How Can a Registered Dietitian Sell Pound Cake and Still be Able to Sleep at Night?

     The very first time I set up a booth at the market (exactly six months ago yesterday!), I had no real intentions of being a market regular.  Like I said here, it was simply something to do to get out of the house and use any earnings from what I sold to contribute to the "DCRF" (Drop Ceiling Replacement Fund).  Since the photo below was taken today you can tell we've had less progress on the ceiling and more progress on the market.

Our ceiling and the place where curtains used to be.  (I'm bad about doing the demolition work without a plan for what is going to go in it's place.)

When I baked for that first Saturday, I stuck to things I had made often. I used a good quality butter, King Arthur flour and plenty of white, brown and powdered sugar in all it's refined goodness.  I didn't feel the least bit guilty because it was Saturday.  Saturdays are on the weekend and in my very strong, educated opinion, Saturday mornings are the day for a homemade cinnamon roll or a family trip to a really good bakery.  I was also still several steps ahead of most things you would buy in a store.  I never have and never will use any man made trans fat (partially hydrogenated oil), high fructose corn syrup or add any kind of preservatives to make a cinnamon roll last for three months on a shelf.  I also started with organic milk and cream (that's what we bought and I didn't see why you would ever give your customers something that you wouldn't eat yourself).  So not too bad of start...

I love decorative packaging.

      Since then, our stand has undergone a lot of changes.  I may have a bona-fied dietetics degree, but I can't say enough about what I've learned about food from the vendors and customers down at the market.  My view of adequate nutrition has certainly shifted from a sharp focus of calculated  "protein, calorie and fluid needs" estimates to a much bigger picture of how the land, animals and people can interact in a way that sustains all three.  From this perspective I've changed a lot of recipes as well as tried to improve packaging methods (using 100% biodegradable to-go boxes for meals, cups and the cellophane cake wrapping and kraft recycled boxes).

A blurry photo of the label on the box that says: "Compost this container!"

     In changing my recipes I've tried to focus on: 

         a.) What can we do to make it taste even better?

         b.) What can we do to make it better for us (land, animals and people)?  

     Following these guidelines, some of the improvements we've made include using all grass fed milk, buttermilk, butter and cream cheese. We also use all organic cream, half and half, yogurt, sour cream and cheese made using sustainable methods.  (Except for the Better Than cheese...so if anyone knows of a really, really, really extra sharp grass fed or organic cheddar let us know).  I've replaced all the "white sugar" with evaporated cane juice, agave nectar or molasses in the majority of the baked goods.  (Even used fresh beets in a chocolate cake that turned out pretty scrumptious!).  In meals and in baked goods, we of course try to use as much local, organic and sustainable grown produce as we can find.

100% organic chocolate birthday cake sweetened with agave nectar and grated beets-yum!!

     This has resulted in a continually improving quality of what we make.  (And we don't say it tastes better until we get "market confirmation" from ya'll even if Reid and I love it).  Below are things that have passed our taste-health improvement test which I'm pretty happy about:

Whole wheat scones-so much better than plain white flour.

Ginger molasses cookies with dark chocolate chips ("Snaps")-delicious.

Whole wheat crust for tomato tartlets-tender, flaky, savory.

Whole wheat vanilla wafers-why not make banana pudding with no refined flour or sugars?

Whole wheat puff pastry-success. Melt in your mouth good success.

Even chocolate croissants turned out to rave reviews using a whole wheat flour.

      I am clearly all about making a treat better for you as long as it tastes better too.  A treat is still a treat and even a dark chocolate cake sweetened with freshly grated beets isn't a replacement for the vegetables, fruit, and other good stuff in your meals.  (Which is why I have never found any good reasoning for diet cookies). A Southern Scratch whole wheat apricot cream cheese pastry is still a treat, but just not one that is going to leave you with major eaters remorse.  

     So while I'm thrilled with the above, I wasn't so thrilled about what I did to pound cake last weekend...  

      Basically, there are some things that can be made with whole grains and taste really good and there are other things that just aren't the same without refined white flour.  This later group definitely includes that pound cake.  We put out samples of our whole wheat experiment Saturday morning and everyone pretty much had the same reaction: "It's good, but it's not pound cake."  

