MMMM! Soul satisfying baguette!

I love to play with food and I am blessed because there are very few foods that I don't digest well. The magic in food comes not only from eating primarily whole, unprocessed foods, but also from eating a wide variety of them. This helps to get lots of different kinds of nutrients in your diet, helps keep you from getting bored and opens the way to finding ways to fix foods that even the pickiest eaters will love.

When we eat the same things over and over again, we can develop sensitivities to certain foods. In America, one of the things we eat over and over again - in fact for most of us this may be 3 meals a day - is wheat. Wheat, especially refined flour is in almost all processed foods. If you disagree, try avoiding all wheat for a week and see how difficult it can be!

For many of us, we may have wheat sensitivities without being aware of it as we attribute various symptoms to other causes. For people diagnosed with Celiac disease, wheat can be literally life threatening for them.

So this wonderful baguette recipe is wheat free and really easy to make! My sister sent it to me. You can get all the ingredients at Whole Foods Market, but most of these are also available in regular grocery stores as well - usually in their "Health Food" or "Healthy Living" areas. HyVee in the Kansas City area probably has the best selection, but Target, WalMart, Hen House and Target carry some of these ingredients as well. Most of these stores are also willing to begin stocking these items if you ask them!

Quick Flaxseed and Chickpea Baguette

From The Wheat-Free Cook (Available on Amazon)

by Jacqueline Mallorca

1/2 cup flaxmeal

1/2 cup chickpea (garbanzo) flour

1/2 cup brown rice flour

1/2 cup tapioca starch (tapioca flour)

1 tsp xanthan gum

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp fine sea salt

1/4 tsp anise seeds

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp molasses

1 large egg

1 cup water

1/2 tsp sesame seeds

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line large baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In food processor or large bowl, combine flaxmeal, chickpea flour, rice flour, tapioca starch, xanthan gum, baking powder, salt and anise seeds. Process until well mixed, 10 seconds, stir well. In separate bowl, combine olive oil, molasses, egg and water. Stir to blend.

3. Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients all at once. Process long enough to form a firm, sticky batter about 20 seconds, or beat hard with a wooden spoon for 2 minutes.

4. Using rubber spatula, scoop out batter in large dollops and drop them, touching each other, in a diagonal line across baking sheet. Using spatula, form batter gently into a 14-inch long torpedo shape with humps. Do this as lightly as possible so as not to press air out of batter.

5. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake until brown and crusty, about 25 minutes. Transfer loaf to wire rack and let cool.

My notes: My sister and I make this loaf a little bit shorter and wider and bake it 5 minutes longer. You can use fennel seeds or other seasonings like rosemary in lieu of the anise seeds. Feel free to use plenty of sesame seeds on the top. Jars of sesame seeds can be expensive. I get mine from the bulk section at Whole Foods where they are quite inexpensive.

Get creative with different spices!

Xanthan gum is expensive, however, you only use a little at a time so it lasts forever! Keep it in the freezer to keep it fresh. When you start using more of the gluten free flours (and I will be posting some recipes), you will need the xanthan gum to bind the ingredients.

Knock Your Socks Off Bread

When I first started on this journey of discovery, I checked out the "Whole Foods for the Whole Family" cookbook published by La Leche League International from our local library. I was fascinated by the cookbook as it had fabulous recipes that were almost 100% composed of whole, unprocessed foods. Unfortunately I had to return it and didn't have a clue how to obtain a copy (this was pre-internet days!). I recently purchased a copy of it at http://store.llli.org/public/category/4. First published in 1981, the book was revised in 1993 to add the "nutritional information" per serving.

I am always amused when I read the "nutritional information" in any recipe because they list calories, protein, carbohydrates, fiber, fat, cholesterol and sodium. The magic in food doesn't come from these things. It comes from the micronutrients (remember vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, omega 3's, etc.!) and how the synchronicity of the elements in the food impact the body. So, while I love the recipes, I think the nutritional information may cause people to unfairly judge a recipe because it has too much or too little of one of the listed items when in reality, the recipe may have wonderful health affects on the body.

One of the recipes is for a fabulous bread called "Knock Your Socks Off" Raisin Bread. I have copied the recipe exactly as printed in the book. Don't let the recipe scare you off! While the recipe was created prior to automatic bread makers becoming widely available, I modified it for my bread machine. So continue reading through the recipe and see my comments at the end!

