Chickpeas!!

Welcome back!

Today I will be discussing Garabanzo beans (chickpeas) and a few fantastic uses for them!

Chickpeas are an excellent low-fat source of protein and complex carbohydrate. Eaten regularly they can also help to reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers. Chickpeas have many other good nutrients as well, and with an added bonus of being inexpensive!

You can buy canned chickpeas, which are cooked and ready to go, or you can buy dried chickpeas. Either one will work for any of the uses I will be talking about today, but of course, you'll need to cook the dried chickpeas first.

How to cook dried chickpeas;

Pour the desired amount of dried chickpeas into a bowl and cover with water (about 3 inches over).

*If you want you can take some of they whey like I talked about in my last post and add to the soaking water!
Now, let them soak several hours or overnight. Once they have soaked, drain and rinse the chickpeas and set aside. Bring a pot of water to a boil, add chickpeas and reduce the heat. Simmer them for about an hour or until soft - but not mushy.

Chickpeas take longer to cook than other dried beans, so it may take a little more than an hour. Just remember that cooking them a little too long is better than not cooking them long enough.

There are a lot of things you can do with chickpeas; toss them into a salad, add them to soup or pasta, or even eat them plain. But some of my favorite things make to with chickpeas are hummus, falafel, and a chickpea sanwich spread; which are the things I will tell you about today.

Tahini

The first thing you need to know about is tahini. Tahini is a major ingredient in Middle Eastern cooking. I know... tahini is not made out of chickpeas. However, tahini goes hand in hand with these delicious beans and is a key ingredient in hummus. It can be a little difficult to find tahini in stores, especially if you live in a small town. It's also pricey which is what kept me away from it for such a long time. But, good news folks! You can make your own tahini at home! Once I figured out what tahini actually was, I was sad to think about all of the hummus I could have been making. It's SO easy! Tahini is nothing more than a toasted sesame seed paste.

Here is a recipe for tahini;

2 C. raw sesame seeds

1/4 C. olive oil

Heat a skillet on the stove over medium heat. Pour in the sesame seeds and toast them for 2-3 minutes. You will know when they are ready when they are lightly browned and begin to release their 'toasted aroma'.

Put the toasted sesame seeds into a food processor and blend while adding the olive oil. You may need to add a tad bit more oil, but only do so about a teaspoon at a time until it is well-blended. It will be more grainy than smooth... that's OK, it's supposed to be like that!

You can store your tahini in the refrigerator for a month - sometimes even longer.

OK. Now that you know how to make your very own tahini, you'll want to use some in your very own hummus! I just love hummus, I could eat it on anything. It's great as a dip with pretzels, pita chips, vegetables, and even potato chips. You can toast slices of baguette bread and top the slices with hummus and a slice of fresh tomato. YUM-O!

But of course, you'll need to make the hummus first.. here's how;

1 can chickpeas - or 2 C. dried chickpeas (cooked, of course)

1 tsp. salt

1/4 C. tahini

1 clove garlic, minced

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1/4 C. lemon juice - freshly squeezed is best

Drain the chickpeas and reserve the liquid. In your food processor, add salt, tahini, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, and about 1/4 C. of the liquid from the chickpeas. Process all of the ingredients together until smooth. Add more of the chickpea liquid if it's not yet smooth enough.

This is just a basic hummus recipe, you can add more of any ingredient to adjust to your taste preference. You can also add things like, roasted red pepper, roasted garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, or fresh herbs to add more flavor. Be creative!

Now it's time to make falafel! In case you're not sure what falafel is, it's a popular Middle Eastern dish. You can eat it as is, or eat it with hummus or tahini. Falafel is great on salads, and is delicious in a pita pocket with lettuce, tomato and tahini added (I also like it with my homemade mayo.. but we'll save that for another post). Egypt's McDonald's even serves falafel sandwiches - the McFalafel! (not kidding)

The following is my very own falafel recipe. I don't want to toot my own horn, but this recipe makes the most delicious falafel I have ever tasted! (TOOT TOOT!!)
1 can Garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
3 Tbsp. Cornmeal
2 Tbsp. Flour
1/2 Onion, chopped
2 Cloves Garlic, chopped
1 Egg White (or a whole egg)
1 Spoonful sour cream
1 Tbsp. Dried Parsley
1 tsp. Ground Cumin
1 tsp. Ground Coriander