     Reid and I couldn't agree more.  The ones that I added blueberries and a fresh lemon glaze to were a hit. It was more like a rustic coffee cake and the whole wheat enhanced the flavor and texture.  But the ones we left plain tasted more like a slightly sweet yet totally uninspired blend of flour and butter in the shape of a cake pan.  And while I love a good pound cake variation which may work with whole wheat flour, often you just want a really good plain pound cake.  (May my North Alabama grandfather please forgive me for this temporary lack of good Southern judgement in messing up pound cake).

      So we've settled it:  

Southern Scratch Rule:  Pound cake should and will remain a white flour, white sugar cake.  No apologies.

Pound cake is not health food.
(It will still have grass fed butter and buttermilk along with organic extracts and cage free eggs-those ingredients always pass our "taste better, better for you in this recipe" test).

     Luckily, good health isn't an all or nothing thing.  Good nutrition is made up of a lifetime of consistently good habits along with a warm cinnamon roll on Saturday morning or a slice of really good pound cake for company.  With this in mind I don't have any problems sleeping at night and I hope you don't either.  

     Looking forward to seeing everyone at the market this Saturday where there will be plenty of whole wheat scones AND pound cake!

Anybody else have a 6 pound slab of bacon in their fridge?

      Could there be anything more delicious than bacon?  Growing up we didn't eat much of it save for holidays.  My mom is also a dietitian and I'm sure figured that all the nitrates and nitrites saturating a piece of meat that really counts as a fat isn't something you promote as a "healthy breakfast option."  Instead, we grew up eating high fiber cereal or oatmeal for breakfast (or gourmet homemade flax seed muffins, fresh squeezed juices, fruit salad and egg white omelets whenever the TV station showed up to film).  In high school I moved on to eating "The Mix" alongside my parents and in college I worked at a donut shop (which is in no one's definition considered a "healthy" breakfast but still didn't sell anything with bacon.)  

       So it shouldn't have come as a surprise that when I met Reid, bacon still wasn't a staple in my fridge.  After a couple months of dating, and many meals he had eaten at my house, he asked/stated:  "So, I guess you don't eat bacon?"  I was shocked at such a preposterous statement and replied adamantly, "Of course I eat bacon.  I love bacon. Who doesn't love bacon?"  "Oh," he said, "I just have never seen you buy any."  

Reid and I after a few weeks of dating.  I still have that totally enamored, trusting look on my face.  "Sure, let's go ride motorcycles.  That's the smartest thing I've ever heard." 

        That was all the green light I needed to go out and buy a big package of bacon.  Not being educated on the finer points of pork (yet), I chose some center cut bacon which claimed to have 30% less fat than normal bacon.  (Also at this time I had no idea what part of the pig bacon came from except that it was probably closest the delicious bone.)   

        Slowly but surely I've moved from buying the cheapest bacon to packaged reduced fat bacon pieces to center cut bacon to only buying nitrite and nitrate free bacon to organic, nitrite and nitrate free bacon. Now I've got my hands on pastured pork bacon.  When I first heard about pastured pork, I thought the meat had gone through some kind of pasteurization process like milk.  Actually it means the pigs get to go out in the pasture (alongside the cows in this case) and graze if they want to.  Yep, they eat grass like their bovine neighbors or are free to root around on the property for acorns and such.  Some breeds can only eat grass with a little whey or slop supplemented. This translates into bacon that ain't that bad, as long as it is processed in an acceptable manner too (as in you don't go add all those nitrates/nitrites ("pink salt") or go soak it in trans fat shortening).

