Salvaging the cookies: an allegory of good stewardship

Since I began the wheat free diet a week ago, I have been on the lookout for some gluten-free/wheat-free alternatives to old favorites...like cookies.  When I keep my nephew, one of his favorite kitchen activities we can do together is to make cookies.  It doesn't seem fair to make traditional wheat-based cookies that only he can eat, so I tried to find something somewhat nutritious and not gross.  My answer:  peanut butter cookies.

I remember making a very simple peanut butter cookie last year that had only three ingredients:  sugar, peanut butter and egg, so I went with that.  Simple they were, but cloyingly sweet!  Yuck!  Of course, my nephew loved them, but my son didn't like them much, nor did I.  Being the good steward of resources that I am, I hate throwing things away, so I decided to try and save them.  I watched an episode of Americas Test Kitchen not too long ago which stated that sandwich cookies were the way to go to get the biggest peanut flavor for your cookie buck.  Using about 2 T of cream cheese and 2 T of natural crunchy peanut butter, I whipped them together to make a filling, then spooned about 2 t between 2 of the overly sweet peanut butter cookies.  The results, pretty good!  After my long run yesterday, I inhaled 1 and a half of them with a glass of milk, which might have been 1/2 too much.  But anyway, they are actually edible, if rich.

Next time, I may try a recipe which uses a gluten free flour blend in addition to the sugar and PB, and make sure to use extra peanut butter.  This time, the recipe I used was:

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg

mix, scoop 1 T on cookie sheet, press down with fork, bake at 325 for about 10-12 min or until browned.  Cool on cookie sheet for 2 min (ended up being more like 8), then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

I keep notes about what I cook and eat, not because I'm obsessed with details or food, but because I hate to waste.  Other people I live with are not such good stewards of what they've been given, and I see this as a great travesty.  God gave me dominion over the earth, including animals, flora and fauna, the soil and water.  When I waste or destroy or am apathetic about any of these things, I feel like I'm letting Him down; letting humanity down; letting myself down most of all.  With a bit of creativity and some learning, there's a lot of fun things you can do; reuse old containers, try new recipes, pick up trash with a group of friends, eat your leftovers instead of throwing them away, use your bathwater for plants, etc.

The first time I became consciously aware of the word, "stewardship" was in 11th grade AP English class.  I was fortunate enough to have a wonderful teacher, Mr. Dave Scott, who was quite the philosopher.  His class was never boring, always challenging, and very different than others.  He used quotes by people like Steven Covey (of the 7 Habits fame) to get us thinking before we started writing our essays.  He always left thoughtful comments and questions after grading our papers to push us even farther.  I guess I used the word steward in one of my essays, and he made me aware of it in a comment.  Since that time, I've taken great care to be the best steward I can.  Merriam-Webster's definition is like a housekeeper:  "one employed in a large household or estate to manage domestic concerns (as the supervision of servants, collection of rents, and keeping of accounts)" (2013, www.m-w.com).  Emphasis on the managing part, I see this as a daily duty.  When I let small jobs pile up, they can seem insurmountable, but if I tend to them regularly, they are much easier to manage.  Just like the cookies.  :)

wheat free and other sordid details

Dear readers, it has been too long since my last post.  I have really missed writing.  I've been using a lot of my emotional energy doing very important tasks, (more on this later) but I've got a spare moment to share.

During the last few months, I've noticed itchy dry patches of skin on my son's body.  I flipped open my baby books to the diet and allergy sections, and decided to start doing elimination tests to see if that made any difference in his skin's condition.  Accompanying this itchy skin are sometimes irritated anus, and extra wakefulness at night; these are all indications of a food sensitivity.  Children under the age of 2 are particularly vulnerable to food sensitivities because their intestines and bacterias inside are not very big or developed.  Some big offenders are dairy, wheat, soy, corn, coconut, citrus fruits and tomatoes.  !  Dairy?  Wheat?  Hello, those two items are in almost every prepared food item, and a big promoted staple of our diet, according to many agencies.  Whole grains are shown on the food pyramid poster at our pediatricians office as embodied by brown bread, pasta, rice and potatoes.  Protein and dairy show cartons of milk, yogurt, and cheese.  If you pay attention to ingredient labels, you will find all sorts of whey and soy proteins in things you never thought you'd find them.  It's actually been a challenge to feed myself, my 18 month old and my husband healthy foods that we all enjoy.