1/2 tsp. Salt

1/4 tsp. Black Pepper

Pinch Red Pepper Flakes

Heat a little bit of oil (enough for frying) in a skillet. Meanwhile, put all ingredients into a food processor and process until smooth. You can also mash with a potato masher, but this is a lot more work and you'll have to be sure and mince the garlic and onions too. When the oil is heated, spoon batter into skillet to make 2-3" patties. Fry on each side until both sides are browned. Tada!! That's it, folks :)

Before I end this post, I wanted to give you a simple and versatile recipe for a chickpea sandwich spread. It's easy peasy and perfect for a last minute lunch. Get a can of Garbanzo beans (rinsed and drained) and mash them up with a potato masher or a fork. Mix with mayo, relish, diced onions, and salt and pepper. This is made pretty much the same way you would make tuna salad and there are all sorts of things you can add to it to spice it up.... Be Creative!!!

Hope you enjoyed today's post and I promise to try and keep posting as often as I can. Have a beautiful day!

Don't Throw That A-Whey!

The last two topics I posted was about making yogurt and then flavoring your homemade yogurt. Since I wrote those posts, I have made several batches of yogurt and eventually decided that straining it was the way to go! I took one of the finished batches of homemade yogurt and put it into a cheesecloth-lined strainer and put the strainer into a bowl. After the yogurt strained overnight in the refrigerator, I had one jar of thick, ultra creamy yogurt better than any other I have ever tried! (seriously, it was fantastic!) The picture above is the strained yogurt.

After I spent a minute in awe of my newly strained yogurt, I realized that I also had a bowl of whey. Whey is the thick, yellow liquid that is leftover from cheese-making and yogurt-making. To be a little more specific, when milk coagulates during the cheese-making process (or yogurt-making process) what is left is curds and whey. Of course if you want, you can sit down on your tuffet like little Miss Muffet and eat your curds and whey; but there are so many uses for that nutritious whey that I have to take some time to tell you about it.

First off, whey is packed with vitamins and minerals. It is a complete protein, has essential amino acids, vitamin B, and so many other good stuff it's ridiculous to think that some people throw this stuff away!!

You can use whey both internally and externally. It can be used for cooking, skin and hair care, and it can even be used to make more cheese! That's right, you can use whey to make ricotta cheese. You heat the whey, and it will coagulate again forming ricotta cheese (if you choose to do this, you should look around on the internet first, there's a little more to it than that).

Here is a list of uses;

1. Soak your beans and grains with it - If you add about 2 Tbsp. of whey to your soaking water (even for oats, quinoa, and other grains). They will cook faster and will be easier to digest.
2. Use in place of liquid in bread making - this makes a moist, delicious bread with a nice crispy outside and high nutritive value.
3. Use in place of liquid in ANY recipe.
4. Make ricotta cheese

5. Use the whey as a meat marinade - just season it and soak your meat in it, the enzymes will make the meat tender and bring out the flavor.

6. Use it in your compost pile.

8. Natural facial toner - dip a cotton ball in whey and rub on your skin.

9. Use it as a shampoo if your hair isn't too oily.

10. Use it to condition your hair - simply soak your hair with the whey, let it sit for 10-15 minutes and rinse.

11. Put about 2 cups of whey in your bathwater for healthy skin.

12. Just drink it as is, if preferable.

13. Instead of using vinegar to pickle your vegetables, use whey.

14. Dry it and make whey powder to add in any food or drink.

Whey is good for your hair and skin because of the protein and other vitamins in it. It will make your skin and hair healthy and glowing. It is very gentle and anti-microbial. It helps resolve acne and lighten skin pigmentation like age spots.

Whey is often made into powder; it's what they put into health shakes and such and is often used by athletes to help build muscle strength. Though, I have not tried this method yet; I read that you can take your whey and cook it over the stove until it gets thick like syrup. You then take the condensed whey and pour it into a baking pan and let it dry out completely - this could take a couple of weeks. When it is thoroughly dried it should be very light in color and brittle. Grind up the whey in a grinder or food processor until it turns into a powder and store in an airtight container.

Drying they whey is a great way to extend the shelf life of it. Liquid whey won't last long in the refrigerator - a few days - but you can also freeze the whey for future use if desired.

Whey can also be used to make butter. You will need to skim the cream from the whey - or buy a cream separator - then you can make butter with the cream. This butter is much more salty and cheese-like than the typical sweet cream butter.

This is really just a few uses for whey, there are so many more ways to use this 'byproduct'. With all of the possibilities and health benefits of whey, you might soon find yourself separating your yogurt just so you can have the whey!