       Anyway, a couple months or so ago I found out Tink's Grass Fed Beef also had Grass Fed Pork (or pastured pork).  Since my relationship with sausage is similar to that of bacon, I got excited that a "forbidden food" could actually be okay for you and tried out the sausage.  (So incredible, you don't even need to put mustard on it if you don't want).  So a couple weeks ago I asked Carissa, Tink's daughter, if they had any bacon.   (I didn't know when I asked that "bacon" was a finished product, not the cut of meat.)  "No, she posted, "but we have some pork belly to make bacon with.  Just let us know if you're interested in making it."  My stream of consciousness immediately went something like this:

      Was I interested in making homemade bacon?  Had one of my deepest fantasies actually come true?  Of course I wanted to make homemade bacon.  After I got tired of eating it three meals a day and for snacks, I would use it to win friends and influence people by feeding them homemade bacon.  Company would love to come over because the smell of homemade bacon would make our home on par with the Robert Toombs House instead of our current bachelor house love nest.  Then I would open a food joint where all we sold were grits, eggs and homemade bacon.  The tourism industry would skyrocket because we would exclusively sell Washington's finest homemade bacon from Wilkes County's finest pastured pork. People would put in orders years in advance for their Washington bacon like they do for ham.  Deer hunters would swear that the only way to season venison is by adding a few slabs of Washington bacon on it.  It would open the floodgates to commerce. I can't believe I'm getting to make homemade bacon.  Homemade bacon is probably the most fantastic product in the world. I love bacon.

Robert Toombs House-Washington, GA

Our House-Washington, Ga

     So at the market Saturday I asked Carissa about the bacon.  "Here it is.  It takes a couple weeks to cure then you probably need to smoke it. Let us know what works."  I  have never cured meat besides letting some freshly cut vacuum sealed beef sit in the fridge for a week (which I was told meant "curing" it) before cooking it.  And now I have a slab of future bacon weighing in at 5.83 pounds sitting in our fridge.  I'm going to take the Wade's advice they got from an old rancher (as Tink said, "When old men talk, listen closely.") and salt the meat for 7-12 days, keep it in the fridge to cure, then figure out a way to smoke it.

5.83 pounds of pastured pork belly..aka BACON!!

       I'm thinking of cutting the slab in half and doing one side ground pepper and kosher salt then taking the other side and doing a sweet salty cure with some of the Carrol's local honey. (Which I've got to go stock up on for granola anyway).  The possibilities are endless and I've got at least a week to find someone with an outdoor wood smoker for the first batch of Washington bacon...

An Amazing Dish You Can Make from a Farmer's Market Located in a Town of About 4,000 People.

          We eat a lot of wheat in this country.  And a ton of corn.  And a good amount of rice.  These grains are staples worldwide and offer great nutrition when eaten in their whole forms (not totally refined of all bran, germ, etc. which produces "white" flour).   But c'mon...we need a little variety!  Would we know what to do with millet?  Or quinoa (pronounced keen-wah; I totally messed that pronunciation up for a while)?  Or whole barley?  Well, I've got just the thing...


          So one night I was making dinner for some friends and ran out of arborio rice for risotto.  I had a box of a multi-grain pilaf mix and since some of the grains looked about the same size as the rice, I threw it in the pan.  It turned out fantastic.   So the next time I went to Your Dekalb Farmer's Market in Decatur, GA (Atlanta) I stocked up on a ton of different whole grains.  Monday night for dinner I just happened to have some kale from Lazy Willow Farm, a pound of pastured pork sausage from Tink's Grass Fed Beef, and a few extra dried figs.  (Also some organic spring mix that didn't get eaten for salad but next time I would probably just use more kale). Since it turns out Tink's Grass Fed Beef will be a the Washington Farmer's Market and Sandy from Lazy Willow will be back I thought I would share what I did.  (And just to make it even easier on everyone, I'm making up some pilaf & spice mixes you can get at our booth since not everyone has 7 types of grain on hand...)

Step 1:  Become a crazy person who buys up anything edible.

Some of my spoils used to make this meal.

Step 2:  Prep your veggies first.  Slice and peel a small head of GARLIC.  (Do garlic first so it can rest about 10 minutes to fully mobilize it's anti-cancer properties).  Chop an onion (I used red).  Wash KALE from Lazy Willow Farm. To slice, stack the leaves (an inch or so of the bottom stem cut off) and kind of roll them up a little.  This makes it more like slicing celery then a bunch of loose lettuce.  You can also get thinner slices this way.

Step 3:  Grab the grains (or a pre-measured & pre-spiced one from our booth tomorrow at the market) and "eye it" with some of each into a large skillet drizzled in olive oil.  Turn it on medium heat and stir the grains so they get a little oil on them.

