My New Favorite Colour is Green

     I've only turned on the stove once in the last week to do anything more than boil tea water, and I blame/thank one of my favorite Library Patrons for the new culinary inspiration. My Clark Kent job is at the front desk of a public library, (can't remember if I've ever mentioned that), and part of my duties include procuring books from other libraries for people when our small Lib doesn't have them in stock. I consider it a point of pride, (and a super power), that I can usually get my hands on most of what people ask for. But I digress. Back to my favorite colour which is blue, wait, no green...

     So this particular patron was looking for books about Green Smoothies and Eating Raw, and since the Lib was quiet we were able to converse on the subject and I found myself intrigued. Imagine being able to get all of your daily recommended dose of fruits and veggies in a cup, without the fuss of pots and pans, complicated recipes,or time spent? Plus there is the added benefit of eating food in its original raw state when it is supposedly most nutritious. And being that these Smoothies are from scratch, and that scratch is raw fruits and veggies, they are by their very nature gluten free. You control the ingredients. (There are literally dozens of books and even more websites dedicated to Green Smoothies alone as well as Eating Raw. I haven't looked at them all of course, but of the ones I have seen I would recommend: the Green Smoothie Revolution and Ani's Raw Food Kitchen.)

     I will be the first to admit that I fast bored of salads, finding myself quickly sliding out of that healthy habit as I ran out of things to top lettuce with. Smoothies on the other hand are fun! Okay, so I'm a bit of a sucker for the wanton destruction of the blender. Now I feel like one of the old master painters blending pigments... what colour will today's gastronomic concoction become? At the end of the blend not all green smoothies are green! I'm mixing things I might not have normally eaten before, and some certainly not raw, avocado (I'm going to try growing a plant from the seed), beet greens, fresh mint and basil (I now have it growing in my windowsill), papaya, plum tomatoes... Plus I have to say I'm a serious fan of the fact that "cooking" a healthy meal requires nothing more than a blender, a knife, and a vessel to drink from. My friendly Patron feeds these to her young daughter, and I think I would have been the sort of child to have enjoyed drinking gloppy green stuff for breakfast if for nothing other than the gross out factor alone. (Okay yeah, I would have been beggin' to throw random defenseless fruit into the blender, it's just the way I'm wired). But it helps that even the worst Smoothie I've made so far was pretty tasty, and the best ones made me wish I'd made twice as much! And because they were so good, I've finally come out from under my rock to write about them.

     So go throw some unsuspecting leafy greens into your blender, add some fruit, add some veggies, add some fresh herbs. Be creative, make pretty colours. Make it thick, make it thin, make freezer pops! Have fun, be green.

     Here are a few of my favorites things...

It's Purple!

1/2 black berries (I use frozen cuz I'm cheap and lazy)

1 Orange (peel, section then throw it all in the blender)

1 1/2 bananas ( this makes it thick and smooth)

2 big handfuls baby spinach (I've also made this with beet greens)

1/2 water or less if your blender doesn't need much water to work

The Chill

1 inch cucumber (use skin if not waxed)

5-6 fresh mint leaves

1 big handful leafy lettuce

lemon juice to taste

1 cup water

this isn't really a Smoothie so much as a slurrie, let sit for about an hour so the flavors blend, very refreshing

Tropical Green

1 banana

1/2 cup frozen tropical fruit blend

1/2 apple

1 teaspoon lemon juice

2 big handfuls baby spinach

1/2 water or less if your blender doesn't need much water to work

And Sometimes I Follow...

 

 "Oh what grief these loaves have caused, but pray I that their sweetness be greater than the weight of their cost."

       That was the Facebook status I posted right before I attempted my latest GF bread experiment. A friend saw several GF recipes in the local paper, and thinking of me, sent the clippings my way. It turned out that the bread recipe she forwarded was from one of my favorite GF cookbooks, "The Gluten Free Girl and the Chef," by Shauna James Ahern and Daniel Ahern. This was one I had copied for my own collection, but to see it turn up in the local small town paper seemed a sign. I thought I'd give it a go, reminding myself that even the worst of my bread endeavors had been edible, (toasted and drowned with enough butter or jam). 

     The ensuing difficulty stemmed not in the complexity of the recipe I had set myself to follow, but the fact that I had in deed decided to follow the recipe, to the letter. That meant no substitutions as I am often wontonly want to do. It meant measuring carefully, as I am frequently lax about. No pinch, dither, and dash, but neatly measured cups, tablespoons, and teaspoons. It meant a trip to several different stores, (gods forbid any one stock all of these things despite frequent begging, read whining), after realizing that while yes I did posses all of the necessary ingredients, I did not have them in the required amounts. By the time the running around was done, (made it to one store with 5 min. to spare before they closed), I had just about lost the steam to bake. But I'd come this far, and knowing myself it was highly unlikely to happen any other night of the week. (I'm lazy as well as reluctant).

       So I gathered my supplies, pulled my instructions close, clipped on my iPod and set to the task of building bread. Now normally I approach baking as a sort of chemistry experiment. Which flours do what, how much liquid is necessary, what fat, sugar, salt, rising agents, binding agents. It can get complicated, but so far even the worst of my failures have been fit for human consumption, and I've seen some of the accidents of others turn into what we now jokingly call food for the gods. But my goal with this particular venture was to follow a recipe exactly and create the "Crusty Bread That Even Those Who Eat Gluten Might Like".

       I'm not going to recount the whole recipe here as I encourage you to find a copy of the book and experience its wonderfulness for yourself. I will tell you that the bread uses potato starch, almond, oat, and millet flours, and has a earthy nutty taste and smell that is a delight to the senses. The honey acts as a natural preservative and if they last the loaves will keep for at least a week in the fridge. My one caution, (that I wish had been in someones instructions), do not try to handle the dough, it's like trying to knead cake batter. I suggest pouring the dough onto your cookie sheet and shaping with a spatula. Otherwise I followed the instructions to the letter. And the result...

       I would follow this recipe anywhere. I've made probably a dozen different types of GF bread at this point. Some fairly close to their original recipes, some so far removed that they have become my own. But at the end of the day all those loaves are pretty standard if not exactly created equal. They make great toast and awesome grilled cheese. They look like bread and cut like bread, and I am happy. But Gluten-Free Girl's loaves kick their little GF buns! This is the bread that I would make fresh to take to a dinner party or potluck. Sliced thin and toasted it makes the most exquisite bruschetta, top with olive tapenade, or slivers of fresh mozzarella and pepperoni... you get the idea. For once there was no accident here.