So, as I mentioned in my original post, I'm trying to learn how to cook according the the Nourishing Traditions method. I'm very dutiful in making out my menus at the beginning of the week, am learning what fruits and vegetables I need to buy organic and for which ones it doesn't matter; I've even learned to make my own kombucha and yogurt.
When it comes to actually cooking this stuff, however, I fail miserably. Usually I will open up the cookbook around 4pm to see what I need to do to get dinner started, only to realize that I should have soaked, sprouted, fermented or hunted and cured something in the recipe days ago.
This is most aggravating, as it is important to me to get rid of the processed food and chemicals that currently plague our diet. (Could high fructose corn syrup be the secret behind my daughter's seizures?) So, when things don't go well in Mama's Kitchen, we often resort back to the old ways and to breaded fish- or is it chicken- fingers (they look the same.. they taste the same..) with macncheese to keep the kiddos happy.
Why are my children such picky eaters? I asked my mom (who has sprouted, soaked, fermented and grown her own food for decades without the help of a fancy new book) the other day if my sisters and I were so picky. She said that we all had our little dislikes (mine was onions), but that we would just pick out the offending food. MY children, on the other hand, upon encountering any such aggreviences (ie, a vegetable, meat, or fleck of spice) promptly declare the entire meal unsuitable for consumption.
So back to this evenings cooking stupidity. Elsie has been asking for days for me to make pancakes or waffles. I figure, its the last day of school.. let's celebrate with some healthy, Nourishing Traditions Waffles. I had some So Delicious Coconut Milk in the fridge I wanted to use up and thought this was the perfect opportunity.
I checked my recipe at 2:30pm. I figured I had missed a huge window of soaking time for my dough, but hey, two hours of soaking is better than none, right? The dough is supposed to sit and soak for about 12 hours to break down the phytic acid in the whole wheat flour and make it more digestable.
So, I mixed my flour and my milk together.. then promptly kicked myself for using dairy milk instead of the coconut milk I wanted to use up. The dough is supposed to sit somewhere slightly warm, so I stuck the bowl in my oven where the pilot light would keep it at a nice 100 degrees or so.
Proud of myself, despite using the wrong milk... Wait.. let's just pause here a second to clarify that coconut milk is not "milk." "Milk" comes from mammals and is species-specific. Milk is from a human mama and is best for human babies... bovine milk is from a cow mama and is best for calves...feline milk is from a cat mama and is best for kittens... you get the picture. If it is squeezed out of a nut, bean or grain, it is technically a "juice."
So, proud of myself, despite using the wrong "milk/juice," I decide to peruse the Nourishing Traditions recipes for a dessert. I quickly settle on baked apples since Elsie's teacher asked me to bring apples and oranges for the class party today and NOBODY ate them (duh!). Great...let's get that oven preheated to 375 degrees!
Coring my apples, I start to smell something a little strange. Being the most stupidimous cook out there, I think nothing of it. Indeed, it takes me a full ten minutes to core the apples, and prepare the sugar/butter/spice to put on top of them and THEN open the of the oven to see my - yup- PLASTIC bowl of soaking dough melting like a Shrinky Dink.
Dough and bowl went into the trash after a brief pause in the sink to cool down. Hmmm...now I have my chance to start over and use the correct liquid product in my dough! So, another dough is made and left to soak for about an hour and a half.
I was excited to make my waffles... the recipe sounded delicious, even if my dough had not been soaking for the requisite 12 hours. After heating up the iron and adding the other ingredients, I detached the 7 year old from my leg who had been asking "is it ready yet?" since she got home from school, and put the first batch in to cook.
EPIC FAIL. Flat and tough. I threw it across the back yard.
Back to my favorite waffle recipe.
Light, Crip Waffles from allrecipes.com
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup milk
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 egg yolk
1 egg white
1 tablespoon white sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
1.Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F (95 degrees C). Preheat your waffle iron.
2.In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, cornstarch, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Combine the milk, buttermilk and oil in a measuring cup. Whisk in the egg yolk with a fork, and set aside. In a small bowl, beat egg white with an electric mixer until almost soft peaks. Gradually sprinkle in the sugar, while continuing to whip until thick and glossy. Stir in vanilla.
3.Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients, and whisk just until blended. Fold in the egg white using a spatula.
4.Pour batter onto the hot waffle iron in the recommended amount for your iron. My waffle iron takes a generous 1/2 cup. Close the iron, and cook until golden brown. A good indication that it is getting close is that the steam will stop coming out of the iron. Keep finished waffles in the warm oven directly on the rack. Do not stack, or they will become soggy.
lol. I have melted my share of plastic bowls/colanders and bread bags (including bread) in the oven...smells icky, doesn't it?
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dh