We went two weeks free of dairy, and that seemed to clear up the skin.  The instructions were to slowly reintroduce dairy back into the diet, and watch for reactions.  Some people are completely intolerant to all dairy, whereas others can tolerate cheese or yogurt in moderation.  I forgot about it for several weeks because we didn't notice any new symptoms.  After spending a few days babysitting at Auntie/Cousin's house and drinking cow's milk everyday, we noticed the skin flaring up again.  Oh yes, I remembered, take it easy on the dairy.  So, another 2 weeks of abstaining.  Only this time, it didn't make a difference.  Drat.  Back to the books I go.

This time, I see wheat as another big offender and I think back to the last few months of traveling, eating pretzels, toast, wheat bran cereal, homemade breads, pizzas, and I think, ok, now it's time to stop the wheat.  Well, that was a lot easier said than done.  Grandma forgets, and doles out crackers from Grandpa's snack stash.  Daddy forgets and shares his morning toast with baby.  Why isn't this working, Mommy wonders then starts digging a little deeper.  Meanwhile, this is post half-marathon and post-learning about the GI index.  Post- learning and testing lots of gluten-free recipes for the possibility of baking for farmers market and having a friend with Celieac's (sp?) disease.   You can say I've arrived at this time of enlightenment about carbohydrates, health, and cooking simultaneously.  The paths have converged and I have my third eye open without a lot of trying on my part.  I'm reading this book now, Wheat belly : lose the wheat, lose the weight, and find your path back to health by Dr. William Davis, as part of my lessons.

Since I started my path to health back in 2003, post-divorce and very overweight, I've been interested in local foods, slow foods, gourmet cooking, and farm to table.  I've long since plunged headfirst into the rabbit hole of finding out where food comes from, and grown my own for years.  There is no comparison between a home-grown, organic anything to a grocery store flawless specimen.  Organic and/or home grown is always better!  It comes at a price, but listen:  this is your health.  This is your body.  This is your life.  Supposing you only get one shot, I want to fuel mine with the best nature has to offer, not the junk that leaves me bloated, depressed, and craving.  Dr. Davis suggests (I'm only 1/6 of the way through the book) that the hybridized, genetically and fungally modified wheat of today is SO VASTLY DIFFERENT than the wheat of the last 3,000 years or so, that it does crazy things to our bodies.  It was never tested for safety, either, on people or animals, before released into the market.  In the 1970s is when we started to see a real difference in people's waistlines, and that corrolates directly with the prolificy of wheat.  As a physician, he has seen thousands of people's blood sugars spike drastically after consuming wheat bread- even more than after they at a Snickers bar.  !  And you know what?  I believe it.

When I was training for the last half-marathon I ran in late March, I got the advice to "carb-load."  Well, I didn't do it before the first half-marathon I ran, so I thought I would try it.  You know, I had plenty of energy, but I also felt very full and groggy.  AND it took me weeks, yes, weeks to stop craving lots of carbs!  I'm not hypervigilent about my diet; for example, if I feel like eating some cookies, I will.  I'll make sure to drink plenty of water, and lay off sweets for a few days, eat my raw veggies and move on.  I eat a very balanced diet overall, so I don't get upset about "throwing off my diet" by one salty snack, or feeling like I have to workout extra hard because I indulged in something decadent.  I just try to keep a balance.  Well, when I start eating toast, especially, breads, wheat-based cookies and crackers, it's like a drug; I don't want to stop.  I didn't really understand or think too much about it before, but lately I've been experiencing gastric distress. Now with my son and his mysterious ailments, things are starting to be less mysterious and more pointing to the culprit of wheat.  

One time, before I got serious about running, I decided to go one month dairy-free.   I was feeling a little yucky because I would often eat homemade bread, gourmet cheese and wine for my dinner.  This was in my single days before I had to responsibly feed a young child, you see...ahem.  Anyway, my garden was in full swing so I just decided one day, no dairy.  It was really really hard at first.  I felt deprived, and like I couldn't have the foods I loved (macaroni and cheese, parmesean on my spaghetti pomodoro, cheese and wine, pizza).  But you know what?  I adapted.  I made lots of mystery mixed veg creations from my garden.  I went to the market less often, and spent a lot less money.  And after that month, I felt great!  That was back in 2007 or so, and I still remember it like it was yesterday.  The lasting results are that I rarely eat cheese today.  Not because it's bad for me, or because I'm depriving myself, but because I save it for special occasions.  I make a gourmet mac and cheese with squash and gruyere a few times a year.  I make homemade pizza a few times a year.  I eat a cheeseburger a few times a year.  That's what keeps it special, and that's what keeps my guts unclogged of cheese.  I have a sneaking suspicion that my two week trial period of no-wheat will be much the same; a lesson which lasts much longer.

