Mi Tzatziki

Tzatziki

Ingredients:

1. 3 cups plain yogurt - (strain it before hand. You can do this by taking a cheese cloth or coffee filter and place it over a cup or bowl, rubberband it or paper clip the filter to the sides placing the yogurt in the top, and let strain for a couple of hours. Overnight is better.)
2. 3 tbsp lemon juice
3. 1 clove of garlic chopped up very fine
4. 2 medium cucumbers, seeded and diced - (Dice the cucumbers, place in a colander and let strain for about a half an hour or so to release the excess water. Squeeze good with paper towel at the end to ensure most of the water is gone.) Dice very ,very fine.
5. 1 tsp salt
6. 1 tbsp chopped fresh dill
7. 1tsp white pepper
8. Optional - Place the cucumbers, garlic, lemon juice, black pepper, and dill into a food processor or blender and process until made into almost a paste.
9. Fold into the yogurt and refridgerate. Best when served next day and days after, flavors become more intense.

Mi Savory White Bean Rosemary Portobello Cream Soup

Savory White Bean Rosemary Portobello Cream Soup

Ingredients:

2 16 oz bags dry white beans
1 large bulb of garlic
1 large onion
2 stalks celery
Extra virgin olive oil
1 large carrot
3 medium red potatoes
1/2 red bell pepper
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
4 black peppercorns
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 Bay leaves
1 cup soy milk
1 lb portobello mushrooms
5 packs sodium free chicken bouillon
Fat free sour cream (optional)

Soak beans overnight , cover in water 2" above beans. Next day beans will be double in size. Discard any floaters.

In a large crock pot place 1/2 of the beans, cover with water to fill pot 3/4 full.
Cut the garlic bulb in half and carefully place in center cut sides upright, bury in the beans.
Dice onion in small pieces, dice celery in medium size pieces, saute in pan with 4- 6 Tblsp olive oil and set aside when glossy, translucent but not brown.

Dice carrot and potato (red peels on) into smaller cubes.
Dice red pepper into fine pieces.
Pull rosemary off stems and chop small and fine.

In crock pot add to beans, peppercorns, bay leaves, onion, carrot, 1/2 of the cubed potatoes, celery, rosemary, sea salt and bell pepper. Cook on low all day 8 -10 hours. 

2 Hours before done place remaining beans and potatoes on stove and bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer until tender.

Take soup out of cooker carefully remove garlic bulbs set aside, if any of the cloves slip out take them out of the soup. Stir in your bouillon. When cooled squeeze cooked cloves out onto plate set aside.

Saute 1 lb diced portobello mushrooms in extra virgin olive oil until tender.
Set aside to cool slightly.

Strain remaining beans and potatoes, place in a blender with soy milk and garlic cloves

In a blender puree beans, garlic, potatoes and soy milk to a cream.
reincorporate back into your soup.

This is so aromatic and savory, you can also incorporate fat free sour cream into just before serving.

Mi Whole Wheat Whole Grain Bread

Whole Wheat Whole Grain Bread

This took me forever to get to the point I did with the texture and consistency. Bread making is a lot of play and variables. If someone says different their not a baker. This particular recipe evolved over  8 different attempts to experiment to create a true soft, moist whole wheat, whole grain texture. Most whole grain breads I have had tend to be a bit heavier and dryer than a traditional white bread. This recipe will not only ensure your baked bread to be soft, it will have a very spongy texture and seriously crispy crust. 

The Sponge Starter: 

A must in creating a high quality soft spongy dough.
3 days before mix,
1pkg active dry yeast
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup water
stir with wooden spoon.
Cover with loose fitting lid to let air in (air bacteria helps feed the mix.)
After 8-12 hours your sponge will have more than doubled in size.
You can stir lightly every 8 hours.
Sponge will have peaked and gone down in size.
2nd day add 1/2 c whole wheat flour and 1/2 c of water.
This is feeding your sponge.
Stir lightly and cover loosley, set aside to culture.
3rd day scrape out any dried paste from sides and smell. Sponge should begin to smell sour. Add 1/2 c whole wheat flour, 1/2 c water and 1 pkg of active dry yeast and stir lightly, cover loosley.
Now comes the timing part.
You will want to incorporate your sponge starter in your bread dough at it's peak so keep an eye on the growth of the sponge starter.
*When starter has again almost doubled in size you will now begin to make your bread dough.

Start off by turning your oven on 300 degrees for 3 min and shut off. Put a small bowl of warm water in the back of oven. You want a warm place to let your dough rise.

Whole Wheat Whole Grain Bread Dough
4 c Whole wheat flour
2 envelopes of Fleischman's rapid rise yeast
2 tsp Sea salt
1 1/2 c Water
1/4 c Soy milk
1/4 c Honey
3 Tblsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 Tblsp Gluten (optional)
1/2 c mix of wheat bran, whole grain oatmeal, flax seed. You may also experiment with seeds like sunflower or ground walnuts etc. Just make sure it's 1/2 cup combined total.

In your large mixing bowl combine

2 c whole wheat flour, undisolved yeast, gluten and salt.
In a sauce pan combine water, milk, honey, oil and heat till warm 110-120 degrees on thermometer or when you dip your pinky finger in it almost feels to be getting too hot. Pour into your mixing bowl with the flour mix and using paddle on medium speed mix for 2 min scrapping bowl once.
Now take 1 c of your sponge starter and add to bowl with 1/2 c whole wheat flour and your bran-nut mix and beat on high speed for 2 min. Dough should pull away from sides of bowl and stick to paddle. Feel your dough and if it's sticky slowly add small amounts of remaining flour but not all at once and let paddle beat/knead dough. After adding a little more of the remaining flour (every 10 seconds in mixer) check your dough. You want it to be really soft and only slightly sticky to your hand. Once the dough is there remove off paddle and flour a spot on your table. Now slowly knead your dough. It should only be kneaded to incorporate remaining flour if needed to the right consistency to handle without it being sticky to your skin. Your dough should be very soft to handle and elastic like, meaning if you pinch and pull some dough slightly you can see through the dough your stretching without it breaking. You may not need to add any more of the flour. This is common depending on moisture, humidity etc. If dough is still too sticky then you will need to add more flour but do this in small amounts.

Grease a large bowl and form your dough into a ball, place in bowl, cover with towel and let rise in oven for 1 hour or till doubled in size.
After 1 hour your dough is now "huge", Punch the center down and place dough back on a floured surface kneading it gently 10-15 times tightly to get air pockets out.
Spray or oil down 1 large loaf pan and form a tight loaf of dough, place in pan, cover and place back in oven let rise 1 hr again doubled in size.

When doubled again in size preheat your oven to 325 degrees and bake for 30 -35 min. with water still in oven. Remove and cool.

Your bread should be sooo soft and spongy inside with a crispy crust outside. ENJOY!!

* If you let your sponge starter ferment it will take on a sour smell. This will create sour dough. If you do not want sour dough make your sponge starter 2-3 days a head of time each time you bake bread. Whatever starter remains, place in a covered plastic container and place in your refrigerator. Feed every other day to grow the culture and you will never need to make sponge starter again.