White and black quinoa, bulgur wheat, amaranth, cracked wheat,  oat groats, pearl barley. 

Step 4: Add the onion and garlic and let everything toast around in there a couple minutes.  Add water, starting with about a cup.  Stir then add raisins, dried figs and walnuts.  After each addition of water, stir to mix and leave alone for a few minutes.  The water will be roughly 2x the amount of grains (so 1 cup of grains=2 cups of water).  You will keep slowly doing this until all the water is absorbed and the grains are softened but not mushy.  It is a very forgiving recipe since you can stir and leave it alone a few minutes.  (And those who are multi-tasking know how much you can get done in 3-4 minutes).

Step 5:  While you are adding the liquid to the grain mixture, grab another pan (I used a wok shaped thing I had because it was tall) and brown a pound of Tink's Grass Fed Beef pastured pork sausage.  (FYI:  The sausage is pretty lean so you are only going to render a small amount of fat. If you want, a dab of olive oil in the skillet helps it cook up great)

Adding spices to the simmering grains, nuts, and fruit.

Step 6:  While the sausage is browning, add whole coriander, turmeric, black pepper and marjoram (or dried basil or oregano) to your grain skillet.

Step 7:  Once the sausage is cooked thoroughly, add the meat to the grain skillet.  Then immediately add the kale to the sausage skillet so it can pick up some of the flavor.  Cook it until it wilts and softens slightly (5-10 minutes...we're not completely sucking the life out of them like we do collards).  Then add the kale to the grain skillet.

Left skillet is kale and the right is the browned sausage just added to the grain mix.

Step 8:  So now you have a ton of stuff all in one bowl (grains, nuts, dried fruit, spices, onion, kale, garlic, pastured pork sausage).  Taste it to see if you need to add more turmeric, black pepper or a pinch of salt.

Step 9: Enjoy!  You can also pair this with another market vegetable like we did!  And add mustard...I love mustard.

        What I love about this "recipe" is that the proportions don't really matter all that much.  You can add a TON of vegetables in this (I think celery, carrots, more kale, even spinach or spring mix, etc. would all taste good) and still have a really hearty "non-salad" plant based meal.  Add spices at will.  Add whatever dried fruit or nuts at will.  Think of this as a method and add or take away to make it your own.

        If you want to try out this recipe more exactly like this post, I've made up some bags of the grains, nuts, fruit and spices.  Visit a couple more vendors to get the kale, garlic and sausage at the market and you'll pretty much have everything you need except olive oil and onions.

(Eventually there will be a more comprehensive grain nutrition post, but not tonight and I'll be way too tired to think straight in the morning.  And eventually we'll offer more than just wheat based baked goods but tonight we're settling with whole wheat organic blueberry and raw sugar lemon butter glazed pound cakes.)  

       Okay..back to baking now!  Who all is coming down in the morning?  Or wishes they got to live in a cute small town too that had a cute little market behind the courthouse every Saturday?

How to get eggplant not to taste like mattress foam.

          Up until this summer I had never been a huge eggplant fan.  I would eat it but it wasn't something that I intentionally went out and bought.  Perhaps because the stuff I did make always ended up tasting like a block of foam.  An herb roasted, balsamic vinegar drizzled block of foam.  The big purple stuff had pretty much been knocked out of my cooking repertoire.  Enter the Washington, GA Farmer’s Market. 

          A few weeks ago I asked around to different growers at the market what would be in season so I could plan the Weekday Gourmet menus around it.  (When you cook meals from vegetables picked fresh out of a garden you get a major head start in the taste department).  Sandy LeGette, of Lazy Willow Farm, replied, “Eggplant.  Lots of eggplant.”   Blast nabbit! 

         Since her eggplant was really pretty and looked like a thinner, more manageable piece of foam, I took the plunge and planned meals this fall that included eggplant. (Neither Reid nor I are the type to ever completely give up on a food anyway.   I didn’t eat fish until I was twenty-two but a salmon dinner was put before me and now I love it.  Reid hates raw tomatoes, but every year he tries to eat them just in case his taste buds have done a 180.)

Can you figure out which burger isn't Reid's?