I will try to keep track of what I'm eating, for anybody who may be interested in following:

Day 1: 
 leftover steamed basmati rice with ground cinnamon and soy milk
 Fruit smoothie with banana, peach/mango juice, soy milk, grapes, orange and blueberries
 cup of herbal tea (tension tamer)
 dal soup (made with onion, moong dal, tomato, turmeric, salt, hot chili, garlic) with 1 egg
half an Asian pear
cup of Kenyan tea with local honey
steamed pearl barley with thyme, olive oil and shallots
baked tilapia fillets with lemon
black bean and fresh spinach salad with tomato, cucumber, corn, pineapple, cilantro

Perfect little tea cookie

At last!  After months of (inactively) searching for the perfect little tea cookie, I finally found a good recipe.  It's not quite what I had in mind, (Marie biscuits from India, South Africa) but a pleasant discovery, nonetheless.

As usual, Martha Stewart delivers with this one, "Citrus Cornmeal Shortbread," from her 2008 Cookies cookbook.  Under the "crumbly and sandy" category, they are just slightly sweet.  And I do mean slightly.  Full of freshly grated orange zest, the sweet cream butter and citrus are the stars of this show.  [I use Land O'Lakes unsalted butter for all my baking, incidentally] They are quite rich, so you probably won't want more than 3 or 4 in one sitting, but that's exactly what a tea cookie should be; something to munch while you sip your tea.

I mixed up the dough yesterday, while my bread was fermenting, then let it sit in the refrigerator overnight.  I sliced and baked them while my son was napping this morning. When he woke up, and saw the dining room table covered with pans of cookies, he happily exclaimed, "Quackies!" (he's 17 months and just learning to talk)  It was cute.

I did not have any vanilla extract, so that was the only deviation from the recipe.  [I used King Arthur brand all purpose flour.  Pillsbury or Gold Medal would probably be even better, as these brands are lower in protein.] These would also be very good with a little chopped fresh herbs, like lemon thyme or rosemary.  Next time, I will try this with herbs.  These are very easy to make, if you have a sharp knife, some parchment paper, and several heavy bottomed baking sheets.

Recipe:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
11/2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons yellow cornmeal
1 teaspoon coarse salt

1. Put butter and confectioners' sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until pale and creamy, about 2 minutes.  Add vanilla and zest.  Mix until combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.

2. Reduce speed to low.  Add flour, 2 tablespoons cornmeal, and the salt; mix until well combined, about 3 minutes.  Halve dough; shape each into a log about 11/2 inches in diameter.  Wrap each in plastic, and refrigerate until cold, at least 1 hour.

3. Preheat oven to 300 deg F.  Place remaining 1/4 cup cornmeal on a sheet of parchment paper.  Roll logs in cornmeal to coat.  Cut into 1/2-inch-thick rounds, and space rounds 1 inch apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake until pale golden, 30 to 35 minutes.  Cool on sheet on wire rack.  Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.

Welcome to my madness

I realize I've still been blogging in "Jenneffer in Africa," even though I haven't been in Africa since March of last year.  Many are continuing thoughts that began while I was in RSA, but some are completely unrelated.  Thus begins a new chapter of non-library writing (library and information stuff can be found here, at libraria miscellanea).  I created this blog as a place to talk about my food, art, child, and other things domestic.  It's supposed to be a play on the term "domestic," which is used in Southern Africa to indicate a working mama who comes to your house to cook or clean.  This is what I do for my parents, as I live with them; so I see myself, in a tongue-in-cheek way, as a domestic.

Please enjoy.  Feel free to leave comments.  If they are inflammatory, racist, or asking me to follow you somewhere on the internet, I will delete them.  Otherwise, I enjoy feedback and discussion, and constructive criticism.  And ingredients!  Who doesn't love to receive a surprise in the mail, especially if it's delicious?

Send items to:

Jenneffer Sixkiller
11100 Willow Oak Road
Norwood, NC 28128