Food Rules

“If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don’t.”

This week I am reading “Food Rules” by Michael Pollan and I try to keep his simple food rules in mind when I plan the meals for the upcoming week.

Yesterday was one of those text book examples of the perfect dinner at the end of the day. Dinner and dessert was ready in an hour (except for the icing which I will make this morning). Being it was Friday I even picked up a bottle of wine. The family arrived in the kitchen one by one as they started to smell dinner being prepared and sat at the table chatting while I got dinner started. Last night we had Jamie Oliver's chili which is full of vegetables and makes it a very healthy meal. It is not your usual chili recipe due to the amount of vegetables, the combination of spices like cumin, chili and cinnamon and the chick peas which I have tried to hide by calling them pasta. That didn't really work but if your kids are younger you might try to sell them this way. I also made a carrot cake as carrots are cheap and plentiful this time of year.

After having chopped the vegetables and browned the meat, I quickly shredded the carrots for the cake and was ready to place it in the oven in 5 minutes. It is a very fast cake to make and it bakes for 50 minutes, exactly as long as the chili has to cook.

This was done in a hour and was much cheaper than take out/fast food. Cost of the chili is less than $10 and we even have leftovers.

If you would like these and other recipes just e-mail me at greaterlivinginstitute@gmail.com

Today I am making my favorite bread because it seems to be the perfect thing to do on a frosty winter day. This bread does not require a lot of effort, just that you are around for the 4 hours that it takes from beginning until you can eat it. This bread has a secret ingredient and is considered a treat in our house as white bread is usually banished. These golden loaves are beautiful when done and the kids are lined up to have a couple of slices with butter while still warm.

It all starts with a potato which you peel, chop and cook until tender. Save ¾ cup of the cooking water which you will need for the bread. I have never kneaded this by hand and don’t know if you will get the super light and fluffy dough if you don’t use a mixer of some kind.

1 large potato, peeled and chopped
2 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 cup milk at room temperature
1 package yeast (2 1/4 tsp.)
5 to 5 ½ cup flour

Place the chopped potato in a medium sized pot an cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes are very tender when pierced with a knife. Drain, reserving ¾ cup of the cooking water.

Place the cooked potato in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until smooth. Stir in the butter, sugar, salt and 2 tbsp. of the milk. Continue to blend until the mixture is completely pureed. Blend in the remaining milk.

Cool the measured cooking water until just warm (105 to 115 degrees F) sprinkle with the yeast and let sit 5 minutes to soften the yeast.

Stir the softened yeast mixture into the potato mixture. Using low speed at first, add 3 cups of the flour until well combined. Increase speed to medium and continue to beat the dough until it is smooth and elastic, approximately 5 minutes. Stir in 1 ½ cup more of the flour to make a soft dough. Continue to blend until the dough is well combined and coming away from the sides of the bowl. Turn the dough onto the counter.

Knead the bread lightly until it is smooth and elastic and not sticking to the surface – the dough should still be a little sticky – don’t use too much flour!

Turn the dough into a large, well greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and a dampened cloth on top. Place in a warm and draft-free place until doubled in size (approximately 1 ½ hours). My choice is to turn the oven light on and leave the bread there to rise.

Punch down the dough and divide into two equal portions. For each loaf, gently fold the dough a couple of times and place in well-greased pans. Sprinkle a little of the flour over the loaves.

Return the dough-filled pans to a draft-free place and let rise until almost double in size (about 45 minutes). If you use the oven for this, don't forget to remove the bread before pre-heating the oven!

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and bake the loaves for 35 minutes until well-browned. They will sound hollow when tapped. Remove loaves from pans and let cool on a wire rack.

Since all of the above items are homemade they do not contain any preservatives or additives and you get to control the amount of salt added.