        This is how I got serious about learning to cook eggplant.  Although the spicy paprika eggplant fries I thought were amazing, the following recipe is super simple.  (And a lot easier to clean up than a pan of oil). 

    Ingredients: (Serves 3-4)

    2 long Japanese eggplant

    Extra virgin olive oil

    Sea salt or kosher salt

    Lemon, cut in wedges

    Directions:

1.)    Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.)    Wash and slice the ends off each eggplant.  Split down the middle lengthwise. 

3.)    Score (cut little diamonds with a knife) the fleshy (white) side and sprinkle with a pinch of salt.

4.)    Drizzle the eggplant with olive oil.

5.)    Place with fleshy side down on the baking sheet.  Bake until tender (30-45 minutes). 

6.)    Serve with lemon wedge to squeeze over eggplant.

Upper left hand corner-super simple eggplant.

Does anyone else have a great eggplant recipe?  Or has also tried some of the heirloom varieties down at the market and noticed the difference?


There is definitely going to be some locally grown eggplant available at the market!  Saturday morning 9-12 behind the courthouse in Washington, GA!

The Joy of Squirrel

Future James Beard Winner  

        Even with all the cookbooks available and entire television networks that I am sure have covered every cuisine and dish imaginable, less and less people cook.  One would think with all the extra tutorials and resources available that more people would be cooking now, not less.  I think what may be happening, unfortunately, is that all this talk about gourmet food has driven people into two groups:  Fast Food Fallbacks and Fanatic Foodies.  The middle group, the home cooks who put a balanced dinner on their table every night, is disappearing.  Since I have always really loved and appreciated food, it is hard for me to completely understand the “Fast Food Fallback” mentality, BUT-I think I can relate:


        A couple of years ago my mom got me a subscription to “This Old House.”  Behind my cottage there was an “in-law” house and an unfinished basement.  Since I was bound and determined to live there forever with my dogs she thought I would be interested in learning about how to do renovations.  To a degree she was right.  I had slowly amassed some power tools, enjoyed painting and had built and recovered some furniture.  The magazine though, which is meant to inspire the DIY spirit in old home owners, only crushed mine.  What the heck is a lathe?   How do I go to Lowe’s with this magazine and find all 23 tools and 67 pieces of materials needed to properly repair the door to it's historic origins?  (And in my imagination drive 45 minutes back to Warm Springs only to find I had forgotten something).


I resigned myself to the rest of the issues to just flipping through and looking at the pictures, applauding the homeowners from my comfy,  non-Victorian period sofa.  I decided that when and if the time came to really renovate I would hire someone that already had all 23 tools and 67 pieces.

             In the same manner, I think some of the “foodie” movement has crushed a lot of would-be-cooks' spirits.  When I go into a bookstore and see the rows and rows of gorgeous cookbooks, I think "Well, it looks like this is pretty well covered already.  I guess the only subject left would be a tutorial on how to cook squirrels and other random animals your husband brings home."

A romantic squirrel dinner for two.

              The more we see of perfectly dressed women pulling out perfect meals to a perfectly set table; or see renowned chefs shouting orders so they can get a ten course meal on the table for 200 in an hour, the less attainable family dinner for four (or two) seems.  In the same manner, the “quick meal solutions” that are advertised are full of processed flour, sodium, preservatives and pretty low on flavor.  The result is a lot of eating out, a lot of fast food, and a lot of convenience items from the grocery store that add up to little nutritional value.

My hope through this blog is to help translate those “foods you should be eating” into "meals you are actually enjoying."  As a registered dietitian, I firmly believe that all of us can cook healthy meals for our families every single day without magically becoming kitchen experts first.  As more of a confessed “fanatic foodie” I believe all those meals can be incredibly delicious.  And as someone who is not a total stranger to the drive-thru, I can definitely understand those days when all you want to eat is anything you don’t have to cook. (Squirrel included)

Don't get crushed, I don't cook this much every night.  It was just a good vegetable picture.

What group do you lean toward more?  Do you get overwhelmed when you hear chefs talking about all the spices they are adding in a recipe or excited to go try it?   Are you one of those people I read about whose picture I look at that have actually restored one of the gorgeous Victorians or Antebellums here in Washington or elsewhere?