Flavoring Your Homemade Yogurt

Hello again! So, yesterday I wrote an article on making your own yogurt. I have made my own a few times now, and I absolutely love it just the way it is. However, hubby isn't a fan of the plain yogurt. SO... today I will be discussing some ways you can flavor your homemade yogurt.

(By the way, I have found the crock-pot method of incubating the yogurt to be the most effective and the easiest)

With all of the health benefits associated with eating yogurt, you can't deny yourself this delicious treat! Yogurt is full of "good" bacteria which helps with all sorts of things; from your immune system to your digestive tract. Along with this, it also helps to balance your "inner eco-system".

There are many ways you can flavor and/or sweeten your plain yogurt. You can use brown sugar, honey, maple syrup, or even just plain white sugar. A good way to sweeten it and flavor it is to mix in some vanilla sugar - remember my post on vanilla extract? I mentioned how to use your vanilla beans to flavor sugar. Also, fruit preserves make a nice addition to plain yogurt.

I am sure most of you have seen and even indulged yourself in a yummy parfait a time or two. A parfait is a yummy, yet versatile way of eating your yogurt. You can layer fresh or frozen fruit in any combination and top it with a bit of homemade granola! A parfait is good with plain and sweetened yogurt (if the fruit you use is sweet enough you don't need pre-sweetened yogurt). I have tried many recipes for granola, but I finally found one I like.

The following recipe is for a simple granola that clumps up into yummy bites of goodness!

4 C. Rolled Oats

1 C. Wheat Germ

1/2 C. Ground Flax seed

1/2 C. Brown Sugar

1 tsp. Cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp. Salt

1/3 C. Canola Oil

1/4 C. Honey

1/2 C. Water

2 tsp. Vanilla

**Optional - you can add raisins or other dried fruit, or nuts of any kind.

Preheat your oven to 250 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together oats, wheat germ, flax seed, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt and any nuts and dried fruit you may be using. In a separate bowl, mix together oil, honey, water and vanilla. Make a well in the middle of the oat mixture, then pour in the honey mixture. Mix all until the oats are evenly coated. Spread the mixture onto a baking sheet in an even layer, and bake in the oven. every 10 minutes or so take the granola out and using a spatula, turn over the oats a section at a time for even browning. When the oats are lightly browned the granola is ready, this should take 15-25 minutes depending on your oven. Remove from the oven and let cool. Transfer to an airtight container.

Now, another way to eat your homemade yogurt is topped with pie filling and granola. We had this last night and it was SOOO yummy! But of course, you don't want to buy any canned pie filling.. oooooohhh no! That disgusting goop called pie-filling-in-a-can will do nothing but taint your fresh yogurt! The way I see it, if I am going to go through the trouble of making my own yogurt, I only want fresh ingredients to go with it!

Here is my recipe for apple topping;


4 C. Thinly Sliced Apples
2 tsp. Lemon Juice
3/4 C. Sugar
1/4 C. Cornstarch
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/8 tsp. Nutmeg
1/4 tsp. Salt
2 C. Water


Coat the sliced apples in the lemon juice and set aside. In a saucepan, mix together water, cornstarch, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Whisk together until all of the cornstarch is dissolved. Turn the heat on to med-high and bring the mixture to a boil. Add the apples, turn down the heat and simmer until the apples are tender - about 10 minutes. Transfer to a jar or other container and store in the refrigerator. Also, you can multiply this recipe for canning or freezing so you can make apple pies all year 'round!


Well, that's it for today's post. Hope you have found inspiration to make your very own yogurt! Always remember to be creative, and have a beautiful day!

Homemade Yogurt! YUM!

I have been busy busy with all of my projects lately, it's the only thing that keeps my sanity in the winter! My Kombucha is coming along wonderfully and is already growing a baby scoby. One of my projects I accomplished recently was homemade yogurt, and that's the one that I am going to share with you today.

Homemade yogurt surpasses store bought yogurt in so many ways! The taste is smoother and all around yummier, it is significantly cheaper and is without all of the preservatives and other additives (not to mention very healthy!).

The first thing you need to know is a little bit on cleanliness. Yogurt is made with live cultures, and thus means you need to be extra clean while making your yogurt. The Yogurt is heated and then incubated for a period of time which leaves a happy home for bacteria to grow. So, be sure you keep everything clean and sterile! Boil smaller items like spoons and such; and pour boiling water into large pots or containers you are using to assure that everything is clean.

