipes, Auntie used her own baking skills to create her own version based on elements from different recipes and her own experience.

Our prounouncement:   Delicious!  Just like orange, lemon, or lime, grapefruit is just a twist, so to speak, on the citrus genre.

Thanks, Auntie, for introducing us to this new dish and for sharing your recipe!

 

 

Note: Please excuse the phone pics--forgot my camera.

Copycat Ruby Tuesday's Ham & Pea Pasta Salad

 One of my favorite dishes on Ruby Tuesday's Garden Bar is the ham and pea pasta salad.   From talking with friends, I found that I'm not a lone.  Lots of people hit the salad bar for that pasta dish.  Some even confess to skipping the greens on the bar to save room for that pasta dish.  Tickled to have found a copycat home version for it, I ended up taking it as an entree salad for lunch at work two nights in a row.