Tell me about it!  (It's a small town so if you don't talk about yourself somebody else will).  

Coming up:  The next couple posts will be centered around recipes based on locally grown produce that is going to be available at the market this Saturday, October 30th!  So far I’ve heard there will be kale, sweet potatoes, garlic, peppers, eggplant and Jerusalem artichokes (Don't worry-I've never had one of those last things either).  

Not From Washington

        Just over seven months ago, I married a country boy who lived in a town I had never heard of before meeting him.  At a bridal shower hosted by my future mother-in-law's good friends at the Washington Woman’s Club, I met several girls who introduced themselves as “NFW’s.”  This is how I learned that I too, was an NFW:  Not From Washington.

This is the summary of what all took place as soon as I said "I do", packed up my life and moved to the country:

• Job as a clinical dietitian with lots of great co-workers to being a housewife in the country
• Cute, historical cottage I had spent the last two years decorating to a bachelor pad with drop ceilings and faux wood paneling
• Close to my family to close to his family
• Friends within walking distance to "I know I've met them but what was their name again?" 
• Gym, tennis courts, and hiking trails on a gorgeous historic campus to an overgrown farm with a broken tractor, snakes and coyotes.
• "My dogs are like people"  to "Dogs belong outside"
• My own bathroom + guest bathroom + utility bathroom to “Oh my gosh I didn’t know men lived like this!” bathroom +creepy basement bathroom that I’m sure hasn’t been used in a decade
• Hosting eight course dinner parties to hosting a yard sale  

        This November will be six months since Reid agreed it could be fun for me to bake some things to take down to the Washington, GA Farmer’s Market. I think sensing my surprising loneliness (we were newlyweds, right?), Reid knew it was a good idea for me to “get out of the house."  I was sick of trying to unpack boxes and a little more than overwhelmed by everything I saw that needed to be done in my “new home.”  I felt myself becoming really, really homesick for my little cottage in Warm Springs where everything was how I wanted it- right down to the china closet and dormer room.  I missed how the sheriff would bring my dogs back if they wandered off and how the ladies at my favorite antique store would leave me a note on my door whenever they got some milk glass pieces in. I missed my neighbors stopping over every day to go on a walk or cook with me.  I missed my family history there, my community there, and my place there.

          Bolstered by Reid's support, I tried thinking of a little business name and ideas for what to bake.  I mentioned it to my so creative and oh so awesome older brother who immediately designed a logo for the extra labels I had leftover from my wedding. Then my, "all the marketing you would ever need in Washington, GA" mother-in-law e-mailed half the town that I would be at the market.   Reid stayed up late with me, keeping the dishes washed and wrapping all the treats late into the night. We loaded up the car early in the morning and I headed off to town to sell scones, pound cakes, brownies, cookies and yeast rolls from a folding table.  I had never actually sold anything I had made in my life and was so nervous.  I was only comforted by the fact that if I didn't sell a thing then at least I would have plenty of simple carbohydrates for the emotional eating that would follow while I searched for another clinical job.  

         Instead, I came home from the market that first Saturday exhilarated.  I got out of the car and was literally jumping up and down, hugging Reid, saying "Oh my gosh!  Honey, people actually bought stuff!!"  

      

         That very first Saturday I had gotten to do things I loved all morning long-meeting other vendors, talking to market customers about ingredients, and enjoying the feeling of accomplishment you get when you work hard.  Over food, I found that sense of community and place in Washington I had missed so much about my life in Warm Springs. The market has since continued to provide that connection that sharing a good meal together always brings.  

         Since then, “Southern Scratch” has become one of the most fun and challenging endeavors either of us have ever undertaken.  We are learning to work together in everything from our farm to our family as friends, spouses & business partners. I pray every Friday night not to "snap" when I'm trying to get everything on my order & bake list filled.  Slowly but surely I'm making the bachelor dream home into a comfortable farmhouse so we can welcome friends and family.  We look around at all there is to do on the farm and are overwhelmed (this time in a good way!) by how much God has blessed us by giving us so much work to do.

        And while Reid may have grown up here in Wilkes County and I will always be “Not From Washington,” I couldn’t imagine a better town to live in when you’re starting from scratch!