Next you need to know about the starter yogurt. You can go online and order starter yogurt cultures, but considering you can only use them for a little while before the cultures die off and you have to order more, it might end up being cheaper to go the other route. By 'the other route' I mean buying yogurt from the grocery store to start your yogurt. Yes, this does have all of the preservatives added to it, and at first this was absolutely not an option for me! But, after careful consideration, I decided to use the store-bought yogurt because of the price difference; and if you really think about it, it takes 1/4 C. of starter yogurt to make a quart of yogurt. This means that the original yogurt ends up being diluted enough to my satisfaction. Though it may not be what you want to do, in which case you can buy starter yogurt cultures off the internet easily, my favorite place is Etsy.com. I buy small containers of yogurt at the grocery store for 88 cents each (it only takes one), it can be regular yogurt or greek yogurt, just make sure it is plain yogurt and says 'active live cultures on the container' (or something of the sort).

The rest of the materials you will need are;

1 quart of milk (4 C.) 1%, 2%, or whole

1/3 C. powdered milk (optional, but will make the yogurt thicker)

Candy thermometer

A pot that will hold a quart of milk

Containers to hold your finished yogurt (I like to use pint jars)

A towel

Now, time to get started. First you need to heat your milk on the stove. This will kill any bacteria in the milk, you will need to do this even if the milk is pasteurized milk! On med-low heat, bring the temperature of the milk up to about 180 degrees, try to get as close to this temperature as possible. Once you have reached the right temp., keep it at that temperature for a few minutes. Remove from heat and and let the temperature come down to 120 degrees (don't let it fall under 100 degrees or the cultures will not make yogurt, and don't add the yogurt if it is higher than 120 or it will kill the cultures)

Once it is cooled to the right temperature, take about 1 cup of milk out and mix in the starter yogurt. Once mixed, add the mixture back to the pot of milk and cover. (also, if you are using powdered milk, you can add it at this time). Now it's time to incubate! Read carefully...

The yogurt needs time to incubate at a warm temperature (between 100 and 120 degrees). There are several ways you can do this, I am going to mention 3 ways.

Method 1 - In the pot. You can leave the mixture in the pot you heated the milk in, cover it with a lid them wrap it with a towel and leave for 3-5 hours. This isn't the best way to do it, but it is the easiest. Just know, that if you use this method, the yogurt will not produce results as good as other methods.

Method 2 - Ice chest. If you have an ice chest big enough to fit your containers in, you can use it to incubate your yogurt. before your yogurt is ready to incubate, fill the ice chest with boiling water and place the lid on. When it is time to incubate, fill your clean containers with the yogurt mixture and put the lids on. Empty the water out of the ice chest, place the containers inside, and fill with water that has been heated to about 100 degrees, close the ice chest and let incubate for 3-5 hours. Check periodically to make sure the temperature is right. If it cools too much, you can empty out half of the water and replace with more hot water.

Method 3 - Crock-pot. Preheat your slow cooker on warm for 10 minutes, place your filled containers inside, and cover with a towel to insulate. Turn the slow cooker off, then every hour turn it back on warm for 5 minutes until done. Again, about 3-5 hours.

The time it takes to complete your yogurt really depends on the temperature it incubates at and your preference. There are a lot of factors at play when you are working with live cultures. The yogurt will be thinner than the yogurt at the store (I don't mind), but if you want to change this, you can try incubating it a little longer, or you can strain the finished yogurt. Simply line a colander with coffee filters or a cheesecloth and let the yogurt strain in the refrigerator overnight.

DIDN'T TURN OUT??

If your yogurt did not turn out right, consider using a different kind of milk (do not use ultra-pasteurized), or make sure the starter you used had active live cultures in it. If it does, it may have sat in the refrigerator too long and the cultures may not have been alive. Make sure you use fresh ingredients and always be clean while making the yogurt.

AND YOU CAN USE YOUR YOGURT TO MAKE MORE!!

You can use about 1/4 C. of the homemade yogurt as a starter culture for a new batch, this can be repeated but only for a little while. Eventually the cultures will die off and you will have to get more starter yogurt.

I KNOW.. IT'S PLAIN YOUGRT..

Most people don't like plain yogurt. Though homemade yogurt isn't near as bitter as store-bought and is much, much tastier; you still may prefer not to eat it plain. That's OK! There are a lot of ways you can flavor it. My next post will cover this and a few more things you can make to go along with your yummy yogurt.. like homemade granola!

Here is some of my finished (strained) yogurt; mixed with brown sugar, MMmmm!

Thanks for reading, I hope you take the time to make your own yogurt; I promise you will be blown away with the results! If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment or email me at eco_mom@yahoo.com. Have a great day and always remember to be creative!