1 1/2 T yeast

1 1/2 T honey

1/4 cup lukewarm water

1/2 cup hot milk

1/2 cup butter

2 T honey

2 T molasses

1 T nutritional yeast

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup rolled oats

8 cups whole wheat flour

4 eggs

1 heaping T ground cinnamon

1 cup dark raisins

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1/4 cup sesame seeds

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup packed grated carrots

Dissolve yeast and 1-1/2 T honey in water. Heat milk with butter and pour into large bowl. Stir in remaining honey, molasses, nutritional yeast, salt, yogurt, applesauce and oats. Beat in 1 cup flour, eggs and yeast mixture. Add 1 cup flour, cinnamon, raisins, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, walnuts and carrots. Add remaining flour, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Knead 10 minutes. Let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in bulk. Punch down; let rise again for 30 minutes. Shape into 3 loaves. Place in greased loaf pans. Let rise 30 to 40 minutes or until almost doubled. Bake at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes. Brush tops with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake for 10 minutes longer. Cool on racks. A good gift bread. A raisin bread so good it will, as my husband Angelo says, "knock your socks off!" Yield: 35 servings.

My comments: I modified the recipe first by cutting it in half so it will fit in my bread maker. I used 1 package yeast made for whole wheat flour. I warmed the milk long enough to just melt the butter. Then I combined all the ingredients according to my bread maker instructions. I added all the liquid ingredients first including the water, milk, melted butter, honey (all 3-1/2 T of it), molasses, yogurt, applesauce, eggs. Then I added the dry ingredients including the nutritional yeast (available in the bulk aisle at Whole Foods Market - or just skip it), sea salt (I always use sea salt - much easier on the body), oats and 4 cups whole wheat flour, cinnamon, then the yeast. I set the bread maker on the appropriate setting and let it mix the ingredients for a little while. I had to add additional flour to make the proper consistency. My bread maker has an alarm that lets me know when to add additional ingredients like the raisins, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, walnuts and carrots.

The bread was delicious. My husband loved it and it lasted several days without going bad.

It was truly worth the effort!

Hummus - with a colorful twist!

I love the magic of food - whole, amazing food - how it feels when I cook it, how colorful it is, the textures, the tastes, how it comes together in ever more creative concoctions, how it makes me feel and how much fun food can be! When I talk about it, I often get the glazed over stares and can feel the eyes rolling like this person is crazy! So, I have learned to keep quiet unless someone specifically asks me a question. However, my students, who get what I mean about food, are always asking for more and more recipes. So, I am going to try to share as many recipes as I can on my blog. My intention is to design the blog to be easy to search and use. I will add my notes - because I rarely make something exactly as the recipe instructs! I will also mention from time to time how a recipe or specific food can be beneficial in creating vibrant health - for, as I hope most of us know that food is medicine! (How boring - I rather think of it as food is magic!)

Today's recipe is for Black Olive - Sweet Potato Hummus and it comes from Delicious Living (http://deliciouslivingmag.com/). I made it just this week and it was absolutely delicious and so easy! It is great as a dip with fresh veggies or crackers. It would be easy to take for lunch. It would be great on a sandwich or wrap. It makes a great appetizer to take to a party or serve to guests. Sweet potatoes are in abundant supply from the farmers markets right now and quite inexpensive as well!

Ingredients:

1 small sweet potato (about 6 ounces)

1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 cup chopped kalamata olives

2 medium cloves garlic, chopped

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1/3 cup fresh basil leaves

Salt and pepper to taste

Minced sun-dried tomatoes, for garnish

Basil leaves, for garnish

1. Wrap sweet potato in foil and bake at 400 degrees F for about 1 hour, or until soft

2. Remove potato from oven, unwrap, and let cool. Scoop out insides of sweet potato and place in a food processor. Add garbanzos, olive oil, olives, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Puree until smooth. Add 1/3 cup basil leaves and pulse for 10 seconds. Season with salt and pepper, and transfer to a serving bowl. Garnish with sun-dried tomatoes and whole basil leaves.

My notes: If you don't have a food processor, you can try this in a blender but may have to add a little liquid or a little more oil to make sure it mixes properly. You can purchase a small food processor pretty inexpensively and make this in 2 batches as well.

For those of you that like spicy foods, you may want to add more red pepper flakes. I added kelp granules to this before adding any salt. I add kelp granules to almost everything I fix because it contains so many wonderful minerals without affecting the taste as long as you don't use too much.

It is very easy to make garbanzo beans from scratch in a large batch and use 2 cups freshly prepared and drained garbanzos in lieu of the canned beans.