The Yummy Goodness of Bread!

Hello! Well, the holidays have come and gone and I am finally getting back into the swing of things. I have a huge list of projects on the horizon; including making Kombucha tea for my family. Mother Kombucha is on her way now.. I'm sending her good energy to make it to me safe and sound! We will talk about Kombucha along with other live cultures later on, but today we will talk about the uses of leftover bread.
Today's post was inspired by my part-time job at Subway - which just so happens to be the best part-time job I could have asked for! As we all know, restaurants are good at throwing away food. I have worked at a number of restaurants and have seen more food thrown in the trash that you might could imagine. But, just last week I was able to take home all the loaves of bread from Subway that were destined for the trash. It was a mixture of white, wheat, and herbed bread.. most of which were stale. I used the fresh bread by splitting them open, adding butter and garlic and broiled them until golden brown, we ate those with dinner. But "what about the stale bread?" you ask.. well, my two favorite uses for stale bread are bread pudding and bread crumbs, and those are the two I am going to talk about today.
Bread pudding... MMMmmmm!!! Surprisingly, I ran into a number of people who didn't know what bread pudding was, so for those of you who don't know, it's stale bread that is softened by milk and flavored with sugar, cinnamon, and raisins; then baked in the oven until firm and golden brown. You can use any bread you want, but I do recommend only making it with white bread. The great thing is that you can save up leftover bread before it gets moldy and store it in the freezer until you have enough to make a batch of pudding. You can also check around at your local restaurants and see if they have any 'throw away' bread they would be willing to give you. I even make bread pudding when I find bread on sale, because the bread should be a little stale anyway, I don't mind if it's old bakery bread on sale for 50 cents a loaf! Some of you may already have a great bread pudding recipe, but here is mine for those who may want to use it;
 1 (1 pound) loaf white bread, torn into small pieces
4 C. hot milk
3 eggs, beaten
2 cups white sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 cup golden raisins
3 tablespoons margarine
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large mixing bowl, pour hot milk over bread. Blend eggs, sugar, and vanilla. (make sure the bread mixture is not too hot because the eggs will scramble) Stir egg mixture into the bread mixture and blend well. Add raisins. Mix well.
Melt the margarine and pour into a 9x13-inch pan. Pour bread mixture over margarine. Bake for 40 minutes, or until firm and golden brown. Serve hot or cold.
Vanilla Sauce:
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup boiling water
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
dash salt
In small saucepan combine sugar and cornstarch. Stir in 1 cup boiling water. Simmer, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes. Stir in 2 tablespoons butter, vanilla extract and salt; blend well. Serve hot over bread pudding.

Of course, you can search around on the net until you find a recipe you would rather use :)

Now, onto the topic of bread crumbs. If you have gone to the grocery store and spent $2 on a can of bread crumbs, you are cheating yourself!! As I have said many times before, making your own (anything) can yield healthier, cheaper and tastier results. Save those bread ends! I know most people get to the end of their bread loaf and throw away those heels, or maybe you have 2 buns leftover from hot dog night... I almost always have a few slices of bread left before they get to point of getting moldy. So before the little fungus spores make a happy home on your bread, put it in a freezer bag and store it in the freezer, save them up until you have time to make some breadcrumbs. Wheat bread makes good crumbs as well, and is much healthier for you. Also, don't be afraid to mix up different kinds of bread in the same container; you can use sourdough, rye, or anything else you have on hand.
First you need to preheat your oven to about 200 - 250 degrees. Not too hot or it will burn your bread. Spread your bread out on a baking sheet, and if you have thick pieces be sure and cut them down to about the thickness of a regular slice of bread. Put them in the oven, and check often. Only cook the bread until it is dry and crisp, and turn them over to dry the other side. Make sure it is thoroughly dried because any bread that is still moist will cause your yummy breadcrumbs to mold. When the bread is done, you can grind it up with a grinder, food processor, or by hand. You may also season the breadcrumbs with a mix of italian herbs if you like, or leave them plain. Store them in an airtight container, and preferably in the freezer. If the breadcrumbs are dried well, they can be stored in the cupboard for a couple of weeks or more, but just to be on the safe side, I stick mine in the freezer. And there you have it, delicious homemade breadcrumbs you can make from scraps. The herbed Subway bread was especially useful for this as it was pre-seasoned and already stale. You can use the breadcrumbs any way you like, toppings for casseroles, coating for meat (like Shake-N-Bake), in meatloaf or meatballs.. be creative!
That's it for today. Stay tuned for more tidbits of goodness from Eco-Mom!!